//------------------------------// // A New World // Story: "Is that you, my love?" // by Hopefullygoodgrammar //------------------------------// Author’s Note: I don’t own MLP or Amnesia: Justine A New World Alois felt…. strange. For one thing the pain in his leg had subsided to a dull throb, he could feel things covering his body. Bandages? Yes, there were bandages covering a great deal of his body, he felt lighter too, he shifted his ankles and wrists and was surprised to not hear the clinking of his chains, they were gone. He then realized that he was laying down. Panic surged through him and he raised his hands to his throat in order to keep the collar from doing any more damage; to his complete and utter shock his hands met only bandages and warm skin. The collar was gone. Alois felt tears of elation well up in his sockets, he had no clue who could have done this for him, but he owed them a great deal. Then he heard breathing, it sounded like there were two people in the room with him. “Hello?” he called out in a raspy voice. “Hello.” came the timid reply, if Alois had still possessed eyelids he would have widened them in shock, the soft-voiced madwoman from the woods had helped him? A series of thoughts flashed through his mind: Why did she help me? Was she going to do what Justine did? But why would she go to all of the trouble to take the collar and chains off of me if she was going to do that? What if she’s just lulling me into a false sense of security? I’m helpless to defend myself. But what if she doesn’t have bad intentions? Why would she help me when her friends were afraid? Finally deciding to test out his vocal chords some more he said “I remember you. Why did you help me?” The answer that he got surprised him: “Because you looked like you were in so much pain and I just couldn’t bear the thought of letting somepony die, e-even though you aren’t a pony.” “What do you mean ‘pony’?” asked Alois “Have I been so mutilated that I look equine?” “Oh no, no, no” said the woman who had been talking about Signs and Portents “I mean you aren’t like us, what are you, anyway?” Alois shook his head before answering, “I am a human being, is it really that hard to tell?”, he said this last bit with some sadness. “A ‘hyoo-mun’?” asked the woman in an interested tone. “Yes a human” said Alois “The way that you say it, it makes it sound like you’ve never heard of your own race!” “Oh no, we aren’t ‘hyoo-muns’.” said the soft-voiced one. Alois felt his blood go cold. “W-what? O-of course you’re human, y-you have to be.” he stammered “Oh Lord, am I in the presence of two madwomen?” Just then he heard a door open with a bang as several somethings entered, he could make out the voices of the other women from the clearing. “Alright, where is he?” said the the raspy one in a much softer tone than the one she had used before. “I’m right here.” Alois said in a small voice. There was a sound like wings beating and he was aware of a presence near his head, when the voice spoke again it was much, much closer than it had been previously, but there was no way that any human could move so fast. “Hey”  she said after a few tense seconds “ I was thinking about how I acted before and-well- I was pretty mean and…. I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have freaked out like that, I thought you were a monster and that you’d try to hurt my friends, obviously you aren’t a monster so…. sorry again.” Alois nodded, “I understand perfectly and I forgive you, I’m sure I do look pretty monstrous. But I assure you, madame that I mean no harm to you or your friends, I wouldn’t hurt someone who helped me.” He heard a sigh of relief, followed by a high-pitched giggle. “See? I told you he wasn’t a big meanie.” said the hyperactive one. “ Okay, okay, you were right Pinkie, don’t rub it in.” said the raspy voiced one with a slight chuckle. “Wait, did you say some ONE?” came the posh voice. “Yeeesss?” was Alois reply. “Darling I believe you mean somePONY.” she said. “Ummm… no, I mean someone, I have no clue what your obsession is with those animals is, but-” He was interrupted by a gasp of outrage. “ANIMALS??!!” screeched the posh one, “Listen here, you- you beast, we are not animals. The very idea-” This time it was Alois who did the cutting off, “Wait a moment, WE? Madame are you saying that you are a horse?!”, he could hear her grinding her teeth in anger. When she answered with a snarling “I. Am. A. Pony!.” Alois felt a mixture of terror and cruel humor envelope him, he chuckled to himself, then the chuckling evolved into psychotic giggling. “Heeheehee…. a pony…. heeheeheh… a pony?..... I ‘ve been rescued from months of torture by a group of women who think that they’re ponies? HehehehehehHAaHAHAAHHAAHAH!!!!!” his laughter increased in volume until he was screaming in mirth. Still laughing maniacally he grasped his head in his hands and pressed his fingers into the skin, the laughter gave way to miserable weeping as Alois rose from his spot on the couch and fell to his knees on the floor. Clasping his hands together he said, “Please, I am begging you, end my misery,  all I ask is that you make it quick, I had hoped that I would be free from HER clutches and now I find