Hard Life Growing Up

by Artistic Fox

Mare

Three more years passed as the unicorn peered through the bushes. Her prey was sitting there, just waiting to be eaten. She couldn’t help but lick her lips as she smelt the aroma from her meal. With the use of her magic, she tilted a chair back until it fell over and clattered on the linoleum floor.

The Baker turned his head towards the fallen chair and set down the freshly baked loaf on the counter as he stepped around it to pick up the chair. He turned back to find the counter empty. Immediately, he shouted obscenities and started searching the bakery for his loaf of bread. Meanwhile, in the bushes, the mare giggled to herself as she munched on her warm loaf. How is it he falls for the same trick every single day?

With her breakfast taken care of, she snuck out from her bush, keeping to the shadows and walking behind larger objects to hide herself. Over the past three years, she has been living in Canterlot, learning how Canterlot ponies walk, talk and even act. Unfortunately she’s had to do certain things to survive. Tricking the baker out of a loaf daily was just one little thing.

She laid low as a guard walked past, a tinier guard on his shoulder as they searched the streets. She may have shrunken a guard or two or five during her stay here. It was a bit of a slow learning process to work out what she needed to do to survive and avoid trouble, but she got the hang of it. Once in a while, a guard might corner her, which was rare, but she always had a spell up her sleeve to deal with that.

Unfortunately, the guards had posted her face all over Canterlot meaning that it was getting harder and harder to move around the city without someone noticing her. She stopped by the park, taking a drink from the nearby fountain. Her face was plastered on the noticeboard next to it. As far as she could tell, she looked almost just like all the other ponies around the city, except her markings were more definitive and her mane was a mess. Along with the dusty fur and muddied hooves, she stood out of a crowd. Except for the fact that she was still shorter than the average pony, it helped her hide in a large crowd.

She thought it was time to leave, finally find a real home to settle down in with her new found way of acting. She no longer casually swore like she did as a filly, she instead spoke in a somewhat sophisticated way, just not as fake as other did. Sadly, the city was built on the side of a mountain and the only methods of leaving seemed to be flying, which was out of the question, or the train. But with her face plastered everywhere, getting onto the train was near impossible.

Over the years, she had managed to build up some bits which she kept safe, more than enough for a ticket out, but any time she attempted to buy a ticket or even just sneak onto the train to avoid spending as much time out in the open as possible, a guard or civilian would notice her and a chase would ensue.

She stood by the corner of an intersection, leaning up against the building as she looked around for any signs of guards. With a clear view, she turned the corner, immediately bumping into someone.

“Oh dear, are you alright?”

Several bags had fallen on the unicorn along with some decently heavy rolls of fabric. Each of the items that fell on her we lifted up as she saw another unicorn, a white one helped her up onto her hooves. Although her eyes barely met the mare’s chin, this one didn’t seem to look down on her as other ponies did.

“Oh my, you’re absolutely filthy. I do apologize for knocking you down. Please, allow me to clean you up.”

She stretched out her hoof. Unsure of what to do, very few ponies have been kind to her before but she’s been living in Canterlot for three years. No one has shown her any kindness. Still, something was telling her to go with it as she lifted her hoof to take hers.

“Oh wait. Um… Just follow me instead.”

So not hugely different to others, but then again, her hooves were dried with mud and dusty, she was willing to look past it. She followed the unicorn who led her to a shop, a new shop that seems to have just recently opened. That would explain why she didn’t seem to recognize this unicorn. Three years is a long time to learn the faces of everyone you don’t like, her face wasn’t on that list.

Up until the shop, she had been walking beside the unicorn. As she opened the door to the shop, she entered first and she noticed this unicorn’s unusually curled, purple tail.

“You have such a unique tail.”

“Why thank you. Yours is… Well I can’t really tell under all that mud and dirt.”

She turned to look at her own tail, not realizing that it was worse than her hooves. It was matted down and solidified in mud. Had she painted it, it could pass for all the normal looking tails ponies had.

The unicorn led her upstairs to a shiny, clean room where a few fixtures she didn’t recognize stood. The stranger went to a large white bowl and turned a couple of handles as water poured out of the side, filling up the bowl.

Slowly walking up beside the unicorn and the bowl, she peered of the rim to see the bowl full of hot, steaming water.

“Hop in.”

She jumped back.

“You plan on cooking me?”

The unicorn burst out into laughter, taking a moment to calm herself.

