In a World Where I Don't Belong

Horses.

Or not quite horses. They were smaller, most of them at least, and each one had a more bizarre color of fur and mane than the last. Their eyes were shaped differently as well. They looked more human, except larger. Their muzzles were also shorter and more flat rather than round. A few of them even had horns or wings, and some had both. Once the parade of freakish looking horses were inside my cell, I took a good look at all of them and the only thing I could do was laugh. Not the type of laugh one would give upon hearing a good joke or seeing something funny, but the type of laugh a person would give once they lost the last bit of their sanity. It got worse once I realized that I wasn't dreaming. I knew because of the lingering pain that was surging through my body from the fight I apparently had and lost, which only made my psychotic laughter grow louder and more insane the longer it went. Tears were beginning to well up in my eyes, which I wasn't sure if it was because of me laughing so hard, or from the pain.

My laughter was apparently contagious, for the pink one with a curly mane and balloons tattooed on each side of its flanks began to roll around on the floor and mimic my laughter, which only made the situation all the more laughable to me. All the others shot a look at the pink one which she either didn't notice or didn't care about. I finally calmed down enough to regain whatever was left of my sanity, which I didn't think there was much left of since I was sitting in front of a small crowd of short, colorful, weird looking horses.

After the pink one calmed down as well, they all turned back to face me. The purple one with both wings and a horn stepped forward, looking like it was trying to think of something to say. Seeing as to how she was having trouble, I figured I might as well give it a shot.

"So what can I do for you all? Please keep in mind that I can't do much being tied down the way I am." I said while gesturing to my restraints. All eyes were on the purple one as they were waiting for her (or at least I think it's a her) to do whatever she was supposed to be doing.

"Well Twilight? What did it say?" Celestia asked. Twilight stood in silence, trying her best to make sense of what he just said. She couldn't remember anything about their language, but she did remember how to tell the difference between a male and female. This one didn't have the two growths on its chest, and it had a short mane and a muscular build to it so she was certain it was a male. "I don't know. I don't remember anything about their language, but I do believe this one is a male."

"Wait, you don't remember ANYTHING about their language? Even after all the time you've spent in their world? It's not like you to forget something that easily." Rainbow Dash said as she hovered above the group. The human took notice of her flying and gave her an unbelieving look. A look that made her feel uncomfortable and gave her the incentive to try communicating with the thing herself. "What? Haven't you ever seen a pegasus fly before?" The human's only response was that it shrugged its shoulders and shook its head.

Celestia walked up next to Twilight and asked her "She does have a point Twilight. If you spent so much time over there how is it that you don't remember any of their language?"

Twilight couldn't help but lower her head a bit in shame as she replied "I'm sorry princess, but the mirror must have cast a powerful translation spell when I went through because I could understand it perfectly when I was one of them, but now that I'm back it's all a blur to me."

Celestia noticed her student's distress and put a hoof on her shoulder "It's alright Twilight, I'm sure we will work past this obstacle." She gave Twilight a reassuring smile in an attempt to make her feel better, which seemed to work when she picked her head up and smiled herself.

Curtis decided to comment on the scene in front of him "Oh...my...God you two are just so adorable! Is this the part when we all sit down and talk about our feelings?" He let out a small laugh at his own joke, knowing they didn't understand a word he said. All eyes were back on him again as everypony was trying to figure out what he was saying to no avail.

Cadence suddenly perked up when she got an idea. An idea that she knew not many of them were gonna like, but if it went well then they would make much more progress than what they were making now, which was none at all. She stepped forward and pitched her idea to the group. "If we can't communicate with speech, maybe we should try a different approach." Everypony looked at Cadence, curious as to what she was thinking.

"What is it thou are proposing Cadence?" asked Luna.

"Well, if what Twilight says is true then we won't be able to communicate using words without a powerful translation spell. One that would be difficult to cast and would require some time to learn. Maybe we should next try telepathy."

