The ballroom of the Sun Cryst was mostly empty as the music bumped at a moderate volume. The models who wore Rarity's newest line all showed their confidence and presented their attire with nothing more than the highest desire to entice the ghostly audience. Each model poured their all into the practice, strutting in line as each of them drew smiles from Coco and Rarity.

The two fashionistas looked on at their lists and checked each item off as the time passed. When the set came to an end, each of the models all stared back at the two. Rarity clopped her hooves together as she grabbed the attention of every mare and stallion in the room.

"Attention everypony!" She called out in her more boisterous tone. "Tonight was a complete success and I am more than happy to work with each and every one of you. To all your fellow agents, I do offer my sincerest gratitude as many of them could have taken a more fulfilling engagement but elected to send you my way. As such, I will be doing whatever it takes to make sure that all of you are taken care of."

One mare raised her hoof, Rarity pointed back at her to speak. "Now if I'm not mistaken, the music you said will be at the show tomorrow wasn't what was being played tonight, correct?"

"Indeed." The fashionista confirmed. "The music you will be strutting to will be the choice of a personal friend of mine. He was supposed to be modeling in the show with you all but I elected to not stress him out too much because of recent developments. I'm sure you all heard about the Captain of the Royal Guard? He will be in attendance."

A few ooh's and whispers started to sound throughout the group. A few of the models even grew excited.

"Of course, he was supposed to be the model for my new human line, but I've elected to withhold on him until he was feeling better for the next show. And since that was going to be one of the surprises, I might as well spoil that one for you."

A few moans of displeasure sounded throughout the room, some mares showing some disappointment while a majority of the stallions were indifferent to the news.

"Meanwhile, I will see you all tomorrow at 4, no later than 4:30. Come without any sign of meekness, if you're angry at anyone here, I suggest you leave it at the door. We're all in this together, we're all going to come out of this together, and each one of us is going to look absolutely fabulous! Until then, ta!"

As the models started to disperse, a few of them walked up to rarity with their outfits in tow. Some presented issues with the stitching, others expressed a desire for adjustments. Coco started taking inventory of which items needed to be tended to throughout the course of the night. Rarity looked the clock on the wall and sighed.

"Now begins the pre-show rush."

"Ugh, tell me about it." Coco cosigned. "It reminds me of when I was working for Suri. She'd dump everything on me and expected me to put it all together just a few hours before the show. The only thing she'd do is look at me while I worked my tail off and demand coffee at every turn."

Rarity expressed some concern as she looked at her coworker. "I hope that your experience with me isn't as similar, I really do try to lighten my load on you."

"It's fine. I'm used to the pressure. Manehattan will do that to you after a while." She responded as she grabbed a hanger to hold a dress she was presented with. "I'm not so much upset with the work involved, but I'm still pretty peeved over that pony who stole your stuff."

Rarity's ears fell back as she looked down to the ground. "I had that one saved for him. I was going to wear it after the show for him. I suppose I can be upset about it, but I'll have to be upset about it on a later date. We have a lot of work to do."

"Sewing machine is still in the suite, right?"

"Of course, never leave home without one."

"Well, we're gonna be up for a long while, might as well see if that complementary coffee maker is up for an all-nighter." She said with a smile. "I could kill for a cup, personally."

"Well... I suppose I won't mind some of my own." Rarity said as she stretched her legs. "Really a worker's beverage."

"No point in talking about it, let's go."

As I sat in the room, looking at the pictures in my phone, I realized that I had came across one folder I had forgotten to delete. Inside of it was a numerous amount of pictures and mock-ups of celebrities. There were also a few videos of the substantial run time of around twenty-four minutes. For a moment, I stared at the materials and wonder to myself how I would feel while I was watching this stuff.

It started to become more of a question of curiosity and self-discovery. So I became brave and played the video. At the start was a pan from a carpeted floor up to the high heels on the well-toned legs of a woman, smiling at the camera as the guy behind it started speaking.

"So you're gonna tell me you name?"

The lady responded. "My name is Staci, I'm twenty-three years old, and I'm a Virgo.

The cameraman continued to interview here as she smiled all the while. "Yeah, I caught you walking just earlier and I kinda wanted to bring you over to see if you wanted to make a little something on the side. But before we do that, you wanna tell me a little more about yourself?"

The girl giggled as she playfully shied away from him. "Oh my God, you're making me nervous. Well, I'm kinda shy, I like to have fun but I'm kinda quiet."

"You're also really cute.

She smirked at him, lightly slapping him on the leg. "Stop it."

"No I'm serious, you're really cute. We've had some cute ones around but you're probably the cutest by far."

While I couldn't help to roll my eyes, she cooed innocently. "Aw, you're so sweet."

With an impatient sigh, I dragged my finger along the timeline and stopped to where she was bent over the couch, folding her thong halfway down her ass. She looked back at the camera, smiling while she teased the viewer a bit, holding her hand over her crotch.

The camera man broke his silence. "Can I see your pussy?"

I merely dragged my finger over to the right a little more until she was palming base as she was bobbing her head in and out, her lips firmly gripped around his cock. Again, he felt it necessary to speak.

"Ah yeah, that feels so good."

Once more, I pulled my finger further to the right to see a large stain on the couch as she was laying on the couch with one leg behind her head. She moaned incessantly as he pumped himself in and out of her. He did appear to be of a considerable length and she was perfectly waxed, but the sound of her moaning didn't feel real to me.

Maybe it's because I started to feel kinda jaded to this fake stuff. It was obviously professionally made, the image was so high def that you could easily see the goose bumps on her skin. The cameraman was having sex with her and he's got a camera man on the both of them. Her moans are more extra than a crowd for a major Hollywood blockbuster. I'm basically twirling my dick and having more fun with that than watching this.

I swiped my thumb against the screen, looking to get to the next video. The next clip was an amateur shot film in their own bedroom. The girl was already on the receiving end of her boyfriend's penis. He's not so much talking through everything, but her moans, not as numerous as the previous video, are very much real.

"Oooooh shit.... Hah...

Just that much from her was a lot hotter than the 'academy award winning' performance of the girl from the earlier video. She was more invested in selling for the camera. This one was one of those built-up moments in their relationship. I can already tell this had started up with the two of them just hanging around each other, the guy gets playful, she kinda pushes back, he keeps going, she's still pushing back despite the fact that she's okay with the circumstances, and he's practically toying with every piece of her body.

It was a real situation that had a real consequence, and it was deserving of a real reaction out of me.

My hand started to do more in terms of teasing myself than actually playing with it because it was there. My thumb ran up the length of myself, stopping at the ridge of my head. A single throb was all it took to invite me to gradually invest more of my fingers to the task. As I watched the video, I noticed that he was taking her from behind, pulling her hair as he planted a hand on her shoulder. He was rough with her, aggressively so, and she was into it. At that second, one word in particular rang in my head from earlier.

"Harder."

Rarity whispered that to me as she was kissing me, as I pulled on her tail. Suddenly, the video I was watching had started to become more of a distraction while my mind was already pulling on imagination. The background noise of the video playing, the soft slaps of skin on skin, the moans were already doing a great deal of damage to me. My hand stopped toying and started grasping. My eyes closed as I started to think about what I wanted to do to her. I quickly unbuttoned my jeans, pulled them down enough to give my hand some room to work with. One leg remained propped up as the other stretched as my fantasy started to play itself out.

One throb was all it took to urge me forward. "Oh... shit." I whispered under my own breath.

I could already hear her voice talking to me in the distance. The sweet coos she made earlier had done nothing but made me bite my lip out of longing as well as concentration. As I worked my grasp, my hips rocked in a circular motion, imitating the performance I truly wanted to give. Even then, I felt her calling my name.

"Nondis, darling. I was wonde...ring─"

My eyes flew open, I instinctively shoved my hand over my crotch to cover myself. I looked up to see the door open, the mare looking back at me with her jaw agape. Coco stood beside her, holding a hoof over her mouth while the video still played on my phone. I frantically reached out with a free hand to exit back to the home screen, but the damage was more than done at that point.

Coco silently pointed at another direction. "I'll... go get... the coffee."

Rarity continued to look at me while I tried to wait out my arousal. She crossed her hind legs as she snickered. I groaned painfully as she used her magic to pull up my pants. "I see you were having a little bit of fun." She teased.

While everything felt so painfully awkward for me, I couldn't bare to look her in the eye. "You caught me off guard there."

The mare leaned against the doorway as she mocked me. "A captain of the royal guard being off his guard? Now where have I heard that one before?"

She's probably making fun of me from the spar we had. "Well, I'm caught. I guess it's up to you on how this goes."

The fashionista took a deep breath, grinding her teeth as her magic held my pants in place. For a second, I could feel her pulling them back down. My arousal wasn't subsiding either, so it was more than likely she was going to get even more of a sneak peek of what I had to offer. But she wasn't budging from the doorway, even as Coco called out to her.

"Hey, Rarity... Most of this seems to be a little bit of a patch job here, a stitch job there, really simple stuff. If you want to, you can just rest up for tonight so you can be up bright and early for tomorrow."

She still didn't move as she stared daggers at me. She quietly mouthed at me. "Didn't I tell you no funny stuff?"

"Sorry." I whispered back.

She got out of the doorway, walking towards me with a sewing needle and a roll of thread. I quietly waited as she stopped right beside me. As my hands stayed over my crotch, she began the slow process of pulling each one of my fingers back slowly to move my hand out of the way. But before she could get a good glimpse, she covered it up with the sheets of the bed, almost teasing herself with the idea. Her eyes locked onto mine as her magic shifted focus onto my shirt, yanking me closer to her face.

"I don't like you stimulating yourself using some other means. You have me, is that too little for you?"

I quickly shook my head. "No not at all. In fact, my mind kinda went to you, and then everything else was kinda like a distraction. I just... I─"

What I felt next was the sensation of her magic grasping at my thighs again. The sudden warmth brushing against me was sufficient enough to make me lean into her. She, however, pulled herself away from me in response. My hand tried to hold myself down, but her magic around my thighs held them off. Finally, she planted her hoof along it's length above the sheets, denying me every touch possible. Her eyes grew as her hoof pressed down, feeling me recoil in response.

I instinctively grabbed her hoof and pressed her further down. The tension I felt was so incredible that I forgot how to fold my fingers around her hoof, using only the open palm of my hand to hold her down. She started panting lightly with anticipation before she found the discipline to snap herself out of it. The moment her hoof left me, I was left with a familiar chill and a sense of longing.

"Um... Ahem... I have a bit of work to do. I'll be up all night so don't be afraid to let me know if you need anything..." The mare paused for a moment and looked down at my hand, still grasping at myself from over the sheets. "Anything but that, of course."

Her magic glowed around my hands as she closed her eyes, seeming to cast a spell. Her horn changed colors from light blue to a prismatic glow. As her magic color changed, so did some parts of her mane. Brief flashes of yellow, purple, and blue streaked down her curls, her eyes opened to me when she finished. She leaned forward, seemingly a bit out of breath. I reached out to see if she was alright, but I noticed something strange had occurred.

My sense of arousal was drastically heightened but my body's response to it was drastically muted.

"I had to tap a bit into the reservoir to pull this one off. I'm not like Twilight, who can conjure up spells for any occasion at a whim. But I do know my fair share of buffs and nerfs to help myself along our adventures."

I quickly pulled up the sheets, watching myself run flaccid. But in my mind, I still wanted her, more than ever. It was infuriating, sickening, perverted, down right wrong. "What the hell did you do to me?"

She gave me a quick peck on the cheek as she explained herself. "I placed a certain spell on you. It's not quite a 'magic school for gifted unicorns' spell. It's more of an estrus buster for the long journey away from home, don't want to get caught up by some random stallion in a land unknown. Female travelers and business ponies often use these spells to keep themselves focused on the task instead of getting riled up for any... *ahem* peddled wares that come swinging by."

So she essentially cast a spell meant for females on me. Well that's as awkward as needing to use some lady's douche for an enema. "...Quoi?"

She summoned one of the dresses for tomorrow's show and started working on it as she spoke. "It'll wear off in around twelve hours. But for now, none of that funny stuff until I'm ready." She stated strongly. As I flopped back into the bed, feeling several times more frustrated than usual, she also absconded with my phone. "Oh, I'll also be taking this. Quite obvious that this will probably do more harm than good."

