Nights were I had guests were in no way rare, Luna and Tia saw to that with their, at points seemingly random, visits. However larger gatherings were another thing all together. While I did enjoy to invite friends to my apartment back on earth I had yet to do so in Equestria. My first Nightmare night was incidently the first time I hosted such an event in Equestria and while it turned out fine (mostly), it gave me a lot of things to work on for my next one. But I guess I’ll shut myself up now as I seem to be focusing too much on the small things.

Luna’s steps held a certain springy quality to them as she walked down the dirt path leading to Cloud’s strange floating island home, but who could really blame her for her mirth? After all this Nightmare night had gone off without a hitch and now she was going to spend the rest of the evening among close friends. Speaking of friends, a small entourage of said friends followed closely behind her, chatting happily with one another about what they had done so far this evening and what they were looking forward to at Cloud’s place. I must tell him that this gathering was an excellent idea. She thought as Twilight walked up beside her.

“So not to be pushy or anything but are you sure that Cloud hasn’t said anything about what he has planned for tonight?” the younger alicorn asked for what had to be the third time this night.

Rolling her eyes slightly Luna prepared to answer. “Twilight, just relax it will be just fine. If I know Cloud it’s probably going to be something along the lines of dinner followed by mingling with friends,” she told her friend.

“I am relaxed. It’s just that… Well… Cloud has a tendency to do things you don’t expect him to,” Twilight finished lamely, causing Luna to chuckle.

“Alright I’ll concede that point to you, but that being said I’m sure that there will be no strange surprises waiting for us this evening. My sister said that she’d swing by at some point as well so that’s another point in favor of this gathering being normal,” Luna stated calmly.

Luna never saw that the purple alicorn now looked more worried than ever due to a certain pink pony, currently dressed as a llama, came bouncing in between her and Twilight.

“Guys this is going to be so much fun! It’s so rare that I’m the one invited to a party and not being the inviterer. Just think about how much time I would save if I could just somehow make ponies plan parties themselves. But wait… that would mean that I wouldn’t to plan any parties and that would be sad. Perhaps I should…” Luna tuned out Pinkie’s high speed chatter to throw a glance at Twilight who offered her a sheepish expression that Luna only responded to with small amused smile before tuning Pinkie back in. “…or wait was it the other way around? Either way were here!” Pinkie announced cheerfully.

Strangely enough it seemed that the pink pony was indeed correct, which seemed strange to Luna as she could’ve sworn that they had at least five more minutes of walking before Pinkie had shown up. She opened her mouth to ask the smiling pink mare how this was possible when she caught sight of Twilight shaking her head violently on the other side of Pinkie.

Putting her previously intended question on ice she made a motion with a hoof towards the floating island. “Okay then, let’s head inside,”

Her suggestion was met with a chorus of “yeahs” and “alrights” from the ponies around her. Well almost everypony responded that way, the red unicorn stallion that had introduced himself as Swiftmend instead muttered something silently under his breath. Something that was almost too quiet to hear but Luna managed to catch the tail end of it. “…of course he lives on a damned floating island! Why didn’t I notice that there was a damned floating island last time?” He complained almost theatrically. Luna felt an amused smile tease her muzzle as she glimpsed a tiny bit of how this pony had become friends with Cloud, their personalities seemed similar to a degree.

Her smile only grew when she climbed the floating rocks that acted as a set of stairs and beheld the Nightmare night decorations Cloud had put in place on his island. Lining the walkway up to the door were jack-o-lanterns expertly carved into frightening and silly expression, courtesy of the Rustfeather family. Then came the house itself, fake cobwebs were scattered around the building and partial illusion magic gave the house a slightly abandoned feel with boarded up windows that only let out slivers of the light inside. Centerpiece had to be the entrance though as it was framed by a pair of rusty old lanterns that burned with an eerie purple flame. He really went all out with the reception for this get-together, a shame that he didn’t want to share this with more ponies. Luna both praised and sighed at her stubborn friend. Walking up to the door she quickly found that she had left most of the others behind as they stopped on occasion to admire the many of the more unique jack-o-lanterns that were on display.

