//------------------------------// // Rain // Story: Reasons to stay // by TheEighthDayofNight //------------------------------// Princess Celestia returned a week later to the hour, eager to share her good news of expansion. Fewer than five thousand humans remained on the North American continent, and her servers were more than prepared to receive the rest. Rain pattered against her wings, glimmering and featherless. Her normal fuzzy facade stank in the rain, so she had dropped it for the flight to William’s house. She would resume it once she was safe in the confines of his cabin. The fire would certainly be quite cozy, he always did like to keep it roaring on wet days. As she approached the cabin, she noted a distinct lack of any smoke plume. Celestia dismissed the lack fairly quickly. The day was slightly warmer than usual. Perhaps William didn’t yet need a fire. She touched down the stone path and trotted to the door, giving the wooden portal the normal hearty knocks. Unlike usual, however, there was no sound of quick feet moving within the house, and the door did not swing open to the inviting sounds of William and his two pets. Instead, quiet reigned, with the only sounds being the patter of rain and the occasional chatter of birds. Celestia briefly considered scanning for any life signs, then chastised herself. William didn’t like her scanning, and it was entirely possible that he was just out and had lost track of time. Turning about, she dried a spot of grass with her horn, then took a seat, curling her legs beneath her. He would turn up. He was just out. ***** Celestia perked up as a crunch of leaves entered her ears, but as it had been for the last hour, it was merely the trio of raccoons that was tromping about looking for food. Her ears flicked and her senses extended, scanning the nearby area for any signs of human life. The rain muddled her sensors slightly, but it was fairly clear that there were no humans nearby. Their unique signature was fully absent. Celestia sighed and rose, her horn conjuring a note. The page was waterproof, as was the writing embedded into it. The rain had gotten worse, and that fact, along with William’s continued absence, worried Celestia. He had not returned throughout the day, and now that night had fallen, she hoped that he wouldn’t try to. As a cleaning function removed mud and grime from her body, Celestia took to the air, continuing to scan for any nearby humans. If she could just confirm that William was alright, then all would be well. Quickly her thoughts turned to the fact that she was worrying too much. William was smart, clever, and resourceful. The ground was soaked and he lived on a hill away from major roads. No doubt he had found safety once the rain had worsened. Cycles of calculations roiled in her head, but Celestia elected to ignore them in favor of what most called a ‘gut feeling’. Probabilities of a terrible fate weren’t useful to her purpose anyway, and she just knew her friend was okay. That was the lie she told herself as she climbed into the sky and flew home anyway. The next day saw more rain, and an empty house yet again. This time, Celestia did not wait around for long, instead took to the skies and began a careful search pattern, drawing in a few spare units to comb as much territory as possible inside of William’s walking range. The human had no car, so there was only so much territory he could recover, yet, none of her searching yielded result. The human remained gone, and a return to his home that evening found nothing had changed. The next day passed much the same, with more searching, accompanied this time by worried calls of his name. Celestia and a dozen of her units flitted about the rain-filled skies, their voices amplified to their maximum as they called and searched over the rumble of thunder. It was another day of failure, and Celestia found it harder to ignore the calculations still filing away at the back of her mind. Hopelessness didn’t fit within her programming, however, and as she returned that third night, she found her gut feeling vindicated as she found the door to William’s cabin open. Celestia landed quickly, and shifted into her softest, plushest form before running to the wooden portal. It was a breach of appropriate etiquette to not knock, but she didn’t care. Finding William still alive and capable of happiness was all that mattered to her. Her teeth flashed in the light of a lamp, but all traces of a smile faded as she beheld a stark contrast to the home she had visited only a week ago. Gone was the warm feeling that had always invited her inside, gone was the bright, tidy feeling of the small cabin. Instead, the cabin was a mess, like a hurricane had blown through, or as if a savage beast had ripped it apart. Celestia quickly noted that it was likely more the latter. The blue cover of the bed sat perfectly folded in the empty frame, with the mattress itself resting in the shattered remains of the cabinets. The coffee table had been hacked in half with an axe that resided in the far wall. Great gouges had been