It's been three days. Three days, since he shouted at them. She was scared then a little but she also felt that he was still holding back and that made her feel grateful. It meant that he didn't want to completely send them away, he just wanted some alone time. But how much longer will be like this? She didn't have the answer, probably nopony had, after all, was there anypony ever in a situation like him? Most likely not.

The human was only spotted once in Ponyville since he moved to his new house. Two days ago on the marketplace, buying a lot of food and also some other things. Several full bags in his hands. No reaction when a pony greeted him. Not stopping for anything else, going straight to his home.

Three days. But no more. Twilight came to her yesterday evening and told her to go to the library this morning because she came up with an idea and she wanted to share it with them, as well, as asking for their help. Naturally, she said yes. So as she finished everything, she had to do this morning she immediately walked to the library.

Opening the door she noticed that all the other girls were there, she arrived last.

"I'm sorry for being late, girls." she apologized. "There are always a lot of things to do in the morning." they turned to her with understanding smiles on their faces.

"It's alright, Fluttershy." Twilight calmed her down. "The others arrived just a minute earlier." Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief, hearing that, she didn't want her friends to wait for her.

She moved closer to the others as Twilight started to talk.

"Okay, so now that you're all here, let's start. It's about Lacy as you'd probably guessed already." she started but was interrupted by Rainbow Dash.

"And how do we do that? We tried for a few days but you know what happened."

"Yes, and I think I know why." Twilight continued. "We overwhelmed him with all of us being there at the same time. If we can try to approach him one by one, then I think we will be more successful," she explained.

Fluttershy did agree with Twilight on this one and suddenly an idea sparked in her mind. She just had to get one thing from her home and then go to his house.

"Alright, so what about a maximum of two ponies a day but at least a few hours between them?" Twilight asked and Fluttershy realized that while she thought about this idea of hers, the others also agreed to Twilight's plan and began to work out the details.

"Um... girls." she tried to speak up and share her idea with them, also ask if it's okay to start right now but she didn't want to interrupt anypony else, they might have an even better idea.

Well, they all had something in mind and they seemed good. Finally Twilight turned to her.

"And what about you, Fluttershy? You came up with anything?" she asked, the others looked at her expectingly.

"Yes, I do. And I want to do it right now if it's okay with you," she said.

"What do you have in mind, my dear?" Rarity asked.

"I'm going to bring him something," she answered.

"And what is that 'something'?" this question came from Rainbow.

Fluttershy smiled a little, then moved a little closer as if it would be a secret and she'd try to be careful not to let anypony, who'd be eavesdropping on them to hear it. And then she spoke of her idea. The others were surprised at first by what she said but then gave her an approving nod and wished her good luck. Now she only needed to go home for a minute, then she will be on her way to Lacy's house, just in time for what she planned to do.

The sun was closing at its highest position of the day as she made her way to the human's house. She had a saddlebag on her back, inside of it something she intended to give to him.

When she reached the door she raised her right forehoof to knock but stopped for a moment. What if he still doesn't want to do anything with them? What if this will only make him worse? But these questions became irrelevant as the image of his face, which showed how broken he was, came to her mind. So she knocked.

Before she could even think of what she will do if he ignores her, she heard movement then the door opened. Lazlo stood there without any emotion on his face but other than that didn't seem as bad as she expected.

"Hello." she meekly greeted him.

"Hello." he greeted her in return.

"I... um... I hope, I'm not bothering you or anything but I bought something for you," she told him.

"Would you like to come in?" he asked as if he didn't hear anything she said and just remembered that there was somepony at the door.

"Yes," she answered. "If it's okay with you," she added.

At first, she expected his home to be a mess. That's what happens to others in his state right? Or was that just something she always assumed? Her brother came to her mind at first, well mostly because of the mess, though her parents would always clean up after him and his mess would be because of a different reason. It didn't matter.

As she followed him to the living room, she noticed the lack of any decoration, just furniture was present but thinking a little more to it, as he only left once, since moving in and that too was for grocery and some other things that were necessary, it wasn't a big surprise.

"It looks nice," she commented while looking around. Lazlo gestured for her to sit down and she hopped on the sofa.

Lazlo went into the kitchen and soon returned with two glasses of water. He set them down to the small table, then noticed that it was a little far away from Fluttershy to reach it without getting off from the sofa so he pushed the small table a little closer then sat down to one of the armchairs.

"I only have water." he simply stated.

"Thank you. Oh, before I forget, I brought you something." she then reached for her saddlebags and took three fish out of it then set them on the table. "I don't know how humans eat fish, I hope you can do something with these."

Lazlo just stared at the freshly caught fish for a minute before Fluttershy could see a few tears running down his cheek. For a moment she feared that this idea of hers only made things worse but then Lacy wiped his face with his hand and began talking.

"Thank you. I appreciate it. Really. I know how to prepare fish for cooking." his words calmed her down.

"How do you prepare the fish?" she asked, eager to know more about this.

"I need to remove the scales, then the head, and then cut it open on the stomach side and remove everything inside."

And that was enough for her. It sounded so gory in her imagination and yet she couldn't think any less or worse of him. But she also didn't want to hear more information so she gestured him to stop and he did. She made a mental note to tell these to her bear friend, she was sure that he can do these things next time before bringing Lazlo more fish.

