To Save our Legacy

“I’m sorry Alex, I-I’m… I mean, none of us is getting anything from what you just said.”

Thought as much, but I could blame Izzy and the rest for not following. It had taken me my fair amount of attempts to fully grasp the meaning behind her existence and her task, a task which I was now a key piece in her efforts to accomplish it.

“I don’t fully understand it either, Iz. Harmony’s always been about cryptic messages and riddles, which is pretty infuriating in my opinion. But we should take her words seriously, she has never led me or my friends astray.” Debatable, but it wasn’t the time to vent my anger at her. “I don’t know if the darkness she’s referring to is Discord or something else. Equestria has never been short on enemies, and I don’t think a few centuries off the grid is going to change that. For the time being, we stay vigilant and recover the Pegasus Crystal before it's too late. And you, Sunny,” I pointed at her, “You and I are going to train when we have the chance. The sooner you learn to control your alicorn powers and I learn a few more, the better, sound okay?”

She answered with a hesitant nod, conflict visible in her jerky hooves rubbing one against the other. I hated putting her under this kind of pressure. But now, with Harmony’s warning hanging above us like a dark cloud, I wasn’t going to take any chances.

“Come on guys, let's fix us some dinner and call it a day. All that adventuring through Zephyr Heights has completely exhausted me, I could use a quiet night to digest what you just told us anyway, Alex.”

The rest of the ponies were in agreement with Zipp, standing up from their seats and trotting towards the kitchen. All except Sunny and Izzy, who remained at my side when they noticed I wasn’t following them.

“Aren’t you coming, Alex?” The orange-furred mare dipped her head cutely.

“Perhaps later, Sunny. I ate a hayburger on my way here and I’m not feeling particularly hungry right now. I’ll just take the books, sword and laptop to my room and then I’ll join you and try to go over some of the questions you might have. I’m sure you are all as baffled as I am.”

With that said, the two mares left to join the rest of the group, not before sending one last worried look behind them. With a tired grunt, I too raised myself from my seat, loosened my limbs, grabbed the pile of books and unplugged the laptop, storing it all in my backpack. I made my way up the ramp towards my room after grabbing my sword, hearing the clatter of dishes filling the ample room of the main hall.

It felt like weeks had gone by since the last time I’d stood inside, taking in its familiar, homely scent, even though it had barely been a couple of days. I had grown fond of the place, graciously gifted to me by Sunny. I made sure to keep it meticulously clean and tidy, even if only out of respect for Sunny’s dad, its previous occupant.

I found the old documents I had recovered from my safe, and tasked Sunny to take care of, kept neatly tucked on the desk, a smile of appreciation making its way up my face at the sight of them. Work for a later time.

Resting my bag against the table, I carefully exactret the old tomes and left them near the sandy papers for later assortment. removing my laptop next, I plugged it back into the socket near the night desk, sacrificing the soothing glow of the night lamp.

Feeling my knees protesting still, I sat on the edge of the bed, its soft mattress bewitching to me to lie on it and submerge into some much-needed sleep. Night wasn't far away, but I wanted to spend some more time with my new friends. I had missed them terribly during my solo search, and I already knew them well enough that, if I didn't hurry and join them, they’d storm into my room and drag me kicking and biting for some answers, tucked out or not.

Being alone during the search in Ponyville’s ruins hadn’t been a pleasant experience, unavoidable trip down memory lane aside, and after all these years coexisting with the ponies, I’d found myself deeply enjoying the company of these small equines on every step of my day. Some more than others, needless to say, but thankfully my antisocial days of your average lab-rat working his way to a name and reputation had withered and died out the moment I was literally smothered in friendship upon my arrival, until I had no choice but to give in to the ponies advances to break me out of my shell and live a little.

These ponies really made an impact on me. If only I had made a similar impact on them…

‘... It should’ve been our call, that day. They didn't deserve to suffer because of our incompetence.’

*Knock, Knock*

I was dragged from my little world by the sound of hooves tapping on the wooden door.

“Hey Alex, are you awake in there?” I recognized Izzy’s voice from outside my room.

I saw no reason to shoo her away. “I’m here, Izzy, you can come in if you want.”

She did so, slowly opening the door with a click, her levitation manipulating the door’s handle with expertise. It felt so good to see her grow accustomed to her magic. Perhaps in due time it’d become a second nature to her like it used to be for the unicorns of old.

She found me sitting on the edge of the bed, silently staring at the wall behind the desk, twirling my thumbs over my crossed hands while letting a cascade of conflicting emotions wash over me. The map of Equestria I had borrowed from Sunny was hanging there, taunting me with a world I once knew and lost by my hand.

“Anything you need? I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Oh, fine, everything's fine just…” She scratched the back of her head nervously. “It’s been a couple of minutes already and we thought you had skipped dinner and gone to sleep.”

‘It’s been a few minutes already?’ I surprised myself.

“Sorry, Izzy, I must have spaced out. These days I feel like my head is permanently stuck in the gutter. Heh, it’s true when they say that college doesn’t prepare you for this…”

A polite smirk lit her muzzle. “Heh, yeah, I can guess how you must be feeling right now… even if I never went to college. Still!” She crossed the threshold and entered the room proper, trotting around the bed to stand in front of me with her most cheery disposition. “We’re starting on some dinner downstairs. If you don’t mind, we would very much like it if you would join us. I don’t know about the rest, but I’m bubbling with questions. Although perhaps we should let the heavier themes rest for a day and still talk about other things like, you know, the fact that I find myself sharing cereal for breakfast with an alien from outer space?”

At her narrowed, inquisitive eyes, I released a small laugh. “Y-yeah, I, um, I’m sure you guys would like some explanations.” I rubbed my arm self-consciously of my little omission of facts.

“Oh, you know it, brother. We’d very much like them. Pronto.” Her gaze deepened with her words, although I could discern a small, playful betraying her ‘Stallion in Black’ mojo.

