//------------------------------// // 2 - Mental Breakdown // Story: Far is the Star Called Sol // by Omnicron25 //------------------------------// Far is the Star Called Sol Chapter 2: Mental Breakdown Twilight made exhausted strides back to the cottage with her saddlebag full of books and dark circles under her glossed over purple eyes, and looked up to see Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and two other mares waiting for her. The first was a unicorn that had a white coat with an elegantly curled purple mane and tail and three sapphires as her flank symbols. The second was an earth pony that had an orange coat with a yellow mane and tail each bound at the end with red ribbon and her symbols being three red apples. "Mah, Twilight, yer lookin' mighty tired. Are ya alright?" observed the orange mare, which had a Deep Southern United States accent, with a concerned expression. "Yes, darling, are you feeling well?" asked the white mare, which had a Trans-Atlantic accent. Twilight just gave the group an apologetic expression as she said, "I'm sorry everypony. I've just been spending a lot of time trying to find out what Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy found in the Everfree Forest, but I couldn't find anything. Not even the Canterlot Royal Library had anything similar to it." "So, you're saying we found a completely new thing?!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie excitedly as she began to hop around the group of ponies. "Well I've never seen it anything like it before, and I've been to a lot of different places," sounded off the abrasive voice of Rainbow Dash with an almost bragging tone. "I've never…" began Fluttershy, but was cut-off by Pinkie Pie who was hopping around even higher now. "I know! When it wakes up we should throw a party for it! I bet it loves parties! Is it a he or a she?! Wonder if it has a name, or if it even knows how to talk…" she started while hopping, but everypony refocused their attention to Twilight. "Anyway, I think a memory spell should work. I should be able to find out a lot from that, and maybe be able to find out if anything else had happened before the teleport that could be harming it that we don't know about." "Twilight, I don't think you should do that," strongly argued Rainbow Dash as she landed in front of Twilight. "Why not?" asked the orange mare with a questioning look. "The reason I helped him to start with is because it asked for my help! I don't think Twilight should do it because I wouldn't want my memories gone through if I was in its position, and I doubt you do either, Applejack!" exploded Rainbow Dash in a defensive tone while starting to hover in irritation. Applejack averted her eyes downward a bit ashamed and started, "Well, no… ah…" "Wait a moment, you never told me it talked to you, Rainbow Dash!" interjected Twilight in astonishment. Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head with her right front hoof and said, "Well yeah, it asked for my help and reached out to me before going unconscious. I had to help!" "I know you were in a lot of shock when we saw you, Rainbow Dash, but it might have a serious medical condition that we don't know about," argued Twilight, "It might need medication, because you saw how thin it was!" "Well, I think he might be…" started Fluttershy, but Twilight jumped in saying, "See even Fluttershy agrees with me!" "I…" attempted Fluttershy again a bit more shrank back this time, but Rarity interrupted her by accident saying, "I think both of you have valid reasons, but if what Twilight says it true, then maybe we should at least look at its recent memory to see if it was taking any medicine." "Ah don't know, but ah think it's fer a good cause, Rainbow Dash," agreed Applejack. Rainbow Dash just looked at her friends in shock before pleading, "Think about what you're about to do?! It is definitely not cool to just look into somepony's memory! I think we should wait until he wakes up!" "I agree with, Rainbow Dash. I… I hope that's okay…" said Fluttershy nervously, but her voice was too soft for anypony to hear. "It is a four to one vote, Rainbow Dash. I'm just going to see if it needs any medication or if it has any advanced knowledge of its own biology," stated Twilight definitively, "I won't look at anything else." Rainbow Dash finally gave in by crossing her forelegs and retorted with a huff, "Fine, but if it's mad at you, don't come crying to me." "…will just absolutely love the cake! Oh! Then, we can…" abruptly stopped Pinkie Pie after noticing the tension that had built-up between her friends. "What did I miss?" "It's jus a little dispute, Pinkie. Twilight's gonna look at some of the critter's memories 'n' make sure nothin' else is wrong with it," explained Applejack with a bit of uncertainty. "Okie dokie lokie!" said Pinkie with her usual enthusiasm as she hopped into the cottage and the others followed suit. After a few moments, the gang had filed into the bedroom with Twilight standing on the right side of the bed. "Alright, I need absolute silence so I can concentrate correctly. Does everypony understand?" Fluttershy just looked at the floor and scratched it a few times with her hoof, Applejack and Rarity just nodded, Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in irritation, and Pinkie Pie shoved both of her front hooves into her mouth. "Alright," said Twilight to herself as she bent her head down until her horn was touching the bandaged forehead of the creature, and began concentrating on the spell. At first, it all seemed normal with brief flashes of its memory that matched her search, and made her realize it needed medicine to just stay alive. With enough information gathered, she started to pull away, but something latched onto her magic and started to pull her deeper into the pool of memories. She attempted to pull away franticly, but it was no use. She was pulled under the pool of memories and her vision went dark. Outside, however, everypony noticed that Twilight was making odd pulling away motions, but none of them dared say anything until she collapsed into a heap next to the bed. "Twilight!