Chapter 1: What Makes A Home
Anonymous was in a tough spot.
“Nope, go fish.”
‘Uh!’ She slumped in her chair, glancing towards the Earth Pony at the table who’s turn was now up.
Anon had never really liked Go Fish, truth be told, and this had hardly been the first time that they had played it since settling in. Four months of boredom had chipped away at their pool of entertainment dramatically. Why couldn’t they just play Ponopoly again?
“Uh, do you have any Princesses?”
“Nope.” replied the small green Unicorn sitting opposite of Anon, shaking her head. “You know, you girls aren’t very good at this game.”
Anon looked between her two friends holding cards across the table. It’s safe to say that most uninformed ponies would probably assume the three to be sisters. From a quick glance, they appeared identical. Closer inspection would reveal several key differences in temper and appearance, however.
“You seem awfully proud that you’re winning a kid’s game,” John Doe said.
“Well, yeah,” Incognito replied. “We are kids.”
“Dude, I’m twenty-seven!”
‘Oh God, here they go again.’ Anon wordlessly stood from her chair and paced around the impromptu classroom in an attempt to escape the bickering that was sure to follow. The monotonous nights of the last few weeks rattled through her head as she absentmindedly examined a set of mostly empty wooden cubbies that just a month ago would have stored nearly two dozen sets of textbooks, pencils, and notepads.
“You don’t sound twenty-seven.” Incognito retorted on the other side of the room, a small hint of smugness tainting her voice. “You sound like you’re ten. And a girl.”
Anon’s ears subconsciously swiveled back towards the argument.
While Incognito may have sounded like a ten-year-old girl, that wasn’t much of an insult for those that were present. Each one of them had been poofed into the woods outside Ponyville in the form of a small green filly. At first, the horde of mysteriously appearing — and unusually vulgar — fillies were distinguishable from each other only by whether or not they possessed wings or a horn. Over time, slight differences in speech, posture, and manestyles had given each one of them some degree of individuality, if only just a little.
Pausing by the teacher’s desk at the front of the classroom, Anon examined a small picture frame hung nearby on the wall. In it, a smiling, almost elderly mare with a coat the color of parchment paper stood in front of a class of rambunctious, duplicate foals.
‘Jesus Christ, we really are adorable.’
In the front row of the class picture, two small unicorns had wrapped their forelegs around a third earth pony filly, smushing the three together in a friendly hug. Just beside them, another smug looking unicorn flaunting a pair of black sunglasses sat on her haunches and gave her best attempt at finger-guns. It was an interesting choice, considering the lack of fingers.
What Anon’s sight lingered on, however, was a small group of Pegasi near the edge of the photo.
Above them, supported by the hooves of half a dozen of her sisters, laid a determined looking filly. At her sides, two small wings splayed outwards as if ready to glide through the air. The look was rounded out by two forelegs that extended forwards in an aerodynamic pose.
The increasing volume of the argument at the table drew Anon’s attention back towards her friends, who had yet to settle down.
“I don’t care about any of that! I liked having my hands! Stop projecting your own desires onto other people!”
Incognito rolled her eyes, exhaling through her nose. “Why can’t you just admit you like being a pony?” She gestured towards Anon before continuing, “She doesn’t complain and she isn’t an ‘extremist’ like I am.”
Anon finished making her way over to John and wrapped a foreleg around her friend’s shoulder in a clear attempt to defuse the argument. ‘For a soft filly, she feels pretty tense.’
“Maybe he just wishes we had a little more freedom?” Anon offered.
Incognito settled back into her seat, her face losing some of the annoyance that it had shown moments earlier.
“Well, that doesn’t mean she has to be such a sourpuss all the time. We have friends, a roof over our heads, and a nice old mare to teach us and cook us food. In a few weeks we’ll even have families to take care of us.” Incognito’s shoulders sagged. “I know people back home that would kill to have it this good.”
“I had a lot to lose!” John Doe shrugged off Anon’s hoof and shifted forwards, leaning onto the table before turning to give the pony that was just hugging her an accusatory stare. “And at least you guys didn’t get stuck as Earth Ponies!”
Anon glanced rearward to one of her pistachio green wings that were fidgeting as if they could sense the sudden attention.
