//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - Ward of the State (Whatever That Means) // Story: Chaotic Cute // by JazzyWaffles //------------------------------// Sitting in a chair in the mayor's waiting room, my legs dangling off the front as I slumped back, I blew a boredom raspberry. Is that what those are called? Where you're bored, and you just sorta... 'pbbbttt'? If not, that's what they should be called. Or maybe a rasp-bored-y. I like that one. Twilight had gone in to talk to the mayor forever ago (so, about three minutes ago), and I'd been left out here so they could do boring grown-up paperwork stuff. Not that I was interested. Glancing around, I spotted a mirror on the far wall, and... something about it looked off. Hopping off the chair, I trotted up to the mirror, examining it closely. What was so weird about that reflection? The room looked the same. I had the same hair, fur, shape... "Wait, what?" I stared at myself in disbelief as I realized what was so messed up about the mirror-me. It was my eyes. They weren't swirly anymore. When did my eyes get normal? Did the big shiny death wall do that? That... probably explained why Aurora reacted to my eyes, but Twilight, Spike, and the mayor didn't. Actually, thinking about it, that wasn't the only change. Ever since I woke up, I'd felt... low on fuel, for lack of a better phrase. Not really empty, but close. It was like having a super long neck, but then suddenly it became a short one. Except, not? It felt more like... I dunno, like a big part of me that was there before was mostly gone. What was it? What was almost gone? "Hiya!" "Yipe!" I jumped backward and landed on my back in surprise, only to see a pink mare with frizzy hair smiling down at me. "Uh... hi?" "I'm Pinkie Pie!" "S-Screwball." I flipped over and stood up. "Well, S-Screwball, you are invited to your official 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!" She hoofed over a little invitation with my name on it. Wait... how did she have time to make that if she just learned my name? Before I could ask, the pink pony pronked past all the paintings and professional plaques toward the door. Twilight stuck her head out of the mayor's office door. "Hey Pinkie! Got a minute?" "Yuppers!" Somehow, she was already back in front of Twilight. Did she have powers like me? Twilight hoofed her a paper. "Could you write down when each of these ponies is free and then let them know when we'll be there with Screwball?" "Aye-aye, Cap'n!" Pinkie pulled a pen out of her mane (sticking her hoof in farther than should have been possible), quickly wrote a few times down, and then hoofed it back to Twilight. "All done!" "Thanks, Pinkie." As Pinkie left, Twilight turned to me. "You can come in now, we're done with the boring part of things." "Okay." I cantered over, looking back at Pinkie as she left. There was something I wanted to ask her, but I forgot what it was. The inside of the mayor's office was... well, an office. Desk and everything. Not sure if there's a point in describing it, really. Though I did notice a peacefully dozing Spike on Twilight's back. The mayor, a tannish mare with a very, very faded pink mane (which for all intents and purposes what a light grey), smiled down at me. "Alright, Screwball. After a thorough review of the records and a few letters with the princess, it seems you don't have any record of birth in the Equestrian system. As such, I've decided to take your claim of no family at face value." She cleared her throat. "Now that that's out of the way, let's get down to business." I sang in response. "To defeat... the huns~!" I giggled. I don't know where these little thoughts and outbursts come from, or why I find them funny, but they are. Maybe it's because I was made from chaos? She paused, a bit confused, then composed herself and took the paper from Twilight. "I... don't think so, no." She adjusted her glasses. "We have four potential foster parents here in Ponyville, since we're a rather small town, and cases like this don't come up often. There are also a few from nearby towns, but we'll be sticking with Ponyville for now. You with me so far?" I nodded. "So what, are we gonna do some fancy mayor magic to find out which one I should go to, or is there a timeshare system, or what?" I honestly didn't know how foster parenting worked. That's the step before adoption, right? After another pause, and a giggle from the mayor, Twilight answered this time. "Er... no. You're going to be spending a little bit of time today with each of them, and then you'll make the choice of who you want to be your foster parent. Then, if it works out, and you both agree on it, you'll come back here and fill out some adoption papers to make the whole thing official." Oh! So I was right about it being the step before adoption. Nice job, think pan! "Oh! So it's like... a trial period for the trial period." Twilight snorted. "I... snerk... I suppose that's one way to look at it. Of course, if you don't like any of the choices, we can find someone from a nearby town instead." I beamed. "Awesome! Sooooo... when do we start?" I noticed the mayor scribbling something on the piece of paper Twilight had given her. "We start," the mayor answered, "right about now, actually. Pinkie should have alerted everyone by now, so I don't see the reason we can't head out to the first home on the list." "Er... 'we'?" I glanced over at Twilight. "You're not coming?" She shook her head. "Sorry, Screwball. I've got to get sleeping beauty here home. Poor drake spent all night last night with me helping to set up wards on the Elements." She gestured to the baby dragon on her back, who was out like a light. "Also, I still have a lot of work to do today." "O-oh..." Well, that sucked! I was really starting to enjoy her company, even if I'd only known her for like twenty minutes or something. She gave me a comforting smile. "Don't be like that. I'll be sure to drop by for your party." I gasped. "How'd you know about the party!?" Was she psychic? Was Pinkie psychic? Was I psychic??? Okay so that last one didn't make sense, but still. She giggled. "I opened the door and saw Pinkie finishing up talking to you. What else could it be?" She winked and pointed at my hoof. "Also, you've been awkwardly holding the invitation for the past couple of minutes." I looked down. Sure enough, there was the invitation. "Ohhh... right." Twilight leaned down and gave me a little hug, somehow keeping Spike balanced on her back the whole time. "See you later, Screwball." I hugged her back, maybe a little too tightly. "See you, Twilight." The hug broke, and Twilight walked to the door, waving back at mayor mare as she left. Before long, it was just me and the mayor. Clearing her throat and smiling, she cantered over with the list, now on a clipboard, tucked under her foreleg. "I can carry the invitation on my clipboard if you want somewhere to put that." I gave a sigh of relief. "Oh thank the stars, that got super awkward once I noticed it." I hoofed over the invitation to a giggle from the mayor. "Alright then. Come along, and we'll go to the first pony on the list." We trotted out of her office. "Who's the first pony on the list?" The mayor held out the list for me to see the first name, with the times "11:15 - 12:15" marked under it. "Ohhh... okay!" The two of us walked for a few more minutes before the obvious question finally hit me. "Wait, who's Rainbow Dash?"