The Ways of the Heart

“Twenty-four years. Two months. Four weeks. Nine days. It feels like only yesterday, but that’s how long it’s really been since that infamous day. It was the saddest of all endings and the strangest of new beginnings. The Exodus is the most important event in the history of all history. I suppose it would be like the discovery of fire or inventing the wheel back on Earth. Yeah, it’s that important. Of course, the story has a happy ending. However, what they leave out in the stories is what happened before the Exodus. In truth the anniversary of that day is one of sadness and mourning for us humans. Billions of people were gone in an instant, vanished without a trace and were never seen or heard from again. And even after all this time we still don’t know why it happened. No one even knows what happened which is why it’s often ignored. Tragic doesn’t describe how any of us feel about it.”

“But, like I said the story has a happy ending. If you’ve noticed, we had a real motive for calling it the Exodus. Something powerful and benevolent had rescued us from our deaths and led us to a new home. A very small fragment of our species was miraculously rescued away from the planet and transported to a strange new world to call home: Equestria, a realm where our myths and legends come to life. This world’s population is a weird composition of even stranger ‘people’; the dominant species is a race of candy-colored talking ponies. It sounds like something out of a kid’s TV show, but it’s definitely real. We didn’t know who had saved us at the time, but we were still incredibly grateful to them for giving us another chance at life. We welcomed the thought of having another home and looked forward to learning the ways of this new world. But, as with all things, everyone has that awkward first day in a place they don’t know.”

“When my people first arrived, I was only four years old. I was a little orphan boy without any family to speak of. One of my first memories in fact was arriving in our new home. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows though. I saw fear in the eyes of those strange pony-like creatures which actually doesn’t come as a surprise. How would you feel if a bunch of hairless apes just appeared out of nowhere? How about if they managed to appear in the supposedly well-guarded capital city? Disaster could have struck because the ponies were afraid of us and we were afraid of them. However, I guess you could say that curiosity was our real savior. There was one little pony among them that planted the seeds of friendship within us all. But with which one of us you may ask? That little orphan boy with no family to speak of. It was a small lavender-colored unicorn, possibly younger than I, looking from behind another pony in the crowd. I remember that as soon as I looked into its eyes, I saw something that distinguished it from the rest of them. Instead of fear, I saw curiosity. It was strange, but I actually felt a bond being made with that pony. Almost as if it knew the sort of fear and uncertainty that I felt at the moment. I wasn’t sure of what I was doing, but I stepped forward towards the pony with newfound comfort. As if it could read my mind it stepped forward at the same time. We both took another step, then another and another. I gave a small smile and it gave one back. The curiosity in its eyes didn’t diminish in the least.”

“Soon, we were about a foot away from each other. I got down on one knee to meet it at eye level. This time I could feel the warmth in the smile gave me. It raised a hoof towards me as if to shake my hand. In a tiny voice it said, ‘Hello’.”

“It was a very small voice, but it had a distinct sound to it. To me it sounded like I was talking to a little human girl. It scared me at first, but that quickly turned into amazement. Right in front of me was an animal that could talk just like a human. It was every kid’s dream to find one, and I had finally fulfilled it. It took me a while until I realized that her hoof was still pointed at me. I stared at it completely unsure of what to do. I knew that the pony didn’t have fingers, so there was pretty much nothing to shake. I mimicked what she was doing as best I could by making a fist. With it I gently bumped her hoof with it. I had no idea of this as a child, but a hoofbump is apparently a very good thing. In their society and culture, it is a sign of friendship, love and family. The rest of the ponies saw what just happened which told them that we weren’t so bad after all. One by one they started to make friends with us, and the tension between our races was gone.”

