//------------------------------// // Chapter II: Stayin' Alive. // Story: For My Beloved: Sunshine. // by ZaDrEx //------------------------------// Three years later Three years. Three years passed since the 'incident' that led me here. And I was on the same start line I was on the fabled day that I was born. This didn't make any sense whatsoever. Either the time is passing too quickly for me to acknowledge my surroundings properly, or my mind is on autopilot when I wasn't focused. Most of the time I felt like being in a cut scene in some strange game, looking but not actually playing. The only thing I could do was gather information. And oh boy, I did gather a lot of information. But let me start from the day I was taken from the hospital. When I finally woke up, I was no longer in my mother's tight embrace, but rather in some sort of care unit. I remember being eager to run away instantly, but the nurses were also very persistent about me staying in my crib/bed. It took my mother two days to rescue me from their clutches. I remember exactly how much they LOVED to hug me, feed me, and change my diaper... Oh, did I not mention that? I HAD TO WEAR A DIAPER! The most shameful moments of my life yet. I'm sure that's why babies don't remember this stuff... Side note. I'm a mare. Yeah, not only I was blasted into this world as an equine, but also a fucking unicorn mare. On the plus side, there are unicorns and pegasi here. But more of that later. My appearance is quite uncommon as I learned, most ponies (yes they are ponies.) Are brightly colored with mixed mane and fur. Me on the other hand... Well, let's just say that I'm mostly gray. My fur is gray, and my mane is black, with some lighter shades here and there. The same goes for the tail. But my eyes are absolutely gorgeous, big bright red eyes. My mother tells me that I got them from my grandpa. I also learned my new name. Aurora Moonlight. And I must admit, a pretty cool name. Having no real connection to the actual aurora, I think it was just chosen at random. And from what I learned later, that's the most normal-sounding name I would have a chance to get here. Here, I mean Equestria. Land of magic, ponies, dreams, and wishes. I say this because I truly believe I'm in some sort of heaven or cartoon for kids. Everything seems too good to be true though. Let me tell you about my parents and siblings. Because they are quite a bunch of different traits. My whole family consists of five unicorns. Four mares and one stallion. I'm the recent addition to the family and most likely the last. I have twin sisters. Shine and Sunset. They are both teens, or rather teen foals because it appears to be some sort of very fast aging around here that I can't keep up with. They are both identical, two pearl-white unicorns with bright blue eyes and stunning bright blue manes. They are quite agile and very energetic which they often show when they play with me in the backyard. The only thing that tells them apart is their stance. Shine has a very proud trot and menacing stand, and Sunset has a very relaxed one. At least when it comes to appearance. Their personalities are completely different. Sunset is a nerd, and she's into board games, and Shine is into clothes and fashion. Next is my mother. Another white unicorn mare, with a long bright blue mane, and stunning green eyes. Her name is Pearl Moonlight. And that's where the naming ponies in this world is introduced, they are mostly named after their parents, something that happened when they were born or how they looked at first glance. Back to my mother. She is quite small for a pony, my father is almost a head taller than her. She also has a cutie mark, a tattoo on her flanks that represents the thing you are good at or something, I didn't listen when they were explaining it. It's basically a coffee mug. And, you guessed, she works as a barista at her own cafe down the street. Then comes my father. Feather Moonlight. He is a tall greyish unicorn stallion with a black mane and an axe as a cutie mark. I guess I inherited most of his appearance while my sisters took it from my mother. I would love to tell you more about him, but he rarely is home. He works in the royal guard. Some sort of military or police in this world. Or rather... Ponice, as they call it here. I'm seriously done with those puns... Seriously, the language is called Ponish, the capital, which I also live in right now, is called Canterlot, and the whole fucking dictionary is filled with puns, places are called similarly to those I remember from my old life, and quickly answering the question, no I do not remember my life, only pieces of information and places. Sometimes even what I like or not. So my preferences are mostly the same I guess. Anyhow, my father is... okay? I don't really feel as attached to him as my mother or sisters. He is absent most of the time. But when he is at home, he spends 90% of his time with me, and my sisters. Usually plays or tells stories about his job and his adventures. I can tell he is a proud man, just trying to make a living. Which I can respect. And that's my family in general. We live in a moderate-looking house on the end of the quiet street, with few neighbors. The view from here is amazing. We live on top of a freaking mountain, and there is a cozy little village named Ponyville on the horizon, with vast farmlands and this creepy old forest. You can even see lake formations in the distance and vast grassy plains. I guess this country is mostly countryside with wild areas. And I absolutely love it. Talking about weird things, there is quite a bit of them here honestly. From the moment I saw the sunlight my eyes were glued to everything around me, luckily my mother was quite fond of talking about things that such a young foal like me surely would understand... Well, I did. And I did start to develop a certain fondness for this world too. I mean, how could I not when there is so much stuff to explore and see? I guess I had to lack it from my old life because I feel like I'm doing something I never did before almost every single day. Yeah, I guess being an equine in another world explains that well, but still. This is an adventure for me. I got most of the norms and social policies right after a couple of months, later on, I started to understand the written language and even got to read some bedtime