Daily Lie

by Lady Brony

Chapter 1 (with corrections)

Daily Lie

My daughter, Nova slammed the door behind her after getting home from school. I was in the kitchen preparing dinner for the night when I heard it; my reaction was to scold her about being gentle with it before she breaks it. I put down the spoon for the pasta.

I walked to the hallway, where the gray filly with a dark purple and black mane stood. “Nova, what have I-“. I stopped as I soon saw tears dripped down her face. “Nova, is everything alright?

Nova avoided eye contact; she stared at the wooden floor. “I don’t want to talk about It.” She said, as she ran past me and up the stairs to her room, giving it another slam. “Not this again”. I thought as I climbed up the stairs. My daughter was always a “Late Bloomer” to put it nicely, problems at school must be getting worse.

“Nova sweetie, are you alright?” I knocked on her door.

“Go away”. Nova yelled, part crying, through the door. I expected that response from her.

“Nova, this is the third time this week you came home like this. If you don’t talk about it, it’s just going to keep happening.” I said as I tried to reason with her. I hated seeing her like this.

“I said go away”. She said again.

“Fine”. I said. There was no point to fight with her at least for now. Dinner still had to be made. I would have to deal with it later.

***

I went to the kitchen and continued what I was doing before, I put the garlic bread in the oven and turn it on. Then took the spoon and stirred it around in the pot of pasta. When I see Nova like that it breaks my heart however, she doesn’t like to talk about what the kids do to her at school.

I’ve seen her come home with cuts and bruises and once, a black eye! It keeps getting worse but Nova refuses to tell me anything. There’s not much I can do without any information. She used to be such a happy girl. Always smiling and laughing, now she locks herself in her room and only comes out for dinner or to go to school.

She doesn’t have that many friends and rarely goes out on weekends. She would rather stay home and not be at school. Nova makes every excuse to get out of it. Like she has a stomachache or she doesn’t want to walk in the rain, anything she can come up with, she’ll use it. She has missed tons of school, too many days for me to count.

I poured the boiled water out in the sink, separating spaghetti and water.

I’m at my wits end with her, since my husband, Rumble goes on business trips a lot and isn’t home that much to help out with Nova. I'm by myself most of the time with her. I kind of feel a like a single mom sometimes-.

“Mom”. A voice said behind me.

I turned to see Nova standing the kitchen, head low in defect. She actually came out of her room that’s a miracle in itself.

“Yes sweetie”. I said. Taking in this rare moment.

“I think I'm ready to tell you what happens at school”. Nova said. Tears formed in her eyes. Her self-confidence has really gone hill down since the surgery. She’s no longer that happy little girl she once was.

“Okay, give me a minute to finish dinner and then we can talk it over while we eat”. I said, putting the pasta back in the pot.

“Alright”. Nova sniffed. She left and went back to her room.

***

Supper was on the table. Nova sat at the far end, she stayed quiet glared it at her plate of food. She picked at her food, staying quiet as possible. Guess I'm the one who has to start the conversation (yet again).

“So Nova, what did you want to talk to me about?’ I asked from the other side of the table. Why did Rumble have to buy the biggest one they had at the store? I mean it takes up half of the living room!

For a moment Nova hesitated before an answer was given. “I'm just sick of everyone at school, everybody treats me like shit since I had the cancer and I had to have my wing removed”. Nova said. She went back to stare at the floor again, a nervous habit she developed over time. “It’s like no one cares about me anymore”.

***

A few months ago, Nova was diagnosed with cancer in her left wing. The cancer got bad so quickly that doctors acted and amputated the wing before could it spread. Nova was devastated that she wouldn't fly any longer. She cried and begged me not to let the doctors do this to her. I told her it would save her life and make her stronger. I loathed making her go through that but I had no choice. She could have died if I did nothing.

My husband was away at work on another business trip and I couldn’t get a hold of him. I called him several times with no answer. I had to face that on my own with her. It wasn’t only hard for Nova it was hard on me too.

When Nova was able to return to school. She was greeted by getting ignored by her best friends or being pushed into lockers by others. Nova used to tell me everything but when bullying started, she turned very shy and didn’t want to be close to anyone, she has changed a lot over a short period of time.

