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Cycle Day 1
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As he left, Titus popped his head around the closing door and gave her a wink, "Lab coat looks good on you, by the way."

Twilight had forgotten she had her lab coat on and couldn't hide the smile splitting her face in two because that was definitely the first time anypony had said that to her. Her front hooves paced a bit at the closed door, her body yearning to go after him but her mind keeping it in check from throwing the door open and tackling him to the ground, It'll only be a few days and until he leaves this evening the Princess instructed me to avoid contact. She looked around the hall then down at her hooves glumly. I've only got two - three days tops - before the cycle kicks into high gear and I'm reduced to a hormonal mess, so I'd better plan things out. On her way back to her room, she ducked her head into the kitchen where Spike was standing in front of the fridge writing up a grocery list.

"You're going to the market? Great!" she took an apple out of the fridge to snack on, the apple giving a crisp pop as she bit into it, "Hey, if you bump into Lyra while you're there could you see if she's planning to stop by for a bit?"

"Sure thing," Spike added apples to his list and underlined it twice before looking over the parchment at her, "Hey Twilight? Where were you all last night?"

Crabapples, I was hoping he wouldn't ask.

"Um..." Twilight slowly chewed on the bite of apple to give her more time to think. "I was bringing Titus that datapad that Fluttershy found. While he was, uh fixing it we sort of lost track of time and rather than me walking home through the Everfree past dark he let me spend the night-"

"Oh. Yeah that makes sense," Spike exclaimed, going back to writing his shopping list, "I bet that was fun, huh?"

You have no idea... Much to her relief he seemed satisfied with that explanation and left it at that as he pushed a chair over to inventory the freezer. Twilight took her chance to escape without further interrogation, collecting one of her low-magnification telescopes from the laboratory along the way, and returned to her room and over the next few hours drafted out what she needed to accomplish in the upcoming days.

Rolling onto her back on the big pillow cushion she stuck all four hooves into the air and arched her back in a stretch to loosen the stiffness out of her muscles - another symptom of estrous that commonly made many a mare grumpy - when she decided it would be alright to take a break from her planning. Rolling to her hooves she trotted over to look through the telescope she had set up at a window and aimed at the open grassy area where her human friend had been busy tinkering for the past hour. Sorry Princess, but as far as I'm concerned this doesn't break the no-contact rule. Hmm... I wonder what's he doing now? Something rose-colored suddenly filled the view of the device which was blurred beyond recognition by its close proximity. Pulling away from the eyepiece revealed Rainbow Dash flying outside her window.

"What are you, a stalker or something?" the pegasus teased with a smirk.

"Says the pony flying outside my bedroom window like a common peeper," Twilight retorted with an straight-faced look.

"Hey! If you had been here last night when I came by for my package I wouldn't be here now," Dash pushed the window open to land in the room, "Actually, now that I think about it..." She looked at Twilight curiously for a second, glanced over her shoulder to follow the line the telescope drew, then back at Twilight and her smirk widened. "And just what were you up to last night, hmm?" she asked, the question decidedly mischievous and accentuated with a waggle of the eyebrows.

"N-Nothing really," Twilight took a few nervous steps back, "I'm sorry I wasn't here when you stopped by, I was... out on an errand-"

"Yeah, 'errand,' my flanks," the pegasus covered the distance between them to drape herself over Twilight's shoulder before she could move away further. "Look, you're in heat and don't try and deny it because I can smell your pheromones," Dash could feel Twilight's cheek burning against hers. When a mare in heat released pheromones to signal a stallion it was considered rude to bluntly point it out because most mares - Twilight being one of them - found it very embarrassing. It wasn't that the smell was malodorous, quite the contrary, each mare had a unique scent that most ponies would classify between the ranges of tolerable to agreeable; it was considered embarrassing because it was one of the aspects of a cycle completely outside of the mare's control.

"Twilight, relax. There's nothing wrong with hooking up for a night, even with Stretch I guess, if you were desperate-"

"You're still working a first shift for the Weather Patrol, aren't you? That must keep you pretty busy," Twilight shrugged her pegasus friend off to walk toward the door, "So I'll do you another favor and save you the trouble of coming all the way here by dropping your package in the mail. Derpy usually makes her deliveries-"

"Whoa whoa whoa," Rainbow was in front of Twilight in an instant with her hooves up as if they could physically stop her words from leaving her friend's muzzle, "Don't even joke about that, Twilight. I can't be getting deliveries of books or other nerdy stuff to my house, I've got an image to uphold!"

Twilight looked less-than-amused at Rainbow's last line. "Some other time you'll have to explain to me how your 'image' can be tarnished by occasionally being seen reading a book," rather than wait for an answer she retrieved the items she had procured, teleporting downstairs and back up to her room in quick succession, before thrusting the goods at the pegasus, "Here's that special order of yours and, for your information, I was out on an errand returning some books a friend loaned me."

Technically speaking that wasn't a lie, the datapad did contain books... Oh drat, now that I think about it I'm pretty sure I left them on his ship.

Dash opened the heavy paper bag to check the contents and immediately removed her prizes: a boxed mint-condition (thanks to the preservation spell Twilight had cast on it) highly-poseable Ahuizotl action figure only available at a convention in Canterlot - one of only one hundred signed by A.K. Yearling and made priceless when the author ordered the mold for the toy be destroyed. Yes! Score! Below that was another Ahuizotl, this one the commercially-available variant that she could open and add to her hidden shelf of other Daring action figures. Also in the bag were posters, a t-shirt, the standard convention tat, and a Wonderbolts jersey she could use to cover all of the contents while carrying the bag.

"I still don't buy it that you were on an errand, but you did me a solid favor getting this stuff," Rainbow said, carefully putting the items back in the bag, "So I guess I can leave it. For now, anyway." As she passed the telescope for the window she used her superb pegasi eyesight - capable of clearly making out what Twilight had needed the magnification to see - to look at what it had been pointed at. Squinting slightly, she could make out a pink pony, That's undoubtedly Pinkie Pie by the way she's bouncing around and... what is that thing?! Dash was still watching Pinkie when the biped, his figure easy to identify, appeared from beneath the machine in the field. A triumphant grin on her face, she launched out the window to stash her loot at her cloudominium home. Then it looks like I'm going to have a little "chat" with Stretch about what he was up to last night.

Twilight watched the pegasus soar off toward Cloudsdale and she let out a heavy sigh. Why do I get the feeling she's up to something...

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A knock at the window woke Twilight from her early evening nap and she disentangled herself from Lyra's limbs, her friend having stopped by earlier that afternoon to use the cooler. Together they had decided a nap was in-order after one of the "help sessions" an estrous cycle frequently required. "I have a front door you know..." Twilight grumbled groggily as she shuffled over to the window to see who it was.

"Rai... Rainbow Dash?" the librarian was still exhausted and her brain struggled to process what she was seeing, "W-*yawn* what's going on?" The pegasus flew through the window for the second time that day, though this time she was plainly struggling before she touched down. When she dropped what Twilight recognized as the suit Titus had been wearing earlier that day the unicorn was fully awake in a heartbeat, "What happened?! And what is that stuff all over you?"

"Me and Titus just had the awesomest adventure! Help get this stuff off of me and I'll tell you the tale of The Amazing Dash and the Nefarious Nest of, um..." she broke off trying to think of a fitting word that started with an "N".

Huh, that's odd. She called him by name.

As much as she would have liked to go back to sleep after the long night she had dealing with the bola spider's webs Twilight somewhat reluctantly rolled herself toward the edge of the bed, waking Lyra mid-snore in the process.

"Mmm-mornin' Sparkles, how ya feeling?" Lyra stretched and let out a long yawn then flopped back onto the bed like a big limp noodle, "Thanks for last night, by the way. It would have been a particularly bad one if you hadn't helped."

