Author's Notes:

There's this weird tradition in my family that on your birthday you give small gifts to others as a way of saying thanks, so I guess I could say this is my gift to all of you out there; thanks for coming back again and again to read my dribble.

Hope you enjoy it and sorry for the long wait.

There was a small bite to the cold air of the cargohold as Titus slowly sat up on the thin pad he had been sleeping on with a hiss, one hand going to his side though he consciously avoided making any unnecessary contact. Kark, time for some anesthetic again. After being escorted back to the ship he had spent the last few days recovering, only moving to take care of natural biological functions and supplement his recuperation with regular injections of a bacta and anesthetic combination and, judging from the way he had been able to sit up with a relative lack of stabbing pain, he'd reached the point where he could get to work, albeit a little stiffly.

Gently swinging his legs over the side of the crates, he found that the familiar furry form his foot brushed against was exactly where he had expected it to be. "Hey boy," he said with a cheerful but weary tone while using a foot to pet the dog in greeting. After he had left the strange aliens outside the first thing he had done was make a shuffling beeline for the cryopods where, much to his extreme relief, he had found his trusted companion resting comfortably thanks to the solid construction of the hibernation equipment. Vindex Patronus was the mouthful of a full name he had carved into the tag on the large stray's collar on account he had proven to be a very capable guard dog, having earned a home and his place at the Jedi's side when at some backwater station the human had left to purchase supplies and a stranded Trandoshan pirate had snuck aboard in an attempt to fly off with the ship only to be mauled to the point that he had to crawl into an air duct near the ceiling to regenerate, which was where Titus had later found him thanks to Dex repeatedly jumping and snarling at the duct.

Finding his owner awake Dex sprang up with his tail wagging furiously and placed both front paws on the crate to stand on his hind legs, because he knew full well that getting an ear or chin that close generally resulted in a wonderful scratch to either zone and, as usual, he wasn't disappointed.

"Hey boy, would you go fetch me another injection?" Titus said, shaking an aerosol can in the hand currently not involved in scratching an ear; a single, cheerful bark that almost sounded like a "yep!" was Dex's response before he tore off at full speed and nimbly squeezed through the crack of the the broken automatic double door to retrieve the object of his master's desire and it wasn't long before he returned with the vial of bacta gingerly held in his mouth which he deposited in the awaiting open hand for another treat of scratches and pats and a little playful roughhousing.

After taking a bit longer than normal to get into his protective suit - which served as a brace for his recovering ribs thanks to the armor that hardened once he had gotten it on - Titus exited his ship. With the craft upside down it had taken a bit of effort in his condition to find a suitable way to both climb up to the cargohold door upon discovery that the hole the violet unicorn pony creature, Twilight Sparkle, and her friend in the hat, Applejack, had dug to unearth the airlock had filled with water and mud and become impassible which forced him to slowly and painfully climb his way up the hull using what handholds he could find. Today, however, he was feeling a good deal better than he had been, mostly thanks to the copious amount of painkiller he had applied, and easily slid down a gentle curve of the fuselage before turning around to slow Dex as he eagerly skidded after him without a second thought. Titus walked a slow perimeter around the vessel, taking note of what damage was visible as well as recording several shots with his helmet's camera between tossing sticks for Dex to fetch; once his circuit had been completed he slid the helmet off and attached it to his hip for the upcoming journey, whistling the dog over for him to follow.

The duo worked their way down the large trench that had been dug by the craft's fuselage, Titus occasionally stopping for short breathers as the terrain was rougher than he had thought it would be though during one stop he discovered a spot where a small break in the trees allowed vision of a dirt road Twilight had identified as leading to the Apple family's farm and after their small hike the crystal clear waters of the creek trickling beneath the covered wooden bridge spanning it looked very inviting; judging by the expression on Dex's face he thought the same. Rather than follow the muddy trench the rest of the way to town, Titus nodded his head and the dog took off to splash in the shallows and paddle about briefly before joining the human on the bank to shake the water from his coat while Titus took several long, refreshing drinks before washing the mud from his boots and finished by dunking his head in the cool water. When he came back up for air, however, he immediately noticed Dex was on high alert with his ears pointed and scanning a bit down the road above them.

"Dex, shadow," Titus quietly gave the command and the dog immediately went into a low crouch to stalk a distance behind him as he slowly strode up the hill before toward whomever was approaching, not wanting to startle them but at the same time wanting to keep an ace up his sleeve just in case. His caution was unnecessary as the squeaking noise that was slowly drawing closer was reminiscent of one he had heard a few days ago, alerting him to who he might be dealing with and with hands raised and palms open in clear view he stepped onto the dirt road to find his assumption had been correct. "G-good morning, Miss Applejack," he greeted the orange hat-wearing pony somewhat hesitantly.

The cart of goods and pony towing it came to a stop, clearly a little startled at the sudden appearance of the human despite the large forewarning. "Mornin'..." there was a pause before she replied with a tip of her hat which was followed by another pause, this one distinctly awkward as both waited for the other to say something. After eyeing the human in his black and yellow suit with shoulder bag at one hip and helmet tied at the other with both hands raised, finally Applejack spoke up, "You uh, you get lost?" Had he been lost and followed the road back to the farm she could only imagine the ruckus his appearance would cause, especially if he had been wandering around the fields and bumped into Big Mac or Granny or, Celestia forbid, her little sister and the CMC - now that right there would have been a nightmare, probably more for him than them.

Titus shook his head slowly, "I was headed to town; I want to survey the impact site and begin salvaging if I can but on my way I saw the bridge through the treeline so I took a break down by the creek and when I heard your cart I decided it would be best if I made my presence known. I just don't want to startle anyone."

"Wise thinkin'... look, I'm not tryin' to be mean sayin' this, it'll just take everypony a bit of time to get used to ya, so unless yer with Twilight ya might want to stick to the outskirts of town on account everypony's still a bit unsure 'bout all this and are likely to be jumpy. Oh, put yer, uh-" AJ waved a hoof at his hands that were still raised, unsure what they were called and stumbling to find a word, "whatevers down, this isn't an Appaloosan holdup." She watched him slowly lower the appendages to his sides and catching the small wince as he did so she felt compelled to say something, "Hang on a hot second, Twilight was sayin' you'd gotten pretty banged up in the crash - broken ribs and a concussion and somethin' else I'm forgettin'... you goin' to be okay workin' like that?"

"I'm still sore and a bit stiff, and moving too much or too fast hurts," he replied while making a show of his range of motion, as limited as it was, "but I was growing restless just laying around doing nothing and it'll be a few more days before I can begin any of the actual heavy lifting. I still want to get a start, though."

"Oh I know that feelin'; I don't take to mopin' about when there's work to be done either. Just don't go hurtin' yerself further, Twilight already feels plenty guilty 'bout yer condition without you going and makin' it worse," again she paused to look him over from head to foot, "That bein' said, I'd feel bad if I didn't offer... would ya like a ride into town? Wouldn't be any trouble, it's on my way to the market and I'm pretty sure there's some space at the back of the cart for ya to sit on."

Titus knew he had a long day ahead of him and any expense of energy he could save for that was a welcome relief; he indicated his interest in her offer and gladly took a seat on the lowered gate at the back after finding a spot between a crate of apples and a basket of delicious smelling pastry-like morsels. The pair traveled along in silence for a while, both still a little unsure of each other and at that awkward stage where neither one wanted to start a conversation for fear the other wouldn't be interested in what they had to say, though in Applejack's case she was rather used to not having somepony to talk to and she eventually drifted off to thinking about her itinerary for the day to the point she forgot the human was there so when he finally did speak he jarred her a bit startlingly from her thoughts.

"I'm surprised you can haul all of this stuff in addition to my added weight, this cart must way a ton," Titus admired as he bounced along while the pony showed no signs of being overly burdened, watching the grass in the ditch slightly behind them rustle as Dex followed along, "You're a real workhorse."

"I beg yer pardon?!" the orange pony came to a skidding halt to turn and look at Titus more than a little menacingly, "What'd ya call me?!"

Not realizing his trespass Titus repeated himself, "I said... you're a real workhorse-"

"You best be takin' that back!" Applejack all but growled as the human dismounted the spot on the cart, his hands open and out wide again as he backed away from her as she unhitched herself which she took as a sign to take it easy on him, though she had no way of knowing it was also a signal to the hidden canine to be prepared for the signal to strike, if necessary.

"I-it was a compliment-"

"How is sayin' I'm phillyanderer at work anywhere close to a compliment?!" she spat, ears fully cranked backwards and hoof stamping at the dirt, "The Apples have values and I won't stand for anypony sayin' otherwise!"

Phillyanderer? Philly...anderer? Philanderer. Oh kark. "Whoa, I'm sorry," Titus continued his retreat from the obviously infuriated pony, "I meant it as a compliment; where I'm from a workhorse is a term for someone or something dependable that does a lot of hard work over a long amount of time, like someone doing heavy manual labor all day long, week after week. I didn't mean for it to be misconstrued and I really didn't mean it any other way than as a compliment!"

After his brief explanation of the word Applejack shook her head and sighed, realizing this was the first in probably a long line of communication issues that would occur between their species though she still had to take a minute to calm down, "Right, if you were meaning it like that I guess I should say thanks, but regardless, around here callin' somepony a whorse in any context is asking to catch a hoof in yer teeth. Just... don't go using words that could have different meanin's till you can get an idea what to avoid; talkin' to Twilight would be where I'd start... and uh, I'm sorry I went off on ya like that; it's been a real stressful week over on the farm and tempers are runnin' a little thin. Now come on and get back on the cart, we're almost there."

Titus stayed quiet for the remainder of the journey and instead watched the landscape slowly roll by until they crossed a small bridge which marked the outskirts of the town - Ponyville, as they aptly named it - and as they drew closer the number of ponies they passed increased, as did the number of odd glances he got.

"Observation: there's a distinct Harmonic Dissonance when interacting with pieces of the shuttle which require a much stronger field be applied to the object than would otherwise be necessary for something of similar mass-" Twilight was taking notes into a small recorder while levitating a device or component she had found in the grass when a commotion could be heard from just over the top of the hill, causing her to turn just as the human crested it. "Y-you're here..." she said aloud, though nopony was close enough to hear her - save for the recorder which heard her perfectly - and the human was still a fair ways off; stopping her study, she watched as the majority of ponies moved well away from the bipedal creature as he cut a slow path down the hill. Should I go over and say something? Do I greet him or just leave him be? Looking around to the uneasy faces and judging from the way the mood around the hill had grown extremely tense with his arrival Twilight realized she should in fact approach to begin conversation to at least show Titus wasn't about to grab somepony to cook over an open pit. Despite her eagerness to try and talk to him there was a distinct feeling of butterflies in her tummy as she jogged a little closer though it quickly escalated to a knot when his head turned sharply to face her approach and he came to an abrupt halt; fearing she had startled him she slowed to a leisurely walk for the last few paces before coming to a stop a few strides away.

"H-hello, Tit-toos," she greeted timidly because it felt like the butterflies were trying to swarm up her throat which made saying his name more difficult than it should have been, "I hadn't expected to see you up and about so soon. How are you feeling?"

"A little better, Twilight Sp-" was all Titus managed to say as he noticed just how many ponies were present and slowly encircling him, and while he didn't feel openly threatened by any of them as they cautiously kept their distance their constant stares and whispered conversations were a little unsettling. One thing that was a little calming was that he could feel Dex's presence hidden in the undergrowth at the edge of the trees on overwatch while another oddly comforting presence was that of Twilight, though he couldn't explain why he felt that way. Those two factors provided enough relief for him to relax just slightly, "A little better, though I'm still plenty sore," he finished his earlier reply while indicating to his ribs which got a sympathetic frown from the unicorn.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I hope you'll start feeling better soon. Princess Luna conveyed that you had asked for a few days to sort things out..."

"Yeah, the crash was pretty jarring and with everything I've been told about this place, your world, there's a lot to process so I'm trying to take it in small doses." Titus had been in crashes before but none of them had involved multicolored quadrupeds, and it went without saying that none of them involved said beings with some sort of link to the Force or something very similar by his observation, "This world is very different from anything I've encountered before."

"You've traveled to other worlds?" Twilight tried to continue the conversation though she began to suspect he was a little uncomfortable with the growing crowd slowly encroaching on them - something she attributed to the ponies seeing her interacting with the alien which bolstered their feelings that they could get a closer look as well - and politely yet firmly asked they move back and give him a little room before turning back to him once some space had been made. "Sorry about that, I should have gotten them to give you some space earlier. Now, if you've got questions or if there's something you need just let me know and I'll do everything I can to help. Princess Celestia has appointed me to act as your intermediary," they were close enough to the saddlebags Twilight had brought with her that she could float a small badge over, though rather than take it from her aura like she expected he would he instead put his hands behind his back and inspected the emblem bearing both the sun and moon icons of the Solar and Lunar courts as well as rough profiles of a pony and a human, obviously meant to be him, facing each other with a hoof or hand reaching out to the other. When he nodded to indicate he was finished looking she used a bit of magic to attach it to her coat in plain view on the rationale that she should be a little more official about her position now that Titus had appeared, "Have you had breakfast yet? We could grab a bite at the cafe and I would be more than happy to show you around Ponyville."

"Thanks, but no. I wanted to get started salvaging what I can for repairs to my ship, though it would appear I'm not the first..." Titus said with a detectable amount of annoyance as he scanned the hill and noticed the numerous sites of disturbed earth indicative that scavengers had already been picking over the site.

That got another sympathetic frown. "It was pretty hectic after your crash so it took the town guard a while to get organized; by then there were already ponies collecting souvenirs and, before they were shut down, a few stalls had been set up in the market selling them-" Twilight suddenly realized she still had the object she had been studying so she sheepishly floated it over to him but, like with the badge, he made no move to take it though this time she noticed the way he looked uneasily at her magic aura as he opened the flap of his shoulderbag for her to drop it in, "We've recovered everything that was being sold at the local market and I've sent a letter to the Princesses to see if they can intervene in some way for anything that managed to get outside of town before we caught it. I'm really sorry, I hope nothing important was taken."

"I had expected some scavenging to occur, as it usually does, though it'll take time to find out what's been lost," Titus said with a heavy sigh as he unfastened the helmet from his hip and slid it on, "I'm going to get started; you said the portal originated above your library, right? Could you point out roughly where it is?"

It took a second for Twilight to get her bearings at the sudden question but she pointed a hoof back toward her home. She followed Titus back up to the top of the hill where he looked off in the direction she had indicated before bringing his wrist up to tap his fingers against a device held there; naturally, her curiosity at what he was doing was too strong to resist. "Um... w-would it bother you if I asked some questions while you worked?" she tentatively inquired and tried not to let it show she was bracing herself for the upcoming refusal, "I-I've got so many that are just eating away at me though... I know I'm the reason you've gone through all of this so I completely understand if you'd prefer to just be left alone, e-especially by me..."

There was a pause as Twilight stared at her reflection in the faceless face of the visor before a slightly distorted response came through the speaker, "I've got a lot of work to do but it was suggested that I stick with you until the populace gets a little more used to my presence. I'll try to answer what I can."

"Excellent, thank you! Well, first is a question about your helmet," Twilight's heart was thumping hard in her chest and her excitement which had been building over the last few days was evident in her voice as she brought the recorder out, "When you were at the library and talking to Princess Luna up on the balcony I got a chance to look inside it and, from what little I could see on account I couldn't get it over my muzzle there were small boxes of text and graphs that popped up which I hypothesize are readings of some sort. If that is correct, what sort of readings are you taking right now?"

"The text you saw might have been readings as my helmet is equipped with thermal imaging, motion, radiation, magnetic, and a slew of other sensor arrays though at the moment I'm not taking any readings, I'm marking points for my ship's trajectory," he answered before asking for clarification where the library was and followed her pointing hoof to the top of a tree in the distance. Twilight waited while he entered a few more commands into the device on his wrist - which, much to her disappointment, was well above a height where she could observe - before asking why he was mapping trajectory. Titus didn't stop tapping the screen while he replied, "I've already taken a few pictures of the damage to the starboard engine so once I've got the map I can examine the impact site and begin to construct a model of the crash-"

Twilight's eyes went wide with realization, "To figure out the area where the debris would have been scattered and extrapolate their location!" she excitedly finished for him.

"Y-Yeah, exactly," he was clearly taken back by her sudden enthusiasm and he started walking to where the ship had smashed into the hill with Twilight eagerly following a little behind him.

"Alright, um... my next question is about your ship: how does it work?"

"Uh..." Titus' fingers stopped tapping the wrist pad as his thought derailed at the sudden scope of the question being asked, "Could you be more specific, Miss Sparkle?"

"Well, if I had to specify... let's start with what makes it fly?" she floated the recorder up to approximately where his mouth was though with his helmet on she had to estimate and did the best she could.

"Even that question is a bit complicated," from within the helmet he gave the small rectangular device being shoved in his face a disapproving look, "Basically, when flying in atmosphere like this planet's or in a similar gravity well I'd be using a combination of repulsorlifts to provide basic lift and counteract the gravity and my ion drives would be used for thrust at sub-light speeds-"

"Wait a second..." He's got to be pulling my hoof, he couldn't actually be saying that his massive vessel could travel at such ludicrous speeds. How could it? The power required to accelerate to that speed would be astronomical, not to mention the immense strains put upon it just doing so and not even the inertial strain during any turns... "D-Did I hear you correctly? You said 'sub-light speeds,' right?" While normally she would have let him continue with his explanation the shock that Titus was now nodding nonchalantly boggled her mind, "Does that mean your ship is capable of going at or above light speed, as in the speed of light?!"

Another nod and somewhere in the background the sound of Twilight's brain stripping its gears could almost be heard, "Yes, thanks to the class zero point seven hyperdrive-"

"H-Hyperdrive? What is a hyperdrive and how does that work!?"

"It's a device that allows me to travel vast expanses - entire solar systems - in the blink of an eye. We call that a 'hyperspace jump' or simply a 'jump.' As for how a hyperdrive works, when initiating a jump a part called a field guide collects gamma radiation which it stores in a motivator, similar to an electrical capacitor. The energy is then fed through a fusion generator that-" Titus had to stop as he was bombarded with even more clarifying questions as to the nature of the parts he had mentioned. This is going to be a very long afternoon. Titus sighed, a little weary of trying to focus on answering Twilight's probing questions into his technology while collecting reference points for the model, "You know, let's just say it's even more complicated than explaining how my ship flies and leave it there for now, okay?"

On the inside of the helmet's visor the built-in computer took measurements of the diameter and depth of the hole with several of its sensors for use in part of the map and marked the location of a few pieces of debris he spotted, the icons popping up in the visor as they were saved to memory for future use and recovery, meanwhile Twilight waited as patiently as she could while watching Titus stiffly walk around the crater to stare at it from different angles for what felt like an eternity.

Titus was busy with the control panel on his suit sleeve recording the distance between the impact site and the start of the trench when the inquisitive unicorn finally couldn't stand the silence and spoke, bringing pause to the human's efforts as she did so, "I had some recording equipment set up at the gazebo, right over there-" she pointed and waited for him to follow her hoof to the gazebo a little up from where the impact crater was situated, "I was conducting my experiment there and might have gotten the crash on film; I don't know if the camera still works as the guard that brought it to me said he had found it tipped over, but would that help with creating your model?"

The helmet bobbed in a slow, thoughtful nod, "It might... could I see it?" Twilight indicated it was back at the library which, he found out in turn, also had a laboratory in the basement where she had begun reevaluating the spell she had cast however when she invited him to come along with her he declined, pointing out that the ponies watching them looked nervous enough without him striding into their town and he didn't want a repeat of the press conference, "I startled enough of you guys the last time I walked through the streets, so I'll wait here and continue working." The other reason he didn't want to leave, though it went unvoiced, was because it would be incredibly difficult for Dex to stealthily follow him and he doubted introducing his pet at this point in time would make him any less intimidating considering the dog was roughly the same size as the citizens whose concerns he'd be trying to calm.

With the unicorn gone on her errand Titus focused on fully exploring the hill and the surrounding crash site though the numerous ponies that had shown up, several of them with cameras, and arranged themselves around him in every direction to watch him work complicated matters as whenever he would need to move to another part of the site he and any pony he would be moving toward would do this awkward dance where neither one wanted to get too close to the other and they'd shuffle about until they had gotten suitably repositioned. This occurred countless times and Titus did his best to ignore the quite conversations the gathered ponies would have about him as he began piecing the video and pictures he had been recording via his helmet cam into a panoramic shot of the site so the computer could generate a complete three-dimensional map of the area and by the time he had a basic render he heard his Intermediary hailing him as she came down the hill.

"S... sorry that took so long," having jogged from the hill to her library and back in her excitement she was just now realizing just how much of a toll it took on her as she panted for breath and floated the camcorder over, though this time she found herself actively looking for his apprehensive behavior to her magic and encountered it again when he hesitated to take it. Is he scared of magic? Oh no, did I cause that? Placing the camera on the ground, Twilight couldn't help but feel glum if that was the case though the sad look she gave him went unnoticed on account that he was removing the helmet at the time.

The camera on the ground, however, posed another problem for Titus because when he slowly bent and reached out an arm to pick it up his ribs suddenly screamed at him and a sharp spike of pain traveled up his side. It wasn't hard for Twilight and pretty much any other pony that was looking at him to realize he was in pain though Twilight was the only one to approach him. "Hey, are you alright?" she asked worriedly, reaching a hoof out to him although he recoiled and waved it away.

"No. Just. Need. To sit," he hissed through clenched teeth and after taking a second to catch his breath he lowered himself to the grass, the final few inches being more of a controlled fall than anything else and the jarring impact as his rump contacted the ground sent another wave of pain through him though it was much more manageable once he stretched out on his back on the grass, eyes closed as he tried to breath without it feeling like someone was sticking a knife in his side. Kark me... that hurt. Note to self: bring anesthetic next time. When the ache had finally died down to a level where it wasn't debilitating he reached for the banged-up recording device Twilight had brought and gently examined it. Somewhat primitive, judging by the size and weight of it but it might just be that it's sturdily built. Alright, the lens is easy enough to identify, now where's the holoprojector or vid screen?

Reading his searching gaze Twilight pointed to a small section that folded away from the main body of the device to reveal a small screen with several large cracks running across it and several pieces of it fell to the grass when he moved the camera for a better look. "Like I said, I'm not sure if it still works," the unicorn grumbled to the human as she watched her rather expensive and almost new camera literally fall apart in his spindly appendages, "If it doesn't work I can take it to get repaired but it'll probably be a while before I'd get it back." Thankfully her concerns were moot as the device powered up without a problem and they both huddled together for a view of the small screen when it flickered and a sleepy-looking unicorn walked into frame.

"Well, here we go..." the Twilight on the screen said with a small smile before she closed her eyes and her horn started glowing though almost immediately after the picture turned into a snowy static noise pattern for a few seconds and the film jumped to a frame where the unicorn was dancing on her hind legs and cheering "It worked!" before launching into a dissection of how she had cast the spell.

Meanwhile Titus was fixated on a tiny spot he had noticed developing above her shoulder as it quickly grew to push the rest of the clouds that could be seen in the picture away until there was a loud boom, almost like thunder, that caused the unicorn to jump with a small squeak before she turned around and bolted out of the gazebo. At this point Titus began to realize how uncomfortably close Twilight was to him however the blot on the screen was of much more importance so he pushed it to the back of his mind and watched as lightning snaked out from the darkening orb. "Can this be enlarged?" he asked, trying to enhance the details of the image which were disrupted by the cracked screen, "I want to see the portal." Twilight indicated for him to push the zoom lever however barely a second later and not even noticeably zoomed in the lever fell off from the touch of his finger, a harsh reminder that the camera was functional, but only just.

Now clued in to what he was looking at, Twilight squished in even closer; this was her first time seeing the video playback as she had been focusing her attention on retracing her steps through her booklets of notes and wall-to-wall chalkboard of equations so she was just as keen to see things transpire from the camera's point of view as Titus was. "There!" she exclaimed as the blotch exploded and the fiery nose of Titus' vessel rushed into view and careened toward them, the camera briefly losing focus when the shockwave of the sonic boom caused it to bounce about on its tripod and only barely returned to focus as the ship rolled lazily to one side out of view to clip the hill in a shower of dirt and grass before the frame toppled over and the static returned, signaling the point where the camera had fallen and the end of the recording. Twilight was about to apologize that the video didn't feature much of anything when she saw him rewinding the brief clip to right before the ship emerged from the portal to watch the scene again. He did this twice more though she couldn't figure out the reason, despite her best effort, and her curiosity drove her to inquire, "Are you seeing something useful that I'm not?"

The human grunted noncommittally before looking over to her saddlebag, "Do you have some paper to scribble on?" Twilight obliged, floating a fresh sheet over as well as her quill and portable ink well, though the latter proved to be unnecessary as Titus pulled a pen from a small device fixed to his wrist and began drawing two large X's, one a good distance above the other, and a single dot off to the side. His writing stopped as he thought over how his doodle would work during which time he failed to notice Twilight give him a raised-eyebrow look; a second of thought later his pen was back at work making a jaggedly curved line between the two X's and two angled lines from the dot to either other mark to form two sides of a triangle. Again he went back to the recording, this time seemingly ignoring the footage and stopping just as the camera tipped over.

Twilight's curiosity was practically gnawing at her and she resisted the urge to stomp her hooves out of frustration, "What are you doing now?"

"Some geometry, Miss Sparkle," his curt reply came as he shifted a leg and steadied himself with a hand on a knee before pushing himself up with considerable effort and took several deep, painful-looking breaths when he had done so, "And a little bit of practiced guesswork." Hand on his side, Titus cut a lurching path through the gathered ponies that scurried out of his way to the top of the hill as he shoved the helmet back on and looked out over the town; inside the visor he looked for the two landmarks he had picked out from the video and upon spotting them he used his rangefinder to find their distances which he subtracted from each other, jotting the number down on the parchment blindly then continuing from the last point to the next until he had identified the flight path the ship had taken, setting popup navigation points for future reference. Once again the helmet came off, this time for use as a support to lower himself stiffly back to the grass where he had been standing to jot down the distances to the corresponding segments of the curved line he had drawn between the two X's.

A rudimentary picture - one whose details were almost too rough for her need for accuracy to handle - was forming before the violet unicorn and she began to put the pieces together. So it's safe to assume the two marks are the library and the crater, with the dot being the gazebo where the camera was located so he's got the origin and the destination and the flight path broken down into segmented distances with lengths of time beneath. Distance... over time... distance divided by time! She bolted upright to look at him with eager excitement as the realization dawned on her, "You're figuring out the speed and how much you slowed down before crashing!"

"Uh-huh," Titus grunted, absentmindedly nibbling on the end of his pen as he worked the numbers through his head before scrawling a rough speed down though a series of clacking noises quickly distracted him enough that he looked up from the paper.

Having plopped herself directly beside the human after procuring her pocket abacus - Twilight was of the opinion everypony should carry one for just such a situation - she noisily clicked and clacked the beads back and forth until she realized he was staring at her.

"That's a bit distracting."

"I um... your speed calculations in the segments are all off," she floated the abacus a little higher so he could see and pointed to the rows of colored beads, "Not wrong, mind you, you just didn't account for the decimals."

Titus shook his head at her and the device, "I'm not interested in decimals, I only need a rough estimate-"

"You really should factor in the decimals," Twilight's own shaking head cut him off, "They add up. Look, by the third vector segment you're already a few units off."

The wooden frame and rows of colored beads all threaded into rows on stiff lengths of wire and arranged to either side in varying number was something Titus had never seen before, so when the pony floated it in front of his face he could only give it a cursory glance before returning to scribbling on the paper, "Miss Sparkle, I don't even know what that thing is let alone how to read it. But like I said, I only need a rough estimate because, from my experience, a wide search area is better than a refined one. I'm not trying to boast - mostly because it's nothing to brag about - but I've been in a few crashes and know what I'm doing."

Twilight felt like her attempt at helping had only annoyed him and quietly returned the abacus to her saddlebag. Way to go, Twilight, you've already "helped" him enough by ripping him from where ever he was to Equestria, just leave him alone. She tried not to look disheartened as he dismissed her calculations, however she couldn't keep her shoulders from slumping and ears from turning back slightly as she got to her hooves, "Oh, I understand. I'll leave you to your resources then, though if you need anything please let me know." She didn't wait for his response and trudged to the top of the hill before disappearing over it, dejectedly slogging her way home.

For the rest of the day Titus kept himself busy marking out the boundaries of his salvage area, ignoring the cameras pointed his way and idle chat about him that he wasn't suppose to hear while skirting around ponies that got too close for comfort. With the area marked and a little time left before it got dark, he picked over small debris to take with him back to the upturned ship before slinging his bag over his shoulder and stalking slowly off down the road, completely aware of the small group of ponies that followed behind him a fair distance though he didn't look over his shoulder. Hard to tell if they're just curious or they're making sure I leave. Titus was far too tired and sore to entertain the thought of using the Force to ascertain their motives and instead jammed his helmet on and continued onward, his attention briefly going to the small datascreen on his wrist and a moment later a warm rhythm began playing through the audio circuit which had the effect of causing time to melt away and before he knew it he was back at the covered bridge over the creek. Checking that there was nothing on the motion sensors and no one in sight, Titus made a quick hand gesture which brought Dex, who had been following him in the treeline, bounding out from his hiding spot and across the small expanse of grass for a quick game of stick tossing until Titus patted a hand against his hip, the command to follow being duly understood and obeyed as they headed into the trees and back to the ship for the night.

Titus didn't go out the following morning and instead focused on getting the astromech droid back on its feet, the R6 unit having been banged up and tossed around much like its owner in the crash. Repairs to the droid took most of the day, though there was plenty of time in the evening to step out onto the hull for a casual reintroduction to his regular, daily Jedi training.

The next day followed much the same routine with Titus waking up sore and Dex fetching more bacta for him and, after Titus applied extra numbing spray his side to prolong the effect and laid out the repairs the R6 droid should focus on while he was gone, the man and his dog worked their way back to the covered bridge again; this time, however, as the human was exiting the trees he was hailed in a drawl, forcing him to give the handsignal for Dex to go prone.

"Howdy neighbor!" the orange farmer pony called out across the grass field with a wave of her hat, "Headin' into town again?"

In clear view of the pony Titus gave a small wave which concealed the other hand subtly commanding the dog to stay put before he left the treeline and made his way across the field. The small embankment leading up to the dirt road where Applejack was waiting proved to be a bit of a climb for the sore human who breathed a sigh when he finally crested the lip, "Good morning, Applejack."

"Mornin'," AJ was leaning up against the cart which was, once again, full of produce and baked goods, the latter of which assaulted Titus' nose with alluring smells of sweet apples combined with cinnamon as well as another tart aroma Titus couldn't place. "After ya didn't show yesterday ya had me wonderin' if you were comin' today, wasn't sure how long I should wait," the pony stated as she walked over to the human who made a protest that she hadn't needed to wait but she dismissed him with a wave of a hoof and a chuckle, "All it cost me was wakin' up a lil earlier to get a hoof out the door a lil sooner, nothin' more."

"Still, I appreciate it. It's not that long of a hike from the ship to town but with that lift you gave me I had that much more energy for work."

During his thanks she caught him eyeing the basket where the fritters slowly billowed steam from beneath the linen cloth covering them and, knowing a potential customer when she saw one, she easily transitioned to her salespony mode and casually flipped the cloth away to reveal the aromatic pastries, "Our fritters are an iconic staple of the Apple Family stall. Best in Ponyville! Probably the best in Equestria, too, though it's rare that they go uneaten long enough to make it out of the market for a comparison, much to our competition's relief!" Pushing her hat a little further back on her head she leaned on the edge of the cart and allow Titus room to take a closer look and, after he had had ample time to savor the aroma, she spoke up, "I baked these ones myself just this mornin' so they're still hot from the oven, that's when they're best." The hook was baited.

