Twilight and the human looked to the globe of Earth for nearly an hour before Abderus finally let his hand drop, his reservoir of locations run down to nothing. During the course of his impromptu geography lecture Twilight had heard the human go through a whole gamut of different emotional states, ranging from anger, to sadness, and happiness and joy. When he finally fell silent he spoke a few words in his language, and the sphere vanished, only to be replaced with a globe of Equestria. He looked at it for a few moments, nothing but the gentle hum of the ship shattering the silence.
“Twilight home.” He raised a hand to the globe when an abrupt tone sounded out, causing Abderus to rapidly twist his head. Without a word he stood, the sphere vanishing with a faint popping sound. Twilight stood slower than the human did, her weariness beginning to take its toll on her body. The human’s hands flew across various consoles as the alicorn looked on, her vast intellect desperate to analyze and understand what it was that was causing Abderus such distress. After several tense moments Abderus let out a happy sound as he turned to look at a strange red bulge in the wall. It was remarkably small, and yet it held the human’s attention like nothing else had.
As Abderus looked to the bulge, Twilight moved about the chamber, taking in the details, when, abruptly, a new voice, lacking the emotional inflection of Abderus, cut through the air. The voice lacked any of the typical halting pauses that plagued Abderus’ speech, leading Twilight to deduce that it was either someone incredibly confident in what they had to say, or it wasn’t a person at all. The voice only lasted for a few short moments before it cut out, much to the displeasure of the human. Abderus shouted back at the ship for several minutes without response before he finally stopped and simply glared at the ship around him. After a moment the human simply raised one of his hands at the screen, his middle digit raised.
He only made the gesture for a moment before he let out an explosive sigh. His gaze roamed the ship for a moment before he looked back at the mare, who, during the past few moments, had placed herself squarely in the seat that she was certain had once held the human pilot just a few body lengths away. He let out a short sound, quickly getting the alicorn’s attention. The human motioned towards the door before he started making his way over to it, not waiting for the mare to agree or disagree. Twilight waited for him to be out of sight before she cast a quick spell, allowing for her to reclaim all the images and sounds that had occurred within the room in the past hour. While she doubted that she’d ever have a solid understanding of the human’s language of choice, she didn’t want to just leave what had been said and seen forgotten.
She joined the human after she finished her work within the cockpit, and soon she was standing beside him outside of the once proud vessel. The pair only lingered for a few minutes before the human turned away, starting down the great furrow in the land. Twilight allowed for her stasis spell to return to affect before she trotted to catch up to the dwindling figure of the biped. The trip home was uncomfortably silent as the human ignored all attempts by the mare at starting conversation of any sort. When they reached the library the human waltzed right past the guards, hardly even acknowledging them before locking himself within the bedroom Twilight had given him.
Twilight looked at the door that hid the human for several long moments before she shook her head and ventured up to her bedroom. Twilight’s mind was racing with all the possible reasons for the human’s change in behavior, but she couldn’t even begin to fathom a reason for a creature she barely understood. As the mare laid herself down in her bed she found herself comparing the pilot to some of the more devious mind puzzles she’d encountered earlier in her life. None, though, had held her back for more than a few hours. This one was different, though, as the rules seemed to be changing with each move she made. A smile tugged at the mare’s lips as she allowed sleep to claim her. This was just another challenge that she’d overcome.
With morning came the dullness of routine, and the general grogginess of the morning. Spike was still blissfully ensconced within his basket, and Twilight didn’t have the heart to rouse him just yet. Instead, she crept from her room as silently as she could, her hooves making the quietest of sounds. When she finally made it from her room, she felt her ears twitch as sounds from downstairs reached her. It sounded much like somepony was working in the kitchen, so Twilight hurried herself downstairs to see what was going on. One of the two guards, she couldn’t remember a name, was looking into the kitchen with a small smile on his face. When he saw Twilight, his smile grew as he motioned for her to approach.
