Spotlight of Stars

by DE_K

Still Breathing

“Sun” was the word of the day, and James found it uniquely soothing on his waking eyes, the morning cool brisk and not unwanted. Waking up wasn’t typically a nice thing in his experience, but he felt rested and his eyes opened with ease as James sat up to stretch, idly picking at the clothes he’d slept in. Blearily he looked over the room, the haze of the day before painfully coming back together with every piece of finery in the room. And then there was her, the mare.

Spate was still fast asleep with her head tucked beneath a wing, hidden from both sight and sun. The man tiredly watched her persistent existence, wishing he had the capacity to deny it, but discovered himself resigned to facing whatever amounted to his new life. Finding no answers on Spa’s back, he looked instead to an unexplored door for salvation, hoping his suspicions were right.

After shedding his coat to leave on the bed, he started to unbutton the shortsleeved work shirt beneath until he came to the door and peered inside, the morning light following James into the pristine bathroom. His shirt loosely worn, he would have found it easier to ignore the mare in the room behind than the small pool embedded within the floor, against the back of the room, on full display in the midmorning light.

Stepping in further caused an untraceable, warm light to flick silently to life and more was brought to attention, such as the mirror running halfway down the wall, stopping short of the bath and over an expansive sink counter, holding a stack of fluffy towels, in pastel colors this time. They felt warm, fresh from the dryer, it didn’t make sense but James let his hand fall off them and stepped to the mirror to put his hands against the glass, arms outstretched as he stared himself in the eyes.

He saw what he always did so long as he focused on himself, and not the large, empty, premium-grade trappings of a success not his own. He was still him, even if all this wasn’t. These were his clothes, this was his body, he still had a voice if those… princesses weren’t lying, so he still had a chance for his own life. He was glaring at himself, James realized. His breath was tense, held, and teeth grit. He also had had plans, he had people who needed him, responsibilities, promises.

This world had already taken too much from him, and he’d been forced into a strange trade that he still wasn’t quite ready to think more about yet. James’ forehead met the mirror with a thud and an immediate fogging from his rough exhale. Could it happen again, just being whisked away? Unless it was to back home, it was hopefully just seasoned paranoia. James wanted to break this now-smudged mural of reflection, but just as quickly as the urge came over him, he pushed it down, it wouldn’t do well for his reputation, whatever that was going to be here.

Instead he stripped down, throwing his work shirt, long sleeved under, pants and modesty around himself and grabbed a towel to walk to the almost sickening grandiose display. Thankfully the room was fairly small, for a royal definition of ‘small’, which was a little under half the size the room he slept in. Still, this could be an entire living space back home.

Stepping down the bench seats on his half of the tub, he took a moment to appreciate that some things were universal in that the controls were hot and cold dials, except he couldn’t see any spout for water. Taking the little engraved fire symbol as hot water James had his quick deduction rewarded with a torrent of hot water bursting from the floor of all places and quickly rising past his feet. The water level was almost concerning as the invisible founts were drowned out to warm jets against his standing, stunned body.

Turning and watching the wide porcelain basin flood to life, James noticed there were some engraved, inlaid buttons and pumps with uncertain purposes around the two hot and cold dials. Once the water was to his stomach while standing he dialed it off to find a seat near the only mechanisms he was certain of, perusing the options laid out for his use. The etchings were simple, clean, and intuitive, further testing of each only solidifying the growing faith James had in his detective work.

There were jets against his back, like in an actual pool, portrayed by a blowing water pipe that could pass as a leaf blower without his current context. Next he’d found the drain, a button displaying the mark of a tornado over a hole, causing the water to empty as quickly as it came before he’d stopped it, once more without any readily apparent source the water came or left, but with magic James wouldn’t hold his breath on an explanation he was familiar with. Third had to be the aliens favorite, which caused a shower that was more a rain, dancing over and around his bathing pond and playing a wonderful, natural sound as the drops danced across the stone tiles and water. This smooth, fantastic golden button was a raining cloud, easy to remember.

