Twilight appeared in the doorway to the comfortable bedroom and saw Fluttershy and Seamus lying there under the covers.

"Fluttershy what are you doing!" The librarian nearly screamed.

The shy mare nearly jumped out of her skin at Twilight's voice.

"Um, he was tired and I, um, he just kind of fell asleep and he started to cuddle and I…" She let out a small squeak.

"Do you know how angry Luna would be if she saw you?"

Fluttershy remembered the last time Luna had found them sleeping in the same bed.

"Never mind." Twilight continued. "The train is ready to leave and you need to get outside right now or both the princesses will be mad at you."

Fluttershy looked down at the small colt. With a gentle nudge, she woke him up and let him stumble sleepily to his hooves. She smiled at him and he returned the friendly gesture.

"Sorry to rush you two, but we have to leave now."

The ride from the castle was silent for most of the way. Seamus had a saddlebag with the instruments Jakben had delivered stowed safely inside. The entire cabin sat in an awful, simmering silence that made the ponies skin crawl. Although the cabin was spacious, the walls seemed to close in on them as they rode away from the castle. Soon it became unbearable for Pinkie and she had to talk.

"Okay, so I have a ton of questions to ask you." She said to Seamus.

He smiled and nodded.

"Okay, so how was the cooking? Any recipes you teach me?"

"Well… I never really got to see them make the food. It was pretty good, though." He answered in his strange, implacable accent.

"Okay kid, there is no way you really talk like that." Rainbow said.

"What's the matter with the way I talk?" He asks.

"I don't know, it's just pitchy, weird."

Seamus tilted his head to the side. He'd always talked just like this and nopony ever thought it was strange. He decided to not respond.

Rarity saw his predicament and decided to help out the young colt.

"I quite like your accent, dear."

He smiled at her and thought the conversation was over, but Twilight pulled out a book and began to read.

"It's called a lilt, ponies of the isles just off the west-most coast of the Northern counties talk like this." She read.

Everypony looked at her a rolled their eyes. Again the cabin lapsed into a tense silence. Pinkie began to fidget and the mountainside flashed by in a blur. After another ten minutes of this, Seamus opened his saddlebag and retrieved a small flute. He tested the instrument with a small half-note and all eyes turned to him. He saw everypony looking at him and put the instrument away.

"What was that? A clarinet?" Rarity asked.

"No… it was a flute."

"Well? Why not play a bit?" she asked.

He shyly scuffed a hoof and looked at the floor. "I usually don't play in front of other ponies."

She nodded and respected his choice. Soon Twilight began to look at Seamus and observe every movement he made. The alicorn began to purposefully avoid her staring. He moved behind a seat and took out the flute again. He blew a quick, high pitched note and the cabin went silent. He didn't notice and began to play long, mournful tune to pass the time. The notes weren't fast or bright like most flute music, but the notes dragged on and sounded like birds screeching in agony.

The sorrow that he put into the music was awful, yet hauntingly beautiful. Nopony dared interrupt the awful keening of the enigmatic song. It made them all stop and their minds clear. The loneliness and loss that he put into the music was depressing and still majestic somehow.

Suddenly he saw them all staring and stopped. There was a collective exhale as everypony let out their held breath at once. He covered his face with his wing to avoid their gaze.

The train pulled up to the station and Scootaloo, Sweetie belle and Apple Bloom waited eagerly for their sisters and idols to step off the locomotive. As Rarity stepped off onto the platform her younger sister embraced her. The others step off and Rainbow Dash was smothered by Scootaloo.

Seamus looked at the others and sighed. He didn't have any siblings to greet. He picked up his saddlebag and walked over to Rarity.

It was a quick walk from the station to Rarity's boutique. Once inside, the young alicorn looked around in wonder at the gallery of amazing clothing. Sweetie Belle had walked by him the entire way home and couldn't stop staring at him. He saw her intently inspecting his flank and grew uncomfortable.

"You don't have a cutie mark!" She finally exclaimed.

He nodded, slightly wary of her enthusiasm.

"None of my friends have theirs either!" She yelled in excitement, shaking his hoof roughly. "I'm Sweetie Belle! Rarity's my sister and I'm sooooo glad to meet you! I have got to show you to my friends! They won't believe it!"

He smiled at how easily excited she was. She ran into the kitchen were her sister was preparing some tea to wake herself up. He heard Sweetie Belle ask her sister a question and an excited squeal. She ran back into the store and grabbed his hoof to pull him towards the door.

"Where are we going, exactly?" He stuttered nervously.

