Fraternitatis

Chapter 2

Awkward Introductions

Anypony that happened to be glancing outside their hidey-holes or houses that they had

taken shelter in during what they believed to be a strange magical storm of some kind would have met an extraordinary sight on Ponyville's main street leading up to the library. Twilight Sparkle, the librarian trotted somewhat awkwardly, unsure of how to treat the two guests trailing behind her. Both were bipedal and stood at a height that would have easily matched their princess, if not exceed her stature. They walked calmly, but with a slightly hurried pace, clearly not wanting to attract any unwanted attention before Ponyville's residents began to come out of their shelters and begin repairing the damage. As they filed into the library, Twilight used her magic to bolt the door shut. She then turned and smiled a little sheepishly to her friends, all of whom were wearing looks of utter terror or shock at the newcomers.

“What in the hay, Twi? Why did you bring them in here?” demanded Applejack, the first tobreak the tense silence. Twilight had to tread carefully here, she didn't want to cause unneeded tensions between her friends and her new unexpected guests.

“It's ok, Applejack, their not here to hurt anypony. They just saved us from that monster!” she added, blurting out the last part without thinking. She immediately felt a little ashamed and turned to the older of the two brothers, who was currently carrying Thomas slung over his shoulder like a rucksack. “Umm, sorry....I didn’t mean it....really..” she said apologetically. Julius gave a soft grunt and nod of recognition, but it was Erik that replied.

“It's fine, little pony, we take full responsibility for what our brother has done.” he stated, trying his best to sound remorseful given the trouble his little brother has caused. This did little to alleviate any tensions regarding the strange new visitors, however. Upon hearing the words 'our brother', several of the ponies gasped in surprise and shock.

“That terrible monster is your brother?!” blurted Rainbow Dash, her jaw in danger of dropping to the floor. Erik looked more than a little uncomfortable. Thomas had done little to help the ponies see them in a favourable light. Rather than try to correct the rainbow-maned mare's outburst, he opted instead to chuckle apologetically.

“Hehehe.....yeah, sorry about that. Nobody was hurt, right?” Two reactions from the mares were immediate in response to Erik's apology. Firstly, they felt somewhat relieved that he seemed to actually care about their well-being, but that was overshadowed by their reaction to his accent.

“What kind of place do you come from? Your Equestrian sounds funny!” piped up Pinkie Pie, positively bouncing around him and occasionally invading his personal space as if to get a closer look at his features. Erik scowled at her, realising that this reaction was probably going to be all-too-common in this world, where apparently nobody spoke German.

“It's because, er, Equestrian isn't my first language.” he said slowly, earning inquisitive looks from Twilight. She was about to ask him more, but they were interrupted by Julius.

“Not that I don't enjoy these awkward introductions, but can we move along? Thomas needs seeing to.” he drawled in a bored, flat voice that prompted Erik to move out of his way and allow Julius to walk past him. Twilight took a long, pained look at the slumped form of Thomas slung over Julius' shoulder before offering to allow him to rest in her bed, but Julius declined the offer.

“It's not a problem,” he interrupted Twilight's protests “I can attend to his rest just fine.” he finished curtly, before amazing Twilight by simply conjuring a stretcher bed out of thin air that floated three feet off the ground. Twilight's (as well as everypony else's) eyes threatened to bulge right out of their sockets. They were astounded at the strange magic that the slightly rude older brother wielded almost lazily.

“T-that's not possible....you can't just create stuff like that! How the hay did you do that?!” demanded Twilight, her eyes impossibly wide. Julius didn't answer the dumbfounded unicorn, he chose to ignore her curiosity in favour of tending to his unconscious brother, whom he was now moving onto the bed. Thomas lay on his back with a pained expression on his face. His eyes were scrunched up and he was breaking out in sweat, as if caught with a high fever.

“Is there anything we can do?” asked Twilight, her concern overpowering her fear.

“Ah dunno, Twi, what if it wakes up?” cut in Applejack, her face clearly set with lines of worry.

“It's fine.” Julius replied curtly, before turning to Erik, who was still standing awkwardly at the door. “Erik, I need your help with this one.” stated Julius, his voice carrying what Erik recognised as urgency, but came across as rude demanding to the ponies.

