Chapter 5 Welcome to the Realm
The next morning, Hacksign yawned and stretched, only to find herself in the oddest of places. "Huh? What the..." her gaze fell about the room, complete and utter confusion settling in.
Pyro, upon hearing Hacksign stir, fluttered his eyes open, awake. "Hmm? Hacksign..." he was quite tired, and halfway awake at the time.
"Hey where are we?" Hacksign asked to her friend. "This place is... weird." In the shortest terms Pyro could muster, he told Hacksign what he could. Hacksign listened intently, understanding every last bit. "So... we're not alone..."
Pyro nodded. "No, not at all..." Hacksign smiled, and leaned over to plant a small kiss on Pyro's cheek. "Ok, you sleep then."
Pyro did not have to be told twice as his eyes fell closed, his mind drifting back away to sleep.
Hacksign got up to the best of her abilities, finding it annoying to see wires and such connected to her. Stumbling, she took them all out, and immediately fell off the cot she was lying on. Hissing, she rubbed at her head, mumbling all sorts of words one so young should not know. She then blinked, looking directly in front of her. She didn't know what it was... but it had a shiny red button. "Cool..." licking her lips, she approached the button.
Not seconds later, Hacksign went flying out of the clinic on what seemed to be some sort of vehicle. Bashing through everything that got in her way, she hooted and hollered with excitement. "YEAAAAAAAHHH!!!!! I LOVE THIS VALLEY!!!!"
The alarm that always sounded in the valley to alert that the ambulance was in use went off at exactly 7:06 am. Little had Hacksign known that a simple red button was the ejector for the emergency vehicle. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop it since she knew nothing about what she was on.
Slither came out in his night cap, still looking extremely groggy. Why on earth the siren was sounding he couldn't figure out... until he looked over to Pyro, who was jumping up and down on his cot.
Pyro had heard the siren immediately, and frantically had gotten to his feet in reaction. However, his mind had forgotten that he was currently on the cot, and his feet were not ready for the slippery substance. So, slipping and sliding, the pony fell of backwards, knocking his head on the hard floor. He hissed, rubbing his head, but stopped when he heard Hacksign's cry. His eyes going wide, he raced out the door, only to see what he had dreaded: Hacksign riding on something he had never seen before, looking as though she were having the time of her life.
"AH HA HA HA!!!! I AM HACKSIGN, AND I LOVE THIS WHATEVER IT IS!" She had figured out how to honk the horn, and was commencing to make her presence known.
Pyro's face straitened, and he ran in front of the vehicle, his body poised. "Hacksign, stop that now!" he called.
"I wouldn't even if I could, Pyro!" Hacksign called in joy.
Pyro nodded in understanding and, when the vehicle came close enough, he jumped. He flew high into the air at a speed that almost made him look as though he were flying, then landed into the empty seat by Hacksign.
"Glad you could join me!" Hacksign said with a mischievous grin. "Now lets see what else this baby can do!" And with that, she pressed yet another shiny red button, causing the vehicle to barrel down Dream Valley at over 100 MPH.
The two young ponies were having a blast, and gave no second thought to the vehicle's leaving deep ruts in the soccer field, or knocking over elderly Shaggy's prize-winning petunia pots. They kept going and going, leaving a path of wreckage in their wake. Many angry ponies were chasing them, but it was a futile mission; even those who could fly weren't able to keep up with the machine's 100 mph. Really, all of these things weren't too bad. It was when their little joyride led them through the palace gardens that they began to worry. But it didn't stop there. They went on into the main entrance of the palace, skidding this way and that, knocking over an expensive vase here, a marble statue there. Finally some adults thought to call ahead, and the many workers of the castle laid a trap of ropes for the vehicle. By this time they had slowed down due to hitting so many things, and with enough ponies holding onto the multiple ropes, they finally managed to bring the two misfits to a stop.
"That was fun!" Hacksign cried. "Lets do it again!" She turned to Pyro, who looked more than ready to attack. Hacksign noticed this, and smiled. "Awe, come on! Where's your sense of adventure!" So saying, she jumped on top of him, pinning him immediately to the ground. "Come on, I run, you chase! What do you say?"
"I say we have other, bigger problems now Hacksign." He looked up, his eyes resting on the many castle guards who looked, at that time, more than irritated. He gave a sheepish grin
Hurtle, one of the female guards that was wielding one of the ropes looked sternly into Pyro and Hacksign's eyes. "Just what do you think you are doing?" she cried angrily. "You've destroyed the entire castle garden and entranceway!"
"No we didn't," Hacksign argued. "All we did was knock over some vases, a few statues: nothing big!" She hopped up on the vehicle, leaning on a lever. "It's not like we took down the whole palace or any- woops." And there went the lever, leaving Hacksign to discover yet another ability of the machine: flight. And before she knew it, she was flying through the sky." YEEAAAAAAHHHHH THIS IS FUN!" she called.
Pyro sweat-dropped. "I'm beginning to wonder if medication wouldn't be useful here," he stated with a sigh.
"AH HA HA HA HA!" she immediately grabbed the controls, and began to steer the machine... right into the palace and through a window. Crashing through it, the machine stopped inches away from the Queen herself. Hacksign peeked out from it, and smiled. "Hey, nice room you have here! Did you have to work hard for it, or did you just win it or something?"
Queen Moondancer looked up from her record keeping in shock when the flying ambulance made a crash landing in her study. Glory wasn't there yet, although she was due any minute. Moondancer looked around for the cause of the problem, and quickly spied Hacksign in the mess that used to be the ambulance. "Who are you! It's to the dungeons with you! I will be here FOREVER trying to make sense out of everything you just messed up! 'Did I have to work hard for this room or just win it?' What do you think you little twit! I'm the queen! This is where I do my work with..."
"...me," finished the vice queen, who had just made her way through the mess. "Now, what's the problem here? Who are you? You can't be more than five years old! Come on out, I won't let Moondancer hurt you... she just has a quick temper is all.."
Hacksign growled, she did not like one bit the threat about being put inside a dungeon. "Hey I may be around 5 lady, but you've got SOME nerve yelling at me like that! Where's Pyro when you need him! I'll-" she stopped short when the vice-queen arrived, her words not so threatening. She grunted, and looked at the queen. "All right, but I'd find a queen with a better attitude if I were you!" And with that, she hopped off, turning around momentarily to look at the mess she made. "Heh. Well, think of it this way, Queenie!" she turned to the woman with a large grin on her face. "Now you can get a bigger window installed! Think of it - it'd be perfect for the summer days." She sighed. "Hey, what's your name anyway? Moondancer, right? Which do you prefer - Moondancer, or Queenie?"
