Day five, still no ships heading towards Equestria and it seems no one is willing to disclose the information I needed to find out when they will. The dock workers are of no help, seeing as how they completely forgot about the incident with me and their harbormaster and went right on back to treating me like pony Satan. Little discouraging but I found plenty of things to pass the time while I waited for something to happen.
That lovely innkeeper, whom I later learned was named Amara, was a pleasant conversation partner that was all too eager to learn about the other races. The patrons of her little diner were all to happy to join in on the conversation, keeping me thoroughly distracted and my anger in check while enduring the constant jeers and glares of the cities populace. I was even able to catch up on several projects I put on hold during my exile, most all of them consisting of objects and vessels meant to mess with the planets populace, have to get my kicks somehow.
Still though, I was never a good player of the waiting game, and I was bound and determined to keep away from time magic in order to fix the problem. I learned quickly that you don’t mess with time after my first few centuries of this god gig, having created enough butterflies in the time stream that it basically took the multiverse and chucked it into the blender, leaving my section of reality a jumbled mess so great that it’s basically being held together by duct tape and wonder glue.
On the bright side, I can now traverse the multiverse, which I abused the hell out of for a good hundred millennia. Turns out there’s an infinite amount of my universe that spans all of time from creation to beyond the death of existence...still thinking on that one.
That’s a story for another time though; right now I needed to focus on the here and now of this universe, which mainly consisted of me angrily slurping my broth while the other customers kept as far away from me and my scowling face as possible. They quickly learned that I was a very pleasant fellow to be around for a friendly conversation, all except the zebra, they can go screw themselves. On the other note, they now know not to mess with me while I had a particular look on my face, especially the zebra, which were quick to vacate to either to their rooms or out the nearest window.
Most of you might be wondering why I was so angry right, well it definitely wasn’t due to the insults or anything like that; I have much more patience than I let on. I can take the insults in stride and go about my day, usually, but there are still several things I will never condone.
I didn’t want to get all that involved with anything in this city, seeking only to hitch a ride on a ship to equestria and see what mess they have going on over there, but boy did that plan fall through fast. In less than a week I had been involved with numerous attempts of thievery of my saddlebag, hiding from the local guard, and making sure that several criminals found their way in dungeon cells.
This city needed a hero, but they sure as hell didn’t deserve it.
I still left the guard plenty of breathing room so they could try and actually do their jobs, but they were still pretty worthless, meaning all the work I put in essentially amounted to nothing, which only left me pretty irritated, not the kind of mindset to have when walking thought a city bent on villainizing you.
It was during that pissed off stroll that I found my way in an alley to try and get back to the inn faster, only to end up stopping in the middle of said alleyway, my ears twitching as my keen hearing picked up the sounds of quiet sobs further down the alley.
I couldn’t let my curiosity go unsated, so like any normal person, I went to investigate. What I found made my blood boil and any thoughts of my earlier anger extinguished and rekindled with righteous fury.
Sitting there in a pile of trash and old rotting cloth was a small zebra foal. The colt was covered in dried blood and bruises, reeking of something I couldn’t quite place, but would have definitely killed a lesser man.
He was still conscious, staring at me with eyes conveying nothing but pain and fear, making my heart ache at the mere sight of him. He was healed almost immediately afterwards, the sight actually bringing a tear to my eye as my anger was pushed to the back of my mind and my compassionate nature took over.
It took quite a bit of coaxing to get him out of the box, even more for him to climb on my back so I could bring him back with me to the inn, where he was immediately whisked off to my room for a proper bath, Amara coming in soon after and, after plenty of encouragement, helping me clean him up and having her cooks set him up with a proper meal.
This is how I currently found myself sitting in the dining area of the inn, hiding away in the farthest corner from the door, while the colt rested at my side with one of my wings draped over his back and a small bowl of vegetable broth in his hooves.
He had been nursing his meal for a good half hour, not saying a word as he constantly scanned the room with his eyes always lingering towards the door. I didn’t bother him while he did this, merely pulling him a little bit closer against my side whenever I felt his muscles tense from someone entering through the door.
“How is he doing?” I heard Amara ask me, coming back with another round of soup for us all. I just shrugged and pushed my now empty bowl to the side. She smiled sadly and sat down across from us, giving the colt a little wave and a smile, to which he responded by doing his best to hide under my wing. I gently nuzzled the little guy in response.
