Necessary Love

by Zurock

Chapter 26: Buried

The Pleasure Gardens were on the backside of a shallow hill, some distance from the orchard valley. They were deep enough inwards that the rest of the resort could not be seen, surrounded by only more hills and light jungle. Yet those obstructions didn't much matter from within the Gardens themselves; high walls made of trimmed hedges dressed in an innumerable variety of flowers served as a great barrier which enclosed their entirety. Occasionally rock, or terrace step, or mammoth bush helped to seal the Gardens off as well.

There was only one way in or out (for those ponies and guests who were earthbound, anyway): a grand entrance which the tour group was guided straight to. On either side the leafy garden walls met with fat pillars of stones which were deeply entangled in flowered vines, and the two were connected top-to-top by a broad metalwork arch which twisted over them. The arch itself was much more meticulously decorated, so heavily that the dark metal itself was hard to see. Vines wormed through it bearing beautiful flowers—stars of all colors, and buds blossoming so bright they burst like the emerging sun, and cups drowned deep with nectar. Despite the limited space they were all weaved smoothly together, creating a mesh as fine and as dazzling as an evening gown of silk.

Immediately through the entrance was an auditorium-like space which stretched far. The flattened ground rose only in single steps every several strides, ascending away from the entrance. A center aisle of stone bricks was flanked on both sides by rings of stones encircling trees with umbrella-like crowns, and meanwhile a carpet of manicured grass claimed the rest of the floor. The towering garden walls there seemed especially tall; all the rest of the Gardens were concealed, and the great swaths of flowers hanging on the walls were giant portraits and banners in a castle hall. Even lining the area were long plots so wealthy with vibrant blossoms that they were a rainbow sea of petals.

Concentrated near the entrance were low stone benches for anypony who needed to relieve their hooves, which Venus and Vesuvius fast did, sharing a single bench together. Yet they didn't encourage everypony to do the same. With good wishes they instead invited everypony to experience the Gardens as intended: by exploring, in pairs if possible; by getting pleasantly lost in the paradise.

They did elaborate with some friendly warning though: the Gardens could feel like a maze, but they weren't. Rather, the whole thing was built like a palace, with great 'chambers' connected by winding 'corridors.' Each room had a distinct shape, design, or purpose. Everything was open to the air of course, but the privacy of the Gardens had been the island masters' intention, and ponies with wings were discouraged from using them ("Don't wander off!"). If anypony were to fear that they were truly lost, the entrance could always be found by simply flowing downhill.

Finished with their tour, the island masters let the world around them fade away and they fell into each other, amorously giggling, whispering, and nuzzling each other. Meanwhile the rest of the group, guests and island ponies alike, heeded their instructions and broke apart.

Prism was incredibly quick to beg James to follow, almost pulling him along with her enthusiasm alone. Before any of the others had even decided how to split up she had already excitedly led him inwards through one of the starting room's many exits.

The eager mare knew her chosen trail well, hardly restraining her trot as she shaved corner after corner through the hedge-lined halls and pranced swiftly through the florid rooms along the way. Everything passed too quickly for the man to take in; he reasoned that he wasn't being taken along to explore, as had been suggested. She had some specific destination in mind; some ultimate end for him.

He felt helplessly bound to his fate, following her closely step after step and even racing his breath to keep pace with her, as if he had no power to resist. Or maybe no will; to some small surprise within himself, he didn't feel like he minded this turn of events. It wasn't a peace or comfort that kept him curious, as he didn't know her or the island well enough predict anything that was about to happen. In fact there was something odd about Prism that in voiceless places had slowly begun to bother him. But whatever it was it contended with an equally-silent hope buried far inside him, and the covert battle between the two left him consciously aware of neither. And so he drifted on in her energetic wake, lead by her dancing tail.

Their destination announced its approach through her. Each of her steps gained stronger tingles and her breaths shook with bigger delight as it neared. More and more her insatiable speed inched faster, taking her quicker than a pony had any right to go. And then it all came to a fast stop when they exploded into a small garden; one which the man saw as really no different than all the other blurred gardens they had ignored already.

But Prism treated the space as sacred. Her frantic rush had suddenly transformed into humble steps, and her mouth hung open a crack without ever uttering a peep. She strolled through the space quite slowly, knowing it as exactly as one knows their own bedroom, but she regarded nothing there with anything less than the utmost sanctity. Everything was a divine memory. Between her bouts of worship she tenderly smiled at James, mixing his image with whatever she was thinking about.

The man, too unprepared, decided to silently amble about the garden as well and at least take it in.

For the most part it was an open circle with a dirt floor, with most of the walls being composed of heavy shrubbery. One particular hedge was so overgrown with flowers that almost all of its green was eclipsed by the waves of deep oranges and sleeping yellows; a mural from petals. Meanwhile the opposing wall, far taller, was made of natural rock, vine-infested throughout. A lopsided tree sat near that wall, planted on the outside of the circle within a plot outlined by stones. Its broad trunk was quite stable, especially considering how all the leaf-rich branches favored one side. A ridiculous proportion of the crown stretched far out in one direction like a canopy, throwing a pleasant shadow over one corner of the garden and – the man only noticed when he got close – also over a somewhat hidden recess buried in that corner.

The alcove offered some relative privacy if desired, since it was shielded from immediate sight of the garden's two entrances. Otherwise the tight space was mostly like the rest of the garden, with sweet-scented flowers growing on and along the walls. Yet there was one unique thing there.

Directly under the shade of the leaves had been placed a long bench built for laying down upon. The frame was a dark metal, with legs molded in the shapes of pony's hooves, while a flexible wood composed the bulk of it. Its back was short and there was no arms on either side, but one end of it was raised high and reclined. Easily the bench would have supported a sleeping pony or two in space. Were the man to have laid down on it, with his lifted back resting against the raised portion, his legs would have fallen well short of the open end. Thin cushions were strapped over the wood to soften it, though it was questionable how comfortable they were. Besides their sturdiness, as they had of course been crafted to endure the outdoors, they had been worn-in and flattened from use.

