//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: Family Reunion 
// Story: Ponyville 
// by milawynsrealm 
//------------------------------//

I slowly eased myself up and looked over to the doorway to see a mint green unicorn mare. She had a strawberry red mane with lavender streaks I it, and wore a pair of glasses that seemed to have been made after her arrival. Her cheeks were adorned lightly with freckle marks made up by her fur.

From her appearance alone, my first thought was that this was not my mother. But another part of me, told me that she was. A vague feeling that I couldn't really explain. Or it could be because she sounded exactly like my mom. Who knows.

“M-mom?” I asked timidly, still feeling a little bit uncertain about the whole situation.

She slowly walked over to me and then examined both my face and body in what seemed to be great detail. After a while of awkward silence, she slowly put one hoof on the bed and another one around my neck. With that, she hugged me. It was light at first, but soon transitioned into a deeper one.

Since I was in no condition to hug her properly, and the fact that I didn't want to ruin the moment by shifting my body around, I just simply closed my eyes and leaned my head against her, feeling a streak of wet against my neck.
For what seemed like the longest time, no words were exchanged. Just a simple mother's embrace with her son. Although the half-hug felt a little unusual and her hoof was starting to dig into my body, the hug still felt nice and warm. I breathed in through my nose. Yep, she definitely smelled like a horse. She was also slightly dirty and dusty, but at the moment, I didn't really care.

“Well, I'd better get going. I-I've got other patients to attend to.” the nurse said, trying her best not to cry, although it was obvious that she already was. I just gave a smile and nod to her. And with that, the nurse left the room and closed the door behind her.

Looking around, I quickly noticed something was missing. “Where's dad?” I asked.

After letting go of me and getting off the bed she turned her head. “Dear, come in here.” she said.

At first, I didn't hear anything. She repeated her call once again, this time, a little bit louder, “Honey?” This time, I could hear what sounded like muttering and groaning from the other side of the door. Then, I heard and saw the door handle jiggle a bit. Lightly at first, but then quickly turned aggressive.

“*&^%$#@ door knob! How the hell am I supposed to open this *&^%$#@ door with these worthless stumps?!” a familiar voice cried out from behind the door.

“Sir. I need you to calm down. We are in a hospital just so you know.” a male voice said on the other side of the door, close to where dad was.

“I AM CALM!” my father replied. I was surprised. I've never heard my father this angry or upset before.

“And may I also remind you that you have a choice of either seeing your son, or going back to the refugee camp. Your choice.” the other voice said bluntly.

Then I heard a snort, followed by a long pause. 

“Fine.” my father said said in defeat.

Then the door handle jiggled lightly again.

“Um. Could you please open this door for me?” my father asked.





Although the large house had much stuff to look at, Scootaloo fixed her sights to a table in the middle of a large, open room. On it, was a photograph that looked like it was about to be placed into what appeared to be a book of some kind. The pages were apparently custom made, and had no words on any of them. Each of the pages included a combination of photographs, illustrations, and paper cutouts. It looked very artistic and pretty with all the colors and shapes.
As the three went back to looking at the photograph, they realized what this was a photo of.

“It sorta looks like a family photo of hairless monkeys. Two grownups, and two young monkeys. I can't tell which is a mare and which is the stallion.” Sweetie Bell said.

Now even Applebloom was curious and picked up the photograph with her hoof.

“Those ain't monkeys, they look more like prime apes to me.” Applebloom said.

After moments of analyzing the photo, Applebloom put the photograph back down on the table and started to head for the back door.

“Come on girls, we really need to get out of here.” Applebloom said.

“But, what about...” Sweetie Bell started before being quickly cut off by Applebloom again.

“No! I just don't want to get in trouble with mah sister again. Just leave the photograph, please?” Applebloom begged.

Scootaloo looked back at the photograph and just sighed as the two other girls started to head to the back door.

Then, a strange buckling sound could be heard. Looking up to see where it was coming from, they suddenly noticed that the upper parts of the ceilings had large, noticeable cracks in it.

Applebloom, who was already at the back door where they had entered into, quietly called out to her friends. “Come on, let's go!” she whispered, signaling to her friends to come over.

The next to leave was Scootaloo, then it was Sweetie Bell's turn. As soon as Applebloom began to make motions to leave herself, a beam of wood that helped to hold up the ceiling suddenly came crashing down without any direct warning. The trio screamed and galloped for their lives away from the house. Luckily, the beam didn't hit Scootaloo.

As the trio hid themselves into another bush a distance away from the deathtrap, they did their absolute best to calm themselves down. The sound of galloping could be heard from a distance, and guards could be seen converging onto the house that the girls had just left with their lives.

“Oh Celestia. Not another one.” a brown guard called out as he approached the house.

But this time, the fillies didn't want to stick around to find out what happened next. If they were caught, they would be in enough trouble as it is, especially after that beam had nearly crushed them.





With his head low and ears back, what I had assumed to be my father slowly made his way into the room. His coat was a medium peach color, while he had a short, dark green mane, mustache, and a spiral horn adorned on his forehead.

