Spike was angry.
Despite all the time she had spent in Ponyville, despite how much she loved being with her friends and discovering the joys that friendship could bring, Twilight Sparkle would, if pressed, acknowledge that she was not the best pony at judging a pony’s character. Nor was she proficient in being able to tell how somepony was feeling just by looking at their mannerisms and knowing what to say or do to make things right. It was something she was loathe to admit for it sometimes felt like it was a mark against who she could be. She would also reluctantly confess that her inability to read the mood of a pony or environment had caused her to do certain things or say some things wrong. Having gone so far, she would finally say that by doing so, she had sometimes made the situation worse or caused some ponies to become upset or hurt, all inadvertently of course. Spending time with her friends had done her a world of good in overcoming some these problems. Twilight knew deep down, however, that there would come a time when she would do or say the wrong thing without even meaning to.
However, this was not one of those times. After all, somepony does not simply live in close quarters with another without being able to recognize a few signs of what they were feeling. After all, she reasoned, she had sometimes been able to tell when Shining Armor was feeling down when she was younger. It could be a facial twitch here or certain body language that was associated with a particular mood. And as sluggish as she felt right now, there was one thing she was certain of.
Spike was angry. Even worse, he was angry with her.
Perhaps the first sign was the fact that he had failed to wake her at the scheduled time as he usually did. Maybe it was because of the way he had glared at her without saying a word as she had stumbled down the stairs into the kitchen, lethargy sapping away at whatever energy she had. Then there was when he had slid a plate of fried eggplants across the table to where she was seated to take into account. Spike knew she hated eggplants. The way he slammed the dishes together and banged the cupboards closed as he cleaned the kitchen while she stared at her plate blankly was only more evidence for her hypothesis. What made her almost certain was the way he continued to glare daggers at her occasionally as he mumbled to himself. She was sure she heard her own name from the stream of conversation he was having with himself.
Twilight’s analytical mind could not help itself even though she wanted nothing more than to crawl back to bed. It twisted and turned the facts she had gathered from Spike’s behaviour and could only find one answer: Spike was angry with her. The only problem was that she was had no idea why.
She slowly sipped from the hot cup of coffee, grimacing at the bitter taste as the burning liquid went down her throat. Spike had dropped it off on the table after she had forced a few mouthfuls of the eggplant down. And she meant dropped; she dully wondered how the contents hadn’t spilled from the cup with the force it had landed with. No cream, no sugar, just plain black coffee.
Twilight sighed, feeling the tiredness and exhaustion in the sound. Even though she had spent most of the day after the party in bed recovering from the spell to dispel her… tipsiness, she still felt out of sorts. She grumbled to herself, feeling slightly aggrieved, both at a particular human for goading her into consuming alcohol and at herself for allowing herself to be persuaded. At least now she could finally squash that tiny bit of her that had been curious as to how it would taste. Never again, she swore. Still, she reasoned to herself, at least one good thing came out of it. I won the bet, so now he has to answer my questions and do the tests. A small shiver of excitement coursed through her body in spite of her grogginess at the thought of gaining new insight on a genuine alien. And directly from the source too!
However, her excitement was soon tempered by a dash of pessimism. She still wasn’t sure if it would be the ethical thing to hold him to his word. After all, he had already been drinking when he had made the challenge. Even though he had insisted that he was alright with it, the thought of making him go through with his promise caused her to feel guilty. He had already previously said that he was not comfortable with her doing any sort of tests on him. Another worrying scenario assaulted her. What if he refused to do it? What if he said that he simply didn’t care about keeping his promises? For all she knew, humans didn’t see the concept of fulfilling one’s vows the same way as ponies. And contrary to some of the rumours, she was most definitely not the sort of pony who would force him to do so against his will.
For the time being, she decided to discuss it with Steve and ensure he was okay with it. Right now I have more pressing matters to attend to concerning one particular baby dragon, she thought, wincing as Spike banged the mop bucket onto the floor, causing some water to splash out and create a mess.
“Spike? Is everything alright?” She tried to keep her voice as neutral as possible though some of her fatigue seeped out.
“… Yeah, everything is juuust fine. Nope, nothing wrong here.” Twilight resisted the urge to sigh again, knowing how it could be misconstrued as her being impatient with him. And she really wasn’t; she just found it difficult to concentrate right now.
“Spike, please; I know something is bothering you. You know you can talk to me about anything,” she said gently, smiling down at him comfortingly.
Even though his back was turned to her as he furiously worked the mop across the floor’s surface, she could almost feel him rolling his eyes. “Nah, I think I’ll just keep working. Only thing I’m good for around here,” he muttered the last sentence mostly to himself, but Twilight still caught it. She passed a hoof over her mane, feeling how out of place it was. Bed mane. Just something else she had to take care of.
Really, Twilight? Your number one assistant is upset, and all you can think about is how your mane is a little unkempt? she scolded herself.
“Now, Spike, you know that isn’t true. You do so much ar— Hey! Where are you going?” She sat up straighter on her chair as Spike placed the mop back into the bucket of now dirty water and began walking away.
“I’m going to reshelve the books. Apparently, some ponies can’t seem to place them back where they belong when they are finished with them.” The biting sarcasm almost dripped from the dragon’s mouth, and Twilight had enough. Her glowing horn was the only warning Spike had before he was enveloped into a magical sphere and floated back into the kitchen. He began struggling furiously, banging on the walls of the sphere.
“Twilight! Let me out of here now!” His little fists continued pounding as he stared at her, angry eyes burning a hole in her head. Her stomach clenched guiltily. She knew Spike hated when she used magic like this on him, but she needed to know what had happened to make him act like this.
