//------------------------------// // My Little Pony // Story: Strange Discovery // by epreeses1 //------------------------------// Lying on the couch with a furry ball of emotion, I thought it would be like taking a visit to the local insane asylum, but it turned out to be easily ignorable. “Watch me, Uncle Eric!” When she isn’t talking. Eclipse was in the middle of a temper tantrum, but not over the fact that she was lost in an unfamiliar environment (Be it, I don’t know what her original environment is) but because I didn’t believe she vaporized the sailor moon dress. I understand why children throw these tan- trums. I studied both animal psychology as well as child psychology, and Eclipse has fascinated me ever since I got over my pointless fear, but right now I just wanted to stuff her mouth with a dirty sock. I had looked online at 9news.com and just like, Drake said, there had been a landslide on Manchester road, two died, a husband and a wife returning from their trip to Vancover after bare- ly keeping their marriage from falling apart, but there was no footage of my car causing the accident. “Watch me! I’m levitating four socks at once!” “Eclipse, I’m not going to—” I blinked, “Believe?” Right there, like four pale blue spirits, were the two pairs of black and blue socks I found in Bridget’s bag… floating. “See!” She held her head up in pride with a sly smile. “I told you!” I got up, a smile growing, and knelt down on the carpet. I hesitated, holding out a shaking hand to one of the glowing socks, a faint warmth like a small campfire touched my hand. My smile died as tendrils of fear creeped through my mind. I’d heard of levitation and magic just like anyone else, but knowing is entirely different from experiencing. “It’s not going to hurt you Uncle Eric.” The sound of Eclipse’s squeak of a voice shocking me back. “I-I know!” I snapped, taking a reflexive, shaky, deep breath as cold shivers bounced around my body like bouncy balls in a glass jar. My hand jolted, stealing the sock from the air. The glow disappeared the instant my hand touched the soft fabric yet some warmth still lingered. I bit my tongue to keep from screaming; it’s too real, the socks, the unicorn, the magic, all real, but now was no time to be afraid. That can come later. “Hold your hoof out” She gave me a skeptical look, but held her left forehoof out. I took it and, gently, rolled the soft cotton against her fur, encasing the entire leg (with some room to spare) in a warm, fuzzy shell. I did the same to her other hooves, hesitating for a few seconds beforehand, and when I was done she looked at her new socks, smiled and gave a delighted squeal. “Thank you Uncle Eric.” she pressed them against her face like someone might a bouquet of roses, chittering happily as the softness tickled her fur. “Now do you believe I vaporized that dress.” Yes, I thought but didn’t say. The same fear I had mere hours ago came back, tingling in my spine and weighing down my mind. I couldn’t give a direct answer, my breath caught, and for a brief moment I was paralysed, yet I somehow nodded. “Yay!” She jumped into my lap, squealing with joy while viciously rubbing her head against my stomach. I took the time to return the affection with a little ear scratch, my fear slowly dissolving with each stroke. She wiggled around, giggling as the tried every possible position. I began to laugh at her, partly from her actions, partly from the socks tickling my legs, but the more she moved the more my fear went away. When she stopped moving, a drip of trepidation fell down my throat. She lay on her back, arms stretched and belly exposed. So much like a puppy. Maybe she’ll like a little belly scratch? Or would that be invading her privacy? “Belly rubs?” She looked at me with an innocent smile and pleading eyes. Really! She’s just going to let me? My hand hesitated, “You sure?” “Yes! My mom does it whenever I’m sad, and she seems to enjoy it as much as I do so maybe it will make you feel happier?” One of her small hooves started to rub my stomach, “Please?” “Okay! Okay.” I had to grab her hoof to keep from laughing. “I’m ticklish there.” “Oh?” She eyed me with a coy grin. “Is that so?” Giggling, she extended her second hoof and attacked my vulnerable stomach with vicious cycles. “Yes,” I shouted, grabbing her hoof with my second arm so the electric tingles would stop. “And I’d appreciate it if you respected my wish of not being touched there.” Though I really didn’t want to be tickled in my gut, it was nice to see Eclipse lower some of her defences and act like the child I see her as. “S-Sorry.” She retracted her hooves, using them to cover her face in shame. “P-Please forgive me.” “It’s fine, no need to cry over it.” I looked at her quivering eyes, hating myself for overreacting. I didn’t mind when she used her face so why worry about her hooves? The longer I stared at her the more her eyes