Etpinego/ Applejack
Etpitivi/ Applebloom
Zajepev/ Scootaloo
Waimi Fipi/ Sweetie Belle
Big Qeg/ Big Mac

After leaving Vivmay's boutique I found myself aimlessly wandering through the streets of Ponyville, oblivious to the other bystanders as I passed them, for I was too deep in my thoughts over the seamstress's words.

"I would have figured that you were already part of a herd with Princesses Gilzia and Pyre, what with your bond and all."

It was a simple enough of a statement and I guess I could see why she would think that, but to me those words seemed to weigh on my mind like a ton of bricks. The more I thought on it the more questions I had, and each one would bring yet more possible answers. Which, in turn, would open up new questions in a seemingly neverending cycle as I desperately searched for a solution to my conundrum.

Was I in a herd with Gilzia and Pyre, and if I was what was the basis of it?

Part of me just wanted to brush all of this off as unnecessary worry and move on with my life. I was relieved that nobody knew of the bond I shared with the princesses, save for the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and if Vivmay wanted to believe that the mental link was the premise behind her thinking that there was some sort of union between me and the princesses what harm could it do? Afterall, it was easy enough to explain if I was ever asked about it. The mental link was the only way that they could talk to me in time to save me from a short drop and a sudden stop at the hands of their douchey nephew. That's all there was to it, right? So far I had been given no reason to doubt that their intentions were anything less than to open a line of communication with me, and why shouldn't I believe them?

Yet no matter how much I told myself that, I could still hear a nagging, cynical voice coming from some dark corner of my mind that was telling me to stop being so blind and look at the facts that were staring me in the face. The biggest fact was that Gilzia and Pyre were the ultimate figures of authority in this kingdom, if not the whole planet. Heck, they are the physical embodiment of the sun and moon for Pete's sake, their word should be absolute and without question. In all reality they wouldn't have really needed to be able to talk with me to grant me my freedom if they so chose to. So what was the reason for it?

The answer to that question, I believe, laid in the conversation that they had had in the jail cell prior to forming the bond, back when they thought I was still unconscious. Unfortunately, I couldn't recall what they had said and my understanding of Equis was still not up to a high enough level to be able to decipher what they had said anyways. So what could it have been? The logical thought would be for the reason that Vivmay had mentioned before, that it was because of the knowledge that I held of my world deep within the recesses of my mind. Because as they say,"knowledge is power."

Surely the rulers of a country would want to keep their hands on a source of information like an alien species, especially if that source just so happened to fall right into their lap. Plus, they already seemed to have had some sort of prior knowledge of humans in general before even my coming to this world. Gilzia's knowledge in particular, was enough to be able to write a note to me in my own language. A language that they had had no prior interaction with before my arrival. Then there was the point of the aircraft that Pyre had asked me to help her people build no sooner than I had told them about it. Was this some bid for untapped knowledge and technology so as to maintain a position of power over any other rivals they may have? Would that be the reason for them to form a herd with me if they had?

No. As much as I wanted to believe it, I couldn't bring myself to alter my image of the two sisters into this new one of deceit and manipulation that my mind was trying to make them out to be. For even though I did not posses the ability to read their minds like they could mine, I trusted my gut feelings enough to believe that they were not trying to manipulate me in order to quench their thirst for power. But if that wasn't the true reason behind forming our link then what else could it be?

Obviously it was to gain my trust, but the question was why did they need to? If it wasn't so that they could use me then maybe it was for the opposite, maybe it was to keep me from the other countries. But that couldn't be the case either if this upcoming ball was any indication, along with the fact that they where allowing me to build this aircraft at all. Plus they had told me that the point of this ball was to maintain the peace by sharing my existence with the other countries. So while they may have possibly formed a herd with me to keep me close to them it wasn't to keep me away from another country. Then maybe it was to keep me away from something else that they hadn't told me about yet.