Well if I hadn’t seen the Rustfeather family work on these yesterday I too would’ve probably wanted to spend some time admiring them. She thought before turning her attention towards the lanterns that hung by the door, the most glaring feature being the fact that their light made her not cast a shadow. Strange, I can’t recall Cloud having mentioned that he knew somepony skilled enough with illusion magic to pull something like this off. Besides myself, my sister and Twilight of course. She thought as she threw a glance back towards toward Twilight who was studying a silly looking jack-o-lantern with square eyes and a square frowny face. I wonder who did these illusion spells? It can’t be Twilight as she has been with me since the opening event. She pondered as the others slowly made their way up the path.

Eventually though everypony had had their fill of admiring the lanterns and had gathered outside the door. Thus Luna raised a hoof a knocked on the door and soon enough soft footfalls could be heard before the door swung open to reveal a smiling Cloud.

“Ah you guys are finally here, well don’t just stand come on in,” he greeted them, stepping to the side to allow them past him.

Returning his smile Luna stayed on the porch as the other guests went past her and into Cloud’s home. “Thank you for inviting us all this evening Cloud,” Luna said as she too stepped past him after the others had entered.

“Eh, think nothing of it Luna, it’s just my way of giving back a little of all I’ve received since I came back,” he told her, shrugging his wings to emphasize his point.

“Ah, yes… well a thank you is always nice, isn’t it?” she asked somewhat derailed from her original greeting.

“Well that’s true enough, guess I’ll just say you’re welcome,” he agreed, starting to move further inside his home.

Taking the cue to follow him she walked up beside him, while silently marveling at the Nightmare night decorations that had been put up on the inside. “So what do you have planned for tonight?” she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“Well, I have a movie that I planned on showing sometime during the evening, I think you’ll like it. Other than that I have-” he began but was interrupted as a voice Luna knew very well called out from the direction of Cloud’s kitchen.

“Cloud?! I think there’s something wrong with this frying pan!” her sister’s slightly frustrated voice rang out, making Luna’s eyes widen in fear.

No, no, no! Not again, I’m not dealing with another one of Tia’s kitchen incidents! Luna cried out mentally as her smile rapidly turned into a stale version of the one she previously wore. Had it been a onetime thing it wouldn’t have been so bad, but her sisters ‘many’ attempts at using the castle kitchens after Cloud’s return had turned into a thing of nightmares for Luna. She had witnessed the destruction wrought by her sister firsthand a couple of times. I mean who manages to turn potato soup into a light sedative? And it wasn’t like the chefs dared to complain about it to Celestia either. No, all that was dumped on Luna.

“We demand that you talk to your sister about this otherwise well quit or at the very least go on a strike until our workspace environment is considered safe by the Equestrian Health Board Organization again.” The head chef had demanded about two weeks ago.

She was so lost in her self-induced terror that she didn’t notice that Cloud had left her, heading for the kitchen. In fact she might’ve been mumbling about “all the paperwork” she was going to be forced to do. It wasn’t until her sister stepped into her field of view that she snapped back to reality. “Oh hello sister, it’s so nice to see you here finally,” Celestia said cheerfully, giving her sister a quick hug.

Well she’s practically glowing. Luna thought, slightly bewildered at her sisters mirth. “It’s nice to see you too sister, but I didn’t think you were going to come here this early,” Luna replied carefully.

“I was growing so incredibly bored back at the castle so I decided to drop in early and help Cloud with decorations and other things,” her sister quickly explained.

That explains the expert spell work on the illusions outside. Luna thought. “I see, well I’m going to go talk a bit more with Cloud then,” she resisted the urge to inquire further.

Celestia nodded in response. “Okay, I think I’ll go and have a quick chat with Twilight,” she mentioned before walking off towards her former student.

