“Land sakes! It sure is a scorcher today,” Granita exclaimed as she looked up to the sky. There was not a cloud in sight.
She wiped a few beads of sweat from her forehead as she walked to the edge of the field that she was currently tending. Her coat glistened with a sheen of sweat from the oppressive afternoon heat as she sat down under the cooling shade of a large oak tree. She had been pushing herself hard trying to make up for the time she had spent yesterday and today with the mysterious filly, and she had responsibilities on the farm that just could not be ignored. Celestia herself had given her father a little over one hundred hoof-acres of fertile land to cultivate and prosper on just this spring, and she would not fail either of them or the town for that matter.
How in tarnation am I gonna ask this of ma and pa? She pondered as a strong breeze rustled the leaves above her, sending a shiver down her spine as the air instantly cooled her damp skin. She looked up into the leaves of the oak tree as the wind made traces of sunlight cascade through them and fall onto her face while she thought. I guess I outta just tell them the truth. I already told them about the filly last night. That I found her all beat up an’ starving all by her lonesome in the Whitetail Woods. And that I brought her into town to get patched up by Doc. They did seem concerned for her, so maybe having her stay here, just until we find her parents, won’t be as big a deal as my noggin is making it out to be. Well, maybe...
She gave a quick sigh as she got back on her hooves, walking over to the brook that was just past the oak tree, taking a quick drink before heading back to finish up today’s work of planting seeds in the new field.
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It had been a relatively quiet afternoon for the human-turned filly in her hospital room. There was the occasional sound of hoofsteps or voices, but nobody had come in wanting to take measurements, poke and prod, or even just to check up on her, but she didn't mind it in the least.
Chloe picked up her recently finished drawing, placing it under the small table along with the rest of the drawings she had made over the past few hours. She groaned and stretched out her limbs, letting out a yawn as she did. Her back and legs were sore from sitting in roughly the same position all day. It was also getting harder for her to stay focused on the lines and colors on the paper as the light inside the room had become considerably dimmer than when she began, and it was starting to give her a headache from the eye strain.
Her ears swiveled at the sound of hoofsteps coming down the hallway. The noise stopped right outside her room. Moments later, the door swung open and a very worn-out looking Nurse Heartsong stepped in, pushing a cart.
“Sorry I haven’t checked up on you for a while, dear, but we had a group of ponies come down with food poisoning,” she stated. ”Apparently they discovered a new plant in the Everfree Forest, and they thought it was safe to eat.” She gave the filly a weak yet warm smile, bringing the cart alongside the bed and lighting a lantern on the wall behind the filly to give them more light. “Anyways, I brought you some dinner. I hope you like spaghetti and hayballs.”
Chloe smiled back to the mare as a delightful smell caressed her nose, causing her to involuntarily lick her lips. Nurse Heartsong begun to clear the small table turned art board. Chloe saw what she was doing and helped out by grabbing the crayons that had fallen into the folds of the blanket, giving them to the nurse. Chloe was looking for any last stragglers when she heard the rustling of papers and a short gasp. She looked up to see what was going on. Heartsong had the stack of drawings Chloe has made and was staring at them.
Nurse Heartsong was looking at a drawing that depicted a pony with a bridle in its mouth and a saddle on its back being ridden by, what looked like, a small but slightly disproportionate Diamond Dog. “Wh-why would you draw something like this?” Heartsong asked in a shaky voice, holding up the image for the filly to see.
“That’s me riding my horse at my parent’s farm.” She pointed to the picture of her human form in the drawing and then back to herself as she beamed, thinking about all the good times she had with her horse. “His name is Jimbi, and I have had him since he was a foal. He’s a great—" She hesitated. "—pet.” Her ears went flat against her head as the words she was saying sunk in. For the first time since she had arrived here, she was extremely happy that these ponies couldn’t understand her.
Heartsong couldn’t understand why the filly seemed so happy about this unsightly drawing. She put that picture on the bottom of the stack and slowly shuffled through the other drawings. None were quite as shocking as the first one of a horse in what amounted to risque attire, but still most of them contained things that she had never seen before like very tall buildings, strange machines, and almost all included Diamond Dogs. The one thing that stood out the most to her was that there was only that one drawing that included a pony in it.
Was this filly raised by Diamond Dogs? That would explain why she was alone, and why she can’t speak or understand our language… She decided that it would be best to show Dr. Charts the drawings to see what he had to say about them and her theory.
Heartsong set the papers down on the cart and finished cleaning the rest of the table off before setting a plate of spaghetti and hayballs along with a glass of water down on it. “Here you are, dear.”
“Thank you,” Chloe said, putting her hooves together and bowed her head slightly. It felt weird to be doing this, but she would have to get used to it as body language seemed to be the only way to communicate right now.
