Eclipse Born

by Seeking Dusk

Too Many Revelations for One Day...

Have you ever gotten yourself in a situation that, even in retrospect, you weren’t clear on the details of? That’s pretty much what I was going through at the time. I’d somehow gotten stripped down to my boxers (thankfully I was wearing them) and was being intimately introduced to a variety of her tools, all darting about me, encased in pale blue auras, a faint trilling in the air as they moved with precise and controlled movements.

It was the most terrifying and impressive display of magic I had seen so far. Even more so because Rarity was casually chatting with Twilight and myself, examining my original outfit, and magically taking notes with a small pad and quill suspended before her. All at the same time.

“Though speaking ill of others is most unbecoming of a lady, I must say that whoever designed that hideous outfit you were wearing was a quack!” Rarity declared as her measuring tape snaked its way around my waist. “And with these fabulous garment to use as references at that! I simply cannot believe that the Princesses would have someone so lacking in talent and passion in their employ.”

“To be fair, it was a rush job,” Twilight said.

“There is no excuse!” Rarity said, the original tape measure making its way down my leg, a second measuring my crown for some reason. “Don’t worry, Caleb dear. I’ll be sure to properly dispose of those horrid things for you.”

“About that, Miss Rarity-” I started, only to be cut off by the fashionista unicorn.

“Rarity is fine, Darling,” she said graciously, waving a hoof in my direction, flipping her hair with a casual toss of her head.

“Well then, Rarity, I need those clothes. I know you ponies don’t wear clothes all the time, but humans do,” I told her. Twilight had given her the cliff notes of what I was while Rarity had been enthusiastically stripping me of my modesty.

All of her implements stopped, drawing back from me as she gasped, her eyes widening. For a moment, I thought I had scared her, but it was shock, not fear. When she did manage to find her voice, it was almost breathless. “Humans are always clothed?”

“Pretty much. Aside from swimming and in really hot times, most humans wear a top and a bottom, like the ones I came in,” I explained. “It’s partially protection from the weather and environment, no fur and such, and largely cultural for modesty. Shoes too, I suppose. It’s possible to get the soles of your feet hardened enough that you don’t need it, but when you grow up with them, it doesn’t happen.”

“Sweet Celestia… imagine it!” Rarity said, positively gushing. The tools started up again, though this time most of her attention was on the shirt, pants and shoes I came in. “Think of the fashion industry in a society like that! I don’t even recognize some of the weaving in these fabrics! And that, boxers, you called them?”

“Yeah… it’s a type of underwear,” I said. Uncomfortable subject. I noticed that Twilight had started taking notes too as well. Lovely. Two women and the topic of fashion. Lord give me strength. “It’s… on the south side of the limit of modesty. Pretty embarrassing really. You aren’t supposed to show other people your underwear, not unless they are your doctor or really close friends…” They didn’t seem to get it. “For kids, children, their parents. For adults… generally Lovers…”

Twilight blinked then looked away, blushing. Rarity’s cheeks got red as well, but before I could even hope to ask for something to give me a shred more decency, she crushed the hope. “Nonsense! From this point on, I am your fashion designer!” Rarity declared. “The first human in Equestria? I will create the best possible ensembles for you! For that, I need to get the best possible measurements.”

“But it’s really embarrassing…” I tried.

“What is a little loss of modesty now in return for the best later?” Rarity said, a ruler rapping me on the nose. “Now, tell me about the fashions of your home.”

“I didn’t really pay much attention to that. A lot of men don’t,” I admitted to her. I just wanted to leave. I hated shopping for clothes. Getting measured for them was worse. “A lot of the industry is automated, using machines and such, but designers do put a lot of work into things and can make a lot of money off it. I generally went for thing I liked. Colours, fit of suits, dress shirts, polos, jeans… They would have a lot of fashion shows different times of the year, designers showing off their work and stuff. I never watched any.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll create a line for… IDEA!” She suddenly declared, getting a glowing smile and bright eyes.

Involuntarily, I took a few steps back and looked at the door, considering making a break for it, modesty be damned. For all the cheer in that expression, there was no way that idea of hers was going to end well for me.

“Twilight! Bring him to my studio!” Rarity commanded.

In Carousal Boutique, no one can hear you scream.

----------

Okay, so I might have exaggerated a bit, but still; I was there for two hours. Two hours, trapped in a room with an ‘inspired’ fashion designer, and a librarian who I thought would have been on my side, but betrayed me once she realized Rarity coupled her designing session with an intensive attempt to dredge every possible thing I knew about fashion out. All the while hurling bolts of fabric, a half dozen scissors and scores of pins at me.