"School, duh. It's eight in the morning." She rolled her eyes.

Seamus had failed to notice the time and immediately pulled away from her.

"Uh,-I would rather stay here." He stuttered, his awful memories of his school days rushing back.

"Awww! Rarity said I could take you and I want you to meet all my friends. Please?" She stuck out her bottom lip.

She held the pose for another long, cuteness filled ten seconds before he caved. She squeals excitedly and pulls him behind her.

They arrived at the school thirty minutes later. Nopony was outside or around the school, so that meant they were both late. He desperately wished he was invisible as he walked in and all the students stared at him in dumbstruck awe. Cheerilee looked at them and raised her eyebrows.

"Sweetie Belle, you're late." The schoolteacher scolded. "And who's your friend?"

"This Is Seamus, he isn't from around here." She responded, putting her arm around him

.

All eyes were fixed on him now. He wished  that it was possible to become invisible, or just sink into the floor. He purposefully jerked his head so that his hair fell in front his eyes, hiding his embarrassed face.

"It's nice to meet you, Seamus. If you could both take a seat." The teacher gestured to one specific desk, the one that was unfortunately located directly between Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

He didn't know about the two bully's reputation, so he took a seat and tried to pretend nopony was staring at his wings and horn. Cheerilee resumed her lecture on Equestrian history, but most were riveted on him. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were in the very back row, with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle lined up from left to right, Scootaloo was right behind Seamus, while Apple Bloom was behind Diamond Tiara and Sweetie Belle was behind Silver Spoon.

Silver Spoon saw him and her eyes widened. With a single deft movement, she threw a small piece of paper at her tiara wearing partner, who woke up from the short nap she had been taking to read the note. Scootaloo, being a pegasaus, had very keen eyesight and read the note from where she was. She was immediately suspicious of the two school bullies.

'Do you see that alicorn? You missed him coming in, but I kinda like this kid, do you?'

The tiara wearing troublemaker looked at Seamus with an amazed, starstruck expression and stared for at least a half-minute before she broke the trance. With all the speed she could muster, she scribbled a response and passed it back. Scootaloo eyed the piece of paper intently now; Seamus was supposed to be their friend, not theirs.

'Uh, yeah! He's kinda cute too.' The note read.

Scoot's jaw dropped dramatically. She scribbled a note of her own and passed it to Apple Bloom.

'Those two are trying to steal Sweetie Belle's friend! Watch!'

The junior farmhand nodded and stared intently at the two troublemakers. The note was back to Diamond Tiara now and it had slightly more length to it.

'But he has a blank flank?' Silver spoon wrote.

'So, it'll mess with those dorks and get me a really, really cute date, wait till the end of the day.'

'Don't let the two mares next to you kid you, they are nothing but trouble!' It read.

He looked at Diamond Tiara, who winked at him. He wrote back and hid his face behind a long, luxurious wing stretch. But as he did he accidentally knocked the tiara wearing troublemaker's tiara right off her head. Apple Bloom giggled immaturely and high-hoofed Scootaloo.But then the young pegasaus looked at the note and nearly let out an audible groan.

'What's the matter with them? They seem nice.' It read.

Seamus looked at the tiara on the floor and smiled back at Diamond.

"I'm sorry about that." He apologized politely. "Let me get it."

He got up and kicked the small trinket up and landed it directly on his head. He smiled at her charmingly. The usually rude mare was struck silent by his showponyship. He took off the trinket with his wing and, balancing it on the tip of his feather, set it on gently on her head. He sat back down with a graceful flourish. The snobby rich girl was starstruck by him; she just stared at him for a minute. No colt was ever that nice to her.

Now Scootaloo wanted to hurl. Why was he being so nice to her? She didn't deserve it! The annoyed pegasaus passed another note to Apple Bloom.

'He doesn't think she's a total jerk! And do you see how she's looking at him!'

Diamond Tiara was staring at him, a dreamy, lost look in her eyes. Her facial expression said it all; she had a gigantic crush on the alicorn. The two looked at Sweetie Belle and shook their heads. How would she take the news? How complicated would this get? Apparently, very complicated.

The four young ponies were walking home when Scootaloo suddenly grabbed Seamus and poked him in the chest. She was an inch from his face and wore a feral snarl on her own.

"Look, stay away from those two mares, okay! They are total, rich, annoying, snobs who are just being nice to you to get at us! Stop flirting with Diamond Tiara, too!" She growled.

"Flirting? What do you mean? I was just being nice." Seamus said, confused.

