Tracy stared back at Rose. He might’ve been the one to scream at her an hour ago, but the anger and betrayal had cooled during his visit to the library. He was too tired for any righteous indignation, no matter how entitled to it he might be. “You could’ve just asked what I was doing here,” he said, flipping the binder closed with one hoof. “I would’ve told you. I wasn’t keeping any secrets.”
She rolled her eyes, stalking towards the table. Rose began scooping up her belongings, thankfully just with her legs. If Tracy hadn’t already been so occupied with other things, he probably would’ve had another meltdown about the levitation he’d seen inside that restaurant.
“Equestria has been attacked half a dozen times in the last five years,” Rose said flatly. “Am I really supposed to think that the invaders would just tell us their plans?”
He took a few steps back from the table, yawning. Without intention on his part, his wings stretched out as well. Just another strange reflex from a body that didn’t make sense. “Maybe if I was anything like an invader. I haven’t even been to your side of the…” He gestured vaguely at the door. “I haven’t even been through there once until now. I ask for your help, and you try to poison me with bugs.”
“Poison you?” Rose looked up from the table, furious. “That wasn’t part of anything I was doing to you, Tracing. That was Bon Bon being a good friend, finding something rare and special she thought you’d like. She took your side and you say thank you by puking on her floor.”
She slumped down onto her haunches, looking defeated. “You won, Tracy. Your evil army gets to take over Equestria and the heroes of Ponyville won’t do anything to stop it. You won’t win in the end, though. The Elements are still here. They stopped so many other dangers, they can stop you.”
Tracy didn’t have the energy to argue anymore. She was still holding to this insane idea, despite the total lack of evidence. “Your friends have more sense than you do, Rose. Bon Bon could tell in five minutes that I’m as much a victim here as you are. Discord tricked both of us. I can see how it happened—I’m going to lose my job and have to go home destitute. Your flower company is on the edge of collapse as soon as your creditors decide to start collecting. You didn’t have anywhere else to go, and neither did I.”
He turned, storming away towards the stairs. “When I’d finished puking my guts out, I went to the castle. The princess’s assistant told me I probably won’t be able to get out of my contract, and I’m sure he’s right. You’re stuck with me for another year. Then I’ll have my job, and I’ll be able to afford a house somewhere that I’m not a fucking horse.
He stopped at the edge of the stairs, glowering back at her. “And put your books in fucking Quicken or something. You’ve got dozens of profitable products, but you keep overstocking on things nobody wants. You’re just asking to go bankrupt with inventory management like that.”
If she tried to say anything else, Tracy didn’t even hear her. He stormed up into his room, then slammed the door shut behind him.
Roseluck stared up at the empty stairwell, wondering for the first time if maybe, somehow, she might’ve overreacted. Not a feeling she knew often, or at least not one she would’ve typically admitted to. Equestria could be dangerous, and Ponyville most of all. Everypony who hadn’t moved away kept up their sanity somehow. In her case, it was just by reacting promptly to danger. The one time Rose went out of her way to try and protect the ponies around her, instead of just running away like she usually did—and apparently, she’d done it wrong.
Roseluck pawed at her accounting, biting back anger. For the gloating of a victorious invader, Tracy hadn’t seemed terribly vindictive. Was he trying to help her in some backward way? What was a Quicken, anyway?
Some part of her expected Tracy to finally make his assault on Ponyville, now that the opposition had been conquered. Either that, or at least Rose’s friends would realize their mistake and rush in to try and salvage the situation.
Neither happened, though Lyra visited her stand almost every day asking for a chance to come over and speak to the visitor again. “I know our first meeting didn’t go well,” she said, holding a single white rose in her magic she’d probably bought out of politeness. “When is he usually home? I’d like to compare notes to my first experience with Canterlot. I’m nearly certain that he’s from a different realm than the one I last visited. I must know more about it.”
Rose glanced to one side, checking to see if Lily was paying attention. But no, the mare wasn’t even here. She’d snuck off for lunch without even saying anything. She’s giving up on the stand. Maybe I should be too. Just let the bank take it all. It would mean the end of everything their parents had left them. It would mean working for another pony for the rest of her life, doing something she hated. And it seemed more certain every day.
“He’s there all the time,” she answered absently. “Probably right now. But—”
“He’s a bat, I know,” the unicorn interrupted. “I’ve met plenty of them, I can work with a nocturnal schedule. It’s just about finding the times that overlap. Probably getting up early in the morning or heading over right before bed.”
“Don’t bother,” she said flatly. “He barely talks anymore. I think I stopped the invasion by making him hate Equestria.”
Lyra rolled her eyes, reaching across the table to rest a hoof on her shoulder. “Rose, your invader couldn’t even eat a bug. Sooner or later you’re going to have to give up that silly idea and move on.”
“You didn’t see,” she countered. “They’re so… big, so strange. Nothing that looks like that could be friendly.”
Lyra muttered something under her breath, something that sounded suspiciously like “earth ponies” before backing away. “I know Ponyville is a very traditional place, but you can’t keep thinking that way forever. Equestria is connected now. We’ve got dragons, griffons… all kinds of creatures. They might seem alien at first, because they’re so different. But every one of them understands friendship. Including the bat you have living upstairs.”
