Day ??: New Life Adjustments?
“That the guy?”
“Yep.”
Officer Costanza threw a file on the table and leaned against it, gesturing with his head. “Gone for three days, then poof, shows up outta nowhere, naked as the day he was born. The officers asked for a recent photo of the guy, but everything from before looks like the guy in the picture,” Costanza emphasized this by hammering the photos on the table with the tips of his index and middle-finger, “and nothing like what he looks like now.”
I picked up the picture and furrowed my brow as I looked at the man sitting in the interrogation room staring very intently at his hands. “This isn’t the same guy.”
“It is.” He held up his hand before I could interject, “No, it is. His coworker came in the other day and confirmed it. Even that guy couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Somehow, in the three days he was gone, that dude went from this to… that. If whatever he did out there took him three days to turn this average, pasty-looking, slightly overweight guy and make him look like that… hell, I’d take a crack at it too! I mean… look at him!”
And I did. The mugshot showed him sporting a healthy beard, but now that he was clean shaven, he looked like he could be a model on the front page of some boutique magazine or something. He resembled one of those Olypian statues. Not only was his body nearly perfect, but he had an almost clear and unbroken tan, as if he had spent the past month outdoors without any clothes on. The man looked like an athlete in peak physical condition. Getting that type of body in three days? And growing hair that long with a full beard?
Impossible.
“Are you sure it’s him?”
“Again. Two witnesses, and,” he flipped opened the file on the table, “now a DNA test. It’s definitely him.”
I nodded solemnly. Then I furrowed my brow. “He waited here for the test confirmation?”
“I offered for him to go home, but he just said it didn’t matter. Found it convenient though, as most of the time with these guys we have to keep tabs on them. So he stayed here,” the officer scratched his head. “Didn’t seem to be bothered with it. Plus… well, when he was here he was completely out of it. His mind would wander and he’d just sit and stare for hours on end at the wall mumbling to himself. And when he wasn’t doing that, he’d just… amble around the cell. Saw him walk right into the wall, then he’d apologize to the wall and continue aimlessly walking around again. Damn weird.”
“Drugs?”
“That’s the thing. I thought so, but if it was, it's no drug I’ve seen. Not even strong hallucinogens like shrooms would do that. I asked, and he says no, even though I assured him he wouldn’t get in trouble for it. Besides that, we made him give us a sample and he tested negative for most of the common ones, but can’t rule drugs out completely because of his behavior. Who knows? Maybe some new drug that hasn’t hit the streets yet. Or he might’ve eaten something in the forest he wasn’t supposed to.” Constanza smirked and chuckled lightly. “Wouldn’t put it past him to eat a poisonous mushroom. Some of those things stay in your system for months or years. Then again, could be just him being him. Nice guy, but he’s got a lot of air between his ears.”
I nodded and silently laughed at the comment. But I needed to close the case so I got back to the point of why I was there. “Done the homework and the DNA test basically seals it. It is him, which is more unbelievable.”
The officer rubbed the back of his head and stretched. “The company he works for wanted you to verify? How’d you get a DNA sample?”
I smirked. “I asked nicely.”
“Really? That worked. But how did you get a DNA sample to test against?”
“Like I said, I asked nicely. Said I needed to grab some of his DNA, and he was more than happy to give me the key to his apartment. I was going to try and get a search warrant, but he made that a non-issue. Found some hair on a brush and near the toilet, even looked for… ‘residue’ in paper tissue, but luckily there was enough hair follicles that I didn’t need to go that far.”
This time Costanza laughed at my expense.
“Took the samples to a nearby lab. The company paid for it, so it was a rush job. It’s amazing how quick companies like these can get results when they put the money behind it. The lab turned it around within thirty-six hours. And here are the results! A perfect match.”
“Wish we had that type of funding,” the officer sighed sadly.
I nodded. My job as a Private Investigator was something I did to keep the lights on at home. It wasn’t as if I was lacking in the money department, but I found it was easier to do a little odd job or two to forget things at home. After my wife had passed away, home wasn’t the same. She always said, even after retirement, that the detective in me just wouldn’t rest. And she was right. As always. I missed her too much, and home reminded me of what cancer had taken.
Having worked with the Federal government, I had all the resources I would ever need to stay healthy, but it wasn’t enough to save her. To block out the gaping hole in my life, I signed up with the son of a former partner who had a detective firm. He humored me, but my methods were outdated and ‘salty’, as he said. So I was usually assigned the easier cases, leaving the more active ones to the others. Still, this contract was way too short. Even if I was good, I was never supposed to be this good. The whole fiasco was resolved in a week. Not even.
But a job’s a job. With the company’s lawyer still on his way over to get some papers signed, I wanted to kill some time before the boring shit started.
“He admitted to the crime?”
“Admitted, said he was sorry, said he’d do the time if needed. Not that he will. Apparently he gave the money away to a bunch of charities, all of whom had essentially told the world about the generous donations from the company.”
I knew what he was talking about. The sudden generous donations were the talk of the country, and even the world. The charities that the donations were made to were all singing their praises after it was revealed that the money was being used to fund a number of beneficial projects. Somehow somebody gave away who the “anonymous donor” was in terms of the company, perhaps a clever strategic play, but I knew that this man had done it. He had informed the charities and by doing so, it would make it impossible for the company to take those funds back.
But the unforeseen consequence was that it had made a huge impact on the lives of who-knows how many people. Each of the charities were gloating on every television, radio, and online service that they could tell. In this way, the marketing for the organization was through the roof and news was spreading like wildfire. Despite the financial setback in the short term, plenty of other companies and organizations were already looking to use the associated publicity for future projects. Many organizations and firms were just looking to be associated with such a generous and benevolent group, and inadvertently this gentleman had helped with that.
Lucky didn’t begin to describe it. If it had not gone that way, things would be much worse.
I shifted my gaze to look at the officer, but he was focused on the man. John. That was his name. He was strange, and kept looking at his fingers with deep concentration, wiggling them and sighing every few minutes. Then he stared up at the ceiling, laughed, and shook his head at some inside joke he told himself.
“What’s he doing?”
The officer sighed and pulled out the folding chair, popped it open, and sat down heavily. “I have no idea. It’s like… it’s like he hasn’t seen his hands before. He keeps ogling at them and keeps laughing at something or other. Same with his legs and feet. And toes. It’s damn weird.”
“Drugs?”
The officer looked at me with a feigned sign of annoyance. I had already asked that.
“I see. Anything else?”
“Oh, nothing. Unless you think that sleep talking is a thing.”
“Sleep talking?”
“Yeah, yeah. He mutters in his sleep. Says things. Sometimes shouts. Laughs. He’s bananas. Harmless, but absolutely bananas. Usually people with that kind of body have a lot of ego and shit, but not him. He’s… well, he’s just a great guy. He’s so harmless… It’s just a sense I get from him. That he’d rather suffer great amounts than hurt anyone else.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I know it sounds silly, but… he’s got a lot of heart. He listens to you, and just likes to be talked to. Doesn’t judge, or at least it seems like that. A lot of us just like chatting with him. And he really genuinely listens. And he’s a funny guy. Not, ‘ha-ha I’m a comedian funny’, but more like ‘oops, I’m me’ type of funny. Hard to explain. Clumsy as hell though.”
“Sounds like you got a soft spot for him.”
The officer shrugged. “I do. So what? As said, he’s a great guy. I would like to get him out of here, but it’s not like he wants to go anywhere. I’ve even offered to drop him off, but he refused. Bunch of times. And it’s really weird. It’s like he’s just figuring out how to be human again. He keeps stumbling and sometimes he tries to use his arms when he walks.”
