"Where to start?" I laugh lightly, resting the back of my head on the ground once more.

"The beginning would be nice," Loki replies.

"Well then," I sigh in a fake pissed off tone, "That's not very helpful."

He shrugs lightly and does a small 'eheh', "I try."

I clear my throat, then turn to you. "Get ready for some exposition, kids!"

"Who are you talking to?" Loki furrows his brow.

"Forget it," I give him a little smile, "Alright, well...
Ever since I can remember, I've always been... different. And not in a good way, like Twilight. She was different in a good way, because she was my big sister- well, no, not really..."

"What do you mean?" Loki asks.

"Never you mind, Loki," I say between grit teeth. Geez, now I know how he feels. I take a breath and continue, "In the eyes of a little sister... she's amazing. She's a straight A student, and she's really talented with magic. I remember thinking I was going to grow a unicorn horn one day and maybe, just maybe, I could match her in magic," I chuckle lightly at my outrageous childhood dreams.

"Eheh," Loki chuckles, too, "You remind me of Thor sometimes."

"What, big muscles, blonde with a beard?" I joke.

He nods, "Yes, Eheheh..."

"Shut up," I laugh.

"Anyway," he shakes his head, a few hair strands falling into his face, "Continue."

So I do.

"Twilight was one of the bestest friends I had when I was a little filly. And really, one of the only friends. But she was almost always too busy with my step-brother, Shining Armour, or studying for the princess, or at school, the Gifted School of Unicorns. So I was almost always bored. I passed the time by playing pranks and stuff, but I'd get in so much trouble with Celestia."

"You? A prankster?" Loki looks at me suspiciously.

"Uh-huh," I nod sheepishly, "My greatest prank was on the whole Grand Galloping Gala. That's like a big, high society pony event."

"Oh?" Loki says, gesturing for me to continue.

"I sneaked heavy laxatives in the cakes, set pranks like whoopee cushions and dribble glasses..." I sigh happily, "And because I wasn't allowed downstairs on account of being too young and not invited anyway, I just hurled stink bombs and water balloons at the guests outside from balconies."

"You were quite the menace child, then?" Loki chuckles, "I can be a bit of a prankster, too."

"Well, I always drew up blueprints, most of them were planned," I shrug, "It stopped when I baked Celestia's crown into an orange cake, and you know how disgusting orange cake is."

"What happened?" Loki asks.

"She yelled at me," I say bluntly.

**flashback**

I sit there in front of her, flattening my small ears at the loudness of her voice. It's full of anger, the words stabbing themselves into me like a thousand hot needles all at once.

I feel like I'm going to cry. Heck, I know I'm going to cry. I was just having fun, because she wouldn't let me in the first place, so I made it myself.

This is the first time she's every really shouted at me. I mean, I've been scolded for doing pranks before. But not like this...

I feel awful. Like there's a massive tightness in my chest.

I can't believe it...

I've let her down.

This is my first memory of pain.

**********

"...And it wasn't like the times before when she told me off, Celestia was genuinely yelling at me, I..." I glance away from Loki, "That's when I started trying to be good. But everything I tried only made her favour Twilight more. Which only made me try harder, until eventually, I just gave up.
I wish I could be better than Twi, but... she's perfect. And how do you top perfect?"

Loki rests himself on his elbow and replies quietly, "I've had that end of the stick before."

"But that was a lot later down the track," I add, "The next part of the story is when I was, finally, old enough to go to school. I was so excited, I felt like such a big kid, I was so proud of myself," I grin at the nostalgia, "I couldn't wait to finally be like my big sister, to learn stuff beside her."

**flashback**

Twilight smiled at me as she put my lunchbox into my saddlebags, showing off her magic. I beam widely, letting out an excited squeal, "I can't wait to learn how to grow a unicorn horn and be just like you!"

My big sister grins at me, "Pegasus ponies can't grow horns, silly!"

"Imagine if you grew wings?" I state, trying to picture it.

"Me with wings?" She giggles, "How silly would that be?!"

"Twilight," Celestia says softly, walking down the hallway to us, "It's time to go. And you, too, Rosie," she smiles, happy for us.

Even though I'm a little shorter than her knee, I hug the princess's leg, "I can't wait!" I repeat, my little tail wagging excitedly, "I'm gonna be the smartest filly ever and just like Twilight, too!"

"Not if you don't show up because you're telling everypony about how excited you are," Celestia chuckles, ruffling my fluffy, short mane.

I pull away, "Oh, yes, right!"

"There's a coach waiting to take you to Cloudsdale in the courtyard," the princess says to me, "But first, Twilight, would you like to do something about your little sister's wild hair?"

I giggle proudly, "I brushed it, honest!"

"Ooh, ooh!" Twilight exclaims, "I think I know how to braid!"

And so, I sit down and let her attempt to braid my hair. I often let her play with my mane, it helped her practice with her magic.

"How do I look?" I ask excitedly when she's done, turning around and trying to look like Celestia when she's in front of other people

Twilight has a look of 'what have I done!?' on her face, "Ohhh," she mumbles, "Well, it's uh... better than the last few times I tried."

