The stallion rode through the end of the tree line, passing a sign on the left side of the path with ” Property of Silver Mane “ written on its surface. Marking the area beyond the opening as his own. Silver Mane’s home resided in a huge clearing with green grass flowing in the breeze, the dirt path running through the middle of the field. The path led up through a stone bridge that went over a stream teeming with fish, past the bridge there was a two story mansion made out of red brick with a smooth stone roof. The mansion consisted of sixteen windows and two balconies on the front and back of the house and two oak wooden double doors sat right in the middle of the first floor on both sides, with the sides having twenty windows on the first and second floor, all of the windows adding up to a total of seventy-two windows. To the right side of the house was a blacksmith's forge with weapons and armor strewn about and to the left side was a stable able to hold two horses with room to spare. But what was more impressive was the training field in the backyard with a variety of dummies, archery targets, and practice weapons set up in an arranged fashion.
The story behind him obtaining this property was after he got promoted from corporal to captain at age twenty five for the experience and skills he had in the battlefield and the war table by possibly the highest authority in equestria, Princess Celestia. After the promotion he was granted the choice of any home in equestria for him to own. So after looking through file cabinets of property's, Silver mane found out about an abandoned estate in the everfree forest; Immediately, he got to taking ownership over it for the obvious idea that any enemies who were to enter the everfree forest filled with danger without losing most or all of their attack force just to get to him is low to say the least. Then there was the fact that whatever is left would have to fight against Silver mane, one of the most powerful captains of his generation, Now that would be foolish. They would have better luck fighting an Ursa major which Silver has done. But although that is a huge perk there was also a smal guilty pleasure he has as well with this home.
It was away from civilization. By that that he means, while Silver Mane likes his duties and carries his rank with pride. Over the years he has lost friends, family, but most importantly, his wife . So when he gets a break from the military for a week or month in his manor, he can retreat out of society and reconcile himself, preparing for the next day. He won’t have to worry about food because he has years of food stored and when they were delivered, an above average level spell was cast on the food which gives it the ability to last even more years without rotting or spoiling, looking as if they were just bought fresh from the market. He won’t have to worry about being bored because of the library of books he could read from, as well as the training ground where he can keep himself from getting rusty in his fighting. But even though he has all this land and a good stable life where he was respected and feared by many, he still feels empty inside.
Why? he doesn’t know but for some reason this child in his arms has been able to make him feel less empty by just looking at him. Adding yet another question to his mind about this child that he will have to answer when he gets inside.
Silver parked his horse in the stables before walking his way up the stairs to the house, baby basket carried carefully in his arms, reaching the door and unlocking it before entering to be greeted by a big open foyer with white marble floors with a big oval shaped rug that showed a clash between the sun and the moon, referencing the battle between princess Celestia and her sister princess Luna with tall clear white walls that reached up onto an opening with platforms sticking out with supports under them indicating the second floor. the walls had multiple paintings hanging on them, as well as trophies that silver mane found himself. Further ahead was a door which led to the backyard/training grounds, flanking the doorway were two sets of stairs that led upstairs. Along both the right and left walls were mutiple double doors. As well as some hallways. He headed into the room with a kitchen where he set down the basket with the baby in it on the wooden dining table with four seats on each side with the end of the tables having one seat each, all of them combined to make ten seats available.
As he sat down in a chair he then pondered about the child and why he was in the everfree forest? Especially when a human hadn’t been seen since the princesses were only children, that was over a thousand years ago, but now here he was. A living, breathing human baby boy. But why? Why after such a long time has a human baby boy appeared in the everfree forest. In a basket no less, like someone placed him there? So many questions were swirling in his head, Don’t get him wrong he has experienced a lot of in his thirty years of living and knew a lot about the world and what it had to offer, but this takes the cake. The only thing he could think of is to contact Celestia about this. the question is what would happen to the kid, will they take him away to experiment on him or will they kill him outright. He knew that Celestia wouldn’t do that, she wasn’t like that, but the scientists and paranoid politicians would. Humankind weren’t exactly a huge friend of pony folk but he had no choice, it was his duty to report this find and was the only way he can figure out what was going on and what to do.
