It's been a rough day, that's pretty much my way of describing it as plainly as possible. If I had to go into detail, it would take a while to do. As of where it all led me, it landed me back in the medical ward. I managed to bid farewell to the guests before having to pull my own weight back up the stairs. Of course after I was finished, I was relieved to be sitting back in my wheelchair after the strenuous affair.

But it didn't take much longer to find myself under some form of stress.

Granted, I know that none of this was my fault and frankly I had it up to my eyeballs with the shit Cadance was talking about me. But in the end, we needed each other for one reason or another. I might not have to like her, but I'm not gonna let Shining's wife go into care without some form of escort.

From there, a unicorn doctor with a rugged jawline, a slicked-back pepper mane, a five-o-clock shadow, and several age lines on his face with frost-blue eyes that have probably seen more than a hundred lives end before him, casually walked over to the counter with a clipboard.

Of course I wasn't really calm due to the fact that I might have something to do with her condition, I'd call it fair if Shining wanted my head for a horn warmer. "So what's the deal, doc?"

He glanced at me and quirked an eyebrow. "You again, the hell's wrong with you this time? Did your leg fall off or something?"

"Uhh..." I wasn't quite sure where I knew him from... or even if I had seen him at all. "Who are you again?"

The doctor sighed while shaking his head. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense, you were in and out on the operating table, so I can understand you not remembering a damn thing."

"You operated on me or something?" I asked.

"No, I'm the tooth fairy. I was there pulling some teeth out of your stomach. Apparently you got knocked out so bad that you swallowed a few."

Smart-ass. "No really, who are you?"

"I'm the angel of death. Now show me your paperwork so we can get this thing going."

Whatever stand-up routine he was practicing, I wasn't too fond of. I pulled out my wallet and fumbled through my various ID cards before pulling out the one that mattered for the occasion. After showing him my military ID, he verified that I was a guard and requested further proof of my rank. I then pulled out another card that appeared to be completely blank. His horn glowed a dark purple glow, almost as if it was black. The spell illuminated various details on the blank card and showed my rank and status.

"Well we don't know if you're a changeling or not." He said.

I then lifted up my shirt to reveal the still-mending scar covered in stitches. He took a closer look and hummed to himself.

"Dehiscence indicate that you were involved in something you had no business doing. Invoking some sort of stress on the abdominal region. You're reckless."

"I had no help in climbing up the stairs. Not every unicorn has the focus strength to move my heavy ass up and down three flights of marble and carpet. The wheelchair is fine though."

"Your human friend is far too squeamish to pull off another operation like that. Maybe it's better off that you find some help before you find yourself having to drag more of yourself along the way."

"Noted." I responded, trying to rush back to the original topic. "So what's the status, doc?"

He looked to me with disapproval and proceeded to flip through the papers on his clipboard. "I have a name, it's Shack. Dr. Shack, I'm the one who helped put you back together again. Your human friend didn't like me calling you 'Humpty Dumpty', so I just call you 'Dumpty' instead."

"That's nice to know." I replied sarcastically. "So how's Cadance?"

"So you're calling her on a first-name basis. Didn't know the two of you were so close."

I threw out the palm of my hand, impatiently wanting him to get to the point already.

The doctor sighed and threw the clipboard back on the counter. "As figured, you humans are really lacking a sense of humor. No mind, your princess is currently dancing with elephants the color of her coat. Dehydration, blackouts, increased blood flow due to thinning, the obvious case of nausea, and... Was she aggressive in any kind of way?"

"Well we were in the middle of a heated argument." I confessed.

"Oh good, it is your fault then."

"Ha ha, very funny." I deadpanned.

"Thank you, I'll be here all week." He answered back rather quickly before pausing himself. "Rather I'll be here two of those other days."

...Yup, he's a doctor. Too legit, so caring. "So what do you recommend?"

"Intravenous intake of saline, rest, and more importantly, no more alcohol."

"I think we can take care of that last thing you mentioned."

The doors leading from the castle hallway burst open with a magenta flare. Shining came bursting through with a slightly warm towel wrapped on his head and a mud mask on his face. The stallion puffed and wheezed while he asked. "Where's Cadance? Is she alright?"

"She's a little inebriated." I responded. "Kinda like another night of the week at Delta Phi. Have her drink some water, keep her away from the stuff, and make sure she stays in bed."

After the doors were on the verge of coming to a standstill from swinging wildly on Shining's entrance. Rarity quietly walked in to join with Shining. Unlike him, she was far more presentable for the emergency appearance. Then again, she'd be the type to perfectly reapply her makeup while at a full-sprint. "Is everything alright? Shining and I came from a lovely spa visit to get a notice from one of the guards saying that the princess was feeling ill."

"She's─" Before I could get started, she had started sniffing the air. With about two or three more sniffs, she quickly made her way to the doctor.

"Which room is she in? I'll do my best to make sure that she gets back to her room and made comfortable." Rarity asked urgently.

"First door to the right."

"Um... isn't that my room?" I asked.

"Yeah, we wanted to work quickly and since your room was really a semi-private suite that we appropriated a second bed for your comfort, we had to make provisions. Besides, you were set to check out tomorrow."

"That's nice." You fucking son of a bitch, I swear to God if my bed smells like vomit. "So she'll be leaving now, right?"

"Of course, this isn't something worth an extended stay." Dr. Shack announced. "Though that IV needs to be taken with her to help her recover quicker."

"Is she capable of standing?" Shining asked.

"Of course not. Her motor skills are the equivalent of a drunken delinquent teenager on prom night. Be sure to get her to her room quickly so she can rest." The doctor answered.

It didn't even take forty-five seconds for Rarity to get Cadance from her room. Though the princess was incredibly discombobulated, Rarity made sure that she was guided well in the direction of her husband's waiting hooves. Shining, who had quickly cleaned off his face and laid the towel on his back, turned around to allow his wife to mount onto him.

"Hey there, hot stuff." She croaked weakly.

"Hey honey, we're gonna get you in bed, okay?" He said, standing up to carry his wife off. Rarity followed them with all her medical necessities.

Cadance dry heaved once more, almost falling off of her husband before Rarity caught her. The princess groaned in discomfort. "Ughh... I feel like I just got through shitting myself."

My eyes immediately shot wide open as I quickly turned to the doctor and laughed nervously. "Doc, please tell me you have a sanitation crew on watch. Please tell me you have that available."

"'EeeaappyArtsWarmen (Happy Hearth's Warming)!" She slurred loudly before disappearing through the doors.

The doctor then looked at the clock on the wall and smiled. "Oh, I guess that's my call time there. Later, kid. And try to keep your wounds clean."

He quickly teleported himself out of the castle before I could even hope to grab him while I called out in vain. "DOC!"

As easily as he solved Cadance's issue, he disappeared. Meanwhile I was left mulling over the fact that Cadance had shat in the bed I was due to sleep in. And unfortunately, I wasn't with any of the key cards to the empty rooms either. Plus there was no way for me to grab anyone with said cards until the next bi-hourly check-up period. So there was only one thing to do at a time like this: Wait.

"Fuck it, I can sleep in this goddamn chair. It's good enough."

"Nondis?"

Great. guess I didn't have to fall asleep for long. Though I swear I had only closed my eyes for around five minutes. But of course, you lose track of time when you go to sleep so that's one reason why. But I suppose it's time for the nurses to put me back into bed and prod around my body for a few more minutes before sending me back into my broken slumber for yet another two hours.

"Nondis, Nondis dearie." A voice continued to call out as I was stirred from my nap.

"Oh, I didn't know the nurses were so nice this early in the morn."

When I slowly opened my eyes, I saw the silhouette of a unicorn mare with an unusually stylish mane for her profession. But as my eyes cleared, I started to make out the shape of a familiar face.

"Uh... Rarity?"

The fashionista, who was sitting before me had removed her hoof from my cheek and quietly whispered to me. "What are you doing out here, darling. You should be in your bed."

I started to yawn while my eyes grew heavy again. "Can't go to bed. Bed's messed up."

Rarity looked at me oddly before she silently chuckled to herself. "I can assure you that she did nothing of the sort."

I cracked my tired eyes open for long enough to get a good look at her while I responded to her claim. "How are you so sure?"

"I had to get her and her IV. You won't have anything to worry about." She explained, lighting her horn with her magic.

While I found myself being wheeled from where I once rested, I was trying to get a good look at the clock across the room. "What time is it?"

"It's only been twenty minutes." She said as she guided me back to my room.

I wiped my eyes and shook my head, kinda surprised by it all. "Oh, no wonder I feel like I didn't even get to close my eyes."

"Well we can't just leave you in that contraption all night, you'll be getting sores in unflattering places." The mare nagged lightly. "So let's get you into the bed and have you get a proper rest."

As if the nurses will ever let me, thank God I will be doing this for only one more night. "Thanks a bunch."

The moment she opened the door, the room had already been cleaned and mostly remained as I last left it. Rarity, standing behind me, placed her hooves on my shoulders as she whispered in my ear. "See? Nothing to worry about."

I wanted to take things from here and get myself back into bed, but I was helped by Rarity again. This time, she folded the sheets back off the bed, levitated me out of the chair and into the bed, tucked me in, and rolled my wheelchair to my bedside in case I needed to leave for whatever reason. She did all of these things while wearing the most comforting smile on her face.

Sometimes, I realize that I don't deserve any of this but she still chooses to cater to me if I need the help. And I know that I could do more than just merely saying one word to show my gratitude. But as of the moment, I could only offer just that. "Thanks."

The unicorn proceeded to walk out of the room, cutting out the lights. While her horn glowed to manipulate the doorknob, only her face showed as she spoke to me. "You know, you're going to have to be more careful. Twilight can't look after you anymore, well not in the way she wants to."

Before she could close the door, I called out her name. "...I don't know why you do this for me. I know, but then I don't. You understand where I'm coming from?"

"We can talk about it in the morning. But for now, let's get you some rest."

I laughed at the idea of me having any rest tonight. "You know they'll be in here in an hour and some change to fuck with me anyways."

"Well consider it your last day." She responded with a smirk.

"I guess." muttered before I laid myself to become comfortable. While I closed my eyes once more, Rarity whispered to me one last time.

"Goodnight."

The Next Day...

As per usual, the nurses did their thing at their scheduled times. one nurse even tried to stick a butterfly needle in my arm in desperation of trying to find a vein. They didn't quite find that vein on the first go, or the second, or the third... or the fourth. Basically they've been poking me like a bratwurst in October.

Call me a voodoo child, cause they've pinned me so bad that I might've cursed someone else.

Thankfully, that didn't happen the second time they woke me up at four in the morning. But it did make me trust them even less when it came to making things as efficiently and painless as possible. And after that, I was left to sleep again until six, where they did their usual rounds a third time.

I managed to get another hour of sleep in before my body clocked itself awake. And by the next time the nurses came in to do their checkups, I was already wide awake with the anticipation of putting something in my stomach. Today's breakfast pretty much consisted of a portion of eggs, toast, and a banana with whole milk. Lastly, Mel came in to pay me a visit and to check my progress on my walking before giving the staff the 'OK' to move me back out to society.

But that would come after a lengthy rehab session.

"Hmm... you're doing pretty damn good today. What you've been up to?"

While Mel lauded my efforts in getting halfway across the room unassisted, I was busy keeping myself suspended on the support bars on each side of my body. "You know, yesterday was such an eye-opener for me. Maybe my mind decided that it was time to push ahead. After all, I could be having more problems than this."

She bit her lips nervously while nodding. "Yeah, ol dude was something else."

"You're telling me. I didn't even know the bastard would be so out of whack when I got back. Guess that's a good thing, I'm finally getting under his skin."

"Haven't you always been doing that?" She asked. "I mean, the two of you aren't exactly the best of friends. Hell, I'm more curious as to how that managed to get started for you."

"I dunno, probably a racist asshole who hasn't even opened his mailbox or checked his front porch since 1962."

"Does it really exist like that here?" Mel questioned curiously.

I laughed and sighed. "You have no idea. Eating meat is already a touchy subject to ponies, so there's one. Griffons here try to work off some certain stereotypes, that's two. Most ponies see dragons as a blight on ponykind and would often resort to violence to settle the matters, that's a third yet reasonable example. Changelings, you already saw that one and it's for a good reason. Oh, and don't forget the micro-aggressions that many hybrid species have to endure, the mules especially get hit kinda hard."

"The mules?" Mel questioned.

"They're usually the product of a donkey parent and a pony parent. And though the pony side is imbued with magic, even if it was a purebred unicorn, that donkey parent nullifies any chance of that being passed down to a foal because of their lack thereof. So in turn, they end up being classified like us humans: level 4 arcane species."

Much how I was when I was first introduced to this topic, Mel sat with her legs crossed and waited like an attentive child in a classroom. "Okay, so what's these levels then?"

"Level one's are pretty much higher beings on multiple planes of existences, Discord is one of those beings and they find themselves willingly able to jump from dimension to dimension with hardly any effort. Physics are practically zeroed with them and they can manipulate anything at will. Level two's are what you see everyday. Ponies are often no more powerful than the strongest alicorn in existence and even though they can transfer dimensions, it would take a substantial amount of research and magic to do so. And since that's what's most common, that kind of the bar set for all species here."

"Kinda like what we do with everything back home, relate it to humans and classify their levels of intelligence accordingly. That's interesting"

"Yup, so there's the primary cause for the racism towards other species right there. It also leads to some of them attempting to play 'God' and try to ascend their capabilities past what is physically and magically possible. But that's a conversation for another day. Level three's are also magic users, but their magic is so inconsequential that there's nothing they can do in the realm of the arcane. There's no jumping dimensions, no marks of destiny, no incredible feats of any kind outside of what they can do under their own physical strength. Cloud walking and the like is available to that class, but not many of the other stuff, like weather manipulation, isn't something within their control. Physics have pretty much gotten them nailed down."