“Oh-um, ok. Come one, girls. I think we should leave them alone for this...” Twilight indicated to her friends to head into the kitchen with her. They were only too happy to comply, with Applejack and Fluttershy practically competing to exit the room first, not wanting to anger the strange and powerful visitors that had somehow been dumped on Twilight's doorstep.

“Erik, we need to try and make his mind understand.....do you think you can do that?” Julius asked seriously, his gaze unblinking as he let the words sink in. Erik knew the risks of playing with peoples' minds like this, it could cause irreversible damage to Thomas' mind if done incorrectly.

“Y-yes.....I think I can do it...” he replied uncertainly, placing his hands on Thomas' forehead as he prepared for a particularly difficult magical challenge.

“Try not to worry, Erik, I will be with you every step of the way.” his older brother assured him, also bringing up his hands, gathering his power as he prepared himself. The plan was to once again delve into Thomas' mind and try to force his consciousness to accept what had happened. Denial was a powerful adversary, and if they couldn't mend what damage Tom's subconscious had caused, they were in for serious problems. Reaching out with their minds, they both plunged their thoughts right into the depths of Tom's scarred mind, searching for the small, frightened part of him they knew to be his waking thoughts.

*        *        *

Erik landed roughly on the ground, the sudden impact causing him to stumble as his body struggled to gain it's bearings. Julius landed gracefully beside him, unfazed by the situation. They stood in what appeared to be a lush green field, bordered by a forest to one side and a farm to the other. The gentle breeze washed over Erik's face as he took in his surroundings. This vision was quite unlike any of his previous visits to Tom's mind, as they usually took the form of a library or city, owing to Tom's intellectually complex mind reflecting his studious habits. But this setting was simple, rustic, and in complete contrast to the Thomas he knew.

“Julius....where are we?” he wondered out loud, drawing a slightly worried look from his brother.

“I'm not sure...but I were to take a guess....I'd say that Tom's mind has fractured so, that each piece of what's left has it's own thoughts, but are not individually capable of forming complex thought processes anymore.”he grimaced. Erik matched his brother's expression, understanding. Tom's mind had been shattered into so many pieces, that whatever was left no longer had the complex or even mature mind capable of sustaining anything more complicated than a simple setting that any child could imagine. Just at that moment, Erik heard laughter in the distance. It was the playful laughter of a child, happily playing games like any small child would. Erik and Julius walked over to the source of the noise and caught sight of a two small boys playing with a soccer ball, kicking it to each other. Erik smiled at first, before frowning, recognising the first boy's features. It was exactly how he remembered Tom when he was a small boy, not even eight years old. Erik began to worry as he saw the other boy that he was playing with, who turned out to look exactly the same. They could have been twins, but Erik knew that Tom didn't haveany brothers or sisters. Before coming into the care of their master, he was an only child.

The two boys laughed as they played with the ball, kicking it to each other, until one of themplayfully picked up the ball and started running in the opposite direction. He continued laughing, but the other boy began to cry and scream in annoyance and protest.

“Hey! No fair! I want to play with it too! I thought you were my friend!” he cried, tears streaming down his face as the other boy stood just outside his reach, teasing him with the ball.

“Haha! I got the ball! It's mine now! Why would I play with a little wimp like you? You can't even kick in a straight line!”he teased in a childish sing-song voice that only made the other boy cry harder. The boy would have continued teasing, but a third boy, exactly like the first two, appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the ball before kicking it to the crying child.

“Here ya go! Don't listen to that dummy! He's just a bully.”he said, trying to comfort the crying child. Erik felt a tap on his shoulder, as Julius indicated to their right, revealing yet more identical boys engaged in various activities. Sitting under a tree with an open book was another, slightly older Thomas, probably ten years old. Erik and Julius walked over to him, spotting another Thomas sitting next to him reading a comic book while eating a sandwich. Erik stopped as one of the boys running about in the field bumped into him, not looking where he was going.

“Oof! Sorry, guv! 'Shoulda watched where I was goin'!” he said in a strong cockney accent before continuing his game with another duplicate.

“What do you make of this, Jules?” Erik asked his older brother. Julius took another look

around before taking some time to think about his answer.