watered, and when I heard the first little ‘hic’ of tears, I moved. “What’r you do—’ ah!” she shrieked, peels of laughter forcing their way out of her as my free hand attacked her vulnerable belly. She waved her hooves around, begging for mercy before rolling off my lap and landing breathlessly on her ravaged belly. “Now that that’s out of the way.” she glared at me with angry eyes. “Would you be so kind as to tell me two things.” I waited until she got herself under control, occasionally scratching her ears. “Okay” “One, why do you keep calling me ‘Uncle Eric’ and two,” I had to restrain myself from demanding my next words. “What you were doing to make those socks… float?” It felt like the word float dripped out of my mouth. “Oh those are easy, Uncle Eric.” she chirped, rubbing her cloaked hooves against her face. “I call every ‘adult’ pony I consider family either ‘Uncle’ or ‘Aunt’ and everypony my age either ‘sister’ or ‘brother’ although not in normal conversation like I do with ‘Uncle’ and ‘Aunt’.” This caught me off guard. I thought it was just a childish prank, like how I was called Stuart Little back in high school, a childish nickname, not that she thought of me as family. “Y-You consider me family?” “Of course!” She silently climbed back into my lap, nestling herself between my legs before looking up at me. “You admitted you were afraid of me, gave me a bath, held me when I cried, let me stay at your home AND protected me from that mean, Bridget. I think you’ve earned the name, Uncle Eric.” she finished this by lightly nuzzling my chest. I couldn’t help scratching her ear, a single tear falling down my left cheek, followed by another and another until I started to cry. It had been so long since someone told me this, Bridget did it all the time, but after hearing it for years that grew stale. I could see the images of my dead mother (Ones I’m still debating on whether are real or not) fresh wounds that I thought I’d healed over a decade ago opening up. Eclipse again picked up on my emotional state, jumping up and leaning her front two socked hooves against my chest as to be closer to my face before saying: “Don’t cry, Uncle Eric.” she reached to try and wipe my tears, but was too short to get there. “I’m sorry, Eclipse,” I said, making her jump with another tickle to her stomach. “It’s just… I haven’t seen my family in years. My dad went missing after a train wreck and my mother.” I waited, unsure on how to phrase not knowing how one of my parents died. “Well, I don’t really know what happened to her. Bridget’s the closest thing I have to family right now. I kinda followed her here after college.” Looking at her smiling face as she hung onto every one of my words as though they were spoken by god himself, it felt almost right to tell her my life story. “She’s the reason I have this home, and my job.” I held my breath. I’d thought I had more things to say, and now I felt like a college student that ran out of material four minutes into his seven minute speech. “Is, Bridget realllllly important to you Uncle Eric?” she said it with either poorly restrained or completely unrestrained spite. “Yes, like how you consider me a part of your family, I consider her a part of mine.” my voice wavered. “And knowing that you consider me a part of your family makes me so happy that I cried tears of joy.” I pulled her into a tight hug, so tight that I think she said “I can’t breath”, but I paid no mind. “Thank you.” When I loosened my grip, she looked me in the eyes, a silent tear of her own falling to the ground, and wrapped her hooves around my neck, burying her snout in my chest. “I should be the one saying thank you.” her voice muffled vibrated against my chest giving me a tingly feeling. “Relax, we’ll have plenty of time for thank yous later.” I pulled her out of my chest and sat her on the ground. “Tell me about how you levitated those socks a moment ago.” Eclipse took a deep breath while I wiped the last tear from my eye. “Well” she started, an innocent squeak in her voice. “My mom says that every living being has the capability of using magic, some are just better than others. I have” she pointed toward at her horn, “what my mom calls a… a condoltie? No, ah… conduetite? No, CONDUIT! That’s it. Mom says my horn is a conduit for what she calls nen.” I reached for my blue Five Star notebook while trying to keep eye contact, but ended up flopping to the ground. Eclipse giggled before offering a hoof to help me up. I denied, sat crosslegged and told her to continue. “Mom did research on the different magic of the three pony races. Earth ponies like my Aunt Applejack, help—” “for some strange reason, she’ll only eat Applejacks. Something about them reminding her of a friend of her mother” Bridget’s voice rung in my mind. “Wait, Applejack.” I thought back to the pony that fattened Twilight Sparkle up during the Summer Sun celebration food testing. “What