//------------------------------//
// Chapter Six 
// Story: The Little Filly Who Could 
// by Boopy Doopy 
//------------------------------//

“What do you think of this place, sweetheart?” Bright Side asked as he led Emily into another building, this one being a group home that normally housed several foals within its walls. Right now though, it was empty, on account of either having found the guardians of each of the foals or having them placed in foster homes. It was certainly a good thing that this place was empty, but the stallion worried that the filly with him would be lonely. He’d have to find somepony to place her with as soon as he could.
“There’s a library, and a whole room full of toys and games and other fun things,” he announced as he led her through the building to the kitchen. “And best of all,” he finished as he grabbed a tray of food in his hooves, “they have macaroni and peas, just like you asked for!”
“Aah! Yes! This is amazing!” she said happily as the tray was set in front of her, flapping her wings excitedly as she did so. “And they’re elbows, too! Ponyville is the best! Did you make sure to put lots of salt in it?”
“I did salt it up for you, dearie,” he chuckled, “but also make sure to eat your apples and hay, too. Little fillies need nutrients to grow into big and strong mares.”
“I’m gonna be the biggest and strongest.” She giggled happily at the thought before quickly adding, “But I’m not gonna eat hay. No way.”
“Hay is important, dear, but I’ll see if we can get you some oatmeal next time, okay? For now though, make sure you eat up what you can. After that, what do you say about us playing a little board game?”
“Okie dokie! That sounds like fun!”
He watched her carefully as she ate, keeping an eye on her like Nurse Redheart asked. She didn’t seem like she was having any trouble eating, which was good, and glanced up at her every so often while he shifted through files he was looking over. 
Bright Side kept a candle he used to receive messages near him while he sat at the table with Emily in the hope that somepony would contact him and say that they found the filly’s parents, but no message came. He didn’t let the thought deter him, focusing on writing more notes with the information Nurse Redheart gave him. At the same time, he made sure to look over all the other papers for foals he had current cases on. He couldn’t let up on making sure all of the proper forms were filled out, even in the middle of a case like this.
After she was finished eating, he watched something strange happen as he got out napkins and paper towels to offer to her. He set them out in front of her to use to clean off with, and just turned back to writing when she let out a gigantic shiver. She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw as she craned her neck, making a face like she was just splashed with cold water.
“What is it, Ama Lee?” he asked. “You’re not hurt are you? Is food caught in your throat?”
“No, I just– blech!” She closed her eyes and shivered again, explaining, “I have really bad sensory issues, and things like napkins set it off. Napkins and paper towels and wet paper and drying towels– I can’t stand the texture of those things.”
“Well let me see if we have something different around here to help you wipe down,” he offered. “What do you normally use?”
“Wet wipes are perfect if you have any.”
He retrieved exactly that for her, making sure to write down what she said as she wiped herself down. At the same time, he realized it was another instance where maturity showed through. She flipped from acting like a little filly to older than she looked without realizing it. It was in her tone and the way she spoke, and further confused Bright Side.
After she was done wiping herself off, the stallion got out a board game to play with her and the caretaker of the group home, one about buying up properties and managing money, a game that she seemed familiar with. Once again, Bright Side found himself imagining that she was older than she looked, just like Redheart said. She displayed intelligence that most fillies as young as she looked wouldn’t have. 
After the game, Emily read for a while, and then was put back to sleep before the sun went down. When she was finally in the bedroom resting, Bright Side sighed to himself and stretched. It was one of the longer days he had on the job, probably the longest in a few months. He imagined tomorrow would be just as long– there were forms to be filled out and ponies to talk to and information to gather from Emily, not to mention all the usual work he had. But at least the filly he was working with was nice and happy, even if she displayed some curious tendencies and had some potentially alarming things about her come up. It was better than some of the faces he’d seen in his work.
“Is there anything special I need to look out for with Ama Lee?” the caretaker, Peaceful Day, asked Bright Side before he left. “Or should I just proceed how I normally would?”
“I don’t see anything special you need to do. Just be careful though. We only just got word of her today, and while she doesn’t have any obvious concerns about her to watch out for, there might be things beneath the surface.”
“Mhm. I understand, and will proceed that way.”
The stallion left after that, stopping by his office for a moment before returning home and retiring for the night. He didn’t fall asleep immediately though. His thoughts were occupied by the filly and what exactly was going on with her.
Was she making up stories? Was she telling the full truth? A combination of both? Where exactly was Kansas, and who were the friends she was talking about? How old exactly was she? Why in the wide world of Equestria would she think macaroni mixed with peas and tuna would taste good? All of these things and more raced through Bright Side’s head, and he hoped he would get answers to all of them.
He was back at his office the next morning, working on Emily’s case, when he finally received a good piece of information– at least, in context to his case. There were three brown pegasus fillies missing that matched her description, mostly anyway. One was described as having light brown hair, opposite of Emily’s dark brown, and other was said to have bright green eyes, unlike her brown. And the last one was listed as being thirteen years old, way older than Emily could potentially be. None of them even matched her name, or the names of the parents she gave to him. One set came close though, a couple known as Cloud Mender and Willy Whisps. Still not exactly as she described though.
