“Ready for next?”

I wasn't entirely sure that that was what Sixie said, but after three weeks of steady language lessons, it seemed I was picking up the basics, even if I couldn't manage more than a few words clearly myself. “Yes,” I said.

“Good!” The smile that the pegacorn gave was infectious, making it difficult for me to maintain my usual reserved demeanor... though lately that seemed to be getting harder to do anyway. “Write,” she said, showing me a picture of a pony's head with one of the ears highlighted, with what I presumed was their word for it, and then a line underneath for me to write in the English word.

I pointed at their word. “Say?”

What she said sounded a lot like a horse gargling lemonade. But hell if I didn't try to duplicate it myself, though judging from their slightly amused smiles I was farther off the mark than I thought. Their language wasn't proving terribly difficult to learn, but speaking it was another matter; if it hadn't been for Amber managing to speak as clearly as Sixie, I would've been convinced that it was impossible for me.

“Ear,” I replied, picking up my pencil and writing down the word. “E. A. R.” Twilight gave it a glance and smiled, turning back towards her worksheet- and then doing a classic double-take, immediately picking up the paper again and staring at it as if the pony pictured on it had started doing backflips. She started chattering something to Amber- who I noted seemed just as lost as I was as to what she was on about- while making a folder of some sort appear with her magic; the only word I could make out was “two” said seemingly every nine or ten words. I couldn't understand what had set this off; all I'd done was written “Ear”.

Then she presented me with something entirely new- a list of letters.

English letters.

As I looked at it, it began to seem to me as if someone had jumbled them together, nearly randomly. Where did she find something written in English? I wondered. Has she been working to translate it before now? It would make sense if she had; it seemed logical that there'd be more ponies than just her working on the communication problem, as serious as Sixie seemed to be taking it.

The pegacorn seemed especially agitated about the letter “E”. Another page I'd written on- for “Water”- came fluttering out of the folder, and Sixie laid it next to the picture of the ear, pointing at both the uppercase and lowercase letter “e”. Unsure of what she was getting at, I just nodded and shrugged slightly.

A look of contemplation came over her face, and she wrote three things on a blank piece of paper- the same two letters, upper and lowercase, and a blocky uppercase “R”. Then she drew a line under the second letter and looked at me expectantly. I'd just begun habitually writing a lowercase “r” when something struck me from an earlier lesson; I motioned for Sixie to give me the folder, and when she did, I pulled out another picture, that of a filly. I had noticed during that lesson that their word for “filly” had a strange, click-neigh sound at the end that seemed to match the sound at the beginning for “bread”, and had two letters that matched up as well.

Only now did I realize that they matched exactly, whether at the beginning or the end of the word. This language doesn't seem to have capital or lowercase letters, I thought. Is that what she's apparently been getting hung up on?

I was acutely aware of both of them watching me intently as I wrote down the one thing I could think of to help- the entirety of the English alphabet, with each uppercase letter over its lowercase twin, and a little arrow between each just to prevent any confusion.

The look of pure, unadulterated joy on Sixie's face when she understood what I'd written was almost overwhelming; the sight of her bouncing around in a circle shouting “Yes” over and over had even me laughing... and when she practically jumped onto the bed to hug me around the neck before apparently remembering herself and jumping back off with the world's brightest blush on her purple cheeks, I knew one thing for a fact- whether she was some kind of royalty or not, what she definitely was was a nerd. And, well, that made her seem just a little less threatening to me.

Amber and I shared an amused look and a chuckle as Sixie collected herself, as well as the papers she'd inadvertently knocked around. She placed the alphabet page back in front of me and asked in a somewhat shy voice “Say?”, and I dutifully recited the alphabet for her, pointing to each letter in turn and listening to her- and Amber- try to repeat them. Once that was done, she drew a line, then gave me back the pencil and made a simple request: “Write Peter.”

Well, that was easy enough. And when I'd finished, Sixie actually recited each letter in turn, then my name. I didn't mind showing that I was impressed- one go and she had the sounds memorized? And she just looked so thrilled over the whole thing! She excused herself to go over to the room's table and begin making notes, murmuring to herself while Amber and I suddenly found ourselves with nothing to do. Hitting on an idea, I did a rough sketch of her, then wrote out what her name sounded like to me- “Sveti” was the closest I could get, though I figured that I was absolutely murdering it- and showed it to her.

Her reaction surprised me. She actually seemed a little flattered about it, and did her best to sound out each letter. Feeling a little pleased with myself, I decided to find out a little more about the gryphon, fishing through my limited vocabulary in order to figure out how to phrase the question properly. “What Sveti means, gryphon say?” is what I thought I managed to string together.

