Six Standard Deviations from the Mean

Chapters

Hysteria
Adrenaline
Ask for help
You might make mistakes
Events will happen while you slumber
Ill-intentioned groups will gather
And you won't be prepared...
6:00am
9:00 AM
the Debate
Epilogue
Foreknowledge
But your friends will have your back

Hysteria

The ponies stampeded hysterically. Roseluck clutched her head in her hooves and screamed until she passed out.

Exasperated, Clair walked forwards into the crowd, and was surprised that the ponies seemed to avoid running into her. In fact, they seemed to be running away from her as well.

"Well..." She shrugged and held her arms out.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" In came Rainbow Dash.

Dom noted that she was definitely better at performances than combat. You don't charge your opponent while screaming at the top of your lungs unless you want to lose the element of surprise.

"Switch with me..." Clair deadpanned. Suddenly, Dom found himself looking at his own body from Clair's position again.

Clair raised her arm and backhanded Rainbow Dash. Dash bounced away from the blow as if she was expecting it, but it looked like she had been batted away an unbelievable distance.

"Homerun!" Dom shouted.

Clare burst into laughter.

Rainbow Dash rose back up and flew at Clair.

Clair was still having trouble breathing from her laughing session, but this was dangerous to drag out. She hit Dash in the kidneys as hard as she could. Dash's eyes bugged and she fell to the ground clutching her side.

Pinkie ran towards town square. A while ago she had sensed something... dangerous. Not evil, just dangerous. She had just finished telling all her friends about it before running off to see what she could do about it herself. Then she saw Rainbow Dash.

"Y- You big meanie pants!" She yelled at the top of her lungs and galloped faster towards Dom and Clair.

Clair stood still while Pinkie climbed up her body to stare her in the face.

"You can't just abuse ponies whenever--"

"She charged at me. She looked like she was ready to kill me. I was acting in self-defense," Clair stared back blankly.

Pinkie scrunched her nose, "Rainbow Dash would never--"

"Perhaps," Clair stared back at Pinkie intensely, "but I had reason to believe I was in danger, and Rainbow Dash should still be--"

Clair heard a rustle behind her. She jumped forwards than spun around to kick whatever was sneaking behind her. She was surprised when she hit Applejack in the face instead of Rainbow Dash. Well, Applejack was out cold now.

"Now Applejack too!?" Pinkie hopped down and held her friend's/sister's head in her hooves, "Was she a danger too!?" Pinkie glared at Clair.

"Yes," Clair answered.

"What?" Pinkie stomped, "How!?"

"She was trying to sneak up on me so she could buck my legs." Clare stared at Pinkie. Pinkie glared back.

"You!" Another voice came from nowhere.

Suddenly, Clair's vision was filled with blue eyes, yellow fur, and pink hair.

"You think you can just walk into Ponyville and start hurting ponies!?"

Clair felt a numb cold overtake her body.

"Why, you ought to be ashamed of yoursel--"

"Shut up." Clair fought past the numbness as hard as she could.

"W- what?" Fluttershy practically whispered. The effects of the stare immediately wore off.

"You have no idea what you're talking about. You can't just immediately assume someone is bad and start... subduing them... or whatever that was," Clair looked at Fluttershy cautiously.

"Is that it over there?" Clair heard Twilight in the distance.

"Switch with me!" Clair found herself back in the field. But she noticed that the grass flattened as she stood on it.

"Yes that would be it," Rarity answered, "it's a pity about that law though. Humans can be so fashionable at times."

"And murderous at others..." Twilight continued darkly.

The approaching duo sat down in front of the human.

"So," Twilight started, "You're the human I was told about?"

"I'm actually a shaved minotaur," Dom lied. He overheard something about a law, and he wasn't taking any chances.

Pinkie's ear's perked up. He sounded like a completely different person.

"He's lyin'" Applejack picked herself up, "Minotaurs have hooves, not feet. You can't shave hooves into feet."

"Actually," Dom spoke up almost too quickly, "You can."

"Really?" Pinkie tilted her head, "how?"

Dom thought for a second, then calmed himself. He made sure to look up left and not to the right, "It's not entirely shaving, but first you create a ridge on your hoof, then you can fit that into an oblong device."

"Okay..." Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof, "But... why?"

"I was always skinny as a minotaur, and sometimes enjoyed the finer points of life. Eventually I found myself liking what humans were said to like, so I started mimicking them," Dom shrugged.

Twilight looked around, considering it, "...O- okay... but then, why are you here? Do you have business with ponyville?"

"Yes," Dom nodded, "Thanks for reminding me." He had been remembering Iron Will the whole time. "A minotaur by the name of 'Iron Will' came here a while ago, correct?"

All five ponies nodded. Rainbow Dash snored.

"Well..." He sighed for dramatic effect, "Iron Will has been missing for a while now..." He sighed again, then paused to think about what to say next, "the investigators called off the search a long time ago, but as a friend of his, I just had to try myself..."

"Oh..." Twilight paused, then looked down, "I'm sorry..." She looked up, "and I'm sorry about the welcoming we gave you, but you do know humans are banned, right?"

"Yeah," Dom rubbed the back of his neck, "my bad."

"And, I'm sorry, but I don't know where Iron Will could have gone. He left Ponyville after visiting Fluttershy from what I heard." Twilight looked over to Fluttershy, who nodded sadly.

"I'm sorry..." Twilight repeated.

Dom sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"A- Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked. Dom nodded.

Dom smiled, "You say 'I'm sorry' too much. Despite the warm welcoming--" Twilight cringed "--you answered the question I needed to know..." He looked at ponyville and back at Twilight, "if it's alright, I'd like to stay in Ponyville for a few more days, see if I can't find some clues."

"Of course," Twilight smiled back at him.

Dom walked off to the rest of ponyville, but Twilight stopped him before he could move a single meter.

"I'm sorry," Twilight sighed, "Celestia would banish me if I didn't make sure... I have to make sure you're a human." a purple glow surrounded her horn.

Dom sighed, "get it over with..." he held his palms out. He remembered a scene from MLP where Sweetie Belle flicked Rarity's horn...

Twilight closed her eyes and started concentrating.

Dom lunged forward and punched her horn. He made sure to continue his punch and hit Rarity's horn as well. Both unicorns spasmed and passed out.

"Switch!" Clair was back in Dom's body.

Clair spun and hit Fluttershy, Twilight, and the sleeping Rainbow Dash's wings at the base.

A pink hoof obscured Clair's vision. Then she flew back several meters.

"Good one Pinkie!" She heard Applejack shout as everything faded to black.

Dom woke up tied to Twilight's bed. The room was darkened with blinds covering the window, fitting for an interrogation. (1)

Twilight stepped forward, "the legends of your deceit and barbarism proved true," she glared down at him.

Dom had an urge to rub his head, "what legends?"

"You don't know?" Twilight asked, confused.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Dom growled, frustrated, "Humans have only been on Earth... and its moon... And I just walked into your village so I could live and get food until I could find a way back, and then a bunch of ponies freaked out and attacked me."

Twilight glared at him, "That's not true: ...I don't know what landmass Earth is, but humans were here in Equestria over a thousand years ago."

"In 756 A.C., a group of 122 humans came to Equestria. Immediately there were stories of villages being raided and ponies being killed. Wrong Badger was the stallion who ran to Canterlot to report the first tragedy, and by then several other towns were rampaged, with few survivors.

"Celestia and Luna had the guard confine the humans with a dome of energy, and tried to reason with them. The humans acted like they were listening, but only tried to assassinate them when they seemed the most distracted. After a few attempts, she gave up, and reluctantly banished the humans to Tartarus.

"17 years later, the humans escaped. They were fewer in number, but much more powerful. They destroyed several villagers without leaving any survivors. Celestia and Luna only found out about them when they encroached on Canterlot. And they almost took Canterlot too. The combined force of the sisters and their royal guard almost lost to the strengthened humans...

Twilight paused, holding back righteous anger.

"More than half of pony kind was killed thanks to you monsters... Luna created that law out of necessity, and it's theorized that battle and its outcome was one of the things that drove her mad.

Twilight stamped the ground in anger.

"You're the only creature in all of Equuis that deserves to be killed on sight," Twilight snarled.

Dom cringed, waiting for something.

"...Why am I not dead then?" He finally asked.

Twilight glared at him.

"My friends wouldn't let me," She answered.

Dom let go of tension he didn't know he had been holding.

Clair coalesced on the bed out of thin air, surprising both Dom and Twilight.

"Can you hear me?" She asked Twilight.

Twilight back-trotted, wide-eyed, "Y- yes. But how?"

Clair shrugged, then stared at Twilight, "What year is it currently?" She asked.

"3121 A.C." Twilight answered, still surprised, "why?"

"Let's see that..." Clair thought "2365 years..."

Dom realized something, "You're judging all of humanity by the actions of the human equivalent of Sombra."

Twilight's eyes widened, "How long have you been here?" She asked.

"A couple weeks," Dom lied, "I passed an old castle and skimmed a few of the books in it."

Twilight stared at him, then accepted the answer. Then she considered what Dom said...

"You're saying there are hundreds of Sombra equivalents within humanity?" She asked.

"Imagine if instead of enslaving his subjects, Sombra tried convincing them to fight for him." Dom said.

"And how would he do that?" Twilight asked.

Clair answered, "think of things like a game. If you give people-- er ponies, incentive and status boosts for winning, and give them a clear goal and constant challenges, you will have ponies that are very eager to do work."

Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof, thinking it over.

"Maybe," she shrugged. "I'll let Celestia and Luna decide."

'Wait, what!?' Dom almost gasped.

Twilight left the room.

Clair immediately started untying Dom's ropes. Within a minute, Dom was standing up, rubbing at a few overly tight areas.

Dom went over to the window, only to find that it was locked. He tried breaking the glass by kicking it, but it was incredibly strong.

He tried a few more times.

"Don't go," a calm voice pleaded playfully, "your meeting has only just began."

Dom turned around, and his body shoved itself against the window involuntarily at the sight. Celestia and Luna were here. Celestia looked like she was trying to keep her calm demeanor, and almost succeeded, but her pupils were pinpricks. Luna only looked sad and guilty.

Dom had the feeling his luck had just run out.

Author's Note

(1) Fluttershy insisted that the human should at least sleep in a comfortable environment, and it didn't appear to be nocturnal.

Adrenaline

Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shi--

I looked directly at Celestia in panic. What I previously thought was a blank expression burst into so much more. The fur around her eyes and muzzle was creased with a slight snarl. Her eyes were wide, and her head was slightly lower than it would normally be, as if she were readying herself to charge and impale me with her horn. Her stance was slightly wider than usual, ready for a fight. And her eyes were like pinpricks. All the signs of rage were still there, just mostly hidden.

She's going to kill me...

My heart raced at a million miles per hour. My veins pumped ice.

I glanced slightly to the right, looking for a way out. I saw luna, her head was held low, but not in anger. She looked like she felt so guilty when she looked at me that she was having trouble hold her body up. Every part of her body was slumped, and her face looked as if it was locked in an eternal cringe. But she stared up at me, perhaps seeing if there was a way to right her wrongs.

Past her was a bookshelf, a desk with some paper, a magic light, and some nice wood. Not helpful.

Why did Luna feel guilty? Perhaps it was her nightmare moon episode, and she'd feel hypocritical if she didn't give me a chance.

Not good enough! Not Good Enough!

I'm going to die...

I looked to the left.

The headmast to the bed was there. Part of the curtains. More bookshelves. Clair.

...

Clair...

I stared at her as she wavered in and out of existence.

Instantly I remembered the reason I created her.

Age seventeen: I was having trouble communicating with people. I only seemed to talk to people when I knew almost every reaction my speech would give them, and then it felt more like talking to a brick wall. After all, what's the point in having a conversation if you already know everything that's going to be said? (I'm not a fan of re-runs.) But then came along a cute girl, and I found out what a crush was. It felt like destiny; it felt like I had a purpose. Unfortunately, I never felt like I could predict the way she would react, so I never felt comfortable enough to even approach her.

Age eighteen: I had my second crush. At first I didn't think it was possible, as it invalidated many of the thoughts I had about my first crush. But I didn't ponder this thought much; I had to act fast.

Since I was in college and had some control over my schedule, I made my food schedule the same as her's. Eventually, she approached me, and despite having to improvise much more than I liked, I managed to keep up a decent conversation...

Fast forward by several months, she left me without knowing why. I was driven partially mad trying to figure it out myself.

Age nineteen: I figured out why. It was never truly her I had a crush on, it was what I predicted she would become once she stayed in college for several years. If I had left her alone for a while, things might have been better for both of us, but I tried to guide her. I was too manipulative for my own good.

Age twenty: I saw another cute girl on the train, and I was temporarily lifted out of my depression. With the fading motivation I had, I did a mad dash of research to make sure it stayed back, forever. I added vitamin B to my diet, but it just made me feel hyper. I went to a therapist, but I could guide the conversation and make her conclude whatever I wanted. By chance I found some stuff about tulpas, so I created an alternate personality to both keep me motivated and to help me woo the next crush I found.

Unknown: I felt a presence. It was calm, relaxed, and happy. They were emotions I hadn't truly felt in combination for a long time.

I snapped back to reality.

Celestia closed the door at what seemed like half speed. Dom was surprised that a large part of his life could be viewed in only a few seconds.

Celestia grabbed Dom's body with her magic and slammed him down against the bed. If there wasn't a cushion below him, he might have broken a few bones.

Clair teleported in front of him. Unlike when she faded in and out, this movement almost created a blast wave around her.

Luna looked at her with raised eyebrows, impressed. Celestia looked amused and contemptuous. Apparently Clair wouldn't be powerful enough to do any damage even on adrenaline, but she was still going to do her best to protect Dom.

Celestia picked up Clair and threw her out of the way. The library would have had a new entrance had Clair not faded out right before she was to hit the wall.

"Luna!" Dom spoke up, interrupting the scene. This was the only way out. All possible conversations with Celestia led to the same ending. He could see it.

Celestia teleported forward in a flash of blinding light. When Dom's vision cleared, he saw a horn centimeters from his neck.

"You don't talk to my sister," Celestia spoke.

Dom inched his head back. Celestia inched her horn forward.

Clair faded back into existence with her arms wrapped tightly around Dom's chest.

'I'm going to try something new.' Clair thought.

Dom's eyes widened in realization. 'Behind Luna!'

Celestia noticed the arms, then pressed her horn forward, warning Dom not to try anything. But Dom wasn't there anymore.

Dom and Clair reappeared behind Luna.

"Look at your sister!" Dom pleaded to Luna.

Luna looked at Dom in surprise, then to Celestia.

Celestia's eyes widened in shock, "Luna, get away from it!"

Luna sighed regretfully.

"Tia," Luna looked at her sister with soft eyes, "we do not require thy protection. Nor do we request it." Luna moved in front of Dom and Clair, guarding them from her sister.

"Move aside Luna," Celestia demanded, glancing behind her sister. "It does not deserve your charity!"

Dom looked at Luna's butt in curiosity, but only found Clair sitting in front of him. She crossed her arms and sighed as she shook her head.

'What?' Dom thought, 'I just wanted to see if there was anything there at all.'

'I...' Clair looked back up, flummoxed, 'Dammit, now I'm curious.'

She was tempted to turn around, but stopped herself, 'But now is not the time.'

"They would not be an it even if they were sexless," Luna glared, "has thy grudge blinded thee to the fact that there are two humans in our midst?"

"There is only one human Luna" Celestia glared, "The other is only a powerful illusion..." Her eyes widened in realization, "Did you really walk into a room with a human without any preparation?"

Flustered, Luna powered her horn and scanned Clair and Dom. Clair doubled over and clutched her stomach during the two second scan.

"Strange..." Luna mused, "Tis neither human, nor illusion..." She double checked her findings, "Tis neither single entity, nor two separate beings."

Celestia furrowed her brow, "That's nonsense Luna, of course it's an illusion."

Luna stomped her hoof, annoyed, "We are an expert in the field of the mind. We know what is and what isn't illusion magic. Nay, what we felt was more akin to two minds sharing one body."

"...So it is insane," Celestia concluded.

Luna snarled, "Tia we hath not seen thee so... so closed minded, ever before!"

"Why are you protecting them!?" Celestia bellowed.

Luna looked back at the humans. She looked for the deception and greed she remembered in the ancient raiders, but instead just found two humans staring at each other. She had to admit, something about them seemed... manipulative, but then so did her sister sometimes, especially in desperate times. And those eyes as they darted around, obviously listening to her and her sister, were filled with both hope and fear. There was no rage in those eyes, like there would be in an animal backed into a corner. No, they looked like they were trusting her to protect them. Many of her subjects would have had that same look in their eyes if they found themselves in the current situation. She was sure of it.

She remembered right after she had her power and all the rage behind it blasted away by the elements. She fully expected to be killed in that moment of weakness, and she accepted that. Yet she was still alive.

"Because it would be the height of hypocrisy not to," Luna answered her sister and stared at her intensely.

...

The standoff lasted an uncomfortably long time.

'What should we do!?' Clair asked, close to panicking, 'Should we do something!?'

'No.' Dom answered, also on the verge of panicking, 'it doesn't feel right; anything could set them off.'

Finally, Celestia softened, and considered Luna's reasons.

"Fine," she sighed, "but let me talk to the humans."

Reluctantly, Luna stepped to the side.

Celestia trotted forward, "Humans--"

"I'm Dom," Dom glared at Celestia, then pointed at Clair, "She's Clare." Clair smiled and waved nervously.

Celestia took a deep breath and let it out, calming herself, "Dom and Clair," She glared, "How do I know you will not harm any of my ponies?"

"How do you know any of your subjects will not do the same?" Dom asked back.

Celestia squinted, not liking the human's attitude, "I can trust them not to, for the most part." She looked off, remembering Sombra, then resumed glaring at Dom, "I cannot trust any of your species; as every single human before you partook in the killing of more than half of our race."

"You saw only the worst of our race," Dom looked down, regretting some of the worse times of humanity, then looked back up, as ponies were no better, "What if Sombra came to us? What would we assume of ponies?"

Celestia stepped back, surprised. "How do you know of Sombra?" She asked.

This was it, he had to use information he couldn't know. But he already thought about what to do in the situation before he arrived in Equestria. After all, it was history and news available everywhere. It was just luck that his lie was exactly the same as last time.

"I passed by an old castle on my way here, it was filled with books. I skimmed a few." Dom answered.

Celestia paused, but accepted the answer. She pondered the question.

Dom answered his own question before Celestia could answer, "We would think the same of your species as you apparently do of ours. Heck, we may even have similar laws against your kind."

Celestia considered it, but shook her head, "There were hundreds--"

"How many ponies live currently? I mean, what is the current population?" Dom asked.

Celestia paused, she took a second to remember, "roughly five hundred thousand." She answered.

'100/500000' Clair thought.
1/5000 translates to percentage... take away 100... Dom thought.
'Too slow,' Clair interrupted, 'one in five thousand is good enough.'
'...no, no it's not good enough.' Dom grimaced. He thought some more. 'Sombra may have had slaves, but Rome also had slaves...'

After a long pause, Dom looked back up, "If Sombra and his kind stayed in power for generations, the ponies he ruled might have been exactly like the humans you fought."

Celestia grimaced in disgust, and tried to make a quick retort, but paused for a better argument, "Ponies would never become such monsters. Sombra was unique in his--"

"How?" Dom interrupted, "His genes? His upbringing? He would force both onto the ponies around him, whether they resisted or not!"

Celestia stomped in outrage, she didn't have anything to counter the argument, but it was too...

"That's horrible! How can you think of such things?" She yelled.

"Nature tends to be that way," Dom leaned forward, "I mean, from the standpoint of creating offspring, Sombra would have been way more successful than most ponies."

Celestia and Luna grimaced and gagged.

"Like I said," Dom concluded, "You met with the worst of humanity."

...

Celestia stared at Dom warily. Luna stepped in front of Dom and Clair again. She wasn't sure who's benefit it was for the most. Dom and Clair immediately came to mind, but after seeing how distraught Pinkie and Fluttershy looked after dealing with Dom, she realized she was doing this for Celestia's and the element's sakes as well.

Dom and Clair waited for an answer with bated breath.

Celestia looked at Luna, then Dom and Clair behind her, then back to Luna, and her imploring gaze.

Celestia slumped, letting go of her tense muscles. She would not fight her sister.

But she knew she would never feel safe letting that thing roam freely.

Author's Note

I tend to write a lot more detail if I'm writing in first person.

And for anyone who wants to speak Luna:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_personal_pronouns#Archaic_and_non-standard_forms
http://dan.tobias.name/frivolity/archaic-grammar.html
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe

I could try to use these:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_grammar

But it would take too long, and then no one would understand her.

Ask for help

"...Very well," Celestia gave in. "However," She stared back at her sister, "I will want to keep an eye on him, and keep Clair's powers in check."

'This doesn't sound good...' Clair and Dom thought at once.

"I don't agree to this," Dom protested.

"Silence," Celestia glared.

Luna nodded, then cast her magic on Clair. Clair doubled over and clutched her stomach once again, and tried teleporting out of the way of the magic, but teleporting was exactly what Luna's magic was meant to counteract, as well as any other magic, just to be safe. Clair glared at Luna.

"My apologies," Luna said once the magic was cast, "but 'tis the safest course of action. For thee and for us."

Celestia produced a bracelet with her magic and clamped it onto Dom's left wrist.

"This is a huge invasion of privacy," Dom said.

"The bracelet will only warn me if you come close to harming any of my ponies or go into places you shouldn't," Celestia explained.

"And what does it do other than warn you?" Dom asked.

Celestia stepped back a bit in surprise, then just glared back. The bracelet also kept a history of his movements, any magic used around him, and a video recording. But he didn't have to know that. "Nothing," She lied, staring Dom directly in the face.

Dom stared back at Celestia, unsure.

Celestia walked towards the door, "I'll remove it once I feel I can trust you." She said.

Luna looked at Dom apologetically, then cringed a bit when she saw the bracelet. She sighed, "Thank thee for reminding us of that law. We shall have it changed posthaste." She yawned, "Tomorrow, night..." She made to walk out the door.

"Wait," Dom spoke up. Luna stopped and looked back.

"You never told us your names," Clair reminded her.

Luna jumped slightly in surprise, then face-hoofed, "Forgive us," she said, "we were caught up in the moment and forgot our formalities."

"We-- I am Luna" She placed her hoof to her chest, "The white alicorn was Celestia. We called her Tia, but thou should refrain from doing so."

"The other--" Luna stopped herself, "Actually, we will let them introduce theirselves." She walked out the door, glancing back once at the battered human male and the tired looking female.

Clair pushed herself up and walked to the window. She observed the mid-day sun.

"It's been one and a half days," She spoke to Dom, not looking away from the window.

"..."

"You realize that by now your family has probably filed a missing person's report." Clair continued.

Dom sighed.

"One more day and it will be Monday. You'll need a good excuse for your absence for your work and school, and your friends." She said.

Dom looked out the window.

