After a couple years of abuse, Blazey Sketch wants to know who she is, or is this adventure something more than she was expecting?
For most fillies and colts, the most challenging obstacle is getting their cutie marks. But unlike them, Blazey Sketch has others things to deal with along the way.
The anxiety-filled nine-year-old suffers more than just being a blank flank. Trying to figure out who she wants to be, suffering with the nightmares she’s been having, childhood traumas she’s getting from her father’s abuse. The list goes on. All she wants, is for everypony to like her for who she is, but she hasn't quite figured that out yet. Will her cutiemark show her a way out of this dreadful life or perhaps will it be something she would never dream of?
(Special thanks to Relux_the_Relux for helping me edit this! i deeply appreciate it!)
The snowy wind grew colder as the moon rose up from the ground, into the starry, snowy sky. The stars twinkled as they danced. The sound of chirping birds was no more, being replaced by howls from wolves and hoots of owls. The lights of houses glowed brightly like candles in the snowy night.
“Thanks for helping me with my assignment, Ms. Cheerilee,” A pastel grey-coated filly beamed as she began to walk down the icy dirt path.
“Are you sure you know your way home Blazey?” asked Cheerilee, feeling solicitude for the small, half-deaf filly.
“I think I can make it, don’t worry,” Blazey assured her with a sheepish smile as she walked through town. The lights from the houses glowed brightly like candles in the snowy night. The snowy wind grew colder by the minute.
“Almost home…” Blazey said, smoke-like particles leaving her mouth as she spoke. She walked through the snow in winter gear. Although it was warm, she still shivered from the silver cold. Her beautiful green eyes twinkling from the stars as if they were emeralds.
As Blazey trotted home, she could smell a delicious smell coming from her mother’s kitchen. The smell of warm soup with carrots and noodles and other veggies filled the cold air. Blazey quickly trotted inside and closed the door behind her. She instantly removed her winter clothes and for once in a few months, she smiled. She lightly adjusted her blue striped sweater and her yellow bow that laid in her soft, pastel rainbow mane as her pigtailed mane occasionally bounced as she trotted towards the entrance of the kitchen.
“Hey, mom... Is that dinner?” Blazey asked, peeking her head into the kitchen after sitting her saddlebag down by the front door.
“You're correct,” Gentle stated, grabbing a bowl in one wing and using a spoon to pour the soup into it with another. “How was school?”
“Oh… it was alright,” Blazey responded, taking the soup from her mother. She carefully blew on the soup before grabbing a hold of a silver spoon and digging into it.
“Oh… that’s… good,” Gentle said, getting her own bowl of soup.
Silence filled the air in the home. All that was heard was the ticking of the clock and the muffled out sound of the cold, snowy wind outside. The wood floor occasionally creaked as Gentle walked across it, sitting at the dinner table. The table was covered by a baby blue table cloth and illuminated by a single lit candle in the middle.
“I’m glad dad isn’t here...” Blazy muttered quietly as she ate her food. “He won’t be able to hurt you-”
“Blazy…” Gentle interrupted in a blunt tone.
“And he won’t be able to hurt me!” Blazy raised her voice.
Gentle looked at her daughter before sighing, “your father doesn’t mean it… he just has... a drinking problem,” She said softly, “but he still loves us…”
“Well… i wish he never started drinking in the first place!” Blazy said bluntly, once again raising her voice. “I just wish things could go back to normal...” Her ears lowered, wanting to shed tears.
“I know Blazy… I know…” Gentle looked to the side, feeling terrible. She began to think before smiling lightly and facing her daughter again. “How is the cutie mark search?”
“It’s a work in progress still… but I did try to draw a cutie mark on using a sticky note and some markers,” Blazy smiled slightly, chuckling ever so slightly.
“Well… I've been thinking maybe you could go to Cutie Mark Day Camp?”
“Oh right… the CMC,” Blazy said with a smile.
“I’m guessing you know them?” Gentle chuckled.
“Well… I know Sweetie Belle from school when we had that school talent show...We ended up talking more based on our love of music and other stuff so i think we’re friends buuuuut… Apple Bloom and Scootaloo I've only met a couple times.”
“Then this is your chance to not only get help on your cutie mark but also make some friends,” her mother said in a happy and comforting tone.
“Your right, I’ll do it!” Blazy said with a grin on her face.
“Lovely! I just know you’ll have a great time there, I'll sign you up tomorrow,” Gentle said while getting up from her seat and picking up hers and Blazey’s empty bowls before doing the dishes.
