Divine Entertainment

by Orthoros


15. Racism

Alex stared off into space as he sat atop his rented bed. It was the fourth day of his stay at the Inn, and subsequently High Rock. Meanwhile it was the last day he was allowed to stay at the Strong Horn. He needed to collect his things and leave before sundown. Such were the rules of the Inn.

The last three days, Alex did everything he could to earn some money. He offered to help out several market ponies. He tried to land a job at one of the several stores in the city. He would have taken any job. But in the end, no one accepted, or even wanted his help.

In his time in High Rock, something became abundantly clear to him. Everypony in this city was a low key racist. Every. Single. One of them.

Nobody flat out showed that they despised the other races, but it was clear by how they acted around each other. The Earth Ponies in High Rock got along just peachy. While Unicorns and Pegasi, suffered from raised prices and harsh treatment. One would assume that at least the unicorns and pegasi would stick together, but by what Alex saw, they avoided each other as much as possible.

Racism was running rampant in High Rock, and Alex was on the receiving end of the stick. The few unicorns he met while wandering around town, gave him some encouraging words but nothing more. It seemed like there was some sort of elitism going on within the unicorn ranks, and having not earned a cutie mark put Alex at the bottom of the barrel.

The only one who was really friendly towards Alex was Fancy Scrolls. He had a lot of knowledge about the city to offer, and gave Alex tips on where he might be able to earn some bits. Alas, none of them worked out. To make matters worse, Fancy left town the day before, heading to the next town to collect rare books.

Alex realized after day three, that he wouldn’t be able to make a single bit for as long as he stayed here. So he decided to look for a caravan headed to the Crystal Kingdom. By that time, Alex was hungry like he never had been before. Water was no problem to come by, as he could just go down to the river, or one of the wells for that. But without bits, food was beginning to become a problem. He was starting to lose focus over time, and his movements started to feel sluggish.

He desperately searched for a caravan that would allow him to tag along. If he landed a job, he would get food from them, and that would be a very welcome benefit. He talked to more than twenty caravans all over the city, but none would take him. Not because he was a unicorn. It was because none of them were headed towards the Crystal Kingdom.

Apparently King Gold Bar had introduced heavy checkpoints to his borders, and raised the trade taxes. Because of the high cost, and the risk of being turned away for not being unicorns, none of them wanted to make the trip.

Alex had run out of options, and now he was about to be ejected into the streets to make matters worse. He feared what might happen to him, a unicorn alone on the streets. He had no way to defend himself if he had to. He had no weapons to his name, and even if he had, he wouldn’t be able to effectively use them. His experiments with magic showed no results either. The spell he had used back at the cliff had to be a surge, but now he at least knew that he actually possessed magic.

The room started to get darker, and Alex looked out of his window. The building on the other side was starting to take on orange silhouette, which meant the sun was slowly disappearing over the horizon. He stayed inside for as long as he could, relishing in the comfort and protection the room provided him. But now the time had come to leave.

Alex slumped off the bed, and proceeded to put on his saddlebag. The only things he owned were contained within, the map and a empty bag for storing his non existent bits. He stepped outside, and locked the door behind him. Something he had gotten a lot better at over the course of his stay.

He slowly made his way downstairs, and into the Lobby. He quietly made his way to Crystal’s desk, before spitting the key on the counter. The unicorn looked up only briefly from the crossword she was currently solving, and nodded in acknowledgement.

Opening the door, Alex stepped outside. Taking in a deep breath of fresh air, before walking away in a random direction. He walked through the alleys of the bustling city for hours, with no goal in mind. Huffing lightly to himself before he just started walking in the direction of the Crystal Kingdom, but after a minute he decided against it. Without truly knowing where he was going, the risk of getting lost was just too high. The map in his possession wouldn’t help either, missing far too many details.

Eventually he just collapsed. Lying on the side of the street, Alex passed out from hunger and exhaustion, a single thought crossing his mind as he faded from the waking world.

What would happen if he truly starved? Would he just not be able to produce energy, doomed to potentially lie in the same spot for all eternity? Or would he die, allowing him to visit Hades once again before he revived good as new?

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It was noon as Alex sat slumped over on the side of a busy street. The hunger had got the best of him that morning, he tried to steal some apples from a cart. Of course he was immediately caught, and received a good beating for trying. Adding to his energy deprived body, he was now hurting all over.

So he resorted to the only thing that was left to him. He started to beg for money.

Alex sat in the same space now for two hours, and nobody had given him anything. Most earth ponies just passed him by. While others seemed willing to give, but turned away the instant they saw his horn. The few unicorns who passed by ignored him as well, some calling him a disgrace to their race. The odd pegasus who came along only glanced in his direction with disinterest.

Alex reminded himself of all the times he did the same back on earth. So many people who wanted nothing but a few bucks from him, and he turned almost all of them down. He had the money to give, but was so self centered that he didn’t realize that maybe they were in a really bad situation. Just like he was now.

He sighed audibly, and curled up into a ball. Everything came crashing down around him once again. All that happened to him in the last two weeks finally wearing down his will. He started to sob uncontrollably on the side of the road, intentionally ignored by everyone.

Merely two weeks ago, Alex had lived a normal life. Working, hanging out with friends, visiting his parents. Now he was in an Alien world, dealing with problems he never thought he would have. He was nothing more than a chess piece, a minor inconvenience for Zeus. He was made immortal because the soul of a titan was passed down to him by pure chance. All things he could have dealt with somehow, but the added burden of being treated like trash while starving proved to be too much.