"So I take it that a level four would put us no further than an animal we'd see at the local zoo." Mel stated.

"No magical capabilities, no dimensional abilities, no attributes whatsoever, we're bound by the 'Laws of Physics' forever until the end of time. We've got the technological advantage in our world, but who's to say that there aren't other worlds where humans may have better tech or even magic at their disposal?"

Mel pulled out her phone and swiped at her screen a few times. "Like Sunset's world?"

"I don't know if they have magic over there." I stated. "Never really got a chance to ask. But they do have our level of technology."

"Well, Sunset says she always walk through the portal and change into a human in that world."

"That's probably because there's a spell on the portal we don't know about." I replied.

"But she said that even Twilight has had experience walking on her own two legs, working with her own two arms, and et cetera."

"Not really throwing my argument out there." I rebutted.

"But from what Sunset texts me, she and her friends on that side have magical abilities that they've used to subdue other magical beings. That means their world has some good amount of it while ours doesn't."

I rolled my eyes as I started to let myself down to the ground, giving my arms some well-needed rest. "You know, that has me thinking if this 'Jesus-God' spiritual mumbo-jumbo actually has some merit. I think I heard my grandpa back on the mountain."

"You sure that wasn't your brain playing back a message of some sort? These things happen when your life flashes before your eyes."

I tossed my tired arms in the air as I answered her. "I dunno, could be magic seeping into the brain making me hear and see things that aren't there."

"Or it could be the first signs of schizophrenia, especially dealing with high-stress situations and psychological trauma."

Shut up. "Well I'm not having full-on conversations with myself, nor am I waking up with Vietnam flashbacks. So there's that. Besides, I'm very happy to have the problems I have now cause I know I can work around them."

Mel shrugged as she pulled out her clipboard. "Well, work-aroundable is one way to describe your situation. Soon as we get you out of here, we're gonna get you back to my place for the rest of your rehab."

"Your place?" I asked curiously. "You don't mean that you have other things to do other than probe me at night, right?"

"No needles, I swear. I'm just gonna have you build up your leg strength so you can get back to your running-and-gunning thing. An hour or two each day on a treadmill will do you some wonders."

"Could we also hit the gym on some of those days?"

The woman giggled as she held the clipboard under her arm. "I didn't know you had an investment in leg day."

"Living here with no legs, are you kidding me? You've walked from Twilight's castle to Rarity's boutique before. Didn't that kinda wear on you a little?"

She didn't say anything to invalidate my point. "Well if you wanna visit the gym, we can probably do a little something on campus. I'm sure the world would like to see you a little more than in the news."

"Only after I get to walking again."

"Of course."

On that note, I pulled myself back onto my feet and continued with my rehab. "Oh yeah, you're gonna have to introduce me to your friend Lucy sometime, I wanna see what happens if I throw it at one of these annoying-ass politicians."

"Excuse you. but Lucy is not up for chucking, she's a shovel girl."

"So you fuck a shovel?" I joked.

"Well your sorry ass isn't getting it done, so yes I'll be shoveling myself till I strike for oil."

"Or blood." I murmured.

"Oh she's so goddamn wonderful to me during my period."

I opened myself up for that one, but I still feel like I shouldn't have gotten that response nor was I prepared for it. "...Ewwww."

"Warm-water bubble bath, best way to do it. It's like having less than fifty minutes on the prepaid phone you managed to keep hidden from you parents while you were grounded. Survival of the fittest."

Finally, I was signed out at the front desk and given my instructions on what to avoid as well as what not to do in terms of physical activity. But I honestly figured that I would be reminded of that on the daily because of one former med-student that happens to be my best friend.

Guess that means I'll be getting nagged to death if I do something wrong.

While I rolled myself down the halls, I could see a multitude of busy bodies running around the halls. Several guards were posted in their assigned spots while more maids were running the halls like the afternoon rush hour. I managed to see a few parliament members walking through the gridlock as well. The only things that were missing was the sounds of cars honking, the resulting smog, the scene of a city far down the road, and radios being turned up to full-blast as the vehicles inhabitants jammed out in waiting.

I looked up to Mel and asked her. "How the hell did you get through all of this?"

"It wasn't this bad when I came in. Guess they picked up while we were working on your rehab."

I looked back at the mess ahead and said in turn. "It's never been this bad. I don't think I've ever seen the halls so busy... or this noisy."

"Kinda reminds you of the commute in Austin?"

"With a lot less road rage." I responded.

"I think we had enough road rage from yesterday to make up for it." She joked lightly, referring to Count.

We then started to push our way through. In the initial seconds, the bustling exchange was quite problematic as the only thing I could see was an assortment of colors and manes. Even different smells varying from cheap cologne, scented oils, fresh powders, and minty mouthwash, all the way to I-forgot-to-put-on-deodorant, a trace of I-didn't-wipe-myself, and even the occasional visit from a guard's I-just-got-through-fucking-some-maid-in-the-broom-closet-and-they-were-the-highlight-of-my-week.

You wouldn't believe how quickly all of that parted like the Red Sea and the aisles of Congress when discussing tax code. The areas around us practically went from the fervor you'd experience in discussing a Mayweather fight to the passion of a cold chamber in your local mortuary; quite literally life standing still.

All eyes were on us while we made our way through. Some covered their muzzles as they mumbled to the ones standing next to them. A few snickers could be heard from some, others with gasps of shock, the remainder would just stare. Of course the same went to the guards, who were essentially abandoning their posts. Few would look at me with revered smiles, others with indifference, and even a select few with disgust.

Our entire walk to the outside garden was consistent of the same spectrum of reactions. Melanie, who had cussed out a few of them for staring at me, felt like it was because of my current state of health. Meanwhile I had already realized what was really going on.

Melanie then checked her phone for the time and went through some unopened text messages before she finally spoke to me about everything that happened on the way here. "Jesus, you'd think they'd at least treat you with some dignity instead of staring holes in your chest."

"It's not them. It's me." I tried to explain.

"Yeah, I get it. You're not walking and it's a bit of a culture shock to some. Guess they haven't seen something like that before and I guess they're curious about what's going on. But that still doesn't mean they should be staring right at you like that."

"Oh, really now?" A voice chimed in from above. The two of us looked up to see a yellow pegasus mare wearing a Wonderbolt uniform, staring from behind a cloud as her tail swished from side to side like a curious dog. "Don't tell me that you ain't got the dish on hot stuff down there."

Mel looked up at the mare, covering her eyes from the sun's glare, she then turned to me and asked. "Okay, who is she?"

"She's thirsty."

"By how much?" She asks.

"Watch and wait." I answered before calling up to the pegasus. "So any reason why you're just sitting up in the rafters? The show's down here."

Without any further discussion, Spitfire jumped from her cloud, pulled off a backflip, dived through it in a stream of lightening clouds and rumbling thunder, slammed into the ground, and flipped her mane back as she shot a wink at me.

Melanie was not impressed. "Well I'm glad you already have a fall-back girl to your fall-back girl."

The yellow mare held her hoof out to greet the woman, grinning all the while. "The name's Spitfire, my friends call me Spits."

Looking at Mel's face, I could already tell she was growing something ugly inside of her. One definite sign of it: she smiles back as if she was a preppy high school teenager from San Fernando. "Hey Spitfire, my name is Melanie Brewer, but my friends call me Mel. I'm actually a female of the species if you didn't know."

Spitfire remained determined as she quickly finished her hoofshake with Mel and bolted to me. "So pleasantries aside, what the hell have you been up to? I'm off at practice in Ponyville only to find out that you're not even in the area! Then Twilight tells me that you're in the middle of some busy work for Princess Celestia like you're guarding her on some errand or some shit."

I chuckled nervously as I could already see Mel starting to simmer and seethe behind her. "Well I was a little busy... recovering from a few issues."

"Yeah, you had no idea how pissed I was at you when I heard you came back home on the brink of death. I was literally gonna bust down your window and scream you back to life. After all, you're the newbie of the ranks."

Even though I am practically the same rank as her, I still forget that she's several years my senior. "Yeah... I was pretty damn close there."

"Well you're pretty damn close now. Cutting it kinda thin with Shining, eh?"

At that point, Mel stopped being moody enough to inquire on the subject. "So what the hell is going on again?"

Spitfire looked back at her and smirked. "Oh yeah, I forgot that you weren't in the loop. It's a pretty hot topic." When she finished, she just stuck her hoof out and a magazine just lightly fell right into her possession, causing me to wonder how the hell she managed to suddenly summon that here.

"Uh... how did you─" She wouldn't even let me ask about it when she interrupted me.

"Was reading this when I came by this morning. I had the day off and I figure that I drop by and harass you a little. So you can imagine my face when I read the front cover."

She tossed the magazine into the air and smacked it with her wing towards Mel's direction, who then fumbled the reading material until she gained full control of it. She then flipped it to the front cover and read it out loud. "New Captain and the Princess of Love: Getting Physical?"

"Gotta admit, I was a little heartbroken when I first read the headline. Here I was thinking that he'd rather give a bone to some married princess and lose his balls. But then I actually read the article and holy shit Nondis, you've got some ass-kissing to do."

Oh how nice, she actually knows my name. "Not something I'm very interested in doing at the moment." I replied. "To be fair, she started it and she was drunk enough to talk shit."

Mel quickly thumbed her way through the pages to find the start of the article, she read the first few lines, impatiently scanning for the meat of the issue. By the time she reached the finer details, she was already walking towards me with the intention of grabbing my shoulders and shaking me out of anger. "WHAT THE HELL, ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE MORE ENEMIES THAN YOU ALREADY HAVE!?"

"Again I will explain, she was wine drunk." I rebutted.

The woman then breezed through the article to the end and sighed heavily. "This is why you've been getting the creepy eyes all day, huh?"

"It was why I didn't say much of anything." I confessed. "It's still something I'm not quite proud of and not to mention the fact that she's sick because of the booze."

"Wine's not booze." Melanie corrected. "And also, who do you think you are grabbing at Cadance's leg? Shining's going to kill you!"

"Well it's not like he hasn't already tried." Spitfire added. "So when's round two coming up? Sure as hell wouldn't mind watching that again."

I groaned with exasperation at the thought of a rematch. "No thanks, bastard broke my arm last time just before I cracked his horn. I think we're good on rematches."

Mel threw down the magazine and asked Spitfire politely. "So where did you get this?"

The yellow pegasus mare hovered into the air and fetched the cloud she was resting on. "Well, there's this one booth downtown that's selling the goods. But if you're thinking of having that story repressed, then you're in for a rough time. Apparently that story's so hot that it was picked up by every magazine, newspaper, and presser in the city limits. You might see this one out around the entire country by next week."

"Everyone's picking this up, even the fashion magazines?" Mel asked.

"Oh, and there's soooooo many spins on this shit too. Watch." Spitfire said as she settled the cloud just two feet off the ground. With a hind leg, she bucked the cloud, causing a moderate thunderclap to sound out. Following the thunder was a downpour of different kinds of magazines, newspapers, article clippings, and even artist renderings of the event. While both Mel and I were stunned to silence over the amount of material falling on the ground, we were left questioning what the hell we were seeing.

"Um... where did all of this come from?" Mel asked.

Spitfire shrugged casually as she answered the question. "Oh, I bought every article and every damn mag that had this stuff. And then I just kinda shoved it all in this cloud. Of course the fashion magazines also have a little something in them about it too."

Mel and I walked over to the pile as the woman tapped her cheek. "Cloud. Storage. You took a literal cloud from the sky... and stored a bunch of information inside of it. Well played."

Meanwhile, I was sifting my way through the pile of material, calling out the various titles. "Scandal at the Veranda, Canterlot Clash, Friskful Fury, A Bridge Too Far, Malice at the Palace, This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Two of Us, Reasons Revealed; Memorandum of the TwiDis Breakup, Royal Relations Status; It's Complicated." And even then I managed to come across some rather unusual titles. "Secret Lovers; Sultry Affair Brewing Before Our Very Eyes? Bad-Boy Streak? Clutching on for Dear Love?" Then there were two that definitely caught my attention, two headlines with my face in the backdrop. "He's Free; Twenty Ways You Can Grab His Attention. Love Is An Open Door; Ten Possible Positions To Blow His Human Mind."

Mel then looked at the pegasus with a contorted expression. "...The fuck?"

Spitfire walked beside me and politely grabbed the magazine from me. "Oh yeah, that last one was a really good educational article on how the two species can use their size and physical differences to maximize the experience for both parties. It also has a few hints and tips on what the human can do on the flip side of things, belly rubs, wing massages, preening practices, horn tease, horn worship, frog sucking."

"Frog sucking?" Melanie asked almost to the point of screaming.

The mare then proceeded to give us a more... hooves-on detailed explanation. "Oh yeah, it's where you suck on the bottom of our hooves, the sensitive parts of it especially, and then you lick down the middle. Rainbow Dash fucking loves that shit to death, she squeaks like a total filly when that happens."

...That's... information. That is exactly what it is, information.... Yeah... "Um, I have so many questions."

"What happens in Las Pegasus..." Spitfire replied with a smirk. "Oh and speaking of things on the low, you might wanna come to the show tomorrow night in the Cloud Bowl. I've got a front-row ticket for you, maybe you come by and get a bit of attention from a certain pegasus, or even just to get off the castle grounds for once. You'll get VIP access and even some time with us Wonderbolts."

While Spitfire kicked the cloud one more time, it sounded off less like a storm and more of an actual cough. A blue and gold ticket then fluttered out and into her wing. Grasping at the ticket, she presented the item to me. As I reached for it, I could see a scowl on Melanie's face. "Thanks. I'll... think about it."

This time, the mare's face grew serious as she poked her wing at my neck. "This time, I mean it. Show up, rookie. There's some shit we need to talk about on the serious side of things."

