Anger Can Be Useful
#2 of Convicts Shouldn't Get Second Chances
CrACK
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The first scream is almost always the shock of the incident. I mean really. Who honestly expects to get hurt on your day to day grind? Boulder Springs certainly didn't expect his day to go from being the big colt on jungle gym, to rolling on the ground clutching his arm. But, well. Here we are.
The second scream is worse in a lot of ways. Often longer and coupled with not just the realization of being hurt, but the pain that accompanies your new reality. And oh what pain Boulder is experiencing today. His forearm was not supposed to be bent that way.
Seeing his arm at such an odd and misshapen angle adds a whole new level of pain and fear to his arguably short life thus far. Afraid to touch the arm's injury, Boulder contented himself with gripping his bicep with the same tenacity one would if their favorite toy was about to be taken away.
And que the screaming.
Star Bright's afternoon was quickly going down as one of the most tedious days she had ever had the misfortune of experiencing. Everything was going right. Kids were behaving. No one got gum stuffed into their manes. Even the bullies, though few, had been unusually quite today. This was an excellent day.
Even the paperwork on Starshine's adoption was actually looking like it was going to go through without the city getting involved and mucking it up for everypony involved. This was a great day. A wonderful day. And it was so Celestia damned BORING!
Looking over her desk she saw the new issue of Mareopolitan, next to her cup of coffee, and she itched to open it up. "No Star. You know what will happen. You'll read one article and the next thing you know it will be 6 in the afternoon and Starshine will be the one to suffer for the delay. Hmm, I am so happy for Starshine. Such a sweet young filly. And she managed to be picked up by a rather well to do herd."
That alone was another surprise. Picking up her coffee and holding the still warm mug in her hand she pondered the fortuitous events that landed Starshine in such a comfortable future. Usually when a colt or filly is adopted its by lonely mares unable to find a herd for themselves. Whether by their position in society or being unable to have children of their own. The fact that Starshine managed to catch the attention of a-
An ear piercing shriek snapped Star Bright out of her musings causing her to spill her coffee all over the nearly complete paperwork. "Bucking Tartarus! Well that's ruined," she reached for towels.
Wiping coffee off her hands with a napkin her employer, and head Mistress of the Orphanarium known as Manehatten's Home for Wayward Foals, Cloudy Sapphire rushed out of her office, "What happened? Was that you?" Even after 3 years of working together Star still found her somehow, warbling yet high pitched, voice grating. Though that wasn't fair of her, Cloudy was quite possibly the sweetest mare in the entire city of Manehatten. But that voice could make dogs howl sometimes. It was likely the reason she had not found a herd of her own.
"No, no. That wasn't me but I fear I will have to start Starshine's adoption papers over again," she dejectedly sighed. Trying her best to dry pat the papers, to see if anything is salvageable.
Cloudy gave Star a deadpan look. "You do realize you can just reverse that rig- no wait, what was that scream? Where did it come from?" The cerulean earth pony mare whipped around, pink mane twirling with her. Going to the windows, she pushed up her horned rim glasses and peered out into the playground, scanning with deep sea green eyes. "I hope it wasn't one of the colts," she whispered worriedly. An institution like hers would suffer if they were tainted with a history of colts being injured.
Star Bright smacked her forehead narrowly avoiding her horn. "Duh, of course. I swear I'd forget I am a Unicorn if my horn wasn't attached to me." Quickly using a spell to clean up, what would have been hours of paperwork, she stood up to walk up behind her now silent employer. She looked out over her bosses shoulder into the playground, and blinked. Hard.
Every foal's head was looking in one direction, most in horror, some without understanding on what was happening. Starshine, the filly with such a bright future, looked to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown as she gazed into the rapidly growing circle of backpedaling foals. Star Bright was having trouble rationalizing what she was seeing."What in the name of Celestia..."
There in the center of the circle were four colts. Two were on the ground. It looked to be Rocky Jester and Boulder Springs. Rocky seemed to have been knocked unconscious with a large bruise forming under his left eye, and blood coming from his lip. Boulder was in far worse shape. Writhing on the ground, Boulder held onto his arm as another wail riped through his throat and battered the still air with his screams."A forearm shouldn't bend like that..."