Alex lay there for a good hour in a vain attempt to cry it all out. Nobody stopped to see what was wrong, just like he had come to expect. Eventually he had no more tears and just stayed where he was, his bloodshot eyes lazily scanning the endless blue sky.

“Pssst!” A voice to his right said.

“Pssst!” It insisted but he was too melancholy to investigate.

“PSSSST! Hey! Mister unicorn…. Over here!” The voice shouted in a loud whisper.

Giving in to his piqued curiosity, Alex looked towards the voice to see what it wanted. Around the corner of the building he rested against, the head of brown earth pony could be seen poking out. Alex raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

“Over here!” She called, gesturing with her hoof for him to come over.

Alex got up slowly from his spot on the ground. With little to do he decided to humor the pony. He strolled over to her and around the corner. Now that he could properly look at the earth pony, he saw that her coat was a dark brown and her mane was almost the same color. Her mane hung limply over her side, as if weighed down by something. He furrowed his brows when he noticed the distinct lack of a cutie mark on her flank as he took a closer look at her.

In between the brown, a few spots of pink could be seen. Some darker spots of pink could be seen in her mane and tail, as well as some yellow highlights. As he got closer to her, a terribly stench entered his nose, and he realized she was actually caked in dirt.

He stopped a respectable distance from her.

“What do you want?” Alex asked roughly.

“Hi!” She responded. “I’m Charity Belle! What’s your name?”

Considering how down Alex currently felt, her cheerfulness annoyed him greatly.

“Alex.” He deadpanned.

“Uhhhh! That’s a strange name! I’ve met unicorns before, but their mostly named after some gems. Are you a special unicorn? Does your name mean something?” Belle assaulted Alex with a variety of questions.

“Shut up!” Alex shouted at her. She stopped her verbal barrage, and looked at him confused. “Just get to the point already!”

“Well I saw you sitting over there.” Belle continued a lot more calm. “And I recognize a hungry, homeless pony when I see one!” She said. “You looked like you could use some help, so i wanted to share some of my food with you.”

Alex’s eyes lit up at the mention of food.

“Oh please god, yes! I’m so hungry!” Some tears started to form in his eyes again. “I haven't’ eaten for almost four days, and I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

“Alright! Then follow me!” Belle responded, seemingly oblivious to Alex’s distress.

She darted off into the alley she came from, leaving behind a confused Alex. His thoughts were slower than normal, and he most certainly didn’t have the energy to run around. His stomach grumbled in anticipation of food, and he eagerly started to follow her.

“Hey!” He shouted. “Wait for me please! I can’t run that fast!”

Belle turned around to look at the wobbling stallion.

“Wow. You must be hungrier than I thought.” She said. “Here, let me help you.”

She ran back to Alex and sidled up to him, providing him with something to lean on while walking. He was a bit embarrassed at the sudden contact, but shot her a grateful look anyway.

Belle led Alex through a labyrinth of alleys, entering a part of town he hadn’t been in before. The houses surrounding them got gradually shabbier as they went, until they looked little better then rickety wooden shacks. Ponies could be seen wandering the streets that looked similar to Charity Belle, they were caked in dirt and stunk to high heavens.

Alex realized that they had entered the slums of the city. At every turn they made, more ponies could be seen that were down on their luck. They passed a mother with two thin foals, as Alex realized he was barely better off than they were. Alex was homeless. He could technically just leave High Rock, but then he’d be exposed to the elements with no resources. He wouldn’t make the trip without a plan.

Charity Belle led him into some kind of plaza. A few crude tents were set up all over the place. Ponies sat in front of them, talking and joking with each other. Even though those ponies had close to nothing at all, they still seemed to enjoy their lives.

“We homeless ponies have to stick together.” Belle said, as they observed the going ons. “So we built our own little community here. We all help each other out, so nopony has to go hungry.”

She lead Alex past the tents and their inhabitants. Most of them greeted Belle cheerfully, and politely smiled at Alex. They were coming up on an elderly stallion, sitting in front of a patchwork tent. His orange coat and white mane were caked with dirt, just like everyone else’s. He spotted them as they approached, and looked curiously towards Charity Belle.

“Hey Dusty.” She greeted him. “I found Alex here over on the Queen’s road. According to him he hasn’t eaten anything for almost four days!”

Dusty turned his gaze towards Alex, scrutinizing him. He looked him all over, his eyes lingering just a second longer on Alex’s flank than the rest of him.

“You look like you just recently lost everything.” He said with a gravelly voice. “Why don’t you tell us what happened over some almost fresh fruit?”

Alex’s mouth started to water when Dusty pulled out some fruit from his tent. He was hoofed a pear, and after asking for permission he dug in. Tears started to form in his eyes as the sweet, succulent fruit entered his mouth. He chewed slowly on it, relishing in every second of it. The juices overflowed from the small piece he had bitten off, creating an explosion of taste in his mouth.

He collapsed on his haunches, savoring the moment. After four hard days, he finally was in company that accepted him. They didn’t shun him just because he was different. No more would he need to suffer under the scornful looks of the town.

As he sat there munching on his pear, Alex cried. Not because he was hurt, hungry or hopeless. But because he felt like he was among friends again. The ponies close to him had smiles on their faces, sharing in Alex’s happiness.

Things were starting to look up for Alex, when a voice cut through the happy moment.

“Alex?” It said. “Alex! Is that really you?”