There were others he’d need to play with, but a knock on the still-open door pulled James from the welcome to the happily forgotten. But as it was, once he remembered he’d left the door open it honestly wasn’t all that surprising to find the steam and sounds of rain had woken the bird horse sleeping just outside. He also remembered he’d stripped down nearer the entrance, and learned it wasn’t a good idea to bring one of the towels along after messing with the rain-shower, thankfully the spilled water dutifully flowed through little flood channels in the floor that kept his clothes dry.

Looking between his scattered clothes and the mare, whose head was hidden behind a wing to, he guessed, protect his dignity, it was hard to care about his bare chest since there wasn’t much Spa could see while he was mostly submerged and she wasn’t even looking, “Hello, James? There’s food waiting in your room. There’s no rush though, today is an easy one, the princesses encourage you to explore the castle and with all respect, humbly remind you of their offer for schooling and employment, should you be up for it.” She gave a small bow and despite her wing blocking James’ sight, he was sure her eyes would be pleading, “We understand this was out of your power and wish for you to live as comfortable a life despite circumstance.”

The soaked man looked to Spate curiously and nodded, then remembered she wouldn’t see and offered a simple thanks before she took her leave, turning around and supposedly leaving him to his own, the door closed now. Settling back down onto his seat, this human pondered the strangely emphasized sincerity, it was obviously real, but she spoke as if he was on the verge of a breakdown. Sure this was all insane and impossible, but James had thought he was handling himself rather well. Turning the rain back on he relaxed against a jet and closed his eyes.

It had to be one of those ‘better safe than sorry’ things, if they’d had other humans then that would build an excellent case in the ponys’ defense, there was no telling what kind of people had come before James. And who knew anyway, maybe if they hadn’t been so repetitive in their concern he wouln’t be taking this nearly so well, reclined under indoor rain and relaxed. Beneath the confusion it felt nice to know they cared, it felt strange to be coddled though.

Rubbing his hands against the basin walls James mutely focused on his senses, letting thoughts escape him for a time to allow his ears and touch become the world. His meditative state left him lost in the rain, his mind taking him back to the fields he woke up in under the moon. This time he didn’t feel a push to move, to roam the hills searching. Here on his back, only himself and the elements, he felt a peace he hadn’t found before.

Dark skies wept and thunder groaned in the furthest corners of a world James imagined as synonymous with calm. There was order to this storm, a tune to the patters, and a feeling of purpose behind every flash and rumble. In this world he was truly alone save for the moon and clouds. The stars were missing, but they were still there just out of sight, a constant he could rely on just as surely as the moon he saw.

But there was something different tonight, something artificial about his world. The moon’s glow was a lamp, shining blindingly down on him past the veil of a microscope in his little habitat, where he was trapped. Suddenly things came back together when the steady storm turned to plastic hail, piling and threatening to drown him as astroturf cut at his back before jerking awake with a cough after gasping down water.

In a mind of panic he looked around the dimmed room as it snapped back to full power, beaming down not unlike the lamp he’d been under. The shower was off and his body was covered with pins and needles, but he didn’t want to spend another moment in this deathly quiet room. Forcing himself to think of something other than a cutting earth and watchful powers that be he climbed quick enough to stumble and slip his way to the still dry towels, haphazardly drying his person off before tying the towel around his waist, gathering his clothes in a ball and speed walking back into the bed portion of his residence.

Regardless of his past assumption, Spate was still around, laying studiously across the same couch with a book laid out before her, clearly immersed until James had nearly broke through his own door like he’d seen a ghost. Ignoring Spate’s concern however, James instead selected an uninspiring corner to drop off his clothes while completely sidestepping the laden cart at the foot of his bed to collapse on the bed, in an almost identical fashion as he did last night. Palms brought up to his face, James was clearly distressed, and Spa mentally cursed herself for shutting the bathroom door. If he’d been hurt how would she have known?

She had to put a pin in cursing herself any longer though and help James through whatever was troubling him. Lifting herself onto the human-sized mattress Spa looked down to the motionless human, seeing him from an upside down angle due to coming from the opposite side of his bed. Her hooves sunk sIightly into the softness beneath her before repeating a now well practiced motion and dropped down to her stomach, spreading her wings gently across the bIankets, eyes fixed on the man’s head, “James? Are you okay?”

