//------------------------------//
// Loyalty 
// Story: Will Ye No Come Back Again? 
// by Judge Holden 
//------------------------------//

"If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans."
-James Herriot



I was woken up an unknown amount of time later by the same creature that tried to talk to me.
"You okay, kid? I know I'm awesome and all, but fainting over me is something else!"
My vision was very blurry. I rubbed at my eyes a bit. I felt something at my lips, and was reminded just how thirsty I actually was.
"Come on, kid. Work with me here. Drink this."
I said nothing still, but did as was asked and took a drink. It was the hot chocolate, but no longer hot.
"Good girl. You okay?"
My vision had by now returned to me, and I looked at her. I felt myself wilt when she reminded me of my new gender- I still blame the Krauts. Additionally, I felt like my eyes were being molested by colors. Her body was pale blue, but her mane and tail were both rainbow colored. I assumed she was into dye- if there were talking unicorns and pegasi here, surely there was hair dye.
Blue horse waved a hoof in front of my face.
"Hello? You in there?"
She proceeded to gently knock on the side of my head.
I blinked. "Y-yes?"
"She speaks! I was beginning to wonder."
I stared.
"You were out for around twenty minutes, kid. Where are your parents? I should prob'ly take you to them or something."
No words came from my mouth. The horse blinked, and rubbed her face.
"Why are you looking at me like that? What? Is there something stuck on my face?"
"Who are you?" I finally squeaked out. Her pupils seemed to shrink, and she stared at me.
"Wait, you never heard of me? Seriously?"
I felt as though I'd run out of words, so I just shook my head. My stomach grumbled softly.
"I'm the one, the only... Rainbow Dash! No autographs."
"What did you need?" I whispered. "Why did you come to me?"
The look of self satisfaction on her face all but drained. She looked taken aback.
"Huh? What do you mean? It's not every day you see a random filly holed up beside a fountain. I was trying to make sure you were okay."
A bell rung in the distance, and her ears and mine both twitched.
"Now that I think about it, shouldn't you be in school?"
My stomach growled again, but louder this time. Rainbow chuckled.
"Sorry, didn't mean to stop you from eating your meal. Ooh, looks like somepony has a secret admirer."
I blinked.
"Either that, or your mom is overbearing. Where are your parents?"
I shook my head slowly.
"No. No, I..."
I looked at my hooves, then back at Rainbow, holding them out to her.
"How do you use these?"
There was a brief silence, followed by a laugh from my strange companion.
"Hah! I like you, kid. Look, I gotta get going. Remember to tell your parents and friends that it's true: I am as awesome as they hear. See you later!"
Before I could say anything else to her, she leapt into the air, and was off as her namesake- in a dash. I held out a hoof.
"Wait!" I yelled. Too late. She was gone. "Could you open this container...?"
Sigh. I turned back to the food, and set to work.
--
It took me an hour and a half. No joke. Imagine if someone took away your hands, replaced them with hooves, and you had  to try and open a box. What kind of place was this? I eventually settled on just trying to break open the box from one side. I accidentally ended up knocking it into the water a few times, but ultimately succeeded. 
Stupid box. Stupid hooves. Stupid horses. Stupid Krauts.
The breakfast that was left for me (I suspected Rainbow Dash), was a small stack of pancakes with syrup and an egg. My anonymous caretaker had even left me a plastic fork and knife. 
Problem was actually using those things. I was able to hold the utensils between both hooves, but soon as I tried to steady the container, whatever I was holding would fall down. I even tried wedging the fork in one hoof. It kept falling down soon as I tried to use it.
Eventually I gave up and relented to eating face first. The syrup was in a small container and I hadn't bothered to pour it on the pancakes. Opening it would be a huge battle for me anyway. I decided that, after I finished the food here I would try to open it and just drink the syrup. Stevie used to do the same thing every once in a while.
The pancakes and eggs were delicious. Every bite was heaven, though the food had long since cooled. I had to thank Rainbow Dash if I saw her again.
When I did finally finish the food, I was still a little hungry. Don't judge me, I hadn't even eaten before the fight. Hartman always said going in hungry lessened the odds that a stomach shot would fester, but I digress. It seemed a bit easier to focus now. I grasped the small syrup container with both hooves and bit at the foil cover.
It took me twenty more minutes to open the damned thing. I downed it as if it were a shot. Yeeck. Would have been nice if I had it on my pancakes, but then I would be all covered in syrup. 
Still, once I was done I washed my face up in the fountain and then drank from it some more, and I tossed my trash in a nearby garbage can. Like an idiot, I forgot about the blanket and pillow, and started wandering town once more.
What were my plans for the day? Hell, what were my plans for my life? I didn't seem to be in a place of conflict now. It was far more peaceful here than my home. I feared the hushed whispers I heard of a great atrocity being committed by Hitler's Germany. Who was to say something like that wasn't secretly happening here?
There was a battle going on in my skull at all moments; a whirlwind of racing thoughts and fears. I was far smaller than the average horse here, which I felt made me a child. I was going to be 17 in three months, damn it!

Wasn't I?

