What's the Harm?

Sweet Moon trotted into the house after Jessica, looking curiously at her recently discarded shoes before looking back at his hooves. He hadn't worn any shoes to the test. "Do your feet get cold sometimes? Is that why you have clothes on them too?" He started nosing around the place, eagerly exploring everything he could poke his snout into and compare human things to pony things. They weren't that far different so far he could tell at a glance.

“I wear shoes cause otherwise, my feet would get cut up and stuff. It’s not very comfortable, I once cut them up pretty good when I ran over a patch of glass, not a very nice feeling,” she explained, wincing as she recalled that memory. “Also, be a bit careful, most everything here is my Gran’s, and I’m here to make sure the place stays clean and nothing gets broken, capiche?” she enquired, plodding her way through the rather large sitting room and to the kitchen, accessed via a dining room. Opening up the fridge, she pulled out a platter of fruit, half of it seemingly eaten already. “Cantaloupe and pineapple to your liking?” she asked, already moving on back to the dining room.

One of his ears perked up quickly. "Those both sound great. I only ever had pineapple once before." He moved to join her quickly, tail swaying all the more excitedly. "I guess we wear shoes for the same reason sometimes, but usually it's for fashion, to look nice?" He waved his flat hoof, unadorned. "I guess I'm looking a little basic right now. Mom always said I was handsome though." Fishing for compliments in his dreams? Maybe.

Jessica let out another one of those musical laughs,  pulling out two chairs and setting the fruit tray on the table’s surface. Critically, she eyed Sweet, looking from his face, to his mane, then the rest of his body. She giggled a bit at his tail betraying his excitement before she gave him her verdict. “Handsome? Perhaps. Fucking cute? Definitely!” Grabbing a few pieces of pineapple, she popped one in her mouth and offered one to Sweet in her other hand.

Sweet leaned forward and accepted the slice, slurping it up and licking over it in his mouth a moment before it got chewed up and swallowed eagerly. "I suppose I can be happy with cute. Some mares are in for cute ones." He smiled a little and looked around. "But I guess you're not a pony. Do you have a, uh, human stallion?"

“Human stallion? You mean, a boyfriend?” she curiously asked, wondering why he’d ask such a thing as she pulled some more fruit out.

Sweet bobbed his head. "A coltfriend, a mare would say, but I wasn't sure what a human one would be. Boyfriend?"

“Yeah, it’s not stallions and mares. It’s guys and girls, and then boyfriend and girlfriend,” she explained a bit, humming thoughtfully. “Broke it off with my last boyfriend a few months back, haven’t been with anyone since… why?” she questioned, a bit of weight in that single word as she stared at Sweet.

Perhaps realizing he was pushing into territory he didn't intend, he held up a hoof. "Oh, um, just curious and all that." He moved the hoof behind his head, rubbing lightly. "I did say I said stupid things sometimes, sorry if I bothered you any, um. His loss, you seem like a nice mare, er, girl?"

She eased up a bit, offering out another piece of fruit to Sweet. “It’s, okay. Just stuff like that tends to be a bit personal, not something one simply shares with someone they just met… even if that someone is a rather cute magical unicorn,” Jessica smiled a bit, letting out a thoughtful sigh.

That's right, he was a unicorn. He had a sudden idea for how to lighten the mood. His horn began glowing the same color as his grey-brown eyes and he lifted up some of the spoons he spotted on the counter, bringing them over and making a show of spinning and dancing them about, sort of like juggling, but entirely cheating with his magical grip never leaving the metal objects.

Jessica watched in awe at the dancing utensils, glancing over to Sweet and noticing how his horn was glowing. “Wow, didn’t realize your magic could do more than one thing at a time. That’s pretty damn cool.” Reaching out slowly, she moved to grab one of the spoons that appeared on the fringe and closest to her, closing her hand around it, and his magic.

Sweet Moon put one of the spoons in her hands, or at least pressed the flat against her palm, silently asking to be held. "It's a matter of practice. Sometimes, when I'm just thinking, and looking, you know, at the stars, I liked making things go around, like this." He stacked the spoons up together, then set them down gently to the side, except the one in her hand that remained apart. "It's like learning to juggle."

“Juggling. Can’t do that, tried it once, almost put my eye out,” Jessica joked, setting the spoon in her hand down with the rest on the table, making a note to put them up later.

