"Because of you."

My hand froze in place and twitched as I was left to wonder what the hell was going on. I knew that Pinkie had some interest in me, but not nearly enough to just fall in love with me. I don't know what the hell I want to do myself, but this was a new level of mind-fuck that I was far from ready to experience.

"Because of me, what?"

Pinkie stared at me for a brief second before she started to look back down the the hardwood floor, playing with her hooves. "Because... I... The things you say, the things you do. You give me a lot of comfort. I feel I want you around. You're like one of my closest friends. Perhaps even closer than anything."

I didn't exactly know how to react. If there is one thing that I know about this pink party mare, it's that she has a bad habit of throwing others off. Her ideas could be left field when you're expecting the ball to land somewhere in center. Even when you think you see it coming, it's not there. She had a gift of eluding me, and this situation was no different. "Pinkie... do you like me?"

She jumped back, starting to sweat nervously. "Like? I've always liked you Non-Non. I just... "

"See us as more than friends?"

"NO! No! Nonononono! I-I-I couldn't! You, no! I like you. I like, really like you, but I can't imagine myself being more than friends with you."

And she also had a bad habit of lying about her personal feelings. "Then why not?"

"No offense, I'm just not ready to be in a relationship with you. I mean, it's not like I really want you to..."

Careful, Pinkie. Your tsundere is showing. Either way, she wasn't being completely honest with me. "How do I know that you're not trying to confess-"

"BECAUSE I'M NOT!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, triggering me to become upset with her in response. I stood up from the bed to challenge her.

"Alright! You don't have to be so pissy about it!"

After our brief exchange of words, the both of us had realized that we had lashed out at each other, something that friends shouldn't do to one another. I felt guilt swell within my chest, causing me to regret what I had said and the manner to which I have said it. An awkward silence fell between us, lasting for several seconds before one of us finally had the courage to speak.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for yelling at you." Pinkie whispered. Her eyes locked onto my feet, crestfallen.

I walked over to her, trying my best to get her to look at me. "Pinkie, I get it. It's not gonna happen, nor will it ever be a thing."

The moment my hand came in contact with her chin, she gently brushed me off and turned her back to me. "Sorry. I don't want to be anything more than friends with you. You... I just want you to be close to me. I can have you close by and not be in that kind of relationship with you."

Haven't I been in this situation before? Yeah, with Melanie to be more specific. The only difference was that I didn't have the sexual drive to Pinkie that I did to Melanie when I had first met her. At the very least, I was okay with Pinkie's decision to stay the way we are. "So we'll be friends. I have no problem with that."

"I..." Pinkie sighed and turned herself back to me. She gave me a gentle smile before opening her hooves in request of a hug. "Yeah. We'll be friends."

"Great." I answered back, accepting her offer.

She and I hugged each other for an extended amount of time. Our embrace became full and heartwarming. I could still smell the vanilla frosting that littered her body. Her hooves slowly ran up and down the length of my back as she held on to me. "Yup. The best of friends."

I broke away from her, noticing that her words had sounded rather melancholy. I looked at her, seeing that she was wearing her usual masking smile. "You sure you're okay?"

She poked me in the nose, smiling all the while. "I'm fine, silly. I just need to clean up."

The pink mare turned away, finally walking out of the room. I could see that the thin smile she wore had finally dissolved into a frown. Hoping to see her smile, I cracked a joke at her. "Don't run all the hot water out."

She cracked the door as she left, but stood motionless outside of the room. She popped her head back in and I saw the same look she wore when she found out that Caramel was looking for her. Her mane had somewhat deflated, her eyes had went from a warm gleam to a icy, hopeless glow. The circles formed under her eyes as she avoided the sight of me. Her voice became weak and quiet. "You know, you can be a bit dense."

She finally closed the door on me, leaving me perplexed at her statement. I really didn't know how to respond to that. It was unpredictable. I didn't even think something like that would even leave her mouth, let alone the very idea of her calling me dense. The only thing I could do was scratch my head.

"Where did that come from?"

It's been a month since my moving into the bakery. Since then, I had found the life of a baker to be taxing. The days were sometimes long and grueling while others were more laid back and relaxed. Some of the customers were very selective, to put it nicely, when it came to me filling out their orders. I guess with me being the new face in the business, I could understand why. It wasn't me being a human, as they'd interact with me like they would any other pony, as much as it was that I was still fresh on the staff.

Sugarcube Corner was often a bustling business in the middle of the day. By five in the morning, I'd wake up, shower, do inventory, rinse off all of the tools for the baking, grease the pans, help feed the twins, clean off the tables and start making the dough for the first orders of the day. After that, we'd open the bakery by six, receiving the first handful of customers. Usually, they'd ask for frappuccinos and bagels. After that crowd, then the more serious orders start to come out. We'd have businesses sending over errand-colts to fetch in large orders of pastries, danishes, doughnuts, croissants, bagels and cinnamon buns.

By late morning, the eleven o'clock hour to be more precise, orders for birthdays had rolled in and we were busy rolling out cakes. Not only did we have those orders to fill but also the lunch orders started to roll in. Once again, errand-colts ran across the way to get orders for the co-workers. Large sums of pastries and cupcakes ran through the bakery as quickly as possible. This time, we'd even have clients from schools who'd purchase in-mass to feed their classes. That's where Pinkie's catering skills come in handy. The only downside is that it left only one of us to tend to the register.

The late afternoon was similar to a fire sale. The Cakes were already clocking out and didn't want a bunch of goods to carry over from day to day. So the 'everything must go' sales pitch applied here. By now, you had a rush of customers catching some absurd deals on goods that lasted the entire day. A dozen cupcakes, which would normally cost around seven bits, ran for two. Pastries sold like hotcakes and by the end of the business day, the display case was almost barren. Whatever was left over, Pinkie would have it given to less privileged families at no cost.

At first, I thought my concern would be that if they had given away so much, they'd lose out on profits. But thanks largely in part of the business that we'd get outside of Ponyville, we'd still keep the bakery above the water level. If there was any moment that we knew that there was to be a royal shipment to Canterlot, we'd know that there would be a large, and I mean LARGE, profit from the transactions.