“Spike, please… Just tell me why you’re angry. You know I’ll help you if you’re in trouble.”
In response, the dragon stopped his assault on the bubble and turned his back to her, sitting down in a huff and folding his arms, pouting. “I’m not saying anything.”
“Spike…” Twilight hated to use this voice. Even though she was concerned about him, it still felt like she was manipulating him since she knew he felt uncomfortable with her pleading like that.
“It’s nothing, Twilight. Can you just let me go?” His back was still turned to her though she could see him scratching his arms with a claw, the typical nervous reaction whenever she used that voice, Twilight noted, feeling worse that she had pushed her assistant like that. She quietly let the magic dissipate around him, allowing him to go free if he wished to. Spike, however, still remained seated on the floor, shoulders slouched.
She trotted up to him, chagrin eating away at her. It wasn’t like her to handle any pony like that just because she wanted to get answers. Well, not always… She placed a hoof on his shoulder and turned him around to face her. Still, the dragon kept averting his eyes. “It’s something, Spike. I know it’s hard to open up sometimes even to ponies closest to you, but you have to believe me when I say that I really want to help you. And the only way for me to do that is if you tell me,” she prodded him gently.
For a few moments, Spike remained silent as he still sat on the recently mopped floor. Then, just as Twilight was beginning to worry that he would not answer her, he said, in a voice that sounded weary and resigned, contrasting disturbingly for someone his age, “I really don’t want to talk about it, Twilight. It really isn’t that important, and you’ll just think that I’m being stupid or childish as usual. So can we just move on and pretend this never happened?”
That hurt more than Twilight expected it to. Did he really think she just dismissed his problems without a second regard? But… what if she had been doing it without even being aware of it. After all, why else would he just assume with such certainty that you would cast aside his concerns as a mere triviality if you haven’t already done it already? How many times did his worries be put down by the mare that is supposed to be the closest to him? her treacherous mind whispered.
Pushing aside her own questions of worthiness as a friend to the figure sitting prone before her, she gave him one last push, “No, I need to hear it, Spike.”
The small dragon gave a long sigh and shook his head before standing up and dusting whatever phantom dust that was on him. He then turned around to face her, meeting her gaze briefly as he played with his claws nervously. Finally, his voice tiny and uncertain, he whispered, “Why didn’t you let me come to the party?”
Twilight’s first reaction was one of befuddlement. She had expected something more to the nature of his discontent towards her sleeping in late or perhaps Rarity having a certain conversation with him. She had, admittedly, briefly let her mind run wild as it conjured up scenarios where Spike had done something to get in trouble with the authorities. That he hadn’t been was cause for her confusion to turn into temporary relief. However, that would not help her assistant right now. She racked her brain, trying to remember what had happened before on the night of the party while fighting down a headache that was threatening to form.
“You went to bed early, Spike, remember? We were doing research that afternoon, and then you went to take a nap. You were tired, and I didn’t want to wake you,” she reasoned slowly.
Spike snorted. “Yeah, then you could have woken me up when it was time to leave. You knew how much I wanted to go.”
“W-Well it also was late at night, and you know how tired you get when you stay up late.” Even to her own ears, Twilight sounded weak as she defended herself. You’re lying, Twilight. Even if you had made a conscious decision to leave him at home, that would have still been somewhat understandable, her conscience snapped at her. Admit it: you completely forgot about him in your hurry to reach the party. While your assistant was sleeping, you went on your merry little way. Her burning shame and confusion at how the morning had reached this point was further enhanced as Spike straightened up, looking like she had insulted his intelligence. With misery coursing through her body, she wouldn’t be surprised if she had done exactly that.
“Really, Twilight? Really?” He looked at her with an eyebrow raised, not impressed by her pathetic reasoning. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders were there! I know that because they couldn’t stop talking about how they met him when they came in here yesterday! The Cutie Mark Crusaders, Twilight! You know how those fillies are! It’s a wonder they didn’t try to capture Steve as a way of getting their cutie marks. Or they could have ended up blowing up Sugarcube Corner for all we know!” Spike flapped his hands wildly to emphasize his point. And you’re saying that those fillies were trusted to be part of the party?! They didn’t have to sneak in either; their sisters brought them along. But no, Spike has to stay at home because it’s too late, and he has to do everything by himself while a certain pony sleeps the day away.”
Twilight could only remain quiet. It took enough effort to stop the tears from falling. She knew that if she only tried to say something, they would begin escaping, and she didn’t think they would stop. She almost perversely wished that he would at least yell and shout at her. That small selfish part of her would have put it down as him being childish, and she could handle his immature behaviour. However, he had remained mostly unruffled as he calmly unleashed each verbal blow as they struck the defenceless pony not even putting up a resistance.
The fire in his eyes seemed to have reignited as he hurled accusation after accusation after her. However, he took a calming breath and continued, “But that’s how it’s been for the longest while, hasn’t it? I stay here in the library cooking, cleaning, helping you with your research, having to fix the library after you tear it apart to find one book. I almost never get invited to anything your friends do, and even when I do, I always end up having to remain here to take care of the library. He chuckled mirthlessly, a sound cynical and unhappy. A sound that no baby dragon should be making. “And you know what? I was actually hoping things would be different this time around. I was hoping that I would get to go to a party for an alien that actually took the time to help me with my chores. But that’s what I get for being stupid.”
He was silent for a few moments, running a hand over the green spikes on his head tiredly. “You know, I wanted to just start yelling at you so badly because of it, because I thought you knew how it felt to be left out like that. But then I thought: what was the use? Nothing would happen except me losing my gem allowance for the month and you feeling good about yourself for ‘doing the right thing’. That’s why I didn’t want to say anything, and I know this will end up biting me in the flank since I’ll regret saying anything.” He sighed, his gaze focusing on a far off distance. He took a deep breath and nodded once to himself, seemingly having reached some sort of decision within himself. He even gave her a small smile, though it was tinged with sadness. “Glad we could have this talk, Twilight.”