Twilight was the first to catch on to what Cadence was thinking "Oh I get what you're saying Cadence! We may not be able to understand his language but maybe if we try influencing him to feel certain emotions then maybe we can at the very least let him know we don't mean him any harm." Twilight smiled brightly as she looked back at the human while clapping her hooves in excitement. Curtis took notice of the look on her face and shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"What is that smile about? Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked as he leaned back in his chair a little. Something about the look that the purple one was giving him told him that they were planning something that he probably wasn't going to like. "Look I appreciate all the lovely hospitality and all but if you could just do me a favor and send me back to where I came from I would very much appreciate it." He wasn't much of a fan of the prison life but at least he was in a world that was familiar to him and not surrounded by weird looking horses that, judging from his current location, were planning on keeping him as a prisoner of their own.

"I'm not so sure about this, we don't know how he will react to us reaching into his mind. I want to communicate with this creature just as much as the rest of you, but I don't think it's worth risking upsetting him. Or worse..." Celestia said as she noticed the worried expression on his face. She could tell he was getting nervous about the situation, which she understood completely. "I think we should play this safely and take the time to learn that translation spell." Everypony fell silent as they thought about what to do. Both Celestia and Cadence had valid points, but they each came with their own risks. Learning that translation spell could take hours and it meant they would have to keep the human locked up even longer which he wasn't going to appreciate one bit. On the other hoof attempting to control his emotions could go wrong and they would risk angering or frightening him which may make him violent.

Luna was pondering on what to do when she had an idea of her own. "Perhaps I could try something." she said to break the awkward silence in the room. "Maybe I could visit this creature in his dreams and attempt to communicate with him then." She looked at everypony in the room to see what they thought about her idea but most of them looked confused.

"No offense princess, but how is that goin' ta be any different than what Princess Cadence wants to try?" Applejack asked.

Luna slowly walked towards the human as she explained "What Cadence is proposing would require this creature's cooperation. When he senses Cadence trying to enter his thoughts he may reject her and that wouldn't help us in gaining his trust at all. If I were to wait until this creature falls asleep I may enter his dreams and hopefully gain some understanding as to how he thinks. Since I will be inside his subconscious we may even be able to communicate in a way we will each understand." She stopped just in front of the human, maintaining eye contact as she tried to get a sense of what was going through his mind.

Curtis kept his eyes on the dark blue horse that was walking towards him as it spoke in its alien tongue. It stopped in front of him, just staring at him with a look on its face that made it seem like it was trying to read his mind. It was so close to him that he wouldn't even have to fully extend his arm to touch it, and he never did like it when someone was less than one arm's distance from him. He very much enjoyed his personal space and this weird horse thing was invading it. "Okay that's close enough." he said as he pulled against his restraints and leaned back further.

Shining Armor noticed the creature was trying to break free of the restraints and stepped forward with his horn lighting up, ready to cast a knockout spell should the human prove to be stronger than they thought. "Princess, you should step back. I don't think it likes you being so close." Shining took Luna's place as she backed away and he glared at the human with a stern look, doing all he could to let it know that he wasn't afraid of it. The human wasn't intimidated, however, at his show of aggression. It only chuckled as it spoke "Oh, so you must the tough guy here. Let me guess, you're supposed to scare me into submission aren't you?" He pretended to be scared of him as he continued to speak "Please don't hurt me! I'm so scared. Someone help me, there's a big terrifying unicorn threatening to take my lunch money!"

"SHINING!!!" Cadence yelled as she picked up her husband with her magic and dropped him next to her, smacking him upside the head with her hoof. "What are you thinking!?! Are you trying to make enemies with him?" she said as she pointed her hoof back at the human. Shining Armor glared back at the human as he rubbed the spot on the back of his head where Cadence hit him. "He was trying to break free!" he said trying to defend himself as everypony in the room was glaring at him.

"You scared the poor thing! How could you?" Fluttershy said with a louder tone of voice than normal (to her she was yelling) as she walked up to the human. "Oh you poor thing, it's ok, he won't hurt you." she said as she reared up and rested her front hooves on his shoulders. She was slightly startled when he winced in pain at her touch, and immediately felt sorry when she realized that she hurt him, ironically. "Oh no! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you. Here, let's get you out of these straps."