I wonder where she got that Wonderbolt uniform? Luna wondered absentmindedly as she walked towards the kitchen where she assumed Cloud still was.

Much like she had thought she found Cloud in his kitchen, the smell of cooking food filling the air with a pleasant aroma. For a few moments she just observed him as he worked, stopping occasionally to take a sip from a glass with some sort of pale amber liquid in it. Her presence was soon discovered by Cloud though as he threw a glance around the kitchen seemingly looking for something.

“Ah, hi again Luna. Did you need something?” he greeted her.

“No, I was actually going to ask you the same thing,” she leaned casually on the doorframe.

Cloud waved off her offer for help with one of his hands. “Naa, everything is under control here. The food should be done in about five or so. You could help get everything over to the table once it’s done though,” he elaborated, turning back to stir the contents of one of the pans.

“Okay I’ll guess I’ll just keep you company until then,” she walked into the kitchen proper, sitting down in a spot where she wouldn’t be in Cloud’s way.

“Sure, that sounds like a plan. Oh yeah, grab a drink if you want one,” he answered, motioning towards an assortment of bottles and two punch bowls further down the kitchen counter.

A drink would be nice. She thought as she walked over to one of the punch bowls. The liquid inside held a sickly green color but despite how it looked it gave off a cool scent melon with a hint of lime as well as another scent she couldn’t quite place. Cloud won’t serve anything dangerous. She thought with a slight shrug of her wings. So she lit up her horn and grabbed one of the cups by the bowl and used the ladle in the bowl to fill it. Taking a big gulp the cool liquid washed over her tongue carrying a pleasant taste of the melons and lime she had identified earlier, but what she hadn’t been prepared for was the sharp taste and accompanying burn of alcohol. She coughed as she the mouthful of punch almost went down the wrong pipe, catching Cloud’s attention.

He rushed over to carefully rub her back in an attempt to ease her coughing. “Sorry Luna, I should’ve mentioned that everything to the left of, including the green punchbowl, are alcoholic in nature,” he apologized sheepishly.

She coughed a few more times before she felt that she had recovered enough to speak. “No harm done, but I agree that a warning would’ve been nice,” she agreed with him before taking another sip from the cup, this one being smaller than the first now that she knew what to expect.

“Aight, well food is about done so let’s get all this onto serving plates and then onto the table,” Cloud motioned with a hand towards the food still on the stove.

Nodding in response Luna took one more sip from her cup before setting it aside to assist her friend with the food. That punch isn’t bad, a bit more alcohol than I would’ve normally liked but it definitely isn’t bad. She thought as she moved plates covered with mouthwatering food in her aura over to the dining room table. Finally she helped Cloud move all the beverages to a smaller table that would serve as a self-serving station for the evening, Cloud taking her suggestion from earlier to heart by informing the others of which drinks where alcoholic and those that weren’t. With those tasks completed she soon found herself seated with Twilight to her left and the only griffin for the evening, Gilda, to her right at the dining table.

Dinner went came and went in a flash it seemed and now I found myself in my living room talking to Applejack who had dressed up as pear due to a dare from her younger sister. In fact most of my guests were dressed up as something as it was part of the Nightmare night tradition. The only exception was Swiftmend that had come here almost directly from work, but to be honest I was just glad that he had come at all. Speaking of Swiftmend, he was currently chatting with Gilda that surprisingly had taken to him faster than any other pony I’d seen her talk to. The only guests that weren’t here that I had invited were Berry and her husband and of course Fluttershy, Ranger and Stella. The three latter either participating or watching over a large sleepover party for most of Ponyville’s younger individuals.

A question from Applejack brought me back from my thoughts and to my conversation with her. “Say, Cloud why didn’ ya tell me that ya were plannin’ ta serve alcohol? Ah’ could’ve brought some of mah’ cider,” she said before taking a swig from a bottle. One of the Minos ale ones if I didn’t misread the partially covered label.

I shrugged my wings slightly. “To be honest AJ, I had no idea that you even produced alcoholic beverages on the farm,” I told her taking a swig from a bottle of my own.