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she quickly flew over to her fallen friend and attempted to shake her awake. "Come on! Wake up!" It did not work though, and Applejack said, "Ah'll get a bucket-a-water," before heading out of the room. "I thought Twilight looked tired, but I guess she REALLY needed a nap," said Pinkie Pie as she bounced out of the room after Applejack. Something is not right," observed Rarity with a thoughtful yet surprised expression. "I've seen Twilight accomplish much more difficult spells than this without even breaking a sweat. I do hope she is alright." "I knew something bad was going to happen, but this is horrible," commented Fluttershy sadly as she approached. "She must be exhausted." "This is what you get for invading other pony's memories," said Rainbow Dash bitterly, "I hope she's alright." -X-X-X- Jason Nalick was in what seemed to be his apartment's living room, but it was strangely clean and the furniture seemed off, but he could not place what or why. The teen human started walking around through the different rooms hoping to find some sort of clue as to what was happening, but the other rooms seemed distant and blurry. After several minutes of looking around, he sat on a large ugly orange chair in the living room. It had been one of the most comfortable chairs he could remember ever sitting in, but that was just it. The ugly orange chair was thrown away when Jason was fifteen. Therefore, this could not be his house. Either I must be in my memory or maybe I'm just having a dream. There's also the possibility that I'm dead too, He thought to himself as he sat and waited, but suddenly the front door opened to reveal a ten year old version of Jason bursting in with joy with his mother following close behind. This made him realize he was just reliving his own memories. The sight made something in his chest itch, but the young man knew the feeling was not a physical one. It had to do with his locked away emotions. A pang of regret maybe? He could not say. Suddenly, Jason found himself disgusted and unable to stand the scene any longer. He walked out of the front door and into a different memory. This one was shinny and laminated like he was observing it though a pane of glass. It had large war robots firing lasers at each other and many of them exploding pink as they were hit. This must be an episode of Gundam SEED, the teen thought boredly to himself before he jumped and changed memories again. -X-X-X- From Twilight Sparkle's point-of-view, she was absolutely terrified of what she was witnessing. It was a scene of the monkey-like creature strapped to a chair with a gag in its mouth being forced to watch others of its kind being murdered. She looked to the creature and found that his face was devoid of emotion. There was not even a sign of remorse or resignation about it, only a cold calculating distant gaze. "What is wrong with you?!" yelled Twilight with tears in her eyes, but the creature did not answer. It did not even look at her. Of course he won't, this is a memory She ran away from the horrible sight, and into another memory. This one had the creature rushing another larger one of its kind to save the one the larger is choking to death. Unfortunately, the larger creature hit it with one arm without letting go of its victim. This made him sail into a wall and rendered him unconscious. This made the scene change again. Now, Twilight is witnessing a much younger version of the creature that was sickly pale with extremely dark circles under its eyes and almost no rise in its chest as it lay on a couch. The scene made tears threaten to stream down her face again, but she held them back. She wanted to shake it, talk to it, make sure it was alive, but found herself unable to do anything at all. It opened its eyes and looked her with almost lifeless dark metallic green eyes and attempted to say something, but it just closed its eyes again making the scene change. Now, she was sitting in a tree looking over a hay field that was blowing gently in the wind with puffy white clouds gliding overhead through the sky. She noticed that she was not alone. The creature was sitting on the branch next to her with a face devoid of emotion, but strangely relaxed too. It turned to her with its metallic green eyes emanating a calming effect and asked, "So, are you a figment of my imagination or an avatar of my emotions trying to revive themselves?" His voice, however, was so cold that Twilight found herself give an involuntary shiver. -X-X-X- From his point of view, Jason stared at the small cartoonish unicorn next to him and let his eyes meet her teary large purple eyes before asking, "So, are you a figment of my imagination or an avatar of my emotions trying to revive themselves?" He noted that there is no emotion in his voice, not even a hint. He also noted a small shiver from the equine-like being. Possibly fear? After a moment, the unicorn looked at the human with a confused expression, seeming to have gotten over her momentary fear, before saying, "No, but you can speak?" Jason frowned disapprovingly. "Yes, but you invaded something precious to me and made me remember things that I would rather forget." The unicorn's eyes were threatened with tears already, but that was the final thing needed to make the tears begin to streak down its cheeks. The teen sighed and scratched the back of his head before turning to her again and said, "Look, I'm sure you're scarred enough by just seeing my memories so I'm just going to say we're even. Deal?" "I'm so sorry," she sobbed apologetically as she hung her head and tears continued to flow. "Uh, I said you're forgiven, but anyway my name is Jason Tiberius Nalick. I prefer to be called Na…" the young man began, but he noticed that the unicorn was still sobbing. This made him sigh again, though this time in irritation, and pinch the bridge of his nose. He had no idea what to do so he just put his hand on its shoulder and said with an attempt at