• Published 25th Oct 2020
  • 2,442 Views, 547 Comments

Acts of Love - Krickis



Morning Glisten isn't really a good filly. She fights with other foals, and she doesn't really trust adults. So when three Princesses take an interest in adopting her, she'll need to become someone else to win their love.

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3 – A Good Fit

Chapter Three
A Good Fit


Weekdays were better than weekends. Most foals Morning’s age disagreed with that, but most foals had friends to play with. Going to school meant Morning could busy herself with learning and projects that usually were better than being forced to play with the foals she lived with, the occasional group project aside.

Even so, she wasn’t really fond of going to and from school. She might be if she were allowed to make the trip herself, but she was only six years old – even though she knew the way, she wasn’t trusted to go alone. All the elementary school-aged kids at Small Steps walked into town together with one of the caretakers, and then at the end of the day, they walked back.

The whole way, she had to listen to all the other kids talk about their day and how good or bad it had been. She didn’t really want to be involved in the discussion. She just wanted to go to school, and then for that to be it.

Having to walk back with the others always made her days take a downward turn as soon as school was over with, so she didn’t expect much when she got back to the orphanage. On the plus side, they usually let the foals do what they wanted after school, which meant she wasn’t likely to be forced to play with the others, but there still was only so much she could do on her own.

So even though she didn’t care for the walk back to the orphanage much, she couldn’t really look forward to it being over, either. From the moment they arrived, the others were running off to play together, while Morning was just ready to head to her room.

It seemed the caretaker realized that. “Why not go play with the others, Morning?”

Morning frowned. “I just don’t want to play right now.”

The caretaker showed her a patient smile. “I think you’d have more fun if you did.”

“But I don’t like their games…”

“Oh, come on now. I bet if you… oh, hello Miss Ginger.”

Morning turned to see Miss Ginger had popped her head out of the orphanage. She was smiling at the two of them. “We have visitors in the playroom. Morning, go put away your things and head over there.”

“Oh, uh, okay.” Morning wasn’t sure who would be visiting them, but she hoped whoever it was didn’t plan on making her play with the other foals. The only pony that came to mind was Sunset Shimmer, since she had said she’d be coming back. But Miss Ginger had said visitors, plural.

It was strange, but Morning would figure it out soon. She made her way inside and went to her room, dropping off her saddlebags. She had a little bit of homework to do, so between that and seeing whoever was there to visit them, she probably wouldn’t have to worry too much about finding something else to do for the rest of the day.

Once she had dropped off her things, she made her way to the playroom. She could hear excited voices inside before she even opened the door, and as soon as she did, she could see why.

Sunset Shimmer was there, but she wasn’t alone. Morning Glisten wouldn’t have recognized the yellow pony, but she knew the purple alicorn was Princess Twilight Sparkle, and that meant the yellow pegasus must have been Princess Fluttershy.

Three princesses were visiting their orphanage. It was easy to see why the others were excited, but Morning couldn’t think of why they would all be there in the first place.

Sunset turned when she heard the door open, seeing Morning and smiling more broadly. She tapped Fluttershy on the shoulder, then Twilight. They both looked as she pointed at Morning and smiled at her as well.

Unsure of what else to do, Morning just waved. She didn’t really want to join the crowd, even if she did kind of want to say hi to Sunset.

Twilight smiled at the foals. “It’s been very nice meeting you all, but we have somepony else to see.”

They all groaned and Twilight apologized. Fluttershy frowned and said, “Maybe we can spend some time with all of you another day?”

Sunset looked like she was going to take a step away, but she was surrounded on all sides. Rather than try to herd the foals away, she lit up her horn and vanished in a flash. All the children oohed and ahhed as Sunset reappeared beside Morning Glisten.

“Hey there, Morning. Told you I’d be back.”

Morning couldn’t hold back a smile. “Hi, Sunset.”

