Alright, so Twilight let me get away with skipping my journal bullshit for a few days since I’ve been nose deep in a book. I took some time to read about magical necrosis and the various methods on how to reverse its effects, but even when I finished with that one, I picked up a book on magicide and how to avoid it. I was hungry for more knowledge on Magic, which I’m going to start capitalizing because the more I read and learn about it, the more it seems to be a natural force on Equus. I don’t know if it’s alive, but I’m going to give Magic its due respect since it’s so damn powerful.

Speaking of, I’ve been getting better with controlling my Magic, but now I’ve got to go back and find a way to wrap my head around everything it can do. I’m willing to bet that turning my bracelet up to the max power level would just restore my powers entirely and make me know how to use them, but Celestia and Twilight are scared of me getting addicted to the feeling, so they’ve been asking me to hold off on that as a last resort, just in case the magical seizure wasn’t what we needed for me to get back up to speed.

On the flip side, I’ve gotten to meet a another one of Max’s friends in the form of Applejack, a young orange ‘mare’ with a blonde ‘mane’ that actually came by to drink with me for a little bit the other day. Celestia stonewalled me drinking with AJ since we were in the library at the time, but I didn’t doubt that Twilight would’ve put a stop to it anyway. Either fucking way, when Applejack realized that I was sixteen, she chided me for drinking before I was of age and I told her that my culture was just different than hers and to stop bitching at me. She put me in a chicken wing for that one, which kinda reminded me of what having a sibling would’ve been like if anything, so I reacted like I was her younger brother and stuck a wet finger in her nose to make her let go of me. Celestia let us have a little wrestling match that Applejack won by a mile, but I was the real victor in the end since I got a pretty up close and personal view of her cleavage while she tried to pin me down. That, and she was just generally attractive, so it was a pretty good way to waste five minutes, even if my masculinity took a hit from losing to a girl. In my defense, I think she’s like, eight years older than me and lives on a farm, so she has to be strong as fuck. The odds really were stacked against me.

After I lost that match to Applejack, she warned me about trying to go after her little sister who was a year older than me, but I wasn’t interested someone who was already spoken for anyway. I told her that Apple Bloom would be safe from me as long as the girl didn’t show any interest,, and Applejack took what she could get like a trooper before asking Celestia if she could have a word in private with me. Teach was cool about it and said that she’d be back in ten, so once she was gone, Applejack passed me the bottle she’d brought along with her and let me take a swig.

“If ya get caught, don’t point fingers at me. I know you ain’t too keen on givin’ the whole truth around your age, so don’t get me in trouble with the Princess.” Applejack said. Twilight said I should capitalize nicknames and titles since they’re important, so I guess I’ll start doing that.

“Thanks, AJ. Won’t hear a peep outta me.” I smirked and passed her the bottle back. The shit was smooth and tasted like a lot of different kinds of apples. I was fond.

“Stop by the farm some time and we’ll have a few shots, tell a few stories. I’m sure you’ve got some ones from recent memory that Max forgot about.”

“If he already told you about the Golden Girl Gang, then I might be out of luck since that’s the best one so far.” I smiled goofily.

“The name’s familiar. I think Max told me that one a few years ago, but I could always do with a refresher.” She gave me a little smile.

“Speaking of, Max obviously liked you, but there’s something about you that I can’t put my finger on. It’s kinda like I’m a little scared of you or something.” I admitted, being up front about my feelings for once. Applejack just put me at ease for some odd reason, making me feel like I could talk to her about nearly anything and she’d give me the honest truth about what she thought of it.

AJ sighed. “It’s probably because I hurt ya pretty bad twice. Once was on purpose, but I didn’t mean to get ya so bad, and the other one was an accident.”

“I might be understanding if you’re straight about it. I’m not exactly mad at you or anything, so I’m pretty sure you’re forgiven.”

She gave me a sad smile. “I just don’t think ya need to hear about old wounds, Kaid. I’m not gonna try and hide it from ya, but I really don’t think it’ll be for the best if I tell ya.”

I made a face. “So you fucked up pretty bad.”

“... Yeah, but I’m still workin’ on forgivin’ myself for it, so progress is bein’ made and all that. Say, have you had a chance to meet Fluttershy yet?”

“Yeah, actually. She’s the first of my friends that I got to meet and greet.”

“How’d ya like her? Most folks get along with Flutters pretty good when she gets comfortable, but I can’t imagine she was too shy around you.”

“It took her a little bit to open up, but after the kiss, she was-”

“Wait, I beg your pardon?” Applejack cut in.

I grinned at her. “Yeah, apparently kisses give me memories. It worked with Twilight and with Fluttershy, so if you wanna-”

She poked a finger into my chest. “You lock lips with Fluttershy again without my permission and I’ll hogtie ya in the middle of town. I had an understandin’ with Max. You ain’t Max.”

I raised my hands because I knew she could wreck my shit if she really wanted to. “Didn’t mean to step on your toes, love. I didn’t know Butterbear was spoken for already, otherwise I wouldn’ta done a thing.”

“Butterbear?” Applejack asked.

“It’s my new little nickname for her. Fluttershy likes it.”

“Gettin’ awful cutesy.” She said drily.

“... I guess I’ll drop it then.” I said nervously, wishing Celestia would come back.

Applejack glared at me for a few more moments before cracking up. “Oh hot damn, am I gonna have a fun time messin’ with you! Max woulda see straight through that!”

I grabbed her sides and tried to tickle her, squeezing more laughter out of the orange cowgirl. “Were you seriously just fucking with me? I’ll tickle you till you piss yourself, woman!”

I got behind and Applejack tried to get away from me, but she was laughing too hard to do anything other than try and cover her sides. I seized the opportunity to get her back by grabbing one of her boobs while she was guarding her sides and that almost got me slapped. “Hey! Watch yourself!”

“I’d rather watch your ass if it’s all the same to you. If it feels as nice as it looks-” I dodged another slap, “then I bet you’ve got all sorts of people coming after your tail.” I said cheekily, backing up from her.

Applejack got to her hooves and glared at me. “Sexual harassment just comes naturally to ya, don’t it?”

“What can I say? Herassmeant a lot to me.” I grinned.

“Alright, that was just a bad pun!”

“Are you saying I’m punishing you?”

“You only got five more minutes before Celestia comes back, and I know I can get ya before then.” Applejack said evilly.

I fucking booked it. Get it? Because we were- Fucking nevermind. So I ran down one of the long passes between bookshelves because I wanted to put some distance between AJ and my arsehole, but the further I went, the louder the sound of her hooves became until I looked behind me and saw her not even a full meter away. I skittered to a stop and ducked under her wild grab for me, thanking the fact that her shoes gave her no grip on the marble floors. My boots, however, were crafted from some of my own Magic and hard grippy rubber soles, so I outmaneuvered her easily and started dodging around Applejack before I had a retarded idea.

After crossing Applejack up so hard she ended up on the floor, I flew up a sturdy bookcase like I was scaling a ladder, my light frame and nimbleness in general carrying me up until I got to the top. I looked down to see Applejack’s head whipping from one direction to the other, so I got down on the top of the wide shelf and barely peeked over the edge, not moving when Applejack looked up so she would miss me, taking me as a still part of the library. My tactic worked just as it had a thousand times before and she almost started cantering away before the librarian caught up to her and called her out for making so much noise by running.

While I was stifling some giggles about Applejack getting reamed, I took it upon myself to start walking along the top of the bookshelves and start picking out some of the books I’d never gotten a chance to read since they were so high on the shelves. There was this one book about necromancy that I put back because I wasn’t down for that shit, but there was another book centered on healing magic and stuff like it, so I chilled out on the top of the shelf and started reading while the librarian escorted AJ out of the library.

About thirty minutes later, I was making decent progress into the book when Celestia teleported behind in front of me and almost fell off of the shelf. “Kaid! What are you doing up here!?” She exclaimed once I had her steadied.

“Applejack was being a meanie butthead, so I hid up here to do some reading. Did you know that greenrot can be cured through a sweetening spell as long as you use honey as the conduit?”

Celestia sighed. “What did you do to Applejack that upset her?”

“I might have tickled her for a little bit, but that was after she started messing with me! I swear!”

“I doubt Applejack would’ve chased you around the library just for tickling her.” Teach said patiently.

I scratched my head and looked away. “Alright, so I mighta copped a feel, but that was payback!”

Celestia just shook her head. “At least you went back to studying when you were done being a pervert.”

“Oi, it just occurred to me that I haven’t tried to kiss you and get some of my memories back yet. Wanna do that now or wait until we’re not like, ten meters off the floor?”

“We can do that in a more private place. For now, why don’t you get back to writing the report you were in the middle of?”

“Can I bargain for that kiss first?” I asked innocently.

“You might, but there’s little you could offer me that would convince me to interrupt your studies further.” Celestia’s horn flashed and I was suddenly sitting on the floor next to the table I’d been working at.

“You’re no fun sometimes, you know that?” I asked irritably.

“You’ll still get a kiss,” She said softly, “Just not right now. Report first, kiss later.”

“I’ve got something to report right now.” I said, getting into my previously occupied chair.

“If it’s about your genitals, I can make you a woman for the rest of the week.” Celestia said drily.

“... Right-o. I’m just gonna do the thing.”

And so I did the thing. Doing the reports were actually kinda fun since I usually got to draw parallels between certain theories, like Cloud Surf’s treatise on Pegasus Magic in comparison to Blue Wave’s similar collection of hypothesis and observations. I won’t get into the nitty gritty details since it’s a little boring if you’re not really into Magic, but I was fascinated by the shit and all the different applications that the Ponies had found for it. Honestly, I’ve never been so interested in something since I started learning about mythology and shit like that.

After a few hours of citations and sourcing my info, I handed over my report to Celestia for review and eagerly awaited her response to it. Her brows were furrowed the entire time she read, which was either a bad sign or a really bad sign in my book, but when she finished reading my report on magical amplitude and judging power pools, she just closed her eyes for a few seconds and put the paper down.

“Is it that bad?” I asked nervously.

“... How did we never realize that pools of Magic could be quantified by using Quartex Crystals and magical reverb spectrometers?” She said murmured to herself. “How did every great mind from Starswirl to Twilight simply gloss over that?”

“Uh, that’s because you need an enchanted Seal to regulate the power between the spectrometers and the Quartex Crystals.” I said slowly.

Celestia stared at me, so I continued on. “You use the MRS to check the power in the Seal and find a standard to use for all testing, then you enchant the QC’s and the MRS to not explode when someone powerful gives it a shot, and when you’re done, you just gotta tap the QC’s with a Niode siphon. Without the enchanted Seal, you just have something waiting to explode.”

“... Do you mind if I show this to Twilight?” Celestia asked.

“Not at all. Do you need her to fact check or something?”

“Or something. I’ll be right back.” Celestia teleported out.

I scratched my head at that one and shrugged before going back to the piles of books in front of me. I hadn’t technically finished one of them or read all the way through most of the ones I’d finished so far, but my skimming was good enough to pick up on the important details and phrases, and when I saw them, I dug deeper into them and read as far as I could go, forwards and backwards. Shit was actually super dope, and when I came across the topic for another one of my book reports, I remembered a few books that had mentioned the topic in passing with different prerogatives, so I tried to find them in my pile. I eventually got all of them and found the places where I’d read about magical plasma and its inert and active properties, which was pretty cool.

So Magic is kinda like a gas, right? Except it’s technically more of an Aether, if you know what that is, but if you’re reading this, I’m gonna fucking stab you if you’re not Twilight or Celestia, both of whom know what Aether is and how it differs from The Ether. Anyway, so while Magic is inert, it’s pretty much just filling space, waiting for someone to direct it in some way shape or form. Unicorns have a focal point in their horns, Pegasi in their wings and feathers, and Earth Ponies have it in their bones and muscles, all of which equates to them being able to use Aetherial Magic in different ways, or rather, using magic in its inert form. However, Unicorns, most Shamans, mystics, and Dragons can all use Magic in its active form through stuff like casting spells, drawing runes, divination, and for Dragons specifically, breathing fire. It’s all Magic, just used in a different way, but what I’m concerned about is Aetherial Magic.

I spent a few hours researching Aetherial Magic before Twilight and Celestia showed up in the library. They waited for me to speak first, so I saved my place in the book I was reading and finished my citation before saying, “Hullo Wifey, Teach. I don’t suppose I’m in trouble, am I?” I asked pleasantly, trying to bite back the anxiety I was feeling.

Twilight shook her head and puckered her lips off to the side of her mouth. “I don’t really see a reason why you would be, Kaid. You just did something incredible as homework.”

“Ah. Sweet. What’d I do?” I inquired blankly.

“You solved one of the oldest conundrums that’s been plaguing Magic-oriented people for thousands of years. Quantifying a person’s magic with actual numbers is something that’s been researched time and time again, but never before has any Pony thought to use a simple tool like a reverb spectrometer and a basic battery as the medium for something like this. It’s such a simple thing that’s absolutely brilliant in its own right!” Celestia gushed.

I pursed my lips. “Cool. So am I gonna win a prize or something?”

“You can have as many kisses as you want tonight!” Twilight offered cheerfully.

I grinned. “Now we’re getting somewhere! Once I finish up with this research, you can count on me cashing that in.”

“What are you researching now?” Wifey asked excitedly.

“Aetherial Magic and its applications. It’s pretty cool so far, though I can’t really find anything solid on it in the library. There are a bunch of different theorems and hypotheses, but no one has any concrete proof of it even existing beyond anecdotal evidence and it being considered a fact of life. I’m gonna see if I can detail an experiment and compound what I’ve got so far into a legit thing we can test, but I dunno if I can find a sensitive enough area-of-effect type of conduit crystal. The vivomatrix is gonna be even harder to find, but I’m pretty sure that if I can jury rig the two of them together, I can start pinpointing epicenters of Magic.”

Celestia and Twilight stared at me. “... Is that fascinating too, or am I doing something stupid?”

The two ladies looked at each other. “If you paired the Magical Ability Quantifier with what Kaid is researching now…” Twilight said slowly.

“... We could start figuring out how to move points of Magical Gravity.” Celestia finished.

They stared at each other for a while before turning to me. “... Kaid.” Teach said slowly.

I squirmed under her gaze. “Yeah?”

“You may have one of the greatest minds for Magic that has existed since Equestria became a country.” Celestia said softly.

“You’re making my experiments look like drops in the pond of magical knowledge while you’re adding barrels of water” Twilight chuckled and shook her head.

“Uh… Sorry?” I said, unsure of what to do.

Twilight rushed me for a hug, putting my face somewhere warm and soft. “Don't apologize, silly! You’re solving some of the greatest problems known to Magic and you’ve only been studying for a couple of days!” Twilight made a weird noise that sounded kinda like ‘Squee’, or like when you’d squished a plush doll with a noisemaker inside. “I’m so proud of you!”

I hugged her back, but didn’t stop her from letting go, even though I really wanted to. “Keep it up with the affection and I’ll keep trying to make sense of Magic, I guess. It’s just some really interesting stuff, y’know?”

Twilight and Celestia shared a look before chuckling. “You’re speaking to two of the most knowledgeable people on the topic of Magic in Equestria, Kaid. We know.” Celestia said playfully.

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever you say, Teach. So are you two going to keep pumping my ego, or are you going to let me get back to making breakthroughs?”

Celestia came in for a hug and Twilight sighed happily. “We’ll let you get back to your research. Just be sure to take a break sometime, okay?”

“Will do. I just gotta figure out how to connect the damn conduit crystal to the vivomatrix at this point, but I’m sure there’s some kind of Magic-based wiring that can get the job done.” I shrugged.

“It’ll be awfully ugly if you do it like that.” Twilight said dubiously.