“Well next time make sure ya ask at least,” she insisted, pausing to take another drink. “This is good stuff though, were did ya get it?” she asked, not even slurring her words after what had to be her fourth bottle after what she drank at dinner.

“Can’t be sure without seeing the label properly but if I had to guess I’d say it’s one of the bottles with Minos ale,” I told her. Applejack quickly moved the bottle in her hoof so more of the label became visible before holding it out so that I could see it more clearly. “Aye that’s a Minos ale,” I confirmed as the minotaur head on the label now had become fully visible.

“Well then, ya gotta tell me next time ya plan ta’ order more of these and I’ll happily pay ya to order a few extra for me,” she smiled. I didn’t have time to reply though as the otherwise calm atmosphere of the party was interrupted by a loud and very slurred shout.

“Pinkiii youu are my beshtest friendsh!” a certain rainbow maned pegasus cried out.

“And yoou arr my beshtest friensh!” Pinkie answered before the two of them slammed into each other with a powerful bear hug.

I resisted the urge to facepalm since this was the third outburst from the energetic duo this evening. And what irked me was that it was something that I should’ve been able to anticipate. Instead I had completely overlooked the fact that I knew nothing about how most of my friends reacted to alcohol. The only pony that I had any previous knowledge of when it came to alcohol was Tia, and by the looks of things Rainbow and Pinkie fell into same weight class as here when it came to tolerance. Then there were the ponies who handled their liquor as well as Applejack did, and were barely affected but still drank responsibly. Surprisingly Rarity fell into this category as well as the two bat ponies. The third category was Swiftmend and Twilight who had simply had a single cup of punch and some wine for the meal and had gone with the alcohol free options after that, a decision that I respected. With a sigh I threw a glance at the still hugging Pinkie and Rainbow. At least they’re not crying this time. I thought to myself.

“Tell you what Jackie, remind me tomorrow about the ale and I’ll make a note of it. For now though I think I’ll have to go and ban Pinkie and Rainbow from drinking anymore beverages with alcohol tonight,” I told my conversation partner.

Applejack chuckled. “Yeah, good luck with that. And Jackie? Never had that as a nickname before,” she kept her smile though, a good sign that she didn’t disapprove of the nickname.

I shot her a quick grin. “Well first time for everything, right?” I gave her a lazy two finger salute before walking off towards Pinkie and Rainbow.

When I came within hearing distance I picked up on the fact that the two were holding a conversation but I was hesitant to call it that. Due to their intoxication I had no way of following what was being said, it was just a mish mash of slurred words. Yep definitely time to cut them off from more alcohol tonight. I affirmed before clearing my throat to catch their attention.

“Hii Cloud, naysh party,” Pinkie slurred, holding out an almost empty cup of punch towards me.

“Thank you. Now I’m glad that the two of you are enjoying the party but I think that you’ve had enough to drink for the night,” I informed them bluntly, keeping my tone as neutral as possible. It was better to get the message across cleanly after all, without any sugar coating that could be misinterpreted.

Rainbow, who seemingly hadn’t realized that I was there until I spoke pointed angrily with a hoof at me. “You caan’t tell me when I’ve haad enouf!” she near shouted. Well to be fair she was pointing and looking into empty space to the right of me before promptly losing her balance, falling flat on her face.

“Ouuch,” She moaned as she slowly got back up to sit on her haunches. Her eyes found me again and reacted as if I had just arrived. “Oh hello Cloyd, naysh party but there’sh shomthing wrong with yoor floor. It keepsh moving for shome reashon,” she complained.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, this was going to take a while.

“For the fourth time, you can have as much of the non-alcoholic punch as you want but you’ve had too much of the spiked one already,” a tired sounding Cloud explained.

“I’m totally fire,” Laughter declared loudly.

“Do you mean fine? ‘Cause you aren’t,” Cloud rolled his eyes.

