It was late in the night when they had finally gotten inside, and went back into the Meeting Hall. Soon, everyone had even casually wandered into their own activities, even those still skeptical of their new partner decided to relax. After a few minutes of debating with himself on what he might be doing, Mac walked over to Twilight- who was one of the ponies looking leisurely through several bookshelves- and decided to try and get some answers.

“So... can you... fill me in on the whole, uh, ‘friend’ situation over there?” He asked slowly, gesturing vaguely towards the others. Twilight gave Mac an all-too-eager grin that made him nervous.

“Sure,” she said quietly, “Myra and Rainbow are our Mac’s two oldest, best friends. Even from before Rainbow moved from Cloudsdale! And since the rest of us are already friends, Mac became our friend after he moved here, too. Myra followed shortly afterwards.”

She scratched her chin thoughtfully, and looked up to the ceiling. “Quite the interesting testimony to the mysterious power of friendship, once you think about it.”

“Yeah, okay. But…” Mac started. He paused briefly, as if he was thinking on how to phrase the next sentence. He swiftly looked around to make sure no one was listening, and then turned back: “How about the whole… Spike-Rarity situation. Is... is that like what I think it’s like?” he asked in a low tone. Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Oh… that.” She groaned tiredly. “Well… he seems to like her… a lot… but she’s rather… manipulative of him. And she seems totally ignorant of what this whole ‘crush’ thing might do to him later on, once he learns more.”

She began to rub her head. “She wouldn’t willfully harm the little guy, but she lets him volunteer for a lot of potentially harmful things.”

“What do you mean?” Mac asked in a whisper.

“Well… she uses him as a pincushion…”

Mac winced. “Oh, yeah…”

“She makes him take out the trash…”

“Right…”

“She lets him recover ancient books with spells of unspeakable consequences…”

“What?! I must’ve missed that episode…”

“…uh… I’ll ignore that. The point is, she plays him like a fiddle, and he enjoys every moment of it!” She ended with an exasperated sigh.

“That’s just sad, I mean, he spends so much time focused on her-”

“AHEM!”

Mac jumped when Applejack coughed suddenly, and noticed she was glaring at him with a face that bore almost every shade of red.

“Oh… never mind!” Mac said cautiously before backing off.

When Twilight- looking rather confused- had turned towards Applejack, she had completely recomposed herself and was putting on a perplexed face.

“What in the hay was that about?” The farmer asked.

“I… have… no idea.” Twilight said slowly, not noticing her friend sigh with relief, as she turned back.

‘I don’t know how he figured it out… but if he embarrasses her in front of everypony… I’ll kill him!” Applejack huffed inwardly.

Sometime later, Mac was venturing back over to the rows of bookshelves that ran along the walls.

“So... what kinds of books are popular around here?” He asked Twilight: who was, herself, still perusing the endless stacks of books.

“We have several different kinds, Stranger: Sci-Fis, Thrillers, Mysteries, Comic Books, Informational Texts, Siege Dramas, Historical Dramas, Multi-Book Epics, Documentaries, Romances, Nature Books, you name it: we’ve got it.” She was getting that ‘somepony’s interested in reading’ look that he knew, and dreaded.

“Well…” Mac pondered slowly.

“We have several titles that our Mac seems to like: Shirt-Stock Homes, Granule Boom, Robin’s Ton Cruiser, Apple Dumpling and Gang, Lord of the Kings, Hardy Colts, and The Twenty-Thousand Legions of Thunder the Sea.” She offered again, oblivious to his discomfort.

“How about Romances?” Mac blurted, before covering his mouth with a hoof. Twilight froze.

“What?” she said in a monotone.

Mac’s face reddened. “Well…” Then he shook his head, and showed some resolve: planting his hoof firmly. “Hey, as long as they’re clean: I’ll read what I like!”

“I didn’t hate on your hobbies: I’m just still trying to cope with how similar you are to the Mac we know.” Twilight said, holding up her hooves. “He would ask the same thing… if whoever he was asking knew him well, of course.”

Mac hung his head. “Sorry, I’m not used to this world, either.”

“Hey, no sweat!” she laughed; clipping him on the back with her wing, “Try this one! Our Mac likes it, in fact: it’s one of his favorites!” She chirped; levitating one of the leather-bound books towards him.

Mac looked at the title,  then raised an eyebrow at Twilight, “It looks a bit too girly.” He said flatly.

The Princess squinted at him: “Look who's judging a book by it's cover!” She snapped.

“Touché, Twi.” Mac smirked before opening the book and walking off.

After a few hours of reading the Archives with intense interest, and making weird comments, and odd noises, he eventually noticed the others were all staring at him: causing him to flush slightly.

“That book must be pretty interesting.” Orion said flatly, sitting beside Mac on the couch. He leaned over to see if he could find something interesting amongst the plethora of pages. Finding nothing after three milliseconds, however, he flipped his head back in defeat.

“Seriously, I’ve read that same book, and even I didn’t find it that exciting!” Rainbow scoffed.

“Hey! It’s a good book!” Mac defended. “It’s about a futuristic space cruiser called the Ir-!”

“I said I read it!” the Pegasus interjected with a hoof raised for silence. “So there’s no need to explain it to me.”

“Besides,” Applejack started from across the room, “Ah don’t really approve of the main pairing. Ah’ve met the kid who wrote it and all, and he made some good points, but Ah don’t think androids can be capable of that level of love…"

"... though the crush thing with those two foals is cute…" She added, giving a weird grin.

