Ponyville was it's usual peaceful self, stores open right as the sun rises, fillies and colts heading to school. It was like this everyday, even when he arrived. Over six months ago, a purple stallion, unicorn with a brown mane arrived in ponyville. His cutie mark was odd, it was only the outline of a circle.

He only had two worldly possessions with him when he appeared, a decorated staff, and a strange device of metal and glass strapped to his arm. He didn't talk to any pony or look at most ponies really. Many thought him a Canterlot royal, since he seemed to always have bits whenever he went to a food stall.

One mare thought other however, where every pony else saw a stuck up royal, she saw a broken pony, living without reason. Eventually, she finally managed to say something to him.

"Look out!"

Her scream was too late however, as the wagon she was pulling straps broke, rolling back down the hill she just pulled it up, and it rolled over the stallion like a rock in the road.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" She said, running down to check and see if the stallion was alright.

She soon stood over him, and much to her surprise, he looked unharmed. Not a scratch or even a bruise was visible. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked, gently placing a hoof on him.

He reacted, turning over with a slight grunt. It was the first time she really got a look at the stallion up close. Mainly, the device on his right arm. It was so thin, but looked sturdy. Like the stallion it also looked undamaged from the impact. She placed a hoof to the dark glass on it and it lit up, startling her greatly. It gave the time, day, year, and even location. She was amazed at the device, but she was unaware the stallion was already awake, looking at her with curiosity l. "Excuse me?"

She jumped, startled. "Sorry, I was just, uh..."

"Who are you?" He asked. Pulling himself up and sitting.

"Oh, I'm Lyra, Lyra Heartstrings. Sorry for looking at that thing on your arm. It's just so.... odd." Lyra felt sheepish for some reason talking with him. She figured it was the hitting him with the wagon making her feel skittish.

He looked at what Lyra was talking about, looking surprised to have the device on him. "What is it?"

"What do you mean, You've had it on you since you came to town two weeks ago?"

"Where is here anyway?"

Lyra felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. He wasn't acting like he did over the last few days. "Do you...  know your name, where you're from?"

"Uh, C...Cript? Yeah, I think my name is Cript. But I don't really remember anything else." Cript admitted, struggling to think of any other memories.

Oh shit! Lyra thought. "Well, come on then Cript, let's get you to the hospital, you took quite a hit."

“Something hit me? I don't feel hurt?”

“Better safe than sorry.” Strange, he really isn't hurt? Lyra thought.

The two walked through town, drawing an unexpected amount of attention towards them. The more she thought the more she realized she rarely saw Cript walking around town. She wondered where he lived, Ponyville didn't have any hotels. “So… any luck remembering… well anything?” Lyra asked.

“Not really. But for some reason I feel… lighter?”

“Lighter?”

“I can’t describe it exactly. But it’s like when I woke up I was feeling… scared, but now I’m not?”

“Well you didn’t seem scared when you were walking around town the few times I’ve seen you. If anything you looked broken.”

“Broken?”

“You didn’t talk to anypony, you actually tried to avoid ponies as much as possible. Most everyone just assumed you were a rich noble visiting here, the fact you always had bits added to that rumor.”

“Bits?”

Lyra stopped walking, making Cript stop as well. “You seriously forgot that bits are equestria’s currency? As well as the currency of most-the-rest of the world?”

“I seriously don’t really remember anything. Well, aside from my name… but I do feel guilty about that for some reason. Like when you forget a promise or something important.”

“Well, the hospital isn’t much further up ahead.”

After less than half an hour later the two made their way to the hospital. Lyra explained everything to the doctors and after several tests the two were left alone sitting in the doctor's office. Cript on the patient's chair, and Lyra on a guest chair.

“... Doctors are taking there time.” Cript said.

“I… I’m sorry.”

“Huh?”

“It’s my fault you lost your memory and… what if this is permanent. You could live the rest of your life not remembering your family or friends. All because of me…”

“From what you told me it seemed like an accident, besides, if I never remember any of who I was then maybe it was never worth remembering.” Cript said, nonchalantly.

“H-” The doctor entered, cutting off Lyra before she could speak further.

