//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Following Through // by Alaborn //------------------------------// Following Through By Alaborn Standard disclaimer: This is a not for profit fan work. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro, Inc. I make no claim to any copyrighted material mentioned herein. Chapter 4 I stirred from sleep as I heard loud knocking from downstairs. It came from the front door, if I had to guess. I brushed the curtain aside with my hoof and looked out. A whole contingent of pegasus guards, looking identical in white coats and gold armor, stood there, some still attached to a chariot. I let the curtain fall and ducked into bed. I stayed in bed, listening for the sound of other ponies. After a few minutes, I heard one set of hoofsteps approaching. “John? Are you awake?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “Are you alone?” I responded. “Yes. Spike’s in the kitchen.” I stayed quiet. I didn’t hear another pony. “John? Are you okay?” “Yeah.” I got out of bed and walked to the door, opening it a crack. It looked like it was just Twilight Sparkle. “What’s gotten into you?” Twilight Sparkle said. “Are the guards gone?” I said. “Yes. They just came to drop off some files.” Her horn glowed, and she magically pushed the door open. “Why are you acting all worried?” “You did make a big deal about how I’m not supposed to be here.” “Relax,” she said. “While Princess Celestia is concerned about how you and your friends came to be here, she’s not worried about you. In fact, she encouraged me to work with you, since you have knowledge that nopony else has.” “I don’t know how much I can help you,” I said. “This whole magic thing is well above my pay grade.” “That’s just it. I need somepony who will look at this from a fresh angle. And speaking of fresh, you probably want to freshen up before breakfast. The bathroom’s set for you.” I nodded and headed for the bathroom. Resting on the sink was a large, neatly folded towel, with a long-handled scrub brush and two other brushes on top of it. Thinking back to my last visit to Equestria, my only experience with bathrooms was using the toilet. It was as I remembered, squat toilets that resembled something I had once seen on the Internet. Something from Japan? In any case, I did my business, thankful that this body knew what to do. The bathroom had a separate tub and shower. The tub was freestanding, made of wood, and looked decidedly old-fashioned. It was also dry, unlike the shower, which had been recently used. The shower had a narrow lip and a floor of natural stone. There were separate hot and cold water taps, with handles that called to mind the illustration on the Water Works card in Monopoly. Like a lot of things in this world, I wondered why they looked designed for creatures with hands. My magic grasped the faucet handles fine, and I started the shower. Once the water was at a nice temperature, I stepped in, grabbing the brush in my magic. It looked like it could be held on my mouth and reach everywhere on my body. In this case, I preferred to use my magic. Twilight Sparkle had one bottle of liquid soap or shampoo in the shower. Either it was normal to use the same soap for both mane and coat, or she didn’t care enough to get separate products. If it was the latter, I approved of the sentiment. I squeezed a good portion of the liquid onto my back; it had a floral scent that wasn’t unpleasant, but wasn’t masculine either. I then started scrubbing. After a few tries at scrubbing using my magic, I eventually took the brush in my mouth, since I didn’t feel like I was getting myself clean. It worked; I finally built up a lot of lather. It took a lot of pressure to make me feel anything on my thicker hide. When it came to cleaning my mane, I used my hoof, which definitely wasn’t as good as fingers. There probably were tricks to bathing oneself that ponies learned as children. But I had no intention of staying long enough to need to learn them. My only concern was to not have an offensive odor, since I was looking at a day of studying in close contact with Twilight Sparkle. I rinsed off and stepped out of the shower. I reached with my magic and pulled the towel over my body. I had no idea how I was supposed to dry myself without magic. Rolling around on the ground like a dog? I looked at the other two brushes. One looked like a hairbrush, so I used it to comb out my mane and tail. The other I guessed was for my coat, but I decided to skip it. I smelled something good cooking downstairs, and my stomach reminded me it was time for breakfast. I followed my nose to the kitchen. Spike, standing on a little footstool in front of the stove, was cooking omelets. Twilight Sparkle, unsurprisingly, had her nose in a book. I smiled when I saw it was one of the Harry Potter books. “Wait. You’re already on Prisoner of Azkaban?” I said. “Yes. The books are a quick read. At least, once I got used to your strange font,” she replied. “What do you