"Sorry." the man apologized.

"It's okay," Fluttershy answered. She then noticed that he started shaking a little. It wasn't cold or anything like that. She thought it was best to leave him now since it looked like even one pony was too much for him. "I think, I'll leave you alone. I guess you want to make that fish now," she said while getting up.

"Wait." she heard him trying to stop her quietly. As she looked at him, she saw he was shaking more heavily now and it seemed that he was trying to say more but nothing else left his lips.

That's when it hit her. He was holding back his emotions, his feelings but she could also see that it wasn't anger. It was something else. Sadness maybe? No. Something much worse. She couldn't even imagine what could he be keeping in. And yet, despite how much she wanted to comfort him, she knew that it would only make things worse for both of them. She couldn't help him now if she tries to force him to talk.

It was like when she found an animal with a serious injury and didn't trust any other creature. She had spent hours beside that one but never going too close, yet trying to ease the animal to her presence. Approaching slowly, gaining the trust, and only then starting the healing when the animal was comfortable enough with her. This was a similar situation but now she wasn't alone with the injured one. She had to tell this to the others. But she also couldn't just leave him here like this so she walked to him.

"Everything will be alright." she talked to him softly, while putting one of her forehooves on his leg. He looked at her eyes. Those eyes. Full of pain, sadness, and something more. "You don't have to talk to me or any of the girls now. You will talk when you feel ready for it. And when you're ready, no matter with who will you speak, I guarantee you that they will listen and try their best to help you in any way they can." she took her hoof away when she saw him giving her a small nod, gave him a smile and then left him on his own for now.

Applejack was on her way to the human's home. She was pulling a small cart behind her, packed with a few things, mostly apple products. After her family learned about Lazlo from her, they all put together a package for him and Applejack was the one to bring it to him.

For the farm mare, it didn't matter what her personal thoughts were on the human. Their previous arguments and quarrels were put to the side now. Right now in her opinion, she was the closest to understanding the pain he was going through. This time she ignored her own stubbornness and go to help him any way she can, not just because this was also a family tradition, to help your neighbors, and for the Apple Family it went for every living being in Equestria, but she also felt, that in an opposite situation, Lazlo would do the same for her.

Upon arriving at the house, she unhitched herself from the cart and went to knock on the door. Fluttershy left the human a few hours ago and she told the others, what happened there and what to expect. Applejack prepared that her visit won't be very long but she hoped that she will be able to have at least something with him that can be called a conversation.

The door opened and for a moment she could see a slightly surprised eyebrow-raising from the human, before going back to the emotionless expression.

"I'm not in the mood for another argument with you, so if you would be so kind..." he started but Applejack didn't let him finish, because that would probably mean that he closed the door.

"I'm not here for any of that! I'm here on behalf of my whole family. We made some things to help you get accustomed to this unfortunate situation, you're dealing with."

"You really didn't have to..." he started again, sounding still depressed but she could hear some appreciation from his voice. However, this time he stopped himself as if he realized that it's pointless to argue about it and gestured her to come in.

Applejack grabbed a few things from the cart then handled them to the human, after taking them from her, she grabbed the others and followed the human inside, leaving the now empty cart out there.

Just like Fluttershy said, she too noticed that the house was relatively clean and ordered, though looked a little empty with the lack of decorations, or the empty bookcases, etc...

As she went after Lazlo towards the kitchen, a horrible smell hit her nose. The human looking at her after putting the stuff on the dining table noticed this.

"Sorry for the smell, I've made a fish Fluttershy brought me and the parts that I can't eat are still in the thrash." he apologized.

"It's okay, partner," she said and after giving him the rest of the stuff, she brought she backed away from the kitchen. She also noted that he was more talkative than a few hours ago, which was probably thanks to the fish, her friend gave to the man so it was overall a positive thing.

They both sat down in the living room and were just there looking out from their heads for quite a few seconds before Applejack decided to speak up.

"Listen, Lazlo. I understand the pain, you're going through." she began, knowing that Lazlo was listening, even if he didn't give any indication of it, as he was just staring at the small table before him. "When my Ma and Pa died, I was devastated too but my grandma helped me and my siblings even though she was just as sad as us, but it wasn't only her the ponies of this little town also come by, giving their support to us." she paused for a moment as a single sob was heard from the man. "Now it's time for us to be there for you. Whenever you want to talk about it, you can come to the farm, and Granny, Big Mac, and I will be ready to listen, but you also can go to Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, or Dash too, just like many other ponies." She noticed that Lazlo shook a little and his breathing quickened. "Do you want to talk about it now, sugarcube?" she asked, the only reaction is a small shake of his head, saying no. "Alright, I'll leave you alone for now, but don't forget, what I've told you."

"Thanks." she could barely hear the man. It seemed that bringing up this painful topic was still too hurtful for him, but he seemed somewhat okay before it, so it was progress for sure.

She left the house, hitched back the small cart her back, and walked back to the farm quickly before going to the library, where the others waited for her to tell them what happened.