emotion, "I'm sorry you saw whatever you did, but are you going to be okay?" The unicorn stared at the human. The tears seemed to not flow so intensely, but something in the back of Jason's head told him he should be feeling an emotion right now. However, his iron vice did not allow any more than an itch in his chest again. The only thought that crossed the teen's mind was purely analytical, From the sound of her voice, the immense amount of emotion, and coloration, I'm guessing this unicorn is a female or just a child. Course, it could also be male I suppose, because who knows what a equine-like being is supposed to sound like anyway? I hope this is all just a coma-induced dream or something, 'cause this is just getting strange. "I-I'm sorry for you. You can't feel emotions can you?" asked the unicorn shakily still trying to recover from the horrible scenes she saw. Jason sighed. "I've had to teach myself not to. I used to be quite a happy person." "What type of place would make you seal up your own emotions?!" asked the unicorn in horror. "My home, my world, my life," he replied flatly, "I haven't ever been able to understand emotions properly either. You've seen what I have… or enough of at least. You know what type of world does this." "Emotions are not something to understand! You have to feel them, you monster!" yelled the unicorn in near anger. The young human quickly withdrew his hand and held his palms open in front of him. "My world is far from kind to those with emotions! It is a weakness even if I wish it weren't!" Jason retorted defensively. "Now, I am no monster! I'm just human!" "Human? What's 'human'?" asked the unicorn with curiosity as if the previous conversation had never happened. "My species is known as humanity, the worst species to ever walk the face of the Earth. I just happen to be unlucky enough to be a human. You have no idea I wish I wasn't," the disgruntled teen explained defensively. "Now, I would like it if you got out of my head, and I could get out of my memories. Please and thank you." "Earth?" asked the unicorn pony. The human face-palmed and said, "You can interrogate me all you want once we are OUT of my head!" "I-I don't know how," admitted the unicorn with a worried expression. Jason raised a brow. "Then how in hell did you get in my head to start with?" The lavender pony-sized unicorn sighed. "I was just using a skimming memory spell to see if you needed any medication or if you knew anything advanced about your biology, but somehow I was dragged into your memories." "You should have waited. I can live for months without my medicine, and my biology is not really any different than a great ape which is what my race evolved from," the annoyed human explained in a flat tone. "Now, you got me off track, and I have no idea what we were fracking talking about." "We were just talking about how I got stuck in your mind," explained the unicorn with a sigh. "Ah, well now, how bout we find a way out of my mind. I think we should just be able to follow my memories to the most recent one, which I would assume would get us out," he proposed with a scratch of his chin hair. "Anyway, I don't know if you heard my name earlier, but it is Jason Tiberius Nalick." "Jay-son Tie-ber-eus Na-lick?" asked the unicorn fumbling with the alien words. "Uh, Jason is fine. I know my name is hard to pronounce," he said with a shrug, "So, what's your name?" "I'm Twilight Sparkle," she said the purple mare with grin. "I'm sorry I called you a monster earlier. I was just a bit overwhelmed." Jason gives her a unenthused thumbs-up. "It's cool. My life has been worse than most, better than few, but I wouldn't call it an easy life. If I had just met me in my memories, I would have been horrified too. Your name sounds familiar though, but I can't place it." Twilight jumped down onto the ground and turned back toward the human. "Maybe we'll find out together." The pale human jumped down too, but then they both started to fall into a black abyss with a light at the end that seemed like blurred vision. "I don't think that's gonna happen yet." "The spell must have been broken, and I must be waking up," observed Twilight as she glanced at the young man. "Good luck, Jason. See you soon." With those parting words, she fell into the light while Jason stayed suspended in the darkness, but now he could hear voices. One sounded kind of British, another sounded similar to Twilight Sparkle, a third sounded rough and brash, a fourth sounded like a hyperactive enthusiastic kid, and a fifth that sounded like a deep southerner. They were all, he was guessing, female though. That made him a bit uneasy though he could not really make out what they were saying yet. However, the voices were getting clearer and clearer. That accounted for five. However, in his mind eye there was one more presence that was not talking too scared to do anything "…ya really had us fer a scare there, Twi," finished the southern accented one. "I told you not to do it, Twilight, but you just didn't listen!" yelled the brash one, "I told you to just wait for him to wake up!" "I-I'm glad you're alright, Twilight," quietly said a sixth voice. "Thanks, Fluttershy," answered Twilight, "and Rainbow Dash, I know you were right, but Jason already forgave me. I will not be doing that again though." "Jason? Is that the thing's name?" asked the British sounding one. "Jason isn't a thing. He is a human, and no, he isn't from Equestria either," answered Twilight. "Oh! Oh! We should throw a really big party for him then!" yelled the hyperactive one. "Ah think we should let the poor fella heal up first, Pinkie," said the southerner with a hint concern. "I know that silly! But big parties need lots of work!