"Come on girls. We need action. We need Rainbow Dash!"

I smiled nervously as Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle left my shop.

If only I could tell them the real story about how I got my cutie mark, I thought. But that would ruin my impeccable reputation, of course. If the ponies in Canterlot found out that I had once been a simple, common pony, then I would be the subject of disgruntled Canterlot gossip! I shook my head and tried to shake the chilling thoughts out of my head. But they swallowed me up and I remembered things that I thought I had locked away forever.

My real parents, John Doe and Jane Doe and I lived out on a carrot farm in the Sugarcube Islands. It was hard work and we didn't get many luxuries, but we were happy. I was born as Violetta Doe- that was my real name. When I was old enough talk- and to pull a plow, it seemed- my father and I worked from dusk until dawn plowing our fields. When the day was done Mother would bring us freshly-squeezed orange juice from the tree out the back of our house. The carrot crop was growing strong and spring had arrived. But it was all for nothing. One terrible night, a storm raged through the island we lived on. We awoke in the morning and found the crop drowned by the rain. The fruit of all our hard labour, ruined.

For weeks my mother and my father fretted over the pile of bills that was staring to form quite a large pile on our kitchen bench. Without our crop, we would not be able to pay them off. When the next bill arrived Mother broke into tears, slumping onto her knees, her flanks heaving as she sobbed endlessly. Father even shed a tear. I was too young then to know what was going on.

"Has the dog died?" I said, whimpering. "Oh, Scruffy! No! Whatever shall I do without him?"

"The dog is fine," Mother mewed through tears. "We sold him to Old McDougald down the road."

"Why? He was a good dog!" I snapped, pouting.

"Violetta, we-we're-"

"We're broke. We're going to have to go live in Manehattan," Father said, sadness in his eyes.

"Manehattan," I repeated softly. "But what about my friends? Joujou and Sugar Spice will miss me!"

"We can't afford to live here anymore," Mother mewed. "I'm sorry, Violetta."