//------------------------------// // Friends? // Story: Technicalities // by BionicBrony //------------------------------// Friends. To Alex, Twilight might as well have said that he had to stop a freight train with his face. “…and I know just how you can start!” Twilight continued. “Come on, Fluttershy, let’s go find everypony else!” “But–” Before Fluttershy could get another word out, Twilight snatched her friend up with her magic and pulled her out the door, leaving the human and AI on their own. “Should we be worried?” asked Rose. Alex only stared at the door. “They mean well enough… I think… I mean, Twilight did offer to house us until we get things going, and Fluttershy did help with my bruises, so I don’t see why we shouldn’t trust them.” “Perhaps, but getting others involved? This is just a security breach waiting to happen.” Alex looked at her curiously. “What do you mean?” “Do I really need to explain myself to you? We can’t risk any of our research being exposed, and bringing more individuals into the mix just increases that risk.” “So what do you want me to do about it?” Alex said with a frown. “Just pack up and leave? After everything they did for us already? Do you have any idea how much of an asshole I’ll look like? Not only that, but we need their help if we want to re-establish ourselves. OH! Not to mention the fact that we don’t even know if their society is like ours! We may not even have to do the whole song and dance!” To his surprise, Rose didn’t respond. Alex sighed, realizing he may have come on a bit too hard. “Look… All I’m saying is that, all things considered, we should at least give them the benefit of the doubt.” Finally – and reluctantly – Rose answered. “Fine. If you’re willing to trust them, then I am too. For now, at any rate.” He breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. Now I guess we just have to wait until they come back and see where we go from there…” With everything said and done, Alex walked over to his Go-Bag and pulled out a stick of beef-jerky, which he eagerly unwrapped and started eating. “Getting started on the rations a bit early, aren’t you?” Rose pointed out. Alex took another bite of jerky. “You know how I am with leafy greens.” “Yes, I do, but this does seem to be a society of herbivores. I suggest you start getting used to it.” “And at that, you’re right!” he said, finishing his snack. “But not yet.” After enjoying the meaty goodness of his rations, Alex walked over to the sunlit window to see just what was going on outside. He was greeted with the view of a quaint little town. Dozens of ponies of various colors littered the area, some with horns, some with wings, the rest with neither. The occasional clashing mane colors only served to accentuate the scene. “Holy shit…” Alex muttered. “What? What can you see?” “I’ve never seen ethnic diversity like this before…” he said as he picked up the computer and brought it to the window so Rose could see exactly what he was talking about. The two stared in silence for a moment before Rose finally broke it. “Well aren't they a colorful bunch.” “Yup…” Alex caught a quick glimpse of a familiar shade of purple galloping some fair distance away towards what looked like a giant gingerbread house. “What in the hell…? Rose, can you see that over there?” He pointed towards the sugary building in the distance, unsure if Rose could actually see it. She could. “Is that a giant gingerbread house? Seems rather out of place, considering the architecture of the other buildings around here.” “Yeah…” Alex agreed, slowly retreating from the window. He wasn’t sure what to make of all this. Everything was in such stark contrast to human civilization, but somehow, it all seemed so eerily familiar. The only problem was he couldn’t put his finger on it for the life of him. Rose picked up on his pensive state. “Something on your mind?” “There’s something about all this that just… I don’t know…” Alex paused, picking his words carefully. “It just seems so… vaguely familiar… But I have no idea why.” “Really? That’s odd…” “Yeah, tell me about it." he rubbed the back of his neck. "I swear, this is gonna bug me for a while… Ah well.” He walked back over to the window to get another eye-full of chromatic scenery. “On an unrelated note,” Rose said, “what else did you manage to bring with you?”   Without looking away from the view, Alex idly padded his pockets and felt a small lump. He pulled the object out. “Oh shit, will ya look at that?” It was his old Samsung Galaxy Note 2, a phone he never had a chance to use much in the past few years but loved when it was new. Although it has long since become obsolete. Even if he never used it, he still kept it charged and available since he hated throwing out electronics. He pressed the phone’s power button and its touch screen came to life, its ancient facial recognition software asking to look at him. “Ahhh, I remember this…” he reminisced. “Isn’t that your old phone?” “Yeah, it is!” Sorry, don’t recognize you. The phone rejected his face as it brought up a screen for a pin code. Alex frowned. “Well fuck you too…” “Excuse me?” Rose said. “Huh? Oh! Shit, sorry, it’s the phone. It uses this really old facial recognition software to unlock it. Doesn’t seem to recognize me, though. I'm not exactly surprised, considering how long it’s been since I used it…” Alex tried the facial recognition again only to achieve the same result. “Dammit…” “Having trouble?” Rose poked. He tried a third time, the outcome no more different. “Well shit… guess I gotta use the pin code… which I don’t remember…” “You know, I could just hack it for you. It wouldn’t be difficult at–” “No no no,” Alex protested as he paced around the bed, “I wanna remember it for myself! Let’s see… It was a combination of two numbers, I remember that much… They were binary related… uhhh…” “Well, whenever you decide to let