A Little Different - Chapter 1: Memories Drift In And Out Of My Mind
A Little Different Chapter 1 - Memories Drift In and Out Of My Mind "*Sigh..." a royal, feminine voice gave an exhausted sigh as she headed back to her room. She had a rich white coat that went all around her body. Her skinny leg's lifted her small torso, her hooves having golden slippers. On her flank was the picture of a sun, above the mark were a large pair of wings. A broach went around her neck, the front had a purple gem in the shape of a diamond. Her eyes were a magenta color, with long back eyelashes, long ears concealed by a tiara with the same sized purple diamond and under that, protruding from her head was a long white horn. Finally, her long mane and tail were a mix of turquoise, light blue, green and a pink color, the mane and tale long and always flowing in the breeze. She was, in fact, a pony - the queen - er, 'princess' of the ponies, actually. Her name was Celestia, and she was the ruler of Equestria. Celestia was tired from a long day of... politics (honestly i don't know much about politics, and I don't care so.. politics!), just because she was the definite ruler of the whole kingdom doesn't mean she doesn't bust her behind doing so. Celestia then made her way to her room and waved her guards off for the night. They might as well have the night off, she'd rather have some alone time with him.... "Good night, princess" The two royal guards said, not moving an inch, waiting for her approval. She gave a sigh and them a nod as they gave a slight nod back and headed off. Her guards were always waiting for her approval, and, after a few millennia she had gotten used to their constant approval seeking - 2000 years and hundreds of personal guards, they had always been.. needy. But whatever, she was tired and just wanted to lay down for a few hours before having to put the sun down. The princess opened the doors to her room. The room was rather spacious, fit for a queen. It's walls were a darkish blue, with cloud figures on them, along with some tapestries of the night sky or of the sun. By one of the tapestries was a a stone fireplace, and a carpet with a pen and quil for writting. In the back center of the room was a queen sized bed with layers up layers of silk covers. "Issac? Issac, are you awake?" Celestia called out "Ya Mom, i'm awake" A small figure from the covers said. The figure began ruffling through the sheets. After a few moments a head popped out - a human head. The human then got out of the bed and jumped off the bed. He was rather small - only 8 years old, in fact. He had rather pale skin from being inside so much and very skinny arms and legs. But even in his paleness, it was obvious his descent was Puerto Rican, although some might have some trouble he used to live in rural D.C. The boy had dark brown eyes and a small nose, and dark black-brown, curly hair that went down to his earlobes. He was wearing his usual outfit: a white t-shirt and a pair of blue shorts. He then ran over to the princess and gave her a hug. If any other pony or human had just blatantly hugged her without asking, they would find themselves in the royal jail for the rest of their lives, but not for this boy. He was Issac Namine (pronounced Nah-Meh-Nay), the 8 year old human. Equestria had no humans - except for one. About 6 months ago, practically out of no where, He was found by Celestia on her morning walks out in the royal gardens, much to her confusion. When he awoke, he freaked out, of course and after a few days, they had convinced him that he wasn't dreaming or insane. Over the next couple months, Celestia had taught him all about Equestria and he in turn told her about humans. She didn't like them. Issac was actually scared she'd throw him in the dungeon, but for him she say she'd make an exception. Because he was the only one of his kind, Issac was forced to hide - only the guards and herself knew of his existence, and they wanted it to stay that way. He had never left the castle - he spent most of his time in 'their' room (Celestia took such a shine to him that she allowed him to sleep in her room), reading up on Equestria stuff or out in the royal gardens. One day, the princess came home to Issac studying Equestrian history. Like usual, she asked him about his day - although the difference this time was he said 'It was okay, Mom'. Naturally, right after saying this, the two just froze. Issac was afraid she'd throw him in the dungeon... or just eat him right there or something... but she just... chose to ignore it with a 'Oh, that's good... son'. From there on, Celestia became Issac's adopted mother. It may sound a little - okay, a lot weird - but it worked. Issac needed a mother - he was only 8, i mean... come'on. And Celestia always wanted a little colt or filly - sure he wasn't a pony, but she still loved him. "So, how was your day?" He asked. "Oh you know how it is - talking with those boring diplomats from the griffon kingdom... just glad i'm done with it...." "Well, i'm glad your home too" Issac said as let go of her and went back to his desk. "What are you writing, sweetie?" Celestia asked him "Oh, just practicing my Equestrian-"