In the kitchen, oblivious to his audience, was the human as he did battle with various items from the refrigerator. There were several eggs broken on the ground, and on the table, as well as several dozen open containers. Most of the open containers seemed like they had just been opened and left out, but some showed clear signs of consumption. Twilight entered the room in a daze as she tried to take in the degree of filth and mire in the room.
Finally, when she was just passing the table, about halfway across the room, Abderus turned in place. His eyes widened when he saw the mare, and for a moment he looked incredibly confused. Then, as if hit by a moment of intense clarity, he smiled. “Fuck you, Twilight!” The mare stood still for several long minutes as she tried to understand what had just happened. The human didn’t seem to realize that he did anything wrong, at first, since his smile stayed in place. For a moment his smile faltered, and he took a tentative half step forward. “Twilight?”
The mare didn’t listen to the human as she turned in place, her fiery gaze locking onto the guard, who was fighting back laughter, in the doorway. Seemingly recognizing what was going on, the guard took a single step back, his laughter dying in an instant, before the alicorn teleported herself right in the guard’s face. She didn’t say a word as she stared harshly into the guard’s twin blue eyes. He swallowed nervously as he took yet another step backwards. “Come on, Princess Sparkle, it was just a joke.” The guard looked past the mare towards the human, his eyes desperate. “Come on, Aber... Adbus... Uh... Human! Tell her! It was just a joke! Back me up!” The human looked on in confusion at the display, his features shifting between guilt and disbelief.
“Twilight?” The human walked a few steps closer before he stopped next to the pair. When he was just in front of them, he dropped down to their height, and he looked the guard in the eyes. “What Abderus say?” The guard just looked between the human and the alicorn, his hooves slowly inching backwards. The man's brow furrowed. “What I say, Twilight?”
The alicorn’s gaze turned towards the human for a moment, and she could clearly see that the pilot was bothered by what was going on. “It’s not your fault, Abderus.” She looked at the guard, her sympathy from just a heartbeat ago vanishing instantly. “You, on the other hoof, are going to be repositioned as soon as I send a letter off to Princess Celestia.” The guard opened his mouth to speak, but Twilight jumped in before he could say a word. “I don’t want to hear it. Not only are you teaching him incorrectly, you’re teaching him the wrong kind of thing. He seems to have figured out that what he said is wrong, but what if I hadn’t figured it out? What if he hadn’t figured it out? He has no understanding of our language, so whenever he hears something, he’ll take the explanation at face value. Now that he knows that you’ve misled him once, he might think that you’ll mislead him all the time. Or, maybe, his culture will demand some form of revenge, or something.” The guard took a small step away from both mare and man, his gaze focused on the mare. “There are so many possible ramifications for this one little incident, I can’t even begin to fathom all of them. So, with all of that said, I suggest that you start packing your things.”
The guard swallowed nervously as he took another step backwards. “Right away, Princess Twilight.” Without pausing for any other form of communication, the stallion turned and bolted for the door, barely stopping to open the door before slamming the door behind himself. Twilight glared at the door for another moment after it shut before she heaved a massive sigh. She glanced at the human as he continued to look at the door before she placed a hoof on his leg, quickly tearing his attention from the door to the alicorn. She motioned for him to head back into the kitchen, and he reluctantly stood, his joints popping as he returned to his full height.
Upon entering the kitchen Twilight noticed that the human hadn’t simply ransacked the kitchen. He had, in fact, been attempting to prepare some food. While she wouldn’t try to guess as to what the human’s goal was, she could see that he was quite into the act. When she looked at the stove she saw that the human had placed several pans atop it, and that there was a roaring fire inside of it, heating the two pans. When Twilight approached she managed to put all the pieces together, and she turned to look at Abderus. “Omelets?” The human just tilted his head a bit before he grabbed a bowl. When he showed the mixture to Twilight she gave it a quick sniff. She moved to one of the egg containers, picking one out and showing it to the human. He gave a quick nod, and then grabbed several other items, amongst them a mushroom and a pepper. The human spoke in his own language quickly before he frowned and shook his head. “Omelet?” This time she accompanied her speech with a brief pantomime of cooking the mix on the stove, and the human nodded.
