Have you ever had one of those days where you're just casually going about your day, it starts on a pretty high note and then all of a sudden it doesn't seem that way. Instead of carrying on that high stride that you originally started with, something comes around to knock you out of place and ruin that vibe you had, that drive of confidence that had you running towards the finish line. You hadn't made it quite halfway there, but you felt deep down that you were going to be the first one to cross that tape.

Much akin to that situation, my day has gone beyond that example. Instead of going about to celebrate my new weapons as well as my newly-repaired shoulder, I'm finding out more about this law that did so much emotional, physical, and mental damage to both me and Twilight. And nothing about it looks pretty.

We went from friends, to sharing secrets with one another, to sharing secrets with one another, to battling the press, to battling her big brother, to stressing the hell out of each other, to making up, to sharing intimate moments with one another, to getting steamy... You've pretty much gotten the point by now.

And all of that leading up to me and her being hunted down like wild foxes... by the individuals who claim to 'represent the will of the constituency', knowing damn well that they're doing all of this for themselves. And here I am, wondering what went wrong and how it all fell apart. And to think that it all had started with just one simple yet unexpected kiss.

Where do I even begin? Hell where do I even start? So allow me to recap this while I'm stuck in stare-mode.

I'm a dead ass because I'm in a relationship─that's now in a temporary hiatus─with Twilight, all because of her being a princess. Now let's go into detail...

I'm dead because some old farts want to get their dick wet, courtesy of a currently unwed princess who could be so kind as to allow them the opportunity of being their second or third wife... possibly even fourth. And now that I'm the one who's beaten them to the punch, they decided to screw me over by sending me into a land unknown, to find an unconfirmed target, and tried to do so while I was injured. And here I was thinking that Spike was the only one that had it out for me.

How Twilight kept this a secret from me for so long seems to be the only thing I can think about right now, that aside from taking my 'dirty laundry' to Canterlot and blasting every single one of these assholes to hell. This is a reoccurring issue that should have been resolved a century back, if not a few decades ago.

This was something that Celestia should've taken care of a while back... but something tells me that there's more to it. There has to be, she can't just let these guys keep running her over. Something tells me that they got leverage over her and are using it to their advantage. And as of now, she probably gave up hope that things would change.

Two-hundred-plus attempts at revoking a law with not one single repeal will do that to you.

...My life sucks right now.

"I'm sorry." Cadance whispered as she sat on the bed. "I know this is hard for you-"

"Just... stop please." I just didn't want to hear anymore about anything, let alone this dumb-ass law. If anything, I just didn't want to see anyone at all. I didn't want to deal with anything or anyone for the time being. The only thing I wanted to do was...

...I just want to be ignorant. Ignorance is bliss and I could sure use that bliss to keep my mind off of power-hungry politicians trying to make a move on Twilight. Just the thought of them trying to woo her just pissed me off immensely.

I want to just bypass logic and reason, I want to abandon conscious and guilt, I want to grab my gun and aim at every fucker that tried to send me out to my end. I could do just that, I had the firepower and know-how to pull it off.

But doing that would only play into their hooves, at least then they'd have a logical reason to have me killed. And this time under legal pretenses, where neither Celestia nor Twilight could do anything to clear my name. Can't say that I won't regret it, but I would feel some sort of sadistic satisfaction in seeing them lie quietly in a puddle of their own blood while the majority of them squirm in a corner.

Ugh... wow.

My thoughts are all sorts of fucked up right now. Here I am thinking of revenge fantasies, knowing what the real-world consequences would be. And the only thing that's preventing me from going this far would be my desire to keep both Twilight and Shining's names clean; Twilight for being with me and Shining for giving me this position of power. And again, it would play right into their hooves.

Cadance rose from the bed to give me a hug. "I won't let them hurt you either. Just like I'll protect Twilight, I'll do the same for you."

The feeling of hooves being wrapped around my body in a tender fashion didn't seem to move me very much. I guess I was too far gone in thought.

"You deserve so much more than this. And I know that this is all coming at you at a bad time, but I know that you'll do fine." Cadance unwrapped herself from me and held me as she tried her best to remain within my line of sight while I started to look away from her. "You're a wonderful individual, capable of winning the hearts of those around you. The aura you give off is positively wonderful. Don't let that warmth go because of other's selfish intentions."

I broke my long silence and spoke to the princess, the confusion still set in my mind. "Who can I run to? Who can I trust."

Cadance smiled as she brought both of her hooves onto my hand.

"I may have a suggestion."

---

After our conversation, I vouched to stay holed up inside of my room for purposes of letting me simmer down. Cadance voiced her concern that my staying in a darkened room with no one to talk to after the news I had received would leave me with 'destructive thoughts'. So instead of letting me clean my guns and wallow in the thoughts of exacting vengeance, she pulls me out of the room and temporarily places Twilight on the back-burner.

How come? Because she wants me to get engaged in some sort of strenuous activity, in hopes of 'letting me work out the anger and providing some time for healthy thoughts'. Obviously, she was very keen to the fact that I wanted to go to Canterlot and raise a significant amount of hell. She also mentioned that she had volunteered Shining for several physical jobs outside of the city for a few days to cool him off.

Apparently, he was just as livid as I am now.

Another twenty minutes and about five miles later, Cadance and I dropped in on the humble little house smack-dead center of Sweet Apple Acres. Afterwards, she and Applejack began to talk with one another in a separate room from where I was sitting. For a few minutes, I had gotten curious as to what they were talking about and let myself become drawn to the conversation.

I plopped my ear against the door and listened in quietly.

"They did what?"

Meanwhile in the Kitchen...

"Nondis and Twilight are having a break from their relationship." Cadance verified. "Apparently some things happened and now they both elected to take a split."

Applejack tapped her chin as she thought out loud. "Hmm... Think it could've been because of that game from yesterday?"

"Your friendship game?" Cadance questioned, seeming interested in what could have lead Twilight and I to call a hiatus.

"Well, some things were said an' from that point on, looked like Twi was ready to hound on Nondis fer somethin'. Ah can't say what it was, that's something fer them to talk to ya about."

"I spoke with Twilight already and she told me about Pinkie Pie. She seemed really apologetic about what happened between them. And when I saw her this morning, she was a complete mess. Her mane was horrible and she looked like she had spent half the night crying."

"What about the other half?" Applejack inquired with a quirked brow.

"Tossing and turning, I guess. Twilight's been having some odd dreams lately too. They could be premonitions concerning future events, but that's not my field of expertise."

Applejack shrugged off the possibility that some of those dreams could come to pass. "Premonitions, shremonitions. Ain't nothin' bad is gonna happen between those two... well nothin' drastically life-changin'."

