My little Tavi

After what felt like ages, she finally stopped sobbing. I felt her hooves moving away from my neck, so I straightened my arms to allow her to get off my shoulder. She looked up and our eyes met. For a moment, I could not breathe. Her eyes were beautiful bright purple, amazing as a flawless Amethyst. I could still see traces of tears from those pretty eyes down her cheeks, and somehow it made my heart ache.

There was a long silence, and eventually she cleared her throat and said, “Do you know… if it’s all right for you… if I stay here a bit longer?”

My heart bloomed with joy. I smiled and said.

“Of course. Please, come in.”

I gestured her to follow me back into the house. I picked up the bag of bread and went to the kitchen to make meal for both of us. It was a strange feeling, because I have never made food for anyone other than myself.

“So tell me, what do ponies eat?” I asked casually, trying to light up the mood a bit.

“Ehhh… any vegetable would be fine, thank you very much sir.”

“Haha, you don’t have to be so formal.”

“Well, I am the guest and proper manner is most necessary.” She replied with a serious tone in her voice.

I chuckled and moved on with my sandwich. I put two plates on the table and two slices of break on each plate. I looked through the fridge, and realized that the only fresh ingredient I had was ham and lettuce. I had no choice but to make her a sandwich with nothing but lettuce.

I left the kitchen and found her still standing in the doorway, looking as if she was too nervous to move.

I sighed a little. I put the plates down at the table and walked towards her. She raised her neck and looked at me. I couldn’t read much emotions on her face, but I knew she felt unsafe and nervous.

“It’s all right, it will be fine. Don’t worry about it. Here, I made some food.”

She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but she closed her lips again and nodded in silence. She followed me into the living room and sat down on one of the chairs. She was sitting like a puppy would, her hind legs bent and placed under her body to support and balance, and her front hooves naturally bent at a beautiful angle. She was looking down at the ground. I guess she may be a bit embarrassed, so I put the sandwich in front of her and said.

“Sorry… I didn’t expect any herbivores to visit my house, so I didn’t have much vegetables prepared. This is all what I have. Don’t worry though, I will pay a visit to the grocery store and get some more fresh vegetables.”

“Th…thank you…” She said quietly, sniffing a little bit.

“It’s all right. Here, eat up. You must be hungry.”

“No one had ever treated me like THIS before… you are the first, human, to not treat me like a pet…”

I gasped in surprise, dropping my ham sandwich, “You mean, you have met other human besides me?”

She nodded.

“Oh my…” I lowered my head, “I am sorry, this is a really bad time. If only you came a few years ago… everything was so much better and brighter back then.

She sighed and took a bite of the sandwich. I imagined plain bread and lettuce would be hard to swallow, but she seems to enjoy it. Maybe ponies are more used to that kind of food. I thought as I started eating my sandwich.

I finished my meal before her. I decided to wait for her to finish, because there were so many questions I wanted to ask her, such as how did she get here, what happened after that… and her name. I still have no idea what she was called. But for some strange reason, I felt like I have known her for a long time. I couldn’t explain the feeling, and I had searched my memories over and over but found no result.

She noticed that I was staring right at her and immediately stopped eating, “I am sorry, is there anything wrong?”

“Huh?” I realized that I was being pretty rude and immediately blushed, “No… nothing.”

She gave a weak smile. “I apologize. I usually have much better table manner, but I haven’t eaten anything in three days… so please forgive my poor manner.”

“Three… days? What happened?” Questions escaped my mouth before I could think.

She looked troubled. Taking a final bite and finishing her sandwich, she wiped her hooves with a paper towel nearby, and then she stood there still, eyes fixed outside the window as if she was lost in her memories.

“If you don’t want to tell me it’s totally fine.” I insisted, regretting a bit about asking before using my brain.

“It’s not that… it’s just, I don’t know where to begin.”

I took the plate and dumped them in the kitchen sink. “It’s all right, take your time.”

After I sat back down on the table, it looked like she had finally thought it through. Her beautiful eyes turned to me, which almost took my breath away.

“It all began long time ago.”

“Equestria used to be a beautiful place with all kinds of mystical creatures. There were Cerberus, dragons and so. I could still picture those days. The sky was bright blue, the grass was emerald green, and everypony was happy.”

Her vision became blurry as she talked. I felt like part of my soul flew towards that magical place with her words. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The sun showered everything with its glorious golden light, and it was just gorgeous.

“But then slowly, things started changing. At first it was just minor things, but one day, things suddenly went downhill. We didn’t know what happened, it just… happened. Everything lost its color. The sky was no longer blue, the leaves were no longer green, and the entire nation was covered in despair. Even Princess Celestia didn’t know what happened.”

My heart ached.

