The Son of infinity

by Krystl_Fae

Chapter 2: FOUND

Warmth... so much warmth... Wait… how can there be warmth? I… I should be dead, I... the cold. So much cold... and darkness......and pain. So. Much. Pain. I was in agony, freezing in the cold winter night. I was in pain, I was cold, I was afraid... alone... and yet... I'm alive!? This warmth, it... it feels so nice. I- I can't remember the last time I felt this warmth, this softness, this... comfort? How...? How did I get here? Where is here? Am I dead? Is this what it's like after you die? Is it finally over- at last…?

...no. I can feel the sun on my face, the gentle breeze in what fur remains on my body. I can't feel my injuries… my broken bones feel different; a good kind of different. Like the feeling after you remove a thorn from your hoof. I feel... How? How can I be feeling better? Did someone find me? Did they heal me? Take me h-...... no, that’s a fool's dream. No one cares for me, no one could love me. I'm ignored by the city guards as if I don't exist, the commoners and nobles alike steer clear of me. I'm not even worth caring for. I can barely even stand anymore, let alone walk. I'm broken, and not even kings, queens, and all of their men could fix that. I am alone, and yet... I'm no longer where I was. I had given up, resigned myself to my fate, to the eternal slumber of death; and yet I am still alive... somewhere.

I try to move, my atrophied muscles straining slightly from days; or was it weeks; of little or no use. I mentally braced myself for the slight movement to bring back the agony that was usually my constant companion.....but none came. I tried again, shifting slightly in what I could now tell was undoubtedly a couch or carpet, or perhaps a pillow of some kind, with a blanket draped over me for warmth ...still no pain assaulted my senses.

Feeling a little trepidatious, yet curious, I slowly tested a few of my muscles. My legs were fine, even my broken one! My neck, body, and head felt the same as my leg, even though they shouldn’t! I was now utterly confused. This couldn't be real... could it? There was only one thing left to do.

I slowly opened my left eye, the one not partially covered by whatever I was laying on. I instantly shut it again the moment it was opened because of the bright light assaulting my senses after who knows how long spent in the dark streets of the city. One thing was for sure: I was not where I was yesterday. After trying again, and blinking back the light that nearly blinded me, I started seeing a bit more of where I was.

It started with the outline of a room; But how could I be in a room? Is it a prison cell? Are they going to release me from my misery? and soon I could barely make out the sunlight streaming through the open window, between a crack in the curtains that the gentle breeze had created. Shifting my head slightly to get my eyes out of the sun and into the shade cast by the curtains, I adjusted quickly to the light levels. I was indeed in a room; indoors; in a building; with a window, and doors, and a roof, and a floor... this simple fact nearly giving me a headache trying to figure out the whos, hows, and whys. The ‘window’ turned out to actually be a sliding glass door that was left open to allow a light breeze into the room, which had in turn slightly opened the curtains that had been drawn across the entranceway in an attempt to keep out the sunlight.

There was another light source, a small glimmer coming from under a mantlepiece, but what the source of light was I couldn’t make out, as it was blocked by couches, and likely a table too, in a small seating arrangement between where I was and the light. It almost seemed as if it was designed for a small family to gather around before the light source. The mantle could indicate that it’s a fireplace... I had never seen fire before. Well, real fire anyway; I had had plenty of experience with the magic variety, as my- …as my burns would have told if they were still there. I wonder what it looks like. The rest of the room slowly came into focus. The walls were white, with yellow and orange trims, and there was a cream-coloured carpet on the floor; the curtains were white with orange and red trimming, emblazoned with a sun-like symbol in the middle, reminiscent of the symbol on the guard uniforms I had occasionally seen.

Perhaps whoever 'saved' me; though I'm still rather unsure about that; was a high-ranking commoner or noble, perhaps even one of the guards themselves. I couldn't see outside through the bright sunlight, so I continued to look around inside. As I lifted my head to look around properly, I-…

...am I on a BED?!?