"Morning to you, too. I'm feeling a bit sore," Twilight did some stretches of her own, grunting slightly as she worked a knot out of one of her shoulder muscles, "And you know I'm glad to help a friend in need, though I'll probably require the same treatment before this week is over."

Lyra nodded, picking up on the subliminal request, "It's been a week from Tartarus, that's for sure. It's a bummer the Princess' spell didn't work properly," she pointed a hoof at the flight suit that was folded up on the dresser, "And an even bigger bummer that she took Titus and those fingers of his back to Canterlot with her."

"As much as I don't want to admit it, it was the right thing to do," Twilight let out a sigh as an image of him smiling at her before he left flashed before her eyes, "I hope he's okay, Canterlot is a big place with a lot of ponies who've probably only read what the papers and tabloids have printed of him. And just what is with your obsession over his fingers-?" Realizing better she shook her head, scrambling any images that might have been forming in her mind, "Actually, don't tell me."

"Judging by your expression your imagination is better than mine at coming up what that would be like," Lyra laughed playfully before she wrapped all four hooves around the body-pillow and snuggled against it, "You should have seen him working on his machine yesterday! In an instant he would switch from the brute force needed to remove a troublesome bolt to being absolutely delicate and precise. The display of such dexterity, such finesse... oh buck..." she suddenly stopped to give Twilight a hopeful, almost pleading look, "Does he play an instrument? Oh by the Sisters, please tell me he plays."

When Lyra got a shrug she went back to snuggling the pillow, If he doesn't then I'll just have to teach him - no bucking way am I letting that potential go to waste. She fell back asleep imagining the wonderful music those ten fingers of his could make an instrument play for her, as well as what notes they might make her play.

It's the weekend, so I'm sure she's thankful she can sleep in. Twilight floated the parchment on the desk to check the itinerary for the day as a light and rhythmic snoring came from the bed. Item one: assemble research materials. Twilight went over what she knew she had on hoof and made a list, working her way downstairs to pull the books and magazines from the shelf. Floating a collection that amounted to a small library behind her and positioning herself on one of the cushions she left on the floor for patrons, Twilight dove in. She didn't break from pouring over her research until a knocking at the front door broke her attention many hours later.

"Spike? Could you get the door?" she called through the library, something she normally wouldn't do - it was a library, after all.

No response.

Closing the self-help book she had been taking notes from, Twilight reluctantly walked to the door, glancing at the clock as she went. It was well past the library's closing time. Geez, where has the day gone? She started talking to whoever was on the other side of the door before the she had gotten it open, "Hello? I'm afraid the library is closed for the evening-"

"Miss Twilight Sparkle?"

"Um," The door now fully open, Twilight stopped and looked at the two ponies on her doorstep; bat wings, dark gray fur, tufted ears, and wearing the blue-tinged armor clearly identified them as Princess Luna's personal guard, "Yes? Can I help you?" Stallions, and dashing ones at that. This could be an issue.

They both gave a crisp salute. "Ma'am," one of them responded, "Princess Luna requests your presence and we've been ordered to escort you to the alien's ship. Please, come with us," he motioned a hoof toward the street.

"Oh," she subconsciously hid her rump behind the door as she fought to control her blasted tail. If I can't get it under control, I'll just have to warn them of my condition. Twilight tried to stall for time, "Certainly, though there have been Timberwolves-"

"No need to worry about them, ma'am," the other guard spoke up to reassure her, "We won't be traveling through the Everfree Forest, Princess Luna is moving the vessel to just outside of Ponyville town limits. Now, ma'am, if you would?" he also motioned, making it clear that these ponies did not want to keep the Princess waiting and neither should Twilight.

Floating the metal brush Titus had made her out of the dirty saddlebag which still lay near the door where she had left it in a muddy heap Twilight quickly straightened up her mane before putting the brush back in the bag and tossing them across her hips. Following the two Royal Guards into the street each one slowed slightly so they could fall in on either side of her.

Twilight caught one of the guard's noses scrunch up as if he had caught a whiff of something. Well, that didn't take long. Bucking biology. She couldn't bring herself to look the guard in the face as she apologized and warned them as discretely as possible that she was on her cycle and might not be in full control of her actions.

"Is that going to be an issue, ma'am?" the guard asked, the deep baritone voice and unique Thestral accent sending an unseen shiver down her spine.

Apparently they aren't concerned, and judging by their appearance they look more than capable of handling themselves if I start getting pushy. When Twilight indicated it wouldn't be an issue neither stallion said anything else on the matter and increased their trot to a canter which turned out to do a good job of keeping Twilight's mind off of her cycle's urges. They worked through the town toward the salvage grounds and what had been unofficially named "Human Hill," catching a few curious glances from ponies that all seemed to be moving in the same direction - Luna's personal guard were a rare sight, after all.

"What did the Princess want to see me about?" Twilight was unsure if one of the ponies was a ranking officer so she shifted her attention between them until the one on her right spoke up.

"We were ordered to retrieve and escort you, ma'am," his gaze remaining intently searching his surroundings for threats, "We weren't given any details beyond that."

"I-Is everything alright?" Twilight picked up on both of the guards elevated levels of alertness, They certainly are different from Shiny and the other guards I've dealt with.

"Like I said, we weren't given specifics. Just let us do our job and-" a pony coming around a corner unexpectedly caused the guard to quickly shift his gaze, "And shortly you can ask the Princess yourself, ma'am."

The trio were pushing hard enough that Twilight was getting a bit of a workout and she began taking small pants between regular breaths. When they reached the bridge, a small group of guards were physically blocking passage of ponies curious as to what the commotion on the other side of the hill was while several pegasi guards intercepted any flyers trying to get around the barricade. A wave from one the guards escorting her and they were allowed past without breaking stride so they quickly climbed to the crest of Human Hill.

"W-Wow..." Twilight couldn't help but stop to take in the sight, her escort also coming to an abrupt halt.

The ship was engulfed in a deep blue aura as it was slowly and very gently lowered to the ground, four large struts with a ski-like foot at the end stuck out of the fuselage - each one roughly four times the size of her bed, if she had to estimate - the legs visibly flexing as the pneumatic chambers worked in tandem to support the massive weight. The vessel settled rather dramatically into its new position with a resounding mechanical *whoosh!* and several vents of air almost as if it was exhaling in relief. Below her numerous ponies were moving about doing one task or another with lanterns and floodlights having been set up and aimed at various areas, particularly the at the ship, which allowed Twilight to also identify several of the disk-shaped protuberances on the underside. She remembered the similar devices Titus had shown her under his speeder bike yesterday morning; "repulsorlift engines," he had called them and she had been immensely interested in what made them function.

She had enough elevation to see a portion of the top of the craft, the warm brown and rust orange colors of the mud swirled or stuck in patches, contrasting against the light grey body and she could see foot and hoof prints on what was now the underside where Titus must have been walking when he carried her into the cargo hold the night before last.

After giving the unicorn a moment to observe the scene the guard motioned for her to keep moving, "Miss Sparkle, please. Princess Luna is expecting you." They followed Twilight down the hill a short distance and through a group of artists who were doing their best to sketch the ship in the waning light when a commotion to one side caught Twilight's attention as a few ponies cut in front of her escort and moved toward the source. Craning her neck to see over the guard that was blocking her sight she was able to identify some scientists from the Academy's Research Division studying-

"STOP!" Twilight shouted and bolted from her escort toward the group, some of them giving a startled jump as the unicorn bore down on them. She blinked her way to the center of the circle ponies, the beeps and whirs of the levitated R6 unit suddenly audible as the crowd fell completely silent, "Cut it out! Put him down!" When nopony seemed to heed her request she used her own magic to overpower the aura holding the droid and gently lowered him to the ground.