“Okay, okay. Let’s return downstairs… and stop with that look! It’s not like I’m an ugly space monster or something.” I demanded with a desperate shake of my arms.

“Meh.” She gave a nonchalant shrug, “You’re not a joy to look at either.”

“Ohohoholy shit Izzy, that burns!” I laughed heartily at her burn while grabbing my chest in faux pain. That unicorn had a tongue, alright.

She shared my merriment with a chuckle of her own. I knew she was just playing, but it was a refreshing experience to see another pony joking like that. You know, with ponies being way too PEGI six to banter like that with another.

I rose from my seat with a reinvigorated hop and tapped her twice on her flank to signal her to lead the way. She happily did so, not soon sending a pair of bedroom eyes and a bitten lip as she made her way out. That unicorn had something coming if she kept teasing me like that.

Soon we found ourselves back on the ground floor, the cacophony of light conversation and dishes coming from the kitchen signaling us that our friends had already begun with their dinner.

We made our way to join them and found the gang sitting around the isle, plates with light salads and a few sandwiches spread over the pristine surface. Upon hearing us enter, the ponies parked their meals to find us coming at us and greeted us back. Hitch pointed towards an empty chair for Izzy, the mare nodding in appreciation while a triangle sandwich was already being wrapped in her levitation. With myself being considerably bigger, I decided to lean on the counter so as to not take too much space and allow the gang to enjoy their light dinner.

“So!” Izzy began from her seat, swallowing a muzzlefull of sandwich before proceeding, “Now that we have some free time, how about you tell us about the fact that you’re not from this world, hm? You said it like it wasn’t much of a deal back then.”

I wasn't surprised how that particular small nugget of information about me had stuck with them. It’s not everyday you get to live all your cheap fourth-phase encounter movies in a human-shaped package. Kinda disappointing from their perspective, if I had to make an educated guess, but they were too polite to comment on it.

Sunny offered her two bits. “Yeah, I mean, what little my dad’s books said about you, they never mentioned the fact you weren’t from Equus. Although I guess the name ‘Alexander Kintobor’ doesn’t sound very Equish.”

“Kingston” I fired back to Sunny, wishing to correct that old mishap that ended with changing my name for the records.

“Huh?” She dipped her head in conduction.

“My family name is Kingston. Alexander Kingston. Kintobor is just a joke name from a fictional character from my world. I was reading a comic book and… ugh, just… it was supposed to be a joke. I was being sarcastic and an ass. But I reacted too late to fix it and got stuck with it.”

“Oh. Well… it’s still a bit weird, if I’m honest.” Zipp shrugged from the other side of the table, her sister nodding in agreement with her mouth full of salad.

“Heh, yeah, I guess it is for you. Still, that’s my name, but please, you can just keep calling me Alex, it’s a mouthful otherwise.” Not that I didn't like my name, new and old ones. But it felt like calling Twi ‘Twilight Sparkle’ all the time. Gets tiring really fast, you get me?

“And what about the place you’re from?” Our peppy unicorn was relentless in her thirst for knowledge.

“Well, Izzy, the name of the countries and continents on Earth won’t mean a thing to you. But still, I have no problem telling you. I’m from a country called ‘Spain’, located in the south-westernmost part of a continent called ‘Europe.’”

As I expected, none of the names made any sense to them, but that didn’t prevent them from giving me looks full of wonder.

“Wow, that’s so cool!” Sunny cheered with an excited shake of her tail, although I suspected it was more to spare my feelings than actual recognition.

“If you say so, Sunny. My dad’s British, from a country called the ‘United Kingdom’, which is where my family name comes from, and my mom’s Spanish, from Spain, which I mentioned earlier. I’d lived there for my whole life until my last year on Earth, when I traveled to another country, called the ‘United States of America’, to further my studies… until I ended up here, that is.”

Sunny was positively beaming, ecstatic about learning more about me. I was happy to feed her never ending curiosity. “Wow! I really want to know about the history of those places. Those ‘united’ places sound like they’re full of harmony, right?”

Ah, the other side of the coin. Never gets old, that conversation. The day had been too long to delve in those sticky matters.

Exhaling deeply, I dodged the topic for the time being. “History ain’t my forte, to be honest. I could regale you with some Spanish history, but that’s about it. You’d like one of my friends from Earth. You could ask him about history from nearly anywhere, and he’d talk at length about it with a kind of giddy glee. The problem then is that you’d have a hard time getting him to shut up about it.”

Pipp, feeling a bit out, interceded with her own question. “So, how come you speak Equish?”

Now that’s a good question, for not even I could really tell. “Well, by some sort of extremely unlikely coincidence, Equish is almost identical to an Earth language called ‘English’. It isn’t my mother language, which for me would be ‘Spanish’; hence my weird accent, or more precisely, my lack of one, when speaking your language.”

“Oh. I thought that was just a human thing?”

“Not in particular, Pipp, it’s just the way I learned it in school, but it gets me understood, so…”

“And the thing you said you studied?” Asked Hitch after swallowing his bite of cheese and cucumber sandwich.

Blegh.

“I have a college degree in Biology, and then I got a master’s degree in Cellular Biology and Genetics after that. I had barely finished it and was about to start my thesis when… well, I ended up here.”

“So you were a scientist before you arrived in Equestria?” The stallion continued.

“A junior one at that, but yes, I was. Much of my early work here was based on the knowledge I carried from my previous studies, and thank goodness for that. With a total lack of any magic whatsoever, I would’ve otherwise ended with such a boring job here.” More than one crazy job interview came to mind. “Heh, a lot of ponies wanted me to work as a massager back at Ponyville’s spa. I know my hands feel great on a pony’s fur, but come on.”

Izzy gave me a sultry look, “I wouldn’t mind that in the slightest.”

“Of course you wouldn’t, you crazy mare.” I flipped her the finger, earning a puzzled blink from the mare. “But in that case, I would have to charge you an otherworldly price for these babies.” I returned the teasing gaze, wiggling my fingers in emphasis.

