There was stone holding me gently from all sides. I couldn't remember if I had fallen asleep at the office or had staggered home to rest. It had been an intense day doing what I do for a profession. I had been digging through laws and making things happen while triple checking what we could do and had to do.
I gave a shake and broke free of the stone. I wasn't back at the castle at all. That might explain why I hadn't heard a bell go off.
"True?" came a female voice before Minuette trotted into the room. "Ah, that was you. Welcome back!"
I smiled at her. I liked her upbeat attitude. "Glad to be back. Anything change while I was gone? Do the princesses know where I am?"
She gave a firm nod. "I trotted myself up there myself and let them know I was taking care of you. But let's forget that." She waved it away and her horn glowed as a chalkboard rolled into the room on a stand. "I have exciting news! I did some brain teasing with Twilight, you know her right? Me and her go way back and she was already working on your problem, so we slapped our noggins together." She tossed her head as if pretending to knock it against something. "Bonk, just like that, and we got to thinking."
I was stretching. I was refreshed as if it were morning, as I tended to feel when I arrived in Equestria. "And what did you come up with?"
She reached out and tapped me on the noggin just below my horn. "Everypony needs to sleep. You're not an exception. That's where your missing time is."
I blinked at that. "Sleep?"
"Exactly as I said." She nodded with confidence. "We're 80% sure you get your sleep before you come to Equestria fully. The times where you haven't gotten enough sleep, you appear fatigued on this side. There was even a time you didn't finish the transition, because you were too tired." She sat down on her haunches and raised her head, a pointer slapping some figures on the board. "So we're pretty sure. You go to sleep as a human. The link between Earth and here gets stronger, but your mind gets cozy between worlds, catching some major Zs. Once you're all renewed, then you come on down through that tube and pop, here you are."
That made some sense, but... "What about the time differences? Why do I seem to come at different points of the day?"
"We are talking about different universes." She flashed a grin. "A little time sliding is the least you should expect. So! Now time for personal questions." She leaned in, grinning. "You're a mare where you come from, right?"
"Yes," I answered uneasily. "Why?" I wasn't sure I was happy with the way she was asking that.
"So, what's it like?"
"What's what like?"
She shook her head. "Being a pony. Being a stallion. You weren't either, so you're in the unique position to actually say what being either is like. If you ask me, what can I say. 'I'm me, it's what I always was." She wrinkled her snout. "Not very interesting, but this isn't 'you'. This is still new and exciting and you know the differences, so out with it!"
I wasn't sure at first how to approach that. Minuette's innocent optimism disarmed me a little from thinking she was being malicious, just curious. "Being a pony is certainly different," I confessed. "Being on all fours, walking differently. When I think about it is when I feel the most alien." I took a slow step. "The muscles that make a horse move are not the same that let a human walk around. The more I concentrate on it, the more I can feel these strange muscles working to let me move. Every step is a strange thing. I constantly want to use hands I don't have to hold things that I can't, outside of magic."
Oh lord. "That brings us to magic. What I wouldn't give to be able to snatch something across the room as a human, but there I have hands, which work pretty well, I'll tell you that. Now if I had both, that would be the ideal situation."
Minuette rolled a hoof. "Sounds to me like having one or the other is reason enough to not bother with the other." She hopped up to her hooves. "And being a stallion?"
"That's a bit private." I didn't feel confident speaking to what felt like an adorably energetic child about anything related to... that.
"Aw, come on. I won't laugh, promise." She put a hoof to her chest. "We're friends. You can trust me."
"What do you know about stallions?"
She burst into titters. "They're ponies, just like mares. They tend to like rough and tumble things, but that's not a rule. There are mares that like rough and tumble and stallions that like emotional or pretty things, and they're not wrong for doing so." She waggled her brows at me. "The only core difference is that stallions are outies and mares are innies. Oh! And mares have a shot at being princesses. A reallllllly tiny chance, but hey, a chance."
Right... I gave a slow nod. "So you know where baby ponies come from?"
Minuette just flopped over laughing, kicking out her legs. "I'm a college graduate, silly face. Of course I know how that works. You really are a card." She rolled over onto her belly. "Do I really look that young to you? Hay, I've had a coltfriend or two before... It never lasted that long. I wear poor stallions out, but it's fun while it lasts." She flashed that perfect-white smile. "Are you offering?"
