My eyes opened to the darkened bedroom of the suite, only a solitary beam of light came through the window to cast a ray upon me and the slumbering fashionista. Below me, I could see her chest gently rise and fall with each breath she took. She snored softly with an occasional outburst once and a while. She stirred very little and mumbled often of various things. As I looked at her, I felt a powerful urge to go to the bathroom.

Pulling off the covers off of my naked body, I smoothly climbed out of bed and staggered to the bathroom. Closing the door behind me and flopping my hand around the walls for the light switch, I yawned discreetly to not wake up Rarity. But when I found the light switch, all I could see was a blinding yellow flash before everything settled into focus. So I hovered over the toilet and quietly pissed away the cheap wine that lingered in my system. I stood for a while, waiting for everything to find its way out. After a few shakes for insurance, I flushed the toilet and walked over to the sink to wash my hands.

Suddenly, I felt a light stinging on my right pectoral. When I looked down, I could see the bite marks she left from earlier in the evening. There was also another on the nape of my neck, but it didn't hurt like the one on my chest. Reason for it was that I had followed up on Rarity's suggestion for horn play. I wasn't very apt in the art, but she seemed really into it. She was so into it that I had to stop her from damn near biting my nipple off. But as far as the rest of the night, it belonged to her and her alone.

She took lead for the entire time, only allowing me to move to a suggested position. But most of my time was spent being an audience member for her private show. And she immediately showed me just how kinky she was, from pulling her mane and tail on her own, to riding my face relentlessly while my manhood was confined to my boxers. And don't think she let me touch myself either, when she rode my face she tied my hands with her tail. And she didn't stop until she reached climax, which had me literally swimming in her haunches.

Even as I looked in the mirror, I had quite a bit of residue from our session all on my chin and nose. Realizing that I couldn't stay like this, I did myself the courtesy and washed my face off. It took me an additional two minutes, but I was satisfied in knowing I wouldn't look like I had drunk in some milk and letting it crust all over. I couldn't even imagine Coco seeing me like that in the morning, especially considering she's in the other room.

I wonder what all she heard out of us.

After my visit to the bathroom, my eyes had to get readjusted to the darkness of the bedroom. When I finally got back what poor variance of night vision we humans have, I snuck back in the bed and closed my eyes for sleep to take me again.

"Mnnn... You cleaned yourself off, didn't you?"

...Maybe she's mumbling in her sleep again. I'll just ignore it and get back to sleeping. I at least thought she was mumbling in her sleep, but a light hit to my abdomen let me know she was directly asking me a question. I looked down to see her glaring back at me through her disheveled mane.

"A little." I confessed quietly.

The mare grumbled as she rolled over to directly face me. She wore a bit of a tired scowl. "Ugh, if we didn't have to get up so early, I would be punishing you for that."

"Well if you're angry about it, then be mad at me in the morning." I murmured.

Rarity glanced back at the clock and read out the time. "It's two-nineteen in the morning."

"It's two-nineteen at night. Morning ain't until the sun comes up." I mumbled back.

She just chuckled as slipped me a kiss. "Next time, I'm going to make you suffer."

"Bite me."

The mare smiled back at me. "Yum."

Morning quickly came, the two of us got up out of bed and quickly gathered our things before Rarity walked up to the front desk and handed in her key to the room. Coco lagged behind only by a little bit, but she gave Rarity a quick air peck on the check for a friendly farewell. She had to return to Manehattan for her usual business dealings and stressed that she didn't have time to stick around like than we did. After the guy at the counter looked at me with a sweet smile, wishing me to come back soon and bring a friend, I couldn't help but remember the first time we met and his attitude then. So I gave him a halfhearted assurance that I would return. I've seen the prices of this place, I could exchange the bits in my world and get a weekend at Disney World complete with the express passes. Safe to say that I'm not interested.

We made a run towards the castle, bypassing many checkpoints along the way because of our status. But getting to the princess herself was a totally different endeavor. Not only did we have to work our way around the royal planners, who were hard-asses to begin with, but also the fact that Celestia's so hard to get a hold of if you don't see her roaming around the castle grounds. Add in the fact that the castle was larger than life, and you'd have to take HOURS in order to find her by foot.

So we went to the next best source for getting a hold of her: Luna.

Then Luna got in touch with Celestia, Celestia quickly came by to visit and gave us an answer. "I'm afraid not."

Rarity's heart sank as I tried to argue against the decision. "Why not? I mean I wouldn't mind taking the responsibility for her well-being."

Celestia looked back at the portal she stepped out of and sighed heavily. "That is ultimately a decision I have no power in making."

"But you just walked all over town without consulting me. You even had the security detail wondering where the hell you were. If anything, I think it would be a great idea to get her introduced to my world as well."

The princess looked at me with a quirked eyebrow. "Why Rarity specifically?"

I looked back at her and conjured up the best excuse that came to mind. "Well, we are looking at the possibility of having a new lineup of clothes made for humans. It would be a good opportunity to go over and assess the various clothing styles our world has to offer and see if we can get her to make clothes for the others."

"That is a lie." Celestia bluntly responded, staring at me with a serious expression. "Care to try again?"

This time, I kept my eyes directly on her face as I answered her. "Okay, I promised that I would take her shopping in my world. Black Friday's a huge holiday shopping thing in our world, so I wanted to show her all the things my world had to offer, at least while everything was on sale."

The princess didn't say anything at first, just staring back at me tapping her hoof impatiently. And within a quick draw of breath, she shot yet another unfavorable response. "That is still a decision to which I have no say."

"How isn't it your decision?" I asked politely. "You're the one with the spell."

"Luna also has the spell, Cadance as well, and I have also shared the schematics with Twilight, who will be accompanying you for the majority of the week."

"WHAT!?" I shouted, realizing that she had already planned this so far ahead of any of my suggestions. "When did she get on board with this?"

"Yesterday evening." The princess responded. "I even had her set the sun while I was away. She's more than excited to see your world beyond the confines of your apartment."

Damn, so that means that Celestia is actually telling the truth. If Luna's holding the spell, she wouldn't cast it without Celestia's consent or for her own mischief. Cadance is Cadance so it's best not to even bother. So the only one who would not only have access to the spell, she would have the final say when it comes to one of her friends. That's a 'no' just out of principle. I looked back to see a disheartened Rarity and turned back to the princess with a plea. "Fine, I guess I'll have to put that up with Twilight."

"At least you understand where I am in all of this." She replied. "I'm only doing this out of an obligation to you and your family."

"And it is greatly appreciated." I said with a solemn bow. "I suppose we'll be on our way."

The two of us turned around and walked halfway out of the room before Celestia called on us again. "Oh, and one other thing." She said. "You said that Friday is a shopping day, correct?"

"Yes, your highness."

"Well I will be more than happy to see to that myself. So you can count on me making an appearance."

Damn. That sure as hell cancels any idea of me and Rarity having a date. "Splendid. I suppose I shall see you when we meet up."

"Don't be a stranger now, you hear me?!" She said mimicking the accent of my hometown, causing me to even let my own accent slip through.

"Course not."

While disappointing, our trip to the castle ended with little trouble. The only trouble I may seem to have is the fact that now Celestia is probably looking at the possibility of having an extended visit in my world for the sake of me taking HER out on a night on the town. And if Twilight hears of that, she'll probably tag along for the ride. In short, I might have to hold off on my time with Rarity there. She's already stated that she had plans anyhow, so it wouldn't be any point in trying to drag her away for a night in Canterlot or Ponyville.

In speaking of which, we reached the train station in more than enough time for Rarity to catch her train. She once again discussed with me that I should take one of my own and find myself back in Ponyville sometime soon. And after she said that, she got on her train and chugged on down the mountainside, leaving me to wander around Canterlot for a few more hours to fit some plan of overnight in the mix. I was already out of the hospital, so there wasn't really a need for me to sleep in the castle unless I wanted to take up a bed in the barracks.

Those beds were distributed to one unit per guard, which meant that I couldn't stack up to make myself comfortable. In the guard, there isn't any special amenities for being different other than the physical requirements in order to pass a physical exam. But that even took some legislation and strong push-through on the behalf of Twilight. Not something I can pull off more than once right now, especially since my favor from her is pretty damn strained. So I took it upon myself to do some research and see what places around here were on the cheap end for me to lodge in.

Spoiler alert: even the cheap places are looking to rob you of your bits.

I tried looking in other places, in various quadrants of the city. I even wandered into the lower quarter, only to find a bunch of ponies kicking a mule living in a box. I stepped in for a moment to halt the assault, but the mule then tried to take my coin pouch. And the ponies who tried to beat the mule went after my gun, dropping it on the ground to have one round fire into an adjacent building leaning over in a dilapidated state. The group scattered out of fear of the loud pop that startled them greatly. And with that bit of noise, I seemingly woke up a hornet's nest of attention from various nefarious elements. In short, I realized it was cheaper to take a train back down to Ponyville and mosey over to the apartment I already had my stuff in.

Common sense is sometimes lost in curiosity. Never plan to make that mistake again.

I bought my tickets, waited for another hour or so, answered some more questions from the passing members of the press, closed my eyes and soon found the whistle of the train sounding that it was the final boarding call for Ponyville. Thankfully, I was lucid enough to hear that instead of completely dozing off and missing my ride. So after I gathered what little personal belongings I had on me, I boarded the train and continued my broken nap for another six hours, hooray for tunnel collapses and long reroutes.

I should've probably went through the portal, would've been way shorter that way. Then again, I wonder if Twilight even has my portal open still. That would be pretty awkward to show up to my bathroom and run headfirst into a solid mirror. Not a bet I'm willing to wager on.

But this long-ass train ride made me reconsider my chances.

Finally, with the sun setting over the horizon, I could already see my entire day wasted on some stupid shit caused by a few manticores, some cockatrices, and even a tatzelwurm or two. Regardless, the long trip back here ended with my anticlimactic welcome at the train station, I mean in contrast to the last time I left here. There almost seemed to be a whole parade centered around our small platoon setting out to the mountain. But now that I'm back, it feels like I just got back from a typical business trip.

Many ponies were doing what they knew how to do best, which was being themselves and doing the best job they could. I guess the whole rigmarole from Canterlot had me prepared for a bunch of unwanted attention from the press and the paparazzi. But this place is so quiet in comparison, just being in Canterlot for a week or so has showed me that. I see why this place is a lot more easy going, even considering the massive castle hovering over the town in the north. It's like going from the busy state capital to a small city, or moving from Austin to McKinney. Either way, it was far too late in the evening to make a few rounds for friends. It's better to just quietly make my way into the apartment.

I arrived back at the old place, finding a more mature mare at the front desk staring quietly at a picture sitting on the counter. I know Rarity said something about her, but I just don't know how to even approach her after what happened. Of course it's rude if I just walked on like nothing happened, but it's hard to find words to comfort someone who lost their child, especially one that died under your watch.

That will never change.

"Mrs. Plush?" I quietly squeaked out, causing the mare to look up and see me standing before her.

"Oh yes! You're back from the mountain! How nice it is to see you looking so well." She said, placing a hoof on my cheek as I leaned over to hug her. "I swear if anything happened to you, I would've found no desire to keep going."

"Please don't be like that." I urged as she gave me a light kiss on the cheek.

"No, it's fine." She quietly reassured. "I would've probably sold the place and had it demolished later. No need to keep a lonely little inn open for business when there's no customers to buy in."

I also forgot how quiet this place was when I first checked in. "Yeah, but if I'm stopping you from going forward and you feel like you can't keep the doors open anymore─"

The mare quickly interrupted me as she smiled sadly. "Well that's why you're here, sweetie. You're keeping the place lit and me from going insane."

I leaned my head up towards the ceiling, imagining some heavenly paradise in the sky. "Yeah, he used to say the same thing."

"I know. I kept saying it for years as a joke here at this counter. But now I'm really looking at it like this is my only solace for what I lost."

I looked back down to her with curiosity. "You worked here before?"

"Generations." She answered longingly. "My family's been running the place since it opened. We did whatever we could to keep the ponies coming through those doors. And as time progressed and the town got bigger, they started building new buildings in the central district filled with the latest amenities. We just kinda fell off."

"So if you don't mind me asking this, why haven't you guys relocated to someplace downtown?"