This already sounds like trouble. "And if I don't?"

"Well let's just say that brawl number two is going to be very bloody, on your end specifically."

Okay, that sounds like a thing I need to not ignore. "Solid copy."

One of her primary feathers then traced up my throat to my chin as she grinned devilishly. "See you there, big guy. Don't disappoint me."

Melanie walked up to me and grumbled out loud. "I wonder if they somehow forgot that you can't walk at the moment?"

"You know that's not gonna stop me from making an appearance." I said, picking up the magazine with the ten positions. As I ran through the pages, finally running across the article, they had illustrations of a teddy bear on top of a stuffed pony doll. And though I felt the subject was rather ridiculous, I grew morbidly curious when a third position had the pony grabbing the leg of the 'human' depiction laying on it's side. Just the idea had me tilting my head to the side like a curious puppy. "Gah-dayum! They can do that?... I wonder what other crazy shit they got in here."

Mel snatched the magazine from my hand cruelly and chewed me out. "Can you think about the reality of the situation instead of thinking about how deep you can drive your dick in one of these damn ponies?"

"Just look at the page, Mel." I urged strongly. "That there might be some Kama Sutra shit."

She then started to look at the page while continuing her rant for a while. "You are in some serious shit, dude. If anything, you should be finding Shining Armor and having a long man-to-man with him before he comes after you with a rusty─" Her train of thought was quickly derailed as she was silenced at the contents of the magazine. She too had to tilt her head at the wild proposals. "...How do they bend like this?"

"If I had a bit for every time I asked that question..."

Melanie's Apartment
Austin, Texas...

Shortly after our stroll through the garden, we went back to our own world and Mel had me running on a treadmill for a substantial amount of time. Of course Cliff and Rickey paid us a visit before they had to go about their studies for the semester finals again. We also had a brief discussion on our plans for Thanksgiving and even what we'd do to avoid certain family members that were either annoying or too awkward to deal with.

For Rickey, it was his uncle. Everyone in his circle knew that he was an alcoholic that often leaned heavily on surrounding family members to take care of any outstanding issues in regards to his life. Most of them were not fond of it, and offered him rehab at every opportunity. But seeing how he wasn't with kids and wasn't in any relationship other than loose associations with a few neighbors around town, he wasn't an outstanding liability to anyone other than the ones who lived with him. Rickey says he's a great cook and a generous guy, but often said that his mother hadn't seen the lawnmower since he loaned it out.

For Cliff, it was one of his cousins. If I ever told the story about Cliff's situation with his ex, his cousin would be the one to exclusively blame for all of it. In short, the girl kept it in the family and Cliff was never the same with either of them since. His cousin wouldn't be here for Thanksgiving, but he would be around by Christmas. He's also coming by with his Cliff's aunt, who was at beef with his mom over something about the estate of his grandmother. It's no wonder why he wants to keep himself isolated after finals, maybe that's why he's been excited over his shiny new portal to Equestria.

Mel, of course, will be spending her time with her dad over the next week in Houston. He recently moved there around two years ago, citing that Mel's absence was the reason why he felt like he could go back there. The reason: Austin reminded him of the wife he lost when Mel was a child. But she wanted to stay here so badly that she pleaded with him for a week straight. So he endured for several more years, because he loved the shit out of his only daughter enough to give her that until she grew up. Unusual story, to say the least, but it's her story nonetheless.

Vanessa will be coming back from Dallas, clearing out some issues with Alex. He missed more than a few days of work worrying about me, but he's already assessed the risk of losing his job over losing his brother, and he's bound to take that over a job that can be easily replaced. The only reason why he had the job was so that he could cushion up to Vanessa's parents before marrying her to begin with. He worked in accounting and collections, not sure if they'd give him anything close to a peace of mind.

Stanton's gonna be a little busy this weekend, final game of the schedule and he wants to make a good impression with the coach after a few days off. He's probably in need of a little conditioning from his days off, but he'll be back for the last game and the postseason Liberty Bowl. Granted, he'll be looking to impress in that game.

I, however, am coming to realize that my time to return back home is quickly approaching. Thanksgiving is around the corner and I need to be back in dad's face with a girl to play the part. Of course it wouldn't be hard to grab some girl on Craigslist to fill the roll for a quick buck, but that came with risks. I could also kinda sneak into the fine arts facility and do a lot of asking for a girl who'd be willing to stay down here for the break, learn a few lines, and play the part I have assigned.

Ugh... But how in the hell am I going to pass this girl off when my mom's gonna be trying to friend her on Facebook? But then again I could always fake an account and she might take it at face-value. It's not like she's so computer literate where she's able to reverse search an image on google. I think I could make it work.

And then I made the mistake of letting Melanie in on it. She quickly shot my idea down and yelled at me for not trying to tell them the truth, which is what she wanted me to do in this instance. She brought up the idea of memory spells and other things that could be used if things weren't to end well, but I had reservations about that, especially being that I had my mind tinkered with.

I felt and knew that their initial reaction would do more harm than good. And if I did try to bring them to the portal, they'd look at me like I was stupid by bringing them into my bathroom, which would bring them into a room full of automatic weapons and explosives. Not a good starting argument in my favor.

I could always tell them that I simply broke up with 'Bella', which would also be true. However, that would probably cause dad to go on and on about how I need to find a job and a new source of income, inviting several other issues like him possibly being so irrational as to cancel my lease on the apartment and having me live under the same roof again, complicating things further than what it needs to be as I will be unable to bring any company from and to Equestria whatsoever.

Not a resolution I'm interested in.

And being that there's no such thing as a spell to turn anypony into a human, I think it would be safe to say that an escort of some kind would be my best bet for the time being. And again, Mel argued with me over that point. We pretty much fought over the damn thing until she got tired of trying to convince me otherwise. Her final response was calling me more stubborn than my dad.

Not a comparison I was proud of, but as long as the situation can be defused safely I can deal with it.

Guess I'll have to pay a visit to the frathouse tomorrow and have Cliff scope out a few girls for the fit. Since he's a music major with a focus on vocal, he's easier to trust in when it comes to talking with the girls in the FA department.

As far as the rest of the day, I don't really have anything substantial planned. Guess I'll order us some pizza, watch some TV to catch up on current events, and call it a day.

...I wonder what the girls are doing.

Meanwhile at the Sun Cryst Resort
Upper Town Square of Canterlot...

"Alright everypony, great rehearsal! We'll see you all at around five tomorrow evening! Keep those coats clean and be sure to come ready to strut your stuff!"

Rarity trotted towards the empty stage as she looked at the dress rack on the far right of the room. Her smile was as bright as ever as she levitated a series of outfits to the rack she had her eyes on. At the end of the rack, she saw something slightly disarranged and made a quick adjustment to set everything in place for the next day. Her eyes were squinted, concentrating on the material she was adjusting and made the appropriate change to ensure that her design was without flaw.

Then as an imaginary lightbulb flashed over her head, she hollered out to the leaving throng of models. "Oh, and ladies, please remember to bring your heels as the matching accessories will only be worn the day before!"

Finally, the hall was empty with nothing but her assistant from Manehattan. The young mare looked at her with excitement over the arrangements and showered the fashionista with admiration. "Your new line will be an absolute hit! I can't wait for the debut, the community will be raving about what you've done with your new style!"

Rarity sighed as she removed her ruby red glasses and placed them on the table near a sewing machine. "It's all about the hard work and dedication that makes the model shine the most. My designs can only take me so far if I don't have the right ones working them."

"I just wish you had your other model to show up. The human would've turned head for sure!" The mare said with a slight blush. "With all the stories you've told me, I'm kinda interested in meeting him myself."

Rarity giggled as she shook her head. "Health comes before strut, Coco Pommel." The mare then let out a dejected sigh as she eyed another rack beside the stage, one set up to be much taller than the others. "After all, how can I have him model if he's unable to walk for the time being? I'm not going to put any more stress on him than what he's already caught in."

Coco walked up to the rack and unzipped one of the black bags and visualized the outfit she gazed upon. "Oh, shame. *tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk* I would've loved to see him wear this."

"As do I, it's not just something I could have him wear on the street for the day's running about. I wanted him to wear me."

"Or work you." The young mare joked raunchily.

"Dear Faust, you have no idea." Rarity huffed with a quick trot to a much smaller bag at the end of the rack. "I actually made this one months in advance."

Coco watched as Rarity pulled out the outfit with a smirk. "Uh, I don't think that would fit him."

"Of course not." Rarity replied. "This is for me to wear."

"Oh, so it's sitting on the rack you had set aside for him? Throwing the hint out pretty quickly, huh?"

"No, actually. I've made him very aware of what my intentions were." The fashionista then pulled out the outfit. "There's one piece I've already worn to this. And I quietly hid it in his drawer when he was staying at Twilight's castle. Of course he doesn't know who dropped it there, but who am I but a demure little filly looking to poke the beast within the docile creature walking in our world?"

"Well since Princess Twilight broke up with him, I figured he'd be up for giving you a shot next." Coco stated.

Rarity then put away the outfit and placed the bag back onto the rack. "I'd like to think that as well..."

A long moment of pause from the fashionista drew concern from Coco. "What's wrong?"

Rarity then grew saddened as she looked at the rack one last time. "Shining told me last night how devastated Twilight was when she spoke to him. She even took the leave back to Ponyville to set her mind in order because of how she was feeling on a personal level. She really does feel for him and he feels the same for her."

"You feel like you can't compete?" Coco summarized quietly.

Rarity quickly shot that down. "Gracious no, if anything I'm in the running. It's just that he's going to take some time to clear some things up with his personal life and his family. And judging from the interaction we had from a few days ago, I can clearly understand why he would take issue with some of the things Cadance said about him."

"Oh yeah." Coco said with a slow nod. "Your name was thrown out there, wasn't it?"

"I know. And I always wanted what was best for him instead of what was hardest. Him and her was always going to be something that he wasn't going to stay with because everypony has needs. And Twilight's extremely limited in what she can do for those needs, especially with her being so stingy about his privileges. If you were to go through a whole year being teased in such a manner but constantly unfulfilled because of some piece of paper saying you can't because 'we said so', would you think that it was fair to you?"

Coco mulled over the situation and answered her. "Well if I went through the whole year, I'd probably be used to it by the end of it. And the teasing would get a little boring after a while. Of course I'd find some ways of getting what I want out of the deal, but then it all points back to self-control. Other than that, not really"

"Now imagine if there was somepony getting involved, telling you that you can't engage in anything, not even with the one you're currently with."

The young mare quickly shook her head. "Absolutely not. I'm a grown mare, if I want to be adventurous then it's my right to be that way."

"That's summing up what he was dealing with the past few months, outside of the political turmoil." Rarity explained.

"In that case, why didn't he ever get with you to start off with?" Coco asked.

"Twilight and Cadance purposefully withheld the information. And as a result, all of this happened."

"I see why you're concerned." Coco said as she tapped her cheek. "It's not fair for him to be in such a relationship where everything's kinda decided for him. I'd be happy to know she cut me loose."

Rarity started to take a final survey of the space before she started to gather her personal belongings. "...To be honest, I was hoping to not do a wedding dress for her. I felt like watching him get married to her would've been so unfair to both me and him. There's just so much at stake and I'd much rather see him break up with me over something trivial."

"Why?" Coco asked as she walked to the door.

"Because at least we'd have something normal for a change. We'd at least get to have some semblance of a normal relationship."

"Even if you're the Element of Generosity, a national hero on multiple accounts, a fashion icon, and a trendsetter for upwards to millions of impressionable young fillies everywhere?" Coco inquired.

"Food, sex, and intimate interaction, he'd be getting all three of that from me at will.... Plus free clothes."

The two mares walked out of the hall, turning out the lights and closing the door. As the sound of the lock clicking in place, a tall shadow-like figure stepped out of the back of the stage. Upon stepping to the taller rack, she picked out the smaller bag and tore the zipper off of it. The black bag was ripped open at the creature's haste.

Slowly from the tattered remnants of the bag, a thin, lacy black lingerie was revealed to the creature who held it. Then, a teal color aura surrounded the lingerie as the caster chuckled quietly. Looking both ways, the intruder quickly set the outfit upon herself and walked as she wore it. The mare quickly galloped to one of the mirrors stationed backstage and dimly lit her horn. She smiled with malice as she surveyed the scantily clad image of herself.

"Sorry, sweetheart. I might just pay you back later for this. Besides, I wear it better."

Later in the Canterlot Throne Room...

Alex groans with disgust and disbelief as he sat at the table, looking at one of the magazines published around Canterlot. The man could do very little outside of mumble under his breath and shake his head. Celestia, who sat across from him, watched him as she too showed a lack of amusement. Each party sitting on each side, ready to make some sort of statement on the account of the incident from the previous night.

The man would start first. "I knew things between him and Cadance were shaky, but I didn't think he'd take it this far."

"That is something that could be said on my end as well." Celestia said, levitating the magazine in front of her. "Now the breakup went from being a hot topic to a debate on the stability of the royal inner circle."

"I'm just floored he'd do that shit. I get that you're angry but you don't ever put your hand on another man's wife, that's just asking for trouble."

"And Shining has made no mention of it. He's been with Cadance all day, helping her return to form."

"Didn't this article say that Blueblood was there too? Doesn't he have anything to say about it?" He asked.

"He's been tight-lipped on the matter. Seems he's more knowledgeable of it than any of us and willingly allowed these things to happen. He had to have been involved, Nondis was introduced to the guests by him and no other. At times I wonder what goes through his mind while he continues to set us up for disaster. Now it appears that there is some dispute going on behind the scenes."