In contrast to the lack of care that they had shown in the first few weeks after arriving in Equestria, her feathers now held a muted, glossy sheen left over from her morning application of Curly Whirlwind’s All Natural Wing Oil™ — The mares and stallions responsible for The Orphanage had supplied bottles and pamphlets to everypony with wings after it became apparent that none of them knew a thing about Pegasi hygiene.
“Hey, it’s not like it matters,” Anon grimaced through an unconvincing smile. Her wings relaxed and drooped downwards, the tips of her primary feathers lightly brushing against the worn wooden floor of the classroom. “These things are just dead weight at this point.”
John’s slight scowl fell away. “Yeah, and I guess the only thing Incog’s horn is good for is blocking hats and sword fighting with other boneheads.”
Across the table, Incognito bolted up in her chair.
“Actually, I used magic last night before we went to bed!”
Anon and John’s vision met, each searching to see if the other believed the nonsense that had just come out of their friend’s mouth.
After all, unless the top medical professionals of Equestria were wrong, her claim wasn’t possible. All the fillies that had been transplanted on the outskirts of Ponyville were noticeably deficient in magical ability. It had taken many hours with specialists shipped in from Canterlot, but their magical limitations were determined to be side effects of the absence of magic in their original “monkey” forms. ’Incog went through all of that pediatric bullshit just like everypony else, how could she say they were wrong?’
“You’re full of shit.”
“Yeah, I don’t believe you.” Anon added, retaking her seat.
The filly under fire sighed and shook her head before moving to grab the glass of water that she had been sipping since the start of their card games. Weakly grasping it with two hooves, she relocated it to the center of the table.
“I really did!” She answered, waving a foreleg in exasperation, “I saw it when I went to turn on the lamp in the bathroom!”
Noticing her non-Unicorn compatriots’ unconvinced faces, she pressed on.
“A little while after we went to bed last night, I woke up and really had to pee. I made my way to the bathroom down the hall, but after I got through the door I couldn’t find the light switch so I started fumbling along the wall to try and hit it.”
Disinterest radiated from John as she stared blankly at her blathering friend through half-lidded eyes. Anon, however, had shifted up in her seat and was paying slightly closer attention.
Incognito raised a hoof behind her head and rubbed the back of her mane in mild embarrassment. “I was kinda having trouble finding the light switch because of how high up it is, so I just kept trying to picture where it was in my mind and then I would try pressing where I thought it would be.
“Then, for a split second, I could have sworn that the wall near the top of my head had turned green! It was from my horn!”
“Look, I know how much you’ve wanted to learn magic since you’ve gotten here,” Anon winced, “but I think you were probably just a little tired from— “
“No! It’s true!” Incognito sprang up onto her chair.
“I’ll prove it!” She chirped brightly, intently eyeing the glass of water that she had just previously relocated on the table.
She just had to focus on the glass like her books said…
With a sudden girly grunt that emanated from deep within her diaphragm, Incognito’s face tensed and contorted. As the seconds passed without any noticeable effect on the cup, Anon and John watched as she began to shift from a cheerful green into a more concerning shade of red.
“Dude, I think you need to calm down a little.”
Incognito’s face continued to grow redder as her cheeks puffed out and a small vein popped on her forehead. She squeezed harder.
The cup stood still and her horn remained unlit.
She ceased her efforts and gasped, drawing in a few deep breaths. In the aftermath of the attempt, her face remained scrunched up in frustration as she took a short moment to recuperate.
“I saw it, okay? I’m positive that I saw it...”
Tap Tap Tap!
Three small heads spun towards the the door, as their ears perked to pick up the voice of an older mare calling out from the hallway.
“Girls? Are you still up? It’s getting a little late.” The door cracked open and the tired, mildly wrinkled face of their off-white caretaker poked through the entranceway and into the classroom.
“Sorry Madame Care, we were jus–“ Anon’s answer was interrupted by a tiny yawn that spread like a contagion to the other fillies seated at the table — Tender Care’s words had apparently made their bodies aware of just how late in the evening it actually was.
“Oh sweetheart, it’s alright. I know that you three can handle yourselves.” She made her way through the doorway and towards the foals’ table, taking a seat on an open bit of floor adjacent to them. Even while seated on the ground, the grown mare still towered a full head above her three fillies.
“I’m sorry that the meeting at town hall ran so late, but Miss Spring Rain from the Ministry of Education had some very big news, and I wanted to make sure that I gathered all of the information for you that I possibly could.”