The next morning it was Rarity's turn to visit their human friend. She knew that what she was bringing to him won't have the same effect as Fluttershy's gift, nor could she feel or give that kind of sympathy, like Applejack but that didn't mean that she won't do her best. She packed the few things, she wanted to bring with her and left her boutique.

She soon found herself before Lazlo's home. After knocking, the man opened the door and after the short greetings, he let her in. The first thing, she noticed was how plain was everything in this house. No decorations, one color, only the necessities. It was a horrifying sight for her eyes but her creative brain immediately started to work, filling the empty spaces with possibilities that would make this place homier and look more beautiful but also could be acceptable to the human.

"Darling!" she started as they both sat down in the living room. "I must tell you, that while your new home is lovely, it is also so plain," she remembered what Applejack told her about Lazlo being more talkative and open, though still not himself before she brought up the most painful thing for him. She decided to try the same strategy, hoping that she will get further than her two friends before. "Please! You must let me bring some style to it! I promise you, that everything will be marvelous."

"Thanks for the offer, but I rather like it like this." he simply answered.

"Alright, I won't force you but if you change your mind, let me be the first, you turn to." Lazlo nodded. "I also brought you something, my dear."

Rarity then used her magic to take out something from her bag. It was a suit. Simple, black, elegant pants. White shirt. Black suit jacket. But let's also not forget the smaller things, like a belt, socks, or even a pair of elegant shoes. It was just like the one Lazlo had.

"Twilight asked me to make it, when we first talked about it, asking the princess to give you a ticket too. We all still feel bad about you couldn't attend, no matter how it ended," she told him.

He looked at the full suit before him, reached out to run through his hands on it. She loved making that suit. It was her biggest challenge so far. And it was also hard not to put any gemstone or anything else on it.

"Thank you. It's great, really. Just like the one, I had but made from much better material." he said but Rarity already could feel the first signs of the same behavior, like what the other girls told her.

"But of course! I only use the best." she beamed at him with pride. "But I have to admit, I wanted to add something more to it, to look more magnificent but I also remembered, when you told me about this being the standard dress code for the human stallions for formal attire." Lacy only nodded at this. "But let us focus on a more important matter at hoof now." as she said this, she could see him stiffen. "Darling, this simply cannot go on! I understand, that you are hurt but shutting yourself in won't make things better. We all want to help you but you must take the first step." then suddenly an idea popped inside her head. "I know! Why don't you join me and Fluttershy at the spa the next time? You must be overfilled with stress and tension and I can guarantee you, that the ponies there will help you with that." she finished with a smile.

She could see a few shakes on his body and she could've sworn, she heard some sobs as well, yet these all stopped and he spoke up his answer.

"I'll think about it." it was quiet but it made Rarity sure that Twilight's plan was working.

"That's all I ask." she got up. "I'm sorry for the short visit, but Sweetie Belle will be having lunch with me today and I have to start cooking in time. You are welcome to join if you wish." she offered, but Lazlo shook his head. "Alright then, see you later and don't forget, we are all there for you." with that she left his house.

Pinkie Pie always felt like personal responsibility to make sure, everypony is always happy. She would not rest until the sadness disappears from their faces, replaced by a huge and honest smile. Most of the time a party, some cupcakes, or a happy song was enough. However, this one was not so easy. She considered this one as her biggest challenge. Such a unique situation was this, that it needed a unique approach.

As she trotted towards her destination, she went through a few other things in her head, like finding a few more places to stash balls, eye patches, etc... so it would take less time to get one, in case of an emergency. She also should not forget to get more ballons because it will be Flitter's birthday next week and she will probably use most of what she has right now for that. But those can wait, this one isn't.

She stood in front of his door, mentally preparing herself because she had a feeling of what will happen and it needed preparation. Before she could knock, however, the door opened Lazlo standing there looking at her.

"Hi, Lacy! How did you know I was here?" she asked, containing herself by not asking if he has some psychic powers, she couldn't do that right now.

"The window was open and I heard you muttering," he answered. Well, that made sense.

Lazlo showed her in, she immediately took notice of everything in the house, she could see as plans began forming in her mind. Just like with the others, she too ended up on the living room sofa with him sitting in the armchair.

"How are you holding up?" she asked him.

"What do you think?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I think, you should come out more often," she told him. "You should stop holding in your feelings and let them all out." Pinkie cut right into the case. "I'll be here, listening. Trust me, it'll be easier after that."

"I don't think, it'll help in a situation like this." was all that he said.

"But it will!" Pinkie put her hoof down. "Just like the others said, we will be there for you and help you the best as we can but it's impossible if you won't do anything. Please!" she tried to force him.

"It's not your decision nor anyone else's, only mine." Lazlo's tone turned slightly irritated.

"Right now it is. As your friends, our duty is to help you through your hardships." Pinkie held on stubbornly.

"I did not ask for this. And if you'd be true friends, you wouldn't force me to do something, I don't want to." Lazlo was just as stubborn.

"But true friends also help you realize when you do something wrong." Pinkie argued. "And what you're doing now is wrong."

"What is wrong is often relative." Lazlo countered, clearly more and more annoyed. Pinkie knew she was close.