“And thus began our integration into the society of Equestria. It was a long and confusing process to accomplish, but the good that would come to the ponies and the humans made it all worth it. The confusion came from the humans’ intentions to create a high society among themselves. It was an effort to give humanity a voice of their own in Equestria and address their opinions about the government’s actions. Of course, the ponies’ matriarchal system of government was not accustomed to such a thing and many opposed it vehemently. On the other hand, or hoof if you will, Princesses Celestia and Luna thought it to be an intriguing concept and decided to create one of their own. Under their command, the ponies and the humans gathered their smartest scholars and wisest philosophers together to create a new group called the Senate. And with the creation of the Senate, a new system of government was born. The Senate would discuss the issues of the country and decide what are the necessary actions to take in order to solve them. After the discussion was completed the final say would go on to the Princesses, and the Senate was expected to respect their wishes. It would take time for the ponies to get used to it, but they found it more comforting to know that they could have a say in what would happen from now on.”

“As for humans and ponies living together, we came to a consensus among ourselves in terms of traditions. As separate races, we would be allowed to celebrate our traditions on our own. These include major holidays such as Easter for the humans, and Hearth’s Warming for the ponies. As for minor holidays, the ones with the most similarities would be celebrated together. Some of these include Hearts and Hooves Day with Valentine’s Day, the Mother’s and Father’s Days, and Halloween with Nightmare Night. Other than that, it wasn’t much of a challenge; all that was needed was for us to teach each other about social norms and cultures, and it was like we were no different from them at all. I’m not sure if it’s the ‘magic of friendship’ or not, but the way we live with the ponies has worked out much better than anything ever did on Earth. At least as I’m told today. Even with the harmony among races, the powers that be had a few ground rules laid. One of them included ‘no relationships beyond friendship between humans and ponies’. The Senate and the Princesses all claimed that because either species was incompatible with each other, it was unnecessary and immoral. Like dogs given steaks, the two species accepted it without a word. As for everything that has happened ever since, it’s just history. Nightmare Moon, the Elements of Harmony, Discord, the Changelings, King Sombra and everything in between.”

“Right about here is where my story comes into place. Who am I you may ask? Well, some of you already know me as that little boy who met with the purple filly. Before the day when my life spiraled out of control, I was just an average human living an average life. All except for one big and very dirty secret kept between me and a pony. It really isn’t exactly easy to explain unless you know how everything happened beforehand. So, I guess the best place to start off is right about here.”

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“Order up! One caramel macchiato!” I shouted. Shouting wasn’t something I really needed to do since the place was pretty much empty. That was a little unusual for a place like Donut Joe’s Café. At the end of a normal day, my throat would be raw from screaming over all the idle chit-chat going on. However, the only business we’d had all day was just a few stragglers here and there. Not like the long lines and high levels of irritability that we were normally forced to handle. It probably didn’t help that there was only one human besides me, Joe and another pony working there. It was almost one o’clock now, and the normal noon lunch rush was taking its time getting over there. The imaginative part of my brain first told me, ‘Zombie apocalypse!’. I admit it; I played a lot of Black Ops on my Haystation in college. Good times.

Several minutes had passed and no one had come to pick up their drink. I shouted one more time, but still no answer from anyone or anypony. I looked around to see if any of the customers were without drinks. There was a business suit guy sipping on black coffee and reading the paper. In a booth were two punkie kids sipping on a couple of energy drinks. I then noticed a girl sitting in a back corner booth next to the big windows. She had probably fallen asleep while studying for some big test going on today. Feeling a bit of sympathy for her, I went from around the counter and started over to where she was sitting. When I came closer, I realized that it was a biology textbook she was sleeping in. Always hated that subject. Not wanting to wake her up, I just set the drink on the table for her to have later. It would be better for her to wake up at her own pace.

“Hey buddy! Come over here!” I turned my head to notice that it was my boss, Donut Joe himself, calling me. Normally, he didn’t call any of us over unless it was important. Not wanting to keep waiting, I quickly backpedaled my way over to him. Once I was close enough, I turned on my heel and stood in an army-saluting stance.

“Yoooo Joe! What’s the go?”