Titus didn't want to admit it but just looking at them had his mouth watering and all he could do was mutter, "They look delicious."

"They sure as hay are! Shoot, I just about sell 'em all off by the time I finish gettin' the stall set up every mornin'," feeling the fish nibbling at the bait she waited until he had taken another look at the tempting morsels before going to set the hook, "Now then, Granny's always tellin' me I can't go sellin' our products before I get to market so normally I'd be sayin' ya got to wait till me and the fritters get there on account of bein' fair to everypony in Ponyville; while I can see how that's fair to all them, you aren't livin' in town - heck, you might be out further than we are! - so I reckon Granny'd understand me makin' an exception to sellin' a fritter to ya now. Only three Bits and you'll get yer mornin' started out right and, seein' as yer a first-time customer, I'll give ya a buy-one-get-one-free offer! Try both these flavors here, if ya like, they're the most popular though there's a few more to choose from in another basket."

Kark me, she is shrewd. Titus dug into one of the pouches on his belt and came out with a clenched fist which he held out to the pony for her to see the handful of small, flat rectangular bars of gold and silver, "If they're as good as the hard cider you brew I'd love to try one but all I have are Republic credits, which I'll understand if you wouldn't accept." He let AJ take a few of each of the ingots for closer inspection and after a quick look over she tossed them into her hat before plopping it back on her head.

"If ya don't mind me takin' those in exchange I reckon might be able to get a few Bits out of 'em from an interested party or two," she eyed the handful again before looking up at Titus, "Ya know, what with the Princesses bannin' ponies from takin' stuff from the hillside, do ya think I could get a receipt fer the... what did you call 'em, credits? I don't want trouble with the guards if they see me with these."

"Not a problem, wouldn't want to cause you any trouble." Using a narrow slip of paper from a roll in the cart, Titus wrote up a quick note and signed it before picking out two fritters from the basket, one green apple and the other a cherry. Starting with the apple flavor, the first bite proved to leave him at a loss for words at how to describe the light flaky pastry surrounding the warm, gooey center other than purely incredible and something one has to experience for oneself to understand.

Applejack was more than accustomed to seeing the face Titus was making, or at least something similar, and gave a low chuckle as she replaced the towel over the basket, "Alright, time to pack up and get going. You go ahead and take a seat and munch on those while we travel, I want to know which one's yer favorite by the time we get to town."

Titus did just that and chowed through both fritters before he realized how quickly he was eating them and found he was unable to pick a favorite between the sweet apple and tart yet not bitter cherry, and when he voiced this to Applejack as she pulled the cart she turned her head to nod with a coy grin.

"That's alright, I reckon you'll just have to try some more tomorrow till you've had 'em all and found yer favorite!"

They shared a chuckle over that, however from that point on they each remained silent; AJ contemplating today's arrangement of the stall and what the special offers should be to draw in customers while Titus looked over the three dimensional crash model that was rendered on his wrist computer. There was a sudden ache in his chest, though he ascertained it wasn't from the food, and the more he thought about it the more he realized it was because of how Twilight had looked when he said he didn't need her help. You made a karking ass out of yourself, idiot... yeah, you were in pain but you didn't need to be such a callous dick towards her. From the way she and the others reacted to seeing you she never intended to have you or anything else get sucked into the portal in the first place. Don't blame her for this, and don't take it out on her when she tries to make amends. He played the animation of the deltoid shape rolling toward the pixelated hill, watching as it sent several small blips representing the major debris he had photographed flying away on impact to various parts of the hill and field below before the area was highlighted in a dark blue and numerous more blips appeared as more debris locations were mapped. Twilight has been trying to make amends with you, so what would it hurt to use her calculations to add a second, more refined search area on top of yours? You might even make her feel better-

There was a sudden touch on one of his legs that dangled over the back hatch which jarred him back from his thoughts to find Applejack with a hoof on his knee and a raised-eyebrow, "Everythin' okay there, fella? Didn't mean to spook ya, you were sorta off in the clouds when I called that we're here."

Titus took a quick look at his surrounding to find that he had spaced out for almost the entirety of their trip and the cart had come to a stop at the base of the hill where a handful of ponies had already gathered. "Yeah, everything's fine I just got lost in thought. Thanks again for the ride, Applejack, and for breakfast as well," he replied after a short pause and dismounted the cart, "I um... sorry to ask for another favor, but is there any chance you might bump into Twilight Sparkle today? There's something I want to talk to her about."

Applejack looked thoughtful for a moment, a hoof tapping her chin several times before she nodded slowly, "If I'm right, today's usually one of the days she sends Spike, her little dragon assistant, to pick up groceries from the market. I can keep an eye out for him and let him know, if ya like."

"That'd be great, thanks," he waved back to Applejack as he climbed the hill. Reaching the top, Titus watched as the farm pony headed off for the multitude of colored tents and fluttering banners in the distance before he turned and surveyed the work ahead of him, subconsciously adjusting the weighty bag of tools that was slung over his good shoulder in the process. I'll start by driving stakes in at intervals along the perimeter to mark out a grid. Setting his bag down, Titus dug out the armful of thin rods he had cut up the night before and set to work laying they out every few meters using his strides as a rough way of measuring, though he must have looked bizarre to the ponies as he strode methodically along the invisible line the datapad on his wrist had laid out because he heard several giggles following him which he took as a good sign that maybe, just maybe, these creatures were beginning to see he wasn't all that scary. It took him a few hours to get all the rods planted in the ground, what with having to work around ponies that got underfoot, and he was in the process of marking the quadrants of some outlying areas closer to the treeline where he quickly dipped into the undergrowth to give Dex a quick ear rub before emerging a few seconds later so as to not arouse suspicion when a purple unicorn poked over the hill and came to a stop; Twilight seemed to stare at him for a brief moment before beginning a slow pace down the hill and across the grass to him.

Right, here goes. With a sigh of determination Titus began his own slow stride to meet her halfway and as he got closer he noted the slumped posture and slightly backward facing ears as she approached, a pose he equated to one Dex would adopt when he was feeling disheartened or apprehensive, "Hi, Miss Sparkle."

"H-Hello," it was apparent his side was still giving him trouble by the way he labored to kneel before her so she waited until he had gotten situated which, as it turned out, was surprisingly close to her own eye-level, "Spike passed along a message from Applejack that you needed to talk to me?"

Titus rested an arm on his knee and nodded, "I'm glad Applejack got word to you. So I um, I gave our last meeting some thought and realized that... I was wrong. Not only that, but I realized I acted like a real jerk when you offered to help, Twilight; I want to apologize for that because I like to think that's not who I am - a jerk, I mean. So... I'm sorry, Miss Sparkle, I shouldn't have been short with you when you tried to point out that my calculations were off and I'd like to ask you to forgive me."

Twilight blinked several times, clearly taken back by the unexpected concession, "Oh... a-apology accepted, though I think in my excitement I might have been a little overzealous in my excitement and aggravated things by constantly not letting you concentrate, which I feel I should apologize for. It's something I've had issues with before and am trying to work on."

"As a friend of mine liked to say, 'forgive and forgive?' So..." Titus held out a hand palm up where it hovered, waiting for Twilight to take it and after a second she picked up on the gesture.

Placing her hoof gently in the appendage, she was a little surprised by the firm grip the spindly digits exerted as it shook her limb lightly. "Forgive and forgive," she replied, sharing a grin as the apprehension of their meeting she had felt moments before dissipated though the hold on her hoof was quickly released.

"Thanks. I don't like feeling like we got off on the wrong foot so I could use your help with the crash site, if you're still willing," reaching into a pouch on his belt he retrieved a folded up paper which he passed to the unicorn, her head cocking to one side in curiosity as she took it, "That's the doodle with my rough calculations for the speed on impact, I was thinking it'd be a good idea to map the refined search area over mine using your more accurate speed figures. While I'm setting up the boundaries of your search area like I've done already I could answer some of the questions you didn't get to ask the other day."

"Really? That'd be great-" Twilight caught herself as she remembered she probably didn't have time to allocate to helping the alien. Oh shoot! I can't do anything like that this afternoon, I've already promised I'd get that data report on the portal spell to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for their own assessment. She must have winced or made some other expression because one eyebrow was elevated a bit further than the other which she was able to correlate to him being curious, "I just remembered I won't be able to today because I'm nearing a deadline on some rather important work for the Princesses that I need to do back at the library. I'm sorry, if this is really urgent I can-"

He cut her off with a slow wave of a hand. "Na, just when you're able to get to it as I'm probably done with work for the day anyway; the only things I really was looking to accomplish today was marking the outer search boundary and setting things right between us. What with one of my ion drives askew in its housing it's safe to assume I'm going to be here for a while..." Titus stopped and leaned to look over one of Twilight's shoulders to cast a quick glance over the ponies that had begun congregating a small distance behind her, "Maybe long enough to make a friend or two." At that mention Titus caught both of Twilight's ears just barely rotating forward.

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

Recovering from the flashback Titus remembered how surprised Twilight had been when he saved a fritter from his morning commute with Applejack Titus chuckled softly to himself and gently squeezed the slumbering librarian snuggled against his chest. I think it's safe to say I made much more than a friend. Maybe I can zip into the market and surprise her with another fritter. His internal alarm clock had woken him up for the morning training regime at the usual time, however upon finding Twilight looking so content he couldn't bring himself to risk stirring her as his training could wait until later and for the last hour or so he instead had opted to just enjoy her presence. The other unicorn had also had been a factor in him not moving as she had partially draped herself over his shoulder blade to where her muzzle was resting on his deltoid, one hoof hooked over his ribs to hold her there while she nuzzled and drooled lightly through a goofy grin. Titus brushed a hand over Twilight's mussed mane and relished in how soft it was as it dragged against his palm though after a few minutes of this it had the effect of causing her to squirm a little deeper into his hug and whether she was waking up or just getting more snug was open to debate. "Love you, Twi," he whispered, her position making it hard but nevertheless he went in for a gentle nuzzle while carefully avoiding her horn.

Twilight was on the fine line between sleep and waking and while the brushing and nuzzling certainly urged her toward waking, hearing Titus speak to her was the main catalyst to her half-opening her eyes whereupon she lazily rolled her head to find him looking down his chin at her with a big grin. "Mmm... a dream within a dream," she hummed and placed a small peck on his chin before she snuggled in against his warm chest and nuzzled his sternum, her eyes closing from a small yawn, "Ten more minutes? Please?" He appeared more than willing to oblige, if the squeeze and brief continuation of his nuzzling was anything to go by, and she quickly dozed off again with Titus following behind a few minutes later. She ended up sleeping for a great deal longer than the ten minutes she asked for, though to her it felt like mere seconds, and when she finally woke of her own accord she did so with another hum which quickly turned into a yawn.

Titus watched Twilight's cute little yawn that was accompanied with a small stretch which he briefly let her untangle herself for before she squirmed back against him to wrap a hoof behind his neck. "Hey, Twi," he greeted with a smile and a nose-to-nose rub, not really wanting to risk a kiss on the off chance either of them had morning breath, "Sorry I woke you earlier. Sleep okay, otherwise?"

"I slept wonderfully, and getting to snuggle like this in the morning is a real treat!" Twilight pulled herself closer to nuzzle her cheek against his and relished in the sensation that there was somebeing she could feel like this with when she felt Titus returning the gesture with an addition of a strong hug. Pulling back for another nose rub and with the intent of staring into his warm eyes, instead both pair of eyes shifted to her suddenly grumbling stomach before she grinned at him, "I guess I'll be having breakfast at your place this time?"

"Yes, and that gurgling is probably because morning has come and gone, Twi; it's actually going on to the afternoon," Titus teased as he slid out from under Lyra and deposited her head gently to the pillow he had been using before propping himself up on an elbow where he offered to treat Twilight to a fine dining experience of a cold bowl of cereal and amiable company which, not to his surprise, she gladly accepted. A sudden snort from behind him cause him sit up and turn himself toward his other guest who had rolled onto her back and shimmied herself into the pillow before resuming her quiet snoring with her hooves splayed out in every direction in complete comfort. Titus cast a quick glance over to Twilight who seemed to be searching for a missing sock and jerked a thumb at Lyra, "So, what do we do with her?"

Twilight paused in her search for her missing sock and tossed the blanket she had been looking under over the mint unicorn to cover her lower half before she did anything like flash them like she had the previous night, "If it's getting toward noon just leave her where she is until she wakes up; the spell I used should be wearing off fairly soon-" she stopped abruptly when she noticed Titus' cross-legged sitting position and the prominent bulge that had returned to his crotch. A-again? Already?! But I didn't even do anything! Truth be told, Twilight had been surprised with how much fun and enjoyment she had gotten out of giving him some relief from the same symptom and from watching how he reacted to everything she was doing the previous night and found the urge to repeat the event to get another dose of that satisfaction - both for him and for herself - was stronger than she expected. Making him feel good makes me feel good... In the back of her mind she was already untying the waistband of his shorts and pushing the buttons through their holes. But that's normal, right? I'm a healthy mare, after all. The human caught her stare and his nervous chuckle prompted her to respond, "You're heated again. If you want to, I-I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to an encore of last night..."

"That's really not necessary, Twi. I'm not heated, I'm just suffering from a case of... um... 'morning wood', it'll relax in a few minutes on its own," his reply was more than a little awkward when it became obvious she was about to ask him to clarify on the state he was in and he explained it was a phenomenon that human males would occasionally encounter and not something to worry about before reaching a hand out to lightly tickle Lyra's exposed belly which caused her to writhe a bit and issue small whines, her hooves pawing at the air in a weak attempt to get the torment to stop, "Plus I don't think it'd be fair to use another sleep spell on an already-zonked out Lyra and, more importantly, I'm also craving something to eat." Giving Twilight a smile and wink, Titus headed for the bathroom to brush his teeth while she continued looking for the other sock before she gave up and joined him with her own brush and toothpaste floating in a small cup from her overnight stay beside her; neither spoke to the other though goofy little grins were shared as the swishing and swooshing of their brushes made a small rhythm within the confines of the rather cramped room.

Taking turns spitting their minty mouthfuls into the sink and giving a final rinsing after a quick floss the pony and human returned to the medbay where Titus pulled his muscle shirt back on and slipped into his boots while Twilight gave one last look about for her missing sock.

"AHA! Found it!" she declared after a moment, her volume having no effect on waking the snoring Lyra as she held the sock aloft though a quick glance proved it was definitely dirty and caused the violet unicorn pause.

Titus saw the sock and the small stain at the end as well as Twilight's muzzle scrunched up from mild revulsion and let out a sigh as he buckled his iconic pouch-laden belt on, "Sorry, is that from me?"

No, that's definitely from me. Twilight realized in the heat of the moment of the previous night's adventure she had forgotten to remove her sock when she had worked herself over to climax and was about to assure her human lover that he wasn't at fault but he had closed the distance and scooped her up before she could say something along those lines and the words that had been forming turned into a small squeak before she got herself comfortable in the cradle his arms had formed, a familiar bag of muesli cereal in one hand. "What are you doing?" she asked, nuzzling the spot at the back of his jaw as he headed for the medbay door, "Those doctor droids said you shouldn't exert yourself so come on and put me down."

"Nonsense, it's not like you're heavy or anything," he made a show that she did, in fact, hardly burden him at all by tossing her lightly in his arms before leaning into the nuzzle, "Droids blow things out of proportion and would probably prescribe a week's bed rest for something as minor as a stubbed toe. And besides, you yourself said the floor was cold to the point of being uncomfortable to walk on so I figured I'd give you a lift. I, um... also might have heard somewhere that you enjoyed the last time I carried you like this."

It didn't take a split second for Twilight to narrow down who would have told him that and she let out an audible sigh. Lyra. That blabbermouth. Thinking of Lyra, she realized she probably could have just borrowed any of the number of socks the unicorn had left lying sloppily around and, peering over Titus' shoulder, she managed to snatch one and float it along with her saddlebags over to her before the automatic door hissed closed behind them, "I do, it's... weird, and I can't really explain why."

"Maybe it's just a nice change of pace to what's normal for you; you know, like being the one getting swept off your hooves rather than the one trying to do the sweeping? I don't know, but either way I like carrying you because you're a nice armful," Titus gave his own thoughts on the matter with a small shrug as he rounded the corner at the end of the hallway and made for the sleeping quarters but cut through a door a little before them that Twilight hadn't been through yet so Titus paused to let her take in her surroundings. Looking around it was fairly obvious to Twilight it was an eating or lounge type area, judging from the round metallic table with stools secured to the floor on one side and a semicircular bench set against a wall on the other, and in another area was another set of stools set on either side of an odd looking checkerboard with a colorful object against another wall which immediately reminded her of a jukebox; on the opposite side of the room in a small alcove was what resembled appliances, of which Twilight was able to identify a most easily the sink and range. Further observation was interrupted when Titus stepped further into the room and set Twilight down on the bench before suddenly stretching with a yawn that completely took him by surprise and, when he had finished, he shook his head and pointed to one of the appliances, "I could use a cup of coffee with my cereal. How about you?"

"Oh! Your machine that makes coffee!" Twilight remembered the start of the conversation they had had that one morning before Rainbow had alerted them to the reporters at her door and her ears perked up as she followed his finger to a small device with a few lights, buttons, and a spigot, "I'm still surprised you have a machine for something so simple. Could I see it? Could I watch you brew some?"

Titus was a little taken back and hadn't expected such enthusiasm at something so mundane until he remember who he was dealing with, "Sure thing, Twi. Give me a sec..." Taking one of the stools he placed a foot on a small lever and yanked the whole seat firmly counterclockwise to release it from its moorings to the floor and set it down in front of the coffee machine while Twilight slid on the sock she had borrowed and followed him over. Stepping over to the drawers along the small length of countertop he dug around among the forks, knives, and spoons until he retrieved a long screwdriver with what looked like a doorknob on the end of the handle - why he would keep such a tool in the same drawer as the other utensils and not in a separate one was beyond Twilight - though as she wondered he continued searching for something else but when he opened one cabinet a waterfall of broken mugs and plates fell to the counter and floor.

"Oh no!" Twilight exclaimed as the deluge of broken chinaware came to an end, "Is any of it salvageable?"

"Eh," he shrugged and went about sifting through the shards as if nothing was out of the ordinary which further cemented the idea he truly did't care, "Frankly I'm surprised they survived this long and I should have seen that coming. When I stole the ship it was being prepped to be shown off to investors so the manufacturers included porcelain tableware to make it feel like a luxury yacht. Mind you, any spacer with half a brain or a lick of experience flying would have immediately balked at that because what you just saw was exactly why we'd never use the fragile frivolous stuff. Spacers are generally pragmatic and pride themselves on their utilitarianism-" his hand emerged with a pair of mismatched and well-worn metal cups, his thumb sliding into one to push a dent out before he tapped them soundly on the corner of the countertop to make his point, "Not pretty, but still plenty functional." He strode back over to plop himself on the stool to begin removing the coffee machine's faceplate and it only took a few seconds on account of the pump-action ratcheting screwdriver before Titus was pocketing the screws. "Alright, all set," Titus was about to lean over to pick Twilight up but instead thought of a better idea and patted his knee. "You get the front row seat," he said, and a second later he was wrapping an arm around her and, being within reach, gave her a quick peck on the cheek, "and, as before, no bouncing during the demonstration." She gave him a giggle and a teasing wiggle of her hips before turning around to return the quick smooch, after which he began pointing out the components that had been laid bare when he had removed the faceplate, going so far as to let her push the button to brew a cup so she could watch the machine whirring to life as a brown tar-like concentrate flowed through a clear tube and into the brewing reservoir shortly before it was drained out of the spigot and into her waiting cup.

Before he could stop her Twilight took an experimental sip and almost gagged as a result, "Bleh! Are you sure it's working? I-It tastes terrible!"

The innocently confused look she gave Titus was absolutely adorable and he couldn't help but give her a squeeze as he chuckled, "Well yeah, the only time you'd want it straight is if you need to flush any parasites out of your system or strip the paint off of a bulkhead. Here, sugar and milk can be added," taking her mug he placed it in another slot and showed her the button to both options, eagerly watching as Twilight's eyes followed the liquids through their maze of tubes and into her mug.

Twilight repeated dispensing small amounts until she had flavored her coffee to her taste or so she could watch the process multiple times (Titus wasn't sure which) before turning around to grin up at her human, "Thanks, that was pretty neat seeing the inner workings! While I still think it's a little silly to have a machine do something as simple as brew coffee I imagine the convenience of the device comes into play in that any of the crew could come in here and grab a quick mug whenever they wanted, right?"

"You're spot on about that. Not counting the two droids because they're limited in what they can do, after Master Krua died I was left as the only one operating a ship that was meant to have a crew of three so any extraneous time that could be shaved off and put toward work was a priority," Titus remarked as he went about dispensing a blend for his own coffee, "You'll find a lot of machines accomplish otherwise easy tasks simply for the reason of convenience and saving time." His coffee in hand he gave the unicorn another squeeze and jerked his head toward the table where he had left the bag of cereal and with another flash of light she had seated herself midway on the bench, leaving Titus to unearth a set of bowls from amid the smashed porcelain before he poured them both a helping of cereal with milk from the coffee machine and sat down at the end of the bench, however Twilight scooted down to sit a little closer where the two chatted for some time about the various machines Titus would use to make working more convenient until the door whooshed open and an extremely groggy-looking Lyra appeared.

"Well there's my missing sock," she mumbled upon spotting the mismatched sock Twilight was wearing before stumbling a few steps into the room where a long yawn interrupted her train of thought and she stared ahead blankly for several seconds before her brain allowed her enough processing power to give them a greeting, "Morning big guy, heya Sparkles. What's for breakfast?"

"Twi gave me some oat cereal stuff that's really good and hot coffee is also available if you'd like some," Titus answered as he got up to fetch another bowl for their newly arrived companion who voiced she definitely was interested in the latter as she ducked under the table to take a seat on the opposite side of Twilight, a bowl of muesli sliding across the tabletop to her a few second later while the human worked on getting her some coffee, "You look like you slept well."

"Yeah I did, thanks. Having a big warm lug to curl up against helped," Lyra gave Titus a wink and took a few bites without saying anything else, instead casually watching Twilight who was observing Titus as he encountered a little difficulty with the coffee machine. Lyra being Lyra however, eventually a little bit of her playfulness began to reawaken and she couldn't help but toy with her friend so she gave an exaggerated stretch and a small yawn before lowering her voice to almost a whisper as she leaned a little closer to the violet unicorn, "I'm surprised you're still hungry after that midnight snack you had."

Twilight didn't immediately register what she was talking about. Midnight snack? What midnight snack? A soiled black sock with a magenta band at the top was pushed at her along the bench out of Titus' view and she suddenly stopped chewing her mouthful. N-no. She can't possibly be talking about... Ever so slowly her gaze shifted up to the impishly grinning Lyra and every sort of unimaginable torture suddenly paled in comparison to the teasing she knew was coming her way either right now or somewhere down the road.

"You know, I wouldn't have been awake to use that counterspell-"

"You countered my sleeping spell?!" Twilight exclaimed quietly, the horror that Lyra had been cognitive through the whole ordeal last night clearly written on her face.

"Well after being roughly shoved almost off the mattress I think it'd be normal to wake up," Lyra replied, ignoring Twilight's comment that followed that she was anything but normal as she pilfered Titus' mug of coffee for an experimental sip while his back was turned. Hey, this is pretty good! She took full swig which culminated in a satisfied sigh and slid the mug into the spot where hers would have been, completely commandeering it for her own enjoyment, "And yeah, I countered it. I kinda wished I had gotten to watch, too, but I gotta say you two sounded hot."

Twilight was too shocked to do anything but stare into her bowl of cereal to watch it slowly get soggy, taking her turn in ignoring the countless "taking your human for a ride" jokes or little imitations of the noises she had made over the course of the next few minutes until she was slugged lightly in the shoulder which jarred her attention back to her friend who was smiling at her with a completely different look that, as far as she could tell, was one of genuine happiness and it was directed at her.

"Hey," Lyra's hoof looped itself over the shoulder it had jabbed and pulled her into a hug, "I may be teasing but I want to be the first to say congrats, so... yeah. I'm proud of you, Sparkles."

Meanwhile Titus was experiencing a small problem with the coffee dispenser in that when he went to get a mug of the warm java for Lyra the machine instead gave a somewhat alarming pop and went dead. What the heck, it was working just a second ago... The earlier removal of the faceplate made a quick visual inspection of the components easy, though not seeing anything out of the ordinary he pressed the reset button and tried again. Nothing happened aside from a muted pop from somewhere behind the machine. Did I trip a breaker? Titus turned around with the intent of communicating the problem he was encountering and apologize for it when he noticed Twilight looking at something on the bench that he couldn't quite see while Lyra grinned at her. The thing about Titus was that when something mechanical broke right in his face he felt a nigh-unshakable desire to fix it or at least gut the thing to find out what went wrong - the urge strengthened even more if the failure occurred while he was trying to use it - and this most certainly was one of those cases. "Hey Lyra, this might take a minute to fix..." he called distractedly over his shoulder after turning to stare at the troublesome device contemplatively though he had no way of knowing she had already taken the liberty of claiming his ow cup and without waiting for a reply slid open a small access port beneath the machine - barely wider than his shoulders - and shimmied to "walk" his upper body in until all that was sticking out was waist and legs.

Laying on his back in the cramped space Titus surveyed the guts and hidden workings of the coffee machine that were no longer hidden by the faceplates, the complicated maze of wires and tubes slowly became less confusing as his mechanically-adept mind began sorting them out; not that he was even sure what was wrong, he wasn't java machine technician, after all, but that didn't stop him from eventually finding the melted fuses and the empty chip slot next to them. Hmm, looks like the expansion chip was removed. After counting the number of pins the slot had to be sure his identification was correct and making a mental note of it he made several uncomfortable adjustments as he worked an arm around in the duct to use the commlink on his wristpad. "Hey R6, need you come to the lounge with a class five memory expansion chip," there was a small pause before a series of beeps and chirps came through in a slightly irritated response to which Titus rolled his eyes, "Why'd you take it from the coffee machine, there's got to be something else you could have stripped for one! If you can't find a replacement in the spares box then go talk to Treadwell, I'm sure he'll have one. And no fighting! I just got him up and running again after the last time you shorted him out with your electoshock probe. Titus out." After another exercise of uncomfortable contortions Titus was able to pull a small flashlight from a pouch and began to look around the circuit for the memory cache reset button; the missing chip which was, as far as he could tell and from a preliminary examination of the surrounding circuit boards, unnecessary as the only purpose of said chip was to serve as a memory expansion to remember the last few entries given to the machine should the user want another helping of identically-brewed coffee and with it missing he and Twilight must had filled up the machine's limited memory pouring their own cups.

Outside both unicorns had wordlessly watched as the human squirmed into the small hole that had opened up beneath the coffee machine, each one taking a small bite of muesli or another sip of the oddly delicious alien coffee and quietly watching as his bent legs shifted occasionally from what was most certainly Titus moving his upper body around. Twilight was much more engrossed with watching him than Lyra was, which gave her the opportunity to pick up on the odd mood her friend had taken post-teasing; that caused Lyra to be a little concerned because as much fun as she had had (and still planned on having later) she hardly wanted to see Twilight looking as gloomy or distraught as she did. "What's up, Sparkles?" she asked after a little more time observing in hopes the mood would pass, "Look, I'm sorry if you feel like I intruded, but I had no way of knowing you two were going to go at it and by the time you started gobbling on him it was too late to say anything - imagine how awkward that would have been, yeah? 'Whoa there Sparkles, let me just trot on out of here so you and the big guy can shag.' Totally wouldn't have killed the mood or anything..."

"I don't like that you didn't say anything and apparently enjoyed your voyeur experience," Twilight sighed and let her spoonful of cereal fall back into her bowl with a wet splat, "While that's a little upsetting what I'm more concerned about is... I can't stop thinking about it. How it felt when he would buck his hips, the small noises he'd make, the way his fingers would tangle in my mane or rub my ear - all that that was caused by what I was doing. I love him and I loved it, I loved every moment of seeing him like that and now I can't stop myself from picturing it repeatedly and wanting to make him feel like that again." Twilight had to stop looking at Titus' lower half squirming around on account that the legs of his shorts had slid a little bit up his angled thighs causing her to once again begin mentally pulling the clothes off of him; Lyra noticed her sudden switch of focus to her cereal and looked a little confused as she questioned why Twilight thought that was a problem to which the violet unicorn shook her head, "I don't think he's as interested as I am. It was me that was insistent last night that we, um... 'go at it,' as you put it, and when he was heated this morning and I offered a repeat of last night he declined, whether his explanation was genuine that it was a normal occurrence of 'morning lumber' or some similar term. Even if it is just a stereotype that mares think about mating every seven seconds, now that we've taken this step I don't want him to get the impression that that's all I think about, even if in a certain way it is..."

While it was generally true that mares thought about sex more than stallions did Lyra thought Twilight was being a little silly to get so worked up worrying about something that was so easily remedied, "Hey, it's okay; you've discovered something fun and new - just like a new book, you don't want to put it down and want keep reading to the next chapter to enjoy it that much more, right? Just talk to him about it, Sparkles. What's the worst thing he could say, 'No, I don't think about rutting as much as you do'?" While Twilight was quick to point out that was hardly the most negative thing he might say Lyra wasn't like Twilight in that she had no such qualms about asking him directly.

"Hey, big guy? Can I ask you something?" Lyra directed her question at the wiggling hips and pushed away the violet hooves that desperately tried to clamp her muzzle shut a little too late.

Titus stopped working and, despite being unable to see much of anything outside of the duct, looked down at his waist where the voice had come from, "Lyra, the fact that you're asking if you can ask worries me." The response he expected didn't come immediately and there was a pause where Titus only heard low voices arguing in a whisper, piquing his curiosity as to what was happening out in the lounge, "But, uh, go ahead, what do you want to know?"

A quick and slightly painful counterspell was necessary to keep Twilight from magically sealing her lips and a look of exasperation was directed at her friend after the literal magical dust had settled, "Sparkles, relax!" Lyra had pinned the nervous librarian's hooves to the table and slowly released them as a show of trust that she hoped would be shared in kind, "I'll be subtle about it so he won't know it's a question coming from you." A short look of apprehension from Twilight was followed by a nod which Lyra took as an indication to continue so she cleared her throat and turned her attention back to the bent-kneed waist poking out of the hole.

"Okay so I'm just curious, big guy... how often do you think about sex?" The thump of Twilight's forehead impacting the table was probably audible from within the vent.

The lounge was deathly quiet and no one moved for the longest time until Titus' knees started wiggling like they had been before which was indicative that he had gone back to work, though neither pony would know he had done so to distract himself from his own feelings of awkwardness at the question, "Um... I'm not really sure what you're asking."

"Okay, so you know how mares have heat cycles and the only thing on their mind is getting a good rutting? Well there's this stereotype that even out of cycle we think about sex on an average of every few seconds or something like that," Lyra cocked her head to one side as she began to genuinely become interested in knowing for herself, "I know humans don't have cycles so they wouldn't have that fogging up their minds, but you've still got to think about it occasionally, right? So how often do you think about it?"

Another long pause from the vent, "Look, I'm all about being open, but... do we really have to talk about this?" He started to wiggle his way back out of the vent but there was a sudden flash of golden light and he found his waist locked in place in a magic aura and upon peering out around his hips he spotted a set of green hooves right outside the duct, "Hey! Lyra, what's going on?"

Ouch! Ow owie ow! Lyra grit her teeth against the throbbing pain. "I wouldn't be using magic with my sprained horn if this wan't important, so unless you're claustrophobic I'm not letting you out until you tell me," she laid her terms out as she flopped her upper body over his stomach so she could peek into the vent, "So come on... how often?"

