//------------------------------// // Big Universe, Small Town // Story: Painted Mirror // by Lord of Turtles //------------------------------// “And that's checkmate! Ha!” Spike said triumphantly, moving his rook in place next to Raj's Princess. Raj stared down at the board and groused “This game is stupid.” “You're stupid!” he retorted. “Words hurt Spike, words hurt.” Spike laughed and started sliding the pieces back back in place “You wanna do another, or you wanna leave it at three to thirty-nine?” “You're not at thirty-nine. You just got to thirty-eight!” “You're forgetting about the game we played on the balcony. Halfway through I had to explain how weather works.” His face fell “We were playing chess during that?” “I was, I don't know what you were doing.” he jabbed as the last pieces slid in place “So, another game?” Raj shook his head “Nah, I think I'm done being beaten at chess by a gecko for today.” Spike shrugged “Suit yourself. Why don't you go be illiterate somewhere else?” “I'm not illiterate, I read in two languages, english and hindi, and I'm learning yours.” he leaned back “At least I don't have to sleep in a basket like a newborn kitten.” The dragon scowled “Go eat a rabbit carnivore.” “Go eat a rock lapivore.” “Pony-punching poser!” “Fattened skink!” “Rajrishi! Spike!” shouted Twilight from the door to the basement, a moment later the mare herself coming up. “What did I tell you two about fighting?” They both stared at her in confusion “We... we weren't fighting Twilight.” “Yeah, we're getting along fine.” Spike added. Twilight's eyebrow rose “But you were yelling, and calling each other names.” “Oh, that's easy. We're dudes.” Raj said plainly and Spike nodded, as if that was a full and complete explanation. Twilight looked between the two and shook her head “Nevermind, I don't have time for this. Rajrishi, Spike, please clean this up, I need the table. Luna finally sent some of those star-charts for me to go through.” Raj and Spike moved their board and started clearing the main room table. As soon as she had space Twilight floated over a scroll-case and popped it open. She upended the thing and a coiled roll of silk flopped out. She unrolled it, showing a void-black expanse dotted with hundreds of little stars. Staring at it for a little bit, Rajrishi realized that each one was twinkling, every so faintly. He whistled “There's something you don't see everyday.” Spike crawled up on his stool and studied the thing on the table. “Wow! This is amazing... what is it?” “An animated start chart, showing a quadrant of the eastern night. Princess Luna is one of the best celestial-cartographers that has ever lived. There's a level of detail here I never even knew existed. It's incredible.” She leaned close, eyeing the map carefully. “How much of the sky is on here?” he asked, walking around the edge of the table. “A few thousand stars,” Twilight rolled over an apparatus with an extendable arm holding a thick magnifying glass “about quarter of a percent of the night sky. With the other three maps in the tube, I have a little over one-percent to comb through.” “That's not a whole lot.” he said, frowning a bit “You made any progress, got any ideas where home is?” “I'm afraid not.” she answered with a sympathetic look “The sky is a big place Raj, there's a lot to look through. It's going faster with Luna helping, but there's still a lot to get through.” “Oh... okay.” he said, nodding a bit. “Hey, don't look so down. Luna's pretty sure that we share a galaxy, so that narrows it down a good deal. We know your star's color, type, rough size, and we have a clear idea of it's absolute magnitude. It's just a factor of time Raj, if it's out there, we'll get it.” she looked up and smiled “Anyway, I'm actually learning a lot about astronomy I didn't know before. It's fun, so don't be so glum Rajrishi.” Raj sighed “I know, it's just a little frustrating I guess, not being able to do anything. Could I help actually? I can track the stars on here.” he lowered a hand to the cloth. “Oh no you don't!” the scroll-case floated over and lightly whapped him on the hand “Do NOT touch this star-chart Mr. Erodes-Enchantments-with-a-Touch! Princess Luna made this map, by hoof, more than a thousand years ago. I am not taking the chance that your spell-resistance frays whatever magic preserved it all this time. Honestly, you probably shouldn't even be in the room.” Raj recoiled “Well, fine. Damn.” he shoved his hand in his pocket “What am I supposed to do then?” Twilight shrugged “You could take another crack at the hole. It's still not fixed.” she added the last with an askance look at Rajrishi. “Hey, don't blame me. I'm not the one who threw myself through a wall.” he pointed a thumb at the still present hole in the library, now covered in a tarp. “No but you are the one I asked to fix it, and you haven't.” “You live in a tree Twilight. A living tree. I can't just tack some plywood up to it. The tarp is doing fine.” She scowled “A raccoon got in here!” “Hey, that raccoon was a surprisingly polite houseguest.” he shot back honestly. “Yeah Twilight, he gave us walnuts.” added Spike. “Those were not walnuts spike, they were beetles. Dead beetles.” Spike shrugged “I thought they tasted fine.” “Eww, just... no. Moving on.” she waved a hoof flippantly, returning to her lenses “Go for a walk or something. Oooh, go to the market. Spike has been asking for some of Bon-Bon's candied blueberries and I keep forgetting to pick some up.” “I don't have any money.” He paused “Actually, what do you even use for money here? Hay? Cubes of sugar?” “Just ask Spike where the coin jar is, now shoo!” she levitated over a broom and rudely nudged him and Spike away and out the front door. “Fine, jeez.” Raj shot an angry glare at the library to see the door slam shut. Raj looked over to Spike “She normally like this?” Spike shrugged “Eh, she is when she gets a new book or