"And if you're gone for more than a couple weeks, your work may fire you, you will have to repeat your last semester, and it will be even harder lying to your friends about your absence," She turned around. Dom noticed that her clothing was perfectly clean; you couldn't even see a single speck of dirt on the red heart on her chest, "And that's assuming you don't wind up back in your room at home. That would make explanations even harder."

Dom and Clair stared at each other in silence. 'Wait a minute,' Dom thought, 'wasn't that heart supposed to be pink?'

Clair glanced down at it, then shrugged.

"Come on," She said, walking out the door.

Dom followed.

"Oh," Clair spoke up, "You might want to ask Rarity for some new clothes."

Dom made it out of the door.

...

"Suurrrpriiisssssss!" Pinkie threw confetti everywhere and opened her arms as the lights turned on, but stopped when she saw Dom.

"What?" Dom asked.

"Maaaybe the surprise can wait untill later," Pinkie, fell back down to four hooves, "Come on, we have to see Rainbow Dash," She turned back around, "and you could use a visit to the hospital too." She turned back again, "I'm Pinkie Pie by the way." She turned and darted out the door in a hurry.

Clair and Dom chased after her.

"Nice to meet you," Clair spoke up, "I'm Clair, he's Dom."

"Hmm," Pinkie thought out loud while jogging to the hospital, "those are strange names. I can't even shorten them... unless," She turned to look at the humans, "C & D!"

"Please don't call me D." Dom deadpanned.

"...Fine," Pinkie slumped.

"Actually," Clair said, "Dom's already short for Domenic."

"Oh." Pinkie said, then stopped abruptly, "We're here!"

She ran inside the hospital and up the stairs, straight to Rainbow Dash's room.

"Hiya!" Pinkie waved. the other five ponies in the room smiled at her, then looked confused at the humans behind her.

"Pinkie!" Twilight yelled, "How could you bring them here"

Dom noticed something strange about his hearing. Was he dehydrated? This only happened when he was seriously dehydrated.

...

'But I'm in a hospital,' Dom thought, 'I'm safe.'

Dom felt intense pain throughout his entire body. He passed out.

"Well there's your problem," The doctor said, "I treat ponies, not... humans."

'Oh no not this shit,' Dom willed himself awake.

Clair came into existence grasping the doctor's neck. She didn't look like she was faring well either; she looked exhausted.

"We are going to die!" She said.

"I'm sorry, but--"

Clair picked him up by the neck, "Check for broken bones, bruises, internal bleeding. Everything! It doesn't matter if we're different species!"

The doctor swallowed, "Yeah, but--"

"I will fucking murder you with the last of my energy!" Clair yelled.

"Stop!" Fluttershy yelled.

A white light formed in the center of the room, creating a blast of power strong enough to knock a few pictures off the wall. Celestia stepped out.

"This didn't take long..." She sighed.

Clair slumped, awaiting death. She dropped the doctor.

Celestia walked over to Dom, "so you finally show your true colors. Now I'm curious why you refrained from killing my ponies before?" She thought, "Perhaps you weren't able to..."

She put her hoof on the table.

"Celestia STOP!" Fluttershy swooped in and stared directly into Celestia's eyes.

Celestia could have easily countered the effects of the stare, but she was too shocked that Fluttershy was actually using it on her.

"This is a wounded creature fighting for its life!" Fluttershy yelled, "And you are the one of the ponies who wounded it! I will not let this creature be wounded further because he was frustrated that he wasn't getting treatment."

Fluttershy swooped over to the doctor, "And you!" she yelled, "Clair is right, there is no difference between internal injuries in ponies and most other animals, and if we take the time to move him to a vet, he may die."

Celestia glared at Fluttershy. Fluttershy glared back...

Celestia pondered ignoring Fluttershy and bringing Dom back to the castle for a trial... But Fluttershy was Twilight's friend. Not only would it alienate Twilight and the rest of her friends, it could potentially be dangerous, depending on how vocal Fluttershy and her closer friends could be. After hearing Fluttershy at the gala, she assumed she could be pretty vocal when she wanted to be.

"...Very well," Celestia submitted, then looked at the doctor, "He will be treated here..." She looked back to Fluttershy, "and will receive the best treatment possible." She looked back to the doctor, "That is a royal order."

"V- Very well, your majesty," The doctor bowed, almost stumbling.

Celestia glanced at Fluttershy once more, then walked out of the room.

Dom closed his eyes and fell back to sleep. Clair disappeared.

Fluttershy shuddered, remembering Dom and Clair as they walked in behind Pinkie. Dom had a broken nose along with a huge bruise on his face, bloody knuckles, and was slouching at an odd angle, as if to compensate for a thrown back or a spinal injury. He was also covered in sweat, and looked starved. Clair looked uninjured, but similarly starved and exhausted, and the heart on her shirt looked like it was made of blood-red crumpled paper. She could've sworn it didn't look like that before Dom and Clair went into the room with Luna and Celestia.

Then Dom fell down. Clair tried to stop him from falling, but faded out of existence. Luckily, Pinkie Pie caught him.

Each time she remembered the scene, she questioned Celestia once more.

She remebered Dom countering both the effects of her stare, and her argument. From what she heard from Pinkie and from Rainbow Dash's doctor, Dom should have easily been able to at least kill Rainbow Dash. And if Dom thought purely logically like many of the Everfree animals, he should have killed the elements to make sure they didn't attack him again, and then he should have fled the scene. In fact, he might be in better shape right now if he did that.

He chose to trust the ponies.

Well, Fluttershy was determined to show him that he had not made the wrong decision!

Dom woke up to the sound of some beeping noises... a heart monitor...

He moved to get up, but Clair's voice stopped him.

'Dom,' She thought, 'wait before getting up... They don't know when we're supposed to be conscious again, and who knows what will happen next.'

'Right...' Dom let his muscles go slack, and concentrated.

Fire of every hue sprouted from from a single point in front of him, then moved downwards, spreading out into a floor beneath his feet. He raised the floor, touching it to his feet.

The fire spread infinitely in every direction. The sky filled with fire in intricate dance, matching memories as one watched it. The ground twisted and squished into buildings of multi-colored fire around him, forming houses, rooms, and bending space into non-euclidian forms. Dom knew that if he went through one entrance, he was just as likely to be the same distance away from his starting point as you'd expect, as he was to be somewhere else entirely. The ground curved above him, swallowing him in a 3D labyrinth where only he knew directions.

Clair stepped out from behind him and produced a chair for herself, also made of fire.

"It's been a while since we were last here," she smiled, looking around.

Dom was staring at her chest, bemused. He chuckled, "...Is that a status indicator now?" He said.

Clair looked down at the large heart on her shirt. It looked a little too red and shattered, but there was also a band-aid on top of it.

"Huh," She looked down at it, touching the band-aid, "...I guess it is..."

"Anyway," Clair snapped her fingers. A table burst into existence between them and a chair burst into existence behind Dom. The table had a black and white checkerboard built into it, and the chair was the same as Clair's. Dom sat.

Clair waved over the board, several chess pieces came into existence in likeness of the mane six, Celestia and Luna, and several question mark pieces, one of which has nurse attire on. Dom waved his hand on his side of the board, bringing Dom and Clair chess pieces into existence. Clair thought for a second, then waved her hand over again, placing a door behind Celestia.

Clair tapped the Celestia chess piece. A holographic display popped up in the air, showing Dom all the information he had on Celestia.

"Here's our main problem," Clair started. "Celestia holds extreme prejudice against humans, but is key to finding out about any magic that may get us back home, or, even better, open a passage way between Equestria and Earth, and keep it open."

Dom looked at the hologram above Celestia. Blurred data turned into scenes involving her. Scenes played of her fighting Discord, Chrysalis, and Sombra. She mostly preferred to fight from behind the scenes. 'Unless,' Dom hypothesized, 'She thinks she can reliably defeat her enemy by herself, or maybe if she doesn't have time to plan. Or perhaps she wants to level Twilight and her friends.' The scene showed Celestia being defeated by Chrysalis.

"Luna," Clair touched Luna's chess piece, destroying Celestia's hologram and creating a new one by Luna, "Is somewhat of an unknown." The scene of Luna arriving after Chrysalis's defeat showed in the hologram.

Clair continued, "She shows a love for performances," the scene changed to Nightmare Moon showing off in front of everybody, treating take-over like a play, "And she's much closer to the ponies than her sister." A scene appeared above Celestia, showing rows of ponies bowing to her, and her running away from a failed gala. The scene above Luna changed into her talking to Pip during nightmare night. "If the sisters are both political leaders," Clair summarized, "Luna should specialize in public relations."

"Also," The scene above Luna changed to after she was defeated by the elements, and beside it was the scene of Luna guarding Dom and Clair, shouting, 'It would be the height of hypocrisy not to!', "It appears she can relate to our situation."

Clair grabbed the Luna piece and slid it over to Dom. Dom caught it, and placed it in front of his pieces, facing Celestia and the others.

"Fluttershy," As Clair touched the Fluttershy piece, several scenes popped up above its head. One was her crying for Angel. One was her facing the mirror in her boarded up house, believing she was a monster. One was her caring for Discord when he was sick. One was her scolding a dragon. The last one was her screaming at Celestia, "is protective, perhaps overly. She's a motherly type, and has a strong sense of righteousness."

Clair slid the chess piece over to Dom, carefully.

Dom gently caught the piece, continuing where Clair left off, "as long as she believes we are in the right, she will help us."

Dom pointed at Twilight, scenes popped over her head as well. They were of her constantly abusing magic, trying to disprove Pinkie's rare ability instead of truly testing it, and constantly, blindly following Celestia. "She's self-righteous, and she trusts Celestia more than she does herself."

The scene above Twilight changed to one of Celestia failing Twilight, seen when facing Sombra. It was her worst nightmare. "Perhaps we can convince her that she should trust herself more..."

Clair shook her head, "If we tried to do that ourselves, it would take days, if not weeks."

Dom nodded.

Clair moved the piece directly in front of Celestia.

Dom pointed to Pinkie's piece, several scenes with her throwing different parties showed up, "She is at heart a party planner, and needs other ponies' approval" The scene above Pinkie changed to the one in Party of One, "If we were to pit her friends against each other, she would side with the majority."

Dom and Clair picked up Pinkie's piece together, and placed her directly in the center.

Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack's pieces lit up.

"Applejack," Dom said, "Strong family ties, of which Pinkie is now a part of," Pinkie and Applejack in a raft on a river showed above Applejack's head, "and Fluttershy is strongly Pinkie's friend," the scene with Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie shopping showed up, "and Applejack constantly disagrees with Rarity." The scene with Rarity and Applejack's sleepover showed up.

"Rainbow Dash," Clair continued, "Strong ties to Fluttershy, and growing ties to Pinkie Pie" Scenes appeard, showing Rainbow Dash protecting Fluttershy as a filly, Rainbow Dash playing pranks with Pinkie, and Pinkie throwing Rainbow Dash's birthday and Ponyville anniversary.

"Rarity," Dom pointed, "Loves fashion," Dom's clothes showed up above Rarity's head, "and high-society," Twilight showed up above Rarity.

Clair moved Rarity closer to Dom, Applejack closer to Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash closer to Fluttershy and Pinkie.

"Show connections," Clair commanded. Several lines appeared on the board, some much stronger than others. The lines between Fluttershy and Pinkie were very strong, and the lines between Celestia, Luna, and Twilight were very strong. The combined line weight between Twilight and the mane six seemed just as strong as the line between Celestia and Twilight. But the line between Celestia and Luna was stronger, though the line from Luna to Twilight was also much stronger than between Luna and the rest of the mane six.

"What about the unknowns?" Dom asked.

Clair slid the question mark in nurse's clothes next to Dom and Clair, opposite of the mane six. It had an env. with a plus above it, meaning it had power over hospital environments. "Nurses will typically be on the side of their patients, especially if you appear kind and thankful," Clair explained.

Dom paused, looking at all the lines...

"The connections between the nurse and Fluttershy are the strongest for us, we should use them to convince Pinkie to side with us," A scene appeared above Pinkie's head. This time it was one of Dom calling up an old friend from middle school, and hearing that his entire group of friends broke apart after he left. They said they just didn't have anything to talk about anymore. "Since Pinkie's the lynchpin for the mane six..."

Clair reorganized the mane six into a hexagon. The lines between Pinkie and everyone else were clearly the strongest. "It's true," She said, "If Pinkie were removed on top of the Elements of Harmony being removed, the six would probably break up into Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and maybe Rarity as friends, Rainbow Dash and Applejack as friends, and maybe Rarity and Twilight as friends and the rest as acquaintances in the long term... though that's only if they don't feel any obligation to join, which Twilight would provide."

"Oh," Clair spoke up, "Perhaps we can get Rainbow Dash to like us if we apologize and give her a few pointers on fighting, then that might get Applejack on our side, and we'll have the strongest connections to Fluttershy... and we'll already have a half of the gang. Then we just need Rarity, who you can talk about your fashion problem with."

Dom looked down at his one pair of clothes. It was drenched with sweat.

The world faded into black. Dom woke up, and tried to sit.

"Whoa there," Nurse red-heart placed a gentle hoof on Dom's chest and gave him an apologetic smile. Dom looked down and noticed several bandages around his feet, hands, abdomen and back, as well as a few things on his face, probably for a broken nose.

He looked around. The rest of the mane six were here, continually looking between him and another gurney. Apparently he was in the same room as Rainbow Dash. That was lucky...

Seeing that Dom was finally awake, Twilight stepped forward.

"I see Celestia didn't find you so trustworthy after all," she smirked, looking at his left wrist, "That bracelet is meant for monitoring past criminals. It keeps a record of their locations, surrounding magic, and video in case they try to plot anything."

'Fucking bitch,' Dom thought, then smirked, "Actually, I think she wanted to keep that a secret from me,"

Twilight blanched.

"But I'm glad I already have good friends who will tell me the truth." Dom tried to keep his shit-eating grin to a friendly smile. It was hard.

Twilight snarled, then turned back to Rainbow Dash.

Dom thought for a bit. He almost spoke, but berated himself from almost saying a name he shouldn't know. Then he noticed the a label, "Rainbow Dash", near Rainbow Dash's bed.

He turned to nurse red-heart, "Could you move me close to Rainbow Dash?" he asked, "I have something I need to talk to her and her friends about."

Red Heart looked between the gurneys, shrugged, and finally nodded, "Okay." She rolled the gurney to the spot directly beside Rainbow Dash, then moved the empty gurney where he was previously.

"Thanks." Dom smiled.

"You're welcome." Nurse Red Heart smiled back.

Dom opened the curtain between them, "So you're 'Rainbow Dash'."

The entirety of the mane six turned to look at Dom.

Author's Note

Dom's mind-scape:

...

Good lord I could have had this done Friday morning... Why can't I just say no to people?

You might make mistakes

"So you're 'Rainbow Dash'."

Everypony turned to look at Dom.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth and held her hoof to her chest as if to boast, then looked at Dom. She closed her mouth and moved her hoof over her bandaged waist.

"Yeah," She said nonchalantly, "that's my name."

Dom frowned, "I just wanted to apologize for..." Dom couldn't think of a good way to phrase it.

"...For hitting me in the kidney so hard that I peed red for the past two - three days?" Rainbow Dash offered.

"...yeah..." Dom rubbed his neck, then slowly dropped his arm and stared at Rainbow Dash in shock, "Wait! How many days did you say?"

"Two or three..." Rainbow Dash repeated.

Clair grimaced in Dom's mind.

"You went under all sorts of treatment!" Pinkie spoke up in her usual cheery voice.

Dom tilted his head as he looked at Pinkie, morbidly curious.

"First they put this thing called a 'stomach pump' on you and sucked out all sorts of things! Then a team of unicorns pushed your spine around until it was just right!"

'Oh god no...' Clair grumbled in Dom's mind, covering her face with her hands.

Pinkie continued, bringing her fore-hooves on top of Dom's bed. "And then they stuck all these needles in you--"

Clair formed as fast as she could in between Dom and Pinkie. This time her clothes had a light blue heart with a band-aid over it, her hair and eyes were blue, and she had a blue night cap. She sat on the side of the bed next to Dom's head, just where Pinkie was about to jump up.

She grabbed Pinkie's shoulders, "Please stop!" She pleaded.

"...Why?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes suspiciously, "You're not the one who was injured."

"Yes I was!" Clair said, "I-- Do you-- We only have one body!"

Pinkie tilted her head, "...huh?..." She looked around for clarity. Everypony looked to Twilight. Twilight shrugged.

Eventually, everypony looked back to Dom.

Clair scooted sideways, now sitting in front of his abdomen.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat, "Yeah... if anypony should be apologizing, it's us." --Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity frowned slightly in disagreement-- "Apparently you just ingested a huge amount of poison before we attacked you..." She rubbed her neck, "You weren't visiting Ponyvillw to find a doctor, were you?" She cringed.

"Poison?" Dom and Clair asked in unison.

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash said, confused and slightly relieved, "The doctors think you ate a cockatrice or something." Fluttershy grimaced.

Dom and Clair stared at Rainbow Dash, blinking a few times...

"Ya know those things are poisonous, right?" Applejack spoke up. Clair and Dom stared dumbly at Applejack.

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash added, "you have to remove the poison sacs before you cook it."

Everyone turned to look at Rainbow Dash with surprised looks on their faces. Rainbow Dash glanced around.

"What?" She asked, "Gilda had one before."

This settled mostly everyone's curiosity.

"You still hang out with Gilda?" Pinkie asked, surprised.

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash looked at Pinkie, "No!"

...She looked down, frowning "...I haven't seen her since..."

A silence enveloped the room.

"Don't worry Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy flew up, smiling kindly, "I'm sure she'll visit you again some day."

"Thanks," Rainbow Dash smiled back, "but didn't she yell at you?"

Fluttershy nodded, "She'll find out it's better to treat friends kindly eventually..."

'Oh yeah,' Dom thought, 'that reminds me...'
'This does not have to be addressed right now.' Clair turned around and cast a warning glance at him.
'not directly...' Dom smirked almost imperceptibly.
'...If I even think your making enemies here, I will stop you. There is way too much at sta--'
'Agreed.' Dom interrupted.

"Oh yeah," Dom said, supposedly changing the subject, "Pinkie, can you affect probabilities?"

"What do you mean?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head.

"Well," Dom explained, "I read something about strange abilities some earth ponies seem to get."

"Ooh!" Pinkie jumped past Clair and maneuvered on top of Dom's immobilized body, pushing her muzzle to his nose, "What did it say?"

'This is bad,' Clair thought, 'If Twilight looks for such a book--'
'We could just say we lost it,' Dom suggested.
'And Twilight will hate you for that...' Clair sighed internally.

"...It-- It was an attempt to explain some of the seemingly impossible things done by earth ponies," Dom started, "Like predicting certain events, bending into impossible shapes, and even having prehensile hair." Pinkie leaned in closer with each word.

'You idiot!' Clair shouted in Dom's head, 'What if she made that hair!? What if she made those other things?'

"What else did it say?" Pinkie asked in an entranced voice. If it was possible, she was even closer to Dom than before.

'We-- we may have another problem...' Dom swallowed.

"It-- It's theorized that-- that if earth ponies could affect probabilities..." Dom choked. He didn't know what to say! He was going to be found out, and--

"If earth ponies could affect probabilities," Clair continued, only a slight wavering of fear could be detected in her voice, "they could affect the probability of their hair or other objects moving. They could affect the distances between the... between the--"

"Atoms?" Twilight suggested.

"Mhmm." Clair nodded, relieved. "And..." she thought, "if they could sense probabilities as well as affect them, they could 'feel' future events too... Unlike how unicorns affect the world directly, earth ponies would affect it indirectly."

"Hmm," Pinkie raised herself off of Dom and looked out the window, out into the distance.

"Interesting..." Twilight scrunched her face in thought.

'Huh,' Dom thought, 'I thought I'd be getting aroused or something with anything my female and close to my size that close to me.'
'You're not healthy enough to get aroused...'Clair grumbled, 'Also... gross...' A picture of a large frog with holes on it's body for holding eggs moved into Dom's mind.
'Okay...' Dom stared at Clair, 'Maybe the list is a bit shorter than whatever I said...'

Pinkie hopped off the bed, still thinking. She occasionally glanced to the ground, then the window, then to some random object which she stared intensely at.

"Where is this book?" Twilight asked, genuinely curious.

Dom blinked, then formed another lie, "I found it somewhere... out in the open, in the castle of the royal pony sisters... and..." Dom cringed.

"And you put it back in its shelf, right?" Twilight glared.

"I think I lost it when I was attacked by timber-wolves," Dom cringed again.

Rainbow Dash looked at Dom, surprised. "You were attacked by timber-wolves?" She asked.

"Yeah..." Dom said.

'That could've gone worse...' Clair sighed, relieved.
'What were we doing again?' Dom asked.
'Befriending everyone,' Clair answered tonelessly, 'starting with Rainbow Dash.'

"Oh yeah," Dom spoke, directing his voice at Rainbow Dash, "Word of advice, when you're about to start a fight, don't yell as loudly as possible if you want to have the element of surprise."

Rainbow Dash furrowed her brows and leaned back, offended, "Why would I want to be sneaky?"

Dom raised an eyebrow, "So you win?"

Rainbow Dash smirked and rolled her eyes, "ch'... If I have to resort to cheap tricks to win a battle, then I've already lost." She glared.

Dom glared back, "You shouldn't care about your own pride when your friends' lives are at stake."

Rainbow Dash glared back, "I can save my friends in any situation and still be awesome!"

Dom squinted, "You wanna go?"

Twilight stepped in the way, "Alright alright, break it u--"

"Anytime," Rainbow Dash sat up, smirking, "Anywhere."

Dom tried to sit up, but fell back down when an enormous pain shot through his abdomen. Clair clutched her abdomen and clenched her teeth in pain. She fell over to the left and scooted further down the bed. Now she wouldn't be in the way.

Rainbow Dash burst out into laughter.

"I said, break it--"

"Well," Dom sighed, ignoring Twilight, "we obviously can't fight each other, so... choose a game," Dom challenged.

"Huh, okay then," Twilight stepped out of the way.

Rainbow Dash grinned, "you up for a round of battleship?"

"You're on!" Dom held out his hand. Rainbow Dash considered spitting on her hoof before shaking with him, but remembered the cast on his hand. In the end, they bumped appendages.

"Now all we need is--" Rainbow Dash started.

"I'll get it," Twilight said before walking off. But a doctor passed by the room, and they didn't look very busy.

"Doctor!" Rainbow Dash shouted, "Doctor!"

"DoctorDoctorDoctorDoctor..." Dom said.

'Dom, what the hell do you think you're doing?' Clair turned around to glare at him.

"DoctorDoctorDoctorDoctor..." Dom continued, trying not to laugh.

"Doctor!" Rainbow Dash shouted again, "Doctor!"

'Where do you think you are?' Clair thought as she glared. She playfully hit Dom in the abdomen, it wasn't meant to hurt. It did.

