Prince of the Sun

by TornadoBlitz

Welcome to Equestria

A minute or so after the chanting had started, Shining Armor and the guards escorted Mother, my Aunties, and myself into a nearby carriage. The carriage was regal looking with it’s cream white coat lined with lined with gold trim, amethysts, and Mother’s cutie mark emblazoned on it. I didn’t get that good a look at it seeing as we were rushed inside of it with the door closing behind us. The interior was covered with a royal purple material.

Once we were inside, Mother put me down on a seat next to the window and strapped me in. I guessed the seat must have been set up for me because the seat was high enough for me to be able to see out of the window. “There you are, darling,” Mother cooed, “From here, you can see our little ponies and the rest of Canterlot on way home.” After making certain that I was secured in the carriage, we started to moving forward.

As we were rolling along, I looked out seeing the cheering masses much closer than they previously were. Seeing as the windows were rolled down, I could hear them as well as see them. In addition to the cheering they did, I could also hear the mares as they cooed lovingly at me. Although I was much calmer about the number of ponies outside, I still occasionally hid in Mother’s mane at the oppressive number of the crowd. Every time I did though, the mares in the carriage were quick to join in the cooing of the mares outside.

“No matter how many times he does that, it doesn’t stop being cute,” Auntie Cadance said after the third time. She reached over with a wing and tickled me in stomach. I laughed loudly and vainly flailed my limbs about trying to stop this onslaught. After an eternity of about five seconds, she stopped and leaned over to kiss my forehead. Feeling myself blush again, I reached out with a hoof and stroked Auntie Cadance’s face, evoking yet another round of cooing from the mares in the carriage.

Looking back outside, I noticed a lot of fillies and colts in the crowd waving at me. After a second of confusion, I remembered a form of greeting that was similar to this in my old world. I lifted my own hoof trying to imitate the crowd, but being a foal, I almost fell backwards in my seat.

After two or three times of trying and failing, Mother approached and took my hoof into hers.

“Like this, sweetie,” she said softly, moving my foreleg back and forth slowly. After a moment or two, she released my hoof and I was waving back all by myself. This act was met with another round of smiles and ‘aww’s’ from the crowd.

I had to admit, seeing and hearing that made me happy. Back in my old world, I would do all that I could to help people. It was often why I was called on so much when I was in the university. And, as scary as the thought of being royalty was, I was happy that I had the chance to help these ponies for the better.

Rounding the next corner, my hoof and jaw dropped in unison. In my old world, the birth of new royalty was generally a big deal. The media built it up and made it so you couldn’t walk down the street without hearing about it and every move the new royal made for the next few weeks. However, I had one thing that they didn’t have:

A HUGE PARADE!

The street was showered in a rain of confetti and streamers as we passed by. A pony wearing shades with a spiky two-toned blue mane and tail performed loud pulsing music while dancers performed in time. Vendor plied their trade by selling various goods to the crowd. I thought the crowd back at the hospital had been big, but this was awe-inspiring.

While we were traveling along I noticed several buntings and banners stirring about in the wind. On them, I saw a sun that looked remarkably like Mother’s cutie mark and underneath was the mark that looked like a partially blacked out moon. Surrounding the marks were two ponies that appeared to be chasing them, one light and one dark, and seeming to form an almost complete circle. In the distance, I saw a bigger flag in the distance sporting the same insignia.

Guessing that was this country’s flag, I took another closer look at it. As my eyes widened in surprise, I checked Mother and Auntie Luna to see if my guess was correct. Seeing Auntie Luna’s crescent moon cutie mark, I knew my guess was correct: The ponies on the flag were Mother and Auntie Luna! If they were on the flag, they truly were important monarchs. Suddenly, my new friend came back for a visit: Panic.

Before it could build any steam, I noticed a few ponies approaching the guards. Curiosity taking a hold of me, I noticed that the ponies gave the guards brightly wrapped parcels that I recognized as presents. The guards then had the presents placed into a cart that followed behind us, already two-thirds of the way full.

“What are you looking at, honey?” Mother asked, drawing my attention away from the scene. Unable to do anything else, I pointed at the cart. Mother chucked at my response and answered, “Just a guess on my part, but I’d say they are presents meant for you.”
My eyes widened at the response, unable to wrap my mind around what was occurring in front of me. I couldn’t fathom the love the depth of love that these ponies were showing me, to my family. Here, not only was the royal family alive and playing an active role in this society, but they were also greatly loved and respected. I was greatly loved and respected. I hadn’t even done anything yet and these ponies loved me enough to go through all this.

In spite of that revelation, my spirits sank. The closest I had ever gotten to a leadership role was my job in middle management. Only about twelve people at time were affected by my decisions.

Here though, thousands if not millions would be looking to me for leadership. An entire country would be counting on my decisions, hoping that I made the correct one. It was a frightening thought, one that made me want to crawl in a hole somewhere and wait until all this was over.

