two very different filies discover the power of friendship, self confidence and, perserveaence
After a life of loneliness and despair two older fillies find themselves crossing paths on multiple occasions only to be brought more hardships than anypony should bare alone. Will these fillys together make peace with their past and present or will they carry these burdens throughout their lives alone, living a live of sadness and seclusion.
Dewdrop was sitting at her desk in the back of the classroom looking at the clock as the final few seconds of the school year wasted away. "5... 4... 3... 2...1... Awww," said Dewdrop a little too loudly as the bell finally rang. Luckily for the earth pony, none of her classmates heard her over their own cheering and whooping.
"But, I don't want to go home", said the light blue filly to herself. Slowly, she started to pack up her saddlebags and walk towards the door to leave. As she walked through the rapidly emptying halls, she could hear her mother’s voice in her head.
”You want to go WHERE?!" yelled the voice. "NO, you are NOT going to that summer camp in Ponyville! Do you know how how much we have sacrificed so that you could show your hornless, wingless self in public?! I couldn't even show my face at the Gala because of you!" Dewdrop cringed, readying herself for the words she had heard just this morning. "Why didn't I just leave you on a doorstep!?"
She turned right into the alleyway she always stopped at when coming home from school and cried. "Why can't I have a horn or wings like other ponies?" she sobbed while observing the bruises on her ribs, which were given to her that morning. "Why can't my mother love me like others love their fillies?"
She sat there crying for a few minutes, unaware of the dirty, grey-coated filly that just turned into the other end of the alleyway. Slowly, Dewdrop got up, dried her tears, and, sniffling, continued the long, foreboding walk home.
Sugar Song was hungry. She had found a small box of half-eaten hay fries in the trash that morning, but that didn't make up for the previous two foodless days and nights. "Aww man," lamented Sugar Song, "what I wouldn't give for a sandwich right about now."
Her stomach growled as she passed by a local bakery. Normally, she would have stopped by, knowing the baker passed out free sweets to fillies sometimes. However, ever since it came under new ownership, all she had gotten from there was a scolding and a few burned cookies from the dumpster out back.
She didn't mind being told off by other ponies; in fact, she didn't even care. She knew that, in the end, none of them would be cruel enough to call the guards on her for her petty theft. She also knew that they were not kind either. In fact she knew a lot of things, probably more that those ponies who had homes and went to school.
Well, she thought, I guess street life isn't that bad after all. "Ahhh," grumbled the grey coated unicorn. Who the buck am i kidding? It's bucking horrible! Its even worse considering i actually had a home at one point...and a family.
At this thought, she felt her sadness starting to overwhelm her as it sometimes did. No!she thought. I can't let my emotions take me again; that's why I'm hungry in the first place. Just calm down, Mel. Just remember who you are. You're not Sugar Song anymore; you're Melody. Sugar Song is dead. She died a long time ago with her fam...
She stopped in her tracks, sudden guilt overtaking her. No no no! she thought, shaking her head. "Okay, deep breaths... okay, good. Now, I'm going to go down the next alleyway and find some food," she said to herself silently. Just as she turned in to the alleyway, she saw a light blue earth pony stand and walk away, sniffling.
Dewdrop lay crying on the pile of straw that she used as a bed. She could feel the bone-chilling cold of the old mansion’s basement seeping through the vest she wore to hide her numerous bruises, both old and new.
Ohh, why do I have to be a useless earth pony? Why can’t I have wings like dad did? Then, I could fly away and never see my stupid mother again! Well, at least its only her, thought Dewdrop gloomily.At least she doesn't hit too hard.
In a sudden outburst of rage, she struck the wall to her right as hard as she could. To no surprise, the wall did not give, but the force of the blow sent Dewdrop stumbling backwards, trying to regain her balance. With a sudden squeal, Dewdrop tripped over an uneven patch of ground and grabbed an old torch holder for support. To her surprise, the metal bracket came slightly off the wall and the wall behind her started to move. When she turned around, she saw an opening in the wall just big enough for a pony.
"Whoa," she said, her tears slowly stopping. "I never knew this was here. It must have been built a long time ago, maybe during the first griffin war." She looked around nervously, hoping that her mother didn't hear the commotion from upstairs. When she heard nothing, she took a look into the tunnel.
Seeing nothing but black, she tentatively called out, "Hello?" Feeling satisfied that there were no animals living in the passageway, she took a few nervous steps towards the tunnel. Still, the darkness clouded her vision. She took a few more steps forward and fell, grabbing another torch holder, which also pulled slightly from the wall with a mechanical click. "Oh no" said Dewdrop spinning around just in time to see the wall seal up behind her leaving her in total darkness.....Dewdrop hated the dark.