In front of those two, stood two others. Well one stood, the other was trying desperately to stay on his feet holding onto the arm, whose hand was wrapped around his throat."That Looks like Swift Charge. Ok so who...oh no....NO! Star Bright tore her gaze away as she whipped around, leaving a stunned Cloudy to continue to stare out the second story window, and bolted out the door. Her copper mane trailing behind her as she nearly threw her body down the stairs."Orion please stop don't do this again!" She screamed inside her own mind.
Gripping Swift's throat with inpony strength for a colt of 8, hooves firmly planted, was Orion Falls. A look of sheer rage on his muzzle as he continued to punch Swift's, quickly collapsing, face in with an abandon you don't see outside of those fights in the underground. Swift was holding on with one hand while vainly trying to stop Orion's assault with other. His arm flailing about and losing strength. Suddenly, Swift's battered form was yanked away from the still seething Orion.
Orion made to give chase after the poor colt, seeing red in a tunnel vision that seemed to stretch. He to was snatched up in a red aura of magic. Screaming in frustration, he cast his gaze about looking for the individual who had dared to keep him from his source of anger. He then took notice of Miss Bright, her red furred ears flushed with exertion, copper mane disarrayed by her panicked flight down and out the building. The sunny yellow blouse un-tucked haphazardly from her lime green skirt. Holding Swift's defeated form to her chest as her horn lit up red. It seems she had stopped his assault.
He slowly, very slowly began to calm down. Taking stock of his surroundings, he noticed other fillies and colts turning away in fear from his angered eyes. Trembling, Orion put a shaking hand to his head as he slowly came down off an adrenaline high that promised a hard crash later on.
"What. Do. You. Think. YOU are doing Orion!?" screeched Miss Bright. All trace of her usual bubbly nature gone. The playground was mostly silent, except for a still wailing Boulder. The younger foals, not knowing how to vent their own fear, silently sobbed sitting in the dirt.
Looking through the one way glass, Cloudy watched as Orion sat on the floor in the corner. The chair provided was laying unceremoniously in the corner of the eight by ten room, where Orion hurled it the moment he was forced into the chamber. A dim bare bulb hung from the ceiling giving the room an interrogative feel. The single only other piece of furniture a small table, sat in the center. Undisturbed.
"Did anypony say what happened, did they see what started....this?" Cloudy asked. Not pulling her eyes away from Orion's bent form his knees drawn up, arms draped over his legs, head left to bow between his legs. Orion wasn't an ugly colt. But the black fur and brown mane would not be winning him prizes or adoration by mares as he got older. Not with those eyes of his. Even if he was a Unicorn, not many would, or could, get past those eyes.
"From what Lazy Rain told me it seems that Orion was, again, getting bullied." Star sighed and continued on," This time the colts went after his looks, his teeth mostly. And his....unfortunate diet."
The colts in question that ended up on the wrong end of a beating, two of which were 11and one who is thirteen, were currently being treated for their injuries in Manehatten General. The paramedics that had arrived on scene were stunned at the extensive damage inflicted on the young colts.
"That's all it took? For this colt to beat three other colts into a pulp...? Name calling?!" She seethed in a quiet whisper. She should never have roomed him with Swift Charge. The foal was antagonistic from the beginning.
"No, that was the start. He simply ignored them from what Lazy was telling me." Moving up Star looked into the window at a still immobile Orion. "It was after they boxed him in that Orion lashed out. Honestly, if you ask me, those three had it coming." Cloudy jerked her head about and shot Star a glare." Now now, don't get me wrong. I don't approve of what Orion did. But you gotta admit, Cloudy, it was going to happen sooner or later. Ever since Swift's adoption fell through he has become increasingly hostile. I am just shocked by the level of violence that such a small colt could inflict."
Cloudy pulled her eyes away from the red furred unicorn. " Whether they had it coming or not, this is NOT how a colt should behave. He acts like a damned filly during her first heat." Taking a deep breath to calm her own anger. " We....we can't protect him from this Star. This was bad. The city's Council of Foal Protections has already sent us a letter. They want to take him."
