Later at Canterlot Castle...

Celestia continued to pace back and forth, waiting impatiently for her former student to come out of the operation room. As she did, she continued to speak amongst herself, trying to cheer herself up. Despite her unwillingness to punish Twilight, she knew she had to out of fear that key members of the parliament would vie for her getting her title revoked, and then some. The members of the parliament weren't always too kind to those who wore a crown.

The doors slowly swung open, revealing the doctor and a purple pony walking slowly and dizzily to Celestia.

"Twilight!"

The purple mare leaned lazily against the elder princess, slurring her words as she leaned against her. Celestia then noticed the bandages wrapping around Twilight's midsection. As soon as her eyes met with the dark blotches of blood that spattered from spot to spot, she closed her eyes and held her student with remorse in her heart.

"Nnnngaaahhh... Ceeeleesstia... Aaannnnnhhh..."

"The operation was a resounding success. She'll be perfectly fine. As of now, she's recovering from the anesthetic. She'll straighten up when it wears off. But when it does, she's going to be in a bit of discomfort. I also have some medication for her to take should she want to avoid any surges of pain."

"I understand." Celestia answered as she held the purple pony close to her.

The doctor gave the princess a brown bag full of the medication and bowed before her. "She should take these twice a day, once for every twelve hours. Make sure that she goes no higher than that and that she keeps her bandages changed every so often. Do not give her anything that might trigger a reaction from the drug, that includes any alcoholic beverages. She should also snack up before taking her medicine. Make sure she drinks plenty of fluids and she should be well on her way to a speedy recovery."

"What's her downtime?"

"Roughly one to two weeks."

"Right... I'll take care of her. Thank you for everything."

"Your highness." He said once more, bowing again out of respect.

As Twilight continued to babble on, Celestia proceeded to escort the young pony through the halls towards one of the guest rooms so that she could get a good night's rest. The younger pony dragged herself alongside her superior as the elder whispered to her. "You have done well, but there is one other thing that I wish to do."

The next morning in Ponyville...

...Thank you captain obvious. Would you care to tell me whether or not I'll be using the bathroom as well?

For what? The bathroom?

Not much I can do. Shoulder's busted, remember?

And?

Ugh... Just give me another hour and I'm good. I need the sleep.

I've been up and at it for five out of seven hours that shoud've been designated solely to sleep. And what did I do, toss and turn all fucking night. Thanks to you and this approval process bullshit, I could not close my eyes not even once until like two hours ago.

Can you just leave me alone? Please? I just want some sleep.

Good.

I looked to the golden alarm clock and saw that it was five minutes before nine. With a sigh, my eyes closed as I tried to force myself back to sleep. As I did, I felt a warm presence radiating off the side of my cheek. Cracking one eye open, I could see the sun shining directly on the bed. So I decided to put my head underneath the covers. Once again, I forced myself to sleep. But I was suddenly disturbed by a few guards laughing hardily down the hall. The next thing I decided to do was to grab one of the pillows next to me and slam it on top of my head. And again... I forced myself to sleep.

...Now it's hot as hell under all these sheets. I'm too busy smelling the faint trace of lavender on the pillow, the scent Twilight normally wears. My mind started to run amok with theories pertaining to how she could be punished. How angry she must be because I didn't tell her the truth from yesterday. The guilt finally broke me.

"Fuck dammit!" I screamed loudly into the pillow, eliciting out a few more angry grunts and screams. Finally, I sat up and proceeded to punch the pillow I lied on. After a few blows, I slowed down and dropped my head out of frustration.

The sounds of the guards laughing down the hall, the chirping of the birds, the bright sun beaming off of my face, the clear blue sky, the ambient noises of hooves clopping outside of my door.

...I hated everything right now. "What do you want?"

"Sir, it's your morning wake-up call."

I looked at the clock and read the hands, hoping that they'd somehow turn backwards. The clock read nine.

"Sir?"

"I'm up." I answered groggily, my voice going no higher than a mutter.

"...Sir-"

And then I snapped. "I'M UP!"

"Well, there is an invitation here for you. It's for that one event that the princess usually goes to every now and then. I believe it was called a 'friendship session'."

"...I'll be out in a bit. Just let me get ready."

"Understood, sir."

Dammit, I really didn't think they'd have one today. Then again, I only caught two and missed out on a pair thanks to basic training. But I really didn't want to get out of this bed. Unfortunately, this sunlight facial is not helping me relax.

Celestia must be on a mission for revenge, the sun apparently decided to punish me today. The first thing I wake up to is a blinding beam shining dead on my face. Obviously, Celestia must be really pissed off at me to wake me up in such a manner. Even as I got up, I got an eyeful of sun. I don't know whether to sing 'Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles', or 'Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann'. The only thing I knew was that the blinding object in the sky, formerly used to burn ships at sea, was actually doing quite a number on me. Though 'Disco Inferno by the Trammps' would be a decent runner-up

I walked towards the bathroom, only to get caught by several more rays. Yup, Celly's pissed. I wasn't going to get anymore sleep from the bright-ass orb shining just above my face. Hell, my rampaging thoughts were doing far too much damage as it was. With all of this, I knew that this was not going to be my kind of day.

