It was a few days before Twilight could seek out Jacob. She was a busy mare with a school to run. Jacob was, in her eyes, moderately low priority, especially with him being visible to the ponies of the town. He wasn't suffering, and she still wasn't entirely sure her input on the matter would make a critical difference.
Still, she had made a promise, and when she saw him there chewing a carrot and perched on his favorite bench, she wandered towards him. "Good afternoon, Jacob."
"Hey." He looked over her, applying his new super power to deduce that she was a little nervous about something by the way one of her ears was pinned back. "What's wrong?"
"Wrong? Oh, no! I'm fine." She smiled, forcing her ear up. "I was more concerned about you. Tell me, now that ponies can see you, have things improved, or deteriorated for you in terms of your quality of life?"
He tilted his head a little to the left. "That's a, uh, interesting way of asking how I'm doing." He began petting the bench next to himself. "I think I'm good. I think I'm... a little better? I have a girlfriend!" The last part he suddenly blurted, looking excited and perhaps a little terrified. "I never thought I'd have one of those. Um, since you're asking, maybe you can help?"
Twilight hopped up lightly beside him. "That's what I'm here for," she assured as she put a hoof to her chest. "Also, congratulations! The initiation of a romantic relationship is an quite the advanced step in socialization. You really are improving."
"I wasn't trying." He shook his hooves in the negative quickly. "It just... happened. She feels safe around me and I like being around her and we hang out a lot. The other girls said we were a... thing long before either of us did. I don't want to mess this up but I'm afraid I will any moment. She's the only pony I can't read."
"Can't read?" She lifted an ear towards him, looking faintly doubtful. "What do you mean, read?"
He gestured to that lifted ear. "Pony body language. Rose taught me and I'm still getting better at it, but it's amazing and it doesn't work the moment Lily comes into view." His cheeks began to burn thinking about her. "I just panic instead of reading."
Twilight's tensioned suddenly eased. "Oh, I understand." Nodding with building confidence, she patted his back with an extended wing. "You're nervous about failing this test and it's causing you to forget what you already know. But! There's an important factor you're not considering."
"What's that?"
"You already passed this test." She nodded softly once more. "Lily clearly wants to be your friend, and to be around you. You have nothing to prove. She has stated as clearly as a pony can that she enjoys you." Twilight pointed at him directly. "As you. You can be yourself."
"Everyone says be yourself." Jacob rolled his eyes. "Be yourself, be yourself. It--"
"--You have a girlfriend," interrupted Twilight. "I know those words can feel hollow when you're alone." She reached behind her head and rubbed lightly. "I mean, really... When I wanted to attempt romance, being told to 'be myself' felt like the worst advice, but you already did it. Whatever you are, she likes it."
"She likes it..." He sat up slowly, chewing on the words. "Yeah... She really kind of does. She likes it when I'm quiet. She likes it when I ask about her. She likes it when I get confused and just go quiet for a little while. She likes it when I ask what she wants and what she's thinking about."
Twilight set a hoof on his shoulder. "So maybe 'fixing' this isn't really what's needed, since it sounds like it's working quite admirably."
"Yeah..."
"Did I hear you have a girlfriend?!" Pinkie sprang out from nowhere, smiling up at the two on the bench. "Now we have a reason for a party!"
He considered that a moment, reading Pinkie. She was actually very easy to read, wearing her emotions on the outside without reservation. He could see she was joyful and excited. She was happy, for him. "Pinkie?"
"Yep?"
"Thank you, for being a friend." He reached down from the bench and placed a hoof right on her forehead. "Without you, I wouldn't be here."
"Aw!" Her happiness only redoubled. "Glad to be here!" She hopped up next to Twilight, placing Twilight between herself and Jacob. "Now about that party...?"
Twilight gestured to Pinkie, then Jacob. "You two have fun planning that. I should get back to work, but it's good we had this little chat. Feel free to stop by if you need anything else." She suddenly stopped. "Oh! You can seek out Starlight too, she's a counselor at the school and would be delighted to help."
Pinkie slid closer as Twilight jumped off the bench and took to the air. "Her schedule is always full." Pinkie rolled her eyes. "I mean, I get busy too, but she doesn't know how to just enjoy not having things to do, not like me and you." She suddenly threw an arm around Jacob.
Jacob blurt out a little laughter. "I'm just an amateur compared to the real expert."
"Ooo, who's that?"
"Rainbow Dash, of course."
"Someone call me?" Rainbow landed with a thump on the far side of the bench. "Hey Jacob, Pinkie. What's happening?"
"RD!" Pinkie threw her forehooves wide with a smile. "We were just planning a 'Congratulations on becoming special someponies' party for Jacob and Lily."
Rainbow burst into laughter, her tongue extending slightly. "How mushy. Not my thing, but hey, congratulations." She extended a hoof towards Jacob.
Jacob met it with one of his own, clopping the two together. "Thanks. How are things going?"