Celestia puts a hoof over her mouth, trying to contain a giggle, "Good try, Twilight," she smiles, her horn glowing as she's about to fix the fat knot the unicorn's made in the back of my head, "But I think that if we just-"

"No," I squirm away, "I wanna keep it like this."

"Oh, Rosie," Celestia laughs, "Alright, but tomorrow, I'll do your mane."

"Yay!" I clap my hooves happily, proud of the mess my sister just made of my mane, "Okay," I tighten the buckle on my saddlebag, "I'm ready for school!"

With that, Celestia leads us down the hallway and out into the courtyard, where two royal pegasus guards are standing attached to a spacious, white carriage. I bounce in happily, Twilight closing the door behind me.

I turn to look at her in confusion, Celestia coming up behind her, "Have a good day, my little pony," she smiles, "I couldn't be prouder."

I furrow my brow, "But... isn't Twilight coming, too?"

"Twilight goes to a different school for unicorns," the princess explains, "You'll be attending the school in Cloudsdale."

"But I-"

It's too late to protest, the guards have already set off into the air.

I sigh, slumping down in the plush, red seat, trying to figure out what to do. I thought I was going to school with Twilight, not by myself!

I've never really been on my own in public before.

Only bad things happen when I do things on my own...

*********

"As I walked through those school gates, I was petrified! I was starting school two years earlier than the other fillies, and I'd never been anywhere where I didn't know at least one pony before," I sigh, "I was nervous of what the other pegasi would think of me."

**********

My whole body shook a little bit as I passed a sandpit with three fillies building a crappy sandcastle, getting a few strange looks at my mane style, which I quickly became self conscious of.

I'd never walked on clouds before, it took some getting used to. I didn't know what I was supposed to do there. If only Twilight were here, she'd know what to do!

The playground seemed like a normal playground, swings, slides, play equipment behind the school, except the ground was clouds and there were only pegasus ponies.

Suddenly, two foals that looked to be in my year *WHOOSHED* past me, chasing each other.

One was a white colt with a brown, spiky mane, the other was a blue filly with a messy, rainbow coloured mane, neither had a cutie mark. I was sort of happy I wasn't the only one.

The blue filly was a super fast flyer, the colt only just managing to keep up as they pushed past other foals playing. I found it strange that they weren't actually flying in the air, but centimetres above the ground. Maybe pegasus foals could fly higher the older they got and the larger their wings grew?

Anyways, I thought they were the two coolest ponies I'd ever seen, bar Celestia and Twilight. I mean, no other foals I saw could fly as fast as them. Granted, they were the first. But we'll ignore that.

I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted to be as amazing as them, and I thought that I might as well make some friends, so I galloped after them, my pens and books rattling in my saddlebags. But they couldn't sit still for two seconds, so I couldn't catch up to them! Instead, I eventually just predicted where the filly with the rainbow mane would fly to next and stand in that pathway.

And guess what? It worked!

She skidded to a halt in front of me, "Watch it!" She exclaimed, almost crashing into me.

"Hi! I'm Rosie, I'm new here!" I beamed brightly, taking the advice from Celestia on how to make friends. Step one; introduce yourself with a big smile!

The awesome filly just looked me up and down, "Um... okay."

"Hey, Dash!" The white colt slows down to a stop and trots up behind the pegasus, "What's the hold up?"

"Some new girl just stood in my way," she replies, irritated that I did so.

Unfortunately, I didn't catch the hint, "I'm new and I'm really nervous and I like your flying!" I squeak out word vomit.

"Uh-huh..." 'Dash' looks at me like I actually yacked up vomit, "Is there a reason you stopped us right in the middle of our Wonderbolts training?"

I drew little circles on the ground nervously, "I... I was wondering if you wanted to be friends?' I asked in my squeaky lil' baby me voice. The filly squinted at me suspiciously.

"I dunno," she looked to her friend, "How come we never seen you around here before?"

"'Well, I-I'm new here,' I answered.

"Yeah, you said that," the colt cocks his head to me, "We're training to be in the Wonderbolts!" He spreads his wings, which are a little bit bigger than mine.

"Ooh!" I squee, "I know the Wonderbolts! They're princess Celestia's favourite flying group! Can I play?"

"I dunno, Strike," the blue filly said to the colt, "We do need a Fleetfoot. Alright, newbie!" She looked at me, "I'm Rainbow Dash, this is Lightning Strike. Let's see what you got."

Of course, I didn't know what they meant by 'what I got', so I reached into my little backpack saddlebags and pulled out my peanut butter and chocolate pudding sandwich. "I have this," I said.

It was dripping onto the floor with pudding... I was a weird kid, heheh... anyway, they looked at me and Rainbow Dash shook her head and said, "No, no, put that away. We're talking about your flying skills!"

"Oh..." I say, glancing at my little wings on my back, putting my sandwich back in my bag. My wings were even smaller than now, if you can believe, "I don't know."

The filly just rolled her eyes, "What, you mean you can't fly?"

I pulled a scrunchy face, "I don't know... I never tried..."

"What!?" She snickered at me. I looked down self consciously.

"W-well... I could try," I defended myself, assuming that flying couldn't be that hard, "I just gotta flap them, right?"

"The whole school can already fly," Rainbow Dash raised a brow at me, "Why can't you?"