In short, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were avid cake lovers.

By the end of the bi-weekly period, the checks finally get cut. While my check didn't originally didn't seem like a whole lot, I did keep in mind that my living expenses, consisting of utilities, groceries and small insurance fee, I had still come out with a decent profit. I wasn't one to complain about how the transactions were made, mainly because they were honest ponies. If this had been someone else, then I would've questioned their intentions. But so far, I have yet to come out of this situation unhappy. I was getting paid respectfully and I was very content with that.

In speaking of unhappy, I still haven't seen Twilight since our brief encounter in the castle. It seems that things have not simmered down as of yet, but the girls are nice enough to keep me updated. I still run errands from time to time, but it just so happens that Pinkie is there for over ninety percent of the time. Aside from that, I go out and help the others as long as Twilight isn't there with me.

Her request, not mine.

But I have managed to fit myself into a groove with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, even becoming an honorary member. On the days I spent my time with them, we'd do various activities that left us striving to breathe or frustrated. But either way, we still had tons of fun. Spike and I are still on neutral terms when it came to our interaction with one another. He was still suspicious of me since I had moved out of the castle. He knew what had went on between me and Twilight, and now he was trying to make sure that I wasn't trying to put the moves on Rarity instead.

I gotta hand it to that little guy, his dedication to protect her feelings was top-notch.

As far as the portal back to my world, the status is unknown. I guess since my departure from the castle, I had found myself in lack of that bit of information. As usual, my sexual deprivation continued to get worse, thanks to how busy I've become since last month. I'd start masturbating, but my body would soon enter shutdown mode before my imagination had started to get me going. Add all of that to the constant sexual tension growing between me and Pinkie Pie. She was a tease beyond words, yet her verbal disinterest, as well as my growing pain to see Twilight again, had pushed me back from even trying to get anything started. She still gives out hints that she does like me, but she still won't admit to them. She's still attached to that one guy named Cheese Sandwich.

I just hope that this trip to Badland Flats would take her mind off of things.

"Non-non, come downstairs!"

While I held onto the suitcase for dear life, I stumbled down the stairs, concerned that Pinkie might've been in trouble. As soon as I hit ground level, I set my bags down and ran up to her. "What's wrong?"

"Doi, we're gonna be late for the train!"

Rolling my eyes and giving myself a face-full of palm, I shook my head in disappointment. "The way you were screaming at me was almost like you were in some sort of trouble."

Pinkie ran to me, her muzzle pressing against my nose. "We're gonna be in bit trouble if we're late to the train station."

"Pinkie, the train we ride on doesn't even come into town till the next hour." I advised, looking at the clock on the wall that read 9:32 in the morning.

"I know that! But we still have to say goodbye to everypony!"

I took a deep breath, cringing at the thought of her going around the town to bid ponies farewell. "Just how much of everypony do you intend to say goodbye to?"

"Everypony in town! So I'd have to-"

There was no way I was going to let her run around town and say goodbye to every single pony. That would really make us late more than anything. Interrupting her explanation, I offered a better idea. "Pinkie, wouldn't the girls be enough? I'm sure that everypony doesn't need to know where we're going."

"But what if something was to happen to the trai-"

"Pinkie, the train is the safest method of travel right now." I could even argue that for my world with all the drama going on right now.

"I know, but-"

"We're just going to see your family on the rock farm. Is it all that bad?"

Pinkie paused for a quick second before she spoke. "Well... To be honest, Momma Pie's been wanting to meet you since that big case against you broke out. Dad's also been wanting to have a long talk with you. He said he didn't get a proper introduction to you because of the big case."

So I'm meeting her ma and pa. If their dull outwardly appearance is anything to go by, then I'd say I was going to have one of the most uninteresting times of my life. Well Sally-Sandpaper! I can't wait until the paint dries! "Okay. Did they say what we were going to talk about, anything specifically?"

She gave me a playful nudge, all while taking my bag to the door. "They just want to get to know you, Nonzie. It's not that much to ask."

"Pinkie, I'm just saying that I don't know if your parents would even like me." I admitted.

She cocked an eyebrow as she tilted her head to the side. "Why not?"

I looked at myself, raising my arms and twiddling my fingers in front of her to emphasize my point. "Because I'm not a pony."

If Shining Armor was anything to go by, then I'm pretty sure that they would be more purist than he was, is and ever will be. I can only assume that they'd crucify me or run me out of town trying. I just hope that the circus from two month prior had put a damper on that to where it's not so extreme.

"My parents aren't as conservative as you'd think. And plus you managed to score some serious brownie points for... well... that incident with Caramel."

Oh yeah, that epic ass-beating. Wow, I still can't believe I managed to come out of that alive. At the very least my headaches have gotten less painful and my nosebleeds non-existent. I guess I can thank Pinkie's sisters when we get off the train. "Right. That. So shouldn't we be going?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

She jumped up and looked at the clock. The time had shown that a full twenty minutes of bickering had left us with less time. "Oh, pickles! We really gotta leave! NOW!"

As she tossed the bags outside, she ran back to push me out the door. Trying to slam the breaks on her program, I tried to reason with her once more. "Pinkie, calm down."

"No way! I'm not calming down until we hit the train station! But before that, we have to say goodbye to everypony."

"What if I told you that they all were at the train station to wish us a safe trip? You know, something I had arranged for us to do so that this wouldn't take so long." I responded in deadpan.

Immediately, she stopped pushing me. "Oh. I guess that's a little easier to manage." She said, smiling and squeeing like a toy duck.

You think?

The train ride to the station in Badland Flats was a lengthly one. For a majority of the trip, she laid herself in my lap. As I watched over her, my mind had wandered back to the train station in Ponyville. Everyone was there to send us off, but there was one pony there who chose not to speak so much.

You guessed it. Twilight.