I walked into the bathroom, took to the shower and walked back out. As I did, I had realized that I had made a critical mistake. Normally when I take showers, I would go to my old room and take them there, mainly because I still had my clothes in that room. But considering that I have yet to move all of my belongings into here, I still had to walk down the hall and grab my things from the other room.

Unwilling to walk around the castle in nothing but a towel, I gathered the clothes I wore before I bathed and wore them again just to walk down the hall. After making my way to my old room, I opened the door and turned to where my dresser was. I closed the door and walked over to pull my clothes out, when suddenly I heard a voice coming from the bathroom.

"I'm awesome, take caution, watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna-GAAHAAA!!!"

The next thing I saw was a large bar of soap quickly honing in on my face... This is really not my day.

"OW, FUCK!"

"Get out, you perv!"

I pulled myself together to look at the flame-enraged unicorn. "What? You're in my r-r-roohooo..."

I think my brain malfunctioned as soon as I saw Sunset Shimmer standing just outside of my bathroom, wearing a pair of black, lacy panties on her posterior, accenting the voluptuous curves of her flank. Stop looking. I couldn't help but to remain astounded of her build. Stop. Looking. My eyes started to kinda ogle at her tail swishing from side to side. There will be irreversible consequences should your eyes remain fixated on her. Normally, something like this would never happen, but the fact that she was wearing something did bring attention to it, and led much to the imagination... Hmm, I wonder what Twilight would look like in a pair of those.

NO! I am not doing this! I am in a relationship, and I should not be looking at other mares in such a lewd manner. I quickly shut my eyes and turned around. "Sorry! Really didn't mean to walk in on you."

"Whatever, just please don't look!"

And then I had realized that ponies walk around naked all of the time. So why was she wearing a pair of panties in the first place? "Wait a minute, equines don't normally wear clothes!" I shouted back as I was making a dash for my dresser, suddenly finding myself teleported outside of the room.

"Well I'm just as human as you are. So if you don't mind giving me a bit of privacy!"

"You weren't wearing those yesterday!"

"I'm sorry, I get really uncomfortable from not wearing clothes. Okay!? That's just what I've been getting used to doing."

I decided to give her that argument, considering that she's been spending time in her version of the human world. I shouldn't be all that surprised that she called me a pervert. Honestly, I've just recently started to break out of my teenage obsession over pornographic material. But that's just a subject that I shall keep to myself.

"Sorry. I came in here to get some of my clothes."

Sunset watched as I pulled open a drawer, revealing a bunch of boxer-briefs and socks. She tilted her head as she peeked inside. "Really?... These are your clothes?"

"Yeah."

She then looked back to herself. "I mean... wow... I didn't know you had a thing for... you know..."

"What?" I questioned, unsure as to what direction this conversation was going.

"Well..." She paused for a quick moment and sat down, placing her forelegs in front of her belly in an attempt to cover herself. "...These panties were kinda inside your drawer."

...Come again? "Say what now?"

The yellow unicorn sucked air through her teeth as she cringed. "Yeeeaah... These... are... actually... yours. I kinda appropriated them for a quick second."

Oh no. No no no, those are not mine. Those are clearly someone else's. I don't wear that kind of stuff, especially if it fits a pony... Yup, that's the key. "Sorry, but I think you forgot to look at a key element in this situation. For one, I don't do black lace." Haven't done so since that one time last year, for strictly fraternal reasons. "And two, those are built with the equine body in mind."

Sunset looked back down and shifted herself slightly. "Well, they are kinda cozy. I admit when I first put them on, they were a bit snug on the cheeks. I guess these were made to put emphasis on the curves. Not a bad fit though."

I started to turn a slight shade of red as I spoke. "And... there's a small v-shaped cut to accommodate... you know... the dock."

Sunset flicked her tail, seeing that she had ample room and ability to do so. "Well you do have a point there, it does feel kinda ni- HEY! STOP LOOKING AT MY ASS, YOU PERV!" She shouted, moving her tail just in front of her to cover herself up some more.

I tried to hush her for a moment before we'd get any unwanted attention. Waiving my hands, I urged her to keep it quiet. "I'm just stating the obvious. In a human pair of underwear, your tail would be crunched up against the elastic band. That's just it."

She gave me a critical stare, as if she was still certain that I had perverted intentions. "You know, you're very observant when it comes to equine lingerie."

I had a very good reason why I was so observant, a damn good one at that. "One word: Rarity. She makes all of my clothes. Not only that, but I also help her carry some of the materials. So she explains these kinds of things to me, along with the adjustments she had to make for me, before she makes them"

Sunset took a sharp intake of air, gasping at my statement. "Oh! I didn't know that she was making your clothes. To think you got a fashionista making your entire wardrobe for you. Well look at you with the special treatment." She joked, poking a hoof at me.

"Well, I... Wait a minute. That still doesn't explain why those were in my drawer to begin with." I said, walking over to the dresser again and checking for any more unwanted garments.

"Well, do you think these belong to Twilight? I could easily say that she's the type to... tease you a bit."

Oh you have no fucking idea. "Well, yeah. But..." I thought of the panties she wore, removing her out of them and placing Twilight in them instead.

