He was stuck in this here orphanage ran by Nanny Shadowcaster, a jet-black unicorn with a jet-black body. Her cutie mark was always covered by a piece of leather she wore. Nanny Shadowcaster always thought it was best for what she called “blind adoptions” to happen for older ponies and since there was no other orphanage around they had no competition nor did their adopters have anywhere else to go. He was actually pretty sure it wasn’t legal but he wasn’t too sure. Afterall, an orphanage where the orphan nor the adopters got to meet each other until it was all said and done was a bit… eek. The funny thing was that the Nanny would usually let them see the child if they asked, but this couple seemed… different. They didn’t even attempt asking but instead seemed much more intent on their conversation on what seemed to be their daughter.
“Lilly, what if Calla thinks-“
“Severus, you know she will be needing a new playmate now that Luo is gone.”
“Yes, but why can’t she just get friends from the school? You know she will be going there some day.”
“Yes, but that might not be till a very long time... with her illness and all.”
Aster listened in to the conversation that was lurking behind the wood door his head found its way to press up against. The two he was listening to had been considering adopting him for some time, much to Aster’s pleasure. He was just too old for most adopters to look towards him, but this pairing seemed to favor that choice, or at least, the mare of the couple.
“But what if she thinks we’re replacing her?” Questioned Severus from behind the wood door.
“She won’t but-“ Lily remarked.
“But you know how she can be!” Severus interrupted.
Aster heard the sound of a small bang, at first he thought it might’ve been Severus hitting the desk, but then it happened again and this time he could tell it wasn’t coming from behind the door. No.. it was too clear for that.
Twisting his head in the direction of the young filly next to him, to who bared no fair upon their head and a white figure, opened up the door and trotted into the room proudly.
“Fine if you wa-“
“Mom, dad, I like him.” She remarked, to which Severus glared.
“What?” Lily said, turning towards her.”
“How much do you like him?” Sneered Severus snoopishly.
“He is so easy to sneak up on.” Giggled the young filly as Aster poked his head in from behind the corner of the door.
“Well then, I say we take him!” Lily said, turning towards Severus who had unleashed his glare upon Aster.
Severus didn’t reply, but merely turned away in defeat, as Lily was more then happy with his forfeit and bounced forth towards the paperwork and began writing it all out.
Aster would’ve been very happy by their decision, but something held him back. He pondered why the young filly before him was bald and how Severus’ displeasure with his adoption, but at least now he had a better look at the three ponies before him.
Severus was a dark grey, white speckled, full-grown stallion with a deep brown mane and green eyes. After stretching out his neck some way, he could see his flank was covered with the symbol of what seemed to be a hammer. The other bared a blood-red hide and jet-black mane with the prettiest amber eyes. Her cutie mark was in plain view and was that of a water can. The other pony in the room to which he assumed was Calla had a white figure with no mane or tail and deep blue eyes. Her cutie mark also seemed to be flower-related and was a calla flower. Aster himself was a vibrant red with darker mane and blue eyes and a cutie mark of a potion glass with a light blue liquid inside it.
The variety amongst the three earth ponies made the unicorn Aster almost dizzy as he tried to figure out how a black and red couple with amber and green eyes could make an all white pony. At least the red unicorn would look similar to that of Lily since the only difference between the two was their cutie mark and the fact his mane was a slightly darker shade of red then his body, and of course his eyes where also deep blue. Actually, now that he thought about it, there wasn’t that much same with the two.
“There we go!” Remarked Lily as Nanny Shadowcaster lingered down from the roof in the way the old unicorn used her magic to phase through the rooms of the building so that she could tuck in the toddlers and snatch up the paperwork in no time.
“It was a pleasure, Lily, hope to see you again.”
“Me too! I mean... of course I hope to see me again... Excuse me, I hope to see YOU again!” She said happily as she bypassed Aster and trotted on, leading the way for the party.
As Aster twisted his way to follow the over joyed Lily Severus swooped by him, obviously displeased. He would have run over Aster if he hadn’t side stepped from the tank-sized stallion. From behind them, Calla came up with a smile, and followed her father. Looking back at the area of which the orphanage lady Shadowcaster came from, he followed suit in the line of ponies, soon was escorted to their house.
“Okay, Aster... that is your name right?” Severus asked, twisting a head around to spot Aster.
“Yes… “ Aster replied, a little bit uncomfortable with leaving the familiar area of what he use to call home behind.
“Sir. Yes sir.” Severus remarked, as Aster stared. It was painfully obvious now that he would not enjoy this stay.
“Yes, sir.” Aster said, trying to refrain from putting too much poison into the word sir, though Severus seemed to still take the remark negatively.
“I’ll brief you in the morning.”
“You’ll brief me?”
“Yes, brief. It means to… well… tell what has been happening and/or what is going to happen.” Severus said with a questionable disbelief in his tone.
“Oh… okay then.. “
“I’ll brief you over chores, rules, and the area, but until then you should rest.”
“Okay.”
“SIR!”
“Fine sheesh… okay sir.” Aster said, this time not holding back on the amount of poison.