Scribble let out a sigh. It had been a long while since he ate food of that caliber and he was beginning to feel the effects of a good hearty dinner filling his belly. A soothing relaxation gave way to drowsiness as he lounged on the couch to the right of you. Vinyl was doing the same, but Cloud Kicker was in the kitchen cleaning up dishes. You had to admire her generosity for doing all this for the three of you.

"You sleepy, dad?" Vinyl looked past you and saw her father with his eyes closed.

"Mhmm. You know the food's good when it knocks you out right after."

"Yup." You agreed as her father's sleepiness slowly began to rub off on you.

The three of you sat in silence as the running water in the kitchen created a sort of white noise. Before you turned into a stallion, you weren't too big on vegetables, much like many of your friends. However, ever since you became a pony, you had acquired an odd fancy for the stuff. Even though you knew beforehand that ponies and horses were herbivores, it felt weird to not have a craving for a nice big juicy steak every once and a while. Now, the taste of marinated eggplant was just as good as a nine ounce sirloin was before.

"I'm not sure where you can sleep tonight, Kicker. You might have to take the couch." Vinyl's father said before letting out a burp.

Vinyl chucked in the back of her throat at the burp.

"Oh, goodness. I wasn't really expecting to stay the night here... I wouldn't want to impose..."

"I insist. I would hate to make you fly all the way home so late at night. It's no problem at all."

"W-well, thank you... I..." You couldn't see her, but by her tone of voice, you could easily guess that she was flustered and blushing.

"No need. You already made us a wonderful dinner. It's the least I can do."

"I- In that case, the couch will be fine. I'm not quite as prudish as most mares in Manehattan." Cloud Kicker came back into the living room after turning off the sink and stacking the dishes neatly on the kitchen counter.

"I've noticed."

Vinyl opened her eyes as if she had urgent business to do before the night was done.

"Hey dad? Could we talk for a sec before we all head off to bed?"

Her dad opened his eyes as well and a bit of confusion appeared on his face. "Oh... Sure, angel. What's up?"

"Outside?" Vinyl got up and cracked her neck before grunting a bit.

"Um... Okay. Yeah."

You were a bit confused, but you decided to not pry as you did before. An overly-nosy colt-friend wasn't what you wanted your first impression to be. The two walked out and Vinyl held the door open for Scribble. You looked over the couch at her and wondered what was up, but she didn't look at you. Instead, after her dad passed her and stepped into the night, she looked over at Cloud Kicker and gave her a sly wink.

"The heck was that about..." You thought to yourself after Vinyl closed the door, leaving just you and the mailmare together for a second time.

"Hey, Alex?" Cloud Kicker walked slowly around the couch and looked at you as if she was afraid of what you might think of what she was about to say.

"Yeah? Oh, thanks for the dinner by the way. It was awesome."

"Well, thank you, dear... Like I said, though, Vinyl did most of the work."

She sat down next to you and let out a long exhale.

"What's wrong?" It was obvious that something was bothering her and that it had something to do with Vinyl.

"If you died..." She asked as she stared down onto the table. Your eyes widened and you realized that the topic wasn't going to be as lighthearted as you imagined.

She continued after thinking for a short time. "Would you want Vinyl to find somepony else?"

You were taken back at how serious and deep the sudden question was. There was no way you could answer it immediately. You sat there awkwardly as your eyes drifted away from hers.

"I-I'm sorry, that's probably none of my business... I just-"

"No, it's fine. Well..." You laughed a little. "To be honest, just seeing her talk to another colt makes me a little jealous..."

She smiled. "That's just a sign you want to protect her. There's nothing wrong with that, Alex."

You blushed from the compliment and tried to finish the thought. "But... If I died..." You sighed and leaned back into the couch, looking up at the ceiling. "I guess... I wouldn't want her to live the rest of her life alone. Even though I wouldn't be there, I'd want her to find another colt that could love her as much as I could, or more. I'd want her to live the rest of her life being happy with somepony rather than mourn over me every day. I hate seeing her sad and I guess... If there's an afterlife or something, I'd never really be able to rest at peace knowing that the mare I love spent the rest of her life being sad because of me."

