//------------------------------// // Four // Story: Tired and Emotional // by Cackling Moron //------------------------------// And Rhys he found himself back at Rarity’s once more, this time sober and non-hungover enough to truly appreciate how clean and expensive everything looked to him. He was kind of afraid to touch anything lest he despoil it somehow and so just perched warily on the seat by the table that Rarity had directed him towards while she bustled about doing...something… He wasn’t sure what. The walk there - after she’d let go of his hand - had been the very definition of uneventful, apart from the odd looks they got. Rarity had not noticed or cared about them while Rhys had felt every one of them like they’d run up and slapped a biscuit out of his mouth, so had been very glad to arrive. He was also secretly glad that he was about to get food, as the strenuous physical exertion of walking from one side of town to the middle had reminded his body that it needed to eat to live and it, in turn, was now reminding him. With intense hunger pain. “What do humans eat?” Rarity asked, genuinely curious. It was one of those details about Rhys - or, indeed, humans in general - that she simply hadn’t been told or picked up. Few ponies knew, actually, and for the fairly simple reason that Rhys hadn’t ever told any of them and had always got food for himself. “Most things,” Rhys said unhelpfully, shrugging.  The look Rarity gave him told him that this was insufficient as an answer, given she was the one trying to feed him. He swallowed. “Uh, but, I’ve seen you guys eating, like, flowers and stuff? And hay? Yeah, that doesn’t work so good for us. But, you know, bread and, uh...stuff...is good.” Rarity held the look on Rhys perhaps a touch longer than was strictly necessary. A bead of sweat trickled down his neck. Then she smiled as though none of that had happened. “Eloquently put, darling! I shall see what I can do. You wait there,” she said, pointing to where he was sitting just so he was sure where it was he was meant to wait. “I can help?” He offered, halfway to rising. “No, you’re the guest now so you just wait right there, I won’t be gone long,” she said. Typically in the habit or doing what ponies said only for only as long as it took for them to look away so he could escape and go back home to hide, Rhys found himself waiting where she’d told him to wait while she clattered about in the kitchen. He reckoned it was in the way she’d told him, all in her technique. That and, well, food. It was in his best interests to do what Rarity said, really. Just sensible. And like she’d said she wasn’t gone long, returning bare minutes later, hovering a tray in front of her and humming in satisfaction. She’d compromised and played it safe by rustling up a small selection of things to be picked from and assembled as worked best. There was bread, there were some vegetables, there was some fruit, there was some cheese out lurking towards the periphery - just a touch of anything she had to hand. Or hoof.  A cunning move Rhys felt. “That’s a spread,” he said as Rarity set the tray down on the table. “Why thank you, Rhys. Always nice to know one is being a good host!” She said happily, hopping up onto a seat just along from him, practically within arm’s reach. The better to pass him a plate, really. Not that Rhys really noticed how close she was, or even the plate. Too hungry for that. He attacked the food with vigour, grabbing grapes with one hand while attempting to put cheese onto bread with the other. Both hands then fed their respective contents into his mouth, more-or-less at the same time. Rarity watched him do this. “Maybe pace yourself, dear. It’s not going anywhere,” she said. Cheeks bulging, hands reaching for more, Rhys paused, chewed and then swallowed. “Right, right. Sorry. Hungry, heh,” he said sheepishly. “Quite alright,” Rarity said, helping herself rather more daintily to what was on offer. The two ate in companionable quiet for a while, exchanging occasional glances and small, pleasant smiles. Rarity hadn’t actually ever seen Rhys smile, at least not that she could remember, and while he was doing it now while chewing and they were hardly the largest it was still a marked improvement. Not having eaten for a while though his eyes proved bigger than his stomach and it wasn’t long before he had to take a break and lean back. Rarity chose this moment to move the conversation along. “Dear? Are you alright?” She asked, delicately. “Me? Course, just maybe ate a bit quick, heh, that was - oh, oh you mean about the...the thing, don’t you?” She nodded and he slumped forward in his seat a little, elbows resting on the table until he noticed Rarity’s sideways look and put his hands in his lap instead. “It’s fine. I’m over it now, really. Had some time to think about it and can’t really do anything about it anyway, so it’s fine. Just done. Done,” he said. “Would you like to tell me about it? You don’t have to, of course, just it might - oh I don’t know - make you feel better?” Rhys wasn’t sure he followed