"Issac, is this going anywhere?" "I'm just trying to give you a explanation of my life at that time..." Right now, Issac was sitting in a doctors office - a therapist's, actually. Issac was now 20 - 12 years since his arrival in Equestria. He had the same dark brown-black hair - it now reaching his shoulders - and green eyes, his eyes protected by a pair of thick, square glasses. Although his skin had become less pale - still pale, just... less. He was now 5'11, and 140 pounds. "Issac, we've been over this-" "I know, i know - Equestria was fake" So, after his 2 year stay in 'Equestria' (ages 8 - 10), he mysteriously turned up in his room - seemingly out of nowhere. When his real parents found him, they were so overjoyed whilst he was confused. He kept asking to see his mom, and his real mom kept saying she was right here - his requests for his mom were thought to just be him in shock. So, the next few years were mainly recuperation, they put him in therapy and put him on some meds. The general thought was that he was kidnapped and drugged, used for god knows what. Though why he was returned was a mystery. He kept trying to tell them that he was in this place were ponies ruled and they could talk and he was lived with a princess and she could use magic and- well, the outcome was that his parents thought he went temporarily insane. So, after years of therapy, he had accepted that his 8th, 9th, and years on this Earth was spent in a fake world. "I'm glad you've accepted that, Issac. I mean, your first day here-" "Let's not recount my childish time that i still believed in 'Equestria'. But still you gotta wonder - i mean, i thought about all this like 8 years before the show..." "Issac..." "For the last time, i know it's not real - just... be glad that i'm more accepting than most - some people would still be asking to go back to Equestria..." The session contined - the rest of the time was just about Issac's day. He worked at a boring company as a deskjockey. His days were mostly the same - get up, go to work, come home, go to sleep then repeat the cycle. He didn't have a social life - when he disapeared most people believed he was dead, and most just forgot about him. Sure when he came back he had that week of everyone asking about him, but after that he slipped into the cracks of social awkwardness. So now, he didn't have many friends, and watching My Little Pony didn't help. When he first saw the show, he freaked out. He swore his shrink was some Tv executive or something. But after some time, he accepted it was just a coincidence. Still, he couldn't help but notice how his old friends looked just like them - or rather, were them - AJ, Pinkie, Rarity, and of course, his best friend, Twilight... And his 'mother', Celestia. He watched the show daily - even if they were reruns, he still liked to see his friends - although they probably forgot about him or something. "Now, will you be paying or your parents?" "I think you already know the answer to that - they kick me out the moment i turn 18 but won't spare any expense to keep my mental health in check" He and the shrink exchanged a few words before he had to go see another patient, and Issac wanted to go home to get some rest. Issac started to drive home, all the while thinking about the scene he was describing before...
"Oh, practicing my Equestrian writing" Celestia walked over to Issac and looked at his page. The page was full of various words written in Equestrian, and a few drawings - a couple butterflies, one of those 3-D boxes, and the strangest thing - there was a drawing of two ponies - one was obviously her, but there was another one - a small pony, a young colt, it seemed. "Who's this, dear?" Celestia pointed her hoof at the colt. "That's me mom!" He said pointing it the colt. "And that's you!" Issac then pointed at the smaller pony. Celestia was heartfelt by that, she was glad he saw himself as a pony. He had only met 10 ponys in Equestria, and was forced to hide when she had royality over, and didn't have a single friend (he wanted the guards to be his friends, and although they did like the kid, but they had to remain stone-faced), he always remained optimistic - (Present) Issac now laughed at that, the real world had definitely made him more of a pessimist. "I'm glad to see your writing is improving" "Ya, by the end of the month, i'll be able to write full sentences!" "At this rate, i think you'll be able to write better than that!" Celestia said as she and him gave a laugh. They spent rest of the afternoon talking and playing - Issac loved watching her do her magic. Before long, Celestia had to go put the sun down. Issac absolutely loved this part of the day - the first time she ever put it down he was mystified! Pretty much every day he watched her put the sun down - other people loved to watch her too, so he had to stay in the backround. That didn't mean once that he didn't hug her each time, once she was out of view. Issac practically skipped his way there, much to Celestia's enjoyment. She found him on his normal bench as per usual. She gave a soft laugh and got into position. After the little ritual was done, the sound of hooves stomping and clopping together filled her ears, as wells as the faint sound of two human hands clapping together, faster than the rest of the applause. Celestia started walking to the door before being stopped by a pair of human hands hanging from her neck. She gave another soft giggle and continued walking, the small human dangling from her neck. With that, she walked back to her room
