“I’m really really sorry, I didn’t mean to!” Fluttershy pleaded, standing in front of the Human that happened to be sat down and giving her a deserved hard stare. She returned it with an equally intense pleading look, eyes wide and trembling. One could almost hear emotional violins in the background urging him to be forgiving.

He raised an eyebrow in her direction, the two beings now at eye level. No, he would not submit. He would not falter; no matter how sad those eyes looked. After the things he’d done in his life, getting a mildly upset stare from a horse was not on the list of things that would affect him anymore. Almost destroying the world tended to restructure that particular hierarchy.

In truth, Hazama was mostly keeping up his façade of anger as a way of keeping the horse’s mind off of the bigger problem of his existence in general. If she kept focusing on ‘The Incident’ then she wouldn’t have time to freak out.

The fact that his hat had been able to fall on the floor in the first place was also strange to him. That thing could stay atop his head while flying through the air, while jumping and flipping around, while fighting: it had never once come off unless he had intended it to.

Stupid horse-shaped heads and their lack of hat sustainability. Stupid self for not keeping the hat on regardless. Of course it wouldn’t fall off! If Ragna with his Azure Grimoire couldn’t have done it, then a flying horse was nowhere near able to do so.

Whatever. Mistakes were made, and now he had to make the horse suffer for just a little bit longer before the apology seemed legitimate.

So they waited. One well-dressed Human sitting on crossed legs across from a yellow Pegasus who was begging for forgiveness.

‘Did her eyes just get even sadder or am I seeing thing now?’ Hazama thought, casually reaching into one of his inner pockets to pull out his notepad and pencil, starting to scribble a sentence.

The horse seemed to flinch when he started writing, eyes tracking the movement of his hand. So maybe she wasn’t quite ignorant of the fact that she had a massive anomaly in her living room. But that just begged the question as to why she had continued to cover what he was from the rainbow bitch. He had his own reasons for not wanting to reveal himself, obviously, but why did she?

After the charade of pulling him up off the ground, they’d had to think very quickly to make up an excuse for Fluttershy’s earlier screaming about Changelings. The story they/she’d come up with, was… Less than ideal, and probably only worked because (in Hazama’s mind at least) the residents of this planet were far too trusting.

As the story went, Fluttershy had been training him to respond to her if she were to ever shout about a Changeling threat. Rainbow Dash had been only mildly suspicious at first, because apparently Humans on this planet already had an intense distaste for the creatures, disguised or not. They supposedly had some instinct that allowed them to disregard a Changeling’s disguise when in their presence.

The rainbow one, already pretty sheepish from tackling over what was apparently a perfectly normal non-Changeling Human, had decided to let it go and run with the story she was given, though it was clear the belief was not complete, which Hazama was only able to glean from the slight inflections in her voice when she flew away.

That and she paused to give him the evil eye when Fluttershy wasn’t looking but that’s entirely beside the point.

Back in the present, Hazama realized that he’d stopped writing as he recalled the events of the day, and had been absentmindedly pressing the tip of the pencil down too hard, causing it to break off. He looked up from his lap to see if he could request something else to write with, but the Pegasus wasn’t where she was a moment ago.

Instead, she was sat at a table several meters away, staring at him from between the forehooves that covered her face. She was also shaking in what appeared to be either excitement or trepidation.

He could hear her muttering rapidly to herself, able to make out phrases like ‘Intelligent’, and ‘Not real’, but there were also slightly stranger words that came up such as ‘Discord’, and ‘Elements’. Everything else was a jumble of incomprehensible murmuring or was too quiet to hear.

‘Ah. I suppose the whole ‘Intelligent Human’ thing is finally catching up to her.’ Hazama shrugged, picking up the broken tip of the pencil and grasping it between thumb and forefinger to write with that instead. He scribbled out his previous message that he’d been making, and underneath it wrote the words [Is everything alright?] before tearing the sheet off and standing up to walk over to the table.

Sliding out a chair at the opposite end, it wasn’t quite designed for a Human back but it was serviceable enough, and either way he took his place facing the horse. Planting the note on the table, he used two fingers to slide the note towards the gibbering mare.

