//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 -The First of Many // Story: Different Dimensions // by Twinx //------------------------------// “Strangers are just friends you haven’t made yet”- Star Butterfly The First of Many 3 Days Latter “Well it’s been a long week thank the heavens that they are feeding me but if I have to eat mushed food for any longer I may go a little crazy; I have healed up nicely, though, when I get the chance I have to thank that nurse Sweetheart; I wonder why they call her by that name though it doesn’t sound like a proper name but I guess neither does Forest Ackers who I need to thank the most.” Said the green pony in his weakened state “At least, I can talk and see now it’s about time I start thanking them for all they have done and will do until I’m fully healed; still can’t over the feeling that the names of my host aren’t quite as common as they make them out to be perhaps I’m just farther from my home than I think and these names are normal here, I shouldn’t judge at least they know their names the best I got is a first name that I can’t say is mine or not.” As if on cue he heard the familiar sound of the front door opening “Ah, perfect maybe I’ll get my chance to at least thank one of them even that small one who comes to cheek on me when her parents are too busy and tells me of her day; little does she know it was largely her stories of her day that made my days when I couldn’t see bearable to some degree it was better than the nothing I had to do all day.” He reminisced about the stories she told him, they were a nice distraction from the pain he felt and he knew that even though she was young, the stories felt calming and reminiscent of the memories he had yet to recover. “I wonder what they look like?” A few seconds earlier “I can’t wait to see how Mr. Green is doing.” Said the light brown filly as she approached the farmhouse door “I hope he’s doing well, Nurse Sweetheart said he should up and about in no time; and he has even started to move and start talking.” The filly said quite pleased with how well her patent was doing, she took extra care to help him feel better over the last few days she even started telling him about her day so he wasn’t bored even though her mom and dad told her not to bother him. She opened the front door as she did she noticed a note on the table it read. Dear Seedling, I won’t be back for a while so you’re in charge until I return. Give our guest his food and feed him then let him sleep try not to bother him too much. I should be back before too long and I trust you can take care of yourself till then. Love Mom “Awesome mom must really be starting to trust me now.” Said the chipper voice “I’d better take this to Mr. Green now so I don’t forget, I hope he’s awake.” Present time. Carrying the food with caution the young filly made her way to the guest room where the green pony sleep “Ah, I hear someone coming I hope they have something to eat I’m starved.” Thought the green pony. “Afternoon Mr. Green.” He really didn’t like the nickname the young one had chosen for him, it sounded right out silly but he didn’t have much to say about it that was until today he could finally tell her to stop calling him that. Why does she insist on calling me that name it so silly. he thought as the door to the room opened. “Well, it's mushed carrots again to bad you’re still having trouble chewing I can’t imagine you like being treated like a baby.” “Oh, I don’t know I could get used to being spoon feed every day, particularly if it’s from someone as nice as you little one.” “You sound all better if I didn’t know better I ask you to stand up and come outside to play with me.” “Almost there I can’t thank you or your parents enough for what you all have done for…” He paused as a figure started to appear at the bottom of his view “Me?” “What’s the matter Mr. Green?” Asked the concerned filly. Blinking his eyes over and over again he found it hard to reply. A horse. Why was there a small horse were he expected a small little girl to be and it was talking to him in the little girl’s voice he thought. “What the …?” he paused as he spoke “Where is Seedling? Who are you? What are you? How can you talk? What’s going on?” he said freaking out before turning over to his back. He quickly then fainted. “What the Hay was that about?” questioned the filly “I should leave this here until mommy or daddy get home maybe they know why he freaked out.” The young one reasoned. An hour or so later. “Ugh, what a strange dream I thought Seedling was a horse that could talk and…” before he could finish he noticed two things He now was on his back now and the three concerned looking horses looking at him “OK, not a dream what’s going on?” he asked. “First things first,” said the whitish one who sound like Annie; Forester’s wife “Let’s feed you; you’re probably really hungry by now you fainted before you could eat your meal and it has been an hour or so since then.” The green one's stomach growled at the mention of food so he just nodded his head for now. “Good!” the white pony approached his side and with a spoon, in her hoof, she started feeding him the carrots he missed out on earlier. After he had finished the bowl of