Issac smiled at that memory - or rather, pseudo memory. It may have been fake, but it was still a good memory. He contined his little trip down good old memory lane. After his trip, he went to his apartment and, after failing to put the keys in the door a couple times, he made it into his little sanctuary. The apartment was actually rather spacious - even for his less than mediocre salary, he got quite the little palace. But that didn't mean it was furnished very well. There was a tube-tv on a desk in the middle of the room, and a used couch he picked up on the side of the road opposing it. Issac's kitchen nook had a small table, a dinky little fridge probably only holding two things - baking soda from the previous owners, and a half drunken a liter of Diet Coke from a previous girlfriend. He mostly just ordered chinese food anyways. He had a bookcase full of movies and games, all from the bargain baskets at the local Wallmart, his game system being from Craigslist. And, in his room, laid a futon - a hand-me-down from his parents. So yes, every last item in his apartment... was used. He looked past it, i mean some things were better as hand-me-downs - like Oreo, his cat. Speaking of the white and black-spotted fluffball, the moment Issac walked into the room, his leg was being assulted by him. Oreo was a stray cat with a heart of gold - Issac finding him in the backalley of his apartment a year ago. "Hey buddy" He said as he petted his little cat before heading to the couch and quickly switching to Hub. He found himself half-way through a MLP episode. He gave a triumphant sigh - glad he was able to catch an episode or two. He then went over to the cupboard and grabbed some cheetos and a glass, and pouring some of that old diet coke (I mean, hey why not put it to good use?) He sat down on the coach and started to drink his Diet Coke... that is, until he realized that the coke was boughten by his girlfriend... and the last girlfriend he had was a year ago... He quickly spit it out and ran over to the sink to wash out his mouth. While rinsing his mouth out, he checked out what was going on over in Television land. It looked to be a Twilight heavy episode. Issac remembered when he first encountered that bookworm...
Celestia stood outside her door, a slightly stern expression. Normal enough, but the difference this time was a smaller pony - a young filly stood with her. The filly was young - most likely Issac's age (8 by the way). She had a light purple coat, and a purple mane with a pink streak through it, a small unicorn horn parting it. She had large, violet colored eyes that just oozed intelligence. FInally, on her flank lied her a mark - a pink, six-pointed star with a bunch over smaller white stars surronding it. She was Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's new pupil. "Twilight, I would like to meet someone. He is very special to me, and he's a little... different." "Who is he, Princess?" "I let you see him for yourself" Celestia said to a confused Twilight as she opened the door. There, in the room, a strange creature sat hunched over a desk, obviously writing. The figure suddenly sat up, obviously noting that the two were in the room. Twilight honestly thought this thing snuck into her room and was writing a some evil note! She looked to Celestia and waited for the princess to take action. The thing she did wasn't... exactly what she expected. "Issac, i'm home!" The beast then turned around to reveal... a human! There was a human in the princess's room! Then, a more unexpected thing occured! The human ran over to Celestia and... hugged her! "HUH?" Twilight yelled (Yelled, not asked). The two ignored her, then... will you know the schtick - unexpected, blah-blah. "How was your day, mom" "HUH?" "Young Twilight, this is Issac - He is obviously NOT a pony, but he is... my son." "WHA- I mean, HUH!" "Sigh...* Okay, let my explain..." One explantation later, and Twilight was still confused... "So... he's not your real son?" Celestia gave another sigh, this one filled with... either regret or anger, Twilight couldn't tell. "Yes, but i do love him as one of my own." She said, giving Issac a little squeeze. "So... Uh, Princess, i'm glad that you're sharing a very important secret with me, but is there ulterior motive?" "Yes Twilight. Issac, I would like you to meet your new classmate!" "What?" They both yelled. "Well Issac, you've been saying you always wanted me to teach you magic, and you said you wanted a friend, so this works out." "Well, i don't see why not... uh, friend..." Twilight said, extending her arm to him from a hoofshake. "Ya, we'll be friends! I don't really have any friends so this'll work out great! Well, that's not true - i'm pretty much friends with everypony here in the castle!" Twilight gave a fake smile at his somewhat endless enthusiasm as he shook her hoof. "You're pretty... hyper" He somehow went from bouncing around like a mad man to becoming strangely calm "Oh, uh ya, sometimes i just get in these really weird moods - like sometimes i just get really shy or egotistic or factual, it's really weird..." "Hmm... maybe i can study this..." Celestia and Issac gave a laugh as the princess explained how the whole 'student' thing was going to work...