“What?”
“Yeah! Like… an ape, you know? How they sometimes use their arms? It’s like he’s used to walking on his hands or something. Like an animal.”
That was something. “You said he talked in his sleep?”
“Yeah. All the time. Says the strangest of things.”
“Oh? Like what? Anything interesting?”
This time the officer shrugged. “It’s really strange. Like, something to do with ponies, or something. He says it. ‘You ponies are weird.’ Or something like that.”
The smile vanished from my face. “Ponies?”
“Yeah. And… pink ears… or something. And rainbows. Loves the sunset though. Keeps talking on and on about the twilight, but apart from that, it’s just sleep ramblings. The only thing I can make out is one name.”
“Rainbows? And ponies?” I asked. “Strange guy. Did you catch the name he mentioned?”
The cop tilted his head. “Celestia.”
My blood froze. And it must’ve shown on my face because the officer noticed right away.
“Rings a bell or something?”
I had to lean over the table and hold myself up. “Yeah. Something.”
The walkie-talkie blared on and mumbled something. I caught some of it, but I wasn’t really paying attention. Officer Costanza nodded, then looked over to me. “Seems like the lawyer and the company rep are here. You wanna hang around? Grab a coffee?”
“Sure. I wouldn’t mind.”
“That’s what the deal is.”
John looked up at me and nodded. No, not John. He wanted us to call him “Forest” now. To be fair, the new name suited him better. He looked back down at the documents.
“Seems… I dunno… easy? Better than being locked up I guess.”
“To be fair, you won’t be locked up for this. As per the agreement if you sign here and as explained. If you don’t sign it, then you would be charged and then you would be ‘locked up’ eventually if you are found guilty, which you will be.” The company lawyer smiled at me and I appreciated his candidness. “So I would recommend you sign.”
Raj put a hand on the lawyer’s shoulder. “Are you sure you don’t want your own lawyer to look it over? It’s fair, I can vouch for that, but if…”
John laughed at that. “Nah. Based on what you said, this is more than I deserve. I trust you, Raj. But if you think I need a lawyer, I can try and get one, but I can’t afford a fancy one. I can’t even afford rent now, since I’ll be out of work.”
“Well, not so fast. We’ll come to that.” He leaned on the table and looked at me. “What’ll you do now?”
John shrugged. “Not sure. I’m kinda in limbo at the moment. I’ve had… a strange time. I guess I’ll probably travel. Who knows? I have something in mind, but I don’t know how to go about it, so I’ll probably start from there.”
“Travel, huh? Where to?”
“I don’t know yet. Like I said, I do have something in mind, but I’ll have to see.” Leaning forward, John took the pen and signed. He signed it as ‘John’, then made a face. The lawyer took the paper and pointed at the next page. John signed again. After that, he stopped and stared at his hand and made another face before signing the next page.
“Raj?”
I looked at him. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for coming. I really mean it. I’ve been… quite an asshole to you. I never got to apologize properly for what I did.”
“You apologized enough. Water under the bridge.”
“No. I can’t accept that so easily.” He fidgeted as the company’s lawyer was looking over the papers. “If there’s anything you need from me, I’ll try to make it up to you. You were the closest thing to a friend I had in this world…”
He stopped himself, turned his head to the side slightly, then shook it, as if catching himself out on saying something that he wasn’t supposed to. I knew it because I’ve seen my kids do that all the time. Parent’s intuition. Being caught in a lie without realizing it until after. I would have ignored it, but the evidence of something particularly strange happening was evident in John’s appearance. Nobody can change that much in three days no matter how hard your workout was.
“I’m sure that’s not true. You must have other friends.”
He looked me in the eyes without blinking. Those piercing green eyes. Something about seemed off. Weren’t his eyes brown? That was one of the distinct features of his since we used his photo to file a police report. I remember writing that his eyes were definitely brown. Was changing their color something normal? Or perhaps he was wearing contacts. But I never knew that he wore glasses in the first place.
“Not in this world.” His eyes pierced me with genuine emotion. I don’t know what happened, but those eyes were not the eyes of the asshat that kicked me three days before. I found it hard not to forgive him. “I’m just so sorry for that. I… I didn’t know what came over me to do that to you.”
This wasn’t the first time he’d apologized. Was he sorry because of what he did? Was he sorry because he was scared that I would sue him or charge him with assault? Though I believed those aspects to be true, there was something more genuine about the way he carried himself now. It just felt that his remorse was more than mere words. Whatever happened to him in those woods, he came out a gem of a human being. I just hoped that these changes would stay.
“You don’t have to worry, John… Forest. I’m not going to press charges,” I said in an attempt to put the thought to the test. I wasn’t going to charge him regardless. It wasn’t worth it.
“No. I don’t mind if you do. In fact, I’d understand if you did. All I wanted to say was that I’m so very sorry for doing what I did. I hurt you and I can’t take it back. I would if I could, but I understand now that you were trying in your own way to watch out for me. You really are a great person, Raj. You are just… you’re pretty cool, y’know.”
What was his game? How can someone change so much in so little time? What had happened to him out there in the woods? Maybe a near-death experience threw him over the edge and he was lucky to be alive. The police report said that he showed up naked, and the mugshots of him sporting that thick bushy beard had caught me complete by surprise. When I got the call, I couldn’t believe who it was, and I wanted to ignore him on the phone itself, but something in his voice told me that I just had to come to the station and see him. So… I went.
And I didn’t recognize him at first.
But it was him. His voice was the same. That could not be changed. At least, I don’t think it could be.
“Everything is done.” The lawyer packed the papers together and slipped it into an envelope before putting it into his briefcase. “You’re free to go after this. Where are you going now? Not in the future, but right now.”
He sat there for a long moment and smiled. “I guess home.”
“Good. Go home, once I hand this over to the company then you’ll receive the first payment.”
John did a double-take. “What? Payment? What for?”
The lawyer sighed. “You didn’t read? It says that once you sign you will be given a stipend for your silence.”
John looked at me. “What? Why?”
“Because you don’t have an income, right? And the company has agreed to give you a small stipend for your silence about the theft. They are treating it as a… publicity stunt and they need you to not talk about it. I advised them that this was the best way. If they jailed you, you could just tell everyone that you stole it. That would lead to a lot of bad PR. In this way, they buy your silence, you get something to help you survive, and… yeah.”
John nodded. “That makes sense. Wow, Raj. Thanks for that.”
“Hey, no problem. If you need… anything… then, give me a call. Okay?”
I had no idea why I said that. Why did I offer it considering what he did to me?
He nodded and looked up at me and smiled. “Thanks, Raj. I appreciate the thought, but this is far more than enough. I wouldn’t want to trouble you.”
“Nah. No trouble.”
And strangely enough, I meant it.
“Hiya boss,” Zoe said as I walked in.
“Anything for me?” I asked her, as I shut the door behind me.
“Nothing new. Oh, the company said that they’d pay you for the time you’ve done for this, but they want a discount ‘cause they said the case got solved pretty quickly.”
“Yeah. Just bill them for half. Not much we can do since the case got resolved on its own. Just be thankful they’ll cover some of the expenses.” I paused and took a step back. “Hey, can you do me a favor? You were cataloging some of the old files, right? Particularly files that I worked on before joining this firm?”
“Yeah? You mean those unsolved cases or whatever, right? The ones that you wanted on record in case new evidence or whatever, right?”
As much as I liked Zoe, her lack of vocabulary always grated on my ears. Computer smart, tech savvy, fit as a fiddle with a body that would… but just lacked words.