Fluttershy began to undo the strap on his right hand but Rainbow Dash stopped her before she could get it all the way off. "What are doing!?! He could be dangerous!" she said as she grabbed her friend's hooves to stop her but she was too late and the strap was loosened to the point where he was able to get his hand free. Everypony in the room gasped as he quickly ripped his hand free and shook it a few times to get the blood flowing back into his hand.

"Ah that's much better. See, was that so hard? Thank you sweetie, you I like." he said as he gave Fluttershy a smile. She could tell that the smile was sincere and didn't resist when he put his now free hand on her head and scratched behind her ear. She giggled and turned to face everypony in the room who were staring in awe at her. It wasn't the first time Fluttershy did something like this, she once calmed a wild manticore that was throwing a fit all because of a thorn in its paw. Her cutie mark was from her special talent she had when it came to dealing with animals so it really shouldn't have surprised anypony that she was able to get on his good side.

"See? He's not bad. He was just scared, but he seems to have a lot of bruises. It looks like he got in a fight with something before he came through the portal." she said as she took flight and hovered in front of the human. She looked closely at the bruises on his face, the human once again shifting uncomfortably at how close she was. 'Do these things have any sense of personal space?' he thought to himself. She suddenly opened his mouth with her hooves and looked at his teeth. He sat there with a blank expression 'what the hell is it doing.' he thought. 'Wait...what am I doing?' he thought as he remembered that his hand was free and decided that he had enough of them invading his personal space bubble and pushed her back gently but with just enough force to let her know that he didn't like them being so close to him.

Fluttershy had a worried expression on her face as fear started to creep back into her. "Oh...my..." she said as she landed and slowly backed away with her head lowered and tail tucked.

Twilight was the first to speak up among the group "What's wrong Fluttershy?" she asked, curious as to why she went from being confident that he meant no harm to suddenly being afraid of him.

"He...he's a...predator." Fluttershy said with with fear in her voice.

"So? You have plenty of 'em back at yer cottage, don't ya sugarcube?" Applejack asked. She knew her friend has plenty of experience dealing with creatures that would make a meal out of a pony if given the chance, so she wondered why she was so scared of this one, especially since they were getting along so well a moment ago.

"Well yes but it took some time before I was able to befriend them. Predators take a while to domesticate, especially if they're already matured." Fluttershy said as she looked back at the human, who was more focused on undoing his restraints. He already got his other hand and right leg free and was now working on the last one. Once it was off he slowly rose to his feet, groaning as his aching muscles and bruises cried in protest. Everypony was watching him as he rose, but he wasn't able to stand straight up as his head collided with the ceiling with a thud. The sudden pain made him kneel down and hold the back of his head in pain.

Shining Armor decided that the session was over upon seeing that he was free and rushed everypony out of the room. "Get out now! Guards, lock the door!" The two guards complied with the orders as Shining closed the door after shoving everypony out. He heard the clicking of the locks on the other side, indicating that he was now locked inside the cell with the human. "Alright, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, but you're going back in that chair." he said, gritting his teeth and kicking at the floor with his front right hoof.

Shining Armor waited for the human to attack first but it just stood there with a grin on its face. "Oh come on now do we really have to do this? You're almost as adorable as the others, uh, no homo or anything." Curtis said as he got in a fighting stance, ready for the unicorn to charge him. The two locked eyes, slowly circling around the chair in the center, both waiting for the other to strike first. A voice came from the other side of the door and Shining recognized it as his not-so-loving wife's voice.

"SHINING ARMOR WILL YOU STOP BEING SO HARD HEADED FOR TWO SECONDS!?!" Cadence said as she looked through the viewport. "You there, open this door right now!" Cadence yelled at the guard who was shaking in fear from the princess. Never in all of his years of service had he ever heard the Princess of Love raise her voice to one of her guards. Completely ignoring the captain's orders he unlocked the door and let the princess in. She jumped in and picked the two of them up in her magic and slammed the two against the wall and held them there. Celestia walked in behind her niece, and gave the captain of the guard a look that sent shivers down his spine. "I am severely disappointed in you Shining Armor. How could you treat our guest with such hostility?" she said as she looked over to the human who appeared unconscious. Concerned that Cadence might have accidentally knocked him out when she threw him against the wall, she ordered her to let them down, to which she complied upon seeing that the human wasn't moving.