But there was no reason to avoid getting in contact with each set of guardians. There was a slim chance she would belong to one of them, even if the chance was extremely low in his opinion.
He went about sending out communications to the cities the alerts came from– one from Canterlot, Baltimare, and Los Pegasus each. Nowhere anypony would be coming to Ponyville from anytime soon, at least not for a good week unless they had advanced teleportation magic, but hopefully sending a couple of pictures of the filly would suffice for identification. 
He grabbed a camera from inside his desk and stretched and yawned, heading back over to the group home Emily was at. She was awake and alone, sitting on a sofa and running her hoof along the arm rest as she sang, the caretaker cleaning up in the background. Her eyes were closed as she sang loudly, this time a song about catching a mouse and shoving it in her mouth? The words kind of blended together, so he couldn’t tell exactly, something he was sure was being done intentionally.
“Look into my eyes,” she sang, then opened them and turned to Bright Side and smiled. “It’s the only way you’ll know I’m telling the truth.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked lightheartedly, not understanding the lyrics at all but engaging her anyway. “Are you telling me you’ve been lying to me this whole time? How could you?” He feigned sadness, something that made her giggle. 
“No, you gotta look into my eyes to see that I’m telling the truth,” she explained. “Not a lot of people know that song, but it’s one of my favorites.”
“Well it certainly sounds like a good one, especially being sung by you,” he told her. “Your voice is so pretty. I’d bet you’re gonna get a cutie mark in music when you’re older.”
“I don’t think so, but maybe! I’m not good enough at piano though cause I don’t try to learn new things very often. But I used to be in Honor Choir at my school, so there’s a chance!”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to be a great musician or singer if you try your best,” he assured her. “Did you sleep well last night? What did you eat for breakfast?”
“Mhm, I slept good, and I helped cook pancakes and eggs.”
“That sounds like a very delicious breakfast. I think that’ll get you prepared for an active day today, missy. We’re gonna take some pictures, play some games, and meet another pony who wants to help you, too. How does that sound?”
“Great!” She flapped her wings excitedly as she smiled. “Do you think the Cutie Mark Crusaders are still in town? What about Princess Twilight? I wanna meet them!”
“Maybe one day you will, but for now, I think it’s high time we head back to my office. How does that sound?”
“Okay!”
Bright Side left again after that, letting Peaceful Day know that Emily was coming with her, and the two headed back to his office where he set out toys and coloring books again. She declined these things once again, opting to sit on the couch and face him just like last time as she ran a hoof over the fabric of the cushion. Was that part of the sensory issues she described having last night? 
He took her picture and then started to chat with her. He didn’t go deep into conversation with the filly, but did manage to get her to talk about her childhood. She described how she didn’t have any friends in school, a statement that almost made him tear up, but she said that she didn’t mind because she liked reading and coming up with stories. She also talked again about how she liked to play music and write songs, and said that when she got older, she wanted to become a musician or an author.
“Or a meteorologist!” she declared happily, flapping her wings excitedly. “It’d be so cool if I could control the weather! I’d make it rain and then store it in boxes with little yellow tags on every one!” She’d broken into song by the time she finished, something about the real world hassling her now, and Bright Side smiled. She had such youthful energy, and he loved seeing it. 
They continued on from there, and she talked about the games she liked to play, describing something similar to the new digital games the foals these days talked about. It was something a stallion named Button Mash pioneered several years ago, and now seemed to be all the rage.
Before he knew it, mid afternoon was rolling around, having talked to the filly about a hundred different topics ranging from hobbies to his own life, skipping straight through lunch without either of them realizing it.
“Oh, we need to get you something to eat, sweetheart,” he announced, standing up and stretching after a while. What time was it now? Just past two o’clock. How did he let it get so late.
“How do you feel about pizza?” he asked.
“I like pizza, as long as it’s plain, please,” she said politely. “Or spinach! You can put spinach and tomatoes on it, too.”
“Well I don’t know if they have that at the pizza place we’re going to, but we can certainly ask. Actually, let me send a message so we can order it for here. Like I said earlier, somepony is gonna be here who wants to talk to you just as much as I do.”
“Who?”
“You’ll have to wait until she gets here to meet her. She should be in at any– well would you speak of the princess!” he exclaimed as the door was knocked on right at that moment. “There she is! Let me bring her in!”
In a second, Bright Side was across the room and letting through a door a unicorn mare who looked a lot younger than he did. She had an off white, sort of beige colored coat and light brown mane going down to her shoulders. She also had a kind smile on her face, one that seemed even more pleasant than what Bright Side could manage.
He turned to look at Emily’s reaction, surprised to see her giving the mare a weird look as she tilted her head. “You look familiar,” she said after a long moment of silence, keeping her eyes on the mare that stood before her. “Do I know you from somewhere?”
“Hmmm, I don’t think you’ve seen me before, unless you’ve been to Baltimare,” the unicorn replied politely. “I like to keep track of all the fillies and colts I talk to. You must be Ama Lee, right?” The filly nodded, and she continued, “My name’s Doctor Spark, and Bright Side here said he’d like it a lot if I got to know you.”
Both Bright Side and Ivory Spark watched as Emily’s jaw practically hit the floor in surprise.