Yeah, I could already see her saying that as soon as I'd get them on via construction winch. And I could already see the oversized purple cheeks bulging out of the distorted material. I could already hear the creaking and ripping of fabric as she tried to walk around in them. I could even see her completely busting the seams if she even tried to wear these for more than thirty seconds. Her body was too big, height, weight, and muscle-wise for her to be able to fit in those.

"Yeah, those are a bit too small." I concluded.

"So that just leaves the question, why were these in your drawer?" She asked, still holding her tail against her body.

"Well..." My mind ran through numerous possibilities. It could be possible that a pony left them in there. But who would leave lacy underwear in a man's dresser for the sole purpose of seeing the reaction? Fluttershy isn't like that at all, Rarity doesn't really come in here, Spike would've probably done it out of jealousy, Twilight wouldn't tease me with something she couldn't wear herself, Pinkie Pie would probably done this as a prank...

Prank... Applejack and Rainbow Dash... Yup.

"Yeah, this has got to be a stupid-ass prank. And I already have in mind who did it." I said as I continued to rumble through my drawer and pull out some clean underwear to put on.

"Well whoever it was, they got you good." She spoke with a snicker.

"They're just as immature as ever." I said with the two suspects in mind. "Now if I can, could I get dressed?"

Sunset perked up and shut her eyes. "Are you nuts!? I'm a girl, you can't just get dressed in front of me!"

"She does have a point, Nondis."

The two of us immediately turned back to the door to see the source of the third voice, Twilight stood at the door wearing a dark blue cloak over herself. She seemed a bit lifeless as she looked back at the both of us, producing a neutral expression as she started to walked into the room. Sunset quickly trotted over to greet the pony standing in the doorway. "Twilight! I didn't know you were going to be back from Canterlot so soon. How's was the trip?"

"It..." She hesitated for a moment, looking at me and back to her. "Could I ask why you're in Nondis' room?"

Sunset's jaw dropped as she looked around, seeing the room as just another guest room. "Wait, this is his room? I thought he slept with you."

"He does, mainly because I have his mattress. But that aside, what are you wearing?"

Sunset looked back to the black lacy panties she wore and shrieked. "No! This is NOT what it looks like! I swear! I just found these in his dresser!"

She had to say they were in my drawer. This just makes things so unnecessarily difficult. Twilight then turned her attention to me, wearing a very angry scowl. "So... what were those doing in your dresser?"

"Twilight, this is a prank. Just yesterday, these weren't in my drawer. Suddenly when-"

"And why is Sunset here in your room to begin with?"

I could already tell that this session of twenty questions were nothing more than accusations that I might be trying to do something with Sunset Shimmer. I needed to clarify this before this gets any worse than it is now. "Look, I let her stay over the night because she didn't have anywhere to sleep. Not only that, but I didn't get a chance to tell her that one of the guest rooms were mine. So she just so happened to take a liking to the accommodations and slept in here." I turned back to Sunset, hoping that she'd confirm my theory. "Right?"

"What he said, and I left you a book on your dresser. It's chocked full of magical equations that you could use for Nondis. I was hoping to discuss them with you whenever you got back, but I guess my time here is a tad-bit overspent." Sunset said, starting to reach out towards Twilight to give her a hug. "I didn't mean to cause a misunderstanding. I'm sorry."

The purple pony used her hoof to meet with Sunset's, completing an awkward hoof-shaking gesture. "You're fine, really! I'm just a little on edge right now." She said, turning back to me. "Now are you going to get dressed?"

"Sure. Just give me a second."

After that uncomfortable exchange, I grabbed a change of clothes and made my way to Twilight's room. As I did, the request to the friendship day came to mind. I didn't feel it would be fair that Sunset would be left out, so I made a request for her to attend. She mentioned something about normal circumstances preventing her from sticking around so long. Of course, miss honor student didn't wanna skip her lessons. But considering that she was on fall break, we decided to keep her around until the end of her break. In short, she agreed to come out.

But then came the challenge of talking to Twilight. It seemed as if she was trying to distance herself away from me, almost wanting me to disappear at times. Her expressions would vary from nervous and jittery to crabby and confrontational, which was really unusual for her. Even as I tried to give her my usual morning hugs, she'd shove me off. Not only that but she'd tell me to leave her alone.

Obviously, she was still pissed off at my not giving her an answer from yesterday. Understandably so, all I had to do was tell her the truth. But then my mind was feeding me thoughts I didn't want to have. Again, I regretted the impact from what we did had on her career, but I didn't regret the deed. Twilight deserved an answer, and I failed to give that to her. And when I tried to speak with her, she just kinda ignored me...

Correction, she tried to avoid me... again.

I decided that she obviously needed her space, so I stayed silent for much of our walk through town. By the end of our journey, Sunset was caught in the middle of a lingering silence that had grown uncomfortable. There were times she'd start up a conversation, and when Twilight would answer, I'd keep my input to myself until the question came back around to me. Then Sunset and I would start talking and talking, until we'd see Twilight picking up her pace, almost acting as if she didn't like us speaking. So we stopped for a while and let the silence linger up until we had reached the park.