Immediately feeling a great sense of dread wash over her as the human layed down on the floor without moving a muscle, she rushed over to him and placed a hoof on his shoulder and shook him. No response, not even a twitch. "Oh no..." Cadence said under her breath, tears starting to well up in her eyes as she started to fear the worst. She rolled him over onto his back and looked carefully for any signs of life. No movement. His arms and legs were still, his eyes were shut, and his chest wasn't rising and falling like it was earlier, indicating he wasn't breathing. It was at this point everypony else had crept their way into the room to see what was going on and looked at the scene in front of them with horror. Tears were beginning to roll down Cadence's cheeks as the likelihood of her accidentally killing the human when she slammed him against the wall with her magic became more and more possible. Hoping that she was wrong, she put her ear up next to the human's nostrils to listen for any breathing. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she waited to hear the sound of air being sucked into the creature's lungs and pushed back out, but it never came. Her rear legs gave out and she fell on her rump as the weight of her actions came down on her. Everypony else started to tear up as well, coming to the same conclusion that Cadence had.

Shining Armor sat next to his wife and wrapped her in a tight embrace as he whispered into her ear "Oh Cadence, I am so, so sorry." Shining couldn't help but shed a few tears himself, realizing that his actions are what lead to the current situation. He looked down at the human who was lying still, hoping to see him show some sign that he was still alive. He was just trying to protect everypony, he didn't want to kill the thing. It was too late for that now, and they must accept it. Cadence was crying into his chest, his coat wet from her tears. He knew Cadence was going to take this whole ordeal the hardest. She was such a kind and gentle pony and she never wanted to cause harm to anypony. He looked at the group of ponies standing behind him and many of them had a sad expression on their face with tears streaming down. Others were silently crying as well, but with angry looks directed towards him, blaming him for the human's death, and rightfully so. He called over the guards with a choking voice and said "Please, escort everypony out of here. I'll... I'm going to take care of the body." The guards sensed the tension in the room and everypony except Cadence and Shining Armor slowly exited the room.

Shining Armor lifted his wife to her hooves and spoke with a somber tone of voice "I'm so sorry Cadence...I didn't mean for this to happen. I was just trying to protect everypo-" he was cut short as he looked into Cadence's eyes, seeing how much she was hurting on the inside. Seeing her in that much emotional pain took away his ability to speak. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She clenched her eyes shut and looked down in shame, her ears flat against her head. After a moment of silence Cadence slowly picked her head back up and looked into her husband's eyes.

"What have I done?" was all she was able to get out before her sadness took over once more and fell back into her husband's chest. He held her close, the only sounds that could be heard was Cadence's soft sobs. After a few minutes Shining picked her head up to say something, but Cadence was so ashamed of herself she refused to look him in the eyes and instead focused on the deceased human lying on the floor. "It's not your fault, Cadence. You should head up with the rest of them. I'll take care of... of him." he said looking at the human. Cadence nodded in agreement and walked towards the door. Stopping just before she exited, she looked back at her husband and said "Don't take too long, please." Shining looked at his wife with a loving smile and said "I promise." That was enough for Cadence and she walked out of the cell and back up to the castle with her head hanging low.

Shining Armor stared at the empty doorway, thinking to himself 'What am I going to do? What do I even say?' He decided that these questions would have to be answered later and that he needed to take care of the body. It was a shame that it ended the way it did, he even brought the bag that the human had with him down here hoping that he could show them what the things inside it did and how to use them. There was no limit as to how useful alien technology could be. From what he could tell they looked pretty sophisticated. He was about to walk out and get a cart to put the human's body on, but he heard a noise come from behind him. He stopped in his tracks, curious as to where the noise came from considering he was the only living thing in the room. His eyes went wide and he gasped in fear from what he saw when he looked behind him but before he could react a crushing blow hit him in the side of the head and knocked him out cold.

"Surprise motherfucker."