//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Week After // Story: The Son of the Sun // by eragon13666 //------------------------------// It had been close to a week since I was brought to Equestria by Celestia, as she claimed, in a magical mishap for which she took full responsibility. I couldn't really be mad at her. I mean, how could I? She was taking care of me and working on a way to send me home. As per the doctor's request, at which I found out his name was Steady Hooves, I would be sent every day for checkups. Scans were done and brought up to the last scan to see if anything had changed. There really wasn't anything new happening to my body, as Doctor Hooves concluded, but again, this was only after one week of scanning. "His body just doesn't seem to have magic like the ponies do." He told the princess, who sat down on a pillow, and me between her large legs. "It doesn't seem to have any sort of effect on him, as he still looks like a healthy young colt." He then went over to his desk and came back with a book. "However, I did find something out that was quite interesting." "And what is that, Doctor Hooves?" Celestia asked, as I too wondered what he was saying. Said pony opened the book up and showed a picture of a monkey as well as an ape, showing the skeletons of both animals. "Hrm, they almost look like Brandon's own skeleton." "Correct," he confirmed as he closed the book. "After seeing his paws, or as he said, hands, I felt as if I had seen them before, and lo and behold, monkey!" He seemed to almost chuckle at that as he went on. "I can only safely assume that from his world, his kind are a sort of evolved form of monkeys, apes, chimps, whatever." He took a small pause before going on. "They hold the same body in a strange sort of way, save for his hooves, or "feet," which are different from those of his ape-like cousins." "And what could this possibly mean for us, to know of these things?" she questioned as he hummed. "It is only theoretical, but monkeys are normally around the size he is now; chimps can grow a little larger; and some of the bigger apes I've seen go from five feet tall to even six feet tall in the wild." He pointed to my carts and then tapped the book he had placed back on the table. "So it gives us at least a sort of guideline of how tall he could become, somewhere between where he is now and six feet tall... maybe even taller if truly his race is more on the evolution chain." Both stallion and mare only sighed and hummed as Hooves said at last. "I don't believe a daily checkup unless his health is at risk is truly needed." He took a small pause to give himself a moment to breathe before going on with his request. "If he is staying here, however, I would love a monthly checkup; that should give us a better idea and give us a long enough pause to see how his body can change." "He is a growing colt, if he is indeed a young one." She nodded her head and stood up as well as I did. "Thank you, Doctor Hooves." "Yeah, thanks!" I exclaimed as he sort of smiled back down at me. Within that week, many of the ponies that worked in and around the palace would slowly get used to me. Though Celestia's student, Twilight, seemed to try to keep her distance from me, as we walked down one of the many hallways of my caretaker's home, I started to think back to what had happened within the week of my being here. Celestia thought it was best to have tutors teach me, or at least see where my level of knowledge stood. Luckily, they wrote the same characters of English back at home, and my reading and writing were on the same skill level as a child my age here. Though writing with a feather was a bit hard to get around at first, I found myself quite enjoying it better than a pencil. Celestia also showed me her pet phoenix, Philomena, a beautiful-looking bird, from which I learned that after their lives were going to end, they would puff into flame and be reborn from the ashes. But one thing that was interesting was when I met the cook. Celestia spoke of the cook on the first day I was here, though after three days of me eating salads and veggies, she could see in my eyes that I wanted something different. When I met the cook, Celestia brought me to the dining area where we would have our meals, as the pony and a pegasus made their way in. Her coat was snow white, but her mane seemed to be a golden blond. The one thing I noticed, however, was that her eyes were a bit different, more narrowed than the ones I was seeing here, and her coat seemed to be heavier. Still, as she walked over, she bowed, but when she saw me, her eyebrow raised. "Is this the one you wanted me to see, princess?" she asked, as this was the first time a pony hadn't flinched when seeing me. However, she didn't seem that scared of me at all. Celestia nodded her head as she placed a hoof along the upper part of my back as she spoke. "That is correct, Crystal Shim," she said as she added the pony's name. "Young Brandon here is a being that can eat both plant-based food as well as meat, so I was more so wondering if you were more than willing to work more here as long as he is here." Crystal looked at me, hummed a bit, and then chuckled. "So this little guy is a meat eater as well, huh?" Well, at least I can have someone give me a second thought on my cooking other than waiting for gryphons to come over only to say, "Oh, not bad for a pony!" "Wait?" I asked, slightly confused, and even tilted my head along the side. "You can eat meat?" Crystal seemed to chuckle at this and nodded her head as she even leaned close and opened her mouth for me to see. Though I never really saw the inside of a pony's mouth before, I saw a few sharp teeth along the inside of her mouth. When she closed them, she added "I'm part of a sub-species of the pegasus," she answered as I looked on in confusion. "My ancestors moved away from others and mostly found a home around rocky, snowy areas." After many different generations, mostly because it's hard to grow food up there, we grew accustomed to eating meat. "Because it's mostly snowy up there, our fur is much fluffier, to say the least." She then smirked as she pushed her chest out, as if pride welled up inside for what she was saying next. "We are also known for being amazing trackers and hunters; it comes with having to hunt for food, after all." "Cool!" I exclaimed as she chuckled at this, and Celestia seemed to smile down at me as well. "I will be providing you the bits needed to have the food brought here; we have a second kitchen you can use for your meals, as well as young Brandon's." "As you wish, your highness, shall I make him something