Dominic stared at the wall, his eyes were bloodshot and ached painfully. Everything here was calm, too calm. If he let his guard down he could be jumped, he could be killed. His sleep had been fitful and he had awoken thinking that someone was trying to suffocate him. Since then had hadn’t close his eyes and he held his shotgun close to his chest. This type of calm wasn't normal, even before the outbreak there had been something. A siren in the distance, a bugling elk, somthing! His stomach growled angrily, he hadn’t eaten in a week. Slowly he moved his gaze from the wall to the bag, the food contained within was calling his name. But he stopped as movement in his peripheral vision caused him to instinctively whip out his revolver and take aim.

“Get a hold of yourself man!” He growled to himself, trying to calm his frayed nerves. He took several deep breaths before reaching out and grabbing the bag, to his relief nothing reached out to kill him. Still his hypervigilance refused to allow him a moment of peace. As he sat there in the hospital room he continued to see shadows in his peripherals, he needed to get his mind off of everything. His gaze fell on the sleeping mare in the bed, she had a soft smile on her muzzle as she made cute little snores. His mind began to wander to how he had once been a normal person, how he had always been a bit of a cynic but used his sense of humor to cancel it out.

Dominic looked down at the floor again. Another shadow moved in his peripherals again, he whipped around and still nothing. He felt his body starting to betray his mind, a cold sweat swept over his him. This always seemed to happen when he was alone, he always felt more on edge than ever when he was by himself. Sure Twilight was sitting right there but she was sleeping, he didn’t feel right waking her up.

He started hearing a squeaking wheel in the hallway, it caused him to start staring at the door intently. Again in just out of his peripherals he started to see movement, he forced himself to not spin around. Continuing to stare at the door and focus on the squeaking wheel, every few minutes it would pause for a while before starting up again. It was getting closer each time until it was finally outside the door to the room, It stopped and the door handle began to turn. A soft humming came through the opening door, a white unicorn mare wearing a nurses hat and carrying a tray of what looked like jello and greens stepped in. The second she laid eyes on him she gasped and almost dropped the tray, Dominic just stared at her.

“What time is it.” He asked, breaking the silence. The mare simply stared at him for a moment before shaking her head.

“T-t-twenty after s-six.” She stammered, Dominic nodded and looked to the bag he still held in his hand. Slowly he undid the zipper and reached inside. The nurse, he guessed she was a nurse, tensed slightly but relaxed as he pulled out a can. It had odd writing on it, similar to pony text but less elaborate. Like something a foal might write, simple but eloquent. She silently tried to translate what it said, Dominic coughed and she quickly blushed. She had been staring at the can intently for an amount of time that made it awkward. “S-Sorry.”

“Mhmm.” Was Dominic’s reply, inside however he was grateful for the distraction. He would have started shooting at the shadows if she hadn’t come when she did.

“I just need to give Princess Sparkle her medicine and I was told to bring her guest some food. Can you tell me where they went?” Dominic gave her a deadpanned stare, realisation dawned on her and she blushed again. Dominic sighed inwardly and nodded, the nurse trotted over and let Dominic pick up the tray. He took a sniff of the mashed up greens and recoiled with a disgusted look on his face. He set the tray aside, ignoring the offended look he received from the nurse, and looked back at the can he held. He rooted in his bag for a moment and pulled out an old can opener.

The nurse moved towards the sleeping form of Twilight Sparkle and gently nudged her with her hoof. Twilight mumbled something about avocados being the work of discord but did not wake, the nurse nudged her again. Slightly harder this time, this time Twilight moaned and pulled the blankets over herself in an absolutely adorable move. The nurse nudged her a third time, this time far more forcefully. Twilight jolted awake and looked about the room confusedly before noting a pain in her hoof. It was a soft ache, bearable but annoying. She remembered what had happened in a blur, Dominic busting into her room and dressing her wound, hearing him discussing his knowledge with Celestia.

“Your highness, It’s good to see you awake. I’m Nurse Namaste. Doctor Von Crop instructed me to wake you and give you these.” The nurse said in a cheery tone, the sound of metal on metal was in the background as Dominic began opening his canned food. Her gaze fully on the can and nothing else, Twilight looked at him for a moment before responding to the nurse. She let out a small yawn.

