Music Therapy, C2: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

>You're eating dinner at your desk when you notice a figure standing at your open door.
>It's her.
>Eyes wide, you quickly wipe the food from your mouth and rise to greet her.
>"I don't know what I'm doing here," she mumbles, as you walk over to the door.
"That's okay. Want to come inside?"
>You motion for her to take a seat.
>Silently, she steps inside your office. It's a cramped little space, but it's not like you're ever given any work to do.
>She climbs up onto the couch on the opposite side of the room.
>Hopefully, she can't tell that's where you sleep.
>You pull out your desk chair, turn it to face her, and take a seat.
"So..."
>"I don't want this to become, like, a thing," she says, abruptly.
"What do you mean?"
>"We can talk just a bit, and then I'm going home."
>You're a little surprised.
"I didn't expect anything else."
>"I mean I don't want you to try to doctor me, or pull some kind of human trick, or try to get comfortable or anything."
"Okay. I promise I won't."
>"If you ask me something I don't want to talk about, I'm just gonna leave. Those are my terms."
>Tough, but her just being here was already more than you expected to get.
"Deal."
>She settles into the couch slightly, but remains visibly tense.
>You start things off.
"I don't want to make a mistake asking anything I shouldn't, so maybe I'll start by talking about myself."
>She gives you a look of tacit assent.
"Let's see... I came to Equestria a little over a year ago. Somewhere over the rainbow, there's this place called Earth. Celestia picked me to be an Ambassador because I already knew a bit about this world."
>You go on, carefully omitting the part about just how well you knew Equestria.
"Other Ambassadors get to work with their home worlds a bit, but we're not allowed to contact Earth, so my job's—"
>"Why not?" she inquires.
>She's asking questions. That's a step forward, right?
>You grab your coffee from your desk behind you.
"Well, it's not a great place. There's constant war, crime, suffering. We have some really cool technology but it hasn't brought us happiness. Celestia won't risk bringing that pain here. I think the simple life keeps ponies happy."
>She stares at the floor. "It's not so happy."
"Oh."
>You made her sad, you miserable little shit.
"I guess I meant generally," you clarify, trying to get the conversational momentum back. "On average, ponies are happier than humans. There's always going to be outliers."
>She snorts in acknowledgement when you say that last word.
>"How'd you know about us before Celestia brought you over?"
>It was bound to come up eventually. You still didn't know how you should explain it.
"There was a kind of... story... about Equestria. About Twilight Sparkle, the Elements of Harmony, all that."
>Her usual cold apathy has given way to mild interest. "So you knew our history, and the Princess picked you."
"Basically, yeah."
>"That's fucking crazy."
>You nearly choke on your coffee.
>Sure, you knew that ponies knew how to curse.
>They just never did.
>She probably does a lot of things ponies never do.
"Yeah. Maybe it is."
>If only she knew just how crazy your story really was.
>But no point in scaring her off with the truth.
>"You left behind your entire life to come here? Your friends, your home, everything?"
"That's the way it goes," you reply. "Celestia said I could only bring one thing from Earth, so that I wouldn't taint this world. It was a tough choice. I always wanted to come here, but Earth has a lot of luxuries you take for granted until you have to give them up."
>She sits up, interested. "What'd you bring?"
>You pull out your iPod from your desk drawer and hold it up.
>"Am I supposed to know what that is?"
"The only thing I ever felt attached to back home. Music."
>Her attention's piqued. "That thing has earth music?"
>You smile.
"Yeah. Wanna listen?"
>She nods and you get out of your chair, taking a seat beside her on the couch.
>You hand her one earbud and put the other in your ear. She fumbles a bit, trying to stick it into her ear without the help of fingers, but she figures it out.
>You scroll through your music library, trying to land on a suitable song.
>Ten thousand songs and none of them feel good enough for her.
>To give her a good first impression, you mean. Of earth music. It's a lot of pressure, after all. Her first-ever song.
>Finally, you pick out a personal favorite of yours and turn the volume up so she can hear. She listens intently, staring off into space, focused on the music.
>You watch her face to gauge her reaction, but she doesn't seem to notice. Or she just doesn't care.
>The first minute in, she's completely expressionless.
>The second, she bites her lip.
>Third, she's quivering.
>Fourth, she's squeezing her eyes shut.
>Is she... gently swaying along?
>When the song ends, she slowly opens her eyes.
>You can see why she clenched them so tight. Tears are welling in front of those light pink irises.
>You never noticed how much detail is behind them.
>You never had a chance to, until now.
>Still trembling, she chokes out her review of the song. "I— I don't believe you."
"What?"
>You don't understand.
>"You said Earth is a horrible place. I don't believe you. Not after hearing that."
"Eri..." you start, "in every world, even mine, there's good and there's bad. There is beauty in all things, even if it's hard to see sometimes."
>You hesitate before saying this next part.
"Even in... you."
>Suddenly aware of the teary mess she's become, she pulls out the earbud and wipes her eyes. "I should go."
>Idiot. You definitely overstepped your bounds.
"Oh. Sure."
>She sniffles and climbs down from the couch. As she walks out, she pauses to turn back to you. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
>You weren't expecting that.
"Yeah. I'd like that."
>You return to your chair and look down at the iPod in your hand. It put you on the spot, but hopefully your song recommendation resonated with her.
>To be honest, you really didn't expect the evening to take a turn the way it did. You've never showed anyone your songs since you got here.
>No one ever asked.
>You pop your headphones back in. You want to hear it again.
>But this time, you want to see it from her eyes.
>Those crystal pink eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-Ooxpz0Eqk