Boundary Point

Xavier stumbled out the bookstore covering his mouth, a sudden deep warmth emanated from his very core, as a cool tingling came over his arms. That was until he felt his stomach churn and contract.

Rushing away from the store, Xavier kept his mouth covered until he could see the cobblestone lined streets where he could let loose. Pieces of chewed dough and stomach acid came rushing out onto the side of the road, as he could hear the crashing of hooves against rock. Instinct was the order of the night, his legs acted without worrying if bits of digested pretzel were stuck on their owner’s beard. Gaslight lamps illuminated the path to freedom, deftly weaving between the patrons of the alleyway. He quickly merged right into outgoing traffic and let the crowd take him as the scent of food vendors of all sorts collided into a single cooked stench.

“Wait! Stop!” the nasally voice of the mare screamed behind him, but he knew better. Whispering curses beneath his breath, Xavier suddenly saw a narrow alleyway and took it. Jumping to his left and rushing, the way became darker and darker until it suddenly expanded out again, revealing the narrow corridor between apartment complexes.

Illumination from above came from the various living spaces that called the alleyway their backyard in a soft honey glow with flickering flame. With no pony in the way, Xavier kept rushing down. His shoes slapping the ground until he took a sudden right and froze, bending over and letting another round of his snacks from the zoo exit through the wrong door.

Heaving for a moment, the sound of rapid clopping rose behind him as it had the same rhythm as the mare that leapt from the register and pursued him out of the bookstore. “Looks like she wasn’t lying about how aggressive unicorns can get around books,” Xavier shook his head and started running again.

Xavier ran past where improvements were being done on the storm system. The smell of stagnant water crept up as the lunar glint of chains holding giant concrete cylinders flashed at the human as he passed by. Running up a flight of stone stairs, he ran through an empty Farmer’s Market. A strong breeze pushed against him, forcing the brim of his jacket to flareup. “Not tonight,” he muttered as from out the farmers’ market, he approached a bridge. He ran across it and quickly glanced at the water below. But only the abyss stared back up, unblinking, unwavering. It was too dark to see if he could risk a leap just to escape his pursuer. He could still hear the beat of the hooves that drove fear into his heart. With that, he focused on reaching the end and finding something to break this stalemate.

Four mares were dragging an open carriage where a Unicorn and Griffin were cozying up to each other when Xavier cut past them. Xavier stumbled past the group as the Griffin shouted, “Watch where you’re going sausage claws!” The human picked himself back up and finally passed through a stone archway. There he saw that there was a small crowd gathered in front of a red and gold dragon strumming a guitar. Along with him were two unicorns in the back playing drums and bass, respectively with their magic. Forcing himself into the sea of ponies, a sudden horrible revelation dawned on Xavier: he was the only human here. He only slowed himself down. Twisting, he looked behind him only to see his personal predator’s head near the ground, possibly heaving. Carefully maneuvering through the cavalcade of ponies, Xavier emerged on the other side and was finally able to take a left at one of the buildings, breaking line of sight. Rushing into a human franchise, he could see a woman manager behind the counter taking a complaint from a Pegasus, as he slowed down and approached the restroom. Opening up the stallion’s room, he entered, closed the door, locked it and let the void of darkness take him, and as quietly as he could, began to sing.

Twilight could only stare up as the being who had responded disappeared past another building. She grunted as she thought to herself, how can something with only two legs run so fast? Shaking her head, she let her rear hooves dig deep and pushed forward, pouncing on the night. Taking a turn, she slammed into a red crystal mare with blond mane and binoculars for a brand. She shook her head and got up at the same time the other mare did.

“Oops,” the crystal pony said as she once again stepped in the way of Twilight.

“Sorry, I uh,” twilight responded, stepping to the left, only for the crystal mare to also step in that direction.

“Oh wait, sorry,” she said, but Twilight had enough and turned perpendicular and jumped forward, circumventing the mare entirely.

She only saw a slew of businesses on the side of the buildings where the human disappeared into. Taking a moment, she tried to find a tall figure in any of the businesses. Ahead of her, she saw one and galloped towards the entrance. However, her energy slowly dissipated as she saw ‌it was just a mare-human behind a counter talking to a Pegasus. Sticking her neck up high, she scanned, trying to find any trace of the being that answered her Heartsong. Then the thoughts came rushing in.

A human? Can humans even respond to Heartsong? Why did they vomit? A human?

The unicorn’s face stretched and contorted as a glint of violet flashed across her eyes. She took three deep breaths and straightened herself as she began to sing.