The purple dragon turned around and walked quickly out of the room, trying not to look back as Twilight slowly slumped onto the floor as the tears began to flow freely.
***
“Are you aware that your constant ignoring of my questions is considered rude amongst most humans?” Sarah’s voice sounded through his bedroom where the human was still lying in his bed, the blankets pulled halfway over his chest. With both of his hands folded behind his head he was dozily looking at the ceiling above him.
“Then I’m lucky that you’re not human,” he retorted and closed his eyes again. “Wouldn’t want you to think badly of me too,” he added a bit more quietly. The silence that followed his words was not a good sign, so he raised his voice again and said, “Sorry. What were you asking?” Still, the room remained hushed even with his apology. This was bad. A silent, angry woman was a dangerous woman even if the woman in question was artificial. With a sigh, he opened his eyes again and sat up in bed, pushing down the blankets. “Sarah, please. I said I’m sorry.”
“You did not seem that sorry when you came home yesterday and ignored me for the rest of the evening while you were spending an unhealthy amount of time watching television,” the AI this time replied quickly. Her robotic voice made it hard to tell what she was thinking about, and he still didn’t know for sure to which degree she was even able to think. However, the increase in volume on certain words showed him not only that she was making progress with her speech software, but also that she appeared to be hurt by his actions.
Oh dear God, really? he asked himself and looked up at the speakers in the corner above the door of the room. “Look, I’m really sorry. I just had too much on my mind yesterday, and I was trying to distract myself from it.” He would have shot her an apologetic look but since there were no cameras in this room (thankfully), he didn’t have to.
A short pause followed his statement. “Is this the reason why you returned so late yesterday?” she asked.
Confused, he raised a brow at the question, not seeing what that had to do with anything. However, he still replied, “No, I was just at the party like I told you. Don’t you remember?”
“Records of this event were noted.”
“Well then, what do you mean by that?” he inquired while slowly starting to get completely out of his bed, looking over the floor to see if he could spot some relatively fresh clothes.
“Your absence was of too long a duration for just a party. I demand to know what it was that kept you occupied there for so long,” the robotic voice sounded almost stern through the room.
Irritated, Steve stopped where he was as he was about to pick up the overalls he had worn yesterday to give it a sniff to see whether it was still wearable or needed to be washed. “Do I have a bedtime or something? Why is that important?”
“Not yet, but I may very well consider it,” she replied, now leaving the human completely baffled. “For your own safety, I might have to enforce a curfew. It is irresponsible to leave this shuttle for such long hours and also puts you in needless danger.”
“Danger?” he repeated, bewildered. “Do you even know how their world out there is? These ponies are way too scared of me for something to happen. Most of them don’t even want to come close to me.” Or they just do it because they have to, he thought sourly. “Also I—” he began but stopped mid-sentence, a suspicion beginning to surface. “Wait a minute. This is not about the possible danger out there, is it?”
“Incorrect. I have to ensure the continuous health of the security status of all operation members,” she recited from what he suspected to be part of the mission protocol.
“Wrong!” he said loudly and pointed a guilty finger at the speaker. “You don’t have to follow that anymore. And you weren’t complaining either when I left for Canterlot. I was gone even longer that time. And you never complained that I wasn’t talking…” Finally, it clicked in his brain as he figured out what was bothering her. “Are you angry at me for leaving you alone?”
The silence that followed his question again was answer enough. “Aha!” he shouted out, triumphant that he had figured it out. “Oh… I-I mean…” he stammered as he realized what this actually meant. So, I’m not the only one feeling a bit lonely here sometimes, and she had to stay here all the time. It had the effect of stirring up some guilt in him that he had acted so carelessly with her, having thought that she would not have any feelings about it anyways, but apparently he was wrong. “If it makes it any better for you, I didn’t plan anything for today, so I could stay here with you for a while.”
Steve hoped that the short silence that followed was just the time she needed to process what he said. A few moments later, her voice sounded through the room again. “Tell me why you needed time to contemplate yesterday,” she demanded.
Well, at least she’s not ignoring me, he thought, even though he had hoped that she would accept his apology. I feel like a man having to explain why he was out late while his wife is holding a rolling pin in her hands. “Okay, I might have to go far afield here. Contrary to the initial group of the ponies that I met here, most of the local population is pretty terrified of me. I can’t blame them that much, I suppose. I’m in a small village, they probably very rarely see other species here, and I’m an alien, so I expected a bit of fear. Unfortunately, that fear did not change a lot. Two days ago, I thought it would be getting better as I had walked through town, and they hadn’t seemed to mind me too much. I guess that was just due to the time I was there, and they were too busy to actually notice me that actively. Or maybe I was just lucky and met the more worldly-wise ponies for initial contact. When I was in Canterlot, I didn’t get that many strange looks either. They have probably seen weirder stuff than me.”
“I am not able to create a scenario in which a being with your level of charm, charisma, and kindness would receive such negative reactions,” Sarah commented on his story innocently.
“What do y— Hey!” he shouted back angrily and glared at the speakers, caught unawares by her seemingly sarcastic comment. “Anyways,” he waved it off and continued his story, “I was then looking forward to the party that Pinkie Pie, one of the members of the initial group, was hosting for me and thought that maybe some ponies would show up. And what do you think happened?” He left the question hanging in the room in for a moment.
“The attendance level was below a socially accepted threshold, I would presume.”