"I PREFER," the twelve year old queen said, her voice steely, "Queen Moondancer when I'm being addressed by someone who isn't my friend. And right now, I can't say that you exactly ARE my friend"
Hacksign blinked, then smiled warmly. "Hey, what's the big deal? It's just a little hole!" She looked over again to the massive hole and the protruding vehicle, and grunted. "Well hey, nice meeting you anyway, Queenie! By the way, are you reeeeeally the head honcho around here? I mean, if I'm not mistaken... you're kind of just a kid. Or are you some kind of midget?" She flipped her mane back in a shrug.
"Hacksign..." Pyro entered just then with some of the guards, Pyro merely coming along to keep the rambunctious pony out of trouble. Hacksign turned around, and smiled as her friend entered.
"Hiya Pyro! I'd like you to meet Queenie! Queenie, Pyro! Pyro, Queenie!" she said her introductions.
Pyro snorted. "Nice to meet you."
"Am I to take it you know this little baby? Heck, you aren't more than a baby yourself!" The queen said to Pyro. "And no, I'm NOT a midget. I'm 12. That's when the queen always takes the throne. Who are you? Where did you come from?"
Hacksign sweat-dropped at the Queen's comment. "Feh. I may be a baby as far as age goes, but at least I'm not acting like one." She then smiled, lifting her head up high. "Awe, you're not still mad about the little hole I made are you?" She looked to the gigantic thing, and sweat-dropped again. "Ok, ok, so I'll admit it, it's not exactly tiny. So I'm not perfect, so sue me!" She sighed, smiling wide as though she had completely forgotten the predicament she was in. "So Queenie, you can actually become a Queen at age 12? Heh, I think I'll LIKE this place!"
Pyro sighed. "I'm just surprised to find others like us. And some... similar to us."
"Hey where do you go to pee?" Hacksign inquired.
Vice-Queen Glory knelt down to Hacksign's level. "I'll have Hurtle take you down to the bathrooms, Sweetie." She then turned to Pyro. "Now, I'm afraid we STILL don't know your names... things have been a little, ah, wild, to say the least, huh? Now, mine is Glory. What's yours, and that little hellion's with my guard?"
"Well then allow me to give introductions!" Hacksign said with a large grin on her face. "My name's Hacksign, and that's my buddy Pyro. To put our life story short, we met up when we were really young, and kind of just lived on our own. Didn't really know where we came from or anything like that. In fact, you're the first things like us we've EVER seen!"
Hacksign grunted. "Well anyway.... I gotta pee, so!" she turned to the guard. "Lead the way!"
"Okay. Well, we'll work on finding adoptive families for each of you..." Glory was then rudely cut off by a white and blue tornado that blew in.
As the thing came to a stop, Glory disgustedly saw that it was Moondancer's bratty baby brother, Cradle. "Mama says you better come downstairs RIGHT NOW Moondancer 'cause you're late for breakfast," he said tauntingly. At that moment he noticed the fact that there was another pony in the room. "Who are you? You aren't s'posed to be in here, Mama said no outsiders are 'llowed in here. Wait! You're funny lookin'. Baby ponies aren't s'posed to become Twice as Fancy until they're at least twelve! FREAK!!!!"
Pyro smirked at the younger one's mockings, taking them simply like a 3 year old calling down to his parents. "Better to be freaks than a child with a snappy attitude who has no respect for his elders." And he left it at that. Being called a freak, he could handle: it hardly bothered him, if at all. After all, at least now he found a place he felt he truly belonged: so much, it didn't matter if he was an odd wheel or not.
"Moondancer! The Freak made fun of me!" whined the bratty prince to his elder sister.
"Oh, I don't know," smirked the elder pony. "I think you had that coming. And he isn't a FREAK, he's just different. There is no LAW that states when a pony changes. Besides, he isn't an outsider; he will soon be a citizen of Dreamvalley. And going by his age, you two will be school mates. So I would watch your tongue. You just run down to Mommy and tell her I'll be there when I can. We have a bit of an emergency here now."
Pyro sighed deep, his eyes darting back down to the ground in wonder. He had no idea what would happen next, and with Hacksign's grand entrance, he figured it wouldn't be all too wonderful. However, if they dared touch her, well... no. He couldn't think of that. It made him wonder, however... if such chance were to swing his way, would he react in the only way he knew how in order to keep that friend of his safe? He could only pray not...
"Now, Pyro, isn't it?" asked the somewhat less frazzled Moondancer. "Hacksign should be back soon here. I'll bet you are getting hungry. How would you like to have breakfast with us this morning while we discuss finding each you and.. uh... Hacksign, a home. As well as how we're going to make up for the MESS you caused... I know... it wasn't your fault... but still... I think we're having pancakes. How 'bout it?"
Pyro managed a small smile, his eyes still focused on the ground beneath. "Yes, I would like that. Thank you."
Hacksign sighed as she made her way back into the room which had now become one giant window. "You know, some of these ponies creep me out! Giving me some evil kind of look and all! How rude! All I did was make a teeny tiny mess in the bathroom!" Or in that case, it meant causing it to bring fear and dread to janitors everywhere. Of course the little pony went nuts: she had never before seen toilet paper, and definitely not a toilet. So, she experimented, flushing every bit of toilet paper in the bathroom down, and when she ran out of that, she went to other things, which in doubt caused all the toilets to overflow. In attempt to clean up all the "yucky" water, Hacksign tried using the water from the sink. Needless to say, she broke off the top, and water from there was starting to spew out. When she exited the bathroom, she drenched every guard around her.
Hurtle had gently bit Hacksign on the ear and drug her back to the other ponies (Keep in mind, ponies don't have hands, and have learned to use their mouths gently with things like baby's ears) "What now?" sighed Moondancer at the sight of a very wet and slightly smelly Hacksign. "She, ah, claims to have never seen a toilet before, your majesty, and plugged it up... then broke the faucet in trying to mop up the mess. What this little brat needs is a good..." "breakfast." interjected, knowing full-well where Hurtle was going. She personally agreed with that thought, but it was true that this baby had been put into an extreme situation unlike any other she'd ever been in before. "Hurtle, take her into the queen's private bathroom and get Hacksign dried off. We'll meet you downstairs." Moondancer made as if to argue the thought of the terror messing with her private quarters, but bit her tongue and nudged Pyro out the door.
