Repossession #3

[spoiler]>Be Twilight[/spoiler]

 

At his insistence, you let Anon be. He wasn’t too keen on you asking Fluttershy about him, especially when he was right there, and upon retrospect it was a pretty rude move for you to pull. You respected his wishes even now, when you and Fluttershy had moved outside to give him some peace to gather his thoughts. Fluttershy is asking you questions instead.

 

“Do… do you think he’s… going to be… okay?”

 

You shoot her an exasperated look, before softening it. How would she feel if she was never allowed to see her animal friends again? You look back to the ground and paw at it with a hoof, contemplating the strange creature’s predicament. “I think he’ll be alright. We’re going to have to take good care of him, though. Depending on how different his home is from here, he may have a hard time adjusting.”

 

If only you knew how he came here, you might be able to reverse it. This ‘Anonymous’ presents you with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and you would love to learn everything about his world, but you would never seek to keep him from it. That didn’t mean that you weren’t going to probe him at all, though. When the time was right you were going to wring him for everything he knew.

 

“Hey Twi! Oh, and hello Fluttershy. Out for a breath of fresh air? Should I just bring these supplies inside?” Spike returns from a shopping trip you sent him on, to restock on some essentials. Before he can continue inside you step in front of the door to bar him entry.

 

“That wouldn’t be a good idea. We have a special guest, and he wishes to be left alone for now. He wouldn’t appreciate being disturbed.”

 

Spike groans and sits down, still holding everything, on your doormat. “What do I do with all of these then?”

 

You think for only a second before replying, “Set them aside for now. Spike, I would like you to take a letter.”

 

"Dear Princess Celestia. I have stumbled upon- or something has stumbled upon us- that is nothing we've ever seen before. He does not seem a threat but claims to be from another world. I plan on figuring out from where, and doing research into how he got here; he does not know. I will send another letter when I learn more. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." You look over to him after you finish dictating. “Mark it important, Spike. We need the Princess to see this as soon as possible. There may be something specific she wishes us to find out.”

 

The dragon nods and scribbles something on the outside of the scroll, slips a band over it, and immolates it in green fire. The smoke trails up and away in a very specific direction.

 

“What happens now? Where does he go?” Fluttershy asks

 

"Well we need to find out what he'll need, what kind of food he eats, all that. Then he'll need a place to stay." You look at the door. Before you is a great opportunity, access to an entire world of unknowns. It is an opportunity you reluctantly turn down. Looking at Fluttershy you finish, “I think he’ll need a little bit of kindness, don’t you?”

 

[spoiler]>Be Anonymous[/spoiler]

 

        All your gear lies on the floor surrounding your stool. When you became aware of it the whole setup felt restrictive, like it was squeezing the life out of you, all the weight, crushing you. You still haven’t come to terms with your loss, but you’re at least confident in your ability to function. It’s going to take time to get used to everything, but that’s no reason to burden everyone around you. It isn’t going to stop you.

 

        You’re nothing if not competitive, and life has thrown its biggest challenge at you. You’re going to continue until all options are exhausted. You’re either going t find a way back home, or failing that find a way to live here, because there’s no other choice. Life can’t mess with you, you’re going to show life what’s what.

 

        When you finally make your way to this decision, you feel as if a lot of weight has been lifted off your shoulders. The figurative weight of your burden of knowledge, and the literal weight of all the gear you were carrying. Standing up and stretching, you wonder what time it is. A look outside shows you it’s daylight out, but there isn’t much left. Thinking on this, your stomach growls; it seems you are a more physical kind of empty. It’s probably a good impulse to act on.

 

        Twilight and Fluttershy haven’t bothered you since they left you alone. If you’re going to get some food it would probably be a good idea to let them know you’re still alive. Perhaps they could show you around, find a good restaurant. Hopefully you aren’t restricted to vegetables. You’re not sure what horses ate back home but all you could think of was grass and hay. Being forced to eat that for the rest of your stay would seriously make you rethink this challenge Life handed you.

 

        Before you do, you have a look around the library. There are several adjoining rooms, some of which didn’t have doors, so you could look inside without being too much of a snoop. Only a few rooms were lined with bookshelves upon bookshelves, the rest of the rooms were much more domestic in nature. You guess this is Twilight’s home as well as a library. It was obvious she was a scholar, with her attitude of throwing questions until something stuck, so it was only fitting. She would definitely be able to help you adjust to this world, then.

 

        If the whole of Equestria was this saccharine, you’d have no problems getting along. Your stomach growls again. Alright, maybe the food will still give you a hard time, but probably only the food. Time to let the ponies know you want some grub.