“Yep. On that new inner-net? Or whatever?”
Zoe smiled. “You mean intranet? Yeah, Zeek the Geek has been doing something like that. He’s pretty good for an intern. I scanned everything using this automatic scanner system in the backroom, then he archived the files. Then I put them in the boxes and filed them in the file room. He calls it the ‘library’. We’ve reduced so much used floorspace, I never realized we had such a big office with all the boxes littering the halls.”
“So, if I wanted to look up old cases, how would I go about that?”
“Oh? You gotta go to the local address thing, and then just search. Here,” she took out a piece of paper and handed it over to me, “just go to this address in your browser and it should be obvious. Why?”
“Just… just someone mentioned something to me and I kinda recalled something like it a while ago. Call it an old habit from an old detective.”
At that, Zoe sighed. “You’re not that old, Fitz. Anyway, don’t go off and get in trouble or anything. Mr Braxton says that he’s not going to come and save you if you mess up again.”
I grimaced at that. “Yeah. Thanks for reminding me, Zoe.”
“That’s what I do! Have a good night, Fitz. I’m about to pack up and head home. Hot date!”
“Yeah? Who’s the lucky guy?”
Zoe made a face.
“Sorry. Sorry. I forgot. I’m old. Forgive me. Who’s the lucky girl?”
“She's a mutual friend’s friend. Blind date.” Zoe put her backpack on her back and fiddled with one of the millions of earrings she wore on her left ear. Small, and numerous, each one fading into each other into a multitude of hues. A rainbow.
“Understood. Ride safely. I’m still not sure you should ride that bicycle from here, especially this late at night.”
“Aw, c’mon. It’s good for nature and the body!”
“Maybe for you. I’m way too old for that.”
“Uh-huh.” She looked back at me holding the paper, then signed again. “You’re not that old, Fitz. You not going home?”
“I will. Later.”
“Sure thing, boss,” she replied unconvinced. “I’ll make coffee for you in the morning.”
And with that, I headed towards my office down at the end of the hall. I threw my jacket on the small sofa I had in the corner and pulled up my chair next to the laptop that lay on my desk. The thing was ancient, and didn’t work without it being plugged in all the time. Zeek the IT intern wanted to upgrade it, but I just told him to focus on other things. I liked my old laptop, so what if it wasn’t portable. I had my phone for that.
Walking over to the corner, I pulled open a small cabinet flap to reveal the cupboard behind it where my small collection of whiskeys, bourbons, and other hard liquors were kept. Gifts from clients showing their gratitude. What do people get old guys facing their upper sixties? Apparently booze. Not that I was one to complain. I laid the drawer down like a table and pulled the only glass forward, choosing the strongest drink I had and pulling the top off with a slight struggle. Swishing the brown concoction around in my glass, I inhaled the odor before taking a long sip letting the warmth glide over my tongue. Again, I savored the scent from within my mouth before letting my insides heat up as I swallowed. Strong, rough, and completely relieving. The way I liked it.
Filling my glass again, I flopped onto my chair and stared at the screen for a moment. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” I muttered out loud to myself, before swiveling the chair to face the computer proper.
Opening up the browser, I entered the series of numbers and hit return. At one the local page that our IT intern was designing loaded up. I clicked on search and sighed. I took a long drink from my glass and smacked my lips. I entered the first keyword.
Ponies.
Then I entered the next one.
Rainbow.
At the top was the only file I knew that would be relevant. Even after all these years, I never thought that I would ever have to look this case up ever again. So, moving the mouse I moved over the link and clicked on it. Immediately the file opened and the scanned copies of the files filled my screen and I sat there and smiled to myself. At the top, one name stood out clear as day. The one name that came up that brought a sad melancholic smile to my face.
Brian Fisher.
“It seems, Mr. Fisher, that even after all these years I still can’t get rid of you now, can I?”
My home sucked. I hated it. The walls were bare, and there was nothing there that made home feel like home. It all felt so barren and empty.
Raj was standing in the sorry excuse of a kitchen with a sad pitiful look on his face while staring at my bedroom-studio. I lived alone! It wasn’t as if I needed more space than what I had. And what made it worse was that I didn’t entertain anyone. Nobody asked him to come anyway.
“So, this is your new phone,” the lawyer said. “Now, according to the NDA…”
I looked up.
“The Non-Disclosure Agreement? The thing you signed yesterday?”
I nodded.
“According to the NDA, the company has agreed to pay you this small stipend each month for the next five years if you promise never to open your mouth about you stealing this money and giving it away to the charities..”
“Yeah, I know. Raj explained it. I still don’t get why they are paying me for my silence this way?”
The lawyer closed his briefcase after, latching it shut with expert precision. “It was decided that the impact on the company’s public image and positive press impact that your little… outburst, had on the company was more positive than letting you sit in jail for this and telling something that might tarnish the good standing the company has earned. In actuality, the amount you stole was enough to qualify for certain tax advantages. If the press found out about that, well, it would probably work against us in the long run.”
I made a face, but shrugged. “Well, I can’t say I’m unhappy with that.”
“The funds will be directly deposited into your account.”
I nodded. “So, what now?”
“That,” the lawyer said walking to the door of my sad excuse of a home, “is none of my business. But if I were you, I’d think about the future and plan something. Find a purpose.”
“Find a purpose?”
“Find a purpose. Just don’t get into any more trouble.”
I think I made a face. I didn’t want to be back here. Looking down at my phone, I unlocked the screen and started setting it up. I got to the password page when a knock on the door made me look up. Raj was letting an elderly dude walk in. He looked around then made his way over to where I was sitting while Raj stared out the only window I had shaking his head.
Part of me wanted to tell him to go away, but another part of me was happy he was here. It made the crushing loneliness fade a little bit.
The newcomer sat himself on the chair opposite me and he stared at me.
“I don’t swing that way, mister,” I stated, annoyed that he was just staring and looking at me without saying anything.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” he replied without missing a beat. He held out his hand. “Name’s Anthony. Anthony Fitzgerald, though most people just call me Fitz.”
“Pleasure. I’m John.” I shook it.
“Heard from the others you’ve been insisting they call you ‘Forest’. Why?”
I shrugged. “It grew on me while I was lost in the forest. What can I say? I loved it there.”
He smiled. “Did you?”
I hit the sign in button and waited for the phone to load in. It took me a while to remember my password, but luckily my mind was easy to predict and it didn’t take me long to figure it out. Perhaps the one thing I was good at was creating passwords that would make a sailor blush. I watched as no emails from anyone came in – apart from the usual horde of spam that usually makes it into the inbox. That made me sad, but who did I expect to get anything from anyway?
Something landed on the table in front of me, and I moved the phone out of the way to look at it.
I stopped what I was doing and looked up at the guy sitting opposite me.
“It’s not fake, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Slowly, I reached for it and picked it up and stared. I stared long and hard at it and my gut welled up in a feeling of jubilation and fear. And just when I was starting to think that I had gone insane the past few days, just when I thought that the time that I had spent in Equestria was nothing more than a figment of my imagination, just when I started to doubt everything that I’ve done up until that moment…
“Here.”
Fitz offered me a tissue and I took it and dabbed my eyes. I hadn’t realized they were watering.
“So. How is he?”
“Who?”
“Brian.”
I snapped my head up to look at the detective. If I wanted to play it cool and try to get out of it, then I failed right then and there. He knew it too and smiled at me. I didn’t need to keep him a secret in this world, did I? I couldn’t recall. I couldn’t recall anything and the more I tried hard to think about it, the more my brain hurt.