She became silent, and looked down at the words as if barely comprehending them. The words seemed to swim on the page. Irrefutable proof that everything she thought she knew about Humans could very well be wrong and she could barely read it through the spinning sensation in her head. What would Twilight think? What would the Princesses think? How many more Humans were there that could think and feel just like them? Just like Hazama, with names equally as strange to pronounce.

If intelligent Humans became a trend, what other implications did that have? Would cats and dogs start to be smart as well? That thought sent a shiver down her spine. The mental image of all of her cute animal friends one day looking up from their breakfast feeding and demanding to know why she was enslaving them ran through her head.

So many questions, so many terrible things, but for now… For now she should be focusing on the one sapient before her rather than the hundreds of possible ones.

“I…I’m alright, thank you Ha…Haza…”

The Human in question grunted, reaching over the table to pull the piece of paper back to his side of the table, turning it over and jotting more words on that instead.

Fluttershy blinked when it was sent sliding along the table again, looking down and vaguely mouthing the instructions written on it.

[Hazama. Say it like this: ‘Has-Armour’. Or ‘Haz-uh-muh’ if you really want.]

Several minutes passed where he could hear her mumbling both methods under her breath until she apparently found one she was satisfied with, nodding along with newfound confidence.

Finally, she had a way of talking to him without calling him ‘the Human’.

“S-So, H…Hazama. What are you? I’ve never heard of an intelligent Human before! Did your owner teach you?” She asked.

Hazama caught the unspoken question, and shook his head. Swinging his legs up to rest on the corner of the table, he placed his hat on the table after brushing a few grains of dirt onto the floor. It didn’t make that much difference to the overall cleanliness of the place. Not with the amount of animals that came in and out as they pleased, at any rate.

Fluttershy passed him the paper again, and got it back a few seconds later.

[I don’t have an owner. I’ll have you know that I-] Fluttershy paused, seeing something furiously scribbled out to the point of piercing the paper, but the sentence continued nevertheless, [I am completely self-sufficient.]

It seemed like a bit of a weak ending to cover up what he had initially written, but he would keep the whole ‘other world’ think a secret. Even if they couldn’t do anything with the knowledge, because they weren’t even remotely close to the technology level required to interact with the Boundary without essentially dooming themselves. It was an unstable science even with the appropriate equipment.

The Pegasus spent a good while simply looking at the Human, idly wondering how she hadn’t realized he was different beforehand. Actually, that was a lie. She had noticed the various quirks that set him apart from others of his kind, but had passed them off as a multitude of coincidences. Now that she could look properly, there were key things that just weren’t right.

Manner of sitting aside, the hair colour was absolutely off. It could have been dye before, but Fluttershy could see that it went down to the roots too now that he had removed his hat. The clothes were another obvious pointer, and the way he required no guidance should have been a massive giveaway. Even the most trained Humans couldn’t walk around without a collar and leash.

There were some other details that she needed to know, however.

“If it’s not too rude to ask… How old are you?’

He seemed to consider that for a moment, before the Pegasus yet again received the slip of paper.

[I don’t know how you folks measure time around here, but in my own scale I am twenty eight years old.]

Fluttershy gasped, literally flying out of her seat to hover in front of his face, looking him up and down for any sign of disease or advanced aging, but found nothing. Upon noticing Hazama’s slightly bemused look at her reaction, she sunk down again, but still looked to be very concerned.

“But…But Humans don’t live for that long. Seventeen is the age of a very old Human! And you seem so healthy…”

‘Ah shit. Of course. They’re animals here, they aren’t going to live as long as we do! Now I have to think of an excuse for this. Wonderful.’ Hazama grumbled internally, writing slowly and purposefully before showing it to the horse.

[Well then I simply can’t explain it, but my lifespan can potentially go up to the hundreds if I take good enough care of myself. I apologise for not having a clearer answer for you, miss… Flutter shy, if I’m not mistaken?]

Fluttershy shook her head slightly, “It’s just one word. And it’s ok. But it must be so very confusing for you to be treated like any other Human.” She said, and then thought about what she just said. “Actually… Where did you come from, Mr Hazama? Why were you standing near the Everfree when I found you?”