“It would have been easier to say that almost no one showed up, but yes, you’re correct,” he said and sighed. “Well, I didn’t mind too much to be honest. Some were there so it wasn’t a total disaster, and the evening was very enjoyable.”
“I fail to see your problem then. Explain,” Sarah inquired.
“Yes, yes, relax; I was just coming to that,” he calmed her and finally was able to test the freshness of his worn clothes with a quick sniff. Judging it as adequate, he threw the overalls onto his bed for later. “So, I then woke up earlier today and made my way back through town. I was still at Sugarcube Corner, where the party had been held, and the ponies were looking at me as scared as ever, perhaps even more. I have no idea if it was due to me being in the same room as them and they felt pressured, or thought I’d be angry that they didn’t show up last night.”
“Were you?” Sarah interrupted his monologue with a question.
For a moment he had to consider. “Not really. I think if they would have been there and were acting like they were acting today, the evening would have been a disaster. So it worked out better this way,” he replied confidently. ”But I sure would prefer if some things were different here.”
He quickly shook his head. “This isn’t the point now. After that, I thought that the ponies I met here on my first day could be considered the closest things I have to… friends. I know, I know. I’ve just known them for a week, and I’m an alien to them, but they were acting so kind and caring all the time that I just thought they were more accepting than the other ponies here,” he said and sighed, pressing his thumbs against the side of his head. “But as I was walking through town yesterday evening, I met Applejack, one of the day one ponies. She always seemed so… warm, friendly, honest, and hearty, but I suppose I was wrong on that one.”
“What leads you to this conclusion?” Sarah’s robotic voice wanted to know as he fell silent for a moment again.
“I saw her at the market and thought I should say ‘hello’ real quick and have a bit of small talk but instead she sent me away!” His voice went a bit louder at the end. “She sent me off because some of the other ponies felt uncomfortable buying her apples because I was around! Like I was some kind of stray dog that can be shooed away when he’s not wanted!” He spat out the last part and angrily walked towards the small wardrobe at the end of the room to get some fresh underwear.
“So, you were angry because she didn’t want to talk with you?” Sarah repeated with an increase in volume at the end, indicating it was a question.
“No, well yes, well… it’s not just that!” he retorted, annoyed, and turned towards her speakers again. “If she were busy, I’d have understood, but it was because she saw me as a negative influence. I mean, she does have a point, the ponies didn’t buy anything while I was there but Gods beware that I dare to disturb her monopolistic apple business for two minutes to ask her how she was doing.” He let out another long sigh. “Ever since then, I began to wonder how much of their time they have spent with me was actually out of their free will and not just because they got ordered by their princess to do so.”
“So you are feeling betrayed,” Sarah stated. Even though what she said was obvious, it was nice to hear another voice than his own in his endless rant he had with himself last night, even if it was just a simple remark that she was confirming his feelings instead of giving her opinion.
“Yes, pretty much,” he agreed and opened a drawer with fresh underpants. “She could at least have the dignity to not act like a friend if this is what she really thinks about me.” With fresh clothes in his hand, he went back towards his bed and let himself fall on it. “I just don’t know what to do, Sarah,” he groaned and stroked both hands through his hair. “I guess I need some time to think about it.”
“Are you going to spend your days hiding, sulking, and complaining about your situation in here again as you did in the past?” Sarah asked.
“Hey, I wasn’t complaining! I was contemplating about my status here!” he complained and waved her off. “But it’s not going to be the same as last time… I think. I just need something to do; maybe too much thinking isn’t good at the moment. Is there anything around the ship that needs to be done?”
For a short moment, it was silent as he suspected Sarah was running a quick check. “Besides the condition of bathroom number one, my quick scan shows that a water filter appears to be working with reduced efficiency. It appears to be clogged. If it does not get fixed, the water supply will not last for more than one week. You are taking too many showers,” she eventually reported.
“Very well, that sounds like an easy task,” he said and sat up on the bed again. “Give me a second to dress and then tell me where this filter is. And run a more detailed test in the meanwhile. I want a full status report within the next hour,” he ordered and began to change his underwear.
“Understood,” Sarah acknowledged and began her work.
***
"That should fix that problem," Steve declared as he pulled a mixture of dirt and hair out of the water filter. Disgusted, he stared at the dark ball that rested in the rubber glove that covered his hand.
"I will run a test once you get out of there," Sarah reported in. Steve nodded in confirmation and lifted himself out of the small hole in the ground and covered it again with one of the plates that made up the floor of his ship. At multiple locations in the shuttle, these plates could be removed to give access to the lower level architecture. He was now standing in the small cabin which contained the life support system, but the filters were clogged at a point he couldn't reach from above, so he had to go further down.
"Found anything else for me to do in the meantime?" Steve asked again as he pulled the small trash bin behind him and closed the door again.
"None so far. Scans completed to eighty-four percent. Further updates will follow," she replied a few moments later.
"Good, I'll be right back. The forest looks like it needs some fertilizer." Disparagingly, he looked down the bin again. "Or some poison. Don't think either one will hurt or help based from what I heard about it." He shrugged and made his way towards the airlock, Sarah already opening the door for him.
A few moments later, he stood at the edge of the forest, staring inside it. The trees were so thick that they blocked out the sunlight that shone down on them, making him unable to see further than about twenty meters through the darkness that held the woods in its grip. He wondered if the forest would be as dangerous as he was told, unsure if the ponies had been accurate in their descriptions. It was dark, yes, but that didn’t have to mean anything. And the ponies did live so close to it. Applejack's farm, he wrinkled his forehead in faint anger at the thought of the farm pony, was almost completely surrounded by the forest, and if he recalled correctly, Fluttershy's house was at the edge of the forest as well. He could hardly think that a pony who appeared to be often too timid to say a single word would dare to live near a supposedly dangerous place. He shrugged once again and threw the contents of the basket forcefully into the woods. A moment later, he heard a thud and turned around, only to halt in his tracks.