She would speak to Pinkie and acknowledged her whenever she had said something to her. But when I went to speak, I was consistently ignored. I could understand her desire to keep herself distant for my safety, but at this rate she seemed as if she was trying to keep herself under quarantine. I'd say hello, her attention would go to the others. It had gotten to the point where I eventually gotten frustrated and ignored her altogether.

Walking away from the platform, I went inside of the station to get myself something to drink. As I did, I saw Twilight following me inside. Continuing to ignore her, I had my drink as she only watched me. After several more minutes of it, I finally spoke to her.

"So, you wanna go on ahead and tell me why you're just stalking me?"

"..." She turned away, looking somewhere else as I walked right in front of her.

"So you're gonna try to ignore me while I'm in your face now?"

"..." Her eyes, not once did they even look my way. They acknowledged my presence and yet they still looked elsewhere.

I was more than fed up with it. "God dammit, Twi! Speak. To. Me!" I commanded through clenched teeth, almost wanting to place my hand on her jaw and force her to look at me in frustration.

Tears started to brim in her eyes as her lips finally parted. But instead of words, only faint gasps and sniffles had left her. I welled up in disgust over her response, or lack thereof. Finally realizing that I was a bit forceful, I decided to calm myself and lower my tone. As she looked at me, I took a knee, meeting with her just above her eye level.

"Twi, speak to me. Please. I haven't heard from you in so long. Just say something. 'Hello. Leave me alone. Fuck you. Go away.' Something, anything, please."

Her tears finally fell from her face as she quietly looked away from me. I tried to move to her direction, but she turned away. As I tried to reach out to her, she teleported to the other side of the room.

I felt myself ready to burst with anger. Shaking my head silently, I stormed off to the bathroom. Slamming the door behind me, I walked to the counter and ran some water at the highest level possible. After I did one sink, I move to the next, repeating my actions until every single sink was running full of water. Slamming my fists into the counter, I finally let out my bottled rage.

"FUCK!"

As I stared at myself in the reflection, I could see that, for the first time in a long time, my nosebleed came back up. My head was pulsing along with my increased heart rate. The unbearable pain of my headache sent me to the floor. I cursed myself for becoming this angry. My teeth gritted as I sat through the grating pain. The engraved image of her reactions seemed to have fueled my pain even more. I pounded my fists against the floor I sat on, hoping to let my hands take the beating rather than my brain. But as I did, a new sound came from the outside of the door.

As I looked over, I could see a letter being slipped under the door by use of magic. I knew it was Twilight who tried to ship the letter because of the magenta glow. It was unmatched by any other with the exemption of her brother. I reached out for it, taking it from the magical grasp. Instantly, the aura broke and I heard the familiar sound of hooves galloping off to the distance. I opened the letter quickly, hoping to get something from her. Answers, follow-ups, anything that could be useful. But instead, I had only gotten a paper full of empty space and a signature of two words.

I stood to my feet, opening the door, hoping to see her still. When I saw that she was out of sight, I called her name.

"Non-Non?"

"Huh?" I responded, snapping back to the present. I looked back down to see Pinkie hugging me tightly.

"Nondis, I know you're frustrated. But please, just forget about it. Okay?"

I looked over to my left, watching my fist as it unraveled itself. The very thought of what had happened at the train station was still troubling me. And all Pinkie wanted me to do was to cast it to the side.

In a way, she had a point.

This was supposed to be a time away from work, away from the stress of daily life, away from having to wonder what's all going on. I shouldn't have to focus myself on anything that would cause me any sort of pain. I needed to put all of this aside and just have fun. Or at least try to.

The train whistle sounded as we started to gradually slow down. I looked outside to see a rather depressing scenery. All I could see for miles on end were rocks. I could see a train station set upon a craggy steppe, mountains and buttes in the far distance. A few boulders were set at the end of the line. I had assumed that a landslide had taken place. I suppose that could be a problem for us, being that our destination was a little further south.

"We're here." Pinkie said softly as she rose off of me.

I blinked twice and looked back out to the station and to Pinkie. "We're where?" I asked.

"This is Badland Flats, my home."

I know it's rude to knock one's hometown, but seriously... What fucking planet am I even on? What happened to us being in Equestria? The rich shades of green, the crystal transparency of the waters, the trees waiving in the wind, the ponies traveling up and down the street, there wasn't anything like that here. It almost seemed as if we had traveled back into a primordial age, or more towards a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

And don't even get me started on how such a lively pony such as Pinkie Pie was even conceived and raised in such a desolate location. She seemed so... out of place.

I grabbed my bag and took to the train's exit. As I looked back over to the large boulders blocking the rails, I turned my attention back to Pinkie. "Hey, you think the train would be delayed a little longer, thanks to that rockslide?"

"Actually, this is the end of the line. Anything further south of here is dragon country." She answered as she dragged her bag along. As she was dragging it, I had taken notice of the colorful streamers and confetti that trailed behind it.

A stark contrast of color in comparison to the gray and lifeless world I was introduced to.

"Hey, don't you think with our-"

"The farm is about three miles out. We can hoof it from here." She said enthusiastically.

Somehow, I had a feeling that I wasn't going to enjoy the scenic route all that much.

About three miles and forty minutes of walking later, my arms had started to feel like freshly-cooked spaghetti. I had to carry my bags for a majority of the way due to the inconsistency of the ground. If I had to roll this thing anymore than what I did, then the wheels would've broken off, something that I wouldn't look forward to when I had gotten back to Ponyville. Pinkie continued her upbeat pace until we had reached the outside gates of an old farm. I had started to walk right past it if it wasn't for Pinkie grabbing my attention.

"Non-nums, you're gonna miss our turn."

I stopped to look back to her, seeing that I had left her behind. As I walked back to her, I could see her opening the lock on the gate. "So this is our stopping point for the day?"

"Actually, we're here. This is the rock farm my family has owned for generations now."

I looked at the craggy, gray, lifeless scene and all I could see was a rusty silo, a barn, a house and a busted windmill with a blade or three missing.

As we walked onto the farm, it took us a little bit more walking to get to the house. My mood was already sour from the events in Ponyville, this place just seemed to depress me even more. I know I sound like I'm complaining, but even with my grandparents running a farm in the country, we still had some greenery to ease our boredom. This was as dull as a sack of rocks.

