"I'm glad you could make it so early in the morning, Cadence."

"As am I, Celestia. However, I still don't quite understand why I was summoned."

Princess Celestia slowly made her way over to the stained glass window to her left and looked out pridefully on the horizon to see the sun that she had just raised no more than thirty minutes ago. It hit her brilliant white coat with a splash of mixed colors.

"As I'm sure you know, Alex's window to his home world will soon show itself to us. The end of the year is about to come upon us and we must honor our promise to him, no matter the risk."

"Do you know when this will happen? And what do you mean by 'risk'?"

"Only Luna can truly know. However, what I do know is that he must not go alone."

"Why is that? What threat could he possibly run into?"

Celestia sighed and walked back towards Cadence. "I don't know. I have a feeling that sending him back without an escort would be unwise. Even if just for a few hours."

"Something must have changed you in the short time I've been away, Princess. It's not like you to have gut feelings."

She lowered her head. "I apologize, Cadence. After the changeling attack a few months ago, my suspicions and cautions have been... on edge."

Cadence walked towards Celestia and tilted her head up with a smile. "I understand. What can I do to help? I could send one of my elite guards, or..."

"No, that wouldn't work..."

"I'm sorry? Why not?"

"We need somepony who hath already been to the human world." Luna's elizabethan voice echoed from the end of the main hall.

"Oh, Princess Luna! What a surprise!" Cadence trotted over to her with a wide smile. "But... What do you mean? Isn't Alex the only pony who has been there?"

"No. There is another." Luna said as she looked sideways towards Celestia who was staring back outside of the same window.

It suddenly clicked for Cadence. "W-wait, no! We can't do that! It's too dangerous! What if she-"

"We have no other choice." Celestia said with her eyes closed. "Would you rather send him alone with no help whatsoever? Surely you already know how easy it would be for somepony like Sunset Shimmer to-"

"Okay, okay, I understand. It's just... She's my sister in law..." Cadence looked down at the tile floor with distress in her eyes.

Celestia put her hoof on Cadence's shoulder. "Have faith in Twilight. She proves herself to be exceptionally gifted in finding a way through sticky situations."

Silence filled the hall. It lasted several seconds as Cadence threw around the idea in her mind.

Luna turned and trotted back towards her chambers, leaving the two in silence. She turned her head right before she opened the door and the end of the room.

"We have forty-eight hours."

"I will write a letter to Alex and Twilight."

Monday. It had become your favorite day ever since you've been in Equestria. Or rather, it's been your favorite day ever since you and Vinyl started dating. It was the only day that Vinyl was able to wake up early enough to actually do a decent amount of things before having to go back to work.

It was a relatively peaceful morning as well. There were a few clouds in the sky, but none that gave a significant threat of sour weather. There was still an inch or two of residual snow from yesterday's weather, but there was no sign of additional snow today. It was a perfect day to relax and spend a peaceful day with Vinyl.

You finished scooping up the last of your sunny side up eggs and gulping them down with a sip of milk. The thick yolk always turned you off from eating fried eggs, but for some reason, everything seemed to taste better in Equestria. Now that you thought about it, eggs wouldn't seem like the kind of things that ponies would usually eat, but you used your "screw it, it's Equestria" excuse as you often did. The fact that ponies ate eggs wasn't nearly as questionable as nearly everything else in this world. The warm eggs hit your stomach and you suppressed a burp by holding your hoof to your mouth.

"Good?" Vinyl spoke gently, leaning close to you from behind.

"Awesome. Thanks, babe." She gave you a sweet kiss on the cheek and proceeded to take her cooking apron off. "So what are we doing today, again?"

"Well..." She took your plate and brought it back to the kitchen to wash. "I wanna stop by the record store and try to find a new album that just came out. Then..."

Random clattering and clinking came from behind you as Vinyl loaded up the wubwasher. "We should probably swing by the grocery store and pick up a few things while 'Tavi is out."

"What all do we need?" You picked up a scrap of paper and a pen.

"Carrots, apples-" You scribbled everything down. Fortunately, after you learned how to pick things up with your hoof, learning how to write wasn't that difficult . "Some broth for soup, milk, eggs... I think that's it. Oh, and anything you need- Wait... Oh no..."

"What's wrong?"