I open my mouth to say something, but am interrupted by a loud, ringing noise coming from the building made of clouds in front of us, other foals running in already. I look around, alarmed, "What's happening? What's going on?" I ask frantically.

Lightning Strike sighs, "It's just the school bell, dumb-dumb," my face falls at his little insult, "You go to class now."

"You're weird," Rainbow Dash adds, "You should watch that before you catch lame-itis," then she shoves me aside and trots into the school with Strike at her heels.

********

"How does this have anything to do with Zoe?" Loki interrupts.

I shove my hoof into his mouth, "SHHHH! I'm getting to that!"

He rolls his eyes and lightly pulls my hoof away, "Don't ever do that again," he says, "Now, are you going to continue or not?"

"Alright, alright," I half growl, "I'm trying to make it more dramatic... anywho..."

********

I sat on the floor in my classroom with the other fillies while the teacher smiled warmly to us, "Welcome back to school, ponies! My name's Ms Cloudkicker. I can see many new faces and some familiar ones, too. I for one am so excited to teach you all new things and help you learn all about this amazing country we call Equestria. So, without further ado, let's dive in and start with some of the interesting animals that live in Equestria, starting with some barn animals."

She stands next to a black board with a few pictures of some weird animals.

"Ooh," I gawk, "I've never seen those things before."

"And what's your name, little filly?" The teacher asks, her magenta eyes landing on me.

I raise my chin, "Rosie Burrito Chuckito Assface."

The teacher obviously holds back a burst of laughter, the other kids not getting it. She clears her throat, "Well, um, miss... Rosie... um, where do you come from?"

"Canterlot, miss," I answer, noticing her reaction to my name. I don't see what's wrong with it...?

"Isn't that amazing, ponies?" She says to the class, "And don't worry, Rosie, I'm sure there are other foals here who haven't seen these animals, either, since most of us come from Cloudsdale, which, as you all know, is the city in the sky!"

"That's good to know... I guess," I shrug.

"Now, can anypony tell me what this animal is?" The teacher asks, grabbing a pointer stick and tapping on a fat, round, pink creature.

A yellow filly raises her hoof, waving it around, "Ooh, ooh! I know, Mrs Cloudkicker, I know!" she says in a soft voice.

"Yes, Fluttershy?"

"That's called a pig. And the one next to it is called a rooster. And the one next to that is a bunny-"

"Alright, Fluttershy," the teacher interrupts, "I only needed one answer but you're correct. This is, in fact, a pig. They like to roll in mud to keep cool in the summer. Does anypony else know any facts about them?"
Another foal raises their hoof.
"Yes, Flash?"

"They eat everything!" He says confidently.

"This is true," Mrs Cloudkicker nods, "Pigs will eat just about anything. Now, the next animal is called a rooster," she points with her pointy stick to the big picture of a feathered animal.

"Looks like you," Rainbow Dash whispers to me over my shoulder, then puts her hoof up, "Miss, what's that red thing on its' head?"

"That's called a comb, Rainbow Dash," The teacher answers.

"Yeah, looks kinda like this," Strike chuckles meanly, fluffing up my knotted mane. Oh, why did I let Twilight do my mane!?

"Roosters are male chickens, and chickens eat mostly grain," Mrs Cloudkicker continues. Maybe she doesn't hear what they're saying? Or maybe this is what the other fillies and colts are supposed to do? "Does anypony know some facts about chickens?"

"They have small wings, miss," Strike taps my little pegasus wings. I inch myself away from him. Personal space, much?

"They can't fly!" Rainbow grins at me.

"Very good, you two!" Mrs Cloudkicker praises.

I flatten my ears. "Wh- well, miss, you know chickens can peck you really hard?" I add pathetically.

"Um... I guess, if you irritated one enough," the teacher shrugged, "So anyway, blah blah blah blah, blah blah..."

I can't concentrate anymore. Why were Rainbow Dash and Lightning Strike being so mean? The words feel like they're echoing in my head... chickens can't fly, the insult of my mane...

If this is what you do when you go to school, I'd rather just stay home.

******

"That was only the beginning," I say, laying down with the back of my head on the ground, Loki doing the same so our heads are next to each other but our bodies are going in different directions.

"I'm... slightly intrigued," Loki states, "What happens next?"

"You mean, you actually wanna know?" I ask, dumbfounded. He wants to know about my past? About me?

"I asked, didn't I?" he says sharply, "I'm also looking to see how Zoe comes into this. Because I didn't ask for your life story, you know."

"Eheh," I chuckle nervously, "Well, then... the teasing thing got worse. First it was pointless teasing and harassment. Then they were saying really mean and hurtful stuff. I would often return home with a few bruises. I stopped hanging out with Twilight, well, trying to, anyway. She was always too busy for me with her studies in the first place.
I used to ask Celestia if I didn't have to go to school after all, and she told me that I did. It ended up in a screaming match and basically Celestia making me a deal. If I went to school for the rest of the year, I wouldn't have to go the next. But there was a catch..."

******
It had been a year since I went to school. It started as occasionally skipping, then often, then just not showing up at all. My wings had grown a little bit, but not that much.
Well, Celestia doesn't know that, and I'm planning to keep it that way. But because I can't fly, she's making me go to a summer flight camp in, you guessed it, Cloudsdale.