No pun intended.

"♫We're heeere!♪" She sang loudly, hoping to get the attention of whoever was here.

As we approached the house, the front door opened and revealed a mature brown colt with gray hair and yellow eyes. Following him was a light gray mature mare with grayish-green mane wrapped in a bun. As they both came out, two other mares dashed out to greet us. It was then where I had met the familiar faces of Blinkie and Inkie. The quickly embraced Pinkie with open hooves, welcoming me as well.

"Huh, that strange." I mumbled out loud. "Shouldn't there be more of you guys. Where's Maud?"

"I'm right here." She sounded as she came out from behind me, causing me to jump.

"Ah! Where did you come from?"

Maud walked up to her sister, giving her a quick nuzzle. "I was taking Boulder out for his afternoon walk. He likes the fresh air."

Honestly, there was nothing fresh here. The only thing I can smell was the dust in the air. "Well... who doesn't?" I asked nervously.

There was little exchange between me an anyone else as I uneasily looked to the family of six ponies in front of me. The stallion walked up to me, tilting his body to get a better view of me. "So, you're that one guy that stood up for Pinkie." He said with a similar southern drawl like mine.

"Mr. Igneous, right? I can honestly say that it's an honor to meet you for a second time." I said, quietly bringing my hand out to shake his. Er... hoof. I'm still not exactly used to formal greetings with ponies.

Looking at my hand with obvious disgust, he rejected my formality out of concern for my appearance. "Quite. Where ya from, boy?"

"Texas."

He looked at me with an expression that could be read in only one way: this boy is stupid beyond words. "Son, that a size. Not a place of residence."

"Well, in my world where I'm from, it's a state." I added, hoping to clarify the subject.

"Does it have a city?"

Counting out the cities on my hand, I named the ones that came off the top of my head. "Lots. Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Waco, Arlington, Austin's where I was born and raised, the list goes on. It's a pretty big state."

"So I take it that everything's bigger there too?" He asked sarcastically, still not believing me.

Surprisingly, yes. "You could say that. They always say in my country that everything's bigger in Texas."

"Hmm... I suppose you don't know what kind of minerals are there, do you?"

Figures, rocks is all he knew what to talk about. Texas geography, don't fail me now. "Um... granite and cinnabar? I think you can find some nice Llanite if you look hard enough."

His mocking expressions had completely melted off of his face. It seemed that my talk of minerals had managed to somehow convince his one-track mind that the land of Texas had actually existed. Even his wife started to share his disbelief. Maud seemed to show an interest, or not. Inkie and Blinkie had definitely shown interest.

"How about Amethyst?" Inkie asked curiously.

"The most common kinds are purple."

The family started to mumble amongst themselves. Pinkie pranced up and down as she saw that they were warming up a bit. "I told you guys that you would like him!"

"Pinkie, why don't you get your stuff settled in your room." The elder mare instructed to her daughter.

"Will do, ma." The pink party mare sounded off as she grabbed my bags, as well as hers, and left to the inside of the house. Inkie, Blinkie and Maud all followed after her.

Igneous turned around to follow his daughters inside "Why don't ya come on in? Got some refreshments inside."

His wife quickly trotted behind me to push me in after him. "And I can make you a mean batch of rock quarry tea."

So being that this is a family that specializes in rocks of all sorts, is it possible that they could actually make tea from a rock? I heard from Pinkie that they could make rock candy from actual rocks. But to actually brew it into a batch of tea, I think I'm a little more than confused. Next, they'll be telling me that you could actually get blood from a stone.

"Heh heh... I can't wait."

Squeak. Creak. Squeak. Creak. Squeak. Creak.

That is the sound that I've been hearing since the four sisters retired to the upstairs rooms, all while I sat in the den of the Pie Family home. Igneous continued to rock back and forth silently, reading his newspaper as his wife, Quartz, hummed in the confines of the kitchen. For ten minutes, I was treated to nothing but the grating sound of the wooden rocking chair swinging back and forth.

Squeak. Creak. Squeak. Creak. Squeak. Creak.

The ticking of the clock became a metronome of sorts. I had actually started to catch a pattern of the squeaks in correlation to the sixty seconds that ticked off of the grandfather clock on the other side of the room. I silently listened in for the seconds that burned off the clock, represented by T, as well as the timing between squeak, represented by S, and creak, represented by C.

You know you've lost your mind id you're calculating the sounds of a rocking chair to that of a clock as if it was a math equation. But when you're bored, you gotta do whatever it takes to keep yourself from going completely ape shit.

Squeak. Creak. Squeak. Creak. Squeak. Creak.

So as the seconds went by, my mind started to calculate the equation as a wave line. S being the peak and C being the trough. Every three seconds, the wavelength would match up with that of the clock. And within those three seconds I had calculated two S's and two C's. 2S+2C=3T. Sixty divided by three equals twenty. Twenty multiplied by two equals forty. In the end, every minute, I had heard that fucking chair go 'squeak and creek' a total of forty times. Now lets multiply that by ten.

I CAN'T FUCKING TAKE THIS SHIT ANYMORE!

No seriously, I could pull the skin off of my skull and dig into my brains with a wooden spoon. That's how fucking annoyed I am right now. There's jack shit for me to do here. I've started to know what fucking notes the damn squeaks and creaks sounded like. I'm about to lose my fucking mind.

"You hear that sound, boy?" Igneous muttered from behind the page of the newspaper, aptly named the Equestrian Informer. "That is the sound of the Pie Family pride. Generations of rock farmers sat here in this very spot, doing what we do now. Reading our newspapers for weather changes, our wives making us batches of tea and our foals upstairs, studying to carry on with our family tradition."

Really, I couldn't hear that much past the sound of a handsaw cleaving through my skull. At this point, I'd be lucky to hear myself think.

"Years ago, I sat where you once did. My father-in-law sat here in this old chair, rocking in it as I do now. I couldn't stand how he used to be silent for minutes at a time. Every now and then, he'd find something interesting in the newspaper, causing him to stop rocking. But after a second or two, he'd carry on back to rocking."