Being as they hadn't mentioned anything about a herd to me meant that either there was none to begin with or they were trying to hide the fact from me. I could simply ask them, and I would, but I wanted to make sure I had all my ducks in a row prior to bringing it up. Then again it may come up quicker than I expected it to if they just so happened to be listening in on my thoughts right now. Which in the end may or may not be the most desirable thing to deal with right now considering their "vulnerable" state when they have been around me lately.

That brought up something else that I was wondering about, which was what was the two alicorn's view of our current relationship? I'm positive that it started out as a specifically platonic one, but given their actions as of late, especially Gilzia's visit last night I would be lying if I said I viewed it the same way now as I did at the beginning of yesterday. The way that Gilzia had described it was that because of her "heat", whatever that really was, and the mental connection between us she had momentarily lost control of herself, kind of like being drunk off of lust. But even lust has to stem from some kind of personal attraction, right? So if that was true then was Gilzia looking at the possibility for our relationship to becoming more than friendly? And what of Pyre, did she view it the same way? I wasn't sure, because I didn't have enough facts to make an answer out of it, and wouldn't until I got a chance to talk with them again. But there was a side of that question that I could answer, and that was did I feel the same way?

I would be lying if I said that I hadn't felt certain things towards them as of late and that I wouldn't be willing to try starting a relationship, but if I was honest with myself would that be the best course of action for everyone? Yes they were very attractive, in more ways than just physically, and they looked human enough to where the whole species thing didn't really bug me a whole lot. But if given the opportunity would I want to start a relationship with them, or any female here for that matter? Feelings aside, I was still trying to find a way back home and if I started forming more permanent connections here in Equestria would I ever want to go back to my own world? I could never bring myself to abandon a loved one here while I left to go back to my home, and I wouldn't run the risk of trying to convince them to come with me back to Earth. For I couldn't see the human race being as kind and accepting to them as these ponies had been to me. I had grown up in the Bible Belt and had watched enough world news to know that there was enough people in the world who would hate on us just because of the fact that she would be of a different species, much less from another world. So there was no way I could ask anyone that I loved to endure such hardships just because of my own selfish desire to return to my world. Yes the desire and curiosity was definitely there to try and begin a relationship, but in the end I still felt that the risk was too great as long as there was still a chance of my returning to Earth.

"Hiya Eric, whatcha doin' in town today?" I heard the familiar sound of Etpinego's voice calling to me, breaking me out of my meditations.

Turning towards the voice, I saw the attractive young farmer standing by her cart of apples smiling at me, and after giving a quick look around I noticed that I had somehow wandered into the marketplace in the center of town. Upon looking back at Etpinego, I saw that her smile was now replaced with a look resembling that of one of confused amusement.

"Are you alright sugar?"

"Yeah I'm fine Etpinego, just thinking on somethings," I told her as I mentally shook myself out of my funk and walked over to her stand. "So how's the apple selling going today?"

"It's going swell, probably the best day I've had in a while. You want one?" she asked as she held out one of her juicy red fruits.

"Sure do, you know I can't pass up the opportunity to taste one of your fruits Etpinego." I told her as I reached in my pocket for a couple of bits to pay her, but was stopped as she held up a hand in refusal.

"Sorry, but no can do Eric. Ah'm giving this one to you, y'ah don't owe me a thing," she said as she tossed me the fruit. Once I had caught it I brought it up to my mouth and sunk my teeth into the apple's juicy flesh, and as I chewed the bite I noticed that Etpinego had a smug look on her face, "So whatcha think of my fruit?"

Wiping a stray dribble of juice that had made it's way down to my chin I swallowed the bite in my mouth before answering the orange mare, "Still the best tasting and juiciest fruit I've ever had."

"You know it," she said as she gave me a playful wink, while my dirty mind tried to add some kind of hidden message to the meaning of those words. "So whatcha doin' in town, picking up some supplies for that aeroplane thingy of yours?"

"Not today," I told her before taking another bite of the apple, "I had to stop by Vivmay's for some more clothes."