"There you go, Arsix. It's okay, it's okay." She turned to look around accusingly at the Academy crowd as a scared R6 shuffled closer to the only pony it recognized. "Just look at him! Can't you see he's terrified?!" Twilight moved closer to the droid in an attempt to calm his chirps and beeps.

The two royal guards finally broke through the ponies, the hole they came through closing behind them. They took up positions on either side of Twilight and the droid - R6 continuing to stick right beside Twilight, bumping up against her barrel as his head turned and his sensors scanned the crowd of ponies suddenly observing him once again.

"Who are you and what are you blathering about?" a white-coated unicorn with a bubbling beaker for a cutie mark stepped forward, Twilight realizing it must be the pony she had broken the magic of, "How can it have feelings? It's just a machine - an advanced machine at that, but still." She took another few steps closer, obviously feeling irked that this mare had interrupted her observations, "Now Step. Aside. You're preventing the sanctioned study of an artifact from the space monkey."

Twilight's eyes narrowed menacingly, "Don't you dare call him that-"

"What are you," the unicorn snapped back, "A friend of that monster?"

R6's noises took on a whole new tone as he seemingly picked up on the insult and an arm with a hose attached popped out of his torso shortly followed by a very wet *S-s-sploort!* A jet of thick black liquid spurted out in an arc to cover the front half of the pony from horn to hooves.

The crowd was dead silent for a moment as one of their head researchers, Erlene Meyer, coughed and sputtered and muttered quiet curses as she attempted to wipe away the liquid. It wasn't long, however, before the voices of a few ponies that were more interested in what the robot had done rather than to whom caused a chain reaction among the gathered scientists as the voices garbled back into one loud commotion of observations. The droid cooed softly and shuffled to get Twilight between it and the drenched unicorn, the guards placing themselves in front of Twilight to form a wall of armor and intimidating stares.

"A defense mechanism?"
"An ink cloud, just like a cephalopod! Fascinating!"
"Quick, somepony get a sample of that for the lab!"
"Perhaps it is capable of understanding body language?"

An angry roar pierced the rabble which died out once again. The soaked mare wiped the gunk from her eyes and then looked on the verge of attacking as she came to realize the liquid was staining her coat and mane, "You and that space monkey freak will pay for this-"

"That is enough!"

Luna's voice cut her off and she looked none too pleased as the crowd parted and bowed for her. The alicorn came to a halt and looked down on the prostrate unicorn imposingly, "We approved thine expedition under the premise thou would adhere to visual observation only; tampering with the vessel or other artifacts or interfering with the vessel's automation was strictly forbidden. Did we not make our instructions clear at the briefing, Miss Meyer?"

"No, Princess," unicorn responded, still visibly irate at her condition, "Your instructions were clear."

"Oh? And yet we find thou preventing this-" Luna wasn't sure what it was, instead pointing a hoof at the droid, the gesture causing it to timidly beep and move closer to Twilight, "This machine from performing its duties. Thous shalt explain thine self."

"I-I'm sorry, Princess," Meyer kept her eyes on the ground, "The Research Division has placed a considerable amount of stress on me to make this trip as profitable as possible. While Your Highness and the creature gave us permission to study the exterior, I frankly don't see why we don't just take the technology for ourselves. The advances we could make by unhindered study and reverse engineering this technology..." She looked up briefly in hopes her argument was finding purchase with the Princess, "We are strong and many while the monkey is but one and weak, he could not oppose us-"

"I caution you to tread very carefully with your words, Miss Meyer. The being thou art threatening constitutes a foreign representative under the protection of the Crown," Luna leaned in close, her expression hard and unforgiving which caused the imposing alicorn to be even more intimidating, "That 'monkey,' as you so call Titus, is also a personal friend to us so if we hear thou utter that word once more in reference to him then we shall turn thou into just such a creature for the duration of a week. So we ask: doth thou wish to continue with thine threats and insults?"

"N-No, Princess," Meyer repeated, this time staring at the ground.

"Good, thou shall use his name from henceforth," Luna indicated to her guards and Twilight to follow and the crowd parted to let them pass. Once they were through the crowd Luna issued a decree, "The next pony caught in violation of the conditions set forth shall be removed from the site, suspended from their Academy duties, and brought before the court to explain their insubordination at trial."

As Twilight followed the Princess and her guards away from the gathered ponies she could almost feel the daggers being shot at her back by Erlene Meyer, and when she glanced over her withers her suspicions were proven true; the mare was glaring at her with murderous intent though Twilight quickly lost sight of her as the crowd dispersed. She quickened her pace to bring herself alongside the alicorn, "I'm sorry if I caused you any problems, Princess Luna," Twilight paused to give the droid following her a friendly smile before continuing, "but I had to do something, R6 was terrified."

Luna nodded in understanding, "Thou have nothing to apologize for, it is we who must apologize for Miss Meyer's contumelious behavior. She knew she was breaking the directives we set forth. We shall see to it that she shan't again for we shall be having a very serious discussion with her superiors upon our return to Canterlot, of that thou can be certain. Thou did the right thing in intervening, Twilight; we are unsure how we would have gone about informing Titus of damage to his..." she turned to look at the cylindrical machine tooling along with them, "Pray tell, what is this... machine?"

Twilight recited what she remembered from the droid's manual she had read as well as what Titus had told her in passing, Luna nodding as she took in the information. The group came to the aft of the ship and below the same cargo bay door Twilight had passed through just yesterday though with the ship upright and resting on its supportive landing gear the closed portal was a good distance off the ground. "If I may ask, Princess, what is the cause of this undertaking? Did something happen?"

The Princess nodded then sighed, "Indeed, something happened. Titus appears to suffer from Positional Displacement Distress, a factor we were unaware of when we teleported to Canterlot-"

"You blinked him that far and in one go?!" Twilight cut her off, vividly remembering the severity of his reaction to the short distance she had transported him to her balcony. Positional Displacement Distress was a blanket diagnosis applied to many forms of adverse reaction to teleportation, where the severity of the reaction was often tied to the distance the subject traveled. It was common in foals, though they usually outgrew it by the time they started schooling. Did I not tell her what happened? No, you were too busy ogling his towel-covered crotch, you lecher. That tiny bit of cloth was the only barrier between you... The voices of the scholar and desire once again waged war in her mind, but the concern for her human friend's welfare made it easy for her to blot-out the mental image of Titus' crotch before it could get a hold in her partially heat-addled mind, "I'm sorry for interrupting, Princess. I... is he alright?"

"He spent a few moments heaving on the floor at my sister's hooves then promptly passed out. It wasn't until earlier this afternoon that he came around and stumbled out of the infirmary to apologize, throwing the Palace into a brief gallimaufry of scattering ponies as he wandered the halls in a fevered daze-"

Seeing that her explanation was having the opposite effect of calming the worried Twilight, Princess Luna cleared her throat. "We believe he shall recover with a good night's sleep," Luna shook her head, "We should have taken precautions before blinking him across Equestria. Remembering something he said and looking in upon him before we left the palace, it pained us to see the discomfort our presence has caused him in such a short span of time."

"I doubt that's how he feels about it, Princess. I-It's actually my fault, not yours," Twilight meekly admitted, "Yesterday I teleported him from roughly where we are now to the balcony and he became sick, which is why he was in the shower when you arrived. I should have said something but was... preoccupied."