Pyro followed without question, silence falling each of his steps. When he arrived at the feast, he couldn't help but bulge his eyes a bit. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, foods of all kinds he had never even seen lain out before him for the taking. However, he became cautious. One thing he learned, is that things were always too good to be true.
Meanwhile, Hacksign, for once, did not make a mess, as Hurtle familiarized her with their "great technology." She soon joined Pyro at the banquet, her eyes meeting the same satisfaction as his, though without the sudden caution. "Whoa... ok, I'm in heaven officially!"
Seated around the table were Moondancer (the elder), Cradle, Majesty, and there were two places set for Moondancer and Glory. Servants were hurriedly setting places for the two new additions to the breakfast, although they had secret bets on whether or not the breakfast would go without a problem. All they had heard about this Hacksign had been negative thus far. "May I introduce Pyro and Hacksign? They will be joining our kingdom soon. We need to worry about finding them each a home."
"It's all right," Pyro spoke up in the midst of things. "We can easily find something on our own, we don't need to trouble anyone."
"Speak for yourself!" Hacksign said with a grunt. "I'm beginning to like all this "new technology!"
"Well, if you are talking about us finding you a new home, I'm afraid that's a must. You are way too young to live by yourselves. But I'm sure we can find two families who would be willing to adopt. The kingdom is quite large, so there should be no problem in just finding two, don't you think Glory?" asked Moondancer.
Hacksign looked down at the food, licking her lips hungrily. Too into the sweet scent that overflowed her nostrils, she ignored completely the discussion about a home, and began to practically wolf down her food. "This is good!" the pony cried with a whole mouthful of food. "Really good! This is heaven!" Her eyes slowly slipped to something that immediately caught her eye, something she saw through one of the windows. A computer. "Ooooh... what's that?" her eyes lit up, a bit of food dropping from her now gaping mouth.
Moondancer the Elder, quite disgusted by the sight of the messy young pony, took a napkin and roughly wiped her face. "That's a computer, Hacksign," replied Moondancer nervously. "But I'm not sure if that's something for you to mess with...."
"Nonsense!" Hacksign said. "It looks cool to me!" And before she could be stopped, she jumped onto the table, through the potato salad, and onto the ground, leaving behind her food prints as she entered the house and into the room.
Pyro himself was quite curious, and followed post haste after the excited pony. However, he was careful enough not to find himself leaving food trails with his hoofs. When he got inside the room, he found Hacksign sitting at the seat, reading what appeared to be a very large, and he guessed, very complex instruction manual.
"Mommy!" whined the little prince Cradle, "Mommy, you won't allow ME on the 'puter alone, and I'm your own son. You aren't going to allow her to get on it, are ya?" But it was too late, Hacksign had already gotten into the royal machine. The machine with the three supposedly impossible to guess passwords.
"This is definitely interesting!" Hacksign paused for a moment, looking at the door. With a mischievous smirk, she found a single button and, pressing it, caused numerous locks and bolts to lock down, shutting them, trapped, within the room, obviously a false-safe for whatever disasters could possibly happen. There was, indeed, no way to get in. Smirking Hacksign declared, "Well at any rate, this will give me more time to read without those busy-bodies interrupting me!"
Smiling, Pyro merely shook his head, lying down on the floor in complete rest, just happy to have a bit of peace.
A few hours passed, and by that time Hacksign had gone through the entire manual. Smirking, she then put her hoofs to work and started up the computer. It wasn't long before she got in - a few moments, in fact, as she found a way through the system. It was almost too easy! The computer controlled everything, she found quickly and, getting bored of being all locked up there alone, finally released the hatch to let the others in. When she did so, however, she forgot about them completely, and continued typing away at the computer, smirking as she connected each and every strand of errors it could possibly have, fixing them and, ultimately, making it run at a much faster pace.
Queen Moondancer quickly joined the younger pony, her mouth open in shock. Young Hacksign was typing away, oblivious to the quickly growing crowd. "How on Earth did you do that?" spluttered a confused Moondancer. "We've been having problems with that computer for ages!"
"Well didn't you read the manual?" Hacksign inquired with a grunt, her hoofs still tapping away at the tiny to her standards computer before her. She paused, as a grin filled across her face, one that the ponies were soon to recognize immediately as having an idea, whether ingenious or just plain insane, only time could truly tell. "You know," she started with much interest, "things could work much more easily and efficient if you just hooked them up to this single computer. Kind of like a master, controlling everything and anything within here." Of course, her true intentions were far different from that. Though, would they be any the wiser?
"I don't know…" said a slightly dubious Moondancer.
"Oh, get with it, Moony!" said Glory excitedly. "She obviously has talent when it comes to this. Surely she knows what she's doing."
Moondancer glared at her friend and co-reagent at the use of her pet name from younger years. She stood staring at the cursory movements of the young Hacksign, who, as of yet hadn't done anything to destroy something. This WAS a first for the young pony, after. "Alright, Glory, we'll try it, I guess. But if ANYTHING goes wrong, it's YOUR fault."
"Yes, your majesty," she replied in a mocking tone. "Hacksign, how difficult will it be to get this hooked up to everything else? And just how much stuff did you have in mind?" asked Glory.
Hacksign smirked, a look of pure and utter joy and chaos on her features. However, this went unnoticed by the others, and when she twisted her chair around to face them, she held nothing but smiles. "For me, a few minutes, actually. As far as "everything" is concerned, I would say from the alarms to the fire extinguishers: I could even install small computers within the tractors and what-not. This way if they're ever lost, they can be tracked, and they will only be able to be operated by certain ponies of your choice." She smiled wide, hiding her true intentions. After all, she was merely a child, and what does a child like more than to have fun? She was obviously good with computers, far better than any of them could even begin to imagine: and she would have her fun. Oh yes, she most certainly would.
Pyro meanwhile, sat in a corner, listening to all of this with pure silence, a whimsical look on his face. He knew of Hacksign's intentions, he knew her too well indeed. He also knew that there would be no way to control or contain her thirst for action and thrills.
"Okay, we'll give it a go, Hacksign, but not now, okay? I need to worry about finding you each a home for the time being," said Moondancer. "Glory, would you get on the kingdom's PA system and call a Valley-Wide meeting? Including all adult ponies… the kids can remain at home." Glory, who was looking forward to seeing what could be done with the computer was greatly disappointed, but she galloped off at full speed for the top tower of the castle. There was a PA system that, once activated, could be heard through the entire valley. Before long, the staticy announcement came out: "All adult ponies, please make your way to the Meeting Place. This is IMPORTANT. No excuses except for injuries or illnesses. Please keep the children at home or away from the Meeting Place. That is all."