"How'd that go over for y'ah? Bet it was about as enjoyable as walkin' through a briar patch." Etpinego said, giving me a mischievous grin.

I had to chuckle a little at her teasing, being as she knew all too well of my displeasure when it came to clothes shopping, "Actually it wasn't too bad, plus it gave me a chance to talk with her about somethings."

"Really? Like what?" she asked, seemingly interested in what me and the seamstress could have possibly talked about.

Taking another bite from the apple I waited till I had swallowed before answering her, "Not much, just over the upcoming ball that the Princesses are putting on, and then we got onto the topic of relationships."

"Oh did y'ah," she said, suddenly sounding a little solemn as she looked down a little before looking back at me, "Ah didn't think you two had that much in common."

Realizing what she might of been implying I quickly decided to squash that thought right away, "No, no, no, no nothing like that, she was just explaining to me how relationships work here, especially the concept of herds."

"Y'ah don't have herds where yer from?" she asked me as she helped a customer who came up to her cart, placing the apples that the customer had asked for in their bag.

"Not in the same sense of the word. We have some concepts that are similar, but nothing that covers such a broad term as it seems to here."

"So y'ah don't like em?" Etpinego said before she turned to greet another customer.

Waiting for the customer to finish being served gave me time to think over that question before answering her, "I don't know to be honest, in situations other than romantically I don't have an issue with them. Then again I'm not too sure what's the difference between an informal herd and just a group of ponies. Romantically though, I don't rightly know. I don't think I'd be opposed to the idea if it was suggested by a mare I was seeing, but I don't think I'll be getting into a relationship anytime soon."

"Aww shucks, you shouldn't say that! Maybe y'ah just ain't found the right mare is all," she said as she gave me a pat on the shoulder, I was about to correct Etpinego on her statement before she derailed my train of thought as she continued talking, "So where y'ah off to now?"

I gave a shrug before I replied, "Don't know honestly, by the time I get back to the shop it'll be closing up time so probably just head back there for a bite to eat."

"Well y'ah could always come back to the farm with me," Etpinego suggested as I saw her freckled cheeks grow in color a little, "I mean that is if'n y'ah want to. You know how Etpitivi and Granny love it when you stop by fer dinner."

Thinking it over for a bit I decided to take her up on her offer, "Sure why not. It's been a spell since I've seen Big Qeg as well."

"Well that's great! Ah was just ready to close up fer the night anyways so that I could go and get Etpitivi from school." the mare said excitedly as she tilted the stetson on her head back a little, revealing more of her golden blonde bangs.

"Mind if I help y'ah?" I asked Etpinego as she gave me a smile.

"Well sure.

In no time we had the little cart packed up and ready to go. As she loosened the leather harness to the cart I thought it was my duty as a man to offer to pull the cart for her. "Do you want me to help pull that for you?"

Etpinego just gave me a friendly smile as she nodded her head, "Nope, no need to bother. All us Etpi's are strong enough to pull a little ol' cart like this one here. Come's from all them years of applebuckin' and farm work." the orange farm mare said as she stuck out her plump backside towards me and with a flick of her long tail gave it a light smack to prove that it was indeed all muscle.

"I see," was all I could say as I was enamored by her ass. Totally focused on the three red apples there, and reminded of another line from that same song that seemed to play a lot in my head whenever I was around her.

"See anything y'ah like sugar?" the mare asked me with a seductive smile and a twinkle in her green eyes before breaking out into a playful laugh as my cheeks now were the ones that were red.

Not wanting to be outdone by the mare and maybe a little embarrassed at the fact that she had gotten one over on me. I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to me, surprising the blonde mare as her hat fell off her head and she looked up at me with her wide green eyes. Slowly I leaned down and whispered in one of her ears, as it twitched uncontrollably with each breath as I spoke.

"Whatcha offering?"