You looked over at Cloud Kicker who was still staring off into the abyss. After putting together context clues in your head, you were quickly starting to understand what Cloud Kicker was going through. She saw Vinyl's father all the time, according to her, and they had apparently become good friends. They even acted as if they were family members when they talked. Between that and the bashfulness that she developed whenever Vinyl's father was around her, you had a good guess as to what was going on. The mare hadn't said a word since you finished talking and was shifting her hooves around nervously.

"I think I understand what's bugging you." You said with confidence even though you knew that there was still a chance that you were wrong.

"H-huh?" She looked over at you with pink cheeks and widened eyes.

"You like Scribble and you're afraid to make any moves because of his late wife?" You were fearful that she wouldn't appreciate you prying, but you really did want to help her.

Cloud Kicker bit her lip and nodded. "But... What you just told me... Vinyl said the same thing."

You didn't want to say "really?" since it would be implied that it would come across as a surprise to you, which it wasn't.

"Yup. And you know what else?"

She was staring right at you. Her curiosity and lovey-dovey butterflies was just as visible as a star in the night sky and it reminded you of the first sparks of love you shared with Vinyl.

You scooted closer to her and smiled. "When we were talking outside earlier, the topic of his wife came up."

"What did he say?" The mare asked eagerly as her ears perked up.

"He said that after a few years of living without her, he came to the realization that she wouldn't have wanted him to fret about her every second of every day."

She sat there in silence and a cute smile grew on her face as her confidence grew.

"If you wanna ask him out, I don't think that the memory of his wife would get in the way. In fact, if Vinyl's mom is up there somewhere looking down on us, I think she'd be happy that he found someone as nice as you to be with him; just like I would be if the same situation happened to me and Vinyl."

You could tell that she could barely contain her girlish emotions. She bit her lip and her smile grew wider as she looked down at her hooves.

"Spike, could you get that book about unusual and rare spells? I think it's over there somewhere." Twilight pointed her hoof to the vague area to her right where a huge tower of books sat on their shelves.

"Oh, yeah! I remember that one." Spike dragged the ladder around the room to the bookshelf and carefully climbed up to look for it.

"Uhhh... This one?" He pulled out a heavy book that had frayed edges with a purple cover and a beige spine. Spike nearly lost his balance on the ladder trying to hold the thing up with one claw.

"Yup. That's the one." Twilight seemed to know exactly which book he was holding without even looking in his general direction.

"W-whoa!"

Spike lost his balance and began to topple over, but Twilight's quick reaction saved him. He began to glow with Twilight's purple magic and his fall eased into a gentle float before landing gently on his legs.

"Thanks, Twilight... Geez, I really could've hurt myself there..."

"That's why you have me!" Twilight grinned and looked up as she levitated the odd book out of Spikes' claws and towards her. "Now, let's see..." She squinted her eyes as she brought the book closer.

Spike pulled the ladder away as Twilight kept flipping page after page, scanning quickly for anything in reference to what she was trying to find.

"So this mark..." She pointed her hoof to the crude etching of Alex's cutie mark.

She had spent quite some time deciphering the first symbol, and she had recently moved on to the second. It proved to be a bit more difficult for her since there was such a tiny amount of references in the vast collection of books she had. Even the books that the other princesses gave her contained nothing in relation to the symbol. It was only a couple of vertical lines and three dots, but finding out what it meant was a lot harder than she thought it would be. The closest thing she could find in Luna's translation book was a symbol with three lines, but without the dots.

It didn't take long to figure out that those lines meant "magic" in the ancient language she was studying. In fact, it was one of the first symbols that Luna listed on the first few pages of the book.

"Alrightie then... If I can't find this symbol with the dots then..."

Spike just sat in the corner and watched in case she needed anything else. He knew from instinct that when Twilight was studying this hard, she could ask for anything at any given moment. Him not being there to help her for one second tended to frustrate her.

Twilight followed her chain of logic and tried to find the three dots by themselves to see what they meant.

"There's one dot..." She looked back at her translation book. "Definitely has nothing to do with poison joke... Hmmm... Two dots... Deer? No, no, no..." Twilight was deep in concentration.

