To Greener Pastures

Now in the eyes of Captain Silver Spear, she is currently trying to find out if she was wrong in her evaluations of the strange human. She always thought he was obnoxious and a fool, she still does.

But witnessing actual fear in that boy's eyes, she was very unsure if her actions beforehand were justified.

She was SURE that Discord had something to do with this and she was 100% certain that he would be the cause of Discord's return to evil.

Looking at him now, he seems to be doing well with the Elements, minus Loyalty who seems to distrust him just like Silver Spear does.

["... Maybe she can be a valuable asset."] She grins to herself.

"Your majesty... If you would let me, may I please speak to the Element of Loyalty?" Silver Spear asked.

Celestia smiles. "Captain, you don't need my permission to mingle. Go on."

"Thank you." She said before trotting to Rainbow Dash with a dark grin forming.

"Excuse me, miss Rainbow Dash. May I speak with you in private?" Silver Spear said out loud.

Everyone looked at Silver Spear, but Rainbow Dash was blinking after being addressed and starts to give an unsure look towards the others before replying. "Uh... Sure! I'll meet with you girls back at the train station later!" She smiles and trots off with Silver Spear to talk about God knows what.

Probably wondering how she got her mane like that or something else GIRLY like that.

Twilight nods. "If you're so sure, Rainbow." She smiles at Ashton. "Are you ready to leave?"

Ashton smiles and pumps a fist up. "Yep, as ready as I'll ever be."

Celestia had the 'not so fast' kind of giggle going on. "Not without your possessions, Mr. Devora."

He looked over at Celestia. "Wait a moment, but my possessions are locked up, why--"

Celestia puts a hoof up and explains to him. "We were up all night trying to figure out if there's anything out of the ordinary... And well... Nothing was out of the ordinary. Your belongings are in your room."

Beaming at the news, Ash looks at Twilight. "Yo, can you girls wait for another couple of minutes?"

Twilight giggles before replying. "Of course, but don't take TOO long. Our train is going to leave in about 15 minutes."

He nods. "Count on me!" He said before running back to his room.

It took a good few minutes, but Ashton finally came back to the group with a messenger bag full of personal items, including the unfinished bottle of coke.

"Alright, now I'm ready." He said with a smile, seeing Rainbow Dash with them as well but it also seemed she looked determined about something.

He shook his head, it's not like he really cared what she thought about him.

Twilight smiles. "Now, let's get moving."

The crowd was gigantic, many ponies came around to see the human before they had to leave for Ponyville.

Some were disappointed, some were amazed and small percentage of them even fainted.

And he could have swore one of them was swooning over the poor guy, guess this place loves 'exotic' creatures a lot more than he thought.

Regardless, they eventually make it to the train station at a good time as the train was there with open doors and it was just about to leave, the conductor shouting out. "All aboard! The train will be leaving in 3 minutes!"

Twilight smiled. "Great timing." She said as they got on the train and sat down in their seats.

Ashton was the only one sitting in front of Twilight and Rainbow Dash, the former excited about asking Ashton some questions while the latter seemed smug as hell, as if to say: 'I know what you're up to, asshole'.

... Well, he would hope it was something colourful like that in any case.

"So, Mr. Devora--" Twilight begins, but Ashton stopped her. "Please, just call me Ashton or Ash. Whichever you prefer." He said with a bit of a smile.

Rainbow scoffed at this, Ashton raised an eyebrow but Twilight ignored her. "Okay... Ashton." She blushes a bit. "So, Ashton. What are your hobbies?"

Ashton smiled. "I do like video games." He then figured how much of a loser he sounded.

Twilight blinks. "O-kay... Anything else?"

He thought about it, but his life was too pampered and boring to remember such joys, plus his parents didn't give him time to enjoy anything other than video games.

Otherwise it was STUDY, STUDY, STUDY! Or the infamous: Let's go to church and pray to our --

He shivers from the memories. "Well... Not really... I guess you could say I'm a bit of a lame-oid."