"Well, assuming the album I want isn't half-price, I probably won't have enough bits to get that and all the groceries we need..."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I can spot ya."

She sighed and smiled. "Thank Luna. How much do you have?"

You got up from the couch and pulled out your small coin bag from one of the drawers underneath the coffee table. It was one of the many gifts that Celestia gave you when you came here. Since everypony else had provided for you so generously, you hadn't found the chance to even use the money she gave you until now. You untied the little golden rope holding the velvet bag closed and looked inside, counting all of the shiny golden coins.

"One, two, three..." You mumbled to yourself. "About twenty."

"Sweet!" She shut the wubwasher and trotted over to you, picking up a few coins from your hoof. "Thanks Ale- Whoa."

"Hm?" You looked over your shoulder at Vinyl's shocked face as she stared at the coin you lent her.

"Alex... Where did you get these bits from?"

"Oh, Celestia gave them to me way back when to help me out. Why?"

"Well that explains it..." She held one coin close to her eyes and ogled it for several seconds before continuing. "The bits you got from the princess are worth five hundred bits each..."

"Oh... Oh! Geez! H-how can you tell?"

Vinyl trotted over to you with two bits that were surrounded by her magic's glow and floating next to her.

"See this?" She showed you a bit that was simply a plain gold coin with no markings on it whatsoever, save for your tiny reflection on its surface. "That's a regular bit."

"This is a royal. It's worth 500 bits."

She showed you your coin again, and you could now see the difference. The "royal" had a carved image of Princess Celestia facing sideways with a small red gem in its center. You just assumed that all bits looked like the ones you had, but apparently not. You blamed it on the fact that you never had to pay for anything since your arrival here.

"I see... Well, here-" You hoofed her a few royals. "You can keep those. I'm not going to be using them anytime soon. You probably need them more than I do."

She stared at the coins as if she didn't know what to do with them.

"A-are you sure? I mean..."

"Keep it, babe. It's the least I can do for mooching off of you two for so lo- Ooomph!"

You were interrupted by Vinyl suddenly lifting you up from the couch and turning you around to hug you extremely tight. She kissed your lips, as well as your cheeks, over and over and over again. After your face felt like it was covered with whatever kind of lipstick she was wearing, she stopped and buried her head deep into your chest.

"Thank you..."

"Don't worry about it, babe." You kissed her forehead and caressed the fur on her back for a few seconds. "You ready to head out?"

"Oh!" She pulled away from you. "I gotta shower first. Be back in a bit!"

"Don't take too long, or I'll have to come in there and get you..." You teased with a bit of naughtiness in your tone.

"Oh, shush!" You couldn't see her face, but you somehow knew that it was red.

You wiped off the light lipstick from your cheeks with a bashful smile as you made your way back to the couch. Your mind wandered around and brainstormed some things from the store that you might possibly need. You could get a few fritters from Apple Fritter's stand out in the market. They were always pricey, but totally worth it. Besides, you had... You counted the remaining seventeen coins in your coin bag and added them up. Eight thousand and five hundred bits. You could get almost two thousand apple fritters for that!

You wrote down "Apple Fritters" on your mental shopping list with a smile and prodded your top lip with the end of the pen while you thought of some more things. You hadn't quite learned how to write with your magic yet, and it was starting to annoy you a bit, but you were sure that once you got more used to your new body, it would come naturally.

Several tiny knocks came at the door. Your ears perked up and you put the pen and paper down before getting up. Octavia wasn't supposed to be back from practice for a few hours, so you had no clue as to who it could be.

Another series of knocks.

"Coming!"

You opened the door, letting in a strong draft of wind that harshly reminded you how cold it was outside. The fur and mane of the young mare standing at the welcome mat almost made her invisible against the bright white snow behind her.

"Trixie!"

"Alex, I presume?"

"Yeah, that's me..." You stepped out of the doorway. "Hurry up and get in. Don't want you to freeze out there."

"Oh... T-thank you."

Trixie stepped inside, letting out a sigh of relief once the radiating heat from the nearby fire began to thaw her.

"Here, I think we have enough coffee in the pot for one more cup. How do you like yours?"

"Goodness, Alex. You certainly don't have to do so much for me... But I suppose three sugars and two creamers will do." She took a seat on the couch next to the fire after laying her saddlebag down in front of her.