"Ah! There it is! Three dots..." Her eyes darted back to the translation book before she could blink.

"Huh?" She raised an eyebrow and her head leaned back from the books.

"What's wrong?" Spike got up from the corner.

"Well, these three dots don't really translate into anything... All that Princess Luna wrote here was 'negative'... What could that mean? Negative magic? It makes no sense..."

Spike scratched his chin with his claw and looked up towards the ceiling. "Hmm... What's the opposite of magic?"

"I don't know... Not magic?" She closed her eyes and thought hard. "What are some other synonyms for 'negative'?"

"Uhh... 'Counter', 'negate'... 'Cancel'-"

Twilights' eyes flashed open. "Wait..."

Her mind spun with a thousand possibilities at once, but she knew that only one made sense. To Spike, she seemed completely astonished at what she was thinking about.

"Spike, get a letter ready. If what I'm thinking is right, this will be big news for the other princesses."

"Geez, is it almost midnight already?" Scribble groaned as he stretched in his rocking chair and peeked through the window at the clock inside.

"Guess so." You took another puff of another cigar that Scribble had given you. You reminded yourself to stay away from tobacco shops since the flavor could get addicting. You were already practically addicted to cigarettes before, so that didn't really help your ability to say no.

"Better hit the sack. That food really put me down."

You chuckled. "Same here. Oh, wait. Before we head off to sleep..."

You pulled out the envelope containing the letter you wrote no more than five minutes ago. You managed to find some wax and a seal to make it look more professional. Not to mention, now that you were able to levitate one object at a time, writing got a lot easier for you. Once you realized that all you had to do to rotate and twist an object was to simply imagine it happening, the intricate strokes and dots of writing came naturally to you. Your writing was still a little messy. However, at least it was now readable.

"Could you ask Cloud Kicker to mail this letter for me tomorrow morning? I'm not sure if I'll be up before she leaves."

He took the envelope and examined it for a second. "Oh, okay... Wow. Addressed to Princess Luna herself? You really are an important little colt aren't you?"

Your cheeks reddened, but you didn't say anything.

"What makes you think this letter will get ahead of all the other piles of letters that they get?" He looked over at you with a raised eyebrow. There was no silliness in his tone anymore. He was just curious at that point.

"Well... It's a secret that Princess Luna told me... But I guess I'll tell you since you've already done such a huge favor for me." You smiled at him and he smiled back once he realized what you were talking about. It only happened about ten minutes ago, but his drowsiness was getting the better of him.

"Anyways-" You continued and walked towards him, making tiny *clap*s when your hooves touched the wood of the porch. "See this little mark right here?" You pointed your hoof to a symbol you scribbled right next to the wax seal on the back. It was a simple thing to draw; just a crescent with a full circle underneath it.

"Yeah?" His eyes squinted as he tried to focus through little to no light.

"Princess Luna told me that this is what important ponies put on their letters to make sure that they get their letters in first. That way they don't have a letter containing really important information piled in between fan mail and stuff."

"Oh... I see..." He truly looked amazed that you would know something like this and you didn't see any skepticism in his eyes.

"Mhmm. And if you want it to go to Princess Luna directly, you draw that crescent moon symbol on top of the sun. For Princess Celestia, it's the other way 'round."

He got up from his chair and held the envelope with his magic above his head. "I have to admit, I'm a little jealous." He smiled as he used his magic again to simultaneously open the front door for you.

"Why's that?"

"Well, you're from a completely different world, you're obviously on a tight-knit basis with the royalty and-"

The second you walked past him and into the house you saw Vinyl's limp body snoozing on the couch. Her position was quite relaxed as two of her hooves hung off the side of the couch and the other two were tucked underneath her somewhere. You turned back to her dad and cut him off by holding a hoof to your mouth. He stopped talking once he saw what you were referring to.

Cloud Kicker sat next to her and smiled, ignoring the two of you as she looked down at the sleeping unicorn and stroked her mane slowly. You'd never admit it out loud, but you couldn't help but feel jealous.