"The only dispute I know of is that Nondis wasn't too happy with what was said between you and Cadance." Alex said, gaining a strong draw of attention from the high princess. "It's not that I'm placing any blame on you at all, we know the gist of it. You just wanna do what's right for Twilight and fulfill her mother's wishes. Unfortunately we were down the hall when the topic came up─"

Celestia slammed the magazine on the table, evoking silence from the human. Her hoof even managed to crack the surface of the table as the pages of the magazine were stamped so tightly together that the would become inseparable. "The situation is Cadance's responsibility. I know how she is when she's afforded the time to spend with her beloved, only to have that taken away. I should have known to see to it that there were to be no additional guests brought in on Blueblood's behalf as well. He's always been starting trouble for the sake of attention."

Alex tapped his foot on the ground as he pondered out loudly. "Having that said, do you think that Blueblood would push the envelope in having these two meet up?"

"No." She quickly responded. "He's not so blatant to get himself caught by putting iron to iron. He's more into letting the situation unfold while he looks on the sidelines. As you can probably summarize from the article, he was with a party of four others not named Blueblood."

Alex walked up to the magazine and picked up the stamped booklet. Flicking his fingers through the corner of the pages, he identified which area would likely hold the article and attempted to pull it apart, only to have it tear outside of where Celestia's hoofprint was pressed. "Well I don't think I'll be able to confirm that right now. But in either case, Nondis had to have known she was drunk. What he should've did was escort her to the other guards, have them take her to her room, and then he can enjoy himself for the rest of the night. He could've avoided the confrontation, but I know my little brother. If his honor's on the line, he's gonna start a fight." Alex then chuckled at the situation for a quick second, recalling the past he and his younger sibling shared. "You know, I can't even really say if he was gonna get his ass beat this time, he came up quite a bit since he was younger."

Celestia also shared a chuckle with him. "That's for certain, I assumed him to be beaten by some mere ruffian in some dark alley all those months ago. But a confrontation between him and Cadance would end badly for your brother, she's no slack when it comes to using a sword and spear. And I'd highly doubt she'd let a gun find it's way into the conversation."

"Apparently, if Shining knows how a gun works." Alex said. "But we've gotta get these two to chill."

"I will do my part in keeping these two in peace, I'm even willing to have the two of them convene together. But that will have to take place at a time when the two of them have dissipated much of their hostility towards one another."

"Sounds like a plan." Alex agreed before breathing out a sigh or relief. "I still can't believe this happened."

"It's to be expected in some cases." Celestia said as she picked up the magazine. As she levitated the item in her magic, the pages began to crisp and blacken. "But for now, I will do what I can to dispel these rumors and promote peace and stability to our inner-circle."

"And the preparations?" Alex asked.

Celestia looked at the man with her horn alight. "I was unable to formulate anything in the little time I had that would work towards your plan. But I do have something worth looking at."

"Really, what?"

The princess smiled deviously as she took a step towards the human. "Well I'm not one to suddenly bring about trouble but I do find myself being fiendishly curious at times. But you wouldn't let me try out a little something on you, would you?"

Alex, starting to become a bit nervous, slowly backed away. "Your highness, with all due respect, that sounds like trouble."

"Oh not at all... I only want to find out how tall you are in comparison to me."

The Next Day...

The morning came quietly while I was busy being shacked up on Mel's couch for the night. This morning had given me a bit of a pleasant surprise from the jump. It was like my legs were starting to get back under me. Of course there were still a few instances of my losing balance frequently, but it appeared that a heavy treadmill routine was doing some good in forcing me to relearn how to walk. Granted that running was not a thing I could do well, I could stumble and keep my balance for a significant amount of time.

Mel also took a look at my legs and saw that all the tendons and muscles that were cut had been repaired to almost one-hundred percent. She hailed it as the miracle of medicinal magic and grew more invested in the dividends it would produce if it was applied with our world's technology. Though a successful run would end with a Nobel Peace Prize being shipped to her P.O. box, that wasn't something the world was quite ready for.

Hell, it's almost like she's ready to be a nurse again instead of going through criminal justice.

After another two hours of moving on the treadmill, I was feeling more stable and ready to move on my own. I managed to question her on why it took me so little time to get back on my feet outside of the magic procedures the doctors used on me. According to her, it was mainly because of the short amount of time I spent being in a comatose state. Once again, magic had a strong play in it, but because I was out for so short of time, I ended up being on a short recovery schedule in terms of how human's operate. Of course there's a longer period for equines because their legs are so integral with their everyday lives and their having four of them, they want to make sure that they're capable of moving forward with as little complications as possible.

Mel then told me that I was moving around too little while being in care, and with the lack of the equipment to accommodate human patients, I was unable to get some real work in. And even though I shouldn't be walking under normal human med practice, there were too many variables to allow me to continue being handicapped. I have a lot to thank those doctors for. Now if only I can get these stitches out of my stomach, damn things are starting to itch and I can't scratch em.

But the positive of what I've encountered over these past few days is that I know that the ones in my corner are really there to prop me up when I need it most. I couldn't imagine me feeling like I needed the time to think about what's all gone wrong in that atmosphere. Too much time to think, too little noise to distract, and having too few visitors will start to make you ask a lot of questions about yourself, especially after getting a break-up notice upon waking up. You start to feel alone, like you did something wrong, like life's been a little unfair to you, and you start to think whether or not you're really a burden on others around you.

And then, the monster hits you, the big one. And for some, that monster's been lurking for quite some time in their life. The silence alone gives it a new breath, the fact that you're forced to look at it's face is nothing short of playing a round of Scary Maze; it terrifies you and causes you to periodically look behind you at every dark corner. And then, just when you think you're getting somewhere, you close your eyes and the question pops up in your face:

Is living really worth all the pain you can possibly experience?

For many, the answer's yes because there's a lot to be said when it comes to seeing the glass half-full. It's easy to see the positives when you're so optimistic. But with all that I've seen...

...After breakfast, Mel and I merrily pranced our way through the portal into the land of Equestria once more. As a shocker, Alex was already here, and he was sitting on the ground in an odd fashion.

"Hey guys!" Alex said waving his hand. He then stopped for a moment and looked at his arm. After a split second, he shook himself and regained his focus on us. "So you're up and at it, huh?" He asked me.

"Yeah, though I'm wondering how you managed to get here." I said.

"Oh, I went through Cliff's portal." He answered. "Cliff's in the dining hall stuffing his face full of pancakes. I'm just here to see you guys in."

"Well isn't that nice of you." Mel replied sweetly. "I just wish your brother would do the same for me for just one morning and tell me that he's been waiting for me to wake up."

"You're looking for the shadow of your own reflection if you're wanting me to do that." I deadpanned. "Either that or you could be looking for a stalker to take hair clippings from you while you were sleeping."

Alex shook his head while he laughed. "Mel, you might as well stop playing with him. He's kicked you to the curb, apparently."

"Well I gotta keep up appearances." She answered with a light nudge on my arm. "He's got other girls here trying to cozy up and show off in front of him. And they've got magazine articles depicting what sexual position they could take to supposedly blow his mind."

Alex titled his head as he looked at me with confusion. "Excuse me?"

"I ain't tell them shit. That's them, they're the ones that wanna use my legs as a stripper pole."

My older brother could do nothing but facepalm at the absurdity. "I swear shit here's been crazy."

"Now try living here for nine months." I recommended. "Crazy will start to look a little differently after a while."

"You ain't gotta tell me more than once." He said with a smirk. "You're your own brand of crazy after the other night."

I groaned shyly while I felt myself not wanting to look him in the face. "Oh, so you heard of that?"

"It's everywhere, dude. No doubt you've probably got Shining pissed as fuck." He stated. "Did you ever talk to him?"

"Outside of the initial hospital visit, no." I confessed.

"Oh yeah, he's marinating in that shit. You might wanna set out and make an apology today if you can reach him."

Well, I suppose it would be a good start to diffuse the tension a little. "Yeah, I guess we can make that a venture for today."

Alex then stood on his knees and hand while he spoke. "Yup, let's go."

While Mel and I started to walk, I started to notice Alex crawling on his hands and knees in an odd fashion. It was as if he was between kneading like a cat and miming like he was picking up coins. For a hot second, Mel and I turned to him and looked at how weird he was looking. An awkward stare was all I could produce as he mumbled to himself.

"Okay, left-right front, right-left back."

"Um, what the hell?" I asked, causing him to snap his head up and realize what he was doing.

Still on his knees, he kinda looked at us funny while he took the time to realize he was crawling on all fours. His cheeks started to run red while he smiled at us nervously. "Oh, yeah. Disregard that." He said, finally standing on his own two feet.

Meanwhile I was left nodding slowly. "Oohhhhkaaaay then."

After a few minutes of traversing the halls, I started to catch myself being a little winded from the travel. I suppose there's much to be done in order to get me back into fighting shape, but I'm still a galactic mile from where I was when I first woke up. If anything, this was just my body telling me that long walks across town wasn't a good idea. Guess I'll have to take that into consideration for the next few days until I recondition myself for the travel. But we did manage to come across the throne room. When we approached the doors, the two guards standing by each side had uncrossed their spears and gave me a salute. I returned the gesture and our party made our way into the throne room.

Even though I was placed in a position of prominence, much of the palace has remain unseen from my perspective. So my entering the cathedral-like hall was met with nothing but outright silence and wonder. Not once have I set my eyes upon this room, nor have I been assigned near it. And on each side of the hall stood a multitude of stained glass windows. I walked up to one, seeing two ponies standing in a circle, the two shaped like a heart with their horns touching at the tips. And from that contact drew forth a heart so bright that it banished back a horde of darker shadows. Judging from the color of the two ponies in the depiction, it would be best to assume it was Cadance and Shining Armor.

But that wasn't the only one.

I walked up to another, depicting a party of six standing on the bottom, shooting a large beam at a shadow-engulfed alicorn on the top end. The colors would indicate it was none other than the girls in Ponyville. Just another seal down was the figure of a creature manipulating what appeared to be a unicorn, a pegasi, and an earth pony like mere puppets. Just the imagery alone told me it was Discord being malicious. And yet another window, this time with a small dragon holding up a blue heart, banishing off a great shadow that threatened to swallow the land whole.

Damn, even Spike got one of these damn things.

The next one kinda threw me off a bit. It was the image of a centaur taking the magic of the world while a purple alicorn attacked it from above, almost as if it was holding a spirit bomb to throw on the centaur's head. I wasn't quite sure what this creature was, but I knew that the purple depiction had to be one individual in particular.

"That was a battle she nearly lost."

The voice startled me as I quickly turned back to see none other than Princess Celestia standing there. She walked up to the window and continued speaking.

"It was a battle that we all came so close to losing. If we never entrusted Twilight with all of our alicorn magic, then Tirek would've surely taken it for himself. But we were shortsighted in our efforts, failing to remove one bit of evidence to throw him off our trail."

"And what was that?" Melanie questioned.

Celestia simply walked over one window to show the answer staring us in the face. Before us was a stained glass effigy of Twilight, standing with a much different crown than she'd usually wear. The jewel upon the apex shone brightly, producing a magenta star the same shape of her cutie mark. Wings unfurled, she stood regally with closed eyes and a humble smile on her face.

"We forgot to take this one down." The princess replied with a light chuckle.

"Yeah, you couldn't just give her a bright neon sign saying 'come and get me', right?" I joked.

The high ruler nodded as she guided us from the windows to the throne she sat on. Leading up to it was a long red carpet reaching from the doors to the seat. The stairs that lead up to the seat was made of fine white marble and coated in the finest gold flakes. And on each side was a miniature fountain that flowed onto the floor itself. The beautiful banners that hung from the walls on each side and the tapestry that hung above gave the throne an imperial look that would rival some of the richest heritage back on earth. But as she sat down, we all realized that there was something odd about the setup.

"So I take it that the throne is shared?" Melanie questioned.

Celestia sighed as she ran a hoof through her mane. "I suppose you would be used to it after sitting here for over nine-hundred and fifty years. But it's not a setup I'm fond of at the moment. It is rather weary to look at over and over again. It just screams 'ALL HAIL THE SUN AND IT'S GOLDEN GLORY' in a royal Canterlot voice."

"Well isn't that the whole idea?" Melanie asked. "I'm sure that your subjects would've had this in mind when they fitted the place for you."

I took a quick look around the place and realized that if these pillars were on fire, it would really look like a firelord would own the place. All it needs it some fire, a lot of it, then the guests could say 'praise the sun' all fucking day while sweating like a pig in a pressure cooker. "It does kinda have the overlord-of-the-land thing going with it. I don't even see a throne for Luna."

"And that's exactly the problem!" Celestia chimed loudly. "I can't see myself ruling over this place like I have for the past millennium. I want my sister to feel involved instead of feeling like she in my shadow for every waking moment of the day. I don't want to rule over her, I want to rule beside her. And this current setup isn't going to allow me to do that."

"Ever thought about renovating the place?" Cliff inquired.

"I already have a blueprint in the works with one of the royal contractors. They say it will be a complete and total revamp of the room, giving it a total lighting overhaul and a fresh new coat of paint. Less gold and more marble and pearl. They'll also be raising the throne's pillar another two feet to stand out more. And of course, a second throne and two rear exits to a new balcony outside. Also, two additional stained glass windows to display the holder of the seat. And with a little magic, they can be changed to whomever assumes the seat."

"That sounds like one hell of an upgrade." Alex states with a whistle. "Does it come with LED lighting in the fountains?"

"Though I am unsure of what these LED's you are talking about, I am certain that the fountains will have special magicite crystals installed to give it a more dynamic effect."

"Outright fancy." Melanie said. "When do you think it'll be done?"

"It will take some time. But I do wish them to do it correctly over doing it quickly. I love my sister enough to where I want them to make sure that she is safe when she sits beside me."

While the thought of having this already magnificent room redone threw me for a loop, I had to keep in consideration that she's been here far longer than my home country's been a sovereign nation. And there's been a lot of history in these past two-hundred plus years.

