I gestured to where the crazy stallion had confronted me. "Is that going to keep happening? I just have this mental image of being challenged over and over. With each challenger being crazier than the last."

Twilight thought for a moment. "Usually there's just one really insane incident per new arrival and then you just deal with the average level of wacky in this town."

“Um, Twilight,” Trace said, looking past the lavender mare. “Where’s Fei? I’d have thought she would have come with you.”

Twilight blinked before looking around her. “She did,” she said, looking back at Trace. “I could have sworn she was right beside me.” Before anyone could respond, an excited, high pitched voice cut them off.

“Hey dad!” Trace turned just in time to be tackled by a little girl with pinkish red hair and a pair of fox ears sticking out of the top of her head. “Welcome back,” her ears twitched slightly as she tightened her grip around him. Trace was smiling as he wrapped his arms around the child.

“Happy to see you too Fei,” he replied. There was a sound of hoofsteps and his attention was drawn to an ice blue pegasus mare casually trotting over to us. “Hey Frost.”

“Greetings, my Lord,” she replied, giving him a quick bow before turning to me, “I see your mission was successful.”

I raised an eyebrow and looked up at Trace. "So now there was a whole mission just for me?" I said, smirking. "Were there codenames and everything?"

"Nothing quite so formal. Luna told us of your arrival and she assumed you might be more comfortable if you knew you weren't the only human here," Trace explained with only a hint of exasperation.

He seemed to be getting used to me. At least somebody was. Every time I saw myself like this I wondered if I could ever get used to how my body has changed.

Frost walked around me, looking me over. "A creature of order. How interesting, " She seemed pleased with this. I’d never thought of myself as being particularly orderly, but having Autochthon’s essence merged with mine probably qualified me as a creature of order. Beat the heck out of being one of those formless things that lurked in the chaos of the Wyld.

Just then 'Spect popped out, "if you think she's a creature of order, you've never seen how she keeps her room."

Frost gave 'Spect a look that could only be described as a cold stare. Alright, I could have used other terms but that one just seemed apt. ‘Spect just grinned and stuck her tongue out at the Pegasus.

"I need to get back to thinking... Call me if you find marshmallows!" 'Spect said before vanishing back to her sanctum.

Blitzen tapped my hand with her nose. "Speaking of rooms, I'm going to go make arrangements for us. I'll come find you later," she said as she turned and walked away. I needed to talk to her but it looked like she was in a hurry to go. I figured we’d talk later when we had more time and less of a crowd around us.

Whatever power was giving me the ability to see everything around me had apparently not reactivated when I changed back, so I heard rather than saw Alex and Matt disembarking behind me. I was fine with having just normal vision for now. Being able to see in every direction at once is more disorienting than helpful.

"You mentioned being hungry earlier? Is that still the case with you..." Alex started to ask as he walked around me.

"All robot-y? I don't feel it as strongly, but I still feel hungry. And before anyone makes the suggestion of nuts and bolts with motor oil, I still eat human food no matter how I look," I said.

"And I'd kill for a cheeseburger," I added under my breath, but evidently not quietly enough as Trace gave me a look that said I should be careful about such comments.

Not that I should need such reminders. I knew ponies would be vegetarians. But I'd been letting my mouth run without much oversight since I woke up. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why. I could hardly afford to alienate the people and ponies I'd need to establish some kind of life in this world. Maybe I'd feel better once I'd eaten something.

Trace walked up to me, the little girl hiding behind him. “Excuse me, Ms. Asher, but if you’d like we could stop by the library for lunch. Afterwards Twilight and I can show you around Ponyville.”

Someone, or rather somepony cleared their throat behind me.

"Miss Asher, I'm concerned about your mental state. As your doctor, I think it would be best if you were kept under observation at Ponyville General for a day at least," said Doctor Emerald.

"Doctor, I know I'm a bit out of whack, but I'd really like to be out of the hospital... Can I go with Trace and Twilight and I promise I'll check in at the hospital before dark so that I can be monitored," I pleaded.

"I'd prefer you have some rest, but I suppose that will do. Try not to overstress yourself, please," Emerald replied.

"I'll do my best," I told him solemnly.

"Excellent, I will see you later then," Emerald said as he turned to leave the station.

Alex smiled kindly at the doctor as he left. “You know, he’s a good man. I’ve seen him stand up to Princess Celestia for a patient. Didn’t even blink, and I mean for real, not the illusion. You can trust him.”

I kept my voice low, not sure who was privy to Doctor Emerald's secret, "Him, I trust. It's the rest of you I'm undecided about."