“Thank you, may I ask what they are?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Painkillers, Princess Celestia said that you could leave today but it would be extremely painful without these.” Namaste replied with a cheery smile, Dominic looked at her for a moment. She was missing a cutie mark, from what Dominic knew that was more than unusual. He coughed loudly getting her attention away from Twilight and simply pointed at her flank. She looked at him quizzically before a look of realisation passed over her face. “The hats we wear are enchanted to make us completely uniform. That means it hides our cutie marks.” She explained, removing her hat for a brief moment. Her coat changed to a deep brown but her mane remained white. An image of an elephant appeared on her flanks.

“Oh.” Was all that Dominic replied with, Namaste returned her hat to her head before returning her attention to Twilight. The alicorn smiled and brought the pills up to her lips, quickly downing the pills and drinking all of the water. Immediately the slight ache in her hoof subsided.

“Now you’re going to need to take two of these every four hours for the next week or so.” Namaste instructed. “Doctor Von Crop will be by later to give you your prescription. In the meantime I would suggest remaining awake, the pills work better when the patient is cognitive.” Namaste turned and moved towards the door.

“Thank you nurse, have a good morning.” Twilight said, Namaste simply nodded and left. Closing the door softly. The sound of the squeaky wheel soon followed, an awkward silence fell in the room. Twilight was staring at Dominic, his eyes were flicking all over the place. “Dominic?” His head snapped to her in a heartbeat, the bloodshot eyes were accented by several bags under his eyes. “I just wanted to say, thank you, for helping I mean.”

“Don’t mention it.” He stated. “Seriously, don’t mention it.” Dominic saw one of the shadows in his peripherals but didn’t move on it, Twilight would warn him if someone was going to attack him. Right? The minor amount that he had relaxed the day had disappeared, he looked even more tense than ever. Even when he was looking at her, Twilight saw his eyes constantly scanning the room.

“Are you okay, Dominic?” She asked, immediately realising how stupid the question was. Dominic however shook his head, his eyes still scanning the room as he did. “What’s troubling you?” Dominic stopped looking around and then at Twilight, his emotions and his thoughts racing. What was troubling him? Was it that he was in a supposedly fictional world that had no war or conflict that couldn’t be solved with friendship? Was it because he was expecting an attack that he knew would never come but couldn’t stop preparing for? Was it because so many other people in the world deserved to be here instead of him? He thought about it so hard that his right eye twitched several times. Then it came to him, he was troubled by all of it! The Outbreak, losing his family, losing his entire race, coming to a place he didn’t deserve to come to, all of it! But worst of all, he couldn’t put it into words. That one question had too many answers. Twilight must have noticed the twitching eye and clenched fists because she quickly changed the subject.

“Nevermind, lets talk about something else.” She eyed Dominic nervously, he seemed to have changed drastically. What had caused him to go from somewhat relaxed to completely on edge. “I noticed while I was going through your belongings…” Dominic tensed again. “That you had a strange device, Princess Luna identified it as a ‘MP3 Player’.”

“Really?” Dominic asked, genuinely surprised by the declaration. He remembered the can in his hand and finished opening it, the sight and smell of honey smoked beans greeted him like an old friend. “Where was it?” He asked, taking the spoon from the tray that had been brought and using it to eat directly from the can.

“The main pocket.” Twilight answered, Dominic’s head whipped to the side as another shadow moved. He shook his head vigorously in an attempt to stop the shadows, thankfully it worked. Twilight noted his behavior, but said nothing. Dominic hummed in response, his head was starting to clear.

“Odd, I always use that pocket for food. It’s impossible I could have missed it.” He reopened the bag and began to sift through the foodstuffs and ammunition but came up with nothing. “Huh, it’s not here now.” He simply shrugged and went back to eating his beans in silence with Twilight watching him.

