Odyssey in "Equitis Humi"by DaxnChaptersProlugueFirst notesThe DecisionMake room for the Culture Bomb...A day as the other....ProlugueSo, you want to know why I have a strange tattoo on my hand and I seem to be returning from a front line? Well, I don't know how much time you have, but if you have plenty, then I will tell you a very particular story, about how I went in another world with a tormented mind and came back with more knowledge and with a relieved soul. Now, the night before my coming to that world, I was with my few friends drinking some rice wine: we were discussing about our choices and regrets. In my group almost all complained that they didn't said "No" to some things when they were younger, like when they said "Yes" about doing a private school run by nuns. At the time I regretted only one thing: not having the possibility to pass that seven years of masked laziness that are called "Childhood" reading books: my mother forced me to have contacts with other kids, but how you could socialize, if you feel the others are too stupid to understand you? Why try to stop a kid from learning to read? I started to be misanthropic already to 6 years: after all, in your little mind, all works for cause=reaction, and this can mean that you will hate people because YOU think that they will try to grab you away form your favorite things, only when I felt a void in my life did I search for other people, and I was blessed by someone for not being attacked by anyone. Anyway, when I said my regret, everyone in the room said that my mother's method was a bless for my future, but I doubted it. After almost on hour, we disbanded, and I returned home, going straight to bed, and here is where my arguing started: now, because I know that you don't want to know ALL the thinking, I will just say briefly that I ended up wishing to restart my life, knowing all the things that I learnt in my life, for then try a different approach: the next day, I was in a hospital. I don't know how it happened, or how it could be even possible: a moment before was sleeping in my simple bed with my young man body, and the moment after I was in the hospital, welcomed by the EGC sounds and in foal's body. Yes, you heard right, foal, but you will know more during the story. When I woke up, I had already recognized where I was, but I didn't know, plus, my eyes hurt so I could not check better what happened while I was "asleep". Few minutes later, I heard the sound of hooves on the ground, Well, hard hospital slippers, no doubt I thought, but soon I was proven wrong. A soft, calm voice started to talk:"Good morning, sweetheart, are you awake?You slept for six hours... can you tell me something about you?" I tried to move fast my hands to do the military greet, until I found that my "hands" were stuck and seemed fingerless, but I supposed that were just stuck, so I simply answered "I am Aeneas Verne from Holystone, from who I have the pleasure to receive medical attention?" "Nurse Redhearth, here to serve, anyway, do you rember something about the incident?" "No.. I only rembember i went to sleep in my bed and waking up here..." "Right, you might have a trauma amnesia. Anyway, you were found near a the Apple's orchards at 02:00 p.m. by a group of mares, they saw you laid down with an hurt look and with two or three bleeding wounds, we transported you to the hospital and did the appropriate medical exams: you broke your left hoof and a rib; you will stay here for a week. We tried to find your parents, but in vain, but don't worry: we will find them soon" "Wait... what? Hoof? What I am, an horse? Plus, I am adult and I have the money for pay the recovery!" "Don't be silly, you are still a foal" That said, I found the force to open my eyes, and what I saw shocked me: the Nurse was an equine, a pony for the recod sake, I was a pony and the whole room seemed overall bigger and childish-looking than the usual paint works in a hospital; what I saw caused me to faint. Some time later, I opened my eyes, but this time the Nurse seemed a bit more worried, and was talking with an equine medic with a weird mane who looked like a muffin. I tried to read, but I was shortly afterward been interrupted by a whisper coming from a near place: I rotated my look and saw an orange filly with a purple mane, her wing was bandaged and several minor wounds covered her "torso". She said "Hi! I am Scootaloo, who are you?" "Greetings, I am Aeneas Verne, what do you desire?" "Well, might ask a question? I suppose that you are a 4 years old, but you seem.. grew up for your age: you can read, you are very formal in talking and you seem too much calm about the whole situation, even if I didn't heard any reassuring word coming from anyone from your bed: how?" "Well, I am a quite smart and mature foal for my age, but this thanks to the training that gave to me my family: never fear anything but the fear, be polite with everyone you will meet. I can read only because my parents were librarians", very big lies, but was better to disguise. The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the horse doctor: while Scootaloo tried to bury herself under the blankets in fear, I simply rotated and give a sign of bow, then the doctor talked to me "So, it seems that your parents aren't aware of your disappearing: we are trying to find them, but we didn't found them, could you name and describe them?" The situation was critical, so I recalled the rules for pretend to be a lost child while you are not: alright, first: try to give a very approximate description basing on the things that you found during your stay; second: if the situation gets hot, fake a faint and an amnesia or say that you passed part to parent in the same way. After recapping it, I was going to use the approximate description, but I feared a "person mistake", thus, causing only more trouble. I said:"Well, I don't think that you can contact them... they are far away from here, and I was in the hands of another mare... and it seems that she beat me while I was asleep and left me in the orchards." "Oh dear, do you know the name of that mare ?" "No, mostly because she looked after me for two days..." "And I suppose that you cannot even describe her... anyway, how unfortunate, but don't worry: once your parents will return, you will return to them, for now, you will live with a foster family" When the medic went away, the Nurse placed my medicines on the tray along with a glass of water: I drank and ate the pills in one blow. First notes.The same evening, I had my first touches of the pony culture, starting from food and their magic. Yes, you heard well, magic, in that world it exists and it is a daily fact, as I learnt quite awkwardly in my hospital stay. It was the half past nine when was time for dinner: at the moment, I was still trying to read a book without tear off the pages, it was an hard thing mostly because not totally used to use a bend hoof as well as a hand, plus, the fact that the newer book had five years or so didn't helped at all; thus I was so concentrated that I didn't saw anyone coming for serving dinner...or earing someone, for the matter, it seemed that the food just popped from nowhere in my tray. When I finally stopped to read, I saw of what my dinner was composed : a little pile of grain hay and parassitary grass “How in the hell I can eat this? My intestine is not totally herbivorous.... wait a minute! I'm an equine!”: that was my first thought about the food. My second thought was more a practical one: the fork and the knife were there... but they weren't any different from the “normal” ones, and that was meaning “can't use it without fingers"! I tried at first to grab them as usual, but I failed: the fork slipped from my hand every time, not matter how I placed the piece of cutlery, if placing it directly in the hoof, using the armpit for then acrobatically take the fork in the mouth or anything else . I heard a laugh coming from the Scotaloo's bed: I rotated my head, and saw him laughing staring at me. She said “You are very intelligent and yet you cannot eat for yourself?” “Yes, I can't, I mean: how I can manipulate THIS?” “You can use magic...” “Sorry?” “You can use magic for manipulate the fork! Don't tell me that you don't know how to use it: you are an unicorn after all.” “You know what? I don't know how to use magic! I never did it!” “So you can't eat anything without a “proper fork”? And what does it mean ?” “Yes, the fork slip in my hands, and the handles shaped like an hoof are my only way to use them! Alright, this mean that I will eat it without cutlery” And so I simply ate the whole dish placing directly my mouth in it, but then I heard Nurse Redhearth : “They didn't told you the manners about eating?” “They did, but I have no idea about using this forks, because they don't have an handle!” “You can use the magic, no?” “Sorry nurse, but I can't use magic!” “What ? Can you not use it? But you are an unicorn!” And so I assumed that the magic wasn't a Scootaloo lie... but it was still rude from my part nonetheless, plus, a new problem approached: how I could tell to her that in fake 4 years of life I didn't used magic AT ALL? The cover seemed blew up, but then I found a way to exit from it “I am sorry, but I didn't felt enough strong to use magic, thus I simply ate without cutlery.