carrots he couldn't help but stare for a bit trying to wrap his head around what was going on than he spoke in a calm manner. “What’s going on here? Why do you sound like the ones who were taking care of me?” they looked confused as to the question asked it took a while before the Brown stallion replied with the answer. “We are the ones who have been taking care of you. I’m Forest Ackers!” He said in an uplifting voice. “I’m Annie Trowel, his wife, and mother to this little one.” She said in a nervous but calm voice. “And I’m Merry Seeds but everypony calls me Seedling!” said the filly in her usual chipper voice. “I know the names you speak but while I…” He stopped. He looked at where he expected an extended arm “Where is my hand? Why do I have a hoof?” “Calm yourself or you’ll faint again. What do you mean hand? You’re a pony just like anypony else!” said Forest. “No, I’m a…” he said only to pause and think 'Why can’t I remember what I am?' he continued “I don’t remember but I know I’m not a pony. What happened?” “We were hoping you could tell us. You were found out on the farm and then Forest brought you in to treat your wounds.” Said Annie. The green pony thought hard on it and replied. “I don’t know the only thing I really remember is a name that I have no clue who it belongs to or where it comes from.” He said dejectedly. “Well then tell us it, unless you prefer we call you Mr. Green until you remember!” Said Forest jokingly. “No thank you please I’d rather you didn’t it’s a silly name for one and two It just doesn’t sound right.” He said expecting to see a frown on the young filly’s face “Then I guess I’m William until I remember who I am.” “Well, it’s nice to meet you properly William. It’s good to see your condition has improved.” Said a pleased Forest. “Not really I think the shock moved me more than anything else though that’s not to say I’m not feeling better. I have a lot of questions but they will have to wait for two reasons. One it’s late and though I just woke up from fainting I think I need more rest. Two I need time to think about what’s going on here and try to make some sense out of it.” “We understand. You sleep; today must have been stressful it will do you a world of good as well give us time to think as well.” Said Annie. As they left the room Seedling spoke. “I’m happy you’re OK now, but don’t worry we’ll help you remember who you are!” Then they left with queried looks upon their faces. “I know they have questions so do I but I think it's best we try to understand what going on before we start asking questions. It will help if we know something about what is going on but for now, the best thing we can do is go over the things we need to know about right away. Like where am I? What do we do next? Before we ask the big ones like why they are all ponies?” William thought as he drifted off to sleep he yawned out “But first I need sleep today has been interesting, to say the least." The next day. The ponies gathered in front of their guest after feeding him and sat “I hope you all sleep well and thought of what questions to ask me as I did” they nodded “Good you should start I’m your guest and you have taken such good care of me it only seems fair you get your answers first though I don’t know how well I can answer.” William said. “I’ll start if that’s alright?” Forest ask his family they nodded their heads in unison “Good, so my first question is what do you remember I recall you saying the name you have given yourself was the only thing but there must be more to your memory than that?” “I remember the days I was awake the first was when that nurse first healed me; before that, all I think I can remember other than the name is a faint memory of sounds I can’t recall and voices I can’t place. Other than that I know your names and that I’m on your farm and not much else.” William replied saddened. “I’ll go next.” Said Annie “You asked us about your hands though you’re a pony why? And what are Hands” “I don’t know but I have this feeling I had hands before I can’t quite explain it. As to what hands are the best way I can think to describe them is to compare them to claws but I don’t know if that’s quite accurate.” William told confused as they seemed to be. “Can I go next?” asked Seedling her parents nodded “Do you have a family?” Shocked at her question, William answered as to not upset her. “I'm not too sure I think so but I can’t really remember it’s quite possible that I do.” He did his best to smile to keep her hopes up. “Seedling how about we let him ask us questions now ok?” asked Forest she nodded. “Ok then! You said you found me on your farm other than that I don’t know where I am?” Asked William. “Yes, you’re on my farm, Forester Farms in Equestria near the village of Ponyvile.” He said. “Some of that sounds somewhat familiar but wrong all at once. Anyway, that’s best left for another time on to my next question. What do I look like? I’m clearly not as I think I remember.” Annie lifted a hand mirror up to the pony he saw in the reflection a dark green pony with a horn on its head and brown hair covered in bruising and bandages “That’s what I look like, wow I pretty beat up and you right I’m a pony but what’s with that horn on