Twilight untangled herself from her bed sheets with a tired yawn, groggily sliding each hoof to the floor before stretching out the kinks in her legs with a satisfied sigh. Despite Rainbow teasing her until the pegasus had fallen asleep Twilight had spent most of the previous night further examining the helmet that had been left in the living room when Titus retired for the night; as she had previously noted it was remarkably sophisticated, being extremely lightweight and yet strong enough to show no damage from the thrashing blows Rainbow Dash had delivered to it in her panic. A small splotch of dried blood was also caked on the inside of the visor - probably from the cut on the human’s forehead - which had displayed numerous readings when Twilight had pointed it at various objects in the bedroom (including one sleeping pegasus) though what they correlated to she had no clue because the text had no basis in any of the books she had dug through.

The human had planned to return to the ship today and if the helmet had been as interesting as it was she couldn't imagine what might be aboard the ship. This prospect brought a silly grin to Twilight’s face and she wore it the whole time as she pranced about doing her morning routine; shower, brush teeth, comb mane, make bed, draft the day's to-do list. Coming down the stairs, Twilight heard noise coming from the kitchen so she placed the helmet back on the desk and went to investigate.

"Good morning, Ti-" Twilight started quietly as to not surprise the human but stopped when she saw a cyan rump sitting in one of the kitchen chairs, its owner draped over the table limply so her tone immediately switched, "Oh, Dash. I'm surprised to see you up this early."

"Ugh... coffee," came a groan and was accompanied by a quiet clink of an empty mug tapping the table as a form of plea or demand, though Twilight preferred the idea of the prior and deftly used her magic to float a bag of coffee, a box of filters, and another mug down from various cupboards. The two ponies sat patiently while boiling water turned to coffee as it ran through the grounds to drip into the pot and the aroma worked its way through the tree house to permeate every room with its pleasant and inviting scent.

It didn't take long for the brew to bring Rainbow around to her normal self. “Early mornings are so not cool,” she grumbled before her face practically disappeared in a huge yawn.

“You could have slept in-” Twilight began but was interrupted by Dash shaking her head.

“I got called in; that storm from yesterday is lingering over the Everfree Forest so the Weather Team has scheduled patrols all day to make sure it doesn't work its way back over Ponyville,” she made a sour face at her mug of coffee, “Of course, they go and put me on one of the early shifts... and the desk jockeys know I hate early shifts.”

“So you won’t be coming with us,” Twilight remarked unhappily. Between her friends Dash had been the only one with a clear schedule, or at least until just recently; Rarity had declined a trip out to the ship on account of the mud, Applejack was tied up working at least up until Applebloom could take over the market stall after school, Fluttershy had said she would probably be too busy as her cottage had been overrun with animals frightened by the sudden upheaval of their forest, and Pinkie was baking up something of a welcoming party though she had been cautioned to keep it mellow to not overwhelm Titus with her excessively abundant energy.

Rainbow shrugged, “Not like much was going to happen today, remember?”

Twilight’s blank look made it pretty clear she didn’t remember at all.

Dash rolled her eyes and sighed. “Before she left, Princess Luna asked us to show him where the ship was,” the pegasus paused as Twilight started remembering and then continued to lead her when she was quiet and contemplative, “Then she told us...“

“Right. I remember now,” Twilight immediately slumped. Princess Luna had told us the human- I mean Tae-toos, I've got to start using his name! Right, he had asked to be given some space for a bit to adjust to Equestria and process everything that had happened. While disappointed that she would have to postpone asking all the questions she had - and gosh, did she ever have a list - Twilight could understand how overwhelming it must be to suddenly be transported to a completely alien world.

Or she thought she did, anyway.

Rainbow got a second mug of coffee while Twilight thought her thoughts. The kitchen was quiet for a good long time outside of the noise of Dash cooling her drink by occasionally blowing on it before taking a noisy slurp or the clinking as Twilight idly stirred her drink to room temperature.

“Right, I better get going,” Rainbow stated, hopping down from the chair and heading for the door before swilling the last bit of coffee directly out of the pot with a satisfied sigh, “I think I’m going to be late.”

Twilight gave her a not-so-approving look, “Rainbow Dash, the weather team is depending on you-“

“Hey, that’s what they get for scheduling me early in the morning,” Dash joked, looking over her shoulder as she continued, “Before I go, do you think I could use your bathroo-Whoa!” Almost bumping into the human as he came through the kitchen door a very startled Rainbow jumped back a few steps.

“Sorry,” Titus apologized, retreating a bit himself.

