Rarity watched the tall alien as he and Luna had a seemingly one-sided conversation. His understanding of Equestrian was still limited, but at least his clothes fit well. She looked at his hooves. No, they weren’t called “hooves,” were they? No matter, as days ago she'd taken his measurements and relayed them to Ponyville’s one and only cobbler. It should prove to be quite the challenge.
Now Fluttershy’s brother was speaking up. Despite the lack of resemblance, he seemed to share her ability to communicate with non-Equestrians, as he helped in translating. But what could the alien, the “hue-mun,” do to help Fluttershy? He looked about as lost as everypony.
Her thoughts drifted back to the evening before, when she was alone waiting for word. It had been the longest night of her life. Not to know if her dearest friend would survive until morning and if she did, in what condition would she be? She’d paced the floors for almost an hour until finally, the same doctor had made another appearance. She approached him and put on her best pleading face.
“Oh doctor, can’t I please see her?”
He considered. “As long as you don’t disturb her, I suppose it will be alright. Where did your other friends go?”
“One went to get her family, while the others are trying to find out as much as they can from that alien.”
The doctor scowled. “I’m not so sure having that alien in town is a good idea. Who knows the trouble it can cause, just being here.”
Now it was Rarity’s turn to consider. “I don’t choose to be in his company, but I’ve met him, doctor, and despite what everypony thinks he seems to be very friendly.”
“Didn’t it…excuse me, he have something to do with your friend’s injuries?”
“We still don’t know, but I don’t believe he did. He simply does not seem the type.”
The doctor snorted but otherwise kept his opinion to himself. “Alright. You can go in and see her now, but again, please don’t try to wake her.”
“Thank you, doctor!” He turned and led the way as she followed.
He stopped at Fluttershy’s door. “Now brace yourself. This will be disturbing.”
She took a deep breath. “I’m ready.” He nodded, and then opened the door.
It was all she could do not to gasp in horror as she got her first sight of her friend. She slowly walked forward and stopped at the side of the bed. Fluttershy lay on her stomach, wrapped in bandages from head to hoof. Some of them would soon need to be changed, as blood had seeped through. Both her wings were spread out in casts and in traction, while her eyes were sunken and dark. Her breathing was labored behind her mask, though it was steady. But worst of all, her head had been shaved. All that lovely mane, which she’d secretly envied, was gone. Gone.
“Are you going to be okay?” asked the doctor.
Rarity could only nod.
“I’ll leave you two for now. Don’t stay too long.” He quietly left.
Rarity closed her eyes and began to weep. It just wasn’t fair. With all the adventures they’d had, and all the dangers they’d faced together, it was inevitable somepony would eventually get hurt, but why Fluttershy? She literally would not hurt an insect! Rarity took another deep breath to calm herself, and tried to force the anger away, but failed. Then resolve hardened within her. Whomever did this would regret the day they were born, she’d see to it!
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
She sat still and quiet, just watching and listening to her friend breathe. Finally, she leaned forward and planted a delicate kiss on her cheek.
“Get well, dear.” As she turned away she heard a faint sound.
“Rar...Rarity?”
She spun around. “Fluttershy?!”
“Are…are you…?” she whispered.
“Shh, dearest. Don’t try to talk,” said Rarity.
“I’m…sorry. Sorry…to see me…like…this.”
Rarity’s heart shattered. “Don’t you dare apologize! It’s not your fault!”
“Sorry…” She fell back under. Rarity broke into fresh tears and ran from the room.
That is how Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Spike and the alien found her, bitterly sobbing alone in the waiting room. It was some time before they could get any word from her, so they stopped trying while Pinkie quietly held her and let her cry herself to sleep.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
That had all been many hours before. Rarity brought herself back to the present as she watched the alien and the Princess interact. This didn’t appear to be something in which she could help, so she thought hard to find something in which she could. There had to be a task she could do to help poor Fluttershy! For the first time in her life, she found herself regretting she had not studied magic further. Her magic was well suited to her profession, but most other forms had eluded her, and she’d been content. But if a pony as well versed as Twilight couldn’t come up with a solution magically, Rarity doubted she could, even if she’d been better prepared. Still, she had to try.
