Burdy's perspective:

Thursday May 7th, 2014...

I entered Ponyville Hospital shirtless and in nothing but a my black pants, in case anypony recognized my shirt from the news broadcasts. I guess in hindsight that was a pretty big epidemic... and I would've never guess that many mobsters died but I regress, they deserved every bit of it. Before we had reached Ponyville, I had stopped off at Flim and Flam's garage to retrieve my truck, and rip them a new one.

They were surprised that their calculations were off and had apologized sincerely, saying that they owed me one but... I wasn't sure I wanted to be around them... at least for a little while. They just seemed like the wrong crowd to get in with.

I brought Derpy up to the counter and set her down to all fours. The receptionist looked to me, then to Derpy and noticed her bandaged wing and my poor attempt at a sling, which consisted of duct tape and a musty sheet from the motel I had stayed in. "She uhm... broke her wing," I informed the mare who quickly began scribbling things down.

I looked to Derpy, whom spoke first between us. "You'll come and visit me right?" She asked hopefully and I nodded with a wink.

"Of course. I wouldn't leave you here with them," I said jokingly with a smirk. I noticed Redheart who immediately spotted me out and began making her way towards me, trying to flag me down. "UGH! Gotta go Derpy, love yah!" I exclaimed, giving her a quick kiss to the forehead and dashing away. I could distinctly make out Redheart's voice as she screamed my name, yelling for me to stop.

Twilight’s perspective, Ponyville Library,

It was early, that’s all I could tell at the moment. A constant whining and barking from downstairs kept me awake for now. Luckily the barking didn’t sound saddened, but rather excited. I could hear Lassie’s claws scratching away the door’s furnishing. I was about to groan in irritation, but a low rumbling sound caught my attention.

The rumbling wasn’t aggressive in any sorts… It was Cadence! Ahem, not Princess Cadence, it was Evan’s Cadence, his truck! I nearly flew out of bed, and I would’ve but my wing got tangled in my bed sheets.

I collapsed on the floor with a rather loud THUD! “UGH!” I groaned in exertion as I flapped my wings as hard as I possibly could, flinging the bed sheet away and resulting in it knocking over my night lamp and the book I had been reading last night.

I lept over the railing and fluttered down to ground level just as the front door was opening. Lassie didn’t even hesitate, she pushed the already opening door out of her way as she lept at the tall man in the doorway, yipping happily as she nearly took him off balance.

“LASSIE!” Evan squealed in a bubbly tone as he flopped down to his haunches and let Lassie lick his face.

“Ugh… you know she’s been licking herself, right?” I scoffed and Evan simply chuckled.

“I love you too, Mom,” he chuckled back at me. I just rolled my eyes and stood in the doorway as he rolled around with his dog, almost as if the duo hadn’t seen each other in ages. Lassie stood on his chest and kept licking his face until it was a gleaming mess of dog slobber.

Finally, with a deep exhale, Evan stood up. He was missing his undershirt but still had his worn out duster that Rarity had crafted. Unlike any pants I had seen him wear before, he had black trousers on.

As I was still in thought, he grabbed me and heaved me up into his arms, holding me above the ground and hugging me affectionately. With a peck to the check, he nestled his nose into my neck. “I missed you Mom,” he stated and my heart fluttered.

It was still weird for him to be calling me mom, due to my feelings for him, but I’d let them go on for now. I still needed to figure out why he thought of me like that before I made any advances on him, a choice I had recently come to mind with.

“So…?” I asked inquiringly.

“So?” he asked back.

“What were you doing?” I asked and he just shrugged carelessly.

“Helping out Flim and Flam. I had to stop by there this morning to get my truck back. I would’ve been back earlier but… well, never mind.” He sounded so calm, as if nothing was wrong. Well, I guess nothing was wrong. He had been gone for longer duration's of time before and got back in one piece, so this was no different.

He paced away and down to his room, or well… I guess it was still the basement, but it was where he resided for the time being. Maybe now that he was growing out of his old habits, he could sleep somewhere better… maybe the spare bed in my room.

I quickly shook off the thought, knowing where I’d be headed. “Twilight, you have to figure out what’s on his mind first!” I scolded myself before looking towards his room and sighing.

I wonder to myself sometimes… what was it about him that made me so desperately in love with him? Was it his bold and courageous nature? His rather calm, almost shy nature towards new ponies? Even now, as he was growing out of his old customs, he was getting even softer and gentler. Even his voice didn’t seem as coarse or rough anymore.

I shrugged off my thoughts and figured I had been thinking too long and decided to go spend some time with Evan. I went at first to his room but found it empty. Heading back upstairs, I heard some voices, two masculine ones, coming from the balcony.

I recognized one as Evan, but the other was different and one I hadn’t heard before. It was very deep and had an almost frightening tone, despite the laughter in their conversation.

As I neared the balcony, the conversation came to an abrupt end. “Alright man, see you later,” I heard Evan say, probably to the other.

“Oh probably,” the deep voice replied. Seconds later I was on the balcony, but only Evan and Lassie were there. Evan was laid back and relaxed in a lawn chair while Lassie sat by his side.

I peeked over the balcony to see whom it might have been. There were many ponies, but none looked large enough to muster that kind of vocal depth. Big McIntosh trotted by, but I knew he could never speak in such a deep voice like that. Sure his voice was masculine, but the voice I heard was…

“Who yah lookin’ fer?” Evan asked and I turned back to him.

“Who were you talking to?” I asked curiously.

“Oh just a friend. Don’t worry about him... he’s a good guy.” Evan yawned, a tinted pair of mirror shade aviators over his closed eyes.