“Well, there’s bad news and more bad news, and then an option.” The doctor said.

Lyra sighed. “Well, what’s the medical term for the issue?”

“Cript had Retrograde amnesia. He can’t seem to recall much or in this case anything of who he was other than his name apparently. This can be either temporary or permanent. Only time will tell. You said he was hit and run over by a loaded cart?”

“Yes doctor, I was bringing some supplies my roommate needed for her business since she was out of town for the week. The straps broke and it rolled down the hill extremely fast, hitting Cript.”

“Well, he doesn’t seem to have any physical injuries, not even a cut or bruise. You’re a lucky stallion Cript, Even a pony like Big Mac would have had a broken rib in an accident like that.”

“Thanks?” Cript said. Confused as to who Big Mac was. “So what else is there?”

“Well, Cript not only can’t seem to recall anything about himself at all, but he can’t recall most anything about equestria. He didn’t even know who the Princesses were, I showed him a picture and he said ‘the white one eats too much and the blue one looks sad’.”

While Lyra was in shock Cript was trying hard to suppress his laughter, recalling the faces the doctors made when he said that. “Well I wasn’t lying.”

“In other news.” The doctor said. “Lastly is Cript himself. Seeing as he can’t remember anything it seems logical we need to have a guid for him to look after him til he either remembers his old life or builds a new one. Miss Heartstrings, I was hoping you would take the offer. In cases like this it is best that the patent stay with anyone they met and might have bonded with after the incident.”

“I figured as much. I am willing to take on the offer, I am responsible and my career isn’t going anywhere so I have more than enough time.”

“Alright, the crown will be paying a sum of two hundred bits a week for your service, for minor expenses, so expect that in the mail. We just need you to fill out the paperwork first.”

“Yes doctor.”

Two Days Later

“Well, that’s pretty much equestria’s history in a nutshell.” Lyra said to Cript, who was sitting on the couch next to her in her livingroom. She had spent most of mid day explaining Equestria’s history, mainly major events. “Anything else?”

“Not really. History I get but I tried using magic last night and it didn’t work quite right. Like it… rejected me almost.”

“Well the doctors said your horn wasn’t damaged at all so it can’t be that. Try a basic telekinesis spell… Lift that chair.” Lyra said, pointing to the red and blue decorative chair across from them.

“Alright.” As Lyra had told him on there first day, he focused him magic into his horn and then recalled the spell. That was the hardest part, as Cript focused on the spell his hold over his magic would start to fade, until *pop* the magic aura around Cript’s horn faded with a comical noise. “Crap…”

“Well that was sad.” Lyra deadpanned. “Maybe we can get Twilight Sparkle to help, we used to be friends back in Canterlot but she doesn’t remember me much.”

“Well, if we don’t have any other options then maybe, but how can she help?”

“She was, well still is, Princess Celestia’s personal student and is a natural born spell caster. If anypony can help you relearn how to use magic, it’s her.”

The two quickly made their way up to the giant tree down town. Cript found it amazing how such a work of magic and nature grew. Upon entering the ding of a bell from the door opening alerted the purple librarian up in her room. “I’ll be down in a minute!” She yelled down from her room.

She placed a bookmark in the book she was reading, Proper Uses of Anti Gravity Magics: Vol Vl. This was her fourth time reading that book series. She quickly used her magic and teleported down into the library, there she saw the purple stallion most of the town rumored to be a noble and a mint green unicorn mare that she vaguely remembered from less than a year ago. “Is there a book you need?”

“Hey Twilight” Lyra said, knowing Twilight clearly didn’t remember her. “My patient Cript and I-”

“You’re a doctor?” Twilight asked, trying to place where she had seen the mare, despite having known her for most of her youth.

“No, I’m just looking after him, he has amnesia and can’t remember who he is other than his name. Magic is one of the things he forgot and he can’t get it to work correctly.” She explained. Yup, she REALLY forgot me. Lyra thought.

“Oh.” Twilight walked over to Cript, looking him over. “So you’re that rumored noble?”

“So Lyra says. I didn’t have anything on me aside from this when I woke up.” Cript held out his right arm, showing Twilight the device on it. She took immediate fascination in it.