The mare sighed and looked back to the windows leading outside. "The one thing we used to pride ourselves on was the views we had to offer, used to get a good look of the mountains from this very spot, real scenic like when my grandfather was around. And that all changed when them multi-floors started sprouting up when I was coming along. Suddenly, they could get a view of Canterlot and some of Ponyville from downtown. And when my son took over, we were still priding ourselves as much as we could on our view of Mount Canter."

"So what happened?" I questioned.

"I'm sure you saw the main reason why when you rode on the train. It's a pretty big eyesore in the window."

I took a glance back out the window, realizing she was talking about Twilight's castle. "Ah, I guess that mountain view was pretty much a dead thing since the castle was built."

"It just sprouted out of nowhere. And since it came up from a powerful ancient magic, we can't get no kind of zoning suit filed against the place." The mare stopped for a moment and started staring at the picture again. "My ex husband was right, this place should've been sold off years ago when the property value was worth something still."

"Why didn't you sell it then?" I inquired.

"Cause I got attached and my son wanted to do whatever he could to make this place hip for the newer demographic of fillies and colts. But that dream died with that castle came right out of the ground. We've been living in it's shadow since. Morning, noon, evening, from dawn to dusk, that place casts a cold shadow over this poor little inn. So my son tried to market the location off the best he could... You can tell how that went."

"I think he tried his best." I mumbled looking at the mare starting to tear up behind the counter.

"He couldn't bear to part with it, even after I told him that it was better to just let this little inn go. The moment that castle came up, I knew it was over for this place. But he stayed anyway. If anything, it's my fault for not talking him out of it harder. I should've fussed at him, yelled, threw dishes or something, sold it and pulled the rug from under us. At least then I wouldn't be at this counter looking at a picture of my son."

I couldn't feel anything but sadness in seeing the depressed mother cry over her lost child. For a moment, it brought me to see just how painful loss is for those closest to you. That same indescribable grief was going to be something I was about to give to my family. And the thought of it made me more angry at myself for letting my guard down so much. But for the moment, all I could do was watch the poor mare wipe her eyes.

"Augh, my baby's gone." She didn't do much of anything else but plant her hooves over her eyes, trying to hold together whatever dam broke behind them.

I couldn't just say 'thoughts and prayers' on this one. I had to say more than that, I needed to say more than just those simple little words. I had to make something out, especially since some of this was on me to begin with. "Whatever you need, you let me know and I can see if I can make it happen. I can't offer what I want to, because that's something beyond the natural order of things. But I can at least help in whatever way."

The mare quickly grabbed a tissue and dabbed her eyes. "Oh no. I can't ask anything from you. You made my son so happy when you came in. He even thought about turning the place around to accommodate for humans as well. So if anything, I owe you thanks for giving him a new push to keep moving. The one who killed him isn't you, you were a victim as he was. Dealing with the changeling queen herself, I couldn't fault you, not ever."

Though her words of forgiveness brought me some comfort, the pain of my failures continued to hum loudly in my ear. "I'm so sorry. Again, whatever you need─"

"Just stay here as long as you'd like." She quietly sobbed. "My son would've liked that very much."

When I got back to my room, much of it was still as I left it. The cup I drank from was laying on the ground, leading to a sizable stain in the carpet. The sheets on my bed were still crinkled and disturbed from my falling over. My keyboard was slightly tilted out of place from bumping into it. It was almost perfectly preserved, kinda put me in the mindset that I was still on the verge of being abducted. So I took some time to straighten out the bed, put everything in place, and scrub that stain out of the carpet.

I finished about forty minutes later, standing in the quiet room and left with only my thoughts.

My phone suddenly rang, breaking the somber mood I was sinking into. Pulling it out and reading the screen, I grew surprised to see Twilight on the screen. But as it rang, I felt reluctant to answer. Something about the call made me feel a bit uncertain. I didn't know why I felt that way, but it felt like the words 'cuss out' was written all over the display. So I slowly answered the call. "Eeyhello?"

"Nondis. What are you doing right now?"

"Uh... not much." I shrugged my shoulders and scratched my chin.

"Okay. Still in Canterlot?" She asked in almost a monotonic manner.

"Why, what's going on?" I asked.

"Celestia told me you paid her a visit earlier this morning. I think she told you what we were going to do."

"Oh yeah, the thing in my world." I groaned out quietly.

"She just sent me the spell via Spike and told me that I was going to be in need of some clothes. I was wondering if you would go and get me something appropriate to wear."

She's in need of clothes? What, does the spell not provide clothes for her or something? "Okay, sure. What's your size?"

"Well I'm a... a... hmm..." She pondered for a moment over the phone for a few seconds and then popped back on the phone. "You know what, hold on. I'll have Sunset on the other line."

...She knows how to do that already? She's either been practicing or someone else had to show her what to do. Either case, I was resigned to waiting on her to pop back up on the line. Thankfully it didn't take but a good twenty seconds before she came up again.

"Hello? Is everyone here?"

"I'm here." Sunset announced from the other line.

"Okay, we're all here. So what's the deal?" I asked, prompting a brief explanation from Twilight.

"Sunset, I'm going to be visiting Nondis' world. You often offered me a few clothes when Rarity wasn't able to. I need to know my sizes so Nondis can go get me some human clothes."

"You couldn't call up Rarity and ask her for the information?" I didn't know Rarity even had a phone.

"I don't know her number. So I called you up because I know you're probably the best way of me finding out."

I pretty much stayed silent while the two continued to exchange with one another. "Well, I am here at the mall with the girls. Hold on a sec' I'll go get her."

It hardly even took ten seconds before the voice changed to someone completely identifiable. ""♫Ahoy hoy?♪"

"The fuck?" I mumbled over the line. "Is there another Rarity in a parallel universe or some shit?"

Twilight quickly answered my question. "Rarity, I believe I told you about a special someone I was seeing for a while. He's right here on the line."

Apparently, I couldn't appear to be too familiar with this Rarity. So I treated her as if we were complete strangers... No shit, Sherlock. "Hey there."

"Hello to you." Rarity answered in a monotone voice, almost a complete contrast to the bubbliness she'd spoke with moments before. But that tone soon returned to normal as she addressed Twilight again. "Now back to you dear, how's everything been going? I trust that you've been doing well since your last visit to our side of the portal?"

Apparently, this Rarity didn't like me much. She must have a pretty negative impression of me for her to speak to me so callously. But then again, she's probably heard a story or two pertaining to me and what I've done wrong in me and Twilight's relationship. So I'm running uphill with her. Twilight continued to speak to her friend. "Never better. I think the situation is improving drastically."

"Well that heavily depends on whether or not things have been patched up between the two of you. If not, then I can understand your answer." Lady, I am right here.

"That's the thing.... He and I kinda... split." Twilight announced.

"WHAT!?" Sunset hollered from the background. "Seriously? Like the two of you are split unofficially in private or officially in the public view?"

"By legal definition, officially. No longer a suitor." Well I know that part is true but still, I am right here on the line, Twilight.

"Oooh! Well you should come on by and visit! We can have cry time over ice cream, or snuggle up for a movie, or even a girls night out! Just vent it all out if it would make you feel any better." ...I AM RIGHT HERE!

"Wow. I thought the two of you would've stuck it out longer. I'm really at a loss for words here. But is there any reason why you two just made it public?" Sunset asked.

"That's something for later." Twilight answered, seeming like she realized that I was still on the line. "But I need a favor from you, Rarity. I need to know my sizes."

"Ohhh... Well I can text them to you, no need for the ruffian there to know your business." Well that's understandable. She's considerate for her friend. "Especially if he's not man enough to stick around and find out." Thus sings my soul, YOU BITCH!

"I'm not sure why you're letting him know your exact measurements for your stuff anyways. You always told me that you were going to surprise him with that kind of stuff. Do you still trust him enough to go out and find some decent and appropriate intimate apparel?"

"You sure you don't have a female friend you could talk to about this?" Rarity asked condescendingly. "I wouldn't trust my private info with a bitter ex-boyfriend.

"We're not bitter." Twilight clarified. "In all honesty, we were very civil and understanding. In fact, I should've probably timed it better because of the manner in which we did it. But we're still just as friendly to one another."

That last part was a lie.

"Also, Nondis may appear a bit rough in Twilight's stories. But he's really a half-way decent guy if you get to know him. He's a bit aggressive on some topics, but I think you'd like him a bit if you met." Sunset added as she spoke to Rarity. "You might find you'd have some things in common with one another."

Meanwhile in this universe... "Yeah. I think our relationship with one another was more fun than anything. I can't say that we ended bad because we were on the same page. But in either case, can you do it for me, Rarity?"

"I will text it to you." She adamantly replied. "I'm sorry other person, but I don't feel like I can trust you for two reasons. One is that you're a male. The other is that you are an ex."

"Oh I completely understand. You're just looking out for your friend, bless your heart." I said sweetly, of course that 'sweet' had the toxicity of coolant fluid.

"Well I'm glad you understand. Twilight, it will be your say on whether or not you will trust him to get these items or not. Personally I would recommend you'd do it through a female friend, if you happen to know one, but in the event that you don't, I'd recommend keeping things at an estimate."

"Should I call Melanie?" I simply replied in deadpan.

"Nondis, I trust you for just this much... But don't think I'll need any help in getting dressed, I know how it goes."

Great, at least we can move on from the break-up bullshit. "So, Twilight... did you break up with him or did he break up with you?"

Et tu, Sunset? "I'm gonna hang up now, you girls have fun."

As instructed, I went to my world and bought a few outfits that were classy and very conservative. I also bought a few things that were erring on the side of adventurous but not so much that it would grab any attention. But she would be looking like a Catholic school girl for most of the time there, with maybe one outfit for a night out on the town. I called up Melanie to help me decide on what would look good on her.

I needed a ride and Mel was the one with the car, wins all around.

She was more amazed that Twilight was risking to make an appearance to our world, but she still had her suspicions on how all of this would pan out. When we finished, I brought the clothes back to Twilight and Mel went with her to see how everything fit on her. Spike and I waited outside of Twilight's room as the two girls carried on with their business inside. Then a bright purple flash showed from the cracks of the door when suddenly...

"Goddamn, girl!" I heard Mel scream.

"What?" I asked through the door.

"You'll find out, just wait your horny ass outside." She replied.

I just rolled my eyes and sank to the ground and waited. As I drummed my fingers on my legs, I started humming to myself the lyrics of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' before I inevitably started bobbing my head to the chorus. Spike looked at me with moderate confusion, wondering if I was having a small seizure. "Um, you okay?"

I snapped out of my bobbing and glanced back at the small dragon. "Yeah. Better than last week."

"Obviously." He said, sitting down on the other side of the hall.

The two of us just sat quietly from that point forward. As we did, we could hear the girls giggling and talking inside. Much of their conversation was a muffled amalgamation of words but it sounded as if things were going well. Spike then broke out of his silence to ask. "First time seeing Twilight as a human?"

"Yup." I answered simply, not saying anything else as the mood between the two of us felt more and more awkward.

"...So... You and Twilight are─"

"Don't wanna talk about it." I interrupted.

"Going to your world?" He continued.

"...Yup." I answered. At least it wasn't on THAT subject.

"...So why did you two break up exactly?" And THERE IT IS.

"...Don't wanna talk about it." I replied again.

"...Did it have something to do with you and Rarity?"

"No. Now stop asking, please."

I started to search my pockets for some ear buds to plug in my phone. While I was fiddling around, Spike was still trying to speak. "...Um... About last time."

"You helped bring Count down a few pegs, I saved your life. We're even." I said, knowing that there was a lot more to discuss between us but not really wanting to. I just kept it simple and put my earbuds in.

"But I threatened your life." He continued.

"And I bashed your face into the floor of a moving train. Even." I concluded.

Spike silently watched as I flicked my thumb across the screen of my phone. He didn't speak to me directly from that point on. Instead he gave himself a high-five and slumped over to his side. "Good talk, me."

"Riveting negotiations." I replied dryly as I pulled up the song I had in my head earlier.

The door opened right next to me and I didn't even notice as I started pretending I was playing out the drum beat to the song. Twilight asked quietly. "Is he listening to music?"

"More like having an epileptic seizure." Mel replied, causing Spike to giggle a little.

After the intro, the guitar came in and mellowed out the song as I finally opened my eyes to notice two pairs of legs standing over me. One face I could easily recognize, but the other was completely different. The only thing that could've told me who it was were the eyes and the hair.