“Where’d he go? Nopony came down the stairs,” I replied and Evan just mingled his hand to the side.

“Oh he probably just hopped off the balcony, knowing him. He’ll probably be half way out of Ponyville by now,” he stated. Maybe his friend was a pegasus. I was going to ask but obviously Evan didn’t show much enthusiasm in talking about him.

Lassie mumbled something that was unintellectual and was something along a few grumbles and a series of short barks.

I had no idea what she had meant, but I pulled up a lawn chair and laid back in it, just like Evan was doing. Evan muttered to me… or maybe it was to Lassie… or maybe it was even to himself. “Nice weather eh?”

“Mmm-hmm,” I replied in a very relaxed voice, my eyes closed as Celestia’s wonderful sun beat down upon us with a satisfying warmth.

We laid like that for what must’ve been hours, before I finally looked over to Evan. He didn’t have any footwear on. I noticed how strange his feet were compared to a pony’s hooves. He had four smaller toes and a large one, almost like an ape.

His tinted aviators concealed his eyes, which were probably closed… I think he was sleeping, judging by his body’s slow breathing through his nose and relaxed nature, or maybe he was just at peace with himself.

He had a pair of blue jeans on that were faded at the knees and a striped golfing shirt that had several large burn holes in it. “EVAN WHAT HAPPENED?!” I gasped, having never seen this shirt before.

“Hmm… mmm… what?” he asked groggily as he tilted his head to the side and looked to me, the frame of his glasses glimmering in the sunlight. He looked at his arm then chuckled slightly. “My skin is tanning,” he replied.

I facehoofed. “No, not that! Your shirt! What happened to you?!” I gasped. He looked down to his shirt, grabbing it with just his index finger and thumb and pulling up a bit of his burnt shirt.

“Oh… this is the shirt I had when I was on fire,” he replied calmly just before lying back again.

“WHAT?! When were you on fire?” I asked worriedly and he thought briefly to himself.

“Oh jeeze… uhm… I guess about…” He took a deep breath as he scratched the side of his head. “About two years ago in autoclass…”

Evan’s perspective:

Summer 2012…

It was brutally hot… probably 104 degrees Fahrenheit. The grade twelve auto class teacher was having me build him a tailgate for his trailer because… well, I just say because he’s a teacher and he’s too damn cheap to just buy himself a new tailgate.

On top of the already hot temperature, I was inside an insulated school mechanic shop that had no A/C and really shitty roof fans. Added to the fact that I was wearing heavy coveralls to protect myself while I used a MIG welder... things just felt unbearably hot.

Sweat poured down my face from behind the welder’s mask as I welded the metal mesh onto the back of the tailgate. My mask visor was a little fogged, but not enough to hinder my vision.

My body started to heat up unbearably as I continued to weld on the mesh. The buzzing scorch of the welder in action drowned out most other noises of the workshop. My body continued to feel hotter and hotter with each passing second.

Soon, there was too much sweat on my face to handle and I needed to wipe it off before it got in my eyes. I set the welder aside and raised my mask to wipe my forehead, but my eyes went wide as I saw my lower half engulfed in flame.

“I’M ON FIRE!” I yelled as I began to hop around like a crazed bunny with its head lopped off. “I’M ON FIRE! OH GOD I’M ON FIRE!” I yelled in a somewhat hysterical, somewhat humored, voice.

I tried patting myself down, but only then did I start to feel the pain of being burned by fire. I began to yell in slight discomfort as I flopped onto the ground and began rolling on the smutty floor. Within seconds, the fire was out and I laid there, smoke floating off my body while I chuckled to myself.

Several students looked at me with humored looks, knowing I had again gotten myself into some sort of predicament that could've attained me a Darwin Award, had I not been so damn lucky. The auto shop teacher walked over. “Evan… are you alright?” he asked, somewhat worried for my well-being.

I patted myself off, brushing away the ash from the burnt coveralls that were now all but useless. “Yeah,” I replied as I slipped off the coveralls. My jeans were burnt, but not as bad as my golf shirt. I patted myself down but winced in pain as I realized I had some mediocre burns on my belly and waist. “Just some minor burns,” I replied boldly. "Dammit... this was a good shirt," I joked.

“So…” he stifled a laugh. “How did it become so that you were on fire?” he asked with a smile, still trying to hold back a laugh.

I licked my lips with an equally stifled laugh. “Well you see sir… I was welding your tailgate…” I trailed off.

“Uh-huh?” he asked, motioning for me to continue.

“And it was getting really hot…”

“Uh-huh.”

“So I lifted my mask to wipe the sweat off my head… and… uhm… it uhh... I was on fire,” I said with a short chuckle.

He rolled his eyes. “Okay Evan… just try to be more careful next time,” he informed me, then left to go help others in the classroom.

I closed my eyes for a brief moment as I smirked and stifled a snicker, but my smile quickly faded as I looked to my shirt. “Dammit… I kinda liked this shirt…”

Twilight’s perspective:

Present day…

My eyes went wide. “Were you okay?” I asked, worry in my voice. He nodded with a laugh.

“Oh yeah, I was fine. Just put some ointment on the burns and wrapped it up.” He sounded so casual about it, almost as if it was just an everyday occurrence.

“That sounds painful,” I replied and he shrugged.

“Yeah, but not as painful as the time my hand got cut by a bandsaw. I don’t remember what I was cutting… or maybe I was cleaning it or something… anyway, my hand got sliced by this sharp blade on this saw in the construction class and I was like “Ow! Shit!” and the teacher always knew, when I said ‘Ow’ I had hurt myself. So he rushed over and saw that I was bleeding and was like, OH EVAN! YOU NEED TO GET THAT CLEANED RIGHT AWAY! Keep your hand cupped so it doesn’t bleed onto the floor and go to the washroom and wash it out! Quick, before it gets infected!” Evan was laughing like it was a joke.