Sunset gestured for the others to come over, and they did so with a little more restraint. They gently made their way through the crowd of children to stand beside Morning.

Seeing Princess Twilight up close was very different than seeing pictures of her. She was even taller than Sunset, and she towered over Morning. She had to crane her neck back just to see her properly.

Only for a moment though, then Twilight bent down to get closer to Morning. “Hello there. My name’s Twilight Sparkle, and I take it you’re Morning Glisten?”

Morning just nodded her head.

“Sunset’s told us all about you,” Fluttershy said. She had a soft voice, and felt more approachable than the alicorn princess. “I’m Fluttershy.”

“Uhm, hi.”

Sunset laughed. “Oh, so you go speechless for them.”

Morning blushed a little and looked away.

“Don’t tease her,” Twilight said to Sunset, then turned back to Morning. “Miss Ginger told us you were at school. Did you have a good day?”

“It… it was okay.” Although Morning had wanted to say hello to Sunset, this was growing to be a little much. She had three different princesses talking to her – well, if Sunset counted as a princess – and everypony else’s eyes were on her.

“I, uhm, I think we should go somewhere a little more private,” Fluttershy said. “Then maybe we could talk more, if Morning wants to.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Come this way,” Miss Ginger said. Morning hadn’t even noticed she was in the room. “We have private rooms set up for this sort of thing.”

She gently guided Morning along, and the three princesses followed. They made their way to a small room with a table that Morning had only been in once before. She’d met with Cinnamon Twirl here, who had eventually adopted her.

Obviously that wasn’t what was going on now, because these three ponies could adopt any filly or colt they wanted, so she was just confused as she took a seat.

“I’ll be right outside if you need me,” Miss Ginger said.

“Thanks, Ginger,” Sunset said, then she took a seat across from Morning. Twilight and Fluttershy did the same, so all four ponies were sitting around a circular table.

“There, is that a little better?” Fluttershy asked. “I know it’s hard when everypony is looking at you.”

“I… I guess so.”

“There’s no need to be nervous,” Sunset said. “We just want to talk to you.”

“Why?” Morning asked her.

Even though she asked Sunset, it was Twilight that answered. “Well, Sunset told us about you, and we wanted to meet you ourselves.

“Yeah,” Sunset said with a smirk. “I told them about this cool filly I was hanging out with and they got all jealous.”

Morning laughed a little bit. “I’m not that cool.”

“Trust me, I’m an expert on cool.” Sunset winked.

“Uhm, I thought Rainbow Dash was the expert on cool,” Fluttershy said.

“Well, we can both be experts,” Sunset insisted.

“So, Morning,” Twilight said, getting the other two back on track, “why don’t you tell us a little about yourself.”

“Uhm… I don’t know…”

Fluttershy giggled. “It’s not a job interview, Twily.” She turned back to Morning. “So do you have a nickname your friends call you, or do you just like Morning?”

Morning frowned. “Just Morning. I don’t really have any friends.”

“No friends?” Twilight asked doubtfully. “How can a sweet filly like you not have any friends?”

“I don’t like the other foals.”

“They’re not mean to you, are they?” Fluttershy asked.

“Uhm…” Morning twirled her hoof across the table. “Well, they don’t really like to play with me. Not since, uhm…”

When she trailed off, Sunset gently brushed a hoof across her shoulder. “It’s okay, you can tell us about whatever it is. Not since what?”

“Well… I said Patchouli had a dumb name, then he said I had a dumb face, so I punched him.”

Sunset let out a small laugh, so Twilight fixed her with a hard glare before softening it as she turned back to Morning. “Did you say you were sorry?”

“Yes. Miss Ginger made me.”

Twilight frowned a little, but Fluttershy kept smiling. “But they still won’t play with you?”

“I don’t want to play with them anyway.” Morning scowled. “They’re all dumb and loud. I just like to read.”

Fluttershy nudged Sunset. “Are you sure it wasn’t Twilight she reminded you of?”

