//------------------------------// // Reflections // Story: The Piano Man: Act II // by The Sentient Cloud //------------------------------// I look from Twilight to the others. Needless to say, this is a rather awkward and very volatile situation. Maybe I’ll be treated to a first hand view of Twilight’s rage mode. The lavender mare herself steps forward, her horn lighting up as she aggressively tears the slice of cake from my hand. “Did you eat anything? She demands, a hard edge to her tone. “What? I… no!” I respond confusedly, surprised that she isn’t busy lecturing Pinkie. “Why?” “Oh good.” Twilight visibly relaxes, dumping the slice of cake back onto the snack table. “That could have been very bad.” “Why?” I ask again, before yawning. My lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me already. “Just a second.” Twilight holds up a hoof as her horn starts to glow once more. “And don’t eat anything. Come on, Pinkie.” “Ooo!” Pinkie coos as she is bodily lifted off the floor by Twilight, and carried out the door. “I bet this is gonna be fun!” I watch perplexedly as Twilight extricates Pinkie from the room and closes the door behind them, leaving the rest of us to stand in silence. What the hell is going on? I glance at the slice of cake that had Twilight so worried, and then at the others. “So… uh… Fun party, right?” “Ah wonder why the cake’s got Twi so worked up.” Applejack muses, also looking thoughtfully at the cake. None of us dare touch it, lest it blow up in our faces or something equally horrifying. “Do you think there’s something wrong with the food?” Rainbow asks nervously. Everyone but Applejack and I had ripped apart the marshmallows and hay fries. The three ponies look worriedly at the food, while I grimace. I sincerely doubt Pinkie would have poisoned anyone. That just isn’t her Pinkie way. “I doubt it.” I speak clearly, leaning on my cane and yawning. “I don’t think Pinkie would give anypony dangerous food.” “Indeed.” Rarity agrees readily – I think mostly to put her own mind at ease. “I’m quite sure Twilight is worrying about something else.” I can hear Twilight’s muffled voice coming through the door. Her voice is raised, and I’m catching quite a few nasty words, like ‘dangerous’ ‘food’ and ‘kill’, which alarms me. The others don’t seem to hear it, and who am I to get them worried? “Why, darling, you haven’t told me how your clothes fit!” Rarity suddenly pipes up. She seems desperate to change the subject, so I happily oblige. It stops me from running those three words through my head and trying to find a sentence that they fit in without scaring the shit out of me. “You’re right.” I look down at the clothes I wore for the meeting with the princesses, which are reasonably ruffled from my sleeping in them. “They fit wonderfully. How did you do such a good job?” “Oh, you’d be surprised what can be done as long as one has the correct measurements. It doesn’t matter what your body is shaped like, so long as I have the right lengths.” Rarity waves her hoof dismissively, even though we all know that compliments and flattery are her bread-and-butter. I open my mouth to deliver an obligatory follow-up compliment, when the door opens, and Twilight cuts me off. “Alright everypony, It’s time for Keys to get his rest.” She orders in a commanding voice that sounds similar to a watered-down canterlock. Rarity tsks twice, a frown forming on her face. “I suppose we will have to finish our conversation another time. Enjoy your rest.” “Thanks.” I respond in kind, yawning as the four mares slowly file out into the hall, where a rather bored looking Pinkie is waiting for them. Once the five ponies have disappeared, Twilight shuts the door, and trots over to the snack table. “So, are you sure you didn’t eat anything?” She questions me, while peering angrily at what remains of the food. “Positive.” I reply uneasily. “Why?” “It’s your nutrition.” Twilight explains rather hastily. “Trixie didn’t feed you properly in three whole weeks, which led to severe undernourishment and malnutrition.” “Right…” Like with many of Twilight's lectures, I don’t see where this is going – which is an odd change of pace compared to my other conversations, considering that normally it’s quite easy for me to tell what is happening just by thinking about what would normally happen in the show. It isn’t the most reliable way to judge situations, as the ponies here frequently prove my ‘predictions’ wrong. “Well, because of that, you lost quite a bit of weight.” Twilight continues her lecture, still glaring at the food as if it just slapped her mother – and I have no idea why. “That I did.” I nod in agreement. I don’t know exactly how much, because I don’t know how to convert pounds into kilograms. “Well, because of that we can’t give you too much food. There would be severe medical problems.” Twilight busies herself cleaning up the mess. “Maneworthy managed to heal the worst of it before when you first arrived at the clinic, but you've still lost an alarming amount of weight. If you eat too much, you could get dangerously severe indigestion.” “How…” I shake my head in