“ “Don't worry, but this should not happen anymore!”, then she left with an angry yet pleasuring look. The same night, when the lights were off, I started to practice magic: first I tried to lift off a feather right in front of me: a mint-colored aura appeared around it, but it didn't moved of a millimeter, so I said to myself : “Alright, try to give an order of moving: it might works” Again I tried to move it over a book on the night table: the feather was circled by the aura again, and with my mind I gave the order of moving on the book: it trembled during the moving, but at least the feather changed position. During the same night, I've learned to move a pen for write, take books and read them without the use of hooves and the fact that the aura is visible by everyone. In fact, while I was trying to write some notes about the past day, a night-round nurse approached: I could not tell what was her expression, but from the rhythm of the steps, it seemed that spotted me. I immediately stopped to write and closed my eyes, but it was too late: she arrived and said “Sleep, you can't read while the others are sleeping”, then she went away, and when her steps were only an echo, I started to truly sleep. The next morning, I woke up very early: even if I could not tell what time it was, the moon was still high in the sky and not even a sound arrived in my room; I started to think again about my condition, about how tell everyone that I wasn't a foal of four years but a young man of 17 years. My final list of to-do things in this world until an opportunity arrives where: 1 Exit from there 2 Get a roof 3 Get some info about the place 4 Discover why I was there 5 Escape from the dimension. Surely not an easy series of tasks, but they were the best case scenario, plus, they occupied enough time to almost see the sunrise, then for some reason the “Fortuna Plango Vulnera” started to play in mind, and somehow I felt the necessity of singing it at low voice. When I finished to sing it, I rotated my head, seeing another nurse incoming, this time her fur was yellow, her mane was ligth blue and her look was the one of unexplicable hatred against everyone. I did a forced smile on her, but she simply ignored it and said : “So, what's your problem? I don't have all day” “Nothing, I simply wake up quite early in my everyday life, what's the problem?” “Here the rise is at 08:00, thus, you can stand with your torso up only in case of emergency” Her obsession for the time and how everything should worked made me giggle in my mind, and an acid comment slip out my mouth: “So, basically, if I feel a pain in the torso and cannot hold it up I'm doomed? A pretty flawed system... place a bell maybe?” “So our young lad wants to fight, how about start to cool down with a punitive shot?” “And how about getting along about the fact that I am an early bird?” “The rules are these, and you must respect them” “As you wish... Dame Krankenschwester ”, then I laid down again with an angry face. An hour later, the rise arrived, and finally the yellow nurse let me have the torso up and ten minutes later she gave our medicines along with our breakfast: first I took the medications, then, using the “moving magic” learnt the night before, I ate my breakfast, who was composed by an egg and a cup of milk: not much, but better than nothing. The rest of the morning passed uneventeful, with me taking notes and reading and Scootaloo trying to get my attention.... for some reason that I never knew. After lunch, while I was repeating “O Fortuna” at low voice, two little fillies arrived: one was totally white and a purple-and-pink mane and was an unicorn, while the other had a yellow fur, a red mane and was a normal pony. They headed to Scootaloo and talked to eachother: I didn't cared much about their conversation, until... “Scootaloo, who is your roomate? He is reading a lot, and he is talking in strange languages: he seems the foal clone of Twilight Sparkle!” “Well, so it seems, his name is Aeneas Verne, he is a four years old, but he already reads and writes” “Does he like to talk? He seems an interesting foal, if you don't mind...” “No problem” The two fillies headed for my bed and said “Hi Aeneas! I am Sweetie Belle and she is Applebloom , nice to meet you” “Me too” “Scootaloo told us that you can read and write even if you are 4 and you can talk in unknown languages... how you can do that?” “Thanks to the education given by my family... until they went away and left in the hands of a mare who has abandoned me” "So you are an orphan ?" "Not really, I will just stay under another one's roof until they return" "In an adult's vocabulary, "Stay until they return" means "You stay forever" "Oh well, it isn't such a big deal..." "Do you have brothers or sisters?... Someone that could take care of you?" "Nope" "So why you are so calm about it?" "Well, why I should be worried ?" "You are alone! And you will live with a stranger family !" "It will be a good way to get prepared when I will live alone..." "But that will MIGHT happen in two decades, if not more!" "You are correct" I forgotten that I was a foal and not an adult... but the disguise was still standing. The discussion between me and Sweetie Belle was interrupted by the arrival of the time-obsessed nurse, who said harshly to them "Get out from here: the visit time has ended" I quickly answered "Yes, it has ended.... since 2 seconds! They can finish" "The time is up, so they must leave" "Dame Krankenschwester, you are too much obsessed by the time, relax and let them finish" "You are calling loud a shot" "Well, if I need, I will take it, but for what I remember, no intermuscular medicine was needed for me" "I will change the schedule for today and the next days" "Alright, shut up and do your work: you make me lose my cool" The nurse, who later discovered be called Nurse Coldhearth, grunted and gave my medicines, then she called an hospital attendant for change the blankets of my bed because she refused to do herself : a mare full of hubris, no doubt . The rest of the day passed without incidents, until Nurse Coldhearth exited with one of her ideas: "Dinner time, my little subjects!" "Scusi?" "I said that the dinner has arrived, pests!" "Thanks for the compliment! It honors me and her so much!" "Oh, you like so much the irony? Well, are you ready for an exemplar punishment?" "Do your worst! After all, I'm right" "As you wish...", then she went away, only for return with some soap and a bowl of water: I got what she was going to do, so I simply prepared my mouth for the "washing": considering that I had a similar punishment when I was 5, that didn't bothered me much. Nurse Coldhearth said to close my eyes and open my mouth, so I did: she placed her hoof in my mouth and started to wash it with energy: I spitted soap everywhere and tried one time or two to bit her hoof, but in vain, so I simply relaxed and waited for the end. The situation seemed bad, but I was saved few moments later by Nurse Redheart who almost broke the door and screamed : "YOU! AGAIN!How many time I've told you that YOU. CAN'T. PUNISH. THEM. WITH. THIS. METHOD. NOR. THREATHING. THEM ?" "He did sarcasm about a my statement!" "Was him gross?" "Yes, he said "That compliment honors me and her so much" !" "Well, you are too much proud of yourself, Coldhearth, you need to take it slow", then she watched me and said "Don't worry: just spit it, dearie", so I did. The night passed without incidents of any sort, thus there is nothing to note about it. The DecisionThe subseguent day, my awaking was welcomed by the first rays of the sun: seeing it as an opportiunity, I started to appoint the new things found the day before on my notebook, and meanwhile I murmured some parts of the song “Itaca” while doing so : “Capitano.. che hai trovato principesse in ogni porto E tu che hai visto il mondo Pensi mai al rematore che sua moglie crede morto.... Itaca, Itaca, Itacaaa La mia casa ce l' ho sopra il mare Itacaaa, Itacaa, Itacaa La mia casa ce l'ho sotto il mare E dal mare ci voglio tornare Dal maree Dal mareee. Capitano, tu che il tuo gran peccato fa sorridere gli dei. Se tu muori, sei un re che muore e qualcuno ti succederà nella casa . Quando io non torno a casa entran dentro fame e sete.... [...] Capitano, tu hai visto il mondo ma noi non l' abbiam mai visto. Dici che abbiamo esplorato tutto e vogliamo casa nostra, ma se ci fosse ancora mondo... sono pronto.. Dove andiamo?” The murmur attracted Nurse Redhearth, who came near me and said “All ok?” “Yes, nurse, I'm just an early bird, I hope do not disturb anyone while writing and murmuring” “Well, your murmur might disturb, but after all it's the half past seven, so they will wake up soon anyway.”, she watched around her, then she asked “What you were singing ? The text looks familiar to me...” “ I was singing “Itaca”, a song that talks about the nostalgia of our homes, and the desire of adventure and knowledge of many” “And why you were singing it?” “Because I maybe will never return home, but, at the same time, I will know more things than what I could study on the books...” Nurse Redhearth smiled “You are such a curious foal” I became red from the embarrassment. After I took my medicines, I started to read and sing at low voice again, however, I was interrupted by the arrival of a stallion : his fur was gray and the mane was white, cannot rember his name, but I rember that he was psychiatrist who was going to write my personal report that was given then to the people in charge to choose the candidates families. He asked many questions, but because I don't want to bore you, I will tell you the final part of the conversation : “So, Aeneas, if I got correctly, your family taught you to write and read before you could walk?” “Yes, it's true”, you know, it was a blatant lie for the most part, but it was true that I could read before speak: my brothers wanted me silent and thought that taught to me to read would be a great idea. “ Not a big surprise that you have a messed up relationship with everypony then : generally force the learn of something when you are barely more than a newborn causes damages to the mind, but I'm certain that isn't nothing of too much serious. Now, my next question is: did they taught you even all that things you know about so early? You sing in Ancient Equestrian, and that isn't an everyday thing” “Well no, my parents paid a private teacher just two months ago for teaching me all this stuffs : theoretically speaking, now I should be studying the political organization of Equestira ”, I swear, I tried a lucky guess about the name of the country because no books wrote by ponies were available. “Wow, a fast learner! Your knowledge is better than any other pony under the age of 30 that I met!” “If I may say so myself....” “A last thing: in this life of continued study, did ever met anypony that you could call “friend” ? I mean, all this study must occupy a lot of time...” I said with a voice between the scared and the sarcasm “No sir, I never met anyone that could call friend: the destiny set by my parents was of knowledge and discovery: they wanted to create a great magician that could change the world with a word, and this will mean that the friends are out of question”, after told it, the psychiatrist looked at me with a look between pity and surprise “So... you are saying that you never did what normally a foal do?” “Yes: no games, no light of the sun if not justified, no moving: just the light of a candle, a world map and piles and piles of books. I never missed that things until now” “I saw many kinds of cases, some more serious, some simpler, but this is off the record: a family that indoctrinate his son to be what they desire, and see him fulfill a destiny not chosen by him, this renters in foal abuse. I'm sorry to say that your parents cannot take you with them anymore: you will live with a foster family.” I could not care less, rather, I was excited, but I still acted “No! They didn't do anything of wrong! They thought that they could shape a great pony by just teaching to the “wanna-be” great one to be so” “But they broke the Foal's Rights : they broke the one of having a healthy ambient of living; the one of letting you play; the one of be an independent personality. Somepony breaks this rights because they are bad in many ways, but others just did it because they were enough intelligent to desire an higher condition, but still fool enough to want to choose the way for their son.”, then he went away When the doctor finished, it was time for the lunch, thus our dishes were already placed on my tray, while I was eating, Scootalo asked “What he say?” “He asked to me some info about my past life, like what I did during the day, what was my routine, traumas etcetera .” “I was that you were lightly crying: why ?” “I won't see my parents anymore: they are accused of foal abuse” “Oh, excuse me about that question” “No problem: talking about your problems helps a lot”. The afternoon and the night passed straight, thus, not much to tell. However, the next day was more interesting. After I woke up and I had my breakfast, I received a folder, containg the profiles of one family and two mares: Nurse Redhearth told that I needed to chose one of them. First profile : Family name : Apple Work: Farmers I didn't bothered to keep reading: “farmer” was, especially in that moment, spelling “doom” Second Profile: Pony name: Fluttershy Work : None (formerly) / Veterinary ( De facto) Desires adoption because : needs help in running her Animal Care Center and company. No way. Third Profile Pony name: Rarity Work : Cloth Designer Desire adoption because : wants someone to talk who has some culture. I took her: after all, my only other option was working with a Veterinary, not propely something of pleasuring for me. Few days after, it was the moment for the check x-ray : it was planned for after lunch, and before the procedure could be done, few pamplets explaining the way of work of the machine arrived to me, but I didn't read them. When the moment arrived, it was asked to me if I wanted to help in moving out the bed : even if I was unsure if really trying to walk on three legs, I felt enought sure to want to try. I slowly rolled into the bed's border, then I took a near cane and carefully stepped with the left foot on the floor, for then quickly place the above said cane on my wounded leg: it took a long time, but I was finally down. I clumsly moved to the waiting room, accompained by Nurse Redhearth who was trying to do not laugh, now, in a normal situation that will cause at least an indignation from my part, but at the time I thought that, after all, I was quite funny to see, considering how much I slipped. When we arrived to the room, the radiologist welcomed me and started to explain: "Now, we will took the pictures of your right leg and the chest while wearing this: don't worry, you won't feel anything", then I wore my lead apron and laid down on the bed in the middle of the room, but strangely enough nothing was over it, I wondered then HOW it could work, until I saw that, actually, the machine was just hidden in the ceiling. After the pictures were taken, I went down the bed and headed for the waiting room: all seemed normal, until... a scream of surprise arrived from the room. Caught by the curiosity, I went near the door and heard a conversation happening : "This. Is just incredible." "I've saw before fast healers, but were all grizzled athlets! This is just a foal who migth had his first bone injury in his life and it all healed in a week!". "I wonder what caused such a fast heal: maybe the diet? The genetic?" , then the door opened, and saw the Nurse Redhearth with a surprised face: she asked me to enter and did some questions about what I ate beforehand and stuffs like that. What I said shocked them: "Rice wine? What? Are you serious?" "Of course!" "Well, that's weird, I mean, they did allowed you to drink alchol?" "A little glass or so" "I don't know why but it seems that the wine coming from the rice has healing properties..." "Nah, it was just a big comsumption of cheese, nothing more, nothing less". An hour later, I was dismissed from the hospital and sent with a taxi to my new home. Make room for the Culture Bomb...After ten long minutes, the taxi arrived at the destination, the house of the mare who hosted me for the whole time: Rarity. When I saw the building for the first time, at first I thought to a misplacing by the driver: I tried to reply to the driver, but he said that the position matched with the chose destination, thus that was the place; I was going to ask if he was sure that the town where we arrived was Ponyville when I heard a voice behind me : “Aeneas! Why you are still there?” “I'm paying, just a second”, then I rotated myself and saw who was calling me: a white mare with a purple mane shaped like a whirlwind, who was accompanied by Sweetie Belle. I headed for them and greeted : “Good morning, I'm Aeneas Verne, I guess that you are Rarity, my benefactor” “Yes, darling. Would you like come in my shop and house? I want to offer you something to drink, over to make a tour of my house.” The first thing that I noticed was the absurd quantity of gems placed on the clothes who were in the shop: I wondered how much they were common or how much she is lucky, for find all this gems. The second one? Well, the relationship between Rarity and Sweetie Belle : while she was showing the “guest room” (AKA Sweetie Belle's room), Rarity said : “Well, I know that doesn’t fit very well for your habits, but I'm certain that...” Sweetie Belle arrived, stopped and then started to scream “Why my room is messed up, Rarity? I mean, didn't rember that there was a world map in my room, nor a copy of the Mercy of Michelangelo Buoncarota hanging from the seal...” “Sweetie Belle! How dare intrude in our discussion? You are such rude, such.. such...BARBARIAN!” “This is my room, sister, you can't do whatever you want with me!” “You must obey!”, then Rarity started to cry for no apparent reason. “So.. what's the deal?” I said “Nothing, she is the queen of drama” “Well, I guess that it was your room, I will sleep in the living room, no problem, or else...” “Or else?” “Do you have an extra mattress? I can arrange something in your room if you don't mind” “I think yes, but it's the one of when I was 2, I don't think that you could stay on it...” “I slept in a cradle until I was 3, mind you” “Alright Aeneas, follow me”, I followed Sweetie Belle in the cellar, took the mattress and tried to create something similar to a bed in the Rarity sister's room. Some time later, Rarity returned normal and said “So, what is the organization ?” “I will sleep in an arranged bed in the Sweetie Belle's room..” “Can I see it?” “Yes, follow me”, she went behind me, but soon as we entered in the room, her jaw dropped and she screamed “What is that abomination? That isn't a bed where anyone should sleep! No! Absolutely no! Tell me, it was a your idea?” “Yes, after all, I feel guilty to strip her of the room” “But I want to offer you the best!” “No need to show so much ξενία, I adapt to every condition” “As you wish...” In the evening, while I was giving a fast reading of an history book coming from the (poor) Sweetie Belle's library, I was interrupted by Rarity, who said “Aeneas, darling, would you like have a walk with me around the town? I will show you my dearest friends of mine” I didn't hesitated “Of course! I am free of going out now, why I should decline?” it was a bad acting, but the study of this world more scientifically could arrive after: for now, I decide to meet someone. After five minutes of walking, Rarity stopped and greeted a group of two mares: they answered and headed to us, while they were moving, I prepared my best feats of knowledge to show to them. The first to talk was a pink pony, who appeared from an absurd position “Hi, I am Pinkie Pie! Who are you? I never saw you!” “Oblivious, I lived imprisoned in my home for 4 years, it is not a big surprise that no one knew about me before” “Oh!! And what did you in the house? Did you threw parties or played or...” “I studied every possible thing the pony's knowledge” “Wow! Such a boring thing!” A purple unicorn said “Ehi ! What did you said about the studying? You know that you are influencing his psyche?” I said : “Actually, miss, the study was basically ALL my life: barely the time to be 5 months, and my parents taught me to read and write, and at 1 year, I started to study every day, with stops only for the restroom, the eating and the sleep” “You are saying that... you studied since you were one year old?” “Yes” “Oh...” Pinkie Pie said “See? He studied more than you in proportion.. but you are lucky, because he never threw parties” A cyan Pegasus arrived from the sky and said “I lost something interesting?” Rarity answered “Yes darling, you lost the arrival of Aeneas Verne, an orphan who studied since he was 1” “Is it true? Because I know someone that will kill for change her life this way for study more... Twilight, I guess that is your wet dream?” “Of course not! From what he told, HE DIDN'T EVEN SAW THE LIGTH OF THE SUN UNTIL A WEEK AGO!” “And isn't this how you live?” “No! I like the open spaces!” “Then why you live in a library?” “Well, it's my work, duh, it's more comfortable for me” “ That doesn’t anything, but I'd prefer end this now. Anyway, nice to meet you Aeneas, I'm Rainbow Dash the fastest flier in Ponyville, from what they told to me, you are a book worm for constrain: is it true? “ “Yes, after all, you don't pass four years of your life studying and doing it only that without begin marked” “Oh, well, so you will found a friend in Twilight Sparkle: she is a bookworm too”. After this phrase, other two ponies arrived: one was a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane, while the other was an orange pony with a yellow mane. When I heard their names, I've already recognized them: both were present on the list of the ponies who wanted to adopt me and where rejected in favor of Rarity. I said “Good morning, Fluttershy and Applejack, my name is Aeneas Verne, I am a 4 years foal studying since he was 1” “Oh.. hi.. Aeneas... I rember you.. somehow...” “Of course yes, Fluttershy! I rejected your and Applejack's offer of adoption when I was in hospital” “Uh... now I rember.. I hope that the request didn't bothered you...” “Nah, it's just as fine”. After the arrival of the last ponies, I chatted with them for two hours before returning home. The rest of the day wasn't anything special, but, as you can guess, eating with a style-obsessed mare isn't propley an everyday thing. A day as the other....The next day I woke up at the four o'clock because I didn't felt the need of sleep anymore, and I wanted to get some info before the dawn. I silently rolled out my bed and started to search in the dark a book that could be useful. It took me almost half an hour for find something of interesting : an history book, and all I expected but find that the history of Equestria isn't that different from ours... For reassuming: “Prima” Aka “Ur” : check. “Crystalism” Aka “Hellenism” : check. “First, Second and Third Protochangeling Wars” Aka “Persian Wars” : check. “Ancient Equestria Empire” Aka “Roman/Holy Roman Empire” : check. “The Diggery” Aka “Renaissance” : check “The Marecan Indipendence War” Aka “American War of Independence” : check “The Sisters War” Aka “The 30-years War” : check “The Bear Revolution” Aka “The Russian Revolution” : check “The Griffin-Minotaur War” Aka “WWI/II” : check And so on, thought I found out the leaders were every time the same during all history: at first I formulated the theory that, even if they did something similar to the democracy, they had a religion-state relationship similar to the Ancient Egypt one: the pharaoh ( called “Celestia” in the pony history book) IS a god, and when dies simply became the reincarnation of Osiris and lives on in the pyramid; then I went to see if there were a chronology of the sovereigns, just in case... and there was not: it seemed that the pony leaders never died. I was too much obstinate at that point to surrender, thus I dared to enter in the Rarity's room and see if one of her “Decorative Books” was an objective history book,one not “censored”, and I found it: “De Interanimalia Historia” I opened the book and searched for a chronology of the kings/emperors/dukes/whatever, and what I saw surprised me: the ponies have TWO TRUE GODDNESS WHO RULE ON THE COUNTRY! I stood petrified in front of the book: I mean.. where you will find a nation ruled by an immortal begin? Nowhere! Took from the desire of discovery, I searched more, until the dawn appeared in the sky: at the end of the night, I was satisfied of the whole thing: I discovered an important thing about the history of that world and added a chapter in my mind's encyclopedia. Before running away, I placed the book were it was, trying to make it fit in the hole. First try: two other books fall; Rarity still sleeping. Second try: a vase of cheap porcelain falls; Rarity twitch an eye. Third try: The book fits in; Rarity starts to wake up. I ran away with all my forces, and tried to frame the “crime scene” opening the window and hiding under the bed a necklace: a poor framing indeed, but there wasn't much time. When I was in my improvised bed, I heard from afar a scream and a thud. Some minutes later, Sweetie Belle woke up, and went in the Rarity's room, unaware of what happened during her sleep. Because I wanted to see how the situation was going to continue, I stalked her until the very confine of the bedroom "Sister! Sister! Rarity! What happened?" I saw Rarity returning on her hooves and saying "Someone messed up this room overnight, I wonder who was...", then she placed her look on Sweetie Belle, watching her with an accusative look. "But.. I didn't !" "Ad who did it? The wind? " "Me, Rarity: I was trying to get one of the "decorative" books one shelves, but it seemed that the cheap porcelain isn't hard as I remembered" "And who gave you the permiss for enter? You didn't knew that you CANNOT enter and exit in the adult's bedrooms whenever you wish?" "No, signora, didn't knew that rule" "Well, better for you to learn that, now... How I can punish you... ah, yes, don't letting you having the breakfast!" Oh no I thought . After a long fight with Rarity about the breakfast, I finally gave up and simply didn't ate anything : not a big deal because I'm quite fat, but still not eating anything isn't properly pleasuring. Anyway, during my reading in the house, I was interrupted by Rarity, this time because the Foster Department contacted her for my placement in the Scholarship System, at first I though to a joke, then I remembered my condition : after all, I was a 4-years old, a VERY smart one, but still a foal. It was told me to came to the school of the town for attend the test : “Ah, the call back to weapons” I thought in my mind. The room where the test was done was quite clearly a spare room:: they didn't even covered the water tubes, mind you! All was done under the watch of Mens Clara, the support teacher of the school. First part: write a short story, both in ideograms (called “Unicorn”) and latin letters/Cyrillic ( called “Earth”. It was excruciating to write in Earth, considered my lack of coordination with the magic, but at least was readable, for the part wrote in “Unicorn”, I could not complete it because I lacked of knowledge of the syllabary ITSELF; thus, my literacy level was basically “Third Grade” : ironic, considered that I didn't had rivals in Literature. Second part : mathematics of various type and nature. Even if I didn't went along well with the Math during my ordinary school, I still managed to fake an “Mid-grade” result. Third part: Geo story, in particular the history and geography of Equestria. “Oh, crap” I thought: I found out most of the history in the book took during the early morning, but I knew nothing about the Geography, thus I tried a lucky guess: the result thought was very near to the Third Year of Classical Liceo : “Second Year Classical Liceo”. Forth part: Magical Education: you can guess it, even if it is an equivalent of Tech Education I failed it to an epic degree. When all was done, Mens Clara said to me that he could not belive to the results: I basically received the advanced education of seven years and plus in four years, but I had as overall, a Fifth Grade level of education. My position in Equestria's scholarship was basically in the Elementary school... at first I was going to do harakiri, but then I remembered what was my goal: get friends, AS FOAL, and see the result at the end of three (or less) years. As you can guess, that meaned that I was going to restart the entire path: not a big deal, considered that I knew that I could live part of my “career” on the knowledge already took and the rest studying a bit everyday. When the report was finally ready, I returned home and said to Rarity the news: her eyes shined of joy, and ran to the drawing board for create a special vest for me: for her, my classic “tan sweater “ was horrible to see. The afternoon was passed with even more reading and singing, mostly because as secondary punishment, Rarity forbid me to exit. I searched hard in the library, but didn't found anything of interesting: after all, it were all low-level books, and in honesty, I didn't felt the impulse of read them. Bored out my skull, I went downstairs and tried to find something to do, until... A needle, some pieces of spare cloth... mmm, somehow, I feel that I need to sew something: it might be useful in future... So I did: I started to take some filaments, a needle and some pieces of cloth and patiently started to sew randomly : I created a rag for glasses, then a loincloth... all this escalation made me forgot about HOW much cloth I was using: when Rarity returned, her jaw dropped to ground for the sheer absurdity of things that I did in few hours, spacing from a, heavy jacket to a rucksack. Rarity over ventilated and said “The words.. cannot...describe.. what.. I … Feel.. That's.. just... weird”, then she passed out as her usual. Didn't knowing the reason of her passing out, I simply sthealthly returned in my room and tried ot read something .