“Oi! It’s MY experiment! If you wanna use my research to conduct your own, then that’s all well and good, but my shit is my shit.” I said irritably.

Wifey just gave me a patient smile. “Ten bits says that just coiling the wire around the crystal doesn’t work.”

“Twenty says that tapping the crystal with a diamond drill bit so I can subfuse it in will make it do just fine.” I challenged.

Twilight stared at me some more. “... I didn’t think about that.”

I lifted my chin and smirked. “That’s because you’re a clean cut nerd. I’m a dirty nerdy. I bet you were going to suggest I use a thaumaturgic silver essence dome to house the crystal, weren’t you?”

She stared harder. “Well, yeah, but-”

“Wouldn’t work. Conduit crystals have too much magical flux for a dome to work properly, which I learned from Starswirl’s treatise on the reliability of thaumaturgic silver compounds.” I held up a pink and purple bookmark that I’d stuck in the book I was currently reading.. “Your page was four-zero-two. The treatise doesn’t get interesting until eight twenty-six.” In fairness, I think I’d been using passive magic to speed up my reading and comprehension since I tend to sit around sixty to seventy percent of my power when I’m researching. It just makes things easier, though I turn it down for when I want to start drawing conclusions so I can see what I can come up with on my own.

Twilight took a few steps, leaned down, and gave me a pretty fucking good kiss with more than a little tongue action. She was pretty skilled, but I felt like her tongue was longer than mine for some odd reason. She’s not reading over my shoulder this time to tell me whether or not it really is, but I’d gotten the same feeling from Fluttershy too when I’d swapped spit with her. It was a little odd, but not unwelcome.

When Wifey decided to pull away, I gave her a disappointed look. “You finally give me a good kiss and you end it that early?”

She blushed and smiled apologetically. “I really shouldn’t have done it in the first place, but you deserve a good reward for making such important bounds in the field of Magic. I really am proud, Kaid.”

I flushed a little bit and looked toward the paper I was working on. “Well, just don’t get too used to it. Next thing you know I’ll be stealing your dirty knickers from the laundry and selling them to dudes my age.”

Celestia laughed at that while Twilight just chuckled. “I don’t think you would do that. Your personal fortune wouldn’t exactly notice the handful of bits you might make from that.”

“Personal fortune?” I asked.

“Oh yes, you’re quite wealthy, and not just because you’re a Prince.” Celestia said casually.

“... Do I have a treasury?” I asked carefully.

Celestia and Twilight rolled their eyes. “Yes, you can see it if you want to take a break from your research.” Twilight said.

I rubbed my neck. “... I think I’ll hold off on that. I wanna get this done before my ideas fade off.” I returned to my work, mildly disturbed. I’d kinda assumed that I’d still be broke, or just have a bit of money from doing odd jobs since I apparently stopped stealing when I came to Equestria.

Wifey and Teach each took a seat next to me, looking as I wrote on and traded books back and forth. I was starting to get good at levitation, so I set aside a part of my mind to making the four books I was reading from float while I examined their notes and drew conclusions between their differing results. It only took another couple of hours for me to get to a stopping point, and when I did, we went to dinner instead of the treasury because it was just that time of day. The food was good, but I kinda had to make myself eat since I was anticipating the treasury with more than just a little anxiety. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was hoping that I wouldn’t be like, super loaded. I mean like, a few bags of hundred bit-coins or like, a couple of piles of twenty-five and fifty bit-coins would be just fine, but I kinda dreaded whether or not I’d be able to handle having real wealth.

I bit back the stress I was feeling in favour of getting on with it, and while Celestia, Twilight, and I walked, they talked to each other about how excited they were to find out about the upper echelons of their powers. I chimed in when it was called for and gave the best answers that I could, but I was pretty focused on the fact that a Princess called me wealthy. I couldn’t imagine what the treasury looked like because I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to be disappointed, but at the same time, I didn’t want to be blown away, so I was being a bit of a picky bitch about it.

Sadly, when we got to the treasury, there were plenty of bits in piles, bags, and chests full of gems to go along with it. I looked to Celestia when we reached the middle of the room and said, “This can’t all be mine.”

“Oh, it’s not. This is the castle treasury. Your personal fortune is stored over there.” She pointed to a set of double doors to our left.

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God. I thought I might have been some snobby rich fuck for a little bit.”

“Oh no, you’re still richer than most nobles. You’ve done a lot of good for Equestria and you’ve been well rewarded for it.” Twilight said cheerfully.

“What have I done?” I asked as we were heading for my part of the treasury.

“Well, you were an Operative for a little bit, which is more dangerous than being a normal spy. You were pretty good at what you did and even pulled off one of the highest profile cases that we’ve had since Nightmare Moon was banished.” Celestia commented casually. “Then you wrote a few books that sold very well to very different audiences, and you fought in more skirmishes during The War than anyone other than Noir herself. To top it all off, you were the one who ended The War by slaying Discord, so you also got paid quite well for that.”

We reached the door and Celestia opened them with Magic, revealing a considerably smaller, but much more densely packed room full of glimmering gold, bronze, silver, and more chests of various gems in different shades of blue, green and purple. Twilight took my hand and lead me inside as I followed numbly behind her, stunned by the opulence of the room. We walked straight up the middle of the surprisingly large room (it was about twenty by ten meters) and all of it was filled with treasure of varying kinds.

Shit was so dope.

Shit was also horrifying.

I always liked the idea of being rich, but now I felt kinda empty. I didn’t really have that ring to reach for anymore since I’d achieved my goal without ever even knowing about it. “Huh. This kinda sucks.” I muttered to myself.

Twilight’s ear twitched and she looked at me, concerned. “What do you mean, Kaid?”

“Well, I kinda wanted to work my way up to being rich, y’know? I didn’t really want it to just be dropped on my lap. I guess I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth for no real reason, but I just can’t shake the disappointment.” I rubbed my neck.

“Oh… I guess I never really thought about how you would feel about being wealthy. I thought everyone wanted to just wake up one day and be able to buy out a town.” Twilight said.

“Yeah, it’s nice to think about it until it actually happens. How often did Max come in here?”

“Come to think of it, he only actually walked through once, and that was to safeguard everything… I guess Max didn’t really like the idea of being ridiculously rich that much either.” Twilight said softly.

“Knowing that you are rich and seeing your bits in person are two different things, I suppose.” Celestia said. “It’s been some time since I cared about my own personal fortune.”

“I have a few bits saved up, but I doubt I have over two thousand.” Twilight stated.

“How much do I have?” I asked.

“Do you really want to know?” Celestia inquired softly.

“Nah. Good call.”

She gave me a little smile and started leading us out of the room. “So is there anything else you’d like to know about Max?”

“Did he sleep with you?” I blurted uncontrollably. In fairness, I’d been curious for awhile.

“Yes. He did rather well.” Celestia replied easily.

“Kaid! You can’t just up and ask questions like that!” Twilight objected.

“Why not? Society restraints notwithstanding, aren’t the members of the Royal Family supposed to be close? Intimate questions should be expected from time to time.” I replied flippantly.

“You’re lucky you’ve had some major breakthroughs today, otherwise I might actually be mad at you.” Twilight huffed.

“Can I ask for a kiss now? It’d shut me up!” I added cheerfully.

“Why don’t you ask Celestia?” Twilight said sarcastically, already stopping me.

“Because I have a feeling that your lips are softer. Call it a hunch.” I leaned in and took my prize before smiling goofily.

“I might be insulted by that, but I don’t know what Twilight’s lips feel like, nor do I have any intention of finding out.” Celestia said neutrally.

“Do you have any intention on- Nope, not getting myself in trouble. It’s not worth the two seconds of satisfaction.” I cut myself off just in time.

“He’s getting smarter.” The evil women chorused. Making me keep my mouth shut is just awful. And boring.

Twilight gave me a quick hug and we alighted to our personal chambers via teleportation. Apparently I can do it too, but I call it ‘shifting’ since I use different Magic to do it. I’m not surprised at all by it, but I have tried (and failed) to shift a few times, though I never manage to get more than a few feet. I think I need to figure out how to make my Magic flow instead of having it be welled up in my chest, but I’m pretty sure the main thing that’ll get it going is releasing it all throughout my body. It would make sense for my limiter to be restricting my magical flow, but I’ll have to try and get some time away from Celestia tomorrow to see if I can get my shit going.

Anyway, the rest of the night was spent talking about Magic, though we bounced around from interesting facts to plausible theories that we’d like to test, often transitioning from one school to the next. Thaumaturgy, Teleportation, Witchcraft, Black and White Magick, and Shamanic rituals were all mentioned and delved into when they came up, and it was pretty great to have two extremely intelligent, incredibly attractive women talking and telling me about all sorts of different things. I sat around with my bracelet on the twentieth indicator so I could store all of the information I was getting for future use, but after awhile, I had some more connections and conclusions of my own to share, and so went the cycle of the conversation.

Celestia retired to her own bed without giving me that kiss, but Twilight gave me plenty before we went to bed, though she told me off once for trying to slip her some tongue. As we had the night before, we slept facing each other which was nice and all, but I really just wanted to be the big spoon and had requested as much from Twilight, though she said that it wasn’t happening. Sometimes life just like, sux dood.

So that was the day I met Applejack, which was my third day in Equestria. My fourth day in Equestria sucked, I’ll add a page break and get into that here in a bit.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alright, I managed to slip a hot toddy by Twilight, so I’m good to write for a little bit. She doesn’t know that I know about the fucking closet full of liquor in my study, but Celestia does. She caught me sneaking in there during lunch while I was trying to sneak a sip, but she didn’t rat me out, mostly because I, and this depresses me, can’t get drunk. I could chug a bottle of liquor, and by the time I start feeling the buzz, I’ll be pissing it all out, and that fucking sucks. Still, I like the burn of alcohol since it feels nice and all, but damn does it suck that I can’t get drunk. I gotta see if they have weed here since coke is apparently off the table. I’d rather have it on a small mirror anyway, but that’s crazy talk, and if Twilight catches me writing like this, my ass is gonna be in a glass and she’ll be sure to pour some hot sauce in there, just to tickle my coccyx.

Probably shouldn’t have written the hot toddy part either. Shit. Oh well.

So the day after I met Applejack, my morning was getting to be pretty good. I caught a sneaky little peak of Twilight while she was changing when we got dressed for the day with some handy periscope Magic. On top of that, Tender Care, the Earth Pony Milf who happened to be my stewardess, wore a skirt that hugged her ass in all the right ways, and I got to have myself a good look while she talked to Twilight and Celestia about some stuff. Speaking of Celestia, she’d decided to stop wearing her usual regal stuff and had decided to start wearing some more teacher-appropriate type apparel. I noticed that she’d decided to go with a nice white blouse and mauve blazer along with a matching skirt that made her ass look absolutely tantalizing. Twilight wore a different dress every day anyway, but none of them really showed off her figure very well, so I asked for a word. A very serious word. So serious.

Twilight teleported us to our private chambers for our super cereal talk, so I put on the gravest face I could. “Cherry, this is very important, and I need you to answer honestly.”

Wifey’s concern was evident. “Of course. Whatever it is, you know I’ll give you the truth.”

I nodded sagascious- sagaciously. “Right. Twilight, I need to know why you don’t show off that perfect figure of yours.” I said stonily, my voice flat and serious.

I received a look I’d been getting from women since I hit puberty. It told me that I should be ashamed of even saying something that stupid. “Really, Kaid? Reall?”

I kept up my facade. “I’ve noticed that you tend to be more reserved with how you dress, but I honestly do believe that-”

“Just shut up and go research something.” She snapped.

I raised my hands and backed up a step. “... O-kay.”

She sighed. “Why do you think I should ‘show off’, Kaid?”

“It might make you feel prettier. I just get a vibe from you, you know? Tells me that you’re not comfortable in your own skin.” I said truthfully. “That, and I think your ass is too fantastic to be ignored.”

Twilight closed her eyes and about ten seconds passed. “You know what? If you weren’t such a pervert most of the time, I could see myself trying that. Sadly, you can’t even respect my privacy, so I feel no obligation to ‘show off’ for you.”

I snapped my fingers. “Damn. What a shame. Well, let’s just leave this sleeping dog-”

“Hey.” Twilight interrupted. “I don’t want crap like this to keep popping up. I’m not going to sleep with you, and I’m not going to show you anything I wouldn’t show to the public, so knock. It. Off.”

“Sleeping dog. It sure is lying down. Let’s leave it.” I said with a winsome grin.

“Do you understand where I’m coming from?” Twilight asked, folding her arms.

“Do you understand where I'm coming from?” I asked. “I get that you’re tired of me coming for your body, but I’m a physical affection kinda guy! I like hugs and kisses and cuddling and the more intimate stuff, but you’re walling all of that off! You don’t even let me hold your hand while we’re walking anywhere, even if no one’s around! I’m head-fucking-over heels for you, but you act like my big sister or my mom more often than you act like my wife!”

“Kaid, I have a younger brother who is a year older than you.” Twilight said, exasperation evident in her voice. “Do you understand how incredibly wrong it feels for me to be in love with you?”

That shut me up pretty good. Wifey looked at me for a minute. “Do you have anything to say to that?”

“... Nah, not really. Shoulda tried lookin’ at shit your perspective. My bad.” I said quietly. “Must suck, going from having this super stud of a husband to some skinny kid. Can’t really do anything about that until I get my memory back.”

Twilight crossed the small gap between us and came in for a hug, but I pushed her away, finally managing a decent shift to get me out of that room. It really did suck to know that the woman I was in love with saw me as little more than a fucking child. The level of suck could’ve gotten a softball through a straw, or a fucking football for that matter. I didn’t really feel like dealing with that, so I tried to shift again and put myself in the library, nailing the second one pretty well. That didn’t really lift my spirits at all, but I did have some stuff to do now in the form of researching magical activation and inducing magical seizures. I got through a few books on the subject by skimming at half of my full power, but by the time I was through reading them, I knew for a fact that a magical seizure wasn’t going to work, and that’s because as long as Magic is sealed or restrained in any way, it’ll just make the person ‘seizing’ cast random spells until it finds equilibrium, meaning that Unicorns with specialized magic might start throwing random spells about that they never knew that they could actually do. However, in my case, I had it pegged as a destructive force that would probably fuck up a large part of wherever we tried to induce the seizure. It didn’t help that the magical seizures have been documented to leave particularly powerful Unicorn with aching horns and depleted stores of Magic, which basically means that I might have a heart attack since I’m pretty sure my Magic is based around my heart.

In other words, the magical seizure would most likely kill me and whoever was nearby, so I started writing a report on my speculations so I could show it to Celestia whenever she showed up. I hated that I was striking down one of the few possible avenues I had to getting back to normal, but I really wasn’t and still am not trying to die anytime soon, so coming up with a logical, reasonable report was pretty much all I could do unless I wanted Twilight and Celestia to doubt me. They really didn’t have a reason to, but I didn’t want them to think that I just wanted to taste my full power so I could go crazy with it or anything. I had a funny feeling that Twilight was the only one who could turn my power level up past forty-five, so getting her on board was the main thing, so I tried to appeal more towards pathos and logos than ethos in my quote unquote report.

Celestia popped in next to me while I was compounding more information, so she stayed silent and let me be for about thirty minutes before asking, “So what mundane mystery are you working on this time? How to read the growth of a Unicorn pool of Magic perhaps?” She mused happily.

“It’s an amalgamated report on why a magical seizure is going to get me killed.” I replied softly.

“... Oh. I suppose that will be quite the interesting read.”

I nodded a couple times and got back to work.

