Chapters How did things get so strange for me?
Why me?
Where would I go after all this?
Would my family be okay?
These were just a few of the thoughts that zoomed through my head as I snuck into the gas station with my disguise on.
Compared to the usual pit stop locations from the world I was used to, this was quite unfamiliar to me, to say the least. Outside the building, there were things called "gas pumps", and I was completely oblivious as to how they worked. From what I understood about them, they were made to give fuel to the vehicles here in exchange for currency. That much I knew for certain. But when it came to actually using one, I had as much idea as my sort-of mother did.
The inside was filled with other humans. I could tell they were humans because they were similar in body to me. They walked on two legs, had skin rather than fur, and even all wore outfits not unlike the one I was wearing right now.
I had myself covered up in as much clothes as I and my family could gather. I had a big coat on, helped by the fact that it was chilly outside, sunglasses, a "baseball" cap(as it appeared to be called in this world), and rather baggy jeans. In all respects, it was a pretty ridiculous get-up, but in terms of keeping myself hidden from those who might be looking for my family, it did the job well enough.
I went along the aisles of snacks and candies, looking for things for us to eat for the time being before we started making our way further to a more suitable hiding place. We had been running low on food and drink for a while, but thankfully, we managed to scrounge enough of this world's currency to buy some more.
I grabbed several bags of chips, enough to sustain us for a few days. I managed to grab hold of some sodas and juices from the fridge section, and even made sure to get some sweets to satiate one of my mother's friend's sweet tooth. Thinking about her, I reminisced about the times I had spent with her, trying to help her bake for her job, eating some of her cupcakes, and watching her gulp down entire cakes in one bite. As a result, I wondered about how much things had changed since then in such a short time, and whether or not we could fix things....and whether I had to play a big part in it all.
There was only one cashier working at the counter at the moment, so I made my way toward him. At least, I assumed it was a male. He didn't seem to have the grace and caring aura that I usually associated with a female. Behind his back, I could see a wanted poster that had been put up displaying me and my family, and it made me more glad that I was covered up as much as I was. Upon seeing the large amount of food and drink I had in my arms, he raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Whoa there, that's quite a lot. You must be a hungry guy. Or are you on some kind of errand?" he asked me, clearly trying to make casual conversation. From his voice, I concluded that he was indeed male.
"A little bit of both, I guess," I responded shyly. I was glad that this guy had tried to make jokes out of something like one person buying so much, but I didn't really know what to say. When it came to strangers, I typically found myself unable to think of anything to say to them. It's thanks to this that it was difficult of me to make friends without some heavy encouragement.
The cashier's smile faltered a little at my lackluster reply, then awkwardly said "Well, here's hoping that you get your money's worth, at least." He began ringing everything up, and I watched the money total go up as he did so, slowly getting more and more worried that I wouldn't have the money to pay for all of it.
"And your total is....$19.97."
I brought out the money from my wallet, sifting through the paper bills in my hand and counting them. From what my mother told me, this was the currency that this world used, and it was very simple to use. Unfortunately, it took me a while to get used to the way it worked, with the different coins with names like "pennies, dimes, nickels and quarters", and how they added up to a whole dollar.
Thankfully, the money I had brought out added up to $20, which would leave us with only three cents in change. Paying for the snacks, drinks and candy, I made my way quickly out of the store before the guy could ask me any more questions, whether it be what I looked like under all the clothing or where I was from. I really didn't need any more pressure than I was facing already, nor did I want to risk exposing my family and getting them in trouble.
Around the corner of the gas station, there was what looked like a nondescript van that I made my way to. It was when I opened the back door, the food nearly falling out of my arms, that my family greeted me back.
"Oh, thank Celestia you're back. I'm starving!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, rubbing her belly with her hooves.
"Did you get any candy? My sweet tooth is BEGGING for something...well, sweet!" Pinkie Pie begged, licking her chops at the thought of getting to eat candy.
"I'm just glad that he didn't get caught. Remember, we need to lay low while we're making our way back home," Twilight proclaimed, writing some notes down on a piece of paper with a pen she was levitating.