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie. Jason just let himself unfocus from the voices and concentrated on opening his eyes. At first, he had to shut them immediately, because the light hurt. Slowly though, the injured human was able to open them again and allowed himself to look around the best he could while laying down. Jason could sort of see a group of ponies off to his right around a pony that looked like Twilight, but it was the cyan blue pegasus pony with the rainbow mane and tail that caught his attention. So, it was one of the ponies that saved me? They all must be friends or something. After that thought occurred, he made the mistake of attempting to sit-up which racked his body with agonizing pain that made him sputter, "F-Fuck! That hurt!" This made all of the ponies jump with surprise except for one which was cream colored. "Oh, don't move! You're badly hurt!" almost yelled the soft-spoken creme pegasus pony with a long soft pink mane and tail. He heard the pony was called Fluttershy and identified her as the fearful sixth presence from earlier as she ran to Jason's side and gently pushed him back down with her front hooves. "I-I kinda figured that out," Jason half-chuckled and half-coughed with his eyes starting to water from the pain. "How bad off am I?" "You are going to be just fine," reassured Fluttershy with concerned look in her eyes. She let her front legs drop back to the floor. "It will take a while for your broken bones to heal though. I-I hope that's alright." The teen noticed a definite deflation in her confidence at the end of her sentence, though he was not sure whether or not it was just an attribute of her personality or if he was actually gravely injured. The young man forced a smile through the pain. "I consider myself lucky to be alive after a fall like that," the human said though inside he was extremely nervous. I hope the horses in this world are not carnivorous. That could be a problem, because I could be dinner, but wait… why would they keep me alive then? Maybe they want to… The thought almost made him scared, but he forced the fear down thinking, No, they won't experiment on you… oh I hope to God not. Now I know how aliens in Area 22 must of felt. He is not sure where the memory came from, but it makes the pale human shiver noticeably. "I'm surprised you're awake already, Jason," said Twilight with much enthusiasm. Her presence was by far the most powerful in the room followed by the British sounding one in Jason's mind eye. They were in a different league compared to anything he had ever felt before, and Twilight was in a league all her own. He had never felt so much energy in a being before. I'm sensing the magic! he realized as his mind eye sharpened to feel the individual energies inside each pony-like being and expanding far outside the room. He had never felt such clarity or range before, just unique close by smudges of energy in a plane of nothingness. "I-I think that spell of yours kept us both u-under, but anyway, how long has it been since I-I crashed here?" he said nervously with a questioning look that swept over the entire group. He made a quick note of the unique aura signatures of each pony if this was indeed reality, but in the process noticed the most powerful bond between the six mares he had ever seen in his entire life. That is not natural. I do not care what dimension-planet-whatever I'm on. "Well, it was four days before Twilight did that spell-thingy, and it has been a week since she started her nap!" informed the pink pony which Jason assumed was the one called Pinkie for obvious reasons. This unusual pep and energy made Jason slightly more ill at ease, and he kept in mind that the child-like mindset could be a ruse. "Uh huh… I don't think it was a nap, but anyway, I've been unconscious for a week and a half? Well, I guess it's time for introductions," the pale human said with finality, "My name is Jason Tiberius Nalick, but…" "Oh! Oh! I'm Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet you Jason Tiberius Nalick! Or do you prefer Jason, or Tiberius, or Nalick, or JT, that really doesn't sound right. Oh! I know! I'll call you Jay!" yelled Pinkie Pie happily as she bounced up and down, "You can call me Pinkie, or Pie, or Pinkie Pie! I work at Sugarcube Corner and throw parties for everypony!" "Uh… hi?" Jason said with a hint of confusion, "Err… anyway, you can call me Jason or Jay I guess." "Nice ta meet ya, Jay! The name's Applejack, but ya can call me AJ if ya want. Ah work an' live at Sweet Apple Acres," introduced the orange earth pony with a hint of pride. The down-to-earthness and no-nonsense tone of the orange mares voice let him relax a bit, but he still kept a careful eye on the group as a whole cautiously. "I'm glad to meet ya, AJ," he said with as much of a nod as he could manage. "Darling, what a regal name! Do you mind if I call you Tiberius?" asked the white unicorn with the Trans-Atlantic accent with a toss of her curled royal-purple mane. The human raised a brow and almost shrugged, but the pain quickly made him think better of it as he said, "I suppose that's alright, and may I ask your name?" She gave a slight hint of embarrassment, or at least he thought it was embarrassment, but quickly recovered saying, "Oh, I apologize, my name is Rarity, Tiberius. My workplace is the Carousel Boutique as a fashion designer." "Why would you want to say 'Tie-ber-i-us'? Nalick sounds so cool!" interjected the cyan blue pegasus smugly as she hovered over Rarity. What am I? Everybody's new pet now? Do I just get a say in my own name since I can talk? Maybe I should of just said Jason and left it at that, thought Jason as he scooted up enough to use his pillows and the headboard as support so he was now in a partial sitting position. He used his good left arm to point at the cyan pegasus and said, "You're the one I saw right after the crash. You were the rainbow colored blur." "Yep! Rainbow Dash is the name, and flying's my game!" boasted Rainbow Dash with a few air-punches before settling down, "I'm glad to see you're alright, Nalick." The human nodded with a small smile. "Thanks, Rainbow Dash." Now, it was Fluttershy's turn to make her introduction, but all she seemed to do was stare at the floor. Jason raised a brow and looked to the others to see if he did something to upset her, but it was Twilight that spoke up. "She's just shy, Jason." He