While Titus was uncomfortable none of it stemmed from claustrophobia; shifting his shoulders around so his arms were no longer above his head he propped himself up enough so that he could look at the unicorn whose head had poked a fair distance into the vent, "Look, can you at least tell me where this is coming from?"

Realizing his question was allowing the possibility that he would, in fact, reveal the answer she had been seeking, Lyra gave a quick glance behind her at the table where Twilight had both hooves over her head, ready for the sky to fall on her though she was peeking out and watching eagerly for the outcome of Lyra's inquiry. The mint unicorn, seeing an opportunity, lowered her voice to a whisper so Twilight couldn't listen in, "Alright, fine. But after this you've got to answer and you can't react to what I'm about to say or Sparkles will know I've told you; last night the sleeping spell she cast didn't work and I was awake the whole time she was going down on your stallionhood." Lyra watched the human go red and he averted his gaze somewhere else before she continued, "There, now that that's out in the open... she can't get last night out of her mind - she can't get you out of her mind - and now she's worried you may not be as interested as she is because, as she put it, she was the one to instigate last night's events. Though I am a bit curious myself I'm asking because I want to reassure Sparkles, okay big guy?"

"... My mind has been wandering back to it as well," Titus replied a bit uncomfortably, what with the unicorn draped over his lower body which did nothing to hamper his thoughts to returning to the way Twilight had so wonderfully been situated in a similar position, "There. Will you let me come out now?"

With her question answered Lyra was instantly back to her usual self and she waggled her eyebrows at him, "Oh, I'd much prefer it if you came in." She released Titus from her magical hold and giggled at her own joke before enjoying the short bumpy ride as he shimmied his way back out of the duct before jerking her head at the still-hiding Twilight, "Now, why don't you repeat that so everypony can hear?"

As both ponies looked on Titus quietly stood up and tested the coffee machine which flawlessly doled out a helping of the black liquid into his waiting cup and, upon finding the brew to his liking, he turned to the mint unicorn, "Lyra, could you give us a moment to talk things over?" Judging by his tone she could tell he was being polite by asking and nodded before walking out into the hallway to give the pair some privacy, Titus waiting until the door had hissed closed before casually walking over to lean on the table and let out a full-body sigh, "Dammit Twi, what am I going to do with you?" He set the cup he was holding down loudly and with a little force before placing his hand on his hip to stare at her in silence for several uncomfortable moments where all she could do was look into her bowl of cereal.

"S-she just outright told you, didn't she?" Twilight said meekly without looking up.

"Yeah she did. And you know what? For someone who is so interested in approaching things logically you sure do have a tendency to overthink things and come to outlandish conclusions in the process. If you even think for a second that I didn't enjoy last night as much as you did or if you believe I can't stop reliving the way you..." Titus paused, shaking away the phantom sensations as he remembered the night's escapade in detail before an arm extended to lift Twilight's chin up so she could look him in the eyes, "Twi? You can be a complete dolt sometimes, and this is one of those times." Before she could even say anything he had returned the mug to his lips and swallowed the entirety of his coffee in a single gulp and, much to her surprise, wrapped both arms around her before he rolled them both onto the bench in a pile.

Titus ignored the fit of happy squeals coming from Twilight as he placed countless kisses and small nibbles all over her neck while his hands snaked into her soft mane just to feel the hair drag through the sensitive area between each finger before his hands massaged the muscle groups in her shoulder and worked their way down her back until he stopped his nibbling to nudge her chin with his nose at which point the two locked eyes. "I want to stick with trying to do things like we originally planned and I just think that for the time being, anyway, we should treat last night as an... appetizer for things that will happen down the road. That's not so say I would hesitate in flipping our roles at the first opportunity-" he suddenly wrapped his arms around her back and reversed their positions, Twilight ending up on her back with the human resting on his elbows above her, a small impish grin plastering itself across his face at the small pun he had made as he resumed the series of kisses and nibbles and slowly worked his way down her neck and toward her belly where all four of her hooves wrapped tightly around his head to hold him there.

Twilight's heart was pounding in her chest and she was uncertain she would be able to convince herself to stop him if she allowed him to reach her teats which had already begun to grow a little hard and instead let herself relish in the way his hands looped under her to pull her even closer in to the pinprick sensations that assaulted her belly with each little nip and warm lick. Her pleasure in that was short lived, however, as Titus felt her reluctance to let him go further and place a kiss on her cute little bellybutton before he began slowly working his way back up her body in the exact path he had taken earlier, placing his nibbles on precisely the same spots where her skin was already sensitive which got little giggles and hums as she squirmed about between his arms until he was back at face-level with the unicorn and he could plant one final kiss square on her lips. Both of them eagerly pressed in for a long moment before they separated and Titus tightened his grip around Twilight's shoulders, bringing her in for a nuzzling where he breathed into her fur, "Next time it'll be your turn, my cute little librarian, and I'm thoroughly looking forward to that appetizer. I. Love. You." He spaced each of his closing words around a long caress of his lips against hers, the final one lasting an extended amount of time as each one poured as much admiration for their partner as they could into it; Titus taking the opportunity when Twilight let him forge forward with his tongue while she pulled him closer with all four hooves that were securely wrapped around him until they finally broke apart for much needed air.

Feeling much better if not a little heated herself at the promise of things to come - in more than one function of the word, she sincerely hoped - Twilight gave him a big grin and planted a quick peck on the tip of his nose. Oddly enough, he stuck his tongue out at that, though that expression didn't change as she stared at him for several moments, even after a second, longer smooch on the nose. "Hey~! Why're you sticking your tongue out at me?!" she inquired in mock irritation with a small bit of sing-song in her voice and bopped him lightly in the shoulder.

Titus averted his eyes as he knew his answer would likely get a snort from the unicorn, "I may have, uh, the coffee was still really hot and... I sort of burned my tongue."

Instead of a snort Twilight laughed warmly and placed a kiss on the small portion of tongue poking out from between his lips, "Aw, that's what not thinking logically gets you. Dolt." Before she could summon what little healing magic she knew - and she barely knew any as it was a field she never quite could seem to grasp - the automatic door hissed open, roughly depositing a mint unicorn onto the floor as a familiar astromech droid rolled into the room where it stopped to beep and chirp questioningly several times, "Oh, hello R6!"

"Can't everyone just give us a karking break?" Titus mumbled as he rolled his eyes at Twilight before craning his neck around to reply to the droid, "Not that it's any of your business, R6, but no; we're not 'networking to exchange data packets.' Now just get over there and put the chip in the karking coffee machine, okay?"

Meanwhile Lyra was recovering from her minor faceplant after the door she had had her ear plastered to in an attempt to listen in had rather suddenly opened and, upon looking up, she immediately noticed Titus laying atop Twilight on the bench, her friend's forehooves looped behind his neck while her hind legs wrapped around his hips in a rather suggestive manner and she couldn't help but continue staring until she heard her name being called which snapped her consciousness back to the lounge.

"Now, if you're done gawking... I think we could convince ourselves to move if you'd like to finish your breakfast, Lyra," Titus switched his attention from the droid to the mint unicorn, though he made no effort to move until Lyra had gotten up and begun walked back over to the table; with a sigh the violet unicorn released her hold on Titus' neck but not until after another quick smooch did she scoot over to let him sit on the bench beside her with Lyra taking a spot on the other side of him.

"So," Twilight said, turning her attention from Lyra to Titus to indicate she was talking to both as she ducked herself under the human's elbow to lean up against his side, "What are you two planning for today?"

"Well... with the big guy out of the tank I guess I'll go ahead with the music lesson I've got scheduled for this afternoon," Lyra said around a mouthful of cereal though from the tone of her voice she didn't sound overly excited at that prospect. Never take payment before you know the details. The mint unicorn sighed, remembering how excited she had been when she had been approached by a mother looking to pay for a few lessons for her son and his friend and only later had she found out it was Snips and Snails looking to start a grungy garage band, "After what will most certainly be a torturous hour I'll be headed to the spa with Bon-Bon where I can unwind with a nice soak and a massage before we head out to take care of some last minute shopping. What about you, big guy?"

Titus was in the middle of bringing a spoon of cereal up from his bowl and paused to nod his head toward the droid working on replacing the missing chip, "Oh, I'll be going over the repairs R6 did while I was gone-" he stopped as Lyra quickly ducked in and gobbled the hanging spoonful with a nom!, though the scowl he gave her didn't last when she remained clung to his spoon and looked up at him innocently with those big eyes of hers. "The karking antics I have to put up with," he breathed with a heavy sigh as he pulled the spoon from Lyra's mouth with pop! and she happily chewed her stolen mouthful, "After that I want to get into Piloting and get it back into order which is what I'll probably stick with until it gets dark-"

"Are you sure you should work all day?" Twilight nudged him with her shoulder, "The med droids said you need to take it easy for a little bit longer."

"Twi, I'll be fine-" he tried to reassure her with a shrug but she wasn't having any of it.

"No! You shouldn't push yourself," she declared adamantly, giving him a little scowl at his apparent disregard for his own health before she softened up and wrapped both hooves around his arm in a hug, "I just want you to get better... so would you please do what the medical droids ask?"

Another set of hooves suddenly looped themselves around the other arm as Lyra added her own determined scowl to the mix, "And no fussing when you have to go for another session in the goop tank, got it? I won't let go unless you promise!" To make her point Lyra bit down lightly on the flesh of his tricep and made little growling noises like a dog latched on to a pull toy.

Well damn, if they feel that strongly about it... Outnumbered on both fronts Titus' shoulders slumped in surrender. "Alright, fine, I promise I'll do what the droids say and I promise I'll go back in the tank when told to. Happy?" he grumbled and took a begrudging bite of cereal as both unicorns celebrated in their own way - Twilight squeezing his arm tighter while Lyra raised her hooves above her head for a victory cheer, "Well, now that I think about it I'd better take the speeder bike over to Fluttershy's to pick up Dex."

At the mention of the name Lyra looked a little puzzled until Titus explained that he had left his dog with Fluttershy for his week in Canterlot, whereupon she lit up, "D'awww! You have a fluffy little puppy!? Take me with you, I wanna meet him!"

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Little? Lyra, he's bigger than either one of us! Wolf-sized, even."

"Oh. So he's not a fluffy puppy?"

Titus chuckled at just how disappointed Lyra looked, "He still thinks he's a pup, and he's plenty fluffy and friendly. You're welcome to tag along if you don't mind sharing the sidecar with him on the way back." The mint unicorn brightened back up at the invitation, eager to both meet the wolf-sized puppy and finally get her promised ride in the bike machine; Titus, meanwhile, draped an arm over Twilight, "What about you, Twi, got anything planned for today?"

"Other than to stop in at the library and see how Spike is getting along as I really didn't mean to sleep in and leave the opening duties all to him I don't have any other overly pressing engagements to attend to-"

A snort from Lyra cut her off, "Did you forget about your party?"

"That's still not for week and a half-" Twilight did a quick doubletake and her eyes went wide when she realized this was the first time the party had crossed her mind since Titus had gone in the bactatank and her party was, in fact, much nearer. "Oh shoot! I haven't placed any of the orders! There goes my entire afternoon to running all over Ponyville; let's see, I need to get the decorations and food planned with Pinkie in addition to finding Vinyl to book her for the music..." Twilight devolved to mumbling to herself as she constructed the optimal itinerary.

Lyra leaned forward to peek around Titus' chest, "You uh, sent out the new invitations to everypony already, right Sparkles?" Twilight nodded and waved a hoof to be quiet, so focused on her planning she didn't pick up on the hidden meaning of the question. Lyra, however, wouldn't be ignored and picked out several oats from her cereal before leaning forward again and flicking them, the soggy little missiles flying across Titus' space to splat directly onto her friend's face and quite effectively shatter her concentration.

Twilight more than a little irritably wiped the oats from her face, "Lyra! I'm in a real time crunch here-"

"But are you absolutely sure the invitations were take care of?" she jerked her several times at Titus in time with her final, blatant hint, "All of them?"

Titus hadn't seen Lyra's motioning to him but found it hard to believe Twilight's eyes could expand further than they had just a moment ago before she began fumbling with her saddle bags, "Ohmygosh! I almost forgot about yours!" Apologizing again for almost forgetting she slid a lavender envelope bearing her cutie mark in front of him, the same one Lyra had seen her put in her saddlebag the afternoon of her Watchers meeting, "I mailed the others a day or so after you left with Princess Luna and passed out the others as a way to distract myself from my cycle though I kept yours separate because I wanted to give it to you when you got back... but then you got sick and it's been in my saddlebag ever since."

Picking the envelope up between two fingers, Titus inspected both the front and back for some sort of clue as to what sort of invitation it was but other than the cutie mark it was bare, "What do we have here?"

"That would be an envelope," Lyra proceeded to tap it several times and slowly sound out the word again, "Ahn-vuh-lohp. We put mail in them."

"Thanks Lyra, what would I ever do without you?" Titus said dryly while flipping it over; he slid a finger between the flap and easily popped the seal to pull a bi-fold card out however there was a sudden toot of a horn and an explosion of a startling amount of confetti rained down to cover the entirety of the table as well as all three individuals sitting at it and, after a moment of collective bewilderment had passed, a low groan came from Twilight.

"Pinkie."

That was all the explanation Titus needed on how that much confetti could fit in a thin envelope so he carefully and very deliberately aimed the card away from himself and the others as he opened it, though thankfully nothing else impossibly erupted from between the confines of the bi-fold and he was able to read the card aloud, "'To Titus; Twilight Sparkle is having a birthday party at the Ponyville Library and you are cordially invited! Though not necessary, an RSVP to either Twilight Sparkle or Spike the Dragon would be appreciated to know how many ponies to plan for as cake, drinks, music, and games are part of the activities scheduled.' And is this date here at the bottom right? I thought I was in the tank longer than that."

"Na, what you've got there is one of the old invites, big guy," Lyra answered as she shook confetti out of her mane, "That was Sparkles' birthday but she wasn't really feeling the party so we rescheduled."

Titus' brow furrowed; he knew Twilight - and of course Lyra, as well - had been worried about him but the thought that she would miss out on celebrating her Life Day because of him made him feel a slight sting of guilt.

Seeing his expression Twilight squeezed his arm a little tighter and nuzzled into his shoulder as a way to tell him he needn't worry about it, "At the time you were still in the bacta and hadn't shown any signs of getting better yet so it just sort of... went by, though Lyra did surprise me with a Hayburger with a candle shoved in the bun which I blew out and wished that you'd be okay-" Titus' arms quickly wound their way around her and she was completely engulfed in one of his bear-like hugs, a glowing ember flaring up within her chest and in that instant she felt like the happiest pony in Equestria as she got her hooves around as much of his chest to give him a hug of her own, "And it looks like I got my wish!"

"Thanks for the invitation and happy birthday, love; even if you missed it on my account," Titus tightened his squeeze and buried his face in her neck, unaware of the small blush that came to Twilight's face at being addressed as "love" in the presence of Lyra.

"Awww! You two are too cute, you know that?" Lyra said with a squee, draping herself against Titus' back and flopping her head over the shoulder not occupied by Twilight to nuzzle at his cheek, "C'mere ya big lug, it's good to have you back."

Unwinding an arm from around Twilight, Titus reached a hand up to cup Lyra's face where much to his surprise his palm met with dampness and, looking out of the corner of his eye, he confirmed that there were a few tears running down her cheeks. Wow. She didn't let on, but Lyra was really worried about you. "Thanks Lyra," he gave her a smile as she pushed into his palm and rubbed her nose against his fingers in particular, "It's good to be back, and even nicer to come back to two welcoming friends." They shared a quick group hug before Titus returned his attention to his breakfast to find a shimmering blanket of confetti coating both his cereal and coffee and not feeling hungry enough to fetch another bowl he pushed it toward the center of the table with Twilight and Lyra doing the same after their own similar discoveries, though Twilight went a step further and floated all of their dishes to the sink.

"Well, thanks for breakfast. I'd really like to hang around with you two for a bit longer just to chat, but having slept in I'd better get to Sugarcube Corner and get the food ordered before they go to lunch," Twilight reluctantly followed Titus and Lyra as they slid down the bench, each one giving a farewell to the droid as they made their way into the hallway and to the medbay, "If, by some stroke of highly improbable luck or fortune, I have some free time between now and the party could I stop by again?"

"Oh, so you can check up on me and make sure I'm not working, you mean?" he shot her a teasing glare which she looked away from, a little upset with herself that part of her motive had been easily discerned and she grumbled it wasn't fair how quickly he had done so; Titus chuckled at seeing her reaction and gave her a small pat, "Twi, I promised, and if there's one thing you can depend on more than me having bad luck it's that when I make a promise I do everything I can to keep it."

Arriving at the door, Twilight held out a hoof for Titus to stop while letting Lyra know they'd be along in just a moment and once the mint unicorn had gone ahead Twilight let her hoof fall back to the deck, "I trust you, but I still want make sure you're taking things slowly; I've seen you working, you take a project and get fully engaged in seeing it to its end... it's something we share in common but what worries me more is another similarity in that you ignore yourself when you're absorbed in a job - take your first few days of salvaging as an example; you were pushing yourself to move bulky debris despite the obvious pain your side was causing you."

Titus remembered, all right - in particular he remembered the large heat-exchange rod he had dug out of the earth and carefully hoisted up onto his good shoulder which quickly sent him to his knees from the spike of pain it had unexpectedly sent up his side; he also remembered, however, how Twilight had immediately come to his aid and floated the weight of the rod off of him to frightenedly ask if he needed help. Titus closed his eyes to shake the memory back to his subconscious before squatting down to Twilight's eye-level where he found the same concern on her face, though understandably to a lesser extent. "I still think I'm okay to get back to work, but-" he lightly bopped a finger off of Twilight's nose when she scowled and opened her muzzle to speak, "but I can see you're worried and I promised I wouldn't do anything strenuous, although if it's alright with you I would like to do some light computer work, something similar to looking over sensor data, that sort of thing."

Twilight gave him a skeptical look; she knew full well from her own experiences that a simple "looking over" of spell data could easily turn into a "quick test" which usually culminated in her glancing at the clock to find out it was four in the morning and she'd been casting test spells for the last six hours though with Titus it would probably go more along the lines of him reading about a repair R6 had done and, wanting to check out it himself, he'd pry a faceplate off for a quick look and be buried up to his waist before he realized it, much like with the coffee machine.

"And you are more than welcome to come by whenever you like, Twi, you know I enjoy your company," Titus added when he noticed the look the pony had about her, no doubt she was doubting the work would remain light.

"Alright, I will if I get the chance," she said with a warm smile as Lyra came back out of the medbay with a rucksack of laundry and sleeping materials, her smile turning a bit teasing and she gave him a light jab in the knee, "Though I hope you won't just be watching for me on the cameras and hastily hiding whatever machine you'd been working on under a rug." The eye-roll was more than expected though the question that followed was one born of genuine curiosity as he asked her how she had found out about the external cameras. "Oh, well I first encountered them when Princess Luna discovered a screen displaying a view of the Academy study team outside while she and I were looking for your training equipment, then after you went in the tank for treatment Lyra and I, with a little help from R6, set up a few of the screens to check who was at the door."

"Uh, why would you need to do that?" Titus glanced at the nearest vidscreen on the wall and, after scrutinizing it for a short time, was able to pick out the little smudges where noses had been poking at it, "And R6 helped? Like, he set one up for you or-?"

"No, big guy," Lyra dropped her rucksack to the floor and joined Twilight as all three walked down to the screen Titus had been looking at, "He walked us through it so we could do it ourselves. Show him, Sparkles."

Titus gave Twilight a quick glance as she moved past him and approached the screen before turning back to Lyra while the violet unicorn went up on her hind legs and braced herself against the wall below the screen, "Walked you through it? You mean you understand him?"

"Lyra does," Twilight answered with a little hint of annoyance in her voice to which Lyra giggled and clarified she only had begun roughly grasping the droid's noises after she had observed Twilight attempting to communicate with the droid and realized the boops and whirs followed a loose musical pattern.

Lyra was explaining the nature of the pattern she had discovered when she caught Titus' eyes following the curves of Twilight as she propped herself against the wall and poked away at the screen to cycle through the views. With another giggle she leaned a bit closer to whisper to the human, low enough that the fully-concentrated Twilight couldn't hear, "Jeez, you've got it as bad as she does, don't ya? Not that I blame you, big guy, when I see a cute butt I just need to-" *SMACK!*

The sting of Lyra's hoof on his rump was something he was beginning to grow accustomed to, however the same couldn't be said for her because, as she was preoccupied with giggling at his reaction, his hand flattened out and connected sharply right on her cutie mark with a loud *SWAP!* and her giggles turned into a yelp as she bolted a short distance down the hall, their exchange briefly distracting Twilight long enough to roll her eyes at them before she turned back to her work.

"Yow! That stung so much better than a hoof!" the mint unicorn exclaimed with a big grin and a little more enthusiasm than Titus was expecting as she bucked her hoof behind her to work the tingles out of her haunch, "I thought you weren't going to take me up on my offer of getting even. What changed, big guy?"

"Originally I wasn't, but your yelp turned out to be worth it," he shot back and shook his hand to work his own tingles out, "You okay, though? I might have come down a little too hard-"

"Mmm not at all, big guy, though if you're worried how about we use, hmmm... fingers as a safeword?" With a lascivious grin the mint unicorn stalked (if ever there was a perfect example of the word, Titus realize this was it) back toward him, her shoulders and hips rolling in perfect synchronization until she went up on her hind legs, forcing Titus to catch her forelimbs lest she topple onto him. Seeing he was on his back foot, mentally and physically speaking, Lyra decided to press her advantage and engage the other party in her teasing, "Hey Sparkles? I think my flanks might be a little lopsided now, could you ask your coltfriend give the other one a good swat?"

"I um..." C-coltfriend. My coltfriend. Twilight visibly paused in her work, her brain unexpectedly changing gears leaving her posed with her nose a breath away from the screen without her realizing she had found the exterior camera view she was looking for. He really is, isn't he? He even said I could call him that!

Seeing the inner turmoil clearly written on her face though without any real insight as to what it was about, Titus lowered Lyra's hooves to the floor, "I think you'll just have to manage in your lopsided state, at least for the time being." Curious and with only a slight tinge of concern, Titus took the few strides over to Twilight's side. Thinking her forward stare was fixated on the screen when in actuality her mind was miles away he leaned in to whisper, "Watcha looking at?" Placing his hands on her shoulders he traced a path down either side of her barrel, thumbs briefly extending to brush over the back dimples her posture afforded her as he reached her hips.

To Twilight, it was a completely new sensation; not physically speaking, of course, as Titus had brushed a hand over her coat numerous times before in normal forms of contact, whether it be a hand on her shoulder or a comforting pat on the neck or head, though more recently his touches would linger for wonderfully longer amounts of time. Since last night, however, even the briefest of contacts was sending a slew of new feelings through her and she realized his touch now conveyed a whole new range of emotion; hugs felt more inclusive, pats felt vastly more comforting and carried more compassion, and now with the way his hands had conformed to her body as they brushed over her coat she felt even more connected to him, almost as if they could carry on a conversation without even saying a word. By Celestia, I love him. Her mind was brought back to the ship and the video screen as she felt his hands leave the incredibly sensitive stretch of skin between her side and haunches that usually lay relaxed against her body and slide up to her chest where her forelimbs automatically hooked over his arms as he pulled her a little more upright and into a hug from behind.

"Everything okay, Twi?"

The hug felt wonderful, though because of the position it was hard to balance on her hind legs and not as convenient for Twilight to return the gesture, so she had to settle craning her neck around to nuzzle at his chin, "Mhm, positively exceptional. I was just thinking about you. And me. Well, you and me, more precisely."

"And them, I take it?" he motioned his head toward the screen which displayed the exterior of the airlock and the stairs built leading up to it where a gaggle of reporters had gathered at the landing, kept in check by the duo of town guard stationed there, though a quick flick of a finger turned the view into a frame by frame which revealed the rear access to the cargo hold also was encircled, though the number of ponies was significantly less.

"After the stairs were finished they were pretty quickly swarmed," Twilight supplied while pressing herself into the hug, "Aside from Derpy delivering mail, there were a few occasions where ponies would knock at the door to try and get us to answer or try to find a way in until Sergeant Quickbolt posted a pair of her guards at the base, which was only recently. I think she got fed up telling them off."

"Oh boy! You two are going to make real headlines!" Lyra joined them in front of the screen to watch the ponies mill about, an occasional camera flash going off somewhere in the crowd, "'Mare Falls For Stud From The Stars' mmm... no, too long; maybe 'To Love an Alien'? OH! Ooo! 'Beauty and Big Guy,' now that's a good one!"

Titus' sigh cut off any more hypothetical headlines from the mint unicorn before he shook his head, "Judging from headlines I've made in the past I don't think you're coming from the right side of the spectrum, Lyra." His mouth drooped into a scowl. It wasn't hard for me to ignore the papers and their derisive headlines, but if they started targeting her... Titus subconsciously tightened his hug on the violet unicorn as thoughts of the filth that might be printed under an image of Twilight filtered through his imagination. I just don't know how'd she take it. Another nuzzle from Twilight amid the sounds of her hooves shuffling dislodged the unpleasant fictitious headlines, "Oh, sorry, I guess I got caught up in my thoughts. Uncomfortable?"

"N-no, not really. Even though I know you've got a good hold on me, facing the other way is just... it's hard to not feel like my hooves are going to slide out from under me at any second-" though she certainly wasn't asking him to, Titus lowered her back down to all fours where she cocked her head to one side inquisitively, "A-are you worried about what they might say? You know, when word first got out that you got sick, though there was a brief moment of panic before it was circulated that nothing was communicable from you, the papers - at least in my opinion - generally came off as concerned for you..."

"Well duh, Sparkles. They were worried about their meal ticket," Lyra grunted with exasperation, herself having grown sick of the bilge being propagated by the press before she nodded to Titus to add, "No offense, big guy."

"None taken. Either way, I'm not concerned with what they print about me; I have been and can continue to ignore it." Stopping to crouch down in the usual impossibly-impressive to behold manner of balancing on the balls of his feet Titus extended a hand to cup Twilight's cheek which she put a hoof behind to press into, once again awash with new feelings from something so simple, "But if they start dragging you through the muck, Twi, if they start directing some of the things they've been printing at you because of me... because of who I am and what I look like... seeing them do that to you would hurt me." The nuzzling against his palm stopped and those large violet eyes fixed on his and he couldn't help but stare into them for a brief moment before closing his eyes and sighing, "And unfortunately it's inevitable that they'll find out about our relationship."

Doubts, doubts which Twilight was highly skeptical of but nevertheless needed confirmation held no weight, ran through her mind as she visibly slumped. I-is he saying he wants to call things off? What?! No, I'm just jumping to more conclusions like we talked about this morning... I am, right? ... No, this is Titus, he wouldn't do that; of that much I'm beyond positive. Maybe he's thinking of a plan to keep us secret! But... I don't want to have to hide like that from my friends and family. And that would never work, either; like he said, eventually something would slip out and we'd be back to square one. It was at that point that another hand clamped over her muzzle, drawing her attention to the fact that she had been muttering her thoughts out loud for Titus to hear.

"Relax Twi, all I'm suggesting is we ease them into the idea," he calmly stated as he removed his hand from the unicorn's mouth, "So, at least for a little while, unless we're in here or somewhere else private where they can't snoop, no licking, nibbling, nuzzling-"

"No nuzzling? But friends do that all the time!" Twilight was quick to point out that nuzzling wasn't something exclusively for couples and that she and pretty much all of her friends, not to mention most of the populace, gave each other a brief nuzzle when they hugged as a form of familiar greeting, "So what if they see me nuzzle you? It's common enough that there's plausible deniability."

"And Sparkles here is known to be a friend of yours and has been seen nuzzling you before, so there's that," Lyra offered from the metaphorical sidelines, "If she suddenly stopped, especially after being so openly worried if you were going to be okay, it'd look odd."

Titus knew a losing battle when he saw one, "Alright, if you think nuzzles won't send them into a frenzy... Now, you've said you've asked your friends for help on several occasions, though I'm not sure what you've shared with them-" he shot a glance at Lyra who gave him a little ♪I'm-Not-Going-To-Tell-You♫ grin before waggling her eyebrows at him which was exactly the type of response Titus was expecting and, if truth be told, fearing, "-I realize and I'm glad you had friends you could depend upon for support but... can we keep what happens between us private and be discreet about things?"

Twilight looked pensive for a long moment, her brow furrowing as she cast a look toward the screen before her hooves seemed entirely captivating, "I... I understand, but t-there's one pony I would like to send a letter of thanks to so they know that everything worked out alright. W-would that be okay?"

"Uh, well... sure, if you trust them I don't have any objection," Titus replied, assuming it was to Princess Celestia, and the smile Twilight gave him melted any hesitation remaining that he might have made the wrong choice. He loved that smile almost as much as he loved her and seeing her happy brought forth a stupid grin of his own that he couldn't hold back until a hoof patting him on the back enthusiastically forced the air out of his lungs.

"Right! Big guy, Sparkles, ready to take the plunge and wade into those sharks out there?"

"This whole 'being discreet' goes for you too," Titus gave Lyra a look that clearly said he wasn't kidding which she answered with a sigh before saying she honestly understood that he didn't want the spotlight on him and her friend and she promised to do her best or he could stick a cupcake in her eye. "Alright, I guess there's no use in waiting any longer," he nodded before jerking his head down the hall toward the airlock, "You go ahead; Twi and I will catch up in a second."

Twilight's gaze followed her happily bounding friend as she spoke, "Was there something else you wanted to talk abo-Mmph!" Her question was cut off when a hand suddenly turned her face around and she felt his lips press against hers. It took Twilight a second to register what was happening before she hummed into his mouth and took a step closer, toppling the crouching human to his backside as her hooves looped behind his neck and his did the same; in his new sitting position Twilight was roughly a head taller than he was, allowing her to shift her weight onto his shoulders though most of it was actually directed into the kiss that they both seemed unwilling to break until the other conceded. Unfortunately (or not, depending on the viewpoint), the position in combination with the leverage being applied by Twilight's eagerly leaning in caused Titus to topple further onto his back as the unicorn continued her assault, determined to eke out as much enjoyment out of this impromptu kiss before they would have to ration themselves to moments of privacy, and Celestia knows when that might be. Deciding it was a perfect opportunity for a role reversal of her own, Twilight broke the kiss to stand up and take a step back, "This is retaliation for earlier, my cute little, um..." Twilight stumbled with what to call him though after a little thought, during which time Titus patiently waited, she came to a decision and started again from the top, "This is retaliation for earlier, my big cuddly alien coltfriend." With a quick grin she slipped her muzzle under the hem of his tank top and flipped it up enough to worm her head underneath and began placing her own licks and nibbles similar to the way he had done but in reverse order, starting at his navel and working her way up. Within the tight confines of the tent of his shirt, Twilight was assaulted with sensations on multiple fronts; the scent of her stallion - again, it was a distinction she was elated she could make - was quite literally everywhere and she eagerly buried her nose against him, meanwhile every lick and nibble was accentuated with the hint of saltiness of his smooth skin which she took great delight in grinding her cheek against.

While Twilight kissed and nipped at his belly Titus cast a quick glance down the hall at the corner Lyra had rounded, catching sight of a green face zipping back out of view though still visible was the horn wrapped in medical tape poking from around the corner. "Twi..." Titus whispered as he gently placed both hands the unicorn squirming beneath in a bid to get her to stop, "Twi uh... I think Lyra is watching us. Again."

"So let her!" Her teasing tone was the only warning she gave before placing a deviously long, drawn out lick directly over his nearest nipple before a violet horn carefully poked out from the loose collar of the tank top and Twilight's face followed after it, "I'm only having a little cuddly fun with my guy, and I'm not opposed to letting my friends see how happy you make me!"

