A small author note: This is a fixed version of the chapter, containing two small but very glaring errors for which I'm sorry, I derped there ;3 Thanks for your understanding.
Twilight, Lyra, Celestia and Spike watched as the human fell backwards, sitting on its rear. It looked at them for a moment, before falling slowly to the floor. Twilight caught it with her magic before it could knock its head against the wooden floor. She deposited its figure softly on the floor and released the hold. They approached it and lowered their heads to examine its figure. The human was sweating profusely. Celestia put a hoof on its forehead.
"The human seems to have a strong fever running. Do you happen to have something for it, Twilight?"
"Yes! Zecora gave me some herbs that would help. At least, I hope they'll help, I don't know how a human might react. Spike, bring some ice in a bag to put on its forehead."
Spike complied, running upstairs. Celestia and Lyra stood over the human, keeping a vigilant eye on it. Lyra was shining with glee, despite its less than optimal state, which didn't escape the Princess' attention. Outside, the rain began to fall. First a light sprinkle, it soon escalated into a small storm, big droplets hitting against the windows.
"Pretty interesting, isn't it, Lyra?" smiled the Princess, looking at her. She smiled as well, nodding energetically.
"Ever since a friend told me stories about humans, I've been interested in them. I never thought that I would get to see one, though!" She let out a burst of giggles. Spike appeared in that moment, carrying a towel and an ice bag. He put the towel on the human's forehead and the ice bag on top of it. It stirred a little, but otherwise didn't move. Spike looked at it.
"Such a weird creature... Does it talk, Princess?"
"Yes, Spike, it talks. I've not interacted with them much, and that was a long, long time ago, so I don't remember much of it, but they had more than a few points in common with ponies, really."
They were regarding the creature with interest, when Twilight came back, carrying a small jar with her. Lyra lifted the human's head and opened its mouth for Twilight to pour the jar's contents down its mouth. They laid it down again.
Celestia looked at both unicorns. "Seems like it it's not going to wake up for some time. Would you take care of it until it recovers? When things are ready, send me a letter, Twilight."
"Will do, Princess. Don't worry,we'll take care of it."
"Very well, I'm leaving, then." Celestia vanished in a cloud of yellow light. Twilight approached Lyra and smiled at her, which didn't register in the green unicorn's mind as she was transfixed looking at the creature. Shaking away the jolt of jealousy she felt, Twilight looked at it. Now that she could take in its features properly, she looked at it from up to down, noticing its extremely weird anatomy. If there was any creature in Equestria it structurally resembled, it was a dragon, even if only by its standing position and its possession of legs and arms.
The rest of the evening was spent changing the ice on the human's forehead, keeping it hydrated and watching over it. Lyra did not part from its side, observing the creature with never diminishing interest, while Spike and Twilight went around the Library doing their usual chores, against the background of the falling rain, which only receded after a couple hours. Twilight looked at Lyra a couple of times, but decided let her be, on account of the need to make sure the human was safe. When night fell, Twilight and Spike sat along Lyra with some food to watch over it.
There was a knock and the Library's door. Spike went to open, finding Bon Bon in the other side, covered with a jacket on account of the cold night and carrying another in her mouth, which she dropped briefly to talk.
"Oh, hello, Bon Bon."
"Hello, Spike. It's Lyra around? She hasn't been home in a while and I wanted to see how she was doing..."
"Yeah, sure, come on in. We're watching over the human."
"Oh, so it has been released already. I shouldn't be surprised, then. She always gets excited when that topic comes over." Bon Bon picked up the other jacket and followed Spike to where they were reunited, sitting down next to them.
"Hello, Bon Bon," greeted Twilight with a small smile. This prompted Lyra to look at her side and recognize her friend.
"Oh, Bon, look! The human was freed!"
"Yes, I see that, Lyra." She looked at the lying figure, studying it briefly. "What a weird creature. No wonder you like it so much"
Lyra smiled, turning her attention back to it. Soon however, Bon Bon managed to convince her to call it a night and come back the next day. She agreed enthusiastically.
"See you tomorrow, Twilight! I'm so excited I can't wait. This is the best thing!"