nodded with satisfied expression as he relaxed to his normal amount of restrained tension and thought, Well, I think that she just needs a confidence boost. I wonder if I can do anything to help with that. Anyway, their presences are just too kind and innocent to be of any danger. Course, these could just be kids too… No, otherwise I'd seen an adult by now. I guess I can relax a little… for now anyhow. Then, the teen looked to Fluttershy and said gently, "My name is Jason Tiberius Nalick. Is your name Fluttershy?" She looked up nervously and seemed to shrink with tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Y-Yes, I-I am, sir." She said it so quietly that Jason could barely hear her, but the itch in his chest utterly begged him to encourage her to be louder, and let herself be confidant in who she was. He tried to swallow the feeling telling himself, If she wants to be shy, that's her choice. I will not force her to be something that she is not. The feeling in his chest was not satisfied and intensified until he cracked a small smile and said, "Just call me Jason, Fluttershy. You have nothing to fear. I won't harm anyone or anything. I realize you're nervous, but I hope that put your mind at ease a little." "Uh, than-thank you… Jason. I hope my quietness isn't making you uncomfortable," she replied quietly, but with more volume so he could hear her this time. Jason shook his head and let out a relieved sigh as the persistent itching stopped. Then, he looked at her and said, "You can speak your mind around me. It won't bother me a bit." "Oh, I will, but not right now. Is that alright?" she said at about the same volume, but with less of a nervous look in her eyes. Then, Rainbow Dash swooped down and took the attention by saying, "Anyway, I was wondering how you got into the sky to start with. You don't have wings do you?" "Or magic?" added Rarity with a curious gaze. "Uh…" he began. "Oh! Oh! Did you jump of that far?!" enthusiastically asked Pinkie Pie. "I…" he started again. "What spell did you use?" asked Twilight with enthusiasm. The teen began to become overwhelmed and his palms began to sweat as he attempted, "Just…" "Why are ya so hairless anyway?" asked Applejack with a curious raised brow. "Wait…" Jason started as he begin to become annoyed. "Where are you from?! Do they have parties there?!" asked Pinkie Pie as she started to bounce again. "Well…" he started with a hint of anxiety creeping into his voice. "Do you know any cool tricks?" interrupted Rainbow Dash. "Err…" he tried to respond. "What is your land's latest fashion?" asked Rarity with an excited look in her eyes. "Will, you all just let me speak?!" the human bursted out with agitation, "I only can answer one God damn answer at a time!" The ponies backed off a little with Applejack being the first to apologize, "Sorry, Jay, ah got caught up in the moment," She has a look on her muzzle that shows disappointment toward herself he takes note of. Next was Twilight saying, "Sorry, Jason, I should have known better." "Sorry, I just don't get to meet a new pony every day! I'm just so happy to meet you! Well, I actually met you a few days ago, but you were asleep then. Now, you are awake!" said Pinkie Pie as she started to hop again which made him feel like an ass for scolding them. "Excuse me for my rude behavior, Tiberius. I saw some of the surviving clothes that you had and was absolutely fascinated. I was actually wondering if you wanted me to create some replacements for you," Rarity said with elegance and a hurt tone that made him feel like even more like an asshole. "Sorry, Nalick, I couldn't help it. You seem like such a cool guy surviving a fall like that! You must have a few cool tricks at least!" chuckled Rainbow Dash with subdued enthusiasm as she did a backflip in the air. Now, the itching feeling in his chest was almost unbearable. Why do they have to apologize so readily and so sincerely? "I'm so sorry, Jason. I should have noticed that they were making you comfortable. I must not be a very good friend," apologized Fluttershy in a hushed almost depressed tone. It took all of Jason's restraint as she said that to not repeatedly punch himself in the face for being such an asshole. His logical side attempted to comfort him, but Jason quickly squashed it and apologized, "I'm sorry for being such a… unthoughtful and rude person. I know y'all only meant well, but I just can't handle that many questions at once. Also, Fluttershy, you are a great friend as far as I've seen so far. So, again I'm sorry for that outburst, but I can only do so much. I am not God." The ponies stared at him with surprised expressions, and he began to worry that he had just made it worse. You stupid idiot! Why did you open your mouth to begin with! You're an asshole and a damn failure at social interactions. You should know better for even talking when you are uncomfortable and just keep the goddamn mask on! "Err… Jason, are you feeling alright?" asked Fluttershy softly, "You must be in an awful amount of stress after what has happened to you." The pale teen kneaded his eyes with his left thumb and forefinger. Jason was not really sure what to say or how to say it. His logical side had taken completely over at this point. So now, he was calculating what sentence would give him the best results in his favor. Jason had always hoped as a kid to go to another universe, but he never expected this to happen. This world seemed like something from a little girl's imaginary doll world, only when you dropped the doll it actually got hurt. So, with a response chosen, Jason sighed and said, "Yes, I am under a lot of stress and I am not what you would consider normal. Even in human standards I am abnormal. If I was a normal human, I would of freaked when Twilight was in my head, and it would have been even worse when I woke up and saw y'all, because there is nothing like you in my world." He paused for a moment to let the information sink in before continuing, "I am abnormal for a human because I locked down my emotions so tight that they are