her logic on that one but she’d asked so nicely it felt churlish to refuse. “There’s not a lot to say. Shouldn’t have got my hopes up, I suppose. I mean, if you get tossed through dimensions you should just be glad you arrived somewhere non-lethal in one piece, right? Expecting to get back and everything be fine is just stupid. So I was dumb, shouldn’t have got my hopes up,” he said. “It’s never ‘dumb’ to be hopeful, Rhys! And I’ll have you know that Twilight is - Twilight certainly did the best she could a-at the time. And who knows? Anything could happen tomorrow! Or some other time soon. Hypothetically. You should never lose hope.” Quite nearly given the game away there but Rarity had managed to catch herself in time. Not that Rhys really noticed anyway. He was looking at his hands in his lap. “That’s...that’s nice of you to say. But come on. She already made a bloody portal. I can’t make a portal. If she can’t do it then what’s going to happen? It’s done.” He sounded so crestfallen that Rarity didn’t really know what to say to this and things went quiet for a moment before Rhys carried on himself: “When I got here first it was a lot. A lot. I didn’t know what to do. Everything just reminded me of how I wasn’t meant to be here. I got a bed that’s like it was made for a child and everything runs on magic or friendship or something. And everyone’s the wrong shape. Then later they told me - Twilight told me - that she could work out a way for me to go home. So I spent all my time thinking about that, about going back to where I’m meant be. Didn’t really think about much else. And then, well, then you know what happened.” He shrugged and what was on his face was a very strained expression that you might confuse for a smile if you looked at it only briefly. He then sighed. “It’s weird. I know it’s real because I was there, I saw it, but it just doesn’t feel real now that I’m back here. Because now it’s somewhere else? And it was somewhere else the whole time I was here before. You know? It’s out of sight so maybe it’s fixed now and I just don’t know. Even though it’s not. So it’s like nothing’s happened, it’s like how it was before and I’m just stuck here again. Only sometimes I remember that I really, really am stuck here now, and there’s nothing and nowhere for me to go. No-one to go back to.” That had been a mouthful, and the blank look on Rarity’s face made Rhys feel that he had perhaps not explained himself as clearly as he might have done. He winced. “You know?” He ventured. “I - I would be lying if I said I understood how you felt, darling, but I can certainly understand how so desperately wanting something for so long only to find it beyond your reach would be...disappointing. To put it mildly,” she said and Rhys nodded, this being an acceptable enough level of understanding. “All that time wasted. Should have been using it to just get comfortable with the idea of being here until I died.” Grim boy, but sad boy. Rarity leaned over to pat him on the knee, such a token gesture he almost chuckled when she did it. Almost, but not quite. “Is it really so bad here?” Rarity asked as she leant back. “No, no, not at all. It’s just - look, objectively this place isn’t bad. It’s actually quite nice. Everything’s bright and I don’t have to open the newspaper and see how things are being run into the ground by whatever prick I didn’t elect or who got murdered or whatever and everyone here is really nice, I’ll admit that, even if I - uh, even if I’m not very nice in return...it’s just…” He wasn’t sure what it just was, and trailed off, frowning to himself. This left an opening for Rarity and she took it: “Forgive me if this sounds like a silly question but do you miss it?” After all he hardly sounded as though he was giving the place a glowing review. The newspaper thing alone had been alarming! Murders? Daily?! Rhys blinked and considered the question, which wasn’t so much silly as out of nowhere. “Uh, well, it - it wasn’t the best sure but I kind of had it figured out. And I belonged there. More or less. Here I just - I stick out, I don’t know. I don’t belong here. I don’t fit here.” “With the greatest of respect, darling, you’ve hardly tried to,” Rarity said. “I-” Rhys started, only to realise that he didn’t have a leg to stand on. “That’s fair,” he said, shrugging, defeated. Again Rarity lent over to put a hoof onto his knee - this time leaving it there long enough for him to look up and se her smiling. “One can hardly blame you. I imagine if I found myself somewhere wholly alien - if our positions had been reversed, say - I’d find fitting it a little difficult myself.” The mere thought of what would have happened to Rarity - or any pony, really, but Rarity was the one saying it so Rarity was the one Rhys thought about - had she appeared on earth made Rhys distinctly uncomfortable. So much so he had to fight down the surprisingly sudden urge to grab her and keep her safe, which was odd. He barely trusted his fellow humans with a knife and fork, let alone a sapient being. It hardly bore thinking