me–” “WAITWAITWAIT!” Alex punched in a code. It failed. “Fuck…” Rose's image rolled her eyes. “Fine, do whatever you want with that thing. I doubt it’ll have anything useful on it anyway.” It was now Alex's turn to sigh as he pocketed the device. “Alright, alright. I’ll figure it out later.” He couldn't remember exactly what he kept on his phone, but he had a strange, nagging feeling that knowing would help him in some way. Though that may have just been curiosity. A few seconds later, the human and AI heard the front door to the library opening and numerous hoof-steps in the main area coming closer to the bedroom. Twilight's voice rang from the other side of the bedroom door. “Alright, girls, he’s right in here. Remember, we’re here to help make him feel more comfortable.” Awww geez, this is gonna suck. Alex quickly looked at Rose who gave him a slightly evil smirk. “You’re in this too, you know!” he quickly, but quietly reminded her. “Oh, I’m fully aware of that. But at least I can hide.” With that, her virtual face disappeared from the screen. Dammit, Rose! I am gonna drag you into this whether you like it or not! “Everypony, meet Alex.” Alex spun around to see four other colorful ponies and a smaller purple and green reptilian individual accompanying Twilight and Fluttershy. Each of them regarded him with a sense of curiosity. He didn't know any of them, yet somehow their collective group looked disturbingly familiar. “Whoa, he’s pretty big!” said a cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane. Color aside, Alex realized she wasn’t kidding. At six and a half feet in height, Alex was already tall by human standards. The small ponies only managed to go up as high as the lower part of his rib cage, so long as you ignored the gravity defying properties of some of their hair styles. “You said it…” said the small purple reptile in a distinctly male voice. Alex was somewhat relieved that he wasn't the only male there. He had a hard enough time getting along with strangers as it was, let alone a bunch of “people” of the opposite sex. Brain chemistry. It sucks that way. “Alex, these are my friends. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. You already know Fluttershy,” Twilight said, pointing to the respective ponies who each gave a nod. Except for the pink one, who sported a massive smile and waved frantically. “And this is Spike,” she continued, identifying the only visible male among them. “He’s a baby dragon, and my assistant.” “Hi there!” said Spike with a wave. A talking purple and green baby dragon is the assistant of a talking purple unicorn pony who has a strange variety of equally colorful friends, each with equally ridiculous names, Alex thought. Because that shit makes sense here. “Twilight, dear, is he okay?” asked the white-coated, purple-maned unicorn formally designated as Rarity. “Uhh… Alex?” Twilight asked. “Everything alright?” Alex suddenly realized that he had been staring at them awkwardly for far longer than was socially acceptable. He clapped his hands together and inhaled deeply, tying to pick his words carefully. “I’m gonna be completely honest with you all…” he started. “What I’m looking at right now – and I mean no offense to any of you – but what I’m looking at right now… looks incredibly strange to me.” Twilight tilted her confused expression. “How so?” “How so? Oh geez, where do I start…” Alex began unconsciously pacing. “Ok, well, to start off, where I’m from, we do have ponies.” “Okay, then what’s the problem?” “Well allow me to go down the list. On my world, ponies don’t talk. They don’t have wings, and they don’t have horns, either. The color of their coats are really not as colorful as your own, and they’re dumb as hell in comparison – or rather, they’re not sapient. And as for dragons, while there are myths and legends about them, they never actually existed. So I’m sure you can imagine that this is all just a tad–and you’re taking notes, aren’t you?” The others turned their collective gaze away from Alex to look at Twilight who had a quill and paper levitating in front of her, surrounded by a purple aura, just like the salad had been earlier. Twilight just grinned sheepishly. “Sorry...” “Ok, I just want to clear something up right now,” Alex said, pointing at Twilight. “How the hell are you doing that?” Twilight looked at him quizzically. “Doing what?” “That! The levitating act with the quill and the paper!” “She’s using magic, Silly!” quipped Pinkie Pie, her smile never fading. Alex head slowly rotated to stare dumbly at the puffy mass of pink that answered his question, gauging whether or not to take the answer seriously. “Magic.” “Yep!” “She’s using magic.” “Indeedee-do!” “Can I let you all in on a little secret?” The ponies looked at each other nervously, a little unsure of whether they actually wanted to know what he had to say, mostly because of the gradually destabilizing look he was starting to have. Pinkie, however, was oblivious. “Ooo! A secret! We won’t tell anypony! Pinkie promise!” Alex spoke his words very slowly, savoring each syllable. “Good. You see, where I’m from, I’m a man of science. I look at the universe and try to understand it at the most fundamental levels. “Now I don’t know if Twilight told you, but I’m what you would call a ‘human.’ Over an extremely long period of time, humans have evolved into the shape you see right here in front of you. We didn't have much going for us except for three things: intelligence, ingenuity, and persistence. With those, we made basic tools. Skip ahead to today and you have humans like me who create technology so advanced it’ll blow your minds. We did it entirely without magic. In-fact, magic doesn't even exist on my world. It’s an excuse used by ‘less intelligent’ humans to explain things they don’t understand, whereas you have people like me who don’t need ‘magic’ to explain anything.” The tone in his voice seemed almost sinister at this point. “Now you all seem like relatively intelligent individuals, so when I see something like that and you tell me that it’s nothing but magic, TWO PLUS TWO DOESN’T EXACTLY EQUAL FOUR!” The group flinched at Alex’s sudden outburst. Even Pinkie’s indestructible smile faded, and Fluttershy ducked behind Rainbow Dash. Seeing their reactions and immediately regretting his own, Alex slumped down on the bed and cupped a hand over his face. Well this is going well… After seeing Fluttershy's distress, Rainbow Dash walked up to Alex to give him a piece of her mind. At least, she would have if Twilight didn’t hold up a hoof to stop her and shake her head. Twilight took her place and walked up to the bed to place a hoof on Alex’s shoulder. “I know this must be difficult for you,” she said in the most comforting voice she could muster. “You were taken from a world that made sense to you and thrown into one that doesn’t. I may not be able to understand it, but I’m here to help you through this, and so are my friends.” Twilight shot them a glare. “Right?” She was met with a chorus of nervous agreements and nods. Alex looked up to see the collection of uneasy smiles, including Pinkie’s which was clearly forced this time. Great. The one group of “people” that decide to be your friends and help you and you go and pull that stunt. Get it together, man! Now quit being sullen dick and do the right thing. “Look…” he sighed. “I’m… sorry for that little outburst… I didn’t mean to make any of you feel uncomfortable around me, I just… the more I hear about this place, the more freaked out I get…” “Why’s that?” Twilight asked softly. “The more I learn about this world, the more it just seems like some kind of weird parody of my own.” “So what yer sayin’ is that our worlds are the same, but different?” asked Applejack. Alex almost flinched at the sound of her accent. He hated southerners. This was mostly because they had a tendency to be, in his experience, gun-toting, bible thumping twits who couldn't recognize progress if it walked up and bit them. Or at least, that was the stereotype. Of course, he knew they weren't all like that and decided to give the orange pony the benefit of the doubt. But perhaps a small cognitive comprehension test is in order... Alex rubbed his chin in thought. “Umm… Here, think of it this way… Imagine my world has a set of attributes that make it what it is. Let’s say… the entire alphabet in its proper order is used to represent the attributes of my world. This world has those same attributes, or rather the same letters, only they’re arranged differently. So while I recognize them, they’re not at all where they should be, creating an image that’s strange in comparison to the original.” Hah, let’s see you figure that– “Oh, Ah get it!” Alex blinked. “Wait, what?” “Ah said Ah I get it, sugarcube.” she said with a smirk, as if she knew he was deliberately trying to confuse her. “And since you put it that way, Ah’d probably think the same about yer own world too.” “Hold on, you actually understood everything I said?” “O’ course! All ya said was that our worlds are pretty much the same, just that they’re mixed around.” Alex blinked at her again. “You know, most people I know wouldn't have understood that. They just look at me funny whenever I try to explain ideas like that.” “I think you did a great job of explaining it!” chirped Pinkie. “Yeah! I think it’ll actually help me get a better understanding of your own civilization!” announced Twilight. Alex just stared at them. A smile slowly etched across his face. These ponies actually seemed pretty smart! Maybe this won’t be so bad after all… “Heeeyyy, cooool! What’s this thing?” Alex turned in the direction of the voice to see Spike holding up his Link Gun – properly. His mind then quickly recalled the fact that he hadn't remove the clip from the high energy plasma weapon since he arrived. A quick burst of panic overcame him. “WAITNODONTTOUCHTHAT!” “Huh?” Spike looked up at Alex dumbly as the gun lurched out of his claws, firing a bolt of bright green plasma that barely grazed Alex, but connected nearby lamp that promptly combusted. “AAAHHH!” Everyone in the room yelled and panicked, the situation going from “heart-warming” to “FIRE” much too quickly. Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash quickly ran from the room to get buckets of water. Alex, however, glanced around to see if there was anything he could use to smother the fire. His view quickly zeroed in on Twilight’s bed sheets. She’s probably gonna hate me for this, but… He got up from the bed and gathered up the bed sheets as quickly as he could, overturning the bowl of salad and his laptop. Without another thought, he spread the thick comforter out before leaping on the burning furniture with an involuntary yelp. Nopony was sure if it was a yell of bravery, stupidity, or both. Thankfully the lamp and subsequent fire were relatively small, and Alex succeeded in depriving it of its much needed oxygen, though now Twilight’s comforter was ruined. Well shit... it was really nice, too… he thought. The three wannabe fire-fighters burst back into the room with buckets full of water, only to stop dead and stare at the human hunched over a lumped bed sheet. Pinkie tried her hardest to suppress a giggle. Alex smiled weakly. “I, uh… I got it! Sorry about your bed sheet, though…” Twilight gently lowered the bucket from her magical grip and sighed. “No, it’s ok, you did the right thing. Besides, I could always get a replacement.” “Don’t worry, dear, I can deal with that for you,” said Rarity, “but I think there’s a more pressing matter that needs to be addressed…”                  Alex got up from the subdued lamp to go pick up the device that caused the panic in the first place. “Oh really? And what would that be?”                  “What in Equestria is that?” she said, pointing towards the object he was now holding.                  Alex glanced down at the Link Gun and let out a tired sigh. “I probably shouldn't tell you this, but considering what just happened, I’m guessing you all deserve to know.” He sat back down on the bed and ejected the glowing green clip with an audible hiss. “This is called a Link Gun.”                  They all just stared at him.                  “A Link what?” asked Twilight.                  “A Link Gun.”                  “A Link… Gun?” parroted Fluttershy ever so carefully.                  After the silence persisted for several moments, Rainbow Dash asked the question they were all wondering. “What’s a gun?”                  Alex stared at them, unsure of how to respond to this new information. “Hold on a sec… you don’t know what a gun is?”                  They all shook their heads.                  Well that’s surprising… he thought. Did they not reach that level of technology yet? They seem to have electricity, but humans had fire-arms well before then… unless…                  “Hey, just out of curiosity… Do you know what a weapon is?”                  Looks of horror crossed their faces as they immediately made the connection.                  Ahh shit, wrong choice of words!                  “That thing is a weapon?!” Rainbow Dash yelled, moving in front of her friends in an attempt to shield them. “Why do you have a weapon with you?! Were you planning to kill somepony?!”                  Oh fuck, they’re getting the wrong impression! Do something!                  “Hey hey hey, whoa, calm down,” Alex held his hands out in front of him and tried to keep his voice as calm as possible. “I wasn't planning on killing anyone, and I completely forgot about this thing until now. Besides, I just unloaded it, so now it’s completely safe, and…” his voice trailed off as he suddenly realized something. “Twilight, you didn’t tell them how I got here, did you?”                  They turned their attention to Twilight, though still stayed largely focused on him. At those words, though, Twilight relaxed as she remembered why he had the weapon in the first place. Fluttershy relaxed as well, though only a bit.                  “No, I didn’t,” she said. “Though while we’re on the subject, maybe you want to fill them in?”                  Alex cradled the Link gun, feeling comfort in the smooth, cold metal that composed its outer shell. He figured he might as well answer whatever questions they may have had in one go.                  “Alrighty, then. Take a seat, because it's a long story…”   Let me just start off by saying that I’ve lived alone for about a year and a half now. Well… not really, considering I have Rose, but… Oh right, you don’t know her. Oh don’t you worry, I’ll get to her in bit.                  Anyway, where was I? Oh right. I've been living on my own for a while. Believe it or not, I actually isolated myself from the rest of my species. Why, you may ask? Well, I’ll tell you why.                  You see, I’ve always been fascinated with technology. I loved it, though when I was young, I barely understood it. As I grew older, I started to understand how some of the basics of human technology work. I decided that I wanted to become an engineer when I grew up, to play around with technology and invent my own cool things.                  But I didn’t want to just play around with electronics, I wanted to make things. Devices that actually did stuff on a physical level. I wanted to make machines, essentially, but that was just the first step.                  During high school, I took both a regular and advanced physics class. Wait, you don’t have high school? You know what, never mind, I’ll explain it to you later. Anyway, it was through those classes that I discovered something.                  I was really good at physics. I also found out that I was equally good at engineering - every form of it. I had a knack for the stuff. Not only that, but I got better and better during the rest of my schooling career.                  Then, many years later, I think when I was around twenty five or so, I got an idea while working on a paper I was writing. It just suddenly came to me. I worked on it for a couple of months, drew a few sketches, did all the math… The paper didn't turn out too well, but I realized that I had found something that could revolutionize the world.                  Problem is, though, it was really expensive to make.                  I pitched the idea to my Father, but he outright rejected it. He thought it was way too expensive for an idea that supposedly trumped one of the fundamental laws of... Well... I’d be a little more specific about what I’m talking about, but I’d honestly rather not… Anyway, he figured that it was impossible, that I had made a mistake in my math somewhere. I quadruple checked everything like you would not believe, and I was completely sure I made no mistakes. But he didn't buy any of it. My mom, though, was much more willing. She wasn't as scientifically oriented as my dad or myself, but she didn't care. I’m guessing she figured I really wanted to do this, so she agreed to help fund it. She wasn't rich by any means, so it was a giant financial strain on her… I… I never properly thanked her… Anyway, with her help, I managed to build my new device. It took me a few tries, but I eventually managed to get it working, exactly as it was intended to work. Once I got it working, my dad could hardly believe it. But you know what he wanted to do with it? He wanted to sell it. What I made was a device of unimaginable valuable. I made something that my world as a whole desperately needed, but all my dad saw was an opportunity to make a huge profit and secure his retirement. I knew better, though. You see, human governments are twisted entities, always trying to control as much as they possibly