My mind wandered back to the windows and the images that were depicted in them. More importantly, the images of the six ponies doing various deeds that have deserved the notoriety of their being immortalized in these windows. It made me reflect on my deeds and I started to have a bit of confidence issues. "Yeesh, these girls have probably saved the world more times than I would've made my dad proud of me throughout my life." My self-depreciating joke fell flat, earning anything but a laugh. But I suppose the context of the situation didn't add much humor. I took a second to sheepishly laugh at myself, only to drop my head and feel like an idiot.

...Yikes, where the fuck did that come from?

I offered to correct myself, but was quickly silenced by Celestia. "I understand things are hard right now. And I know things will be difficult for when the time comes. But just know that we'll be here for when you feel like you're ready to make that move."

"Yeah, dude. Don't sweat it." Alex said in his attempt to comfort me. "You're gonna be fine, I promise."

Melanie's eyes wandered back to the portrait of Cadance and Shining Armor. She walked over to the window once more and questioned the royal. "Big Mama Celly, can I ask you something?"

"Go on, what is it?" The mare replied.

"So these black creatures, what exactly are they. They look like ponies, but they're not."

The alabaster alicorn held her head up high as she looked at the portrait. "You are no stranger to those. They are changelings."

Oh how can we forget, we just saw some hanging in the courtyard two days ago. But that does bring up a thought. "Hey, I was wondering if you had spoke to Shining Armor."

Celestia didn't even turn to me as she responded. "He made it very clear that he wished not to see you. I'm afraid that requesting an audience with him would be problematic for all of us, especially you."

"Figures." I mumbled under my breath. "But I still need to talk to him, I wanna get what happened the other night off of my chest so we can work things out."

Alex then intervened. "Just let him be, if he wants to talk about it then he should be the one to bring it up to you."

"I'm just afraid this might turn into something ugly if we let it fester for too long." Mel added.

"Cadance has recovered much of her strength, he has been with her to aid her recovery. He only wishes that your involvement with them were to be limited to the magazines issued out among the masses for the time being."

Man that's icy, completely tuning me out. "I see. Then can I leave a message for him if you should ever see him?"

"He's also made it clear that there were to be no messages to be passed on." Celestia stated.

I guess that venture for today is a dead topic. Melanie then intervened. "Then could we talk with Blueblood? I'm sure we can talk to him about what happened that night."

"Blueblood's been running around town, it will be hard to catch him." She answered. "You will have to go out around town to see what he's up to."

"Are none of his wives in?" I asked.

"From what I was told, they stand in solace with Cadance and offer no ear to you. I am sorry."

I can't even get to Blueblood, what kind of shit is this? "Okay, I get it. I probably need to separate myself until things cool down a bit."

"Seems to be all you can do at this point." Mel said with a shrug. "Guess we'll have to try next time."

Celestia then offered us some advice on the way back to her throne. "If I can give you any words of encouragement, it would be that not all disputes are long-lasting when alcohol is involved. Give it a few more days and I'm sure that it will blow over."

"Sounds good to me." I said on our way out.

We took a quick glance at some of the other windows and saw nothing of interest and left the room. When the doors closed behind us, Celestia tapped her chin deviously and smiled.

"Nondis P. Haines, earth pony... about four inches shorter... I wonder what's in stock for armor in the barracks."

Since Shining Armor seemed to be a no-go for anything today, I then decided that our focus was to be the one responsible for my being at the party. So far, the search for Blueblood has been rather uneventful. We checked all the usual hot spots. Saunas, spas, steam rooms, restaurants, and even some of the most exclusive venues─though they just barred us from entering the area because they want that verified royalty/rich status─had all come up with no results for the blond-maned prince.

Basically, we just wasted another two hours of combing through a third of the upper-class establishments, apparently there's a lot of those here. Of course the main reason why is because of Princess Sunbutt sitting on her throne of gold and marble just down the road. Kinda sets the pace for everything going around it.

Heh, I wonder if this so-called Canterrot is actually a middle-class suburb filled with wanna-be thugs and tough-guys. I honestly wouldn't be surprised. Though the comment about decapitations would be a bit obvious if we ran by the place. I wonder if he's there.

Unfortunately, that would require me to have some legs left under me to do that. At that moment, I was growing more and more fatigued from the travel. So stops in between locations became more and more frequent. At this point, I was ready to call it quits for the day. No need for us to keep going, the castle is a fair distance from us....

Ugh, that means we'd have to walk all the way back to the castle from this labyrinth of streets, business, and hotels. That's at least another forty-five minutes just to get to the back-end security checkpoint... or is it fifty-five? To be honest, we walked all the way here on the words of only the ponies on the street. We had no map, no compass, and the only hint we had was the massive castle overlooking the city. But the way these streets were laid out made it hard for us to determine how far everything is from one another.

It's almost like I'm having to get used to pony distances all over again.

Our eyes were tilted up and everywhere as the command rang loudly through the streets. But in a single moment, I felt something akin to a punch in the solar plexus. My knees buckled and my body collapsed onto the ground. Writhing a little, I held my abdomen and looked back to see what had hit me.

Sitting on the ground, rubbing her horn was a young unicorn mare with a ripped apron. In the distance, I could see two armor-clad earth-pony stallions turn the corner. They started barreling right for us when I tried to stand back up on my weakened legs. When they arrived, they grabbed the mare and roughly tried to subdue her, pulling her tail, jumping on top of her, holding her on the neck, anything to encourage discomfort for every moment she moved.

"I didn't do it! I swear!" The mare pleaded.

"Stop resisting, dammit!" One of the guards ordered.

"It's not my fault! I'm innocent here!" She said once more.

"Tell it to the chief constable, lady!" The other guard said as he held her down.

As I was still recovering a bit from the pain, I reached out to a seething Melanie, who had walked in to disrupt the chaos unfolding before us. "Hey, can you get the fuck off of her and let her say something for once?"

I walked over and politely guided her away from the scene and intervened myself. "Guys, what the hell's going on?"

"I'm being accused for something I had no business with! I want a lawyer!" The mare screamed.

One of the guards rolled his eyes as he then explained the situation to me. "My apologies on disturbing you on your day off, captain. It seems that this mare's being accused of stolen property."

"I only stole a bit of food from the kitchen. I work so damn hard all day and what do I get for it, a nonexistent lunch-break, a short dinner break that I'm often forced to work through, and a weak paycheck that the landowner eats on like a chocolate mini bite."

"That ain't the only thing you stole, is it?" The other guard asked antagonistically.

I shook my head and temporarily stepped back into my role. "Okay, guys. Get off of her."

"But captain─"

"I don't recall that being a request." I said sternly, causing the two to comply. The two stallions didn't budge after that as the mare stood back up on all fours.

The mare looked at me with a smile as she expressed relief in her newfound freedom. "I don't know how to express how much I appreciate you, sir."

I shook my head and held my hand up to stop her. "Well I hate to inform you, but we're not done here. You're still stealing from your employer. Now I get it, you might not have enough for food, and you don't get treated fairly by your boss. Trust me, I know how all of that feels. But I'm sure if you explained your circumstances a little more clearly, this wouldn't have happened the way it did."

"Don't you think I tried that!?" Chided the mare. "I told them I didn't steal whatever outfit was in that damn hotel."

"Outfit?" Alex asked, scratching his head.

"Hotel?" Cliff questioned.

One of the guards then explained further. "There was an article of clothing stolen from the Sun Cryst Resort, just a block away from here. And looking into her work hours and where the other workers said she was sighted at during the time, it was probable cause to detain her for further questioning."

Mel angrily interjected. "So you tackling her to the ground and pulling her tail like some rapist was justified under probable cause?"

"We had to stop her from running!" The guard stated in his defense.

"I really don't think that's how you stop anyone from running away from you!" She rebutted. "You've had better training than that, I know you did."

The two stallions tried to defend their actions, but dropped their heads in shame. "I know it was bad, but I had to stop her somehow. Unicorns are crafty, and grabbing one part of them is a good way to stop them from zapping themselves from one place to the other."

I then interjected. "That's highly debatable. Usually most unicorns don't really teleport because they are unknowing of how to do so. The only ones who would are magic students, higher-ranked guards, practitioners, those with a natural gift for magic, or even royalty." I then walked over to the mare and lightly peeled back her apron to reveal her cutie mark. "And judging from this, she's neither one of those categories. Her specialty appears to be nothing more than cleaning."

"Sir, with all due respect, a cutie mark merely displays a talent or trait of the individual. It doesn't explain any other attributes or hobbies a pony may have." One of the guards debated.

"I understand that. But think about it this way, even if she were to be a scholar, then wouldn't it be possible that she would've poof'd out from the get-go instead of running on her own legs to get away from you?"

"She could've baited us, sir."

"And if so, she could've assaulted you with her magic. Did she do so?"

"No." The guard confessed.

I looked back to the mare and politely instructed her. "Ma'am, there's several questions on whether or not you're innocent or guilty of this. But in any likely case a guilty party would run or provoke some sort of chase. Granted some others are just afraid of getting arrested because of what it does to their reputation and that's understandable. But in the event you encounter something like this, just follow through with the process and allow your testimony to be what decides your innocence."

"But I am innocent!" She replied.

"I'm not denying that. And you deserve a fair shake instead of being falsely accused. But running away from the problem is only going to make matters more convoluted than what it needs to be. You tell them everything you told us and you explain what you did during the time, and if you're innocent then okay. Just trust me, it'll be okay."

"Please... I'm already going to lose my job, just please help me." She pleaded tearfully. "I didn't do anything wrong outside of what I've been doing. And it was only food."

"I get it, just talk to them and I will see what I can do on my end, okay?"

The mare quietly shook as she rubbed her forelegs nervously.

I then looked back at the two guards. "Now as for the both of you, I want you to escort her to the local authorities. Under NO circumstances is she to be withheld in the manner you've displayed just recently. You've been trained to do better and to make it safer for not only yourselves but also them. I have every right to send demerits in your names over what I just saw, and I will expect you both to do better than goddamn school children fighting over a swing set. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir." The two solemnly saluted.

With that, the two guards quietly escorted the mare through the streets towards the nearest precinct. While the they walked off, I groaned in discomfort as Mel approached me. "Demerits? That's all they're getting for that?"

"I've already reprimanded them personally, those demerits will ultimately go towards their paycheck and any future hopes of a promotion. They were sloppy, they're going to get punished for it."

She shrugged her shoulders and scoffed. "Okay I guess. How's your legs feeling?"

"Not that great. I'm kinda tired to be honest." I confessed.

"Well why don't we visit this Sun Cryst Resort, and see what they've got going on. I mean we could look into what happened and you can get a little bit of rest while we're there. It's only a block down from us." Alex suggested.

"Talk about a matter of convenience out of inconvenience." Mel said.

Lobby of the Sun Cryst Resort...

A grand establishment with the amount of floors to dwarf many buildings in the surrounding area, this resort was often seen to be as one of the grander establishments of service and comfort that could be offered in a city filled with competition vying for the crown. Despite the castle's fixtures of genuine precious items and surplus of gross wealth, this inn was often seen as one of the more notorious places to house some of the most influential and wealthy upon a visit. And that list would go on for long enough to garner some international attention from a few delegates and celebrities as well. Of course, a hotel of that reputation has always been seen to be rather busy and strict to the service schedule.

But this weekend was a different monster for the manager who sat at the front desk.

"Hurry up with those collations to room 425! Get those sheets replaced in room 981! And make sure you keep looking for that damn dress! Will you ladies hurry up with your shifts, I'm already going to have to fire one of you later this evening! CHOP-CHOP!"

The unicorn stallion sat at the front desk with a bitter scowl on his face, looking through his guestbook and groaning from the varying tasks and errands that led to him becoming all the more stressed. He slammed his hoof into the ground as he mumbled to himself.

"Dammit! I cannot believe this all happened under my establishment. A theft with one of my former employees at the center of the investigation. Even if I were to sever my ties with her immediately, the amount of damage this does to my record will be far too reaching. I'm going to have to not only lower my prices, but I might actually have to engage in.... ugh... community outreach."

A middle-aged mare walked up to the counter and meekly interrupted the furious manager. "E-excuse me, s-sir. I just wanted to let you know that we have a bit of a problem with the lavatory down the hall."

"THEN FIX THE ISSUE! DON'T COME TO ME ABOUT IT!" He angrily snarled, causing the mare to scamper towards the scene of the issue. The manager pressed his hooves on each side of his head while he screeched through his teeth.

"WHY ARE ALL THE LOWER FLOORS MUST BE FILLED WITH SUCH UNCOOTH COMMONER SWINE!? THIS IS A RESORT FOR THE REFINED, NOT SOME TOURIST ATTRACTION!"

The manager then slammed his head onto the desk and whimpered from the headache he inflicted upon himself. The stallion then refused to move from the spot for several minutes until the bell beside him was rung. Then he was moved slightly, appearing to mumble something under his breath. The bell rang once again, this time being tapped twice for good measure.

A few gasps from some members of the staff down the hall caused the manager to snap his head up and turn to the direction of the whispers. He then yelled at the staff. "I AM NOT PAYING YOU TO SIT AROUND AND LOOK PRETTY! TO WORK!!!"

The staff in the area scattered quickly, leaving the manager to close his eyes and slam his head back on the desk. The silence lasted for a few seconds before the cruel sound of the bell being forcibly smashed repeatedly in his ear was all it took to trigger him to raise his head to face the one that annoyed him so dearly.

"ALRIGHT YOU, I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR─" His rant was quickly snuffed as he saw Alex and Mel towering over him like giants. The stallion then swallowed the rest of his animosity and perked up. "Oh my, you creatures are much taller than they make you out to be in the papers. This is a Sun Cryst first."

Melanie then placed a hand on Alex's shoulder to guide him aside as she took on the role of speaking to the manager. "Hello, I am Melanie Brewer. How's everything been for you today?"