A change of mind landed as quickly as lighting. “Hehe, forget everything I said. Science’s great and all…” She took a nervous sip of her drink, darting her eyes with an embarrassed blush.

Rolling her eyes at the unicorn's silliness, Pipp took her turn. “And, you said you were a doctor in Bioachre…Bi-bioarchon…”

“Bioarchanology.” Sunny helped Pipp.

“Yeah, that. Is it the same thing you studied back home?”

Ups, time to dig in the attic for some simple terms. “Oh, um…. no, not exactly. When I found out about magic here, it kinda completely broke all of my understanding of how things work. Like, all of them. At the same time, I saw that many of your presumptions and discoveries regarding several aspects of biology were incorrect, most of the time citing magic as the sole reason and signing out without a care. So, I thought, why don’t I make myself useful and delve further into the problem? And with that, I worked with numerous ponies from Canterlot University and other places around Equestria. Together, we founded an entirely new field of study, whose main purpose was to further the understanding of magic and biology and how they interact together, give or take. Using my knowledge from Earth and the pony’s knowledge of magic, we managed to find out some amazing things and answer some questions that had gone unanswered in Equestria for some time. I mean, I even got a doctorate from it.” I answered with the smallest bit of pride. It had been many months of painstaking work, so I thought I deserved a bit of praise for it. Only a little bit.

“And what about the technology? I remember Phyllis mentioning something about it back at the station.” The sheriff referred to our brief exchange at his office.

“You’re right, Hitch. As it happens I, well, pretty much ‘fell’ into Equestria while I was on my way back from a seminar. I was carrying my backpack full of the things I used to carry to college, my phone and laptop included. At the time, practically all machinery made by ponykind was rustic and magic-based, and mostly focused on medicine, aerodynamics, and a few emerging industrial areas, but nothing as sophisticated as what I was carrying when I crossed the barrier between worlds. Needless to say, it really blew their minds. So, using my meager knowledge of computer technology from a bunch of online courses I took in my free time, and a lot of careful prodding and experimenting, we started to recreate some of the technology, after first explaining and teaching some of the underlying scientific concepts, like electricity, magnetism, and electromagnetism. We created some of the more basic things first, like a non-magic telegraph machine, able to be operated by non unicorns. But now? I guess I’m looking at my old phone’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson when I see yours, Pipp.” The pegasus sent a furtive look at her device. “Not bad if I say so myself, especially after magic disappeared. I’m sure ponies had to regard technology in a completely new light when that happened…”

“That’s so amazing Alex!” A beaming Sunny was giving me her one hundred percent, sparks of wonder in her dreamy eyes.

I offered a knowing wink at her, touched by her interest in little ol’ me. “Yeah, I guess it is. For better or worse, me and my colleagues really changed the world.”

“For worse?” Asked Zipp with a confused tilt of her head, reaching for another bite of her decreasing bowl of salad.

A sore topic if there ever was one. I had to tread these waters carefully. “Yeah. I’m afraid that, um… Well, one of the reasons things turned south so fast was due to the implementation of ISIT in Equestrian society.” I nervously rubbed my gauntlets with a choking sense of guilt squeezing my chest.

“Alex,” Sunny saw necessary to remind me with a stern look, “We’ve been through this already. I don’t… we don’t believe for a second that any of your discoveries or advances are to blame for what happened! You only tried to help them, and they chose to act like that!”

‘If only it were so simple, Sunny.’

“I know, Tangerine, I know. But still…” I sighed heavily. I knew how, behind all pretenses and miscommunication, behind her intrusion and poisonous words, deep down, it was my fault.

“... It doesn’t really matter anymore. Perhaps it would have happened regardless of my presence or not. There were many, MANY things going on that only helped furthering the problem, if not bang part of the root of it all together. I mean, I knew for a fact that my project was helping ponies everywhere, and creatures of other races in countries far away, and that it’d bring big changes to the way of living of all races. The only goal I had in mind was to break the species barrier and bring everypony closer, improving everycreature’s lives… you know where I first got the idea?”

The ponies answered with negative shakes of their heads.

“Toast.” I stated, short and simple.

“… Huh?”

I smiled at their adorable disbelief. “Yeah, Izzy. Toast. It’s actually a kinda funny story. You see, I was having some breakfast, just like on any normal day at Twilight’s castle, on a sunny morning like any other regular day. I decided to make myself some toast, which, obviously, involved getting the loaf of bread, slicing it up, putting the slices in the toaster, and so on. I’m sure you all know how it’s done.”

My short jest got a tiny grin out of my friends, and all of them turned in their seats, listening intently to my storytelling, momentarily forgetting their dinner. “A minute after I was done, Twilight entered the kitchen, her mane a mess and her muzzle deep in a book like it was common for her to do.” The mention of her name seemed to particularly interest Sunny, if the change in her posture was any clue.

“She wished me a good morning and, seeing that I was munching on some toast, decided to make some for herself. But instead of going towards the counter, she just trotted and sat on the chair near mine, and used her telekinesis to prepare her toast. She carried out the full toast-making process just using her levitation magic,while she continued reading her book.”

My friends were surprised at that, especially Izzy, who spoke with incredulity just as I finished, “Wow, that’s some skill she had. I don’t think I would be able to pull off that one.” She lit her horn twice to taste the waters, not that we had any bread or toaster at hand for her to try the feat.

“She was the Element of Magic for a reason, Izzy. She was very, very good at it. But still, seeing her using her amazing ability in manipulating various objects with magic, without really breaking a sweat, while reading a book like it wasn’t an issue? That got gears turning. ‘That’s so stupid’ I thought. L-Like, she made it look like such a simple thing, so easy and practical. But at the same time, I realized I couldn’t do it. I had to take the loooong, boring road to my toast. You know, a way I was more than used to, being your everyday human human. But, after seeing her do it, I realized it was something that needn't have to be just a thing for unicorns, not with magic being readily available for all of us to use.”

