Anne Lace, hyper little fluffball of an earth pony.

Daddy was not happy with Brackie. thought Anne Lace as she stared up the stairs. Even though Brackie is soooo cool, Daddy thinks she is irres... irresponsible! Yes! Brackie told Lace before that Daddy was wrong, and that Brackie was amazing, and Lace liked "amazing" better than "irresponsible," and so Brackie was amazing! Lace did a little happy dance on the spot. Immediately, a happy smile plastered itself to Lace's face. She bounded up the steps to go wake her favorite sister.

Upon reaching the door to her older sister Bracken's room, Lace stopped. Then she sat. And then she thought.

If Daddy wants me to wake Brackie early on a weekend, then Brackie must be in deep trouble! The little filly gasped audibly upon coming to this realization. Now stressed, Lace ran into the bathroom to think more. She jumped into her "thinking spot" (the bathtub) and continued thinking while holding her "thinking rock" (some really old soap).

What had Brackie done lately that might have made Daddy mad? Hmm... She was out later than that time last night with her friends, but last I checked, Daddy doesn't seem to care if she stays out late anymore… Maybe it had something to do with the big scary kittysaur that Brackie had shown me a couple days ago? she thought, her muzzle scrunching up as she concentrated. Brackie said that the kittysaur was a nice kittysaur and wouldn't hurt anypony unless it was th... th... threatended! Yes! What did threatended mean?

Lace thought for a moment before deciding that she did not know what "threatended" meant, and with no clue as to why Daddy was mad with Brackie, Lace gave up and climbed out of the tub. She put her thinking rock in her super-secret hiding place (under a towel) and bounded out of the bathroom to go wake up her sister, but for real this time.

Bracken, not a morning pony, but still an earth pony.

"Wake up wake up WAKE UP!" screamed the annoyingly high-pitched voice of my younger sister.

I was awake instantly, as nopony can sleep through Lace's infernal screeching. Even though I was awake, that didn't mean I couldn't go back to sleep. I flipped my pillow out from under my head and over my ears, reducing the loudness of my sister to levels that wouldn't explode my eardrums.

My bed started to shake and I could feel Lace climbing onto my bed, and before I knew it my pillow was forcibly ripped from over my head.

"BRACKEN BRACKEN YOU NEED TO GET UP! YOU WERE IN THE PAPER AGAIN!" screeched the little abomination directly into my ear. So what if I was in the... Oh Celestia burn me in the sun and serve me fried.

I was awake and sitting up in my bed immediately. Lace, with her ultralight green coat and not-so-light green mane was sitting to my left, giving me an innocent smile.

"What. Did. You. Just. Say." I asked slowly, daringly. Lace opened her mouth to scream it at me again, but I stuffed my hoof i there quickly.

"When I take my hoof out, the next words out of your mouth will be quiet and polite, or you will be defenestrated. " I said before removing my hoof from Lace's mouth. It came out all slimy with fillyspit. Yuck.

"You were in the paper again! I don't know why! Also, Daddy wants to see you." said Lace, glancing at the window and then back at me. "He doesn't seem happy."

I groaned audibly before I rolled over and fell out of bed onto my hooves. I looked at Lace tiredly.

"How not happy?" I asked, hoping that what was in the paper had nothing to do with it.

"Very. He wanted me to get you up." replied Lace.

I shivered, maybe from fear, maybe from not being in my warm bed.

"Is Clover awake yet?" I asked Lace, trying to hide my nervousness.

"Yeppers. Red got up real early to go for a run."

Of course little miss goody four shoes got up early. She just has to stay in shape because if she gained one pound it would be the end of the world!

"Bracken?" called my dad from downstairs. "I need to talk to you."

I could tell that he was really, really mad. This was not going to go well. I called back, "I'll be down in a few minutes! I need to use the bathroom!"

