//------------------------------// // Pathless and Directions // Story: Off the Beaten Path // by PingSquirrel //------------------------------// 5. “With all due respect, are you crazy? He needs to be locked up! Not given another chance! And he most definitely does not need to be released to his own recognizance!” Cuffs protested to the princess as her aura neatly lifted items off of the table and put them back in my bags in their respective places. It might wrong of me, but seeing that rust red pegasus with a tin star tattoo lose his mind over Luna's declaration did help lighten my mood. Even she had a chuckle at the bluster of the somewhat over-weight police pony. “We disagree and We think We outrank you. No. We are quite sure that t'is the case. Thou art dismissed for the night,” she calmly replied and even accompanied the words with a little waggle of her hoof in his direction and this was met with several half uttered protests. None of them actually left his throat before he turned to face me once more and for a third time this night, I was glared at. “Very well, Princess. I obey, but rest assured, I will find a reason to haul him back in,” he stated with confidence, and I really wished I had a certain middle digit to show him at the moment. Instead, I stepped aside and he stormed past me, leaving me free to go to my bags which were quite rapidly filling up with the last of my belongings. I missed how he slammed the door behind him but he did it quite well. “Are all ponies this friendly? Been here a day and I think I am up to five mortal foes,” I joked with a sarcasm laced tone. Luna laughed briefly into a hoof, and gave a hapless shrug. “The manner of thy arrival hath endeared you to many, truly. But take heart. With time, I am sure the rest shall see you for a good pony that had an accident.” She then dropped my luggage on my back all at once without premonition. I was sure I was to be hurt by the weight and I just got a barely uttered half-syllable before it was far too late to stop it. I tensed everything of my body and, as they would say it on the enterprise, 'braced for impact'. I imagine my expression must of been quite amusing because the goddess was laughing sweetly at me, but I did not think it was funny in the least. Those bags are filled with tools, books, metal, electronics and were all balancing on my back with ease. Wait. I glanced back and, sure enough, they were all there. I even did a double take at the neatly balanced pile because I knew even at my best, they should not all be there without flattening me to the ground. I had never been able to lift that much before I came through to this world. She must of saw the surprise on my face and smiled. “Oh, come now. Thou art built as large as any soldier on the Royal guard. Maybe as large as the one of the Bearer's brothers. Thou can easily bear this burden. Come on now. Let us get you to your truck so you might get some rest yet tonight.” With that, she opened the door with that dark blue aura and began her walk out, followed closely by me. Walking through the station and into the night air was a welcomed change as the coolness helped perk me up a bit. The lack of coffee, minimal food, the stress of the day and twenty four hours since I rested well were all ganging up on me. I would be quite happy to get back to familiar ground to speak, if the only ground to be had would be a broken red truck. The fatigue made my mind wander. “So, what's with the ass-tattoos?” I yawned and was rewarded with a strange look from the mare in front of me. “Pardon?” “The designs. Everyone, excuse me, everypony seems to have one. Is it like an coming of age thing where you guys get something put there?” I was curious but, in reflection, I think I was getting to be a little too casual in my language at that point. “Thou must mean our 'cutie marks'. They are a magical symbol of our best talent and they appear when we find it. I hath the moon for I am the ruler of the night. I move it through the sky each and every day. I take it that humans hath no such marks?” she answered. “Nope, but that would of saved me some time if we did. I could avoided a lot of heart-ache and just got into what I do now.” It seemed neat and tidy to have a magical indicator to let you know when you struck at what you would be good at. Then I thought about those that got stuck with something menial like, waiting or something like that. How would they feel with this arrangement? My thoughts were interrupted by her speaking once more. “Oh, Thy tools and the metal in thy truck then? I do wonder what thy mark might look like then, but thy pants prevent others from seeing.” For a moment, I thought that was a pass at me, then reminded myself I was the odd one out in ill fitting clothing. Most of the ponies were bare and those