mean, strange font?” Twilight Sparkle levitated a book out of one of the cupboards, a cookbook. She moved both that book and my book to me. I looked at the cookbook. At first, something looked off, but I blinked and I read the text clearly. Curious, I tried something. I turned the book upside down and opened it to a page. Focusing on the shapes of the upside-down letters rather than trying to read them, I rotated the book. Yes, the font was different, with backwards letters and words as well as some really strange kerning. But once I tried to read it, the writing cleared up, resembling normal printed English. “I see what you mean,” I said. I couldn’t think of a reason for this. When I first came here, I thought I could speak and read their language because that was built into whatever spell brought me here. But if we spoke the same language because that’s how the show was written, then why have strange writing? Maybe my first thought was accurate, since something did seem to be correcting the writing in my mind. My musing was interrupted by a plate being placed in front of me. It was a perfect omelet, fluffy and golden, stuffed with cheese, onions, and peppers. The only thing it was missing was ham. I didn’t think ponies would eat ham, but then again, I didn’t picture them eating eggs, either. I savored the taste of the omelet. It was much better than the breakfast fare I normally prepared for myself. Twilight Sparkle was still reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban while she ate. There was one question I had to ask. “So, what do you think of the Harry Potter series?” “I like it so far,” she replied. “I have to force myself to gloss over the unrealistically complicated system of magic described in the book, but once I do that, I like the portrayal of two worlds that developed differently because they developed under different sets of rules. I just wish I knew more about your world, so I could understand Harry Potter’s reaction to the magic world.” “Actually, my world is closer to your world than to the wizarding world,” I said. “You should be able to understand what Harry Potter is feeling.” Twilight Sparkle frowned. “Is the treatment he received at the hooves of his aunt and uncle normal for humans?” “No. The story casts him in the role of the underdog, which makes you want to see him succeed. Would you rather read about the exploits of Dudley Dursley?” “Not at all!” “The way he’s treated is a little over the top, but most people have experienced some degree of sibling rivalry,” I said. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?” “I have an older brother. And did I ever hate it that our parents let him stay up later, just because he was older!” Twilight Sparkle said. “There you go. You root for the character because he’s an underdog, and because you remember what it felt like to not be the favorite,” I said. “True, but what I noticed most was the similarities to Equestrian adventure books for foals, most notably the trio of heroes. Almost all stories for foals feature a unicorn, a pegasus, and an earth pony working together, and accomplishing more because of it,” she said. “In a way, your book has the same three tribes split, with one wizard from the wizard world, one from the human world, and one split between the two.” I wanted to quibble about some of her definitions, but the character of Harry Potter was somewhere between the extremes of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. I heard a loud sigh from the other side of the table. Spike was there, eating his omelet with... were those gemstones? He looked bored. “Sorry if we’re leaving you out of the conversation, Spike,” I said. “It’s okay,” he replied. “If you want, we can talk about Power Ponies later,” Twilight Sparkle said. And that cheered up the little dragon. “John, I’ve enjoyed this conversation, but we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” Twilight Sparkle said. “That’s a lot of books.” I stared at the pile of books, folios, and loose papers that the guards from Canterlot had brought. “Where do we even start?” I asked. “That’s a question I do know the answer to,” Twilight Sparkle said. “It’s here!” She pulled out a scroll and unrolled it. It had some kind of line graph, reminding me of an electrocardiogram. “This is a recording of readings from Atallama Observatory. This one shows phi energy, and there should be another one showing delta energy.” “You’ve lost me,” I said. “Those are two forms of magical energy. They exist in the background of the universe, but we learned they can be manipulated. Whatever ritual Discord employed eight months ago triggered an observable spike in these energies.” Twilight Sparkle examined the scroll. She pointed to a mess of lines that covered about a third of its length. “And that’s what I was afraid of.” “What?” “The celestial convergence. That’s why the Saddle Arabians visited Equestria; it is considered by them to be a fortuitous sign for diplomatic negotiations. But