• Published 15th Oct 2018
  • 637 Views, 17 Comments

Spotlight of Stars - DE_K



Equestria’s one and only human is not the first, and first impressions are important.

  • ...
1
 17
 637

Post Card

Glowing was new, and automatic doors seemed a bit ahead of the rest James had seen so far in Equestria, but there it was. It looked to be that Spate wasn’t ready herself, that she maybe had hopes he’d wait a moment or several before moving on. Regardless, it was his turn to lead as Spa lagged to compose herself and he was faced with a large, sparsely decorated throne room but for two smiling winged unicorns, or horned pegasi, waiting for him halfway across, at a table set up and off to the side of the red carpet. It looked like an unofficial addition to the room, out of place and temporary.

Catching up to James, the only hornless mare there bowed low and announced their unique guest, wings partially splayed back, “Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, our trip was uneventful and James was found in good health, albeit hungry and tired. With all respect, rest would do him well, Princesses.” Standing upright once more she looked between both sides as they sized the other up, though the human was more focused on their horns, and the royalty more contained in their interest.

“Thank you, Spate, and hello, James, we promise this won’t be long.” Luna said with a nod, “Please, have a seat you two.”

This time it was Spate to lead, leaving the man to stand in consternation. Noticing the lack of presence, she looked back to find James just then start to follow, passing her by to pull out a fine wooden seat, its cushions plush and wood a mirror shine. At the table was nothing but a silver tray holding a kettle and four teacups, their table draped in the lightest grey he’d ever seen, the fabric’s stitching would be identical to an overcast sky. The same look of disbelief fell on his face, and he laid his cheek on a hand propped up on the armrest. A moment of silence passed before the pegasus cleared her throat, right when James started to speak, “That’s magic then?” He asked, gesturing to his own head, where a horn would be if he were a unicorn.

With a smile and subdued nod, the largest gave a demonstration, floating her cup up to be sipped from before bringing it back down, her horn shining with a gold he’d seen not too long ago, “Yes, as fate would have it, it’s magic, you know?” Another one of those damnable smiles Spa seemed to love so much, saying she found something amusing that James may or may not be aware of, “I am Princess Celestia, and this is my sister, Princess Luna.”

He had been staring at the cup in poorly withheld wariness as she spoke, something all present but himself noted. But once she properly introduced herself it smoothed without a trace, returning a tired smile, “Hello, Princesses, and I am apparently a pretty big deal for some reason.” James’ eyes widened for a split second before he turned his head to hide himself in his hand as he laughed silently, “Sorry, tired, meant to say I’m James, but you already knew that.” Looking back over to the pair he asked, “So why do you want to meet me? Just because I somehow woke up on a planet I almost certainly could never have thought up myself?” A hollow laugh and halfhearted shrug later, “I’m sure stranger things have happened.”

Sharing a discrete look of prepared resolve at his behavior as Spate did her best to uphold a vigilant disposition, the darker of the two sisters voiced her peace, “While there is much more inexplainable than awaking somewhere unexpected, I’d say some credence would be permitted if we were to say this was particularly harrowing for someone in your place, which it is.” Clearing her throat before taking a breath, Luna nodded to James, finding her words, “That is to say, though stranger has happened, your plight is certainly no less worth our attention.”

With a thought Luna slid an until-then unseen key from behind the tray to lay it on the table in front of James who stared impassively down at it, simply waiting for the next unpredictable punchline to the fever dream joke that was now his life. “This is to your room, James,” Celestia began, “this is for your hands only, and the room is yours for as long as you wish.”

She paused, watching him for any response, any sign of life, and of course he’d get right to the point. “Can your magic not fix this? Send me back?” From his hunched, cheek-on-palm position, dispassionate tone, and 1000 yard stare towards the key he wasn’t taking this as well as they’d hoped, but, she noted, it was far better than it could have been, he was talking at the very least.

“I… am afraid not, James.” The alabaster pegacorn regretfully answered, her face the very definition of apologetic, a visage mirrored by a tea sipping Luna and bore through valiantly by Spa, though her ears betrayed her heart, “Truly we can do very little in the ways of whatever force brings you here. To put it bluntly, it’s an ambitious goal in well trodden lands.”

It was with an unnoticeable sigh she took her turn to drink the table’s tea as Luna wound up again for their tense back and forth, “That’s not to say we won’t try, but what little we do have is what your kind has called ‘a staticy mess’, among other things. However, we have an entire section of our most prestigious school devoted to this and, if you would like, we could even visit it. I know they would like to speak with you.” Pouring herself another cup she even magic’d James’ cup back above room temperature again, silently sliding the sugar, milk, honey, and even salt towards him as the maiden of the night busied herself stirring what would surely be syrup should it cool on account of the sugar added, so distracted was she.