that did have clothing tended to wear capes, cloaks or at most, a shirt. But she did raise an interesting point; did I have a mark too? “I'll look tomorrow, but yeah. I was a metal worker at home. Did stuff like run duct-work and hang fans. It took a long time to figure out I actually liked it more than paperwork and offices though,” I muttered with an effort to not show embarrassment at the thought of having a mark of my own hidden behind the heavy cloth. I do not think it was that successful. “I have three months to get all the lingo and things down, including checking if I have a mark or not. No need to jump the gun tonight and try and do it all.” “Yes. Just give it time and thou shalt do well here. Just be a good pony and others will see that, even if they feel otherwise now. We are all quite forgiving,” she advised. To me, it seemed like she was speaking from experience. The late night walk to my temporary home took us to a lesser used road that lead out of the town. It would seem that I would have some solitude where I was going to be staying. “I guess I will see that for myself,” was my reply as I did my best to note the path we were taking so I would be able to return when I needed to. Then a thought took me. “Wait. You move the moon? You more than represent it, but move it?” It took a bit for that thought to loop around and hit me, but when it did, it boggled me with the scope of the physics involved. “How?” “You can move thy ears and tail, no? I move the moon and the night. Even the stars, I so wish,” she said casually and once again my mind reeled with thoughts and math I was far to tired to properly indulge in. The implications and ramifications of such a thing being possible were... Too much for me to care about right now. I needed a bed and badly and so I let it go and just walked quietly in the night. Minutes passed as she turned off the road and down between the tire treads, where she stopped. Ahead of us would be my truck and behind us would be were the accident would of happened. “Thou canst find thy way from here?” she asked, gesturing with a wing and hoof. “Yeah, I should be good,” I returned as I narrowed my eyes and squinted to see if I could see my truck at all. No such luck, but it was not that far if I recalled. She lowered her limbs and looked at me intently. Instinct told me that there was something the deity wished to say, and I stood at at intention for it. Her voice was commanding and had the full weight of a nation and her own power behind it without ever raising once as she spoke, “Good. Now, I must ask three things of you. First, I want thee not to spread the knowledge of humans too far. There will be rumours, but only I hath seen the pictures. Try and keep it so. Some ponies may panic if they knew of thy origins.” That was reasonable enough. And pretty easy too. I did not know anyone around and so it was not like I had many to go and blab my secret to. “Of course, Your Highness.” “Secondly, thy name. Reflect on thyself and think of a name more of this world. It will help quell the worries, and I shalt speak to Officer Cuffs soon to make sure he doth not use your actual name lightly. My sister will be able to to tell the Elements the same,” she went on to order. That might be a little harder but, again, reasonable. “Yes, Your Highness,” I said again, trying to fight back a yawn. I was really tired and though there as anticipation for the third commandment, nothing was changing the heaviness of my eye-lids. “Finally, try to have a little fun here. Explore and learn from others. T'is quite rewarding,” she stated, in the same tone, but a smile crept on her face. I was confused by this but at least that command seemed to be one that was a bit frivolous in comparison to the other two. “I guess I can do that,” I replied in a bit of confusion. If she was not going to be serious, I was not going to be either. I was too tired and drained to be too serious for long anyways. “Very good then. Amongst other Royal duties I have neglected tonight, I must be going to the castle to see my sister and explain to her what I learned of you tonight so to ease her mind, though I suspect she might wish to speak to you when she gets the chance,” she stated as already a blue aura enveloped her, “Be well, Kerry.” She then was enveloped by a deep blue aura and vanished from sight, leaving me alone on that tire track path off the road. “Huh. All that walking and she simply could warp around like that,” I muttered to myself, “Could of saved us some time.” With that, I walked to the truck. It was still there, looking no better or worse for being abandoned, and after I dumped everything I owned off of my back at the foot of the back bumper, I slipped inside of it to sleep. It did not take long to drift off at all once I was somewhere familiar.