A True Peace

Chapter 6

“What is he exactly Twi?” a girlish voice broke out in my head.

“He is a human from another planet in our galaxy” I heard Twilight’s voice speak intelligently.

“Do they all look like that?” The other voice asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him yesterday. He has been asleep for over fourteen hours. I’m worried that something is wrong.” Twilight said with some worry in her voice.

It took me a moment to realize that I wasn’t wearing any clothes. I pulled a pair of pants over my crotch, blushing bright red. Apparently I changed back to my human form in my sleep.

“What’s going on?” I asked almost fully nude in front of these girls.

“Oh nothing, just showing my friend Pinkie my new house guest.” She said a little concerned and embarrassed.

“Mind telling me next time?” I asked laughing a little but still clutching the pants in embarrassment.

“Uh sure” she said looking embarrassed.

“Well no harm done I guess” I said pulling the pants on behind a stack of boxes, “So who are you?” I asked the Pink pony.

“My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, but you can call me Pinkie. And I love to party!” she said with a poof of colorful confetti.

“Party?” I asked “What is that?” pulling on a white undershirt.

“YOU DON”T KNOW WHAT A PARTY IS!!?” She yelled the question at me “You’re right Twi he is extremely different from us. Oh well I'll catch you later Twi I got a party to plan.” Pinkie bounced off and out of the room.

“So what’s your plan for the day?” I asked.

“I was hoping to ask some questions and maybe perform some experiments if you feel up to it.”

“I guess we will start with the questions.” I said

We walked outside of the room into the library. Where two purple plush pillows sat on the floor. Twilight indicated for me to sit. I sat down crossing my legs. She sat down across from me a tea kettle in between us with two very frilly cups.

“Tea?” She asked kindly.

“Sure” I said as her magic filled the cup close to me and scribbling something on a floating clipboard.

“So where were you born?”

“Hold on ill go grab something.” I stood up going to my room grabbing my map of the new world America and my map of the old world. I sat down moving the cups and kettle out of the way laying out the US map on the bottom with the world map on top. “This is a map of my entire planet before our most recent world war. “The land I am from is in the ruins of this area here.” I pointed to the southwest US. She continued her scribbling looking very interested. I continued “And this...” I pulled off the world map and showed he the map I had been working on since I left the Mojave. On the map I had indicated: the NCR, the Legion, White-Leg territory, New Vegas, Brotherhood of Steel and Circle of Steel Bunkers, all Military Bases from an old map I had found in the ruins of the Mariposa Military Base, The no man’s land in the remnants of Tornado Alley, the east coast Brotherhood of Steel, Washington D.C., the Commonwealth. I was very proud of my creation.

“I was born somewhere around here.” I indicated to the area around Flagstaff, Arizona.

“Wow, these maps are very detailed. Do you think I could copy these maps?” Twilight asked excitedly.

“Of course” I replied. She smiled a little bigger.

“Why did your people make such detailed maps?” She asked.

“Long ago before we started living in set areas we were very nomadic. Mostly scavenging and gathering as we could. Later on we developed better farming techniques. After that it wasn’t until our last war that we returned to mostly scavenging.”

“Last war?” she asked as her pencil kept scribbling away appearing to keep up with the conversation. “What happened?”

“Just for reference it was the year 2287 on earth when I came here. In the years leading up to 2077 my world's resources were getting dangerously low. The world’s biggest consumers of the resources was America and the land last known as China. These two lands went to war over the remaining resources in what was known as the Resource war, later called the Great War. The conflict kept escalating until one of the nations, no one knows who first launched, launched their doomsday weapons against the other and the other nation retaliated with similar weapons. Effectively leveling every major city in both nations and plaguing the rest of the Earth in dark impenetrable clouds and radiation. The clouds blanketed the Earth bringing a forced winter that didn’t leave for many years. The radiation caused forms of cancer and mutations among the survivors.” I explained as clearly as I could not sure what ponies knew about radiation and nuclear winter.

