"So be it, then. But you will have to deal with the consequences yourself, I'm afraid."
"The consequences?"
"...Never mind that, just sit down and I will explain everything to you."
I went back to the hospital bed and sat down, the paper crinkling under me.
"Wait," Lyra said, "So, what are the things you didn't lie to us about?"
Tetesac tugged at his beard. "Well, most things, actually. Your age, your name, your occupation, and... most of your history before this."
"Most of it?" I said. I had the KEVIN incident in mind, in particular.
"Yes. Just allow me to explain everything."
I laid back in the bed and turned my head to him. "Alright, I'm all ears."
"...You really were the best scientist I've had, George. At least, for most of your career. The KEVIN was your greatest invention yet."
"I still have no idea what that stands for."
"Neither do I. But it wasn't simply a magic transfusion machine. It was planned to also function as a teleporter, to put a living being anywhere on the planet in seconds."
"Okay, I'm seeing some connections here."
"George... I'm sure you had the best intentions from the start, but you... changed."
"Changed?"
"Yes. Now, do you remember the story I told you about the girl named Sandra?"
"It's hard not to."
"I don't believe I told you her last name, did I? No, I'm afraid I didn't. Her name... was Sandra Walt."
"Walt? What does that have to do with- GAH!"
Some sort of sound like that came out of me upon the sudden realization. If I was Humphrey Walt, then...
"...Who was she?"
"She was your daughter."
I sat up in a nanosecond. "My... daughter?!"
"Oh my gosh," said Lyra. "I'm sorry, George."
"That's... I had a daughter... and- but- that doesn't-" I had no idea what to say, this was way too much for me to process at the time.
"Yes, an adoptive daughter. George, please, calm down. I need you conscious for the rest of this."
Hyperventilating a bit, I laid back down. "Okay, it's fine, it's fine, I can worry about this afterwards... yeah, afterwards..."
"You were never a big fan of Equestrians, George. You didn't hate them, but you had some dislike of them for whatever reason. Perhaps a similar one that exists among the population right now."
"Now, I'd like to preface this by saying I don't entirely blame you for most of what you did, but-"
"Just tell us, already!" said Lyra. She was clearly anxious to hear the rest. I was too, but I didn't say anything.
"Please, Lyra, be patient."
"...Alright..."
"George, I'm not entirely sure what went on inside you when it happened. I doubt we'll ever know. But one day, Sandra ran away, as I said before. I don't know why, unfortunately, you never told me. But you blamed your daughter's death on the entire Equestrian race, and this ignited a spark of hatred for them that surpassed Joan Ritter's. I tried to talk some sense into you, but you pushed me away along with any other human who contradicted your views even slightly. Not to mention, you knew that I was planning on creating a peace treaty with Equestria."
"Wait, so that's what you were planning?"
"Yes. I apologize for lying to you about it, but given the memory loss and such, I couldn't tell you of such secretive things yet. I couldn't have you telling anyone about it, you see."
"...I guess that makes sense."
"But I digress. You were intent on one thing, and that was revenge."
"Revenge?! But I wouldn't-"
"That doesn't matter. You did, even if you wouldn't now. You practically went insane, George. You became a bitter man. You completely changed your objective for the KEVIN. However, you denied any knowledge of this until around a week and a half ago, when you called me into your lab. You had clearly been awake for days. You were constantly drinking from a cup of coffee, and there were stains from it everywhere. On the floor, on your papers... even on the KEVIN."
"W-Whuh? So it was already stained?"
"...Yes. The event with you slipping into the machine and spilling coffee on it really did happen. However, it didn't teleport you to Canterlot. It gave you powers reminiscent of Celestia's, including immortality. The thing is, they didn't tend to work properly. Perhaps it was due to the coffee spillage, or the machine not being fully finished, but you didn't care. You were overjoyed. You really enjoyed being immortal, George. You gained even more motivation for what you were doing."
While I was there, you finally explained everything to me that you had been planning. You were going to launch a full-scale attack on Ponyville. You were planning on completely leveling the town, no matter what it took. Apparently you saw this as appropriate retribution for the death of your daughter. I, personally, was taken aback. There was no possible way I could allow this. I tried to convince you to stop, but you simply laughed at me. I was left with no recourse, except... well..."
"What? What did you do?"