I shook the thought out. “He’s okay, I guess? Before I left, he took a turn for the worse. The doctors there… he hasn’t got long left.”
Raj turned when I said that and the detective leaned back in his seat with a smirk.
“You didn’t deny it.”
“Why should I? Is there merit in denying it? You showed me a picture of Rainbow, and it is her, even if she’s a little filly in this photo. I can’t pretend. I don’t want to pretend.”
The detective smiled. “You don’t know how happy I am to hear that.”
“How did you get this?” I asked, looking at the photo again. I’d seen some pretty decent photoshopped images in the past, but if these were fakes they were on another level. Still, I only knew it was real because of what had happened. If he had shown these to me before I had left, I would have called him an idiot – or worse.
“How’d I get it? It’s a copy of an original I managed to get from the strangest case I’ve ever worked on.” Fitz sighed. “Over ten years since then.”
I sat in silence waiting for him to continue.
“Brian disappeared without a trace. His disappearance was… uneventful. Local law enforcement and others declared it suicide after… after what happened to him. He jumped off a bridge, or whatever. Nobody cared. Nobody, except perhaps for me.”
“So then what did happen?” ?”
“To Brian? He was found guilty for a crime he did not commit. Well, that’s not entirely true. He was convicted for a crime that wasn’t even a crime, but was rather an unfortunate circumstance that… that went very badly for a few unlucky people. Mass hysteria, panic, and looters taking advantage of the situation. Some people got hurt and… well… killed.”
I blinked.
“Accidents happen. Sad, but we move on. But what I did to Brian… well, it was wrong. I was doing my job, and I ignored everything and just… well, damn. I don’t rightly know how to explain myself.”
“People were killed?” I asked.
“Oh yes. Not because of Brian though, but because of people being people. People just… well, they sometimes just do stupid things. But I didn’t see it that way and I was responsible for him getting his conviction. That basically led him to be even more ostracized. Although the official record was hushed up and redacted, enough was released that ensured that his life would never get better. It didn’t, and I was worried that he’d take his own life. I guess his daughter found a way to take him to her home.”
“No. He went home,” I said and smiled sadly. “He got to be with his daughter and they’ve been very happy together.”
The detective nodded slowly. “I’m happy for him. I blame myself for what happened, but if he’s found peace in that world then I don’t feel as bad. Maybe what I did helped strengthen his resolve to find a way to her. And whatever the connection between this world,” he patted the picture, “and theirs was, it wasn’t like we could understand it since, well, since magic was involved.”
At this point, Raj was standing next to me looking at the photo with a very confused expression on his face, but he did not say anything.
“Yeah. That’s the problem with magic,” I said with a lighthearted laugh.
“I never thought I’d see the day when I would meet someone who went there and back. I always did suspect that Brian somehow made it over. For confirming that, I thank you.”
Fitz leaned back and folded his arms. Raj reached over and picked up the picture of a filly Rainbow Dash being held by a much younger Brian in some garden on Earth. It looked like a large park. They were both smiling so happily, with Rainbow slightly looking up at Brian’s face in the way only a daughter could. I could tell that they were happy together.
“Now, I was hoping you could tell me how to get there.”
I looked up. “What?”
“How do I get there. To Equestria.”
“You want to go to Equestria?” This time it was my turn to lean back in my seat. “What for?”
“Curiosity. Another world. Another place. Who wouldn’t want to go?”
“I didn’t.” That was true. At the time when it happened, I didn’t want to. “And, to be honest, I don’t know how I went there in the first place.”
The detective studied my face for a moment, then sighed. “I believe you.”
“It was a one way ticket. It’s not like I had any choice in the matter. I was sent on my way there and then on my way back without any say. In fact, I am not too sure how I came back. But now that I am here, I don’t know what to do. But hey, you live with the choices you make. Right?”
The detective looked at me and shook his head. “Would you have told me if you knew?”
“Honestly? No. I don’t think I would. Not because I don’t want you to go, but because it isn’t my secret to tell. It’s not like I understand all this stuff. Plus, I don’t know you. For all I know you could be a serial killer, or something.” I shrugged. “Honesty is the best policy.”
Applejack’s green eyes flashed before me, staring at me with that smile, then the vision was gone and I felt sad. Sad about what she said or did or would do when she woke up. How would she feel that now I was gone and there was no way for her to reach me. The guilt welled up in my gut, but I pushed it aside. There was nothing I could do about it.
“At least you’re honest.”
He gestured for Raj to hand over the photo he was ogling at, then put it in his breast pocket. He then pulled out something else and slid it across the table to me. It was a card with the ponies on it and, in big golden letters, B-A.
I looked at it for a long moment.
“This your business card? What’s BA? British Airways?”
“Bronies Anonymous. It’s like Alcoholics Anonymous, but for people with a severe addiction to that show. They meet once every couple weeks or so to just chat, confide, and talk about things. It’s led by an old friend of mine who’s a psychiatrist and a… what is the word? Something-sister.”
“Do I qualify? I’ve… I’ve never really seen the show.”
Fitz shrugged. “You went there. I assume that you must’ve had some connection to the show.”
“Prior to going?” I thought about it. “No. Not at all. I…”
I stopped myself and thought about that. Why had I gone over? What made me so special that warranted that?
“Interesting.” The detective looked at me for a long moment, then shrugged. “Maybe it really is just coincidence.”
“Maybe.”
“But try going to this thing anyway. It might be good for you. It’s just a suggestion. You might feel welcome there.”
I picked up the card again, and flipped it over.
Bronies Anonymous is a group dedicated to helping Bronies and Pegasisters come together and share their love for the fandom in a healthy and wholesome environment.
“Brony?” I whispered to myself. Was I one?
I looked up at the detective who was looking down at me.
“I don’t know if I qualify to go for this,” I repeated, not wanting to corner myself into going to something I didn’t want to.
“It’s just a suggestion. Look, if something like this existed back when Brian was around, maybe he wouldn’t have been so depressed. Maybe he could’ve gotten the help he needed. Maybe things would have turned out differently. Who knows?” He stood up and stretched. “Other than that, I don’t know how else to help you. Plus, I kinda owe you.”
“Owe me?”
“Yeah. You’ve given me closure on something that I’ve wanted an answer to after all these years. Thanks for that. I’m glad that Brian is doing okay.”
I smiled at that despite myself. “You’re welcome.”
“But you’re here now. And you’re going to have to live your life knowing that you may never go back there. And as awkward as it sounds, making friends at that group might be good for you. Like-minded people? Maybe?”
I looked down at the brochure. I wasn’t so sure. I wasn’t a fan of the show.
“As I said, an old friend of mine leads it. She was also on that case with me and Brian. So, she’ll know pretty much everything I’ve told you. In fact, she was the one that was convinced of the existence of Equestria quicker than me. Even now, after all these years, I have to second-guess myself and ask if it really did happen.”
“Did what happen?”
“Oh. I didn’t tell you? I talked to Rainbow and the Princess.”
“No, you left that part out. You talked to the Princess?”
“Yep.” He looked at me. “The cop at the Station said that he heard you say her name. Celestia.”
“You talked to Princess Celestia?”
The detective’s eyes sparkled. He was getting a real big kick out of this. “I did. And you didn’t drop her honorific.”
I made a face. I couldn’t tell him about the time she almost blew my lung out and killed me, that would’ve just made me talk about an event I’d rather forget. I listened and he went on to tell me about how the princess had come to our world with Rainbow for some reason. He had broken into Brian’s home to get some clues when the event happened, and there was some confusion about him talking to her through a door. Seriously, I didn’t know why he was telling me that, but I did not want him to think me rude, so I sat quietly. Eventually he stopped talking and looked mighty happy with himself.