Twilight continued her scribbling with her magic thinking very hard. “What is radiation?” she asked.

“Well from what I know it comes from those weapons that the two nations used. Those weapons are created by splitting what we call atoms. Atoms are the smallest particles in our world. The book I read about them said that when they are split they release huge amounts of energy including radiation. Radiation changes our body at the level just above atomic. Changing our DNA, the blueprints of our bodies.” “Got all that?” I asked.

“I think so. Do you still have that book? If you don’t mind I'd love to read it.”

“Sure I'll go get it.” I replied. I got up and walked to my room. I grabbed my entire bag bringing it back down to the library. I set it beside my seat. I pulled out all my books: The Big Book of Science, Nikola Tesla and You, and Dean's Electronics. "These should cover most of my knowledge of science and machines." I said smiling holding out the books.

"Oh wow thank you!" She said with a glow about her. "I promise I'll take care of them and return them to you." She promised.

"Keep them, I have no use for them" Her face lit up like I had never seen before. "If it helps think of it as a gift."

She grabbed me in a strong hug "Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!" She said not letting go.

"Your welcome Twilight. But please let me go it's hard to breathe." I said in a slight struggle.

"Sorry" She let go, "You're a great friend." She looked at the books skimming through them. “It's too bad Princess Celestia didn’t make contact with your planet sooner. It’s sad we couldn’t help.” She said with a very sad look on her face.

“Don’t worry Twilight, the past is the past. I had hoped that somebody would learn from our mistakes in the end.” I said putting my hand on her shoulder feeling her soft fur under my hand.

She smiled “Don’t worry about me it’s just a sad thought is all. Why don’t we change the subject?”

“That might be a good idea.” I replied.

“So why do you wear clothes all the time? We only wear ours when it is cold or when we a dressing for a specific occasion.” She asked.

“It is a taboo in my society to not be clothed. It is considered very inappropriate to go in public in the nude. We also use it as a form of expression in our society; it might indicate your wealth, heritage, affiliations, or just about anything that could possible distinguishes us from each other.” I explained.

“Interesting, so are you uncomfortable with the fact that almost all of us are nude?” she asked.

"Personally im not bothered, I still tend to think of ponies like animals back on earth." I explained.

“Ok, what kind of animals do you have on Earth?" She asked her magic pencil fling across her paper.

"I've seen different kinds but certainly not all of them. I've only travelled in the south and southwest of America. Personally I've seen Bighorner, Horses, Brahmin, Coyotes, Rats, Squirrels, Dogs, Night stalkers, Yao Guai, Mole Rats, and a few cyber dogs." I explained curious if she had any idea what radiation did to these animals or even what they may look like.

"Great, Princess Luna can show me her memories of viewing your world. I'll see about cataloging some of the wildlife." She smiled. Weird these things they can do with magic.

“So do your people ever use magic? She asked trying to continue her study.

“Not that I am aware of.” I replied. Her pencil began scribbling again on her clipboard. I drank my now cold tea it was surprisingly delicious. I asked if I could have some more. While scribbling away her magic created a small blue fire underneath the tea pot heating it up without burning the wood floor beneath us. She poured more tea in my glass and I drank it down happily, it was so delicious. It felt like it was warming my soul.

“Thank you” I said after finishing my cup. Trying to be polite, I haven't sat with another person in years just my Twi.

“No, thank you. I’ve been running out of projects to work on and books to read. You are my new project and should keep me busy for quite awhile.” She smiled. You’re going to go down in history as proof that intelligent life exists outside our planet“.” She said in an excited voice.

“I’m glad to help.”  I smiled “So why don’t you tell me about yourself?” I asked. Again trying to be polite, which is very difficult.

“Well, I have been Princess Celestia’s protégé for few years now since I was old enough to learn magic. Since I left Canterlot I have been learning about the magic of friendship and still am to this day.” She smiled at me.