“That’sh what I shed,” Laughter said waving a hoof dismissively. “Look I can even shtand on two legsh,” she continued.

“You’re sitting down and just put your fore hooves on Rainbow’s head,” Cloud deadpanned.

“Did not!” Laughter shot back.

Star Spark snickered as she watched Cloud argue with the element of Loyalty and Laughter, well mostly Laughter at this point as Loyalty seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep where she sat.

“What’cha doin’?” Gilda asked, as she appeared to her left.

“Eh, just watching Cloud fight a losing battle for once,” she said, reaching out with a wing to grab a bowl of chips from a nearby table.

The griffin tilted her head in confusion. “Why ish he fighting Rainbow and the pink one?”

Star let out a chuckle as Cloud failed to stop Laughter from getting around him to refill her cup with more punch. “Well, he isn’t really fighting them per say but he’s trying to limit their alcohol consumption for the night,”

“Ah, that makesh sense. Probably a good idea too I notished Dash and the pink one were light weights,” Gilda nodded, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was well on her way to suffer the same fate as the two element bearers.

Instead of pointing that out Star just took a sip from her own cup of punch, enjoying mix of tastes for a moment before swallowing. Meanwhile Cloud had managed to get Laughter to surrender her current cup of punch to him by offering her ice cream as a trade. Although as he turned around to head out to the kitchen Laughter seemed to have forgotten about the promise she had just made and went to get another cup of punch, causing Star to snort with laughter.

“You seem to be having fun,” Longshot remarked from her right as he suddenly appeared.

She made an effort to stop giggling. “Well yeah, it’s almost like a comedy act except there’s no script. Good timing on your part though, here watch my drink for me,”

Longshot raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because I don’t want to bring it with me when use the filly’s room and my bladder is about to burst,” She explained patiently.

Longshot sighed. “Alright I didn’t need to know that, just get going already,”

She shot him a smirk before trotting off with slightly hurried steps towards Cloud’s bathroom. It seemed that lady luck was with her as the bathroom wasn’t occupied when she got there, so without wasting any time she got inside and locked the door. She walked over to the porcelain chair Cloud used as a toilet but stopped after only a few steps, there was something off in this room. She couldn’t place her hoof on what it was but something that felt strange, like an itch she couldn’t scratch or perhaps a scent she couldn’t place… Star froze in place before carefully smelling the air, there was a hint of sweat but also something else. Now intrigued she walked around the bathroom, trying to find the source of the strange scent. Ultimately she came to a pause beside a piece of cloth that seemed to have been left haphazardly in a corner of the bathroom. The smell was stronger here but from where she recognized it still eluded her, sitting down she picked it up to inspect what it was. Oh this is one of those clothing articles that Cloud wears. She realized as the crumpled tank-top hung from her hoof. But what is this scent? I feel that it’s familiar somehow almost like waking up after the day your hea-

Star Spark’s eyes widened as her mind finally connected the dots. Okay, okay, Star you got this. No need to overreact, you just learnt that your alien friend is dicking one of the princesses. This is a completely normal scenario, actually wait… This is completely normal for Equestria. Her mind raged before settling down slightly. But wait does Luna know about this? Would she approve of this? Should I keep this a secret to help Cloud? This doesn’t fall under the princess’s personal safety, right? Her mind started up again.

More questions kept joining the first batch until she felt that the only way to get something done was to get somepony to help her. She spared a few moments to use the bathroom, as that had been her original goal, before hurrying back over to where Longshot was still waiting with her drink.

He raised a hoof to greet her. “Hey, what took you so lo-”

“No time, I need you to come with me to the bathroom,” she interrupted him.

Longshot didn’t move an inch though. Instead he just raised an eyebrow. “Star I respect you as a colleague but I don’t like you that way. Do I have to remind you that I have a wife and two little fillies that I love very much in Canterlot?”

Star groaned. “Okay that sounded bad but this is important, now come on,”

For a few seconds Longshot did nothing but study her. “Alright fine, but if this turns out to be one of your weird schemes I’m out,” he said before standing up to follow her.