now?" After her princess nodded, she quickly bowed and left, leaving us alone once more. Crystal came back carrying a bag filled with the supplies she needed for the meal she had planned. I was curious about the food she was going to make and followed along, as did Celestia, though her nose wrinkled with the smell of cooked meat. Using the seasoning she had and boiling the potatoes that she brought, she worked to peal and mash. When done, the food consisted of what looked like steak, mashed potatoes, and some carrots along the side. It smelled amazing, and it tasted just the same; Crystal even sat down to enjoy a plate. The princess simply got a slice of cake to enjoy and seemed to be alright with us eating the meat. As I found out later on, with her living as long as she has, it makes sense for her to be used to the food of other cultures. Every other night, I would have nightmares about not being able to get home; my home, where my mother lived, was always just an arm's reach away. and I would wake up crying and shaking. Celestia would come in and make sure I was okay, and I would fall asleep with her laying beside me, her softly humming along to that tune as I even felt her kiss my forehead and wish me a goodnight. I learned that Twilight Sparkle had normal schooling, or more so, a school for gifted unicorns, at which she would spend the morning and early afternoon and then come to Celestia to study magic under her. I would watch from the sidelines, having a baby Spike curled up sleeping after, and I kid you not, eating a whole gem as if it were candy. Philomena would also be with us, watching over us almost like a guard dog. At times, she would even sand on my knees, allowing me to pet her and have her nuzzle into my hand. I tried to at times talk to Twilight, maybe even play with her, but she would always say she had to leave and quickly gallop off. Celestia promised it wasn't me; just Twilight was always focused on studying, and it was... hard for her to make friends." I could only nod at this again, but I was a little bit upset..I haven't seen any other pony around my age, and everyone else was either a worker, or guard that watched me or didn't pay any attention. It was a bit of a pain dealing with staying inside the palace, but I understood it was for my own good for now, Celestia was still hard at work speaking to other high-power magic users to see if they could send me home or if it was even possible. However, that's when the crashing realisation came down hard on me. "What?" It had now been a week since I had come to this world, and now I was sitting before Celestia in her study. She had pulled out a pillow for me to sit on as I gazed down at the floor. I was wearing a new pair of clothes. She claimed it used to be a hobby of hers—again, a joke of her long life—to learn how to make clothes. She claimed the pants were the hardest to make, but she made due. They were rather comfy, as was the shirt; she even put on her cutie mark on the front where my belly would be. "You mean, I can't go back home?" I asked her, and my eyes widen, and even a few fresh tears start to cling to my eyes. I could see the look of sorrow on Celestia's face as she got up to walk over, pulling me into a hug as I held her tightly. "I am so sorry, little one," she whispered as I started to softly cry, understanding now that I could never go back home, see others like me, or even the few friends I had made. "We tried all we could to see if we could, but the risk was too great; your safety would be at risk." "What do you mean?" I questioned as she hummed as she then started to bring items out—marbles and even some rings—and place them on the ground before us. She then placed the marbles along the rings and held one up that was green. "Let's pretend that this is you," she said, placing it in one ring. "Now let's say this ring was your world, and the rest of these rings were worlds that were like your world but not." She then pulled the marble out, used her magic to move rings and marbles all around, and then said, "Which one was your world?" I blinked and seemed confused as she sighed, but not out of frustration, more so out of pity. "There could be so many different human worlds out there; there is no way that we can find the one you were from." I was still keeping her eyes along with mine, as she wanted to make sure I was paying as close attention as possible. "So we could bring you to a human world, but not one in which you had a family." My head leaned down as I listened. I could somewhat understand it, but I had to understand one thing—one question I had since I came here. "Princess, how did I get here?" When I looked up at her, she was looking away, showing that she did indeed know what happened. She tapped her hoof along the ground for a moment before nodding. "I will tell you, but you must understand that it was just a mistake." She kept her eyes on me as she waited to see if I would say anything, and when I didn't, she went on. "My student was working on a spell; however, her spell started to go a little out of control." She took a deep breath as she went on. "I worked to place a shield around it so it wouldn't cause any sort of damage and to keep her safe; however, we believe what had happened was that the combine magic... tore you from your world." My grip tightened around her chest as she placed her arm around my back, and I pushed my face into her fur. "Twilight Sparkle was not at fault, and I will take full responsibility for what has happened." She held her head down towards me, her muzzle close to my ears, so she could still speak and I could still hear. "I will make sure you will live a happy, comfortable life, and I will even look to see if I can find you someone—a family that will be willing to take you in." I felt her hoof softly rubbing the back of my head. "Until then, you will be staying here." She said as she softly leaned down to nuzzle my head a bit as I couldn't say anything. "Is that the reason why Twilight didn't want to talk to me?" I asked, looking up at her again. "Because she feels like it's her fault?" The Sun Princess nodded regrettably. "She believes that because she started the spell, she should hold it responsibly, and she is worried that you will hate and yell at her." "But...it was a mistake, I mean." I looked away, as I didn't really know how to think about this or how to really talk about it. I just learned I could never go home, and I didn't know how to react to it. Perhaps it was the shock of everything; perhaps I thought I was still dreaming. Whatever it was, how could I really react to this? How could I respond? I was never going home.