It’s hard to believe that it’s been a whole year since I found the infant. I’ve kept the mythology book for good keeping. It’s helped me finding out how the baby grows, what he naturally eats, and how the actual term is not foal but instead baby. The only pony in town that knows of his existence is Twilight sparkle.
“Oh hey Fluttershy are you done with those boo-WHAT IS THAT!?
She didn’t know how to react at first, but who’s to blame her? How would anypony act if they found out a species--one thought to be a myth--was actually real?
“No, no, no, no, that’s impossible! That… that thing can't exist!”
She quickly warmed up to him though. Well, after some talking to.
“Oh Twilight, please don’t panic, it’s okay, he’s friendly!”
“Fluttershy, his species tried to kill ours! Didn’t you read the book? Oh my gosh I have to tell princess Celestia!”
“NO! Twilight you can’t do that! You have to trust me, please, I have been raising him for over a year… h-here sit down, I've got a lot to explain”
After I had told Twilight what happened, we eventually came to agreement.
I could keep the baby as long as she could come over and study him on the weekends. Anything was better than her writing a letter to Celestia. I’m still not sure what the princess would do if she ever found out he existed.
What would Celestia do is she did find out he existed? Would she imprison him? Would she banish him to a dark forest far away? Would she imprison him and banish him to a prison in a dark far away!?
I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts. I couldn’t think like that! I had to protect him! It was my sworn duty to protect any and all animals no matter how small or big!
“Hello Fluttershy! Is the baby ready for our weekend study date?” the purple mare asked.
“Umm h-hi Twilight, um, yes, he is…” I said shyly.
“Hey Fluttershy, have you thought of giving him a name? I mean, you’ve had him for a whole year and there is no sign of his mother, so he needs a name.”
“Um well I haven’t thought about it…got any ideas?”
“Not that I can think of. You should go for something that has a special meaning to it, you know?” Twilight said as she levitated the baby closer to her. “Okay, so you say the baby has been crawling around the house more and more lately, and has even begun to climb up and stand on his hind legs. So, if my hypothesis is correct, he might be trying to learn how to walk, so I'm just going to watch him for a little while and document what I find. You just think of a name.”
They must have been there for a good 20 minutes, just staring at each other. At first one would think they were having a staring contest just looking into each-other’s eyes.
“Umm… Twilight, w-what are you to doi-“ was all I was able to say before I was shushed by the purple mare.
“Not now Fluttershy. I'm waiting. I know he’s testing me, it’s just a waiting game, now who’s going to make the first move?”
After a while, the baby finally decided to start crawling around the cluttered room.
“See, I told you Fluttershy!” Twilight said.
After a couple of hours of 'studying', Twilight was finally done for the day.
“So Fluttershy have you thought of a name?”
“Um well yes I was thinking m-maybe… F-Forest Night," I said quietly
“What was that Fluttershy? I didn’t quite catch that.”
“Um, Forest Night, m-mainly because I found him in the Everfree forest… at, um, night.”
“That’s a lovely name Fluttershy,” Twilight said with a smile. “Hey, since it's been a whole year, are you going to do something special, like a birthday or something?”
“Hmm... maybe it would give me a good chance to introduce him to the girls. Oh I do hope they are okay... w-what if they get scared and tell princess Celestia?” I asked, trembling.
“Fluttershy, don’t worry. They are our friends, and we will stick by you no matter what. I know I may have freaked out at first but… well, once you get used to him, it’s normal. In fact, it’s almost no different that raising a new born foal!” Twilight said with a comforting hug.
"I guess what I’m saying is that I’m sorry I threatened to call Celestia on you, it was wrong of me, and also, that we are friends, all six of us. We won’t hate you or that baby, just because a book say’s his species tried to kill ours. It’s just a myth anyway, so please don’t worry,” she said with an apologetic look.
“O-okay. I won’t worry so much anymore,” I said with a nervous smile.
“And hey, who knows, I’m pretty sure Celestia would be okay with him. She’s an understanding mare, and with all the observations and test’s, I’ve pretty much concluded that he’s not violent. Rough, maybe, but not violent!”