Dom clutched his stomach as an ice-cold thunderstorm of pain ravaged his body. Clair clutched her stomach, froze, and coughed up blood before falling forwards off the bed and hitting her forehead against the rail on Rainbow Dash's bed.

"GAAAAAAHH!" Clair and Dom screamed and clutched their foreheads at once. Interestingly, there was a bruise on Clair's head, but not Dom's.

The Doctor finally walked in. He was a light brown Unicorn.

"My goodness," He said, looking at everyone in the room, "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were having a party in here... Can I join?"

"Sure," Rainbow Dash smiled, "You bring the games, you got battleship?"

"I'll be sure to make a request," he smiled, then looked at everyone else, and noticed Clair still clutching her forehead. He paled for a second, noticing what she was, then noticed her cringing and--was she whimpering?--as she clutched her head.

"Jeez," he rushed over, his history as a doctor outweighing his knowledge of history, "let me see that," he used his hooves to part Clair's head from her hands. Already there was a huge bruise. "Wow," He said, "I'm gonna have to check for a concussion."

"Don't worry," Clair smirked, "I should be able to heal--"

Clair concentrated on healing herself, but was surprised to feel the same throbbing pain as before. She looked up and stared at Dom, wide eyed.

"I can't..."

Dom stared back, wide-eyed.

'Really?' he thought, scared.
'I can't-- Heal-- At all...' Clair thought back.

The doctor frowned, sat close to Clair, then held the back of her head with his left hoof. "I thought your kind went extinct, and rightly so... And now I'm checking one of you for a concussion..." He pulled out a small flashlight from his saddle back and shined it in Clair's eyes.

"One of my kind..." Clair said, "You mean a tulpa?"

"Pupil dilation's normal... I think... a what?"

"A tulpa." Clair repeated.

The doctor cast a worried glance at her. She was obviously a human, now she was making up words? This could be pretty bad... "...how many hooves am I holding up?" the doctor raised his hoof.

Clair looked at him, amused. How many hooves could he possibly hold up? "Ten." She smirked.

"...I really hope you're joking..." the doctor smiled.

Clair smiled back.

'Aww' Dom thought, smiling.
'Can I turn into a pony?' Clair asked.
'I don't think so,' Dom thought. Clair frowned in response, 'It's not that I'm not allowing it, I don't think you can if you weren't able to heal...'
Clair concentrated. '...Nope...I can't...'
Then she opened her eyes and slowly smiled. She had an idea.
'Maybe you can fade away this time,' Clair thought, 'And we can use my body.'
...
'How do I do it?' He asked.
Clair thought, '...I don't know... just... kind of...calm down... then think of fading...'

"What are you thinking so hard about?" the doctor asked.

"Huh?" Clair snapped back to reality.

The doctor sighed, "...I think I really am going to have to check you in for a concussion."

"Wait," Clair spoke up, "I think I'm fine."

"Really?" the doctor asked.

"23*27 is 400+140+60+21 equals... 621." Clair said.

"Well, your math certainly is good," The doctor complimented. "Are you sure you're not feeling..." the doctor shrugged, "I don't know, woozy?"

Clair fell forward, embracing the doctor in a hug, "Soft..."

"Um... there there?" He patted her back, then gently pushed her away. "I'm sorry, but I think I should be going soon. I have to set you up for a scan and check on the other patients."

Dom stared intensely at his fingertips while concentrating as hard as he could, yet also remaining as calm as he could. He willed himself to fade away and trust and rely on Clair to protect him. He swore his fingertips were disappearing up to the knuckle, but then Clair notified him, breaking his concentration. He glanced around.

"Wait," Dom spoke, "What all do I have?"

"Oh, um..." The doctor stumbled, "I'm sorry, but I don't have the files with me."

The doctor turned and hurried out of the room.

Dom went back to concentrating. He trusted Clair, he was just... scared.

'Don't worry,' Clair thought to him, 'If you do succeed, nothing will happen to you that hasn't happened to me.' This calmed Dom, but Clair actually had no idea whether something bad would happen to him or not. It was a calculated risk.

Suddenly, Clair got up, as if filled with a new-found purpose. She stumbled to the other side of Rainbow Dash's bed, not caring how the ponies were staring at her. She stood next to a confused Applejack, "You stay away from--", she ignored Twilight and sat down cross-legged next to Applejack. Twilight didn't quite see a threat, so she decided not to move Clair away with her magic, yet. Clair leaned to her left, then enveloped Applejack with her arms and leaned into her.

"Oh," Applejack laughed, "hey there..."

Twilight stared at Clair, squinting.

'You're way too huggy,' Dom thought.
'Hey!' Clair thought, 'This is the first time I can touch any living things other than you. And do you know how soft these guys are?'

Another Doctor walked by the room. This one was a light blue unicorn, taller than the first doctor.

"Did you bring battleship?" Rainbow Dash yelled.

The doctor turned to the voice and walked into the room, "Ahuh," he pulled the game out of his bag and handed it to Rainbow Dash. "Oh," He looked at Dom, not noticing part of his arms and legs were faded, and pulled out a list, "You were treated for spinal trauma, cockatrice poisoning, a broken hand bone, and severe dehydration."

Clair grimaced. At least it sounded like there wouldn't be any long term damage.

"And you," He turned to Claire, "Please, follow me."

Clair got up, "I don't think I can--" Clair looked at Dom's bed, Dom was still having trouble fading.

"You don't think you can what?" The doctor asked, still walking. Eventually, he turned around when he noticed Clair wasn't following.

"I can't move too far away from Dom," Clair pointed, "...magic," She shrugged.

The doctor glanced between the two humans a few times, then finally shrugged "I suppose I can move him back to the scanning room as well."

"But my game!" Rainbow Dash held her hooves to her head.

"Looks like you'll just have to play with one of us," Twilight smiled, relieved.

"Actually," Clair said, "Can they come too?"

the doctor looked back, "I can only push one gurney."

Clair smiled, "I hit my head. I can still move."

the doctor considered it, and finally shrugged, "Okay, the scanning room should be pretty empty right now anyway."

"Yes!" Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof.

Clair walked over to Rainbow Dash's gurney and grabbed it by the hoof end.

Twilight stepped up beside Clair, "I see what you two are doing," she glared, "trying to get us to trust you."

Clair frowned and held her hand to her forehead, "Gah... not this... not right now..."

Twilight considered saying more, but... it just didn't feel right.

Clair neared the scanning room. Dom was down to just a torso and a head now.

Clair smiled in satisfaction. It looked like they might start being friends with the mane six, despite whatever history there was between humans and ponies. Then, once they were good enough friends and Twilight cooled off, the mane six could convince Celestia to open a door to Earth. Then there wouldn't need to be any made up explanations for why Dom was gone.

And it was good she knew that now too. She felt like she could pass out at any moment and there was a blackness around her vision.

She pushed the gurney containing Rainbow Dash into the scanning room. She heard a strange voice, it sounded out of place. She turned. There was Discord in nurse attire.

'Crap!' She thought.
'What?' Dom thought. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to find himself back in his mind-space, except now it felt more real than ever.
'We forgot Discord...' Clair stared at him in horror. The edges around her vision finally turned everything black. She gripped Rainbow Dash's gurney, hard. She panted. She was so thirsty, and her stomach hurt, and her back hurt... Eventually it was just too painful to stay awake.

She collapsed.

Discord looked over to the noise and spotted something strange, "Is that a human?" he pointed a claw at Clair.

Author's Note

I write a bit strangely at night... Now Dom can change sex like a frog!

Events will happen while you slumber

Discord snapped his fingers. Both he and Twilight appeared in the hallway outside of the scanning room.

"Hello again," Discord waved.

Twilight walked in beside him, silent.

"Oh, don't be so shy Twilight," he smirked, "these are your friends!"

Twilight couldn't help but smile. These were definitely her friends. She remembered the feeling when Discord put that love magic back inside her. If she ever knew how important her friends were to her, she knew it now.

"I'm back," she announced.

Discord rolled his eyes in disappointment.

"Welcome to the hospital!" Pinkie stood on her hind legs and threw open her fore-hooves in greeting.

"If you don't mind me asking," Rarity started, "Where did..." --'that brute'-- "Where did Discord take you?"

Twilight massaged her chin in thought, "I think I was in a library"

"You think you were in a library?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well," Twilight scrunched her face, "the place was filled with shelves and books, but it wasn't like any library I've ever been in."

Everypony looked at Discord. He just shrugged.

"And what did you do in this... library?" Rarity asked.

Twilight cringed and looked away, "Discord taught me the error of my ways."

Everypony looked surprised.

"Discord taught you a friendship lesson?" Pinkie said what was on everyponies mind.

Twilight nodded, then walked over to Clair. Everypony followed. They waited for Twilight to continue her story, but she never continued.

"...I do hope she'll be okay," Rarity said as she gently touched Clair's fabric and looked over at the heart on her chest. It was still blue, but now instead of a single band-aid, the heart was covered in as many casts and bandages as she was. "I'm really curious what this material is. It's so pliable, and she can change the design so quickly!"

Everypony except Twilight looked at her.

"What?" Rarity looked at everypony, "I care about more than just her clothes."

...

Twilight looked at Clair. She looked so peaceful... And by the sounds of it, all of her friends were on Clair's side now. She must have been a master manipulator.

Twilight's eyes widened in realization. Clair must have planned everything out before hand! That's why she hugged Applejack! She was trying too hard to please everyone, and when she hit her head, she started acting overly, unbelievably friendly!

Twilight smirked, 'Two can play at that game...'

She looked away from the table, and walked over to Rainbow Dash.

'You're in for a nice surprise when you wake up, Clair.'

"Oh," the doctor spoke to Rainbow Dash, "You're free to go."

"And now for today's history lesson, we have a guest lecturer..." Cheerilee gestured to the side while walking backwards, leading in, "Twilight Sparkle!"

The fillies looked at each other and shrugged. They weren't sure if Twilight would give an interesting lesson or go into something overly complex. But no matter what they thought, they didn't have a choice. Twilight was already trotting her way in.

"Remember," Cheerilee said, "Twilight requested an interactive lecture, so comments are encouraged."

Looking at all of the rowdy fillies, Twilight was glad she practiced the lecture so many times with Spike.

"Hello fillies and colts," Twilight said cheerily as she stood behind the podium, "Today I'm going to tell you about humans."

Cheerilee cringed. Twilight didn't notice.

"Did you know there's actually a human staying in Ponyville, being treated at Ponyville hospital right now?"

"Really?" Sweetie Belle brightened in curiosity.

"Can I see it?" Apple Bloom pushed herself up with her fore-hooves.

"I'm sorry," Twilight laughed whimsically, "But I don't think the doctors would like that."

"Aww..." The fillies said in unison.

"Well," Twilight shrugged, "You will be able to see her one she's healed, so just have some patience."

The fillies shrugged. They would have to remember that.

"But doesn't that strike any of you as strange?" Twilight asked.

The fillies all tilted their heads different ways.

"You see," Twilight led in, "Just until three days ago, there was a law stating that humans were to be killed on sight."

The class gasped.

"That's absurd!" Apple Bloom yelled out, "You can't just kill something because of what it is!"

"I think many bacteriologists would disagree with you there," Twilight countered. "There are several species whose sole way of living is by harming, or even killing others."

"No!" Sweetie Belle shouted, "You're comparing mammals to bacteria! That's reductio ad absurdum if I ever heard it!"

Everypony stared at Sweetie Belle in surprise.

Twilight stared at Sweetie Belle, baffled. "reductio ad absurdum is a way of proving a statement is true by showing that it would be absurd if it were false," Twilight explained, "I don't think it means what you think it means."

"Oh," Sweetie Belle crumpled. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon laughed.

"I get what she was saying though," Apple Bloom quickly interrupted the laughter, "Bacteria and..." Apple Bloom fished for words, "Humans, are completely different! It's like comparing apples and oranges."

Twilight looked at Apple Bloom, after a moment of contemplation, she shrugged, "Well, you're correct that humans and bacteria are completely different," Twilight pulled a map out of her saddlebag and laid it on the table, "Humans are much worse." She pulled several pieces out of her bag and laid them on the map, organizing the ponies in pony towns, and humans in the wilderness.

"What's that?" Apple Bloom asked.

"This," Twilight said, "is what Equestria looked like before 756 A.C." She pushed a pony chess piece forward, "Now, who wants to play the ponies."

Only a few fillies raised their hands.

"I'll be playing the humans," Twilight clarified.

Most of the class aww'd. The CMC, Diamon Tiara, Silver Spoon, and a few others raised their hooves.

"Okay," Twilight said, "come up here and choose any upgrade you want."

Twilight concentrated her magic and produced a large hologram of the map above the class for everyone to see.

...

"This isn't fair!" Apple Bloom threw her pieces on the floor after she was defeated, "You started attacking the weakest of us, then added their strength to yours! And you attacked first! There's no way we could beat you after that!"

"Well," Twilight smirked, "there is one way..."

"How?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Just like how I can gain power from defeating enemies, you can gain even more power by allying yourself with other players."

"We can do that?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I never said you couldn't," Twilight smiled.

"But you made it seem like we couldn't," Apple Bloom complained.

"Yeah!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle chipped in.

Twilight nodded, smirking. "That's because the ponies back then had the same assumptions."

"...Huh," Apple Bloom ruminated on the information.

...

"We defeated the humans!" Sweetie Belle and Button Mash high-hooved.

"And we couldn't have done it without your help," Sweetie Belle ran to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo for a group hug.

Twilight smiled wistfully, "Yes," She said, "you did it."

She ended the hologram.

"And the humans were banished to Tartarus for their crimes," Twilight concluded.

"All the battles together lasted from 756 A.C. to 758 A.C. and no pony knows where the humans came from," Twilight summarized, "But," She lowered her head ominously, "All those player who were defeated? Those towns which were ransacked?" She led in.

The class leaned in.

"Those were real ponies," She stared intensely at the class. "Imagine if something like that happened to Ponyville--"

"WELL," Cheerilee interrupted, "I think that concludes today's history lesson."

The class aww'd in disappointment.

"You wouldn't want to miss recess now, would you?" Cheerilee practically shoved the foals outside.

Twilight looked at her, confused, "Why did you stop--"

Cheerilee glared at Twilight as she slowly walked towards her "I've said the same thing to Mayor Mare, and now I'm saying it to you! You are NOT allowed to use the children in this classroom to further your political ideals! If you want to make a political speech, go to the town hall!"

"But how is it--?" Twilight started.

"How is it a political speech?" Cheerilee offered.

Twilight nodded.

"'Did you know there's actually a human staying in Ponyville" Cheerilee mimicked, "'Imagine if something like that happened to Ponyville'"

Twilight gulped.

"...I'll give you another chance," Cheerilee sighed. After all, Twilight was a very well-read pony, "You've obviously got some good ideas for teaching, and you know your history, but next time don't make it so my foals want to attack your enemies." She poked Twilight with her hoof.

Twilight nodded and walked out of the room.

...

Twilight closed the door to the library behind her, her legs were shaking with both fear and a peculiar thrill.

"So, how'd it go?" Spike asked.

"Really well actually," Twilight smiled.

Spike raised an eyebrow at her, looking at her shaking legs, then her, then back.

Twilight frowned, "I got scolded for having an overly political speech."

"well," Spike folded his arms, "I said I'd say I told you so, so: I told you so," He smirked.

"Very funny Spike," Twilight frowned and walked up into her room. She felt tired now... Yet she only did a few things that day!

In the center of her room was a large map of Ponyville with pony figures scattered all over it. Twilight crossed off the school, smiling in smug satisfaction.

"For today's history lesson, we have another guest lecturer..." Cheerilee led in, a little more cautiously this time, "Lyra Heartstrings!"

The entire class clapped, remembering their last guest lecturer.

"Hello kids," Lyra greeted in the same cheery tone, "this lesson is also about humans."

Cheerilee didn't cringe this time; after the last lecture she decided to clear the entire lesson before allowing it to be taught, instead of just a summary.

Lyra took a large book out of her saddle bag and slammed it on the table. A fine layer of dust flew outward, making the first row of students cough.

Lyra opened it to the middle, then flipped around some.

"Hench forth," Lyra spoke in a dramatic tone, "It shall be known by all that humans were the ones who graced us with the gifts we needed to survive. Without their sacrifice, Griffon kind would be no more!"

Lyra closed the book, "...You see," she said, "not long after the 'evil humans' came in. A group of humans calling themselves 'Romans' came and gave some of their technology to the griffons, right in the middle of a large famine. Without that help, Griffons might not exist today."

"Does anypony remember the Griffon team from the Equestria games?" A few foals nodded. "Without humans, that team would never have been born."

The class stared at her.

"This lesson isn't nearly as fun as Twilight's lesson," Diamond Tiara harrumphed.

"Oh?" Lyra smirked, "But I was just about to get to the fun and games."

"Here," Lyra levitated several pendants out of her saddle bag, "These pendants are based off of the same magic Luna and Celestia use to disguise their guards."

Each foal took a pendant and donned it. When they wore it, their head either turned yellow, green, blue, or rarely, red, while the rest of their body always turned white. Lyra pulled out a large board with several knobs on it, each knob controlling a different pendant.

What the foals didn't know was that the pendants would also change their voice, making them sound kind, calm, or just mean.

"There's only one rule," Lyra almost shouted to get everypony's attention away from the pendants and back to her "You are not allowed to tell another pony what color they are."

Lyra took out an old camera and started recording.

"Well," Lyra started, "What did everyone think about the yellow ponies?"

The class shrugged, "They were nice," one colt said.

"The green ones?" She asked.

"Those guys were awesome!" Scootaloo shouted.

"Blue?" Lyra asked.

The class shrugged noncommittally.

"And what about red?" Lyra smirked.

The class broke out into random shouts of incoherent rage and displeasure.

"I just couldn't stand 'em!" Apple Bloom shouted.

"Whoever you chose for the red team," Diamond Tiara huffed, "were some of the worst ponies I've ever met."

"Really?" Lyra smirked.

"Ahuh!" The entire class agreed. Even the CMC reluctantly agreed.

"Because you were all red at one point in time." If Lyra could smirk any harder, her mouth would be beside her eyes.

The entire class looked at each other in confusion.

"Let me show you," Lyra turned on the video. In the front of the room, there was Lyra playing with the knob machine behind the podium. Whenever she turned a knob, some foal would change from one color to another while no pony was looking. Whenever somepony was about to run into a red pony, they turned red too. Almost never did a red pony meet another color.

The class gaped at the projection.

"Now," Lyra turned off the projector and levitated all the pendants back to her, "I hope you've learned not to judge any pony--or any creature--by their race, or color."

Lyra left the classroom with a smug grin on her face.

"And that concludes today's... history lesson," Cheerilee said. She followed after Lyra, "Actually," She said, "That may have been a bit short."

"Can I borrow that book?" Cheerilee asked Lyra.

"Sure," Lyra levitated the book to Cheerilee, "Just make sure to bring it back." She smiled.

Twilight woke up early in the morning and looked at the large map strewn on the table in the middle of her room. Today, she would remind all of Ponyville about humans.

She yawned, walked downstairs, had some coffee and breakfast with Spike, and left to practice in Ponyville hall.

Twilight took out all the notes and books she had on humans and laid them neatly in a pile around her. She turned to Spike, the only one in the audience.

"So," Spike began. Then he cleared his throat and tried to talk in a deeper voice, "I hear you want to tell us about 'humans'."

"Hahahahaha..." a short burst of feminine laughter came out of nowhere. Twilight and Spike looked around frantically.

Lyra clopped her hooves together in applause, alerting Twilight and Spike to her location. "I thought I'd find you here," she said.

"Why's that?" Twilight tilted her head, "I didn't tell anypony I'd be practicing here."

"No," Lyra shook her head, "nopony told me, I just thought you'd be here. Or at least, this is one of the places you'd probably be."

Now Twilight was even more confused.

Lyra got up and walked towards the stage, "I heard you were the one who tried to get the foals of Ponyville to fear and hate humans."

"Yeah?" Twilight said.

"Well," Lyra bit her lip, "I thought you were all about friendship. Fear and hate is more Discord's shtick."

Lyra hopped up on stage.

"What are you saying?" Twilight asked her.

Lyra sighed, "Twilight, I know this is personal to you, but I don't think you should alienate your friends--and everyone else in ponyville," Lyra waved an arm about the audience seating, "--just so you can fight Celestia's battles." She laid her fore-hoof on Twilight's back.

Twilight shrugged off the hoof, "I'm fighting my own battles. Humans are evil!"

Lyra glared, "I bet the one in the hospital is glad you trying to convince everypony of that while they're unconscious!"

"Clair has been manipulating us from the start!" Twilight stomped, "She plays ponies like pawns and expects nopony to notice!"

"Oh," Lyra tilted her head, "and how does she do that?"

"She convinces everypony to like her-- to side with her!" Twilight almost screamed.

"Like you do with your friends?" Lyra asked.

Twilight glared, "I don't manipulate my friends."

"Yes," Lyra nodded, "but you do want them to like you."

Twilight glared back, but only saw a compassionate face.

"If you go up on stage today, you'll be going against me." Lyra glared back, then softened her expression once more, "Call off the meeting, and I'll call off mine too. We'll both tell everypony that we caught small cold, and have to spend the day at home."

Twilight looked to Spike for reassurance. Spike shrugged, held out his arms, and started walking home. Twilight sighed.

"Why do you want to protect Clair?" Twilight asked. "You never even met her."

"I want to meet her," Lyra said.

Twilight looked at Lyra. No, she wasn't ready to take on anypony who had likely prepared as much as her, especially not with Spike leaving.

Twilight sighed, "fine." 'But just because I have to avoid you doesn't mean I can't win against Clair.'

Clair woke up in the hospital, but kept her eyes closed. She had some planning to do...

Author's Note

Suddenly, politics!

Ill-intentioned groups will gather

"Look at what we still have..." Clair repeated, and finally let Dom go.

She grabbed both his shoulders and looked him in the eyes, "You stay here and fix things," she smiled, "I'll take care of everything else now..."

Clair opened her eyes.

"YYYEEEEEAAAAAHHH!" A crowd of doctors cheered when Clair awoke A few ponies popped open some beverages, chugged them, and fell to the floor.

Clair looked around, bemused. "What's going on?" She asked.

"You're alive!" Several doctors cheered.

Clair's heart sank. What had happened to Dom's-- her body that her just being alive warranted a party?

"What's wrong?" one of the doctors asked after seeing her face fall, "you're alive, and you should be ready to leave in just a few more days!"

Clair smiled. That was good news.

"Well," she turned to the doctor, "thanks." She smiled. The doctors cheered.

"One thing though," she spoke up, the doctors all quieted. "Could I have a few history books to read while I'm here?"

"She shouldn't be reading..." a doctor spoke.
"But what else can she do?" another doctor asked.

"...Sure," a doctor said, "which ones?"

"Everything you can get," Clair said. "but I'd prefer some about everything that happened around 756 A.C."

