//------------------------------// // 30 - Man's Best Friend // Story: Fading Suns: A New World // by David Silver //------------------------------// Laud led the way, trotting on his short legs through the largely clean hallways of Canterlot High towards the entrance they had used. For as many students as he had seen during lunch, the school seemed almost abandoned. It spoke well, so far as he was concerned, for the discipline and order of the school. The students were learning, not wandering the halls, as it should always be. Starlight was following him obediently, letting him blaze the trail they would follow. This was also good. A shame he was a comically small equine at that moment. His movements of alien muscles pulling equally strange bones was disturbing to pay active attention to. He was not human, all too far from it. The denizens of that strange world were also not human, but far closer than he was, on all fours with ears that insisted on turning towards any sound that didn't come from himself. "How are you holding up?" Laud turned an ear towards Starlight. It wasn't even a choice, just part of how his new alien form handled things. "I am fine," he stated confidently, perhaps with some bravado. He would not crumple, certainly not in view of others. "We are reaching the exit. We should not speak unless needed." Starlight nodded. Despite her being almost directly behind him, he could see the motion. Horses saw the world through inhuman eyes. He could even turn his eyes in different directions at once, but that caused a swift headache. His brain was still a human one, and would not tolerate such things. Laud was happy for it. It was a mildly painful reminder that he was a human under the fur and hooves. They emerged into the bright light of the day. Laud breathed deeply and many scents flooded him. What was oddest was that each one seemed separate, instead of all running together into a composite smell as was normal for people. He could smell freshly cut grass, the lingering scent of passing people, and automobiles. Automobiles were a thing reserved for the densest cities, and only for the use of those in power getting things done. The church had been quite successful getting most of humanity to return to their rural roots, with carts and horses and farmed fields. He had driven one a few times before. It was a perk of being noble. Such technology was far from unknown to him. He shook off the thoughts in favor of focusing on where they were going. His hooves made clip-clop noises as they traveled along the sidewalk away from the school towards the band of it that circled around it. Looking left and right, it seemed clear and he guided Starlight towards the right side, turning to trot down the paved pathway. He was certain there was no equivalent church in that strange not-human world. They seemed to embrace technology. He could see their houses, each larger than the average commoner could dream of, lit with electricity and many with cars of their own. It was opulence. Were they in an especially affluent neighborhood? That was a possibility he could not prove or disprove. A new scent tickled at him. He couldn't place it, beyond fairly sure it was coming from a living thing, and was not a squirrel. He had already seen those dash by a few times. The elderly woman from the cafeteria came around the corner up ahead, turning left towards them. She held a leash attached to a dog that out-sized Laud's small frame easily. That was the scent. The woman had been no threat. Her pet seemed unlikely to be one, so Laud stayed his course. Granny Smith pulled her dog to the side as they approached. "Shouldn't you be in school?" she questioned of Starlight as they came close enough to ask without raising her voice. "I start tomorrow." Starlight smiled a false smile. "I mean, if I'm still here. It's kinda up in the air." The dog sniffed at Laud eagerly, as dogs tended to do. It barked at him in a few rapid yips. Laud tried to discern if they were aggressive sounds or more playful ones, but it was harder to tell. Was it his shorter stature? Was it his new equine form muddying it? He edged away from the canine as best he could while Starlight was talking. "Huh, how're ya not sure one way or the otha? Somethin' wrong?" Granny Smith had a brow cocked. She looked concerned. "Ain't right fer a young one to just be wanderin' about in the middle of the day n' all." Laud could see Starlight's smile turning into a smirk. She was an adult, he knew, clad in the form of a young-adult or not. "I'm fine, promise." She squeezed the bar that attached herself to Laud. "I have a guide right here, so I'm not alone." "I don't much expect mah dog to be the sense of us." She held out the hand that was holding the leash as if for emphasis. The dog took immediate advantage of the slack provided and darted forward to inspect the smallest horse it had ever seen. It rushed for Laud with a wagging tail and buried its snout into his side, then further back, inspecting his scents without shame. Laud had owned a dog once. This one was much the same in its complete lack of awareness of personal space. The elderly woman was not calling it back or pulling it away, so it was very unlikely the dog would on its own. If he was a full sized horse, he could defend himself casually against the small beast easily. As a man, he would scarcely need to, save perhaps to shove an overeager dog away. As a small guide horse, it was all different. The dog outsized him and did not respect his natural place of superiority as a human. If he attacked the dog, it could