"Today's supposed to be a clear day." She extended a wing towards the sky. "And, as you can see, not a single cloud. My job is done! Speaking of done jobs, it's kinda nice not forgetting you constantly. Enjoying that?"
"It's a lot better," he agreed, nodding. "I... have a lot of friends," he said as if just realizing. Rainbow was a friend. Twilight was a friend. A lot of ponies knew him, even beyond a name, and they liked what they knew. Pinkie was a friend, even if she was everyone's friend. Then there were the flower mares, one of which had become a special somepony. "I never want to be a background character again, I think. Being in the--"
All was suddenly darkness. He was sitting on his haunches in the purest black void. He could see himself, but there was nothing else there, as if it was somehow perfectly lit nothingness. "Uh..."
It's been quite a while.
He peered at the words that formed in the air, glowing with a strange power. "We met before?"
You forgot? Rude. I gave you that form. I gave you this life. I saved you from your old one.
Jacob's eyes swept over the floating letters, reading them with faint muttering and moving his lips. "Wait. You're the one that cursed me!"
Is that how you want to see it? You haven't enjoyed this?
Jacob raised a hoof to his chin. "Why don't you come out?"
Come out? I am out. I am here. I am Text.
"No no, besides the words. You have a body, right?" Jacob squinted at the glowing letters. "Let me see you."
(annoyed) I don't have a body to read the signs of, so let me provide some helpful prompts. I cannot exist in the way you would desire. (calm) Let us return to the point. You wished to fit in, and I gave that.
"But I don't need that, not anymore. I fit in now. Ponies like me, as me." He stood up with a little half-smile. "I'm a good pony."
(placating)You're serviceable. (calm) But do you not want what I gave you?
"Do you mean being able to change? I like it... as an option. Can we just turn off the 'forget who I am' part? I don't want to be invisible anymore."
(emphasis) Anymore. (calm) You wanted it. Now you do not?
"Please?" Jacob smiled and reached out a hoof. "Thank you."
This experience has made you more polite. Still, this is your matter to resolve. My gift is given. You grow beyond it, and I will continue to watch. (skeptical) Don't bore me.
"Then I'll just introduce myself," he swore. "I'll tell everyone my name, and they'll remember me."
If you wish. This was your request, I remind. Do you want to return to humanity? I could send you home, lessons learned. You could find a human girlfriend, get a human job, do human things...
He considered that a moment, but when he thought of a human girlfriend, there was Lily, smiling at him nervously. "I can't leave her behind like that. That would be so mean... Besides, I like her."
Gone native, like so many others. Go on.
He was suddenly back on the bench.
Rainbow rolled a hoof at Pinkie. "Are you sure he wants a big party? No offense but he strikes me as more of a Fluttershy than a Pinkie Pie when it comes to party sizes."
Jacob shook himself out, blinking against the light of the sun. "Huh?"
"We were just talking about your engagement party," explained Pinkie happily.
Engagement? "We haven't decided on that yet! We're, you know, a couple, and that's cool."
"Right right, that." Pinkie nodded sagely as if that had been what she had said in the first place. "So do you want a big thing or a small thing?" She moves her forehooves far apart then close together to emphasize the words.
"I think..." He paused and frowned. "Lily would prefer a small thing, with ponies she knew well. Can you talk to her? I'll be happy with however many ponies are there. If I don't know them, I'll say hello." He smiled softly. "Saying hello is something I should have been doing before."
The greyness began to fade, becoming blue across his form in a slow line that started at the end of his nose and worked back over his body. His cutie mark remained, the smudged outline of a pony, for he could still stand in for others if he wished to. "But she's still coming out of her own shell, and I'll wait for her."
Pinkie suddenly had an arm around him, squeezing firmly. "I have passed the torch!"
"What torch?" Rainbow had a brow raised high. "Also you know you just... uh... colored. Are you standing in for a pony or something?"
Jacob returned the squeeze, both with one arm around the other, hooves at the other end of one another. "Pinkie helped me come out of my shell, and I'll help Lily. That's the torch, right?"
"Yup! But she's not kidding. You're all blue now." Pinkie tilted her head left and right, though she was not fighting the hug exchange. "Nice color, not that there's anything wrong with grey. My sisters are grey, you know."
"And she helped." He released Pinkie and stood up. "I should go talk to her. Maud was... great. Maybe she has some tips for special someponies, and she deserves a few more thank yous." It was only at that point that he really looked at his own arm as it moved to put his hoof down in front of himself. "Oh! Huh..."
"Yeah..." Rainbow smirked a bit. "You still Jacob in there?"
"I am Jacob," he stated firmly. "Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie."
Rainbow lifted into the air and reached, mussing up Jacob's mane with her hoof. "Already know you, but hey, welcome to the world of color. Pinkie, tell me when the party's gonna be." Just as suddenly, she was gone, darting off into the air.
Pinkie waved at Rainbow before pulling out a mirror for Jacob. There he was, a soft blue shade. He had wings on his back and no horn atop his head. "No more errors."
"And that's alright," he agreed with a smile.