“You only got half of that, didn’t you?”
“What? Me? No! I listened.”
“No you didn’t, because for the last ten minutes I was talking about spiders crawling into your mouth to lay eggs and you just nodded at me without any change. I even mentioned that there was one on your face, but you just nodded there like a dumbass.”
“He did,” Raj said and patted my head. “You need to do something about that. You’ve been doing it quite often.”
I grinned nervously. “My mind tends to wander.”
“Look, it doesn’t matter anyway. I just wanted to confirm what I came to confirm. You’ve clarified that for me, so thanks. Go to this meeting, it might help you. Who knows, maybe you might meet someone else who came back from Equestria and we don’t know it.”
I nodded. “Sure.”
But I did not believe it. And one more thing. Did Tutela know about Princess Celestia coming to this world after Brian went back?
And why couldn’t I remember anything that happened after Pinkie and before waking up on Earth.
“John, can you explain what just happened? What’s cartoon ponies got to do with all this? And why were you talking like you actually went there?”
I looked at him and grinned sheepishly. “It’s… complicated?”
Showered, and dressed, I locked the door to my apartment and headed down the outside staircase, walking past the kitchen’s backdoor. One of the cooks was out there smoking. He looked at me, narrowed his eyes, and sighed.
“Busy night?” I asked.
He nearly stumbled. “Uh… no. Not really.”
“Well, have a good one.”
“Yeah… you too.” The cook stared at me for a long while, I could feel his eyes on the back of my head as I rounded the corner and onto the main street.
I don’t blame him. For my entire time there, I treated them like a fucking asshole. I was rude, callous, and complained about everything for no other reason than to just be an asshole. Still, I didn’t like that version of me, and I knew that Pinkie would hate it if I hurt other people by being impolite. So, I decided to be nicer. Even if she would never know, it made me feel better.
Hailing a cab, I hopped in and gave him the address I had seen on the website earlier that day. The meeting wouldn’t start for another hour, but I didn’t want to be late. Luckily the place wasn’t too far away. I would have loved to have taken my car, but that was now a burnt out shell in some dumpyard, or whatever. Or was it even my car?
Something rang a bell in my head. Something about rules or consequences. But I couldn’t recall and the thought disappeared before I could really delve into it.
The journey did not take long and I paid the cabby before heading into the community center. I opened the doors and looked at the board. In the small, bottom-most part, there was a small sign that read ‘BA Meet up in Room 411 – let’s go Bronies!’
I made a face at the last part. What the hell was a Brony? Was I a Brony?
Walking up the stairs, I eventually found room 411 and knocked on the door.
No answer.
It was very loud, I could hear voices and laughter from within. So I opened the door to see what was in there. I gasped and stared in a mixture of shock and disbelief. There were more than a few people inside. I had thought it was going to be a small gathering, but there were quite a number of people, young and old, men and women. All were chatting away and everyone seemed to be carrying some sort of pony memorabilia. Some wore clothing, some had costumes. A couple had backpacks that made them look like they wore pegasi wings. Some had dyed their hair in the same loud colors as the ponies of Equestria. Still, something felt off.
Very off. But I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Making my way to the back, I sat down on a chair and looked around. Towards the far side of the room was a long table with food and drinks. Most of the people had congregated there, and were chatting and laughing.
“Hi!”
I jumped and turned to look at the one who spoke. She was a cute, petite, blonde female with her hair half dyed in pink. And her voice was almost exactly the same as Pinkie’s. That was what had shocked me more than anything. And I was tempted to ask her if she was Pinkie, but I knew better than to do that.
“Um… hello,” I replied.
“I’ve never seen you around before. This your first time?”
“Yeah.” I smiled awkwardly.
She looked me up and down and smiled before moving to sit next to me. “My name’s Patricia. You can call me Tisha. Or you can call me Pinkie, since she’s my fave’ character. But don’t call me that here out loud with the hosts. They don’t like it when we call ourselves by our ponysonas.”
She said the last part in a loud whisper, which made a few of the others around us giggle.
“Ponysona?”
“You know, pony-persona! You know. You kinda roleplay as your own character. Who’s your favorite?”
“I… I don’t…”
“Oh! Are you a creator? Is your favorite pony an OC?”
“OC?”
“Original Character? Duh!” She frowned at me when I didn’t respond as expected. “Wow, are you sure you belong here? You don’t seem to.”
“I’m just… I recently started watching the shows…” l smiled stupidly. “Someone recommended I come. So, here I am.”
She looked at me and smiled. “Well, welcome. If you love pony, then you’re in the right place. I mean, most of us here like the G4 version the best, it’s like our OG version, but it’s been years and other ‘gens have been around, but we still have a large number of people who come here for the Mane Six. But this is different from the conventions and stuff.”
“G4? Conventions? OG? Mane–what?” I was so confused.
If she heard me, she ignored my question.
“Many people take loving ponies a little too far and it has… negatively affected their lives. You know. Like,” she looked around and pointed to a guy reading something on his phone, “that guy who got a divorce because his wife didn’t turn him on anymore.”
“Um…”
“Too much pony plot.”
“Pony… plot?”
“And that girl over there,” she pointed to another, “got extensive surgery to make it look like she has a horn, spending thousands of dollars on it until her family intervened.”
I looked and saw the ‘horn’ on her head, which looked more like a really big bump, like someone had thonked her on the head with a mallet and the cartoon bump was forming.
“And…”
I listened, but not really listened. The only thought that was floating through my mind was how much like Pinkie she sounded, so I just listened. Even if it wasn’t her, it strangely comforted me and made me feel that she really was there, talking to me.
She saw me and tilted her head in almost the same way Pinkie did. That made me smile a little bit more and I saw her cheeks light up a little.
A lady walked up to a slightly raised stage at that moment and clapped her hands. Everyone stopped talking and walked to chairs and sat down. Prying my eyes away from Tisha, I watched as the newcomer stood at a small podium for a moment before she started talking.
“Hi everyone. I’m happy to see quite a lot of new faces this time. For those who are new, my name is Ingrid Tremblay. I would like to welcome you to this meeting of Bronies Anonymous. To give a brief introduction about who we are and what we do here, we are super-fans of the My Little Pony franchise, and our aim is to help people who feel that their love for this show is somehow interfering with their lives and help them achieve a sense of balance. We want to be able to celebrate our love for the show without it being detrimental to our lives. This is a safe space to talk about yourself, your love for the show, and to find like-minded individuals. By sharing, our hope is that you can find a place for yourself here.” She smiled. “We want to help everyone come to terms with their love for the fandom in a healthy and safe way. With that out of the way, I would like to welcome the newcomers here. I see a few new faces that I’ve never seen before. Welcome. If this is your first time, please try to introduce yourself. You don’t need to if you don’t want to, you can pass and tell us about yourself next time. We’re not here to judge, but to listen, share ideas, and accept one another and our different ways of loving the same thing.”
She had not said it outright, but it was strongly implied. She knew as well as I did that there were people here that thought the pony show was more than just that. More than just a mere show. I watched as one by one people stood up and talked about themselves and why they were there.
A large man with a huge beard stood up. “Hi, I’m Frank. I’ve been coming to this for about two years now. I fell in love with the fandom since it first came out way back from G1. I’ve been continuously watching it, but love our gals from G4 the best!”
At that, there was a good number who cheered.
“I’m here more to help others come to terms with accepting this love, and can advise you if you find it hard to… cope.” He scratched his head. “Yeah, that’s about it.”