ProlugueSo, you want to know why I have a strange tattoo on my hand and I seem to be returning from a front line? Well, I don't know how much time you have, but if you have plenty, then I will tell you a very particular story, about how I went in another world with a tormented mind and came back with more knowledge and with a relieved soul. Now, the night before my coming to that world, I was with my few friends drinking some rice wine: we were discussing about our choices and regrets. In my group almost all complained that they didn't said "No" to some things when they were younger, like when they said "Yes" about doing a private school run by nuns. At the time I regretted only one thing: not having the possibility to pass that seven years of masked laziness that are called "Childhood" reading books: my mother forced me to have contacts with other kids, but how you could socialize, if you feel the others are too stupid to understand you? Why try to stop a kid from learning to read? I started to be misanthropic already to 6 years: after all, in your little mind, all works for cause=reaction, and this can mean that you will hate people because YOU think that they will try to grab you away form your favorite things, only when I felt a void in my life did I search for other people, and I was blessed by someone for not being attacked by anyone. Anyway, when I said my regret, everyone in the room said that my mother's method was a bless for my future, but I doubted it. After almost on hour, we disbanded, and I returned home, going straight to bed, and here is where my arguing started: now, because I know that you don't want to know ALL the thinking, I will just say briefly that I ended up wishing to restart my life, knowing all the things that I learnt in my life, for then try a different approach: the next day, I was in a hospital. I don't know how it happened, or how it could be even possible: a moment before was sleeping in my simple bed with my young man body, and the moment after I was in the hospital, welcomed by the EGC sounds and in foal's body. Yes, you heard right, foal, but you will know more during the story. When I woke up, I had already recognized where I was, but I didn't know, plus, my eyes hurt so I could not check better what happened while I was "asleep". Few minutes later, I heard the sound of hooves on the ground, Well, hard hospital slippers, no doubt I thought, but soon I was proven wrong. A soft, calm voice started to talk:"Good morning, sweetheart, are you awake?You slept for six hours... can you tell me something about you?" I tried to move fast my hands to do the military greet, until I found that my "hands" were stuck and seemed fingerless, but I supposed that were just stuck, so I simply answered "I am Aeneas Verne from Holystone, from who I have the pleasure to receive medical attention?" "Nurse Redhearth, here to serve, anyway, do you rember something about the incident?" "No.. I only rembember i went to sleep in my bed and waking up here..." "Right, you might have a trauma amnesia. Anyway, you were found near a the Apple's orchards at 02:00 p.m. by a group of mares, they saw you laid down with an hurt look and with two or three bleeding wounds, we transported you to the hospital and did the appropriate medical exams: you broke your left hoof and a rib; you will stay here for a week. We tried to find your parents, but in vain, but don't worry: we will find them soon" "Wait... what? Hoof? What I am, an horse? Plus, I am adult and I have the money for pay the recovery!" "Don't be silly, you are still a foal" That said, I found the force to open my eyes, and what I saw shocked me: the Nurse was an equine, a pony for the recod sake, I was a pony and the whole room seemed overall bigger and childish-looking than the usual paint works in a hospital; what I saw caused me to faint. Some time later, I opened my eyes, but this time the Nurse seemed a bit more worried, and was talking with an equine medic with a weird mane who looked like a muffin. I tried to read, but I was shortly afterward been interrupted by a whisper coming from a near place: I rotated my look and saw an orange filly with a purple mane, her wing was bandaged and several minor wounds covered her "torso". She said "Hi! I am Scootaloo, who are you?" "Greetings, I am Aeneas Verne, what do you desire?" "Well, might ask a question? I suppose that you are a 4 years old, but you seem.. grew up for your age: you can read, you are very formal in talking and you seem too much calm about the whole situation, even if I didn't heard any reassuring word coming from anyone from your bed: how?" "Well, I am a quite smart and mature foal for my age, but this thanks to the training that gave to me my family: never fear anything but the fear, be polite with everyone you will meet. I can read only because my parents were librarians", very big lies, but was better to disguise. The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the horse doctor: while Scootaloo tried to bury herself under the blankets in fear, I simply rotated and give a sign of bow, then the doctor talked to me "So, it seems that your parents aren't aware of your disappearing: we are trying to find them, but we didn't found them, could you name and describe them?" The situation was critical, so I recalled the rules for pretend to be a lost child while you are not: alright, first: try to give a very approximate description basing on the things that you found during your stay; second: if the situation gets hot, fake a faint and an amnesia or say that you passed part to parent in the same way. After recapping it, I was going to use the approximate description, but I feared a "person mistake", thus, causing only more trouble. I said:"Well, I don't think that you can contact them... they are far away from here, and I was in the hands of another mare... and it seems that she beat me while I was asleep and left me in the orchards." "Oh dear, do you know the name of that mare ?" "No, mostly because she looked after me for two days..." "And I suppose that you cannot even describe her... anyway, how unfortunate, but don't worry: once your parents will return, you will return to them, for now, you will live with a foster family" When the medic went away, the Nurse placed my medicines on the tray along with a glass of water: I drank and ate the pills in one blow.
First notes.The same evening, I had my first touches of the pony culture, starting from food and their magic. Yes, you heard well, magic, in that world it exists and it is a daily fact, as I learnt quite awkwardly in my hospital stay. It was the half past nine when was time for dinner: at the moment, I was still trying to read a book without tear off the pages, it was an hard thing mostly because not totally used to use a bend hoof as well as a hand, plus, the fact that the newer book had five years or so didn't helped at all; thus I was so concentrated that I didn't saw anyone coming for serving dinner...or earing someone, for the matter, it seemed that the food just popped from nowhere in my tray. When I finally stopped to read, I saw of what my dinner was composed : a little pile of grain hay and parassitary grass “How in the hell I can eat this? My intestine is not totally herbivorous.... wait a minute! I'm an equine!”: that was my first thought about the food. My second thought was more a practical one: the fork and the knife were there... but they weren't any different from the “normal” ones, and that was meaning “can't use it without fingers"! I tried at first to grab them as usual, but I failed: the fork slipped from my hand every time, not matter how I placed the piece of cutlery, if placing it directly in the hoof, using the armpit for then acrobatically take the fork in the mouth or anything else . I heard a laugh coming from the Scotaloo's bed: I rotated my head, and saw him laughing staring at me. She said “You are very intelligent and yet you cannot eat for yourself?” “Yes, I can't, I mean: how I can manipulate THIS?” “You can use magic...” “Sorry?” “You can use magic for manipulate the fork! Don't tell me that you don't know how to use it: you are an unicorn after all.” “You know what? I don't know how to use magic! I never did it!” “So you can't eat anything without a “proper fork”? And what does it mean ?” “Yes, the fork slip in my hands, and the handles shaped like an hoof are my only way to use them! Alright, this mean that I will eat it without cutlery” And so I simply ate the whole dish placing directly my mouth in it, but then I heard Nurse Redhearth : “They didn't told you the manners about eating?” “They did, but I have no idea about using this forks, because they don't have an handle!” “You can use the magic, no?” “Sorry nurse, but I can't use magic!” “What ? Can you not use it? But you are an unicorn!” And so I assumed that the magic wasn't a Scootaloo lie... but it was still rude from my part nonetheless, plus, a new problem approached: how I could tell to her that in fake 4 years of life I didn't used magic AT ALL? The cover seemed blew up, but then I found a way to exit from it “I am sorry, but I didn't felt enough strong to use magic, thus I simply ate without cutlery.