She took a moment to puzzle that out. “In gryphon word?” she asked; I nodded, and she took the clipboard and pencil from me, tapping the eraser against her beak for a moment as she apparently considered how to explain. Then inspiration struck, and she sketched something out, then gave it back to me. It looked like a rough representation of a gryphon in flight, wings extended, and holding what seemed to be a sword in one claw and a shield in the other, with a large plumed helmet on its head.

I could figure it out. “Warrior?” I asked in English; she tilted her head, her gold eyes peering at me in curiosity. “Gryphon that....” I began in pony-speak, but then realized that I didn't know any words in this language to elucidate, and instead pantomimed swinging a sword and blocking with a shield- not the easiest thing to do in a hospital bed, but I managed, even adding appropriate sound effects as I did so.

She chuckled and nodded. “Yes!” she said, pointing a talon at me. Then she gave me the pony-language equivalent for “warrior”, repeating it a couple of times until I could say it respectably well.

A question hit me. “Sveti is... warrior?” I asked.

She chuckled and shook her head, smiling; I still didn't know how she could smile with a beak, but somehow she managed. “No,” she answered. “I am not. Is... word for one gryphon warrior, long ago.” She paused a moment, giving me a curious look. “Peter is warrior?”

It was my turn to shake my head. “No, no, no,” I insisted, raising my hands to emphasize my point. “I am not warrior.”

Sixie tossed out a comment that got Amber to give out a snorting laugh; the gryphon must have noticed my confused look, and waved it off with a claw. “Say later,” she said, the phrase we'd come up with when some concept or event was too complex to explain at the moment. I wasn't sure how to feel about that for a moment... but I figured that I could trust Amber- or Sveti, I reasoned I should call her, as hers was the first name I actually had some sort of definition for now- to react in my defense if the comment had been untoward.

Eventually the lesson ended, and Sixie- who hadn't lost much of her earlier exuberance- rattled out a few sentences while gathering up all of the notes and materials. She gave me a wave and a happy smile and said a few words to Sveti before she and everything levitating around her vanished in a bright purple burst of energy.

After that weirdly disturbing yet adorable display, it was all I could do to shake my head. “Ponies,” I said quietly.

Next to me, Sveti broke out in a laugh. “Ponies!” she echoed, nodding in agreement.

Eventually the doctors came to chase Sveti out of the room, though she paused at the door for a moment and looked back at me. “Peter... draw?” she said, pointing at my clipboard.

“Draw what?” I asked.

She shrugged. “What you like. I look tomorrow, yes?"

“Yes.” I chuckled. “See you tomorrow.”

She smiled and waved, then headed down the hall and out of sight as the door closed. And there I was, left alone once more- and yet, oddly enough... I didn't quite feel alone anymore.

(-)

“So was there anything interesting in Night Court last night, Luna?”

The Princess of the Moon needed a moment to finish chewing her piece of waffle before she could answer her sister's question. “Nothing one would call 'interesting' overly much,” she answered. “Mostly petitions that should have been solved at the local or regional level, but one party chose to escalate rather than accept defeat.”

“We still see so much of that. Maybe more reforms on the local levels are needed?”

“Perhaps....” Luna considered for a moment as she took a sip of orange juice. “I will consult Brass Bell's Legal Compendium for insight after I have slept. We must be careful not to disincentivize those who legitimately feel their case deserves more attention, but to see a dispute regarding fencing on a half-acre back lot brought all the way to Canterlot....”

“...is quite frankly a waste of resources and only crowds out other ponies,” Celestia finished flatly. “If you can come up with something, Lulu, for Faust's sake let me know. You know that law was never my strong suit.”

“I would gladly share any insight with you.” Luna let out a quiet yawn, placing her utensils next to her now-empty plate; a servant hastened to whisk the tray away. “Sister, I would ask a question,” she said, before glancing around. “Privately, please,” she added.

The guards and servants were quick to vacate the dining room, leaving only the two alicorns within. Celestia had an expression of mild concern. “Is something wrong, Luna?”

“No, no. I... I merely wanted to discuss our unusual guest.” She glanced out through the window to her right, through which she could see the display wing from which the creature- human, she reminded herself, whatever that word may mean- had jumped less than a month ago.

“What exactly did you want to discuss?”

“I... would like to speak with him.”

Celestia frowned, just a little. “That might not be advisable, Lulu,” she answered. “Especially if he recognizes you from his dreams. I couldn't begin to predict how he would react to the knowledge that you intruded upon his psyche.”