the phi energy of the event masks the phi energy of the interdimensional magic that brought you here.” “Does that mean that the portals would have been limited to whatever this period is?” I asked. “Three and a half days, approximately. And yes,” she replied. “It doesn’t answer the important question, how many portals were there?” Twilight Sparkle levitated another scroll to me. “Let’s check the rest of the scrolls. Look for any spikes.” Checking all these scrolls was tedious, but it gave me time to think. So there was magic in the background of the universe? Was it just this dimension? There was a lot still unexplained about the nature of our universe. Could it be explained by this magical energy, and if so, why did it not reach our world? I shook my head. I was making a lot of assumptions, the biggest among them being that this was real. But I was reminded of Twilight Sparkle’s words. And this sure felt real. The peculiar aroma of this paper. The difference between the ink of the graph and the handwritten notes next to them. Just the whole level of detail that a bunch of writers would be hard-pressed to create. After an hour, I finished reviewing the scrolls. “I didn’t see anything unusual,” I said. Twilight Sparkle grunted. The mare was occupied with a chalkboard, a real old-fashioned green chalkboard. It was covered in equations. She held a piece of chalk, the first scroll, and a book in her aura simultaneously, and looked rather frustrated. “What’s going on?” I asked. “I’m trying to find your portals hidden within this graph,” she replied. “But it’s a situation where the equations have too many unknown variables. I’ve been making guesses as to the unknowns, but it’s a total long shot.” “Does it help knowing this is a portal to my world, without magic?” “No, because this is the end with magic.” Twilight Sparkle sighed and erased the chalkboard. “What exactly does the graph measure? I mean, what does that number represent?” I asked. “It’s an energy reading, which is a function of magnitude and distance,” Twilight Sparkle explained. “The functions are described in this book.” I thought for a moment. “And the celestial convergence you talked about is out in space? As in beyond the orbit of the sun and moon?” “Orders of magnitude further.” “Do the energy readings from our portals come from the surface?” “Yes.” Twilight Sparkle gasped. “You’re a genius! All we need to do is get the readings from other observatories, and then....” She immediately started writing more equations on the chalkboard. “Twilight Sparkle?” “Oh, sorry, John. I’m just going to work out the matrix for solving these equations, and send them to each of the observatories.” She continued to write on the chalkboard. “Sorry, this will take a while.” “Can I help?” “I think there’s some files related to the other humans. Maybe there’s some information in there?” Twilight Sparkle suggested. Finding these files wasn’t too hard. They may have desired to keep this whole situation a secret, but they clearly labeled the files with the names of the humans involved. I found one with the names Shannon Sullivan and Brianna Dubois, one with the names Tim Fitch and Chris Kirk, and one particularly thick file labeled Dan Brooks. I didn’t find one with my name, and though I had a morbid curiosity about what these ponies thought about me, the rational move was to read these other files, where I would be more likely to learn something important. I started with the first file I found. It was a handwritten report from one Sheriff Silver Star in Appleloosa. His report was, well, unprofessional. He peppered his writing with observations, comments, and his opinions about everything, including the futility of official reports. But despite that, I was able to piece together the details about these two women. Shannon and Brianna arrived on the morning of the same day, when there was a celebration for the ponies of Appleloosa and the buffalo. They attracted some attention with their different accents and the cloak that Shannon wore, but really got everyone’s attention after meeting each other and bickering. The sheriff commented that having visitors in town wasn’t that unexpected, due to the festival, but nopony saw them arrive, not even the buffalo, and the last train had arrived two days earlier. Late that night, as the festivities were winding down, the two visitors were showing no signs of leaving. The sheriff talked to them, and heard their story (“a total load of malarkey”). While he didn’t believe their story, he did believe they had neither money nor a place to stay. And his big-hearted wife overheard the story, and the sheriff found himself with two guests until the train arrived the morning after next. The next two pages were filled with the sheriff’s speculation on who these ponies really were. They were actors researching a role undercover. They had wedding day jitters. They were Manehattan socialites getting away from the big city. I saw one interesting comment. He