“I would say that Tom's mind has split off into distinct personalities, with each representing a part of the brother we know. Each of these boys represent some part of Thomas, but they are all children because they technically have not been individual entities for very long.”he explained, drawing from his limited knowledge of the human mind. He paused for a moment, before pointing to each of them in turn, and naming their strongest characteristic, thereby showing which part of Thomas they represented. “innocence, anger, sadism, happiness, sadness, heroism...”he pointed to the boys playing in the field, the bully, and the boy that had stepped in to give the ball back. “Intellect and fun-loving”he indicated to the boys sitting under the tree reading books and comic books He turned again, pointing to yet more children arriving into the field to join the first group. Erik also began naming them, trying to make sense of what piece of Thomas they represented. If they understood what they were, then perhaps they could somehow reconstruct the Tom they knew.

“So.....hesitation? (he pointed to a boy that seemed to shuffle awkwardly, like he was deciding whether or not he should be playing with the other boys), love, and—what?” Erik was taken-aback slightly, spotting a slightly older Tom that was probably in his early teens, awkwardly blushing as he kissed a similarly-aged girl that looked remarkably similar, possessing the same coloured hair, eyes, and even clothing. The only discernible difference (apart from gender) was her long hair tied in pigtails.

“Hmmmnnn.....his femininity, no doubt.” commented Julius, earning a quizzical look from his brother. They continued walking, until a sight before them made Erik stop dead. The last boy to arrive to the field and join the others did not even vaguely resemble the other children. His hair was jet black instead of the light brown every other child had, and his features were noticeably different. If this child had anything to do with Thomas' mind, it didn't look like he belonged at all. He shuffled nervously as he tried to have fun with the other children, but ended up sitting in a secluded corner by himself. Julius regarded him for a moment, but he decided that he and Erik had better finish what they had started.

“If we want to reconstruct Thomas as we knew him, we will have to merge all of these children to form one, single consciousness....” Julius explained as he brought up his hands, gathering his focus for the magical task ahead. “This will not be pleasant, but it's necessary....”he sighed, motioning for Erik to reinforce his magical power with his own reserves for the arduous task of splicing apart everything they saw and re-shaping their basic building blocks. Julius began chanting in an archaic tongue, the syllables unfamiliar and mysterious to Erik's ears, but he focused on channelling his energies into the technique regardless. The effect was immediate, with several of the closest children hunching over as if the all had sudden stomach aches simultaneously. They groaned in slight pain before falling to the ground and simply disintegrating, like ashes in the wind. The particle remains of the pieces of Thomas' mind swirled around in a dense cloud, it's volume increasing whenever it came across another 'child'. The idea was to utterly break down everything they saw and reform the collective minds into one, hopefully restoring Thomas. But before they could finish the technique, Julius' efforts encountered resistance. He was taken aback at this opposition, flinching reflexively. He opened his eyes and saw that only two boys were left out of the original two dozen. Both were Thomas' normal age of around sixteen, but they couldn't be more different. One looked exactly like the Thomas that he knew as his brother, but the other was an older version of the strange boy that they had seen earlier, his face contorted with rage and pain as he screamed at Erik and Julius.

“GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!” he repeated, his screamed seeming to carry

immense magical power, his mind pressing down on Julius' efforts. At this point, the resistance that Julius felt working against his efforts to restore Thomas to his former self felt like an endeavour in futility. It was like trying to break apart a boulder with a toothpick, it was impossible. Julius' pushed harder, wrestling for control over the mindscape with the strange teen. Even with Erik's own vast reserves reinforcing him, he felt that he was fighting a losing battle. Whatever this boy was, it was incredibly powerful and it wanted them gone from Thomas' mind.

“GET OUT! GET THE FUCK OUT!!” he screamed, his face contorting unnaturally as

his voice grew impossibly loud, forcing Erik to cover his ears in a vain attempt to block out the deafening noise. Erik's concentration was broken, resulting in his contributions to Julius' efforts to be cut off. Julius now stood alone in the face of whatever this thing was. His power faltered, flickering under the immense might of the boy's onslaught of psychic energy, trying to force them out of Thomas' mind. Julius stood almost no chance against such a force alone. It was akin to attempting to boil the ocean with a cigarette lighter.

“I could.....no, I don't want to risk it. I promised myself that I would NOT use it...” he

contemplated, deciding to concede to the boy's efforts and bail, hoping that he won't cause too much damage.