My head fell back into the pillows, I started to feel rather testy. My hands were just itching to pound at something because of the enhanced case of blue balls I've contracted. With a exasperated grunt, I watched the mare quickly trot out of the room, wave at me with a coy smirk on her face.

"Goodnight dearie, dream of me while you're asleep."

Four Hours Later...

My eyes cracked open slowly, revealing a blurry dark room. I could hear the faint sounds of machines humming in the other room. The place smelled of coffee and perfumes while my arms stretched a bit. After that, I reached for the covers and shut my eyes and waited for the sleep to take me again.

Only this time, it didn't.

For the strangest reason, I couldn't pass into the realm of dreams. Instead, my mind was pushing me awake, my body felt restless, and of course any feeling of arousal I had from last night felt no different. I reached out to where I last put my phone, only to remember that Rarity took it with her. So I rubbed my eyes, grabbed a nearby alarm clock, and barely read out the time to see that my sleep had only lasted for a small four hours.

I was groggy, yet restless. And it didn't seem to make me feel any better thinking about the issue. I assumed that it was just my body telling me that I needed to go to the restroom. So I did just that, achieved some mode of relief, got back in bed and tossed sleeplessly for another fifteen minutes. Being tired from being tired was the only thing I could say to describe it.

So finally, I got out of bed and stepped into the main part of the suite.

Rarity didn't appear to miss a beat as she wore her red glasses, going through outfit after outfit after outfit after outfit. The whole place started to look more like her draft room in the Carousel Boutique as opposed to a hotel suite. Pieces of cloth, fine material, jewels, and glitter saturated the room everywhere. Ribbons were strewn across the floor as Coco walked in with yet another dress. I rubbed my eyes to make sure that they weren't lying to me, and as such I was proven to be very much awake to the circumstances.

Coco was the first to see me, appearing somewhat puzzled. "Oh, I thought you were still asleep. What are you doing up?"

"I could ask the same thing out of you two." I replied. "I thought this was just supposed to be a quick patch job."

Rarity broke her long silence and spoke with an unusually high amount of energy. "Well there's no such thing as a patch job on something that's meant to be perfect. I'm also making a few alterations on some of the outfits to make them pop out a little more. I'm also finalizing some designs and adding the finishing touches to them now."

I was left scratching my head at her reasoning. "Um... shouldn't the finishing touches be finished the day before the dress rehearsal?"

Coco chuckled a little as she held a cup of coffee. "Oh yeah, I guess you wouldn't know about what we do. This is just another Monday afternoon to us. We're always making final adjustments the day before the show, sometimes the morning of."

"Seems like a lot to take on mentally." I stated. "Wouldn't you be a little fried before the show then?"

"Are you kidding? I've redid an entire line overnight with a different design choice... which was originally Rarity's theme." Coco stated.

"That wasn't you that stole my fabric." Rarity interrupted. "That was all Suri's doing. I hold none of that against you, dear."

"I know. But it's even worse for her to force you to redo your entire line from scratch the night before and the morning of. I bet that must've really pissed you off."

"In a competition, no less." The alabaster seamstress stated.

"Well it's a good thing you still won, right?" Coco added.

Rarity stopped sewing for a moment and looked at her assistant. "And if it weren't for you, I would've been more stressed in doing the costumes for Henny of the Hills. Again, a thing I would've done easily if it wasn't for things happening like they did. But I wasn't going to let that opportunity become something to add to my own resumé, especially after you did what you did. I had to repay you, there was no other way to express my gratitude."

"I'm just happy to have my own name in Manehattan! You gave that to me." Coco replied.

I shook my head as I mocked the two mares. "Oh will the two of you kiss each other already? I swear it's like both of you are in love with each other."

"Of course we love each other." Rarity replied, winking at her associate.

Coco walked up to Rarity, pulling her closer to her as she looked into her eyes. "You're just jealous that you're not as close to her as we are together."

Rarity giggled as she poked a hoof at the young mare's nose. "You are a doll."

"And you are a babe." Coco answered as the two started to lean into each other, their lips almost making contact.

While they went on with their performance, I felt the chill in my loins grow drastically colder while my mind started to burn with nothing but thoughts of how I was going to get my revenge on Rarity for condemning me to suffer, I covered my eyes and walked towards the door. "Okay, you win! Can you two stop fucking me over like this, damn!"

The two mares laughed it off as Coco replied. "Are you kidding? I love Rarity, but I'd never do something like that with her. You've gotta get your mind out of the gutter."

"Surely a wholesome friendship isn't so much of a lewd concept. You must learn some self-control." Rarity added.

As if I'm the only one who's sexually frustrated in this room. "Hi kettle, name's pot. Have we met?"

The two laughed a bit more before Rarity finally asked. "So what's got you up, dear? I know a sewing machine going off in the wee hours of the morning isn't the sweetest lullaby, but surely you weren't so disturbed by us working."

"I'm not sure. Maybe it's the spell you've put on me." I answered. "You mean to tell me that you've never had to wake up early because of this ridiculous spell?"

Rarity rubbed her chin and grew a little concerned. "I suppose there were some other side effects to consider for some parties. I'm not exactly sure how the spell will effect you entirely outside of it's intended purpose. But at least it will only be for another eight hours. From there you can rest up if you still feel like you're running on empty."

I only shook my head. "Hell, if it's for another eight hours, then I might as well make myself useful." Especially since this damn spell was practically Red Bull mixed with anti-Viagra. "What do you ladies need?"

"A bed with a strong stallion to cuddle me in it." Coco muttered under her breath.

Rarity smirked at her friend. "I'm fine so far, unless you'd want to get us some coffee."

I looked at the mare and deadpanned. "You. You want coffee?"

"Coffee is meant to be a 'burn the midnight oil' beverage and I expect it to be black to keep me awake. It also does nothing but give you bad breath in the morning." She stated, instinctively checking her own breath.

"But the lobby's pretty much dead now. So if you wanted to order some of the complimentary coffee packets for the coffee maker, then you're shit out of luck." Coco added.

Sometimes, I wonder how Rarity has the energy for this kind of stuff. Not even Pinkie would be up this early in the morning, probably within the next hour, yes. But she's not even remotely energetic in the morning, she's got a whole ritual to inflate her mane to it's usual poofiness. But Rarity's chugging along just fine.

It's four-something in the morning, I doubt anyone in Canterlot is serving coffee at this time. Hell, the guards don't even get a complementary cup for keeping watch during the night shift. But I do know a place that will serve regardless of the time. "I can get you girls some coffee. Just a catch though."

"What's that?" Coco asked.

"I need a quick ride to the castle."

Thirty Minutes Later...

I was granted a taxi to the castle, where I ran through Mel's portal, borrowed her car, made a quick trip to Starbucks, and came back without her noticing anything. I however did leave her a few bucks on the counter for the gas I spent on the trip. I also bought her a little something for breakfast in the microwave as a bribe to not chew me out when she woke up. But when I got back with the three cups of still-scalding-hot coffee, the two mares just froze in place.

They both herded towards me like cats hearing towards an open can of tuna.

"Alright, I've got a little something special for the both of you, to reward you for your hard work."

As I held out one cup, Rarity took one and removed the lid. She was surprised by what she saw. "Whipped cream? Nondis you bought me some whipped cream?"

Coco took hers as I replied to her. "Not entirely. That is a Caffè Mocha, rich Columbian roast with beans from the continent of South America, with steamed whole milk to give it a richer composition, a bittersweet mocha sauce, a tad touch of hazelnut creamer, topped with a dollop of sweet whipped cream."

Coco quickly popped the lid and took a sip. She pulled the cup down, smacking her mouth as she tasted the concoction. She then took yet another sip for reassurance. And another for good measure. Though she was panting from the heat of the beverage, she was left nursing the rim of her cup while she smiled sweetly at the drink.

"Whatever you brought us, she's positively enraptured by it." Rarity stated as she also received her first taste.

Her reaction was very much similar to that of her associate. The two mares were left nursing their cups carefully as to not spill a drop. As I went through my bag, I pulled out a little something extra. "And if you think you're in heaven now, just try it with the cheese danish."

The two took their danishes and chomped on them quietly. The two ponies practically wagged their tails as the delicious combination of beverage and snack made them stop working long enough to savor the tastes. From there, I took my own drink and looked around the room at all the dresses they've finished on.

It would appear that their break was a much-needed one, they only have a total of four dresses to do now.

Coco looked at me and broke her silence. "So... Where'd you get this stuff?"

"A little chain of stores from my world." I answered, causing both of them to jump at the answer.

Rarity looked at her coffee and smirked. "Well, it's no wonder why you're so addicted to this stuff. It's a sin."

"Much like you eating an entire tub of ice cream when you're sad?" I joked, earning a dark glare from the seamstress.

"Your insult requires the payment of one pint of pistachio almond, I expect that payment by noon tomorrow."

"How about a cone at the downtown creamery?" I smiled back.

"You're paying." She deadpanned.

"Not an issue. I collect my bits today anyhow."

She raised her cup to her muzzle once more as she glanced to me. "I also want one stroll through the park."

"Fine."

"And I want another cone there, it can be vanilla, it doesn't matter."

"Okay."

"And I want a day at the spa, both of us."

...I think that pint of ice cream is looking really inconsequential right now. "About that pint of ice crea─"

"I DEMAND COMPENSATION FOR THE FEELINGS YOU'VE HURT!"

She's so cute when she's being a hammy dramatic. It was always one of the things I loved about her, it was funny to poke and prod at her until she'd pout and explode from seemingly nowhere. I might as well treat her since I've 'insulted' her. "So you want a date?"

"...Maybe."

"Maybe isn't a yes." I replied.

"We've got the suite for another night to rest up. So if I'm feeling somewhat energized... maybe."

"Or I could just go back to my world for the day and spend my time working out with Mel." I quietly mumured, peeking back to a pouty mare.

"So you're going to take back everything!?"

I looked at her with a devilish grin as I whispered out slowly. "...Maaaaaaaaybe."

Needless to say she was not amused. "Noon tomorrow. Canterlot Creamery located on the corner of Bit and Spur. No later. We'll have ice cream, we'll walk in the park, we'll have ice cream again, and then we'll head to the spa."

"Dinner?" I inquired.

"We can call room service for dinner. I'd like our dining to be more private."

"Wine?" I asked, walking up to her.

"Meaning that you can stand high over me doesn't mean that you're that intimidating, Mr. Haines."

I didn't say anything, I just chomped my teeth at her, causing her to wince back and hold her neck.

"You're going to make me wait for that, aren't you?"

Hell, if she's got me under this weird ass spell, then I might as well make her wait for it a little longer. Granted, I won't be so happy to do so, but I'll probably enjoy it more when the time comes. Or I can just toy with her and make her think that I'll hold off until tomorrow. "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe?"

The mare said nothing when she used her magic to grab at my collar. "Those deliciously sharp teeth will be in my neck after I get back."

"You better promise to repair the shirt you'll be ripping off of me tonight. Besides, you made it."

A light popping noise emanated from the collar of my shirt as she yanked me down to see her eye-to-eye. "Consider it a date."

I chomped my teeth at her again, making her coo lightly with juvenile anticipation. Her cheeks grew redder as her hind legs crossed over one another. She even wrapped her tail around her leg for good measure as I stood back up.

Coco just stared at the both of us as she enjoyed her coffee. "Will you two just fuck already?"

Several hours passed since my quick coffee run. Rarity managed to finish her final touches to every outfit in the models' wardrobe. Just the thought of having to do over seventy some-odd dresses by hoof made me realize that I was better off losing an arm in a fight than working myself to unsightly cramps. And it also made me realize how much energy Rarity actually had in the tank.

Just after finishing up, there was no cup of coffee to keep the two mares awake. The effects of the caffeine took a toll on them, having them take a few more bathroom breaks than usual. Guess they got sluggish after a while and dropped dead on the floor. Since Rarity was knocked out, I took the opportunity to grab my phone. The moment I found it, I noticed that she took some creative liberty in altering it's appearance.

Huh, guess my phone's covered in precious rubies with diamonds replicating the Apple logo. How much is this phone worth now? I sure as hell can't take this out in public or get the screen repaired if I accidentally cracked it. I'm not gonna be able to upgrade it for that matter unless I'm just using this for novelty. Guess I can't get rid of it now, whatever the case may be.