my head I don’t see a horn on your heads?” “That’s because you’re a unicorn and we are earth ponies.” Said Annie. “OK? What’s a unicorn and earth ponies and should I prepare for anything else?” William asked. “There are four types of ponies. First there are earth ponies like us who are known for their strength and connection to the earth, Second are unicorns like you who are known for their intelligence and use of magic, third there are Pegasus ponies who are known for their agility and wings, and last but not lest Alicorns although there are only three of those currently they are the rulers of Equestria and are said to have the powers of the three other types and are known for the large amount of magic they can pull off.” Said Annie. William sat there trying to make sense of what he was just told. “That makes me want to ask a whole bunch of new questions but they will have to wait. On to my next question for now. What is this magic you speak of?” asked William. “All unicorns and the Alicorn princesses can do magic though their horn what type of magic is determined by what they studied, what their cutie mark is, and/or how old they are.” Said Annie. “Cutie what now?” William asked. “A cutie mark is a mark that appears on the flank of a pony when that pony discovers what makes them special and are usually related to a pony’s talent, almost everypony will have a cutie mark by the time they reach adulthood but in rare case there have been records of ponies never finding their marks at all.” Explained Annie. “Ok, I’ll have to ask more about that later one last question, what happens now? Not that I’m not grateful but I need to find out who I am, where I’m from, and how I got here but I can’t do it on my own but I don’t want you guys to just keep taking care of me while I try to figure this all out." said William “For now, you need to heal after that we can discuss how you can if you wish to repay us but I don’t want you to worry about that. As to what you do after that I don’t know that’s going to be up to you at that point but I do have some ideas that I will work on tomorrow so until then I think we have asked each other a lot of questions and need to think over the answers we got but me and my wife need to do chores around the farm and Seedling probably has small questions that she like to ask so we will leave her here to talk to you.” Said Forest. William nodded in reply. With that, the two older ponies left leaving William with Seedling to ask her smaller questions that he tried his best to answer. A lot of small questions later. Most of what Seedling asked was trivial questions most William had to answer "I don't know." or "I don't think so." since a lot of the questions where about his origins that he couldn't remember but there was one question that unlike the others stuck out. "Wow, I'm sorry you don't remember I wish I could do something." said Seedling with the saddest face one could imagine on such a cute child. "Don't be sorry it's not your fault, I'll eventually remember it won't happen straight away but it will happen I can feel it now stop crying OK; I have two questions to ask you." he said starting off sad turning into the happiest voice he could muster. "What?" she said still crying a bit. "Will you continue telling me about your day? I really enjoy it feels happy and somewhat familiar to me." he said. "Really, OK!" she shouted. "First off, ow that's to loud second the other question and this really important OK?" he said she shook her head "Will you be my friend?" The loudest gasp was heard as he prepared for what was next. "Really, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh. Yes I'll be your friend this is so awesome!" she almost couldn't stop jumping in joy at what she heard he wait for her to calm down. "Good, then why don't you tell me about your day yesterday I have yet to hear what happened." "OK, well..." After a while After Seedlings story of her day and a good meal William prepaid to go to sleep when he heard knocking on the door. "Come in." he said "Sorry to bother you I hope I didn't wake you." said Forest "No, I was about to go to sleep before you knocked on the door." William said "Well, I wanted to thank you for what you did for my daughter it made her real happy." "I'm the one who should be thanking you for all you've done for me and as to my offer to be her friend, how could I not I don't remember much but I know that she as well as you and your wife deserve if not earned my friendship more than anything if not more." "Still it meant the world to her I can't think of anything that would make her happier then she is right now." said Forester with a grin "Your welcome. I still want to do more to thank your family and Nurse Sweetheart for all they have done and will do." William said ending it with a yawn. "Don't worry about it, now tomorrow Sweetheart will stop by to check on your progress so you can thank her then but, for now, sleep it's been a long day for all and you need sleep if you're going to heal." said Forest. William shook his head in agreement letting out a yawn before saying. "Thanks again for everything." "Your welcome" with that Forester turned off the lights and left leaving the tired pony to sleep.