Chapter 9: Good night Starry
Chapter 9: Good night Starry
Foggy and Petal left the room and trotted downstairs to get a good seat at the table leaving Starry alone in bathroom, his mind still preoccupied with thinking about what they were going to do tomorrow. This all changed when his stomach decided to make itself heard.
Now realising how hungry he actually was, Starry took the pillow casing Petal threw at him and wiped himself dry before throwing it back into the pile and running towards where the food was. Before he reached the stairs he heard a high pitch filly scream, and rushed towards the dining room.
“Slate Fogtome!” Starry could hear Sister Lovehearth yelling out his friend's name, “go to your room this instant!”
Starry continued running and only stopped when he saw Foggy heading walking towards him. The pegasus colt had a cheeky smile on his face, and a large lump in the middle of his forehead.
“What happened?!” Starry asked staring at the lump.
“I’ll tell you later,” Foggy replied as he walked passed him, and headed upstairs towards their room the smile on his face not fading for a moment.
As he entered the room he could see his family eagerly devouring that their meals.
At the end of table was Sister Loveheart place, right next to the large pot that held that night’s dinner, but the chair was empty. Starry looked around the room searching for their caretaker. He saw the other ponies standing at the table, scarfing down their dinner of mashed potatoes and hot bread buns, while Sister Loveheart was holding a blood soaked handkerchief at the nose of a young stallion. Starry immediately recognised him as one of the two stallions that picked on Petal earlier that day. He picked up a plate and headed towards the pot.
“You’re late,” the mare yelled at him.
“Sorry,” Starry quickly said as he stopped dead in his tracks.
“Hold it like this,” she told the stallion and went to give the colt his meal.
A decent size side of mashed potatoes and a still warm bun was given to him by Sister Loveheart, and Starry searched for an empty place at the table. He found Foggy’s place, the one next to Petal, to be empty and a plate of food spilled on the floor nearby.
“What happened?” Starry asked Petal as he sat down.
Petal did not reply. She just tipped her head to the side, telling Starry to look at Sister Loveheart. Talking at the table was forbidden and the mare seemed a little angry that night. Starry got the hint and began eating. The filly finished her dinner, said her thanks and went upstairs to their room.
“I thank the Princess Luna for the food I ate,” Starry said as he finished his supper and went to his room, picking up a bun as Sister Loveheart was busy cleaning the table.
He rushed upstairs and headed straight for his room.
The door barely opened because of all the stuff that was cramped inside. Not only was the room small, but it was shared by four ponies; there were four beds, two nightstands, placed between the beds, a single closet that mostly held spare bedding and blankets, and a single table on which was placed the only light source a simple candlestick. The room had windows, but barely any light could enter because of the tall building built across the street from the orphanage.
One colt was sleeping, and on the table the candle was burning. Next to it was an open book, and Foggy helping Petal with her Equestrian homework: she had to read an edited version of a griffin story about a talking spider and a pig, and did not get it at all.
“Catch,” Starry said as he threw the bread roll towards Foggy.
“So what happened, you wanted to become an unicorn or something?” he asked laughing at the lump on Foggy’s forehead.
“Or something,” he replied as he took a bite out of the bun.
“So, are you going to tell me about it?” Starry asked as he jumped onto his bed.
“Later,” Foggy told him. “After Petal finishes her homework.”
“We’ve got homework?”
Foggy facehoofed.
“It doesn’t matter, I’ll just copy Petal’s.”
“Uh,” Foggy groaned, “you’re hopeless.”
Three hours or four candles later Petal was done with her homework, the candle was blown out and they all went to bed, leaving Starry to copy his homework sometime tomorrow before Equestrian class started.
“So are you going to tell me now?” Starry was getting more and more curious about what happened during dinner.
“He did something stupid and I did something. He got a bloody nose and I got send to bed.”
“Oh come on, tell me everything,” Starry begged.
“It’s really nothing that great.”
“That guy tripped Petal, she spilled her food, Foggy headbutted him, Sister Loveheart only saw Foggy, the end,” their fourth roommate said annoyed that he was not able to sleep. “Now shut up and go to sleep.”
They were silent for a few minutes before Starry spoke again.
“That’s really not like you Foggy,” he whispered to his friend. “You’re the last pony I expected to pick a fight with the older colt.”
“SHUT UP!” their roommate yelled at them. “Shut up or I swear to Luna that I will get out of bed and beat you to a pulp.”
“Sorry,” the two colts said in unison before finally shutting up and going to sleep.