I raised my gloved hand, showcasing the gems lining its frame. “I understood that the more complex spells and difficult enchantments and all the jazz could only be performed by a skilled unicorn, that's just how things were. But being able to levitate stuff just to make your day-to-day easier? Why shouldn’t a pegasus or an earth pony be able to benefit from it? You guys know what I mean here, right?”

The insight of our resident unicorn was unmatched in this scenario. “Oh, I absolutely get what you’re trying to say.” Izzy began while lighting her horn and levitating her fork. “All my life I’ve had to use my hooves to handle everything, but now that I have magic, many things are waaaay easier. And yet, it’s not impossible to accomplish them without magic. I guess it’s more of a convenient way than an absolute requirement.”

The ponies seemed to understand my explanation better after Izzy’s intervention. I clapped at her quickness of mind. “That’s exactly it, Izzy. A huge part of human technology exists to make our lives easier, more comfortable and efficient. It’s allowed us to simplify complicated processes, automatically perform boring or repetitive tasks, and it’s even allowed us to reach heights that we wouldn’t have been able to on our own. An MRI scanner, for example, is a very complex machine which only experts know how to manipulate. And of course, it helps in saving lives. A toaster is just a simple machine to make toasting bread, or other assorted bread products, a more convenient process, with even an idiot being able to operate one!”

Idiots deserve their toast too, myself included.

“It’s the same with magic, or at least that’s what it clicked for me that morning. Make sense?”

Hitch nodded first. “Well, we’ve all been without magic for our entire lives until very recently, but now that it’s back, I see what you’re getting at. I mean, as an earth pony, I’ll never be able to cast any complicated spells like conjuring a familiar or stopping time or something like that. But I wouldn’t mind having one like yours to just levitate things around. Heh, it’d make working over my morning paperwork stack back at the station less of a pain.”

“That’s exactly what I intended Hitch. And that’s what ISIT was supposed to be about. Integrating magic through technology, making life easier for everyone of all species, and helping them in any way with the magic they could now shape…”

It sounded idyllic in retrospect, didn't it?

A shame it didn't play out as I hoped. “... But, during the downfall, many saw it as an excuse to denigrate and disregard the other races further. After all, what’s the use of having a pegasus mailpony deliver the mail if I can get everything I need on a phone? Or a unicorn workpony organizing stuff if I can levitate it around the warehouse myself?. Or a strong earth pony to transport heavy cargo when an electrothaumatic engine can pull the same load faster and further? Those were some of the many excuses the tribes used to fuel their hate for one another, to believe that the status quo was no longer necessary…”

A leer of shame marred my features, directed at our ever-hopeful leader. “So yeah, Sunny, my work was indeed a big part of the issue…”

A sad look we shared among my friends. After a moment of hesitation, Sunny got up from her seat and approached me, holstering herself on her hind legs to get to eye level with me. She opened her mouth a few times, trying to come up with something. But after my speech, I understood that there wasn’t much space left for rebuttals.

Gently taking her head in my hands, I softly brushed my nose over hers in a tender gesture. “I appreciate the attempt, Sunny, but I’m afraid that’s just how it is. I’m ultimately responsible for it, and now, I have to own it, regardless of how many hours of sleep it costs me… At least, even if it took hundreds of years to take root, it seems my work eventually ended up doing some good, right?”

Her trembling eyes searched for a twinkle of inspiration, desperately searching for the words to deny my share of the blame. But, after a few seconds of trying and coming up empty-hoofed, she surrendered with a defeated sigh and returned the nuzzle.

Enjoying the mare soft touch, I focused my attention back at the rest of the group, seeking to assess their reactions. All of them shared Sunny’s opinion, yet words weren't needed, only the warmth in their smiles.

I was left feeling particularly drained after the long speech, stacking up over the bunch of things happening lately and all that soon would follow. I decided it was time to finally call it a day so as to get an early start tomorrow. That crystal wasn't gonna find itself.

A small part of me wished we had incorporated that feature into its primordial design. Would’ve saved us a lot of headaches.

“Thanks, guys, I appreciate the support. I really, really mean that…” I returned their supportive smiles with a grateful one of my own, yet I felt bad to cut our Q&A session short. I knew there was still a lot of ground to cover. Better to leave that for when we had notched down a chaos demigod a peg or two.

“... But, I’m afraid that’s going to be all for today. I can tell you more things about my world or whatever you’re curious about another time. I’m gonna head back to bed and get some shut-eye. Tomorrow, we can plan how to begin the search, yes?”

The ponies agreed as one, a few treacherous yawns giving voice to the fatigue reflecting on their droopy ears and tired eyes. It was time for all of us to get some well-deserved rest.

I wished the ponies a good night and made a straight line for my room. Once in the confines of my private space, I took out the dirty clothes from my bag and left them on the chair, making a mental note to wash them tomorrow. I left the torn shirt I had used to hold the sword in place in my bag with the rest, adding ‘apologizing to Izzy and coming out with all two hundred and six bones intact’ to the mental checklist (I could spare a phalanx or two).

Finding them where I had last checked them, I scanned over the documents and books on the desk one last time, making sure everything was in order. Even if the information in them was most likely obsolete, I wanted to preserve them, even if only as tokens of a better time.

With that little nugget crossed off the list, I removed everything but my undergarments and crawled into bed like a bed goblin, the accumulated exhaustion from the previous days hammering the shut-off button merciless and forcing me into oblivion before I had finished settling under the blankets.

I wondered what I’d dream of that night.

“Okay… Just a bit tighter here…..aaaaaaand, done! Okay, Scoots, tell me how it feels.”

The orange-furred pegasus filly in front of me flapped her wings experimentally, her curious eyes taking in the new sight and feeling of the prosthesis attached to the rim and around the shoulder of each wing, joined together through a vest worn over her torso to secure everything in place.

Lifting a bit of dust and forcing a hand to cover my eyes, Scootaloo offered her honest opinion. “Meh, I thought it would be worse. I can feel them tugging over the wing but, it ain’t uncomfortable, just a bit tight on the joints perhaps.”

