Equilibrium, Book 1: The First Human.

October 1, 1000, C.E.
7:54 A.M.
Canterlot.

John paced around as he waited outside of the throne room. He looked around to see the other's all sitting and chatting away.

"How can you all be so calm about this?" He asked causing Twilight and the other's to all stop their conversation and give him varying looks of concern. Rarity spoke up first.

"Darling just be patient." She said trotting over and placing a hoof on John's thigh.

"Darling please relax." She gave him a soft smile as she began to pat his leg. John absentmindedly began to pat Rarity's head. She shivered as a wave of pleasure flashed through her body for a split second. She cleared her throat as she ducked out from under John's hand. He looked over to see her red in the face. Regaining his senses he looked at his hand and facepalmed.

"I'm sorry Rarity its just.." He trailed off looking at the big double door's to the throne room once more. His shoulder's sagged as he let out a deep sigh.

"I really want to be correct and think that Aion is gone and now we have this little foal in his place." He looked at the rest of the group that had all trotted over. John shivered.

"But I just really don't want to be wrong about this." He went down memory lane. "Trust me when I say that getting erased from all of time once was more than enough for me." Fluttershy came around behind John and gave him a soft hug enveloping him with her wings as well.

"It'll be ok dear." She stated as she nuzzled his cheek. John rubbed her face with his cheek back as he slowly took deep breaths. AJ was the next one to join the cuddle pile as John flopped down onto the floor of the great hall.

"Don't you worry about a thing sugar cube." She went and gave John a soft nuggie seeing as his head was the only thing sticking out of Fluttershy's warm embrace. John couldn't move and was thus forced to receive his sisters, tough love. He shot her a playful scowl as Fluttershy let him go. Twilight trotted up to him with Spike in tow. She just went and gave him a hug.

"Trust me everything will be ok." She said as Spike hopped off her back and gave him a fist bump.

"Yeah don't worry about it bud." He then flexed showing off his rather impressive physic for such a small dragon.

"We'll be right behind you every step of the way." John just smirked as Dash flew up and booped him on the nose. He swatted at her but didn't land so much as a current of air on her soft coat. She stuck her tongue out at him and then gave him a shoulder check.

"What Spike said, dude." She then came to a rest on his back forcing him to give her an impromptu piggyback ride. He gave her a smirk as she settled down and closed her eyes.

"We got your back." She grinned while John rolled his eyes at her exquisite timed joke.

"Wooo!" Pinky shouted as she came flying down from the ceiling. John looked up at her and smiled as he, now hoisting Dash's weight on his back, simply sidestepped the hyperactive bundle of laughs and tinkling bells. Pinky landed with all of the grace of a trained ballerina tumbling into a ball before springing up onto her hind hooves and spinning in place like a top before she finally lost all of her momentum and proceeded to fall face first. She instead used her forward momentum to pull off a long-standing bow. The whole group starred at Pinky for a little while. Their group activities were cut short by the throne room door's being opened. A single guard pony trotted out to meet them.

"The princess's will see you now." He announced as he stood off to the side. John looked around at the group. They all gave him an affirmative nod. Dash settled for a soft primary feather to the face. John let out a few giggle's at the ticklish appendage but his grip on Dash held firm.

"Ok let's go see if we still have a foal or a tiny psychopath on our hooves." He said as he lead the way into the throne room.

8:00 A.M.

The group all trotted into the throne room with John looking around in awe. No matter how many time's he would come here the grandeur of the castle of canterlot would always astound him. With the group all present at the foot of the royal sister's they all gave a collective bow, with Dash having hopped off John's back to give her own. Both Celestia and Luna gave them all a soft smile.

"Rise young ones," Luna commanded. The group all got to there hooves as Celestia took a look off to the side of the throne room.

"Now as you all know you're all here due to a rather peculiar phenomenon," Celestia said as she looked over to Dash and John. Her eyes briefly flicked over to her sister as well who tried to hide a small blush that had cropped up on her dark cheeks. Luna gave a cough and motioned for Celestia to continue. Celestia let out a soft chuckle.

"So the short version is that our dear little tyrant," She nodded towards the left side of the throne room that had a door inlaid in the wall. "Is relatively harmless as of now." She stated causing John to let out an audible sigh of relief.

"Well, that's some good new's." He stated. Celestia wished it was all the news she had. She frowned as she thought upon her next words.