"It appears we shall both have to seek his forgiveness," the Princess magicked a piece of parchment out of the nether and unrolled it to reveal a list. She handed it to Twilight for her to look over, "And we may have a means to make that possible. Titus asked us to retrieve a number of items from his vessel before we left earlier this eve. Unfortunately he fell asleep before instructing precisely how we are to get aboard and, thinking it a simple task, we hadn't the heart to wake him," Luna cast her gaze up at the bottom of the craft, "Though we are beginning to regret that decision. As you're well aware, teleporting inside with no previous knowledge of the layout of the room would be foolhardy at best, so instead we have been attempting to gain entry with numerous incantations as well as every watchword we know, yet still the gate remains closed." She continued to stare at the door, seemingly trying to open it with sheer force of will.

It almost looks like she's pouting. Is she as excited as I was to first go inside? Twilight left the observation unspoken and instead squinted as she scanned the area around the door for what she was looking for. Finding it, she pointed a hoof at the keypad, "Titus entered a numeric code on that device, though I'm afraid I didn't catch the entire combination."

"Ah yes, we found one of those over here on this, um, metal column," the Princess walked a short distance to one of landing gear, "We were focusing on this dial-like component under the number buttons and acted on the assumption that it functioned like a dial combination lock, though we have found conventional lock-picking spells - as well as a few non-conventional spells deemed too powerful to be public knowledge - to be completely ineffective."

"I believe the reason for their failure would be that this lock requires a specific energy signature and doesn't have the usual tumblers or magical seals and barriers we're used to," Twilight closed her eyes and tried as hard as she could to remember what code Titus had used, but to no avail, "Perhaps we could try guessing the digits I don't know-"

"Hmmm," Luna hummed contemplatively, breaking the unicorn from her thought. Twilight watched as the Princess approached the astromech and stuck her face close to the its thermal and photosensitive receptors, examining it intently and not realizing how much she was encroaching on what the droid felt was its personal space. "Twilight, would it be possible this droid knows a way on board?" She took a few steps back to which R6 gave a relieved whistle, "It did appear to be familiar with thee, mayhaps thou could convince it we art acquaintances of Titus and art on an errand for him."

Twilight thought it was worth a try, so she floated the parchment in front of the droid's sensors, "It's like the Princess said, Arsix. Titus sent us to get the things on this list-"

The mechanical eye rotated about in its socket for a brief second to look over the writing before the droid snatched the parchment with a pincer arm and launched into a series of high-pitched whirs and beeps. The noises continued as R6 bumped along the uneven grass to the keypad, inserting an arm into the dial and rotating it back and forth until a loud thunk resounded within the hull of the ship. The astromech retracted his arm from the lock mechanism and rejoined the strange quadrupeds as a ramp extended down from the cargo bay and made contact with the grass.

"Huzzah!" Luna cheered, throwing her hooves in the air before excitedly climbing up to the door, eager to take her first steps inside the ship. How peculiar; before this point in time I hadn't felt curious - Titus was always content to hold our conversations under the night skies I would create, so I never thought it odd he didn't invite me into his home. She stopped, one hoof tentatively poised to enter the ship as the droid's treaded wheels thumped noisily over the threshold, Twilight following close behind. Hmmm, his... home... The alicorn instructed her two guards to station themselves on the ramp; none of the Research Division ponies were to barge in on what she realized was the human's private residence.

"Ahoy the ship!" Luna ceremoniously hailed the droid which was merely a body-length away, "Might thou grant permission that we may come aboard thine vessel?" Taking the droid's cheerful-sounding noises as an invitation into Titus' home, she shifted her body over the doorstep. One giant bound for pony kind...

While the Princess explored the interior of the cargo bay Twilight retrieved the list of items Titus wanted, the R6 unit issuing a melancholy whistle as the pony levitated the parchment out of its grabber arm. "Sorry little guy, just need to take another look at this," Twilight patted the droid as she looked at the list. Nutripaste? Comm link and relay? Reprogramming kit? And what the hay is a Marksman-H remote? Her face scrunched up in confusion and frustration the further she read until she passed the paper back to the droid, "On second thought, maybe you can tell us what the hay this stuff is and where to find it."

R6 chirped a few times and a blue fan of light emanated from one of his lenses, running over the writing several times vertically and horizontally until it suddenly stopped and his arm pushed the paper back at Twilight.

"Um, that light-" she was about to ask what had happened when the droid wheeled itself over to one of the nearby crates and the same arm that had unlocked the cargo door once again popped out of his torso; a few rotations later and the crate made a small click. Twilight levitated the top up and off the container as Luna peered inside, her curiosity having pulled her away from where she had been studying the doors that would open and close themselves whenever she would step toward them and back away; endlessly repeating the astounding process.

"It would appear we hath located the object 'Nutripaste,' Twilight," the Princess levitated several oblong metal canisters labeled with block letters to the floor. Luna turned to the droid, "What, pray tell, doth our list demand we find next, sir droid?"

Rolling to one of the screens it had recently repaired the droid brought up a block of text which the ponies found to be a copy of the list; a few seconds of interfacing and hyphenated numbers appeared next to each entry. It took a few chirps and whistles of communication before Twilight connected the identifying number next to the Nutripaste entry with the number on the crate they had found it in; the droid had procured a ship manifest. R6 scooted out of the room to retrieve the objects not in the cargo hold as Twilight and Luna went about opening containers.

Down on the ramp neither guard detected the invisible form slip past them into the ship, and the alicorn and unicorn were having too much fun uncrating the items on the list to notice as something floated off a corner of the workbench behind them and disappeared.

"And that takes care of the, um..." Twilight had to glance back at the list for what they were called, "I guess we just wait for the astromech to return with what doesn't have a number next to it." She made her way over to the familiar workbench which was set up in much the same way it had been with toolboxes on either side, though the stool looked a bit sturdier than she remembered. Going up on her hind legs, she was just tall enough for her front hooves to brace herself against the tabletop, Well, I found one of them... The datapad containing the books lay on the table before her with a small handwritten note attached and a parcel wrapped in plain brown paper beneath.

Twilight, while preparing the ship for Luna's visit I found something that I hope makes your week a bit more bearable. Enjoy!

-T

Before she could unwrap the package the automatic doors slid open and the astromech droid made its noisy return, towing a pair of crates behind him.

"Ah, sir droid," Princess Luna turned from the screen she had been watching, thinking it was a scrying window of sorts displaying the activity around the ship, "Have thou procured the remaining elements of our checklist?"

Twilight placed the brown paper parcel in her saddlebag and trotted over, popping open the top of the square crate to reveal a collection of spherical objects which she quickly theorized were small droids, judging by the similarity of sensors and surface material they shared with the astromech. Despite numerous attempts and a request to R6 to open the large box - the droid appearing rather frustrated as it wobbled from foot to foot and whined - the container remained locked.

Figuring it must be something Titus felt was personal and or private, Luna suggested they concede and levitated the crates outside where she set them down on her chariot for transport, "We bethink oneself of communicating this before, howbeit, should thou send Titus a letter we shall forward it unto him. Until such a time, is there any message thou would wish for us to pass along?"

"If you could tell him I'm looking forward to another one of his wonderful ear-rubs when he gets back-" Twilight blurted out, unable to stop herself in time from mentioning the human's particular skill with ears. She gave a nervous chuckle as Luna's facial expression twitched slightly, "And if you thank him for the package and let him know I'm doing alright, that would be appreciated, Princess."

"Very well, we shall." The Princess nodded as her transport lifted into the air, "We thank thee for thine assistance this eve, and wish thou a good night."

I wonder what he's going to do with all that stuff. Twilight waved as the Princess and her chariot sped off toward Canterlot.

The clock in the hallway chimed twice, alerting Twilight to the passage of time and waking her from her impromptu napping spot. Ugh, I stayed up too late reading those blue holobook things. Right, I need to get ready for lunch with the girls. She got up from the cushion, closing the issue of Cosmarepolitan with a look of disgust. This didn't tell me anything; none of these did! Surely there's a scientific method to follow for optimal results? The magazine was placed in the mountainous stack along with the other literature that had proven intellectually disappointing and gathered up the small group of works that held a gem or two of information she had thought would be useful into her saddlebag for her two experts to vet. Twilight made a quick trip upstairs to inform Lyra that she was headed out but found the room empty, the mare must have left earlier without saying anything - or, more realistically, Twilight was too engrossed to hear her.