Even then, those earbuds fell right out of my ears as I jumped to my feet. "Holy shit."

Twilight stood motionless before me as I sized her up, standing no taller than around five feet, six inches. Lengthy indigo hair with a solitary magenta stripe laid out straight over her shoulders and down her back, her bangs cut just over her eyebrows. Her purple eyes locked on to me as I continued to size up other parts of her body. My eyes glanced down to her chest to notice a sizable bust, apparently she's a D cup at the least.

"Drooling over the chin there, huh?" Mel commented. "Eyes up north."

Not wanting to be rude, I snapped my eyes back up to Twilight's face and cleared my throat. "Hello."

Twilight modeled herself by spinning around, her skirt fluttering loosely at the hem. She smiled weakly as she looked to her feet. "Well... Probably the first time I ever looked like this."

I was left a breath short of speechless, but the sound of her taking it away was a language of it's own. I was amazed by her transformation, almost enamored by it. I wanted to touch her, to see if what was before me was real. Even my hand moved without second thoughts of it until I was just inches away from her. Her deep purple eyes reminded me of the very moment we first met, when I was a scared college student hiding under the sheets of a bed too small for my body. Her lips looked soft and warm, modest in their size. Her nose was on the smaller side, but it was cute to just watch it stay there. Her hands appeared small and slender, her fingers so weak. She didn't have hardly any nails, but they had a natural gloss about them. Her tiny ears, her cute dimples...

"Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo! Will you be coming back to Earth sometime soon?" Mel asked, breaking me out of my thoughts again.

I shook my head and regained focus long enough to catch the last part of her sentence. "What about Earth sometime soon?"

Mel walked up to me and pointed a finger in my chest as she bluntly explained to me. "You need to pay attention to what's going on. I know she's a cute little librarian girl and all she needs is some glasses to pull off the look, but I can assure you that you probably might need to say something good before your mind turns on the dumb."

I continued to swallow whatever spit my glands could produce to wet my rapidly drying throat, a deep warmth grew in my chest as I responded the two women. "Do you... Could you... smile for me?"

Twilight blushed a little as Mel rolled her eyes with disgust. "Okay, the dumb's on."

"Yeah, isn't her skin usually purple?" Spike asked from across the hall. "At least in the other human world with Canterlot High, her skin would be purple."

"This is a whole different kind of magic, Spike." Twilight explained. "Of course now I'm wondering how I'm gonna be able to reverse it."

"Just cast the other half of the spell I sent you."

Hearing Celestia's voice caused me to turn around to see her walking towards us, in her human form. I let my jaw swing freely as the princess and Alex walked up to greet us. Twilight herself was also impressed by her form and walked forward to meet her mentor. But the moment they stood face to face, it was apparent that Celestia was still head and shoulders over Twilight in height. To go even further, she was actually looking down to me, placing her hand on the top of my and measuring herself in comparison.

"This is such a strange perspective, I'm not used to seeing myself look down to meet your eyes."

"And I'm not used to you being human... or your body for that matter." I said as I took in the princess' shapeliness. My face froze in place while my teeth was clinched in looking at the elder princess.

Mel whimpered a complaint as she looked at the two ponies turned humans. "I swear those spells have something in them that makes me lose my confidence as a woman. Can't you two like, you know, lessen the attributes?"

"Yeah, she's like that." Alex said before taking a glance at Twilight. "And as for you, dad will probably be wondering how Nondis managed to find you. Goes without saying he'll be pretty damn impressed. And I see you got the private school girl thing going on. Really attractive, now let's see how you walk."

The indigo-haired girl stepped towards a nearby door and posed against the wall. "I'm sure you'll find my behavior to be quite natural." She said, flicking her wrist with a balled up fist.

"Well she's doing the fist thing, but it's not as obvious as yours Madam Princess." He said to Celestia.

"I don't find it to be a fair comparison. Twilight has been in a human form far too many times for me to keep up. This is more like day two for me while this is...."

"Day twenty-five, speaking to an estimate." Twilight concluded. "Sunset taught me everything in a way that was easier to break down in terms of the whole pony-to-human thing. I know she and I'll do things out of habit but it won't be so blatantly obvious like it would be for Princess Celestia."

"Which pretty much means that you'll be the one teaching me for a change." The elder princess said to the younger.

The giddy Twilight smiled brightly with a formal bow. "Your highness, consider it my highest honor."

While the two ponies went back and forth with one another, a loud shattering noise came from further down the hall accompanied with a male groan and another voice frantically chanting. "Oh shit, oh shit, uh... how much do I have to pay for that?"

The unfamiliar voice caused me, Spike, Twilight, and Mel some alarm. I looked to Alex with a frown. "Who's that?"

Alex grimaced as he looked away from me. "Thaaaat might have been Vanessa, I kinda got dragged into bringing her here."

With more frustration caused from yesterday's stunt, I slammed my hands onto his shoulder and yanked up the collar of his shirt, staring him dead in the face with fiery eyes. "You brought someone else, without any kind of word to me?"

"Celestia already told her about everything. I might as well bring her over to see what we were dealing with so we could all be on the same page. Wasn't this the whole point of what we were doing?"

"Alex, I don't know your wife. I know Mel, I know you and Stanton because we lived our entire lives together, Rickey and Cliff were in some shit and I knew we could keep some mutual understanding of 'do not speak of this, and we won't speak of that' because what we were doing was an outright felony and this was the only way where our hiding the shit would mutually benefit both parties. This shit you pulled could FUCK us."

"Well we're in this position because you fucked yourself instead of telling dad the honest truth at the hospital. When we felt like you were going to die, we had already put our conversation with him on standby. I had to tell my wife what happened as vaguely as possible just to keep her in the know before the worst was to come. I'm making a sacrifice here too, not just you."

To be fair, I couldn't argue his point. So I just let him go and walked down the hall to check on what it was that she accidentally broke. Instead of being something extravagantly expensive, it was just some old vase you could buy from the local thrift store.

Twilight wasn't really a purveyor in artsy possessions, books on the other hand...

Stanton started cleaning up the mess the best he could without a broom for the time being before Spike ran back to get one. Celestia wafted her hand and the shards were instantly lifted from the ground in a golden glow. My neck damn near broke as I watched her use her magic as if she was still in her pony form. Twilight looked on with amazement and extended her hands to find out that she was also capable of doing the same thing. The girl looked at her mentor and sighed with relief. "Well at least I know how I can change back."

"Isn't it wonderful?" Celestia replied. "It's a fail-safe I didn't even know existed when I initially formulated the spell. I thought this was going to be a one-way cast with a secondary pony needed on hoof. But that doesn't seem to apply here."

"But that's not what we experience back at Canterlot High." Twilight stated. "I couldn't even use magic when I first got there. I just ran face-first into a door only to find out that I didn't have a horn to use. But magic does exist in that world and it doesn't in the one we're going to."

"Well that will make us the first magic users to grace their world. But it does come with a warning." Celestia added cautiously. "After my initial visit with Alex and Stanton, I was told that no one uses magic there and it would frighten the others if they were to see it. So consider it wise to adhere to that principal and refrain from using it until it is absolutely necessary."

"If you get into a fight or an altercation, you leave that to us." Stanton cosigned.

Twilight looked back to me with a light chuckle. "Just as long as a certain someone doesn't get himself hurt doing it, then I'm fine to stand by and watch."

"You say that like I'm injury prone." I replied with a dejected sigh.

"Didn't you just get out of a hospital?" Stanton asked as he pointed at me.

"Hey, you try not dying when some random hitman comes around and sinks a large knife in your gut after cutting your tendons and drugging you full of blood thinners and anesthetics."

Vanessa looked at me blankly before she shook her head. "Um, what all did I miss?"

"A long story I don't feel like telling." I replied quietly.

"Long story short, Nondis is missing two feet of intestine, around three pints of the blood in his veins came from me and Stanton, and we had to feed him through a tube for a week."

Twilight quietly looked away from me as Stanton slapped me in the stomach a few times. "At least you're not as bad as you used to be. You're even walking."

"How about I put YOU in a wheelchair for a few weeks." I replied holding up a fist in his face.

Stanton backed away as he placed his hands up. "Nah, I know you can take on creatures bigger than me."

Alex squinted at the both of us and quirked an eyebrow for a few seconds before breaking us off. "Okay guys, we got a town to visit, and a dinner reservation to meet. Let's just settle down so we can get going."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Mel nodded in agreement. "Where we going cause I'm sure seven don't fit in one car."

As our dinner plans were explained, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. When I pulled it out, I noticed that I got a text from dad asking me to call him. I initially wanted to answer the message right away, but I figured it would be better to do it a little later when I'm actually back in town. So the seven of us disembarked to our world, leaving not a single pony to watch us disappear. Of course Vanessa had more than a few questions about Spike, but those would soon be answered by either Twilight or Celestia.

Alex hung back for a while as he looked to the aforementioned high princess. "Your highness, I got a question?"

"Sure, what is it?" She said happily.

"You notice a little something different with Nondis?"

She looked at the man with a small amount of confusion. "I don't recall him being any different than last time. Why?"

Alex shook his head as he stepped one foot into the portal. "Eh, probably a brother thing. Don't worry about it."

Celestia watched as the man disappeared through the portal. Standing silently, she folded her arms and looked to the photo of him and the others standing in front of the portal the day of it's completion.

"So you've noticed it too? And here I thought I was being a little strange."

The moment we stepped outside of my apartment, Twilight was already glancing around as if she was expecting to be amazed of what she would see. But I could already see some measure of disappointment she had in the view of a few apartment buildings arranged in an imperfect semi circle. Meanwhile Celestia was impressed no matter what she saw, it was her second time being here and she was more interested in the world itself than the place I lived. We settled out in a two car caravan. Vanessa, Stanton, and Alex all rode in one car while Mel, Twilight, Celestia, and I rode in another. We allowed Celestia to ride front seat because of her height, while Twilight and I rode in the back. Again, Twilight was less impressed with the idea of riding in the car while Celestia treated it with an honor.

I wonder what was on Twilight's mind.

We took the Mopac Expressway south, riding past many old buildings, factories, and a few cheap motels along the way. Most of the scenery was something that I grew used to so it didn't do much outside of bore me. Most of everything I could shrug off, and it appeared that Twilight was the same way. Celestia, per usual, was taking in as much as she could, growing a bit impressed with the infrastructure and all of it's flaws. Her face was short of pressed against the glass, looking at all the things that passed. And as we continued our ride south, the view grew all the more urban.

We turned off of the expressway, heading east onto West Cesar Chavez. And the view went from a few buildings spattered from block to block, to larger establishments, and finally into the larger buildings. Stores and other places of interests started to advertise themselves to be more in the city climate as opposed to the traditional open parking lot approach. The buildings became far more contemporary, and Twilight took notice of it.

By then, her eyes started to open more, her interest growing with each moment we grew closer to the downtown area. The buildings got even taller, we started to see less bricks and more glass. The streetlights even looked more modern than anywhere else. The cars grew a lot more shinier and updated. The lights on the buildings grew bigger, bolder, and more flamboyant. The sidewalks became a little more crowded, there was life sprawling around us, and finally Twilight started to smile with glee. Celestia struggled to look through her window to see something interesting, so she turned her head to Melanie's direction and looked through hers. Unfortunately she couldn't lean down enough to catch the top of the massive monsters climbing up to the sky above. The sight of the sunset soaked city caused the young princess to be nearly stunned to silence.

"These buildings are much larger than they looked from across the river." She murmured.

"You've been here before?" Mel asked with surprise in her voice.

"Just yesterday." I answered quickly. "Our whole security sector had a field day with her going missing on us. I would've probably lost my job if she didn't disappear with Alex and Stanton."

"This place is huge." Twilight muttered. "Not at all like the town where Canterlot High's at. I mean I've seen some of the city there, but it wasn't nearly as busy as this. I mean, everything on the way here was pretty impressive, but this is a whole new level."

"Well, welcome to Austin." Mel said as she kept her eyes on the road, following Alex's car. "At least the pretty part of it."

"Now that we're on the route, would it be safe to ask where we're going?" Celestia asked.

"We are on our way to a restaurant downtown. At least from there we can walk around and tour the city night life." She replied. "Now as for which restaurant, I'm not sure."

