//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Starry-Eyed Surprise // Story: R.E.P is Magic // by ToonLegion //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Starry-Eyed Surprise “Oooh, is it really a dragon?” “Does it breathe fire?” “I thought they were all big and scary.” “Does it eat bugs? I hear they ate bugs!” A clamoring of voices with similar questions crowded at the door of the infirmary of the Ponies of Mercy orphanage. The curious onlookers of course being in the same age group as Rolly, so naturally like any kid, they wanted to see how something they don’t normally see everyday up close. However, they were being blocked by a much bigger pony, green colored with a bit of blond mane wearing a nun habit. Normally, nuns were meant to be of the gentle looking sort, but this one’s gaze felt very imposing. “Enough!” The nun pony bellowed, almost with a hissing sound “The dragon is a patient! Not a freak show! He needs his rest and your squawking at the door isn’t helping matters! It’s nearly your bed times anyway! Get a move on, the lot of you, or so help me..!” She reached into her habit and pulled out a long wooden ruler, the angle of which hitting the light to make it look quite threatening. Indeed the children got the hint and shrunk back from the rectangular fury. “You have to the count of three. One…” She barely got to forming the “T” in “Two” before the kids were down the hall, out of sight. The nun sighed before putting away her instrument of punishment “Kids. Seems like they get harder to control with each one that comes in.” “Hehe go easy on them, Sister Brim” A voiced called from the room “You can’t blame them. If I were in their hooves I would be right along with them at the doorway. Luckily for me though, I don’t have to.” she giggled. “Sister Katsidy, please.” Brim chided sternly as she closed the door “You’re suppose to be the Mother Superior here. Show some maturity.” Said nun, Katsidy, just stuck out her tongue at that statement. Unlike Sister Brim however, she wasn’t a pony. Rather she was a white cat standing on two legs with fur as white as pure snow and golden yellow eyes. What’s more, she was pretty small to boot as well, having to need a stool just to stay by the bedside of the dragon she was looking over. Though like Brim, she wore a nun habit tailored to her size, along with wearing a pendant with a symbol of two ponies seemingly circling each other with a day background on one side and night on the other. “Maturity’s all well and good sister. But not enjoying yourself is something else altogether.” Katsidy quipped “Like I told you before, try to relax a bit sometime.” “With those little monsters always planning something, twenty four-seven. I’ll pass, thanks.” Brim stated starchly, but her expression eased up a bit upon seeing their patient. Indeed, it was quite a shock even to her when Rolly called for help and to see the one that needed aid was something that was quite feared to civilized areas such as their town. Still the dragon didn’t seem dangerous and gave no struggle to their treatment. “How is he?” “Mmm a few bits of bruises but nothing we couldn’t patch up. However before I gave him some medicine. He mentioned he couldn’t remember how he got in that barrel, nor where he came from.” “Amnesia?” Brim questioned, tilting her head “Oh my, not sure if that’s a blessing or something to worry about. If he does regain his memory, whose to say he won’t go on a rampage.” She noticed the “X” marked bit on the bedside table and motioned to it. “The fact that he was holding that bit in his claw likewise doesn’t give me a good feeling as well. You know how dragons get around treasure.” Katsidy’s face went blank at that. “Indeed. I know the risk all too well when it comes to this species. In fact the most record of any pony having a dragon would go to Celestia’s student and that’s only because she hatched him from his egg.” She looked over Coin who was sleeping soundly now, with a towel of his head and some band-aids on his arms and legs “This is something completely different though. But even so, we’ll treat him as any new entry here.” “Even after...Sombra?” Brim asked, knowing she was entering a taboo subject and indeed Katsidy’s face reacted with slight sorrow to that. “Ah I…I’m sorry. I didn’t…” “It’s all right.” Katsidy said, shaking her head “That was a long time ago, but even then it’s still a reminder that we can’t help everypony. Still… poor Amore.” After a bit of silence, she regained a determined glance. “But that’s no excuse not to treat others with a helping hand when they need it. Isn’t that what we're taught after all?” Brim blinked in surprise at this resolve then smiled. “Of course, Mother Superior. Forgive