Noah awoke to the birds chirping and the sound of quick pegasus zooming past far above. How they made such sounds just by flying, he still wasn't sure, but he tried not to think about that too hard. He bounced from bed and quickly got about preparing for the day when there was a soft knock at the door.

He approached the clopping sound and opened the door to see a cross-eyed delivery pegasi hovering there in defiance of physics. She grinned and offered a letter. "Here ya go!"

She was holding it in her mouth of course. It wasn't like she had any hands. Sometimes ponies would just grab things with their hooves, but it seemed almost random when that happened. Noah accepted the letter gently and forced a smile. Not like it was even remotely Derpy's fault she was what she was. "Thanks, Muffins."

The pegasus blushed brightly. "That's Derpy! Gosh, only my really close friends call me Muffins." She suddenly perked, her ears going up. "Oh wow! Does this mean you want to be good friends? I have this really great grazing spot--"

Noah held up a hand. That was a sweet offer, but... "Grass doesn't agree with me."

She looked baffled. "What? No! Silly. I'm not an animal! I mean, I am, and so are you, but not that way, I mean, oh gosh. Now I'm confused."

Noah tried to ask what she meant, but she flew off in a tizzy, weaving an erratic pattern as she made her way towards her next delivery. He'd botched that up. Maybe grazing spot was just a pony term? He slapped himself on the forehead, getting it but far too late for it to matter then. She was asking him to go out to dinner at a restaurant like any normal person.

Ponies were people. The stupid little things kept getting in the way. With a bit of a smirk at his own foolishness, he stepped out into the warm sun. "Thanks, Celestia," he spoke to the sky, having learned the habit from his pony neighbors. They claimed their princess literally controlled night and day.

It sure sounded like a really fancy way to keep power, but she was, by all reports, a kind soul. If that helped keep a good person in charge, he wasn't going to rock the boat too hard. Let her be their daybringer if she did her job well.

A lanky stallion, the baker, was walking past. "Going somewhere fancy?" He perked an ear at Noah. "You look dressed for it."

Compared to many of the other ponies, Mr. Cake was pretty well dressed. He had a hat, and an apron, and a bowtie! He had no pants. So very few ponies had pants or anything close to it. They found his insistence on always wearing such a bit confusing.

"Nah," he replied truthfully. "I was going to go see the Princess."

"Well, that's a special occasion." He nodded. "Wait, Princess Celestia?"

"Twilight."

"Oh! Sorry, she ran off with her friends on some friendship mission." He shook his head back and forth. "Really sorry, but at least I can save you the trot out to her castle. You won't find anything but Spike there about now."

There was always the bright side. That did leave a big hole in his day's plans though. "Thanks."

"No problem." He tipped that hat and trotted off towards Sugarcube Corner.

Noah found a bench instead and crashed down onto it. There was plenty of space on it, but it was made for a pony to lay out across it, rather than curious humans sitting the human way.

He felt a soft thump and glanced to the side, seeing Lyra sitting there, imitating him with a big grin.

Bon Bon came along and grabbed her hoof in her mouth and hauled her friend to the ground. "Stop bothering him!"

"I didn't mean nothing by it!"

Off they went, arguing back and forth as they walked.

Lyra meant... well enough. She was a fangirl. She liked imitating and marveling, but she was pretty lousy as an actual friend.

"Hello," came a soft female voice. Noah looked up to see a smiling unicorn with dark brown fur and bright red mane and tail. "You look out of sorts."

He was, but ponies usually didn't notice, or were too busy being pushed out of sorts by his own odd behavior around them. "A little."

The unicorn's tail swished a little. "Tell me about it?"

There seemed no lofty expectations in those words. She looked to him with a simple and genuine interest.

"Well..."

She sat down in front of him. "You're Noah, right?"

"Yeah, you are?" That seemed a safe place to begin.

Her mouth opened, then closed. She frowned a moment before she answered. "Blood Rose."

