Eclipse Day
Part 1
A companion story to "The City in Her Chair"
By: Blobskin

Contains: mlp, micro, nano, humans, city, clean (for now)
Version: 1

~~~

It was a big circular room crammed with ugly gray chairs, nearly all of which were occupied. The floor was covered in dull blue carpet and a single continuous floor-to-ceiling window flooded the space with warm light. In the center of the room was a staircase that led to a second and even a third floor that were nearly identical. The general air was like that of an airport terminal. A mixture of excitement, boredom, and tension.

Tie was so glad he decided to snag a seat by the window. Because the view out there was simply amazing. As the building sized "elevator" descended he could gawk at the impossible scene beyond. It was like riding in a spaceship as it came down from orbit. Directly beneath them was a sprawling city filled with structures of various designs and layouts. The skyscrapers then gave way to suburbs and parks. Then to what he could only guess was farmland which covered the remaining landscape outward to the horizon. To the... walls...

The elevator landed just outside the dense metropolis, in a huge open field located somewhere in the suburban ring. After the slight bump there was an awkward pause. Then everyone began rising from their seats. Obviously, they had arrived and it was time to head for the exit. Three sets of double doors. Like something at a convention center. A heavy bag over his shoulder, Tie rushed to join the waddling swarm as they poured out.

The air smelled good at least.

Now outside the crowd thinned as it dispersed, everyone instinctively driven to get some personal space after having been packed together for the last hour. There was also a sense of confusion hanging over them however. No one knew what they were supposed to do or where they were supposed to go or even exactly where they were. Well, where they were was complicated.

After wandering into the empty lot for a minute Tie stopped to look back. At the structure that had carried them here. A simple cylinder made of glass and metal. In some ways it was easy on the eyes. A purely functional design. In other ways it gave off an aura of wrongness. He knew it was a vehicle, but it had no wheels. No cables or engines. No wings or rockets. Nothing about it to indicate it was mobile or had ever been located anywhere else. After all, it was easily large enough to fit a few hundred people.

It was just a big [i]can[/i] sitting in the middle of nowhere. Like a stubby lighthouse.

Suddenly a delicate jingling sound indistinguishable from wind chimes filled the air. Then the elevator was surrounded in a vibrant green glow. Finally, it took off. Simply flying straight into the sky. Towards the looming head of an absolutely massive equine creature. If someone had claimed it -- she -- was as large as Earth's moon, Tie would have believed them without a doubt. Her round face literally filled the heavens. Her muzzle alone must have been a dozen miles long. The mare didn't even have to move to assert her supreme authority. Her mere presence was enough to intimidate anyone into submission.

She was their caretaker. Their goddess. Their... owner...

Tie shivered as the capsule shrank into the vast distance, nearly disappearing while the titanic pony remained distinctly visible. Then her golden eyes moved. Swishing back and forth. Briefly studying the world below much like the man himself had done mere moments ago on the way down. Could she even see them? Tie didn't think so. They were barely larger than specks compared to her and he was certain her gaze never actually focused on them. And after a minute of seemingly random observation, she nodded once to herself, then casually lowered the glass lid of their enclosure. Sealing them inside with an echoing boom that carried with it an overwhelming sense of finality.

Then she was gone.

Tie released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He lowered his head. He massaged his temple. Emotions old and new weighed heavily on his shoulders.

"Hello new arrivals!!" came a voice over the field, instantly grabbing his attention. On the nearby hill stood a man in what appeared to be a police uniform. "Can you please gather around me so I can explain the next step for everyone!" the officer continued.

Deciding that listening to the man was a better course of action than roaming aimlessly, Tie again followed the crowd as they collected at the bottom of the hill.

"Thank you, thank you," the officer began, waving his hands expressively. "Now, I know how confused you all must be. Believe me, I've been there. So I'm going to get straight to the point. We are not ready to issue your new IDs today. That process will start tomorrow morning and probably take two or three days. So what we are going to do right now is take a little walk to the courthouse, which is just down this street," he said with a vague gesture behind him, "so we can schedule each of you a meeting with a counselor and get you all settled with temporary apartments."