When we arrived, we met up with Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Not only were they there, but so was Discord, Cheese, and our newest addition, Sunset Shimmer. The others started to get themselves settled and Twilight laid out a blanket for her to rest on. I offered to sit by her, but she scooted away from me. I guess she was in a bad mood, so I guess I should give her some space.

Meanwhile, Sunset seemed to be the topic of discussion for the first few minutes. Discord and Cheese introduced themselves to her and we all started to crack open the journal and start reading entries, but not before Sunset had a proper explanation of the rules.

"So how do you play this game?" She asked.

"Okay, from what I can remember," I began. "You have a few anonymous entries into the journal. As a group, you have to guess who was the author in order to get more information. However, the catch is that there's only one shot to get the name right or else the entry remains anonymous and placed on the list to be resolved for the next month. That's pretty much it, unless I'm forgetting something."

"Uh, like a lot!" Rainbow answered brashly. "You forgot to tell her the reason why we play this game."

"The reason why we play it is to tell each other our problems and hope to have them resolved." Fluttershy added.

Applejack took over from there. "We try ta keep our friendship as open as possible. So we use this game ta vent and share what we might not like to say out loud."

"So, what happens if you find the author?" Sunset asked.

"The author steps forward, calling out 'shamed'." Twilight answered, finally letting herself be heard. "Those who are 'shamed' would then explain everything about the situation and how it makes them feel."

For some odd reason, the tone she spoke in crept me out. It sounded as if she was looking at me with each and every word being said. I guess right now I'm thankful for her not writing an entry today. I could already tell that Twilight probably has an idea for an one, one that probably pertains to me and a few choice words she had.

"Not only that, but you can kinda place the blame on somepony else." Rainbow finished.

"Wow, that just makes things so much more difficult." Sunset said as she scratched her head.

"Tell me about it." I muttered to her, causing her to giggle a bit. While I began to chuckle myself, I caught the menacing glare of Twilight looking directly at me. I immediately cleared my throat and stopped laughing.

"So. Is everyone ready?" I asked.

Pinkie grabbed the book from Twilight and gave it to me. "You know it! We're waiting on you to read the first entry, Nonzie!"

"Me?"

"Well, we haven't gotten word from Spike. We sent out his invitation, but nopony hasn't heard anything back." Fluttershy spoke in a soft tone.

"Spike's in Canterlot." Twilight answered. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Well you heard her, get to reading!" Rainbow shouted.

I snuck a quick glance at Rarity, who seemed to be dismayed over our speaking of him. Obviously we needed to get this ball rolling so that we didn't linger on the topic. But that still left us with one problem. "I can't do this."

"Why not?" Applejack asked as she started to get comfortable.

"Because I kinda know the answer to one of the entries." Mainly Rarity's entry about me.

"And?" Rainbow questioned, holding out a hoof.

"And actually, I wanted Sunset to get involved. I didn't want to leave her out of the fun. So why don't we have a true neutral party read off the entries. That way no one knows anything or give off any strange looks." Mainly to keep the game true to it's nature. I figured that Rarity would tell the truth if her entry comes up a second time.

...For some odd reason, I really didn't want to believe in that.

Sunset levitated the book over to her and started to flip through the pages for a few more entries. As she did, she took notice of one entry in particular and stopped her search there.

"Okay, I guess I could read some of these off."

I closed my eyes as she started to read.

"Anonymous entry. It's been a while since my new relationship with my special somepony started. Of course it was quite rocky at first, but as time progressed everything started to fall in place... Or at least that's what I would like to think. In time, our usual greetings have gone dry. Even the things we used to do together have started to become unsatisfying. Perhaps I am being a bit selfish, but I just want things to be like they were several months back. At least then, I didn't have any distractions other than him. Maybe I needed that distraction to keep me grounded."

...Uh oh. That's Pinkie's entry. I could easily tell that it's her, she's probably talking about the relationship between her and Cheese. And the 'him' she mentioned was probably me. I've always been the distraction in their relationship, more so after my altercation with Caramel. She's the only one who would have these kinds of thoughts. When I caught a quick look of the group trying to guess the answer, she stood silently with a frown on her face. The guilt was written all over her. And Cheese was looking almost just as depressed.

She would be the one to be called out.

Some time passed and finally they came to their conclusion. Applejack was the first to speak up. "Okay, now we all know who wrote the note."

The six mares looked at Sunset quietly as she spoke. "So who's the author."

"Mah dear ol' cousin, Pinkie Pie." The apple farmer said as she gave the pink pony a much needed hug.

"Shamed." Pinkie slowly confessed as she stepped forward. Cheese instantly folded his ears back, almost unwilling to hear what she may have to say. She walked up to Sunset and picked up the book to sign her name.

"So what's the problem?" Sunset asked.

Pinkie glanced back to me, lowering her head as she spoke. "I feel like I'm losing touch. I mean Cheese and I are doing just fine, he's not why I wrote the entry."

I could feel my shoulders drop from the relief I felt. I could even see Cheese feeling the same way, only his burden was a hell of a lot heavier.

"But..." She continued, passing the book back to Sunset. "I feel like since you made your decision to stay, it's been feeling like you've been avoiding me, Non-non."

