Taking care of myself

by Rio362

Chapter 6

I removed the blankets and pillow that was covering Lil Rio and I let him walk a little bit forward. James’s eyes went huge with brony excitement and also some confusion.

“Rio is that….is that real or am I hallucinating”?

“No bud you’re not and this little colt here is as real as they come”.

“Can I pet him”? James asked

I nodded and let him move close to Lil Rio and the initial response was not what I expected at all. Jr stepped back a little to get some space and then he ran and jumped right on top of James and snuggled closer to him to get warmer.

“Hey I guess he really likes you. Sweet”.

James’s face was still kind of in shock but then he relaxed a little and began to pet him while the little colt was relaxing and sleeping. It was kind of an early morning Lil Rio anyway so I could understand why he was so tired. Then James’s sister Raylene walked in the door and noticed Lil Rio sleeping there and she said.

“Hey you finished Rio’s OC nice can I see it”?

“Uh Ray you might want to take a closer look at him”. I said.

Ray moved closer to James and the sleeping foal and noticed that was breathing and moving slightly. She looked like she was about to freak out when we both stopped her.

“Ray wait don’t freak out just listen”.

Before we were actually able to explain anything Lil Rio woke up just enough to notice a new person had entered the room and he got excited and did what he did to me this morning. He jumped off of James and latched onto Raylene’s face in a semi tight affectionate hug. I was sure she was in some form of shock because she didn’t move and do anything at all. Until a few moments had past and then she spoke up.

“Rio why is it latched onto my face like this”?

I spoke up

“It’s because he likes you Ray. To be honest I didn’t think he’d be so welcoming to new people so quickly”. I said

“Ray its okay just gently take him off your face he’ll give you something sweet for being nice to him”.

Ray gently took Lil Rio of her face and he licked her nose sweetly. She recoiled a little bit and Jr thought he did something wrong.

“Why does he look sad? what’d I do?”

I explained to her that he is very affectionate and if you recoil he thinks he did something bad. Lil Rio was on verge of tears until Ray hugged him tightly and then began to play with him. Now Ray is a brony too so she loves the show “My little Pony Friendship is Magic” too its just that this came as a bit of a shock to both Ray and James to see a real life pony that looked like it was from the show.

“So what do you guys think of Lil Rio”?

they both spoke up in fairly excited tones

“HE IS AMAZ…wait hold on his name’s Lil Rio….really dude”?

I gave James and Ray a “not impressed” look and told them.

“Yes I named him Lil Rio. I couldn’t figure out a good name for him so I just gave him my name just with a Lil or Jr.

“How did he get here anyway”?

I motioned them both closer to me so I could explain what really happened that night. I told them that one night I was standing outside on my balcony enjoying the the glow of the moon when I heard a voice call to me. I told them that I couldn’t find who was speaking to me and I thought that the moon was speaking to me while I was asleep or something. The moon or Luna as I have come to call her from the show in which she is a princess asked me why I had given up hope in my life.

“I asked her why it mattered to her anyway and she didn’t even answer before she left”.

“So Luna just one night talked to you and decided to just give you a little pony to take care of”? Ray asked

“Ya I’m not sure why, but I don’t mind if I can’t really explain it well enough because I got a gift that I never thought to be possible to have. I really do have hope again guys and I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to lose my little pony that is sleeping in your arms Ray”.

Ray walked over to me and placed Lil Rio in my arms and as always he knew he was being held by his dad and so he readjusted to laying down sprawled across my chest when I went and laid down on James’s bed.

“I’m still pretty blown away right now dude”. James said.

“I know I’m pretty blown away to by all this too guys. Thanks for accepting him and making him feel welcome by the way”.

“Duh of course dude”. James said.

That morning was spent giving Lil Rio a tour of James and Ray’s house. He got a chance to meet Hershey and Loki which were their cats. For some reason anytime Lil Rio meets an animal it almost instantly likes him a lot. Being the idiot that I am sometimes I forgot what I was going to do about work and taking Lil Rio home in time for me not to be late to work.

“Oh crap I’m going to be late if I take Jr home and then go to work. Crap crap crap gah come on man”.

“Hey calm down Rio we can take care of Lil Rio here for you until you’re done with work. Then you can come back here and pick him up or stay the night bud. Either way we’ll take care of him and everything will be fine”.

“Thanks James knew I could count on you bud. K I’ll be back later. Peace”.

As I left the house I was chased down by Jr with tears in his eyes. He must have thought I was going to leave him here forever or something.

“Hey shh easy there little buddy why are you crying”?

He clutched onto my leg tightly as a means of trying to keep me from going.

“Jr its alright bud I’m coming back I promise I will come back”.

I was already running late and so I needed to get to my car quickly. As I was about to put him down close to the door of the house I heard something from Jr that made my heart explode twice as the old meme goes.

“Daddy”.

At that moment it was as if time stopped and nothing else mattered. My little pony that I was taking care of called me daddy. He spoke and his first words were daddy. My little Rio was growing up right in front of me.

“Jr…. Lil buddy”.