"Fair warning, but I'll be getting you back for that lick sometime; anyway, we did tell Lyra we'd only be a second, remember?" Titus reminded her in mock exasperation as she inched her muzzle closer for another kiss, her lips gently brushing against his where there was just enough of a pause so he could chuckle, "Kark it, she can wait," before she pushed herself forward into him, enough so that he was once again made to lie on his back. As she prodded for entry into his mouth, both of their eyes closed as they began fencing for control as he snaked his hands up her sides to her back where they began slowly brushing up and down her body in an alternating fashion, and though the softness of her fur against his palms was decidedly muted thanks to the shirt she had crawled into with him it went unnoticed on account of the fur pressing against his chest and stomach.

Time seemed to slip by as everything around them faded out and they focused all of their feelings for the other into what little they could do to attempt communicate it; in that instant all that existed - all that mattered in the universe - was being as close and connected as physically and emotionally possible and long moments passed until eventually they both slowly inched their mouths apart with a satisfied sigh breathed around loving smiles for the other, eyes cracking open as their awareness of their surroundings came leisurely back.

"You..." Twilight let the word float away without saying anything else and equated the feeling of his arms tightening over her back to pull her that much closer was his way of saying he understood and loved her, too. With a small hum she slowly spread herself out over his torso to be in contact with the maximum amount of his skin that was oh-so-wonderfully warm, perfectly content as she nuzzled lazily at his neck.

Rubbing a cheek against Twilight's ear as a way of giving the nuzzle back, out of the bottom of his eye Titus could see Lyra peeking around the corner at both of them sprawled out on the floor; with a sigh born of not wanting to move he placed a lingering peck on the velvety pinna before whispering, "I think it's time."

There was a pause before a light pouting huff tickled the skin on his neck, "It's not fair."

"What's not fair?" he asked, having to angle his chin down to get a glimpse of her melancholy expression which caused him to resume brushing her back through the shirt in an attempt to cheer her up, "I'd love to lie here with you... well, not here, the floor will get a bit uncomfortable after a while, but I don't think it'd be fair to Lyra to ask her to brave the storm of reporters outside by herself-"

"No, that's not what I meant," Twilight cut him off as she sat up. Now that he had mentioned it, however, she had to agree it wouldn't have been fair to Lyra if they continued with their cuddling and let her go out there alone; that's not to say Twilight wanted to stop, not in the slightest so she briefly rubbed noses with Titus before giving a heavy breath and slumping back down to her previous location, "I don't think it's fair that I'm going to have to hide how I feel for you whenever we're outside because you mean so, so much to me and I want to snuggle up to you when we're together, just like everypony else gets to!" Twilight's tone was changing the more upset she was growing with the situation, not that it helped that the mention of Lyra had caused her to recall a time that she had gone to lunch with her, Bon-Bon, and Lyra's now ex-coltfriend at a bustling restaurant as a way to relax after an exceptionally tiring week. Twilight remembered that for the duration of the meal the couple had been cuddling, playfully poking each other under the table, and trying to sneak kisses when nopony was looking - something that had made her a bit uncomfortable at the time, though had found herself stealing glances at them out of curiosity as to why they were so brash and what would cause them to look so happy about it - but now that there was someone she could feel similar for she understood how they had felt and in her frustration that she and Titus wouldn't get to enjoy being open like that she ground into his neck, "It's... it's just not fair!"

"Hey, take it easy, Twi. I get that you're frustrated but give it some time and we'll have our turn," a hand on her cheek ceased her rough nuzzling as Titus guided her head back up which allowed him better access to the small portion of her neck poking out of the collar of his shirt though apparently she was upset enough that she couldn't bring herself to look at him lest he think her anger was somehow caused by something he did or was at fault for, "and I promise you, when the time comes you can snuggle me, lick me, and nibble at me to your heart's content but until then we'll just have to moderate ourselves out there. However..." pausing, Titus started with a nuzzle at the base of the available expanse of neck and worked his way up, gently urging her head back down to plant a light kiss on the edge of her jaw, followed by one on her cheek and one on the brow to culminate in another climb of kisses, this one starting at the base of her horn which began glowing in response and travelling all the way up the side to the tip.

W-whoa!

Needless to say that quickly got Twilight's attention and she gazed at him through half-lidded eyes as he made the trip back down her now hyper-sensitive horn to focus on the spot it rose out of her skull as a shiver worked its way down her spine that was trailed by the two hands that contoured to her body and slid over her shoulders and down to the small of her back. To her surprise however, they didn't stop there and continued up and over her hip, her breath catching in her throat as the palms brushed slowly over her cutie mark on their path to finally come to a halt to clamp down lightly through the fabric of the tank top on her flanks, each hand taking as much as it could as they squeezed rhythmically. No hoof could do what he could so easily do with his appendages and all Twilight could do was make small restrained breaths made into his ear as the assault continued on her horn and posterior, the latter of which she remembered he had praised on several occasions which further boosted her enjoyment of the attention.

"As I was saying..." Titus whispered amid further kissing though his hands ceased squeezing and instead rested where they were, the human becoming aware that perhaps in combination with the stimulation to her horn he had overwhelmed the unicorn more than he had intended; though the two handfuls of flanks - even through the baggy shirt that covered them - felt absolutely perfect to him with just the right amount of give to them, "However, if you come to a point where you get fed up waiting or hiding how you feel you know where to find me. I just want to make sure you're happy and don't feel like you're missing out on anything." It took a second for Twilight to recover sufficiently and when her head stopped spinning she slowly sat up, casting a quick look over her shoulder she couldn't help but bite her lip as she stared at the hands gripping her rump however under her scrutiny they suddenly let go and Titus mumbled an apology for getting carried away.

Twilight swung her head back around to look at him with a lidded gaze for a moment before her horn glowed and her face split into the grin she reserved for their private or, more accurately, semi-private banter (Lyra was still lurking, after all) so he wouldn't think she was going to blast him for copping a feel. "Hey now... I didn't say you could move those just yet," she scolded playfully as her magic pushed the hands back to where they had been on her flanks and she re-engaged in a brief open mouth kiss and the delightful little squeezes resumed. Eventually their slowed down and Twilight sat back up to wipe her mouth with a forehoof, prompting Titus to jokingly ask if she had had enough and was ready to go or if she was getting ready for round two. "Mmm... no, I think that will probably tide me over. For now, anyway," she replied and came down for a nuzzle, automatically homing in on the sweet spot beneath his ear, "and while I still don't think this is fair I'll definitely be seeking you out for more cuddling time like this, just try to keep in mind it's the mare's job to keep her stallion happy and interested, okay?"

"Not where I'm from, love," he gave her flanks one last squeeze and bopped the underside of her chin with his nose as a signal it was time to get up, "It's yet another one of those funny situations where things are flip-flopped but in this case I think that'll make things that much more fun. Now come on, time to give sole tenancy of my shirt back. For now, anyway," he teased with the same tone she had used a second earlier and, more than a little reluctantly, he moved his hands from their voluptuous perch to grab the hem of his shirt and gently work it up over her head.

Twilight got to her hooves and stepped to one side to allow him to sit up and pull the shirt back down, feeling reluctance of her own as the alluring skin disappeared under the fabric once again though when he sat up she took the opportunity to get one last nuzzle in and got a nice scratching of an ear in response. It was going to be hard to act normal, or more accurately, not normal, around Titus as from this point on she would have to be especially careful to not outwardly show any of the feelings she had for him and it was hard to imagine how she could just pretend they were just friends after everything they had shared with each other the previous night.

"So... you two finished?" Lyra's head poked a little further out around the corner.

Twilight snorted and rolled her eyes, "As our audience on more than one occasion, what do you think?"

"You get ten outta ten! You two are seriously hot to watch, though you know how I hate cliffhangers between episodes," Lyra's necessity to be the last one to get a word in was on full display as she waggled her eyebrows at them, "Speaking of episodes, how about you two wait right there - don't move, don't do anything at all! - and I'll pop by your library for your camcorder. I've got this nephew or cousin or something in TV production that could-"

"I swear Lyra, if you even try to aim a video camera at either of us while we're cuddling I will find out from Princess Celestia how to banish you to the moon," the tone of Twilight's voice left very little room to interpret it as anything but a promise.

"Hmm, might still be worth it," the mint unicorn, still not to be outdone, sidled up beside the human to rest her muzzle on his bent knee and look at him wistfully, "Hey, big guy? If your fillyfriend does banish me to the moon you'd still come visit, right?"

"'Fillyfriend?' Oh, right, I get it," he cast a quick look to Twilight for a reaction at the title and caught the small happy blush that came to her face, "Yeah, I guess I could drop in once I got the ship fixed up."

"Excellent! It'd be cruel for the Princess to not allow me conjugal visits-"

Twilight's snort cut her off, "Conjugal visits? And just what makes you think I'd even tell anypony you were up there?!"

Lyra cast a grin across Titus' knees at Twilight, "Admit it, Sparkles, you'd start missing having me around pretty quick; we're best friends so you'd miss talking to me about your ideas for magic spells, you'd miss the way I can so easily get you riled up, and you'd have lost a valuable source of advice on how to get into the big guy's shorts..."

Realizing she wasn't wrong Twilight quickly looked the other direction in a small pout, "Okay fine. J-just... give us some privacy, next time, okay?"

"It would be appreciated, Lyra. And just so you know, I was going to throw something at you for watching us around the corner but I would have felt really bad if I had hit your horn," knowing Lyra was just having some fun and sensing his mare's annoyance Titus lifted an arm from where it was resting on the bent knee to drape over Twilight's shoulder and gently pull her closer for a little last-minute hug, meanwhile a finger bopped Lyra on the nose, "Now come on, we've delayed this long enough." When she turned around his hand zipped out to give her another, lighter swat on the flank to deal with her earlier issue of being "lopsided" which got a small buck and squeal that turned into numerous giggles which persisted until the trio had reached the inner airlock door.

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

A light blue pegasi with grey mane tapped several papers on the edge of his desk before turning to look at the camera, "Thank you for tuning in tonight to Action Six News, I'm Zero Spinzone-"

"And I'm Hard Ball," the second anchor, a golden yellow earth pony with a black mane, turned to rest a forehoof on the table and adjust his tie, "Our top story tonight; earlier this afternoon the alien Titus Aelius emerged from his vessel after a long, hard medical battle with a strain of the Pony Pox, and he was backed by his appointed Intermediary, Twilight Sparkle, and by Lyra Heartstrings, a mare local to the town of Ponyville who has taken the media by storm to become a poster-mare of pony-human relations."

"We now go live to our correspondent in the field," Zero Spinzone flawlessly picked up where his coworker had left off as a frame-in-frame popped up over his shoulder which showed an older beige unicorn levitating a microphone and facing the camera ready to speak, "Good evening to you, Breaking Bulletin, what's the general mood on the scene tonight..."

Princess Celestia had been flipping through channels in search of something to fall asleep to and paused, thinking her sister might be interested in the coverage she magically called to Luna who was in her own room on the other side of the castle as the newscasters talked back and forth, "Luna? Pardon the intrusion but your friend, Mr. Aelius, is on the news. Have you seen this?" A second later her sister appeared in a flash and walked toward pile of pillows Celestia was resting on, some of which she nudged in Luna's direction as an invitation to sit, "It would appear he has made a recovery, thank the Elements."

Luna hadn't seen the clip and shook her head before whispering a thank you for the pillows, nestling into a comfortable position beside Celestia just as a recorded clip from that afternoon started playing.

There was a loud hubbub from the gathered crowd and the camera shook as it was hastily angled at the large metal door that slid open, panning slightly as Titus emerged from the vessel with one hand held up to shield his eyes from the bright sun while Lyra and Twilight both appeared behind him at the bottom of the frame. The hubbub turned into a chaotic roar of unintelligibly-mixed questions until a sunglass-wearing Twilight took a step forward, her name appearing at the bottom of the screen as she took a bullhorn passed to her by a guard to speak over the crowd.

"If everypony could just quiet down... quiet down, please... thank you. Good afternoon, for those of you not familiar with me my name is Twilight Sparkle, Mr. Aelius' Intermediary as appointed by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for the duration of his stay and, as you've all been asked, his space and privacy are to be respected. On that subject; as Mr. Aelius and I spoke over breakfast this morning he communicated his interest in answering your questions, however we will be keeping things short as he is still recovering and undergoing treatment and, as per his doctor's orders, he isn't to strain himself."

Both princesses caught the subtle tone Twilight took with her final statement which was obviously directed at Titus. "Hmm, I don't recall him wearing such casual clothes during his stay with us," the Solar Princess thought aloud, studying the loose black tank top shirt and the frame upon which it hung as well as the shorts which left his taut calves visible for a few moments before giving a short hum in conclusion, Celestia having kept it a well-guarded secret that she had a bit of a soft spot for defined muscles. Well, with less covering him I can begin to understand what my faithful student sees. Those arms must be very enveloping. Shifting her attention to the image of Twilight standing beside the human, she caught several signs that seemed a little out of place for one who should be happy. "Luna? I don't supposed you were keeping an eye on my student's dreams while Mr. Aelius was sick, were you?" Celestia inquired as the newscasters talked over the clip of Twilight laying out some basic ground rules, "While she is showing an impressive ability to control the crowd, I cannot help but notice how tired she looks."

The younger sister nodded and she only had a brief instant to decide what to divulge in her answer lest her pause appear suspicious, "Indeed I have, Celly, though they were few and far between which would mean she has not gotten adequate sleep since he fell ill but what I was witness to was a deep worry for his well-being so it is not surprising that the relief of the anxiety that was keeping her awake now causes her to appear weary."

"Oh? And just what aren't you telling me, Lu?" she asked, shifting to lay on her side to cast a small grin at her sister. Princess Celestia had immediately picked up on Luna's unwarranted use of her pet name which, needless to say, set off a few alarms in her mind as it was a small tell or signal her sister had when she was trying to hide something or wasn't giving all of the facts, "I am well aware she cares for Mr. Aelius deeply, as per a personal letter I received part way through the week, but I believe there is something you are withholding, perhaps something involving your friend. Something, perhaps, in-ti-mate?"

"T-tommyrot! I am not some lecherous peeper of dreams, sister!" Luna responded though quickly realized from the widening grin on Celestia's muzzle that she wasn't buying any of her protest and quickly came to the conclusion that she would need to throw a red herring to avoid further scrutiny into the subject, "I-I did witness something, during which time your student was also accompanying me in an attempt to communicate with Titus. As you know, I've hypothesized that the reason behind my inability to freely walk in his dreams is because he is preventing my entrance, whether he intends to do so I am uncertain, though the evidence that this is the case is that the times I have been able to he has been unconscious - the first instance being from the crash and the second when he was fighting the Pox."

"Yes, what of it?" Celestia was on guard for Luna to attempt a deflection of the topic and her body language made it obvious, her head retracted back to allow her to look down her snout at her sister, one eyebrow arching in wait to pick up the slightest sign if it should make itself known, though judging from Luna's squirms she was genuinely uncomfortable.

Luna, however, had been well aware of her sister looking for a hint she was being mislead and, deciding to go with the lesser of two evils rather than divulge the night Twilight and Titus had shared, she told her sister of the battle she had witnessed, something she still felt bad for doing which added to the subtlety of her deflection because her body still sent out all the proper signals that Celestia was actively looking for, "Sister... the sheer scope of what I saw was nightmares above and beyond anything either of us saw after I... after I fell to darkness," Luna's voice faded out as her gaze descended to her hooves, "And what Twilight Sparkle and I saw was but one battle in their war."

Her probing game coming to an abrupt and unexpected end, Celestia's eyes closed in quiet recollection of the battles she had had with her sister's followers, needless loss that ultimately could have been prevented had she been there for her younger sister when she was hurting, "Dearest Luna, I feel I owe both you and he an apology, to you for teasing you into sharing something that obviously causes you discomfort and to Mr. Aelius for coming to learn of something he was apparently not willing to share of his own free will. I meant no such trespass."

Luna's own eyes were closed as she nodded, the image of an entire horizon filled with humans in white armor laying motionless in deep mud as more pushed forward under a hail of brightly colored bolts of light that felled yet more. Squashing the urge to shiver Luna shook her head, "I understand, but now that I've said something I would seek your advice: should I confront him on it with the purpose of showing my support should he need somepony to share the burden with or would it be more acceptable and proper to wait until he breaches the subject of his own accord?"

"That, sister, is a decision you will have to make," Celestia sighed; if there was one thing she had had her fill of it was war, and while she only had a passing understanding of the conflict her sister's human friend had been involved she knew full well what sort of toll it could have on a being, herself having gone into seclusion for a thousand years - a mistake, in hindsight, as during that time of chaos and uncertainty was when her subjects needed her the most. She had learned that after emerging, however, and she was still working to fix the damage her absence had caused, "Mr. Aelius is a friend of mine as well, or so I assume, so know whatever your choice I wish to pledge my own support to both you and him."

"Thank you, Celly," Luna rolled herself onto her side to rest her head on her sister's side and nuzzle in appreciation of the kind words as the newscasters finished their analysis of the section of the clip they had played and resumed where they had left off, "I shall give it some thought, but for now I would like to watch this segment as it appears your student is relinquishing the spotlight to Titus."

The camera zoomed out slightly to catch Titus and the two ponies in frame at the top of the stairs, the human looking first to Twilight and Lyra then from side to side with a little uncertainty as the crowd stood stock still and quiet for him, "Uh... who has a question-" The silence was immediately broken as a muddle of calls of various forms of his name all vying for his attention, a sea of hooves shooting up and stretching to be the highest one in hopes of being called upon. Picking a candidate at random Titus pointed a finger to indicate his choice, "You, yellow guy with the mustache and big hat."

"Thanks, partner. The Aaaapaloosan Sun would like to know how you're feeling and if you've got anything to say to your fans."

There was a brief second as the human turned to his Intermediary to mouth "Fans? What fans?" to which they held a hushed conversation of a few words before he turned back to the reporter, "I'm feeling much better, if not a little sore and slightly tired. You'll have to pardon the interlude I had to take there as it's a bit odd to think I'd have fans, as you called them, but to anyone that wished me well or sent in mail I want to say thank you. Alright, next question... " Titus searched the crowd again, this time pointing a finger at almost the exact camera angle the scene clip was being recorded from, "Ah! You, cream vest with the big six on it."

The crowd died down again and the mare he had called on shouted, "Hello, Breaking Bulletin from Action Six News; now that you're feeling better what are your plans for the time ahead?"

"Well for the next few days I've been told to relax and take things easy by my medical droids... and by my Intermediary, especially," Titus shot Twilight a playful grin, "Once I get their okays to go back to work I'll start by reorienting the ship so its engines point away from the hill in preparation for their eventual testing; I need to add they're not capable of powering on yet and I've got a lot of work to do to get them to that stage, so that would be a good bit down the road. There's a few other things on my plate, I know you're all probably curious what the inside of my ship looks like, unfortunately my um, absence has delayed that, but before I got sick there were two photographers I had in mind that I wanted to bring aboard so they could snap some pictures so once they get back to me on my offer-" the mint unicorn beside him pulled on the hem of his shirt, prompting him to bend down for another whispered conversation before he stood back up, "It seems they're interested, so that will occur after I can work again. On a semi-related note, there's a promise I made to Miss Cheerilee and her students in the newspaper club to do an exclusive sit-down interview which I am looking forward to doing. Next, um... Far back, Miss with the flower in her hair?"

"Thanks, doll!" the silver coated mare gave him a big wink and checked a sheet of paper in front of her, "As you may or may not be aware, the final brackets aren't finished yet but the Las Pegasus Ledger would like to know what you've got to say to finishing in Equestria's Top Ten Eligible Bachelors Contest as the Crown's Wild Card."

"Luna?!" Celestia bolted upright to look at her sister with shock, ignoring the mumbles of the crowd as the screen zoomed in on Titus' puzzled face as he turned to Twilight and Lyra for yet another hushed conversation, "You submitted his name to the contest as our Wild Card?" In the Eligible Bachelors Contest nine of the most attractive stallions (the term "attractive" was not only limited to being physically attractive, though it certainly was a factor) were selected from the populace while the Wild Card was a special write-in either Princess could make to fill in the tenth position, however since her return Luna had never submitted anypony to the contest so the duty had always fallen to Celestia, though she had abstained from submitting a name as at the time she had been too preoccupied with the talks with the Griffons.

"It is my belief he fit the criteria," Luna responded before she sat up and found a curious look on Celestia's face that didn't agree with her very well, "Sister, I did check with the officials first - an unnecessary gesture of courtesy, I might add, since the year that my batpony guards and other Thestrals became eligible to enter after the Equines-Only clause was abolished on the grounds it was unfairly exclusive meant no such rule prevented me from submitting Titus for consideration..." Luna stated factually and with a little exasperation at her sister's reaction. And he actually placed?! Huzzah! Congratulations are in order, my friend! "Although I only submitted his name thinking he would make one of the runner-up positions so it does surprise me he made it through the preliminary rounds, but my intent was to make him feel a little bit less like an outsider as he voiced he had just before you two made introductions in the gardens after his feverish... 'adventure' in the palace hallways and if he..." Luna paused, suddenly having to fight back the urge to cry, both out of relief her friend was going to alright and from just imagining the gut-wrenching sorrow she would have felt if he hadn't, "if he hadn't overcome his illness I wanted everypony to know that he was a very dear friend to me."

"I... I did not know he felt that way," Celestia paused, during which time Luna explained how a few looks of the startled ponies they had encountered in the hallways and on the garden paths had stirred the feeling they would always think of him as a monster, the revelation of which visibly pained the Solar alicorn, "I commend your intentions and feel he would appreciate the gesture, but was this really the wisest course of action? You haven't shown much interest in past competitions so I'm unsure if you're aware of what happens to contestants after the rankings are published." Their attention returned to the broadcast when the newscaster's commentary ended and the clip began again.

"Wow, um... I actually had no idea I was in the running." To Luna it was obvious that he was uncomfortable by the way he ran his hand through his hair, something she had seen him do when he was surprised and needed a second to think, "I'm not sure how to respond, I guess I'd have to say it's an honor to have even been considered, though at the same time I feel there are countless others that deserve the position more than I do-"

"Well the board of judges certainly thought otherwise," the Las Pegasus reporter quickly interjected before he could call on somepony else though it appeared nopony in the crowd minded as they all eagerly waited with pens on paper for what he was saying. "So, is there anything you'd like to say, perhaps something like a hint of what you like or find attractive for anypony interested in taking a shot at catching your attention..." she gave the human another wink, this time following it up with a coy grin that was openly and obviously directed at the mint unicorn beside him, "Or would saying something like that cause an issue with the mare you're already rumored to be seeing?"

He gave a weak chuckle and ran his hand through his hair again, "I um... advice, right..." he stumbled through trying to construct a noncommittal reply and though the viewer couldn't see it he was making a very strong effort to not look to Twilight for advice. Outright denying that he was involved with someone would put the reporters interested in such gossip on high alert which would only make it harder for him and Twilight to find some privacy, while at the same time confirming he was seeing someone effectively posed the same problem and both threatened to have the same outcome of Twilight being hung out to dry in the public eye. When a golden glow surrounded the megaphone and pulled it from his hands he thanked the stars Lyra was coming to their defense.

"What my friend is trying to say is 'don't believe every little thing you hear,'" she stated with a matter-of-fact tone, Titus giving a subtle thumbs up behind his back at her reply. The gesture went unnoticed, however, as Lyra brought the megaphone up to her lips once again, "but otherwise I've got no issue saying 'take a number.'"

The crowd quickly fell back into disarray as questions were shouted at both Lyra and Titus as a lightning storm of camera flashes went off, catching him and the grinning mint unicorn in a frame that would be on the front pages of a lot of newspapers come tomorrow morning.

Celestia covered her face with a hoof, "And so it begins..."

Meanwhile a few leagues away Titus was lightly dozing in what used to be Master Krua's favorite armchair when the chirps of his commlink stirred him; securing the datapad he had been reading so it wouldn't slide out of his lap he leaned over to the small table to retrieve the communicator with a grunt to find the display blinking. Someone's at the door. Pushing the commlink into the port on the datapad, the hologram projector wirelessly connected to the external camera to generate the 3d image of Twilight standing outside the airlock with one of the guards behind her. "Good evening, Twilight," he spoke after pushing another button to broadcast his image and voice to the video screen above the keypad, "And a good evening to you, Guard. Is everything alright?"

The guard looked about for where the voice was coming from before Twilight pointed a hoof at the screen which he gave a snappy salute, "Yes, Sir! I was just escorting Miss Sparkle to the door, Sir."

Twilight gave a heavy sigh, "Though most of them have dispersed for the night there are still a few reporters that are aggressively seeking to get any sort of information they can so the Sergeant assigned a guard to ward them off." Titus thanked the guard who gave him another salute before turning about sharply and making for the stairs while the human remotely opened the airlock and, a few moments later, Twilight's hooffalls could be heard coming down the corridor. Rounding the corner the unicorn stopped and gave another sigh, this one heavier than the last, as she shed her saddlebags and moved closer to the armchair, Dex getting to sniff the offered hoof before it tentatively patted his head as she passed.

"I wasn't actually expecting to see you again today, I thought preparations for your party would be keeping you pretty busy," rubbing the sleep from his eyes Titus caught her slow trudge across the room toward him, and upon a second look she looked absolutely exhausted. "Must be one hell of a party to leave you looking dead on your feet. Come on up, there's plenty of room," he beckoned though when she grunted with the exertion of getting her front hooves on the seat of the chair he leaned forward and, much to her appreciation, locked his hands behind her elbows and pulled her the rest of the way up with little effort.

"Dead on my hooves, yes," she corrected, finding the space he had been able to make for her on the large chair to be just the right size for her to lay on her side and curl up against him, one of his arms quickly looping around her comfortably which made her feel that much more at home, "It's not the party, after falling asleep almost in the middle of a cake Pinkie said she and Spike could manage while I got some sleep; this afternoon with the reporters is what drained me. Ugh, I don't know whether to strangle Lyra or hug her."

"After hearing her explanation on the way to pick up Dex I don't think it worked out all that bad, and it certainly could have gone much worse. She said outright denying a rumor is a good way to provoke the reporters to dig deeper and more zealously - and I agree with her on that point, by the way - because they're dying for something juicy enough that it would warrant a cover-up." Titus let his head loll back against the headrest and he closed his eyes again before continuing, "Her thought is that, what with their attention already on her because of that picture of me giving her a piggyback ride, it would be easy to direct them into drawing the conclusion that she was the mare from the rumor - which was, as she pointed out, almost certainly what that Las Pegasus reporter already believed, and she can't be the only one - and with that occupying their attention you should be a bit further from the spotlight."

"But what about what they'll say about her?" Twilight nuzzled into his chest, "Doesn't that worry you?"

A chuckle caused her head to bounce lightly on his breast before his hand reached up to scratch at her ear, "Lyra wasn't worried, she said her parents have a lot of clout in most of the major papers, in addition to owning several of the lots their buildings are constructed on, so if anyone prints anything besmirching her they're likely to buyout or payoff whomever it takes just to sack the publisher. It sounds like her parents have more than enough money to make targeting her like that a very risky endeavor."

"Yes, they do. Mmm, a little to the left, please?" Twilight hummed, turning her face into his chest even more to give him better access to her ear, "The Princesses have borrowed from them on two occasions that I know of in an emergency and, from what I understand, they've got assets in the railroad, media, numerous industrial and residential properties, manufacturing and shipping, more than half of the Academy's buildings were constructed through their donations and they even have a few labs doing research and development on a variety of things though it's all kept very hush-hush. The short of it is her family could practically buy all of Canterlot on a whim if they wanted to and it wouldn't be but a drop in the bucket."

"Jeez. I thought she was joking, I never would have taken Lyra for the affluent type," Titus scratched in small circles, earning a few more soft hums of contentment from the unicorn, "I mean, she's offered to treat me to lunch once or twice which I voiced was too much for her to do, then she said if I'm ever traveling and need a place to stay she could 'hook me up' with an apartment, which was probably the only hint I've gotten that she has money," the human sighed again and shook his head, "please tell me I'm wrong but... her parent's aren't, like, crime lords or kingpins, are they?"

To his relief Twilight giggled and declared that no, they were not criminals, "Lyra's father had inherited a large sum of money when he was a young colt but he was terrible with investments and after many failed ventures one fateful day on a trip to visit his broker for advice on spending the last few Bits of his inheritance he was attacked and robbed, or would have been if a mare that had been passing by the alley hadn't stepped in and knocked the stuffing out of the robbers until they turned tail, dropping the sack of Bits in their hurry which she passed back to him before helping him to his hooves. In thanking her for her heroism he found out she was an intern at his broker's firm and, wanting to reward her, he followed her to the office where, much to her surprise, he demanded that she handle all of his investments from then on out, though when the broker angrily pointed out she was just a lowly intern he stated - and if you ever get to meet her, she'll say with the biggest grin on her face that he returned the favor by coming to her defense - 'If I can trust her with my life, trusting her with my money is a safe investment.' Well, it turns out that 'lowly intern' was a prodigy when it came to financial investments and quickly turned the small sack of Bits back into the large sum he had inherited and even quicker she doubled it, then quadrupled, then duodecupled that, then... well, you get the idea. Over the course of the next year they became very close and eventually started herding and then they had foals, Lyra being the middle sister of the three."

"Good, so instead of being targeted by an angry pair of parents with mob ties for supposedly stealing their daughter's heart, I'm just being targeted by obscenely rich ones," Titus joked though once again Twilight reassured him Lyra's parents were perfectly nice before reminding him that he had flip-flopped things to the human point of view; they would probably be thinking she had put the moves on him which, he thought to himself, was actually pretty accurate to what was happening. "Okay, so it's safe to assume Lyra won't have to weather much in terms of muckraking," with some effort Titus rolled his head forward to nuzzle at Twilight's forelock, "but you know, if those reporters see you coming in here at night they're going to get suspicious."

"If they ask I can say I'm making sure you're getting plenty of rest and aren't stressing yourself with things I could otherwise do for you, in addition to performing my duties as your appointed Intermediary. I'll just have to make it look like I'm running errands."

"Twilight Sparkle, I am surprised at you! You would outright lie to them?" he teased with a hug, getting a tongue stuck out at him before he resumed his ear scratches and nuzzles, "That might work, and I can give you a few light things to do to lend to that plan but... hmm. I'll have to check, but I didn't think cuddling was in the job description."

"Cuddles are part of our shared benefits package, silly. Plus I got an open invitation earlier today to come over to snuggle whenever I wanted to," she retorted before spotting the text on the datapad and draped a hoof across his chest to poke at it though it also served to pull herself in a little closer to him, "What were you looking at on this?"

"You and the guard, more recently," he double checked that the camera was off so they weren't broadcasting then flicked the hologram generator on, a three dimensional render of the space outside the airlock dancing to life above the pad. Twilight was very interested in the hologram and ran a hoof through the image as she asked all about it - how the generator worked and what allowed it to render an accurate 3d model from a 2d camera angle, etc. - and when Titus activated one of the cameras from the communications panel in the room to generate a hologram of them snuggling in the chair she giggled and gave a wave before stretching the small distance to give him a quick kiss on the lips which he happily recorded and played back for her, much to her amusement. "I had dozed off when you and the guard arrived, but before that I was reading through R6's progress on getting the main computer up and running-"

"That sounds like work," her brow furrowed as she looked up at him a little disapprovingly, "You promised you wouldn't let yourself get involved in any projects."

"And I haven't, Twi. Just let me explain before you start frowning at me," he looped his arm back around her and moved the datapad so she could read the screen. "You know I love fixing things but diagnosing computer systems is not my strong suit which is why R6 has been handling all of those tasks. This here is the work he's been doing since I went to Canterlot, and there's a lot to read, but nothing in this report is going to be something I'll dash off thinking 'Hey, I can go fix this' because I quite literally can't, or I can, but I'd be likely to have an angry astromech on my hands after I mess something up." Twilight was only half hearing what he was saying as her eyes darted over the screen, reading a few lines of the text before she touched her nose to the screen to scroll down further until a light squeeze brought her attention back to him, "Twi, I'm honestly feeling much better... but I still made you a promise that I'd take things easy and I know how strongly you feel about it, which is why when I was looking for something to read to fall asleep I chose R6's report on the computer diagnostics."