I looked around, and pressed down on the material a few times to confirm it. Yep. Without a doubt I have somehow managed to sleep on a bed! An actual BED!

Ideas immediately began to whirl around in my head. Did I break into this house while sleepwalking? Did I hurt whoever lived here? Can I escape without them or anyone else noticing? What about the guards, they'll be looking for me! I can't hide my presence here; even though I seem to be cleaner, I’ve still left a foal-sized greyish mark where I was sleeping. What do I..... wait. Who sleeps on a bed this bi- no, this HUGE anyways?!? The bed itself was no less than four times my length long and wide, and if I was standing beside it, I could probably only just rest my chin on the mattress.

Whoever owns this place had to be rich... then again, I considered the other beggars in the street to be rich; richer than me at least. They would only show up once or twice a year, always different ponies, and would normally be gone within the week, if not sooner. When someone noticed them, they were taken, and supposedly given accommodation, food, and a temporary dividend until they could find a way to support themselves; all paid for by 'the crown', whoever that is. I never found out just who the ruler of Equestria was; finding out this place was called Equestria was difficult enough for me. I think some passerby once mentioned a… prince? A princess maybe? So it was definitely some kind of royalty like kings or queens. Perhaps even just princes and princesses out of respect to some former ruler, or something… Who knows?

But, wherever I had ended up, and however I had ended up here, I was now more afraid than I had ever felt on the streets. My heartbeat was echoing in my ears, I had spots swimming in my vision, I could almost feel the sweat starting to accumulate as a shiver went down my spine. But despite all of that, a part of me still felt comfortable, perhaps even safe; an emotion I could not recall feeling in all the time I can remember; it felt so odd, the sensation was almost alien to me.

I didn't know what to think. Normally my Instincts would prove right, and they hadn’t failed me in all the time I had lived. There were times I had thought my Instincts let me down, only to soon be corrected as the position I would have been in, had I not trusted them, was the epicentre for some form of incident (There had been icicles falling from rooves, a pile of snow from on top of buildings crashing to the ground, the odd runaway cart, a falling pegasus or stray unicorn spell; even a lightning strike had been avoided thanks to trusting my instincts.).

But this time, while my mind told me to run, to flee the building as fast as I possibly can, my Instincts told me to stay and fall back asleep in the comfortable bed. This had never happened before. My instincts only ever kicked in when they were really needed, or I was indecisive; and never did they contradict my brain to this extent. But now, they were telling me to do the exact opposite of what my rational brain wanted me to do.

Forced to decide between surges of adrenaline from my fight-or-flight response and possibly malfunctioning Instincts, I did the only stupid thing I could do. I contradicted BOTH of them, carefully and quietly- OUCH! -falling off the bed; sneaking into the farthest corner of the room from the door with the blanket, and curling up in a ball to hide myself in the cotton sheets from whatever decided to come through that door.

Quite simply: it had to be the worst idea anyone had ever deliberately come up with in all of history. There was no way to escape should anyone show up, there was no way they wouldn't notice the missing sheets or dirty spot on the bed from my coat, and they would definitely notice the shaking ball of cotton blankets in the corner that had two eyes peeking out from the folds of fabric. If anything were to happen, there was nothing I could do about it.

Celestia paced the room in front of the throne; her throne. She had awoken nearly two hours earlier to find the young colt still asleep in her bed. With somewhat-practiced ease, she silently crept from the covers and closed the curtains, exiting through the door to the balcony, and leaving it slightly ajar to let a cool, but not quite cold, breeze into the room. She had adjusted the sun and moon as they rose and set respectively, before flying off to breakfast. Celestia dared not to use the other exit from her room, as the sound could have awoken the room's other occupant, and she had completely forgotten about using a muffling spell; her mind still focused on the colt, stressing about his condition and worrying about those still-unanswered questions. A brief breakfast and a few adjustments to her weekly schedule later- Day court could wait, damnit. -she was now pacing around the throne room in worried contemplation.