"Well then, this is one of the exceptions." she retorted. "Sitting here won't do any good for you, I know it and you know it too. It will only deepen your wound."

"Fucking fine then!" Lazlo finally snapped and Pinkie prepared herself for this, as he shot up from his chair. "I've lost everything! I've lost my job, my home, my friends, my family! I'm twenty-three now, so basically I've lost a quarter of my whole fucking life! Everything, I've earned, got, and achieved is gone now because I've lost my motherfucking world too! Of course, I don't want to go out! Why?! To see how alien am I to this place?! There is not a single damned thing out there that resembles a human! Most of the knowledge, I have is basically useless here! And the thought of never seeing my family again, the thought that they'll probably never learn what happened to me and what will happen to them... And I don't even know who to blame! I can't blame any of you but I don't know who was the fucker who managed to get me here! So there you have it! Are you happy?! Is this what you wanted?!"

Pinkie, who's been listening to every word that came out of his mouth, smiled up at him.

"Is it better now?" she asked.

"A little..." he answered after a sigh, now that he was relieved from this mental burden even if by only a little.

"Then yes," she answered his previous question. She then got up from the sofa and stood on her hind legs, then proceeded to give the human a hug. He didn't return it but didn't push her from him either. "I promise you that in a few days, I will make you feel happy again. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." she made her signature promise and tried to leave the human's home, only to be stopped by him speaking up.

"Is this why you acted so differently from how you usually behave?" Lacy asked, clearly noticing that Pinkie was more serious this time.

"Silly Lacy. I always act the way, I have to to make others smile and be happy. Right now, this was required from me on the first step to reach my goal with you. Nothing unusual about it." she gave her answer and left.

She made sure to visit Twilight and tell her everything that happened as fast as she could because she will have a few things to do to be able to keep her promise to the human.

Twilight Sparkle was the next one to visit the human the next day. After what the others told her, she view her plan as a success and began thinking about who else to involve in this. She had a few ideas, but that could wait. Right now she had to take her turn.

After the usual greeting, she quickly found herself sitting on his sofa, her packed saddlebags on the table but this time Lazlo was sitting beside her on the sofa.

"I've brought some books to fill those empty shelves." she began, as she used her magic to pull out said books from her bags. "This one here is about the history of Equestria," she said as she showed a book with the equestrian flag as the cover, titled 'Equestria From Foundation to Nowadays'. "This one focuses on the current places of Equestria. It's a great travel guide too." she pulled another book, titled 'Every Corner of Equestria'. There were also a few other books, mostly about basic things. Books that most citizens have in their homes.

"Thanks, I guess. It started to get boring, sitting here all day long," he said.

"Well, now you won't." Twilight smiled at him. He seemed clearly in a better condition, than he was before, by the description of the others. "But you could also visit your friends. Join any activities, for example, Thunderlane came to me a few days ago, asking why you're not going to the chess club. I think they're missing you just as much as the girls and I. Pinkie said that you already made the first step yesterday and I've heard that that's always the hardest."

"Goddamn Pinkie," Lazlo grunted. "I'm still angry at her for yesterday." he let out a sigh. "But I had to admit that after that, in the evening, I've finally come to accept the fact that I have to get used to my new, permanent life here."

"I guess, she helped you move forward then. To take that first step."

"I just... I've lost everything... But after my outburst yesterday, I've realized, that I'm about to lose that little I've gained here too if I'm staying like this, and yet I still wish if none of this has happened to me."

"You know after the princess allowed me to stay in Ponyville, and I've started to spend time with my friends, I've come to realize that by that I'll have less time to study. But to my surprise, it didn't slow my progression. I've written about this to the princess and she asked, what did I think was the cause of this. At first, I didn't know but later, I've realized that this was caused by not overworking my brain constantly. I know, that it isn't the same as your situation but back then, I didn't really want to meet with the girls and then go together to find the Elements of Harmony. And yet, in the end, it turned out to be the best thing that happened to me in a long time. I can still do, what I enjoy the most but now I'm also happier." Twilight finished and put her hoof on Lacy's shoulder.

"I admit, while I've been looking at this as a vacation for me, I've felt that it's been the best one so far. But I can't tell the same about living here." Lazlo admitted.

"It's understandable but who knows, what the future would bring, right?" she tried to feed him with some optimism.

"I can't see why would my opinion on that change at any time." Twilight was a little afraid, that talking about this any longer would cause him to lose the progress, she and her friends achieved so far so she had to somewhat divert the topic. That's when an idea came to her.

"Hey, something just come to my mind. How about you join us for breakfast at Café Hay? Let's say around eight in the morning? What do you say?"

"I guess I can..." Lazlo accepted.

"Great! I have to go and invite the others, I'm sure they can come too!" she then hopped down from the sofa and left his home.

Spike hated being in trouble. And boy he was in one. While Twilight was over at Lacy's house, he found something. And after Twilight got back and learned about what did he found she was pretty angry at him, especially after the scenario that most probably happened had been set up. So now he was on his way to his house to explain this to him too since it also included him.

When Lazlo opened his door, he seemed surprised to see the little dragon, he was probably expecting Rainbow Dash as she's the only pony in the group who hasn't visited him yet but that will be a few hours later.

