The rabbit-like creatures gazed curiously at the strange walking doll-thing that paced between them and the tasty snacks they so desired. As the doll paced, it lectured the bunnies as though they were a class of students.
“Now the unicorns,” the odd thing lectured, “are the perfect example of a fallen culture. It’s perfectly reasonable to assume their history was simply ‘lost’ when the magic disappeared. Let’s be honest, Bridlewood is a remote, backwards village. I try to be nice for Alphabittle and Gloomy’s sake, but it’s kinda a slum. It’s understandable that their historical records aren’t up to snuff.”
“But the pegasi, on the other hoof…” Ragdoll spun, pointing directly at a bunny trying to sneak around him to the snacks that were meant for ponies. The offending bunny let out a meep and took its place back with its peers attending the lecture none of them likely understood or cared about. “Their technology is actually far beyond anything Old Equestria could even dream of. They have computers, databases, and social media! There’s no way they just ‘lost’ their history. Logistically impossible! No, their history was clearly destroyed and/or heavily edited on purpose. Changing Rough Draft into a pegasus all but confirms it…”
"Who are you, mmm, talking to?" Sitting up was enough for Back Story to scare away all the rabbits. "Oh, aw. They didn't stick around." Despite any amount of disappointment, Back was already getting her things in order to move on with the journey. "Good morning. When did you wake up?"
“Oh, I'm sorry… I try to keep quiet, but the line between thinking and talking… I didn't mean to wake you. How much did you hear? I’m easy to ignore… I’m just a doll…” The doll withdrew on itself.
"Wake up," hollered Back into the tent she wasn't sleeping in. "Hm? Hear? I heard talking, and I woke up." She got to setting things up for breakfast with a little whistle. "Did I miss something?"
“I was there,” Ragdoll collapsed in a ragged heap. “I gave everything I had to the Text to send me anywhere else. I’m sorry for the way I behaved back at Pegasoft, but I thought I saw a thread back to what I remember… part of it.” Three strings in Ragdoll’s smile broke free and hissed like snakes. “I respect your work Ms. Back Story.”
Back clapped her hooves animatedly. "I love bringing ideas to life. They just need that extra little spice. That's part of, oh." She nodded to each pony and human emerging from the tent. "Breakfast will be ready soon!" With food protected, there was nothing stopping Back Story from creating a lovely meal for the group of them without difficulty. That they got a more secure roof for the disc also helped. "Eat up!"
“Please,” the doll begged the pegasus. “There are names… ‘Diane’... ‘Carrot Plate’... ‘Z-978’... The text insured me they would live…” The doll broke down entirely. “If any of you had records it was Zephyr Heights… I really wanted it to be a conspiracy… because then there would have been something.”
Back inclined her head at the upset doll. "Um… One of those sounds like a name, probably earth pony?"
Joypad sat next to the fire and accepted her bowl of tasty slop. "Mmm, but that is racist, just sayin'. There are a lot more unicorn farmers these days, I think." She got to chomping down on her breakfast readily. "How are you feeling?" She was watching David.
"Doing fine." He ate with a smile despite other factors. "You have a good sleep?"
"It isn't my sleep I'm worried about." She set her bowl aside, emptied.
“She was a unicorn,” Ragdoll said with a flop. “She was a Unicorn that had the courage to run away.”
“I'm a unicorn.” Gloomy wandered out of her tent. “I already knew I wasn’t the first pony…”
Joypad's eyes darted between the two. "Well, eat up. One of you at least, since I think the other doesn't eat?"
Back Story shook her head. "Are you powered by magic?"
“That’s… a good question…” Ragdoll scratched his chin. “When I made the deal that turned me into… well this… I lost almost all my physical senses. Kinda like a sleepless dream. I woke up around 20 years back when gloomy found me, but I still couldn’t move and no one but Gloomy could hear me until magic came back.”
“All the other unicorns thought I was just crazy,” Gloomy said blankly, as she scooped he doll up and placed him back on her hat, “It was cute when I was filly, but the older I got, the more they’d stare at me talking to my doll.”
Back tapped slowly at the ground. "Huh… Huh! Like… Like Return Two!"
Joy was helping clean up breakfast for moving. "The one in first person?"
"That one." Back danced with joy. "It's just like it. I wonder if we were inspired by things that could have been, or maybe are? Ha, listen to me get all philosophical."
David delivered a single pat to Gloomy on the way past. "Sounds rough at the best. Doing better now, I hope?"
“It’s… different…” Gloomy responded non-committedly. “It’s better that everyone else can hear Charlie and they know I’m not just talking to myself. It’s scary too. My friend could leave now, if he wanted.”
“I’m not gonna leave, Gloomy.” Ragdoll hugged her horn, the nearest part of the unicorn he could hug. “What we had before was great… but it wasn’t healthy. It was real, but it wasn’t real friendship. This is. Heh, maybe that’s what I’m powered by. Back in old Equestria they kept going on about how friendship was magic…”
"Like!" It was prompt enough to get Back Story rambling about another old tale of when friendship really was magic. Sure, it was in a foal's game, but nothing new was invented, just remixed. Her story was the first of many she was happy to share on the way to the unicorn town.