At the base of the small hill next to his ship stood the pegasus he was just thinking about. Fluttershy stood there motionless and just watched him going on with his business. How long has she been standing there already? Steve wondered as he raised his hand and waved towards her. "Hey!" he shouted as a greeting.
The yellow mare flinched slightly at the loud sudden noise but made no attempts to turn around as he marched towards her. "Hello," he could hear her faintly whisper as he got close to her.
"Hey," he repeated a bit quieter this time. "What brings you here?" Steve wondered. He was expecting that somepony would show up sooner or later, but he would have expected Twilight to collect the reward of their little bet from the other night. Or maybe Rainbow so that he could show her more 'awesome science stuff' or Applejack to come apologizing, but he had no idea what Fluttershy could want of him. Then again, he had rarely spoken with her. The pegasus had seemed quite content with occupying the background whenever her friends and her had met him, exchanging a quiet hello was the most he would usually get out of her.
"I... I just wanted to say s-sorry," she stammered and looked up at him. Even if he wanted to be mad at her for anything, her big, bright blue eyes, or rather just one eye since the other was covered by her long, pink mane, that looked up at him could have made him forget almost anything.
After a few seconds of staring back into her eyes, he quickly shook his head and asked, "Sorry? Sorry for what?" Did anything happen at the party? he quickly asked himself but couldn't recall anything from his memories, though he had to admit they were not the best about said night. Or is she apologizing for Applejack? he wondered, but before jumping to conclusions again, he waited for her reply.
Fluttershy looked back down at the ground again and mumbled something inaudible. "Come again, please," he said, trying to lower his voice to try and match hers.
"For what I said at Pinkie's party," she said in a quick breath and looked up from the ground again.
Okay, that answers one question, he thought, but still leaves another. "I honestly can't remember you saying anything bad. So I guess whatever it was it wasn't too bad anyways." He shrugged. "Or was it?" he asked slowly.
"Well... I... umm," she whispered uncomfortably and shifted her weight from one hoof to another repeatedly. "Please don't be mad at me, but… I said you were a f-f-f-f-fat flanks," she said quickly and hid behind her mane again.
He continued looking down at her, waiting for her to continue. "Is that it?" he asked a few seconds later when she made no further attempt to speak again. She nodded her head slightly in reply. Seriously? he wondered, feeling slightly amused despite himself. "Well, thanks for apologizing for that, and I accept it, but I honestly don't see where you felt the need to do that for those words. That sounds like a normal drinking conversation to me," he replied and laughed.
"So you’re not mad at me?" she wondered as she carefully looked up at him again.
"Of course not," he said. This is a nice one, he thought and crouched down in front of her so they were on the same eye level and smiled at her. "I've heard worse from sober people. Or ponies," he muttered the last part quietly.
"Oh, thank you, I'm so glad!" she cheered enthusiastically and returned his smile. "I was so worried that I said something wrong."
"Not at all," he calmed her and stood up again. I bet she could tell me a bit more about what the others think of me. She seems exactly like the type of person - or pony - who could overhear any type of conversation without anyone minding and actually know a lot of gossip, he figured, trying to think of a way to see if she knew anything he would find relevant. "Sooo..." he said after a short while to avoid allowing the silence that fell between them to become too awkward. “How were you after the party? I hadn’t seen many ponies yesterday, and you're the first one today."
"Oh, I'm quite alright, thanks," she replied hurriedly and fell silent again.
Well, so much for trying to get her into a longer conversation. "What did you think about the party?" he tried again
"It was... nice," she replied after a short pause and put on a smile that seemed awfully forced.
"Just a shame that there weren't so many there, right?" he inquired as he sensed that he might be on the right track here. "You don't happen to know why so few turned up, do you?"
Fluttershy looked around uneasily as she seemingly pondered how to answer the query. "I'm sorry, I have no idea."
Steve sighed. "Well, at least the ones that were there didn't seem to have anything against me at all, right?"
"Oh no, certainly not," she replied immediately and looked at him directly in his eyes, surprising him with the sudden eye contact.
For a moment, he had to consider. Maybe she doesn’t really know much about what the others think of me after all. She sounded very honest there and doesn't appear to be a good liar at all. He sighed again and decided to let go of the subject for now.
"So, umm, what are you doing today?" Fluttershy asked to his surprise. He hadn't expected her to ask questions as well.
"Not much. When you came, I had just finished fixing something in my ship. As for now, it doesn't look like there is much else to do," he replied and looked at the bin in his hand again.
"May I see it?" Fluttershy asked and her eyes went a bit wider.
"What?" Steve looked down at her, a bit confused.
"Your ship," she replied and nodded towards it. "I was wondering how humans are living since you arrived. I-If you don’t mind that is. I don’t want to seem rude."
Steve looked back at his ship, then at the slightly excited pegasus in front of him. "I can give you a tour if you want. I have enough time." As though my schedule is overflowing with commitments.
"Oh, that would be wonderful. Thank you," Fluttershy replied happily and clopped her forehooves together a few times, standing completely on her hindlegs for a few seconds.
"Follow me then," he said and turned towards the ramp that led up to the door. "Just keep in mind that this is not at all like a human home you would find on Earth, but I have plenty of pictures of that," he told her and marched up the ramp. Fluttershy followed him quickly and stood next to him in front of the airlock. Curiously, she looked at it, probably searching for a handle that would open it. The hissing sound of the unlocking process caused her to suddenly jerk back.
