I woke up suddenly, and cold, both of which were explained when I realized that Rarity was tangled up in the comforter from tossing about. She cried out quietly as she slept and I was coherent enough to catch the distressing tone, rolling over and placing one of my hooves gently on her shoulder and a moment later, she rolled into me and snuggled up to me without waking. Wrapping my arms around her – or forelegs now I suppose – I made myself comfortable again with the new weight she put on me. Not that she weighed much, mind you, gods above help me if she ever learned how to read my mind, I think if she could my only saving grace would be the fact that there is so much going on up there it would be hard to filter out the good and bad. Hello, by the way I’m Asher Eve, or just Ash to my friends. Formerly by the last name of Meridiem and formerly of Earth, but all of that changed when a certain young woman came into my life with a ZOT in the middle of my shower. After that many things in my life had changed including my own ability to be in a stable relationship again and eventually, she had to go home. But I went with her. I abandoned everything I knew about my life and jumped into another, because I was in love with her. Because I am in love with her, and it is probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever done.

But here I am all the same, holding the mare I love as she sleeps, and savoring every moment of it. Mostly because I was not being accosted or glared at by her parents, or sister, or friends. Or Goddesses. After the Princess had essentially let me free to live a new life with Rarity free from whatever I had left behind but with a warning that I couldn’t freely go between my old world and here, that I should consider myself lucky to be here and treasure the time, but lucky was far from what I felt. Her friends seemed nice enough, Twilight seemed impartial about me, wanting to learn more. Rainbow Mash or Flash or whatever it was seemed happy to meet me, as did Flutterbye, and the pink one whose name I did not remember but I’m sure was on some sort of drugs, because she couldn’t stop moving. But the other what they called ‘Earth Pony’ named Applejacks, was obviously wary of me, but I couldn’t tell why. Not that I was worried too much about what her friends thought about me when Rarity’s family was there and none of them liked me. After the initial hugging’s from the parents had passed Rarity’s little sister and the reason that she was sent to me in the first place, a cute filly named Sweetie Belle, latched onto her sister and wailed like the world was coming to an end. It should be noted that the little girl has quite the set of pipes.

But after that the whole family turned to me and I knew then that I was the enemy. I don’t blame then, if my daughter had grown enough to get transported to and alternate dimension and came back with a boy, especially one who was somewhat older than she as it turns out (8 years older is all), I’d be untrusting of him too. That said I did my best to make a good impression, with my new forest green coat that turned black on my hind quarters with little green spots – hey I’m an appaloosa, state horse of the neighboring state where I use to live! Hah! That just clicked, sorry – but I kept the same color eyes and hair as I did when I was human, blue and brown respectively. The fact that I was pony now, and that Rarity and I had been in an official relationship for a month prior to me coming here didn't matter to the family though. To them I was merely the stallion that was dating their daughter and sister. All I got from the three of them the entire time we were in the city were side glances and polite but curt answers to any questions or conversations I attempted to strike up with them. At least her friends would talk to me, so there was that.

I stretched out and turned my head to the side, rotating it farther in a circle than I was used to without injury which is still freaky sometimes, and looked to the old timey wind up alarm clock that was sitting on the nightstand, noting in the blue twilight that it was quarter to six, and if I was going to begin with the making of good impressions I was going to have to start with a job. Because no one likes a man or pony that doesn’t work. Heck at this point I was completely dependent on Rarity and her already running business – thanks to her friends – and if I was going to remain in a relationship with her I had to get my butt to work. Flank…flank to work. Call me old fashion but if I’m a farmer, I don’t care if I’m making more money than her or not, but I need to earn my keep. It’s bred into me.

I stretched again and looked at the mare that was tangled up with me. The cold was helping to keep me awake now, which was good, but the beautiful young mare snuggled up to me was not. This was also good depending on how one looked at it.

“Rarity.” I mumbled, but got no response.

“Rares.” I said again, but this time all she did was softly grunt in response.

“I need to get up.”

Rarity tightened her hug in response, pressing her body into mine. I sighed, getting up was a miserable thing but I was also a morning person from so many years on the farm, and awake meant awake.

“Rares.” I said a little louder and a moment later she moved, slowly shifting her legs from around me until I was free, then bucked me off of the bed with all four hooves.

I landed with a thud on my back, not really hurt but letting out a groan for her sake before rolling to my hooves. Peeking my head above the bedspread again I noted that when she kicked me off she had rolled up the other way cocooning herself in the sheet, and looked quite comfortable. How I envied her, and her sleep. Pushing myself up, I walked to the shower and turned the knobs on to what I thought was warm water using one of my forehooves. I looked at myself in the mirror, still somewhat surprised to see a pony staring back at me instead of the human face I had become accustomed to my whole life, and blinked several times before accepting the reflection as my own again and showered, dried myself with some difficulty using the towel in mouth technique, kissed Rarity on the cheek, and went out into the world.

At least I would have if there wasn't something small, purple, and pointy standing at the end of the front step, blocking my path. I blinked several times at the small creature, and it at me with its reptilian green eyes. Eyes that did not look the least bit pleased.