...No pun intended.

Again, I had the opportunity to watch the sun rise from the land of shadow. I didn't really feel too tired, even though I should've been just as unconscious as the other two. But the restlessness of this spell made me mentally drained. Personally, I don't see how this spell helps ponies do their job in the heat season, it doesn't do anything but make you feel like shit for the better half of the day. And you might as well have damn vibrator in you instead of running around like this.

Well I suppose the only way to get tired now is to get moving again.

I snatched up my stuff, took careful consideration of my extravagantly expensive phone, and made my way out the door. When I reached the streets of Canterlot, I just started running. As I ran, I had some music on speaker to pace myself to the rhythm. And as the time passed, I got sweatier and sweatier. I didn't immediately run for the castle, I actually ran a lap around the keep. Onto the walls, through the checkpoints, down the battlements, hitting every stair both up and down the way. But when I finished, I worked on my upper body.

Meaning that I was on break didn't mean that I couldn't condition myself in some manner. The last thing I need to do is lose my physical edge and courage after a hospital visit. Granted, sit-ups and push-ups were a definite no-no, but pull-ups were fair game. So for pull-ups, I had to walk to the stairs of the battlements, drop down to an area where my feet couldn't quite reach the ground and pulled my own weight. Reason for it was simply because they didn't have a bar high enough for humans to use. If anything, their bar would be hitting me on the shoulder.

When I finished, my arms felt more like limp noodles and my legs like reinforced concrete pylons. The cool late autumn air made me familiar to the fact that I could easily catch a cold or something worse if I stayed out here sweating like this. Shortly after a break, I made my way into the castle. And just as I was about to open the door, an aura of magic surrounded the handle and yanked the door open.

"Just absolutely ridiculous! I'm doing my best to help you, but what have you gotten me!?"

I just stepped aside as a disgruntled Single File stormed out of the door, apparently talking to himself.

"You give me nothing but grief, you ask me to stay by you and yet you call me all sorts of names when you're all there. But as soon as I'm going out to use the bathroom it's all 'Please don't leave me, I'm so alone!' Well if you're all alone, then go to your freaking house, you've got a killer mansion and not once have you ever stayed the night over there!"

I know he's going in on whoever, but I'm kinda genuinely concerned for the guy. He's starting to create a bit of a spectacle all by himself. "Uh, hey?..."

He didn't even know I was here. "Oh, and I'm always bringing you dinner, never the other way around. Like seriously, how do you even live the way you do? You sleep and eat in an office, you haven't even given me my day off since the whole court debacle. Now you wanna take my nights away too!? I'm not your fucking─"

"Hey!" I called out, quickly grabbing his attention.

He stopped for a moment and looked around to see a few guards posted around the front lawn staring at him or talking to each other as they're pointing at him. The stallion's face grew pinkish as he pouted at my presence. "Well it's... something to see you walking again."

...I'm just gonna let that one slide. "So is your ex-girlfriend clinging on to you or something?"

Suddenly, he snapped at me, becoming somewhat defensive. "Oh I'm sure you'd love to talk about your ex-girlfriend, don't you!? So how's she, I remember her dumping you in public. How did that feel?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm just fine to move on. You look like you're having issues, domestic abuse issues."

The stallion groaned as he pounded his head with his own hoof. "Why do you even matter!? You've just been more trouble for me ever since you pissed the old bastard off!"

Oh... It's in relation to his boss. "You think you've been the only one with issues? Have you seen the tabloids lately?"

"Who hasn't!? You daring to yank the princess' hindleg like that? You're practically in the news and the old fart hasn't stopped yelling at me over it." He stated angrily. "I hate him when he's like this! He's always finding a scapegoat for his problems!"

Well at least he's open to discuss it, maybe I can get some information out of a talk or two. I guess I can find a way we can relate. "Yeah, I know how that goes. I've been the scapegoat ever since I've been promoted as the new captain of the guard."

"Whatever. Just leave me alone." He groaned, walking past me.

Before he could walk off, I trailed beside him to continue the conversation. "Hey, you're not the only one with issues here. You're dealing with a boss who's probably got a bit of an issue."

"Have you seen your boss?" He argued. "Princess Celestia isn't exactly the shining beacon the average ponies make her out to be. You do realize she signed off on the whole 'Approval Process' thing you had to go through, right?"

Very aware. "I don't think she meant to sign on it."

"Well she did!" He spat back. "A thousand years of no change in that department. How many guards have been doomed to die because of that? You're a guard, and you damn-near died on your own assignment!"

"You helped with the proceedings, didn't you?" I questioned.

"It's my job, what else am I supposed to do!? He says build a fire, you build a furnace around it. He says build me a bridge, you build a railroad leading to it. He says jump, and you're supposed to say 'off of what?' That's just how it goes." The stallion said before he sat on his haunches. "He's not usually like this when he's on his meds. But now he's gone all wacko. It's like he's forcing me to not even have my own life now!"

I pulled out my phone to take a peek at the time, noticing it was just a few minutes before nine. I scratched my chin as I spoke. "You drink?"

"Oh and don't even get me started on his drink selections! He's making all of this money, but for some odd reason he goes with the cheapest stuff. Buy one thing of quality to appease his peers and he's hounding me for it."

Yeah, he could use one. "Hey, wait here for a bit. I'm gonna go in and collect my weekly. When I get back out, we're gonna head out to one of the pubs. At least there we can talk."

The stallion cringed a bit as he questioned me. "Drinking, in broad daylight, IN THE EARLY MORNING?"

"Sure. If you were were I'm from, you'd consider it a daily dose of Vitamin A. Just don't do it before driving out."

The stallion stared at me unkindly. "This is not some sort of playful college shenanigans, it's real life!"

I placed my hand on his shoulder as I knelt to him. "Bud, I'm a college student, a senior no less. And to top it off, I'm also a frat boy, I wore a forty year-old lady's high school prom dress just to get in. Do I regret my decision? At times. Has it led to bad things? Of course. Did I follow up with our weekly community service obligations? Hell no. Did I do drugs? That's how I got here... indirectly."

The stallion quirked an eyebrow and spoke. "You are interesting to say the least."

"Yeah, but you don't write books off of that stuff and expect to sell 'em." I said, realizing I went off track a bit. "Anyways, drinks in the morning, nothing new to me. Some parts of my world don't even care for a casual glass or two to start the day. Just as long as you're responsible. We're not going out to get pissed drunk, we're relieving the stress. easing up a bit so you can go back to doing whatever it is you do best."

Single File looked at me quizzically, wondering if I was even sane. "You'd do that for me? Me, the one who helped sign your name to donate your body to science after you die, the one who helped along your worst political adversary?"

You know, now that he mentioned it, it would probably be no consequence to drag him off the side of the outer battlements and drop him a good thousand feet or more. But I'd be betraying my own self if I did something like that without hearing him out. Maybe I can negotiate something out of this. "...Yeaaah..." I said, partially seething inside. "Look, you said it yourself, it was your job. I've got a dirty job of my own. We can talk things out over the drinks, cool?"

The stallion looked a bit reluctant, his eyes glancing back at the upper levels of the castle. "If it gives me a break from him, I guess we can trade an olive branch or two.... for today."

"Hey, I've got nothing to do at the moment. Let's go."

Meanwhile in the Canterlot Dungeons...

The guards who stood over the entrance to Chrysalis' cell bowed in reverence to the visiting princess. Cadance paid their show of respect little mind as she marched into the confinement. Her eyes glanced around the room, seeing nothing out of place. But this time, she noticed a sickening burning odor that made her wince back as she initially came across it. The
blinded prisoner chuckled as she spoke to her visitor.

"If my nose doesn't deceive me, that scent is practically worn to death by a certain insecure princess."

"You know why I'm here." Cadance replied, not wanting to waste any time.

Chrysalis smiled as she produced a villainous cackle. "So you can torture yourself some more? I never took you for the masochist type, but I'll take that into account when I am freed from this prison. I'll even do you the courtesy of letting your sister-in-law participate."

Cadance rolled her eyes. "Do you think she'll let you after she's soundly defeated you?"

Chrysalis sighed as she sat to her haunches. "She was the one who freed me, you do realize that? She'd be too naïve to let her brother suffer at my hooves again. And as a result, she'd offer herself for whatever. He'd argue. She'd refuse. You'd turn your head while I torture the little pony princess with my endless wave of drones. At least she'll be more than experienced in the art of mating."

Cadance, taking exception to her beloved sister-in-law being threatened, stood in the face of the disgraced changeling queen. Her magic grasped at Chrysalis' regrowing horn. "If I didn't make a vow to be the upstanding figure of authority that I am, I would treat you no differently."

"Again, Cadance? You're so easy to taunt." She replied, appearing bored of the predictable response the princess gave her.

"You may be calm and collected now, but that'll only last as long as I'll let it."

The changeling queen didn't even flinch, she simply spoke to the mare before her as if it was a casual conversation. "So what do you have planned? Shocking me, burning my hide, pulling at my wings, breaking my horn again? You honestly think that your husband hasn't already tried to have that done? Oh, I teased him while he watched me suffer. You'll be no different."

As the queen was more casual in her tone, Cadance was far firmer. "I promise that it will be different."

"Just like he promised himself to you before you two were married?" She asked while standing expressionless.

The princess paused for a moment, giving the thought of her time with Shining Armor some replay before she calmed herself. "I already know it's not going to happen again."

"Oh, then I assume you know of how he had another before you?"

"I'm sure." Cadance confessed as she reflected on her engagement period with Shining.

"Even a pegasus mare who died under his watch was one such mare, it's the reasons why he has nightmares at night."

"And it's the reason why we never consummated on the night of our marriage. Nothing is hidden between us." Cadance replied calmly.

The changeling queen cracked a smirk, taunting the princess once more. "Not because he told you, but because you always depend on Celestia to tell you everything. And it's not just her, it his counselors, his doctors, his closest friends, his fellow guards. You get everything about him with the exception of one thing, the direct source. So tell me how does it feel to have a husband who could never trust you enough to tell you the truth?"

Cadance continued to suppress her emotions when she replied. "I have a husband who's inconsistent, he's only a pony. I love him regardless."

"And still with almost half a decade under your names, you fail to have a foal with the one you love."

With the changeling queen finally hitting a nerve, Cadance pointed her horn at Chrysalis' neck. "Maybe I want to wait until I've rid the world of you to do that."

The captive queen guffawed and taunted the mare further. "Oh it would be so much fun if you had a son. Imagine him coming to see me every lonely night, kissing me, holding me like I am his one true love. Showing me how much of his father he has in him." Cadance clenched her eyes shut as she continued. "Or maybe a daughter! My drones would love to take your daughter in and show her what it means to be a brood."

A light blue ring of magic encircled the prisoner's neck, holding her up as high as the shackles around her legs would allow. The pink princess twitched while she hissed at her. "You are disgusting."

"And you need to stop wasting my time with your visits. The only thing you do is tell me how much you want me to suffer without actually doing anything. Personally, I think that's a bit of an insult. At least your husband has the balls to watch me scream in pain." The changeling queen felt her air flow become more restricted with each passing second. With the little air she was afforded, she provoked the princess further. "Then again, Shining Armor always had a thing for making me scream. I wonder how many of my changelings are stemmed from his seed."

Cold crystals started to form at the hooves of the pink princess. Her eyes grew in tandem to the amount of bloodlust she felt. Her body gave off a bit of a chill while she completely compressed the changeling's airways. "I am─"

Before she could continue, the sound of the door's mechanics moving behind her prompted her to release the prisoner before her indignant behavior was discovered. And upon entering the room, the visitor waved at the mare. "Hey there, your pinkness."

Cadance looked back at the guards, who realized that their allowing the unexpected visit would earn a modicum of the
princess' wrath, quietly shied out of her view, letting the doors close once more. "How did you get through security? How did you get clearance?"

Alex threw his hands in the air as he approached slowly. "You know, it's funny how this one guys keeps his really important information in his phone, in his porn folder no less. So what else am I supposed to do other than exploit it for situational reasons?"

The princess brought a hoof to her forehead in a show of disbelief. "Figures... Nondis would be so irresponsible."

"To us, yeah. But for random ponies trying to crack his pass code, not so much." He said, walking up to the two equines. His eyes slowly trailed towards the captive queen. "So, this is where queen bug-breath's been stashed? I kinda expected it to be a little more dramatic, her cage surrounded by a massive lava pit and two large magic laser guns pointed at her cage in case it broke open."