"Relax, it's just opening. There are two doors which are both hermetically sealed. This just means they are airtight. There is a small chamber between the two doors, and the pressure has to be adjusted to the outside pressure," he explained in a matter of fact tone and stepped through the first door that had completely opened by now. He motioned her to follow him, which she slowly did. "The first door will close again, and the pressure will be adjusted to the inside, then the second one will open and we are done. This is to keep the air pressure inside the ship the same and can also be used to avoid the mixing of the outside's atmosphere with the one inside the ship if it would be necessary. It is just sheer luck that I'm able to breathe your air.”
Fluttershy slowly nodded and didn't flinch back at the blinking red light and the hissing sounds of the doors. Instead, she watched them curiously as they slowly opened and revealed a view of the inside of the ship. She made no signs of stepping out of the airlock immediately, carefully sniffing the air first. "So, this is where I live," he said and stepped inside the ship and pointed around with his arms. He turned back around towards her and waited for her to follow him.
"It smells fresh in here," Fluttershy noted and stepped out of the airlock as well.
"Thank you. I keep track of the air quality and ensure that it is maintained at the highest level possible," Sarah spoke up in her robotic voice, causing the pony to immediately jump back into the airlock.
Steve sighed loudly. “Sarah, would it kill you to wait for me to introduce you in the future? It kind of freaks the ponies out,” he said loudly and pointed at Fluttershy trembling in the corner of the airlock. “Just let me do the talking, okay?”
“As you wish,” Sarah acknowledged shortly.
“W-Who… Who is that?” Fluttershy whispered from behind her mane. “I thought you were alone.”
“Well, yes, technically I am. Sarah is not another human - she is an AI, an artificial intelligence. She is like a robot, only with a very high level of intelligence. Sarah is just the name given to her. Her actual name is an incredibly long series of numbers and letters I didn’t even try to remember. Makes it a bit easier to talk to her and lets her seem more human,” he explained as he crouched down again to look her better in her eyes. “Don’t worry, she’s not doing anything to you. And sorry I didn’t warn you before. I completely forgot that you have never heard of her.”
Carefully and slowly, Fluttershy stepped towards the door again and looked around. “W-Where is she?” she asked suspiciously. “And why is her voice so…” She stopped, not knowing how to describe it.
“Well, everywhere,” Steve replied and waved around quickly. “She basically is the ship and is operating it all on her own. Her mind is actually just a very long sequence of electrons stored on a disk somewhere and she uses the hardware inside the ship to keep her brain running.” He hoped that he wasn’t throwing too many unknown terms at the pony at once. She probably had never heard most of these words before even though he tried to keep his explanation simple. Still, Fluttershy nodded. “Her eyes are cameras, her ears are microphones, and her mouth is speakers that are all around the ship. She can hear and see us, and by looking at certain keywords and matches them with what she knows, she can actually understand what we are saying and can calculate an answer which she is then able to tell us.”
“Is she alive?” Fluttershy asked. This was a question had going through his head for quite some time, so his reply came rather quickly.
“This depends on how you look at it,” he said and looked at the nearest camera to his right. “She is not breathing, she does not require food or drink for sustenance, she was not born in the conventional method, nor will she get sick and die one day. On the other hand, she is able to learn on her own and not simply because I write in her code how she should react to a situation. She is truly intelligent, just like you and I are. So I consider her just as much alive as a human… or pony.” While Fluttershy let that sink into her for a moment, he decided that it would be best to get a second opinion on this one. “Sarah,” he spoke up and woke the AI, “are you alive?”
“Am I?” was the only thing that came as a response.
Steve sighed. “I never can figure out if she is just getting sassy sometimes or if this is her way of learning,” he explained and chuckled. “She is the first actual AI that actually made it beyond the testing stage, but they have limited her abilities quite a bit. I think they just made her to show off to the locals how far our technology goes. Since she is operating the equipment, she has to follow a lot of orders at any time and is not allowed to think about it, just do it. They could have taken a regular board computer like our main ship had, but this seems more fancy, I suppose. Since she is so new, I actually have to do a bit of trial and error to find out what she actually can and can’t do. But it is nice. I have very interesting company.” He gave the wall next to him a few gentle pats with his hand. “Oh, and to answer your question about her voice. There were some time problems in her development progress and they didn’t manage to give her a new voice in time, so that is why it sounds so metallic. But she is learning. I heard her using emphasis earlier.”
Fluttershy stood there in silence for a few more moments, trying to comprehend the amount of new information he had dropped on her. “That is um… fascinating,” she eventually said.
“I will take that as a compliment, thank you,” Sarah reported in again.
“Oh, you’re quite welcome,” Fluttershy replied and smiled before she turned towards Steve again. “You are very lucky; I have never seen anything like this. It must be very interesting to watch her developing. I would have never thought this was possible.”
“Yes, technology is amazing,” he agreed and took his hand of the wall again. “Want to see more?” he asked and pointed at the rest of the ship behind him. “I’m sure there are more things here that you might find interesting.”
“Yes, please,” she said quickly and nodded her head with a happy smile on her lips.
“Good, follow me then,” Steve said and started their little tour through his ship. The tour was not much different from the one he gave to Rainbow and Twilight a few days ago. The only difference was that Fluttershy remained silent most of the time and only rarely asked questions if something she saw caught her interest, so he just went on and explained everything he saw in the room to try to drag out the tour a bit longer.
After they went through his bedroom and he had explained her why there were no pictures or other personal items, Fluttershy seemed a bit sad. “Don’t you have anything to remind you of your home?” she asked and looked up at him as they both left the room.