me for not remembering that. Just voicing my worries. Heh, I guess I do need to ease up some.” “Quite alright. We do have charges to look over and we seemed to have gained one extra as well. Don’t worry we’ll keep an eye on our dragon friend.” She closed the first aid box, to which Brim trotted over, allowing Katsidy to hop on her back “Though, I have a feeling we won’t have much to worry about with this one. ^_^” “Mmm, I do hope you’re right, Mother Superior.” With that, the two cut the lights and let their newfound guest rest. “Mmm...huh wha?” Coin muttered as he opened his eyes and found himself in a cloudy-like setting. He was standing on some sort of ground but couldn’t make out anything among it. In fact he seem to be the only person there. “H-Hello?” He called out, noticing his voice echoing across the weird area. “Is anyone there?” However nothing answered back to his call. Just complete and utter silence. To say that it was unsettling was a bit of an understatement. Coin moved forward, trying to get his bearings but the fog gave him a hard time. “Where am I? Rolly? K-Kat-Lady? Anyone?” Suddenly lights shone on him like someone had flip the switch on a spotlight. He quickly turned to it, shielding his eyes. “Who’s there?” His eyes widened however when he found not one but two “spotlights” on him. And these seem to form expressions, almost as if they were… “Eyes?” Coin noted, a bit of trepidation in his tone. “Um..h-hi? Is this your place? I didn’t mean to intrude, though really I don’t know how I got here. Can you help me out?” The “eyes” suddenly moved forward and he could make out a vague, shadowy shape. In fact it didn’t really seems to have any kind of form other than a blob of dark whips around it. What’s more, Coin noted that it was big, practically towering over him. Coin instinctively backed up seeing the scale of it. Smiling nervously all the while “O-Of course, I can..always show myself out.” It’s then the shadowy figure spoke, a massive booming tone coming over the area, But what came out wasn’t words, rather a garbled deafening white note that rattled Coin’s eardrums. He quickly covered his ears the best he could as he grimaced. “GAH! S-STOP! I’M SORRY! JUST STOP!” But the figure continued on, the sound beginning to pierce through his hands. Unable to take it anymore, Coin ran. Even with no direction to go to, he ran as fast as his stubby little legs would allow. Anything to get away from the terrible noise. However the echo around him just seem to make this feat impossible. But that wasn’t the worse of it, he noticed that the “lights” were following him. “No! NO! STAY AWAY! GET AWAY FROM ME!” He yelled, but the pleads went ignored, if anything the mass was closing in on him quickly. The light getting wider around him and the feeling of the futility of his situation. As he dared to chance a glance behind him, he was met with a giant shadowy hand reaching for him. “COIN!” Coin blinked and suddenly found himself staring at the worried face of Rolly looking at him. “Whoa! There we go.” Said Rolly, a bit of relief in his voice “Y-You alright?” Coin looked around and found himself back in the infirmary bed. Judging by the darkness it was still night out. Though Coin noticed that he was sweating a bit and panting hard. “Rolly? I’m...at the orphanage?” “Well yeah, you never left since the nuns brought you in. You must’ve had some dream though, you were tossing and turning like you were in a mini-earthquake.” Rolly noted “Good thing I came in to check on you.” “Oh, whew yeah a...a dream” Coin echoed trying to calm himself. But a part of himself was doubtful. The dream felt more stressful than it should’ve been. Coin sat up, shaking his head to get his bearings back “Still, thanks for that. That was nice of the sisters to let you see me.” “Uh yeah about that…” Rolly chuckled nervously “I… actually snuck in. We’re not allowed to be out of bed once nighttime hits unless it's for a potty emergency. I was just curious how you were doing. Still good thing, eh?” Coin stared blankly at that, not sure how to respond to it. “O-Oh so...if they catch you…?” “Good chance I’ll be forced to scrub all the dirty laundry by hoof. Not the first time it happened, I can assure you.” Rolly actually smiled when he mentioned that, almost like he was… proud? Again Coin didn’t know how proceed from that statement, so he just shrugged. “Well still, I appreciate the gesture. But I’m fine now, so you better head on back.” “Well I could but I can’t really sleep now after waking you up.” Rolly rubbed the back of his head smiling sheepishly. Then perked “Oh I know, I can take you to my secret place within the building.” “Secret place?” Coin questioned Rolly nodded “If you’re