"Gotcha." You poured the last cup of the pot, thankful that the last few drops barely filled the cup. "So what brings you way out here? Don't you kinda live far away?"

Trixie brushed her hair several times with her hoof to try and get it straight again. The wind had caused it to go a bit haywire.

"I live in a... Mobile home, of sorts. It suits me just fine, though. I just came to tell your marefriend, Vinyl, something very... important."

"Oh, okay. I guess that's between the two of you then."

You smiled politely, not wanting to pry even though you were extremely curious. What could Trixie possibly want with Vinyl that was "very important"? You shrugged it off and started adding the sugar and creamer into her coffee.

"That is, of course, depending on whether or not you can answer something for me first." Trixie turned around on the couch to face you.

"Alright... Ask away!" You chuckled a little as you brought her cup of coffee to her to try and ease your tension. She was obviously hiding something, but you didn't want to get nosy.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie has two questions. First, how did you get that horn of yours and how do you do this "special" magic that Twilight keeps going on about?"

Apparently, there was more than one question. However, this one seemed easy enough, so you gave her the truth.

"Oh, that's easy. Whenever they changed me into a pony, Princess Cadence took a small shard from the crystal heart and infused it into my horn to make it all cool looking like this." You poked your horn pridefully, but forgot how sensitive it was and flinched.

"As for that magic, I honestly don't know. I visited Princess Celestia and Luna to see if they could help, and they said it had something to do with Starswirl The Bearded. Other than that, we're still trying to find out what it is exactly."

Trixie's expression wasn't what you expected. Her eyes were a little widened and she stood completely still just staring at you, as if she were shocked about what you just told her. After several awkward seconds and you waving your hoof in front of her face one or two times, she finally snapped out of it and quickly took a sip of her coffee.

"What's wrong?"

"It-it's nothing... The Great and Powerful Trixie was not expecting such a straightforward answer..." You chuckled a little at her third person expression. Hearing it in real life was a lot more comedic than you would've thought.

You studied her face for a while, trying to decipher what she was thinking. You thought to yourself. She was Trixie, right? Magic enthusiast? Maybe she wanted to study whatever magic you were looking into.

Your face lit up. "I could try and teach you if you wanted. I mean I don't know-"

"Really?! You would?!" Trixie shoved her face close to yours with a look of delight written all over her.

"Y-yeah..."

She realized her sudden outburst and leaned back into her seat, sipping on her coffee a little.

"S-sorry... What were you saying?"

"I was saying that I don't really know that I'd be a great teacher and I'd have to study up on it a good bit before learning anything since it looks pretty complex. Plus it may have something to do with a special property my horn has-"

"Oh my..."

Apparently, that was the first time Trixie had noticed your horn. An awkward feeling filled the room as she stared at your forehead with wonder. After several seconds, you cleared your throat purposefully.

"O-oh... Sorry again. However did it get that color?"

"Ehh... Long story. But basically, it has some sort of connection to the Crystal Heart in the Crystal Kingdom."

"I see... So you will help Trixie further her knowledge about this magic?" You were still trying to figure out why she referred to herself in third person in some situations and first person in others.

"Sure! Just... Promise not to do anything bad with it, okay?"

You awaited a cliche "Mwahahaha! Of course I won't do anything bad with it... Heheheh." reply.

"I promise I won't, Alex." She smiled, but not mischievously, and raised a hoof over her heart.

Well, that was different. It was probably the most sincere thing you had heard her ever say in all of the time you knew about her. She even referred to herself in first person.

You had your previous misconceptions about Trixie given that she had been the source of a lot of trouble in Ponyville in the past. However, her dialogue thus far was beginning to make you think that there might be another side to her that wasn't so bad. Given, she obviously didn't let that side out that much, but you were beginning to think that it might have been because nopony had treated her well enough for her to do so.

"Good. I'll be studying it over with Twilight later this week, so I'll let you know what I've found out after that."

She didn't respond. Instead, you caught her eyes drifting down into her coffee. It was clear that she was spacing out a little, but the expression on her face wasn't sad or even the tiniest bit distraught. A tiny smile grew on her face as she held her coffee close to her body.

"Thank you, Alex."