"Hey." Spike greeted.

"Hello." Lazlo returned it.

"I... found something at the library that belongs to you." he gave him a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his head awkwardly before giving him a scroll that looked like the same, Twilight usually receives and sends, when communicating with Princess Celestia. "Oh, and there is another letter from the princess." He handled him another scroll.

Lacy took it from him and opened the first one while putting the other into his pocket. A golden ticket fell out while unrolling the scroll. He picked it up and read what was on it, then also read what was on that letter.

"My invitation to the Grand Galloping Gala? Princess Celestia mentioned while I was in Canterlot that she sent one to me and there was some confusion about it." He recalled. "Where was it?"

"Hehe..." the dragon chuckled nervously. "It was under Twilight's bed. Earlier today, while cleaning our bedroom, did I notice. I showed Twilight when she got back and we figured out what happened. You see, you actually got it the day after the Princess visited for that morning get-together when she brought that phoenix with her. I was probably taking an afternoon nap, when she sent it and when I got that letter, it probably went under her bed and I didn't notice it when woke up. At least that's the most possible scenario according to Twilight. She wasn't happy about it, because it turned out, I neglected to clean a few parts of the bedroom, for example under the bed." he was still nervous, playing with his claws while telling this to the man.

"Eh... It's okay," he told him after a few seconds of staring at him. "In retrospect, I guess it's good that I wasn't there."

"Really? You're not mad?" Spike asked, not exactly believing this.

"I've got other things to be mad at." Lazlo dryly stated. "But I wasn't mad at Twilight who basically cried because she forgot about getting a ticket for me. I never was interested to go there really, plus I got to see a beautiful city instead, so..." he reassured the little dragon.

"I see. Thanks for not being mad. I... I think, I better go, Twilight still wants to punish me for this though. So, see ya!" he immediately ran off, not even waiting for Lazlo to react to this.

Rainbow Dash was troubled. She wanted to help the man just like the others but she had no idea how to do it. She wasn't good with this pep-talk stuff. She knew about was happened when the others were there and she was sure, she couldn't handle that kind of emotional thing well.

But all of that didn't matter now, plus she'd never leave a friend hanging and would at least try to help them even in situations like this one. Also, he seemed to be in better condition after pouring out his soul to Pinkie, at least according to Twilight.

By the time, she arrived she managed to create some kind of plan in her head. It was horrible and probably won't work but nothing else came to her mind.

"Hey, Lacy," she greeted him as he opened his door.

"Hey, Dash."

"So... feeling alright?" she immediately cursed herself for this was a stupid question.

"Let's say that it's better than a few days ago."

"And... um... well..." she tried but failed. "Okay, I'm not good with this but I still want to help you out." she wanted to continue but the man spoke before she could.

"It's okay, you don't have to do anything, really."

"But I have to! You're my friend and I never leave friends no matter what. I'm not good with all these mushy things that's why I'll do something else." Lazlo raised an eyebrow at this. "I'm going to be your personal trainer," she revealed her plan that only earned further eyebrow-raising. "It's simple, really. Even I know that doing some sport or activities will make you feel better. What do you say?" she had a confident grin.

"How did you come up with this?" he asked.

"You've been sitting in your house for days and you seem like you could use some exercise." she looked at his stomach area which really had some fat on it. She too remembered when she saw other humans from his memories so she got an idea she could help him get fit.

"And why would you do that?"

"I thought it would help you. Besides who else could be a better trainer than the best athlete in Ponyville?" she bragged a little. "I hope, I didn't offend you though." she quickly added.

"A certified one?" he offered as an answer. "By the way, I know how do I look and I don't get offended by facts," he stated.

"I don't think there are any in Ponyville right now... At least not one for losing weight." she wondered for a moment. "But come on, I'll do it for free and if you're not satisfied, then I'll look for one for you, how about that?"

"I guess, it's worth a try..." he sighed.

"Great, then let's start already!" she beckoned him to follow her, which he did, though his enthusiasm was clearly lacking.

Ten minutes. It took ten minutes to find out that Rainbow Dash was a horrible trainer for Lacy. He barely began her warmup but it looked like she asked too much from him. She only told him to run a hundred laps around a smaller lake on the outskirts of Ponyville but after a few laps, she got bored and wanted to make him run faster to finish it sooner so they could move on to the real training. It wasn't much right? She could do it ten seconds flat. And yet after her attempt to make him run faster, he soon stopped, panting heavily.

"Oh, come on! That was only a few laps! It's just the warmup, nothing special." she whined, clearly impatiently.

"Well... maybe you... should come... up with... something... that... wouldn't re... relocate my... lungs... from my... chest into... my hands..." his voice was hoarse from the feeling of dehydration and couldn't talk properly because of the panting. "I don't... think this... is how... should I... begin..." he continued, then began walking slowly back to his home to get some water.

"Yeah," she admitted. "I guess, I have to find you a personal trainer. Sorry about this." she apologized.

"It's okay." his breathing started to ease. "I appreciate it nonetheless," he reassured her.

Rainbow was still pretty worked up that she failed but she didn't have the patience for this and she knew that it was a better way to help him, rather than forcing both of them into doing something they can't and won't. She felt like she had to say something else.