The questioned, recovering individual gave a noncommittal grunt then dropped his hands, “I’m alright, Spa, thanks though.” His eyes were closed and he took a deep breath that he held before letting out what would be a convincing, “How are you?” if she hadn’t just seen him so shaken. It bothered her to see someone hide their feelings so well, with such little prompt or need.

So, skeptical but empathetic, she opted to simply be present than push the issue, “I’m doing well, thank you, James. Was the bed good enough last night, or would you prefer another?”

The conversation and proximity were already quickly pushing the feeling of dread that’d had a hold of James earlier. He opened his eyes to look up to the mare and give an apologetic laugh, “I was a little too tired to notice, but nothing’s sore so I think I’ll stick with this one for now. How about you?” He sat up and turned a bit around to face Spa, “Why’d you stay over? Is the couch really that nice?”

Spa smiled and brought her head up, turning it to the side in pretend-thought, “Hm, it does make a nice bed, but that’s not really why I stayed.” Looking up to James, she felt he wouldn’t take the news too terribly but made sure to hold her smile, “I’m here as your mediator, a cultural buffer, your guide, and general assistant.” Spate couldn’t help a feeling of pride within herself and her head rose a little higher as she went on, “If there’s anything you want, I’m the mare for the job.”

James quirked an eyebrow in amusement at the surprising flash of pride she showed and had to admit it took a lot of pressure off himself to have her around to help, “Sounds perfect, since I’ve got a guide I’ll just need to remember to charge my phone and be sure to take pictures of the tour.”

Spate’s eyes widened a bit, “You have a human phone with you? Does it work?” Her head turned in hopes to spot the phone tossed aside somewhere.

Pausing to think, James looked back to his pile of clothes, “I don’t know actually, I was just joking before, let’s see.” Stretching after he stood James kneeled to pat his pockets down, only to find a disparaging lack of anything that was useful, all that was left was his belt, worn, black, and leather. It stung a surprising amount. God only knew how long it’d be before he’d remember them without Spate’s lead, but it still hurt to have something so familiar be taken from him. James knew logically that given the situation, the things he’d had wouldn’t help with much, but they were his, and were pieces of his past life with stories their own.

A wan smile greeted Spate when James turned back around to offer a shrug, “All I’ve got now are the clothes, so sorry, but no phone.” He fell short of the bed, down to his knees and folded his arms on the mattress as he looked up at Spa, still trying to smile, “It’s nothing big, just would’ve been nice to have them you know?” He sighed and rested his cheek on an arm, eyes looking passed Spa to the untouched food cart then over to beyond the glass balcony door, “The food’s probably been cold for a long time now, hasn’t it?”

Spate was too busy trying to comprehend how quickly she’d ruined the mood as she’d watched James go from happy to hopeless in the span of seconds. The search through his clothing had grown more frantic the longer he went on, tugging at Spa’s poor little pony heart, and the smile he tried to hold was just the most heartbreaking thing she’d ever seen, which she blamed herself for. She felt a screaming facehoof was what she really needed right now as she barely caught what James had said, “N-no, the food’s still warm, it’s… well it’s magic.” She had to keep herself from wincing, there had been more than a fair share of humans who didn’t appreciate that explanation, and James was in a bad enough mood where she didn’t want to push, “The maid told me it was bacon, eggs, toast, and even rice.”

Noticing the little negative feedback loop they had, James took a few steadying breaths to level himself out as he stood up to grab his coat from the floor, wearing it unzipped to just have something on. Not entirely hungry, he still sat at the foot of the bed and lifted the dish covers to find a cloud of steam pulling him under its spell, reminding him that yes, it had been far too long since he’d eaten. Looking over the cart that had to have held enough to feed three of him, he looked back to Spa, gesturing to the cart with open hands, “Are you hungry? I don’t think I could eat all this at my worst.”

She wanted to shout a yes, the smell was as always perfection and that was only one of the five senses his midday breakfast would take perfect care of. More important to her eyes was that it seemed wrong, it was his, so with a shake of her head she declined, “No, but thank you. I already ate while you were busy.” If you counted a standard guard meal hours ago. He’d been soaking long enough to worry her, and with these scents of high class society breezing around it was taking all she had to commit to this ‘no’.

