Trials and Tribulations
Chapter Six: Us few, us happy few
As Seth and the ponies were walking down the road to Ponyville, he thought of something he didn't think of before. "What type of magic can you use here Twilight, Rarity?"
Twilight was the first to answer. "You can use magic for practically anything if you set your mind to it. You can do things like levitation, telekinesis, teleporting. You know, stuff like that."
Seth had to visibly calm himself down. After a couple of seconds of having his eyes closed and his breathing controlled, he asked, "You're telling me, that with magic you can do things limited to only your imagination. This is correct?"
Twilight and Rarity nodded.
"Why didn't you, I don't know, read my fucking thoughts before hitting me with your friendship death laser? Or maybe, held me in place so you could find out what I was? Hell, you could literally solve every solve. Every. Single. Fucking. Problem that has ever happened, ever, with magic. And you're telling me that no one here ever thought of that?"
Awkward stares were all Seth got in return for his rant. Only after much debate, did one of the ponies pip up and say, "Don't you mean 'nopony'?"
Seth's anger deflated at that. Just listening to their habits and language told him so much about their culture. Like the fact that everyone was treated equal, or that they didn't even refer to themselves or others as 'one'. They used a general term. Somepony, anypony. Seth thought how humans could possibly do that. Somehuman, anyhuman. Nope, didn't work. Humans were to separate from each other anyway.
Seth said simply, "Yes that's exactly what I meant. And don't go trying those things I said either, as somepony might get hurt." He hated making false excuses, but he figured mass revolt was worse than that.
"Also, my feet are getting pretty banged up. Is there somepony here who could make me some shoes?"
Rarity's hoof shot up. "I make clothing, darling, and I must say: I'd be happy to make you some new footwear. Free of charge, of course."
Seth nodded and said, "Why thank you, Rarity. It's rare where I'm from for somepony to show kindness to another, free of charge."
The loud mouth from earlier, Rainbow Dash, spoke up. "Hey, if you wanted, you could stay at my place for the night. It would be totally cool!"
Seth was appalled at what was happening. What the fuck is going on here? thought poor, confused Seth. What is with the spontaneous acts of charity? Not like I can say no, but still. What the fuck?
"Allllrighty then," said Seth. "That...would be great. I could use somewhere to chill for a bit, as I'm pretty sure the hospital doesn't want me back."
It was Applejack's turn at gift-giving now. "Ya'll hungry, Seth? Lunch is almost here an' we always have extra food up at the farm...."
"Well, I'll be damned. Food, shoes, and a place to stay. Thanks a bunch, girls!" said Seth much more cheerier than he expected to be at this point and time. He checked his watch, which read eleven fifteen.
"Rarity, how long will it take for you to make a pair of shoes?" asked Seth.
Rarity thought for a moment and answered, "If it were a pony, I'd say a couple of hours, but you're...extremities on your feet must be accounted for. I'd have to say at the very earliest, tomorrow morning. I'll still have to take measurements, which will take around half an hour.
Seth nodded to himself. Perfect, he thought to himself. Feet measuring, food, and sleep. I need something to do in between food and sleep though...
"Twilight, you said earlier that you were a student. Would you happen to have any books i could borrow? Particularly on magic or history."
Twilight laughed and said, "Of course you can, silly. I live in a library after all."
Everypony stopped and stared when Seth hugged Twilight. Awkwardly separating themselves, Seth said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you! None of you know how big of a thing this is for me. Where I'm from, there are practically no books anymore, the city library closed down, and all the bookstores closed shop. There's this thing called the 'Internet', and it was the worst possible thing to happen to humanity."
"Why was it so bad?" came the inevitable question.
"The internet was a plague, a virus, and it slowly consumed everything in its path. It contained almost every single thing in existence and you could find out anything on command."
"Why is that bad?" asked Twilight, somewhat confused. "All that information sounds like a good thing to have access to."
"The problem," Seth continued, "was that no human used it for that purpose. Sure, a few here and there, but the majority, the billions of humans used it as their own personal entertainment source, not for knowledge. We have these things called 'Facebook' and 'YouTube'. Facebook was a place where you could meet anyone, learn everything about them. We used to play retarded games, hold stupid fucking polls, learn about who did what for what reason, even if nobody cared. YouTube was worse. It eroded our minds, whittled them down so much that were laughing at the same jokes, the same people, playing the same games, reviewing the same videos, endlessly. Of all the information at our fingertips, we used it for bullshit. Stupid, derogatory, painstakingly obvious bullshit."
Seth sighed and took his head out of his hands. "There were few of us who had the originality, the spark needed to fix the world. Fix humanity. I thought I could do something, but now I realize I was just a pawn. Just a pawn in someone else's game."
Seth sat up, surprised to see all the ponies listening to him intently. "Well, hopefully that's behind me now. Honestly, if given the choice, I'd rather stay here."
Seth was definitely not expecting a group hug. In fact, that was the least expected thing on his list of expected things.
After everypony and somehuman extricated themselves, Seth announced his plans. "Rarity, I guess we should go figure out some shoes. Applejack, I'll see you at lunch. Twilight, I'll be at the library as soon as I'm done. Rainbow Dash, what time should I head over?"
Rainbow Dash laughed, an adorable sounding thing. "I'll meet you at Twilight's later tonight. You couldn't make it to my house if you tried."
Seth was confused, but he shrugged and said, "Fine by me then."
He was about to head over to Rarity's clothing store when he realized he forgot somepony.
"Fluttershy! I'm so sorry I forgot you! You're so quiet it's like you're not even there!" said Seth apologetically.
Embarrassed from the attention, Fluttershy barely managed to say, "It's okay. I'm sure I don't have anything to offer you anyway."
Seth stroked his four-day beard. "You said earlier that you were an animal caretaker. Would you happen to have any pets that need a home? I always wanted a pet, but never had the time for one..."
Fluttershy cheered up immensely after hearing this. "Oh yes! I have many animals that could use a home. All of us have a pet, so it's only right that you get one too."
"Alright then," said Seth. "I'll head over as soon as I eat lunch over at Applejack's, then I'll head over to the library. Sounds good to everypony else?"
They all nodded their assent, but before anypony could go anywhere, Twilight asked, "Wait! Where's Pinkie Pie?"
Seth chuckled. "She left as soon as I finished my rant on magic. I'm surprised nopony else noticed."
Everypony and a lone human shrugged at the same time. "Alright then, Rarity, let's show these little piggies whose boss," said Seth while wiggling his toes.
"Little piggies?" asked Rarity.
"Never mind, human saying. I'll have to stop those. Or, I could continue them and laugh to myself when nopony else gets them," said Seth with a grin.
And so, the ponies dispersed to their own activities while Rarity and Seth made their way to Rarity's clothing store.