Sweet reared up, sitting on his hind legs and clopping his forehooves lightly. "You just have to practice, if you want to do that kind of thing. What do you do, besides run and make cars go around?" He tilted his head a little, peering at her curiously.

Laughing at his question, Jessica turned a little to meet his gaze. “The running is just exercise, and anyone can make a car go around. Even you could, with proper instruction. But, I guess that the obvious is art. I’m starting my senior year of university in about a month, getting a bachelor's degree in it. I also enjoy reading, a few sports, but out here there’s not much to do besides running and my computer. Gran’s house is nice, but it’s so dated,” she whined a bit, rolling her eyes. “She thinks it’s still the sixties sometimes, I think.”

Sweet looked around the house, but saw nothing immediately wrong with it, except everything was built for big tall humans and not long ponies. "It looks alright… You're an artist? What kind? Do you draw? Poetry? Maybe music?" He sounded excited at all the ideas.

“Oh, nothing too special. I like to use pencils, and I dabble a bit in digital art. Portraits, landscapes, I try to do everything I can,” she replied, leaning back in her chair with a smile. “Might have to give drawing you a go after a shower, that’d probably be fun.”

The prospect of being drawn seemed to appeal to Sweet Moon, brightening at the mentioning, but so many words he didn't know. "Why am I making up so many words in my dream today? Is this part of his experiment maybe? I never had such a hard time understand ponies before…" He frowned a little. "Digital?"

Jessica frowned at him, shrugging. It’d sink in for him at some point, who was she to burst his bubble? “Yeah, it’s using the computer and programs to make artwork. Some draw on a tablet, others use a mouse, myself I’ve got a tablet… it’s a cheap one, but it works well.”

Images of ponies laboring with a stone tablet danced in his head, bringing a bit of a mirthful giggle from his depths. "How do you use a tablet more than once? And that's kind of heavy to carry around. Do you save it for very important works?"

Looking at him oddly for a few moments, she shook her head. “Nah, it’s only a few pounds, and I use it when I’m not in the mood for my pencils. I’ll show it all to you, if you promise to be patient.” Grabbing a bit more fruit, she offered the tray to Sweet and got up. “I’m gonna go shower, make sure this gets back in the fridge when you’re done, Sweet?”

The offering of fruits did much to put his questions aside for the moment and he reached for the bowl with his magic, lifting it over to himself and taking a snap at the delicious fruits within. "Have a nice shower," he said, mouth still somewhat full of sweet sugary goodness. It didn't hold his attention long though, and the moment she departed, he put the tray aside and began to explore the house, peering at all the amazing things his mind created. What an odd dream…

It was a rather grand house, the furnishings from the sixties, and everything made of wood. He’d already seen a fair portion of the house, but there was just as much he hadn’t, yet. There was a room that appeared to be Jessica’s, with her laptop and art supplies strewn across a massive desk. It looked like chaos at first, but on closer examination everything was organized, although the laptop was closed and the tablet off.

Finding the room that appeared dedicated to art drew the attention of Sweet Moon. He wandered about, peering at the pictures, lifting up supplies to examine them more closely, and generally he got his snout into everything. He was mildly disappointed to find not a single stone tablet in the room. His eyes went to the laptop, uncertain what it was exactly. He gave it a light poke, and noticed a cord coming out of it. Following it he found the wall and frowned a bit.

The only things that needed to go to the wall were things that ran on electricity, right? He poked the laptop again, inspecting it for buttons or something that would make it light up or do whatever it was meant to do. Ah ha! It had a hinge! He applied his magic, gently opening the laptop with a big grin of triumph.

A blank, black screen greeted him, showing only his reflection, as the laptop was currently powered off. The power button was in the top left corner, if Sweet knew what it was he was looking for, and two cords ran from the laptop itself, one to a mouse, and the other to the powered off tablet. Faintly, he could hear music start up along with the sound of running water from the room across the hall, and Jessica’s voice moments later, joining in with the music.

Sweet perked an ear at the familiar singing that had originally drawn him to the human female, but his attention slid back to the laptop. Was it broken? Did it need a spell to open? She said they don't have magic, an obvious falsehood. He spied buttons, so many buttons! They were far too small for his big hooves to strike any one at a time, but careful application of his magic let him start tapping at random keys. Click. Click click. Oh at least it made interesting sounds. Click click click.

Nothing happened, obviously, as Jessica’s voice got louder across the hall. The reflection showed his rather amused face, even though nothing was coming of the keys being pushed. After a short time, he managed to hit the power key, the black screen lighting up as it began its boot sequence with a few noises, although it quickly came to stop on a password screen, an image of Jessica grinning the picture for her username.