Apple Bloom walked up to the two and sighed. "So you were just being polite to her, right?"

He nodded and added. "Why do you think I was flirting?"

The two fillies looked at each other. Scootaloo let him go and groaned.

"You seriously didn't see Diamond Tiara swooning at you? Are you blind! She was practically eye-raping you!"

"Scootaloo! Language!" Apple Bloom scolded.

"Well! She was!" the pegasaus huffed.

Seamus looked at them in confusion. "What's the big deal?" he asked.

Scootaloo threw her hooves in the air. "Those two are the biggest jerks in the school! They bully us constantly for not havin' cutie marks!"

"Well maybe she's mean because nopony is ever nice to her? Did you ever think about that?" Seamus said back softly.

Apple Bloom was dumbstruck. She always counted herself a very nice pony, but she had never been nice to her. Not once had she ever even considered it. But just as she had thought of a response, Diamond Tiara herself ran up behind them.

"Speak of the she-devil herself, her she is." Scootaloo muttered under her breath.

The rich filly went up to Seamus and caught her breathe for a moment before she spoke.

"Hi, um, you picked up my tiara earlier and I, er, was wondering if I could come over to your house later? Just, y'know, get to know each other?" She gave a nervous smile.

He smiled back at her and she visibly relaxed at his gesture.

"Sure, I'd love to." The handsome young colt responded.

Later, after the Sweetie Belle was home, the two crusaders told her what had happened. Rarity walked into her kitchen where they sat, all glumly resting their heads on the table.

"So how was our guest's day?" The fashionista asked

"Popular." They all said at once.

"Well what's the matter with that?"

Seamus himself walked into the kitchen at the moment and Scootaloo groaned.

"Hey, Romeo." She mumbled.

He gave her a sarcastic sigh. "I'm just being nice. Please act like this isn't killing you."

"But it is! I can't just pretend she's not a jerk!" The young pegasaus growled. "Besides, you look like you have more on your mind than just 'being nice'."

Seamus was actually very neatly groomed and his usually shaggy, untamable mane was styled perfectly over his left eye and the rest ran wildly down his neck and shoulders. He shrugged and went over to the stove, where Rarity was preparing a delicious looking meal.

"How long is she staying?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"She leaves at eight." Seamus responded.

"What!" The filly complained, looking at the clock. "That's two full hours of her being here! In my house! With my stuff!"

"It won't kill you, I promise." He joked.

"You sure?" Scootaloo said, cocking and eyebrow.

He had just shrugged when a knock came at the boutique door. The young alicorn went out into the salon and opened the door to find Diamond Tiara smiling nervously. He smiled back and she visibly relaxed. She wore a nice purple evening dress and had a blue-diamond tiara perched on her head. He moved aside and held out his wing in a graceful, polite flourish to invite her in. She nodded, surprised at his good manners and entered.

"How was the walk over?" Seamus asked her.

"It was very nice, thank you." She responded cheerily, dropping her usual rude façade.

She walked into the kitchen and smiled awkwardly at the Crusaders.

"Oh… hey Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo." She said to try and ease the tension, which lay so thick in the air one could feel it in their wingtips.

The three fillies glared at her like she was the pariah. Seamus gave them an annoyed look and then they finally spoke to her, a simple, unanimous.

"Hi." Was all they said, one single syllable that held a thousand words of loathing.

He rolled his eyes and turned to Rarity, who was levitating the amazing dinner over to the table. The meal was tense and the only words said were the questions of if who could pass the occasional food item or condiment. Seamus had finally had enough and started a conversation, despite the harsh silence emanating from the three fillies next to him.

"So Diamond, why don't we start some games, or maybe tell me a bit about yourself?" He asked politely.

Scootaloo gave a huge, malevolent and mischievous grin.

"Or how about both?" She said, that cocky, overconfident swagger creeping into her voice. "Let's go upstairs and play my favorite game."

The three looked at each other and smiled gigantic evil smirks. Seamus looked at Rarity, who didn't catch the ill-will in the air and so said they could go to Sweetie Belle's room. He groaned and looked at Diamond Tiara. This wasn't going to end well.

Say, doesn't Diamond Tiara kinda look like… No, that's impossible. Seamus shook his head as he went upstairs. There was no way she could look like him, ever. As they reached a landing, he saw Sweetie Belle open a door and head inside. With no other real option, he went inside after Diamond Tiara.

An exact replica of Rarity's room was inside, down to the same curtains. He saw four beds in the room and them all positioning around a circular rug in the center of the room. He gulped down some air and sat down on the rug.

