We continued to hold each other, both of us crying and letting the tears flow freely. Nanaimo smiled at me the whole time, even though tears flowed down her cheeks and onto my face. My tears streamed freely as well, but I was bawling like a little baby because I knew I was never going to be able to go home and enjoy my favorite pastimes, even though they held little meaning for me anymore, and at that point in my life, they were all I had to keep me going on with my life, as pathetic as it had become. The feeling of her warmth was beginning to make me sweat at this point, but neither of us seemed to care as we kissed each other passionately.
"Mmmh, Nanaimo, I love you so much," I breathed softly, smiling at the mare again. Her smile widened.
"You said your name was Mike, right? I love you too, even though we just barely met -- but there's something really special about you, I can sense it -- somehow I just know you were meant for me -- and I've been wanting a stallion for such a long time, so much so that I had even considered going back to school and joining my sister and her roommate so I could maybe find a good stallion in Trottingham," she said softly. "But it looks like I don't have to, because now you're here with me!"
We both chuckled at her statement, but I chose that moment to hold her even more tightly to me, hugging her with an intense passion borne of a very strong desire to be made whole again. So much time had passed since I had experienced true love that I had seriously doubted I would ever regain the confidence and happiness such love could bring and inspire within me. She kissed me again and wrapped her forehooves tightly around me, the two of us locking our lips together. This time she didn't force her tongue into my mouth, content simply to kiss and let the passion flow between us. A knocking at the door interrupted our reverie.
"Breakfast is ready, if you two lovebirds are hungry," a female voice sounded from behind the closed door. She chuckled and turned, this I was able to discern as her hoof-falls became softer until they were no longer audible. I grinned at Nanaimo.
"I'm hungry, what about you?" I asked her, tacking a slight chuckle onto the end of my question.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, Mom knows how to make a good breakfast," she replied and climbed down off me, landing on all fours as she trotted to the door. I followed her, rising to my feet and lost my balance. Apparently I had spent more time dead than I had thought, as it felt like my feet were made of lead and the rest of my body felt like it was made of tungsten. I crumpled to the floor, making a rather loud thud. This caused both Nanaimo and her mother to investigate.
"Oooh, sorry about that, are you all right?" asked Nanaimo. I grimaced in pain and rose to my knees. As far as being dead goes, this sure was painful. She came over to me and comforted me by putting a hoof around my back. Her mother came into the room to inspect me more closely herself.
"I'm so sorry, I should have been here for you," Nanaimo uttered softly, patting me on my back. There seemed to be something almost perfect about this, yet I couldn't understand why. I sat down on the floor for a moment to try to regain some more balance. Nanaimo tried to massage my back, but ended up tickling me again. I reflexively giggled. "Mmmh, I thought I could help you feel better," she added softly, cooing into my right ear.
"What happened?" asked her mother. Her facial expression was one of concern, as though I had automatically become one of her children despite being old enough to be her father. I appreciated her concern, flashing a smile in her direction.
"Um, I guess I died in my home world and was dead for a long time -- it feels like my whole body is made of lead," I replied. Nanaimo hugged me from behind, her strength continuing to amaze me. "Um, baby girl, could you ease up on the hug? You're crushing me again," I said softly to her as I glanced in her direction. She released me and apologized softly.
"Well, dear, I think you might need some food," her mother chortled. "If you've been dead that long, you really do need some food!" she added mirthfully, laughing playfully at me and if I didn't know any better, I could have sworn she winked at me too.
I hope she isn't wanting something extra for me, what would Nanaimo think? I thought as I tried to rise to my feet again. Ultimately I had to crawl, which was quite embarrassing for me.
Both Nanaimo and her mother giggled at my pathetic attempt to follow them, but after crawling for a bit then moving on hands and knees, at some point I was bracing myself against the walls in order to help regain my balance so I could walk again. This might take more time than I thought, I thought to myself as I managed to make it to the kitchen, where five ponies sat at the table. I saw a tall lavender unicorn stallion looking at me in shock. Must be Brann Flakes, I thought as I made eye contact with him. On the table before each of them was a plate with three or four pancakes. My mouth drooled at the sight and smell of the food, but I noticed there wasn't enough room for me to join them at the table. The matriarch noticed this and offered me her place at the table.
"Um, thank you so much," I said to her quite reverently. She giggled at me.
"No problem, dear, I can eat later!" she chuckled. "By the way, you can eat what I prepared for myself, I can cook some more for myself later."
"Thank you for your generosity, I really appreciate it," I responded, smiling warmly at the mare. Her husband wasn't quite so happy, though.
"I'm only tolerating you being here because you're with my daughter -- but you need to go get a job before too much longer, my generosity has its limits, y'know?" he stated firmly. The question was a rhetorical one and he made it quite obvious that that was the case.
"Um, being a human might make it hard for me to find a job," I replied timidly. I wasn't sure how long Maple was willing to let me stay with them, but I hoped it would be long enough for me to find employment and get a regular paycheck, if that was the way pony finances worked. I hope it's not the barter system, I thought, fretting about working for nothing but compliments.
"Well, that can't be helped now, can it? But in any case, once you can get back on your hooves, you need to go out and get a job," he responded firmly. "That, or you'll have to join both of my daughters and this guy here," he said, pointing at Brann, "and head on back to Trottingham."