We started walking out of the station, Matt gave a grunt and a small wave to Alex before going off to the right, presumably to wherever he was calling home.

Alex gave a little chuckle. “Ma’am, we both know you could swat me like a fly and I couldn’t do a single thing about it, yet I have no reservations about walking beside you with my wife.” I noticed he placed his calloused hand on the back of her head and stroked her ear with his thumb. She smiled and leaned into him a little. “Do you know why?”

I rolled my eyes and considered pointing out that I really wasn't stronger than I appeared. I might be tougher but not necessarily any stronger. Then again I might have reflexive combat charms I don't know about. I settled for going with what I suspected was his reasoning, “Hmm... Luna told you to?”

This time he actually laughed, “No. To paraphrase Carl Schurz, My Princess, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right. That’s one of my jobs. Another is to make sure our beautiful daughter grows up in a safe world, free from Discords and Nightmare Moons. I do that one by making sure my wife can do her job. My last job, and I think the one that makes the other two doable, is to help good people that have lost their way. I think you are a good person."

I stopped walking and he didn’t notice for a few steps. He turned back with a gentle smile on his battered, scarred, ugly face. I looked at him, not quite sure how to react. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had said that to me who wanted nothing from me. Nothing at all.

A rough female voice jarred me back to reality, “Hey El. Don’t cry, dude.” I realized Rainbow Dash was hovering in front of me. Her hoof wiped my cheek. “But if you do, it’s totally cool. We’re your friends.” She waved a hoof at the others around us, “All of us.” She chortled playfully, gesturing at Alex with her muzzle, “Even the captain of the B team.”

Alex rolled his eyes a little, “So, bottom line. We want to help you. We want to give you a home. We are your friends. All of us.”

Would they be if they knew what you've done? But how can they know? You don't even know. Yet.

Just when I was beginning to miss the crazy in my head, it came back. And I really didn't feel like listening to it right now.

Sensing he had something to add, I turned to Trace.

"I have to agree with Alex, despite everything you've been through, I can tell you've stayed who you are, rather than let someone else control you," Trace said giving a friendly smile and extending his hand "I hope we can be friends, and I'd like to let you know you'll always be a welcome guest in my- I mean our, household," he said while glancing at Twilight.

I sighed, "I'm not a good person, I just try to survive. I've broken nine of ten commandments, along with enough other things that if I were Catholic, I'd be spending the next year in confessional. Not that it'd matter given that there are some things I can't truly say I regret. Plenty of things I do regret, sad to say, but still a few sins I don't feel a need to have forgiven."

“You assume that to be a good person you must follow strict rules and never make mistakes, but that is not true,” Trace countered with a slight smirk. “Tell me, Miss Asher, do you care about those around you, the ones you hold close? Do you mourn if they are injured or killed, or do you just brush it off, as though they had no affect on your life?”

"You'd have hated the church I grew up with. They were all about the strict rules," I said. "They had a nice long list of things we couldn't do. I've done a fair number of them since I left."

Trace chuckled for a second before narrowing his eyes. "You're dodging the question."

"I'm good at dodging," I said with a grin. Then I sighed, "You want to know if I care about my friends, I do. And every world where I leave a friend behind, I mourn because I know I'll never see them again. It's one reason I knew I wouldn't be travelling forever. Someday it'd be too much and my heart wouldn't be able to take any more. Though I suppose that's no longer an issue."

Then to everyone's surprise, Fei spoke up, "I think that's what my dad is getting at, you're a good person because you care. No one is perfect, we all make mistakes, sometimes we regret, other times we don't. You shouldn't beat yourself up over things that have happened in the past, you should accept them and use the experience to judge how you should proceed in the future, in hopes that your life will improve."

I arched a brow and looked at Fei with what I hoped was a kindly smile, "Either you are remarkably precocious or you're older than you look."

"And you are a better person than you think you are. I don't think anyone could go through what we have without doing some things they'd regret later. I know that all too well," Alex said as a hint of pain showed briefly in his eyes.

"What did you mean when you said your travelling was no longer an issue?" Twilight asked.

I gathered my thoughts and explained. "There's a sense I've had for when I'm going to be tossed somewhere new. I don't feel it anymore, at all. And with my new sensory improvements, I should feel something even if my next trip were years away. Guess Autochthon finally did what all the other gods I've met couldn't do. I'm not going to be tossed somewhere else."

I made a decision. Taking a deep breath, I reached in my bag and pulled out my tablet. "Io: documents - Autochthonians, Autochthonia, Shards," I told the device, grinning a little at Twilight's sudden interest.