color is her fur?” “What? Why do you want to know that?” “Just tell me okay, it’s really important.” I felt my blood pressure rise as little electrical bolts in my brain connected the metaphoric dots. “Orange, can I get back to answering your question?” It couldn’t be “Okay, now nen allows pegasi like my Aunt Rainbow to—” “Wait—” “Will you STOP interrupting me! Celestia, you’re worse than Aunt Pinkie.” I took a deep breath, unable to keep calm about how freaky this suddenly became. I just started to watch My Little Pony today, and that was because of Eclipse, but, I never would have thought she would be from the cartoon! Calm… breath in… breath out… calm “Continue.” “Thank you, geez next thing you’ll ask is how long Aunt Rarity’s horn is.” Calm… breath in… breath out “Okay,” she began again, tapping her hoof like someone reciting a list by memory, using her hoof like fingers to count off each fact. “So nen is something deep within you and me that helps protect us from internal damage.” tap. “Well, I don’t know if that’s how it works in your world, but that’s how it works in mine.” She paused to rub her socked hooves against her face, probably to help calm her nerves from the looks of it. “My mom wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t get this right, even if she isn’t here. Now nen allows pegasi to fly” tap ”and earth ponies to be in tune with the earth, allowing them to tend to crops” tap “but these are passive nen abilities.” tap “Unicorns like myself, on the other hoof, have active control of their nen, meaning we need to practice in order to control it.” she looked around the dark room, spotted my notebook and lit her horn, making me back off from fright. “Right now I can’t lift more than two and a half pounds with my nen, but I have been able to divide it to up to four objects, something unicorns twice my age struggle with, thus floating the four light socks.” she dropped the book, flinching when it fluttered open. “You don’t need to be scared, Uncle Eric, I would never hurt you. I can’t hurt you.” she placed her hooves down, looking like a little girl performing a curtsy after finishing a speech. “No, I’m not afraid, it’s just… I’m not used to magic—” “Nen” “Nen, right. Give me time, nen is still new to me. Now did your mother make you memorize this knowledge?” She perked up and grew a giant smile. “Yup, but I still haven’t memorized all there is to know about nen. There’s still the stuff about aura nodes and making non nen users into nen users through the initiation ritual—” she shivered involuntarily. “Is something wrong?” “No, just a bad memory. I’ve never seen anypony initiate another, but I heard it when my mom did it to my older sister.” Another shiver. “There was a lot of screaming.” “Oh, how old were you?” I couldn’t help but prod, all this new information tickled my insides “Three, but I’d really rather not talk about it. I miss my sister, let’s leave it at that.” “Sure.” I pulled her into a hug. “But if you need someone to talk to—” “Thanks for the offer, but dealings with my sister are a little personal” she sniffed again before giving me a warm smile. “Sure.” I leaned back, grabbing the notebook and pen, quickly jotting a few key words to look up later. “If you don’t mind me asking,” I said putting the back of the pen between my lips. “Is your mother named, Twilight Sparkle?” She gasped, it was so forceful that it sounded like a high powered vacuum, then coughed. “How… how do you know my mother’s first name!” I couldn’t tell if it was fear or awe coating her voice. “Only me, Dad, Mom’s five closest friends and the Princesses themselves are allowed to say that name. The rest have to call her ‘Princess’” I jotted Twilight Sparkle alongside the other words. “Well to be honest, I was just taking a shot in the dark, but Twilight seemed like the only pony that’d make a child memorize such facts.“ “Lucky guess?” she snarked, her flickering eyes glaring. “How can you guess my mother’s name and how she’d act?” “It’ll be a lot easier if I show you” Looking at the clock, I added: “How about over dinner?” “Okay.” Shuffling on the carpet, one of her hooves rubbed her stomach and an audible growl could be heard. “Just hurry.” I quietly got up and told Eclipse to wait in the kitchen. She obliged, making small shuffling sounds as her socks rubbed against the carpet, going silent as they slide across the linoleum. I moved to my room, noting a sudden chill from the window I didn’t close all the way back when I gave her a bath. It scares me how much happened on my day off, and how much I’ve changed. Grabbing the laptop I reminisced on how I protected Eclipse from Bridget, something I’ve never done before and thought I’d never do. How Bridget yelled at me and kicked me when she found out I didn’t use the laptop she gave me, but almost instantly forgave me when she learned why I needed it. Closing the door behind me, I