Elu woke up while he was still being carried across the village. He opened up his eyes and began to look around, his ears twitching with anticipation and interest. He noticed many houses with thatched roofs, some of them having tiled roofs instead. At first, the former human thought that it was Ponyville but he quickly realized that it definitely wasn't it. There were no buildings of the mane six, and those were quite noticeable. He thought that at the very least he'd be able to see the flying cloud house of Rainbow Dash or Twilight's Crystal Castle if he was in Ponyville.

In truth, he was glad it wasn't the case. That village attracted all sorts of trouble and he would just be a background character with no plot friendship armor. He wasn't ready to go through all those troubles to live near the main characters.

As he moved his eyes, something else caught his attention. Mainly, his muzzle. It was like a bigger nose, blurring out when he was looking forward, and appearing when he looked to the side. It felt especially real, considering he had never seen his nose in his dreams, and this was such a detail that his brain would most likely miss. And yet, it was there.

He booped himself, feeling the muzzle; it wasn't soft but it wasn't too hard either - it was just perfect. He exhaled on his hoof, feeling his breath. He changed the speed of his breathing, testing how it would make him feel. In truth, it wasn't unlike when he was still a human but now he had fur, and it definitely felt strange to see it everywhere, including his face.

It didn't cease to amaze him how real everything was. The texture of the walls of different houses, the sky, the clouds, the trees, they were all real, and no computer, no artist would've been able to truly transport the feeling into a picture, nothing artificial would ever come close to this reality. The wind was blowing lightly, making a gentle breeze pass through Elu's fur. The sun shone on him, warming up his body under the sunlight rays. Every time anything slightly shifted, he could feel it.

He finally noticed the writings. He had thought about what language ponies would use, and it seemed he would soon find the answer. He couldn't understand the written words but they reminded him of some Chinese characters, something very close to many Asian writings he had seen in his life. Unfortunately, he didn't know much about them, and so it looked like he would have more trouble learning the language since he only knew Russian and English, which were nothing like, for example, Japanese. However, knowing more than one language might still help in some way.

Elu's ears twitched as he heard his parents talking. Even though he had yet to learn the language, he was still interested in what they were talking about.

"He's so curious!" Ring Keeper commented, looking at her son. "He already understands a lot, don't you think?" she turned to her husband.

"He definitely does." Stellares nodded, craning his neck to look closer at Elu. Not missing a moment, the colt booped him. "He certainly knows how to show trust." he chuckled, nuzzling into the hoof, prompting Elu to retract it and blush.

"Ah... do you remember that day?" the mother asked, recollecting her memories as a smile appeared on her face. "Almost a year ago, the two of us, having a picnic..."

"On the lakeside. Yes, I remember." he nodded with a smile on his face. "It was an experience I surely won't forget."

"Me neither." Ring Keeper agreed, nuzzling her husband lovingly. "It was such a good day..." suddenly, she yawned. "Anyway, we're almost there. I'm kind of tired..."

"I can watch over him so that you can go get some sleep," Stellares suggested.

"Alright, thanks Stel." the mare smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek.

As for Elu, he suspected that the two were talking about him, he was almost completely sure that was the case, and it seemed like they accepted him despite who he was. However... there were many things inside him that they might not like and he feared it would shake the relationship between them and him. And if so... what would he do?

He tried to stay positive but there was no way he was that lucky. There was something else to it, there must be, at least he thought so. As much as he disliked thinking about it, he knew that if good things happen to him, they also bring many bad things that cancel out anything good that happened or might've happened. That's how life worked for him and he had no idea if it would ever change.

However, Elu was in Equestria now. It was his dream, the dream he often hid, ashamed of it. After all, it was nothing but a fictional country in a show meant for kids. He was far from being a kid, he was, in fact, eighteen. Even then, this irrational hope remained, and it finally came to fruition.

After all, it turned out to be true.

Elu spent the last remaining minutes of the trip taking a short nap and woke up after he was placed in a crib. He opened his eyes and saw that his father was already leaving for something, and his mother was lying on a nearby bed, falling asleep.
With interest, he looked around. The room was pretty big and tall, even though it might only seem so because the colt himself was very small. Even his own crib seemed gigantic. But even then, the room seemed like an entire building. The walls were a soft shade of beige, different photos and drawings decorating them. Elu saw the photo of his parents while they were slightly younger. Both of them were sitting, smiling into the camera, his father's membrane wing hugging his mother close.
There was a window to the outside but nothing could be seen through it at the moment as there was a curtain over it. The curtain itself was a shade of green and decorated with flower patterns. Near the window, a table stood, a pile of papers as well as some quills and inkwells placed on it. There were other things but they were hard to identify from Elu's position.