That was a lie. Ponies seemed really awful at lying. Why would she lie about her name of all things? "Nice to meet you, Blood Rose." He hiked a brow. "Now why are you making that up?" He attacked headfirst.

It threw her off-balance. "Oh! I... I just..." She sank a bit. "I'm not from around here."

"Neither am I."

She bobbed her head. "I got that impression. I thought we could keep each other company."

A pony that wanted to be with him, and not just for study? Wait... "Do you want to examine me?"

She blinked with wide eyes. "Do you like being examined?"

The way she phrased that almost seemed like she would if it pleased him, which tickled him fiercely. "No, no. You don't have to do that. It's just what the local unicorns seem to want if they aren't avoiding me." Twilight wanted to know what he was, how he worked, and where he came from. Lyra wanted to know how humans worked too and was practically obsessed. Rarity was beside herself with the 'curious machine tailoring' in his clothes. Every unicorn, something to obsess over.

"Well... Maybe we can get to know each other. For now, Blood Rose, please." She dipped her head a little. "Why did you come here?"

Why? "It wasn't on purpose, I promise that." Noah waved it off a little. "But here I am, and going back isn't happening, for now at least."

She smiled a little. "Would you? I mean, if you could, would you go home?"

It would... He did want to, but 'home' stopped existing after he was gone for about a year. Everyone else. Everything else would have moved on. His home, his job, his everything!

Rose seemed to notice the effect of her question and levitated a cloth towards him. "I'm so sorry! Please, I didn't mean to upset you."

He accepted the cloth but didn't wipe himself. He sat himself up straight. "It's alright. Nothing either of us can do about that."

With a soft thump, Rose hopped up beside him and sat down more like a pony normally would. "I'm far from home too. I miss my friends, and my... mentor. This whole town... Sometimes it's like we're not even speaking the same language."

"Why don't you go home?" Noah knew why he wasn't going home, but what reason would a random unicorn have?

"Can't. It's my job to be here." Blood smiled at Noah with a bit of a quirk. "We all have to do our jobs, right? Do you have a job, Noah?"

His human job was ash. But he did have something. "Sure. I give hair, um, 'mane' cuts." It wasn't at all what he had gone to school for, but he'd picked it up well, with a little help, and it paid his bills.

Rose raised a hoof to brush along her curls. "I've never gotten one of those before. I'll have to try."

That surprised Noah. She looked pretty well groomed. "What's your secret?"

She smiled brightly. "You can't just ask a lady for her secrets, Noah. Maybe I'll tell you after we get to know each other a little better." She hopped to the ground lightly. "For now, I should go. Be well, Noah."

She trotted off, leaving Noah alone. Not entirely alone. The conversation was still warm in his chest. He didn't trip over any ponyisms and she didn't blunder too badly over anything. She didn't seem upset, overly curious, angry, or anything about his appearance. All she seemed to see was a lonely soul, and there she was.

He hoped he'd run into her again.

"Hey mister!" He looked down to see a young pony. Scootaloo. "Can you help us build a huge ramp?"

If he let himself, the three, the CMC, were not at all hesitant about taking advantage of his height, strength, and dexterity. Their unicorn friend, Sweetie Belle, was, well, a unicorn, but she was still new at her magic. A person that could reach and do things was better and easier.

Well, he didn't have anything better planned... "Alright."

Scootaloo let out a triumphant whoop and led him away, bouncing with every step.

Behind them, Rose watched them walk off from behind a corner. She licked her lips subtly. The human had a taste. She hadn't gotten very much of it, with them just meeting. She didn't know what humans liked to see, but he did react well to her behavior, and a little trickle of vital energy had reached her parched tongue.

He tasted good.

Sure, he was a very strangely shaped pony, but the rules didn't really change.

"You're going to love me," she whispered to no one.

Author's Note

So... interested? Like it? Hate it? Tell me!

Good or bad, I am sustained by your words.