Fluttershy was silent as she picked out the food she liked, although I could tell from her look at me that she, like Twilight, was glad to see me alive and well. Rarity was too busy trying to sew the materials we found into good enough clothes for all of us on the off chance that we lost the van/carriage and had to travel on foot...or hoof, in their case. Applejack was in the corner, staring blankly at seemingly nothing, clearly thinking about everything she had been forced to leave behind, worried whether she would see any of it again. While these ponies weren't blood related, I still considered them all a part of a family that I had come to know and love over the years.
The inside of the van looked practically nothing like one. Rather than the metal walls that you could associate with one, the inside of this van looked rather like the back end of a horse carriage, and we could even see outside just in case someone tried to inspect us and we had to hide. I thanked Celestia that Twilight knew a spell that could disguise the horse carriage and have it run like a human vehicle.
Now, at this point, fellow human who may be reading this, you might have several questions on your mind as to what is going on. Questions like "How can this human be part of a family when he isn't even a horse?" "What are they on the run from?" "How can a human be so ignorant to the ways of the world other than what was told to him through word of mouth?" "How did they get to this situation in the first place?"
In order to answer those questions, I must start from the beginning of the story, when I was found. But just to get this out of the way: the start of my tale isn't exactly....normal.
Author's Note
Welcome to a story that I had been planning for a while now! I have the general outline for it planned from beginning to end, but it might take a while to get chapters out. Enjoy this intro to the story, and feel free to leave constructive comments, telling me whether or not I can improve and on what!
Author's Note
This is a revised version of the chapter. I deleted the old version because, to be 100% honest, I was not too happy with it. Hope this version pleases you, in any case.
Found (Revised)
14 years ago...
Night Owl.
I was always associated with that name for as long as I could remember, mainly due to me functioning better at night than during the day. For some reason, however, the name had always struck me as a bit odd. My guess is that it had to do with the fact that I wasn't an owl. I know, it's a strange thing to be bothered by, but considering my species, being called this as my permanent name never sounded quite right to me. Then again, I would usually think to myself, Mom's name was Twilight Sparkle, and she didn't look like neither a "twilight" nor a "sparkle", so I suppose I don't have room to complain.
But I digress.
To give the most accurate account of what happened to me while I was a baby, I can only give you the account that Mom gave me once I was old enough to comprehend words. I sometimes wasn't the best with memory anyway, but my babyhood was always a blur to me. So here's the best account that I can give to you as to how I was found.
Princesses Celestia and Luna were walking down the Canterlot Gardens, enjoying the daytime air that Celestia herself so graciously bestowed on the world. They conversed much like two sisters would: jokingly condescending, but loving all the same.
"If you ask me, sister, your sun is a touch too hot for my tastes," said Luna in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Oh, really?" Celestia replied with a smirk. "What if I told you that your moon was too cold for my tastes?"
They looked at each other with rather serious expressions, then broke into fits of giggles. It was during this jovial act that they became aware of a crying sound in the nearby bushes.
"Luna, what do you suppose is with that crying?" Celestia asked with an air of concern in her voice.
"Oh, good, you hear it, too. For a second there, I thought I was going mad," Luna replied, relieved that she wasn't at any risk of going to the nut house.
Celestia went to investigate the crying sound, Luna following closely by. It was when they pushed the bushes back that they both let out a gasp.
It was most certainly a baby. They knew that right away from the crying. But the species of said baby was....quite frankly, something that Equestria had never seen up until that point. The best way they could describe it was a chubby monkey that had been shaved of all its fur, save the fur on the top of its head. It was wrapped up in a blue blanket, and its face was screwed up from the crying it was taking part in.
For a few moments, Celestia and Luna couldn't say anything out of shock. But then Celestia levitated the baby with her magic horn.
"What is it?!" Luna cried over all the wails.
"I don't know!" Celestia shouted back. "And don't yell! You'll only upset it more!"