stories with my sisters and mom. My whole panic thingie died out and got replaced with curiosity and an adventurous spirit. I loved to learn new things and discover new things, and this world was full of mysteries and magic, ready to be revealed as soon as I was able to stand on my own. Which I did eventually. My progress in learning stuff sparked much interest in both my sisters and my mother, after a while they assumed I was an early bloomer and moved on. But do not be fooled. My mother taught me quite a bit more than my sisters, seeing that I might have a big potential later on. I learned to speak properly when I was three years old, which is pretty impressive. Most foals can't talk till they are at least four. But that's because they didn't train in front of a mirror. Like me. Later on, I also stopped stressing about my gender. Sure, it wasn't pleasant to switch from he to her, but hey, I was born female here and I can't change that. At least yet, maybe with some magic later on in my life? I don't know, this stuff is confusing. Magic was both weird and awesome. I found it to be awesome when you could teleport, vanish into thin air, move stuff with your horn, and fire lasers but found it weird when I didn't get a clear answer to what actually was it made of, how it worked, and why without magic, most creatures simply couldn't live. You see, here magic is everything. You change the weather with it, create things, move objects, write, trade, paint, eat, and work. Magic is also instrumental as a means of defense. So I'm very glad I was born as a unicorn and not an earth pony, which doesn't have a horn nor wings, or a pegasus which only has wings, but with great disadvantages. Like smaller, lighter bones, and very fragile bodies. Earth ponies have the strongest bodies of the three with a considerable amount of muscles, especially in their legs, but they are unable to fly or use magic. Pegasi can fly, but once they are unable to because of injury or sickness, they are defenseless, and even unicorns can easily overpower them. There are however exceptions here and there. It's mostly about how much effort you are willing to put into learning and training, the sky is the limit as they say. Social classes are weird here, there are nobility and middle class, but there aren't really many poor ponies, which once again, is kind of nice, it means the government is working, and ponies care for each other. There are also two princesses here, which also happen to be the only living alicorns and royals. I had never seen them, but from what I gathered, one is very tall, with rainbow mane and white fur. She rules Equestria alone. The other, a pink one, is a fairly recent addition. She was once a pegasus who did something awesome a couple of years ago and got a horn in the process. Do not ask me how, I do not know. Nor is it stated anywhere... Mysterious... I will definitely learn more about that later on, but that's the gist of it for now. I know how this world works and how to adapt to live in it peacefully. And that's what I'm planning to do. Because let's be honest. I don't have a choice. Moving back to my life after I left the hospital. It was quite a headache to keep up with everything around me, but I managed. I learned, started to understand, and even enjoyed myself. I always kept in mind the fact that I'm not a pony, but rarely made an effort to find a way 'home'. Seriously, this place is amazing, and only a fool would want to go back to earth and do their regular job as a cashier or something. My mother introduced me to a few neighbors and threw a party on my birthdays, she was quite keen on getting me a proper education once I hit the age of 6. Magic kindergarten or whatever it is called here, only for unicorns though. Shame, I would love to meet some pegasi or earth ponies and have a chat about their traits. That being said, I think 6-year-olds apart from myself, can't really tell me much about their race special abilities, and whatnot, and in general, kids are quite... Stupid. And durable, surprisingly... A great example of this is when I was taken to the park to play with my sisters, we saw an earth pony colt try doing a backflip and hit his head several times in the process. Then he proceeded to stand up and try again. All this, when his mother was having a panic attack trying to get to him from the parent's group. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I think this world is too peaceful. Nothing happens, like, no murders, no robberies, no war. Nothing. And it's quite boring if you ask me. Sure, war is never a good thing, but the days are very predictable. Rarely does something huge happen, and most of the time when it does, it's about some celebrity getting pregnant with someone or some less interesting thing. My source of information about Canterlot nobility is my mother's neighbor friend Grace. So I'm probably listening to gossip. So, the days passed quite fast, and as my sisters and I grew, we got more freedom from our mother. Only a little bit, since she doesn't trust us very much and is very protective. One day in particular, when my sister Shine was doing the dishes she insisted on using magic to do them, which resulted in four broken plates and two broken glasses. The next day, my mother stated that they could not use magic to do the chores from now on, and they were forced to do them by hoof. Which annoyed them quite a bit. Still, we get to play in a nearby park by ourselves now. My sisters keep an eye on me, which is quite funny considering I'm the wisest and oldest around here. I met some unicorn foals too, they are not quite there yet, in terms of communication, they can't speak, and they didn't want to play with me. Mostly because of my dark appearance. I noticed that most ponies were not really... Fond of me. But besides that, there is the magic kindergarten. It is said that you don't actually need to use magic to join it, only be a unicorn. And it makes no sense to have a kindergarten with only one race. It's a bit of a segregation, but what can you do? Also, kids roam free most of the time when they turn 6 or 7. That's what bothers me the most, it's quite common to have your kids running around and playing, which creates perfect opportunities for kidnappers, or oh god... Foalnappers as the dictionary suggests. And not have problems with it. But, since we live