What happened between Kamina and Blitz was kept between them, neither willing to let the others know just how serious things were. Besides; Kamina was terrified to think of what the others would do, or think of Blitz if they found out he murdered her in bloodlust. The two friends however were closer than before in spite of things. Blitz now visited the library often just to read with Kamina, his favorites were the Daring Do series, beings they grew on him, and meant more to him since it was the first thing he read for fun. Not to mention it was special to him for more intimate reasons involving Kamina.

After he'd gone to read with Kamina three days in a row however, Gilda became jealous and accused Kamina of trying to steal her mate for her herd. This drove a wedge between Kamina and Gilda, who both wanted to spend time with Blitz, but for different reasons. Blitz ultimately decided he'd spend less time reading than he'd want. It hurt Kamina, but she knew it was best. He still visited to read once a week though.

Kamina's spirits were lifted though, when Hearts and Hooves Day came around. Last year, they didn't really bother with the holiday, having been too busy at the time to enjoy it. This year though, the whole herd got together to have a romantic night at the local hotspot; Mareio's, a Bitalian restaurant. The Twin's insatiable hunger would normally have made such an expensive local diner seem a bad choice, but they had more than enough moolah between the six of them.

They chatted, joked, laughed, drank, and flirted the night away, until they got home, and just cuddled to sleep. A great day.

Well, for them anyhow. For some reason; the CMC decided to try and pair Big Mac up with their teacher Cheerilee, even though Mac is already in a loving relationship with Fluttershy. They accidentally poisoned them into loving each other, and all that saved them was Fluttershy reminding Mac of their true love.

Needless to say; the fillies were grounded, again.

Cheerilee, however, was somewhat thankful for the reminder that she wasn't getting any younger, and decided to hit the dating scene on her off days.

Aside from all that, it was business as usual in the late spring of Ponyville. It was just another day, all peaceful, quiet, relaxing.... Well, aside from Pinkie sparking a town-wide spectacular flash mob. Animak quickly escaped when he heard the mystical instrument-free music start up, and hid high in the clouds until it was over. He even heard Kamina's voice in the mix. Ever since she went primarily female she'd taken to singing more songs with less trepidation.

“Why sis? Why have you betrayed me?” Animak jealously grumbled up in his cloud. He just didn't care for all this random musical exposition that ponies seemed to burst into on a regular basis. In this, Gilda was his only companion, as even Kamina had found herself enjoying the sudden parades and dance routines. Animak heard the song coming to it's finale, and decided to look down, and was both irritated and impressed to see Pinkie finishing the main lines while dozens of ponies all chorused around her. 'That mare might be more trouble than she seems to be worth, but she can definitely carry a tune when it suits her.'

Animak then decided to relax for a bit as the town calmed down from the aftermath of the thespian display, and didn't much care when he realized he was humming the “smile, smile, smile” portion of the chorus, until-.

“ATTENTION EVERYPONY!” Until a certain Pink Menace decided to destroy it with two words. “We have a Hair Emergency!” Pinkie was shouting into a megaphone, standing atop a flagpole on her hind legs as natural as can be. “This donkey is BALD! Somepony produce a toupee immediately to save him further embarrassment!”

Said donkey, was a simple gray-eyed, mane-free tan jack with a black tuft of hair at the end of his tail, all hitched up to a wagon filled with belongings. And he was utterly appalled at Pinkie literally broadcasting his shiny chrome dome for all to see, and he wilted slightly under all the ponies who looked at him. “PINKIE!” However, it was all interrupted by Animak who shouted in fury at what was clearly a well-intentioned attempt to help gone horribly wrong, as he swooped down from his cloud to land between the embarrassed donkey and the party pony. “What are you doing?!”

Pinkie hopped off of the flagpole after bending it down low enough to be safe. “Helping my new friend Cranky Doodle Donkey with his hair issues.” Pinkie beamed, only to quickly flinch and back off at Animak leveling a searing glare at her. “Um...I went too far, didn't I?”

“Ya think?” Animak growled, and pointed in a random direction. “Just take off Pinkie. He doesn't want to be bothered.”

“B-but-!” Animak's growl deepened, and Pinkie intelligently skedaddled, leaving a her-shaped cloud of dust.

“Sorry about that. Pinkie means well, but she can go too far.” Animak apologized to the new resident as everypony went about their business, his other friends nowhere in sight; they must've gone back to what they were doing before getting pulled into Pinkie's Parade.