"Here's the game." Scootaloo said boisterously. "No holds barred Truth or Dare."

Diamond looked from Seamus to the three fillies in near panic.

"The rules are simple, you can't hurt anypony and you can't say no. Anything else goes. We start with me, then we go to Apple Bloom, then it's your turn." She pointed to the guest. "Then it's Seamus's turn and then it's back to me. Any questions?”

Diamond Tiara raised her hoof.

"No, good. Let's start." She continued, totally ignoring her.

Scootaloo looked Diamond Tiara right in the eye. "Diamond Tiara, truth or dare?"

She gulped and said. "Truth."

"Have you bullied us in the past? Give an example, too."

"Yes. About your cutie marks. Constantly." She admitted.

"Mah turn!" Apple Bloom said. "Diamond Tiara, truth or dare?"

"Truth"

"Are you sorry for bullying us?"

"Yes. I'm really sorry." She admitted again, swallowing her pride.

"My turn! Hmm…" Sweetie Belle thought. "Seamus, truth or dare?"

"Truth." He said

"Have you ever had a really big crush? And who was it?"

He looked flustered. "Um… yeah."

"Well? Who was it?" She pressed.

"I forget their name. Something long and complicated." He evaded.

The game went on for another round until it got back to Scootaloo. In the last round Seamus asked Diamond how much she liked him. She spouted some mushy nonsense to him that the young pegasi didn't understand. At this, she got a devious plan to mess with Seamus.

"Seamus, truth or dare?" She asked.

"Dare." He said, accepting the challenge.

"Kiss Apple Bloom, full on the lips for an entire minute, with tongue." She smiled. "Oh, yeah, and then kiss each other's necks for another minute."

Everypony looked at her in shock. It usually didn't get this intense until round ten or twelve. Apple Bloom looked at him, her cheeks flooding in a bright scarlet. He looked back at her and he felt mental locks on his repressed memories unlocking. Something that he really didn't want to remember was trying desperately to surface.

He looked at Scootaloo in a pained expression. "Do I have to?" He asked.

She nodded and suddenly her eyes became deathly slate gray to him. He blinked and shook his head. They were their usual purple. What had just happened to him? He looked back at Apple Bloom. Why were her eyes now an electric blue? He shook his head and looked back at her. Again, they were their normal color. He decided to get this over with.

He sprung at the filly, flying swiftly across the carpet, he landed on her in a way that didn't hurt her, but pushed her to soft carpet. He gently looked at her mystified expression. Without any more delay, he closed his eyes and pressed his smooth lips to hers. She melted underneath him and let out a small sound, it vaguely resembled a moan of pure ecstasy. She slid her soft tongue into his mouth and let out more weak gasps of approval. She ran her hooves over his shoulders and neck, through his long silky mane as she gently pressed his soft pink lips to hers.

Suddenly he felt something else… something he knew but thought he'd long since left behind and forgotten. He opened his own eyes to see two electric eyes piercing him. He pulled away. His thoughts were flying at a million miles-per-hour and he looked elsewhere and around. He saw his old turret suite, and under him lay a pony whose eyes had looked at him like that only once, a long time ago. Until now. The blue pegasaus blinked at him and smiled, its legs pulled close to its small, delicate body that so resembled Seamus's. Its massive wings were spread over the bed and the calm, loving look made Seamus's grip on reality unhinged totally.

He fell on the pony in pure erotic lust, he gently kissed It's neck, licking a line from its nape to it's ear, where he nibbled at it teasingly. Soon he felt it's wings close around him and he lovingly rubbed himself against it's soft stomach, lost in his lucid euphoria. It wrapped it's hooves around his neck as he offered his long horn to it. The pony smiled and took his horn in it's mouth, sucking and moaning in immeasurable pleasure. He let pure magic flow into his horn and it moaned and gasped on him.

Suddenly a massive blow knocked him off the pony. He jumped back up with an enraged snarl on his face. All at once, reality returned in a flash of pain. He wasn't in his old room; he was in Sweetie Belle's, who was looking at his like he was some sort of monster, a terrified look on her face. He looked back to where he was and saw Apple Bloom lying on the floor, a slick line of her coat he's licked from the nape of her neck to her ear. She lay there, still panting and moaning from the need. He looked at Scootaloo, who held a lamp in her hooves, brandishing it, ready to bring it down on his head again.

They all looked at him in fear and confusion. He looked down at his own hooves. What just happened to him? What hellish monster was he becoming?!

Next Chapter: Allow me to explain... Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 40 Minutes