Even if it wasn't for his emotional outburst, I still could tell that he wasn't thrilled about the situation just from his expression alone.

“Hey dad.” I said. With that, he stopped, his ears and head perked up, and looked around until our eyes met.

At first, he did not know what to say. He eventually sat down on his hind legs a bit of a distance from my bed and just continued to look at me almost like he wasn't sure if I was going to bite him or not. My mother, who was not happy with his bitter attitude, just got up from her own seated position and walked over to where he was.

Upon seeing her presence, she reached out her front right hoof, placed it around his lower neck, and said, “Come on honey. Like it or not, this is our son.” Her face broke out into a half-smile, hoping that she could hopefully calm him down a bit more. It seemed to help, a bit.

“But what if we're stuck here? Like this. I don't want to be a horse for the rest of my life.” He said, tears beginning to stream down his face.

I was more accepting of this world and of the inhabitants, but that was simply because I was already aware of it all, to a degree because of the show, and I had a bit of a better idea of what to expect. I know that this isn't a world of brain-dead happy characters with no bonds to reality. This world had depth. And no matter how brief the show itself was able to look into the characters and the world, I had always felt that there was more to it. That this world was someplace that could be real, with interesting, yet realistic characters.

“Are you really my son?” he asked. The words stung a bit, but knowing full well about our current identity crisis, I understood as best as I could.

“Yes, I-I am.” I responded, trying to hold back tears of my own.

He briefly looked away and pondered my answer. Deciding that proof was needed, not only for him, but me as well, he simply asked, “Do you remember what we were fighting about? You know, before all this happened?”

“Yes. When you asked me what I was doing, I told you that I was reading a book that I had gotten from the library. You...didn't take it well for some reason.” I replied, still thinking back to the fight. Overall, my father is a good man who tries to use common sense in his life and, in my opinion, respected those of other faiths in general, but my curiosity in what I was reading somehow made him snap that night. I had no idea what made him so angry.

“I am so sorry about what happened. You see...” he started, turning to look at my mother. Then he continued, “I got laid off and I was still upset about it.”

“Why didn't you tell me sooner Gordon?” she asked, shocked at this new revelation.

“Because the night that I got the news, as soon as I got home, you were already fast asleep. I was planning to tell you the next day. Daniel was doing some late night reading and I was still upset. I took it out on our son, and I shouldn't have. I-I'm sorry.” he said looking back to me.

“Was that it? You were upset, at me, just because you lost your job? For a while there, I actually thought you were angry about what I was reading. I mean, you made noises about the possibility of being laid off, but I never imagined that you would actually yell at me because of it.” I said, practically shouting.

“I said I was sorry. What, you want my confession written on paper? Oh wait, I almost forgot. I NO LONGER HAVE HANDS TO WRITE WITH!” he replied, slamming his front right hoof on the wood floor for every word that he yelled.

“THAT IS ENOUGH!” my mother yelled, cutting into our feud by literally walking between the two of us.

She first looked at my dad, then to me, and said in a stern, yet annoyed tone, “Gordon, you need to keep your anger under control. And Daniel, just drop the subject. He's apologized twice already.”

"Is there a problem in here?” a voice said. We all turned to see an angry, red guard looking in the room.
My father just sighed in defeat and replied, “No officer, there's no problem here.”

“Good. But any more yelling, and I may have to cut this family reunion short, am I clear?” he said in a strict tone.
My father paused a moment.

“Well?” the guard asked.

“Yes. Crystal clear.” my father replied.

And that, the guard left the room and closed the door.

“Wow.” was all I could say.

“Yeah.” my father simply replied sitting back down.

“So, where are you staying at? As soon as we heard that you were here too, we began asking where you were.” my mother asked.

“I'm staying at the local library.” I said.

“But how are you able to stay outside the camp. Those guards don't allow us outside the area at all.” my father asked confused.

“I don't know. I'll have to ask somebody about that.” I said.

Dad then was thinking of something for a moment, then went on to say, “Do you have any idea why we are here?”

“I don't know. I've tried asking, but the most that I've been able to get is that the scientists are still trying to figure it out.” I replied, really wishing that I had a better answer than that.

My father gave a disappointed sigh, then a thought came to him, “How are those scientists able to do anything constructive with hooves? In fact, how can this entire society have been created and maintained by quadrupeds and be able to function properly?”

“Well, for one, your hooves, believe it or not, have a type of 'gripping' ability. I'm not sure how it works exactly, but I think you kind of...well, touch the object with your hoof and somehow 'imagine' gripping the object. And then the object should 'stick' to your hoof.” I replied.

“Have you tried doing that yourself?” my mom asked.

“I was able to lift a bar of soap from the ground once.” I replied.

“But how were you able to do it?” my father asked intently, obviously curious.

“Well, after Twilight—“ I began before being quickly cut off my my mother.

“Who's Twilight?” she asked.

Then I continued again. “She is the librarian that I'm staying with. Now, like I was saying, I—”

“What kind of name is Twilight. Is that some kind of hippie name?” my father asked.

“No, it's a pony name. Now can I please get back to what I was saying?” I finally said without being interrupted.

“Sorry.” my father said.