Issac snapped out of his flashback to notice the episode had ended and his hands were all pruny. He gave a sigh, remember that old egghead and his first friends. He remembered meeting Spike, and how he gained his second friend - her brother, Shining Armor who he got to see more when he started training in the guardschool. Over those next few months, he was Celestia's student and Twilight's classmate and friend. He even got to visit her house a few times (he had to hide in her bag), and of course, they mostly read books. Although Celestia had taught them about things like history, math and technology - however outdated it might be - but the main thing she taught about was... magic. Of course, this made sense - Twilight was a unicorn and magic was their thing, and Celestia was the most powerful pony in all of Equestria. But this raised a problem for Issac - he was a human, and henceforth can't use magic. Oh he studied it, but he just couldn't use it - as he once described it 'You can't turn and apple into an orange'. Celestia had taken note of this, and deicded to do something about it. So, after a few weeks of deciding, she decided to send him to... boarding school, in a way.
SCREEEEEECH The sound of the familiar train coming into the station. Right now, Issac and Twilight - both now age 9 - were at the Friendship Express train station. Celestia couldn't see him out - she couldn't have ponys think that she had connections to him. But that didn't mean that their goodbye wasn't full of hugs and tears. They kept reminding themselves that Issac would visit her every sunday, but it didn't really help. Now, Twilight and him were going to say goodbye. They didn't move - they didn't say anything. They just stared at each other. They were still going to see each other every weekend... but still... Twilight's eyes began to water, the salty tears hitting the concrete ground. He bent down and gave her some reassuring words "Hey, Hey, don't cry. I'll be here every sunday, won't i?" She gave a nod "Plus, you still have Spike, right?" She gave another nod. Issac continued his little pep-speech, until he heard the train blow it's horn "I'm sorry Twily, i gotta... i gotta go, okay?" She gave one last tearful nod. "Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle" He then went to the train and was quickly stopped by a royal guard "Do you have a ticket, sir?" Issac flashed his card to which the guard gave a small nod and let him in. After a few minutes - filled with dozens of stares from the passengers - he finally found a seat opposing another pony. The pony in question was a very old pony - a mare, in fact. She had visible wrinkles on her light lime green coat. Her cutie mark was that of a pie. Her mane was a silvery white, tied back with a few hairs out of place. She had kind, light orange eyes that completemented her kind, old person look. "Mind if i sit here?" Issac asked "I don't see why not" She said in a southern accent as she looked out the window. He moved his cylinder-bag up on top bunk then sat down and put his smaller bag on the seat next to him. Once he was seated, he began to look around. He liked this little train, it reminded him of those older trains from his world... "Eek! Monster!" Issac heard the passenger ahead of him scream. He snapped out of his daze and looked ahead... to see the old one pushing back into her chair, staring right at him. "Ma'am i'm not a-" "Monster!" She screamed again. Issac heard the sound of hooves clopping against the hardwood, suddenly becoming closer. Issac actually feared they would take him away - i mean, they didn't know he was Celestia's sun, and he hardly believed they would... well, believe him. He then saw two royal guards come to their little booth. "What seems to be the problem ma'am?" One of the guards asked. Issac was a little shocked that they payed him no mind. "T-that... Thing!" She poined her hoof at him. "Ma'am, he is here under Celestia's orders" Guard 2 said. After some more confusion, the guards were gone and the elder had calmed down, but she still kept her distance. 