• Published 8th Mar 2014
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The Child In Me - Zamairiac



A young man wakes up in Equestria as a very adorable Alicorn colt, gets forcibly adopted by Luna, and tries to find his way home.

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Arc One (Running) - I Am Not A Foal!

Author's Note:

Following in To Run From The Sun's footsteps, The Child In Me's chapters are also going to be a little over one thousand words, yet while remaining firmly under two thousand five hundred. A little more leeway than I allow TRFTS.

I find this allows chapters to come out at a far greater rate than usual…even if I've yet to update TRFTS. Don't worry though; I'll get on it around the weekend.

You see, I've just started this catering course…which kinda forces me to wake up around six, and get home a little after five in the evening.

In any case, here's a nice little chappy. It's all over the place and very spontaneous, but that's where the random tag comes in. Besides, I like getting all the boring stuff out of the way first.

Begin!

I Am Not A Foal!

Well…this is interesting.

Looking back at me from the lakes clear surface was by all means…a small, candy coloured foal.

To be more specific, the foals coat was light blue, while its eyes were a light brown. The only contrast of dark it happened to have was its dark blue hair.

That just so happened to be as messy as mine was normally.

It also had a pair of wings on its sides and a horn parting its messy mane. As well as a rather visible bruise by the horn.

I must have hit my head on something.

Oh and it blinked when I did as well.

Looking down, I lifted up my brand new appendage and examined it intensely. Instead of my usual forearm, followed by a hand, I instead had a foreleg, followed by a hoof.

A light blue hoof.

I'm a little horse…Or maybe a little pony, I can't tell.

Ah, I'm getting far too ahead of myself. Allow me to explain how my predicament came to be, if you will.

My name is Oliver Leaf, I'm male, twenty two years old, and…well, pretty damn clever if I do say so myself.

Do I sound arrogant? Pompous?

Perhaps, but when you're the type of child who can outsmart a highly intelligent AI at chess at the age of five, it kind of says something about you.

My family consists only of my dad and I, so when I discovered just how easy it was to figure out certain calculations, there wasn't really anyone around to witness it.

Thus I stayed silent and learned all I did on my own.

I don't really know why it is so, though if I had to take a life threatening guess, I'd reckon growing up with nothing but books and a forgetful father had something to do with it.

No matter, enough about that. Let's return to the whole 'I'm apparently a very young colt'

I'm not exactly sure how it happened if I'm being completely honest. One moment I was falling asleep, and the next I'd woken up by the very lake I now look at.

Did I panic?

A little, it's not every day you wake up as a completely different species after all. That's not to mention waking up in a completely different world.

How do I know it's a different world?

Well, if the sudden change in anatomy didn't clue me in, then the fresh air, clean environment, and cartoonish textures of the world around me did.

"Perhaps I should- Whoa, new voice! Hello, hello, hello…Hehe!"

Ah…yes, and then there's this little predicament.

Apparently I didn't just get the body; I also got the mentality to boot. It's not overpowering exactly, but rather subtly spontaneous.

I myself didn't have much in my childhood bar reading and chess. But this…instinct, I felt it, I heard it the moment I arrived and panicked.

T'was easily quelled mind you. When faced with a mind like mine, a child doesn't stand a chance. And besides, I have no time to play around. I have to figure out how to get back.

Finding the nearest town seems like a sound plan for now.

And a sound plan it was, for as I made my way through an apparent pathway, I soon came to hear the distant sound of people ahead of me.

You know…it was strange. The moment I entered the town…or village, I wasn't sure on either, every single one of the uhh, ponies, looked at me in a mix of wonder, fear and surprise.

"Is there something on my face?" I asked, my voice squeaking for but a moment.

The sudden sound of multiple mares collapsing soon followed.

"Okay then," I muttered aloud. "Everyone in this place is crazy."

"Tell me about it."

Turning around, I found myself face to face with a violet coloured…pony that was like me?

Damnit, why can't I remember that word? I swear I know what it is.

"Holy Celestia!" she exclaimed. "You can't be real!"

"Wha-?"

"I've got to take you to her!" the mare continued, her eyes alight with excitement.

The mare suddenly all but forced me against her, before lighting up her horn and enveloping the two of us in some sort of energy.

Kinetic mayb-

There was a sudden flash, followed up with a nauseating sensation that forced me to close my eyes, lest I puked everywhere.

Opening them, I quickly came to realize that the two of us were standing in what appeared to be a grand throne chamber. There were a few ponies in armor around us, yet their apathetic expressions stayed, despite the sudden arrivals in the chamber they apparently guarded.

All of a sudden, a very calm if not soothing voice broke the short silence, grasping my attention to where it came from.

"Ahh Twilight, this is a surprise, how are you?" asked a rather tall alabaster mare. "I see you've brought a guest with…you."

Like Twilight and I, the mare had both wings and a horn. Yet as I looked closely, it was all I could do not to shrink at her gaze. Perhaps it was something that came with my new form, I didn't know.

But what I did know was that whoever this mare was, she was very powerful.

Holy Celestia…Ah, SHE must be Celestia.

Her large magenta orbs seemed to widen as she took all of me in, flicking down to my wings and then back to my horn. She then, without any warning, rose from her throne and walked down to me, her eyes never leaving my own.

I'm ashamed to say that I was quite intimidated, and not just because of the child in me.

But then as she laid down on her stomach, all the tension and fear was lifted by her kind gaze.

"Well, well. It's not every day I get to meet another pony like myself," she chuckled gently, her wings unfurling slowly. "What is your name little one?"

