The Visitor

It was now November in the land of Equestria, meaning that Safon has been trapped there for six months. After the demonstration of the airships ponies from the military and nobles have been requesting them, with Fancy Pants barely able to keep up with the demand. Thanks to that Safon has been getting royalties from each of them as per his contract with Fancy Pants for his inventions he provided.

Thanks to this new found money Safon has been able to procure some parts to be delivered so he can finally start building his machine starting with some steel to start building the base parts. Along with some heavy duty power wires and he’s even started to get in touch with some scientist from Prance about getting some uranium to power the machine. Not only that he has even had enough money to start buying things for himself and Trinity. Including an new floor model phonograph on wheels so he can wheel it from the parlor to his lab, an icebox for their food, a telephone, some updated wiring that put electrical outlets in the house and most importantly a workshop in the industrial section of the city so they can work on inventions away from the lab in the house. This workshop was where Safon and Trinity were at now at about midday.

“Professor I think I got the engine connected to the wheels now.” Trinity said as she used her magic to take a cloth to wipe the oil off her fur.

“You did?” Safon replied as he turned from the workbench he was working at. He went over to the middle of the room to their current project a Quadricycle. As he got closer he looked around it checking the engine, the steering wheel, gear shift and wheels. “Well I’ll be damned it looks like you did get them connected.” He told her impressed with the work. For the past few months Trinity has really shown some great promise, from her being able to grasp nuclear physics at an impressive level too her being able to help him with the construction of the quadricycle.

“Thank you!” Trinity said beaming. She really enjoyed learning all the stuff Safon had to teach her. Along with that she also enjoyed helping him with the more hooves on stuff, when she’s not preventing him from almost killing himself in the process. While she was still convened he was hiding stuff from her she still was proud of herself and what she was doing.

Safon looked at his wristwatch. “Looks like it’s about lunchtime now.” He thought for a second looking at the quadricycle. “I think we should get something to eat first then we take it out for a test drive. What do you think?”

Trinity’s stomach growled at the thought of food, “I think that’s a good idea.”

“Great!” Safon said grabbing a coffee mug that had an image of a beach with the words ‘Beach City’ across it off the workbench and putting on his dark grey tweed frock coat, it was getting cold now and Safon really hated it. “I think I saw an automat down the road. We can get a sandwich or something and I can get a cup of coffee.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Trinity said putting on her tan overcoat and opening the door to the outside, freezing in place as she did so.

“Hey Trinity why are you stopping?” He asked as he adjusted the red necktie he had on. He approached her to see why she stopped and stopped himself when he saw what was just out the door, Princess Luna.

Princess Luna stood outside the door looking like she was about to knock on the door. When Trinity got back to her senses she quickly bowed down to her. “Princess Luna. It’s such an honor to have you visit us.”

Luna chuckled. “You don’t have to bow to me my little filly. I’m just here to speak to the Professor.”

“You are?” Safon said approaching and looking at Trinity and handing her some coins and his coffee mug. “Trinity here’s some money and my mug. Can you take these and get some food and coffee while I speak with the Princess?”

“Uhh sure.” Trinity replied getting up while she took the stuff Safon gave her with her magic and heading outside past Luna.

After Trinity left Safon looked at Luna. “So ya want to come in?”

Luna nodded and walked in looking at the quadricycle as she did. “Another invention of yours?” She asked.

Safon shrugged. “It’s just a proof of concept for a practical motor vehicle design I have.”

“I see.” Luna replied continuing to look the machine over.

After a few moments of silence Safon decided to break it. “I’m going to assume you’re here to talk about my conversation with your sister.”

Luna turned around and looked at him sternly. “Yes that exactly why I’m here. And don’t worry I’m not here to get mad, I’m just here to hear what you had to say for yourself.”

Safon himself chuckled nervously. “Well like I told Four Star I just wanted to make it clear I wouldn’t allow myself to be taken advantage of, and showing I could easily sneak into your quarters with a big fucking revolver was the best way I could think of.”

“I hope you know that Celestia was humoring you when you disarmed your weapon.” Luna said as she used her magic to remove Safon’s custom Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 magnum revolver from his right shoulder holster. “I must say though, my sister’s description of the weapon wasn’t wrong, It’s a fascinating piece of work.”

“For the record I had backups.” Safon pointed out as he reached his left hand behind his back and pulled out a nickel plated compact officer’s Colt M1911 with pearl grips, holding it up with his finger on the trigger guard. “I’m not an idiot.”

