A life. It can be taken and given in an instant. Whether it’s by choice or not, it happens. They say you claim to see everything of your life flash before your eyes just as you are about to die. Is that true?
Fuck no.
Nothing, or so I thought.
The darkness surrounding me brightened more and more, until…
Pain and hell of a lot of it. I was in pure agony!
“He’s losing too much blood!” A voice shouted. Women by the sound of it.
“We’re losing him!” Another voice shouts, “Move faster!”
I open my eyes to see a white ceiling. The white tiles passing in and out of my view as quickly as they come and go. Something feels different. A head pokes into my view but the light blurs my vision. I can’t see who it is.
“He’s slipping!” A voice shouted, “Find out his blood type and see if…” It seems to get muffled by something but I can’t tell.
“But we don’t…” Another voice shouts.
“Find out then!” Another female voice, this time familiar.
“He’s slipping away! Why isn’t this working?! Our magic isn’t working!” A louder voice shouts. It’s voice is familiar but… I can’t tell.
“Please! Keep trying, we can’t lose him!” A familiar voice from before yells more clearly now.
Twilight!
It’s Twilight.
Another pulse of pain shoots me, clenching my eyes.
“He’s stabilizing.” A nurse, I think, yells. I feel something touch my eyes lids and open them, “He’s responding.”
“Your alright. Stay with us, sir. Stay with us. Don’t give up now.”
“Shock, he’s going into shock!” A nurse calmly yells. It was only a bit calm but in clearness it was serious.
I looked to the side but my vision was still blurry. Still tired.
“Wake up! Swift! Don’t die on us! Please!” Twilight again, still worried but in a scared tone as well.
It have to hurt so fucking much? It was unbearable! Turning my head slightly to one side, I noticed that Princess Celestia, yes Celestia, the bitch that put me into this mess in the first place, was casting a spell at me. It didn’t hurt like before. It was a continuous stream of yellow light pulsating around me. I feel nothing under me. I was floating; at least I think I was. Next to Celestia was another darker version of herself doing something similar. A sister? Wait, where did I see her before? The book! Yes. Princess Celestia on one side of the picture and a darker version on the other side. That explains it. God! What the fuck is wrong with me?! I just got stabbed or whatever and I’m thinking about this?!?!?
"How does such a thing happen, sister!" The black Alicorn shouted over the din, "…Right through him!"
"I don't know! The spell I was using should have sent him away, harmlessly! I never expected that it would hurt him! I cannot control my magic anymore, it's take everything from me to keep him from bleeding to death!" Princess Celestia shouted, "If I stop casting, he will die."
"Then let me cast the spell!" And the other Alicorn's spell struck me.
The pain! It was worse than when Princess Celestia hit me! I rolled my eyes up into my skull as my body reacted to the sudden surge of agony pulsing through me. Every cell in my body felt as if they were being ripped apart. I think I shouted or screamed, but I couldn't hear myself do so. Only the feeling of my mouth opening was clear.
"Again! Zap him again!" A voice shouted, the pain too much for me to properly make out who it is.
"I must stop! I am only harming him!" Another shouted.
"Again! Raise the voltage!" The previous voice shouted.
"We have to do something!" Another voice put in.
Then a light engulfed me. A bright light. The pain was gone. All that pain and agony from before was gone in an instant. Peace. So peaceful. Thank you.
Opening my eyes, everything is different. The place around me… I’ve only been here a couple times but those times were the best. I’m in my uncle’s house. For some odd reason, I’m standing in the middle of his middle of his living room. I look around to see all the WWII memorabilia he was able to keep from his time of serving in the war. M1 Garand, BAR, Thompson, Flak Jacket, Medals, and pictures with his brothers in arms, all the items covering most of the walls.
I footsteps behind me and I turn around to be greeted by him. My uncle, standing in front of the door.
“Uncle.” I mutter, my voice breaking a bit at seeing him since so long ago.
“Hello…” A wave of pain pierces through my mind, interrupting my uncle and ,making me close my eyes and grab my head in pain. Something forces my arms right back down to my sides.
