//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: I Forgot About That… // Story: My True Home Calls // by Arguyus //------------------------------// (Disclaimer: I do not own any copyrighted material you will encounter in this or any other story.) AN: I was originally going to call this chapter, "Family Matters", but I decided that I was going too fast. So, I'm slowing it down a little bit. Just so you know; the character's physical appearances in this story are based on the artwork of Ziom05 on Deviantart, specifically his piece "Legends of the Equestria". The last statement also includes characters not in said piece, so I altered their appearance to look similar to the style used. Now, without further ado, the first full day of a new life in Equestria. Chapter 2: I Forgot About That… The blackness of sleep began to fade as sunlight entered my world once more. I groaned as I awoke, the slight pain in my back was one of the first things I could feel. I began to wonder why it hurt, but then the events of yesterday filtered back into my mind. I was in Equestria, and there was no way back home. I slid my sock covered feet over the side of the bed and onto the stone floor; it was only a little bit cool as compared to the instant wakeup call cold that I had been expecting. I stretched and was rewarded with a series of pops from my aching back. Then, I reached over to the end table and put both my glasses and cap back on. I now got a better look at my new room, it was rectangular in shape. From the bed, the door was on the right wall on the other side of the room. A large open window took up almost half the left wall next to the bed, book shelves full of who knows what kind of books took up the other half, figures. There was an end table on the right hand side of the bed, and a grandfather clock on the far side of the room. The clock said it was about seven fifteen. It was about this time that a certain morning habit of mine came to mind, that habit being taking a shower after I get up. But, there were a few problems. Firstly, I didn't know where the shower, or the bathroom for that matter, were. Secondly, I didn't have my normal body wash or shampoo. Lastly, and most importantly, I didn't have any cloths other than the ones I was already wearing. The reason the last one is the biggest problem is because these cloths needed to be washed, but I would need some other cloths to wear during the time it takes to wash them. If they don't get washed, then they will begin to smell ripe. The smell of breakfast brought me out of my thoughts, I didn't know if it was Spike or Twilight making it. Wait, why are there only four names I can remember? Princess Celesta, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Shining Armor are those four names. I know there are more, but I can't remember them. I racked my brain to try and remember, but the more I tried, the more I came to a rather frightening realization. I had lost almost all of my memories of the show, and hence all the foreknowledge of those events. Not only that, but I also lost most of the memories that had anything to do with the show, some of the last times I had with my friends. My stomach didn't want me to dwell on these thoughts, so it would seem. The reasoning behind this thought being the loud gurgling coming from my gut. "Alright, alright, I'll get some breakfast." I groaned out as I moved from a sitting position to standing. Not knowing which way to go, I just followed my noise. It lead me straight and true to the kitchen. I felt a little bit of worry upon seeing that it was Twilight doing the cooking, I really hope the people who thought she can't cook to save her life are wrong… "Good morning Stephen, did you sleep well?" The lavender mare inquired upon noticing that I had entered the room. "The bed was a little small, but I slept like a rock." I replied as I leaned against the wall, I tried not to make it seem that I was apathetic. Twilight stopped what she was doing for a moment, "Oh yeah… I guess a bed made for a pony would be a bit small for a human." "Hey, don't worry, it was rather late and you used what seemed to be a lot of magic last night." I told her before she started to berate herself for not thinking about that. "Well, I guess you have a point about that." She said, then continued after shaking her head, "Sorry about that, I'm just use to the idea of humans being monsters that it’s hard for me to remember you aren't like them." I sighed heavily before I replied, "I understand, but I can't help but find it depressing how far humans fell, and the fact that I of all people am the only one left …" "You're depressed that you are the one here?" She asked me in utter confusion. "What have I done to deserve something like this, too be the last of my kind and to give others a new way of looking at my people? I'll tell you what I did, nothing… just like I did with all nineteen of the years of my life. Yes, I've made many friends, done things that seemed important at the time. But I never truly did anything worthwhile with my life." I admitted as I sank to the floor with my back still being supported by the wall. Twilight took the pancake out of the pan in front of her with her magic and trotted over to me. I could see the concerned look in her eyes as she put a hoof on my shoulder and spoke, "Maybe that is why your here, so you can do something worthwhile. Just keep looking and I'm sure you'll find what you can do with your life." Before I could say anything, we both head the door open and close. "Oh no! I haven't told Spike about you staying here yet!" Twilight exclaimed as she quite literally bolted out of the room. I chuckled at the mare's behavior; if it's not one thing, it's another. I picked myself up from the floor and walked over to the door Twilight practically flew though. I had to agree that it was better for her to tell the little guy instead of having him find out the hard way, this came from knowing what his reaction would most likely be. Twilight reentered my sight when she began coming back into the kitchen with Spike on her back. Spike looked exactly like one would expect him to, purple main body scales with neon green spines and belly plates. But somethings did look different about him, his spines were pointed, his scales were much more pronounced, he had small green claws on the tips of his fingers and toes, and his tail tip looked a lot more intimidating. Despite his much more menacing appearance, he still looked