//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Forgotten Son // by loststone //------------------------------// "Now Bronze, please stop jumping around so much so we can continue on with your writing" The young colt stopped his hopping and moved over to the big blue dragon sitting in the back of the cave. "Good, now lets go over the vowels." Ballahmar said with his deep voice as the young Bronze sat next to him and began writing in the dirt."Yes that is very good now what are the other three vowels...no Bronze G is not a vowel." The little colt finished writing the last few vowels before smiling up to the dragon. "Very good your progress is truly amazing for someone of your age." Ballahmar said as he showed a very toothy smile. Bronze smiled as he nuzzled the side of the dragon. Ballahmar let out a chuckle as he said. "Now come on we need to continue. What's next...Ahh yes now Bronze I want you to write out all the numbers from one to twenty and if you do it perfectly I will give you a special treat." Bronze got excited and started hopping around again for a minute before sitting down. He stuck his tongue out of the side of his mouth as he concentrated on what each number looked like. He slowly wrote in the dirt, occasionally looking at Ballahmar to see if he had gotten anything wrong. The old dragon just sat there and waited for him to finish, inspecting each number for mistakes. After he had finished writing down the last number Bronze looked at Ballahmar with a worried look in his eyes. Ballahmar just sat there with a serious look on his face. He sat like this for a full minute before slowly smiling at Bronze. The little colts face suddenly lit up with joy as he started jumping up and down around one of the massive forearms of the dragon. Ballahmar turned one of his massive hands upside down and allowed the colt to climb his way into his palm. He then lied down himself and said. "Now bronze for your reward, I'll tell you how the sphinx king Mal'mah tricked the gate keeper Sol into letting him into the last gold city of Dala." Bronze jumped up and down as he found out he was going to hear his most favorite story. "But before we begin I need you to do something for me. I need you to wake up." The dragon kept looking at the confused colt. "I need you to wake up" "Come on big guy I need you to wake up for me now."Nurse Redheart said again. Celestia's sun was at its peak in the sky when she had given up on waiting for him to rouse from his sleep. Bronze opened his eyes slowly as he turned his head lazily to the small white earth pony. He looked at her with an expression of annoyance. "Don't you give me that look." She scolded him like a mother." Now get on out of that bed so I can change out your bandages." Bronze obeyed, and slowly got out of the bed. Once out of the bed he sat down so he wouldn't fall over as the blood rushed to his head. While the old bandages were removed he felt a shiver run down his spine as the fresh air came into contact with his wounds. He loved the feeling of finally having them off. Once her job was done Nurse Redheart let out a small gasp as she looked at three long scars on Bronzes side. "Fascinating, I always heard that alicorns healed faster than normal ponies but I never imagined it would be this fast." Bronze had to force himself to not to squirm as she poked the scars in different locations."But this shouldn't have happened. The magic we used on you when you were brought to us was supposed to prevent scaring." Redheart finished inspecting other parts of his body and left the room for a short amount of time. While she was gone Bronze grabbed the pen and pencil Rarity gotten him the day before and started writing. The door opened again and he looked up as Nurse Redheart came back through the door. The pen he was using fell out of his mouth as he saw what she was carrying with her. She was carrying a glass tube as long as the pen he was using but three times as thick and on the end of the tube was a long needle. His eyes widened with fear as she filled it with a strange blue liquid. The now pale stallion gulped as Redheart started to walk towards him with the filled syringe. "Now stay still this won't...hurt...a...bit." Redheart said smiling as she stressed the last three words, making shivers run down Bronze's spine. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rarity was cleaning up after a long day of making dresses when a knock came from the front door. She quickly put away what she was holding before heading towards the front door. The knock came again as she tried not to trip over some rolls of fabric lying on the floor. "Hold on I'll be there in a few moments." Rarity said as she moved aside some manikins that were in front of the door. Once she opened the door she was met by a blue hoof hitting her in the face. "Oops sorry Rarity," Rainbow Dash said trying not to laugh. "I hope I didn't hurt you." "No I'm fine please come in." Rubbing her head where Rainbow had hit her. "Wow this place is a mess." "No, really I couldn't tell." Rarity replied sarcastically as she looked back at her organized chaos. "So what reason do you have for coming here Rainbow Dash, and Celestia help me if you ask me to make another cape for you to wear while flying." The last and only time she had made a cape for Rainbow it took her a few hours to make. But twenty minutes after she had given it to Rainbow it was returned to her ripped, torn, and covered in mud. A little piece of her died that day as she looked at what she had worked so long to make. "No it's nothing like that, I only came over to tell you that Pinkie Pie wants somepony to bring that Bronze guy to Sugercube Corner for a party tonight." "Well ok, I was going to go over to the hospital anyway once I had finished cleaning this mess. Would you mind being a dear and helping me." Rainbow Dash gave Rarity a suspecting glance before continuing on. "Sorry no can do Rarity I have to move a few rainclouds over to Applejack's place in thirty minutes." Rarity sighed as she watched her friend leave. "Oh well might as well get back to it this mess won't clean itself" She said wile levitating a ball of yarn into a basket, on a table in the middle of the room. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bronze was rubbing his arm feeling a little betrayed. Even if the nurse said it was to help kill off any viruses he had gotten from the manticore, it still hurt like bucking hay afterwards. His mind turned to the dream he had gotten before Redheart had woke him up. It had happened a few months after he had woken up in the Everfree forest. He remembered just how much he loved the old dragons writing lessons, because he was always rewarded with a story if he had done a good job. Bronze picked up his pen and started to write. He repeated all that Ballahmar had taught him starting with the alphabet. Next he moved on to all the numbers he knew, first writing them out in their numeral form then moved on to writing them out in word form. For the next three hours he continued on like this going over his nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives. When he was nearly finished a knock came on the door and Rarity came in smiling to him carrying a bag on her back . He immediately returned her smile with his own as he showed her what he had been working on. She looked over the lists of words. "You really seem to like writing Bronze." "Not really I'm prac-" Just then bronze ran out of room on the paper and it was his last sheet. He had a pathetic look on his face as looked at Rarity. She giggled a little while levitating a few things out of the bag she had with her. "I thought this might happen so I decided to get you a little present."She levitated a thick notebook over to him. Bronze felt a tear forming in his eye as he moved over to Rarity and gave her a hug. He picked up his new form of communication and started writing franticly. "Oh Thank you! But you didn't have to go through the trouble." "It was no problem at all dear, it wouldn't do you any good if you didn't have a way to talk to us." She said rubbing the back of her head."Now it's time to get down to business Nurse Redheart said that you should be fine to leave the hospital as long as you take it easy for a while." At hearing Redhearts name Bronze flinched a little but he was happy all the same that he didn't have to stay in this room any more. The sun had nearly set by the time they had entered Ponyville. Rarity was talking to Bronze about how she wanted make a suit for him that he could wear on special occasions. He just looked at her and nodded his head as she led them through the town. Before he knew it they were back at Sugercube Corner. All the lights were out and he could swear that he saw shadows moving in the windows. Remembering what the girls had told him the day before, he opened the door for Rarity with few problems and waited for her to go in first. She only sat there and gave him a look that said 'you go first'. He slowly entered the room looking around trying to figure out what was going on. Suddenly the lights turned on and there was a room filled with ponies yelling 'SURPRISE!!!' He fell back startled by the sudden outburst. Then as usual Pinkie Pie appeared out of nowhere and started talking so fast that no pony would understand her. Realizing what was going on he put on one of his best smiles and looked around. There were colorful streamers hanging from the ceiling, confetti all over the floor, and different colored ribbons adorning the walls and tables. Cakes, snacks, and drinks covered the tables and counters. On each table a set of balloons shooting out of the middle of all the pastries, each balloon was a different color of the rainbow and had smilie faces on them. After the guests had dispersed into their own little groups a white pony with blue hair wearing red tinted sun glasses started up the music. It was a loud but catchy music with a fast beat and a deep bass. She put her hoof to the headphones she was wearing, nodding her head up and down to the beat of the music she was playing. Bronze moved to the back of the bakery followed by Rarity towards Rainbow and Applejack who were talking to each other. They turned to him as he approached them. "So sugercube how are yah likin' yer party!" Applejack yelled over the loud music. Bronze answered her by giving her a joy and thank filled smile. Rainbow then handed him a glass filled with some sort of a yellow liquid that she called cider. He downed the whole thing and shuttered as it sent a tingle run down his back. He felt warmth spread throughout his body and he stared to hiccup every now and then. The four continued to talk throughout the night (Of course bronze wrote instead of talking) and shared laughs. It turned out to be one of the best nights of Bronze's life. When It was time to leave Applejack told him that he could stay at her place for the nights. The two said their good by's as they walked out of Sugercube Corner. They then headed down the road that lead out of Ponyville and into Sweet Apple Acres. Bronze was a bit tipsy from drinking to much cider at the party. He swayed back and forth bumping into Applejack a few times as they reached the orchard. Bronze loved the welcoming look of the apple trees around them, they were much easier on the eyes and didn't look as menacing as the ones in the Everfree forest. He also loved the red and green colors of the apples that hung from the branches. While in the Everfree forest he would rarely come across a apple tree and the apples were half the size of the ones he was looking at now. He breathed in the midnight air and let it out slowly, it smelled as if it had just rained. He let out a content sigh, as he enjoyed a cool breeze. As they neared the Apple family's house they heard a yell come from the road ahead. "Look out Applejack there is ah huge monster behind yah." screamed a young filly. Bronze quickly looked around trying to find this monster that had startled the filly. Applejack started to laugh at his reaction. She then turned to the filly that was running up to them. "It's alright Applebloom he is ah friend of mine, and he ain't ah monster yah hear." Applejack said to her sister who was now looking up at Bronze with big eyes. "Are yah sure he sure looks like a monster tah me." "Now what have yah' learned about judging ponies by how they look, remember Zicora." "Oh ya that's right." Applebloom turned to Bronze with a smile. "Ah'm sorry mister, mah name is Applebloom nice tah' meet yah." Bronze smiled at the little filly bowing his head a little. He remembered when he was that small. "Uhhh...sis. Ah think there might be somethin' wrong with yer friend he just keeps starin' at me." "Oh don't worry about that. His name is Bronze and he is a mute. Bronze this is mah little sis Applebloom." "What's ah mute sis?" "Ah mute is somepony that can't talk Applebloom." "Oh no that is so sad he can't talk at all." Applejack shook her head in response as Bronze let out a small yawn as he tried to stay awake. "That reminds me shouldn't yah have bin' in bed a few hours ago Bloom."Applejack said to her sister "Big Mac said ah could say up." Applebloom said in defense. Applejack sighed as she led them back to the house. She tucked Applebloom into bed before showing Bronze to the guest room. "G'night Bronze." Applejack said as he climbed up onto the bed. She left the room and Bronze laid his head down on a pillow. He had no trouble falling asleep as he lied on the bed with a content feeling in his heart. Hope you all liked it and thank you all who are reading this for stickin with me. I may have had a rough start but I'm starting to get the hang of it.