“It looks pretty strange. Never seen anypony in Canterlot with one of these. Mind if I take it to study?”

Cript’s face dropped. “If it would come off.” Upon seeing Twilight’s confused face Cript walked over to the wall and started bashing the device against it while Lyra rolled her eyes. After Five strong hits there was a noticeable dent in the wood of the wall, but when he showed it to Twilight, there wasn’t even a scuff on the glass of the device. “Won’t come off and can’t break.”

“Well, let me try and teleport it off.” Focusing her magic, Twilight’s magic aura wrapped around the device and in a flash of light she was levitating it in front of her.

“That worked?” Cript said with shock, he rubbed the part of his wrist that it was strapped to for all that time. It felt odd to him to not have it on.

Then all hell broke loose.

The glass on the screen flashed red while a deafening siren noise came from somewhere on the device. The surprise caused Twilight to lose hold over it and she dropped it, then it spoke. ”Warning, removed without user permission. Please either correct issue or return to user or Search and Return program will become active.” It spoke in a female, monotone voice.

“Twilight what did you do!?” Lyra asked/screamed. Even though the loud alarm had stopped.

“I… I think that was a safety feature. Cript, what the heck is this thing?”

“I don’t remember? But I have a bad feeling.”

”Return to user action has not been completed. Activating Search and Return program.”

“Oh crap.”

The device suddenly grew six, spider like metal legs. On the glass of the device an eyeball appeared, looking around the room. ”Searching for user…” It looked around the room, passing a gaze over Lyra, Twilight, and Cript. ”User not found via visual scan, conducting genetic tracking via user sample.”

“That thing can find it’s owner by their DNA?!” Twilight said with a excited tone of voice, pulling out a quill and parchment, she began to take notes.

The device gave two beeps and spoke again. ”User found. It turned and looked at Cript. ”User Cript Cambell. Starting rebonding program.”

It started to walk back to Cript, only for Twilight to pick it up in her magic. “Hey you, I still need to take notes.” Twilight spoke.

Somehow. The device turned while being held in Twilight’s telekinesis and the eye on the glass turned red. ”Release or JUSTICE program will be instated.” It spoke, still in monotone, but there was a threat in its voice.

At this point, Cript had a gut wrenching feeling. “Twilight, just give it to me. I’m not sure what it will do but it’s got me scared.”

“Cript, what could this tiny little-”

The device spoke again, but this time it screamed.”FAILURE TO COOPERATE! USER MADE JUSTICE PROGRAM ACTIVATED!” For a second, it looked like it turned off, then, small sparks of blue electricity and numbers began to circle it. The numbers were specifically one and zero, floating in lines across the device, it grew to the size of a minotaur easy, then a flash of light revealed something unexpected.

The device was the head of the bipedal object. It’s body being made of metal, the words ‘Freak Incorporated Model A-209 Assistant’ were printed on what would be the chest of the biped. The eye on the original device, now the head of the impossible machine, was still read, and looking right at Twilight.

“W… what?” Twilight stuttered.

”Custom user JUSTICE program active. Directive. If ever removed, Instructions state to neutralize culprit. Resist and you will be harmed.”

“Just say ‘I surrender’ Twilight.” Twilight looked over at Cript. “Just trust me.”

Gulping, Twilight closed her eyes. “I… surrender.” She whimpered.

”Culprit surrendered. Restricting for authorities.” The machine brought up two appendaged and they made a snap noise when it rubbed them together. In a flash of light, Twilight was in hoof cuffs and was wearing a ring on her horn. ”Returning to standard program.” Ones and Zeros floated around the machine again and in a flash of light it was back to just the small device it was originally. It spider walked to Cript, and jumped on his wrist. It popped open and wrapped itself around his wrist, and absorbed the spider limbs, it looked as if nothing happened.

“... WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?!” Lyra finally spoke, having been speechless the whole time of the device’s tantrum.

“Can either of you get me out of these? This ring restricts magic.” Twilight asked. Once the ring was off, Twilight took the cuff off herself. “Well… I for one say we never talk about what just happened. If my experience with Pinkie Pie and her Pinkie sense has taught me anything it’s that something's either don’t need an explanation, or should be put off until a later date.”

