//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Aperture // by Godspeed //------------------------------// I walk all night long through the dark forest with Rose curled up asleep in my arms. The night was surprisingly calm with the exception of a close call with a manticore when we came to close to it's den and woke it up, but luckily it just wanted some peace and quiet and after growling at us for a few minutes it realized that we weren't any threat to it and turned around and went right back to sleep. I gave a quiet sigh of relief and was more than happy to leave him be as we continue on our way North. And now the sun is now just starting to peek over the opposite horizon from when we started when finally come to the edge of the forest. A road can be seen off in the distance with a multitude of ponies, trying to get a head start on the day and going busily along to whatever town they were traveling to. Luckily they can't see us from their current position or they would freak out at the 'monster' that was holding a pony in it's grip. I drop to my knees from a heavy dose of both exhaustion and relief. I look tiredly down at Rose, still asleep in my arms, and smile weakly, "R-Rose, w-we're out of the f-forest. F-Finally!" She wakes up slowly and then grimaces as her eyes flutter for a moment, adjusting to the bright beams of morning sunlight shining down on us. Once she gets used to the brightness, she looks up at me and softly smiles at me before noticing my current exhausted state. She gasps and says, "You carried me all night long?" with concern in her rich green eyes. "Heh, yeah." I say looking away, blushing a little at the emotion. Rose nuzzles my chest comfortingly and looks up at me again. "Thank you. You've done so much for me and I haven't done even anything for you!" She nudges me to let her down and I do so willingly, not because I don't enjoy holding this beautiful mare anymore but because my arms are extremely sore from holding her all night long. With her now on the ground in front of me, I realize that if I stood up, the top of her head would just come up to the bottom of my chest where my rib cage starts. Geez, I must look like a giant to them... and beautiful mare!? I don't know if I like how quickly I am adjusting to this world. They might think I'm some crazy, uh pony.. person? I don't know, for feeling that way. And she's not even my species! I think worriedly. I wonder what she thinks of me? She probably just thinks I saved her because I wanted to carry a young mare through the woods like some creep. I shake my head. Man, that sounds so ridiculously stupid now that I said it! She is just so innocent. I just hope she doesn't think badly of me... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, from Rose's perspective... He is so nice, I can't believe he carried me all night long! *sigh* When you get over the shock of meeting a new species, he's actually not all that bad looking... She quietly stomps the ground with her right hoof with resolution. Compose yourself Rose! Don't let your emotions get in the way of your friendship!... *sigh* but he DID save your life... Rose shakes off her concerned face and looks up and smiles up at me. "We're no more than 2 miles from my hometown Ponyville where me and my two best friends Lily and Daisy live together." Her eyes widen with excitement. "Oh, I can't wait for you to meet them! I just know you will be the best of friends! They run a flower shop together..." She somehow got even more ecstatic with each sentence. "Oh! And I'll get to show you my rose garden! I just LOVE roses!" I wonder if... Oh my gosh! I will be the first friend of a new SPECIES! Rose was jumping up and down with glee. This is so cool! I look down at the ecstatic pony and give an awkward smile. "And the town! They'll like you for sure! *gasp!* And THEY will be your friends too! I just know it!" This is soooo exciting! All of my friends will just love him! My face now transforms to a look of major concern. "It will be so wonderful! I can't wa-" I clear my throat. "Uh, Rose?" I ask with my worried look. She looks surprised at me like she just noticed I was there even though I was all she was talking about for the last couple of minutes. She gives a huge grin. "Yes Godspeed?" My face tells her that something is wrong. He looks so cute when he's worried about something... Ah! Come on Rose! Focus.. "What is it? Are you okay? We can wait here for you to get back your strength." she says, now coming up to me and nuzzling my leg much like a dog would. I laugh awkwardly at the her reaction. "No, it's not that at all. I should be fine in a little bit to continue on but...Um, well... you see.... I'm not exactly a pony and, uh, nobod- err, no pony has ever seen a human before." I don't get.... Rose's face turns from a look of happiness to one of worry in an instant. Oh no!! What if they freak out like I did!? What if they're scared of him?! And he's all alone, nobody of his own kind.. She sat down in befuddlement. Oh dear... his family!!! "I'm sorry, I didn't think of that!" She looks up at my face with her emerald eyes. "I was being so