"...Twilight?"

"Hmm...?"

"Is this really necessary? I've been learning to copy magic faster anyway..." We were in the same position as we had been earlier while she was crying. I was sitting cross-legged on the ground with Twilight hugging my midsection with all four of her limbs. Her head was in the crook of my neck again, and her breath was making me feel... really weird. As if that wasn't enough, I hadn't noticed this while she cried, but this pose put her ... right on my... you get it... It was becoming very uncomfortable for me in a VERY comfortable way. I tried thinking about anything else but how I was feeling, and I was succeding pretty well. Twilight wasn't helping at all though, as a matter of fact, if I didn't know better, I'd say she was doing this to me on purpose. There's no way that could be the case though.

"Oh, yes, ABSOLUTELY necessary..." She said it in a funny way, like she was happy or content or something, but it sounded different from either of those expressions.

Dammit, the only girl here that I've been around often that DOESN'T make me stay in one place for hours is Fluttershy... I thought to myself. I groaned loudly. Sitting in one place for five hours... How was Twilight not as restless as I was?? Normally we would have only been like this for two, maybe three hours, but Twilight had said that I problably didn't FULLY mimic the magic in that time, I only got physical results. I had to admit that she was most likely right, and agreed to sit longer, until Twilight said it was ok for me to move. I wished Fang was still here to distract me. When Spike had come down and tried to leave like he did last time this happened, Twilight told him to take Fang out and play with him. I hadn't protested at the time, but now I wanted him to come back.

"How much longeeeeerrrr?" I whined. Twilight tensed up.

"If you want to move then just do it!" She yelled into my neck. She sounded pissed, but didn't move herself. I didn't want her mad at me, so I sighed and resigned myself to sitting here awhile longer. After a few more minutes my stomach growled. Twilight was startled by the sound, and pulled her head away from me. I was blushing.

"Sorry... I haven't eaten in..." I thought for a moment. "Two days?" Twilight gasped.

"Two days?! What's wrong with you?!" She leapt out of my lap and ran into the kitchen. I stood up and stretched my limbs with a symphony of cracking. When I was done stretching I followed Twilight into the kitchen. She was levitating all kinds of cook books and several foods around herself.

"Oh Twilight, you don't have to go through any trouble for me!" I exclaimed, shocked at the effort she was already going through for me. "I'm plenty capable of cooking for myself!" She gave me a confused look.

"I know you cooked at Rarity's, but aren't the mares supposed to cook in the house?" She asked innocently. I was... a little shocked.

"Twilight, that was an extremely sexist comment!" I scolded her. "Why would you say that?" She looked suprised by my response.

"Well... here the female typically cooks and cleans and stuff..." She mumbled. It made sense, after all Equestria did seem to be in a slightly earlier time period than us, but I wouldn't have it.

"That's ridiculous! Mares shouldn't HAVE to cook and clean, that's supposed to be a shared duty between genders!" I shouted. I hated sexism when people seriously meant it. I could handle sexist jokes, but actually believing it was something entirely different. "If a woman enjoys that sort of thing then fine, hell, in marriage some of this behavior might be understandable, not excusable mind you, but among friends this is unacceptable!" I ranted. Yeah, backstory time! I was raised mostly by my mom, so I was taught to respect female's rights and treat them as equals. That's why Twilight's attitude was freaking me out.

"W-well maybe I wanna cook for you..." She mumbled. I instantly calmed down. I then realized that in my rage I was accidentally levitating the table and chairs next to me. I tried to set them back down, but I didn't have any sense of control yet. I ended up slamming them down and causing Twilight to jump. In her shock she dropped all the things she had been levitating. Eggs splattered on the floor and tomatoes burst as they made contact with the ground.

"SORRY!" I shouted, feelng like a goof. "Here let me help clean up... Unless that's a mare's job." I shot at her. She flinched and levitated me a rag.

"Calm down, I wasn't trying to offend you..." She mumbled again. I sighed.

"I'm sorry Twilight... I don't mean to freak out on you, it's just that... so many ideas and practices here are different from my world..." Twilight's eyes widened.

"Y-you don't... want to g-go back... do you?" She asked in a scared whisper. I laughed, HARD.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Twilight, I wouldn't go back if my life depended on it!" I continued laughing. Twilight tilted her head.

"Why?" She asked simply. I stopped laughing instantly.

"That... That's a story for another day..." I said sadly. She looked even more curious, but didn't pry. I finished cleaning and stood back up. "Let's just get a few apples ok?" She nodded and we each levitated a few apple to ourselves from the counters. Of course, I still didn't have any control, so I smacked myself in the forehead with an apple. "OW." Twilight laughed at me.

"Maybe you need to get to that practice sooner than I thought!"

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"Concentrate Sharky, concentrate!" Twilight urged me.