was certain the two women weren’t from another world because he overheard one of them saying “my little ponies.” “Just like Princess Celestia,” he noted, and then wondered if that was the royal sisters in disguise. “Of course, if it was, then the good princesses just had me waste the good part of a day on these papers.” If I remembered correctly, Shannon was the one who commented on the similarity of the ponies in this world to the toys from her youth. There must have been some differences, because she didn’t seem to know the ponies. I guessed Jason might know more about that. In any case, there wasn’t anything that stood out in that file, so I went to the next. And where the previous one was informal, this one was very official-looking, printed on numbered forms. Not surprising, since the name of the pony responsible for that filing was Triplicate Form. Both Tim and Chris had separately sought help from the police after they arrived in Fillydelphia. I groaned when I saw how that name was spelled. Apparently, strange occurrences like what happened to them were common enough to warrant their own forms. They were interviewed (Form 0215-A, Missing Pony Report), scanned magically (Form 1134-B, Investigation of Physical and/or Temporal Displacement), and given medical and psychological exams (four more forms). It looks like medical privacy laws aren’t a thing in Equestria, because everything was in this file. Again, I didn’t learn anything interesting. The magical scan paperwork mentioned an uncertain magical aura on them, which I guessed was Discord’s magic, but nothing that would help me today. The psychologist noted the similarity between the two ponies, in particular how they mispronounced Fillydelphia and the consistency in the details between their stories. But nothing looked relevant to my current situation. I looked up as I heard the sound of small footsteps. Spike stopped at the edge of the staircase. “Twilight?” he said, pointing to a clock. Twilight Sparkle looked up. “Thanks for reminding me, Spike,” she said. “Remind you of what?” I asked. “I promised Spike that the next time I had some big report or research project, I would take regular breaks and get out of the library. I’m thinking a walk to the park and some lunch would be good.” I stood up, my joints creaking after spending most of the morning seated. “That’s a great idea.” “Is this normal weather?” I asked. “The weather team normally holds off on bringing in the really cold weather until everypony is getting ready for Hearth’s Warming, so around mid-December. “That’s nice,” I said. Not just the warm weather, but also the shorter holiday season. I’ve been seeing Christmas decorations in the stores since September. We walked, enjoying the nice day. Twilight Sparkle greeted a few ponies as she passed them. Again, it was mostly mares about town. The park wasn’t as busy as yesterday. I first noticed all the young foals, running around and playing games, just like human children, though without electronic devices in hand. They looked younger. “Is this a school day?” I asked. “Yes. The older foals will be in school until 2:30. A few of the younger foals have specialized classes, like magic kindergarten, though those are normally after lunch.” I nodded. “Wait, did you say magic kindergarten?” “Yes. Do you have it in your world?” “No, but we have kindergarten. It’s school for human children, around five years old,” I said. “That’s an interesting parallel to our world,” Twilight Sparkle said. I nodded. The name was most curious. Didn’t kindergarten mean child... something? Child garden? No, that couldn’t be it. The foals squealed in delight as they managed to take down a larger filly in some kind of wrestling match. I recognized the golden pegasus as Amber, which meant that Bobbie was probably around somewhere. I looked around, and found her, standing next to a bench. “Hi, Bobbie,” I said. “Why aren’t you sitting down?” “I still can’t find a way to sit that feels comfortable,” she said. “Good morning, Bobbie,” Twilight Sparkle said. “Did you learn anything more from Amber about your portal?” “She said the commercial asked if she wanted to go to Equestria. And then the bubble appeared,” Bobbie replied. “The commercial what?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “A commercial is a name for an advertisement on television,” I explained. “Hm. The same message, delivered in different ways,” Twilight Sparkle observed. Remembering that part of the reason we were out here was to give Twilight Sparkle a break from her work, I decided to change the subject. “How are you feeling, Bobbie?” I asked. “A lot better, now that Amber’s safe. And seeing her play happily, well, that makes me happy.” She smiled. “Reminds me of running around and playing as a girl. It’s something you can’t do anymore.” “Do you need anything, Bobbie?