“So I walked to the washroom without cupping my hands, so there was this trail of blood from the construction room, down the hallway, and to the washroom…” He trailed off and started laughing.

“Evan… that’s not really funny,” I told him but he waved his hand at me.

“Oh… ooh… oh, if only you could’ve been there. It was priceless. The teacher’s face was like.” He put on a shocked face, like somepony who had just seen another pony whom had just lost a limb and was bleeding badly.

“Well… you know, Evan… that’s sort of the reaction most ponies… err, people, would give,” I replied, but he just shook his head.

“Well… not really. Well maybe... but only if they can’t handle the sight of blood. Everyone thinks it hurts, but really, it just tickles.” My eyes went wide.

“How could that tickle? That’s not what a tickle feels like. Tickles don’t hurt!” I informed him but he just nodded.

“Sure they do. It’s like… just a little pinch of pain, rather than a lot,” he informed me. My jaw dropped.

“Evan… tickles don’t hurt… not at all. They’re supposed to… well… tickle,” I tried to explain and he nodded.

“Exactly. All those times, I didn’t really get hurt, I was just tickled,” he replied but I shook my head.

“Evan, that’s… that’s not tickling…” I trailed off, secretly extending my wing. I brushed my wing against the side of his neck and he jerked away.

“AH! What the fuck was that?!” he yelped in shock.

“That… was a tickle,” I informed him, brushing my wing against his exposed ribs, through the burn holes in his shirt.

“Ah! Stop it! Those aren’t tickles… they don’t… Eh! Stop,” he giggled delightfully. I continued my tickle assault but… it was weird… didn’t he know that this is what tickles felt like? Isn't this kind of what Lassie does to him all the time... and he seems to like that.

Evan fell off his chair and disturbed Lassie’s slumber. She grumbled to herself as she paced away, wanting to relax and not be part of our shenanigans. “AHH! Ah, stop it! Ahh I give! I give!” Evan laughed, squirming beneath me.

I let up on him and allowed him to relax. He exhaled a deep breath. “Why'd you do that?” he asked and I kind of wanted to slap myself in the head.

“Those are what tickles are. They're supposed to be fun. And doesn't Lassie lick and tickle you?” I replied and he raised an eyebrow.

“No... Lassie licks me cause she loves me... and besides, those aren’t tickles. Tickles feel like getting poked in the ass by a pin… or getting nipple twisted…” He trailed off, chuckling silently to himself. “Back in high school football… the football players always acted a little… queer; if you will, towards one another. So anyway, a couple guys used to sneak up behind me and nipple twist me because they knew I had sensitive nipples… I also got the nickname 'Strawberry Nipples' because my nipples are big and poofy,” he informed me and I raised a concerned eyebrow. He didn’t really think that tickles were a form of minor pain… did he?

“I… I… really?” I stammered and he nodded before pulling off his shirt.

“Oh yeah, just look. My nipples are a little different… oh… I guess pony nipples don’t look like human nipples. Anyway, most guy nipples looked like raisins or something, but mine are like big strawberries,” he explained to me and I just blinked as he slipped his shirt back on.

“No… I meant… you don’t seriously think that tickles are a form of minor pain… do you?” I asked and he nodded.

“Well aren’t they? I mean, it’s not enough to make me double over in pain… but it’s enough to offer me discomfort. Isn’t that what a tickle is?” he asked and I shook my head.

“No,” I replied. How could he ever think that tickles were a form of pain? Before I could ask another question, his stomach rumbled.

“Oh, I’m hungry,” he stated, quickly standing up and proceeding back into the library. I was struck with shock. What kind of childhood did he have? For someone to think that a tickle is a form of pain…

“Hey Mom, you want some waffles?” Evan called out to me. His question stunned me.

‘Waffles? At this time of the day? It’s afternoon, not breakfast,’ I thought to myself. I stood up and trotted downstairs, into the kitchen where Evan was just starting to cook some waffles.

“It’s almost four,” I stated, taking a brief look at the clock and Evan nodded with an, ‘Uh-huh’ for his answer. “So isn’t it the wrong time of the day for waffles?” I asked, but he shook his head.

“Nuh-uh, never a bad time for waffles,” he stated. I snickered and walked past him, gently brushing my wing feathers against his exposed skin as I passed. “Eh!” he gasped, again having experienced a real tickle.

I looked back to him and smirked. “What?” I asked mischievously.

“Don’t do that,” he said with a chuckle.

“Don’t do what?” I asked coyly, pretending like I didn’t know what he was talking about.

“You know what… that,” he replied and I paced over to him, again brushing him in a ticklish way, making him squirm.

“That?” I asked deviously.

“Yes… that. Stop it… hee-hee… or else!” he warned through a squeamish laugh.

“Or else what?” I asked playfully.

“Or else… I’ll get you back,” he laughed, gently tackling me to the floor and poking at my side. He poked again but not in a ticklish way.

“How the…” he trailed off and brushed his hand against my side, but still failed to tickle me as I tickled the hay out of him, his body twisting every which way as I laid it to him.

“Ahh! Ahh… what? How do I get you?” he asked. I stopped for a moment.

“Don’t you know how to tickle somepony?” I asked curiously. Even if he had misinterpreted the word, surely he’d know how to tickle somepony.

“Well… if this is what tickles are… kind of… but not really,” he said. I was shocked. Well, at least he had comprehended that this is what a tickle really feels like.