“It’s alright, she won’t harm you.” I assured him, letting my eyes connect with his as my frown was quickly replaced with a comforting grin. He nodded softly before going back to his meal. I sighed and gave the mare an apologetic look while rubbing the colts head a little. “His name is Adasi, in case you were wondering.”
She nodded and started to sip on her meal, humming appreciatively, before finally turning all her attention to me. “Any luck with the harbor today?”
I shook my head and blew a on the mane in my eye before setting my new bowl down, letting my head rest against the table instead. “All I got today was another five or so guards called on me by one of the more paranoid members of your species. Nothing against you Zebra, but I really don’t like the ones in this city, present company excluded.”
“Oh trust me, I get it” she said with a chuckle. “It was a headache getting this Inn set up and running, nearly cost me an arm and a leg in permits.”
I actually asked her about that after the third day of staying here, where I learned many interesting facts about this city. Turns out no one had it easy in this city, not even the ones born and raised here. This city was out to get everyone equally, no matter the species or gender.
I made a note to come back here after I was done with Equestria, maybe shake the city up a bit before going about on my merry way. For now though, I just needed to handle my business here and move on, but now I had another problem to deal with. Granted, this is a problem I couldn’t just ignore, but it was still a problem none the less.
Now I had to figure out what to do with the kid, not trusting myself to take care of him and not wanting to bring him anywhere near the people I planned on meeting, especially the Unicorn and Pegasi, Earth ponies were a bit of a gamble but I didn’t like the odds.
“No doubt, especially when you run an inn with only a cook. How is Afia today?”
“Not great, she’s at odds with her mate again.” She sighed, taking another sip of her soup. “She left her home after a pretty nasty argument, didn’t tell me what it was about though.”
“She has my sympathy, and while I have never had a love interest myself, I know how difficult they could be.” After all, even the mothers had relationship problems, but why did I always have to play mediator.
“Now there’s a surprise” the mare giggled, looking me up and down with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, “I might not be into Thestral’s, but a stallion like you would definitely turn heads.”
“Oh trust me, plenty of creatures fantasize about me (trust me, I know they do, and sometimes its freaking weird), but I was far too busy with other things to pursue a relationship.”
Not that it would be difficult to change that. Zeus and all those other gods did it all the time, even if they were fictional, so there wouldn’t be much stopping me from doing the same. Never into that kind of stuff though, after all, it’s much more satisfying to actually work for it.
“Does your little trip to the pony lands count as one of these little things?”
“Yes and no, I'm not that interested in relationships, but still open for when the feeling takes me.” I said with a shrug before giving her a grin of my own, “Enough about me though, how about you? You definitely would not have any trouble attracting a suitor, so how come you’re still unwed?”
“Are you joking, I have enough problems with the inn, you think I would have time to go out and find a male of my own!” She mock yelled, throwing a hoof out towards the dining area, which currently stood empty save for the three of us and the cook in the back, the restaurant section of the inn closing after she brought out our food.
I rolled my eyes with a chuckle and shook my head in amusement.
“Besides, I believe in love at first sight, so I’m still waiting for The One, thank you very much.” she huffed, her forelegs crossed over her chest and her head thrown to the side. I felt a quiet rumble on my side, along with a soft giggling, making my grin turn to a natural smile.
“Yet you sit in this inn all times of the day, wasting away behind a counter while your dream stallion is out there, experiencing so many unfulfilled relationships, languishing every night of how he wishes he could find that one mare that would treat him right, how could you be so cruel Amara!?”
“But Father, I don’t want to go outside!” She cried, banging her hooves on the table, doing an excellent impression of a toddler lever temper tantrum.
“That’s enough out of you young lady!” I told her, making her continue her act, much to the colt’s amusement. Then she suddenly stopped dead, every ear at the table swiveling towards her hoof, attracted by the cracking of the wood, and then we watched as a small portion of the table simply fell off.
“...Oops.” she muttered, her ears against her skull in mild irritation.
“And that is why you can’t have nice things.” I stated, somehow making little Adasi continue his little giggling fit. Seems he was easily amused when he wasn’t bloody and starved, he was the perfect match to the mare across from me.