myself at the mercy of more psychopaths, this is too cruel, I-I cannot go on…. please, kill me and get it over with.” Rarity had gone from outraged to shocked in a heartbeat, she had never seen somepony lose their minds like that before. It was true that she had seen each of her friends go crazy before, Applejack and the harvesting incident, Fluttershy at the Grand Galloping Gala, Rainbow Dash and Mare-Do-Well, Twilight and the day that she was tardy. And the time when Discord had turned her into a greedy ruffian. But with each of them their insanity had been (A) Brought on by stress (or Discord.) and (B) Temporary. This creature had lost his mind merely because she had corrected his vernacular, Rarity knew that some ponies were very touchy about that sort of thing, but the way he was acting made it seem like he’d never been around ponies before. Rarity’s eyes widened as a startling thought entered her mind: Maybe that’s the reason he’s acting like this, maybe he hasn’t ever been near ponies, but how could that be? There are ponies everywhere, there are some in the Griffon Kingdom, a few in the badlands, there are even a few who live near dragons for Celestia’s sake! How could he not know about us? … … … What if he’s an alien? Rarity internally scoffed at the notion, trying to dismiss it as if it were an outside annoyance when she was “in the Zone” , but, like most of said annoyances, the thought wouldn’t be dismissed so easily. Rarity turned her attention back to the creature, he was still sobbing, but now he was curled up in a ball, his thin arms covering most of his face, the others looked completely at a loss for what to do, Rainbow Dash in particular looked like she had just seen somepony do a quadruple rainboom whilst singing “I’m a little teapot” in a Prance accent. With a small sigh Rarity walked over to the creature and said in her best calming voice, “I’m sorry for losing my temper, I just get a tad… unhappy when my entire race is referred to as ‘animals’, I take it you’ve never seen a pony?” After a few seconds the creature managed to calm himself down enough to reply, “I HAVE seen them, but they don’t know how to provide medical attention, they don’t read and they most certainly do not talk.” This surprised Rarity, she opened her mouth to question him further, but Twilight spoke before she could. “What do you mean the ponies you’ve met can’t talk?” she asked as her eyes scanned the room for something to take notes on. The creature shook his head as if trying to wake up from a dream, “I mean horses are beasts of burden, you can’t be one of them because you are intelligent.” Applejack butted in with, “Beast’s ‘o’ burden? Like earth ponies?” The creature shook his head again, “What do you mean ‘earth ponies’, make sense please!”, he cried desperately Rainbow Dash entered the fray, “You don’t know what earth ponies are? Have you been living under a rock or somethin’? Do you even know what pegasi are?” she added this last part after a second of thought. The creature looked in her direction, his brow wrinkled in confusion, “ Pegasi? Unicorns? What are you talking about, those things are fictional.” Rainbow Dash gasped, “Fictional?! Are you blind?!!”. The creature turned to her, showing off its hollow sockets. Realizing what she said the cyan pegasus placed her hooves to her mouth and blushed furiously, “I am so, So sorry.” she said after a second, the creature looked down and nodded. “Way ta go Dash.” said Applejack, leveling a stern gaze at her friend, whose blush deepened. “I didn't mean-” “Yeah, but ya did and-” Twilight held up a hoof to silence the two, her eyes positively brimming with interest. She approached the creature and asked in a calm voice, “Do you know where you are?” The creature cocked his head at her before answering, “I am somewhere in France, right?” Twilight shook her head, “I've never even heard of ‘France’, you’re in a cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville.” The creature furrowed his brow, “I-I’m not sure I've ever heard of this place, I’m still in Europe, right?” “What’s ‘Yurope’?” asked Twilight. The creature began to tremble, then he bowed his head and whimpered like a child.  Fluttershy approached him and laid a hoof on his shoulder. With a yelp the creature sprang backwards, his back slammed into the couch and he raised his arms above his head in a defensive pose, Fluttershy looked at her hoof for a second before looking at Twilight with a look that said “What did I do wrong?” “Okay, this has officially become the weirdest day ever!” declared Rainbow Dash, she flew over to the creature and looked at him, “What’s the matter with you? You’re talking about places that don’t exist and acting like you've never even heard of Equestria before, what’s your problem?” The creature shook his head frantically as he muttered under his breath. Pinkie Pie’s hoof shot up and she began hopping up and down, “Oh, oh, pick me, pick me!! Please Mr. Kotter-I mean Dashie, pick me, pick me, pick me, pi-” “OKAY PINKIE!” shouted the cyan pegasus with a silencing wave of her hoof, “What do you think is going on?” “I think he’s an alien.” said the pink pony as if it were the most obvious thing ever. All was silent except for the creature’s tearful muttering. Then Twilight said 4 words that made everypony look at her like she was crazy. “I think she’s right.” As expected everypony had a few choice words to say at that: words like “What?”, “Huh?”, “Are you insane?” and “ Ah think Twilight’s lost it.”; the only one who has silent was Fluttershy, who was gazing at the creature with a look of comprehension. Twilight shouted for them to stop, but she was drowned out by the myriad of voices. After about 3 minutes of this she had had enough, using her magic to amplify her voice she shouted, “EVERYPONY BE QUIET!”