Celestia thought of what could be done to calm a baby down, but she didn't think that any of it would apply to this particular species of baby. Just to be sure, she tried soothingly nuzzling the baby's face with her muzzle, and to her and Luna's surprise, that helped calm it down until it was hugging her face gently.
"Sister," Luna said concernedly, looking around them, "I don't see anypony around here that could be its parents."
Smiling a little from the hug the baby was giving her, Celestia chuckled and said "I'm sure they'll turn up at some point to get it."
"How can you be sure? For all we know, they could have just left it here to die."
"How about this? We hold the baby for about two weeks and wait for its parents to arrive and take it back. If they don't, then we might have to figure something else out."
Luna looked unsure of this, but replied with "I suppose....it's the best option we have.....I'm still not sure about this."
"I'm sure it will turn out fine," Celestia told her consolingly.
Although still wary of the strange circumstances surrounding this, Luna nodded in agreement, and they both headed back to the castle to begin caring for it.
"Oh, I just realized," Luna said suddenly, "we don't know the gender of this infant."
"Hmmm...you're right. You check," Celestia ordered, holding the baby in front of Luna with a half-smile.
"Why do I have to check it?"
"You insulted my Sun, so you have to check the baby's gender."
Luna begrudgingly took the baby with her magic and lifted the blanket. Seeing the private area and grimacing as a result, she gave it back to her sister and said "He's a male. Now never make me do that again."
The Sun Princess giggled quietly. "All right, all right."
"But what should we name him?"
"Luna, we're not going to keep him. He must have his parents looking for him right now."
"I know, I know, but...just in case, you know?"
Celestia wondered for a moment why Luna would want a baby to look after, but dismissed it for the moment as her sister trying to reconnect with others after her thousand years on the moon.
"Well....if his parents don't come for him and we have to decide what's best for him....I suppose we can decide a name for him."
Luna smiled to herself as they continued making their way home.
Like I said before, the start to my story wasn't what you would call "normal". An infant of an at-the-moment indeterminate species found by two alicorn princesses with no sign of where his parents were or where his kind lived. His future, as of that moment, was uncertain. All the two princesses knew was that they had a baby to take care of.
They hoped that, at least, it wouldn't be too difficult....
"WHY IS IT STILL CRYING?!"
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW, LUNA?!"
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT YOU DON'T KNOW?!"
I had been crying for 10 minutes straight. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't THAT much time, but anyone who's ever heard a baby cry for that amount of time will tell you that it is rather grating, to put it lightly. Princesses Celestia and Luna had been trying their best to try and calm me down through any means they could think of with such noise echoing off the walls of the castle. They had tried making funny faces to get me to laugh, rock me to sleep in their forearms, even checked if I'd...soiled myself, for lack of a better description, but none of those were the problem.
One might think that Princesses like them would know how to raise a child, but even with the short amount of time they had spent with me, they could tell that taking care of a baby was much different than ruling a nation. Their subjects at least had the ability to deliver cognizant speech, so they could communicate what they needed the Princesses for. But with nopony to take care of this strange being, they had to learn first-hoof how to take proper care of one that was unable to talk.
Celestia groaned from the frustration. "I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW HARD THIS IS," she yelled to make sure that Luna could hear her over my cries. With a sudden gasp, she turned to her sister. "MAYBE HE'S HUNGRY! GO GET A BOTTLE OF MILK!"
With a succinct nod, Princess Luna flew to the kitchen, leaving Celestia with the crying infant. Through all the wails, the Princess of the Sun tried to think about what species I was. You can't be a monkey , she thought. You don't have anywhere near enough fur. It then occurred to her that....she had indeed seen something like me before. She couldn't focus enough through all the noise, but she could swear that I looked familiar on some level....
Before she could think any further on the subject, Luna burst back into the room, a bottle of milk held in her hoof. Celestia grabbed the bottle as quick as she could and had me start drinking. Almost immediately, my wailing had finally come to a stop, and my eyes slowly drooped closed.