"I-I'm trying!" I hissed between my teeth. I had gained a little control, and now I was trying to hold a book to my face and read at the same time. Twilight made it look so damn easy! I lost concentration when I started thinking about how easy it was for Twilight, and dropped the book for the sixth time.

"That's ok Sharky, we'll just keep trying!" Twilight was being really encouraging, but I knew she was getting annoyed. I sighed and lifted the book again. I managed to hold it this time. I focused all my thoughts on reading and lifting the book. I was holding it up for quite awhile, so Twilight started clapping her hooves. "Whooo! Way to go Sharky!" She cheered. I lowered the book without dropping it.

"Thanks Twilight, what now?" My voice was slightly strained from the focus, but I held the spell. She thought for a moment.

"We could try some simple spells..." She mused. "I'll get the book." She trotted towards the bookshelves and pulled out a worn-looking book. Well, I say book, but it was more like a TOME. This thing was huge! "Now, I want you to try casting some spells from this book.--" I reached out for it, but she magically held it away from my hands. "Ah ah ah, you have to hold it with magic and cast at the same time!" She said with an evil grin.

"Crap..." I sighed. I tried to focus on lifting the book, but it was HEAVY! It turns out that weight still effects the difficulty of lifting things. Luckily, it doesn't stack up, so you only have to put forward enough effort to lift the heaviest thing in your magic grasp. After about 13 tries, I managed to lift the book. I opened it and turned a few pages. "I'll try the mirror spell..." I gasped, I was really straining. It looked simple enough, and I could create multiples if I wanted, but I decided to try for just one for now.

"Sounds good to me!" Twilight smiled at me again. I heard growling outside and Spike yelling in a mixture of fear and pain.

"Oh no, SPIKE!" We yelled at the same time. I dropped my book on my foot.

"OW!" I yelled. Twilight gave me an amused look.

"Stay here and work the spell Sharky, I'll be right back!" She dashed out the door. I hoped Spike wasn't hurt, and I really hoped my wolf didn't have to do with Spike yelling, but I did as Twilight commanded and focused on the spell. I didn't have the focus to conjure the mirror the first few times, but after trying about three times I got it to fade into view. It wasn't very solid, but I could see myself well enough. I still looked entirely normal, which was weird in a cartoon world. (oh hey, I haven't even told you what I look like yet have I?) I have dark brown medium-length hair that fells over my eyes slightly, Dark, DARK brown eyes, about 6' tall, white skinned, and fairly muscular. I keep my face clear of facial hair, but I was growing a small mustache and beard now. My facial bones are well-defined and my lips are very thin. I tried to focus the mirror a little bit so I could pick out more specific details. The image became clearer, but then disappeared. I sighed with annoyance. I tried to fucus all my energy and gave the spell another shot. I put all my energy into it, and an amazingly image of myself came into view. I smiled and my reflection smiled back. Then something went wrong. All of the sudden all of my energy drained away at once! I immediately fell over onto the floor, out cold...

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Twenty minutes later, Twilight trotted back into the library.

"Sorry that took so long Sharky!" Twilight called. "Spike and Fang were a suprising distance away. They were only play-fighting though, and Spike was faking an injury." She waited for a response, but didn't get any. "Sharky!?" She yelled. She searched the room, but didn't find any trace of him. "SHARKY?!" She screamed out desperately.

"Yes?" Sharky walked down the stairs that led to the bedroom. Twilight sighed with relief.

"I called for you three times! Why didn't you answer?!" She scolded him.

"I was... busy." He replied skeptically. Twilight looked at him closely. She knew something was off, but didn't know what. Then she realized it.

"Sharky, your horn is already gone!" She exclaimed. Sharky frowned and rubbed his forehead.

"Huh, you're right! That's odd..." He then shot Twilight a sly smile. "I guess we'll have to get to fully copying it again huh?" Twilight was startled by his attitude change towards her method of copying magic, but smiled right back at him when she realized what was happening.

"Yes, yes we will..." She said seductively. "Come here..." Sharky walked over to her and sat down. Twilight jumped into his lap and wrapped herself around him again. Instead of becoming tense like he usually did, he accepted her into his embrace. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. Twilight put her head in the crook of his neck, and he craned his neck to do the same to her. She let her body relax into his, as if she was physically sighing.

Finally... She thought as she lost herself in his embrace. They sat there and hugged for a few minutes.

"Hey Twilight?" He muttered into her mane.

"Yes Sharky?" She sighed.

"You like me, don't you?" Twilight tensed up and squirmed in his embrace.

"I uh... Sharky I... What I mean is...--" Sharky relaxed his embrace and pushed Twilight away a little so he could see her face.

"I like you too." He pulled Twilight's face to his and kissed her. She didn't react at first, she was too shocked. As soon as her brain made sense of what was going on however, she didn't try to think things out, she didn't hesitate. She kissed him right back.