“Aren’t you going to ask where it is?” She asked, he shook his head without a word. He was to focussed on his long overdue meal. He ate with a ravenous speed, it was amazing that he hadn’t choked from the sheer amount of beans he was shoveling into his mouth. He didn’t seem to have very good manners either but it was like watching a carriage crash. She knew she shouldn’t stare at it but she just couldn’t look away either. Finally after several minutes he had emptied the can, he tossed it into a garbage pail next to him and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket.

“So, what now?” Dominic asked, looking at Twilight. She shrugged, she didn’t know what to say. It was just starting to settle in her mind that she had pulled him from an entirely different world, and she had seen what it had been like through his dreams. His eyes drifted to the clock on the wall, it wasn’t even six in the morning yet. “You know, you’re very lucky. Very fuckin’ lucky. That round normally would have ripped your leg in half.” Twilight paled at the thought of losing her leg, how would she be able to serve her nation without her leg? She then noticed the neutral look on Dominic’s face, he was holding his revolver in his hand and looking it over. He pushed the cylinder out and examined the casings, one had been struck by the firing pin while the other five were intact.

Dominic popped the spent casing out of the cylinder and placed it on the table next to him, being careful to avoid the mashed greens and jello on the tray. His hand reached into his jacket’s inner pocket and came back out with a single round, it slid into the cylinder with ease before he returned the weapon to it’s fire ready status and slid it back into his holster. Dominic picked up the shell casing he had set down and stood from his seat, his boots clicked against the floor as he walked over to Twilight.

“Here, this is yours.” Dominic said neutrally, holding out the casing to Twilight. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow before taking it in her hooves.

“What’s this for?” She asked, Dominic shrugged before walking back to his chair and slumping back into the seat.

“I don’t know, just seemed right to give it to you.” He looked out the window, the sun was starting to crest the horizon. The early morning light lit up Dominic’s face and Twilight could see a frown was still being worn by the young man.

“Dominic, can I ask you something personal?” Twilight blurted out, she didn’t know why she said it. To her surprise though, Dominic nodded without taking his attention away from the window. “Did you mean what you said? About your race? They couldn’t have been all that bad, right?” Dominic looked at her for a moment before opening his mouth to speak.

“Not all of them, but most of them. At least where I grew up.” He said with a sigh. “Most of the adults were smart, I could carry on an intelligent conversation with them. The kids my age though, they were as dumb as a post.” Dominic pinched his nose before speaking again “Oh did you hear that Cuba is an island? I guess I can’t take my road trip there!” He said in an annoyed, nasal voice. Obviously mocking someone. He let go of his nose and growled. “Fucking morons.”

“Dominic, I have no idea what the geography looks like on your planet.” Twilight deadpanned, Dominic looked at her for a moment before chuckling. “But come on, that couldn’t have been everything, right?” Dominic paused and his face lost the look of mirth that it had seconds before, a look of ire replaced it.

“My classmates, they weren’t the nicest people.” He said with venom in his voice. “I always took care of my friends, when they were in a jam and I could help them I would. But what do they do when I need something? When I beg for help?” Twilight wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but Dominic continued to speak. “They turn their backs!” Dominic changed his voice for a moment. “Oh hey Dominic, I need money for lunch.” Then he changed his voice back to normal. “Sure, pal! and then a few days later I ask for my money cause I need to get gas for my car and they just laugh at me!” he changed his voice again. “What money?” Twilight was slightly nervous around the now fuming human, it was frightening how angry he could get in such a short amount of time. She could see his hands were moving as if he was trying to choke something. “And then! When I needed them most, the ugly fuckers decided to leave me for dead!”

“Dominic, calm down…” Twilight said, trying to calm Dominic. He had started pacing back and forth, it looked as if he was going to blow a fuse. Suddenly, however, his face softened.

“Sorry. I...I don’t know what came over me there.” said Dominic, he took several deep breaths which he released through his nose. “I just haven’t thought about…” Her rubbed his temples. “Them. For a long time.” His hands fell to his side before he walked back to his chair and sat down.

“Them? Your friends?” Twilight asked, Dominic only nodded. He was currently staring at the floor, taking more deep breaths. “What did they do?” Dominic looked at her for a second, she could again see the rage in his eyes. However it was subdued, like embers from a fire about to die.