Happy with her feedback, I attempted to loosen the straps a bit over her joints while reassuring the filly. “Yeh, it's supposed to be like that, don’t worry about it.” Once satisfied, I wanted to conduct one last visual test, see if her wings were moving as they should. “Okay, a deep swing with your left wing, please?”

She followed without protest, making an exaggerated flap while I watched the prosthesis working to stabilize and improve the movement.

“Very, well. Now the right wing this time, please.”

She repeated the moment with the other wing, offering a similar result. I allowed myself a ping of pride for my latest work, they were working flawlessly. “Okay, now both wings, moving them back and forth.”

Scootlaoo strained her underdeveloped wings to follow my instructions. The prosthesis remained in place and did its job perfectly. The stabilizing filaments along the wing perimeter fixed the curvature of the wing without compromising its flexibility. A simple pulley mechanism added to the vest in conjunction with an elastic fiber attached to the far end of the prosthesis on each wing exerted a moderate resistance to the extension of the wing, adjustable to her needs, in order to force the muscles to develop correctly.

All in all, it looked like one of those early earth-pony flying devices a knucklehead or two attempted to invent so as to compete with the, at-the-time, enemy pegasus tribe.

“Great job, now a silly dance, if you please.” I requested with a crooked grin.

An amused smirk appeared on Scootaloo’s muzzle. Her body broke out into a cute little dance, the filly moving all her limbs at once in a random manner. The surrounding ponies chuckled with me at the silly show.

“Very well. All seems to be working fine. Everything good on your end?”

Scootallo gave her wings one last run over before nodding vigorously. “Yeah, I don’t feel any pain, just a small resistance when I make the swings, but they do seem to be deeper and I can catch more air under them.”

“Well, that’s the idea, Scoots. This stabilizes your wing stroke and provides a slight resistance over the joint and wing muscles for you to get used to the movements and improve muscle mass. Just as we discussed: plenty of training and exercise with Rainbow Dash, not forgetting the bone-density pills either, and I guarantee you you’ll be flying in no time.” I announced with a clap.

The filly couldn’t contain her excitement and, with a vigorous jump, she sailed into my chest, the force of the impact forcing me back on my rear, dusting my pants. But I didn't care. Her telltale tomboyish nature wasn’t preventing her from smothering me with plenty of nuzzles and words of gratitude.

“Yes, yes, you’re very welcome, Scoots!” I answered to the filly’s energetic nuzzling. The poor dear had been struggling with her inability to fly for a long time. Now she could begin to put it behind her and join her feathered peers into the conquest of the sky. It was the least I could do to step up and help her. Just another example of ISIT working and helping another pony. This design was intended to help any winged creature to improve their flight, regardless of whether it was due to injury or genetic disability. It aimed to make the process of flying easier as well as help them regain their strength over time.

I remained seated while the lively filly rushed towards the rest of the Crusaders. The sight of the small filly excitingly showing off her wing prosthesis to her friends, and receiving numerous words of support and ‘oooohs’ from the rest of the ponies present, truly warmed my heart.

This was the main reason I chose to do what I did, after all.

I felt a furry presence atop my head, an upwards glance revealing the lavender-colored body of Twilight, who was resting her head against mine while her wing cocooned me.

“She looks so happy…” I whispered, not shying away from the tears lining my eyes.

“Yes, she does, baby. You did a wonderful thing here. We’re all so proud of you.” She spoke while affectionately rubbing her head against mine.

“Thanks, Twi. It’s the only thing I wish to do, and you all helped me a lot, don’t you forget that.”

She released a small chuckle at my reminder, running her snout over my messy hair. “I won’t, you silly human. I won’t.”

Crusty, sleepless eyes glared daggers at the unassuming ceiling above me. Another trashy night to add to my list of trashy nights. It was getting long, worryingly long.

“Fuck, I should have rigged that accursed machine to make nighttime last twice as long.”

Too late for that now. With some effort and a lot of dramatics for nopony to cringe at, thankfully, I shook myself awake and, without much enthusiasm dressed myself and dragged my way out of my room, my nose sniffing the air with hope, but finding no delicious aroma to guide it down to the kitchen. It was very early in the morning, meaning the ponies weren’t awake yet.

Taking into account that we all tended to be quite busy in the mornings, you know, being respectable citizens with jobs to do and such, I decided to make myself productive and return to the lab at the hospital for the morning shift. I could use the opportunity to ask my coworkers to keep an eye open for Discord or his magic, and of course, actually go to work as was expected of me.

And perhaps getting a start with a personal project of mine. I’d have to see what I had available to work with.

A quick breakfast and a splash of icy water on my face got me ready with a kick to head back into town, the morning ponies of the market already busy bees hard at work preparing their stands for the day. Seeing that there weren’t that many ponies toiling around at this hour, I decided it best to ask around town for any leads later when I’d finished my work and the business hours were at their peak.

The townsponies drowsy greetings when they found me passing by, the nervous attitude and skittish glances already a thing of the past by then. For the most part, at least. There were still a few who continued giving me the stinky eye, but they were decidedly in the minority.

‘Well, in every town there must be a few idiots, what can you do about it?’

A short walk later, I was back in the deep guts of the local (and only) hospital, the few nurses who were now leaving in an exhausted crumple after the night shift warmly greeting me back and curiously inquiring about my whereabouts these last few days. Seeing that they were pretty drained after their night shifts, I didn’t want to keep them away from a much-needed rest, so I gave them an abbreviated version of the situation and asked them to please keep an eye open for anything unusual. Not that they’d grasp a lot snoring the day away, but still.

Feeling too tired to fully process the seriousness of the situation, they promised to be vigilant and promptly left for their homes.

I was the first of the lab team to arrive that morning so, without much hurry, I began to prepare the equipment for the day, feeling relieved at seeing nothing broken or missing after the magic glitching from earlier, although I guessed having been doing this without magic their whole lives had allowed them to quickly reverse back to what they were used to. Better safe than sorry.