My phone buzzed in my pocket, indicating that I had a message. Twilight veered over as I pulled up my dad's new message. He appeared to ask if I was ever going to stop ignoring him. I finally texted him back to tell him that I was just getting back in town. At that point, it prompted several more messages, of course they all spoke of me coming back home for Thanksgiving.

Twilight grew a quick smirk as her hand glowed, taking the phone away from me. She pulled up my camera and leaned in against me with a cute smile and captured the moment of me looking down at her. Looking at the picture, she seemed unimpressed with it so she did it again, this time with her wrapping around my arm and with me smiling as well. The young princess then used her magic to restrain my hands as she sent the picture with the caption underneath: 'Bella says hi.'

"There. Now there shouldn't be anymore questions from him." Twilight said with a look of accomplishment.

"If you think that'll keep him quiet, then you're sure as hell in for it." Mel replied with a chuckle.

I even tapped on my leg as I called out my dad's actions. "Phone call in three... two... one..." And just on cue, my dad's name and number came up on the screen.

"He seems quite excited to have you back home." Celestia stated.

"That and angry." I said as I picked up the phone and put it on speaker. "Hello?"

"Well I'll be damned, I guess that's a myth I won't have to trouble myself in busting."

Mel covered her mouth as she tried to suppress her shock over my dad's colorful commentary. I just simply groaned with disgust. "Yes dad, I am seeing someone in real life. Would you like a souvenir from the Twilight Zone?"

"I'm just glad you made it back in. From what you told me, you seemed like you were short of the sweet by and by."

Celestia and Twilight appeared confused by his euphemism for afterlife as I continued on. "Well I ain't meeting gramps just yet. So here it is, here I am."

"Where are you now exactly?"

"Downtown, bout to grab us a little something to eat while we're taking in the sights. Hanging out with friends and folks, caught up with Vanessa and Alex, so we thought of going on a little double date... ish."

"Don't listen to him. We're just hanging out tonight to celebrate our getting back in." Mel announced from the driver's seat. "Alex is treating us to dinner."

"Really now? Care to tell me which restaurant while he has you all on speaker?"

"He didn't tell, said it was going to be a surprise." I answered.

"Well it would've been damn swell if he would've told us somethin' before just going off on his own. I swear your brother doesn't ever let us in on anything, took us three weeks to find out he was getting married."

"Least he didn't hold out until three days before and invite you by letter." Twilight mumbled out sideways.

"Seriously?" Mel asked.

"Seriously, that's how I found out about my brother getting married! He sent me a letter with an invitation through Celestia! He didn't even send the invite, he had her to send it and then use Cadance's full name like I know who it is!"

"The invitations were written in a formal manner, complete names were cordial." The elder princess replied. "Yours would be the same way."

"I'm still mad he did that to me though. Imagine if Luna did that to you." Twilight rebutted, causing Celestia to frown at the idea.

"My sister would love me enough to at least consider an advanced notice the night of a successful engagement proposal, if not that then the morning after." She replied.

"Sounds like you guys having quite a party in there." Dad said on the other end. "Maybe I should phone your brother and ask where you guys are headed to. We could make it more of a family outing."

I already felt a headache coming on with that suggestion. "Hey dad, how about we do that tomorrow or something. I kinda just got back in town and I'm trying to keep things on the easy side for now cause you know, post op fatigue."

"Well if you're dealing with that kind of stuff, then why don't you just come home and rest? Wouldn't that make more sense?"

"I know, but I owe it to Alex to at least catch up on his offer."

"Then what's the problem with me and your mom swinging by?"

The palm of my hand quickly found my forehead as I tried to reason with him. "Dad, I promise we can talk tomorrow."

He paused for a few seconds before speaking again. "...Okay. But I want you to come back home first and check with us so we can see that you're doing well. No running off to that apartment."

And I'm already fiending for some ibuprofen. "I don't know if I can do it tonight, how about tomorrow afternoon? You'll be seeing me and Bella then."

"Nondis..." He called out in a serious tone.

"Dad, please? I just got home, let me just get some proper rest before we do this, okay?"

Even though he was quite hard to nudge, he surprisingly gave in this time. "Okay, son. Tomorrow."

"Thanks. See you then."

I hung up the phone and rubbed my eyes in an attempt to distract myself from the growing headache I received. Mel chuckled to herself as Celestia shook her head. "My, your father is a persistent one."

"You have no idea."

Our time at the restaurant came and went. What I didn't know is that Alex picked up a reservation at a more upclass eatery. Granted, you couldn't wear jeans and shirts, but you weren't required to wear a coat and tie. But when the bill came around for the food, Alex and Vanessa was already realizing that the place wasn't for keeping the money in your wallet safe. But we did manage to pitch in a group effort to pay the expensive bill of over four-hundred dollars.

I'm never ordering a steak there again.

But after an hour and a half of us talking about various things and our respective pasts, we took our leave and wandered around the town. Night life here wasn't quite like places in New Orleans, Atlanta, New York, Dallas, or Houston, but it has a nice array of activities to get into if you want to just hang out with your friends, get intimate with someone you're trying to impress, and even distract annoying family members from hunting you down during the holidays.

Of course with the time of year, Christmas items were already being hung around the place, even as Thanksgiving was just about to roll up to the welcome mat. But carols and bells ringing, mainly from the Salvation Army volunteers, filled the town square with the sounds of the holidays. Twilight told us that she never stuck around Sunset's world for the approaching winter months, so much of this was somewhat familiar but confusing at the same time.

"But seriously, what is all of this?" She asked.

"You ever heard of Hearth's Warming?" I questioned, equating my pony knowledge to this world.

The young princess scoffed with excitement. "Who hasn't? It's the holiday we celebrate to bring gifts to one another and share love and friendship with each and everyone we know. There's also a little something about windigos freezing the world over if we don't celebrate it to keep the warmth of the Hearth's Warming Flame burning brightly. Now of course we give several gifts to one another, but what matters is the spirit of giving and sharing joy to each other."

Alex nodded slowly as he looked around the square. "Yeah, sounds about close to what we got."

"You know, with the exceptions of the threat of an impending doom of ice and starvation, but with added ice and minor traffic accidents." Stanton added comically. "We just simply call it Christmas."

"Yeah, this is what happens when you commercialize a holiday too damn much. They start celebrating it a month early with no intentions to give you that old warmth it had back when you were younger. Yeah I know, nostalgia's talking. Instead it's a buy everything for your friends and family to appease your material desires. For those without the money, then it becomes a holiday of sharing and giving. For those of the less fortunate, it's Thanksgiving round two." I explained.

"With the exception of football being played." Stanton also added. "But the travel away from home is often the hardest part for us. Drag us athletes all around the country for the college wigs to make some big bucks."

"Yeah, this will be Stanton's first year away from the family." I added. "He's got a game on Thursday back at College Station."

"Seriously, twelve days they skipped out on to give us a game, a whole Saturday came and went just to make some money for Thursday, when I could be stuffing my face with the good shit mom makes."

"Well that's the life you chose, Stanton." Alex replied. "The NFL isn't going to be any different."

"Except that I'll be getting paid to miss Thanksgiving. I won't be forced to go to class and worry about semester finals after Thanksgiving. I won't have to come back home and fix a plate of leftovers the day after Thanksgiving."

"Yes you will." I argued.

"You know what, you got a point." Stanton quickly conceded. "I'll probably fly back down here just to heat me up a plate."

"Something tells me that this 'Thanksgiving' is some variation of a family feast." Celestia stated.

"Oh yeah it is." Alex confirmed proudly. "And let me tell you of the great stuffings you'll be getting on Thursday. Macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, collard greens, steamed cabbage, broccoli casserole."

"Cornbread stuffing, oh my God. Honey glazed ham, cream corn, green beans, corn on a cob." Stanton added as he started to drool over the details.

"Deep-fried turkey." I added with a shiver down my spine. "Cranberry sauce, the roasted pineapples mom put on the ham to make it pop off."

"Oh, and who could fucking forget." Mel added with a moan. "The dessert."

"Grandma's red velvet cake." Stanton, Alex, and I said in perfect unison.

"Man I'm so glad mom got the recipe down, it was just three years ago when we were without it for so long." I mourned quietly.

"And the Bible said to 'eat, drink, and be merry.' Can I get an amen?" Stanton called out.

"Amen and amen again." Alex said while raising his right hand to the sky.

"You'll get an 'amen' out of me this time." I said patting my chest with excitement. "I can't go to the house on Wednesday, I'll be fucking pissed to smell all of that being prepped and I can't get any taste of it until the next day."

"Stanton, I'm sorry, but you know I have to come by and visit." Mel said with a smirk. "That cake is gonna have to go with me."

"Just don't eat all the goddamn food and I'll be happy." He replied.

Celestia, who was quiet about the whole conversation woke up when the topic was on the cake. She quietly walked up behind me and whispered. "We are allowed to partake in the festivities, correct?"

"Oh yeah, eat as much as you'd like. Just save some cake for the rest of us."

Twilight looked at her mentor and giggled as she whispered in my other ear. "You know she won't leave any, right?"

"That's an act of war if I heard of one." I replied sternly.

"Well I'll come by on Wednesday to ensure she makes another, just for you to take back to... ahem, share with the others." The elder princess stated.

"She's gonna be hoarding that cake worse than a dragon would with it's gold. Don't be surprised if she has the thing taken back to her kitchen staff for intense analysis just to replicate the recipe." Twilight said with a chuckle.

Celestia pulled my arm as she pleaded with me. "Please let me have this one thing. I will give you a raise of five hundred bits biweekly."

That's a fourth of my monthly pay added on every two weeks, like hell I'm gonna refuse. "I'll argue with mom tomorrow for it. She won't say no."

Twilight just laughed as she tapped me on my shoulder. "You have no idea of the monster you've just unleashed."

"Eh, how bad could it be really?" I asked.

In probably the most provocative voice I've ever heard the elder princess speak, she rubbed her hands together as if they were still hooves. A portion of her hair even turned to flames, threatening to burn her stockings as she muttered. "Releasssse the houndssss."

...I wonder how she feels about buttercream frosting.

Our time out and bout came to an end as the air proceeded to get a little nippy for comfort and the hours growing ever later. Celestia took her leave back to Equestria via Mel's portal. Alex and Vanessa went back to their place while Twilight and I headed back to my apartment. As soon as I got in, I popped on my computer and went on a little web search for some information on current events. I left the door open for Twilight to come on through and make her way into the portal so she could get back to her castle, but oddly enough she never took the invitation.

After around thirty minutes, I placed my websearch on halt and walked into the living room, just to see her sitting at the couch with her phone suspended in her magic. She looked as if she had something on her mind. "Is everything okay?"

Startled, her phone nearly fell to the ground before she wound up catching it in her hands. She looked back at me with embarrassment. "N-no, nothing at all. W-what's up with you?"

"That's what I came in here to ask you. You know the door's open if you ever want to go back to your world."

The princess' eyes veered off to the side as she stood up from her seat. "Oh, well thanks. I guess that's a comfort I can take with me."

I walked over to the dining table and pulled out a chair to sit in as I spoke. "So what's on your mind? You're usually a lot more talkative when it comes to new experiences. Tonight was kinda an unusual exception."

The princess turned away from me as she stuttered. "I-I don't have anything on my mind."

"You know I'd know if you have something on your mind, Twilight." I said as I folded my arms. "Your body language gives it away, no matter what form you're in. You being human just makes it a hundred percent more obvious."

She looked at her phone and sighed dejectedly. "It's... it's nothing."

"Is it about dad?" I asked.

"Well, parts of it." She said quietly.

"What part of it?"

Her eyes glanced back to me, almost mean-like to show some signs of irritation. "...Okay, all of it."

"Is it meeting with him you're nervous about?" I asked.

"That's just a little thing about it. I'm perfectly fine with meeting your father. You've met my parents and saved their lives, I owe it to you to meet yours at the very least."

"I don't think that's what you have in mind." I said as I took a peak at the clock on the wall, reading out 10:25 p.m..

She sat back on the couch and placed her arms between her legs as her head dropped nearly into her own lap. "Nondis... when are you ever going to stop lying?"

"To my folks? Well, that'll take some time given the circumstances." I confessed hesitantly.