"It's nothin." You looked down at her cup that was starting to lose its steam. "Don't let your coffee get cold, silly."

She snapped out of her introspection and took a quick sip of her lukewarm coffee. The way she reacted to your offer didn't make it seem like it was really "nothing" to her.

"Oh... Um, hey there." Vinyl's voice broke the silence. Her mane was still damp from the shower and her fur was a bit more fluffy than normal, probably from recently being dried off.

"Oh, this is Trixie. I don't know if y'all have met yet... I think she had something to ask you."

The two of you looked over at Trixie who appeared as if she was struggling for words.

"I, um... I mean, The Great and Powerful Trixie-"

"Yes?" Vinyl smiled awkwardly.

"W-would like to have a signed copy of one of your albums?"

"No prob! Hold on, let me go get one." She turned and disappeared back into the hallway, leaving the two of you alone for another moment or two.

"You know, Alex..." Trixie looked over at you from the corner of her eye. "You're a lot nicer than I thought you would be..."

"Huh? What makes you say that?"

"It's nothing... Just thinking to myself." She looked back into her coffee. You took a couple of seconds to think about it, but then shrugged it off, not getting her reference.

"Alright... Aaaand..." Vinyl walked slowly from the hallway again, using her magic to sign her name onto the disc case with a black marker. "Here you go!"

"Thank you." She took it in her hoof and stuffed it into her saddlebag before turning around.

"Oh, hey! Wait!" You called out just before she opened the door.

You looked around the room for the pink scarf that Pinkie Pie gave you. Since she hadn't asked for it back, you were sure it was meant as a gift rather than a loan anyway.

"Here, this might help with the cold a little." You found it laying on the kitchen table and hoofed it over to her.

"Y-you don't have to do that..."

"I insist. We were just about to go shopping so I'll buy a new one anyways."

She wrapped it around her neck and gently tugged it tight, feeling its warmth as she buried her muzzle down into it. Her eyes lifted up from it and she gave you a warm smile.

"Thank you, Alex. I will not forget your kindness."

The door opened, letting a frigid draft inside for a few moments before closing and leaving you and Vinyl standing in the middle of the living room.

"So when's your first date with her?" Vinyl teased, chuckling a little.

"Oh, shush." You rolled your eyes.

"So you never told me how you got your cutie mark..."

You and Vinyl made your way through the snow away from the center of town. Despite your doubts, snow was beginning to fall over Ponyville yet again. However, it was somewhat light so you didn't let it bother you. Both your saddlebags were full of miscellaneous food and other stuff. You had gone through and got everything on Vinyl's list plus some extra things thanks to your royal funds. You still giggled occasionally when you remembered Apple Fritter's reaction towards you asking her to break a royal bit.

You munched on a fritter happily, feeling the sweet and tangy apple flavor make love to your taste buds.

"Oh my god... This is so good." You said with your mouth full of fritter.

Vinyl laughed a little. "Chew first then talk, goofball."

"Sorry..." You chewed quickly and then swallowed. "Anyways, I really don't know. All I remember is that I was practicing magic at Twilight's place and I tried levitating something. Then it made this big white ball of death that almost inhaled all of us. When I woke up, it was there."

"Whoa. That sounds rad."

"If you were there, you wouldn't have thought so." You rolled your eyes a little.

"Well anyways, congratulations, babe." She leaned over and kissed your cheek. "You're lucky. Some ponies take years and years to develop their cutie marks.

You thought about the Cutie Mark Crusaders and suddenly felt a little appreciative. You took a moment and thought about the subject a little.

"How did you get your cutie mark, Vinyl?"

She looked up in the sky and sighed, reminiscing.

"It was way back when I was a filly. Me and my dad were at a concert. I was real little so I had to stand up on his shoulders. I guess there was just something about the guy who was playing that really inspired me. I can't remember for sure."

Vinyl sighed. She was obviously in a pleasant memory.

"Oh, speaking of your dad, have you heard from him lately?"

"Actually, yeah! I got a letter from him the other day." She looked over at you, excited.

"Really?! What did it say?"

"Well... I wrote a letter to him telling him that I was dating a really cute guy..." You blushed a little after she winked at you. She continued. "And he said he was looking forward to meeting you!"

"Really?!"

"Yup!"