And my heart begins to race, not just because she called me out but because a very pissed Twilight was staring holes right through me.

"I feel like you've been trying to make things work for your own benefit. And I understand what you were trying to do. But have you ever thought about how I would feel in response to what you've been doing?"

Man, Twilight looks so peeved. "Well, I kinda got an idea. But I didn't wanna get in the way of things."

"What things?" Twilight asked sternly, making me feel as if I had a tractor made of guilt on my back.

Dammit. I really don't have a choice now, do I? *sigh* "...Okay. So perhaps I need to explain things in depth. This happened when you and I were separated. You decided to finish the portal and shove me away for a month or so. And in that time, you arranged that I'd stay with Pinkie. And from there, we kinda had a pretty cool friendship..." I really didn't want to finish this.

Shut up, I know.

"And?" Twilight questioned.

Take a deep breath. Inhale, exhale, and face the music. "And then we went on a trip to the rock farm to see her parents because she wanted me to meet them, outside of the courtroom of course. And in my time there, I learned a lot of stuff about rock farming-"

I am! Fuck, you are not making this any easier. "And when we had gotten back, she kinda... said some things."

Twilight stood silently as she continued to give me a blank expression. "Like what?"

A third presence? What the hell is going on?

Somehow those words resonated throughout my consciousness. I guess this must be a manifestation of my guilt, perhaps it goes even deeper than that. But whatever it said, I felt compelled, yet conflicted, to listen to it. My heart began to throb at an increased pace. My palms started to sweat and my throat proceeded to dry up. Swallowing my own spit was not doing me any favors. Internally, I was screaming at myself not to say anything, but I wasn't going to hold out. My stomach churned as I looked at Twilight and saw her become crestfallen of what I had told her.

"She confessed her feelings for me. And I told her mine-" I was in such a rush to clarify things, I began to run words together. "But-I-also-told-her that... we'd be better off as friends."

Pinkie sighed as she looked back to her coltfriend. "He told me that after we met Cheese in the front lobby. I didn't give him a chance to explain before-"

"Why not!?" Twilight interjected, causing me to jump a bit.

Pinkie turned away from the purple mare, her ears folded in shame. "Because... Because I was... I... Because I kissed him."

And there it is. Ladies and gentlemen, our relationship is now on a downward spiral, and it's all because I didn't tell her everything from the get-go.

Twilight walked in front of me, making sure that she was the only thing in my line of sight. "So... did you and Pinkie do anything else?"

"No." I answered with a heavy heart, but lightened shoulders.

Twilight took a few steps forward, inching in closer to my face as she snarled in a low voice. "Is that it? That's everything?"

For now. "Yes."

She looked away and walked off back to where she originally sat at. She didn't seem to have much of a response other than just giving me a mean look. She was going to tear my eardrums out when we get back home.

How so?

If Rarity's comes up and she's shamed, I will confess everything to her.

...I'd close myself off to me too at this point.

As much as I would like to ignore the reality of the situation, my mind has a point. The trust she has for me has pretty much broken down at this point. I knew that she had some suspicions when it came to me, but now they're pretty much legit.

Why does it seem like everything is falling apart lately?

"Well, he also expressed to her that he didn't have an interest in engaging in a relationship of that caliber." Cheese added to my defense, hoping that it would help soften the blow.

Pinkie walked up to the angry purple pony and placed a hoof around her. "Twilight, I'm sorry I didn't tell you this sooner."

"It's not your fault." She mumbled back, looking at me.

"It's not his fault, it's mine!" Pinkie stated firmly. "I made the first move! I kissed him! He didn't even return it all that much! His intentions, his heart, his thoughts, every last one of those were for you! He endured terrible headaches for you and you alone! He places himself in so much pain for you! I admit it, I do love him too, but I don't love him to the point where I would compromise our friendship! So when you decided to follow through the approval process, I walked up to him and asked if this was what he wanted. He said yes, so I left my thoughts of him there."

Twilight, who had now looked crestfallen, began to give off a gentle aura, a more relaxed tone replaced the harsh timber she spoke with not too long ago. "So, you and he were a thing?"

"I wanted it, but I realized that I couldn't have it. I mean I would love to be lovey-dovey with him and shower him with hugs and kisses and parties telling him how much I appreciate him. But if he wanted you, then I'm not gonna fight it."

Twilight and Pinkie shared a long, heartfelt embrace as everypony gave them smiles. But I could clearly see an upset Cheese Sandwich starting to become depressed over her confession. He already knew of it, but being reminded of it all made him sad.

"So, how are y'all gonna fix this one? The point of this thing was that the friendship y'all had was kinda on it's last leaf." Applejack asked, bringing us back to the topic at hand. "Or better yet, what exactly made y'all stop conversin' so much?"

I decided to get the rest of the truth out and about so that there was no misunderstandings left to be had. "Okay. The main reason I wanted to kinda separate myself from her was so that I wouldn't be too much of a distraction of her current relationship. Cheese told me that he still had feelings for her, and the fact that he came back to see her just solidified his argument for her. He loved her, she loved him... and me. So I decided to drop out of the picture so that their relationship could take place without all of the distractions."