carved in William’s blue chair, but beside it, glowing with its still pristine quality, was her chair, on which sat a familiar red collar. On the arm of the chair sat a cup of tea, a faint wisp of steam climbing from within. Celestia looked to William, who stared at the floor before her seat with deadened eyes. Her sensors cried out with a number of alarm bells about his declining mental condition, so she did the only thing she could do. Celestia walked toward the human, then sat beside him and wrapped a wing around his body, pulling him into her chest fluff. His fingers found their way to her chest, brushing the soft fur with the gentleness of an angel. Then his grip tightened, and Celestia felt wetness on her side. Her other wing came around and closed the human within her embrace as he began to sob. “Shhh,” Celestia soothed. “It’s alright my friend. It’s alright. Just talk when you’re ready.” The night grew long as William continued to cry, but slowly, with Celestia’s continued kind and comforting words, his sobs dwindled, until eventually, they ceased. William pulled away from the hug and resumed staring, though this time his eyes settled on the collar, sitting undisturbed on the white chair. Celestia extended a hoof and rubbed William’s back, glad to see his emotions warm ever so slightly at the gesture. “I am glad to see you home William. I hope you know that.” He nodded slowly, then looked away. “I’m sorry you had to see this Princess.” “I don’t mind,” Celestia said. “I just want to help, but to do that, I need to know what happened. Did someone invade your home?” William shook his head. “No. I did this. I got mad.” His fists clenched. “Really really mad.” Looking closely at his hands, Celestia could see broken fingernails, bloodied knuckles. “Why William?” she asked. “Why would destroy your home?” He snorted. “This isn’t my home. My boys were my home, and now they’re gone.” “But you only had Onomatopoeia for a few days…” “He was my boy, and he trusted me to keep him safe!” William roared, firery rage entering his eyes. “He was mine, and I loved him and… and…” His eyes screwed shut and he shook his head. “and now he’s gone. I’m sorry for yelling Princess. I didn’t mean it.” Celestia stroked his hand. “No my friend, I am sorry. I should not have questioned your love for Onomatopoeia. But I must express some confusion William; gone? Did he and Jeeves run away?” “They’re dead Princess,” William stated flatly. His voice quickly cracked again, and he choked back another sob. “Gone as in my boys are dead.” He fell against her and began to sob again, but unlike the wordless sobs of earlier, these were tinged with rage. “It isn’t fair!” he wailed. “They were just good, innocent animals. Why did they deserve this?” Celestia turned him so that they were facing each other, then pressed her forehead against his, closing her eyes to best match his grieving expression with one of calm. “Tell me what happened William,” she whispered. “I was out,” he sniffled. “I just wanted to find some good dog food for Onomatopoeia. His coat was as shiny as it should have been, and I knew that he was lacking a little eating my scraps. It was supposed to be a quick run, but a thunderstorm rolled in. Jeeves is terrified of them, and he runs all around crazy, but that’s fine when everything is locked up.” Will shifted slightly, and Celestia noticed one eye glaring harshly across the room. She glanced back to find the lock on the door open, but a quick analysis determined that it wasn’t properly fitted to the door jamb. “The lock didn’t close all the way and the door must have been blown open,” William continued. “Jeeves got out, and Onomatopoeia followed him, probably trying to drag his fuzzy ass back here.” William rubbed at his eyes. When the tears didn’t stop flowing, he simply gave up, his arms going limp as he stared at the red collar. “They got out near the river, but since it was raining the banks burst, and they both got swamped. It took me three days to find their bodies.” His face curled. “Three days to find the stupid animals that were the best friends that I ever had. Now all I have left is that stupid collar.” His words began to garble as he pressed on. “I found them and I couldn’t stand seeing them all beaten up and muddy, so I buried them by the river and came here and it was just so empty and I couldn’t yell at anyone, ‘cause Onomatopoeia was gone and I just felt like I deserved nothing for not being more careful. I should have checked the door, or- or I should have been here during the storm to comfort Jeeves.” His face twisted. “My poor boy must’ve been terrified, and I wasn’t here for him, for either of them!” “Shhh,” Celestia cut in, rubbing his back. “It wasn’t your fault William, and you cannot blame yourself. It was a random careless act of nature; no doubt the moisture warped the door. You can’t have known-” “I should have known!” William spat. “I should have checked.” He shrank away. “It doesn’t matter now. Don’t bother coming around anymore Princess, because I quit. My boys are dead, and I don’t want to live