something to go through. We might as well write off that room for the rest of the day.” “But I left my boots in there.” “Write 'em off. Not kidding.” “Dammit.” he muttered, inspecting his bare feet “What am I supposed to do now?” “Do what she said I guess? Go shopping. We're short on some stuff and it's hard for me to bring back a bunch at once.” Raj rubbed the back of his head “Yeaah, I think I'm just gonna climb through a window and read something.” “Oh, come on Raj. Don't make me do it by myself. I'm tired. Owlowiscious kept buzzing my basket all night and I didn't get any sleep.” “Why did he do that?” “I don't know. He's an owl.” Spike pointed out. “Right, forgot.” Raj looked away for a second “Well, I don't know where the market is. I'll get lost.” “It's that way.” Spike pointed “Maybe a ten minute walk. Ponyville is not a big village. If you somehow get lost, look for the library. You'll see it because it's a giant tree.” “Um... I don't have any money?” Spike spat a column of green fire that solidified into a rattling coin purse. “Um, I don't know what we need?” He spat another flame that turned into a note with a list scrawled on it. Raj stared for a second, trying not to be amazed by the display and added “I'm illiterate.” “Okay Raj,” Spike hopped up in a chair “Now you're just fishing for excuses, what's up?” Rajrishi sighed “Okay, look, I'm a six and half foot tall, brown alien who's apparently a spawn of the Equestrian devil. Also, the only thing people around here know me for is that I got in a laser-fight with their princess. I think that might freak someone out.” “Pshh,” Spike scoffed “that was a week ago. Nopony remembers that.” “Holy Horseapples!” Came a shout from a yellow, red maned pony across the street “It's the monkey-thing that beat up Princess Luna! Run for your lives!” her words were followed by a panicked scream that gradually faded as she retreated. “Yeah, I'm going back inside.” Raj reached for the window. “Okay, that does not count. That was Roseluck, she freaks out about everything. She once lost her mind because of a bunch of rabbits.” “I'm not gonna disrupt this whole town because I want oatmeal. I'm going back inside.” “Dammit Raj!” declared Spike with a stomp. Raj turned back to him, surprised. “Yeah, that's right. I swore, and I meant it too! Please don't tell Twilight.” “I won't.” “Thank you. But my point still stands. You heard Twilight, it's going to take her a long time to find your home, and maybe longer to figure out how to get you there. You can't just hide the whole time, you're going to have to meet the world sometime Raj, might as well be now.” Raj looked up at the tree, thinking. After a minute his shoulders slumped and he muttered “Fine, let's go.” Spike nodded and waddled off the the center of town. * * * The trip to the Ponyville market was largely free of incident aside from curious glances from every pony on the way, a few even going so far as to stare out their windows at the strange creature walking through their town. Thankfully, the streets were far from choked with pedestrians. The market was a different story. Ponies of every type manned stalls, moved product, or chatted with their neighbors in rough clusters. As he approached, most of them swiveled their heads to stare at him. Seeing so many ponies gathered in one place made Raj's hands sweat. He leaned forward “Spike, I feel kinda exposed here.” “Chill Raj. You're just new. Give them time and they'll get used to you the same way they did to me.” Raj raised an eyebrow “You got weird looks when you came to Ponyville?” “Of course I did. I'm a dragon, most of the ponies around here had never seen one and they ended up looking at me just like that.” he pointed a thumb claw at a couple of gawking earth ponies lashed to a pair of idle taxis. “But now I know just about everypony in town.” “I don't know Spike, you're at least, y'know, a native. I'm from really far away. Like, the furthest away.” “And you think that matters? Pfft, don't worry Raj. As long as you're with me, everything is cool. Here I'll show you.” he took a quick glance around and shouted “Hey, Golden Harvest!” An orange maned mare next to a wagon of carrots took a quick glance around, as if to confirm she was being spoken to and waved back. “Spike what the-” Raj sputtered. “Shutup and meet my friend. Hey Goldie.” Spike propped himself up on her counter. “Hi Spike. What's, um, what's up?” she asked, eyeing Raj curiously. “Nothing much, I'm just showing my friend Rajrishi around town and introducing him to some ponies. Rajrishi, this is Golden Harvest.” he gestured to the mare. "Goldie, this is Rajrishi. He a space alien." “Um, hello.” he said lamely. “Hi there.” She gave a polite smile. All three stood in awkward silence for a few seconds, staring at eachother blankly before Golden Harvest spoke up again “Um, is that... is that all you needed or were you going to buy something?” “Nope, that's all. Thanks Goldie.” Spike hopped down and started to amble down the line of stalls. Raj looked between him and the mare, sputtered an apology and jogged to catch up. Spike looked up at him with a grin “See, that went fine. And you were worried.” “Yeah, I suppose if my goal is to bother and baffle every pony in town I'll have no problems.” Raj said with a shake of his head. “I should just go back to library.” “Don't give up before you even try Raj. Goldie didn't have a problem with you, neither will anypony else.” He nudged his leg “I'm sure everypony here will warm up to you eventually. I'm sure of it.” “Hey!” came an angry voice from across the market. Both Raj and Spike turned to see a light blue pony with a blue, two toned mane clearly glaring at Rajrishi. “There it is everypony. It's that monster that attacked me two months ago. The thing that lived in the Everfree forest! It's here!” Raj sighed “You have got to stop giving the universe openings like that Spike. I swear.”