"I remembered the various times the teleportation function of the KEVIN had been tested. The machine would send the target to their destination alive and well, but they were always by affected by some form of memory loss."
"Okay, yeah, I see where this is going."
"I couldn't have us plunged into a full-scale war with Equestria. So I did the only thing I thought reasonable at the time. While you were distracted, I shoved you into the KEVIN and locked it. As you banged on the glass, I typed in the proper commands along with the coordinates to Canterlot. But before I hit enter, I took one last look at you to see that you were, strangely enough, smiling maniacally. You shouted, albeit still muffled by the glass, that this wouldn't stop your plans. That they'd already been 'set in motion'. I didn't listen to you. I simply hit enter, and you were gone."
...The room stayed silent for a while. I laid there trying to go over everything I'd just been told, and Lyra looked deep in thought as well. After a few minutes, I spoke up again.
"...How do I know you're telling the truth?"
Wordlessly, Tetesac reached into his robes, pulled something out, and handed it to me. As I slowly took it from his hand, I realized it was a photograph. A photograph of me and a girl I didn't recognize standing together, smiling. A girl I... didn't recognize.
"After the... incident, I removed everything relating to Sandra from your home. I had a feeling you would make it back, so I didn't want you to have to deal with the knowledge of your past life. I hoped that the arrival of you in Canterlot would give you a better, more accurate first impression of ponies themselves. In retrospect, perhaps that was a bad idea. However, even with all I did, I... I shouldn't have kept your knowledge of your own daughter from you. That is simply unforgivable of me."
As I stared at this photo, I feel like I should've felt something along the lines of sadness, and I did, but it was overwhelmed by my sheer inability to comprehend everything I'd just been told.
"Damn it... I don't remember anything..."
I continued to stare at the photograph. I had no idea what to think. I wanted to blame someone, but who could've possibly been to blame aside from me?
"How could I have been... the way you said? I... I don't get it at all."
Both Lyra and Tetesac looked upon me with expressions I couldn't quite recognize. Was it pity? Or were they perhaps thinking I deserve all this for what I did? Did I deserve it? No, I didn't know about any of those things. I'm not Humphrey Walt. I'm a completely different person. I'm George Trestale.
...Aren't I?
I slowly got up and out of the bed. I walked toward the door and unlocked it. I felt weightless, as if I'd just died.
"Where are you going?" asked Tetesac. "You haven't been officially released yet."
"I don't care," I said, "I'm going home."
And with that, I opened the door and dashed out, past all the doctors and assistants before they had a chance to react.
---------------------------------
A day has passed. I've been eating minimally. Drinking only when I feel like I've been in a desert for six hours. Lyra and Tetesac have both come up to my room to check on me, but I haven't said much to them. I have no idea what to feel at this point. I hate myself for pitying myself, and I pity myself for hating myself. I just need to be alone for a while.
"Come on, George," said Lyra at one point. "You can't be all emo for the rest of your life."
Yeah, thanks for that, Lyra.
"I mean, come on," she said. "Sure, you weren't a big fan of us for a while. You tried to destroy a town. Big deal. Well, I mean, that kinda is a big deal, but no-one got hurt! You know what they say, the road to heaven is paved with bad intentions!"
It's the other way around, Lyra.
"George, if you like, I can move Sandra's belongings back into the house," said Tetesac.
"I'd like to be alone for right now," was all I could say in reply.
Perhaps I wasn't in as bad a condition as I made myself out to be. I really just needed to be alone for a while as I sorted my conscience out. Somewhere inside me, I knew I'd be fine eventually, but I just wasn't yet.
Eventually, Lyra and Tetesac both came into my room. I didn't bother looking at them, I was too busy staring at the designs of my pinball machine. Or was it Sandra's...?
"Come on," said Lyra. "We're gonna go to your favorite place for dinner! Er, what was it again, Your Highness?"
"Seafood Land," said Tetesac. "It's always been his favorite."
"Right, Seafood... Land. That's a creative name," Lyra said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Thank you, I actually suggested it to the owner myself."
"Not hungry," I said. I was lying, of course, I hadn't eaten more than a couple crackers in the past sixteen hours.
Suddenly, I felt something pulling on my leg. I looked down at my foot to see it surrounded by a green aura.