Twilight heard a knock on her door in the middle of some after breakfast studying. She looked up for a second, then went back to reading her history books.

"I'll get it!" Spike yelled and happily dropped his comic book to greet the new pony. Hopefully it would be Rarity.

Spike's face fell when he saw the pony wasn't rarity. Instead, it was some light brown unicorn. "Hello," Spike said dejectedly.

"Hi there," the doctor grinned back "I'm Dr. Stable," he held out his hoof. Spike reluctantly grabbed the hoof, and nonchalantly shook it.

Dr. Stable let himself in and started looking around. "Do you have any books on history? There's a patient back at Ponyville hospital who will be stuck for a few days, and she's requested history books, specifically of around 756 A.C."

"Oh," Spike perked up, "Twilight should have plenty of those!" He turned around and cupped his claws around his mouth, "Twilight!"

Twilight jumped at Spikes voice. Great, now she forgot what she was just reading about... She opened the door to her room and walked downstairs.

"What is it, Spike," she mumbled.

"There's a visitor who wants history books!" Spike said, almost hopping in excitement.

"About 756 A.C.?" Twilight asked, brightening.

"How did you know?" Dr. Stable asked, tilting his head.

Twilight opened her mouth to explain, but Spike beat her to it.

"Twilight's been trying to convince ponies to remember the story of the humans for days now!" Spike said, smiling brightly as he did, "I've never seen her so dedicated to something!" He gestured with his little arms, "And that's saying something!"

Twilight smiled bashfully and nodded.

"Well," Dr. Stable smiled, "I think your efforts may have paid off, your friend Clair back at the hospital definitely seems to have developed an interest..."

Twilight's pupils shrank.

'Okay,' Twilight thought to herself, 'Clair's obviously trying to get the upper hoof in this battle of ours.' She looked off into the distance... 'But I can't just refuse an order from the hospital without "alienating ponies," as Lyra would put it...'

Twilight smirked.

"Uh, hello?" Dr. Stable waved his hoof in front of Twilight's face.

"Sorry," Twilght said, coming back to reality, "I just remembered something."

"Oh," Dr. Stable shrugged, "okay."

"I'll give you a few books," Twilight said, hiding a devilish smirk, "But I'm reading a few right now, so I can't give you everything."

"Of course," Dr. Stable nodded in agreement.

Twilight started trotting back to her room, but stopped to look back at Dr. Stable. "This might take a little while. I don't have these books sorted since I'm currently reading them."

"I'll be waiting," Dr. Stable smiled.

"...So," Spike crossed his arms in challenge and smirked up at Dr. Stable, "Did you ever have to remove some pony's spine and replace it with a new one?"

Dr. Stable furrowed his eyebrows, baffled. Eventually he looked down and met Spike's gaze.

"Yes." He lied, giving Spike a hardened look.

Spike gaped.

"Horticulture of the mid 700's." Twilight tossed the book into the stack to be sent to Clair; the one on the right.

"The great human war." Twilight tossed the book into the left stack.

"Musical history of 750 - 760 A.C." Twilight tossed the book into the right stack.

"Tactical revolution of 762 A.C." Twilight hesitated, motioning between the left and right pile. Eventually, she set the book on top of the left stack to be on the safe side.

...

"Here you go..." Twilight levitated a stack of ten to twenty books to Dr. Stable.

"Dr. Stable," Dr. Stable finished Twilight's sentence.

"Twilight." Twilight said her name too.

Dr. Stable smiled as he took the stack of books, and walked out of the library.

Clair laid on her gurney. To an outside viewer, she would appear to be sleeping. But her mind was most definitely not asleep.

In her head, Clair tried placing another piece on the chessboard. BonBon this time, but like the other fifty or so pieces, she didn't have enough information to properly place it. And she had a headache the whole time...

She sighed and got up. She was bored; she was stuck in a hospital, and there was nothing to do... She searched her head for Dom, and popped into existence right next to him. Looking around, she saw countless shelves of picture books. Dom would pick up some seemingly random book, look at all the pictures, then place it back on its shelf.

"Hey," Clair spoke up, laying her arms around him from behind, "why don't you take a break?"

Dom closed the book he was holding and yawned. "Okay," he smiled, "what do you have in mind?"

"Hmm..." Clair looked off in thought. "We could always walk around that space station you keep building..."

Dom smiled, took Clair's hand in his, and concentrated. They both reappeared under a large dome. In the center of the ceiling was a giant, several hundred ton plate of metal suspended by rubber. The ground and the walls however, were of an almost cave like nature; they were built of dirt and stone in organic shapes, but lacked real stalagmites and stalactites.

"The diaphram," Dom started, "taken from the Biosphere 2 project, it relieves changes in pressure due to temperature changes within a rigid--"

Clair felt something prodding her face.

"Aww, not now..." She mumbled to herself. But she was already becoming too alert to focus on Dom. She opened her eyes. The Blue unicorn doctor was poking her face with his magic.

"What...?" Clair asked grumpily.

"Oh," The doctor shied back a bit, "Sorry to wake you up," he cringed slightly, "But your books arrived." He pointed to the wall Clair was facing. There was a large stack of 10 - 20 books.

"Thanks," Clair smiled, then went back to 'sleep'.

"I'm back," Clair reappeared sitting on Dom's shoulders, "and this is neat and all, but I'd like to go outside."

"...I don't think the door's big enough for us if we go this way," Dom pointed out, trying to look up at her.

"Make the door larger," Clair said.

"Hmm..." Dom rubbed his chin. "I'll add an extra door above for tall objects."

A second door appeared above the first one. Dom walked forward.

Once Dom and Clair got close enough to the doors, they opened themselves. Since the air pressure was higher outside, air started rushing in and the steel plate behind them started rising ever so slightly. Dom had to push to get past the strong winds.

"It tastes like rain forest!" Clair shouted past the rushing wind.

Dom closed the door behind him.

"Close," he laughed, "I'm not really sure if this biome has a name though."

Once their eyes adjusted to the almost overly bright lighting, they could see something beautiful... In front of the pair was a massive lake, several hundred meters across, filled with countless colors of algae and types of fish. All around the lake were small rolling hills, and on these hills stood sugarcane, corn, millet, and other C4 plants. Behind the lake and small hills was a massive sixty degree incline filled with rainforest trees, all of which operated using C4 photosynthesis. (The oxygen levels were high enough that many other plant types would die.) Since the 'sun' always stayed in the same spot--it was the massive fiber optic cables connecting to the dome a few decimeters above the door Clair and Dom just exited from--it appeared as if the ground was slanted, since every single plant was growing at a slight angle.

Back in the hospital, Clair smiled warmly on her gurney.

...

Clair woke up several hours later.

She breathed in deeply, "Haaaaaaaahhhh..." and released it in one long sigh...

She tried sitting up, but found her abdomen didn't want to obey, so she pushed herself up with her arms, and managed to sit up. After a couple seconds, she felt a stinging pain in her tailbone. She got off the gurney to see if it would improve. It did.

Clair walked over to the stack of books. On top of it, she found a stack of papers.

"List of injury" the title read.

"fractured tailbone..." Clair skimmed "Avoid sitting for prolonged periods of time... drink plenty of water and high-fiber foods to help ease passing of stool..." Clair cringed, "estimated time for healing: 1 week." Clair furrowed her eyebrows. She didn't know anything about fractures, but she was pretty sure they didn't heal in a single week.

She briefly remembered Celestia slamming Dom's body against Twilight's bed. "Jesus," she cringed in fear. She would definitely make sure to avoid Celestia...

"Pulled lower back muscle (mostly healed)... standing and walking for long periods of time may hurt... avoid long periods of running... Estimated time for healing: 1 day"

'Definitely stay away from Celestia,' Clair thought, 'Or any powerful angry unicorn really...'

"Petrified intestines..." Clair reread that a couple times. It seemed eating cockatrice really wasn't a good idea... "Take one capsule of softening formula daily... failure to take capsule daily will lead to intense stomach pain and inability to digest food or water..." Clair blanched. Apparently, it was really not a good idea to eat cockatrice. "...estimated time for healing: 1 week."

"Concussion..." Clair read, "...take prescribed pain medication and corticosteroids... estimated time for healing: 2 days." Clair reread that... Maybe she just got lucky and didn't hit her head too hard? "Do not perform activities that risk further head injury..." Cliar shrugged, then sighed, "...avoid tasks that require concentration..." Nope, no way in hell that was going to happen...

"Broken hand bone..." Clair looked at her right hand and noticed it was in a cast, "Huh..." Then she remembered she was right handed, "aww..."

"...estimated time for healing: 3 days."

'Okay,' Clair thought, how did they do these estimates... I mean, I really hope they're right, but what if ponies just heal a lot faster than humans?

The next few pages were her scans. Clair decided to take a look; she was curious as a tulpa whether she differed from other humans or not...

On the next page, there were scans with labels scribbled over almost every single organ, but something caught Clair's eye... There was something circled frantically, and when she followed the arrow leading out, she saw a bunch of question marks. She took a closer look...

It was in her chest, right beside her heart. In the center was a hard ball dotted with holes like a golf ball. Apparently it was harder than bone, because it showed up completely white on the x-rays... and around it looked like some weird combination of organs, some of which connected to her veins, arteries, and surrounding bones...

"What the hell...?" She breathed, "...Dom?" She searched her head for him, but he was resting.

Sighing, she tossed the paper aside and looked at the first book, "Horticulture of the mid 700's"

'What the hell is horticulture?' She thought to herself before tossing the book aside like a dead rat.

"Musical history of 750 - 760 A.C" Clair considered the book for a few seconds, then put it in the 'to read' pile.

"Pre 700 A.C. Tax History" Clair looked at the book in revulsion and bewilderment.

...

"Well," Clair sighed and picked the stack or two semi-readable books, "either Twilight hates me, or pony history is stupidly specific..."

Clair walked over to her gurney and laid down, holding her book in the air above her. She read the forward... "...The music in this book shows a striking difference before and after the war of 756. For a better understanding on that, please read 'the war of 756', or any other books on that time period if you don't know about it..."

Clair groaned and dropped the book to her side, "Damn you Twilight..." she cried weakly.

Clair picked up the book and forced herself to flip it to the year 756. Surprisingly, she found the music ordered by locations that were destroyed and the passages seemed to be filled with hypothesis to the cultures that were lost, as well as the culture that was gained from the war. Perhaps the book would be more useful than she thought...

Twilight stared at her map in thought. She would have to prepare for a few days if she wanted to participate in a debate instead of a lecture, and she couldn't find too many more opportunities for teaching in Ponyville... Other than trying to convince her friends...

She had to be missing something...

Twilight gazed throughout her room in frustration, but her eyes caught on her desk and the paper on it... Of course! She could just send a letter to Celestia describing everything and ask for her help!

...

"Spiiiike!"

...

Dear Princess Celestia,

Recently I've been trying to convince ponies here in Ponyville of just how dangerous harboring a human--specifically Clair/Dom--is. I've tried a guest lecture at the local school, and attempted to give a speech at town hall... But in the first case, a sea-foam green pony with the first name of Lyra gave a counter lesson, undoing everything I taught, and in the second case, she came up to me during my rehearsal and informed me that if I was to give my speech, it would end up as a debate against her. I wasn't prepared for a debate, so I had to take her offer of our both feigning sickness. And after town hall and the school, the only other thing I can think of to do is convince my friends. (Which I will do shortly.)

I've never asked for your help before, but I think I might need it.

Yours truly,
Twilight Sparkle

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

You always forget to address me as Celestia. We're both princesses now, there's no need for such formality.

But about the subject at hoof... I'm glad that you decided to ask me for help. It appears that history hasn't been taught well enough, and I wouldn't expect one pony to rectify that. Though I am saddened that Lyra Heartstrings has chosen to defend humans, and I can't fathom as to why. Her music was so splendid, enchanting even, and she was the top of her class in Luna's school for the arts, much like you were top of your class.

Please take all the time you need to convince your friends. I'll have a group of historians sent to Ponyville tomorrow. They will be told that they are to investigate the two humans in Ponyville to get a better understanding of history, but I'm sure they'll be happy to join in any coming debates.

I should be able to come to Ponyville within the week if you need any further help convincing ponies.

Yours truly,
Celestia

Author's Note

For things like tailbone injuries, the doctors used health info from intelligent bipedal creatures like minotaurs... probably.

And you won't be prepared...

Clair flipped a few pages...

"The Lyre"

Clair's heart froze. Lyra was one of her favorite ponies. (That high-energy she had was contagious.) But if the lyre, Lyra's instrument of choice, as shown by her cutie mark, was in this book... If the lyre was discovered between 756 - 758 A.C. ...

Clair ignored the chill that filled her body as she read sentence after sentence.

"The Lyre was discovered in the wreckage of several of the destroyed pony villages. Originally, the strings were made from pony intestines, and several parts were made from the bones of defeated ponies."

Clair felt a sick feeling in her stomach...

"The only things known about this lyre are from folktales from the few survivors of the decimated villages. They said that the music was strangely melodic and mesmerizing. It always followed several days after the humans defeat of the village, and the accompanying dissonant chanting."

Clair sighed. In her head, she added a piece chess-piece of Lyra Heartstrings on the board, right next to Twilight. In fact, she might even have to be more careful with her than Twilight... She could just imagine getting a lyre as a cutie mark, then learning the history behind that instrument...

"It should be noted that one of the decimated villages was the alicorn village, as they had the most survivors of any town. Without them, even less would be know of the original sound of the lyre."

Well, that explained why Celestia hated her so much...

"Playing of the Lyre, or any stringed instrument, was banned for hundreds of years. It may have been this hatred of the Lyre that ignited the war between ponies and griffons. Griffons carried similar looking instruments, and used them to introduce their ceremonies, including the first formal meeting between griffons and ponies..."

Clair laid the book against her bosom...

That was it, no more reading that book today. On to the next book...

"Pre 760 A.C. religion"

...

*knock*
*knock*
*knock*

"Come in!" Twilight called back from her book pile.

Lyra let herself in.

"Oh..." Twilight's smile vanished.

"Nice to see you too." Lyra frowned.

"What are you here for?" Twilight sighed.

"I wanted to talk with you," Lyra started walking over to Twilight.

"Mhmm" Twilight nodded noncommittally.

"You aren't going to try setting up another debate once you've studied more, are you?" She asked.

Twilight closed her book and stood up, "I am."

"Twilight," Lyra sighed... "You don't want to get into this, trust me..." --Twilight glared-- "I've been dealing with this debate my whole life, no amount of studying you can do can make up for the gap in our knowledge on this subject... It'd be like Pinkie Pie studying a few magic books, and suddenly knowing magic better than you," Lyra pointed to Twilight's horn, "Frankly, it's insulting."

Twilight deadpanned, "I'm not going to back off and let some murderous con... human, loose in Ponyville just because you say you're an expert on the subject..." Twilight raised her eyebrow, "And why would you be an expert on the subject? You're a musician; I've only seen you in music school, not the school of history."

Lyra looked at her opponent almost in pity, "Do you know what the origin of the Lyre is?" She asked.

"...No..." Twilight furrowed her brow, "but what does that have to do with--"

"Call off the debate," Lyra repeated, "You're too prejudiced to do well in debate anyway, you'll just become a laughing stock." she looked down as if remembering something.

Twilight stepped back, offended. "I will not call off the debate. Just because you--"

"You don't understand!" Lyra yelled in rage.

"I do understand!" Twilight countered, "In fact, I'll make the debate tomorrow! I don't need to study anymore; you're not a historian." She shoved her hoof at Lyra, "I bet you don't even know what you're talking about."

Lyra stomped her hoof and glared directly at Twilight...

"Tomorrow is debate day?" She asked, not breaking her glare.

Twilight nodded in challenge.

"Make sure to defend yourself... I'm scheduling..." Lyra frowned, turned around, trotted out, and slammed the door behind her.

"GGGRRRRWWWWHHH" Lyra could be heard from behind the door. She could then be heard violently kicking the dirt, then galloping home while pounding the ground as hard as possible.

"Wow..." Spike looked out from behind his book. Twilight cringed, remembering reality. The thought, 'what the buck did I just do?' might have crossed her mind.

"...Spike" Twilight continued cringing, "take a letter."

"Again?" he asked.

"Mhmm." Twilight nodded.

Dear ~~Princess~~ Celestia,

The debate has been scheduled for tomorrow. I fear I may have gotten too hot-headed with Lyra and scheduled it really soon to spite her. If possible could you make it to the debate tomorrow? I still haven't met these historians you said would come here.

Yours truly,
Twilight Sparkle

...

Lyra slammed the door to her home after she walked in. "It's done." She declared.

"What's done?" BonBon asked from the kitchen.

"I scheduled the debate with Twilight for tomorrow," Lyra started walking towards the kitchen.

"Tomorrow?" BonBon repeated.

"Ahuh!" Lyra nodded vigorously.

BonBon remained silent for a while...

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" BonBon asked.

"What do you mean?" Lyra raised an annoyed eyebrow at the statement as she walked into the kitchen.

"Well," BonBon scrunched her face, then sighed, "Twilight has friends in some pretty high places, not to mention she's a princess. Do you really think you'll be going up against just her?"

Lyra blinked. She hadn't thought of that.

BonBon tried mixing the last few chemicals for her special candy. It puffed out a large cloud of smoke, but the candy just cracked, slowly turned to dust, and evaporated into the air. She sighed.

"Lyra, for all I know, you may be the best there is when it comes to human history. But what if actual historians come up," she turned around and looked directly at Lyra, "they could bring up something most historians would know, and make you look like a foal in front of everypony. It doesn't matter if you're right or not!"

Lyra stared at BonBon. She didn't want to admit it, but she had a point.

BonBon looked down at her failed creation, sighed once more, then stood up tall and looked at Lyra once again with loyalty in her gaze, "I'll see if I can find any other mares--or stallions--who can help you." She walked out of the kitchen, and out the front door.

Lyra calmed herself and came back to reality. "T- Thanks..." she said quietly. But it was too late.

A brown earth pony with a long and wild pink mane trailed several steps behind two stallions. There was something regal about the way she carried herself, and there was something cold and calculating about the way she looked at things.

Ahead and to the left of, but slightly behind the other stallion, was a fully green unicorn with a bored look on his face. He looked like he'd be much more at home in a library than outside.

To the right, and in the lead, was a larger white pegasis stallion. He looked pretty much like a royal guard without their armor. And instead of armor, he had a large saddlebag.

Ponies stopped and stared as the trio glided into town. One would assume they had walked countless miles since they entered town from the opposite side of the train station, but in reality they were flown by carriage, and just forgot to try and blend in.

"Tell me again..." the earth mare spoke up, "why did we land outside of town so we could walk by a windmill, instead of landing by the hospital?" She gave an irritated snarl.

The green stallion spoke, "Because we wanted to meet Twilight Sparkle--"

"You wanted to meet Twilight Sparkle," the earth mare interrupted. "And you could have just dropped us off by the hospital and teleported to Twilight's place."

the green unicorn glanced back, annoyed, "First off: that would be rude," --the mare rolled her eyes-- "and secondly: we'll be staying here for likely more than a few days, so we want to try and blend in like normal ponies..."

The mare sighed, but the white pegasis smirked to himself, "I don't think we're doing very well at that..." He said to himself.

"What was that?" the unicorn asked.

"Nothing," the pegasis responded, "Oh," he pointed his hoof towards an alleyway, "here's our turn."

"Ah," the unicorn smiled, "what would we ever do without you..."

"Find another guard," the earth mare replied nonchalantly.

"Rosetta..." an annoyed smile enveloped the unicorn's face.

"Yes?" the earth mare asked with mock innocence.

"You're an imbecile." the unicorn sighed.

"Haha!" the guard smiled wide in appreciation, "Hoof up, Data!"

Data turned and looked at the guard. He looked at his upraised hoof in confusion, then reluctantly bumped it with his own.

"That's cute," Rosetta said quietly and smiled to herself.

"Hey Lance," Data turned, giddy with the feeling of being accepted, "a tower with spirals; a spiral tower!"

Lance turned, "Yes," he shrugged, "that it is..."

Lance looked harder, "...is sompony running on it?" he asked in incredulity.

The entire trio stopped to look. Indeed, there was somepony running up the spiral. They appeared to be a regular, pink earth pony mare...

The mare stopped and noticed the trio. Immediately, a trail of smoke could be seen around the now vibrating tower

*click*

*click*
*click*
*click*

The trio looked to the noise. A wagon the size of a pony opened up in front of them.
"Welcome Welcome Welcome..."

...

The trio stared blankly at the pink mare, her wagon, and the cake in front of them...

"They even have a welcoming committee" Lance grinned back at the other two.

"Yup!" Pinkie grinned and started bouncing, "I'm Pinkie Pie!" She grinned, "Usually I'd even throw a party for you..." She stopped, "Oh... but I still haven't thrown a party for Clair... Dom... No--... Clair?" She shook her head, "It doesn't matter!"

Data tilted his head.

Pinkie held her head with her hooves, "Oh no! I've skipped a pony-- well, not a pony! But still! This is unforgivable!" she stomped the ground.

'Not a pony...' the trio thought in unison.

They just noticed that the Pinkie had stopped, and was now looking at them.

"I'm sorry it won't be a surprise party," Pinkie gave an apologetic smile, "but would you mind waiting until Clair gets better to party? I wouldn't want her to feel left out."

The trio stared back blankly... Pinkie leaned forward as she looked at them, as if it were now a staring contest.

"...Clair's the human, right?" Data finally asked.

Pinkie gasped, "How did you know!?" she came close enough to data that there were only inches between their muzzles, and she leaned forward on her front hooves. Data leaned back. Pinkie went back on all fours and gave him a sly sidelong glance, "Are you psychic?"

"Actually," Data started, " we were specifically sent to Ponyville to investi-- talk with a human named Clair. It would be of great historical significance--" Pinkie started bouncing over to Rosetta "--...aand you're not even listening."

Pinkie stopped and turned around, "I was listening." She protested.

"What did I just say?" Data raised an eyebrow in challenge.

Pinkie screwed up her face to exactly match Data's studious expression. Lance burst out laughing, and Rosetta had a hard time stifling her giggles.

"Actually, we're here specifically sent to Ponyville to investi-- talk with a human named Clair. It would be of great historical significance..." Pinkie grinned at Data's surprised expression, "see, I was listening."

"...Okay..." Data shook himself, "But I think we'd all like to meet her in a more... protected setting." Rosetta and Lance nodded, thought Rosetta did so slightly more reluctantly. (Lance gulped as he nodded.)

Pinkie tilted her head, "What do you mean?"

"Well," Rosetta stepped forward, "Humans aren't exactly safe..." she spoke to Pinkie as if she were speaking to a foal.

Pinkie smirked, "Ha, safety shmafety--" Pinkie sped off in a random direction, then returned in less than a second, now with a gator on her mane, "Somponies say Gummy's not safe," Pinkie held out her hoof to Gummy, which he bit. Then he bit her face, then her ear, "But I think he's the most lovable pet a pony could ever have!"

The trio stared at her blankly, then stepped around the mad-mare.