. Everypony hushed themselves, “Do you want to make this poor creature anymore scared than he already is?” she asked, gesturing to the creature in question, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at their hooves with guilty expressions, “Sorry.” they all said at the same time. “ You didn’t ask him his name, I don’t want to call him ‘the creature’ anymore.” said Fluttershy softly. Twilight raised her brows before she nodded, she cleared her throat in an attempt to get the creature’s attention, when it didn’t work Rainbow Dash flew over and prodded him with her hoof. The creature jumped a bit and made as if to return to his original pose, but Fluttershy used her ultimate weapon of mass calming: her voice.   “Shhhh…. don’t be afraid, nopony is going to hurt you, it’s going to be alright, you’re safe here, nopony will lay a hoof on you, we’ll help you, just calm down.” Slowly, but surely the creature began to relax, his arms gently fell to his sides, his shoulders slumped and his trembling stopped. “ Okay…. now will you tell us your name?” asked Fluttershy. The creature nodded before saying, “A-Alois, my name is Alois Racine.” “Okay, Alois it is then.” said Twilight with a smile, “And what species are you?” “I’m a human.” he said softly. Twilight nodded and then asked his what his world was called. “Earth.” Alois said, starting to tremble again, he looked at the space where he supposed Twilight to be before asking, “If I’m not on Earth, then where am I?” “You’re on Equis, in the country of Equestria and you’re in, or rather near, the town of Ponyville which is a train ride away from the royal city of Canterlot.” said Twilight. Alois was about to ask another question when Pinkie zoomed right into his personal space, “OhmygoshIcan’tbelievearealalienohit’ssgonnabesososososocool-” Rainbow Dash put a hoof in her mouth to silence her, noting Alois startled and fearful look she supplied him with the usual “She’s just being Pinkie” quote that she always gave new ponies when they met the crazy mare. “Um… could you all, maybe, tell me your names?” said Alois, sounding remarkably like Fluttershy whenever she met new ponies. Twilight smiled and said, “I’m Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia and local librarian.” Rarity stepped forwards, “I’m Rarity, owner of Carousel Boutique; where everything’s chic, unique and magnifique.” “I’m Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in all of Equestria and member of the super-fantastic Wonderbolts!” “Ah’m Applejack and Ah own Sweet Apple Acres, you should stop by if’n ya have the time!” “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie! I help out at Sugarcube Corner and I’m the local party planner!” “I’m Fluttershy, I take care of any animals that need help.” Alois nodded, “I see, you all seem to have some… interesting names, Do you know how I can get back?” Twilight held a hoof to her chin in thought before she let out a triumphant “Ah-ha!”. “We could send the Princesses a letter about Alois, maybe they’ll know how to get him back to his world. And in the mean time I could ask him more about his world!” Alois nodded, “I suppose I could answer your questions, but I’d like to get home as soon as possible.” “But if you leave then you’ll miss your party.” whined Pinkie, Rainbow Dash shushed her. “ I think there are more important matters at hand, Pinkie.” admonished Rarity. “Yeah, like findin’ him a place to stay.” said Applejack. “He can stay with me.” said Twilight with an overenthusiastic smile. “Um, Twilight? I think it would be best if he stayed here for the night, I’d like to make sure that none of his wounds get infected.” said Fluttershy, she thought she saw a disappointed scowl flash across her face, but it was gone in a flash and replaced by a smile. “Alright, I think it’s time to leave.” she said. Applejack nodded and headed out the door, dragging a complaining Pinkie Pie with her. “See ya later Al.” said Rainbow Dash as she flew out the door. “Have a good night, Alois.” said Rarity. “I’ll be going too, I have a letter to send.” said Twilight before she teleported away. “Well I think that went well.” said Fluttershy with as much chipperness as she could, she turned to the ‘hyoo-mun’ to continue talking and found him sound asleep. Smiling, Fluttershy pulled a blanket over him and bid him good night before retiring. As she lay in her bed she began to wonder about him: she wanted to know if he had friends, what job he had held, what sort of things he liked…. and if there were any more like him in Equestria. She had no clue that her last question would be answered within the coming weeks.