Another Displaced Human Dilemma

by The Grey Pegasus

[3] Resolution, Conclusion, Convolution, Restitution

There was a ringing from one of those classic bedside mechnical alarm clocks.

Then a slap on the clock, silencing it.

Reality was proving itself to be consistent, and definitely not a dream, despite all hints of being one. Except for the time. That seemed consistent.

Continuing on from that, everything was realistically consistent with the way it was before I went to bed, unlike dreams. Any traces of any dreams faded away like they normally do. However, I do remember that I had another bit of a meeting with myself. Too bad a lot of the knowledge I'd normally have is locked away when I'm awake.

I surrendered to the inevitability of getting out of bed. The clock was set to 6:45, and that left me fifteen minutes before breakfast was open. I picked up the saddlebag, its brown leather a weight in my hooves. Where they got leather around here, I don't know, but Applejack's hat is leather, so it's definitely a thing.

Oh yeah. Right. She's dead.

I picked out the single smooth stone I carried with me from the castle in the Everfree. The exposition rock. It wasn't doing anything right now except reminding me of what life is now through its mere presence. Kind of like those totems they carried around in Inception. Except for me, I still wasn't sure if I was in a dream.

Breakfast was definitely the right idea.

After showering for a bit to get rid of all the dirt from hanging around the Everfree, use up a lot of hot water, and just to freshen up myself to get ready to face the day ahead of me, I headed down the hallway to the common area where breakfast was served.

Unsurprisingly, I was the first one there, likely because I was the one in most of a hurry. I went around the selection of food, going for my basic breakfast of eggs, bacon, and-

Wait. I stood in my spot as a realization came to me. This was that obligatory moment in HiE fics where the character complains about the lack of bacon. Sighing my way past that non-negotiable fact, I settled on the 'hay bacon', whatever that was. It seemed to be the counterpart to pork bacon, and would have to do.

The last thing I picked out was a bagel. Because bagels.

I sat down at a table, slowly eating my meal. I stared at the circular piece of bread, tracing it around and around. It was like my mind right now—just the same thoughts going around and around in a circle. Events of cause and effect going all the way in a circle back to the beginning so that the last effect became the first cause. I was thinking in a loop.

Despite my thoughts going in a circle, the clock hands also went in a circle, and that meant that time was still going. I finished the rest of my breakfast quickly. The bagel was pretty good.

Once I was done, I headed back to the front desk and checked out. I flew away from the hotel in no particular direction. It wouldn't be much use in the end, though, I think. I went through a recap of my situation, going over it thoroughly.

No doubt Twilight Sparkle would be brought in for the investigation. I'd be surprised if she wasn't—I just killed an Element of Harmony and one of her best friends. In fact, I'd think it'd be a bit cold of her if she didn't, or cold for anyone that barred her from joining.

So basically, I'm expecting Twilight to be on the case. Which meant on my case. They'd probably track my magical signature or something. From there, they might check records for who exactly that pony is. And find absolutely nothing. I think that's a bit humorous.

Nonetheless, they were going to find me, and fairly quickly I guess. Put plainly, this was pretty bad. I... don't think I have a good chance of getting out of this alive, actually. I can't run forever; hell, I just got here. Unless I got past the border. I wonder if that would work.

Nah, probably not. Somehow, Twilight would find a way to chase me in a foreign country, and when she did, I was going to be deported not only from the country, but life.

<Well, your fault. That's what happens when the first thing you do in Equestria is kill Applejack.>

"Well, yeah," I replied to myself. "You-slash-I am the author. You already showed me you can control the world. Really, by that point, I was willing to believe I could do anything I want. You know, if you really want the story to continue normally, I'm sure you could just rewrite it to work."

<Nope. This is your reality now. You're going to have to face the consequences.>

Yup, this was foreseeably going downhill, straight to a ground elevation of six feet below sea level.

Although flying alone at cloud level was comforting, having only the occasional wingbeat to listen to, I got tired eventually. The cruise was long, and there were no in-flight snacks, unfortunately. But there was an easily visible large city down below in front of me. I headed down towards this big city. The architecture felt of that of the mid-20th century. It felt European.

Truth be told, it wasn't a good idea to stroll around in a large population center that likely gets news fast after you just killed a pony. On the other hand (hoof?) it might be a paradoxically good way to stay hidden. Mulling over it a bit more that way of thinking probably isn't as applicable here compared to when I was human. Having your race consist of uniquely colored ponies with ID simply being a tattoo on your rear end tended to negate the advantage of hiding in crowds.

"Oh!"

"Oh—sorry," I apologized to the mare I bumped into.

"No, no, no problem," the white pegasus reassured me as she picked up some bags of groceries. "I wasn't really paying attention."