“Well… to effectively tickle somepony, you have to gently brush your hand against a sensitive part of their body, like the bottoms of their hooves, or in your case, feet. Or in the crevice of you neck and shoulder, your sides… places like that,” I informed him.

“So…” He trailed off and brushed his finger across the backside of my ribs. My body shivered from his touch. “Like that?” he asked and I nodded before brushing my wing up his side.

“Yupp… and like this!” I giggled, rolling his body over and straddling myself over himself. I began to tickle his sides with my hooves while I extended my wings downwards and tried to get his feet.

“Ahh! Ahh… you little…” he laughed like this was one of the best experiences he had ever had. His fingers danced along my sides and raised the fur along the back of my neck as my body shivered from his tickles.

We laughed and giggled as we tickled each other. Suddenly he rolled me back over, placing himself atop me. I tried to roll our bodies over to give myself the advantage, but my hindlegs couldn’t get where I needed them to go due to his larger body size.

He tickled along my lower sides, forcing my hindlegs to twitch and stiffen. My legs locked around his hips and pulled me into his body. I tried feverishly to tickle him back but, despite being a novice, he really knew how to go.

I tried furiously to get my wings to graze his sides, but it only worked a little. He laughed and giggled, but his body didn’t cave like I was hoping it would. As he tickled along my sides, my legs locked tighter around his hips, pulling us closer together as I squirmed beneath him.

“Ahh! OKAY! Okay, I surrender!” I squealed in delight. He stopped, both of our breathing heavy as we stayed locked in our pose, our bodies gassed from the playful activity.

His chest expanded and contracted at a very steady rate while I had difficulty controlling my breathing. His hands were at my sides and I noticed a look in his eyes. Almost a gleam. He blinked, a look of uncertainty on his face.

My hindlegs dropped from his sides, but I continued to lay there beneath him as I waited, wondering what exactly was going through his mind… and what was going through mine.

It was like nothing else really existed at that moment…

“Twi…” He trailed off, his voice gentle like an afternoon breeze... and I nodded. He went to say something else but suddenly a PING! echoed and he jumped up. “I UHH! IT ISN'T WHAT IT...” he gasped, spinning around to see what it was, and let out a relieved sigh when he realized it was just the toaster spitting out the toasted waffles. He closed his eyes and let out a deep exhale.

I slowly stood up and approached his side, looking up into his deep brown eyes. “Evan? What were you going to say?” I asked in a very hushed voice.

“Oh… uhm… I uhh… I was…” he stammered nervously. He stuttered to himself for several seconds before finally blurting out something. “You wanna go out for dinner? I was thinking that maybe waffles aren’t the greatest thing for supper. I’ll go get changed and uhh… we’ll go out, okay?” he nervously asked his question.

“Oh… okay,” I replied unsurely. My mind was still a blur and I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on.

Evan’s perspective:

I rushed downstairs in a fluster. ‘What the hell was that?’ I thought to myself. ‘Tickles?’ I thought then shook my head. Other people had always thought I was strange when I said that my wounds just tickled but that’s all it felt like… tickles.

My heart was racing, I felt so strange. “Why the fuck am I feeling like this?” I hissed to myself as I grabbed my head in distress. For a brief moment back when we stopped, I… I just… I felt so weird… mushy…

I just felt so strange towards my mother… like I wanted to just hold her like that and… and… and KISS HER!

“What the fuck is wrong with me?” I asked silently, pacing circles around the floor. My heart was still racing as I was unable to comprehend what was happening. I bit my lower lip nervously. My teeth were chattering as my heart pounded away in my chest.

Part of me just wanted to go back upstairs and hold my mother… hold her close, and kiss her. The other half…

My fist tightened and I hammered myself across the jaw. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I hissed at myself, maddened that I would think about my own mother in such a way. I rubbed my jaw slightly while I started to slow my breathing. The feel of fresh pain forced away the mushy feeling.

“Okay… now you’re gonna forget this ever happened… alright,” I told myself sternly and I took a final, deep breath. With that, I slipped on some new clothes.

I proceeded upstairs where Lassie and Twilight were waiting. There must’ve been a slight red mark on my cheek. “Evan, what happened?” she asked and I shrugged.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Come on, let’s go,” I offered, slipping on my duster coat and cowboy hat. As we left, I stopped and was about to go for a gun, just in case.

I stopped and looked at Cadence, who held all my most precious belongings, some of which weren’t even firearms. I looked back to Twilight and moved to her side, deciding instead not to bring a gun.

“Not bringing a gun?” she asked in an almost stunned voice.

“Nah… I won’t need it. Equestria is pretty peaceful.” I gave her a smile which she promptly returned.

The sun shone brightly over the town as the afternoon continued. We didn’t really immediately go looking for food and instead just traversed through the town. Lassie skipped along, barking at squirrels and birds, while at the odd time even chasing passing leaves that were caught in the slight breeze.

Despite being a large dog now, she still acted like a foolish young pup. I felt Twilight nestle in close to me and the feeling from before started to return. Not in full, but it was there again. I took a deep gulp as my body stiffened a little. ‘What is happening to me?!’ I thought.

I wanted to hit myself again, but… instead I just slowed a little. My mother stopped. “Evan?” she asked.

“Here… it might work better this way,” I offered, helping her to her hindlegs and letting her body rest against mine as support as we slowly walked through the streets. Her balance was a little offset due to ponies always walking on all fours, but with my body as a resting post, she managed to walk on her hindlegs with a sense of ease.