insensitive! How can you even stand being the only one of your kind here?! I would be so sad knowing that I can never go back home to my loved ones!" I tear myself away from her gaze and sorrowfully stare at the ground. "Well, I don't actually have any loved ones..." This elicits a gasp from her. How!? "..and the few friends I ever had were in the military. But they are all bound to the government so I probably won't be seeing them again..." What?! She tries to get me to look her in the eye, but I can't bear to bring my eyes to meet hers right now. "...and all we were taught to do there was how to kill something, anything quickly efficiently." Another gasp. Him, a soldier!? Well, he did save me from that hydra.. Her face transformed to one of major concern and then after a few moments of shock, she shook her head to clear her thoughts. But he's so nice! I find it hard to believe that he could kill anything, but maybe I don't know him as well as I thought I did... My face whips back to hers at this. "But don't worry! I haven't actually killed anything yet, it was all just training but...." OH THANK CELESTIA!! She visibly sagged in relief on her hanches. I look away again in embarrassment. "I don't know... I just couldn't bring myself to kill anything. I mean I would out of necessity, like if my life was in danger or if my loved one, if I had any, were going to die but... Ugh, I don't know! I just can't go back, I don't WANT to go back there, even if I could." He.. lost everyone. He lost his family, his friends and his home...he didn't even have someone to love... Rose, now crying profusely from this sad story, gets on her back legs bringing her into a standing postition and puts both of her hooves on both sides of my face, forcing me to look back into her rich green eyes. "I am so sorry! I didn't know!" He just wants to be loved! To be needed... Her face twisted into one of determination a thought crept into her mind. Her mind screamed that this was wrong, but in her heart she knew it was right. I-I'LL BE THAT SOMEONE!! she shouts in her mind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ She then pushes me over onto my back and wraps both of her front legs (arms?) around my head, closes her eyes and proceeds to give me a big wet kiss right on my mouth. What the?!..!?!.. My eyes pop open wide from surprise and but as she continues passionately kissing me, my eyes close half way and wrap my arms around her. I just let it happen, happy that someone cares for me for once. My mind races all the while. ..What the frick is she doing?! Where did THAT come from!?! Oh no... is this wrong!? I am kissing a pony!!.. but she's a person, she is more than some simple animal, she is a SOMEONE. She is essentially like a human, just with different body parts. And she is a.. a special someone. I think back to the look of concern she had on her face when she realized how fatigued I was from carrying her all night long for a moment. I've never seen that concern directed toward me: My parents were either dead or didn't care about me since birth, the orphanage didn't care, the military didn't care but she did.... It is an entirely new sensation for me. My thoughts snap back to reality when she tugs a bit tighter around my neck, pulling me closer to her. Ah, and she is kissing me! Are all ponies this friendly? My eyes widen a bit. Oh gosh, I hope not! Heh, and the same time I hope so...but in a different way! Ugh, I can't think straight right now.... I realized at this moment, that I simply didn't care. Screw it, I have a beautiful young mare on top of me right now kissing me and I'm missing out. In my exhausted state and awkward position on the ground, I couldn't exactly return the kiss but I tried now. Her deep green eyes popped open for a second in surprise at the sudden pressure back, but then smiled while still kissing me and returned the favor wholeheartedly. We did this for a few more minutes and lost ourselves in the moment. It was just her and me. Rose finally pulls her head back to get a breath and then, realizing fully now what she had done, looks away abashedly and blushes a deep burgundy color like the color of her hair and cutie mark. "Uh.. thank you?" I say blushing red as well and smiling awkwardly at the sudden burst of emotion from the young mare on top of me. She had trouble making eye contact again until I put my hands on the side of her face and gently turn her head towards me. "No really, thank you. I've never had anyone care about me before." I say softly looking deep into her rich green eyes. She just blushes an even deeper red and buries her head into my chest in embarrassment. I just let us lay there, on the edge of the forest, for what seemed like hours. I felt like we were the only two people in the world, if only for a short time. Eventually she and I fell asleep in the shade of the forest, her, tired from all the crying and me, the exhaustion from carrying her all night finally catching up to me. And as my eyes started fluttering closed, I smiled thinking, I don't know how this day could get any better. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------