Leaving the library in the capable claws of Spike, Twilight made her way down the street to the cafe where she had scheduled to meet Rarity and Rainbow Dash, hoping that they would be able to guide her in what to do once Titus got back. Twilight couldn't help but feel glum as she reflected on her childhood of book-loving as it once again reared its head to bite her in the flanks and forced her into feeling helplessly ignorant - even the countless pages of text she had consulted on the subject had only served to thicken the cloud of confusion over she felt was hanging over her, I've never been good at interfacing with other ponies because books had always been there as an easier alternative. A book was... just a book; there were no feelings to hurt, there wasn't a hidden agenda behind their friendship. If you put the time in to read them, books were always willing to teach you something or take you someplace, no matter how fantastical - it was like the law of equivalent exchange. That gloomy attitude quickly changed with each greeting or warm smile from a friendly face she had come to know since she had started her Friendship lessons.

What the hay am I worried about? This is exactly why Princess Celestia sent me to Ponyville in the first place! I've got the best friends in all of Equestria and I know they'll always be there for me! Prancing the rest of the way to the cafe, this realization was bolstered by the sight of Rarity who was seated at one of the more outlying tables so as to honor the request Twilight had made for a private conversation between them.

Rarity beckoned with a wave and Twilight trotted to the table. "Hello, dear," she greeted and gave a friendly hug, "I just want to convey how happy I am for you."

"Thanks for agreeing to help, Rarity," Twilight placed the saddlebag of research books on the ground beside her chair, "This means a lot, I've got no idea where to start."

"Don't be silly, darling!" Rarity waved a hoof dismissively, "I'd have been remiss to not share my thoughts and expertise to assist in starting a-" she leaned, whispering behind a hoof "relationship." as the waiter approached. Both of them ordered an alfalfa and carrot smoothie to tide themselves over.

Rainbow swooped in a few minutes after they had gotten their drinks, being what Rarity called "fashionably late." She did a little backward somersault before landing in her seat, "Sorry, the Weather Team was dealing with a couple of stubborn cloud banks and I had to lend a hoof, then there's a big traffic jam over near Human Hill that I had to dodge. So what'd ya want to talk about?"

"This is so ♪ex~ci~ting!♫" the white unicorn couldn't help but clop her hooves together in anticipation. She waited for Twilight to answer Dash's question but the poor mare just fiddled with the straw in her smoothie. Taking charge, Rarity sat up properly and composed herself to state their business, "Twilight would like our assistance in planning a date for her and her special somepony."

"So you spent the night with him and haven't even gone on a date yet?" Dash said a bit loudly, one of the closer tables clearly picking up what had been said. While she was shooting them a threatening glare to tell them that they'd forget what they had overheard if they knew what was good for them, Twilight's face exploded in burning red embarrassment which she tried to hide by slurping down a large amount of smoothie and only succeeded in giving herself a bad brain-freeze.

"Rainbow!" Rarity exclaimed, completely shocked at what she thought was a joke, "We've both known Twilight for a while now and she is most certainly not that kind of mare."

"That's what I thought too, Rares, but then I stopped by and she wasn't home all night," Dash retorted a bit indignantly, "And the next day I saw the bite mark, clear as day, on his shoulder. The way it looked he's lucky she didn't take a chunk out of him."

"Bite mark? On his... shoulder?" Rarity contemplated the positional logistics before her eyes went wide, "B-B-But that would require you to be belly-to-belly! Oh, how simply scandalous!"

Twilight had gotten over enough of the splitting brain-freeze to attempt to interject, "There's a perfectly reasonable explanation-"

The urge for golden nuggets of gossip was too strong for Rarity to ignore, "Come now, you simply must tell me: is he somepony I know?"

"Mmm, I don't think he's somepony you know," Dash replied, having a bit of fun at Twilight's expense.

The situation was spinning out of control. "Look, nothing happened!" Twilight was just about at her breaking point - if they didn't listen to her now she'd just get up and leave, "Yes, I spent the night with him but we both agreed that starting this during my cycle was a bad idea and I want to take this at a slower, more traditional speed, so I asked you two here because I needed help. I can't afford to screw this up and... I just... what do I do?" By the look on Twilight's face both Rarity and Rainbow Dash realized they might have pushed the envelope a bit with their antics and they quickly gave their heartfelt apologies.

"Twilight? Darling?" reaching a hoof out to her friend, Rarity quietly rephrased her previous question, "Can you tell us this stallion's name? The more information we have on the pony that has captured your interest the more we can help."

Twilight looked from the unicorn to the pegasus and wanted to answer but only managed an incoherent mumble into her smoothie, the thick glass fogging up and the drink around her lips bubbling as she whispered the name.

"I can't believe this-" Dash could only roll her eyes at her friend's hesitation, "Rarity, she's got the hots for Titus."

Rarity just sat in her seat for a moment. "Oh. Oh..." she was clearly taken back at the unexpected revelation but was quick to recover, "How... progressive of you! Don't worry Twilight, we'll come up with a plan that's sure to sweep him off his... um, feet."

Twilight, clearly reassured by her friend's confidence, pulled the books and magazines out from her saddlebag and put them down on the table for Rarity and Dash to look through, "I've brought some of the references I've been reading-"

Rainbow cut her off, "I'm not one for studying, but this? Wowza." She turned the magazine she was holding sideways and gave a chuckle as the centerfold flopped out, "Don't tell me: you only subscribe for the well-written articles." An instant later it was yanked away from her, thrown back into the saddlebag as Twilight cleared her throat.

"T-That's not mine, a friend must have left it at the library." Note to self: strangle Lyra, but not until the week is over; I still need somepony to operate the cooler for me. She was, of course, kidding about strangling Lyra, though she realized with that mare she might find she got off on it.

"Anyway, I've dug through the texts - much of which felt very sophomoric, I might add - and cataloged the information I thought would be useful. Please speak up if my assessment needs revision," Twilight brought out a roll of parchment and went over her notes in a rather mechanical manner. After many minutes she came to the end of her list, "As you can see, the validity of this information is still woefully questionable; however, it's all I've got after exhausting the materials in my library."

Dash and Rarity shared a nervous glance with one another before Rarity spoke up, "Um, Twilight, darling? You have taken a stallion on a date before, haven't you?"

Twilight reluctantly told of the single date she had gone on while at the Academy; it had started off well enough but ended up being a disaster, the stallion that she had asked had only gone on a dare from another mare interested in him and he had ended the night by nonchalantly telling her precisely why he had come. "I didn't come out of my room for almost a week because I was such a wreck. After that I guess I was just scared of that rejection again, so I didn't even bother with the dating scene."

Rarity scooted her chair closer, leaning up against the clearly disheartened Twilight, "Never you mind that boor, Twilight, it was his loss. In fact, you did well to avoid that spineless mongrel for he quite obviously had no taste, little imagination, and most likely possessed a family pedigree about as long as my cuticle!" Rarity, clearly angered at the treatment her friend had received, went into a tirade of high society insults before the silence of her companions caught up with her, "Please pardon my enthusiasm, Twilight. As I was saying, he did you a favor because now here you are planning a date for your special somep-um, somehuman. Now then, why don't we start with something simple - tell us about Titus."

"Um, oh-kay... what did you want to know?" Twilight raised an eyebrow, swatting the cyan hoof that was under the table rummaging around in her saddlebag; no doubt in search of a certain magazine.

