Meta Gamer in Equestria: Odyssey

by reflective vagrant

Chapter 16, Meeting the RRE officer (The Warm Welcome, Part 7)

A solid two days passed by without anything of note. On the last day I was finally downgraded to a normal level calming spell and taken off medical cell lock down. Not that I had much time to use my new found freedom with Starlight getting the paperwork finished and getting me scheduled to get out of there that afternoon.

I was allowed to use the medical wing's showers to clean up before I was released. As my status as a prisoner steadily evolved, I hadn't been granted access to the showers for one reason or another for the whole time. As such, I still kinda stank of the forest.

But with the apologies of the guards and my paperwork in order, finally, I was practically given the royal treatment. I had the entire shower room to myself and I was told to take as long as I needed. I didn't know if it was that I had backlogged shower time, or if it was medical reasons with the recovery process, or if they were just being nice, but the guards made it clear that they wanted me to be at ease as I had my first proper bathing experience in months. One of them even slipped up and called me "sir," almost as if he were my butler.

And let me tell you, if it weren't for the calming spell's constant pull back to reality, I'd have thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

The showers were simple and sturdy, if a little short, but I sat on that floor and let the perfectly heated water come down on my back and scalp.

I hate to admit it, but I think the aquatic attributes of my new form being appeased had just as much to do with the sheer bliss I was experiencing as the normal stuff one would feel with their first shower in months. I found that sitting there and just letting the water sprinkle down on my bald, horn ridged head pushed me past the simple calm that the spell was forcing and into feeling utterly tranquil.

A part of me wanted to say I should be ashamed of enjoying that part too, but the rest of me was stuffing a sock in that part's metaphorical mouth and telling me to just take whatever I can get while I can get it. Even after I was released, I knew I had a long road of getting established in this world and I wasn't going to enjoy bliss like this again for some time.

I just let the water envelop me for what must have been an hour before I even reached for the cloth the guard had set at the edge of the shower.

When I had finally finished and was drying off, I could tell the guards were resisting the urge to crack a smile at the sheer time I took.

"That good was it?" one of them quipped before being kicked by another guard.

They apologized for not letting me have any clothes when I looked for them, saying that the discharge process required I started with nothing, but because I had special needs they made sure I would have clothes ready as soon as I was far enough along.

I had reluctantly given up my towel and just entered the hall with the guards to go to processing as I heard someone scream from a medical room that was just a little ways down the hall.

"I don't care how many favors I owe you! The warden has given her orders and they say you are having a new physical today! Now get your sorry flank in here, Sparkles Berrytwist!" some pony called from an examination room, clearly pissed off about something.

I had turned my head part way through the rant and found the tall pony with the broken horn that had captured me, along with a couple of other guards.

Just as she spotted me in kind, I saw that she had something on the base of her horn, but no armor on. Before I could give an uneasy wave, she turned her head away and quickly entered the room with the guards.

"Sorry about that." One of the guards said to me as he gestured me away. "If we had known were going to take that long we would have adjusted the doctor's schedule a bit more. Don't let it bother you."

"Sparkles," I muttered under my breath, "So that's her name. I was clo-"

---

I was suddenly whisked away from Princess Luna's side as the pinging of my alarm spell started going off in my head. I found myself forcibly being pulled off of my little dream island and back into the waking world.

Just as I got my bearings and realized I was awake in my cave, I heard another ping in my head, this one at a lower pitch. Whatever the intruder was, it entered up in the air then landed onto the floor. That's how I positioned the areas of effect for the two spells at the front of the cave. It meant spending a bit more time and energy, but it also would give me a better clue as to what kind of creature was disturbing me.

"Hello?" I heard a voice call out. Immediately I pressed on my amulet and readied myself.

The voice was kinda raspy and the echos of the cave distorted it some, but I could tell the mannerisms were almost familiar. Like a friend or relative of somepony I knew. "Moss? Are you here? Your friends have been missing you dearly. You didn't make it to the festival and Scraps is very worried abo-"

"Go away!" I yelled at the top of my lungs to the pony around the bend in the cave. My breath had quickened as I rose to my feet. I had to focus to keep the wand in my hand steady. "I don't want any company! I don't need any comfort or pity! If you want to know how I'm doing, ask Princess Luna! Anypony else I see is getting a lightning bolt sent their way!"