“That’s very interesting.” I said truly interested in how things like this are top priority in this world. Not worrying about if you’re going to have food to eat tomorrow or what radioactive animal wants you to be its lunch. “Do you have any family?” I asked.

“Of course; both my parents and my brother Shining Armor. He’s the captain of Celestia’s Royal Guard.” She said with pride in her brother’s title.

“That’s very cool” I said very interested.

“How about you?” she asked

“How about me what?” I replied uncomfortably shifting back on my pillow.

“Do you have any family?” she asked more precisely.

“I don’t really know. I was taken from my parents at birth. I only know of the tribe of people I came from. I was raised to be a slave then later a soldier for the tribe that had almost destroyed my own. I never questioned it until I separated myself from the Legion.” I said sadness cloaked by indifference in my voice.

In a blur of purple Twilight had wrapped her forelegs around me in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry Ulysses. I didn’t know.” She said with a sad quiver in her voice. Confused I started hugging her back, feeling her soft fur again. Her warm breath on my neck and the occasional cold tear. “It’s ok. I understand you didn’t know." I patted her back gently. I pulled back; “Thank you for caring so much about how I felt.” I stood up leaving the maps, books, and cup behind. “I’ll be back in a while; I need to walk a bit.” She nodded her head still holding her cheek.

"Why did I do that?" I asked myself multiple times as I left town. Why did I tell her? I've never told anyone about my past. it made me vulnerable  I had only ever had just a blind drive for survival, anybody who asked me things like this got either no answer or a lie. I could never trust the Legion with my feelings, I would appear weak. My head was a blur with these thoughts. I walked out of Ponyville on the dirt road toward Fluttershy’s cottage. It was already dark out, the cold air nipping at my arms and face. Why? Why would she be any different? I mean she is extremely nice. But I don’t trust anyone. But her… I have never needed these trains of thought before, should I start thinking of them now? This world seems so unattached to war and violence like home. They have time to care about each other and even experience love. Even friendship was hard to come by in the wasteland.

I continued walking down the path. I reached Fluttershy’s Cottage not much later. I turned around at the gate to her path way and started walking back towards Ponyville. I heard rustling behind me. I turned on the spot pulling my seven inch Bowie style knife from my belt. I was never separated from my knife. Its high carbon steel blade shining in the night air like polished silver, I stood ready to strike like the viper I was trained to fight like. Looking ahead down the path I had just taken I noticed that nothing was there. I looked down to see a purple tail sticking out of a bush.

Walking over, my blade now facing down in my left hand, I called out “Come on out I know your following me.” There was a slight hesitation before the three little ponies from earlier stepped out of the brush. They were all wearing camouflage paint on their faces. I holstered my knife back in the leather sheath on my belt.

“Why are you girls following me at this time of night?” I asked.

Applebloom I think her name was stepped forward “Sorry Ulysses we were just curious what you were doing. And we figured we might get our cutie marks in hunting.” She replied with a smile. The other ponies nodding their heads.

“Just be careful who you’re sneaking up on. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.” I said tapping the holstered knife on my belt. “Do you want me to walk you home? It’s kind of late.” Again out of politeness.

“Sure” Applebloom said with a smile. She pulled out a map from her saddle bag that was white with a large red apple on the side. She held it out for me to grab. I took it and unrolled it. It was almost comical how it looked only a couple places which were drawn on it. She told me to follow it to this spot. She pointed at what looked like a farm house and barn.

“Could you just lead the way? I don’t know the area very well.” I asked politely rolling up the map. Freaking kids couldn’t draw a readable map to save their lives I joked to myself.

“Sure I guess. You can keep that map if you want.” She replied with a smile. I put the rolled up map in the pocket of my black cargo pants.

During the walk to the farm, Sweet Apple Acres is what they called it; they invited me to join their club even though I probably couldn’t get a cutie mark. I was now supposed to meet with them every weekend. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself about these little girls. Not a care in the world that I am an alien on their planet. When we reached the gate Applebloom trotted off to the farm house waving good bye to us all as we walked back towards town.