Soon Moondancer, along with her family, was herding the two new ponies out of the still messy castle, and outside. Servants were busily trying to fix up the destroyed gardens, to no avail. They walked right on past these futile attempts, and made their way to a shady spot near a small pond, with peach, apple and pear trees all around. There was a small bandstand area, with two thrones seated there. Moondancer took her place in her slightly larger and fancier one. "Alright, you two. Just stay up here. DO NOT WANDER OFF. You need to make a good impression."
Glory soon came and joined the trio, and before long the entire area was one mass of ponies; pegasus ponies, unicorns, Brother ponies, Carousel ponies… you name it. "Okay, fellow citizens of Dream Valley. We have a bit of an urgent case on our hands," began the queen. "We have two new ponies in our land; both are six years old. They have no family left, and they have decided to live with us. We need volunteers to be their adoptive families.
Pyro was silent as the meeting went on, standing before the crowd like some sort of slave being sold off. He did not like it, to say the least. His face fell, though he didn't say a word. He knew that this was far from being sold like a slave, and his mind kept to that.
Hacksign on the other hand just looked about with curiosity. She didn't know who she would go to live with, she wondered if she really cared anyway? No, she finally decided. As long as she had that computer to play with, she would be happy as can be! And at any rate, if worst came to worst, she and Pyro could just leave… couldn't they?
Glory spoke up. "Okay, now this young man's name is Pyro," she said, gesturing in his direction. "He's six years old, as the queen previously stated, quiet, protective, and well behaved."
"Is there any particular way you want to go about this?" called someone from the throng.
"No, if you are interested in one of them, just speak up," replied Glory.
A turquoise Twice as Fancy pony with manatees all over her made her way through the congested clearing until she was up close to the bandstand. "Pyro, is it? Well, I live by myself right now, since my husband died in a freak accident. I have a set of twins your age though. My name is Sirenia Dream, although many just call me Sirenia. Would you care to come with me? I may not have as many riches as some of the other ponies, but I love children and would take good care of you."
Pyro looked up a bit at the pony who called herself Sirenia Dreams, a small smile on his face. "I do not seek for riches, or for anything of worth or value as far as materials are concerned. If you are sure you want to take me in, I will not hesitate to argue."
Sirenia looked up in shock at the six year-old's comprehension and extensive vocabulary. She quickly tossed her mane and came up to the bandstand. "Shall we go home now, or would you rather stay for the whole meeting, hon?" she gently asked, her voice melodic and comforting.
"It does not matter to me. If you don't mind so much, I can either stay or go, with the choice being yours." That was all that was said of the pony this, his eyes not meeting hers completely, but a small smile still stuck on his face.
Hacksign stepped up in front of them, and looked about the crowd, as if she indeed had a right to choose. She wondered, who would have the best technology or, in the end for her, the best toys.
Sirenia wondered if there was just a little something she didn't know about this young pony, and had a split second of regret taking him in. But she rid herself of such a foolish thought. 'He probably would like to stay and make sure his friend is taken care of, but doesn't want to put me out,' she thought. "How about we stay Pyro, and just see who your friend goes home with." With that she beckoned to the young lad to come join her down in the grassy knoll. The queen then stepped up again, and went about introducing Hacksign. "This young lady's name is Hacksign. She is... a bit of a handful, as you will be able to tell if you look at my gardens." Many a chuckle could be heard from the crowd. "She's sweet though, and doesn't MEAN any harm. She's also amazingly talented with computers. I would simply suggest that a family who knows how to 'deal' (she said with a wink) with unruly children take her on.
Yeah and, you better have some good stuff!" Hacksign went on to call at the spectators. "Like really really big and cool computers, and none of this stuff called "toilet paper" The stuff is evil, I swear it! And..." she thought. "Oh yeah. And a big yard with all kinds of neat things I've never even seen before, and ooh - high-powered, gigantic thingy's that go really really fast!" She smiled sweetly.
The crowd honestly had NO idea what to make of this impertinent little girl. They had experted a contrite young pony who would do anything to find a home, any home. And yet here she was making demands. Two ponies were having a quick discussion though. They were Forte, a pink female pony with a blue mane and tail, and Chip, a green Big Brother pony with chartreuse hair and a chipmunk symbol. Finally they seemed to come to an agreement. "Your majesty, we would like to take little... er... Hacksign. We have three children of our own, one of which is perfectly behaved and her age. I have two old children... Julio, the boy, and a teenaged daughter, Minnou. I know how to spank a naughty bottom well enough by now, and could quite easily take her in. Besides, we could use some computer work done," he said with a wink.
Hacksign blinked, unsure of some of the words they said. "Eh? Spank? What is spank? And what bottom? Bottom of what?" Obviously, the child had indeed grown up in the woods, as seemed to be her manor. However, she just shrugged, figuring it was another of their technical terms used, another toy in which she could find happiness with. "Sure, I'll go with you. But - you do have really really cool toys, don't you?" She had to make sure.
Chip, as well as half the crowd couldn't suppress their laughter. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'if she's as bad as I've heard, she'll find out about what a spanking and bottom is all too soon for her liking.' Finally he managed to quit long enough to say, "I'm sure you'll find plenty of fun things to do at our house. With three kids... and especially Minnou who is your age, you will won't be bored." He feared deeply though that she would find just TOO much fun in their nice, neat home. 'She'll just have to take a larger portion of chores if she doesn't behanve,' he reasoned, and ambled up to the bandstand to pick up his new charge. The queen smiled in understanding, and said, "Okay, I thank Sirenia and Chip's families for helping these two orphans. Come by the palace tomorrow to sign the adoption papers if you still want to take them on," And with that the meeting came to a close.
Hacksign ran up to Chip, hopping up and down with excitement. "So can we go home now? Huh can we can we can we?" Once again, she was introduced with another word she did not know: chores. She couldn't wait to see all these new wonderful things she had, well, never seen before. And now she would have brothers and sisters? They could have fun with her too!
Pyro smiled, happy that Hacksign had indeed found a family. He himself knew, or at least he thought he could get along well by himself, but it was nice to hear that he was actually accepted somewhere... anywhere... even if he did feel a hint of skepticism by Sirenia Dreams.