“Hello.” I said to the creature, but it did not respond except for the eyes narrowing.

“She’s with you?” he asked with a detectable amount of distain, and then something clicked in my head.

Twilight had mentioned that Spike had run off when I came through the portal with Rarity and in the time I had been here since then, he had not come to see either Rarity or myself. Spike was her baby dragon assistant and he fit the description she had given me, but she also said  that he was – how had she put it – infatuated with Rarity. Was. Obviously some things would need to change in light of me being here. Or because of me being here I should say. But I wasn’t much a fan of rivalry when it came to the lady-folk, and if I needed to somehow make it clear that I was with Rarity, so be it.

“You must be Spike.” I said, putting on the best fake smile I could.

“Yeah, what of it?” he huffed, folding his arms about his chest.

“Good to meet you.” I said, still smiling fakely, and put a hoof forwards like a gentleman.

Spike would have none of it.

“Just who do you think you are anyways?!” he shouted accusationally.

“Um…Ash?” I answered.

Spike growled, muttering what I assume were obscenities and I thought that perhaps I could use my sense of humor to get out of this.

“Ash Eve?” I ventured, and Spike slapped one of his clawed hands to his forehead.

“Alright, alright, my name’s Ash and yes, I am in a relationship with Rarity.” I explained.

“I know that much, what I was saying is I don’t get how she’s in a relationship with you. You! Who of all ponies has a green coat – she doesn’t even like the color green!” He ranted and I thought that’s not what she said but kept it to myself. I was also reminded of the position of the sun, of how hard it was to get up, and of what time it was.

“Alright then – so why are you here at six thirty in the morning?” I asked.

“Um – well – you – none of your business!” he stumbled over the words.

“If it’s none of my business then why are you stuttering?” I asked.

“B-because reasons, its private!” he shouted back.

“Uhh huh.” I said dryly.

“What are you doing here at six thirty in the morning?” he asked.

“I live here.” I responded.

“Illegitimately, are you sure you’re not in a relationship with Rarity just because it’s convenient?” he said.

While this line of questioning offended me deeply, I thought it better if I took the high ground. From what I could remember Twilight had told me about Spike and dragons in general he was possessive, as most of his species was, and from day one had his eye set on Rarity as his prize. Apparently there was also an incident involving this and I also remembered being told it was unwise to push him too hard.

“I’m not, I love her and that isn’t going to change any time soon. I’m on my way to help Applejacks on her farm for pretty much no pay so I can feel useful until I find gainful employment and or something called a ‘cuitie mark’ which I’ve been told will help me in that endeavor. Now what are you doing here so early?” I asked, and by the tone of my voice, honesty, and the look in his eyes I knew that I had thrown out whatever game plan he might have had, and it took him a moment or two to formulate a response.

“Well – Sweetie Belle! I’m here to see Sweetie Belle.” he said confidently, having apparently decided on a lie.

“Sweetie is with her parents right now, she won’t be back until tonight.” I said flatly.

“Oh. Well then I guess I will just come back later.” and with that the little dragon spun on his heel and marched back up the gravel drive where he stopped, turned around,  and gave me a slightly devious look before running back into town.

I blinked several times after him before I shrugged, and continued down the drive myself, heading for Applejacks’ farm.

The morning was a cool one but not cold and though I had only been out to Sweet Apple Acres once before, I found that it was easy to pick out the road to the farm. My ears flicked backwards as I heard something crunch on the gravel behind me, but by the time I had looked back nothing was there. Stopped for the moment, I looked around to appease the prickling sensation on the back of my neck and I couldn’t help feel like something or someone was watching me, but there was nothing out there. Oh well, it was probably an animal or something. Carrying on, I crested a small hill that opened up into a small dip in the valley that was filled to the brim with orderly rows of apple trees. A cool breeze wafted the smell of apples, fertilizer, and damp earth to my nostrils and for just a moment, it felt like I was back in Montana. A silly little smile came to my lips as I trotted onwards even knowing I was likely about to put in a good and hard day’s work and boy, did I get that.

AppleJACK as it turned out her name was – boy did I get double the work for screwing that up – had me help her brother Big Mac plow the southernmost fields which as it turned out in this world literally meant dragging a plow behind one’s self. However with Mac and I working in tandem we were able to get the earth tilled, seeds laid, and watered within a few hours. After that Applejack had me help her with chores around the farm that I was more familiar with like moving bales of hay, feeding the cattle (who tried to strike up a conversation), slopping the hogs (who did not), and of course, moving bushel after bushel after never ending bushel of apples from the field to the barn for sorting, storage, and eventually selling. By the end of the day I was beat, but still feeling good about myself. I hadn’t earned a Cuitie mark by the end of the day but that didn’t bother me, if it was that important it would come when it came. Besides I was good at a lot of different things. One upside to helping on the farm however was the fact that with the extra help, more got done, which meant I only was going to help Applejack three times a week, leaving a couple days each week for me to find a job that could actually let me support myself. So far, things were coming up Millhouse. Or Ash, I guess, but for some reason that didn’t’ sound right. Millhouse it is.