The woman next to him stood up and waved. “And I’m his wife, Clara. I make pony blankets, and I also help out with the food. If you are allergic to anything, please come and see me just in case. Everything should be clearly marked, but do try the hayfries. It’s a new recipe.”
“Last one was gross, Clara!” someone shouted from the back.
“Thank you, Louis. I appreciate that,” she shouted back sarcastically, but also good naturedly.
That brought a light wave of laughter from everyone.
“Hi, my name is Samuel. I’m from Estonia. I love pony and watch it. I came to find friends who like pony also and be friends,” the man said and sat down.
Clara gave him a cupcake and patted his back.
One by one, people began to introduce themselves. Most were very short and quick, like Samuel’s introduction. Although, I think Samuel looked more like a homeless guy who came to get a warm meal, it was still nice.
Then it made its way around to my side of the room, and Tisha stood up. “Hi, my name is Patricia, but you can call me Tisha. I love the ponies, all of them! But I came here today to meet new friends and maybe even meet my own special somepony! I hope to meet him one day. And that today’s the day!”
That brought a few chuckles from a bunch of others.
“Good luck, Tisha!” someone shouted and she waved at the shouter and grinned.
She sat down and looked at me.
I blinked.
She gestured, and I looked at everyone’s eyes on me.
“Don’t pass,” she half-whispered, half-shouted. “Just stand up and introduce yourself.”
I blinked and automatically stood up. For some reason, being put on the spot like that, made me jerk awake. Perhaps a bad habit? Perhaps a nervous tick? I wondered briefly why I had stood up before my mind went back to the question.
I blinked again. “My… my name is… is…”
"You need a name!”
"Sure, why not."
"I know! How about Forest?"
My eyes watered as I heard her voice in my mind. Pinkie’s voice. Pinkie’s real voice. That sweet and wonderful voice that I took for granted at the time. The one who named me. Gave me a new name. Gave me a new life. I never understood the impact that one gesture had on me, and I would never be able to thank her properly for it. The one who gave me a new name. That loved me as a true friend to the very bitter end. She stayed with me. She was there. And she let me go. And I would never know if she made it home safely, nor would I ever know how sad she really was.
I looked down at the ground. “My name… my name… is…”
"Why in tarnation would you want to call him Forest?"
"Because he came from the Everfree Forest, silly. It's just until he remembers his real name. So? What do you think?"
"Yeah. Yeah, that's great. Thank you, Pinkie."
"Forest is a good name I must admit, to this namesake you must commit. Now we must look for someplace to lay your head, one with a nice, warm, cozy bed."
“Forest!” I shouted, trying to drown out the ghosts of my past. Zecora’s rhyme fading off into the distant memory, and Applejack’s laughter at Pinkie’s suggestion. I forced the voices away. It hurt too much to think of them. “My name’s Forest. And I don’t know why I’m here.”
I felt a tear roll off my nose and hit the carpet. I looked up and wiped it with the back of my hand. It wasn’t that I didn’t know why I was there at the meeting. That I kinda knew. I was there to explore and just see things and feel things out, but Tisha’s voice seemed to awaken the part of my brain that wanted to push those memories down. What I mean was that I didn’t know what I was doing back on Earth when I left everything behind. And I hated that it hurt so damn much. That was why I didn’t want to leave the police station. For some stupid reason I felt at peace there because I had to worry about other things, but now that I was home and alone with those memories, I just felt so lost. It was unbearable.
“Sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” I said more to myself and sat down.
Everyone stared and a few nodded.
“Don’t worry, man. Happens to us all,” someone shouted. “That’s what we’re here for. To help. Right, guys?”
There was a murmur of acknowledgement.
“Whether to free yourself from the fandom, or to come to terms with it, or just to celebrate with fellow fans, that’s what this group is for.”
I looked at the speaker. It was Frank, and he was a monster of a man. I smiled at him and nodded in thanks.
The meeting went on. Many people stood and introduced themselves, many of whom seemed to be regulars. Some joked while others just said their name and which pony they liked, but everyone was sharing something.
“My name is Simon. I’m a pony and I want to go back home to Equestria,” the man who spoke stated. “I’m here because… well, I have nowhere else to go.”
That got my attention and turned to stare at him.
“He’s just joking,” Tisha whispered to me from the side of her mouth. “We grew up together. Years ago he got into a bad car accident and was in a coma for a few months. When he suddenly woke up he apparently thought he had taken over the body of a pony in Equestria and spent time there. He believes Equestria is real.”
I furrowed my brow, then looked to Tisha. “And do you believe that?”
“What?” The question seemed to shock her. “No! Of course not! Like, I love the ponies, but I know the difference between what’s real and what’s not.” She touched my chest and ran her fingers along my body. “And I think that maybe I would like to get to know you a little better. What do you say? Wanna spend the night with your very own Pinkie Pie?”
I looked at her and I felt a strange mix of horniness and anger. I mean, she was pretty hot and admittedly, I would not have minded that. But the thought of having sex with Pinkie just did not turn me on. That innocent mare, who was amazing in her own right, and was so pure, that I couldn’t find myself even thinking of it. But this wasn’t Pinkie. She was a human who wanted to live out a fantasy.
I opened my mouth to say something when I heard a noise that made me turn. Simon was openly weeping into his hands. Someone came and patted him on the back, but I noticed that a lot of people just ignored him. Perhaps they have all heard this story before? Still, I was intrigued.
About an hour or so later everyone had said their piece and our first activity was coloring. I kinda smirked at the silliness of it; grown adults were expected to color sheets of paper? Were we in preschool now? But we split into groups and sat around small tables that had coloring paraphernalia and soon the room flooded with various bits of conversation. It was not something I expected, but I decided to go with the flow. I turned to Tisha, but she had joined some others and were sitting at another table and were laughing and chatting with each other.
Not wanting to disturb them, I found an empty table and sat down. Tisha now sitting at the same table that seemed to be utterly surrounded by young guys who were all trying their darndest to get close to her. She was definitely the cutest girl in the room.
She saw me looking and waved, blushing slightly when she did so. I waved stupidly back, which led several of her admirers giving me the stink eye. I grinned nervously and looked back down at the sheet of paper in front of me. On it was a drawing of Twilight. My heart did a somersault as I recognized her face and smile. It was a crude drawing, but her likeness reminded me of her lips, her scent, and her… voice? I stopped and tried to hear it in my head, like how I heard Pinkie’s and Applejack’s. It wasn’t there. I could picture her mouth movie, her lips succulent and beckoning, and I could hear the words she said, but I could not hear her voice.
After a moment, I reached over for a purple crayon. I started coloring wondering what was wrong with me and why I couldn’t hear Twilight in my mind when I saw something strange. I stopped and looked at the drawing closer and cocked my head to the side as I stared at what I was looking at. Then I furrowed my brow.
“What’s wrong?”
I looked up. It was that Simon guy. He was wiping his glasses with a tissue and he put them on, peering at me.
“Nothing. Just… this drawing of Twilight…”
“Yes?”
“Well, it’s… wrong?”
Simon looked at it. “No. It’s not. That’s Twilight alright. Princess of Friendship.”
“But she’s got wings.”
“Uh… yeah. She’s an alicorn.”
“She is?”
The man raised an eyebrow. “Of course she’s an alicorn. She’s the Princess of Friendship. You’re coming to a BA meeting and you don’t even know that? She became an alicorn after season three, I think. I forget.”
I furrowed my brow. Twilight was most assuredly not an alicorn. I looked down at the smiling mare then back up at him. “Oh? I didn’t know that.”