As Blazy was about to leave, Gentle placed a double-layered chocolate chipped chocolate cake in front of her. Blazy’s eyes instantly grew adorably large, filling most of her eye sockets. She stuck her tongue out, beginning to lick her lips. “Chocolattteeee!”
“Mhm! I know how much you love chocolate and I wanted to try a new recipe sooo I made that, I hope you like it”
Blazy suddenly dug into it with her spoon, making a mess on her face in the process. The taste was so sweet and chocolatey. The insides were creamy and the frosting alone tasted like sugar. It felt like her taste buds were dancing as she enjoyed the chocolate dessert, a big smile on her face.
“I take it that you like it?” Gentle said, grabbing a cloth and handing it to Blazey who had cake crumbs and frosting all over her face.
“I love it so much!” Blazey said, cleaning her mouth as she looked at the cake that was still on her plate. She continued to eat the slice of cake.
“Hey, mom...?” Blazey said in between her bites.
“Yes, Blazy?” Gentle said, finishing up the dishes
“How did you get your cutie mark exactly?” Blazer muffled as she ate her cake.
Gentle lifted up her yellow dress, looking at her cutie mark before sighing happily. “Well… there was a baking competition and i was baking all types of freshly baked goods.” she began to say “it was a high society baking competition as i was living with my mother and father at the time so i had to make it extra special. I went with a vanilla, cinnamon-flavored cake that was quadruple-layered and it took me many days... and many nights.”
Hooked by her mother’s story, Blazy asked, “What happened next?!”
“Well, on the day of the competition, the judges judged my cake but I came 3rd place but I had so much fun and enjoyment in baking and I never gave up. I just knew it was my destiny. That’s when my cutie mark appeared,” Gentle said, ending the story before cleaning Blazy’s messy face once again.
“Wow…” Blazy’s eyes twinkled as she looked at her mother. “That was amazing…”
“I’m glad you think so,” Gentle kissed her forehead softly.
Suddenly, the door creaked open as hooves could be heard walking against the creaky fall. Chirpy slammed the door shut, throwing off his scarf and hat after a long, hard day at his job. He headed into the kitchen, grabbing a beer bottle and taking it with him. “Hello dear… Hello Blazy,” he said in a smooth yet raspy and tired voice.
“Hello, honey… How was work?” Gentle said with a smile.
“It was ok I guess, not really in the mood to talk about it,” he stated bluntly before finishing, “I’m going to bed,” and laying onto the couch and laying a newspaper on his head as he began to drift off.
“At least he isn’t in a terrible mood…” Blazy said quietly so he couldn’t hear her. “I’ll be in my room...” Blazy said, heading upstairs to a place she called her happy place, her bedroom. As she went inside it, she shut the door. Her room was small but was nicely decorated with her drawings on the walls. She had a dresser that had cute figurines and a music box her dad gave to her. Inside it was a necklace that her rich side of the family had given to her. She laid by the window, watching the snowfall much softer now in the night sky.
Gentle sighed, looking at her daughter go up the stairs before looking at her husband on the couch. She frowns, trotting into the kitchen.
The school bell rang as the many fillies and colts ran out from the schoolhouse into the playground for their playtime. Blazy walked out last before noticing the CMC nearby doing their own thing. She gently cleared her throat while thinking of something to say. Sweetie Belle glanced at the grey filly and smiled lightly. “Hello, Blazey!” The white unicorn waved as the others turned to her.
“You know her?” Scootaloo asked her friend.
“Not too well but I know a small bit about her,” Sweetie Belle stated bluntly, “She’ll be joining Cutie Mark Day Camp in a few weeks or so.”
“Well ah reckon she’ll have a great time there, maybe even get her cutie mark in the process,” Apple Bloom smiled.
“I-I would hope so...” Blazey gently smiled at the three, feeling a bit more welcomed.
“Oh trust us, you’ll have an awesome time!” Scootaloo exclaimed as she flapped her little wings.
Blazey chuckled lightly before looking at her own wings. She occasionally talked with the CMC, talking about all sorts of things with them.
“So it’s true you all have a clubhouse around here? I’ll definitely have to have a peek sometime, maybe bring some of my mom’s cookies” Blazey said in amazement from hearing some of their adventures.
“You're always welcome to come anytime, Blazey,” Apple Bloom said warmly.
“If you can, I’d love to try the cookies!” Sweetie Belle smiled brightly.
“I’ll let her know then,” Blazey said with a light giggle before heading off to do her own thing before recess was over. She goes over by a tree, thinking to herself as she laid next to it. She gently closed her eyes as she began to reflect as the breeze blew lightly.
“Please! There must be something you can do! I don’t want her to live like this...” Gentle began to tear up as she begged the doctor.