"Well, just as an example," Rarity thought for a moment, "It's not often that a stallion will stand up and tell the mare what they want, so I find little Spikey-Wikey infectiously charming when he gets assertive. He just gets so adorable I want to squeeze his chubby lil cheeks!" She squished her own cheeks together for a moment before recomposing herself, "Tell us what you see when you look at him. Oh! What about his eyes?"

That cleared things up for Twilight, though not really. "His eyes? Well," she closed her eyes to concentrate, drawing an image of Titus' face from her memory, "Despite being smaller than ours, my hypothesis is that his eyes are a similarly-complicated combination of aqueous humor fluid and ganglion photosensitive cells-" A sigh from across the table caused Twilight to pop her eyes back open, revealing a thoroughly-facehoofed Dash.

"Twilight, dear, perhaps something a little less, um... scientific?" Rarity suggested, "How do they make you feel, specifically? We can start with his eyes and just go from there, alright?" She gave her friend an encouraging smile and threw an elbow into the side of still-facehoofed pegasus.

"Well, they're a... shade of brown which I find rather nice," Twilight's eyes closed and her brow furrowed as she concentrated again, "And they're warm. And kind. And... intelligent. They can also show forgiveness, even when I've done something completely boneheaded like teleporting him across a field and causing him to be sick. Despite their small size, if you're willing to look you'll find that Titus' eyes can convey a surprising amount of emotion. Besides his eyes, his confidence is inspiring; he knows who he is and what he wants. It feels odd to say this because I never expected to find that somepony feels this way, but he wants... me, faults and all. I found out because we were conducting an experiment using a Sense-Link spell and I picked up on his feelings and in that moment I felt like the happiest mare in Equestria. H-How was that?" Twilight nervously inquired, popping one eye open to gauge the response to her answer, Dash was nodding and Rarity was motioning with a hoof to continue, Right. What else?

Twilight thought a bit harder on how she had felt when she spent the night aboard the ship, "I know Titus' size can scare a few ponies and I can understand that the way he has to look down at you can be intimidating, but I've never felt that because he's always been friendly and soft-spoken. He's also very gentle," she recounted the story of her encounter with the timberwolves and the cut she had gotten and how Titus had applied the antiseptic spray, which also gave her the opportunity to explain the bite-bruise Dash had discovered. Caught in the moment of reliving the other night, Twilight realized too late she revealed a few things she had meant to keep her muzzle shut on; like how great it felt to snuggle and nuzzle against that smooth skin of his and the feeling of his fingers working their way through her hair, and not to mention those flanks-

"Oh-ho-ho!" Rainbow Dash became more animated when Twilight suddenly clammed up, her trademarked mischievous grin plastered across her face, "So not only is he a good snuggler and his fingers give mind-blowing ear rubs, but he's got 'flanks that are a gift from the Two Sisters themselves.' Anything else you'd care to tell us, Twilight?"

Her head on the table, Twilight tried to hide under her hooves as her world seemingly ended, "Please, Dash, I shouldn't have said any of that. He's really shy about that stuff, his body in particular, so please. Please. Don't let him find out I told you."

Thankfully I shut up before saying anything about his pseudo-magical abilities. This is bad enough, but that would have been disastrous.

"Um, hello? Element of Loyalty ring a bell? I'm not going blab." The pegasus reclined her chair back onto two legs, "Though, honestly, I have no idea why you asked me to meet you here, Rarity is the one for you want for all this dating stuff."

Twilight sat up, relieved that her friend would keep what she had heard to herself. "Actually, I was hoping you could give me some pointers on cross-species relationships-"

"Geez, this again?" Dash threw her legs up in the air and rocked forward, the chair making a loud clattering as it came to rest on all four feet. "Why does everypony assume Gilda and I were a thing? Look, Twilight," she supported herself on one elbow as she leaned in toward the center of the table, "First things first; Gilda and I were friends at one point. That's it. Friends. Secondly, I'm only interested in stallions and anything else you may have heard is just a nasty rumor that's been circulating since Flight School. If you hear somepony say otherwise, I want a name."

Rainbow's annoyed attitude changed when Twilight clarified she had not intended to insinuate she and the griffon had been romantic, what Twilight had been after was Dash's experience and openness like she had displayed toward other species in general. "Ok, sorry for snapping at you, I just get sick of that rumor. Anyway, Titus is suited to eat both vegetation and meat so if you two are eating out-"

'Eating out.' Aheh. Aheh heh. Twilight's mind started to wander.

"-so you should check the menu ahead of time because he'd have to almost choke down something like a hayburger - fish is probably a good bet, there are a couple of ponies in town that enjoy fishing that would probably sell you their catch for a few bits. I know Fluttershy catches fish for a couple of her animals, you could start with her."

"Sorry, I spaced out for a second," Twilight apologized and Dash repeated herself.

"Another element to keep in mind, dear," Rarity interjected as Rainbow finished what she was saying, "Is that Titus' presence might not be... um, how should I say this?" She thought for a moment, composing her statement into its least-offensive form, "His presence might cause a fair disturbance among patrons and the establishment's owners might not be pleased with that. Getting asked to leave would quickly put a damper on an otherwise enjoyable meal, so I would suggest meeting with staff prior to your engagement to ensure that won't be an issue. Perhaps booking a seat in a more secluded, private area just to be safe." She patted Twilight to assuage her that it probably wouldn't be that much of an issue, "No need to worry about that now, the whole restaurant dining step is a bit down the road, dear. For now you'll want to start out with something simple, such as a casual lunch, or meeting up for drinks, or perhaps a picnic in the park."

"Actually," Twilight's ears perked up at the mention, "We've been on a picnic already."

"Oh?" Rarity appeared a bit surprised, "And how did that go?"

"I'm fairly sure he enjoyed it. Lyra, Spike, and myself shared a brunch and sodas with him on the hill-"

"No no no, darling, that simply won't do!" Rarity waved a hoof to stop her from continuing, "No offense, but what you're describing was a friendly picnic. What I meant - and, more importantly, what the situation calls for - is a picnic for two someplace more romantic and charming than a crowded hillock. You'll also want to put some thought into a drink that compliments your meal; if you give me a bit of time I can provide a list of good wine pairings. A fair warning, though, some of them might be a little pricey."

Twilight brought out a fresh piece of parchment and scribbled some new notes. "Okay, I can work with this," her quill was scratching across the surface at an alarming rate, indicative of her eagerness to start the plan in motion as she read excerpts of what she was writing. "The menu; exclude grasses and research the possibility of fish. Rarity," Twilight looked up from the parchment at the fashionista but kept writing, "If you could make a list of wines that could go with fish I'd appreciate it. My personal favorites are something crisp or focused, though preferably both."

Rarity could only nod in the face of the sudden zealotry Twilight was showing.

"Picnic for two in a secluded, charming location... hmm," she thought about the local geography for a moment, scanning her mental atlas, "I remember reading an old journal I found in the basement of the library describing a lovely out-of-the-way corner of the park where a pond was was hidden in a small copse of trees. Does that sound like a suitable spot for a picnic?"

It's all coming together. This... this is going to work! I can do this!

Twilight groaned into her pillow. "Lyra, now!" she felt a wonderful release as the mint unicorn squeezed the pump on the cooler, filling that hungry void. Twilight panted hard for a few moments as the sense of alleviation spread through her body before flopping onto her side. There was no pleasure associated with use of the cooler, it was only designed to provide temporary relief and in some ways the lack of pleasure only made getting through the cycle worse.

Lyra joined her friend in an exhausted flop onto the bed. "S...par...kles," she took a moment to catch her breath after the workout she had just gotten, "That's the third time today, do you think maybe it's time to go into lock-down?"