So with a quick look at the child one last time, seeing that he was asleep, he got up out of the chair and headed up the stairs to the second floor. He then walked down a corridor to a door with the word “study” emblazoned on it with gold letters, he entered it to lay eyes onto an oak desk , shelves of books in the room and a window with brown curtains opened to let the light in. He sat at the desk and laid eyes on the table to find multiple papers on it; Varying papers include: reports of from military, messages from politicians, and overall unimportant things that he doesn’t have time for right now , so he brushed them to the side and grabbed a scroll from a desk drawer that he proceeded to write on with a quill.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I give you this message to tell you something important has happened, Though I am unable to write about what it is in fear that someone else read this other than you, so I request that you come quickly to my estate. This discovery is too important for anyone to know at this moment.
From your loyal captain and friend, Silver Mane.
He rolled the scroll up with a blue ribbon with the enchanted royal crest onto it before retrieving a match from the same drawer, lighting it on fire causing it to disappear with a green wisp.
He didn’t have to wait long before a scroll magically appeared in front of him, grabbing it before it can fall. He opened the letter to reveal it’s contents:
Dear Silver Mane,
Although I am curious why you can’t tell me what it is so important that you can’t write to me through a message that is sent straight to me, you have have not lead me wrong before so I will prioritize this as important. I just need to finish a meeting which will last another hour, when it is finished I will head to your home in haste.
From your princess and friend princess Celestia
The man nodded before getting up out of the chair and headed back down to the kitchen, Only to stop in shock as every object in the room that wasn’t nailed to the floor was floating in the air, moving every which way, ranging from chairs, pots, pans, and even the table. He heard laughs and giggles, prompting him to look up to find the baby floating above his basket that was also floating. Acting quickly he jumped up high and grabbed the babe eliminating the threat of him falling. After landing on the ground as if he didn’t jump around twelfth feet into the air he sighed in relief before he looked down at the baby to find the child's sky blue eyes glowing a brighter blue than it already was.Then just like that, the glow of the child’s eyes went away causing everything that was floating to fall with a loud crash although was able to catch the basket before it can hit the ground.
Silver eyes widened in surprise before growing a grin. This wasn’t the first he seen something weird. What he saw just caused him to scratch his head if anything, but it did cause him to look down at the child with a raised eyebrow and say, “You are just full of surprises, aren’t you? “
The kid giggled before sucking his thumb, making the hardened war veteran brighten up inside as he smiled at the child’s antics, chuckling he carried the child out of the kitchen after swiftly cleaning it up towards the living room, “Okay you silly colt, lets get you someplace where you can play while we wait for someone really important” He said to the child, the babe giggling in response. Eliciting another chuckle from the man. They then both entered the living room, where they will both wait for the one one who will decide the fate of the child
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One hour later
Silver waited anxiously for the arrival of Celestia, to the point of having to resist chewing on his fingers. He knows he is not supposed to be nervous, he was a warrior who have went up against things that would make lesser men cry and probably soil their pants and even then he wasn’t this nervous. He met many dignitaries of many types including the princess before because of his rank of captain of the royal guard, so he wasn’t nervous about meeting Celestia.
No, he was nervous about what Celestia would do when she sees the human baby. The member of a race that almost completely collapsed every empire in the world of Equa. As he looked at the child who rested peacefully in his arms, he didn’t see a monster, he saw an innocent being with a future, no different from every other colt or filly. Then when he saw the power that the child held in him, he knew that he would be doing great things, either good or bad. While yes, every other baby pony has it’s own random magic fluctuations like earth ponies who have sudden immense strength, pegasi with their sudden flying, and unicorns with their random magical swings. This child has levitated much more stuff in more varying sizes, than any other unicorn filly or colt that he has seen with ease.
He knew that this child was a special case from what he has read on humans in his school years, humans with magic weren’t uncommon. In fact every human was able to do direct magic just like unicorns, although each human having varying amounts of magic stored inside them, but just like any other sentient species in equestria, they were able to heighten their magic with training, skill, and experience, and for the magically unable, they could use things such as staffs to channel their magic, but from what he had read on humans, when they have magic fluctuations, they weren’t that different from what happens with unicorn foals.