Cheese spoke up next. "He also told me that he would do anything he could to see the both of us happy. So he and I kinda made up a plan on how we were going to get things done. He even moved out of our place to help move things along. And being that I was so head-over-hooves with her, he even offered a few tips to win her over."

Pinkie began to smile again as she pranced over to the two of us, mainly to Cheese. "So you two had this going on the whole time?"

"Yeah." I confirmed. "You two were made for each other. I beat up a guy, he brought you the entire world all over again."

Pinkie giggled and snorted as she held a hoof to her snout. "Oh, Nondie! I think you forgot a little something."

"What's that?"

"Um... you were the one who got beat up." She answered sheepishly.

Oops. "Right... What did I say?"

Everyone started to giggle at my slip-up, even Twilight and Sunset shared a laugh. I also began to chortle at my own expense. No seriously, 'I beat up a guy.' Where did that shit come from?

...And I'm the idiot.

"Hahahaha-AHH!" Twilight shrieked mid-laugh. We all turned to her to see her rubbing her side. Her eyes clenched shut while she grimaced painfully, moaning as she breathed heavily.

"Twilight, are you alright!?" Rarity questioned, offering to take a look under her cloak.

"I'm fine." She said, shoving the fashionista away. "I'm just a little sore. Bad food, I suppose."

"You sure?" Sunset asked politely.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered one last time before sucking in air and brushing her brief surge of discomfort to the wind. "Okay, let's carry on."

Everyone was still in a cautious state of mind while Twilight pretended as if that outburst had never happened. Though they decided to gradually warm back up to the game, my mind was more focused on what could have happened to her. And being that she went to Canterlot to get punished, she must really be in a lot of pain.

...Suddenly, I don't feel like playing anymore.

As we finished the game, I could see a sense of relief fall on Rarity. Throughout the game, not once has her entry been the topic of discussion. I wasn't going to lie and say that I wasn't feeling the same way. But I knew that no matter what happens, despite her entry not being read, I would have to tell Twilight the truth eventually. But by the way she's acting, she mustn't want to hear anything I might have to say.

That will change as soon as we go behind closed doors.

I wasn't exactly looking forward to our walk back home. The only thing that made me feel somewhat comfortable was the fact that Sunset went on and on about how much fun she had today. She also talked about how much she missed spending time here in Equestria and compared her time with the girls here to their counterparts on the other side.

Again many similarities with a few. yet significant, differences.

Sunset took to the room she slept in just last night and took her shower, while Twilight and I began our long trek to the bedroom. I say long because every footstep felt like a mile. I'd only wish that would be the case, but unfortunately her room was just a small ways from mine.

The door was surrounded in a bright magenta aura, opening wide to allow the purple pony access. I took a few steps and paused for a moment, looking at the wood. Anything to distract me from what I was going to have to go through should I enter into this room. But I accepted that truth when I confessed about what Pinkie and I had going on just a few months ago.

And I'm not going to turn back now, not when I still have part two of my confession.

The door closed behind me, leaving a cringing Twilight standing in front of her bed. Grumbling to herself, she started a frantic search for something. I guess it could be important. "Where is it? I left it here, how could it have vanished!?"

"You okay?" I asked, offering my assistance.

"I'm fine, now leave it alone." She snapped back at me.

I shook my head and started looking around the bed. I started from the opposite side of where she looked, lifting up pillows and pulling back the sheets. Finding nothing that looked important, I pulled open one of the drawers of the left nightstand.

"What are you doing?" She asked, seemingly annoyed.

"I'm helping you look for whatever you're looking for. Now tell me what it looks like."

"I didn't ask for your help. So could you please refrain from offering it?"

...Well that was uncharacteristically rude of her. "Okay, obviously you've had a bad time in Canterlot-"

"Oh, I'm sorely sure of it!"

...I'm just trying to help her, she's really making this difficult. "Twilight, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for whatever you had to go through-"

Suddenly, I see a pillow beaming towards me. Taking a quick step to my right, I avoided the incoming cushion. Twilight stared back at me vehemently. "THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH YOU! You make it seem like what I go through for you is too much of a consequence. It's not happening to you, it's happening to me!"

Stay calm, Nondis. "Well, excuse me, your royal highness! I didn't mean to feel some sort of remorse for what impact I may have on your career!"

"It's MY career to begin with! And if I want to place it at risk to show my affection for you, then it's MY decision to do so!"

"You didn't have to go this far! I knew how much you felt for me from the get-go! I could have waited, you know!"

Twilight teleported from the other side of the bed to directly behind me, screaming at me as she did so. "WAITED!? Oh, so this is coming from the guy who couldn't 'wait' for me to get back in touch with him. We were separated for over a month, and what did you do? You get crushed up with Pinkie, knowing how emotionally stressed she was!"

"I TOLD YOU, I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WITH HER!"

"Then why did you stay if you had known that she had aspirations of a relationship with you? You could have left earlier!"

Oh for the love of- "I DID LEAVE! I TOLD YOU EVERYTHING THAT WAS, IS, AND SHALL BE BETWEEN ME AND HER! YOU KNOW THIS NOW!"

"And you didn't seem to bring it up sometime earlier, you know, BEFORE recommending that you applied for your approval?"