“Brother, as much as it pains me, we have to leave them be. There's nothing else we can do.” he said gravely, grabbing Erik's arm and using what remained of his strength to unceremoniously wrench them out of Thomas' mindscape before his brother could protest.

*        *        *

Coming back to the real world, Erik shuddered as his consciousness returned to his body, the initial shock of his spirit being trapped in such a frail vessel slightly nauseating at first. He swallowed the bile that threatened to escape from his stomach and looked down at Thomas' limp form on the stretcher bed. He wasn't writhing around or covered in cold sweat anymore, thankfully, but his expression looked faintly pained; as if he were merely having an unpleasant nightmare. Erik sighed in relief as his strength gave out, the accumulative strain of such a taxing mental activity hitting him all at once in waves of fatigue. If Julius was suffering any similar symptoms, he hid his fatigue well.

“Now, we wait. Hopefully he's back to how he was before...” he muttered, regarding Tom's form with a concerned look. Peering through a gap in the kitchen door was several pairs of colourful eyes, all of them wide in wonder and interest. Twilight in particular was intrigued.

“What kind of magic is this?” she wondered, trying to make sense of the mysterious brand of mystical arts these men wielded. She leaned in further, trying to get a better look at the younger of the two men and consequently lost her balance, falling through the doorway and landing on her muzzle in the library with an audible thud. Erik and Julius simultaneously turned to the source of the noise to find Twilight red with embarrassment.

“Ummm, hehehe, sorry....but is he okay?” she tried her best to move past her awkward entrance.

“He'll be fine, he just needs a few days' rest.” replied Julius, sighing a little. He knew that he and his brother were going to have to indulge Twilight's burning curiosity. He knew a scholar's mind when he saw one, and Twilight's mannerisms were endemic of someone steeped in an academic thirst for knowledge of the unknown. He smiled a little, Twilight's rampant curiosity not unlike his own when he was a younger man.

“I didn't thank you for allowing us to stay here, did I?” he said, catching Twilight off-guard.

“U-um, no, but it's okay, really! Princess Celestia herself invited you here, so it's an honour! It's not everyday that I get to host for, uhhh...., whatever you guys are....” she trailed off, her expression unsure.

“Yeah! Just what are you guys anyway? You look like someone took a bear and shaved it!” piped up Rainbow Dash, walking out from the kitchen. Twilight's face turned into a look of utter panic, mortified at Rainbow's words.

“Rainbow! Don't insult them! That could have been extremely rude....I think...” Despite his fatigue, Erik broke out into a fit of laughter, clutching a stitch in his chest as he doubled over. Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at Erik like he had sprouted a second head, with the rest of the ponies (and dragon) in the kitchen filing out into the library to see what was causing the noise, only to find Erik chuckling weakly on the floor.

“D-don't worry about it.” he gasped, stifling his laughter to a more manageable level. Despite the grave situation and the concern he felt for his younger brother, he felt immensely relieved to be able to laugh again. “I will try to answer any questions you have. It's the least we can do, you offered us shelter here, after all.” he finished, standing up. The tension in the air (between Twilight and the brothers at least) seemed to disappear as the unicorn scholar almost bounded like Pinkie Pie with excitement as she made her way over to Erik, grinning from ear to ear.

“Really? You don't mind? There's just so much we don't know about your species!” she began, before restraining herself with what looked like enormous effort.

“Don't worry, little pony, I am just as curious about your kind.” Erik replied in a light, friendly voice.

“I'm glad....and Twilight Sparkle...that's my name.” she said.

“Erik Müler.” he replied cheerfully, extending his hand to shake her hoof, though he did so gingerly; unsure of how exactly to shake hands with someone (or somepony) that didn't in fact have any hands. Before Twilight could start with any more questions, she was interrupted by Rainbow Dash, who had grown past the fact that the librarian was now hosting a few strange-looking house guests.

“C'mon guys, Twilight's going into egghead-mode. We should help with fixing up the town.” she announced, fluttering out the door followed by Rarity.

“Um.....I should probably go and see if my animals are still ok....if that's alright with you...”

Fluttershy mumbled, keeping as close to the wall and far away from the humans as possible on her way out, as if she were afraid of bursting into flame if she come too close. She 'Eeped' slightly when she made eye-contact with Erik, and scurried out the door like a frightened rabbit. Pinkie Pie bounced over to the door, but stopped dead with a gasp.