I did my best to ignore the coos of a few of the other talking horses. Each voice I heard felt like it was pushing me closer and closer to the proverbial deep end.
I did everything I could to avoid breaking down in the middle of the town. I just wanted to think to myself. Or find someone to thank for the care package, if it turned out it wasn't Rainbow. First, however, I had to ask her, which meant finding her, which...
"Oh, now where did the fountain go?" I muttered to myself. 
If I couldn't find the nonmoving fountain, then finding the blue horse thing with wings was never going to happen.
I swear I could hear singing.
My anger seemed to return to me. At least, the anger I usually felt back home. A pang of relief came with it, as if it were a long lost heirloom I had just recovered.
What was there to sing about? What, did someone win the lottery or something? Did they find a way to send me home? Weird concert? 
Whatever it was, the singer seemed happy, and I think that's what made me angry. Life goes on, sure, but in my irrational state at the time, I hoped everyone would be as miserable as I was.
I turned tail and stormed away, hoping my footfalls would drown out the song.
"Hey, you okay? You look like you want to knock some heads."
"Probably because I do," I accidentally muttered.
"Heh, well at least you're honest. You need to talk?"
"I need a vacation," I said. I hadn't even looked at the source of the voice. It sounded female, though. Whoever it was laughed again.
"Don't we all? Hey, you can talk to me. It might help."
God, but she was persistent, wasn't she?
What, could you send me back home? Turn me back first please. Preferably without the bullet holes. If I need to have a few, though, I'm willing to compromise.
"Hey."
I felt something on my shoulder and instantly I tensed up. With reflexes I didn't even know I had, I'd hopped, and whirled to face the voice. She had her hoof in the air still, having pulled it back when I recoiled. "Yikes, sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."
Who can blame me for how I reacted? My dad used to take us all to church and drape his arm over the pew like he was holding the whole family. Really, it was an aiming device. I know because all it took was a stray laugh from me to earn a nice smack on the back of the head. I called them brain dusters.
The horse thing had a horn, just like I did, but larger than mine. Some part of me felt a little jealous. She was dark purple too, had a matching mane and tail, and she wasn't much bigger than I was.
"Sorry," I heard myself say. "I don't do touchy feely."
Well, it wasn't too far from the truth. I never did touchy feely at home on account of an overdose of acne. I suppose that's one plus side to what I was now. No acne, and whoever did this to me made me look halfway decent, I guess.
Not that I was thankful.
"No worries," she responded with a smile. "Hey, my name's Rarity. Not to be confused with the fashionista, though. Everypony just calls me Rares."
I felt a bit of pride bubble up within me. Here everyone was with a funny name, but I intended to use mine as a symbol for my humanity, and also because I'm not particularly creative in coming up with names.
"My name's Sam, but most people call me Sam."
Rarity giggled.
"Nice to meet you, Sam I Am. Are you new in town?"
I gave a curt nod.
"Cool! Maybe I'll see you in school. Did your parents enroll you yet?"
I blinked.
"No, I'm not in school right now. I'm in the middle of service."
She tilted her head. "Service?" After a moment, though, a look of understanding and envy washed over her face. "Wait, you're one of Princess Twilight's students? You lucky duck!"
"No, a soldier. Infantry. I was deployed to Algiers."
Rarity stared blankly. "Did the Princess ask you to make up a backstory for a character or something?"
"No!" I said again, this time a bit more forcefully. I was going to say more, but I gave up on the topic. I just didn't care anymore. "Yes," I corrected.
Apparently that was the right answer, because Rares- Rarity smiled. "Cool! Did she assign you a play or something? Ooh, a story? What is your job in it?"
I then proceeded to throw together a random story about some full grown guy who was always told he acted like a child, but then one day he ends up taking in a kid of his own and had to learn to play Dad instead of kid. 
She kept correcting me, though. Every time I said "everyone," "anyone," or "nobody," she would stop me and say "everypony," "anypony," and "nopony." 
I knew that the world I was in was dominated by mythical creatures that could speak, but I was still me. You see, I used to keep this list at home. It's the only thing I managed to keep through three break-ins. All that I have written on it are words that I would never ever use in a conversation. Those were going to be three more of them.
Still, this filly was nice to me. I found myself opening up to her a bit more the longer we walked and talked. I began to actually enjoy her company, and we ended up hanging out until the sun was on the horizon.
"...so we snuck the dead snake in the la- mare's room, coiled it up in the middle of the floor so it looked alive, and then stood outside and just waited."
I liked this Rarity's laughter. It made me laugh too, and heaven knows I needed a good laugh. Even if it meant recounting old tales, it helped me feel better.
"Wow, that's rich! I need to keep that in mind next time my friends and I need an idea for a prank!"
I smiled. "Consider it yours to try. You have to source the snake, though."
She nodded once, still laughing a bit. "I think I knew a few places to try."
Rarity looked up to the house behind her. Funny, I hadn't even realized we were walking and talking again.
"It's getting late," she said. "Hey, come by tomorrow if you're free. Maybe we can hang out some more!"
I smiled again. "That sounds nice, sure thing. Nice to meet you!"
Unconsciously, I held out a hoof, and she batted it with her own.
"Awesome! See you later, alligator."
She didn't notice my face fall as I stared at my arm. I'd gotten used to seeing my body this way and hearing the way I sounded, sure, but I couldn't help but feel like something within me was changing. 
My eyes widened. Walking! I'd been walking this whole day, and I must have been doing a fine job of it, because nobody mentioned me looking drunk or anything. I tried to pay attention to myself while I tried to find the fountain again, but... I'd just started walking funny again, because that was what my brain was expecting.
I took some time to find the fountain again, but when I did the pillow and blanket were both where I'd left them, only the blanket was neatly folded up. I felt a twinge of guilt- they weren't even my belongings; the least I could have done was fold the blanket nicely.
Was this going to be my life? Just sustaining myself on the kindness of strangers? I felt my ears droop down. I just wanted to go home. With a sigh, I managed to struggle my way under the covers, and I rested my head on the pillow once more.
My stomach grumbled.



End of Chapter