She rested her head against my shoulder, her horn just under my chin. She hummed a lovely tune to herself as we walked along, now arm in arm. My mind tried to usher me to stop, but I pushed my conscience away. This moment… it was so relaxing and filled my heart with a feeling I had never felt before.

Her humming tune almost brought a tear to my eye. ‘Tickling,’ I thought to myself silently. ‘I like tickling.’

Eventually it became late. A brief look at my watch indicated it was closer to 8:30pm. I put my watch arm down and cradled my arm around her like before as we continued on through the dimming streets.

Lassie stopped and barked to me, telling me she had found a particularly tantalizing smell for us to get. “Where are we going Lassie?” I asked and she put her nose to the ground and began sniffing. Strange… shouldn’t the airborne smell from food make her sniff the air? Oh well…

We followed Lassie around town until finally she led us out to the food vendor we had eaten at last time. “This it Lassie?” I asked and she nodded with a quick bark. “Alright,” I replied, pulling out my wallet.

I looked through my bits. I was starting to run out. I wasn’t exactly the greatest with money, and it was really starting to show. ‘Maybe you’ll have to go treasure hunting again,’ my conscience picked up and I remembered treasure hunting with Daring… who apparently wasn’t real… or maybe she kept a secret identity.

Remembering how she had left me for dead, I quickly discarded the thought of treasure hunting, at least for the time being.

“Lassie?” I asked, picking up a menu and showing to her. She barked and began to whine to herself, almost in thought, then pawed at the menu, but her paw danced over several pictures.

“The fries?” I asked but she shook her head and again placed her paw on the menu, but pawed against several pictures. “The onion rings?” I asked once more, but she whined in distress then grabbed the collar of my coat and tugged me down, pulling my face close to the menu, then circled her paw over the pictures of the fresh potato fries, the onion rings and the garlic breadsticks with cheese cooked in the middle.

“The fries, the onion rings AND the garlic bread?” I asked and she nodded.

“Okay… Mom?” I asked and she looked over the menu.

“Oh… I’ll just have a hay sandwich with lemonade and a salad please,” she ordered.

‘Jeeze… she always orders so lightly,’ I thought to myself. “Uhm… I’ll have… some garlic bread, some onion rings… some fries, some lasagna… oh, can I have some spaghetti? And, uhh, can I have a glass of…” I looked at the menu and realized they had chocolate milk in cartons.

“Can I have some chocolate milk… and a banana sundae… and uhh…” I trailed off and looked at the rest of the menu. Most of it was geared towards ponies. Hay sandwiches, salad, stuff like that. “Yeah, that’ll be all,” I ordered and the vendor stallion raised an eyebrow.

“Do you want that to go?” he asked jokingly but I shook my head with a smile.

“Mmm… no thank you,” I replied and he raised a wondering eyebrow.

“Jeeze… how do you stay in shape?” he asked, looking at my muscular frame.

I put on a somewhat serious face as I replied in an Arnie accent, “Lots of exercise supplemented with nuts and berries.” He laughed and shook his head in humor.

“Okay buddy, I’ll have it ready; lickety split,” he replied and, with that, began preparing our food. I walked over with Twilight and Lassie to our table and took a seat across from my mother, Lassie taking a seat beside me. The table was again candle light, but this time it had a small rose between us.

“You know Evan… that’s a lot of food,” Twilight said and I just shrugged.

“Yeah, but you know who is probably gonna eat most of my food,” I informed her, using my left thumb to point to Lassie whom sat on my left side. Twilight just rolled her eyes.

Twilight looked over to Lassie. “You know Lassie, eating that much food might make you pudgy,” she teased and Lassie playfully growled back.

“She says with how little you eat, you might go anorexic,” I translated and Twilight’s eyes went wide.

“I will not!” my mother snapped back and Lassie gave a dog laugh, which sounded really weird. I know I’ve heard her laugh before, but every time she does it just sets me off.

The moonlight cascaded down upon us and I tilted my head to the side before looking up at the moon. I felt a furry hoof lay atop my right hand and looked over to Twilight. “This is wonderful, Evan. I really enjoy spending time with you,” she told me with a smile, a slight hue of blush on her cheeks.

I placed my left hand over top her hoof and smiled back. “Me too… me too,” I stated. She placed her other hoof over top of my left, now making it a stack of hooves and hands.

I twisted my right hand around and cupped her hoof in my palm, then began to stroke the underside of her hoof with my left, while caressing her with my right. A feeling came over me… I couldn’t really explain it, but it just made me feel peaceful… and loved… and like nothing could ever go wrong.

“I love you,” I said in a quiet tone, just loud enough so that she could easily hear me. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d be nowhere… probably dead or… well actually, I’d be some bloodthirsty soldier fighting in some goddess forsaken oil war… if you didn’t…” I trailed off.

Was I truly happier here than I was back home. Was I ready to believe that this place… this peaceful world where bad things almost never happen… was I ready to tell myself I liked it more than my old world.

I gulped. “If you hadn’t taken me in… I would’ve… I don’t know where I’d be.” I couldn’t piece together what I was trying to say.

“Evan, come here,” Twilight said with a motion of her hooves, and I leaned forwards. Very slowly, she leaned forwards, towards me, her head slightly tilting to one side as her eyes gently shut. I didn’t have any idea what I was doing, but… my body moved without my command.

I leaned forwards also, my head tilting as my eyes closed. Our lips met and time seemed to slow as her soft, wet lips pressed into mine. After… goddess only knows how long, we separated.

I opened my eyes with disbelief. ‘Did I just kiss my mom… passionately?’ I asked myself as I gulped.