This has got to be one of the most troll-like traditions in all of creation. I couldn't believe that he kept his mouth shut, just to annoy the living shit out of me. If he was trying to do this to ward off any potential tail-chasers, then he pretty much won Father of the Year.

"Don't misunderstand, we have a lot to talk about. But just be warned, you won't be the only fella that gets this kind of treatment. I expect to do this with all of my daughters' bring-in's. You just so happen to be the first in a while."

Scratching my head, I thought about who could've been the first to endure this torment. "Who was the first?"

"A city boy. From Manehattan. Don't recall his name, but he never came back after I had put him to work. He had an interest in my eldest daughter, Inkie."

"So, did you have any visitors from then on?"

"Well, Blinkie had brought in a unicorn gal who was lookin' for a place to stay."

"A friend of hers?"

"I'll let Blinkie tell you about that one. She was... an odd character to be honest. Not quite right to me."

Wait, did he just imply that Blinkie was... Nah. "So, any others?"

"You're the third. So no. Pinkie's had her share of colts, but never found pride in them to bring 'em here. Inkie only had that one colt she brought over, so far she hasn't brought him over since. Blinkie just brought that one gal. And Maud doesn't have an interest in relationships, which concerns me."

"I see..." In my opinion, I never took Maud to be one to attract colts. She always seemed so disinterested in anything to even care about being in a full-fledged relationship that could turn into something serious. As a father of four daughters, I could see his concern. The Pie line carries on through the will of those four mares, and neither one has shown to have a promising addition to the family.

Quarts came walking in, holding a tray of cups and a kettle in her mouth. As she sat the items on the table before me, she poured me a steaming cup of tea. "It's not the best in taste, I'll tell you what, but it does causes your nerves to jump. You'll be more cocked than a rooster at dawn."

As I stared at the brown, murky tea before me, I saw Quartz pouring her husband a cup of the steaming beverage. I picked up the cup and the saucer it sat on. Blowing into the cup, I made sure that my first sip wasn't going to disintegrate my tongue upon impact. Finally feeling brave enough, I took my first sip of the tea.

Oh God, what in the actual fuck is this shit!?

I know it's rude to spit out a host's drink so carelessly in front of them, but my body was doing everything it could to make sure that I wasn't going to swallow it. When she had said that it wasn't big in taste, she was clearly understating what the issue really was. Nerves jumping? Yeah, out of a ten-story building with no parachute or bungee wires. Cocked? Like a twelve-gauge, ready to blast chunks. This tea tasted like brine water that's been sitting in a well for over a decade, with sugar and honey to ease the taste.

"How ya feeling, sweetie?" Quartz asked me, smiling.

Swallowing the contents of the cup as quickly as possible, I tried my best to smile. "Not bad, not bad at all."

Igneous rose from his seat, walking towards the stairwell. "Inkie, Blinkie, Maud, come on downstairs. Pinkie, you can stay up there for a minute."

While I tried my best to stomach the bitter-tasting brew, the three summoned mares appeared from the top of the stairs. "Yes?"

"Our guest here seems a bit bored. I want you all to show this young fella here to the southern fields. Break him in with something simple and work him on up. Get him involved and make sure that he stays busy. Ya hear?"

"Yes, sir." The three mares sounded before pulling me out the front door quicker than I could voice my objections. As we made our way out, he called back upstairs.

"Pinkie, you come help your ma cook."

Several hours later, the time had started to grow late. As I came in my work in the fields, I felt my entire body throbbing from the work in the field. If this was something that Applejack had to deal with on a daily basis, then I could see why the Apple Family scarcely has any help with their usual harvest.

Throughout my time here on the farm, I had crushed boulders, hammered rocks, mined for minerals, shifted rocks to certain areas for the sake of erosion due to winds, stacked rocks, broke older stacks down to scatter them across the windy fields, help push a boulder across the field and chiseled some stone out of the quarry. After all of this, then it was time for dinner. Pinkie called the four of us inside. As we all entered, Igneous stood by the door, saying that he wanted to make sure that I had fulfilled my quota.

I don't even work here and I have a quota to fill in order to eat? That's some old bullshit there.

After the girls explained my assignments, he escorted me through the fields. As we toured the areas I worked on, I could feel my heart beating inside of my legs. With each area we toured, he told me what exactly I had did wrong, what I could do to improve and complimented me on what I had did right.

Of course, his version of a compliment was a simple nod before moving on to the next item on the list.

After an evaluation of my efforts on the southern fields, he had come to his conclusion.

"You need to break a few more rocks. You've done a lot in comparison to the last colt Inkie had brought over, but I want you to meet your quota before you come inside and eat."

Fuck! I was out here for six hours. And after all of that hard work, I still need to do more? This is completely bullshit.

He shifted over three rocks, all of them big enough to match the size of my head. Thankfully, I still had strength enough to drive a hammer into all of them. I cracked open the first, revealing some rather impressive jewels. He hummed and nodded his head as he pointed to the next one. I split open the second, seeing that there was very little inside. He only nodded to that as he pointed to the final one. I smashed the third, venting my frustrations as it was a challenge to crack open. He shook his head and pointed back to the splintery remnants of the rock.

"I had you try to break this one so that you could see that not all minerals are to be broken upon excavation. That was the remnants of a mineral called hematite, commonly known as iron ore."

I groaned in defeat as I let my arms rest against the small hammer I held. "So... what do you do with this? Smelt it into iron?"

"That's not our job. We export what ores we can find and they are turned into metals. By then, we are given a percentage of the profits. It sounds like it would make more sense to do this ourselves, but we don't specialize in that kind of work. These ores would be sent to those who could smelt the minerals properly and efficiently."

I get it. They could train themselves to learn how to smelt the minerals, but to do so without the necessary supplies and equipment would prove to be wasteful. All it would do is diminish the quality of the metal. I guess that's why they have specific divisions whenever it came to mining coal, oil and other things back at home.