Luna chuckled at this as she gave him back his revolver. “I never said you were. I suppose a world without magic can cause it’s inhabitants to devise different methods of warfare.”

“Well there is some magic in my world hence my immortality. However it’s only in extremely small quantities and most of the world doesn’t even know about it.” Safon added as he put his pistols away.

“I see. How old do you think you’ll live to be?” Luna asked.

It was clear to Safon that she was trying to figure something out but he decided it wouldn’t hurt to indulge her. “My brother Dr. Augustus Safon thinks we’ll likely live indefinitely unless we’re killed by outside forces like injury or disease. In Fact none of us have really aged for well over a thousand years.”

“Oh I see.” Luna said sadly looking down before another thought came to her head. “You’re the second Henry Safon correct? What about the first Henry Safon?”

Luna’s questioning was really confusing him now. “Well you see there’s a funny story behind that. You see I’m the first and second Henry Safon.” He started with a nervous laugh as Luna leaned in interested by this discovery. “To pass off our immortality Augustus and I made a fake surname and I went further with a fake first name. Our plan was to live our lives as long as reasonably possible, fuck off for about ten years and come back as our ‘sons’. However about half way through the second time we decided fuck it and just left our names the way we had them at the time. Why do you ask anyways?”

Luna grew nervous and gulped. “Do you remember my sister telling you of a strange creature warning us of you?” Safon nodded. “Well he also called himself Henry Safon but unlike you he was quite elderly and on his deathbed.”

Safon’s eyes grew wide at this news. “What!! What did he say about me!?! How did he act!?! What did he wear?!?! Did he do anything?!?” He asked in a panic.

“No he didn’t do anything!” Luna started in hopes of calming him down. “He acted very tired said he was ‘tying loose ends.’. He talked a lot to Starswirl and my sister and tried to talk to me but I was too far by then.” She said with regret. “All he said about you was that he’d be back and we’d know it.”

“Ok good. I thought he was someone else for a moment.” Safon said calming himself down.

“Who else could it possibly have been?” Luna prodded.

He chuckled. “You should know that often times you are your worst enemy.”

“I see.” Luna replied remembering her time as Nightmare Moon and deciding to move on. “That’s all I can really tell you unfortunately. You’d have to ask my sister.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Safon said remembering Starswirl’s journal.

“Anyways why don’t you tell me about this machine here.” Luna said gesturing the quadricycle, changing the subject.

Safon also deciding it was best to change the subject cleared his throat. “Well this is what is known as a quadricycle. It’s basically a self propelled wagon, powered by a gasoline engine.I think there’s a few similar models from Prance running around in some of the wealthier circles.”

“I see. I’ve heard of these devices myself but never got to see one.” Luna said fascinated, taking a closer look at it. “It’s awful small though to really be a useful wagon.”

“Oh don’t worry this is just a proof of concept. I’m better at working on and modifying engines than I am at building one from scratch. So I’m building a small one to see if I can actually do it. After testing I plan on moving on to a larger scale.”

“What do you plan on doing after that? Everytime I hear self moving carriages brought up the words ‘fad’ and ‘novelty’ are usually not too far away.”

Safon snickered. “Yeah I know about that. Trust me all that’ll be needed for these to catch on is for there to be a reliable and affordable automobile to exist. That’s what was needed for them to catch on in my world.”

“I don’t doubt you can make a reliable one but how do you plan on making them affordable? The ones I’ve seen in the magazine adverts are extremely expensive.”

“I have an idea for that too but I need to speak to Fancy Pants about it further.”

The door to the outside suddenly opened and Trinity came in carrying food and a steaming mug of coffee in her magical field. “Professor I’m back and I brought you your coffee.” She said as she levitated the mug to Safon before turning to Luna. “Sorry Princess I didn’t know what you wanted. So I just go you a dandelion sandwich.”

Luna chuckled. “Oh don’t worry dear I was just leaving now anyways.”

“Are you sure.” Trinity asked hoping to get to speak to a Princess.

“I’m quite sure dear.” Luna said before turning to Safon. “Thank you for the conversation Professor. It was very interesting.”

Safon nodded. “Thank you Princess. I thought it was interesting too. I’ll be sure to contact you if I need anything.” He then guided her to the door and the Princess left. Once he was sure she was gone he turned back to Trinity. “Alright once we eat we’re taking this out for a test drive.”

