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#Post#: 1968--------------------------------------------------
Diamond in the Rough
By: Jewel Date: April 1, 2014, 1:52 pm
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The day had finally arrived.
It was a day that had been marked on her calendar for a while
now, and it was a day that she thought about all too much. It
was the day that she would finally be leaving this orphanage,
the day she will finally be able to go and live somewhere else.
The freedom from the torment of the rest of the children, from
her bitter sorrow, couldn’t have come any sooner. Surely as soon
as she stepped out of the front door of this orphanage, she
would be happy again, free to live a happy life that was
promised to every filly as they grew up. She would find her
place in life and finally be able to settle down, and feel like
she belonged.
And as she packed her small saddlebag with the few things that
she did own, Jewel let out a small sigh, looking up at that
calendar on the far wall once more. Today, the day marked with a
capital ‘J’... as she stared at this letter, in it’s blocky,
thick lines, she could feel what felt like a heavy, writhing
blanket descending upon her mind, freezing her mind onto one
track. She could not think of anything else other than the fact
that today was actually here. She closed her eyes tight, a small
tear running down her cheek, dampening the malachite coat that
had seen it’s days of being washed many times with multitudes of
tears.
Today was the day that most orphans longed for: the day they
could leave with the foster family that came for them, and come
to live a normal life.
Nopony came for Jewel. Not for eighteen years.
For eighteen years, she watched as couples walked into the
orphanage, watching the children playing and talking to them,
trying to figure out for themselves which child would be ‘right’
for them. Jewel watched as the active, happy kids practically
walked out as if the front door was a revolving door as they
immediately found new homes, waiting patiently for the day when
she would be able to look up to two grown up ponies and call
them ‘mum’ and ‘dad’. The years went by, and she became older
and older, and the number of children being picked over her was
starting to weigh on her mind.
After ten years in the orphanage, her outlook on life suddenly
became very real. If nopony ever came for her, she would
eventually not be a little filly anymore. Soon she will be a
teenager, and then an adult herself, having grown up entirely
within these four cold walls, sleeping amongst children who
avoided her, mocked her, called her names, and generally made
life here unbearable, but there is no such thing as an orphaned
adult. Her time was past, her chance to be with a family that
could make her happy was over.
And now, as she looked at the small bed that she had slept in
for the past eighteen years, that same twin bed with the smiling
sun on its sheets and the equally happy pillow, she could not
help but ask herself what now Jewel...? What was she to do?
Nopony ever has ever shown her what the real world is like; the
whole objective of the nursing staff here at the orphanage was
to at least keep the children happy as they transitioned between
families, and keep mental scarring and sadness to a minimum.
There is only so much a small rabble of orphanage mothers can do
to ease the mind of one who was becoming self aware though, and
realization of what has happened to oneself and why they are
here can set in harshly. Nopony wanted Jewel, not even her
biological parents.
“Jewel…” came a hushed tone from the door leading to the front
area. Of course it was calling for her, all of the other
children had been sent outside to play, giving Jewel time to
pack up and leave without causing too much of a fuss amongst the
children. Not like they’d notice anyway. Without turning her
head to look at the voice--she already knew which Mother it
belonged to--she mumbled loud enough to hear, “Yes Mother, just…
give me some more time… please.” If only I had more time… if
only I could be what ponies were looking for… if only I could
wait for my parents to come get me…
“Jewel, there isn’t much time left…” the Mother trailed off as
Jewel turned her head to look at her, getting a chance to look
upon the face of reluctance and despair. It wasn’t the first
time this mother, or any of the other staff had seen those
quartz pink eyes glisten with tears, and they have all come to
deal with it their own way, but this time, she had to give
pause. There was a sense of inevitability, of finality in that
look that she gave. Unavoidable despair, unwillingness to go
forward, regrets, unrealized wishes, a life of being denied the
one thing that she wanted… all in one look.
