Chapter 1:
"Alys!...ALYS!"
Twilight Sparkle poked her head in, her long purple and pink mane rushing in after her.
"Alys, it's time to wake up now sleepy head, it's your last day of magic school and you wouldn't want to be late now would you?"
Slowly opening her bright, yet sleepy, silver eyes,
"Why do I have to wake up…everyone knows I graduated, so why do I have to go?" she complained in her best winy voice.
"Because today is also your birthday silly!" Twilight stated joyously.
Just as she was puffing up her chest to get the loudest sigh out that she could, she was cut off by Pinky Pie storming in and pouncing onto her, her Pink mane almost as excited as the giddy pony herself.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
"Oh my god…." Alys whispered under her breath
"What was that!" Pinky Pie exclaimed
"Oh nothing, I just said 'Oh joy' because you know, I'm just so excited for today!" Putting on a great smile for her onlookers.
"Well you should get ready, breakfast will be done soon! I made your favorite!"
"finally something great out of this morning"
"What!" Pinky squealed with a big grin
"Oh, um may I get dressed"
"Oh sure! And make sure to stop by the sugar cube after the graduation!"
"I'll be sure to do that!" Giving her a cheeky grin as the pink pony hopped out of the room
After levitating her blanket off of her, she slowly pulled her white body off of her soft bed and walked over to her mirror at the other end of the room. After using her magic to lift her opal colored bush that Rarity gave her two years ago for her birthday, she brought it up to her lightly tinted gray and pink mane and slowly brushed the knots out of it, straightening out her long ,sharp, clean cut then turning around to do the same to her tail.
After brushing her mane and tale she walked over to her small table in the center of the room and slid her lime green set of bangle bracelets over her back right hove.
After walking back to her mirror, deciding not to wear any cloths, seeing as she would wear a robe anyway at the graduation, she looked herself over and feeling good about herself until she turned just enough to see the lack of cutie mark she bore. Sighing loudly to herself she looked away disappointed.
"I'm Fifteen years old…Why won't my cutie mark come?"
After deciding that this was the best she was going to look, she dragged herself down to the small kitchen of the tree home she and Twilight Sparkle resided in.
"Well don't you look nice!" Twilight said after she noticed Alys walk into the room
"Thank you" Giving a small, bashful grin
"Well eat up because today is going to be a big day for you! I just can't believe your birthday is on the same day as your graduation! It's quite amazing if I do say so myself!" Twilight chimed in with a sweet smile as she placed the two plates down on the table leaving one empty seat.
After Spike left due to his body maturing to be too large to enter the front door and his yearning to explore more of Equestria, the two girls now ate meals together and found the time to be quite nice sense neither of them really had time to see each other during the day. Twilight became a consort for Princess Celestia, and Alys spending most of her day studying and exploring the Everfree Forest feeling most comfortable there sense no creature there cared if she had her cutie mark or not.
She felt free in the forest, it was like a haven away from all the criticism and ridicule she got for being different. She loved her friends with all her heart, and had a special place in it just for Twilight. Twilight was like a mother, sister, and best friend to Alys. She was the pony that took her in when the baby pony was left at the doors to the castle. Princess Celestia thought Twilight would be the best caretaker and Alys has been with her ever sense. But even for her deep affection for all the ponies that cared so much about her, she still felt like she didn't belong and honestly had no intention of staying in Ponyville for the rest of her life. She felt like she would probably follow in Spikes footsteps and would one day leave to see if she could ever find another pony like her, or at the very least, find somewhere she would belong.
"So you excited to graduate today?" Twilight murmured as she spoke with her food still in her mouth
"The robe will cover up my flank right?"
"Well yes, but you really shouldn't be concerned with what other ponies think, you need to be yourself and more importantly, love yourself" Twilight stated with a concerned look
"Well as long as my flank is covered up, I think I'm as happy as I could be!" Alys proclaimed as she picked up her plate and headed to the kitchen
"I really do hope she will learn to accept herself for who she is one day. It isn't our cutie mark that matters, It's who we are inside" She thought to herself, sad that the young pony wouldn't embrace the gift so few had of being different.
"Welcome to the 72nd annual Ponyville Magic School graduation!" Alys heard over the loud speaker of the announcer as she was fitting her robe on, making sure her flank couldn't be seen from any angle.
She heard the stage helper call out to all the ponies to get in line by name and get ready to become School graduates, as the helper tried to pump up the ponies for their big day. She appreciated the effort given by the helper, but all she could think about was if she would trip and her robe would slip up enough for everypony to see her 'blank flank', she really did hate the expression, and she hated it even more when someone would take notice to it and make a 'comment' about it.
After thinking about her past and despising evey pony that made fun of her, she lost track of time and was soon the next pony to go out onto the stage to get their diploma.
"Next up, one of Ponyville Magic School's top students…Alys!" As soon as she heard her name, she wanted to freeze up and run, but she didn't. She didn't want to disappoint Twilight, Pinky, Rarity, and all of her other friends. She took a deep breath, almost so deep her eyes started to water, and stomped her way out onto the stage.
As soon as the first light hit her, she heard Twilight cheering her on, and soon after the rest of the crew. She looked over to see them in the 3rd row. As soon as her eyes connected with Twilights, seeing out proud she was, seeing how happy all these years had finally paid off, just seeing the joy of her best friend as she walked across the stage.
Feeling all these emotions at once was overwhelming for Alys and her eyes began to water. By the time she reached the Headmaster of the school to receive her diploma, her whole face was a mess and she had tears tunneling down her face. The older, but not bad looking, headmaster smiled at her and handed Alys her diploma, she grabbed it with magic, gave the older pony a weak, but confident smile and headed over to her spot at the back of the stage to wait for the other students to get their diplomas as well.
As she waited for the other students to cross the stage she looked over to Twilight to see her face just as soaked as her own. For the rest of the ceremony she just stared at Twilight the whole time, and Twilight stared back. They just sat there, feeling a rush of emotions over the both of them, and soon Alys found herself sobbing once again, feeling more joy than ever before in her life, feeling happy and proud that she made her closest friend so happy and proud of her, that she didn't let Twilight down, or in a round-a-bout way didn't let Princess Celestia down either. She made it, she made it through all the crap the other ponies put her through, and now she saw why it was all worth it. And she was happy she endured every ounce of it just for this one moment that she wouldn't give up for the life of her.
Soon the graduation was over and all the new graduates left the stage and went through the back to reach their family and friends. Alys rushed as fast as her hooves would take her over to Twilight and her friends. As soon as they saw each other they ran towards one another and smashed into a long embrace, happy as could be,
"I did it."