//------------------------------// // Chapter Six // Story: Moving On // by Manitive //------------------------------// "Hey there, whatcha girls watching?" I asked, announcing my presence to them. But as they turned around and I saw their distraught faces, I knew something was wrong. "Oh shit..." I looked into their eyes, a hint of fear evident in them. Well, not all of them showed fear. Scootaloo's showed more...curiosity...and...uncertainty? What was the cause of their fear, or in Scootaloo's case, uncertainty? "Girls, what's up?" I asked, taking a step forwards carefully, one hand still holding the towel around my waist in place. But as they saw me coming closer, Twilight and Applejack huddled closer together on the couch, leaving Scootaloo to sit by herself. Because of their reactions, I was able to identify the cause of their fear. It was because of me. I was what they were fearing. But why? "Girls, please tell me what's up." I said, my mind running through the reasons of why they could be fearing me. 'It has do something with what they saw on TV, I'm pretty sure. They were acting normal at breakfast...' "Do you... eat meat?" I heard someone ask, and to my surprise, it wasn't Twilight, nor was it Applejack. It was Scootaloo. But It seemed more like a... curious question. She wasn't fearing me, or maybe she just wasn't showing it. I groaned audibly. 'Great, and I thought I could tell them later. That explains why Applejack and Twilight are fearing me. They probably think I'm going to eat them or some stupid shit like that... Fucking great!' 'But why isn't Scoots fearing me? I'd think that she'd be at least as scared as the other two, if not even more?' 'Does she really trust me that much?' I felt a pressure building up in the front of my head, which I could only identify as the start of a headache. I lifted both of my hand up to my temples and started massaging them, groaned again, and then took a moment to think about how I could touch the subject the best way. "Yes, but I do not only eat meat. Humans are omnivores, and we could, technically speaking, live without meat." I said, my voice calm and measured as to not give them anymore reasons to fear me. "And if you think, that I'm going to eat any of you...Girls, that just silly." I sighed, and feeling that the pressure on my forehead has finally subsided, moved my hand away from my temples. But as I again looked into both Applejack and Twilight faces, I saw that their opinion of me still hasn't changed much. My body started shaking again. I was nervous. Why? I feared the thought of losing the only real friends I've had in a long, long time. I feared the though of losing their trust. I feared the thought of losing a daughter again. I feared the thought of being alone again. Since they appeared out of nowhere, my life actually became worth living again. They, in a way, saved me from killing myself. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to write about all this. I could even talk to them about my past without actually breaking down into a sobbing mess! And most importantly, they cared about me. Even though I knew them for only a few days at that moment, I could tell that they truly cared about me. These ponies are the complete opposites of the most humans. Peace-loving, caring, friendly, trusting and understanding. 'What will I do when I lose them?' My heart started beating so fast that I feared I was going to have a heart attack. "Girls, you know, I agree with Will here. If he wanted to eat us, he surely would've done so already." Rainbow said, her tone just radiating confidence, moving up to my left side. I was really thankful that she came to my help right then, or else I probably would've passed out. And, I strongly doubt Applejack and Twilight would've believed me without her support. "And he seems like a too nice guy to even do something like that!" "But...but he eats meat Rainbow!" Applejack said, frantically waving a hoof into my general direction, looking at her friend in horror. "Yeah, so what? Griffons eat meat too, don't they? Hay, some of our pets do eat meat, so what's the big deal?" "But they don't eat sentient beins'..." 'Uh... What?' "Okay, what the actual fuck?" I asked, both of my eyebrows raised, looking at Applejack in a mix of shock and disbelief, my fears disappearing for just a moment. "Since when are animals like, let's say cows, sentient?" "Wait, they aren't in this dimension?" Twilight asked, her eyes widening a bit. She freed herself out of Applejack's grip and looked over to me, mild curiosity evident in her eyes. "Uhhh...no?" I said, giving her a unsure look. I couldn't actually believe her at first, but then I remembered that I was talking to a pony that could feel, think and speak like me. My mind started drifting away, strange and...terrible things filling my head. One highly disturbing (and absurd) thought was me sitting at a table, my whole body covered in blood and guts, a sinister smile on my face, biting into a steak, which was screaming loudly in agony, trying to wiggle out of between my teeth. I shuddered once. Yeah, I know, really strange. I mean, how should a steak be able to wiggle, let alone scream? That's just silly! "Anyways... Stop looking at Will like he's some kind of monster. You guys surely know that he wouldn't be able to eat us! He's too nice for that!" I instantly snapped out of my thoughts as I heard Rainbow speaking up again. I also noticed that Rainbow called me 'Will'. For the second time. Not that I minded! I liked that nickname she gave me, though I didn't know why she suddenly was calling me that. I looked down to her, flashed her a smile of gratitude and moved a hand behind her ear, giving her scratches there, to which she leaned herself a bit into the side of my leg. "See what I mean?" She purred. "Yeah, you ponies are way too adorable to even think about doing something like that!" I said as confidently as I could given the current situation. I