Celestia paced back and forth near a set of double doors that led to a guest room reserved for dignitaries and ambassadors. On the other side of the doors were Adam, a doctor, and a psychologist. The reason for that is because Adam collapsed inside the interrogation room out of exhaustion, and even though Celestia healed his wounds, he still needed to be looked by professionals.
That was one day ago…
For some odd reason, Celestia felt responsible for Adam, even though he had a brief and somewhat rude introduction. He still was, for all intents and purposes, just a child.
The doors creaked open and the doctor came out. Quick Stitch was her name. She was part of the royal infirmary's staff and was more than willing to aid the small colt when he collapsed.
"How is he?" asked Celestia, worry evident in her voice.
Quick Stitch let out a sigh and looked straight into Celestia's eyes "I won't lie princess, it doesn’t look good. Physically he's completely fine. His heartbeats are normal, there’s no apparent fever, and an overall he has a healthy body…"
"But…" Celestia suddenly felt a sense of dread creeping up her spine.
"The same can’t be said about his mind," Quick Stitch continued, "He suffered a major trauma. We don’t know what might have caused this, but he shows sighs of emotional distress. We still don't know the reasons behind that, but he obviously had been through something truly horrific. Something nopony his age should ever have faced."
"And is there anything we can do?" asked Celestia again. Quick Stitch shook her head.
"At the moment, there is nothing we could do. The colt-"
"Adam, that's his name," interrupted the princess.
"Okay. Adam woke up a few minutes ago and the psychologist is probably talking to him right now. I'm sorry princess that I can't offer you more information, but that's beyond my line of profession."
Celestia nodded sadly "I understand, and thank you for examining him. You had to see the look on his face when I entered the interrogation chamber."
"If it's any consolation, when he woke up he seemed fine. He was a bit edgy though, but that's expected. We'll just have to wait until the psychologist is finished for the final results." Quick Stitch smiled weakly, though it was doing little to console the princess.
"Sister!" a voice boomed across the hallway. Both Celestia and Quick Stitch turned their heads to see the second princess of Equestria round a corner and came trotting at a brisk and urgent pace, somehow still maintaining her elegance.
Luna only stopped when she was near her sister and looked at her worryingly.
"I heard what happened not so long ago. Is it true that there's an injured colt here in the castle?" Luna asked, somewhat worried and confused. As the princess of dreams, Luna has a soft spot for foals. Their dreams required Luna's watchful gaze to ward off evil nightmares.
"Yes Luna," Celestia replied. "His name is Adam. According to the guards they found him on the city's streets. They tried to talk to him but he ran from them, resulting in some very unfortunate outcomes."
The look on Luna's face changed from partially worried to full concern.
"I'll leave you two alone," said Quick Stitch as she bowed her head respectively at each princess. The two princesses bowed their head in return.
Once Quick Stitch was out of their eye sight, the two princess sisters resumed their conversation.
"How is he?" asked Luna. Celestia gave her a gentle smile and nuzzled her sister. She enjoyed relishing in the company of her lovely sister, glad that the nightmare that took her away for so long was vanquished.
"He's physically stable," Celestia replied.
"What do you mean by physically stable? Does something else affect him?" inquired Luna. She felt as if Celestia wasn't telling the whole truth.
Celestia lowered her head in defeat. She knew Luna was too smart to fall for a simple slur of words. Out of the two princesses, Luna was the more perceptive one.
"Yes Luna. Apparently, he's suffering some sort of trauma, and he's quite nervous at the moment."
"Does that mean that he's awake? Can we check on him?"
"I'd prefer to let the psychologist finish her analysis before rushing in. I do not want to overwhelm Adam?"
"Adam?"
"That's the colt's name."
"What a peculiar name for a colt." Luna pondered on the name for a few moments, saying it inside her mind over and over again. Her suspicions proved to be futile as nothing came to her mind, beside the fact that it was a weird name.
"I'm worried, Luna," admitted Celestia. "I saw the look of utter terror on his face. Something caused him great grief and I find myself powerless to help him."
Celestia suddenly felt two hooves wrapped around her neck and pull her into Luna's surprisingly warm embrace.
"Tia, listen to yourself. You sound like it was your fault that Adam got hurt. You can't help everypony, and if you do try and help every single pony, you will only do harm to yourself. Let these feelings subside, dear sister, you're not thinking straight."
Celestia heaved a sigh and melted into the hug. Her sister just kept on surprising her. From simple gestures to words of wisdom, Luna was certainly wiser than before her banishment.
But there was a question that lingered in Celestia's mind for quite some time, ever since her first meeting with Adam.
Why did she feel responsible for Him?
He wasn't her colt, nor did he belong to any of the city's citizens, if his foul mouth was any indication. Yet there was something in his eyes when he calmed down in the interrogation room. That look of need and helplessness triggered something inside of her. That's why she wrapped her wings around Adam protectively yesterday, and that's why she felt responsible for his well-being.
The double doors opened yet again and out came the psychologist, Lucid Dream.
"Princesses," she said courtly as she bowed her head towards the two monarchs.
"Rise," commanded Celestia. She felt anxious and wasn't in the mood for formalities. Once Lucid Dream rose, Celestia spoke up;
"How's Adam doing?"
Lucid Dream released a small, barely audible, sigh before replying.
"His mind is in a far worse condition than what I initially thought. He shows signs of psychological abuse from young- well, younger age, and maybe even molesting"
"Molesting!" both princesses shouted.
