"Nnnghhh..." Starburst moaned, her head rolling on her pillow.
Wait... a pillow? Her eyes fluttered open, taking a moment to focus. She was lying on a pillow, a sheet covering half of her small body.
She looked around the small room, taking in her suroundings. The walls of the room were a dusty white, and the floor was made of wooden boards. There was a small painting on the left wall; an image of a boat sailing into a port at sunset. It was a small picture, rather shabby looking, but you could tell the artist had tried hard.
She heard a rustling sound, and turned around to view the other half of the room. There was another bed, and in that bed was a rather large, gold colored colt. His mane was brown with a brighter gold stripe through the middle. Currently, he was sleeping.
Starburst looked further down, to the floor, when she saw something rather disturbing. The sheets underneath the colt were stained with red. She became curious, edging her way out of the bed and landing on the floor. Starburst pulled back the sheet of the other bed, seeing a gash down the other young pony's back right leg. It was bleeding slightly, and a bandage was messily covering it.
Starburst clicked her tongue, unwrapping the messy bandage and redoing it neatly. The blood stopped seeping through, and the bandage was covering most of it.
She pulled the sheets back over the colt, making her way back to her own bed. Until now, she had failed to realize that she was in an unfamiliar place, when she should have been in another.
My parents! The fire! But... how did I get here? She began to struggle, trying to throw of the sheet. An ocean blue gaze was staring at her uncertainly through the sheets of the next bed. Starburst stopped, and slowly turned her head around to stare at the colt.
"Uh, hi." he said anxiously, revealing a heavy South American accent. He was a lot larger than Starburst, and even though he was huddled into the bed, he had to look down to speak to her.
"Hello. I'm Starburst... I think." Starburst said slowly. She couldn't remember much of what had happened, only that her parents and her brother were in trouble. There was a group of criminals, weilding torches, and the library had burst into flames. That was all she could remember.
"How wouldn't you know yer own name?" he asked, a little confused. "Anyway, Ah'm Golden Delicious, but you can call me Del. Ah mean... if ya want to." he said shyly.
Starburst nodded. "Oh, and about the name thing, I can't really remember what happened before I got here. What is this place, anyway?" she questioned, looking around the room once more.
"This is an orphanage. Mah parents were killed by a group o' bandits. Did something happen to your folks?" Del continued.
"I'm not sure. All I remember is a group of ponies holding torches, my house being set on fire, and my parents leaving with me... My parents!" Starburst cried suddenly, literally jumping into the air off her bed. Del jumped as well from the sudden outburst, wincing in pain. He noticed his leg, and the bloodied sheets that were covering it.
"Oh... Ah didn't notice that." he murmured sheepishly. Star laughed.
"How could you not notice that? Wait, how long have you been here for?" she asked.
Del chuckled too. "Fer a couple o' hours. A bit more before you came. Ah was only awake for a time before this. A nice lady came in an' told me where Ah was, an' other stuff Ah needed ta know." he explained. "An' Ah still didn't notice the blood pourin' outta mah leg."
Starburst giggled again. Her head began to hurt, so she lowered it onto the pillow. Her eyelids began to droop, and her vision began to blur. Suddenly the cheap pillow felt like the most luxurious pillow in the world. So soft...
Starburst opened her sleepy eyes, and waited until everything focused. She jumped back in surprise as a green-colored mare came into view. She had tangerine eyes, a white mane with a mint-green stripe, and a cutie mark of a green bow.
"Oh, I'm sorry, dear. I didn't mean to startle you. Welcome to Ponyville Orphanage!" she said cheerily. She had lovely rosy cheeks, and a beaming smile.
"Um, th-thanks." Starburst stammered, still in shock.
"My name is Mrs. Green Bow. Your father dropped you off while you were sleeping, said he couldn't look after you any more." the kind-faced mare continued. Starburst frowned.
"Was my mom there too?" she asked quietly, fearing the worst.
"No, dear. Your father said she had died, and that was the reason he couldn't afford to keep you." she said slowly. "I'm sorry for your loss."