Honestly? I hated shooting down Celestia’s idea because if we actually knew how my Magic would react, then we might’ve had something there. My main argument was that Unicorns of great power tended to crack their horns or sometimes break them if their pool of Magic was deep enough, and since their focal point is their horn, then mine would have to be my heart. I can’t afford for my heart to ‘crack’, so I made sure to preface that with at three instances of particularly powerful researchers breaking their horns entirely, needing them to be fixed by Celestia herself in some cases.

Once I was done, I passed Celestia all ten pages and she either speed-read through them or skimmed them without paying that much attention. Either way, she said, “It’s too dangerous… It’s… It’s good that you did your research before we got you killed.”

I sighed. “I’m sorry, I-”

“No, Kaid, you have nothing to apologize for. Twilight and I should have recalled some of these instances from our own studies.” Teach murmured. “... I suppose we’ll have to find another way to get you back to ‘Max’.”

“I could go around kissing everyone I’ve ever met.” I said drolly, not even putting effort behind the joke.

Celestia laid a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll find another way, Kaid. For the time being, I suggest you find another topic to throw yourself into so you don’t think about it too much.”

I reached across the table I was sitting at and scooted a pile of books on similar topics to the usual spot. “Way ahead of you, Teach. I just have a favour to ask.”

“I ave to tell Twilight, Kaid.”

“Not today. It’s already been bad enough.”

“It’s better to make a bad day worse so you can put it behind you rather than make a good day bad, dear.” Celestia said factually, but kindly.

“So sayeth thee.” I grumbled bitterly, cracking open a book.

She squeezed my shoulder before removing her hand and teleporting off, leaving me to do some hardcore reading. I hated that actually doing research had kinda fucked our game plan, but then again, I didn't think that it would’ve worked in the first place, so sucks to my assmar, I guess. I figured I had a little time to myself, so I tried shifting up to my study, only to find myself outside the door for some weird reason. I tried going inside, but the door was locked, so I tried stepping back and shifting in again to no avail. I was starting to get a little salty and nearly tried kicking the door down when I heard someone pop in via that little thing we all know as teleportation. I turned around to see Twilight giving me a disappointed look while Celestia just kept her face placid.

“Why are you trying to hide in Max’s study?” Twilight asked.

“I’m not hiding. I’m tired of researching and I know I’ve got non-research books in there.”

“There are non-research books in the library.” Wifey said drily.

“Yeah, but they weren’t written by five-years-in-the-future me.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I already took The Lover’s Days Trilogy out of Max’s study, and you won’t be finding any ‘smut’ in the castle library either.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I asked. “Seriously, what the fuck?”

“There’s nothing wrong with me, Kaid, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t speak to me like that.” Twilight said evenly.

“And I’d like to be treated like the man I’ve had to be for the last four fucking years instead of some goddamn child!” I roared. “We don’t always get what we want, now do we”

“You’re acting like a pissy tweenager. Get over it and-”

“Fucking kill yourself.” I spat. “Do yourself a favour, cut off the wings, and jump. Wait for the impact and make my life just that much better. Please.”

Twilight gaped and Celestia teleported in front of me. “That was easily the most hateful thing I’ve heard in the past thousand years. I think you need a breather.” She said gently.

“I think I need her to-” Celestia slapped my shit.

“I think you need a breather.” She said in the same tone as before.

I sent a right hook at her ribs, but she just caught my fist and we teleported away, back into the library. “Like I said earlier. Do some reading. Research. I’ll know if you leave, so I suggest you stay put.” Celestia said evenly.

“Shove it up your ass. I’m outta here.”

Celestia’s hand went to my forehead and something stopped 'clicking'. “No you’re not. Stay put while I go console your wife.”

“Then fuck off already.” I hissed.

She shook her head before popping out, so I closed my eyes and tried shifting to town, but when I opened my eyes, I was still in the library. I stood there and tried shifting anywhere but the fucking library for the better part of an hour, but nothing happened, which pissed me off something fierce. I didn’t know what to do with myself, but I wasn’t about to be fucking cowed by some ancient cunt and some twat who ignores what I need in a relationship to know that I’m actually cared for, so I did the first thing that came to mind. I turned up the power on my bracelet to forty-five, found a wall I was pretty sure lead further into the castle and shouted at it, trying to focus my Magic into my throat. It took three minutes and a pissed of librarian that I scared off with a look. I finally managed to hit my stride and on my nineteenth try, managing to crack the wall with my voice alone.

I tried one more time, but instead of trying to pull a Dragonborn and just aimlessly shouting, I tried focusing my voice into a cylinder and that worked wonders for what I was trying to do. I blew a hole straight through the wall and walked out, feeling pretty proud of myself for doing some damage the at would hopefully get my point across. However, within ten seconds of walking out of the library, Celestia was in front of me once again, but this time she actually looked pissed.

“Did you really just blow a hole in the wall of your own castle to prove some stupid point?” Celestia asked incredulously.

“I’m beyond done with the bullshit, Teach. My pride’s been under attack since I fucking got here, and I’m sick of being treated as less than what I am.” I snarled.

“Maybe if you would act-”

“Bitch, all I’ve been doing is bowing down to the goddamn rules! I’ve been trying to cull the swearing! I’ve been trying to do my research! I’ve been trying to get my memories back, but the one thing I actually think will work is the one thing you don’t trust me with!”

Celestia strode forth and got in my face. “I officially don’t give a fuck what you think, Kaid. All we have shown you is kindness and compassion, and this is how you repay us? You tell the woman you’re supposed to love above all others to kill herself!? Twilight’s-”

“I HAVEN’T KNOWN HER FOR FOUR DAYS!” I bellowed, blowing Celestia back a few meters.

She fucking heard me then.

Celestia stayed on her hooves and teleported into my face again. “Power down before I send you somewhere you can’t return from on your own.”

“So you can slap me around? So you can tell me what to do? I don’t know what the fuck you did to me, but you’ve got about five seconds to undo it before-”

And that’s how I ended up on the Moon for a bit. Of course, I was pretty confused about where I was for a little while, but when I realized that there were craters everywhere and everything was grey and dusty as fuck, I kinda put it together. I can’t say I was terribly happy about being sent to the Moon, nor can I say that I was terribly surprised that I ended up here for some odd reason. Still, I made sure to use my magic to alter the color of the Moon so that it turned a bright bloody red. If Celestia was going to fuck with me, then I could fuck with her right back, and I was pretty sure that having a Blood Moon loom over the planet was going to cause mass hysteria sooner or later. I learned that I could still materialize things, so I grabbed my journal and set to drawing shit on the Moon’s surface.

After getting my Moon the way I wanted it, I tried building a rudimentary house with my limited knowledge, but I ended up just going with a red brick place with four walls and a hammock inside. The walls were wonky, the room was off kilter, and the hammock snapped when I sat on it, so I tried over and over again until I got it right. I don’t know how long it took me, but I eventually got it to where I wanted it to be, so that was nice. I had myself a good eye-sweating for awhile because my feelings were hurt, to be completely honest.

Twilight had basically told me that she didn’t love me after showing that she didn’t over the course of the last four days. She wanted me to do well, yes, but she didn’t want me. She wanted Max, and that hurt because I knew I could love her until the day she died, but it wouldn’t matter because I'm not Max. All I wanted was a little cuddling, some personal contact, a little time with her that we didn’t spend talking about Magic or how I was adjusting to Equestria, but that’s just not how Twilight sees me, and it rts. It just fucking hurts, that’s all there is to it.

Then we have Celestia who seems to have my best interests at heart one moment, then teams up with whoever’s fucking nagging me the next to wear away at my limited amount of patience, but the second to worst part was her slapping me over some fucking words. I didn’t lay a finger on anyone, I’ve been holding back for days, but she just up and puts her fucking hands on me because she's allowed to be upset. It was bullshit of the highest degree and I wished that they’d both had just left me alone or told me how to get back to Earth so I could at least see some fucking Humans or something.

I miss my home now more than ever, and as I look at Equus looming in the distance, I realize that I’ve never felt so fucking lonely in my entire life.

But I can’t die. I have to live through this pain, and I can’t. fucking. die. I’ve tried two times already. Slit my wrists down the right veins too, but before I could even black out from losing the golden ichor that was my blood, I started healing. The second time I tried, I just stuck the knife I made in my heart, but again, before I could fade away, my left hand moved on its own and pulled it out, starting the healing process before I could slip away.

It’s so defeating. I’m so tired. So, so, very tired. I just want it to end, but the pain and the emptiness take their turns in my own little Purgatory, and I can’t tell which one I’d rather deal with. The emptiness makes me want to cry so I can feel something, and the pain makes me want to cry so I can let it out, but both just give way to the other and it’s a vicious cycle. I’m trapped. Not just on the Moon, but I’m trapped in my own body, lost in time. I can’t even tell when the days pass, but I do know that the darkness gets closer and closer every time I check. I might have been here for hours, days, or weeks, but I don’t even know. All I can do is move my house a little further away from the darkness every day, but those little splotches of gold are still on my floor. I don’t care enough to magic them away.

Who knows? Maybe this time I’ll finally be able to get some peace. I doubt it, but what’s another coat of ichor to the wood? Maybe it’ll preserve it just in case someone else gets sent up here. If they want my house, I’ll just make a new one. It’s not like it matters. Who knows, maybe I’ll try painting with my blood like a real psychopath some time.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

So I didn’t stay on the moon very long. Apparently I was only there for a week as punishment, but the damage was already done. When Celestia came to collect me, she saw that most of my floor was coated in gold and that my clothes were dyed in the same shade. The look of absolute shock when she realized what it was brought her to her knees and she cried pretty hard for awhile. I was casually cutting off pieces of my forearm, waiting for the slivers of meat to grow back, which never took that long. I had two decent strips of flesh going when Celestia rose and came over to my hammock, and I could feel the dread flowing from her.

When she looked over the side of my hammock, she took in the contrast between the black and the gold. “Kaid…”

“Hullo. You ready to bring me back?” I asked, my voice sounding pretty hollow. To me, at least.

Celestia put a hand over her mouth and sobbed some more before turning away from me. She didn’t turn around for awhile, so I hopped out of my hammock and stood next to her. “I got bored, if that’s what you’re wondering. Well, bored and numb. At least it doesn’t hurt anymore, right?” I tried. She was my first visitor in what felt like months. I felt like being nice to her would make me feel better.

“... Kaid, I’m so… “ Her voice cracked and she started crying all over again.

I cleaned myself up with Magic and repaired my clothes before healing myself up. I gave her a hug because I didn’t want her to teleport without me. “It’ll be okay, Celestia. Don’t worry.”

Celestia broke free of my empty affection and wrapped me up in a bone crushing hug. “I’m so sorry! I never knew you felt like this, Kaid! I never would've sent you here if I knew you were hurting like this!”

“Well you did and shit happened. Let’s put it behind us and go home. Please?” I asked, desperation creeping into my voice.

“... Do you really want-”

“Anywhere but here.” I interrupted.

“... Kaid, I’m so sorry.” She sobbed again. She was doing a lot of that.

“Like I said, it’s okay. Can we go now?”

Celestia held me tight and we teleported straight into a room I recognized, but didn’t remember having been in before. “Anything. Anything you want, just tell me-”

“Can you put me down for good?” I asked bluntly.

The despair and pain on her face actually did make me feel a little better. At least she cared whether or not I lived. “No! I’m not going to hurt you like that Kaid!”

“Can you fix my head so I can shift again?”

She straightened up a bit and placed her hand on my head, the cogs turning as they should once more. “Kaid, I-”

“You didn’t want to send me off, but I hurt Twilight. Then I started getting violent and uncontrollable. I get it.” I cut in.

Celestia wiped her eyes. “Kaid, I’m sorry!”

“I went from being the loneliest being on Equus to being the only being on the Moon. That’s your fault.” I patted her cheek. “Lucky for you, I just don’t give a fuck anymore. I left my feelings behind on the Moon, love, because they’re pointless. All they do is hurt, and I’m tired of hurting-”

“So why do you hurt yourself!?” Celestia cried.

“Because the emptiness is just as bad as the pain, just in its own way.” I knew I was just torturing her at this point, but I liked seeing her hurt. I liked her pain since it meant she was suffering like I did. It didn’t really matter to me whether she was happy or sad, but the pain was definitely worthy of a chuckle or two. I held them back just in case she started thinking I was dangerous.

Celestia gripped me again, but this time, I put my hands on her ass because I knew I’d get away with it. I didn’t get anything out of it, so I moved my hands up to her back and let them stay there. “So what do I do now? I imagine Twilight doesn’t love me around anymore, and I doubt you want to be watching over your shoulder for me to get back at you, which I really don’t feel like doing, by the way, so where am I going?”

She steadied her breathing and looked me in the eyes. “You’re going back to Ponyville with your loving wife and caring teacher until you get better. We will not let you get to this point again, Kaid. We will not make the same mistakes. We’ll start treating you like a man as you deserve-”

“Too little too late, love. I just want the memories back at this point.” I interrupted.

“And we’ll get them to you! We will!” Celestia oathed. “Anything you need to stop hurting yourself, we’ll give it to you, just please! Pull out of this downward spiral you’re on!”

I gave her a smile that she flinched at and reached up to stroke her face. “I like that you think I’m still spiraling. I hit rock bottom awhile ago. How long was I on the Moon?”

Celestia’s face quivered. “Seven days too long.”

“Ah. So you sent me to a space rock for seven days without food or water?”

“You’re immortal…” She pointed out, her words shaky.

“Fair enough, I guess. So where’s Twilight? I’m sure I should apologize to her or something.”

“...She’s in Arcadia.”

“Oh yeah, I can just shift to her. Do you wanna come with me or go on your own?”

“Have you figured out how to shift reliably?” Celestia asked softly.

“Close enough. It’s not like I had the chance to practice while I was on the Moon longer than I’ve been on Equus.” I took a stab at her.

Celestia’s pain was delicious. “... Are you enjoying this?”

“Guess I’m just sick enough to be doing that. New character trait attained!” I laughed.

“... What did we turn you into, Kaid?”

“I dunno, something apathetic and a little sadistic I guess.” I shifted myself to Twilight, but ended up falling and banging my knee on a step.

“Kaid!?” Twilight exclaimed.

I picked myself up and looked at her. “Yo. Whassup?”

“... Your voice…” Twilight breathed.

“What about it?” I asked.

Wifey walked down a couple of steps and came to the one I was standing on. “I recognize it… Kaid, you’re not okay.”

“Probably not. Sorry for telling you to kill yourself. Granted it means less when you can’t die anyway, but still. It was a little harsh.” I said frankly.

“... We just hurt you so much worse than that.” She whispered.

“Sure did. Thanks for that. I have a feeling things are going to be a lot easier from now on.”

Twilight’s face scrunched up and tears started falling, bringing the pain back. That pissed me off. “Why are you crying? Stop that shit.”

“Kaid, I-I-I’m so sorry.” Wifey sobbed.

I glared at her. “Seriously, your tears of weakness are making my heart hurt. Would a hug make you knock that shit off?”

“No! I broke you, Kaid! I didn’t just let you get broken all over again, I broke you!” She wailed piteously. “I’m so so sorry!”

I gave her a hug, hoping that it would make her stop. “Shh, sweet-love, it’ll all be okay, yeah? Once I get my memories back and you got the guy you love, things’ll go back to normal and it’ll all be okay.” I tried.

Twilight held me close and sobbed. She repeated that she was sorry for awhile, so I shifted us to our bed chambers and lead her over to the bed where we’d comforted each other not that long ago. Even though this was all her fault, despite the numbness I was feeling, I still hated myself over saying something so evil to Twilight. Harsh words said out of pain tend to cut the deepest, but sometimes the pain just slips out so it can make other people join you in your misery. I’m a right bastard and all for being cruel, but none of this would’ve happened if Twilight didn’t feel the need to experiment with dangerous shit in her free time anyway. I was torn, blaming her for me turning cold and stuck loving her for reasons I didn’t really understand. I might’ve had a lot of memories of Twilight, but I knew I was missing one key moment that would’ve cinched the deal.

