“Good morning, Peter!”

I looked up at the exuberant mare's greeting and smiled. “Good morning,” I answered. I still didn't understand her name quite yet- “Ensemble” was the closest I came with the explanations Sixie and Sveti had given me, and I was swiftly learning about the weird connection between a pony's flank mark and their name; I was beginning to believe that Sixie's actual name had something to do with evening and stars.

“Breakfast is ready,” she told me. “Come down soon!” And with another smile and a swish of her tail, she disappeared from my bedroom doorway, leaving me to finish putting on my shirt. Sveti had contracted with a couple of tailors, here in the city whose name I still didn't understand, for them to make me extra clothing; I now had enough clothes to get through two weeks before needing to do laundry, and- aside from one shirt that was a bit large on me, but comfortably so- all of it fit me well. I even had a woven fabric belt with a solid-silver buckle that Sixie had told me went well with my eyes.

As usual, Sveti was already at the table along with the staff; my customary chair to her left had a plate full of food in front of it, and after exchanging morning greetings with everyone, I sat down to have at it. Breakfast was typically a laid-back and friendly affair here, and though I couldn't really follow along with the conversation at most points, let alone join in it, that didn't keep it from being relaxing.

As we ate, I stole a few glances at Sveti. Truth be told, it felt good to see her so relaxed and open, chatting with the ponies that worked here and doing her best to sum up for me anything I might find pertient in their talks. There had been times where she'd seemed more pensive and guarded than even me, and I could tell that something had been eating at her for a while- on occasion she'd let her “mask” down when she thought no one was looking, and hell if I didn't want to just walk up and hug her every time I saw that forlorn expression on her face.

In fact, I was starting to wonder why I didn't at least try to talk to her about it. I wasn't the best conversationalist yet, sure, but I could manage a basic, slowly-spoken dialogue with her. I just couldn't quite get past the notion that I might end up intruding on something highly personal; she seemed to have a pretty good relationship with Sixie, and didn't seem to have problems with talking to the other five mares in the pegacorn's circle of friends, so my reasoning was that it had to be something she didn't want to talk about at all if she couldn't discuss it with them- or at least couldn't entrust it to the barebones understanding of the language I had.

It was motivation for learning faster, if nothing else.

Once breakfast was done, we all fell into our morning routines. I helped with the dishes, spent some time cleaning with Ensemble- whose almost constant talking served as a sort of impromptu language lesson, though the energetic mare seemed more focused on the lives of celebrities and nobles than anything else- and then went to help a brawny stallion I'd nicknamed Hard Hat, both for his flank mark and his penchant for wearing safety headgear during work no matter what he was doing. Hat and I had been working on some plumbing on the second floor for more than a week, and due to the fact that hand tools, or “hoof tools”, here were bizarrely identical to those back home, it wasn't difficult for me to play assistant to him. Unlike Ensemble, Hat was a quiet one, not saying much beyond what he needed me to get or do for him. I was okay with that, though... it was a sort of “guy thing”, and there was an easy familiarity to the silence.

After lunch was another language lesson with Sixie. I'd asked to move the lessons to the afternoon so I could help out better around the building; much of the daily work was accomplished in the morning, and my need to feel useful drove me to dedicate the time slot between breakfast and lunch into helping. Sixie had surprisingly obliged without objection- I had the feeling that mare loved her schedules- and I'd found that, after some time spent working with my hands, learning the pony language came a little easier to me.

Things tended to wind down after dinner. Sveti was adamant about giving her staff time to relax; I'd once seen her actually try to argue Ensemble into leaving off cleaning a particularly dust-covered room one evening, and when she'd been unable to convince the mare to leave it off for the next day, Sveti had actually pitched in to help get it done faster. So had I, of course... it seemed that the gryphon and I had similar work ethics.

Most nights I spent sketching, and this one was no different. Sveti had told me about Diamond's idea of doing artwork for the city's wealthy citizens, and while I didn't have any objections to it, I wasn't sure that my level of skill was up to snuff for paid work, so I was putting in some practice time. Sveti liked coming to watch, and it wasn't unusual for at least a couple of the staff ponies to stop by and watch as well- though I had a sneaking suspicion Ensemble and the tea stallion were more interested in watching my hands work than in my artwork.