By the end of it, I was considering swearing off going anywhere near her store. In the very least, I wasn’t going back to her inspiration room when she was ‘in the zone’, as she put it.

On the other hand, she did a miraculous job on patching up my original outfit. I was speechless when she pulled it out. I hadn’t even realized it was one of the things she was working. She even turned down payment, claiming it was a gift, and that the ideas I’d given her were more than enough to cover it. Honestly, I never realized how much I knew about fashion, but I suppose you can’t live for over two decades without learning something about the clothes you have to wear.

There was another bright side of her refusing payment. Celestia had arranged a stipend for me, most going to Twilight to help her offset the cost of my bed and board, with a bit left over for a bit of pocket money. I just had no idea how to actually access it.

“Oh, we are going to stop by the bank and withdraw a few bits for you,” Twilight said when I raised the issue with her. “It’s the next stop on our schedule.”

“Wouldn’t it have made more sense to stop by the bank before going to Rarity? What if she asked for payment?” I commented. It seemed like poor scheduling to me. Getting money should be before heading to a store. I nodded at a stallion who was looking curiously at us as we walked past him.

“Believe me, Caleb, I know Rarity. She might be a bit dramatic and caught up in her work, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a more generous soul than her,” Twilight said cheerfully as she lit up her horn, pulling a scroll, quill and ink well from her saddle bags. “She would be the last to charge a friend for something like that.”

Equestria’s culture was different, I had to admit, something I mused on as I followed, Twilight. Even the fact that she was willing to house and look after me though she barely knew me was telling. The unicorn in question was humming happily to herself, murmuring about the items on what looked like a check list, ticking off a few items.

“Oh, lovely…” I groaned after taking a closer look at it.

“What’s wrong? I thought you wanted to go to the bank,” Twilight said, her eyes darting between the list and I. “Or is it that you don’t want to meet the rest of my friends? I promise they are nice ponies.”

“That’s a checklist, right?” I didn’t know why I didn’t expect it. It made sense, after all.

“Of course,” Twilight said, now even more confused.

“I can’t read it; I don’t know what the characters mean,” I admitted. That they spoke what I considered English, and they considered Equestian, was a fluke; a most fortuitous fluke, admittedly, but still a fluke. They didn’t have fingers. They had hooves and magic. Why would they write in English? Or even use the Latin characters? I slowly let air hiss through my teeth as I run my hand over my head.

I could see the wheels turning in Twilight’s head as she processed it. “Of course, how could I have over looked that? All those books that you came over with were written in a strange form of script no one could recognize.”

“Do you realize what this means Twilight?” I asked her, massaging the base of my neck, trying to put some order to my thoughts.

“What?”

“I have no idea. I was hoping you did,” I said lamely. Not really much I could do about it. “Actually… you could help me start learning how to read Equestrian later.”

“Really? You want me to teach you?” Twilight asked, coming to a full stop and giving me a curious look.

“Sure. I figure you can at least set me on the right track,” I shrugged, stopping as well since she’s the one who knew where we were going. “Besides; it gives me something to do aside from sitting on my hands all day.”

Twilight legitimately squeed and clapped her hooves together. It was adorable. “Don’t worry, Caleb. I’ll come up with the best lesson plans for you. Soon, you’ll be reading like a local! Of course, I’ll have to consult some of the material in the library… maybe a quick stop by Cheerilee to get her opinion on teaching someone in your situation…”

Twilight was a very thorough mare. By the time we got to the bank, she had made an annotated checklist about two feet long. Maybe I would have been better off checking through the kids section of the library and looking for a picture book.

Our business at the bank didn’t take much time and involved her handing a metal disk to the teller, requesting a sum, and a short wait before he returns with a small jingling sac. Fifty bits richer, Twilight led us off on the next leg of our quest, once again enamoured with lesson planning.

For my part, I took up people watching. Well; pony watching, giving to their inclination to the exclusive terms. Culture was a strange and wonderful thing. It seemed the rumours of the earlier walk around had gotten around, as most of the ponies looked with curiosity, rather than confusion and fear, and no one else started yelling about the horror and swoon at my lovely visage.

All in all, I was feeling better about things. I suppose having a bunch of coins jingling to your beat helps. I’ll be honest though. I have no idea what happened next. One minute I was happily humming, interspersed with teasing jabs at the distracted Twilight just to irritate her, the next something solid hit me from behind and I was desperately trying to save myself from wiping out spectacularly.