surprise. “How severe?” Twilight grimaces, and mumbles the word; “Lethal”, at which I do a double-take. A lethal amount of indigestion? While I try and make sense of that, Twilight gives me a short, overcomplicated and thoroughly confusing lecture on how Trixie magically slowed my metabolism, and all of the ways in which it was detrimental to my health. It all sounds perfectly reasonable, of course, but I see a gaping hole in what I’m being told. “Hold on a second.” I crease my eyebrows. “I’ve been eating three square meals a day since Maneworthy took me off the liquid diet. Why hasn’t that been doing anything?” “The cooks use their magic to bleach out most of the nutrients and the actual substance of the food.” Twilight explains. “They also remove at least half of the fat and calories. Mostly, you’re just getting energy and fat so that you can build up more body-mass.” “Oh.” I blink in surprise as Twilight finishes cleaning up the party decorations. I didn’t think that my treatment was requiring such extensive monitoring. I suppose I would have realized sooner or later, but before today I’ve been feeling pretty good. Now, over the course of a few short hours I’ve learnt that I’m actually as feeble as an eighty year-old, I’m susceptible to breakdowns, and that my food is being fine-tuned to my very specific needs. I feel like such a burden at the moment. My entire existence in Equestria is nothing but work for everypony around me. Is there a name for the kind of guilt it gives me? “I… I didn’t know that I required all that.” I finish the sentence with another yawn. This is what happens when I’m only allowed an hours sleep. Twilight turns to look at me, detecting the guilt in my voice. “Oh no, don’t feel bad. It’s part of their jobs anyway.” “Uh-huh.” I deadpan, my mood immediately switching into that of apathy. Have I mentioned that all of this sympathy and understanding is really starting to irritate me? Just once, I want somepony to acknowledge the fact that I’m a burden. Can’t somepony just once point at me and say that I’m the one making their lives more difficult? “Seriously.” Twilight turns around to face me properly as she adopts her ‘I mean it’ tone. “Don’t blame yourself. Trixie caused all of this. You have nothing-” “Twilight.” I cut her off softly. “Can you please just… put a lid on all of the sympathy and understanding stuff?” “Huh?” The lavender mare raises an eyebrow. “Why?” “It’s just…” I shake my head, trying to find the right words – which I can’t, so I settle on a more stripped down version of my thoughts. “It doesn’t make me feel any better.” How does it make me feel? Can I call it ‘worse’? Whenever somepony starts dishing out the empathy and kindness, my initial reaction is irritation, because I’ve received so much of it. After that comes… what? Guilt? Unease? I really don’t know what to call it. I can only describe it as a mixture of embarrassment at the treatment, and some strange version of guilt over the fact that they need to behave this way. I wonder, if I was on earth, would I still be receiving this treatment? Eight days later in Equestria, everypony is still as caring and understanding as day one. Eight days later on Earth… I suppose it would just be the hospital staff still treating me kindly – And I would probably still be bedridden. There’s a huge difference in the quality-of-care between the worlds, mostly because of the magic possessed by unicorn doctors. Twilight looks at me for a few seconds, summing up what I just said, before nodding. “Okay. I’ll try.” Is all she has for a reply – and that’s all I can ask for. Asking Twilight not to be as nice as possible is like asking Rarity to stop being fabulous. I nod, and give a little sigh. “Twilight, I really am sorry for all of the trouble. I know it’s all… necessary, but that isn’t going to stop me being sorry for it.” “That’s…” Twilight falls silent as she realises that anything she can say would be sympathy, before suddenly letting out what is best described as a sarcastic laugh. “Wait… you…” I can’t hold back a chuckle as I limp over to the curtains and pull them closed, before making my way back to the bed. “But I mean it.” I add in a serious tone as I sit down. “Sorry.” Out of the corner of my eye I see Twilight grinding her teeth, trying to meet my request. I can’t decided whether to be surprised that she’s already resorted to grinding her teeth, or admire her devotion to not offer any sympathy. “You work too hard, Twilight.” I smile slightly as I pull back the sheets on my bed. “Seriously. You’re in Canterlot, so take a vacation – or at least a day off. You don’t need to spend all your time running around after me.” “How do you know so much about us?” Twilight suddenly asks, which causes me to freeze. I stay where I am for a second, before continuing to prepare the bed and turning on my bedside lamp. I should have known she’d ask this one sooner or later. I had simply hoped that it would be later. “I’m really tired, Twilight. Maybe some other time.” “Right.” The lavender mare can’t keep the disappointment out of her voice. It makes me feel a little bad, but it’s still better than actually telling her the truth about My Little Pony. I lean my cane against the wall and slowly slide under the sheets without removing my clothes, giving Twilight an apologetic look. “Maybe some other time.” I repeat the phrase. “In the meantime, I want you to take a day off. Seriously.” “Uh-huh.’ Twilight replies noncommittally, clearly dejected by my refusal to speak. Not learning something new about a subject that intrigues her can really mess up her day. “No, not ‘Uh-huh’.” I reply forcefully. “Take a break, damn it! You’re working harder than Maneworthy, and he’s the doctor here.” The lavender unicorn shrugs, not even attempting to hide her disappointment. “Maybe, if I don’t have anything pressing tomorrow.” I sigh, pulling the blankets up over the sheets. Twilight promising to do something if she isn’t busy might as well just be an outright ‘no’. “You need to work less.” I mutter at her. Twilight doesn’t acknowledge the comment, instead she puts out the light while delivering an obligatory; “Sleep well”, which I note that she has still managed to infuse with sincerity. “I’ll try. Take care.” I respond in turn, rolling over and waiting until she leaves. It’s actually something worth noting that from what I’ve seen so far, the ponies of Equestria seem to hate leaving things on bad terms. Twilight still managing to deliver a sincere comment after I’ve rebuked her attempts to learn more about humanity is a very good example. I can appreciate the notion. If humans were as unwilling to end exchanges on a sour note as the ponies, then I’m sure we would all be able to get along much better with each other. Friendships would last far longer, as would marriages. I wait until I hear the door open and then close, before rolling back onto my back. “Ugh.” I put my hands to my head. “Why do I have to make everything so difficult?” The population of Earth could learn a lot from that of Equestria – and vice versa. The ponies here have a level of innocence one would never find in an adult human. I won’t say that they’re completely pure – I’m sure one could never find that in an adult of any species with the ability to think for itself – but there’s certainly a lot more here than on earth. This, however, can be a serious shortcoming. If the ponies that had watched my show had been more willing to believe the worst of somepony, then I might have been freed within the first week of my enslavement. Believe it or not, it is not easy to fall asleep while you are busy analyzing the strengths and shortcomings of different societies. In fact, it’s downright impossible. It’s for that reason that I manage to put a leash on my musing, and turn my mind to more mundane issues. Mundane issues in a world full of talking Technicolor ponies. It would make me laugh if I wasn't in such a somber mood. With considerable grumbling – most of it relating to my tendency to make conversations irritating for the other participants – I roll onto my side once more, and close my eyes. Despite how tired I am, I can’t stop thinking about how I’m already taking things for granted once more – such as Twilight’s patience. I’ve spoken with her for extended lengths of time each day since I woke up, and I’ve stepped around the touchy questions each time. To think that she’ll keep accepting my evasiveness is foolhardy. More than that, I feel guilty. She’s working so hard to make sure I get the right care – and we’re still just in the physical stages of recovery. I have a literal fuck-tonne of therapy ahead of me, and we both know it. I have little doubt that she’ll be helping – if not taking complete responsibility for – the coordination for all that as well. So why am I treating her this way? Why do I avoid her questions? With everything she’s doing, maybe it’s time that I told her a little more about humanity. About how our society functions. I’m sure that can tide her over for a while. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow – provided she doesn’t by some miracle take my advice and just relax for a while. No matter what, I’m going to apologize tomorrow – and not one of my little ‘I’m sorry’ comments, but a proper apology for being such a… such a dick. I need to clear my conscience. So far, the only thing doing that has been my frequent mini-apologies for the trouble I cause – and of course that normally just leads to frustration as everyone shifts into sympathy mode. These ponies are so nice – to a level you would never find on earth. Under any other circumstances I would love it, but at the moment all it does it frustrate and tire me out. At least having a ‘game plan’ is reassuring. Maybe tomorrow I’ll ask Twilight if Equestria has actual computers – And if they don’t, then I’ll blow her mind with the concept of the computer. It’ll be a nice little future-shock experiment. Glancing at my clock, I realize that it is only midday, and yet I’m so tired. Who knows? Maybe by some amazing feat I’ll manage to sleep until tomorrow morning. That seems to happen all the time in bad books. I’m still pondering the different conversations I could have with Twilight when I fall asleep.