Twilight nodded. “I was a lot like that when I was little. Well, I don’t think I ever hit somepony, but I didn’t think friendship was important either.”

“All three of us had a little trouble with making friends,” Fluttershy said.

Sunset shrugged. “I hit, like, so many people.”

“Sunset!” Twilight snapped.

“Right, sorry. I hit so many ponies.

Twilight sighed and bowed her head. Although she wasn’t sure what a people was, Morning laughed.

“I think that’s enough of that,” Sunset said. She looked around the room and saw a board game, which she levitated over to them. “Instead of just talking, how about the four of us do something together? This game says it’s up to four ponies, so it’ll be perfect.”

“Would that be okay with you, Morning?” Fluttershy asked.

Morning looked between the other ponies and the game. She didn’t usually like playing games with anyone else, but at least it would be with Sunset. “I guess so.”

Sunset nodded and set up the board game.


Meeting with three princesses – she decided maybe Sunset did count after all – was a singularly strange experience, in part because of how normal it was. They didn’t really act like princesses. They played board games with Morning and teased one another while asking her about herself and the things she liked to do. By the end of the day, she was left quite confused about the whole thing.

She did what she could to put it from her mind, though. No sense in dwelling on it. The weekend found Morning as it often did – lying in bed with a book. It was the perfect way to relax, and it left her with less time to think about how strange the past week had been.

She was just getting to the good part when there came a knock on the door. More than a little annoyed, she called, “Yeah?”

The door opened to Miss Ginger on the other side. “Hello, Morning dear. You’ve got a couple visitors here to see you.”

Morning cocked her head to the side. “I do?”

The door opened wider, and Princess Twilight stepped into the room. “Hello, Morning.”

“Princess?” Morning said, confused as to why she was seeing the princess a second time in one week. And… was that a dragon with her!?

Twilight gestured to the dragon, who waved and smiled. “I thought I’d bring someone else to meet you today. This is Spike, my little brother.”

Spike didn’t look like a little anything. He stood taller than a pony, even Twilight. He was long and lanky, and Morning had never seen anything like him. “Uhm, hi.”

Miss Ginger left the three of them, shutting the door behind her. Twilight remained standing, while Spike took a seat on the floor. “Hi, Morning. It’s nice to meet you.”

Twilight patted Spike with her wing. “I’m sure you can guess, but Spike is my adopted brother. So we thought you might like to meet him, since you have something in common.”

Morning looked up at Spike. “Did your mom give you up too?”

Spike scratched his neck. “Well, maybe. Twilight hatched me from an egg. I don’t really know anything about who my birth parents are.”

“Oh.” Morning looked to Twilight. “Doesn’t that make you his mom?”

Twilight chuckled. “Well, I certainly could have been, if I had been a little older. I was only ten years old at the time, way too young to be anypony’s – or anydragon’s – mom. So instead my parents took him in, and they raised him alongside me and our older brother.”

Morning wasn’t really sure what to say, so she just shifted in place.

“But even if they’re ponies and I’m not, my family’s always been my real family,” Spike said. “So I guess what we wanted to say is that being adopted doesn’t make you any less family.”

“But nopony wants to adopt me,” Morning said with a frown. She didn’t really have that much in common with Spike after all. He’d been adopted, and Morning never would be. Never again. “Even when somepony did, she just brought me back.”

Twilight frowned as well. “Sunset told me that. But just because one pony wasn’t a good fit, that doesn’t mean somepony else won’t be.”

Morning looked at Spike then grinned. “Maybe a dragon will adopt me! Then I’ll get to do dragon stuff instead of boring old pony stuff.”

“I… don’t think dragons are big on adopting,” Spike said.

Twilight giggled. “Besides, I think there’s a lot of fun pony stuff too.”

Spike nodded. “Yeah! I’m glad I grew up with ponies.”

Morning still thought living with dragons would be cooler than ponies, but she didn’t try to argue it.

