Maud and the Human

"Maud,shit!" I shouted,"are you alright?"

.....

"Maud!"

Quickly, I turned off the taps to stop the water and picked Maud up in my arms, cradling her like a baby. That's when I noticed the small split on her head, blood slowly trickling down her forehead to her left cheek.

'I've got to get her something for that' I thought to myself. 'It's looks like it hurts'.

But first I grabbed a towel from the low hanging towel rack and furiously began to dry her coat,mane and tail. She did look really cute how her coat was fluffed up,but there's more important matters to deal with. I ran down the stairs and plopped Maud onto the lounge, being careful that she didn't fall off it, and scurried into the kitchen. I opened the drawers to look for anything that could help Maud's head, but the only thing I could find was a hand towel.

"Fuck it", I muttered to myself, the towel will have to do for now. I soaked it in cold running water, then squeezed the excess water from it.

I ran back down the tiled kitchen floor into the living room, where I found Maud sitting up, rubbing her eyelids with her hooves.

"Chris? Is that you?" she mumbled quietly. "What's with my head? It hurts"

"Don't worry, it's me" I replied, running back to the lounge."You passed out after our little...um, moment. So I decided to clean you up, that's when I slipped and dropped you in the shower and your head hit the floor"

Her eyes clearly showed a look of weakness to them which quickly caught my attention as I told her lie down and stay still.

"No, it's fine" she objected.

"You see, it's not" I said back.

"No it is, I'm alright" she said as she tried futilely to stand up and get off the lounge.

"Maud!!!" I shouted with as much force that my lungs could muster, my voice reverberating around the house.

She froze and looked at me, eyes wide open and her ears pressed down. Maud then slowly tilted her head down and looked at the floor. Why did I yell? She looked so down and sad in that position.

"Maud" I started with a sigh. "Look, your hurt and you seem very weak and tired so just please listen to me. I'm sorry that I had to yell, but I had to, okay?"

She nodded her head.

"Just because I yelled at you doesn't mean that I hate you. That wound on your head is pretty big and needs to heal. You need to get upstairs in bed and lie down for a bit. I'll take care of you".

Her ears slowly started to come back up as her head came back up to rest her gaze on mine, her eyelids flickering slowly.

"Look, your hurt" I said, taking a pause for effect. "And you need to rest, no other option. Here, I'll carry you"

I made my way to the lounge and carefully picked Maud in my arms, defending her from the cold, crisp night air.

"Your really warm" Maud said quietly as we both made our way up the stairs.

"Mhm" I replied.

"Whoa" Maud exclaimed suddenly.

Surprised I looked down at Maud, who was staring intently at the ceiling.

"Are you alright Maud?" I asked with a cocked eyebrow. We were in her room and she was just staring at the ceiling.

"The  ceiling looks goooooooooodddd" Maud trailed off and she fell limp in my arms, her mouth hanging open and a single drip of drool slowly trickling down her chin.

"Fucking hell Maud" I uttered. "God dammit".

Carefully, I held Maud with one arm while the other pulled her blanket and bed sheets back to expose the soft mattress underneath and laid Maud down.

"Night Maud" I whispered quietly into Maud's ear after I pulled the sheets and blanket over her. I stood back up and let out a soft sigh with my hands on my hips.

"What am I going to do with you?" I said to myself. Maud's unconscious face answering me with dead silence.

I walked out the room and down the hallway to my room, embracing my own warm and welcoming bed by falling on it, my face molding into the pillow. My eyes slowly closed themselves and I drifted off to sleep.

"God!" I yelled into the cold night air. I couldn't get to sleep because of the thoughts invading my mind.

"Stuff it" I muttered as I threw the blanket off of me and climbed out of bed, I couldn't leave Maud on her own in there.

Groggily, I moved down the hallway in the same speed as a snail and into Maud's room. Maud, like before was laying on her side with her mouth hanging open.

"Well" I whispered to myself as I raked my fingers through my lightly damp hair.

"Huh", A tired voice mumbled out. "Who's there?". Startled, I jumped mentally as Maud's mouth closed and she lifted her head slightly before it crashed back down into the pillow.

"Jesus Maud!" I exclaimed, "you scared the crap out of me".

Maud's eyes fluttered open just enough to make out two black slits on her face due to her long eyelashes.

"Oh, sorry" she responded back guiltily.

"Well" I started, "how do you feel?"

She shifted her whole body so that she could easily look at me with her head on the pillow. After that, she let out a soft sigh and rubbed her head with her hoof.

" Alright I guess" she groaned. I walked over to the bed and sat down next to her, rubbing her back with the palm of my hand. I looked down and saw the bed underneath her was damp.

"My head still hurts" she said.

"You'll be fine don't worry, just lay back and relax" I reassured her whilst still rubbing her back gently.

"Look, can you sleep in here with me tonight? I just-"

"That's the reason I came in here" I butted. "Do you want any water or something before you go back to sleep?"

"Yeah please, water's fine" she said, "there's some cups in the drawer next to the sink".