Humoring me he said, “At ease soldier. Now listen to me; this is pretty important. I know that you’ve worked for me for many years now. I offered you a job when everypony else wouldn’t and you’ve done an awesome job so far. But, I gotta tell you something serious. It has to do with you, and it has to do with me.”

My anxiety got the best of me for a moment as I asked, “I’m not fired am I?”

“What? No, no, Celestia no! Not in a thousand years no! I’m just saying that you’ve never taken a single damn day off! You’re always the one to lock up the place, turn everything off and leave. Letting somepony else do it one time won’t kill you! I mean you won’t get an opportunity like today when business is slow for once. So, why don’t you use the opportunity and take a damn break already? After all, you’ve got that party this weekend and you should’ve been spending the day at home getting ready for it!”

“A-Are you sure? Because I can work the rest of the day if you-”

“Uh-uh,” he interrupted. “None of that. If you keep doing this to yourself, you’ll make me worry about you even more. I care about you, man. You’re like that long-lost cousin that I never had. So, take my advice and chill before you work yourself to death, okay?”

I tried to come up with anything that would argue against his point, but nothing. Joe always had the talent for winning arguments. After some careful consideration of his words, I made my choice. “What the hell?” I said with a shrug. With a slight jog I went back behind the counter, took off my uniform green apron and hung it up on my hook. I then grabbed my jacket and pulled my little punch card of the side pocket. I put it in the machine and with a satisfied DING, I was off. “See y’all later!” I shouted to my co-workers. They all said goodbye to me back, and I was off. Or so I thought. Before I could even make it out the door, I felt a small tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Sleeping Beauty standing there with a confused smile. She had tanned skin and long black hair with a pair of glasses covering her amber eyes.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have any money to pay for this. So, you can just take it back.” She started to hand me the drink with her expression fading a little. I noticed that she had dark circles under her eyes at least two shades darker than her skin. She probably needed some caffeine more than anything right now. I pushed it back to her with a hand which confused her more.

With a smile I said, “It’s on the house. Don’t worry about it.” The words must not have registered in her brain because I had to repeat it several times before she gave a response.

“Really? I don’t have to pay?”

“Not even a penny.”

She finally gave me an honest-to-God smile, and I swore that I could see a little twinkle in those eyes of hers. She motioned to the heavy textbook in her arm and asked, “Could you hold this for one second?” Confused but still being polite, I took it out of her arm and held it with one hand. Just as I was about to ask why she wanted me to do this, she got on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around my neck. She gave me a tender squeeze as if to silently say ‘thank you’. Her face was right next to mine and some of her hair was dangling in my face. It was very faint, but I could smell the scent of lavender on her hair. It brought me some strange sense of comfort even though she was a complete stranger. Then, she surprised me even more by giving me a kiss on the cheek. It was only a peck, but I could feel the tender softness of her lips on my skin. I felt a heat on my face as she finally pulled away from me. She looked at me with that same smile and said, “Thank you so much!”

And with that, she quickly grabbed the textbook out of my hands and went on. My brain was glitching on me as I tried to process everything. The only thing I could do was just stand there and wonder what the hell had just happened. I touched my cheek in the spot where she had kissed me and I could still feel the warmth from her lips. I still could smell the lavender from her hair and that strange comfort was lingering within me. I began to smile more and more until it was as big as a country mile. Screw what anyone else would think; I felt like Mr. Suave.

“Way to go buddy!” I heard Joe shout. It was then that I realized that I was still in the coffee shop. I didn’t mind if any of my co-workers saw what just happened. In fact, that only boosted my already sky-high confidence levels. I turned around to see if she was still there, but she was already gone. I felt a little sad that I didn’t have the chance to get her letter address or even her name. But even so, that girl lifted my spirits up. Admittedly, I didn’t have that much self-confidence about myself and the way I looked. I thought that was the reason why I could never get a girlfriend no matter how hard I tried. But, with the way that one girl treated me right there, I felt pretty damn good. And so, with an obviously new spring in my step, I threw open the doors and went on my way towards a beautiful day.

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