She cast about inside herself, accessing her talents. Her sense of fashion was of no use here. She could manipulate many objects at once, but what good could that do? Finally, she settled on her gem finding spell. She could sense and locate various gems from great distances, and that was powerful in and of itself. But how could it help?
Then it came to her.
“Twilight, you spoke of two other aliens that must have hurt Fluttershy, correct?”
“Yes, Char-Elles told me about them.”
“It seems to me we need to find them before it’s too late.” She took a deep breath. “I know this may be a lot to ask of you, but can you help me modify my gem-finding spell to instead find them?”
Twilight took a moment, then her eyes brightened. “That’s a great idea, Rarity! But we have to know what we’re scanning for. Let me think.” Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated. Her eyes flew open. “I’ve got it! We know where they were last; there has to be some residue of their presence in Char-Elles’ room! We have to hurry.” She quickly excused herself to Luna and told her Rarity’s idea, while the rest looked on. Luna turned to Rarity.
“Such a spell may permanently alter your own, Rarity Belle. Are you willing to make such a sacrifice?”
“I am. Anything to help my friend.”
Luna nodded. “So be it. You have my blessing, and may you succeed in your endeavor.” Rarity bowed, and then Twilight ported them both away.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
They reappeared in the alien’s room. Twilight cast a sweeping arc of her magic that encompassed the entire space. Nothing. She tried again, making the spell stronger. Just as she was about to start over again, she caught the tiniest wisp of something out of the ordinary. But it was not enough. She turned to Rarity in frustration.
“I found something, but it’s faint.”
“Can we use it?”
“I’m not sure. It appears they didn’t interact with anything in here. The portion I detected may be from them making contact with the floor, but it would be better if they’d touched something in here. It doesn’t look like they did.”
“Let’s work with what we have, Twilight.”
They both ran to the library where they began searching the books for a way to modify Rarity’s spell.
“I know the type of spell we need, so we need a tome on…got it! Here we are: Spells and Spell Modification.” She opened it to the glossary and read down.
“This is it.” She turned to the chapter and began reading as Rarity paced nervously.
“Okay,” said Twilight as she turned away from the book and looked at Rarity. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to reverse this, but this technique should work! Hold still.” She closed her eyes and concentrated again, as magic flowed from herself to Rarity. After a few moments, Twilight stopped.
“Try your spell now.”
Rarity, in turn, closed her eyes and swept out with her magic. The familiar feeling of finding precious stones was gone, replaced by a very, very faint…presence. She opened her eyes.
“I think I can feel what you found in the room, Twilight, but like you said it’s very faint. Too faint…”
Then Twilight knocked herself on the head. “I’m an idiot! We know what they touched! Or rather who they touched, and he’s back in the hospital! Let’s go!” She ported them both away.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
When they returned to the hospital, Luna was speaking with the ponies while the alien was backed up in a corner, keeping his hands upon his own stomach, as far from Luna as he could get.
That is odd, Rarity thought to herself. Is he hungry?
Luna turned to Twilight.
“Did you find that which you sought, Twilight Sparkle?”
“Yes, but we need more residue. I believe we can find it on Char-Elles, if I can examine him.”
Luna looked at him. “I am loathe to enter his dreams again without his consent, and he is adamant about my keeping my distance. Yet he will not explain why. He trusts you more than I, perhaps your method will be met with greater success.”
Rarity and the others watched as Twilight drew near and quietly spoke to the alien. He nodded, and then bent down on one knee as she directly applied her magic to him for the first time. Her beam visibly scanned his neck, but then she passed it below his neck to the rest of his body, looking for residue. The alien's eyes widened as he saw where the beam was going. He started to get to his feet, but it was too late.
“What’s that?” she asked, as her beam crossed over his stomach. “Rarity, I think you’d better…” she began, before an arc of what looked like lightning shot from the alien’s stomach and enveloped them both. Twilight and the alien screamed, and she fell to her knees.
“Twilight Sparkle!” cried Luna, as she tried to pull her away with her own magic. The lightning shot from Twilight and encompassed Luna, as she cried out as well. Then there was a flash, and all three were gone.
