Fall of the Rightful King

Chapter Twenty

Alan

Later, Paper Back and I were looking out over the city. It was pretty, all right, but she didn’t really feel the same way I did. This was kind of a big deal for her, I guess.

“It’s… a lot to take in,” she said.

“Hmm?” Erin asked.

“Oh, I was just talking to Alan,” she said. “I was just saying this place is a lot to take in. I mean, we flew here in a giant machine and now we’re in the biggest city I’ve ever seen!”

“Oh, you think that’s cool,” I said. I pulled out my phone from the luggage. “Let me show you some pictures of the planet from space!”

“Space?” she asked.

“Yeah, you know, like… when you look at the sky. Like the black stuff between stars.”

“You… have things up there… that take pictures?”

“Yeah, it’s…” I realized that she might not actually be so psyched. Mostly how our tail was suddenly between our legs and our ears were drooping. The pictures I was looking for had just loaded. There was North and South America, Europe, and Africa. Except instead of her being impressed she… well, she kind of retreated inside herself.

Well… I fucked up.

I felt a hoof on my leg. Erin was standing next to us.

“Are you ok?” she asked.

“No!” Paper Back said and hugged Erin.

Shit. I’m sorry, I… thought it might be cool.

“This place is so big and weird and you have machines that fly and think and can… reach out and see us and make shows and toys out of us! And… what if Alexander opens the portal and you decide you want to go in and take Equestria?”

“Paper Back,” Erin said. “Do you think I’d do that? Or Nick? Or Alan?”

“No… none of you would,” she said, “I know, I mean… Alan’s got all these ideas about how evil your leaders are… what am I supposed to think?”

Erin glared at me. “Alan!”

“I’m… I’m sorry!” I said. “I… God damn, Paper Back, I’m sorry. Yeah, we have some real douches on Earth, but most people are pretty cool. It's like Equestria. It’s going to be ok.”

“I know,” she said. “That’s not really it. Your ideas are pretty silly anyway.”

Harsh.

“I just really want to go home,” she said. She sniffed loudly. Erin held us and rubbed our back.

“Dad would love to be here,” Paper Back said suddenly. “He’s so interested in history and he’d be asking so many questions.” She smiled.

“What’s his name?” Erin asked.

“Dusty Codex. Hey, did we… oh damn.”

We brought it, I said.

“What?” Erin asked.

“Alan’s friend drew me a picture of my family, and I was going to show… you…” she said.

“Oh, can you tell me what they look like?” Erin said.

“Mm hmm.” She pulled it out and looked at it. I could feel how bad she wanted to be with them.

“My dad’s a historian. He’s dark grey and a pegasus. My mom’s Paper Mache – she’s not from Manehatten, she comes from… well, it’s a long ways away from Equestria. She’s a unicorn like me. Actually, everyone in my family is except my dad. When we were little, he took me and my brother on a hot air balloon ride and kept flying around us and telling us that the clouds were so soft… so we’d throw water at him with magic!”

“Aww,” Erin said.

“My brother is Sharp Cut. He’s a doctor. And then there’s my little sister, Livrette. She’s only five. She was just learning to do magic when I saw her last! I’ve been so busy with my martial arts class that I haven’t seen her a lot.” She sniffed deeply.

“Sounds like you really love them,” Erin said.

“Yeah,” Paper Back said. She sat back and took a huge breath before letting it out.

“Whew, ok. I… I think I’m better,” she said. “Thank you. What about your family?”

“My family?” Erin asked, putting a hoof on her chest. “No, you don’t really want to know about my family.”

“Sure I do! Brittney’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah, she’s… the only one.”

“Oh no,” Paper Back said.

“I haven’t talked to any of them in… wow, a few years. They’re all crazy religious nuts, like, worse than ‘normal’ religious people. They think the world’s going to hell and it’s everyone’s fault but their own. Everything’s evil except them. Do you wanna know how I found out my mom died? A lawyer showed up a few months later and told me that my older sister was contesting the will, and I could get involved. I broke down right in front of him.”

We hugged Erin. Both of us felt horrible.

“Oh Celestia, Erin, I’m so sorry,” Paper Back said. “That’s so unfair!”

“Yeah, I’m glad I’m done with them,” she said. “They tried to call me when this whole Alexander thing started, but I ignored them. Brittney said they were just talking about how this was God’s will or some shit. But it’s ok. I have Nick and Brittney for my family. And I have you two as friends.”

Paper Back sat back, sniffing.

“Are you going to be ok?” Erin asked. “Sorry I kind of took over the conversation there…”

“It’s ok. I’ll be fine, I just… need some time to think.”

“Ok,” she said. We walked back over to the window. I fished around in my bag and pulled out my headphones. I knew I’d need these. They went over the ear, so I thought we’d still be able to use them.

“What are those?” Paper Back asked.

“Headphones,” I said. “They make music.” I plugged them in, moved the headphones so one of them was over our right ear, and started playing some of my favorites. Paper Back put a hoof on the headphones, holding them to our head.

What kind of music is this?

It’s EDM, I said. Electronic music.

She was quiet and I felt our breathing slow. I like it, she said.