"Fine I suppose." The stallion blinked twice as he eyed the woman. As he looked tallways at the figure standing before him, his attention was soon brought back to the main feature that stood out most on her. Eyeing her chest, he grew absent from the face of the figure the sizable bosom belonged to. "That is certainly a first."

While Mel was prompted to tell him that he was getting a little too invested in her feminine features, she took a calming breath and continued on. "The reason you don't see this on the others is because I'm the female of the species."

"That so?" He questioned curiously, still looking at the mounds from underneath.

She then folded her arms, covering the objects his eyes were locked onto and was forced to draw away from them. "Indeed I am. But back to the topic of why my friends and I have paid a visit."

While he was drawn to other places of the woman's anatomy, he was still catching a glance or two of the fleshy mounds she tried to conceal from his eyes. He quickly drew to a conclusion. "Are those teats?"

Mel, who was absolutely flabbergasted at the stallion's question, moreso his audacity to ask such a question so openly, blinked a few times before tilting her head. Slowly and awkwardly, she confirmed his answer. "These are my mammaries, yes."

The stallion's cheeks shot hot red as his jaw fell loose looking up at the mounds. His tail wagged as his eyes softened with a shimmering childlike wonder. "I'd fancy a cup of tea with those. Two lumps and all the cream in the world. Marvelously enormous." He muttered to himself.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Mel asked as she started to become annoyed.

With almost a feline-like curiosity, the stallion's foreleg lifted part-ways as he started to reach upwards at her. "How soft are they?"

With a deadpan expression and Alex doing what he can to make sure that she wasn't armed, she barreled through the question and ran herself back to the primary topic of discussion. "I was wondering if you would mind if we stayed here for a moment. My friend is in pain and I would like to see if he can rest here to recover from the fatigue."

The stallion then snapped back to his business mindset as he pulled out his logbook and shifted through the many pages. "Um, I don't think we would have a room that would accommodate for a human guest. But I suppose we could make a few arrangements to have him rested for the night."

Alex looked back at Mel and shrugged, holding out his hand in a gesture to symbolize money. She cringed with the sudden realization that whatever currency she had on her wouldn't satisfy the manager. She then explained herself. "Well, you see... it's not really for the night."

The manager then dulled his search back to the front of the book, only going down the first page. "So a rest and refresh then? I can't say that you will get anything with a good view or any extra provisions."

She then explained further. "Actually, this is just a temporary stay. If you don't mind, we'd just like to chill here for around forty-five minutes, and we're gone."

The manager then slammed his guestbook and looked at her sternly. "I'm sorry. We do not allow loitering in this establishment."

"I know what it sounds like, but our friend is really in need of some rest. He's a guard in the military, and he just got out of the hospital─"

The manager then coldly interrupted Melanie and turned his back on her. "You have five minutes to vacate the establishment. I will say nothing further. I've already had enough trouble in my establishment, I am not interested in more."

Before anything else could be said, the stallion lit his horn and disappeared. Mel groaned with disgust as Alex offered some words of condolence. "Let him go, he's just another asshole. I'm sure if he had any damn moral code or conscience, he'd check in on us."

While I sat, trying to make myself comfortable on the inadequately sized couch sitting in the lobby, Mel walked up to me and sadly told me as I closed my eyes for a second. "I'm sorry, Nondis. He gave us five minutes before we had to be out of here."

Cliff groaned as he reached back to straighten his dreads down the back of his neck, "Man... They ain't got no maps here, do they?"

"Well we'd ask but the guy who runs the counter is an elitist asshole." Mel replied. "Guess we're on our own."

Alex looked around the lobby and took in the stunning decor the establishment had to offer. "Figures, we should've seen that coming when we walked in the lobby."

Mel looked to me, seeming a bit saddened as she said to the others. "We can't let him walk all the way back to the castle on his own strength with so little rest."

"To be fair, you offered to go back after the first three stops." Cliff stated.

"Yeah, that's on me." I admitted with a tired sigh. "I got a little too overambitious, should've stopped when we were still in walking distance to the castle.

The others looked at each other and gathered together. Mel looked back at me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "We're gonna find a way through this. Even if we can find another hotel that'll take you in for a quick minute, that'll be much better than sitting here for five minutes and running around town like we're new to the place."

"We are new to the place." Cliff stated.

Alex grabbed Mel's hand and pointed towards the door leading outside. "Hey bro, we'll be back in a minute. Just rest up and chill for a minute."

Like I was in the mood to do anything else. "Sure."

The other three promptly walked out of the lobby and started to converse with one another on the sidewalk. One moment, Mel was pointing at someplace to the left, while the other two cringed to indicate their disapproval. Then Alex pointed out another location directly across the street. Mel was caught in thought for a second while Cliff shook his head to state his obvious answer. He then pointed at someplace to the right, which seemed to have gotten some mixed response. He then seemed to explain himself and the other two were quickly convinced. They took their walk to the right while I tried to make myself as comfortable on the tiny couch. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, hoping that their errand wouldn't take too long. I wasn't interested in hearing that douchebag over the counter talking shit again.

But to be realistic, I've probably been here for two minutes. Won't be long before he gets preachy.

I've had my eyes closed for just a little while before I could hear the sound of hooves slowly clopping towards my way. And even though I was uncomfortable as hell, I was already feeling the fatigue drawing me into a light slumber. The hooves got louder and louder, while my eyes got heavier and heavier. The muscles in my face started to relax, I dozed off for a moment before I could barely hear a voice whisper to me.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Nnnnhhh..." I couldn't even produce a single complete thought, more like incomplete constructs of a incomplete thought, I was so dozed.

The voice called out to me again. "Sir, Mr. Human?"

My dozing spell was finally broken when the sensation of a hoof poking at my arm reminded me of the discomfort I was in. Some parts of me were already starting to indicate that resting here was a bad idea. All of these things made me open my eyes to see a cream-colored mare with a dual-toned cyan mane was looking at me with her matching eyes. The pink and purple flower sticking out of the back of her mane was a solid indication that she was far from one of the workers here. "Oh, I thought you were one of the maids here." I mumbled.

She didn't seem to mind my reaction at all, instead being too invested in curiosity. "Oh wow. You humans are a lot larger than the papers make you out to be."

Not the first time I've heard something like that today. "Yup. Sizes may vary though." I croaked out tiredly.

Already, she was grabbing at my arm, placing my hand on her head with her hooves. As my hand covered much of her face, she gasped with amazement. "Oh wow, she wasn't kidding." She squeaked eagerly.

"Um... what now?" I questioned.

She returned my hand to it's former resting place and cleared her throat. "Oh, excuse me. I just got a little overexcited there. I heard something from a friend of mine and I just wanted to find out for myself. Well myth confirmed, your species is larger than life."

I yawned while I started to sit myself up. "Well, it's nice to meet you too. Though I'm afraid that I haven't gotten a name before you kinda... you know."

The mare started to blush a little as she covered her muzzle. "Oh. I guess an introduction would be appropriate. Coco Pommel, my business partners and associates call me Ms. Pommel, but my friends call me Coco."

You know, it's not many human-like names I get to hear around this universe. I'm genuinely surprised she's got something so normal to hear. I thought about telling her my name, but for fear of inciting a fan-girl episode or a long train of questions pertaining to the incident involving Cadance, I elected to withhold that information. "Well Coco, it's nice to meet you. But I'm afraid that I'll be leaving here pretty soon, as per the instructions given to me by the manager of this establishment."

"Oh, that's terrible. You seem to be pretty tired to get thrown out on the street."

"Yeah, but apparently I'm a 'loiterer' in his eyes."

She groaned with displeasure as she spoke. "Well that's too bad. Maybe if you knew the Captain of the Guard or something, he'd might give you a second thought."

"If only." I said while rolling my eyes.

"Wait!" She exclaimed. "Aren't there only six of you in this world? That means you have to know the captain!"

I chuckled to myself coyly as I answered the unsuspecting mare. "Maybe I do, but I wouldn't want to take advantage of my relationship with him like that. It's a little bit of a dick move."

"No way!" The mare interjected. "You should be able to take advantage of this, I'm sure he would do that for you if he's your friend."

I stood on my feet, woozily gaining my balance before having to kneel to the ground. The crash of my fatigue being so much of a burden that it had literally smacked me back down to the ground. "Ooh.... Haven't felt like that since I've got out of recovery." I mumbled to myself.

Coco walked beside me and grew concerned over my apparent issue of fatigue. The earth-pony mare used both of her forelegs to prop me up a bit more. "Oh no, you can't leave here like this.... Or at least I don't think this is normal for you."

"It isn't." I quickly confessed. "But I gotta get outta here."

While she propped me up still, I watched as her eyes hurriedly look around until they ran down my side. And when they fell low enough, her eyes stopped moving altogether. I looked at her as her jaw fell open. When I tried to identify the focus of her attention, she used a hoof to pull on a corner of my shirt. She then looked at the hemline and squinted cautiously. She looked back up to me and whispered. "This is Andalusian Silk, imported from the outer boarders of Mustangia."

I was completely unaware of whatever she was talking about and merely nodded to agree. "Yeah, I guess."

She then ran her eyes further down the hem and her hooves reached inside my shirt, feeling the textures of the inside of it. Her eyes expanded exponentially as she whispered. "This is her sewing trademark. You've got a sponsor, don't you?"

I blinked wildly in confusion and grew cautious. "Okay Ms. Pommel, maybe it's high time I ask what kind of business you run."

She continued to rummage through my shirt as she answered me. "I do a lot of sewing. I'm a seamstress from Manehattan, my most recent work is with 'Henny of the Hills' production. Originally the job was going to go to somepony way more deserving, but she managed to patch me in her place. I've looked up to her worked with her since." She finally got out of my shirt and started to push me forward towards the counter. "Just follow my lead, and I'll get you a room in this hotel no matter what."

"Really?" I asked as I willed myself to stand through my fatigue.

"Just follow my lead." She said as she and I approached the counter. Her hoof rang on the bell just once before the stallion magically reappeared before our eyes.

"Oh, Miss Pommel, I am sorry about the situation that has occurred. I assure you that we currently have the authorities on the matter." The stallion said before he looked back up at me. Suddenly his tone shifted drastically. "I believe that your five minutes have expired, sir."

She placed a hoof on me as she started to weave her story. "If I may ask, this poor human has a terrible health condition and must find a place to stay for a short while. Surely you have some compassion in you to be able to allow for this human to remain here."

"I don't have an interest in those without the funds to engage in business. I'm sorry, but he cannot stay. That's policy." He said, touting his muzzle in the air and folding his forelegs. His eyes remained shut as he hmph'd at her suggestion.

The mare then looked up at me and then shifted her tone in response. "Well to be honest, he's not just any ordinary human. He also happens to be one of the models for the fashion show this weekend. My associate has an entire line of human wardrobe she's set aside for him to model." The stallion's eyes cracked open as he started to look at the mare. "But for you to deny her of her only human model would bode badly for your reputation.... I suppose the stolen outfit valued at some thousands of bits wasn't enough to put your business in a questionable spot."

DAYUM! She's fucking going at his throat right now. As soon as she said that, his forelegs got loose and his nostrils weren't exactly sitting high-and-mighty anymore. His interest was instantly grabbed as she carried on.

"And then there's also the matter that her fashion show was the main thing responsible for bringing all the big names to your hotel this weekend, including one Sapphire Shores, one Princess Twilight Sparkle, all of the Element Bearers, and many of the highest names in all of fashion. Can you imagine the notoriety, or lack thereof, you'd receive if you were to shun away one of our biggest clients?"

His face quickly went from not giving a damn to visualizing the bad press he'd get from the backlash. Clearly Coco had bought more than his attention. She, however, didn't stop there.

"To be frank, your actions could definitely have us reconsider the terms of our contract. If anything, the breach of security─which your facility was assigned to manage for the course of the week─was severely lacking and resulted in the grand theft of personal property. And if one of your workers were suspected to commit the crime, then it would only be just to postpone the show until a relocation was successful. And whatever advertising your establishment would receive as a result of that would surely reach back to your employer, who I would think would be more than willing to look into the matter of your performance."

At that moment, he was sweating a little more than bullets. He was sweating missiles.

"Oh, and being that this client is her ONLY client for a line that no other brand dares to touch or even knows how to cater towards, that would ultimately hurt a potential outreach to the growing human demographic. That's also a minus for her business, so the losses would ultimately be liable to come out of your establishment based on cause-and-effect."

Those missiles appear to be armed with nuclear warheads now. Without any hesitation, he spoke up. "Okay, okay! If you can verify his status as one of her best clients by bringing her here to confirm personally that this is true, then he can stay in your room! All amenities will be billed under her name, however."

The mare smirked as she responded with a sweetened tone. "Give me five minutes."

That five minutes came and went, suddenly Rarity came trotting down the hall with a bright smile on her face as she saw me standing at the counter. If anything, the sight of me only spurred her to move a little faster. As Coco walked up to the counter with Rarity beside her, the manager looked at me with pursed lips. Rarity quickly spoke up to the manager.

"Oh, well. I do believe this is the upteenth time I've seen you today, dear."

The manager politely nodded his head at the fashionista in reverence. "Ms. Rarity, you are the only thing I wish to please. I was told that this human was actually a client of yours."

"Oh, more than a client, darling!" She confirmed. "He's one of my friends! I'll do anything for him! He's been helping me on my line for a few months since he came out and he even asked me to sponsor him by making him clothes. So I offered that as long as he'd wear them in public for all to see. And he has done so, every single day, religiously, with no complaints. And now he's my number one client who happens to be Captain of the Royal Guard, which I'm not sure if he told you that."

The stallion shrank a little in hearing who I really was. "Oh... so the health issues were legitimate."