Fortunately, I’d fallen off my bike a few times well, and the roads of Ponyville were more forgiving than the asphalt and cement of home. Still, it hurt like dickens. I rolled over in time for my second ‘in your face’ encounter with a pony of the day. This time; it was a pegasus, cyan blue, a shocking mane that literally held every colour of the rainbow and glaring red eyes as she stood on my chest, pinning me.

“So you’re the mutant diamond dog that’s been going around town and making ponies faint!” she yelled in my face, her voice sharp, her hoof jabbing at my face. “Not so tough now are you, are you, huh?”

In most situations, the thug slash bully routine would have normally warranted either a dose of snark from me, or counter taunting. In this case, however, the surge of nausea and pain in my chest was pressing. It happened just as I started to get defensive, opening my mouth to either snark or curse, whichever way the coin landed, only to turn into a gasp as something blared in my head, pain lanced through me, jolting out from my chest to my limbs. The sounds cut out abruptly, and the nausea passed a moment later without me hurling my breakfast, but the pain decided it like me and hung around. The spasm from the aborted gag reflex only made the pain worse at that, adding disorienting poundings in my head in sync with blood flow.

I grimaced, jaw clenched to hold in a cry of pain, body writhing. I had no idea what was going on, only that it hurt a lot. I think I must have blacked out for a moment, because the next thing I clearly processed was something yellow, pink and flusters murmuring ‘oh dear’ over and over as hooves worked over me, Twilight’s accusing voice telling off someone. Go sic ‘em, Twi.

“Are you alright?” Ah, miss yellow and pink noticed I was back with her. The pink was from her generous mane, the yellow from her coat. Her blue eyes were brimming with concern. It would have been adorable if I wasn’t having a flashback to the Pink Menace herself. What was with these mares and standing over me?

“No…” I groaned as the pounding did it’s best to keep my thoughts from flowing smoothing and uninterrupted. I took a few shallow breaths and focused on the view, which was mainly the mare and the sky, and worked around the pounding, managing to get words out in between the almost wince worth pulses of pain. “My head… is pounding… and my… chest feels like… something dropped… on it.”

“Sorry Caleb!” Twilight said, suddenly coming into view. She looked somewhere between upset, shamed and worried. “You’re still recovering your sickness. The next thing on our schedule was Ponyville Hospital to refresh the healing spell that was cast on you, but I think Rainbow Dash might have triggered a minor relapse.”

“Oh my, he was injured and Rainbow Dash made it worse?” the yellow said, gasping a little. “Is there anything I can do to help? I brought my treatment kit with me when Rainbow Dash told me about the strange creature in town, in case I could lend a hoof.”

“I… have a healing… spell on me?” I’m pretty sure my expression as confusion and horror. The pounding was settling, but still a nuisance.

“Of course,” Twilight said. “It’s the basic treatment procedure for the kind of injuries you had. A low powered spell that boosts the body’s natural healing. And I’m afraid not, Fluttershy. This is internal tissue damage. It’s not so easy to treat.”

“I didn’t know, okay!” the cyan one with the crazy hair darted into view, her wings somehow keeping her afloat despite their small size. Pegasi were just awesome like that. At least I had names to go with the faces now. “I just got angry when I heard some jerk was messing with my friends!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy said. “Shame on you; attacking this poor injured critter!”

“Wah?” Rainbow said, her jaw dropping.

“Just help me get him up and to the hospital,” Twilight said, her horn glowing. I could feeling something tugging me upright, and I went with it, rather than fight it. Fluttershy helped push me up as well and gave me some support, which was good since vertigo almost had me on the ground again.

“I think… I’m good,” I murmured. “And I’m new… to all this… Tell me if… I’m still hurt next… time Twi…”

“Sorry,” she said, blushing.

----------

Thankfully, the hospital had gotten word from Celestia about me and my needs, so there wasn’t too much drama when I turned up. Rainbow Dash stuck around, flitting around nervously and trying not to look at me directly. Probably embarrassed. Fluttershy suddenly started panicking half way to the hospital and made little eeps and meeps, hiding behind Twilight as if she were suddenly afraid of me.

It was awkward enough when we were getting to the hospital, but now that we were sitting in one of the outpatient rooms, her huddled in the corner trying her best to pass as a trembling anatomy display of a cringing pegasus made me feel guilty. The glares from Rainbow Dash didn’t help either. See seemed like the type not to like hospitals, going off her attitude.