It sucked knowing that the only way to get that memory was to make her do something she didn’t want to do, so I just continued trying to comfort her, even though I was the cause of her pain. Unlike with Celestia, I wasn’t enjoying myself at all, but I couldn’t pull myself away from her. It was hardwired into me to be there for Twilight when she needs support, and that little thing was kicking my ass up and down the road between Shepard’s Field and Wiltshire. I feel like I should add that the road is pretty shit, but that’s not really all that important.

When Twilight got through the worst of her sobbing, I asked, “Would you like a cup of water so you can get my shirt wetter?”

She barked out a laugh, so I kept going. “If you keep it at the rate you’re going, you’re going to get dehydrated. Maybe I really should leave you alone for a little bit.”

She weakly pinched my side, but it didn’t hurt. “If your eyes are leaking all the water out of your body, does that mean your nether regions are dry?”

“It doesn’t work like that.” Twilight said shakily, chuckling roughly a couple times.

“So if your lips get dry, do they taste like raisins instead of grapes or wine?”

“Raisins.”

“It must be hard to avoid chewing on your lips then. I’m tempted to do it right now, but then again, I’d settle for a kiss.”

Twilight lifted her head from my shoulder and looked at me, trying to fix her face. “A-Are you serious right now?”

“No, I’m trying to make you stop crying so I can go back to feeling dead inside. It’s a lot better than the ache that godly healing can’t soothe.” I replied honestly.

Wifey closed her eyes and took a shaky breath. “I-I’ll try to stop hurting you, then…”

I gave her a kiss on the cheek since it was platonic enough. “Lovely. So do you accept my apology from earlier, or do I have to do something to get your forgiveness?”

Twilight squeezed her eyes shut. “It… It really hurt when you said that to me.”

“It really hurt when I slit my wrists the first couple of times, but I got over it.” I said like a jackass.

Wifey gripped my arms tight enough to feel weird. “If you hurt yourself again, I’ll never forgive you, Kaid.”

“Well that’s just not fair. If I only do it once, then you’ll hold it against me forever, and that’s just uncool, dudette.”

“Promise me, Kaid.”

“You left me on the Moon for a week because I hurt your feelings. You’re in no position to ask anything of me, Twilight.” I pointed out.

She squeezed my arms tighter, so I tried to get her off of my right arm because she was starting to make it go numb. “Oi, knock it off.”

Twilight let go of both arms and sat back on her hooves, looking at her hands. “I’m sorry…”

“You’re forgiven. Am I forgiven?”

“... You can't mean that.” Twilight murmured.

“But I do. Am I forgiven yet?”

“... Yes.”

“Sweet. I’m gonna go find a clock and sit outside with it for awhile.”

Twilight looked up at me. “... Why would you do that?”

“Time passes on the Moon and you have no idea how long it’s been. It’s very disorienting.”

She let loose a sob and I sighed. “Am I depressing you or something? Like, would a kiss actually make you feel better?”

Twilight just cried some more, so I rolled my eyes, puckered up, and went in for a nice little kiss. It wasn’t much of a ‘little’ kiss by any means since I was trying my damndest to comfort Twilight by giving her some of my lip-based loving. I didn’t try and slip her any tongue or anything, but I did cup her face gently and hold her close for a little bit until she stopped hiccuping. When I pulled away, I cleared her face of tears with my thumbs, then with Magic.

“Tears look terrible on you. They make my heart hurt.” I said a bit testily.

“I’m so-”

“Nah, I get it. I’ll get better, I just want a few things from you.”

Twilight nodded a couple times. “Whatever it is, I’ll give it to you!”

“I want your ass. Surrender it to me.” I said flatly.

Wifey hesitated, but she nodded again and turned around before bending over and looking back at me. “I-It’s yours.”

I patted one of her cheeks twice and joined her in bending over. “Now we just need someone willing to butt fuck us and we’ll be a matching set. Do you think Celestia will do it?”

“... I thought you wanted to… You know…?”

“Nah, my sex drive is just about dead right now. You do have a lovely bottom though, and it’s a shame no one’s allowed to grab it right now.” I flipped over and sat down. “If you really wanna make me happy, put your head on my shoulder.”

Twilight complied, so I took the opportunity to feel up her ears. “... Are you sure that this is all you want?”

“Why did I get sent to the Moon so long?” I asked casually.

“Celestia can only send someone or go to the Moon once a week. She had to borrow some power from Luna to be able to bring you back without tapping into your Magic.” Twilight said carefully.

“Well that’s a crock of shit. I’m probably worse off for going to the Moon than I would’ve been if I’d just stayed.” I teased her right ear a little bit, swirling my finger around the tip.

Wifey reached for my left hand, so I gave it to her. “You’re a lot worse than when you were here…”

“Exactly. I’m gonna shove my foot up Celestia ass for that.”

“... I detest violence, Kaid.” Twilight said softly.

“It won’t be violent. I’ll do it real nice like.”

“Please don't do it.” She requested.

“Nah, it’s happening. I’m at least getting my big toe in there and you can be sure that I’m gonna wiggle it around.”

“That’s pretty gross.”

“It’s anal. It’s gross in general, though that does remind me that your ass is mine now. I’m going to have fun treating it like expensive art by looking at it, but not touching it.”

“... Kaid, why did you want me to surrender my butt to you?”

“So I could say that it’s mine. I get that you don’t love me, but I’d still like to claim at least a part of you as my own.”

Twilight lifted her head from my shoulder and stared at me. “Kaid… Do you really think that I don’t love you just as much as I loved Max?”

“Uh, yeah? It’s fairly obvious.” I replied.

“No! If you’re talking about the physical aspects of love, then that’s because I feel like you’re just so different from Max! It takes time for me to get close enough to be willing to let someone be close to me like that! It took Max and I months to do so much as hold hands in public, Kaid!” Twilight exclaimed.

I stared at her blankly. “... Seriously?”

“Yes!”

“... So a fourth of the reasons why I tried to kill myself is just nonexistent? It was just you not being a terribly affectionate person?”

“Yes!” Twilight cried.

“... Well that’s sucky.”

She wrapped her arms around me and tried to break some ribs. “I didn’t know you felt like that, Kaid! This is why we talk about our feelings instead of letting them fester and grow until they start making us hurt inside!”

“Didn’t have much of a chance there for about a week.” I said blandly.

“... What about now?”

“Guess I could give it a shot. Ask away.”

“... How does being treated like someone your age make you feel?”

“It makes me feel humiliated. I haven’t had to answer to anyone since I got caught stealing Savage Sagiano’s lunch meat, and that was back when I was thirteen. I’ve been on my own like an adult for years since both of my parents are dead, and I’ve been through a lot of shit that would’ve made weaker people give up, but now I’m being treated like I don’t know shit about the world or the way it works. Having people look down on me like I’m just some arrogant brat pisses me off to no end because I feel like what I’ve been through is being completely ignored and the only thing that anyone is looking at is my age and my coping skills.”

“... Okay, I’ll talk to Celestia and Blue about some of the things you told me while you were Max and I’ll let them know how you feel about being beholden to people you don’t really feel like you know.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. How do you feel about being on Equestria?”

“Lonely. I’d like to see another Human.”

Twilight let go of me and her horn flashed bright for a second or two. When I could actually look at her, I saw that she’d transformed. “Well, look at you. You’re fucking hot.”

She gave me a little smile. “Thank you.”

I brushed her cheek with my fingers, appreciating the smoothness of skin for once rather than the softness of fur. “You really are beautiful as a Human, but I doubt that you wanna stay that way for long.”

Twilight held my hand in hers. “It’s a little chilly, but I’ll deal with it for as long as you need me to.”

There was a little spark in my heart. “... Wouldn’t mind letting me have another kiss, would you?”

She smiled and leaned in, giving me what I asked for. I didn’t press my luck since I wasn’t trying to make her uncomfortable and I was the first to pull away. I took a little time to rub my thumb across the back of her hand, focusing on the paleness of her skin, the little peach fuzz on her forearms. “You never appreciate just how good it feels to see another one of your kind until you’re the only one.” I said softly.

Twilight put my arm around her shoulders and leaned back, pushing us backwards onto the bed so that we were laying down. “Any time you want to see another Human, just ask me or Celestia. We’ll happily cast the spell for you.”

“... Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Are you feeling the love yet?” She asked, fanning the spark.

“I’m getting there.” I said neutrally. “Are you sure I can’t just have a piece of you so I can know for sure?”

“I said I’d give you anything.” Twilight reminded softly.

“... Nah. I couldn’t ask you to do something I know makes you uncomfortable. If I don’t get my memories back, then I’ll be willing to wait a few years until you actually want to be with me like that.”

She rubbed my chest. “You’re not as bad as you think you are.”

“I’m pretty fucking bad-”

“You said one horrible thing because you were hurting and couldn’t let it out. You broke a wall you knew would be fine, and you could have vaporized Celestia before she sent you to the Moon, but you tried to tell her what was wrong before she did, she just didn’t listen because you were livid.”

“... Shut up.” I muttered, embarrassed.

“I’ve told Max a thousand times that he’s redeemable, and so are you, Kaid. You just have to work at it, and working at it is tough.”

“... Maybe I should go live with Mum for a little bit.” I said softly.

“If that’s what you want, then I’ll support you. I think you’ll be better off with Celestia and I, but if you think motherly love is what you need right now, then I’ll write her a letter and ask her if she wants to take you in.”

I was quiet for a little bit. “So it’s not guarantee-”

“Oh no, Blue’s going to take you in, one way or another. You could show up at her shop right now and ask to live with her and she’d say yes at the drop of a hat, but it’s just more polite to send a letter beforehand.” Twilight assured me.

“That’s… That’s nice.” The spark flickered, growing hotter.

“Isn’t it? Celestia told me you kissed Fluttershy, by the way.” Twilight mentioned casually. “As long as you’re in the castle, I wouldn’t mind if you kept doing it, but Blue probably wouldn’t let you do much more than give her a peck or two.”

“Are you trying to bribe me with the possibility of getting laid by one of your friends?”

“Well, when you put it like that…” Twilight drew a little circle on me.

“That’s actually pretty hot. I took you for a straight-laced goody two shoes, y’know?”

She pinched my nipple. “I might be a goody two shoes, but I know how to play dirty one shoe too.”

The little spark turned into an ember. “It’s a good skill to have when you’re dealing with me. You should try bribes more often than you try rules. It’ll get you a lot further.”

“I’ll be sure to tell that to Blue when I send that letter to her. Is there anything you want me to tell her before you go?”

I gave Twilight a small list of things that I wanted from Blue and she started writing them down with Magic so she could keep laying on my arm. It was pretty numb since it was the right one, which reminded me that I wanted her to unwrap the left one. Wifey was still pretty hesitant about doing it, but I assured her that I’d be fine with seeing my Edward Elric in person without flipping the fuck out. After making sure that Twilight knew that I’d be cool, she let me see the fucking epic thing that is my left arm and it made me smile a mile wide. It was seriously fucking dope and I started gushing about how cool it was to Twilight. It’s mostly black with blue, silver, and gold embellishments and stuff on different parts of it, which are all super sick.

“Yo, why did I freak out about this in the first place!? This arm is so epic!” I exclaimed.

Twilight gave me a worried look. “... Are you sure you’re not feeling… Violated? I know you don’t remember the pain from having your arm cut off, but surely Max’s complex about it carried over since your other memories did.”

“Nah, this is too dope to pay attention to those little feelings. Like, I don’t really like looking at it because it makes me feel a little nauseous, but I think my feelings on it are making Max’s hang-ups matter less.”

“... Oh. Well, do you want me to rewrap it, or…?”

“I’m guessing people would freak the fuck out if they saw me with a black metal arm, so yeah. Still though, I wanna be able to unwrap it for myself.”

“You do a terrible job of wrapping it yourself.” Twilight said bluntly.

I stretched my arm out and gave her a look. “Just make me into a present before I put a finger in your bum.”

She blushed and said, “That’s unnecessary, but I did say that it was yours.”

“I’ll be sure to cop a feel sometime.” I gave her a smirk.

“Just do it behind closed doors and I won’t say a thing about it.” Twilight informed, getting started on my arm.

“... Nah, I think I’ll keep my hands to myself for now or save it for a special occasion.”

“And just like that, you’re being nice.” Twilight said warmly.

“Shut up before I really do stick a finger in your bum.” I muttered.

Her ears flicked. “As long as you lick it first.”

“Ew.”

“I know, right?” Twilight made a face.

And so she got my arm wrapped up and helped me pack a week’s worth of clothes so I could have stuff to wear at Blue’s, and she requested that I write her regularly, though it didn’t have to be daily, per se. She still wanted to know how I was doing and if I was making any progress with making friends, which made me give her a look and ask why the fuck I would be trying to make friends if I was trying to get my memory back anyway. Twilight reasoned that I would be happier if I made some friends and requested that I try to talk to at least one new person a day, so I agreed and said that if I managed to find the right type of asshole to be my bro, I’d let her know.

Twilight said that we were actually wasting time during a weekend and that she’d already handled the last little bit of business before court was supposed to end, so she accompanied me to Blue’s shop and we talked some more on the way. She gave me a list of women that I could try and charm with her permission, and she told me that she wanted to meet any other women I had my eye on, just in case I got lucky. I let her know that I probably wouldn't have much luck since I liked older women anyway, which made her laugh and she told me that I’d gone and sleep with a woman over twenty years older than me on multiple occasions. Celestia was included in the pair of women over forty, and the other one was included on my list, so I asked if I could go see her before I went to Blue’s so I could actually have a hope of getting laid before I was on libido lockdown. I wasn’t really feeling it per se, but I was sure that some meaningless sex would put some pep into my step anyway.

She agreed with a little hesitation, warning me that her receptionist, Strawberry Petal, might have also been on my list, but that I should avoid her unless I was interested in going to a different level that I was used to. I resolved to ask her for a shot first and Twilight sighed, but she still walked me to Town Hall and introduced me to Strawberry before leaving me with her for a moment so she could go talk to Mayor Mare, aka Mary.

Strawberry gave me a pleasant smile as Twilight walked away, but when she was out of earshot, her smile dropped a little and she slipped on a metaphorical mask. “So what can I help you with, Kaid? I’m sure you don’t wanna be talking to some mare that’s twice your age for too long.”

I propped my arms up on her desk and leaned in, smirking. “I dunno, you’re awfully attractive for being twice my age. I’d like to call you a liar, but I don’t think you’d take to kindly to that.”

She raised a brow. “I’m a little old for you to be hitting on me, don’t you think?”

“I like my women with a little experience-”

Strawberry squinted at me. “Are you a Human like Prince Max? The only pony I’ve ever heard talk like you do is him.”

“That I am, love. We even come from the same town.” I said, giving her a little hint.

“That’s quite the coincidence.” She said, trying to end the conversation.

“I’ve heard that I’m a lot like Max from a few people.” I gave her a cocksure grin.

Her brow came back up. “You’re a little arrogant like him.”

“It’s all bravado, love. People like us tend to be a little cocky to make up for our other shortcomings, but I assure you that while I might be rougher around the edges than Max, I can still treat a woman right.”

“Colt, go on somewhere.” Strawberry said flatly.

“Nah, I’m having fun messing with ya.” I grinned some more.

She rolled her eyes. “You’re not getting anywhere with me, and even if you did, you couldn’t handle me.”

“You say that like you know me. If you like it rough, I can do rough.”

Strawberry scoffed. “You’re not strong enough-”

“Oh? Do you wanna bet? I bet I can pick you up with one hand, no Magic.” I said, fully intending on cheating.