"Dangit, Cloud Kicker... That's my mane you're stroking..." You thought as you slowly walked around the couch, making sure your hooves didn't make a sound. You wouldn't be surprised if Scribble was thinking the exact same thing.

However, if you wouldn't have known Vinyl and simply walked in on the scene you were looking at now without any prior information, you would've thought that Cloud Kicker was Vinyl's mother based on her behaviors. She was loving and gentle and sweet just like a good mother should be. It was obvious that she held a certain degree of affection for Vinyl, but you didn't quite know where it came from. To your knowledge, the two had never met before. Had something happened between them in the short time they've known each other to make Cloud Kicker admire Vinyl this much? You had no idea what it was, but you knew that something must have happened.

Your light-hearted mood sunk slightly when you saw the dark spot on her hoof again. It hadn't grown since that morning, but it hadn't shrunk, either. You thought that it might be a good idea to talk to a doctor about it, but that could wait until the two of you got back to Ponyville. It'd be silly to make her go to the doctor over a bruise but you were too protective of her to let it go.

"She asleep?" You whispered to Cloud Kicker.

She simply looked up at you and nodded with a sweet smile. A sudden snore from Vinyl supported her answer which led to Cloud Kicker giggling. She raised a hoof to her mouth to lower her volume.

You chuckled as well and your horn instinctively began to glow. Your magic wrapped around Vinyl's body, but before it could completely surround her, something felt off. It was if there was a force that was keeping you from completely spell-targeting her. You didn't want to try too hard to complete it in fear that something bad might happen, so you let your magic dissipate.

"O-Oh... Sorry..."

Vinyl's dad was right next to you and his voice nearly made you jump since you didn't notice him approaching you while you were looking at Vinyl. After looking at his glowing horn and then back at your marefriend, you realized what had happened. Her dad had done the same thing you did and tried to pick her up and carry her to bed at the same time you did. Apparently, that was what happened when two unicorns tried to spell-target something at the same time. It felt weird and a bit unpleasant, but not painful.

"No, no, go ahead."

You backed off a little and let her father pick her up. You had gotten used to carrying her to bed since her sleep cycle came swiftly and without warning. It caused her to simply pass out on the couch or even sitting in a chair whenever she got tired. Seeing somepony else do your job for you felt strange, but since it was her father, you didn't mind. After all, you didn't want to take away any bonding time between the two.

Her body slowly lifted and Scribble walked down the hallway with her in front of him.

"She zonked out within two minutes of lying down and closing her eyes... That mare's a heavy sleeper." Cloud Kicker stopped whispering, but she kept her voice down.

"Trust me, I know. Sometimes she'll fall asleep with her headphones on blasting music into her ears at full volume... It's crazy." You chuckled and sat down next to Cloud Kicker.

Drowsiness was creeping up on you as you let out a yawn. The pegasus yawned too after a few seconds and you started to feel your eyelids get heavy.

"Vinyl's a good mare, you know." She said suddenly.

"Mhmm... The best." You closed your eyes and smiled as you leaned your head back against the couch. "I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world."

"Vinyl's in bed." Scribble said after letting out a tired sigh. "You can sleep in my bed, Kicker. I cleaned my room up a bit so it should be fine."

"Huh? A-Are you sure? I don't want to impose..." She looked around nervously. "Where are you going to sleep, then?"

"I'll sleep on the couch. I made you stay and cook for me. I can at least give you a decent bed for the night."

"You didn't make me do anything... But, alright. As long as it's okay with you. " She blushed a little as she walked past Scribble and down the hall. "Night, Alex."

"Night." You smiled at her as she disappeared into the hallway, leaving you and Scribble alone.

"So, um... Where am I gonna sleep? If you have a sleeping bag or something, that's all I need."

He stared down at you as if you were speaking in a different language. "Don't you usually sleep with Vinyl at her place?"

You got a bit flustered and your hooves played with the couch cushions nervously. "W-Well yeah, but I just thought that, I mean, you wouldn't want me to because..."

He put his hoof on your shoulder before sitting down on the couch next to you and extinguishing the tiny flames in the candles above the fireplace. There wasn't much light left in the room now besides a single jar on the coffee table that he had brought in earlier that had a few lightning bugs in them. Their yellow-green light made his fur glow majestically.