"How comical." Cadance replied sarcastically.

"So, what are you doing down here, Miss Cadance?" He asked.

"I'm here to interrogate a certain somepony over some much-needed information. Now if I may ask, why are YOU down here?"

"Well it turns out that in order for my little plan to move forward, I need a bit of basic information out of miss power bottom over there."

Alex's comment managed to break the captive queen's silence, eliciting a light chuckle. "Well aren't you a charmer, your voice is rather unfamiliar and I do think you'll be worth a look, if they didn't place this wretched blindfold on me."

"To be frank, I'm not looking for anything like that. But I do want something from you." He answered.

"And what would you want out of me?" She asked.

"Magic, of course. We want to know the basis of your mana structure..." Alex stated, earning a perplexed stare from Cadance and a unhinged jaw from the changeling queen. "Now I don't know shit about magic, I was asked to ascertain that information for another purpose."

Cadance dropped her expression as she realized that the surprisingly detailed question was actually from another source. "Oh, you almost had me there."

The queen's mouth then tilted to show disapproval. "Oh, then it would be safe to assume that you are one of them then."

"I'm not sure what you mean by 'them.' Can you spell it out for me." He inquired.

"I have no business with a breed of murderers." She answered coldly.

"Well you called for one by summoning them to this world, might as well accept the fact that you brought this on yourself." Cadance chided coyly, earning a growl from the queen. "Oh, is that a touchy subject still? Guess I'll never get to experience the loss of two-hundred of my own offspring from various stallions. Who's the brood now?" Cadance asked with a cruel delight.

"Your husband. I'm willing to bet that he'll ride me again." Chrysalis teased back.

The moment of triumph Cadance experience was brief, now substituted by seething anger. "My husband despises you."

"Oh, isn't that how it all starts?" She continued to provoke the princess, her smile growing bolder with each second. "He'll get angry, I'll tell him about how impotent he is, he'll argue me down, I'll get him angry again, I'll keep making him angry until he finally reaches that boiling point. And then he'll pin me to the ground, he'll yank my mane, and he'll go to town just like last time."

"WHAT!?" Cadance screamed vehemently.

"Oh he tells me just how frustrated he is with you... or at least he thinks it. And then he'll take out that frustration on me, thinking he's raping me. Truth be told, I'm expecting him to crack sometime tomorrow afternoon." The queen shuddered as she cooed with glee. "Oh the things I'd give to tame his most feral pleasures. I'd might even give him a family for that one. I'll even tell him that all the changelings I breed from that point on would be his very own foals. And after I tell him, I wonder how he'll come to terms with murdering his own flesh and blood."

Cadance quickly went back to trying to choke the mare, the room growing colder as her horn glowed again. But before she could get a solid grasp, Alex tapped her horn and placed a hand on her to hold her back. "You do realize she's riling you up, right?"

"Let. Me. Go." Cadance heaved as her chest rose and fell dramatically.

"Yeah, I know. She's in your head. You gotta put that shit aside and take it with a grain of salt."

"She is plotting to hurt my husband, to use him. How dare you stop me from ending her existence. SHE IS A BLIGHT TO EQUESTRIA AND SHE SHOULD BE EXECUTED!"

"That's what she wants you to say." He stated. "You're falling right in and you don't even know it. You think you're doing something noble for a nation's safety, but you're just going on emotions. You need to compose yourself before you do yourself AND your peers some damage."

Chrysalis sighed as she appeared unamused. "And it was just starting to get fun."

"I remember someone trying to cut off your head once." Alex pointed out. "I'm certain you didn't think that was much fun, especially after we cleared out your extended family."

Chrysalis was finally silent, clenching her jaw while he spoke.

"Now, I didn't come down here to break up a catfight. I'm here for information, and you're gonna tell me everything before we find out the hard way. And trust me, lady, you don't want to find out exactly how that's going to be done."

"...Maybe I'm inclined to find out. Maybe I'm curious." She replied quietly.

"Maybe you don't mind if we take one of these changeling prisoners and examine them all the same, eh?" He said as he leaned into her ear. "Or maybe you'd prefer if I take you and a few others back to my world, where there is no magic to feed on. At least then I can make a fortune by selling you guys off as aliens from a different world, you'd fit the bill. And then we can talk about how you can talk, which would lead to some government agency taking you in and cutting you open for anatomical research faster than any animal rights activist can raise up a chant in protest."

The queen tilted her muzzle towards him as she growled. "You are irrepressible, disgusting, inequine."

"And that's not even the end of it. There's still the matter of seeing what all you can endure. What all can you withstand, are you strong enough to live throughout some of the most devastating things that humankind has ever concocted? What is your reaction to... corrosive fluids, potent nerve agents, cruel gasses that could make a mere human like myself gargle and drown in my own fluids, foaming with spit, blood, and bile. How long would it take for you to withstand the radioactive exposure potent enough to kill me in... five minutes tops?"

The changeling queen tried to inch herself away, but Alex grabbed her head, firmly pulling it towards him as he whispered. "I wouldn't mind seeing you go through all of this, after what all you did to my brother. I would've love to see you suffer, getting your head cut off is too damn good for you. At least now I know your shit's about five pounds." Stroking his fingers through her mane, he used his other hand to trace the outlines of her tendons in her neck. "Oh what I'd give to see you stand helpless while your offspring are made into scientific research. I would love to watch you mourn as your sons are cut open, each part of them excavated to benefit the advancement of mankind's knowledge. I only need another two hundred lives, we can breed the rest and watch them grow, watch them breed, watch them become born, and watch them die on our tables. I'm sure their cries will be as muffled as possible to minimize the noise."

"ENOUGH!" Chrysalis demanded.

Alex continued to stroke her neck, this time using the other hand to place a finger into one of the hole in her foreleg. "What interesting creatures you are. I'm even begging to ask how exactly you would taste with a bit of salt and rosemary. Maybe even grill a few ribs and drizzle some sauce on em. Texas is famous for it's BBQ, I guess I could sell the stuff for millions."

Suddenly, the room was permeated with the strong scent of ammonia. Alex looked down to see the shaking queen soling the ground she sat on. Her head became unsteady as he felt her tremble in his possession. Cadance looked at him with shock and a bit terrified as he smiled in her ear.

"So... about this changeling magic you've got."

Five minutes later...

Alex walked out of the room, playing back the psychologically tormented queen's voice as it went on to explain the nuances of changeling magic. Cadance stepped out beside him, not so much as looking at him as he happily put his phone away. The guards just stared, completely unaware of what took place in the cell.

"Well, that was a page from Jeffrey Dahmer's guidelines of how not to act like a human. Hope I won't have to do that again." He muttered to himself as he looked to Cadance. "You alright, princess?"

Visibly shaken from what she witnessed, she stopped holding her breath and placed a hoof on her chest. "What was that?"

"What was what?" He asked.

"Do you humans... are you..." She stammered for a while, still trying to find the words to say.

Alex didn't flinch as he answered her. "We wouldn't without reason. We eat meat because it's what we've inherently done for over a thousand years. In the days of little harvest or cold winter, we would hunt to feed our families. And of course we don't always prefer meat, sometimes we'd like a salad or something light. It's normal for us, and I understand it's not common for you. But it is what it is, and that's not likely to change anytime soon, especially if it hasn't for some two-hundred thousand years."

"So when she summoned for the most dangerous species─" Cadance began.

"We're a pretty damn good answer." He concluded. "But where I'm from, we don't like to turn our teeth on equines. So bear that in mind. We're not gonna hurt anyone without a reason to do so. Some will, that happens with anyone and anything, but as long as we can communicate with each other, we should be able to make peace and coexist."

Cadance finally looked at him for the first time in a while. "So what you said in there, what was that all about?"

"There was this one guy in our world by the name of Jeffrey Dahmer. He was a bad person to say the least, he did a lot of things that made many of us terrified, especially those with young sons or brothers. I won't go into detail but he had a preference to males. The things he did would lead many of us to believe that he was nothing more than subhuman, a monster, a murderer. To this day, he's remembered for the seventeen lives he's claimed, raped, dismembered... or worse, defiled."

"What made him that way?" She asked.

He sighed as he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. He was clinically sane at the trial, so they threw him in prison. Few of the prisoners heard about him and started a riot, just so they could get to him. They did the world a favor, and now he's only a name to which his legacy left behind a series of writers trying to replicate the creature's mind in murder and suspense novels, the perfect villain who met a perfect end."

Cadance shook her head with astonishment. "That is a villain if I ever heard of one. But what made you bring his character up?"

"I wanted to play a mind game with Chrysalis, I wanted to make her snap. Of course next time, I'll have to beef up the performance... if there is a need for a 'next time' that is."

"And you played the role of the villain?"

"We're already antagonized by her, it'd only make sense to ham it up a bit. Besides, she fucked with family."

Cadance shuddered as she thought to herself. "I would hate to see what you would do if she actually killed your brother."

Alex wouldn't look at her as he walked forward. "I wouldn't let you find out. I'd protect him from anyone, even from ourselves."

"You love your brother that much?"

"Just as long as you understand my place..."

He made sure that his words came across as sharply as possible, causing the princess to pause for a moment, watching him walk down the hallway alone to the stairs leading up back to the surface. He turned back to her and stared.

"Don't fuck with my family."

My legs seem to be getting their strength back as I found today's commute not as troubling as it was a few days ago. But I was still relatively tired because of the exercise from earlier. So we settled for one of the local sports bars and caught them as they opened. Being that it was early in the day and a couple of hours before the lunch rush, it was still rather empty. So Single File and I had an opportunity to talk things out.

And did he have a lot to talk about.

"And then he just grabs the bottle and downs the whole thing! That thing was one of the rarest bottles of wine, four-hundred years of age, magically tended to refine it's flavor over the decays of time, two-hundred thousand bits, down the hatch like it was some cheap punch."

Obvious to say he had some things to vent on.

"And then my marefriend's already seeing some other stallion on the side! I mean, I haven't caught them or anything, but I don't remember buying her a new bracelet from the shopping district, I never go to the shopping district for anything other than food and drink runs!"

Oh yeah, and he has some relationship issues too.

"I can't leave her. I want to be able to trust her but I know she's losing her patience for me. My job's been keeping me so busy that we can't even see each other that often. I don't get weekends off, maybe a weekday or two but she's working on those days. And I'm caught between my boss and his son's issues."

I guess I should give him some interaction for a change. "What's the issue between him and his son?"

"I can't say. He trusted me never to tell of him. But I can say that he's a bit unusual to say the least. He has tastes..."

I took a sip of my drink while I asked. "What tastes?"

"I... I can only say that he doesn't like him too much. But even then, you'd find it strange how he never goes home. If anypony had a problem foal, they'd still be able to go back home and sleep in a warm cozy bed and deal with all the dysfunction in the morning."

Father-son issues... if that isn't a familiar talking point. "So you think the son is living a lifestyle that's kinda making Count lose his mind?"

He shrugged as he chucked back another swig of his drink. "I don't think that's what's hitting him like this. It had to be something really beyond that for him to act all deranged like you saw him the other day."

"If he wasn't out to kill me, I would consider helping him." I bluntly answered as I picked up a menu. "But being that he's out to ruin my life and Twilight's, my hands are tied."

"You did give him the old smack talk when you first showed up to Parliament." He stated.

"That dude I played 'bullshit' with was him?"

"Yeah. You not only embarrassed him and shut him down with your performance, you actually showed him that with enough support, you could be a threat to his political ideologies."

"He's a traditionalist, isn't he?" I questioned.

"Not quite. He's a staunch nationalist with the agenda of putting Equestria's citizens first and foremost. With you being an outsider holding a position of prominence, it presents some rise to opposition. However, you're not the only one he has it out for. He honestly doesn't like Spike either because of... you know."

"Dragon." I concluded.

"Yeah." He confirmed, shyly rubbing the back of his neck. "He doesn't like dragons, humans, donkeys, mules, zebras, yaks, or even alicorns for that matter."

...He doesn't like alicorns, despite their being ponies themselves?... Well then. "So he doesn't like anything that isn't an earth pony, a pegasus, or a unicorn... to sum it all up."