“So where am I taking you two?” I asked

“To my sister’s place. Scootaloo is staying with us tonight.” Sweetie Bell answered smiling. Strange I thought to myself, shouldn’t she have a home?

We walked all the way into town stopping at the Carousel Boutique. The two girls trotted over to the door knocking very loudly. The door’s top half swung open revealing a very beautiful bright white unicorn. Her hair was tied back in a pony tail. She looked very sleepy.

“You’re late Sweetie Bell.” She said rubbing her eyes with her hooves. Her voice had a very regal tone to it. She looked up from her sister and her friend to see me standing there with my hands in my pockets trying to stand out of the way.

“Oh my goodness!” She exclaimed. “What happened to your clothes?!” She shoved the door open running out side trying to get a better look at me. She started pushing me into the store. The whole time I was continually reaching for my knife in a defense reflex. I had to stop myself from pulling it. Once we got inside and the girls followed us in. The unicorn used magic to start measuring my body against my will my body held still by her magic.

“Who are you and what are you doing?” I asked slightly panicking, my muscles tensing horribly trying to shake the magic.

“My name is Rarity and I am measuring you for new clothes.” She replied sounding very concentrated.

“Why?” I said her magic now holding my arms out straight.

“I simply can’t let anypony walk around in such dreadful clothes.” She replied a little agitated. Still confused but not in danger I let her do her measurements.

“Can you stop for a second please?” I asked her magic almost strangling me with the measuring tape. She released here magical grasp from my throat.

I rubbed my throat. “Can you warn a guy next time.” I said myself remembering how close I was to stabbing her.

“Oh I’m sorry. I just can’t stand to see someone wearing such dirty torn clothes. I was going to make you new ones.” She said rubbing the back of her head with her hoof smiling.

“It’s ok but I can’t pay you. I don’t have any money.” I said politely trying to get away.

“It’s perfectly ok. No charge, just don’t let me catch you like that again.” She said with a smile.

“Alright well can we do this another time? My friend is waiting for me.” I asked politely my hand on the door.

“Of course how about next weekend?” she asked clipboard at the ready.

“That should work.” I replied with a smile. “Got to go, goodbye girls” I waved politely at the girls. “Goodbye Rarity, nice to meet you.” I said waving as I walked out.” They all waved back as I stepped outside heading towards Twilight’s home.

When I arrived at the library opening the door to see Twilight copying my map of the old world she turned to me smiled and continued copying. I sat down next to her “I’m sorry Twilight. Im sorry about leaving like that."

"All you had to do was tell me it was a sore subject." She smiled. "But you were emotional I don’t blame you". Twilight said as she stood up and stretched.

"Im tired." She yawned. My watch read 10:24 but was probably off count now.

"How does time work here?" I asked

"Similar to your human years, we have 4 seasons separated into 3 months each. each month as 4 weeks. each week has 7 days. Each day is split by night and day controlled by Celestia and Luna. They are about 12 hours long, each cycle. Right now it is 2:23  After Midnight."

"Really?, We use the same am and pm terminology." I noted.

"Your small clock should still work by my guess." She nodded as she walked up the stairs, a trail of magically controlled items floating behind her.

"Good Night Ulysses." She called from the top of the stairs. "Take care of yourself our worlds are very different.

I couldn’t help but agree. "Night Twilight, thank you." Her door closed revealing the silence of the night and the library. I wonder when Spike is coming home? We still need to meet.

I stand up grabbing my now unhooked Weapon belt and walk to bed. When I enter my room a large full bodied mirror is hung on the wall with a note attached.

This is for you, Ulysses. With regards Princess Luna

I looked in the mirror seeing that my natural skin tone has begun returning from my illness, and my muscles are gaining definition. I stripped of my clothes down to my shorts. Fed Twi her late dinner. And fell asleep for the second time in Ponyville.