Twilight looked up at him briefly before returning to devour more text with a conceding sigh, "Alright, if you were using it to get some rest I guess I can't object... but I'd like to read it, too. You know, if you were looking for something to read there's nopony more qualified to talk to than me; I am the town Librarian, after all." Again she paused to look up at him, though this time her stare lingered for a few moments in silence before she laid her head back on his chest, "I didn't come over to check up on you, by the way, and while I'm appreciative of every opportunity to snuggle I um, I was actually hoping to ask you a question." His chest vibrated in an inquisitive hum inviting her to continue and she could feel him shift so he could look at her, "With Pinkie and Spike handling preparations for the party I've got some free time... do you think we... would you like to go on that date before the party? If you're up to it, of course."

"Oh, absolutely!" his enthusiasm quickly faded as his face scrunched up in worry, "But wait, I thought you had picked out a special spot for it, and with the media vultures ravenous for info and photos I doubt they'll leave us alone."

"Well, I can always teleport - and now that I think about it that would probably be the best way of me visiting without knocking on the front door and raising suspicions - but you... um," Twilight had sat up and tapped a hoof on her chin, her tongue peeking out of the side of her mouth briefly in deep thought.

Titus felt that his body was fairly eager to doze back off again and rubbed his eyes to wake up a little, "Yes, I would very much love to go on that date with you and if it comes down to it I can just lose them on the speeder bike and double back - Dash is probably the only one that could keep up with me with the three overdrive cores I'm working with. We can figure out the rest of details in the morning over breakfast."

"Um, a-are you inviting me to stay the night again?" she gazed at him and to say that her question had a hopeful tone to it would have been an understatement so when he nodded she lit up and nuzzled at his neck in appreciation before casting a look over at the bunk which, as before, looked a bit small to accommodate both of them.

"You're welcome to the bunk if you want it," Titus shimmied his shoulders into the chair to settle in after catching her out of the bottom of his eye, "I intend to stay here, though; this chair is incredibly comfortable to sleep in."

Twilight snorted as she floated a blanket that had been laying on the end of the bunk to drape over both of them, the usual cool air of the ship finally getting to her, "Yeah, like I'm going to spend the night and not take the chance to snuggle up to my c.... coltfriend-" though he had already voiced his approval she stopped her squirming to glance up her brow for his reaction to her use of the title but not surprisingly he was already waiting for her with a grin that built up into a warm smile as she reflected it back at him with her own.

Shimmying his hips a little to get more comfortable, his arm tightened over her shoulder to readjust her to a more comfortable position against his side, one that allowed both of them to come together for a short kiss, "Well, I guess I can't disappoint my marefriend-"

"Fillyfriend, the 'mare' and 'stallion' prefixes are generally used for platonic relationships," she corrected with a brief nuzzle but stopped; though the short-sleeved shirt he was wearing was very soft and had a slightly fuzzy feeling to it Twilight wasn't completely satisfied, "This is completely optional and up to you, but would um, would you be comfortable removing your shirt?" With a weary expression on his face his eyebrow cocking at the conclusion of her request was enough of a statement of its own that he didn't need to vocalize the question which she quickly responded to, "It's just... don't get me wrong, your shirt is nice and soft, but so is your skin and if I'm going to cuddle I'd really prefer it be with you and against you, not a bit of clothing; not that I'm asking you to remove all of your clothing, as I understand how that might make you feel and I think we're both a bit too worn out for, um, anything like that-" a warm hum was his response before the arm over her shoulder was raised and, like a snake disappearing down its burrow, it slunk into the short sleeve and without much jostling the article was removed and draped over the high back of the chair a second later, whereupon Twilight found herself re-cuddled by the arm which she took as her signal to resume her nuzzle where she had left off, "Not to say if, you know, you ever were interested I wouldn't be able to rally myself..."

Titus recognized that Twilight was making another "mare's duty" statement and gently shook his head, "It sounds like the gender roles in our contrasting societies has set up a dangerous chain reaction: I would also rally myself if you showed signs of interest, meanwhile you'd see me rallying as a sign of my interest which would heighten your own and so on and so on... could be fun, though," with the arm he had around her Titus took the hoof draped over his chest in his hand and slowly ran his thumb back and forth against her fur, his arm in a position where he couldn't reach much else of her to brush but judging from the way she hummed happily she seemed content with just that so his head reclined back to its former position, "but I'm too tired to make the effort you'd deserve, Twi, however simply getting to fall asleep cuddled up with you sounds fantastic right now."

It was a sentiment Twilight also shared so with a final good-night kiss the pair settled into the comfy armchair and quickly dozed off amid tangled limbs and warm snuggles.

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

"How do I look, R6?" Titus held both arms out wide for the droid to critique his outfit, a light-weight off-white shirt over a pair of equally light-weight dark chocolate brown pants and held in place by the usual black belt where both lightsabers hung from their clasps. The droid chirped and beeped as it tooled about in a circle around the human, one manipulator arm reaching out to poke him unexpectedly in the soft part of his side with a mechanical hoot, almost like a laugh. "Yeah yeah, yuk it up, rust bucket. Twi doesn't want me on my regular training while I'm 'still recovering' and I'm slowly building back up to it with casual exercises so I'll drop back down fast once I can get back into the normal swing of things. Now, when I get back I want to see some progress on getting that computer up and running; leave your report on my bunk, I'll read it later this evening," he gave the droid a pat on the dome and headed for the airlock door, fastening his helmet to his belt as he went.

As usual, his exit from the vessel was met with a uproar of voices all clamoring for his attention though he tuned them out for the most part as Sgt. Quickbolt launched herself up and easily glided over to hover at shoulder level from the nearby tent that had been set up as a water station on account of how sweltering hot it was, three other guards visible lounged out in the canopy's shade and trying to share the cooling air current of a single fan. Titus had found the pegasus to be incredibly easy to get along with and the two had shared some discrete jabs at the press which quickly lead to the two clicking and, if her dropping the formalities when addressing him was any sign, had become friends at least on some level. "Morning, Sergeant," Titus shielded his eyes from the sun and cast a glance over the gathered ponies, most of them hearty earth ponies who were naturally more resistant to feeling the heat though they still milled about in whatever shade they could find, "The hill seems pretty clear of hostiles today."

"No shit, most of them are holed up their air conditioned hotel, the bunch of pussies... not that I'd turn down some AC, though; this heat reminds me of my tour in Zebratania..." the pegasus set down on the wooden balcony at the top of the stairs and removed her helmet to wipe at the droplets building on her brow and threatening to run down into her eyes, "Ugh, I'm sweating like a bitch in heat under all this armor!" It was true, the cloth padding that the metal plates of her armor sat on was visibly drenched with sweat and the parts of her coat that weren't covered had a glistening sheen that her mane and tail made an annoying and uncomfortable habit of sticking to.

"You and your guard are welcome to use the inner airlock if you need a reprieve," the human offered, jerking a thumb at the door he had shown Quickbolt how to operate a day or two ago to introduce her to R6 as he needed to work on the exterior of the ship and Titus hadn't wanted any of the sentries startled by a sudden appearance of a buzzsaw and arc-welder wielding astromech droid, "Just mop up any puddles you leave, don't want my front door to reek like a locker room."

"Oh, well... we can't offend the Honorable Knight's sensitive nose, now can we? Oh Princesses forbid he find our odeur unpleasant!" the pegasus snorted and rolled her eyes which got the response of a middle finger, a gesture she knew was given in jest and one she secretly wished she could perform herself as she could only partially mimic it using one of the longer primaries on her wing. The two had demonstrated a few crude gestures for one another during one of their periods of shared-exasperation with the media ponies, and of all of the ones he had shown her it was her favorite for its sheer simplicity and outright vulgarity, "But thanks, I'll pass that along to everypony; they'll appreciate taking breaks in there. So, where are you headed in this damned swamp-flank inducing weather looking all fancy? Nice shirt, I like the color."

It had't been intentional as Titus had chosen one of the few nice shirts he had to wear for his and Twilight's date and, now that he looked down at it because of her compliment, he realized it was almost an exact match to her coat. "Thanks, though I can guess why you like it," he pinched a bit of the hem to hold near her fur for comparison.

"What can I say? I wear the color well," she followed him down the stairs, smirking and keenly aware he had avoided her question, "So, you headed into town?"

"Yeah," Titus was busy pulling his hair back to put up with a bit of transmission wire he had procured from one of his belt pouches as it was far too hot to have it against the back of his already-sweating neck, "but I'm just running a quick errand-"

"Cool, wait up a sec and I'll tag along as your escort. Hey, Nightwatch!" the Sergeant called out to the equally ranked and thoroughly miserable-looking batpony from the Nightguard that was stationed as per Luna's request, "Titus here needs to go into town on an errand, I'm tagging along as an escort. And for crying out loud take a bucking break, you look like shit." She lead Titus over to the tent, past the trio of guards sharing the fan, and into a partitioned section clearly for her personal use where she slipped out of the oven of armor with surprising speed and efficiency down to the gilded tunic that denoted her command whereupon she dumped a large pitcher of water over her head with a satisfied sigh. "Alright, ready to go," she said, shaking her mane out and sending a spray of water throughout the small cubicle, though when she turned around she gave no mind to the long line of droplets she had painted across the human's shirt though by the time she had put her armor up on its stand and they had exited the tent it was well on its way to drying.

"So, what's this errand that you need to be all dressed up for?" Quickbolt inquired as they crossed the field, the pegasus deciding it was going to be less strenuous to walk than fly, "You and Miss Heartstrings got a hot date? That wasn't a pun on the weather, by the way."

The whole thing with Lyra seemed to be working however Twilight had thought it would be a good idea for her to make a show of spending some quality bonding time with Titus, citing that if the press wasn't spoon-fed a few morsels to keep the ruse going they'd begin looking elsewhere - not to say that she was overly happy about making the suggestion, of course - but the guards and press had become accustomed to seeing the pair hanging out and chatting, sometimes seated up on top of the craft's fuselage for lunch from Hayburger and for all accounts and purposes the press had been eating it up and then asking for more, so Lyra had taken a few liberties such as scooting right up next to him to lean against an arm during meals or leaping on his back for surprise piggyback rides.

"Um... yes. I want to swing by Sugarcube Corner to pick up a little surprise treat," Titus was making snap decisions on how to respond and went with what Quickbolt had suggested rather than involve Twilight's name by saying he needed to go to the pastry shop to pick up a treat to celebrate her birthday. A quick peek over the shoulder confirmed that the few ponies that had braved the sizzling sun had begun following them though they kept their distance to avoid any accusations of trying to ambush Titus for an interview, but the small group still posed another problem so he turned his attention back to the pegasus, "Just... keep it Need To Know, please?"

"Aw, that's sweet of you. And don't worry, I understand what it's like trying to get a little privacy only to have somepony barge in out of nowhere to ruin the whole thing - you would not believe how hard it is to get a good wank in at the barracks. Anyway, if you'd like I could always assign you a pony or two as an escort to keep the media out of your faces," she offered, taking her own look over her shoulder but being decidedly less discrete about it, "With their numbers culled by the weather it wouldn't be hard to dispose of them. It might take a bit of help from the security ops to completely erase their existence so nopony asks questions, though..."

"I think that might be just a little over the top, Sergeant," Titus replied, ignoring the comment about the barracks as they crossed the bridge into town. There wasn't much chance for conversation after that and what little they did have was constantly being put on pause as ponies approached him with greetings and well wishes though when he crouched down out of habit a large number of them gave him hugs and there more than a few surprise licks as well; several even asked the Sergeant to take a picture which she begrudgingly complied with. By the time Quickbolt and Titus arrived at Sugarcube Corner after a long time spent saying hello, taking pictures, and signing more than a few autograph books the human had an armful of bouquets, several notes with addresses (the equestrian version of giving someone your private comm number or frequency, by what the pegasus had explained), and more small gifts than he could safely hold which upon arrival at the pastry shop necessitated a quick beeline to the counter to put down where he accidentally startled a slightly rotund, light blue mare with a pink frosting-esque mane by his sudden approach as she had been ducked down out of sight.

"Oh my sprinkles! Sugar, come out here, quick!" she stuck her head through a swinging door leading into what must have been a back room while Titus feverishly tried to apologize but when she had turned back around to face him she was wearing a cheerful, almost motherly smile, which was much to Titus' relief as a second later a lanky light orange stallion poked his head out from the door and quickly joined the mare behind the counter with a smile of his own.

"Ooooh! Mister Aelius is in our shop! Our shop!" Further excited whispers were exchanged before the pair moved a bit down the counter opposite the human where the orange stallion reared up to greet him, "Good morning, welcome to Sugarcube Corner. I'm Mr. Cake and this is my lovely wife, Mrs. Cake! You must be Mister Aelius; it really is wonderful finally getting to meet Ponyville's biggest resident! Now, what can we help you with today?"

Before they had come in Titus had tasked Quickbolt with keeping the reporters that had been trailing them out of the shop, both to keep from disrupting the business and to avoid tipping the Sergeant off that Lyra might not be the recipient of the treat they were fetching when he placed his order, so after a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure the coast was clear he gave the Cakes a friendly smile, "Well I um... I was hoping you could help me out with a small surprise for someone." Their next question was, of course, what sort of pastry or treat he was looking for and after a quick summary of the options available Titus had constructed a dark chocolate cupcake with a truffle center and lavender frosting, glittery sugar sprinkles, and finalized with a juicy raspberry on top as the unicorn in mind wasn't one for cherries. With his order safely secured in a box and tied with a ribbon, Titus was reaching into his pocket for some Bits - a small portion of the same Bits Applejack had returned to him as change after discovering she could get a very large sum for the set of Republic Credits he had used to pay for a simple apple fritter - when an idea struck him, "Actually, there's something else I'd like to get."

A moment later Titus was waving the Sergeant inside.

"Sir. Ma'am. Good morning," the pegaus grunted with a nod to Mr. and Mrs. Cake as she pressed her back against the door to keep it closed while numerous faces peeked in through the windows and pushed from the other side. "Your, um, admirers are getting a bit pushy with the questions out there so unless I bust out Mr. Zappy-" she jerked her head at the small stun baton tucked into a fold of her tunic, "He doesn't have the stamina for any long periods of prodding though, so I'd suggest leaving via the back door and making our escape that way. I'm all for using the rear exit, by the way. Ahehheh..."

"Hey, Sergeant, come here; I want you to take these back to your guards," deciding again to ignore the innuendo Titus stepped to one side to reveal a stack of large, flat pastry boxes all bundled together alongside two large cylinders which were unmistakably ice cream tubs, "I wasn't sure what they'd like so I got an assortment of donuts, cupcakes, as well as some ice cream to help cool them off as a thank you for stoically putting up with the weather. There's a special sale on ice cream at the moment, so do you think this is enough or should I get more?"

"More? Unless you're trying to buy enough for them to bathe in, which I honestly wouldn't put past them at this point, that should be more than enough. But what about your date?" Doing as instructed, Quickbolt slowly left the door and uneasily made for the counter, "With that crowd outside I don't see the odds being too favorable that you get to that date with Ms. Heartstrings on time or any time soon, for that matter."

"A date? Oh, you can't go looking like that!" Mrs. Cake exclaimed, having come out from around the counter to help with the large order the human had placed, she began shaking her head and beckoning Titus to crouch down with a hoof, and once he was within reach she pulled out a napkin from her apron and gave it a lick before rubbing it all over his cheeks, "Just a moment, dearie, it looks like half the mares in Ponyville have left little calling cards on your face and you wouldn't want to show up to your date with lipstick marks all over you, now would you?" While a little uncomfortable being doted on Titus decided it would be best to just let the motherly mare have her way and patiently waited until the napkin had disappeared back into the apron pocket, "There, not a stain to be seen!"

"Good job, honeybun," Mr Cake gave a nod of approval at his wife's cleaning before passing the small box with the cupcake to Titus, "Thank you for stopping in, Mr. Aelius. If you're in a hurry I can have Pinkie drop off the packages you came in with when she's finished with morning deliveries."

"Thanks both of you for the help with the cupcake. I think she'll love it," Titus said as he pushed himself upright, "I'd better get going if I want to be there on time."

"What, you mean out the front door?! What about the press tailing you? What about a guard escort?" the pegaus turned to look at the front of the shop where more faces were peering in and tapping on the glass, "Jeez, look at them swarming the place... this is like a scene ripped right out of Dawn of the Zombies."

Titus was beginning to feel excited for the date and whether it was the good type of excited or the nervous type he wasn't sure yet, though that didn't stop him from giving the anxious Sergeant a playful answer, "Yes, out the front door and no, what's the point of having someone tail us to scare off someone else tailing us? And as for those 'zombies' of yours? I'll just give them the slip, maybe get in a little cardio in the process, and if that fails I've got more than a few tricks up my sleeves."

"Who died and made you bucking king of the zombies?" Quickbolt's retort was heavy with sarcasm but inside she was squeeing as the perfect opportunity to shamelessly use a line from her favorite movie presented itself though in doing so she missed Titus closing his eyes to release a deep breath, "Look, rule number seventeen states-" Something off to the side drew her and the Cake's attention for a split second though a quick scan of the area revealed it was nothing more than a small can of frosting that had fallen off one of the shelves to roll down the isle toward them and when she turned back around the shop was devoid of any sign of the biped. "What? Where'd he go?!" the pegasus launched into what little space there was in the air though a glance at the proprietors of the shop proved they were just as confused as she was, all three of them looking down the isles for him as the front door opened and curious ponies flooded in.

Sorry, I didn't intend to bail on you like this but you insisted on coming along, Sarge. Still focusing intently on maintaining his concealment, Titus slipped past the crowd once there was space in the shop's doorway and casually made his way down the street toward the library, carefully avoiding several ponies that almost ran into him as they dashed off in search of where he had gone. The human had been the best in his class at mind tricks and after the Purge he had gotten ample experience employing the very same trick to move about unseen in hostile spaceports and avoid Clone patrols, though for some reason the skill had come to him especially easy when he and Twilight had performed a quick experiment over breakfast the morning after her visit to cuddle. The scrunched-up muzzle and look of determination on Twilight's face as she tried her best to force her senses to pick up any trace of Titus while he sat at the table across from her had been too adorable to resist so his concealment had only lasted a brief moment as his focus crumbled amid a hearty laugh which was followed up by some morning snuggles but it was enough to prove he could, in fact, employ the trick if he needed to sneak away from any reporters hounding him. Of course, it was yet another reason I'll have to go to her lab for tests. Titus: Jedi Knight, smuggler and outlaw, and wanted as an enemy of the Galactic Empire...

And also functioning as a guinea pig to a technicolor pony librarian with a basement laboratory. Titus gave another sigh as he approached the library door, his concealment gradually fading out which caused several passing ponies to be surprised with themselves for not noticing the tall, easily-spotted human sooner. Having to remind himself there was no need to knock as during business hours the library was considered a public building so ponies were free to come and go as they pleased Titus opened the door and stepped into the entry hallway where he resisted the urge to call out to Twilight (it was a library, after all) and traveled down the short hallway into the main area where one pony was seated on a pillow who gave him a smile and a nod over the top of the comic book he was reading before going back to its pages, while on the other wall a ladder wobbled as a small dragon peeked around the stack of books he was carrying to see who had come in.

"Oh! Hey T!" Spike, unlike Titus, didn't make any effort to be quiet as he almost fell off of the ladder in his hurry to get down and made a quick beeline for the human, who naturally held his fist out for their usual greeting but was rather taken back when the dragon dodged past it and leapt on him in a hug, "Twilight wouldn't tell me everything, but what she told me was you were sick and I got worried because of how hard she was trying to hide just how worried she was! So, you must have had a bad cold or something, right? Are you feeling better? Twilight said you're recovering and are still weak-"

"Weak?" Titus' brow furrowed for a moment before it faded and he patted the dragon on the back, the two separating to do their custom series of fist-bumps, "Spike, I think you and I both know Twilight can be a bit... well, she can take things to extremes at times. I'm feeling better, much better actually, and while it is true that I'm still recovering and I'll admit I'm not back to one hundred percent, I'm definitely not 'weak' and the main reason I've been taking it easy was because, as you noticed, Twi was seriously worried. I'll be alright, nothing to worry about, bud."

"Try telling that to Twilight about a week ago," Spike bore a big grin for his friend and lead the way to the kitchen with determination, and once they had some privacy from the lone library-goer he beckoned Titus over to the fridge. "Alright, so as you can probably guess Twilight isn't here, but before she left she told me to give you this," the dragon pointed a claw at a small piece of parchment held up by a magnet, a note for Titus that only featured his name above a short line telling him to meet her though the only mention of where he was supposed to go was two sets of three numbers which he recognized the format as coordinates but when he asked where they lead Spike could only shrug, "No idea, she just said to show you the note when you arrived."

So that's why she was so insistent on knowing how my helmet's NAV and mapping system worked. Clever girl... Picking the note off the clasp Titus stuck it in a pouch temporarily, "Well shoot, I was already running late so I better get going. Thanks Spike!"

"Hey T, um, before you go," Spike muttered before the human walked off, causing him to pause while the dragon shifted uncomfortably, "I uh... do you... like Twilight?" When his friend hesitantly nodded Spike figured he hadn't understood the true aim of his question and shook his head, "Yeah, I get that you two are friends - she's said as much - but what I mean is do you like her, like, do you... have a crush on Twilight?"

"Well, can I trust you to keep a secret?" Titus whispered, the little dragon nodding in response before reciting a rhyme about flying and cupcakes being shoved in eyes at which point the human leaned in closer, "Yes, and I've told her."

"Really?! That's why she's been acting so weird! So you two are going on a da-" Spike would have blurted out if it weren't for the hand that wrapped around his small snout and only let go after Titus put a finger to his lips to signal him to be quiet, though the dragon was already speaking when the grip was released, "Sorry. How did you ask her if she wanted to go on a date? Was it easy?" The human gave him a questioning look before asking why he wanted to know and after a bit of shuffling Spike answered with more than a little trepidation in his voice, "I guess because you told me it's only fair if I share a secret with you, but... I've got a crush on Rarity. I just don't know how to tell her, and I'm afraid she'll just think of it as cute and nothing else."

"Just be you, Spike. Be yourself and give her clear signals, other than that I can't give you any advice because I'm still a bit confused with how backward everything is compared to what I'm used to and at the moment I'm just going with the flow. As for if it was easy? Talk to Twilight, she was the one doing the asking out-" A quick look at the time on his wristpad bolted Titus upright and his fingers flew over the screen as he entered the coordinates in, "I've got to dash, bud. I'm late! I'm late for a very important date!" After another series of fist bumps and high fives the human slipped out the back door and jammed his helmet on with Spike watching from the window as Titus took off and disappeared in a blur of speed.

With a Force-assisted sprint it took very little time for Titus to reach the coordinates on the note, though it took a little extra time and energy because he skirted around the edge of town, and when he finally came to a stop both hands went to his knees as he bent over to catch a breath. Okay, I'm just a few minutes late, but where the kark is she? Behind him lay the open grass field of the park which was all but deserted on account of the burning heat and to his right was a copse of trees which were smothered in a thick mess of bramble vines which sported viscous-looking thorns ranging from what Titus would classify as shish kebobs all the way up to harpoons and after a very careful test they felt insanely sharp. After double-checking both the time and the coordinates he took a second glance around the park, assisted by the helmet's zoom function and motion trackers, found no evidence of his date or her whereabouts however something was making the hairs on the back of his neck tingle, and it definitely wasn't the onset of sunburn.

Titus did as he had done countless times and followed his gut, slowly tuning out any extraneous stimuli like the heat until he was fully focused on the feeling and like a feather being dragged across his skin a shiver went down his spine. Someone is watching me. Digging further and calling on the Force, Titus began sending searching tendrils of thought out to find the target and quickly found the source though the location remained a mystery. The longer he focused on identifying the aura the more it became clear whoever was watching him held no malicious intent, and with a little more concentration Titus perceived it belonged to Twilight though there was some form of distortion blocked his ability to zero in on her location however he was focused enough that he could sense she was happy and having fun. And it's probably at my expense for being late. Not one to be had and in a playful mood himself, Titus thought about how to get the upper hand in the situation.

"Thermal imaging; three hundred sixty degree arc, vertical and horizontal," though it was slower to do so, Titus issued the command verbally to the microcomputer in his helmet rather than enter it on the screen on his wrist and risk giving away what he was doing; one couldn't tell from the outside that the tinted visor provided a popup panoramic shot centered around Titus' head where the helmet's sensors were and immediately a distorted outline of a pony was revealed. Titus watched for a moment as Twilight, who was somewhere behind him, waved a hoof and seemed to make several faces at him if the colored temperature variations changing and mashing up were anything to go by. Sticking your tongue out at me, huh? Hmmm, she's a bit more than two meters behind me which puts her deep in the thorn bushes. Maybe there's a hollow space? With the thermal image providing no further information Titus tried to look like he was focused in the opposite direction and appeared to be searching the hills in the distance for her while in reality he was giving more commands to the processor, "Lock on to that heat signature. Open new image box. Switch to electromagnetic radiation sensor and sonar; focus in a thirty degree arc behind me and scan out to one meter." A spinning progress orb popped up briefly as several waves of inaudible pings of varying intensity were sent out but nothing came back to indicate that there was anything physically between Titus and Twilight which understandably confused him. Maybe it's a trick. But I touched them... I felt a thorn stab me! EMR sensor is saying something is refracting light in a strange way, though. Hmm, curiouser and curiouser. More faces and a waggling rump in his direction in addition to the thermal image of her laughing while doing so was proving a bit frustrating. Alright. If she's going to be like that, let's just draw the rabbit out of her hole.

Titus made a show of removing his helmet and resting it on his hip before giving a heavy sigh, "Kark it, where is she?" He gave another scan of his surroundings and checked the time on his wristpad again with a huff as he had thought the scans he had done would have taken longer, "These are the coordinates she gave me. D-did I keep her waiting too long?" Titus waited for what felt like an eternity, the passage of time only made to feel slow by the numerous glances at the digital clock on the screen when in actuality it was only a few minutes before he visually slumped and sighed. "Way to go, idiot, you screwed this up... you just had to go run that errand and managed to screw things up with the person most important to you," he muttered to himself but also just loud enough that Twilight could potentially hear him which he was able to loosely confirm by sensing her change in mood. Putting the boxed cupcake gently on the ground he placed his helmet beside it and used it as a seat while he covered his face in both hands, "She probably thinks I stood her up and has already gone home. How could I do that to her? Twi, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Suddenly he was yanked backwards right into the thorn bushes and for a brief instant he tensed, ready for the stabbing pain though none came and instead he felt a pair of hooves wrap over his shoulders and loosely around his neck from behind where a soft muzzle rubbed at that special spot only one pony knew of.

"Who has a 'tendency to overthink things and come to outlandish conclusions' now, my lovable dolt?" Twilight's fast-becoming-favorite and lovingly teasing term was accentuated by particularly strong nuzzle and a small squeeze of her hooves, "I wasn't going anywhere; I would have waited all night and then some for you to show up for our very first official date!" It was at that point she noticed that he was shaking and his hands hadn't left his face. What? Is he crying? Worried she had scared him and without releasing him from her hug she pulled back slightly, though what she found was a pair of hands concealing all but the upturned corners of his mouth as he shook with a restrained chuckle.

"Gotcha."

"Devious human! You were baiting me this whole time?!" she gave Titus a small nip on his nearby shoulder as punishment before releasing him and taking the few steps to one side to face him, "How did you know I was here?"

"You know that eerie feeling you get that someone is watching you? Well I felt that and after concentrating on it and using a little bit of my technology I found this," Titus brought up a replay of the heat signature he had seen taunting him on his wristpad to show her along with the other sensor data she would probably find intriguing, "I'm saving this video for future use against you, for your information. Anyway, what I want to know is how you did that thing with the bramble bushes. I would assume it's a spell, right?" Looking back at where he had been squatted a moment earlier the only sign there was anything in the way was a slight wavering shimmer though it hardly resembled anything thorny.

"A combination of spells actually, and you were instrumental in developing it," Twilight leaned up against his arm and called to her magic to retrieve the helmet and small Sugarcube Corner box from where Titus had placed them before she had pulled him through the barrier, "I doubt you've looked at the inside of an astral projection spell, but when you do it's a blurry mess of the colors the image consists of, almost like if you were inside a bubble in the middle of a big bowl of melted sherbert. Now, do you remember the night we cuddled up on that armchair? Well, when I ran my hoof through the hologram display you showed me I noticed that the image was only static-y and disrupted where my hoof was breaking the surface of the objects being rendered so, with that in mind, I basically I took that idea and made my own hollow projection; I had to create an astral projection between two weak shields sort of like a membrane which was not easy, mind you, because on top of creating two shields that close together I intended to put a third spell between them, meaning I had to take into account the small amount of refraction the surface causes, the shield's natural charge, and their electronegativity; such close proximity generally causes shields to merge with one another which would leave the image with nothing to project onto. Once I had ironed out those details I then incorporated a little mind-trick of my own-"

"You mean the way the thorns feel real to the touch, just in case anyone wasn't dissuaded by their lethal appearance," Titus interjected with a slow thoughtful nod.

"Yes, exactly!" Twilight beamed enthusiastically, loving the fact that he was not only showing interest in what she was saying but was also showing he understood her thought process which had the effect of driving her to lean into him all the harder, one hoof sneaking around his arm for something to squeeze, "Now, I could have made an opaque shield to give us privacy - which would have been foalsplay because opacity is something any first year Academy student worth their salt could manipulate - but a giant black orb in the middle of a copse of trees isn't exactly subtle, so I needed to disguise it. Really quick, could you take a look around and tell me what you see? Eeee!"

Her question had turned into a small squeak when Titus looped an arm around her and lifted her slightly as he spun around on his butt to face the other direction though the sight before him left him a little speechless for a second until he could voice what he was seeing, "I see oh... wow. There's a bench at one end of a patch of soft-looking grass which faces a pond whose waters look clear and cool and a wooden pier leading a short distance into them and there's some smooth rocks that look great for sunbathing a bit further down the shore. We've got shelter from the sun thanks to the tree canopies though sporadically small holes will cast shafts of light down upon us, and I would guess the lamps strung from limb to limb along colorful lines create a nice atmosphere at night. Twi... it's beautiful here."

"Well, you certainly do make it sound nice, but let me tell you it was a mess when I found it; the bench was completely rotted out and the pier was falling apart but Applejack fixed those, the grass was up to my shoulders until Rainbow cut it and before she hung the lights there were a few old wasp nests that needed to be cleared out while Lyra cleared fallen tree limbs out of the pond and de-scummed it. And, believe it or not, this place was completely overgrown with brambles and thorn bushes which were a pain to pull out - in more ways that one - and while I was trying to think of a way to disguise the shield I drew inspiration from those nasty barbs and took a trip back to where they had been dumped for some reference materials. As for getting the thorns to feel real I added a function to the outer shield that, upon contact, it replicated the electrochemical signal a nerve would send to the brain to make the target think they were real. The tests to isolate that signal in the lab for the spell and the eventual testing of the finished product was... not fun," Twilight explained with a frown, holding a hoof up to display a small bandage on the bottom where she quite obviously had jabbed herself with one of the long spines at least a few times. To her surprise his fingers wrapped around her hoof and brought it up to his mouth were a very light kiss was placed on it, stating that it would speed healing though he couldn't cite any scientific proof to back up the claim. "After that was all sorted I realized I wouldn't want to use a spell that I would have to maintain with a duration attribute and instead wanted something I could turn on or off with its own harmonic consolidator to power it so I had to calibrate a crystal to house the spell, which you can see hanging in roughly the center of the clearing," she pointed to a faintly glowing amber crystal about the size of an apple that hung on one of the ropes of lights strung between the canopy, the unicorn giving Titus time when he stood up to examine it from a bit closer and take several readings with his helmet before he rejoined her, though by that time Twilight had realized she was probably spouting off and potentially boring him, "H-here I am rambling on and on about spell development when we're supposed to be on a date. Sorry."