“Only in here,” he said and tapped against his head and chest once. “I try to not think too much about it and just hope that your great leader fixes her mistake soon.” He rolled his eyes at the thought of their princess.
“Oh…” Fluttershy said quietly and looked back down at the floor. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. It wasn’t you who messed up.” He waved her off and looked up and down the small hallway again. The only rooms he hadn’t shown her were the small lab and the armoury. He highly doubted that she would be interested in the latter one, so he had left it out deliberately, and most of the machines in the laboratory he didn’t even understand himself. There was only one thing left now he could show her. “You are the local veterinarian, right?” he asked to make sure he remembered that part correctly.
“Actually no, I just care for the woodland critters who get hurt,” Fluttershy said and shook her head. “We have an animal clinic where I could work. Cloudsdale, where I was born and raised, did not have the best veterinarian schools, but I still got my doctorate there, so I technically can, but I just can’t leave all my critter friends at home while I would be at work, so I choose not to even though they were asking so nicely at the clinic if I wanted to work there.”
Jeez, she must really like these animals if she even declines a job as a vet for them, Steve thought and looked at the yellow mare in front of him. “And what are you doing for a living then? The food and medical supplies you need to take care of all these creatures won’t be for free, right?”
“The animal clinic gives me some of their supplies if they have enough, and I look after the pets of anypony in Ponyville whenever they go on holidays. And at the end of the month, I receive some bits from the town as well for my services. I don’t want to take it, but they say that since I’m here, the borders of the Everfree are more secure. I just didn’t want to argue about it and accepted it, especially since it means I can take in more of my critter friends.”
“I see. Anyways, what I actually wanted to ask you was if you’d be interested in seeing a few animals from Earth?”
“Oh, yes of course. Are there any here?!” she replied instantly, sounding both interested and surprised.
“No, sorry to disappoint you. I just have a lot of pictures and videos,” he said and pointed to the computer terminal at the end of the hallway. Fluttershy still nodded eagerly and followed him as he went to the computer. “What would you like to see first?” he asked as he dropped down into the chair, and with a few commands, navigated to the wildlife section of the large encyclopaedia that was stored in Sarah’s databases.
“Oh… I wouldn’t know. I don’t know any animals from Earth,” Fluttershy bashfully said next to him as she fascinatingly watched the pictures on the screens appearing and moving.
“They are not much different from what I have seen here, but if you look here…” He stopped for a few moments and pointed at a screen. “You can see a list of the categories, and it should work for you to just tap on them to show the animals under this category. It is pretty much self-explaining from there on.” Fluttershy took a step closer to the console and looked up at the screen he was pointing at. Only now did he realize the height difference. “Oh, of course, take my seat. You should be able to reach it from there,” he said and stood up, offering the chair to the mare.
Awkwardly, she lifted herself onto the chair that seemed to be a bit too high for her. Steve wondered why she wasn’t using her wings to help her but didn’t ask. “Now just go and tap the screen. But lightly!” he reminded her, remembering how Rainbow Dash had treated his equipment at first.
Slowly, she reached out her right foreleg and alternatively looked at him and the screen in front of her. He nodded, but she stopped her hoof a few centimeters in front of the screen. “Just tap it where you want to go,” he repeated again. “You actually have to touch it.” She moved her hoof forward carefully until it made contact with the glass of the screen then quickly pulled it back. A moment later, the list under the tab that read ‘Mammals’ expanded and revealed more options to choose from. “Good, same thing again. Do these categories say anything to you? Strangely, our terminology seems to be very much alike, but I have had no chance yet to figure out why that is so.”
“Yes, I know these words,” Fluttershy replied and nodded while her eyes were focused on the screen. She reached out her hoof again, this time a bit more quickly and without stopping on the way, and touched the screen where it read ‘Rabbits’. She flinched back a bit as the list was pushed aside and instead a new page popped up.
She let out a quiet squeal of delight as the top of the page showed a large picture of a rabbit sitting in the grass and curiously looking up towards the camera. To the left of it, Steve could see a short description of them, including their scientific names, where their habitats were, and other information he didn’t really care about.
Her eyes rested over the picture a while longer before she said, “They do look a bit different. Yours have thinner bodies and shorter feet.”
Steve nodded. He didn’t really take much of this information in. It would have been more interesting for him if she would have actually encountered a major difference or a whole new species. But it was nice to see that Fluttershy seemed to enjoy looking at the pictures and reading through the articles at a surprisingly high speed. This must be like Christmas and a birthday on the same day for her, reading about all the animals of another planet, even though they’re not that different, he thought as he watched her reading for a bit more. “You can scroll further down if you swipe your hoof from the bottom to the top of the screen or use these keys,” he pointed out briefly as she had appeared to have finished reading the article so far and looked back at him. “Or tap against the list on the left to read about something else.”
Fluttershy smiled and nodded before turning her attention back towards the screen. Now she seemed to have grasped the idea of it and only a very few times did Steve have to give her directions to navigate. Aside from that, the mare was eager to read more and more. Quickly, she had skimmed through most of the categories and looked at a couple of animals each, giving a few remarks about their Equestrian equivalent after every few paragraphs. The differences were mostly minor though. Eating habits, sleep cycles, and general looks were almost identical for all of them. The only real differences seemed to be in the equines. From what she told him, it looked like they all shared similar features to the ponies he had already met here. Shorter muzzles, a mark on their flank, significantly larger ears, and an overall smoother appearance compared to Earth ponies.