Melody watched the light blue filly walk down the street before turning back to the book the filly had left behind. "Sorry, kid," said Melody as she picked up the book with her magic. "Thirty second rule." She turned the book over to look at the cover "Buck!" she said. "It’s just a bucking textbook!"
As Melody tossed it to the ground, she heard a passing Pegasus call out, "Young filly! You most certainly must not use those words! It is very unbecoming." Then, looking Melody up and down, she added with a snort, "Even for street scum such as yourself."
With barely suppressed anger, Melody turned around to face the offender and replied, "Buck you, I'll say whatever the buck I want!" Not used to being verbally assaulted in such a way, the Pegasus turned away and left in a fit of anger.
Melody picked up the book again and opened the front cover, looking for a name and address. "Well," she said to herself, "I might as well return it. Maybe they will give me some bits in return... or food." With unusually high hopes, she headed down the street towards Canterlot’s financial district.
Dewdrop trembled in the darkness. For the past ten minutes, she had tried to use the disguised lever to open the passageway, but it was stuck in place. Terrified, she tried pushing up against the solid stone door, but with no success.
Whimpering slightly, Dewdrop took a small step forward, wincing at the loud echo her hooves made against the solid floor. Step by step, she made her way deeper into the seemingly endless dark gaining just enough confidence to pick up the pace to a walk. After what seemed like hours had passed, Dewdrop started to get tired. Hesitantly, she lay down and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Dewdrop woke to sob-choked screams. She dashed downstairs into the mansion’s main hall as fast as her little hooves would carry her, only to be stopped by her foalsitter, Tender Heart. As Tender Heart tried to hold her back, she could see the fear in her foalsitter’s eyes.
Now more desperate than ever, Dewdrop ran around her hysterical foalsitter and headed for the screaming. When she reached the top of the grand staircase leading down to the main hall, she stopped.
At the bottom of the stairs in the middle of the hall was her mother, crying over her father’s unconscious body. "Mommy?" whispered Dewdrop. Her mother whipped around and stared at her with terror in her eyes. On the floor behind her mother, Dewdrop could see two pairs of horribly broken wings.
Dewdrop awoke on the cold stone floor of the dark passageway. Her eyes were brimmed with tears as she stood up and continued walking down the pitch black corridor. Now, she was less afraid of the dark than her memories.
Water... After what seemed like an eternity of walking through the dark tunnel, Dewdrop could hear the distinct sound of running water. Unable to contain her excitement, Dewdrop ran towards the sound. She eventually found the source after about five minutes.
Curious as to where the water was coming from, she reached out with her hoof and felt along the wall to her left. Finding nothing, she tried the wall on the right. Still finding nothing, she carefully reached forward, until she was barely able to keep her balance. She finally felt a wall with a moderate rush of water running down it.
Suddenly, Dewdrop started panicking. "Oh no! What if there's no exit?" When she searched the wall with her hoof, she found a ladder. She calmed down, and thought to herself, If I'm trapped in here, then where is the water going?
Dewdrop searched the ground for any holes or cracks, more curious than worried. Feeling satisfied that she had found a rather sizable lack of cement between the left wall and the ground, she turned her attention towards the ladder. Grabbing hold of the first wet rung, she let out a short squeak of joy at the soft light shining down through the storm drain cover above her head.
Melody walked down Mane street, the light rain slowly getting stronger and soaking her to the bone. She took a right down an alleyway between two apartments, resting under one of the buildings overhangs.
"That stupid jerk can kiss my flank," she said as she lay down. "He wouldn't even take the bucking book! ‘No earth pony lives here’ my flank!" she mumbled. "Ugggggh, I hate those pompous flank butlers that always think they are better than me!"
"Well," she sighed, "I guess I'm stuck with this stupid book now." She lay there for a while listening to the sound of the rain as the storms intensity slowly grew.
As she rested on the cold stone, she couldn't help but hear some noises coming from a nearby storm drain. She dismissed it as some rats down below and tried to put her mind elsewhere, but, for some reason, her thoughts kept floating back to the sounds. Now that she was paying attention, she thought they sounded more like somepony crying.
Curious, Melody stepped out from under the overhang and into the freezing rain. "Hey!", she yelled into the storm drain, "Anypony down there?"
In response, she heard a very upset pony yell back, "Yes! Please, I'm trapped! The cover is too heavy, I can't lift it!"
"Hold on a second!"Melody responded. With her adrenaline pumping, Melody focused all of her attention on the grate in the ground, as a brilliant blue aura enveloped it and her horn. *Grabbing the grate with her hooves as well,* she started to lift with all her strength. The cobblestone around the grate made a loud "crack" as the grate was torn out of the ground.
Melody backed up quickly until she hit the wall behind, her staring at her hooves with a horrified look on her face. "No no no no NO!" She said to herself. "Why did I do that? I know I shouldn't use my magic... Buck, this is bad. This is soo bad!"