"No need to apologize at all; you're supposed to have fun on a date, too," Titus corrected, following Twilight as she got up and headed for the bench where a covered picnic basket sat in the middle, "and I've already told you I love the way you light up with enthusiasm when you talk about magic, so if you want to talk about the spell you'll get no complaint from me." Taking a seat to one side of the basket and expecting Twilight to take the other, he had to adjust his position a little closer to the end when she decided to squeeze in the small spot between him and the basket though it felt almost natural that his arm then drape over her shoulder. "Alright, before you reveal your surprise feast I have a little explaining to do; I'm sorry for being late, but I had to run an errand and ended up getting tangled up in a collective of columnists which required I use the mind-trick I demonstrated to you to escape which, in conjuncture with my stop at the library, naturally slowed my progress here. I know your party is right around the corner, but..." Titus had been keeping the pastry box off to the far side and now placed it in his lap, pushing it an inch or so closer to the unicorn as a way to signal he was giving it to her.

Twilight's magic surrounded the ends of the two bits of pink ribbon that were tied at the top of the box in a cute bow and gave a small pull, the knot easily coming apart and a second later each of the box's four sides fell outward to reveal a delicious looking cupcake with several candles sticking out of it, though it took a second glance for her to realize it more or less featured all of her colors - from the sapphire wrapper for her mane to the lavender frosting topped with the magenta sprinkles that sparkled in the sun and all topped off with a plump, juicy-looking raspberry. She had to clear her watering mouth before she wrapped her hooves around him, though she was extremely careful not to squish the treat in the process, "It's wonderful! You really shouldn't have!"

"Happy birthday, Twi," Titus eagerly returned the hug with one arm, the other he used to steady the pastry as he rested a cheek on her head, "Regardless of how many times you say not to worry about it I still feel bad you missed your birthday on my account, so I figured I could at least bring a treat - something more appropriate to a birthday than a burger - and we could have a little celebration of our own."

"Titus... stop beating yourself up about it, it's not that big of a deal," Twilight admonished with a small amount of sing-song in her voice and she finished with a nuzzle before taking another long look at the pastry, "Oh gosh it looks delicious, you even remembered the raspberry! I brought gelatin with the picnic as desert but can we share the cupcake, too?" That sounded like a great idea to Titus, though he cautioned that he might end up offering his portion to her as it was probably much too sweet for him. Twilight then procured a small wooden folding table that had been laying under the bench she draped a tablecloth over it, afterwords draping herself partially over Titus in a very comfortable position. She set out plates and began going through their meal; a salad of various greens (his lacking the dandelions and daisies), a bowl of long thick-cut pasta with alfredo sauce, and finally she revealed with a little fanfare a moderately sized fillet of fish, though when she laid it out on his plate alongside the other foods she gave him an apologetic look, "I um, I didn't want to risk making the food myself and have it come out tasting bad so I hope you don't mind that I bought all of this. I didn't even catch the fish, that credit goes to Fluttershy-" her voice caught in her throat when he pulled the dish closer and poked at the fish. Oh no, he doesn't like something! Was Rainbow wrong about her assumption he would eat fish? Twilight swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat at the idea the date might flop before it even began, "I didn't have much information to go on outside of what you said you liked from your samplings of Hayburger and that green paste you eat, so I'm sorry if the food isn't to your liking. I can head back into town if there's something else you'd rather eat..."

"I didn't say anything like that, so where do you think you're squirming off to?" Titus was learning to recognize the more subtle forms of pony body language thanks to the last few nights where Twilight had come over for casual chats and evening snuggles - which had been made possible by a casting of a Sense-Link spell that enabled Twilight to become intimately familiar with the entry hallway to the point she could now teleport inside whenever she wished - and he could immediately sense her growing anxiety that something was going to go wrong and knew he'd have to head that off before it got out of hand so he quite literally cut it off. To emphasize that he didn't want her to leave he flexed his arm slightly and gave her a peck on the forehead, "The picnic looks great, Twi, and the fish is definitely something I'll eat it's just, um... I wouldn't eat it... raw, or at least not like this."

"W-what? Oh. Sorry, that's something I should have thought of," Twilight blinked in surprise and wondered how she could have overlooked a factor like whether or not to cook the portion of meat, "I... don't have a cooked fillet to replace that one, unfortunately." When Titus gave her a skeptical look and asked why they couldn't cook it Twilight shook her head, "No, that won't work. One thing that unicorns can't do is cook things with magic. The Spaghetti Incident is-"

"I may not have magic, but I have cooked a fish before. It's not all that hard, though it means I'll have to build a fire and I can't promise it'll come out as good-looking as the rest of the food," Titus said, half of his attention already on looking for firewood. Twilight's already put so much work into getting everything set up for a date, so if doing my part in making it go well means having to do a little bit of cooking then I'm more than willing to do that. She deserves it. But by the stars, I am not looking forward to sitting next to a hot fire in this weather. Titus began undoing his boots, which got an odd look from the mare though all he would say was that he would need her help making a fire.

While Twilight went about collecting bits of wood from the pile outside of the barrier that Lyra had dumped during cleanup, popping in every now and then to ask if a piece was suitable, Titus walked around in the shallows of the pond though as earlier he gave no hints as to his purpose until she came back floating a bundle of twigs, sticks, and small logs to find him seated and tearing up a small patch of grass to make a circle of small stones. "Thanks, Twi, that'll be more than enough. We don't need a big fire, in fact we'll be letting it burn down before we get started," he explained, pulling what little lint he had in his pockets and pouches into the center of the ring where he built up the small twigs in a cone around it and worked his way outward with slightly larger sticks before removing his lightsaber from his belt to brush the lit blade against the lint which quickly caught fire and ignited the dry wood around it. Titus tended the fire, some of the thicker sticks starting to turn into hot coals he needed so he took one of the smooth, flat stones he had found in the pond and carefully set it in the center though the heat was quickly getting to him and, not wanting to drench his nice shirt with the sweat that was running down his brow, he removed it and tossed it over the back of the bench.

Moments later, however, a similarly sweating Twilight - who hadn't left his side despite the warmth of the fire - cuddled up against him with two plates levitating in her magic aura. "In my excitement of seeing you I forgot to say how nice you look," she said warmly, nuzzling up against his now-exposed shoulder as he delicately picked the side of fish off of his plate and lay it on the rock where it began sizzling, "I've gotten accustomed to the messy or free look, whatever you want to call it, but I think this is the first time I've seen you do anything with your mane. I like it."

"Thanks. Rarity fixed a hole in the shirt for me, though it was an uphill battle getting her not to add poofy frills or extraneous pleats when she was done, and my hair was another battle; I guess you talked to her because she knew we were going on this date - she asked who I was getting to do my hair but seemed upset when I told her I usually leave my hair to do whatever, saying it was 'simply a crime to waste such potential' or something to that effect," he replied with a shrug and munched on a leaf of lettuce off of the plate, deciding to not voice how he thought he had been lucky to get out of the boutique without the unicorn giving him some sort of perm or something, "Basically, unless I'm working directly over something and it's in the way I normally don't do anything with my hair, but it was sticking to my neck because of this heat. This karking weather is just killing me, I almost contemplated wearing my full suit just for the temperature controls and would have apologized for my attire when I arrived."

"Oh I understand completely, this heat is almost unbearable. Somepony at the weather bureau re-crunched the numbers and found an oversight; Dash was saying it was too humid this month so we've got to make up for it these last few days before the new schedule goes into effect next month otherwise there was a real threat that Cloudsdale would be producing runny rainbows and flatulent clouds-"

"Uh, flatulent... clouds...?" Titus cocked an eyebrow at that. Just when things start to feel normal around here...

"Yes, they're obnoxious and their, um, expulsions can be borderline nauseating at times though foals generally find them hilarious; from what Rainbow tells me it's a very expensive cleanup as the whole weather team has to suit up in full gear just to disband the smallest bank because the clouds don't dissipate when bucked and instead just spread out, necessitating a big cloud-sucker be flown in. And don't get me started on the rainbows - lets just say both issues are much worse to deal with in comparison to this heat," Twilight sighed and followed suit in taking a small nibble out of a large leaf of lettuce, "Thankfully they've rearranged the weather table so once this heat wave is over we're due for a few days of nice breezes and then some rain though I will admit I heard about this heat in advance and figured it might be a good chance for us to go on our date, what with most of Ponyville holing up indoors."

Titus nodded as he poked at the cooking fish with his fork, carefully lifting one end to peek underneath, and he was in the middle of explaining how Coruscant managed its own weather with massive machines and a network of sensors when he suddenly stopped and slid the fish onto his plate. It took him a bit longer to finish his meal compared to Twilight (though she did sample a nibble of the fish when invited to) on account of answering several of her questions regarding that technology, though he found a way to halt any further inquiries by carefully floating the cupcake over and onto Twilight's plate where she eagerly cut it in two. As it turned out, the pastry wasn't too sweet for him and they both thoroughly enjoyed it, Twilight being particularly appreciative of his memory of her dislike of cherries and the surprise truffle at the center, all of which paired surprisingly well with Rarity's wine choice. Their desert finished, both human and pony sat back with a satisfied sigh though when Twilight started thinking about leaning up against Titus for some cuddle time he suddenly turned his head to look at her hopefully.

"I um, would it ruin the date if I cooled off in the pond? I underestimated how hot that fire would be and I could really go for a dip."

Twilight indicated it wouldn't and the quick kiss that followed the question caught her by pleasant surprise but before she realized what was happening he had broken off and was heading for the end of the dock, the tie in his hair pulled out and his undershirt already half removed which forced her into a trot to catch up and watch for a moment as Titus bent over to step out of his pants rather than drop them and the weighty belt they were attached to.

"Twi?"

Twilight hadn't even been aware she had been staring at his butt, clad in the usual fitted shorts, until her name being called drew her back to the present where she realized she was fixated as he bent over with his pants half down, grinning at her over a shoulder. "S-sorry!" she blurted, shifting her vision to the bench though there was a distinct after-image of his posterior burned into her retinas, "I didn't mean-"

"Twi..." The voice was closer now and had an obvious hint of sternness to it so she physically turned her whole body away in hopes that he would realize she actually hadn't meant to watch him. "Twi. Hey," the voice came from right behind her and despite its forewarning the hand that touched her shoulder caused her to squeak in surprise before it gently urged her to turn back around where Titus was waiting with a kind look and a warm kiss, both of them pausing to enjoy the fleeting contact before he pulled back to speak, "Twi, I love you, and I uh... I think it'd be safe to say we've already crossed the threshold where I'm comfortable if you want to admire some of my features, and I only said something because of the funny look you had on your face."

The unicorn initiated another kiss, her eyes closing as their tongues tangled and a hand wound its way into her mane while the other scratched slightly against the fur of her ear. By Celestia that feels wonderful! Coming apart with a wet smack, Twilight grinned at her human and briefly rubbed noses with him, "And I love you, too! All of you, not just a few features."

"Doubly agreed... but it's okay if you have favorites, alright?" he gave her a wink and placed a peck on her brow just below her horn before stepping to the edge of the dock and taking a seat, "Now, I'm going to cool off before I melt into a puddle." Sliding his feet into the water he carefully lowered himself down with a sigh; the water was a perfect temperature, just cold enough to have a bite to it but not so cold that one didn't quickly get used to it and find it comfortable after a short time. It came up to his waist where he dropped in, which was about half way down the dock, which lead him to believe he might actually be able to dive off of the end, though he was satisfied with just dunking himself completely under before coming up with a refreshed gasp and a wide grin as he pushed his wet hair out of his face to look at the unicorn still sitting on the dock where he had left his clothes and wristpad, "Oh, that is so much better! You going to come in, too?"

"Um... no, I-I don't think so."

It was clear enough to see from her body language that she wasn't enjoying the heat so Titus found her answer and apprehension a little odd, "Why not, Twi? It's nice and cool, and I bet it feels even hotter with your coat what with the way your mane and tail are sticking to you. You're probably sweating more than I was."

"I will admit it's not pleasant, but I... I want to look at your wrist-mounted datapad device," she responded as genuinely as she could.

Titus, however, wasn't buying it; she was looking at him and the water anxiously - though whether that was nervousness or desire to join him was up in the air - and when questioned she seemed to fall back into her habit of sticking her nose in a book (of sorts) to ignore something in hopes the issue would go away or resolve itself.

*Splish!*

"H-hey!" The cry from the unicorn was expected after having splashed a little of the cool water at her, though he had purposefully undershot so the drops landed on the dock in front of her. "You're going to get the datapad wet."

"So? It's waterproof," Titus grinned and sent another small wave of water through the air at her, this time landing the water a little closer to her hooves, "Come on in, I promise you can look at the wristpad all you want later." Another tentative yet longing look at the crystal clear water was easily detected which prompted Titus to test a theory he was developing so he sent a third wave of water at Twilight which she made no move to dodge despite the extra-obvious windup he put behind his arm. She didn't even flinch... she even leaned into it! Hmmm...

Twilight came to realize just how refreshing the cool water Titus flung at her felt and though she still didn't exactly want to reveal why she couldn't join him she made no move to dodge any of the additional splashes that followed and after a few minutes she was soaked from the shoulders up and suitably cooled off. After one particularly heavy wave drooped her bangs in front of her eyes she sighed and shook herself off in a spray of water before magically collecting the numerous droplets on the dock to rapidly fire back at him in small bullets, "Alright... I'll admit that feels great, now quit splashing me!"

"Nope!" he teased, turning his back to shield himself from her counter attack until it abated enough for him to send another jet arcing over her head to land on her back and side, "From where I'm standing every glance you've given me is saying you want to splash around with me but you refuse to get off the dock. Until you either tell me why or join me, I'm going to keep splashing you."

"Well, if it's a splashing war you want," Twilight rolled her eyes and channeled magic through her horn creating several funnels of water that rose from the surface of the pond to coalesce in a large orb which hung ominously over Titus, "Who am I to say no?"

"Twi, I um..." the orb of water hovering above him was large enough that he could have stood upright in it with arms extended over his head and would still have some to go before breaking the surface which was intimidating to say the least, and it was still growing. Well this escalated quickly. Realizing he was very outmatched in the water fight he had initiated and now had no way of winning, he raised his arms above his head in surrender and tried to end things diplomatically, "In light of recent developments I feel I may have overestimated my enthusiasm for a water fight and I also feel it would be appropriate that I apologize for my splashing assault against you. It is my hope you will prove to be the better person and forgive my aggression, agree to a cease-fire, and that we might move forward with talks to end this peacefully." Her horn still glowing, he watched as Twilight tapped her chin for a moment, humming in contemplation, and when she looked at him with a smile he relaxed and dropped his arms to his side.

"Nope!"

*SSSSSPPPPPLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!Glugglugglug*

A torrent of water dumped itself on Titus' head and shoulders and he disappeared from sight in a complete deluge as the orb drained itself back into the pond, sending moderately-sized waves crashing against the dock where Twilight giggled, "Now, after that little show of force, if you would like to discuss ending this I believe I could be persuaded to open discussions with a ki... Titus?" Expecting the human to be standing before her sputtering and gasping while she made her stipulations of another cuddle night and a complete tour of his ship, she was a little surprised to find only ripples and churned water where he had been. Standing up she cautiously peeked over the edge of the dock into the water below, "You'd better not be thinking about jumping out at me..." he wasn't there, and an extra search under the dock proved he wasn't there either, "Hey, where'd you go?" At this point Twilight began to think maybe she had taken things a bit far with her response. The surface of the pond visibly dropped during collection, that's... a lot of water to dump on him, he was only splashing you after all. Roughly nine- no, more like ten feet in diameter or about eleven thousand three hundred cubic inches... Shifting her gaze to the deeper half of the pond she scanned the now-still surface for any disturbances under the water, "Alright, come out-"

Something in the corner of her eye caught her attention and when she quickly turned to investigate she found the human struggling toward the sandy bank Applejack had created. Instinctively Twilight blinked herself as close as she could, though she had to teleport just above the water as it was never a good idea to blink into water blindly so she fell into the shallows, the water splashing over her back as she pushed her way to his side though her mind was racing the whole way. A gallon of water is two hundred thirty one cubic inches... weighs eight pounds and impacting at, let's see... square root of multiplying our gravitational acceleration by the height by a factor of two, account for air friction- Again the pond interfered in that she couldn't just levitate him out as water could have volatile exothermic reactions with magic that didn't have the proper countermeasures woven in which was time-consuming to do, so with no other options she took a deep breath and dove her head beneath the surface and under an arm to drag him closer to shore where she flipped him over on his back.

After coughing several times to clear his lungs Titus gave a low groan, "Ugh... ow." Opening his eyes he found himself still partially in the water with Twilight's face wrought with worry looking down at him though before she could open her mouth to offer any of the numerous apologies that had built up in her throat he tightened the arm still draped over her shoulder and pulled her close with a mischievous grin, "Looks like I gotcha again... you're finally in the water with me!"

"Y-You were baiting me?! Don't ever scare me like that again you big... big... dolt!" Twilight shouted, though despite how mad she wanted to be her genuine concern for him outweighed it and she couldn't stop from pushing herself into the hug and grinding her cheek against his, "I almost lost you once, I can't go through that again."

"I'm sorry, Twi, I wasn't trying to scare you or bait you into worrying about me, I legitimately had the wind knocked out of my lungs and when I was pushed under I swallowed some water though I had enough sense left to use the Force to create an orb of air around my nose and mouth so I didn't choke further and had time to recollect myself," he answered honestly as he slowly sat up. The unicorn's hooves remained wrapped around him which caused her to slide partially onto his lap as he did so and, casting a curious glance down at her as she nudged at him, he looped his other arm around her, "I just wanted to go for a swim with you is all. I wanted to give us both a chance to cool off and have some fun, so why were you being so hard headed?"

"I actually did want to join you, but..." the nuzzling came to a stop and Twilight only stared ahead blankly for a moment before her voice dropped to a whisper, "I can't swim." The feeling of a hand slowly running up and down her side brought her enough comfort for her to resume a slow nuzzle though because she had slumped she wasn't within range of his cheek and instead targeted his chest where, again, his heartbeat could be heard thumping away steadily, "I read several books from the library a while ago but I never knew how to apply that knowledge practically and I was too embarrassed to join any of the classes at the pool because I would have been a full-grown mare in a group of foals."

"Hey, that's nothing to be ashamed of; swimming is something a lot of people need to be taught. I didn't know how to swim, either, until a Nautolan Master at the Temple instructed my class when I was still a youngling," he squeezed and placed a warm smooch on the top of her forehead before craning his head to one side to look at her, "Wait, if you can't swim how'd you get to the center to that mud puddle I fished you out of when you were being chased by those timberwolves?"

Twilight hummed happily at the embrace, relieved that he was alright; with her ear against his chest she could hear the steady thumping of his heart which did wonders to calm her from the anxiety she had been feeling moments earlier, "Well, it's more accurate to say I... floundered and splashed my way there, so most of the credit would have to go to the instinct of avoiding being eaten and not toward any sort of conscious effort of my own."

"Conscious or not, you still swam. You know... we're already in the water and I'm a pretty good swimmer, if I do say so myself, so if you'd like to learn I'd be more than happy to teach you."

Twilight wasn't entirely sure about that, given the recent excitement, so it took Titus a bit of convincing though after he reasoned it would be another reason they could spend time together she let go and joined him in the shallows where, oddly enough to her, he began crawling on his hands and knees toward the deeper spots until he couldn't touch the bottom anymore. She cocked her head to one side when he stopped and turned back to her with a goofy grin, "Uh... what were you doing?"

"Testing a technique," he replied coyly before quickly stretching his neck to place a fleeting kiss on her lips, "And that was a little motivational treat for agreeing to try this out, stick with it and there'll be more... prizes."

The last word was accompanied by a hammy waggling of the eyebrows which proved all the remaining incentive Twilight needed so she attempted to follow him a bit deeper though when her hooves couldn't find purchase on the bottom anymore she started floundering, her forelimbs thrashing about as she craned her neck to the absolute limit to keep her head above water, "Ack! Bleh!"

Titus, who could still easily reach the bottom was quickly in front of her with his back to her where he instructed she put her hooves over his shoulder - something she was all too eager to do at this point as she held an inkling of a notion of calling all of this off. "Alright, just hang on back there while I show you the technique I'm going to be teaching you," he stated before slowly swimming in a wide circle and coming back to where they had started, "Did you catch what I was doing with my arms and legs? The 'doggy paddle' was the first swimming technique taught to Younglings, myself included; it's very easy, and with your physiology it should feel natural to you." Taking a few strokes to where Twilight could touch the bottom again Titus began by demonstrating the hand and leg movements in the air which the unicorn compared to pedaling a bicycle which got her first reward of the lesson - a fairly long ear rub - after which he took her front hooves in his hands to give her something to push against as she practiced the kicking technique. "You're doing great, Twi," he gave as encouragement when he felt the force exerted against his arms as she propelled herself in place with a look of steely determination on her face, "Don't feel like you have to tackle this all at once, if you need a break-"

"No, I can do this! I'm going to do this!" Twilight interrupted with gusto before looking at the opposite bank of the pond, "By the end of today I'l do a lap across the pond, just you watch."

"At the rate you're going I don't doubt it," Titus chuckled at her enthusiasm but knew better than to question it - when Twilight committed to accomplishing a goal there was no "trying," there was only "doing." Shifting himself to stand beside her he slid his hands under her barrel to allow her to practice churning the water with her forehooves though there was an issue with ticklishness they had to work through but thanks to the knowledge she had gleaned from her reading it was easy for her to combine the two sets of hoof movements and before long Titus was holding her up by the barrel as she swam in a slow circle around him though whenever he would tell her he was about to let her go she would squeak and plead with him not to so after several more small laps around him, during which time Titus could tell Twilight had gotten a handle on maintaining her buoyancy by herself because his hands which had been fully supporting her earlier were now serving no other purpose than a safety blanket when she would bob up and down a little too hard so he let go without warning and quickly swam a few strokes in front of her, "You can do it, Twi. Swim to me."

Needless to say the unicorn was a little shocked to be suddenly on her own and struggled initially with a small bout of panic before regaining control and slowly paddled the short distance to Titus where his hands took her front hooves so she could rest, the human treading water for the both of them. Feeling her hooves being guided to his shoulders she gave him a big grin - both at her accomplishment for swimming (even if it was only a little more than a bodylength) and its incoming reward - and all to happily pressed into the chaste kiss and hug that followed. All too quickly she was released and he swam away again, a little further than before and this time it was Titus who wasn't prepared when Twilight powered her way through the water to him and firmly latched on before he could intercept her hooves. "I'll take my prize now, if you don't mind," she sang, rubbing her nose against his in the process with poorly-concealed eagerness.

"I don't mind, but you made that seem a bit easy..." Titus grumbled playfully; in truth he was glad she was enjoying the exercise he had created. The progress she's made in such a short time... less than an hour what took me a few days to be able to confidently do? He couldn't stop from smiling amid Twilight eagerly making sure this reward was much less chaste than the last, her tongue working against his lightly as her hindhooves locked around his waist to prolong their embrace. What else could I expect? I've got an exceptional mare.

A hand patting her back was the signal it was time for another stint of swimming, though she briefly tightened her grip to enjoy their closeness in the slow circling backstroke he was doing, "If you're saying you'll be increasing the difficulty it would be appropriate to make a proportional increase in the reward, correct?"

"How about this..." it took a few more coaxing kisses before Twilight reluctantly loosened her hold on him and sat still long enough for him to compile a sentence without her hungrily pressing her lips against his, "It looks like you're past the whole game of chasing me so instead you swim as far as you can and we'll sort out rewards when you're done. You just focus on swimming your heart out, I'll be right here the whole way so whenever you feel you're getting tired say so, though if I see you're struggling I'll step in."

Twilight gave a determined nod and took off, her hooves kicking furiously under the water and her chin held high as she cast a small wake behind her. I'm doing it! I'm going to do the whole lap! A hand on her shoulder brought her back from her happy thought as it readjusted her trajectory back to a straight line and, somewhat to her annoyance, Twilight saw how easily Titus kept up with her - floating on his side a single kick and pull with his outstretched arm let him coast a fair distance with her - which caused her to realize just how much energy she was expending for only a marginally acceptable amount of progress. He's barely doing anything and he's gliding through the water! Is it the stroke he's using? His physiology? A little over three quarters of the way across the pond Twilight began to feel a little winded so she slowed her pace, but not before giving her human instructor a nod when asked if she was alright, "Just conserving... energy for the... return trip. And... my prize." The unicorn swam around the rock jutting out of the water close to the shore that served as the half-way mark though her pace continued to slow down and her nostrils flared with each breath. Come on, I can do this. Almost three quarters of the way there! Though her determination never wavered Twilight's speed reduced to a crawl toward the middle of the pond where one of her hind legs suddenly locked up, causing the unicorn to panic and issue a startled squeak.

Titus was immediately at her side, one arm sweeping under her thrashing front hooves to support her, "Twi, it's okay, I'll get us both to shore." Pulling the unicorn's back against his chest he resumed his sideways crawl and towed her the remainder of the way though before they landed he detoured toward the large flat rocks. It only took a jerk of his head at them and the shore to communicate the question and after her agreement with his choice he carefully scaled the surface with Twilight tucked under one arm. Finding the first suitably flat area just above the water he released his hold on the unicorn and stretched out on the slightly sun-warmed rock, his feet dangling over the edge back into the water. It was easy to see from the look on Twilight's face that she was disappointed in herself, her shoulders slumped and droopy ears folded back she flopped down unceremoniously on her haunches to stare at her hooves in silence; Titus didn't need to ask what had happened as the hind hoof nearest him was tucked oddly close to her body compared to the other and the way she had stopped kicking in the water made him think she had gotten a cramp. "You know you did really fantastic out there, especially for your first day, right?" he stretched a hand out to pat her on the shoulder, "That was probably the fastest I've seen anyone learn to swim that isn't from an aquatic world. I'm exceptionally proud of you, Twilight."

"I still didn't finish the lap like I set out to," Twilight grumbled. After their swim in the cool waters the sun that peeked through the tree canopy every now and then felt wonderful on her back and the warm rock beneath her was incredibly comfortable but more satisfying than either of those was the hand on her shoulder which she made a point to lean in to to show her appreciation. A small twang of pain from her cramped hoof caused her face to twitch slightly as she looked down on it with contempt, "Stupid cramp, I could have made it." To her surprise the hand left her shoulder and carefully wrapped its fingers around the hoof and began kneading in a fashion that seemed to melt away the tension. "Oh wow..." Twilight sighed as her upper half sank to the rock to leave her lying on her side as Titus shifted to let both of his hands go to work massaging her aching muscle, "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"During my stay in Canterlot I got some instruction while I was getting over my Positional Displacement or whatever sickness," he replied with a partial truth though he had no intention of going any further than that - Princess Luna's transformation was something he had promised to keep secret and he wanted to keep as much information pertaining to it to himself. His fingers slowly squeezed their way up past her ankle and toward the hock of her leg though he stopped when Twilight sat up and readjusted her position, curling her body slightly so she could lean against his side and drape a hoof over his stomach before settling in and nodding to continue.

Twilight closed her eyes; the warmth of the rock and sun in combination with the closeness to her beloved human as he gently rubbed and kneaded her sore leg was quickly transporting her to a place beyond contentment and while she imagined she could be happy just laying there she deeply wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to cuddle. Stretching her neck she nuzzled his chest and the hoof that had been draped on his stomach hooked around his side to pull him closer as she hummed a single word. "Thanks."

The hands didn't stop their massage as a chuckle bounced her head lightly, "For what?"

"For being you, and making this such a great day," opening her eyes Twilight found him looking down on her, which made him just close enough for her to scoot herself a little higher into a kiss.

"You're welcome... but I'm not sure how I can be anyone but myself."

Twilight could feel her heart race as they both pushed into each others lips, one of his hands leaving her leg to partially cup her cheek and work its fingers into her wet mane as her tongue slipped past his teeth to explore though she would occasionally retreat to allow him the same luxury. Several shorter kisses, each ending with a quiet smack, served as the conclusion to the brief but wonderfully-satisfying display of affections which left Twilight's head reeling with happiness; she clung to his shoulders and rubbed her cheek against him seeking to eke out more enjoyment of being close while he went back to tending to her cramp before he spoke again, "And all credit for today goes to you, so thanks for the wonderful date, Twi. Love you."

In her squirming of blissful nuzzles she twisted around completely until she was wiggling around on her back and nudging at his cheek upside down. "Say that again," she hummed. Thinking she hadn't heard him Titus started reciting his statement but was cut off by more squirming and a giggle, "No silly, just the last part."

"Love you?"

"Mmm, that's it. I love hearing you say that... almost as much as I love you," Twilight sighed before resting the back of her head on Titus' shoulder to kiss at his jaw and shimmy her shoulders deeper into the crook of his arm, "Say it again?" Instead of hearing the line again she felt Titus shift and move both of them closer to the edge of the shelf of rocks they were sitting on which she found rather curious though before she could inquire he jerked his head over the side.

"Look down there and tell me what you see, Twi."

Peeking over the edge of the rock where he had pointed Twilight stared down at the calm water where she saw her reflection tangled up in Titus' arms and she couldn't help but smile though the reason behind his question eluded her, "Well, I see us... our reflections."

"No, that's not-" Titus shook his head but abruptly stopped to shrug and nod in agreement, "Okay, yes that's there, too... but I see you, and I see that you're happy. Right there in that reflection I see everything that matters to me. Before I met you, I knew exactly what was going to happen every day of my life, more or less. It was predictable. I like predictable. But after the crash everything started to change; I've been teleported, turned into a pony, and had my mind read, to name a few. I've made friends - real friends, not just contacts - the first I've had since the Purge, and I got to know you and this world. At first all of it was a little unsettling and wholly unpredictable, but then I realized it was... better. Whatever happens next, I have a feeling it will be better, too. Twilight Sparkle, I love you more than... well, more than I can describe."

Twilight stared at their reflection for several more moments and leaned into the soft smooch placed on her ear which prompted her to turn enough to place her own kiss on his retreating lips though only briefly as she snuggled back to her previous position and resumed her nuzzling, "And I fall in love with you harder and harder every day, Titus Aelius. Today is certainly no exception."

"Alright already, you're going to turn me into a big softie with all this stuff..." Titus chuckled while dodging Twilight's attempts at further kissing in a lighthearted game of cat and mouse before allowing himself to be caught, happily meeting the unicorn with a smile before pressing into what became a long open-mouth kiss.

Suddenly Twilight broke the connection with a hiss that came through clenched teeth and the look of concern that greeted her when she opened her eyes was comforting, to say the least, and the annoyed glance directed at her spasming hind hoof was more than shared though once the ache died back down to tolerable levels and she tried to resume where they had left off she met with firm resistance.

"Come on Twi, your leg is going to keep doing that if we don't get the muscle relaxed," Titus sighed and got to his feet to look a little further up the rock. Spotting the ledge above them, the same one that he had seen from the shore when he was describing the clearing for Twilight, he crouched back down which was unexpectedly right into the unicorn's grasping hooves. While Titus was all too willing - eager, even - to indulge in what looked like it was going to be one of the make-out sessions Twilight had engaged him in the past nights she had come over before they both turned in for the night, at the current moment he was hesitant lest another leg spasm lead her to clench her teeth in pain again, this time potentially on his tongue. As if biting my own tongue doesn't hurt enough. Kark, I can't even imagine how hard it would be to convince her it hadn't ruined the date... once the swelling had gone down and I could talk, of course. A peck on the nose, as always, was enough to halt her attempts though to stave off her annoyance at the gesture he gave her several warm nuzzles and a hug which seemed to have the desired effect as she gave him a lopsided grin and join in in reciprocating them. "The top of the rocks looked nice and smooth from the shore, let's head up there to deal with your leg and dry off," he whispered coaxingly and added a small nibble to the side of her neck to tide her over, if just for a little bit.

