The next morning, Sonny woke up and almost completely forgot he had recently obtained his cutie mark. He still didn't really fully understand it, or what "ILL" meant. Did it mean he was ill? Sonny gave up and decided he should find a way to cover it up so his mother didn't see.

He decided to go with an oversized, marshmallow, Shrek-green jacket that covered his back and flank all the way to his tail. It was hideously ugly, but Sonny had to wear it. Putting on the ugly thing was horrible, and he knew his mother would question why he would wear it to school.

Slowly creeping down the stairs, Sonny tried to sneak out of the house without his mother seeing him, but of course that would be impossible.

"Good morning Sonny!" His mother said and walked over to where he was. Sonny pulled the jacket over his flank and tried not to reveal his cutie mark at all.

"Oh…um…good morning?" Sonny did a bad poker face, and his mother raised an eyebrow.

"Why would you wear that hideous jacket to school?" She peered around him, searching for an answer.

Sonny gulped, "Um…its Ugly Sweater Day…aha…pony who wears the ugliest jacket gets a…uh…prize!" His eyes flickered from side to side as his mother turned around slowly.

"Well…uh…I hope you win." She said, and headed back into the kitchen, rolling her eyes as she went. Sonny wiped the sweat off his forehead and dashed out the door. Once he got past the gate, he stashed the jacket under a few bushes before continuing on to school.

When Sonny walked through the doors of his first class, math, nobody noticed him at first. Suddenly, one by one, heads turned, and ponies motioned to his flank with their hooves and whispered. Sonny blushed, and walked quietly to his seat, but before he got there, someone broke the silence.

"Look everybody! Skrilly got his cutie mark!"

Sonny's head perked up and his eyes widened as he looked in the direction of the voice. The room burst out in laughter, as all the rest of the ponies in the room haven't gotten their marks yet.

Well, all except one.

His name is David Guetta, and he was always trying to pick fun at the other fifth graders because he was in eighth grade. Guetta's cutie mark was just a plain vinyl disc, but he acted like he actually had real talent. He was so arrogant, and saw everyone else as a different level of society from him, even though he had been held back in math at least four times since he was still at fifth grade level. And he was the one who broke the silence.

Sonny looked down at his hooves as he continued to walk to his seat, his face reddening every second. Everyone was laughing at him, and looking at his flank. Sonny hated Guetta, just looking at that smile plastered on Guetta's face made Sonny angry, but there was nothing he could do. Slowly, he felt his eyes begin to sting, and a tear roll down his cheek as the ponies picked fun at him.

"Everyone quiet down!" The teacher yelled, "Now, someone please explain to me what's going on?"

Oh God no! Sonny thought, and he slammed his head down on the table, feeling his glasses push into his nose and his mane fly to the side. Another tear was threatening to roll down his face, but he forced his eye to stay closed.

"Sonny got his cutie mark!" A little filly in the front of the room said, and all the other ponies giggled. I just want to die! Sonny thought, and didn't dare to look up.

The teacher shook her head, "Everyone knows that getting your cutie mark is a natural stage in a pony's life. Some ponies get them earlier than others, and Sonny seems to be one of those ponies." Sonny buried his face in his hooves and hoped nobody was looking at him, but of course, he knew they were.

"But it's weird!" Another colt said, "Nobody else in the entire fifth grade has their mark yet." Everyone agreed and giggled, still fascinated with Sonny's new mark.

"All fillies and colts will get one eventually, but it's best not to pick fun at those who get theirs early." The teacher said, "Now let's get back to math, shall we?"

Sonny didn't look up the entire math class. When the bell rang, he darted out the door before anyone else could stand up. I can't face my classmates again, he thought, as he ran all the way to the playground.

Once Sonny got far enough away, he sat down on the grass and began to sob. Tears rolled down his reddened cheeks and landed on the soft green grass. Nobody was around to hear him cry, nobody would have to see him like this.

Suddenly, Sonny thought he heard a bell ring in the distance. Seventh and eighth grade break, he thought, but didn't feel like he could get up. Every time he tried to stop crying, more tears just came.

"Hey…kid."

A gentle voice came from behind him. Sonny sat up and wiped tears from his eyes before turning around.

"Are you okay?"