The former human wondered if he could at least stand up. The crib was designed to not let him fall off, so he could indeed try something as simple as standing, perhaps even walking. He rolled onto his belly and tried moving the hooves under him. For some reason, it felt like moving half-numb limbs. Despite having some control over the legs, they lacked precision or responsiveness he was used to as a human. Despite all of it, however, he wanted to stand up and learn how to walk. He didn't know if it was possible for foals of his age, which was, well, one day, but he still needed to try to make sure.

After a minute or so of fidgeting, he managed to get his hooves underneath him. Finally, he tried to stand up. Rising just by a few centimeters, he fell. He mentally slapped himself for thinking that he'd be able to do that on day one. Perhaps he just needed to exercise patience. He would need a lot of it for many years, after all.

Sighing quietly, he returned to his relaxed lying position. He might as well take another nap. He was just a newborn foal, after all. Kids his age sleep a lot, and so should he.

Before he could fall asleep, Stellares returned to the room and walked up to the crib. As he pushed it, it started moving, surprising Elu. However, he didn't utter a sound as his new father wheeled him out of the room and into another, which was bigger than the previous one by a considerable margin. Before he could explore it with his eyes, Stellares took most of his vision, a bottle of milk held securely in one of his leathery wings.

Elu looked at the bottle and his stomach almost immediately groaned, signaling him that it was indeed the time to be fed. Carefully, the father lowered the bottle until the colt could grab it and then let go. With minor difficulties, the former human could adjust the position of the bottle until it was just right. Soon, he was gulping the milk down, enjoy its taste. He hadn't gotten used to it yet but he was already enjoying the milk despite knowing that it might as well be his mother's. But did it really matter? He knew where usual milk came from, why would pony milk be any different? At the very least, he wasn't drinking it straight from the source, so it didn't matter much anyway.
Once he had enough of the milk, he carefully placed the bottle on its bottom, letting Stellares take it away. The colt suppressed a burp, releasing a sigh instead. He knew he was a foal and could do all sorts of stupid things but he would prefer not to, for now. He would have enough years to be joking around, after all.

"Let's see if we can talk somehow." the stallion said, sitting down in front of the crib. He knocked once, gaining Elu's full attention. The colt looked at him with interest as he put a hoof against his chest and said: "Stellares."

Elu nodded slightly, understanding the message and making a simple connection. His father was Stellares, it was his name. He tried to say it but it came off as weird squeaks, making him silence himself and blush in embarrassment.

"Don't worry, you'll be able to speak in no time." his father encouraged him even though Elu couldn't even understand a single word.

Suddenly, the former human started feeling pressure in the lower part of his body. He swore silently, knowing that he would have to go through the embarrassment of using diapers and then changing them. He would have to repeat this for a few times at the very least until he learned how to control his body and go to the actual toilet without any assistance. Either way, the pressure was growing at a rate Elu didn't like. Most babies would have already been crying but he knew other languages of communication.

Crawling to the edge of the crib, he knocked on the railing, making Stellares look at him questionably. Once Elu got his attention, the colt tapped his diapers. Understanding the message, the stallion nodded, and soon Elu was lifted out of the crib. The pressure inside him was growing and it was becoming very uncomfortable. He tried to figure out how to make the release, what muscle to activate so that he wouldn't have to wait longer.

He struck something right, and soon the pressure was going away, increasing the wetness in his lower area. He sighed in relief and blushed in embarrassment. Despite somewhat understanding how to make a release, he still couldn't walk, and so he couldn't go to the toilet by himself. However, something positive came out of it — he realized he could control some of his bodily functions!

He averted his eyes as Stellares changed the diapers, trying to think of something else. For example, how would Elu spend his free time? So far, he hadn't seen a computer or a smartphone, which meant that Equestria wasn't very technologically advanced. No internet, at the very least. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for him, he would have to interact with other ponies. He wanted it but he knew it would be hard for him to do because of his shyness and introverted nature. A new layer of difficulty was set as well. He was already intellectually superior to most if not all other foals, and so he doubted he would find friends at such a young age.

A minute later, Elu was returned to the crib and he sighed once again. Next few years would be the hardest, even though they would probably be the most interesting. It was an entirely new experience, the one he wouldn't forget, and he was certainly looking forward to it despite being slightly anxious about how things would go.

With these thoughts in his head, he drifted off to sleep.

Author's Notes:

This chapter was shorter than usual but I promise longer chapters next time!