"I mean think about it, even what we're doing now, isn't that a bit of a lie too?"

"What do you mean?" I inquired.

"Nondis, you and I are here to pretend we're still in some sort of relationship beyond friendship. I don't have a problem in doing it but..."

"...But what?"

The princess remained silent for a few seconds before she finally looked at me directly. "Haven't you ever considered how hard it is to pretend you're with someone after you told them it's over?"

Her question caused a small knot to grow in my throat, disabling me from speaking out. I wanted to say something on how easy it could be if we didn't let our emotions dictate the situation, but that was the main issue. There was no way we could play it off without that happening. If we were going to pretend to have anything together, then it would inevitably reopen wounds. And many of those wounds were quite fresh. "You know, I never really thought too much of that."

"But don't you think there's something between us that'll show? Your father seems awfully discerning."

"Not by that much." I replied.

"...Nondis, can you come here for a second?"

I stood up from my seat and walked over to her, watching her as she stood up in front of me. "I promise I won't try to drag this out any longer than it needs to be."

Suddenly, I felt her hand clench on to mine, pulling it towards her chest. Her other hand clasped on to it as well to hold me in place. Her purple eyes looked up to me as she spoke softly. "Will you ever be honest with me?"

"Where's this coming from?"

"I just want to know if you'll at least try. Because if we're gonna do this, and we don't have much of a choice, then I need for us to at least be honest with each other. Don't try to make this out to only be a lie."

"I don't understand what you're trying to get me to do."

"I think I should put it like this." Twilight said, getting even closer to me, looking me in the eyes. "If I was a normal girl, no rules, no royal baggage, no other stuff, would you think about being with me again?"

The amount of discomfort I felt as she asked me that question was something I never quite experienced before. I wanted to pull back and say something then, but her grip and her magic prevented me from doing so. She was going to force me to answer the question, no matter how awkward the situation felt for me. And it came with good reason why I felt like this. "I... I can't say whether... I mean it's... I don't know how to answer you right now."

She didn't break her eyes off of mine as she freed one of her hands and poked her finger into my neck. "Oh, is it because of that?" She asked, pointing out a love mark from the previous night.

My silence was more than enough for an answer.

Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Afterwards, she stared directly at the mark her finger outlined. "So... it seems like the two of you had fun."

The mood of the room suddenly grew almost as heavy as my conversations with dad over my personal beliefs. And this time, I couldn't say anything to save my own life. There wasn't any point in trying to tell a lie because the truth was written all over me, and it still stung a little as her finger poked into it ever so slightly. And I couldn't say 'I'm sorry' because it wouldn't mean anything at this point. There was nothing I could say to make this better, only worse.

Twilight loosened her grip on me, stepping back a foot before she said anything else. "I guess it would be hard to pretend you have anything for me if you just finished playing around with someone else."

"She and I aren't anything right now." I replied, stupidly but honestly. "She said we're more of friends."

"For now." She finished. "I know the two of you had a lot of time to spend yesterday. So I already know what happened."

"...So you want me to be more honest with how I'm feeling about this on a personal level."

Twilight smiled weakly when she spoke in a mousy voice. "That's the plan. No hiding." She said as her magic pulled at my collar, revealing a few more marks on my neck. "Wow... she really went to town on you."

"Can we not discuss this?" I asked sheepishly.

"I know you're not feeling regret over this one, are you?" She asked in a very animated manner, going so far as to stepping up towards me. "Cause if you do, then I should be the first to say how much of a jerk you make yourself out to be."

"So if I do it I should feel guilty, and if I regret it I should feel like the scum of the earth? Is there no way to not feel bad?"

"The first one is natural if you know what you did is wrong. The second one is inherently offensive because you're treating it like it's something you should take back. You can't just sneak into a girl's heart and decide that the aftermath wasn't worth it, you can't just sleep with a girl and pretend you can just hit a switch and say that you want to undo the time she gave her trust to you and shared what was most precious to her."

"But haven't you felt some regret over falling in love with Flash?" I asked, causing the princess to stand silent for a few moments. Her eyes wandered to the floor as she stood defeated.

"...I feel the regret of falling in love with you, like the pain I feel wouldn't exist if I didn't try to force myself into the picture."

"Now that's inherently offensive." I replied stoutly. "You just said you regretted falling in love with me. Why?"

"Because I see you now and I'm still feeling no different from the day we first saw each other like that. I'm in love but I feel hurt because you seem like you've moved on so quickly. I feel regret for the things I've said to you that I failed to translate because it led to miscommunication. I mean sure I might have played around with a few topics trying to be coy, but I never considered how you felt about it."

"Miscommunication? Twilight, you dared to not even tell me ANYTHING. That's not miscommunication, that's lying by omission. With miscommunication, you could say anything and something would get lost in translation, at least there was some attempt to communicate with one another. You had someone on the outside step in and dictate the course of our relationship based on THEIR personal beliefs. Why, because you told her one thing and you told me another."

Twilight quickly grabbed my hands again, trying to explain herself. "I know, and I should be more than apologizing for it... That's why I made our break official, because I couldn't stand to see you get hurt over me even when I did something wrong."

"That's what love does, Twilight. You gotta be able to stand in the corner of someone who you know does wrong, but only if you know they will be willing to come correct later on. Sticking around when they'll never change is a mistake. And somewhere inside of me, I felt like you would at least try to talk to me. Now granted, it came a wee bit too late, but I was always in your corner."

Twilight's hand shook in mine while she clenched her eyes shut. "I feel like that 'was' was a way of saying you might not be there anymore."

"Isn't this what you wanted?" I asked. "To kill it all off when the law was repealed, and then we'd go our separate ways? That was the promise you told me to keep."

"But haven't I begged you to run away with me? Haven't I at least communicated that I wanted to stay?"

"Twilight, I couldn't even walk when you told me 'let's be ourselves, like we once were.' Hell the sight of that scroll at my desk made me flatline a second time because I felt like all I threw in for this to work made it to nowhere. I felt like I could literally close my eyes and let the world go, and I know I wasn't the best suitor but I sure did try."

"I know." She whimpered quietly. "That's why I'm not even angry with you for what you did with Rarity, because I know somewhere I've lost you to her... It's not like I didn't see it coming."

I released myself from her hand as I took a step back. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Rarity's a better choice than me. All of my friends are better choices than me at this point, I've heard it all before. I'm too perfect, or I'm too demanding of perfection. I'm not as adventurous or wild enough. I'm too conservative, or I'm too much of a book nerd. I'm too compulsive, I keep everything in place. I'm not nearly as attractive. I'm the student of Princess Celestia herself and my sister-in-law is a princess too, I'm way out of their league socially. And I'm a princess, so it's too risky or dangerous to be with me."

"...So?"

"I'm just listing off all the things that I heard about me throughout the years. I've never been a particularly pretty mare, but the few eyes I've had on me were the ones I could never have because of various reasons. I'm used to being alone so I know─"

"I don't recall ever saying anything like that. So what makes you think that I'm them?" I briefly interrupted, causing the girl to pace around the room tirelessly. Twilight walked back and forth, fumbling with her fingers as she rambled on.

"Because you've been with me. You know how I can get when I want attention, you know how clingy I can be, you know what makes me laugh, what hurts me, what makes me smile again. And you know how hard it is to be with me. You know how easy it is to be with my friends, how much more freedom you get to have with them. My life was always filled with responsibilities, some curriculum of various sorts, and simplistic pleasures so mundane that watching paint dry could be considered as time well spent. Not once have I had anyone like you. But my bad habits got in the way, as usual. So I know that being with me isn't always fun or adventurous, or even fulfilling because I can't do the things the other girls can. And if we were to settle or something, I can't promise to be a good cook but I can always learn. I'm very sufficient in cleaning, and I'm capable of taking time off of my duties and research to tend to home if need be. I can change─"

"Why do you sound like you're trying to beg for a marriage consideration?" I asked, interrupting her once more.

"Maybe I feel a little scared that I might lose you, like this is all I can do now." She whimpered as she shook timidly. "I never felt like this, I never told anypony I felt like this. I don't think I've ever got to see myself being so caught by something like this...." After a long time rambling, she stopped pacing while she took a few breaths to calm herself. "I guess what I'm trying to come clean about right now is that this is pretty much my chance to at least see how it feels to be with you without the limitations, the laws, and the differences of what we are. It also feels like my last chance to show you what I can be."

"But you don't think that I'm perfectly fine with you as you are?" I deadpanned.

"Nondis, I'm wearing a disguise to meet your parents. I'm here to clear up the problems I brought you by being romantically interested in you. How is it that you could be perfectly fine with me and everything I've done?"

"I wouldn't have have stayed if that was the case." I confessed bluntly, sitting on the couch. "I saw a cute girl way back when. I thought it was funny how she was so obsessed with every little thing that was out of place, it was like watching a TV show, a sitcom, about this one girl with OCD and dating problems... And then suddenly this girl threw up on my shirt and I was kinda upset about it."

Twilight dropped her head as she covered her face in embarrassment. "Gee, thanks for that tasteful reminder."

"Yeah, it could've ended there but I saw some similarities with you and another friend of mine. Even though Pinkie had more of that friend in her than I thought, the girl I saw had enough to grab my attention. So I just kinda stuck it out, just to get to know the girl for who she was really. I didn't find out that much other than her brother being some important dude, her sister being a government official, and that she may have saved the world once or twice. Then, she got real mad at me one day over how bad I got hurt fighting some dude in a dark alley. After that, I got curious about her, started asking questions."

"Long to short, that girl isn't with you anymore." Twilight said, trying to cut my story short.

"Yeah, but there was a lot of adventure that came with being with that girl, and it was far better than anything I could've experienced here at home. Yeah, stress was pretty annoying, I got hurt a lot more than you wished, and I said and did things that made you mad. But that's all what we come to expect in relationships... you know with the exception of the whole being forcibly drafted and deployed to missions said to have less than a ten percent survival rate."

Twilight chuckled at the sound of my voice and how I sarcastically articulated the part I didn't expect. She laughed for a short while and looked at me. Then the frown came back on her face as she spoke. "We went through a bit, didn't we? Now here we are pretending we're still together."

"Yup." I confirmed as she sat next to me. "That's what we're doing. I don't have anything to say to make that look any better than it is. But I can at least try to be convincing."

I once again felt the softness of Twilight's hand clench onto mine beside me. She didn't look at me this time but her words were just as direct. "For me, I guess I'm treating all of this like a date. We never really had one of those."

"Meeting my parents, a date?"

"No, you and me in your world, spending time together." She clarified, leaning her shoulder onto mine. "This time, I get to reach your face without having to fly or use magic."

"Or asking me to bend down to meet you halfway." I added.

Her hand gripped mine even tighter when she moved her eyes towards mine. "...I want another chance."

"But you made our relationship officially broken." I stated. "By law, I can't do that for you."

"Here, the laws are different." She said quietly. "We can at least be together here, can't we?"

I looked away from her, trying to carefully word my answer. "They'll come for you. And then I'll get punished for running away with a princess. If I did my studying up on Equestrian Law, that's considered as treason. I'll probably be sent to death for it."

Twilight grew silent for an extraordinary amount of time, almost as if she was quietly pondering over something. Even as we sat there, she wouldn't allow me to talk as she thought to herself. And the moment her mouth opened, I felt something inside me drop to the ground almost like a bag of wet sand. "I think I can take that for you."

My chest grew cold, I looked to see her staring back at me with the purest smile I've ever seen. That made something within me panic right away. "You don't have to do that, I'm not worth it."

"Maybe I was too busy trying to act like I was doing something when I clearly wasn't." She added, burying her head in my chest. "You've done everything up till now, haven't you?"

"Twilight, I don't think this is─"

"Well these next few days, you're gonna see a lot more of me doing what I can for you." She said, dramatically changing the mood of the room. "I'm sorry, but as a mare, there's something within me that can't just let Rarity win. So I will be spending the night here."

"I'm sorry, WHAT!?" I exclaimed loudly.

The girl jumped off of the couch, quickly taking off her shirt and shoes, stripping herself down to her purple-and-white striped thigh-highs, black bra, and pink panties. "We have an early morning, so I think I should be getting ready for bed now. No point in trying to convince me from doing otherwise when you've spent so much time in our world. I believe I can devote a few days of my own here."