She smiled at the human before giving him back the bowl, and gesturing towards the stove. Abderus’ smile widened when he realized that he could proceed, and he took to cooking like a champ, quickly getting into the activity, and making quick changes to his style and mannerisms as he went. It didn’t take him long to prepare the food, and once he had both omelets done he grabbed a couple of plates and served them out for both himself and the mare. The two took seats at the, now cleaned, thanks to Twilight, table. As they ate, Spike emerged from his slumber, blearily moving about the room as he grabbed and prepared himself a quick meal. The bowl of small gemstones that he placed before himself grabbed Abderus’ attention right away. Twilight noticed this, and her gaze flitted between the dragon and the human several times.
When Spike took his first spoonful of the crushed gems, and ate it, the human let out a strangled sound of frustration. Both the dragon and the pony looked towards the human, and both were shocked at the pained expression on his face. “Is everything okay, Abderus?” Twilight reached out a hoof towards the human as she spoke, and he seemed to ignore her completely.
When she finally made contact with the human’s arm he looked at her, his eyes searching her. He spoke just a few words of his own language before he grabbed one of the gems from Spike’s bowl, ignoring the milk now on his hand. He spoke a single word, and gestured at the gem. He repeated it again, and then motioned towards Twilight. Figuring out that he wanted to know the word, Twilight spoke. “It’s a sapphire, Abderus. A gemstone, eaten by dragons, or, often, used as decorative accoutrements to clothing.” The human just glared at her for a moment, and Twilight blushed a bit. “It’s a jewel. Dragons eat them.”
The human just looked from Twilight to the gem in his hand, and then back to the dragon who had happily continued eating his breakfast. After a few moments of silence, the human brought the gem to his mouth, and he bit down on it before letting out a grunt. “No Abderus eat.”
The mare chuckled softly as she took the gem back from Abderus. “Only dragons eat gems.” The human continued to look on in amazement as the dragon ate, and Twilight took the time to continue teaching Abderus all that he seemed able to learn during the meal. After the meal was finished, the human stood, and quickly made to clean the kitchen of his mess, ignoring any and all attempts made at helping him with the task. As he finished the task, though, his actions slowed to a crawl, before he finally stopped completely, his hands resting on the too low sink.
For several moments he stayed like that, until, finally, he stood up straight, and he went from the kitchen right to his room. Twilight followed him through this, and she found herself stopped when she went to follow him into his room by a harsh glare. “Want alone.” Twilight wanted to stop him, so that she could continue teaching him, but the anger and hurt in his gaze pushed her away. He continued to glare at her, a few tears gathering in his eyes, before she finally turned away from the human, and went back down the hall.
Every part of her was telling her to head back down the hall, and to talk with the pilot about what was troubling him, but, at the same time, she knew that he probably didn’t have the words to express what was troubling him. Something that she was certain added to his frustration. After several long minutes of indecision the mare made her way into her study where she found Spike sorting some of the more recent additions. “Spike, I’m going out for a while. Write up that letter we talked about during breakfast, and then send it to Princess Celestia right away.”
“Sure thing, Twi. Where are you going, though?”
Twilight offered a half shrug. “I don’t have anyplace in mind, Spike. I just need some space to think. Something Abderus is doing now, too. If he comes out of his room, tell him that I’ll be back later. And, remember, he’s not to leave the house under any circumstance, save for the library being on fire or a disaster.” Spike gave a quick salute before he went over to the desk in the room, a quill and parchment soon sitting before him as he got to work. Twilight only looked on for a moment before she made her way out of the room, and then out of the treehouse. The day was quite pleasant, with only a few clouds in the sky, and yet it did little to alleviate her mood.