"But you've done more than enough here. Why don't you head inside? Dinner should be just now getting off the stove."

As I sluggishly walked back to the house, I had noticed that he had started to open up to me about the family profession. He had told me a few details about what else they did here, why they did them, what they also needed to do and how they were preparing to do it.

When we had hit the table, I was more than preparing myself for the meal that I was going to partake in. For the first time in years, I was literally saying grace. Why would I do such a thing? Because after the rock-based tea I had drank earlier, I was just seconds short of blasting my breakfast all over the fields. I didn't even believe in God, yet I was praying in multiple languages as if I was a bible-thumping fanatic.

A good way of seeing if this almighty being existed is to pray that the food was pleasing to the tongue and non-lethal. If he didn't, then I would die. If he did, I'd finish eating my dinner. Of course, I would still question his existence after the very delicious dinner I had managed to receive. After about two to three rounds, I had taken my shower and readied myself for bed. But unfortunately, I was delayed by two things.

The first thing was that they didn't have a bed set up for me. The second thing was that Maud, Inkie and Blinkie were keeping me awake by probing me with questions. Many of which had pertained to the world I had came from. As time progressed, I had told them about our society, what we saw as fun, what our mediums of entertainment were, the parallels of some of the cities here in Equestria.

They literally dropped their jaws through the floor as soon as I had told them that Manehattan had sounded like a pun on the borough of Manhattan. They grew even more shocked when I had said that the population was well over 1.5 million. Then they explained to me that the city of Manehattan, Equestria's largest city, had well over eight-hundred thousand ponies in residence there. So imagine the shit they flipped when I had told them that the city of New York, including Manhattan, was actually eight-million plus. It seemed that the populations varied differently between our dimensions. Their largest city along with their metro was about the size of my hometown, city-wise. Including the metropolitan area of Austin, it's a lot bigger.

It's a small world after all.

After our conversations about my world and it's parallels with this one, the girls and I have decided to change the subject to one that I wasn't too fond of for the moment. Maud, Inkie and Blinkie had started to ask me about my relationships in my world. When I had told them about my not having one that extended past the boundaries of friendship, they stared at me slack-jawed. With everything I did for their baby sister, they were baffled by my inability to attract a mate. I soon clarified that I wasn't exactly the most attractive of my species. In fact, I was consider as one of the more unattractive ones.

At this point, they all had started their own little tirade of why my society, or at least the girls of it, should find an interest in me. But when I had explained to them about my previous life habits and how much Equestria had changed me, they seemed to argue their opinions even more.

"I just don't get it!" Inkie exclaimed as she paced back and forth across the room.

"Inkie, I was a shut-in who didn't care about anyone else. I wasn't going to get any attention even if I wanted it."

Blinkie softly patted me on the back. "I understand that, but still, you've changed for the better. All of Ponyville seemed to be on your side when they had heard what had happened to you. A lot of ponies do care about you, so I just don't see why humans could be any different."

"That's because our views and morals are so skewed. We praise those who'd dance on the stage, shaking their asses, singing songs about money, parties, sex and their emotional breakups, but we wouldn't give five minutes for the ones who sacrificed life and limb for our countries. Sometimes, they're even seen as murderers. Granted, some of those individuals are screwed up, but a majority are still good people."

Maud tilted her head down, still keeping her stoic expression. "Wow, the human world sounds a lot worse than what it is here in Equestria."

"We have our light moments, yeah. But it's just the time we're in. The world is caught in conflict, planes are falling from the sky and running into buildings, the rich is stealing from the poor, political corruption, broken homes, people who judge others for what they do and how they live, people killing each other-"

Blinkie jumped from behind to in front of me, interrupting me. "Can you name one good thing about your world?"

"Huh?"

"Let's say that I was willing to pay your world a visit. What would be your pitch to get me to go there?"

It took me a while to come up with some legitimate reasons to get her to come to my world, despite her inability to do so as well as her disinterest. "Well... Our technology has greatly advanced past what you have in Equestria. Everyone is social in our own way, even me, a shut in, was able to play games online with hundreds of thousands of people around the globe. My country specifically, you didn't have to worry too much about not having a place to stay. We have homeless shelters. Some of us care for our environment. We all care for each other if we become close enough."

Inkie grew a devious smirk as she opted to change the subject. "In speaking of close enough, what do you think about our sister?"

Maud hummed in agreement. "Yeah. I don't know if you've noticed, but she seems to really have a thing for you."

What do I tell them? What do I say? I know that this isn't Pinkie who's asking me these kind of questions, but I'm still nervous about answering them. But I know that I shouldn't take too long to answer. "Well... I... Like her. But as a friend. She said that she wanted us to be friends."

The three mares stared at me in silence, questioning my response. Maud was the first to break the looming silence. "That's it?"

"Well-"

Blinkie, completely dumbfounded at my short response, was the first to object to my response. "No way that's what you think of our baby sister. To take a beating like you did and just say something so casual."

"Really. I'm serious."

"When you got into that fight that evening, we heard you yelling at Caramel from way down the street." Inkie recalled as she went on to speak. "You were screaming at him about how you thought Pinkie was special, beautiful, wonderful."

"You even said that she was awesome and funny." Blinkie cheerfully added.

Dropping my head in defeat, I confirmed their statements. "She is. She's all of those things. No one should have to validate her on that."

"So is she special to you?" Maud asked outwardly.

"Yes! For fucks sake, she's my friend."

Blinkie jumped back into the conversation as she walked over to her bed. "Didn't you say that she said, and I quote, being friends is all she ever wanted you two to be?"

"Well, yeah-"

All three of the sisters moaned in disgust. "And you believed that!? For how long?" Inkie asked.

"Well, she told me that a month ago."

"Don't you live with her?" Maud inquired.

"I do, for now."

The questions came flying at me like bullets in a war zone. My only way to counter their offensive was to answer them as quickly as I could. Inkie was the next one to fire her weapon. "Has she ever spent some alone time with you? Not like that, but just in general?"

"Of course."

Blinkie fired next. "How often is it?"