The unicorn walked away, leaving Rose feeling only numb. It’s not over yet. We still have the Equinox coming up. We can make enough to keep collections away for another year. We can still do this.
She had given her service to Ponyville, and apparently been wrong to even think it was needed. Now she needed to worry about herself, and her own family. Everything else could come later.
There was a small mountain of work to prepare for the Equinox. No single holiday involved more orders for her stand. Not all the flowers ponies wanted for a holiday like this were ready at the same time, which meant managing as much magic as simple inventory. Earth ponies were great at keeping plants alive even in difficult conditions, but even with three talented ponies she could split her attention only so far.
Roseluck wanted to be hiking through the White Tail Woods, harvesting a single rare flower among thousands and taking it back for a perfect bouquet. Instead she spent her nights up late staring at forms and collection notices and a mountain of unsorted orders. She saw Tracy even less as she stopped using her bedroom, inevitably falling asleep in a little tent of crumpled pages.
And every week she brought them back to the bank and had to come up with a reason why they needed just a few more bits to make that week’s orders.
We’re not out of time yet, she told herself, over and over. It would still be true, until the day it wasn’t. I wonder what happens when Discord finds out I can’t pay the rent anymore.
Tracy pulled his little Civic out of the garage, adjusting the air conditioner on his face. The sensation was so strange coming from a car that often made him run the heat just to let the engine work that his senses almost rebelled. He twisted the radio all the way up, and music from brand new speakers filled the car.
Some strange part of his brain balked at the sight of people walking the streets on two legs, expecting them to lose their balance and fall over at any moment. Apparently sleeping in another universe was having an impact, even if he spent the smallest possible length of time there.
“Incoming text message from: Janet,” said Alexa. “Another great week, Tracy! Those unit tests you wrote caught another vulnerability in our firmware. Now we have weeks to fix the issue instead of a zero day just waiting to hit us with a lawsuit.”
He grinned, taking a slight detour away from his usual route home. Such good results on his performance review meant great things for his hiring prospects at the end of the term. Only a month away now, and already it felt like he was indispensable to the department.
All Tracy’s friends were back in a small town in the middle of nowhere. There was no one to treat to a night out. There were plenty of local bars catering to the engineers, but the interesting people he met there always grew suddenly bored when they found out he was just an intern.
Won’t have that problem for much longer. In many ways Tracy’s life was basically the same as when he’d been living in his car, with a slightly more comfortable place to sleep. But once he was fully hired… what did a person even do with all that money?
Get far away from you, Discord. Say goodbye to the world of horses and paranoid roommates and return to sanity.
He wouldn’t be allowed to move away for a year, that’s what the lease said. But he’d lasted this long, and it was already paying off. He could make it a little longer.
I’ll rub her face in it a little. Tracy stopped at the local ice cream place, ordering two gallons of his favorite flavors. He wouldn’t even try to trick her into eating tobacco the way she had with bugs.
He pulled in front of the apartment a few minutes later, taking the bag under one arm and practically skipping his way up the front steps. The physicality on that side of the door was still difficult for him, but he’d adapted. Enough to eat or use his computer without much trouble, anyway.
She probably won’t even want any. It’s still breakfast over there. How did ponies spend their Friday nights, anyway? That dragon probably knew how to have fun.
Tracy hesitated awkwardly by the door as one of his neighbors passed, pretending to become very interested in his phone until she’d walked out of view. The streetlight in front of the duplex always seemed to be out, probably Discord’s doing. But that didn’t mean he was going to act stupid about it. He hadn’t forgotten Discord’s warning about bringing too many people into the apartment. God help him if the rest of the world found out he lived in another universe.
He slipped the phone away, glanced once more over his shoulder, and hurried inside as quietly as he could. He pushed the door shut gently with one hoof, and there were no screams of terror from the other side. Another night down, two ninety something to go.
He reached the inner door and nearly swung it open without thinking. Rose would be getting breakfast now, the perfect time to rub her nose in how wrong she was. Maybe she’d taste how delicious human ice cream could be, and finally apologize.
He hesitated, sensitive ears perking. Thankfully that little annoyance only existed on this side, but damn if his ears couldn’t pick up things he didn’t want to hear.
Including soft sobbing from the other side of the door. He could even identify the pony—Rose, exactly as he might’ve expected, sounding utterly heartbroken.
He might’ve turned around right there, headed back out to give her a chance to collect herself. Even someone who’d mistreated him so badly didn’t deserve that embarrassment.
Instead he pushed the door open, quietly enough that she wouldn’t hear it.
She was at her usual spot, buried in an ocean of incomprehensible business records. For something she worked on every day to never improve, she might’ve been bad at this.
It’s probably what she deserves. If she gets paranoid and completely freaks out at everyone else. Maybe she shouldn’t be running a company.
Tracy hesitated in the doorway a moment more, then stomped loudly forward, making as much noise as he could. “Hey, I brought ice cream. Thought you might want some.” He held up the bag, pretending not to see the tears streaking her face. “Double Fudge and Dulce de Leche. Probably the best flavors ever invented."