"Oliver Leaf," I replied, eying her wings as they extended around me. "What do you mean by 'like myself'?"

Why are her wings behind me? Does she think I will run?

Her eyes seemed to soften at my words, though I see the interest behind them.

"Don't you know what you are?" she asked, her eyes lidding in confusion as I raised an eyebrow. "You're an Alicorn, one of five now."

Alicorn huh? I knew I'd seen that word somewhere. It was in the mythology book I read in year eight.

Not that it mattered, I wasn't an Alicorn, I was Human.

"Actually I'm not," I spoke slowly, judging both her and Twilight's reaction.

Twilight's gaze seemed to intensify inquisitively, while Celestia merely raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really?" she asked. "Then what are you, if you do not mind me asking?"

"Human," I replied quickly. "My race is known as human or Homo Sapiens to be exact. We're a race that…"

...

I continued to give the both of them my explanation, simultaneously judging their expressions carefully as I did so.

Which was actually rather peculiar, because the both of them looked quite…depressed?

"…and that's more of less the short summary of Humanity."

"Hello?" I echoed, cocking an eyebrow at their bizarre expressions.

Celestia suddenly looked up at Twilight, the two of them nodding and sighing at the same time.

"That bruise, he must have had a concussion," Twilight muttered sadly. "This in turn must have caused an internal surge"

"I agree," Celestia replied, apparently just as upset. "His mind must have wiped itself and put delusions in to compensate."

What are they going on about?

"But a surge needs some form of intense emotion," Twilight unhappily continued. "I've read about them. Anger and sadness are the best known causes."

"Indeed they are," Celestia agreed dejectedly, turning her head so as to look down at me, her eyes shining ever so slightly. "You poor thing, what could have happened to cause such a powerful surge?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, my somewhat squeaky voice gaining a higher pitch, if but for a moment. "Intense emotion? Internal surge? I have no idea what you're going on about!"

Celestia suddenly scooped me up with her wings and pulled me to her barrel, forcing my head against it in a comforting manner.

"I know sweetie, I know," she soothed softly. "But it's okay now, shhh, shhh. You can stay with me."

What the buck is going on!

Buck?

Fu…Fu...Fufff…BUCK!

What the hay!

I can't swear? Why can't I swear?!

Whoa…relax. I just need to relax. There was no need to get all worked up over nothing after all.

"It could be something to do with his parents," interjected Twilight's voice. "He did walk into Ponyville on his own…maybe something happened to them."

"My parents?" I asked, getting their attention. "No, no. I have a dad; he's probably watching the game back at home."

"Of course he is dear," Celestia cooed, stroking my messy mane as she COMPLETELY DISREGARDED WHAT I JUST SAID!

Of course he's at home, he's there and he's real. There's no way I could have imagined that up!

Yes, I was right. I was twenty two years old, not a child. I could handle this…sudden bout of infant distress.

"It must be his parents Twilight," Celestia whispered, apparently unaware that I could hear her. "He must have created this false reality because something happened to them."

Happened to them? No, NO! Dad's real, calm down, calm down…You're not a child, calm the fff-buck down!

No, it was too much. Everything inside of me wanted to bawl in that moment. I could even, to my dismay, feel my eyes beginning to sting with unshed tears.

NO! I am NOT A CHILD! I am not a…a-I don't know what's going on! What's going on, I want my mommy!

I…What? No…No I don't-

All of a sudden, the sound of doors opening reached my ears, causing them to flick and swivel as I made to look in the right direction.

What the…another one?

Yet another Alicorn stood a short distance away, looking down at me blankly. She appeared to be a tad smaller than Celestia, yet also a tad taller than Twilight. Her coat was a very dark shade of blue, yet her eyes were quite a beautiful set of turquoise orbs.

She said nothing as she walked over to us, her eyes on me and me alone.

"Ah Lulu," Celestia began. "We have much to discuss. But first allow me to introduce-"

A sudden flash of light nearly blinded me as a slice of cake appeared out of nowhere…before being promptly shoved into Celestia's open muzzle. Celestia dropped me out of shock, prompting me, in my current panic attack, to try and run as fast as I could from everyone.

Unfortunately…

As I made to do so, 'Lulu' grasped me gently with her hooves, holding me in front of her as she gazed down apathetically.

"Thou art adorable," she said, a loving smile slowly worming its way onto her muzzle. "Yet we felt thy distress, thou needs a mother."

What?

Her wooden tone and loving expression were quite contradicting…at least they appeared so. It was hard to tell at the time, I was having a bit of a panic attack after all.

"Dost thou have a mother?" she asked, her eyes boring into mine as they all but scared the truth out of me.

"N-No."

"Then we shalt take that title, call us mother!"

I did make to open my mouth…uhh, muzzle and say no. But the moment I tried…well, her eyes bored into mine once more, something within them telling me it would be most unwise to say no.

"M-Mother," I squeaked, much to her apparent joy as she burst into jovial laughter.

She then, without any warning, used her wings to all but pin me to her barrel, before all but skipping back in the direction she came from.

She was also shouting…disturbing things.

"Oh most wonderful of nights!" she declared happily. "We have a son to love, and love we shall. We shalt hold thee, and kiss thee, and love thee, and we shalt name thou Arcturus!"

"My name is Oliver-"

"Arcturus!" she repeated loudly, squeezing me just that little tighter.

Okay…just play along, calm down, and play along…

"And we shalt love thee for all eternity!"

Buck it, I'm doomed!