The morning passed without issue, the slow pace of a low income of patients allowing me to continue thinking about how to deal with Discord. Being unpredictability made flesh, or whatever he was made of, landed him virtually anywhere for all we knew. Heck, he could be in his own pocket dimension waiting the storm out ‘till we gave up searching for him.

We needed the help of everypony in the three settlements, with their phones and social media we would be able to notice anything suspicious instantly.

Following that thought, I asked my coworkers once they had joined me in their own carousel of yawns and drowsy greetings to please inform us of anything out of place they might notice, regardless of how insignificant it might be.

“Don’t worry about it, Alex, we’ll help you guys as much as we can, it’s the least we can do after everything you’ve done for us.”

“Thanks, Gaster, although the magic coming back was more their thing than mine, but thanks all the same.” I brushed his spiky mane in appreciation, earning a startled yelp and a pout.

With my little request done and the shift under the bridge until the next day, I hung my lab coat (which the hospital staff had been kind enough to custom-make for me) and decided to walk around town for a bit, to keep spreading the message as I stretched my legs.

However, my plans changed after checking over my phone. I saw Pipp had uploaded a monumental post to her social media talking about the Discord incident, and had asked her followers the same thing I did. She even added a few photos!... most of them hers with the important stuff happening in the background. But still, she had thousands of followers, which meant thousands of eyes taking a look around for us, like a veritable army. Creepy, and ungodly effective.

With Pipp spreading the message to way more ponies than I could ever reach, I allowed myself to breathe a little easier. Chances were that somepony eventually caught a peek of our missing draconequus. Discord wasn’t known for being subtle in the slightest, after all. It was almost an urge to make himself the center of attention, annoying as fuck if you ask me.

Now calmer, I changed my plans to just stroll around, see how everypony was doing and take the opportunity to meet a few more citizens. With all the ruckus and traveling of the past few days, I’d had almost no time to actually get to know the ponies of Maretime Bay.

I swung around towards Mane Melody to visit Jazzy, catching her with her hooves full dealing with a bunch of late customers. Hiding her grumbles about being late for lunch-break, she introduced me to her new coworker, a pegasus stallion named Rocky Riff, who sported a white coat of fur and a mulberry-colored mane and tail. Curiously, his primary feathers possessed a beautiful shade of golden orange, a shade I had never seen on a pegasus before. He seemed like a cool guy, and even offered me a quick shave, which I kindly accepted since my beard had begun to grow uncomfortably long as of late. Not that many chances to groom yourself in the wild.

I couldn't resist but ask. “Bro, did you dye your wing feathers? I’ve never seen that color on a pegasus before.”

He returned a small chuckle at my question. “Ha! They wish I had. I was born with these beauties. Although if I’m honest, I do have to go to some length to get them to look nice and shiny. It would be a shame otherwise, no?”

“Pfff, whatever you say, man. At least you can blind the mares and make for a quick run when they give you a wingboner.”

Rocky had to quickly remove the razor blade from my cheek to avoid cutting me as he began loudly cracking up, the rest of the customers also lightly chuckling at my choice of comment.

The shave ended up being on the house, as a thank you from them for our efforts in fixing magic, Jazz informing me they had seen Pipp’s social media post in that regard.

After saying my goodbyes, I returned to the street, deciding to head towards the market district, which now was full of ponies going about their daily shops. I ended up finding Sunny at her smoothie stand, just over the tail end of the lengthy corridor of stands around Main Square. She used the moment to present to me one of her friends from town, an earth pony mare named Dahlia, who was amicably talking with Sunny over a smoothie. She had a light pink coat and an aqua-green mane and tail, her eyes a beautiful shade of lavender, which reminded me of a certain alicorn princess. She also wore a wine-colored scarf around her neck and a tiny flower decor over her left ear.

A thing I had noticed during my short time in the town was how, in this new time, ponies seemed more akin to wear pieces of clothing more frequently than what I was used to seeing from my long days in Ponyville. Ponies didn’t partake in clothes to the extent that humans do, but instead treated them more like accessories, like scars, hats, collars, earrings, caps, and so on. I thought they looked great on them. It was a nice change of pace from being the only one who bothered to wear anything outside of formal events and such.

I joined them with a smoothie of my own, strawberry vanilla, personal favorite. Dahlia took the chance to ask more about me since she had seen me around town a few times, but had never found the right moment to approach me. Sunny, on her part, hadn’t been able to contain her enthusiasm and was well on her way of excitedly telling her friend all about me before I even had the chance of meeting them first.

We had a great talk. Dahlia was very polite and listened with rapt attention to the retelling of our little adventure beyond the bay's borders. She seemed like a nice mare, totally worth hanging out with again if I had the chance.

Not wanting to distract Sunny from her work any longer, I decided to leave the mares be, but not before promising Dahlia to hang out with her again sometime. The earth pony agreed, to the joy of Sunny, who beamed with the radiance of the sun now that we had become friends. She had a heart of gold, that mare. I really liked that about her.

I began noticing, after asking a few more passersby, that most ponies now knew about the Discord situation, well informed by our resident influencer. Thus, I decided that it was no longer necessary to keep pestering the townsponies. Without much to do for the rest of the afternoon, I decanted for a walk down the side path down towards the beach, thinking about training a bit more with my casting now that magic was working again.

I chose an area away from the ponies who were enjoying the afternoon on the beach, in case some spells went haywire or otherwise couldn’t be controlled. Without anypony around who might get hurt, I began to go over all of the spells I currently knew. Most weren’t really complicated, as the more advanced spells required more of the ‘sixth sense’ that only unicorns possessed to build the spells in their minds. As I was hornless, it meant that I couldn’t wrap my head around a lot of magic runes and engrams with the speed and skill required to work, so I was mostly left with simpler spells that could be cast using a few words or a simple thought.

Levitation, energy projection, elemental manipulation… were some of the simplest spells, while stealth, healing, repairing, defense, and a few others were among the more complicated and draining ones I could cast. I kept the magic intensity toned down, or else the light show might have brought me some unwanted attention, but I still managed to cast them all flawlessly, which also helped me improve my ‘magical stamina’, which had suffered considerably under all those centuries asleep.

