Water dripping from the tube ceilings echoed and bounced off the walls until it reached the sleeping filly. Her ears twitched, indicating her awakening state. Blinking, she opened her eyes, adjusting them to her new found location. Gray curved walls, one small hole to let the moonlight in and her out, and water dripping from the ceiling creating loud clinks as they hit the other side of the tube. She hadn't moved a muscle since she closed her eyes, which by the looks of it was this morning, which had completely drone by.
She stretched her hooves, buzzed her wings and let out a good, long yawn to start things off. She then turned her head toward the exit of this cell. She crawled over to it and poked her head out, trying to get a better look outside. There seemed to be almost no one out there. The streets seemed abandoned,
same as last night
She thought. Only some of the streetlights were on and nothing more, the moonlight seemed to be doing it just fine for those streets. She also didn't hear any beats of wing flapper, which meant he wasn't around.
Taking a breath, she slowly made her way out, but to her utter shock she was grabbed by her waist and lifted off the ground. The Pony who had grabbed her was not as she expected, she thought that perhaps it was the pony who had chased her the day prior, but no it seemed to be some Pegasus, mare, wearing glasses. Dash was tucked under her wing and was tightened every second or so. The mare’s chocolate brown mane, was tied up in a loose bun, and had plenty of strands set off from the main knot. She wore red glasses, that hovered over her muzzle, staying in place. The look on her face indicated that she did not look like she was enjoying what was happening. She had her eyes narrowed, and was mumbling something incoherent under her breath. Her cream - almost white - wing was squeezing Dash more and more as they walked along. Dash tried struggling and she seemed to have gotten a bit unstuck when she felt something hard and painful hit her cheeks. Looking up she saw a furious mare looking down at her. She was now dropped to the floor, but due to the sheer shock of being beaten, she couldn't move. She never expected that.... It just didn't feel right. Looking up at the mare’s sky-blue eyes, she saw her stare back at her, disapprovingly. She sat there frozen, unable to move.
The older mare shook her head,
“I tell you to stay in one place, and what do you go and do?!”
She flailed her hooves about,
“You go running off, doing whatever the buck you want! I thought you already knew the rules around here? No flying, no snacks, and definitely no leaving the property ground!”
She said still infuriated. Dash blinked a few times.
“Where is here?”
She asked still completely shocked and now more confused. The mare shot her a glare and rubbed her eyes with her wings. She then picked the filly up and continued her walk. Still not knowing what was going on, Dash decided to remain quiet and not bother the mare. She seemed quite aggressive and the last thing she wanted was for another slap to come her way.
The mare kept walking until they reached some massive old building. Looking around, she noticed a lot of things that suggested this place being almost run down. For one, the decaying plants placed near the path way leading inside. And two, the flimsy sign in front, it was made of wood, and was tilted to the right, as if it was hung up by a mere nail. The sign said something's about a ‘Sunny Filled Orphanage’
Orphanage?
She thought,
Why would I need to go to an orphanage, my mom will back for me, I know she will! I just need to get out of here and find my way back!
The mare opened the big wooden, and almost broken door, leading the two inside. Once in, she noticed a lot more things. Well for one, how massive it was, it seemed as though it could fit hundreds of kids in there. Two, there seemed to be a room in every direction she tried looking. None had signs over it to say what it was, but most had boards plastered onto the door, saying in big, red letter ‘STAFF ONLY’ as though the children there could read or something. Dash could, of course, but kids in an orphanage can't read, right? Is that how that works?
The mare walked through the empty halls until she made it to a room that said ‘12-13’ on it. She tilted her head a bit in confusion. Why come to a room that said twelve or thirteen, she wasn't even ten yet? The mare opened the door, to reveal... Fillies and colts sat in either a corner of the room, or some made up fort of some kind. The room looked dull and dreary. All the kids, looked dead, and afraid. Each had a look of despair on them.
She wondered if she was going to end up like that. If this was her destiny. She shook her head at the mere thought. This whole thing was a huge misunderstanding. Her patents would come and explain that. She would go home with them and things would return to normal! Yes, that sounds right!
The older Pegasus placed Dash on the floor and motioned for her to take her place or something. Dash merely blinked at the mare. Where was she? Why was she there? Where was she supposed to sit at? Why was she supposed sit in a specific place? Nothing made sense to her!