in... This world. I guess that sort of pony is quite rare. Or the punishments are severe. I wonder how would pedophilia or murder be prosecuted around here. Would the court be able to punish them by death? Thought for later. Since I'm not an ordinary mare, I do things that often spark either interest or worry, a great example of this was when I was in the park with my sisters, and randomly started to play chess with an old mare out of whim, which made my sisters very interested in how I knew how to play. My mother worries about me being too forward about meeting new ponies. She often told me to not talk to strangers and to avoid making a scene, but I rarely cared. And that's generally how my life has been these past few years. Now, at the age of four, I'm capable of understanding and analyzing books written in another language. Which is quite nice, considering I knew only English since my birth. Or at least that's the only language I remember. But honestly, truth be told, I rather read a good book than go outside, at least for now. Another good thing is that my father has around a hundred books in his possession. I'm generally not allowed to borrow them, but they do not see one missing book for a day or two. They do not want me to read them since they are mostly history books with details about old ponies and war. Battles with Griffonian Empire and other pony countries, might not spark interest in fillies especially, but since I'm a wolf in sheep's clothing, I enjoy them very much. There is also some stuff about magic theory, old runes, and so on, but they are too complicated for me to decipher on my own. Which left... Biology, and plants. Quite interesting, surprisingly. Flora is quite similar to Earth's but with much more flowers, types of trees, and generally more edible food. There are for example seventeen different types of honey, which then split into the normal versions like flower or pollen, giving you multiple different flavors. As for biology, there are a lot of things I can understand. But also a lot that I cannot. Horns for example. They are keratin-based with actual nerves in them, they connect to your brain and eyes and they constantly grow to the age of sixteen. It would be rather painful to break your horn, and there isn't a possible fix for it either. But there isn't anything on how they came to be, no evolutionary process or anything. I also learned a couple of things I would have liked to not know for now. Most of those things are centered around pony social norms and genetics. Mares and that includes me, have heat cycles. When I first read that out loud it made no sense, but once I read out everything it started to come together nicely and that scared me. Heat, start around the age of thirteen or fourteen. The first one is quite powerful and most mares need to be careful, it's not particularly painful, but quite unpredictable and rough. The textbook says that it makes mares act irrationally and makes them quite flirty. There is quite a bit about pheromones and genitals being involved, but I will skip it because I really don't want to think about it. It's disgusting. The only real good thing that comes from this is no period. Heat comes twice or thrice a year for some mares, spring, summer, and possibly winter. Pregnancy lasts 9 months, the same time as humans, and most of the time only one foal is born. I do not like to think about being pregnant or in love with a stallion because quite honestly, I do not feel any real love for the opposite sex. Actually, it's the other way around, I still feel a strong love for women or mares, if you really want the correct term, and I could honestly say that when most ponies are naked it's quite hard not to stare. I once or twice glanced under their tails, and curiosity took the best of me. For a foal my age, it's quite normal, at least the 'pony biology 101' book says so. Still, sucking my mother's teat, and looking at the privates of other ponies is quite different. But let's just stay out of love for now, I'm not sure my age is appropriate to describe it right now. And I'm also quite sure it will come naturally as I grow up. I just don't want to think about it constantly, reminding myself that I'm actually not a pony and I should be thinking about turning myself human or something. 'Do I even want to be human anymore?' So... Books, yes, we were talking about books. Once I read all books available to me I found a certain lack of things to do when I was not playing, eating, or taking care of myself. I decided to start to learn magic. Most foals can't use it consciously, I was no exception. I couldn't bring myself to even light my horn. The whole struggle was quite tiresome, and in the end, I made no real progress. Deciding to wait until I grew a little, I moved on to different things, such as learning how to cook and clean myself properly without magic or anything else I would need. It was quite fun to do actually. I also did a lot of notes for later. I also started to train my body, more out of boredom than anything else. It's really not suitable for a mare to do squats or lift objects, but since I had nothing better to do, and I wanted to have a good fit body later on, I decided to keep a light amount of workout in my life from an early age. It proved useful quite fast, I could climb and sprint relatively quickly, and I had a good sense of balance. I could lift most things easily now using my back or mouth, which is still in my opinion disgusting. I even started to notice that my leg muscles, especially my hind legs, were quite thick and strong in comparison with my sister's legs which were practically marshmallows. Standing on them for minutes and then hours made me realize that holding my own weight by two, not four legs is not only a good way to exercise but also to train balance and pain resistance. Still, my body grows every day, and even without this training, I would be able to do those things. But what if I get into a fight or something? And, without much of a warning, I was once again 'teleported' into the future, as time very quickly flashed past. My first day of kindergarten quickly approached, and with it, a slight worry. I was now six. Six years in this world, and I think I have barely scratched the surface of information and possibilities. Now my adventure starts, and hopefully, the kindergarten will be interesting.