He ran towards me and jumped into my arms and from that point on I knew we would always be father and son. I truly and forever loved this little pony. He was my little Rio always and forever.

Work didn’t go by fast enough for me. I wanted to get back to James’s house as quick as I could. When I finally arrived Lil Rio was the first person or pony I guess to greet me with James and ray following suit.

“Hey man how did work go for ya”?

It took me a while to answer him and he didn’t seem to mind much if at all. He knew I wanted to see Lil Rio as soon as I got back expecially after what happened between us.

“Work was alright but man did it feel slow as all hell”.

“That sucks”.

“Well ya know that’s just typical sometimes and hey at least I didn’t have to late stay tonight so that was a plus”.

“That’s true”.

That night we all hung out in James’s room listening to his synctube music and other various youtube videos. Lil Rio learned how to say a few more things that night other then “Daddy” although I still loved that “Daddy” was his first word. Luna’s gift to me truly did return my hope and my strength to keep moving forward in life.

I couldn’t thank her enough and that night after everyone went to bed I went outside to see Luna glowing beautifully as always.

“Luna I just want to thank you for what you gave me. Lil Rio isn’t just a pony to take care of but he’s a little gift of joy and hope that I truly did need in my life. Thanks again Luna. You truly are the best princess”.

I went back inside the house and down to Jame’s room and laid down next to Lil Rio who was curled up in a ball again to keep warm. I gently wrapped my arms around him and brought him close to me to keep warm and we both drifted off to sleep.

Next morning was another early morning and Lil Rio and I both headed back around 7:30 ish to go home and have breakfast. James and Ray were still asleep by the time I left so I’m sure they didn’t mind me leaving so early.

When we arrived home I noticed that Lil Rio was still asleep so I just cradled him under my left arm while holding my laptop bag in the other. I left him in my beanbag chair to continue sleeping and I noticed him moving around a bit to get more comfortable.

It was a little cold in my apartment room due to us not being around to turn up the heat on the the thermostat. It was a full grey day outside. The clouds were overhead covering everything as far as the eye could see. Lil Rio was the only thing in my apartment room that had any color and life to it.

One day I knew….I knew one day one of us was going to be without the other. The thought of it made my heart wench but I knew it would come one day and so I just wanted to live my life with him right now rather then worry about the future.

I grabbed the comforter from my bed in my room and brought it out to him so that he could sleep a little more comfortably due to the cold in my apartment room. I had a few chores to do this morning so I knelt down to him and kissed his little forehead and said

“Sleep tight Lil buddy”.

I made my way out the door and headed back down to the parkade where my car was waiting for me. All that had to be done for my chore day today was to go and drop off a check at the bank and go check when my next days of work will be from my job place. AKA “Montana’s Cookhouse”.

I felt a little sad seeing the clouds the way they were. At the same time I use to love days like this because with the clouds being the way they were I felt like I was never truly missing anything going on outside. I guess I just felt better about always wanting to be inside playing video games and just not being around other people.

Of course that was way back when. Not anymore though. Now I have friends and something very special in my life that completely turned it all around. I have Lil Rio counting on me and there is no way I’m going to let him down.

The bank was boring and fairly empty of people as always. Montana’s wasn't very busy either and so I was able to go in and check my next week work days and leave before anyone was even able to know I was there. To be honest it felt kind of odd. Normally everyone knows me and acknowledges me when I arrive but I guess today was a little bit different only because it was very slow and boring today.

Either way it was finally time to make my way home and tonight was going to be a lot of fun. Tonight I was taking Lil Rio bowling with my friends Noir, Grant, James and Ray. The bowling ally that we were going to was private and so I knew there wouldn't be any problem except to introduce Lil Rio to Noir and Grant for the first time.

I guess I am hoping James and Ray will help out with that and to be honest I know they will but I still have my concerns. When I arrived to my apartment room Lil Rio was still there sleeping soundly and so I began to make breakfast for the two of us which I knew would wake him up just by the smell of it. I have come to being use to making breakfast for two and now I don’t think I could ever get use to not making him breakfast.

I started buying two jugs of chocolate milk just for him and one jug of regular milk for me. Yes I spoil him with what he wants but only because he deserves it. He can speak a fair amount of words now and well he grew up a lot since that day when he first spoke.

Lil Rio walked into the kitchen sleepily still wiping his eyes and dragging the comforter right behind him in his mouth. I placed down his plate for him as usual on the table in the living room. I picked him up since he was still pretty tired and nearly falling asleep. As soon as the cold chocolate milk touched his tongue he was wide awake.

I set my plate down and next to his on the table and I turned on the Xbox to watch my favorite food network show while I ate which is “Diners, Drive ins, and Dives”. For some reason watching that show always made my food taste twice as good. Lil Rio seemed to like it too but I’d always finish my food first and switch it to cartoons just for him which of course he liked more.

When we finished breakfast I took both our plates to the sink and cleaned them off. I noticed that Lil Rio had become curious about the Xbox and actually grabbed one of the controllers with his mouth and attempted to play with the menu.

Author's Note:

Enjoy ^_^