"Um, Princess..?"

Celestia stopped pacing momentarily to look at the guard captain.

"Are you alright, your majesty?"

"Yes, I am fine, thank you. Your concern is appreciated, if unnecessary. You are dismissed, Captain."

Captain Shimmer Shield saluted somewhat unsurely, but soon left the throne room none-the-less, leaving Celestia to her worried pacing.

It had been a short time since Shimmer Shield and her squads had returned to the castle with their report. As it turned out, the horseshoe Celestia had left was easily found and completely undisturbed, and they were soon able to begin investigating.

However… other than the location where Celestia found the colt, the amount of information and evidence the guard managed to provide concerning the foal was beyond lacklustre. They didn't find a single pony who had even seen the colt before; and there was no trace of where he came from, or who he was. It was as if he had appeared out of thin air; without any family, relatives, friends, acquaintances, or even knowledge of his mere existence before last night. The search had been such a failure that Shimmer had even spoken of abdicating her position as captain should she prove incapable of finding any further information.

This is what left Celestia pacing the throne room in such a state. None of her questions had been answered; no clues or information about the colt even existing, and if not for her personal oversight of the royal guard, she would likely have thought that they were incompetent fools who failed a simple task. But the Princess knew the ponies Shimmer Shield took with her for the investigation. They were the kind of pony whom could tell you who took the last cookie from the cookie jar by studying the wind in the next town over. They were the best the guard had to offer, certainly the best in Canterlot, perhaps even in all of Equestria, and they had drawn a blank. It wasn't even as if he HAD appeared out of thin air; or teleported there; there was zero magical residue in the entire area around where Celestia found him, other than the traces of her own magic from when she picked him up with her telekinesis.

Celestia was at a complete loss. For the first time in centuries, she had no idea of what happened, or how to go about finding out what did. She was stumped. She could always try asking the colt himself, but the memories may be too traumatic for him, or he may have amnesia. She wasn't even sure if he would wake up in the next few days; he may sleep off his exhaustion for a few months before finally waking up. Then again, he may not even wake up at all...

Celestia’s head shot up at that thought. He may not even wake up; he might not even be alive right now. I left him in my room, alone, after all that he just went through. The poor foal must be terrified. I know I would be after waking up like that.

Celestia instantly made up her mind; she had to go back and check on him, to make sure he was ok. She should've thought of this sooner, but now is a good a time as any. But she had to make haste; who knows what could have happened while she was gone. For all I know he could have jumped off the balcony!!

It felt like I spent hours in that corner worrying. In reality, my mind knew it was likely only several minutes, but fear and stress seemed to make it drag on longer than it really was.

I heard the signature clop of hooves from outside the door. They were muffled, as if the noise was from an adjoining room to the one outside. It didn't last long, as the sound of a door opening signalled the entrance of whoever it was into the room beyond this one. Soft hoofsteps slowly grew louder; though they were kept deliberately quiet, as if attempting not to wake someone. Did they know I was here?

A soft click sounded as the door opened.

I froze in fear. I slowed my breathing as much as I could, which isn’t saying much. It’s harder to do so when adrenaline is running through your veins at fifty miles an hour. The door slowly stopped opening, not quite far enough for me to see the other side, nor whoever was opening it.

A white leg cautiously stepped through the doorway, followed by a white muzzle connected to a long, flowing mane. I didn’t even notice the bright pastel colours of their mane at the time, I was so intent on hiding. As the.... Um...? As the mare(?) stepped through the open door, opening it a little bit wider in the process, she looked around as if searching for something; or someone.

Her magenta eyes finally looked over to the (now bare) bed, and soon found the bundle of sheets I had hidden in. As she walked across the room slowly, like she was trying not to startle or scare me, I noticed just how tall she was. She stood taller than any other pony I had ever seen, nearly twice the height of some of them, but not quite three times my height. THIS is who owns this place?!? Ohh horseapples....