As much as my field of expertise was biology, magic had always held my interest since I arrived in Equestria, especially its applications through biology and technology, which ended up encompassing most of my scientific work here.

“Diffindo!”

I kept launching my spells against imaginary targets, trying to improve my speed and concentration in the process. Being a human would always put me at a disadvantage against a unicorn in a battle of magic, so I had to make sure to improve my skill as much as I physically could. I had no intention of fighting anypony, though. I’d already seen enough violence in the past to last me a lifetime, but it didn’t hurt to be prepared. Equestria always tended to be unpredictable when dark forces were involved, even more so with a literal goddess warning you about it.

The exercises combined with the sun’s merciless rays forced me to remove my shirt in an attempt to escape its embrace. None of the ponies had seen me without a shirt yet. Better that way. No doubt the ugly scar under my left pectoral would draw a lot of attention, attention that I wasn’t feeling up to addressing for now.

‘Yeah, that’s gonna raise a lot of questions… meh, I’ll leave it for another time, or for when they catch me shirtless.’

I completely lost track of time while I continued with my training. It was only when I noticed the sky’s horizon turning orange that I realized the sun had almost completely disappeared behind the mountains. A quick look on my phone revealed the time to be a bit past quarter to eight. I reasoned it was time to call it a day and return to the brighthouse.

I grabbed my shirt, shook the sand off, powered down my gauntlets and rubbed my aching hands. Not wasting any time, I leisurely made my way through the last beachgoers who were currently gathering their things, also calling it another beautiful day at the bay. A masked sniff of my armpits revealed I was in urgent need of a shower, which I made sure to take once I got back home.

I found Sunny, Izzy and Hitch fussing over the kitchen, preparing what looked like veggie burritos for dinner. I flashed them a quick smile and hastily made my way up to the bathroom before they could begin to wrinkle their sensitive snouts at my musk.

A quick shower had me feeling way more refreshed, the steaming water doing wonders to knead my aching limbs.

With a fresh change of clothes, I exited the bathroom and took a little detour to my bedroom to leave the dirty clothes and grab my fully-charged laptop before I made my way down the ramp to help prepare dinner. That was, until I heard voices coming from the girl’s room. Curious, I stepped closer to the door to better discern the origin. It was Pipp, talking to somepony whose voice I didn’t recognize.

I made my way inside the bedroom in order to let her know that dinner would be ready soon. The moment she saw me standing on the threshold, she motioned me with her hoof to approach her while asking the feminine voice on the computer to wait a moment.

A bit confused, I resumed my way inside the huge bedroom the girls shared. Pipp was laying on her belly on her bed, her own laptop opened in front of her, the light coming from it reflecting the screen on her eyes.

“Come here, Alex, there’s somepony I want you to meet!”

I did as she asked and laid myself at her side while she scooted over to allow me some space. I turned my sight to the computer screen and saw the Queen of the Pegasi on the other side of the videochat.

“Oh, um… good afternoon, your Highness. I’m afraid you caught me a bit unprepared for proper introductions.” I politely apologized, giving Pipp a small side glare.

A seasoned pegasus mare smiled at me behind the screen, her coat a similar rosy tone than Pipp’s, with her main and tail a faded periwinkle with a few lilac streaks, symbol of her age. *Oh, don’t worry about it, darling. I’m not wearing my royal ensemble either, it's just an informal meeting. I was looking forward to meeting the human my daughters have been telling me so much about these last few days.*

She wasn’t lying, as via the camera I could discern she was also resting on her massive bed, wearing some kind of night robe, although she was wearing her crown, which seemed a bit weird to me, but I wasn’t one to judge. “Only good things I hope, your majesty. It’s been a rough couple of days for all of us, I’m sorry we couldn’t plan a meeting sooner. I’m looking forward to visiting Zephyr Heights.”

“Oh, come, Alex, why would I speak badly of you to my mom?” Pipp whined with offense.

*I’m sure he was just kidding dear. My daughters have kept me updated on the situation you’re facing. I wish you all the luck in the world finding that Discord, and rest assured, you have the full support of the crown behind you.*

I bowed in respectful appreciation. “I appreciate your implication, your majesty. We could use all the help we can get.”

The mare bashed a hoof dismissively. *Please, just call me Haven, all my daughters’ friends are my friends too, and between you and me, titles can get a bit too much if they’re used in unofficial meetings on top of my day-to-day.*

I could see the queen giving us a tired look with her words, eliciting a small chuckle from me. “Heh, yeah, I know what you mean.”

*You do, darling?*

“Yeah, it’s a long story. I’ll be sure to tell you when I visit.” I dodged her curiosity for the time being.

*I’m looking forward to it. When the time nears just give me a call and I’ll prepare everything to give you a truly royal welcome to my home… and, if my beautiful daughters would be so kind as to accompany you, I would very much like the chance to see them again… especially you, Pipp. I miss my little fillies.*

The sad eyes from the queen weren’t enough to break Pipp, who gave her mother a tired look. “Ugh, mom! Don’t be so dramatic! Yes, we’ll go with him and the rest of our friends if they’re free.”

*Thank you dear, I’ll wait for your call then. Oh, and about what you were telling me before, I say go for it. It’s a wonderful thing to do. But if it doesn’t go exactly the way you want it to, you’ll come and tell me, won't you? You’re always welcome back home.*

A grateful smile made its way up Pipp’s muzzle. “Of course, mom. What could go wrong?”

Mother and daughter rubbed their snouts on the screen and wished each other a good night. After that, Pipp closed the laptop and released a tired sigh.

“Everything okay?” I nudged the exhausted-looking pegasus at my side.

“Yeah, it's just… after today’s post about Discord, I was thinking about writing something a bit different.”

“Such us? Oh, and thanks for the post warning your followers about him, it helped spread the message a lot.”