"Yes but I'm afraid that that is all the good news." She stated. Giving Luna nod her sister took it from there.

"As my sister said that is all the good new's. There is more to be said but it is rather grave."

"How so?" Rarity asked what everyone else was thinking. Luna hung her head.

"It would seem that due to a combination of fractures Aion has developed a case of amnesia." John just huffed.

"Well that much is obvious but what caused it?" He asked. He got a scathing glare from Luna while Celestia held a hoof to her muzzle hiding a tither of laughter.

"Yes what indeed," Luna said as she went over the doctor's report. She shot a glance at Rainbow who gave a slight grin of nervousness.

"For one, the simple fact that his horn was shattered beyond repair was a severe shock to his body." She stated, going through the list of injuries in her head.

"The fact that he was casting a spell at the time only made matter's worst. His body was subject to a magical feedback loop that nearly fried all of his magical conduit's in his body." She looked at the group who all had looks of horror etched on there muzzles. John didn't look too good either. He didn't have any magic but he figured that would be painful enough as it was.

"To top it all off with him having been age regressed due to his voyage through time and the fact that he had suffered a severe head injury just added more fuel to the fire," Luna said with a sigh.

"And last but not least he was forcefully ejected from the Astral Plane at light speed," She shot a look at Rainbow who wiggled nervously. "The fact that he had no physical body at the time should have killed any normal pony." The group all cringed at that note.

"So the long version is that after suffering multiple trauma's in such a short amount of time plus all of the repeated damage to his head and mental faculties, in general, all culminated in an event that caused this poor individual to come to fruition," Luna said with finality. Celestia sat there her trademark stoic face betrayed no hint of what she felt about the situation as she let it all sink in for her small group of friends. As they shifted rapidly from one face to another they all settled on a look that was equal part's guilt and relief.

"So what happens now?" John asked breaking their brief spell of melancholy. Celestia let a small smile creep across her muzzle.

"Now we have no choice but to let him go in one's of your's care." The group looked to one another with hesitative glance's. They all went back to looking at the royal sister's. Luna laughed at there collective lack of what to do.

"If I may make a suggestion." She held their attention as they all looked to her.

"One of you, I won't suggest who, take him home and treat him like you would any other foal." Her statement caused a look of trepidation to pass through the group. Finally, John just sighed.

"God Help me please." He stepped forward and knelt down before the sisters.

"Well seeing as it's my fault he's here I guess I'll be the one to take care of him." He said looking the Luna in the eye. She simply gave him a sharp nod. The rest of the group was taken aback by this, however.

"John dear not to sound like an old nag but do you even know how to take care of a little foal?" Rarity asked out of the blue. John just flashed her a smile.

"Honestly not a clue but I'm willing to learn." He then looked at Fluttershy. she gave him a sad smile as she shook her head.

"Well you won't have to do it alone," AJ said stepping up beside her brother and rapping him in a tight embrace.

"Shoot for a little while Big Mac and I had to take care of Apple Bloom on our own so we can definitely help out with that." Fluttershy thought about it as her heart waged a war with her head. Eventually, she took a deep breath.

"Um, I guess I could help out too." She stated causing John to bust out with a soft smile. He went over and gave Fluttershy a hug.

"Thank you." He whispered into her ear. She smiled as she embraced her friend.

"I honestly don't know If I'll ever forgive him for trying to take you away." She said as they broke the embrace.

"But I won't just turn a blind eye to little foal in need." She stated giving an affirmative nod. Celestia cleared her throat.

"Then it's settled. We'll have Aion returned to you all for safekeeping and transport back to Ponyville." She then gave a look to Twilight.

"If you can dear Twilight I'd like weekly report's of Aion and how he's faring in the town." Twilight gave Celestia a nod.

"Can do Princess." She said as the group all cleared out of the throne room. Once the throne room was clear the two sisters let out a collective breath.

"Do you think they'll be ready for this sister?" Luna asked. Celestia smiled.

"Yes, dear Luna I think they will." She looked over to the side room.

"Were you careful when you went sifting through his memories?" Luna gave her a nod.

"Yes. Not a trace of his evil remains." She smiled.

"It was highly fortunate to have happened in the first place so I think we can count ourselves very lucky indeed." Celestia smiled as she gave her sister a nuzzle.

12:32 P.M.
Ponyville.

The group now including an extra member trotted through the town giving Aion a tour. As soon as they got off the train Pinky began to giggle and hop about in glee.

"Now I get to throw you a party!" She grabbed Aion and spun him around like a child's toy making the poor colt dizzy.

"Pinky please put me down." He wailed as he was put down on the ground. He wobbled his way back over to John who scooped him up and held him close as gave him a look over.

"Hey, there little guy." He greeted his newest charge as Aion's head stopped spinning. Once Aion got his head under control he looked around the town.

"So this is where I'll be living from now on?" He asked looking up at John's face as he too looked around.

"Yup." He gave a smile to Lyra who waved and trotted on over.

"Oh who is this?" she asked as she looked at the colt in John's arms. Aion gave a soft squeak as he tried to hide his blushing face but all he achieved in Lyra's eyes was looking cuter.

"Aww, it's ok little guy." She cooed brushing his face with a hoof.

"I don't bite." John let out a huff at that. Lyra rolled her eye's and offered John a smile.

"Hey, that was one time and besides." She gave John a sultry wink. "It was all in good fun." John scoffed.

"Yeah for you maybe but let me nibble on your ear and see how you like it." He shot back. Lyra just giggled as she trotted over to the rest of the group.

"Oh, I can tell you I'd enjoy it immensely." She gave John a seductive grin causing him to blush as he fought to clear his head of any lewd thoughts that tried to rush in. Aion began to squirm a little so John let the little guy drop to the ground with a small thump as he landed on his hooves, his wings flared out to help cushion the fall. Aion looked around a little bit more but stayed close to the group as they all headed off to Sugar Cube Corner. Along the way, he asked various questions and John was all too happy to answer what he could and deferring to Twilight when he didn't know about a particular place or subject.

"And that is Quill's and Sofa's," Twilight said pointing to the store that had the most eclectic collection of items for sale out of all the places in Ponyville.

"Why would the same store sell quills and sofas anyway?" Aion asked causing the whole group to snicker.

"No Idea little dude," John said shaking his head. He'd been in the store several time's before looking at bed's and to stock up on writing supply's namely ink and more quill's when his own broke.

"But it's a nice place to go from time to time," John stated as they all arrived at the bakery. John held the door open for all of the mare's and it was here that he taught Aion his first lesson in chivalry.

"Alway's let the mare's go first ok bud?" He said as Aion stood off to the side with John. He looked on as the girl's all gave John various reply's of thanks and as Fluttershy entered the store John scooped Aion up and took up the rear. When they all got in Ms. Cake gave them all a warm welcome which consisted of hug's, smile's, and a meal on the house for the newest addition to the town. Pinky came zipping out of her room upstairs with a crazed grin on her face, her bell still tinkling away.

"Hey, guys guess what?" She asked as the group all sat down.

"What they all asked at once. Pinky giggled as she held up a calendar.

"I can throw our little guy here a party the week before Nightmare Night!" She pointed to a day that had been circled. Sure enough, the group saw that Pinky's schedule was packed with other parties to plan. Dash let out a whistle.

"If I'm the fastest mare in Equestria then you must be the busiest one Pink's." She said eliciting a giggle from Pinky who gave her a nod.

"Normally I'm not this busy but with the holiday season's beginning to come around I have to plan around a lot of other ponies schedual's." She shoved the calendar into her mane causing Aion to look at her in wonder.

"Wow, where'd it go!?" He asked looking at the group in excitement. Now John taught Aion his second lesson.

"That my dear boy is a mystery to us all." Aion looked confused.

"How can you not know? Aren't you all friends?" He asked getting a chuckle out of the group. Twilight spoke up next.

"True were all friends but trust me when I say it Aion we've never been able to figure out how Pinky does half of the crazy stuff she does. Aion looked at Pinky in even more wonder now. Then he puffed out his chest.

"Then I want to be the first one to figure out how she does that." He said feeling a lot more confident all of a sudden. At his declaration, the group snickered.

"Good luck with that little guy," Dash said as she took a sip from her shake. The group stayed there for a little while until first with Fluttershy's departure the rest of the group began to leave. Twilight gave John a hug before she and spike left for her library. Now only John and AJ remained.

"Well, I reckon it's time to head on home." She said as Aion hopped on her back. She gave him a smile as the little she settled into a steady trot while John walked beside her. All the while they were being looked upon by a stranger hidden in the shadows of the afternoon sun.