"Alright" I said. I took my hand off of her back and stood up to walk over to the door and down the stairs into the kitchen where I saw the same sink from day one.

"Now which drawer?" I asked myself quietly.

'Next to the sink' I remembered. I checked the drawer to the left and found the cups on my first try. I picked up one of the small circular cups and started to fill it with water.

"Ah, done" I said, turning the water off. Carefully trying not spill the water, I walked up the stairs to Maud's room where she was lying down with her eyes closed.

"Here's your water" I cheerily said.

Maud's ears twitched slightly and she didn't move, clearly her condition was getting worse. Suddenly, she groaned and her eyes opened.

"Oh thanks" she mumbled. She tried to reach out for the cup but I stopped her.

"Here". Slowly, I bent over and held the cup of water next to her mouth. She looked at me for a second with hesitance but began to weakly sip from the cup. After a few sips she removed her mouth from the edge of the cup and thanked me.

"No worries" I said back. I put the cup on her bedside and walked to the other side of the bed. Gently,l climbed into bed next to her feeling the coldness of the bed compared to the slight warmth emitting from Maud's body. I pulled the bed sheets and blanket over us both and Maud let out a long sigh of comfort.

"Thanks" She said.

"No problems" I said, gently placing my arm around her side and down her chest to pull her closer to me. Maud let out a soft gasp of surprise  and her body tensed up slightly but quickly realised what I was doing and relaxed back down.

"Good night" I whispered into her ear.

"'You to, literal sweetheart" she joked, causing me to chuckle mentally and put a big grin on my face. Slowly, I closed my eyes and drifted off into another world of sleep.

"Chris" A voice called out.

My crusty eyes forced themselves open slowly. But I couldn't tell if they were open or not because all I could see was black all around me. A sudden fear arose in my stomach and I looked down. I was....floating in thin air above some black void. This triggered my fear of heights badly.

"Chrrrrrriiiiiiiiissssssssss" the voice called out in an elongated tone, clearly wanting me.

"W-who's there?" I stuttered.

"You don't know me do you?" The voice asked.

"No I don't, but hey uh can I just politely ask where the fuck I am!" I yelled, starting to get frightened of the black nothingness below me.

"Hey!" the voice boomed, it's angry tone echoing around me making it seem like a vocal monster before it calmed down. "No need to yell or curse, I'm right behind you"

That last line made me freeze and gulp. Something being behind me was another one of my fears. But then a new problem arose.

"Excuse me madam or sir?" I said.

"It's madam to you but go on, what is the issue" The voice could be heard directly behind me now.

"I um, I can't move" I said nervously.

"Oh right, I forgot to make the floor solid" The voice was clearly a female now, and a sultry one at that.

Suddenly, I felt my limbs go loose and I fell to the ground. Landing hard on my left side.

"Ow!" I shouted, holding my left arm whilst lying on the ground.

"There, better?" The voice spoke.

"Yeah sort of" I answered. "By the way, who are you?"

"Do you have any motor function?" The voice asked.

"Yes, or course" I said, pushing myself off the ground and onto my legs.

"Then turn around" The voice instructed, quoting a song that's been stuck in my head lately.

Mustering up some courage, I turned around to see a pony like Maud except a lot bigger sitting at a table with two chairs. This pony though, had wings and a long sharp horn. It's eyes were the first thing that struck me. They looked evil and full of energy, probably because they glowed. But overall the whole black and purple figure of this winged and horned creature struck me as a little bit scary.

"I do know I look scary" The creature said. Wait, did it just read my mind? "Now, come on don't be shy. Sit" It pointed one of it's hooves towards the other chair opposite from where she was sitting. I cautiously inched my way forward and sat down in the comfortable chair, eyes locked on this figure to make sure she wouldn't do anything.

"Now, let me introduce myself. My name is Luna and I am the guardian or ruler of the night. I'm not evil though. You see my sister controls the sun and I control the moon. That's me. Now, I haven't seen anything like you here. So explain a little bit about yourself" Luna said, her eyes fixing an unbroken stare on my face.

"Um, my name is Chris and I just came here for some unknown reason. Woke up in the middle of a desert slash boulder-field and met Maud" I said.

"You mean Maud saved your life" Luna corrected me. "You see-" the table and her seat disappeared as she started to walk on all four hooves just like a normal horse.

"Maud saved you life because she thought that she needed someone to help her because she had spent all those years in that little house alone with no-one to comfort her. You don't know what you did do you?" Luna asked. I shook my head slightly in response.

"I'm guessing it's something wrong" I joked.

Luna chuckled slightly,"Actually, quite the contrary. Maud saved your life and you saved hers. You don't know what several years of being alone does to you". Her face took on a more serious and worried expression. She closed her eyes and instructed me to do the same. Closing my eyes Luna asked, "what do you see?"

"I... don't see anything" I responded. "Wait"

Slowly, images started to float in my vision. Images of Maud started to appear, along with images of a similar pony that was coloured pink with puffy pink hair.