can. I knew that if word got out about this device, absolutely everyone would try to get their hands on it, by any means necessary. Best case scenario, I'm offered more money than I could imagine. Worst case scenario… Well, let’s just say it wouldn't be very pleasant. So, I made my dad swear to me not to let anyone know about it because of the potential consequences, and he seemed to understand that… Anyway, some time later, I got an idea for another device, and like the first, it was instrumental to everything I did, but it needed the first one to work. I worked day and night trying to build it, fueled by nothing but determination and caffeine for months. I can't tell you how long it took me just to design it to be a reasonable size, and putting it together wasn't much of a cakewalk either. It was also expensive to make, but my dad was willing to help this time. Once it was done and fully tested, I used it to build a few humanoid machines that also came equipped with the same technology. Humanoid means human shaped, like me. No, they weren't as costly to make. Umm… Yeah, I’ll explain it later, but just trust me on this. Anyway, these robots were officially my very first Liandri. They were designed to be mining and construction bots, and they did their jobs well. I always liked the word “Liandri,” I thought it fit. Okay, maybe it’s a bit of a funny word. Look, will you just let me finish? Thank you. Getting back on topic… I borrowed one of my parents' cars and brought the Liandri to a secluded location really far away from home and–   “What’s a car?” Pinkie asked, hoof raised.                  Alex face-palmed and sighed. “Oh come on… Look, Pinkie Pie, wasn’t it? Could you please just stop with the constant questions and let me finish?”                  “But I wanna knoooow!” she whined, giving Alex the saddest case of puppy eyes he’d ever seen.                  “Pinkie,” Twilight said, “I’m sure he’ll be able to answer all of our questions once he’s done.” She turned to him with an eager smile. “Right?”                  “Uhh… yeah, of course.”                  “Excellent! Now, you were saying something about your machines?”   Right. Anyway, I took them to a secluded location up north from where I lived that was a long ways away from home. I wanted to make sure that I was the only one who knew where it was. It was there that I had my Liandri begin construction on what later became my personal research facility and workshop.                  Every day, I would bring the Liandri there and they would work on it from the time we got there, to the time we left. The technology they were using was only the first version, though. I improved on it, but not until much later, so construction took quite a bit of time. I took the extra time the Liandri were using to build to iron out a few kinks with Rose, and eventually, she was conversing with me and my family so well, you wouldn't even be able to tell she wasn't human just by listening to her. She was invaluable to directing the Liandri, too. She knew exactly what had to be done, how it had to be done, and being an AI, could communicate her instructions to them flawlessly. It was great!                  But during construction, something happened. One night, an old coworker of mine came to visit. As it turned out, my dad had taken the opportunity to tell her about all the things I managed to build, about how how they were "proud" of me. Now you’d probably think it was fairly harmless, right? I didn't.                  He let my secret out.                  And just like that, the very next day, I packed up all my personal belongings and drove right back to the construction site. Didn't even think about looking back. Now I know what you’re thinking: “Alex, why would you just abandon your parents like that?” Well guess what.                  I learned just two days later that not one, but both of my parents died in some kind of car accident, and the bodies were never recovered. Never said where, never said exactly how. I didn't buy it, not for a second.                  Why? Because despite owning a car, my mom never left the house, especially with her health.                  I knew that as soon as word about my inventions got out, some form of government or corporate agent would try to get a hold of it, mostly because of their “uniqueness.” And bingo, that’s exactly what happened. But I wasn't there, and neither were my inventions, so they went and made my parents disappear, probably arresting them and faking their deaths to make sure no one else would ever find out.                  Yeah, that’s how valuable my inventions were. And that’s not even the half of it: wars could be fought over them.                  That was the first reason why I didn't want anyone to know in the first place. The second, and most important reason, I didn't know about at first. It wasn't until Rose pointed it out after running some simulations that she brought it to my attention.                  What I made was also a potential weapon of mass destruction. But not just any weapon of mass destruction, I made what was quite possibly the most dangerous weapon in human history. Ever.                  And it was only the size of a basketball.                  You know what humans did last time they discovered a revolutionary new energy source? It was about 50 or so years before I was born. Scientists from the land of America figured out the power of the atom: Nuclear energy! And guess what they did with it! At the time, they were at war with two other nations. So what did they do?                  They turned it into a weapon and leveled two entire cities, that’s what!                  Tens of thousands of innocent people died in just a matter of seconds! Tens of thousands more died after suffering from radiation poisoning for weeks!                  