But so tucked-away as it was, it was a perfect place for private naps in the afternoon. Or something of that nature.

"This is my favorite spot," Prism spoke up after a time. She had managed to bring her eagerness under better control, though it still poured from her in great spills. A color had come into her silvery cheeks, and she was unable to devote her eyes fully to James, still sharing them warmly with the garden itself.

"In the Gardens or on the island?" the man asked.

"In the world."

Her blush only deepened, and she spent a shy moment looking down and spinning the bracelets on her ankles.

The weighty praise put a brief silence over James. This was a trap; there were no good responses to her. A joke might have proved too sharp or dismissive, and a serious comment would never have matched hers in weight or significance. Not that he even had much to say about the garden anyway. He just didn't see the glory she did. Certainly it was nice and everything, being far more professionally done than so much else of what had been seen on the island so far. But a quiet nap-zone or a sunset of flowers on a wall just weren't the kinds of things which latched on and siphoned the breath out of a person.

"Wow," he eventually said, failing to find any good comment and delivering his one word like an utter idiot.

Realizing she had tangled his tongue she let out a bashful and quiet laugh. But she was also herself quite twisted up with reserve. Something wasn't coming out, and she worked hard to keep it that way.

Rather than offer the man anything more she instead strolled by him with a smile and entered the shaded alcove. Getting out of the sun cooled her, providing some calm and clarity, and she was content to rest herself next to the reclining seat.

James, still in want of something substantial to say, continued to wander about as though he were busy enjoying the scenery, though he tightened his path so that she never went out of view. He couldn't much scrutinize the garden though; he had so little interest in it. Hopefully her unhelpful silence would end and she would have a new prompt for him.

After all, it wasn't like it hadn't been fun so far; chatting with the mare on the beach, and over lunch, and in the valley. There had been all the enthralling engagement of tackling someone new, bogged down by none of the baggage of a recent world-swap or orders from a princess, like when he had first met Twilight and the others. Just the wonderful experience of sitting with someone interesting and talking away with them, free of the world, and also it had felt so delightfully NATURAL, like he was revisiting a place he had been many times before.

Things had moved quickly, too. One thing after the other, faster and faster, racing from topic to topic and place to place, almost out of his control. Until suddenly... he was now alone in a secluded garden with her? No public crowd providing restraining judgment. No witnesses to place a polite check on behavior. Just a garden, a man, and a pretty pony—

—a POLITE pony. POLITE. Yes.

The battle inside him grew loud enough for his mind to hear. On the one hand he felt ordinary and alive, more than he had been in quite awhile. But on the other hand his explanation that he had been 'trying to make a new friend' had grown quite murky from the vantage point he now stood at. Why exactly WAS he here? He didn't comfortably understand where this situation was going, doubted how much ability he really had to steer it anywhere, and certainly the main reason for all his new wariness was because-

"I'd still love to hear about your romances," Prism finally relented to breaking the silence with her cordial request. "You still haven't said all that much about them."

The man continued to pace, dressing it as casually as he could.

"Well... it's like I told you: I just don't talk too much about it with other ponies in general. Nothing personal against you; just how I am. So, I hope I haven't been offending you if I've been sort of dodging it."

"Oh no, it's alright," she rushed to assure him, but even more swiftly she pressed, "and I really wouldn't be annoyed at all! I'd be delighted if you shared!"

"What's got you so interested?" he found the curiosity to ask, guessing, "Are you... maybe looking at doing some dating yourself now that you've settled down from the modeling life?"

"No, no. I couldn't commit myself like that," the pony very assuredly denied. "I'm just very interested now in the ways that ponies connect to each other. The ways they interact, and the kinds of relationships that they build."

Very similar to the high-minded words which Venus and Vesuvius often tossed about, the man thought.

"I'm not a pony though," he reminded her. The comment had popped out, awkward and sounding incorrect just in the way it was said. He tried to smooth it with a tiny, ill-delivered shrug.

Regardless, her eyes sparkled and cast their light over him.

"That what makes you so much more interesting!"

The way she stared had James feeling naked, and immediately his false wandering took on a sweaty urgency. He averted his gaze from her, and kept it that way.

She asked again, and maybe it was only his bothered imagination that made it sound like she was pleading, "Please, I'd really love to hear more about you."

The man worked out a hot sigh and rubbed the back of his neck, his hand sliding with the moisture. What a lucky thing it would have been to have fallen into this exact situation in slightly different, more Earthly circumstances.

"Well... I hardly know what to tell you about it," he said. Forcibly he had to pull down his guard to speak to her, yet he still didn't look at her. "I mean, I've been on plenty of dates, with a few different ponies—er, people. Some went nowhere; some went somewhere, for a little while; some went far. Pretty typical, I guess. Nothing outside the ordinary. Not much to tell, really."

He gave the words their space to sink in, hoping they might have some effect, but he didn't hear any response from Prism positive or negative. And the wait for her dragged on and on, pouring a thickness into the air until he started to choke. Again he rubbed his neck, sweeping off the river washing down it, and his hand shook with a ridiculous nervous tic. Was he being baited to look at her?

Things had gone to such a weird place so suddenly. He felt like he should have seen it coming – should have been more prepared – but apparently he had been ignoring all the warnings. She had been prying him open about this all morning, after all. Weirder still was that he couldn't even think on his feet anymore. It was one thing to have chatted with his old buddies about his relationships, but doing the same thing with this stranger? This PONY stranger? He was moving in different directions, or maybe being pulled, and he wasn't sure which parts of himself were doing the moving and the pulling.