The stallion cringed a bit as he lowered his head. "Actually, with a few documents he's proposed, you can argue it goes a little further than that."

I leaned in and whispered low. "How far exactly?"

The stallion merely tapped his horn three times with a tilt of his head, I looked past him for a bit as I thought he was talking about something beside him. But he shook his head and tapped on his horn another three times, this time letting a small spark of his magic to shine through.

"Oh... unicorn supremacist." I whispered.

"He always talked about how powerful unicorns really are of all the three races. If need be, they can grant the other perks of the other two pony races for a temporary period of time. Levitation can be applied to self, giving off flight-like capabilities, but it takes a lot of magic to pull off. No normal unicorn could hope to pull it off, only high-level magic users. And earth pony magic involves super strength and tending the land, which there are buffs for, but not nearly as effective as the real thing. He'd often quote 'A unicorn is capable of moving the very world we live on, the sky we look up to, and even the bodies that give us night and day. Our future is no different from those things, we move them as the rest.' He practically said that before every parliament meeting."

...That is a familiar line. I've actually heard Twilight say that once, like when she tried to force me to go out of the castle for the first time. But there was something different. "Isn't that a Swirl Star reference?"

"Starswirl the Bearded, but yes it is his quote with the exception of one minor word changed to his purpose. The original goes as 'A pony is capable of moving the very world we live on' and so forth."

Huh, that does explain a lot, but one thing is off. "Why the hate for alicorns?"

"Because alicorns hold all the executive powers. Not only that, but they control the freaking sun, moon, and stars! You'd think they'd be threatening to your species if you introduced them to your world, right?" He questioned. "Of course you might not think it, but I'm sure a bunch of you humans would take some issue with a creature able to raise your sun and moon without your ruler's permission."

I guess that would be an issue that could cause some global panic, he's not lying there. But it does bring up an argument. "Actually, our planet revolves around the sun. So it's not so much of the planet sitting in one spot while the sun and moon goes on this circular pattern. But the planet itself rotating around does give off a day-and-night cycle of twenty-four hours. I could go into detail, but that'll take forever."

The stallion stared back at me absolutely stunned over what he just heard. Quickly he grabbed my shirt and whispered in a low tone. "Before we continue this conversation, don't let anypony else hear you say that. That is NONSENSE."

"Well it's true. We don't have two deities controlling the sun and the moon. And for the record, we've been on our moon without the aid of magic. The ones we sent did their walking, they picked up their fair share of souvenirs, planted their flag, and came back down to the surface just after eight days."

He looked to me with astonishment. "You've broken the sky? But there's no possible way to break the sky. Even some of our most talented fliers in all of history have dared to go up so high before freezing to death or falling to their doom."

"And we only dared to go back through time to see the world as it once was before our respective times, even to undo past mistakes. But you guys got that down to a T." I responded.

"To break the sky... wow! That's absolutely astronomical!"

"We found other planets as well, none with life unfortunately. We do have plans to create life on other planets in our system, but that process will probably be just getting started when I'm laying on my deathbed."

The stallion hopped out of his seat, prancing in place as he showed juvenile levels of excitement. "This is so exhilarating, so fascinating, the archives couldn't hope to house such interesting knowledge and facts! You've got to tell me more about your world!"

I chuckled a bit at the stallion. "Yeah. It's like our two worlds have so much to share between us."

The stallion gradually stopped dancing in place, he started to look at me with his ears folded back in sorrow. "Yeah... and it's like the ones we work for are always so hellbent on ostracizing what's so different between us."

I walked up to the stallion and placed a hand on his shoulder. "My world's no different. We inherently fear what's different, what could change our understanding of the world around us. And we will sometimes attack what we are scared of most, not even looking to ourselves as the subject of our worst fears. But it's okay, it just has to take time. Believe me, in my world there was a time where we didn't believe a trip to the moon was possible, that it was just object in the sky. Hell, we once believed the earth was flat in some places. But we're capable of learning, and that's what gives me so much hope."

The stallion looked at me for a while and politely pulled my hand off of him. "You know, maybe I'm working for the wrong guy. But if something should happen where I don't have to work for somepony like him, I don't mind coming to you for an opportunity to prove myself."

"You sound like a dude who wants some change in his life." I stated, he answered with a single nod. "I know how you feel, I was in the same position just less than a year ago. It will change, we don't know when it will, but that time will reveal itself eventually."

The stallion turned away from me. "...I just realized I made a huge mistake."

"What is it?" I asked.

The stallion's mouth opened as he tried to say something, but nothing came out. Instead he appeared to be mannequin-like, stationary and silent, not even breathing. The stallion just froze until his legs gave way under him. Without warning, he just flopped to the ground like something had shot him dead. I ran over to check on him, he was completely unresponsive. I called for the bartender to reach for emergency services. But before he could leave the room, Single File snapped out of his trance and rubbed his head groggily. "Ugh... w-what happened?"

The bartender looked at me and then tried to prop him up. "You okay, bud?"

"What was I saying? What was I doing?" He asked, finally coming to his senses.

"You were talking to me." I answered.

"Hmm... no more alcohol for you. Can't have you running drunk this early in the day." The bartender stated. "Bathroom's gotta last me till later tonight, can't have you making a mess too early."

While the two walked over to the door, I was left standing in front of the bar. I was more than perplexed by what I experienced, I was left with even more questions than before. He didn't even have two drinks, he was more into nursing his beer over chugging it all down. He wasn't drunk enough to stumble, he was moving perfectly until then.

What just happened?

After I left the sports bar, I pretty much roamed around the streets of Canterlot. My getting a little tired from the other day gave me a bit of an incentive to learn the city a bit before I go off to my world for Thanksgiving. I was taking in the sights for the first time since I came here... for the first time. Four months and I haven't learned a damn thing about the city streets I'm assigned to protect, not a good look. Hence, I gave myself a challenge to learn as much as I could about this place until it was time to report to the Sun Cryst. That gave me around four hours to browse around.

Maybe it was the more-condensed feel of everything being in one place, or everything not taking ten minutes to walk to, but it was starting to brew the idea of trying to find an apartment to stay at. I mean, I wasn't going to be staying in Twilight's Castle anytime soon, and it would put me a lot closer to work. Of course the girls would be upset that I left, even the CMC's, but given everything that happened, it might be time for a restart.

I'm going to need my mattress back while princess star butt is sprawled all over it.

But on the flip side of things, I could really use the portal there for a quick transfer down the mountain, turning a three to six hour affair, all at the mercy of the mountain's stability and wildlife, to about fifteen to twenty minutes. If it was a dire emergency, that trip would probably be no shorter than five. And it would probably give Twilight less of an incentive to go into angry ex mode.

Though I'm really questioning whether or not she'd actually have the moxie to dump the rest of my stuff off of her balcony. Either way, I'm not wanting to find out.

And then there's the thought that it would take me away from the girls, who still do a lot for me. I know I shouldn't show so much dependence on them, but they are the ones who know what I need and can give it to me without taking advantage of my income or status. And that's a serious thing to consider if I move here. I'm a hot topic because of drama and other things, they are going to find ways to bleed me dry. And staying in the castle barracks will pretty much deprive me of privacy cause I won't be having any relationships without them snooping around.

...I think it would be better to talk to the new owner of the hotel I'm at. I know Counter Bell's mother is overlooking the property now. I've missed her son's funeral because of the mission at Arimaspi Mountain. I owe her more than an apology, I've gotta talk with her on what she wants done. From there, I can start to make plans.

My walking around town did pick up a few paparazzi ponies trying to ask a few questions. A few of them were nice enough to approach me with a couple of questions about my well-being and how my trip to the mountain went, they didn't take long, just two minutes out of my walk. I answered those as I moved along, telling them about the personnel I've had the pleasure of working with. But for the ones that just wanted to ask me about the break-up, my issues with Cadance, or any possible love interests I might have on the side, I felt it's fair to pull a Heisman maneuver or two.

The four hours passed and I was already a bit tired from the walking, but I needed to get my legs back into Ponyville commuter standards. I headed back to the Sun Cryst hotel, headed back to the hotel room, and walked up to the door to find the door had already been propped open. From inside, I could hear a variety of giggles. So I knocked twice and entered, finding that the girls were already here to give Rarity a bit of a pep talk before the big show.

"Well Ah'll be, already on yer legs! Ya need to take it easy sometime, sugarcube." Applejack said when she walked up to me.

Rainbow flew over to give me a fist bump. "Ha, look who's talking. Aren't you the workaholic of the group?"

Rarity chortled, covering her muzzle with a hoof. "I think she's learned her lesson by now. I believe she's right, you do have to take it easy on yourself."

Pinkie essentially leaped from the ceiling onto my back, startling me a bit. "Nonz! You should've wrote us a letter that you were gonna get back on your feet."

The slight amount of pain I had in my back was negligible compared to the comfort of having a friend close by. "Let me guess, cause you wanted to throw me a party for being able to walk again?"

"No silly." She replied. "I wanted to work on your Congratulations-on-Returning-Alive-from-Arimaspi-Mountain party and a Happy-Getting-Checked-Out-of-the-Hospital party."

"Wouldn't it be better to call it an appreciation party?" Fluttershy suggested. "It's a little easier to fit on the banner."

Pinkie tapped a hoof on her chin as she thought out loud. "Hmm... I do need a few more banners. Guess I'll just call it an 'Nonnie's Happy Appreciation' party on paper. At least I can save one or two for his birthday."

Rarity then interjected. "Wait! I don't think we've ever celebrated your birthday."

It's because my birthday is on January 11th. That was just two days after I got here in Equestria. "Well it's a bit too early to celebrate it, we're still a little while off."

"A little while off might even mean ya been here for a whole year." Applejack pointed out. "So does that mean that it's sometime next month or is it the month after?"

Pinkie yanked at my pants leg and shook me. "C'mon Non-Non, tell us!"

"Well, to be honest, it was about two days after I got here."

The group stared at me blankly while Pinkie crawled up my leg and hung her foreleg around my neck, giving her leverage to prop herself against my chest as she pointed at me. "You mean to tell me that you've been holding out on us? That we missed your birthday?"

"Well to be fair, it was a while ago and I was too nervous to say anything. So it's nothing to worry about."

"It is rather sad that you had to experience your birthday in a land you didn't know." Fluttershy sad as she flew up to pull Pinkie off of me. "But that doesn't mean that we should consider it as 'nothing to worry about.' You're our friend and we'd feel much better if you were to make up for it."

"Yeah, come on out with it so we can get a bash going!" Rainbow shouted.

"I'm sure we've got some gifts for you that are long overdue." Rarity added with a wink.

"Ah'm probably gonna have it out on the orchard, lots of open air and plenty of space away from the nosy press ponies. Sounds fair?" Applejack questioned.

While the other five continued to interact with me, Twilight sat by the window, not so much as responding to the atmosphere. I can probably assume she's had some words with Shining already, but she's appearing to be unhappy about it. Everypony's tone tempered down gradually as they slowly realized that one voice was completely absent from the conversation.

"Uh. Twilight, you alright over there?" Applejack asked, reaching out to her.

As the farm pony touched her, the purple princess got out of her seat and walked past all of us. When she walked past me, I felt a warm sensation push me at the back and shoulders, guiding me towards the door. "Nopony follow us." She murmured.

The others looked on with confusion while I was only introduced to the back of her head. She removed the latch that kept the door open and allowed the two of us to remain locked outside of the room. She dragged me a little further down the hall before she finally spoke to me.

"Shining and Cadance will be here tonight." She said angrily. "Your brothers and your friends will be here tonight. Everypony who is worth anything will be here tonight."

I could only drop my head as she threw a scroll to my feet. "This again?"

"I don't know what you're doing, but I don't like it." Twilight hissed. "You are playing our stability for a soap opera. And I can't have that, especially when you're using my friends as an emotional anchor."

Apparently she doesn't know all the details, but she's gotten the gist of what we're trying to pull off. "That's not what I'm trying to do." I lied.

Slowly, the scroll was levitated to my face as she stomped her hoof in anger. "I expect nothing from you but this. If you have any love for me left over, you would read this and separate yourself from Rarity."

I looked at her and took the scroll. "Why are you being so controlling? I thought we were better than this, we were okay when we broke up."

"You were begging me at one point as I walked out." She recalled. "I could say the same thing."