Since the dawn of time, humans have been war like, always trying to beat the guy who doesn't agree with them! And here I was, someone who single-handedly created something more powerful than a nuclear bomb!                  So I swore myself and my technology into isolation. I swore that I would never let anyone get access to it.                  From that point on, I continued work on my Liandri designs, making them more combat oriented. I also got to work on the Link Gun as well. Rose was the best help I could ever hope to ask for during those projects.                  To make a long story short, I created a lethal security force to make sure that any and all unwanted outsiders stayed out. And you wanna know the best part?                  They never had to fight anything until today.                  The ponies listened intently as Alex recounted the events that brought him to Equestria. He told them about the large ships he saw coming through the clouds on his way back from a grocery run to a nearby township, how they somehow discovered his hideout and broke in, forcing him to escape with a teleporter that could barely even be considered a prototype. He also took the time to explain to them just who and what Rose was.                  However, he also made sure to omit the mention of the Omega protocol.                  “… and that’s when I apparently fell down Twilight’s stairs,” Alex concluded.                  They all silently looked at him, the same worried expression on each of their faces. Twilight, while still looking worried, had also been taking plenty of notes. Alex stopped caring at this point.                  He glanced outside to find that it was already dark out. Wow, time flies… He looked back at his audience and suddenly got an evil idea.                  “So!” he said with a genuine smile. “You've been hearing me talk about Rose for quite a while. Who wants to actually meet her?”                  Pinkie, her mood suddenly resetting back to its default excited state, waved her hoof back and forth. “Ooo! Ooo! I do! I do!”                  Fueled by her enthusiasm, Alex leaned over to the laptop and brought it next to him. Rose was still hiding. He cracked his knuckles and stretched his neck before furiously tapping keys, windows suddenly appearing and disappearing as he tried to coax her out.                  “Hey, is she okay?” inquired Twilight, trying to peer over at the screen.                  Alex didn't bother to look up. “Yeah, she’s fine. She’s just hiding…”                  “Hiding? Why is she hiding?”                  “She doesn’t have much experience with others besides me. Social anxiety?”                  “Oh, she doesn’t have anything to be nervous about,” said Rarity, “we’re all friends, here! Besides, I’m sure it’ll do her some good.”                  Alex continued his tapping, working vigorously to get around her own attempts to stop him. “You know I've got root access... Come on… There we go… Almost… aaaaaand… Done!”                  With a final keystroke, a look of pure anger, hatred, and seething fury appeared on the screen. Everything about it said “I hate you and everything about you with every fibre of my being.”                  Alex just grinned. “Ah, there you are! Rose, I’d like you to meet the ponies who have generously donated their time to be here with us today.”                  He turned the laptop to face the others and Rose instantly composed herself.                  “Hello there…” she said.                  “Hi there! I’m Pinkie Pie! It’s always so much fun to meet new friends!” said the self-announced pink puff, getting uncomfortably close to the computer and obscuring everyone else’s view.                  Alex placed the computer beside him. “Well, I’m just gonna leave her right there so you all can get to know each other better.” He leaned towards Twilight and whispered to her. “Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?”                  “Huh? Oh, sure!” Twilight felt a pang of disappointment since she wouldn't be able to converse with Rose again quite yet, but she figured she’ll have plenty of opportunities later.                  The two distanced themselves from the group before Alex knelt down to be at eye level with his new – dare he admit it – friend.                  “Hey,” he said in a hushed toned, making sure the others couldn't hear him, “I just wanted to personally thank you for helping me out here.”                  “You don’t need to thank me, Alex,” she said with a smile. “I’m just doing what anypony should.”                  Alex held up a head in protest. “No, Twilight, you don’t get it. Of all the things that could've happened when I went through that portal, of all the horrible possibilities that I could've suffered, I ended up here, and you've been nothing but helpful and kind to me, a complete stranger you found in your basement.”                  Twilight's face flushed and she averted her gaze elsewhere. “Wow, Alex, I don’t really know what to say. You’re welcome, I guess. And besides, after everything you've been through, I’d say you deserve a break.”                  He rubbed back of his head. “Yeah, I guess I do, don’t I?”                  “But…” Twilight’s tone suddenly became much more serious. She tilted her head towards the open door, beckoning him to follow, and he did.                  Once outside and sure that they were well away from the others, she continued her sentence. “Look, I have to ask you this. This device you were talking about earlier… Are you going to try to make another one?”                  The tone of her voice wasn't one of enthusiasm, but one of worry.                  “Well, if I’m gonna want to get any work done, yeah,” he answered.                  Twilight shifted on her hooves uncomfortably.                  Alex knew just what she was thinking and frowned. “You’re afraid I’m gonna try turning it into a weapon, aren't you?”                  “No, no!” she defended, holding a hoof up. “It’s not that, it’s just…”                  “It’s just what then?" he said sternly. "You're afraid it’ll accidentally blow up and take half the town with it?”                  Twilight flattened her ears and stared at the ground. Alex mentally kicked himself for obviously hurting her feelings. He always felt terrible if he ever did that to someone, and Twilight was certainly no exception. He had to make things right or he’d feel guilty about it all night.                  “Look, I promise you, in its natural condition, it’s perfectly safe. In order for it to cause any damage whatsoever, you have to force it to do that, it doesn't just happen by accident.”                  Twilight looked up at him, slightly alleviated, but still unsure. Alex knelt down once more to be eye to eye with her.                  “Lemme ask you a question. Does this world – Equestria, wasn’t it? – does it have an energy crisis?”                  She tilted her head, wondering what he meant. “An energy crisis?”                  “Yeah. Is Equestria looking for new, renewable sources of energy to fulfill its needs because the old sources are much too temporary?”                  She blinked. “Not that I know of… We pretty much have all the energy that we need, I think...”                  Maybe… Just maybe… he thought. Would I be running the risk? She seems trustworthy enough, but… Screw it.                  He placed his hand on what he best guessed was her shoulder and looked straight at her. “How about this. Tomorrow morning, you and I will talk about it, just us two. I’ll explain to you what it is, what it does, and how I use it. I won’t mention this to Rose because she’ll probably try to talk me out of it. How does that sound?”                  Twilight’s face lit up as all sorts of meanings hit her at once. She understood that he ran an incredible risk (or at least, he probably felt he did) by telling her about it. He was putting so much trust in her! She flattery was undeniable, not just because he seemed to trust her, but because he would be sharing what was possibly one of the most ground-breaking scientific advances to ever come to Equestria, and only she would know about it.                  Alex smiled at the look of pure elation on her face. He still wasn't quite sure why he said what he did, considering the unbelievable risk he was taking. He wasn't sure if it was because he trusted her or because it seemed that Equestria didn't really have a need for massive amounts energy. Not like Earth at any rate.                  Or perhaps it was because he didn't really have any other choice.                  “That sounds fantastic!” she said. “Would you mind if I take notes?”                  “Actually, I would,” Alex stated matter-of-factly, but smirked nevertheless. “But trust me, this is something you’ll always remember, with or without notes.”                  Despite Twilight's disappointment, her happiness remained intact. “Alright, I understand.”                  “Good,” Alex patted her on the shoulder before getting up. “Now then, let’s get back to them, shall we?”                  Twilight nodded in response as they returned to the bed room to find the others huddled around the computer screen.                  “So a car is this machine that humans use to get around on their own, without anypony pulling it?” asked Pinkie with genuine interest.                  “Yes, it is,” confirmed Rose. “More primitive models use regular combustible fuels to operate, but more advanced designs don’t have a need for such materials.”                  Pinkie gasped up at the ceiling. “Wow! I wish I’d thought of that!”                  Alex nudged Twilight to get her attention and jerked his head in their direction. She understood just what he meant. “Alright, everypony, they've had a really long day. We should let them rest now.”                  “Awwwww!” whined Pinkie. “Do we have to?”                  “She’s right, sugarcube,” agreed Applejack. “As interestin’ as they've been, we've been kinda smotherin’ ‘em. We aughta let ‘em rest.”                  “They have a point, dear,” said Rarity. “Besides, it’s starting to get late and I need my beauty sleep.”                  The ponies started filing out, each giving Alex and Rose a proper farewell. Rarity and Pinkie, however, hung back just a bit.                  “Alex, darling, could you confirm one teeny little thing for me?” Rarity asked.                  “Uh, sure. What is it?”                  “From what I understand, your species wears clothing all the time, correct?”                  He rubbed the back of his neck. “Pretty much, yeah.”                  Rarity smiled. “Well then, if you ever need new clothing, just stop by Carousel Boutique and I’d be more than happy to set you up with a new wardrobe! After all, any friend of Twilight is a friend of mine.”                  Alex smiled at her offer, but respectfully declined. “Thanks for the offer, but I have a few changes of clothing in my bag. But if I need any more, I’ll keep you in mind!”                  “Please do!” With a curt nod, Rarity trotted out with everyone else.                  Pinkie, for her part, simple sat patiently with a folded piece of paper in her mouth.                  “Uh, why do you have that in your mouth?” asked Alex, not exactly sure where it even came from.                  “Ish for you!” she exclaimed, leaning in so he could take it.                  Alex took the paper from her mouth and carefully unfolded it. Two numbers were written on the paper: Ten billion and one million. “Uhh… Thanks, I guess?”                  With a cheerful smile, Pinkie bounced after the others. “You’re welcome!”                  “Spike,” Twilight called out, “could you go prepare the guest room?”                  “Sure thing, Twilight!” the dragon said as he went to go complete the assigned task.                  Pocketing the odd note, Alex took this as an indication that he should go prepare his belongings to move them. He placed his Link Gun and its ejected clip in his Go-Bag and slung it all onto his back. He then picked Rose up off the bed as Twilight replaced the comforter that he had ruined earlier.                  “Sorry I had to do that to you,” he whispered to his AI companion, “but I had to talk to Twilight alone for a bit. Plus, you did abandon me earlier when they showed up. Fair’s fair.”                  Rose sighed. “I suppose I had that coming… What did you need to talk to her about?”                  Alex knew he couldn't tell her what he planned quite yet. If he did, she’d probably be angry at him and try to talk him out of it. He couldn't lie either since he was terrible at coming up with lies on the spot. Once he told Twilight, though, Rose would only be angry at him. Asking for forgiveness was always easier than asking for permission, after all.                  A half-truth it was, then. “I talked to her about seeing what we could do about getting ourselves established here, and we’ll talk later in the morning. I didn't mention the Power-Core, but I have no doubt in my mind that it’ll probably have to come to that at some point.”                  Rose frowned. “I don’t like the idea, but you may just be right. Choose your words carefully, Alex, that’s all I have to say. Also, I’d keep a look out for that pink one. There’s something strange about her…”                  Alex nodded and folded the laptop under his arms. He walked over to Twilight who was now busy with the ruined sheet and burnt lamp. When she turned her attention to him, he pointed at the laptop under his arms, then his ear, and then placed his finger over his mouth to indicate a hush. Twilight understood and simply nodded.                  “So,” Alex said, trying to think up some small talk, “looks like we’re gonna be here for a while. I wanna thank you again for all the help you've been.”                  “It's not a problem, Alex. Just so long as you remember to give me a bit of an insight into your world! It’s not every day you get learn about an alien culture!”                  “Completely understandable, and I’ll help as best I can.”                  Twilight smiled as she levitated the mass of ruined cloth and lamp in one big ball. “Spike should be done setting up the guest room by now. Here, it’s this way.”                  He simply nodded and followed.                  Alex took a moment to examine himself before getting into the uncomfortably small bed. The bruise was still there, and while the pain killers had probably worn off, it didn't hurt as badly as before. It also appeared to have healed fairly well, which, to him, meant that Fluttershy had access to some really freaky medicine worth looking into.                  As Alex climbed into the bed, he realized just how small it was. The last time he had ever slept in anything this small, was when he was fourteen years old! He could fit alright if he slept in the fetal position, though.                  Closing his eyes, his mind unconsciously wandered back to the note Pinkie had given him and the numbers that were written on it. Ten billion and one million. His eyes shot back open as his brain suddenly clicked. With those two numbers in mind, Alex did a quick binary conversion in his head that resulted with two different numbers with six digits total. Scrambling out of bed, Alex grabbed his phone and entered the new numbers as the pin code.                  With a simulated click, the device granted him access.                  How in the hell…?                  Alex was dumbfounded. Pinkie Pie had not only guessed the code to his phone and wrote it down for him, she wrote it in its original binary! He didn't even hint at having his phone, let alone mention he couldn't figure out the code.                  Rose was right. He did have to keep an eye on her.                  Sorting that mental note away for later, Alex began perusing through his phone, bringing back memories that were long since buried. He decided to open up the music folder on his phone to see what kind of songs he brought with him. "Songs to solder to" was one of his oldest playlists, though definitely one of the best. However, his excitement slowly morphed into confusion as he started going through the extensive list of songs. Certain songs were starting to catch his eye, and not in a good way.                  Their titles caused him to become concerned as they seemed to hint at his current situation. One of them, though, stood out from the rest as soon as he saw it.                  My Little Pony intro (Alex S. Glitch Remix)                  Alex's heart practically stopped as the information hit him like a truck at full speed. His jaw became slack and his eyes widened slowly as memories of his teenage years came rushing back to him. He quickly scrolled through the list of songs and found numerous other songs related to the cartoon show that was so popular back then. Admittedly, he wasn't so much a fan of the show as he was a fan of the content the fan base generated. The music was always oddly appealing. Somehow doubting himself, Alex looked around the room to confirm that he was, in fact, in Twilight Sparkle’s guest bed room. His nagging feeling from earlier had finally been explained.                  “Oh fuck…” he mumbled. “O-oh fuck…”                  He turned the phone off and gently placed it on the night stand next to the laptop as he stared into the darkness.                  “Oooooooohhhhh fuuuuuuck…” his voice cracked. “How… in the fuck…”                  Alex slowly curled up under the covers, facing away from the phone, his eyes still open and staring into the void.                  It was going to be a long night.