“ “Don't worry, but this should not happen anymore!”, then she left with an angry yet pleasuring look. The same night, when the lights were off, I started to practice magic: first I tried to lift off a feather right in front of me: a mint-colored aura appeared around it, but it didn't moved of a millimeter, so I said to myself : “Alright, try to give an order of moving: it might works” Again I tried to move it over a book on the night table: the feather was circled by the aura again, and with my mind I gave the order of moving on the book: it trembled during the moving, but at least the feather changed position. During the same night, I've learned to move a pen for write, take books and read them without the use of hooves and the fact that the aura is visible by everyone. In fact, while I was trying to write some notes about the past day, a night-round nurse approached: I could not tell what was her expression, but from the rhythm of the steps, it seemed that spotted me. I immediately stopped to write and closed my eyes, but it was too late: she arrived and said “Sleep, you can't read while the others are sleeping”, then she went away, and when her steps were only an echo, I started to truly sleep. The next morning, I woke up very early: even if I could not tell what time it was, the moon was still high in the sky and not even a sound arrived in my room; I started to think again about my condition, about how tell everyone that I wasn't a foal of four years but a young man of 17 years. My final list of to-do things in this world until an opportunity arrives where: 1 Exit from there 2 Get a roof 3 Get some info about the place 4 Discover why I was there 5 Escape from the dimension. Surely not an easy series of tasks, but they were the best case scenario, plus, they occupied enough time to almost see the sunrise, then for some reason the “Fortuna Plango Vulnera” started to play in mind, and somehow I felt the necessity of singing it at low voice. When I finished to sing it, I rotated my head, seeing another nurse incoming, this time her fur was yellow, her mane was ligth blue and her look was the one of unexplicable hatred against everyone. I did a forced smile on her, but she simply ignored it and said : “So, what's your problem? I don't have all day” “Nothing, I simply wake up quite early in my everyday life, what's the problem?” “Here the rise is at 08:00, thus, you can stand with your torso up only in case of emergency” Her obsession for the time and how everything should worked made me giggle in my mind, and an acid comment slip out my mouth: “So, basically, if I feel a pain in the torso and cannot hold it up I'm doomed? A pretty flawed system... place a bell maybe?” “So our young lad wants to fight, how about start to cool down with a punitive shot?” “And how about getting along about the fact that I am an early bird?” “The rules are these, and you must respect them” “As you wish... Dame Krankenschwester ”, then I laid down again with an angry face. An hour later, the rise arrived, and finally the yellow nurse let me have the torso up and ten minutes later she gave our medicines along with our breakfast: first I took the medications, then, using the “moving magic” learnt the night before, I ate my breakfast, who was composed by an egg and a cup of milk: not much, but better than nothing. The rest of the morning passed uneventeful, with me taking notes and reading and Scootaloo trying to get my attention.... for some reason that I never knew. After lunch, while I was repeating “O Fortuna” at low voice, two little fillies arrived: one was totally white and a purple-and-pink mane and was an unicorn, while the other had a yellow fur, a red mane and was a normal pony. They headed to Scootaloo and talked to eachother: I didn't cared much about their conversation, until... “Scootaloo, who is your roomate? He is reading a lot, and he is talking in strange languages: he seems the foal clone of Twilight Sparkle!” “Well, so it seems, his name is Aeneas Verne, he is a four years old, but he already reads and writes” “Does he like to talk? He seems an interesting foal, if you don't mind...” “No problem” The two fillies headed for my bed and said “Hi Aeneas! I am Sweetie Belle and she is Applebloom , nice to meet you” “Me too” “Scootaloo told us that you can read and write even if you are 4 and you can talk in unknown languages... how you can do that?” “Thanks to the education given by my family... until they went away and left in the hands of a mare who has abandoned me” "So you are an orphan ?" "Not really, I will just stay under another one's roof until they return" "In an adult's vocabulary, "Stay until they return" means "You stay forever" "Oh well, it isn't such a big deal..." "Do you have brothers or sisters?... Someone that could take care of you?" "Nope" "So why you are so calm about it?" "Well, why I should be worried ?" "You are alone! And you will live with a stranger family !" "It will be a good way to get prepared when I will live alone..." "But that will MIGHT happen in two decades, if not more!" "You are correct" I forgotten that I was a foal and not an adult... but the disguise was still standing. The discussion between me and Sweetie Belle was interrupted by the arrival of the time-obsessed nurse, who said harshly to them "Get out from here: the visit time has ended" I quickly answered "Yes, it has ended.... since 2 seconds! They can finish" "The time is up, so they must leave" "Dame Krankenschwester, you are too much obsessed by the time, relax and let them finish" "You are calling loud a shot" "Well, if I need, I will take it, but for what I remember, no intermuscular medicine was needed for me" "I will change the schedule for today and the next days" "Alright, shut up and do your work: you make me lose my cool" The nurse, who later discovered be called Nurse Coldhearth, grunted and gave my medicines, then she called an hospital attendant for change the blankets of my bed because she refused to do herself : a mare full of hubris, no doubt . The rest of the day passed without incidents, until Nurse Coldhearth exited with one of her ideas: "Dinner time, my little subjects!" "Scusi?" "I said that the dinner has arrived, pests!" "Thanks for the compliment! It honors me and her so much!" "Oh, you like so much the irony? Well, are you ready for an exemplar punishment?" "Do your worst! After all, I'm right" "As you wish...", then she went away, only for return with some soap and a bowl of water: I got what she was going to do, so I simply prepared my mouth for the "washing": considering that I had a similar punishment when I was 5, that didn't bothered me much. Nurse Coldhearth said to close my eyes and open my mouth, so I did: she placed her hoof in my mouth and started to wash it with energy: I spitted soap everywhere and tried one time or two to bit her hoof, but in vain, so I simply relaxed and waited for the end. The situation seemed bad, but I was saved few moments later by Nurse Redheart who almost broke the door and screamed : "YOU! AGAIN!How many time I've told you that YOU. CAN'T. PUNISH. THEM. WITH. THIS. METHOD. NOR. THREATHING. THEM ?" "He did sarcasm about a my statement!" "Was him gross?" "Yes, he said "That compliment honors me and her so much" !" "Well, you are too much proud of yourself, Coldhearth, you need to take it slow", then she watched me and said "Don't worry: just spit it, dearie", so I did. The night passed without incidents of any sort, thus there is nothing to note about it.
The DecisionThe subseguent day, my awaking was welcomed by the first rays of the sun: seeing it as an opportiunity, I started to appoint the new things found the day before on my notebook, and meanwhile I murmured some parts of the song “Itaca” while doing so : “Capitano.. che hai trovato principesse in ogni porto E tu che hai visto il mondo Pensi mai al rematore che sua moglie crede morto.... Itaca, Itaca, Itacaaa La mia casa ce l' ho sopra il mare Itacaaa, Itacaa, Itacaa La mia casa ce l'ho sotto il mare E dal mare ci voglio tornare Dal maree Dal mareee. Capitano, tu che il tuo gran peccato fa sorridere gli dei. Se tu muori, sei un re che muore e qualcuno ti succederà nella casa . Quando io non torno a casa entran dentro fame e sete.... [...] Capitano, tu hai visto il mondo ma noi non l' abbiam mai visto. Dici che abbiamo esplorato tutto e vogliamo casa nostra, ma se ci fosse ancora mondo... sono pronto.. Dove andiamo?” The murmur attracted Nurse Redhearth, who came near me and said “All ok?” “Yes, nurse, I'm just an early bird, I hope do not disturb anyone while writing and murmuring” “Well, your murmur might disturb, but after all it's the half past seven, so they will wake up soon anyway.”, she watched around her, then she asked “What you were singing ? The text looks familiar to me...” “ I was singing “Itaca”, a song that talks about the nostalgia of our homes, and the desire of adventure and knowledge of many” “And why you were singing it?” “Because I maybe will never return home, but, at the same time, I will know more things than what I could study on the books...” Nurse Redhearth smiled “You are such a curious foal” I became red from the embarrassment. After I took my medicines, I started to read and sing at low voice again, however, I was interrupted by the arrival of a stallion : his fur was gray and the mane was white, cannot rember his name, but I rember that he was psychiatrist who was going to write my personal report that was given then to the people in charge to choose the candidates families. He asked many questions, but because I don't want to bore you, I will tell you the final part of the conversation : “So, Aeneas, if I got correctly, your family taught you to write and read before you could walk?” “Yes, it's true”, you know, it was a blatant lie for the most part, but it was true that I could read before speak: my brothers wanted me silent and thought that taught to me to read would be a great idea. “ Not a big surprise that you have a messed up relationship with everypony then : generally force the learn of something when you are barely more than a newborn causes damages to the mind, but I'm certain that isn't nothing of too much serious. Now, my next question is: did they taught you even all that things you know about so early? You sing in Ancient Equestrian, and that isn't an everyday thing” “Well no, my parents paid a private teacher just two months ago for teaching me all this stuffs : theoretically speaking, now I should be studying the political