"Indeed." Rarity said as she looked at me. "Though I'm really wondering why in Celestia's name is he standing here in the middle of town instead of resting in bed."

The stallion quickly bowed his head in an apology. "I am so embarrassed by my display of ignorance. I should've been more attentive."

Rarity's magic then lifted his chin, causing him to look at her as she fluttered her eyes at him flirtatiously. "My dear, if you have any questions or concerns for my client, I would rather you direct them through me. I will be looking after his well-being and you can get back to managing your business while we carry on as if none of this has ever happened."

The stallion's cheeks ran red as he looked a little flustered. "W-w-well, I can only apologize for─" Before he could continue, Rarity flicked her tail, causing the luxurious indigo locks to whip to one side. The stallion snorted with broadened eyes, almost with military discipline. His whole body seemed turgid while he proudly served the fashionista. "Yes, ma'am. Any further questions will be directed towards you. Would you require anything else today?"

"Nothing at all, dear. Carry on." She said simply, grabbing my wrist and guiding me down the hall. She looked back to Coco and hollered at her. "Oh, and if you do see any more humans, be sure to tell them that Rarity picked up for them so they can take it easy as well."

"You got it!" The young mare said proudly.

While Rarity pulled me to the elevator, I grew a little bit intrigued by her actions back there in the lobby. While the elevator door dinged, indicating that the signal for a pickup was received, I asked her while we waited. "So... that thing you did with your tail."

The alabaster mare giggled lightly. "Yes, what about it, dear?"

"Can I ask what that was about?"

She flicked her tail again, causing it to sway from side to side. "Oh, just a little thing. nothing to worry about."

"I'm not sure if it's something to worry about, but you sure did grab his attention in several ways, I'd like to assume."

She smiled coyly while the elevator dinged one more time, causing the doors to open. "Well, that is a little something I might have purposely done to get him to comply."

Her answer had me raising an eyebrow. "So you seduced him?"

"Only a little. A little bit of a flirt goes a long way, especially with somepony who's been fawning over your for years." She admitted.

"You know him?" I inquired.

"Bell Bottom and I went through grade school together. He had a bit of a crush on me and I thought about entertaining the idea of giving him a chance. Of course I reconsidered when he started spreading word that he and I were set to be an item."

"But you said that you'd consider the two of you dating."

"Consider is the key word here. I then reconsidered when he started saying I was something that I was not."

Ah... so there's some young-blood drama here. "So what's his issue? Seems pretty stuck up for a Ponyvillian."

The doors closed on us as we continued our conversation, Rarity further divulging on his history. "Well, he's been looking to impress me for a while now. Being a manager for an upper-class resort where you'd encounter all sorts of 'someponies' and big names would grab some social interest if he were talking to many other mares."

"But what about you?" I asked.

Rarity puckered her lips as she spoke. "I kinda found interest in larger fish."

"You said you found interest in larger fish, what does that mean?"

She was quiet for a while this time. She didn't even bother pressing the buttons on the panel. She would eventually go on to tell me an answer. "Well let's just say that I'm not unfamiliar to being an escort."

I nodded slowly as I easily summarized what that meant for her. "So you've been around?"

She cut her eyes to me and quietly snarled. "I am not easy, if that's what you're inferring."

"Never meant to say it that way."

She then took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Have you ever heard of something called 'estrus' darling?"

Yeah, bird does what, bee does who. "I've been made aware of it in an insane amount of detail."

"Well in that period, a mare has needs and she needs to find some means of comfort. However, even then I'm very selective. Other than that, I have had very few partners outside of feeling the yearly requirement to mate."

"So if you don't mind me asking, have you had other partners where you've been interested in them for more than sex?"

"Most of those I have never done anything with. Their eyes were on somepony else or that they were not who I was expecting them to be." She said quietly. "The ones I did try to get with for more than that, and inevitably did go a little further than a kiss, they didn't last for long."

"If you don't mind me asking─"

Before I could finish, she already knew what I was going to ask. "If I don't include my bouts with all the estrus seasons, a true few. If I included the heat season, far too many to count... though that's just the testimony of many mares in general."

I wasn't quite sure, but I felt something inside of me fall apart at that answer. It was almost like I was expecting some other answer, something more definite instead of a vague answer I'd get from Mel. It was... odd. "So... where am I on that scale?"

Rarity pressed one of the buttons on the panel and didn't bother looking back at me. She did however speak to me. "Are you really that interested in knowing?"

"Maybe I'm curious." I said cautiously.

She then flicked her tail once more, this time raising it a slight amount as she spoke. "Then answer this. What kind of mare do you think I am? Would you think I'm interested in you for the sex, or would you think I'm interested in you for more than that?"

...If there's ever a such thing as a trap question, that would be it. "That's a pretty tough question to answer."

"Is it?" She asked.

"I feel like if I answer that question, you would either try to prove me wrong or become what I think you to be."

"And I like to keep my interests on their wits, never knowing and always guessing. It's good to keep the interest fresh. What's wrong with that?" She teased.

I leaned back as I rested my head against the wall. "On one side, it's like I want more than just one thing... but on the other it feels like I won't be ready for something like that. Don't get me wrong, I'll go all in if it did ever come out to be something serious, but... I'm still processing what just happened to me. Honestly, I'm scared to say that you've found a place somewhere inside me, an unreachable place, but that's just what it is. From the jump, you've done for me and I'm feeling something that I know is going to cause some hurt... if I ever told you."

"Does it feel like you're being greedy?" She asked.

"It feels like I'm being turned into something I thought I'd never be. And the more I'm exposed to you, the more I feel like I want to explore some possibilities...." Rarity glanced back at me as I pounded my fist against my forehead. "It's so wrong, I never want to take advantage of anyone, especially my friends. And I don't wanna hurt anyone because I'm just feeling giddy at the first moment a girl does for me, it shows that I'm impatient and completely immature. I thought I learned that lesson a long time ago.... Obviously I've got some more growing up to do."

Rarity's magic surrounded my fist, preventing it from knocking against my head anymore. She looked up to me with not a smile, nor a frown, nor a look of indifference. I couldn't really describe the look she gave me. It was only accompanied by her straightening my shirt and smoothing out the wrinkles. "It really seems like you're in need of a friend."

"But we're already friends." I said as the doors open to show an empty hallway.

Rarity, still grabbing my hand in her aura, pulled me along to follow her to her room. "And for right now, that's perfect for what you need. You don't need to worry yourself with 'romantics' and 'going-further-than' in any capacity. All you need to do is breathe and vent your frustrations."

"It feels like I've been venting my frustrations at everyone." I said as we came to a stop in front of a lone-standing door at the center of the hallway.

Rarity summoned a black card with gold runes set at the center in a circular fashion. When she placed the card at the door, the golden symbols glowed white until it became nothing more than a full circle. At it's center, a green flash shone brightly as the door clicked and opened on it's own.

Rarity pushed me through the door, following close behind me while I entered. The door closed behind us with a snap of the tumblers and the curtains immediately opened to reveal a beautiful view of the Canterlot city proper. The streets were so far beneath us that anything that walked appeared to be insects. My eyes wandered around the luxurious suite, taking in all of the accommodations that came along with it, the perfume oils of cinnamon and pumpkin spice, the halfway-consumed bottle of wine, an unopen tub of rocky road ice cream, a fresh set of slippers for hooves, and a shelf filled with classical literary works that included some more... mature titles.

The fashionista walked towards the bedroom. What I heard next was the sound of the beds being moved across the carpet. It took her all but thirty seconds to complete her accommodations for me. When she finished, she then called for me. "Nondis, come in here."

I felt my legs lose strength when I saw the two beds pressed into each other longways. I trudged forward and opened my arms as I was set to dive onto the mattress. But my progress was stopped as the familiar sensation of magic wrapping around my arms pulled them into the air. Next, my shirt was removed off of my chest and I was sat down. Rarity walked in front of me, took off my shoes, my pants, and folded my clothes while I laid myself beneath the sheets.

"The menu for room service is right on top of the nightstand. All you have to do is lift up the flap on the service tube and tell the chefs what you would like. They'll prepare almost anything for you. Just be sure to specify which room it belongs to before you get your meal otherwise they'll be sending up to some other room."

"Got it." I confirmed.

"Now when you wake up, your clothes will be in the chair by the bookshelf, the shower will be available for you to use, and the towels will be waiting on you when you get out. I'll place a 'do-not-disturb' notice on the door so that the maids don't come knocking you out of your sleep."

"Yes mom." I chuckled.

The fashionista continued to hover over me as she whispered. "I'm so glad you're back on your feet. Just try not to be so reckless next time when you go out."

"Sounds like a plan."

She turned my head to face her and gave me a soft kiss on my forehead, lingering there for quite some time before I felt an instinct to close my eyes. "Why don't you go to sleep?" She whispered, causing me to finally leave the world of the woken. My entire body was put to easy while I simply forgot where I was and what I was doing. It was almost siren-like how I was led to this bed, and much like the unfortunate sailors captivated by it's song, I would stay here for quite some time. I didn't want to leave and I didn't plan on going anywhere else. Besides, staying in the castle has given me some ugly nightmares.

...I wonder how long Rarity will be staying here.

Three hours later...

My eyes slowly cracked open as I woke up to the sound of something tapping against the window. Stirring from my sleep, I grunted as I sat up from the comfort of the fine linens and cloud-like pillows. My arms raised themselves and stretched outward while they pleasantly popped and cracked into place. I felt a little tired, but only from the fact that I had just came out of my sleep. Other than that, I was filled with a lot of energy and hunger.

My legs were still slow when I rolled to the edge of the bed, so I had to firmly support myself against it when I stood up. Still hearing the tapping against the window, I walked over to see what it was that was pattering against the glass. I opened the curtains to reveal a pony sitting on a scaffold cleaning the windows of the resort. He stopped momentarily while he stared at the human standing across the glass, his jaw left wide open as he looked up to me. I waved hello, he tilted his hat as he fumbled his squeegee. Afterwards, he seemed excited as he carried on with his job.

I never thought that me waking up in a hotel room would make me look like some sort of celebrity.

*knock knock knock knock knock*

Suddenly, a knock on the door had quickly caused me to turn my attention to the front door. I guess it could be either Rarity, Coco, or room service. If I had to take a guess, it had to be room service sent up by Rarity to drop some food by. It wouldn't come to be a surprise to me if that were the case.

I made my way to the door, my stomach rumbling as I turned the knob. However, my stomach would have to just keep rumbling as I looked down to see a cyan pony with a white mane looking up at me. She wasn't wearing any apron, which clearly indicated that she wasn't working here. So I addressed her as politely as I could. "How may I help you, ma'am?"

She was holding in her hoof the 'do not disturb' tag that hung on the door. She continued to look up at me as Spitfire came from the other side of her. "Rookie, I see you're back on your legs."

I smiled lightly in response. "Guess I got tired of being in a chair, you know I don't like staying put."

After a snicker from her and the brief exchange of formalities, she then slammed her hoof into the ground as she hollered at me. "What the hell are you doing, rookie!?"

More than surprised, I had to rub my ears and make sure that I didn't go deaf. "I was resting for a bit, was a little tired from walking all day and had to recharge. How'd you know where I was?"

"You're not hard to hide." She said as she threw another newspaper on the ground, showing a picture of me, Alex, Cliff, and Mel walking into the hotel lobby. "You're a hot topic, and you're getting the attention of a celebrity because of the princess dumping you and your spat with Cadance. You'd be lucky to even avoid a swarm of paparazzi hanging out at your window."

The two pegasi mares barged into the room as I answered back. "Yeah, not much here except for some guy cleaning the windows of the resort. Seems like a nice dude."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure he is." The other mare stated as she walked into the bedroom portion of the suite. When she entered the room, she quickly drew back the curtain to reveal the same guy I just saw. Only this time, he was holding a camera against the window. After the sudden exposure to another pony, he looked up to see the two mares looking back at him and me standing in the back. He didn't seem to skip a beat as he waved hello to me again, taking another set of pictures.

Spitfire turned to the other mare and ordered. "Fleetfoot, can you take care of that?"

"Confiscate the camera?" She questioned.

"Nah, just take the roll out and expose the film. He can't get anything for a bad roll."

The one named Fleetfoot then darted out of the room, leaving behind only the wind. Spitfire promptly turned to me and folded her forelegs. Meanwhile I was left looking at her like I was confused. "Did I do something wrong?"

The mare groaned as she rolled her eyes. "Please tell me you haven't forgot about the show tonight."

I tapped my chin for a second before I remembered her kicking the cloud yesterday to give me something. It started to come back to me. "Oh shit! When is that?"

"IN FORTY-FIVE MINUTES!" She hollered.

"Forty-five minutes? And you're over here giving me the wake-up call!?" I asked loudly, more astounded that she pulled from the prep of her show to come by.

"Well obviously you weren't showing up on time! As a VIP, it's customary to be in your seats at around an hour before the show. You were not there, nor were you en route."

"Sorry. I didn't know any of this. When were you going to tell me?"

"It said it right on the back of the ticket! Don't you have it on you!?"

I felt around my body, realizing that I had on no clothes other than my boxers. And while Spitfire didn't seem to mind my appearance, I did and ran over to the seat where my clothes were laid and felt around the pockets to see if I could find anything. Confirming what I was afraid to admit, the ticket was nowhere to be found. "Aw shit. I left it in Mel's apartment."

The yellow pegasus roared with dissatisfaction. "Can't I trust you to remember one simple thing?"

Like how you kept calling me anything but my name when we first met? "I'm sorry. It's back in my world, I can't go get it because the palace is like forty to fifty minutes away."

Spitfire temper seemed to have gone on a slow decline as she paced back and forth for a few seconds. Snapping back up, she threw me my clothes and spoke. "You need to get your shit together and get a way down there! After the show, you can stick around for the VIP party, since you're going to be late. Might as well now, since you couldn't even show up on time. There's some important shit you need to know and you need to know it now before all hell breaks loose."

