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// Chapter 2: The Decision 
// Story: Equestria's Future 
// by Paintbrush235 
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	As Celestia entered the halls of the castle and made her way to her personal quarters, she did her best to avoid anypony finding her. While she normally would not do this on any other given night, she had no idea how anypony other than her would react to seeing a human for the first time. She at least had some knowledge about them while virtually nopony else in Equestria did. So for now, she hid the human child on her back with her wings and cautiously navigated the hallways until she at last reached the doors to her quarters.

When she got inside her bedroom, she immediately went over to her grand wooden canopy bed, which was large enough for three creatures her size. She turned back to look at the boy on her back and her heart melted at the sight. The boy was asleep, hugging her back and snoring softly. She really didn't want to have to wake him up, but she had to if she was going to clean him up and feed him. She therefore levitated him off of her back and onto the bed in front of her. Once he was set down, she nuzzled his face in an attempt to wake him up.

"Young one." She whispered. "Time to wake up."

The young boy stirred on the bed and slowly opened his eyes. Looking around he saw that he was no longer in the lonely garden, but was now lying down on what was the largest bed he had ever seen in the largest room he had ever seen. Finally he laid eyes on the figure that he had believed up until now was only part of his imagination. Celestia looked at the child with a soft smile and leaned in close to his face. Curious to see just how real everything was, the child reached out and grabbed onto Celestia's nose and gave it a tug. This caused Celestia to flinch in surprise and give a startled yelp. The boy let go of her nose immediately and stared her straight in the eye, a large grin beginning to spread across his face.

"You are real!" He exclaimed with joy and surprise. "This isn't just a dream!"

Celestia smiled even wider at the child's happiness. "Yes dear this is real. And I'm afraid that I haven't properly introduced myself yet. My name is Celestia."

"Celestia." The child smiled. "I like that name."

Celestia giggled. "Why thank you young one. Now you say that you don't have a name?"

The child's smile disappeared and he looked down at his knees. "No. They never gave me one."

Celestia was confused. "Who? Your parents?"

The boy shook his head. "Don't have any. They only gave me a number. 262."

Celestia's confusion only grew. What did the boy mean by that? Why was he given a number instead of a name? Celestia knew that these questions had to be answered, but for now they could be avoided. Instead she leaned in close and lifted the boy's head up with her hoof.

"Well, you're going to need a name." As she tried to think of one, she notices that the tips of his hair were tinged orange, almost like solar flares on the surface of the sun. It was then that inspiration struck. "How about Solaris?" She asked.

The young boy looked up at Celestia for a few moments before smiling the happiest smile she had seen so far on him. He got up from the bed and wrapped his arms around the lower half of Celestia's foreleg in hug. "I love it. Thank you so much." he sniffed as tears came to his eyes.

Celestia heart exploded once more as she smiled and brought a hoof up to pat Solaris on the back. "You are very welcome sweetie." She straightened herself up and looked down at the still smiling child. "Now come. Lets get you cleaned up and then I will get you some food."

Celestia then led Solaris over the the adjacent bath chamber to her bedroom. She brought him inside and led him over to the large bathtub that really qualified as a pool. She wrapped the golden faucet with her magic and proceeded to turn the water on. She remembered exactly how to position the handles so as to make the water just the right temperature. As the tub filled with water, she turned back to Solaris standing beside her.

"Solaris." She said, causing the boy to look up at her. "If you would take your bath in here, I will be right back with a meal for you. I shouldn't be gone more than five minutes. Is that okay?"

Solaris looked in the bathroom for a few moments, then looked back at Celestia. "You promise you will be back?" He said softly.

Celestia smiled and place a hoof on Solaris's cheek. "I promise. Now wash up and then we will eat when I get back."

With that, Celestia turned off the water, gave Solaris a brief nuzzle and exited the bathroom to give him some privacy. As she closed the door to the bathroom, she sighed as the gravity of the situation hit her like an express freight train. 

What was she going to do with Solaris? From what he told her, he had no family, and the only creatures he had ever come in contact with up until now had only saw fit to give him a number. A number! Like he was some kind of statistic! What was she to do?

Celestia shook her head. That was not the immediate issue. That issue was that Solaris needed food and immediate care and Celestia was going to at least provide that. She therefore made her way out of her bedroom and down the hall towards the kitchen.

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Meanwhile further down the hallway and around the corner, a dark blue alicorn with a mane filled with what appeared to be the stars that dotted the night sky, made her way to her own personal quarters. She had just finished raising the moon, and was returning to her room to catch up on some reading before she had to preside over the Night Court. The alicorn was looking forward to reading up on the recent research of Professor Apus in the significance of constellation positions and their relation to the order of the universe.