If she had been Twilight he could have just spun things academically, like he were dumping the sociological dossier of human relations on her. But she – her voice – had been begging him to be open and frank. His sensitivity demanded that he spare her virgin pony ears, but at the round table used by the voices of his conscience, one voice in particular was leveraging her words to shout down his sensitivity.

The idea of holding back out of modesty was foolish, it said. He SHOULD make use of the opportunity, it said. Brag to her. IMPRESS her. After all, she was so EASY. And WILLING.

Have some fun. After everything that's happened? You've earned it.

The man took his hand off his wet neck and struck the side of his head.

Was he thirteen again? Christ! Have some common decency! Also? She was a HORSE! A puritan horse, if his wise friend was to be believed!

"Uhh... anyway," he fumbled on, retreating from her unseen and stuffy silence, "obviously I never found anypony—anyONE—to go all the way to marriage with, cause here I am, unclaimed and single. Actually, I don't think I ever really came too close. Only three of my relationships ever got serious, and none of them ever had a chance in retrospect."

"'Serious?'" the pony questioned quite particularly.

"Yeah, you know...," he floundered, but he realized his error immediately. It would be a devastating faux pas (in Equestria) to have elaborated specifically on what he had meant, and he waved his arms about at nothing at all. "Like... we... had hoped to get all the way to tying the knot, and so we... tried to act like a married couple, kind of, maybe... in ways. You know." Oh God! This really shouldn't have been so difficult! "And by that I don't mean that I didn't take any other girlfriends seriously! Just that... those three were the only ones that... got that far. You understand?"

He heard her giggling, though her sound wasn't fully content. If anything there was some nervousness in her voice too.

"So," she asked, "you only dated because you were... looking to fall in love with somepony?"

The man came to an abrupt stop.

"... Isn't everypony?—everyBODY?—no, wait; everypony too. Everypony ESPECIALLY. Like... that's the whole reason... certainly a PONY would go on dates, right?"

Enough surprise had slapped him that without thinking he turned around and shot her a funny glance. And immediately he regretted taking a look.

At some point she had climbed up onto the reclining bench, and boy was she ever reclining! Her top wasn't rested fully against the head but rather she held herself up to keep a better view of the man. However her body had a comfortable twist going down such that her flank was flat against the cushions and her legs were stretched out with one crossed on top of the other. Her belly was visible. She lay as a tempting lady in repose, with room enough to invite another to share the bench with her.

James abandoned his peek with awkward speed, picking at his chin and scratching his chest while looking away.

A silence followed. Maybe his display of inept stupidity had upset her? But he was too exasperated to check and too wooden to even try for a word of apology.

"... I guess?" she halfheartedly answered his question at last.

"Well... why else?"

"I don't know," she said without real commitment. Then her voice really crawled out and over him. "Aren't there OTHER close things that two ponies could share? Does it have to be falling in love?"

"Ah-, do you mean-, well-, I-... uh, of c-course there are. Other things, that is. Of course there are other kinds of relationships. Like... friendships, and stuff." He scratched himself harder. "But, I mean, uh... w-what are you really interested in knowing about?"

Again everything quieted, and again he dared not interrupt the silence with a glance to her. But this time he could almost hear her thinking, though about what he wasn't able to guess.

"I've never worried much about love," Prism began. "Maybe that sounds a little strange." Piece by piece she worked out a puzzle; a puzzle long in assembly yet also so fresh and recent to her. "I traveled far, and I met lots of friendly ponies, and I loved everything I DID. But I never had a single thought about falling in love. Not a thought about... any sort of deep connection or friendship. I'm not surprised that some ponies want to fall in love, if they're not too busy chasing the things their cutie marks have told them to, just like I was. But lately-... lately since coming here I've been thinking... maybe ponies don't think ENOUGH about what ELSE they can be with each other? Not just friends, and not just lovers..."

'Lovers?' Probably by that she had meant 'ponies in love,' like Star Glitter and P.V.

The oddness in her trailing voice softened her just enough to allow the man to take the risk. He looked back at her.

Still she laid in the same way, but she was nonetheless changed completely. The alluring aura about her had given way to something pensive. The restful curves of her body, all positioned the same, had become thoughtful turns which exerted their outsized influence over her whole character.

She met his stare and asked him, "I thought, maybe, you might have something different to share? Some new perspective?"

With her thoughtful change he found her safe enough to approach, and carefully he walked to the alcove. He didn't risk joining her on the garden bench though, and instead sat on the ground with his back rested against the tree.

But he didn't have any better grasp on what it was that she wanted to know from him. Maybe that was because of his own ignorance about ponies though? Twilight had given him an insight on ponies and their feelings on sex (or lack thereof) but she had denied any further conversation. And he had in the past, after all, misjudged and underestimated ponies. Maybe he was assuming too much. Maybe, even with having observed ponies like Star Glitter and P.V., he didn't really understand the gap in pony relationships that fit between strong friendships and ultimate love; one that contained some form of physical intimacy but wasn't something that violated pony standards of decency.

Outspoken now the man admitted, "Okay, uh, different? Different, yeah. I think my perspective probably is. But now that I think about it, maybe I'm just too new to Equestria to know what those differences are? I THINK that's why I keep coming back to asking you about what you really want? I mean, personally, I mostly did keep at dating because someday I wanted to fall in love. But I guess it's true that even with a master plan in place, not every step along the way is motivated by that goal. Sometimes you're driven by more immediate... uh, concerns."

He straightened his back against the bark of the tree.

"So, help me understand," he asked of her, opening a palm. "Teach me something about what motivates ponies. Cause I'm not sure I know."

Prism's head jiggled; an effort to show understanding.

"I don't really know either, to be honest," she carefully admitted. "Like I said, I've never thought about going on dates or being in love."

"But you are trying SOMETHING here, right? Since you came to the island? I mean, that is why you're asking me these things?"