You looked down at the ground for a second or two and thought it over.

"What's wrong?"

You snapped your head back up at attention. "N-nothing, just a little nervous, I guess."

"Oh, you'll be fine. He's a sweetheart just like you." She nudged your shoulder teasingly to try and cheer you up. It didn't take much from her to do just that.

"Thanks, sweetie. Oh! Also, how did you learn to use levitation magic? I'm trying to learn and I can't quite figure it out..."

Vinyl rubbed her chin and thought hard. "I don't know... I learned it when I was real little, and I've been able to use it without thinking ever since."

"Any tricks or techniques that you use that would help?"

"Well, when I'm having difficulty concentrating on lifting something, I'll always think about saving someone closest to me from falling."

"Oh, okay. That seems like it might work."

Vinyl stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, since there was nopony behind the two of you, and put one of the apples from in her bag on the ground using her magic.

"Here, try it out and see if it works for you."

"Alright..."

At first, you were a little afraid of putting Vinyl and everypony around you in danger of one of your vacuum-holes, but you knew that that would only happen if you thought about magne-

You stopped yourself from even thinking about it and pictured what Vinyl was suggesting. Your horn began to glow its usual white color and you quickly got your spell lock onto the apple. Your eyes squinted as you tried to imagine the apple being Vinyl falling through the air to her imminent death. You lifted up, imagining that you were saving her.

"Whoa, whoa!"

Your eyes snapped open out of panic, expecting to have another catastrophic mishap, but instead, your eyes were greeted to the apple flying straight up into the sky and a steady pace. It was almost so high that you couldn't see it anymore through the snow falling.

"There you go! See? Told you it'd work." Vinyl smiled pridefully.

You stared into the sky as tiny snow flurries brushed against your face. Once the feeling of accomplishment began to fill you, you felt the sides of your lips curl up into a smile.

"Alex?"

Your head lowered again. "Thanks, sweetie. You're the best."

You leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek which made her cheeks redden a little as her eyes shifted towards the ground.

"Geez... We're in public, silly- Ahhh!"

Vinyl jumped in a fight-or-flight manner as the apple suddenly crashed to the ground a few feet away from her, splattering into a mushy mess.

"Goodness, somepony's jumpy today..." You teased.

"Whatever." Vinyl rolled her eyes at you and picked up her groceries again. "Well now you gotta control it. It's different for everypony so you're on your own, smartass."

You laughed it off a little and picked your bags back up. She was already a few hoof steps ahead of you before you got back up and caught up to her. The thrill of self-accomplishment still lingered in your smile, and you didn't bother saying anything else since you could tell she was just teasing back earlier.

You took a deep breath of chilly air and looked up into the sky, which was starting to clear up a bit. The sun was still a bit blurry and faded from the clouds, but you could slightly feel a warm wave coming from it that wasn't there earlier that day. Judging by the angle of the sun, you could tell that it was around three to four pm.

"Geez, we sure did a lot of shopping today." You brushed your mane once or twice to get the snow flurries out of it.

"Yeah, I'm beat."

You chuckled a little. "Pfft... Beat..."

Vinyl gently bumped into you with her shoulder. "Geez... You're so bad." Nonetheless, as you looked over at her, you saw that your lame pun still managed to put a grin on her face.

"Hey."

"What? Don't tell me you have a worse one..."

You sneakily leaned towards her and gave her another kiss on the cheek. You wet your lips before hand to make it a bit more passionate. At least, as passionate as a kiss on the cheek could get.

"Just wanted to remind you I love you."

Vinyl looked over at you with thankful eyes as the two of you kept walking. You could tell your little gesture hit her soft spot.

"Thanks, babe. I love you too."

Vinyl leaned against you gently and affectionately as the two of you rounded the corner to the street where Vinyl's house was on. You looked up again to see a lone hole in the clouds that let a shaft of sunlight in, illuminating the snowflakes in its path.

An hour later...

"Thanks, babe." You took the glass of water from her magical grasp as she trotted around the couch to join you in relaxing. You took a large sip.

"Geez... I need to work on my cardio."

"That little walk back home winded you?"

"I guess... Maybe it's because I haven't been working out my... Well, this body that much." You took another sip followed by an *Ahhh*

"I can help you with your cardio..." Vinyl teasingly kissed the nape of your neck then settled down to rest in your lap.