I picked up a pear she dropped and gave it to her. "I wasn't either. Sorry about that."

She smiled at the gesture. "Thank you. You don't... sound like you're from around here." Oh yes, right. Her accent was tinted with British.

"Oh, no, I'm just... passing by," I replied while running through my head speculations about where I could possibly be.

"Oh! Where from?"

"I—uh—Pranceton." ... Huh. Well, that was convenient. Not sure if that came out naturally or if I garbled my speech in the middle of saying something as close to truth as could be.

"How nice," she smiled. "Enjoy your stay in Trottingham." She kept on going about her business.

I sighed. That was probably the most normal interaction I was going to get ever. What lay ahead of me did not bode well. I took off towards one of the roads out of Trottingham, aiming to find a small town somewhere down the road.

Somehow, I found what I was looking for. It was a small town, smaller than Ponyville, but equally quaint I'd say. Hell, I even found a tavern to go take a breather in.

And so that's how I found myself sitting at a bar having whatever the stallion serving recommended. I honestly did not care. I looked around at the patrons, finding a mix of regular-seeming ponies and others that looked like they were also just passing by. By looking at clothing and any visible cutie marks, I guessed that professions included farmers, shopkeepers, hell even lumberjacks.

Really, I was just tuning out my surroundings, contemplating the chess game of life I was stuck in, which I might as well claim was being played by some crazy gods. I heard the door to the place slam open. Lazily, I glanced over, expecting to find some burly pony.

I found something a lot worse.

"Where is he," Twilight growled.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck.

"Princess Twilight!" many ponies exclaimed, bowing.

"Excuse me, Princess, but who exactly are you talking about?" one of the employees asked from their position at her hooves.

"The murderer of my friend Applejack," she hissed. "I'm sure you've all heard of this?"

All the ponies gasped as the realization dawned on them. My own eyes went wide at that, at least helping me blend in for a few more seconds.

"Who is it?"

"Yeah, who's that bastard?!"

"It's... it's..." Twilight looked around, and I'm pretty sure I noticed a dull glow from her horn. Her expression turned into a death glare when her eyes went over me. "Him."

"... FUCK!"

And with that simple expression, I bolted for the nearest window. Or at least I tried to. Rainbow was fast. Fast enough that after tackling me into the wall, she also got the first punch in. And a few other punches that I dodged and let the wall take the hits.

"YOU! KILLED! MY! FR—"

I promptly interrupted her with a headbutt. I wasn't too worried about her since she was in a blind rage; Rainbow didn't seem to be the type to be focused when she let emotions get the best of her. I was more worried about the alicorn in the back who looked like she was holding back her rage, and was evidently putting in a lot of effort to control herself. Twilight looked like she might spontaneously explode.

I leaned over once more as Rainbow sent her hoof out in an attack, and with my head moving against the wall, it definitely felt bumpier than a couple of seconds ago. A buck to Rainbow's midsection sent her flying back.

If I was going to get out of here alive, I had to do it fast, because kicking Rainbow into a table did not help my case at all. I leapt for the window again, this time reaching it. My hooves broke the glass easily and—"Shit!"

Something caught onto my tail and my forelegs landed hard on the broken glass stuck in the window frame. Then I was forcefully dragged back into the room, resulting in deep gashes in my arms from the glass. It hurt, and my howling let everyone know. Not that I was going to get any sympathy, but I'm sure some of them were wincing imagining my pain.

I was being dragged along the floor by an unseen force, then lifted onto a table and dragged through various things. Bottles were also smashed on my head, though not by any visible pony. I wasn't sure who was doing it, seeing that there was no one behind or next to me. However, I did catch a glance of Rarity's expression of partial desperation, partial fury, and definitely gritted teeth. I was slammed into another table. And then it stopped.

I was already terrified as hell, but adrenaline also kept me aware of what was happening. Fighting all the pain, I rolled off the table and again attempted to escape, painfully landing on my bleeding forelegs. Then a hoof pressed down hard on my back, then quickly rolled me over.

Pinkie was just giving me an empty stare. I could see the sadness deep in her eyes, but on the surface, partially because of stereotyping, the first thing I saw was a concealed murderous intent. I only stared back with a pained expression. Escaping was becoming more difficult physically and emotionally.

Getting off the floor, however, soon proved to be the least of my concern as I felt very powerful magic lift me up and throw me against a wall again. Alongside broken bones, I couldn't really keep up much of a mental process. What was still functioning in my brain allowed me to watch as Twilight walked up to me slowly.