“Hey Ash!” I heard from across the way, while I had been thinking about the day I had come back to the edge of town already. There was also a purple unicorn trotting towards me.

“Hey, Twilight.” I smiled, “What’s up?”

“Nothing much, just thought I’d see how our newest resident is getting along, if you know what I mean.” She said, coming up alongside me.

“I’m doing fine I suppose. I think I’m pretty much used to this new body.” I said, getting a weird look from a passing pony, “But got through a day’s work all the same.”

“That’s good, I’ve been meaning to ask you more about your world if that’s alright, I’m trying to compile a list of facts and knowledge about your world so I can looking into why the leylines in your world and ours cross the way they do.” she explained.

“Trying to avoid any more misdirected accidental teleportationating?” I asked.

“Something like that.” Twilight giggled. “By the way, have you seen Spike today? He left early this morning to do some personal errands and only appeared again for lunch, before leaving again.”

“I saw him this morning.” I admitted, “But we went our separate ways after a little talk.”

“Oh, no. He didn’t say anything mean to you did he?” she asked, seeming to already know the answer.

“Nah, he was alright.” I lied. Not sure why I lied, but I felt like I needed to give the little dragon the benefit of the doubt. However big that doubt might be. While we had been talking we had walked up to and stopped by the front of the Boutique.

“Alright, well if you see him, tell him he needs to come back to the tree house right away for me?” she asked.

“You mean that tree shaped Palace over that direction?” I pointed with my hoof.

“Eh heh…” Twilight blushed a little, “Yeah.”

“Sure.” I said with a smile, “I’m gonna go lie down then, see ya, Twilight.”

“See ya! Say hi to Rarity for me.” Twilight smiled back and spread her wings, taking to the sky and heading towards her home. Castle. Tree…thing.

Shrugging to myself, I turned around and travelled up the gravel drive to the porch and would have gone straight through the front door had I not been intercepted by a three little ponies. Orange and violet, red and light yellow with a giant red bow, and ivory and pink and lavender, all of whom were smiling innocently up at me and I would have been worried, but I recognized two of them.

“Hey Sweetie, Apple Bloom and….you.” I said.

“I’m/She’s Scootaloo!” they all said at once.

“Right-o.” I smiled, “What’re you girls up to?”

“Well, we heard you were new in town.” Apple Bloom said.

“And that you didn’t have a Cuitie Mark.” Sweetie chimed in.

“And would you look at that, none of us have our Cuitie Marks too!” Scootaloo said.

“So we were just wondering…” Sweetie said.

“If you’d help us get our Cuitie Marks!” all three said at once, and I had to wonder if they didn’t rehearse all of this beforehand.

“Well girls, I’d love to, but I have no idea how to do that, and I don’t know if I’ll even get a Cuitie Mark because I wasn’t born here.” I said honestly.

“Ya mean, you might not get a Cuitie Mark ever?” Apple Bloom gasped.

“And you…you won’t help us?” Sweetie followed up.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not sure if I can.” I said, but there was an ulterior motive behind me line of answers. I was worn out, and wanted to relax for a little while before dinner was to be made. However, I also had a child in the past, and should have known that a child, any child, can see through motives like that as easily as looking through a window.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” All three girls began crying hysterically.

“Wait wait wait wait, wait, Wait, STOPIT!” I shouted and all three clammed up at once.

“Firstly, sorry I yelled, secondly, I’ll help you if you promise not to cry like that again.” I bargained, figuring giving up my free time to spend some time with Rarity’s little sister might earn some brownie points with her folks.

“So how can I help you girls?” I asked.

“Well what we normally do is try a bunch of different things as fast as we can and hope that by sheer numbers, once of us gets a Cuitie Mark.” Scootaloo explained.

“What kinds of things have you tried then?” I furrowed my brow, and for some reason had a sinking feeling about all of this.

“Shark taming, catapult builder, lion tamer, rocket gardener, rocket jump maker…” Scootaloo said.

“Parade float builder, rocket parade float builder, parade float jump builder, speed painter…” Sweetie chimed in.

“Cake maker, speed cake maker, oven repairer, appliance delivery person, alliance catapult delivery person.” Apple Bloom said and I cut them off.

“Do any of you even know how many things you have tried?” I asked.

“About a dozen different talents.” Sweetie said.

“A week.” Apple Bloom added.

“For a year.” Scootaloo finished.

I shook my head.

“Alright then, so what can I help you with today?” I specified.

“Well, we’re trying something more science-y today, we’ve tried a lot of different things involving rockets but we realized today that we’d never actually built one, we just kept buying things from the store instead because it was easier.” Sweetie said.

“So we thought we’d build a sweet model rocket and see how high we can launch it.” Scootaloo added.

“We aint tried strait science in a while.” Apple bloom finished.

“Do you always talk in threes?” I asked.

“No.” They said at once.

I took a moment or two to mull over what they were asking and decided that encouraging young children to do science, especially little girls, was something I couldn’t pass up on. Even if I was worn out, so I agreed to help them, and felt good about it. That is until they shouted:

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER MOON LANDING MISSION CONTROL SPECIALISTS YAY!”

And that was the precise moment that I wondered what exactly I had gotten myself into.