about. “What’s that face for?” Rarity asked, perplexed as to why Rhys was grimacing so much so suddenly. He shook his head. “Nothing, just - s’fair, s’fair. Sorry, just had one of those thoughts, you know? Unpleasant.” “Would you like to talk about it?” She asked. Again the polite, probing question. This time though Rhys resisted. This wasn’t something he even wanted back in his head, let alone out in the open. “Not this one, sorry. Just, uh, thank you for the food. And for the talking. I don’t really do a lot of that. Normally,” he said, wringing his hands a moment before concluding: “Could probably try and...be...friendlier, couldn’t I? Nicer? To everyone else?” “I can’t imagine it hurting, dear. You’re being nicer with me and look where that got you - a free lunch!” Rarity said. “Heh. Yeah. I’d always heard there was no such thing as one of those.” “Quite. But shh, don’t go telling everypony, they’ll all want one and I am but one mare!” This actually got an actual smile from Rhys, much to Rarity’s delight. He then yawned. “Oh man. Might be an idea for me to go and sleep. And shower, probably,” he said, catching a sudden whiff of himself. “Well, I didn’t want to say…” Rarity said, lightly. “I did see your face when the door opened back at mine, you know.” “Ah. Thought I’d been rather subtle about that.” “Not subtle enough.” “Something for me to work on, then!” They shared a titter over this, then another moment of pleasantly friendly silence. Then Rhys slapped his thighs. “Right. Yes. Time for me to get out of your exquisitely maintained hair. I’ll just - uh - I’ll go. Shower, sleep. Get started on being less of a wanker tomorrow. Can only be a good thing, like you said. Can’t be that hard,” he said, rising to his feet and tottering over to the front door. Rarity hopped from her chair and followed. “That’s the spirit!” She said before watching him have more trouble with her door handle than a grown stallion really should have. He’d just about had it cracked when Rarity plucked up enough nerve to do something she felt might be a risk but would hopefully have a positive effect. “Rhys?” She said and he turned, looked down. “Hmm?” “Come here.” They were standing right in front of one another. He wasn’t sure what else he was meant to do. “I am here?” Rarity rolled her eyes with much theatricality.  “No, closer, come down closer,” she said. There was something of a height difference. Confused as to her intentions Rhys tentatively took a knee, the better to get them on the same level. This was pretty much exactly what Rarity had been angling for and no sooner had he dropped did she rear up onto her back legs and hug him. This came as a shock to Rhys, much as it had the last time, and much as it had the last time he found himself not hating it anywhere near as much as he felt he should have. Every other time one of the locals had felt the need to latch onto him - particularly that pink one - it had been rather as though his skin had wanted to crawl clean off his body. With Rarity though? Not so much. Weird. She was still the wrong shape, but her intent was clear, so it wasn’t all bad. Right? Right. She meant well, which was the main thing. And that counted for a lot. So where was the harm in, say, just putting an arm around her to hug back a little? It showed appreciation, which was polite.  But only one arm though. He wasn’t crazy. Didn’t want to seem like he was actively enjoying it. Just appreciating it. There was a difference. “No matter how much you feel like you might not belong I’ll always happily welcome you here, darling. Remember that, hmm?” She said, not breaking the hug. Utterly blindsided all Rhys could do was nod dumbly. And give her a light pat on the back for good measure. He wasn’t sure what else he was meant to do. A few seconds after this the hug broke and he stood up again awkwardly. “Um,” he said. “I - I will. I will remember that, Rarity. Thank you.” “Good. I hope so.” Anything further was lost by Rhys yawning again, leading Rarity to tut. “Go on, you, go and sleep! You look like you need it.” “Oh thanks, very nice. Come here to get fed and all I get is sass.” Rhys pouted and, giggling, Rarity give him a butt in the leg with her head, careful not to outright stab him. That would have undercut the moment. “Go on, go!” “Going, going…” And he opened the door. Standing outside - hoof raised to knock - was Twilight, who was as surprised to find Rhys opening the door as he was to find her the other side of it when he did. Rhys’s surprise manifested in a strangled yelp and nearly falling over, however, while all Twilight did was continue to stand there like a sinking pudding, hoof poised. Rhys recovered first though. “Sorry. Hi. I’m going. Bye,” he said, giving a rather unusual - and clearly not especially thought out - bow of greeting-stroke-farewell and then sidling past Twilight and departing as quickly as he could. She twisted to watch him go before untwisting to look at Rarity who was also watching Rhys go, though with more concern than bewilderment. “Found him, then?” Twilight asked. Rarity