She turned to run off, but was immediately pulled into a hug by a light blue earth pony. "Ooh thank-you thank-you thank-you!" cried the filly.
"Get off of me!" yelled Melody, pushing off the *offender.* "Just stay away from me, OK?" she yelled as she ran out into the wet, empty streets of Canterlot.
“Wait!" Dewdrop yelled after her savior. "I just want to talk to you!" Her efforts were futile as the dirty grey unicorn ran off into the streets of Canterlot. Suddenly sad, Dewdrop mumbled to herself, "Mother was right; nopony likes an earth pony."
Having nowhere else to go, Dewdrop walked dejectedly down the street, fearing what awaited her at home when her mother found out that she had unintentionally left the house. Nearing the end of the alleyway, something glossy caught her eye.
"What's this?" she asked herself, picking up a book from the ground under an overhang. "How did she get my book?”
She looked down the street where her rescuer had fled. For the first time in years, Dewdrop felt something change in her heart; she felt hope. Determined to hold onto that feeling, she made herself a promise: she was going to find that unicorn and, when she did, she was going to make a friend.
The sounds of hoof beats echoed off of the empty streets of Canterlot as Melody galloped through the maze of side streets and alleyways, stopping only for a moment to look up at the great tower that loomed over the city. Even through the pouring rain, she could faintly see a black alicorn preparing to take flight in search of her with a troop of royal guards.
Frantically, Melody dashed through the empty streets, picking up random objects as she passed them. After picking up about ten or so objects that were heavy enough not to blow away in the wind, she ducked into an alleyway and scattered them around herself. Taking a deep breath, Melody closed her eyes and concentrated on casting her spell. After about 30 seconds, she felt the familiar sensation of her magic being dispersed into the objects around the alleyway, leaving her with just enough to maintain the spell.
Satisfied, Melody sprinted for the orphanage three blocks away. She ran around to the back and knocked on a window. Surprisingly, there was an immediate response as the window flew open and she was hauled in by a brown-coated colt.
"What the HAY is going on out there, Mel?!" he exclaimed.
"Ah, Chivalry Shines," said Melody, calmly. "I didn't expect you to still be here. Hey, so do they still call you Shiv?" she asked, suppressing a laugh.
"Regretfully, yes, and getting stabbed in the flank was NOT funny!" said the colt with a small smile on his face. "Well, at least it wasn't at the time, but catching up is not what you’re here for, is it?"
"No," she said. "I need you to hide me for a little while, just for, like, a day or two."
"On one condition."
"What?"
"You tell me what happened to you."
"No."
"Mel-"
"I said NO!"
"OK, your choice."
Shiv walked over to the window and held it open.
“You’re kidding me!” said Melody.
"I'm afraid I'm not."
Looking around frantically, Melody sighed. "Fine, but you can't tell anypony, OK?"
"OK."
"It had started out as a usual week, going to school with my sisters, then, immediately afterwards, going to try to find our special talent. We called ourselves the...."
"Cutie Mark Conjurer librarians, YAY!" shouted the three young unicorns as they high-hoofed.
"We are going to be the best librarians ever, right Sugar?!" said the small yellow one.
"Right, Star!" replied the orange coated Sugar Song, a huge grin plastered across her face. "The best ever...of all time!"
"Ummm, guys?" said the light green unicorn.
"Yea?" replied Sugar and Star.
"I think we are supposed to be quiet in a library," she whispered.
Looking around, the three unicorns noticed a multitude of angry glares and a few stifled giggles coming from ponies throughout the library.
“Excuse me, girls,” came a voice from behind them.
The three fillies turned around, coming face to face with a brown-coated unicorn.
“Hi Mr.Dewey!” they said in unison.
“Are you three ready to help?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Good. Star Song, if you could read to those elderly ponies over there, I’m sure they would love it. Spring Song, it would be great if you could help out at the checkout counter. That would be great. Sugar Song, could you please take the books that are left out and put them away? Thank you, girls, I really appreciate the help... Girls?”
Dewey Decimal turned around, only to find the three young fillies already engaged in their assigned tasks. He smiled. “Those girls,” he mumbled to himself as he walked away. “Always so eager to help. Now, where has Lyra gone off to this time?”
Sugar Song, Star Song and Spring Song walked down the streets of Canterlot towards home.
“Anypony get their cutie mark today?” asked Star Song.
“No,” said Spring and Sugar dejectedly, hanging their heads low.
“Well, we could try apple picking!” suggested Star.
“Where are we going to find an apple... HEY!” exclaimed Sugar as a pink and purple unicorn galloped past, knocking her out of the way.
“What was that about?” asked Spring.
“I don't know,” said Star. “She seemed like she was in a rush.”