There was a wave of surprised murmuring.

The officer nodded and waved his hand again to recapture their attention. "Please hold your questions. Each one of you is going to get one-on-one time with a counselor as part of the settlement process where you can ask all the questions you want and get all the answers you need. But all you need to know right now is that you are each going to be assigned a basic apartment here in the city."

"Is this... just a city?" someone called out.

The officer glared for a moment, but he just as quickly calmed himself. "For the most part, yes. This is a nice city filled with nice people. It should be nearly indistinguishable from anywhere you've lived before. We've got schools, hospitals, libraries. Everything! It's... normal," he explained. Though he did waver a bit on that last word.

There was a burst of chattering amongst the group. This wasn't what any of them expected.

"So we can get, like, jobs and stuff?" someone asked.

The officer snorted with amusement. "Yes. Congratulations ladies and gentlemen, you landed the jackpot. Your lives here should be just like they used to be before the war." The policeman then waited a minute as his words caused yet another surge of general murmuring through the horde. Then he clapped to quiet everyone down again. "If you have any further questions please save them for later. As I said, you will get a chance in the next day or so to sit with a counselor who will explain what life here is like in as great a detail as you wish. For now though, I need to escort you to the courthouse to get you your apartment numbers and assign you your counseling days. Please follow me and let's keep this orderly, hmm?"

And like good little sheep they followed him. Shuffling up the hill and down the street. Waddling shoulder-to-shoulder along the sidewalk towards the city proper. They must have made for quite the sight though. While most of them were relatively clean and decent looking, others were dirty or dressed in ragged clothes. But everyone had a bag. Some had two. Like a flock of homeless people migrating through the city. It was a bit humiliating being among them.

They were refugees and they had just arrived in their "forever home".

Almost 20 years ago Earth was visited by "ponykind". Or in layman's terms: First Contact. But rather than spaceships, they came through portals. And nearly destroyed the world. "Ponies" were not simply from another planet, but another reality that existed on an entirely different scale. One at least a thousand times greater than mankind's. A single hoof was large enough to flatten a mountain. A step could rock a continent. Which is precisely what happened. A minor catastrophe. Every time a pony so much as took. One. Step.

Though ponykind claimed to be peaceful and that they wanted to be "friends" with humans, their arrival destabilized more than just the landscape. Already shaky political situations everywhere crumbled and old grudges flared. The result was World War Three, which was still going on. Meanwhile ponykind was extremely hesitant to interfere, especially after the disaster of First Contact. But they couldn't simply turn a blind eye. So they sent everyone on Earth an invitation. To escape the war and the drafts, you could flee to the pony world. Become... a pet... to god-sized alien horses that insisted they were "little ponies". A promise of safety and food. Of shelter and, maybe, an easy life. You just had to be brave enough -- or desperate enough -- to walk through a portal and surrender your autonomy.

Tie had taken the offer and then spent the next four months questioning that decision. Honestly, the word "pet" felt a lot more appropriate than he'd hoped once on the other side.

How it worked was this: when you first came through the government would bring you to a Holding Facility and look after you. But it wasn't permanent. The Equestrians had developed a system where anypony could take a class, pass a few tests, and get something called a "License for Human Care". Then they could go to any Holding Facility and... buy humans. Or as the Equestrians preferred to word it: purchase your "Contract of Care". Effectively a promise to the crown that they wouldn't abuse you.

The government was trusting random civilians to house, feed, and otherwise care for the human refugees.

The fact there was no real further regulation was definitely spooky. The only guarantee was that every pony who had a License for Human Care was "well vetted". While they couldn't be cruel, exactly how your owner treated you was otherwise entirely their decision to make. But what counted as mistreatment was complicated and Tie never heard anything about how it would be determined or dealt with. He was afraid it might be too reliant on the Honor System with promises and contracts, but what oversight or enforcement was there?