"Nondis and Twilight got into a fight. Nondis left to his world, came back, and decided to put everything about them on hold. That doesn't seem bad?"

"Well, it could be that something coulda been goin on with Twilight. Fer some odd reason she was wearin a fancy cloak all day, and to add she's been experiencin' some strange surges of pain. She says it's stomach aches, but Ah've never seen a stomach ache that makes ya hold yer sides all day."

Cadance shook her head as she released a long sigh. "What is said here won't leave this room."

Applejack grew a serious frown on her face as she firmed her resolve. "Gotcha. Not a word."

"...Three days ago, Twilight and Nondis carried out something that they were strictly prohibited from doing. And as punishment, Twilight had her wings clipped."

The orange farm mare held a hoof to her muzzle as she looked back to the pink princess with shock. "They actually did it?

"Apparently so. And from what Twilight had told me, Nondis had vocalized his regret of doing so. Of course it was out of concern for her career, I wouldn't see him doing anything else except that. His intentions are too pure, he's shown that to me."

Applejack walked over to the nearby wall and grabbed her stetson hanging off of the mitten rack. "So what did she say in response to that?"

"She wasn't too happy about it, which was probably why she was in such a foul mood to begin with. And the situation with Pinkie only made things worse. Twilight takes exception to mares brushing up against colts she has an interest in, she's even shown it with Flash."

"Well, Twi's never been really popular amongst the colts here in town. To them, she seems a bit too upscale, even compared to Rarity. But then again, Rarity was born an' raised here in Ponyville so there's that. And now that she's a princess, Ah guess that just made her all the more undesirable in terms of dating. Guess they were too afraid of the work it took to get acquainted with a princess, let alone approved."

Cadance chuckled to herself. "Tell me about it. Being a princess is a hard blow to one's aspirations of dating, considering the risks involved. Hell I had to pry Shining away from his younger sister for him to even notice that I was there, and after that he nearly wet himself when I had expressed an interest in having him. But of course, we're married now so it doesn't matter."

"Yeah, y'all told us about that story." Applejack placed the brown stetson on her head as she spoke. "So, what'cha need me to do today?"

"I need you to keep Nondis busy." Cadance said with a low volume. "Nondis is a bit frustrated himself because of the relationship and all that he had to go through, especially since the fight with Twilight. If you can keep him occupied for the entire day, then you're doing great. Got it?"

Applejack gave the pink princess a quick salute. "As clear as crystal."

---

I backed away from the door and quickly sat back down on one of the chairs across the room. Pretending as if I hadn't heard the conversation they had, I continued to feign ignorance to their plan. A few seconds later, Applejack and Cadance walked out of the kitchen and looked at me.

"Well, I guess I'll be heading off now. Gotta meet up with Twilight for our big day at the spa." The pink princess said as she walked by me. But before she completely cleared by, she had stopped herself short and turned her head towards me. "Also, can we speak outside for a quick moment?"

I shrugged my shoulders as I climbed out of the chair and followed her towards the front door. When we were finally left alone, Cadance gave me a really serious look as she spoke.

"Look, I know that you're angry about the current circumstances. But there is one thing I need you to not do, and that is tell anypony about what we had talked about."

I flipped my hands and sank my shoulders as I squinted at her. "Wha... Why? I thought-"

"Letting this news get out would cause a massive uprising that you─as current captain of the guard─would be assigned to quell and clean up after. And let me tell you, Shining and I went overseas to help control a country after a massive civil war and help clean up house. The aftermath was bloody."

Oh great. The last thing I needed on my plate was a mass political clean-up. But then again, threatening a political uprising could be just what the doctor ordered when it comes to these 'representatives'... Perhaps I could use that bit of knowledge to my advantage in the future. In fact, I could actually have that as my ace while I continue to accumulate a strong hand.

But since I'm going to be playing politics as well as soldier, I'm going to need to move at a cautious pace. I can't act too slowly or else nothing will get done, and I can't act too quickly or it will come off as a sort of radical coup d'état.

...That won't work.

And the concurrent Reign of Terror only worked out for the ruling party, that is until Robespierre failed at suicide, broke his jaw, and got sent to the guillotine anyhow. And then Napoleon tried to take over all of Europe after that-

...Correction, we are going to repeal a law.

"Hellooooo? Nondis!"

"Huh?" I said, snapping back to the present time.

"Did you have fun on the moon while you were up there? Cause I need you back here."

I shook my head to get myself focused on the now. "Okay."

"No one is to know of your current situation OR what they have planned. Got it?"

I know that she has aspirations of killing this law too. I'm sure that she and Shining also expressed their distaste of those parliament members trying to stake a claim to her prior to their marriage. That means I have at least her and Shining in my corner, but I would have to play them carefully. This has now become a game where the stakes are high and the losses could be even higher than what's advertised. And the way I play my first hand could ultimately decide the outcome of this game before the next match could even begin.

Sure, I can play along with her plan... for now. "Okay. But if anything goes south, I'm warning you-"

Cadance stepped in front of me, her magic dragging me down by the collar of my shirt. "You are NOT..." She gave another firm yank to pull me a mere inch away from her scowling expression. "...to instigate any sort of panic amongst the citizens. You will lie low until I have given you permission to move. Is that understood, captain?"

Wow, she can be scary! Apparently, she must already have a plan established. Guess I'll go along with it then. "Understood, ma'am."

Letting me go, she took a deep breath and proceeded to straighten out my shirt. "Again, I need you to trust me. Work with me, and we'll make sure that there isn't a future instance of this happening. Work against me, and you'll be on your own." She warned angrily. "I know you can be bullheaded, but I need you to actually listen to me this time. Shining was just one pony, we're talking well over a hundred with the ability to legislate until your existence is considered as meaningless. We have power, you don't. Do you understand?"

"I don't like how I 'don't have power' but-"

Cadance rolled her eyes as she clarified her earlier statements. "They don't listen to captains. They listen to those with the power to veto their every whim. You do not carry that power... yet."

"Yet?" I questioned with a yelp, causing Cadance to cover my mouth with a hoof.

"Please, would you keep it down?" She asked quietly through gritted teeth. Looking around, she tried to see if anyone had heard us. And after verifying that there was no one around, she "Work with us, Nondis. You won't be harmed if you're under our protection. We need you as much as you need us. Would you be willing to put aside your own anger and ambitions for the cause?"

Well, I would provided that I'd get some sort of explanation of what this cause is. After she removed her hoof from my mouth, I began to question her quietly. "What is this cause and why should I sign up for it?"

"I can explain later. My time is really cutting short here."

"I want an explanation."

Cadance sighed as she looked back at the dirt road leading back into town. "...Tell you what, I'll let you stick around here for a bit. And when you finish, I'll come by later this afternoon and we can talk then. By then I can give you a proper run-down on what we're doing to kill this law. And hopefully we can take down the primary voices that holds this bill in place. That's all I can say for now. But I need you to let me know if you would be willing to join us first... before we can give you the full details."

