For Everfree

by NPP6

The Orphanage

The building in front of them was old. Not the same kind of ancient wizening that Starswirl's tree had, nor the timeless elegance of Starshadow Manor. It was just... old.

It was causing something of a mental block for Midnight, not being able to think of a specific word that fit. It didn't even truly qualify as dilapidated.

In an attempt to distract himself from the linguistic puzzle, he reviewed the situation. He was wearing his fake wings, so he looked like a pegasus. He was with Moonchaser, Sunbeam, Dust Runner, and Featherdancer. The five of them were standing outside of an ...old building, which "ORPHANAGE" written on an arch over the gate. At present they were waiting for Firebrand to come out and tell them that it was clear for them to come in. So far, it seemed like getting in to find out what was going on was going to be simple, straightforward, even easy.

He was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

...What? Some figures of speech still didn't translate completely in his head.

He was broken out of his second reverie by somepony coming up alongside him. Turning he blinked in surprise as he recognized the pair who had come up behind them. "You know, I'm actually looking forward to this next part." The Doctor gave him a grin while Ditzy began talking with Moonchaser.

The uneasy feeling in the pit of Midnight's stomach began to settle. It was quite obvious at this point that things were going to get out of hand. There likely would be some very real danger involved when things got interesting. He felt a grin of his own sneak onto his face.

This was going to be fun.

Both stallions were still grinning when Firebrand came out of the orphanage. "Are you two alright?"

"We're fine, just waiting for things to go wrong."

"And for the running, we tend to do that an awful lot you know."

The mare stared at them for a moment. "Ooooo-kay." She turned to Sunbeam. "They cool?" She motioned to the new arrivals.

Sunbeam nodded. "They're friends. The mare is named Ditzy, and the stallion... Just call him The Doctor, things are simpler that way."

Firebrand gave a mischevious smile. "Got it. Some kind of specialist, right?"

"...You could say that."

"Alright, well come on. Vinegar's out right now, so we've got the run of the place. I need to introduce you to everypony, give you the grand tour so you can figure out how we're gonna do this."

The group's progress was halted at the door as a red and purple blur streaked out of it. Firebrand and Sunbeam reacted immediately, the latter bucking the gate to the orphanage's yard closed while the former moved directly into the blur's path, absorbing the impact with a backwards roll.

When Firebrand Rose came to a stop, lying on her back, the blur was revealed to be a young unicorn filly, perhaps nine or ten years old. Her coat was a mottled red and purple, her straight mane a powder red with soft blue streaks, contrasting sharply with her fluffy brown tail. The most striking physical trait though, was her eyes. They were a piercing emerald, with that inquisitive light reserved for the young and the eccentric. Her giggling cut off as she noticed the strangers surrounding her.

"Sorry Brandy, that was an accident. Our catapult was..." Another young pony appeared, identical to the first in every way save that a second glance revealed him to be a colt. He trailed off as he too realized there were ponies present he didn't know.

Suddenly, the filly bolted, galloping full tilt for the orphanage's front door. The colt turned as she approached, obviously intent on the same escape route. Both were frustrated as the door wrapped in a yellow magical glow and shut before they could get through it. The pair scrabbled uselessly at the door for a few moments before collapsing and blubbering nonsensical apologies.

"Raspberry! Blackberry! I'm surprised at you!" Sunbeam stepped through the small crowd that was their group. "Is that any way for you to greet an old friend?"

The pair abruptly quieted, looking up at the mare. As one, they tackled her with gleeful excitement. She returned fire with a salvo of tickling and play wrestling.

"These are the twins," Firebrand said while picking herself up off the ground. "Raspberry and Blackberry. Their mother died in childbirth, no father to be found. They've been at this orphanage all their lives. They're also our resident pranksters and troublemakers, as you probably gathered by their entrance."

"Why were they so terrified of us?" Moonchaser asked.

"They didn't realize you were friends. Vinegar is a strong adherent to the philosophy of foals staying out of adults' business, and any of the children get in trouble if they are seen by somepony who doesn't want to see them specifically. A few potential parents have even wondered if there were actually any foals here to adopt."

