//------------------------------// // Reflection on Humanity // Story: A Grownup's Tale // by VectorVineyard //------------------------------// Bryan could make out a few familiar faces in the crowd that stood before him. He could see Pinkie Pie barely containing her excitement, Rarity and Applejack cautiously holding their sisters, and he could just see a cyan pegasus hiding in a nearby tree, probably waiting for an ambush followed by Rainbow Dash's typical "Spy!" accusations. He could also see Lyra with a wide grin on her face, and next to her Bon Bon looking astonished. He saw Cheerilee holding Snip, Snails and Scootaloo, and the Cakes - Have they had their foals yet...? - as well as Nurse Redheart with what looked like a patient she was escorting. They were all here, and they were all apprehensive and afraid. Fluttershy looked at Bryan and he nodded to her and stepped forward. "Hello, everyone. My name is Bryan, and I'm... well, I'm from another world. If you're wondering how exactly I got here, I'm sorry to say that I couldn't tell you. I'm trying to figure that out myself. Twilight Sparkle suggested that I see Princess Celestia, but because she won't be back for around a week, I'll be staying here in Ponyville." He paused. The crowd wasn't looking any less afraid. "You're all apprehensive of me, I understand. You have good reason to. But I don't wish to harm you. I would actually like to befriend you all... if you're okay with that. If there's anything you want to know about me to ease your suspicions, please do not hesitate to ask." "Here's a question," said Rainbow Dash as she poked out of the tree, "are you a spy?" "Well," he replied, "I don't know how I got here, so even if I got a hold on some sort of crucial information, I wouldn't be able to communicate it to my species." He took on a sullen expression, "I'm not even sure if I can get back home at all." A few ponies started glaring at a sheepish Rainbow Dash as he spoke. "So, no. I'm not a spy." Ages passed before another voice was heard. "I think he's A-Okay!" said Pinkie Pie. "A real, live alien! That's so cool!" exclaimed Scootaloo. "I believe Ponyville can benefit from an alien ambassador!" Mayor Mare chimed in. Before he knew it, Bryan had the approval of the entire town. It's really that easy? All I have to do is look sad to eliminate any suspicion or doubt? He smiled and waved, dismissing the crowd. Pinkie ran off to prepare a surprise party, the Crusaders found each other in the crowd and trotted off with Applejack following behind, and everypony else went back to their usual places. The young man could spy Rarity excitedly galloping towards the Carousel Boutique, possibly inspired by the stranger's green canvas shoes, or his khakis, or his olive coat. He was about to head back inside the library when Rainbow Dash approached him. "Sorry for calling you a spy, Bryan," she said with an apologetic look, "it wasn't cool of me to accuse you of anything." Bryan smiled. "No hard feelings, miss. I would have had the same doubts if I were in your hooves, but I don't think I would have the guts to confront those suspicions! You're a very brave pony." She looked relieved and grinned back at him. "Thanks! I'm Rainbow Dash, by the way. Fastest flier in Equestria!" she said, taking to the skies and performing a few aerial acrobatic tricks as she announced her title. "The very fastest, huh? It's nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash!" "Nice to meet you, too! We should hang out sometime so I can show you my latest tricks!" "Of course. I can't wait!" Bryan and Rainbow Dash shook hooves and parted ways. He went back inside the library to Fluttershy, Twilight, and Spike having more tea. "That went well!" he said. "Went well? You were great!" Spike replied. Fluttershy nodded in agreement. "Pretty good for an alien," Twilight said. She had a clipboard and quill next to her. I hate to say it, but fan fiction has Twilight pegged when it comes to quizzing humans. "You want to know more about humans?" he asked the unicorn. She nodded cheerfully and levitated the clipboard and quill in front of her. "I came up with a few questions during your little speech. Are you okay with me asking personal stuff?" "I'll let you know if you're getting into anything too sensitive. Ask away," Bryan said as he took a seat in the chair next to Fluttershy. "Right! First question: What scientific achievements have humans done?" Twilight asked, patiently waiting for his answer with a smile on her face. What should I start with? The moon landing? Cancer treatment? Maybe nuclear weapons as a "joke"? He thought for a few seconds. When in doubt, use the Fuck-It Adjustment. "Around fifty years ago humans brought a man to the moon using a rocket," he told the pony whose jaw dropped an inch for every word he spoke, "Now we have a giant telescope that orbits the planet and allows us to see the entire known universe. Other achievements include a worldwide network of computers that allows people from all over the world to connect to each other, breakthroughs in research for curing genetic diseases such as cancer, and I believe that humans are on the way to perfecting cloning and virtual reality." Everyone in the room was completely silent. "You see, magic doesn't exist on our world, so in order to outmatch natural predators we developed our brains instead of our bodies. We're a scientific people. We managed to explain most of the universe and how it works with a single grand theory. We've reduced stars and gravity and nature and even emotion to mathematical equations and chemical reactions. We know about the particles that make up all matter. We've tapped into the unimaginable power those particles contain. We've created weapons that could destroy entire cities and machines that could build it all back together. We are able to look inside a person and determine what makes them sick without ever touching them. We can see how the universe began." "And yet," Bryan continued, "we've had to take every last resource from our planet in order to make those tools. We are a brilliant and destructive species. Nature dwindles and dies while we create beauty with steel and silicon in order to justify our pillaging the planet. Our atmosphere fades because of our transportation systems. We've fought wars against each other over such petty things like money and power and property." "Humans have gained so much knowledge that we can predict our futures. We crunch our numbers and make graphs and charts and we tremble at our data. We see more and more people getting obese from living sedentary lives, we see nations crumbling in the years to come, we see plagues devour our farmland and economic crises destroy our livelihood," Bryan looked from his teacup to Twilight's eyes, "Twilight, we can see our planet flooding and boiling up, we can see a nuclear holocaust, we can see our own sun swallowing up the earth in its dying years. We have several theories as to how the universe ends," he looked around to everyone, "You should be glad that you get to have some inexplicable force like magic to keep your world together, or else you would have to discover what really keeps everything in place and worry about how long your world will last." Bryan took a sip of tea as he finished while everyone else stared in awe. Spike stood agape with a tray of cookies. Fluttershy looked terrified. Twilight was tearing up. That was a bit melodramatic. It's not like the sun will explode next week... "That's horrible..." Twilight whispered, "How do you keep going, knowing all that?" Bryan placed his cup onto the plate with a resounding clink. "I take the information into perspective. For the most part, I was born into a rather boring era. Nothing catastrophic seems to happen in the present, only the future. For example, the sun won't be dying for billions of years, and it's very unlikely that the few countries that possess nuclear weapons will actually use them. A few philosophers might cry in their sleep because of what humanity has done, but the rest of us just carry on and try to fix things as best we can." Bryan smiled, "It kind of reminds me of all the stories that humans have written. All the worlds they've created have some sort of gimmick to make it fantastical and different from boring old Earth, like magic or advanced technology or parallel worlds. People often forget our world's gimmick: a constant, undying desire to keep moving forward." Twilight rubbed the tears out of her eyes. "I suppose that's something, but..." She was interrupted by Bryan reaching out and patting her head. "Hey, don't worry about me. I live in the now, not the later. I'm not gonna go crazy because I might die someday," he said to her. She smiled back under his hand. "Okay." "Do you still want to ask any questions?" "...Alright. Can you tell me how the human body works?" Twilight asked, board and pen at the ready once more. Bryan scratched his chin for a moment. "Let's see if I can remember where all the organs are..."