Behind him stood a colt who looked several years older than Sonny. He had a slightly worried look on his face, and his green eyes were searching Sonny's face for an answer. He had a short, choppy, brown mane and tail, and his fur was a light ash brown.

Sonny sniffled, "What do you want? I bet you're just going to make fun of me like the rest of my class."

The stranger looked somewhat alarmed, and took a slight step back, revealing wings on his sides, "Wh-what? Dude, I was just asking if you were alright. I wasn't going to make fun of you."

"R-really?"

"Yes."

The stranger sat down next to Sonny, "My name's Joel. What's yours?"

Sonny gulped, "It's Sonny."

"You know, you never answered my question. Are you okay?" Joel asked, and started at Sonny.

Sonny shook his head and said, "Do I look like I'm okay?"

Joel looked down and said, "Well, not exactly. You were bawling your eyes out when I found you sitting here."

Sonny shrugged and said, "You would be too."

"What happened?"

Sonny rolled his eyes and looked down.

"Dude, really, what happened?" Joel looked intently at Sonny, trying to pry an answer out of him.

Sonny stood up and motioned to his flank, "This happened." He sat back down and covered up his mark with his tail so Joel didn't have to see.

"What? Your mark?" Joel seemed surprised, "Shouldn't you be jumping up and down with excitement because of it?" Sonny shook his head.

"That's easy for you to say. You probably got yours at a decent age, unlike me. I'm the only fifth grader with a mark."

Joel just shook his head and stood up. Sonny looked at his flank and was shocked to see nothing there but fur. No design or symbol, just nothing.

"Easy for you to say? I'm the only seventh grader without one." Joel sighed as he sat back down, "I've been laughed at by my class because everyone else has one, except me." Sonny took a moment to let Joel's words sink in.

"I…haven't told my mom yet. I don't think I can." Sonny said, and avoided eye contact with Joel.

"How long have you had it?"

"Since yesterday," Sonny sighed, "at the talent show."

Joel's ears perked up and he turned to Sonny, "Dude, were you that one kid with that amazing voice and sick music?"

Sonny blushed, "Yeah, that's me."

"That was awesome! Did you come up with that all on your own?"

"Yeah….I did." Sonny shrugged and stood up, "You know, I'm really not even sure what this mark even means." He turned his head to examine the mark, trying to piece together what it meant. Suddenly, the bell rang.

"Oh God…I forgot. I'm not even supposed to be here right now." Sonny turned to Joel, "I better get back to class before I get detention."

Joel nodded, "Hey, I know you're a fifth grader and all, but, we should hang out sometime." Sonny smiled at the older pegasus colt before dashing back to the classrooms. For those few moments, he almost forgot about the teasing and laughter by his peers in math.

Sonny picked up his four hooves and ran as fast as he could across the field, not even looking up. Suddenly, he felt himself crash into something. Sonny hit his head, and fell backwards on the grass, his glasses flying off to the side. A shadowy figure towered above him.

"What are you doing out here, you fag?"

Sonny reached for his glasses and put them on. His vision cleared and he saw who was standing above him. It was Guetta, back to pick more fun at him.

"What do you want?" Sonny said, his voice slightly trembling as he stood up, facing Guetta. Guetta was almost a foot taller than him, and could probably beat him up if he wanted to. Sonny narrowed his eyes and tried to act unafraid toward the arrogant eighth grader.

"You think you're all that since you got your mark, huh?" Guetta sneered, and flicked his dirty blond tail. He reached his hoof back and polished his lame disc cutie mark, "Well mine's better than yours! What does yours even mean? Ill?"

Sonny felt his face turning red, "What's yours mean? That your talent is copying music off of other discs and calling it your own? Is that what yours means?"

Guetta took a step back, shocked by the little unicorn's comeback. Then, his face turned to pure rage, "I…uh…everyone knows I'm better than you!"

Sonny rolled his eyes, "That's a really lame comeback, Guetta." Guetta shifted his eyes from side to side as the pondered what to say back to Sonny. Instead of talking, though, Guetta reared up and pushed Sonny down on his back with his hooves.

"Argh!" Sonny called out as he fell down, his chest in searing pain from being hit. Anger flooded through his veins, and he felt a great surge of power building inside him. He bounced back up onto his hooves, and without even thinking, he aimed his unicorn horn at Guetta.