"Wait, I don't even know where this place is!" I argued, trying to hop on one leg in getting my pants on.

"Just hail for a taxi and tell them 'Cloud Bowl' when they show up. Can you manage to remember that!?"

"Yeah, I can manage." I replied as I finally got my pants back on. "But I don't have any bits for fare."

"Let me guess, you spent it all resting in this swanky-ass room, right!?"

"No. A friend managed to get me in here, and she happens to have a fashion show in two days. She got me in here, I didn't even have bits then." I confessed.

The mare facehoofed and sighed. "Okay, whatever. Just use your friend to get you there. You got forty minutes, be in place."

After throwing on my clothes and making my way to the lobby, I was greeted by Rarity once more. She seemed a little upset that I had planned to leave the hotel without spending any time with her or anything, so you can only imagine how miffed she was when she found out that I had to find some means of a fare for the taxi ponies. But she agreed to it, provided that I'd do her a favor for the fashion show this weekend.

She wanted something different the models could walk to, so I agreed to provide the music to the DJ and have a set made for the audience to enjoy as her newest styles were shown to the world. Thanks to our world's technology, I'd pretty much be able to stream any song I wanted to put out. I think I may have a little something she can enjoy. And what's old to me isn't old to them, so at least I've got something easy to do.

Much easier than having to carry her supplies around town like after that one time.

The stallions who gave me a ride were eager to serve her. Then again, she's shown me that she's a bit of a charmer. All she has to do is flaunt her looks a little and any stallion running around town will bend the rules just to get a smile. So she managed to get my fare on the low end─their negotiation, not hers─and I was able to get to the Cloud Bowl with five minutes before the start of the show.

The show went on as planned, carried out as planned, and ended at the time it was scheduled to end. Wasn't really anything perky in terms of being seated in the VIP section other than you getting a good gust of wind from the members of the squadron. But their routine was fun and enjoyable. There were even a few moments where I was concerned if they would be able to pull up in enough time to stop them from hitting the stands, but they can somehow withstand the insane G's of pulling off a ninety-degree turn away from the ground.

I'm sure there's a lot of physicians in our world that would be raising hell over how this is impossible and how these ponies should be good and dead. But after spending so many months here and seeing what I've been seeing, I figured it's best not to ask as any explanation will result in some lengthy equation that will put me back in a math class I so long wanted to escape from.

But if there was one thing that did happen in the show, it was that Spitfire played the horseshoe toss with my head being the post. In the midst of her routine, she successfully landed a VIP pass on my neck and zipped back into the air without me even realizing what the hell had actually happened. The only way I found out was when she stopped later in the show, pulled her googles from over her eyes, and gave me a playful wink.

Honestly, I think she was enjoying giving me some personal entertainment far too much.

When the show ended and all of the fans started to make their way to the exits, one of the members of the Wonderbolts flew down and sat beside me. The pegasus took off her goggles and smiled confidently. "Sup, you remember me?"

The voice sure gave it away. "Um... Footfleet?"

She smirked as she shrugged. "Eh, close enough. I see Spits got you the pass for the after-party at the hotel."

I looked at the pass dangling around my neck. "So do you guys always do stuff like this after every show?"

"Nah. It's the anniversary of the city. So the E.U.P.'s holding a big bash back at the hotel. Usually, the VIP is filled with some pretty high-profile ponies. And it gets even better once the lights go out."

Naturally, I wasn't one to turn down a party or a good time, but something seemed a bit familiar about what she just said. High-profile ponies, I wonder if Alabaster from the city council will be at this one. Or better yet, I wonder if there's going to be any press or photographers there. "Ain't no press involved, right?"

"Nah, the VIP section is in a whole other part of the hotel. It's a much smaller party, but it's where the good shit happens. There's also a bit of a confidentiality agreement we have with everypony on whatever happens in the room, as long as it's not illegal."

"Is this a hotel y'all stay at or visit?"

"We've got the overnight for the party. Of course it's a good way to unwind a bit... if you know what I mean."

Ah, the 'after' of the after-party. "Okay, sounds like fun. Guess Spitfire wants me to show up for obvious reasons."

Fleetfoot stood up from her seat as she whispered. "Oh, she's not the only one."

Fleetfoot and I waited a while before the next taxi arrived. I questioned her on why she didn't fly off to where she needed to go, and she responded by simply pointing out that I didn't know where the hotel was. She had a point, and I wasn't about to say anything to go against it.

When we arrived, I noticed that the place was more or less a three-star resort, a stark contrast to the five-star Sun Cryst. When we walked out, we could already hear the rhythmic bumping of the bass coming from within. Standing at the door was a few bell hops, some security guards, and some guest dressed in some rather skimpy attire. When we passed by, there were two twin mares looking at me with smiles. Each of them waved their hooves in sync with one another.

Three other stallions, obviously party goers, had stopped their conversation and stared while the two of us walked by. Fleetfoot looked at all five and smirked deviously. Her right wing covered my forearm as she guided me inside. Those five quickly turned the other way while the prideful Wonderbolt tooted her tail up high and mightily shook her flank side to side. Apparently, this was another way some mares would stake their claim on something. Or maybe it meant something else, that she was merely putting on a front. I didn't bother to question it while we went along.

The music got even louder, pumping so much bass that even my chest started to feel the blast of the subwoofers. The sounds of synths and sinewaves sent my ears into a syncopated throb. The music was so much that I started to feel myself walking in rhythm to the kick. And as a pair of doors opened and an eagerly excited couple stepped out, I was met with a huge blast of energy and music that it nearly caused me to stumble. I started to pick up my pace and reach the doors that sourced the bombastic sound of bass blasting the foundations themselves.

In the room was a huge gathering of ponies, estimated to be around a good five hundred ponies, all of them dancing wildly and smiling without a care in the world. Those closest to the stage were jumping and pumping their glow sticks in the air like it was a midnight rave. Sweat and the dying scents of perfumes being overran by musk filled the sweltering air. Some were grinding against one another, others were dancing on support beams like stripper poles. The bar was busy and the patrons were good and intoxicated.

For a while, it amazed me that I would see this here in Equestria. But then another feeling started to come up right behind that, nostalgia. It was a while back, but I felt myself being a bit of a wall flower at these venues, that was until I met Melanie. Ever since, I was more active in the dance scene, no matter how bad or uncoordinated I looked. And she'd at least try and get me to practice in the weeks leading up to stuff like this. But when college came around, this kind of stuff started to happen every other weekend.

So it wasn't so much of a 'I remember when I was a kid' nostalgia. But rather a 'this reminds me of back home' nostalgia. Immediately, I forgot I was in a land of equines and offered to throw myself into the madness of not caring. But the feeling against my left arm was that of a wing holding me back from going any further. I looked back to see Fleetfoot still walking, pulling me away from the lively scene. As we walked away, I turned back to see the doors close, muffling the sound of the music and sealing the chaotic scenery within.

We walked for a little bit before we ran into a room with a royal guard standing at the entrance. He looked up at me and nodded, which was an odd and unusual way to greet me. Never have I been so informally addressed, but I figured since we were at a party, it wasn't worth correcting him over. He didn't even stop me, just giving me a quick glance before he opened the door to another room, this one filled with smoke.

Walking into the room, I felt like I was walking into something straight out of a music video. The room was lit red, showing very little in the light but barely making out the faces of the few ponies that were present. A pole in the center of the room with a stool sitting beside it, was one of the first things that grabbed my attention right off the bat. Another thing that grabbed me was the slowed and chopped music playing in the room. The sound was a different tone, being not just mellow, but somewhat erotic. Kicks were deep and methodical while the snare would slap you in places where you'd least expect as well as in the places it rightfully belong.

On one side of the room was a bar with various liquors and toxins, each bottle lit up from underneath by a blue light to create a purplish-magenta glow on the wall. A unicorn stallion with a shortened slick-back mane wiped the counter while two Wonderbolt members sat at the counter. On the other side was an arrangement of tables sitting and facing the pole at the center of the room. Those tables had a few giggles and even some onlookers as we walked in. Others who were in attendance didn't even care about us.

Even as I stood at the biggest thing in the room, I couldn't break one of the Wonderbolts off the lips of a fellow pegasus mare. Audible smacks could be heard as his hoof inched down her back. Her hoof circled the top of his chest, causing him to stir a little as she pulled off of him. The stallion smirked. "So how was that?"

"Ehhh... Three out of five." She said coyly.

"No way Spits is a better kisser than me." He stated adamantly.

"She knows how to use her tongue. You're kinda missing that... that 'umph' factor."

Obviously aroused to the point of revealing himself, he lightly pushed himself onto her and grinned. "Okay, you wanna bet I can get you to jump out of that seat?"

"You can try, but you're not getting any." She said, firmly planting her haunches against the stool she sat on.

"I can try to convince you?"

"You ain't fucking me, okay?"

"It ain't even gotta be like that. I'll just do a little something for you."

"Like what?"

"You said Spits got a better tongue than me, right?"

"Oh... you wanna convince me that much."

"You scared?"

"You ain't shit, Soarin."

"Two-hundred bits, I can't make you cum on this table tonight."

The mare bit her lips and looked down as she wiggled her hips in her chair. Her tail swished from side to side as her hips continued to rock in the chair. "I'm might give you a head start."

My body seized up as the sensation of a wing slapping me in the ass quickly grabbed my attention from the tables. Looking down, I could see Fleetfoot giggling at me through her shades. The mare rubbed up against me seductively as she teased me. "Oh, so Mr. Human can get hot and bothered?"

Suddenly, I felt myself blushing and fumbling my words as I tried to find an excuse as to why I was GENUINELY INVESTED in seeing the two Wonderbolt members having a go at each other. I was even subconsciously holding my arms over my crotch to hide the fact that I was sporting a flag at half-mast. "I been to some parties, but I didn't know ponies got down like this."

"You're a complete rook. I dunno what those Ponyville girls do at their parties, but it ain't just cupcakes and cheap phonographs playing crappy music." She said, pulling my arm once more to guide me to one of the tables in the back. "Now sit right here, I'll be right back."

She quickly trotted away to the bar, seemingly to grab a few drinks. While the barkeep ran through his bottles and stirred up his concoctions, she and he proceeded to strike up some conversation. As they were doing that, I snuck my glance back to the table where the two ponies were going at each other.

The mare, once proudly stating that she wouldn't move from her seat, hopped onto the table and let her tail dangle from off the edge. The stallion licked his lips while his hooves ran up her hindlegs. The mare waited anxiously as he kissed her belly, moving further and further down until he pulled off from her and chuckled at the flustered mare. She appeared to show some signs of frustration over his speed, or lack thereof. But he didn't pay her no mind. To him, it was more of a game of anticipation, something he had already won when he had her wiggling in her seat. And it showed that he was doing more than enough to get her fired up, he blew into her haunches, kissing the soft virgin flesh leading to the main attraction.

I couldn't see much from my point of view, but I saw his head press inward. In response, I saw hers fall back, her wings spreading out as she laid on the table. As I sat in my seat, I placed myself in such a position to tend to the growing interest I started to develop in the scene playing out before me. Trying my best to appear disinterested, I placed my chin into the palm of my hand, resting my elbow in my lap. While I caught glimpses of the two, I felt myself twitch in response. My elbow provided more than enough resistance to entice me to flex myself. My right inner thigh grew warmer as I kept my show of excitement to a minimum.

"Enjoying the debauchery, I see."

The voice that suddenly rang beside me started me so much that I reached for my waist to pull out a gun that I didn't have. My eyes focused in on the face of the individual standing beside me. But even the low red lights couldn't hide that much blond. "Blueblood, is that you?"

"I see you've made a few waves the past few days. Color me impressed."

"He's obviously making waves in his pants." Another voice pointed out, this time from the other side of me.

I looked down to realize that I completely abandoned my efforts to try and hide how interested I was in one pair's particular brand of conversation. Still twitching with excitement, I ended up showing just how aroused I was to a hooded stallion. Suddenly, a small knife was levitated to where I had so eagerly showed my enthusiasm. On the hilt of the blade was a familiar glow of magic. I looked up to see a horn lighting up the face of the stallion who stood before me as he removed his hood.

"We need to have a conversation about this shit you pulled with my wife, a LOOOOONG.... conversation."

"Well hell, now that Madi Gras is over, I can get back to writing."
*realizes he had 18K words already in place*
"Okay, well I guess I can go on ahead and finish this up real quick─"
*Writers block ensues*
"...Fuck, lost my train of thought."
*Overwatch ensues*
"Shouldn't I be doing something right now─FUCK YOU JUNKRAT, SPAMMING FUCKTARD!"

And with all of that, I am led back here. Rehearsals and engagements have kept me busy for a good portion of January and February. And now I'm starting to take more time to thoroughly make sure I don't hit ctrl+w and erase my progress when I go to hit ctrl+s (which has happened twice now and I've had to rewrite up to 4k words (tell me how fun that is). But onto the story.

The chapter is pretty much a cool-down and insight into some character aspects. There are also parts that give you a more in-depth of some of the issues that hides deep inside the MC's closet. Now as for the walking part, it was always to be expected considering that he was hopped up on magical spells that his recovery process would be expedited far more than what would be considered reasonable. But if you go back to two certain chapters, you might get a little something extra on what's to come.

I know the pacing in this chapter was a bit slow, but I can assure you that it will start to make sense as time goes along on why I did all of this. But now I need to get started on next chapter, and with this one, I'm placing a hard deadline on it to finish within 4 weeks or less. I feel like I'm about to go on one of my old marathons (where I wrote chapters every 2 days). Hope the IRL thing doesn't sit me down and tell me to slow it down this time.

Thank you for reading this far and if you're willing to go further, I'll see you guys in 4 weeks max.