stopped scratching Rainbows ear, to which she gave an unsatisfied sigh and pouted up at me cutely. I smirked a little and then pointed at Rainbow to prove my point. "See that? Way too adorable!" I could feel that Rainbow definitely wasn't someone that liked to be called adorable. But it helped at getting the tension out of the room. Scootaloo, Applejack and Twilight giggled cutely, much to Rainbow's dismay, who was blushing like crazy, but then looked up at me with a look that just screamed 'I'm gonna get you for that'. But Twilight and Applejack's smiling faces turned into sad ones as they looked at me again, possibly only then realizing that they literally called me a monster by the way they were acting. "I told you guys that he would never do something like that!" Scootaloo said as all three of them jumped down from the couch and trotted up in front of me. She then gave one of my legs a surprisingly strong hug, and after she was sure that she squeezed the life out of my left leg, she let go of it and took a few step backwards. 'I'm so glad that my daughter actually believed in me...' "Ah'm...We're sorry William... We didn't want ta hurt ya feelings..." Applejack said, lowering her trademark light brown stetson hat with one of her hooves, covering up her face partially and Twilight hung her head in shame, both of them not daring to look me in the eyes. I was really surprised that they were actually trusting me again. I mean, they just found out that I eat meat, and they are herbivores. That means they are, at least in my world, prey. And I'd be a predator. Now, even though they 'accused' me of being a monster, I can't stand seeing them, my friends, sad. I bent down a bit so I could reach their heads easily, and then lifted up Applejack's hat with my left and Twilight's head with my right hand so that they had nowhere to look but my face. They both hesitantly looked me in the eyes, guilt showing in theirs. "Girls, you were just being cautious... But next time, please just ask me before you judge too quickly." I said, which made their eyes widen in shock, probably because I just forgave them like it was nothing. And well, it kind of was. Okay, they literally called me a monster by the way they were acting, and they were kind of mean, but that was for a good reason. Like I already said, they are herbivores, I'm a omnivore. They probably weren't accustomed to interacting with a species that eats meat. "Apology accepted." I gave both of them scratches behind their ears for good measure, which made Twilight release a little snicker, which quickly turned into a coo of delight. Applejack, probably trying to withstand the urge to do that, shut her mouth tightly, but not even someone that is as strong as her can withstand the power of the almighty hands for long! That was a fight I intended to win! "Hmmm..." "Hah! I won!" I exclaimed, lifting my hand away from Applejack's ear for a short fist pump, a smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth. "Yeah, okay, ya won..." She shamefully admitted, making my smirk grow even bigger. Apparently she didn't like losing. That made winning even better. "What did you girls even see that made you become aware of my diet to begin with?" I asked curiously, breaking the comfortable silence. I looked over at the TV screen, which was showing an advertisement for a fast-food... "Nevermind, I think I know." I lifted my hand that was still scratching behind Twilight's ear back up, much to her disappointment, so that I could stand upright again. My back started hurting, and I didn't want to have a backache later that day. I was about to ask something, but then Applejack snorted once and started giggling like crazy, and Twilight's lips escaped a 'Wow'. Seconds after Applejack started, Scootaloo joined her, collapsing onto the ground, twitching like she was having a seizure (I would've been pretty concerned for her, if it wasn't for her giggling like that), making me raise an eyebrow. I looked over to the TV to see if the channel was playing a comedy show, but saw nothing like that. Instead, it was just the same advertisement from before. 'Jeez, how long does that one go?' "What's so funny?" I asked, a confused look on my face. My calves were grazed by something that felt like feathers, making me instantly look down to them, where I saw blue feathers touching them. Those blue feathers were connected to a cyan wing, which in turn was connected to Rainbow's body. Looking her body over, I saw that her wings were again stiff as a board, and a deep red blush was present on her face, her eyes directed at something to her right. I followed the trail of her eyes, and saw that she was looking at my groin. Or more exactly, my uncovered groin. I have no clue how I didn't feel the towel falling down onto the floor, nor why I didn't see that it wasn't there anymore when I looked down to my calves, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that I was standing naked as the day I was born in a room filled with four ponies. Four female ponies. I looked back into Rainbow's face, then over to the twitching forms of Applejack and Scootaloo, and finally over to Twilight, who was now fully exploring my lower body, especially my groin, with her eyes. "Gosh fucking dammit." I sighed, a blush spreading across my face. Not giving the others anymore time to 'inspect' my body (Especially Twilight, as I didn't want her to ask anything weird again), I quickly snatched up the towel from the floor, covered my groin as best as I could, and ran upstairs, the giggling from Scootaloo and Applejack turning into full blown laughter. "That's what I get for walking around partially naked all day..." I mumbled to myself as I entered the bedroom, closing the door behind me, running a hand through my hair. I sighed again, went over to the wardrobe, opened it, and took out a plain white T-shirt, black cargo pants, boxer-shorts and a pair of socks. I hesitantly went downstairs again, the memories of that embarrassing situation still lingering around in my head. I still couldn't believe that that happened to me. 