Password? Um… Sweet Moon's amused face fell to consideration, then frustration. What would Jessica use for a password? He hadn't the slightest idea. He tried, on a lark, 'art' for a password, daring to hope.

The password failed, and a small bubble popped up. Reading it, Sweet could see the words ‘It’s the usual password, dumbass,’ written on the screen. The constant hum of the fan running inside the laptop could be heard, but nothing else seemed to be happening with the laptop.

Sweet decided it wouldn't be his usual password, because he didn't have one. He stood up with a little snort, figuring he wasn't going to get to play on the strange device. Instead he followed the soft singing, homing in on Jessica's current location on light hooves.

The door to the bathroom was slightly ajar, music and running water running underneath Jessica’s voice as she sang to whatever song was playing from a small device on the counter. Peering through the crack, the only thing visible was the sink, raised well above what Sweet was normally used to seeing, as well as a closed closet door.

Sweet paused at the doorway. It wouldn't be polite to poke his snout in on a mare, though there wasn't nearly as much fuss among ponies as there were among humans, being just as concealed in as out of water. Thinking himself only slightly rude, he nudged the door enough to slip in and seek out the source of the song. He proved unable to resist the siren's call, and his voice raised to join the song.

Jessica’s back was to the door, the white plastic only distorting her image slightly as she worked at rubbing conditioner into her hair, which hang halfway down her back, now freed from its ponytail from earlier. She continued singing until she realized that the current song didn’t have a male voice in it. Slowly turning around, she let out a rather shrill shriek and proved just how good of an aim she had, launching a bar of soap that hit Sweet in his flank, hard. “Get out, Sweet!”

A girlish squeak of surprise came from the stallion as the bar collided with his flank. He scrambled backwards and slid on the smooth floor, crashing to the ground and covering his eyes with his hooves, more for fear of more projectiles than seeing anything. "I'm sorry! I just wanted to see where the music's coming from!"

A hand on her chest, as his sudden presence had given her quite a scare, she looked at the quivering stallion. “Sweet… when someone is taking a shower, you don’t just sneak into the bathroom! Music or not! Now, please… get out of the bathroom… my room is across the hall, you can wait for me in there.”

A large eye opened, a hoof moving out of the way. He saw a human female, largely exposed for the first time. He took note of the similarities and the differences even as he tried to not be too obvious about it, turning towards the door with a bit of a blush. "Oh, um, what's your password?" Yes, he could at least get one thing out of this. Truly a clever pony was he.

“For me to know, and you to not know… otherwise it wouldn’t be a very good password. Now, out!” She pointed her hand at the door and snapped her fingers. apparently, he wasn’t doing the best job of keeping his look inconspicuous, and Jessica was looking rather irate now, her arm reaching for another item already.

The threat of more flying things was enough to banish him, and he fled from the room with slippery hooves and retreated back to her room. Ah, that strange thing that ran on electricity and did nothing useful… He approached it and gave it a poke as if that would be enough for it to yield its secrets.

Alas, it wasn’t, and Sweet was left alone in the room for some time until Jessica returned, her hair still damp and hanging, a loose pair of jeans and a short tee shirt on that exposed her midriff. “So, Sweet… you’re cute and all, but if you ever walk in on me in the shower again, not even that will save you, capiche?” she asked, walking over to her bed and sitting down before noticing the laptop. “And curious, too, aren’t you?”

He bobbled his head quickly. "This is the most fascinating dream I've ever had. I don't usually eat in my dreams, and this." He pointed at the laptop. "I've never seen anything like it, or you. You're kind of interesting, but violent. That kind of hurt, throwing that soap at me." He blinked. "It kind of… hurt." He frowned a little trying to reconcile that, then moving up to her. "Pinch me."

Jessica lightly pinched his nose as she began speaking. “This isn’t a dream, like I said before… and that soap was supposed to hurt, you dolt,” she finished, tapping his nose with a fingertip.

Sweet Moon squeaked, his hooves reaching up to rub at his nose. "Oh Celestia, it hurt. It really… really hurt…" He collapsed at Jessica's feet. "It's not supposed to hurt!" He rolled over onto his back, looking up at Jessica. "What's going on? If it isn't a dream, where am I?" His hooves began pedaling in the air as his breathing picked up, working himself towards a good panic as reality began to finally sink in.