She went out by the door while putting on the jacket Bon Bon had brought to her before Twilight, that was walking towards her, could reach her. The lavender unicorn observed the empty space which her marefriend had just crossed. Her ears perked down a little. "Yes, see you tomorrow..."
Bon Bon approached Twilight with a tender look on her face. "I'm sorry, Twilight. Lyra gets so excited sometimes that things fly over her head. She'll come back tomorrow and it'll be better."
Twilight looked at Bon Bon and smiled weakly. "Yes, they will, right?"
Bon Bon gave her an apologetic look and went out of the door, following her friend. Twilight stared around some more, before shaking her head. She walked over to her night assistant.
"Owlowiscious, I want to you to keep an eye on human, ok? If something happens, wake me up."
"Hoo!" was all the answer the owl provided; Twilight accepted it.
"Good night." She trotted up to her bedroom, where Spike was already sleeping into his basket and after climbing to her bed, tuned out as well.
The falling drops of water woke Twilight up. She looked at the clock and saw that it was only seven o'clock in the morning.
"Guh... Why do they program the rainfall this early, huh?"
She got out of bed, discovering that Spike wasn't around. She walked to the bathroom, cleaning herself.
"Spike!" Twilight called out after coming out of the bathroom.
"In the first floor, Twilight! Come down!"
She walked downstairs to find Spike sitting next to the human, who was devouring carrot after carrot that the small dragon fed him. When he noticed his presence, he turned to look at her. His eyes revised every part of her anatomy, as if he were revising a particularly interesting work of art, until she couldn't bear with it anymore.
"What's it that you're looking at so much?!" she barked out, making both the human and Spike retreat in fear. "Just tell me, you can talk, can't you?!"
"Gee, Twilight..."
The human ate and swallowed the piece of carrot it had in his hand and looked at her. "Sorry, I was just hungry and eating these carrots. And you're... well, you're a pony. You're Twilight Sparkle. And he's Spike..."
"Wait, how do you know my name? I just came here and gave something to eat to you, and I didn't say it at any moment..." asked the dragon, looking at him
"Well, you two speak so loudly..." Spike looked at him for a while, before shrugging.
Twilight approached him. "Well, do you have a name?"
The human stood up. Twilight was surprised, even though she shouldn't, given that she had already seen how tall it was when it was a statue, but looking at it standing by itself and stretching was another issue. She did feel somewhat threatened, even if it wasn't dangerous.
"Yes, my name is Albert. Albert Jones. I seem to have come here from another world and I don't have the foggiest idea how this happened..."
"What a weird name, Albert..."
"Why I'm hearing that from a pony named after a book about shiny vampires?"
Twilight gazed at him, bemused. "What?"
He shook his head. "Don't pay any heed to me." He looked around at his surroundings. "I like this library, is very original."
"Thanks, I suppose..."
"So, now what's..." Albert's question was interrupted, however, as there was a knock at the door. A voice resounded from outside.
"We want to see the human!"
"Miss Sparkle, I thought we had agreed that you'd call me when something interesting happened!"
A multitude of ponies was surrounding the library. Some pressed their faces against the windows, some pounded against the door.
Albert looked around, searching for a hiding place, while the ruckus outside grew louder. Twilight face hoofed.
"Horsefeathers... Spike, write a letter to Princess Celestia telling her the news about the human and that we need her as soon as possible! You, follow him!"
Neither of the two waited for another instruction, scurrying upstairs of a way that brought to mind two lizards escaping. Twilight went to the door, and applied an amplifying spell to her voice.
"Now listen, everypony. Calm down. You might see the human later, but for now, keep your cool, please. This is not going to be advantageous for anypony, so refrain from acting hastily."
This seemed to placate the crowd a little, but now a multitude of voices could be heard speaking outside. Twilight sighed, sitting to keep guard of the door.
Some minutes later, she could feel the crowd outside dispersing. And then another knock at the door. "May we come in, Twilight?" called Celestia's voice from the other side. Twilight hurriedly unlocked the door and opened it. After Celestia, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Lyra came inside. Twilight's heart did a double flip when she saw the mint green unicorn coming in, exchanging greetings with the Princess.
