//------------------------------// // Interactions // Story: Beyond Me // by Boopy Doopy //------------------------------// We largely wasted the day away doing nothing, or rather, nothing in my opinion. These four seemed bent on finding their cutie marks, and tried to explain to me why it was so important, especially Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. I only nodded politely and largely watched what they were doing rather than actually participated. It felt weird wasting days like this, although I couldn’t really say I had much better to do, so I went along with it. If I could find something to focus my energy on for a large portion of the day, like a job or something, I would. I was able to talk to Holiday and Lofty again before they left, and they both hugged me and told me how nice it was to have me with them. I thought I even saw some wetness in Holiday’s eyes. “I know it’s only been a few weeks since we met you, Asher,” she started tearily as the three of us stood in front of the library door, “but Lofty and I both love you very much. You’re a wonderful young colt… a wonderful young stallion. If you ever want to visit us where we live or anytime we come back to Ponyville, you’re absolutely more than welcome to. We'd love it.” “You don’t need me to tell you I feel the same, kiddo,” Lofty agreed simply. “You’re great to have around, and we all know those four fillies love you somehow. I still don’t know how you got them all to get along.” I shrugged and said, “They’re kids. Kids are easy. But thank you. I appreciate your generosity. I couldn’t ask for better circumstances in the wake of… all of this happening to me. Thank you.” I looked at them and smiled, watching them smile back at me. They really grew on me and became probably my favorite people in my time being here, which was something I didn’t expect to happen. I couldn’t help but be a bit ashamed by that thought, remembering that my first thought when I was walking with them to Sugarcube Corner. I was absolutely upset with the idea of having to stay with them because of their sexuality, and felt ashamed of thinking that now. It didn’t help the fact that I… “Aaaaand we’re leaving that thought right there,” I told myself before I suddenly found myself wrapped up in a hug. It was both of the mares at the same, Holiday absolutely crying and Lofty having her eyes closed as they did. I closed my eyes for a second and gave them both a brief hug before I cleared my throat, their signal to let me down again. “Thank you again,” I told them. “It was nice staying with you, and if I could, I’d continue staying with you both now.” “We’d absolutely take you in if we could,” Lofty told me, “but we don’t have space, and even if we did, we wouldn’t want to see you leave Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle behind. But you can bet your flank we’ll check up on you. Princess Celestia can’t just throw you to the wolves and expect us to do nothing.” “Thanks… actually, speaking of which, I have a question,” I started. “Do you get the feeling that Scootaloo’s parents don’t like me?” I asked. “Cause I was getting a lot of those vibes from them, like they wanted to kick me out and would’ve if they knew how old I was.” “Huh?” Holiday asked, tilting her head, confused. “I didn’t see anything like that from them. Why do you say that?” “I don’t know, it was just a feeling I got, but I really do feel that way. Like… I don’t know. I don’t know what it could possibly be that they don’t like about me, but I’m certain they don’t, even if they tried not to show it. I was gonna ask if I could stay with them over Twilight, but didn’t because it really seemed like they felt that way.” “Well, Lofty and I can ask her parents before we head on out and get back to you later, but I’m telling you, we didn’t notice anything. We can ask for you if you can stay with them, if you want.” “That’s fine,” I said. “It doesn’t matter anymore since we went through all the trouble of apologizing to Twilight, but I would like to hear what they think if you find something out.” “We’ll see what’s up for you. Now give us one more hug before Holiday and I head out.” I obliged them, blushing in embarrassment as Holiday took the moment to kiss me on the cheek. “We love you, Asher,” Holiday said tearfully. “We’ll see you again later though. We promise.” “It’ll be a nice time when you do,” I answered back, giving them a wave. With that, they finally left, leaving me standing alone in front of the library. I almost forgot I was here, and shook my head in annoyance when I remembered. “Oh, this is going to be the most fun ever,” I muttered to myself as I rolled my eyes. “I guarantee it.” I found myself sighing as I walked into that librarian’s house. I really wanted this to go smoothly, but I had a feeling we would be butting heads quite a bit. More than anything, I wanted to go home, but I didn’t think that would happen any time soon, according to Princess Celestia. “Maybe though I should see if there’s anything I can do, even if… ugh.”  I really didn’t like the idea of looking for magic to try and help me. In fact, I despised it, almost fearful of just thinking about it. I wanted to go home, but I didn’t know what I would do if the only way to get home was using magic. I decided to put that thought out of my head for now. There was no reason to make myself anxious about things that might not be a possibility with the way things seemed to be going. Twilight was sitting at a table reading a book when she turned to me as I entered. It seemed like she was waiting for me to get in, and it made me roll my eyes. No doubt, she would try and treat me like I was her child. “You know, you came in and just left your stuff on the table,” she said with a frown. “You should’ve had Spike show you where your room would be and put it in there. What if a mass of ponies suddenly showed up here and all demanded spots and your stuff was still in the way?” “Then you’d have the busiest library in all of America… err, all of Ponyville.” Calling the town here ‘Ponyville’ sounded so awkward, like I was living in a children’s show. It felt ridiculous to say. “Luckily though, that didn’t happen,” I