So waiting in the overly sterile Holding Facility for some random pony to buy his Contract had been as tense as it was boring. You couldn't choose your owner, though they couldn't really choose you either. Contracts of Care were bought in bulk, by the tens or even hundreds. Why were civilian ponies allowed to house them? Humans were tiny and even sheltering them must have been difficult and strange. Trusting everyday mares and stallions to do it was insane. But was the Equestrian solution crazier than staying on Earth during a nuclear war? Tie wasn't sure.

So he committed to the gamble.

And now here he was. Standing in line in a traditional looking courthouse. Marble tile floor, dark wood paneled walls, white ceiling above. Totally normal. So boring it was suspicious. Sure, the Holding Facility had felt kind of like a prison or a hospital, with tiny rooms and alarms to announce meal time. Not meant for long-term living or comfort. It had been purely functional. Tie, like many of the other humans there, had kind of expected just more of that. Not to be lowered into a giant terrarium featuring a huge city scaled perfectly for them.

His turn came up and a security guard waved him into an office. A man in a different uniform sat behind a desk with a stack of folders next to him. Tie didn't see a chair for himself so could only stand there a bit awkwardly.

"Do you have any ID with you?" the clerk asked.

"Yeah. Do I need to get it out?" Tie asked, already dropping his bag to the floor as he prepared to go digging around inside for it.

"That's not necessary sir," the clerk quickly clarified. "Just make sure to bring it with you on your counseling day. Which is... two days from now," he stated while writing something on a paper. "So not tomorrow, but the day after. Make sure you come back to [i]this[/i] courthouse," he said while tapping his desk for emphasis, "bright and early. You may have to wait a few hours though, but we have a library you can read in. Or nap," he shrugged.

"Cool," Tie replied lamely. "My... counselor will... explain things, right?"

"Yes. All your questions and concerns will be dealt with by your counselor. You'll have all the time you need to talk to them," he then added confidently. "For now, I have a packet containing a map and your temporary address. As well as the key to your apartment." Following his words the clerk slid a blue folder towards him which had a silver key simply taped to the front.

Tie quickly opened the packet and found a form covered in text and blank boxes he was clearly meant to write in. "I need to fill this out?"

"It will make your counseling day faster and easier."

Tie turned the page and discovered a cheap paper map. But looking at it made his current situation suddenly very real. A sinking feeling began to twist in his gut as he stared at it. His focus instinctively drawn to a single detail.

Four lines. Thick. Dark. Immutable. The walls of the enclosure. A simple box that contained everything else. The hard limits of his new reality. Possibly all he would know for the rest of his life.

Shaking his head, Tie forced himself back to the moment and began studying the map properly. Located in the center was obviously the city. A dense area of streets and names and markers. It was where the majority must have lived and worked. Meanwhile the rest of the map was pockmarked with seemingly isolated buildings and places. Farms or something similar he guessed. Then there were the four highways that stretched outward to each wall. And lastly, there seemed to be a ring of structures pressed against the edges of the map. As though trying to stay as far away from the main metropolis as possible.

Somehow Tie must have fallen into a daze while looking at it, because the clerk's voice suddenly snapped him out of it.

"About 30 miles (48 km)."

"What?!" Tie startled.

"It's about 30 miles," he said blankly. "From one side to the other. It takes roughly one day to cross it on foot."

Tie was silent for several seconds. "Thanks."

The clerk nodded. "Your address and apartment number should be on the last document. Do you need help reading the map?"

Tie quickly flipped to the last page which had very little written on it other than his temporary address. Then he flipped back to the map. He was confident he'd figure it out. "I think I've got it," he droned.

"Very well. Do you have any immediate concerns or needs? Medical issues or medications?"

"No," he replied easily.

"Good. Please go down the hall to the right until you see the door marked 'exit'. Your apartment shouldn't be more than five blocks from here. Feel free to do what you want until your appointment in two days." The man at the desk bobbed his head as though he was done, but then suddenly perked up as he remembered something. "And should you miss your appointment, come to the courthouse as soon as possible and we'll get you sorted! Believe me, you do [i]not[/i] want to miss orientation. Do you understand everything I have told you?"

Tie blinked. "Uh, yeah. I think I got it. Be back here the day after tomorrow because it's important."

"Good luck sir. And remember, night is at eight o'clock sharp. It's best to leave a light on."