“No doubt.” Cranky grumbled, and scooped a loose piece of turf onto his head to hide his lack of mane. “As your offensively nice friend introduced for me; I'm Cranky Doodle Donkey. I'm just moving into a home here on the edge of town near Whitetail Woods.”

“Oh? The old logger's house?” Animak asked intrigued, beings that was a fairly big house for a single donkey.

“Yeah. Well, it was nice meeting you...um, sorry. Didn't get your name.” Cranky apologized, having forgotten to be polite since Pinkie left him quite cantankerous.

“Prince Animak the Great. It's good to see someone with quite the Will of Self moving into town. Most everypony here is too used to practically charitable behavior.” Animak grumbled, not liking how his sister held so much sway over the townsponies, while he only had a few particular favorites aside from their friends and loves. But the few he really liked, were ponies worth speaking to. Like Time Turner, and Doctor Hooves. The two were twins in every sense of the word, yet had no knowledge if they were actually related. And while Derpy claimed that Time Turner was her husband, and he reciprocated this information, they would both oddly claim that Doctor Hooves was Derpy's husband when he was around. Confounding. Intriguing. And Hooves was a delightfully intelligent conversationalist, but seemed to go off on mumbling tangents involving time travel or something.

“I've always made my own way in life. I don't get how ponies can just be so...communal about everything.” Cranky likewise agreed, the two males growling to themselves about how pitiful they felt such dependance upon each other ponies seemed to rely on for nearly everything. “Well, it was nice meeting you Sir. But I have a house to get settled into.”

“That is a lot of belongings for one donkey. You're going to do it all yourself?” Animak asked with slight impress if this was the case, grinning at the donkey who huffed and nodded.

“Don't need anybody to take care of my own affairs. See you later colt.” Cranky pulled his wagon through the town, and Animak sighed contently at meeting someone with such personal fortitude and self-reliance.

“I wonder if he likes hayburgers....” Animak mused as he decided to try hanging out with Cranky sometime.

===//////>

Animak was flying to Cranky's house, to see if he'd settled in and wanted to get a tour of the town. Sure, he could do it himself, but Animak didn't want Cranky to get lost. Ponyville was getting bigger, and it was pretty big when he arrived here to begin with.

“For the last time! I don't want to be your friend!” Animak growled at hearing Cranky's irate shouting, and sped up to find Pinkie seeming to be about to bang down the door, only for him to swoop down and carry her off with a scream.

“AH~! Oh hey Ani! AH~!” Pinkie screamed in fake fear, playing the part of prey, making Animak smirk and roll his eyes. She did this whenever he, Kamina, or Gilda pounced on her like this, it was admittedly adorable.

“Pinkie. Stop it.” However, now wasn't the time.

“Sorry Ani. I just want to be friends with Cranky, but he won't let me....” Pinkie whined, and Animak landed gently, and looked at the pink mare with a surprisingly warm expression, coming from him anyway.

“Pinkie. Sometimes...people just do not want to be friends. It's their right to decide not to associate with someone if they don't want to, and you have no right to force it on him. If I ask him if he wishes for a tour, and says no; I'll respect his decision and leave him be. I'm the most antisocial of our group, and even I understand this.” Animak patted Pinkie's back, the mare sighing in disappointment.

“You're right....” She then had a light bulb appear over her head, and then it lit up when Animak tapped it curiously. “I've got it! I might not be able to be his friend, but I know who can!” Pinkie then seemed to...FOLD, out of existence, making Animak gawk.

“...Game has got to stop teaching her his powers.” Animak instantly threw any thoughts of the dynamic couple's terrifying abilities out the proverbial window, and flew back to Cranky's. “*knock, knock* Cranky! I got rid of Pinkie, at least for a bit.”

“Thank you! Hold on.” Animak stifled a chuckle as he heard numerous, and excessive locks being undone on the door, and soon the middle-aged donkey opened the door with a slight grin on his wrinkled face. “C'mon in, before she comes back!” Animak obliged, and he watched Cranky frantically slam the door shut, and lock it all back up, all 15 locks of various kinds.

“You're enjoying this a bit, aren't you?” Animak accused lightly with humor, and the old donkey couldn't hold back a wheezy snicker.

“I'll admit; I'm enjoying the attention just a bit. Never had somepony obsess over me like this.” Cranky snorted in amusement as he guided Animak into the living room. “As you can see; I'm all settled in. Just have to get acquainted with the town, but I don't want Pinkie Pie harassing me the whole time.”