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “Other than a way home? I’m okay. Fluttershy gave me a few coins, for lunch.” I sniffed, picking up a mouth-watering aroma. My stomach growled. “Lunch sounds good.” I looked, finding something I wasn’t expecting to see, a grill. An earth pony stallion stood behind it, and whatever he was cooking smelled great. I called to Twilight Sparkle, Bobbie called over her granddaughter, and we were soon headed to the grill. The grillmaster was preparing kebabs of grilled vegetables. I wasn’t used to seeing those without some kind of meat, but my pony body was urging me to eat them. “How much?” I asked. “One bit per skewer,” he replied. I bought two, and the four of us had an impromptu picnic in the park. The vegetables were tender and flavorful, basted in vinaigrette and dusted with spice. I could see eating something like this back in the real world. Amber finished her one kebab quickly, and Bobbie tended to her, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “Now run along and play,” she said. “Okay, Gramma!” Amber chirped. Once Amber was out of earshot, Bobbie looked to Twilight Sparkle. “How long until we can go home?” “I wish I could tell you,” she replied. “John noticed something which will help us isolate the magical signature of the portals that brought you here, but there’s still a lot of calculations that can’t be rushed. All I can promise is that we’ll know more by tomorrow.” “If there’s anything I can do to help....” “Keep your granddaughter happy,” Twilight Sparkle said. “Okay,” she replied. She then returned to her bench, and watched the foals at play. “Isn’t there anything she could do to help?” I asked. “Right now, I’m wondering if there’s anything I can do to help,” Twilight Sparkle said. “I don’t say this often, but we’re dealing with magic far above my ability and understanding. What we’re doing now is for the best. And I’d like to get back to our research.” “Actually, there’s one person I’d like to see first,” I said. We headed to the northern end of town, following a broad dirt road that looked too wide for the traffic using it. Once we reached the end of town, the road changed to gravel. Nobody was using it, and when I tried walking on it, I understood why. The small jagged stones pressed uncomfortably into the interior of my hooves. “Ponies who haul carts long distance wear horseshoes to protect their hooves,” Twilight Sparkle noted. “I see. But why do you call them horseshoes? Why not ponyshoes? Or just shoes?” “You know, I’ve never thought about that.” We trod along the dirt next to the road. After about fifteen minutes, we heard the sound of construction, and soon saw it. A large group of ponies and machines were gathered, focused on the task of extending this road. Ponies shoveled dirt, and a pair of ponies pulled a device with a huge stone roller, something like the “wheel” of a Flintstones car, over the dirt to compact it. Other ponies applied the gravel over the compacted dirt, pouring the stones from pony-sized and pony-propelled dump trucks. A pair of ponies pored over the blueprints, Jason and a unicorn mare with a yellow coat and light green mane. It looked like Jason was holding the blueprints in his magical aura. “Hey, Stone Arch,” I said. “How’s the horn?” “Much better than yesterday, Strange Brew, but I’m still not at one hundred percent,” Jason replied. “What brings you out here?” “I was curious to see where you worked.” He waved his forehoof toward the mountain. “The Ponyville-Canterlot Road. A sign of progress, and the growing importance of the town of Ponyville. I’m glad to be a part of it, but I can’t wait until we reach the foothills.” “Don’t be so eager to make your work harder,” the mare next to him said. “You don’t always have a chance like this to get your hooves wet.” “But I’ve always wanted to build switchbacks like in the plans,” Jason said. He turned to us. “Strange Brew, Twilight Sparkle, this is my coworker, Lemon Spark.” “A pleasure,” she said. “But I’m afraid work calls.” Jason nodded. “Same here.” “Perhaps we could catch up over dinner?” Twilight Sparkle suggested. “I’d love to!” Jason said. “Great! Stop by the library around 5:00,” she said. We headed back to town. I stayed quiet, trying to process everything I’d seen. “Something on your mind, John?” “Is it that obvious?” I said. “Well, you do have that faraway look of somepony lost in thought. Trust me, I’m familiar with it.” “It’s just that Jason seems so... I don’t know, happy.” “Isn’t that a good thing?” “It’s unusual,” I said. “When I was younger, I wanted to be a wizard at Hogwarts. But looking back on that fantasy as an adult, it wouldn’t have been all happiness and joy, had I somehow appeared in that world. I would have been unprepared and uncertain, and I certainly would have wondered if I’d ever see home again.” “Jason wanted to come here?