The Dawn of Harmony

by pinkieandraritybest

Change

Celestia looked up at the dark building. Even in the bright and warm sun, the shadow of the orphanage gave a dark feeling to the air around it, sending shivers up her spine. It was a light gray with reddish front doors and roof. A stained and graffiti-ridden wall stood in front of it, with the gate spiked at the top and making the place feel like a prison. The windows were tall and gaunt, with bars on them, and a huge emblem was carved into the center of the building. It was a cross with a circle through it, and words along the outside reading, "Black Tulip's Orphanage for Young Fillies and Colts". Celestia looked back at her friends with a fear on her face. She desperately hoped that this wasn't her new home, but since the last stop deposited about a third of the fillies, their chances were slim.

"Alright, will Angel Soft, Celestia, Luna, Mazy, Nesting Fowl, Silver Onyx, Silk Worm, Tori, and Zany Star please step forward," the tall stallion driving their carriage ordered. The nine of them did so, gulping en masse at the idea of living at such a place. Celestia looked back at Amethyst, standing among the eleven other fillies looking lost. She wanted to run back to her, take her and her other friends, and dash back to their old home, their real home. She wanted to teleport all the way to the Upper North and beg Starswirl to take them in, even as maids. She wanted to escape to the hills, the mountains, the unexplored parts of Ponyland, just anywhere but here!

"You nine will be staying here," the stallion confirmed. "Black Tulip should be out here soon to bring you all in." With that, he briskly trotted off, bringing the carriage with him, and Celestia's one chance of salvation. She watched it drive off into the distance, catching one last glimpse of Amethyst before it rode out of sight. And that was it. The fillies stood there looking around, not sure what to do, when they heard the gate creak open. A dark purple pegasus mare with her black mane done up in a bun stepped out. She had piercing white eyes and a cutie mark that matched the emblem on the building, except in deep red. She surveyed them all with scrutiny, going down the line one filly at a time. Once she'd reached Zany Star, she addressed them all.

"I am Black Tulip, your new guardian and the owner of this orphanage," the mare said. "Come with me and I will show you how I run things around here." She turned and started walking at a brisk pace through the gate and into the building. After a moment of hesitation, the fillies all followed her, having to trot to keep up. Once inside the orphanage, they saw a large entrance hall with three sets of double doors on each side of the room. Black Tulip lead them through the one directly in front of them, revealing another, larger room filled with bunk beds on either side. Most of the beds were full, containing both fillies and colts, all sleeping.

"You may choose whichever beds you wish," Black Tulip said. "Wake up time is 5:00." With that, she promptly left and slammed the door behind her, making the room go dark. The second her footsteps had faded out of the room, all the fillies and colts around them "woke up" and stared at them, talking amongst themselves. The new fillies looked around self-consciously, then slowly made their way to the empty beds. Celestia and Luna were able to find one to share, giving them a little reassurance, knowing that the other would be there for her. Although the muttering of the other ponies made it tough, the two were able to eventually drift off to sleep.

Celestia led a dreamless sleep, waking to the sound of a bull horn. She jolted up in her bed, being startled by such a rude awakening. She saw all the other fillies and colts standing on either side of their bunk beds, facing forward. She and Luna followed suit, wondering what this new protocol was all about. Black Tulip, who had blasted the horn, was standing by the double doors with a sheet of parchment in her hoof. She proceeded to read it aloud, informing Celestia that this was role call.

"Air Flight!"

"Here!"

"Angel Soft!"

"Here!"

Celestia's name was the ninth, and Luna's the twenty-first. Black Tulip ended at number forty-two, which was Zany Star, and started pacing up and down the room.

"For all you new fillies, I will tell you our daily routine and what I expect from you, but from then on you're on your own," Black Tulip said. "Every day you will wake at 5:00, clean the bedroom, and have breakfast if you do a good job. Next, you will have four hours in the classroom, where you may learn or do whatever, so long as you don't bother me. You'll then have lunch, and start cleaning the rest of the rooms, based on your assigned jobs, which are posted on the cafeteria wall. After that, dinner, if you're good, and lights out at 9:00. I expect you to be quiet, obedient, hard-working, and behaved. That is all." She promptly left the room and slammed the door. After a beat, all the ponies who were used to this immediately began cleaning the room in various ways. Some made their beds, some got out brooms, some started dusting. Celestia and the rest of the new fillies stood there in silence for a second, surprised at this new way of living. They were used to a caring, helpful, and learning environment, and weren't sure if they could cope. Celestia was the first to begin working, setting the rest in action as well. She had thought she might as well get used to this new life, since she'd have to deal with it for Starswirl knows how long, and she wasn't bad at cleaning anyways. Besides, work builds character?

After a breakfast of what Celestia was pretty sure was mud, everypony was stuck in a lame excuse for a classroom for four hours. It was basically a chalkboard and desk-chairs, nothing else. Most of the ponies chatted, and even though Celestia tried to get some studying in, she was interrupted by a colt. He had a dark brown coat and flaming red mane and tail. A darker red painted his hoofs, and he was generally pretty tough-looking, an earth pony. The only soft part about him were his eyes, which were a pretty sky blue and very big. Celestia got lost in his eyes, and didn't hear what he said.