Twilight looked around and noticed the book she’d been reading. “Is that Prancey Drew? I loved her books when I was a filly!”

“I’ve read all the Prancey Drew books we have here,” Morning said. “This is my second time reading this one.”

“Reading books twice can be fun,” Twilight said with a smile. “I read a lot of my favorites more than once. There are a few books I’ve read so many times I’ve lost count.”

“And trust me, that’s saying something,” Spike said. He looked at Twilight. “Maybe Twilight and I can read some of it to you if you want?”

“That’s a great idea, Spike!” Twilight smiled at Morning. “If that’s okay with you of course, Morning.”

Morning usually preferred to read things on her own, but if she listened to Twilight read, she wouldn’t have to worry about saying the wrong thing. “Okay. I was on this part.”

Twilight sat on the bed beside Morning and read over the page a little bit. Spike took a seat beside Twilight and leaned in so he could see as well.

Twilight cleared her throat and started reading. “Very clever, Prancey Drew. But I bet you didn’t –”

“No.” Morning leaned across Twilight to see the book. “That’s the chancellor, he’s the bad guy in this book, so he’s gotta sound all tough and mean!”

Twilight giggled. “Okay, how’s this.” She put on a mean face and changed how she was reading. “Very clever, Prancey Drew. But I bet you didn’t count on this!”

Morning nodded. “That’s acceptable.”

Twilight and Spike looked at each other and laughed, then Twilight continued reading.


It was a rare treat to just get away from everyone, so Morning took it readily. Well, not everyone of course – it would be a few years yet before Morning was trusted to leave the orphanage on her own. But it was just her and Princess Fluttershy.

It was strange that Princess Fluttershy had offered to take just her on this trip, but Morning had been too excited to get out of Small Steps to question it. And so the two of them went on a nature hike in the forest that surrounded Hollow Shades.

It was Morning’s first time out in the forest, which she had been told was dangerous for foals to play in. She didn’t see anything that looked particularly dangerous, though.

“Where are all the animals?” Morning asked.

“You don’t always get to see a lot of animals,” Fluttershy explained. “Most of the time, they’re busy doing things like looking for food, taking care of their little ones, or sleeping. But even if you can’t see them, there’s sure to be a few animals around hiding just out of sight.”

“Oh.” Morning looked around, wondering if there were dangerous animals just hiding around any of the trees. She pressed closer to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy looked down at her and smiled. “Is everything alright?”

“Uhm. I just thought you looked a little scared.”

“Oh really?” Fluttershy smiled. “You know nothing’s going to hurt you out here. Not as long as I’m with you.”

“I know that! I’m not scared!”

Fluttershy nodded. “Of course. You’re a really brave filly.”

“Of course I am!”

“Hmm…” Fluttershy bowed her head as a smile crept along her face. “Do you think I might be less scared if I had my wing around you?”

“I dunno,” Morning said. “Yes.”

Fluttershy draped her wing over the smaller filly, who felt a little better. That would make Fluttershy feel safer for sure.

“If we run into any animals, I can tell you all about them,” Fluttershy said. “To help me feel less afraid.”

Morning nodded. “Do you know about plants too?” She gestured towards a brush with strange feathery looking leaves that stemmed out. “Like what that is?”

“No, I’m afraid I don’t know a lot about plants.”

“Oh.”

“Do you like plants?”

Morning shrugged. “I guess. At least cool looking ones like that.”

Fluttershy nodded and guided them in for a closer look. “It does look pretty cool, doesn’t it.”

Morning leaned in to look at it closer when a face popped out from it. She screamed and jumped back.

Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth and giggled. “Aww, it’s okay. It’s just a little skunk.”

Morning stayed away and put a hoof over her nose. “Skunks are stinky!”

“No, he’s not stinky. Come get a closer look.”

Morning wasn’t so sure, but Fluttershy didn’t seem to be afraid of it, so she got a little closer.