"So you'll be at the party?" Pinkie called.

"S- Sure..." Data answered half-heartedly.

Pinkie squinted, sensing reluctance.

"You won't regret it!" She called in hopes to bolster their chance of showing.

Twilight and friends sat around a picnic with several different types of food thrown haphazardly on a blanket. Twilight was trying to calm herself with the company of her friends, but some of her friends didn't want to be calm...

"Ooh..." Pinkie paced back and forth, almost trampling the food.

"Pinkie!" Applejack finally spoke up and grabbed her friends shoulders after having to save her apple fritter for the second time, "What's gotten into you? I haven't seen you this upset since... well since ever!"

"Oh, it's terrible!" Pinkie grabbed Applejack shoulders back.

All of her friends looked up at her with large, round eyes, ready to help.

Pinkie threw her hoof to her forehead and fell back, right into her cake. "I haven't thrown Clair a party because she's in the hospital, and hospitals don't like parties!" Pinkie shook her hoof at fate and all party haters, "But now these three new ponies came to town, and I can't throw a party for them, because then I'd be leaving Clair out!" She rolled around in the cake.

"...What's wrong with that?" Twilight asked, "You throw parties all the time where not all of ponyville is invited."

Pinkie popped off the ground from laying position, did a double front flip, grabbed Twilight's shoulders, and shook, "But it's different!" She dropped twilight.

"That's a normal party, these are welcome parties!" She looked at everypony, "I've never skipped a welcome party!"

Pinkie walked over to the remains of the cake and lied down on her stomach. By now she was fully covered in cake. "...I'm a bad pony..." She licked some cake off her hoof.

"Pinkie," Twilight smiled reassuringly, "You're not a bad pony..."

"Really?" Pinkie asked, hope filling her eyes.

Twilight started, "You've tried keeping your track record even though Clair's not a pony--"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Fluttershy squinted and said quietly.

"I used to be the same way," Twilight smiled, reminiscing, "absolutely everything had to be perfect, and when even one thing was out of place, I went, well... mad."

Pinkie stared up at Twilight blankly.

"You don't have to try to be perfect Pinkie..." Twilight smiled reassuringly.

Pinkie stared up at Twilight blankly, then looked at her other friends for help. Twilight slumped.

"I think what she's trying to say," Rarity rubbed her chin with her hoof, "is that ponies won't mind if their welcome parties are delayed a few days due to special circumstances, and I'm sure Clair wont mind if she misses a party or two..."

Pinkie frowned. It just didn't feel right...

"Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie turned and looked at dash with large puppy eyes.

Rainbow Dash flew back a foot or two in midair and crossed her fore-hooves, "Buck the police!" She barked, "I say: throw the party in the hospital, whether they like it or not!"

Pinkie smiled, "You're a good friend..."

Rarity and Twilight rolled their eyes.

Fluttershy cleared her throat, and actually managed to get everypony's attention, "I don't know about parties, but I agree we should visit Clair" --Twilight frowned-- "Actually," Fluttershy looked down at the picnic, "It'd be nice of us to save some food for her."

Pinkie looked down at the cake she was now covered in and gasped.

"And I know just who else to invite for our visit!" She sped off, leaving behind a Pinkie statue made of cake. The remaining five ponies just stared at the cake statue.

Data, Rosetta, and Lance trailed behind the mane six, shivering in fear. They were in the hospital, trotting through the last hallway on their way to see Clair. This was what they were here for... but now that they were here, they really weren't sure they were ready...

"We're here!" Pinkie cheered, opening the door to the room Clair was staying in.

the trio felt a chill fill each of their bodies unanimously. They couldn't do this! This was insane! Humans were the worst monsters in history...

Rosetta cowered onto the floor and started crying. The other two stallions huddled next to her. They were safer together...

...

Pinkie looked around for the trio and found them huddled in the middle of the hallway, right before the entrance to the room where Clair was staying. She rolled her eyes, then ran behind them.

"Come on!" Pinkie used her head as a shovel to push the trio. No matter how hard they dug their hooves into the ground, Pinkie was stronger.

Rosetta looked up. She wasn't entirely sure why, but it was probably something akin to morbid curiosity; if something was about to kill you with ease despite all your preparation, then wouldn't you want to know what could do that? ...Well, Rosetta found out. On the second gurney from the window on the right, laid Clair. She was gargantuan! She was almost as big as a minotaur. And she rested there like a sleeping giant... maybe she would just stay asleep, and they could leave without her noticing--

"Wakey wakey!" Pinkie poked Clair's face in an effort to get her to wake up, after Fluttershy's quieter efforts failed.

"no..." Tears started flowing freely from Rosetta's eyes.

"D-- Don't worry..." Data whispered as he huddled next to her. Normally she would scoff at the closeness, but right now she needed all the reassurance she could get. She leaned into him...

"I-- I'm the guard, remember?" Lance huddled against her left side.

'Maybe,' Rosetta thought, hoping beyond hope, 'just maybe, we'll make it through this alive...'

Clair yawned and rubbed her eyes. They expected her to sit, but she went into a full standing position before they could even react!

The trio of historians hugged eachother and closed their eyes.

...

Clair yawned and rubbed her eyes to see Pinkie's smiling face. She couldn't help but smile herself. She almost tried to sit up after that, but remembered her tailbone injury... Damn Celestia...

She hopped up on her feet, only to find herself wrapped in Pinkie's bear hug.

"I almost skipped your welcome party..."

"Huh?" Clair squeaked and looked down at the pink ball of fuzz and raised an eyebrow while smiling, "I never said I was moving into Ponyville."

Pinkie looked up at her, "But... why not?" she asked with tear-filled eyes.

"What?" Clair looked down, "No-- I mean, I'll probably stay here for a while; it's the safest option... but I never told you I was staying here."

"...Oh!" Pinkie hopped down. Clair gasped for breath. "But you are staying?" She asked.

"For a while... maybe longer depending on how things go..." She smiled sadly. It felt like she was already saying goodbye before she really got a chance to meet any of them... Well, she wouldn't really mind that with Celestia and Twilight, but...

"If I do leave," Clair smiled more warmly this time, "I'll make sure to visit."

That's a promise you might not be able to keep... Dom thought in Clair's mind.
I know... She replied.

Pinkie smiled warmly, then hopped, "Oh!" She smirked, "We have guests!" She spun around and gracefully pointed to the trio huddling together as if they could be snuffed out at any moment.

"Aww," Clair hunched over slightly and held both her arms against her chest due to the adorableness, "they're so cute!" She started walking over.

'Clair,' Dom thought loudly, 'what are you doing?'
Come on, Clair thought back, 'You know they need it, and that fur is so soft...'
'You know they could be powerful enough to kill us, right?' Dom asked.
'What's life without risk?' Clair smirked.
'Don't throw my words back at me...' Dom admitted defeat.

Clair bent down by the huddling ponies, and wrapped her arms around them. They huddled even closer, if it was possible, as if death could strike at literally any instant, and they didn't want to die alone.

Pinkie rushed over and joined the cuddle puddle. Then Fluttershy followed. Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack had their own reasons for not joining... Twilight raised an eyebrow at the terrified historians.

...

Rosetta opened her eyes. As far as she could tell, death hadn't come to her, and the bodies next to her seemed warm... Maybe this was her lucky day...

The bed was empty...

It was playing with them...

Rosetta looked around, bravely stepping forward, out of the protection of her acquaintances, to see how things looked.

The human swung around in front of her from the side. There was nothing she could do, no escape, no mercy... Her eyes shrunk to pinpricks and she froze, her entire body shaking in fear.

"You're so cute when you're scared!" Clair giggled.

'I'm getting a huge adrenaline rush about now too...' Dom could feel Clair's rapid heartbeat, 'You know these guys could freak out and try to kill you at any instant, right?'
'Mhmm,' Clair agreed, 'But it's worth it.'
'How?' Dom asked.
'I wasn't able to touch anything back on Earth, so now I guess it's become a thing for me...' She frowned, 'I might want to stay here just because of that...'

Rosetta stared back. Why didn't she just end it? The calm of death would be wonderful compared to the fear that froze her heart and smashed it repeatedly... Why? WHY?

She felt something grip her hoof. She looked down, expecting to see some poisoned barb, but instead she saw a hand gripping her. It lifted her hoof up and down a few times... A hoof shake, but why was she--

"Hi," the human smiled, "I'm Clair, and you are?"

Rosetta swallowed. This was what she was here for after all... "R--"

She gasped for air, then tried to catch her breath. Clair waited patiently.

"R-- Rose..."

Rosetta swallowed.

"Rosetta." She started hyperventilating, "Stone!"

Rosetta started taking deeper and deeper breaths. Clair frowned.

Rosetta felt something in her mane, touching her head.

"Calm down," Clair said, "I'm not going to hurt you..."

Rosetta looked up, eyes filled with doubt, "Oh yeah? How do I know you're not lying?" She asked. But her breathing calmed enough so that she didn't pass out.

Clair smiled in amusement, "Why would I lie about that?"

"Because you get off on it..." Rosetta frowned and looked at the floor.

Dom laughed, 'You'd totally get off on it...'
Are you sure that's not you? Clair frowned, then started smirking...

Clair started laughing. This was just too ridiculous.

Rosetta looked up at the sound of a mare laughing. It sounded so... innocent. Could she really be telling the truth?

...Wait a minute...

"Why don't I hear anything from my partners?" Rosetta said and scooted backwards for safety.

Clair looked at the other two, "say something." She commanded.

"Um..." Lance said.

"Hi..." Data said.

Rosetta looked up at Clair... Her eyes now had a hint of hope instead of pure distrust.

Clair got up, indicating for them to follow her back to her bed.

"I take it you're historians..." Clair sighed.

"H-- How did--" Data started.

"I read a few history books to find out what was going on, and your reactions make more sense if you're all historians..." Clair frowned. She lied down on her bed. "I'm sorry, but I can't really sit because of a tailbone injury, you'll have to speak to me like this."

Data looked up, "I heard that you were being treated at the hospital..." He started, "But I wasn't informed for what? What could harm a human?"

Clair grimaced, "Celestia picked me up with her magic and slammed me against a bed..." then she frowned in guilt, "...and I ate a cockatrice; I didn't know they were poisonous..."

Data tilted his head, "That's it?"

"Mhmm..."

"How did you not know Cockatrices were poisonous?" Data asked.

Clair sighed.
'We should probably just tell the truth,' Dom suggested, 'We'll have to say it anyway if we want to make a portal...'

"I'm not from Equestria..."

...

Clair finished telling her tale of how she was a college student, and then suddenly, she woke up in the middle of the forest. (She didn't mention she was actually Dom at the time.) And she described her hypothesis for how humans were randomly flung into Equestria, and probably never entered through their own will. The historians had surprisingly little to input on her stories.

After a long discussion of history, Twilight subtly scoffing at Clair's history, and the historians slowly calming down, everypony exited. But Fluttershy stayed behind for a moment to say one last thing...

"Um..." Fluttershy landed and stood above Clair's chest, "T- Twilight told me not to tell you this, but there will be a debate tomorrow on humans. I just thought you should be there, if you can, or if that's okay..."

Clair smiled, "Thanks."

Fluttershy smiled back, then flew off to join the group.

Data smiled, his shivering had calmed down somewhat.

"I didn't think she was so bad..." He said.

Lance didn't say anything.

Rosetta grabbed her chest with her right front hoof and started gasping for breath, and leaned into Lance.

"I'm good," She said, steadying herself, "I'm good..."

Twilight caught up with them.

"You didn't think she was that bad, huh?" She smirked.

They nodded. "We're not dead," Rosetta pointed out.

"Of course not," Twilight smirked and almost rolled hey eyes, "She's not stronger than Celestia, remember. So she's getting everypony to trust her before she does as much damage as possible."

The trio's pupils shrank.

"B-- But--" Data started.

"That's why you're coming with me to the debate," Twilight said, "Once we win the debate, and Clair hears that humans are no longer welcome, then she'll attack, but Celestia will be there to stop her..." She smirked.

Data and Rosetta looked at Twilight and nodded, but all Lance heard was horse-apples. He remembered when he did rescue operations: the way ponies were trained to calm down panicking ponies was exactly the way Clair had calmed Rosetta down. And what Twilight was saying sounded just like the paranoia that came out of some of those traumatized ponies...

Clair laid in her bed, unable to sleep despite the darkness and perfect sleeping temperatures. She was worrying too much about the coming debate. She wasn't ready. She was completely unprepared; she only read one and a half books! How many had Twilight read? And how could there even be a debate? Who would fight for the humans... Fluttershy? Oh no...

'Hey,' Dom's voice echoed through Clair's head.

Suddenly, Clair found herself back in the green meadow of Dom's impossible spaceship, but when she looked up, she could actually see stars... Luna's sky; Dom had never seen a sky without light pollution before...

She looked down, Dom was standing in front of her. He wrapped her in a strong hug and stroked her back. She hugged him back. They stood like that for a while...

Author's Note

I felt like cuddles tonight apparently.

6:00am

Clair woke up with a chill in her heart. She couldn't quite remember her dreams, but some of the scenes resembled a witch being burned at a stake, and that witch had a pink heart on her shirt.

She wanted to contact Dom again, just to have a sympathetic voice to talk to, but he was still asleep. She couldn't really complain though; she always used to be the one that overslept while he stayed up all night... But today, she understood his insomnia...

As the morning birds' chirpings rang like alarm bells in her skull, she realized she would either have to stay and fight for her race, or run from society. And she did not want to live away from society; she felt everything that Dom felt, and that Cockatrice poison was painful!

Clair ran her fingers through her hair.

But going to that debate would be suicide! The only pony who would protect her would be Fluttershy, and she would be too shy to say anything, even to her friends! And since humans committed that horrible massacre 2300 years ago, everypony would at least demand that she leave to ensure their own safety! But going off how well Dom did in the Everfree, that would be a death sentence...

No, Clair shook her head, remembering how some of the doctors acted around her. The only negative feeling she saw in them was fear. Even the three guests that came by earlier only displayed fear. If that history was still close to most ponies hearts, there would have been disgust on those faces, like there was on Celestia's...

Clair sighed in fleeting relief. It wouldn't be impossible... Her opponents would be describing humanity as some race of evil monsters, and all she to do was provide a counterexample by being nice... Hopefully...

She visualized the chess map in her mind again... Fluttershy was too shy, it would be better to talk to Pinkie Pie, even though she wasn't as close... But Pinkie hugged her yesterday, apologizing for not throwing a welcome party... If they were friends, then Pinkie would do her best to get everyone else to help Clair...

But she would be forcing Pinkie to fight Twilight...

Well then, she would just have to let Pinkie know what she could be getting into!

...releasing the tension on her arms and calming down, Clair rehearsed her conversation with Pinkie a few times, and then went on to rehearsing the coming debate a few times in her mind...

...

"Clair," Dr. Stable called out.

"Yes?" She answered.

"You're free to go."

*knock*
*knock*
*knock*

...

"Yes?" Mrs. Cake opened the door. When she noticed Clair was about twice her height, she took a couple steps back so she wouldn't strain her neck. "Oh... Hello there..." She tilted her head at the new creature.

"Hello," Clair smiled, then steadied herself, "I'd like to see Pinkie Pie."

"Oh," Mrs. Cake frowned slightly, "Well, she's asleep right now, so if you could come back later..."

Clair cringed and looked off in worry, "This is kind of important..." She looked down at Mrs. Cake with a please help me look.

"...I'll wake her..." Mrs. cake walked back inside, leaving the door open, "Come on in."

Clair looked around and found a table with a few cushions around it. She sat. After a few stinging sensations in her tailbone, she found herself leaning forward, using the table to support most of her weight.

...

Pinkie trotted downstairs wearily, looked around the main room, and made her way to Clair's table, a smile slowly grew on her face as she saw her. Clair couldn't help but smile back.

"So," Pinkie rested her elbows on the table and held her chin with her hooves, mimicking Clair's posture, "What brings you here so early?" Pinkie cringed back, "You're not angry because I didn't give you your welcome party are you?"

Clair laughed and shook her head, "No, of course not!" ...her smile faded, "...I need your help."

Pinkie's smile faded, she leaned in with wide, caring eyes.

Clair looked down and took a breath...

"There should be a debate on humans pretty soon, likely about whether or not I can stay" She looked back up at Pinkie.

Pinkie leaned back in realization.

"Pinkie, if that debate doesn't go in my favor, I'm dead." Clair leaned forward. The she felt an urge to cover her mouth. She hadn't heard Pinkie's name before, had she?

Pinkie opened and closed her mouth a few times, then tilted her head, "Couldn't you just go back to--"

"I don't know how I got here!" Clair interrupted, "I have no idea how to get back home, or even if I can!"

Pinkie stared at Clair with her mouth agape. Was she really holding another creature's life in her hooves all of a sudden? Sure, she'd taken care of Gummy, and she'd taken care of the Cakes' foals before, but that didn't come close to this!

Clair tilted her head slightly.

"I-- I'll help," Pinkie said hurriedly, "But..." She couldn't think of what to say next...

Clair breathed out a sigh of relief, "You'll be going against Twilight" --Did she just say another-- you know what, forget it-- "if you do this."

Pinkie tilted her head and scrunched her muzzle, "What? Why would she--"

"Twilight seems to care about what Celestia thinks a lot, and Celestia hates humans." Clair explained.

Pinkie tilted her head the other direction, "But why would Celestia--"

"Did you read your history, Pinkie?" Clair asked.

Pinkie nodded, still confused. "Mhmm."

"Anything about humans?" Clair asked.

Pinkie nodded, then gasped. "You're not one of those humans, are you?"

Clair deadpanned, "We're the same species, just like you and Sombra are the same species."

Pinkie stared at Clair, uncharacteristically serious, and weighed her choices. If she helped Clair, she might have to go against Twilight, and both of them could get hurt... But that wasn't anything compared to... dying...

Pinkie took a breath, steadying herself, "How do I help?"

"...Could you ask some of your friends to help? However they can?" Clair asked.

Pinkie saluted and crouched, ready to dart out of the house.

"Oh yeah! When's the debate?" Clair asked.

Pinkie stopped and looked back, "4:00pm." She darted out the door.

Clair sat at the table for a second, savoring her relief.

Mrs. Cake cast a worried glance at her, but Clair smiled back.

Clair got up and walked out the front door. There were still a few things to do.

Mayor Mare backed away from the human in front of her desk in fear... "W- what do you want?"

Clair frowned and sighed, "I'd like a home, but I don't have a job to pay for it, and my currency isn't good here. I'd be fine with a construction job, since I hear everything is destroyed pretty often here, or cooking, or maybe being a waiter..." She looked off to the right and tried to think of more jobs she was capable of doing...

"Uh, here" Mayor Mare pulled out two books and pushed them to Clair. Clair picked them up and looked for the tables of contents. The first book had not only jobs, but addresses and times for interviews. The second book had new homes and options for mortgages...

...

"Do you have a writing utensil and paper?" Clair asked.

Mayor mare pulled them out and placed them on her table...

...

"Thanks," Clair smiled politely, then looked back to the entrance in confusion, "How often do ponies come in here?"

"Oh," Mayor Mare sighed, "It's a slow hour..."

"...Thanks." Clair pocketed the parchment and left.

'--I have an idea,' Dom spoke up suddenly in Clair's mind.
'Oh, you're awake?' Clair smiled.
'Yup.' The image of Mayor Mare cowering behind her desk flashed into Clair's mind.
'...What does Mayor Mare's fear give you an idea of?' Clair raised an eyebrow.
'I wanted to protect her, just like you wanted to calm the terrified "guests" that visited you. It's an instinctual response.'
'...' Clair digested the information.
'If Celestia or anyone tries to attack you directly at the debate, I should try to protect you. It would lead to more outraged ponies and increase the chance of survival... I'll even prepare a speech for when she attacks.'
Clair shrugged, 'Okay, but you can't attack my attacker.'
Dom grumbled...

Clair knocked on the door to a small cottage. It smelled of animals...

"H-- hello?" Fluttershy slowly opened her door, "Oh! Hello Clair!" Fluttershy flew up and hugged Clair. Clair smiled reactively. Fluttershy let go and Fluttered back down.

"So, um... What brings you here?" Fluttershy tilted her head and looked up at Clair.

"Would you know where I could find Discord?" Clair asked politely.

"D-- Discord?" Fluttershy backed up in surprise.

"Mhmm," Clair nodded her head.

"I-- I'll go get him." Fluttershy rushed back into her cottage.

...

"Hello," A giant upright snake thing flowed out of the door and held its hands together in glee, "Oh! You're the human everypony's talking about!" He leaned his face in to Clair's, "But what did you come to see me for?" He smirked, slithered to Clair's right, and put his arm around her back, "Do you want me to help you pay back Celestia?" He said quietly.

Clair shook her head, "No. Though, it is tempting..." She reached into her right pocket and pulled out Dom's phone, "Have you seen one of these before?"

Discord grabbed the phone and looked it over, "I don't believe I have," he shrugged and threw the phone back to Clair.

"Hey!" She barely caught it, "That could be worth more than everything in Equestria!"

Discord scoffed, then laughed at the ridiculous claim, "If it's that important, then why are you handing it off to random strangers?"

"I thought--" Clair screwed up her face, "I was sure you'd--"

Discord took a step back, almost offended, "You thought I'd what" he raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you'd be curious about what's inside this! Then you could help..." Clair stopped herself from saying her last words. She started slowly backing away.

"Oh Clair..." Discord suddenly wrapped his snake body around her, "don't be shy... what ever do you need my help with?" He batted his eyelashes.

Clair blushed in embarrassment and looked away from Discord's face, which was hard since it was right under her own... " I wanted a phone charger..." She mumbled...

"I'm sorry," Discord cupped his lion paw around his ear and leaned closer to her, "I couldn't hear that... would you mind speaking up a bit?"

Clair scrunched her now red face and looked down at him, "I wanted a phone charger," she said.

Discord uncurled from around her and looked at her overly serious face. He couldn't help it... "Why didn't--" he stifled some laughter "--why didn't you ask that in the first place!" He clenched his teeth to hold back his laughter and steadied himself by grasping his knee, "It's like--" he gasped for breath "--It's like you wanted to manipulate me--" he doubled over, barely containing himself "--into building you a 'phone charger'!" He laughed.

Clair blushed and hunched over in embarrassment, that was exactly what she was trying to do... And then she was reminded of her tailbone...

She turned around to leave...

"I like you." Clair stopped and turned around, Discord was smirking in amusement, but was that also pride on his face? "Nopony's ever had the gall to try and manipulate me!" He held his claws to his chest, "Especially not for little trinkets!" a bobble-head doll of Clair appeared in his paw.

Nope apparently it was just to make more fun of her... Clair turned around again in embarrassment and tried to leave more quickly... She started running...

...

*buzz*
*buzzzzzz*

Clair stopped to check her pocket. It didn't make sense; her phone should have died days ago...

As she picked the phone out of her pocket, a note came along with it.

"You're welcome.