"What? Sorry," she said.

"I was asking what your name is," the colt said.

"Celestia," she told him. "Though my friends often call me Tia." He smiled at that.

"Tia, cool. I'm Boulder Pulse, but you can call me Boulder." Celestia nodded her head.

"Nice to meet you," she said. "So, this orphanage is kinda brutal."

"Yeah, but you get used to it. Hey, whatcha reading?"

"Oh, this is a book on Starswirl the Bearded's 'alicorns theory'," Celestia squealed, fangirling a little. "He explores the idea of one pony with the powers and physical features of a unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony all in one!"

"Damn, sounds crowded." Boulder sat next to Celestia to look at the book with her. She told him all about the "alicorns theory", and some other theories Starswirl had when she was done with that. He listened intently, adding in his own little comments or insights once in a while. He never criticized her, never called her a geek or anything like that. Even one time, when she got super nerdy over the amniomorphic spell, he didn't even snicker.

"Pretty and smart?! Haven't met a pony like you before," he concluded. Celestia blushed at the compliment. She was about to tell him about how Clover was working with Starswirl, when Black Tulip came in to bring them to lunch. During a lunch of breakfast leftovers, Celestia talked with Boulder some more, while her sister and Onyx whispered and giggled behind their backs. Once or twice, the two fillies would steal a glance at the pair, and Celestia would glare at them, making them squeal and go back into hiding. After ten minutes of this, it was time to get to work cleaning the rest of the building, and everypony went to the posted list to see what their jobs would be. Celestia was assigned to dusting, Luna and Silver Onyx were to mop, and Boulder had to prepare dinner. Waving goodbye to Boulder, Celestia began her task, starting in the kitchen. Luna and Onyx crept over to her while mopping, giggling the whole way.

"Sooooo," Onyx said suggestively, "you and Boulder?"

"I ship it, I totally ship it!!" Luna squealed. "How's Celester? Or how about Boulstia?"

"Girls, we're not some characters from one of your fiction books," Celestia moaned. "You can't ship ponies in real life!"

"Sure you can," Luna said.

"But seriously, do you like him? It sure looks like you do," Onyx said, trying to keep on topic.

"I..." Celestia's friends leaned in to listen. "I think I do." The two ponies stared at her for a second, then freaked out. Luna did a little dance in place, and Onyx started rambling off about how adorable this was. Celestia sighed, and got back to work, and after a minute, they did as well. As she worked, she thought back to what she said. Did she really have a crush on this guy? She had just met him, and they didn't even really have that much in common. Of course, it wasn't like she was going to marry him or something, but this was really the first colt she'd had any real contact with. Were her affections misplaced? She reflected to the possibility of dating him, and realized that in this orphanage, there was little chance of that. Any of the things that normal couples would do were limited by this prison, especially privacy. Maybe her and Boulder just weren't really meant to be, if the orphanage is where they met, and would probably stay for years to come. Also, they were still just a filly and a colt, and those relationships don't last very long anyways. Celestia decided not to take their relationship anywhere it didn't go naturally, and to just try to survive this place.

While pondering this, Celestia had finished her chores. She got back together with Luna and Silver Onyx to eat dinner, which they had earned, together. It was better than their previous meals, especially when Celestia remembered that Boulder helped make it. The second this thought popped up though, she pushed it back down, trying to remind herself not to go to far with this. Luna and Onyx made that hard, though, bringing up the colt constantly, and loudly. Luckily, he was eating with his friends far enough away not to hear, but that didn't make Celestia feel safe enough without shushing her friends every minute.

Finally, dinner ended, and everypony started walking back to the bedroom. Just as Luna and Onyx were about to leave her, Boulder walked up to Celestia for one last word.

"Goodnight," he said. He then kissed her on the cheek and trotted away. Celestia stood there in shock. The kiss had been brief, hard to register, and left even her friends speechless. She tried to gather what this logically meant, but all she felt was a surge of joy and pride overwhelming her, making a broad smile light up her face. She could hardly believe that a colt could like her so fast, and the knowledge of its reality made her feel beautiful, smart, and appreciated. In that moment, she shone like the sun, feeling lovely and so well beloved. Her friends behind her could plainly see her happiness, and were about to rejoice with her, when Black Tulip suddenly shut off the lights, and they were forced to get quiet and find their way towards their beds. As Celestia lay down to sleep, she felt a glow inside her, filling her with a warm feeling of satisfaction. If this orphanage had anything to offer, at least it was Boulder. He made the whole situation seem so much less threatening. She was sure her dreams would be sweet that night.

"Tia?" Celestia awoke with a groan to her sister's voice. She didn't know how long she had slept, but it had felt short, and only made her feel groggy in this late-night wake-up.

"What?" she grumbled. She lazily looked down at Luna over the railing, who looked as wide-awake as ever.