“It’s okay Evan. When Celestia first told me that I should take you in as a student… I’ll admit that I wasn’t thrilled... to be perfectly honest I was rather irritated and thought that you nothing more than just an animal… but I’m happy that I was wrong. I love you in ways words can’t explain, and…” She trailed off and we just looked into each other’s eyes.

I… I didn’t know what to say…. How to say it. Whatever was happening… it was beyond me. How could I feel this way about my own mother?! It was so wrong on so many different levels.

Luckily for me, however, I was saved by the bell… or food, actually, when the vendor stallion came to us with our larger than average meal. “Here yah go,” he said, also handing me the bill which I promptly paid with a ten bit tip.

Stuffing my wallet into my right pocket, I rubbed my hands together in anticipation as my stomach grumbled. “Mmm… let’s eat!” I announced. I didn’t really need to tell Lassie, whom had started eating before I had even paid the bill.

I let out small stifles of laughter as Lassie attacked her fries, spilling over the carton and nosing through it. As she quickly devoured the fries, she started onto the onion rings. As she neared the end of them, she snuck her head into the carton but didn’t compensate for her now larger size.

The carton got stuck on her head and she swung it to and fro before it finally flew off her head. She let out a playful yip then continued to scour her food. I slowly began to delve into my own food, but no sooner had I done so, Lassie started attacking my food.

“EH! Those are my breadsticks!” I growled. Lassie turned to me and growled back playfully, one end of the breadstick in her mouth. I grabbed the other end and we tugged on it, splitting it in two before racing to eat more than the other.

Twilight just laughed, watching the two of us scourge the food. She let out a short and gentle sigh. “Oh Evan… what am I ever gonna do with you? A colt stuck in a stallion’s body,” she said with a content sigh.

Lassie ended up trampling over the lasagna and getting dust, dirt, and other muck into the sauce. I opted to let her have that while I took an early start on my fries. Before I had even eaten a few handfuls, she started at my fries as well.

Looking over, I saw that she had just made a big mess, eating three quarters of the meal while spreading the rest across the table cloth. The fries barely lasted a few seconds before Lassie attacked my sundae.

She took a big chomp out of the ice-cream but yelped in shock as the cold desert touched the back of her sensitive canine teeth. She quickly clucked her lips before choosing to lick the ice-cream instead.

I grabbed a spoon and began eating it as well. Twilight frowned. “You’re not really… eating ice-cream with Lassie… are you?” she asked hesitantly and I nodded. “You know she licks herself, right?” I nodded before replying to her question.

“Yeah, but… meh,” I replied and continued on with the ice-cream. As we finished up, Lassie looked to the spaghetti but only belched loudly before hopping off the table and curling up by my feet.

I reached down and stroked her head several times before giving her a scratch behind the ears. Her jaw opened wide as she let out a whiny yawn, then lapped her lips several times before finally resting her head on my foot. “Oooh… you’re so adorable Lassie… yes you are… oooh you’re sooo cute!” I spoke in a bubbly way, almost like I was speaking to a young baby foal.

I looked over to Twilight who was just finishing her salad and had already eaten her sandwich. I poked a fork into the spaghetti and looked at the… “What are these?” I asked, prodding at the balls in the spaghetti that were partially covered in sauce.

“Hayballs, they’re delicious,” Twilight replied. My stomach almost twisted at the thought of eating hay. Once as a little kid I had eaten grass because I thought… horses and my dog eat grass, so I should be able to as well… yeah, let’s just say it didn’t taste good and we’ll leave it at that.

“Uhm… you want it?” I asked, pushing the plate towards her then rolling the hayballs to her side of the plate. She smiled brightly, levitating up a fork of her own. We sat there and started eating the spaghetti at a rather slow pace.

Twilight was a little more graceful while eating, twisting her fork in circles to wrap the spaghetti noodles around her utensil. I, however, just scooped it up and ate it, the noodle strings constantly whip-lashing my face.

As we neared the end of the spaghetti, Twilight pushed the last hayball over to me. “Here, you have it,” she offered but I shook my head. “No really, I’ve had all of them. It’s the least I can do,” she offered and I chuckled.

“When I was really young… I thought, ‘Hey, if my dog eats grass, then so can I. It must taste good.’… It didn’t. I have this hinting suspicion that humans and ponies have some different preferences in food, and I don’t think hay is one of the things I’d like. So… thank you, but really, you have it,” I told her.

She sighed and ate the last of the hayballs, along with the last spaghetti noodles. I pulled up my carton of milk and looked at it. Little arrows on the top indicated which side to open it from. I spun the carton around and opened it from the other end.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked. “You’re supposed to open it from the other side. Look, the arrows tell you which side to open,” she informed me and I nodded.

“I know. I just like to be different sometimes,” I laughed, opening the wrong side of the carton. My mother just laughed to herself as she watched me butcher open the carton and drink the contents.

With a content exhale, I looked to the night sky, and all its stars. Twilight again rested her hooves over my hands. “Evan, this is wonderful. I love spending time with you,” she told me and I nodded.

“Yeah, me too,” I said back and we just started stargazing. Before I knew it, the vendor was back, this time with a dessert menu.

“Can I interest you three in desert?” he asked in a very polite tone. I looked to Lassie, who was on the verge of passing out, before looking to Twilight, who tilted her head to one side. I could tell just by her look that she wasn’t really feeling like something big.

“Uhm… maybe something for two?” I suggested. The vendor stallion propped open the menu and showed a picture of some chocolate strawberries. Twilight nodded with a smile and I nodded in return.

“Yeah, sure, looks good,” I told him. The vendor nodded and promptly left to get our desert. “Never had chocolate strawberries before. How 'bout you?” I asked Twilight, who shook her head in return.