"Got to take advantage of the windows in Princess Luna's schedule," Twilight buried her nose in a sleeve of Titus' flight suit, taking long whiffs of his scent and snuggling against the body pillow firmly squeezed between her hooves, "And no, I can't hunker down just yet. It took Rainbow and I longer than expected to find the site for the picnic, and when we did find it we learned it was in a real state of disarray. This is probably the last day I've got, and there's a lot to still do." She hadn't expected her estrous cycle to have hit as hard as it had when she woke up, and with all the work still to be done to prepare for Titus' return she couldn't afford to stay in bed nursing herself through the day.

Giving a little nuzzle to her friend's neck as she embraced the body pillow was something Lyra regularly did after a session with the cooler. She knew Twilight greatly appreciated it, even if she didn't say so, "I could help out for a bit today if you want to catch a few extra Z's."

Twilight pushed into Lyra's nuzzle. "Y-You sure? I mean, I know I'm going to need another treatment with that blasted thing," she indicated at the cooler almost irritably, "So if helping me clean up the picnic area is going to tire you out too much for that I'd rather you just take it easy." Still clinging to the body pillow Twilight rolled over to face her friend, "You know, what if we both tackle this? The two of us, in addition to the time Rainbow Dash volunteered to help, could knock this out in no time!"

------------

"Wow, you've been busy," Dash exclaimed as she cruised up to where Twilight was magically yanking an entire bramble bush out of the ground, roots and all. It was clear that she had been hard at work just by the headway she had made; the small pond that was once a scummy mess of algae was now crystal clear, the broken boards of the small pier had been torn up with a stack of fresh boards ready to be placed, the old rotted bench was gone, and the thorny shrubbery that had completely overgrown the area had been reduced to only a few clumps still waiting to be uprooted. "So... what do you want me to do?"

With a firm tug the brambles released their hold and Twilight tossed the invasive weed on the tarp with the rest, "Um, check the clipboard," she pointed a hoof at the board hanging from a branch, "But the grass could be mowed and the lights need to be strung up. Lyra and Applejack should be here with the bench any minute."

At the mention of the unicorn and earth pony Dash's ears turned forward, "Lyra and AJ will be here? Cool!" I can ask them about our extra guest at the upcoming Fight Night.

Twilight was about to ask why she seemed so excited when Rainbow shot past her, pushing the reel mower and showering the unicorn in stray grass clippings; by the time she had finished coughing out some of the blades that had found their way into her mouth she found Dash was already halfway done hanging the lights. At this rate we'll be done in time for another break in the Princess' schedule! Reinvigorated by the thought, Twilight almost charged at the remaining thorn bush. What should have been a small struggle with the monster thistle turned into a full on war until Twilight focused a bit harder and snaked her magic along the full length of the roots for one final tug. With a triumphant cry Twilight lifted the defeated brier above her head.

"Yeah!" Dash enthusiastically threw a hoof into the air in a sense of shared success, "Way to show that dumb plant who's boss!"

"Vic-" The unicorn added her victim to the pile, feeling a bit drained from the struggle, "Victory...!" She didn't really agree with the 'at all costs' line of Titus' quote, so she opted to leave it out. Twilight looked at all the progress they had made in such a short time, All we need now is-

"Hey y'all!" AJ trotted through the hidden entrance to the copse almost as if on cue, glancing around at the small clearing before finishing a conversation with the mint unicorn who was levitating a freshly-built bench and following behind her. "Boy howdy, I never would've known a nice spot like this was here if you hadn't told me. It's even got a pool to take a dip if'n ya want ta cool off!"

Dash gave a welcoming wave as she hung the last lantern from a branch, "Welcome to the party, AJ!"

"Shucks, after Rarity told me what all this is for it's not like I could say no," the farm mare moved toward the pier and dropped the sack she was carrying to pull out a hammer. "Don't worry, Twilight," she said around a mouthful of nails, giving Twilight a wink as she moved a fresh plank into place, "We'll have this here place fixed in a right jiffy!"

Twilight really did have some of the best friends in all of Equestria.

A shaft of sunlight peeked through a crack in the curtain to slowly travel up her sleeping form and, almost as if the sun had been placed in the exact spot that was necessary, came to shine directly into Twilight's closed eyes. Her face scrunched up, trying to fight against the light that was slowly drawing her away from slumber. Ugh, what time is it? An exploratory hoof wandered around the bed stand in search of her alarm clock until her brain remembered that her estrous cycle had driven her to smash it out of frustration yesterday-

Wait. Not yesterday, Lyra woke me and the cycle wasn't that bad yesterday. No, it was... so today is-

Twilight's eyes snapped open. When she scrambled to get to her dresser where the datapad sat her blanket got twisted around her hind legs and caused her to fall out of the bed; the covers also dragging with them the flight suit, which fell right on top of her with a rather undignified *th-wump!* - the body pillow shoved inside the suit to give it more mass for better "snuggability" also gave it enough weight to knock the air out of her lungs.

"Oof!" As she gasped for air she frantically kicked the covers and pillow off and dragged herself across the narrow span between her bed and dresser, pulling herself level with the device and powering it on to check the date; the digital numbers on the screen confirmed it beyond a doubt, it was day eight. It was THE day. Oh geez, I have zero recollection of the days between finishing the picnic preparation and now.

"Okay. Um," Twilight paced as she talked aloud and rubbed her eyes to look at the datapad once more, "Nope, not hallucinating."

She took a moment and observed the state of her room. Twilight was normally meticulous about keeping her home organized - everything had to be in its designated spot or the whole place fell apart because that's just how libraries worked. Her room was held to the same standard, but currently it was far from being in its normal organized state; the sheets obviously needed laundering, dirty pajamas were draped over the foot board of her bed, the room itself stunk of sweat, pheromones, and... cooler fluids, and pages upon pages of the notes she had taken on the holobooks Titus had left on the ship littered every horizontal surface. Had she noticed the library book lying open on the floor - its spine being unduly stressed - she probably would have flogged herself on the spot.

A small stack of empty or partially empty pizza boxes knocked against her hoof and she almost skidded on the mass of discarded tissues as she walked toward her mirror across the disaster-zone that was her floor. "Yuk," she made a beeline for the shower and, unlike the past week, that didn't stir a tingling sensation or lustful thoughts of fantasy fulfillment. The fact that she hadn't woken up with her first thought being how much she wanted to get rutted was a good sign that her estrous cycle was coming to or at an end. Twilight scrubbed her coat vigorously, determined that no hint of the few days would be present when she met Titus.

The realization that today was the day he'd be returning to Ponville and the day she'd be initiating her plan to court him suddenly hit her full force. W-What if he doesn't like the normal me and only liked the heated me? She stopped her scrubbing as anxiety set in and just stood under the spray of water. What if he changed his mind about the whole thing? He's spent the last week with Princess Luna, who he's already close with and who is leagues above me in every way, so it's only logical they'd get closer- Twilight literally shook the thoughts to the back of her mind, her mane flinging water over the curtain and onto the ceiling. No, the Sense-Link spell was proof of his feelings. I'll figure this out. She rinsed herself off and grabbed for a towel but was forced to find the cleanest one from the hamper.

Drat it all, I didn't do laundry.

------------

The unicorn was a mess as she ran excitedly about preparing for the morning; brushing her teeth after getting dried off, then realizing she forgot to use her conditioner so back in the shower she went and dried off with another dirty towel out of the hamper. She made a filling breakfast of oatmeal, orange juice, and some celery sticks - quickly heading back upstairs to brush her teeth again out of fear of having something stuck in her teeth. Spitting the toothpaste out and rinsing her mouth, Twilight looked at herself in the mirror when she came up, turning her head this way and that to judge the state of her mane before tearing half of the library apart, having forgotten to brush her hair after her second shower. She was two hooves out the door and still pulling the brush Titus had crafted for her through her hair when she almost collided with two ponies about to knock on her door.