 

        You gently open the door and poke your head out. You probably look a lot slimmer without the tactical vest, camo jacket, and backpack. “Hey, sorry about the wait, just… had to get myself together. You got anything to eat?”

 

        As Twilight smiles back at you, you can’t help but notice they only superficially resemble ponies. Their faces are structured very differently, much larger eyes and a much smaller snout on a bigger head, with contours that prevent the whole ensemble from appearing too creepy. Their mouth and lips were obviously structured differently, seeing as how they were able to speak. On the whole it looked… cute.

 

        “Sure! Hope you don’t mind if we eat here, there’s some things we might have to cover before you go out on the town.” Twilight responds.

 

        It seemed agreeable to you, but before you could respond, you hear an enormous belching noise, followed by the whoosh of flame. The sound reminded you of those party animals who would down some alcohol and belch into a lighter. You turn to find the source and see a small purple lizard-like creature issuing forth a green flame from its mouth. Out of the flame comes a rolled up letter.

 

        You’re getting used to the idea of magic, but that’s some messed up stuff right there. You could have sworn… yep. Right next to the door is a mailbox. Why wasn’t the letter simply retrieved out of there? As you puzzled this, Twilight took notice. Of course she knows exactly what was going on. “Good to see the Princess replied so soon!”

 

        Oh no, ‘princess’? Was Twilight some sort of political officer as well as librarian? Looks like your plans of laying low were already busted. At least maybe you could get some answers faster this way. That in itself was questionable, what time you paid attention in history class painted a picture of all monarchs being a bumbling bunch. You didn’t feel like dealing with a thick bureaucracy only to end up bowing at the feet of a ruler who couldn’t tell a coin from a cracker.

 

        Twilight slips off the seal ribbon and reads the note with a growing grin. “Well, looks like we better get started on Equestrian etiquette!”

 

        You groan to yourself, your fears confirmed. Not an auspicious start, but nothing you really couldn’t play along with if you had to. Maybe you’ll think better on a full stomach. “What’s the occasion? Do I have to dress formal?”

 

        “Princess Celestia would like to see you, of course! If I can’t help you, perhaps she can!” Twilight replies, cheerfully. She seemed to have a lot of faith in the Princess. You recall her saying this princess was her mentor; perhaps this ruler was like the old wise kings from fairytales? You could probably give her a pass on the whole blowing your cover thing if so. She can’t be all that dumb if she’s able to put the sun through the sky every day.

 

        “Well can we talk it over dinner? I’m starving.”

 

        Twilight nods vigorously and leads the way in, turning to address the diminutive dragon. “Spike, this is Anon. He’s new around here. Anon, this is my assistant Spike. Spike if you can, please get all the new supplies organized? We’re going to make some food for our guest here.”

 

        “Sure thing!” the tiny helper responds, as he picks up a nearby pile of work materials. He follows the unicorn in.

 

        You look to Fluttershy, standing nearby. She has her eyes cast to the ground, and hasn’t made a sound since you came out. As soon as she brings her eyes up to meet yours, you swing your arm wide towards the door, ushering her in. “Oh, th-thank you…” she says meekly, and slinks indoors. You follow behind her and close the door after you.

 

        “In here!” Twilight calls from further within her library home. Time to grab some grub.

 

        Twilight’s kitchen is pretty Spartan. Twilight doesn’t seem much of a cook.

 

        “What exactly do you eat, Anon?”

 

        Well here’s where you figure out your diet for the rest of your life. “What do you have for meat? Anything?”

 

        The question seems to catch Twilight off-guard, but she isn’t repulsed, as you expected. Fluttershy however doesn’t seem bothered in the slightest- you find it strange that such a nervous creature is at ease around a carnivore. She actually picks this moment to speak up, "I can get you something when we get back to my place. I mean, if you don't mind waiting that long..."

 

        What a surprise. Were the chickens kept as food? “Sure, that’d be great. Just toss me a salad then, thanks.”

 

        Twilight prepares you a bowl full of various greens, most of which seem analogous to varieties you've had on earth. Lettuce, carrots, that jazz. What doesn’t look familiar at least doesn't look harmful. She and Fluttershy get sandwiches of some sort. Spike pulls out what has to be the largest gemstone you’ve seen in your life. Before you could even formulate the question in your mind, the little dragon eats the thing whole. You can’t help but gawk at him on his way out of the room.

 

        After he leaves, you shake your head and return your attention to the bowl in front of you. You tear into what food you recognize, the more foreign bits are left for the end. You have a feeling Earth had those too, just no sane person ever put them in a bowl and gave it to someone to eat. You sample some and poke the rest around the bowl. They aren’t too terrible.

       

        After some time eating in silence, Twilight speaks up. “It’s good to see you can eat our food, Anon. That will certainly make your time here easier.”