As she finally got close to where I was, her expression changed from one of curiosity, caution, and worry, to one of concern and... relief? Am… am I reading this right?

With both my instincts AND my brain (I’m normally excellent at reading ponies’ expressions and faces) labelled under 'malfunctioning' for the moment, I watched as the situation unfolded in front of me. She approached with a small smile on her face. She looked kind...ish. I don't know whether to trust my mind's observations at the moment or not.

And then... she spoke. Softly, quietly, and with a gentle voice, she spoke to me.

"Hello there, little one..."

I shied away a little at the sudden noise. She merely smiled more and spoke again.

"It's alright, I won't bite."

She steadily approached and held out her hoof, which I shied away from, deeper into my blanket camouflage, which didn’t do anything since I was already as deep into the blankets as I could get without going through the solid wall at my back.

She sat down in front of me, and slowly reached her hoof out further, removing the sheet covering me slightly and causing me to flinch and shut my eyes tight when she touched my now exposed shoulder. But instead of pulling me out of the blankets and throwing me out the window, or… whatever I was expecting at this point, she merely started rubbing her hoof over my (somewhat patchy) coat like she was petting a foal. Which admittedly, I am still a foal, but.. nobody's ever treated me like one before.

I opened my eyes slowly to see her smiling at me, a genuine smile, if my instincts were to be believed. One of caring and compassion; genuine happiness. The petting she was giving me felt soothing, and I almost wanted to let go, but I stayed my desire for comfort to err on the side of caution; though I was more than a little curious now. Why hasn't she thrown me out or attacked me? Called the guards…? Why is she treating me so... nicely?

"See, I'm not going to hurt you."

She spoke to me almost like one would imagine a loving mother would speak to their foals. I didn't respond; I wasn't sure if I even could with my dry throat. She soon dropped her hoof, still smiling that gentle smile, and spoke again.

"What is your name, my little pony?"

That… caught me slightly off guard. Not her asking my name; all bets were off at this point; but how she said "my little pony". She said it, not in any malicious or controlling sense, but in a way which made it sound like she was going to take care of you and look after you; or, in this case, me. After some time of silence from me, she dropped the question and spoke.

"Would you like something to drink? Some water, perhaps?"

I slowly, and cautiously nodded my head from inside the blankets. She nodded once in confirmation and looked over to a nearby table, from where she levitated over a cup and pitcher, pouring some water from the pitcher into the cup, before levitating it over to me in her magic with a warm smile on her face. I carefully reached my hooves out of the blankets a little ways and grabbed the cup of water, bringing it back to me and my safety blankets before slowly drinking from it. I tried to keep my eyes on the mare in front of me the whole time, to make sure she didn't try anything, which she didn't.

"Would you like something to eat as well?"

I at first shook my head a little, before realising that she could easily tell I was starving. She was likely the same pony that healed me, and this was most likely her house; though why she did any of this is beyond me.

"Are you sure? It doesn't look to me like you have had much of anything for some time."

Her response was in a tone which said 'I'm trying to look out for you, and I want to help you, but I can't unless you let me’, yet also contained concern and pity. I could tell that there would be no use in lying, so I resigned myself to my fate with a shameful nod from under the blankets, my eyes slightly downcast.

I could almost feel the pity and concern radiating off of her. She nodded again and slowly stood, making her way over to the door to the other room… rooms… whatever it was. When she exited, she left the door slightly more ajar than how she had left it when she entered; and if I tried, I could see a sliver of the room outside the door. From the open doorway I soon heard the sound of another door opening, and a soft conversation followed before someone else, if the different gait was anything to go by, left to likely do some task or other. I assumed it was to get something to eat when the mare from before came back in and sat near me again; resuming her petting of my coat. I wanted to remain awake, but the warmth from the den of blankets I had made for myself, combined with the gentle petting from the strange white mare, and the drowsiness from my remaining exhaustion was more than enough for me to fall asleep.