6428593
Twilight was reacting to Applejack's statement that she hadn't seen anything like it before, and also her intense fear. I'm also thinking when the ponies first encountered Gryphons, Minotaurs, etc the reaction was most likely fear, esp concerning Gryphons as they are a predator species. As it's still a children's show, the only conflicts of which we know for sure are the relatively mild ones between the pony tribes, as well as the war during Discord's reign. We don't know if the ponies were ever at war with any other race.
Consider the human reaction. There are millions of species on this planet, but as far as we know only one sapient one. If a creature knocked on your door in the middle of the night, and it was NOT human, the reaction would be the same as Applejack's. Also, I tried to imply that Applejack's intentions went beyond simply capturing the creature, as fear of the unknown can sometimes involve violent reactions. This is why I emphasised Twilight's response.
Finally, the pony tribes are not at war with other races in the present ( so far as we know ) because they DO live in a world with other sapient species, who not only live in their own countries but interact freely with the ponies. In this I think the ponies have an advantage over humans.
In any case, I thank you for giving my story your time, and hope the subsequent chapters are a better read for you.
6483855
I'm sorry you won't be continuing, but I appreciate your reading as far as you did. Maybe next time!
6525867
Not necessarily. As given in this example, the planet Venus has lower gravity than Earth, but its atmospheric pressure is ninety times greater. Also, in this example, it is shown that "a planet's gravity doesn't determine the maximum atmospheric pressure." So the theory Equestria has lower gravity than Earth with a higher air pressure is sound, at least if one accepts the two examples given.
In any case, I thank you for giving both your time and your insights. I really do appreciate both!
6525812
They're not terrified of him, they're at worst weirded out by him. I mentioned this before, but I've tried to portray the ponies' reactions to an alien similar to the way we humans would, or close to it. The initial reaction would indeed be fear.
I dislike HiE stories where the Human is immediately accepted. That simply wouldn't happen, to my way of thinking. Finally, the ponies say "hue-mun" because they're trying to replicate Charles' word for himself, as it's not known in their language.
i.imgur.com/e9Wjhv0.gif
(I mean this in a good way. It's funny, because the reason she's so banged up is because she all but destroyed an insectoid monster.)
6526982
And this falls into the "much bigger problems" issue. That quote about maximum air pressure is referring to other drastic environmental features, such as atmospheric composition or temperature. A planet could have low gravity and an atmosphere with equal or higher pressure than Earth's, but it would either be made of a much denser gas (like carbon dioxide in the case of Venus) or be too cold for the gasses to build up the energy needed to escape the planet's gravity—or to support human life.
Theoretically, a planet could have as little as half the gravity of Earth and still realistically maintain an Earth-like atmosphere. However, in order for that atmosphere to have a similar or greater density than Earth's, it would have to be made of something two times or more dense than nitrogen and oxygen, which would be stuff like silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, and even chlorine: not something you'd want to breathe. Alternatively, it could be cold enough to rob the atoms and molecules of half or more their energy, thus increasing their relative density. This would occur at around -128 Celsius (-200 Fahrenheit) average planetary surface temperature, at which point a typical human will die of exposure in a matter of a few minutes, at best.
You could argue magic, but that would defeat the purpose of the low gravity/high atmospheric pressure allowing flight argument.
6526999
I would hardly call the CMC screaming at the top of their lungs "weirded out." Anyway, from what I've seen of humans interacting with things they don't understand (such as what they perceive to be aliens, for example), they react mostly with alarm. That is, they are obviously excited in a negative way, but they don't lose it like they would with fear. It's a situation where their instincts can't decide what to do, so they end up doing nothing (think "deer in the headlights").
That being said, I agree with you; I despise it when a human ends up in Equestria, and everyone immediately makes friends with them and everything's hunky-dory. A story lacking conflict is a travesty. That being said, there are ways to approach it that make more sense than "everyone immediately fears the human." In What I've Become, the main character is transformed into a hideous monster, justifying the fear. In A Voice Among the Strangers, the main character is first encountered by a group of entertainers who see her more as an exotic creature for their show than a sapient being, which heavily affects her interactions throughout the story. Most of the HiE's in my favorites folder deal with realistic first contacts between humans and ponies.
Also, I'm aware that "hue-mon" is their attempt at human. I just find it funny because "hue hue hue" sounds like villainous laughter.
Hoping there's a payoff where Rarity blows up all of the criminal aliens.