--Discord"

She stared at the note for a few seconds...

She put the note back in her pocket and turned her phone back off to save battery.

Clair put her hands on her knees and breathed out in exhaustion.

'That's it,' She thought, 'enough chores by myself, you come out.'
'fine.' Dom slowly came into existence to the right of Clair.
'...Analyzing ponies?' Dom suggested to Clair and started walking before she answered.
'Sure, analyzing ponies...' Clair thought back.

They walked around Ponyville at a leisurely pace, never out of sight of one another. But they noticed pretty soon that Dom was drenched in sweat...

It seemed like a visit to the boutique would be next instead...

Twilight skimmed through a mountain of books, trying to find tidbits of information that would convince everypony of how Clair would destroy them. It was like Nightmare Moon all over again; she knew she was dealing with something dangerous and possibly world ending, but nopony would believe her! And this time the fate of Equestria rested on ponies believing her...

All she needed was a few more hours of reading, and nopony could deny her! She already finished 'debate 101', 'wooing a crowd', 'the difference between philosophy and debate', and countless titles on human history, now she just needed to read up on a few philosophical arguments on predestiny, consciousness, and existence...

Dom walked around Ponyville in his new clothes. (The same formal style as last time, but in a calmer blue, and with absolutely no gems. He was quite adamant about that.) He noted the looks a few ponies gave him. It was usually a mix of fear or curiosity...

Clair wasn't paying attention to ponies...

Dom noticed the scenes of the phone powering up, the note, and Discord's possibly prideful face flashing through his mind from Clair, along with a few confused feelings...
'Aww... Are those feeling what I think they are?' Dom couldn't hold back his grin.
Clair snapped back to reality 'I-- wha--' She looked around. Dom sent the scenes back to Clair. Clair blinked... 'Damnit!'
Dom giggled internally. 'You like it when he coils--?'
'Shut up...' She interrupted, rolling her eyes.
'...Anyway' Dom straightened, 'I'm done observing ponies... this is too boring.'
Clair blinked. She suddenly remembered the feeling of Discord body coiled around hers--
'No! Damnit!' She shook her head, 'Uh... What do we do now?'
Dom shrugged.

A group of ponies stared in confusion at the silent conversation...

'Why not go to Twilight's?' Dom suggested.
'So she can kill us in the safety of her own home?' Clair gave him an unsure look...
'Spike will be there.' Dom thought.
'Yeah, she can't murder us in front of her baby brother because it would traumatize him and he wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut. That still doesn't mean it's completely safe.' Clair thought.
'Yeah, but I'm still exhilarated from your feelings, and I have nothing to do. So let's sabotage whatever Twilight's doing while acting innocent.'
'...' Clair reluctantly walked over to Dom... 'I'll wait outside. If she attacks, fade away as quickly as you can.'

Dom breathed out and tried to feel complete trust in Clair... He closed his eyes...
'You'll need to do that with your eyes open.'

Dom opened his eyes and watched himself fade in curiosity... A few seconds after his torso vanished, his view of Clair was replaced by the synthetic landscape he designed. But now it was covered in sheep. Endless sheep...

'...Why are there sheep?' Dom smiled.

He forced himself to feel alertness, and found himself back in front of Clair.

Author's Note

Ha! He was adamant about not having gems! Get it? adamant? Isn't that slate? It's igneous!

fading in and out of reality is like learning to breath underwater for scuba-diving...

Also, sheep.

9:00 AM

Dom and Clair walked nearer to the library. As they approached, they got uneasier, and Dom felt a sudden urge to turn and leave. Instead, they ended up walking around the tree a few times, gathering a few strange looks.

'...Maybe this was a bad idea...' Dom thought.
'I agree.' Clair thought hurriedly and started to leave.
But Dom's curiosity pulled him closer to the house.

Clair finally grabbed Dom and pulled him against the house. They slumped against the tree and sat side by side for a while, with their arms across each others backs, not talking or even thinking, just sharing emotions...

...

Clair watched her hand fade and come back to reality. With boredom and some curiosity, she pushed it against the ground as it faded. Then she let it come back against the ground... She didn't touch the ground with her faded arm, but once she tried to bring it back to reality, she felt a force pushing her back. It seemed like she would have to use as much force as normal to pierce the ground...

A thought came from Dom's mind. An old power puff girls episode from when he was a child, where one of the kids gained glue superpowers . When the power puff girls tried to attack, he just opened up a hole in his body and let them fly through.

Dom smirked. Testing it, he tried to move his arm through his chest. It worked...

Dom laughed. It was a laugh of extreme relief, and perhaps of some madness. He stood up and held his hand out for Clair to follow. She did.

Without a word, Clair concentrated. A hole appeared in her chest where the heart was previously drawn on her shirt. Dom reached through... his arm went straight through.

Testing, Clair tried to do the same. But as Dom tried to relax, Clairs chest came back into reality, and Dom's arm was pushed backwards just as much as Clair was.

...interesting...

Dom smirked. It would be a lot harder to hurt him now... Now he didn't have to fear...

Clair frowned, still unsure, but followed him to the door.

Dom knocked.

Twilight looked up from her books to the door.

"I'll get it!" Spike yelled and hopped to the door.

"Hello," Dom and Clair smiled cheerily to the pony and dragon.

"...hello..." Spike started walking away backwards, uneasy.

Twilight looked up from her books, "What do you want?" she sighed.

Clair and Dom looked hurt. They weren't even acting...

"I--" Clair struggled.

"We just wanted to thank you for staying by us at the hospital," he smiled. "It would have been much harder, staying at the hospital in a new town with no one by your side..." he frowned...

Twilight sighed and put down her book. "I know you want to convince every pony you're not evil, but your not fooling me." she stood up in challenge. "You humans live on nothing but lies, and I'll expose that to everypony!" She grimaced, "I'll keep everypony safe..."

Dom smirked internally. 'Oh, but I am fooling you.'

Dom smiled compassionately and keeled before Twilight to meet her at eye level. He sighed, "I apologize for my ancestor's actions. Humanity isn't perfect, nothing is... But you have nothing to fear from me..." He smiled as compassionately as he could.

Twilight looked into Dom's compassionate face, and suddenly found it hard to hate him. Suddenly, she felt guilty for her actions. She wanted to apologize, like she would to Celestia...

Celestia...

...Who had probably lived through the human war... It'd be like if Chrysalis won... Or if Sombra won...

"NO!" Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head. She fired a powerful beam of energy without meaning too. She opened her eyes in shock.

Dom's face had a large hole in it. He had a strange look of concentration on what was left of it.

Despite her hatred, Twilight ran up to catch his body from falling...

Did she...?

Did she really just...?

Twilight slipped her hooves under Dom's armpits and held him up as he leaned into her...

Was she just as bad as the humans now...?

...

"I'm getting mixed messages," Dom smirked.

Twilight jumped back, flying out of Dom's embrace.

"You--" Twilight gaped at him in rage, "You trickster!"

Dom's expression immediately changed to contempt, "Just because you didn't kill me doesn't mean you didn't try." Dom leaned in angrily, "What was that about?"

"But-- I--" Twilight stammered, too baffled to be angry anymore. "You-- You should be dead!" She stamped her hooves, "Was that entire time at the hospital just acting!? It was, wasn't it!"

Dom sighed, "I needed to find some way to defend myself after everything that happened..."

Twilight cringed and snarled, she had a few protests and insults in mind, but she couldn't really deny what he was saying... But there was something about him--something about the way he looked and moved--that gave her pause. She knew she couldn't trust him, and she knew it was because of something more than her general distrust for humans, but she didn't know why...

Dom sighed and got up.

"I don't know why, but if you're angry at me, I guess I'll leave then..." Dom frowned and turned around.

"Come on Clair," he said sadly, "we're not welcome."

Clair frowned sadly and gave up trying to calm the terrified dragon. She sighed and walked out the door with Dom...

Twilight looked at the door, more confused than ever now...

She tried to continue where she was in her book, but now she couldn't concentrate! Grah! She stamped her hooves. They ruined her studies! She was tricked!

...Or was she?

...She looked at the door...

Dom and Clair walked around Ponyville, thinking... 'Now who's next...'

'Cheerilee,' Clair thought, 'She's educated, and could be a powerful friend or foe.'
'Lyra,' Dom thought, 'it might be personal for her, but we could do what we did with Twilight...'
'Mayor Mare,' Clair thought, 'After all, she's the effing mayor!'
Rarity-- Dom blinked, Wait, we already did her... Dom scratched his chin... Applejack. This is a farming community.
Rainbow Dash, Clair thought, 'She's pretty popular, and she leads the weather team.'
Dom thought, scratching his chin some more... 'Granny Smith... Same reason as Applejack.'
'...I think that's--' Clair stopped and grinned slowly, 'Time Turner.'
'Oh!' Dom grinned like a child, 'That should be interesting...'
'Oh yeah,' Clair thought, 'And the historians. They should be at a hotel.'

Clair picked a scroll out of her pocket. It contained the addresses of several homes in Ponyville, some of them currently owned... (Ponies were surprisingly open to sharing their homes, at least in Ponyville. And Dom wanted to know where a few ponies lived when Clair was getting addresses.)

"Hello," Clair and Dom greeted Cheerily.

"Oh," Cheerilee stepped back from her doorstep bashfully, and perhaps somewhat fearfully, "...hello... What brings you here?"

"I wanted to see what education was like in Equestria," Dom grinned eagerly. "I was an avid student back home, and now I can learn from two worlds!"

Cheerilee slowly smiled and invited Dom in...

...

The stuff was mostly remedial at first. Then Dom tried teaching Cheerilee some of what he knew, it seemed she only knew mathematics up to differential equations... And everything other than mathematics was completely different between their cultures.

After an hour or so of trading knowledge, Dom left, saying he might be late for something.

Clair knocked on a door. This pony was last on the list, but she couldn't wait...

She waited...

And waited...

She slumped, "Of course it's empty..." she grumbled...

Dom and Clair knocked on the door to the apple family barn.

The door opened before they could finish knocking.

Apple Bloom looked up, "Hello mister and missus!" She beamed.

"Hello," Dom and Clair couldn't help but genuinely smile back, "Is Applejack there?"

"I'll go get her..." Apple Bloom trotted back into the front room, "APPLEJACK, GRANNY SMITH, BIG MAC, WE HAVE STRANGE VISITORS!"

Clair and Dom couldn't help but laugh.

"What?" Apple Bloom turned around.

Dom smiled, "You just reminded me of my family..." his smile slowly faded....

...

"Aw, shucks," Applejack said after listening to Dom's reason for visiting, "You didn't have to come and visit"

"But I wanted to!" Dom smiled back, "You and your friends stuck by my side in the hospital, when I had no friends in a completely new place..."

"Well," Applejack sighed, "To be honest, we were visiting Rainbow Dash. You were just in the same room... And didn't we attack you?"

All of Applejack's family glared at her.

"I- I mean... Uh... It's good to have friends in new places!" Applejack stuttered.

Dom shrugged, "Thanks." He smiled.

Clair knocked on the hotel door. Rosetta opened it.

Upon seeing the human, Rosetta shrank back in fear. But her ears tinted red once she remembered how she was comforted... She didn't know what to feel.

"Hey," Clair spoke softly, "I read a few history books, and I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what my ancestors did..." She frowned, "No race is perfect, and I'm sorry you got to see the worst of us."

Rosetta stood there, still confused. Was this another trick?

Clair walked away.

Clair and Dom found Lyra and BonBon resting on a bench.

Clair approached. She wasn't sure what she would say, but she would probably think of something...

Fortunately, she didn't need to.

"Oh hey!" Lyra perked up and hopped off the bench, "It's the human!" She ran up to hug Clair's abdomen.

"Um... Hi!" Clair said, happily surprised.

Lyra let go and fell back on four hooves. Then, noticing how much smaller she was than Clair, she stood up on her hind legs and looked up at her face. "Don't worry, ponies can be good and evil, just like humans." She smiled reassuringly, "And I'm sure you'll meet plenty of good ponies."

Clair stared down at Lyra, completely shocked at the utter reversal of her expectations. She didn't know what to say. She didn't even know what to think!

She gaped down at the pony. Her eyes seemed to be tearing up for some reason...

"Th-- Thanks..." Clair struggled to not cry, but failed when Lyra hugged her again...

Dom sat down in Mayor Mare's guest chair...

"Oh!" Mayor Mare looked up again and then moved back in surprised "Another human!"

Dom nodded, "I was just curious: are you a republican, or a democrat?"

Mayor Mare tilted her head. "A what or a what?"

Dom made himself comfortable in his chair. "Well, back where I come from..."

Dom and Clair yelled up at the giant hovering cloud.

"Hey!" Dom yelled.

"Rainbow Dash!" Clair yelled.

"Hey Rainbow Dash!" Dom yelled.

...

"Taste the Rainbow... Dash!" Clair yelled.

"Dash-tastic!" Dom yelled.

"A rainbow brightens every Dash!" Clair yelled.

"Skittles--" Dom yelled.

"WHAT!?" a voice bellowed from above.

"We just wanted to thank you for staying by us at the hospital!" Clair and Dom shouted in unison.

Rainbow Dash flew down...

"Uh..." She looked at them strangely, "You know I didn't really have a choice, right."

Clair tilted bashfully, "Well, you still made us feel better..."

Rainbow Dash blinked... and then slowly smiled.

"That's because a Rainbow brightens everypony's day!" She grinned.

"Don't you mean 'a Rainbow brightens every Dash'?" Dom chortled.

Clair and Dash gave him a strange look.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help it..." Dom apologized.

Rainbow Dash still raised an eyebrow at him.

"Your name goes with everything!" Dom laughed, "Rainbow Stache, Rainbow Mash, Rainbow Flash, Rainbow Cash--"

Rainbow put her hoof over Dom's mouth. She didn't need another nickname that reminded her of 'Rainbow Crash'.

"I got it," She deadpanned. Then she squinted at the pair, "How do you know my name anyway."

"Oh!" Clair pulled out the scroll, "I got this address book from the mayor."

Rainbow Dash gave Clair a strange look, "That's not creepy at all."

"I agree," Dom said, acting like he completely missed the sarcasm, "I'm so glad I found another pony that sees things my way."

Rainbow Dash stared at him, "That was sarcasm."

"What-chasm?" Dom repeated.

Rainbow Dash facehooved.

"Nah, I'm just messing with you. I don't really care if it's creepy or not." Dom laughed.

A wry smile slowly appeared on Rainbow Dash's face. They were playing tricks on her now, huh? Well, they were playing with the wrong mare!

"What time is it?" Dom asked.

Clair looked at the clock tower.

"Three-O-Clock" Clair answered.

"We better get to the auditorium..." Dom started hurrying. Then he remembered he didn't know where the auditorium was, or if the debate was even being held there. So he asked the nearest pony where the debate would be held...

Dom and Clair sat at the front of the seating. Very few ponies were there, some of them being Lyra (who waved at them happily when she noticed them looking around) and BonBon, Twilight and Spike, the three historians, Cheerilee, and Applejack.

There was plenty of time, so Clair and Dom walked over to Lyra and BonBon.

"Hey!" Lyra smiled.

Clair and Dom couldn't help but smile back, "hey." They sat down.

"So," Clair started, "...Why are you so... nice to us?"

Lyra tilter her head at them.

"I mean, I read a few history books, and--"

Lyra sighed, "And you found out about the origin of the Lyre?"

Clair gulped and nodded.

"Did you read about anything other than pony history?" Lyra asked.

Clair blinked.

Lyra sighed again, "For some reason there are no official books on the Griffin history of humans in any pony society. I know there are plenty of books in the Griffin empire about how important humans were to their history, and survival... I think there's a ban on such books in Equestria... probably to keep ponies angry and fearful of humans..." Lyra grimaced, "And it worked... When I first got my cutie-mark and did research on the instrument, I hated humans, and hated myself for being branded by something related to them..." She looked off into the distance, "But then I found a mention of the initial meeting of ponies and Griffins, and something seemed strange about it... After a few months, I realized it was that the Griffins were playing Lyres. Lyres were still human instruments at the time; it didn't make sense for the Griffins to play them if they weren't allies... So a few months later, during break, I traveled to Aviara. And I found this book there..."

Lyra used her magic to pull a huge dusty and well-read book out of her saddlebags on the floor in front of her chair. She didn't have tome to read the whole book to Clair, but she could show her a few of the important passages and pictures...

Author's Note

Using Twilight as a test subject... Dom likes to live on the edge...

the Debate

Clair and Dom talked with Lyra about passages in her book while BonBon mostly just looked at the trio, feeling happy for them...

As they read to each other, the auditorium filled up. Nearly all of ponyville seemed to be in attendance. And while Dom and Clair didn't notice it, Celestia and Luna showed up as well...

Pinkie Pie scooted sideways towards Luna until she was brushing up against her.

"Yes?" Luna looked down at Pinkie, slightly amused.

"...Do you know what was in Clair's chest? All the doctors went crazy after seeing it. One pony acted like he knew what it was, but wouldn't tell anypony!" Pinkie scrunched up her face. Most ponies wouldn't think it of her, but she hated feeling ignorant.

Luna looked down at Pinkie with wide eyes, "How many ponies has thy asked about this?" she asked.

Pinkie smiled, "Well, I don't know who other ponies asked, but I asked Mayor Mare, Time Turner, Twilight Sparkle, Granny Smith, Cheerilee, Fluttershy, Lance A-lot, and you."

Luna frowned, "Please mention this to no other ponies."

Pinkie acted out her famous pinkie pie swear.

"We put that in them, it would have taken much longer for them to heal without it."

...

Without warning, Pinkie Pie hugged Luna. Luna was surprised at first, but went along and patted Pinkie's back with her hoof.

"Welcome everypony!" Mayor Mare shouted, signaling the beginning of the debates. "I'm sure you've all heard much about this debate! ...This may be the first time Equestrian laws of such long standing and significance are changed in Ponyville!" She squee'd.

Dom and Clair walked back through the hallways of the building until they found their way to the podium in the middle and back. Nobody actually told them where to go, but it seemed fitting...

Mayor Mare glared at Dom and Clair behind her, "...Since you all must be so eager to start the debate, let's skip the prologue!"

The crowd cheered. Mayor Mare grimaced.

"I'll let the defendants start the introductions," Mayor Mare trotted off stage.

'We are defendants, aren't we?' Clair giggled.
'Yeah,' Dom deadpanned, 'for living.'

Clair cleared her throat, "I am Clair, a tulpa; an idea given consciousness. Dom likes to believe I was created as the result of his soul being too large and subdividing, but that might just be because he's so narcissistic!" Clair petted Dom's hair.

Dom tried to not move his closer to her and smile, but at this point it was a conditioned response.

Dom caught himself and looked over the snickering crowd. He cleared his throat, "I'm Dom. I was a roboticist in my last year in college before I suddenly appeared in Equestria, torn away from everything I loved and forced to fight for my life because of some stupid law..."

The crowd stopped snickering.

Dom looked down at the podium and spoke softly, "...I always wanted to create a machine with consciousness, to invent many things..." He looked up and spoke loudly again, "I had many dreams, but now that I'm here, I don't know if I can finish any of them."

...

While they introduced themselves, Lyra walked up to the spot to the right of Dom and Clair and sat. Twilight took the spot to the left of Dom and Clair.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, recently coronated princess..." Twilight wanted to say more, but she felt like she would be boasting, so she sat back down.

"I'm Lyra Heartstrings, many of you may have heard my lyre playing, but today," She laughed, "I guess I'll be doing a little bit more than playing music."

a small portion of the crowd laughed along with her.

"Alright, now--" Mayor Mare started.

Suddenly, Celestia swooped down next to Twilight and draped her wing over her.

"I don't believe I'll be needing any introductions." She smiled serenely.

Just as suddenly, Luna leapt from her balcony and landed next to a startled Lyra. "Then neither shall we."

"What is the meaning of this?" Celestia scowled at her sister.

"What is the meaning of this?" Luna asked, baffled. "You're participating in a matter that is way too personal for you. We are simply balancing things."

Celestia glared at her sister, but settled to just grimace at her, "You are too foolish, Luna..."

Mayor Mare cleared her throat, "For today's debate, we will begin with Twilight Sparkle's piece..."

Twilight cleared her throat... Lyra took out a notepad and waited...

"Dom an Clair may have been nice to you, and they may seem like good humans... but that is simply ridiculous when you look at the statistics." Twilight pulled out a book, "There were approximately one million human arrivals in Equestria after the Gauls, all of which fought against ponies, and needed to be put down."

Dom clenched his fists. 'One. Million. Humans!?'

"If Dom were somehow nice; somehow different from the other million humans who came here, that would mean he was six standard deviations from the mean. Statistically, the notion is ridiculous."

Lyra slammed her hoof down, "I think you're forgetting that the reason humans 'had to be put down' was because of the law that was in effect. Now let's assume that they were not humans entering Equestria, but ponies entering Earth. (the place where humans come from.) What would a pony do if they found out the law stated they should be killed on sight?"

"Well," Twilight started, "I--"

Celestia draped a wing over her student. "that is not a question you need to answer," She spoke softly.

"If I were to go to such a world, I would destroy--"

"You wouldn't last two seconds." Dom bellowed. It was like the canterlot voice, but he wasn't yelling. "Humans were not as lucky as you ponies. Our entire world was like the Everfree, and we never had immortal goddesses to watch over us." He glared at Celestia, "So we invented weapons to protect ourselves from nature. But some humans, likely ones like these Gauls you mention--much like Sombra--wanted to use the weapons for nefarious purposes. So we built stronger weapons to stop them..."

Lyra looked over to Dom and shook her head frantically.

Celestia smirked, "No weaponry could compare to--"

"Enough--" Lyra yelled.

"You dare interrupt--" Celestia started.

"Yes sister," Luna bellowed, "She does."

Everypony stared at Lyra in shock. Did she just interrupt a princess and get away with it?

Lyra continued unperturbed, "We are not here to discuss whether Celestia, the strongest alicorn,"--Luna rolled her eyes--" can win in a fight with the humans! I'm asking what any of you ponies would do in that situation," She looked over the crowd, "just because Sombra and his minions appeared on Earth..."

The crowd muttered amongst itself.

"You would fight for your life!" Lyra yelled, "And like every human, you wouldn't win that fight..."

Twilight and Celestia glared at Lyra.

Twilight stepped forward. "Comparing humans and ponies is a flawed argument in the first place," She said sardonically, "Ponies have culture. They enjoy music"--Celestia's pupils shrank--"and drama, theater, fun, and friendship! Humans don't."

Lyra smirked, "Do you know the origin of the Lyre?" She showed off her cutie-mark.

"Uh, no...?" Twilight tilted her head.

Celestia snarled.

"Roughly 2300 years ago, the Gauls invaded. But in their wake they left strange instruments. Grotesque instruments that smelled of death, with strings made from the intestines of slaughtered ponies."

Twilight gave Lyra a compassionate frown, but Celestia nearly crushed the wood below her with her hoof.