“Well all I got out of all of that is that it kept saying user made program… that would mean I made it able to do… whatever that was… the fuck was I before?” Cript said. “And it called me Cript Cambell. That’s my full name?”

“Are we seriously not gonna talk about that!?” Lyra asked again. “How did it do any of what it did?!”

“Magic?” Cript said, making Lyra fall over.

“Magic or not I’m gonna need some hard cider in order for me to process what just happened.”

Cript tapped the glass and it lit up, showing time, date, and location. It was back to normal. “What is this thing?”

“I think it had the word Assistant on that weird minotaur like body it somehow made and absorbed.” Twilight said, looking at the device on Cript’s wrist with a fearful curiously. And from a fair distance across from him.

“Assistant?”

”Yes user?” It spoke, causing everyone, especially Twilight, to jump.

“Uhhh… What are you?”

The glass flickered and a movie began to play. Everyone watched it closely.

”Greeting new youth. If you are watching this video then you have just turn ten and you have now received, and equipped, your Assistant. As you many already know, an Assistant is a nifty little device that in our modern world has become an essential part of our everyday lives and survival”

The video then began showing the image of a strange, all black creature with white eyes and another minotaur like creature, also wearing an Assistant.

”With the Assistant, it will be much safer to roam outside of safe zones and deal with THE HOSTILE SHADOW CREATURES!”

The movie spoke about that part louder.

Shadow creatures? Cript thought. That sound familiar.

”Before engaging combat with your Assistant equipped, here are some helpful tips. Tip number one; Your Assistant can show you how strong your opponent is. Take this common shadow creature, a Shadow, for example. The Assistant uses advanced magic and computer calculations to see how hard it will be to defeat this enemy. Using this same magic, you will notice a green, yellow, and red colored bar, typically above the head of your opponent.”

“Oh, that’s what those are.”

“Wait, you actually see those?” Lyra asked.

“Yeah, was shocked when Twilight took this thing off and those vanished. So this thing can do that.”

“Hush, it’s still playing!” Twilight said.

”Having all three colors in the bar means your enemy is unharmed, but by landing a hit,”

The minotaur like creature walked up to the Shadow and pulled out a hammer out of nowhere and smacked the Shadow with it, and the bar above it’s head lost the green.

”You will damage them. The green part of the bar shows how many hits your enemy will have before they become injured, once it’s in yellow, you’re enemy is injured. This is when the battle can become the hardest, as your enemy will fight with more power, and force. Land hits and avoid damage yourself until the red section is either entered or gone. Once the red section is entered, your enemy might pass out from stress. But if the red is gone, they are dead.”

“That’s… morbid… and kids get these things?” Cript said, earning a nervous stare from Lyra and Twilight.

”Tip number two; Your assistant is your storage.”

“Storage?” All three spoke, confused and curious.

The glass now displayed what looked like the device itself on the left side of the video, but with a suitcase image on it.

”No longer are the days of your heavy hauling your excess items. Now thanks to Freak Inc’s atom-to-data spell matrix, you can turn your everyday items into digital data and store it within your Assistant. The digital storage that your items will take up vary depending on their weight. By default, your Assistant has two thousand terabytes of internal memory. This can be modified and upgraded at your pleasure.”

“What's a terabyte?” Twilight asked.

“Don't remember. But I feel like it's not as big as some people think.” Cript replied.

”And tip number three; Automatic Customization. This feature sends small electrical singles from your Assistant into your brain, scanning your mind and reading the results, creates a customized organization of your items based on your mind. For more information, please view the other product informational videos.”

The glass screen of the device went black, signaling the video’s end.

“That was… strange… Cript where do you come from?” Lyra asked, looking at the stallion.

“No idea but I felt… embarrassed watching that for some reason.”

“Should we watch the rest?” Twilight asked.

“Maybe later. First, magic. I need help with it, it’s the whole reason we came and once I can use magic I’ll mess with this thing more and we can all figure out what the hell this thing does, and maybe figure out who I am.”

“Okay. Seems fair.”