“No. The thought of chocolate on fruit doesn’t always seem appealing, but it did look delicious in the picture, so I thought maybe we could give it a go,” she replied. I leaned back and let out a relaxed and somewhat exhausted exhale, almost a yawn.

I let out a chuckle. “A day well spent productively wasting time,” I laughed out a statement which made Twilight giggle.

The moon shone down on her face and made her eyes gleam in the night shade. Her face had an impeccable sharpness to it that really defined her beauty in such a way that made my heart nearly skip a beat.

My jaw slacked slightly as I gazed upon my mother, my stomach getting a fluttery feeling… but maybe that was from all the food I just ate. She looked back to me with a loving look in her eyes.

I kind of just wanted to… lean over and kiss her... again… I winced internally as I forced the thoughts away, trying to beat them down so they’d never resurface. ‘The fuck’s wrong with you?! That’s your mother you sick fuck!’ I thought to myself violently.

Before I could berate myself further, the vendor returned with a tray, setting it down between both Twilight and myself. “Thanks,” I gave him my thanks, along with the due payment and another ten bit tip.

I looked to the tray and gulped. The strawberries were aligned in such a way that they created a heart, with a small saucer of whip cream set off to the side. “Sooo… uhh…” I trailed off and looked to Twilight.

“Here, I have an idea,” she offered, her horn lighting up. A strawberry was coated in a purple aura then was levitated over into the dipping cream, putting a slight topping of whipped cream on it before she finally levitated it over to me.

“Oh… thanks,” I thanked her, reaching for the strawberry.

She giggled. “It’s okay, here let me,” she offered and I chuckled briefly.

“Oh… alright,” I said, opening my mouth and letting her place the strawberry inside. As she set it in my mouth, I gently closed my jaws, crushing the berry in my mouth. Chewing it around, I gave a nod.

It wasn’t to die for, but it tasted alright. I licked my lips, but before I could speak, Twilight had another berry ready for me. I wouldn’t say anything about it, but I wasn’t feeling like eating more than a couple of these berries; they weren’t something I’d want to eat more than ten or twelve of, but seeing as how there was only about twenty, that shouldn’t be an issue if we split them.

I slowly took hold of the berry with my teeth and chomped it down before I quickly reached over, picked up a berry and dipped it, before presenting it to my mother. She giggled to herself with a bright hue of blush spreading across her cheeks. She sheepishly nibbled at the tip of the berry before indulging herself with the rest.

For the next several minutes we exchanged berries with one another. As I was ready to feed her the last one, I accidentally slipped up a little, and ended up dabbing cream on her nose.

“Whoops,” I apologized, but she merely stifled a laugh and tried to lick at it. I too tried to stifle a laugh, but I wasn’t as good as her at controlling my laughter. Without my command, my body almost instinctively moved on its own, leaning towards her at a slow pace. My face came close to hers as I extended my tongue and licked the cream off her nose.

Her face tilted down as she blushed an even deeper red. I was frozen in place, my heart racing… I didn’t quite mean to move like that. Her face was so close to mine I could nearly feel her breath.

She looked up to me and time seemed to stand still. Before either of us could speak, Lassie grumbled to herself, catching our attention and making both of us gasp in shock. I turned my head to my canine friend who was shaking her head side to side in a somewhat agitated way.

I let out a nervous chuckle. “Heh-heh… hey Lassie… what’s wrong? Did you wanna try one of those berries?” I asked sheepishly, embarrassed about how my body was acting on me.

Lassie let out another series of grumbles, saying they probably wouldn't have tasted good, then took her index claw and made a gagging gesture. “Heh-heh,” I laughed nervously. “Yeah… you might not have liked them… too sweet for you,” I joked in a stammering tone.

I quickly began to feel the results of exhaustion set in and yawned loudly. Rubbing the tears from my eyes that had accumulated during my yawn, I looked to my mother. “I think…” I was interrupted by yet another yawn. “A nap,” I finished.

She nodded, her exhausted looking eyes the telltale sign that she too was tired. I stood up, as did she, and we joined arms, Twilight walking on her hind legs again, then began to make our way towards the library.

It was late now, very late, and the moon was high above, along with the night’s beautiful, star filled sky. Twilight leaned into me, humming to herself in a lovely way as we walked along, Lassie trotting behind us rather silently.

Before we reached the library, Lassie began tugging on my coat’s flaps, growling but not in an aggressive way. I looked down to her with tired eyes, almost unable to understand what was happening.

“Huh… Lassie… what’s up?” I asked in an exhausted tone. She tugged us towards an open meadow that had tall grass, which passed my knees. She barked excitedly. “No Lassie… not time to play… time to sleep…” I trailed off, almost too tired to even speak.

She barked again and laid down, almost as if she too was ready to go to sleep. Even in my tired condition, I caught on to what she wanted to do. It was warm enough outside… and it could only really get warmer…

“Uhm… Hey Twi?” I murmured and she nodded against my shoulder. “I know it sounds strange to ask, but… you wanna sleep out here tonight?” I didn’t get much of a reply, but I understood it plain as a sunny day sky.

“Mmm-hmm,” she whispered, her eyes closed and barely awake. My knees nearly gave out faster than I could balance myself as I slowly lowered both our bodies onto the soft, plush ground.

I laid on my right side, my mother lying down in front while still facing me. Lassie curled up by my feet. I kicked off my boots and socks to let my feet have some fresh air. Within moments of lying down, I was out cold.

Many years ago…

It was early morning, and the fresh dew was still present on the fresh lawn outside the family home. My brother and I sat, anxiously awaiting the moment for our mother to come home.