nothing more than a bother that makes me spout gibberish at unwise times. In short, I will never know what true laughter, sadness, love, hate, or even what it means to enjoy life. I am, for all intents and purposes, a biological machine with an overactive imagination that feels: pride, companionship, obligation, protectiveness, and short bursts of mirth and annoyance. I am sorry to be such a disappointment." The teen gazed at the ponies again, but now they were back in a state of shock or confusion, possibly even worse than after the initial apology with Pinkie Pie and Rarity's mouths hanging open, Twilight staring at him with an unreadable expression, Rainbow Dash scowling, Applejack staring at the floor in what seemed to be shame, and Fluttershy was in tears. This time the itch doesn't come, and the logical side smirks in victory though Jason does not smirk physically. He did wonder on the last two reactions though. Crying and shame? Odd considering he was not even scolding them or the like. "You have never felt true laughter?" asked Pinkie Pie as she stared at him in extreme… pity? No, the look is one of empathic sadness, he jested himself with almost a sadistic mirth as his face remains neutral. He decided to use his old practiced response, "I did as a small child. Err… it would be a colt to you all, I'm guessing in your terminology, but any actual feelings of that time cannot be recalled from that time now." "That's not true! Those feelings are still there! You just have to let yourself go and be free!" said Pinkie Pie with enthusiasm as she started to hop in place again. "I didn't know what happiness was until I saw Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom! Then at that moment I knew I wanted to spread happiness to everypony!" "A sonic what?" Jason asked with his brows raised. "Not a sonic what, a sonic rainboom, silly!" chirped Pinkie Pie. The teen turned to Twilight for an explanation and asked, "Do physics in this world allow you to break the visible light spectrum or what?" Twilight came out of her thoughts for a moment and replied, "It is the effect that Rainbow Dashes coloration emits when she breaks the sonic barrier." He immediately turned to Rainbow Dash in awe and stated, "You can break the sonic barrier." "Yep! I'm the best flier in all of Equestria!" proudly boasted Rainbow Dash with a prideful smirk and a tough expression. Jason nodded in approval. "I'm impressed with pegasi physiology. It took us two hundred years collectively to develop the technology to break the sound barrier in flight. Although now, we have technology with the latest jet fighters that surpass five times the speed of sound." "Actually, she is going four times the speed of sound before the sonic rainboom, and afterwards she is in the neighborhood of ten times the speed of sound," elaborated Twilight as she broke out of her thoughts for a second. The human's jaw slacked slightly, and he looked from Twilight to Rainbow Dash in amazement. "So, you have a second cone of air friction that you break when you hit Mach 4. Then after you break the second sonic cone, a stream of photonic energy is reflected off of your coloration making the phenomenon known as a sonic rainboom that boosts you to Mach 10, and all of that with what seems to be a simple pair of avian wings. Fascinating!" "You sound like Twilight when you use fancy words like that," Rainbow Dash pointed out attempting to hide her embarrassment, "But, how does your kind fly without wings?" "By ourselves we can't, but we have developed and built machines that we pilot that require great skill to accomplish the feat for easier travel and warfare. We also have motorized carriages that can go faster any runner you have too. You see, humans develop technology to overcome any physical short-coming," Jason explained with gusto and pride. "So, you're saying your race is a bunch of eggheads?" asked Rainbow Dash with a dismissive tone. He nearly laughed, but only smiled and replied, "Oh, no, no, I am actually far from average intelligence when it comes to things of that nature. I may not have emotions, but I make up for it with intellect, knowledge, and careful observation. Many of my race actually enjoy sports events and some are even professional athletes. I even enjoy them too. In fact, one of my favorite activates is called bicycling which involves traveling great distances on a machine that I manually turn with my legs to propel faster than I would naturally. Most humans just take technology for granted." "How fast would you be able to go without the bicycle?" asked Rainbow Dash challengingly. "Now wait just a minute there, Rainbow Dash," interjected Rarity with a huff, "Tiberius is not well yet so do not challenge him to one of your races." "Oh! I know you guys should have the race during the party! It will be so much fun!" yelled Pinkie Pie as she hopped upward and did a flip in the air and started to hop on the ceiling as if it was the floor. Jason looks up at the pink pony more than slightly perplexed thinking, Okay, now I know I have to be fucking dreaming! Then, he glanced at the others numbly. "There are some screwed up physics in this universe." "Ah know it's strange, but it's jus Pinkie. She always does strange stuff like that there," explained Applejack with a smile, but her expression suddenly turned serious and continued, "But, jus to be fair to ya; ya don't look very fast, 'n' ah know that RD is a fast one. Ah jus don't want ya to get yer pride crushed." He nodded in agreement. "Bipedal creatures, err… creatures that use two feet to walk, such as myself are not usually very fast. In fact, at a full sprint, I could probably could barely match a canter, let alone a full gallop. My race has only its creativeness and adaptability to thank for its survival. We don't even have superior strength, agility, connection to nature, or magic to aid us. We have had to improve ourselves on what we can build, and become utterly dependent on the technology we created. My world is a very harsh place." He paused for a moment and is about to start