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “I’m not sure,” I said. He never talked to me in detail about the show. If only he hadn’t been so conscientious! “That’s a question we can ask at dinner,” Twilight Sparkle said. “For now, let’s get back to work.” I stared at the overstuffed file with the name Dan Brooks. He spent less than 72 hours in this world, yet he somehow generated an inches-thick file. Time to see what was in it. The first thing I saw was various incident reports, this time from the Royal Guard. It looked like Dan had turned himself in. He was penniless, hungry, lost, and confused about what the heck happened. Like the two men who appeared in Fillydelphia, his situation was enough to trigger an investigation for strange magical occurrences. They also fed him, which led to another entry into his file. The guards noted he ate by lowering his muzzle to the plate, and commented that it was curious he used neither his horn nor his hooves. I found a report which summarized the findings. Again, I saw mention of an unknown magical energy, and the writer noticed the consistency in the subject’s story. In this case, he or she noted Dan’s unponylike behavior and how that was consistent with his story of not being a pony. Apparently, several different ponies involved with his case tried things that would have an almost reflexive response in a pony, and none of them worked. An expert with a profession I didn’t recognize (Twilight Sparkle explained that he studied other species’ cultures, so something like an anthropologist) then said his behavior reminded him of no other known species. Again, this was consistent with Dan’s story. I then found what made this file so thick, a bound report about as thick as one of those spiral notebooks every student uses. I flipped through it, seeing that each page had a small written description and a diagram. They looked like inventions from my world. After reading a few, I saw that this pony wrote down, and attempted to illustrate, a variety of human inventions. They weren’t technical diagrams by any stretch of the imagination, and the descriptions were in layman’s terms, but they were surprisingly good facsimiles of an automobile, an airplane, a telephone, a photocopier, a fax machine.... I chuckled at that one. “What’s so funny?” Twilight Sparkle said. “It’s a facsimile of a facsimile machine,” I said. “A what machine?” “There’s an entire file where someone tried to describe human inventions.” A violet aura surrounded the report, and Twilight Sparkle quickly snatched it away with her magic. “Let me warn you not to try to build anything off those diagrams,” I said. “Uh-huh,” Twilight Sparkle mumbled. I’m not sure if she actually heard me. She had a big smile on her face, probably coming from learning so many new things. I went back to reading the file, not finding anything of particular interest. “John, was AOL Instant Messenger how Jason came here?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “He said he was contacted via that program, so yes, sort of. Why do you ask?” “Because there’s a description of it here.” I pulled the file to me with my magic. Just like she said, there was a detailed description of an instant messaging program, with the label AOL Instant Messenger, including a sketch of its visual aspect. I didn’t know how accurate that was. Thinking back, I recalled that Dan said he came from the late 90s, which was when AOL was a big thing, so he was probably an active user. “Who created this report?” I wondered. Twilight Sparkle sat down beside me and grabbed the report again. “It says Stalwart Shield,” she said. “Do you know this person?” “No. It sounds like the name of a guardspony, though.” “A guardspony who is interested in inventions?” “Perhaps. These sketches suggest somepony with at least a brief instruction in drafting,” she observed. “It just seems strange,” I said. “When I send a report to Princess Celestia, I’ll mention this, and ask her to tell me more about this guardspony,” she said. I nodded, and we started reviewing the file together. It was enjoyable, in a way, seeing how different some things were after just fifteen years. The door to the library opened. “Welcome to Golden Oaks Library,” Twilight Sparkle said automatically. “Oh. Ja-Stone Arch!” “Hello again,” Jason said. “How goes the research?” “I’m about ready to send off a report that should help us calculate how to get you home. But it’s still going to take some unknown amount of time,” Twilight Sparkle said. Jason frowned. “In any case, I’m looking forward to dinner.” Twilight Sparkle led us to a small café, and requested outdoor seating. The waiter nodded and sat us. The wind blew, and we all shivered. “Sorry, guys. It’s a bit chilly for dining outdoors, but it will be harder to overhear us out here,” Twilight Sparkle explained. We dined on fresh baked bread and salads, with juice to drink. Judging by the menu, salads were common dinner entrees. The dish I ordered was quite filling, with some greens I recognized and plenty of grasses and flowers that were probably not edible for humans. But my pony mouth told me this salad was delicious. Over the course of dinner, we shared what happened during our days. Jason happily recounted his workday, and