“We’re losing him! Give him more!” A doctor shouts. A wave of electricity shoots through my entire body, making me spasm once.
My eyes close in an attempt to stop the pain.
Strangely, it works.
Opening my eyes greets me right back to my uncle as I did before. I can’t help but smile at seeing him again.
“It’s good to see you again.” He says. I walk up to him and wrap my arms around him, giving him a hug and he returns it.
“Uncle… I thought you were gone forever. “ I said with tears in my eyes. I remember what happened. He died of a heart attack. Apparently he had some sort of relapse of his time in the war and his wold heart couldn’t take it.
“I was… but now I’m back to be with you…” I squeeze him harder, a smile on my face that he’s here. How or why? I don’t care.
“At least for now.” My eyes open and my smile disappears. He said that with sadness.
“What do you mean?” I ask looking up at him since he’s a bit taller than me.
“My boy, what happened with your parents… it was tragedy. But now you’re doing something better.” I pull away and look at him confused about what he means.
“You went through such hardships through the most recent moments of your life… but you’ve always been strong.” I smile at his encouraging words. In truth, not many could go long at what I went through, or did go through if I can just remember them.
“Now’s not your time. You still have a purpose and I don’t want to see you lose your chance at that.” He’s says while kneeling.
“But… but I’m dead, aren’t I?”
“No, you just think you are. You just need to know you have the will to continue on. You’ve survived and fought so much to live, do you think you can keep doing that, and do what it is you’ve been doing that last few days?” he asked me. The world we lived in was bad and had so many things going on. Now I’m somewhere where I can actually make a difference. Am I really going to throw that away now? A look of determination spreads across my face and I clench my fists.
“Yes! I can!”
“Good! Now here…” he stands up and reaches into the top part of his shirt and pulls something out. It’s my dogtags!
He pulls them off his head and places them on me.
“I thought I lost them.”
“I found them.” he says and walks over to the door.
“Now, you have some friends waiting for you.” He grabs the handle.
“Wait!” I yell. Stopping him before I go. He looks back to me.
“What happened with my parents?” He looks away. I can practically feel the sadness that he has.
“When the time comes, you’ll know.” I get a bit angry at this. What happened to my parents is the one thing that has been bugging me for so god damn long. What the fuck happened?!
But I can’t stay mad with him. He’s always been the best to me and taught me a lot. I just hope he knows what he’s doing.
“I love you.” He says and grips the door handle harder.
“I love you too, uncle.” I say and he looks back at me with a smile.
“Now, get out of there and live with what you’ve got.” He says confidently and opens the door. My eyes are instantly blinded by a bright light as soon as the door fully opens.
“And remember that I will always…” I hear his voice again.
“Forgiveness.”
Gasping for air, I looked up.
"He's alive!" A voice shouted, "He's alive! This is unbelievable! He's alive!"
"T-Tw-Twilight?" I croaked.
"No. Don't talk. Someone bring a doctor here! Someone get me some bandages!"
Twilight looked at me. I could see her and everything more clearly now.
"Why… why are you c-crying?"
"Because it's a miracle you survived what happened to you," She replied, "It's a miracle you lived through that."
"Through what?"
She didn't say anything, she just leaned in and pushed her face into my chest, letting her huge pony tears soak my shirt a little.
This is the first time I’ve seen someone cry. All the people I’ve been with were tough or just stubborn to vent. I didn’t think it would feel so damn… depressing. I felt like crying too. She’s crying for me. For me! And yet, something told me it wasn't sadness that made those tears.
"Thank Celestia you're alright," Twilight finally muttered.
"No. No thanks to me. I nearly killed him," The Princess said looking down at me as well. I just barely noticed she was here. Fear completely overtakes me and I look around to see some surgical tools on a table near my bed. I grab a scalpel and roll off the bed and get into a fighting position.
“You! Get the hell away from me!” I shouted, trying to make it sound like I’m serious as hell! I truth, I’m scared shitless.
“Please, allow me to explain-“
“Explain? Explain what?! That you tried to kill me?! You said you were sending me away but all I got was laying unconscious in a pool of MY OWN BLOOD!!!” I yell at the top of my lungs.