continued, “and it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect it to. With those things in mind-” “You’re right that it’s not reasonable, but it’s still common courtesy to not leave your things lying around. It probably wasn’t going to happen, but there was still a chance that it might, and that’s what matters.” I didn’t like her air of superiority that she had about herself, and wanted to argue. I forced myself not to though. I didn’t want to get into a fight with her, especially not over something so dumb. I did think it was her fault that she was acting the way she was, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something I could do to help the situation. “Okay, I won’t leave my stuff on the table anymore,” I told her, trying my very best to keep the tone out of my voice. “Anything else you want to tell me before you show me to my room?” She opened her mouth, clearly ready to continue, until she realized I was largely being facetious. With that, she simply frowned at me and walked up the steps to the next level of the library. “This is going to be your room,” she explained, leading me into what looked effectively like a very large closet with a bed. There was a dresser, a shelf, and nothing else, not even a window. Even the bed looked mostly barebones, not even having a bedsheet on it. I frowned at the sight of it. “I expect you to keep this room clean,” she told me, her words sounding like something my mother would’ve told me fifteen years ago. “I don’t want to see things on the floor or any trash anywhere.” “I’m sure that’ll be a difficult task,” I replied sarcastically. “I wonder if I’m up for it.” She apparently couldn’t tell I was being sarcastic, because she continued, “Well, you’ll have to learn, because if you don’t, you’re going to be in trouble. Every time I see your room dirty, you’ll be grounded for three days. Actually, I made a chart of the rules, and the corresponding punishments for-” “How old are you?” I interrupted. “Like thirteen or something? I don’t think you should be acting like you’re my mother, because you’re not, and this situation isn’t going to work out if you think you are.” “I didn’t say I was your mother,” she replied quickly, “I just think it’s a good idea to lay some ground rules. And for your information, I’m twenty two.” I don’t know why, but that surprised me. I was expecting her to be a teenager, but then again, seeing as she lived mostly alone, it should’ve been obvious that she was older. I guess it made a little bit of sense that Celestia would put me with her. “Yeah, well, the point still stands,” I told her. “I think a mutual respect for each other is required for this to work at all. It’s not like I have stuff to keep my room dirty, and even if I did, I’m not that kind of person.” “Well, the point still stands. And speaking of your stuff, I know you don’t have much, but I took time to organize your books alphabetically and hang up your clothes. You can thank me for it if you want to.” I almost laughed at that. I had three books and one single jacket. It wasn’t like she moved heaven and earth to “organize” them for me. Although it did make me wonder if she might have had something like OCD. It was just a wild guess at this point, but the fact that she mentioned ‘alphabetizing’ three books put the thought in my head. “I’m not sure what a filly your age is doing with a calculus book though,” she added grumpily after a long moment passed where I didn't express my thanks. “I’m not sure what I’m doing with it either,” I said, not biting on the ‘filly your age’ comment. “I learned everything in that book over five years ago. I’d prefer something more advanced to keep my mind sharp. Or a book on economics and business in this world. I mean, there was a shop I saw that sold exclusively quills and sofas. That’s not something that would ever be economically viable on Earth, except maybe in someplace extremely rural, or a niche market in Philadelphia or something.” “I don’t see how a filly like you would know much about economics,” she muttered. “It takes a special kind of pony to know how to own and operate a business. Not just anypony can walk up and open a store." I didn’t know if this was just how she always was or if she was intentionally trying to provoke an argument. Regardless, though, I wasn’t going to have one. “Well, luckily for me, if and when the time comes, I’ll know what the heck I’m doing because I was about to finish up my master’s degree this year on business administration. Not to mention, I was on track to become the general manager at the restaurant I worked at within like five years. So yeah, I know what the heck I’m talking about.” I paused for a moment before asking, “Was there anything else you wanted?” She opened her mouth to continue, but the look I had on my face probably deterred her. “No. I’m gonna leave the list of rules I have for you in your room,” she told me, floating over a parchment paper to set onto the dresser. “The other main thing I want to tell you now is that if you read one of the books in the library, be sure to put it back in its place when you’re done. I don’t want things out of order when I go to find them.” She yawned with that statement and said, “I’m going back to sleep now. I expect you to be quiet while Spike and I are asleep.” “I certainly wasn’t going to be running around making noise, was I?” I shot back, knowing I shouldn’t be doing that. That wasn’t how you built relationships, but with the whole day I went through, I was too fed up to really care at that point. Even spending time with those four girls, Celestia and Twilight still both wore me down to the bone, it felt like. “I’ll read through those rules you have for me, though,” I told her. “But I’m gonna let you know if there’s something I don’t agree with in there, because I’m not your son like you probably think I am.” “Whatever. As long as you at least read them,” she said. “Anyway, good night.” “Night,” I said simply, almost grumpily, hopping into bed and grabbing the economics textbook to read through, wanting to get myself out of the mood I was in. “Yup,” I thought to myself. “This is going to be the most fun ever, won’t it?”