Without another word, lest the Mother start tearing up herself,
she gestured for Jewel to follow, and as hesitant as Jewel was
to go, she followed obediently. The malachite pony kept her gaze
to the floor as she walked, empty saddlebag slung over her flank
as she walked out of the front door, held open for her by the
Mother her was showing her out.
As soon as she was outside, Jewel turned around to look at the
one holding the door open once more, giving her a glance of
hopelessness before staring back at the ground quietly. “So,
here we are Jewel… time for you to go and become a part of
society. I wish you the best of luck in finding a place in life,
and hope for all the best for you. Please, come by every so
often. This place is going to be very different without you, you
know--”
“Why...?” came a plaintive mewl from under Jewel’s breath, her
voice trembling as drops of tears plummeted from her face to the
ground.
Somewhat taken aback by the uncharacteristic interruption, the
Mother began, “... well, you are the one every mother here knew
best, and--” She was interrupted again as Jewel asked, “No… why?
Why did nobody want me?” The two ponies paused awkwardly as the
question hung in the air before the Mother sighed in a sense of
finality and said, “I don’t know Jewel, I ask myself the same
and in all honesty, I can’t give you an answer. It happens, and
sometimes, it happens to the best of us. There is nothing we can
do about it but keep moving on with our lives.”
The Mother leaned against the front door as Jewel stood in
silence, occasionally heaving her shoulders as little
uncontrolled sobs escaped her before she was eventually
embraced, more out of sympathy than anything. The Mother could
not imagine what it must be like to feel truly unwanted, so she
had no way to make her feel any better, but there were ways to
help cover the pain, and at least keep her comfortable. “Shhh…”
she tried shushing, “now is not the time to be thinking about
what has come to pass. If I could turn time backwards for you to
give you a second or third chance, I would do it in a heartbeat,
but we are only mortals, sent to play out our roles in this
little stage play of a life of ours, and yours is a story that
is still only just beginning. There is so much more for you to
look forward to now… here, don’t tell anyone else but I think
you deserve this…”
From behind her back, the matron levitated a stuffed teddy bear,
the familiar worn cloth looking as though it was freshly washed,
with new stuffing added to it and previous holes sewn back up.
This was the teddy bear that Jewel had spent most of her life
with, and it had shared many of her hardships with her, so it
was only fair for her to at least be able to share any more she
had with it, if to at least help her feel better. Jewel accepted
the gift with a meek smile, cradling the stuffed animal in her
foreleg as she looked upon the familiar button-eyed face. It was
so strange how a stuffed bear could take so much punishment, so
much abuse, absorb so many tears, lose so much of itself over
the course of its little existence in the world, yet still hold
onto the dignity that it had had since it was created.
After hugging the teddy bear to herself, she embraced the Mother
once more, who then took the bear and placed it in the very
empty saddlebags for her before saying, “I think you were the
only one who had held onto it for that long. I think that
qualifies as being allowed to keep it.” Jewel remained quiet for
a while, the good feeling of getting the lost toy back doing
little to calm her turbulent, despairing mind, but it still felt
nice. At least there was this one thing that she could find
solace in. “What do I do now, Mother? I don’t know what to do
now,” was the question that came from Jewel, still so innocent
and unsure of herself.
“Look for a job, Jewel,” said the Mother plainly, “make yourself
a resume just like I shown you, make enough copies to give to as
many businesses as you can, and find yourself a source of
income. If you can, find yourself a place to live. I know you
don’t know most of the ponies in this town who would be willing
to take you in, but look at bulletin boards for listings of
ponies looking for roommates. Most will accept you if you at
least have a job. If that fails though…” the Mother paused and
pointed down a street, “there is always the homeless shelter
down the street there. They will let you stay the night if you
cannot find a home.”
With a solemn nod, Jewel mumbled, “Okay… goodbye, Mother. Thank
you for taking care of me all these years…” the fact that she
would miss this place, even despite all the terrible experiences
that she had, was evident in her shaking voice, punctuated by an
odd sniffle every so often. She began making her way down the
street, her back finally turning on the orphanage that she would
no longer be living in anymore. Despite what the Mother told
her, Jewel still did not know what she was supposed to do. Her
entire life had been so sheltered and secluded this entire time,
the idea of getting a job was still so foreign. What would she
be expected to do? What if she didn’t like it? What if it was
something that she’d have to live with for the rest of her life.