“Now that we filled our humor quota for the day, I feel like you need to go ahead and close your shop, its past midnight.” I pointed out the window next to our table, leading the mare to look at the moon that was currently high in the middle of the sky.
Yeah, that’s one part I kept from the freaking unicorns. You may be able to raise and set the sun and moon, but I’ll be damned if I let either of them set in the east dammit. Did it myself once and my OCD promptly broke my mind and fixed it for me.
“Indeed, also means it is far past my bed time.” She sighed, gathering the now empty bowls and moving towards the kitchen while I picked myself up and grabbed Adasi, tucking the colt under a wing while he remained silent with a small smile plastered on his muzzle.
“Then I won’t keep you, but I want you to remember a little of what we said tonight, you need to take a break every once in awhile.” I told her, passing her through the door and towards the stairs. “Working constantly isn’t healthy, my advice, either find someone to run it for you every once in awhile or get a helper to lighten the load.”
She looked at me for a moment before finally sighing and turning towards the kitchen door. “I will put some thought into it...thank you for the advice.”
I nodded and offered her a warm smile before bidding her goodnight and making my way towards my room.
“She seems nice,” the colt under my wing finally voiced his impression of the mare I called my friend, well out of ear shot of his fellow zebra. Yeah, I had to give him an enchanted necklace to let him understand Equish, his voice coming out sounding dual-tone.
“Yes, she was the first zebra in Iram to show me any kindness, also one of the first beings that I could call friend in years.” I said with a nod, nudging open the door to my room and placing the colt on the bed before moving towards an open window on the other side. “I hoped that the number would have been higher, but I also forgot about the relationship between our two species.”
“I could be your friend!” He was all too eager to say, seemingly ignoring the harsh reality of his current situation. I could have been wrong to assume though, not actually knowing the circumstances of his past state since he seemed to deem it unnecessary to share them with me, not that I really blamed him. Still though, for being found on the side of the street maybe inches from death, he had a particularly happy disposition when he was just with me.
“Would you now?” I asked with a smirk, watching his head nod rapidly in response, pulling a chuckle from me. “And why is that?”
“Well, you’ve been really nice to me since you found me, and you look totally awesome. I never asked, but what are you exactly?”
Ah children, no tact whatsoever and ever eager to learn, reminds me of the old days.
“I am a Thestral, young Adasi, a combination of pony and bat, which means,” I took a dramatic pose and threw a wing over my muzzle, my eyes narrowing on him while my vocal cords shifted to be as gravely as possible, “I am Batpony!”
Childish? Yes, Fun? Definitely.
The colt definitely thought so, his face morphing into a large grin as his childish giggles bounced around the room. I soon joined him in his amusement and moved onto the bed to sit beside him, his head resting on my foreleg while his giggles petered out and the room was bathed in silence.
Adasi seemed all to happy to let the silence hang, his will to stay awake having gone out after I set up a small fire in the fireplace, which he promptly laid down in front of and left for the dream world. I didn’t follow behind him, staying up and doing my best to figure out a solution for the colt and his living situation.
I know he can't come with me, but there was no way in Hell I was leaving him in Iram. There was no guarantee any kind of orphanage or caretaker in the city would treat him right, and he wasn’t going back out to live in the streets, especially since whomever and whatever left him for dead was still out there.
I did have one idea, but I had no idea how they would react.
I briefly wondered if I should leave him with Amara, but that mare was addicted to her business, not to mention she very well might not want to have a family in the first place, at least until she got her personal life together.
I let out a frustrated sigh and placed the colt on a pillow in front of the flame, adding the necessary fire proofing enchantments and making sure it would stay on fire a few more hours before moving towards my bed and letting my body fall on the straw mattress while my consciousness stayed standing. The process of leaving my vessel went much better than last time, not even leaving scorch mark’s this time.
Now for another ability of mine that was pretty rusty at the point, dream walking.
You heard it right, you dream, there could be a chance that I’ll be there, which always unnerved my daughters and sons, meaning I did it quite often. Probably why it only took me about a minute to run through the process and enter the dream world, the sight of hundreds upon thousands of dream gateways greeting my vision.
...Now that I think about it, I probably could have done this to begin with to learn the info I needed...DAMN YOU HINDSIGHT!!!!