And guess who goes to flight camp every summer?

Rainbow Dash and Lightning Strike.

"Please, please, don't make me go!" I begged Celestia.

"Rosie, why do you not want to go? The last time this happened, you just went and things turned out alright, didn't they?" Her rhetorical questions don't really help. "Is there something bothering you?"

I exhale a breath loudly and slowly, "No, no," I lie, "I'm fine, it's just... I'm a little self conscious that my wings still haven't grown as much as the other ponies, and I still haven't learnt how to fly yet... I don't know... is there something wrong with me?"

Celestia's face wavers for only a split second, "No, Rosie. Some ponies may be just born with a condition similar to yours... don't focus on the things you can't do. Focus on the things you can."

Soooo I can't fly and you're sending me to flight camp? No mixed messages at all there, Celestia...

After a moment of silence, I reply with, "I'm not going."

"Yes, you are-"

"No, I'm not! And you can't make me!"

"As the Ruler of Equestria, I order you to-"

"FUCK YOUR ORDERS!" I scream, "Why can't you just let me make my own choices?"

"You're twelve years old," she replies firmly.

"That's like five hundred years for mortals, though!" I argue.

"Rosie," Celestia raises her voice firmly, making me cringe again. Okay, I'm sorry I yelled at you, please, please don't yell at me because if you do, I'll feel even worse than I already do. It'll just add to the gnawing fear of never being good enough, which probably explains why Dash likes to pick on me, "I'm not going to argue. A pegasus needs to learn how to fly. It's the normal thing to do."

I just shut up and nod. Doesn't she realise? My wings are tiny. No pony even likes me. I'm not normal.

I'd rather have spent my time in my room crying. I haven't had a good cry in few days.

I guess that maybe a contributing factor as to why I still can't fly when everypony else can is because I've started to pull my feathers out. Not in front of everypony, in the bathroom sometimes, maybe if I've had an exceptionally rough time. The sharp, stinging pain on the outside kind of feels better than what it's like on the inside, and I'd give anything to constantly feel the outside pain than cripple under the inside pain.

And so, a week later, I was off to Flight Camp. I couldn't avoid this one by hiding in my room like I do to school because Celestia knows that that's where I hibernate during vacations.

The guards flew me in to Cloudsdale, as per usual, and I was lucky enough not to get a dorm with either Dash or Strike. Instead, I got a dark chocolate pegasus with a sandy white mane and light blue eyes, along with this friend, who was a caramel pegasus with a brown mane covering most of his blue eyes. We made friends quickly, and it felt good to finally have somepony to talk to. Not about myself, of course.

So the next day was the first official day of camp, and at the crack of dawn, they dragged us out of our nice comfy cloud beds and lined us up on the clouds in height order next to a tall, raised flag. I was never the tallest filly, I was basically a runt, because I was always at the end of the line. Anyway, the counsellor demonstrated the official Junior Speedster Flight Camp chant, instructing that we had to fly up into the air to complete the actions.

I gulped, glancing at my wings self consciously. "Ready, Juniors?" The councillor grinned at us, "Go!"

Everypony- and griffon- raised themselves into the sky. Nervously, I buzzed my wings as hard as I could, squeezing my eyes shut, standing on the tips of my hooves and praying that I'd take flight. But only my abdomen rose, barely. I was starting to panic as the chant began.

"Junior Speedsters are our lives, sky bound soars and daring dives! Junior Speedsters, it's our quest, to someday be the very best!"

And just like that, the chant was over, everypony descended to the flat cloud. Hoops and Dumbbell (my two dorm mates) glanced at me in concern as I panted, staring at the ground, embarrassed. I lay down on the cloud, burying my head in it to hide my face.

Already, I couldn't do this. It was so humiliating!

Suddenly, the counsellor trotted up to me. "You! Front and centre!" She demanded.
I froze, the tuft of cloud on my head disappearing with a *poof*. I stared up at the blue mare towering over me. "Why didn't you fly?"

I gulped, "I... I..." I could see Rainbow Dash and Strike giggling with a griffon friend of theirs, "I can't fly," I mumbled.

"Well, that's why we're here," the counsellor lifts her head, helping me up while my face turns red, "You'll just have to do the cheer on the ground until you can fly. Anyway, now I want twenty wing ups from all of you!"

She flies away from me to the front of the group, blowing the silver whistle around her neck.

W-wing ups!?

I looked to the other campers, who were lifting themselves up and down off the clouds with their wings, like push-ups. I tried to copy them, squatting down, stretching my little wings as far as they could go to touch the cloud. I tried and tried, grunting and sweating just to get one done. Alas, my wings didn't reach past my ribcage.

After warm ups, most of which I couldn't do, we were taken to a race track to do measurements to see just what each of us were capable of.

"Gilda Griffon?" Said the pink mare with a nasally voice, her hooves tied in tape measure.

Proudly and boastfully, a gryphon chick flaunted up to her, spreading her wings out, which were larger than a pony's. The mare measures the length, "One hundred and eighty centimetres! Impressive. Alright," she checks her list, "Uh, Rosita Burrito Chuckito Assface?"