"Yes."

Again she was trying to show an understanding, but again it seemed to elude her. She wanted to answer him plainly, but something was in the way. Something inside her was corked, and unable to come out even though she wanted to share it. As best she could with her restricted ability she tried to explain for him:

"Here we-... well... we spend some time with each other. Two ponies, that is. Close, and quiet, and together. And-," at last she made some kind of breakthrough, though mostly only in solidifying her words, like a jerky and choking engine at least getting up to speed, "-and it's not all that much time; it's goes very quickly. But there's so much more POWER in it than getting to know a pony over weeks and weeks of just talking to them. We don't use words. We share ourselves; share each other completely. We get close; so close; more than most ponies can imagine. More than I'VE ever imagined. Closer through... touching, and holding, and caressing each other..." With one aching push she pierced the wall of ice just enough to crack it, "... and kissing..." But quickly she drew back. "Not out of love, but just to understand each other's warmth. If... that makes any sense to you?"

The man shuffled so much that he felt the bark of the tree scratching into his back.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "That makes plenty of sense."

"It DOES?" she gasped and smiled. For her that answer was absolutely magical.

"Well... yeah." Harder the tree sliced into his exposed shoulders. "I mean, certainly with my relationships there were times for talking, and dinners, and shows, and all that. But afterwards there was, you know..." Someone in his head was shouting for him to use one of his one-thousand-and-one suggestive euphemisms, but he stuck to a tamer truth, "... a time for quiet snuggling."

The pony was endeared to the answer, blushing and softly giggling.

James asked with hesitation, "So... is that common for ponies, do you think? Like, cuddling and snuggling and everything?"

One would be forgiven for assuming the man had repeated his whole tirade of sexual innuendo to her, by the way a redness conquered her face.

"No, not at all," she meekly answered at first, before fast reverting, "I mean I'm sure they're plenty of loving ponies who hug and kiss and hold each other, outside of the island. But I've-... I've never really been in a relationship, so I don't know if-... I mean, I don't think-..."

"Ah, right. Of course," the man released her, and then he suggested, "So I guess that's one of those differences you were looking for. I've never had any trouble with making, you know... cuddling... a part of a relationship."

She stayed a glowing red, but any cold insecurity that had been there melted away under a pleasant warmth.

James, meanwhile, slunk back down in his seat against the tree, easing how much it clipped against his back. He momentarily faded into thought, recalling the storybook love of Star Glitter and P.V., as well as the open fondness Venus and Vesuvius always had displayed towards each other.

With the two ponies of Ponyville it was impossible to deny that there had been a deep and dedicated love. No question: either of them would have died for the other, without taking a heartbeat to have thought their choice over. Even in the crushing depths of their misunderstanding they had found the pure and honest love to have reconciled their troubles. And then? Well, then their expressions had been rather subdued by any objective human measure. Hugs had been strong, with neck against neck and hooves over backs, but the kisses had been fast and simple (though certainly no less sincere than any lusty snogging; maybe even almost more so). When they had nuzzled it had been gentle and soft, just enough to have carried the message of love and no more. And the 'I love you's had always been whispers of power, meant only for each other and nopony else. The only ecstasy those two had needed was being in each others' presence; the magic of love had done the rest, filling the air about them.

Such was not the romance of Venus and Vesuvius. The two island masters had needed spatulas to pry their eyeballs off of each other. Whenever they could have they had buried their faces into each others' bodies, getting drunk on scent and taste. It was like their hooves had been desperate to find forbidden places on each other after years of having failed to do so. More than once the man had felt that they had been a mere hair way from collapsing onto the floor with their tongues throat-deep into each other. But by their other behaviors one thing seemed very clear: the heated passion steaming off of them hadn't been an act meant to flaunt their love. They genuinely hadn't cared that the world had been there watching them.

And that seemed to be the crux of it. More of the incidental moments of romance that James had witnessed by chance in Ponyville had been two ponies acting more like Star Glitter and P.V. than like the island masters. Those two were mold-breakers. They were taking the same magic of love that guided all ponies and pushing it to the raunchiest extremes that their magic-influenceable biology and psychology would allow. They were the rare outliers on the spectrum of pony lust.

And Prism? Prism, he guessed, was just a pony who had found their extremist love fascinating and was out to study it. The same was probably true of all the ponies on the island.

How amusing would it have been if all that those two island masters were up to with their resort was assembling some kind of cuddle-cult to spread their scandalous willingness for public displays of affection? Ha! A pony counterculture! A snuggleable revolution!

That put everything in a sensible perspective for James.

"Hey... James...," Prism intruded into his thoughts. She still glowed.

"Yeah?"

"Would you... maybe-..."

As she picked her face up to look at him, her eyes didn't stop with the rest of her head. They lifted skywards, and her question drew to an early close as she glared up with annoyed confusion.

A pegasus was blitzing through the air, and he knew his destination blindfolded. He slice downwards, curving into the same garden they were in, and he landed with incredible precision. Folding his wings onto his back, Nosedive didn't even have to search for them; he walked right up to the secluded alcove and was unsurprised to find man and mare.

"Hey Prism. Sir." He had a fast, military nod for each of them, and then he spoke exclusively to his fellow islander, "Really sorry Prism. Venus and Vesuvius asked me to come get you. Wanted to talk to you about something."

She frowned, but sat up and got off the bench.

"This isn't great timing," she complained, gentle and without meaningful resistance.

"I know," Nosedive agreed, "but they're anxious and eager and everything. Sorry again."

Prism wasn't the type to shoot the messenger. She thanked the pegasus sincerely, they traded goodbyes, and then he was airborne and on his way. His takeoff was somewhat less refined than his landing.

The mare then sighed to the man, "I'm so sorry, but I have to go for a bit."

"Hey, I understand," James said. He was both distraught and relieved. "I'll... see you later?" Several times his tone drifted between question and statement; between wish and worry.