“I’m sorry Mrs. Sketch, we’ve been trying for two years straight, but nothing is going to fix her wings! I’m afraid her wings are never going to fully grow and there’s not much we can do!” The stallion said bluntly as he sat back down in his office chair.
“P-Please! She already has been suffering enough from her not being able to hear some sounds as it is.” Gentle’s voice shook.
“We know miss, we’re already setting up another appointment about that.”
Blazey silently sat by the door, her eyes shrunken from their conversation. She couldn’t exactly understand what was happening but knew her mom was heartbroken from her voice.
Gentle lightly sobbed, looking towards the doorway. She quietly trotted out of the stallion’s office and looked down at Blazey with tears in her eyes. Blazey looked at her mom, her eyes filled with worry as she stood up and gently hugged her. “W-what’s going..on?” She whimpered.
“I… I’ll tell you later..” Gentle said, sniffling as she lightly guided Blazey out of the hospital slowly.
“Blazey?” a light echo said causing Blazey to open her green eyes that shined like emeralds. She looked up at her best friend, who was concerned for her. “Are you alright? You been laying there for a few minutes now,” The gray pegasus colt stated as he stated, handing a hoof to her.
She takes his hoof as she gets up, shaking the leftover snow off of her “oh yes… of course I’m okay!” She forced a smile to him, not wanting him to find anything amiss.
"If you say so..." He pulled her into a tight hug for comfort. She blushed deeply but returned the hug, beginning to enjoy it as she began to smile lovingly. 'He's a great hugger...' she stated in her mind.
Fullmoon eventually lets her go as he smiled a bit, backing up and bumping into a darkish gray pegasus colt in the process. He looks up and sees Damaged who had spilled his juice all over himself.
"Hey! You're gonna pay for that nerd!" Damaged said, trying to stand over the two as he cracks his neck.
"Stand back," Fullmoon stated to Blazy as he dodged Damaged's efforts to hurt him. Blazy couldn't stand watching this, but she couldn't just stand there and do nothing either. She would usually inform the teacher about this... But not this time.
Blazey gets out from behind her friend as her eyes began to glow red, like blood as her eyes narrowed. She goes up to Damaged who was standing over her. "Leave... Him... Alone..."
Damaged chuckles and gets up to her face. "And what are you gonna do about it? Draw me a widdle picture? Tell the teacher on meeee?"
She grabbed him by the shirt, something she's never done before and pulled him towards her which shocked him. "I said… LEAVE. HIM. ALONE!"
"W-whatever you s-say!" He jerked away from her grasp instantly and began to back up slowly from her. "Y-your a monster!" He cried before running off.
She lightly scoffs before noticing most of the fillies and colts, including Fullmoon, stared at her. She looks confused before looking at her reflection in a puddle, her eyes shrinking as she sees what had happened to her eyes. "H-he's r-right..." Her eyes lowered as her eyes stopped narrowing and looked rather sad, running behind the schoolhouse. Fullmoon chased after her.
"Wow...that was uh...that was interesting" Fullmoon said as he caught up to her, seeing her looking down at the ground in despair.
"...I'm a monster..." Blazey said, sighing.
"No Blazy... You’re not."
"You saw all of that! I've never done that before… I don't know what came over me..." Her ears lowered as she says this with hesitant.
He grabbed her arm, pulled her to his side and hugged her tightly, "if anything I'm a monster."
"How? Because of the whole eye thing?"
"I...I can't tell you." Fullmoon said rather hesitantly.
"Right… Well… You know I'd still be your friend if you were, right?" She blushed deeply.
"...mhm..." Fullmoon slightly did the same, wiping her tears.“Everything will be okay... I promise you that"
"I really hope so..." She said, looking away from him, staring at her hooves, not being able to think straight.
Fullmoon looked at her with worry and concern, thinking about whether she should bring up what was going on with her lately or not. Sometime later, the bell ranged, signaling it was time to go back to class. All the fillies and colts quickly ran back in, Fullmoon and Blazey following behind them slowly.
Blazey couldn’t help but feel anxious, she didn’t feel like dealing with her problems at home now that this had happened. She already had a hard time trying to think as her mind was already filled up with the fact that her eyes had changed color because of her feeling of anger, and it wasn’t in her control. She had so many questions, but that was for another time. As soon as she walked in, Cheerilee watched at her with a rather concerned look.
“Did you see what happened back there?”
“Yeah! Her eyes looked kinda scary if you ask me…”
“I never saw anything like that before!”