“I just realised that I still have to throw a welcome-to-Ponyville-party for you guys!!” she said ecstatically, zipping out the door in a pink blur before Erik could even respond. Lastly, Applejack slowly walked out the door, keeping a weary eye on the two human brothers. She turned to Twilight before leaving.

“Now ya sure that yer okay with this, Twi? You saw what that other one did....” she said, taking a reproachful look at the sleeping Thomas with concern etched across her features.

“It's fine Applejack, the Princess trusts them, so I will too.” Twilight replied resolutely. Applejack nodded slowly and finally left the library, closing the door behind her. Now the brothers were left with only Twilight and Spike (who was still staring at Erik and Julius in awe and apprehension. There was a long, uncomfortable silence that followed the departure of Twilight's friends, until it was broken by the sound of Erik's rumbling stomach.

“*Ahem* sorry.” he said, grinning sheepishly “What's for lunch?”

*                *                *

The repairs to Ponyville's streets were well-underway, with the work moving surprisingly quickly. Despite the damage to the town, the local corner café was defiant to the circumstances and remained open for business. Taking full advantage of the day's problems, this café had remained open and consequently enjoyed the boosted business generated from the many ponies constantly at work whenever they stopped to take a break for meals. Despite the relatively crowded rush for lunch, Twilight managed to grab an outdoor table for her and Erik.

“Stay here, I'll get us some food.” she assured him, leaving Erik at the table. He drew more than a few curious stares from passers-by. Several ponies openly gaped at Erik's appearance, staring in wonder at the unusual creature sitting like a pony at the dining table as if there were nothing unusual at all. Anypony in the long cue leading outside from the ordering counter inside the restaurant stared at Erik as well, making the young man uncomfortable. While he and his brothers had been under the care of their master, they had been confined to their master's estate for the majority of their lives; this isolation now reflected Erik's behaviour. Erik felt like he was suffocating under the pressure of so many eyes interested in his person. He tried to relax and took a deep breath, taking in a much greater amount of oxygen than usual. He slowed his breathing and stretched out his senses, taking in everything. His extrasensory awareness instantly picked up all of the eyes watching him; their gazes coming from all sides. The effect on Erik was immediate; he instantly felt agoraphobic and felt his heart pump faster. He began to break out into sweat, the perspiration beginning to show in his face. His left eye twitched with tension and his throat went dry. He couldn't breath. He couldn't think. He couldn't make a sound. He was at the mercy of so many eyes watching his every move. His whole world felt like it was suffocating him.

“Erik, umm, are you okay?” his moment of extreme anxiety was interrupted and he as immediately brought back down to Earth (err, Equestria).

“I-it's nothing. I'm just n-not used to crowds...” he stammered, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, before realising that he was still wearing his dressing gown and pajamas; having not slept at all as he and Julius were searching for a way to follow Tom's signal.

“Oh, okay.....” Twilight was unsure of Erik, was he as unstable as his brother? Were all of these humans violent and unstable? Erik looked a right mess. His left eye was twitching and his face perspiring. Twilight wasn't sure, but she was worried at his apparent agitation.

“Well.....anyway, the food's here.” she said, trying to put on a cheerful voice. A waiter walked over to the table, casting a curious eye, but saying nothing, and placed a tray of various food and drink in front of Erik and Twilight. Erik saw what looked like a milkshake of some kind and something resembling fries, as well as what appeared to be sandwich filled with daisies. Erik looked down in surprise The food looked like a cross between Earth cuisine and food commonly eaten by farm animals. He noticed that the majority of the food contained hay. Luckily, he noticed a salad next to the milkshake.

“May I eat the salad, Miss Sparkle?” he asked politely, gesturing with his trembling hand at the garden salad.

“Oh, sure! You don't want the hayfries?” she asked while pushing the salad across the table to the human.

“Humans don't normally eat hay....” he said quietly, trying not to sound ungrateful.

“Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't even think to ask what humans normally eat!” Twilight's sudden panic was put down by Erik.

“It's alright, we can eat salads just fine.” he assured her, using his fingers pick out a cherry tomato and pop it into his mouth. As soon as he began chewing, the rich, juicy flavour exploded in his mouth; treating his taste buds to an unexpected pleasure. “Mein Gott! These are amazing! How in the world did you grow these?” he exclaimed, finding another tomato and eating it with relish. Twilight smiled at his antics, happy that Erik had relaxed somewhat.