"I'm afraid so. When I talked to him, he used sexual terms inappropriate for his age. He also behaved very aggressively and Quick Stitch had to restrain him. Furthermore, I was informed that whilst in the interrogation room, his mood switched almost instantly, and seemed unresponsive, another sign for sexual abuse."
Celestia felt sick, but also felt a slow seething sensation rise in her stomach at the thought of a colt that young might have been a victim to such an abhorrent crime. It made Celestia furious.
"Another point of concern was the contents of the conversation I had with him. He claimed that he was not a pony at all. That he was some sort of bipedal being. He conjured an entire world inhabited by these creatures. In my opinion, this is his way of dealing with the trauma. He escapes into a utopian society where he's an adult and lives his life almost independently.
"Princesses, throughout my entire career, I've never encountered a colt more broken than Adam. Whatever he'd been through left him scarred, and he needs help now more than ever. I'll search his name in the kingdom database, see if he's reported missing. I'll come back with answers as soon as possible; meanwhile. I think it would be best if one of you might keep an eye on him. I don't know how he will react to other ponies."
Lucid Dream then turned her attention to Celestia "Somehow, you managed to calm him down before, and though I would usually chalk it up as just another mood swing, I'd rather believe that it was you," And with that said, Lucid Dream bowed her head once last time and trotted off.
The two princesses sat there in silence, too shocked to react to what they just heard. Celestia didn't want to believe, she didn't want to believe, she couldn’t believe that there were ponies under her rule that could be so vile and twisted. She wanted to believe in something else.
Luna wasn't faring much better. She knows children, and she knows how fragile they can be. When she became Nightmare Moon and got banished to the moon, parents often scared their children with stories of her. Some children are still afraid of her, and that's why she focuses so much of her time dream walking into foals' dreams, to alleviate them from their fears, though Adam's case is something she never expected.
Suddenly, she felt just as much as responsible as her sister was.
To say that Adam wasn't having the greatest time in his life would be the understatement of the millennium. He was thrown into a strange new world and transformed into one of the locals. To make things even worse, his panic attack caused him a great deal of pain, and not just physically.
He was angry. He was tired. And somewhere between running like a maniac and smack talk to some 'ruler', he was pretty sure that he pissed himself.
So, yeah. Not a great day.
And that wasn't even the highlight of it, oh no. After his little conversation with the white mare, later known as Celestia, he cried into her embrace like a total wimp.
Even in this comfortable room, Adam felt like shit. After he woke up, he was questioned by a psychologist horse and then was left here all alone.
He tried to find an escape route, but the main door was locked and so were the windows. Not that this room was bad. Heck, it's almost as big as his dad's apartment if not bigger.
"Now what the fuck so I do?" he asked himself, trying to find reason in a reasonless world. It was frustrating to be flung into a completely new world with no apparent way of getting back. It wasn't so bad per se. Adam had no future back home, so he might as well start anew here.
But what about his family?
Sure, they weren't the greatest folk to be around with, but they were his family, and he loved them dearly. Adam also had a few friends, but he was never the social type and usually preferred to play on his laptop than going out.
He was so confused. He had no idea what to do, or even if he had a choice on the matter. All he knew was that he made a complete tool out of himself followed by making himself look like a loser.
The sound of an opening door obliterated what little thoughts still lingered inside Adam's head. He turned his head towards the door while leaning into the bed. He didn't rise from the bed after the poor escape attempt.
He watched intently as two horses entered the room. One he recognized as the white mare from before, though he couldn't say the same for her companion. She, or at least Adam thought she was a she, was slightly smaller than the white one. Adam didn't really care about their peculiar looks. He was too tired to be surprised by anything .
"Hey Adam," greeted Celestia with a weak smile and a tender voice "How are you doing?"
Adam honestly didn't know how to react. He felt a sudden rush of anger and wanted nothing more than to shout at the bitch until his eyes would pop. Her voice annoyed the living hell out of him, but as he looked at her, he felt all his anger gone.
"I- I don't know," he admitted, looking somewhat disappointed by his choice of words.
"Look," started Celestia "I can't fathom what you must be going through right now, nor does my sister. But know that you are safe now, that nopony can hurt you anymore. I will personally make sure of that."
Adam was… astounded, to say the least. No one ever claimed a statement such as this to him. His parents were okay, but they were distant somehow, only really talking to him when they nagged him about his school grades.
Adam was overwhelmed with emotions. Anger, at his current predicament. Sadness, that he may never be able to return home. Relief, that there's still a glimmer of hope in the shape of Celestia.
He was trembling now. His eyes misty and his nose running. He took his head in his hooves and closed his eyes shut. He wasn't proud of it, but he was crying, finally letting the final cracks to break.
Celestia, seeing how distraught Adam was, came to the bed and gave him an affectionate nuzzle. The sight of the crying colt caused a chemical reaction inside the princess of the sun, and triggered something primal and equine on nature. Without a second thought, she brought her muzzle closer to Adam's face, and licked away the tears.
"Tia!" exclaimed Luna.
But Celestia wasn't aware of this. Her mind was overtaken by instinct. What she did was a primal drive to bond with a foal. When a mother licked her foal, she was leaving her scent on him, declaring him as her own, and also establishing a bond between the two.
Adam wasn't aware of the situation either. His new pony mind relaxed drastically under the soft licks of Celestia, and he found himself lulled into sleep.
His last coherent thought was how nice and perfectly natural it felt…