~~~

The apartment was small. Modern. A kitchenette attached to a dining room, a pearly white bathroom, and a bedroom that felt too much like it belonged in a cheap motel. He dropped the folder on the counter, ignoring the metallic flashlight and the envelope that was sitting there, and marched to the window. Opening the blinds he gazed out. A city street from three floors up. It wasn't a great view, but it wasn't terrible. Tie had never lived in a city before. It was kind of exciting.

He sighed. This wasn't [i]just[/i] a city. At the thought he glanced skyward. To the glass ceiling far above. He could barely see it from this angle and with the surrounding buildings in the way, but the obvious distortion of a thick glass surface was there.

Turning back to his apartment the man decided to explore for a bit. Though there wasn't a lot to look at. It was pretty bare bones. A fridge, TV, bed, and some simple dishes in the cupboards. Everything felt so standard. Except the alarm clock. He couldn't help blinking at the odd design. The table lamp and the clock were attached to each other, forming one device.

Shaking his head, Tie suddenly realized how tired he was. Physically, of course, from all the walking. But also mentally. So much was happening. So many questions that seemed impossible to verbalize and the fear of a future he didn't understand. Looking at the bed, a nap felt like a great idea.



Tie woke a little after three. Though he didn't feel much better, at least he was rested. As he stretched, his gaze swept the room, searching for something to do. TV didn't sound that appealing right now, even if he was mildly curious what programs they'd have here. He wasn't really in the mood for food. And... other than that he honestly couldn't think of anything else to do. A too familiar situation after months in the Holding Facility. Hopefully this problem would finally be resolved soon. After his meeting with the counselor.

He groaned in frustration. Why couldn't they do it immediately? He wanted to get on with his life. Tie just wanted to [i]live[/i]!

A car honked outside.

The man stared at the window for a few minutes.

Screw it. He was going for a walk.

Stepping over to the counter he started rifling through the packet they'd given him. It took him only a moment to find the map and fold it so it could neatly fit in one of his pockets. And while he was messing with the paper his eyes drifted to the other two items suspiciously left on the counter. A metallic flashlight and a bulging envelope. Squinting with interest, Tie then spent a bit of time testing the flashlight while wondering why it was here instead of under the sink or in the closet. He was mildly impressed by it though. It produced a lot of light for such a little thing. But he eventually got tired of playing with the flashlight and went to investigate the envelope.

It was full of weird looking cash.

Okay. He really should have thought of that, however it looked like the people here had it covered. Tie now had some money at least. He quickly pocketed a couple of the smaller bills and headed for the door, key in hand.



Having no destination in mind made his walk an exercise in frustration rather than a peaceful distraction. Every intersection paralyzed him with indecision. The man would find himself staring at street signs for far too long, debating with himself which way to go. Yet each path was much the same with the towering buildings all appearing nearly indistinguishable from each other. Sure, the exact colors and designs were different, but those were fine details that required focus to notice. Tie wanted to wander and zone out, but the cautious part of his brain refused to let him relax. He was in a new and unfamiliar place. The animal side of him demanded he remain aware of his surroundings. Even though there wasn't a lot of foot traffic. Even though more than a few people had tossed him casual greetings like "good afternoon". Even though nothing bad had happened to him yet. He simply couldn't trust it.

Somehow the man stumbled upon one of the four major highways. A road labeled only as "LEFT". It was extremely weird to glance up at a sign and see those four dumb letters printed there in bold font. Like they meant something important. The highway itself was three lanes wide in either direction and cut through the heart of the city like a great chasm. The sudden openness was a touch overwhelming and Tie found himself standing there dumbly for a minute or two.

Meanwhile, the world continued to move around him. Cars zipped back and forth. People weaved to avoid him.

There was a broad sidewalk that bordered the huge road, so when the man regained his composure it was merely a matter of which direction he wanted to go. Gazing into the distance either way, it was easy to see that one path led deeper into the city, where the buildings seemed to stretch even taller, while in the opposite direction they seemed to shrink. For the first time the choice was easy. He'd been wandering for over an hour and he already had a sour taste in his mouth. So he turned and walked towards potential freedom from the constant intersections and signs.



It was deceptively far. What had the courthouse clerk said? The terrarium was 30 miles across (48 km)? And the metropolis claimed a sizable chunk of that. Of course escaping the cage of skyscrapers had taken him almost an hour. But he was finally out. While the highway kept going, only narrowing to a pair of double lanes, now he was surrounded by an expansive suburban sprawl. Open green lawns and white picket fences were everywhere. It was so stereotypically American Tie couldn't help chuckling as he strolled forward. As he grew further from the city, as the minutes ticked by, his mood began to lift. The atmosphere was so quiet and easy on the eyes. Finally, he could relax.

However, reality had a way of reasserting itself.