🎵Fyoî, Fyoî, rêt-khe dhung lech c-

“Hey, take it outside!” The mare-human snapped at twilight while her claws were pushed against their owner’s hips. She glared at Twilight, her eyes blazing with heat.

“I’m so sorry, just give me a –”

“Hey, some of us are trying to talk,” the Pegasus verbally nipped twilight. “Unicorn or not, I’ll take you out back if you say one more thing!”

Twilight was being pulled in two directions, her rear legs trying to push forward while the front of her screamed retreat. She gritted her teeth and slammed a hoof down on the tile. Turning, she left the building and walked out into the last of the warm summer night. Taking a few steps up to the Plaza, her ears flickered up as she once again began to sing.

🎵Fyoî, Fyoî, rêt-khe dhung lech chu, ba khê mu hu môtsam?

Fyoî, Fyoî, ta-khe tur chup ôhce...🎵

She ceased and looked around, her ears carefully trying to pick up any hint of the response phrase. But all she could hear was the clopping sound of passersby and the mellow conversations that blended into a brown ambience that spread throughout the gibbious night.

An amber light trickled across the bathroom while Xavier was bent over. His hands on either side bracing himself from the floor and purging his innards into the pony type toilet. Designed for squatting, his face was closer than he would like. Another round of chunks from his trip to the zoo fell out as the churning in his stomach finally settled.

Pushing himself up, the man shook his head as he slid on his bum backwards towards the wall. He rested himself as the light deodorizer of the room flared up with citrus, and the light revealing a disgusting beard having caught way too much of that night’s meal.

In and out. In and out… he breathed. His eyes held a tired half lid as he took off his jacket and shirt. He let out a quiet praise as he discovered his shirt was saved from the fireworks in his stomach, mostly because of his beard. Carefully pulling his shirt over, he went over to the highest sink in the lavatory and started the faucet. Taking off his gloves, he lay them neatly as he then unrolled the wrappings. Cartoons of baby unicorns playing between repeated instances of the sun and moon were prominently displayed on the cloth. Carefully moving the wrappings somewhere dry, he kept his hands beneath the running water and slowly cleaned his dangling beard.

It was only at the third pass when Xavier’s eyes narrowed as he felt that something was strangely present. Looking down at his scarred limbs, with lines and dots elegantly cut like a connect the dots puzzle, he blinked as he gripped his right hand and released it. Then his left hand. He touched the porcelain bowl and just stared at his manipulators as he could feel the cool, smooth white cut of its concave shape. As he touched it, droplets of cold water sprung forth from the faucet, hitting the back of his elegantly scarred hand.

“It’s… gone,” he whispered to himself as he drifted his hands toward each other. He rubbed them, feeling the natural ridges of age release frictional heat and minor turbulence against the inherent smoothness of human skin. Suddenly, he closed his eyes as he interlaced his fingers atop their respective partners on the other hand. He braced himself, then pushed them against each other until all the joints popped in unison. He slowly opened his eyes as the monster that he expected was simply gone, or was never there.

“The pain, it’s gone?”

The professor was in his office after a long day talking to campus police after the minor riot one student in his class caused. He passed by the weapons he had borrowed from a few of the humans he knew, and double checked to make sure that they were safely locked for the night. The quiet hum of the gas lantern hissed across his quaint brown room as the scent of cinnamon poured forth from a lit candle. His desk was at the far end of the narrow enclosure with books that surrounded him. They watched him as he hummed a ditty of a ballad where three mares scoured the lands to save their stallion:

🎵Oh three mares of yonder,

Cross the land as not to squander,

Your stallion so tender and warm,

Just to shield him from the storm,

But if you see him held captive by a mob,

Then know that the one who took him was A-

He stopped while passing by his desk and looked down. Brown and tan photos of each of his five children held their station, while images of their respective mothers were placed right behind them. However, of the set, there was an exception. One mare off to the side, her wings were stretched and a goofy smile on her face was plastered front and center.

Knock, knock, knock.

The stallion nearly fell over as he stared at the door, then looked at the pendulum clock that hung: the short hand rested on the 9 while the long one on the 6. Carefully, and softly stepping, as to not make a sound, he approached the door and moved to the side

Knock, knock, knock.

The Professor slowly put his hoof on the lever handle and opened the door, revealing a homely stallion human, out of breath and bearing half-lidded eyes.

“Elysian Fields! Xavier? Where the Tartarus were you? Your escort has been running her hooves off trying to find you!” the professor said as Xavier stumbled in and crumpled on his office couch.

