//------------------------------// // A Child's Inquiry // Story: In Another Life III: A Human(e) Retelling // by Bateman66 //------------------------------// Alistair stared down at his hands. They were wrinkled and dry, not from age or maltreatment, but from the bitter cold that had seemed to come out of nowhere. Winter had settled quickly in Equestria and even the driest and muggiest of regions felt the biting chill that made even the simplest of outdoor activities feel nearly impossible. He’d dealt with winters before, but it seemed his tolerance had waned over the year he’d been waiting for it to return. The train jostled slightly, interrupting the normal thumbing of metal wheels against metal rails that had been metaphorically chirping for the past day. Rubbing his palms together, he scratched the most dried and uncomfortable parts along his thumbs, not feeling much satisfaction in the act. “You’d think they would’ve cured this by now,” mumbled Alistair to himself. “Hmm?” said Twilight as she looked up from her book, the only entertainment she brought along the entire trip. “I said: you’d think they’d cured this by now.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Cured what?” “Dry skin,” he said as he help up his emaciated palms. “They’ve been bothering me awhile, especially the itchiness.” Twilight looked back down at her book, not disinterested in what Alistair was saying, but trying to multitask as was her inherent ability. “Why don’t you put lotion on them then?” “It’s too slimy. I feel like I’m squishing rotten bananas whenever I put it on my hands.” He pantomimed squishing the air, then grimaced at the thought he gave himself. Twilight grinned, her attention still focused on the book. “Looks like you’re at a crossroads then. On one end are dry skin and the other, rotten bananas.” He sighed. “When you put it like that both options look unappealing.” Alistair paused and looked out the closest train window. He had to crane his neck around to get a good view but he could clearly see they were still speeding through the Everfree Forest. “Looks like we still have a ways to go,” he remarked back to her. “I wouldn’t say we have too far. I’ve been on the Canterlot Express before. Shouldn’t be too long until we can see the city.” Alistair’s eyes became wide. “We’re gonna see the city? All the way from the train car?” He paused to fathom such an idea. “Is it really that big?” Twilight chuckled and put the book down on the seat beside her. “It’s big, no doubt about it. Not on par with Manehattan or Las Pegasus, but still big mind you. It doesn’t look like much from far away, most assume it’s just the Royal Castle along the mountainside. But when you actually enter, the city is very compact and definitely fills the volume it’s in.” Alistair’s jaw dropped. “A city…built along a mountain? How’s that even possible?” “Your acting like this is your first day all over again,” she said with a giggle. “Keep this up and you’ll be back to fainting every minute.” “Hey!” he said objectively but louder than intended, “that just happened…” he paused to count in his head, “three times in a single night. It wasn’t that frequent of an occurrence.” She put her hooves up in defense, “Joking; only joking. I guess the city’s already getting to me even before we get there.” “What are we doing there precisely?” he asked. Twilight bit her lip. “I’m…I’m not sure. Professor Paraprax was very vague on the exact happenings of us eventually meeting up. It could be anything.” “Could that mean a physical examination?” he said, the answer not satisfying him. “Psychological examination? Blood test? X-ray screening? Something else?” “I don’t know,” said Twilight evasively. “The letters we exchanged didn’t have all that much substance to them. We just focused on when and where to meet, and that was it.” “But surely there had to be something more. Maybe a—” “Please,” said Twilight sternly as she held her hoof up to silence him. “That’s all we talked about, ok? End of story.” Alistair’s brow furred as his face puckered into an odd mix of hurt feelings and responding anger. “Sure, whatever you say, Twilight.” Alistair leaned back in his chair, jutting his legs out as far as they could go while puckering his face further into a sulk, the only way he knew to cope with feelings of neglect and indifference. They didn’t speak to each other for the next few minutes, Twilight staring awkwardly towards the ceiling as Alistair sat with his arms crossed and teeth grit. The train rumbled lowly outside as the silent car occasionally bounced up and down. Breaking the tension, Twilight sighed remorsefully. “Alistair…I’m sorry. I got too carried away with…um…with—” “It’s alright,” he said vacantly, not really feeling what he said. “Everything’s ok, no need to dwell on it.” “Are you sure?” “I’m fine,” he asserted, “it’s nothing, really. I don’t want our entire dang trip to be soured up by a little argument. I would just prefer to drop it, for our own sakes.” Twilight nodded, some of her guilt relieved. “Agreed.” Almost on cue, Alistair jumped from his seat and pointed dramatically out the window. “Look!” he yelled. “There it is!” And sure enough, there was Canterlot, no longer shrouded by the stretching tree line of the Everfree Forest. The city jutted outwards into the sky, its white castle spire being, as she predicted, the first thing Alistair saw. The metropolis itself seemed to be suspended in midair, its size and scope impossibly being supported by the purple mountain it sat next to. “We’re here,” she announced warmly as Alistair continued to point out the window, seemingly frozen in place at the magnificence he was witnessing for the first time. Getting up from her seat, she placed her hoof gently on his shoulder. “Come on, we need to get our things from the storage car. We can look at the city all we want once we have everything.” Tugging against him, he slowly unstuck his eyes from the beautiful city and followed after Twilight.