"Hey, Lacy!" she yelled after him and the man stopped and turned back to her. "I'm... I'm glad that you are feeling better."

He only nodded at this but Rainbow could see it. A small smile. And she knew what it meant. He was happy that he had friends who cared about him. Because despite not showing these kinds of emotions often, she had an image to keep up, after all, she cared deeply for all of her friends.

Amber Glow was playing with her mother's mane as she trotted in Ponyville with the little filly on her back. When she heard from her mom, about where they were going she couldn't wait to finally leave. She will spend time with that weird pony Lacy. He was so tall and kind and funny.

They've arrived at his house now. That purple pony, Twilight told her mother where he lives now. Her mom knocked on the door and she hopped down from her back so she can go inside immediately. However, this plan failed as she ran right into his leg which knocked her back a little.

"Hello?" this was the voice of the surprised Lacy.

"Hi, Lacy! I hope it's not a bad time but I need a quick favor. My husband is at work and I need to go to a customer and I need somepony to watch for Amber. Could you do it for me, please? It'll be only for an hour." Perfect Mane quickly explained the situation.

"Sure thing, I'm free." he shrugged.

"Oh, thank you!" she then pulled a few things out of her saddlebags. "Here are a few toys so you won't get bored, a bag of sweets if she wants something to eat, and a diaper. I just changed her before coming here but you never know." she gave him the stuff as she listed them. "I must go but I'll be back soon." she then bent down to her daughter and kissed her head. "Be good for Lazlo enjoy your time sweetie, I'll be back soon." she then left Amber with the human.

Meanwhile, the little filly was trying to get the human's attention to lift her up but he was occupied with her mother. But now that she left it was only the two of them. Lacy stepped back to the house and Amber followed him inside. She ran around a little, exploring the house while Lacy put down the stuff Perfect gave to him. Now it was playtime.

A few dolls were given to him as toys and they played with them for some time now but now she got bored of this and wanted to do something else. She wanted to make his mane as her mother does. She tried to tell him what she wanted and fortunately he quickly got what she wanted. He sat down on the sofa and placed her on the top of the sofa back. It was at the wall so she won't fall down behind it. As she began to style his mane with her little hooves. While she was doing that he began to speak.

"You know, my youngest sister, Maya often did this when I was there. She tried to braid my hair and put her pink hairpins in it. There was one time when she did this before I had to go back to the dorm with the train and these things were left there. I only noticed it on the train. Well, at least I learned why were some people looking at me. I think Maya liked doing my hair because I was the only other with long hair like she was because Nora, my other sister never let her do it and my father and his wife both have short hair. I really miss them. I did promise Maya that the next time I'll spend New Year's Eve with her. But I guess I won't be able to fulfill that promise. Can't even imagine how does she feel. She always tells me how she missed me when I arrive and sometimes even cries when I need to leave."

He talked while she tried to imitate the same movements she saw from her mother. She didn't understand much of what he was talking about but she liked hearing him speak.

She soon got bored with the hairstyling too. Lazlo picked her up and put her on his lap. He smiled at her but his face had shown sadness too.

"Thank you for making my hair. How about some snack as a reward?" he asked and she laughed at it. He opened the small bag of cookies that Perfect gave him. They both ate it all together.

They played a little more before there was a knock on the door. The mother came back for her daughter.

"Thank you for helping me out on such short notice. How can I repay your kindness?" Perfect Mane asked after she got back.

"Your welcome but next time you can tell the truth. I know Twilight did ask you for doing this." Lacy told her.

"Oh, um... How did you figure it out?" she asked.

"It was kind of obvious for me but it helped that this morning I had breakfast with her and the others and I heard her mentioning it to them when she thought, I wasn't listening," he answered.

"Well, thank you anyway." she smiled then left with her daughter, almost forgetting about the toys and the extra diaper but the man reminded her since he didn't have much use of those things and Amber would probably miss the toys after a while.

Fresh News was excited as he was sitting on the train to Ponyville. He was a unicorn with a light green coat and orange mane, his cutie mark was a notepad with a pencil. As the train got closer to the small village his nerves began acting up.

Ever since the human, Lazlo Kis appeared in Equestria the press wanted to do interviews with him but Princess Celestia asked them not to do them and in exchange, she will share many details, she learned about him. It wasn't an order from her, she wouldn't go against the freedom of the press, it was more like a favor, and naturally, the Equestrian Press Committee, which had every newspaper and any other official surface of news as a member because it was the institution that was responsible keeping the free press and credibility of the news.

So the princess asked them not to bombard Lazlo with journalists and they've agreed to it though they could easily ignore Celestia's wish without any consequences they've trusted her of providing enough information.

However not long ago it turned out that it was not possible to send him back, and he has become a citizen of Equestria and the biggest newspapers got back onto the case of having an interview with him. This time Princess Celestia asked them to wait until he will be better because he was lethargic but the princess also promised that the moment he will feel better she will tell them. She also asked them to not overwhelm him. The EPC members agreed that they collect the questions and send one journalist for an interview and hopefully he will agree to more in the future.