“O-okay, but still I’m not sure we should take the chance Twilight," I said.
“So what do you say? Should we throw him a party?” Twilight asked.
“Did I hear party!?”
“W-who said that?” I asked.
“Me silly filly!” a very hyper pink pony said. “Who's the party for, huh? What kind of party is it? Is it a birthday party, a going away party, a welcome back party, a 'hey it’s a Monday par-'" was all pinkie pie was able to say before Twilight jammed her hoof into the ponies mouth.
“It's for a baby Pinkie, and I guess you can call it a birthday. Pinkie... promise you won’t tell anyone about this,” Twilight said with an edge to her voice.
“Okie dokie lokie! Cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Pinkie said with her usual movements to her pinkie swear.
Twilight had then proceeded to show pinkie the infant
“Well this is a-“
“Oh, that’s a human! I’ve only heard about those, I can’t believe it! Lyra was right, they are real, she’s going to be so happy when I tell her about this! Oh the whole town is going to be excited I can’t wai-“ Pinkie said as she was interrupted by Twilight yet again shoving her hoof into her mouth
“Ugh, yes Pinkie, this is a human, and his name is now Forest Night. He’s been under Fluttershy’s care for over the past year," Twilight explained.
“Ooh, so that’s why you haven’t been able to come to our pet play dates as often as you usually do! No wonder!
“Oh…um y-yes” I said as I started to hide my face in my mane.
“Now Pinkie yes we were planning on throwing a little party for the baby but not for the whole town to come and see! Fluttershy has been worried that Celestia might find out about him.”
“Huh why is that?”
“Well because in one of the books she checked out it says his race tried to eliminate ours until the princesses drove theirs out of Equestria. We are worried of what Celestia might think if she found out existed and not to tell how all of Ponyville would react. That’s like a disaster waiting to happen! So pinkie I want you just to invite the girls no one else please?” Twilight said
“Okie dokie lokie! This will be Pinkie Pie's super-secret super fun birthday party!” the pink pony said as she trotted out of the house.
Twilight and I both just stared as Pinkie hopped out of sight.
“We didn’t even tell her a time,” I said
“I guess Pinkie will figure it out,” Twilight said
With some time to waste, we decided to have some fun with the baby. Twilight had finally gotten to see what the baby looked like walking… somewhat. Forest Night still had to cling to the edge of a surface to get from area to area, but Twilight still considered it walking.
“Soon he’s going to be running all over the place Fluttershy! You’re going to have to keep a really close eye on him.”
“Oh I know, I won't let him out of my sight!” I said as I noticed the baby crawl next to me.
It had looked like he was trying to say something
“Mmmmm mmu,” mumbled Forest Night.
“Hey Twilight, I, uh, think he’s trying to say something!"
“Hmm? C’mon you can do it,” Twilight said encouragingly.
After about 5 minutes of trying to say something, Forest Night eventually gave up and started to crawl around the room again.
It wasn’t until three hours later when Pinkie came back to tell us that the party was going to be in one of Applejacks barns in 20 minutes.
We packed up everything we needed: two bottles full of milk, about five diapers, and make shift rattle. I wrapped the child up in a blanket and carried him with my right wing. We started to head out to Applejack's farm.
The temperature was perfect outside, not too hot yet not too cool. The animals hadn’t really needed help all day. In fact, for the past year they have been helping me more than I have helped them.
The sun had started to set as we arrived at Applejacks barn. The music was already playing when we entered.
“Hey there Fluttershy, glad you could finally make it!” Applejack said
“Yeah, we’ve been waiting here for like ever! It’s so uncool! Anyway Pinks said it was some ones birthday today, but as far as I know, none of our birthdays are today... what’s up with that?” Rainbow dash said in an annoyed tone.
“Umm, s-sorry I'm late everypony, I-I guess I lost track of time,” I said, embarrassed.
Oh darn it Fluttershy you should have hurried! Now they’re all mad at me because I'm late
This was probably one of pinkies more "simple". parties. Instead of her normal well known overly decorated parties this one was more simple with one or two streamers, a couple of balloons pin the tail on the donkey and a small cake.