Oh dear. A blush erupted in my cheeks against my will. The horse parts of me said that Minuette was a fine mare. Well-shaped, fit, and healthy. On a purely physical level, my body agreed with the idea being put forward. On a more mental level, I wasn't so fast to leap for it. "N-no, I mean, not that there's a thing wrong with you, Minuette. I don't think there's room in my life for any romance right now."
Minuette's smile broke, becoming a concerned pout. "That sounds serious. What's wrong? See, I have my serious face." She waved a hoof in front of her snout, somehow managing an even more grave expression. "Tell me what's going on."
She was silly, but also sincere, I decided. I sat up and I told her. "Some ponies have fallen into my world. My government has rounded up all they've found and put them in a special little place, like a prison-town. It's not a bad place. No one there looks like they're being abused, but they are captives. The pegasi have their wings bound. I didn't see any unicorns, and part of me wonders if they're having fits with how to keep a unicorn properly held. They, the humans, are scared of the ponies and what they can do and represent."
Minuette shook her head slowly. "You're a human, and Celestia didn't throw you anywhere special. I mean, look, you're here with me. You've wandered the city, and Ponyville. Why are humans so scared?"
I gave a sad smile at that. "Ponies wear their fear on the outside. They see something scary, they run from it. If they learn it's not scary, then the matter is dropped. Like Zecora."
"I know her." Minuette bobbed her head. "She's a special kind of pony, a zebra. I always meant to visit her land someday..."
"Right, humans are different. Our fear lives inside of us. We see something that scares us, we might not run away. We may instead act to make sure the scary thing can't hurt us. Chasing it away, locking it up, attacking it. We don't like letting scary things be. It's... complicated." I sat back a little. "Honestly, the ponies are being treated quite well, all things considered. We've done worse to fellow humans in the name of 'national security.' It's my job to make sure their jail town is built quickly, well, and without breaking any of our rules."
"You're a construction pony?!" She perked up with surprise. "I never would have guessed, and a mare construction pony... well, I did just say there's nothing wrong wi--"
I waved a hoof quickly. "No no! I'm a lawyer."
"Oh!" She let out a breath. "Alright, that makes a little more sense. But why's a lawyer making buildings?"
"I won't be building it, physically." I rolled a hoof as I thought over it. "I have to make sure it's done properly. Think of me in more of a management position."
"That works." She nodded. "It sounds, to me, like you're doing your best to make everything work. You care about those ponies, right?"
"I do," I said easily. "This may sound odd, but ponies are... cute. I see them and I want to protect them instinctively. I don't want a single one of them hurt."
Minuette flashed that bright smile. "Am I cute?"
Oh god... "Yes?" That got more giggles from her. "You have a cute personality too."
"You'll be surprised to know I get that from more ponies than just you. But I have a question." She waited for a nod from me before continuing, "Where are the humans? If there aren't any, that means something right there. More likely, there has to be a few, so where are they?" She trotted off towards the kitchen. "The way I see it, and I'm no political mare, but the human country has all the cards. They have the ponies. If Equestria had some humans, that would change the game."
That was something to investigate. I moved for a window at an idle walk. "I'll ask about that, but let's put that aside. Did you find anything to help my personal situation?"
"Oh, yes!" She came trotting back in, two cups of coffee floating with her. "It's so simple you're going to love it! All you have to do is get more sleep, either home or here. Have you ever actually gone to sleep here?"
I tilted my head at her as I willed the cup over. The glow on the cup become a combination of ours before she let go and allowed it to come to me. "I hadn't, no. I was never here long enough to feel tired."
"Do it anyway." She bobbed her head and sipped from her cup. "Mmm, did you want any sugar or cream?"
"Black is alright." I sipped from the coffee and found it... was not what I expected. It tasted like slow-brewed coffee, sweet and without any acidic hints. "Did you make this yourself?"
"Of course." She sat beside me. "It takes time, but that's one thing I'm good at. I almost feel sorry for ponies that have to plan this out a day or two in advance." She sipped from her cup. "Mmm, just the way it's meant to be. Oh right! You! Sleeping." She bobbed her head. "Go to sleep earlier, and try to get a nap while you're here, and your time will be closer to even."