Prologue
"Make Your Mark"
Prologue
It was mid-afternoon when the phone rang at the Writing residence when the phone rang. JK, the unicorn family patron, let out a sigh that did not go unnoticed by his earth pony wife, Lady Doll. She glanced at the clock and reached the same conclusion he did.
"Come now, dear. Maybe it's just a coincidence," she suggested, though her folded ears and shaky grin gave away her doubts about that.
"Yeah, right," JK responded, picking up the phone. "Hello? ..... Speaking..... *sigh*...... We'll be there in a few minutes." He hung up the phone, sighing for the third time.
"So it was her," Lady said, getting up from her chair. "I suppose we had better get down to the school, then."
It never failed. Barely a week went by when they didn't get a phone call from the high school principal about their daughter. She was a filly who held a lot of anger, always getting into fights whenever somepony made an attempt to pick on her. It was now to the point when they could look at the clock and know who was calling and why. The situation was completely out of hoof, and they were at a complete loss as to how to fix it.
Fifteen minutes saw the coupe entering the school building, and another five had them entering the principal's office. The principal,an earth pony mare named Almata, sat on the opposite side of her desk from their daughter, a unicorn filly named Windsong. Said unicorn was currently protesting her being in the office at all.
"Come on, Miss Almata!! I tried to walk away this time! I really did! Even the teacher who brought me in here said so!! But when he shoved me, what was I supposed to do?! He shoved me cuz I didn't fight back, so I HAD to hit him!!" Windsong yelled at the top of her lungs.
"I'm quite aware, Windsong," Almata said calmly, quite accustomed to the filly's temper by then.
"Then why don't I see him in here, huh? Why's it still only me, while Teddie gets off scot-free, again!?" Wind demanded.
"Wind, please sit down," came Lady's calming voice. Windsong jumped. She hadn't noticed her parents enter the office. When it registered that it was her parents, she heaved a heavy sigh and sat back in her chair.
"And my parents are called in, again! Teddie started the fight!! Why am I the only one in trouble?!" she complained. "It's total favoritism!!"
"I'm not favoring anypony Windsong. Now please calm down," Almata replied, still calm but now with a tone of firmness that halted any arguments, save the brief snort Windsong gave.
JK and Lady also sat down. JK spoke up first. "I'm assuming the opponent was once again Teddie," he remarked.
Almata nodded. "I assure you, he is in trouble as well, but that is not why we're here." She turned to look directly at Windsong. "While he did start the fight, you still fought him. That's why you're in here once again. You can't control your anger."
"Gee, ya think?" Wind retorted. "I coulda told ya that ages ago. They make me mad, and then my body moves on its own. I can't stop myself."
"Wind, please," Lady said, placing a gentle hoof on her shoulder. Wind shrugged off her mother's attempt to calm her.
"Don't try to placate me," she groused. "I know what I must look like. I'm some sorta fight-crazed freak that has nothing else going for her!" She huffed and turned away from the adults, frowning and glaring hard a the wall. Her mother sighed and turned back to the principal.
"No one here thinks you're a fight crazed freak, and we certainly don't believe you have nothing else going for you," Almata stated, her words reflecting the feelings of the married couple.
"We just want you to talk to us, sweetie," Lady said, still attempting to soothe her daughter.
"Talk about what?!" Windsong demanded, turning around to glare at her parents now. "It's not like it's a big mystery why my life is like this! It's not like I hide why I'm unhappy! And it's not like there's any question why everypony in school is constantly messing with me!" As she raged at her mother, her tail curled up to cover her flank, hiding the distinct lack of a cutie mark.
Windsong had no cutie mark.
In grade school, while everypony around her was learning what they were good at and what they were meant to be, Wind was completely unable to find anything she was good at. As time passed, her classmates began to mock her for this, as the young often do. Initially, Windsong just ignored them. She assured herself that she would get her cutie mark eventually. However, more and more time went on and as she continued to fail to learn what she was good at, her classmates taunting began to get worse. It hit a breaking point when Teddie, a large earth pony, started in on her. His brand of bullying was physical, and he was not afraid to hit a girl.