"Why?"

"Because we're putting more than our future on the table."

I bit my lower lip as I took a brief moment to think. I didn't want to get into something else that would end up as a massive clusterfuck of problems, but at the same time this law was already creating said clusterfuck. I don't even know what the risks are, and I'm not sure what they're putting in.

I've still got a whole day to think about it. I'll asses the possible risks and keep in mind my method of taking out those politicians. I know that they're working slowly, and slow isn't how I'd prefer to get this done. But if they're talking about taking out key figureheads of the law, then I'd be down for it. Still, haste is preferred.

Ugh... I do need some time to think this over. "Okay. I'll think on it."

Cadance showed a light smirk as she turned away from me and took a few steps forward. "Good. In that case, I'll see you sometime later."

"Sure." I answered as she readied herself to take into the sky. Buckling her forelegs and bracing herself for takeoff, she lowered her body just a few inches off of the ground. Suddenly, she stood still.

"Remember," She whispered, turning back to me. "Not a soul."

With a single flap of her wings, a powerful gust of wind stirred the dust from the ground, causing me to shield my eyes as she leapt high into the air. By the time the dust had settled enough for me to regain my sight, she was long gone. The only thing that remained was the large set of hoofprints in the dirt as well as two large areas where the dirt was kicked up by her wings. I looked towards the sky and saw nothing except for a few low-laying clouds and the bright sun. Cadance was definitely gone.

I stood silent for a few seconds, still thinking about her offer when suddenly the door creaked open behind me. I jumped back in response, only to sigh in relief as I saw Applejack standing in the door.

"So Ah heard that ya shoulder was doin' great. Glad ya feelin' better. Ya ready fer some hard labor?"

"Um... Don't I get a warm-up?"

"Nah, ya rested long enough. An' don't think Ah've forgotten ya not helpin' durin' the reconstruction effort. Yer makin' it up in full today!"

I don't like that tone she has. "So... I'm gonna be picking apples?"

"Pickin?" She hollered, followed by a hearty laugh. "Hoo wee, pickin apples. Nah, we're not slow-pokin' today. We're straight buckin' em off the trees!"

I looked back down to my legs and whimpered in fear of me getting injured again, and a likely candidate was a broken leg. "I kinda need my legs." I retorted.

"Ah know! Ya just gotta buck it at the right angle and watch the apples fall."

"Uh, no. Humans aren't built like that. You'd kick it hard enough and might break the tree, I'd kick it hard enough and my bone will pop out of my skin."

Applejack rolled her eyes as she started to push me towards the nearest apple orchard. "Nonsense! Ah know that ya humans gotta have some grit if y'all can bull down all those changelings!"

I continued to resist. "No. I will break my leg. Not doing it, final answer."

"Oh come on, Nondis! Ya took a lot of wear n' tear in the fight like four days ago! Ah'm sure y'all can take on a tree or two!"

"No means no!"

Suddenly, I felt myself completely at a standstill. Nothing pushed me forwards an I only began to stumble backwards a bit. Then the next thing I could see was a hat blocking much of my view as the farm mare laughed behind me. "Bahahaha! Are ya kiddin? No way Ah'd let ya break those stilts yer walkin' on! Take it easy, will ya?"

I find that hard to process when it's coming from the workaholic above all ponies.

"Ya need ta relax. Ah'm not gon start ya off with somethin' like that. Yer gonna do something a little easier on the legs. But it's still hard work, and Ah expect ya to put in as much as anypony else 'round here. Got it?"

Damn, she's really eager to put my ass to work. "Okay. So what am I doing?"

"Nothin' hard. But Ah may got a little somethin' planned fer ya." She said with a smirk.

...I'm not going to like this, am I?

---

I figured something like this would happen. Big Mac decided go take the day off an hour before Cadance and I came around. His reason: going on another date with Cherilee. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that he's getting his... but now I'm the one who's pulling the carts of apples from the orchard to the barn. And let's add in the fact that the barn is separated from the closest orchard─the one we're working on─by about seventy yards out. So I'm carting about a hundred pounds of fruit to the barn and fifteen pounds of wood back. And between here and there, there isn't much protection from the sun.

Thankfully this isn't a terribly warm day or else I'd be drenched in even more sweat than I'm covered in now.

But Applejack seemed to be taking her work in stride. With each kick, she knocks down the human equivalent of about twenty minutes of work. But again, that left me to haul and empty the buckets of apples into the cart for me to take out. And when she was done with a tree, she'd start setting up for the next one. I'd call it tedious, but thankfully Apple Bloom was setting up the trees long before we could get to them. So at the very least I didn't feel like I was doing all of the manual labor.

On my third run to the barn, Granny Smith hollered at me from the porch.

"Hey there, youngin'! I can see yer hardly workin'! Give it a few and I'll give you youngsters a treat!"

Apple juice or lemonade sounds about nice. "Sure thing!"

"Keep workin, ya hear!?"

"Yes ma'am!"

After that brief interruption, I pulled myself back into workhorse mode and pulled the cart full of fruit towards it's destination. This carried on for about another fifteen trips before I had started to really feel the burn. But as time progressed, I began to see a lot less red in the trees and a lot more green on the ground. Another two rounds after that, I had noticed that Apple Bloom began to rake up the leaves that we left behind. Applejack had gathered the buckets and stacked them up neatly as I pulled out the final shipment of apples.

"Be sure ta help me with these buckets when ya get through, ya hear?"

I... was... dog... tired. "Sure." I droned lazily, pulling the cart.

When I had pulled the cart in, I had to give myself a quick lean against the barn doors. As I looked inside, all I could see was nothing but mountains of red fruit that only made me angry. Internally, I was swearing and cursing the existence of the fruit that caused me so much grief and discomfort. But on the other hand, I was really hoping that Granny Smith would come out with the refreshments. And as much as I wanted to sit around and wait for a snack, I had made an agreement that I would help Applejack get the rest of those buckets from the orchard.

Dammit.

I carried myself slowly, letting the aches and throbs of my body weigh me down to a snail's pace. By the time I had gotten back, Applejack had pushed some of the stacks of buckets towards a halfway point. Guess I can't complain here. And so I carried the stacks of wooden buckets from the middle of the orchard back to the barn.

And mind you, that fucking wood was splintery as shit and heavy as hell.

When I had finished hauling back whatever Applejack had placed out for me to get in the next go round, I had started to become very suspicious of what she was doing. I began to notice that with each time I proceeded to move the buckets from the orchard, she and I have not crossed paths not even once. So I decided to chill out behind one of the trees and wait for her to come around. And the moment she showed up, she had the nerve to place down more of the buckets and walk off into the deeper parts of the orchard. But before she could-

"Hi there."