With a heavy sigh Twilight got to her hooves - or three of them, more accurately, as she kept the majority of her weight off of the fourth. Well, teleporting isn't an option, the lip of the rock is blocking my line of sight. A quick scan of the wall of rocks Titus had been leaning against didn't look like it would be too hard to climb on account of the small ledges she could hop between so when Titus offered to carry her she declined and bound up the impromptu stairs in a combination of small jumps and short teleports. Navigating the ledges proved to be no problem, however upon reaching the final jump she found the distance a little daunting without use of all of her hooves and the surface of the last shelf looked a little too steeply angled for her liking but by carefully balancing on her hind legs and stretching her neck slightly she was able to peek over the top and see her final destination. "I can see the top and can teleport from here, you're free to come up now," she called down to Titus who had remained on the initial platform to catch her in case she fell or needed help, though in looking over her shoulder she noticed Titus briefly staring before quickly looking away when her gaze met his and the astute mare was quick to deduce her upright stance against the rocks in combination to his low angle of view had afforded him a very good look at her rump.

From below, Titus caught a grin from Twilight before she disappeared in a flash.

Using the same ledges the unicorn had jumped between as foot anchors and hand holds Titus quickly scaled the rock face though much like with Twilight the final stretch required a little more effort but once his fingers had gotten a solid hold of the edge and a toes found purchase in a crack he hoisted his torso up onto the ledge with a grunt which died in his throat.

Twilight, laying on her side, was there waiting for him with that same grin he had seen her disappear with and a moment later he was carefully lifted from the precipice by her magic and floated over a short distance to be gently deposited directly beside the unicorn who quickly fastened all four hooves around whatever limb was closest. "I saw you staring. We've 'crossed the threshold where I'm alright if you want to admire some of my features' is what you said, right?" she asked rhetorically; she knew full well what he said and though she had told herself in the mirror before the date to take things easy it had proven incredibly hard as the kissing rewards and the brief stint of tickling had gotten her riled up so she now could not help but kiss and nibble playfully at his neck with reckless abandon.

"You certainly are being affectionate today, what's got you all worked up?" Titus questioned and squirmed as the unicorn's soft muzzle nudged lightly at the ticklish spot behind his ear though he made no effort to break away from the energetic assault upon him and instead brushed a hand over her barrel in response.

The nuzzling came to an abrupt stop and Twilight sat up with a pouting huff, "Well, because of all the reporters following you all of the time I've had to quietly watch from the sidelines with a smile as you and Lyra get all snuggly and lovey-dovey for the cameras which, I might add, is complete torture so I've got to make whatever time we've got to ourselves count. You know how unfair I think all of this is, and I'm jealous and frustrated and I don't want you to-" she lay back down and returned to brushing her muzzle along his jawline, though she was significantly more casual and passionate this time around, releasing her hold on his arm to slowly shift herself on top of him where her voice dropped to a whisper as she nuzzled at his chin, "And I don't want you to forget that it's me that loves you."

"You dolt, as if I would forget something as monumentally important as that," he teased, angling his head to meet her nose with his while wrapping both arms over her back in an embrace to which she smiled down at him and scooted a bit further up so they could rest cheek-to-cheek. "Now, if you'll agree to stop long enough for us to take care of that cramp we can come back to this, and let's not forget..." Titus nuzzled back as Twilight slowly ground her muzzle in his ticklish spot though she stopped with a quick breath when his hands slid from her back to squeeze her flanks lightly, her hum in response receiving a warm chuckle as her nuzzling started to be accented by small nibbles at his neck, a good sign that she was getting worked up, "I still need to hand out your swimming prizes."

"Very well," the heavy sigh on his neck must have tickled, Twilight realized, as she spotted goosebumps though why she smiled at that she wasn't certain, "But there's only one prize I want: answers to a few questions." The kneading of her leg didn't stop as she was slowly slid from his chest to lay beside him on the rock so he could sit up. Each rotation of the fingers into her haunch muscle felt like it melted a small amount of the cramp away; not to mention it was slowly causing her heart to quicken though she believed that could be attributed less to the massage itself and more to the person who was giving it - the odd alien being she had unintentionally summoned from another realm or dimension or time and whom she had fallen head over hooves for. Her mind elsewhere, she only heard him quietly saying her name after the fourth or fifth time, "Sorry, I was... thinking."

"Thinking for a change, huh?" Titus teased with a wink as he draped her leg over his lap and worked a thumb into a particularly stubborn knot of muscle that he slowly rolled toward her hoof until it was relaxed before going back to the light massage with the rest of his fingertips that caused Twilight to purr. A few moments of kneading and working against her leg passed in relative silence and by the time he had finished with her upper leg and was moving down to her hock and cannon where he continued gently pressing and pulling at the muscles beneath her soft coat which was just now beginning to dry in the warm sun. A particularly strong coo from Twilight as he rolled both hands over her leg prompted him to try and catch her expression and it was clear she was enjoying herself; her eyes were gently closed rather than squeezed shut and her breathing was slow and steady, and judging from the way she had gone limp she was at the peak of relaxation at the moment so very quietly he whispered what he had tried to communicate earlier, "Still waiting on that question, Twi."

"Hmm? Oh right... um," she paused to wiggle herself a little upright until she could lean against his side and watch the massage from a comfortable position that also put her in a good position to continue her snuggling. "Even though our first official date didn't unfold the way I thought it would have I've still had a great time today, and I hope you did too," she said, taking a hoof that had been tucked at her side and draped over his lap to hook on the hip opposite her and pull herself a little closer while he assured her the date had been a blast. Compared to Lyra, Twilight had never thought of she would be much of a cuddle-bug (not that she had had anypony to necessarily cuddle with, outside of her friend in post-cooler sessions) but ever since she and Titus had shared how they felt about each other she had come to understand just how satisfying it was to be physically close to him so whenever they were together she wanted to feel like that, though the closer she came to asking her question the more nervous she felt, "I um, I know we've already had this conversation but seeing as we're on a date I feel that going over it again would make it official, just like what normally happens for everypony else, so hear me out, okay?" As small as it was she realized there was always the chance he had changed his mind so after Titus nodded that he wouldn't interrupt she cleared her throat though it did little to clear up the anxious knot that had developed, "You're always somewhere on my mind or in my thoughts, and I care about you. A lot. I um, I'm hoping you feel the same way and that maybe we can be more than... well, saying 'just friends' makes it sound like our friendship isn't great, but I still want to be more than that to you. I'm hoping I can take you on another date sometime, but instead of going as a friend you'll come as... as my coltfriend." The massage stopped and when Twilight, who hadn't had the nerve to make eye contact during her little speech looked up at him from under his arm she was met with a very soft peck on the forehead and a warm smile.

"If you'll go as my fillyfriend, absolutely," he answered and squeezed her before resuming the massage on the leading edge of her leg but again he stopped and startled Twilight with an unexpected sigh, causing her to suddenly halt in the exuberant nuzzles and kisses on his side that it was now official and look up at him with worry that something was wrong, "Would it be okay if, um, we switched things up every now and again? By that I mean switch who takes who out; the whole societal-gender-responsibility reversal thing is something I'm still not adjusted to - and probably never will - so I'd feel better if, on occasion, I was the one setting everything up and worrying whether or not you'd have a good time. So, can I take you on a date sometime-?" Titus had hardly finished speaking when the unicorn's soft lips met his for a short, simple kiss that left him speechless for several seconds before he scoffed, "I take that as a yes?"

"Absolutely, though I'm guessing you've been thinking about asking this for a while. Any hints on where you'd be taking me?" She watched as his face split into a wide grin before closing her eyes and rubbing her cheek against his chest, "I guess it'll have to be a surprise." Twilight breathed a heavy sigh as her now-official coltfriend and his magnificent fingers went back to working the final muscle strands in her cramped leg which, not surprisingly, was feeling completely fine to the point that it was pleasantly warm and tingly, though that hardly meant she wanted him to stop so when his hands departed her haunch with a pat before he asked if she wanted to go back to the cuddling he had called a momentarily halt to to finish the massage Twilight playfully wrapped her hooves around the hand on his opposite side to bring it close to nuzzle it before pulling it against her chest. "As if you needed to ask!"

With one arm looped behind her as support Titus tightened it to draw her into a hug, one which Twilight was all too happy to receive, while the hand she had focused her nuzzles on began to brush and gently drag its nails against her chest which got a warm hum that he could feel in the palm of his hand. Briefly pulling the hand from her grasp - something she was reluctant to do and hung on briefly before a tender kiss was planted on her lips - Titus lifted the unicorn cross-ways into his lap where she lay shoulder to his chest, which both instantly found to be infinitely more convenient and more comfortable in that neither had to stretch their necks as much for the follow-up kiss during which time Twilight reacquired his hand and the brushing and scratching against her coat resumed.

When the nibbles at his neck returned as well a short time later, Titus felt Twilight pushing up into the hand he was running over the fur on her chest and, realizing she was enjoying it, he started making broader strokes. Suddenly she stopped to look up at him, biting her lip and wearing a doe-eyed expression that seemed to be asking if she could trust him but before he could do or say anything she came to a decision and wrapped both forehooves around his wrist to hold the limb in place as she rolled over, her back to his chest, before she began gently pulling and pushing him by the wrist all the way up her neck to the underside of her chin and back to her chest then repeated it again until he was doing the motion by himself. Leaving one hoof on the back of his hand to keep him brushing she reached the other up to his cheek to coax him into what she found to be an oddly-arousing upside-down kiss which broke with a sigh when Titus' hand slid a little further than previously. Nuzzles of encouragement at the underside of his chin drove him further with each stroke until Twilight had had enough of his teasing and nipped at him playfully which had the desired effect of causing his hand to glide downward one final time, fingers lightly shifting in pressure as they played an arpeggio down her barrel toward her belly.

Twilight didn't even bother trying to stop the sigh that escaped her bitten lip as his warm palm cupped one of her breasts, her back arching as Titus ran his fingertips over the hardened and sensitive teat before gently pinching it between two fingers which elicited another sigh. Lyra was totally right about being envious, fingers are so much better than hooves! A sudden and unexpected nibble on her ear while she was busy craning her neck to watch his ministrations caught her off guard and she let out a groan before rolling her head back to catch his lips for another heated kiss; Twilight acknowledged Titus' earlier assessment on the chain reaction that would happen if his arousal got her going and vice versa as she felt a hardening below her and with a heavy breath she broke off, her eyes locking with his. "P-please don't stop," she whispered and placed a peck on his jaw before looking back down at her belly where she slowly relaxed her legs, her thighs spreading apart to give him that much better access and though she was perfectly comfortable - even excited - with letting him finally explore her body like she had done with his her tail still instinctively covered her marehood. To her surprise Titus smoothly slid his free hand down her back and under her where she gave a startled gasp and a shudder when his fingers gently rubbed the base of her tail and caused it to relax. "H-how'd you know about that spot?" She knew the answer as soon as the words had left her mouth she rolled her eyes with a huff and shook her head as they both said Lyra's name at the same time

"We can take this as slow as you like, Twi," Titus hummed as he nudged his chin into her forelock caringly and a little later Twilight gently wiggled herself around a little in his lap. It was obvious to him that she was gauging his own excitement, which must have been evident as it was pressing into her back, and when she stopped to look up at him and asked if he wanted to change position he placed a quick peck on her nose, "Thank you, but no. This is about you; I did say it would be your turn next, remember?"

Twilight hummed and made no protest and the hoof on the back of his hand pressed it down harder into her belly as it continued to pay attention to her sensitive breasts, each gentle squeeze sending a warm wave of pleasure through her entire body. As happy as she was, however, Twilight was well past the point of arousal where she'd need to get off if she didn't want to feel genuinely frustrated for the rest of the day - living with a small dragon assistant that would seek her input on something to do with the library at inopportune times had lead to several instances of such frustration - so with further upside-down nuzzles at his chin she encouraged his hand lower, her forehooves looping around his arm and a particularly long hum vibrating in her throat when his warm palm finally slid the rest of the way between her thighs and gently brushed her vulva. "To have you as my very special somepony... I must be the luckiest mare in Equestria. I love you so much," she panted a little anxiously, sitting a little more upright so she could watch what would follow before rolling her head back to lock eyes with him as she whispered softly and their mouths slowly inched toward one another's, "I'm ready when you are... just g-go slow, please." As their lips made contact and she slid her tongue past his lips and into his mouth a finger pressed against the slight resistance of her folds and eventually slid inside her, prompting a low groan at the satisfaction of an itch finally being scratched. She broke away briefly to watch as a second finger joined the first before returning to the warm embrace of his lips which she found was much more rewarding than watching the two digits as they slowly worked back and forth, in and out of her; she did her best to match their pace, pushing her hips down into them as they curled upward inside and the palm pressed maddeningly against her winking button, though it proved hard to maintain for any length of time as the familiar tightening in her hindquarters began to build up, something she was sure he noticed as her inner walls clamped down on his fingers.

Just as the thrusts of his fingers stayed slow, their kissing also kept a gentle rhythm which allowed both of them to focus more on the essence of sharing that level of trust and emotional connection with each other instead of the simple physical feeling though they were certainly enjoying that as well; Titus was getting extreme pleasure out of all the noises and motions he was eliciting from the mare while on Twilight's end she couldn't believe how wonderful it felt to have her human lover giving her the best clop-off she had ever had, even in the two or three sessions following that first night they had shared where she had laid in her bed and quietly fantasized about such intimacies she had underestimated or completely neglected to rule in some of the things he might be capable of doing with his fingers, though finger-rutting (as Lyra had termed it) was not one of them she hadn't thought it would rush her to the brink of climax as quickly as it was so it grew increasingly hard for her to maintain the sensual kisses around her soft panting though her eventual apologetic look was met with a warm smile before Titus redirected his lips to her ear and horn while she fell back on watching his hand. Twilight's hooves tightened around his arm for more control, though she was also subconsciously trying to keep him from pulling the probing fingers out, and when she ground herself down on them they hit a particularly sensitive spot which caused her to arch her back and groan, "Sweet Celestia..."

That was when Titus knew he had found the right spot to target to maximize his lover's enjoyment and though he wanted to go faster he kept the same pace, gradually digging out tracks of pleasure from the warm, slick tunnel. "I love you, Twi," he whispered into the nearby ear before nuzzling at the base of it and repeating the words several more times.

The addition of affectionate words and caring nuzzles was the last catalyst for Twilight who suddenly tugged his arm deeper with a small cry, "Mmmmm... A-ahhhh!" Twilight saw stars as the long buildup of arousal finally shattered and sent her plummeting down the cliff into a sea of bliss; abandoning herself to the heavenly feeling she ground her hips against the intruding fingers as she convulsed around them, her marehood spasming and clenching down as she forced them in as far as they would go before pulling them back slightly to slam them in again with a wet squishing sound.

Several seconds later which felt like an eternity to the thoroughly-spent unicorn she went limp and panted heavily to catch her breath, a soft mew escaping her mouth as Titus slowly retracted the two fingers - those two bucking wonderful fingers - from her now highly-sensitive sex's grasp. It was easily visible that his palm all the way down to the wrist was slick and glistening though she was far too weary to even voice a response when he gave a tentative lick and lightheartedly remarked that she tasted better than the cupcake; wiping the rest off on the rock both arms wrapped around Twilight to pull her sideways, "How are you feeling?"

Twilight snuggled in to the much-appreciated hug and rubbed her face against his bare chest, "I-I just need a second to rest... that was beyond amazing." She nuzzled affectionately for a few more moments before propping her muzzle on the nearby arm to cast a long glance down at his groin where his own arousal seemingly fought to escape his shorts though her gaze was torn away when the arm she was resting on lifted slightly and gently dropped her muzzle back in to the hug. "Sweet sisters, I don't know if I have the energy to give you anything close to as good-"

"Don't worry about it," Titus chuckled and gave her a light squeeze and a smooch on her forehead, "I took the opportunity to reverse our roles so just go ahead and relax for a bit." A little to his surprise Twilight seemingly had no objection to that offer and squirmed a little deeper into the soothing cradle of his arms while nudging her nose against his skin, her eyes slowly closing and a few minutes later she had fallen asleep and for a good few minutes Titus simply and happily held her there as her breathing slowly fell into time with his own before moving them both out of the hot sun and to the shade of the bench where he continued holding her tightly. My mare... my exception mare.

Up there on the sunning rock the pair greatly enjoyed the remainder of the date, as well as each other, and when Twilight would later recount some of the details of her experience at a post-date meeting with her support group consisting of Rarity, Rainbow, and Lyra, the mint unicorn would turn greener with envy from learning that "Yes, fingers could do that amazingly well."

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

The large cavern was dark as always though as Geirr stepped further into the improvised room his keen griffon eyesight just barely picked up the outline of his Mistress from the shadows, still as a statue, seated in what he had come to understand was a meditative state of rest, though for what purpose he did not know but he thought it better than to interrupt her focus and instead stood quietly for her to acknowledge his presence.

Several long minutes past until a quiet whisper broke the silence, "You're wondering why I do this. You... doubt."

"Tis nae my place to question your methods, Mistress," Geirr responded without moving from his spot as her back remained to him; he was no longer startled by how easily she seemed to be able to pluck unspoken thoughts and feelings from him and his comrades like errant feathers in their plumage, a trick she had used to her advantage numerous times though there were whispers through the ranks as to how she could do it. Geirr, however, had little interest in where her ability came from as G.R.A. business was his reason for intruding on her meditation and, having just gotten back from a very long night flight, he was eager to finish his duties for the day and was about to open his beak to give his report when she spoke again.

"Prying eyes, Geirr... I have sensed them in what little sleep I have gotten as they try and invade my thoughts. I will not jeopardize our cause to such phantoms, so here I kneel in meditation to shroud my presence from them," the figure turned her head toward one shoulder, indicating she was giving him more of her attention though her eyes remained closed and focused inward, "You, however, are here for other matters. Speak."

The griffon bowed his head in acknowledgment, "Our operant reports there was success in convincing the King to go unwittingly along with our plan and he is now, or will be reaching out to the Equestrians; by her own assessment we'll have to maintain our holding pattern for only a short while longer between our idiot King and his fecking assembly of mongo saps sorting things out. Shall I give the operation a green light to move into phase one?"

"Were we able to acquire the necessary intel? Do we have the structural engineer's notes on the integrity of the room and the data on the spell from the academy professor?" Though one would expect a change in tone at the good news hers was decidedly calm and betrayed no emotion, even when told in addition to those items the blueprints, the engineer's journal, and even a copy of the Princess' own weaving data had been acquired to provide them with even more information, "Have the team go over and memorize every scrap, have them run the extraction drills again and again until it's second nature. We have one shot and only one, Geirr; there is no room for error in this."

"There will nae be any errors, Mistress. Our agents have been running the extraction drill in segmented, full-scale models of the route and have practiced for any number of situations that might arise." Geirr went on to describe in detail the layout of the warehouse that was being used as a training ground for the operation and that their agents had been specifically picked for their expertise and precision in previous missions which seemed to partially satisfy her desire to stress the importance.

"And the munitions, their transportation went smoothly?"

Geirr nodded slowly, "Aye Mistress, we ran into a wee spot of difficulty recovering the devices from your ship but getting them into the city went smooth as silk, and the agents began training with them immediately. When the time comes the operative planted on the delegation's security team will subtly rig them after they sweep the room while the rest of the team places the other devices according to the plan. Also to report is that the traveling magician we contracted earlier for our needs also finished enchanting the counterfeit, which I personally oversaw a test of tonight and, if I may say so, the lass more than backed up her boasting. Payment for both items has been made and we are prepared to make the switch."

"This magician... you had the option of tying up a loose end?" the figure turned just slightly more in his direction which was enough for him to deduce she wanted an explanation.

"Were it that easy I would have, but on my way to the meet there were posters advertising her magic shows so it would raise suspicion if she suddenly vanished and failed to appear for her audience," Geirr said a bit disappointingly. The prisoner he had been toying with still refused to reveal anything of major significance though he had managed to work a few small details out of her that proved to be somewhat valuable, whether to the cause or to another individual with the right amount to donate for the information but he was far from breaking her and while that prospect was appealing he had begun to find the process dull thanks to the limits the Golden Mistress had placed upon him. The magician would have been a fun distraction. An outlet. Shaking the thought from his head Geirr sighed and continued on with his explanation, "The lass is nae a threat; she says she had been run out of the last town she was doing a show in so the offer of money for her service came with no questions, and as far as she knows from the tale I spun to appear friendly the trinket is for a novelty party trick."

"And it will be quite the trick, Geirr," his Mistress turned her face back forward and her whole body relaxed in a deep breath, "Begin the operation."

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

Rapping his knuckles lightly on the back door of the library Titus waited out in the dark cool evening air for someone to answer, two small wrapped packages under his arm. Losing his usual entourage of press ponies had been easy though there was no reason to risk being spotted knocking at the front door that was well-lit from the street lamps to end up having the party crashed, a decision which proved to be a good one as several ponies exited just as he had turned the corner and headed for the kitchen door. A few minutes passed and Titus knocked again, not entirely surprised that no answer had come as the whole library seemed to quake with loud, throbbing music that made every limb of the tree rustle with reverberation, a feat that was beyond a doubt made possible by that white unicorn's speaker setup the human had seen being wheeled inside the night of his date with Twilight. Casting a glance at his wristpad with the thought of contacting Twilight via the datapad he had given her he quickly glanced up and took a step back as a small purple face appeared in the door's window and a second later it was pulled open, the human staggering back as a particularly heavy baseline timed in perfectly with the opening to hit him square on with enough force that he could feel it in his chest along with a decidedly Pinkie-voice ironically ringing in his ear to turn down for what.

"Heya T!" sticking his face past the threshold to look around for anypony watching, Spike ducked back in and waved for him to follow, "Good thing I was refilling the snack bowls or nopony would have heard you knocking to answer. They eat so much, I don't know where they put it all..." The little dragon jumped up on a chair and resumed the task of filling several large bowls with various types of chips and other junk food as the human lumbered through the door and closed it quietly behind him out of habit though he probably could have slammed it hard enough to knock it off its hinges and no one would have heard it over the loud music and lyrics being belt out from the other room. Stacking the bowls atop each other in a tower almost as tall as he was, Spike peeked around the edge to look at Titus as he took a seat at the table which the dragon found a little odd as the lively party could be heard in the other room where somepony was picking out a new song on the karaoke machine, "The party's winding down and except for a few of Twilight's close friends almost everypony has left; we all figured you'd have been here a while ago, is everything okay?"

"More or less, Spike. I spent most of the afternoon looking for a part that I know I had located before I left for Canterlot which I now can't find and I've run into some, um, complications with the ship's computer that I'll need to check out. Still, I promised Twilight I'd make an appearance and I wanted to give her her gifts the night of the celebration rather than later," he lightly patted the two packages on the table.

"Oh, well everypony's in the living room taking turns singing karaoke-"

"Actually, could you do me a favor and just let Twi know I'm here? I don't want to disturb her party with my presence, I feel like she wouldn't be the center of attention anymore if I poked my head in the other room," the human sighed. It had been somewhat of a long day, and he got the feeling it was going to be a long night as soaking in bacta wasn't entirely a pleasant feeling that encouraged sleep so he had prepared R6's diagnostic report of the odd computer behavior that he planned to read.

"Those are her friends, and from what I've overheard it sounds like they're yours, too," Spike piped up as he headed for the doorway, shuffling from side to side to keep the stack of bowls balanced, "I don't think you'll have to worry about them treating you like the reporters do, but I'll let Twilight know you're here once I set these out."

With that the little dragon disappeared around the corner with the tottering tower of munchies, leaving Titus alone in the kitchen save for the noise of somepony with a vaguely familiar voice taking over from Pinkie to sing to backing music. I'll ask if she wants me to stay, but the medical droids said the bacta recycling should be finishing any moment now. He glanced at the wristpad where a nearly-full progress bar blinked slowly then returned to staring blankly at the kitchen table, one hand on his chin in contemplation.

And if she wants me to stay - which she more than likely will - I'll have to keep things short. Degradation of the bacta will occur quickly, and I'm running out; that last immersion severely cut into my supply.

Titus continued to stare as the alluring voice continued from the other room though be bore a frown as his mind was devoted to thinking about the issues he had encountered throughout the day. Come on, think! I know I put that communication module on my workbench before I left with Luna... I doubt Twi would take it as she's consistently left my tech alone unless given permission to handle it. Maybe R6 or Treadwell took it for use elsewhere in another system? I'll have to check their reports and talk with them. Then again, maybe I misplaced it while looking for Twi's gift. Slouching to get more comfortable in his chair Titus was so occupied going over the possible places he could have put the component for his communications equipment before moving on to the improbable-but-equally-feasible spots he hadn't thought of that he didn't even notice the approaching voices.

"See? Did I not tell you to give it a chance?"

Maybe it fell off the desk when I moved it to get at the compartment hidden behind it...

"You have my thanks for encouraging me to try, it was most enjoyable! While I do not know what is considered 'popular' music, I am pleased that everypony seemed to enjoy my song; perhaps I shall acquire a record of it to enjoy myself."

"A wonderful idea! I sometimes find background music can help to make long work hours at a desk slightly less arduous."

...though the only place it could have rolled from there would have been the venting duct, which has a grate over it. I did have to move some boxes before I could move the workbench so perhaps I put it on them to keep it from rolling off, but I remember R6 put those in the in storage area below the cargo hold...

"If, by chance, I were to purchase one of these sing-along devices for my quarters would you join me occasionally-yeep!"

A squeak from not far away caught Titus off-guard so he jumped slightly before quickly looking to see where the noise had come from and found two ponies, both unicorns, standing a few body lengths into the kitchen standing stock still and staring at him, obviously just as startled as he had been to have suddenly discovered they weren't alone. Giving them an apologetic smile he slowly dismounted the chair and, hoping that these weren't some of the ponies that were still frightened by him, he crouched down on one knee to make himself smaller, "Sorry, I was lost in my own thoughts or I would have said something. Hi, I'm Ti-"

Suddenly one of the unicorns closed the short distance between them to leap on him with another gasp and wrap her hooves around his neck which, naturally, was not something he was accustomed to - not to say he hadn't gotten surprise hugs before, especially on several of the trips he had taken into town after his recovery from the Pox, but those always had occurred when he had had some sort of prior verbal communication with the individual - this, however, was completely unexpected and left him unsure what to do except remain still with his arms awkwardly at his sides as the unicorn squeezed and gave the faintest of nuzzles. "Oh, um... h-hello?" he hesitantly patted her on the shoulder and cast what he hoped wasn't a startled look at the other unicorn that had remained where she had come to a stop; unlike the pony locked around his neck, who had a very light greyish-blue coat almost like the sky on a drizzly day and a full mane of deep-blue with several azure streaks running through it, the calm one seemed rather plain with her white coat and simple light yellow mane. Titus was about to say something again when the unicorn gripping him released her hold enough to lean back slightly and talk excitedly.

"Titus, oh my it is wonderful to see you again! After I saw you on the news I had wanted to check in on you but-"

"Uh... sorry, but have we met before?" Titus switched his attention between the two ponies in search of an answer. Aside from the friends he had been introduced to in Ponyville he had yet to meet any of Twilight's friends from elsewhere, and from his own assessment he had a very good memory when it came to faces, even pony faces, and to the best of his recollection he hadn't been introduced to these two; still, something about them was familiar though he was struggling to place exactly what.

The grey-blue mare stopped abruptly when she saw the curious look slowly growing on his face which she herself mirrored for a second before she stifled a giggle and turned to her companion, "Oh dear, I do not think he recognizes us!" A second look confirmed her assumption as his eyes darted between them in search of some sort of clue which warranted another giggle and a tighter squeeze.

"That is the whole point, sister," Titus caught the warm smile directed at him as the other unicorn nodded before she bowed her head slightly "Mr. Aelius, please forgive her uncouth behavior, she's gotten a bit wound up with the festivities-"

"And, my friend, please excuse my sister," the other interrupted with a roll of her eyes, "she was just thoroughly trounced in an odd yet intriguing game of competitive singing and her defeat has left her, um... I believe the term is 'salted.' To answer your earlier question: yes, we have met..." she paused to cast a coy grin at her companion before she leaned a scant breath away from his ear to whisper and, out of sight, poked him in the side just above where his lightsabers hung, "and within your blade hides a feathery symbol of our friendship."

There was only one pony that knew about that. "L-Luna?!" Titus pulled back in shock which set the disguised alicorn off with another fit of giggles as his gaze again shifted to the other unicorn who unmistakably bore the same caring expression of the elder sister, "Princess Celestia? What are you... why are you disguised?"

"Good evening, Mr. Aelius, please pardon the small amount of fun we had at your confusion; Luna and I were very concerned for your well-being so we are both very relieved to see you on your feet. As for our appearance, we will adopt one of several personas when we wish to freely walk among our subjects without the attention a crown can bring." Princess Celestia glanced over her shoulder to the boisterous room where someone was singing to a heavy-hitting rock song before she returned to face Titus, "When Spike, the wonderfully thoughtful little dragon that he is, sent us invitations to Twilight's party in hopes of cheering her up I thought that it would be right to make an appearance - in one form or another - as support... for the both of you," she gave him another warm smile at the end of that statement which was enough for him to know that she was aware of the state of affairs between him and Twilight, though it lasted a fleeting second before it became a little more playful as she directed her eyes at Luna, "though our cover was almost blown when, in her excitement, my sister nearly entered her name in the High Score list of the karaoke machine."

"Out of force of habit, which I'm afraid you would not understand and have yet to experience, Tia," Luna shot back, though the jab was more subtle as Titus wouldn't know the solar alicorn had yet to best her lunar sister in any of the video games they had played. She quickly moved from the subject, giving him another big hug and a quick peck on the cheek which, much to her glee, this time around her human friend returned it in full before they separated and all took seats at the table. "My friend, it is so wonderful to have you back! Though you fell ill at roughly the time it should have arrived, I trust you received the package I sent?" she asked earnestly, the excitement in her voice present and very clear.

Titus voiced that it had been the first bit of mail he had opened under his forced vacation from work though he had been a bit surprised to find it didn't contain any of the tech he had loaned Luna to which Princess Celestia interjected that her little sister had pulled a prank on her with it - the details of which she wouldn't provide - before promising she would personally oversee their return the following morning; Luna wasn't too pleased with that declaration as she had hoped to ask to keep it a bit longer to skip out on some rather dull-looking Night Court sessions coming up in her schedule however at the moment she was more interested in his reaction to the box's contents and voiced her curiosity. "A game console like yours wasn't what I was expecting, that's for sure, but it was a pleasant surprise none the less. Unfortunately I haven't found a way to hook it up to any of the screens on my ship and I'm hesitant to try splicing our technologies together; it would seem magic and I have a sort of... on-off, love-hate relationship." He had scarcely finished when Luna immediately offered to purchase a "big telly" to go with it and would hear nothing of his protests that she really didn't need to as he had more than enough Bits to purchase one himself which lead to him disclosing the deal with Applejack and the Republic Credits. At the end of his explanation he sighed and patted the hoof Luna had been inching closer to his hand over the course of several minutes, "Thanks Luna, and I'm assuming the copy of Vanguards of the Oubliette means you'd like to play sometime?"