So with him being a human and a special case at that, this child if he was found out about by the public, he wouldn’t doubt a good few people, not only ponies but other races alike, would want to wipe out whatever is left of the human race, no matter how much of a good reason they had to do so.
There was a knock that echoed through the manor, jolting the soldier from his thoughts. Knowing it was Celestia he put the child down, stopping for just a second to rub on the child’s rusty brown hair before leaving. He reached the door, taking a large sigh before opening it, revealing the ruler of equestria herself, Princess Celestia. Celestia stood at a height of six foot eight with perfectly white fur and a mane with blue, green, pink, and purple in the style of a rainbow that seemed to blow in a non existent breeze, her eyes the color of pink with a long horn that extended from her forehead, . She also wore a fitting long white dress with gold rims where the sleeves ended at the elbows and her skirt ending at her feet, where gold slippers resided on, and finally a gold crown with a pink crystal at the center, there was also holes in the back of her dress for her now folded wings on her back. All of this combined with her seemingly flawless figure and rather noticeable chest, made for a beautiful yet powerful leader, with an aura that screamed benevolence and power.
Celestia smiled before speaking, “It’s a pleasure to see you again captain, I have not seen you since you went to vacation here one month ago.”
After shaking her hand Silver responded, “I know, I apologize for that, I just needed some time alone to recollect myself” A tone of sadness in his voice
Celestia grimly frowned, knowing full well what he meant, “I understand, I am sorry about your wife, she will be missed by many but not forgotten”. she said with comfort and grief, having a long span, and living over one thousand years, she knew well what it is like to lose someone you hold dear.
“Yeah.” Silver mumbled out before smirking and saying, “Anyway, on the topic at hand, before I show you what I found, can you keep your guards outside?” he said while looking behind Celestia at the soldiers who stood diligently behind Celestia in their gold armor and gold hilted swords. He counted eight soldiers in rows of two behind the ruler and further back over the bridge were four carriages and one royal carriage(Think man carried carriages with wheels) , each one able to hold four people with four pegasi soldiers leading each carriage. Each landed carriage being guarded by another eight soldiers, two for each carriage along with the assigned Pegasi pilots. The sum of all soldiers equaling thirty six soldiers.
“Of course.” she turned to her men and ordered, “Guards, the captain and I have private matters to attend to, so stay outside, keep guard, and don’t enter the home unless in a dire situation.” The guards saluted before four soldiers positioned themselves at both entrances of the home, two for each door and the other four patrolled around the home in groups of two opposite of each other.
Silver Mane felt pride at the men’s discipline and knowing that he can trust these soldiers with the princesses life. Since he was the one who trained them in the first place and he knew that some of these soldiers might turn into drill instructors in the future. If that is so, he would expect no shortage of great men in the military of equestria long after his time has come.
He stepped to the side to let the princess in, “After you.” He said with respect.
“Well you certainly hadn’t lost your manners, have you?” Celestia said humorously before walking in, Silver closing the door behind her.
“I am the captain of the royal guard where I lead multiple soldiers into battle, and I fought multiple dangers by myself more times than I can count. The only thing keeping me sane is humility and you can’t expect to keep your morality when all you do is fight. So by taking vacations and having conversations with people from time to time and just relax and think, you can keep that humility, I learned that important lesson from years of experience and from one certain mare.” He chuckled,” She was always a free spirit, she may be intolerable at times but she always has something wise to say when it comes to living and without her I would have been a empty shell of a soldier.” He said with such gusto that everyone who heard him wouldn’t believe he was lying for a second.
Celestia replied with the same amount of confidence,”She was something indeed, not only was she a capable and ferocious fighter, she had such kindness and had wisdom way beyond her age that you would think she was decades older than everyone else.”
“You couldn’t be anymore correct Celestia” Silver agreed full heartedly, they finally arrived to the door that will lead to the living room, knob in hand as he turned to Celestia,”Okay, before I open this door, I got to assure you that behind this door is something that will probably change the world if found out, so until we settle things out no one other than me and you should know about this, do you understand?”
Celestia nodded,”Yes I understand, whatever that is on the other side of the door is to be kept secret for now, I promise it by my name and crown.” she replied respectfully, now more curious about what all the fuss is about.