Star hurried over to the bathroom again as fast as she could while remaining inconspicuous, Longshot in tow although much less hurried. Once inside she darted over to the discarded article and grabbed it.

“Here smell this,” she told Longshot, holding out the item towards him.

“Okay, I’m out I’m not dealing with your conspiracy crap and I’m definitely not getting drugged tonight,” he declared, turning around to leave.

“Wait! It’s no conspiracy this time nor is this drugged I promise!” she cried out, making him pause.

He gave her a tired look. “Really? ‘Cause I’m just waiting for you to ask if that rag smells like chloroform,”

“That was one time! And for the record how was I supposed to know that it actually was chloroform?” she defended herself.

“Oh I don’t know, the fact that the mare whose apartment we were searching was part of a pony trafficking group perhaps?” he deadpanned.

She winced before offering him a sheepish smile. “Err, I forgot about that part. But I promise you that it isn’t like that this time,”

“Fine, fine, I’ll smell the Luna damned rag,” Longshot bent forward to take a whiff.

He stood there pondering for a few seconds. “You know that almost smells like a mare when she-” He began, pausing as part of the truth seemed to strike him like a bolt of lightning. “Oh for buck’s sake Star! I don’t want to know that you want to get laid!” he complained loudly.

Reacting to his outburst Star desperately tried to make him quiet down. “It’s not mine so calm down already,” she hissed at him.

Longshot slowly put a hoof and pinched a spot between his muzzle and his eyes, a gesture he had picked up from Cloud when he was feeling exasperated. “And just who does that smell belong to if it’s not yours?”

She put the article down again. “It was already here when I went to take my leak. Seeing how this belongs to Cloud I think the smell is from princess Celestia,” she explained quickly, starting to feel a bit excitement bubble up to the surface.

Longshot did not seem to share her enthusiasm. “Oh for the love of… I’m afraid to ask and I implore you to answer carefully as it’s going to determine what I do next, but what are you implying that we should do?”

“Isn’t obvious we need to make sure princess Luna doesn’t find out,” she declared dramatically.

“That’s it I’ve had with your crazy ideas of intrigue and deception, I’m out,” Longshot turned on the spot and started to walk out of the bathroom.

“Loooong, come oooon,” she called after him.

He stopped and turned his head to look at her. “No, all three of them are adults and can handle all that on their own, further more I’m quite sure that the princesses discuss these things among each other,”

Star inhaled and raised a hoof. “And no before you even ask I don’t want to try and find out if the princesses actually do talk about those things,” He shot her down before walking out of the bathroom.

“Well he’s no fun…” she muttered, her initial near panic attack all but forgotten.

“Eh, guess I’ll go and chat a bit with that good looking red unicorn doctor,”

He had to admit that this small gathering of Stormcloud’s had surpassed the expectations that he had had. Then again his expectations of most things hadn’t been that high the past few years as he had buried himself in his studies to finish his doctors’ degree. Now that he was done with that though he felt ready to tackle the world again, one thing at a time. Of course he would prefer if he could do so without getting caught up in some weird adventure again. But as it seemed like this was actually just a party and not some front for another world spanning catastrophe strategy meeting he started to actually enjoy the relaxed atmosphere.

First he had just kept a rather standard conversation with Gilda, regarding their mutual interest in keeping their information on Storm synced. They’d surely need it someday, not that they knew the reason but it felt good to have somepony, or somegriff in this case, that understood how hard it could be to cope with all the crazy that followed Storm.

So far though the longest discussion he had held was with the newly crowned princess Sparkle regarding the reference literature he had used when he wrote his doctorate. While it had been an interesting conversation most of his focus had been on the fact that she seemed so normal, actually all of the princesses seemed to be just like normal ponies. Well, you had to disregard the horn and wings combo but other than that they mingled pretty easily with the small crowd. His conversation had come to an end when princess Sparkle had been called away by the orange earth pony mare, Applejack he thought her name was.