Fluttershy turned to the skunk. “Hello, little friend. Will you come out so we can say hello better?”

The skunk popped its head back into the bush, which rattled around for a moment. After a few seconds, the skunk came out from the bottom of the bush.

“Oh my, your fur looks so nice and soft,” Fluttershy said to the skunk. “Is it okay if we pet you?”

To Morning’s surprise, the skunk nodded. Fluttershy reached out a hoof and pet it. She gestured for Morning to do the same. “Come over and say hi.”

Morning stepped a little bit closer. “Is… is it safe?”

Fluttershy laughed. “It’s good to be cautious of wild animals, but it’s okay. He won’t hurt you, just pet him gently.”

Morning inched a little closer and reached her hoof out. The skunk sniffed her tentatively, then lowered his head for her to pet him. She broke into a huge smile as she did. “I always thought skunks were supposed to be smelly?”

“Skunks have a scent gland that lets them spray a very smelly liquid at ponies or animals that try to hurt them. But as long as we’re nice, Mr. Skunk won’t do that.”

“Oh. How’d you know he was a boy skunk?”

Fluttershy looked back at her flank, where she had three butterflies as a cutie mark. “I got my cutie mark when I realized I could communicate with animals. I can also just tell things about them by looking at them sometimes. That’s how I knew that this was a nice skunk.”

“Oh.”

“Which is also why it’s important not to play with wild animals when I’m not around. You’re safe with me, but on your own, you wouldn’t be able to tell which ones are nice and which ones are mean.”

Morning nodded in understanding. She wasn’t in any hurry to get skunk sprayed if she ever ran into one on her own.

But even so, she had to admit… “This is really cool.”

Fluttershy giggled. “I’m glad you think so. And I think Mr. Skunk likes the attention too. But we should let him get back to his business.”

“Aww, do we have to?” Morning asked.

“I’m afraid we do. He was probably looking for food when we showed up, and we shouldn’t keep him.”

Mr. Skunk turned and skittered off, but he did stop to look back. Morning waved to him, and he turned and kept on running.

Fluttershy reached her wing over for Morning once more, and she opened her mouth to tell her that she didn’t need to do that anymore; after meeting with Mr. Skunk, Morning wasn’t scared anymore.

But something stopped her from saying anything. Instead, she just kept close to Fluttershy as they started walking again.


The time was finally drawing close. The two ponies had spent weeks, maybe months trailing the changeling menace, and it was about to pay off.

“Careful, Princess,” Captain Shimmer said. “There are changelings here, I’m sure of it.”

Princess Morning Glisten nodded. “Lead the way, Captain.”

Captain Shimmer crept around the corner, and she gasped at what she saw. Princess Morning looked around her and did the same. There were changelings as far as they could see, more changelings than either of them had ever seen in their lives.

“There are so many!” Princess Morning said.

“It doesn’t matter how many there are,” Captain Shimmer said with a grin. “They’re no match for Captain Shimmer and Princess Morning!”

Morning nodded fiercely, almost dislodging the crown on her head. “That’s right! Let’s get ‘em, Captain!”

Captain Shimmer bowed her head and ran in, skewering changelings as she went. Morning lit up her horn and engulfed her enemies in a sea of flame.

“There’s too many!” Captain Shimmer called as she lobbed a powerful magic blast at a changeling.

“We can do it!” Princess Morning yelled. “Watch out behind you.”

Captain Shimmer bucked behind her, then turned to Morning. “Thanks for the heads up, Princess.”

“I think we got them all,” Morning said, looking around.

“Still no sign of the changeling queen, though,” Captain Shimmer said with a frown.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that if I were you…” Morning jumped at Sunset, crashing into her. “I tricked you! I was the changeling queen all along!”

“No! How could I have been fooled!” Sunset fell dramatically to the ground with Morning on top of her. “What have you done with the real Morning Glisten?”