Rainbow actually snickered at that but quickly returned back to her scrutiny. "Ever hurt anypony?" She bluntly just says.

Twilight gasps a bit. "R-Rainbow--"

Ash puts his hand up. "Twi, it's an honest question, nothing to worry about."

Twilight sighs. "O-okay."

He then smiled and replied to the pegasus. "Yes.. But only if they hurt me... It's a general rule of thumb for me, an eye for an eye and all that."

Rainbow was looking at him with even more scrutiny while Twilight asks another question. "What about habits, do you have any?"

Being close to reply, he stops before remembering. "Uhm..." He can definitely think up a few.

And it definitely rhymes with Corn.

"Not exactly... But if I pick up on one, I'll let you know." He said with a smile.

"What are those claws you have? Ever since I looked at them back at the castle... They look so helpful." She said staring at his hand.

"Oh this? This is my hand, these extra digits are called fingers." He then smiles. "They are made to carry things or pet things." He said with a bit of a grin.

Twilight looks like she wanted to try it out but she shook her head. "N-no, thank you." She blushed a bit once again and then wondered. "Do you humans have cutie marks?"

"...Those markings on your butts?" Ashton said and shook his head. "Nah, no markings."

She tilts her head. "Then, how exactly do you find your true calling in life?" She plus Rainbow were genuinely curious but Rainbow not much so.

He sighs a bit and wonders how to explain it. "...We uhm... We aren't exactly bordered on cutie marks to determine our path... We discover them on our own and we make a living off of them..." He then remembers homeless people in general, they either had zero skill or that skill was taken away from them. "Some more than others..."

She looks down. "Oh... Well, what do you specialise in?"

He wondered how to answer this, it was a little different than just hobbies. "Well, I used to work at a shop stacking stuff... Like I said, good at handyman stuff." He grins.

It was at this point Twilight tapped a hoof on her chin. "Hmm... Well... How about mating?"

Rainbow was taken aback by this, but Ashton didn't mind answering. "We just pick who's attractive... People always say: 'Oh, it's the personality!' But in reality attraction works depending on what our eyes like, no one is honest about it and that's what pisses me off."

Twilight clears he throat. "Language..."

Ashton sighed out loud and mentally groaned. "Sorry..." ["She's worse than my mother..."] He said that in his head.

The purple pony smiled and shook her head. "It's okay, I understand your frustration... Being the only human..."

["Oh god, that's right... I'm the only human around and mares would probably find me ugly..."] He said as he got a bit depressed at the thought.

Twilight gasps. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't meant to off-"

He shook his head and nervously giggled. "H-hey, it's fine... It's my problem to deal with." He said with a re-assuring smile.

Twilight nods and then smiles sheepishly.

After a good few questions like: "How high are humans normally or what kind of buildings were there?" It stopped and she was satisfied with those normal questions. "There are more, but maybe you'd like to rest? You look exhausted."

Ashton blinked and puts a hand on his head. "Am I?... Hmm, I suppose I am." He rests his head back. "...I feel as if my brain had been drained... It didn't help running around like a maniac."

Twilight and Rainbow tilts their heads in confusion.

He sheepishly laughed. "It's.. Nothing, I'm just... I'm gonna go get some sleep, alright?"

Twilight looked over at Rainbow Dash. "Alright... Rainbow, can you look after him while I go talk with the other girls?"

Rainbow shrugged. "He'll be fine on his lonesome, besides... I don't want to disturb him."

Twilight blinks and looks at Rainbow. "That's... Well, alright." Her and Rainbow got off their seats and went to go sit with the other girls, to mingle.

Ashton had already felt the hostility coming from Rainbow, what did he do that made him so distrusted? Was it the whole race gap or...?

Bah, fuck it. Sleep now, think later.

Feeling his eyes heavily droop and close, he quickly loses the world of the awakened and starts in the land of the slumber.