'God must really hate me...' I arrived in the living room and immediately spotted Scootaloo and Rainbow on the couch, lying in the same position as they did earlier that morning in the bedroom; Scootaloo was curled up on Rainbow's side, who was lying down on her belly, her front legs tucked underneath her body. Upon closer inspection I found out that they seemed to be sleeping, if the snoring that was coming from their direction was anything to go by. Didn't really surprise me, I was gone for quite some time after all. Not because I don't know how to cloth myself, but because I was too embarrassed to actually go down immediately after I clothed myself. I mean, you'd be embarrassed too if you showed the ones you just recently accepted as your friends, and your daughter, your wiener. Well, Twilight at least didn't seem to mind. She was examining my whole lower body after all, but she's an egghead, so that was to be excepted. I wouldn't have been surprised if she was going to ask me anything about 'human mating rituals' later that day. 'Speaking of Twilight, I think I should go and see what she's doing. I don't want my house to explode or something like that.' I took one last glance at my daughter and Rainbow, and then made my way into the kitchen. Upon entering it, I saw Twilight and Applejack, sitting at the dining table. Both of them looked kinda sad, though Applejack tried to hide it as best as she could. Let's just say she really didn't succeed at that. Anyways, I was kinda curious why they were so sad. I mean, it couldn't have been because of earlier. I told them that it was okay, and they were just being cautious. "Hey girls, what's up?" I asked as I moved up to the table and sat myself on the chair besides Applejack. They both gave me a smile, but I saw right through those. Something was troubling them. I speak out of experience, after all. "Don't give me the 'Nothing, everything's fine!' answer. I can see that something's troubling you." I said as I saw their mouths opening to possibly give me the answer I was expecting. Seemed like I was with my right assumption, because they closed their mouths again and let the smiles drop from their faces. "You know, I've told you what was troubling me yesterday, so I expect you two to do the same." "It's just...*sigh* I miss Spike and my other friends..." Twilight said, her voice quivering a bit. I didn't know anything about this 'Spike' guy, and only a bit about her other friends, but apparently she really missed them. Her face took on a sad expression, and I felt really sorry for her. I wished I could help her at finding a way home, but there's the small problem that humans don't have much knowledge of magic. "I haven't seen them for four days or so, and I already miss them so much... They're probably worried sick about us, and I just can't tell them 'We're okay, everything's fine!' with them being in another dimension..." "And then there's the problem that I have no bucking clue what spell I used to get us here in the first place!" She exclaimed in frustration, throwing up one of her front legs in the air. "What if I never find a way home? What if the princesses don't even know how to get us home? Well, if they even find us, that is! And what if-" "Twilight, stop." I firmly interrupted her making her look me into my eyes, a bit of anger showing in hers. I couldn't tell if that anger came from me interrupting or because of her actually feeling angry with herself. My voice then took on a more sympathetic tone. "All those 'What if' questions are going to make you crazy. I'm sure you'll find a way home, and even if you don't, the princesses surely will. I mean, if what you told me about them is true, they are literally gods." She sighed again, but apparently understood that worrying wouldn't help her. She nodded once, and I gave her a gentle smile, which she returned with one of her own as best as she could given the worries she had at that moment. "Applejack, you okay?" I asked, but I got no answer. Looking to my right, I saw her looking at the table, not making any sounds. I moved a hand onto her shoulder and shook her gently once. Her answer to that was a single tear hitting the surface of the table. I was about to ask her what's wrong, but before I could do that, something odd happened. The doorbell rang. Okay, that it rang wasn't odd per se, but that someone would visit me was. I really had no friends except the ones that were currently living with me, and then there's the fact that I was the only human in a perimeter of maybe ten or more kilometers, so a 'knock-a-door-run' game from some kids was really unlikely. It rang again, making me finally snap out of my thoughts. "Twilight, Applejack.-" I started, a serious expression on my face "-fetch Scoots and Rainbow, and go upstairs into my bedroom. Don't open the door, regardless of what you hear. I'll get you when they're away." "But who-..." "I don't know Twilight, but you and the other girls are in danger, regardless of who it is." I answered before she could even form the question she was about to ask. Seeing how serious I was, she nodded once, hopped down from the chair and hurriedly trotted out of the kitchen, Applejack closely behind her. I stood up, ran a hand through my hair, and walked into the living room, thinking of who could be the one at my door. I was so lost in my thoughts, that I didn't even realize that I was standing at the front door, my shaking right hand gripping the door handle tightly. That is until another ring pulled me out of them. Taking one last look back into the living room and letting out a sight of relief upon seeing that no one was there, I put on a perfect fake smile and opened the door. I was greeted with the sight of two police officers standing in front of me. My smile dropped. 'Can this day get any worse?'