She looked around at the different store fronts: The Joke Shop,
The Boutique, Sugarcube Corner, the Library, markets and grocery
stores, a tailoring and blacksmithing shop, various restaurants
specializing in breakfast, lunch, and supper… what was she to
start with.
She soon found herself in the park, a quiet place where she
could at least sit and think for a while. That bench off in the
shade of one of the trees looked inviting to her, so she
immediately walked over to it, sitting herself down as she
looked about. What was she to do? Of all the things she had to
her name now, it was a stuffed bear, a few sheets of paper, a
pencil, and enough bits to maybe get something to eat,
hopefully.
#Post#: 1970--------------------------------------------------
Re: Diamond in the Rough
By: Carri Air Date: April 1, 2014, 3:59 pm
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Carri kept her flight low over Ponyville as she tried to regain
her sense of direction, which was commonly very good. However
she'd been all over the place this day, scouring the markets for
their finest coppers; A basket, fit for a hot air balloon, of
the metal just below her, tied to her with a thick rope.
"I know Brash said something about not wasting time but I
should've waited for her map." Carri sighs, and whilst it
shouldn't be too hard for her to get her bearings the day had
already been a long one and Brash had made it sound like she
should be out for longer even though she'd already spent all her
bits.
She finds herself above the park, it wasn't too busy, a few
ponies making their way through and one sitting at a bench. This
piques Carri's interest, since she wasn't expected to be
anywhere soon and still being new to Ponyville, making friends
would be an exciting task. She gasps, "I could have two whole
friends!"
Spiraling down to her seated target Carri loudly crashes the
basket of metal in front of Jewel and gives her a big wave, "Hi
there! Uh," She pauses for a moment, unsure of what to say, "Oh!
I'm Carri Air! What's your name?" She then glances about like
she said something wrong, "I mean, how are you? ...Which of
those comes first? Wait, no questions to start, nice weather,
right? Wait..." Carri continues to babble in her own confusion.
#Post#: 1980--------------------------------------------------
Re: Diamond in the Rough
By: Jewel Date: April 2, 2014, 1:57 pm
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Jewel's train of thought about what she should do for the rest
of the day, despite the lingering sadness that came from having
to leave her home of forever, eventually fell on the fact that
she needed to be able to support herself somehow. Money was
practically power, and from what she'd heard from a few ponies
in her life, money could buy happiness. What a novel idea. What
did happiness look like and how did one go about purchasing it?
That would would probably be a bridge worth crossing when she
actually had money of course, but the thought of testing this
theory and risking the potential benefit of buying happiness in
the process was tantilizing.
She was about to reach into her saddlebag to fish out her pencil
and paper, when a loud crash was heard directly in front of her
as a metal object just fell from the sky, landing in the middle
of the path that the bench was set against. With a surprised
yelp, Jewel flung herself backward against the bench, eyes wide
with terror as she tried to scrabble away from the sudden
appearance of the metal... thing. After some comical and
fruitless struggling, Jewel simply sat frozen there, teeth
clenched as she stared at the pegasus that had just crash landed
in front of her. Swallowing hard, as she placed a hoof over her
pounding heart, she let out a shaky exhale as she answered,
"W-weather? It-it's nice when it isn't r-raining things, that's
f-for sure. I'm... I'm... J-j-jewel. Nice to meet you C-carri
Air!"
Of course, programmed mannerisms prevailed over fear just by a
hair, so Jewel struggled for a while to pry her hoof from her
chest before extending it towards Carri in a friendly, if sudden
and shaky, greeting. "W-wh-what is that and why are--w-were you
carrying it?"