frightened of me. A dragon that is afraid of an unarmed human, now that is completely backwards. "Umm, h-hello, I'm Spike." The young dragon said in quivering voice, his green reptilian eyes filed with fear. I kneeled down to his level and held out my hand with a smile on my face so I would look less intimidating to him, "Hello Spike, it's good to meet you, my name is Stephen." He took my hand gingerly and shook it, he still looked very nervous. "Alright, now that you two have been introduced, let's have some breakfast" Twilight announced to try and break some of the tension that permeated the room. (-0-) The three of us were finishing up our breakfast, so I decided now would be a good time to bring up certain problems. "I have thought about some things this morning that could become a problem." I said in the most polite way I could manage. Twilight gave me an inquisitive look, "Really? What are they?" "Well, I normally take a shower in the morning, but I don't have my normal shampoo or body wash." "That's not too big of a problem, we can go to the store at some point and get you some shampoo, but I don't think we will be able to find body wash any time soon." "Yeah, I know, but it's the second one that is the big problem. These clothes I have on right now are the only ones I have." Now that fact hit home in Twilight's mind, at least if her suddenly stopping all movement and shrinking her pupils was any indication of her realization of what that meant. Spike on the other hand, "Why is that such a big deal? Can't you just go around without them like everypony else?" And he just had to make things awkward. The very idea that question sent though my head was embarrassing and just plain wrong, apparently Twilight thought the same seeing as her cheeks quickly became a deep shade of red. The only problem now was trying to explain this to him in a way that won't scar him for life. "Uh… Spike, that just wouldn't be a good idea…" I tried as my mind crashed. "Why not?" He asked, just as oblivious as ever. It was now that Twilight came to the rescue, "Spike, humans don't have fur or scales to cover their, let's just say, special body parts. The fact that all the races that are around now have one or the other is the only reason that we don't have to wear them." The little dragon looked surprised for a bit before he simply said, "Oh…" "Don't worry Spike, you didn't know about that." I tell him, and then added, "Besides, I'm the only human alive right now." Twilight nodded her head in confirmation of what I had said, but then she asked me a question that I hadn't seen coming, "I can tell something else is bothering you Stephen, do you want to talk about it?" My mind was sent reeling at this point; there was one thing that bothered me this morning, but I didn't want to tell her about the show. I can only imagine how she would react to that, none of those ways good. But should I even try to deny it? "Look, I can understand if you don't want to talk about it, but I just want to know is there is anything I can do to help." She said as she apparently saw the look I had on my face. I can understand where she is coming from, but I don't want to tell her the whole truth. Wait, that's it! I can tell her part of the truth. "Well, you see, I… I can't really remember some things from my past, nothing major, just little things here and there." She was understandably disturbed by this. I mean, who wouldn't be. Someone not having parts of their memory, or at least having those memories blocked. "Well… you did fall on your head… so…" Twilight told me slowly, looking more uneasy then before. Oh yeah… how could I forget that, "That would most definitely explains that." And, on that note, our conversation ended. (-0-) It was later on in the day and I was sitting in front of the main study window, looking out at the city that was going to be my home from this point on. I could see many ponies walking about in the city below, I could almost see their up-turned snouts. I knew it was more than likely that I would not be well received by the general public, but, on that note, they didn't receive anything or anyone who was different well. Building a new life for myself would be difficult at best, that much I knew for certain. My thoughts were interrupted by the clopping of hooves on the tile floor. "Umm… Stephen, I need to talk to you about something." Twilight said as she stopped and sat down next to me. "What is it?" I asked in true confusion, I couldn't think of anything that might be a problem… unless her overly protectively brother is coming over for a visit. "Well, you need to be on your best behavior tomorrow." She began, then she continued to explain, "You see, my parents are going to come over, and I want you to leave a good first impression." Oh… Now I see what this is about, so I looked at her and said, "Don't worry, I promise that I won't do anything questionable tomorrow." After I told her that, she had a big smile on her face. It was now that I saw why I had gotten a crush on her to begin with, her lavender fur shown in the light of the late evening sun, her mane flowed over her shoulder in waves of dark purple, her short snout poked out cutely from her face, and eyes that sparkled with the golden light that reflected off the clouds. Twilight is beautiful; too bad I would probably never be able to tell her such. Oh well, that is the price of having a crush on a girl, or mare in her case, that is the extremely studious student of the country's leader. As we just sat there looking at each other, I had the slight temptation to try and kiss her, but I knew better than that. I know most people thought that was how love was started, but I knew it was actually how lust was started. Besides, she most likely doesn't have time for a relationship anyway. The silence was getting awkward, and the mare was the one who broke it, "Umm… i-it's getting late, we should probably go to bed… I-I mean, it's getting late." I looked back at the sky, she was right; the sun was almost touching the horizon. "Yeah, you're right Twi. Goodnight, Twilight." I said as I stood up and started walking to my room. (-0-) Twilight watched Stephen walk away, but what the human didn't know was that Twilight's mind was reeling. For some reason, her heart had started to speed up as she had been looking into his blue eyes. She also felt awkward when talking to him after that, what was happening to her? "Don't worry Twilight, it was probably nothing." She whispered to herself.