“I locked her away somewhere you’ll never find her! Now prepare to die!” Morning poked Sunset with her horn, and she collapsed into a motionless pile with her tongue hanging out. “Victory for the changeling swarm! Mwahahahaha!”

Sunset, being dead, did not respond.

Morning giggled. “Okay, you can stop being dead now.”

Sunset lay still.

“Sunset! I can feel you breathing, I know you’re not really dead!”

Sunset’s only response was to hold her breath, so Morning pushed on her with her hooves. “Come on, get up!”

“I can’t, I’m too dead.”

Morning laughed. “Dead ponies can’t talk, Sunset!”

“They can when they’re killed by changeling queens. It’s magic.”

“No! It doesn’t work like that…”

“Oh yeah?” Sunset opened one eye. “Well maybe it works like this!” She jumped up and held down Morning, tickling her mercilessly.

“Sunset!” Morning said in between fits of laughter.

“You thought you were the only one with a surprise attack, huh?”

“Stop!” Morning said as she laughed, and Sunset stopped. Morning’s laughter trailed off slowly as she sat up, brushing dirt off of her. She saw Sunset’s crown had fallen off her head, so she picked it up and brushed that off too, then handed it back to Sunset.

Sunset placed the crown on her head and sat beside Morning. “Getting about time for me to head out for the day.”

“Okay.” Morning frowned and drew shapes into the dirt with her hoof.

“I’ll come back soon though,” Sunset said with a smile. “Maybe with Twilight or Fluttershy next time.”

“Uhm, Sunset?”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you three keep coming to visit me?”

Sunset brushed her mane back. “Well, like I said, you’re a cool kid. We like hanging out with you.”

Morning pursed her lips. “You’re lying. Adults don’t do that!”

Sunset sighed. “I’m not lying. It’s just… well, there is more to it.”

“You’re just going to get tired of me and leave me like everypony else. So why don’t you just go?”

“Hey now, that’s not true.” Sunset frowned. “Look, I really like visiting you, Morning. We have fun, and you’re a great kid.”

“But you’re an adult. Adults don’t care about kids.”

“I do care about you.” Sunset put a hoof on Morning’s shoulder. “That’s why I keep visiting. I care about you.”

“You’re lying!” Morning scooted away, letting Sunset’s hoof slide off of her. “You’re going to leave me, just like Cinnamon Twirl! You’re a princess, and I’m just a dumb orphan.”

“You want to know a secret?”

“No.” Morning turned away from Sunset.

“Too bad, ‘cause I’m telling you anyway.” Sunset paused for a moment, then lowered her voice to say, “I grew up in an orphanage too.”

“You did?” Morning turned back to look at Sunset.

“It’s a long story, but I ran away from home when I was younger. When they found me, they stuck me in an orphanage, where I grew up. Plus even though they’re alive, my parents never cared about me.” Sunset scooted a little closer. “What I’m getting at is that I kinda understand what it’s like, you know? I know what it’s like to feel like no one cares about you. And to pretend like you don’t care about anyone else.”

“I don’t care about anyone!” Morning insisted.

“Oh yeah? Well that’s a shame.” Sunset smiled a little. “Because, you know, I was going to tell you the real reason we keep visiting you, but if you don’t care about us, you probably don’t care about that.”

“I don’t care!” Morning folded her forelegs and looked down at the ground. “What is it?”

“Well, we didn’t want to say anything and get your hopes up, but the thing is we’re kinda looking to adopt a little filly.”

Morning stared at the ground.

“Maybe an adorable little pink filly?” Sunset leaned in a little closer. “With a yellow streak through her rose-colored mane?”

Morning gritted her teeth and turned to face Sunset. “So what!? So you can just bring me back here and leave me alone when you realize you don’t want me!?”

Sunset’s ears folded down. “I know that happened before, but it’s not going to happen with us. We like you a lot, Morning. We’ve been talking, and I think we all agree that we’d love to take you home with us.”

