Parallel's Path

Parallel's Path

Written by ZekeOfTheFreaks

For MinccinoandEmolga3, who gave me the inspiration I needed to make a second fanfic.

“Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you. You must travel it by yourself. It is not far. It is within reach. Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know. Perhaps it is everywhere - on water and land.”– Walt Whitman

A young filly, of a black coat, white mane, and green-blue eyes was walking into a schoolhouse to start her education. This filly was lost. Not physically, but spiritually. She had no parents, no home, and no reason to keep living except for living's sake. She was young to be starting school, but she had the intelligence of a prodigy. She also already had her cutie mark, despite not knowing why. The class teacher had noticed her, and was quite baffled by how similar she looked to him. Same black coat, same white mane, same green-blue eyes. If he didn't know any better, he'd assume she was his daughter, but the teacher's wife passed away before they could have foals of their own, so he knew this was impossible. He saw how lonely the filly was, so he approached her.

"Excuse me, little one, but what's your name?" he asked the filly.

"M-my name? I'm... Parallel." the filly replied, sensing the teacher's appreciation for her.

"Where's your mommy and daddy?" The filly started weeping. "Oh, is there something wrong?"

"Oh, uh, you see, I don't have any parents. I'm an orphan, and I don't have a home." The teacher was shocked. A filly so young, coming here on her own will, without anypony to care for her. He felt nothing but concern for her.

"What happened to them?"

"I don't really know. I can't remember anything that has happened to me. All I can think of is that they either died or disappeared mysteriously." The teacher was amazed that a filly her age could still be alive after having to fend for herself for who knows how long.

"Well, if you want, you could always live with me. I don't have anypony to live with either." Parallel gave a grin, knowing now that she would finally have somepony to call family.

"Thanks, um, Mr..."

"Mr. Equality. But if you want, you can call me Daddy."

"OK, Daddy." The two hugged, and the class watched as they shared their first moment of bonding. Some were happy to see the two sharing such love, while others, being the immature foals they were, reacted in disgust. Parallel noticed Equality staring out the window, and asked,

"Uh, Daddy, who are you looking at? I don't see anypony out there."

"Oh, it's nothing. Just thinking about my family."

The school day had finished, and Equality had walked Parallel to his home. The filly was feeling pure joy, as she had no idea what it felt like to be in an actual home. She was feeling very hungry, which should come as no surprise, because finding food for herself would have been hard, living on the streets. Equality decided to make her a dandelion sandwich. He had never made food for foals before, but he learned how to make food after his wife passed away. He made the food for Parallel, and she quickly devoured it. Who would have guessed a filly as lonely and sad as her could eat like Twilight Sparkle? The two spent the rest of the evening reading books to each other. They were both highly intelligent, so they could read the most complex books with great ease. Night eventually fell, and Parallel became very sleepy. Equality showed her a room where he said she could sleep. She couldn't be happier to finally have a real bed to sleep in. She got into bed, and smiled at Equality. As she yawned, she said,

"Thanks, Daddy, for taking me in. I know I might seem like some stray filly to you, but I appreciate everything you're doing for me." Equality walked to her, and said with a smile,

"Parallel, I know you're more than just some stray filly. I noticed the sense of emptiness you had in your heart the second I laid eyes on you. I could tell you were alone in this world. You needed somepony to grow up with. Plus, in a way, you remind me of myself when I was your age. I also started school at a young age, and got my cutie mark very early. We also look like we could be father and daughter. We have the same coat, mane, and eye colors. Also, I lost my father before I was born, and my mother passed on when I was just growing up. I know we've only known each other for less than a day, but the fact that we got to meet the way we did, it just feels like fate. I'm sure you think of me as some gift from Celestia, but I feel the same way about you. You're special, Parallel. You're that missing part of my life that I had been desperately searching for, even if I didn't realize it until we met. I love you, Parallel." She was crying tears of joy. She knew there was honesty in his words, and she couldn't feel happier to be with him. He gave the filly a kiss goodnight as he walked out of the room, and she quickly dozed off. His eyes gave off a rainbow glow, and he realized that this filly would be even more significant to him that he could possibly imagine. She was more than just a daughter.

The next morning, Parallel had woken up, feeling quite energetic. She went to find Equality, and found him still sleeping in his bed. As she grinned, she yelled,

"WAKE UP DADDY!" The stallion was startled, as he had never been woken up by an energetic foal before.

"Oh, it's you, Parallel," he said as he sighed in relief. "I almost had a heart attack."

"Oh, sorry, Daddy. I was just wondering, shouldn't you be working today?"

"Ehehe, well, not really. You see, it's the weekend, and school is closed on the weekends." The filly had no idea that school wasn't in session every day, or what day of the week it even was, since she didn't live by a schedule. "But, tell you what, I can take you to the park, just around the corner, and you can play with the other fillies and colts there."

"Oh, that sounds like fun. Can we go now?"

"Well, hold your horses there, Parallel. I just woke up, thanks to you, and I haven't exactly had a chance to freshen up. Come to think of it, neither have you." Indeed, neither of them had even cleaned themselves the night before, they were so caught up getting to know each other. "How about we both freshen up and get something to eat first? I'll take you to the park afterwards." The filly nodded in agreement.