The disgusted response to this was cut off as the door opened again and an older colt ran out. He screeched to a halt in front of them and began rattling off, "I'm so sorry Firebrand, I wasn't watching them carefully enough and they got away from me even though I was trying to keep them contained and I know you've got ponies coming, but they just slipped away from me and-"

"And this is Free Range. He's one of the oldest, so he helps me a lot with the younger ones. Free Range, relax, these are Sunbeam's friends." Those of the group not preoccupied with the twins took in the earth pony before them. His coat was a light brown with... markings (Again Midnight inwardly struggled with not being able to find a better word) halfway between stripes and slashes. The markings were the same deep forest green as his mane and tail. His eyes were a unique shade somewhere between brown and purple, and everypony except Midnight noticed that he lacked a cutie mark.

"Oh." He rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof. "Sorry about that then. I tend to... stress. Easily."

Featherdancer chuckled, "Don't worry wbout it, you should see my brother when he can't solve a puzzle."

Midnight rolled his eyes. "Come on now, I'm not that bad."

Moonchaser gave a polite cough. "Didn't your parents tell me about an unsolzed riddle nearly burning down their house?"

The response was a groan, "That wasn't entirely my fault, they kept taunting me about it the whole time. Besides, solutions involving cultural nuances can hardly be considered fair play."

---

The group arrived on the second floor just as a pegasus was closing a door behind her. "Updraft," Firebrand asked, "Is she asleep?"

The mare shook her head. "No. I was just going to grab us some lunch."

"Alright, well before you do, let me introduce you to Sunbeam's friends. Everypony, this is Updraft. She's the oldest, and the most responsible. In all honesty she probably does more to take care of the others than I do."

Updraft blushed slightly. "I don't know about that Brandy, all I do is help. You're the one that keeps us all going."

The group took in the mare... filly? Dust Runner noted that she seemed to carry herself as if she was in the same category as Midnight. Sometimes one, sometimes the other, depending on the situation and needs. Halfway between adult and child.

Her sky blue coat was heavily dotted with baby pink speckles, and it looked like she had pink flowers woven into the leading edges of her wings. Her cutie mark was a bird of some kind, rising between a pair of clouds. Her purple mane was ragged, but still looked cared for. The maid had studied hairstyle long enough to realize that it had been cut with a knife or dagger. Especially given the length of her tail, which was the same color, but had a turquoise streak running through it. The same impression was given by her hooves, where the fur was just a little too long, just a little too ragged, yet still obviously well cared for.

It didn't make any sense at all until Dust Runner remembered where she had heard the name Updraft before. Once it clicked, it made entirely too much sense.

She was making herself unattractive. Not ridiculously so, but just enough that the stallions would decide they could do better with somepony else, while not making herself look easy or desperate.

It was a defensive measure.

While events are not determined until they actually occur, sometimes facts are set in stone beforehoof. This was one of those times. Past this particular point of no return there was no way to prevent Dust Runner doing Vinegar serious harm. The oath that she silently swore to herself had a significant part in that.

"...downstairs to get some food now, but you should go in and see her." Dust Runner's thoughts faded as she returned to the situation at hoof. Updraft was speaking, "It'll make her very happy, she always loves it when ponies visit her."

Firebrand nodded. "That's the plan. Hurry back with that food, you know she'll wear herself out meeting them." The nod was returned and the pegasus hopped over the balcony railing, gliding gently down to the first floor. The unicorn led the group through the door that she had been closing when they first met her.

The room was small, barely large enough to fit all the ponies who crammed themselves into it. A good third of the floor space was taken up by a bed containing a small unicorn filly. She looked younger than the twins, she was maybe half their size. Her coat was pink, complementing well with her two-tone purple mane and tail. The part that would stick with Dust Runner for the rest of her life though was her amethyst eyes. Not because of the color, it wasn't actually uncommon. It was the life and energy in them. The filly was obviously tired, her boy made that quite clear, yet her eyes were still wide and inquisitive.

Dust Runner was snapped back to reality by Midnight's snort of laughter. "You're joking, right? Who actually names their child 'Star?'" (Nopony commented on the irony)

"We think that her mother was actually trying to say 'Starling,' but by the time somepony who knew about birds pointed that out, the paperwork had already been filed," Firebrand responded.

Featherdancer nodded. "Makes sense, especially with the first part of her name."

"Heya Sparky," Sunbeam sat down next to the head of the bed. "Howya doin'?"

The filly smiled brightly, "Better with friends here... Although I don't think I've got long."