The next morning, Hacksign yawned and stretched, only to find herself in the oddest of places. "Huh? What the..." her gaze fell about the room, complete and utter confusion settling in.
Pyro, upon hearing Hacksign stir, fluttered his eyes open, awake. "Hmm? Hacksign..." he was quite tired, and halfway awake at the time.
"Hey where are we?" Hacksign asked to her friend. "This place is... weird." In the shortest terms Pyro could muster, he told Hacksign what he could. Hacksign listened intently, understanding every last bit. "So... we're not alone..."
Pyro nodded. "No, not at all..." Hacksign smiled, and leaned over to plant a small kiss on Pyro's cheek. "Ok, you sleep then."
Pyro did not have to be told twice as his eyes fell closed, his mind drifting back away to sleep.
Hacksign got up to the best of her abilities, finding it annoying to see wires and such connected to her. Stumbling, she took them all out, and immediately fell off the cot she was lying on. Hissing, she rubbed at her head, mumbling all sorts of words one so young should not know. She then blinked, looking directly in front of her. She didn't know what it was... but it had a shiny red button. "Cool..." licking her lips, she approached the button.
Not seconds later, Hacksign went flying out of the clinic on what seemed to be some sort of vehicle. Bashing through everything that got in her way, she hooted and hollered with excitement. "YEAAAAAAAHHH!!!!! I LOVE THIS VALLEY!!!!"
The alarm that always sounded in the valley to alert that the ambulance was in use went off at exactly 7:06 am. Little had Hacksign known that a simple red button was the ejector for the emergency vehicle. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop it since she knew nothing about what she was on.
Slither came out in his night cap, still looking extremely groggy. Why on earth the siren was sounding he couldn't figure out... until he looked over to Pyro, who was jumping up and down on his cot.
Pyro had heard the siren immediately, and frantically had gotten to his feet in reaction. However, his mind had forgotten that he was currently on the cot, and his feet were not ready for the slippery substance. So, slipping and sliding, the pony fell of backwards, knocking his head on the hard floor. He hissed, rubbing his head, but stopped when he heard Hacksign's cry. His eyes going wide, he raced out the door, only to see what he had dreaded: Hacksign riding on something he had never seen before, looking as though she were having the time of her life.
"AH HA HA HA!!!! I AM HACKSIGN, AND I LOVE THIS WHATEVER IT IS!" She had figured out how to honk the horn, and was commencing to make her presence known.
Pyro's face straitened, and he ran in front of the vehicle, his body poised. "Hacksign, stop that now!" he called.
"I wouldn't even if I could, Pyro!" Hacksign called in joy.
Pyro nodded in understanding and, when the vehicle came close enough, he jumped. He flew high into the air at a speed that almost made him look as though he were flying, then landed into the empty seat by Hacksign.
"Glad you could join me!" Hacksign said with a mischievous grin. "Now lets see what else this baby can do!" And with that, she pressed yet another shiny red button, causing the vehicle to barrel down Dream Valley at over 100 MPH.
The two young ponies were having a blast, and gave no second thought to the vehicle's leaving deep ruts in the soccer field, or knocking over elderly Shaggy's prize-winning petunia pots. They kept going and going, leaving a path of wreckage in their wake. Many angry ponies were chasing them, but it was a futile mission; even those who could fly weren't able to keep up with the machine's 100 mph. Really, all of these things weren't too bad. It was when their little joyride led them through the palace gardens that they began to worry. But it didn't stop there. They went on into the main entrance of the palace, skidding this way and that, knocking over an expensive vase here, a marble statue there. Finally some adults thought to call ahead, and the many workers of the castle laid a trap of ropes for the vehicle. By this time they had slowed down due to hitting so many things, and with enough ponies holding onto the multiple ropes, they finally managed to bring the two misfits to a stop.
"That was fun!" Hacksign cried. "Lets do it again!" She turned to Pyro, who looked more than ready to attack. Hacksign noticed this, and smiled. "Awe, come on! Where's your sense of adventure!" So saying, she jumped on top of him, pinning him immediately to the ground. "Come on, I run, you chase! What do you say?"
"I say we have other, bigger problems now Hacksign." He looked up, his eyes resting on the many castle guards who looked, at that time, more than irritated. He gave a sheepish grin
Hurtle, one of the female guards that was wielding one of the ropes looked sternly into Pyro and Hacksign's eyes. "Just what do you think you are doing?" she cried angrily. "You've destroyed the entire castle garden and entranceway!"
"No we didn't," Hacksign argued. "All we did was knock over some vases, a few statues: nothing big!" She hopped up on the vehicle, leaning on a lever. "It's not like we took down the whole palace or any- woops." And there went the lever, leaving Hacksign to discover yet another ability of the machine: flight. And before she knew it, she was flying through the sky." YEEAAAAAAHHHHH THIS IS FUN!" she called.
Pyro sweat-dropped. "I'm beginning to wonder if medication wouldn't be useful here," he stated with a sigh.
"AH HA HA HA HA!" she immediately grabbed the controls, and began to steer the machine... right into the palace and through a window. Crashing through it, the machine stopped inches away from the Queen herself. Hacksign peeked out from it, and smiled. "Hey, nice room you have here! Did you have to work hard for it, or did you just win it or something?"
Queen Moondancer looked up from her record keeping in shock when the flying ambulance made a crash landing in her study. Glory wasn't there yet, although she was due any minute. Moondancer looked around for the cause of the problem, and quickly spied Hacksign in the mess that used to be the ambulance. "Who are you! It's to the dungeons with you! I will be here FOREVER trying to make sense out of everything you just messed up! 'Did I have to work hard for this room or just win it?' What do you think you little twit! I'm the queen! This is where I do my work with..."
"...me," finished the vice queen, who had just made her way through the mess. "Now, what's the problem here? Who are you? You can't be more than five years old! Come on out, I won't let Moondancer hurt you... she just has a quick temper is all.."
Hacksign growled, she did not like one bit the threat about being put inside a dungeon. "Hey I may be around 5 lady, but you've got SOME nerve yelling at me like that! Where's Pyro when you need him! I'll-" she stopped short when the vice-queen arrived, her words not so threatening. She grunted, and looked at the queen. "All right, but I'd find a queen with a better attitude if I were you!" And with that, she hopped off, turning around momentarily to look at the mess she made. "Heh. Well, think of it this way, Queenie!" she turned to the woman with a large grin on her face. "Now you can get a bigger window installed! Think of it - it'd be perfect for the summer days." She sighed. "Hey, what's your name anyway? Moondancer, right? Which do you prefer - Moondancer, or Queenie?"
