Warning: Slightly sad/dark
TQM EDIT: Seriously... this shit is dark! Don't say I didn't warn ya.
Don't Tell Anypony by VelvetHeart
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Four fillies lay sleeping, clustered together in a curled up, fluffy mass of bumps, chests rising and falling with each breath. Among them lay the shredded remains of a sleepover gone right, burnt 'smores and empty popcorn boxes. Little Sweetie Belle'd somehow managed to end up laying in one of the mushy marshmallow treats, leaving it stuck to her head like a cartoonish lump.
A sight missing a night with the mares for. A faint smile quirked Lero's lips as he watched the little cluster through sleepy eyes. His bed awaited...
...making soft whimpering sounds. Large eyes looked out from underneath, glistening moistly in the darkness. "L-lero, mister?"
"Pipsqueak, isn't it? Your friends are all in the living room, what are you doing under my bed?" Lero sat down, leaning in with an arm across the bed to watch the small, tear-stained face.
"I... I dreamed I was back."
"Back where?"
"Back in Trottingham. Y-you wouldn't understand."
"Well, maybe I will, if you tell me."
"...Promise you won't tell anypony?"
"Promise."
"I-it was in the living room. There was crying, but the adults were ignoring it. They were talking about everything but the crying, loudly, so they could pretend they couldn't hear it. But they could. We could too, in the corner with the other foals. We were playing, 'cause we'd been told to go play. We didn't feel like it, didn't have our hearts in it. We didn't even speak as we pushed our toys around.
I had a little sister, you see. S-she'd only just been born, and the adults were upset. They'd wanted a colt. You see, a filly costs lots of money. Food and such, until she's old enough for a job. But a colt... you can rent out a colt for money, to do... things. Sometimes a rich pony would come and...
...a-and rent. And we'd have money to help us keep the house and pay for the stuff daddy needed. But a filly... we couldn't afford another useless mouth s-so they pretended she'd never been born.
They told each other it was a stillbirth, while all the time she was crying. She was hungry, cold and alone and nopony would come to her crying. She kept crying and crying and crying and I wished she would just go and die already.
And then she suddenly went quiet. I-I felt so guilty. L-like my wish made her die. I never saw her again. My little sister died without ever seeing any pony. She died alone.
Sometimes I still dream about it. Sometimes I dream about holding her so she won't die alone.
Can I sleep with you tonight, Lero. Please?"
> Warning: Slightly sad/dark
No bucking kidding. 'dem implications....
3124485
"Slighty" is put it midly.
Just for the records, is not a Pinkie Promise, right?
I remember this! I'm glad you posted it Velvet!
Oh God. D: That hit me in the Feels AND the gut. D:
Good chapter but this sort of stuff don't match quite well even in Leroverse in my opinion. To be starving etc in Equestria you reaaaaly need to work hard for.
Ah yes, just as unsettling as the first time i saw it.
3124687
A lot less far-off than angel-Lero or pony-Lero or eternal Lero or... etc.
Basically, an area of Trottingham (or its surrounding suburban/urban areas) suffers from a rather nasty case of poverty. Quite possibly, job opportunities may have collapsed - Mines run dry, that sort of thing. Steps have been taken recently to improve the situation (quite possibly by the princesses themselves), but whatever stimulation is applied, it takes a while for the Trottingham economy to get back on its hooves. The distance (and lack of travel any faster than a pegasus) has not aided the relief efforts.
Imma take a trip to Trottingham. So I can find these horrible neglectful ponies. And BURN THEM TO ASH WITH A LEGION OF DALEKS!
Brilant and bright
My reaction. I mean, great Celestia, this is dark stuff man! Pipsqueak should tell this to Luna, she won't stand for this kind of thing.
I think you need a "worth"
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Nooooo! The story's worth-less!
For EXCEPTIONALLY CONSERVATIVE VALUES OF "SLIGHTLY".
This reminds me of our "Greolda (However you spell her name) the Kind" lookalike in my friend's Elder Scrolls: Equestria. She held a filly's wing to an anvil and crushed it with a sledgehammer, just because she had been giggling and having fun.
not too dark i thought it would be much worse actually, I wonder if luna knows of these nightmares
I didn't actually read the warning until it was nearly done. Talk about tonal whiplash.
...
Shit.
I want to hug the kid now...
Time for an entheusiastic walk to Trottingham.