The group erupts in laughter. I blush even harder, feeling hot tears well up in my eyes, blurring my vision as I guiltily trudge up to her, opening my wings. Dumbbell raises himself into the air, enraged by my humiliation, "Quit it!" He shouts at the campers, their laughter dying down.

The pink mare measures my wings, "Twenty five centimetres," she sounds shocked, "Don't worry, sweetie, they'll grow. Go over to those stallions over there, they'll measure your wing power."

I do as she says, nearing the racetrack as Gilda zooms by, making a mini windmill-like contraption spin around quickly. A green stallion checks the machine. "Fifty two! Wow, that's the power of a regular adult pegasus," he gawks, the stallion next to him writing the score down. "Okay, who's next?"

Gilda flies back to the group. I pause at the red starting line, my small legs shaking like two pieces of jelly trying to hold up a glass of water.

"On your marks," the measuring stallion calls, "Get set..." I shakily open my wings. I've made a small plan in my head- "GO!"

I make a squeaky noise of distress and gallop as fast as I can up to the windmill thing, running like a constipated wiener dog. Just when I'm inches away, I spring into a leap, flapping my tiny wings as fast as possible. I squeal, trying to think bird thoughts. When I open my eyes, I'm greeted with falling face first into the track, the windmill thingy only getting a small breeze of wind.

"0.5," the green stallion says cautiously, "Better luck next time, kid."

"Oh," I sigh, standing up, rubbing my nose.

Rainbow Dash trots past me, about to get her wing power checked, when she chuckles at me, "If I wanted to see a freak fall over, I would've gone to the circus! You should just go back to kindergarten, you little baby!"

I slouch in my posture, turning away and heading back to the cabins. Day one and I already mess up, just like I do with everything else. I can't leave this place, anyway, not without seriously injuring myself from a fall.

I decide to just hide out in my cabin until dinner time. I sit on my comfy cloud bed, staring at the ground, brushing away any tears. I'm gonna be a Wonderbolt one day...

I'm not a baby! I'm not... not a baby.

... Then... why do I feel like crying?

I stare at my wings, loathing them. I reach over, grab a feather and rip it out angrily with my teeth. "Argh!" I scream, drowning it in a second one as I pluck another feather, then another.
I spit them out on the floor furiously, desperately trying to hold back tears. Stupid Rainbow Dash and Strike! I hate them! I hate them, I hate them!
My wings start to throb, but I pull a smaller one, near the base of my wing, which hurts even more, stifling a small scream.

Suddenly, I hear a knock at the door. "Rosie?" Calls a familiar voice.

I freeze.
Abruptly, I sweep the orange feathers on the ground underneath the bed. Then I notice my left wing has been noticeably plucked, so I leap under the blankets, wrapping them tightly around me. "Come in!" I call back, rubbing my eyes to try and erase any evidence of tears.

In comes the dark chocolate pegasus, Dumbbell, with Hoops behind him. "You okay? We saw what happened, then we noticed you wander off."

"I-I'm fine," I stare away from them, into my pillow.

"You sure?" Hoops raises his brow, "Because we know how mean Rainbow Dash can be sometimes."

"She- she's mean to you, too?" I ask. The two colts nod.

"She was here last year," Dumbbell replies, "She got jealous of Hoops because he beat her race time record, and when I stuck up for him, she started teasin' us so much, we almost quit."

"She called me slow coach," Hoops sighed sadly.

"Don't listen to that... that Rainbow... Crash!" I growl angrily.

"Hey, Rainbow Crash!" Dumbbell laughs, "That's gold!"

"Well, Fluttershy isn't very good, either," Hoops complained, "She thinks she's so great- she can't even fly properly-"

"Hoops," Dumbbell squints at him, "Please stop talking."

Hoops glances at me, his face dropping, "Oh... oops."

"Don't worry about it," I sigh, "You're not the first pegasi to notice."

"That still doesn't give anypony the right to mistreat you," Dumbbell says, trotting up to me. "Y'know, if you don't wanna do any training today, we could always hang together?"

"It's okay," I shake my head, "You two have fun. I just wanna be on my own right now."
I didn't want them to miss out on having fun because of me.

"Well... if you're sure," He says, looking at me in concern.

I nod, "Yeah. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

**************

"Where you really?" Loki questions, still staring up at the ceiling and listening.
I stay quiet, looking down.

"Of course not," I reply, "Little did I know that that was probably the best day of Flight Camp."

"What do you mean? Didn't your new friends help it get better?" Loki asks. I can tell he's secretly hoping the answer is yes.

"I wish that was the case," I whimper, "I really do... Loki, you know how you hate falling?" I turn to look him right in the eyes, "I do, too."

His jaw drops, "No..."

*******

"No, no, no! Please!" I plead.

We're at the top of the Rainbow Falls, close to the biggest waterfall.

"This'll teach you to talk back to me, chicken!" Her magenta eyes blaze in frustration. She pulls the ropes tighter, some accidentally cutting off the circulation of my wings.

I squirm, trying to buck my way out, but Lighting kicks me in the gut, making me double over.

I can feel every bruise on my body throb, whimpering as some of the rope cuts me. "What a baby," Lighting comments at my tears, "Toughen up, you spoilt brat!"