"I can't sleep, at all," Luna complained. "I mean, you know how I am with the night. It's too beautiful to fall asleep in, and in all ways I'm practically nocturnal. Well, here, it's worse. Those huge windows are making the gorgeous night all the more harder to fall asleep in, and without being able to talk very loud, and have those late-night discussions like we usually do, I can't get tired out enough. Also, we're going to have to wake up at 5:00 again tomorrow, and each day after that, and that is going to rob me out of so much rest that I'll probably faint during chores! I could get punished, or shortened a meal because of that, and I still won't be able to sleep early enough. Especially since the sun during the day is so bright, I'm surprised we even do sleep at night. If you think about it, why would you rest when the celestial object that's easy on your eyes is in the sky, but keep those same eyes open when a blinding light is in the sky, that forces you to shut your eyes when you look at it? I just don't get it. Either way, I can't sleep, and I'm really worried what that'll lead to, so can you help me? I don't care how, just please, I need you now."

Celestia sighed after Luna had finished her tediously long rant, and frowned. Was she really woken up for this? She couldn't believe her sister had the nerve to ruin her beauty sleep with the same problem she had every night. She glared down at Luna and began her own rant.

"Luna, it's really not that hard to fall asleep, especially after a whole day full of chores. You seriously can't just disturb other ponies with your tedious problems with your nighttime obsession. If you love the night so much, then, just draw it or something during our free four hours, and look at that to fall asleep, since your drawings are usually boring enough to do that. Just don't wake me up in the middle of the night trying to make it seem like you have a problem, which can actually be solved really easily. So just shut up and go to sleep."

"But - " Luna protested.

"Sleep!" Celestia hissed, and immediately turned away and lied back down. Exhaustion quickly overcame her, and she fell back into her beautiful slumber. She had an odd dream that night, one where the exchange between her and her sister was reenacted, but in a completely different setting. She was mad at her sister for going against her wishes, and didn't want to have to listen to her sister's problems, when much more pressing matters were upon them. In her dream, this all made sense, but as soon as she woke up, she had forgotten it all.

The bullhorn sounded once again, and role call repeated itself. Celestia made her bed and started dusting the room. During her work, she realized that Luna was avoiding her. At first, she started to feel a little guilty about what she said last night, but she shrugged it off and went to converse with Boulder instead. She talked with him throughout the rest of cleaning, their earned breakfast, and "study" period. When lunch came, she ate with his friends instead of hers, but kept sneaking glances over to them nonetheless. They were whispering to each other, and casting angry glares in her direction every so often, making her suspect Luna was telling Onyx about the last night. She sighed and got up to look at the chores listed, being done with yesterday's leftover leftovers. She was supposed to mop, Onyx was to sweep, and both Luna and Boulder were on kitchen duty. Celestia got to work straightaway, and continued on in silence, until she heard a banging noise coming from the kitchen. At first, she ignored it, focusing on her chores so as to earn dinner, but after two more bangs, she ran to investigate.

The kitchen was like a small hut on one wall of the cafeteria. The inside was simple, with a long counter in the back piled with food scraps, and pots and pans scattered here and there. There was a fireplace on one side, and a cooler on the other. Celestia didn't fully enter the hut, but instead peeked in from the doorway. In the middle of the room, Boulder stood, looking fiery and angry. His soft blue eyes that she had fallen in love with were hardened with a scowl, making him look menacing. He grabbed a pot from the counter with his teeth and flung it towards the wall. It hit a filly there, huddled up on the ground and full of scratches and bruises. Luna. Celestia gasped in horror as Boulder kept flinging things at her.

"Luna!" Celestia screamed, running in to shield her. Boulder immediately stopped and stared at Celestia in shock. Celestia curled up next to her sister, and glared at Boulder, seething.

"What are you doing?!" she shouted.

"She was messing up everything, and she clearly has no knowledge of how to work in a kitchen," Boulder said, almost nonchalantly, which just made Celestia angrier.

"Well, clearly you don't either!" she shrieked. "You do not, and better not ever again, hurt my sister in any way!"

"Whoa, that's your sister? You don't look anything alike."

"Yes, she's my sister. And if you ever lay a hand on her again, you will have to answer to me!!!" Celestia reared up on her back legs, towering above Boulder, and lit her horn up with a fiery red glow, all while gnashing her teeth in fury. Boulder quickly ran out of the kitchen in fear, and Celestia finally calmed down. Luna looked up at her in awe.

"Tia," she whispered weakly.

"Yes, Lu-lu?" Luna laid her head on her sister's leg.

"Thank you."

The two stayed there for the rest of the day, just holding each other, until Black Tulip came back. She scolded everypony for not finishing the chores, which was mostly Celestia's fault, and sent them all to bed without dinner. That night, before getting into bed herself, Celestia made sure Luna had fallen asleep after singing her a lullaby. She then climbed up the ladder and had a quiet sleep.

Author's Note:

That was pretty hard to write. Sorry for taking so long! Hope you still liked it though!