"I PREFER," the twelve year old queen said, her voice steely, "Queen Moondancer when I'm being addressed by someone who isn't my friend. And right now, I can't say that you exactly ARE my friend"
Hacksign blinked, then smiled warmly. "Hey, what's the big deal? It's just a little hole!" She looked over again to the massive hole and the protruding vehicle, and grunted. "Well hey, nice meeting you anyway, Queenie! By the way, are you reeeeeally the head honcho around here? I mean, if I'm not mistaken... you're kind of just a kid. Or are you some kind of midget?" She flipped her mane back in a shrug.
"Hacksign..." Pyro entered just then with some of the guards, Pyro merely coming along to keep the rambunctious pony out of trouble. Hacksign turned around, and smiled as her friend entered.
"Hiya Pyro! I'd like you to meet Queenie! Queenie, Pyro! Pyro, Queenie!" she said her introductions.
Pyro snorted. "Nice to meet you."
"Am I to take it you know this little baby? Heck, you aren't more than a baby yourself!" The queen said to Pyro. "And no, I'm NOT a midget. I'm 12. That's when the queen always takes the throne. Who are you? Where did you come from?"
Hacksign sweat-dropped at the Queen's comment. "Feh. I may be a baby as far as age goes, but at least I'm not acting like one." She then smiled, lifting her head up high. "Awe, you're not still mad about the little hole I made are you?" She looked to the gigantic thing, and sweat-dropped again. "Ok, ok, so I'll admit it, it's not exactly tiny. So I'm not perfect, so sue me!" She sighed, smiling wide as though she had completely forgotten the predicament she was in. "So Queenie, you can actually become a Queen at age 12? Heh, I think I'll LIKE this place!"
Pyro sighed. "I'm just surprised to find others like us. And some... similar to us."
"Hey where do you go to pee?" Hacksign inquired.
Vice-Queen Glory knelt down to Hacksign's level. "I'll have Hurtle take you down to the bathrooms, Sweetie." She then turned to Pyro. "Now, I'm afraid we STILL don't know your names... things have been a little, ah, wild, to say the least, huh? Now, mine is Glory. What's yours, and that little hellion's with my guard?"
"Well then allow me to give introductions!" Hacksign said with a large grin on her face. "My name's Hacksign, and that's my buddy Pyro. To put our life story short, we met up when we were really young, and kind of just lived on our own. Didn't really know where we came from or anything like that. In fact, you're the first things like us we've EVER seen!"
Hacksign grunted. "Well anyway.... I gotta pee, so!" she turned to the guard. "Lead the way!"
"Okay. Well, we'll work on finding adoptive families for each of you..." Glory was then rudely cut off by a white and blue tornado that blew in.
As the thing came to a stop, Glory disgustedly saw that it was Moondancer's bratty baby brother, Cradle. "Mama says you better come downstairs RIGHT NOW Moondancer 'cause you're late for breakfast," he said tauntingly. At that moment he noticed the fact that there was another pony in the room. "Who are you? You aren't s'posed to be in here, Mama said no outsiders are 'llowed in here. Wait! You're funny lookin'. Baby ponies aren't s'posed to become Twice as Fancy until they're at least twelve! FREAK!!!!"
Pyro smirked at the younger one's mockings, taking them simply like a 3 year old calling down to his parents. "Better to be freaks than a child with a snappy attitude who has no respect for his elders." And he left it at that. Being called a freak, he could handle: it hardly bothered him, if at all. After all, at least now he found a place he felt he truly belonged: so much, it didn't matter if he was an odd wheel or not.
"Moondancer! The Freak made fun of me!" whined the bratty prince to his elder sister.
"Oh, I don't know," smirked the elder pony. "I think you had that coming. And he isn't a FREAK, he's just different. There is no LAW that states when a pony changes. Besides, he isn't an outsider; he will soon be a citizen of Dreamvalley. And going by his age, you two will be school mates. So I would watch your tongue. You just run down to Mommy and tell her I'll be there when I can. We have a bit of an emergency here now."
Pyro sighed deep, his eyes darting back down to the ground in wonder. He had no idea what would happen next, and with Hacksign's grand entrance, he figured it wouldn't be all too wonderful. However, if they dared touch her, well... no. He couldn't think of that. It made him wonder, however... if such chance were to swing his way, would he react in the only way he knew how in order to keep that friend of his safe? He could only pray not...
"Now, Pyro, isn't it?" asked the somewhat less frazzled Moondancer. "Hacksign should be back soon here. I'll bet you are getting hungry. How would you like to have breakfast with us this morning while we discuss finding each you and.. uh... Hacksign, a home. As well as how we're going to make up for the MESS you caused... I know... it wasn't your fault... but still... I think we're having pancakes. How 'bout it?"
Pyro managed a small smile, his eyes still focused on the ground beneath. "Yes, I would like that. Thank you."
Hacksign sighed as she made her way back into the room which had now become one giant window. "You know, some of these ponies creep me out! Giving me some evil kind of look and all! How rude! All I did was make a teeny tiny mess in the bathroom!" Or in that case, it meant causing it to bring fear and dread to janitors everywhere. Of course the little pony went nuts: she had never before seen toilet paper, and definitely not a toilet. So, she experimented, flushing every bit of toilet paper in the bathroom down, and when she ran out of that, she went to other things, which in doubt caused all the toilets to overflow. In attempt to clean up all the "yucky" water, Hacksign tried using the water from the sink. Needless to say, she broke off the top, and water from there was starting to spew out. When she exited the bathroom, she drenched every guard around her.
Hurtle had gently bit Hacksign on the ear and drug her back to the other ponies (Keep in mind, ponies don't have hands, and have learned to use their mouths gently with things like baby's ears) "What now?" sighed Moondancer at the sight of a very wet and slightly smelly Hacksign. "She, ah, claims to have never seen a toilet before, your majesty, and plugged it up... then broke the faucet in trying to mop up the mess. What this little brat needs is a good..." "breakfast." interjected, knowing full-well where Hurtle was going. She personally agreed with that thought, but it was true that this baby had been put into an extreme situation unlike any other she'd ever been in before. "Hurtle, take her into the queen's private bathroom and get Hacksign dried off. We'll meet you downstairs." Moondancer made as if to argue the thought of the terror messing with her private quarters, but bit her tongue and nudged Pyro out the door.