#Post#: 1981--------------------------------------------------
Re: Diamond in the Rough
By: Carri Air Date: April 2, 2014, 2:25 pm
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Carri fell silent and nodded to Jewel with a wide smile as she
was answered. When Jewel extends her hoof Carri promptly bumps
her own into it; That's what the ponies in school did so it must
be right. When asked about her package she looks back to the
mass of copper items, such as pipes, kitchen utensils, strips,
wires, and coins, now some smashed together and others having
found their way across the park, with the basket that held them
torn up.
She gasps and freezes at the sight, "I, uh, it's for my
friend... Oh~ how am I going to carry it now?" She groans in
distress as her posture relaxes and she looks around the mess
she made. No, that wasn't the issue, she had time for that, but
new friends don't wait. She turns back to Jewel, "I mean, don't
worry about that, it's nice to meet you too, uh-" She gulps, she
can't just avoid the scene she made, "It was just some copper
for some project... Are you sure you don't like rainy days?"
#Post#: 1994--------------------------------------------------
Re: Diamond in the Rough
By: Dais Clash Date: April 3, 2014, 11:30 am
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Dais was lying on a nearby park bench, levitating a large,
leather-bound book with decaying yellowed paper in front of him.
He hummed an old folk tune softly to himself as he read, his
eyes scanning quickly across the pages. Then, suddenly, some
loud and obnoxious metal crash sound interrupted the zen-like
state he was in whenever he got to reading. Dais sighed and
closed the book, causing far too much dust to shoot out from it.
He took a moment to shake his hooves, which had grown numb from
hours of lazy reading. Wearily he stood up, tossed back his
golden mane, and levitated his book on to his back. Hearing some
talking noises over in the general direction of the sound, Dais
set off to investigate.
Dais didn't have to trot far before he came upon the likely
source - a young pony with far too many metal objects for her
size - talking to a greenish pony who looked only a little bit
older. He didn't want to intrude but since he couldn't remember
having talked to either pony, he thought he would say hello and
check that there wasn't any trouble anyway.
"Howdy" he said, trying hard to smile but looking tired "You
both alright? I just heard something so I thought I'd come over
to see if there was anything I could do to help?"
#Post#: 2009--------------------------------------------------
Re: Diamond in the Rough
By: Jewel Date: April 4, 2014, 4:15 pm
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Jewel started to relax a little now that the immediate danger
had passed, but the fact that this was still a strange pony that
was talking to her, despite being younger than her, was still
setting Jewel on edge. Her social contact back in the orphanage
was terrible; most of the day she would spend sitting off by
herself, and on occasion, she would be approached by prospective
parents looking to ask her a few questions, which she would only
mumble the answers to in a quiet and reserved tone. Of course,
this was not how one went about impressing others, and it wasn't
exactly a cute act. Nevertheless, her only known way to talk to
strangers other than greeting them and her proper manners would
have been to get an adult because she shouldn't be talking to
strangers.
Well, she is an adult now, unfortunately, so now she would have
to be the one dealing with how she handled her own strangers.
When Carri Air asked how she was going to carry it now that the
basket was ruined, Jewel tensed up a little more, pressing her
lips in a tight line. This was how they got you, Jewel. They ask
you for help and then they lead you away someplace where you
will never be found again. Oh boy, where is an adult--oh...
Simply nodding to that question, which was an odd way to answer
it, she said, "I d-don't like rain or raining things,
particularly metal things. Could have landed on head, turned me
into a pancake, only with metal."
She jumped once more as yet another pony approached, still way
too high strung after the accident, and stared at him
cautiously. So many strangers, what does she do? She is terrible
with groups, and he is asking her to say something? "No help no
no I couldn't be fine or finer at all nope nope just a crash
broken basket things everywhere, heh..." after that little
outburst, she squeaked a little pathetic note before mumbling,
"I'm fine, how are you?" I need help. Help please.
#Post#: 2010--------------------------------------------------
Re: Diamond in the Rough
By: Dais Clash Date: April 4, 2014, 6:12 pm
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"Well that's good to know" answered Dais gladly, relieved that
at least one of the ponies didn't need any help whatsoever. Dais
had never been very good at understanding ponies' true feelings,
so he smiled in blissful ignorance. "If you ever do, my office
is the first door to the right in the town hall. Or just ask for
Dais Clash, all of the mayor's staff know me. It sure is a
pleasure to meet you, mrs... umm... whoever you are. Nice cutie
mark by the way. What about you, young filly? Need any help with
all these basket things?"