The alicorn was Princess Luna, Keeper of the Moon, and Shepherd of Ponies Dreams. As she rounded the corner into the hallway that contained her room and her sister Celestia's room, directly across the hallway, she stopped when she spotted her sister apparently sneaking out of her bedroom. Luna ducked behind the corner and watched as her sister looked back and forth from one end of the hall to the other before slowly and quietly making her way down the opposite direction that Luna was coming from and proceeded in the direction of the dining hall and kitchen. 

Luna was immediately curious. Her sister never usually snuck around like she had something to hide, which was the vibe that Luna was getting from her actions. Like any other sibling, she needed to know what Celestia was hiding. She made her way over to her sister's bedroom door and slowly opened it. Peering inside the room, she could see nothing particularly out of the ordinary, though she just assumed that Celestia had hidden whatever she was concealing away. Luna chuckled to herself when she remembered the time she had found at least 5 chocolate cakes wrapped up hiding underneath Celestia's bed. It was her discovering this that made her sister agree to go on a diet.

As she was reminiscing on this memory, Luna began to pick up the sound of somepony splashing around in the bathtub. It was coming from the obvious source, Celestia's bathroom. Luna went over to the bathroom door, she placed her ear to the door to listen closer. When she did, she was surprised to hear what she believed was a young colt....laughing? There was no mistaking it. There was a colt inside Celestia's bathroom who was laughing to himself. Luna reached for the doorknob and opened the door with a swing, only to freeze when she finally saw who was in the bathroom.

Sitting in Celestia's large tub was a creature that she had only seen once and heard of only twice from young Twilight Sparkle on her return from her trips through the portal. It was a human. A young one she could tell. She could also see that the human child was staring right back at her, with a look of absolute fear in his eyes. 

For a few moments, the two just stared at each other, too stunned to say anything. At last Luna raised her hoof and made an attempt greet the child. 

"Um..."

"AUUGGGHHH!"

Luna jumped as the child screamed and made a dash to get out of the bathtub. Luna covered her eyes when he exited the tub and only looked back when the sound of splashing and scuffling had ceased and was replaced by soft whimpering and sobbing. Luna uncovered her eyes and witnessed a sight that tore her heart in two. 

The human child was curled up in the far corner of the bathroom. He was naked from the waste up. His lower body was covered only with some form of trousers and they were torn and soaking wet. He had his knees tucked into his chest and tears were streaming down from his eyes as whimpered four simple yet heartbreaking words.

"P-please d-don't h-hurt m-me."

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Celestia smiled to herself as she made her way back to her room. Levitated next to her was a small plate with a cheese and lettuce sandwich on it with a bright red apple that had come from a special order from the Apple Family Farms. She also held a bottle of fresh milk in her magical aura, something she wagered Solaris needed desperately. She was glad that nopony had been in the kitchen when she had put the meal together as she didn't think she would've been able to lie to her staff about it.

As she approached her bedroom door, she expected to hear nothing different from when she had left. So when she came to the door and began to hear the sound of a colt sobbing, her heart stopped. Somehow still keeping a magical grip on the dishes and food, she yanked the door open and rushed to the bathroom. She skidded to a halt when she saw that sitting before her with a look of sadness and regret on her face was her sister Luna, who was staring at the corner of the room. Celestia saw that curled up in the corner crying was Solaris, who was half soaked and half dressed. Celestia placed the dishes down on the counter and ran over to the sobbing child, immediately bringing Solaris in close with her wing. 

"Solaris sweetie." She said soothingly. "It's me Celestia. It's alright. You are safe. Nopony is going to hurt you."

Solaris slowly stopped sobbing and looked up at Celestia shakily. Celestia brought her hoof up to his head and brought him in close to her chest and he immediately wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.

Meanwhile Luna, who had been watching the whole scene unfold walked a little closer to the pair and looked at Celestia with a pleading look in her eyes. Celestia sighed and looked back down at Solaris.

"Solaris sweetie. I brought a little sandwich and some milk. Why don't you take it back out into the bedroom and eat it while I talk with my sister?"

Solaris looked up at Celestia and smiled. "Alright Miss Celestia." He said softly. He then walked uneasily passed Luna and grabbed the plate and bottle on the counter and exited the bathroom.

Luna immediately turned back to her sister, and before Celestia could say anything, Luna began to blubber almost uncontrollably. 

"I am so sorry Tia!" She cried. "I didn't mean to frighten the child! I was only curious about what you were hiding! Please don't be angry with me! Plea....."

Luna was cut off when she was wrapped into an embrace in her sister's hooves. She looked up and saw not anger on Celestia's face, but one of understanding of a simple mistake.

"It is alright Lulu." Celestia said soothingly. "You didn't know. I should've told you sooner, but I wanted to make sure that Solaris was comfortable."