There was one project I was working that I wasn't quite ready for Sveti to see yet, though. That particular piece of work was safely hidden in my dresser, taken out only at night after bedtime, and worked on by the light of a small lantern until I was ready to fall asleep.

And that was my daily routine, which had gotten rather comfortable for me over the past couple of weeks. So comfortable, in fact, that I was beginning to feel faint pangs of dread about my upcoming conversation with Sixie.

(-)

“Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight smiled, clopping her front hooves together. “That's right!” she exclaimed, glancing down at the phonetic study sheet she'd put together. “And you've figured out what those words mean?”

“I think....” The human's brow furrowed in concentration. “Twilight. Time when sun is going over....” He pointed out the window.

“Over the horizon, yes. Rising, or setting.” She made hoof motions to illustrate her point. “And the other word?”

“Sparkle. When something shines, like....” He glanced at her flank. “Like star?”

“Yes!” She couldn't help but let out a pleased giggle. “My goodness, Peter, you've made a truly impressive amount of progress.” She turned to the griffin sitting beside her. “Have you been getting him to follow a more stringent self-teaching method?”

“Honestly, I haven't had to,” Sveti replied. “I have made sure he's had plenty of reading material and opportunities to listen to conversations- and I've also had him working alongside Ensemble, who's happy enough just to have someone to talk at for a couple of hours every day.” She chuckled. “But something's lit a fire under him, I think,” she said, giving him a playful mockery of a serious look. “Not that you'll tell me, of course!”

He smiled at that. “Not yet. Soon.”

“Oh! Speaking of 'soon', Peter....” Twilight neatly gathered up her reference materials and placed them in their folder. “You've said you wanted to speak with me about something important. I have a bit of free time on my hooves... would now be a good time?”

He seemed to consider that for a moment- she'd gotten so much better at reading his expressions- and then nodded. “Okay,” he answered. “But need to know word first.” He picked up his pencil and pad and sketched out what seemed to be a rough topographical map.

“Map?” Twilight guessed, taking a moment to mentally go through her stores of supplies; with a thought, an atlas materialized at her side. “Maps,” she told him, flipping through a few pages.

“Yes!” He reached out for the tome, and she laid it open on the table before him. “Where we?” he asked.

“Here.” Her horn glowed, and the atlas flipped open to the first map of Celestial Valley, the area in which the Solstice Peaks- and Canterlot- rested. Another simple spell caused the depiction of the nation's capital to light up gently. “This is Canterlot,” she told him.

A slight look of confusion washed over his face. “Bigger?”

“A larger map? Sure.” A few more pages turned. “This is the northeastern section of Equestria. Here we've got Neighagra Falls, Baltimare, Fillydelphia- the City of All-Pony Love- and Manehatten....” Her voice trailed off as she realized he was still staring at the map, not paying attention to what she was highlighting.

“Bigger?” he asked again.

“One complete map of Equestria, coming up.” A few more pages flipped by, and she spun the atlas a bit so that Peter could more easily take it in. “This entire area is the Principality of Equestria. Up here we have the Frozen North; this is the Crystal Empire, abutted by the Crystal Mountains here....”

She watched a frown cross his face as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Have... map, on circle?” he asked.

“A globe?” That caught her by surprise. I wonder what he's going for here? she thought, even as she magically summoned the globe from her office desk back home- a gift Shining had given her on her ninth birthday- and presented it to him. “And this is the world of Equus, at least as far as its sapient races have explored,” she told him. “Oh! Maybe you can show us where you're from!” She gave the globe a gentle spin. “Misty Mountains, perhaps? Or the Tramplevanian Alps? Have you ever seen the Zebrican Veldt? Or-”

When she looked up from the globe, the look on his face brought her to a complete stop... it looked like he'd just gotten bad news that he'd been expecting for a while. “Peter?” Sveti asked, worry plain in her voice. “What's wrong?”

“This....” He gestured at the globe. “This... not where I come from.”

The globe thunked against the table, Twilight losing her arcanokinetic grip on it as shock froze her mind solid for a moment. Thankfully, Sveti was there to voice the question that couldn't seem to make it out of her own throat. “You're... not from Equus?” the griffin asked.