After gaining confirmation, Silver nodded before opening the door for Celestia to see a basket on the living room table, where Silver then walked over to and pick up something from the basket covered in cloth.
Celestia gasped as Silver turned and showed her a baby, but not just any baby, a human baby! Memories rushed back to her of the humans. Memories of what happened and what they did. “Where did you find him?” She nearly shouted out in a voice of confusion and apprehension. Unusual for a refined princess such as her but to her humans are not to be trifled with or spoke about lightly, especially when they were almost responsible for the collapse of all the empires in the past.
“When I was having a trot along the paths, I was attacked by timberwolves which I took care of, no sweat, I heard a sound coming from the forest that sounded a lot like someone crying, so I ran quickly towards the crying to find three timberwolves surrounding this little fella in his basket, I took them out and brought this little guy here.” Silver replied from memory, waiting patiently for the princesses response.
When Celestia was finally able to recollect herself she responded,”Did you say he was in a basket, like he was placed there on purpose?” Celestia noted reasonably.
“Yes, but other than the basket and the cloth there is no other sign of anyone placing him there.” Silver answered truthfully. When he was in the clearing with the child, he did scout out the area before he left and just like he said there was no sign of anyone being there.
“Can I see him?” Celestia asked politely, wanting to get a closer look at the child.
“Of course, just be careful.” He said with a tone on the verge of pleading as he handed the baby over to her.
As the baby was sat in her arms, Celestia was able to get a good look at the boy. Her fear shattered as she laid eyes on the boy. She saw the baby couldn’t possibly be older than six months old, he had brown hair that shined from the light that breathed through the windows in the living room onto his skin, looking peaceful in his sleep.
The boy's eyes opened from his sleep and directed his blue eyes up at her, making her soften up more as his eyes seem to shatter her doubts and distrust, but it really broke through her barrier when he smiled and reached out toward her causing her to giggle and cuddle him, losing any beliefs that he could be dangerous.
“Who would leave this little angel alone in such a perilous forest as the everfree?” Celestia asked Silver Mane.
“I have no clue, but I think we should worry more about what we are gonna do about him before we worry about how he got there.” Silver suggested.
“That is understandable and I think I have somewhat of an answer.” Says Celestia, taking her eyes off the babe onto Silver mane.
“And what would that be exactly?” He questioned with an eyebrow raise, his mind freaking out about what Celestia will do.
“Well we both know we can’t tell the public about this, as people still haven’t forgotten about the human and what they had done and I am sure a good few will want to end whatever is left of a so called demon race before they can cause havoc again.” Answered Celestia, knowing full well the hate that people had for humans back then and even seen what transpired during human's existence, disgusted and ashamed what the humans did and what her people did.
Silver hummed in agreement, reading the books filled with lies and propaganda to trick the unknowing minds of the public about how evil the humans were. He even believed them at one time before he learned the truth from old books that were yet to be destroyed and burned temporarily given to him by Celestia. Brought from the most well kept secret storage that even he doesn’t have access to. The only ones who had access to it were the highest officials and authorities. All that he did know about this vault was that it contained the most powerful and crucial items in all of the world's nations and history, founded and maintained by all of the races. People had multiple theories about what was in this international vault but all of them in some way was related in saying that this vault held many secrets. People have said that is held knowledge and achievements that existed during the old times, others have said that it held recent accomplishments and knowledge that wasn’t released to the public. What was the most interesting and scary theory was that it held the creations of a millennia long dead race. Humanity. What did Silver think? To be honest, he thought all three. He wouldn’t put it past the international government, made up of national and racial governments such as the equestria government, and the griffon government, to keep things like this a secret, for good or bad he doesn’t know. ”I agree, so what are we gonna do?” He asked.
“I suggest you should take care of him” She replied.
“Wait what?!” He shouted confused before talking again in a normal voice with a hand on his chest,” Why me?”