"Oh trust me, I know how good of a workout you are..." You grinned mischievously. Vinyl giggled back but just curled up on the couch and put her head in your lap. She yawned widely and snuggled close.

"I guess I'm a little tired too. Let's just stay in for the rest of the day, okay?"

"Fine by me." You smiled and caressed her cheek. You didn't expect it to turn into sex, anyway. Maybe later tonight... you thought to yourself but tried not to get a boner.

The soothing fire warmed the two of you and helped you relax even more. Taking one last sip of the water and finishing it off, you set it back down and leaned your head back against the couch and closed your eyes. You could feel Vinyl's gentle breathing rustle the fur on your legs and you looked down at the unicorn with a great sense of compassion. You wanted to slip down and cuddle with her in a more intimate position, but you decided not to since it would wake her if she was sleeping already.

Several moments of silence passed, with the exception of a few flickers from the flame in the fireplace and the crackling of dried wood. The stiff wind from outside was beginning to pick up and howled a little against the outside of the house, which made the fire in front of you feel that much warmer. Looking out of your peripherals at one of the windows, you could see that the weather was taking a turn for the worse. Even though the sun was starting to rebel from the clouds earlier, it was now snowing heavily with dark clouds looming overhead. You were glad to be inside. Vinyl's head nuzzled into your thighs a little more and made your fur ruffle a little.

All your life, including your life as a human, you dated many girls. Some of them even got a bit closer than others. However, as you started to recall all your past love interests, none of them came close to how Vinyl made you feel. None of them really cared for you for who you were like Vinyl did, and as you looked down at her, the feeling you got was unlike any you had ever felt. Just staring down at her sleeping face filled your heart with more happiness than you had felt in a very long time. You weren't just being affectionate just for affection's sake, you felt as if you showed her affection because you truly cared for her and wanted her to know that every minute of every day. The fact that she treated you the same way amplified all of it to a degree you couldn't comprehend. You never could have guessed that it would've happened this way, but the only label you could put on the feeling was true love. Sure, it sounded cliche as hell. You didn't even believe in it until now.

Then again, this was Equestria. You smiled as you remembered how fortunate you were to be in a place where fairy-tales like true love actually happened.

"Hey, babe?" Vinyl's drowsy voice rung in your ears softly like the cooing of a dove.

"Mhmm?"

"Could we sleep in the bed? I'm getting a little warm..." The fire was starting to be uncomfortably hot for you as well.

"Sure, angel."

You gently picked yourself up and worked your way off the couch so that you wouldn't disturb her too much. Being a human had its perks, and one of them was being able to use only two legs to walk while having two other appendages to do other things with. As a pony, however, it was a bit more difficult. You stood there a bit awkwardly as you tried to figure out a way to pick her up and carry her.

You thought to use your magic to try and levitate her, even though the memory of what happened to the apple was still fresh in your mind. You took a deep breath and wrapped Vinyl with your magic. However, as you remembered Vinyl's tip and started to pick her up, it seemed... Easier. Much easier. With the apple, it was a little more difficult to picture it being as close to you as Vinyl, but Vinyl herself was a different story. It was like your magic was completely controlled the second you targeted her. As her body began to lift slowly from the couch, she opened one of her eyes and smiled.

Not wanting to push your luck, you picked her up a little further and walked under her, positioning yourself just right. Her body gently lowered over your back so that her legs wrapped around the sides of your belly. You took a deep breath the second you released your target on her and turned to head for her bedroom.

"Could you call me that more often?" Vinyl spoke again in her same sleepy dove-like voice.

"Call you what? Babe?" You leaned your head forward and pushed the bedroom door open with your horn.

"No... Angel."

Your heart nearly melted as you slid her off your back gently into the bed.

"Sure, angel..."

The bed moaned a little as you put your weight down on it and pulled the thick sheet over the two of you. Vinyl instantly magnetized to your chest and wrapped her forelegs around your waist, pulling you closer to her as she nuzzled into your fur yet again and taking a deep breath through her nose to enjoy your unique scent.

"Thanks." She whispered. "You really are the best..."

Author's Notes:

One thousand internet points if you spotted the Star Wars reference!