"Like every night."

Maud took her shot at me next. "Are you really that dumb?"

"Trust me, I asked her about it just last month. All she did was yell at me."

The three ponies sighed, finally giving me some time to recover from the onslaught of questions. Inkie laughed to herself. "That's typical Pinkamena for you."

I crooked my head to the side, still questioning what Inkie had meant by her statement. "Why do you say that?"

Maud placed her hooves on my hands. As I looked at her, I could no longer see the stoic expression that she was so fond of wearing. Instead, I had saw genuine worry. Even the tone of her voice had lightened. "Because, Pinkie has a habit of keeping secrets. She makes promises to others and would even go to extremes to keep those secrets from getting out. She does the same thing to herself at times. What she says to you may be, and I repeat, may be an invitation to go even further with her."

I think I'm starting to get it. Now I can see how she could be so resilient on why she wanted to keep me at a distance. It all makes sense now. "So, you're saying that Pinkie actually-"

"WHATCHA DOIN!?"

"SHIT!" I screamed, looking back to the pink pony who snuck up behind me. Clasping my chest and collecting my breath, I stared at the pink mare with relief. "Pinkie, don't scare me like that."

Pinkie, who was fresh out of the shower, had decided to bring me a set of sheets as well as a pillow. "Sorry Non-Non. But I came here to tell you that your bed is ready."

Feeling excited, started to happily march out of the room. "Great! Well I guess that's my cue, ladies. I'm gonna hit the hay. Pinkie and I have a train to catch early in the morning."

Pinkie called back to me, causing me to pause in place. "Actually, Nonz... The train is delayed until sometime tomorrow afternoon. We wouldn't get back to Ponyville until sometime in the evening. So you can relax and sleep in come tomorrow morning, but I'd still prefer that we'd get some sleep now."

"So we can stay up?" I jokingly asked.

"No! You are tired and your energy is drained from all that hard work in the field. You need to rest." She chided, pushing me out of their bedroom and into the guest room next door.

"Okay."

Pinkie walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. "Goodnight, Nonzie."

"Night, Pinkie." I called back out to her.

Remaining quiet, I crept up to the door and opened it just a crack. As I opened my ears to hear what was going on down the hall, I had heard Pinkie's hoofsteps walking down the hall and into the other room. "What's been going on, ladies?"

"Pinkie, we were just talking about how he was living with you and the relationship you two have." Blinkie's voice sounded out from further down the hall.

"We don't have a relationship." Pinkie answered, sounding depressed.

"Pinkie, we all know what you want. Even he knows it. Just tell him already." Inkie advised.

"...I will on my own time."

"Pinkie, you don't have time. What if he leaves to his world tomorrow?" Blinkie voiced, sharing her disdain for her younger sister's inability to tell me the truth.

"He isn't! I just need some time to get everything sorted out."

Maud took an even darker approach. "You know, you could never get a chance to say it to him. Who's to say that he doesn't wake up in the morning?"

"Don't speak like that. DON'T EVER SAY THAT AGAIN!" Pinkie shouted to the top of her lungs. If I was surprised by her sudden outburst, then I'm pretty sure that the others were as well.

"Pinkie-"

"I know what I feel! And..." I heard the sound of a body flopping into a mattress. Suddenly, Pinkie's voice became muffled. "I'm just so confused."

"Over what?" Inkie questioned her baby sister.

"...The day before we came here... I had gotten my letter from Cheese Sandwich."

My eyes had shot open. I remembered that she had a thing for him, but I had almost forgotten that he would be sending her a letter to tell her whether he'd still go after her or if he had decided to move on. I couldn't believe that she had gotten the letter and didn't even bother to tell me.

Or then again, she was good at hiding secrets. That was always her major flaw.

"Oh. So what did he say?" Blinkie asked while I leaned my ear even further into the hallway.

"...Goodnight girls."

To my disappointment, she had completely dismissed the question and started to go to her bed. I removed myself from the doorway. Closing the door, I could still hear Maud talking to her younger sister. "Pinkie, you can't run away from this."

"I know. I just need some time to work it all out is all."

"You talk to him tomorrow or we will." Inkie sternly warned her younger sister.

"Goodnight girls." Pinkie answered dismissively. I could still hear the creaking of a mattress next door. I assumed that it was her finally turning herself in for the night.

"Goodnight, ya big mule." Blinkie joked as the other girls followed the example of their youngest sibling.

I stayed awake a little longer than what I would've liked. My mind was filled with questions, all of which concerned my opinion towards Pinkie. At the very least, she validated my suspicions from last month. But there was still the matter of the letter. What did Cheese say? Why didn't she answer them? Why is she avoiding the subject so much? I guess I'll have to find out tomorrow.

Morning came and gone. As I allowed myself to rest, I prepared myself to take my baggage in my arms again. But luckily, the afternoon came and we were both escorted to the train station. Maud carried my bag for me out of a request from Pinkie. And judging from the girls decision not to pull me to the side, I was going to get the truth from Pinkie today. At least I knew what was coming.

I knew what she had felt for me, but she didn't know what I had felt towards her.

The rocks that stood in front of the tracks had been cleared, allowing the train to make a round about and come back to the station. As we loaded up our belongings, Pinkie avoided any conversation with me. But despite her lack of words, her actions were very apparent. While she didn't say anything, she stayed extremely close to me. Almost every second, I could feel her pink coat brushing up against my skin. Everywhere I walked, she followed. Every time I spoke to another pony, she showed some concern and jealousy. And when we had gotten on the train, the first place she sat was on my lap.

I don't know what those girls may have said this morning, but it sure did wake her up a bit.

Hours later. I found myself nodding off to sleep from the long train ride. The occasional bumps on the rail did keep me awake, but Pinkie stayed awake the entire time. The only thing she did was stare at the passing scenery. Eventually, she took her eyes away from the window to look back up to me.

"Non-Non." She finally spoke to me for the first time today. "Do you like staying with me?"

Yawning from boredom, I paid her no mind as I answered her. "Of course I do."