“You’re most welcome.” She couldn’t help but giggle at how cute the filly was when she did that as she pushed the cart out of the room. “I’ll be back in a little while to check on you before bedtime.”
As soon as the door shut, Chloe grabbed the fork, it felt so good being able to actually use her hooves now. She hummed happily to herself as she started to eat. This stuff isn’t half bad for no meat.
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Granita sat at the dinner table, only halfway listening to her father explain to mother and her how he had made this great deal or something with somepony in town to help supply them with farm equipment in exchange for a discount on the goods when the harvest came in.
“That’s wonderful news, honey!” her mother said, congratulating her father on his success and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Granita was looking down at the bowl in front of her idly making circles in her split bean soup—it was more broth than bean since times had been tough—with her spoon as her mother looked over at her, smiling. “Don’t you think so, Granita?”
“Wha?” Granita snapped out of her thoughts, looking up from her soup to her mother, then to her father as they both stared at her. “Oh, ya. Sorry. That’s great to hear, Pa,” she responded half-heartedly. Her mother’s face scrunched up slightly as she started to open her mouth only to be cut off by her father.
“You’re not usually like this, Granita,” he said, setting down his spoon, giving her a concerned look. “Somethin’ eatin’ at ya?”
“Well…” She started rubbing her fore leg as she looked back down to the table for a second before turning her gaze back to her parents. “Ya know that filly I rescued the other day?”
“That grey earth filly? What about her?” Her mother spoke up. “Is she doing okay?”
“Yes… and no.” She sighed as both of her parents gave her a slightly worried and confused look. “Doc said she will be fully healed by week’s end,” she explained, watching their faces as she tried to gauge their reactions.
“So, what is wrong with ‘er then?” her father suspiciously asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Well, the thing is, Doc and Nurse Heartsong haven’t been able to find her parents yet, and...” She had a pleading look in her eyes as she paused for a moment. “She needs a place to stay while her parents are located, and since the clinic cain’t keep her there past tomorrow morning…”
“Of course the little deary can stay here!” her mother blurted out as she looked to her husband who had a shocked expression on his face. Granita’s face instantly lit up.
“Whoa, whoa, slow down there, honey. How are we gonna feed another mouth?” he quickly rebutted. “We are just barely scraping by as it is. And where is she gonna sleep? It’s not like we have a’ extra bed or anyth—”
Granita quickly spoke up. “Doc said he had a small bed that he could have delivered out here for her to use while she was here an’ all,” she enthusiastically stated, looking over to her mother for support when she saw that her father’s expression hadn’t changed any.
“Dear, it’s not like a filly eats much and it would only be for a little while,” she said, looking over to her husband as she stared into his eyes.
"I, uhm..." He coughed, closing his eyes for a second to get a break from that stare his wife had been giving him before looking back to his daughter. “I’m sorry, there is just no way we can take on a youngin’ like this. Even with Doc offering up a bed, there ain’t anywheres to put it in our home.” He pointed a hoof around to their surroundings. They were in a the main room of the house that acted as the living room, dining room, and kitchen all in one, with two much smaller rooms off the side of the main one that were Granita's and her parents’ bedrooms. Each was just big enough to fit in a bed, a dresser, and not much else. “We can barely move in here as it is, and you want us to take in another?” he scoffed at the idea. “I think you are out of your mind.”
“But she needs our help, Pa! And she…” Granita paused in thought for a second. “She can sleep with me at night if we cain’t find room for another bed, but we cain’t, in good faith, just let her wander the streets with no place to go! T’ain’t right!” Granita protested to her father who was about to respond back when he felt a hoof slip onto his thigh.
“Honey,” his wife softly spoke as she looked at him with big, puppy dog eyes. “What if it was Granita that had gotten lost and hurt when she was a filly? Would you rather have her wander the streets or countryside, scared and lost all by herself, or would you rather have a nice, caring family take care of her until we could be reunited?”
He looked to his daughter and then back to his wife as he tried to find any flaws in her logic and sighed in defeat. “You’re right, dear. I wouldn’t want that to happen to one of my children if they ever got themselves lost.” He looked over to Granita, a stern look returning to his face. “But, this filly is one hundred percent your responsibility while she’s here and ya still have to do all your chores,” he explained in his gruff fatherly tone. “No slacking off just because of the youngin, ya hear?”
“Oh, Daddy! Thank you!” Granita squealed with delight. She got up and gave her father a kiss on the cheek and a tight hug before sitting back down in her seat as she grinned from ear to ear.
“Now that’s the stallion I know and love,” her mother cooed gently in his ear before pulling his face to hers and giving him a passionate kiss.