Upon opening his eyes, he was in a blank landscape, the entirety of the space was just a blank void.

Ashton decided to call out. "Hello?" The minute he had said something, the void starts to ripple like a watery ripple effect and it transforms into the train but now it was night time and the whole train was lit dimly, but it was enough for Ashton to see.

He was starting to get a little bit spooked as he softly walks forward, looking out the window he could see that he was in the middle of a forest.

It was empty, there was no ponies to be seen, he called out once again. "...Rainbow?... Twilight?" He said apprehensively, he starts to cautiously walk towards the doors to the next tram.

Transitioning rooms, Ashton was at the abandoned cafeteria of the train and with a few steps forward he felt the train shake and begin to move. "!... Wh-what the?"

"Come... Sit." A familiar regal voice was heard.

"Uh... Princess Luna?" Ashton called out, and looked at the silhouette that was sitting on the table, it was indeed the lunar princess herself.

The strange vibes were engulfing the poor boy's mind, his desire for answers have been doubled.

...

Don't know where that one came from.

He then walks on over to her and sat down next to the dark Alicorn, she smiles at him and explains a few things. "Dreamer, you are in your dreamscape... But I used one of your calming desires to make you feel at home."

"A barely dimmed train at night time? Surrounded by a forest and conducted by ... A ghost, I presume." He said with a grin, you're forgetting rain and a little bit of rainy-jazz music on the side.

Just as he mentioned this, it was pouring down with rain and the jukebox in the cafeteria replied with some rainy jazz.

The pitter patter of rain pelting the indestructible glass makes it a little bit more soothing, but he still had questions.

"I'm in a dream, then?... Amazing, so how exactly do we go from here?" He asked.

She smiled. "Well, we can go anywhere you would like to go." Her smile turns into a sly grin. "I want to know more about the stallion that has my attention."

Ashton blinks. "Your attention?..." He looks right at her and he was feeling like she was doing this on purpose. "What exactly do you mean by attention?"

Luna sipped the alcoholic beverage, she shivers a bit. "Why, just that... You have my attention, most stallions wouldn't want anything to do with me since they find me so intimidating... You however have spoken to me like a normal mare. Your fighting style is outlandish, but it made a lot of sense. And those eyes..."

He had realized she was no longer speaking regally, but she was actually speaking NORMALLY.

["This is news to me..."] He said in his... -- ["Wait, I said that outloud!--"]

She giggles. "Of course it is... Oh, and in here I get to hear every thought you're making."

"...Right you are..." He said with a sheepish blush and sighs. "So, you're infatuated with me?"

Luna nods. "Definitely so... However there is something I must tell you. I cannot have these feelings with you. We barely just met and... You're a mortal... If you were to perish due to old age and we were married... I would never recover from it. So, I may as well let you know and get it off my chest."

Now his depression worsens, thanks Night Ass.

Luna blushed and scrunches her muzzle.

He looked sheepish. "What? I didn't say anything!"

Luna blinks and looks around, shaking her head. "In either case. I hope we can still be friends."

Ashton blinks. "Uh... Sure...?" Aaaaand already got friend-zoned, but she had a reason, so it wasn't a harsh friend-zone (At least).

He shrugged. "So, is there anything else or...?"

She shook her head. "Nothing else... I'm glad we had this talk... However, while a relationship isn't exactly in my cards... Courtship is always on the table, Mr. Devora." She winks and got up from her seat.

Ashton's face grew into a huge blush, his eyes travelled to her ass as it shook in he trot.

He bites his lower lip as the dreamscape dissolves around him, Luna also dissolving into the ground.

The lightning and rain intensifies as the rain crashes into the window and the glass goes flying at him.

This got him to wake up quick and he was laying on his side with Twilight pestering him. "Wake up, sleepy head. Time to disembark!"

He groans a bit and puts a hand on his head. ["Women..."] He sighs and gets up from his spot.

It was time to finally see the luxury that was Ponyville.

{End of Chapter}