She returned her sights to the window, watching the Everfree Forest pass by. "That's good."

Stretching and cracking my neck, I woke myself up, knowing that Ponyville wasn't even ten minutes from here. "Why did you ask me that?"

"I just wanted to know." She answered as she leaned back into her own seat.

As Ponyville came into view, I could see the bright crystal tree that stood at the heart of the town. Aside from being the tallest building in Ponyville, it stood out from the town. The sunset-lit buildings of Ponyville were more earth-toned and modest in comparison to the gleaming crystal tree that loomed over the town. I caught myself looking at Ponyville, realizing that I had never gotten a chance to leave this place. It also made me realize just how large the town was from a distance. The town was small in population, but large in area. I guess that's because there's a booming agriculture industry here. But there was one thing that became more of a distraction to me.

"Non-nums."

"Yes?" I said as my mind wandered to the large castle in the center of town.

"Do you miss being with Twilight?"

Being honest, I do. Way more than what I'd ever thought possible. "Well, I'm not gonna lie. It's taken some getting used to."

"So if you stayed with me from the start, then would you and I be as close as you and Twilight were?"

That was something to think about. I do remember her being the very first thing I saw when I had first arrived here. Even as we talked about where I could stay, her place was a candidate as the castle and Fluttershy's cottage was. But it was because of Twilight's unusual knowledge of humans behavior and dietary needs that I was left in her care.

Now that I'm thinking about it, why would she ask me something like that? I know that Pinkie can be a bit random when it came to questions, but that question was just weird, even for her. "Where are you getting at?"

"I was just curious."

I chuckled to myself. "Curiosity killed the cat."

"But the satisfaction had brought it back." Pinkie rebutted.

After that, we didn't speak very much. We just watched as the train ran into the town. Passing over the Ponyville Creek, I looked at the pink party pony sitting next to me. Her mane had partially deflated again. Something was on her mind, and I could tell that it wasn't good.

"So... How are things?" I playfully asked, earning a giggle.

"Things are great."

"Well that's nice." I said as I poked her on the muzzle, causing her to laugh some more.

"You're silly." She said as she nudged me a little bit.

"...Why do you like me?"

She stopped laughing and smiled as she looked to the window again, seeing that we were a short ways away from the train station. "I'll tell you when we get home. How does that sound?"

"Well, I would prefer that you told me now."

"Well, I don't wanna say it until we get home."

Groaning in frustration, I threw my arms into the air. "Why not?"

"Because what I want to say to you should stay behind closed doors. Doors that nopony else would have the keys to."

The train station had came into our windows just as we started to stall. Soon, the train came to a screeching halt. Pinkie had grabbed both of our bags and started to run towards the nearest door. Meanwhile, I was still stretching from the long journey. "So you do like me?"

The train whistle sounded, letting us know that it was safe to leave. "This is our stop. Grab your bags."

I had grabbed the handle of my bag, rolling it along as I walked out to the platform. "Pinkie- Ow!"

Before I could finish my sentence, she bit down on my hand, dragging me towards Sugarcube Corner. "We're here. Come on, slowpoke!"

"Pinkie, you're pulling a little too hard." I complained, noting that my arms were still a little sore from yesterday's activities on the rock farm. There wasn't anything too painful about her bite, however.

Running down the streets of Ponyville, I dragged my bag along as Pinkie dragged me towards the bakery. I had only seen her run like this once, and that was when we were being followed. But there was no one following us this time. The only thing that awaited for us at the bakery was privacy. Before long, we had ran through most of Ponyville and stopped at the doorstep of Sugarcube Corner. Flicking her mane, Pinkie tossed a set of keys out and held it in the pink tendril of her front curl.

"We're home." She said, finally letting go of me.

Leaning down to catch my breath, I looked up to the mare that dragged me across town. Literally. "Pinkie, slow down for just one-"

"Do you want to know how I feel about you?" She interrupted, transferring the keys to her hoof.

"Let me guess, you really like me." I answered sarcastically.

Yet despite my mocking tone, the next thing I felt was her lips pressing into mine. My eyes locked onto her with surprise as she pressed herself against me even further. Though the exchange was brief, it was memorable. The taste of cotton candy still lingered on my lips. Two sapphire spheres stared back at me with longing.

"Nondis, I'm gonna warn you. When this door opens, we're going to walk inside. And wherever we stop, whether it's on my bed, the stairs or on top of one of these tables, I'm gonna show you how I felt about you since you saved me from Caramel."

"Pinkie-"

Giving me another peck on the lips, she shushed me with her free foreleg. "No more words, not until we get inside."

"Don't you think we're rushing-"

My words failed to reach her as she started to fumble the keys against the lock. "Come on, you stupid key! Turn left and... GOT IT!"

The door swung wide open as Pinkie dragged me inside. As soon as we walked into the bakery, we were met with a familiar face. Both she and I froze as we saw Cup Cake cleaning off the tables.

"Oh... Hello Mrs. Cake." Pinkie sounded almost shocked that she was even here. I looked to the clock on the wall as it read 6:18 in the evening.

"Pinkie. Thank goodness you've made it home safely." Cup said as she gave her favorite employee a hug. "How was the trip?"

"It was fine. So are you closing up shop this evening?"

Cup sounded nervous as she looked towards the kitchen. "Actually, I'm here because of... well..."

"Pinkie? Pinkie Pie?"

Both Pinkie and I had been caught off-guard by the voice that sounded from the kitchen. As the doors swung wide open, a brown earth-pony stallion with curly hair and green eyes held a box of cupcakes. I looked to Pinkie to ask if she had known him, but her shocked expression showed me that she did. In fact, she knew him all too well.

"Cheese... You're here." She whimpered.

Long chapter. I told myself that I didn't need to update this anymore times this month. I tried to convince myself that I had surpassed the monthly quota of 4 updates.
I don't need to, I don't need to, I don't need to. I don't, but I want to. But here I am with update #6. This time, I'm more than certain that no more updates would come up until next month. I'm trying to shoot for the 4th. I hope that the chapter was somewhat enjoyable.