"Phew! Glad that's over. Any longer, and I probably would have had to resort to earplugs," Luna said exasperatedly. She looked over to her sister coddling the now-silent toddler, hoping for a response. But the Sun Princess was busy looking at the baby, lost in thought....
"Something on your mind, sister?" Luna asked, slight concern showing in her tone of voice. Ever since her time as Nightmare Moon, it had been difficult for Luna to integrate herself into today's society, including her ability to properly show emotion. Therefore, it was very hard for others to hear anything other than a formal way of speech from her. But Celestia was able to notice the concern, and she smiled a little at her sister.
"Oh, nothing, dear Luna," Celestia said wistfully. "It's just....while you were gone, I was thinking about what species he could be...."
"Yes, sister, we know it's unidentifiable."
"No, it's not that. I think....I think I CAN identify it. I can swear I've seen something like him before, sometime in the distant past. I'm just not sure where...."
Celestia tried to imagine where she had seen or heard of this type of creature before. She hadn't read about them in any of her books. Then again, those tomes only covered everything in Equestria and the lands beyond. Maybe there was some other world that he came from....
Sticking true to their plan, Celestia and Luna had to keep an eye on me for two weeks, waiting for my parent or guardian to claim me back. It would not happen, of course, but that didn't stop the alicorn sisters from getting a first-hoof crash course in raising an infant.
The sisters would alternate every day over who would look after me, so that one day I would be with Celestia, the next day with Luna, et cetera. Not only did this give them an equal amount of time with me through the following two weeks, but it would give me two different parenting styles to become acquainted with.
Princess Celestia, as described by her subjects, is a very motherly authority figure. She shows legitimate care and concern for the denizens of Equestria, while also trying to guide them all in the right direction. That being said, she isn't above being stern and just with her punishments, giving each pony the proper consequences for their actions. This infinitely kind yet fairly just nature seemed to carry over to her parenting skills.
On the sixth day of my stay with them, I had been placed in a crib that Celestia had acquired shortly after my arrival. She and Luna had to leave for a while due to royal duties, so I was all alone in my crib. By the time they got back, however, they found that I had managed to climb out of my crib and grab a jar of cookies that had been sitting on a nearby table.
"Sister, the baby is out of his crib! And he's eating our cookies!" Luna cried. "What should we do about it?"
Princess Celestia stayed calm during all this.
"Why, it's simple. We just make the crib bars higher and give him a little time out," Celestia said simply.
Luna looked at her sister with her eyes narrowed.
"R-Really? That's it? No slap on the wrist?" Luna asked, confused.
"Luna, he's a baby. At his age, a slap on the wrist would be too harsh."
Luna sighed. "I suppose."
"You still have a lot to learn about the ways of the world, Luna," Celestia informed her as she lifted me up with her magic and put me back in my crib. "What you suggested would be more for a filly or colt that did something bad, not a little baby."
Luna sighed again, even deeper this time. "You are right. As usual."
After making the bars higher with a spell of hers, Celestia looked back at Luna and smiled a little. "Oh, come on, Luna. Keep trying. You'll get it right eventually," she said jokingly.
For a second, Luna looked back at her with anger, but soon after, her face contorted into a giggle. "Yeah, I suppose I will. And when that happens, you'll finally be proven wrong on something."
Both sisters laughed at their little jokes, and even the baby laughed along, despite me not really knowing what was going on at the time.
That night was another crying session. It was past midnight, and the princesses were particularly exhausted, giving them all the more reason to get me to sleep. This time, however, none of their usual methods weren't working. I wasn't hungry, thirsty, soiled, or anything like that. This time, it was because of a nightmare I had, and one that I would go on to have many times later in life. At the time, all I could remember from it was fire, explosions, and some distinct faces whose owners I had no idea of. Needless to say, it was terrifying for a one-year-old.
When the alicorns found that their usual methods weren't working, Celestia decided to try to calm me down with a new method: a lullaby that would stick with me for the rest of my days.