kept watching a moment longer and then took in a breath. “Yes, at home after all,” she said, standing aside so Twilight could come in rather than having to stay on the threshold. “He alright?” Twilight asked as he strolled on in, Rarity closing the door behind her. “I think he went through something of a rough patch on his own but he seems much improved now. Fed, at least, which has to be a start,” Rarity said. “Fed?” “We had lunch! Would have had it as his but he was rather lacking in, ah, the key ingredients of lunch. Which is to say, food. Quite frightful, actually…” The mere memory of Rhys’s kitchen was enough to provoke a mild shudder. “That was nice of you, Rarity,” Twilight said but Rarity dismissed this at once. “Oh posh, Twilight, anypony would have done it! He hadn’t eaten in some time, too, could hardly have not fed him. And it seems to have improved his mood, as I said. And we had a little talk. He seems much better,” she said. “That’s good, that’s good,” Twilight said, nodding. “It is. But, ah! To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Twilight?” Rarity asked, gathering up the remnants of lunch and carrying it all back through to the kitchen, Twilight following. “Just coming to see if you, you know, actually found him. And you did, so that’s good. Just that the last I saw of you was you going off to see if he was alright and then that was it. But it all worked out so that’s good, cool,” Twilight said. Rarity disposed of what little food remained before dumping the plates in the sink and rounding on Twilight, beaming, mane flouncing. That trick took practise. “Indeed! Though, seeing you here now and talking of this, how is the, ah, second attempt coming along, if you don’t mind me asking?” She asked. Twilight winced. “Oh you know, progressing. Slowly,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll have it cracked in no time at all, darling!” Twilight gave Rarity an especially flat look. “It’s not as simple as that, Rarity. Cross-universe tunneling is complicated enough without fourth-dimensional mechanics getting involved. The variables were already difficult to account for when things were straightforward.” ‘Straightforward’ being a relative term here, obviously, but what was straightforward for Twilight was another category apart from how the word was typically deployed. “But nothing insurmountable? Rhys was very impressed with your achievement in the last portal, even if the results were...well, yes. But that’s hardly your fault! He remains impressed with what you achieved regardless,” Rarity said. News to Twilight, who cocked her head. “He was?” She asked. Rarity nodded. “He was!” Twilight’s experience with Rhys was hardly limited - besides Rarity she’d spent the most time with him out of anypony around - but all he’d really ever done was answer her questions and otherwise just keep quiet. It had not given him much insight at all into his character, other than giving the impression of someone who wasn’t exactly bursting at the seams with sunshine. That he’d been impressed by what she’d done was surprisingly nice to learn, actually. Would have been nicer to hear it from him firsthoof but still, you couldn’t have everything. “Never said anything to me. Other than ‘thank you’. He said he was impressed?” She asked and again Rarity nodded. “He did! Not in those words exactly, of course, but as good as those words exactly! He was mightily impressed. As were we all! I for one certainly was. You did something that, well, only you could have!” High praise indeed. Twilight found herself going an abashed shade of pink. But as nice as praise was it didn’t exactly solve some of the problems she’d been grappling with, something she wanted to convey to Rarity, just so that hopes weren’t raised unnecessarily:  “...it’s still very complicated! On a theoretical level I’m not so much working from books as having to write them as I go along and then on the technical side there’s a whole host of issues! A portal is one thing, that’s tough enough, but a portal that can through time as well as space? It’s hard to know where to even start, I mean…” Twilight drifted off and her eyes glazed as an idea popped up out of absolutely nowhere, spurred on by nothing and catching her entirely off-guard. “...although, I suppose, if I halved the size of the chronitron resonance coils, arranged them symmetrically...I mean that...in theory...might...hmm…” At this point she started mumbling a bit and internally cursing herself for not having brought something she could make notes on. Rarity observed this shift with some confusion. “Dear? Twilight dear are you quite alright?” She asked. “What? Oh, right, yeah. Look I just need to go so I’ll - coils, halved, more of them? Less individual capacity but if running in sequence...symmetrically...yes, yes…maybe? Yes...” Twilight wandered off and let herself out. “Strange girl but we love her all the same,” Rarity said to herself before starting on the dishes. All in all, today had been pretty good, she felt. Oh, go on then! Very good. Very good indeed.