She stood up and walked around her desk to stand before me. “Alright. Do it.”

I rubbed my bracelet on my hip subtly to raise my power level and walked behind Strawberry. “Hey, keep those hands where-” I picked her up by her tail. “HEY! Put me down!”

I set her back on her hooves and she blushed furiously. “Is my point proven, or do I need to slap you around to get it across?”

She glanced toward the door and back to me. “... Keep the next hour a secret.”

“Only an hour? We’re gonna need at least fifteen for foreplay.”

Her eyes glimmered. “No foreplay necessary. Follow me.”

I shrugged and did as she asked and she lead me to a room that seemed kinda familiar, but I didn’t really give a shit about it. I sat myself down in a comfy enough chair and waited for Strawberry to return, and when she did, she brought a small suitcase and set it on the conference table.

“If you tell any of your little friends about this…” She trailed off and glared at me.

“The only friends I have right now are Princess Twilight, a woman named Applejack, and a woman named Fluttershy. I doubt any of them want to hear about the kinky shit we’re about to do.”

Strawberry gave me an odd look. “You haven’t been in Ponyville very long, have you?”

“Nah, but that’s not really important. What’s in the suitcase?” I asked, fully expecting there to be a paddle

And she unzipped it, reached in, and pulled out exactly what I’d been expecting. “I’m sure you know what to do with this, right?”

“Want me to hit you in the face with it?” I asked blandly.

Her eyes glimmered for a moment. “You have no idea how much I wanna say yes to that.”

I raised my brows. “Kinky little whore, aren’t ya?” I tried, trying to get a feel for her.

“Oh, you have no idea. Now get over here and-”

“Oi!” I said loudly. “I think I’ll be giving the orders from here on out. The safe word is ‘defenestrate’, and I fully expect you to remember that, slut.” I rose from my seat and walked over to her.

Strawberry grinned. “You’ll never hear me say that, dipshit.”

I slapped her pretty good and she came back with a real smile. “It’s ‘Master’ to you, you fucking nag.” I held my hand out. “Gimme that so I can start fucking you up.”

She leaned in close and smirked at me. “Make m-”

I grabbed her by her throat with my left hand and squeezed gently, making her gasp, though the smile stayed on her face. I made sure to restrict her breathing while not actually choking her, which is something I learned from a kinky fifty something year-old spinster with a fetish for young guys. In my defense, I was coked up and ready to fuck anything… that walked…

Yep, Twilight was right about the coke thing. So was I, five years in the future, but I guess it doesn't matter since coke doesn’t exist on Equus. Still, I guess that’s a good enough wake up call… Man, I don’t even wanna think about that shit. Let’s get back to making Strawberry my bitch, yeah?

So I had Strawberry by the breathing bits, so I brought her close enough to make our noses touch and said, “I know what you’re doing, and the sad thing is that it’s working.” I slapped her with my right hand just hard enough to make her face turn, but she just gave me a look, so I let her go and backhanded her, making her turn her entire body.

She looked at me rubbing her jaw with her eyes shimmering. “Is that the best you’ve got?”

I gave her a bored look. “Are you just looking for someone to beat you up like a spastic, masochistic sow or what?”

Strawberry shrugged. “I like pain. If I could find somepony willing to cut me the right way, I’d ask.”

Bitch was an actual psychopath.

“... I’m tempted. I’m really tempted.” I said truthfully, letting her go.

“You don’t have the balls for that, colt.” She sneered.

“Yeah, no, it’s not working this time. Welts fade and bruises heal, but shit like that can cause permanent damage, and I’m not down for it.”

Strawberry Petal gave me a funny look. “Have you met Max before?”

“Technically? No.” I said cryptically. “Why do you ask?”

“He used to be my Master before he got engaged to Twilight. One day when we were having fun, he said those very same words to me, saying that it’s not fun if I’m not actually safe.”

“Well, that does sound like something I’d say. Glad to know I’m still a kinky mother fucker in the future, though.”

Strawberry tilted her head. “You say that like it makes sense.”

“Do you know what Max’s real name is?” I asked.

“Uh, Maximus? Duh.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s a random word from a dead language. No, Max’s real name is Kaid Gadai.”

She rolled her eyes. “That would mean you’re a sixteen year old Max, dumbass.”

I spread my hands. “Why do you think Twilight brought me here?”

Strawberry blinked. “Oh.”

“You dim bitch.” I shook my head and shifted the paddle into my hand. “Are you just gonna keep wasting my fucking time, or-” I paused and thought about it. “You know what? Fuck it.” I shifted behind Strawberry and grabbed her tail firmly, dragging her over to the conference table.

“Hey! The tail’s off limi-” I swung the paddle hard on our way over to the table, the resounding impact making Strawberry’s protest turn into an interesting moan.

“Speak when spoken to and not a fucking moment before, whore.” I rhymed menacingly. It was fun. When we got to the table, I let her go, caught her arm, and spun her around. “Hands on the table, ass in the air. Count as I go, or I swing hard enough to make this a little less fun.”

She followed my instructions slowly, looking me in the eye as she did. I raised a brow. “Speak.”

“Woof.”

I gave her an odd look before conjuring up a black collar with studs on both side, though I made sure to dull the ones on the inside so they wouldn’t break skin. They’d still fucking hurt if I pulled on the leash, but I figured that it was warranted. I had Strawberry stand for a moment so I could put it on her, and the smile she gave me was actually kinda stiffening in all the right ways, so I attached the leash and pulled her down to my level since she was actually a little bit taller than me. She resisted slightly and I jerked the leash downward, making her bite her lip. The excitement in her eyes was pretty fucking evident all things considered. Once we were looking each other in the eyes, I licked her face because I could, but she just tasted like any other Pony.

“Hike that skirt up, and make it fucking quick. I’m not known for being a patient guy.” Which was a flat out lie. I’ve waited weeks for a good mark, and when I found him, I took a couple more to do my groundwork before strolling on through.

Strawberry smirked at me. “Buck off, shit stain.”

I wrapped the leash around my fist and pulled harder than I had before. “Don’t fuck with me, bitch.”

She grinned and lifted her chin to look down her nose at me, but before she could even open her mouth, I snapped and smacked the piss out of her three time in rapid succession, each one harder than the last. Strawberry eventually got her bearing and just stared at me as I growled, “Look down your fucking nose at me a-fucking-gain, and I will hurt you. I’m officially not being a prick for kinks.”

“... That’s so hot~.” She purred. “I never thought a colt could-” I smacked the fuck out of her again and dragged her down to the table with the leash, making her press her face against the wood.

“Stay.” I commanded. I held her down for a good ten seconds before easing up and unwrapping the leash from my hand.

I stepped back and Strawberry stayed down like a good little slut, so I lifted her skirt for her and saw that the crazy bitch was already leaking through her knickers, a large dark stain standing out from the rest of the red silk. I was tempted to pull them down so i could get a look at what Pony pussy looked like, but I decided to save it for later and just grabbed the paddle from where I’d casually tossed it on the table earlier.

“Like I said before you gave me a real reason to think you have shit for brains; count.” I swung the paddle with my right hand pretty hard, though I gave myself some room to improve, just in case.

“One.” Strawberry said, sounding a little unenthusiastic.

I made the next swing considerably harder and she let me know what she thought by crooning, “Two~”

And so we went for eighteen more spanks before I got bored of it and told her to check and see if she’d brought a cane along. It was nice little bamboo number that was old, but still had some nice flex to it, so I started striking her thighs with gusto, each swing leaving a welt that took but a few seconds to pop up. On my fourth swing with the cane, Strawberry cried out in agonizing bliss and the stain on her panties grew a little larger. While she was in the process of cumming, I had an idea that would probably get me hit by most women just for thinking of it and I swung the cane upwards into her soaked sex because I could. Strawberry moaned more loudly than before and her legs shook like leaves during a storm as she gushed and completely ruined her the pleasant enough pair of undergarments.

I decided that I wanted them more than she did, but then I had a fantastic idea! I still pulled Strawberry’s panties off of her and had her step out of them, though she could barely manage that much with her legs shaking as bad as they were. She still had her face on the table, so I used the leash and collar to make her raise her head just a little. I ordered her to open her mouth and she did so willingly, so I stuffed her knickers in her mouth and shoved her face back into the table before walking over to the suitcase. There wasn’t a single gag in sight, so I made one for us and strapped it onto Strawberry, making sure she wasn’t going to get the taste of her own juices out of her mouth any time soon.

Since I’d purposefully avoided looking at my prize, I took my time in walking behind her, and when I got my first glimpse of her, I realized that she easily had one of the prettiest pussies I’d ever seen. Like, seriously, her outer labia were plump and full, glistening with her arousal, and her inner labia didn’t look like an open-faced roast beef sandwich. She was already pink, but my God did I ever want a taste of her, so I did what I wanted to and gave her a lick or two, taking my time. I’m not terribly fond of strawberries in general, but I like them well enough, and it didn’t hurt that I actually enjoy cunnilingus. Still, I made sure to bite Strawberry’s lips hard enough to leave a mark since she hadn’t made so much as a peep while I was casually eating her out. She liked the biting, but I was ready for the main event. However, it’s been raped into me that if you don’t make the foreplay as good as you possibly can, you can expect to get stabbed, so I made sure to beat and abuse Strawberry for a few more minutes and she got off two more times.

Before we could really get started, I checked my nails and saw that they were far too long for me to do a certain thing, so I filed them until they were smooth and rounded off. Once I was sure that I wouldn’t cut her on the inside, I forced two fingers into her arse, dry, without even bothering to stretch her out first. Strawberry gasped when she felt the pressure and resisted it with everything her ass could muster, but I wanted to penetrate her more than she wanted to keep her ass tight. I managed to get the tips of my right middle and ring fingers into her before I unzipped my trousers with my left hand and let them and my pants fall around my ankles. I couldn’t stop the smile on my face as I pressed my throbbing cock against the main entrance while I tried working my fingers deeper into the back door, but instead of just railing her in one go, I slid my rod between those pretty pink lips of hers, which made her squeeze my fingers even harder than she had been.

I withdrew my fingers from her rear and tried again with my middle finger as I slicked my dick with her quim. I made more progress with one finger than I had with two, but I wasn’t looking for depth. Since her arse was clean (I sniffed my fingers to check. I’m not weird.) I decided to make the process go a little quicker by wetting my fingers before getting the tips back into her tight little ass once more, but instead of easing them in, I pushed with force, taking care to listen as Strawberry moaned her approval. I wasn’t going to add anymore lubrication anytime soon, so I hoped I was making the right call there. Either way, I could actually finger-fuck her now, and as I was getting into a good rhythm with that, I lined myself up to ravish Strawberry good and proper-like, just as I’d wanted to since I’d gotten her in the room, but the moment I got the tip in, Strawberry balked.

“Mhnhmnhnhnhn!” She cried.

I halted where I was, loathe to pull out of her surprisingly tight cunt. “... Are you serious right now?”

Strawberry looked back at me, so I freed her from the gag and she worked her jaw for a bit. “Defenestrate. The rubbing is fine, but I’m saving myself for my special somepony if I’m ever lucky enough to find one. If you wanna buck my flank until I can’t walk, then I’ll get down on my knees and beg you to do it, but…” She bit her lip, her face speaking volumes of her unease.

“Fucking tell me that in the first place, you autist.” I growled, slapping her ass with my left hand. She tightened around my bell-head and her pussy betrayed her words, her inner muscles drawing my cock in, but she said the safe word, so I was obligated to abide by her request.

I pulled out and she breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” I magically replaced the gag and her panties because I didn’t feel like doing it over again.

I roughly jammed two fingers into her sodden entrance, but my fingers weren’t quite long enough to reach her hymen, if it was even still there, so I was good to go on that front. It meant that I’d had to take my fingers from her ass since the bandages on my fingers probably wouldn’t have felt bad in the right way, but I was eager to slip something a bit longer than my fingers into her ass anyway, so I guess it worked out. I’ve got about nineteen centimeters to work with, but it’s not like I took a ruler to it or anything, though I just wanna brag about being above average at this point. Strawberry gasped at the sudden intrusion and let out another sexy moan, but I was pretty confidentconfidant that she was going to like my next plan better.

My rod was already pretty well lubricated from the fooling around earlier, so I told Strawberry to relax her rear so I could actually get it in, but she felt like being difficult. I didn’t really give a fuck, so I just pushed harder until her ass started giving way to my ministrations, and it was a lovely process, if I do say so myself. I had to pull out and restart a couple times, but with each retry, I got deeper until I finally bumped Strawberry’s ass with my hips, and my lower half was in absolute bliss. My trousers and pants were probably wet with her juices since she’d cum every time I pulled out, but I didn’t give two shits about that. What I did give two shits about was how fucking tigt Strawberry was! I was already at my limit when I finally got it all the way in, so I didn’t bother pulling out and spent my load, hilt deep.

Strawberry must have felt something because she turned and gave me a funny look. I raised my brow at her and said, “Three month dry streak, love. Trust me when I say one isn’t enough for me.”

She rolled her eyes, so I pushed her ass forward and drew my hips back, making her grunt through her nose out before I rammed my rod into her as hard as I could. Before I could start fucking her ass in earnest, the door behind us opened and I heard Twilight gasp and the sound of papers falling. My shoulders slumped and I turned my head, Strawberry’s ejaculate still coming and frankly making a mess on the floor. I saw Twilight staring at me, her jaw hanging free and her face bright red while the older light orange woman who accompanied her just looked on in mild interest, though she was blushing a little too.

“If you two are done being rude, I’m in the middle of someone right now.” I said scathingly. “I do realize that I’ve got a nice ass, but you don’t have to stare.”

Twilight sputtered for a few seconds. “You work so fast!”

I looked back to Strawberry Petal and she was frozen, her eyes wide and her ass squeezing me in all the best ways. I turned my attention back to Twilight and shrugged. “Always been the type to get shit done. Now if you don't mind…” I shooed her away.

Twilight blinked a few times. “... Are you not going to stop? I mean, isn’t being caught pretty mood-killing?”

I gave her a look. “It would be less mood-killing if you would LEAVE.”

Twilight touched her face. “Uh…”

The orange woman grabbed her arm. “I think we’ve intruded long enough, Twilight.”

Wifey just stared at me some more, so I asked, “Do you wanna watch or something? S’not something I really do, but I wouldn’t mind.”

Twilight continued staring as the other woman tried to tug her away. “... A stallion younger than my brother is bucking a mare over twice his age.”

I shrugged again and started pulling out, making Strawberry try to stifle her moans. She failed, but it was a valiant effort. Once I was close to popping out, I started going the opposite direction and kept it up while looking at Twilight. “I’ll keep going regardless of whether or not you’re here. She’s hot as fuck and I’m pretty pent up.”

The yet unnamed woman made an actual effort to pull Twilight out of the room, but Twilight shrugged her off and walked up to my side before looking at where Strawberry and I were joined. “... Can I watch?” She asked nervously.

“So you don’t want to do it yourself, but you’d happily watch someone else have a bit of me?” I asked neutrally.

Wifey’s blush intensified. “W-Well, Max and I had a kind of agreement…”

“Whatevs. Pull up a chair.” I turned and looked to the orange woman. “Oi, love! What’s your name?”

She shook her head. “You mean me?”

“Yes you.” I said flatly. “I know everyone else in here.”

“Well, when you say it like that I sound silly. I’m Mayor Mare, but most ponies call me Mary.”

“Mary, then. Do you wanna watch too?”

She glanced at Twilight. “... I would like to, but I’m more of a participator than an observer.”

I gave her a brilliant smile. “Well now, it seems to be my lucky day! I get to come back from the Moon and spend some quality time with two fine women. Would you like to wait your turn, or do you want to join in?”