The human shook his head silently.

“Then... where are you from?” Twilight silently thanked Sveti for being her voice while her own brain tried to sort things out.

Peter once more turned his attention to his pencil and paper, his hand practically flying back and forth as he sketched out something. Twilight had to fight the impulse to look over his shoulder for fear of coming to premature conclusions before he was done- but the logic of her action didn't make the waiting any easier. It seemed like forever before he finished, and turned the pad around for them to look... and what she saw sketched on the plain white paper made her jaw drop.

He'd sketched a basic rendition of an entire galaxy, a small circle in one of the arms paired with an arrow that led to what seemed to be a stylized star with eight dots orbiting around it. The third dot from the center was likewise circled, and another arrow led to two more objects... one of which was a recognizable moon, and the other larger one covered with landmasses that looked absolutely nothing like what was on her globe.

It was as blatant a statement as could be to a lifelong astronomer. “You're from another world,” Twilight half-whispered. “How did you come to Equus?”

The words that left his mouth were the last words she would ever have expected.

“I don't know.”

Suddenly everything made so much sense. Peter's bizarre magic-nullification ability, his bewilderment at so much of what seemed normal to ordinary ponies, the almost ridiculously advanced technology he used as easily as a pony would use a sewing machine or record player, despite its like never having been encountered in recorded history... all inexplicable if he had originated from just about anywhere on Equus, but coming from an entirely different world negated a whole bunch of rules. And an accidential visitor? While she still didn't understand why he'd had his weapon, the question of why he'd had relatively little ammunition for it- when it seemed that bringing much more probably wouldn't have been difficult- now had a plausible answer. He'd never meant to bring it here, never meant to use it upon ponies.

And then the enormity of the situation came crashing down on her. Peter was an alien creature, in the truest sense of the word- an extra-Equusian lifeform, from a world beyond her own. The wishes of science-fiction writers and daydreaming scientists had come true; Equestria had had a true First Contact encounter... and this otherworldly entity's first meeting with ponies had resulted in his capture and torture.

The urge to weep was almost overwhelming. “I'm sorry,” she said, gazing up at him with sight blurred by tears. “I didn't know. I didn't even think to ask.”

To her surprise, he reached out and patted her neck lightly. “Is okay,” he replied. “I not know how to say, until now. Thank you for teaching.”

“It's, well, I, um... you're welcome.” She managed to give him a slight smile as her mind chased itself around in circles- until she came to the realization that this new revelation, while completely demolishing her understanding of the universe in general, didn't change as much regarding the alien himself as she'd originally thought... except, maybe, the likelyhood of more humans appearing. This did add one responsibility to her list, though- discover how Peter was brought here, and if he can be returned home.

She saw him turn to Sveti, who had a confused and lost expression. “Sorry,” he told her, his own emotions unreadable to Twilight. “I wanted say sooner, but... not know how.”

The hen opened her beak to respond- and was interrupted by a knock at the door. Both females glanced towards it, then back at Peter. “Come in,” he called.

Quick Service opened the door and peeked his head in. “Princess Twilight? One of your personal guard- a Corporal Gust- is in the foyer requesting a private audience with you.”

Twilight blinked in surprise. “I see. I'll be right there,” she said, hopping down from her chair. “Sveti, Peter, please excuse me a moment.”

She went with Quick to the front foyer, where Corporal Gold Gust was waiting for her; after the servant had excused himself, Twilight crafted an acoustic-muffling spell to ensure that their conversation would be heard by nopony else. “Go ahead, Corporal,” she said.

The pegasus bowed his head briefly. “Your Highness, I've been asked by Captain Armor to inform you that Aircolt Swift Wind has regained consciousness. He's in too poor a condition to be interviewed currently, but it's believed that at his current rate of recovery, he should be ready within the space of a week or two.”

“...I see. Thank you, Corporal. Please return to the Captain and notify him that I wish to stay informed of any notable change in Aircolt Wind's condition.”

“Of course, Your Highness.” The guard cantered off, and Twilight returned to the lounge and to her seat, where both human and griffin awaited her. “Not bad news, I hope?” Sveti ventured.