The gargantuan green mare suddenly materialized beyond the horizon.

Well... her face did at least.

Tie froze. His muscles seized up. It took all the will he could muster just to keep breathing. In an instant he was confronted with the brutal facts of his life.

He was a pet. Someone else's possession. Locked in a glass box sitting on a post in some girl's bedroom. His entire world little more than a complicated dollhouse. And it looked like she was in the mood to enjoy some quality time with them. Not that anybody here could have stopped her. As big as the city Tie had just left behind was, any one of her hooves could have turned the entire thing into a crater. More people than he had ever known could be erased with a single step by this goddess.

Tie had fond childhood memories of the countryside back home. Of watching the moon slowly drift across a peaceful night sky. But in this new world there were two moons. A pair of gold circles that glistened with moisture as they hung there high above. The mare's eyes. The most distinctive part of any pony. And while sheer massive distance certainly blurred the spectacle, it was no less extraordinary.

He swallowed, his own saliva like sand slithering down his throat. His fingers tingled. His legs were so tense it hurt. The man was paralyzed.

Yet his terror only escalated further once it occurred to him he wasn't even looking at her through the roof. Rather he was merely gaping at her through one of the side panels. She was stooped over and still her face managed to fill the sky like the front of a major storm system. That's how large she truly was.

Minutes passed. The enormous green mare's expression remained neutral, as far as Tie could tell. And despite how huge and exaggerated any body language should have been to the tiny human, somehow the titanic pony gave him nothing to read. She blinked and her eyes swept back and forth with all the speed of a glacier. But her lips and cheeks never so much as twitched, her brows remained flat, and her ears were fixed facing forward. He could only guess what she was thinking.

Could she actually see them? Unless they were right below her eye, an individual human simply had to be invisible to her. A crowd would probably appear to be little more than a patch of shifting dust. Though a car might have been just big enough for a pony to detect. Considering that, the city must have been filled with minuscule squirming. Was that what she was looking at?

To be so small someone could look right at you and not see you...

Tie trembled.

Their "duel" lasted at least 20 minutes. And for the whole staring contest his heart pounded in his chest. The constant stress alone was enough to eat at him, making him feel exhausted again. But eventually the goddess of this world relented. Her face retreated from the wall of the box. Then it soared as she, presumably, stood up. And the man's head craned to follow. He caught a glimpse of the bottom of her chin and neck before the glare of the "sun" above made him squint and wince.

Then, in all of a second, it was nighttime.

Tie shuffled unsteadily on his feet as he was thrown into complete darkness. Luckily, lights all around him burst to life in the following moment. There were street lamps lining the highway beside him at regular intervals, windows from the homes around him glowed, and the city he came from practically glittered.

The man could barely see the silhouette of the massive mare above now. No details, just a dark mass against a slightly lighter sky. Except for the reflections in her eyes. It was like a pocket of smudged stars in an otherwise empty void. The sight sent an eerie tingle down his spine.

Then, [i]finally[/i], she left them alone. Disappearing into the unimaginable distance that was her room beyond their box.

Tie gasped. Long and deep. He gripped his chest and had to brace himself against a pole to keep from collapsing. It was only after that he realized there had never been a sound. Not when the towering green pony blinked, not when she stood, not even when she turned off their "sun". It had all been silent.

And that was another thing. The great light that illuminated their world was nothing more than a UV lamp. A single bulb controlled by a simple switch. Not only could she have crushed them all with a mere step, she decided when it was night and day.

The words of the courthouse clerk echoed in his mind.

[i]"Night is at eight o'clock sharp."[/i]

At the time he hadn't paid the phrase any mind. Now Tie understood. This is what it meant to live in a cage.

~~~

[i]Author's Note:

"The City in Her Chair" was not written with any realism or logic in mind. It was just meant to be a weird erotic short. As a result, if you thought about it at all, the illusion of the story broke-down instantly. Something I don't usually stand for. I pride myself on trying to make my stories as believable as possible and I like exploring the struggles -- and perks -- of the size fantasy. So I eventually turned my mind back to "The City in Her Chair" and wondered if there was any way to explain all the ridiculousness I had created. Could I answer any of the many MANY questions left behind?

"Eclipse Day" is the result of that endeavor. I hope you enjoyed the introduction at least.[/i]