"Pssh! Are you actually going to try and use your gay little magic on me? I doubt you even have your magic yet." Guetta just laughed and stomped the ground as Sonny just got angrier each second. Something was coming, and Sonny could just feel it.

It happened in an instant. A beam of red light shot from his unicorn horn and hit Guetta square in the leg, causing him to scream. The power emitting from Sonny's unicorn horn was so strong, he lost his balance and fell again, losing the glow. When he looked up again, Guetta was curled up in a ball in the grass, sobbing and holding his leg.

Sonny smiled as Guetta stood on his other three legs and wipe tears from his eyes with his hoof, but Sonny's smile faded when he saw a teacher trotting their way.

"Young colt, you know that use of magic on school grounds in forbidden." She clicked her hoof on the ground as Sonny silently nodded. She then said, "Why are you not in class? This is seventh and eighth grade break. You're getting detention for harassing another student, cutting class, and for using magic on campus."

Sonny rolled his eyes. The teacher scowled and shouted for him to run back to class, and to remain there through his lunch break as well.

"Stupid freaking school." Sonny mumbled as he kicked open the door and trotted to a desk in the back. He slumped in his seat and mindlessly tapped his two front hooves together. Then, he felt a tap on his shoulder from behind him. Sonny turned to see Joel sitting there, his wings unfolded and hanging lazily at his sides.

"I saw that fight between you and Guetta." Joel said, and smiled, "Dude, I wish I could perform magic like that. My retarded wings hardly even work to make me fly." He gave his wings a flap and tucked them behind his shoulder blades again.

"Wait," Sonny raised an eyebrow, "I performed magic?"

"Yes! I've never seen any magic come from a little kid before."

Sonny hated being called a little kid, especially since he was shorter than the other colts of his age, and that Joel was hardly more than a few years older than him. He reached a hoof up and touched his unicorn horn.

Without thinking, Sonny looked over to a book on his desk and concentrated on it. Within a second, he felt energy emitting from his forehead between his ears reaching down to the book. A spark flew from his horn, then a radiating red glow began to form around the book. Beads of swear formed on his forehead and ran down Sonny's face as he strained to lift the book. Once it was airborne, he opened his eyes to see it.

His magic was a red glow that almost seemed to shimmer as it surrounded the book. Sonny's head felt hot, and he looked over to the mirror on his left to see that his unicorn horn was emitting the same red glow. Suddenly, he recalled another conversation with his mother about magic…

"Most unicorns will posses a blue or yellow glow, but some posses a greater power that could come in any color of the rainbow." She explained, "My magic is just a blue glow, but yours could turn out to be anything. Sometimes, even a unicorn's magic is part of their special talent."

Sonny's mind raced back to the present, as the teacher was giving him a cold stare from the front of the classroom. Ugh, I forgot about the no-magic-allowed rule, Sonny relaxed and the book landed with the thud on the table.

He turned around to see Joel nodding and saying, "You have some magic talent, eh?"

Sonny shrugged, "I'm not sure, but do you think it might've contributed to my mark?" Joel had a helpless expression, so Sonny changed the subject, "Why are you in detention anyways?"

"I dunno. Mr. Freaking What's-his-face teacher caught me trying to fly over the fence and escape. I've done it before, I guess I was just not being sly enough."

Sonny looked at him and said, "Have you ever wondered what your special talent is? You know, since you haven't gotten your mark yet?"

Joel sighed and said, "I've just kind of given up. Ever since the rest of my class got theirs, I had been trying everything in my power to discover my talent, but everything was useless. The only thing I do now to keep myself going is playing the piano."

"Do you think that could be…" Sonny started, but Joel cut him off.

"No! I'm not a pro or anything at it, it's just something to pass the time." Joel looked the opposite direction from the unicorn, but he could almost feel Sonny's gaze still on him.

"I want to hear a song you can play."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Joel, please? I'm trying to help you out."

"Sonny, I said no. You're just a little pony with a big imagination. I can figure it out on my own. Now go play with your Legos or whatever the heck you do." Joel didn't look up at Sonny again. Angry, Sonny stood up and walked to the other side of the room and found a different seat behind an older filly with a dark mane that seemed to be in Joel's grade.