“I'm afraid not even I can stop her entirely. If there is something she wants; Pinkie will somehow achieve it. You'll be her friend eventually, but I've dissuaded her from continuing her aggressively friendly attempts. She said something about someone in town who definitely could be your friend. She's probably thinking of introducing you to them and become a friend by association.” Animak informed his newest sorta-friend, who sighed and shrugged.

“Mares. Can't live with 'em, can't live without them controlling our lives.” Cranky jokingly bemoaned as he took a seat.

“Amen to that.” Animak agreed before sitting on the couch across from Cranky's recliner. “So, since getting to know the town today is out; what can I do to lessen the strain Pinkie has placed on you?”

“Meh, don't worry about this old mule. But...if it's fine, I'd feel rather welcome to some small talk, or telling some stories. I've heard fantastic things about this town. You must have something to share.” Cranky prodded idly as he got comfortable, and Animak grinned.

“You have no idea.”

===//////>

Animak was flying back to Cranky's again. Today, he and Cranky were going to explore Ponyville, get the donkey familiar with the layout. He landed on Cranky's doorstep, and knocked. “Just a minute.” Cranky replied, and the excessive locks came undone inside. “You're early colt. Why such a rush?” Cranky was wearing a proper wig now, but it was just a dour gray thing.

“I just felt it would be better to see the busier parts of town before things picked up. Some of these lazy ponies don't even leave their homes until nearly noon, but I want to beat the busybodies out and about by nine.” Animak explained, and then gestured towards town. “So, we can do this two ways. Normal, and calm, or I can fly you overhead, to get a top-down view of things.”

“Nah, let's just do this normally. Besides, I won't be flying, so learning the layout from above won't do me much more good.” Cranky followed Animak through the town, getting a full tour of all the important locations, and also generalizing where the other neighborhoods were.

“Cranky?!” At the shockingly familiar voice, Cranky froze, and spun around to see the source, at whom he gaped. “Cranky Doodle! It is you!”

“Matilda?!” Said jenny was similarly colored to Cranky, but with lighter hair and green eyes. Cranky beamed in surprise and joy as the only other donkey resident of the town approached them with a bouncing Pinkie in tow, carrying the year-old Citrine on her back, the two giggling. “Pinkie...is this what you meant?”

“Well~ when I saw your scrapbook for the few moments I was in your house; I thought I recognized the jenny in there. I was right! I just knew that you knew Mattie. So~ I decided to try and see if it held water! Right Citrine?” Pinkie asked the foal on her back, who giggled and seemed to gesture intelligently with her hooves. “*GASP!* You're right! How can an idea hold water? It's not physical!” Citrine gestured some more. “Unless! THOUGHT WATER! Genius my sweetling!” Citrine laughed adorably at her adopted mother, and hugged her neck, making Pinkie beam even brighter.

“Thank you so much Pinkie Pie! Matilda, I've searched all over for you!” Cranky exclaimed as Matilda approached, and they gladly nuzzled, only for his wig to fall off, and he blushed in embarrassment, only for her to giggle, and rub his dome.

“I happen to like shiny things.” Mattie giggled, and Cranky smiled.

As things progressed, Animak stood off to the side, smiling gently. 'While I can't do things like this...it is still nice to know things turned out for the best.' Animak sadly pondered just why...why couldn't he be like that? Why couldn't he try to influence others so much? But he knew why. His Will of Self did not allow for the interference in the Wills of Others. Animak sighed, and turned to walk away with his head lowered, nobody noticing. 'I envy you Pinkie, but I especially envy my sister...I envy her so much....' Animak growled to himself, and idly crushed a nearby mailbox by unconsciously flaring his magic. 'All she has to do is be herself, and the ponies flock to her like drones! Selfless, and without ulterior motives!'

Animak's talons scratched grooves into the road, the ponies who noticed him kept a distance; clearly telling the prince was in one of his moods. 'Why?! Why can't I HAVE THAT?!' Animak roared and punched the ground, cratering it, and cracking the road for several feet. He panted, and sighed, dragging his talons and paws towards the Everfree for another hunt to alleviate his stress. “Auntie Luna...so this is how you felt, huh?”

Author's Notes:

Now we see the opposite side of things. While Kamina is actively outgoing, fun-loving, and mostly open about nearly everything, Animak is reclusive, stoic, and prefers to keep things under wraps.

This leads to Kamina getting most of all the attention from the public, while Animak is ignored or even forgotten by most. As you can tell; this is causing a rift similar to what went on between Celestia and Luna. Only, Animak knows better than to give in to outright jealousy, because he knows he can't be like his sister. So he seeks constructive outlets for his frustration...and not so constructive outlets in the bedroom. He's especially rough when he's "in a mood".