20 minutes into their voyage, she spoke up. "Ah don't mean ta be rude, young 'un, but... what are ya?" She said in her old tone. "I'm a human, only one in Equestria" This kept her quiet for a few minutes until popping up another can of questions. "An why're ya going ta Ponyville?" "My mom said i wasn't getting enough out of her tutelage, so she's sending me to Ponyville - said maybe i could make some friends there" "Well, i don't know about yer mom, but with those fancy words ya using, i'd say she was a great teacher." "haha ya, i guess she was." "What's yer name, young'un?" "Issac, Issac Namine" "Well ah'm Granny Smith, but ya can just call me Granny. I run Sweet Apple Acres, right near Ponyville" "Sweet Apple Acres? My mom told they make 50% of all the apple products in Equestria!" "That we do! Helk, if ya'll come by, i'll give ya all the apple's ya can eat!" "Really?" "'Course! Think of it as... an apology for treatin' ya so badly" "Geez, thank you Miss Smith!" "Granny'll do fine" They talked more about things - Granny told Issac about her granddaughter, who was Issac's age. She told him more about Ponyville - Sweet Apple Acres, The new sweet store, and Everfree forest. She told him about the people - the newly elected mayor - Mayor Mare (Issac laughed at that). Granny asked about how he got here and who he was living with. Issac was a little nervous but told his allaby - Celestia had told him what to say - he found himself on the doorsteps of his parents - Viola and Sparkle Shine (Twilight's idea), who raised him for 3 years. Granny said she'd love to meet them. Issac just gave a nervous chuckle. Soon the Train pulled into the train station as Issac pressed his face to the glass to see the town. It was rather large - bigger than he thought. The houses were two storys with thatched roofs, quaint, and small-town Equestriany. He could see the center of town, with what presumed was the town hall. There was a story that looked like it was coated in frosting, and an old clothing store that looked a little run down. He could see a place that looked like it was Sweet Apple Acres - there was a farm house and a barn, and hundreds of apple trees, and it was right by the entrance to Everfree forest. He could see the school house where he would be learning. He could see the market place where some ponies were buying a variety of items. Issac was just so EXCITED! He was going to learn more, AND he was going to get new friends! "So, Izayic (that's how she pronouced his name) Where ya'll stayin'?" "Oh, my mom's letting me stay in this cool place - oh look, there it is!" He pointed to a a building - well, kind of a building. It was, in fact, a giant tree. The building wider and taller than most houses in Ponyville actually. It had at least 20 windows, all tinted yell. It was covered in leaves and flowers. On top of it was a large telescope, which looked pretty cool. BUT that's not mentioning the whole tree was just dilapidated, in terrible shape - it's windows were cracked, there was yellow tape covering the door, and the thing had patches of sort of 'bald-spots'. "THAT place?" "Ya, i know it's kinda cruddy, but i'll fix it up" "Well, until that time passes, your welcome to stay with us Apples?" "I don't want to take advantage of you, Granny" "Hogwash! I won't take no for an answer, young man!" "Well... if you insist" "'O course! Plus, i'm sure Applejack and Big Mac'll love ya!" He grabbed his bags (After helping Granny with hers, of course) and headed out to the platform. He took in a breathe of fresh air and waited for Granny to get out here. After a few minutes, she was finally out. "Ah swear, one of these days, i'm gunna get that hip replacement!" Issac gave a laugh, then hoisted his bag over his shoulder and headed off with Granny
Issac gave a tired sigh - remembering takes ALOT out of ya! He went over and then pulled out the bag out cat food to which Oreo mewed happily. He wished Oreo could feed herself, then Issac would have more time for his sad, sad life. Alot of times he wished two things - That he would've stayed in Equestria, and that Equestria was real. Sometimes, he missed his pseudo life. He would like to go back to it, but he really couldn't. I mean his friends would miss him - let me rephrase that - i mean his parents would miss him. They needed to be taken care of, too, and he used about a third of his paycheck to hold them up in the home. Although he had a brother, Fred, he was too busy being all rich to care about his family. And what about Oreo? Some needed to feed him. After Oreo had finished dinner, Issac went to watching some Tv - just some mediocre cop show. He luckily found a bag of popcorn under the fridge and quickly popped it up in the microwave he found in the dump that somehow worked without the glass window (much to Issac's enjoyment. He spent many an hour exploding stuff like a child. Ah, sad times). After that he turned off everything and bid Oreo goodnight and headed to his bed. The futon was raised by a large wooden rectangle. He turned off the desklight and threw a copy of 'The Hobbit' with the second half of the book ripped out off the bed and just flopped down on it and promptly fell asleep.
End of Chapter 1