“Please, just let me-“ The Princess tries to plead but I’ll have none of it! Her voice however seemed sincere, like she was sorry. I shake my head.
“No! Just let me out of here and I’ll leave and never come back!” I flip the scalpel into the reverse grip and grip it harder, dead serious on fighting my way out if I have to. If there is one thing I know about myself, is that I will always go down fighting. I get ready in case I have to attack.
“Wait…” A quiet voice pierces the room. I look to my right to see Twilight standing right next to me. Her eyes are filled with sadness and tears, making my heart uneasy.
“No more of this. We want to explain what ‘really’ happened. She just wants to make things right.” I look back to the Princess. She looks sad. I look back to Twilight and then the Princess, contemplating as whether or not I should.
“Don’t you trust me?” My heart begins to calm down at those words. I look back at her and my lust for a fight right now instantly disappears. I give a depressing sigh.
“Twilight… I trust you more than anyone I’ve ever met, from what I can remember.” I place the scalpel back on the tray and I almost double over.
The small amount of adrenaline that was flowing through me and my fast paced beating heart are gone and the pain of my wound shoots right back into me. I put my weight onto the bed. I try to push myself up onto the bed but my body’s too weak. Twilight pushes herself against my legs and helps me up. I roll my back onto the bed and let out a sigh of relief.
“You okay?” the pain is already back and my throat is dry as hell.
"Can I... p-please... h-have a d-drink of water?" I say looking up at the ceiling, "Really t-thirsty."
Water was soon brought and a doctor was asked to see me. Most of the next several hours were a blur, and somewhere along the way I again passed out. I wanted to try and stay up so I can get that explanation but after what I’ve been through, it jus t ain’t happenin’.
It was late in the afternoon when I finally woke up. My body was still sore all over. My stomach more over. It felt as if I'd been stabbed by something. Removing the blankets that were put back over me, I saw I didn’t have my shirt on anymore, no doubt shredded, again, by whatever the Princess did to me. I saw the bandages wrapped around my stomach and close to my torso. I ran my hand over them to feel nothing, guess it’s still a little numb, but apart from that I felt fine, a big relief from all the pain I went through a short time ago, at least I think a short time ago. I’ve been passing in and out too many times to keep track of the time.
"It took us over a hundred stitches, but luckily we were able to fix you up. Good thing we had a lot of pony’s on the staff that were good at adapting to your type of biology. There will be scarring however," Someone said to me. I looked at the doctor, he was wearing typical doctor clothing, "Although how you survived a wound like that in the first place is a miracle. An inch higher, and it would've hit what we think would have been your vital organs, you would’ve been dead. No amount of magic would've saved you."
"What happened exactly?"
"I'll fill you in on that," Twilight said entering the room, "Thank you doctor, you may go. And remember, not a word of this to anypony. We can’t have everypony thinking that the Princess is a murderer or anything horrible. You're obligated by your profession and by the Princess' decree."
"Yes, of course. Good luck, Swift, and try not to get hurt again," With that he walked out the door to my room closing it gently behind him.
"Swift, let me first of all apologize to you. We had no idea that would happen."
"Well, I accept yours, but tell me what happened first, and then I'll tell you whether or not I can forgive the Princess." I replied, still mad that no-one had told me what the fuck went down!
"Well, how far back do you remember?"
"I remember Princess Celestia casting spells on me to send me away, a lot of pain instead came and after one more attempt, I was staring down in a pool of blood. After that, just flashes," I didn't feel like telling her about my uncle. I just recently had that and I want to know what it was he meant. Forgiveness.
"Well, after some tests we can conclusively say we were not prepared," Twilight sat down on a chair next to my bed, "But when Princess Celestia cast the spell first few spells, they were supposed to surround your body and send you back to where you came from. It didn't. Instead you body reacted with nothing but pain. And the last spell she used went straight through you, like an arrow. We don't know how or why, only that your body rejected the magic in a way that we didn't foresee."
"What do you mean?"