“I don’t want to talk about it, lets just say I have a lot more scars than I should because of them.” Twilight looked at the clock, hoping that the breakfast with her friends and the princesses would come quickly. It was just passing five fifty-eight, there was still ten minutes until the Princesses normally ate breakfast. It was also when most of her friends would wake up normally, either to go to work ,or in Rainbow Dash’s case, train. Hopefully they would come to get them before then, it wasn’t that she didn’t like Dominic. He seemed nice enough, despite his rough edges and anger issues. What made her nervous was the fact that certain things seemed to set him off more than others, and she didn’t know what subjects to avoid.

There was also his constant whipping around, as if he thought something was trying to sneak up just out of his vision. The look of terror that flashed in his face for a moment as he whipped around was starting to become engraved in Twilight’s mind. Even with his temper that seemed so unpredictable, she couldn’t help but feel heartfelt sympathy. No one should have to constantly feel like they were about to be attacked, but still Dominic did. Her feelings were beyond mixed, he had the potential to be a great friend but at the same time a death dealing, unstoppable monster. She really hoped it was former.

Dominic was about to open his mouth to speak when another knock came to the door.

{♠}

2 Minutes Earlier…

Rainbow Dash and Rarity trotted down the hallway to the palace’s hospital, their objective was simple. Collect Twilight and the…. Thing for breakfast. So far the trip had been silent, but it was getting hard to ignore the elephant in the room. To them the creature ,Dominic, was simply a disaster waiting to happen. He was crude, rude and Rainbow could pick up easily how dangerous he could be. She was one of many ponies in the group of friends that didn’t like the notion of an alien that wasn’t from this universe. Her companion, however, didn’t share that sentiment.

No, Rarity had always prefered to give ponies the benefit of the doubt since the Zecora incident. That belief also translated over to interdimensional aliens, she and Fluttershy were the only ones to share this belief in the group of friends though. She couldn’t blame the other girls, most of the time their foes had been strange creatures from the unknown. It was only their nature to not trust the young ‘human’ ,as she had been told was his species name, but it would make befriending him and even more difficult chore. Something else was tugging at her mind however, in the short amount of time she had been near him she had caught a whiff of something on, no in his jacket. A scent that had been practically hammered into the rough and weathered leather. It smelled of copper and rotten meat. She had only smelled rotten meat once, when she had visited the griffon kingdom and passed by a rotting animal carcass on the side of the road. The scent was nearly impossible to forget.

The pair of ponies was getting closer to their destination, room 45B. Within a few minutes they would be with their friend. The silence however could not last and someone had to break it.

“Rares, what do you think of this thing.” Dash asked, Rarity didn’t answer immediately as she thought. He seemed like a very nervous, interesting pon- Person.

“Darling, I am still rather shocked at meeting a new life form.” Rarity replied. “As for what I think? I haven’t really gotten to know him yet, but from what I’ve heard he’s a little rough around the edges. I truly wish you would show him a bit of open mindedness. He helped Twilight after all.”

“Maybe he’s trying to lull us into a false sense of trust, maybe he’s really not some interdimensional alien and actually a regular alien that was sent to scout ahead for an invasion!” Rainbow Dash retorted, Rarity facehooved so hard that it was surprising she didn’t get a concussion.

“Rainbow Dash, please! Try to think rationally? Why is it you always assume that something different is a threat?” said Rarity with an exasperated huff. Rainbow Dash’s voice adopted a tone of stone cold malice.

“Because I care about my friends, I’m not gonna let some hairless ape hurt you or anyone else of I can help it.” She stated determinedly, visions of what had happened during Discord’s brief reign flashed in her mind for the briefest of seconds. The pair realised they were finally at their destination.

“We will finish this later.” Rarity said in a whisper as she raised her hoof and knocked, there was movement withing the room. A set of heavy footsteps echoed from behind the door before the handle turned and the door opened inwards. Rarity was hit with the smell of copper and rotting meat as she looked up into the face of Dominic. She thought she saw the faintest tug at the corner of his lips before he stepped back and allowed the two ponies to enter without a word.