With some life returning to him, he looked away from the various stained windows around the room to watch her magic in action, “So there are other humans then? Here, of course… none of you are surprised to see me.” There was no immediate answer, just the soft tinking of Luna’s spoon’s constant stirring, so James continued and let his tired mouth ramble his thoughts. “Flying over here I didn’t see much, there were some clouds with rainbows that Spate told me is a city, and it looked pretty, but it doesn’t really help me. I feel like I’m missing something important here, something you all know about, so could you please just tell me so we all can get this over with.” His voice rose near the end, but he couldn’t find himself feeling more than irritation at the circles he could feel they’d run him in.

With nearly enough hesitation to void any reply, Luna answered, and James had to have only imagined her stirring sped up, “In… the past, there have been others.” She focused eye contact on her now lightly splashing stirs and mentioned the past with venom, “Always one at a time.” Finally and suddenly satisfied with its solubility, the sugary tea was tossed back and downed in one go. Luna looked up to James and held a straight face, “No two are ever the same. And James, we understand it was out of your hands, but what are your intentions, what changes come with you.”

A moment was taken to look to Celestia before turning back to the stunned man for a breath to reel back her accusatory voice and suppress any more infuriatingly unanswerable questions, “You cannot answer that though, only time can. You also have done nothing wrong, but that is why you are before us, that is one of many reasons we permit you a room. We have no idea who you are, we know what you are, you are human, a male of your species, but who you are can be so very much. No, we will not hurt you, no, we will not interrogate you, we will not dissect or maim you in any number of obscene and abominable ways we’ve even heard hinted at from your world through past visits.” Her nose flared with a disgusted snort at having to rehash such frustratingly persistent notions, but again she collected herself, “We will bring you absolutely no manner of displeasure, we desperately want you to be happy and strive for the very stars here, to live the best life you may despite current circumstances.”

Tipping out what was left of the tea drank solely between the solar sisters, Luna drank the dregs and all with no extras. In her hasty and rather rough, unnecessary rundown she did her best to hopefully snub most common issues before they became worse. It was never so simple, but addressing such things seemed to help longterm, in their experience. Transparency and awareness, despite the painful truth they’d learned, went far in these meetings, though it hurt them both when it was their turn to tear that ray of hope away. It was a bandaid Luna tore off as soon as she could, but too fast for James.

Looking as if she wished to interject at several different occasions during her sister’s unplanned, entirely emotional little rant, it still got their point across, saying what she was supposed to, just not how she was supposed to. But a bigger scene would not be productive, so instead Celestia instead put it aside for now and dealt with her half, attempting to be the balm to the scalding words, “We are here to help, and if you ever need anything, anything at all, you can come to us. Though her energy goes against that sentiment,” she shot a glare to an apologetic looking Luna that promised words afterwards before affixing a genial smile for James, “I assure you no danger will find you here in our home, James. Much less from Luna. It doesn’t excuse her outburst, one I’m deeply sorry for, but Luna has just been through much, so it’s not you she’s upset with.”

Speechless through this all, James idly toyed with his again cold cup of tea and looked wide eyed at the two, mouth slightly agape while his exhausted mind tried to process the barrage he’d been subjected to, bringing so many more questions with every word. Still stunned, James was only semi aware of how badly he wished to sleep, or even to have been left in the fields he was found. It was nice there, quiet, peaceful, familiar. He wanted to go home, not be caught between magical, royal horses over things he had no idea about.

Picking the lesser of current evils he silently reached for the key that waited for him under the trio’s watchful eyes and noticed a dull ache of finality in the act, as if he’d signed some unspoken dotted line. He’d have time to reflect and hurt later though, steeling himself for now James stood and looked down to the remorseful Celestia, “I don’t know where my room is and I need some time alone to come to terms with all this.” He looked to a shamed, downtrodden Luna and then to Spate, her eyes on him and looking as if she desperately wished she could say something, “Thank you for helping me, I think. We’ll have to see how this turns out, you were nice though.”