“No... I hope not, at least.” She looked over to the human. “Peter... we've been meaning to speak with you about what happened in Ponyville,” she said, watching his expression become more guarded. “Now we aren't accusing you of anything- we just want your complete testimony of what exactly happened. Now that you have a fairly good grasp of our language, I'd like for you to speak with Shining Armor soon.”

“I not be... locked away?”

“No! Peter, I promise you that this is not a trial. We just want to know what happened.”

After a moment, he visibly relaxed. “Okay,” he said quietly. “I trust you, Princess. But... Sveti will be there?”

Twilight nodded immediately. “She has the right to be there. If Shining's questions make her uncomfortable, she can have the interview stopped immediately. I know he won't ask you any unfair questions or try to trick you, though.”

She smiled when he nodded. “I know,” he replied. “I trust Shining. I... like Shining, too. Good stallion.”

She couldn't help but smile at that. “I'm sure the feeling's mutual. But he has to stay neutral during the interview- do you understand that?”

Again Peter nodded. “He need do his job. I understand.”

She was about to excuse herself again when the human raised a hand to stop her. “Princess Twilight,” he said quietly. “I want to know name of guard I... hurt.”

“His name is Swift Wind.”

“Swift Wind,” Peter repeated. “Please tell him... I sorry for what happen. Never wanted it to.”

“As soon as it's possible, I'll do so.” She gave him and Sveti a comforting smile. “I imagine you two would like to speak in private,” she said, heading towards the door. “I'll be in contact when we're ready for the interview.”

Both creatures thanked her as she headed out, and the last thing she saw before she shut the door was the two of them sharing an uncertain look. I hope this doesn't change anything between them, she thought as she headed towards the front doors. I think they need each other more than ever right now.

(-)

“So... you're not from Equus.”

It was, quite possibly, the lamest thing Sveti could have said. But her mind was still coming to grips with what she'd just learned about her closest friend- that he was from a completely different world, here entirely by accident.

For his part, Peter looked equal parts embarassed and ashamed. “I sorry,” he told her. “I not know how to tell you, Sveti.”

She blinked herself back to reality, caught by surprise by his statement. “Peter... I'm not angry at you or anything,” she assured him. “I'm sorry, this is... this is just a lot to take in. I'm having a bit of a hard time processing it.”

“I sorry for that, too.” He reached over to put his hand on her claw. “Sveti... I still just Peter. I not different now than before. Okay?”

There was a searching look in those grey eyes that gripped her heart. She could comprehend that need- to be understood, to be seen as a friend and not some unfathomable alien entity. “I know,” she told him. “This... this doesn't change our friendship. I promise. I just have to get my head around this.”

He nodded, gently squeezing her talon. “If you want ask something....”

She paused for a moment, considering. “You know... I think I would like to ask some questions, actually.” She leaned back, sorting through the multitude of questions swirling around her mind, until the most logical one surfaced. “What is it like where you're from?” she asked.

That visibly took him aback. “Not small question,” he chuckled, leaning back as well. “Okay. Biggest thing... no magic.”

She blinked at that, then cocked her head to the side and raised a claw. “I can't have heard that right. Did you say 'no magic'?” When he nodded, she let the claw drop, staring at him incredulously. “None?” she asked. “No magic at all? Anywhere?”

“Zero.” He let out another chuckle. “Magic is make-believe story for humans.”

“How....” She'd be amongst the first to say that griffins didn't depend on magic nearly as much as ponies did, but to say that they didn't use it at all would be a blatant lie. There were far too many skilled battlemages, shamans and thaumaturgists on the front lines of the White Plains War for her to believe that magic wasn't of some importance to griffinkind, and no one could say that enchantment, alchemy and elementalism weren't useful for making life in the cold reaches more bearable. The idea of a world completely bereft of magic... well, if she was being honest with herself, it frightened her. “How... do you even live on a world that doesn't have magic?” she wondered, before the obvious answer came to her. “Oh... your technology,” she said. “The things you have... they were made to do things you didn't have magic for, weren't they?”

He nodded again. “Other thing... not have other talking creatures. Just humans.”