Pyro followed without question, silence falling each of his steps. When he arrived at the feast, he couldn't help but bulge his eyes a bit. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, foods of all kinds he had never even seen lain out before him for the taking. However, he became cautious. One thing he learned, is that things were always too good to be true.
Meanwhile, Hacksign, for once, did not make a mess, as Hurtle familiarized her with their "great technology." She soon joined Pyro at the banquet, her eyes meeting the same satisfaction as his, though without the sudden caution. "Whoa... ok, I'm in heaven officially!"
Seated around the table were Moondancer (the elder), Cradle, Majesty, and there were two places set for Moondancer and Glory. Servants were hurriedly setting places for the two new additions to the breakfast, although they had secret bets on whether or not the breakfast would go without a problem. All they had heard about this Hacksign had been negative thus far. "May I introduce Pyro and Hacksign? They will be joining our kingdom soon. We need to worry about finding them each a home."
"It's all right," Pyro spoke up in the midst of things. "We can easily find something on our own, we don't need to trouble anyone."
"Speak for yourself!" Hacksign said with a grunt. "I'm beginning to like all this "new technology!"
"Well, if you are talking about us finding you a new home, I'm afraid that's a must. You are way too young to live by yourselves. But I'm sure we can find two families who would be willing to adopt. The kingdom is quite large, so there should be no problem in just finding two, don't you think Glory?" asked Moondancer.
Hacksign looked down at the food, licking her lips hungrily. Too into the sweet scent that overflowed her nostrils, she ignored completely the discussion about a home, and began to practically wolf down her food. "This is good!" the pony cried with a whole mouthful of food. "Really good! This is heaven!" Her eyes slowly slipped to something that immediately caught her eye, something she saw through one of the windows. A computer. "Ooooh... what's that?" her eyes lit up, a bit of food dropping from her now gaping mouth.
Moondancer the Elder, quite disgusted by the sight of the messy young pony, took a napkin and roughly wiped her face. "That's a computer, Hacksign," replied Moondancer nervously. "But I'm not sure if that's something for you to mess with...."
"Nonsense!" Hacksign said. "It looks cool to me!" And before she could be stopped, she jumped onto the table, through the potato salad, and onto the ground, leaving behind her food prints as she entered the house and into the room.
Pyro himself was quite curious, and followed post haste after the excited pony. However, he was careful enough not to find himself leaving food trails with his hoofs. When he got inside the room, he found Hacksign sitting at the seat, reading what appeared to be a very large, and he guessed, very complex instruction manual.
"Mommy!" whined the little prince Cradle, "Mommy, you won't allow ME on the 'puter alone, and I'm your own son. You aren't going to allow her to get on it, are ya?" But it was too late, Hacksign had already gotten into the royal machine. The machine with the three supposedly impossible to guess passwords.
"This is definitely interesting!" Hacksign paused for a moment, looking at the door. With a mischievous smirk, she found a single button and, pressing it, caused numerous locks and bolts to lock down, shutting them, trapped, within the room, obviously a false-safe for whatever disasters could possibly happen. There was, indeed, no way to get in. Smirking Hacksign declared, "Well at any rate, this will give me more time to read without those busy-bodies interrupting me!"
Smiling, Pyro merely shook his head, lying down on the floor in complete rest, just happy to have a bit of peace.
A few hours passed, and by that time Hacksign had gone through the entire manual. Smirking, she then put her hoofs to work and started up the computer. It wasn't long before she got in - a few moments, in fact, as she found a way through the system. It was almost too easy! The computer controlled everything, she found quickly and, getting bored of being all locked up there alone, finally released the hatch to let the others in. When she did so, however, she forgot about them completely, and continued typing away at the computer, smirking as she connected each and every strand of errors it could possibly have, fixing them and, ultimately, making it run at a much faster pace.
Queen Moondancer quickly joined the younger pony, her mouth open in shock. Young Hacksign was typing away, oblivious to the quickly growing crowd. "How on Earth did you do that?" spluttered a confused Moondancer. "We've been having problems with that computer for ages!"
"Well didn't you read the manual?" Hacksign inquired with a grunt, her hoofs still tapping away at the tiny to her standards computer before her. She paused, as a grin filled across her face, one that the ponies were soon to recognize immediately as having an idea, whether ingenious or just plain insane, only time could truly tell. "You know," she started with much interest, "things could work much more easily and efficient if you just hooked them up to this single computer. Kind of like a master, controlling everything and anything within here." Of course, her true intentions were far different from that. Though, would they be any the wiser?
"I don't know…" said a slightly dubious Moondancer.
"Oh, get with it, Moony!" said Glory excitedly. "She obviously has talent when it comes to this. Surely she knows what she's doing."
Moondancer glared at her friend and co-reagent at the use of her pet name from younger years. She stood staring at the cursory movements of the young Hacksign, who, as of yet hadn't done anything to destroy something. This WAS a first for the young pony, after. "Alright, Glory, we'll try it, I guess. But if ANYTHING goes wrong, it's YOUR fault."
"Yes, your majesty," she replied in a mocking tone. "Hacksign, how difficult will it be to get this hooked up to everything else? And just how much stuff did you have in mind?" asked Glory.
Hacksign smirked, a look of pure and utter joy and chaos on her features. However, this went unnoticed by the others, and when she twisted her chair around to face them, she held nothing but smiles. "For me, a few minutes, actually. As far as "everything" is concerned, I would say from the alarms to the fire extinguishers: I could even install small computers within the tractors and what-not. This way if they're ever lost, they can be tracked, and they will only be able to be operated by certain ponies of your choice." She smiled wide, hiding her true intentions. After all, she was merely a child, and what does a child like more than to have fun? She was obviously good with computers, far better than any of them could even begin to imagine: and she would have her fun. Oh yes, she most certainly would.
Pyro meanwhile, sat in a corner, listening to all of this with pure silence, a whimsical look on his face. He knew of Hacksign's intentions, he knew her too well indeed. He also knew that there would be no way to control or contain her thirst for action and thrills.
"Okay, we'll give it a go, Hacksign, but not now, okay? I need to worry about finding you each a home for the time being," said Moondancer. "Glory, would you get on the kingdom's PA system and call a Valley-Wide meeting? Including all adult ponies… the kids can remain at home." Glory, who was looking forward to seeing what could be done with the computer was greatly disappointed, but she galloped off at full speed for the top tower of the castle. There was a PA system that, once activated, could be heard through the entire valley. Before long, the staticy announcement came out: "All adult ponies, please make your way to the Meeting Place. This is IMPORTANT. No excuses except for injuries or illnesses. Please keep the children at home or away from the Meeting Place. That is all."