organization of Equestira ”, I swear, I tried a lucky guess about the name of the country because no books wrote by ponies were available. “Wow, a fast learner! Your knowledge is better than any other pony under the age of 30 that I met!” “If I may say so myself....” “A last thing: in this life of continued study, did ever met anypony that you could call “friend” ? I mean, all this study must occupy a lot of time...” I said with a voice between the scared and the sarcasm “No sir, I never met anyone that could call friend: the destiny set by my parents was of knowledge and discovery: they wanted to create a great magician that could change the world with a word, and this will mean that the friends are out of question”, after told it, the psychiatrist looked at me with a look between pity and surprise “So... you are saying that you never did what normally a foal do?” “Yes: no games, no light of the sun if not justified, no moving: just the light of a candle, a world map and piles and piles of books. I never missed that things until now” “I saw many kinds of cases, some more serious, some simpler, but this is off the record: a family that indoctrinate his son to be what they desire, and see him fulfill a destiny not chosen by him, this renters in foal abuse. I'm sorry to say that your parents cannot take you with them anymore: you will live with a foster family.” I could not care less, rather, I was excited, but I still acted “No! They didn't do anything of wrong! They thought that they could shape a great pony by just teaching to the “wanna-be” great one to be so” “But they broke the Foal's Rights : they broke the one of having a healthy ambient of living; the one of letting you play; the one of be an independent personality. Somepony breaks this rights because they are bad in many ways, but others just did it because they were enough intelligent to desire an higher condition, but still fool enough to want to choose the way for their son.”, then he went away When the doctor finished, it was time for the lunch, thus our dishes were already placed on my tray, while I was eating, Scootalo asked “What he say?” “He asked to me some info about my past life, like what I did during the day, what was my routine, traumas etcetera .” “I was that you were lightly crying: why ?” “I won't see my parents anymore: they are accused of foal abuse” “Oh, excuse me about that question” “No problem: talking about your problems helps a lot”. The afternoon and the night passed straight, thus, not much to tell. However, the next day was more interesting. After I woke up and I had my breakfast, I received a folder, containg the profiles of one family and two mares: Nurse Redhearth told that I needed to chose one of them. First profile : Family name : Apple Work: Farmers I didn't bothered to keep reading: “farmer” was, especially in that moment, spelling “doom” Second Profile: Pony name: Fluttershy Work : None (formerly) / Veterinary ( De facto) Desires adoption because : needs help in running her Animal Care Center and company. No way. Third Profile Pony name: Rarity Work : Cloth Designer Desire adoption because : wants someone to talk who has some culture. I took her: after all, my only other option was working with a Veterinary, not propely something of pleasuring for me. Few days after, it was the moment for the check x-ray : it was planned for after lunch, and before the procedure could be done, few pamplets explaining the way of work of the machine arrived to me, but I didn't read them. When the moment arrived, it was asked to me if I wanted to help in moving out the bed : even if I was unsure if really trying to walk on three legs, I felt enought sure to want to try. I slowly rolled into the bed's border, then I took a near cane and carefully stepped with the left foot on the floor, for then quickly place the above said cane on my wounded leg: it took a long time, but I was finally down. I clumsly moved to the waiting room, accompained by Nurse Redhearth who was trying to do not laugh, now, in a normal situation that will cause at least an indignation from my part, but at the time I thought that, after all, I was quite funny to see, considering how much I slipped. When we arrived to the room, the radiologist welcomed me and started to explain: "Now, we will took the pictures of your right leg and the chest while wearing this: don't worry, you won't feel anything", then I wore my lead apron and laid down on the bed in the middle of the room, but strangely enough nothing was over it, I wondered then HOW it could work, until I saw that, actually, the machine was just hidden in the ceiling. After the pictures were taken, I went down the bed and headed for the waiting room: all seemed normal, until... a scream of surprise arrived from the room. Caught by the curiosity, I went near the door and heard a conversation happening : "This. Is just incredible." "I've saw before fast healers, but were all grizzled athlets! This is just a foal who migth had his first bone injury in his life and it all healed in a week!". "I wonder what caused such a fast heal: maybe the diet? The genetic?" , then the door opened, and saw the Nurse Redhearth with a surprised face: she asked me to enter and did some questions about what I ate beforehand and stuffs like that. What I said shocked them: "Rice wine? What? Are you serious?" "Of course!" "Well, that's weird, I mean, they did allowed you to drink alchol?" "A little glass or so" "I don't know why but it seems that the wine coming from the rice has healing properties..." "Nah, it was just a big comsumption of cheese, nothing more, nothing less". An hour later, I was dismissed from the hospital and sent with a taxi to my new home.
Make room for the Culture Bomb...After ten long minutes, the taxi arrived at the destination, the house of the mare who hosted me for the whole time: Rarity. When I saw the building for the first time, at first I thought to a misplacing by the driver: I tried to reply to the driver, but he said that the position matched with the chose destination, thus that was the place; I was going to ask if he was sure that the town where we arrived was Ponyville when I heard a voice behind me : “Aeneas! Why you are still there?” “I'm paying, just a second”, then I rotated myself and saw who was calling me: a white mare with a purple mane shaped like a whirlwind, who was accompanied by Sweetie Belle. I headed for them and greeted : “Good morning, I'm Aeneas Verne, I guess that you are Rarity, my benefactor” “Yes, darling. Would you like come in my shop and house? I want to offer you something to drink, over to make a tour of my house.” The first thing that I noticed was the absurd quantity of gems placed on the clothes who were in the shop: I wondered how much they were common or how much she is lucky, for find all this gems. The second one? Well, the relationship between Rarity and Sweetie Belle : while she was showing the “guest room” (AKA Sweetie Belle's room), Rarity said : “Well, I know that doesn’t fit very well for your habits, but I'm certain that...” Sweetie Belle arrived, stopped and then started to scream “Why my room is messed up, Rarity? I mean, didn't rember that there was a world map in my room, nor a copy of the Mercy of Michelangelo Buoncarota hanging from the seal...” “Sweetie Belle! How dare intrude in our discussion? You are such rude, such.. such...BARBARIAN!” “This is my room, sister, you can't do whatever you want with me!” “You must obey!”, then Rarity started to cry for no apparent reason. “So.. what's the deal?” I said “Nothing, she is the queen of drama” “Well, I guess that it was your room, I will sleep in the living room, no problem, or else...” “Or else?” “Do you have an extra mattress? I can arrange something in your room if you don't mind” “I think yes, but it's the one of when I was 2, I don't think that you could stay on it...” “I slept in a cradle until I was 3, mind you” “Alright Aeneas, follow me”, I followed Sweetie Belle in the cellar, took the mattress and tried to create something similar to a bed in the Rarity sister's room. Some time later, Rarity returned normal and said “So, what is the organization ?” “I will sleep in an arranged bed in the Sweetie Belle's room..” “Can I see it?” “Yes, follow me”, she went behind me, but soon as we entered in the room, her jaw dropped and she screamed “What is that abomination? That isn't a bed where anyone should sleep! No! Absolutely no! Tell me, it was a your idea?” “Yes, after all, I feel guilty to strip her of the room” “But I want to offer you the best!” “No need to show so much ξενία, I adapt to every condition” “As you wish...” In the evening, while I was giving a fast reading of an history book coming from the (poor) Sweetie Belle's library, I was interrupted by Rarity, who said “Aeneas, darling, would you like have a walk with me around the town? I will show you my dearest friends of mine” I didn't hesitated “Of course! I am free of going out now, why I should decline?” it was a bad acting, but the study of this world more scientifically could arrive after: for now, I decide to meet someone. After five minutes of walking, Rarity stopped and greeted a group of two mares: they answered and headed to us, while they were moving, I prepared my best feats of knowledge to show to them. The first to talk was a pink pony, who appeared from an absurd position “Hi, I am Pinkie Pie! Who are you? I never saw you!” “Oblivious, I lived imprisoned in my home for 4 years, it is not a big surprise that no one knew about me before” “Oh!! And what did you in the house? Did you threw parties or played or...” “I studied every possible thing the pony's knowledge” “Wow! Such a boring thing!” A purple unicorn said “Ehi ! What did you said about the studying? You know that you are influencing his psyche?” I said : “Actually, miss, the study was basically ALL my life: barely the