James pushed his seat in smoothly over marble floor to stand behind it and Celestia rose to her fullest height, her long horn leveling off just above James' own head while she came to the side of the table, “I understand needing time, and again I, we,” she spared a second’s heated glance to Luna, “are both sorry, this was not at all how it was supposed to go and I sincerely regret misplacing my trust in her for this crucial moment between us when you are at your most vulnerable.” She bowed low to the ground, her horn’s tip actually meeting the floor for the longest, most uncomfortable seconds of James’ life. Raising up once more, her vibrant fuchsia eyes looked into the man’s own, compelling him to feel the rawness of her heart, as had happened with Spate, “You are welcome here, James, I hope someday for you to call us friends. I assure you an apology from my sister, she is not typically so rude nor undisciplined.” Exhaling slow and measured, she turned to Spate, “Spa, would you please show our guest to his room? Thank you.”

Her name called, Spate fell back into action after being a bystander for such intense exchanges and felt relief to fill a role she had an actual part in, with steps she knew and prepared for. James had already left the table for the large, imposing doors to wait in front of them for Spate’s direction, though a hand was outstretched to brush his fingers against its surface, “They’ll open, James, they just look heavy. It’s magic again, look.” She rested a hoof against one of the two doors and gave it a firm but not at all exhaustive push, causing it to glide open a foot on silent hinges for him to quietly shove it the rest of the way they needed. James hadn’t paused to marvel, it was impressive but he just wanted to go to bed and try his hardest to wake up in a world he belonged in. But he needed Spa to find his way, so he shut the massive door with a resounding clack, leaving the princesses behind and allowing his guide to lead them down the hall adjacent the one they’d come down.

It would be a long, silent, miserable walk for James if Spate couldn’t salvage it and any goodwill between them that she feared may have been lost, “Princess Luna isn’t usually like that, James, usually she’s very kind, it’s just some things have been causing her trouble she’d thought were left behind.” Spa didn’t look to him as she spoke, as with before she was more focused on the path ahead, only tilting her head occasionally.

Another turn and she gave him a few seconds to respond, he didn’t, she didn’t expect him to, but he was still following so she kept talking for her own sake if not his, “You’ll be given free reign to pursue any career or hobby you may desire, our school’s are open to you though they may require a placement exam, and for the most part I’d like to say ponies are a very accepting people.” More silence in lieu of a response but Spa couldn’t afford to seem perturbed, “There of course will be some who are impossible to please, but if anyone ever gives you trouble please come back and leave it to us, ok?”

She turned her head back to find him practically shambling behind her, “Awesome. Work, school, and racists, fantastic. Can we please just get to my room?”

Her brain effectively shut down as her proud efforts went up in smoke, her booting up taking the rest of the walk with her ears low and steps heavy. An unremarkable door waited for them, and James took a guess this was his room when Spate stopped and hung her head. The key worked, allowing his door to swing inwards and grace his eyes with the expected high class setup he was already hating, but at least he had a high class bed, so no springs. Stumbling into the room with relief he walked straight for the massive mattress and fell onto his back, letting out a long, low sigh of utter suffering, ignoring the deep, silken navy covers and other earthy tones of the room, “Thank you, Spate, I think I’ll just lay here forever, sorry to hijack your day.” He unzipped his light jacket and spread his arms out, “See ya, or not. No offence but hopefully not.”

Though his words were more of an indistinguishable groan, she got the basics and hopped up to a fine, soothingly sandy-colored couch against a wall, to his bed’s left, next to the balcony. Spa laid on it, forelegs crossed and hinds hanging off the edge while she rested her cheek down, “I’ll be here until duty calls, and I don’t really want to interrupt the princesses right now, but you can sleep, James, you’ll be ok, I’ll make sure of it.”

James huffed a derisive laugh at the implications of waking up to this world again, but let it go to instead focus on unfocusing, asleep less then a minute later. On Spate’s end she watched his breaths fall into a rhythmic pattern to gauge his quality of sleep before her thoughts changed to her future now that contact had been made. It was her duty to remain accessible as James’ liaison officer due to first appearances and apparent compatibility. She was the most familiar face he knew anymore, and humans were expectably consistent in needing a familiar friendly face.

Her position was a commitment they were interviewed rigorously for, and had to keep themselves openminded and compassionate to hopefully fill that roll of confidant, the kind of pony who would be a best friend. This time around the competition was fierce, and while it was heartwarming to see so many avid supporters come from all walks to help a complete unknown, many of them obviously hadn’t considered the entirety of what a liaison was to do. Their past engagements would come second if they were the one to successfully establish a dialogue. Thankfully the odds of a language barrier were not likely, but even then they hadn’t come across one in any recent history they couldn’t translate through a medium, either translator or spell.