“Don’t sneak around like that!” Dash scolded as the human raised his hands slightly in defense and moved further back into the living room, "Sweet Celestia, I nearly jumped out of my fur." With her heart no longer in her throat and now thoroughly awake thanks to her scare the pegasus sighed and made an observation, “You know for such a gangly thing you sure can move quietly.”

“Um, thanks? I think,” Titus said, putting his hands back down calmly which relieved Twilight that he wasn’t insulted by being called gangly or she would have really lit into Dash, “Sorry for startling you, Rainbow Dash.”

“It's cool, I’ll just have to get you back for it,” she said with a grin.

Titus eyed her and detected the somewhat teasing tone although he remained where he was and turned to Twilight, "I smelled coffee and thought I heard two voices in here. I figured I’d let you know I’m ready to leave whenever you are."

“Oh, you have coffee where you’re from too?” Twilight's surprise lead her to blurt out.

“Yes, I have a machine on the ship capable of brewing a cup,” he said as he pressed himself against the counter to give Rainbow more than enough room which she used to walk past him toward the front door. He then joined Twilight at the kitchen table, squatting down in one of the chairs that was entirely too small for a being of his stature.

“A machine? For such a simple task?” Twilight asked, hungry for another bit of information on human technology now that he had already given her a small nugget to go by.

He was about to explain when Rainbow reappeared in the kitchen doorway.

“Uh, hey Twilight?” she said with a combination of confusion and worry on her face, “There’s a buncha ponies at the door.”

Twilight left Titus alone in the kitchen and hurriedly made her way over to Dash to peak from behind a window curtain and what she discovered didn't exactly surprise her. “Not just ponies, reporters,” Twilight told Rainbow who lingered behind her, “Word sure got out quick.” The pegaus moved to another window and took a second look whereupon they both recognized a few ponies from the local paper and also noticed some unfamiliar faces. “There’s even somepony from the Canterlot Chronicle and the Manehattan Monitor,” Twilight pointed out before one of them caught sight of her which sent her ducking back behind the curtain out of sight. Crabapples. Now they know I know they're out there.

“Through the kitchen and out the back?” Dash suggested and the two returned to the kitchen to share their plan only to find the human crouched behind a counter hiding out of sight from the silhouette of a pony on the window blinds. Twilight walked as quietly as she could over to Titus to tell him about the reporters at the front door.

“What options does that leave us with?” Titus whispered, peeking over the counter to see if the silhouette was still there.

“Normally we could go up to the balcony,” Twilight whispered back, “I could teleport us from there, provided I could see where we needed to go however it’s unknown how you and magic would react with each other so until further testing-“

"No," Titus shook his head adamantly, “No magic.”

Twilight was about to assure him that magic was perfectly safe - ignoring when it wasn't, of course - when the sound of the front door opening caused both her and Dash to whirl about.

Titus simply froze in place.

“Miss Sparkle?” came a call from the front room, “Twilight Sparkle, are you here?” A light brown pony with a silver mane and glasses poked her head through the living room door, “Ah! There you are. And Rainbow Dash, as well, hello.”

“Mayor?” Twilight and Dash both relaxed a bit. Twilight gave a discrete wave of a hoof behind her back to let Titus know he could relax, too, because it was a pony they knew and might be able to help in their current situation.

“Sorry for barging in like this,” Mayor Mare apologized, trotting a bit further into the living room, “I was on my way to Town Hall when I noticed you had quite a, um, gathering outside and wanted to know if I could be of some assistance.” She glanced around the room, still not able to see Titus crouched in hiding in the kitchen. “The Princesses released a statement this morning saying that this hyou-man creature is not to be unnecessarily bothered,” she said, summarizing the rather long letter that had been waiting on her desk as well as several other documents and forms his appearance had necessitated, “But, with everypony naturally curious, the papers were bound to show up eventually–“

The Mayor stopped to take another look around the living area once more and caught Dash as she made a quick glance behind her and then realized how both ponies had managed to conveniently block the doorway to the kitchen so she stretched her neck and tried to peer over the wall the two mares had made with their bodies. “I don’t suppose I could be introduced?” she almost pleaded as her own curiosity crept into her voice, “Perhaps with a little cooperation we could organize a brief press conference to get these reporters out of your manes?”

With their ploy to keep Titus hidden blown Twilight turned her head to the human that was still crouched behind her counter, “Well, I doubt they’ll go away on their own. Does that sound like a plan to you, Mr. Aelius?”

He nodded. While all Titus wanted to do was quietly make his way back to the ship to relax because he had been on his guard most of the night and hadn't slept for much on account of his ribs this was the best plan - actually, the only plan - they had at the moment.