Pulling away from her I saw that her cheeks were now a definite shade of red as I gave her a coy smirk before I placed her hat back atop her head as she pulled down the front of the brim to help hide her face she gave me a playful push. Which being as she touched my shirt, as opposed to my skin, I received the full amount of her magically enhanced strength, and was promptly knocked my over onto my ass before I could catch myself. As we laughed at our playful flirting Etpinego finished strapping on the harness, and we were on our way towards the local schoolhouse.

The walk to the schoolhouse wasn't long and we soon found us in front of the small red building. We were still a little early as we filed into the group of adults that were waiting outside the white picket fence that surrounded the school grounds. Taking a quick scan of the faces in the crowd I notice a few recognizable faces as we exchanged silent greetings with a wave or a simple nod of the head. Soon enough I saw Miss Glivpi, the mulberry colored teacher, step out of the schoolhouse and begin to ring the bell out front, signaling the end of the school day.

As the bell tolled on a flood of colts and fillies began to funnel out of the single front door of the red building. Some of the children were excitingly talking with their friends about what they were going to do now, while others were busy looking for their guardians amongst the crowd of adults. Running towards me and Etpinego I could make out the big red bow atop Etpitivi's head, who was followed closely by the other two girls who made up her little trio of friends.

"Howdy sis. Howdy Eric. Etpinego is it okay if Waimi Fipi and Zajepev come over fer dinner?" the little yellow filly asked as she and her friends shot Etpinego with the most pleading set of eyes I had ever seen.

After a few moments the older mare gave into the girls as she rolled her eyes, "Alright, but you three need to promise to stay out of trouble."

"Of course we will Etpinego," I heard the little orange pegasus Zajepev say before joining the other two in trying to give us an innocent smile, but neither Etpinego nor myself were entirely convinced being all too familiar to how trouble seemed to walk hand in hand with these girls.

Soon our little band was off again with Etpinego leading the way as she continued to pull the heavy looking cart without a single sign of struggle. I walked closely beside her as we continued to talk about this and that. While the Cutie Mark Crusaders made up the rear talking amongst themselves about their next great plan to acquire their cutie marks.

"Eric," I heard the young light grey unicorn Waimi Fipi say as she stepped up along beside me, getting my attention, "do you have a witgemp zsqisvuf?"

"I not understand what you mean," was my broken reply, because I wasn't sure of the question, "What is witgemp zsqisvuf?'

"You know, a marefriend or wife?" Zajepev said as she joined the little unicorn, hovering just over my right shoulder as her little orange wings fluttered away.

Now understanding what the girls were trying to ask didn't make it any easier to answer the inquisitive fillies. Desperately I looked over to Etpinego for support of some kind, but she seemed to be oblivious to our conversation as she continued on, although her ears told me otherwise as they pivoted backwards towards us. Knowing that I wasn't probably going to get any help in this, I looked down into Waimi Fipi's big expressive green eyes that were silently begging me for an answer. Damn their lethal cuteness.

"No, I have no marefriend," I answered them in my broken Equis which seemed to be the answer the girls were looking for as I watched the trio give each other an excited grin.

"Well what are y'ah looking fer in a mare?" Etpitivi said in my ear as felt her arms wrap around my neck as she jumped on my back.

"What?" came my confused reply, "Why you ask that?"

"Do you like tall mares?" came Zajepev's inquiry as the girls chose to ignore my question in return for asking their own line of questions.

"Or maybe shorter mares?" Waimi Fipi said as her curly pink and purple hair bounced around as she began to skip along.

"What about Earth ponies?" Etpitivi said as the three of them began to ask off questions in rapid fire, not giving me the chance to answer.

"Or Pegasus mares?"

"What about Unicorns?"

"What kind of personality do you like?"

"Do you like older mares?"

"Or maybe younger mares?"

"Do you like my sister Etpinego?"

"Etpitivi!" I heard the older Etpi sister say suddenly, deciding to finally step in, stopping the line of questions from the fillies immediately as she came to a stop and looked back at the girls, "Now you three piezi Eric be, he's a full varsk stallion who can make his own higwrms. Y'ah viqifiv what happened last time y'all tried to play qexlquioiv with Miss Gilvpi?"