"It means, Swift, that your body is sort of immune to certain kinds of magic. It's rare, but it does happen. Some Ponies are completely magic-less, but those are so rare that it's nearly unheard of. You're one, and since you said your species don’t use any real magic, I guess it’s too late to say we should have figured what would happen. When magic is cast on you, the effects range, but this is the first time I've actually ever heard of being... 'allergic' to magic. There's nothing about it in the library either."
"Allergic? How much allergic?" Guess that explains the burn I had on my hand before I came to Canterlot.
"Oh yes, magic won't just harm you, it will kill you. Your magic Affinity isn’t at total zero, but your low enough that you have just a bit of magic in you, allowing you to withstand different types of magic for a short time at first, but just about every other magic out there can kill you if enough is put on you," Twilight put her hoof on my hand, "I'm so sorry, Swift. I didn't know."
"No, you couldn’t have. Don't apologize. There was no way you could have known. Not me, not you, and surely not the princess either."
"Actually, if I think about it, it is. A couple days ago Applejack was telling me that you could not buck apples. I had no idea what she meant, but she explained that no matter how many times you kicked a tree, the apples did not drop in the baskets which you prepared to catch them in. Earth Ponies have a natural talent with the Earth and especially to food and farming. You didn't. If I remember what you said about your species, I was listening through the door; your people have done more harm to nature than actually help it. This could have been one reason why it didn’t work. You don’t have the same type of atonement to nature as Earth ponies do. This should have been my first clue."
"Forget it Twilight, no offense, but I even you couldn’t have foreseen what happened. You just said that my condition was completely unheard of. I can’t accept an apology from something you didn’t know that would happen."
Even though I nearly died. Even though I felt pain that I've never felt before, Twilight gave me something that I could not hate her for. I was given the chance to say goodbye to my uncle. I had only heard about his death. Never really got to say goodbye. At least that’s another part of my past revealed. As far as I was concerned, Twilight was beyond cool.
She was perfect.
She was definitely… my friend.
No doubt.
We sat there in awkward silence for a while, not really knowing what to say to one another. Eventually she broke the silence again.
"Here’s some water." She gestured with her hoof.
Taking the water, I downed the whole glass and a couple more after it in a row. Now I needed food.
"Hey Twi, I’m hungry. Can we leave? I'd like to eat in town," I grinned, "Maybe now I can get that tour!"
"Shouldn't you rest?"
"I would, but I've just been in agony for... how long was I out?”
“A day and a half.” I sigh.
“Okay that’s starting to become a habit for me isn’t it? Anyway, I feel alive now, tired and sore but I want to make the most of it. Plus, I can’t stand being in one place for too long."
"You sound like Pinkie," Twilight giggled.
"Well, she does kinda rub off on you. Especially in the short time I met her. One moment with that pony and she’s stuck in your mind forever."
We shared a quick laugh at that.
"Well then, let's go," Twilight jumped up from her seat, "I can show you all my favorite spots in town from when I used to live here!"
"Great!” I look around the room and find my bag sitting on a chair nearby. Twilight notices and grab the strap with her mouth. She brings it over to me and I take it from her. I sift through it a bit, thankful that my shirt from earlier dried enough so it wouldn’t wet everything else. I slip another shirt on, zip my bag back up and gently hit the ground. I look at my pants to see they are covered in blood as well. I pull out a pair of jeans as well.
“Can you wait outside while I change, please?” I ask nicely. She nods and heads out the door. Ones the door closes, I slip off my bloody jeans, thankful that the blood didn’t soak through to my boxers. Once I put on a clean pair, I place the other ones back in my bag. I really got to start doing some laundry.
Walking was a little painful at first but I quickly got used to it. The first few steps were pretty bad. I was just glad that I’m actually walking right now and not in the morgue. I opened the door and Twilight was relieved to see me up and able to walk around. It hurt a little but that’s not going to stop me from getting some food.
We headed out and walked though the hallway. I was thankful that Twilight knew her way around, otherwise we would have gotten lost and I don’t like getting lost. As we pass some guards, they give me a questioning stare over in my direction while the rest don’t bother. I also catch out of the corner of my eye a few times some of the staff of the castle are whispering to each other, no doubt about me.