“Teyetus, was it? I’m Ivory Scroll, although everypony just calls me Mayor Mare, so whichever is easier for you is fine. On behalf of the Ponyville Town Council, it’s a pleasure to make... your acquaintance...“ Mayor Mare’s greeting faded out as she shrank back when the human rose to his full height in the kitchen doorway, "Oh my."

“L-Likewise, ma’am,” Titus greeted awkwardly because he could tell by the way she was staring he was making her uncomfortable.

“I wasn't expecting you to be quite so, um-” she paused and tried to think of a polite way of saying intimidating, then finding a suitable alternative she jumped right back into what she had been saying, “Quite so 'big,' you certainly fill a door frame.” Mayor Mare gave Titus another once-over, eyeing him intently from head to toe as she worked out how to best spin this to the benefit of her office because incidents like these had a nasty habit of doubling your workload if you didn't immediately handle them, “Still, I think... yes, I think we can still make this work. Time Turner!”

While the Mayor was busy getting the press conference ready and giving Titus a crash course on what to do Twilight pulled Dash aside, “Rainbow, could you go let AJ know we’ll probably be a bit late and she could tag along?”

“Sure thing. Hey, Stretch!” Dash called to Titus as she passed through the living room.

“ ‘Stretch?’ ” the human gave her a curious look.

“Yeah, ‘Stretch’, because you’re tall?" Dash rolled her eyes in exasperation and as if to say Duh! “Anyway, you probably want to avoid showing off those teeth of yours, might scare somepony. Catch ya later, Stretch!”

With a goofy salute she was out the door and gone in a rainbow flash and when Titus turned to her with a peculiar look Twilight could only give him an apologetic smile accompanied with a shrug. Well, it seems Dash found a nickname for him already.

Titus dismissed it and rotated stiffly back to face Ivory, “Miss Mayor?” She stopped looking at her schedule for a moment to regard the human and gave him an all-too-familiar politician's toothy smile. “If I may say so, you’re taking this whole alien-crashing-outside-of-town thing remarkably well.”

She gave a derisive snort, “For starters you crashed outside of town, the hill is actually just part of the park, so because there wasn't any major damage to private property that needed to be compensated that drastically reduced the amount of local paperwork I had to file. All in all this is a pushover compared to what I usually have to deal with, mostly because there wasn't a need to file a major claim from the Relief Fund.” Titus caught the sideways glance at Twilight who shuffled from hoof to hoof guiltily but wasn't sure what would prompt the politician to do something like that or what disasters she must have been used to dealing with but didn't get a chance to ask because apparently she wasn't done talking, "Secondly, Princess Luna made an appearance and personally vouched for you before informing me that she would be covering any expenses on your behalf, so that means one less subject to cover in the emergency budget meeting."

The Mayor snapped her planner shut as Time Turner popped his head into the room to give her a nod. “Alright, everything is set up; you’re on in five,” she moved for the front door in preparation to emerge but ran over the plan once so there wouldn't be any confusion, “I’ll handle the speech so all you have to do is just wait for your cue. You'll come on stage casually and wave for a few cameras, then sit down. Once the speech is over you’ll take the podium and do the big reveal of taking your helmet off. After that they’ll probably have a few questions. Just some advice? Keep your answers short and don't let them lead you off and get yourself cornered with a question you can't answer.” With that last bit of advice she was through the door.

You can do this, Titus. The human leaned on the back of the couch and took a few deep breaths with his eyes closed to calm himself as well as push the pain his side was in on account of the painkillers having worn off long ago when he felt something suddenly touch his knee.

Twilight had reached a hoof out to gently touch a knee reassuringly, “I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

He let out a deep sigh and absentmindedly gave her an appreciative pat on the withers that he failed to notice caused her to go completely still. “Thanks, this is just a bit stressful. This is way beyond your average first impressions and all that,” he and with a little effort pushed himself off the couch and grabbed the helmet from the coffee table before heading to the front door to wait for his cue.

Twilight didn't catch everything he said before jamming the helmet over his head and letting the suit seal itself which was indicated by a faint hiss. She bemusedly watched as the human rolled his head around in circles and went about stretching as best he could, though that turned out to not be much and her amusement faded to guilt when he abruptly stopped during one stretch to suddenly grip his side. After a few deep breaths he slowly stood back upright and he leaned against the doorjam and she started toward him to see if he was alright or if he needed to call it all off.

“Well,” his voice was slightly distorted as it came through the helmet speaker, “Here I go…”