“There are three reasons why you are the perfect candidate.” She said with three fingers up, counting him off as she went,”First reason is that you live in the everfree forest, where people are rarely traversing off the paths and even rarer for them to come back out alive, and people are not likely to trespass on your property without permission, second reason, You are the captain of the Canterlot royal guard, so you are more then able to protect him if need be, and finally the third and final reason, I've seen how you act around this child, you care for him.” she stated and before he can ask why, she interrupted,” I’ve known you for too long for me to not know how you feel, you feel protective over this child, he has grown on you over the day and I can tell that as days go by that he will feel like a son to you in no time, so there is no better reason for me to leave his safety to you, but It’s not my choice If I give him to you or not, that is yours to make.”
Celestia then extended her arms out with the baby towards Silver Mane and asked,” So what will it be, do you want to take care of him or do I have to find some other option?”
Once princess Celestia asked him that question, Silver mane’s inner being was in turmoil, one side saying yes because he can finally have someone to fill the empty hole that was in his heart and the idea of having a child was a wish that he had for a long time. While the other side says no because does he really want to have risk of hurting his heart yet again if he lost the child that he will be guaranteed to hold dear, can he possibly experience that pain again?
He was torn from his thoughts as he heard a chain of coos that originated from the baby and as he brought his attention to the baby, he saw the child looking at his grey eyes with his blue ones. A sense of longing was in them almost seeming to plead that he says yes even though it was impossible for him to understand what they were saying, but people had said that babies can still feel the situation and from the boy's eyes, he can tell this was the case. When their eyes had met, they showed understanding between each other and both knew they needed love. Silver Mane had to make a decision.
“Celestia” He said gaining Celestia's full attention,” I have decided and my answer is….”His glanced back at the child, the child doing the same before looking back up to Celestia,” Yes, I will take on the responsibility of raising the child and until we figure this out, I will treat him as my own.” He stated.
She smiled in response and responded,”Then it’s decided, from here on out you are responsible for this child and to treat it as your own.”
Silver then took the baby carefully into his arms, eyes watering with joy, his heart seeming whole again as she said those words, proclaiming the child as his. He finally has a boy to teach,nurture, and love. “Be assured Celestia, I will use every fiber of my being to protect this child and raise him to become a great man.”
Celestia smirked before saying,”Now that this is settled, I should head back to the castle to continue my royal duties and while I am there I will send the supplies needed to properly take care of the baby.”
"Of course…..” Silver responded before he remembered something,”Oh! I almost forgot to tell you that there is something special about this child that should be looked into.” He quickly said to Celestia.
“And what is that?” She asked curiously.
“Well when I left the kitchen which I had placed him there for a few minutes to send you a message, I saw this same kid lift tables,kitchen utensils, his basket and himself, so pretty much anything that wasn’t nailed to the floor was floating and I was wondering if you can estimate his magic level.” He answered, gesturing at the baby in his arms.
“That is something that should be noted, very well but I will have to touch his head to sense it efficiently, so may I?" She responded respectfully.
“Of course.” He said before letting her touch his head, her horn and hands glowing with an aura of pink around them.
She was silent for a few seconds before her eyes widened in shock,”That…... that can’t be” She whispered out with disbelief.
Silver was curious now,”What is it, what can’t be?” He asked cautiously.
“His magic level, its….. its at the level of a full grown unicorn” She responded slowly, not believing what she was saying.
“What?!”He responded with confusion,” The local infant doesn’t have a level that high except a alicorn.”
“I know, which is why it has become more important that you take care of him and as a captain you are the best option to train him to control it, with me assisting when I have time, and while you are at it, it would be beneficial to teach him how to fight and how to survive in this world while you are at it.”
“Okay, I will be sure of that and I also think in order for me to have my full attention on the child, I will have to retire ” Silver responded.
“Alright I will be sure to inform the military of your retirement, also while time goes on, I will be looking into this to find some answers as well but until then, farewell.” As she was heading out, she halted and turned to him,”Oh, before I go, what are you gonna call him, it would be productive to call him by a name instead of his race or gender.” She asked.
Silver Mane thought about her question, looking down at the baby and thought about what would be a good name,”Okay, let’s see, blue eyes, white skin, and rusty brown mane……wait, that's it!” Silver then looked back up to Celestia and said,”Celestia, I have the perfect name for him.”
“And what is that?”She questioned .
Silver Mane answered, "Rusty....Rusty Mane."