“It’s a bath.”

She slowed down her laughter to small giggle.

“You do know what a bath is right?”

Her giggle became silent when she realized that this orange unicorn in fact did not know what a bath was. The white unicorn cleared her throat and patted the rim of the bowl.

“Trust me, jump in, I bet you’ll love it.”

Still a little hesitant, she approached the bowl and hoisted herself up on her hind legs. She touched the water with one hoof and immediately felt some heat through the caked mud. She pulled herself over and slid into the bowl, splashing water everywhere. The clear, hot water had turned black in an instant.

“Oh dear… This might take a while…”

After draining the water, refilling it, draining it again and refilling it a third time, the water remained, somewhat clear enough to clean herself in. The unicorn gave her a soft, soapy sponge for her to scrub herself with as she scrubbed her hooves with a thick bristled brush.

“I don’t know what to say. I’ve been scrubbing your hooves for half an hour and no matter what, they just stay black.”

“They’ve always been black.”

The unicorn raised her eyebrow as she followed the black hoof up her leg, finding the section the colours change from black to orange.

“Oh, what a unique coat you have.”

The orange unicorn giggled a bit. No one had every complimented her look, only insulted her. With every part of her body scrubbed and rescrubbed, she was helped out of the bowl and given a soft cloth.

“Dry yourself off and come back downstairs.”

The unicorn left, leaving her to work out how this cloth worked. She wrapped it around her head, waiting for her fur to dry but it was taking to long. She hung it over her back, but also nothing happened.

Shrugging, she tossed it aside and shook her entire body, spraying water in every direction until she was dry. She felt strange all of a sudden. She looked around and saw another unicorn in the room with her. When she tried to approach her, the unicorn approached her too. Getting closer to the unicorn, she realized that they looked just like her. When she lifted a hoof to reach out and touch her, she also reached out to touch back, but instead of a hoof, she just felt a cold surface.

“Oh… a reflection?”

She was looking at herself, but it was strange, she had never really seen herself, so clean before. Her orange fur, black hooves and ears and bushy tail really did look different from other ponies, but everything else was the same.

Deciding not to dwell on her looks again, she left the shiny room and headed back downstairs. As she reached the bottom floor, she saw the white unicorn, walking around a small table with a fake looking pony standing on top. She was attaching fabrics and sowing pieces together, seemingly zoned out before her eye caught hers.

“Oh, you’re done already, good. Now I thought to make you a dress to apologize for knocking you over earlier, but most of my dresses are big, showy and fancy. I didn’t think that would suit a pony like you. You have, such a unique coat, your hooves stand out from the rest of your body, your tail is so bushy and soft…”

She took a moment to pick up her tail and stroke it gently.

“…So I thought a more, minimalist dress would suit you best, something to show off what you have that other ponies could only dream of.”

She undid the dress from the fake pony and brought it over to a tall box.

“Come on, try it on.”

As she approached the box, trying to inspect what it was, but the unicorn thrust the dress into her hooves and pushed her inside. It was quite large and along three walls were reflections of herself. Sure that she wouldn’t be allowed to leave without doing as she said, she crawled into the dress, fitting her hooves into the holes like the fake pony had.

Standing in front of the reflections, she looked on as a silky, red dress hung over her body, exposing her hooves and tail. Although ponies commented on how weird those parts of her were, she somehow saw them differently with this dress on.

Opening the door to the box, she stepped out to show off to the unicorn.

“Almost done.”

She grabbed her hoof and brought her over to another reflection that sat above a large table with a single chair behind it. Taking a seat in the chair, the unicorn began brushing her mane, spraying it with strange smelling mists and brushing it some more. As she watched the unicorn focusing on her mane, she also noticed her levitating another brush by her tail as it too was brushed.

“There. I think you’re done.”

When the unicorn stepped down from in front of her, she saw her reflection once again. But she looked completely different. Her mane was clean and brushed into a windswept look as the rest of her mane bounced on her shoulders. Her tail, no long a giant bushy mess but a smooth, thick tail. She was beautiful.

“How did you…?”

“It’s an art darling. I see what other could be and transform them. No one has to be who they are when they can be fabulous instead.”

‘I can be what I want to be…’ She thought as something in her head finally fell into place. She was always worried about how others saw her. What others thought of her, but this unicorn has shown her, it wasn’t what they think that mattered, it was what she thought.