“That’s exactly what happened here as well. The stock market crashed, and the beautiful world was just gone in a blink of an eye.”

She looked at me and licked her lips. She looked down again and started talking. Her voice was quiet and dry, like that of a hurt children.

“I was a cellist. I played cello for the royal orchestra. But after the incident, I lost my job. The orchestra was disbanded because nopony had a heart light enough to enjoy music again. I had some saving, but… playing cello was all I knew. I couldn’t do anything else for a living. So I… I had no choice but to… numb myself.”

“What do you mean by that?”

She looked away. She had something similar to shame on her face.

“I drank. All day and all night.”

I looked to the side of the table and saw a shitload of empty beer bottles. Yeah, in times such like this, alcohol is the only antidote. It poisons your mind, and makes all the bad things go away.

“I know how you feel.” I said.

She gave another weak smile and continued, “One day I got quite drunk, and I was just on my way home. But you know, the alcohol had taken over my brain and I got lost in a dark alley. I kept moving along, but it was like a maze. I was really scared. I honestly thought that I was going to die.”

She paused as if she was trying to find the proper word. I waited patiently.

“Then, I saw something incredible. I can’t describe it, I still don’t understand why or how… but it felt like, I have reached the edge of my world.”

“The edge of your world?”

“Yes… it was like, gazing into an eternal darkness, but not quite. It was like a deep hole in the ground, but… it was more like a gap between space and time, like a piece of paper with a hole in the middle.”

She licked her lips again. I finally realized that she was probably thirsty.

“Hold on just a minute. I will be right back.”

I went to the kitchen and got two glasses of water. I put one in front of her and the other one in front of my seat. She shot me a thankful look and picked up the glass with both of her hooves. I find the fact that she can hold a smooth glass that steadily amazing, given the fact that she didn’t have any thumbs... or fingers.

She sighed in relief and put the glass down on the table. She continued.

“I was really scared of that thing, but unfortunately I blacked out and probably fell in. when I woke up, I am in a completely different realm. Everything was odd-looking and cold. I looked around, but I saw no way of returning to my world.”

“Did you fell on something sharp? Is that what caused the wound?” I asked.

“No… not exactly. You will see.” She took another sip of the water, “After hours of searching, I encountered a human.”

“He almost screamed as he saw me, but soon he asked me if I was a pony. He looked really happy when I said yes, and he said he could help me, so I followed him.”

I felt the table shaking. Looking down, I noticed that she was holding the glass in her hooves tightly. The transparent liquid inside the glass started shaking like the tides of an angry ocean. She grinded her teeth together tightly, and I half guessed what happened next.

She continued, “He locked me up in a tiny cage, barely big enough for me to fit inside. He fed me left overs that stinks, and water that taste funny. I couldn’t take it anymore, so one night I managed to open the door to the cage and sneak out before he caught me. I got the cut when I struggled to get out of the cage…”

“I am so sorry you had to go through all this…”

She shook her head and put the glass of water down on the table, “No… I am sorry for acting out of place before. I really thought I was kidnapped again.”

“I don’t blame you, really. I mean, I have never met you before, I don’t even know your name… but for some reason, I felt like we have known each other for a long time.”

“Yeah I feel the same way… oh shoot, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Octavia, you can call me Tavi for short.”

“That’s such a beautiful name. My name is Jerry. Very nice to meet you.”

“Indeed.” She held out her right hoof and I held out my right hand. We shook our hands/hooves together. Her hooves felt warm and soft.

She let go very quickly, still a bit nervous. She was abandoned by her world, and when she came to mine she was treated like a slave. She had been through a lot of pain, and it’s only normal for her to not trust any human. Maybe she had laid her head on my shoulder and cried, but that was just one time. Deep down, her instinct was still trying to tell her that human are dangerous and deceiving animals.

I reached forward and held out my hand. I patted her on the head and said, “So, Octavia, before you decide where to go, feel free to stay here. Make yourself at home. I know you don’t trust me, but I promise, from the bottom of my heart, that I will never hurt you. Ever.”

I must have sounded pretty damn serious, because suddenly I saw he eyes lit up with some hope, “R… really? You promise?”

“I promise.” I looked into her eyes, and sworn the words inside my heart.

She looked down quietly. Her mane and tail was flowing gently in the morning breeze. Her eyes lashes still had traces of tears on them, and they were reflecting the sunlight like diamonds. I raised my hand and wiped the tears off her face, “Come on now, you are so much prettier when you smile.”

For the first time, her lips curved upwards to reveal a smile. Her ears stood up straight on top of her head like two tiny tents, and suddenly everything became so much brighter. I could almost see my sky turning from gray to blue, the walls inside my heart slowly melting and disappearing, and everything around us was covered in warmth and joy.