Startled, Applejack turned around quickly and smiled innocently. "Oh uh... Howdy there! Ya finished taking the buckets over?"

"Yup. And I just so happened that you were missing out on the fun. Care to explain why I'm doing this by myself?"

Applejack drew a long sigh. "Sorry. Ah didn't mean ta leave ya hangin' round like that. But Ah'm tryin' ta make sure that these trees aren't hidin' fruit bats. The southern orchard was pretty thin in product thanks to the fellers eatin' up our crop. If Ah can find a bunch of 'em here, that'll be a sign that we'll be throwin' away quite a few apples once we get back to the barn."

...Please don't tell me that we have to sort these things too. "We do?"

"Course we do... well not the throwin' apples away part. But anythin' else, yeah."

Figures. I knew that bringing these baskets out of the orchard was too good to be true. "Hey... I know you don't really have a care for what these buckets do to hooves, of course with them being hooves and all, but I think I might need to do a bit of plucking before I do anything else."

Applejack walked over to me as I started to hold my hands out. "What's the big... Yesh! What happened to yer hands?" She questioned as she noticed the sizable splinters of wood sticking out of my slightly bloodied hands.

"Wood happened. I got splinters like a bi-" Remember, language... "...like a mug."

"Arrgh, horse apples!" She angrily shouted as she proceeded to investigate my hands. "Ya look a mess! C'mon, let's get ya back to the barn and get this cleaned up."

I started to look back to the stacks of buckets and noticed that we still had a ways to go. "What about-"

"We'll take care of 'em later. For now we gotta clean ya up and get ya good and wrapped."

---

A few minutes later, Apple Bloom, Applejack, and I all took a much-needed rest inside of the barn. While Applejack was busy getting the buckets from the orchard, Apple Bloom took care of my splinter-riddled hands. She tried her best to pluck them out while causing as little discomfort as possible, but that was not going to be a possibility.

"The one thing that I didn't account for while I was carrying those dang things was the fact that I was working without gloves." I said as I watched the young filly pull out a large splinter from the palm of my hand via a pair of tweezers in her teeth.

"Me neither. Ah guess you're really not used to farm work, and Applejack wasn't exactly noticin' it either. Ah guess humans take a bit of warmin' up to when it comes to this kind of stuff." Apple Bloom stated.

"Actually, I'm just your average city-boy. My hometown is full of people and large buildings, a steep contrast to the farmlands way out in the boonies."

"Really?" She questioned.

"Yeah. In fact, we humans have farms similar to yours. It's just that we're not as strong as earth ponies are. You guys can kick a tree and apples come flying out, we kick a tree and we start screaming. So we kinda harvest our apples a bit slower than you guys do."

"Wow, Ah guess it takes days to go through an orchard for you guys, especially one our size."

"Sometimes. But when it comes to corn and other goods that come sprouting from the ground, we have machines to do that for us. So say we'd have a field the size of where we picked the apples from, filled with nothing but ears of corn... wait, how do you guys pick your corn?"

Apple Bloom hummed as she thought to herself for a bit. "Well... we kinda pick ours by hoof, so it takes a while to go through an entire field."

"Well that while would probably take us about one or two hours, using our machines to pick and harvest our corn for us. Our agriculture is pretty much industrialized more than anything. There are places in the world that don't use machines, but my home country has a bunch of them."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I'd get you guys one, but I wouldn't be able to fit it through the portal. No luck there."

"Oh... So if you didn't have your machines, then would you pick em by hand?"

"Yeah, but we'd wear gloves to protect ourselves from all kinds of things, bug bites, thorns, poison ivy, and... the crap you're picking out of my hand."

Apple Bloom used the tweezers to pull out the last remaining splinter out of my right hand. Afterwards, she sighed and walked over to the counter to grab a bottle of what was labeled 'XXX'. I knew then I was going to be gritting my teeth when that stuff went on my hand. My arm tensed up as she grabbed it again, dangling the bottle above it.

"Now this may sting a little." She warned before she practically baptized my hand in the alcoholic substance. Immediately, I winced in pain and tapped my foot while I continued to use every profane word in combination with another word.

If Applejack could hear the words rolling through my mind, she'd have a fit and try to wash my mouth out with soap. But eventually, the burning akin to a hundred fire ants simultaneously biting down onto my left testicle died down. The pain soon came down to somewhat bearable levels and everything was calm with the world once more... at least from my perspective.

As soon as she placed the bottle down, I began to feel a sense of relief. That was until she spoke. "Okay, now for the other hand."

...Fuck.

Applejack came walking in just as Apple Bloom picked up the pair of tweezers and started plucking away at my left hand. After hauling in the last of the buckets, she walked over to me and the younger filly. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"Yes, he's gonna be fine."

"Are ya sure, fer certain that he's gonna be right as rain?"

The young filly started to show how irritated she was becoming. "Yes, Applejack. He's gonna be okay."

The farm mare looked back to me, with worry set in her eyes. "Nondis, ya need anythin' else? Ah can see if ya need a-"

"APPLEJACK!" The young filly shouted, snapping her older sister out of her borderline-neurotic breakdown. "He's. Fine."

Opting to help the young one make her case, I voiced my opinion. "You're okay. It's just that I wasn't prepared to deal with this kind of stuff, nor was I even trained to handle this kind of work. But aside from that, I'm doing fine. Thanks for your concern, but Apple Bloom got me covered."

No... it doesn't. Oh God why.

"Okay. Look, Ah really didn't mean ta have ya get hurt like this." Applejack said with guilt running her head heavily towards the ground.

"Applejack, this was on me. I should have told you that I wasn't gonna be able to move those buckets to the barn without proper-"

Instantly, she grabbed my still-soaked hand and started staring at it. "Why look at this! Ah can't believe Ah let ya get hurt!"

I kinda winced at her grabbing my hand, all while looking to Apple Bloom for some help.

"Sorry," the young filly said. "she can be a bit overprotective at times. She doesn't mind workin' but she doesn't wanna see nopony hurt. This is normal of her once ya get to know her."

"I see." I said under my breath, still trying not to vocally display my discomfort at the heavy-handed mare grabbing my hand. "Then I guess she wouldn't mind letting that hand go?"

Seeing that I was still showing signs of discomfort from her grabbing me, the elder sibling released the still-stinging hand. "Oops. Sorry."

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes at her sister and carried on to removing the splinters out of my hand. "So Nondis, you said that your hometown was actually full of big buildings. Does that mean that your hometown is bigger than Ponyville?"

