//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: A Vision & More Problems // Story: "Could You Be My Mommy?" // by Dolphy Blue Drake //------------------------------// As Lyra slept, her dreams were once again about humans, but this time they were different.  Instead of seeing a world similar to the one Twilight described, she saw one that looked far more advanced.  She was able to fly in this dream in spite of not having wings, and she hovered over a highly advanced looking castle that easily dwarfed Canterlot Castle, and even all of Canterlot put together!  The sprawling city around it was filled with oddly-shaped buildings, where vehicles similar to the moving carriages Twilight had described moved without wheels, and could even fly. As she explored the bizarre city, she heard a voice that tugged at her.  It was male, and though she couldn’t understand a single word, she followed it until she reached the castle from before. One of the energy windows in the massive castle was open, so Lyra slipped in through it and gasped. What she saw was a bedroom with a massive bed able to easily fit two adult humans and still have plenty of room left over.  Two humans, a man and a woman, both dressed in royal garb, were kneeling at the foot of the bed with their crowns set to the side. They spoke in the same gibberish tongue Jonnathan used when not under the influence of a translation spell, but she could tell they were grieving.  The man’s glasses were splattered with tears, and the woman’s hair was a wreck. Suddenly, they switched languages to perfect Equestrian, just as if a translator spell had been used, even though none had been cast. “Father,” the man said, his voice shaking, “please, wherever our son is, please make sure that he is safe.” “Even if we never see our poor Junior ever again, please keep him safe, dear Father,” the woman added.  “But if at all possible, please help us to someday reunite with our son, and let his heart remain pure.” The man stopped for a second as if he was listening to something only he could hear before turning to his wife. “Millaina, God says Junior is safe,” the man told his wife.  “Someone found him and is caring for him.  Someone with a good heart.” “Was there more?  Did God say where Junior is?” the woman asked hopefully. “No,” the man said with a shake of his head.  “God said if we are to reunite with Junior, we’ll have to do our part.  And even then, we might never find him in this life, because God is keeping the details of His will from me to keep the future open.” “Oh, Jonnathan, I wish there was more we could do,” Millaina said sadly.  Lyra gasped again when she heard the man’s name. “Well, we can at least ask God to send whoever found our Junior a message,” the man who was apparently Jonnathan’s father said. “What kind of message?” the mother asked. “I’ll start us off,” the elder Jonnathan said, holding his wife’s hand in his.  “Father, we ask Thee to send a message to whoever has found and is caring for our son.  Please tell them this:  We don’t know who you are, but please take good care of our son.  If we never get to see him in mortality again, please raise him into a fine man.” Jonnathan’s birth mother joined in.  “If you have taken guardianship of our son, or even adopted him as your own, we’ll understand.  After all, he needs a family to care for him.  Even if you aren’t human, please raise him to never forget that he is human and to know that he is special.  If it comes to him having to fight to protect whatever friends he might make while in your care, or even to protect you, don’t fear for him.  He comes from a long line of powerful mages, his father being one himself.  As long as you raise him right, he’ll be able to protect those he loves.” The elder Jonnathan decided to add some more to their message:  “No matter what, make sure he has a good home.  Here, he would’ve been trapped in the stuffy life of the heir to the throne.  Even if he never returns to claim his birthright, he may actually be better off with you than he would be here on Draqstar.  Raise him to love others, and to care for others before himself.  And, if necessary, try to help him train his magic.  He’s a prodigy: able to control his magic from birth, and his powers may someday be needed.  I hope they are not, but if you ever need to help him train, please just pray like we are doing now.  Ask the God of Junior’s parents to help guide you, and He will, even though whatever universe you are in isn’t His domain.  If all else fails, pray to our God to link you to me, and I’ll help you to train our son.  I know our God very well. and He has already agreed.  But, above all, please give our son a good life, wherever he is now.  If we ever meet you and Junior, we’ll gladly consider you a part of our family for raising our son right.” “Again, Father, please send this message to whoever is now caring for our son.  