The mare groaned and trotted off. Before leaving, she leaned against the door and called out,
“Get to bed! The whole lot o’ you”
What was happening!?
As the mare said this, she locked the door behind her and trotted off. Dash watched as, yet again, she was locked up with no sure-fire way out.
Just as the mare had closed the door, all the fillies and colts began hustling and busting around looking for certain things. They looked through boxes, containers or any sort of thing, that had an opening for them to look through and place things in. Some shot her a few distant looks but most were busy with their own things. And those who did look at her, only did so for a second and returned to their searching.
After a minute of searching most of the kids had gotten their things and wandered off to some room in the back. They each got things varying from toys, stuffed animals, blankets, books and more. Some were still left searching but most had left by the time the clock above them struck nine. She stared at it for a second. She had slept from some time in the late morning to nine o’clock at night? Eh, not the most she'd been able to do before.
One of the kids shot her a look, motioning for her to follow, not knowing what else to do, she got up and trotted after the kid. The child was a colt, who had a silver-like mane, covering his eyebrows, and his ears, to some extent. His mud-brown coat seemed dry and uncared for, and he seemed to be a blank-flank, like her. His little wings didn't seem as though they were preened in ages... Wait preening! She internally facehoofed. After wings get wet, they need to be preened for them to be useful later on! How did she forget that!? This whole time she blamed her wings for not working, when in reality all she had to do was pluck a few feathers back in place! She groaned at the realization. This whole time she could have just preened herself and she could have gotten out of so many of that day’s problems!
The colt shot her a confused look. He seemed to have heard her groan. There wasn't much noise to override it anyway. She gave him a sheepish smile. He rolled his eyes at her, before directing her to a small bed at the corner-most part of the room they were now in. Said room, contained many beds, with the fillies and colts all laid in one. Each had something in their hooves, they were cuddling or just holding onto. The beds each had the same blankets, bedsheets, pillows, bed frame and all, the only difference was a sign above their beds, which said their initials on it. The colt motioned to the bed she was given, on top of it read the initials, ‘RB’. So, whoever is RB, just got replaced or something? Was she mistaken for that kid? Who has a rainbow in their mane apart from Dash? Her father has, but his initials aren't RB, there, BT, for Blazing Thunder, so who was this Pony?
Dash gave the colt a look, which he dismissed and trotted away. Dash tried reading the kid, understanding what his motives were, or who he was, or how he acted, basically anything about the kid, but nothing. She was completely blocked out.
Shrugging, she watched the colt hover onto a bed, somewhere in the middle of all the others, atop his bed, the sign read the initials ‘CC’,
wonder what that stands for...
Climbing into her new bed, she stared up at the blank, gray ceiling. Was this her life now? Was she just another orphan? Her parents didn't abandon her, or at least not intentionally. Her mother was just... Confused... That's it. Once she realizes what she did, she'd be back for her daughter. She'd take her home and they'll live like they did before, the three of them. Her father, mother and her. Things are going to go back to normal... They have to... All she has to do was make her way back to that alleyway. That's it. That's what she had to do. Go back to the alley and wait for her parents, they'll be back.... They always come back... The have to.
Alright, so that’s the plan, head back to the alley tomorrow,
She told herself,
Mom and Dad will be waiting, they just have to. I mean isn't the third day the charm? Isn't that how that goes? It is! Tomorrow will be the third day and then they have to come back for me... They just have to.
Slowly drifting her eyes shut she fell fast asleep soon after. Sure, she had woken not long before, but merely thinking got her exhausted, and this whole day was full of thinking, questioning, pondering and so much more! She'd had enough and sleep was a little escape she had.
Good night, Mommy, Daddy
“Ring!”
Magenta eyes shot open in shock. Her wings activated, buzzed up and soon fell to her side. She slipped out of bed, and hit the ground with a quiet thud. A groan soon left her moth. She heard bustling noises from the other side of her bed, which were soon drowned out by the loud speaker that echoed through their little room.
“All kids are to report to the Main Hall in ten minutes!”
The speaker announced, the voice on the other side sounded fake and stern. She shook her head.
Ten minutes!
She thought,
For what?! To get ready? And how do I even do that?!