“Strawberry and I tend to leave each other alone when it comes to this sort of thing.”

“Shame, but I don’t really mind.” I hilted Strawberry suddenly and she let out a nice, low moan. “Oi, Strawberry slut! You don’t mind if we have some women who are actually worth a rat’s tail watch while I fuck ya, do you?”

Strawberry trembled and her inner walls squeezed me intermittently. “Mhmm.” She said through the gag.

I slapped her ass, the sound echoing a little, making Twilight wince. “That’s what I was hoping to hear!”

I’ll leave it at that for the time being since nailing Strawberry was pretty great and all, though it was a bit of a shame that she would only let me use the alternate entrance instead of the main one, but still. Shit was tight and the friction was absolutely wonderful. Strawberry kept on cumming while I wrecked her tight little ass, and once I got off for the third time, I was finally done with her. When I pulled out, my cock came free with a little pop and Strawberry’s little rosebud winked at me before I stoppered it with a ‘little’ butt plug that had a blue jewel on it.

When I was finished with Strawberry, I scooped up her legs and put her on the table before stepping out of my soggy trousers and turning to face Mary, but she was already coming over to me from her her spot. She knelt before my might when she got to me and immediately started sucking me off like she was a pro at it, not touching me with her teeth once and taking my whole length in her mouth and throat with ease. Thankfully I was able to enjoy the phenomenal blowjob for a good ten minutes before I asked Mary if she wanted me to return the favour, and she was eager to see what kind of skills a young fella like me had.

She lead me over to a different part of the table where there wasn’t a quivering mass of fur and flesh with a plug in her ass and hiked her skirt up before letting me remove her panties. I thought doing it with my teeth seemed like it would be sexy, so I gave it a shot and it was harder than I thought it’d be, but it wasn’t all that bad. Mary murmured her approval and Twilight came around to see what was going down, so I started giving Mary a little bit of what I thought would be good, namely the alphabet technique. I tried spelling out a little story in her soft flesh, but Mary wasn’t feeling it apparently, and that irritated me a bit.

I’m not a fucking quitter except for when it comes to my life, but that’s a whole ‘nother demon. So instead of giving up on getting Mary to cum with my tongue, I tried loading my little muscle with some tingling Magic, and then she started making some pretty fun noises. I realized the reason she’d been so apathetic about my efforts was probably because of the fact that I hadn't bothered to give her clit any love, so I spread her lips while lapping up her dreamsicle-like juices and loaded my fingers up with the same tingling electrifying sensation and went to work on trying to get her clit to show itself.

It wasn’t all that hard with the right stimulation, and with my new efforts, I had Mary cumming in mere minutes after starting with the Magic as my aid. I figured I was going to need something special to get the more experienced woman off anyway, but it would be worth it to get the naughty bitch in front of me off. I mean, seriously! She blew me right after I got done ass-fucking her receptionist! Shit was so epic that I just didn’t want to let her down, so once I got her off a couple more times, I slipped her a shocker, but she wasn’t all that shocked, all things said.

I latched onto Mary’s clit with my mouth and worked it around with my tongue while keeping up my efforts with both of her entrances, and when I got her to get off one more time, I decided to get to the main event. I knew from the moment I entered Mary that it was going to be a while before I got off since she was pretty… Well, she was loose. It is what it is, mate. Still, I wasn’t exactly expecting her to be as tight as Strawberry ass, but I was still a little let down before Mary’s walls started milking me in all the right ways. I looked at her, shocked by the unudula- undulating feels and she just smirked at me.

“What? Surely you didn’t think this old maid didn’t have a few tricks up her sleeve, did you?” Mary asked, her pussy drawing me in and pushing me out in turns.

I gave her a thousand watt smile. “Wanna make this a little more fun for both of us?”

She raised a brow. “The tingling was nice ,but I don’t think~ Oh~!” Mary’s eyes shot open as I made my cock vibrate and send little thrills throughout her depths.

“You were saying?” I said shakily. I felt the vibrations just as much as she did.

Mary just gave me a sultry smile by way of response, so I took that as my que- cue to get to fukkin’ and stop sukkin’ at getting her off with my dick, so I began thrusting into her slowly, before she wrapped her legs around me and forced me into her. It was definitely a sign that I shouldn’t be taking things slow at this point, so I sped on up and got to a decent pace. I kept it up for a few minutes, but between the vibrations and Mary’s muscle control, I was fighting a losing battle, so I ask Mary if we could change positions and she happily complied, telling me to hop on the table.

I got on and Mary pushed me down so she could ride me, reverse cowgirl style, and her ass was just too nice to not look at. I’ve always had a thing for Milfs, though if Freud has anything to say about it, then it’s because I’m starved for my mother’s love or some shit. That doesn’t matter since Mary was bouncing along on my cock like she was trying to break the table beneath us, but I figured it would be an interesting thing to write about some time. Anyway, Mary bucked and rode me for a few more minutes before I let her know that I was getting close, but she told me to hold on for another thirty seconds, which wasn’t really a problem since I wasn’t that close, but still. There was little in the way of my stamina left, and I was ready for this one to be the last one, and when it finally came, it was actually timed just before Mary’s own orgasm, but I had me an idea anyway. I fucked around and thought about rewiring my brain, making myself multi-orgasmic for just a little bit, and when I came, It was fucking MAGICAL. I blew my load into Mary as she slammed her hips into me a few more times, riding out her own orgasm as I came over and over again, which actually started to suck, so I focused through the pleasure and the pain that was building in my stones and flipped that switch off, my load completely spent and my testestesties sore as fuck.

Mary’s walls squeezed me as she hopped off and found her knickers, sighing in contentment before meandering over to the suitcase Strawberry had brought along with her. She brought out this weird looking thing before pulling out what I assumed to be a plug for the front entrance and popping it right on in. She found some towels stashed away in the room and wiped up our mess, while I went over and fixed up my own clothes, though drying them didn’t get the strawberry scent off of them. I had to make sure I couldn’t smell juices on my clothes, and when I couldn’t anymore, I put them back on and went to help Mary and Twilight clean up the rest of the party, but it was already over since Twilight cheated and used Magic.

Strawberry was sitting up now, looking at me expectantly, so I undid her gag and pulled her panties out of her mouth. “Have a good time, or was going in dry not enough for your sick little tastes?”

She licked her lips and rubbed her jaw some more. “You have no idea what my flank feels like right now. Thank you, Master.”

I gave her an easy smile. “I’d say ‘anytime’, but I’d rather like to keep this up on my schedule. Maybe we’ll try some stuff with electricity next time, or use those handcuffshand cuffs that you have”

“I have a pair of steel ones that I like to use, but if you wanna be a little wimp and use the fuzzy pink ones...” She shrugged.

“Steel it is.” I ran my hand up the inside of her thigh, pushing her skirt up a fair bit. “Leave that plug in until you get home. What you do afterwards up up to you, but I want you to wait to take it out.”

Strawberry gave me a wide smile. “Yes sir, thank you sir.”

I patted her cheek patronizingly and went over to Mary and Twilight. “So, Mary, how was I?”

Mary smiled. “You were pretty good for such a young stallion, though the Magic definitely helped you along.”

I shrugged. “I don’t like the idea of not getting you off with my tongue, so I cheated. It worked out in the end for every party involved.”

“I’ll say!” She chuckled. “Anytime you want to have a little fun without having to hurt somepony, give me a holler and I’ll try to make some time for you. The last one had to be one of the best orgasms I’ve had in a good while.”

I blew her a kiss and she rolled her eyes. “Sure thing, Mary.” I turned to Twilight. “So are you interested in giving me a shot now, or do you want to keep it platonic for a little while longer?”

Twilight blushed. “I-I’m more of an observer when it comes to this type of thing…”

“Shame, but I have a feeling that you’re worth the wait.” I gave her a little smile. “I’m tempted to stay at the castle tonight so you can’t take care of yourself, but I’ve gotten off like, four or five times today, so I can’t even be that petty in good conscience.”

Twilight looked away. “I’m not sure if I should thank you or pinch you.”

“Thank me, please. I could always use my periscope thing and peek on you from the corner of a room or something.”

Wifey gave me a look. “I’d tell Blue to ground you over that. You already got away with it once-”

“I got sent to the Moon. I didn't get away with shit.”

“... Fair enough, I guess. Can I have some privacy tonight?”

“Give me a five second kiss after I get the taste of Mary out of my mouth and I’ll give it to you.”

Twilight didn’t bother giving me that time and kissed me anyway, her lips speaking of her eagerness to get a taste of the older woman for herself, and after a few more seconds than I’d asked for, Twilight licked my lips and smiled. “How was that?”

I licked my lips because Twilight’s tasty. “Lovely. Now kiss me with the other lips.”

“No.” She said bluntly.

“Do you blame me for trying?”

“At this point, yes. You just got done having snacks with two mares who aren’t your wife and now you’re trying to go for a third.”

“Fair enough.”

Twilight excused us from Town Hall shortly after that and it was a quick walk to Blue’s townhouse from there. The place was pretty nice, all things said. There were some kids playing in the yard and the trees that were there in front of a couple of the flats, but when Twilight and I walked up to knock on Blue’s door, we found that she was in the middle of baking biscuits for my arrival. She let us in with no problems, but when she got a whiff of me, she had a problem.

“Kaid Gadai, have you been having sex?” Bleu asked, her voice chilly.

I nodded. “I wanted to get it out of my system before I came to live with you, just in case you weren’t cool with me going out to get some action.”

She sniffed. “Well, at least you were trying to be considerate, but I’d still like to maintain that a stallion your age has no business looking for sex.”

I shrugged. “Our opinions differ on the matter. Your biscuits smell amazing, by the way.”

Mum gave me a look. “If I catch you with a mare or a filly, you’re grounded.”

“Isn’t a filly a child? I’m really not trying to get locked up for pedophilia, so I’ll keep my lusting to older women, thank you.” I waved her worries aside.

Blue folded her arms and stared me down, so I raised a brow and asked, “Is me not having sex in your house gonna be a problem? Like I said, I’ll keep it in my pants while I’m under your roof, so the Mum Look™ isn’t necessary.”

She nodded curtly. “I hope not. I’ll show you around the house in a moment, but I want you to take a shower after you get your stuff- Actually, where is your stuff?”

“I know how to use my magic now, so I’ll just shift the clothes I got from your shop here as I need it. I’ll probably do it before the shower.”

“Shower first. You smell like mares.” Blue made a face.

Twilight coughed. “W-Well, I gave him permission to do it, so…”

“You didn’t push him to do anything, so I don’t wanna hear it.” Blue said flatly.

“Y-Yes ma’am.” Twilight murmured.

I looked to Twilight and looked back to Mum. “Well that’s just not very nice. That’s not very nice at all.”

She nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Twilight, I didn’t mean to take that tone with you, but you smell like mares too.” Which was because Twilight got up close and personal with her ‘observing’ from time to time.

“What I can I say? I make all the ladies randy, baby, yeah?” I said with a little swagger.

“You’re full of poo and hot air.” Blue said dismissively.

We left it at that and Blue showed me around her flat, and I found out that her guest bedroom was actually pretty spacious for being a townhouse. It looked like someone had already lived here at some point in time since there was a picture on the nightstand, but when Blue told me that it was going to be my room for the duration of my stay with her, she collected the picture without looking at it. I started getting my stuff shifted into the dresser drawers and what not. There was enough empty space for me to conjure up a small desk and a reading lamp, but since I was alone in the room, no one asked me what I was doing with it. I figured Blue was probably going to give me a bedtime, so I shifted a few books I’d been reading onto it and picked out an outfit so I could go take a shower.

I brought the stuff I’d been using at the castle over to Blue’s place and started my journey to smelly goodness. I’ve always liked smelling good, but in fairness, I consider clean pussy to be a good smell, and smelling like fruits from Strawberry and Mary was a plus to me. Mum felt some type of way about it, but I was trying to give being someone’s kid a shot for once since the only one who’d ever even tried to make me feel like they gave a damn was my punk ass old man. I figured the best was to fan the spark that’d started with Twilight when I came back to the castle was to start with someone who loved me and would show it in the way I was expecting for it to be shown. I’m pretty sure that Twilight really does love me now, but I need proof of that love, and that proof generally comes through some kind of physical contact, which Twilight won’t give me.

I don’t really know what to expect with Blue since I’ve never really had a Mum to love me like she says she does, but I do know what parental love is supposed to look like, and her being so controlling and protective is just one of those facets that mothers are supposed to have. While I was in the shower, I thought a bit harder about what I wanted from Blue, and I came to the conclusion that I mostly wanted hugs and affection, so I was going to have to actually try and be nice for once. It was going to suck, but I wanted Blue to be nice to me, and all I’d done so far was piss her off and make her bring the hammer down, so I was actually gonna have to try giving a shit, but I just couldn’t think of a way to make myself do it. I resolved to tr, so I finished up in the shower and got rid of the little hairs on my chin since I’m not the right kinda guy for a beard quite yet.

I headed downstairs to find Blue and Twilight continuing their chat. I’d heard all of it while getting dressed upstairs and Twilight had basically been telling Blue that I’d gone suicidal and that I was scaring her with some of my mannerisms, so she wanted Blue to be supportive, yet firm. Mum let her know that she’d handled me at my worst before, but Twilight remained strong and said that I was different from Max in a few ways that mattered, so Blue was going to have to find out what my current needs were while trying to keep me in line. I took the time to let my presence wash over them as I came into the living room and they both looked at me, clamming up then and there.

I gave Twilight a pleasant little smile. “Thanks, Cherry.”

She blushed. “For what?”

I shrugged. “Stuff. Don't think about it too hard.” I looked at Blue. “Mum, ma I have a biscuit?”

She nodded. “Feel free, just don’t eat too many, okay baby?”

“Will do.” Mum gave me a look. “Oi, that means I’m doing what you said, not the opposite.”

She nodded again. “Carry on, soldier.”

I gave her a half smile and raised a brow before going into the kitchen to grab a snack, but I ended up inhaling three of Mum’s cookies before I could stop myself. The motherfuckers were fucking great!! I’m pretty sure that they’re what Percy Jackson tasted when he had ambrosia, they’re that fucking good. Nothing I’d had so far could even compare to the magnificence of these goddamn cookies. I was tempted to put one in a condom, crumble it up, and fuck it just so I could have a baby with it, they were that fucking good. I had to stop myself at four, but I wanted another. Mum told me not to go for too many, and since she hadn’t made more than like, twelve, I had to stay my hand and came back to join her and Twilight in the living room with a little smile on my face.

When Blue saw me, she smiled. “See, Twilight? The corners of his eyes wrinkle and his lip twitches every once in awhile when it’s a real smile!”

Twilight sighed. “It’s good to see it.”

“You know what? I don’t even care that you two were talking about me, those biscuits were flipping great!” I said cheerfully.

“It’s the love. Gets Max every time.” Mum said with a little smile of her own.

“What are you saying, Blue? It’s gets everypony every time! Your cookies are easily the best I’ve ever had, and the girls feel the same way.” Wifey put a hand on Mum’s arm.

“Even over your own mother’s cookies?” I asked.

Twilight blushed. “Don’t ask me those kinds of questions! What if my Mom is hiding somewhere, waiting for me to slip up?

“Then that’s creepy and… Well, it’s mostly just creepy. I’d hate for my Mum to be waiting in the wings for me to make the slightest mistake.” I resisted giving Blue a pointed look and kept my tone neutral.

“I’d think carefully about your next words if you want another cookie, young stallion.” Blue warned.

My eye twitched, but I played nice. “Have I ever mentioned how well the silver in your mane matches with the blue in your eyes? I like the way blue and silver play off each other in general, but it’s something special on you.”

Blue cracked a small smile. “Flattery won’t get you anywhere with me, Kaid.”