I quickly turned my head, desperately trying to avert my eyes from the rapidly stripping Twilight as a bra was thrown between my feet. "Dammit, if you're going to strip, can you at least do it in the room?"

"This is a room, by literal definition." She replied with a coy smirk.

"BED ROOM!" I emphasized as I clenched my eyes shut.

"Okay, no need to be upset." She giggled as she ran a finger down my chest. "I don't really know how to fold human clothes, so if you can do that for me, it would be greatly appreciated."

I kept my eyes closed for a while until I couldn't hear the footsteps of the girl anymore. I finally opened my eyes and looked around to see the mess she made in the room tossing her clothes all over the place. I shook my head and proceeded to pick up after her, starting with the bra at my feet. And just on the table rested a still-warm pair of panties she tossed away carelessly. I grumbled for a bit before I picked them up and looked at them for a second. Somewhere in my mind I had some unusually perverse thoughts, but I manned up and just grabbed them and everything else to take to the washroom. As I finished picking up after the young princess, she stepped out of the room, proudly nude and bearing everything as she spoke.

"Will you be taking the bed, I know this is a last minute question, but I wanted to know."

Before I could catch a good glimpse of her, I turned around and covered my eyes. "Twilight, do you not wear pajamas?"

"No! Ponies don't sleep in clothes, even in Sunset's world I didn't like it. All it does is make me sweaty."

Even though I can sympathize with her, being one who sleeps in nothing but my boxers, I still had some issue with her sleeping on my new mattress completely in the nude. "Can't you just throw on one of my old shirts or something, it'll at least be something like a dress for you."

She rolled her eyes and waved off my suggestion. "So are you sleeping in the bed or not?"

"I'll sleep on the couch tonight. You take the bed and get some sleep."

I heard her moan with displeasure as she stomped her foot. "You are no fun at sleepovers, are you? It's just a little skin, what's the problem?"

If you been in Sunset's world, you would know. "I'm gonna go wash your clothes for tomorrow."

The moment I turned for the door, I felt two arms wrap around my chest. My body grew significantly stiff as I felt all of her features being pressed against my back. She giggled as she hugged me from behind. "Thank you for this opportunity, I'm looking forward to what's in store for tomorrow. Now hop on to it so you can get some rest too." She said before hip bumping me forward. "Giddy up!"

Out of a flash of frustration, I turned back to see a nude Twilight walking back slowly to my room, her hips shifting with each step and her buttocks becoming more pronounced as the distance grew between us. Each inch of her exposed back and derriere made me look far longer than I had wanted to. Earlier, I didn't get a chance to pay attention to her shape, but she was cut in such a way to draw and keep my undivided attention. Her waist was narrow, her chest to waist creating a perfect triangle until the focus from her waist was redistributed to the incredible child-bearing hips she effortlessly swayed. She turned around to catch me glaring at her and smiled again while she gave herself a firm smack on her right cheek, sending some mesmerizing ripples throughout her backside. I hurriedly pointed my head forward and darted straight out the door before she could do anymore to tease me.

When I stepped outside with her dirty clothes, I was already feeling the effects of her little demonstration. My crotch grew tight and the clothes in my possession had a definitive scent that made me want to bury my nose into them. But I shook my head and quickly used her shirt as a makeshift bag to keep it in. Even then, the scent she left in these clothes were enough to feed my imagination far more than it should have.

I was essentially ten seconds of a lack of self-control away from jacking off in the washroom.

After I came back from washing Twilight's clothes, I returned to the apartment to find Twilight sprawled out on my bed, naked to say the least. The sheets were tossed wildly as she slept with her legs splayed and her left arm drooping over the side of the bed. I didn't get any closer than three feet within the doorway, placing her clothes on the computer desk nearby. The darkness of the room didn't allow me to get a glimpse of anything that would've triggered my inner pervert. So I left the clothes, walked out of the room, pulled out a blanket from the coat closet and snuggled up on the couch for the night.

Dawn came, feeling much too familiar to years past. It was the sun of my world beaming through the blinds of my balcony, the white popcorn roof staring above me was a more convincing reminder that I wasn't in any hotel, inn, or castle. The sounds of birds and cars passing through the complex gave me a sense of nostalgia. Looking at the clock on my phone, it read 6:18 in the morning. It almost felt like a school day again, like I was gonna have to get up and bemoan the fact that I had homework to cram on before class started.

I felt like that until two distinctive voices came from down the hall.

"She's still sick?"

"Apparently so. It's been like this every morning and she's been thirsty for the longest."

"Oh, Cadance."

The conversation between the two princesses drew a bit of my curiosity and I snuck off of my couch and crept over to the door of my room, listening to the two speak. "Shining has urged her to return to the Crystal Empire and see her personal doctor, so they will head back north for the time being until the issue resolves itself."

"You know, I went through that and I felt pretty terrible myself throughout the day. But it only lasted so long. I don't see how ponies drink like that if all it does is bring you more pain and suffering."

"But it shouldn't last that long." Celestia argued.

"My brother's been known to drink at night for his... past. But even then, he's also been known to scream at night. Granted, that hasn't been happening so much lately, but it's still an issue. Drinking seems to do nothing but cause pain."

"Well I know that you had a bad experience, Twilight, but that simply isn't the case. I'm starting to think Cadance has come down with a serious stomach bug."

"Maybe I need to take some time away from here to do some research on her condition."

"I think Shining Armor has it taken care of. We should be focusing on our current objective."

So apparently Cadance's health issues have taken a turn for the bad. Not that we're on the greatest of terms, but I don't wish ill of her... you know, other than a good smack to the head for what she said about me, but I wouldn't even take it that far. She can be a bit of a bitch at times but I'm sure something got to her recently that made her like this. Either way, I'm not gonna bring her down anymore than she already is, hoping for the best on that front.

In the mean time between time, I had to jump in the shower and get clean. But being that they were in my room and I was wearing only my boxers, I opted to take the clothes from last night with me. I locked myself in the hallway bathroom, turned on the shower, got to scrubbing and merrily watched the dirt run away. The feeling of a shower being above head level was probably one of the best feelings I've had in a long time. As the steam started to fog the bathroom, I took notice of my morning extension taking place. And the warm water running down my body didn't do anything but get my mind running back to last night.

I could already see in the back of my eyes that girl looking back at me, slapping her ass as she deviously teased me. If she would've went even further to spread them and let me catch a glimpse of her, I would've quietly considered my options and disregard my self control. But the lingering thought remained, I couldn't because of her status. And I didn't want to get shocked again.

I threw my hand to the temperature knob and swapped it to the coldest setting possible. And then the early winter-cooled water came rushing in, covering my entire body to make me quiver and reel back in discomfort. Any morning wood my body had considered was quickly cut to size and my mind was made awake. After a few seconds of the dreadfully cold shower, I ran it back to a comfortable temperature to warm myself. Afterwards, I stepped out and started to dry myself off. Looking down to my little victim, I quietly apologized.

"Sorry, dude. I had to shut you down, got girls in the house and I ain't getting none anytime soon. No open strolls today, maybe next time, little guy."

"I didn't know you had a pet."

The voice through the door startled me so much that I actually shrieked, not to mention the sense of embarrassment I felt as called out to whoever was standing outside. "Who's there!?"

"Celestia. Forgive me if it appears that I was eavesdropping, my ears are still quite sensitive. I heard you talking to a friend perhaps?"

I quickly made up a lie. "I-I was on the phone!"

"Oh. Well forgive my interruption, I'll let you continue your conversation."

"Okay!" Dear fuck that could've gotten real weird. I shook off the mood of awkwardness and threw on my clothes. Unfortunately, I had to settle with the ones I wore before I went to sleep because I didn't want to walk before those two just wearing my boxers. So I got dressed and stepped out of the bathroom to see Celestia still standing beside the hallway door. She wore only a red button-up blouse with a black skirt down to just her knees. Her chest as pronounced as ever... as well as her nipples.

"Nondis, I trust your conversation went well?" She asked completely oblivious to her circumstance.

As much attention she had out of me with those milker mounds, I tried my best to glance away out of respect. "Yes. Now I do have a question to ask. Where is your bra?"

Celestia turned to her back and looked down with a grimace. "Those things kept hooking into my hair, and it makes it a little harder to breathe for me. I wanted to just go without and be comfortable today. After all, I'm not quite sure what purpose they serve exactly."

It keeps men like me from staring too damn much. "You have something to wear over that blouse, correct?"

"I was given a sweater, but I am unsure if I will need it." She replied.

"It's gonna be chilly, and you don't have your fur coating you as usual. You're gonna want to keep warm." I politely warned.

"Must I wear so much? I feel great wearing just what I have on now. I'm not even wearing those annoying things I had to put on my lower extremities."

I looked at her legs and took notice their barren yet silky-smooth appearance. She admittedly has some nice legs, but the weather would not be so forgiving. "Where are your pantyhose?"

"I think something burned a hole or two in them yesterday." Probably her hair from her little episode. "So I threw them out and now you'll be taking me to get some more. I know it may be a bit tedious, but I am relying on you to aid me in this unusual endeavor."

Unusual is putting it mildly. "Okay. I probably should think about getting you some leggings as well. They're kinda like pantyhose, but some girls around the campus think they're a substitute for pants for some odd reason."

"That sounds like a fun idea!" She said cheerfully. "Introducing me to the fashion of youth."

"Oh no, you're not going anywhere wearing just leggings. It may sound fun but it's no fun when a bunch of guys can see what color your panties are." I argued strongly.

"Well guess as they may, I'm not wearing any."

...She's got on a fucking skirt that hems up to her knees with no panties to save her dignity or my life. God, if I could've known better, they had to have been sneaking around my porn folders on my computer because that was always my one fucking weakness in high school. I don't think my blood flow can handle all of this. "Why aren't you wearing panties?"

"Because they felt so constraining. And I understand that it covers up the intimate parts, but I'm not quite used to being hugged so tightly there. I'm sorry, Nondis, but many of your human customs are quite tedious for us ponies."

Dear fuck, I'm gonna bust a nosebleed. "Okay, how about we go get Twilight to help explain everything to you before we head out."

"Twilight said that she will be meeting up with us after she pays a visit to Canterlot to see Shining and Cadance off. At the speed she flies, she should be there in around forty-five minutes. By the time she finishes with her visit, she'll be with Cliff and Rickey."

...Well fuck. "So, you're telling me that she left you here alone?"

"Well you are my captain of the guard, so I will be entrusting you with my well-being as per your job description. I am certain that our time together will be without incident. So please treat me well."

Goddammit.

If it wasn't for the fact that Alex had made plans for a rental car to be provided on my behalf yesterday, I would've been on the receiving end of Mel's ire for letting Celestia leave the apartment dressed the way she did. But I still managed to politely scold her on the issue while enforcing that she should not be so careless with her public appearance. There might be situations that require her to perform various things like walking up stairs or running down the street if something were to happen, and the last thing that needs to happen is for her to fall and everything be shown to the world.

She disagreed with the concept vehemently, but was accepting of the circumstances regardless.

As requested, we went shopping for her new pantyhose and leggings. I couldn't quite buy her any panties because I didn't know her size. I followed it up by going out and getting us something to eat at a local IHOP. She enjoyed the food, but she had quite a few criticisms of the pancakes. I've also learned that she has one hell of an appetite, I swear I ordered just one plate of food for her and she was already in the menu discussing yet another item, and another, and another. So after paying for what could be considered a family of five, we rode to the frat house to meet up with Cliff and Rickey.

Celestia was pretty surprised to find the house branded with Greek letters. There were three guys talking on the front porch until they saw her step out of the car. The towering woman with her voluptuous features had the three students caught in headlights. Celestia waved hello to the men, getting a nod of the head from one and a southern wave in return from the others. On the way inside, I brought the pantyhose and the leggings with me. As we walked through the door, the three men were already climbing up the princess' exposed legs in between her thighs, their imaginations trailing towards sexual intent.

We walked through the main room, headed upstairs, and met up in Cliff's room. There Rickey and Cliff were busy talking shit at one another while the sounds of controllers rattling and clicking ceaselessly filled the room. "I oughta stomp your dumb ass."

"Man, fuck that shit you on. I'm up three. Just let me get this last one. Just let me get this last one. Pump some mean ass shells in your ass. They gonna start calling you big booty buckshot."