There was definitely a part of Morning that wanted that, but at the same time… “You’ll just bring me back in the end anyway.”

Sunset sighed. “I promise you we won’t. But you know, this is your decision too. If you don’t want to come home with us, then that’s okay. We only want to if you do.”

“Well I don’t!” Morning stood up and adopted a defensive stance, as if Sunset was going to take her away whether she wanted to or not. “Just… just leave me alone!”

For all her attempts to get under Sunset’s skin when they first met, this was the first time she looked genuinely upset. “If… that’s what you really want…”

“It is!” Morning glared at her for a moment, then she turned and ran. She ran all the way inside, and didn’t stop until she reached her room.

Once she was there, Morning buried her head under her pillow. That’s where she was going to stay until Sunset came to try to talk to her, and then she was just going to refuse to talk.

That would show her. She’d try to get Morning to change her mind, and Morning just wouldn’t care. She’d say it as many times as she needed to, but in the end, she would not be adopted by Sunset.

And then Sunset would stop visiting her, because she was an adult and that’s what adults did. When things didn’t go their way, they just stopped caring. But so what! Morning had been fine without Sunset, and she would be fine once Sunset gave up on her!

Even when she started crying, Morning stayed resolute. Sunset would come to change her mind, and Morning would say no.

Only… Sunset didn’t come. No one did. Morning kept crying alone with no sign of Sunset. She pulled her head out from under the pillow, but she kept her back turned to the door in case Sunset walked in.

It was better this way, right? She was better off without another adult to pretend to care when she never would. She was better off without Sunset Shimmer. Morning always did just fine on her own, and that’s how she would continue to do things.

She wasn’t sure how long she cried for. She cried quietly, like she always did. Morning didn’t want other ponies to hear her, didn’t want them to try and comfort her. She hated when ponies took pity on her.

Eventually, she got to wondering what was taking Sunset so long. She was supposed to try and talk to her, supposed to try and convince her to change her mind. That’s how this was supposed to happen, so where was she?

Morning wiped her eyes and got up, walking to the door slowly. She opened it and looked around, seeing no one else. Frowning, she walked out into the hall, and then to the fork between the offices and the playroom. She chose to go to the offices.

The first pony she ran into was Miss Ginger, who smiled a little when she saw her. “Hey, Morning,” she said in that tone that made it clear she knew something bad had happened. “How’re you doing?”

“Uhm… Wh-where’s Sunset?”

Miss Ginger gave a little sigh as she walked over to Morning. “She left, dear. She said you didn’t want to see her anymore.”

“Oh.” Morning couldn’t believe Sunset had left her, just like that. “Well… I don’t…”

“Oh, Morning…” Miss Ginger brushed Morning’s mane aside. “You have to let ponies in sometimes. She really cares about you, you know.”

No she didn’t. She was an adult, and they always said they cared, but they didn’t really. “Well… I don’t care about her!”

“Come on now, you don’t mean that.”

“Yes I do!” Morning was tired of adults telling her how she felt, so she turned around and ran back to her room. She slammed the door behind her and screamed.

She wasn’t going to cry this time, though. Instead, she positioned herself in front of her dresser, and she bucked it with her hindlegs. The book that she’d been reading fell off, falling open onto the floor. Morning looked at it, but rather than picking it up, she kicked it away.

This was exactly why she was better off without Sunset. If Sunset saw her acting like this, she would just send her right back to Small Steps.

So what? Morning kicked her dresser again. Part of it chipped off, throwing Morning off her balance. She fell to the ground and screamed again.

No one would ever want a filly like her. Sunset thought she understood? She didn’t understand anything! Morning was six years old, old enough to know it wasn’t normal to act the way she did. She was better off without anypony else, just like she’d always been.

She picked herself up only to throw herself onto the bed. She grabbed her pillow and held it tightly, and she knew she was the only pony she’d ever need.

Author's Note:

I couldn’t very well make this drama-free :pinkiecrazy: