Chapter-3 Fleetfoot
“What?...” After squeaking out my inadequate response, I just continued to sit there stunned at how terrible I am at hiding my true feelings. “What are you talking about?..”
She dawned a comforting expression and rested her hoof on my shoulder while looking me right in the eye. “Evan, we don’t just find random colts out in the middle of the Whitetail woods for no reason. The few colts we have found came from remote villages set on doing things the ‘old fashion way.” The way she emphasized the last three words told me that villages like those must be pretty frowned upon, doing whatever the old-fashioned way is.
“It’s alright, sugar cube,” Applejack spoke up, “while I wouldn’t condone leaving yer family, I don’t know what it’s like growing up in one of them towns. You must have felt it was necessary, and yer probably going through a lot right now, so just you know that you’re safe here now.”
All the others nodded in agreement, each giving me their word that this place is better.
I stared at them all, my heart slowly starting to restart itself once again. They thought I was from some looney village in the middle of nowhere. I could work with that.
“Would you be able to tell us anything about where you came from?” Twilight inquired, though I also happened to notice a notepad and pencil begin floating out of the corner of my eye.
“Uhm, I don’t remember much since I left quite a while ago.” I lied; while this was better than they know my true origins, I still had no idea what one of these villages was about. And if they asked any specifics, I was doomed. Blowing this opportunity was not something I was keen on doing.
“Oh alright then,” she paused for a moment before continuing, “do you remember anything about your family?”
I cringed at this, much to my surprise. While I wasn’t expecting to be sad, this question hit harder than I thought it would. I guess I had just completely shut my realities out of my mind, trying my best not to think about them. But this question reopened the flood gates.
“I’m sorry, if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to,” Twilight added as I wiped away a stray tear.
“Yeah, I don’t want to talk about that now,” I responded with a lump in my throat. I wasn’t married or anything, yet I still missed my parents and my siblings nonetheless. But I swallowed that lump in my throat and sucked it up, determined not to make a fool of myself.
“Let’s go to something else.” She tapped her chin in thought for a second before asking, “How did you end up in the metal tube they found you in?” She began once again.
“Well, I was foraging for supplies when I just found it there.” Great answer, I thought as I patted myself on the back. “I got curious and went inside to explore, but that’s all I remember.”
“Didn’t your pa-” She cut herself off, realizing what she was about to say, but not soon enough for me to not be able to figure it out. “I’m so sorry! I did it again!” She said profusely.
“It’s alright,” I said, swallowing the lump that reformed in my throat, “please continue.”
She sighed, her face still wrought with sorrow, “Well, that’s all we needed for now. So just make sure you rest up; Spitfire will be in here later to tell you more about what’s going to happen, alright?”
“Alright, thanks.” Wow, that’s all they came here for? I thought as they each gave me their best wishes before making their way out of the room one by one as silence once again permeated the air. However, the silence was soon broken by the voices of Spitfire and Twilight a few moments later.
“So, did he tell you anything?” I heard Spitfire inquire, causing me to lean a little closer in an attempt to listen to their conversation better. It’s not eavesdropping if it’s about you… right?
“Well, I had my suspicions, and he confirmed one of the at least,” Twilight responded.
“What is it?” Spitfire asked, evidently curious.
“Well, this isn’t the first time this has happened,” she began,” but he is from an isolated village somewhere in Equestria where they are dead set on doing things the ‘old fashioned way’ for whatever reason.”
“So he’s a runaway?”
“Simply put it, yes. Though normally we would return a runaway foal, we can’t return the foal for their safety in a situation like this. So we are just going to have to put him in the foster system unless we can find somepony to adopt him before then.”
“How much longer is he going to be staying here?” Spitfire asked, sounding a bit saddened.
“I’m going to send somepony by tomorrow morning to come and get him.” Twilight explained, “He’ll be taken care of at the foster home in Cloudsdale.”
“Is anything special going to happen to him because of where he came from?”
“No, we try to leave foals to themselves and their adoptive parents to help them better acclimate to modern pony society. While I may check in on him every once in a while, it won’t be often.”
“Well, I’ll inform everyone of the situation, so we don’t take up any more of your time.”
I heard a loud sigh followed by Twilight, slightly annoyed, saying, “Please, how many times do I have to say this? While I appreciate it, you don’t have to bow to me.”
“Sorry,” Spitfire sheepishly responded, “but it’s been nice to see you.”
“It’s been nice seeing you as well.”
With that, I heard the clip-clop of their hooves start fading off into the distance.
I was shocked that either my hearing was so excellent or these were some of the thinnest walls in existence. I laughed at that for a second before ponding what I had just listened to, which, if it is what it sounded like, means I’m getting shipped off to an orphanage very soon. While it could certainly be worse, orphanages don’t have the most fabulous rep in my mind.
But on the bright side, while Twilight gave me a mini heart attack, she didn’t know what I was up to, though I did notice the orange one, Applejack, I think, giving me the stink eye every once in a while. But all in all, I considered this a win.
But that still left me with a problem that could get much worse or much better very soon. How do I get home? That was undoubtedly the biggest question on my mind; while this place didn’t seem like hell, it wasn’t home to me.
I felt my left ear twitch as the sound of arguing reached my ears. I brought my attention to the voices, the sound steadily getting louder, trying to make out what they were arguing about.
“... I don’t care! I can do it!” I recognize this voice, though I couldn’t place who it was.
“I know you can, but you’re a Wonderbolt Fleetfoot! You don’t have enough time as it is!” I recognized this distinct voice as Spitfire’s, and she also answered who the other voice was. “And you still haven’t told me why you want to do this!”
By now, they were standing right outside my door, and they must have forgotten about me or something already.
“Well…” she stammered, “you don’t need to know, it’s my life!” She shouted back defensively.
Jeez, they were really into it for some reason, and right in the middle of the hall nonetheless.
“You know what,” Spitfire suddenly took on a much calmer tone, “you’re right, it is your life, and I can’t stop you. But there are two conditions: I am your boss, and if this affects you at work, we’re going to have problems. And two, we ask the kid, if he doesn't want to, end of the story, kapish?”
“Kapish,” Fleetfoot responded sharply before the door opened, both of them stepping inside.
They both looked relatively calm and collected, their expressions showing no signs of their previous argument.
Spitfire took a deep breath as she walked up to my bedside before saying, "Hey kid, Twilight has some plans, but Fleetfoot also has some of her own. Twilight wants you to send you to an orphanage." She stated bluntly.
Even though I knew it was coming, I still sank a little without even realizing it. I guess they were always such depressing places when I had seen them, and I always felt bad for those kids.
"But,” She started, causing me to look up with a raised eyebrow, “Fleetfoot here has volunteered to take care of you for a while instead. While I can't tell her what she can and can't do, we've decided just to come and ask what you would rather do."
I was a little surprised that two adults would leave such a question up to a little kid like me.
I looked up at Spitfire, getting her usual stoic nature in response. Fleetfoot, on the other hand, seemed to be less calm; she was nervously smiling, sweating a bit. I also noticed her tail seemed to be twitching quite a bit. She was just quite jittery about this, though I wondered why. She only met me a few days ago.
After a few moments of deliberation, I answered, "I'd rather stay with Fleetfoot," While I didn’t know her, this could give me the much-needed freedom to try and find a way home, my number one priority. I was also a bit hopeful that she wasn't secretly insane or something and would treat me better than an orphanage would. And if the way she has been treating me recently is anything to go by, things are looking fairly decent.
“Yay! We’re going to have so much fun!” Fleetfoot exclaimed, bouncing up and down on her hooves, the smile on her face larger than what seemed theoretically possible.
It also brought a small smile to my face seeing her so happy, I wasn’t sure if it was the lighter side of me or what, but I smiled a bit non less at her reaction.
“Well, if you want to stay with Fleetfoot,” Spitfire reluctantly said, knowing she lost her previous argument, “I guess you can, but I’ll have to run it by the princess first. And if she says no, it means no!”
Fleetfoot nodded understandingly, yet her smile never left her face.
“Are you excited about not having to go to one of those stinky old orphanages?” Fleetfoot exulted as she finally was able to collect herself.
“Yeah, I’m pretty excited. But why are you doing this?” I challenged, not having seen any motive previously for her wanting to take me in. Heck taking in a kid is a lot of work, but to do it out of the blue is something else entirely.
“Well…” she began, her eyes floating around the room, “it just seemed like it’d be a lot of fun to do, you know?”
“Oh, well, okay, and thanks!” I replied, not buying that response at all. Even a real kid could have been able to tell that she was lying. She had some other motive, which was still unclear to me and seemed to be vague to Spitfire as well.
“Ooh!” She squealed, her mood picking right back up, “We’re going to have so much fun! I can see it already!” Her face formed into that of a child getting to pick anything they wanted from the toy store.