She gazed at him in disbelief. “...what happened to the other species?”

“Never had. Just us.”

“That... sounds awfully lonely.” It honestly did to her. Much as she sometimes resented ponies, she couldn't imagine Equus without them, or any of the other sapient species that called her world home.

“Well, sometimes we wonder if other kinds out there somewhere.” He grinned. “Not have guessed talking ponies, though.”

“Or griffins?”

He shook his head. “Or minotaurs, or manticores... happy to not have that, though!”

She snickered for a moment before a sobering thought caught up to her. “So, wait, Peter... you ended up here, in Equestria, on this world full of magic you thought was fantasy and a bunch of other intelligent creatures you never knew about. How- how did you even manage? Honestly, I have no idea how I would've reacted in your place, but I don't think I would've come out of the whole thing nearly as well as you did.”

“I not think that.” He leaned forward to tap her beak lightly. “You do okay, I think. Strong, smart. Not give up.”

“I think you're flattering me. Not that I mind too much, of course.” She smiled. “But honestly, how did you manage?”

“I just... had to.” He shrugged. “Do or die. Simple.”

“Easy thing to say... to do? Definitely more difficult.” She shook her head in wonderment. “So, um... I know it's getting kind of close to dinner, but since we're talking, there was one thing I've been meaning to ask you about.”

He nodded. “Go ahead.”

“Okay. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, of course... but I was told that when you were running from the castle, you... you tried to use your weapon on yourself.”

He let out a slow breath and looked away. “Yes.”

She reached out for his hand again. “Peter... I'd like to know why. I mean, I can guess, but... I'd rather hear it from you, so that I can understand.”

He was quiet for a moment, then nodded. “I was scared,” he said quietly. “I thought... Princess Celestia angry at me. I knew she could control sun; I thought... she would hurt me for hurting ponies. Would rather die than be hurt so much. And....” He shrugged slightly. “Would rather die by self than by other, I guess.”

She sat there for a moment, taking in what he'd said. “...not so alien after all,” she murmured, laughing after a moment at his quizzical look. “Never mind. Seriously, though, Peter... I never, ever want you to feel like that's your only escape again.” This time she took his hand in both of her claws, squeezing it between them. “Please tell me you understand. I will never let anything put you in that position again. I'll do whatever I can to be there for you.”

Her hope that he actually understood her was confirmed when he leaned forward and put his hands on her shoulders. “You promise me one thing too, Sveti,” he told her, looking into her eyes. “You know same thing.”

She nodded. “I do. Thank you, Peter.”

“Thank you, Sveti.” He playfully ruffled her crest, getting a quiet chuckle from her. “We go eat now?”

“Sure.” She let him lead the way towards the dining room, staying by his side the entire way... a place where she was truly beginning to feel comfortable being. Not so alien after all, she thought.

(-)

“Please state your name for the record.”

“Peter Collins.”

Shining had to admit, he was a bit impressed with just how calm and collected the human looked- and maybe just a little amazed at how neatly his fingers folded together as his hands rested on the table. “Penworthy,” he said quietly to the stenographer, “as the interviewee's name is not Equestrian in origin, you're free to approximate however you can.”

“Understood, Captain.” The other stallion nodded, his quill still scratching away at his pad.

“Alright. Peter, before we begin, know that you're free to refuse to answer any question I ask, and to consult with Miss Windwhisper at any time during this interview. Do you understand this?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” He leaned forward in his chair, doing his best to affect a neutral demeanor. It wasn't the easiest thing- knowing that he was talking to an honest-to-Celestia alien from another world was forcing him to rein in the little five-year-old version of himself that just wanted to pester him with silly questions about his home. “Peter, it's known that you were present in the town of Ponyville on the day that Aircolt Swift Wind was injured. Can you tell me, from your own point of view, everything of note that happened that day?”

It was a somewhat slow process, with the human needing to consult with Sveti several times for words he was unsure of, but he told Shining his tale- that he'd been observing everyday life in Ponyville, something he'd been doing for several days, when the chimera attack had taken place. The fact that Peter had felt threatened by Twilight, of all ponies, almost seemed ludicrous to Shining... until the human related how he'd seen Twi bring down the chimera, then teleport it away; he had to admit, to a creature completely ignorant of how magic worked, such a sight could possibly have been terrifying.