"Say, Strike?" Dash grins at him mischievously, pushing me close to the edge of the rainbow falls, the dirt and rocks sinking into my skin, "Ever seen a chicken fly?"

"No, please!" I choke, "I'm sorry-"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Lighting Strike imitated me mockingly.

"Can it, you freak!" Dash stomps on one of my wings. I gasp in pain, hearing a crack and feeling it go the other way. I tense up, my eyes being able to see the long drop over the edge.

"I... I know why you're doing this," I say shakily, "Y-your dad h-hits you... but please-"

"I said SHUT UP!" She screams, kicking me closer to the edge, "You don't know anything about me!"

My crying is sharp, quick breaths of panic. "Please... don't..."

Ignoring my pleas, everything goes into slow motion. She shoves me off the edge. I feel weightless, no ground beneath me. Falling.

All I can hear are the roars of the falls, my screams drowning in them.

Falling.

"No!" I hear Dumbbell's voice scream from above, seeing him reaching desperately and hopelessly down for me.

Falling.

My life flashes before my watery eyes. All the teasing. All the names. All the emotional torture. Isn't it sad this is how it all ends?
Every bruise, every scar, every cut... disappears. All sounds, all visuals, stop for a split second. I see black as my tears are pulled from my eyes.

And then...

*SPLASH!*

I feel myself sting when I hit the liquid, sinking underneath, being swung around and around like a ragdoll under the force of the rainbow water. The air gets knocked out of me, I feel it seeping down my throat and into my lungs.

Water gets up my nose, in my ears, everywhere.

A sharp, stinging agony slices onto my right foreleg, possibly a rock, cuts some of the rope off, giving me the ability to thrash around violently. I don't know which way is up, but I manage to pull my head up from the water for a quick gulp of air, before being slammed back down into it.

I try to flap my sore wings, though I can't feel one of them. My right wing works, but it hurts too much to move. With all my strength, I kick my legs into a swim, slowly edging to the stony, gravelly riverbank.

Everything hurts, but I push on, coughing out an alarming amount of water as I reach the bank.

I crawl up on the hard rocks, half my body still submerged in the rainbow water, which laps at my hips. I don't have enough energy to pull myself completely out.
I gasp desperately for air, still crying. How could somepony do that? Why would they do that?

My hair is weighed down by the water as I weep. I don't know where I am, and the sky's getting dark. It'll be night time soon, maybe a timber wolf will come and eat me so I can be put out of my misery.

I hate myself.

If it weren't for my stupid wing mutation, none if this would ever have happened. It's my fault... it's all my fault.

I wish I was dead.

I deserve it.

I feel my chest shaking heavily, spluttering out more water and crying in shock at the same time. I lay there for hours, shivering in the cold, which doesn't help my aching joints.

Dear sweet Celestia, please, PLEASE, just kill me now.

***************

"I remember every story the wrote on my back.
Bruises like words tattooed into my skin in blue and black ink.

I remember every kitchen sink surgery where my friends had to stitch me back together... I remember every happily ever after that never came to pass.

We didn't go to school in fairy tales.

We went to school in all the gory details of a horror story while monsters made us victims of their comedy.

We, the recipients of their punch lines as they hung insults around our necks like signs, inviting anyone to join in. Their words were like invisible ink that they tattooed upon my skin."

*********

"Oh, darling..." Loki says, lost for words. He rests his forehead on mine when he notices the tears in my eyes.

My body rattles in sobs and whimpers, "I should have died," I cry, "I should have."

Loki sits up with me, pulling me into a hug, "No, no, no... shh..."

"I deserved it," I add, "I had it coming. They were right to treat me like a monster... because I am one."

"Rose, listen to me," He says firmly, cupping my chin and tilting my head upward to meet his eyes, "You're not the monster. And thank Odin you survived." Then he hugs me again, tighter, while I sob into his chest, "You're... you're amazing."

I chuckle lightly, "And the God of Mischief and Lies lives up to his name."

"Hm," he gives a small laugh, lifting the corner of his lips.

"And..." I add after a moment of silence, "I am assuming that said God of Mischief would be wondering how Zoe comes into this story, yes?"

"Eheh," he gives me an adorable smile, "Of course."

******************

A day had passed. I was hungry, hoping I would rot here. If I could just slip into unconsciousness and die, it would all be over.

The sun was shining too brightly, burning onto my bruised and cut skin. I had my eyes closed to reduce the glare in them. I was wondering if anypony would notice if I was gone, or if I was even there to begin with.

I thought I heard hoof steps crunching on the gravel, but I assumed it might have been my imagination, or just the sound of the river.

A shadow cast over my face, blocking out the sun.

And then I heard the two words that would change my life forever.

"Hey... y'alright?"

I opened one eye to see a young purple unicorn, about my age, with amazing green eyes and a somewhat messy mane. I tried to say something, but all I could manage was a small groan.

"Uh... 'Kay?" She says, confused. "Ooh, maybe she's from a long lost village and she floated here from across the sea?" She talks to herself, "So, even though she appears normal, she's really a... a... a spy!"

"I'm not a spy you idiot," I grumble.

"AH!" She screams, jumping back, "Shhhhh! Spies aren't supposed to talk!"