"I'm not like that, Alex. She's your marefriend, after all."

You didn't disagree that he was too laid back to not get in a fuss about his daughter sleeping with another colt. The nervousness you felt didn't come from a fear that he'd judge you for sleeping with her. It was mainly out of respect and courtesy. Even though you knew he had "approved" of you, the last thing you wanted to do was to make the appearance that you didn't care about his wishes altogether. You wanted him to think that you didn't take her for granted, because you didn't. However, you also wanted him to know that you still knew that Vinyl belonged to him more than she belonged to you.

"I know... But she's your daughter, too. I just don't want you to-"

He put his hooves on both your shoulders this time and turned you around so that you were looking right in his eyes. His expression wasn't stern. He appeared as if he were trying to help you for some reason.

"Alex. Relax. I already gave you permission to marry her. If I had any problem with you, you would've known about it before I gave you that permission."

You hadn't really thought about it that way, but you had to agree with him. It would be unwise to give your daughter away to some colt before straightening out his rough spots. He obviously didn't see any rough spots with you. Perhaps that might've changed if you told him about what happened last night, but that was between you and Vinyl and you were quite confident that the two of you would move on from it in time.

His smile returned and he gave you a pat on the shoulder before letting go of you and laying down on the couch.

"Go sleep with Vinyl. I'm sure she's waiting for you. Just... No foolin' around, alright?" He said with a chuckle.

"Y-yes, sir..." You got up and stretched your legs before realizing that you called him "sir" again. "Night, Scribble."

"Night." He lay down and pulled a pillow under his head, but he tapped your hind leg before you walked off. "Hey, Alex."

"Yeah?" You turned around.

"I'm your friend, okay? Just remember that." He held out his hoof towards you.

For some reason, it was at that moment that all your anxiety concerning him had vanished. You grinned before giving him a bro-hoof.

A puff of green fire sent the parchment into the air. It turned into ash and then swirled out the window into the night sky.

"Phew... That was a long one..." Spike held his wrist and felt his fingers cramp.

"Sorry, Spike, but this really important. We haven't had anypony that could do that sort of spell since... Well, since Starswirl The Bearded!" She stamped her hoof down to make her point.

"I'm sure you could do it if you tried, Twilight. You've mastered nearly every spell there is!"

"I did try, Spike. I found the spell in one of his books and I followed every one of his steps, but I could never get it to work."

"Gosh. It must be pretty powerful if you couldn't learn it..." Spike began closing the books that Twilight was using and made sure that all the pages that were open had a book mark in them.

"It is powerful. I'm not sure if it's even possible! I mean... Cancelling magic? How does that even work?" Twilight walked in circles around her coffee table as she looked at the ground and thought hard.

"So, wait. If you can't learn it, what makes you think Alex can?"

Twilight tried to think but her brain was already fried from studying for so long. She let out a sigh and her eyes closed.

"I don't know. Maybe it's some sort of latent ability that he hasn't unlocked yet..."

Spike paused.

"You aren't jealous are you?" Spike grinned as he slid a book in its rightful place on the shelf.

"What? Of course not! Like you said, I know almost every spell in the books..." Twilight reacted too defensively for Spike to believe her.

"Suuure..." Spike teased. He cleaned off the dust from another book before reaching up and putting it back.

Twilight let out a sigh of exasperation. "Whatever, Spike."

After putting away the last dusty book, Spike paused as he thought.

"Still... Don't you think that kind of spell would be dangerous? I mean, even if he does learn how to do it, what if the spell is permanent?"

"I dunno... I'll have to find a way for Alex to try it out without risking anything like that. For now, let's get some rest."

"I second that motion." Spike said after yawning and cracking his knuckles.

Scribble's guest bedroom was almost completely dark save for the scant amount of light that filtered through the edges of the door. Like always, Vinyl's bright mane could be seen in spite of this. You couldn't hear her snoring, so you thought she might have woken up from her dad carrying her there. Still, you tried to be quiet when you slipped under the sheets in case she was still sleeping.