Starburst's mouth opened and closed repeatedly, taking in the words of Mrs. Green Bow. Suddenly, the image of her mother, lying on the ground and bleeding, eyes dead and lifeless filled her head. Her eyes began to well up with tears, but she wiped them away. She had to be strong. She had to survive. For her mother's sake.
Mrs. Green Bow sighed and flipped her mane out of her face. She patted Starburst's hoof reassuringly.
"It's alright. You'll be safe here. Would you like to go out and meet everyone?" she asked politely. She had such lovely, motherly eyes.
"Uh, Mrs. Green Bow..." Del interrupted. Starburst and the mare both looked at him. He looked a little anxious.
"Can I go as well? I've been sitting here for hours." he asked. Mrs. Green Bow's tongue clicked.
"Of course you can, sweetie, as long as you can walk." she replied. "I'll leave you two, but come out when you're ready."
The owner of the orpahanage opened the door to the small room, it creaking as she did so. She closed the door quietly behind her. Starburst turned to look at Del, and Del turned to look at her.
"Can you walk?" Starburst asked. Del shrugged, pulling back the covers and turning around to get out of the bed.
"Ah hope so." he answered, checking his injury. The bleeding had stopped, but it still looked quite nasty. Del lowered himself down to the ground, wincing as his sore foot touched the floor.
"Mrs. Green Bow says it'll heal okay, but it'll leave a scar." He tested it by taking a few steps. He had to hobble slightly, but he could walk.
"If you say so. See you out there, then." Starburst muttered. She trotted over to the door and opened the handle with her wing. The door creaked, as usual, and she took a step into the unknown territory beyond the door, as if it was a new country she had not been to, and it could be dangerous.
"You got-" Del said something from behind the door, but it had already closed. Starburst took no notice, though, and kept walking. The rest of the orphanage was a lovely shade of lavender, that didn't stand out so much that it was horribly noticeable.
There were some pictures of foals on the wall as well, all of them smiling with Mrs. Green Bow next to them. Starburst smiled at the pleasant scenery, trotting down the hallway once more.
She could hear the voices of small foals, obviously enjoying themselves. She could imagine them running around, playing with wooden blocks and figures.
As she got closer, she saw them all. There were about twenty colts and fillies altogether, all different ages.
"You're new. There's no-one else the same color as you here." a voice said. Starburst whipped around. There was a pink colored unicorn in front of her. She had the strangest blue eyes, the iciest blue Star had ever seen.
"Um, yes. I am. My name's Starburst." she answered, a little awkwardly. The strange unicorn smiled and nodded.
"I'm Anthea. What's your name, and what do you look like?" she asked strangely.
"Um... I'm Starburst. Why do you need me to describe myself? Can't you see me?" Anthea shifted her hooves nervously.
"Um, no. I can't. I'm blind." she answered. Starburst was shocked.
"Are you serious?" she asked.
"Yes." Anthea replied.
"Oh... okay. Well, it's nice to meet you, Anthea." Anthea laughed.
"You can call me Annie. I have a tongue-tying sort of name." she answered, still giggling.
"Hey guys." The now-familiar voice of Golden Delicious exclaimed. Starburst and Anthea both turned around, seeing the colt limping towards them.
"Oh, looks like there is someone who's the same color as you after all, Star." Anthea said.
"Wait a minute, I thought you said you were blind." Starburst questioned. Anthea clicked her tongue.
"Yeah, basically." she replied. "I can see colors, though. Just not shapes or forms." Del had made his way over to them, smiling.
"Hi. Anthea, right?" Annie nodded.
"And you must be Del." she guessed. "Welcome to the orphanage."
"Thanks." Del said, shifting his weight off his sore hoof.
"How's your leg?" Starburst asked, guesturing to it.
"Oh, it's fine." he replied, not really looking at her. Starburst noticed how he did so, and guessed there was something wrong, but didn't voice her concerns.
"So, how did your parents die? If they did, I mean." Anthea asked.
"Killed by criminals." Del and Star both said at the same time. They looked at each other.
"Wait, what?"