“I should probably get used to the stares, right?” I asked Twilight. She gives me a reassuring smile as we continue to walk.
“Ponies should start coming around in time. Just try to be careful until then.”
“I hope your right.”
The last hallway we come across that leads to the main doors where I came through when I first came here is empty, devoid of guards and the staff… except for two.
Down the hallway, right next to a some windows, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia are standing together, staring out into the open world that is there’s. I get a sick feeling in my stomach at crossing paths with her again.
“Is there any other way we can go out?” I asked Twilight, really hoping she had the answer I wanted.
“I’m sorry, no. There isn’t any, not unless you don’t mind climbing down the side of the castle. And in your state, that’s not an option.” My heart aches at the answer. I can barely run at the state I am in now, much less climb.
Princess Luna looks in our direction and sees me. She looks surprised that I’m back up on my feet right now. She turns to her sister and whispers something before walking in my direction. I give a dissatisfied grunt and move forward. I grab my stomach from a slight jolt of pain from my wound, feeling the bandages and stitches through my shirt. As me and Luna pass each other, we share one quick look before continuing. I don’t look at Celestia whatsoever, the thought of what she did still in my mind. I know she can hear my footsteps as I walk past her.
“I’m sorry.” I stop right in my tracks and so does Twilight.
“You know I didn’t mean to do that to you.” It was Celestia that said that. I don’t even look back to her.
“Did you?”
“No.” she turns to me, “I didn’t.”
“So your saying you don’t regret your spell failing?”
“It’s not like that-!”
“Then what is it?” I interrupt her in an emotionless voice.
“I did not wish for any harm to come upon you.”
“But you were happy enough to quickly get rid of me.”
“But not like that!” she almost yelled the last part. Silence is what came after. We just stood how we are, me standing right at the door with the Princess staring at me with Twilight at my side. I could walk out right now and not have to deal with this crap, but eventually I’ll have to.
“You know I can’t forgive you for what you did. Not right now at least. If I do stay, in time, I may forgive. If I don’t, then our feelings stay how they are. Not many of my own can possibly try, or want, to forgive someone that almost killed them. An apology is something I can’t accept right now…” I can tell she seems sad at my words. But there is something that happened from this that I am grateful for. I turn back to her with a smile on my face.
“But I can thank you.” Her sad expression turns to that of a surprised one, including Twilight.
“Thank me?! After what happened!?” She probably thinks I might be crazy or the incident might have caused me some type of brain trauma. But none of those are the case.
“I met my uncle. I never got to say goodbye to him before. And because of your failed attempt at sending me back, I was able to both meet him again and remember something of my past,” I explain to them. It killed me a lot that I never got to say goodbye, and although it was the most painful thing I ever endured, it was worth it.
“I… didn’t know.”
“The pain was excruciating, but the reward in the end, was well worth it I guess…” The look of surprise is still visibly plastered on both their faces, “So thank you again, Princess, for giving me the chance to say goodbye… to someone I lost long ago.”
“Well… your welcome. I just wish I could have done so without inflicting so much pain.” She says and I let out a chuckle.
“You and me both. Now if you’ll excuse us, Twilight was going to treat me to something to eat because I haven’t eaten in awhile. Bye, Princess.” I turn to leave with Twilight following close behind.
“Wait!” The Princess shouts to me. I turn around to look at her again.
“While you were out, Twilight Sparkle told me more… in debt about what you had done. After thinking about it after my failed attempts of sending you away, I’ve decided…” My heart fills with hope at her next words.
“To let you stay and live your life in Ponyville.” My face breaks into a smile and I feel happy as hell.
“You mean it? For real?” I say, making sure I heard her right. She closes her eyes and nods a couple times with a smile.
“I do. I must properly repay you for the pain that I caused. So, I will allow you to stay and live amongst where my faithful student Twilight Sparkle lives and the inhabitants of Ponyville.”
“Th-thank you Princess. I will not make you regret this decision.” I gratefully say. Now I officially have a home again.