Long story short; between Fluttershy’s meekness, Rainbow Dash’s glaring and Twilight’s nervousness, the level of awkward in the room was far too high for comfort. So I tried to break it. “How is it that you can have heart monitors and still be using wagons? This is pretty much the same as a hospital back home. It’s like an anachronism.”

“Anawhatnow? You’re an egghead, aren’t you?” Rainbow Dash accused me.

“Huh, what? Um… I guess?” I shrugged, thinking about it. There were a lot of random things I knew about. It came from wasting a lot of time and credit hours in university. “But It doesn’t really make sense to me. Thatch roof houses, wooden wagons and a modern hospital with lights, heart monitors and nurses with stethoscopes and all the other trappings of the trade. ”

“I don’t really see what the issue is,” Twilight said, tilting her head to the side. “It’s true that Ponyville recently build this new hospital, but it’s still just what you would expect for an average facility.

“Not that there is anything wrong with this hospital, it’s actually much better than what you would expect in a community of this size, and their staff is very skilled, but it’s not quite up to the standards of those in places like Canterlot."

“I am pleased you think so highly of us, Miss Sparkle,” an amused male unicorn chuckled as he entered the room, a clipboard and folder held in his magic, hooves clicking on the tiles. One of the aforementioned stethoscopes rested on his neck, and he actually worse a white shirt and tie, a close-fitting lab coat over it.

“Doctor Horse! I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to offend you!” Twilight stammered as Rainbow Dash smothered a snicker.

I had a smile on my face as well, though part of that was for his name. Hey, it could have been worse. With the trends I’d seen, he could have ‘Doctor Feel Good’ or something. And to be honest, that sounded like an unfortunate name with creepy connotations.

“Don’t worry about it, Miss Sparkle,” Doctor Horse said to her, his primary attention on me. “Mister Blakely. It’s lovely to finally meet you.”

“Likewise? Do you know me from somewhere?” I asked.

“No, only the files that were sent down from Canterlot,” he chuckled. “They were most interesting. I did expect you today, but judging from your company, I assume it’s not for the regular renewal of the healing spell?”

“No, someone decided it would be a good idea to slam into me from behind,” I responded blandly.

“Hey! I’m not the mutant Diamond Dog that’s been going around town!” Rainbow Dash said defensively.

“She never apologized either,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Um… he’s more a strange monkey,” Fluttershy’s faint voice added.

“Human, actually,” I corrected her. I didn’t let myself get drawn into a side discussion. “Anyway, Twilight thinks it might have caused a relapse.”

“He was experiencing spasms and blacked out for several seconds,” Twilight said, expanding on my statement. “His episode lasted about fourteen and a half seconds, shortly after Rainbow Dash hit him from behind and pinned him to the ground.”

Fourteen and a half seconds? When did she time that?

“That does sound serious,” Doctor Horse said. He looked over me, hooves checking limbs and even peering into my eyes. “Miss Sparkle, Miss Dash, Miss Shy, if you would allow my patient and I some privacy?”

When they left, the examination got a lot more personal. For the second time of the day I was down to my birthday suit and being looked over by a unicorn taking notes. The weird mix of magic and tech showed itself again in that examination. Spells seemed to replace things like X-Rays and MRIs, but he drew blood using the type of equipment I would expect to see, even if it was a bit older looking and hoof optimized. Throughout it, he asked me questions, getting me to expand on the symptoms and the pains I felt in the ‘episode’, and getting what was considered normal health conditions for humans. I told him what I could remember.

It was just Twilight and Fluttershy left when the examination was finished, Rainbow Dash apparently having ‘better things to do than sit around in some lame waiting room’. Her words. She did leave a rough apology for me. I had my clothes back on and was just waiting for Doctor Horse to come back with his results. I was pretty sure Twilight was too.

Fluttershy had one of her own when she came in too. She didn’t look at me directly, instead looking at my feet, her long pink mane obscuring her face. “Um… I’m sorry I called you a monkey and a critter… I heard about you in town and thought you might be a sick animal so I went with Rainbow when she said she would look for you. Twilight told me a little about you, though.”

“Meh. No worries,” I shrugged. She really was cute and sweet. Even if I had to strain to hear her. “It was still better than being a called a diamond dog. You’re going to have to show me a picture of those when we get back, Twilight.”

“I’m not sure how anypony would consider you a diamond dog,” Fluttershy said, peeking out from under her hair.

“They somehow did,” I smiled weakly. “But thanks. I appreciate it. Besides; you were out to help me. Can’t ask for better than that.”