"Now I know you been coming in here hopping on the stick while I was in class, but this is my fucking game."

"And I'm whopping your ass in it." Rickey said as something akin to a shotgun sound blasted through the TV speakers. The screen got dark and claimed player two as the victor. "Game! These my sticks!"

"Man, fuck you!" Cliff hollered back slapping his hand against his leg. "One more, bet you ain't gonna beat me in that one."

"I beat you already, ten to six."

"I know you won't when I put five on it."

"Ten."

"Nigga, start this shit over. I'm finna get my Waffle House today."

Realizing the two were just beefing over the new Call of Duty that recently came out, I knocked on the wall and announced our appearance. "Brothers of the home, we have a distinguished guest with us today."

The two looked back and saw Celestia and quickly dropped their controllers and greeted her. "Madam princess, uh, I was not expecting you to be here." Cliff said with a light bow.

"Yeah, your room's a mess." Rickey joked as he squeamishly pulled a pair of dirty boxers off of the floor, causing Cliff to quickly grab it from him.

"I'm sorry if the place is a bit discombobulated, I wasn't expecting company." He said as he balled up his boxers and launched them across the room with a sloppy fadeaway jumpshot. "Kobe!"

The boxers landed squarely in the hamper as the princess applauded the man's accuracy. "Oh, how skilled of you. Perhaps I should give it a try?"

While I couldn't help but wince at the idea, Cliff merely opened up his dresser and tossed over a clean pair of ball-folded socks to her. "Sure, go for it."

While she was finding amusement in the seemingly mundane activity, I brought my attention to Rickey. "So apparently Twilight's gonna be coming through Cliff's mirror any moment now."

"Her too?" He asked curiously. "So what does she look like?"

The first reaction I had was a drop of my shoulders, my head falling back to look at the ceiling, and a sigh being followed with a head shake. "Sir... she's gonna make you mad."

"How mad you talking?"

Almost by a complete coincidence, the mirror in Cliff's closet glowed brightly and showed the younger princess emerging from her world.

"So... how do I look?" She asked.

Cliff and Rickey both turned their heads in pleasurable disgust as she held her miniature journal in her magical grip. Rickey groaned with subdued envy as Cliff dragged his eyes up and down her figure. "I know she's your ex and all... but she can get it."

"Oh yeah, she can get all of it." Rickey agreed strongly.

Meanwhile I was more upset over her current appearance more than I was at Cliff and Rickey. "Twilight, where's your bottom?"

She looked down at herself and realized that she was only half-dressed in comparison to her mentor. Twilight smiled sheepishly as she replied. "Oh, that. Well I kinda forgot to bring that with me. And you also offered me to one of your shirts last night. So I got a little curious when I woke up this morning and decided to see what I could pull off with one of your dress shirts in the closet. So here I am with your old shirt, one of the vests Rarity made for you, and a pair of underwear Mel picked out for me yesterday." She turned to me and lightly lifted her shirt as she revealed the pair of white lacy boyshorts. "So do you think these will catch?"

I quickly snatched the shirt over her new attire and gritted my teeth as I looked up to her. Already I could see the intent on her face when she smiled deviously at me. "You are a little too liberal, don't you think? Between you and Celestia, I'm not sure who's worse."

Celestia started to unzip her skirt as she spoke. "Twilight can borrow my bottom half until we get back to your apartment. Here, I'll─"

"You, wait." I quickly stopped her from doing so as I grabbed both Cliff and Rickey and pushed them out of the room. "You two, out."

"Can we settle this bet real quick?" Cliff suggested. "I'm kinda hungry."

"NOW!" I said shoving the two out of the room, following them myself. After getting them into the hallway, I fell to the ground, leaning back against the door holding my hands over my face. "Ugh... between Twilight trying to fucking tease me to death and Celestia wearing her commando badge, I don't know which is worse."

The two looked at me wildly while Rickey whispered. "Princess Celestia ain't got panties on?"

"She doesn't want them on, apparently." I complained quietly. "They're too constricting, it doesn't feel right, and she's apparently never wore anything of the sort throughout one thousand years of living. I just can't win with her."

Suddenly, the door I used to support my back was opened and I was sent tumbling into the room, looking between Celestia's legs as she looked down at me. Her skirt was partially zipped down but her lack of underwear still remained a prominent issue. "I know I can be a bit frustrating, Nondis. But it's just that I'm still getting used to this being human thing. I'm sorry if I seem a bit stubborn."

"Uh... yeah." I said with my eyes firmly locked on the prize.

"In between time, you walked off with the bag of items were were going to use. Could you give me those please."

With almost a robotic response, I gave her the bag of pantyhose and leggings. "Yeah."

"Just please be patient with me, Captain. I will try to do my best."

"Not a problem at all, ma'am."

When she stepped away, I finally lifted my head off of the ground and promptly threw my arms over my crotch to hide an ongrowing issue. Both Cliff and Rickey shared a muted laugh as I drummed my fingers on my leg. I gave a continuous nod as I pursed my lips.

"You good?" Cliff questioned, trying to suppress his laughter.

"...I should be the bigger man. I should be better than this. I should show a modicum of respect, dignity, reverence for the throne, and most importantly restraint."

Rickey, knowing what I was feeling, started to chuckle louder. "And?"

_{"...I'm might fuck the shit outta her."}

After about a half hour of my dick talking to me, the girls emerged from the room with their adjustments made. Cliff and Rickey were left to finish their wager match while the three of us ran back to the apartment to get Twilight's skirt since the one Celestia offered her was too big. When the two walked out, I could already how disgruntled Celestia was with having to wear the leggings and her skirt. And though I was personally a bit miffed at her complaint, I also had to keep in mind that the only clothing she wore on a daily basis was the golden breastplate, the crown, and her slippers. She didn't have to worry about throwing on a pair of panties, a shirt, some pants, a bra, and to be able to keep all of her hair out of place to do so, and then accommodate for the weather by dressing up even more. To a nudist, it would irk them to no end.

And of course, ponies usually didn't wear clothes.

It took a bit of convincing to get Celestia to wear her underwear again, mainly from Twilight. And with her former student giving her tips and pointers on behavior, it allowed me to relax for a change. Granted, Twilight still teased me with her outfit and how she wore it better than me. I didn't even argue with her over it, I'm more than convinced that she should keep the shirt and everything. The vest was from that first month when I arrived in Equestria, so I couldn't wear that without it feeling loose. At least with her it accentuated her curvature. So I wasn't gonna ask her to return that stuff to me, it's hers now.

A few minutes later, just as I was plotting how to meet up with dad, he called me and told me to come by the house today to check in with him and mom, and the thought of their reactions made me nervous on the way there. Each mile that passed, more and more I started to feel the butterflies churning around in my stomach. They damn near jumped in my throat when I pulled up to the house, causing me to lean against the top of the steering wheel.

"I swear I'm gonna puke." I muttered as I took several breaths to try and calm myself.

Celestia placed her hand on my shoulder and gave me words of encouragement. "I figured you were stronger than that. With all that you've experienced, I think you've gained the strength to see them face to face."

"It just feels like something bad is gonna happen." I replied, tapping my fingers on the wheel.

Twilight chimed in from behind me. "What's worse than you being put in a hospital and nearly dying?"

"Me having to tell them about it." I responded rather quickly. "I'm not sure if I can keep that story straight."

"Why not just tell them the truth?" Celestia questioned.

"Because dad might freak out and mom might not want to bake you a cake." I answered.

Celestia withdrew her hand and pondered the thought. "On second thought, that might be a bit harsh."

"But we're already here, so what do you want to tell them?" Twilight inquired.

I leaned back to my seat and closed my eyes to envision the scenario. "Okay, I said that I was in a hospital somewhere in New Mexico, now I don't have any documents to back this up, but I do have the stitches and scars."

"Including some bruises on your neck." Celestia added.

"Those bruises are from something else." Twilight meekly replied. "But either way, you are going to have to tell them the truth one day. I just don't understand why not now."

"Because I have to ease it on them." I answered while I continued to psych myself up. "I can't just walk in with you two and say 'I'm in the military in an alternate dimension, these two are my employers and this one is my girlfriend.' That's just too much to take in right now, they can't handle something like that. We have to take things slow, give them a chance to adapt. And then we can start talking about the magic and the ponies and stuff."

"I'm sure starting them off with you being an accomplished member of the military would be a great way to open up."

I took a heavy sigh and brought my head back on the steering wheel. "Not for mom, it is. Sure, you can rile up dad with the newfound knowledge that his son can fight, but not my mom. My dad is a religious zealot who only cares about seeing his sons walk the good path, my mom is the one who wants her sons to live a peaceful life away from drama and danger. Me dating a pony will trigger dad and my being a very literal soldier will set mom off. I have to find a balanced ground to keep them satisfied while giving them soft information. If anything, I plan on keeping the military thing in the hat until Thursday when we can all talk at the table."

"So basically you're setting up a negotiation." Celestia stated.

"Exactly. I want to set this up to where we can resolve some of the things we're dealing with that day. Warm them up a bit and it gives me an opportunity to formulate in my mind some method of approach, at least make it easier for me to explain it to them. Now we can't necessarily talk about the specifics like changelings and arimaspi, but we can keep it vague."

"That's awfully hard to do, don't you think?" Twilight questioned.

"Put it this way, it will give both of you time to talk to them and see what they're like in person. Likewise, it will give them the chance to open up a bit to you both. It's better that way."

"Well we'll have a whole two days to devote to setting the table for discussion. I'm with Nondis." Celestia said with a determined tone. "This is your world, these are your kin."

"Everything's up to you. We're following your lead." Twilight stated with a proud smile. "You've done things far bigger than what was expected of you and what you've expected out of yourself. I can safely conclude that you're going to do well."

Feeling the confidence radiate from the two women made me feel a bit of strength to move my head out of the steering wheel and plant my hand on the door. As I opened the door, the alarm softly dinged while I took my first step out of the car. "Okay, let's do it."

Twilight and Celestia followed suit and watched me lead them up the sidewalk, onto the porch, and waited patiently as I rung the doorbell. Next was the silence of the wait before my mother opened up the door to greet me. "Nondis!"

"Hey, ma." I chirped back before she hugged me tightly, rocking back and forth as she did. "Got that Thanksgiving grip grandma used to have, don't you?"

"Oh baby, I'm just happy to have you here with us." She answered sweetly. "Vanessa told us you were in the hospital and I couldn't bear to think that something terrible happened to you."

"Well I'm here, so it couldn't have been all that bad." I lied.

Finally, her attention was brought off of me to the two women standing behind me. "And oh my, who are your two friends?"

Twilight was the first to extend her hand as she spoke. "Hello, Mrs. Haines. I know you and I have never met and I wanted to meet you for so long. I'm Bella, Nondis talks about you so much. He truly loves rambling on about your cooking."

"Oh well it's nice to finally meet you, Bella. My son just raves about you." My mother replied as she returned the gesture with a hug and an air kiss on the cheek. "Now as for this lady here, you're quite tall."

Celestia proudly towered over her and extended her hand with a firm yet welcoming voice. "Mrs. Haines, consider it an honor to finally meet the mother of this wonderful young man. I am Celeste Delanise Valkyrie, his... business associate."

My mother's response to her was a bit gauged this time, just settling for a handshake. "Well Ms..."

"Celestia, you can just call me that." She said, causally dropping her regal name. "I have seen your son at work and I can say he is absolutely wonderful. If he weren't with this young lady over here, I'd be just right there to scoop him up!"

Mom didn't quite like her choice of words. "So you're apparently close with Nondis, then?"

"Just as associates, our relationship is strictly professional."

"Oh, well bless your heart, sweetie. Why don't you three come inside." Though Celestia didn't have the faintest knowledge of southern euphemisms, I knew then and there my mom was already keeping a sketchy eye on her. "Harold, we've got company!"

Again, Celestia spoke up. "Now is Harold your husband perchance?"

"Oh I love him to bits, can be a bit stubborn at times but he keeps the house on a solid foundation and he means well by me." Mom answered as she guided us to the dining room table. "You three go on and have a seat. Now is there anything you'd like?"

"You wouldn't happen to have some chamomile tea with a splice of ginger and milk, would you?" Celestia requested.

My mother looked at her with pursed lips, taping her fingers on the back of my chair as she sighed. "I can go in the kitchen and see if we have anything like that."