again when Fluttershy gently cut in, "Your race does have a talent. It may not be obvious like flight, a special connection to the land, or magic, but I believe your races ability to create technology is your race's talent." Every being looked at her in surprise which made the momentary influx of confidence evaporate like rubbing alcohol on a table top which made her seem to shrink again. "Umm… I-I hope I was not rude. I'm sorry." "Darling, you have nothing to be sorry for!" supported Rarity with a smile, "You were absolutely correct when you said that humanity had an aptitude for the technological. I was absolutely amazed how fine the material that Tiberius had been wearing when I inspected it. True, the tattered articles were covered with blood, but the material was marvelous." "I-I was?" asked Fluttershy as she turned to the human for confirmation. Jason gave her a decent smile and replied, "You were. Humanity, for all its many faults, has technology to thank as its greatest ability. We have made whole islands, submerged others, dammed mighty rivers to create electricity and water supplies, planted and cleared entire forests, changed coastlines, built buildings that reach above the clouds, have stepped foot on our moon numerous times, have sent probes to other planets and beyond our solar system, have made maps homeworld in near perfect detail from regions above the pull of gravity and the atmosphere, and even harnessed the power that lays inside the smallest particle that makes up the things of my world to power entire countries." Then, he stopped and his face grew tense with other parts of human history, the darker part, coming to mind. "Some of my people are extremely violent when pushed into a corner too, and even for no reason. Because of our technology, we have also done a great many horrible things. Wars have swept over our entire world three times over, and smaller wars are in separate areas of our world regularly." Twilight snapped out of her train of thought in the shock of hearing what the human had just revealed. Her voice almost shook as she yelled horrified, "You mean your people kill each other! What I saw in your memory with… Oh, for the love of Celestia, I am so sorry! That is even worse than what Discord had done to Equestria! You were in the last one, weren't you?!" The itch came back into Jason's chest with a vengeance like an acid eating away at his heart and his vision clouded as a few memories from the 99 Rebellion in America snapped into place making him say, "Yes… and I couldn't protect anyone… I failed… Even a person as shut-down emotionally as me felt the pain… the emptiness. I felt their lives disappear from my senses, and the light of consciousness go out, AND I COULDN'T DO A GOD DAMN THING!!! I WAS JUST A FUCKING KID!!!" He felt hot streaks run down his cheeks as flashes of fragmented memories came into his mind. He remembered watching his family and friends get murdered as he sat strapped in a chair with no emotions at all. It was not a dream after all… It was a memory. The protective scar tissue in his psyche started to tear under the strain. "I am a damn failure! Failure! FAILURE! FAILURE!!!" Jason started to scream as a dam of emotions that were backed up for three years released, and he began to cry as he experianced a complete psychological meltdown. As he began to break down into an emotional wreck, the ponies began to peer toward each other. They were just starting to understand what had just happened, and the realization scared them. They had never seen a war before, but from the way Jason acted, they silently decided that the human world was nothing like Equestria. Slowly, as they settled the fear that had arose in them, they watched Jason as he kept crying and screaming "FAILURE!!!" They had tears in their eyes as well, except Rainbow Dash and Applejack which showed disbelief and horror respectively. Then, Fluttershy wrapped her front legs around him in a gentle hug, being careful of his injuries of course. The human in his mentally broken state almost punched her in a moment of blind rage, but she comforted, "I'm so sorry a nice person like you had to go through something so terrible. No creature of any sort should go through that pain, and I hope you see us as friends. You are going to be alright. They cannot hurt you anymore. You are here now, Jason." This calmed Jason down enough to make himself stop screaming and curb his blind rage with a punch to the mattress, but uncontrollable sobs still convulsed through his body as the emotions still rode like a torrent though the broken man's psyche, and for Jason, as a person that did not release emotion, this was unbelievably painful. Rarity was the next hug, and then Applejack and Pinkie Pie, who was crying herself. Twilight stayed back out of a mixture of the memories of Jason's she had seen, shock, and awkwardness. "I never would have known how much of that was real. I would never wish that on anypony," whispered Twilight to herself as she slowly approached the group and joined in. Now Rainbow Dash was the only one left. She was unsure on how cool it would look, but Nalick was the creature that had reached out to her in a moment of need. She could not just turn back on him now. So, reluctantly, she joined too. As the minutes pass on, Jason Nalick's sobs turned into rough gasps and eventually a shallow breathing. The ponies noticed and separated to reveal he had cried himself into an exhausted slumber with tears still streaking down his face. "That is one strong pony, err… human. He was able to hold all of those emotions until now. Nalick must really trust us," said Rainbow Dash in almost depressed, but proud tone. "I think we should help him." "I already plan on helping! He needs to know what happiness is again!" pepped up Pinkies Pie before covering her mouth with her front hooves after remembering Jason was asleep. "I agree. In fact, I will create a replica of his clothes so he can use them when he is well again, though I will probably add a few flares," added Rarity with a smile, "Tiberius