"I don't think I understand... I mean you..." I watched Silver Blossom's puzzled expression from behind the counter. "You don't like the princess?"
I shook my head with a sigh. "No. I don't dislike her... she is doing a very good job after all."
Silver Blossom tilted her head. "Then why the sign?"
It took me a moment to realize it, but something about her was strange... I couldn't place it at first, but the way she tilted her head... and the way she moved her hands... I pushed the thought aside for a moment. "I don't want to meet her... that's all."
"Why?"
Why? I could think of a couple of good reasons, but I doubted she'd understand any of them. "I'm shy," I lied.
"You don't seem shy," Silver Blossom commented as she stepped away from the sign and back into my store. She took a moment to look around herself. "Is this really your store?"
"It is," I replied, feeling slightly uneasy as she seemed to study every detail.
"Huh..." she let one of her hands trail over the shelves, studying the wares on display. "So... about the human thing..." she gave me a curious look.
"What about it?" I asked.
"Do we have any special abilities?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"
"Well..." she put one of her hands onto her chin. "Can we fly?"
I felt my eyebrow go up even further. "No."
"Can we do magic?"
"No."
"Can we change our form or shoot fire from our eyes? Can we..." She started making wild gestures with her hands to accompany her questions, every question making my frown deepen. And at the same time... "Or do we grow really tall?" She held up her hands and mimicked what I could only assume to be a giant.
And then it dawned on me. The thing that had been making me wonder the whole time. The way she moved, the poses she struck... and how she didn't use her fingers when she moved her hands while talking... She moved like a pony, even made gestures like one. Any anthropologist would have had a field day just watching her. I couldn't help but wonder what other habits she had picked up from the ponies. At least the nudity thing seemed to have gone by her... I hoped.
Fun fact number twenty-two; Though ponies spent the majority of their life running around without clothing and with a concept of nudity that puzzles me even today, they still have separate changing rooms and a surprisingly human concept of peeping... I'm not even going to start explaining how I found out that one.
Silver Blossom was still ranting on with the excitement only a child could muster. "Can we..."
I held up a hand. "Hold it." She stopped talking and blushed at her own outburst. "I'm afraid I have to disappoint you, but we humans don't have any special abilities."
"We don't?" she seemed disappointed.
"None that I know of," I replied and rubbed my chin in thought as I observed the ceiling. "Not sure about the magic part though... haven't tried yet." Mainly due to the fact that trying would sooner or later have gotten me to Canterlot for sure. I shrugged. "We're pretty much normal then... Though we are known to be pretty clever and..." I paused as I looked down again. "Huh?"
Without me realizing it, Silver Blossom had walked up to the counter while I had busied myself with my ceiling. Taking into account that I was leaning on my counter she was now very close to me... and once again she was staring at me with utter fascination.
"Uhhmm... hello?" I asked out of nervousness.
"Your face..." she whispered.
"What about it?"
Carefully she reached out, her hand shaking as she did. I felt tempted to rear back to avoid her touch, but the moment passed and her fingers made contact with my cheek. It felt... strange. It was something I had not experienced in a long time.
"There are hairs growing out of your face!" she exclaimed with astonishment, running her fingers over the short stubble I couldn't even hope to pass as shaved. I shave every morning, every blasted morning and two hours later I'm already spouting an evening shade. These days I'm starting to suspect that the whole bearotaur thing may be responsible.
"It's called facial hair," I sighed as she continued to let her fingers trail over it. "All human males grow them... just like ponies. When they get longer, you call it a beard."
"That's so cool!" By now, both of her hands were inspecting my face. "Can I grow one too?"
"You can't, you're a girl," I replied with a sour expression as an image of her with a mustache flashed before my inner eye. "Or at least you're not supposed to be able to."
"Oh..." she put on a thoughtful expression before looking up and into my eyes. "Are there any more of us?"