"Hey, Twi, Pinkie Pie says that she has been unable to come around but that she's already planning for the human's party. Heh, that Pinkie...," said Rainbow Dash, looking around. "You know, I liked seeing that statue around. It was cool. Feels weird now."
"So I take it it's recuperated now, isn't it?"
"Yes, Princess. It's upstairs with Spike. Let me call them." She trotted to the bottom of the stairs and yelled loudly, calling for the refugees. They came down after some seconds. When Albert stopped at the bottom of the stairs, he and the ponies who hadn't met him yet shared an open jaw, looking at each other.
Rarity lifted her nose, making a disgusted face. "Urgh, how it smells."
He looked at her with a slight scowl. "Firstly, I was wandering around in the Everfree Forest, and that's not pretty. Secondly, I've spent who knows how long being a stone statue. Finally, when I woke up I was pretty sick and I didn't recover until this morning when a horde of ponies wanted to kidnap me. So I apologize for not being presentable enough to meet you. And I'm not an 'it', I'm a 'he', if you don't mind."
All present, with the exception of Celestia, were taken aback by Albert's words. When Rarity recovered, she affected a small cough and bowed graciously. "Darling, I apologize if I offended you in any way, I just got caught by surprise."
He barely registered her apologies, because Rainbow Dash was circling around him, checking him from all angles. "So you're a human. Can you fly? Nope, you've got no wings. Can you do magic? Dont' see any horn,either... What can you humans do?"
"Rainbow Dash, mind your wings, you're throwing away everything in the library!" screamed Twilight, seeing the storm of papers Dash had created. The pegasus smiled, apologizing and lowered herself to the floor.
"No, I can't do any of those things. I can cook, however, and play some instruments. I think I can do most of the things you can, though," said Albert with a self-sufficient smile. Lyra jumped in front of him.
"You can play instruments? What do you play?!" Lyra almost jumped on top of him, an action that didn't go unnoticed by Twilight.
"Well, I mostly play the guitar, but I can play the keyboard and the trumpet as well. I was studying music back in my world, you see?"
Lyra gleamed, swatting her tail happily. "Oh, you and me are going to get along just fine!"
"I... guess so...," answered the clearly unconvinced Albert.
"My name's Lyra Heartstrings and I play the lyre!" He did as best as he could to avoid rolling his eyes, as did every other mare in the library, except Twilight, who couldn't help but chuckle softly.
After Lyra, every one of the present ponies introduced themselves, except of course, Albert did know their names already, but was silent. When they all had finished and were looking at him, he supposed he ought to say something.
"Well, my name is Albert Jones. I'm a music student, as I told you before and I come from a world called Earth. I don't know how this happened, just that a light brought me here, and I ended up in the forest, where a cockatrice turned me to stone. And then I ended up here, with you."
They all hung on his words, which Spike wrote by Twilight's order. Twilight herself wasn't following the conversation very closely, as she was watching Lyra as the green unicorn looked at the human with a blissful grin. She bit her lip and avoided saying anything, instead willing herself to focus on the conversation.
"Well, Albert, let me give you a warm welcome. This is the land of Equestria, most specifically the small town of Ponyville. And I am the co-ruler of this country, alongside with my sister Luna. I am princess Celestia." The royal mare, the only one that had not introduced herself previously, shining with all her radiance. Albert bowed.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty, as well as all of you."
"The pleasure is ours, Albert. There are several things we need to talk about, but as of now, I think you could do well with some more rest. We will go filling you about this country as time passes."
"Thank you kindly, Princess."
After the presentation were over, Albert was dispatched with Rarity so that she could take his measurements and general body shape in order to make clothes for him. She didn't stop asking him all kinds of questions. He was going to take a bath after that. The other mares were reunited in the main library. Celestia floated a piece of parchment to Twilight, who caught it.
"When you can, Twilight, I want you to scan him with this spell. It measures the Chaos resident inside his body. The parchment includes the specifics of the spell and the measuring rates, so don't worry about anything. Once you've got that, send the information to me, all right?"
Twilight nodded, rolling the parchment and stashing it away into one of her favorite books.