 

        “I can handle it.” You grimace inside the privacy of your own mind at the thought of going full vegan, but Fluttershy did say she could get you something else. Definitely something you'll have to follow up on.

 

        Twilight nods and smiles. "Good enough. We can take you to fancy dinners without a fuss, then."

 

        You feel the need to stop her there, you're still not too sure of garnering a lot of attention. "Listen, Twilight, I really would appreciate it if I was just able to stay out of the way. I'm not that interested in becoming some sort of circus attraction."

 

        Twilight’s smile falters, but only briefly. "Of course. I didn't mean to imply that you were going to one, just that- if it comes to it- you could. Our meeting with the Princess will be a private one."

 

        You nod in understanding. As long as you aren't paraded around like a freak you’re not going to hold it against them. If the Princess really was one of the scholarly ruler types, it’d make sense they’d want you to see her as soon as possible. Part of you wonders how Earth would treat a pony suddenly appearing.

 

        “So when are we going to see them?”

 

"Tomorrow," Twilight responds. "You'll be staying the night at Fluttershy's house," she tosses her head towards the yellow mare, who shifts her gaze from you to the floor quickly, "and the next day we'll meet back here. We'll head off to Canterlot at noon.” Twilight gets up off her stool and heads back to the library. "Until then, it's getting late, and you two should probably head out." Twilight looks back at you with the soft expression you saw when you earlier asked for some time for yourself. "Unless you’re up for answering any more questions…?”

 

        You shake your head negative.

 

        "Tomorrow, then. I'll see you in the morning." The purple unicorn stands by the entrance back to the main room. Taking the cue, Fluttershy walks out, not having said a word since the three of you returned inside the library. You follow the pegasus out, and pick up all your gear. The ponies watch in fascination as you put all of it back on.

 

        Twilight shows you to the door and waves a forehoof as the two of you head back into the town, retracing your path to Fluttershy's cottage.

 

        “Uh… Anon?”

 

        You're shaken out of thoughts of home by Fluttershy's timid voice trying to get your attention. This time the two of you are walking side by side; you're 'following' her with your spatial awareness instead of by sight. The proximity is comforting. After a few minutes you look down at her. The moment your eyes make contact, the pegasus predictably looks to the ground again.

 

        "I'm... sorry. For what you're going through..."

 

        You don't quite understand what she's apologizing for, but accept the gesture of sympathy. "I'll be alright. Interested to see what food you have for me though."

 

        Fluttershy nods, and picks up the pace a bit, taking a slight lead and maintaining it all the way back to her house.

 

        Once you two make it back to her cottage, Fluttershy hurries to the fridge. Peering over her form as she opens the freezer door, you see the whole bottom shelf of the freezer is packed with raw fish. That is much better than nothing.

 

        "The bears around here like to eat fish, so I keep a stock of it in case they're in need" Fluttershy explains, as she takes a whole fish out of the freezer and places it on the counter to thaw.

 

        The thought of this nervous wreck of a pegasus tending to bears forces a smile to your face. Maybe Fluttershy is one of those types more at home amongst animals that others of her kind, like an Equestrian version of a crazy cat lady.

 

        Baked fish was one of the dishes you could make for yourself. You're not sure how she plans to prepare it, but seeing as how she kept it for bears, ‘Not at all’ sounded most likely. You glance at the front face of the countertop. Thankfully there is an oven there.

 

        "Thanks. Once it thaws out I can handle it myself once it defrosts."

 

        Fluttershy nods and beams at you before trotting out. You contemplate the fish for a moment before her voice calls out to you again.

 

        "If you could, uh, come up here, please? If you're not already busy, that is."

 

        You follow Fluttershy's voice upstairs, to a small side room. Inside is a bed, a bureau with a mirror, and a window looking outside. The room is perfectly neutral and generic.

 

        “You can stay here as long as you need, I don’t mind.” Fluttershy says quietly. You look over and smile kindly at the yellow pegasus. Just earlier today you almost busted her door down and she's offering you a room rent-free. What kind of a world was this?

 

        “I'll just make myself comfortable, then,” you reply as you start to, again, unfasten all of your gear. Most of it goes in a heap under the window. This time you take the charcoal camouflage jacket and it too goes on top of the pile. Your rifle is placed gently on top of the bureau. Making your way over to the bed, you ease yourself onto it. The bed is a big shorter than anything you remember from Earth, but it's also as wide as a queen-sized at least. It's a lot better than a couch. You look up to thank Fluttershy again, but she’s already gone. Sighing to yourself, you lean back and close your eyes. This moment of relaxation turns to sleep very quickly; you never manage to eat your fish dinner.