Junior doesn’t need to know the responsibilities he was destined for unless it is Thy will to return him to us, so please make sure that he has the life of a normal child.” The rest of the prayer returned to the gibberish language that was apparently the tongue of Jonnathan’s homeworld. “I will,” Lyra said firmly.  “I’ll raise your son into a fine human being, I promise you, and I’ll keep my word, for he’s my son now, too.” Lyra awoke slowly and looked at the bed on the floor.  Jonnathan was still sleeping.  Amazingly, he’d slept the whole night without making a fuss.  Since the infant was still sleeping, Lyra decided to let him be while she jotted down the details of her dream before making her way downstairs. The smell of pancakes assaulted Lyra’s nose, and she made a beeline for the dining room, where Bonnie was waiting with two plates piled high with pancakes. “Well?” Bon-Bon said as she set the two plates on the table.  “Let’s dig in!” The two mares did just that, and the rest of the day passed by with nothing eventful happening. Soon, a new routine took shape in Lyra’s life:  Wake up, check on Jonnathan, shower, eat breakfast, work on her music, feed Jonnathan some formula, try to help him learn Equestrian, eat lunch, change Jonnathan’s diaper, give him a bath, put Jonnathan to sleep for a nap, work some more on her music to bring in the bits to help support the family (and Bon-Bon), do a little studying of humans, help Jonnathan with language some more, feed him again, eat dinner, practice her music some more, then put the baby to sleep for the night before going to bed herself. Many catastrophes struck Equestria over those months, including the return of Tirek, but they pulled through it all.  In fact, when Tirek returned, Jonnathan used some of his strange magic to hide all traces of Lyra, Bon-Bon and himself so the monster couldn’t find them to take their magic (though Lyra doubted Tirek would’ve been able to take Jonnathan’s magic.  It was completely different from any magic in their universe).  The spell left the baby incredibly exhausted afterward, but even so, he’d managed to pull off a miracle, so Lyra broke away from routine and let him nap for hours and skipped his language lessons that day, before resuming the normal routine once he’d rested off his magical exhaustion. However, two months after Tirek returned and was defeated, they ran into a problem:  the jammies Jonnathan had come to Equestria in had been his only set of clothes the whole time, and they were starting to wear out.  They were made of some kind of fancy material that seemed incredibly durable, yet also amazingly soft.  As it turned out, Lyra could sense some of the ‘Draqstarran magic’ emanating from the clothes, so they were most likely enhanced with Jonnathan’s people’s magic, which would make them impossible to duplicate unless the infant boy could somehow imitate the spell, but he admitted that he didn’t know the first thing about imitating an enchantment that was already on something (in Equestrian, no less!  Broken Equestrian, but still, he was getting somewhere, even if his mouth still couldn’t form words.  In related news, his first teeth had started to grow in, and Bon-Bon was initially terrified when the first tooth that grew in was a canine, but Lyra helped calm her roommate down by explaining that humans were omnivorous.  And sure enough, the second tooth to grow in was a molar.) The clothing problem meant one thing:  Lyra would have to reveal Jonnathan to another pony:  Rarity. Jonnathan was once again stowed in Lyra’s saddlebags as she walked through Ponyville to Carousel Boutique. Mommy?  Where we go? Jonnathan’s telepathic voice asked, the boy still struggling with the language. “It’s ‘where are we going,’ Jonnathan,” Lyra sighed as she spoke quietly to the human in her bag.  “And I already told you:  we’re going to Carousel Boutique to get you some new clothes.” But jammies still fit! Jonnathan protested. “I know you haven’t grown out of them, son, but they’re starting to wear a little, and we can’t have you wearing the same outfit every day.  It’s not a very human thing to do.” Okay, Mommy… the baby replied. As Lyra entered the shop, she looked around.  She hadn’t been in this place in ages!  She used to buy clothes from Rarity very often to try to experience a little piece of human culture: wearing clothes all the time, but the baby human that came into her life changed all that. “Lyra, Darling!” Rarity said as she trotted over to the green unicorn.  “It’s been forever since you last visited my shop!  You used to be my most frequent customer!  What happened?” “Before I tell you, I have to swear you to secrecy,” Lyra replied in hushed tones.  “Twilight and Fluttershy already know, and they’ve been keeping quiet so far.  I need you to keep this a secret as well, for the time being.  Can you do that?  