I'm really getting tired of hearing that dumpster-ass law. "It's... I-... THAT LAW IS FUCKING BULLSHIT! AND YOU KNOW IT!"

"Well I'm sorry that I'm a princess! I can't help that this huge conundrum was practically dumped on me by destiny itself! I didn't mean to save the world a few dozen times! Here, I'll go back in time and tell myself not to come to Ponyville so that I can remain as ignorant and secluded as I was then!"

"You're being ignorant now!"

"Ignorant?" Twilight asked, taken aback by my jab. "I'm not the one who just thinks that our relationship should be bound by a sheet of paper! I broke that law because I knew that it was erroneous in concept and principle! And you just throw it in my face- GRRRRRGH!"

"Dammit!" I spat as I watch Twilight buckle over in pain once more, holding her sides as she huffed and puffed furiously. I walked over to place my hand on her, which was met with a slap of her hoof. As she did, her cloak lifted high enough to where I caught a glimpse of the bandages wrapped around her sides.

"I didn't ask you to help me!" She whimpered on the verge of tears.

"You're in pain, Twilight. Let me-"

"No thank you! I'm in pain because I made the decision to give my all to you, I'm in even more pain when I'm reminded how you constantly try to apologize for it! I don't need your help, you've given plenty."

I rolled my eyes and unlatched the cloak she wore. Just when it threatened to fall off of her, she used her magic to keep it in place.

"YOU! ARE! HURT! LET ME HELP YOU! HELP ME HELP YOU SO WE CAN-"

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"

So... It's quite obvious that she doesn't want me here to help. If that's the case, then why am I even here? You know, that's a good-ass question. Why am I here? How did I even get here to begin with? What the fuck even brought me here? In fact, why the hell am I standing here for? She wants me gone, so I might as well give her what she wants.

Because, obviously, that's what she's calling for.

With an exasperated sigh, I allowed myself to calm down as I politely informed her of my compliance. "Okay. You want me gone... Great. I can't argue that. I mean, it's your decision... Then again, it's always been your decision. Throughout this relationship, it's always been about the decisions you make. If there was anything I did, it was either forced on me or me having to go through some bullshit to prove that I do love you, which is fine because I did it out of love and what-not. But I'm the one adhering to your laws, these stupid, ass-backwards laws. And for what, me saying 'I love you'? That's some old bullshit."

In disgust, I walked away from the pony and made my way towards the door. "So in the meantime, while you let your shit fester here in your room, I'm gonna go back to my room and let you have your space."

As I walked out, I heard Twilight mumble back to me. "Sunset Shimmer is in your room."

"No," I corrected. "Sunset Shimmer is in a guest room that I appropriated for a short while. My room is someplace else... Good day, Twilight Sparkle."

Finally talking a step out of the room, I let my pent-up rage get the better of me and yanked the door shut with all of my might. The sound of the impact reverberated loudly throughout the halls, reaching my ears a certain number of times until the sound had finally died off.

I wasn't just angry, I was unbelievably pissed beyond comprehension. The only thing I could feel was frustration and a massive headache swelling in my head. But I wasn't going to let that stop me from separating myself from the source of my pain.

Storming through the halls, I knocked on the door of the guest room Sunset occupied. After she opened the door, I walked in, grabbed a sack of gems and my wallet, yanked my charger from the wall, and left as quickly as I had entered, leaving behind a puzzled Sunset Shimmer. While I continued to make my to the room where the portal was located, I had ran into Rainbow Dash, who was holding a small, brown paper bag.

"Hey Nondis, you've seen Twi-"

"Her room." I answered harshly while moving undeterred to my location.

"Is everything alright with you two?" She asked, starting to fly next to me.

"Peachy."

"What's going on?"

"I don't wanna talk about it right now. I've got some things to do and some items to cross off for my upcoming hunting trip."

"Hunting trip?" Rainbow asked with a tilted expression.

As I walked into the room, I activated the portal and began to step through. Rainbow Dash watched with concern as I began to let myself become surrounded by the liquefied, chrome-colored glass.

"I'll be back in the morning. See ya."

I would be lying to myself if I hadn't said that as soon as I came through the portal, pulled out my XBox controller and started going though the games I had downloaded on the system. The first one I chose was none other than Grand Theft Auto IV. The only thing that I wanted to do was just rack up as many stars as possible without getting killed. At first, I did it without the cheats, getting only up to four before I got wasted. With them, I hopped on a roof and started picking helicopters and their pilots right out of the sky. I quickly got up to six and grew bored of the advantage I had. So I hopped off and took off in a car, shot and blew up a few more cars until I stepped out of a burning truck to get trapped between three other vehicles.

Safe to say that I didn't make it, but at least I was a little better in spirits.

I decided that when I come back here, I would leave all of my problems back in Equestria. It may sound stupid on paper, but I can't give anyone any indication that I might be crazy. When I come here, I need to be sound in mind and ready to take on the world I'm used to living in. My circumstances are much different here, dare I say a little easy-going, so I would have to act that way. If I'm ever angry, then I'd vent before taking on the world.

I know.