Spa huffed and fully invested herself in laying on her side, eyes on James but out of focus. She wanted this position, like many who had applied alongside this cycle and many before her through history, humans had been an elusive, inexplainable but entirely tangible mystery. A living myth in the flesh, only one floating around the planet. Humanity’s history in Spate’s world was debatably more profound than what they’d heard in bits and pieces of the human’s own world through word of mouth. That was saying something if even half of what was said was true of human’s own expansive history, seemingly more turbulent than even Spa’s own world of magic and wonder.

It made sense they’d have a rich past on their own planet, humans brought change to Spa’s with every cycle, where they went the world seemed to shape to their vision around them. It was almost magical, and that was a thought not impossible, the sky’s the limit when it came to humans. If they wanted it badly enough they could rally the world behind a hope.

That wasn’t all of it though, certainly a manner of respect came with being James’ mediator, and at this point she was already guaranteed at least a footnote in the books for simply meeting him first, being in the right place at the right time really, but again it was more than fame or respect that drew Spate to this life choice. Where others of all descent saw notoriety, grandeur, and privilege, she was here simply to help because she could trust herself to do the right thing.

While a majority of those who’d gone through the same classes and lessons on human behavior had been well meaning and certainly motivated, it was almost obsessive, suffocating, or sycophantic with the ideas of all they’d do. It wasn’t their place to make these calls, they were to take life at the human’s pace, it just happened to be that most were driven for a reason beyond the masses understanding.

Satisfaction was a word to be used rarely in reference to what they’ve seen of humanity. It wasn’t quite a dragon’s bloody streak of greed, though sadly it wasn’t unheard of, but something deeper, an inherent sense of lines to push. Softly snorting a laugh Spa recalled Princess Celestia’s choice of words, ‘ambitious. That was humanity summed up, although there were rare, recorded cases of quiet lives.

No, she had no envisionings of fame nor desire for it, she was here to help guide a lost soul in desperate need of understanding and reliability. A constant James could trust to not be pulled out from beneath his feet. Humans did not respond well to things of that nature. Spate would be here though, to show him their way, for all the similarities there were many stark differences and they floundered badly when those issues arose. He probably wouldn’t be happy to learn Spate’s position, but he seemed reasonable, so she had to believe he’d listen to reason. They wouldn’t force James to accept her help, but it would go a long way towards helping him.

A mix of excitement and anxiety filled the contemplative mare, excitement with her luck, and anxious for the same reason. Humans could hide their thoughts so well, if James had an issue Spa worried she might never know until it was too late. It was her job to be approachable and find those things out. While she didn’t do this for the attention, the world had its eyes on her too now, a concept that was hard to grasp until it was no longer a question it’d be her. His success and quality of life was heavily reliant on her ability to lead him right. He’d find his stride eventually, hopefully, but the foundations of his roots here depended on her making his full repertoire of options abundantly clear.

It was up to her, as many of the choices of integration would be, though there were guides and aids open to her for reference. A single, practiced script didn’t work for all however, and yes while it was selfish, this would reflect terribly on their nation should James be misdirected or hurt in any number of preventable ways. The respect and admiration humanity had earned through its time with various other races was severe, borderline worship. War was not entirely out of the question should a nation fail a human spectacularly enough. Ponies were on thin ice as it was.

With a sigh and hooves to her temple, Spate stood to get some air on the balcony, she’d thought of some of this before, but it never held any real weight until now, and all that weight fell to her. Silently unlatching the door, Spa walked out to look over the late evening they found themselves in. Looking down at the dots of color she could see all the ponies finishing up their days, or just starting their nights. She stood on her hind legs to get a better view and let the gentle breeze wash over her, the cracked open door letting in air as well, but James was bundled snug and exhausted. Looking first to the moon and then the sun, she thought back to the impromptu dining table.

Something less official was hoped to be less intimidating, it had worked offen before, for various races once the discomfort was stacked onto at the imagery and thoughts of a dark room, swinging lamp and rickety chairs, or something approaching a hospital room. Even well to do sitting rooms came off as far too clean and those that were clearly unused were found to be disquieting. Humans were strange, but further explanation made it… understandable, if not relatable. The rooms were too controlled, too sanitized. They felt even more the part of a stranger walking into a situation that had obviously been prepared beforehand.

As for the throne room… well there were many things she’d have done differently. She’d been given a general outline of how they, or Celestia, hoped it would proceed, but she wouldn’t have chosen the throne room of all places. She didn’t even want to think of Princess Luna’s harsh words, nothing of the past was James’ fault, neither was his coming here. Those thoughts had been routinely disproved, though some still said their very inexplainable nature meant anything was possible, which technically was true. Seeing James though, she knew he’d rather be home than here.