"Well, I know that Ponyville is working with a population of around a thousand, so yeah. The buildings, the layout and how far everything is spaced from one another kinda makes Ponyville look like a decent size, but my place is bigger than here. It's even bigger than Canterlot."

Both ponies jaws fell at the thought of my hometown being bigger than Canterlot. Applejack almost seemed like she was about to headbutt me as quick as she rushed towards me. "Say what!"

"Yeah, I got a comparison from Pinkie's sisters, and they all say that Manehattan was pretty much the exact same size of Austin... population wise."

"No way!" Apple Bloom shouted with excitement. "Your place is that big!? Wow, Ah gotta tell everypony this!"

"Apple Bloom, mind yer manners!" The elder sister scolded. "It's rude goin' round tellin' everypony's personal business. He already gets enough attention as it is."

After earning a stern look from her elder sister, Apple Bloom quietly apologized to me... "Sorry." ...just before she flipped back to her questions. "So you're from the big city? You think Ah might ever get a chance to see it?"

"Well that depends." Applejack said, beating me to the punch. "The question is would Nondis allow us ta go to his world. Ah'm pretty sure it's filled with all kinds of fancy techy-stuff."

While Apple Bloom and Applejack turned to me, they both produced a toy-like squee as they grinned from ear to ear.

I've thought about it, I'm not gonna lie. I always thought it would be kinda fun to let the girls walk into my world and see it for themselves. I could show them around my school, take them to the mall, show them a movie, let them gaze at the skyline from across the Colorado River, show them to my friends back home, I've had the idea wander about. But at the same time I wasn't too sure as to what could happen, as well as trying to make it seem as if they didn't live under a rock. Twilight's been to my world twice already, but she's never left the apartment. So I guess if circumstances would allow, then I could bring them around to see the town.

That's one thing, but bringing someone at Apple Bloom's age could be risky. The foals here already trust adults because of the society allows them to do so, and in my world... not so much. So, for now I'd have to wait until I bring them around.

"Well, I can't really say that I could let you go just yet, Apple Bloom. Maybe sometime later."

The small filly folded her ears back as she dropped her head with disappointment. "Aw, rats."

"But I'd be willing to let the older ones play 'scouting party' to see if it's a place that they'd like. If so, then I'd bring them and you along with. How's that sound?"

Apple Bloom plucked another splinter out of my left pinky finger quickly as she brimmed with excitement. "Yes! Please, Ah'll do anything to get to see your world!"

"Okay then. But that also relies heavily on Applejack."

"Shucks, Ah don't mind not one bit! So when we goin'?" The farm mare questioned eagerly.

Wow, I forgot that she's usually straight to the point. No matter... "Well, I gotta make some time for us to do it. So we'll probably be looking at when my job at Canterlot gets done. I'd personally say about... uhhhh... a week from now, maybe. No promises though."

Applejack smiled as she expressed her excitement, all while kicking her front legs out with glee. "Yee-haw! Ah get ta go to... to uh..."

"Texas." I filled in for her.

"That place!"

...I tried.

Apple Bloom finally plucked out the final splinter and spat the tweezers aside. "Okay, you're all set."

"Then let's get yer hand clean!" Before I could open my mouth to respond, Applejack grabbed the bottle of liquid and began to pour all over my freshly plucked hand.

...All I can see now is stars, all I feel is insurmountable pain and indescribable agony. My foot pounded against the ground as I howled through clenched teeth. The muscles in my neck tensed as I cringed harshly, my eyelids reaching their widest point. A new stream of profane words came flooding throughout my brain while the pain continued to wrack my body into submission. I had grown afraid of closing my hands, as that would cause me to feel even more pain.

After all of that, I flopped against the bales of hay that sat behind me. My leg twitched a bit as I let the stinging once more fall back down to bearable levels.

"...Ouch." I squeaked out in a high pitched voice.

Applejack giggled a bit as she covered her mouth with a hoof. Apple Bloom however didn't look too impressed.

"D'oh, you big baby."

---

During the break, I had asked them if they had any bandages that I could use to wrap my hands with so that I wouldn't be touching anything that could cause an infection. The last thing I needed to do was to lose my hands to a gangrene infection. After wrapping my hands, Granny Smith showed up and treated us to some ice-cold apple cider, straight from the supply from yesterday. And for much of our time, she told us about some of her old stories, to which Applejack and Apple Bloom groaned in response to hearing. Of course being that I haven't heard of them before, I had become interested in what she had to say.

A few stories later, Big Mac came marching right through the barn doors. Applejack asked how his date went, his response being the usual 'Eeyup' he'd normally belt out from time to time. Granny Smith also started to hound on him and ask the blunt question of when he was getting married to her, to which he responded with a 'Eeeyuuuummm...', meaning that he wasn't certain. He also stressed that he wanted to make sure that he wasn't rushing into anything and wanted to 'take it slow'.

I could very much understand his situation. But when Granny Smith finally came out with the fact that he and her had been 'dating' for well over three years, I began to see where her concerns began.

Apple Bloom didn't seem too eager to speak on the subject of her teacher and her older brother getting hitched. That stuff wasn't exactly easy to talk about. It can get awkward when you talk about marriage with a sibling of yours, I'd know from the experience with my older brother. And my younger brother's probably too busy trying to see how many girls he can get with before high school was over... Except that it is over, and he's currently enrolled at Texas A&M.

...I really did miss out on a lot when it came to my family. My older brother had been got tied down and my younger had already started his first semester. I know that I don't talk with my family much, I've always been like that, but now sitting here with the Apple Family made me realize that I had just passed on something valuable, irreplaceable moments that I couldn't attend to because of my being here. And honestly, it all hurts.

It shouldn't being that I wasn't exactly too social with my kinfolk, but it does.

I got up from where I sat and walked out of the barn, making my way back into the apple orchard. When I had gotten deep enough, I decided to take a seat. I closed my eyes and let my mind wander around the fact that I missed out on some rather wonderful events concerning my brothers. I wondered if they had even know that I had came back. Probably so, thanks to mom and dad.

In speaking of mom and dad, I wonder if Twilight's parents had been made aware of what had happened with me and her. I'm sure they do, being that they're quite close to Celestia. It also came to mind of how I could go about introducing Twilight to my folks.

Yeah, my parents would probably send me to the coo-coo bin for that one, let alone for bestiality. If anything, my relationship with Twilight would have me jailed back on my side of the mirror. I don't need anything else complicating the relationship between me and her, I've already got enough holding me down.

In speaking of which... I'm still left in awe over the fact that these guys want me out of the picture so that they could make their advances on Twilight. I mean I'm angry, but at the same time I don't want to do anything that would look bad on Twilight or Shining.