As though she had been reading my thoughts, Mother unstrapped me and lifted me into her hooves. She turned me so that my eyes met hers.
“Mythic Light, do you want to know why I gave you that name?” she asked, her voice soothingly calm, “You see, for the longest time, Alicorns were thought to be unable to get pregnant and have children of their own. When I found out that I was pregnant with you, I was at a low point in my life. Perhaps even my lowest. But you filled my life with the hope that things could and would get better. It was if my dreams had come true all at once.

“When it was announced that I was pregnant with you, the whole kingdom was filled with a joy that almost equaled my own. You were the light that lifted the darkness of our lives.

“Perhaps, you will rule in your own right one day and if you do, I know that you will even manage to outshine me.”

I felt my eyes water at her words, knowing that she believed them as she spoke them. They were the words I needed to hear, that someone (or somepony I mentally checked) had complete faith in me even when I had doubts believing in myself. That even in the darkest of times, one light, tiny though it was, could make the difference.

She even made me fall in love with my name. At the time I heard it, I thought my name was pretentious and conceited. Now, I couldn’t imagine being called anything else. It made me want to be even better than I was.

And with a few choice words, my mother accomplished all that. I reached out wanting to hug her, wanting to show her that I would try to make good on all the faith she had in me and to thank her for removing the overwhelming fear and confusion I felt earlier. As though sensing my desires, she held me close as I tried my best to return her embrace.

“Okay, sweetie, we’re almost home. Mommy will show you to your room and, if you’re good, we will open some of your presents.”
I clapped my hooves in excitement, causing the crown I was wearing to fall over my eyes again. Of course, another round of cooing filled the carriage as Mother fixed it and placed me back into my seat. As we rounded another corner, I felt my eyes go wider for what must have been the umpteenth time today.

The castle was massive! Huge towers with multi-coloured roofs jutted up around the grounds. The architecture was like nothing I had ever seen before, except for maybe inside a fantasy novel. It even seemed that some of it hovered in place, making me wonder how that worked.

Well, I thought, this world is filled with magic, so I guess that explains some of the wonders of this place.

As we drew near, the portcullis opened up and revealed the interior of the courtyard. I felt confident that I was ready to face this brave new world. Just then a thought occurred to me that I was ashamed of myself for not having thought before.

I am no longer the man I was in my old world, I thought excitedly, This is the second chance that most people don’t get. I made a lot of mistakes in my previous life. So many errors that could have been easily fixed, but I didn’t. Now I can take the knowledge I gained in my old life and put it to use here. To do so many things better than I did. This is my chance to actually be important and to do some genuine good for this world.

I felt the small grin I was wearing grow wider. Deity lady, if you can hear me now, thank you so much for this chance to make it work.

Comments

[zooba]

Are newborns supposed to be able to understand and comprehend so much at birth in this world that no one finds it odd? Just wondering if it's a facet of the magic in your alternate universe.

[Sipioc]

6183016 it is a little strange, but it does make the story more interactive than reactive

[Prince_Zodiac]

6183016 I think he can do all of this thinking because his consciousness has aged from being in the human world.

[DJ_Arashi_Rora]

6616251
But he still has errant thoughts more indicative of his current age.

[Radioactive Dragon]

6183016 that would just take the fun out of the story we kinda want to see how he responds to stuff

[Radioactive Dragon]

I am no longer the man I was in my old world, I thought excitedly

well true true and you are not even a human so you are no longer the human you were before

[Falx_of_Lume]

6719954
Also, the cake twins were able to understand each other and Pinkie Pie, so it makes sense that newborn foals in the MLP universe are able to understand some stuff adults do or say. Also, horses are able to get up and walk on the first day they're born, which is mostly an adaptation so they can escape predators easier.

[Blaze Song]

Right on, little man! Now go, use your human knowledge of technology and create the Internet! As a gift to "Uncle" Discord

[Mr Swanky Hat]

8061571
I think discord might get jealous of the internet, can get pretty chaotic, weird and insane here. Take this for example:

[Killjoy1221]

6183016

With an 11 month gestation period, they better be at least a little cognizant!

[Kadigan]

10554875
That, and horses - and thus ponies, I assume - get something of a head start. Horses generally walk (and perhaps even run) within 2 hours of their birth. And while I agree that, in a civilisation as advanced, and with people as advanced, as these ponies are - everything else would likely take a bit more time than it "usually" does (humans not only have a long gestation, but also a lengthy "childhood" period precisely because of the complexity of the world we're born into), the longer gestation period would likely account for increased maturity even for them.

And yeah, I expect harmony magic has something to say about all this. I don't doubt his progress will raise a few eyebrows down the line, but both his parents are fairly brilliant, so eventually it'll just be considered par for the course.