Even given the fiasco, Spate’s heart went to Princess Luna, the princess really had gone through much and was often a human’s best friend. Spate knew she regret her words, almost certainly as she said them, but old wounds had clearly been torn open and her emotions were unexpectedly high, and with Princess Celestia’s show of apology coupled with her painfully clear choice of words, Princess Luna was hurting on top of that, in Celestia’s effort to hopefully counterbalance whatever damage had been done. Spate did not want to go back to the throne room for a good few days.

Ruffling her feathers she took a number of deep breaths, centering on the now and later, things she could change, make better. Looking back through the glass doors, she saw James still sound asleep, unmoved since he’d collapsed into bed. Humans did not like being surveilled, not that ponies, griffins, yaks, dragons, or anything else was fond of it either, but absolutely not humans. Regardless, in most cases they had a strong feeling of pride in independency. Though the concept itself wasn’t unusual to ponies, a human’s scope of independency often edged on a self sustaining isolationist. For example, offers seen as charity were often met with a negative response, though strangely not their education and employment programs. The ponies who took it upon themselves to consider these things for and from a human’s view supposed it must have felt fair, maybe brought a feeling of normalcy, or reinforced their sense of independence, but they couldn’t be sure.

Certainties were rare with humans and this world of magic. One thing they were sure of was to never tell a human something is for their own good however. Even if it is. They’ll learn or they won’t, but that didn’t stop blame from being thrown around. Whose fault was it if these things went wrong? There was a lot to take into account, there were no single easy answers. A human was many things, and they were each their own person, quirks, worries and hopes were all cursably unique.

Spate wasn’t particularly outstanding, at least that’s what her tests and herself would say, but that made her a good voice for James to have on his side. On paper these facts were stated about humans in such dry ways, but she considered that maybe a human’s reasons weren’t as beyond explanation as the books may make it seem. Their sources may be foreign, but there’s logic, a root somewhere innate within humans where it all made sense. She would just need time to maybe glean some understanding.

Even just on the balcony though, it was too soon for her to disappear like this, according to her own standards. This was about James now, at least the beginning, and she didn’t want to make him any more uncomfortable than he already was if he found himself alone in the dark in a room he may or may not remember. She took one last look over Canterlot before turning around to head inside.

Even with his layers of clothing, the sun was still dipping and fall was coming fast so the chill might discomfort his more sensitive skin, pushing Spate to go back inside and shut the door before she gave a soft shake from head to tail. The mare found her place back on the couch, eyes on the expectedly unconscious man. Taking a moment for herself Spa closed her eyes to think more and consider her friends and family. Her time was on a schedule now, whatever James would decide the schedule to be, and so she had another list of letters to write in addition to the many notices and summary reports she’d be called away to fulfill. She hung her head a bit over the couch’s edge, for a weightlessness to distract her mind a bit from the changes coming to her life. She knew what she signed up for, she didn’t regret it, but it was still going to be tough. A point she found herself circling back to was James himself of course, but in this case it was for perspective. Her schedule was busy, his life was upside down, backwards, and turned around in ways Spa knew she still didn’t understand.

With sympathy she hoped James would make friends, and that it wasn’t too late for Luna to make things right between them, she needed friends too. Thankfully Celestia would help her sister apologize, she’d know what to say, and Luna would know where to pick it up from there.

Spate told herself that James just needed time to adjust, that there was nothing more she could do at the moment but pray and hope, it helped calm her nerves. The world was most likely being made aware of his being found and to call off their searches. The world would no doubt be cursing its luck at the ponies finding the newest human and be sending requests, complaints, and diplomats to offer their own country’s sanctuary for him and whatever knowledge he may have. But that’s just how it went, everyone wanted a human for their own reasons. Hate, worship, fear. Spate shivered and thanked their good fortune she found him. The world could be a very unpleasant thing to his kind, she’d been made all too aware of that during her apprenticeship.

But now wasn’t the time for a scared filly, she needed to be present and not lost in her head, she also needed to be rested. Moving to lay on her other side, she turned her back to James and outstretched her wings as the day’s events caught up with her as well. Spa formed herself a little wing tent on the couch as they went limp with one over the top of the backrest and the other brushing against the floor, her head tucked between the couch and herself beneath her wing. These human sized rooms were something that would take getting used to, but the royal treatment wasn’t so bad in her opinion.

The two in varying degrees of peace, they slept nonetheless through the night without pause. Peacefully unaware of the bright, full day that couldn’t wait to get its hands on them, biting at the heels of night sooner than either would like as it hounded in search after the pair of overnight celebrities.