"That's Pinkie Pie" Luna explained, "Maud's sister"

Then I saw an image of this Pinkie Pie walking out the front door waving back at Maud who in turn was waving back, a straight mouth plastered on her face. No expression like the first time I saw her. the next image was of Maud walking into the kitchen and opening a drawer. 'What's she doing?' I thought to myself.

"You'll see in a second, Maud couldn't take living with herself. She wanted someone back and she knew she wouldn't get her back" Luna said.

Maud then pulled out a large knife from the drawer similar to what you would use to cut meat with, a carving knife with serrated teeth and at the end two large sharp points.

"Oh no" I whispered to myself, realising what she was going to do. "Fuck fuck, please Maud don't do it"

Maud then held the knife in the air, giving me a moment to pick up it's shine. Before she brought it down on her chest. The sharp blade piercing her soft skin easily. Maud's eyes widened and she gritted her teeth, letting out a suppressed whimper of pain. Her ears pressed down as blood started to trickle down her chest and drip onto the floor. Maud's mouth finally opened to let a surge of pained screams to come forth from it and she fell to the ground in a pool of her own blood, the knife still embedded in her chest.

"Oh shit! Maud what the fuck!" I yelled, opening my eyes to let the vision disappear. "How could she fucking do that!? She seemed fine when I met her"

"And that's what saved her life. Do you see what I'm trying to get to here? That knife went so close to her heart that if she were to move her hoof even slightly, you probably would still be in the desert. Look, I may not know that much about you but you saved one of our kind from killing herself. You brightened up Maud's life and gave her some reason to stay with us. And if you're wondering yes I did see her stab herself and I did rush in to help her. But, back to the point. I thought you were a monster the first time I saw you, but Maud didn't. She saw you as an opportunity. An opportunity to have someone to interact with, possibly in both ways" Luna winked.

I felt the blood rise to my cheeks as I remembered the events of before.

"So, you trying to say that I changed Maud's life?" I asked.

"Exactly, I just thought that you needed to know a bit of background information about Maud a little bit more than what she told you. That's why I brought you here"

"Well, in a way thank you" I said.

"My pleasure, but I'm still going to have to talk my sister about whether you're allowed to stay or not. We do get a lot of unwanted visitors here. But you've satisfied me enough so that should satisfy her. We will probably meet again later but for now. Good bye" Luna waved her hoof at me and I felt unnaturally light and drowsy as my eyes submitted defeat.

My eyes shot open to find that I was still in bed next to Maud who was snoring loudly. I hugged Maud as hard as I could whilst tears started to build up in my eyes.

"Uhh, Chris!" Maud shouted, startled.

"My God Maud I love you so much!" I squealed.

"Me too but why are you hugging me so hard!" Maud asked.

"Because I'm never letting go of you" I answered. The tears flowing down my cheeks and dripping onto Maud's neck.

"Chris? Why are you crying?" Maud asked.

Starting to calm down I released some of the pressure of my hug and wiped my eyes.

"Chris are you alright?" Maud asked, starting to get worried.

"Yeah I'm fine I just..... had a nice dream that told me a lot of things" I said.

"Did Luna visit you?" Maud asked.

"Yeah" I responded.

"What did she tell you? She would've had to be surprised to see you here" Maud asked.

"She was not surprised actually, but I'll tell you what she said in the morning" I responded.

"Ok, well goodnight" Maud said.

"Wait, here" I gestured to move onto my chest as I pulled the blanket and sheets up.

"Fine"Maud huffed as climbed atop of me and I draped the blankets and sheets back over us.

"I know you love it" I said.

"A little" she said.

"A lot" I joked.

"Just shut up and go to sleep, you're making my head hurt" Maud fake growled. It was cute.

My eyes once again let themselves succumb to natural slumber and I lay there, asleep, with a big, toothless grin on my face. I could like it here for a while.

"Hey Chris" Maud whispered, waking me.

"Yeah" I said.

"One question" Maud paused.

"Yes" I said.

"Will you stay here? Luna usually takes different creatures that arrive here to get verified first" Maud said with her eyes closed.

"Yep, I'm staying here" I said.

"Good"

"Night" i said.

"Shut up" Maud laughed and I joined in as she weakly slapped my shoulder with one of her hooves. As the late hours of night was shining down through the window and onto us both. Again, it could be good staying here.

"Hey Chris" Maud said, waking me up again.

"What now?" I said.

"Do you love me? Maud asked

"Of course I do" I reassured her.

"Good to know" she said.

Then for the third time my eyes closed again and I let out a sigh of content comfort. This could be a good stay here.

"Hey Chris" Maud perked up.

" For fucks sake what now Maud?" I said.

"Nothing, I'm just messing with you" Maud chuckled.

"Fine, go to sleep you silly little thing" I said.

Maud then let out a sigh like mine and we both drifted off to sleep, peacefully. With the midnight stars twinkling in the distance, illuminating the barren desert ground outside the window.