"However, the instrument goes further back than the Gauls; theirs was just a sick adaption." She brought out a few notes, "One of the reasons for the pony-griffon war may have been the use of Lyres during the griffon's meetings with ponies. You see, Lyre's were a much hated instrument back then--if a filly were to get the instrument as their cutie-mark then, they were either exiled or killed in a superstitious attempt to save their city from the humans--and when they saw the griffins using them, they must have freaked."

Twilight smirked, "Exactly, the Lyre was a political weapon against us. I never said humans weren't smart."

Lyra frowned, "but it doesn't make sense how they would know that would start a war--"

"Unless they tested it before hoof," Twilight interrupted.

Lyra frowned, "Okay, I see what you're implying... But why would an entire species bent on destroying ponies--a species from a completely separate land--and only ponies, exist?"

Twilight had to pause to think about that one. But she found and answer: "They don't exist to destroy only ponies, they exist to destroy everything but themselves, to make more space for them."

Lyra deadpanned, "Then why did they save the griffins from famine?"

Twilight stuttered. She couldn't answer that question.

Celestia stepped forward, "It's not death they desire," she smirked. "Much like Discord, they desire forms of misery. But where Discord only wanted dissonance, they wanted war."

Dom spoke up, "You know nothing of the human race, yet you speak as if you do." Dom paused for dramatic effect, "Humans were born of nature, to fight nature. To live, we had to fight, and it was burned into us. But no one wanted suffering."

"In the 1900s, there was a race to create a weapon to end all wars. The weapon needed to be powerful enough to destroy large areas instantaneously, so no one would want it to be used. And that weapon was built: A single nuclear bomb has the power to destroy a whole city in an instant, and a nation like Equestria in a few days."

The crowd went silent.

"You jest," Celestia frowned, "If you had such a weapon, you would have used it against us."

Dom pulled his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it. On the background was an edited picture of a nuclear bomb made to look like a clown.

Pinkie could be heard laughing in the otherwise tense crowd.

"This is a picture of a nuclear bomb being tested on vacant land with the color edited," he pointed to the base, "Ponyville could easily fit underneath that explosion."

Pinkie stopped laughing.

"Nuclear bombs have only been used once as weapons as a means to end a war with Japan. And they did... It could be argued that many lives were saved due to the use of the bombs... Afterwards, there were protests against the bombs, and Albert Einstein, the physicist who came up with the mathematics behind the bomb, regretted allowing its creation for the rest of his life."

Clair grimaced. This was not the history she wanted to tell ponies about.

Dom turned off his phone and put it away, "If we wanted to destroy everything, or even just you ponies, we would already have done so." he shook his head, "But--well, at least me and Clair--we just want food, shelter... and some trust would be nice..."

Nobody said anything for a while...

"Wait," Celestia leaned forward, "You said that picture was edited."

Dom turned to Celestia.

"How do we know that entire picture wasn't fabricated," Celestia asked.

"You won't even believe your eyes?" Dom sighed and shook his head.

"That's not an answer," Twilight pointed out.

"It's not an answerable question," Dom replied. "You would just assume our skill at lying was infinite while our actual strength was--" He looked at Celestia"--miniscule."

Celestia glared back...

Lyra cleared her throat, she seemed a bit more nervous now, but it was hard to tell. Clair could guess the reason why... Lyra looked to Luna for reassurance before she started speaking. She needed some good material if she was going to stop Dom from digging himself his own grave.

"Humans are known very differently among the griffins," Lyra started, "There, they're revered as heroes for saving Griffins from a great famine. Luckily for them, the griffins met with a different group of humans than we did. They met with the Romans, a group that constantly fended off the Gauls. These Romans gave the griffins the technology and tradition needed to sustain themselves. Some things called farming and irrigation allowed them to take control of a land that was slowly rejecting life. And Aviara was the nation that exported the most new music, stories, and pictures as well as some technologies that most Equestrians have yet to figure out. Aviara far surpasses-- well, everywhere-- in terms of innovation, and..." Lyra stepped closer to Luna, "and when I was there, though I wasn't allowed to see the humans, almost every griffin thanked one human or another for help with their creations. In the bible they gave me--"

"Where is this bible?" Celestia asked politely.

Lyra's eyes widened, but she stepped forward in challenge, "I don't have to tell you!"

Celestia stepped forward and glared down. "I shouldn't have to remind you that reading external religions is forbidden," She said with her still serene voice.

"Laws that benefit no one are a sure sign of tyranny," Dom said grumpily.

"What are you accusing me of?" Celestia whipped her head to Dom.

"I don't know... why don't you come over here and force me to tell you-- without anyone else's permission." Dom glared at her.

Clair slapped the back of Dom's head. "Ow..."

"Forgive him," Clair apologized, "He's just angry."

"Yes," Celestia smirked, "Humans do love that emotion."

...

*ding*

Mayor Mare walked back on stage shakily and spoke, "Uh... Okay... Does the crowd have any input before we move on to the next round?"

Several ponies raised their hooves.

"yes?"

Applejack walked up on stage. "I don't know about all these fancy laws and the history of humans, but Clair and Dom were nice enough to come over and thank us for spending time with them at the hospital, even though we didn't do it on purpose. In my book, that makes them friends, and we should do our best to help our friends." She turned to Twilight glared. She remembered what she heard from Pinkie, and she didn't believe it at first, but apparently everything was true... "not leave them to die."

As Applejack walked offstage, Twilight felt a pain in her heart...

Cheerilee trotted up on stage, "Earlier today I discussed mathematics with Dom, as well as a few other subjects, so I can tell you that humans are not the machines Twilight implies them to be." She smiled, "You might find it hard to believe, but I felt a love for learning in Dom even greater than Twilight's..."

She frowned, "He has done nothing to harm anypony here in Ponyville, except in self-defense, and I don't want to live in a place where crimes are punished before they're committed."

Cheerilee took a moment to glare at Twilight before she walked offstage...

Rarity trotted up to the stage.

"Did any of you notice the new attire Dom is wearing?" Rarity grinned, "I designed it for Dom. I didn't ask for anything in return, but he generously gave me as much knowledge about human fashion as he could. He told me about formal and casual attire between sexes. I was astonished how similar a lot of it was to our fashion, but the fashion that differed may serve as inspiration for new lines for decades!" Rarity turned to Dom, "I just wanted to say thank you" Rarity ran behind the podium and hugged Dom, "Thank you!" She let go and trotted back to the center of stage and stared at Twilight, hurt "Dom is a generous man despite how we treated him, and he has my gratitude..." She glared at Twilight and tried to hide the tears welling up in her eyes "...even if a former friend of mine doesn't."

Twilight held back her tears as she watched Rarity trot off stage.

Dom thought he would have trouble holding back some smug grin of satisfaction, but seeing Twilight's friends look at her like that was just... heart-breaking...

Dom felt a hand clasp around his wrist. He looked over at Clair. She was just as saddened as he was, but she was also terrified...

That's right... if he ever even shunned her, she would slowly vanish from existence. Heck, it nearly happened a few times when he had way too much going on in his life, at least until he let her take over for a while...

Lance trotted up onto stage.

"I'm Lance A-lot,--"

Clair snickered.

"--I work as a guard for historians who take on dangerous missions. Though I'm not technically a historian myself, in my line of work, I've come to learn as much as most historians would read from a book first hand..." He frowned, "I know of the atrocities committed by humans, and I know that Clair is not capable of them."

Celestia glared at him.

"Before I worked as a guard for historians on their crazy journeys, I was a rescue worker. I had to rescue many mares and stallions who were incoherent from fear and shock and... as much as I hate to say it, my friends and I were terrified when we saw Clair. We were informed she didn't have any of the powers that the Gauls that escaped from tartarus had, but that didn't stop us from making the connection... And taking on a single escaped Gaul would be like taking on Discord if Discord was homicidal."

Discord grimaced in the crowd at the comparison. He hated death. It was practically the opposite of disharmony...

"Needless to say, we were terrified. We huddled together for safety..."

Lance looked at Clair for a moment before continuing, "But Clair used the same technique to calm us--Or at least to calm Rosetta--that I used on the terrified ponies when I was a rescue worker."

That gave Celestia pause, but she shook her head. Enough study would give Clair knowledge of even that. Like Twilight implied, humans were smart. Dom knew even more mathematics than Cheerilee, a schoolteacher!

"That is not how villains act." Lance walked off the stage...

Rosetta trotted up, looked at Celestia, then at Clair, then back to the crowd. She looked at Data.

"I'm Rosetta Stone. A translator and historian who loves her field work... Compared to me, Lance knows almost nothing about history, but..." She looked down...

Suddenly, she glared back at the crowd, "But I don't think this is strictly a matter of history: Clair is not the Gauls. And like it was mentioned before, there may be different groups of humans... I don't know about Dom, but I think we can trust Clair."

Dom looked at her bemusedly as she trotted off-stage.

Data walked up.

"I'm Captain Data Crunch, or as my colleagues like to call me, Captain Crunch--"

Clair burst into a fit of laughter. Dom snickered some.

"--What?" Data looked back at them.

"I love your cereal Captain Crunch..." Clair laughed.

"You're a brand of food where we come from." Dom explained.

Data turned back around, slightly embarrassed, "Um, anyway..."

"I hate to disagree with my colleagues, they've brought up many good points... But humans have used prolonged trickery before."

He opened a book and flipped to a few pages.

"one hundred years ago, a group of ten or so humans were found by patrolling royal guards and summarily attacked. But this time they had impressive weaponry that enabled them to take out nearly the entire squadron in a matter of seconds. They let the remaining guards surrender peacefully, on terms that they'd be allowed to talk to their leader. After being summoned to the captain of the guard and told about the law, and how it could not be changed, they left peacefully. However, a few years later, there were many successful bombing attempts on Canterlot, and the group of humans were the ones responsible."

Data looked back at Dom.

"It seems humans have improved in both strength and cunning, and if what Dom says is true, then their improvements have been exponential. They could easily be playing us for fools simply because it suits them better."

Dom opened his mouth to protest, but found a golden glow clamping it shut. He looked to Celestia, but her horn wasn't glowing. He looked over to Lyra. She was shaking her head.

He let go of his complaint.

Pinkie Pie trotted up,

"I still haven't thrown a welcome party for Dom and Clair, and I won't let you stop it from happening!" She glared at the crowd, then jumped off-stage...

Fluttershy tried to walk up to the stage, but her fear of crowds kept her away...

Mayor Mare trotted up from backstage. "I hope you've all said your pieces, because here comes the next round! Twilight Sparkle will be starting us off again..." She walked back out.

Twilight walked up. She looked down at her friends and their disapproving faces, "I have to agree with Captain Data Crunch; if humans improve in deceit just as they do in power, they could be deceiving us completely."

Some of the crowd started to boo her.

She glanced at her friends again, then looked back at Dom and Clair. The only emotion their faces seemed to hold was sadness, for her. "I'm not saying we should cast them out or..." She glanced at Celestia...

This was what it came down to now. Celestia or her friends. Celestia or almost every other pony in Ponyville. And despite all her research, she was starting to seriously doubt whether Dom and Clair meant for any of this.

She looked away and shook her head.

"Well... I also agree with Cheerilee. Dom and Clair have done nothing that couldn't be explained as self-defense. If we were to ignore the laws against humans and think of them as ponies, then Dom and Clair have done nothing wrong yet... And I don't want to live in a place where ponies are punished before they commit crimes either." She smiled at Cheerilee. It seemed somepony liked Minority Report.

The crowd started clapping.

Celestia stepped in front of Twilight.

"I see you've all been deceived by the humans. Indeed they may be more powerful than I ever would have imagined..."

She sighed as the crowd looked at her as if they'd been betrayed.

"I was there when the Gauls made their second round of pillages. I was but one alicorn in the now lost city of alicorns. Before we knew what was happening, tens or hundreds of humans with horns--horns that we can only presume came from the bodies of defeated unicorns--molded to their heads, used such destructive magic that nopony had a chance!" She cried, "Out of a city with hundreds of alicorns, the only ones to survive were a filly and her foal sister! Luna was too young to remember our parents, but I still remember their screams as they died trying to protect us! I remember the sound of their horns being removed and attached to some human!"

Dom noticed Celestia's horn glowing. Both Clair and Dom walked forward, trying to quietly make their way off-stage before Celestia got too angry.

It was too late. Floorboards cracked as Celestia gathered as much energy into her horn as possible. Twilight was able to perform magic of the strongest form as a filly when she had a magic rush, and now Celestia, an alicorn who was already far beyond the most advanced of unicorns, was having a magic rush.

The magic around her horn nearly appeared solid, and the entire room was brighter than the desert on its sunniest days.

Clair teleported over to Luna and shoved her out of the way.

"You may have fooled my ponies, but I will not let anypony to go through that!" Celestia fired.

The beam passed straight through Dom's heart and through both of Clair's shoulders without resistance. It followed on effortlessly through the walls of Ponyville main hall... Later, ponies would discover a massive crater in the Everfree.

Dom and Clair fell to the ground. Celestia could see gaping holes in both of the creatures... It was done...

She looked at Clair. Why was Luna holding her up and crying like that?

Twilight looked around at the scene in shock as ponies started galloping out of the hall. Did Celestia just--

--No, something wasn't right! Where was Dom!?

She suddenly remembered firing a beam of magic straight through Dom earlier that day. She remembered Dom fading in the hospital. He must have learned to fade different regions of his body!

"Celestia!" She yelled.

Everything seemed so distant to Celestia. She never felt that much rage, and she never released that amount of magic at once... She might have ended up suffering from magic exhaustion after that, but at least the humans were gone...

She felt a weight on her back. She heard her treasured student screaming her name...

...Where was Dom?

Her realization came too late...

*CRACK*

She screamed at the mind numbing pain.

As soon as Clair showed Dom that Celestia was looking at her and her sister, Dom faded back into Clair, and reappeared on top of Celestia. He held his left hand in front of the tip of her horn, and punched with his right hand with as much power as his adrenaline riddled body would give him.

Just a crack!? Those horns were ridiculously tough!

Celestia started charging power into her horn again.

Dom punched again. This time the horn snapped in half. Raw magic burned part of Dom's arm before he could fade away and reappear next to Clair.

The remaining audience stared in shock and horror. Twilight swore she could see a smug grin on Dom as he broke Celestia's horn.

"I see," Dom stood up off of the now collapsed Celestia and tossed the horn to Clair, "So it's the strongest who decide the rules here..."

Clair stopped playing dead on Luna and caught the horn. With a grimace she begrudgingly walked to the podium, slammed the base of the horn down on it, and snapped the other end off, destroying the thing as much as possible. She didn't look like she shared any of the enthusiasm that Dom practically glowed with.

Celestia struggled to stay awake.

Luna, Lyra, and Twilight just stared at the scene, completely dumbfounded.

The mane six and the historians looked on in shock, had they all been betrayed?

Dom started speaking again, "Well," he smiled, "in that case, I'm a fan of justice, and I think anyone who abuses their power should have it taken away from them!" He pointed his finger at her," And she has abused her's constantly!" Dom glared at the remaining ponies, "For thousands of years, a law was in existence stating that any humans that enter Equestria should be killed! Without trial!" He looked at Twilight, then back to Celestia "One! Million! Humans!" He yelled at her, "How many parents have you killed!? How many humans have been put in the exact same position you swore to protect ponies from!?"

The crowd stared at him in shock.

He walked over to the barely awake Celestia and leaned down so his face was right in front of hers, "You're lucky I'm not a pony, or I would probably have taken this opportunity to kill you."

Finally, Luna found her voice, "Y-- You fool! Who will raise the sun?"

Dom turned and gave her a confused glance, "You will, or a team of unicorns, or Discord."

Celestia looked at her sister, "Is that--" She struggled, "your only complaint?"

Twilight screamed and shot another beam of power. This time, Clair didn't have time to react. It hit her right in the shoulder. Luckily, since Twilight wasn't looking, it didn't hit a vital spot.

Twilight cried as she fired again and again, but didn't hit anything.

"Stop that." She heard Dom directly above her. In fear, she cowered and covered her horn.

The remaining ponies shuddered and a few stepped forward to protect Twilight, but Dom walked away from her.

Silence followed...

After a moments hesitation, Twilight's friends rushed on stage and carried Twilight off. Twilight made to bring Celestia.

"Leave her," Luna said.

The mane six left. The historians hid but continued watching...

Now that almost everypony was gone, Dom fell to his knees, covered his face, and started shuddering. To some viewers, it may have appeared as if he were feeling extreme remorse and disgust for his actions. In reality, he was laughing.

Clair stared at him in disgust.

Dom couldn't help it. Almost Everypony was gone, why not let himself have this one triumphant laugh?

He felt a hoof pin him to the ground.

"Your attack may have been born of self-defense, but only a monster laughs at another's pain."

Luna's hoof suddenly fell through Dom and made contact with the ground.

Dom rolled out from under Luna and picked himself up, "Or a sadist!" He laughed.

Luna turned around and picked up Clair with her magic, "Clever trick, your duplication, but I know how it works!"

Dom's pupils shrank. Clair struggled to free herself from the magical grasp, but she couldn't budge even an inch.

Luna shot two beams from her horn. The beams hit Dom and Clair in exactly the same place on their chests. They both cried out in pain and hit the floor. Luna smirked.

This did not go unnoticed by Dom.

"Hypocrite." Dom struggled to stand back up.

Luna glared and picked him up in her magic, "What did you call us?" She pulled his face down to hers.

"You smiled when you hit us," Dom said.

Luna blinked, "We most certainly did not!"

Dom smirked, "And It's not happiness from other's pain, it's relief. We're finally safe."

Luna noticed Clair scrambling for the exit as quickly as she could. It seemed she was smarter than Dom.

She picked up both humans and slammed them into the wall beside eachother.

"Safe? Did you think we would not punish you after you mutilated our sister? Did you think your silver tongue would let you skip your penance?"

Dom smirked, "Not my tongue..."

Luna noticed Clair was missing.

"You weasel!" Luna picked up Clair with her magic, despite the fact that she was behind a wall, "It seems we must take away another one of your powers!"

Blue magic washed over Clair and Dom. They found they could no longer fade away from reality.

" We had hopes you were not monsters; we thought perhaps all humans were just as we were... but it seems--at least in your case--we were wrong!"

Luna looked at the duo. Now she could decide her verdict without them escaping...

As she looked at them, she saw them cowering against the wall away from her, pitifully...

...They were holding hands...

Luna glared, but her gaze softened a bit. Perhaps they could have one last chance...

"Say thy last words..." Luna said.

Dom slumped. He turned to Clair, "I'm sorr--" he apologized, but felt a hand cover his mouth.

Clair hugged him.

After a moment's hesitation, he hugged her back...

...

Realizing she wasn't dead, Clair chanced a glance at Luna.

"typical..." Luna sighed.

Dom looked back at her too, expectant.

Luna looked at the ground, her expression was unreadable. "If we were to say this deed was not also of self-defense, we could not come to our sister's defense for banishing us..."

"Consider thy selves lucky..." Luna trotted away from the pair and picked up the now unconscious Celestia. She teleported away in a blue cyclone.

Clair and Dom let their muscles go slack and slid against the floor. They breathed out in relief. It'd probably be fine if they just stayed there for a while...

Rosetta slowly trotted out of her hiding position and ran onto stage once Luna was gone.

She held Clair's head in her hooves, "are you okay?"

Clair nodded wearily.

Author's Note

Note: Luna is speaking formally when she uses 'you' and 'your'.

The Lyre argument and Twilight alienating her friends were both good ideas from Trekee. So thank him if you liked those parts.

Epilogue

Lyra, BonBon, Data, Rosetta, Lance, Clair and Dom arrived at the port of Avaira.

"Halt!" A pair of griffin guards barred their guns in an X formation. "Please state your business." The guards were confused when they saw the two humans on-board along with Lyra, but all they were asking for was a reason for travel.

Lyra walked up as if she had done this a thousand times before, "I bring news from Equestria. News with great importance to humans."

The guards widened their eyes and unbarred their weapons. "You may pass," they knelt.

...

Everyone except Lyra stared in wonder at the technological metropolis that was Avaira. It was like stepping out of the dark ages and into the 21st century...

No, the city had to be even more advanced than most modern cities on Earth. It was like research and technology were the highest priority here.

A black and white griffin sat down in a majestic hall made of plastic and wood. Lyra sat across from him.

"Hello old friend," the griffin smiled warmly, "I haven't seen you in forever," he leaned forward, "what brings you back to Avaira."

"Well, old friend," Lyra grinned, "Let's just say I no longer have as many reasons to be jealous of you griffins."

the griffin leaned back, "Why is that?" He walked over and pulled a pen and paper from his desk. He could feel a story coming on...

"Well..." Lyra began...

Dom and Clair walked through a massive steel chamber-lock door. On the other side, they saw humans and griffons working together on projects and experiments ranging from robotics, to chemistry, to some things they didn't even know how to classify.

"Hello," a nicely dressed old man walked up to the pair, "So you're the duo from Equestria I heard so much about..." He smiled.

"So you want to be my apprentices?" Clair and Dom nodded. The man turned around and motioned for them to follow, "Then I'll show you the door project you'll be helping with."

Luna addressed the pony another pony on tax laws...

She wished ponies would trust Celestia more. Luna didn't really feel she was suited for desk work, but after news of how Celestia's horn got broken came out, her ponies gradually lost faith in her. Naturally, the ponies turned to Luna instead.

At first she relished the attention, but... The formalities had increased in stiffness from a thousand years ago from tough food to rock. It was no wonder Celestia was so rigid all the time...

She would have to do something about that... When enough time passed that ponies forgave her sister, she would be welcomed back into a world where fun and politics could be mentioned in the same sentence without a hint of sarcasm!

And the humans... The humans were to be as trusted as ponies, no matter how hard she had to convince some of the older guards of that...

...The humans sometimes even offered to help Celestia after they heard her story...

Author's Note

I got the idea for traveling to Avaira from
Frake's commentt.

Foreknowledge

A young man with chestnut hair sat in an small field in a forest, wearing a vertically striped grey and white shirt, jeans, dress shoes, and a grey and white striped bucket hat. In front of him were four glowing white dots connected by glowing white edges, he drew a c between them, highlighting some of the edges in red. Four more dots showed up above the previous ones, and the edges connected, creating a cube. He continued the his trail up and created another c on top. Then eight more points showed up, and all the dots on the first cube connected to the next, creating a tesseract. He continued his trail, moving to the next cube and repeating the previous trail pattern.

"Every hypercube of dimension n greater or equal to 2 must have a Hamiltonian path by induction..." He mused, "since every hypercube of dimension greater than 2 is just fractal doubling of all the previous cubes with the doubles connected by edges on every vertex. Thus, if the first trail works, then all the later ones do, as the trail can be extended to the next shape and repeated, no matter which vertex you end on..."

He smiled, solving that problem had been simpler than he had thought.