A lot of questions flooded my head as I sat there. What if Twilight was an alicorn? What did that make what I saw? Was I… wrong?
“It’s pretty hard to miss,” Simon continued. “She is the star of the show.”
“Is she?” I traced her face for a moment, then looked at the mane. The clearly demarcated stripes were there and I reached for the lighter pink and violet colored crayons to shade them in.
I felt eyes on me, and I looked up to see Simon staring at me with a strange expression on his face. “Yes. She is. The show follows her.”
“Yes,” I said, not wanting to antagonize the guy. “It’s just that I’m not used to it.”
“Used to what?” Simon said shortly.
“Seeing Twilight like this,” I said stupidly, not really paying attention as I thought about it. My mind was distracted.
What did it mean? Was the past month for me a fevered dream? No. Couldn’t be. I touched my chest. The second scar was there. The scar that Princess Celestia gave to me when she blew a hole in my chest. I remembered the searing pain. The fading in and out of consciousness. But if what this guy was saying is true, then maybe everything was…
I slammed my head on the table as hard as I could.
Someone screamed in surprise, but the thought was so repulsive to me that my body acted on its own to reject the very idea. How dare I even hint that my friends and life there were fake. That the Equestria I saw was not real. Not only did it not explain the perfectly healed scar, but it betrayed the memories and the emotions I felt.
Then did that mean that I went to a different Equestria? Could there be more than one?
The thought of that started to make me feel dizzy, or maybe it was me slamming my head against the table. But this was something that I didn't even know how to begin to process and I sat there with my head on the table staring at the sheet of paper in front from point blank. I slowly raised myself up, carefully staring at the paper in front of me trying to align my thoughts. It was only then that I realized I was shaking. At least, my hand was. Was I… scared? Concussed?
What was wrong with me? I sat up and put the crayon down and flexed my hands, and remembered how I had missed them, but now I missed my hooves. What the hell was up with me? I remembered how hard it was for me to adapt using hooves to pick up things.
Suddenly a table filled my thoughts. Applejack was there. Another pony too. Big guy. Red. He laughed. At me. Why? Why was he laughing? Pancakes. I couldn’t cut them. I said something. They all burst out laughing.
"I'm really bad at this."
And I snorted out a laugh.
I looked up to see Simon looking at me. “What’s wrong with you? Why’d you slam your head on the table like that? You scared the shit out of me.”
I snorted out another laugh.
“Something I said funny?”
“No, no. I just remembered something,” I said and chuckled slightly. “Sorry. I was… coloring and my arm slipped.”
“You… slipped?” He asked and stared at me.
Big Mac! That was Applejack’s brother’s name. How had I forgotten that?
“Yeah. Slipped.”
Again, I held the crayon and traced over Twilight’s face and smiled. I wondered what she would’ve said to me if I told her that she was an alicorn here. I bet she would’ve gotten a big kick out of it.
“So, what’s your favorite season?” Simon asked.
I looked up at him. “Um… I don’t know. The first one?”
This time he furrowed his brow. “Really? You don’t like the later ones?”
I sat there and looked at him. “Not really. I mean, I haven’t seen the show.”
At this, Simon stopped and put his crayon down. I noted that he was coloring some dragon that looked like a fat Spike, but in red. And he looked really goofy. The action made me stop coloring and I looked up at him. He was shorter than me, perhaps by about half a foot, but somehow I could feel him looking down on me as he seemed to size me up.
“There’s something about you, but I can’t put my finger on it,” he said and stroked his chin.
I wasn’t really paying attention to him, but I hummed in the affirmative.
“Anyway, did you like the episode where Twilight decides to steal the crown for herself away from Celestia and Luna?” he asked.
“Twilight would never do that,” I said immediately. “She loves the princesses.”
“Right…”
I looked up to see Simon peering at me from up above his glasses.
“I mean, that would be totally out of character, right?” I said, not sure what he was looking at me.
“Yeah. Sure. It’s a cartoon, right?”
“Right…” I said slowly. Quickly, I focused back on the coloring and was about to start on her body when Simon asked me another question.
“Who is your favorite?”
“Favorite? Pony?” I shrugged. “I don’t have one. I like them all.”
“All?”
“Yep.”
He nodded. “Even Nightmare Moon?”
“Who?” I asked.
“Nightmare Moon.” He tilted his head. “The antagonist in the very first episode?”
“Oh? Oh yeah.” I nodded. I remembered that name being mentioned, but I hadn’t really paid it any attention. It happened years ago. I remember it being mentioned a few times, but I never really registered it. It happened long ago. “I forgot.”
“You forgot?” Simon shook his head. He took another coloring sheet out and frowned and put it back.
I looked at it. “Oh. Trixie.”
“He's gone, Forest.”
“Who's gone, Trixie?”
“Su- Sun Beam. I-”
“It's okay, Trixie.”
“But... but I promised...”
I stopped and looked at the drawing. She was standing on her rear two legs, her forehooves above her head as if she was casting a spell with them. She was smiling. And that stupid hat on her head.
“I don’t like her. She’s very irritating.”
“She’s not that bad. Just misunderstood,” I replied. “She made up for it.”
Simon shrugged. “Did she? I dunno. After she became Starlight’s student and her redemption arc, things just got weird. She was a better villain, I think.”
I looked at him. “Trixie’s no villain. Yeah, she kinda hurt–”
I stopped myself. I was about to tell him that she hurt Brian. What was wrong with me?
“I-I-I mean… she… um…” I didn’t know what to say, so I quickly decided to ignore the villain part. She did hurt Brian, but it was an accident. She never meant to harm him. “Who is Starlight?”
Simon furrowed his brow, but shrugged it off. “Starlight is Starlight Glimmer.”
“I… don’t know who that is.”
“Well Trixie becomes Starlight’s student later on.”
I nodded. “Okay. Still don’t know who that is. After she left, I didn’t see her again.”
The words left my mouth faster than I could stop them. I paused, my eyes wide as saucers as I fully comprehended what I said. Like a robot, I took the crayon and started to color harder to make sure that I gave the impression it was just me being distracted. I kept on coloring, feeling Simon’s eyes on my skull. I couldn’t look up, because if I did my face would not be able to lie about it. Did Applejack’s element rub off on me? What the fuck was wrong with me?
“And I can’t believe that Pinkie marries Cheese.”
I snapped up and blinked. “What?”
He smirked. “Pinkie Pie marries Cheese Sandwich. They had a child together.”
“What?” I said again. For some reason, the way he said it made my blood rage.
“Pinkie. Fucked. Cheese.”
He said it quietly, barely above a whisper, but he might as well just shouted it in my face. And he knew it.
I inhaled a long, deep breath. Pinkie did not do that. I calmed myself. I had to. I’ve already made a complete asshole of myself. “As much as she loves food, I find that hard to believe.”
“What? No, you idiot. Cheese Sandwich is the name of her husband.” He furrowed his brow. “You actually think she had sex with a cheese sandwich?”
“No! Of course not!” I wanted to punch myself in the face. “Um… I’m thirsty, I’m going to get a drink.”
“Sarsaparilla?” He asked.
I looked at him. “Um, no thanks. I don’t want to drink alcohol.”
“Alcohol?” He replied. “Dude, what? There’s no alcohol in sarsaparilla. It’s a root extract.”
I looked at Simon who was just staring at me. “Do you want me to get you one?”
He nodded slowly. “Yes. Please.”