thought about how scared I was of the tiny blue foal that’s probably sitting patiently in the dark kitchen for me to return. A helpless foal that would have died if I didn’t save her from the rain. She went from enemy to family in less than three hours, could it be because of how cute she is? Bridget couldn’t bring herself to harming the innocent foal when she supposedly destroyed her favorite outfit, and I could see it in her eyes how much she wanted to pound her face in. I pushed these thoughts to the back of my mind as there was one more major question that would make or break our relationship. I don’t mean uncle to niece, I feel nothing could break that bond, but reality and fantasy. As I turned the lights on to the kitchen, seeing Eclipse sitting in the seat closest to the table while not actually being able to sit at the table, I thought of what I’d do if Eclipse turned out to be from a television show created from one or a few people’s minds. A piece of writing turned real. Was she a figment of my imagination? I don’t know, but I am most curious and am willing to sacrifice my sanity for the chance to get the paper of a lifetime. “What do you want to eat?” I said, picking her up and placing her onto the table. “It’ll have to be quick to make since it’s almost bedtime.” She looked at me, possibly wondering the same questions I am, and said: “A daisy sandwich would be nice. Those always help me sleep.” “Well, I don’t have any daisies, but spaghetti is grainy and easy to make, how bout that?” “Okay, Spike makes great spaghetti at home!” this time she chirped, possibly from a happy memory, or trying to keep her spirits up with a nice memory. Is she home sick? Will I have to deal with a home sick unicorn tomorrow? I pushed those thoughts away too, sending them boomeranging out the window, knowing fully that they will return before I go to bed. “Okay, I’ll make that.” Grabbing a medium sized pot, I filled it with water and placed it onto the back burner of the kitchen stove, turning the handle to the side in order to keep pesky children from tipping boiling water on themselves. I then grabbed a packet of Barilla thin pasta and placed it to the side. A half emptied bottle of traditional ragu sauce waited in the fridge. “So your mother is Twilight Sparkle and her friends are Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, am I correct?” “Yes, and I hope that whatever you brought will tell me how you know that.” “It will, but I don’t know if you’re ready for that answer.” I turned towards the table before adding: “Or if I’m ready.” “Wha?, why would you not be ready? You already know the answer!” A fire raged in her eyes, it wasn’t the glow of the overhead fluorescent, there seemed to be an actual fire in her eyes! “Just show me already!” “Okay, geeze.” I opened my laptop, the screen locked on Twilight with a pillow covering her face. The first thing out of Eclipse’s mouth was a quiet “Mom?” like she was unsure. When I pressed play and Twilight’s whiny voice came from the speakers, however, she jumped out of her skin and screamed before flopping onto her back and panting heavily. “What IS that!” She quickly got up and stared at me, begging me for answers. “It’s a television show called My Little Pony.” “WHAT’S THAT!?” “No need to yell.” I tried to calmly scratch her ear, but was blocked by one of her hooves. “TELL ME!” her breathing quickened. “WHY IS MY MOMMY IN THAT THING!” “Stop yelling, Eclipse, I’m right here!” You’re the mare in the moon, Nightmare Moon. We both froze and turned to the computer as the picture turned from Twilight to a giant black mare with wings and a horn. Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment on the night will last forever! Evil laughter boomed as the video cut to Twilight’s worried face as she realized her Princess and mentor was gone forever. “N-N-N” I turned back to Eclipse had curled up in a tight ball, hoof in her mouth, and quivering as tears dropped from her eyes. “N-Nightmare M-Moon… N-Ny” I placed a hand on her vibrating body and she gasped so hard she started coughing. “Wh-What is this!!!” she screamed, but her voice cracked and she fell onto her back, hooves covering her watery eyes. “I told you, it’s a television show, and I think you’re entire life is just a fantasy in my world.” Her hooves moved, revealing a pair of red eyes still leaking tears. “D-Don’t exist? Fantasy?” she got up onto her shaking legs and stared at me, hatefully. “Is this some kind of prank?” Gone was the relatively innocent voice I was used to, taking its place a dark and mistrusting one. “Or did your kind send a probe to monitor my family?” She looked at the screen, glared at it really. “That didn’t look like my mother, but it sounded like her. What is this contraption? Why are you spying on us?” “Slow down, Eclipse,” I was taken aback by the sudden change. “We aren’t spying on your family.” The look she