“I understand, but....” She leaned back for a moment, considering how to phrase her feelings. “Does he not deserve to know, Tia? He will undoubtedly learn of my existence at some point; perhaps it is best that I inform him of what I have done myself, rather than wait for him to piece together the evidence and believe that I engaged in deceit as well as trespass.”

“That is true.” Her sister set down her teacup. “That decision is yours to make, Luna. But are you prepared to deal with the animosity he might hold towards you?”

“Yes.”

She may have answered a split-second too quickly, and her ever-observant sibling picked up on that. “Is there something else to this?” Celestia asked, her face a mask of neutrality.

Luna let out a sigh. Damn her ridiculous powers of perception. I may as well be honest. “I seek... parity,” she said. “To have him understand what I did, and why. I would accept his anger so long as he knew the truth of the matter. And....”

“And?”

In for the bit, in for the bridle.... “And... I would like to be his friend, should he accept such,” she continued. “The anger, the fear, the isolation I have seen plague his mind- they are not foreign to me, Tia. I would have him understand that there are ponies who comprehend and sympathize with those feelings.”

Celestia was silent for a moment. “I see the merits,” she said quietly. “But I also see the drawbacks. I won't forbid it, Luna, but I must advise caution. It's still entirely possible to undo all the progress we've made with Peter.”

Luna nodded slowly. “I understand, Tia. And... thank you.”

Her sister gave her a warm smile. “There's no need to thank me. This is what older sisters are for, isn't it?”

“Oh, so they do have a use, after all!” She couldn't help but giggle at the flat look Celestia gave her for a moment, before the other alicorn began laughing as well.

(-)

“Are you kidding me? We finally get our hooves on somepony who can gain access to it, go to ridiculous lengths to manage an insertion, and they're discharging it next week? And it's going to be living inside the Griffin Embassy?!”

“Calm down, Private.” Air Sergeant York tapped the table with a hoof. “You don't know just how valuable that contact has proven to be. We still have an opportunity here; we'll just need to move quickly. And even if we miss this chance... the Embassy isn't a fortress, especially with some ignorant griffin civilian running things.”

“I just don't want that thing getting away scot-free. It's just... it's just not right.”

“Don't worry about that. Once we show everypony how dangerous it is when cut loose, they'll put it in the darkest, deepest cage they can find.” She laid her chin on her hoof. “Now listen carefully, because I'll need you to repeat this plan to the rest of the group.”

(-)

“So how's he been doing?”

Twilight took a moment to consider Dash's question as she led her friends through the halls of the castle. “Fairly well, all told,” she answered. “His health has been improving steadily; he's scheduled to be released from the hospital next Wednesday, barring any complications.”

“Well, okay, but that's not what I'm asking,” Dash replied. “I mean... what's he like? How's he been acting? Is he still trying to escape?”

“I reckon we'd 've heard about that,” Applejack chuckled. “Seems that feller makes a ruckus whenever he gets his gallop on.”

“Why such curiosity, Rainbow Dash?” Rarity gave the pegasus a sly smile. “You certainly seem to want to know more about him.”

“Oh, don't even start, Rare.” Dash blew a raspberry at her. “That's all it is, curiosity. I mean, after everything he's been through, maybe I just wanna make sure he's okay, you know?”

Fluttershy smiled. “Well, I think that's very nice of you, Dash. And no... he hasn't made any kind of escape attempt since he was admitted to the hospital. He's not even being restrained.”

“Really? Nothin' at all?” Applejack shook her head. “Shoot, I was sure that he'd make another go at it. Wonder what changed?”

Twilight gave a small wing-shrug. “To be honest I'm not entirely certain. He's still not quite fluent enough in Equestrian for me to talk to him about everything that happened. Now that we understand how his alphabet works, though, we're hoping to have a translation matrix worked out soon so that we can better understand his language in return. That'll really help things along.”

“He does seem much calmer now,” Fluttershy put in. “And... he does seem kind of nice, if not very outgoing.”

Everypony went quiet for a moment- which was something that bothered Dash, until she realized what it was that was missing, and looked behind her. “Pinkie?” she said guardedly. “You okay?”

“Uh-huh!” was the only reply from the pony in question, who was walking- not bouncing, but walking- a few paces behind her.

“You're, um... kind of quiet.”

“Yep.”

Okay, don't show fear, Dash told herself, even as she felt herself shiver a little. “Are you sure you're okay?”

“I sure am, Dashie! I Pinkie-promised Twilight that I'd be on my very bestest behavior while we visit our new friend so that I don't accidentally startle him, and so that's what I'm doing.”