feeling up to it. I can show you.” Sometime later, the two were making their way through the building, seeing a scant few nuns patrolling the hallways. Though Rolly seem to make his way around them as if he was a ninja to Coin’s amazement “Wow, strong and slippery.” Eventually the two arrived at the second floor, after dodging another guard. Rolly lead the two to a room with many knick knacks scattered around. “Whoa. Is this the place?” Coin asked but Rolly shook his head. “Nah just where we keep old supplies and decorations for holidays. No one really comes here otherwise, especially at night.” He moved a pillow and threw it on a box next Coin, causing dust to kick up. Coin coughed as he got caught up in it. “I can -Cough- see why.” He said waving the cloud away. “Sorry” Rolly apologized then headed over to an old desk and pushed it slightly where a crude looking board was placed, colored to look like the wall. He pulled it aside and showed a small crawl space “Here we go, watch yourself now, there’s some bits of wood here and there. Could give you a splinter.” Coin nodded and they headed in. Indeed Coin could see some wood lined around the wall, no doubt due to the infrastructure of the building. It didn’t take the dragon long to see they were in the walls of the orphanage. The night didn’t really give much light to see which made it creepy, yet at the same time felt pretty exciting too. It’s like Coin was an explorer checking out uncharted territory. Eventually they reached a clearing where snack wrappers and soda cans could be seen strewed around as well as some pillows here and there. Rolly waved a hoof around the area. “Welcome to Casa De Barrel!” He grinned. “Though I assure you, MUCH better than the one I found you in.” Coin smirked as he looked around “Your own private room? Cool!” “Yeah, I found it when I was getting stuff for Hearts and Hooves Day chasing after a decoration. Good for hiding out when I wanna avoid chores. Though the sisters do eventually make me do em anyways...” He chuckled “Still if I wanna be alone this is usually the place. You hungry?” He headed over to a pillow and pulled out a knapsack which was filled with snacks bearing the same logo of the cans and wrappers around him. “I’m running a little low, meant to make another food run when I could. You be surprised how often the other kids don’t bother eating this stuff.” “Pfft, their loss,” Coin chimed. Rolly reached into the bag and tossed him a bag of chips and a soda and the two flopped on the pillows “Ah, much better than that bed. Wish we had some light though.” “Oh right,” Rolly said, bonking himself in the head. “I nearly forgot.” He reached over to a string and pulled on it. A panel in front of them slide to the side letting the moonlight in and giving the two a nice view of the starry sky. Coin could also see most of the town from here as well. It looked very Victorian from the outset but some modern touches like water towers and pole lines were strewn about the area. At the current, all was quiet as the residents were no doubt asleep in their homes, waiting for the light of the next day. “T-This is just...incredible, dude!” Coin managed to blurt out “How…?” “Eh no biggie, just rigged up some string to the roof tiles. Took me awhile though, I’m not exactly what you call a pony of mechanical expertise.” “You sure? You seem to have a lot of talent under your belt from what I’ve seen.” Coin said opening the soda “Heck, from the way you were sneaking around, I think you were trying to be a stealth expert or something.” Rolly smiled at that but his expression likewise had a mix of uncertainty “Y-Yeah, well, when you’ve been here long as I have. You pretty much know your way around things…” Coin tilted his head “Rolly? Um...how long have you been here?” “Since the day I could walk, apparently,” Rolly commented forlornly. “Brim said they just found me amongst some clothing in a donation bin. The only thing of note I had on me was this..” He pointed to the collar around him “...Been living here ever since.” “Oh..oh Rolly.” Coin started, a bit ashamed for bringing it up. “I’m sorry I didn’t…” But Rolly shook his head “It’s alright. There’s no point in thinking about it. I wasn’t wanted, that’s just how it is. Not just with me, with a lot of us here too. It’s just I’ve...Come to accept it.” “Even then…” Coin thought to himself for a second. “Surely you can’t be happy with that, Rolly.” “Of course I’m not. But what else can I do?” Rolly flumped on his side of the pillow pile. “...Well, I dunno about you, but, I’m not going to just sit around here and wonder to myself.” Coin looked at the bit in his claws. “First I wake up here with this coin, then I have that weird dream...I have