Really? 'Oh hello, I'm in the midst of a bad break in my relationship. So I'm just going to sit here and ramble on for hours about how my pony girlfriend got punished and how I'm feeling shitty for being the reason for it. Now she decides to harp on me, and tell me that I don't love her because I regret the repercussions she had to endure. Now she's too busy trying to hide the fact that her wings are gone and decided to shove me away. She's probably saying how much of a bad boyfriend I am.'

I know, but it sure does feel that way... Sometimes, I just wonder where I'm at right now. I get that I'm in this relationship, with the circumstances against me stacked sky-high. Anything I did or plan to do, whether it's partake in that stupid clause or remaining faithful, has done nothing but cause me grief. It's like I can't win!

Well it sure as hell doesn't feel that way.

I don't know, hard, depressing, like the world's turned against me. It's like I try to make things work, and luck gives me the brush. I'm doing everything I can to keep my relations harmonious, I try and keep everyone happy, I try to make things work-

I already told you-

...It still doesn't make any sense to me. Why do I do it? I just wanna be able to express everything, but I feel so conflicted at times.

But how?

Okay. So who do I talk to?

...Strange timing.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I jumped up and placed my hand on my pocket to identify what was vibrating against me. A second after, I had realized that my phone was one again with reception. Pulling out my iPhone, I saw that Melanie was calling me. Without much thought, I picked up the call.

"Hello?"

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!? WERE YOU FUCKING DEAD!?"

Pretty damn close to it, actually. "Nah. Just chilled out. I was kicking it with my girlfriend."

"Well when did you get back? I've been knocking on your door for the past four days. I've also been calling you to see if you wanted to hang out but you seem like you've had your phone off. Don't go somewhere and not have your phone on, dipshit! We've already been missing you for over nine months, we can't have you go missing like that again."

Oh yeah. Between the changelings, getting into it with Twilight, and this whole approval process garbage, I completely forgot that my going missing was a thing. "Sorry. Look, I'm here now. So what's going on?"

"Here, I'll tell you what's going on."

Is that her at the door? Shit, she's fast! Then again I forgot she has a thing for being impulsive. "Is that you at the door?"

"Oh, so you are alive? Then please feel free to open this son of a bitch before I call the cops and have them do it for me."

"I'm coming. Just don't call the cops, please."

While I started to run towards the door, I could hear Melanie both on the phone and just outside of my door. "I'm calling the cops! One, two, thr-"

Pulling the door open, I came face to face with my annoying best friend. But I kinda admit that she had a charm that made me smile, even when I was at my worst. She just knew how to make me smile, and that was enough for me right now. "Okay, what do you want?"

"I want you to spend some time with me!" She answered, jumping up and down as if she was playing the role of a toddler having a temper tantrum, which I had to admit was kinda cute. It made me laugh to say the least. "I don't get any time with you."

"Well, you're spending countless seconds on me." I joked, managing to relocate my sense of humor.

"Okay, asshole. For real, I wanna go do something today. You owe me for not answering my calls for the past four days. I demand attention."

Almost like a certain pink pony demanded just earlier today. These two are damn near twins. "Okay. What do you wanna do?"

"I don't know..." She whimpered like a saddened child. "I wanna do something, but it has to be with you."

"Why me?" I asked.

"Because..."

"Because why?"

She scoffed at me and gave me a light push on the shoulder, thankfully on the one that wasn't injured. "I just wanna hang out! Is it that hard of a concept to grasp?"

Well she does have a car, I do have some gems to sell, and I need the money to buy whatever I needed for my upcoming mission. Safe to say that I could get all of that done today. I might as well roll with it. Hell, I probably got enough gems to sell for next year's tuition and fees. I can spare the time. "Okay. I guess I've been meaning to run a few errands."

"Oh, so you want something to fill the fridge, huh?"

Stock the fridge... let's go with that, especially the 'stocking' part. "Yeah, my food box is a little empty."

The dark-haired girl shook her head as she pulled me by the collar of my shirt. "You are so pathetic sometimes."

"Shut up."

Meanwhile, Back in Ponyville...

"...Nondis."

Twilight stood in front of the portal, staring at the reflection of herself. She could see her that her mane was a disheveled mess, her eyes full of sadness and tears, her ears hopelessly deflated, and the bandages hung loosely off of her body. Below her lied tears as well as loose feathers. Her wings partially sprawled out, revealing the many feathers that were clipped the night before.

She could even see the rainbow-maned pegasus and the yellow unicorn standing behind her, both with somber expressions on their faces as they watched her hopelessly reach out for the reflection of herself. She whimpered out, her voice breaking as she stood before the portal.

"I'm so sorry... I'm so..."

A NEW CHALLENGER APPEARS!

Seriously, this chapter was to depict an emotional fallout from the circumstances built up throughout so many chapters. I've also decided to show the internal conflict going on with the main character and how it also affects the external situation. So yes, it may seem that the story might have taken a turn for the dark, but it's only expressing the seriousness of when the relationship goes awry, as many relationships do (especially the first time around). And the exchange between Nondis and Melanie was meant to show how quickly anyone could wear a mask over their apparent problems.

The next chapter will start to become a little lighter, though. Sorry for the downers.

And secretly, I'm wondering how I'm churning out 10k word chapters when I intend for them to be like 8/9k.