The days that followed were some of the worst moments Twilight had ever experienced. The labour in the aftermath of the destruction was taxing, and tensions were high throughout the capitol. Celestia had made few appearances since the…well, what else could pony call it but a disaster? It wasn't even the large-scale destruction of the royal castle, although that certainly counted all on its own. No, it was the aftermath. She had had many adventures with her friends, from releasing the Princess to saving a whole empire, and they had come close to failing on many occasions, but they'd always pulled through, and everypony had ended up smiling in the end. A letter would be sent to Celestia, and that would be that.
Not now. The kingdom was in turmoil over the fate of Discord. Had he been turned to stone? Banished? Destroyed? The Princesses were silent on the subject, infuriating the defense forces and citizens alike. But the ponies that counted had much more important things to deal with. Marc, a strange creature from another world, mysterious and often eclectic, had in the space of a month and a half, gone through many trials and experiences, and come to mean very much to a lot of ponies. The shame of it all was that most only realized it now.
Rainbow Dash kept up the appearance of being strong, but everypony knew something was wrong when they noticed that she had actually cleared the skies on time, even early, every day for a week, before disappearing to her cloudhome every day, almost robotic in her precision and sadness.
Fluttershy had cried in her cottage for days before emerging, even though in all honesty she'd never managed a sentence to the man. She, though, had lost more than just Marc: Discord’s rage, and its causes had come to light. In hindsight, the fact that it could have been avoided by a simple visit was blindingly obvious.
Pinkie pie's reaction had been one of the more visually drastic. Her hair had fallen straight the minute she had seen the body. In fact, it had yet to resume its full spring. Her quietness had started a snowball effect around Ponyville, with nearly all the residents performing their duties with uncharacteristic silence. No one had been assaulted with cupcakes since that day, either.
Rarity had been tasked to make a special suit for Marc, with exact instructions from Princess Celestia herself, for a ceremony. With so little information leaking from the castle a rumour had spread about the nature of the order. A funeral was of course the natural assumption.
Applejack had remained strong, though she did not hide her grief at the first loss in the line of their service. Her greatest emotion has shame. After Marc’s difficult time, her actions seemed much worse in the light of his selfless action. A special tree had been planted in memory of the brave human.
Of course this was all a bit premature and unnecessary, Twilight knew, but she wouldn't give all her friends false hope: this plan would very likely fail.
She trotted around her library wondering where Spike was. They hadn't seen a lot of each other recently, with the whole Discord-bending-the-rules-of-dimensional-space-and-bring-a-human-to-Equestria thing leading her to spend so much time at the now permanently dubbed Everfree Cottage, and now his illness, which was finally breaking. Still, she missed his help, especially now that she needed to find that book on memory spells.
She couldn't use that one she'd used the first times they'd defeated Discord, as that one was too directed to repair this kind of damage, but she knew the perfect tome to help her, if only she could find it… "Ah! there you are, 'Memorandum of Memory Mysteries, part five: memory displacement'."
*****
This was a drastic plan, but Celestia felt sure it would work.
Princess Celestia looked doubtfully at her sister. Luna had been absent-minded of late, often staring into space, contemplative. Celestia had just walked in on her staring at the new stained glass panels going into the newly repaired throne room walls. Unicorns made everything easier.
"Sister, we were meant to meet with Twilight at the holding room a short while ago. Come, we must go." Celestia guided her sibling calmly out of the room.
Luna blinked with surprise, then said, "Sister, I am simply amazed at how things are done in the human world...how much they know...They have made windows almost as bright as ours without using any rainbows, or magic! And their methods-"
“Yes, sister, you have told me this many times, but it is time to get those memories back into the head they belong to. Twilight has found the volume on memories I inquired after."
"Oh, yes, of course." The two Princesses made their way hurriedly to the holding room, far in the medical wing of the Castle.
*****
Twilight waited nervously for the Princesses to arrive. They would have one chance at this. When Marc had allowed the consciousness of Luna to pass through him, they had merged under the sheer unbalanced pressure of Luna’s far vaster consciousness, leaving Luna with the memories of both and Marc with none. He had gone into another blackout, with his body maintaining life, but his mind technically dead, not even recalling the simplest actions. After what he had done, this could not be allowed. It could not end like that; this Man was a hero now, spoken of in respected circles in tones of curiosity and awe. Ponies no longer looked down on the Alien: They looked up to the Visitor.
And yet, he wasn’t even there anymore. But if they managed this… Twilight knew this was possible, but Marc would never be quite the same as he had been.
It just depended on how different he would be.
She saw the Celestia and Luna round the corner, the latter talking about the wonders of a 'Universe", a vastness far beyond what Equestria had ever known. That was Marc speaking, really, and that needed to be fixed.
All three greeted with the barest formality before entering the holding room with Marc's body on its bed in the centre of the room, surrounded by monitoring equipment and two nurses. He was still, as he had been for weeks now, but some colour had returned to his features of late. It was good that he seemed to have gained some strength, at least physically: This was going to be a difficult and long process; restoring each memory to its proper place. The sequence was all important. Before they started, Celestia had something to say.
"This is the first time memories of one have come from another. If we succeed, it will be a great leap forward in memory magic, but we must remember, this is our friend and helper. He saved our lives; now we must return the favour.”
All three bent their heads over the body of Marc as their horns began to glow.
Luna was the centre of the spell, her mind contributing the memories, in the order she received and remembered them, to the control of Twilight's replacement charm. Celestia kept any backscatter from any magic nearby from interfering, as well as lending her strength to her student in this, one of her greatest tests.
Luna may have had the most powerful mind in all Equestria aside from the elementals, but this form of spell, making two personalities from a fused memory, was taxing her abilities. She focused on the images and emotions that had accompanied Marc through the turmoil of his life, basically reliving all those years with him, through the peaks and the tragic lows that had molded him into who he was.
Slowly, the experiences were fed into his shattered consciousness, and everything he had ever learned, felt, tasted, seen, heard, or smelled was returned to him. In the end all three ponies were, despite their strength, shining with the sweat and effort of the huge task they had attempted.
After what felt like a literal lifetime, Luna gasped and dropped to her haunches, breathing huge gulps of air. "There...there, that is all...I know."
Twilight sat down and let her head droop. Then she tossed her mane out of the way to look at Celestia. The elder Princess stood over Marc's form, and said, "For the gift you gave us, and the pain you felt for our error, you deserve more than you have. The things you wished to learn but never could, the things you never saw but dreamed about. They will be yours in time." She lowered her horn over Marc's slowly rising and falling chest, and it began glowing.
Suddenly it flashed and Celestia dropped back.
Marc moved. First he twitched, then slowly struggled into a sitting position, moving awkwardly, rubbing his eyes. He looked around in wonder for a moment before his eyes settled on the expectant faces of the three ponies before him.
He looked confused. "Hello...um, who are you?"