Blazey couldn’t exactly hear what her classmates were hearing but knew they had to be talking about her. She lowered her ears before slamming her head down on her desk quietly. The events swirled around in her head as she could feel the anxiety run down her spine. ‘What even was that? Was he going to be okay?! Am I going to get in trouble? Why did Ms. Cheerilee look at me that way? Why did I do that?’ She questioned herself.
Blazey looked at her half-written assignment and began to doodle on it, hoping it would calm her nerves. She occasionally looked over at the window, seeing the snow slowly fall down. It was hard for her to hear but others could hear the sound of the chilly weather quite clearly. “I’m not normal… am I?” She muttered to herself.
She glances over at a couple students that sat across from her, thinking some more as she kept scribbling on her paper. Suddenly, Cheerilee tapped her ruler on her desk to get everypony's attention.
“Alright, class! Now that you’ve had some time to write down your thoughts on the book we’ve finished yesterday, it’s time to find a partner and discuss with them what your thoughts were,” She began to give different students a small piece of paper that was either labeled “A” or “B” in which Blazey got A. “Now, everyone! Turn to the pony next to you and begin!”
Blazey looked at her unfinished work and gulped nervously before looking over to her left where Fullmoon was sitting, hoping to be partners with him, but to her dismay, he already found one. Her ears lowered as she sighed before looking to her right to see a light tan unicorn colt that had blue eyes and mane, smiling rather nervously at her.
“Oh..h-hi there,” she said with an anxious smile.
“I’m Trèsor, I-I’m kinda new here… I came here a couple of weeks ago.”
“Oh, welcome, Trèsor. I’m... Blazey,” she softly says with a bigger smile.
“It’s nice to meet you,” he said before looking at his work that wasn’t even completed like Blazey’s. “I… haven’t exactly finished.” He rubbed the back of his head as he chuckled timidly.
“That’s okay, I haven't exactly finished either,” Blazey giggled, encouraging Trèsor to laugh with her.
As they talked, Cheerilee taps her ruler on her desk once again, signalling everyone to pay attention. “Time’s up everyone.” She went to each of the fillies and colts’ desks, removing the assignments from them one by one before handing them back a packet. “I want you all to complete at least one page in this packet for our next lesson tomorrow,” she explained, setting down the pile of papers on her desk for her to grade later, “Tomorrow, we’ll be talking about the weather and how it works.”
Blazey looks at the rather big packet, beginning to feel anxious but containing herself, sliding it into her saddlebag. As soon as the bell rang, Cheerilee went up to Blazey’s desk. “You should have told me what happened with Damaged, Blazey. I could have taken care of it.”
“I know… I’m sorry Ms. Cheerilee... I just don’t know what came up to me… I just felt so… angry, i couldn’t just do nothing while my friend got hurt”
“I know you meant well Blazey, but next time please come get me...” Cheerilee stated, lightly patting her head.
“Alright...” Blazey said, getting up from her desk and heading towards the door. “Ms. Cheerilee…?”
“Yes, Blazey?”
“Thank you for always helping me… “ Blazey smiled before walking out the door.
“It’s nothing, Blazey.” Cheerilee smiled as she sat down at her desk, beginning to grade the many piles in the tall stack.
“Are you in trouble?” asked Fullmoon who was waiting for her at the door.
“Nope, everything is fine,” Blazey said as they both walked down the dirt path together. “The packet seems a bit difficult...”
“Not really, it’s probably pretty easy,” Fullmoon assured her, “and besides, after tomorrow is the weekend.”
“Yeah! Then we can hang out together more!” Blazey smiled brightly
“It’ll be the best!”
“You're the best!” Blazey hugged him close to which he returned the affection, giggling.
As they discussed their weekend plans, they soon reached Blazey’s house. Fullmoon looked up at the sky, seeing the sun begin to lower, “well… I better get going! I’ll see you later!” He quickly runs off in a hurry, going down the dirt path.
“Oh... bye Moony!” Blazey waved lightly before heading to her house door.
“Welcome home, sweetie,” Gentle said, watching her daughter heading to the house door. “How was school?”
“It was alright!” Blazey smiled, trying to not acknowledge what happened between her and Damaged.
“I saw you and your friend walking together, I must admit, you two would make an adorable couple.” Gentle lightly smirked.
Blazey instantly blushes bright red, her eyes shrinking a bit “M-Mooom! It’s not like thaaaat!” Blazey said, removing her bag and heading indoors and taking the nice, hot cup of chocolate from her mom.
“I’m kidding!” Gentle laughed at her daughter’s reaction.
Blazey lightly chuckled as she sipped her hot chocolate, as she began to ponder about what happened that day but forced a smile so her mother wouldn’t find anything suspicious.