“Earth Ponies have a latent affinity for the land, they are the best gardeners and grow the best food in Equestria!” she explained, earning thoughtful looks from Erik. “Do humans normally eat tomatoes?” she asked hopefully, trying to learn more about the nature of her house guests.

“Well, yes, we do. Humans eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, but they are normally a side dish to the main part of a meal, or added for extra variety and flavour.” explained Erik, his face positively lit up with enthusiastic joy as he began eating lettuce and mushrooms.

“Huh....how does that work? If you can't eat hay, what else do you eat?” she asked, trying to figure out just what exactly constituted a human diet. She got the shock of her life when Erik, who was too hungry and focused on eating, spoke without even thinking about his answer.

“Well, humans are omnivores, we eat a variety of meats along with our vegetables!” he said, savouring the taste of a particularly juicy tomato. Twilight gasped with horror, her eyes wide with apparent fear and disgust. Erik caught her expression and immediately realised his mistake.

“Y-y-you eat meat?! H-how? W-why would you do something like that?” she stuttered.

“Don't worry, Miss Sparkle, we don't normally eat ponies.” he tried to assure her, earning only more looks of fear and disgust.

“Normally?”

“Well......my culture doesn't.....but I can't say with absolute certainty about every other human culture....” he tried to put it gently, but only succeeded in intensifying Twilight's shock.

“Y-y-y-you're not going to eat m-m-me, are you?” she cried.

“No! Of course not!” he tried his best to reassure her. Twilight did her best to calm down, nervously watching Erik while he chewed his food and spotted the fact that he had canine teeth like a wolf. His body was indeed well-adapted for eating meat. Erik tried to divert the conversation to something that Twilight would be more comfortable with.

“Maybe I should fill you in on the details later, hmm? Now I have a question for you.” he said, Twilight gulping nervously slightly.

“S-sure, go ahead.”

“How do unicorns perform magic? I've noticed that unicorns' horns glow, with the corresponding object glowing with the same hue. Is this normal?” he asked in his normal scholarly tone, the inquiry instantly curing Twilight of her nervousness as she recognised a fellow scholar's curiosity.

“Well, yeah! We unicorns learn how to use magic for day-to-day activities, but some study

spells and enchantments too! I'm Princess Celestia's star pupil! So, I get to study the secrets and finer arts when it comes to magic!” she said proudly, Erik's face lighting up with keen interest.

“Princess Celestia? The large white winged unicorn? She is the daughter of your ruler?” he

posed the questions in rapid succession, but Twilight, also used to scholarly inquiry was more than capable of keeping up.

“Daughter? No, she's the co-ruler of Equestria! She and her sister, Princess Luna, are the guardians of the day and night, respectively. She and Luna are a rare species of pony called Alicorns! They are the rarest and most powerful of all!” she said with practised enthusiasm, as if lecturing a classroom full of students. Erik was beginning to understand.

“Okay, so Princesses Celestia and Luna are joint rulers, but why are they called the guardians of the day and night? Is that a symbolic title?” he asked.

“Umm, no. Princess Celestia is responsible for moving the sun across the sky! And Princess Luna brings us her beautiful night!” she said. Erik's immediate sceptical look caused her to stop, however.

“How can two alicorns control the day/night cycle when it's already governed by the rotation and orbit of the planet?” he asked incredulously.

“Huh? You mean that's not normal where you come from?”

“Of course! It's basic physics!” he exclaimed. Erik now had a greater appreciation for those poor scholars that had had to explain the notion of a heliocentric view of the solar system to people that were used to taking every word of the church for granted.

“That's....that's crazy! Sure, I bet your weather acts randomly too, huh?” he said

sarcastically, not realising just how spot-on she was. She shook her head doubtfully and scoffed at Erik's confirmation. “Yeah...and humans walked on the moon, I bet.”

“Well, actually......” Erik trailed off. Twilight was dumbfounded.

“N-no way!” she exclaimed, dropping her daisy sandwich in surprise. “You actually HAVE studied the moon? How in Equestria did you humans even get there? I mean, Princess Celestia is the only pony I know of that can cast magic that powerful. Wait....are humans THAT powerful with magic?”