After cleaning themselves and having breakfast that morning, Equality and Parallel walked to the park together. Being the homeless pony she used to be, Parallel had wandered around Ponyville before, and knew her way around town. When the two got there, she had already found a couple of other colts to play with. She dashed to see them, introduced herself, and they started talking. Equality, feeling the sense of pride a father would seeing their child make their first friends, decided to sit on the bench close to him. He heard another pony walking toward him, and he couldn't be happier when he heard their voice.

"Wow! So that's your new daughter, huh?" The female voice beckoned to Equality. He knew who this was.

"Cheerilee? Well, hello. What brings you here?"

"Funny story. One of your students saw me walking by as he went home, and he told me what happened between you and that filly of yours."

"Oh," the stallion chucked, "was it one of the immature ones, or--"

"No, it was one of the happy ones. He told me that you decided to take her in, since she had no home, and I must say, I'm sure that must make her very happy, and your family very proud." Equality remembered seeing his family winking at him out the window back in the schoolhouse.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Parallel had been talking to her new friends for a few hours, when she saw five stallions, two pegasi, two unicorns, and an earth pony, standing in the distance, as if they were all friends. She got up, and tried to walk closer to them. As she finally got a clear view of them, her eyes gave off a rainbow glow. She couldn't help but feel that she would see these five again, she just didn't know when. Equality and Cheerilee, who had been watching her approach them, ran to her, trying to keep her safe. Equality then spoke,

"Whoa there, Parallel. You don't want to talk to ponies you don't know, especially adult ponies." Confused at who the mare standing next to him was, she replied,

"Well then, who's she?"

"Oh, this is Cheerilee. She was my teacher when I was your age. I took over her teaching job after she retired." Happy to meet her, Cheerilee crouched, and raised her hoof to say hello. Parallel responded with her hoof, and they smiled at each other.

"Hello, Ms. Cheerilee." The mare was happy to meet her. Parallel wanted to ask her father about the five stallions. "Hey, Daddy, do you know those five stallions over there?" Equality looked at them, but they did not seem familiar.

"No, Parallel. Why do you ask?" The filly was not sure how to respond without sounding too bold, so she responded bluntly,

"I have to meet them." Surprised by this, Equality sheepishly responded,

"But, Parallel, I don't know who they are. Cheerilee doesn't know them either. Why do you want to meet them all of a sudden?"

"It's just... well... I sensed a, how do I say this, a connection of some sort when I saw them up close. I feel like they will be a big part of my life." This sounded absurd to the two adult ponies, but Equality didn't want to turn down his daughter's first request.

"Alright, I'll walk you to them. Stay with me, and I'll talk to them." The filly agreed to this. Cheerilee also decided to tag along. The three started walking to the stallions, but as they got about halfway there, all five started to leave. The two pegasi flew away, the unicorns had used magic to teleport away, and the earth pony ran off. The filly was very disappointed.

"Aww, and we were so close, too." The filly started moping, and almost started to get tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Parallel," Equality replied, "but, you know, now that I've seen them up close myself, I have a feeling that you'll be seeing them again, I just know it." The filly was sure that he knew what he was talking about, so she dried her eyes, and smiled. Suddenly, the two colts she was playing with came to her, and one of them said,

"Hey, Parallel, we're heading home." The filly didn't want to see them go, but knew she had no choice.

"OK, bye guys. Bye Rocket Boost. Bye Woodwind." Suddenly, the two colts looked at Equality, and recognized them. Rocket Boost said,

"Mr. Equality? Wow, nice to see you here. I see she's with you." Feeling awkward, since he failed to recognize two of his own students at first, he responded,

"Oh yeah. Rocket and Woody. You two sit in the front of my class. You're heading out?"

"Yeah, we gotta go home. It's nice to see you. You too, Parallel." Woodwind responded, as the two walked off with their parents.

"Well, what do you know. You're only in school for a day, and you've already made some friends. Great for you, Parallel." Cheerilee commented.

"Oh, thanks."

"Well then, I think we should get going. It's almost lunchtime." Parallel hadn't even realized how hungry she had felt. The same went for the two adult ponies.

"Hey, Ms. Cheerilee, could you join us for lunch? It would be a great chance for me to get to know more about you."

"Well, I don't really have any big plans for the rest of the day, and I am getting hungry. Tell you what, since you two are doing so well, I'll treat all three of us to lunch." The father and daughter were happy to hear this, especially since Equality realized he forgot his wallet. The three walked to the nearest restaurant, and enjoyed the time they spent together, as well as their meal. Cheerilee left to go back home, as did Equality and Parallel. When they got home that evening, Parallel asked her father,

"Daddy, remember how you said that I'm going to see those stallions again?"

"Oh yeah, I did say that/"

"And you know how I don't really have any memory of anything before we met?"

"How could I forget that?"

"Well, I know what I want to do with my life now. You see, when I saw those five stallions, I think I had some sort of vision of the future. I saw myself grown up, although not as big as you, and they were all standing with me, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I feel like, if I get the chance to travel the world, I will in fact get to see them again."

"That sounds like a great idea, Parallel. But, you're kinda young to be going off on such a journey. However, I can sense your ambition to see them again. Tell you what, if you can stay in school for a few more years, I promise I'll let you go out and see the world. Who knows? Maybe by doing so, you'll learn something about where you came from." The filly knew this meant she'd have to wait until she grew up a bit more, but in her vision, she did seem a bit older, so she agreed to this. For the next six years, she lived with Equality, and the two worked together to allow her to grow up to be the strong, smart mare she needed to be in order to go out on such a journey.