The sudden seriousness of her question surprised me... I shook my head slightly, or at least as far as her two hands would allow me to. "None that I know of... you're the first one I met since I came here."
"But where did I come from then?"
"Can I get my face back first?" I asked, feeling more than uncomfortable at her close proximity.
"Oh! Sorry!" Her hands flinched back immediately and she watched her open palms for a second. "It's scratchy..." she giggled. "I've never met anypony with a beard before."
"Please don't say anypony when referring to me..." I whispered under my breath.
"So... where did I come from?" she repeated her question while I rubbed some life back into my cheeks. "I mean, where do humans come from?"
"When a daddy and a mommy really, really like one another very much..." I started.
"No!" she interrupted me with a heavy blush. "I mean what place did I come from! Where did we come from?!"
"That's probably the hardest one..." I leaned back and tried to gather what little knowledge I had. "There are a couple of theories..." Time travel, magic, death, portals... lost civilizations predating Equestria... The list in my head went on, pick your favorite. I sighed, "ultimately, there's no real telling why the both of us landed here... But concerning the where..." I paused, was I really considering this?
I took a moment to study Silver Blossom's desperate expression and immediately knew that I might as well. I carefully undid my apron and motioned her to follow me. "Come on, follow me."
She gave me a puzzled look. "What? Why? Where are we going?"
I started to trudge up the stairs. "Upstairs... I think seeing it will make it easier for you to understand."
---
Ten minutes later, Silver Blossom was still speechless. And while I had taken a seat in my attempt of an office chair, her eyes continued to fly over the walls of my small office in wonder.
"When I first came here, I didn't have anything with me other than my clothes..." I explained softly as I shifted in my chair, feeling nervous at actually having someone here. It was something I never could have imagined, but seeing how desperately she was searching for answers I had made an exception.
"No books, no pictures... nothing that would help me to remember where I came from." I carefully picked up a sheet of paper, inspecting the pencil lines that ran over it and as usual, feeling strangely tired as I did. "So..." I put the paper down again. "I drew them." I didn't even know why I decided to draw the pictures... maybe I just felt melancholic at being alone, maybe I just didn't want to forget... or maybe I just wanted to see another human being?
It started with paintings of plants... buildings and the occasional animal. But at some point, I started drawing humans too. Just humans doing human things... shopping, running, working... anything. Anything I could remember from my own life I had drawn. They weren't even that good, most of them were simple pencil sketches... I couldn't even afford ink when I had started.
And now, after three years every inch of wall inside my small office was covered with them. I had thought about taking them down on several occasions, but had never gotten around to actually doing it. To me... I'm not sure what they really meant to me and I'll probably never know.
To Silver Blossom though... it seemed that I had opened her a window to a completely new world.
"There's so many!" she whispered with excitement as her head continued to turn. "So many things I've never seen before!" she stepped up to one of the walls and inspected the scenes I had drawn. I briefly wondered how long it would be before...
"We're..." Her head dropped a little. "We're not from this world... are we?"
"We're not," I confirmed with a grave voice, feeling strangely sad for her. "Sorry."
"It's alright..." she sniffed and continued to stare at something I couldn't see. "I always wondered why Aunt Celestia had never seen anypony like me before... At least I know for sure now... though..."
"Though?" I stood up, wondering about the change in her voice... was she crying?
"Everypony... all of my friends... they were always there for me and still I... I still..." I carefully stepped a bit closer and was shocked to see tears streaming down her face. I followed her gaze and spotted the drawing she had been staring at... It was a picture of a mother holding her child...
"I still miss my mother..."
I don't know how long we stayed in that room after that... I don't know if it gave her any comfort, but when she clutched onto me I held her close while she continued to cry her heart out with heavy sobs. Two humans, stuck in Equestria... one crying for her mother and me trying to find a solution to both of our problems but failing miserably.
Had I known at that point who had just arrived in Shoretrot, I would probably have cried as well.