"Oh, of course! I don't think this will take long. Or I hope not anyway."

She smiled, a secret thought gave short resurgence to her blush, and then she offered him a dreamy, "Goodbye."

"See you later, definitely."

Away the pony turned, and she went with a happy prance. She exited the garden through the same way they had both earlier come in. Her swaying tail followed behind her and disappeared last, its braided bulbs jingling with her jaunty movements, almost like a worm trying to lure in a hungry fish.

The entire way the man watched her go, even getting up off the ground to pace a few tiny steps after her. Once all traces of her had vanished and there was no hint that she would immediately return, he finally was able to take full breaths again. He wheezed and rubbed his eyes, chastising himself for the inept stupidity he had been putting on display. He was older and more mature than THAT!

She was a very nice pony, and it had been plenty of fun to chat with her. He looked forward to sharing some more time with her later. There was plenty of appreciable qualities she had that made her pleasant company.

...

Those legs!

The man raked his hand through his hair hard enough to pull some strands out.

Holy mother of God! He had only been trapped in Equestria for a few months, yet it was now, all of a sudden, that these hopeful whispers of his most primal side had gained a ludicrous amount of strength. Incessantly the voice beseeched him to test how far exactly Prism was willing to go (and more darkly, suggested that maybe she could be taught what she didn't know). He'd have plugged his ears, if it would have worked to quiet things.

It wasn't even like he didn't take care of himself in private often enough. There wasn't any excuse for his fundamental humanity to have returned with such a vengeance. Maybe it was just something about having not even so much as seen ANY woman for all that time, let alone a lady with an irresistible body (and a HUMAN body, thank you very much). After that, now a pony had appeared who FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME had even remotely teased that side of him. Like a starving dog suddenly snapping free of his leash at the faintest smell of food.

Even imagined food! If he was correct then the absolute most Prism would have been interested in was maybe heavy (heavy-ish?) petting.

And smooching. Don't forget she had mentioned smooching.

Shut up!

... Maybe his lonely imagination was just too worked up. It's not like she had come anywhere close to straight up propositioning him or anything. What a pathetic, desperate loon he was to have read so much into her subtle hints. Twilight would have had some stern words for him if he were to have told her about this.

There was no reason for him to consider Prism's fictional offer ANYWAY, given his and her mutual incompatibility. She was a HORSE.

Hey! Remember that ponies are basically people. Learned that lesson already, you know?

Goddammit.

"You don't look so relaxed for being on vacation."

James almost took a startled spill.

"Twilight?" He groaned a sigh, shook his head, and threw his agitation away as swiftly as he could. "I was just sort of thinking about you. A little."

"Oh, really?" By the way his friend lingered neared the entrance she had likely been standing there for at least a good few long moments. She sounded doubtful, not in any harsh way, and she lurched her neck to look around him. Her search of the room was brief, but most particularly she gazed down the exit Prism had left through, opposite to the one she was standing in.

Definitely she had seen something before having spoken up, the man decided.

"Yeah," he threw a pointing finger at the vanished Prism, "you know... cause like, a new pony to try and make friends with..." His voice faded. "... and stuff like that..."

Twilight processed his statement for just a moment before she lit up and nodded positively. Reserve removed, she entered.

James asked, "What brings you here anyway?"

"I was just exploring the Gardens," she said casually. "I passed by and saw you in here with your NEW FRIEND," she grinned with proud delight, "so I moved on. But I hit a dead end quickly and turned around. On the way back I looked in and saw you all alone, so I thought maybe we could chat a bit. Now that our Ponyville schedule has been interrupted, it feels like it's been awhile." Again she ran her eyes over the garden but mainly with disinterested glances, and she brought her voice into a glum spin, "To be honest I don't find the horticulture here all THAT fascinating anyway. I'm not... intruding on anything, right?"

Her explanation was a bomb of relief, exploding loud and swift. Honestly the man was more than happy to entertain any ORDINARY pony whom he already knew.

"Nah," he shook his head and opened himself up with a relaxed stance. "She had to go do something; don't know how long she'll be. Where's yours, though?"

"Mine?"

"Yeah, they gave us all tagalongs," the man was genuinely taken aback that she hadn't noticed. When his meaning still didn't pierce he instead described, "Uh... greenish guy. Kinda blueish mane. You were reading with him all morning on the beach."

"Oh, Gallowayo!" Speaking his name thrust a pleasant sensation into her; something which reflected clearly through her appearance. "He had to go help prepare for that evening party later," she reported with a hair of disappointment. Then the latent observation lashed her like a whip. "They DID give us all companions, didn't they?"

"Well, personal and attentive service, right? It's something their resort has done well. Unlike... uh... some other parts of this place, sorry to say. Not that I'm complaining about a FREE vacation."

"No, I agree," Twilight sighed, dropping her dismal head. "They've put in a lot of effort, but it really feels like they have a long way to go. Some polish is definitely needed." Much came to mind: the shanties at the dock that new arrivals first see, the lackluster decor of the Passion's Embrace, the haphazard construction of the backyard town, and the endless incompleteness that touched almost everything of the resort. "Uh, a LOT of polish, maybe."

"Yeah, they're really disorganized. It's weird what they put their focus on." The man, standing near the beautiful wall of flowers, skipped his fingers across the petals. "Great gardens... fantastic beach... the bedroom was super nice. But," he chuckled, small and with dark humor, "those few things do not a fancy island resort make. Unless they're expecting everypony to just sleep and nap their days away."

The unicorn nodded her general agreement, and then she pointed her thoughts down the path Prism had exited through.

"Don't forget there are some nice ponies here as well," she said.

James hummed and idly tickled the flowers again. He stopped when he realized Twilight had noticed how flustered he was.