“Actually, magic is almost non-existent among humans. My brothers and I are some of the

few exceptions.”

“WHAT?! No magic?!”

“I think, we will have to leave this for another time....everyone's staring at us...” Erik muttered, indicating to the small crowd of gawking passers-by that seemed to have accumulated. Twilight snapped out of her initial shock and looked around, realising that they were indeed surrounded, and that many were openly staring at them.

“Errr, sure, maybe we should get back to the library...”

*                *                *

Back inside the Ponyville Library, Julius sat cross-legged on the floor facing his sleeping brother. His eyes were closed and his brow furrowed in concentration. Julius was in the middle of his daily mental exercises. He was far behind in his self-imposed training regimen, due to his near-constant efforts to find Erik in the last few days. He was only now making up for it. Random objects floated about, slowly orbiting the young man; captured in the grip of his mind's power. He meditated on the current situation, attempting to determine the best cause of action. Julius was always the most serious when it came to training and preparation out of his brothers, and stuck to his studies whenever possible. Among his goals in his studies was the pursuit of higher awareness. According to his master, the human mind had access to higher planes of existence that stretched the awareness to a greater level. Accessing these higher planes brought a myriad of benefits such as heightened senses and the ability to draw from the natural energies of the environment. Currently, Julius was attempting to force his way to the next highest plane. Unfortunately or him, his concentration was rudely interrupted by the sudden appearance of Erik and Twilight, who had rushed in through the front door. Twilight had followed Erik through the front door only to find several objects fall out of the air and land in a heap surrounding the sitting older brother. Julius gave the pair of them a reproachful look as he stood up, retrieving a few items along the way. Erik looked apologetic, realising that he had interrupted his brother.

“Erm—sorry Jules....” he said hastily, rushing past him to the bathroom. Julius sighed in exasperation, taking a quick look at Thomas before conjuring a chair to sit in. Twilight, her curiosity getting the better of her, wandered over to him and awkwardly tried to strike up a conversation with the irritable older brother.

“Um, so.......Jules is your name, right?” she asked, taking a tentative step toward him.

“My name is Julius, but my brothers insist on calling me by that pet-name.” he said a little

forcefully. Twilight cringed slightly, with Julius realising his forcefulness and softening his tone somewhat. “Here.” he said, handing Twilight a backpack that he had stationed in a corner. “This should answer most of your questions about us, I don't have the time, nor the patience for a lecture.” he said irritably. “I need to have some time to think, so don't bother me.” he finished, walking out the door before Twilight could even respond. She was left blinking dumbly at his abrupt departure, but her curiosity took over when she remembered that she had been given the bag. A human artefact full of Celestia-knows what kind of information.

“Spike!” she called, with the small purple waddling out of the bedroom.

“What is it, Twilight?” he yawned sleepily.

“How could you have been asleep at a time like this?!” she demanded.

“I was tired.” he said simply, shrugging. “You kept me awake all night with those extra assignments you had to send, because Owlowiscious is away at Fluttershy's remember? Today's weird stuff can only keep me excited for so long, you know” he explained, his tone bored and slightly irritable from being woken up.

“Oh, right...sorry Spike, just go back to sleep. I can handle this.” she said, motioning for

him to return to bed, to which he gladly complied. Twilight used her magic to pick up the backpack and began slowly opening it as she walked over to her study desk. She didn't get far, however, because she bumped into the strange wooden object that Julius had created out of thin air to sit on. She grimaced with the slight pain and rubbed her foreleg, too excited to stop. She reached her desk and finished opening the bag, her expression akin to a child on Christmas morning. The first thing she pulled out of the bag she instantly recognised as a wallet, but the material it was made of was unfamiliar to her. She found two more identical wallets made of the same material deeper in the bag, pulling them out to get a closer look. They were made out of some kind of supple and smooth black material that she couldn't name. She opened the first wallet, scanning it's contents. What she found was a variety of small plastic cards, not unlike library or ID cards taking up all of the wallet slots. She pulled out one at random and studied it's surface, unable to read the text on it's surface, but recognising a picture of Julius' face adorning it's front. She pulled out another card, this one featuring a symbol of some kind, followed by a set of random digits and a black stripe across it's other side. She looked through the wallet's other slots and found multiple other cards just like the second one, each having a different symbol or string of random characters. She kept digging, finding unusual-looking slips of paper in one of the pockets, covered in symbols and seemingly random pictures across their surfaces.