“Umm, Fluttershy dear, can we talk in private?” Rarity whispered in my ear.
“Oh, um, sure Rarity, lets go outside,” I said as she led me to somewhere more private.
The look on her face was not a happy one but instead a mix of worry and anger.
“When where you going to tell me you had a foal? Is this the reason why you haven’t been showing up to our spa dates? Fluttershy dearie, you could’ve told me, we’re friends! I wouldn’t have judged you!” Rarity said as she pointed to the small infant in my right wing.
“Umm R-Rarity, I'm sorry, b-but it's much more complicated than that.”
“How so?”
“Uhh, c-come in, I have to tell everypony about it anyway,” I said nervously.
“Okay dearie, but remember, I'm here for you, and we will never think differently of you,” Rarity said as we walked back into the barn
“Um, e-everyone, I-I have to say something,” I said as the music completely cut off.
Oh great everyone’s looking at you! Keep calm, keep calm.
“U-um well, I, uhh... the r-reason I haven’t been able to hang out with you i-is because, well, I umm… found a baby a year ago and umm...” I trailed off. I couldn't even finish explaining it to them, I was so nervous
“What she’s trying to say, everypony, is the whole reason she hasn’t really been out of her cottage lately to hang out with us is because she found a baby in the Everfree forest,” Twilight explained for me.
For a while, it went deathly silent in the room, until Applejack spoke up.
“Uhh Twi… what is a baby?”
“Like... a new born foal, Applejack, except it’s a different species. Just look.”
As I unwrapped the baby from his blanket I heard gasps from all around the room.
It was dead silent yet again, and the music had stopped completely. It seemed like time was frozen for that brief moment.
I closed my eyes waiting for my friends to comment.
“Why it’s adorable!” Rarity cried.
.
“D’aaw, he is kinda cute” Dash said in a slightly uninterested tone.
I opened my eyes in amazement at what I heard. They loved him! They weren’t scared or disgusted--they thought he was cute!
“U-umm, h-his name is F-forest Night,” I said.
“What a lovely name dear!” Rarity said as she played with the baby.
“That’s a totally cool name,” Dash said.
“So you been raisin this here fella all by you lonesome Fluttershy? Heck, why didn’t ya com and ask one of us for help?” Applejack asked.
“U-um well I didn’t know how you would react... also, can you girls n-not tell anypony about him, at least not yet?”
“Sure, but why do you want to keep him a secret Fluttershy?” Dash asked.
“Well, because we’re scared of what Celestia might do if she found out about his existence. You see Dash, in one of my books we found information about him and his race--which are called humans, by the way--we found a myth that Celestia and Luna might have possibly drove his race into extinction and, well, we’re scared she might banish him or something,” Twilight explained.
“Woah, that’s some pretty tough stuff there,” Dash said.
“I don’t think she would be too harsh, in fact, I think it’s just a myth, and Celestia would be alright with him. But Fluttershy wants to take no risks, so we all have to promise not to tell anyone about Forest, alright?”
“All right, we promise,” the other four mares said.
After all the explaining was done, the party went back to normal and the music returned. We let the baby crawl around, and the girls took turns holding him and playing games with him such as peek-a-boo.
Ah, that went better than I thought. I wonder why I was even scared in the first place... I should've had more faith in the girls. Hmm, what's tugging on my wing?
As I turned to see what was on my wing I saw Forest looking straight at me with his big blue eyes.
“Mmmu mmum…mum...” Forest Night mumbled.
“Aww, he said his first word!” Pinkie pie said in excitement.
“Looks like he think you’re his mom Fluttershy!” Twilight said.
“Y-you think I'm your mom?” I asked nervously.
Forest continued to stare at me with his big blue eyes and repeated what he mumbled. “Mmmmum!”
“Aww, of course I’ll be your mom!” I said in a motherly tone.
Almost immediately I heard the whole group D’aww right behind me.
I just ignored it and hugged Forest night… my new son.