After staring at her friend in concern for a few seconds, Rainbow returned her gaze to Mac. “Look, it’s not the… ‘pairing’ that’s my issue… unlike others…” she cast a sidelong glance back to Applejack, “… but just the overall story…”

Mac gave her a steely glare. “We shall debate this matter… later…” He growled.

Across the room, Twilight rolled her eyes up from her stack of books. “Yeah, that was a bad idea to show that book to him.” She stated blandly.

Myra laughed. “I think it’s fun to watch. He makes the same noises our Mac did when he read that book!” Blood ran to Mac’s face in embarrassment, and he was about to say something defensive when an appalled grunt from across the room distracted him from his thoughts.

“Would you stop referring to Mac in the past-tense like he’s dead or something?” Rainbow growled, suddenly inches from her friend’s face. “I mean, these… things, whoever they are… promised to help us find him!” she said, pointing to Mac and Orion.

“It’s not that he’s similar to Mac, I’ll admit that much.” She said, hanging her head. “But there’s a dynamic that our Mac brings to our lives that a clone can never fill.”

“We will indeed find him, though the thought seems grim.” Zecora said sadly.

“What are you saying?!” The prismatic pony screeched, her forehead now pressed against zebra’s own as her eyes shone icily: locking intensely with Zecora’s. Her suspicions of what she might mean were clearly thundering in her mind.

“I say only this: our Mac might be missed. When we find him, he may be greatly changed, and his mindset wholly, and truly, rearranged.” Zecora added somberly. She recoiled when she saw that Rainbow’s clenched hoof was mere inches from her snout.

Rainbow and Myra then both teared up at the implications of that last statement. Myra slumped on a couch while Rainbow flew out the window. Everypony else just stopped what they were doing, and stared off solemnly at the new implications of their mission.

“Well, that went well.” Mac said ruefully. “Which one should I talk to?”

Zecora looked out the window. “I’ll take this one, you take the other. But if I hurry back, go and quickly find cover!” She warned before leaving through the door.

“That’s great advice, Zecora.” Mac said, raising an eyebrow and walking towards Myra. He sat down besides both her, and Fluttershy: who was already trying to comfort the despairing mare.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I promise we’ll find your friend.” He offered, trying his best to be soothing.

“But what if he’s right?” Myra panicked, looking up at Mac with tear-stained eyes that made him wince. “What if he’s different? What if he’s changed? What if he’s…?” Her eyes squinted as tears ran down her cheek, “… e-… e-evil?” She said painfully, before collapsing back into a saddened heap.

Fluttershy started to tear up also, but she managed to keep most of her tears inside. Her eyes were struggling to remain calming, and steady. Mac’s eyes, however, drifted out the window: for a darkness was creeping into his blood, and heating it to boiling.

‘That putrid demon, Kietelethar, is going to have hell to pay for causing this much distress to the innocent!’ he thought. ‘He’ll be picking his bloodstained, broken teeth out of the dirt before I’m even halfway done...’

Then, as his inward fuming started to calm after a deep breath, he looked back at them. Determination shone like neon on his face:

“Then we’ll have to change him back.” He snorted in rage. Applejack swore she saw steam huff from his nostrils as he did so.

“C-can you do that?” Myra sniffed, lifting her head slightly. “I-I mean… is it possible?”

Mac was resolute. He stood up, and walked over to a nearby windowsill.

“Even if it takes a thousand years of journeying, I will help you. Even if I die trying, I’ll get your friend back.” He said in a voice of cold stone, slamming his hoof on the hardwood.

Fluttershy and Myra looked up in shocked admiration, while all others present turned towards him in wonder, and hesitation.

“You’d do that... for us?” a voice to their left asked, cracking with tearful skepticism. Rainbow and Zecora had returned in time to hear those last few words, and they were both perched on a windowsill across from him, frozen with their thoughts lost in curious realization.

Mac gazed at them all, lust for the blood of the creature responsible for this mess shining in his eyes.

“I-…”

he looked around, his true purpose here clearly ringing in his head.

“The Fate of both worlds lies in your hands” The voice had said: the voice he heard on the first day here, he understood those words now: Kietelethar should-- no, would fall.

“… Yes.” He said simply, steadfastness clear in his tone.

After a few seconds of deafening silence, there was an instantaneous flash of color: and Mac found himself in the middle of a group hug. His wings sticking straight up in a defensive posture, with everyone in the room- even Spike and Orion- wrapping their arms around him.

“Thank you, Mac.” Twilight said quietly.

“Way to go, little buddy.” Orion assured.

This was a new sensation to Mac: never before had so many people hugged him at the same time. Nor had any embraced him with such kindness, passion, or meaning. He was stiff as a board for a short while, trying to wrap his head around the intense sign of respect, admiration, and friendship that he was receiving. Soon, he beamed a warm smile, and returned in the embrace.

“What do you think of him now, dear sister?” Luna asked from a terrace on a nearby tower, looking at the regal figure beside her.

Celestia smiled wisely. “You were right, Luna. He is trustworthy, though inexperienced.” She said, turning slightly. "It might be a while until he is ready for our proposal..."

The Twin Princesses observed group in the accepting embrace for a long time: watching them simply enjoy the comfort and reassurance they brought to each other, and share an intense feeling of warmth that spread from their bodies to their very soul. For Mac had shown two signs of true Friendship that night: beginning to show his whole self, and a willingness to sacrifice for others. And he was now fully trusted by all.

Next Chapter: Chapter Eight: Plans and Paths. Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 49 Minutes