"Yes Etpinego," the trio said now downtrodden at having been admonished by the older mare.

Feeling a little sorry for the girls I got their attentions and motioned them closer as Etpinego resumed her walking. Kneeling down to their level I cupped my hand around my mouth to whisper to the girls, "I tell secret. I think Etpinego is great."

The girls all smiled but I held a finger up to my lips quickly signaling to the girls to remain quiet and I gave them a wink as they nodded their heads in agreement. I didn't think there was any harm letting the girls know that I thought Etpinego was a great mare and great friend, after all there shouldn't be anyway they could misunderstand the meaning of what I had told them. Right?

Quickly standing again I made my way back up next to the farm mare as we made the rest of the trip in relative silence. Upon arriving at the farm the girls ran off to go do whatever it was that they normally did, while I followed Etpinego into the barn to drop off the cart. Once inside the big red building she sat down her burden as I chocked one of the wheels with a stray piece of wood. As she removed the leather straps of the harness she stiffly rolled her shoulders, apparently the straps had been uncomfortable as I saw her give a wince in pain at a particularly sore spot. Feeling for the poor mare I came up behind her and lightly began to rub the tight muscles in her shoulders and back.

"What are you doing?" she asked startled by my actions, but was quickly silenced as she let out a hiss as I found a particularly tender spot.

"Shhh, I'm trying to help," I shushed her as I continued to work at the area, and I was soon rewarded by a content moan from the orange mare, "you should probably tag along with Vivmay and Paxxila to the spa once in a while. Let one of the triplets have a go at releasing this tension."

"Can't, too busy workin'," came her distracted reply as she lowered her shoulders, allowing my hands to work over her shoulder blades and traps.

"Then maybe you should get youself a stallion to do this for you at the end of the day," I said as I worked down her spine to her lower back.

"Could just hire you," was her breathy reply as she bent over the cart to allow me easier access as I ran my hands up the length of her back, her muscles turning to butter in my hands.

I chuckled at her comment as I continued manipulating the muscle fibers of her back, "I might take you up on that offer sometime, never know when I might need a job."

After a little while I had finished with her back and was about to start on her neck when the sound of someone clearing their throat rang out through the hollow vastness of the barn startling us both back to reality. As Etpinego shot back up we both looked towards the source of the noise and found Etpinego's big brother Big Qeg standing at the entrance to the barn with a pitchfork in his hands. Now I had known Big Qeg since my arrival to this sleepy little town of Torcpimz(Ponyville) and I had gotten along pretty well with the quiet giant of a stallion. Many a time we had ventured down into the cellar to sample the quality of the families liquor stores as we discussed many of the philosophical mysteries of the universe. Which would last until usually Etpinego or Granny Patzo came down to the cellar to drag Big Qeg off to bed and I would usually sleep off my buzz on their living room sofa, except for the occasional times that I thought I could walk myself home. Yet maybe it was the blank expression on his face or the pitchfork in his hand that made me think that being caught rubbing the back of the red stallion's little sister made those previous times count for jack-shit.

"Uh, hi Big Qeg." I greeted the eldest Etpi cautiously as I tried to gauge his reaction, but his only reply was a simple nod to me. "busy day?"

"Eeyup." was his simple reply.

"So what you doing?"

"Workin'."

"I sure you want answer?"

"Nope."

"Huh?" That was interesting because I thought that I was about to become very familiar with the pointy end of the farm tool he was holding.

"Etpinego can do what she tipewiz, just don't let Etpitivi or her friends gexel y'ah," was Big Qeg's reply as he rested the tool against one of the beams before leaving us as silently as he had found us.

Not understanding a couple of the words he had said I looked to Etpinego for clarification to find the blonde-maned mare fuming a little as her cheeks were flushed red. I wasn't sure if it was because of what her brother had said or if it was because she had been caught in a possibly embarrassing situation that he would more than likely tease her about later.