Now having a moment to himself he used it to study the other party guests. Storm seemed to be stuck in an argument of some kind with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash two of the more vocal members of Ponyville, something that definitely showed in their interactions with Storm. On the other side of the room was one of the bat pony guards who was observing Storm’s struggle together with Gilda and a bit to their left was the other bat pony who was currently munching on some of the snacks that had been brought out after dinner. Then there was princess Celestia who was chatting with the white unicorn who held the element of generosity, although he couldn’t recall her name at all. That leaves-

“Quite a nice gathering, isn’t it?” a pleasantly cool voice called out from behind him, interrupting his crowd gazing.

Hiding the fact that he had been startled by her sudden appearance he turned to face the alicorn of the night herself. “Quite pleasant indeed princess Luna. Is there anything I can do for you?”

The princess seemed to observe him carefully as if trying to figure his very identity. “Hmm, you carry yourself well even though you were startled just now,”

He opened his mouth to speak but the princess continued before he could utter any sound. “There’s no need to be alarmed Dr. Swiftmend, I’m simply curious as to what type of pony you are and how you got to know Cloud,”

He exhaled when he heard her calm tone. “I’d say that I’m just like any other pony out there but I have a feeling that you know more about me than you’re letting on,”

“Very perceptive of you, this is good. Let’s just drop all pretenses shall we?” she said approvingly.

He met her gaze before answering. “What do you want to know?”

“It’s not as much to know as it is for you to confirm something for me, to fill in a missing piece of a puzzle if you will,” She elaborated before posing her question. “During Cloud’s first visit to Equestria he ran into a unicorn that helped him on different occasions, are you this unicorn?”

So Storm actually kept my name from the princesses? Crazy bastard. He thought but a small smile had found itself onto his muzzle. “Yeah, I’m the unicorn that helped Storm from time to time and also the one that helped him prepare the spell that ultimately brought him back to his home,” he declared, surprised at the fact that his voice didn’t waver but more so at the hint of anger that had crept in to it.

The princess held up a hoof. “Peace Dr. Swiftmend, peace. I’m not here to point blame at anypony, I simply wanted to satisfy my curiosity. What’s more I wanted to try and get to know you actually since Cloud seems to trust you completely,”

That made him pause. Stormcloud trusts me that much? “I don’t know how to respond to that princess,”

The princess winced slightly. “I guess I should’ve added that we should drop all titles as well to keep this conversation less formal. It’s my mistake for not saying anything earlier but I’d like it you simply called me Luna here,”

“Alright, I’ll try to keep that in mind. May I ask why though?” he asked, feeling genuinely curious.

Luna gave a wistful smile. “It’s quite simple really, here in Cloud’s home it feels like everyone are considered to be equals regardless of background. It is refreshing to have such a haven to retreat to when you just want someone to talk to without titles or proper decorum to get in the way. A place to drop all the masks one wears if you may,” she finished with a knowing smile.

Alright, Storm may not have told them my name but he definitely filled them in on the similarities between us. It’s either that or Luna is scary perceptive. He thought before sighing. “Okay, you win. I’ll drop my defenses and enjoy the evening, that’s what you were aiming for all this time wasn’t it?”

Luna adopted a confused expression. “No, this wasn’t what’s normally called ice-cracker conversation?”

Swiftmend felt his eyes widen and his mouth fall open slightly before he caught himself. “I think the term you’re looking for is icebreaker, and those are normally more open ended,” he explained carefully.

The princess looked genuinely surprised. “Really?”

Swiftmend nodded, feeling emboldened by the fact that she did not seem to be upset. “Really,”

She scrunched her muzzle slightly at his confirmation. “But Tia said…”

He watched as the night alicorn connected the dots, a dangerous smile finding its way onto her muzzle. “I’m afraid we’ll have to continue this conversation later Swiftmend, I need to have words with my dear sister,”

He only time to nod in response before Luna swept away, presumably hunting for her sister that had left the room at some point. Okay what did just happen? He wondered as his brain started to function somewhat normally again. He would have no time to figure it out though as one of the bat ponies pretty much appeared out of nowhere in front of him.