“What about honest compliments and observations?” I asked evenly.

“Brownie points may or may not be rewarded, if that’s the case.”

“Then I’d like to say that your eyes are my favourite color, which is awesome. I’m pretty sure that’s why Max picked you to be our Mum.” I joked.

Twilight giggled and Blue just rolled her eyes. “That’s sweet of you, baby, but you kinda sound like you’re trying to charm me.”

“Do I?” I asked, confused.

“Yes. Stop hitting on your Mom, Kaid!” Twilight said through her giggles.

I rubbed the back of my head and made a face. “I dunno how to compliment a mother, or rather, women in general I guess then.”

“I’ll be sure to teach you the difference then.” Blue gave me an easy smile.

“Thanks. Just to be clear, though, the only things I want from you are hugs and little tokens of affection. I just wanna know that you love me, y’know?”

“Oh? Is that all, because I’ll show you with plenty of hugs and kisses and licking my hand to smooth your mane back down.” Blue chuckled.

“... That sounds kinda nice.” I admitted.

Blue rose and came over to me, saying, “Well there’s no better time to start than the present.” As she went. She stopped in front of me and gave me a pleasant hug, so I returned it before messing with her ear, making her let go of me, giggling. “That tickles!”

I grinned and looked at them some more. “I’m gonna get you every chance I get then.”

She gave me a look. “Now don’t you go thinking that just because Twilight and I let you mess with our ears that everypony is going to be okay with it. It’s generally seen as something you should only let close friends and loved ones do.”

I drew her in for another hug because the first one had been lovely. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

Blue hugged me back for a second or two before letting me know it was time to let go, but I didn’t really want to. I still did it because I wasn't trying to absorb her or some shit, but I’d like it to be known that the little spark was starting to grow warmer in my heart, and when I looked at Blue’s face after letting her go, I turned to Twilight and back to Blue again. I felt a tear run down my cheek and I frowned at it because I wasn’t feeling upset or anything, but Blue wiped it away before I could do anything about it.

“How do you feel right now, baby?” Blue asked softly.

“... I don’t really know. It’s better than feeling nothing.” I answered truthfully.

“That’s how the healing starts.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Do you wanna talk about how being on the Moon felt? I know it couldn’t have been pleasant, seeing nopony, hearing nothing, seeing grey all day. Well, I assume you’re the one who turned it red for a few days, so it wasn’t grey all the time.”

“... It was soul crushing.” I admitted. “I’ve never felt so alone, so hopeless in my life...”

Blue hugged me some more. “There’s something you’re not saying, baby. Momma knows it hurts, but you can let it out. Nopony is going to judge you.”

In her arms, I felt safe enough to say, “... I felt betrayed by people I just barely gave some trust to. Days after I started trying to open up, my trust got thrown in my face.”

She squeezed me and said, “I’m going to shove my hoof so far up Celestia’s rear, she’s going to cough on it.” Blue said fiercely.

I hugged her back and said, “No, let me-”

“No.” Blue said firmly, letting me go. “I’ll handle Celestia, you just sit back and watch while Momma kicks her rotten tail up and down the street until she gets tired of it, okay?”

“... You know she’ll kick your a- er, rear until you fly across the country, right?” I asked, keeping a hand on Blue’s shoulder.

She looked at my hand. “... Kaid, why does your hand tingle like that?”

“Because I’m making you strong enough to take Celestia head on.” I answered simply. “I’m not going to let you get yourself arrested or worse for my sake, so I’m making sure you win that fight.”

Blue winced. “It feels okay, but my shoulder blades are starting to hurt, baby.”

I jump started her and her eyes went unfocused for a moment, but I stopped before she could up and sprout wings or some shit. Blue blinked a few times and I removed my hand from her arm and suddenly everything in her house started levitating. She looked around as Twilight yelped, everyone in the room coming off of the floor at once along with everything else, but before she could outright drop everything, stuff started going back to their original places and Blue just looked at me.

“... I think you just made me the most powerful Unicorn Ponyville’s seen since Twilight.” Blue murmured.

I smiled at her. “With great power comes great responsibility, so don’t abuse it, okay Mum?”

“... Okay then.”

Twilight came over and looked me in the eye. “Kaid, I need you to remember something.”

“Not really my specialty these days, but go for it.”

“... Do you remember anything about Shining Armour?” She asked hesitantly.

“Nah.” I replied. “Who dat?”

“He’s my brother and I need you to kiss him.” Twilight said, like that was about to happen.

“Yeah, no. I don’t kiss dudes.”

“I’ll turn him into a woman for you.” She offered.

“... What the fuck?” I asked.

Blue gave me a stern look. “Language!”

“Sorry, what I meant to say was ‘What the flippity?’.”

“Better.” Blue sniffed.

“I think Max might have made my brother into an Alicorn! It’s entirely possible!” Twilight said rapidly. “He did say that he would try and make Shining immortal if he could, so I think Max might have kept his word and did just that! I mean, it’s not everyday somepony just up and becomes an Alicorn, especially not a guy!”

“What, are there no male Alicorns?”

“You’re outnumbered two to one on that front. You’re technically an Alicorn and Shining is too, but there hasn’t been a male Alicorn in Equestria since before Celestia and Luna took over after the reign of Discord! Well, you’re an exception, but you’re not really a Pony, so I don’t think you count.”

“Oh. Shit I mighta done it, depending on whether or not I actually like the guy. If he’s anything like you, then I probably did.” I finished talking and Blue was giving me a look. “Wait, what did I say?”

“You said the S-word.” She replied, her voice a little hard.

“Does ‘shite’ count as a bad word?”

“Yes, because you told me what it means. Stop saying bad words.”

“I’m honestly trying, but they just slip out!” I protested.

“Do I need to get the soap again?”

“Aw come on! They’re just words!”

Twilight coughed. “I really do want you to kiss my brother, as weird as that sounds. I’d like to know if I have even more to thank Max for when you get your memories back.”

“Don’t you have a twin sister I can kiss instead?” I asked irritably.

“I can make Shining look like me.” Twilight offered.

“... That’s weird. You’re weird.”

Wifey pouted. “What would it take for you to kiss my brother?”

“A lot more than you’re willing to give. Just ask me when I get my memories back, yeah?”

“I guess I can wait for that, but we don’t know when your memories are coming back.”

I held out my right arm. “Turn me up and we’ll see if that works. If it doesn’t, turn me down and I’ll keep on at the limit that’s been set.”

Twilight looked at my bracelet and glanced at Blue. “I don’t think that’s a good idea Kaid.”

“I promise I’ll turn it down myself if you don’t.” I didn’t even cross my fingers.

Twilight glanced at Blue again, so I looked at her in time to see her shrug. “I don’t see why you wouldn’t. Have a little faith in Kaid, sweetie.”

Wifey pursed her lips. “... Okay. I… We’ll try it.”

I wasn’t exactly eager to see if it would work, but… Well, I was a little scared, to be honest. I felt like I was going to lose a part of myself when I gained my memories, but I don’t know why I felt that way. When Twilight took my hand in hers and ticked past the forty-fifth indicator, I held my breath and waited for her to hit the last one, and when she did, the weird feeling I got from my Magic came back with a vengeance and made me start thinking straighter, like there was a fog in my mind that had finally been lifted. I saw more clearly, heard more sharply, felt much more precisely. It was an odd, though not jarring transition that I welcomed, and as memories started flowing back into my mind, taking their rightful places, I felt myself shift and change until I was shunted off to the side of my own body, my vision fading as I entered the abyss.

I blinked rapidly to try to clear the blindness from my eyes, but even as I rubbed them, nothing happened. I could still hear Twilight and Blue’s heartbeats, though they seemed… Distant. They were similar to a scattered dream that’s like a far off memory, but as they began to overtake my ears and drown out the thrumming in my heart, a circle of light appeared off in the distance of the darkness and steps lit up, winding their way to the platform that seemed to rise higher the longer I looked at it. I decided to get a fucking move on since I wasn’t keen on finding out if it was going to keep rising without me being on it, so I got to stepping and followed the stairs up.

Voices sounded in the distance, all four of them sounding irritated. “He’ll get here when he gets here,” A soft baritone said firmly, “so quit your bitching and get the fuck over yourselves.”

A raspy bass answered him. “If Kaid wasn’t such a fool, he could’ve convinced Twilight to free him from the bonds earlier! You could have done it in less than a day!”

“Chill, Prime. There’s no point in getting mad at a kid, especially since he got sent to the fucking Moon before he could even get his bearings on Equus.” A pleasant alto replied. She sounded kinda hot.

“Don’t call me ‘Prime’.” Prime spat.

“We’re not calling you Gadai. That name belongs to Kaid.” The baritone said firmly. “Speaking of, he can hear us, so unless you want to continue this conversation and answer more questions than before, then I suggest you shut up.”

Prime scoffed. “Whatever. If he can even wrap his head around this, I’ll be surprised.”

“Ye of little faith.” A mild tenor said kindly. “Kaid’s got a good head on his shoulders, he was just in the wrong place to use it. If he’d ended up in Gryphonia, he’d be striving right now.”

“Fucking Ponyland.” The baritone complained.

“You’re the one who’s gonna have to go back to ruling it.” The sexy alto said.

I was just about up the stairs at this point, and when I reached the top of the spacious platform, I saw all four people I’d heard talking. I regarded each of them in turn, “Well hullo.”

To start from the left, I recognized ‘Max’ immediately. He was taller than the rest and a fair amount bulkier, his arms crossed and his posture relaxed. When he saw me, he gave me an up-nod and a smirk, so I returned the gesture since he’d shown me respect. It’s a gesture you might get if you’re a part of some seedy business, so I’ll explain it real quick: Up-nod means respect, normal nod means ‘keep it moving’. He was wearing a navy blue V-neck that looked pretty comfy, some dark denim trousers, and boots that reminded me of a pair that I’d had my eyes on for some time when I was still in England.

The next person was a little taller than me and sketchy looking with long dark hair that covered his eyes completely and a posture that would allow him to move at a moment’s notice. He seemed like the lean and lethal type to me, so I gave him a normal nod and he returned it. He was wearing a black bomber jacket over an ash grey shirt that seemed to make him harder to look at, though I don’t know why that was. He was also wearing some black trousers, but I couldn’t tell what they were made of, and his shoes were high-soled and looked like they wouldn’t make much noise.

The person next to him was the one woman, and she was rather pretty, but not as hot as say, Fluttershy or Applejack. Before I could take my eyes off of her, she had something to say.

“You’re the only one here who thinks I’m actually pretty.” She said, chuckling.

I gave her a look. “Don’t let these fuckwits tell you any different.”

She shook her head, chuckling some more, so I took the time to examine her apparel and liked what I saw. The frilled violet tank top was pretty cute, and the cream-coloured knit cardigan she wore over it looked nice as well, though I was more interested in the way her jeans hugged her legs, accentuating every little curve. I didn't let my gaze linger anywhere, so I turned to the last guy.

This fellow stood out by wearing a pale grey sweater and a checkered white and grey sweater vest that made him look like a regular dork. The hipster glasses didn’t help, but at the very least he wasn’t wearing skinny jeans or anything like that, so I could give him a pass. I was kinda jealous of his Vans since they were pretty fucking sweet, but I stopped giving a shit about fashion and swept my gaze over them once more.

I just realized that I gave a description of what they were wearing, but not what they actually look like. Shit. Whatever, I know what they look like and I’ll describe them some other time, perhaps. Just know that they all had brown hair of varying shades. Max’s was close to black, but it was still brown while the sketchy looking guy might’ve actually had black hair if it wasn’t for the way the light shined off, giving me a feeling that it was just exceptionally dark. The woman’s hair was still brunette, but it had kind of an auburn-y flavour to it, and the good boy-lookin muhfucker had light brown hair. My hair and Max’s were the closest out of the five of us, but his was actually a little lighter than mine for some reason. I thought it was odd since we were supposed to be the same person, but it really wasn’t a concern of mine at the time.

I raised a hand and greeted them as a whole. “Yo, whassup?”

“Wotcher.” Max said civilly.

“Good to see you.” The nice guy said.

“Hullo there.” The woman said pleasantly.

“Jackass.” Prime grumbled.

“Would it kill you to be less of a douche?” I asked irritably.

“It’s the way I am. No one here can do a damn thing about it, so fuck off.” Prime replied with no small amount of hostility.

“Prime, chill before I take you down a peg. If you can’t say something non offensive, hold your tongue.” Max said critically.

“Tch. Whatever.” He still shut up though.

I walked a bit further onto the platform and the group came towards me until we stopped around two meters from each other. They stood about a foot apart, making a small semi-circle around me. “So what is this? Why are we here?” I asked.

“You’re here because you finally cracked the Magic that was holding us down.” The lady explained. “When Twilight fed us that sugar shite, she pretty much created a potion that would cause Max’s psyche to split into the biggest parts he had.”

I tilted my head. “So what? We have multiple personalities now?”

Nice Guy coughed. “Well, not quite. Max has multiple personalities. We, as in you, Primal, Roxanne, and myself are all different pieces of Max.”

“... But I have memories of Earth-”

“We all do, kid.” Prime cut in. “The only thing is that the rest of us have memories of Equus too. You were the last shard of Max’s psyche to get broken off, so you ended up in control, and since you’re based off of Max himself when he was sixteen, you only have those memories. Unlike us, however, you’re a fuckin’ genius, so take that and run with it.”

“... Rigt. So… What’s your name, Nice Guy?”

“My name in here is ‘Prince’, but you can call me Rex. I know we’re both fond of Latin.” He gave me a warm smile.

I gave him a look. “I’m not calling you ‘King’.”

He kept on smiling. “And that’s perfectly fine, Kaid. I’m sure you’d rather be talking to someone else right now anyway.”

I nodded. “Thanks for being cool about it. Nice shoes though.”

“Thank you.” He said brightly.

I turned to Max. “So does this mean that we’re all going to get mixed back into you or something? Because I don’t know how this multiple personality thing is supposed to work.”

He shook his head. “No, not quite. I’ll be taking over my body since it’s fucking mine anyway, but you’ll be here with Roxy, Prince, and Prime. It’s not like you’ll be stuck without something to do or anything, so don’t worry about that.”

My heart sped up, but before I could voice my panic, Roxy took over. “Oi, don’t send yourself into a fit over something you can’t control. It’s Max’s body and we’re all just pieces of his mind. We’ll all get our slice of the pie when the time comes, but Max has promised that he’ll be sending us all plenty to do while we’re waiting for a turn with the main body anyway, and he fully intends on keeping his promise.” She paused to let that sink in. “The biggest thing is that Max can give us our own versions of Twilight so we can still be with her. If you want, he can bring a version of Blue in here that will let you get away with one or two swears a day so you can keep working on your language, even if you’re not in control.” Roxy gave me a little smirk to top it off.

I felt my face heat up, moderate despair taking over my heart. “... Are you seriously telling me that I’m not even a person? That I’m just some-”

“Oi!” Max shouted roughly, scaring the fuck out of me. Dude’s intimidating, in my defense. “Stop that shit. You are a person. You think, do you not?” I nodded slowly. “You feel, do you not?” I nodded again. “You want, do. You. NOT?”

“Well, yeah…”

He came over and laid a hand on my shoulder and I’m pretty sure he levitated me to put us on equal ground. “You are a person, Kaid, with your own thoughts, feelings, and personality. You just happen to be a piece of me. Don’t forget the first part, mate, because that’ll hold you above the water when the time comes, and we’ve all been there. You ever need to talk to someone, Prince and Roxy are willing to listen and Roxy got some pretty soft tits, so ask her to let you-” Roxy slapped the back of his head.