“Oh. Um... well, good! I'll let you get back to that.” Dash couldn't help but cringe just a little. I used to wish she'd act normal, but now that she is, I'm actually creeped out by it!

It was another rather unnerving five minutes before they got to the hospital, were checked in and made their way to the outside of the hospital room where the creature was staying. Twilight had them all wait for a moment while she went in to prepare him for guests, then gestured for them to follow; Dash was the last one in at Twi's earlier insistence, out of a worry- which might not have been unfounded, in Dash's opinion- that her earlier pursuit of him might have given him an aversion towards her.

And despite the fact that his eyes were tiny and his ears were completely immobile and stuck on the sides of his head, she could still see his expression become more guarded when he saw her. She gave him a smile and a wave of her hoof to show that she wasn't here to cause trouble, and that seemed to defuse some of that tension, though not all. He's definitely looking better than the last time I saw him, she thought. A lot calmer, too.

Fluttershy, for her part, trotted up to the bed with complete aplomb, leaning up to give his shoulder a gentle pat. “Hello, Peter,” she said quietly. “How are you feeling?”

“I'm okay, Fluttershy,” came the reply.

Applejack chuckled. “That's some weird accent he's got.”

“Oh, and you're one to talk, Applejack,” Rarity countered.

“Huh? I ain't got no accent!”

“Girls, please,” Twilight urged, before turning towards the creature. “Peter, these are my friends,” she said slowly, pointing out each of them and giving their names in turn. “Girls, this is Peter. His species is called 'human' in his language.”

“Hyuu-amon,” Dash tried. “The hay kind of weird word is that?”

“Now, Dash, it's certainly not any better or worse than 'pony', is it?” Rarity retorted.

“Well, at least 'pony' is a word I can... say right....” Dash trailed off as she watched Pinkie approached the bed with all the deliberate calmness of a trained soldier. When she reached the creature's side, she reached into her mane- and produced a small silver plate and lid, which she hoofed to him.

“Hello, Mister Peter!” she said, her voice exuberant but not at all loud. “I'm Pinkie Pie, and I'm Ponyville's premiere party planner! And I'm extending to you this invitation for one free Pinkie Party, redeemable any time you ever find yourself in town!”

For his part, Peter seemed a little confused, but lifted the lid off the plate- on which rested a small, colorful cupcake and a bright pink envelope; on the envelope was written “For Peter” in what seemed to be an even brighter shade of pink crayon.

“Err, Pinkie,” Applejack murmured, “how'd ya know what name to write on that there envelope when we jes' now met 'im?”

Pinkie giggled. “Silly filly. I knew to write his name on there because the invitation is for him! Who else's name would I put on it?”

Applejack opened her mouth to respond- only to find an alabaster-coated hoof covering it. Rarity simply shook her head slowly, the message clear- it's Pinkie being Pinkie; just let it go.

Peter had picked up the cupcake and was eyeing it closely. “Is okay?” he asked Fluttershy.

The pegasus turned. “Pinkie, you followed that list I gave you, right?”

“I sure did!” came the answer. “I made sure to use only ingredients that you said were safe for him. I wouldn't want one of my cupcakes to give anypony a tummyache, even if they're not an anypony but an anyhuman!”

Fluttershy smiled at that. “It's okay, yes,” she told Peter.

He carefully unwrapped the cupcake. Dash found herself fixated on the strange appendages at the ends of his forelimbs; she'd seen them in action when gripping obstacles or holding his weapon, but she hadn't dreamed they could move with such precision. She hardly registered the quiet exchange next to her between Applejack and Rarity.

“Quit starin', Rares.”

“I'm not staring!”

“I'm watchin' you stare at 'em right now!”

“No you're not; you're staring at them too! I'm watching you do it!”

“Well, I can't help it! Lookit 'em!”

“I am!”

“Girls, you're creeping him out!” Twilight hissed. Dash noticed that he had paused midway through unwrapping the cupcake, watching them with an expression that seemed somewhere between amused and worried; the three mares immediately found something else to look at, and with a quiet sigh and a shake of his head, the human finished removing the paper and took an experimental bite of the baked treat.

Dash could almost feel Pinkie repress a squeal of joy when Peter practically wolfed down the cupcake, licking those weird appendages clean of any leftover cake or frosting. Once he was done, he looked back up at Pinkie and gave her a small smile. “Thank you, Pinkie Pie,” he said, his accent thick but his meaning clear enough.

“I'm very glad you liked it!” the earth pony told him, her blue eyes almost popping out of their sockets and her smile so wide that the corners of her mouth practically threatened to meet at the back of her neck. “Now, um... if you'll excuse me, there's something I have to go do. Don't forget about that invitation, now!”