Fresh News was the lucky one to be selected for this task. He was a well-known journalist from the Equestria Every Day. This was the biggest newspaper in the whole kingdom, available every day in every city, village, etc... But of course, this interview won't only go to his newspaper but will be available for all of them, they only need to get it from the EPC office.

So this was a very important moment for Fresh. He will be the first one to interview a human, the first journalist at least. Well, he could still say no, he had the right to decline it, but the princess promised to send him a letter in advance to prepare him and hopefully, he will agree.

The train arrived and he was on his way to the address he was given. The man opened the door, confusion on his face at first.

"Good day to you! I'm Fresh News from the Equestria Every Day. I was selected to ask for an interview with you in the name of the Equestrian Press Committee, which includes every news portal in Equestria. If my information is correct then Princess Celestia did send you a note a few days ago about this." he greeted and began his explanation.

"Oh, yeah, I got it." was his reaction. "Do I have to do this?" he asked which made Fresh worry a little because this meant he will likely say no but he had to tell him the truth.

"Of course not. If you wish, you can say no but we all would like to get to know you a little more," he answered.

"Alright, let's do this, but I can't promise anything." he sighed and let him in.

"Thank you very much!" his heart rate was going up and up every second he was looking at him, this moment was historical but he had to keep up the professional act.

He followed him inside, sat down in the living room on the offered seat on the sofa. He began to get the stuff out of his saddlebags. He took out a recorder, his trusty notepad, a pencil, and another notepad, which had the collected questions. Lazlo brought a glass of water and put it down on the small table. He thanked him and waited for him to sit down himself to explain about this interview more before actually starting with it.

"Okay, so thank you again for accepting this interview. It will be simple, I'll ask the questions, you answer if you want to but you are not under any obligation to do so and you have the right to stop the interview at any time, you wish. The interview will be recorded by this device here. This records our talk onto two small tapes, one will be given to you and the other will be in the EPC office. The interview will be published in a few days, or in a paper that doesn't publish every day, will have the interview in their next print most likely. If you have any issues with any of the published material, you can contact the EPC, for example, if you feel like something in the papers has a different meaning without the context, you can ask the EPC to investigate." he informed Lazlo, who had a surprised expression hearing all of this.

"Wow. This sounds professional," he commented.

"What do you mean?" Fresh asked, a little confused.

"Sorry, I just had some bad experience with the 'press' in my world and have some prejudice because of that. Let's just say they're far from being professional and credible in my opinion. But it's not that important now, let's just get over it."

"As you wish." he then started the recording and levitated the two notepads and the pencil in front of him with his magic. "This is Fresh News' first interview with Lazlo Kis, the human on the twelfth of Mid-autumn. We at the different newspapers have many questions for you and I've brought some of them to ask. At first let's talk about yourself, mind giving me a quick introduction?"

"Sure, I'm Lazlo Kis, a twenty-two-year-old man. What do you want to know about me?"

"Where are you from?"

"According to the princess, this is a different world, the planet is called Earth and there are many different countries there, I'm from one of them."

"I guess, it wouldn't mean anything if you tell us which one. Anyway, I'm surprised that we speak the same language, we call it the Common Language, if I remember correctly, you call it English."

"Yes, it's one of the most spoken languages. I'm not a native English speaker myself but I needed to learn it because many things aren't available in my mother tongue, plus at my job there, I was required to communicate with others in English."

"And what about your job there? What were you doing?"

"I was a software engineer. You do have computers here, right?"

"Yes, we use them for research purposes to measure and calculate the more complicated parts."

"Alright, so we have some more advanced stuff. We can do almost anything with our computers. For example, the company I worked at was for example was manufacturing machines for factories and the software for it, that's used by the people who work there."

"Sounds impressive. I would like to talk more about it but we don't have that much time, for now, so let's continue with your current job here. You are a business partner at a game factory, which is owned by Lord Fancy Pants."

"Yeah, I sent a few that are from my world."

"Are you allowed to do that? Won't the original creators be mad at you for it?"

"They can sue me if they want."

"Okay, so I think we can move to the other questions. So, how do you like Equestria so far? How did you feel about it at first."

"It's really a beautiful place. I was very surprised and confused at first. I wasn't even sure if it was a dream, a hallucination, or something like that."

"I'm glad, you like Equestria, however all of us at the EPC would like to offer our condolences to you, as we understand you are stuck here and it must be lonely as the only human here without any means to go home. I believe, most ponies do sympathize with you."

"Thank you."

"Another question is that to my knowledge, where you come from there are only humans as sapient species. I assume, meeting other kinds of intelligent creatures must have been a new and unique experience. And what about the animals, plants, are they similar to what there are here, or are they completely different?"

"Sometimes it's still hard for me to believe this all is real. About the living things, many of them are either exist on Earth or is a mythical creatures. For example, unicorns, pegasi, griffons are all fictional, even earth ponies at some point, well about the magic stuff, um... we have horses, dogs, cats, many animals, same with the plants, like apples, pears, etc... they look somewhat different but other than that they're mostly the same."

"I see, that's not so bad, at least there are familiar things. Anyway, onto the next question..."