“I wasn’t allowed to see the city, so I took matters into my own hands.” Xavier closed his eyes, and let the couch hold his weight in full, “In either case I think I fucked up hard Quill.”

The professor moved like a fog rolling in towards the back of his desk. He pulled out a large bottle of water, and with the soft grips of his hooves poured a glass. Carefully he brought it over to the human, mindful not to fall over with the only three legs he could spare, “I’d say so. She was right furious when she questioned me.”

Xavier took the glass and quickly washed it down. His legs spread from the couch at odd angles, “I need you to call a doctor that specializes in curses, I’m pretty sure I pissed off a unicorn hard enough to convince her to cast one at me.”

“I thought that-“ the professor started.

Xavier shook his head, “I’m sure that if circumstances were different, you would be right on the money, but…” The human raised his gloved hands and shook his fingers.

“Yes, yes I see,” Quill nodded. The professor bit his lower lip and looked up, “Cross might be able to help us.”

Xavier looked at the professor with exhausted confusion. His green eyes cut like two green u’s as he just stared at the stallion, “Wait, isn’t she the physician and Lead Mare of your herd?”

“Not Lead Mare, but close enough. You just stay here, I’ll be right back,” the professor said as he quickly slumped his saddlebag atop his back and watched as the human laid in full on his couch.

“So,” the white mare with two snakes facing away from each other for a cutie mark began, “You said that you heard lyrics while arguing with a unicorn and you said something in a language that you don’t recognize?” The soft white glow of her horn faded as she lifted an eye.

“Right, and right afterwards I vomited. But not just once, it happened again while I was running. I had to stop to just prevent it from spewing everywhere, and the last time was when I found a safe hiding spot,” Xavier said, drinking another glass of water.

Cross looked at her stallion with narrow eyes. The professor grinned back and looked at the human, then looked back at his mare, “Well, what you described sounds like a bardic incantation to me.” Cross shook her head as the tip of her horn lit up in a bright light again and she waved it across the human body, “But while bardic techniques can affect humans, they can’t impart curses. They can demotivate, maybe even instill despair, but they can’t curse.”

Xavier rocked his head in agreement, “I know, but I promise you, this is what happened.”

“Anything else?” The unicorn scanned his chest and moved towards Xavier’s left arm when he moved it out of the way.

“Please don’t scan the arms.”

The mare paused and lifted her eyes up at the human obstructing her, “That’s not how this works. If you want a full examination, I need to sense your arms.”

“Can’t let you do that,” Xavier pulled away. Standing up from the couch and stepping away from both ponies, he started to creep behind the sofa like a small child in the opening round of playing keep away.

“Right so, if you were a regular patient this is the part where I would tell you to get out of my office,” Cross said, glaring at Xavier with brown eyes. “But my stallion has asked for my help, so I’m only going to say this once: You either let me check out your arms or I’m done here. I don’t have time to waste on you when I have a shift in five hours.”

A faint stillness crept through the office as the three beings stood in deadlock. The unicorn and human stared each other down as the professor quietly swallowed. The clock’s ticking echoed through the workroom as no party budged until…

“All right, we’re done here. You ready to go home Scooter?” Cross turned to her stallion.

The professor blinked as he stood there for a moment, shaking his head.

“Scooter?” Xavier cocked an eyebrow at Quill. The professor gave a tense smile as he uttered a nervous chuckle. The mare kept her eyes on the academic, as she packed her scant few supplies.

“Listen, sweetie, light of my life, I know you take your work as a physician very seriously,” Quill gently lowered his head, looking up at his mare, “but my friend here has a good reason. And if he has a reason to keep that from you, I can promise you it’s a good one. And…” Quill approached Cross, keeping his head lower than hers, and started sniffing her shoulder.

The mare turned to look at Xavier, narrowing her eyes before turning to Quill and swiftly reciprocating his shoulder sniff, “You promise?”

Quill moved forward slightly and placed his snoot along the mare’s rib cage and inhaled. The mare glanced back over at Xavier, then swiveled her head back over to Quill’s rib cage and inhaled. Quill walked past the mare and turned to face her. Looking into her eyes as he walked forward and gave her a kiss, he spoke softly, “When have you known me to not provide when you’ve asked?”

A giddy smile erupted on Cross’ face as her horn glowed and she trotted over to Xavier, slowly scanning him with her magic. Keeping clear of the arms. She only touched him on the jaw with the dull tip of the horn, and pursed her lips, “There’s something inside you, it’s hard to explain.” Cross backed off and tilted her head. “You must’ve ingested some kind of enchanted food, potion maybe, because I’m picking up faint traces of something.”