I guess my time here did give me a chance to rationalize my thoughts rather than let them fester and allow myself to become something of ill-repute. But I still didn't want to see these political pigs get away with something so horrendous and allow for it to carry on as if it's a normal part of society. It is an outdated manuscript based off of jealousy and resentment towards Celestia and now they've decided to carry it out against anyone who dares to wear any sort of hardware on the top of their head.

They're nothing but a bunch of hypocrites, crabs in a bucket. Who's to say that if one of their own was to gain the heart of a princess, become approved, get married and consummate, wouldn't experience their peers turning against them? It would be an all-out brawl, a farce in the eyes of dignitaries from every other land. If that's what it could lead to, then what's the real purpose of this law even existing?

The more I think about this law, the more I find it as nothing short of pure stupidity. But then again, there's got to be a reason for why the government haven't collapsed in on itself yet. Suppose that they have a pact they follow. But again saying, these are politicians we're talking about. They do more backstabbing than any changeling or guard in service, and we actually kill each other.

Either way, this law was unnecessary, pointless, and obsolete as of a century ago. And despite the fact that it's been stable for a thousand years, does not mean that it's capable of withstanding the tests of modern time. Society has since moved on from the systems that once held influence over it, this law shall too see itself become dust.

No matter what, I just don't want Twilight to have to go through something like that again. It isn't fair that she had to get hurt for something so mundane.

"Hey!"

My eyes snapped wide open as I started to scan the area for the voice that called me out. I walked off from the tree I was leaning against and made my way back to the main path. When I showed myself, Applejack came trotting towards me.

"Y'all can't just walk into these here orchards without no guide! Y'all can get all kinds of lost back here!"

"Sorry." I apologized lethargically.

"What's wrong, sugar cube?"

I started to stretch out my arms and pop my neck. "Nothing much, just out here thinking."

"Bout what?"

"Meh... stuff."

Applejack looked at me with sympathy in her eyes. I knew that she was aware of what all was going on with me, or at least the portion that Cadance allowed her to know. She would be sympathetic towards me, it's to be expected. Instantly, she walked over to a nearby tree and sat herself on the ground. She patted her hoof on the dirt beside her as she beckoned me to sit beside her.

"Nah, I've had my time of sitting down."

"Well at least jus' stand here an' talk with me fer a while."

*sigh* ...I wasn't going to get out of this, even if I had tried. She would only take the next opportunity to speak with me about the subject. I might as well tell her my side of the story and hear what she has to say in response. Slowly, I trekked over to the tree and sat myself down again while Applejack began to speak.

"Ya know, Ah've noticed that ya kinda walked out on us durin' our family conversation. Sorry bout us talkin' so much about Big Mac hoppin' the broom. Ah can understand that it was a sensitive subject fer ya."

I shook my head as I leaned back against the apple tree. "Nah, I kinda walked out for something else. I just needed some time to think."

"About Twilight?" She asked bluntly.

"Yes... and then some. But she wasn't the reason why I walked out of the barn."

"Then what was?"

I groaned as I looked up to the leafy canopy above our heads, providing us with plentiful shade from the sun's light. "Not too long ago, my older brother got married-"

"SAY WHAT!" She shouted loudly, causing an echo to sound throughout the orchard.

"What's wrong?"

"Ya had a brother, an' ya didn't bother ta tell us about 'em!?" The farm pony asked as she jumped up on her hooves.

"Yes... well I didn't exactly share that information with anyone except for Twilight. But-"

"What's he look like?" Applejack asked as she jumped in my face.

"Well-"

"Does he look like ya? How big is he? Do ya have a picture of 'em? What does he do fer a livin'? Does he-"

"Time out!" I interrupted the excitable mare as she started to portray that excitement that Apple Bloom would show on occasion, along with the rapid-fire questions that came at me similar to how Pinkie would toss out questions. "Now, I'm gonna try to answer all of the questions you asked me real quick and we'll leave it at that. He's a human like me so yes, he's about three inches taller than me, I don't have any on me, and he works in accounting."

"One more question?"

"Shoot." I said under my breath.

"Do y'all get along?"

We do, I think. I just know that we don't try to kill each other, so there's a sign. And if anything I don't really show any real resentment towards him. The only thing I've felt was a sense of envy for how everything in his life came together so nicely, while I didn't quite stand as well as he did when it came to social experience. But now I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, mainly because I've been in a different world for almost a year. So...

"We get along, I suppose. I mean, he pretty much is better than me when it comes to math and social networking. Me, I suck at what he does. You might like him, he's a bit of a brain-head though."

Applejack quietly chuckled as she waved me off. "Nah, most ponies with smarts tend to be a bit condescendin'. Ah much rather have somethin' a little... more like me."

"So athletic and strong? I have a little brother who's like that. Plays football, runs track, really popular with the girls-"

"So yer a mid-pack baby? Huh, didn't think we'd have that in common."

I laughed a bit as I started to look back down to the ground below. "Yeah. It's awkward being in that position. You're more of a dork than your older brother, yet at the same time your younger brother looks up to you. It's weird trying to play the role of cool sibling when both of them had already gotten you beat. Makes me wonder what the hell were my parents on when I was conceived."

While I continued to laugh, Applejack didn't seem to take too kindly to my joke. "That's not funny."

"What's not?" I asked, still not paying attention to the stony expression on her face. Suddenly, I felt a slightly-painful force drive into my side. I had stopped laughing then and turned to the orange mare. "Hey!"

"Your parents thought of every moment they wanted to share with you."

Suddenly, she had my fullest attention. The Tennessee-like southern drawl she spoke with had all but disappeared from her voice as she started to take a few steps towards me. "What did I say?" I questioned.

It seemed as if she was trying to stress the importance of her words, making them all the more clearer and concise. "What were your parents on when you were born? They were on the emotional roller-coaster that circulated around the thought of you! To think any less of them is a shame in all sense of the word."

"It was a joke." I said with deadpan.

"Oh..." Applejack seemed to have dropped off of her soap-box and calmed back down as she realized that I was messing around. She immediately calmed down and bowed her head. "Ah'm sorry." She droned as she let her southern accent come back in full force.

"Nah, don't even trip. I got into a touchy subject with you. We'll call it even." Well at least I'll know when she's angry; she'll make an attempt to drop her accent.

She quickly gave me a strong tug as she hauled me in for a long and tender hug. And though I was caught off guard by it, I had began to warm up to the embrace. "Ah'm sorry. What Ah did was wrong and out of place."

"I forgive you."

Still holding on, she gave me a gentle rub on the back. "Ah know that it may seem like yer the rascal of the mix, but yer not. Yer folks loved ya, yer folks made ya in their image so that they could have a 'you' to share their memories with. Sure they might have another 'him' or another 'her', but they can't replicate something that's so special... like 'you'. Ya speak like you're not special in any kind of way, but you are. Ya might not look it in the eyes of your species, but to us... we can honestly say that there's only one of 'you'."