"Hey, babe." Her voice was filled with drowsiness. It caught you off-guard slightly. "You smell like smoke..."

"Oh, hey. Sorry if I woke you up." You pulled the covers over you and moved closer to her. It only took a single touch of your bodies to make her turn around and snuggle up next to you. "Your dad had a couple cigars outside and I guess it made me smell like this."

"It's fine." She yawned and you felt her breath tickle the fur on your chest. "I kinda like the smell."

You thought that she would just leave it at that and go to sleep, but she started whispering again.

"What did dad talk to you about? He wasn't hard on you or anything?"

"Nah." You kissed her forehead and stroked her mane. Seeing Cloud Kicker do it earlier made you want to do it even more and it felt good to do so. "He did ask if we had sex, though."

You felt her ears perk up. "Really? What did you say?"

"I told him the truth. Don't worry, I spared the details."

She giggled tiredly. "He wasn't mad at you or anything?"

"Nope. He's a really cool guy, actually. I really like him."

"That's good. I'm glad you boys got along."

Again, you thought that the conversation would end there, but you were proven wrong when one of her hind legs wrapped around yours. Her head tilted up and you felt her warm soft lips press against yours. It surprised you when it became apparent that she didn't intend it to be a simple peck on the lips. She pulled you closer to her body while she continued to kiss you deeply. Her lips tasted like salad since she wasn't able to brush her teeth before falling asleep on the couch earlier, but it wasn't a particularly bad taste.

Just as suddenly as it happened, she released you from her kiss and she tucked her head back under your chin. However, your body flinched once you felt her hoof start rubbing against your inner thigh. She giggled and kissed your chest.

"V-Vinyl... Don't you think it's bad to do that in your dad's house?"

She slid her hoof up and wrapped it around your back once she calmed her urges.

"Sorry... It's just been a month since I've seen you so..."

"It's okay." You went back to stroking her mane. "You'll have me all to yourself once we get back. I still owe you for making you wait so long and for-"

Vinyl held her hoof to your mouth and stopped you from continuing.

"I know you won't do that again."

You smiled and held back the urge to kiss her again. Her amount of faith and trust in you even after what happened amazed you. If she had done the same thing to you, you weren't sure if you would've been as forgiving as she was. Your eyes closed slowly as Vinyl's warm body slowly coaxed you to sleep.

"I love you, Vinyl. I wouldn't give you up for anything in the world." It felt weird to talk with such sentiment, but it was absolutely true.

She yawned into your chest again. "Same. Love you too, babe."

She sounded as if she wasn't being sincere, but her tiredness was probably to blame for that. You knew that she felt the same towards you. Otherwise, you'd be sleeping in Twilight's tree house right now with nopony to warm you while she slept in her bed alone and still heartbroken. Nothing you could do or say would ever make you feel better about what you did to her and you were going to try to make up for it as long as you possibly could. You supposed that this little trip was a way for you to get some momentum going with her again, and you wouldn't be surprised if Vinyl had it planned that way the whole time. Either way, it seemed to work out well. Knowing that you got along well with her father must've certainly made Vinyl feel better about you overall.

The amount of intimacy she gave you felt the same now as it did before you took your trip to earth, so you figured that she had forgiven you for the most part. Plus, you had no reason to believe that she'd fake any emotions towards you. She didn't seem like the kind of mare who'd do something like that. She was blunt and to the point. You always liked that about her. You'd be the first to know if she had a problem with you. From the small amount of time you spent with her dad, you learned that the two were similar in that aspect.

Vinyl had begun snoring lightly against your chest. Once you reassured yourself that she wasn't having second thoughts about you, you relaxed your body and tried to get some rest after your long day. The only fear you still had was the thought that all this might've just been a dream and that you would wake up alone, heartbroken, and single.

If it was just a dream, you decided to make the best of it and spend the last few seconds in peace with your lover in your arms as you drifted off to sleep.

Author's Notes:

If there are any grammatical or spelling errors, please send me a PRIVATE MESSAGE and let me know so that I can fix them asap. Thanks for reading! <3

Had a little bit of a problem with my editors this chapter so I had to rely on just one of them. Apologies in advance if you spot a couple of errors