easily inspire a fight instead of cowing the beast. The dog may even think Laud was a threat to its owner and a guarding dog could be one of the most fierce examples of their breed. Its probing wet nose was embarrassing, but was not directly harming him, unlike how it could go if he provoked a proper altercation. "We should get going." Starlight pulled the bar away from the dog, nudging Laud to step to the side. "He isn't used to dogs." While no words were shared, she could see the distressed body language that Laud was using without thinking. His head was straight up. His ears were folded back. He was tense as if ready to fight or flee. "Aw shoot, sorry." She tugged her dog's leash. "C'm here, Winona. Leave that poor pony alone." She soon had the dog back at her side, the dog completely unaware that it had done a thing wrong. "She's a good girl. She's used t' much bigger horses and she loves them almost as much as the rest of the family." She reached down with her free hand and patted Winona's head. "She's a mighty big help t' us, much like yer pony there is t' ya, though we have t' be the heads with Winona. She ain't much a thinker." Starlight laughed a little awkwardly. "I would think not, but they seem like a good dog. Laud here's as smart as I am. Sometimes I think maybe more so." Granny Smith shook her head. "Don't get fooled. Just cause they can see straight, they're still an animal. Tug to tug, y' gotta be the one in charge." Starlight crouched just low enough to pat Laud's lower back. "I told you, he is my guide. I trust him. He hasn't led me astray so far." Granny looked a bit befuddled, but she did relent, "Well, alright then. Can't say I ever had or needed a guide dog before. Maybe it's different then. If it's workin' fer ya, who am I t' say otherwise?" She gave Winona a light tug. "Say goodbye, Winona." The dog barked and began to amble forward. "Huh, sometimes..." Granny followed after her pet, traveling in the direction the others had come from. Laud walked with Starlight trailing behind just long enough to turn the corner alongside the next side of the building. He spoke without turning his head, "Did you mean that?" "Mmm?" Starlight couldn't get closer with the bar in the way, but did lean forward. "Mean what?" "About trusting me?" He had an ear towards her, but kept the rest of himself carefully neutral. He was just a small horse. Small horses did not idly chat with their owners. "Should I not?" Starlight shrugged emphatically. "You haven't given me reason not to. You wear most of your emotions out in the open, even worse now that you're a horse." Laud felt as if he would blush, but horses lacked that ability. He wondered in what way he was revealing his embarrassment. "I am stoic," he defended even as the words sounded tepid at best to his own ears. "Sure you are." she nudged the bar forward. "But compared to Maud? You're practically an open book, and I've gotten better at getting a read on her." Laud thought of his emotionless teacher and then metallurgist. Few could match her even tone and unchanging features. She had the ultimate poker face. Suddenly, he wondered just how well she could play the game, if ever she had tried. Did ponies have poker? Surely not the exact same game as humans, but maybe they had something similar? His musings eased as they walked alongside a new exterior wall of the school. It was a large building that seemed just as stately and grand from the side as the front. "Starlight, are your friends here wealthy?" Starlight frowned faintly with thought. "That's kinda relative, and I don't even know how money here works." Laud stopped. "How did you plan to get that ice cream?" Starlight lifted her shoulders. "I would ask nicely?" Laud peeked over his shoulder up at Starlight. "And that would work?" "Maybe." Starlight flashed a bright smile. "We wouldn't lose anything for trying." Laud felt a sudden intense twitch overtake his left rump. He could see a fly buzzing near the spot. When it tried to land on him, the twitch came back, discouraging its presence. It felt bizarre, having his body react with no input from him, but it was one alien impulse among others. Starlight helpfully shooed the fly away as they walked, relieving him of the annoyance. "The look on your face... Are you alright, I mean, you know, being a horse?" Laud held his course and pace. "I will not miss this body when I have my human one back." His eyes settled on a car speeding by. He had seen many parked and ready, but only a few in motion. "Are such automobiles frequently used?" "Such what?" Her eyes moved to eye the departing car. "Is that what those are called? You know about them?" "I do. They are a human invention." Starlight raised her brows together. "Clearly not just humans." "Clearly not." Laud shook his head, making the metal attached to him jingle and clink from the vigorous motion. "They are more rarely used where I hail from." "Huh, not here." Starlight shrugged as she went. "I've seen whole fields full of 'em. They put them in big black fields, like the one you're making for the spaceships." Laud's equine eyes widening imagining a parking lot filled with cars in active use. Surely that was a world with wealth beyond his easy measure. "Do you know if they traverse the stars?" "Don't think so?" Starlight shook her head before tugging at Laud. "Someone's coming, remember you're a horse." Up ahead, an adult approached, a male with a sweatband around his head and in the act of jogging briskly. Laud stepped to the side, forcing Starlight to follow if she wanted to keep a hold of his bar.