“I hope so. However, I will be working on closing that infernal portal that sent you here. If I cannot send you back, then I must close whatever it was that sent you here, so we may not have another incident like yours again, most likely worse.” She wants to close the only, and if possible, way for me to be able to head back to where my people lived. It may seem sad at first, but if I can stay here, hell yeah.
“It is alright, you majesty. Do as you wish. And hey, maybe that will stop the creatures from attacking the town.” I point out. From what I can tell about most animals, they can sense much more anomalies than most sentient creatures like my species can.
“I have been looking into that situation. You are probably right. When they first attacked, I didn’t know what to think. Creatures of the Everfree forest tend to stay out and away from Ponyville, but I did not know what it was that was making them so… aggressive. It was when you first appeared that I tied you being here to that of the restless animals.” Now I do kinda feel bad. Me being here is what caused the ponies in the first place to get attacked and injured pretty badly. Hopefully that will be rectified soon enough. If not, then I’ll have my hands full.
“So what you’re saying is, close the portal, stop the attacks.” She nods.
“Yes, precisely.” I sigh.
“Well, good luck then, your majesty. Hope you have better luck with that then with me.” I say. She smiles, her face expressing gratitude from my compliment.
“I wish you luck as well.” She says and bows in the process. I return the bow as well and leave with her student.
For the first time since I got here, I felt safe. The Princess has allowed me to stay, here, in her country, in the town that I saved and they saved me back. Hopefully now, things will look up for me. As we went past the doors, I was able to get a good look of the city without the guards around me.
The day was still light and bright with the Princesses sun coming over the horizon yet again. Canterlot reminded me a lot of a big city, like New York or London. It was metropolitan, had all sorts of sights to see, both historical and current. It was a place that if I had the money, I would definitely live in.
Together we went down into town and Twilight took me to a really fancy looking place. The name of the restaurant was 'The Sun’s Moon'. I liked the name.
"This is one of the most popular restaurants in Canterlot," Twilight said as we sat down in the corner of the restaurant, making more than a few heads turn my way, "Because of my role with the Princess and all, I can get a pretty big discount when I eat."
"Wow. Being royal certainly has perks!" I grinned.
Twilight laughed, and then leaned forward, "Royalty is calling it a bit much, I’m not technically royalty but since the fact that I’m the student of the great and powerful Princess Celestia, I get some privileges, although I don't normally take advantage of it, but seeing as... well, you know..."
"I nearly died?"
"Well, yes... but, that's a little... morbid," Twilight grinned and then looked guiltily at the floor.
"Please, Twilight, don't take me too seriously. Sometimes the best way to get over a shocker like that is to joke about it. At least, that's how I get over it. And, I can't complain. I lived. I’ve had close calls before, but nothing like that." Not to mention I got to say goodbye to my uncle properly, if anything I can’t thank you enough for that.
A waited walked over to us, his nose stuck high up into the air but still cautious of what I am, "Would you like something to drink, madam?"
"Yes, a bottle of your finest one," Twilight stated.
"And one for me too," I joked. I’ve never had anything like that before
Twilight laughed. The waiter on the other hand still kept a wary look at me and walked away.
"You're actually pretty easy to talk to, Swift. The others came from Ponyville for awhile because I had sent a message to them about what happened. They wanted to know what happened and after I was done explaining, they left back for Ponyville the very next morning. They would have stayed to be by you for when you woke up but they all had responsibilities to do. Rainbow had to help keep the weather in check, Rarity had some dresses to make, Pinkie had to run Sugarcube corner while the cakes had to attend to some business, Fluttershy had some sick animals to tend to, and Applejack needed to work on doing some more harvesting for Sweet Apple Acres. Oh! She also says thanks for the Harvester. That thing really sped up her work load.” I grin, thankful that my idea worked out well.
“Well, when we get back, I’ll tell her ‘you’re welcome.’”
“But still, even in the short time you met Pinkie, she and Applejack go on about you; I thought you were putting on an act, but after what you did with Fluttershy and the tower, all doubt was gone." Twilight said, visibly relaxed.