"Given the case the level of Chaos in his body is too high, or if we determine he's a threat to Equestria somehow, we have to determine our plan of action. Until then, I don't see any reason not to treat him as we would any other creature. So I'll leave that in your hooves, my little ponies."
"We understand, Princess," answered Twilight, followed by a general nod.
"Then I thank you all and once again take my leave. Call if something happens." With that, Celestia disappeared from the room. The remaining ponies looked at each other.
"I'm kind of excited, anyway. There was the need of something exciting around here, it was becoming boring!"
"Yes, I look forward to study him and see how a human really is. It'll be a hit research!" said Twilight, acting as excited as she could, feeling less than half the glee she projected to the others.
Albert and Rarity came back after a while. He had taken a long, meticulous shower, cleaning himself thoroughly. The talented fashionista had managed to pull out something simple for him to change into, while his other clothes were being washed -Rarity was stumped, for she had never seen something like a couple of jeans and a t-shirt. He would also have to do without underwear.- and her true designs were worked on.
"I must say, Rarity is truly talented, to be able to make something like this in such a short period of time."
"Think nothing of it, dear. It's my duty and my pleasure. Again, this is nothing compared to what I have in mind for you! It's going to be so special!"
"Well, thanks, I'm looking forward to it."
The white unicorn's face shone brightly, and she came forward to hug him. He had to lower himself and felt very awkward; it was the first time in his life hugging an equine, even a sentient, magical one... They finally broke apart.
"Well, there's the issue of where he's going to sleep, I think-" began Twilight, only to be cut off by Rainbow and Rarity.
"Sweet Apple Acres," called the two mares in unison. Twilight nodded.
"Yes, I think that's the best idea. Would you mind taking him? I'm going to fix something up here. You can go too, Spike."
"You sure, Twi? I can help you here."
"That's fine, Spike, I can do it by myself."
"Ok, if you say so."
"Come on, big guy! We'll show you around!" Albert found himself pushed out of the door by Dash, followed by Lyra, Rarity and Spike. The small dragon aligned to Rarity's side, while Lyra trotted alongside the human. Twilight could hear her voice talking animated to him, and saw him turning his head to answer. She closed the door behind her and went upstairs, to the observatory, where she setted up the telescope. Looking at the immense night sky, she found Spica shining brightly.
Tears were soon running down her cheeks, as she recalled the first time they had watched the star together.
Was I only a tool for her to get to know the human? Was she simply playing along with me? I don't know anything about this... I know nothing... And I'm not sure I want to ask about it...
The Albert escorting party was walking through the streets of Ponyville. Ponies looked at them curiously as they passed. Albert was taking on the details of the village as they advanced. Sugarcube Corner was already closed, so they couldn't hope for a pastry, but as his new acquaintances assured him, there would be a lot of time for it and much more.
Besides, Pinkie Pie would jump in with a huge party prepared at any moment. He was preparing himself for it mentally. And the questions the ponies threw at him... If he didn't know better, he would believe they were an interrogation squad.
Soon the buildings gave way to a rural path, elevating into a small hill. After making it to the top they could see the Apple family farm in the distance, which still had some lights inside. When they made it to the house, Rainbow Dash knocked. Applejack and Big Macintosh received them. The orange mare was very happy.
"Whoa, you're sure some interestin' guy. The name's Applejack, 's a pleasure meetin ya!" She shook his hand energetically, which made him smile. "And this is mah brother, Big Mac." The addressed pony gave a slight nod of the head." We'll be pleased to have ya with us tonight. Come on, come on. Thanks for bringing him, girls. We'll meet tomorrow!"
He had to crouch slightly to fit through the door, but otherwise he found the house was quite cozy. Applejack escorted Albert towards his appointed room, both followed by the quiet red pony, who nevertheless watched his every step. Rarity, Spike, Rainbow Dash and Lyra walked back to Ponyville chatting amicably between themselves.
Once they made it to Ponyville proper, Dash was the first to break from the group, soaring straight into her cloud home. Rarity, Spike and Lyra continued, walking together, only breaking paths once they had arrived to the park; the small dragon could have floated at the opportunity of walking at the side of the white unicorn, though Rarity herself didn't seem to notice anything.
The musician unicorn trotted straight to her house, her coat shining in the darkness.