"You're doing homework now?" a brown haired girl of average height coalesced into existence a couple meters from the young man as the dots exploded into nothingness. She wore black shoes, black pants, and a black long-sleeve shirt with a pink heart in the center. But the strangest thing about her was her pink eyes, "Don't you think there are some more immediate problems you should be dealing with right now?" she clasped her hands together and looked around nervously, "like why we woke up in the middle of a forest?" Something caught her eye, "Ooh! look at those flowers! They're blue! I've never seen blue flowers before!"

He looked over at the patch of flowers, they seemed strangely similar to poison joke. Maybe blue flowers existed in nature... Tulips? Whatever it was, it was neat.

'Well...' he thought, 'I don't really know or care what to do about it right now...' He looked around, 'And that problem was just on--'

"How about getting food?" She interrupted his thought and gave him an impatient glare, then smirked"You're gonna get hungry, then you're gonna start crying, and I'll have to take over like always."

He deadpanned back, 'that's never happened before'

She smiled and held back a laugh and looked off to the left "Oh yeah? What about that time when you asked me to--"

He over-exaggerated a frown at her, then frowned normally 'Clair, we both know you're better at dealing with things directly than me. I just wanted to make sure that--'

"No, no!" Clair waved her arms, cutting off his thought, "I know it was important to you and I'm sorry I couldn't help at the time. I was just kidding around."

Dom bit his lips in amusement, 'looks like your teasing backfired,' he smirked.

Clair glared at him playfully, then heard a loud rustling sound near the edge of the clearing. It sounded big.

Glancing over, she saw what looked like a wolf. But instead of grey fur, there was a green aura holding several logs together.

"It looks like we might actually be in Equestria..." she looked at the beasts in wonder, disbelief, and confusion.

Dom just stared at them. Just looking at them made him feel sick. They shouldn't have existed.

They started moving forward, stalking him.

"Let's switch," Clair demanded, "I'll handle this."

Suddenly, Dom found himself standing where Clair was and watching his body stand up and move it's arms out, as if to say "bring it on!" It was actually meant to make him appear more intimidating, hopefully so that any predators would back off.

It didn't work.

"Sides!" Dom shouted. He just remembered a common tactic wolves used to hunt prey: distracting them.

Luckily, it was just in time. A timber-wolf jumped at Clair's side, but she caught it by the throat and slammed it on the ground, shattering its neck.

Three other timber-wolves leaped from the woods to join the battle. Clair feigned a kick at one, then kicked its head off, then caught another and threw it back a meter, and then hit one with her knee that was trying to jump lower than the others. All four timber-wolves were now piles of timber.

"A rock!" Dom shouted again, remembering the timber-wolves reforming on the show.

There was no time to waste. The timber was already shaking, trying to combine the defeated wolves into one larger one.

Clair dashed over to a large rock, picked it up, and slammed it on top of one of the wolves. She ran back over and did the same with another. Now only two were left, but they had already recombined. Clair still had the advantage of height, but the thing looked as strong and large as a hippo.

The thing dashed forward at her, overconfident in its greater size. Clair jumped over it and slammed her heel as hard as she could against its spine, shattering it and disabling the rest of the timber. The wolf fell to pieces again. Clair rushed over and planted a couple of rocks on it.

Looking at the other rocks, she noticed the timber rolling under them.

She swapped back out. Dom was back in his body.

"We have to find some place safe!" Clair panted, "If this is Equestria like you remember, then this is the Everfree and it should be a relatively small forest surrounded by Ponyville and a river!" (1)

"Got it!" Dom answered back, then looked up "the sun rises in the west and sets in the east... and as long as I follow one direction I should be fine." He started jogging into the forest.

Clair smirked, "Or does it rise in the east and set in the west?"

Dom slumped and rolled his eyes; he always got things like that mixed up.

Clair continued, "Even if you did remember correctly, this is apparently an alien planet."

"Yeah," Dom answered back, "but it doesn't matter if we only have to go in one direction."

Dom found a suitable tree, climbed up it, and looked for the sun.

"That..." He stared in awe.

The sun was unnaturally large, and was setting-- no, rising. It looked like it took up a tenth of the sky... And the sunrise was too... purple. There were red and orange hues, but it was predominantly a purple sunset. And now that he looked more, he noticed a few green lines shimmering along the horizon. Before the beautiful sunset was a huge mountain with an enormous city clinging to its side. If he remembered correctly, ponyville should have been in that direction...

here were philosophical thoughts of 'Am I really here?', but he banished them, as that was always an unanswerable question. When Dom looked at the alien sun, he felt his body fill with awe.

"Dom!" Clair yelled from below. "I know the sun looks beautiful, but we have to go!"

"yeah!" Dom called back, "Got it!" He descended as quickly as he could and started jogging in the direction of ponyville. He whistled and hummed a few tunes as he went.

"You know you can turn your music on here, right?" Clair reminded him, "There's no one else in this forest."

He shrugged, then unlocked his phone and started some music.

"Hey! There's the river!" Clair shouted, ecstatic.

Dom smiled, 'Looks like we might make it to Ponyville within a single day!', He looked up, the sun was hanging in the center of the sky. 'I am hungry though...' He started following the river.

"I'll keep on the lookout for food!" Clair looked around.

'Maybe we should have tried some of that timber-wolf aura...' Dom shook his head 'no, that was probably fungus. Eating fungus is never a good idea.'

...

"Hey look! A chicken!" Clair shouted.

Dom noticed the thing in his vision, it was looking the other direction. He started charging at it, but remembered something. "Wait..." Then he realized if it was a cockatrice, he could just try blocking its eyes with his hands. It might still be able to stone-ify him, but he was hungry.

Dom ran towards the thing, and instead of running away, it stared back at him. He put up his hand to block the eyes and continued running towards the snake body. By the time, the chicken-snake had realized it should try to get away, it was already in the Dom's grasp. Dom lifted it up by the tail and swung its head against the ground.

"Now we just have to cook it!" Clair shouted, ecstatic. She was exactly as hungry as he was.

Dom remembered a scene on the Discovery channel where some African tribe members described how to create a fire with only natural ingredients. The ingredients were dung (preferably from a herbivore), a stick, and a larger log. It would be better if everything was dry...

...

After what felt like hours of trying, Dom had the fire. He stuck a couple large sticks in the ground alongside the snake, roasting it. He gathered a few apples on his way, so he ate those first...

...

The snake was overcooked...

...

Dom continued running along the river...

"Hey," Clair said, "Ponies are herbivores, right? What are you going to eat when you get there?"

Dom thought for a while, growing scared, but then smiled, "Fluttershy has a chicken coop, and chickens regularly lay eggs whether or not they're fertile."

Clair looked at him skeptically, "You know I know you don't actually know that, right? Stop making up facts."

Dom rubbed the back of his neck, then smiled "uh, well... In the show, Pinkie lives with ponies that regularly bake cakes, and you can't make cakes without eggs... Plus Fluttershy fed fish to some otters once."

Clair smiled, relieved.

They continued running...

Dom felt a warmth pass through him like never before when he saw the farm. Finally! Salvation...

Finally, he could stop running...

Just as soon as he was in town at a restaurant.

He ran past the farm.

Dom ran across a bridge over the river and stopped when he saw town hall.

Ten or twenty ponies stopped and looked at Dom. 'this isn't going to be like with Zecora, is it?' he asked himself.

"I hope not," Clair answered.

A pony, probably Roseluck, stood up on her back hooves, held her head, and screamed, "HUUMAAAANS!" as if her life depended on it.

The town went into a panic.

Author's Note

1: actually, there are several directions that would lead to him heading into the wilderness, but he doesn't know that.

But your friends will have your back

"Is that a human?" Discord pointed a claw at Clair, "What is it doing here?"

"Yes," Fluttershy swooped on top of Dom's gurney, not noticing his absense. "It is." She frowned and looked into his eyes, "And these humans are very, very sick."

"These humans?" Discord repeated, "But I only see one."

"Huh?" Everypony turned to look at Clair, then to Dom. The doctor shrieked when he noticed his patient was gone. "Where did he go!?"

The doctor looked under and around Dom's gurney, but he was nowhere to be found. Everypony else helped him in his search, except for Twilight. She put her hoof under her chin and started thinking.

"I think I may know where he went." She said. Everypony stopped what they were doing and looked at her.

"Remember how... the female--"

"Clair," Pinkie interrupted.

"--How Clair was able to fade in and out... of existence randomly, but the male--

"Dom," Pinkie interrupted.

"But Dom couldn't?" Twilight continued.

A few ponies nodded. Most of them looked at her confused.

"Clair was only visible when Dom was awake." Twilight clarified. Several ponies thought, then shrugged, accepting it.

"Anyway, what if the male--"

"Dom," Pinkie interrupted again.

"What if Dom faded away, and Clair--"

"Clair," Pinkie interrupted.

Twilight smirked and squinted at Pinkie. Pinkie grinned apologetically.

"...What if Dom faded away, and he left Clair to deal with the real world instead?" Twilight suggested.

The ponies looked at each other.

"So that's what she meant when she said they only had one body..." Rainbow Dash mused. Everypony looked at her for clarification.

"It's like the axolotl knights in the deserted cavern in the fifth book in the Cerulean sub-series of Daring Do!" Rainbow Dash sat up as she explained, excited, "The knights were few in number, but since each knight shared their body with multiple minds which could switch out, they never got exhausted!"

Pinkie nodded her head.

Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash, flabbergasted. She held her head with her fore-hooves, "Now I understand it less than I did a minute ago!"

Rainbow Dash slumped.

"It's simple," Pinkie spoke up, "The axolotl knights needed to change their form quickly in battle to stay unpredictable, and since bodies were scarce, they made up new personalities." Pinkie pulled a fedora and a pipe from her hair and donned them, "It's like if I needed the perspective of an investigator, I'd act like an investigator."

"Yes, I think I get it now," Rarity said, "But... Wait..." Did Pinkie actually explain something to her successfully?

"You read Daring Do!?" Rainbow Dash and Twilight said at once.

"Pinkie," Twilight said, ecstatic, "Why didn't you tell me."

"Well--" Pinkie started.

"Could we please get Clair into the scanning room!" Fluttershy and the doctor yelled at once.

"Oh," Twilight shrunk, "sorry." She took hold of Dash's gurney and pushed it into the room, unblocking the door.

Pinkie and Fluttershy carefully picked up Clair and laid her on the gurney where Dom used to be.

"Oh, hello again ponies," Discord spoke, opening his arms in a welcoming way, "I see you've finished your little meeting."

"Discord!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"And why are you dressed like a nurse?" Applejack added.

"Well--" Discord started.

"I told him you were sick" Fluttershy finished for him, "and that he should visit you like how we visited him when he was sick."

"Oh, okay," Applejack said, shrugging. "But that still doesn't explain why he's dressed like that."

The doctor, finally fed up with everyone's stalling, yanked the gurney containing Clair out of Fluttershy's grip, and moved it towards a scanner.

"Sorry!" Fluttershy paled.

"Well, I was going to visit Rainbow Dash, but the ponies at the front desk wouldn't tell me where she was." Discord threw his arms out in frustration.

"I wonder why," Applejack deadpanned.

"So, in an effort to gain their trust, I offered to work for them," Discord smirked, "And they were so understaffed that they just had to hire me!"

Applejack squinted at him, "Why were they understaffed?"

"Well..." Discord shrugged, "I just don't know..."

Several beeping noises caught the attention of Discord and the mane six. They looked over and saw the previous doctor tearing his hair out as he looked at Clair's still incomplete scans. He was surrounded by a team of other worried doctors and nurses.

"She shows signs of hemorrhaging in her frontal lobe already," The doctor spoke to the team, "Get me corticosteroids ASAP, and get me some pain killers too."

He looked at the rest of the scan as it developed. "My god..." He saw the spine. "Notify the unicorn surgeons that we have another acute spinal injury, and severe inflammation along the back!" He let the scan continue to the rest of her body, he saw her lower back, "We have a hairline fracture along the tailbone!" He yelled out to the now frantic team of doctors, "And petrification of the stomach and intestines, bring me some softening formula!"

He frantically scanned the images for any more injuries, "Oh," he sighed, laughing, "get a cast ready for her hand too."

Wait, something was wrong. The male human had the exact same injuries, but more severe. It was like the female was actually the same person, but she decided to walk around some and upset all her injuries. Except... the male human had one more thing...

The doctor rushed over to Clair, looked under her eyes, and opened her mouth. "She has severe dehydration!" He yelled, "get me EXTRA saline solution! Or else the softening formula will use up the water before it even gets to her!... And make sure to do a blood analysis to check if she has any other problems!"

"...Geez..." Discord winced, "I guess she was 'really, really sick'."

"Still," he continued, giving an unsure look to the mane six, "Are you sure you should be treating a human?"

"No I'm not sure," Twilight glared.

"Oh thank goodness," Discord laid his palm against his forehead, "For a moment I had lost all hope for your sanity!"

Twilight deadpanned at him.

"Well I'm sure," Fluttershy stepped forward.

"Fluttershy?" Discord reared back in surprise, "But why?" He held his arms out, "Haven't you heard the stories? Especially where they took the horns of unicorns and--"

"Yes," Fluttershy interrupted, "I've read history."

"Then why?" Twilight asked.

"Because I also know that Clair and Dom have been nothing like the humans in the stories. They've been nice to us the whole way"-- a light brown unicorn stopped by to watch the drama after giving his saline solution to the other doctor--"and all we've given them in return is doubt and injury," Fluttershy huffed.

"But Fluttershy," Twilight stepped forward, "Don't you see? What they're doing is the perfect way to get close to us and gain power--"

"What they're doing" --Fluttershy stomped-- "is trying their hardest to stay alive!" She glared at Twilight. Rarity and Applejack grimaced. After what they heard from the doctors, Fluttershy did have a point.

"But they could turn at any momen--"

"Actually," the light brown unicorn spoke up, "I think she's right."

Everypony and Discord looked to him now.

He continued, "The girl-- Clair, was that her name?"

Pinkie nodded.

"Clair suffered a severe blow to her head, causing hemorrhaging to her frontal cortex."

Everypony, even Twilight, tilted their heads.

"We've seen injuries like this before, and usually the pony loses their inhibitions; they'll just do whatever first comes to mind."

The mane six stared back, but Discord quietly gasped in realization.

"...If Clair wanted to hurt you, she would have." The doctor glared back, "But what was the first thing she did?"

Twilight looked down, frustrated and confused, "She hugged you..."

"And then she hugged me," Applejack spoke up, "It felt like it just came outta nowhere..."

Twilight stared intensely at the floor... Was history wrong about humans? No, if it was, then Luna, Celestia, and Discord wouldn't have been able to recognize Dom, and he probably wouldn't have agreed to the name. In fact, the possibility of humans and ponies having the same language was so astronomical, it was laughable, unless... unless there were multiple meetings between humans and ponies. But how could a language have come along, and developed... the gryphons. The gryphons spoke Equestrian upon meeting ponies, and started out with a profound hatred at first sight. But whenever she took a moment to think about it, that hatred didn't make any sense: Griffons didn't just hate everything they saw. So then... what if humans were friends with Griffons, but enemies with ponies... because of that law...

It made sense, but she didn't want to think of Luna and Celestia in that light. Because if that was true, and humans regularly visited Equestria, Luna would have ordered the death of countless innocents, and Celestia would have continued that order for thousands of years!

"No," Twilight whispered to herself.

No! Humans had to be evil! They just convinced the griffons to help them when they found they could no longer take on everyone by theirselves! Dom and Clair had to be scheming against them all right now! They were playing everyone for fools, relying on their kindness! They faked their injuries! They faked their--

"She didn't even tell me her name..." the Doctor said wistfully.

Twilight glared at the doctor for being so foolish, then rushed over to Clair. She would end this herself.

She picked Clair up in her magic and--

Discord snapped his fingers. Suddenly, neither of them were in the hospital.

Twilight looked around, confused. She was just in the hospital, but now she was in an endless library that twisted and turned every possible direction. When she looked at it, she could see an order to it, as if the Dewey decimal system was improved a hundred fold and used to structure the library as well as organize the books in it. At any other time she would have been ecstatic to see such a place, but now she needed to be somewhere else.

"Twilight," Discord scolded, looking down at her, "What were you just about to do?"

Twilight turned around, glaring at him. "I was going to end that foolish charade! They think they can fool all of us?" She stomped, "Well they can't fool me..."

"Twilight," Discord said, his tone unusually even, "I understand where you're coming from, in fact, I could even agree with you, but Fluttershy asked for us to show kindness to the humans. I don't think that means killing them."

Discord leaned in, "Isn't a good friend supposed to listen to their other friends?" he asked.

Twilight glared, "A good friend should protect their other friends when they can't protect themselves."

"Oh really," Discord smirked and leaned back in the air, "but how is that truly friendship if you lose your friends because of it? Because you went against their will, and everything they believed in?"

"I'd rather lose my friends to a disagreement," Twilight glared, "than lose them completely."

"Twilight," Discord said dangerously, then snaked towards Twilight, his nose touching hers. His entire body levitated. "Fluttershy is my only real friend. Not Applejack or Rarity, not Rainbow Dash... well, maybe Pinkie Pie, but definitely not you. If anyone is scared of losing her, it's me." He coiled up against Twilight, his eyes glowing, "yet I've chose to trust her in this, even when there was a slight chance that she could be hurt."

Twilight teleported out of Discord's grasp, "Well... I'm hurt Discord," She grimaced and looked up at him with eyes filled with sadness and anger, "I thought we were friends."

"Hardly," Discord stood up, laughing, then fell backwards, looking at her with an upside down face, "friends don't hold guns to each others' heads."

Twilight glared.

"Fluttershy was the first to refuse using the Elements on me, even though you demanded it." Discord teleported behind Twilight, "At any other time, you could have convinced your friends to blast me back into stone."

"I know what you're implying." Twilight glared, "Do not refer to my friends that way." She stomped, "They are my friends, they are not soldiers under my command."

"Oh really," Discord grew 50 times his original size. His head barely fit in the room with Twilight, and his face was seething with contempt, "Because to me it looked like purpose was what brought you and your friends together. First it was saving the world from nightmare moon," Discord started slowly rolling his eyes, "Then me, the changelings, some parasprites and other monsters..."

Suddenly, Discord's giant head was nowhere to be seen. Twilight felt a paw on her back. Her heart finally started to race. How powerful was Discord really?

Discord walked up from behind her on her right, "Honestly I think you should've stuck with the superhero thing you did with Rainbow Dash. Now the only thing keeping you six together is Pinkie Pie."

"That is not true--" Twilight glared.

"Oh really?" Discord appeared below her and suddenly thrust his hand into her rib-cage. He didn't puncture anything, but he pulled out some magic.

Twilight fell on her side, it was as if Discord pulled out everything that made her want to continue living. "G- give that..."

"Of course," Discord said hurriedly, "But," He moved the magic close to Twilight's face. There were several colored orbs. The largest two were white, followed by a pink and a green one, then by a blue one, a light purple and blue one, and then several other similarly sized orbs in the colors of four of the mane six. Discord hurriedly stuffed the magic back in Twilight's chest.

Twilight gasped and shakily rose to her hooves, "Discord!" She yelled, "Never do that again!" She held her heart. Tears began to form in her eyes.

"Yes of course," he said quickly, "But which one of those orbs was largest, out of the ones that felt like your friends?"

"Pink," Twilight admitted, "but that doesn't make any sense!"

"Of course it makes sense," Discord snapped in frustration, "Pinkie is the only thing holding you and your friends--no--the entire town of Ponyville together. Without her, it would shrink back to the smaller farming community it once was."

Twilight glared at Discord. But honestly, she didn't know what to say. She couldn't even refute Discord; she saw what Ponyville was like when Fluttershy tried taking Pinkie Pie's role.

"So," Discord held her hoof and back in a classic dancing position, "How do I know you won't commit murder in front of all of your supposed friends?" His eyes narrowed.

Twilight sighed, her face fell, then her head, "I'm sorry..."

Discord glared. He looked at her for a while, deciding what would be best.

"Fine," He finally decided, "You're free to keep an eye on 'Clair and Dom', but I will not let Fluttershy hear about you killing them."

"...fine..." Twilight accepted.

Clair woke up, but didn't open her eyes. She formed Dom's mindspace in an instant, though parts of it were broken or blurred. She didn't waste any time savoring "the art of creation" as Dom called it. She found Dom, and brought him into her space.

Dom laid on the floor, depressed. "I can't believe we forgot Discord..."

Clair narrowed her eyes in a snarl, her hair and eyes turned white-pink, the heart on her shirt followed, "I forgot Discord." She bent down and picked up Dom by the throat, glaring at him, "Are you saying I'm a failure?"

Dom looked at her with sad, heartbroken eyes, "...No, I would never say that..." he frowned.

Clair threw him, "Then get up!" she said as loudly as she could without yelling. "I hate seeing you like that..."

Dom weakly picked himself off the floor, "I'm sorry..."

"Shut up..." Clair said, grimacing. "I thought we were past this," She sighed, turning her head down, then she glared back at Dom, "Not even we can do everything perfectly," she continued, her face contorted in disgust, "get used to it."

"Right," Dom looked back at her, a little more power in his voice now, "...Where does Discord fit?"

The old planning table showed up between Clair and Dom, though it was somewhat shattered and blurred like everything else. They both took a seat.

"Dicord." Clair breathed out, calming herself. The piece appeared in her hand. She threw it up in the air, and it landed right next to Fluttershy.

"The only one we can truly say he's friends with," A scene showed above Discord showing the fourth season opening to my little pony. Discord could be seen in Fluttershy's cottage, holding his hands together by his chest while looking at Fluttershy, "is Fluttershy."

Clair looked up at Dom. When she found he wasn't looking back, she picked up his chin with her right hand and forced him to look in her eyes. She held him like that for a second, allowing him to calm down...

She let go of his chin and continued, "Since Fluttershy's on our side, Discord's on our side. And he's the only one who could really protect us from Twilight." Two scenes appeared above Twilight's piece, one showed her using her magic to hold several ponies at once in the abandoned castle, and the other showed her holding Pinkie in her magic. Then a third showed up, showing her pick up a giant flower with Cadence's help. Next, a scene appeared above Discord's piece showing him casually uprooting a tree and putting it back down, and then another scene showed up beside the first showing him lifting almost all the houses in Ponyville.

"Though," Clair shuddered, a scene appeared above Twilight's piece showing her brainwashing all of Ponyville, "I hope we don't have to rely on him... I'm not even sure that Discord won't betray Fluttershy..." A scene appeared above Discord's piece. It was the season four opening where he called Fluttershy "Shutterfly".

Dom looked at the table, then at the floor. Clair sighed and snapped her fingers. The table disappeared. Dom stood up, intent on following Clair's last instructions.

"Look at everything we've lost..." He looked around at his mind-space. Everything was either blurred or partially shattered. He could no longer be sure where he would end up when he walked through a door way, or if he could move at all past this first room.

Clair stood up and walked over.

"Come here..." She embraced him, "...Look at what we still have..."

Author's Note

"Oh saskatchewa-san, how do you write so fast?"

"I'M ON CRACK!"