"You're talking about a ninja, there," I reply. I must be dead.

"Touché," she strokes her chin, "I like you. What's your name?"

"R-Rosie," I mumble, embarrassed of my name.

"Hi, R-Rosie! I'm Zoe," she puts a hoof in my face, expecting me to shake it. When I don't, she cocks her head at me, "Are you okay?"

"Never been better," I growl.

"Really? 'Cuz it looks like you just jumped off a cliff," she questions me, "Ooh, ooh! I can do a healing spell! Wanna see? I'm reeeeeally good at magic!"

"Leave me alone to die," I reply.

"Too late," she giggles, already healing my scabbing leg, "What made you fall down here, anyway?" She asks, helping me up and noticing the old rope around my waist. She concentrates hard, staring at the rope for a few seconds, before it untangles itself from me, surrounded by green magic.

I had never seen anypony do magic like that before, not even a filly!

"Well, uh..." I rub my arm self consciously, "Don't wanna talk about it."

"Alrighty, then," she looks at me suspiciously, "Even though the marks on your skin look like that rope's been there for a while..."

"And thank you for removing it," I sigh, starting up. Immediately regretting it, I wince and sit back down. "Ouch," I turn to look at my wings. My left one is laying limp, twisted the other way, my right is also broken, but not as severely.

"Oh my," Zoe squints at the injury, "Sorry, don't know how to fix broken wings yet. Maybe my dad could help?"

"Could he remove them, please?" I ask.

"Why? Wings are awesome!" She exclaims, "If I had wings I would go WHOOSH! WHAM! WHEEE!" She does some jumping actions.

"Too bad I can't do that," I lower my head, "I can't fly."

Zoe gives me a sad look. "W-well, maybe I could teach you? Once you get better, I mean."

"Teach me? Sorry, but how could you, with the whole lack of wings thing," I point to her bare back.

"I could be your coach! You look like you came from Summer Flight camp, and I'm guessing you don't really wanna go back there, huh?"

I nod sheepishly, "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Just a hunch," she shrugged. "I don't think you can walk just yet, so I'll just cast a spell that can get us home super duper real quick!"

"Okay," I look at her suspiciously, "Are you sure you know how to do that?"

"Well," she raises a hoof, "I've never really tried it on ponies before, but c'mon, this'll be great!"

With that, she grunts really loudly, struggling to keep her horn alight with the green aura. Suddenly, there is a huge flash of light, and when it fades away, we're in a house, presumably the kitchen, in Ponyville.

My eyes go derp as they adjust to what just happened. "Whaaaa?!" I gasp in disbelief.

~

Living in Ponyville was great! I could only stay for the summer and get back to Cloudsdale when it was over so Celestia wouldn't get suspicious, but it was still totally great!

Zoe's dad was awesome, too, he took me to the hospital and my wings healed a week before vacation was over.

I'd stopped pulling my feathers out, too. Zoe taught me to love myself, and after a while, I was actually enthusiastic to get my wings into the air.

So a day after I got the casts off my wings, I told Zoe I wanted to start flying again. "Oh, wow, what an amazing coincidence!" She said to me, "Over the course of the summer, I was reading books on how to fly, too! I'll teach you everything I know. Now, who's ready for a training montage!?"

We practised day and night after that, hungry to get me in the air by the end of the week. Zoe made me do push-ups and sit ups. At first, they were really hard, but by the end of the week, they were the easiest things ever.

"Okay, open your wings," she instructed.

"Open your wings," I repeat.

"Crouch like a tiger," she continues.

"Crouch," I echo, doing the actions.

"Leap!" She jumps into the air.

"Leap," I nod, jumping into the air and buzzing my wings like crazy. I spread my legs out like a frog as I descended really slowly.

"That was way better that the last hundred times we practised that!" Zoe cheered enthusiastically.

"Okay, I'm ready to fly," I make a determined face on a Saturday.

"You sure?" Zoe asks, shoving a mattress down the staircase and outside.

"It's now or never," I reply, "I'm going home tomorrow."

Her usual happy expression darkens, "Oh... okay."

"Teleport me up to that cloud, yeah?" I ask, pointing to a cloud close to the ground in the sky as we go outside.

Zoe nods and, after some effort, manages to successfully get me up to the cloud. "I'll carry this underneath you so you don't fall on the ground," she picks the mattress up with her magic.

"Okay," I nod, "Attempt one." I gulp.

"Break a leg!" She calls up to me.

"Not helping!" I shout.

"Sorry!"

"Alright, alright," I close my eyes, "Open your wings," I open them, "Crouch... and... leap!" I thrust myself into the air, but my hooves don't leave the cloud. "And... leap!" I repeat, my legs shaking, but still not levitating.

"Actually jump this time, yeah?" Zoe grins.

I scowl down at her, then try to concentrate. "And... leap!" This time, I give myself a small bound, before face planting into the ground.

"HAHAHAHAHHA!" Zoe laughs uncontrollably.

It was at that moment that a little something starting going through my head. It went a little something like this;

"Fuck."