Sunbeam sighed and looked up at Firebrand. "How much longer?"

"With where she's at?" The yellow mare shook her head. "Six months, seven if we can all fight with her."

A calm settled over the room at that. More of a pall really, but with death in the discussion that wasn't something anypony wanted to think about. The filly herself broke it, rolling her eyes as she did so. "Oh geez guys, really? So I'm dying and my tombstone will say six years old, boo hoo, get over it. I have." She started laughing at their shocked expressions. "Please, I haven't left this room in over a year, and I've been stuck in bed for six months now. I've had plenty of time to get over it."

There was a brief pause before Moonchaser spoke, "What's wrong?"

"I've got the Crimson Flu." The statement was greeted by muffled gasps from all but two ponies.

"So that's why." Dust shot a curious glance in Midnight's direction.

"But-" The Doctor corked Ditzy's mouth before she could finish her sentence.

Moonchaser, equallly confused, coked her head to one side. "That's funny, you don't seem any shade of red to me."

The filly giggled. "Of course not silly, that's not why they call it that."

"Then why..."

Midnight cleared his throat. "Uh, Moonchaser? It's named the Crimson Flu because of the trail of blood it leaves behind."

"Midnight? Don't wax poetic on me."

Dust spoke up, "Actually, he's not. That's the real reason. Moony... Nopony has ever survived the crimson flu."

Midnight turned to Sunbeam. "So is this why you asked me about it after the... incident?"

The mare nodded. "I was hoping that maybe, being who you are, you might have had something, but..."

"I'm sorry. I really am. But we're decades away from a cure. The only thing we can really do is keep it from spreading from an infected pony, though it looks like they've already done that."

Firebrand chimed in, "That was all Sunny. She just showed up one night with a potion that cost I-don't-want-to-know-how-much. None of us even knew about it until we found the empty bottle next to her pillow."

Further conversation was forestalled as Updraft entered the room with several plates of food. She told them that the others were eating downstairs, so they decided to have lunch with the sick filly, Featherdancer, Midnight, and Ditzy flying up to the ceiling and eating upside down to make more space on the floor. Moonchaser tried this as well, but returned to the floor after her third failed bite.

When asked where they learned this particular trick, all three gave a variation on "It's a long story."

---

After they finished lunch and said their farewells (with promises of future visits) the group made their way to the end of the hall, all the way at the rear of the house. Firebrand stopped just outside the door. "Okay, she's in here. Now remember, Vinegar's exact words were that she was 'not to leave this room' but that was really it. So as long as we don't break that one rule, we won't trip the security spells."

Sunbeam rolled her eyes. "She always was terrible at closing the loopholes in those things. I have no idea how the orphanage has survived this long."

"Pity for the poor parentless ponies, and rumors that a certain thief considers this place under her protection."

By some unspoken arrangement, Midnight, Sunbeam, Moonchaser, and Featherdancer went into the room first, the rest following behind and hanging back near the door. The room was much the same as the one they had just left, save for the occupant. Though she didn't seem much older than the sick filly in the other room, there was a stark difference between her and the grifflet before them.

The chick had tawny fur and feathers fading from russet to rust as you drew back away from her midrif and the divide there. Her amber eyes already held predatory power in them, although given that said power was directed at a ball of yarn, there wasn't quite as much tension in the air as there could have been.

After exchanging glances, with the others, Midnight spoke up, "Hello there."

The grifflet squeaked as she spun to face her audience. Featherdancer suppressed an eyeroll. And ponies think that I'm too fond of my entrances.

Midnight smiled at her. "My name is Inkwell, what's yours?"

"M'not s'posed to say. Not s'posed to tell anygriffon my name."

"Well we have to call you something," Moonchaser pointed out, "So why don't you tell us something we can call you?"

The grifflet continued to hesitate, and Featherdancer let out a sigh of exasperation. "Look, if it's really that difficult, then just make something up. Or we can if you want, but can we simplify this?"

The chick looked around for a moment before her eyes fell on a stuffed toy that was lying on the floor near her. It was obviously the source of inspiration she chose, as she named it in the next second.

She looked up and met their gazes. "You can call me Mouse."

Author's Note:

Well that was fun. And now you've met the cast for our next arc. I hope you're enjoying this ride as much as I am.

-NPP6