Walking over to the table where the food was, a couple who were chatting about something or rather politely moved out of my way. I put a few things on the plate. Some ‘hayfries’, which looked pretty genuine, some chips, and a couple cookies. I put them on a plate before walking to the end and seeing the glasses of refreshments. I read the names of them and at the very end I saw a few paper cups with the aforementioned drink and decided that I’d like to try one as well.
I placed the plate of food on… nothing. I stared at the plate on the floor. Luckily it was a paper plate and luckily the floor was carpeted, but what the hell was wrong with me. I had tried to put the plate on my flank. A force of habit? I had tried to put the plate on my flank like I had done in Equestria when I reached to grab the two glasses. At that moment I seemed to forget that I was walking straight up and that I couldn’t put the plate on me. I dropped down and luckily the chips and fries had not gone far off the plate and I picked it all up and threw them on the plate and stood up.
The couple were just staring at me.
“Uh… whoops? Clumsy me?”
Quickly, I held the plate in one hand, and held one of the drinks and marched over to the table, before heading back and taking the second cup and bringing it to the table. The couple were still staring at me.
“Are you okay?” the girl asked.
“Yes! Ferfectly pine! Er… perfectly fine!” I said perhaps a little too loudly. I walked back to the table and sat down slowly. It was only after that did I notice a good chunk of people just staring at me.
I felt my face explode and grabbed a crayon and started to color. After a few minutes, everyone started chatting again and I heaved a sigh of relief.
“Try it.” I looked up. Simon was sitting, staring at me. “Try the sarsaparilla.”
Humoring him, I took a sip. It was, to put it mildly, gross. I put it down, and shook my head. “Not a fan.”
“And the hayfries?”
Taking one, I put it in my mouth and chewed. The flavor was nice, but it was lacking something. It did not have the right flavor. “It’s different.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s lacking that… wheaty flavor. But it’s not bad.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I dunno. But it’s good.”
“And how do you know what hayfries really taste like?” Simon asked.
My head snapped up. “I mean… that’s what I imagined them… I mean, I imagine them to taste more like… that…”
“Wheaty?”
“Y-yes?”
“Oddly specific, don’t you think?” Simon said, leaning forward, narrowing his eyes. “Oddly. Specific.”
I just laughed nervously, and took a sip from the sarsaparilla. But I made a face and put it down. It was too gross. Definitely did not like it. Maybe it needed more sugar in it. I picked up the crayon and started to color again, finishing Trixie’s picture, keeping my face down and making sure to fill the lines.
After a moment, I felt eyes on me and looked up to see Simon staring at me.
“What are you… playing at?”
“Um… what?” I said. The sound of the crayon rattled on the table. That surprised me and I looked down at it.
“You heard me.”
“I heard you, but I don’t know what you mean,” I said, pushing the crayon off the sheet of paper.
“I am asking what you are playing at.”
I stared at him in confusion. What the hell was this dude talking about?
“Your mannerisms are… you… did you know you were coloring with your mouth?”
I stared at him.
“Yes! Yes I did. I was… trying to see what it was like… for ponies… to do that… yeah…”
I looked to my left. A guy was staring at me and he had the same expression as Simon.
I looked around and found Tisha also staring at me. Her face was of open shock.
“I asked, what are you playing at?” Simon leaned back. “Most of us here are honestly trying to find an answer in our lives. Some of us… some of us don’t know what to do. Do you know how much it hurts?” He stood up and pointed at me. “What are you?”
“What?” I squeaked.
“What are you? You are not acting. I know you’re not.” He stood up and walked over to me slowly. “How are you here?”
I blinked. “What? I-I don’t know what you mean.”
“The fuck you don’t!” Simon leaned in so his face was literally in mine and I shrunk away from him. “You waltz in here and pretend to know next to nothing? You don’t even know a single shit fact about the show and you don’t think it’s weird that a Brony like you knows nothing?”
Silence. I looked around and saw everyone looking at us.
“Brony?”
At that, Simon slammed the table. I jumped out of reflex. “Aw, come on! That one’s not even hard! Brother and pony. Bro and pony. Bro-ny. Brony! Come on!”
He was right, that was pretty obvious.
“Answer me!” Simon shouted.
The shout shook me. Looking at Simon I felt uneasy with so many eyes staring at me.
“I’m sorry, I think it was a bad idea for me to come here.”
“Oh no you don’t! You answer me!”
I stood up slowly and backed off. As I turned to walk away, someone grabbed my arm. “Please. I just want to go home.”
I stopped and turned. I looked into Simon’s eyes and for a moment, just a brief moment, I saw it. I saw that he was genuinely scared. And hopeful. I froze. I didn’t know what to do.
“Why would you come here… unless… unless you felt that you had nowhere else to go. Unless you had no other place to turn to…” Simon looked at me and something in his head clicked. “Not unless… unless… unless… you didn’t know… anything… but you know… you… you know… Twilight… you…”
He looked at the Twilight I colored, then to me, then back down again. His eyes searching his mind. I could see him thinking.
Shit.
He knew. Or at least I could see him braining it out. I could see the pieces falling into place on his face and he started to understand, but was conflicted. It was clear that the questions were coming to the forefront, and I had a bad feeling. I needed to get out of there. It felt that it would get worse if I stayed. I tried to pull myself free, but Simon’s grip was surprisingly strong.
With one quick jerk, I freed myself from him and quickly made my way towards the exit and fumbled at the door. The bar to push it open didn’t release properly. I pressed it again and it opened this time. I went through.
“Stop!” Something in Simon’s voice made me stop. It seemed to reach out to me for help, but Simon himself hadn’t moved from his spot next to the table. The sound of his voice made me stop. It sounded so… broken. “B-before you go… just tell me…” He choked back a sob. “Is Luna alright?”
The question startled me. I looked at him. He looked at me, imploring. I could see it in his eyes. They spoke volumes. They stared into me, and I found myself conflicted. Their hope was evident, but I could not lie to them, but neither could I allow them that glimmer of hope for the truth to grow either. That would have been the most cruel thing for me to do. To tell them that Equestria was real, and that I had been there, but that I couldn’t go back and neither could they. That I lived a life with their ponies, and that I fell in love with them, and that I had to leave them.
And that they could never go. And I didn’t have the heart to break theirs.
But this man. This one question. It was strange. Why Luna? Out of all the ponies, why her? And why was it so specific? It was as if he needed the answer. He needed to know. And I felt that I had to give it to him.
I stood up straight, turned to look him in the eyes.
And I nodded once.
With that, I left. I ran down the hall, out the door, and down the street, turning into an alley and hugging myself behind some trash bins just in case anyone had decided to follow.
What had I done?
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11176340
It's great. I remember reading it and Semper Pi in a lounge at my community college. Just one of those weirdly distinct memories.
And two updates in as many months? You're spoiling us.
Lastly, found a typo.
11176359
There are quite a few typos. But I lost my editors. :( Oh well. I'll have to go through this and correct it at some point.
11176664
I could do the editing for you, if you'd like.
11176669
Sure! I'll share you the files if you like.
11176825
Sure, PM me a link to them and I'll work on them.
11177835
Well, without spoiling it:
1) It's not permanent
2) It's to save his life (magic absorption)
3) It's a 'hacked' device (modified from original purpose)
You're not the first person to point it out though, but I hope that you do continue it and not stop here. I can't get into it much because then it would essentially give away the story, and you need to come along for the ride otherwise it will feel flat.
11176944
Look! I credited you!
11180327
Aye, thanks! Lemme know if you need editing on the future chapters.
I enjoyed this immensely. My heart hurts watching Forest fumble with the little things. I've dealt with far more than my fair share of body dysphoria and... yeah, it hits home. I can only hope that he can find his way home one day.