I dropped the grin and held the device out to Alex, "These documents have everything I have about what I've become. I... I want you to read them, and decide if it's safe for me to stay. You're from Earth so you should be able to judge them from that background. If it helps, the reality of being like this is about as close to those books as this world is to the cartoon of it. At least from what I can tell so far."

"That's not necessary..." Alex started to say.

"It is. I... I need to trust you with this. If I'm going to be any kind of friend, I need to trust you." I said, looking up at Alex.

"Alright, I'll read through these, but I don't see them changing much," said Alex with another smile.

"Is that something like Alex's 'laptop'? How many books does it have in it?" Twilight asked excitedly as she kept her gaze locked on the tablet.

I had to smile at that. "A few hundred, you can read what you want after Alex is done with it. Though I hope you'll let me suggest which ones are best in keeping with your culture. Or at least give you some warning about which ones might be unsettling to read if you're not used to human fiction."

I looked up and saw that we'd gotten to the library. It looked different from my admittedly hazy memories of the show, like some additions had grown from the tree. I recalled that Trace and Fei were living there too, so the additions made sense. A cozy home for a single unicorn and her dragon assistant would be a little cramped for a whole family.

"Here's where we part company for now. Miss Asher, if you need anything, feel free to stop by. Trace or Twilight can direct you to the cottage," Alex said as he and Rainbow Dash turned to continue down the road.

"Thank you. Sorry about earlier, I'm so used to divine beings trying to control me it just felt like strings being attached again," I said before Alex had fully turned to leave.

"Don't worry about it. Already forgotten," Alex said as he started to walk away, Dash hovering beside him.

"Alright, if you say so," I replied. "And by the way, my friends call me Eleanor, or El. Not ma'am or Miss Asher. Ok?"

Alex chuckled a bit as he and Dash headed away from the library. Hopefully he'll take the hint. If he called me Ma'am again, I might sic 'Spect on him. After talking to her about appropriate levels of retribution. Her marshmallow creme sprayer would be about right, I thought.

A violet glow illuminated the door handle as Twilight used her magic to open the door. I'd seen similar displays but it always amazed me to be around such casual use of magic. I knew there were ways I could do similar now that I was changed, but I still had no idea how that would work.

Once inside, I heard Trace let out a sigh of relief as he tossed his hat and coat onto the coat rack by the door.

“It’s good to be home,” he said before turning to me. “Well Miss Asher, I promised you something to eat. Would you like pork, chicken, or maybe something more unique? I still have some manticore left.”

I shuddered and my appetite dropped considerably at the mention of manticore. I know it probably wasn’t the kind of manticore I was thinking of, but having had the memories of that manticore’s victim stuck in my head, the association was hard to avoid.

"You okay? You look like Twilight did when we first started keeping meat in the freezer," a voice asked from about waist height. I looked down and saw Spike looking much like I remembered from the show.

"Yeah... just bad memories. Not even mine. I'm alright," I told Spike, giving a weak smile to try and reassure him.

"I think I'm going to try getting used to being vegetarian again. I was vegetarian before I was tossed out of my world," I said to Trace.

Trace nodded and headed for the kitchen. “Anything to drink then?” He paused in thought. “We have.. water, milk, tea, coffee, non-alcoholic cider, and mead.”

"Coffee? Real coffee, from coffee beans?" I said, hoping beyond hope that I'd heard correctly.

He gave me a look that said he was questioning my intelligence "Yes..."

"Gods, I haven't been able to have real coffee in years. Last world just had some kind caffeinated lizard pee," I scrunched my face in disgust at the memory of the taste of that wretched stuff.

Trace just raised an eyebrow. "I'll take that as a yes, under the condition you never say the phrase 'caffeinated lizard pee' around me again."

"Deal," I said.

Trace and Spike went into the kitchen and came out with a large salad and some bowls. These were set on the table before the pair returned to the kitchen. They brought out some other platters of food, some steamed vegetables and slices of meat. It looked like they'd planned a feast for eight or nine rather than just the five present. Then came drinks and I nearly wept for joy at holding a mug of real coffee in my hands.

Looking at the food, I considered the meat for a moment and decided to stick with the vegetables. I watched Fei piling her plate high and wondered for a moment where she was going to put it all. Spike and Twilight were sticking with the vegetarian option as well, though Spike seasoned his salad with some kind of small gems.

"So, Miss Asher..." Twilight began.

"Please just call me Eleanor. I'd like us to be friends." I told Twilight.

"Thank you, Eleanor. I'd like that too. So as I was about to say, I'd been wondering about your mammaries." Said Twilight.

I choked on my coffee, barely stopping myself from doing a spit-take. "Excuse me?"