"Are you okay Etpinego?"

"Yeah I'm fine," she retorted quickly as she headed towards the barn entrance before calling back to me, "Come on Eric, Granny should have dinner ready soon."

Walking into the house indeed found the elder matriarch of the Etpi family setting the table as the decadent smells of country home cooking wafted into my nose. Upon seeing me Granny Patzo gave me a warm smile and motioned me to take a seat at the dinner table as Etpinego went to ring the dinner bell to call in the others. Soon we were all cleaned up and seated at the table with Granny Patzo and Big Qeg at each end, while the girls were seated on one side and Etpinego and myself were seated on the other. As we all dished out the food and dug in we were all soon enjoying the quiet meal.

As I listened to the conversations going on as best as I could I was reminded of similar dinners from my childhood growing up in Texas as I sat at the dinner table of my parent's. Honestly it made me a little homesick because it had been a couple of years since I had last seen my folks, and thinking of my current situation I wondered briefly how long it would be before I'd be able to see them again, if ever. And what of my grandparents? They were getting up in age and I figured they didn't have much time left, but I hoped that they could last till my return to Earth.

I was consumed mainly in my thoughts throughout the remainder of the meal, only contributing when required to for polite conversation, and after the meal I found myself wandering out the back door and settling into the swing bench on the back porch. Setting my glass of tea onto the wooden decking of the porch, I set myself into a leisure rhythm as I watched the sunset and remembered my home. Remembering all the places I had gone to and the people I had met along the way during my ten year career in the military. Further back my memories wandered to my childhood again as I recalled doing chores with my father or arguments with my little sister or the first time I took the car out on my own. Each one held a special place in my memories as an important part of what made me me. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't hear the backdoor open as I was joined by a visitor.

"Eric," I heard Etpinego say from behind me as I felt her hand rest upon my shoulder, "y'ah mind if I join y'ah?"

"Sure Etpinego, pull up a seat," I told her as I scootched over to the far side of the swing to allow her to sit down, "what's on your mind?"

"Are you all right sugar cube? You've been out of it fer most of the afternoon?" she asked as she sat down on the bench in normal pony fashion, tucking both of her long legs under her on the bench as she leaned over towards me.

Resting my head back against the bench and stretching my arms along the backboard of it I let out a sigh as I stared up at the beams that made up the underside of the roof of the back porch, "Yeah I'm fine Etpinego, I've just been thinking about my home is all."

"Yer home on Earth?" she inquired as I rolled my head towards her, my blue eyes captivated by her emerald green.

"Yeah, I just sometimes wonder if I'm ever going to see it again, or my family for that matter?"

"I'm sure you'll find a way to get back there. But what if y'ah can't? Whatda y'ah plan on doin'?" she asked as she looked away from me towards the setting sun as she rested her head against my arm.

"I don't rightly know," I admitted honestly, "providing that the aircraft flies like I've said it should I'll just have to find work somewhere else. And being as I don't want to feel indebted to the princesses by making them find me a more permanent job, I'll have to try and see where my skill sets best fit in when it comes to this world."

Etpinego just sat their silently for a few minutes as I just continued to slowly swing us back and forth, only the creaking and popping of the chains that held the swing up could be heard, singing out it's slow tempo song.

"Well," she began as I heard her voice grow drowsy and felt her head snuggle closer till it rested against my chest as she began to drift off to sleep, "y'ah could always come and work here. I wouldn't mind havin' y'ah around."

Author's Notes:

Phew, finally done with that one. I'll tell you what I think I've figured out why a lot of my stories never get finished. It seems that things like character development and interaction are my weakpoints so I'll find myself getting so worked up over it and eventually lose interest in the story because I want to get to the good parts. But I'm going to trudge through this because I know it's needed to not only help explain things and make any future romances seem plausible, but also to hopefully make Eric unique as a character.

Next chapter is almost ready and should be posted shortly after I do a quick read through.

As always translated version can be found here.