A moment later, a small purple and green dragon ran up to them. “Sorry about that,” he said. “Twilight gets a little pushy when she’s rushing.” With that, the baby dragon took off down the street, yelling, “Twilight! Wait up!”
“You have sisters?” asked Shiv gently “Had...” responded Melody dryly, holding back a flood of tears. “I’m so sorry. What happ..” “I’m getting to it!”
“Girls I think its time for you to go to bed” said a light pink pegasus. “But moooom we wanna see Celestia raise the sun! Dad, tell mom to let us stay up!” said Star. “Your mother is right girls it’s time for bed” replied the large stallion. “Okay” said the three unicorns as they walked off to bed. “What's their problem?” asked Star. “I don’t know, but mom seemed nervous about something” replied Spring. “Ahh whatever” said Star, “Don't worry about them...I have a plan.” “Ohhh nooo not again!” groaned Sugar and Spring “Don't worry it’s nothing big, all we have to do is stay up in bed for a while so we can watch the sun come up from the window.” “Well...okay” they replied
“Wait...was that the same night that nightmare moon came back?” “Yes, now shut the hay up and let me finish!”
“Star I’m getting tired, can't we just go to bed?” whined Sugar “No! The sun will be up any minute now.” “But what if it’s not coming up? What if the princess forgot and fell asleep?” “She’s not going to forget dummy, so wake up” said Star, giving Sugar a punch in the arm “Ow!” Said Sugar angrily “That hurt!” “Did not!” replied Star “Did to!” “Did not!” “Did to!” “Did not!” “It did to, I’m telling mom!” yelled Sugar as she ran out of the room yelling “Mooooom, Daaaad Star hit me!” “No I didn’t!” exclaimed Star, pursuing her. “Yes you did and you called her a dummy!” yelled Spring, following close behind. “Girls!” exclaimed the light pink pegasus, “I thought I told you to go to bed!......Girls?” The pegasus gave them a worried look. The three small unicorns stood in the center of the small room blankly staring ahead “Gir...” The pegasus was cut off as a blinding light flashed from each of their horns as streams of rainbows came from every direction, being absorbed into the three unicorns. “Hun!...Honey I need you to come in here something is wrong with the...” the pegasus never got to finish as the air around the centermost unicorn was set ablaze with pure magic, incinerating everything.
“I’m so sorry” said Shiv empathetically “Don’t be” replied Sugar song in a monotone voice “So your sisters...” “Died” “What about your parents?” “Dead” “Was there a funeral?” “There was nothing left to bury” she said, her voice starting to crack “What did you do?” “I wandered the streets for a few days until I was found and brought here...” she said, looking him straight in the eye as her face softened and a tear slipped past her eyes. “And then I met you”
Celestia paced through the hall of the elements, the orange glow of her setting sun casting a multitude of colored fragments as it shone through the rain-splattered stained glass windows. Where are they? she thought. They were supposed to be here half an hour ago.
“Tia?” asked Luna, peeking through the door. “Are you alright?”
Celestia gave a small start and responded, “Wh-why yes, Luna, I'm quite alright. I’m just... thinking.”
Luna glared at her suspiciously. “If you say so... Anyways, you have a visitor.”
“Oh?” replied Celestia. “Who might that be?”
“A unicorn. Your friend Gentle Heart, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Oh, good,” said Celestia with a sigh of relief. “Bring her in.”
Luna nodded and left. Soon after, a powder yellow unicorn stepped in and bowed. "Good evening, your highness. I apologize that I am so late. I ran into some... complications."
"It's quite alright, but why have you come alone? I thought you were going to bring your daughter... What was her name, again?"
"Dewdrop, your highness, and I'm afraid that I was unable to."
"And why is that?" asked the princess, her words thick with worry.
Gentle Heart looked up at her princess, her eyes welling with tears. "Because she is gone."
"Gone?!" said Celestia, now pacing nervously. "What do you mean, gone?!"
“I... I... I went to go get her and she was just... gone. I’m sorry, princess. I’ll go and find her right away.”
“No, my sister has already raised her moon. The city is not safe at night; you know that.”
“I know, but I have to find her. I can't just let her...”
The doors burst open to reveal a grave-looking Luna.
“Celestia!” she said urgently. “We need to talk. Now!”
Walking over to her sister, Celestia said in a hushed tone, “What is it?”
“I believe Nightmare Moon has returned!”
“What? Why do you think that?”
“Because somepony used Magic!”
“So,” responded Celestia in an annoyed tone, “somepony using magic does not mean that she has...”
“My magic.”
“What?”
“Somepony used my magic... I could feel it.”
Celestia turned towards the waiting unicorn and said, “Gentle Heart, come with us.”
“What does she have to do with this?” snapped Luna.
“More than you know,” replied Celestia, a serious look on her face.