-
"Attempt two," I whisper to myself, closing my eyes for concentration. I back up to the edge of the cloud, doing a run-up. I gallop up to it, jumping off and spreading my wings out, before realising I'm falling and scream loudly, flapping my wings out of sync and falling onto the springy mattress Zoe held out for me.

A little too springy of a mattress, because it shoots me up in the air, through a cloud house several kilometres above us where two ponies, one who looks like Stan Lee, are playing chess.

As I hover through mid air for a few seconds in front of the guy Stan is playing against, I tap my chin at the board and do a winning move. "Checkmate," I grin.

Stan Lee slams his hoof on the table. "Dang it!"

And then I fall through the hole in the cloud. From below, Zoe hold the mattress out for me, "I got her, I got her!" She reassured herself.

I land behind her on the grass.

-

"Okay," I sigh through my nostrils, adjusting myself on the cloud and ignoring the bandaid on my forehead. The sun is setting over the horizon. "One-hundred-and-sixty-third time lucky!"

"You can do it, Rosie!" Zoe calls.

My eyes are fixed on the cloud a few metres away from me. "Just gotta land on that one," I encourage myself.

I gulp. It's now or never.

I bolt from one end of my cloud to the other, the edge rushing up to me. At the very last second, I spring off the clouds. My wings open.

Unlike the other times, I'm not falling to the ground. My wings are doing fast, but not too fast, even strokes. I soar over Zoe, glancing down at her.

"Oh, gods," I breathe in disbelief, "I... I did it! I'm flying! I'm flying, Zoe, I'm flying!"

"Hallelujah!" Zoe cheers, running under me with her untrustworthy mattress.

To cut a short story short? I crashed into a flower pot.

But that didn't get me down, oh, no. Because that day?

That day was the best day of my life.

***********

"So?" I sigh, "Did you like that story? Or nah?"

Loki smiles at me, "It was an amazing story. But I have one question... why would you tell me is?"

"Well," I shrug, "You agreed to listen. Besides, I kinda needed a break from all that sad war story stuff."

"Eheh," he chuckles.

"Anyway," I yawn, "It's late, we should be sleeping."

Loki's face falls, "Oh. A-alright..."
I smirk as I trot out of the room, then come back a minute later with two pillows. Loki looks up from reading our book, "What's that for?" he asks.

"Pillows, you feather brain," I throw one at him, walking into his cell and closing the doors behind me, "For sleeping on. Cold hard floor isn't very comfortable, is it?"
As soon as I hug a fat white pillow, saying, "It's like spooning a warm marshmallow," Loki cocks his head.

"You're staying in here? With me?" He furrows his brow.

"Congratu-pony-lations," I giggle, "For listening to Rosie's boring story, you get your second ever sleepover!"

"Hurrah," he jokes with me, tackling his pillow onto the floor and hugging it while resting his head on it.

~

We talked after that. Mostly about philosophical things. Loki got me to show him my wing's scars, which I reluctantly obliged to if he would make something out of ice with that weird popsicle thing he does.

He grins, shuffling away from me and slowly turning blue with his eyes red. He waves his hooves around each other and creates a little icicle Loki, "Do something before it melts," he adds, shoving the sculpture towards me and turning back to his normal pony self.

I lower my head and kiss the little icicle Loki, which instantly melts into a pool of water.

"Woah, that was weird," I raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"I guess it melted so fast because you're too hot," he winks at me.

"Hot damn," I blush, before falling back on my pillow, blowing my lips out. "Anyways. It's like, one am. I'm sleeping."
With that, I clap my hooves and the lights dim down.

Loki glances around in amazement, "I didn't know you could do that!"

"You do now," I giggle, closing my eyes as he rests his head on his pillow, facing me, but not too close.

After a few minutes of almost falling asleep, Loki speaks up.

"Rose, I've just been wondering... why did you come in here in a flurry today?"

"Identity crisis," I reply nonchalantly.

"Would you mind telling me what that identity crisis was about?" He presses.

"Yes, actually. I've told you lots of stuff today," I roll closer to him, staring at him in the blue darkness, "You've gotta have something to trade for that information."

"Hmmm," Loki thinks for a moment, "Well... ask me any question, and I shall answer it."

"In full detail so a dumbass like me can understand it?"

"You and I have a very different definition of dumbass," Loki looks at me, "But yes."

"Okay, ummm..." I tap my chin, "Why can't you use your magic? I've seen you use it before, but sometimes you don't. Is it because you don't want to or what?"

"When I was sentenced here," he sighs, "I was a very bad man. I still am, actually," he adds, shuffling a little bit away from me, "But when the Allfather sent me here, he cast a spell on me, a love spell. Meaning I could only cast spells in acts of helping others, or love, and that when I learned to truly love, and for the maiden to love me in return, he would grant me my powers back.
Of course, he knew this was foolproof, for I am not capable of loving someone, and if I were... who could ever love a monster?"

I exhale a breath, feeling a little special, but not really knowing what to say. "I can think of somepony," I mumble under my breath. "So, what about you being able to do that blue thingy you do?"

"That," he says bitterly, "That is my frost giant side. I am able to control that, because that is not in my set of powers, but a part of who I am."

"Well," I say, "Frost Giants are cool."

"No pun intended?" I hear him as I fall asleep.

"No pun intended," I reply smiling.