A few seconds of silence passed before a pony came around the bend carefully. I had just about finished the perfect, luck assisted shot right as I saw Fluttershy's face in front of me again. It made me jerk away at the last moment, sending the lightning bolt at the hooves of the intruder instead of blasting them square in the barrel like I was about to.

It wasn't an accident. The bit of luck magic I had ensured there was no chance. I knew I was about to land a solid blow and the only way to have a miss against such a vulnerable target after the luck was activated was to do it on purpose. I just couldn't bring myself to hurt Fluttershy again. Even the brief split second my mind made me see her face on another pony that only resembled her at a glance was enough to make me falter. The face that was burned into my mind when I saw her die right in front of me, scared and helpless, and yet still expressing the same kindness I came to know from her.

I failed in my attempts to keep the wand in my hand after that. I watched it fall, unable to look my intruder in the face. After the clattering echos of the wand rang through the cave, I fell to my hands and knees.

"I don't know who you are. Please, just go away."

I heard hoof steps approaching as I just knelt there, shaking. The pony was so close when they stopped that I could have just thrown my hand out an touched them.

"I said I don't know who you are!" I shouted again, my words sputtering out from a firm rage to a mere whimper. "Please, please, just go away."

I could almost visualize the hoof coming to my shoulder to comfort me as my shaking worsened, but no hoof ever came. I waited several seconds before I looked up, but when I finally did the pony was nowhere to be seen.

It took me the better part of an hour to get my cave checked over, alarms reset and back to sleep. Princess Luna was still dream walking and welcomed me back to finish my session with her. No questions were asked about the interruption except for, "Ready?"

---

When I finally got to the outgoing side of processing, I had to give up my amulet for a brief moment, letting them catalog it and return it as my "official translation aid" before we moved on to the rest.

I found myself sitting in a waiting room with Starlight. I was clothed again in my familiar furs, which they were kind enough to give a proper washing. They had returned all my belongings save for magical items such as the scrolls, Moss's spell books and the wand I had with me when I was detained.

From what Starlight was telling me as we waited for my RRE officer, the information my still confiscated possessions held had already aided the war effort in many ways. The spells had aided some of the advanced unicorn troops in saving lives, and the Comprehend Language spell had been better adapted from an amulet to other, less mobile, forms for interrogating the more "aggressive" prisoners. Apparently I wasn't the only humanoid prisoner they had, none of whom could speak Equestrian, though I was the only one carrying a spellbook. While I was innocent, my capture still turned out to be a significant event for their intelligence operations. The fact that the scrolls and spell books were written in Equestrian were still an unexplained enigma for them, but undeniably useful.

"As for your RRE officer," Starlight said, trying to change the subject, "I had a little trouble with it. Every veteran officer that could be spared had all been recruited to the war efforts and none of the remaining ones have an opening. On top of that, none of the novice officers were willing to take on something that looked like the enemy. But I did manage to find somepony technically qualified due to how well behaved you have been in here. However... "

She was doing her best to make the dreary situation of being let out to the masses that hated me as cheerful as possible with a fake upbeat attitude. It was failing horribly.

"There's a catch. She's not combat trained and can't wrestle with any of her charges to detain them. So if she says you have to let her bind you, even if you haven't done anything to deserve it, do it right away. If the town guards have to step in instead, she looses jurisdiction over you instantly and you'll be at the mercy of the crowd."

I looked over at her and gave a somber nod. "So I have to walk on egg shells from here on out. But at least I'll have a guide. So what can you tell me about her?"

Starlight gave a genuine laugh. "Funny you should say egg shells. You see what she does for a living is-"

The door to the waiting room opened and a small, yellow winged pony with a long, pink mane came in. I recognized the face. A face I remembered looking so scared and helpless, yet at this moment was filled to the brim with a look of kindness.

"W-well hello..." She spoke meekly as she walked over, "I understand you need help getting your bearings and not accidentally breaking any rules but nopony wanted to give you a chance. So I filled out some paperwork to become a junior RRE officer."

She came up to me and raised a hoof in greeting. "I think we met once before, but I didn't have the chance to introduce myself. My name is Fluttershy, and you'll be my first parolee."

Comments

[Liqwidice]

oH, SNAP!

[reflective vagrant]

9061996

oH, SNAP!

About the effect I was looking for