Pipp answered with a tiny smile. “You’re very welcome, Alex. I was thinking about writing about the day everypony found out I can’t fly.”

“The day they found you… oh, yeah. Sunny told me about that. It was during your first adventure, the concert and being left hanging over the stage. I can’t imagine how you felt at that moment…”

Pipp incorporated a bit to look me in the eyes. “That’s exactly it. I want to talk about how I felt; about the confusion, and the fear I felt when all my fans found out I’d been lying to them my whole life. I want to show them that side of me… but, it kinda clashes with the rest of my content… and my image. I’m… not sure how it’ll be received.”

Pipp returned to forlornly look at her empty screen, her ears dropping along with her mood. She looked very unsure. My presence online back on Earth was practically nonexistent, so I couldn’t sympathize with her much, but I tried to help her, nonetheless.

“….Well, that is a very personal topic to write about. I mean, it sounds like that you want to expose more of your inner self to your fans, to show them more of the ‘real’ you, hoping it might help somepony else, right?” She returned a tiny nod, her ears now perked up to listen to me. “In that case, I think it’s a matter of how much you cherish and trust your… What did you call them again? ‘Pippsqueaks,’ wasn’t it? They probably won’t land with as much impact as your cheerier posts, but if it helps somepony out and brings you closer to your fans, I also think you should go for it. Although social media isn't my field of expertise, I recommend you speak to others about it, especially your sister. I’m sure she also went rough a tough moment back then.”

She remained pensive for a few seconds before making up her mind. With a more decisive look, she opened a blank document and began furiously typing.

“Thanks, Alex. I’ll write a rough script and ask the others when I get a clearer idea of what I want to tell my pippsqueaks.”

With a playful tussle of her mane, I left her to work on her next post, but not without reminding her that dinner would be ready soon. She was too absorbed to answer properly, only returning a nod of confirmation.

I exited the bedroom and made my way down the ramp, my nose now twitching at the delicious smell of burritos, even if they were vegetarian ones. Many years in Equestria had practically erased the concept of meat-based meals from my mind, although I occasionally used to indulge myself in some fish, mainly for health reasons. It took many months and a few probiotic and flora-reconditioning treatments to allow me to cease depending on meat in my meals, for the most part at least. Still, I didn't have any problems getting my hands on some during my visits to Griffonstone. It ain’t my fault I was born an omnivore.

All the ponies except for Pipp were already in the kitchen, dinner and the dishes already prepared and set, making me give them an apologetic look for not coming down sooner to lend a hand, but in fairness, I had just been talking with the Queen of the Pegasi, so…

I removed my jacket and set it over the rail, choosing a seat near Sunny, who assured me that I shouldn’t feel bad for it. Shortly after we began eating, she turned her head to look behind me at my hanging jacket, a pensive look reflecting in her eyes.

“Hey, Alex.”

“Mmm?” I answered, with my mouth full of burrito.

“The symbol on your jacket, the one which was also over the door to your room, and also appearing in some of my dad’s notes… what does it mean?”

I grabbed my shirt to look at the aforementioned symbol, the six white circles intertwined around a central seventh. “Oh, this is the symbol I chose to represent myself and my work back when I began my research back in the day.”

I removed my jacket and raised it for the rest of the ponies to get a glimpse of the symbol. “It’s from my home planet. You could say it’s kinda like an ‘unofficial’ flag of planet Earth. Like a flag that would represent the Earth as a geopolitical entity. The symbol, to me, represents all of humanity regardless of nation, religion, or any other such label. But, no country has ever recognized it as official.”

Talking about it brought back memories of my long-lost world and the people in it I had left behind. “Most ponies use their cutie marks to represent their image. Since I’m the only human in Equestria, I thought it would be better to represent all of my kind, not just my city or my country. I thought it would be fairer to speak in the name of all humankind, since technically I’m an ‘ambassador’ of sorts.”

I brushed my thumb over the fabric-engraved sigil, remembering the moment I chose it as my own. “The white circles represent all of humanity joined together, intertwined through a Borromean ring shape to depict a flower, which itself is a symbol of life on Earth. The blue background represents water, which makes up the majority of the Earth’s surface, as well as hope for our continued existence. I thought it looked better than a simple human hand when I chose it, and it has been my sigil since then.”

“That’s beautiful, Alex. I never knew it had such a deep meaning when I saw it in my dad’s notes.”

“Well, I’m the only one to represent humankind to Equestria, Sunny. It’s only fair to represent them all. Or you would only speak for the earth ponies if you found yourself on my planet?”

“Of course not! All the pony races belong to a single kind, ponykind! We’re a single pack, whether we like it or not!” She answered with a determined gleam in her pearl.

“That’s my girl.” I gave her a grateful grin.

“Now that I think about it, that symbol also kinda represents ponykind at the moment. I mean, all the joined-together-and-hope-for-the-future part. It kinda fits us, too.” The eldest of the pegasi princesses reasoned with a pensive hum.

“I guess you're right, Zipp, that's the gist of the message.”

The rest of the ponies agreed with us. We continued with our dinner chatting about the day’s events and different proposals to better search for the Pegasus Crystal. With Discord being so unpredictable, it was going to be almost impossible to track him down without clues or a lead. Hitch suggested using the cameras he had intended to set up in the crystals room to monitor Canterlot Castle in case he or any of his critter helpers returned there. It was as good an idea as any other, so we planned on Pipp and Zipp flying back there ASAP and installing them around the castle following Hitch’s instructions. Now that they knew the route, it wouldn’t take them more than a day to fly there and back.

The rest of the night went without any significant events, the ponies leaving for their respective beds to get an early start tomorrow, with myself doing the same.

It was going to be a loooong search, as much as we wished it wouldn’t be, so it was better to be fully prepared for what was coming. When we eventually found him, I was going to have an extremely serious talk with him, and also ask him about some of the things he mentioned during his last outburst. I was sure he knew more than me about the events that transpired after my journey into the future.

‘We’re coming for you, Discord. I’m tired of suffering from your stupid choices.’