With more decorum and calm than Dash thought she was capable of, Pinkie trotted out of the room- and the instant the door closed, a series of dull thuds vibrated through the walls. Twilight frowned. “Applejack, see what she's doing?”

“Sure thing, sugarcube.” The orange mare cracked open the door and peeked out. “She's, uh... ricochetin' down the hallway.”

“...I suppose I shouldn't even be surprised.” Twilight facehoofed. “Okay, you know what, girls? Let's cut this fias- err, visit short and let him be for now, and go see Princess Celestia. We can come back after lunch, and then you can meet Sveti as well. In the meantime-”

“-eeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeee-”

Twilight glanced back at the door, then facehoofed again. “-somepony catch Pinkie.”

(-)

“Let's see. Room twenty-two... Serene Calm. Broken scapula and dislocated shoulder; massage-therapy client accidentally bucked her when she found an unexpected pressure point.” Doctor Measure opened the door to look in on the patient, finding her resting comfortably- or as comfortably as anypony could rest when in a partial body cast- with the monitors all reading normal. “Checked, no problems found,” he said quietly, checking off a box on her chart and then putting it in the holder on the door.

The next room was the one that had seen far more attention than typical recently, all thanks to the unusual patient recovering within. “Room twenty-three, patient known as 'Peter',” he murmured. “Leaving tomorrow. I'll tell you what, my strange friend, we're going to be sad to see you go. You made things interesting around here....”

Something caught his eye as he slipped the chart out from its holder- there was a faint flickering light coming through the gap at the bottom of the door, stopping barely a second after he'd noticed it. He raised his hoof to open the door to have a look- only to have the door swing open by itself, with one of the night nurses standing behind it, her horn glowing faintly. “Oh! Um... hello, Doctor,” she said quickly.

“Nurse Suture, what are you doing in here? You're not assigned to rounds.”

“The patient was making noise of some sort when I came by; I wanted to be sure that there wasn't an emergency. I think it was simply a nightmare.”

Doctor Measure glanced past her to look at the creature in his oversized bed. He did seem uncomfortable, his pale face set in a faint grimace, but he was definitely asleep. “I thought I saw light in here,” the doctor said.

“It was too dark for a visual examination, and I didn't want to wake him by turning on the lights, so I used a low-power light spell.”

Well, that made sense; his strange ability to cancel magic meant that they couldn't use diagnostic spells or monitors on him- the machines either failed outright or didn't pick up that they were attached to a living creature- so they'd had to go back to the “old playbook” on quite a few occasions. “Alright then, nurse,” he said. “I'll let you get back to your duties.”

“Thank you, doctor.” Was that a trace of exhaustion in her voice? Well, he couldn't blame her; the night shift could be tiring for some ponies, especially new transfers from other less busy hospitals like Nurse Suture. So he paid her no more mind as she cantered down the hallway and he made his way to room twenty-four.

(-)

“Okay, let's see. Work order two-twenty-four... fountain number thirty-eight is backing up again, and somepony mentioned a rattling noise.” Sunflower put her clipboard into her work harness and climbed behind the fountain, retrieving her adjustable wrench and using it to shut off the water flow. As the cascade stopped and the pool began to drain, she heard a soft, metallic clinking noise. “I bet it's more visitors throwing bits into the fountain for good luck,” she murmured, trotting back around to the front of the pool- and passing one of the two signs that specifically requested that nopony throw items into the fountain.

Once the water had completely drained, though, Sunflower found something odd wedged in the grating beneath a hooffull of bits, that seemed to have been drawn most of the way through it but was caught by a flat metal piece. She couldn't pull it out, so instead she removed the grate itself and pulled it out, flipping it over onto its side on the rim of the pool. Her rubber mallet was sufficient to dislodge the object, and she put it aside for a moment to replace the grating and resume the water flow.

Her job done, she picked up the weird object to give it a closer look. It was made of some kind of light metal, with strange indentations on either side, and was apparently hollow; held within- visible through small holes on one of the narrow sides- were small, yellowish objects that had the gleam of copper or brass, one of which was partly visible through what she guessed was the top.

“What the hay is this thing?” she wondered, turning it this way and that, watching the water drip out of it. Shaking it dry as best as she could, she tucked it into her harness, resolving to bring it to her manager as soon as her shift was done. In the meantime, she had six more work orders to take care of.

And one of these days, she thought, I'm going to ask just what it is they serve at the commissary that results in so many plugged toilets in the visitor's center.