EDIT:



Something of a very quick doodle I did quite a while back and uploaded it on my Tumblr , but because I haven't uploaded anything recent on my DA (mainly 'cause I'm still doing midterms) I decided I should go ahead and uploaded here too. So for any of you who have seen and remember Twilight's Age Thingy , there is a sketch there that depicts a beaten and battered young Twily holding baby Spike. This is the redraw of that. For those of you who don't know, this is more or less explaining my headcanon for Twilight, one being why she was so aloof at first and her reluctance to make friends, another being how she got one of her scars on her face, and the last being why she's so protective of Spike.Okay, so it goes like this:When Twilight got her cutie mark and hatched Spike, she was around 12 or 13, and after hatching the hatchling Celestia allowed her to raise Spike (with of course some help from herself and her parents, but Twi largely raised Spike on her own). Despite being the protégé of the Princess of the Sun, it isn't always what it's cracked up to be; Twilight was often bullied by very jealous ponies both her age and even older, and as such it was hard for her to make friends. It certainly wasn't the lack of trying; she definitely tried, but for the most part a lot of the ponies either only wanted to be her friend because they saw her as a ticket of benefits due to her relationship to Celestia, or simply ignored or bullied her. The bullying was mostly verbal that Twi did her best to ignore, but it certainly made the poor thing feel lonely and hurt. Despite it all though, she never spoke a word about it to her parents, Celestia, not even her brother, especially since she didn't want any of them to worry about her. The only bright side to most of her school days was hanging out with Celestia, visiting her family (I can easily see her staying at the palace with Celly a lot of her teachings), learning, and being with Spike.But the bullying took a step further when she and Spike were playing in the garden. Twilight was playing hide and seek with the little fella when he ended up running into a couple of the worst of Twi's bullies; a couple of colts a tad older than Twi was. They knew of Spike and have seen him in passing, but never up close like this specific instance. It's at this point that the bullies decide to try and pick on the little dragon, calling him things like "monster" or "freak" and poking and prodding at him until the baby cried. Twilight, upon hearing Spike cry, immediately found her way to him and stood herself between the hatchling and the bullies and demanded that they backed off. They were initially shocked that she stood up to them, but it didn't deter them from continuing to try and poke more fun at her and Spike. Twilight tried to just walk away from it with Spike close to her, but the bullies really pushed it too far and got pretty physical in their attempts to rile her up. They shoved her away and pulled Spike's tail, and hearing him holler was more than enough to set Twilight off. Out of instinct, she immediately tackled the one who was harassing Spike and that soon after became a full-out fight between herself and the two bullies.With as angry and as protective as she was she actually got quite a few good kicks and punches in, but even still she was outnumbered and ultimately got beat down. The bullies scampered off soon after, leaving Twilight with bite marks and scratches and bruises littering her body. As seen here, Twilight collapses to the ground, too pained to walk, as Spike clings to her as he cries. The two remain like this for quite a while before they manage to make it back to their room.Don't worry though; Twi's family and Celestia quickly find out about the whole fiasco and the bullies... well. They were quickly dealt with.Bbbuuuuuuuuuuuuut yeah. There ya go. At some point I'd like to color this (or find someone who'd like to collab on it) and maybe even write a little drabble for it, but until then this will do. If you have any questions feel more than free to ask, and thanks a bunch for taking a look! :3