Luna raised an eyebrow in confusion. Celestia, seeing that Luna was still perplexed by the situation, led her over to the other side of the room and quietly relayed to Luna all that had transpired before she had arrived. Luna's eyes went wide with shock when she heard about how Solaris had only a number to his name before Celestia had found him.

"It's almost as if whoever looked after him viewed him as an object! That is absolutely deplorable! How could any creature give another creature nothing but a number to call their own?" She whispered in disgust.

Celestia sighed and shook her head. "I don't know Lulu." She replied. "There were no clues that could be found on him or by him to indicate where he came from or who his parents are. He certainly doesn't appear to have come from the world that Twilight traveled to."

Luna agreed, casting a quick glance through the door at the small child who was now sitting on the bed and timidly nibbling on the sandwich that Celestia had given him. His frail body seemed to barely support him and Luna believed that she could literally feel her heart breaking for the poor boy. She then turned back to her sister and asked her the one question that now lingered in her mind.

"What do you plan to do with him Tia?"

Celestia looked out the bathroom door at Solaris and then sighed. "I'm not entirely sure yet Lulu. I'm not sure. But I know that I can not send him away. He obviously has no home here and I do not believe sending him to the orphanage is the right path. No, he is my responsibility and I will take care of him until we figure out what to do in the long run."

Celestia looked back once again at the timid young boy and smiled. Luna looked up at her sister and saw a look on her face that she could only remember seeing on their mother so many centuries ago. It was the look their mother would have watching them play in the castle gardens as young fillies. Luna realized however that now was not the time to bring up that idea as she was unsure of how Celestia felt on that subject currently.

"Are you certain that you are up to the task dear sister?" Luna asked.

Celestia looked at her little sister with a smile. "Lulu, if I can take care of a kingdom and the a celestial star, then I am certain that I can take care of a child."

Luna chuckled. "If you say so Tia. However, if thou ever needs any assistance, don't hesitate to call on me. Now would it be alright with you if I go and apologize to young Solaris for my earlier actions?"

Celestia smiled sympathetically. "Of course you may Lulu. I'll be with you to make sure that he understands that you meant him no harm."

With that, the two sister Alicorns walked out of the large bathroom and into the main bedroom and up to the young child still sitting on the bed. Solaris had just finished eating his sandwich and drinking his milk and was sitting quietly on the soft mattress of Celestia's bed. When the two alicorns emerged from the bathroom he looked up and smiled when he saw Celestia again. But when he saw Luna, he flinched with worry. Celestia immediately came up to the young child and began rubbing his back with her wing.

"It's alright dear. This is Luna. She is my younger sister. She is very kind and would never harm you. She didn't mean to scare you."

"That is right child." Luna said softly as she slowly approached. "I never meant to cause you any distress. Please do forgive me."

Solaris slowly looked up at Luna. For a moment, nothing happened until Solaris jumped down from the bed and wrapped his arms around Luna's legs in a big hug. 

"It's ok Miss Luna." He said softly. "I forgive you. I'm sorry I made you sad."

Luna stood there momentarily stunned before she smiled and felt her eyes begin to fill with tears. She wrapped her foreleg around Solaris and lowered her head to nuzzle the top of his head.

"Thank you child." She whispered. "And you don't have to be sorry."

Both stayed in an embrace until Solaris suddenly yawned loudly and largely. Celestia and Luna giggled to themselves in response.

"Seems like somepony needs to get some sleep." Celestia walked up as Luna and Solaris broke their embrace. 

"I had better go and tend to my nightly duties. I shall see you in the morning dear sister." Luna said. She then looked down at Solaris and smiled. "I shall see you in the morning too dear Solaris."

"Goodnight Miss Luna." Solaris says and waves slowly as Luna exits the bedroom and closes the door behind her. After Luna left, Celestia looked down at the young human who was rubbing his eyes sleepily. Realizing that she had no spare beds to offer their was only one choice left.

"I think that it is time that we both get some rest. Solaris, you can sleep with me in my bed tonight if you want to dear."

Solaris looked up at Celestia with wide eyes. "I can sleep in the bed?" He asked timidly.

Celestia felt her heart ache at such an innocent sounding question as if Solaris had never slept in a bed before. "Yes dear you may."

With that, Celestia climbed up onto the bed and lay down on her stomach. She gestured for Solaris to follow and the young boy slowly crept up onto the bed and scooted up against the side of the belly. Celestia then used her magic to pull the blankets up over them and to blow out the bedside candles. The only light left in the room was the moon light shining in from the windows and the flicker of the fireplace. Not too long after that all that Celestia could hear was the soft breathing of Solaris as he cuddled up closer to Celestia's warm body like a foal to it's mother, and Celestia smiled and laid her head down on her pillow next to him as the last thought of the day entered her mind.

Do not worry little one. I promise I will take care of you.