***

“Nova, no swearing at the dinner table, it’s not lady like”. I cautioned slightly. ‘And what do you mean when you think that no one cares”.

Nova sighed. “None of my friends have spoken to me after the operation, even if I go near them, they fly off together. They called me a one winged freak-”. Nova erupted into tears and brokedown. I got out of my chair and hugged her.

“Shh, It’s going to be fine”. I comforted her as I hugged her tighter.
Nova sniffed. “How do you know? You don’t understand what it’s like looking like a freak show all the time”. Nova cried. “I’ll be a flightless loser for the rest of my life”.

I took in a deep breath to calm myself down. That brought back some bad memories and uncovered old wounds. “She doesn’t mean it, She's having a rough patch”. I told myself for another time. It still pains me to hear that my daughter thinks she’s a loser and I felt the same once as well.

“Nova, I know what you're going through and it isn’t easy, I wished you weren’t hurting so much but I had a very similar thing happen to me when I was your age”. I confessed.

Nova wiped her tears away. “What do you mean?”

[i

]***

Imagine not being able to be like everyone else. What it’s like seeing others do what you cannot. Something you were supposed to do at birth but for whatever the reasons are, you couldn’t. Going through a living nightmare each and every day.

No matter how much you want to scream and cry, you're not allowed too. No, you have to put on a brave face and live life to the fullest. Be an Inspiration for everyone around as there’s always someone with it way worse than you. Show everyone you're not bothered by what your disabilities are.

That’s what I struggled with for years.

For the longest time I felt useless and a disgrace to my kind. I'm not like other Pegasi for I can’t fly due to a birth defect. My wings were too small for flight. I’ll never feel the wind in my purple mane while soaring in the sky or sleeping in a cloud. There have been countless nights where I cried myself to sleep.

I’m just a waste of space.

Then came the next morning where I completely act like nothing is wrong and go my merry way. Sure, I have the odd pony asking me if there’s anything up. But it always went the same way:

***

It was the first day of middle school. The change was stressful for me.

“Hey Scoots”. Apple-Bloom and Sweetie Belle, happily greeted me in unison before school started.

“HI”. I said, in monotone. Like I usually do,

“Scoots, are you alright?” Apple-Bloom asked in her thick southern accent. To tell the truth, I wasn’t. I’ve been miserable and numb for years. But my friends don’t need to know that. I'm not going to be that much of a Debbie Downer.

“I’m fine”. I lied. With my great acting skills to the test, they couldn’t know,

“Umm… okay”. Apple-Bloom remarked.

“We should go to class now. Sweetie said. Looking at the clock on the wall. “Can’t be late on the first day”.

“Okay”.

***

That was a lie I told every day. Who knew two simple words could cause me all this grief. It bothered me I was being two faced to my two best friends, but at the time I saw it as protecting them.

I thought they'd laugh at me if I told the truth and tell me to get over it. I didn’t want deal with that kind of crap. I don’t need to hear it from them. I don’t want to see the sorry faces, I have dealt with that enough.

When I was younger I used to think that if I tried my hardest and have patience that I would fly. Boy, I was so wrong, I trained for nearly five years without seeing any change. I was completely destroyed with the fact that I couldn't fly. I thought I was being punished for an unknown reason.

All the tears and sweat were not worth it. I just give up after that. No matter what I do I'm not seeing success and I was ready to quit for good. It all was falling apart and I was too.

***

All of the other Pegasi my age had been flying for years and I couldn’t. Was there something wrong with me? It was getting sad now, I was almost sixteen and I had never been in the sky.

I'm hopeless; I’ll never fly, not in this lifetime.

I just wanted to end it all.

Author's Note:

Not many people know this about me that I was slowly going blind. It's was an nightmare and I struggled with it for years. It really took a toll on my self-confidence because i had trouble with everything on my own.I couldn't really be that independent because i was almost completely at blind at one point. Before I had my cornea transplants surgery. Scootaloo was a character i related to the most on the show.

Comments

[Element of Harmony]

I thought I was being punishment for an unknown reason

It should probably be punished. But other then that, good story so far.

[Dash32]

I can kind of relate to Scootaloo. I too was born with a birth defect that SHOULD have confined me to a wheelchair for life. But after six years of therapy I only need crutches to help me now. And despite all the insults I get from a few people, I wouldn't have it any other way.