“Ugh.....” she groaned in slight annoyance. She couldn't even hope to read anything written on these plastic cards or the slips of paper, but she did find something somewhat familiar in another pocket compartment. “Is this......money?” she wondered out loud, spilling the contents out onto the desk to reveal a small variety of coins. She found they were all adorned with the same picture of a female human wearing a crown one side, her face surrounded by yet more text. Now she was getting somewhere! She instantly knew that these coins were some kind of human currency, and that humans had a princess too! A crown, whether adorning the head of Princess Celestia, or some unknown human was unmistakable in what it represented. Leaving the wallets for a moment, she continued digging through the backpack and found a number of books of several different sizes. She immediately selected a small one and opened it carefully, only to find that, like the coins and cards, it had been printed in a language she couldn't read.

“Hold on....” she thought, frowning slightly as she regarded the book, turning it's pages back and forth. She could see that this book definitely wasn't any novel or textbook. It was organised in such a way that a word was highlighted in bold, followed by a paragraph of text beneath.

“It's a dictionary!” she exclaimed happily, realising that this would make her efforts all the

more easier. She charged up her horn, casting a most difficult spell. During her studies, she had gone through times when she had several assignment due at the same time on top of her usual reports. In order to save time, she had come across a spell that would instantly take all the information from a book, convert it into impulses that could be interpreted by her brain, and reorganised in such a way that would allow her to actively use and understand the information from the book as if she had read it from cover to cover. She had yet to use such a spell on learning an entirely new language, however. Straining herself with effort, her magic gripped the book and it's pages flipped through, as if being read at breakneck speed. Twilight gasped slightly as her spell finished and the immense load of new information hit her like a ton of bricks. She felt a headache coming on, but she had done it! She flipped over the dictionary to read it's cover, understanding it's words for the first time.

“The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, huh? So this language is called....English? But it's so similar in structure to Equestrian!.” Still, she could read it now! With renewed enthusiasm, she went back to studying the various contents on the wallets. Despite her newfound knowledge of this new language, she STILL didn't recognise a lot of what was on the cards. She could recognise that they were covered in numerals, but they looked like nonsensical serial numbers, like those used in a library register, but way more complicated. She noticed that all of them bore the name 'Mr. Julius Collins', followed by a set of what looked like dates. Only one of the cards in this series had any actual English text written on it's surface.

“The Bank of England?” she thought, her mind going into overdrive. “If these serial numbers represent just oneclient in a banking system.....then there must be literally millionsof humans just for this bank alone! There are at least a dozen bank cards here, so....is it possible that this 'England' is home to tens of millions of humans?” She wasn't sure, but she kept going through Julius' wallet. She picked up the card showing Julius' face, which she now recognised as a 'passport'. “Whatever that is.” she mused. She began reading it, still not finding any major answers to her questions.

“Name: Collins, Julius. Nationality: Australian. Date of Birth: 22 June 1987. Sex: M. Authority: Melbourne.” several things struck her mind at once. She recognised that 'Australian' was the demonym of the name of the country in which Julius had been born, but the dictionary didn't specify anything beyond the most basic of information.

'Australian (Noun) – A native or inhabitant of Australia, or a person of Australian descent.'

Not very helpful in this case, but she DID remember another definition.

'Australia - an island country and continent of the southern hemisphere, in the SW Pacific, a member state of the Commonwealth; population 21,262,600 (est. 2009); official language, English; capital, Canberra.'

She had only vague ideas of what the 'Pacific' and the 'Southern Hemisphere' were, owing to the fact that it was a compact dictionary, as opposed to an encyclopaedia, but she got the gist of it. She didn't however, understand the dating system used by humans.

“Hmmm, I'll have to ask Erik about that one..” she thought. But then she stopped dead in her tracks, realising that Erik had rushed to the bathroom fifteen minutes ago and she hadn't heard from him since! She dropped what she was doing and bolted over to the bathroom door, gently knocking.

“Erik! Are you okay in there?” There wasn't an answer. “Erik, are you alright?!” she

demanded, getting a little worried. Swallowing her worries, she used her magic to forced the lock open and barge through the door, only to gasp in shock as what she found. Erik's crumpled form lay on the cold tiled bathroom floor.