His fouler moods were predictable to her at this point so she decided to cut him off before he had a chance to even start murmuring at himself in angry embarrassment. In soothing happiness she told him, "It's great to see you making a friend! If there's anything I endorse fully, it's friendship!"

"Ah, well," he almost excused himself, "I figured I should at least try, right? I mean, outside of my Celestia-dictated friends the only other ponies I've made friends with are little fillies." One of his thumbs rubbed Poppy's medallion. Then he thoughtlessly smirked, laughing, "I'd be getting a boatload of suspicious stares about that if this were back home."

"Why?" The question was so strong it twisted her head.

"—? Cause-" Oh. Right. He limped onwards with a new, safe explanation, "... Because, you know, it'd... it'd been seen as... immature."

"Uh... Right..."

That he was avoiding something was beyond obvious to Twilight, and she had more than enough clues and intelligence to piece together what. (Not that for this specific topic she allowed her curiosity any capacity to delve deeply into WHY.) His reserve was appreciated; thank goodness he had quickly learned to show a proper respect to other ponies with regards to such a forbidden thing.

But Gallowayo's big speech earlier had planted too huge a doubt in her, and she didn't find his restraint as comforting as she would have liked. The idea was in her head now that his silence was perhaps bought by actual cost upon him. And that cost did start to appear in her observations of him: there was something inside his very nature which wanted to be let out, and for the sake of making everypony comfortable he was holding it in.

Which was appropriate to do SOMETIMES. But... maybe Gallowayo had been right about the loneliness, even in company, that comes with keeping something always hidden? A poison distilled from unwanted secrets. What if it had been her who had fallen through the cracks in the universe and had landed on Earth, and then had been told 'there's no magic here, so never again use magic!'? To silently endure that would have been a torturous thing.

Maybe, in the name of friendship, somepony had to be brave enough to wade into restricted, uncomfortable things. At least a little bit. If he couldn't trust a friend to hear him out, who could he?

"J-James," Twilight started, but already her statement was losing cohesion before it even properly began, "I-I-I've been t-thinking... m-maybe-... maybe it would b-b-be alr-right if-f-f-f... uh, j-just a l-little anyw-way, uh... if w-w-we disc-cussed, uh, t-the t-t-topic of-... Well, you k-know, in c-c-controlled c-circums-stances perhaps – and p-p-privacy of course! LOTS of p-privacy – we c-could t-talk about, uh-... A-A-And maybe f-f-first if w-w-we or-rganized a l-list of safety r-rules and prop-per discussion p-procedures, t-then I think w-we c-could, ah-... f-for your b-benefit I c-could... sp-speak with y-you about-" Her own tongue had tangled itself up too much to continue, and she had to loudly swallow to be able to breath again.

"Yeah, hey, so, this resort, right? Weird, eh?" the man wound back the clock suddenly, casting aside her olive branch. If was as if she had never said anything, except for the shaky calm he had laid hastily over his rush. "You weren't getting ANY answers from Venus and Vesuvius back there, huh? It doesn't sound like the resident caretakers do any better with archeology than they do with construction."

Reluctantly the unicorn accepted his change of subject, dejected by her lack of strength. Lately she hadn't been feeling like the greatest friend. At least her thirsty curiosity cushioned her through the changing topics; she found it easy to sit down upon the dirt and settle into a casual mind.

"Yeah...," she breathed, "... it's amazing how little they know. And – I know they're not here to hear this, but I don't mean any offense – I'm way more interested in this island's past than its present." Her usual rumbling groans invaded her voice. "I mean, how do you find NOTHING meaningful while building here? It's a small island and it had a civilization for however many CENTURIES! There MUST be stuff here!"

"Eh," James' mask slowly gave way to his comfortable self, "I'm not sure how surprised I am at the trouble. Venus and Vesuvius don't strike me as the most talented scientists. They seem to be sort of flying by the seats of their... uh, flanks I guess."

"Well, if they're going to be managing a research effort like this then they SHOULD have somepony here who specializes in this kind of work! Gallowayo might be capable of helping but they haven't asked for his assistance at all. He doesn't know anything more than them."

The man hummed then suggested, "You'd think the Island Society would've sent somepony to help them out."

"Ugh, I know! But they didn't, so they MUST trust those two enough to manage everything." At last her frustration burned out and she sunk into a soft despair. "... What I'm really afraid of is that maybe Venus and Vesuvius are simply RIGHT, and there IS NOTHING left behind. What a loss that would be."

Her melancholic funk was no good. The man drummed up his humor, playing it into a nonetheless serious thought.

"I suppose," he offered with a grin, "that if they can't find any answers then it's up to you now, isn't it?"

The words whistled into her ears and became balloons of thought that lifted her head, mostly in slow astonishment.

"I can't just go digging up the island without their permission!" she objected.

"I know. But you can probably throw some magic at the problem or something, right?"

"That's not how magic works, and you know it," Twilight said. But she at least now caught onto his cheekiness and accepted some of the amusement he was providing, turning up her smile.

"Right, right," the man laughed. But he wasn't finished; all his humor had in fact been orbiting a genuine thought. "There should be some kind of magic that lets you look a little bit without disturbing things though. Come on, you got to know some kind of spell to scan the ground. How about right here?" Wide he stepped across the garden room, waving his arms over the flat dirt floor, and again he erupted in jest, "Maybe all the answers just happen to be buried right here!"

It forced a broader smile from the unicorn and she joined him on the dirt, but still she educated him soundly, "There are certainly spells for clairvoyance, clairtouchance, and other extrasensory perceptions, but most of those kinds of detection spells really require you to have at least some partially-defined idea of what you are looking for."

James shrugged, "Makes sense, but I was sort of think more of sonar or something. You know, like... send a vibration into the ground and read what bounces back."