"I’m glad to hear that. Although to me honest, you can sort of classify this as I am kind of putting on an act, you know. I don't truly know who I am during my family’s life. But if I'm going to be stuck as the only person of my species here, with memories of the worst parts of his life, and one good one, while the rest is amnesia, it’d be kinda stupid for me to be anything… less likeable. And it seems that I accomplished being likable." I say stating the facts. I’m still glad that during my first encounter that I revealed myself, but then again, if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have gotten a hole in my stomach, but probably be some creatures lunch in the forest.
"Well, I hope that some more memories of your family come back soon." Twilight smile.
“Without the pain, hopefully.” We share a laugh.
"So, shall we decide what to eat?" She asks after we are done laughing.
The menu, which surprised me a bit, was in French and English. And the cuisine was French-like vegetarian dishes! And some Italian thrown in as well. I was always partial to Pizza and Spaghetti like, all the time. Maybe I have Italian in my blood. In a strange way, I was relieved. I mean there were some dishes on there that did not sound too appealing, such as 'Fig Leaf Ravioli', and 'Green Grass Salad', but most of it was completely delicious sounding vegetarian.
The waiter returned and showed us the bottle of wine, "Equino de Rojo. It's aged ten years," He then poured a tiny amount in a wine glass - with hooves, and handed it to me cautiously.
“I don’t bite sir. I can be as refined and elegant as most ponies can be. But since I’m just getting my bearings on me being here, things’ will take time.” He gives a ‘hmph’ and hands Twilight her glass. I sigh and think about the wine glass in front of me.
"I've... never done anything like this before. May I do the honors?" I asked Twilight. She nodded and took her glass.
"Sure!" Twilight said eagerly.
I brought the glass close to her.
“To life, may we never squander its gift…”
“And live it the fullest.” Twilight finishes my saying. Our glasses clinked. I swirled it around, then put my nose a little over the inside and inhaled, then, took a little sip.
"Dry, with a little hint of smoky oak." She says. I’ve never had wine before so I can’t really describe the taste but now that she mentioned oak, I think a tree for some reason.
"Not bad," I said raising an eyebrow.
She blushed, "Thank you, I've always wanted to do that."
"Rarity?"
"Rarity."
We both shared another laugh knowing fully how Rarity would have relished this moment. Strange, I didn't know her that well and yet I knew what she liked. She definitely has that type of elegant prissy feeling around her, it also doesn’t hide the fact how Twilight and the others mentioned how clean and proper she can be.
"Will that be all?" The waiter said a little coldly.
"Yes," I said, "Thank you."
"I think he doesn't like you," Twilight said once the waiter was gone, "Might be your clothing isn’t acceptable part of the dress-code here."
"Really? I thought it was because I’m the only of my species here right now and I’m wearing clothing more outfitted for a standard casual look, and it also doesn’t help that I’m lugging around a tattered bag and have some weapons strapped to my person." I stated the obvious. She chuckles.
“That too,” I looked around. Indeed, most Ponies wore something like a suit, and here I was with a casual shirt and pants. And it doesn’t help that they are wrinkled too.
Dinner was a hell of a delight. Twilight and I chatted about many things, from the history of Equestria to her classes and her keen interest in magic. I also mentioned some of the good things and brave, courageous people I had in my people history as well, such as Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, and so on. I didn’t remember every single detail they all had accomplished, just what they were most famous for. She was saddened to hear how most of them had tragedies befall them but there stories still live on. We were having fun, just talking until my hand hit my chest and I noticed something missing. I felt around my neck to find the beads but nothing. I didn’t have my dogtags. How the fuck could I have gone so long without noticing them?!?!
“Are you alright?” she notices my panicked expression. I look out the window to see it’s around noon.
“When’s the next train to Ponyville?” I quickly asked. She thinks for a bit.
“In about half an hour, why?” I grab my bag and lug it over my shoulder.
“Hurry up and pay. I forgot something back in the forest.” I head over to the door to wait for her.
“Wait! What did you lose?” she asks me. I stop and put a hand on my chest, wishing I wasn’t so damn preoccupied to not notice they were gone. I look back to her.
“A memory…”