"Hush now, quiet now It's time to lay your sleepy head Hush now, quiet now It's time to go to bed
Drifting off to sleep Exciting day behind you Drifting off to sleep Let the joy of dream land find you
Hush now, quiet now Lay your sleepy head Hush now, quiet now It's time to go to bed"
As she sang this, I slowly calmed down until I finally fell asleep, sucking my thumb.
Luna was surprised at how easy it was.
"How did you know to do that?" she asked in amazement.
"Well, that's the song my mother sang to me as a foal. I thought that would be the best thing to do in this situation," Celestia replied with a shrug, placing me back in bed.
"In any way, it seems to have worked. You might be better at this than I thought," Luna complimented, impressed.
Celestia smiled.
In the interest of fairness, it's best to give you an idea of how Luna's parenting skills were during her assigned days. Whereas Celestia was the most motherly towards me, the best way to describe Luna's demeanor was "distant". She seemed to put her royal duties first and foremost, while I was more of a secondary priority. What Celestia had said about Luna needing to learn more about the ways of the world was absolutely true. Even when she focused on me, her actions were more passive than anything else. If I cried, the most she seemed to do was to pat my head gently and mutter something along the lines of "There, there."
From this, it might seem to you that she didn't care about me in the slightest. This was simply not the case. Not knowing how a lot of the world works comes with it the lack of knowledge about how to calm somepony. She was simply ignorant as to how to do it, though her attitude when she focused on me was as kind as she could muster.
However, when she didn't have any work to do at the moment, she enjoyed her time with me much more, though again, not in the way that Celestia did. Luna clearly had a love for pranks, and she loved to see me laugh at them along with her. On day five, there were a whole line of guards coming down the hallway. Luna, chuckling madly, threw a banana peel right in their path, and a few seconds later, a whole crowd of guards had fallen over into a pile. Luna and myself laughed loudly at the hilarious pileup. On day nine, Celestia had been taking a nap, and Luna had taken this opportunity to put whipped cream on her hoof and tickle her nose so she would wipe her face with it. The mere image of such a dignified figure having whipped cream all over their face was enough to get us laughing, as well as a five-minute time out for me and a little scolding for Luna. On day thirteen, one day before the end of my time with the alicorns, Luna had put a bucket of water on top of the door, waiting for somepony to come in and the bucket to fall on them. One of the guards came by and got the joke played on him. While we were both told off by Celestia, Luna and I shared a look that, at the time I didn't understand, but now I've come to realize was a sort of kinship between us.
On day fourteen, the final day with the alicorn sisters, it was pretty clear at this point that nopony was coming to claim me as one of their own. While Celestia rocked my crib with me laying in it, Luna was pacing back and forth, wondering what the heck was going on.
"Do you think his parents died?" Luna suggested.
"I don't know," Celestia replied.
"Do you think they abandoned him?"
"I don't know."
"Do you think there was a reason?"
"I don't know!"
Luna recoiled a little at the sudden short outburst that her sister just had, surprised that she had showed herself to be frustrated. Celestia took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry, Luna. It's just....I don't know what's going on. It irritates me as much as it does you."
"Well, we can't take care of him forever. We have a nation to run," Luna said sagely.
Celestia sighed. Her sister was right. It was hard enough to have done this for two weeks while trying to juggle their duties. Imagine what it would be like for as long as the child would live on! Celestia thought of a subject of hers that would be a fitting parental figure to look after this baby, but she didn't know if any of them would be capable or willing enough to do so. She thought of Mr and Mrs Cake, but they had twin foals to look after, which was already a hoofful for them. She thought of Granny Smith, but she had three grandchildren to care for, as well as having to run Sweet Apple Acres. Having a baby would only add to the stress.
In thinking of possible candidates, Celestia finally thought of the perfect fit. The one who would be the most willing to take on the job. The one who would have the best experience in this sort of thing. The one who I would eventually go on to call Mother.
She took out a letter and began writing.
"Dear Twilight Sparkle..."
Author's Note
Finally! After a while of not updating, I finally got another chapter done! Tell me what you think of this, as well as the story so far! I'm perfectly open to constructive criticism. ^^