One day, Wind had come home from school covered in bruises. As her parents frantically asked her what happened, Wind gave the excuse that she had fallen down the stairs. In fact, Teddie and a couple of his buddies had beaten her up. It was this day that she decided she couldn't go on just ignoring it. The next time Teddie had shoved her, she had surprised him by shoving back. It turned into a fight, the first of many. Over time, she became better and better at fighting, to the point where the only one who would really mess with her anymore was him. All the same, it didn't really take much to set her off anymore. One snide comment about blank flanks within her earshot was enough to send the speaker home without a couple of teeth. She had become so accustomed to simply pummeling anypony that picked on or teased her that it was now her first reaction, hence her frequent trips into the principal's office.
JK heaved another sigh and said, "I know you get teased, but the way you always react is what's the bigger problem. Don't you think there's a better way to resolve...?"
"NO!" Windsong snapped, interrupting him. "If there were, then I wouldn't have even gotten into that fight today. I tried to walk away. By Celestia's horn, I tried to ignore him! Teddie just couldn't let it be, though! He kept at it and he was the one who puts his hooves on me, not the other way around!! I tried a different way!! I DID!!"
"Windsong," Almata interrupted, cutting off the angry filly's rant. "If you would please wait outside while I discuss this with your parents."
"Yeah, whatever. Tell me how long I'm suspended for this time, and I'll go get my schoolwork from the teachers. Again!" Wind groused as she headed out the door. She made a point of slamming it shut behind her, rattling the glass of the office windows.
Rather than getting angry as most ponies would, Amata simply sighed. "This can't go on. I've had a long career as first a teacher, then as principal, and I have never seen anyone so young with such a tormented soul."
Lady Doll seemed on the verge of tears. "We just don't know what we can do to help her," she said, her voice quivering from restrained sobs. "I've been helpless to do anything but watch my foal transform from this young, sweet, hopeful filly into this angry, aggressive, pain-filled teenager. I've tried everything I can think of."
"We both have," JK added, his voice equally heavy with despair. "We've tried talking to her, rewards, punishment, we've taken her to therapy, to doctors, special programs, support groups... nothing gets through to her. Nothing helps her." His hooves began to shake. "I don't know what there is left for us to try!"
Almata took in their words, considering any other options that they hadn't tried. There was silence in the office, save for the stifled sniffles as some of Lady's heartbreak leaked out and she shed a few tears. Finally, Almata spoke.
"What I'm about to suggest may seem a little odd, but I want you both to listen to me," she said.
Both of them nodded. They were desperate. At this point they would do anything to save their little pony.
"I think she needs to leave Manehatten." Almata held up her hoof when JK immediately opened his mouth to speak. "Hear me out. I think the atmosphere of this city is bad for her. At very least, she should get away from Manehatten for the summer. There's only a month left of school. I believe a change of scenery should, if nothing else, help her relax a bit, maybe ease some of her aggression. It will do her some good to get away for a while."
JK and Lady thought about this. They both had jobs to think about, but both of them knew that they would happily drop everything in a heartbeat if it meant helping Wind. Even the slightest chance... They looked at each other and reached the exact same conclusion.
"If you think it would help, we're more than willing to try it," JK answered, Lady nodding a fervent agreement.
Almata smiled. It was always good for her spirit to see parents so devoted to their child. "I'm glad to hear it. When she gets back, we'll see if it helped anything and decide how to go from there." She took a breath. "I still need to punish her for this latest fight, of course."
"Of course," Lady replied.
"But as she wasn't the one who began the fight, it won't be suspension this time. Tell her she has detention for four days, starting tomorrow. For today, she can head home with you," Almata said.
"We will," JK assured her as he and his wife rose form their chairs. He shook Almata's hoof. "Thank you so much. I hope your idea works."
JK and Lady collected their daughter from outside the office, passing along the info of the punishment. Windsong just nodded and huffed again, gathering up her belongings and headed towards the exit. Though she remained silent, her parents began to take note of the negative whispers all around them, all directed at Wind.
"Blank Flank's in trouble again."
"Sheesh. Almata should just expel her and get it over with."
"Guess she and Teddie had another throw-down."
"Stupid Blank Flank. All that she's good for is getting in trouble."
"She's such a psycho."
Neither could believe what they were hearing. They knew that kids could be mean, but it sounded like they were eagerly waiting for her to get into enough trouble to get thrown out of the school altogether. They frowned. If there had been any doubt in their minds before, this settled it. They had to get Wind away from this oppressive, judging atmosphere. As they reached the school doors, JK spoke.
"Wind, have you ever heard of Ponyville?
to be continued