The fillies sat staring up at their matron, awaiting the news.
“They’re concerned about us being cooped up in this old doctor’s office all by our lonesome, and I’d have to agree.” With a turn of her head, Tender Care’s eyes passed over the aged walls and flooring of the hastily-renovated orphanage that, until recently, had been slowly deteriorating on the outskirts of town.
“But we love living here with you!” John cried as her ears slouched. She was quickly swept up into a hug by their motherly caretaker.
“You girls have been the highlight of my life for these past few months.”
“Then why do you have to go?”
“Young ponies just need more opportunities to make friends, and to get out and play.” She smiled, her gaze shifting to meet the other two seated at the table. “With only us four, that just isn’t something that I can provide you anymore.”
Anon and Incognito remained silent, their faces projecting varying degrees of dejection as they listened to the mare consoling their friend.
Tender Care gently released John, looking down to meet her wide eyes. “Don’t worry, this isn’t going to happen immediately. We still have a number of details to work out. But over the next week or so I’m going to start arranging for a few different families to come in and meet you all. There’s so many nice ponies in town that have volunteered to help in any way that they can, and I’m sure that we’ll be able to find homes that are good matches for each one of you while we finish sorting through all of the adoption applications that we received.”
She stood and motioned for the three to follow her down the hall towards their bedroom, escorting them to one of several old examination rooms that had been converted with sleeping arrangements.
One-by-one, each filly jumped onto their bed and under their covers while she made her way around the room in order to personally tuck each one of them in. Moving to leave, she paused near the door.
“Are we still going to work on our project tomorrow?” Incognito asked from her bed.
“Of course! We’re not going to stop learning just because there are changes on the horizon!” Tender Care’s gentle voice rose an octave in her attempt to brightened the mood. “Have you all decided who in town you would like to follow for the day?”
Incognito roused from under her covers, sliding up the headboard with a genuine smile spread across her face. “Miss Twilight answered my letter from last week! She’s going to teach me all about studying Unicorn magic!”
“That’s wonderful! We can all walk together to the library tomorrow morning to drop you off.”
“I asked Mr. Ironsoles if he could teach me about blacksmithing,” added John.
“I’m sure that he was very excited to hear that a young pony in town has taken an interest in smithing.” Tender Care nodded from the doorway before focusing on Anon. “What about you, sweetheart? Have you decided who you would like to learn about?”
‘Shit.’
Anon sat up. “Um, is it okay if we look around for a little bit? I couldn’t really think of anything in particular that I wanted to do.”
She received an understanding look and the same gentle smile as her friends.
“Of course.” Tender Care reassured before backing out of the doorway and moving a hoof to the light switch. ”After we drop off John Doe and Incognito, we can go and look around for somepony that has a cutie mark that interests you. There’s no rush.” A small click was heard and the lights in the room went out.
“Goodnight, girls.”
“Goodnight, Madame Care.” Three tiny voices echoed.
The door shut and a set of hooves tapped their way down the hall. The room faded into silence.
She certainly wouldn’t have admitted it but, despite the news about the orphanage, Anon still felt a sense of relief as her head settled into her pillow. The last minute time extension for the project had given a small bit of reprieve from her own indecisiveness.
Still, lying there in the dark, the news of both Tender Care’s impending departure and the next day’s job hunt danced back and forth through her mind. She mulled over the same question that had bothered her all week.
‘What’s a good job for a Pegasus that can’t fly?”
cute middle aged men fillies
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Well, I'm interested.
Alright, this is much cuter and more well-written than I anticipated when I first clicked on it. It needs more love and attention from the readers.
Looking good for your first upload :)
11472345
Hell, this looks good regardless of being a first upload. Our death author here has experience and is not merely starting out on their writing attempts here.
Edit: Dear author! Stupid fingers.
Following this one! Fantastic first impression, I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this story.
Very cute! I’m very interested in what will happen next.
Currently my only pallet of stories on fimfic has been nothing but FoE stories so this was a nice change of pace! Also it was just simply adorbs, so I’m definitely a bit excited to see where it goes.
solid start
Nice, love to see a new author get some recognition. It was featured, and this looks adorable!
time to corrupted equestria's youths with wisdom of /pol/
Have to wonder what event brought the horde of green fillies to Equestria.
That was a good first chapter goodluck with the rest of it.
It's good.