Doubtful but hungry, James figured she wouldn’t starve and with a shrug he began to devour the plates of eggs and bacon, all tied together with fluffy bowls of rice and followed by water between unsightly mouthfuls. It was learned that for talking horses, they knew their way around bacon better than any human he’s ever met before, and it made him reflect for a moment on how maybe this was all worth it. As with most things, a full stomach brought a positive light he’d sorely been missing. It could’ve been much worse, if all this was an option.

During the silence punctuated by good eating, Spa had left only once, and that was to grab the book she was reading on the couch. Laid out once more to his left, her eyes flowed back and forth over the page at a sedate pace, absorbing everything she saw at a speed she managed as flawlessly as a machine. She was the next best thing of note to James once he’d had his fill, a little over half of the offering, and stretched while he sat reaching high for the ceiling before bringing a hand back down to pet Spate’s unexpecting neck, causing her to jump out of focus and his hand to pull back to his lap, “Sorry, wasn’t really thinking, you’re just soft I guess.”

He didn’t see her smile when she turned her head to face him, in fact he was doing his best to look away from Spa, but she was happy that he was already starting to feel comfortable enough to initiate physical contact, “It’s alright James, I don’t mind. Does it help to pet me?”

Unable to hide from the absurdity of it all, James laughed and looked down to his folded hands, “I wouldn’t like to be pet, and it’s not really the same now, now that I’ve slept and had a chance to understand things. It doesn’t feel right.”

Cocking her head it was curious to think that now that he seemed to “understand things”, she did not, “What’s wrong with petting me James?”

Scoffing at the question James couldn’t think of an easy way to explain something he saw as so basic in a way she’d understand, “Petting is for, well pets. Not people. Not you kind of horses.”

‘Ponies’ she absently corrected, still focused on his reluctance to pet, “But why? It feels nice.”

Seeing where this was leading he already knew he lost, “It’s demeaning, isn’t it? Being pet like a dog or cat.”

Spa found her smile again and shook her head, “No, I’m being pet like a pony, and it feels nice. Ponies are very touchy, I’ve read that is not often the case with humans. I think that’s the problem, isn’t it?”

Throwing his hands up he knew it was no use and conceded to her argument, “Yes, I think that’s probably exactly what it is.” Sighing he looked at her bright grin as he hung his head, “You like it that much?” She nodded, he sighed again and reached out to rest a palm on her neck to begin the procedure, smiling in spite of himself, “You really are soft Spa, I thought horses were rough.”

Spa had stretched her neck out for him and begun to read before correcting him again, “Ponies, and I don’t know about others but I take pride in my appearance.”

Laying back onto the bed, food cart gently kicked away and forgotten, James looked at the ceiling, “Are ponies going to think you’re weird for letting me pet you? I think you’re weird for letting me pet you.”

“Hmm, maybe, but not for the reason you might think.” Another paged turn and she looked back to the hand for a moment, “And even then I think they’d understand why I let you if you pet them too.”

His other hand rose above his face, under its owner’s inspection for whatever had to be so special about it, “And what, little horse, would be strange, if not letting me pet you?”

Signing the book off as a lost cause as for now she laid completely on her side, giving James free reign over her outstretched neck, “How long you do it for, not like a nuzzle or a hug.” She rubbed her head into the bed and made herself a more refined headrest from blankets, “There’s not many ways a pony can replicate this, I don’t know if we’d ever get anything done again if we could.”

He blinked his way from the information, learning something he knew he wouldn’t have considered, “I guess you’re right, but that’s why you’re here isn’t it?”

“I’m just here to help you, even if it helps me.” But thinking of the strange, rippling sensations down her neck, it was more of an ‘especially if it helps me’. It soothed something Spa hadn’t known needed soothing.

“Well, whichever. You think like a pony and that’s something I’ll need help with.” The filling meal paired with the warmth beside him had worked into a perfect match for sleep, and James couldn’t find a reason to fight it. He pat her neck before climbing up to a proper sleeping position with all appendages onboard, quickly stashing himself, towel and all, away under the light yet warming covers. “You don’t have to sleep here do you? Not that it isn’t nice having you around, but there’s got to be something nice than a couch for you, did you want to switch beds tonight?”