"Aww... Jackie-"

"Please don't call me that." She said as she pulled off of me, trying her best not to blush.

"Okay, just A.J. then." I said as she let me go and proceeded to make her way down the path leading to the barn. Obviously disgruntled, she didn't let me see her face. As I watched her walk away, I had began to think to myself on the words she had just shared with me.

It was true that I'd often see myself as the runt of the litter when it came to my brothers. My older brother had the height of a basketball player, along with the mind of a genius. My athletic younger brother was a full two inches higher than me by the time his sophomore year came to a close, and he's still growing. I was chubby, awkward, and shorter than them both at just six-foot-even. Hell, they could talk to anyone they wanted to without hesitation and were good enough to hold a conversation, while I couldn't even say 'hello' without getting an odd look or two.

But I've also learned something about myself throughout my stay here. I've learned that I have a talent that my brothers can't mimic. All throughout my life I have had many instances of being bullied. And though I stood up for myself every single time, I'd mostly embarrass myself because of my lack of coordination and horrible reflexes. So I'd get beat up a lot, but I did manage to stand back up and hobble away. But now I've gotten to the point where I could take on multiple opponents at once, even taking on those who had an advantage on me. So yes,I may be the runt, but I'm also the scrapper.

I can fight, and do it well.

"Ya comin' or what!?" Applejack asked from a distance, bringing me back to earth a second time.

"Coming!" I started to run back towards her, trying to catch up with her before I'd somehow lose my way in this orchard. Shortly after catching up with the farm mare, she shook her head with amusement.

"Ah swear we gotta keep ya nailed down to somethin' before ya start wonderin' off again."

"I can wander off every now and then. It means I'm in deep thought. There's nothing wrong with that." I argued in my defense

"Well just make sure ya don't go floatin' towards Cloudsdale, sugarcube." She said before carrying on.

"Another city I haven't seen yet, I might just let myself float on up there." I jested while walking beside her.

"Ugh... yer hopeless." She said with a groan.

While we continued to walk, my thoughts continued to weigh me against the dirt path we walked on. I had continued to keep in mind that I was capable of surmounting numerous odds throughout my life. And despite them being rather small in comparison to what I was facing now, I still had confidence in myself.

A lot has changed in the past few months. I've lost weight, gained muscle, learned how to fight, gained confidence in myself, even started learning how to have a conversation with strangers and hold one for a suitable amount of time without boring them to death. And even now, I've began to learn the intricate nuances of being in a relationship.

And if anyone would've told me that I would be able to do all of that ten months back, I'd call them stupid for even bringing that idea into existence.

Also, I've learned that this current relationship is full of political pitfalls and restrictions so tedious that the T.S.A. could hang their heads in shame. A law that would do nothing but ruin the love-lives of everyone who wore a title, ever-persistent for over a thousand years, backed by the legislators who would easily deny the motion or mere mention of repeal, traditionalist parties and social groups with enough funding to bribe the press, and a princess whom they've elected to override time and time again, that is what's making Twilight and us being in a relationship so difficult.

I shouldn't have to go to someone else for sexual gratification for the sole purpose of saving my girlfriend's career. We shouldn't have to be regulated in how we run things and what we do together. Love shouldn't follow a strict set of guidelines made by bitter nobles and aristocrats hell-bent on possibly herding those of royal influence. Ponies or people like me shouldn't have to risk their lives because someone in a position of authority takes an interest.

My mind hasn't changed, I still want this law to die.

---

Many hours of work later, I returned back to my apartment. My hands had began to heal up, thanks to a quick visit to Zecora and a few more medicinal baptisms... PAINFUL medical baptisms. With my hands free of bandages, I was once-more able to experience the full dimensions of movement. My hands didn't hurt anymore, but the memories of the pain would stick around for quite some time. And now that I was free from the extensive labor from earlier, I could finally rid myself of these clothes I was wearing. Pulling off my shirt, I started to make my way to the bathroom to run myself a bath.

...You know, I'm really getting tired of hearing a knock on my door. Lately that sound has been associated with nothing but bad news. Reluctantly, I decided to go shirtless and crack the door open. And standing outside of my door was a bit of a surprise.

But then again, it's not really a surprise if you know who's at the door and for what reason

"Yes?" I questioned in a tired voice.

"I need to come in and speak with you again. Would you let me come inside?" Cadance asked.

Well as long as she wasn't teleporting herself in here to catch me off-guard again, then I had very little complaint. "So, how was the spa?"

As she walked in, she closed the door behind herself. "Quite nicely. Twilight's venting very nicely, she's even grown to accept that the demands she placed on you were a bit much. But she still doesn't feel comfortable with you and her seeing other ponies. She told me what you said, and for the most part I agree with you."

"For the most part?" I quoted, trying to get her to explain what exactly she didn't like about the plan.

"Well, I wouldn't agree with the fact that you said 'that there might be a chance that you'd probably have your heart on someone else, if all things went bad'."

"I never said that." I clarified, trying to state my case. "I told her 'if she found someone else that can do better than I ever could, then let it just be left at that'. Those were the words I said."

"And yet the statement you made could work both ways. Say you were to find another pony, then I'd have to do all I could to find Twilight another stallion who could meet up to her expectations, which after you would be a fucking mountain. Either that or deal with her sulking on you all day."

Twilight does do a bit of sulking when it comes to relationships. Understandable considering that it's new territory for her, and she doesn't like to fail at things. A failed relationship could disable her, but only for a short while. "Well, who's to say that I'm not just a fleeting thing, a phase she's in? We were all young at one point and felt like that our first had to be 'the one' for us."

Cadance frowned with disgust at my statement. "A phase doesn't go through all the things you went through for her. If anything, you should know that you and her are something much more than what is being presented."

"So are you saying that we were meant to be together?" I questioned. "That fate had ordained us to become one in unity for the remainder of our lives?

"I never said all of that."

"And yet the statement you made could work both ways." I said, throwing her quote back at her. "Am I wrong?"

Cadance closed her eyes and finally spoke what was on her mind. "I don't want you with anyone else, personally. You're different from many of the stallions that walk Equestria's grounds. And you are the only one who could break down Twilight's defenses in the matter of minutes. She thought of you since that moment you considered her as special."

To be fair, she was drunk when I broke down her 'defenses'. "But I did that to comfort her because of-"

Cadance moaned in disgust. "It goes deeper than that! She actually gives a damn about you, whether you know it or not. She had a choice of letting things go as planned, letting you leave our world to yours, never to return. And after that one night she decided to take a chance on you, even Celestia was rooting for the both of you. But since this is a 'fleeting thing', then it must've been a horrible mistake in letting you stay here."