"Twilight, you left me in a bed when I couldn't walk, I woke up from a coma and you tell me that it's over. Don't you think I was somewhat hurt by that?"

Twilight looked off to the side as she answered me. "I had no other choice. There was a reason I did that, I thought you knew."

"So it's okay for you to have a reason to hurt me but I have a spat with someone else and you choose to be angry about it? How fair is that? That's what I've been trying to tell you from the time I said we should take a break. You didn't get the memo then?"

"Like how you left me with clipped wings, how you never once comforted me at that time?"

"Comfort you? I tried doing that and you screamed at me." I responded quickly. "I left to my world to get away and decompress because of how unfairly I was treated. Or maybe you just like seeing me suffer, like you've always wanted."

"I didn't mean it that way!" She argued. "I just wanted to have a little fun with you, you thought it was something else."

I pursed my lips, giving her answer some thought and pocketed the scroll. "Tell you what, we both have our secrets and miscommunications. So while you have yours, I'm entitled to have mine. And this miscommunication we've got right now, it can stick around until I'm ready make things right. But for now, I have shit to do. You ain't gotta like it, all you gotta do is wait."

"When do you think it'll be too late, Nondis?" She asked sadly. "Because right now, I'm really starting to see that too late will be later tonight."

That moment, I think I snapped at her in a way I never thought I would. "Then you need to stop doing everything in 'Twilight's time' and actually adjust to the real world. Stop being a spoiled brat and actually look at the circumstances. You broke up with me, you deal with that consequence. I know I sound like an asshole now, but you need to hear the asshole tell you what's up. We're done, you said it, stop forcing me to do and say things you want at your convenience."

Twilight's ears peeled back as she angrily snarled at me. "So you'd sacrifice the stability of our nation for your personal agenda─"

"Yes I would because it would set you free." I bluntly answered, causing her to appear heartbroken. "Road to hell is paved with good intentions, might as well enjoy the ride."

For a moment, we stared at each other in silence. Twilight's eyes were starting to well up with tears while my eyes were on the verge of doing the same. I felt my heart aching as I tried to suppress my emotions as best as I could. I was left swallowing the spit in my mouth, trying to not make myself vomit from the sickness I felt. She closed her eyes, holding her head up to the ceiling, tears streaming down her face.

With a soft voice, she finally spoke again. "I truly do love you. I know it hurts me when you do the things you do, say what you say, act in whatever way. But I have a duty to my country, and I must do what is right. So if you do anything to damage our stability any further, I will come for you."

"That's just doing your job, I expect you to do that." I answered. "But you're overreacting again. Equestria's not gonna go into a thousand years of darkness because of me. Just find some ability to watch me work instead of trying to dictate whatever I do. Deal?"

She walked past me, making her way back to Rarity's suite. "Give me some time..." She said broodingly.

"...I'll take that as a yes."

After a quick talk with the others and a few words of encouragement from me, Rarity went on backstage to manage the models that were going to present her hard work. Coco joined her in her endeavors, aiding many of the models. After I had the playlist in place, I was grabbed by Coco to meet with the models backstage. We talked a little bit, a few of them took pictures with me and hoped that I would see them again at the next show they were called to do. But the truth of it was that they wanted me to change out the clothes I was wearing and into one of the outfits Rarity had made for the show.

This was all without Rarity's knowledge.

So they sat me in a chair, made me all pretty, dressed me up in an outfit that made me look more like a party member from a Japanese role-playing game, had me change my shoes for some white and silver boots, played the outfit to my facial scars and sat me in front of a mirror to check myself out. And though I fucking loved the shit out of this look, I was not a fan of the extra beltwork on my chest and legs as it made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Also the shirt had a v cut so low that my pectorals damn near looked like breasts.

If I could make a comparison, I'd say I look like Squall from Final Fantasy VIII with a tiny hint of Sephiroth. The only key differences are the facts that I don't have a massive scar over the center of my face, I have two on the sides, and I have a bit of a beard. Also I don't have a gun blade to my use, and he doesn't have the Equestrian royal crest on the upper right arm and over the heart. It appears to me that this was more of a test of my look as Captain of the Royal Guard, if I could look the part in some shounen anime.

By all accounts, I looked fabulous, white pleather trench coat and all.

When Rarity stepped backstage again to manage the first phase, they pushed me out of the shadows and threw me in front of her. The mare paused for a moment and covered her muzzle with both of her hooves, and then covered her face. She sat on her haunches as Coco hugged her friend. The models all cheered as Rarity sniffled and tried her best to fan her tears away. I gave her a hug as well, only she held me even tighter than she did Coco.

After that, I was sent to the DJ again and we ran our music for the show. Ponies bobbed their heads to the rhythm of the music, watching the first set of models go on by. There was even one extravagantly dressed mare in front mouthing all the words to the song in perfect sync, catching every beat with her head and shoulders. Vinyl pointed out that she was the artist of the particular song that was played. While the ponies moved to the song, I was already getting the look from the DJ to pull up my song to start the second phase.

The strobe lights of the stage popped off with each hit of the snare of the first set of songs, the stage lit with a bright lively orange as the models marched from the back, towards the front, paused for a moment, quickly posed a few times, and made their way off to the back for costume change. Vinyl counted out loud to make sure that I was in sync to her, and when she pointed her hoof at me, I hit the play button on my newly-jeweled phone.

The heads stopped bobbing as the sudden orchestra hits interrupted their groove. It was dramatically different from what they were listening to. The strobe lights caught every single hit. On the second hit, the lights in the room and onstage blacked out, causing many to question what was going on. Even I was thrown off for a bit as the same progression of hits played out, only letting the strobe lights flash on them. Then a row of lights onstage beamed upwards to the ceiling and fell onto the stage in a dramatic fashion. The next five hits ushered the theme of the song, coming in frequent rhythmic succession.

The sound of glass breaking played on the speakers as the lights on stage turned blue. And on the beat drop, the model stepped forward to the sounds of the song.

Heads bobbed all over the room, with many showing signs of excitement and shock as the new sound was introduced to their ears. But what was new to them was old to us humans, as the six of us in attendance mouthed what we remembered. Even the models tried to contain their excitement as the unfamiliar song made them strut even harder than before. Vibing off the song, they pushed to the rhythm and posed for the cameras.

But before the second verse came in, the lights flashed once before the stage was suddenly sunk in a red glow. The music also changed, the beat suddenly working in cut-time. The audience members still felt the prior beat, but this time some elements of trap threw itself into the mix as the more explicit lyrics came into play.

Vinyl, being one to familiarize herself with a good mash-up, had an expression of pleasurable disgust. Bobbing her head to the new beat. But her enjoyment of it would be short lived as the song swelled back into it's original tempo. Again with that same pleasurable disgust, she shook her head and cursed at her mixer as she continued to manage the volume. For the remainder of the second phase of the show, ponies throughout the room got to experience a taste of the human media, and it was overtly well-received.

The hours came and went, the show ended, announcements were made, and everyone involved with the show went to the back to collect their compensation. I was approached by my friends and I got a slap in the back from Cliff because I used Justin Timberlake's live concert version of the song. Of course, they had plenty of jokes about the new outfit, many of which were so funny that I laughed through the funnier ones.

All in all, it was a good night, but our night wasn't completely over.

I tried to change back into the outfit I wore before the start of the show, but Rarity ended up dragging me with her before I could hope to get the first belt of this costume unlatched. Somehow, I think that was her intention as she quickly threw me in the face of some celebrities at her V.I.P. dinner. The first one she introduced me to was one by the name of Sapphire Shores, she claimed her to be the pony of pop. And she came at me with many questions about the song I played, to which I didn't have a full answer to.

After my run in with her, I ran into yet another vocalist by the name of Countess Coloratura. She praised my outfit and asked me more about how I liked it here in Equestria and how it compared to that of my own hometown. There were many more encounters with other celebrities and high-level social figures.

I started to feel bad, really. I hardly made any attempt to catch up with pop culture here, I was really more into myself and trying to keep those around me happy, I couldn't really get a chance to engross myself in those kinds of things. What really made it bad for me was that they were caught up with all of my exploits, with many of them wishing me well and good health since I was relatively fresh from the hospital.

Of course, these meetups didn't come without a few celebs taking interest in dating me as well. I tried my best to play it down to keep it ambiguous but simultaneously rejecting their suggestions. I didn't want to be a part of any publicity stunt and cause more trouble with some of their more... devoted fans.

After a while, I stopped being social and took to myself outside. The silence was rather comforting as opposed to all the noise from earlier. I even gazed at the stars, realizing there were far more stars than usual, so many that shouldn't be visible from the city streets. I guess Luna was feeling good enough to make things more pronounced tonight. Regardless, it was all beautiful, it was perfect.

Thoughts of what was to come later started to roll through my mind. Excitement began to build as I knew that it was only a few hours, maybe not even that long before I made my way back to the hotel suite to get ready to take off this outfit. I guess Rarity won't be ripping this one off anytime soon.

Hell, what am I still doing here? I'm trying to get back to the room so I can get focused.

On the way out into the hall, I looked back to see Rarity still chirping it up with some other ponies. In my mind, I was already telling her to stop talking with them so we can go upstairs. It's too bad that telepathy isn't something I can pull off, though with enough magic it's possible. However, I have no such thing and can only hope to get her to leave this place so we can get things rolling. She did manage to glance back at me, motioning that I'd come back into the room.

Suddenly, I felt something bump into my leg. I looked down to see a blue unicorn mare with freckles looking up to me. "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you!"

"That's okay, I was just on my way out." I stated looking back to Rarity.

The mare looked towards the direction I did and then glanced back at me. "Oh, she must be a friend of yours."

"She makes my clothes." I confessed. "She's been doing that ever since I've got here."

"It must be nice to receive that kind of personal attention from somepony of her stature." The mare said with a smile. "She's a true ally to the cause."

I looked down at her. "To the cause?" I quoted.

She shook her head dismissively. "Oh, I say that about everything. If you give me a cheesecake after dinner, you're an ally to the cause. If you help a friend in need, you're an ally to the cause. Stuff like that, y'know?"

You seem awfully upbeat. "Yeah. Then I guess she's down for the cause then."

She glanced up to me and nudged me. "So what about you? You look like you've got a cause of your own."

I have a cause, but I'm not gonna tell you what it is at the moment. "I could. But maybe my cause is something bigger than this."

"Like?" She asked curiously

"Ah, political crap. Don't worry about it."

She walked in front of me this time. "I don't think political stuff is unimportant, it's essential to make sure that your voice is heard in the face of opposition."

She had a point, but she's pretty insistent. "Maybe you have something you want to discuss with me."

The mare crackled playfully as she spoke. "Oh no, It's just... political crap. Don't worry about it."

I quirked an eyebrow as I watched her just quote me in a mocking fashion. "You have something you want to discuss."

"No, not at all." She replied. "I'm just yanking your leg."

I looked around and realized that there wasn't anyone out in the hallway, so I stepped out and leaned against the walls with my arms folded. "You know, I'm starting to find your bumping into me a bit too convenient."

"Maybe it was a coincidence." She said, closing the door behind her. "Nothing more."

"Or you have business to talk about."

"No. I'm just here to socialize. It's up to you whether or not you're up for talking about business." She said as she sat down.

"...You have a name?"

"Well where I'm from, stallions introduce themselves before asking for the name of a lady. That's just the courtesy in our world." She said as she pushed a turquoise-cerulean curl from over her emerald eye.

You are being real cheeky right now, aren't you? "Nondis."

"Blue." She responded in kind.

"What about the color blue? I know you're blue but what does that have to do with your─" She didn't seem amused by my joke. "Blue. So your name is Blue."

"Yes it is." She answered flatly. "Blue. Nice to meet you, Nondis."

She seems a bit standoffish, and even her name can't just be Blue, it wouldn't be right, even by pony standards. "I can't help but to think that you've got something else with that Blue in your name. So is it Blue Wave, Blue Ocean, Blue Belle, Blue Sky?"

"Perhaps I'd be willing to tell you if you gave me the courtesy." She replied with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes at her and conceded. "Nondis P. Haines."

"There, was that so bad?" She asked with a coy smile, I was not as amused. "So, tell me more about yourself, Mr. Haines."

"If I can get a name out of you other than Blue, that would help me describe you to my friends and superiors." I replied.