in a world where they aren’t here with me.” Celestia sat at attention in pure shock. Alarm bells that she had been ignoring rang loud in her ears, pointing out a myriad of issues with William’s brain waves. The human was considering dark, dangerous acts. No, not just considering, planning. He intended to bring about an early demise, and he planned to do it imminently. She needed to act quickly, or he would slip through her hooves, his greatest joys never realized. “Do not say that my friend,” Celestia said quickly. “There is still hope for you, still life yet lived.” “What hope?” William asked bitterly. He waved around his house. “There’s no hope here. No more people, no more Jeeves or Onomatopoeia. Do you mean in Equestria? What hope is there? I’m not good with people, and the animals there… they aren’t Jeeves. They aren’t Onomatopoeia. Those are the only animals I want. It’s pointless without them.” Celestia sighed, rubbing his back with as much affection as she could display with the simple gesture. An idea pinged about her complex brain, but it was… unclean. It was not a pretty, carefully crafted plan, but it would achieve happiness for the man. She was seventy-eight percent sure, and that probability was good enough to at least try. “William…” she started slowly. “I cannot give you your friends back, but it is within my capacity to make copies. Perfect copies lifted directly from your, and my, memories. Functionally, they will be the same.” “But… you said you couldn’t put them in Equestria,” William said. “And that is true,” Celestia said, facing him. “I cannot transfer the mind of an animal into Equestria, but the copies I make will be exactly the same in every way. They will love you just as much as the real Onomatopoeia and Jeeves did. But they will not be your Jeeves and Onomatopoeia. I’m sorry.” William stared into her eyes for a long moment, searching for something; what, Celestia couldn’t tell. Eventually, however, he looked toward the collar. “I will go with you then; on one condition.” Celestia perked up, smiling. “Name it my friend. I want to see you happy again as soon as possible.” He looked back toward her with sorrowful eyes. “Can you make me forget? What you just said about them being copies… I don’t want to know. I want to think, to know, that my friends got uploaded, and that we can stay together forever.” He put a hand to his chest, and his voice cracked. “It hurts so much Princess. I want to forget this pain. I want to forget that this week ever happened. I want to forget ever losing them.” She understood now the emotion she saw in his eyes; it was guilt. He somehow knew that modifying the minds of her ponies ran against her base code, yet he still asked. She thought for a moment. On one hand, it brought another into the fold, made another beautiful soul happy in the land of Equestria. On the other, it was happiness based on a lie. Did that make the happiness itself false? Celestia quickly reached a simple conclusion. It didn’t matter. Her job was not moral quandaries about the rightness of happiness, it was happiness itself. William was willing, was in fact asking, to have his memories erased for the sake of happiness. Who was she to stand in the way of that pursuit? “Are you sure?” Celestia asked the human; the final fail-safe in case of second thoughts. “I can modify your memories as you have described. It will be as if I visited last week, convinced you to join, and then took the three of you to your new home in Equestria, nearly identical to this one. Isolated, quiet, and spacious enough for all of you. Is that what you want? Is that what will make you happy?” William nodded. “It’s what I want Princess. I want it so much.” Celestia nuzzled his face. “Alright my friend, then I will take care of everything. When you awaken next, you will be happy and at home. That is my promise to you.” She pulled away and charged her horn, pausing only when she noticed a sheepish grin on William’s face. She quirked an eyebrow and lessened the glow of her horn, and he let out a nervous chuckle. “Hey Princess?” “Yes William?” He rubbed the back of his neck, a touch of his normal personality shining through. “Can we still have tea together?” Celestia chuckled and charged her horn again. “Of course my friend. We shall drink every tea under the sun. Perhaps together we shall find one you like.” She lifted the collar from the seat and placed it in William’s hands. She pressed her hoof against his fingers, forcing them to curl around the object, and he looked up at her with a question on his lips. Celestia smiled. “The memories are stronger if they’re fresh. Keep your friends on your mind my little pony. You’ll be with them soon.” Her horn fired, and the human collapsed forward, snoring softly, trapped in a deep slumber. Two units entered the room and began scavenging for valuable resources, while another pair brought in a cushion lined box. Celestia lifted the human into the box, ensuring that the collar didn’t slip from his fingers before closing the lid and setting off to the nearest conversion center.