"Ugk!" ...Damn... that's harsh. Now that she put it that way... "D-Don't get me wrong-"

"It was a 'fleeting thing' that drove Shining to trust you with a prominent position to boost your credentials, it was a 'fleeting thing' that I was willing to call you my brother, it was a 'fleeting thing' that Celestia had plans to ordain you as a prince, it was a 'fleeting thing' that we wanted to call you family. So apparently our thoughts were nothing more than just childish aspirations to you."

"I didn't mean it like that-"

Cadance wouldn't let me finish as she continued to throw even more weight to my statement. "So let me guess, you thought it was a fleeting thing to be with Twilight? Is that how you view your relationship, because at this point I really think that you were just in it for the se-"

This time, I didn't hold my temper as I filled my lungs full of air and screamed right back at her. "NO I FUCKING DON'T!"

Cadance seemed appalled at my sudden outburst, showing signs of her own indignation. She vied to speak but I let myself go before her. I didn't let her title or her rank hold weight in this conversation. If anything, I was going to give her a piece of my mind and she was going to have to choke on all of it.

"Look, let me be real with you. Even I admit that my prior choices in life have had that point established. But I don't recall going through so much hell and high-water to even be in a goddamn relationship with a girl. If I didn't give a damn then I wouldn't be trying to fight for her, I'd be content with the fact that I stuck my dick inside of her and unloaded! I'd be happy with the traditional wham, bam, thank-you-ma'am approach, but obviously that's not the case! If I was happy, then would you for one fucking second think that-"

She interrupted me, trying to impose herself. "You won't talk to me that way-"

"You wanted real truth, so you're gonna get real truth! So you can sit your ass down and listen to what I have to say in regards to how I feel, or you can take your pink, candy-ass and get the fuck outta my room! I'm sorry if it comes off as disrespectful, but you pushed me here! So if I have to cuss and scream in your face to get my opinions to sink into your brain, just so that you'd remember them clearer, then okay! So what do you wanna do?"

The pink princess growled at me as she walked up to me, stopping mere centimeters before she spoke through clenched teeth. "You better hope your argument is worth it."

I didn't even let her nudge me an inch out of place. I locked on dead into her eyes and let my heart speak for me.

"Then riddle me this, who else nearly dies from this shit and keeps come crawling back for more? You want me to answer that for you, no one. Who, as a member of my race, would actually chase a girl for one purpose, knowing that they'd risk dying for it? If you think that a one-time lustful ordeal would be the death of anyone sane, you'd be lying through your teeth. I can give you one hell of an example of just how much we humans can love. We'd commit ourselves to the ones we love before going out on a battlefield to get our insides blown halfway across the field. We'd let our flesh cook as long as we'd come out of it alive, we'd be a prisoner and endure endless torture while our minds are focusing on coming back home, our best friends could have their brains splattered on our uniforms and we'd be happy deep-down to say that it wasn't us... just so we could see that one girl we loved, that one child we left them with, that daughter or son that loves us. We fucking die for love, we'd kill just to have that chance at love, we'd endure a lifetime of trauma for the opportunity to see the love we left in the world to flourish. And yet even when love seems to despise us, we still chase it as if we were some drug addict needing our fix. So fuck you if you don't think that I'd let myself close my eyes one last time to see that she's free to live her life without any danger to her or her freedoms. This shit isn't 'fleeting' for me... And if you can't see that, then your title is undeserved."

The pink alicorn looked ready to send a hoof crashing into my face. And as hard as she was breathing, her anger seemed like escaped pressurized steam billowing from a small chimney. Her entire body rose and fell with each intake of air and outpouring of frustration. Yet instead of the pipes bursting, she leveled herself off and walked away from me. For moments at a time she turned back to say something, but she'd stop herself short before she could even say a word. It took me a quick trip to my luggage for a sound to disturb the silence between us. And not long after, she finally said what she wanted to.

"So I don't deserve my title?"

"You say that you 'sense' love, then you should've been able to see this shit coming a mile away. I'm just saying that one of your magical 'expertise' should have easily seen what was in my heart."

She took a deep breath as she finally let all of her anger leave her, placing her hoof against her chest and casting the stress away as she exhaled. "To be honest, your heart is really cloudy to me. Sometimes I have to drive and push you in order for the truth to come out. And I'm sorry if it heats you up, but one's honesty is shown when they are pushed towards the edge. It's like if I was mining for precious resources, if I didn't continue picking away at you, then I would never see what your heart truly contains."

So... this was all a ruse, a test to see where I was on the matter of Twilight and if I was truly interested in her? Couldn't she have done something else to come to this outcome? "So you did this just fuck with me?"

"Just only to see where you stand... And it's obvious that you and I have like-minded intentions." Cadance stated, letting a smile crack from her lips.

"What do you mean?"

"And I quote, 'So fuck you if you don't think that I'd let myself close my eyes one last time to see that she's free to live her life without any danger to her or her freedoms.' That seems like a pretty definitive─and impassioned─statement to me."

...Wow... Did I just tell a princess to go fuck herself? Um... wouldn't I die from that? "Oh damn, I didn't think I was that pissed. I guess I kinda snapped-"

"No! That's great if you did!" Cadance said while throwing her hooves at me. "I want you to snap, I want you to be livid when you speak on your beliefs. I need that from you, and Twilight does too. It shows that you have limits to what you can take and what you won't accept... And something tells me that you don't necessarily like the laws that are currently in place."

"I don't." I confessed bluntly while shrugging my shoulders.

"So... do you think you could take your fight for Twilight to a more political level?"

To be reasonable, I didn't have to. I don't have to let myself be lectured on the workings of this world's political system and allow myself to live within the laws that were already established. I could be tired enough to say that I'd just simply leave things to Cadance and Shining Armor, while Twilight and I continue our relationship. I could just break up with Twilight and save myself the headache. I could even just throw my arms into the air, pack my shit, and leave this world with little intention of staying. I could be reasonable enough to turn down Cadance on her offer...

But I tossed reason to the wind when I climbed from under my sheets to see unicorns and pegasi surrounding my bed. Not one of my choices have been reasonable thus far, and I have reaped the consequences of those choices. But I have also harvested much good in return. Throughout my life I have let 'reason' become my worst enemy, the very thing that kept me chained to my lackadaisical lifestyle of internet porn and video games. And since I came here, the choices I made have been nothing short of influenced from the mistakes of the past. The only change that I'll be making is that I will stand in defiance to a law that doesn't need to exist, a law backed by much of the wealthy and powerful in standing for well over a millennium.

So reason? Nah, fuck that. "Yeah. Let's do it."

Something tells me that I'm going to see some things that would change my view of this world for the worse.

Next Chapter: Chapter XXXV Estimated time remaining: 126 Hours, 18 Minutes