#Post#: 2013--------------------------------------------------
Re: Diamond in the Rough
By: Carri Air Date: April 4, 2014, 9:32 pm
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Carri nods as Jewel answers, "I love Pancakes!" She says, having
missed just about everything the mare said due to thinking of a
solution for her predicament.
Carri acknowledges the new pony and his questions with an
excited smile, "Oh! Yeah, I landed a little rough and my basket
broke," Carri gestures to the mess, "I mean, I was told crashing
is good for my reputation but I didn't think about the cleanup.
If I can just gather everything together I should be able to
figure out the rest."
Working together on something was definitely one way to bring
ponies closer. "I'll get straight to it, both of you can help if
you want." Carri offers as she finds a copper spoon at her hoof
and picks it up, then heads to the large pile to drop it off.
#Post#: 2014--------------------------------------------------
Re: Diamond in the Rough
By: Dais Clash Date: April 4, 2014, 10:57 pm
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Dais giggled a little to himself for no good reason. "Of course
I'll help you pick them up" he said. With a shrug and a smile,
he began trotting off in the direction of some of the dropped
cargo. After just a few seconds, however, he suddenly stopped,
eyes growing wide.
"Oh yeah, almost forgot..."
Dais' horn lit up with a bright blue aura. As his eyes scanned
around the park, his magic enveloped all of the objects he could
see lying around. Slowly, they all floated up in the air
together, and flew towards the pile that the young filly had
started.
"Totally forget I could do magic for a moment there" laughed
Dais to himself "Hope that's everything. Actually, this looks
like a lot to carry for a young pegasus like yourself. Are you
sure you're not overloaded? Because if you need a box or
something to help keep it all together I'm sure we could help
you look for one?"
#Post#: 2057--------------------------------------------------
Re: Diamond in the Rough
By: Jewel Date: April 6, 2014, 10:13 pm
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Jewel nodded hastily to Dais as he commented on her cutie mark.
For a second there, it lifted her spirits that someone had
actually given her a compliment of some sort, and not just brush
her aside without second thought. Perhaps life outside of the
orphanage wasn't as bad as life inside the orphanage, maybe she
had something going for her that could at least help her in
making some friends... if only he had actually shown interest in
getting to know her by name. Nope, he just brushed her off as
'whoever you are', wasn't that just a familiar thing. She
glanced back down at the ground afterward, letting out a quiet
sigh before Carri stated that Jewel could help if she wanted.
Well, Carri seemed friendly enough, so why not? She could at
least do something and make herself useful, right? She nodded
and pushed herself off of the bench, looking around the
immediate area for things that would need to be picked up.
A lot of this copper looked pretty heavy, but most of it just
needed to be picked up the right way. Shouldn't be too hard, she
thought to herself as she approached a pipe that looked to be of
good size, bent over to pick it up, and recoiled a bit in
surprise as it was enveloped in some sparkly, magical haze and
was lifted off of the ground. Confused for quite a bit, she
turned back towards the unicorn as he laughed, saying that he
forgot that he could use magic. What a thing to forget,
something that could be so useful to others. Jewel looked back
at the now litter-free ground, trying to hopefully find a piece
that he may have missed, but no such luck. Giving up her search
with a resigned and downcast look, she glanced back to her
saddlebags that had been left empty on the bench, and then back
to the two of them. They are getting along just fine without me,
maybe I should just show myself out--
She shook her head to try to rid herself of the thought, trying
to think of some way to help Carri move all of her things. Being
practically new on the streets, she had no idea where she could
get a box. Probably should figure it out soon. At this rate,
you'll be living in one. Instead, Jewel set her saddlebags back
on her back, and offered, "I... I might not be that strong
but... I guess I could carry what I could?"
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