An Ending
Blank flank. Dreamer. Weakling.
Those were just the lightest of the insults they threw at her. Day in, and day out, cruelness was spread from all the ponies to her. They weren’t big insults. No, that would’ve been easy to take care of. It was the small insults that didn’t really seem all that important until they just kept on piling onto each other with no sign of ever letting up. Eventually, she began to believe in what they were saying. She tried to ignore the endless teasing at first, but who was she to argue with so many ponies always putting her down?
“Well look at what we have here. If it isn’t the worlds slowest foal.”
Indigo Blossom looked up from the grass she had been staring at, and into the eyes of one of the worst bullies of them all. Diamond Tiara stood there with a smug look on her face. Indigo, simply sighed to herself. This wasn’t anything new to her. Everyday Diamond Tiara would come up and torment her during the lunch break. Then during class. Then after school. Or whenever she was around town. Somehow the bullies always seemed to find her wherever she went.
“Wow, I had no idea that your brain was that slow. Of course it’s no surprise coming from a pony that can barely talk right.”
Indigo just clenched her jaw, and blocked the girls taunting from getting into her head. She remembered what she had been taught about bullies. Just ignore them. You’re stronger than them. Opening her mouth, Indigo tried to form words, but was struck by a thought.
‘Am I really stronger than them?’
‘Of course you are! Just believe in yourself, just like Cherilee taught you!’
‘That’s all fine in practice, but this is the real world. If I talk back she will just turn my words against me!’
‘Then go find an adult! They can help you!’
‘Maybe now, but what about what happens later? I will be known as the weakling who couldn’t defend herself! The one who had to go to the adults! They never even do anything anyway!’
Indigo was thrown from her thoughts by a large stinging sensation on her muzzle. Looking up, she saw that the cause was Diamond Tiaras outstretched hoof.
“Don’t ignore me when I’m talking to you!”
Indigo simply nodded, and tried to ignore the swelling that seemed to be building in her cheek. She felt her eyes begin to blur a little, and so she shut her eyes tight, holding in the tears; knowing that showing them would just give another thing for Diamond to mock her for. There was no point in trying to fight, if she did then it would only get worse for her. She sighed, and just walked away from Diamond Tiara. Any other day she might try to at least endure the bullying, but today she just couldn’t find it within herself. Indigo heard Diamond call out to her, but she just ignored it, and went over to the set of swings.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were there talking amongst themselves about some new elaborate scheme to get their cutie marks. They had tried to get Indigo to join them when she had first moved to Ponyville, but after seeing just how a big of a target they were for Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon she decided against joining them. The Crusaders still tried to be nice to her, but Indigo just wasn’t willing to open herself up to even more fire from the bullies.
The CMC stopped talking when they saw the depressed look on her face. The yellow filly with the bow in her hair was the first to speak up among them.
“Hey, Indigo. Are ya feelin’ alright? You look kinda… well, sad.”
Indigo sat there in silence not wanting to speak up. Whenever she spoke it always came out slurred and mismatched, making her sound like she was an idiot in the eyes of her peers. As such, Indigo tried to avoid speaking whenever possible. Apple Bloom apparently didn’t understand this though because, she simply repeated her question.
“Indigo. I asked if you were feelin’ alright.”
Indigo had no choice, but to respond. When she did though it came out choppy and disorganized. The orange pegasus let out a small giggle at the awkward sounding words before being slapped in the back of the head by the white unicorn, but the damage had already been done.
Indigo charged away from the small group, and into the schoolhouse. Inside, Miss Cherilee was sitting at her desk, and looked up surprised to see that Indigo had come back so early from lunch. Her eyes softened when she saw the young filly’s misty gaze.
“Hey, Indigo. Is everything okay? Do you maybe want to talk about it?”
No, of course she wouldn’t. That would make her weak. She furiously shook her head back, and forth as she made her way to her seat in the back of the classroom, and buried her head in her hooves. From across the room came the steady sound of hooves against wood walking towards her.
“Indigo, it’s okay. You can talk with me. What’s wrong?”
“It’s… It’s… n-n-nothing.”
Cherilee seemed skeptical, but before she could reply, the school bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, and the ponies all filed into the classroom. As Diamond Tiara walked in she spotted Indigo sitting alone in the corner of the room and gave an evil glare. Indigo barely felt it at all. She just sat there numb, oblivious to what was happening around her.
The rest of the day she just sat in her seat wallowing in her thoughts.
‘Why would Diamond Tiara want to be so mean to me? If I followed the grown-ups logic then reason would dictate that it’s because she is being bullied herself, but that can’t be it.’
‘Perhaps she is just doing it for the sake of being mean?’
‘How can a pony be allowed to do that, and then get away with it as well? What right does that pony have to choose who does and doesn’t get to be happy?’
‘Well, who says that you deserve to be happy?’
‘Well...’
‘No one! Think about it! None of these ponies honestly care about you! They just cast you aside!’
‘But Cherilee...’
‘She’s doing it as part of her job we both know that! She honestly couldn’t care less about you!’
‘Then what should I do? What right do I have to be happy?’
‘Exactly. That is wh-’
“Indigo! What do you think?”
Indigo jumped back to reality with a start. She had been so absorbed in her own thoughts that she hadn’t been paying any attention to the lesson. Every eye in the room seemed to be aimed at her, and Diamond Tiara’s smug smile could be seen through the maze of ponies.
“I-I-I… Wh-what was the qu-question?”
The familiar sound of the children’s laughter at her speaking problem met her ears, causing them to fold back. Cherilee showed genuine pity in her eyes as she restated the question.
“I asked what do you think about Chancellor Puddinghead’s reforms in the western provinces of Coltinburgh?”
She didn’t know the answer! What was she supposed to say? Mockery awaited her at every possible answer she could give regardless of whether it was correct or not. She swallowed and felt her nervous voice break the silence of the room.
“I-I-I th-think that it could have been m-more succe-succe-successful if she ha-hadn’t been so strict with the se-serfs.”
Cherilee’s head just slowly shook back and forth slowly as the laughter of the class rang out through the classroom. At one time she may of have actually tried to stop the laughter, but it had been over a year, and yet still the foals still seemed to find enjoyment in Indigo’s speech problems. The bell rang and the foals happily ran out of the class leaving behind only a distraught filly, and a concerned teacher. As she made her way out the door, Cherilee spoke up.
“Indigo, wait. Are you sure everything is okay? If you want to talk-”
She simply held up a hoof and shook her head before continuing out the door. As she
walked along the dirt path on her way back she found her mind drifting back to her earlier thoughts.
‘You put up with this day in, and day out. Always the same thing. The adults say it will get better, but why can’t it get better now? Why do I have to wait for things to get better? Is it because I just don’t deserve to be happy? Face it Indigo, you’re no good at anything. Making friends, school, sports...’
Indigo found that she had long passed the turn that led into Ponyville, but she realized that she really wasn’t planning on going back to her home. She continued walking along the path past Sweet Apple Acres.
‘You’re nothing more than a waste of space. But does it really have to end this way? Is this really the way this should play out?’
Indigo found herself approaching the Everfree Forest, but still she walked onwards into the darkened trees and up the hills. The setting sun, and the sound of the insects being the only things keeping her company on her journey. As she reached the top of the hill she leaned against the large oak tree. She stared down the hill and towards the ground floor far below her.
‘Is this really the way this ends? Why can’t I have a happy ending?’
‘Sometimes a sad one is needed to make the happy ones all the sweeter. Sometimes, you just have to accept the fact that your life is going to have a sad ending and accept that fact. Not everyone gets to have a happy ending, and this is no exception.’