He had no intuition for how magic was supposed to work. It didn't matter, he had to take her word for it, she was likely the only creature he'd ever see again who was any authority on the matter. "Can't you try? I can't live like a pony here. I don't know any magic, I can't hide myself." And I don't want to hide myself. He thought he would return to his life. Angel hadn't see this coming, neither had Novaria. The room seemed to be spinning. "Try, at least?"
"It's only a suggestion." She shrugged. "What would you like me to try?" She asked, a bit confused.
"Try turning me human." Why wonder about things when you could test them. If it worked it worked, if it didn't they'd both know it wasn't just a theory. At least he would know just how much trouble he was really in.
She looked thoughtful. "I could try, but none of my spells are permanent. You'd get a couple hours of humanity, at most." She warned. "Do you have a picture of yourself? I have no idea what you looked like."
A couple of hours! No more! No he had to test this, so he ran up and found a picture of him taken not too long ago. It was posted on Facebook, taken while he was recovering in the hospital. Standing up. They had cameras in Equestria, he'd learned, Angel had taken it. Back when he was sure that whether he was hallucinating. The mouse could be moved my magic, clicking was harder to figure out, but more of the same. He ran back down, the picture of him floating behind. "Can you do it?"
"I can. But I say again, it will last only a few hours, after which case you will be a pony again. I do not know if I can fix that." She said regrettably, and waved her claws over the picture. He found himself growing quite larger, and within a few seconds, was crouched on his hands instead of his front legs. He was wearing the same clothes he had been in the picture, which was a relief, considering the alternative.
It felt off in some way he couldn't define, and familiar. Slowly he gathered himself up and stood. Stretched and kneaded the fingers uncertainly. No, he couldn't run up and perform his quirky rituals even though he wanted, there were other things he should do first. He pulled out a chair for her to sit on. "Thank you Alicia, so sorry for being an ungrateful host. Kicking your teeth in." His discomfort was showing. "Are you hungry?" He didn't wait for her answer but decked up two plates, and put some of dads leftovers into the microwave. Meat, he had to admit that he missed that. Sitting down on the chair he felt more at calm, hospitality is a set of rituals. "Do you know what's happening in Equestria?"
She smirked. "It takes a lot more than that to take down a draconequus." Strangely, a small hourglass was on a string around his neck, the purpose of which had not been explained to him. "What do you mean? I go back and forth from Equestria as I please, but I haven't heard of any trouble there aside from the usual."
Deciding to put the time limit she had given for him to the test, he explained what had happened to him. Of course offering her Earthy refreshments underway, if only to have something to do, the small rituals he associated with cooking, stirring the pot so and so. They had become subtle, but most people noticed the way he'd stroke the edge of a door of a room he was leaving if he'd been there for a while. As best he could he relayed what Angel had done, how he had come with her, how he'd realized how good her world was and desired to protect her from his, and how he had told Angel's mother about that danger to prevent her from coming here.
The draconequus frowned, and her frown deepened the more he relayed to her. "If you ask me, it sounds like you almost didn't want to leave. Nor did this Angel want you to leave. Did the two of you... have a thing?" She asked. "That would certainly validate this Novaria's... overprotection. Can't say I blame her, especially with what I've seen on Earth."
"What was I supposed to do? I couldn't tell her about it, you don't know how loving she is. I think if I told her just how much people suffer here I couldn't make her promise not to go, and she would, and then she would get hurt. I wasn't selfish in this, she's safe. That's how I want her to be. Or what? Do you want me to find her not here, and in desperation come to Earth and read about the strange pony creature stabbed to death in an alley?"
"I do not know her, but from what you tell me, it sounds as if you think she's remarkably selfless. But..." She hesitated. "If things here are truly so horrible, can you not change things? Can you not put a stop the war and the hate? Alternatively, do you not think that this Angel would be able to handle herself here? Or do you simply not want her to learn the truth?"
"Stop war? People have tried to do that for ages, no luck." It wasn't just for lack of trying, you couldn't explain all the wars as simple misunderstandings and unfortunate events. Many wars had been fought over bitter differences that couldn't be healed by diplomatic relationships, or a touching friendship. Her other questions cut deeper, and hurt. "She's powerful. I think it would take a lot, but I also don't know how she'd react if she saw violence like that. I was about to tell her, and just.. she looked at me and told me not to talk about it. She was sad the rest of the day. I think she understands that something is wrong with this world, and I don't want to affect how she remembers me." Even as he said he realized he was admitting something selfish. Vanity, how he wanted to be remembered by her, not as he was. Sniffing he wiped away a tear. "She's safe, its going to hurt her and she'll worry about it, but I think she'll be well… but if you see her, will you let me know what's going on?" Realizing what the little hourglass was for he raised it up to see how much sand was left.
There was a good amount of sand left. Alicia volunteered to keep track of time, and spend the next hour or so teaching Norman several Equestrian recipes, all completely vegetarian. When the first patches of blue fur first spread across his arms, she pulled out a stopwatch. "Two hours, fifteen minutes. Damn, I'm good."
It was over quickly, his body folded back into that shape, and he landed defeated on his forelegs defeated. Lying down he put his head on the ground. How would he survive? Perhaps Alice would teach him some helpful spells. He could walk around like Angel had done. She'd make it work, so could he. "What am I going to do?" A small idea stirred "Can you… take me to Equestria?"
"Of course I can." She said. "In fact... I may very well be able to enchant an item so you can move back and forth between realms on your own, if you desire it." She gave a playful knowing wink. "Just can't stay away from her, eh cowboy?"
"I thought Novaria would have set up some way to prevent that?" She seemed to have implied as much in her discussion, but maybe that was just to discourage him. He was hopeful. He'd leave, yes, he couldn't live here. Somehow he'd have to later explain this to his family. Angel, I want to be with you tonight. For once on Earth he forgot all about his OCD and launched himself at Alicia, tackle hugging her.
"Agh!" Alicia tensed up, though she could do many things, she had not been prepared for that at all. She fell backwards upon her chair, and returned the hug.