“Ya know,” Ragdoll opined to Back’s ramblings, “I guess that’s what I’m chasing, stories. That’s all that’s left of the world I left behind. God’s of Heck, is that what it was like for Iam? No wonder he went insane… Oh, wait… we’re here…”
The magical village of, er. David saw a sign to check that name. "Bridlewood," he said out loud while reading it. "Always thought that was a funny name, in a good way."
Joypad fired a finger gun, despite having no fingers, at the village. "It looks just as old-fashioned as the rumors."
Back Story sped up along the main road. "We're here! Let's get David all fixed so we can focus on the game."
“Our first stop is the Tea Room,” Gloomy led the way, “We have pachinko, skee ball, and pinball wall to wall. Alphabittle knows everypony, and everypony owes him a favor. If anyone in Bridlewood can help, he’ll know who they are.”
“Boss pony is a bit rough around the edges… and he’s ginormous…” Ragdoll rolled a foreleg in a noodly fashion. “But he’s good ponies. He comes off as a bully, but he respects if you stand up to him.”
David rapped the disc much as he had Gloomy before. "Machines loaded up." The disc followed him since he gave the signal. "Probably best to…" A pause came without asking. "Unload!" Yeah, that was the word. "We should unload the machines first."
“Hey boss man! We’re home! Could use some help unloading!” Ragdoll shouted from his perch as Gloomy walked into the Tea Room.
“You’ve got the Evermarsh consoles?!?!” An excited blue unicorn colt ran forward. “Just like they got in Maretime bay?!?!”
“That’s right kid,” the doll replied with a noodle wave, “The Crystal Tea Room now has real assed vidja games.”
“Back already?” A truly gigantic pale gray horse of a unicorn strode forward with a cocky smile. “I figured you two would milk this for at least a full week?”
“There was an unexpected medical emergency.” Gloomy explained tonelessly.
Back Story nudged David to the side. "Speaking of that, we have to go. Hay, do you know where the local healing wizards are? Tell me you have healing wizards."
"I don't think anypony actually knows." Joypad squinted at the great slab of unicorn. "Except the unicorns know at best. So, where are they?"
“Healing… wizards?” Alphabittal did a slow blink. “Also… is that a gorrilla? I thought they would be more furry… but what do I know?”
Back Story spread her wings to conceal the human behind her back. "Ha Ha, caught us. Thank you." She nudged back at David as she backpedaled, almost tripping over him before they both got moving.
"Dang it…" Joypad moved alongside Back. "I didn't think a unicorn would not know what a wizard was. What do we do?!"
Ragdoll heaved a heavy sigh. “A doctor. They need a doctor that uses magic to do doctor things. And David’s a human, boss, not a gorilla…”
“Don’t call humans primates,” Gloomy droned, “That's tribalist.”
And there was David, caught in the middle of everything. "Let's not get worked up. He's just a random unicorn. So he doesn't know a random thing, not the end of the, uh, world or anything."
“I mean we have doctors, are you hurt? Nurse Rhinestone is right over there playing pinball…” Alphabittle shuffled his massive hooves. “I’m just not sure what’s going on…”
Joypad's retreat stopped immediately as she twisted. "Where?! Wait, not a nurse." She skewed an ear off to the side. "We're talking long term icky bad things, not a quick 'ouch I cut something' or 'Ow, I broke a thing.'"
"It's complicated." Back was still facing him, just stopping her retreat. "So if you know any medical doctors?"
"With magic!" Joy flashed a great and hopeful smile. "Please."
“So you’re ‘hoomun’ friend has a disease, and you need medicine?” Alphabitle spoke very slowly and deliberately.
Back bobbed her head. "Yeah, a disease, but… I don't know. Maybe unicorn medicine is different than pegasus magic and will perk him right up. Who do we talk to?"
"Please." Joy was still smiling, eyes shining with that hope she refused to let go of.
“Well alright then,” Alphabittle replied with a smile, “You need to call on Dr. Feel Good…”
“He’s the that’ll make you feel alright,” Gloomy interrupted. Ragdoll looked straight at David. “What?”
Back still trapped David behind the concealing fathers of a pegasus. Not this stopped him from brushing a few protective feathers aside to get a peek. "Sorry about all this. They are very protective. I feel a bit… honored? It's nice that they care so much."
Back casually bapped David across his face with her wings. "Stop acting like we're not saving your life. So where's the doctor?"
The giant directed his attention directly on the partially concealed human. “Is this actually an emergency? I can get you in to see the doc in the morning when he opens his office, no problem. If you need immediate care I can call in some favors. But keep in mind, you are going to owe me some favors.”
Joy looked back to David, who was running where he had been smacked with feathers. It hadn't been a very strong hit, but he took offense from the frown on his face. "David, sorry, not trying to start anything, but we are trying to help you."
That caught his attention quickly enough. "I won't suddenly die if we have to wait a night. I've waited this'ong." The letters slurred together just a little without his say so. "No reason to kick up a fuss."
“Nurse Rhinestone!” Alphabittle called out. “I need a hoof here. Somepony go get Doctor Feel Good. This man needs his meds!”
"Man?" A nurse looked up from her game to see the ponies and their strange non-pony guest. "O-Oh! Well, um, this way." She abandoned her game and got to a firm trot towards the door. "This way." Once spurred, nothing seemed able to get her to slow back down.