A short laugh and she told him no, “I don’t think I’d have a job for much longer if I took your bed, and there is the barracks, which actually does mean the nice bunk is up here. I’m to leave should you need me to, but it is strongly recommended to stay near, so I could sleep in the hall I suppose, or on the balcony maybe. Would that be better?”

Relieved he didn’t have to tell her no to switching off beds, James took his turn to smile and shake as he sunk further into bed, arms behind his head, “No, since it means so much to you, you can have the couch. We really do need to fix that though.” He finished with a sharp point at the couch.

Hopping from the bed to couch Spa shrugged, “Honestly this is a very nice piece of furniture, if I had a mind to waste bits this would be at the very top of my list of things to have, right above a home and food.”

Somehow tucking herself in without a blanket, James felt self conscious about the bed he was in. It wasn’t cold or anything, but still. To have this all to himself, snug as could be while she had only the couch? Well… her coat had to do something more than be soft, and he didn’t tell her to sleep there. James shook his head and turned on his side, facing away from Spa, ’Whatever, it’s nice not to share for once and it’d be weird to ask her anyways.’

His feelings justified to himself, James laid in bed trying to sleep which was increasingly counterproductive the more he tried. Squirming and tossing for a frw minutes failed to tire him out and eventually he turned over in hopes for better luck. Barely in the half-light of late evening it was impossible to not think he’d made a mistake calling it a day, all he’d done was take a bath and eat!

But panning over to Spate, seeing such a strange being rest so peacefully across from him, a slow day was something James needed. It wasn’t at all the red tape and bureaucracy he’d expected, nor any stringent exams. He was simply here, in this room not so impossible to pretend was made by humans, for humans. It was a homely place, maybe a very fine hotel and not a room in a castle of horses. But seeing her gentle breaths he couldn’t afford to play pretend, James wished he didn’t care so much though.

Spate was nice company all things told but with that rude awakening in the bath his sense of personal time was wounded and he needed an outlet to be alone with. He would have to find something to do, something to keep his mind busy and off of all these issues his brain kept picking at with every passing moment. Clothes should be washed, there was a want for money, and he needed to be alone.

Watching Spate for a minute longer James focused on her breaths and movements as he creeped out of bed, he wasn’t a prisoner they’d said, and he was tired of his room. It had only been a day or so but he decided it was time to push the envelope and see just how far his freedoms went.

Potentially kissing free will goodbye James stood in a jacket and towel, feet touching down to a rug before walking over to his balled up clothing. Throwing his socks on for the stone hallways he hoped he’d be able to get directions from a guard instead of being thrown back into this room, there was no way he’d accidentally find a washroom out of all the castle. One last look back to Spate and there was guilt to be felt if she woke up while he was gone, but he really did need to stretch his legs, and it was all the more reason to be quick, which he tried to do after making it out the bedroom door.

Since he’d been down the right hall already he knew that lead to the throne room, eventually, so it was with confident uncertainty James went down the left. It was a lot of the same, a spotless display of art that was home to potentially many, but this art failed to clean the last of his worldy belongings so its beauty fell on unimpressed, regretfully awake eyes.

In the back of his mind James thought on the history and success he walked by, clearly they were doing well, or worked the lessers well at least. Just about all of his Earth-centric knowledge was for naught and it came down to basics and people skills until James learned something relevant to partially bridge the gap between the ponies and himself.

James sighed and shuffled the payload in his arms and turned his attention outwards, needing a distraction from himself. It was only early night if the filtered light through stained windows and mosaics was anything to go by and he would’ve thought there’d be someone else out besides him, other residents, patrolling guards, or busy servants, but no. It would be unnerving if he felt threatened by these fuzzy little things in the heart of their surely fuzzy kingdom.

It could’ve been ten minutes or ten hours though it was the same in the end: it was boring, but he was moving, which was better than being bored in the room they gave him. Turning down another hall at random he finally saw the very thing he’d been in search of, another hall-bound soul. James kept his same pace, the muffled footsteps he brought to the stationary guard went unnoticed until the human was nearly on the interestingly gold clad and spear wielding pony.

Once James had finally been noticed, it was with a turn of ears, eventually wide eyes, and slack jaw. Seems he wasn’t expected. “S-sir! Is something wrong?” Scambling back to his manners, the white guard stallion stood at attention, which was an improvement over Spate’s height although this one still only rose to James’ lower chest.