"Oh, son of a-" I didn't have time to finish my sentence as I was yanked off my bed.
~ One hour later ~
"Alright," I said, getting a stray piece of salmon out from between my teeth, "I guess I did need some food in my stomach."
We were sat outside Seafood Land, which has a very misleading name, as the restaurant is way too small to be called a "land". At least it's pretty close to the castle, it looks nice from here.
"George," said Tetesac, "I know recent events have been stressful to you. I am terribly sorry for what I did, constantly lying to you and acting as if your daughter never existed. I really don't know what to say."
I sat there silently for a moment. "Look, Tetesac, I have no problem with forgiving you for anything you did. I clearly needed some kind of reality check, and honestly I kind of want to thank you for giving it to me. My issue isn't forgiving you. And honestly, I've gotten over the fact that I tried to level a town. There's just one last hanging thread that worries me."
"What's that?"
"Sandra. Why did she run away? Did it have something to do with me? I really want to know, because that's been nagging at me like hell."
"George, I don't know much about your private lives, but you two were a very happy, if small, family. You loved each other very much, and I didn't see anything change the day she left the city. You were a good father to her, George. She loved you. And I'm sure she still does."
"Yeah, I hope so," I said. "And I hope she's happy, wherever she is. Heaven, I guess."
"By the way, I noticed you went back to the red tie," said Lyra. "What, did the blue one not work out for you?"
"Nah. It just felt wrong," I said. "I prefer the r-"
I didn't have time to finish my sentence though, as I was interrupted by what seemed to be the ground shaking for a moment.
"That was weird," I said. "Do we get earthquakes here often?"
"Not in decades," said Tetesac.
The ground shook again, harder this time.
"The hell is that, then?"
"I don't know. We don't have any-"
All of a sudden, he was cut off as a huge explosion came from the castle's direction. All of us jerked our heads in that direction, to see that a huge hole was now blown in one of the castle's walls.
"...Uh, what the hell?" I said, bewildered.
Tetesac stood up. "Oh, that cannot be good."
As the smoke cleared, we craned our heads to get a better look at what had created the explosion.
"Is that... a tank?!" exclaimed Lyra.
Myself about two feet taller than her, I was able to get a better look at the metallic monstrosity that was now rolling out of the hole it had created. Yeah, that's a tank.
"Who the hell's piloting that?!" I shouted.
"I don't know," said Tetesac. "I was not aware we even had- Wait a minute. George, hand me your journal."
I took it out of my coat pocket and handed it to him. He quickly opened it and turned to the most recent entry. "George, do you see the four letters on that tank?"
Squinting as hard as I could, my eyes slowly brought them into focus.
It said "RYAN".
"That's the RYAN?! A motherfucking tank?!"
"Oh, my. I believe this is what you meant by 'failsafe', George..."
"W-What?! That means we've got to stop it, then!" Without waiting for a reply I ran off after the Tank, which was now headed to one of the city's outer walls.
"G-George! Wait!" Lyra ran off after me, with Tetesac in tow. I didn't bother listening, I was running at full speed towards the tank. Thankfully, it was actually rather slow, akin to my normal walking pace. Right before the tank made it to the wall, I threw myself onto it. I was promptly surged with electricity and thrown back off, a comical smoke trail emanating from me.
"Ouch."
Lyra and Tetesac finally caught up to me. "George! That was a rather boneheaded thing to do!" said Tetesac.
"Yeah, yeah. I had to at least try. Do you think someone's piloting that thing?"
"I doubt it," said Tetesac. "You primarily worked alone. It is most likely-"
He was cut short as the tank blasted a hole through the city wall and drove through it.
"-It is most likely self-piloted. Which means reasoning with it most likely won't be an option."
"Oh, jeez!" said Lyra. "What the heck do we do, then?! That thing's gonna destroy Ponyville!"
"Uhm," I said nervously. "Good question. That, I don't know."
"Well, we've gotta do something!"
"Yeah, I know..." I thought about it for a bit, trying to think of where we could find out how to stop this thing.
"Wait. Wait! My lab! There's gotta be something in there!"
The three of us dashed towards the castle, headed straight for the hole the RYAN had made.
"I bet you didn't expect to turn out to be the bad guy all along, huh?" said Lyra.
"Oh, not remotely!"