It was the end of the day, and I had just got off of work. I had a pretty rough time in the woodworks. I felt I deserved some relaxing time.
My Empala wheels splashed through the puddles while I drove through the Equus slums with thunder cracking overhead. I took this route because it was the fastest, even though it was considered disgusting from the little creatures.
Rain downpoured harder, so I slowed up a bit. Then something heart wrenching caught my eye.
I know it was taboo to have feelings for these invaders, but I have always hated the way we treat them. Since the day they arrived they might as well have been Jews to us Nazis. But seeing this young pony sitting under a sopping cardboard cover, completely drenched and starving and miserable, made me weep within.
I stopped my car near the curb, startling the filly. She wanted to run, but she was obviously too weak. She was expecting to be beaten like the rest.
I stepped out with my umbrella and approached her. Fear remained in her eyes the whole time. My umbrella stopped the rain from pummeling her as I kneeled to her eye level.
"Do not be afraid. I want to help you," I said to her. She looked like she was ready to fall apart and die. This sight was heartbreaking.
Thunder clapped above and shook the air. The filly jumped and slammed into my arms to try and hide. Her body trembled against mine as I wrapped my arms around her, the umbrella covering us from being poured on.
"I'm going to take you home with me. I can't leave you like this," I picked her up, her head hidden in my neck and my one arm under her.
I carried her to my car and opened the back door, gently setting her inside. I cared not that the upholstery was getting drenched.
As I drove home to the more wealthy human neighborhood, the filly would startle at the sound of thunder. It saddened me so to see such a cute being under such malicious care. I feel if I did not save her, nature would have had her way.
My garage door opened to the presence of my pulling in. Driving in and out of the rain had a warmer feeling to it. I got out and opened the back again to retrieve the young pony. I picked her feeble body up and held her against me as I carried her inside. I set her on my couch and quickly obtained towels from my closet. I draped them over her soaking body, massaging the cloth into her fur. Her face remained solemn, almost lifeless. She was grey to the world, very much like death.
"I'm going to make you some soup. I'll be right back." The kitchen lights came on to my motion, and I set down the bouillon and some vegetables.
The soup was warm, not too hot, and full of flavor. I brought it into the living room with a dining tray to set it upon. The filly lied there, unmoving, except for her dull eyes watching my hospitality.
I moved the spoon from the bowl to her mouth, and she sipped from it. Well, at first it was a sip. She must have been so starved, she tried slurping from it hungrily and it spilled around her mouth. I continued to bring spoonfuls to the young one. Her stomach growled, finally having something to digest.
"So, what is your name, if you want to tell," I fed her the last of the soup.
"My uh... name... it's Star. Star Bright," She wiped her chin with her hoof. Her voice was much deeper than that of a filly. She must have been older than I thought.
"Thank you. I could'a swore that all humans were evil. I just... can't thank you enough."
"I couldn't see such a tragic thing and ignore it. I don't want to be like the rest of these disgusting creatures," I sighed. I knew how evil my kind was. I wanted no part of it.
I noticed that she probably hadn't had a shower in quite a while; she smelled of wet dog.
"I know you are just now drying, but how about a warm bath?"
"Sorry. I don't mean to stink," She kind of smiled. It was weak, but I was glad I could get one from her.
I warmed the water to a bearable temperature before I plugged the drain. A light steam danced from the surface of the water. I then carried the exhausted pony from my couch and set her into the bathtub. Her fur waved like anemones under the water.
"You're fine with... washing me? Like a child?" She looked up at me. I hadn't even started washing and the water was turning dark and oily.
"I do not mind. I want to take the best of care with you," I smiled and poured a glob of shampoo into my hand. I set it into her back and started scrubbing gently with both hands. Up around her shoulders and neck, through her mane, her chest and around her legs, I scrubbed dirt and untangled ragged tufts of hair. I had her stand up and I scrubbed down her back and from her cutie mark I jumped to halfway down her hind legs.
"Yeah, I can get my butt," She giggled. I shrugged my shoulders and gave her some soap on her haunches.
After we rinsed off the shampoo, we had to drain the tub and fill it again. It was nearly black.
I conditioned her and when we were finished I lifted her out onto some towels and dried her. I couldn't get her completely dry, but it was fine. I brought her back to the couch and sat next to her.
"It's kind of chilly in here," she shivered. Her coat shone like a glossy new car, much better than the dirt ball she was before.
I pulled the blanket from being draped over the top of my couch and onto her. I tucked it around her and she snuggled into it.
"I don't know why you are so kind. But uh... thank you."
"Do not mention it. I want you to be taken care of; much unlike the rest of your kind. I am ashamed to be related to such abominations."
The thunder snapped and shook the house. Star Bright tried to jump but was stuck in the blanket, so I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close. Her body was relatively cold, but I quickly warmed it up with my embrace. Listening to the rain and thunder, I held her until sleep drifted over us.
I awoke with my arm over Star and my face pushed into the nape of her neck. She snored quietly, and her belly lifted and fell with every breath. I checked the time to see how long I had slept. About seven hours. That's the most sleep I've had in a long, long time. This now warm little pony helped me break my average of two to three hours.
I pulled myself up and looked out the window. Rain still came down, but not as hard. I decided it was time for breakfast, though it was two in the morning. The weekend was nice to have after work.
"What do you like to eat for breakfast?" I shook her shoulder.
"Huh?" She opened her cute little eyes and sleepily rolled to look at me. I repeated myself.
"Oh, I like raisins in oats, but I haven't had them in such a long time," she struggled to pull herself to a sitting position.
"I happen to have raisins and a few packages of cinnamon oatmeal. Would you like that?" I helped her up.
"Uh, yes... please?" She was still obviously shy of me. I proceeded to make us breakfast. We ate and I turned the television on. She was entranced in the process of how things are made on the science channel.
"Do you have any where to go?" I asked after taking our bowls to the kitchen. She looked solemnly to the window. "Would you like to stay with me? I will take care of you."
"It's... really weird being as old as I am and being taken care of... I don't like to impose."
"I do not mind. I will enjoy your company. That is all I would like from you."
"You don't have your own special somepony? Or anypony?"
"No, unfortunately I do not. I have been alone my whole life, with sketchy girlfriends that do not last very long."
"I like the way you talk. It's very... formal... in a sense." She smiled. I couldn't help but to smile back.
"I only talk the way that I do because I have no one to talk to. So practicing English with myself turned it proper. Or of the such. I am just too smart for the likes of most people..."
"I like smart. I hate it when stupid ponies get all the good stuff."
"I understand all too well." I shook my head. She still looked to me, but in less of a shy manner. Almost studying my face as though her mind wandered.
"I have this feeling..." she drifted in her words.
"Yes? What is it?"
"I've never met somepony so caring and kind... I think about you and I feel safe and... loved... but I don't even know you... why I'm having these feelings..."
"I am happy you feel safe. You are very welcome here."
"No, I mean... I've only known you for less than a day and it's like... love radiates from you and into myself," she held her hoof up to me. I wasn't sure what she wanted. "Will you hold me?" She smiled awkwardly.
I held my arms open as Star stepped onto my lap and laid her body against my chest, sinking down and relaxing on me.
"This feels so good. To have somepony..." she rubbed her cheek up and down my chest slowly. I rested my arms over the little pony and caressed her. I had the same feeling she had. This love for her was unbearable. She made me feel whole again, like I filled the lacuna that burdened my chest with heavy feelings of death. She sucked that feeling right from me and it dissipated into the air.
"I... I love you..." she whispered. I heard her perfectly.
"I love you like none other," I pressed my head to hers.