Can you Pinkie Promise that you’ll keep what I’m about to show you a secret?” “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Rarity replied, going through the whole motions of the promise. “Now, what were you going to tell me, Lyra, Dear?” Rarity asked. “Well, I’m actually going to show you, but please don’t freak out,” Lyra insisted. “I give my word as a lady that I will remain calm,” Rarity declared. “Very well,” Lyra said as she started to levitate her son out of her saddlebag.  “This little guy is why I stopped buying clothes here.  I needed to care for him, so I couldn’t put forward the money to try out clothes anymore.” “He’s adorable!” Rarity gushed.  “And that fabric!  It’s a bit worn, but I’ve never seen anything like it!  It looks incredibly strong and soft at the same time!” “Well, the reason I’m here is because my son here needs new clothes,” Lyra said. “He’s from another world.  One sort of like the one Twilight visited and told all those stories about, except the humans in his world have magic that’s different from our own.  He somehow wound up here when he was three weeks old, and he asked me to be his Mommy.  I said yes, so I’ve been his mother ever since.” “How could he possibly ask you to be his mother?” Rarity scoffed.  “At such a young age, nothing is capable of speech!” “Jonnathan, say hello to Rarity, please,” Lyra said with a smirk. Suddenly, Jonnathan’s hands glowed purple, as did his eyes, and Rarity heard a very young voice in her head say Hello, Rarity, Mommy say need new clothes.  You help? Rarity’s jaw dropped as the baby’s eyes and hands lost the purple glow. “And he was able to do this when you first found him?” Rarity asked in disbelief. “Yes,” Lyra replied.  “He didn’t know Equestrian back then, so I had to use a translation spell, which I also used to get his full name.  But because I’ve adopted him, we tacked Heartstrings onto the end of it, making it a bit longer.” “And this material, how is it made?” Rarity asked excitedly. “I don’t really know,” Lyra admitted sadly.  “It’s from his world, so it uses his people’s magic, but he doesn’t know the spell.” Wait! a youthful voice suddenly screamed in both mares’ heads as the baby’s hands and eyes glowed purple again.  Try think…  Birth mother make jammies.  She let watch.  Took silk and… denim!  Merged with Void and Force spell!  Can try! “Silk and denim?” Rarity asked in surprise.  “How could those possibly merge at all?” Spell merge stuff!  Let try! the telepathic voice said enthusiastically. “Alright…” Rarity sighed as she pulled out a bolt of denim and a bolt of silk and laid them on the counter.  “I don’t know what you—” Suddenly, the infant’s eyes started to glow, slowly flickering between the colors teal and sunset, as did his hands.  The two bolts of fabric started to meld together, changing on the molecular level into an incredibly strong, yet soft-feeling fabric that was white.  It was also a little stretchy. “That’s incredible!” Rarity exclaimed after the spell finished and the baby slumped, sweating profusely.  “What’s its name?” The baby resumed his telepathy spell, which was a lot easier than what he’d just done. Birth mother call ‘mirac’, Jonnathan’s voice stated.  Require strong magic.  Expensive.  Work better if think spell name, even better if say it, but can’t talk, and forget spell name. “Well, if you let me take your son’s measurements, Lyra, I’ll see what I can make with this ‘mirac’ for him,” Rarity told Lyra.  “The first set will be free, because I see a lot of potential here, and he worked so hard to make it!” Mommy? Jonnathan’s voice asked with worry as Rarity picked him up so she could use him for modeling. “It’s okay, honey,” Lyra assured him.  “Mommy’s going to be right here.  And Rarity won’t hurt you, I promise.” Okay, Mommy, Jonnathan’s voice replied before he turned his head to meet Rarity’s eyes.  Mommy say you no hurt, so no hurt! “Of course, Dear,” Rarity giggled.  “After I take your measurements, I’ll need you to turn that spell off so I can get your actual eye color.” Jonnathan huffed and canceled his telepathy spell, revealing his electric blue eyes once again.  He was going to have to act like a normal baby for a while, using simple sounds and gestures to get his points across, and he really didn’t like doing that. “Uh, Rarity?” Lyra piped up as Rarity started taking the infant human’s measurements.  “In one of my dreams about humans, I think I saw his homeworld.  And by combining what I saw there and the pajamas he came to Equestria with, I think he may be royalty on his homeworld.” Rarity gasped.  “Royalty?  If that’s the case, shouldn’t you be trying to send him home?” “I can’t think of any way to do it, though,” Lyra sighed.  “Just, since he’s at least a child of high-society given his pajamas, could you try to merge casual and noble styles for his outfits?  Just as a reminder of his home, but still casual enough so he can try to fit in.” “I’ll see what I can do, Lyra,” Rarity replied with determination.  “Now, Jonnathan, please hold still.” The baby complied and froze up, only moving when Rarity asked him to, and then holding each new position until she asked him to move again.  Of course, he was too young to stand, but Rarity only asked him to raise his arms or shift the position of a leg, and he could do that just fine since he was now about six months old. After what felt like an eternity to Jonnathan, Rarity started taking notes on his appearance:  his eye color, the color of his hair which was starting to grow in more, his current build, and a few other things before saying, “okay, Jonnathan.  You’re done for now.  Please wait with your Mommy while I come up with some designs for you.  I’ll also have to separate that ‘mirac’ into sections so I can dye it into multiple colors, so this may take a little while.” Jonnathan understood most of what Rarity said, so he started crawling back to his Mommy.  He made it halfway to her before she picked him up in her magic and levitated him the rest of the way to her. If some other pony had done that, he’d most likely have become upset.  But she was his Mommy, so he complied and let her carry him over to her and then snuggled up to her, burying his face in her fur. After napping for a little while, Jonnathan felt himself being gently shaken awake by his Mommy, who smiled gently at him. “Hey, sleepyhead,” his Mommy giggled.  “Rarity needs you to try on some outfits she made.” Jonnathan smiled tiredly at his Mommy and gave a yawn before nodding.  He didn’t understand all the words yet, but he understood most of them.  Equestrian was a tough language, but part of a baby’s job was to watch others speak to learn how to speak for themselves, so he was giving it all he had. Jonnathan felt the familiar touch of his Mommy’s magic and let her levitate him over to Rarity without making a fuss. “Okay, Dear, I’ll need you to hold still while I test each outfit on you,” the white unicorn said.  “Can you do that for me?” He understood the holding still part, and a few other words in there, and Rarity hadn’t hurt him so far, so he simply nodded and sat up, waiting for whatever Rarity was going to do. He almost cried out when the mare started to remove his jammies, but his Mommy gave him a smile and shook her head, letting him know that everything was going to be okay. After his jammies were removed, Rarity started to dress him in different outfits, some absolutely stunning, others… passable. Rarity tried to add accessories to some of the outfits, but each time, she shook her head and removed the accessories, returning each outfit to its original state. After what felt like hours, Rarity had him try on the final outfit, and when he looked at himself in the mirror, he giggled in delight.  It had the rainbow stripes that symbolized his birth family, but instead of being gold, it was the same shade of green as his Mommy and had her lyre Cutie Mark emblazoned on the front of the shirt, with lettering matching the symbols from the tag on the shirt he arrived in, but with a little extra added to the end, with writing in what was probably Equestrian underneath it. As he looked to Rarity and his Mommy in amazement, his Mommy giggled before trotting up to him and whispering in his ear, using the translation spell so that he could fully understand her:  “It says your full name, Jonnathan.  Both in our tongue and in yours:  Jonnathan Thaddamaeus Gheelia-Heartstrings.” But, no tell you write people’s alphabet because no learn write! the baby replied telepathically, dumbfounded. His Mommy giggled and whispered, “I asked someone your birth parents apparently know very well to help with that.  You know, that “God” person you told me a little bit about?  I asked them, and I suddenly knew your whole alphabet.  I wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget it.  In fact, once we’re done with you learning our language, could you teach me yours?  I’d love to learn your people’s language.  We could even use it to communicate in secret in a way that no one but us would understand!” Love teach you people's language, Mommy, Jonnathan thought to his Mommy while giggling in delight.  And love new outfit!  He extended the telepathy spell to Rarity and tried to use Equestrian for the last part:  Thank you, Mommy and Rarity! “You’re welcome, Dear,” Rarity replied.  “Now, you and your Mommy should take those clothes home with you right away.  I’ve also fixed up your original clothes, so if you ever want to wear them while they still fit, they’ll still be available.” “Thank you, Rarity,” Jonnathan’s Mommy said with pure gratitude.  “We’ll make sure to take good care of his new—” Suddenly, the shop’s door burst open, revealing the very pony Jonnathan had been trying to repel over the course of five months and a week:  the pink one. “Oh no,” his Mommy whispered.  “She caught up to us.”