She sat up and stretched her wings, and hooves. Finally getting a chance to look around and adjust, she managed to recognize her location. White, tall walls, hushed chatter from behind her, the creeks of the bed frame, as kids jumped off and on the bed. The opening and closing of doors as said kids made their way in and out of the room. She heard and saw it all. Letting out a sigh, she propped up to her hooves and strode away from her bed. Not getting far, she noticed most kids had made their beds, and not wanting to stick out more than she already did, she returned to her bed and quirky made it. It still had wrinkles on it and the pillows weren't fluffed but she couldn't care less. The clock in the room, read seven-five. She assumed she had spent five minutes on the bed, so scurried off out of the room.
She walked through the door that led her into the main room. Said room, had toy boxes, cupboards, shelves with books placed side by side, and a carpet in the middle of the room. Though all this was in there, the room still looked dreary and empty. The walls were blank white, and so were most of the objects in there. The only things that weren't white or gray, was the fillies that roamed it. Even they didn't look as bright as a filly or colt should look at that age.
Her eyes darted around the room, from one kid to another, she didn't recognize any of them. All were Pegasi, and each had a look of pure despair written all over their faces. Other than that, none of them had much in common, at least not by their looks at least. There didn't seem to be any siblings or anything, either.
“Uhh...?”
She darted her eyes back and forth, looking for what to do. The same colt from the night before, walked up to her and motioned for her to follow. She followed suite. They arrived in front of a large, gray cupboard. Dash tilted her head at it'll, what was she supposed to do with a cupboard? He then opened it up to reveal, several brushes, combs, blankets, jars, even some filly or colt clothing.
Still confused she tilted her head. The colt facehoofed, agitatedly, and picked out a brush for he really to use. He handed it to her, and she took it, still very confused. He then pointed to her mane, and then at the brush. He was telling her to brush her hair? She nodded, but then looked down at the brush in hoof. She knew how to comb her mane, for the most part, although, it usually was her mom who did it... so she didn't have all that much practice.... she gulped and looked back up at the colt. He rolled her eyes and trotted away. Ponies here aren't the nicest are they she thought. She then brought the brush up to her mane and began combing it as best she could. It got caught in a few knots here and there, but for the most part it seemed to be okay. She pulled it through her still, somehow, wet parts, and that was where the brush eventually did get stuck. She tried pulling it out, but was unsuccessful. She fell to her haunches and sat there trying to pull the brush out.
Geez! How stuck can this thing get!? I knew I was bad but not this bad! s
She thought angrily.
Her brush got tangled in the front part of her mane. Pulling it up out only made it messier. She tried and tried, but failed each time. Her hooves were beginning to give up on her all together.
“Seriously!?”
A stern, angered voice came from behind Dash. She shot her head toward the door, stood there, with a look as cold as ice, was the mare from last night. She looked just as angry if not more as the day before. She facehoofed before trotting in beside her.
She hadn't noticed earlier, but the room was now empty. All the kids there had completely abandoned it or something. The lights were still on for some reason but other than that the room looked quite empty.
The mare trotted up to her, picked her up and carelessly pulled out the brush from her mane. It left a big mess in its wake; her bangs became ruffled up and messy... er.... messier.
She put the brush back and dropped her to the floor, and gave her a quick, painful slap on the cheek, “Wasn’t it made clear to you, that you had to come to the Main Hall in ten minutes?!” She scolded. Dash looked down, in shame. Had she really taken that long to do her mane? Stupid hair! she decided to try and never do her mane, it was already causing her pain, along with irritation for the older mare and assumedly stallions too.
The older mare brought her wings up to her eyes and rubbed them, agitatedly. She looked back down at the filly and let out a groan, “Come on, breakfast is going to finish up before you make it there” she spoke with little to no emotion.
Dash gave a slow nod and bounced up to her hooves.
The mare led her to a large, blank white room, with multiple cafeteria tables placed around, with fillies and colts of all ages sat, eating their own food. Looking around, she noticed a very familiar trend with the kids;
None smiled.
She was taken to a table filled with kids, who looked a year or three older than her. The mare sat her down and brought her a tray. Atop said tray, were different sorts of breakfast foods, pancakes, eggs, bread, all sort, except they all looked dry and icky, sort of like that place itself. The mare placed her food on the table and trotted away, wings tugged and head high.
Dash stared down at her tray, brunt eggs, slightly toasted bread with butter, and a packet of milk, was what sat atop her tray. She shot her head up, and darted her around the table. Each kid looked down at their food, minding their business. She noticed that almost none were seeming to enjoy their food, burnt eggs didn’t seem nearly as good as one might make it sound. She didn’t recognize most of them, but once her eyes fell on a Pegasus colt, her face slightly lit at the familiar face. It was the kid from earlier, CC, was it? She tried gaining his attention but ended up getting irritated glares and shoves from the colts there.