then we discussed our research. To be honest, it was mostly Twilight Sparkle talking, and talking over our heads, but Jason was enjoying himself anyway. Later on, I described my review of the files concerning the humans who previously were transported to Equestria. “Really? Somepony tried to write a report about AOL Instant Messenger?” Jason said. “Don’t laugh. You’re here, aren’t you?” Twilight Sparkle said. “But what does that have to do with anything?” Jason said. “Wait. Is it possible you do have the program on your computer, even if you don’t use it?” I asked Jason. Jason shrugged. “Maybe.” “This is important,” I said. “What do you mean by maybe?” “I normally go a pretty long time between upgrading computers,” Jason said. “And because hard drives increase in size so fast, it’s not a big deal to just copy everything from the old computer to the new one. So maybe, there’s a folder with AIM, copied from that computer I used as a kid.” “Why do you think that’s important?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “Could the program be used as a focus or an anchor for the ritual that brought us here?” “I don’t know. It’s possible. I’ll see what I can learn about the spell, but I’ll probably have to talk to Princess Celestia or one of the archmages directly.” Twilight Sparkle turned to Jason. “But enough about that. How are you doing, Stone Arch? Are you fitting in at your new job?” “Oh, it’s wonderful. And as for fitting in, I don’t think I’ve attracted any undue attention.” I was impressed that he managed that. I didn’t last a minute before I had ponies wondering what was wrong with me. And here Jason was, pulling it off. Except for.... “What about that mare in the park?” “You mean Lyra?” Jason said. He looked to Twilight Sparkle for confirmation. “Yes. That was her. She looked rather upset. What did you do?” “I just asked why she wasn’t sitting like this.” Jason shifted in his seat, dangling his hind legs. It looked like he was trying to sit like a human would. It also looked uncomfortable. Twilight Sparkle gasped. “You didn’t!” “Didn’t what?” he asked. “You brought up that horrible experience from her past.” “What happened?” I asked. “The only reason a pony would sit like that is after a terrible accident. Lyra was in terrible pain after an accident that threatened to leave her... lame.” “So?” Jason said. “So? So?? That’s one of ponykind’s greatest fears!” Twilight Sparkle took several deep breaths. “Since you’re not truly a pony, perhaps it is unfair to expect you to understand. In the past, long before the dawn of civilization, ponies roamed the land in vast herds. We lacked the physical gifts of other species on Equestria, and so we relied on the herd to protect us. To be lamed meant being left behind, where a pony would become easy prey for a predator species. We’ve long moved past abandoning the lame, but this is an instinctual fear that cannot be forgotten.” “Oh, wow. Sorry,” Jason said. “I’m guessing that wasn’t part of your headcanon?” I said to him. Jason shook his head. We fell silent as the waiter approached with the bill. Twilight Sparkle quickly placed a pile of bits on the tray. “It was nice sharing dinner with the both of you, but I have some letters to write,” Twilight Sparkle said. “Are you ready, John?” “Actually, John, do you want to come over and hang out?” Jason asked me. “Sure. Don’t tell me you’ve already collected a bunch of Equestrian board games.” “Hah! I wish. No, I just want to catch up, like we used to do in college.” I glanced at Twilight Sparkle, who didn’t seem to object. “Sounds good,” I said. “I’ll be home later, Twilight Sparkle.” As we walked away, Jason said “Did you really call Twilight’s library home?” “Yeah. But I don’t intend to stay there any longer than I have to.” Jason was staying in a cozy cottage a distance from the town center. It had wooden floors with throw rugs, simple furnishings, and small rooms. All in all, it wasn’t that different from the 1950s-era house where I grew up, save for the absence of a garage and the lack of central heating. Jason stirred the embers in the fireplace with a poker, and added another log. “I’m hoping whatever Twilight Sparkle is working on will pan out, and we can finally go home,” I said. “I’m sure it will. It’s Twilight Sparkle, after all,” Jason said. “I’m afraid time is flowing back home, and that means I’m missing work. I mean, there’s always the chance that the spell to send us back will return us to the time we left, like it did last time, but if it doesn’t... I don’t want to make a bad impression!” “Calm down, John. You’re beginning to sound like Twilight Sparkle,” Jason said. “What?” “Her neuroticism. Look, you have sick leave, right?” “Just one combined time off pool, but yes, I do,” I replied. “Did you get a flu shot this year?” “No.” “If you got the flu real bad and were laid up for a couple of days, so bad you couldn’t even pick up the phone, do you think your work would be upset?” “I guess, if it only happened