Between the princesses, the pegasi that flew him here, Spate and the guard there was no telling how many more sizes or colors they came in, something James imagined he’d probably learn sooner or later, “I wouldn’t say wrong, I just wanted to wash my clothes. Is there anything for grass stains here?”

The guard looked strangely at James, to the human it looked to be something along the lines of… apprehensive wonder? Like he wasn’t sure he should be feeling what he was, but he felt it so strongly all the same, “Yes sir,” the guard’s mouth moved independently of his still shocked expression, “please, follow me.” The nameless stallion went frustratingly back down the way James had just come from, making the man just shake his head and sigh, his plan had been just to find a guard, James was grateful that he wasn’t under arrest for escaping quarantine or anything else unneighborly like that.

Sucking in air James had to mentally slap himself, he really shouldn’t expect so little of these little ponies, they’d been nothing except accommodating, he doubted the likelihood of such a warm reception for the unusual on Earth. With humbled thoughts they wound up backtracking most of James’ choices, even passing by previously absent ponies he wished had been there earlier to save the two of them time. There were more expressive reactions to his being there, and there were those who either didn’t notice or didn’t care, the sum total told James he needed to prepare himself for a lot of stares and plenty of attention, he just needed to hope they kept the tradition of letting him have his space. Guards for direction and Spate as company was plenty enough for now, front and center wasn’t really his thing, even if he did this to himself from boredom.

Stares only do so much, and when you’re not caring they don’t do much of anything. James looked back at them, their sizes mostly consistent around his lead, who speaking of seemed to have a lot in common with the other guards, with their own gold armor and matching coats. The uniformity was disquietly ubiquitous among them all until James remembered they had magic, and magic was nearly guaranteed to have part in this. After the cult-vibe scare, things got back to boring even after they made a turn that didn’t directly countermand James’ poor castle navigation, “I knew I should’ve gone this way, how much further is it?”

“Not much longer now,” the stallion answered without missing a step, “Your room is quite close to this wing’s hamper room.” He looked back and up to James during a straightaway, “it’s crazy how one wrong turn can get you so lost isn’t it? You almost had it.”

“Yeah, insane.” James dryly responded with a smile the little horse returned unsurely, “I didn’t expect to find it on my own anyway though, went straight for help.” Shrugging to himself he went on, “Have to say a map would have really helped, it all looks the same when you’re lost.”

Looking ahead again and ears going a little haywire for whatever reason the wingless guard nodded, “We can get you a map sir, I think there may have been one on your nightstand though, was there not?”

James blanked for a second or two, trying to remember anything map-esque in the room, granted he didn’t look around much so he probably overlooked it, “I don’t know,” was slowly given, “I wasn’t paying attention, sorry.”

A mid-stride wave of his hoof dismissed the apology, “It’s okay, I understand. No harm done and I get to stretch my legs some, let me tell you guard duty is not glamorous as the posters.”

Successfully holding back a snort at the idea of these guys guarding anything in any sort of real capacity James instead offered an olive branch, “I’m sure your boss will understand, I’m high up there on priorities if my room is anything to go off of.”

One weird pony shrug later and they came to a stop, “Hope so, they probably won’t notice though. Anyway, here’s the laundry room, typically it’s one of the servant’s quarters for extended duty but they’ve been relocated for the time being.” He lifted a hoof to push in the door to find empty cots along the walls with rather large cabinets beside each of them, the room was well maintained and abandoned with care.

Stepping inside, James turned back to the stallion who watched avidly, “We’re here, but I just see a lot of beds. I need my clothes cleaned, remember?”

Breaking free of whatever held him, the still unnamed guard sheepishly took the lead again, “Sorry, they’re right this way towards the back.” They both went down the wide center aisle, the room illuminated by the same sourceless light that was in James’ bathroom which had turned on upon their entrance. The beds were uniquely patterned, each wardrobe and bed had an insignia not impossible to imagine as those James had seen stamped on each pony's flank, so many questions still…

But there was order he had to ask those questions in, James felt, and since he was a little offput by the stallion’s behavior, James decided to disengage whatever awkwardness he’d started to feel, “So do you have wings too? Everyone I’ve met so far has had a set.”