“Umm, where do you live?” I inquired, snapping her out of her daze.
“Oh, I live just outside the center of Cloudsdale,” she began,” I think you’ll like my place. It’s not too much, but it’s pretty cozy.”
Despite still being a bit worried about her motives, her overall tone of excitement seemed pretty sincere and caring, almost as if I was her child. And I was willing to play the part, as long as it gave me ample opportunity to solve my problems.
“So, what do you like to do for fun?” She asked, leaning onto my bed.
“I like sports,” I responded; I sure did love me a nice sports ball game back home.
“Well, you got the right pony for sports! The wonderbolts aren’t my only things.” She stated confidently but with a playful tone.
“Really? What else do you do?”
I spend the rest of the night conversing with Fleetfoot about our various shared interests. It turns out she is really into painting and is a poet. I told her I was good at digital art, but she didn’t seem to know what that was, which raised a flag for me. But after a bit longer, she finally got shooed away by the nurses.
They performed a minor check-up on me, just the basic vitals and whatnot. They said it would be my last. After finishing, they left for a while, and I could hear them discussing something just outside the room. I tried to listen, but these nurses seemed to be aware of how thin the walls were. They returned and said I was in good shape, wrote on the clipboard in front of my bed, and went away, leaving me alone for another hour of ceiling tile counting.
The nurses came in shortly after and served dinner, just the usual stuff, nothing too exciting. But what was interesting was using my hooves’ magic field thingies. I began swatting at my sheets for about half an hour, and I decided early on that trying to pick up a scorching hot bowl of soup was not a great idea. But I finally managed to get a grip and pick up the sheet, which filled me with joy. It was a very odd yet recognizable feeling. It was as if I had my hands, and I could feel as if I was feeling the sheets with my hands. While I certainly wasn’t great at it, it was a start.
I attempted to pick up the spoon, which I was able to. But after scooping up a tiny bit of soup and putting it into my mouth, I couldn’t hold back a groan as I realized that my food was now cold.
I resigned to my fate of a cold dinner, though the success of using my magic hooves did make me feel a little better. Though the soup did taste a little different, but hey, that’s what cold food does.
They came back in after I finished, took my soup, gave me a comforting good night before they left, and turned out the lights.
I was starting to feel my eyelids droop when I felt a slight poke on my back. I tried not to think about it, but to my annoyance, I got poked again. So, I got up, my mind having already fallen half asleep, and looked behind me. I was a little worried when I saw a few of my feathers had fallen out and were resting on my bedsheets rather than attached to my wings. But I just wiped them off my bed and laid back down, thinking that the doctor must have seen them, and since she didn’t say anything, it meant that I was probably fine. It was just something I put off as yet another thing I didn’t understand about these horse birds.
The sandman visited me not too soon after.
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The fethers falling out doesn't seem good
10962075
Must not have preened himself lately.
Evan seems like an interesting protagonist as does Fleetfoot as a parental figure so I'll be following this to see how their relationship develops once they start living together. I also hope to see this story have an eventual conclusion and not end up as one of the many abandoned/canceled fics that have interesting premises but never get finished for various reasons.
It’s a trap! That whole song and dance about “he’s a runaway from some backwater village “ was MEANT to be overheard by him and lull him into a false self security while they investigate further!
Interesting start, I'm afraid there's not much here for me to gauge yet. I've read a lot of these and I can never get enough of this trope. However, I do hope you can get it right; plenty of authors tend to forget about making this kind of character feel down to earth or realistic. What I mean by that is making them feel vulnerable. If I was sucked into a new world in a new body that was physically regressed, I think I'd be freaking out a lot more often.
10962414
While something might of been missed on translation I must disagree on your second point. My vary American family raised me to believe "all are equal under god" which is vary liberal notion despite the conservative leaning family.
Respecting a princess because princess is a foreign -and dare I say backwards- concept. If she is really that great she must prove it by strength of character not title.
Fleetfoot is an orphan herself isn’t she?
absolutely smashing chapter my good sir! looking forward to the next!
10983108
Yup, that was a thing in My Life as a Bipedal Quadruped.
10980691
You also get that extended lifespan in Trust Once Lost.
This a very good story. I'm giving you six stars for doing a good job. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I have a question.
Has Twilight gone to the human EG world in your fic? In this story, she doesn't seem to know what aircraft is, but if she has been to the human world, I can picture her reading about or studying it, which would make her confusion over seeing one kind of weird.
"Well, do you understand?"
"All except for the capiche."