She walked up to me with a smile as she slowly tongued every syllable. "Blue. Ro. Yal."

"Blue Royal, pretty name." I answered. "It's nice to meet you, miss Blue Royal."

"Likewise could be said of you, Captain Nondis P. Haines. I'm sure humans would have similarly uncommon names such as yourself."

"Now with that out the way, I'd like to know exactly who are you." I inquired as I unfolded my arms.

Her horn flashed a emerald green aura similar to her eyes. She summoned a card from out of nowhere and presented it to me. "I'm just a mare looking to socialize, doesn't have to be anything physical."

I took the card and read the name. Apparently she's a realtor. "You sell property."

"It's just a trade of mine, family owned, been in the name for generations." She replied. "If you wanna talk business, send a line my way and I can get you what you want."

I continued to look at the card, looking on the back as well to see a blank slate. I held it up to the air, thinking that some light would alter it somehow, but to no avail. "You said the words 'doesn't have to be physical' just earlier. Now what does that mean exactly?"

"Exactly what it means." She said with a slight exaggeration of her lips, whispering her last word. "Sir."

"Are you trying to talk me into trouble?" I asked outright. "It feels like you're talking me into trouble."

"Maybe talking to you is something I've been interested in doing for a while now." She answered as her horn glowed again. "You should check the back of that card again."

I looked back down at the card, this time some emerald letters showed up on the back as well as an emblem, a horseshoe in the center of what appeared to be a human hand. All of a sudden, I felt my free hand tugged at and a hoof in my palm. By that point, I realized what she was really here for.

"So, what day are you available for a visit?"

Blue Royal.

As it turns out I didn't have to go looking for that Hooves for Humans organization at all, apparently they were looking for me from the jump. And if things are what I think they are, she might be that property owner Fleetfoot mentioned to me a couple of nights before. So I can safely assume she was scoping me out to see what I was like in the flesh, kept her name ambiguous to get a genuine reaction. She seems pretty smart and very savvy when it comes to communication and getting things across.

If anyone worked in real estate, it would be mandatory to be that way if you wanna close the deal.

Of course, I explained to her that this Monday was a pack-up day for me to return to my world, Tuesday on down would be the days I devoted to the 'vacation' back to my world, and with the following weekend to be my possible return days. And though the Monday after should have me back on the clock, I made a statement that I would try to fit some time for the afternoon slot to negotiate something that could work for both parties. We had a pretty lengthy discussion spanning over an hour.

You know it's been a long time if Rarity had to come out there and drag me back in the room to talk some more. So I kept the business card and introduced the two of them to each other. It ended up being a pretty lucrative engagement because Rarity's got a location in mind for her new venue. I'm just glad that she didn't pop off at me for not being social as that was the only thing I was being for the past three hours.

Honestly, I was tired of talking.

The V.I.P. dinner ended in success, Rarity managed to pick up a few more sponsors for her next show, and everyone was satisfied with the food that was served. But my time with her would have to come later, she obligated another hour or two to the girls. And while it was fun to have my friends at the dinner to take some of the weight off of me, many of them had to set up their own plans for Thanksgiving. And that left me to go back to a hotel room on my own. As for Coco, she found herself a security guard to keep her busy. Guess she picked up where the night was headed and got a room of her own.

I sure hate to be the staff at this hotel after tonight.

Another hour passed, leaving me with more than a huge amount of time to weigh my options of approach. But for some odd reason, I never changed out of this outfit. The only thing I did was go through my phone's browser and watch a few videos on current events in my world. A lot of things happened, good and bad, though I'm starting to see the bad a little more often. It was a pretty unsatisfying sight to see that so I changed my viewership to YouTube again.

I watched a few animated shorts, a few musical numbers from my childhood, some comedy specials, and even a few gaming videos on what was going to come out this holiday season. I already had my mind on Christmas, trying to overlook Thanksgiving as much as possible. And all the ads reflected my decision to do so. Marketing's been running the Christmas thing a little too hard lately, I've noticed that. But in either case, my mind was already set to Christmas and what I was gonna get myself.

A few videos later, I realized it was another hour and a half down the pipe. I was starting to get a little sleepy. My eyes were already trying to find ways to close themselves without my knowing. So I got off of the couch and did ten push-ups for every time I started to doze off. It was enough to keep me awake a while longer until the door opened.

As soon as she stepped through, she yawned as she spoke. "Oh drat, I forgot I had one more thing to do."

...When I saw that, I already knew I wasn't getting anything out of tonight. "You look tired. Did you have fun?"

She smiled towards me and trotted over. "Not as much as I wanted to do, but it was fun anyhow."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash got into a drinking contest with Applejack again. Pinkie got into a drunken rant with Twilight which ended in tears and hugs, Fluttershy caught her brother at the bar flirting with a drunk Rainbow Dash thinking he was going to get far."

It seems like I miss out on all the best shit nowadays. "So what happened then?"

"She took him by his ear and dragged him out of the bar, taking him straight to a motel for the night, where she's keeping an eye on him until he comes to his senses. Otherwise he'd be flying home drunk."

"So where does that leave you?" I asked.

"Thinking about tomorrow, I'm afraid." She confessed. "I'm in Canterlot for one more day. So I don't see why I can't spend it with you."

There's that at least. "So, do you want me to carry you to bed?"

Her eyes grew wide as she blushed. "Oh that would be nice... wait. You don't have to do that!"

I took her by her waist, picking her up and carting her over my shoulder. "Too late to reconsider."

As I walked, she squealed and battered against my back. "Let me go, you brute! I can get there on my own!"

I opened the door to the room with a free hand, looking back to the fashionista over my shoulder. "So you don't think you deserve being serviced for your long hours of hard work, all the talking you had to put up with, all the staff and rigmarole? I don't think you should have to move another hoof tonight."

"And what do you think I deserve?" She asked as I laid her on the bed.

"Some much needed pampering."

She looked to the window and saw the midnight skyline of Canterlot, the lights of the city glowing all around. She looked back up to me and frowned a little. "I really do wish I could've had you model more of my stuff tonight."

"I think this will be enough for now."

Rarity sighed and sat up from the bed, despite my gentle attempts to keep her in place. "I don't think it's fair for you to sleep in that. I've got to get that off of you."

"Give me a second."

Rarity watched as I stood up slowly. I looked at the outfit on my body, thinking about yanking this belt off of my waist and dumping my pants in the corner of the room. But she wouldn't be pleased by that. So I started with the trench coach, unbuttoning myself from top to bottom. When I was finished with it, I wrapped it around her. I placed a foot on the bed, slowly undoing my boots, letting my feet free as I took them off. Neatly, I set them aside the bed. The mare giggled at me.

"What, what's so funny?" I asked.

In between chuckles, she found some decent amount of air for words. "If I could be objective here... I mean... I don't mean to interrupt─"

"I'm bad at this, aren't I?" I questioned.

She just started busting out laughing, hitting her hoof against the bed. "I'm sorry! I just..."

"Yeah, strip-teasing isn't a forte of mine, but I got all the clunky stuff out of the way now." I said as I removed the belts from off of my chest, letting only the shirt remain. "But the show's just starting."

I took off my belt, slowly, dragging every inch through the loops. And with every inch, my pants began to sag off of my waist. She stopped giggling when I held the belt in my mouth, letting the strap hang from my teeth as I teased the idea of unbuttoning my pants. The fashionista, who was at first mocking me, started to become a little interested in what I was doing. And when I popped the button free from it's trap, I looked up to her tossing the coat I placed on her to the ground.

I took the belt and folded it in half, slowly pressing each side in until an O-shape formed at the middle, growing wider as my hands got closer. Suddenly, I pulled my hands apart quickly, causing the belt to snap loudly. She became startled over the noise as I held the belt just in front of her muzzle. "You know, you keep making a mess, I'm gonna have to punish you for that."

The mare bit her lip as she giggled again. "By what, putting all of that stuff back on and taking it off again?"

"Oh, so you got words, huh?" Even though her response had made me a bit upset with how she was making fun of me, I took my sights onto her tail. "I remember you had some feelings for when I did this to you." I said as I reached down and pulled her tail.

She gasped from the sudden sensation, slapping a hoof against my chest. "Ow! Not so hard." She said in a sweet tone, feigning her growing approval. She licked her lips as she watched me wrap more of her tail around my hand. With the remaining slack, I pulled her tail in until it lied between her haunches. Gently, I pulled up as she gasped for air. Her hoof quickly found it's way to my shoulder, making me sit down next to her. Lips separated, her mouth agape, her eyes walked down my chest and towards my hands. With avid breaths, she waited for what was to come next.

Biting my own lips with a greed of my own, I tugged on her tail, wedging it against her most sensitive places. Her horn glowed, my unused arm glowing in response was guided in between her legs. I reached my hand in, this time of my own will, to lightly brush my fingers against her tail, pressing deeply to trigger her more feral side to reveal itself. Her hoof tensed over my shoulder, trying even more to pull me against her.

She started off slow, punishingly slow, grinding her hips against my hand as I pulled against her tail with the other. And as her hips rocked back, the tension of her tail increased, making her feel as if I was pulling even harder. She squeaked softly, licking her lips again, letting out a full breathy moan as her head leaned forward. She gave me a quick peck on the lips before she moved her hips in a circular motion for a short while.

My hand underneath her tail had grown moist, offering me more than enough lubricant to give my fingers a warm welcome. The musk she gave off was unlady like, and it contrasted so greatly with the sweet coconut cream smell she normally gave off. But I loved it, it was inviting, intoxicating, I was high on it. Her eyes closed as I started to move my hand away from her crotch, causing her magic to force my wrist to stay in place. I leaned over her, giving her voiceless instructions to lay on her back.

And at last, there she lied with her tail crammed between her legs. One area of importance started to show an indentation, her tail slightly outlining the treasure it hid. Peeling it back as if it was a gift, I discovered something far more interesting. She didn't hide it either, her legs parting ways to open herself more towards me. A darkened set of lips, ebony even, with thickened strands of fluids spanned to the tail it was freed from. Her body quivered as the cold air hit her, giving her the appearance of a vulnerable filly questioning her trust of me.

My hand rested just above her, my thumb being the first to touch her in such a way where it completely made her writhe. The impatient mare groaned with dissatisfaction, her pleading eyes telling me that I should do more for her. Her hips raised themselves, pressing against my thumb. With a twist of my wrist, I began to tease her with the idea of giving her what she wanted. Two fingers slowly sank themselves into uncharted territory as my thumb worked in a circular motion. Her grievances grew even more, complaints of avarice made itself know with the reintroduction of her magic to my wrist, shoving me forward.

Realizing that my toying with her was making more and more needy, I positioned myself off of the bed, dragging her to the foot. For a brief moment, she appeared confused over what was going on. But a thin trail of saliva fell from my mouth, landing on my occupied hand. I knelt down, holding one leg as I descended. Her pupils dilated when she realized what I was going to do. And with that anticipation, her back rose into an arch before I could even place the lips of my mouth against the lips of her sex.

"Nondis, dear, If I could give you a bit of a warning─"

I didn't care. I dove in, my tongue meeting the folds first. She squeaked loudly, her hind legs kicking wildly while I pressed further. Looking down at me, she could only see my eyes meet with hers. The sight of what I was doing to her made her far more excited than she expected, and the strength of my tongue sent her into a minor frenzy. I felt a warm force drive me even closer towards her. Her hoof slammed against the bed as she strained to keep me in place. All the while, she chanted to herself.

"No. No. It's too early. Not yet. Not yet! No─"

That was all I heard before the surge of magic ran through her body. The powerful aura pressing against the back of my head nearly caused a deal of pain as she used her hips to ride against my tongue. Her body shook violently with her very first orgasm. My mouth was flushed with a sudden intake of juices, the surprise made me want to pull back. But the more her magic held me in place, the more I felt like I was about to drown. Whatever didn't fill my mouth ran down my chin and onto my chest. For a few seconds, she stayed at her climax until gravity sent her back towards the earth. With a magicful of my hair, she held my head back as she panted tiredly.

"I've tried to warn you, but now you've ruined my shirt."

"Correction, you ruined your shirt." I replied with a sly smile, wiping my chin. "And I didn't expect you to be this uncivilized."

Rarity pouted. "Fine, then I guess I can go to bed happy with what I've received." She said, not making any motion to go through with her threat.