Pushing past another set of doors a head was shaken, “No I do not, I’m an earth pony, no wings or horn, but we’re sure as tartarus strong and I’ve found that’s more than enough to meet my needs.” He rose to his hind legs to open a cutout square in the wall, pulling a door on its hinge to reveal an empty tube, just a solid, slate grey tube. “You can just throw your things in their, we’ll have a maid bring your clothes back before you wake up.”

A strange string of thoughts had occured in the back of James’ mind while the stallion spoke though, and made the stranded human suddenly aware of the fact that he was now an alien, one that was getting help with his laundry from a soldier-pony as if it were the most normal thing ever. This brought back an acute sense of sickening surrealism, “This all feels really… really fucking weird. I think I’m going to be sick.” James threw his clothes into the strange machine and turned around, barely not running back out to the hall so he could lean against a wall to catch his breath.

James had sunk down to the ground, face on his knees with his ears ringing and head pounding, ignorant of the very alarmed guard he’d left behind to gallop after him, “Do you need something... sir?” The quadruped was surprised they hadn’t exchanged names yet, but kept to the task at hoof, “I have water if you need it.” He reached behind to his armor and pulled a metal flask from between his armor plates to hold out for James to take.

James did the opposite though, instead focusing on deep breaths and almost recoiled away as constrained laughs coughed from him, “No, I-I’m fine, relax it’s all okay.” Trying to stand but only tipping over James held his towel in place and pushed back up to stand with his other hand, “I just got a little excited, nothing to worry about.” His back against the wall, James dusted off his faithful towel and coat before looking to the incredibly worried guard, “See? All better, just need some sleep.”

In the dead silence of the hall, the equine truly and audibly gulped before turning away, eyes set steadfastly ahead “Yeah… back to bed.” Heading from where they came to take a different turn the pony clearly wanted to say something but either stopped himself or couldn’t find the words, it was a coin toss for what it was but what the two of them had was a quiet, uncomfortable walk back to his room.

James had to remind himself not to care, so what if they thought he was crazy? What’s the worse they’d do? Kill him? Well, maybe, but also maybe not, and if they did so what? He’d seen the impossible several times in the past two days, who’s to say they wouldn’t send him somewhere else even more cutesy at this point? Who was to say anything about anything anymore? He needed sleep and to be alone. He shouldn’t have left Spate behind.

Comments

[ClosetBrony]

Hi, I'm from the Diplomatic Liaison Office. Like I said over there; Good overall and I like the premise. I usually avoid the "dark" tag but I'm guessing the "comedy" means it's within the context of the world's history and/or those that came before. I look forward to reading the next chapter and seeing where the story goes.

[DE_K]

9266158
Don’t you worry, I applied at the offices for a reason

[A Drunk Soviet]

Darn, I really wish there was more of this, I can't believe I haven't seen this hidden gem sooner!

[TheKingIsDead]

Hmm, I love how realistic his reactions is portrayed. None of that instantly accepts it bs when all it takes is like one chapter and they're all over it.

I must congratulate you, good sir and/or madam. Other than some minor spelling errors this is quite superb.

On another, slightly darker note, the road I see before James might lead him into some depressive thoughts. I was curious if this was found to deal anything with suicide or similar?

[DE_K]

10038974
More on the way this week
10039411
I want to emphasize realism as best I can here. It's an entire world with its own people and I want us to see it together. There's a lot to living. To address your darker note, I find it interesting how a take on realistic reactions for a Human in an HiE naturally leads to the conclusion of suicidal impulses, but for the sake of storytelling all I can say is the topic will be broached at some point. To what end and in what capacity will have to be discovered on its own terms

[TheKingIsDead]

10046354
I think its because being ripped from everything you own and care about is a very traumatic event. Especially when there is no other humans around, and the only support one can get is from a completely different species.

[DE_K]

10046386
This is true, and is a large part in why it probably isn't dealt with in such a full capacity in most fics, and also people may just want to get to the highlights. It takes a certain amount of balancing to make it something worth reading while knowing how to avoid being stuck in the depressive sludge so you can keep things moving in a linear, storyteller sense. Something I hope to do in a believable manner