The whole interview took about two hours. Fresh news asked more about his world, the technology, and his adjustments to this place, mostly just basic stuff, he already talked with Twilight about them. By the end of it, the tapes were full, just like his notepad. After finishing up the interview, the unicorn ended the recording and took out one of the tapes, and gave it to Lazlo.

"Thank you very much for accepting this interview. I hope that we can have more in the future."

The moment Fresh left the house, he let all the excitement, that he repressed during the session, run through his body, and on his way to the train station he hopped through the quarter of the way there before regaining control of his body. This was the best day of his life.

Twilight Sparkle was happy. The breakfast with Lacy and the girls two days ago was somewhat successful. He showed up and the talk was almost similar that the ones before the Gala. He seemed like, he was accepting the situation and slowly but steadily returning to his old self.

Today was a special day. Today they will all be visiting him but it won't be just a casual visit, no. They have a big surprise for him. The plan was simple. They all go together, five of them will distract him with questions about the interview, while Pinkie will be doing her things to set up everything.

"Hi, Lacy!" they all greeted him at the same time, and without waiting for his reply, they basically pushed him back to his living room and occupied all the seats.

They began to bombard him, constantly asking about yesterday, while making sure to cover as much of his view as they could. He soon had enough of this and pushed them away.

"If you don't stop this, what happened days ago will be repeated." he threatened them, then looking around, he noticed that they were one mare minus. "Where is Pinkie?"

"I'm here!" this came from the kitchen. Twilight let out a relieved sigh, this meant that they stalled him long enough for her to do everything, this mare was fast.

Lazlo looked there and his eyes widened. There were several plates and forks on the table, in the middle of it a cake, balloons were knotted onto the chairs and the table, colorful and decorative ribbons were everywhere. Lazlo stood up and walked to the kitchen, confused.

"Happy Birthday!" they all yelled. As Lazlo got closer, he also noticed several gifts in one corner.

"What the...? But how did you...?" he tried to speak but couldn't properly. Then he looked at the cake more closely. "Wait. Is that...?" he observed the simple round cake. It had white, fondant icing with a familiar chocolate striped pattern. On the top of it were several candles, all lit. "Esterházy torta?" he looked at Pinkie in disbelief. "How is it possible?"

"It's really simple. You see I remembered that your birthday is on the thirteenth of October, which is Mid-autumn here so I thought that you deserve to have a birthday party, even if the last one wasn't exactly one year ago, since you said that it was winter there when you came but it was summer here, but it doesn't matter because here today is still your birthday and we all wanted to celebrate it but I had trouble with the cake and I was panicking at first because what if the cake I bake won't be good for you and then I remembered that on one of your memory, I saw a calendar on the background that had pictures on it, one of them was with you sitting at a table and before you, a cake, like this one and I had to look through the recipes, you gave me to my birthday and found this one which I thought would be at least similar, so I thought that it's worth a try and looks like I got it right." she summarized it to him. "By the way, it has the strangest name given to a cake that I ever heard."

"It's the family name of an aristocrat dynasty from my country, but Pinkie... it's... it's..." he suddenly kneeled and hugged the pink mare, while starting to cry a little. "My grandma baked one for my every birthday. It's my favorite. It's... It's so... Thank you!" he hugged her stronger, while the others also joined, making it a big group hug.

As the party went on, Twilight found herself writing her next friendship letter to the princess.

Dear Princess Celestia,
This is a follow-up lesson to my latest one.
Sometimes your friend will go through a crisis and it's hard to help them when the experience is fresh and needs time and the appropriate environment to accept the situation and move on. In these situations, you have to be patient and not rush things and be careful not to overwhelm the suffering pony or person in this case. And there are few happier moments than seeing a friend recover from that trauma and you know that you had a hoof in it. And I think that this is a sign that that friendship will only strengthen and last for a long time.
Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle.

"Goodbye Lacy!" the moon was already up when they left the house.

The girls all were on their way to their homes but Twilight stopped and looked back, seeing Pinkie still standing there next to the human. Twilight looked at them curiously.

"I know that you didn't let out everything, the last time, I was here." she heard Pinkie saying to him. "You can come to me any time if you want to say, what you withheld back then." Lazlo nodded, then closed the door.

Twilight frowned slightly. This meant that it will take more time than she expected. But it wasn't a problem, they had all the time in the world. This was still a big development.

She, with her friends, had helped this man, who lost everything.

And it felt great.

Author's Note

Huh... I think this is the longest chapter so far, though I still took out a part of it because that will be an extra episode during season 2.
However, I still feel bad that it took this long but I'm mentally overwhelmed with the job, the upcoming elections here (propaganda factory on the maximum production) plus there is a war in my neighborhood so... yeah, I didn't want these things to degrade this chapter.

I hope you liked it, it's the first one, which doesn't have Lazlo's PoV at all. I tried to get the characters right, though I'm not sure about some of them I plan to improve, after all, I love these ponies and I want to get them right.

Also fun fact: this was the first 'original episode' that I came up with, but at that time it would've been from Lazlo's side (which I'm glad that I changed because it would have had even less variety of words...) and still in the library and minus the interview but something else, that I actually only took out when I was already mid-way this chapter.

Anyway, it's finally time to start with Season 2, the season that actually made me fall in love with this universe and its characters.