Hazama winced. There wasn’t any way he could bullshit out of this one. He had to have grown up somewhere after all, and he didn’t think ‘inside the forest’ was a viable option for several reasons. That only left him with one option.

Locking eyes with the shy Pegasus for a few moments, he let out a purposefully wistful and slightly pained sigh, swiping his hat and placing it back on his head. After writing out his message and passing it to her, he clasped his hands together, sitting in a hunched position over the table.

[I would…Really rather not talk about it. It’s…Painful to think about, I’m sorry.]

His decision to say this was based on the idea that from what he had observed so far, these creatures seemed to be highly emotion-based rather than logic-based, making decisions around their feelings rather than facts and common sense, as demonstrated when they simply let the suspicious suited Human go after three Ponies told them he was ok. Any rational leader would have kept him for questioning or for the Royal Guard or whatever to examine.

The Pegasus gasped at his written words, covering her mouth with her hooves before floating over to him, patting him on the shoulder comfortingly.

“O-Oh my, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to bring up anything you were uncomfortable with…” she whimpered, before pausing as the Human in front of her let out a small, amiable chuckle which set her mind mostly at rest.

Knowing how the drill went at this point, she looked down at the paper he’d been writing on.

[It’s quite alright, miss Fluttershy. You had no way of knowing, and your curiosity is more than understandable. I am an anomaly, after all.]

She sighed in relief over the fact that he wasn’t offended. Looking over at Hazama, he seemed to slouch in his seat even more, letting out a yawn that he tried to stifle with a fist.

Tiredness. Fatigue. Things that he hadn’t had to worry about for so very long, the events of the past few weeks of his life having given him no time to rest, and the power of Terumi ensuring that he never needed to.

But now the sleep debt was catching up to him, and his eyes felt heavier than usual, even if he did keep them shut for most of the day. Another yawn escaped his mouth and the horse to the side of him looked in his direction somewhat pityingly.

“Oh my, you must be so tired after today… But I don’t have any spare rooms for you.” She said, casting a glance around the room to see if there was anywhere he could rest.

It was only just dusk outside, the events of the day feeling like a week of action to both of the creatures at the table.

Fluttershy was about to suggest that the beanbag he was sitting on earlier in the day might be a good place to rest until she could find a spare mattress, but when she turned to relay the information she found the Human’s head already against the table, hat moved to cover one of his ears. He’d fallen asleep on the spot.

She shook her head, and went to go and check on all the animals currently living with her to tell them not to disturb the Human at the table.

Hazama blinked, and he found himself in a wide, purely white room with seemingly no end in all directions. The only solid surface was the floor.

He looked down. His clothes were still there, and from what he could tell everything else was in order as well.

A wide, uncontained smirk spread across his lips, and his eyes opened to face the void.

So his ability to lucid dream had transferred over to this world too, it seemed. It was a skill that he hadn’t had much time to cultivate as of recent times, so he was glad to see that it still worked.

The dream world had always been his one and only solace from Terumi in the days before the main plan was set in motion. Not because he couldn’t enter his dream, no, but because he had much bigger things to worry about than the dreams of his potential vessel. That, and Hazama was in total control of his dreams ever since he could do so lucidly, so the ghost proved no threat.

Flexing his mental muscles, he conjured up the image of his office in the NOL’s Intelligence branch, omitting the door that would allow anyone entry.

Sitting at his desk, he summoned a plate stacked with hard-boiled eggs; the objective best food in the world, as far as he was concerned.

Plucking one from the cup it was served in, he popped it into his mouth and swallowed it whole, bringing his legs up to rest on the wooden surface as he did so.

Shutting his eyes to fit his usual expression, he allowed himself to properly relax in the only place in any reality that he would be allowed such luxury until the moment he would be needed in the waking world once more.

He could figure out the whole ‘new world’ shtick in the morning.

Author's Note

So here's this. 11 Chapters in, and we finally reached the end of the first day.

It won't take nearly this long for each individual day, don't worry about that.

And for the ever-unnoticed music segment, we have the theme of Susanoo. That's... All I can say about it, really.