time to be 5 months, and my parents taught me to read and write, and at 1 year, I started to study every day, with stops only for the restroom, the eating and the sleep” “You are saying that... you studied since you were one year old?” “Yes” “Oh...” Pinkie Pie said “See? He studied more than you in proportion.. but you are lucky, because he never threw parties” A cyan Pegasus arrived from the sky and said “I lost something interesting?” Rarity answered “Yes darling, you lost the arrival of Aeneas Verne, an orphan who studied since he was 1” “Is it true? Because I know someone that will kill for change her life this way for study more... Twilight, I guess that is your wet dream?” “Of course not! From what he told, HE DIDN'T EVEN SAW THE LIGTH OF THE SUN UNTIL A WEEK AGO!” “And isn't this how you live?” “No! I like the open spaces!” “Then why you live in a library?” “Well, it's my work, duh, it's more comfortable for me” “ That doesn’t anything, but I'd prefer end this now. Anyway, nice to meet you Aeneas, I'm Rainbow Dash the fastest flier in Ponyville, from what they told to me, you are a book worm for constrain: is it true? “ “Yes, after all, you don't pass four years of your life studying and doing it only that without begin marked” “Oh, well, so you will found a friend in Twilight Sparkle: she is a bookworm too”. After this phrase, other two ponies arrived: one was a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane, while the other was an orange pony with a yellow mane. When I heard their names, I've already recognized them: both were present on the list of the ponies who wanted to adopt me and where rejected in favor of Rarity. I said “Good morning, Fluttershy and Applejack, my name is Aeneas Verne, I am a 4 years foal studying since he was 1” “Oh.. hi.. Aeneas... I rember you.. somehow...” “Of course yes, Fluttershy! I rejected your and Applejack's offer of adoption when I was in hospital” “Uh... now I rember.. I hope that the request didn't bothered you...” “Nah, it's just as fine”. After the arrival of the last ponies, I chatted with them for two hours before returning home. The rest of the day wasn't anything special, but, as you can guess, eating with a style-obsessed mare isn't propley an everyday thing.
A day as the other....The next day I woke up at the four o'clock because I didn't felt the need of sleep anymore, and I wanted to get some info before the dawn. I silently rolled out my bed and started to search in the dark a book that could be useful. It took me almost half an hour for find something of interesting : an history book, and all I expected but find that the history of Equestria isn't that different from ours... For reassuming: “Prima” Aka “Ur” : check. “Crystalism” Aka “Hellenism” : check. “First, Second and Third Protochangeling Wars” Aka “Persian Wars” : check. “Ancient Equestria Empire” Aka “Roman/Holy Roman Empire” : check. “The Diggery” Aka “Renaissance” : check “The Marecan Indipendence War” Aka “American War of Independence” : check “The Sisters War” Aka “The 30-years War” : check “The Bear Revolution” Aka “The Russian Revolution” : check “The Griffin-Minotaur War” Aka “WWI/II” : check And so on, thought I found out the leaders were every time the same during all history: at first I formulated the theory that, even if they did something similar to the democracy, they had a religion-state relationship similar to the Ancient Egypt one: the pharaoh ( called “Celestia” in the pony history book) IS a god, and when dies simply became the reincarnation of Osiris and lives on in the pyramid; then I went to see if there were a chronology of the sovereigns, just in case... and there was not: it seemed that the pony leaders never died. I was too much obstinate at that point to surrender, thus I dared to enter in the Rarity's room and see if one of her “Decorative Books” was an objective history book,one not “censored”, and I found it: “De Interanimalia Historia” I opened the book and searched for a chronology of the kings/emperors/dukes/whatever, and what I saw surprised me: the ponies have TWO TRUE GODDNESS WHO RULE ON THE COUNTRY! I stood petrified in front of the book: I mean.. where you will find a nation ruled by an immortal begin? Nowhere! Took from the desire of discovery, I searched more, until the dawn appeared in the sky: at the end of the night, I was satisfied of the whole thing: I discovered an important thing about the history of that world and added a chapter in my mind's encyclopedia. Before running away, I placed the book were it was, trying to make it fit in the hole. First try: two other books fall; Rarity still sleeping. Second try: a vase of cheap porcelain falls; Rarity twitch an eye. Third try: The book fits in; Rarity starts to wake up. I ran away with all my forces, and tried to frame the “crime scene” opening the window and hiding under the bed a necklace: a poor framing indeed, but there wasn't much time. When I was in my improvised bed, I heard from afar a scream and a thud. Some minutes later, Sweetie Belle woke up, and went in the Rarity's room, unaware of what happened during her sleep. Because I wanted to see how the situation was going to continue, I stalked her until the very confine of the bedroom "Sister! Sister! Rarity! What happened?" I saw Rarity returning on her hooves and saying "Someone messed up this room overnight, I wonder who was...", then she placed her look on Sweetie Belle, watching her with an accusative look. "But.. I didn't !" "Ad who did it? The wind? " "Me, Rarity: I was trying to get one of the "decorative" books one shelves, but it seemed that the cheap porcelain isn't hard as I remembered" "And who gave you the permiss for enter? You didn't knew that you CANNOT enter and exit in the adult's bedrooms whenever you wish?" "No, signora, didn't knew that rule" "Well, better for you to learn that, now... How I can punish you... ah, yes, don't letting you having the breakfast!" Oh no I thought . After a long fight with Rarity about the breakfast, I finally gave up and simply didn't ate anything : not a big deal because I'm quite fat, but still not eating anything isn't properly pleasuring. Anyway, during my reading in the house, I was interrupted by Rarity, this time because the Foster Department contacted her for my placement in the Scholarship System, at first I though to a joke, then I remembered my condition : after all, I was a 4-years old, a VERY smart one, but still a foal. It was told me to came to the school of the town for attend the test : “Ah, the call back to weapons” I thought in my mind. The room where the test was done was quite clearly a spare room:: they didn't even covered the water tubes, mind you! All was done under the watch of Mens Clara, the support teacher of the school. First part: write a short story, both in ideograms (called “Unicorn”) and latin letters/Cyrillic ( called “Earth”. It was excruciating to write in Earth, considered my lack of coordination with the magic, but at least was readable, for the part wrote in “Unicorn”, I could not complete it because I lacked of knowledge of the syllabary ITSELF; thus, my literacy level was basically “Third Grade” : ironic, considered that I didn't had rivals in Literature. Second part : mathematics of various type and nature. Even if I didn't went along well with the Math during my ordinary school, I still managed to fake an “Mid-grade” result. Third part: Geo story, in particular the history and geography of Equestria. “Oh, crap” I thought: I found out most of the history in the book took during the early morning, but I knew nothing about the Geography, thus I tried a lucky guess: the result thought was very near to the Third Year of Classical Liceo : “Second Year Classical Liceo”. Forth part: Magical Education: you can guess it, even if it is an equivalent of Tech Education I failed it to an epic degree. When all was done, Mens Clara said to me that he could not belive to the results: I basically received the advanced education of seven years and plus in four years, but I had as overall, a Fifth Grade level of education. My position in Equestria's scholarship was basically in the Elementary school... at first I was going to do harakiri, but then I remembered what was my goal: get friends, AS FOAL, and see the result at the end of three (or less) years. As you can guess, that meaned that I was going to restart the entire path: not a big deal, considered that I knew that I could live part of my “career” on the knowledge already took and the rest studying a bit everyday. When the report was finally ready, I returned home and said to Rarity the news: her eyes shined of joy, and ran to the drawing board for create a special vest for me: for her, my classic “tan sweater “ was horrible to see. The afternoon was passed with even more reading and singing, mostly because as secondary punishment, Rarity forbid me to exit. I searched hard in the library, but didn't found anything of interesting: after all, it were all low-level books, and in honesty, I didn't felt the impulse of read them. Bored out my skull, I went downstairs and tried to find something to do, until... A needle, some pieces of spare cloth... mmm, somehow, I feel that I need to sew something: it might be useful in future... So I did: I started to take some filaments, a needle and some pieces of cloth and patiently started to sew randomly : I created a rag for glasses, then a loincloth... all this escalation made me forgot about HOW much cloth I was using: when Rarity returned, her jaw dropped to ground for the sheer absurdity of things that I did in few hours, spacing from a, heavy jacket to a rucksack. Rarity over ventilated and said “The words.. cannot...describe.. what.. I … Feel.. That's.. just... weird”, then she passed out as her usual. Didn't knowing the reason of her passing out, I simply sthealthly returned in my room and tried ot read something .