Each step took her further from her home, but her mind stayed solidly on the topic of the human, and what his troubles were. Certainly she could guess the cause, but he had been doing just fine all of yesterday, even up to visiting his ship, and so the possibilities seemed far more varied than she could think of. As she continued walking along the road she found herself in the marketplace, surrounded by the many different ponies of the town as they went about their lives. Applebloom and the other crusaders were gathered about Applejack’s small stand, several small baskets filled with apples sitting out. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were both there as well, and so Twilight put a small spring in her step as she approached. Surely the two of them would say something that would send some new spark of inspiration into her mind.
The rainbow maned pegasus noticed her first, giving a quick wave before pointing out the alicorn to the others. Twilight offered a smile as she approached. After a quick batch of greetings the Crusaders spotted Applejack in the distance, rejoicing in her return so that they might get back to their crusading. With a quick cheer they departed, not even stopping to say something to the approaching farmer. “Thanks, Dash, for keeping an eye on the crusaders while I was gone. And you too, ‘Shy. I appreciate it.”
“No problem, AJ. Shy and I were just coming to see you, anyway, so it’s not really a big problem. What was up, anyway?”
The farmer looks down for a moment. “Granny Smith was acting up again.” Twilight, and the others, look down for a moment.
“She’s not getting any better?”
AJ looked up at the alicorn for a moment, a small frown on her face. “No, sadly. The bones refuse to set properly, and the fact that she refuses to stay still isn’t helping. You’re sure, Twi --”
“No, AJ. It wouldn’t work. Broken bones, especially in a pony as old as Granny Smith, need to heal naturally.” The farmer heaved a sigh before she shrugged. “Sorry, Applejack.”
“It’s fine, AJ. Granny Smith’s the hardiest pony I’ve ever met. Heck, I bet if she was a pegasus she could still teach even the Wonderbolts a thing or two.” Dash held her smile a moment before she looked over at Twilight. “And how are you, Twi? How’s the human holding up?”
Fluttershy perked up at the topic just a bit, quickly looking from Rainbow Dash to Twilight. “Oh, yes, how is he? He didn’t look that good when we found him at the crash.”
“He doesn’t really seem that put out by his injuries, to be honest. I’ve only seen him wince a few times, and even those were relatively minor. Either he has an absurd tolerance to pain, or he’s just not that badly hurt.”
“Maybe it’s a bit of both?” All heads turned to look at the farmer. “Maybe he’s not that badly hurt, and he can handle pain well. From what I’ve seen of him, he does seem fragile, but looks can be deceiving.”
“Fragile? Did you see what he did to me?” Dash flushed for a moment as the attention of the other shifted to her. “I mean, what I let him do to me. The only reason he did get me was because I let him.”
“Regardless of his one-time aggressive tendencies, he does seem to be making some good progress in regards to the language. He’s still a long way away from being able to communicate at our level, but he’s well beyond where I thought he’d be after such a short period of time.” As Twilight drew in another breath, a puff of magic appeared before her, heralding the arrival of a single rolled up piece of parchment, courtesy of Spike. There was no royal seal upon it, or, for that matter, a seal of any sort. There was just a piece of string wrapped around it, tied with a messy knot. Before gravity could assert it’s hold on the scroll Twilight used her magic to hold it aloft while the knot was undone. The lone word on the middle of the page held quite a bit of emotion behind it, and Twilight felt her eyes widen as she took it in. “Girls, we’ve got a problem. Dash, go get Pinkie, and Rarity. Meet us in the center of town. AJ, Fluttershy, let’s go!”
With a quick salute, the pegasus took to the air, her polychromatic trail marking her path. Twilight wasted no time watching, though, as she and the others were galloping through the market, barely noticing as the crowd shot them curious glances. Once the group broke free of the market, it took mere moments to arrive at the town hall, where both Rarity and Dash were already waiting. “Twi, I couldn’t find Pinkie anywhere. And the cakes don’t know where she is either.”