gave me was nothing like I’d ever seen from her. It wasn’t angry, but furious. “This is just something I found browsing the internet.” “What is an internet? Is that the probe you sent into Equestria?” She turned from the laptop and stared directly at me. “Are you trying to hurt my homeland? Do you huumaans wish to take over and hurt my family?” her voice raised from an accusing shout to a threatening yell, and her horn began to emit blue sparks. “Maybe you’re just trying to win me over so you can backstab me later.” Worry swiftly turned to bone chilling fear as her horn started to glow a bright blue. She said she couldn’t hurt me, but just because the gun is unloaded doesn’t mean it won’t scare you. The laptop was soon enveloped in its light just like the socks were and floated all the same. “E-Eclipse, you—” “That’s it isn’t it. You don’t care about me. You just want to test me, probe my body to find out what makes me tick.” “Eclipse, you have it all wrong. I would never hurt you!” Fear turned to anger. “This is just a show, not a probe. There is no plot to take over your world because us humans think your world doesn’t exist.” Eclipse’s eye began twitching, and her breathing turned to harsh rasps. “You lie to me! There’s no way you could get my mother’s voice like that if you didn’t think Equestria existed. It’s too perfect!” “Eclipse… calm down, think about what you are saying! Why would I keep you in a safe house if I wanted to perform dangerous tests on you?” I sat down, placing a shaky hand onto her back, actually flinching when she backed off. “Why would I look up on how to take care of you if I just wanted to use you?” She was shaking, frightened by the contraption floating in her flickering nen. “But most importantly, why would I cry when you said I was a part of your family? Eclipse, I don’t want to hurt you, I never did. I want to protect you and help you get back together with your mother.” “You… you…” she stuttered, curling up into a ball. “I know it’s scary, Eclipse. I’m scared too, terrified in fact, but you don’t have to be alone when you face it.” “Ya-you’re just saying the same things my mommy says whenever I get scared. You shouldn’t know about Nightmare Moon, not my mommy’s name or that she’s my mommy! I-I” she stopped breathing and shook like a dam ready to break, then, without any warning, went from scarily mature woman to scared little girl with one phrase. “I want my mommy!” Tears burst from her eyes, the laptop dropped with a clack on the table, and her breathing turned into hiccups as her dam broke from too much stress. “I want my mommy! I ‘hic’ want my mommy!” I stared at her, everything but pity melting from my mind as her wails rose throughout the room. She began to suck her hoof again, saliva soaking her socks. I felt like I was looking down on her, like you might a homeless man begging on the street, and it felt wrong. She looked so vulnerable and small curled up on the table sucking her hoof, even more so than when I gave her a bath. Then it hit me.I know how scared and alone she feels wanting something that won’t come. I could see myself crying alone in my room after my mother’s funeral, sucking my thumb like her and refusing to let anyone inside. Everyone just left me alone then, thinking it was “just a phase” and that I’d reach out before breakfast tomorrow, but I was eleven and didn’t know how to handle such extreme emotions. I just wanted someone to break down the door and hug me, and that’s what Eclipse feels right now, I’m sure of it. “It’s okay, Eclipse” I picked her up with both of my arms and pressed her against my chest. “Everything will be okay. Your mommy is probably on her way right now.” I stroked her mane and scratched her ear, but she didn’t melt into my embrace like last time. “Your Uncle Eric will protect you until then.” Her hoof never left her mouth and her gorgeous purple eyes refused to meet mine. It was like I was hugging an emotionless rock. She gave no response to my comfort, almost pulling away from it as if I was at fault. I tightened my grip, crushing her resistance so she’d lean into me. Moments later, I felt her begin to sob; she screamed into my chest and it was then that I realized I didn’t know how she felt. Because of me, her grasp on reality was shattered, I couldn’t begin to fathom how that might feel. Looking down, I watched her writhe in my grip, screaming while her mind went into overdrive, every memory she held close suddenly becoming scripted and fake. I wanted to apologize, but it didn’t feel right. None of this was really my fault, I didn’t create the show, and she did ask me to tell her how I knew who her mother was. No, but I’d do my best to make it better, maybe i’ll succeed, maybe I won’t. Deep down I knew I would only make things worse, but what I didn’t realize was that from this moment on, her very life was in my hands, and I was about to make a big mistake.