"Subtle, isn't she?" Celestia scoffed as she knew full well that once he got the machine up and running her sister's already meager free-time would evaporate if she had a friend to play her favorite immersive RPG, and while she quietly steeled herself for the upcoming tug-of-war battles to pull her away from the console for work she couldn't help but smile that her sister was able to be herself around somepony else besides her, though she realized the disguise might be lending her a bit of confidence to not be so reserved with her emotions. Nudging Luna lightly in the ribs she nodded her head toward Titus to indicate that perhaps it was a good opportunity to breach the subject they had talked about.

The lunar alicorn knew this was a potentially tempestuous topic so, scooting a little closer and placing her hoof atop his hand, she resolved to tread as carefully as she could, "T-Titus? While you were sick Twilight Sparkle came to me for help in trying to communicate with you-" To her surprise the human nodded and informed her that Twilight had already told him which was followed by a fairly lengthy silence before he apologized for what they had seen though it faded to nothing as Luna wrapped her hooves over his shoulders, "No, my friend, I do not seek an apology. I, too, have seen the ravages of war and, while I still try to process the magnitude of the conflict you fought in, I know firsthoof how heavily such thoughts can weigh on one's spirit so should you ever need an ear to listen..."

Princess Celestia suddenly stepped forward to finish Luna's statement, "We would both like to offer ours. Day or night, we are here, Mr. Aelius."

Twilight was caught up in the boisterous rock music as Rainbow Dash performed an enthusiastic air-guitar solo as everypony gathered around the karaoke machine joined in for the chorus so she didn't notice Spike teeter out from the kitchen with more snacks until Rarity removed herself from the group to chat up her dragon admirer. From what Spike had said Titus had given him the courage to approach the fashionista, or at least begin to. She subtly watched the pair for a second before Spike said something which caused them both to laugh though before long her eyes drifted to the clock above them for the umpteenth time that night. Calm down Twilight, nothing's wrong and he's only running late... three hours late. Despite her attempts at assuring herself that Titus would follow through with his promise she began nitpicking all of the details since their date; her schedule had become a bit hectic in the final hours what with organizing the arrival of her special guests as well as the backstory she could tell her friends if they asked which was in addition to an incident that required her attention as one of the Element Bearers to protect Ponyville, and as if that hadn't been annoying enough, because of it she hadn't been able to spend time with her coltfriend so the party was supposed to be the chance to catch up. What few minutes they had been with each other had been in the public eye and he had been quiet and contemplative - more so than normal - and her attempt at inquiry at his behavior had been met with the reassurance that his mind was preoccupied with thoughts of the ship repairs.

She must have lost track of time in her own rambling thoughts as the next thing she knew her dragon assistant was leaning over the back of the couch to whisper in her ear that Titus was waiting for her in the kitchen, though he thought to rephrase it to something more ambiguous on account of the close proximity of two of her friends. Twilight whispered briefly with him and tasked Spike with tracking down one of the party guests to tell them to meet her in the laboratory in a few minutes before carefully extracting herself from the activity without raising suspicions which was, needless to say, hard to do as the anticipation screamed at her to gallop to the kitchen. Rounding the corner into the kitchen, however, that restraint faded almost instantly as she quickened her pace to the human who was sitting at the table with his back to her.

Titus, who had only a moment ago reached a hand out to both Luna and Princess Celestia to squeeze their hooves in quiet thanks, suddenly found a very enthusiastic Twilight magically deposited directly in his lap and not a second later a hungry kiss upon his lips which lasted only briefly when the unicorn spotted the two disguised Princesses that her coltfriend's broad shoulders had been blocking on her approach to the table.

"P-Princess...es. Oh my gosh, I'm sorry," she stammered out a hasty apology for intruding which was quickly waved off by Celestia, who recounted she knew all too well the joys of seeing a missed loved one as she leaned her shoulder into her sister before stating they had been sharing their relief for his recovery when she had appeared. With a satisfied sigh Twilight settled back down to a state of semi-relaxed from her sudden jump to respectful pose in the Princesses' presence, and while she wanted to finish the kiss she had given him she settled with a nuzzle instead, "I'm so glad you made it, it was getting late so pretty much everypony has gone home though the girls are all still here... instead of sneaking around you could have come out and said hi, but now that I think about it you are a good sneaker." The chuckle they shared got a raised eyebrow from both Princesses before Twilight shared everything about her discovery of Titus' ability to slip about unnoticed and told of his escape from the hounding reporters for their date.

"A chariot machine and the ability to walk unperceived with your Forcemagic while my sister and I are reduced to second-hoof disguise spells or temperamental cloaks of invisibility," Luna openly pouted at him, "our envy of your freedom of movement increases several fold, my friend."

"I'm still waiting for you to get back to me about that research you were doing - my offer of teaching you how to use my speeder bike still stands," he pointed out before turning his attention to Twilight, "and I didn't want to make a big deal out of me being here. I can't stay long so I wanted to wish you a happy birthday and pass along some gifts before getting back to my ship for the final bacta treatment; the med droids are recycling the bacta to extend my dwindling stores as much as possible and the process should be finishing up fairly soon." As Titus had guessed Twilight was a little upset he wouldn't be staying long.

Twilight had intended to enjoy his company in the limelight as a replacement for having to restrain from public displays of her affection which she realized was a foalish and rather narcissistic desire and while she deeply wanted to she opted instead to declare his lap her designated seat for the remainder of his stay. Making herself comfortable she snuggled a shoulder into his chest and as she did so she found two small packages pushed her way; in comparison to the other gifts that had been bundled up in colorful paper and wrapped in bows Titus' were considerably more odd in how plain they were - of the two packages one was more boxlike or close to a cube and wrapped in brown paper while the other was more rectangular and wrapped in what she thought was one of his shirts. "Hmm, what are these?" Twilight hummed, floating the box close to an ear for a very gentle shake which rewarded her with a small rattle before she set it back down and did the same with the second package and though no such sound was made she was able to figure out from the familiar shape that it was a book. Returning her attention to the brown paper package she carefully looked for where the paper had been taped and instead found the wrapping had been folded in such a way that it held itself together until, after a little stint of searching, she found a small flap that she could pull.

The box beneath the wrapping was clearly recycled, in fact Twilight was fairly certain she had spotted that exact box on his workbench holding several odd bits and bobs from rolling all over the floor, though the small oval device inside was nearly a perfect fit. Curious as to what the cookie-sized device was she carefully floated it out and set it on the table where she craned her neck to look at it from every angle before turning to him, "What is it?"

"It's a holoprojector, if you turn it on..." Titus walked her through operating the projector and delighted in the look on her face as his wristpad chimed several times when she connected to its frequency, and when he reversed the process to contact her on the projector she quickly answered the call and a hologram of Titus from the shoulders up was projected above the table where he and the image of him proceeded to explain that he wanted her to have a way to contact him as he doubted she dragged her large datapad everywhere she went.

Titus failed to catch the small twitch of her ear that would have hinted he was wrong about that though Twilight still ended up revealing she had been lugging the datapad around with her in her saddlebags before giving him a big hug and a long nuzzle, "I didn't even know a datapad could do that; I thought it only worked when plugged in with your ship... this will make things so much easier! Don't worry, I promise I won't pester you with numerous... um... communications, but fair warning I'm going to before I go to bed tonight."

A little hesitantly Luna piped up and asked if such a device could be made available to her, though to her disappointment Titus explained that Canterlot was out of range until he got his communications systems back up and running which could be used as a signal booster at which point the problem became finding a commlink for her to use as he wasn't sure he had any more except as parts already integrated with other devices like the maintenance datapads which didn't have the range capabilities even with the boost and then the array within the remote droids he had shown her during his stay in the Palace, "Don't worry Lu, we'll figure something out; having a direct line to you and your sister would be smart."

Turning his attention back to Twilight it wasn't hard to see she knew what the second package was as she pulled it to the edge of the table in front of her, "I uh... I figured gifting a book was a safe bet-"

"Oh," Twilight looked at the book and back, "I hope you didn't feel obligated to buy this, you really didn't have to get me anything..."

"Well I got you something anyway, but I didn't buy anything because you've probably read every book on the planet," he teased and motioned for her to open the wrapping which she carefully did, and unwrapping the cloth proved that her earlier assumption that it was a shirt was correct and as the easily-guessed contents were just being revealed he smiled, "So I thought to myself 'Why not give her one from another?' The reason I'm late is that it took me a while to find it because, quite simply, if I was even found possessing this book I would have been executed and in the crash it got tossed much further back into its hiding spot."

The book was well worn from use, carrying, and age; its cover was faded and the corners were bent and the lightly foxed pages had an almost-deckle edge to them. After gently brushing a hoof over the alien letters on the binding she slowly opened the cover in silent reverence to the first flyleaf, her eyes pouring over the massive amount of text jammed on the page and though it was written in several forms, two of which she had seen on Titus' ship - one on the datapad he had tried to quarantine himself with and the other was on the banner, and if she had to guess from the different slants in the characters she would say the writing was from different individuals; the back of the flyleaf was also scribbled on in more of the obscure text but this time she recognized Titus' handwriting. On the title page opposite his notes she identified several of the symbols as being identical to the ones she had seen on the quarantine datapad and upon closer examination of pages throughout the book she could conclude that was the language it was printed in. It didn't even bother her in the slightest that she couldn't read what was written on the pages or scribbled in the margins as every few pages was a sketch of a human or other creature which Twilight suddenly realized was her first glimpse of other alien species in numerous poses with lightsabers drawn. "I don't know what to say, it's... these sketches are beautiful..." she mumbled, still so engrossed that it took a moment for her to tear her gaze away to find that both Princess Luna and Celestia had taken up spots to either side of them to look over her shoulder.

"It's been a while since I read it, but the entire book is about strengthening one's ability to harness the Force through lightsaber forms for both meditation and combat," Titus replied resting his chin on top of her head, "It was sort of like a text book; Master Krua gave it to me when she first took me on as her Padawan-"

"What? Your Master gave this to you?" Twilight squirmed about to up at him and then back down to the book, "Then I can't accept this! It's far too much!"

"Krua said that when the time came I'd know who to give it to, and now I'm giving it to you, Twi. It's incredibly old, what with it being a printed book and what with it bearing the writings of quite a few Masters I asked a Jedi chronicler to try and research its origins; several argued it might have been saved from the Library during the Sacking of Coruscant, which I found hard to believe until they pointed out they had discovered trace amounts of a rare gas which indicated it had been preserved in carbonite, though none of them would commit to a definitive answer. Seeing as I've had to stuff it behind a bulkhead to keep it safe I know you'll take better care of it than I can," with Twilight in his lap it felt only natural that his arms snake around her for a hug where he could tell she was devouring what information she could get from each image as she slowly flipped through the pages, "Who better to take care of and treasure a book than my favorite librarian in the galaxy?"

"Thank you. Thank you!" Embraced as she was Twilight could only twist slightly to get her hooves partially around Titus' chest to return the hug, though it hardly mattered because she could see in his eyes that he understood just how moved she was. She had read about the Sacking and what carbonite could do in her holobooks and knew that if the book had actually been present that long ago it was truly ancient and more than deserving of special handling. Heck, even with protective anti-degradation spells on them books not even a fraction of that age were kept behind glass at the Canterlot libraries that only specially-trained ponies could examine. That something even older now sat on her kitchen table caused her to remember how frustrated she had been that she couldn't read any more than what pages of the ancient tomes lay open as they sat in glass boxes on their pedestals that her hug tightened with determination. By the Princesses, I swear I am going to learn to read that language so I can be the first pony to read this book - My book! Who knows what I could discover-

"Oh just bucking kiss him already, you egghead!"

The sudden shout from the door startled all at the table except for Princess Celestia, who as always retained her usual composure, and when they looked over their shoulders they found Rainbow Dash hovering in the middle of the doorway with Lyra, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie all peeking around the framework, though the party pony disappeared for a short second before returning with a small triangle-shaped banner between her teeth with the words "Go Team Twilight!" on it which she waved about furiously.

"Kark, looks like the cat is out of the bag now," Titus mumbled to Twilight who had buried her face in his chest andout of sight of her friends for fear of them seeing how red she was turning as she discovered that wanting to be comfortable making displays of her affection in front of others and actually doing so were two completely different things, and the latter was easier said than done. A subtle squeeze within the hug served to get Twilight's attention and she brought her eyes up to his where she felt their warmth seemingly pour into her; she couldn't help but crack a smile and her heart fluttered lightly as she arched an eyebrow in question whether she could only to receive an equally-wordless reply of his goofy grin before Titus tipped her backward with an arm behind her back to keep her from falling and a second later she got the kiss she had wanted when she first saw him at the table.

"Yow! Ow-ow-owww!"
"Give it to her, big guy!"
"Oh my gracious..."
"Yay!"

Rainbow's catcall and several other cheers of support pierced the kitchen as Twilight wrapped her hooves behind her coltfriend's neck and proceeded to pull herself into Titus' lips before he sat them both back up to share a brief nuzzle. "Thanks for coming tonight, and thanks for being so thoughtful with the book and the holoprojector," she whispered into the nearby ear before nudging at her favorite spot of his jaw with her muzzle, "but you are the best birthday gift I could ever get. I love you so, so much." Neither seemed to notice that Twilight's earlier blush seemed to have transferred to the disguised Luna who was a little uncomfortable but couldn't stop sneaking glances at them - which was something Celestia, the ever-observant older sister she was, made note of for future reference with a subtle-yet-playful smirk before excusing herself and her sister from the table and ushering the slightly-inebriated Rainbow Dash and the rest of her student's friends back into the living room for more games to give Twilight and Titus a little alone-time.

"Come on, there's somepony I want you to meet," Twilight said after a very brief interlude of cuddling and gave him one last hug before letting go and leading him out of the kitchen though her attempt to sneak to the stairs was thwarted when Dash spotted them so he had to spend a few minutes saying hello to everypony before they headed down into her laboratory where a familiar pony in a red military dress coat was poking at a flask of oddly-colored liquid before he noticed them. "Sorry we kept you waiting. Titus, you know-"

"Captain Shining Armor... yes I do," he filled in as he crouched down and offered his hand for a shake which the stallion happily accepted. Titus, figuring the guard was there on account of the two undercover Princesses, decided the Captain probably would have an easier job if he didn't let on that he knew, "I wasn't expecting to see you tonight; are you taking some much deserved time off? Oh, did those improvements to the pulley system for targets on the archery range work out? If not I've been giving some thought on how you could make targets a bit more dynamic for practice." What followed was a brief exchange with Shining Armor excitedly informing Titus that his improvements were fantastic and that participant accuracy was up across the board before going on to add that the drills he had suggested working into the guard's usual training had been going very well and the guards seemed to enjoy running them to which Titus offered with equal excitement several more suggestions based on some of the exercises and practice scenarios he had known Clones to use.

The pair would have probably kept enthusiasticly going back and forth had Twilight's giggling not interrupted and when they cast a funny look at her she beamed from ear to ear, "This is great! I didn't know you two were so... chummy."

"I will admit our introduction to one another was a bit... dicey or riotous, take your pick of term, but once we sorted things out we found we could talk for hours about drills and training!" Shining interjected and without hesitation draped a hoof over the human's shoulder as a sign of their friendship while Titus, though he felt a little awkward, did the same. The Captain went on to tell Twilight how he had invited Titus to dinner after the incident at the Palace to try and smooth things over and make amends, and though the first three quarters of the meal was spent in abject silence once one of them spoke up to make small talk things quickly snowballed as they found out how much they had in common and before they knew it they had chatted well into the early hours of the morning about all things martial and they had continued their discussions over several more meals on subsequent nights, "Most of the ponies I talk to don't like my ideas because it's not the traditional way of doing things, and one of the most frustrating things about being a Royal Guard is that it's tough to get some of the grizzled old-timers that were trained one way to try adapting to something new. Twily, I hardly ever have a chance to talk like me and Titus do!" With a stern face he unhooked his hoof to hold it in front of the human, "Dude... brohoof."

"Aww! You two are adorkable."

"I can't help it Twi, I've got a lot of respect for someone that's as dedicated to their duty as Shining is," Titus added while bumping his fist against his friend's hoof before turning a curious look at the mare, "But how do you know him? Did you two meet at the Academy or something? Dorks of a feather flock together, after all..." he teased, though his smile faded when he caught Twilight's odd expression.

"That's actually why I lead you down here. Do you remember when I said there was a pony I wanted to send a letter to about... you know, us... and if I trusted them you didn't have any objection? Well, I wanted to introduce you to Shiny because he's my, um... B.B.B.F.F." The acronym got a curious look as Titus waited for Twilight to explain, though it took some time for her to work through what appeared to be a bit of nervousness if the hooves tapping together in front of her was anything to go by, until she finally worked up the resolve to open her mouth, "Shining Armor is my... Big Brother, Best Friend Forever."

There was a long bout of silence where Titus stared ahead blankly before switching his gaze between Twilight and Shining before he squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, "I thought you were talking about writing to Princess Celestia or something. So wait... when I was stuck as a pony and crashed on your couch I told you what happened with my fever in Canterlot. Why the heck didn't you tell me the guy I had attacked was your brother?!"

"Um, b-because I knew from the way you described how it unfolded you obviously felt reeeally bad about it already and I didn't want you to feel worse?" Twilight stated, though the tone she used was clearly questioning whether he found her reason acceptable.

However before he could respond Shining stepped to her side to back her up. "I mean, I could also see how bad you felt after Princess Luna had gotten you to sort things out in your head - Titus, you looked almost sick to your stomach; sicker, in fact - and if I had been in Twily's shoes I wouldn't want you feeling worse about it, either. But the way you surrendered those light swords of yours to her? I really respected that and it told me that you genuinely never meant me or any of the guard any harm and I think everypony there picked up on it, too. Once the official report was released it got around the Palace pretty quick that it wasn't even your fault to begin with; from what I read the nurse had stepped out of the infirmary a few minutes before you woke up to ask the Princess how to keep you hydrated because she didn't know how to hook you up to an I.V. bag which was why you were hallucinating in the first place. I actually think the whole thing worked out for the better because the next morning the barracks was abuzz with this positive energy and eagerness to get to work that I hadn't seen in a long time," with a lopsided and caring smile Shining slugged him in the nearest shoulder, "So thanks; there hasn't been anypony late to morning reveille since then."

Titus let out a heavy sigh and sat there on the floor with them until Twilight extended a hoof and gently touched his shoulder to ask if he was mad. "Of course I'm mad, but no; I'm not mad at you, Twi. Whether it was my fault or not, I'm still upset that I could have inadvertently hurt your brother and quite a few others," he huffed and draped an arm over her shoulder before pulling on her playfully, "I just wish you had told me you had a brother; all this time I thought you were an only child... or foal or whatever. So are there any other brothers or sisters I should know about? Now's the time to tell me."

"It's just me and Twily you've got to worry about, bud-" There was a sudden chime from Shining's coat to which he pulled out a small pocket watch, though when he glanced at the time his eyes went wide. "Whoa, I didn't think it was that late! Sorry sis, I can't stick around much longer because the last train is leaving soon and I've really got to be on it to make it to Canterlot for work tomorrow. Thanks for the invite, it was a great party," they both shared a quick but big hug before Shining headed for the door and bid a farewell to Titus as well as offer him an invitation to dinner again on his next visit to the Palace, though he stopped just short of the exit to cast a glum look over his shoulder, "Hey, Twily? Sorry your coltfriend didn't make it tonight, from what you wrote he sounds pretty great and I was really looking forward to meeting him."

He didn't seem to catch the stern look from Titus that was directed at his sister when the human realized he hadn't been the only one being kept in the dark; Twilight chuckled weakly and shrunk sheepishly back to look at her brother from behind her bangs, "Aheh. Er, Shiny? About that... you um... sorta just did."

This time it was Shining's turn to pause to stare blankly before switching focus between the human and his sister for a few moments, "Huh?"

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Shining groaned as his eyes slowly cracked open and two blurry shapes appeared, "Ugh, what happened?" Shaking his head to try and clear the fog from his memory he rubbed a hoof over his eyes and as his vision came back into focus he found himself situated on the small couch tucked into the corner of the laboratory with Twilight and Titus leaning over him.

"You fainted," Twilight answered worriedly and dabbed a damp cloth on his forehead before offering it to him so he could wipe at his eyes, "Are you alright, Shiny? I've never seen you faint before."

"I think so? Everything's all wobbly-" he responded, taking the offered hand to help sit himself upright which caused his pocket watch to fall out and bounce off of the couch cushion though Titus was quick to catch it before it hit the stone floor and somewhere in the process of passing the watch back Shining caught sight of the time and both eyes shot open, "Oh no! I missed the train, I missed the train! I'm going to be late for morning inspection of the troops!" When he tried to bolt off in search of Spike to send a letter warning the Princesses of his impending tardiness (with a post script to begging for a specially-chartered train so as to not miss his favorite activity) a strong hand latched onto one shoulder and a hoof pressed down on the other and forced him back onto the couch where he frantically asked what in their right minds they were doing restraining him.

"Relax, I uh... I've already gotten in contact with Princess Celestia," Titus tried his best to calm the excited stallion. When he had passed out the first thing Titus had done after getting the limp unicorn to the couch was to talk to the disguised Princesses who, as it turned out, he had no idea were at the party and while they had been initially concerned the solar alicorn had snorted with laughter when he explained the cause. Before he continued, a quick glance to Twilight was all it took to communicate that she should be ready to back him up in case he doubted what Titus would say, "Princess Celestia said it would be a good training exercise to see how the Palace Guard functions without their Captain in a sudden change-of-command situation, so she welcomes you to stay the night in Ponyville and return in the afternoon where a report will be waiting for you on your desk." When Shining asked to see the letter for himself Twilight quickly jumped in and stated she had communicated directly with them via Titus' wrist communicator, which she secretly took great delight in demonstrating for him using her new holoprojector before offering her brother use of the guest room.

"Well, if that's what the Princess wants I guess I could take an extra day off. Thanks for letting me crash with you, sis; I'll probably head to bed real soon because I, ugh..." Shining Armor rubbed his eyes again as Titus and Twilight took seats at the opposite end of the couch, "I had a really weird dream while I was out. It's still a bit foggy, but I was here in your lab and you told me Titus was the colt you were writing to me about for help and advice and went on that you two were dating and everything with Miss Heartstrings was actually a cover-up to protect you from the tabloids. HA! Funny, right?" he chuckled until he caught the unmistakable glance the human and his sister shared before his eyes went wide.

"Huh?!"

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SMACK!

Hooves went wild as the shock of the small slap Twilight had given her brother snapped him abruptly back to consciousness though this time her tone was decidedly less sympathetic once he had calmed down sufficiently to process what she was saying. "You fainted..." she waited for him to sit up before she gave him her trademark exasperated rolling of the eyes, "Again."

Meanwhile Titus leaned against the back of the couch and draped an arm along the top and, having decided it would probably be best to remain out of the conversation for the time being while brother and sister sorted things out between themselves, he intended to just be a presence that would otherwise be ignored until he needed to get involved though rather unexpectedly he found Twilight pushing her way onto his lap where she made herself comfortable leaning on his chest in precisely the way that made it incredibly hard for him not to fall into the habit of wrapping his arms around her like usual.

"Shiny, I don't understand why you're acting like this. In your letters you sounded so happy for me... you encouraged me to listen to what I was feeling and said I should 'be open with the colt about how I felt,' and if I really did love him I would just... know. You were the one who told me to 'Believe in yourself. Not in the Twilight I believe in, not in the Shining you believe in. Believe in the Twilight that believes in you.' I got the part about believing in myself; whatever the rest was supposed to mean I couldn't figure out but it still sounded important," she said hesitantly, cocking her head to one side as if that would somehow illuminate things for her as she waited for him to explain.

"Everyone believes in themselves, at least a little." Both ponies were a little startled when Titus seemingly spoke out of nowhere and both turned to listen, "'Believe in the Twilight that believes in you.' Shining is saying you should embrace that; even if you only believe in yourself just a little bit, embrace that tiny Twilight that's inside cheering that you can. You don't need other people believing in you, all you need is your own belief in yourself." Titus' eyebrow arched just a little bit as he looked sideways at the stallion who was nodding slowly in agreement and it was fairly clear he hadn't known what it meant, either.

Before Titus could ask Shining Armor if he'd gotten it right Twilight took advantage of his turned head to nuzzle him in appreciation before returning to her probing of her brother's actions. "I did believe in myself, I was honest about my feelings, and if love is being as happy as I am when I think about him or when I'm with him I never want to be apart, so I just don't understand why you're acting like... like... like I've done something incredibly shockingly wrong," she stopped her nuzzles to look at Shining with a good deal of fear and poked Titus lightly in the chest, "Is it because you were expecting somepony else and instead found out it's Titus? Is it that why?"

Shining was suddenly aware of what she was implying and sat up to full height indignantly. "What?! No way! Twily, you know I'm not like that! I've always said you'd find the right guy for you and you would be the one to know when you found him so I'm just as proud of you as I would have been if it had been somepony else, and now that I've got an idea who you were talking about in your letters I'm especially proud it's an awesome guy like Titus, but I am your big brother so..." be just as quickly deflated back to his slouched position, however, with clear embarrassment written on his face, "I just... it's hard coming to terms with the idea that my little sis might not be so little anymore."

"That's what this was about?! D'aww! Nothing is changing you big dork! I'll always be your little sister," Twilight grabbed hold of her brother and the hug that followed was a bit awkward for Titus, what with her laying in his lap and Shining being pulled in by his sister to also partially lay on top of him though neither seemed to notice, "and you will always be my big brother, and my best friend forever." Their hug continued on for several more seconds and ended with a warm nuzzle before they separated and Twilight looked at them both with a big grin, "Now, there's still the remnants of a party going on upstairs so I would love it if, before everypony goes home, I could enjoy the rest of it with the two most important guys in my life."

Jerking his head to the door Shining returned Twilight's grin, "Well, with nowhere to be until tomorrow afternoon I can party it up a little, so hopefully there's some cider left. Hey sis, before we join you could you give me and Titus a second? Colt talk." After Twilight had gone back up stairs and the door had latched Shining let out a heavy sigh and slumped back against the couch where he looked the similarly-lounged human over from heat to foot before shaking his head though when Titus inquired what the deal was and if there was a problem the shaking intensified, "No problem, but now that I think about it I should have know she had been talking about you in her letters. I've never been one for puzzles but in hindsight the clues were there."

"Writing about me in a good light, I hope," Titus half joked; he could only imagine what sorts of emotions were running through the Captain, though he soon found out.

"Very good light, actually," Shining nodded slowly then sighed. "Now, I haven't been the best of big brothers, I've made mistakes - until only recently we hadn't been writing each other and she sort of fell out of my life when she got sent away to Ponyville... but that doesn't mean I don't care about her. I love her, she is my sister after all, and nothing will ever change that, no matter who her special sompony is," the stallion sat up a bit straighter, his face taking on a serious expression as both his and Titus' eyes locked for a long moment, "But she's my little sister, so I've also got to look out for her. It's pretty obvious from her letters that she's smitten and she's opened up her heart to you, but the last time she did that somepony played with her emotions and it really hurt her, so I'm going to tell this to you straight because I don't want there to be any confusion: I don't care what it takes, even if it means making Twily hate me, I won't let you or anypony else do that to her again. Ever."

"She's told me bits and pieces of that story so I understand where you're coming from, but you need to understand that I. Love. Twilight," Titus sounded out each word sharply and with strength as he took command over the stare-down, "I would never intentionally hurt her like that, and my whole life I've been brought up to protect those that I love and those that cannot protect themselves so if there's ever someone trying to hurt her you'll have to get in line behind me."

Shining's expression remained hard for a few moments longer until he couldn't hold up the charade any longer and gave Titus a happy smile, "You really do love her-"

"With every fiber of my being and every ounce of energy, yes."

She was bound to find somepony sooner or later, though it'll be interesting to see how she tells mom and dad... and to see how they take it. I guess it's a good thing I had a reputable source of information for help with those letters of advice. Another sigh and the Captain was back shaking his head, "Well, at least this time she's got a coltfriend that I can relate to, the last one had no interest in anything that had to do with the Guard and was a total sellout. Now come on, let's get upstairs before Twily thinks I'm trying to scare you off from dating her, though it wouldn't surprise me if she's already got an ear to the door." Sharing devious grins both of them stalked quietly up the stairs and, after a count of three, Titus yanked the door open to have the librarian stumble forward with a startled squeak before she gave them a sheepish chuckle for being caught though both the brother and the human laughed it off before letting her lead the way to the living room, all taking seats on the couch.

With Titus and Shining side by side Twilight happily perched herself in the human's lap where she got to enjoy several karaoke songs as he and Celestia ending up battling for last place on the scoreboard before a chime from his wristpad indicated the bacta recycling had finished and it was time for him to go. Amid numerous farewells and a now-smashed Rainbow following him a short distance to ask if he wanted to join her for an after-party at her place Titus headed for the kitchen and back door with Twilight close behind; once they were alone due to Lyra seizing Dash's tail and dragging her back to the couch before her wobbly flying sent her face-first into a wall, Twilight thanked him for coming and making it the best party ever, latching on to his shoulders for a long, passionate kiss before begrudgingly letting him go and watching him stride off into the darkness outside.

An hour or so later Titus was only just beginning to fall asleep after finally getting over the uncomfortably slimy feeling of the bacta tank, the closest way he could think of to describe it was being covered in warm snot, when the medbay doors opened and a weary Twilight appeared though her face brightened considerably upon finding him still awake so she trotted through the open quarantine doors to stand at the base of the tank where he floated. She said something to him, though the words were muffled to the point of being indiscernible from the hum of the machinery pumping air into the nose mask and so to communicate he shrugged and pointed at an ear, the thick gloop slowing the motion to a crawl as he fought against it.

She tried again, just to be sure, but after another failed attempt to ask how long he would be in the tank confirmed he couldn't hear her and judging from the way he wasn't indicating toward anything on the outside it was safe to assume there was no speaker or other such device she could use. Twilight tapped a hoof to her chin in thought for a second before a rather obvious solution came to her and she reared up on her hind legs and braced herself with her front hooves on the tank which put her close enough to face-level with Titus who arched an eyebrow in wait to see what she had in mind. Leaning in toward the glass she breathed heavily on it to create a patch of condensation before touching her nose to the spot to write her question in shorthoof then watched as Titus pointed to his wrist and traced a circle with a finger which she took to indicate twelve hours as he knew their clocks were all analog rather than digital like his.

Titus watched as Twilight breathed on the glass again to write another note though, as before, it took him a second to adjust to reading backward as she hadn't compensated for him having to view it from inside the tank, and a little more time to decipher the shorthand she was writing in which consisted of very shortened words and occasionally pictures to replace longer words that couldn't fit in the small patch of fog she had created and would quickly disappear if she didn't act fast. Let's see, "Is it all-" and the arrow following is pointing left, or right if it wasn't backward, so that's... Oh, "Is it alright"... "if I spend the"... and that's the moon, "night?" Titus nodded as enthusiastically as he could, what with the thick bacta slowing his movements, and gave her a thumbs up before pointing at the bed one of the meddroids had left down from Lyra and Twilight's last stay though she made no move and instead wrote more; asking him if he had had fun at the party, if he could teach her to read the language her book was written in, and whether he would like to go on another date in a few days, along with several other questions. Another breath on the glass looked more like a yawn and what she drew next was easily read as it was only three words long, the fir letter being an "I" followed by the drawing of a big heart before ending with "U" and right beside the patch of fog she had written on she planted a long kiss.

Twilight could easily see Titus' big smile from behind his air mask as he tapped her chest several times before tracing a large heart on the inside of the glass and pointed at her, two fingers held up in the other hand. "I love you, too." The unicorn couldn't be happier and when he placed an open palm against the glass she nuzzled at it, the gesture seemingly able to reach through the tank as both of them almost felt the touch of the other before he motioned good night and she slowly headed for the bunk, several long glances cast over her shoulder as she did so before hopping up onto the mattress to settle in for the night, her new book held up in her magic as she started thoroughly examining every illustration until she fell asleep not long after.