Cross walked over to her stallion and got within inches of his face, “But whatever it is, it isn’t a curse. Maybe someone enchanted your food, and it just doesn’t mix right with your kind. Its probably trying to take effect but given that you’re well, only human…” Cross gently bit the upper lip of Quill and held it a few seconds before releasing, “Don’t eat anything for the next twelve hours, let it pass through your system, and let my stallion here know what happens, well…” She turned to face the human with a ditzy grin, “Well, when I finished with him that is.”

“You uhh... You may want to go ahead and leave Xavier. I’ll see you in a bit,” Prof. Quill once again sniffed Cross’ shoulder and gave her a gentle kiss followed by a lick.

Xavier lifted himself up from the couch and stumbled towards the exit to the office. Turning to look one last time at the couple, Cross giggled as Quill buried himself in her mane and deeply inhaled. Reaching for the lever handle, Xavier gently pushed down as he pulled the door open and pivoted behind it. He slowly backed out, then carefully closed it with a quiet click.

The clacking sound of hooves echoed from the closed room like children banging halves of coconuts together. Biting his bottom lip, Xavier swiveled and started to walk away, only to see an emerald pony glaring at him from down the hall.

“There you are!” Jade said as she approached and bared her teeth. Her head was lowered nearly level with her spine. “Do you have any clue what you’ve put me through?”

“Now hold on,” Xavier said, holding up his hands and backing up. “I know this looks bad, but I just got lost looking for the restroom and finally found Prof. Quill’s office.”

“Bullshit,” Jade growled. “You were nowhere on campus. You went out galloping across the city,” Jade started to slowly approach the human. “Did you have fun? Did you get a hooficure? Or maybe you went to get your rocks off at the red-light district?”

Xavier’s face melted from a smile to a serious look, “Or maybe I went to lay some flowers at the War Memorial.”

“Don’t bullshit me.”

“Go there right now. If you do you might still see the flowers I laid,” Xavier said gritting his teeth, “Six red, four blue, three orange, two yellow, two violet, one teal and one green. They’ll be placed to the right of the Earth mare at the monument.”

Jade glanced to her left and snorted, closing her mouth and lifting her head, her ears were still facing the human, “Here’s what’s going to happen. You and I are going to leave this place, and we’re going to go to the hotel where you’re going to stay while I confirm your story.” Jade leaned her head a little to the right, “If it’s true, maybe I leave this little incident off the report. If not,” she shot Xavier a murderous look, “You’ll be on the first train headed back to the Crystal Republic.”

Xavier lowered his hands and nodded in acceptance, Jade circled Xavier two times before suddenly nipping at his calf.

“The fuck?”

“That’s a warning. And your last one. Don’t ever disappear like that on me again,” Jade spat. “Now come, let me lead you to safety.”

Twilight quietly closed the door to her apartment and locked it with the chain. Facing the dark corridor she gulped as she took a step forward, her heart still racing as if she were still out there running. Suddenly, her rump dropped to the floor as she stared at the shaggy brown carpet that grew across her flat.

“A human…”

She lifted herself and made way to the window facing out the apartment and towards an alleyway, where not even gray light at this hour showered the flat. The quiet of night roared throughout the enclosure, it’s ambience trying to comfort the unicorn. The scent of dry flowers invited her to move forward and sleep, but the mare remained unmoving.

“Oh Celestia,” she sighed as she lowered her face into her forelegs, her chin feeling the soft brown wispy carpet as she closed her eyes and reminisced. Applejack’s voice rang in her head, as she remembered the details between her and her lover. Fingers, greed, and clothes. Her mind was pulling her back out the door and towards the university library, a place for anypony to study and learn. But her eyes countered her mind with exhaustion, calling for the old bed that she spent her nights on. Then finally, a deluge of thoughts at long last burst through the poorly made makeshift dam in her head. Who was he? Why was he arguing with Peppermint? Do humans know anything about magic? Does he know anything about ponies? Does she know anything about humans? Maybe they eat their mates after copulation? Twilight shook her head, remembering that Applejack was still alive and well.

Finally, her legs lifted her up and step by step she slowly walked towards the living room. She moved past the spool coffee table and her shelf full of letters. And beyond the kitchen and into the hallway that led to her quiet bedroom. By memory, she slowly evaded her book shelves and night stand as she collapsed onto the bed made for one. Magically lifting up the blanket, she covered herself and tucked her forelegs in when one final thought bled through: How in Tartarus am I supposed to find him again?