The bat pony flashed him a toothy grin. “Hi there, I don’t think I introduced myself earlier, I’m Star Spark,”

He was about to answer when he noticed that her eyes were practically glued to his flank, making him pause. You know what I’m too sober to deal with this right now. He thought before muttering to himself. “Buck this I need another drink,” he turned around, leaving the confused bat pony behind.

Instead he headed over to the drink table where Storm had seemingly given up at any attempts to stop Pinkie Pie from getting more alcohol. Rainbow Dash on the other hoof had fallen asleep at some point and was snoring softy on a rug. As he approached his human friend lifted an arm in a tired greeting.

“’lo Swifty, enjoying the night so far?”

He opened his mouth to answer that it was strange but realized that it would almost be like the pot calling the kettle black so he quickly restructured his answer. “It’s fine, some minor misunderstandings but otherwise fine,”

Stormcloud nodded. “That’s good to hear. Say are you staying to watch the movie? I was just about to suggest that we start,”

Swiftmend titled his head in confusion. “Staying to watch the movie? I didn’t know that you had a projector and a screen, and while we’re on the subject aren’t movies around 15 minutes long?”

The human smirked. “I forgot that you haven’t really been over here as much as the others have. Well, simply put we’ll be using technology from my old world to watch a movie that clocks in at around 117 minutes,”

Swiftmend felt his jaw drop slightly again. Such a lengthy film was unheard of in Equestria and to witness such a thing would be an experience he really didn’t want to pass up. “I’ll stay for that, it sounds interesting,”

Stormcloud’s expression brightened a bit more. “Wonderful, I’ll get to rounding up the guests that are still in a somewhat sober state,” Cloud announced cheerfully, before stalking off to perform his self-appointed task.

About ten minutes later Swiftmend found himself sitting between Gilda and princess Luna in Storm’s living room. An eerie tune filled the air as a projector, advanced beyond anything he’d seen before, cast the image of a planet slowly passing by. Slowly lettering in a strange alphabet Swiftmend did not recognize began to appear, spelling out what he could only assume was the title for the movie. I think Storm said that it was called Alien. He thought before the image changed to some sort of advanced computer room.

I idly ran a hand through Celestia’s mane as she had put her head across my lap some forty minutes into the movie. Not that I was really watching the movie myself as much as I was observing my other guests for the evening. Luna who had been boasting about she had watched movies from my world before was half hiding behind a wing while holding onto Longshot as if he was a teddy bear to keep her safe from the monster under the bed. Longshot was clearly uncomfortable with having Luna that close, but his professional attitude as guard made it so he had a tough time giving voice to his discomfort. Then there were Swiftmend, Twilight and Gilda who were completely enthralled by the spectacle playing out before them while sharing a large bowl of popcorn.

Of course there was the crowd that was worse off than Luna when it came to fright and group contained Applejack, Rarity and Star Spark. All three who were all busy hiding behind various objects in my living room, peaking out occasionally ready to slap their hooves over their ears and close their eyes as soon as something scary happened. Last of we had the two ponies that hadn’t managed to stay awake through the night and were now both curled up beside each other under the drink table, snoozing peacefully completely unaware of the movie being shown.

A happy sigh from Celestia brought me back from my observations and back to girlfriend. Or is it a marefriend? I wondered idly as I ran my fingers through her soft mane. It didn’t matter I decided as my thoughts turned to the recent past. This had been an eventful day to say the least, probably one I’d remember for as long as I lived. A smile found itself onto my lips as I felt that everything right now was right in the world.

Author's Notes:

Aight, and there's the final piece of this mini arc. First off this chapter may have contained a bit more mistakes than usual but it's currently 02.00 AM as I'm writing this. However I hope that it's still readable and enjoyable.

Next chapter is going under the working title, Encounters on a rainy day...