It was something that had played on his mind since he had arrived here. The evolutionary progress on this world must have been quite similar to Earth’s, but with a few changes here and there, especially for the equines that made them become the dominant species while humans apparently never existed, or didn’t make it beyond apes yet. He wanted to ask her, but he chose to let her have a bit more fun browsing through the various articles. A quick glance at his watch told him that it wasn’t even noon yet, so he would have more than enough time for those questions.
A bit bored, he leaned against the wall and watched her looking at all these different species, only giving a few sounds of acknowledgement whenever she pointed something out. He was only half looking at the screen by now, but then one picture caught his eye immediately. Fluttershy was currently in the ‘Cats’ category, more precisely in the part about wildcats, with a large picture of a tiger with its prey partly in front of it and partly in its mouth. The unlucky animal could have been a deer, but with the amount of blood, he couldn’t tell clearly, and he was surely no expert.
This wasn’t important at the moment however. The thing that mattered the most was that Fluttershy was seeing it. If there was someone who couldn’t stand seeing an animal being killed and eaten, he was sure it would be her, and since she had remained on this image so long without moving, his thought appeared to be correct. Quickly, he walked over to the computer and was about to swipe with his hand over the screen to make the picture disappear, but her hoof stopped his arm before he reached the screen.
He raised a brow and looked at the yellow mare in the seat. Her eyes were wandering around a bit as she bit her lip, but she still spoke clearly as she said, “It’s okay... I understand that nature works this way. Often, it is not very different here.” Saddened, she looked down at the floor, her eyes downcast and ears pressed tightly against her head.
“I just didn’t think you would like to see that, seeing that you care so much about animals,” Steve responded and pulled back his arm.
“I don’t like it,” she agreed and looked up into his eyes again. “But I know that this is the way it works, and there is nothing I can do to change it.” A single tear formed in her eye. “I had to learn that very early in my studies. It… It still isn’t easy to think about it. And as much as I dislike the thought that one has to eat the other to survive, I have to follow that rule when I tend for my friends. My bird friends need worms to feed to their young, and I have to give a fish to others sometimes as well. I just wish they wouldn’t have to.”
Steve crouched down next to her and hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. She looked back into his eyes, and he could see the inner conflict she was having. “Why do you do it?” Fluttershy asked.
“Do what?” Steve returned, raised a brow and pulled his hand back.
“Eat meat,” Fluttershy said bluntly. “Shouldn’t you know better or have alternatives and—” She suddenly stopped herself mid-sentence and looked at the ground again. “Sorry, I shouldn’t ask such a question. It wasn’t polite.”
“It’s fine, really,” he assured her. “It is a very valid question, and I don’t really have a good answer to it either.” He stood back up and leaned against the wall again. “Well, I’ve always been doing it since it is normal in our culture. Meat contains a lot of proteins my body needs. I can get these from vegetables as well, but meat was easier to get, and I often felt like having a burger over a salad. And it’s usually cheaper as well.” Steve shrugged and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
Fluttershy blinked confusedly at him a few times as he blankly stared back at her. “How can it even be cheaper? It is very rare that I have to buy meat - I usually take what nature leaves me, like fishes that get washed ashore - but it is still more expensive than exotic fruits.”
“Compare your number of farms to your number of butchers,” Steve simply returned. “For me, it is just as natural to eat meat for lunch as a salad is for you. And look at me,” he pointed down his body. “I’m not exactly thin.” His hands went over his stomach where a slight bulge could be seen through his clothes. “I was only eating comparably little because I was under stress. Well, at least it helps my figure.” He stopped and critically down his body. “Anyways, meat helps me to quickly consume larger amounts of proteins and therefore gives me longer lasting energy.”
“But you have the choice not to!” Fluttershy said accusingly and pointed a hoof at him. By now, he had figured out that she seemed to be having trouble managing eye contact, but not right now as she determinedly stared at him.
Steve let out a long sigh. “What do you want to hear? That I’m sorry? Because I’m not.” He met her look and this time she wasn’t looking away either. “The only thing I’m sorry about is that you probably think lesser of me now because of it.”
“N-No, it’s not that,” Fluttershy said quickly and shook her head, her fleeting determination abandoning her. “I don’t think you are bad or evil because of that. After all I grew up in Cloudsdale, a city popular for griffons as well. I have learned to live with it. I just never got the chance to ask any of them why they were doing it.” She left her head hanging and sighed as well. “I’m sorry I was bothering you with it. I should just never have asked.” She almost visibly deflated in front his eyes.
“No, no, it is just fair that you ask that,” he tried to assure her. “I just don’t have better answers because I don’t really think anything when I was eating meat. I just did it. There is nothing more behind it. It was available around me, I liked the taste, and it was a good source of energy. End of story. I’m pretty sure you’re unsatisfied with this answer, but there’s nothing more to it.” She peeked at him from the corners of her large blue eyes. “But I promise you that I’m not planning to go hunting here. I still have enough rations from Earth left for now.”
“Really?”
“Of course,” he acknowledged as she fully raised her head again. “I’m not that insensitive when I see how much the animals mean to you, and I still have my supplies.”
“Oh thank goodness, I was a bit worried, I have to admit,” Fluttershy said and grinned sheepishly.
Steve waved it off and smiled. “There is nothing to worry about. I’m not as dangerous and scary as most ponies think I am.”
“I don’t think you are dangerous,” Fluttershy told him and looked him straight in the eyes again. “Even though you do eat meat. I couldn't understand it, but I wasn't frightened of you because of it.”
“Thank you, Fluttershy. That means a lot.” A smile crept on the face of the yellow mare. “Do you want to go on? There’s still a lot to see,” he offered and pointed back at the computer, happy that she was even slightly more understanding than most of the ponies here.
“Gladly,” Fluttershy agreed and turned her attention back to the screen.