"You certainly seem in a hurry," Rainbow Dash said with feigned ignorance as she flew a lazy circle around Twilight, poking an elbow into her as she added, "Almost like you've got a hot date."

A nervous laugh and a look was what she got from the librarian, "You know I'm headed to the train station, Dash."

"Indeed we do, darling," Rarity took a few steps back so Twilight could close the door and finish her brushing, "Which is why she suggested we act as your 'wingmares,' a rather crass term, if I do say so myself. Regardless, we made a stop at the market and brought these for you." A small but elegant bouquet of flowers was lifted from her embroidered saddlebag and passed to Twilight.

"T-Thank you," Twilight hadn't even thought of having a gift of some sort and, having forgotten her own saddlebags in her rush to get out the door, ducked back indoors to retrieve them to gently stored the flowers for the trip. "I, uh, I really appreciate the support girls, and I can't thank you enough for getting the beautiful bouquet, but... do you think you could do me another favor? Could you wait up the road a ways instead of following me all the way to the station?" she meekly looked to both of them for their reaction to her request.

While Dash simply shrugged that she was fine with it, Rarity waved a hoof dismissively, "Of course, Twilight. I have no qualm giving you two a moment to reconnect."

Twilight pulled them both in for a quick hug and took off for the train station.

She was almost to her destination when a thought struck her, causing her to slow her pace and catch her breath. Oh, right. Princess Luna's letter stated that I should keep an eye out for him on the ten o'clock train. I've still got a little time, so no reason to work up a lather on the way there... though I've still got no idea what she meant by 'keep an eye out for him.' Twilight brought her canter down to a lively trot for the last stretch of her journey as she contemplated the cryptic meaning of the Princess' words.

Climbing the short set of stairs at the front of the station and making her way past the ticket booth - gleefully indicating to the teller that she was meeting a friend; the teller looking like he couldn't care less - she found the platform devoid of any other ponies. Twilight floated the secret weapon she had brought with her out of her saddlebag, "This is just like a test that I've studied for, but one last look at my notes couldn't hurt."

'Welcome him back with an appropriate greeting.' Twilight read the first entry in the notes and thought back to the lunch she had a few days ago, Rarity had stressed how important the first impression could be. Hmm... Twilight sat on the platform in deep thought for a while, her tongue peeking out of the side of her mouth as her hoof tapped her chin.

"Hello!" No, not personal enough; I need my greeting to convey my feelings. Perhaps "I missed you so much!"? Truthful, but it comes off as too clingy. Or does it? Would a hug be appropriate? And... oh horsefeathers, what do I do if he wants a kiss?! Do I go first or do I let him initiate-

The distant shriek of a whistle reignited the anxiety in Twilight's gut that she had thought squelched. "Come on, brain, think!" Twilight stood on the platform of Ponyville's train station, trying to figure out what she would say to her human friend and how she should act when he got off the train. I've got to get this right! The unicorn nervously paced up and down the platform going over her "condensed" notes - concise as they were, the bottom of the roll of parchment still bounced along on the ground a fair way behind her - unaware as four pairs of eyes watched from a shrub a scant few body lengths away.

"I still don't get why ya dragged me along for this or why we're hidin' in this here bush. You said she asked you to wait up the road," one part of the bush whispered in a drawl.

"Because Sparkles is so cute when she gets flustered," Lyra replied jokingly. Truthfully, though, I came along to hopefully get an ear rub. If they're even half as intoxicating Twilight says they are, I'll probably be needing an intervention.

"SHH!" Dash shushed her, "We're, uh, here to help Twilight."

"Helpin' is lendin' a hoof to fix up her little clearin'. This here just looks like you're spyin' on her."

"Yeah, well..." Rainbow didn't have an answer for that one, "You're here with us, so that means you're spying too."

"Applejack," Rarity whispered and placed a hoof on the earth pony before she could make a retort, "Please try to understand, this must be very stressful for Twilight; just look at the poor dear, pacing back and forth at her wits end. We just want to be here in the off chance she needs us."

The Element of Honesty still wasn't buying it. "If she looks like she needs support why aren't we out there by her side?"

"Because she asked us to wait up the road." Once again Rainbow proved she was a faster talker than a thinker which got a giggle from the mint unicorn on the other side of the bush before she added a "Duh?" for Dash.

"Oh for corn's sake, this spyin' ain't right-" she would have walked out of her hiding spot had she not been physically and magically restrained. Luckily the commotion they caused pulling Applejack back into the bush was covered by another whistle and hissing brakes as the train pulled into the station, a cloud of steam washing over their hiding spot and forcing them around the front of the building.

Twilight found it hard to remember to breathe as the locomotive rolled past her and the rate of the clack-clacking of the wheels slowed as the train pulled into the station. The train continued to slow and what seemed like an eternity passed where nothing happened, the pony silhouettes visible in the windows of the cars stirring in anticipation. Two chimes of the engine's bell indicated the full stop and the doors opened and the few ponies that poured onto the small platform did so in a loud hubbub of indiscernible conversation.

Maybe he's waiting for the crowd to clear. Her muzzle scrunched up as she frowned in concentration, searching the crowd despite the sound reasoning of her thought. Most ponies passed her for the stairs, some of them giving a friendly hello or smile which she returned out of habit and it didn't take long for the platform to almost return to being empty, though a few of the passengers lingered. Twilight stared expectantly at the passenger cars, looking through each window for movement or his easily identifiable large silhouette. W-Where is he? Catching the conductor checking his watch spurned her into action.

"Um, pardon me? Hi," she trotted over to the earth pony who lowered his watch slightly as an eyebrow climbed a similar amount, "I was expecting to meet one of your passengers - a friend of mine - but I haven't seen him. I-Is he still on board, perhaps?"

Twilight watched as the conductor, who had introduced himself as All Aboard, poked his head into each of the cars, "It would appear your friend has already disembarked, miss-"

"What? No, that's not possible. I would have seen him," she shook her head, "You could say he's rather hard to miss." It's not that he hadn't gotten on the train, Princess Luna had written the letter after he had departed. Perhaps he got off at the wrong stop? When she asked about that frightening possibility All Aboard indicated the ten o'clock train was operating as a direct line to Ponyville so there were no other stops.

"I should clarify: he probably would have been escorted by the Royal Guard," she called after the conductor who had started back for the train, "The friend I'm waiting for is the human, Titus Aelius-"

All Aboard checked his watch again before addressing Twilight in an almost irritated huff at her ongoing insistence on the matter, "Miss, while I'm fairly sure no passenger had a Royal Guard escort we most certainly did not have a human passenger. Now, we are scheduled to arrive at the depot for maintenance, so we must be going. Good day." With a tip of his hat he climbed onto the engine, instructing his coworker it was time to get underway and they slowly chugged away from the station.

Twilight followed the train as it gained speed and by the time she had traveled half of the length of the platform she was at a fast canter, peering into every window in search of her friend. She was frantically checking one compartment when she bumped into a pony she hadn't seen that had been too slow to move out of her way.

"Sorry!" she called over her shoulder as she strained to keep up with the train to look in the remaining windows. She got a cursory glance in the empty caboose before she came to the end of the platform, screeching to halt to keep from plummeting off the end and watched as the train clattered down the tracks where it disappeared into the small depot. If I hurry, maybe I can catch up with some of the passengers and ask them... She turned around to head for the stairs and spotted the pony she had bumped into struggling to get to his feet.

"H-Hey," Twilight nervously trotted over, hoping she hadn't injured the unicorn, "Are you okay? Look, I'm really sor-"

A pair of warm brown eyes met hers, "I don't know about you, but I've had one hell of a week."