once,” I admitted. “But I don’t want to lie.” “It’s not a lie. You’re just hiding the truth. And you have good reason to hide it. It’s like how you never told me you went to Equestria.” “Point taken.” Jason settled down on the couch and smiled. “I could stay here forever,” he said. I knew Jason well enough to guess what he really meant. “I’m glad you’re happy here, but you can’t stay here, even if you wanted to,” I said. “Even if I get the approval of Princess Celestia herself?” “No! You just can’t abandon your life!” Jason looked me in the eye and replied calmly. “A century ago, my great-great-grandfather left Slovenia for America, with the clothes on his back and a few dollars in his pocket. He abandoned his life, because he was looking for a better one. He found it. I can too.” “But things are different now!” I protested. “You have a home and food to eat, and eventually you’ll find a job.” “Only because my parents are helping me,” Jason replied. “That’s not a bad thing,” I said. “Yes it is! You don’t understand, John. All I’ve ever wanted to do was build things. Cities. Roads. Even sewers! I’ve worked all my life towards that goal. I’ve done everything right. And in the end, I’ve been stymied by a bad economy and a glacial civil service hiring process. “But here, I can finally do the job I’ve always wanted to. And I’m willing to give up a lot to do it, just like my ancestor.” “You still need to tell people you’re leaving. Otherwise, it will become a missing person case,” I said. “And I’m the last person to have seen you.” “Oh.” Jason lowered his head. It looks like my words got through to him, though I doubted he was ready to give up his dream. I heard the door rattle. A light blue glow surrounded the doorknob, and the door opened, revealing the lemon yellow unicorn I had seen earlier that day. “Welcome home, Lemon Spark!” Jason said. She nodded, and then noticed me. “I didn’t know you were having a friend over,” she said. Lemon Spark looked at Jason more closely and walked closer to him. “Are you okay, Stone Arch? You look a little upset.” “Don’t worry, Lemon Spark. Strange Brew’s from my home town, and we were talking about... things from the past.” She turned to me. “Good evening, Strange Brew. Since Stone Arch probably forgot to ask, would you like anything to drink?” “No, thanks. We just came from dinner.” “Well, you’re welcome to stay as long as you want, but please remember we do have work tomorrow.” “Okay,” I said. I looked over to see what Jason wanted to do, but Lemon Spark was in the way. I craned my neck. From what I could see, Jason didn’t look upset anymore. He was focused on Lemon Spark, and he was smiling. “Hey, Ja-Stone Arch? I was thinking it’s time for me to head back. Okay?” “What? Oh, sure. I’ll see you around, Strange Brew.” “Likewise.” I thought about my conversation with Jason as I walked home. When I first arrived, I feared he was going to try to blend in and hide. And while I found him, he did do just what I thought, starting a new life here. And that wasn’t going to end well. I held little hope that he’d ever be allowed to come back to Equestria, even if he did go home and tell everyone he was joining the Peace Corps or something. But still, he was happy, happier than I’d seen him in a long time. In recent months, he seemed to be deriving less joy from our game days. He was becoming a sore loser, saying things like “Of course you’d roll that” whenever I got a lucky roll. And even when he successfully pulled off some strategy, he didn’t really seem happy, not like back when we played euchre in the dorm lounge or Eurogames at the game club. I pushed open the door to the library with my magic. Twilight Sparkle was on one of the couches, finishing up Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. “John! How was your visit with your friend?” I recounted our evening, and raised my fears about our fate. “It’s too bad, because he does seem happy.” Twilight Sparkle gasped. “It’s cutie mark failure syndrome!” “Huh?” “From the way you describe it, your friend Jason showed all the signs of cutie mark failure syndrome, the condition that affects ponies who can’t or won’t act on their true special talents. And he was cured by using his special talent!” “Yes, but he’s a human, and he doesn’t have a cutie mark,” I countered. “Still... I suppose it could be depression.” That would explain a lot. “Then when you get home, make sure your friend seeks treatment,” Twilight Sparkle urged. “I’ll try.” “And what did you think of his coworker?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “I only saw a little of her,” I said. “There was something about her I didn’t like. It was like, she stayed close to Jason, and stood between him and me.” “Did Jason mind?” “No, I don’t think so,” I replied. “He was smiling.” I remembered that big goofy grin he was wearing. I’d seen him with that expression before. Oh no. “John? What’s wrong?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “I think Jason’s in love.”