“So you aren’t upset?” Fluttershy asked softly, shrinking a little more.

“At you? Heaven forbid,” I grinned. Then I paused, making a show of pulling at my chin. “At Rainbow Dash, on the other hand… maybe.”

The meaning of the gesture was lost on the pony, and she looked up with a pleading look, flapping her wings so she was at my eye level. “Oh dear, please don’t be upset at her either. She is just a very loyal friend and doesn’t like when anything threatens her friends. She only overreacted.”

“Don’t worry, he’s only trying to be funny,” Twilight said to her, coming to my defense. At least she got human mannerisms.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy, I’m not all that mad at Rainbow Dash either,” I insisted. “Just a bit sore. By tomorrow I’ll be over it, mostly.” And probably trying to come up with ways to get back at her, but that was a different matter.

“Okay, that’s fine. I just hate seeing my friends being mad at each other,” Fluttershy said, sighing with relieve. “But I really have to be going now. It is getting late and my animal friends will need their meal.”

“Sure, Fluttershy,” I said. Friend? I was her friend now? We just met. Still, it was somewhat nice that she considered me a friend. “I’ll see you again sometime.”

“Fly home safely, Fluttershy!” Twilight added.

The yellow pegasus trotted off rather than flying off as I expected she would, leaving just Twilight as my company. He looked at her. “Animal friends?”

“Fluttershy is something of a veterinarian. She takes care of a lot of the wildlife in the area, and also helps manage the local pet adoption services,” Twilight said. “Her home is filled with all kinds of animals that she takes care of.”

“That’s pretty impressive. She seems rather shy for that though,” I commented, idly tapping my legs on the tile as I waited for the good doctor to return, wishing the bed were high enough for me to swing my legs.

“She is, but she has a surprisingly strong will, and a heart to match,” Twilight said, brightening at her friend’s accomplishments. “Her kindness is second to none.”

Doctor Horse’s return took away the chance for me to respond, a coincidence for which I wasn’t exactly ungrateful. I beamed at him. “Will I be fine, Doc?”

“Everything checks out, Mr. Blakely,” Doctor Horse said jovially. “And the information you provided has been added to your files for late reference. As for you current health; you are well on the road to a full recovery. Most of the major stresses and tears to your tissue and organs have recovered nicely, mostly of the fractures to your bones were already patched up, and they have since healed over nicely. In a few more days you shouldn’t be feeling any trace of soreness of any kind.”

“Thanks Doc,” I said, inwardly marveling over the capabilities of magic.

“As for today’s episode, it was not a relapse,” he pulled out a chart with his magic and tapped a hoof on it. “It was in fact a good, if painful mark of recovery.”

Twilight made for the chart but hesitated, looking at me as if asking permission. I shrugged and nodded. I was in her care, so technically she was my ‘guardian’. Besides, she was working with the group of researchers that first helped me, so maybe she could make better sense of the information than I could. Seeing my nod, Doctor Horse allowed Twilight to look over the charts.

“Simply but, you suffered a magic backlash,” Doctor Horse explained. “When threatened by Miss Dash, your instinct was likely to draw on magic, unfortunately your mana channels weren’t ready, some still recovering and others still developing.”

“My mana-what now?” I asked. That couldn’t possibly be what it sounded like.

“Mana channels. They are the mediums that allows for proper use of magic,” Twilight said distractedly as she reviewed the charts. She looked up and gave me a strange look. “I thought you told me humans don’t have magic.”

“We don’t,” I said firmly, hopping up from the bed. “It’s probably just some weird effect from the treatments I’ve been getting. So I’m fine, Doc?”

“As I said, yes, you are,” Doctor Horse said, his brow furrowed with a trace of confusion, “though I would like to see you again in a few days; to check on your progress.”

“Then that’s all I need to know,” I replied. “Come on Twilight. I’d very much like to head back and start on those lessons. I can’t say I went to another world and go back home without learning something useful about it.”

“But Caleb, are you sure that-” Twilight started. I didn’t let her finish.

“Yep, I am,” I said, sounding more chipper than I felt. For some reason, the idea of having magic chilled my blood. I don’t know why. I’d have to spend some time figuring it out, but for now, I wasn’t entertaining the idea. “I’ll see you again in two or so days, Doc!”

We made a bit of small talk on the way back to the library, but not about magic. Twilight tried, but I changed the topic every time she was getting to that issue. Silence carried us back.

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[Ephedianroyalty]

So... magic