"I'd read some things that say that they are a mating attractant for humans, is that why they are placed so prominently on your chest and are so large?"

"Ah, uh,..." I tried to come up with a coherent response as I felt my cheeks heating up. I could see that I wasn't the only one uncomfortable with Twilight's topic of choice. Trace and Fei were both looking like they wanted to suggest another topic, any other topic. Spike was just looking at me with a confused expression.

"Is the size because you are pregnant? Or," a look of horror came across her features, "did you have to leave a foal behind in the world you came from?"

I decided to deflect further embarrassment. "Neither, they're actually not mammaries. They're twin fusion engines to allow me to power a 20 foot tall royal warstrider when I plug in to the pilot seat," I told Twilight.

I was starting to grin until I saw her levitate a scroll over and start writing on it.

"Kidding, kidding. It's just the way humans are shaped, the female ones anyway. They come in around puberty. Though generally not in metallic form." I said, tapping the metal of my chest.

Trace rolled his eyes, "I forgot to mention, she thinks she's funny."

"I know I'm funny, it's the rest of world that hasn't gotten the memo," I said sticking my tongue out at him.

"And so mature too," Trace said with another small sigh.

"Hey, it's the first chance I've really had to relax in years. I can be a grown up tomorrow," I protested. Tomorrow I'd have to start dealing with what has happened to me. Playing around and trying not to think about how much I've changed can only go so far.

"Maybe I should try and save my questions until then," Twilight said.

"I swear I'll take the time to answer all your questions as fully and accurately as I can, just give me time to get settled. You have my oath as an Esquire of the Autumn Court," I told her solemnly.

"You swore by that once before. What is the Autumn Court?" Trace asked me.

"Heh, it's one of the seasonal courts of the Changeling Freeholds. We're also known as the Court of Fear. We spread fear among the humans to keep them away from the Fae," I explained, smiling a little as Twilight's eyes widened and she filled the scroll with notes. "Not that I was a proper changeling, myself. But they said my travels were akin to the suffering they endured in Arcadia. They treated me like family, better than my own family ever did." I left out the part where I ran away when the Fae attacked. Bitter irony, I now had powers that could fight the Fae and no way to reach my old friends to save them.

"Interesting," Trace muttered. "While I find it a bit unnerving that they'd focus on inspiring fear, I can understand if they wanted to keep their species hidden. Though you may want to borrow a book on Changelings here in Equestria, they're not the same kind as you've met in the past."

"Hmm, I'll do that. And it wasn't just about keeping hidden, we did it to protect people. We didn't want anyone else going through what we... they did. Better a little scare than being taken to be one of the Gentry's playthings." I said before returning to trying to have some salad.

Just before I'd actually taken a bite, the door burst open and in came a blur of pink that interposed itself between me and Twilight.

"Twilight! I heard there was somepony new in town - my coltfriend just told me - he said she's like a Cyberman - but not a Cyberman - because Cybermen are total meanies and the new somepony is not a total meany - at least she's not a Dalek - because they're meanies too - and not as fun as Cybermen - all they want to do is exterminate - even when there's no bugs - but this new human person isn't a Dalek or a Cyberman so she needs a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party - and I was thinking it could be a surprise party - but not really because she's right behind me isn't she?" Said the bouncing pink pony without stopping to breathe even once.

"Yes Pinkie, she is," Twilight said after taking a moment to be sure Pinkie had stopped talking.

Pinkie turned around, her blue eyes staring straight into mine as though she could somehow see into my soul. "Sooo... what kind of parties do you like?"

I couldn't stop myself, "I like a balanced one. Right now we've got two wizards and a young dragon to handle ranged dps. I've probably got a few charms that'd be good for tanking, I think Fei might have some crowd control skills, so if you're a healer I think we can do this raid."

Blank looks from everyone but Pinkie.

Pinkie giggled, "I like you, you're silly."

"No, I'm Eleanor," I said as we grinned at each other.

There was a flash of light and 'Spect appeared in front of Pinkie. There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other. Pinkie spoke first, "You!"

"You!" 'Spect replied in kind before reaching forward to hug the pink pony. "I haven't seen you in forever, Pinkie!"

"I know!" was the reply.

"Do you still have the marshmallow cannon I gave you?" 'Spect asked.

"No, took it apart to build a flying machine," Pinkie told her.

There was a look of dawning horror on the faces of the others in the room, my own among them. There were two of them. I only hoped Pinkie Pie wasn't as careless about mortal frailties as 'Spect could be.

Their mouths cracked into identical maniacal grins.

Gods help us all.

Sadly no picture this time around. And I may be putting this on hiatus for a while so I can focus on trying to find a new job.