So (clearly blessed with pony vibes from tailrustedleaf!) this morning I picked up 2 G1 ponies at the carboot (as well as another Sunset Shimmer doll I didn't have, yay for Sunset Shimmer!)
One of the ponies is Posey. She has rust and her tail is a knotted mess and right now she's in pieces drying in my shower. I rescued her from a dealer's mat because when I saw her her head had been squashed in and I got her at a discount because she was 'damaged'. Her head is fine now, but I thought that was probably it for my pony luck today.
And then Sugar Sweet happened.
For anyone who has seen Toy Story, this pony's former home was clearly in the vein of the nasty kid next door. Sugar Sweet was the only G1 pony there, and she was also, fortunately, the least abused of all of their ponies. Most were covered in paint or ink and at least 2 had had all their hair ripped out at the roots or cut off. This was a pony horror show, seriously. And then, in the bottom of the basket, was Sugar Sweet.
Looking, frankly, quite terrified.
And of course, I wasn't going to leave her there.
Bad pictures because of uncooperative phone, but this is how she looked when I first found her. Believe me, the images do not do justice to the amount of dirt involved.
Her body was thick with dirt. She had marks everywhere, and red paint or something all over her mouth, her horn, and her eyes. Even her symbol and in her hair, which was a knotted mess. But she was intact, and she hadn't had the hair cut/ripping treatment.
To be honest, I think she probably needs yet another bath because she's cleaner now but still has signs of light dirt on her body.
Here is how she looked after a bath...and a well deserved and thorough shampoo.
The red came off! So did the marks! She's pink under there, not brown!
My next project is to sort her hair out. Her tail still has some vestiges of the original curl, the mane was knotted and plaited so has none left. I've painstakingly combed it out - next job will be to see if I can curl it or whether to leave it as it is.
Her future as yet is unknown. I have Sugar Sweet, both loose and in box, so will probably look to rehome her - but right now I'm pretty happy with the day's work, with the fact I found her, I rescued her, and she now looks like a G1 pony should look again.
Somehow she managed to survive the house of horrors and escape it relatively unscathed.
Sugar Sweet is a survivor, and so I wanted to share her tale with people who would understand
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Edit to add: I took these pictures last week while at home. I have done nothing with her tail at present, but this is how she currently looks...