According to Peter, his attack on Swift Wind hadn't been one at all. He'd been disarming his weapon in preparation to surrender himself to Twilight when the pegasus guard had apparently flown directly into him; the impact had caused his weapon to fire. That might explain why there was a scorch mark on Wind's armor that wasn't present on anything else we've seen that weapon used against, he thought, filing the possibility away in his mind. Peter told Shining that he'd run from the town in fear that he'd face retribution for harming the guard, suffering from some kind of paranoid impulse he didn't understand.

“And it was then that Princess Twilight's capture attempts led to you being injured?” He ducked his head reflexively when Twilight, who'd been seated near him the entire time, let out a squeak of outrage. “...purely accidentally, of course,” he amended.

Peter and Sveti both chuckled. “Yes,” the human said.

“Ahem.” Twilight made a show of shuffling her papers around on the table, giving her brother a sidelong glare. “If you're finished, Captain, I also have some questions I'd like to ask Peter.”

His sister's line of inquiry went quite a bit further back- Peter's entry into Equestria. He recounted to them how he'd been returning home in his carriage from a distant contest when a storm had sprung up from seemingly nowhere, pouring rain- and then red lightning- down on him. One of those strange bolts of lightning had sent his vehicle spinning, and the next thing he knew, he'd been stranded within the Everfree Forest, so suddenly that it had been nearly a day before he'd realized that he'd been somehow transported far away from where he'd thought he was.

Shining could practically hear the ideas percolating through his sister's mind as Peter related his story. Everything the human told them lined up with Twilight's report of the strange activity in the Everfree, as well as everything that had been discovered around the carriage's crash site. “So you intended to leave your weapon in your vehicle,” she said, “but then retreived it when you saw the timberwolf's pawprint?”

“Yes,” the human answered. “I was expecting ordinary animal, not creature made of wood.”

“It must have been quite the shock,” Twilight murmured sympathetically. “Now, if I could ask you about your time in the town of Broncton?”

This part of the human's story was less complicated- he'd simply found the town by accident, stayed there a short while to scavenge what he could to get by, and then found himself rescuing a filly who'd fallen into the town's river... only to be chased off by the population, who'd apparently believed that he was a threat despite his actions. The entire affair had generated enough attention to finally get the mayors of Broncton, Gallopena and Baffle Creek to begin fencing off their respective sections of the Four Furlong River to prevent any other ponies from falling into the sometimes-dangerous waterway... and it had given Shining an excuse to catch up with a couple of old friends as well. Ought to head out that way sometime with Cadie, he thought idly as Twilight continued with her questions. I'm sure she'd love to meet Hammer and Crescent.

Eventually, his sister ran out of things to ask, and Shining had just one more question that was beyond the scope of the interview. “Peter, you said that you were returning home from a tournament or contest of some sort. Did that contest have something to do with your weapon?”

Peter nodded, taking a moment to lean over to Sveti for help with a few words. “Yes. I... take part in tournament for target shooting. I think you saw picture?”

The stallion nodded slowly, the puzzle pieces finally falling into place in his mind. That sort of tournament wasn't terribly different from archery and combat-magic competitions he'd taken part in during his time in the Royal Guard- and it would explain both his possession of the weapon and the relatively paltry amount of ammunition he'd had. While he was still uneasy about a weapon like that existing, knowing that the human had never intended to use it offensively made him feel much better.

With that, Shining concluded the interview. “Peter, Sveti, thank you both for your time and cooperation,” he said, smiling at them as he got out of his chair. “If you have any questions you think we can answer, send them to my office or Princess Twilight's retinue, or come find either of us if you feel it's urgent. We keep our doors open as much as possible.”

The human and griffin were just standing up when the door to the meeting room opened, and one of the Embassy staffponies stuck her head in. “Miss Windwhisper?” she said. “Um... I'm sorry to interrupt, but there's something going on outside that you should know about.”

Sveti blinked. “What is it, Ensemble?”

“Somepony's organized a protest outside the building.”