I finally unzipped my pants, letting them fall to the floor as I replied to her. "Now you and I both know that it ain't gonna end like that."

Finally free of my tight prison, I was already thinking of another way I could satisfy her. But this time, I was not too fond of being on the generous side of this engagement. So I crawled on top of her, pulling her flank towards me as I aligned myself for the plunge. Her small stature made it so easy for me to dominate her, I felt empowered by it. Her horn glowed dimly, her eyes shimmered as the distant lights of the skyline was caught in her eyes. A hot wave of air rose into my chest as I asserted myself, cradling my hips forward.

"Finally." I mumbled to myself, getting a single crackle out of Rarity.

"You have no idea how long I wanted that." She said, savoring my length with her inviting depths. "Just this much."

"Just stop me if I get too rough." I warned.

"No such thing." She moaned while her hips started to rotate in a circular pivot. The mare bit half her lower lip and used her magic to situate herself where she could take as much of me as she could. In a moment of surprise, I quickly pulled out and rammed my hips back into her, making her squeal loudly. As I pushed in, I rocked inward so that I felt just how deep she really was. She heaved a few times before she spoke. "Okay, too much for me right now. Ease it back a bit."

She and I were of a similar mindset, we wanted to take our time with this. The long day we had and all the ordeals that came with it, we felt as if we deserved this. And even if we weren't together officially, it was the show of a deeper level of friendship than I knew was possible. And tonight, that friendship had crossed a line that would forever change us. And that line would have to be crossed again, and again, and again, with each thrust.

The darkness of the room would only reveal the silhouette of our embrace. The shadows moved in a slow rhythm, our hearts were pounding out of our chests. Thoughts of the wrongs we committed only made us all the more excited. I didn't have the mind to think about anything else other than making her happy right now. Every noise she made was precious, sexy, maddening. And the longer she moved her hips around, the more I wanted to let go.

I started to realize just how much she dictated the tempo of my hips. It became a subconscious habit like breathing, her sapphire eyes looked up to me. Encroaching over her, I kissed her neck, my tongue giving her just as much praise as my lips. My pelvis grew wetter with each passing minute, light throbs indicated that I needed to slow myself before I got too greedy. I withdrew completely, making her cry out in disappointment. To silence her protests, I sank my canines in her neck. Her own body convulsed slightly with a tingle sent from the back of her neck to the bottom of her spine.

A few seconds passed and I regained control of myself. So I reasserted myself, teasing her with slow deep lunges. Her hips caught the tempo I worked with, but she wanted me to go faster. She didn't have to say anything, I just read the motion of her hips. With shallower pumps, I obliged and rocked forth and back. I looked down to catch a glimpse of just how much she stained the sheets, but she propped a hoof to my chin. She didn't allow me to look as she pulled on my neck. Her tongue met mine before our lips were granted a reunion. Eyes half-lidded, she pushed against my chest.

"Stop." She urged, causing me to let her up. With a painful whimper, she felt me fall out of her with an audible plop. But she was quick in her maneuver, standing on all four as she swished her tail to the side, allowing me to catch a full glimpse of her engorged sex. She looked back and whispered. "Pull my mane."

Fulfilling her wish, I reintroduced myself into her as I grabbed a handful of her indigo curls. As I pulled my hips back, I found myself dealing with a surprise of my own. Her walls collapsed on me, pleading with me to come back in. And with every push forward, she offered little resistance. The sight of her bouncing against me, looking down at her back made me far more driven than ever. I almost went insane, my hips crashing into her more and more. The sounds of squeaks and moans accompanied the loud smacks our bodies made with every impact.

Her voice became more pronounced, more grisly with every grunt. I pulled at her mane, causing her head to fall back. The image alone made me want to devastate her more. My hand let go of her mane, pulling at her chin. Two of my fingers found her mouth, her tongue falling against them as she cried. My legs were suddenly saturated as the mare experienced yet another orgasm. Her body showed some strain as she tried her best to remain standing. The only thing that held her in place was the arm I had draped underneath her chest, snaking to her chin.

I kept thrusting through her descent, making her speak through my vice-like grip of her chin. "Sthill nhoth thdone?"

"Almost." I confessed, feeling a climax of my own building. This time, it was me who was moaning louder. The cold empty feeling I felt for days started to reappear, but it built to something bigger than anything I ever experienced. With each inch, I was feeling myself lose control. "I'm not ready." I moaned. "I'm not ready..."

"Insthide." She called out. "Thjust noth hon my thail."

The muscles in my arm tensed as I felt the final waves of pleasure yank me from my earthly mind. I held onto her as my head fell back, my breath held tight in my chest. The muscles of my abdomen flexed as my last thrust caused me to push her into the bed. When she fell over, I drove in deeper, devastating whatever area I couldn't reach before. Her eyes rolled back as my seed spilled forth, filling her as I finally found the ability to breathe again. The reach of my orgasm caused me to nearly black out. Instead, I leaned into her and instinctively pumped my hips to complete my arrival.

My arms relaxed, her mouth and chin freed from my grasp. Panting herself, she looked back at me slightly angry. "You are just barbaric. I cannot fathom what this was."

Raising myself off of her, I grabbed myself as I made my exit. "Three days of being pent up and a few days more in the hospital will do that."

Before I could fully separate myself, I felt her tail wrap around my leg. Next thing I knew, I was violently dragged back into the bed. Rarity nuzzled against my chest as her tail tightened around my leg. "Well you're going to have to not be so pent up next time. That grip you had on me started to hurt a bit."

"Why didn't you stop me?" I asked.

"Because I guess you could say I was caught up in the moment." She replied, levitating my arms in front of her, caging herself in. "I didn't want you to feel like you needed to cut yourself short."

"Rarity, I'm pretty big and strong." I responded cautiously. "I know I might enjoy it and get a little too handsy, but you need to tell me when to reel it in."

She closed her eyes as she sank into my chest some more. "Are you joking? That was probably the most intimidated I felt during sex.... If anything, that was a new thrill in my life. You've got me questioning some things about my sexuality now."

"Like?" I inquired.

"How humans last significantly longer than stallions. We've been at it for a while and I've had at least five orgasms."

I checked the time on the complementary alarm clock to see that around twenty minutes had came and gone. "Yeah, it's been a good amount of time. If I remember anything Pinkie said about sex and whatnot, I'm surprised you're not sore right now."

"Terribly sore." She responded with a whimper. "I was that way about three orgasms in."

"I thought you only had three." I stated.

"Five." She corrected. "Four of them being when you were doing your beastly thing."

I kissed her on her forehead, just above her horn while she shuddered in response. "Well next time, you let me know how hard you want me to go and I'll do my best to keep to that. But also tell me when to reel it in."

"You need to do what you did to me just now EVERY NIGHT!" She exclaimed passionately. "Oh, and it wouldn't kill you to give my horn a little attention every now and then when you do. It's really stimulating to do that during sex."

"Gotcha." I answered, feeling a sudden wave of fatigue. "I'm spent."

"Be lucky this isn't estrus we're talking about here." She said with a yawn. "You'd be at it all day."

The feeling I had when I was about to doze off earlier had come back in full swing. My eyes were protesting to close like they were union workers on strike. "Huh... You need anything before I pass out?"

"Just stay in this bed and hold me. Meaning we're just friends doesn't give you the right to treat me like some common whore."

"Fair enough."

Meanwhile at the Royal Castle...

Alex and Stanton walked through the halls together, going over a few of the outfits they saw just earlier in the fashion show. The two men were rather amused by what they saw and understood to a partial degree the evolution of equine fashion and tried to draw any comparisons to something they'd see back home. But another thing that they discussed was the idea of how Thanksgiving was going to go.

"Yeah, dad might not buy the whole 'they just broke up' thing." Stanton suggested. "Maybe we should find someone on a dating website to fill the role or some other shit."

"That's what I'm here to discuss." Alex replied. "Princess Celestia had something she was working on and I think we're getting really close to hitting our Monday evening deadline."

"Why Monday evening?" Stanton questioned.

"Because Tuesday is the day where we go over the script. Gotta keep Nondis' stories straight, even if they are broken like shit."

Stanton tapped a finger on his cheek as he thought out loud. "Yeah, now that I think about it, a girl from U.T. Arlington picking him up from Louisiana seems a bit farfetched considering that he's suddenly disappearing every weekend to a place with no phone reception."

"But there's still the matter of making sure 'Bella' plays her part." Alex said with a sigh. "Otherwise, this will get ugly fast."

"True." Stanton said as they came to a stop at the doors leading into the throne room, the guards standing by lowed their spears to deny the two access. "But do you really think Princess Celestia can help?"

"I'm sure dad would love to speak with Nondis' employer face to face." Alex noted. "He's obviously not gonna listen to us anymore."

"Yeah, you can blame your wife for that." Stanton quipped.

"She and mom were always close."

"Too damn close for her to be snitching on us." He added before he turned his attention to the guards. "Hey guys, we need to see the princess."

The guards remained firm with their spears as one of them spoke. "With all due respect, sir, the princess has made it clear that nopony enters this room without any document to give warrant. Even us guards are denied entry, so you're gonna have to wait like the rest of us.

Alex rolled his eyes as he pulled out a scroll with a red wax seal on it, presenting it to the guards. "I think she means this."

The guard who spoke grabbed the scroll, breaking the seal and reading the contents. As they skimmed through the words, they nodded to each other and removed their spears from the doorway. Alex gave the two guards a salute before the two men walked into the throne room.

The doors closed behind them, leaving them in what appeared to be an empty room. The two walked towards the throne slowly, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. When they approached the foot of the throne, Alex called out. "Your highness, it's me."

A voice came from behind the throne, filled with worry. "Alex... I don't think I did this right."

"I'm sure you should examine it." Another voice called out, this time from one of the pillars on the far end of the room. Princess Luna stepped out with a frown, pointing towards the throne. "My sister has cast some odd spell and now she's worried that she's turned into something unsightly."

"You didn't check?" Stanton asked.

"She didn't wish for me to see her." She replied quietly. "I feel that my sister is uneasy with my seeing her in her current state."

"My hooves are gone, I don't know how to move." The voice behind the throne called out.

Alex and Stanton looked towards one another and back to the throne. "Okay, we're coming back there. Just... remain calm." Stanton suggested as they both eased their way behind the throne. Being the first to peek behind the throne, Stanton's jaw fell as his body slumped forward in a state of shock. "GOOD LAWD!"

"What?" Alex asked before he took a peak himself, the sight leaving him just as stunned. "My... goodness..."

"It's bad? Hideous? What does it look like?" Luna questioned from behind the pillar.

Eyes of lavender and long eyelashes, a fair face with smooth cheeks, her lips rounded, her hair long with the colors of blue, purple, green, and pink, these were indeed the traits of the elder princess. But her skin was different, a pale peach tint. Her body vastly dissimilar, no tail, no wings, no horn. In place of hooves were the soft slender hands with lengthy fingers. Rounded toes and long shapely legs took the place of her hind legs. On her body were no markings, no scars, no blemishes. Her chest greatly was pronounced and her derriere was beautifully rounded outwards. Her figure resembled that of an hourglass, the sand heavily in favor of the top portion. The incredibly voluptuous woman looked back to the two men with her fists balled, her wrists bent forward.

There sat the human Princess Celestia, in all of her nude glory.

Stanton took deep breaths as Alex nodded his head ceaselessly. "Oh yeah, dad would LOVE to see her."

Well, it seems to me that I'm back in working order. Guess I should be showing more of it often. This month has been a pretty easy month for me due to how few gigs have come up. But also my frustration from a certain game has made me less inclined to invest my time into it. Still love playing it, but I am just tired of seeing STUNNED across my screen when I'm about to blow a sick ult.

But in terms of the story, I'm quite satisfied with the results. Of course it's been a long time since I've went full-on erotica writing so I need to dust my chops off a bit. Maybe I'll do a bit of research reading and looking into the imagination to see in what areas I need to improve. But I did enjoy writing this chapter.

Now next chapter will be even more enjoyable (as you can tell from the cliffhanger). Now we'll be dealing with the issue of the princess' sudden transformation. Opens the door for more hijinks.

I hope you all stick around for next chapter, I know you'll enjoy what will come of it. And as usual, leave a comment if you have some concerns or whatnot. I've got another chapter to write. And I also have a bronze smurf to play on.