"Sonar?" she scoffed. "What am I, a submarine? That-...—!! That could work!" And the perfect euphoria of an exam-acing student swallowed her right up. "I mean, I wouldn't get any really clear picture of what's there but the shape and consistency of anything buried below would stand out from the dirt easily enough! It would be trivial to pick out disturbances in the pattern!"

Thankful, but moreover proud, she said to the man, "See? You DO have an intuition for magic!"

He was more grateful to have cheered her up than for her compliment. To repay her he flicked a silly salute, but he also chuckled in doubt of his abilities, "Magic: does what you need it to do."

Twilight smirked, not prepared to have a war of friendly praise with him, and then she excitedly took the stage. Around in place she spun a few times to make absolutely sure she was dead center in the circle of dirt. Then swirls of light ran up the grooves of her horn until they joined together in a sparking, purple pinpoint.

"Alright, quiet please!" she announced eagerly, hoisting her blinking horn up. "I'm about to send a pulse!"

Obedient and smiling, James took a step aside to give her space and folded his arms before he held himself like a statue.

Ready, Twilight nodded at him and tightened herself on the ground, pushing her hooves wide before she carefully lowered her head. The light riding her horn left a dazzling little trail as she leveled it down to the dirt, and the nearer it came to the ground the more she inched it closer like moving through a thickening syrup. At last her horn tapped the earth, shaking a few specks of dirt, and she pressed it in slowly enough to bury the twinkling light.

ZZWAP!!

A fast pulse of color blasted from her horn when she pulled the trigger. All was silent for a fraction of a moment as the soundless wave of magic ripped through the earth and echoed back up.

But when her pulse boomeranged back into her it was like a hammer crashing into the tip of her horn, popping her out of the ground. Her head flipped up as far as her neck could stretch, nearly throwing her head over hooves. The leap hadn't been from some involuntarily strike by an outside force, though. She showed no pain or injury; just eyes opened in confused shock.

James was likewise confused, thinking perhaps she was still channeling the spell but sincerely doubting it. He didn't wait long to break his stiffness and he stepped up to the frozen pony.

"... What?" he asked.

"I—...," she slurred the syllable out nice and long, still bug-eyed, "... thought this was just going to be a proof of concept test, but..." Her eyes snapped shut and she whipped her head back and forth, lashing her mane about. Some of her sanity was restored, and she gasped at the man, "... there really IS something buried here!"

"There is?" he was equally dumbfounded by the news.

"There is!" she echoed.

Her amazement started to draw her back into a blind muteness, but ever the thorough experimenter she resisted by summoning up some spontaneous doubt. A fresh light queued up on her horn, she nodded a repeat request for absolute stillness, and plugged herself back into the ground.

ZZWAP!!

And back came the pulse. This time she lingered, horn in the earth, while she exhaustively explored the echo as it moved through her. But it cast her back into the bowels of dizzying perplexity. Weakly her horn disengaged from the earth and her head snuck back up to its level height.

"Uh," she verified for James, "there really is A WHOLE LOT of something buried here."

"Of what?"

"I-... I don't know! I've never really done this before! But there's a... tremendous disruption in the dirt pattern just three or four feet down. Like-... like... many loose things floating, with all the dirt stuffed between them."

Unhelped by her vagueries, the man steered her, "'Loose things' like...?"

Twilight's muttered a half-assembled answer, too inconclusive to hear or understand. The efforts needed for proper deduction had her thoroughly distracted.

So James spoke louder, digging further, "Come on! Large, small; what?"

"Oh, well, uh... it's a big pile, sort of all lumped together," the unicorn tried to allocate to her friend more of her rapid thoughts. "Each item is not that big, but they're not that small either. I'm PRETTY SURE they're all the same kind of thing; I mean, they feel like they're all made of the same stuff, whatever it is, and many of them are similarly shaped. Uh, sort of long and thin, for the most part. Not everything, but most of them. Size varies a little between items. Very smooth too, except for occasional twists and lumps, and what I'm guessing are maybe chips, or cracks, or something."

"That's still too-," the man groaned. But he simply retried, "Okay, so not big and not small, but long... like... what, a tree branch?"

"Sort of, maybe," she considered his suggestion, before she firmly shook her head. "None of the them are quite so long. And I very much doubt they're made of wood, or anything so quickly decomposable. They're not... soft enough, I guess."

She couldn't peel her eyes from the dirt. The sheer difficulty of working out answers from so little was a bit of a straining, almost frustrating, workload. But if anything had her trapped it was her exhilaration for sweet mystery, and she stared at the ground like a wind might come through at any second and dust away just enough dirt to reveal the truth.

"Alright, so, stones or something, right?" the man guessed.

Twilight frowned doubtfully, and then her horn twinkled for a third time. Down she went, zzwap!, a second to breath, and then up she came.

"No. No, I'm almost positive they're not," she said. "Not the way they're shaped. There's a lot of them, but just a few set of shapes between them. Very uniform."

Both friends massaged the riddle in silence for a short while, but the man was the first to break. He shook his head at the silliness of their theoretical archeology by magical deduction, and he wandered a dismissive step away.

"Well, whatever," he ceded his interest. "It's not like what's down there is ACTUALLY some secret of the original islanders."

His submissive doubt stole Twilight's attention in a way that all the lack of answers hadn't been able to.

"What?" he greeted her disappointed stare. He explained, "This whole hillside had to have been cleared to have terraced it for these gardens. When they were filling everything in they probably just buried some junk they didn't need in order to pack the dirt; who knows."

"Hmmmmph..." The unicorn disliked his rationality, and she disliked that she could dislike such a sane answer. Slowly she let the excitement fizzle out of her with a sigh.

"Hey, if you're THAT curious," he needled her in consolation, though he was half-serious, "you can always just rip up the ground with some magic and take a look for yourself."

"I can't do that!" she sternly objected. "I don't have permission!"