so many questions, and not a single answer to them. I need to find out who I really am.” “Dude, you’re a dragon with a bump on his head, what’s there to explain?” Rolly replied. “A lot!” Coin growled. “...Sorry, but I won’t be satisfied until I find out why I was dumped here outside the orphanage.” “...At least stay here for a bit.” Rolly sat back up.”You don’t even know where you are, right now do you?” “Eheh, I guess you have me there,” Coin chuckled. “Does this city have a name?” “Hoofington,” Rolly answered. “It’s small, but hey, it’s on a map, so I’m ok with that.” “Hoofington, huh…” Coin reached for a bag of chips and crunched some in his mouth as he thought some more. “What’s this town known for anyways?” Rolly opened his mouth to answer, but instead of emitting words, he gasped instead. “Coin, look! Up there in the sky!” “Huh?” Coin looked at where Rolly was pointing. One of the stars, shining brightly than the rest, was streaking through the sky like a comet. “Oh wow, is that one of those shooting stars?!” “Eeeeyup,” Rolly replied with satisfaction. ”Been seeing them a lot lately...Almost every other night, it seems. What, did a planet explode somewhere?” Rolly chuckled but saw Coin frown at that “Err..forget I asked” The two continued to the watch the night show. “...Say, Rolly, if I make a wish now, will it come true?” Coin asked. “Heck if I know, fifty fifty chance really.” Rolly replied. “I say, Knock yourself out.” Coin smiled and stared up at the sky, his heart aflutter with anticipation. He thought to himself, “Maybe I can finally find out who I really am!” as he made his wish loud and clear in his mind. Coin closed his eyes and focused on it as hard as he could. Over and over, Coin chanted the wish in his mind…This moment seemed to stretch on forever, but as much as Coin wanted to, he couldn’t bring himself to stop wishing. That was, until Rolly shouted “Uh...Coin? COIN!” “What?!” Coin snapped out of his stupor in an annoyed fashion. “I’m trying to wish here!” “Well you wished a little too hard! GET OUT OF THE WAY!” Rolly shouted as he dove and grabbed Coin off of the pile of pillows. “ACK! What gives?!” Coin’s question was answered rather abruptly after he heard the sound of breaking wood around him. Once he and Rolly tumbled to a stop, Coin got his bearings and got to his feet. “Seriously, what the hay is going..On?” Also tumbling to the ground, making a sound similar to wind chimes as it did so, was a star-shaped object. No, it wasn’t an object--it was a star. With five rounded points, a light yellow glow, and the mass of a dinner plate, it rolled to a stop across the room with about as much grace as a tumbleweed. “Whoa…” Coin was entranced by the star’s glow. He walked up to it, then ran, until he suddenly was brought to a stop by Rolly grabbing his tail. “HEY!” “Aren’t stars supposed to be radioactive? Not to mention hot?” Rolly said as he pulled Coin to his side. “Touching that might give you the worst sunburn ever!” “Well, what do you suggest we do with it?” Coin asked. Rolly grasped for an answer, but then looked up at the window and shook his head. “The nuns probably heard that window break…” “We can just say it was a rock or something,” Coin said quickly as he tried to reach for the star again. “Yeah right, who could possibly throw something that...Far…” Rolly came to a stop as his face twisted into a frown. “What’s the matter?” “I just remembered that stunt Shining Armor pulled in the past…” Rolly grumbled. “I mean, who does that?!” Coin just raised an eyebrow. “It’s...I’ll tell you later, right now we need to get that star out of sight ASAP.” “All over it!” Coin ran up to the star before Rolly realized what was going on, still seething over his little tangent. “COIN! NO! DON’T!” Coin effortlessly lifted the star over his head and went to the pillow pile. “What? I’m not screaming in pain or anything.” Rolly just raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh...Kay then...Where were you planning on hiding it?” “In the pillow pile here, where else?” “Well…” Rolly thought for a second, then smiled and nodded. “That’s actually not a bad idea.” “You think so?” Coin said as he shifted some pillows off the pile. “I just hope the light doesn’t shine through to alert anypony else…” “Nah it’ll be fine,” Rolly said quickly. “I mean, I have a lot of pillows.” “Very soft ones, hehe.” Coin flopped back on the pile once he was finished. “Ahhh…” Coin wasn’t sure if he talked to Rolly again that night, as the only thing he could recall was falling asleep again after filling himself with junk food. Coin didn’t dream again that night, but he had a much more peaceful sleep than he did before. “Maybe my wish will come true after all…” (T.B.C)