Chapter One: The Orphanage
I woke to the sound of rustling hooves.
The light green mare trotted into the room, with carefulness not to make a loud entrance. Her bright purple eyes blinked calmly as she examined, row by row, each bed and each pony, tired and half-asleep, doing their best to wake up and greet the new day. My eyes quickly blinked open, having learned the hard way what that you'd better not be late to wake. The cold moisture still sent shivers down my spine.
I received a closer look at the mare, whom we called Ivy Green; this name was not more than a nickname, and she, a little suspicious to us orphans, preferred not to give us such information as her full name. It seemed a little as a bad example for the other younger fillies who seemed to look up to her as a role model, but I knew better than to question Ivy. She was in much power, and took care of the entire orphanage facility. One wrong move, and no food for the rest of the day.
"Wake up, wake up everyone," she sung in her gentle voice, trotting along the hallways leading to the multiple bedrooms of the orphanage. It echoed loud and clear as she repeated her words a few feet at a time, carrying her message across to all the fillies.
I sniffed, turning my head to the bedframe, where a lone silver chain necklace hung. I took it gently from its place, and examined it. Its pink gem glimmered as I ran my hoof along it, turning it around to read the careful ingravings on the back of the ruby.
Don't forget us. We'll come soon.
-Your parents
I read the back of the necklace every day. I didn't bother to wear it, only on important days, in fear that I'd lose the one thing my parents left for me as a child, the one thing that proved I did have parents -- parents who cared about me.
Even though I wasn't sure if they'd ever stick to their promise they had wrote.
I turned it around again and put it back. With a moment's hesitation, I carefully walked off my bed and onto the floor, glancing at the other beds in the room. Some ponies were still on the beds, curled up and denying the fact that they had to get up and about, even though this was a daily routine and many of them were here for years. Others, however, had already left.
I smiled faintly, and carefully walked out of the room, an aura of memory surrounding me.
~~~
I did not know why, but I felt happy today. A little dangerously so. The orphanage had never gave me much happiness, the building radiating the message -- 'You're a filly all alone, left with no parents, left with nothing except for this orphanage to take care of you.'
I think I know why no one runs away.
I took my tray and walked closely to examine the choice of tables. I had been here so long, I had memorized the rules -- hang out with one group of fillies, or else you'll get bullied. Problem is, everyone else had someone, except for me.
I turned to my table by the trash can.
A few of the older fillies who were able to go to school at the nearby Ponyville Schoolhouse had told me this worked a bit like a school, only that you had to stay here, sleep here, and rely on all resources here. It was like a school combined with a home, they had said, but I couldn't be sure if they were telling the truth -- most of us had never had a home to ourselves before.
I looked around a little hesitantly as I sat down. This had reminded me of one of the storytimes. Ivy usually told the orphanage stories, usually with morals. 'You'll find your place in the world,' she had said once, 'Like Mr. Pig, never give up, and you'll go far.'
But, why was I all alone? This didn't seem like going far. I felt all my happiness become wiped away.
Most made fun of me because I couldn't fly, because of my ingrown wings and claimed disability. I knew there was a cure, but what was there to do with earth ponies teasing you because of this?
I nervously took a cupcake from my tray and bit into it. The cream was soft and of little taste, a little dust from the tray getting on the edibles. I didn't mind that, really. It gave me time to think and not concentrate on the taste.
I took a quick look around the cafeteria. Not very large, and not very small, though filled with fillies of all sizes and ages and races. And I did not fit in with any of them.
It seemed that the number of fillies here was heightened from the time I had been sent here; everything had changed so much from since I had started.
My memory did not stretch much -- but it was not terribly long ago to have my memory wiped clean of it.
I had remembered grass. Green, green grass covered by morning dew, waving back and forth from the gentle wind. A soft plush underneath my hooves, and the soft beat of the sun hovering above my neck. A cold metal swung from my body, chains rattling softly.
Most would, when finding out that I was found there, would call my parents uncaring and selfish. I didn't really care much for what they thought of me, but I could say my parents were well innocent. Leaving their child on a cloud wasn't that bad, even if I couldn't fly...right?
The bell rung, and I felt a cold shiver, my thoughts disrupted and quickly disappearing in a mental cloud of smoke.
And I was alone again.