There was only silence as a reply. I grunted and went to take care of buisiness. I walked into the bathroom and almost screamed when I saw myself in the mirror. My usually-straight black and grey mane was frizzed out on one side, and the brown fur on my face had a blacker tinge, probably from the ash from last night's bonfire. I could see the bags under my grey-violet eyes, and wished that I had been able to sleep in another two, three, eleven hours maybe. Yeah, that'd be nice.

There was nothing I could really do about my hair, but I did dunk my face in the sink after I let it fill with water, leaving the water a dark grey-brown.

I wiped my face on a towel and headed out of the bathroom to face the music.

When I came into the living room, my dad was sitting in his favorite chair with a frown across his grey face and a newspaper in his hooves. When he heard me coming down, he looked up at me angrily.

"Mornin' Dad..." I said, hoping that he wasn't as mad as he looked.

"Young mare, can you explain to me why your antics are on the front page of Ponyville Daily?"

Hoo yeah, he was not going to take it easy on me.

"I, uh, it was... it was an accident?" I replied, meekly. I walked over in front of his chair and sat.

"It was an accident that you caught a manticore and then you had to chase it all over town while you tried to recontain it? It was an accident that before the manticore could destroy the schoolhouse Princess Twilight had to come and STOP IT?"

"It was an accident! I would never release something-" he cut me off with a wave of his hoof. My tail started to twitch nervously.

"Why did you even need a manticore?!? Why do you try go cause so much trouble, Bracken?" My dad looked at me pleadingly from over the newspaper.

"I don't try to cause trouble! It just works out that way sometimes, and those times are the only ones you ever notice, Dad!" I replied, my voice rising a little. I tried to look as sorry as possible, but it looked like he wasn't buying it.

"Are you sure your mark doesn't mean you should, I dunno, do something else other than unleash the horrors of the Everfree upon the rest of Equestria, Bracken?"

I deep-sighed as obviously as I could. My father and I had been arguing over the meaning of my burning fern cutie mark since I got it five years ago, and it was always the same thing. The next thing my dad would usually do is tell me that he thinks I should join the Royal Guard.

"Bracken, honey, have you thought about joining the Royal Guard?" asked my dad, right on cue.

"I have, and I don't want to. I want to study the Everfree, Dad!" I said, exasperated.

"But have you given it real, actual thought?" said my dad. "Have you ever explored the option at all?"

"I have done so multiple times, and each time the final verdict was 'No.' I just don't want to, Dad."

"I just want what's best for you."

"I know."

"And I love you, now and always."

"I love you too dad. Now and always."

My dad set his newspaper down and I caught a glimpse of the front page photo of Princess Twi using a shield to block a manticore from stinging Roseluck. I was in the background cowering on the ground. I remember the manticore running at me from behind Sugarcube Corner where I was keeping its enclosure while I studied it. It had bowled me over and stood over me, staring at me. Then it ran off to terrorize the town. I remained curled into a ball on the ground until Princess Twi had captured the manticore. Thinking back, I wondered how my dad didn't notice all the screaming and panicking that was going on outside town hall where he works.

"Bracken," said my dad, breaking me from my thoughts, "Just... just be careful. Please."

"I always am, Dad."

"Hug?"

"Hug."

We hugged for a few seconds until I tried to pull away, and found that I couldn't move out of his grip. There was a knock on the front door, and my dad called out.

"Come in! I got her."

I started to feel a little scared.

"Dad?" I asked. He gave me a sad look. "Dad! What's going on?!?"

I heard the front door open as I struggled, and I heard clopping and clanking as two white unicorns in Royal Guard armor stepped in. One of them stepped forward and cleared his throat before speaking.

"We can take her from here, sir."

I felt magic wrap around me as my dad released me. I floated in midair for a few seconds and struggled, but it was no use. I gave my dad a death glare, but all I got was a sad smile.

"Remember, Bracken. All I want is the best for you. I love you."

I began to formulate a reply, but a sharp pain in my neck stopped me. Everything started to go grey, and then, it all went black.

Author's Notes:

Being bad is relative, unless you know you are bad. Are YOU bad?