Dash wanted to shoot back, show them she wasn’t one to be taken as a foal, but decided against it as she noticed their faces, and the fact that she was much younger than them, defiantly added to her choice to stay quiet.
She poked at her food, trying to figure out how to eat it. Burnt things were never anything she liked per say.
The piercing quiet was deafening, nopony spoke, none. No noise whatsoever. She had figured that an orphanage would have been loud and obnoxious, but this was not even close to what she had expected - not that she had ever thought about a place like an orphanage or anything. Letting out a heavy sigh, she gulped down the rest of her food – figured she at least should have some food, before making her way out.
“RING!”
A bell above them rung, alerting them of something. The kids propped up to their hooves and wandered off to some place with Their trays placed flimsily on their back or in their mouths. They wandered off to some place in the corner and placed their trays their and trotted out. Dash followed their steps; prop up to her hooves, pick up her tray, place it at the corner, and lastly walk out of the room. She followed the kids she recognized to another, blank, white room. This time, it was filled with small knickknacks and toys. Most looked old and broken, the stuffed animals there were all torn and most of their limbs were ripped off. The walls were painted in dull colors, that seemed to attempt to match Dash's hair. She chuckled at the thought.
Each filly and colt rushed off to some toy box, placed at the corner, to get something to play with. In that room, there seemed to be kids from all ages, some looked like foals while others looked like young mare and stallions.
Kids gathered into small groups to play with each other. This seemed to be their favorite time of the day. Some gathered to play with cards or board games, while others played some game with their hooves, others sat there to talk with one another. The foals gathered around and set up little playsets to roleplay in. The room was soon filled with bustling noises, and happy chatter, This is more like it, she thought. This truly did seem more fitting for a place filled to the brim with children.
She shot her head about trying to locate the 'CC' kid. She spotted him playing board games with some other colts his age. She thought about joining him, but then gave in to her hesitation. He was probably playing with his friends and Dash was definitely not one of them.
Looking around she spotted a little filly, seemingly younger than her sat alone with a sad frown stretched across her face. The filly was gray coated, and had thing blonde hair, that sat straight against her side. Her bangs covered her eyes, as she sat leaning against the wall. Dash saw the sad look on her face, and decided to see what was wrong - that and, she wanted to know more about that place. Getting out hadn't seemed to be the easiest, considering, there seemed to be fillies and colts eyeing her every move, that and mares all over the area with stern glares plastered their faces, watching them.
She trotted up to the filly and sat down beside her. The filly didn't seem to notice her at first, so Dash decided to take advantage of that moment and get a better look at the filly.
Her little wings were untrained and didn't seem to be preened, just like every other Pegasi there. She was also covered in bandages, one on her cheek, a few on her hooves and a few more near wings and flank. She was also a Blank-Flank - just like every other filly or colt there. Sure, the older kids seemed to have gained it but most of the place was packed with fillies and colts who seemed too young for their Mark to appear just yet.
"Hi"
She spoke softly as not to startle the little filly. The gray coated Pegasus shot her head toward Dash with a surprised look. Dash flinched at the sudden movement, but soon regained her cheery smile,
"Hi I'm Rainbow Dash, and you are?"
Dash beamed. The other filly looked straight into her magenta eyes, seeming to search for something. When she seemed to have not found whatever it was, she was looking for, she gazed back at the floor as if she hadn't acknowledged the rainbow filly sat next to her. Dash tilted her head, she was confused by this filly, sure in the span of a day she had met all sorts of ponies but this one confused her the most.
The gray filly's eyes were odd to say the least. Her eyes seemed to be looking in complete opposite directions. One facing her and the other directed up or down or some other direction.
Although a bit weirded out by this, she dismissed and attempted to connote the conversation, as best she could. Her mother had taught her better than to judge somepony based on looks alone.
"So, you're very shy?"
Dash asked curiously. The filly drifted her crossed-eyed, yellow gaze onto the rainbow filly. She gave a slight nod, alerting the cyan filly that she was paying some attention to her. Dash smiled at the new information,
"Cool, I met this other really shy filly the other day. She even had shy in her name. So, I call her Shy, as a nickname, but she didn't seem to know what that was..."
