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// Lone II 
// Story: Writing by the Seat of My Pants 
// by Phonyyx 
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An alarm rang beside me. Groggily, I slammed my hoof down on top of the alarm clock. I leaned up in bed and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. "Yawn!" I rang out to nopony in particular. The sun rays filtered through the small crack between the two curtains blocking circular window on the wall. I rolled myself out of bed and pulled back the curtains. I was blinded by the sudden influx of sunlight. You're an idiot Lone. Of course the sunlight would rush into the room once you opened the curtains. I thought to myself, blinking. My vision gradually returned and adjusted to the light. I turned my head to take in a good look of my room.
Bookshelves filled with books on countless topics lined the left wall. My bed laid against the opposite wall, along with my desk. On a bedside table was a small, red piece of cloth and a broken compass. I picked up the cloth in my wings and tied it around my neck. I lifted it up and hooked on the compass to it. There was a knock on my door, and despite being unable to see who, I could sense it was Lilac. "You can come in Lilac!" I called out to her. The door opened and there stood Lilac in the doorway. She was a unicorn with a cream-colored coat and a short, straight-kept, yellow mane and tail. She was the younger of the two sisters who ran the orphanage.
"You're up early," Lilac said.
"Yeah."
"Well, Mr. Gustave is preparing breakfast. He made your favorite."
"Pancakes?" I asked with a noticeable hint of glee.
"Blueberry pancakes."
Even better. "Thanks for telling me." I nodded to Lilac and she turned to wake up the other kids. She always woke me up first, even though my room was on the top floor. Maybe because I was the oldest but I never knew if that was it. I grabbed a book in my wings and bounded over to the flight of stairs. I casually flew down the stairs and to the dinning hall. The pleasant aroma of pancakes and blueberries filled my nostrils. My stomach growled in agreement with my nose. I entered the dinning hall and found Mr. Gustave placing out plates of food on the kitchen dinning hall table. I walked over and slid my other wing under a plate. Once my wing touched the 
"Hot!" I yelped out as soon as my wing touched the plate.
"Hehe, well of course it's hot Lone," Mr. Gustave told me whilst chuckling.
"Thanks Gustave." I blew on the plate some and waved my wing over it. After a few moments of that, I slipped my wing under it again. It was still hot, but now it was bearable. I carried the plate over to the end of a table and set my breakfast.
Around this time the younger foals slowly filled into the room. Each took a plate, thanked Mr. Gustave, and took a seat at one of the tables occupied by their friends and/or roommates. I cracked open the book I brought, took a bite of my pancakes, and quietly started reading. The room was slowly filling with chatter between friends, laughter, and talk of what everypony was going to do today. I droned out the sounds and continued to eat. It was Saturday. Usually after breakfast, everypony headed to their classes, but not so on the weekends. I took the final bite of my pancakes and closed the book I was reading. I got up and turned to leave.
I stopped when I felt something. I had felt this many times before. I couldn't explain how it felt. Sometimes I could just sense how a pony felt and what they were thinking. I turned to see the a two colts only two or three years younger than me, staring at each other. Not a friendly or awkward stare. No, a stare that says they want to hurt somepony. I realized what was going to happen. As soon as they were let out, a fight was going to ensue. I trotted over to Mr. Gustave and told him what I had realized and he gave me a nod, after giving me a stare that said he was weirded out.



Mr. Gustave had told Lilac and she made sure to have a talk to the them. Lilac had assured me that she would never tell ponies who told her what they had been going to do. But the others always knew that it was me. The whispers spread thorough the orphanage like wildfire. They whispered that I had told Lilac. They avoided me in the halls and did their best to avoid eye contact.
The first time I had an episode was in the middle of a class eight years ago. I wasn't paying attention to the ponies around me when all of a sudden, I heard what sounded like a girl me call me a know-it-all. And like an idiot, I spoke up. "Miss Lilac. The girl behind me called me an ugly name." Turns out, nopony was behind me. The entire class laughed at my "joke". But I kept hearing ponies calling me names. I shouted, calling everypony in the room names. The room fell silent and Lilac didn't take too kindly to my outburst and sent me to see her sister. I started to say that it wasn't fair. At the time, to me it seemed like Lilac was targeting me for the crime of being the victim. But I got the feeling that she was more disappointed than angry.
"Lone. Go see my sister. Now!" Lilac told me sternly. I'd never heard Lilac get that angry with me before and never again after that. The rumors quickly spread amongst the others that I was insane and for quite some time after, I thought I was.
I went through the rest of my day as usual. It seemed like an ordinary, every other day, until that night.



"Lone," a voice called out. I nearly jumped at the sudden voice. I turned my attention from the book in front of me to the voice. It was Rose Chestnut. A tan unicorn with long, red, flowing mane and tail.
"Lone, why aren't you asleep? It's past time for you to be in bed, asleep." Rose sat down on my bed. She looked at me worried. She always did when she found me awake when I should be sleeping. Which, honestly, was often. I looked out of the circular window. The city of Baltimare stood in the near distance. She knew what was on my mind. "You'll get adopted, I know you will. It's only been-"
"Sixteen years. My entire life. Yeah, cause that's not a long time. Not a long time at all," I muttered. Rose sighed.
"Lone, if you keep saying things like that to yourself and thinking that, you'll never have any chance because when the opportunity comes across, you'll be unable to see it." Rose took the book I had been reading and placed it on the bedtable. "Now its late, You need your rest." I begrudgingly got under the covers. "Good night Lone." Rose turned off the lights and closed the door behind her.
"I'll try." I sighed as I tried to sleep but I just couldn't. Something I had read in that book was nagging in the back of my mind. Frustrated and hoping that finding out would alleviate my curiosity enough to sleep, I hopped out of bed and flipped through the book again. It was a symbol. A familiar- no, not a symbol, a design pattern. Then it hit me. I grabbed my compass and looked on the inside of it. That same design pattern was etched into the compass' front panel.
This was it. A clue, a lead. A way to find my parents. Find out who I am. The pattern was from a native tribe in Northern Equestria. I wasted no time packing my things together. My compass, cloth, some of my books, and all of the bits I had saved up over the years. Left a note, opened my window and took off towards Baltimare.