“Here should be good.” Safon said as they stopped moving the quadricycle to the street just outside the workshop. He then put on his brown leather newsboy cap and a pair of goggles as he sat down on the quadricycle’s seat. “Alright Trinity start the engine!”

“Okay Professor!” Trinity replied as she used her magic to pull the ripcord on the engine, starting it.

As the engine ran for a bit Safon adjusted the lever on the side of the steering wheel that controlled the spark plugs until they got to a good pace. Once he was happy with that he moved his hand to the gear shift lever to his side and shifted it into first gear. “Trinity I’m going to see what this thing can do now. Pull me off if I’m about to crash.” He yelled to her over the sounds of the engine. Trinity nodded and he took his foot off the break and onto the gas pedal causing the quadricycle to move forward. It moved slowly down the street as Safon had his hands on the steering wheel turning it slightly to test the steering. Once He was satisfied with how well the steering worked he shifted the gear into second gear and it started to go faster with Trinity looking at it amazed they got it to work so well while also being concerned for his safety, keeping a close eye on him incase she needed to levitate him off. He then drove it to the end of the street and made a U turn and drove back towards the workshop and stopped it once he got to the front door.

Trinity ran up to Safon once he stopped. “Professor how did it work!?”

Safon took his goggles off and looked at her smiling. “It has a few handling problems, but that could be due to the fact that I’m used to driving a muscle car. Beyond that it’s a step in the right direction!” He said as he glanced at his watch. “How ‘bout we call it a day and go home? We can run a few more tests tomorrow.”

Trinity gave him a puzzled look. “Are you sure we still have the whole evening to work on it.”

“I’m positive.” He said as he scratched his chin in thought. “That and I have to check on something at home too.”

“If you say so.” Trinity said suspicious about his reasoning.

After deciding to call it a day Trinity and Safon put the quadricycle away and have returned home with Safon retiring to his bedroom for a bit.

Safon’s bedroom was a simple room with a master bed centered against the right wall with night stands on both sides, both with various items on such as his aviator sunglasses, cell phone, wallet and pocket watch. On the side opposite to the door was a dresser and wardrobe he filled with the clothes he had in his ship with most of them being from the 70s and 80s. In the center was a small table and chair set that had a phonograph on it filling the room with music. Finally on the wall opposite of the bed was his desk and chair where he was sitting. The desk had many things on it like his old Sony Walkman that apparently survived the crash with a few tapes, an old USMA class ring from the class of 1898 with his name on it, his wedding photo with another photo of him and his wife with their son and daughter and a photo of him, his brother and friend Bill from the early 20s. However Safon’s attention was on two particular items, and old photo album and Starswirl's journal.

“Let’s see if he can confirm what Luna said.” He said taking a magnifying glass to help him read the slightly worn text. “Okay boring stuff about starting a school, Lunar rebellion and an apprentice. Yada yada yada come on man give me som…..hello there.” He said with interest as he found what he was looking for.

A new visitor has come to speak with the Princess’ this evening but this was no pony. No this was a creature of high intellect that stood on two legs like an adamas canas, yet it lacked fur except on it’s head and face like a pony's mane and beard, with it being white implying that perhaps it is an elder among its own kind. It was also attired in strange clothing, cloaked in a black cloak with a white tunic with a light blue waistcoat over it and grey trousers that extended to it’s feet that had shined black shoes on them. He as the creature described itself, went by a rather peculiar name also. He called himself Henry A. Safon the Second.

“Well then it looks like Miss Luna wasn’t lying after all.” He said with extreme interest as he read further.

When he approached the castle I was notified immediately and wanted to speak to him. He was brought to my study where he told me he came from another world. Wanting to know more I attempted to question him for more information he told me that it would be best that he told this information to the Princesses at the same time to which I agreed to and after speaking to Celestia about the matter she agreed to give him an audience tomorrow at midday to give him time to rest from his travels. I quite look forward to hearing what he can teach us about our world and those beyond our understanding.

Safon was laughing at this new information. “Well it looks like we were both keeping information from each other Celestia.” He said as he looked in the photo album and at a photo of him and his wife standing in front of a beautiful sunny spring meadow with a caption below it. The caption itself was not very detailed but it did have two words that spoke volumes about his travels and those two words were……

Equestria 1989