Soon Moondancer, along with her family, was herding the two new ponies out of the still messy castle, and outside. Servants were busily trying to fix up the destroyed gardens, to no avail. They walked right on past these futile attempts, and made their way to a shady spot near a small pond, with peach, apple and pear trees all around. There was a small bandstand area, with two thrones seated there. Moondancer took her place in her slightly larger and fancier one. "Alright, you two. Just stay up here. DO NOT WANDER OFF. You need to make a good impression."
Glory soon came and joined the trio, and before long the entire area was one mass of ponies; pegasus ponies, unicorns, Brother ponies, Carousel ponies… you name it. "Okay, fellow citizens of Dream Valley. We have a bit of an urgent case on our hands," began the queen. "We have two new ponies in our land; both are six years old. They have no family left, and they have decided to live with us. We need volunteers to be their adoptive families.
Pyro was silent as the meeting went on, standing before the crowd like some sort of slave being sold off. He did not like it, to say the least. His face fell, though he didn't say a word. He knew that this was far from being sold like a slave, and his mind kept to that.
Hacksign on the other hand just looked about with curiosity. She didn't know who she would go to live with, she wondered if she really cared anyway? No, she finally decided. As long as she had that computer to play with, she would be happy as can be! And at any rate, if worst came to worst, she and Pyro could just leave… couldn't they?
Glory spoke up. "Okay, now this young man's name is Pyro," she said, gesturing in his direction. "He's six years old, as the queen previously stated, quiet, protective, and well behaved."
"Is there any particular way you want to go about this?" called someone from the throng.
"No, if you are interested in one of them, just speak up," replied Glory.
A turquoise Twice as Fancy pony with manatees all over her made her way through the congested clearing until she was up close to the bandstand. "Pyro, is it? Well, I live by myself right now, since my husband died in a freak accident. I have a set of twins your age though. My name is Sirenia Dream, although many just call me Sirenia. Would you care to come with me? I may not have as many riches as some of the other ponies, but I love children and would take good care of you."
Pyro looked up a bit at the pony who called herself Sirenia Dreams, a small smile on his face. "I do not seek for riches, or for anything of worth or value as far as materials are concerned. If you are sure you want to take me in, I will not hesitate to argue."
Sirenia looked up in shock at the six year-old's comprehension and extensive vocabulary. She quickly tossed her mane and came up to the bandstand. "Shall we go home now, or would you rather stay for the whole meeting, hon?" she gently asked, her voice melodic and comforting.
"It does not matter to me. If you don't mind so much, I can either stay or go, with the choice being yours." That was all that was said of the pony this, his eyes not meeting hers completely, but a small smile still stuck on his face.
Hacksign stepped up in front of them, and looked about the crowd, as if she indeed had a right to choose. She wondered, who would have the best technology or, in the end for her, the best toys.
Sirenia wondered if there was just a little something she didn't know about this young pony, and had a split second of regret taking him in. But she rid herself of such a foolish thought. 'He probably would like to stay and make sure his friend is taken care of, but doesn't want to put me out,' she thought. "How about we stay Pyro, and just see who your friend goes home with." With that she beckoned to the young lad to come join her down in the grassy knoll. The queen then stepped up again, and went about introducing Hacksign. "This young lady's name is Hacksign. She is... a bit of a handful, as you will be able to tell if you look at my gardens." Many a chuckle could be heard from the crowd. "She's sweet though, and doesn't MEAN any harm. She's also amazingly talented with computers. I would simply suggest that a family who knows how to 'deal' (she said with a wink) with unruly children take her on.
Yeah and, you better have some good stuff!" Hacksign went on to call at the spectators. "Like really really big and cool computers, and none of this stuff called "toilet paper" The stuff is evil, I swear it! And..." she thought. "Oh yeah. And a big yard with all kinds of neat things I've never even seen before, and ooh - high-powered, gigantic thingy's that go really really fast!" She smiled sweetly.
The crowd honestly had NO idea what to make of this impertinent little girl. They had experted a contrite young pony who would do anything to find a home, any home. And yet here she was making demands. Two ponies were having a quick discussion though. They were Forte, a pink female pony with a blue mane and tail, and Chip, a green Big Brother pony with chartreuse hair and a chipmunk symbol. Finally they seemed to come to an agreement. "Your majesty, we would like to take little... er... Hacksign. We have three children of our own, one of which is perfectly behaved and her age. I have two old children... Julio, the boy, and a teenaged daughter, Minnou. I know how to spank a naughty bottom well enough by now, and could quite easily take her in. Besides, we could use some computer work done," he said with a wink.
Hacksign blinked, unsure of some of the words they said. "Eh? Spank? What is spank? And what bottom? Bottom of what?" Obviously, the child had indeed grown up in the woods, as seemed to be her manor. However, she just shrugged, figuring it was another of their technical terms used, another toy in which she could find happiness with. "Sure, I'll go with you. But - you do have really really cool toys, don't you?" She had to make sure.
Chip, as well as half the crowd couldn't suppress their laughter. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'if she's as bad as I've heard, she'll find out about what a spanking and bottom is all too soon for her liking.' Finally he managed to quit long enough to say, "I'm sure you'll find plenty of fun things to do at our house. With three kids... and especially Minnou who is your age, you will won't be bored." He feared deeply though that she would find just TOO much fun in their nice, neat home. 'She'll just have to take a larger portion of chores if she doesn't behanve,' he reasoned, and ambled up to the bandstand to pick up his new charge. The queen smiled in understanding, and said, "Okay, I thank Sirenia and Chip's families for helping these two orphans. Come by the palace tomorrow to sign the adoption papers if you still want to take them on," And with that the meeting came to a close.
Hacksign ran up to Chip, hopping up and down with excitement. "So can we go home now? Huh can we can we can we?" Once again, she was introduced with another word she did not know: chores. She couldn't wait to see all these new wonderful things she had, well, never seen before. And now she would have brothers and sisters? They could have fun with her too!
Pyro smiled, happy that Hacksign had indeed found a family. He himself knew, or at least he thought he could get along well by himself, but it was nice to hear that he was actually accepted somewhere... anywhere... even if he did feel a hint of skepticism by Sirenia Dreams.