"WHAT!? They can't do that! What are they gonna do? Lock him up till he is of age? And then what.....kick him out? Say good luck? A colt needs more then that! They need love and attention and they will just chew him up and spit him out. All they will do is isolate him in a vain attempt to correct his behavior!" Star was nearly screaming now. She didn't care. Orion, to her, had been the quiet little colt that never bothered anyone. She knew of his tendencies. The whole orphanage did. But he never said an unkind thing to her. The thought of the CFP taking him left a hole in her stomach.
He never interacted with the others. Spent most of his time reading, okay maybe devouring books. Anything he could get his hands on. Including a manual on how propeller driven airships operated, if she wasn't mistaken. Never figured out where he found that one.
He always maintained an aloofness from the other foals that you could see. He never picked up games, never engaged the other foals. But he wasn't a dumb colt. He was very smart. Seemed to know things that a colt his age really shouldn't have known. Though given the fact that he came in from the industrial city of Stalliongrad 2 years ago. There was no telling what he picked up before he was taken off the streets by the non-profit organization, Hooves for Colts.
The organization knew very little about him. Even had to guess at his age when they picked him up from the slums. The most prominent detail about little Orion wasn't that he was a unicorn, or malnourished to the point of starvation. It was the fact that he had canines. Ponies shouldn't have canines. It would have been fine if he was a Batpony. They ate fruit in an unusual way, biting into then draining. But he lacked the wings and had a horn instead. And the fact that he was eating a raw rat when they found him.
Upon further examination it was found that his diet actually required meat. Normal ponies don't eat meat. When he arrived and the CFP found out about his limited history and dietary requirements. They wanted to isolate him immediately. Possibly permanently. One member even had the audacity to recommend teeth fillings to,"make him normal."
Now.....with this? It was outta their hands.She knew it. They couldn't stop it. Unless a miracle happened, Orion was going to the city. And they would do whatever they wanted. "In the best interest of the colt," as they had said. Best interest would be a childhood of near but not quite falling under the legal definition of torture. All to make him sociably complaint to their worldview of what a unicorn colt should be.
"No we can't allow them to take him. That would be just signing him over as a prisoner, Cloudy. There must be something we can do for him...."
"There might be." Cloudy looked back to Star Bright, a calculating look in her eyes. "Canterlot. It may just be the last place we can send him. A fresh start. Since he is a unicorn he can be sponsored by the city and crown to attend Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. It's his best bet as the city hasn't filled a form for restrictions on his movements. We need to get him out tonight. I have a friend who runs White's Orphanarium there in the city. She knows of his situation and after the last time offered to take him." Breathing unsteadily she took a sip from her painfully cold mug of coffee," I should have done it immediately then when she offered. Damned me for a foal brained idiot to think the situation would improve."
"We can hire a carriage to fly him. Which one of us will go with him?" Star asked with hope in her voice. She wanted to go with him. The idea of him leaving hurt but she knew he needed to leave as soon as possible. She wanted a chance to be around him as much as possible.
"I'm afraid you will have to stay here, Star. The CFP knows of your attachment to him. It's best they don't catch wind of this before we are across city lines," Cloudy replied moving to the door into the isolation room. Ignoring the look of extreme disappointment on Bright's face. She would have liked to let her take him, but given the nature of the departure she thought it best to do otherwise.
"Okay," Star sighed dejectedly. "Your right but tartarus burn those fools for wanting to do this to him. Does your friend know of his....needs?"
"Gripping the door handle Cloudy looked over her shoulder, "Oh yes she does. She does have Griffon chicks in her orphanage as well so this won't be too far from normal for her. Well, as normal as you can get with this one at least." Squaring her shoulders, Cloudy opened the door and stepped through.
Orion slowly looked up as Head Mistress Cloudy Sapphire entered in to the room. The look in his eyes spoke of his still held anger.
"Orion get up. We are moving you out of the city tonight. You know what will happen if you stay here now." Miss Sapphire spoke in a carefully neutral tone. She had warned him before, after the last incident. Orion could see she was nervous. He knew what was up, he wasn't ignorant. He believed the CFP were going to be the first to breach that door.
"Where?" He asked quietly.
"Canterlot. It's the last safe place we can take you that the CFP can't reach. The won't even bother."
Cloudy spun about," gather your things Orion. We need to leave quickly." Walking out the door without looking back.
Orion sat there. A small smile coming to his lips.
"Anger can be useful," he whispered.