"Eh, just put it back when you're done," the man continued to tease. "It's not like a daily patrol is going to sniff out some rooted soil and call in a report on a possible serial dirt agitator."

"Hehe, come on, you know I can't," Twilight smiled, her sourness short-lived.

James eased his playful push, happy to have been of service.

"Well," he shared a pleasant thought, "at the very least now you've got something more to ask Venus and Vesuvius."

"I guess," she accepted. Though plainly she was not overly enthused, already resigned to the ignorance of the hosts. In mulling on her options she decided, "Maybe later. Right now I think I'm going to check out some of the other gardens. See maybe if there's anything buried in some of them. At the very least it'll be more practice using this kind of spell."

The man tipped his head at her, but he hummed in disinterest.

It was loud and clear enough for Twilight.

"I take it that you'll be staying here, then?"

"I should probably wait for Prism, yeah."

She would have been disappointed, given how little time she and her friend had spent catching up. But that he was choosing to stay behind and wait for a pony he was befriending? He had started out as a stranger, then had become a friend in need, and now he was really reaching out on his own to make new friends. What wonderful progress! And it was a clear sign of his recovery! Her face lit up with happiness.

At first.

Her expression had hardly lifted before it began to dim.

As great as it was that he was seeking to build friendships... was he really spending that effort on brand new ponies and NOT on closer ponies who maybe needed the opportunity more? He was open to friendship enough to have very quickly given Prism a chance... and far more of a chance than Pinkie Pie had ever gotten. Maybe, anyway; Twilight WAS biased in the matter. But she couldn't bring herself to believe it was solely a case of something Prism had that Pinkie Pie didn't.

Oh, couldn't he have just been serious and clearheaded enough to have seen the friend staring him right in the face? Pinkie Pie deserved more than his cold shoulder, especially if he could offer a stranger a straight conversation! What did it matter if Rainbow Dash thought he-

The unicorn silently sighed, overwhelmed.

"See you later," she said simply, without a shine.

"Later, Twilight."

The pony walked off, shuffling her hooves in a tired way and shaking the weary thoughts out of her head. She disappeared down the same pathway that Prism had taken.

With some reluctance James watched her go, of course recognizing her drab attitude. This free vacation had not so far worked out at all in her favor; the whole experience was exhausting her rather than resting her. He hoped he had helped, even if her exiting shamble had said that maybe she could have used some more cheer. But he didn't feel the necessary bravery inside to call her back and ask her if anything was seriously wrong.

Really he was bothered more by the fact that, without her around, he had no buffer for whenever Prism was to reappear. In fact he hadn't meant to have said that he was waiting for the other pony; his mouth had flopped open all on its own with the suggestion. He wasn't really even sure if he wanted to wait or not. Or rather, he DID want to wait for her, but didn't know if he SHOULD have wanted it.

He wasn't really trying to make a new friend like he had told Twilight, was he? What would have been Prism's appeal as a friend? Their morning date-thing on the beach ('date-thing?' Christ!) had let him get to know her a little, but by not all that much now that he reviewed it. Really, he had done most of the talking.

Maybe it was just the fawning attention she had shown him. That had been nice. At least she listened, right?

...

And who knew swishing tails could look so sexy?

His hands plowed into his face, palms grinding his cheekbones while his fingertips rubbed trails into his forehead. He spat hot air all over his hands, quaking his lips as he tried to expel every last thought and clear his head.

Dropping his arms and shaking his hands to cast away any incidental spit, he blindly wandered about the garden some more until a sense of tiredness nipped at his legs. He went over to the small alcove and, now that the seat was completely free, sat himself on the bench.

The seat was still faintly warm. It was almost enough to bounce him back up, but he sighed and fast got a hold of himself.

There he briefly rested, sitting upright. It had only been a few short minutes when he noticed he was yet again not quite alone. Up in the sky there was ANOTHER pegasus, this one circling instead of flying straight in, though clearly his garden was her target. After a few more loops she seemed assured and she descended, weaving into a landing position, and the man cheerfully wondered what he was in for. He would count this extra distraction as a relief.

Rainbow Dash made straight for the alcove, though she dawdled with unusual preoccupation. She was fully aware of James' presence – there was no mistake that she had come to see him – but she didn't charge at him with any solid purpose. The everyday-haste that practically defined her wasn't present.

Unbothered and eager for a little engagement, the man shifted himself. In the seat he leaned back, folded one leg up onto his knee, and greeted her with a sly twist of his mouth, "And what trouble are you here to make, Dine-and-Dash?"

The pegasus didn't look at him directly, and the salutation she returned to him showed no fanfare or even casual familiarity. Somehow she needed him, but her presentation showed her to be very much elsewhere.

"Hey James..."

The man, fallen into a peculiar quiet, stared hard at her before he dropped his raised leg and sat up proper. Every silly gremlin and mischievous devil left him.

He re-greeted his friend, "What's up, Rainbow Dash?"

Comments

[Coranth]

"Hey... James...," Prism intruded into his thoughts. She still glowed.
"Yeah?"
"Would you... maybe-..."

"OH, COME ON!"

[Danger Noodle]

So... they are standing on a mass grave? I guess the question is, do the caretakers know it's here?

[Zurock]

7200147

He explained, "This whole hillside had to have been cleared to have terraced it for these gardens. When they were filling everything in they probably just buried some junk they didn't need in order to pack the dirt; who knows."

[Jack Kellar]

I knew the interpersonal turmoils would start bubbling up sooner or later. You can't just ignore the situation Jim and his pony crew are in forever, it's much too pressing. The seed of doubt in regards to the Equestrian vs. Terran sexuality talk has also been planted and will keep niggling at all minds involved. And when you get the two biggest thinkers of the octet together for a little while, the subject of the resort island's weirdness wouldn't escape a conversation.

Things are starting to really unravel and develop now, I feel.