There was a glow that began emanating from beneath the dress, catching both of their attentions. Getting up off the chair, the white unicorn circled her, lifting up the dress and gasping. On her orange flank, where it had been bare for as long as she had lived, a Cutie Mark had formed. A palette with a brush, covered in blank ink standing behind it sat on her flank. It reminded her of her own brush tail. As she lifted it up to admire, she quickly noticed the tip was now black, much like the brush on her mark.

“What an unusual occurrence. I’ve never seen a pony actually change with the appearance of their Cutie Mark before.”

“Thank you so much, for everything you have done for me…”

“Oh, you may call me Rarity and I may call you?”

She didn’t have a name. She wasn’t given one like everyone else, but with her newly formed Cutie Mark, it dawned on her that she wasn’t meant to receive one, she was meant to make a name for herself.

“Artistic. Artistic Palete.”

With a smile she had not felt in a long time, she left the shop, her head held high as she strutted down the street. She could see the difference as ponies turned their gazes towards her. Unlike before where they whispered cruel things towards her, they instead murmured their disbelief in her coat, her beauty. For the first time ever, she walked down the street, the centre of attention and it wasn’t a bad thing.

After a quick detour back to her shelter, to grab her things, she was certain, today was the day. She returned to the station, where guards roamed, still on the look out for her. As she approached the booth to buy a ticket, she saw another one of her posters attached to the inside of the window.

The picture was of a messy maned, dirty faced unicorn with no name. She leaned in closer, seeing her reflection on the glass in front of the poster. The reflection showed a beautifully kept mane, clean unicorn who knew who she was.

“Where to?”

“The end of the line.”

“25 bits.”

Palete poured her bits out onto the counter and began counting, finding herself short at only 19 bits. She didn’t expect this; she thought it would only be 12 bits. Had the price gone up over time or was it because Canterlot was an expensive city?

‘You are who you want to be…’

That line ran through her head as she stared at the stallion behind the booth. Leaning in closer, she lowered her eyes and spoke softly.

“I seem to be a bit short at the moment. Is there any other way I could cover the cost of this ticket?”

The stallion was flushed red as he struggled to speak.

“Umm… Come around to the door and maybe we could work something out…”

He got up from his seat and walked over to the door that Palete had already made her way over to. As he opened the door, he held out a ticket. Palete tried to grab it but he pulled it back, shaking his head. He then leaned closer and pursed his lips.

“Alright… but you’ll have to close your eyes.”

He followed her instructions and shut his eyes as he waited for his kiss. Palete turned away from him, flicking his face with the tip of her tail before pulling the ticket out of his hoof with her magic.

“Wow! What a mare…”

He rubbed his cheek from the slap, unaware of the ink trail that was slapped across his face from cheek to cheek. With her ticket in hoof, she approached the train where two guards stood. Without any hesitation, she walked past them, boarding the train with a smile on her face.

“Last call!”

As she took a seat in a cart where many other ponies sat, most turned to look at her, awestruck by her. It was a welcomed change from their usual reactions.

“Tickets please.”

A bearded stallion entered the cart, taking ponies tickets and punching a hole in them. As he approached Palete, she already had her ticket out, holding it before him. Punching a hole in it, he gave it back but stopped before moving onto the next pony.

“Hey, haven’t I seen you before?”

Palete smiled before looking up to the pony.

“No, I’m new here.”

“Oh, then have a nice day miss.”

Palete enjoyed the trip from Canterlot. Slowly, the cart dropped off a few ponies here and there as it stopped at station to station. Eventually, the speaker spoke the words she was waiting for.

“End of the line.”

Gathering her things, she exited the train onto the station. She could see, the town was small, but clean, modern. The streets were cobbled, there were no guards and there was many less ponies roaming the streets than Canterlot had. As the train departed from the station, Palete could see the other side of the tracks; a lush forest grew beside the town.

She took one last look around before nodding in agreement. She might look like a fancy Canterlot pony now, but deep down; she just wanted the peace and quiet of a forest to call her own. As she took a few steps towards the forest, a little filly approached her, holding some pamphlets in her hooves.

“Hi! Welcome to Alicorn Springs. What brings you here to our little town?”

Palete lowered herself to the filly’s height, although that didn’t mean she had to lean much, but she smiled and patted the filly on the head.

“Just heading home.”

With that, she leapt down from the station, walking off into the forest to make a new, permanent den.

Comments

[Labpony]

This was a realy nice short story. Well done.