Twilight was broken. Likely more than me. Anyone could see that she had been through a sea of emotions, and all of that was bottled up in a shattered bottle glued together, that was bound to shatter again from the turbulent hurricane contained within. Her horn was a blinding light, but it was in no way the comforting light at the end of the tunnel that some would say.

This was a brightness that was plain hypnotizing, scorching deep into my memories and branding everything that brought me here into the walls of my mind. Twilight opened her mouth as if trying to recite something about bringing me to proper justice in a court, or at least I think that's what she was trying to get out. I think some of her friends were urging her on to just finish me in revenge, while Fluttershy was probably telling her to calm down and do the right thing.

The alicorn was heaving. Stressfully seething through her teeth. But she didn't look like she was furious and was aiming to kill me. She looked like she was desperate, trying to get herself under control, but—

"D-dear Celestia—I—I didn't—"

"No Twi, you did the right thing!"

"N-no! I—I—just—just as bad—"

"There was—was no recompense for—for him. Might—might as well."

"No! Th-this is—isn't—isn't how—"

And there I stood, right on the e...eehhhuuuuuuhhhh—"Uhhhhhh..."

I wobbled in my stance with the board raised, suddenly shocked at what... happened?

In my surprise, I lost balance for a moment and stumbled in place, my hooves lightly thumping on the ground. The weight of the board went to my right and made a solid 'thunk' against the wall.

"Huh... uggh... wha..." I heard Applejack mumble.

I went wide-eyed. "Oh, goddammit!" I hissed.

"Huh?"

My first reaction was to put the board up against the wall and slide it down relatively quietly. 'Relatively quietly' here meaning 'no one else is going to get woken up'. It gave another solid, yet light, 'thunk' as it hit the floor.

"What?!"

Then I dashed over and clamped Applejack's mouth shut. Smart, I know.

"Mmmph! Mmm mmm MMM!"

"I, uh, hi. Yeah, uh, this is... not good. Um, look, can we start over? This was really stupid of me."

Applejack lightened her struggling and instead gave me a very confused expression. That's an improvement.

"Okay, I'm not here to hurt you." The irony was hitting me hard. "And, uh, if I let go, can you promise to talk quiet and reasonably?" I pleaded with her.

She looked straight into my eyes with those deep emerald eyes of hers. Maybe it was her whole Element of Honesty thing, I don't know, but I felt like she was boring a hole through me like an oil rig to the earth.

But she stopped struggling. Hopefully it wasn't because I suffocated her to death.

I felt her try to nod. Oh good—not dead. I released my hooves slowly.

"What in Celestia and Luna's name is your problem?!" she hissed as she sat up.

"I, uh, was sort of traveling, and I'm really tired." I scratched the back of my head. "Especially after having to escape the Everfree... and then some."

Applejack took on a look of sympathy. "Oh. The Everfree, huh. Why'd you do somethin' like that?"

"I told you. I was traveling. And then I got attacked by all these weird things. I must've been out for a couple of hours after these plants tried to kill me."

"Ohhh... you were in the Everfree when it was real bad." She rubbed her chin in thought. "So what bright idea led you in here?"

"Uh... no bright ideas. More like an impulse."

"An impulse."

"I saw your window open and somehow thought that waking one pony up would be better than waking up an entire household. I was banking on waking up someone sensible." I just kept on rambling my way through this. At least humans tended to be good at that.

She shook her head. "You made one crazy gamble." But then she looked up and cracked a small smile. "But I can tell you're being sincere. Might've not been the best idea, but you got good intentions. So what'dya need?"

"Uh, can I just have maybe a blanket or somethin'? And maybe sleep over in your barn or somethin'?"

She considered the proposal. "The barn ain't the best place to be. Not right now, at least. I'd give you the couch downstairs, but since nopony else knows you're here..."

"I'll take your bedroom floor."

"Hm..." She was taking a long moment to think about the decision. I don't blame her—some random pony asking to sleep in your bedroom, even on the floor? You'd have to be insane—something Applejack was not so much of compared to her five other friends.

As she was thinking, I found myself thinking back to what the hell just happened. It didn't even feel that long that I found myself in the same situation, but that first time, I just plain killed her.

Then the day after that sped by like no time. Then came the confrontation outside Trottingham. My head was already feeling heavy, and in my sitting stance, I turned my legs to look at their undersides. I could remember the feeling of being lacerated by the glass, deep grooves being cut into my flesh.

But now, there was an unblemished grey coat. My head was feeling really heavy, and... was I still thinking coherently. Was Applejack saying something. Wow, was I not drowsy during this time the first time around? No, wait, that was because I was wide awake from murdering Applejack. And then there was some conversation about reality, and consequences. Was I dreaming? No I think I'm still awake. Maybe a little bit of shut-eye would do me some...