Mom walked out of the room and I was already feeling some bad vibes emanating from the kitchen. I quickly turned to Celestia and politely warned her. "I'm sorry, but she's not gonna have any of that. We live on the simple side here, always have. So requests like that kinda come off as a bit... you know."

"Oh." Twilight said as she looked at Celestia's slight signs of disapproval. "Well maybe we can go out and get some tea somewhere if you want."

"Right, there are some really nice places with tea downtown." I added. "Maybe I can take you to one of those places when we get done here. Or maybe I can treat you to some coffee."

"That sounds promising." Celestia replied before my mother called out from the kitchen.

"Sorry, hun! All we got is sweet tea, cola, coffee─"

"Do we have any creamer?" I asked politely.

"Hazelnut or caramel!?"

"Caramel!" I replied, looking at Celestia calmly wait at the table. I couldn't offer much of anything outside of a smile at that point. But I was already feeling bad about how this was going to pan out.

And I never thought I'd say this, but thankfully dad walked in the room. "Well, look who's out of the hospital."

I stood out of my seat and walked up to dad and hugged him. "Hey dad, how's it been?"

"I should be asking you that, son. You got some random scar on your face, looking like you've been in some serious stuff."

"I told you I was attacked by some crazy guy. I just had to fight him off." I vaguely replied.

My dad shook his head with disapproval. "Son, you know you've gotta do better in defending yourself. I'm glad you fought him off though, things like that tend to be the decider between life or death. Frankly I don't think your mother would like having to make funeral arrangements for you again."

"Again?" I asked curiously.

"Son, you went missing for nine months after your car went in the gulf. I'd like to think that would prompt some time for preparation for the worst. But since they didn't find a body, your mother and Mel insisted that they'd find you no matter what."

"I know that much. But still, they made preparations?"

"We already bought you a plot at Texas State Cemetery, nice place, glad we don't have to use it. And your mother was just fighting to tears that we didn't have to go get a headstone."

The conversation made me a bit uncomfortable, so I knew it already made the others feel completely mortified. "Well I'm here and you don't have to use it anytime soon. So would you like to finally meet Bella?" I asked, desperately trying to change the subject.

"Yeah." He said, eyeing Twilight. "So, you're that girl that's making my son disappear for time and a fifth?"

"I'm that girl, yes I am." She replied, standing up to greet him. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise. I thought my son was playing imaginary friends again like he did when he was younger."

I felt the crushing weight of embarrassment cause me to cringe strongly as I whispered to him. "Dad, not now."

"Oh, no point in denying it, sweetheart!" Mom called out from the kitchen. "You even named her Perdita, saying you'll marry her, and have lots and lots of kids with her! Remember when you tried to get Stanton to marry the two of you!?"

Oh God, she went THERE. "That was a strange time in my life."

"Hey Martha, remember when he got his first crush in fourth grade?"

"Oh goodness yes! He even kept a tiny little journal to write love poems about her. Puppy love is just the sweetest." She said as she walked in the room, several cups of coffee in hand.

"And don't forget his phase with Melanie." Dad added, causing me to drop my head to hide my blushing.

"Again, I'm so surprised that he found Bella before he came back to Melanie. That would've been the wedding right there." Mom added, causing me to groan with discomfort.

Celestia looked to me and grew intrigued. "My, I didn't know you and Melanie were so close."

"Oh they were." Mom answered. "They did everything together, sleepovers, hanging out at the movies, going to parties, touring the mall, for the longest time my husband and I thought those two were dating."

"Don't we still have their prom pictures?" Dad asked.

"Yes! They looked so lovely together. I was already made up in my mind saying those two would just be perfect for each other until sometime after prom."

The two became a bit silent after that as they looked towards me. I couldn't say much either because I knew what all happened in that one week time frame. I just closed my eyes and took appreciation that Mel's dad dared to let some hormone-driven teenage boy into his house to stay for the night. But the strangest thing was that Twilight seemed like she shared the mood with the three of us, almost like she knew. But Celestia broke the silence by asking my dad a question. "So how long has your son and Melanie been knowing each other?"

"Years!" He answered emphatically. "I watched him and her go back and forth in their friendship for well over seven years. So when she heard that Nondis disappeared, she took it real personal."

"Poor thing couldn't stop crying that first day." Mom added.

"You wouldn't stop going to church for daily prayer for months." Dad replied.

Mom sat at the table as she started to nurse her cup of coffee. "Well those days are gone now. And now we get to see our son happy with someone new. Should be a fun experience in getting to know you, Bella."

"I consider it the highest honor to be welcomed in someone's home." Twilight answered humbly. "Though I hate to say that my parents got the first honor of meeting him before I got to meet you."

"Oh we're old-fashioned, sweetheart. A young man meeting the parents of his date should always be the top of the list. No sense in getting interested if you're not gonna get to know her family. It's just courtesy, and I'm glad to know that our son takes that practice to heart." Mom replied, giving me a light pet on the arm.

"Now as for this lady here, who's she?" Dad questioned.

Twilight politely stood up to introduce her mentor to my dad. "Mr. Haines, this is Celestia, she happens to be Nondis' business associate and she's also my godmother."

Touched by Twilight's description, Celestia couldn't help but to stand and praise her former student. "I am so honored every time you say that."

Dad found himself looking up to the shapely woman and grunted as he walked over to me. "Now son, you know you can't have both."

"DAD." I stressed through clenched teeth.

"Come on now, you know I'm just having a bit of fun at your expense." Even though you've been doing that ever since I got here.

Mom's tone changed a bit in hearing Twilight refer her as a godmother. "Well I'm sure that miss Celestia can share a story or two about her lovely godchild here. But I swear we're not going to put her through the fire just yet."

"Well I'm certainly glad to know that you're interested in sharing stories." Celestia said, causing Twilight to blush a little and hide her face. "I have several of my own, though of course none could compare to having an imaginary bride." She said while giving me a wink.

I couldn't do anything but drop my head on the table. "Why are y'all talking about this?"

Twilight walked over and hugged me from behind as she whispered in my ear. "It's okay, you know how bad my mom can get too."

Don't I, really? "I wish I could just poof out of this room."

"Sorry, no magic allowed." She said softly. "But if it makes you feel any better, at least they're not as aggressive as you made them out to be."

"Just wait, it always comes out later." I replied as I raised my head from the table. "Well I'm safe and sound, so I guess that answers your question."

Dad chuckled and smiled while he walked around to intentionally block the doorway. "Now hold on, we still have a lot more to ask about your business."

Celestia quickly intervened with a response. "He's a guard. Most of his duties are often in the realm of security. So he is usually busy dealing with a lot of unsavory elements that come roaming by. I can vouch for him when I say that his job is often safe and nothing outside of the realm of managing safety."

That was nothing short of a huge lie, but I never took any ruler as one for complete honesty, there's no such thing and I'm sure that she even has secrets. Thankfully, she's also in my corner. "Yeah, anything that happens is usually a one in twenty."

Dad's eyes cut directly to Celestia as he asked her. "So where does he work exactly?"

I then intervened. "I told you I work at a club, dad. Why you gotta grill her over something I─"

"Because I know you, son. And you lie often." He answered strictly, turning his attention back to the princess. "So, what's the name of this club?"

"It's a place called Canterlot." She said, name-dropping the actual capital of the realm.

"It's like a play on Camelot, the legend of King Arthur's castle and how in his new youth drew the sword from the stone and became the ruler of men, had this round table where all of his fabled knights sat and discussed finding the holy grail, the affair between his wife and his most trusted knight Lancelot." I explained, yet to no avail of drawing my dad's impatience. Meanwhile the two princesses turned directly to me with interest. "And it's a portmanteau of that and the word canter, which is like something to do with galloping and horses. Therefore it's like a... horse kingdom... theme... thing."

Dad blinked for a moment before he refocused his attention. "Okay, now let's talk about where this club is located."

I once again took the question from Celestia and elaborated on my lie. "It's a club in a rural area. Of course it just got started so you've probably never heard of it. Horseshoes, country music, bunch of farmers looking to have a good time outside of what they do in the day. Some square dancing, some country clubbing, some rock, some hip-hop surprisingly, and blues. Hard-working folks come in from all over to just take a load off."

Twilight then brought us off topic. "Yeah. Now of course we're not from around here, so many of your customs are pretty new to us. We're from another country, maybe you can fill us in on a few of the things Thanksgiving is all about." Though her intentions meant well, it only made our situation a bit harder to mask.

"Well what part of the globe are you from?" Mom asked. "You speak perfect English and you don't have no funny accents."

That was exactly why our situation became even harder to get out of. Twilight laughed nervously as she tried to explain herself. "We're from the northern country. And even though our religious─"

"They're Jehovah's Witnesses." I jumped in to explain before Twilight dug us a deeper hole. "They don't really celebrate holidays as per their religion, but they are willing to extend their arms to join with us this year. This is their first year celebrating so I wanted it to be special. Of course her parents couldn't join us because... devout followers. But Twi-Bella is actually just like me in trying to explore the world, before we make that grand conclusion of where we want to go in terms of faith."

"Funny, I never thought I'd see a Jehovah's Witness partake in a club." Mom said with growing suspicions. "Now y'all aren't the type to be knocking on people's doors asking folks to join your little thing, right?"

Twilight looked around nervously as she answered her question. "Of course not, that wouldn't be considerate of others, now would it?"

"And your parents are?" She asked again.

"My mother can be a bit bullish in greeting others, but I can be certain that she will not take much issue in giving you any privacy." Twilight explained.

Dad sighed in relief. "Oh thank goodness, the last thing we need is our son to be one of those door-to-door salesman of some cult religion." Even though you are a practitioner of that same yet expanded religion, good job pointing out your hypocrisy, dad.

"Now as for me, I don't really have a religion per se. But I am open to practice if it would make you comfortable. I am willing to respect anyone's beliefs without challenging them." Celestia said, trying to be as neutral as possible to the sensitive subject.

"Does that mean you practice Islam?" Dad asked ignorantly.

Celestia calmly answered him. "Islam is not a practice I have ever made an attempt to perform in, but if it is respectful to the host, regardless to the religion, then I can only oblige myself to respect it." That was probably the best non-answer I've ever heard.

Dad replied with a welcome, a strict one. "Well round here, we're church goers. Nondis might be caught up in the world right now and Stanton's got a life of mischief going on, but I can assure you that they'll come around someday. Now if you'd be willing to come on by to pay our little house of worship a visit, we'd be more than accommodating to bring you into the fold. Any little bit to get you on the guiding light, then we can make room."

Huh, this is probably the most democratic thing dad's ever said. Usually he's hardcore christian with a few swearwords to run a small ship, but he's seemingly gotten better at it. Still, I had to be careful. "Well, I know it's still kinda early, but Bella and I were going to have a day out with some friends. And I kinda made a promise that we'd be by sometime within the next half-hour. And that's if the traffic is nice to us."

"No, you sit down." Dad once again broke any chance of me leaving on any high note. He turned to Celestia and asked me in a stern manner. "Now, this attractive young lady here is by the name of Celestia, right?"

Yeah, young. She's well over a thousand some-odd years young. Dad if you knew... "Yes." She answered for me.

"So if I am correct, you were at the hospital when my son was injured, right? Or should I call you Princess?"

...Just how fucking much did you tell them, Vanessa!?

The board is set, the pieces are moving. We have come to it at last. The ruler of a nation, the masters of the house, differences on many proportions. Finally, they come together and settle their doubts. Or do they pick at the scabs of old to reopen wounds?

So Rarity and Nondis have been poking around, it seems like he's been getting more and more excited to spend time with her. But just as that flood of emotions starts to fill the void, the flame that was set aside reignites with a hope of trying to proving itself. Nondis knows she's more than what she's advertising herself to be and he knows there's something within him who will be more than willing to take a chance on that. But he also knows that he just had someone nights prior.

But when the flesh resembles his own, and the new faces with familiar personalities comes around to impress even his most perverse desires, he starts to let his imagination run free and his sexuality starts to take the wheel more often. So frequently, the mind will dream of satiating the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the body. Old habits die hard, or they can be killed quite easily.

That choice is his own, but his destiny is already written.

And on that note, I'll see you next chapter if you'd be willing to stay around. Once again, I thank you for joining with me over the course of these past four years... still processing that part.