“Hey Twilight!” Rainbow called, shooting Dominic a glare. Any normal pony would have flinched, but Dominic simply looked at her with his usual neutral, stoic expression. “We just came to take you to Breakfast.” Twilight smiled at her friend, not seeing the glare that had been dealt.

“Thank you Rainbow Dash, I’m starving.” She said with a grin, she was more than relieved that her friends had arrived when they did. It was hard to hold a conversation with a six foot tall, zombie slaying, nineteen year old, human. She looked at Dominic, still standing by the door with his hands held behind his back. “I’m sure Dominic is also a tad bit peckish?” Dominic simply pointed to the empty can in the trash.

“I’m fine.” He said, seconds later however his stomach growled. He groaned when grin spread across Twilight’s face. Despite her reservations, her inner scholar wanted to know more about Dominic. Observing how he acted with more than one pony around would be an interesting concept, he seemed to pick up on that. Of course he would, he knew a lot about her after all.

Rarity was currently sizing up the young man that stood by the door, his clothing looked utilitarian in nature which would make up for the lack of fashion if not for the strange mix of smells coming from it. The style of it was new to her, as was most of the materials. She had never seen the strange blue fabric that made up the young man’s pants before. It looked strong and durable, which would explain why he wore it. His jacket was battered leather, black with a dark grey hue. She would love to try and recreate a similar outfit for a pony, maybe the cowponies out west or the Stalliongradis in the north.

“Something you need?” Dominic asked, looking at Rarity with a raised eyebrow. The white unicorn blushed slightly and looked away, shaking her head as she did. Dominic shrugged and looked back at Twilight. “So, how are we getting you out of that bed?” He asked, Twilight opened her mouth to speak but stopped. How were they going to get her out of bed? She couldn’t walk on her hoof for another day, she would have to be carried. Rainbow Dash was able to do so in the past, but the new Princess had developed a small cake addiction. Before Twilight’s transformation Rarity was also able to accomplish the task with levitation, but Alicorns were more resistant to magic now. It would be far more draining on her friends, she guessed she would have to stay in the bed while Dominic went with them.

“Nevermind, I got it.” Dominic stated, breaking her train of thought. He began to move towards her, but Rainbow Dash stepped in his path. Dominic didn’t let this stop him however, as he simply stepped around her.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” Rainbow Dash started hovering in his face, Dominic’s face adopted a fierce glare.

“Firstly, get the fuck out of my face. Secondly, I’m going to carry her to breakfast.” He said in a cold tone. Rainbow Dash stared at him for a moment, her muzzle inches from his nose. She huffed and backed up, allowing him to move.

“I got my eye on you, monkey.” Rainbow snapped, Rarity sighed. Why did she have to be so hostile? If Dominic were offended by the remark, he didn’t show it. In fact Twilight could swear she heard a soft chuckle at the comment. Twilight looked at the shell casing in her hooves and tried to levitate it, only it seemed her magic was only absorbed by the strange metal. It seemed to shine a bit more than it had a minute ago. Dominic took the casing in his hand and examined it, then he put in his pants pocket.

“I’ll hand it back to you when we get wherever the fuck we’re going.” Dominic stated as he began to remove the wires attached to Twilight, he knew to turn off the heart monitor so that the nurses and doctors wouldn’t think that Twilight’s heart had stopped. Rainbow Dash watched the entire time, glaring daggers at the human. Dominic ignored her, it didn’t bother him that she was so distrustful. What bothered him was her constantly declaring it, like he hadn’t heard her the first time. When he finished undoing the wires he looked at Twilight. “You ready?” She nodded, Dominic scooped her up in his arms. To her surprise, he was actually quite gentle. She curled her legs up under her as he held her like a person would hold a dog.

Dominic felt her wings flutter a bit as he shifted her weight to be more focussed on his right arm, Twilight sighed while Dominic grunted. She was heavier than she looked, but he could handle it. It wasn’t like he had to carry her all the way across the castle right?

Author's Notes:

Here it Is!~ Sorry about the wait, hope it's up to snuff.

Now! I'm off to try out GTA Online for the first time, then the next chapter will be started.

As always!

Like! Fave! Comment!

-Cieli