Finding The Light
The young filly's hooves trudged through the gravel walkway that led towards her house. The rain was falling quickly and painfully, slowly turning from a heavy downpour to a vicious hail. The filly walked up the steps, pushed open the front door, walked inside, and slammed it to keep the cold out. She took off her yellow jacket and hung it up to dry a little, threw her saddlebag onto a nearby chair, and collapsed onto the couch. A voice came down from the stairs.
“Dinky, is that you?” The voice asked, calling from across the house.
“Y-yes it is,” Dinky replied, face down in the pillow.
Derpy popped her head around the corner and looked down the stairs. “How was school today?” There was no answer. There scarcely was when it came to Dinky. She would always come home and lie down on the couch, unresponsive to any of her mother's attempts to talk to her. Derpy floated up in the air and flew towards her young child.
“Did the other students make fun of you today?” Still no answer. Derpy sighed and sat next to Dinky. “Please, Dinky. Tell me what happened. I hate seeing you like this.” Dinky stirred a little bit and turned over, still covering her face with the pillow.
“Y-yes they did,” she whimpered, clutching the pillow even tighter to her face. “They a-always do.” Dinky turned back over and started cry, the pillow muffling the sad filly’s moans. “Every t-time I try and s-speak, one of them makes fun of m-me.”
Derpy spread her left wing and pulled her daughter into her. “Do you remember when you were younger? I mean, much younger than how you are now. You looked at me and asked: 'Mom, why are your eyes different from the other ponies’?'”
Dinky sniffled and looked up at her mom. “N-no, why?”
“I said to you, 'One is to make sure the world is safe; the other is to watch you grow.'”
Dinky let out a slight smile at her mom. “You d-didn’t actually watch the world, mom.”
Derpy giggled with her child. “I know that it might sound silly, but that's how I learned to look at the world. I learned to look through optimism.” Derpy wiped away a tear from her daughter's cheek before it could find its way down. “I didn’t always used to be like this. I never used to be happy.”
Dinky looked up at her mom. “What do you m-mean?”
“When I was your age, but a little younger, I was so excited to start school. Your Grandmother and Grandfather would always tell me stories about how much fun they had in school. They would hang out with friends, learn cool things all day, play in the yard and do all sorts of cool things. When the first day of school rolled around, I was already so ecstatic.
“On the very first day, I walked into the classroom, ready to start my own adventure, when the room went silent. I started to look around to see what everypony was staring at, and after a few seconds, I realized that they were staring at me. The teacher walked up to me and told me to go sit in the empty seat, which happened to be in the back of the class.
“As I was walking back, I heard the other fillies and colts whispering things. They were all staring at me, talking about my eyes and how they were different. I was an outsider to them. After the first class was over and recess was called, I sat in my seat for a little bit when the teacher told me I should go outside. I did as she told and saw a few other ponies playing jump rope. Remembering all the stories from my parents about the games, I asked if I could join them. I was greeted with insults and was almost immediately cast me out.
“This went on for days, ponies making fun of me. Ponies not letting me play any games with them. It was awful. My parents would never do anything about it because they were either too busy or didn’t believe what I told them. It turns out that, in the stories they told me, they were the ponies who picked on the different ones like me. They grew up thinking that they were better than everypony else.
“It was terrible having no one to be there for you. For a few months, it was nothing but pain. Nopony would talk to me, and if they did, all they had to say was something insulting. Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore, so I just decided to end it. I trotted off to a nearby river and looked at my reflection. I looked at what everypony hated, and at that moment, I started to hate it as well. I held my breath and jumped in.
“As I floated down to the bottom of the river, I felt as if a weight was being lifted off my chest. My vision started to blur and my thoughts became hazy. Everything started to turn off when I felt a pressure around my body. It was dragging me up again. Someone was using magic to pull me out of the river. The light blue aura that surrounded me lifted me right out of the water and dropped me back onto land again.
“Whoever saved me was panting hard. She was another filly like me, so lifting up something of my size must have caused a tremendous strain on her magic ability. I stared at her for a few moments, and she looked back at me.”
‘Why would you try and do something like that,’ she yelled, still gasping for air. I said nothing as the filly walked closer to me. ‘You can't just end your life like that!’
‘Why not!’ I screamed back at the white filly. ‘It's not like anyone would care if I was gone.’
‘That's just not true!’ The white filly swung her hooves around me and enclosed me in a deep embrace. ‘That's just not true.’
“At this point, I just started to cry. I cried in her arms all night long, up until the sun rose up. Eventually, she let go of me and my tears stopped coming. Before she left, she said one last thing to me. She said that there will always be someone who cares for you, no matter what. That night changed my life.
“Now, I know that this story was dark for a filly of your age, but a lot of the time, life is dark. What you need to do is find the light that is inside the darkness. Once you do, the darkness will almost completely disappear.”
Dinky was staring at her mom, still clutching the pillow. “Mom? D-did you ever f-find out who the pony that s-saved you was?” Derpy looked down at Dinky and smiled.
“You know, I never did find out who she was.” Derpy looked outside the window. “Even though we spent the night next to each other, I never got a clear look at her, but I feel like she is here somewhere.” Derpy looked back down to see her daughter wrapped around her.
“Thanks mom,” Dinky whispered. She hopped off of the couch and trotted up the stairs and into her room. Derpy remained on the couch, still thinking about that night that happened many years ago.
The young filly’s hooves skipped along the gravel walkway that led towards her house. The sun was shining down, casting a beautiful light over the garden. The filly burst into the house and threw her stuff on the ground.
“Dinky, is that you?” Derpy shouted from a top the stairs. “You're home a little later than usual.”
“Yep!” She giggled cheerfully. “On my w-way home, I found three fillies trying t-to do something in the p-park. They noticed that I h-have no cutie m-mark and asked me if I wanted to j-join a club. They d-didn’t seem to care a-about my stutter at all!”
Derpy giggled and smiled. “Is that so?”
“Yea! We're m-meeting in about an h-hour to try and go find out cutie marks, so I won't b-be able to stay for dinner.”
“That's alright, just go have fun.” The little filly jumped with joy and ran up the stairs into her room. Derpy walked outside the door and looked over the the town. “I know that somewhere you're out there, and I just wanted to say-” her eyes started to tear up. “I just wanted to say thank you.”