As if waiting for her cue, Pinkie trotted out of Town Hall with a big smile on her face. “Hi, girls. I was just talking to Mayor Mare about hosting a Super Duper Special Welcome-to-Ponyville-Party.”
Twilight felt her eye twitch as she looked at the pink earth pony. “And who, Pinkie, is that party for?”
Pinkie tilted her head at Twilight. “For Abderus, duh. But, I didn’t tell Mayor Mare that! I may be silly, but that doesn’t mean I’ll spoil the surprise element of the surprise party. Wait, if I know it’s coming, can it still be a surprise?”
Again Twilight found herself cut off before she could make a response of some kind, albeit this time by the sound of a shouting voice rather than the appearance of a scroll. All heads turned to look at the running form of Spike as he quickly closed the gap between himself and the mares. When he finally made it to the six mares he looked at all of them with fear written plainly on his face. He took several deep breaths as he hunched over, and when he finally looked up his fear was even more apparent. “He’s gone, Twi! After I wrote that first letter, I went to go see how Abderus was doing, and he wasn’t there! Neither guard saw him leave, either!”
Twilight felt a momentary stab of panic before she recovered her calm demeanor. “Alright, girls, we’ve got a loose human on our hooves. We need to find him as quickly as we can, in order to prevent a panic. Dash, Fluttershy, I want you two up in the sky. Break the town up into sections, and survey the whole thing as quickly as you can. AJ...” She trailed off as she watched the human walk into the town square, his head moving to and fro as he looked around the area. “Or he’ll just walk to us.” A bright flash saw the mare disappear in one place, and appear beside the human. “Abderus!”
The human looked down at the mare for a moment before he frowned, and continued on his way. The other girls all ran over as the human continued his walk, heedless of Twilight’s protests. Fluttershy hovered just before the human, speaking to him in soft tones. “Please stop, Abderus. We don’t want you to get hurt. Or for you to scare anypony.” The human looked at the pegasus for only a moment before he just walked around her. “Oh my.”
Twilight looked on in disbelief as the human ignored all of the protests thrown at him, until, finally, he lashed out at AJ, who had placed herself between the human and whatever his destination might be. He didn’t strike her, but he did give her a shove to get her out of his way. Unwilling to allow the confrontation to develop any further, she interposed herself between the human and the now prone farmer, her wings spread to make herself larger. For just a moment she was fascinated by her new body’s reaction to hostility, but that fascination vanished when she looked up at the creature before her. For the first time Twilight knew what it was like to stare down a predator. There was no compassion in the human’s eyes, only anger and sadness. “Abderus Argentum Ganymede, stop this nonsense right now!”
The human looked down at the mare, and in a single motion he dropped down to her height, matching the height of her eyes, allowing him to look right into hers. The sadness present just moments ago was gone, replaced with anger that Twilight could tell wasn’t directed at her. For several moments the two just held each others gaze before the human finally broke the silence. “Why?” Only silence answered him, and he refused to break eye contact. “Why, Twilight?”
The alicorn swallowed nervously as she looked to each of her friends, only to find her gaze drawn inexorably back to the human’s eyes. The human repeated his query a third time, and Twilight felt all her confidence gone in the face of this one question. She charged her horn for a spell, but the human’s hand came up to grasp it, and when he did Twilight felt her magic fade away. The human had a frown on his face as he just looked at the mare. “Abderus, please. Not here. Let’s go talk back home at the --”
“Not Abderus home. Twilight home not Abderus home. Earth Abderus home. Equestria not home.”
Twilight looked to each of her friends, all of whom were tense and looking between the human and herself. AJ took a step closer to the human, her expression one of concern. At her approach, the human looked from Twilight to the farmer, his expression changing for just a moment before returning to his angry frown. “Abderus, please stop.” The farmer put a hoof on the human’s leg. “It’s okay, Abderus. We’re your friends, and we want to help.”
The human’s hand fell away from Twilight’s horn before the human fell onto his butt before he started crying. “Abderus alone.”