She had promised us early in the week, Monday to be exact, that as soon as the weekend came around, that she’d take us to Wonderland. It was a rather important promise, as we had only been to Wonderland once before, but were too young to really remember the magic of amusement parks.

With nothing else on our minds but the amusement park, we sat and waited anxiously. As time passed by, we continued to wait… hour after hour passed until the day came to a close, yet our mother had never come home, leaving both my brother and I in a state of great sadness…

Years later…

It was a Sunday, and as the rules stated, firearms were not to be discharged in my area on Sundays… I guess it was something to do with public disturbances, regardless, I sat on my ass doing nothing.

My brother was inside with his friend, whom I called my son. His mother had lost her shit again and went berserk, so once again I was taking care of him until she calmed down.

My mother, my real mother, was out drinking; no real surprise there. I twiddled my thumbs and a thought came to mind, one I hadn’t thought about in a long time. The memory made me recall how terribly sad I had been… how heartbroken…

I quickly stood up and waltzed right downstairs and up to my brother and ‘son,’ who were watching T.V. “Alright, let’s go to Wonderland,” I said, out of the blue, with absolutely no warning, no whim or why, and absolutely no pre-existing talk of it.

They both blinked in utter shock. “What?” they both asked in confusion.

“Get some clothes, take a shit, piss, whatever, and let’s go to Wonderland,” I ordered. “Unless you don’t want to?” I asked and they were both baffled.

My son pitched up. “Wait… you’re not serious, are you?” he asked in complete disbelief. I nodded, but my brother decided to discourage me.

“Dude, that’d be expensive. And besides, we haven’t packed a lunch. We need to plan these kinds of things before deciding to do it,” he stated, almost like some kind of parent.

“I don’t care, we’ll buy food there. Let’s go,” I told the two of them. My son quickly lept up off the couch with my brother in tow. The two of them did what they needed to do and we quickly raced for the door.

My grandmother looked over to us. “Where are you all going?” she asked in shock, seeing us run like the house was on fire.

“Wonderland,” my brother replied. She opened her eyes wide in surprise.

“WHAT?! Since when? I never heard you guys planning this,” she said, stunned from the information.

I informed her of the details very briefly. “Nah, we didn’t plan it. I just decided I wanted to go to Wonderland, so we’re going,” I said with a smirk.

“Oh… okay. Well, have fun, and be careful,” she offered. We nodded then rushed out the door and to Cadence, my truck. Hopping in, my son sat shotgun while my brother took up one of the back seats.

I flipped the naughty key before quickly turning the key in the ignition, but not attempting to start it. As I let the glow plugs run, I clapped my hands together in quick succession while squealing ecstatically, like some caffeinated five year old. “OH BUDDY! I’m so pumped!” I squealed even louder, still clapping my hands together so fast that it was just a blur of motion.

My son patted his hands down against the sides of his seat several times, almost as quickly as I was clapping. “I KNOW DUDE! Like what the fuck? Just out of the blue, you were just like: Let’s go to Wonderland,” he said, excitement pouring out of him.

The glow plug light flicked off and I quickly keyed the ignition. The big engine rumbled to life, building up further excitement. My brother chimed in on the excitement. “Oh my god, I can’t wait to go on Behemoth!”

I slipped Cadence into gear and sped out of the driveway, like a bat outta hell…

* * *

Present day…

I burst awake with a gasp, my memory quickly fading in my thoughts. Heart pounding in my chest, I gulped and tried to slow my breathing as I attempted to recall what was going on.

The night ambience quickly entered my ears and I realized I was in an open field. With my heart settling, I let out a relieved sigh. As I turned to go back to sleep, my shirt chafed at my neck.

Squirming slightly, I slipped off my shirt and tossed it aside then went to pass out again. As I went to lay back down, I heard Twilight shivering. Looking over, I saw her shaking, curled up to try and keep warm.

I licked my left index finger and raised it into the air. The breeze was cool and the air was colder still.

I slipped off my duster coat, fluttering it over her. Within moments, Twilight’s body settled into a cozy doze. A gentle breeze blew past, sending shivers up my back. “Ahh… that’s fucking cold,” I whispered to myself, instinctively crawling underneath my warm duster coat.

I let out a chilled huff as my body was embraced by the warmth of my custom coat. My bare chest brushed across Twilight’s soft back, sending a gentle sensation across my body, one which I was unfamiliar to. She was warm... very warm. I snuggled in closer to her...

At first I was shocked and stunned by the feeling… but considering the cool weather… it was either the weird feeling, or freeze my ass off in the cold, so the choice was obvious. I snuggled in closer against my mother, setting my left arm over her body and my right arm curling up on the ground above her head. The feeling of her fur against my bare chest was… strange, but it felt nice at the same time. I snuggled in even closer, her soft fur offering a comfort that I somewhat enjoyed.

I rested my head on my right bicep and, within minutes, I was asleep...

Author's Notes:

So, just to give credit, the spaghetti and hayball idea was BRD's, he didn't specifically ask me to do it but I kind of wanted to do something like that but thought "How the hell could they eat meatballs?" but alas, he sparked an idea, so kudos to him.

And a piece from the next chapter just so you guys/gals can ponder on it while you wait:
I leaned back against the wagon wheel with a sigh. "Well... about... a year and a half ago, I was gonna finish school then go for the military," I informed my big red friend.
"Did you?" he asked curiously and I shook my head.
"Nope," I replied subtly.
"Why not?" He asked in slight curiosity.
"I got stuck at a farm," I informed him.
"Whatta yah mean stuck?" he asked in a somewhat confused voice.
"Well..." I began, "That's a long story..."