certainly deserves at least this much after what he has been though." "Jason is smart, so I plan on helping him catch up on Equestrian culture, history, and customs," volunteered Twilight as she perked up. "I'm sure he'll love the library." "Ah think we're thinkin' too far ahead. We should wait and see what Jay has ta say 'bout this," spoke up Applejack as she looked from Rarity to Twilight to Rainbow Dash. "He may jus be one of those ponies… err… humans that want ta do things themselves." Rarity was not deterred by this statement, rather it made her more adamant. "New clothing never harmed anypony, Applejack. I just intend to assist Tiberius as much as I am able. He has survived far worse than a warping of personality and temporary chaos. He has survived chaos in pure form with part of his personality so buried that he became half of what he formerly was so he could continue living." "Ah was just sayin…" started Applejack with a hint of aggravation before Twilight Sparkle stepped between them saying, "Look, I know all of us want to help Jason, and I think Rarity getting some clothes for him wouldn't hurt, but anything further than that we should save until we get to know him better. You saw how many surprises were in him already, and that has only been half an hour." "I agree with Twilight!" agreed Pinkie Pie cheerily, "I certainly didn't expect what just happened, and I didn't get a twitch either!" "I agree too," quietly agreed Fluttershy as she slowly treaded over. "He seems very nice, but I think he needs his rest… there's a lot of pain to heal from." Twilight nodded her head and concluded, "I think it's been agreed that we wait until Jason is awake again to discuss this anymore. So, let's go and let him rest. He certainly needs it." With the last word being said, the ponies started to file out of the room one by one until only Twilight and Fluttershy remained in quiet conversation. "Do you think you have a spell that could help him?" asked Fluttershy with a nervous look, "If you don't, that's okay too." "Once I get a better understanding of his biology, I can accelerate the healing process to his body, but only time and good friends can heal the damage to his mind," replied Twilight with uncertainty. "He may never fully recover from either the physical or the mental traumas." "I know, but I would appreciate the help. I've never had to heal an animal this size before," admitted Fluttershy in an almost depressed tone. "I'll come by in a few days then, how about that?" offered Twilight with a small reassuring smile as she started toward the door. "Thank you, Twilight," said Fluttershy gratefully as she turned off the light to the bedroom and closed the door behind her. -X-X-X- Several hours later at the Ponyville Library, Twilight was pacing back and forth thinking of what to write to Princess Celestia as the sun was beginning to set. A young purple and green dragon continued to watch in aggravation as he continued to wait for Twilight to make up her mind so he could go to bed. "You know, I bet the Princess would like to hear about the… the… what-ever-it-is. Maybe she knows how to send it back home," suggested the dragon assistant. Twilight looked up at the young dragon with an annoyed gaze and replied, "First, he is a human, and second, his name is Jason. And yes, Spike, I know it would be a good idea to write a letter immediately about what had happened, but what if she sees him as a threat?" Spike simply rolled his eyes in annoyance saying, "Twilight, if what you are saying is true, then this 'human' is no more dangerous than a hurt rabbit. I doubt the Princess would see him as a threat either, and besides, isn't everyday he goes without his medicine hurting him? I just don't see why you are being so skittish about this whole thing." Twilight snorted in anger commanding, "Alright, Spike, take a letter!" Spike jumped down from the stool he was sitting on and quickly picked up the quill and paper that were beside him muttering under his breath, "It's about time." Slowly, Twilight gathered her thoughts and started: Dear Princess Celestia, I am sorry for the delay, but recent events have unfolded that I like to ask your guidance upon. A strange creature arrived in Equestria one week and three days ago. It is intelligent and calls itself a human whose is named Jay-son Tie-ber-eus Na-lick. He is seriously injured after surviving a fall that would have killed most ponies after he materialized from a flash of green light over the Everfree Forest. I hold the belief that he was brought here by some type of spell, but I do not believe Jason has any magic himself nor has any idea magic truly existed before today, though he seems to readily accept its existence. I also learned that he needs medicine to survive, but I do not know whether the ailment can be treated by magic or not safely or even the nature of the ailment itself. Jason also seems to be heavily psychologically scarred from a civil war that occurred in his homeland. He also speaks of his race having great technology that even allows them to venture into space, but his race also seems to have no magic, conscious or subconscious. For this reason, I believe his not a threat to Equestria and would like to ask for guidance on how you would like me to proceed. Jason is at this time recovering at Fluttershy's cottage, and I plan on making a healing spell for his injuries he received during the fall. Also, I would like to commend Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash in their bravery to help Jason after his fall into the Everfree Forest, and I would like to commend Fluttershy on her medical skills. Please respond as soon as you can. Your most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle "Got it," said Spike tiredly as he rolled up the letter and put the wax stamp on before using his fire to send the letter on its way. "I'm going to bed now," the young dragon grumbled as he made his way upstairs. Twilight heaved a sigh now that the letter was out of the way and stared out the window as the moon began its ascent.