She trailed off into some other conversation completely, all the while attaining the cross-eyed filly's attention.
"...oh!"
she exclaimed a bit louder than needed, gaining a few distant glances, which she dismissed and continued,
"Is there a reason all the adults in this place are... well... unquestiony, like I was walking through town and nopony even noticed I was there!"
She flailed a hoof in the air to exaggerate her point.
"Well,"
The gray Pegasus spoke up for the first time while Dash had been sat there,
"It's normal for them to see a filly roaming alone,"
She explained, gaining Dash's curiosity. The filly continued,
"Whenever one of the kids here manages to escape, they go wandering through town, and it happens more often then you'd think. Every month or so two or three kids manage to escape but each time they get caught, again."
She ended her statement with a sigh.
"Escape?"
Dash asked,
"Why escape, isn't an orphanage a place where kids stay until their adopted?"
The filly pandered, causing a sad smile to appear on the other filly's face.
"Well yes, but this place has different ways of doing things, "
She paused and motioned to the entire room, "Its normally supposed to be bright and colorful, or at least that's what the older kids say" she briefly paused before continuing,
"But here its very.... boring. According to some of the older colts, it's supposed to be colorful and bright and happy and this other word one of them used... alive? Live? Lively!"
She gave a proud smile. Dash nodded at the information. She was never taught about how an orphanage worked or how it looked, but even she knew that it shouldn't looked so dull.
"And nopony, really, knows why this place became like this, it just did"
"So, was it always like this?"
The yellow maned filly shrugged,
"I don't know"
She stated blandly,
“So... what's your name?"
Dash repeated her earlier query. The other Pegasus seemed to sag at the mention. She slumped her shoulders and her face fell.
" Ditzy" Dash tried hearing it, to no avail. a quitter murmur was heard from the filly.
"Um.... I didn't catch that?"
"It’s Ditzy Doo, okay!"
She exclaimed, gaining chuckles and snickers from the other fillies there. Once they settled down Dash spoke up,
"Okay, cool I like it, Ditzy"
Dash repeated the name to herself. The filly covered her face with her mane and looked away, both her eyes shot away from her. Dash noticing this questioned her about it,
"Do you not like it or something?"
"It says how much of a... a... clutz I am!"
She explained in an agitated yet upset manner.
"It just reminds everpony that I'm a clumsy little filly and nothing more"
"Hey, hey, don't say that, sure I don't know you that well, but even I can tell you're not all clumsy, and those bandages proves my point"
The other filly cocked an eyebrow,
"You haven't seen me walk yet or fly, or try anything at all, how would you know, besides I got these bandages when I fell over a bunch"
She retorted.
Dash smirked at that.
"Trust me, I know exactly how that feels. My mom always says that bandages on you show that each time you got right back up and tried again instead of laying on the floor all defeated, not that you were a clutz or anything,"
She softened her smirk into a caring smile, one her mom gave her a lot of the time, when she herself had fallen while trying to perfect her flying,
"And don't you think that's more than clumsy?"
"I-I guess..."
She smiled warmly at the older Pegasus.
The two got to talking and both found that they enjoyed each other's company. Dash found out that the little filly was picked on for her clumsiness and cross-eyedness. The rainbow filly did not like the sound of that. Bullying was something the filly couldn't stand and so vowed to always protect her from any bullies that might come her way. The filly, Ditzy, quite appreciated it.
Dash had also told her a lot about herself, about when her mom left her, but also had assured the younger filly, that her mom was going to come for her. She also mentioned the stallion's chasing and the encounter with Shy, basically her whole yesterday.
The other filly had also talked about her day. About how boring it had been compared to Dash's, about how the older colts had picked on her for being small, and weak and clumsy. It had sounded uninteresting and quite boring, but that the whole point, wasn't it? Dash listened and her responses when she felt it was right, nonetheless.
"...colts here aren't the nicest y'know"
Dash gave an attentive nod. As they sat there chatting away, the door to their little room burst open and the mare with red gasses walked in. She had a small filly trotting behind her. She motioned for the filly to come out of her tail and introduce herself or something.
Peeping out, the little Pegasus made her way out of the tail she was hid in and shot her head around nervously. The mare groaned at her shyness and trotted off, closing the door behind her. The little filly watched as her freedom was snatched and she was left their all alone.
"Shy! Over here"