“As I was saying, after she showed me that ability, I tried it myself. It took a while, but I was able to lift objects with my hoof.” I said.

“Could you show us?” my mom asked.

“If I was in better shape, I would.” I replied.

“Speaking of which, what did happen to you?” my father asked, now a bit curious.

“All that we heard, is that you got lost in some forest, and ran into a tree.” my mother added.

As I told them what had happened, they both sat upright listening to what I had remembered.





HOURS EARLIER
A knock came upon Zecora's door.

“Twilight, it's good to see you. I have found a strange pony and didn't know what to do.” Zecora said, relieved to see Twilight.

As Zecora went back inside, Twilight took a look inside. On the floor was none other than Daniel himself asleep and covered with a blanket.

“Well, that was quick.” Rainbow Dash commented.

Her friends just looked at her.

“What? At least we found him. That's the important thing, right?” Rainbow Dash replied.

“How is he Zecora?” Twilight asked.

“Not well. Down a hill, he tumbled and fell.” she replied, revealing the bandages that had been placed on his body.

“But that is not all. For I felt the presence of another right after his fall.” Zecora said.

“Was another pony out there?” Twilight asked.

“I do not know. For it's presence did not show.” Zecora answered. Then she went on to explain the experience to the mares.

“Weird. Right after Daniel panicked and ran away, I swore that I saw something. Something that looked like it was in the shadows.” Twilight said.

“What was it?” Rarity asked.

“I...I don't know. By the time I looked back to get a better look, it had disappeared.” Twilight said.

“Ya think you need to report to the princess?” Applejack asked.

“Again, I don't know. But it wouldn't hurt for me to at least mention it to Princess Celestia.” Twilight said.

“So what do we do now?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well, I want you to fly back to Ponyville and tell the hospital that a patient will be arriving soon. The rest of us will bring him to town.” Twilight ordered.

“Got it.” Rainbow Dash said before she immediately headed outside.

“Just how do you expect us to do that. It's not like he's a light stallion.” Rarity asked, a bit puzzled.
Twilight didn't think of that.

“I have a cart that I use that is outside. It should make the trip back an easier ride.” Zecora said right before she opened the front door. Behind her hut was indeed a cart. It was obvious that it was hoof made with materials that would be found in the forest. But even then, it looked strong enough to do it's job.





“Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that you ate grass?” My father asked, shocked at what I had told him.

“Um, yes?” I replied, shifting my body to the side.

“Why?” he asked, his face still plastered with a shocked look.

“Well, let's recap here. I was lost in the middle of a forest. I had no idea how to get out, let alone which direction was north. 

And I was hungry.” I said. I tried to count the events with my fingers only to realize again that I no longer had them. My 
parents exchanged glances as I tried to fidget with my hooves, trying to do hand gestures I could no longer do.

“What does it taste like?” my mother asked.

“Like...grass. But somehow, there's more flavor appeal to it. I don't know how else to explain it.” I said.

“Well I for one am not going to be eating grass. And neither should you.” my father stated bitterly.

“But ponies usually eat grass, right?” I asked.

“We are NOT ponies. We are Human Beings that got dragged to this god-forsaken world and changed into these god-awful bodies against our will. Do you know how degrading it feels to be walking on all fours?” he barked.

The door opened abruptly and in came the guard, angry as ever.

“That is it. I have had it with you.” the guard yelled.

“But—” My father started before being immediately cut off by the guard.

“No, I don't want to hear it. For the past half hour, all I've been doing, is hearing you bitching and moaning on how unfair your life has gotten. And to be honest, it's been getting on my nerves. But since it seems so obvious to me now that you cannot stay civil and calm, that I will have to revoke your visiting privileges until further notice.” the guard stated as calmly as he could.

My parents, both unhappy at this new revelation, started to head back to the door. The guard stopped my mother in her tracks by getting in her path.

“When I said that privileges were revoked, that only applies to your husband. You can still visit your son on a weekly basis. The other guard can escort you once you are ready to go. Is that okay with you?” the guard said as calmly as he could.

“That's...fine. I guess.” she said timidly.

With that, the guard escorted my father out of the room.

“So Daniel, have they been treating you well?” she asked.

“No complaints yet. You?” I said.

“Well. I don't like the camp they have set up. It's crowded, it smells strongly of horse, the outhouse toilets are too low to the ground and reeks of manure, and it gets too hot in the tent during the day. But other than that, it's okay I guess.” she said.

At least she still had her sense of humor.

“What I meant to ask was, how are they treating you?” I asked.

“Overall, they were nice. The workers seemed nice enough, but they didn't really have any time to talk to us. But what surprised me is that the ones with those horns have some sort of glowing telekinetic ability. Scared the hell out of me the first time they did it.” she said.

And apparently, she still rambles on.

“Well, you have a horn too.” I stated.

“I know. So do you. But, does that mean we're...um...Unicorns?” she asked me, a bit uncertain about her question.

A small smile and nod from me was all the answer she needed.

“But Unicorns don't exist. How could they?” she asked, confused.

“Well, we are on another world. That much I do know.” I said.

Then we both heard a knock at the door.