“Don’t listen to this dumbarse, he’s gonna get you fucked up.” Roxy huffed. “I will, however, hug it out with you if you need some physical affection. We’ve been watching, and you said that it’s your thing, which is something even Max didn’t know about himself. If you need a little more than affection, then we’re gonna have to spend at least a week together before I give you anything other than a casual handy.”

“Didn’t offer it to anyone else.” Prime grumbled darkly.

“You’re gay, Prince is devoted solely to Twilight, and Max doesn’t like handjobs.” Roxy shot back. “Kaid’s got more piss and vinegar in his veins than just about anyone else, so of course I’d offer to help him out.” She looked back to me. “Just don’t make a habit of asking, yeah? I’m not exactly into guys, but you’re me, so I’ll make an exception.”

Her lopsided smile made my heart thud a couple times. “Are you trying to soften me up for a heavy blow, are you trying to get me hard so you can be a tease?”

“Por que no los dos?” She said.

“I don’t know what that means.” I replied.

“It means that anal’s off the table.” Max said bluntly. “Speaking of, you can actually get drunk or high in here, but shit will still be addictive. It might take three of us to lock someone down normally, but we can force you to dry out, and it’ll suck every bit as much as you think it will.”

“... So no coke?” I asked pointlessly.

“No coke.” Roxy repeated. “Besides, if I catch you speeding, I’m wrecking you. The only people here who can’t kill someone with their bare hands are you and Prince.”

“... What happens if I die in here?” I asked, fear creeping into my voice.

All eyes turned to Prince and he sighed. “You serve a portion of Max’s time in Hell. I was driven insane by it the first time Prime killed me, but it brought me back to normalcy when he did it the second time. Either way, if you die once, someone has to kill you a second time for there to be a reconnect between you and the Anima.”

I turned to Prime and he shrugged. “Roxy got me once, but Max got me three times after that for doing it in the first place. There’s a nonaggression thing going on that’s pretty strict about not coming to blows.”

“So there are already rules in place?” I asked.

Roxy nodded. “There are. They’re all pretty fair, but the biggest one is the one about me. Try anything I don’t like twice and I decide what happens to you.”

I stared at her. “... You’re the JJ and E?”

She raised a brow. “Judge, jury, and executioner?”

“Yeah.”

“Only when it comes to rape.”

“Fucking shit fuck fire, do you honestly think I’d pull that shit after what I’ve been through!?” I asked, shocked and little pissed off.

“Oi, mate, it’s nothing personal. You’re misunderstanding.” Max said. “Roxy in charge of everything involving rape. If Prime comes after your arse, she deals with him. If you decide to go after Prince, she deals with you. If someone rapes someone in Equestria, I defer to her judgement. She’s not going to fuck you up for grabbing her arse one too many times, but I’ll go ahead and warn you that she’ll probably break that hand.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “So don’t try my luck? Gotcha.” I looked at Roxy. “Just let me know if I’m being a shithead or something, yeah? I’ll keep to myself after that.”

She gave me a smile. “That’s all I’m asking here, sweetie. A little respect goes a long way.”

I gave her a nod and turned to Max. “So… I get the feeling that you-” He jabbed me in the eye and my head jerked back, making me stumble.

He came and grabbed me by my shirt. “That’s for telling Twilight to kill herself. Say some shit like that again and I’ll actually kill you.”

“M-Message received, bruv.” I said like a lil bitch. Seriously though, I’m pretty sure Max has killed more people than I remember seeing.

He let me go and Roxy came up. She just slapped me, but it stung something fierce. “What Max said.”

I got hit in the kidney next. “What they said.”

While I was wishing I had three hands, someone tapped my shoulder and I looked up at Prince. “Please don't hit me.” I groaned.

He shook his head and held up his index finger before suddenly thrusting it upward. The finger disappeared at the same time I felt… an… intrusion, making me panic and throw a punch into his stomach. He doubled over and the finger in my ass disappeared. “You asked- Me not to- Hit you.” He gasped.

He got hit three more times. “You don’t mess with the arse, fuckwit.” Max said as he finished with his own punch to Prince.

“Why are you fuckers ganging up on the only two people who can’t fight?” I groaned.

“Be happy the rule says we stop at one.” Prime spat. “I’m still ready to fuck you up for screwing with Twilight.”

“Fuck off! She’s unreasonable as fuck!” I argued.

Max scoffed. “No shit. She asked me not to kill people in the middle of a fucking war, mate. Twilight’s the most brilliant retard I’ve ever met.”

“She is kind of a cunt at times.” Roxy added. “A judgemental, spiteful fucking cunt.”

Prince sighed. “I would have happily broken her arms if she’d actually cheated on us. Betrayal like that deserves no patience.”

Prime grunted. “Bitch is naive and blind, but she’s the best we’re gonna get. It’s already set in fucking stone. The amount of bullshit she’s pulled, like blaming us for fighting Shining, telling us to lay down and be a doormat for her Dad, having the fucking nerve to get upset over us ending the fucking war.” He spat on the ground, clearly disgusted.

I stared at all of them as they spoke. “... Why are we even with her if all of us have something against her?”

“True love.” Prime spat it out bitterly, Prince sighed it like he was depressed, Roxy said it softly like volume would make it suck less, and Max said it plainly since it was a fact.

“... You say that-”

“We are trapped, Kaid. We couldn’t leave Twilight even if we wanted to, and keeping her happy keeps her around, which makes us stay sane.” Max said not unkindly. “We either stick with Twilight or we go evil. We’re a special kind of fucked, but I swear to Capital G that if you say a fucking word of this, any of you, I will fucking smite you.” He finished with venom.

I swallowed hard. “She said we weren’t supposed to keep things from her.”

“And yet you found out that I kept two big things from her.” Max replied. “Shit doesn't always go how we plan, mate, and that’s pretty much how life around Twilight is. She makes a shit sandwich and she comforts us as we eat it. Or, as it was with the ‘no killing’ thing, she shits on a plate, tells us to lie down, and then gets mad when we roll of out the way after she throws it. Seriously, I’d like to fuck Twilight up sometimes just for being as stupid as she is, but I fucking love her. The pros outweigh the cons if you think about it long and hard.”

“You forgot to add that you have to black out some of the cons, squint at the list, and think about the last time you had sex with her at the same time.” Prime added bitterly.

Max tilted his head toward him. “No one ever said that love was easy or that the shit made sense. It’s the situation we’re in, and all of us are known for being adapters.” Max kept his gaze on me. “Don’t feel bad about cracking under pressure, though. There’s only so much you can adapt to, and being thrown onto a different world, waking up married, finding out that you’re a warrior Prince, and being forced to fall in line are all pretty heart-stopping on their own. You did your best, mate, and you did pretty well for the most part.”

“Yo, mate, I’m more worried about the secret hate we have for Twilight. Shouldn't’ we tell her about this shit before we can’t stand to be around her?” I asked.

Roxy sighed. “The True Love keeps us happy while we’re around her and chokes down the negative thoughts. When Twilight ran away from her punishment for lying to Max, he wanted to call her out on all of her bullshit, but he just couldn’t. Like he said; we’re stuck, fucked ducks.”

“... I’ll do it.” I said softly.

Max gave me a sad half-smile. “You can't. Even if you could slip past the True Love, you’d still have to deal with us for hurting Twilight. We swore to protect her, and that includes her feelings, mate.”

“... Are you serious?”

Prince sighed. “We’re stuck in Love’s little circle of Hell, my friend. It’s going to suck for the rest of our unnaturally long life.”

I didn’t feel like standing anymore, so I thought up a chair and buried my hands in my hair. “This sucks.”

Roxy and Prince put their hands on me while Max knelt so he could look me in the eye. “Accept it and move on, Kaid. You’ve said it yourself that getting worked up over something you can’t change is pointless, so throw yourself into some research or work it out with your fists. Hell, you can create a sex doll that’s so realistic, you can feel the honeypot contract and climax if you want, but nothing you do is ever going to let you take it out on Twilight, and you’ve got to accept that on some level before you’ll ever get close to being happy again.”

“... I want Blue.” I said. “She… She’ll know what to do.”

“I’ll get her to you, first thing. I promise you that, mate. I’ll give you the rest of today to say goodbye before I take over, so make it worth your while, yeah?” Max said kindly.

I shook and pulled at my hair. “Why?”

“Because it’s just how life is, Kaid. Curveballs come at you as hard as they can, and when they go low, you feel it.” He put it plainly. “It sucks harder than Dyson right now, but the pain fades in time. It doesn’t go away, but it gets manageable and you’ll be able to breathe again, just don’t expect it to be right now.”

I sniffed and tried to hold back the sweat, but it came anyway. Someone disappeared the back of my chair, and I’m assuming it was Roxy because she wrapped her arms around me. “It’ll be okay, sweetie. It’ll all be alright when we get Blue in here, and in the meantime, you can lean on me. I’m strong enough to keep your head up, no matter how hard gravity is pulling you down.”

I literally did lean into her and she held firm, letting me rest my head against her breasts. I would say tits, but so far, I actually respect the woman, so I’m not going to say some unnecessarily ugly shit. There wasn’t much I could do to reply to her since I was in the middle of breaking down, but it was comforting to know that I wasn’t the only one bearing the burden, that all five of us were carrying this weight on our shoulders and that we could talk to each other about it. I don’t know if Prime has much of a tender side, but I’m willing to bet that even he needs to get some things off of his chest from time to time.

I mentioned Prime because he said, “Punching shit until your hands bleed helps. It’s better than crying.”

“I don’t think that’s Kaid’s style.” Prince said softly. He rubbed my back and carried on with, “Let it out until the hollow ache comes. We won’t let the void take you again, Kaid, so don’t be afraid to feel.”

That made me sweat from my eyes a little harder, but it also made Roxy hold me a little closer, so that was pretty nice too. I think I might’ve developed a little crush on her or something in the twenty minutes I’d known her. I would’ve liked to have been miserable in silence, but Max said, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned since coming to Equestria, it’s that being forward with your feelings when you can afford to be is more valuable than just about anything between the worlds. No one here is going to judge you, but we will ride your arse for goofy shit, though that’s just how we are. Even Prime doesn’t mean to be a prick, that’s just how he communicates.”

I nodded from Roxy’s bosom and she held my head still. “That tickles, so try to talk if you can manage it, sweetie.”

“Y-Yeah.” I said thickly.

“When you’re ready to go back, there’s a runic circle on the far side of the platform.” Max said. “No time passes while all of us are in here, so you’ll fade back into the moment you left. Be sure to turn the limiter down before you make me nervous, because I’m pretty sure that ripping control from you is going to hurt, and everyone’s going to feel it.”

“G-Gotcha.” I managed. I barely spat it out, but I still did it.

“Max, was now really the time for that?” Roxy chided.

“I know him better than you do, Roxy. Your mind is different from ours. Kaid might be a younger version of me, but he’s still me, and I know that having someone talk to me while I’m wallowing in despair, distracting me from my pain helps me more than focusing and honing in on it.” Max replied calmly.

Roxy stroked my hair, running her finger through my locks. “If you say so.” She rested her cheek on the top of my head.

Prime grumbled some bullshit. “I’m gonna go fight Crimson again. Might see if I can fuck him.”

That got a chuckle out of me and Max. “Go easy on him or you won’t have a chance to enjoy it.” He warned.

“Shit, Crimson can take it. He’s a real man.” Prime said darkly.

He fucked off shortly after and I stopped sweating so profusely. Once I was good, I got off of Roxy, but she still kept a hand on me, making me give her a questioning look after I cleared my eyes. She just smiled and winked at me, but I couldn’t read her expression, confusing the fuck out of me. Prince let us know that he was going to go read one of the books that I’d spent time researching, but Max and Roxy stayed with me.

I looked at each of them in turn. “What’s keeping you two?”

Max shrugged. “You see the doors, right?” He pointed behind him with a thumb.

I leaned around him on both sides and saw a black door, a purple one, a light grey one, a dark blue one, and a green one that matched my eyes. “Yeah. What about em’?”

“That’s where we usually hang out if we’re not feeling up to hanging out on the platform,” He pointed to a fucking massive screen, “watching what goes on. I’m here because I need to know that you’re not going to pull some bullshit, though you really shouldn’t take offense to that. I’ll be watching whenever someone else has control of the body anyway.”

“Wait, were you the fucker slapping my head around like I was a fucking speedbag?” I asked indignantly.

He raised a brow. “Eeyup. Shouldn’t have been doing stupid shit.”

I glared at him. “Sucks to your assmar, faggot.”

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t have hit you if you didn’t deserve it, mate.”

“You did deserve it.” Roxy chimed in.

“I’ll stick a finger in your butt.” I grumbled.

“I’ll return the favour, but with a strap-on.” She warned.

“... It sucks that both of you can kick my ass.” I muttered darkly.

“Oi, could be worse. You could have memories of being tortured, raped, and killing thousands of people.” Max said flatly.

I stared at him. “The fuck?”

Roxy patted my back. “Yeah, our life sucks pretty hard, but at least you don’t have to remember the most recent horrors. You’re lucky in that aspect.”

“Isn’t it respect?” I asked.

“Both work.” Max commented. “It’s really just a matter of which one you’d rather go with. Speaking of going with things, stop prolonging the suffering and go explain the situation to our loved ones. It’s gonna suck arse, but it’s better to get it over with as soon as possible, and the time you get with Blue isn’t going to change any time soon.”

I looked at Roxy and she nodded. “I’ll still be here when you come back, and Blue won’t be too far behind you if Max has anything to say about it. It really is for the best if you just go and get it over with. Don’t think too hard, okay sweetie?” She advised. I didn’t need to ask what she was talking about.

“Yeah… Alright. Best to just get it over with and all that... “ I said softly, rising from my chair.

“Hold on, mate.” Max lifted his left hand and closed his eyes, something forming in his hand. I watched as he materialized a pocket watch from the ether, and it was quite the pretty little number, but I wasn’t terribly impressed with the gold trinket since I was literally about to be torn from another world and shunted into someone’s head. “It’s about three right now, so I’ll give you until three in the morning to get the necessary stuff done.” He tossed the watch to me. “That’ll tell you how much time you have left, so I suggest you get your journal entry written out as fast as you can so you can keep spending time with Mum.”

“Max, you’re being kinda dickish.” Roxy said coldly.

“Oi, I don’t like this anymore than anyone else. This whole situation fucking sucks, and it’s a damn shame that we have to got through it, but it’s what we got.” He replied.

“Doesn’t mean you have to put it out there so callously. He might be you, but he’s not you.” Roxy said, her tone getting chillier.

“Yo, it’s cool. I gotta get going anyway, yeah?” I said. “I’d rather just go hug Mum for a little bit if it’s all the same to you guys. Well, guy and girl.”

Roxy let me stand before she pulled me in for a hug. “I’ll be waiting for you, okay? We might not know each other too well yet, but we can fix that with a little time and some feelsy bullshit.”

I hugged her back, loving the fact that she was shorter than me. “You’re already the best and I barely know you. God, does it ever suck that you’re gay.”

She chuckled and grabbed my ass, making me jump, but not pull away. Her breasts really were soft, just like Max said. “I can be straight for a couple hours, just don’t get used to it.”

I grabbed her ass because she was grabbing mine and she stood on her tiptoes. “I’ll hold you to that, then I’ll hold it against you.”

Roxy pushed me away gently, smiling. “Dumbarse.”

“Scrubber.” I shot back with a grin.

“I didn’t just get done sleeping with two strangers.” She replied smoothly.

“Oi, Strawberry’s ass is fantasstic.”

“Why don’t you just say ‘arse’ like a real Brit? You fucking Chav.”

“Sorry, I used to be real Chavvy before I got somewhat mature.” Max said. “At least I never wore fake Adidas, Jordans, or listened to garbage tier rap.”

I gave him a look. “You know damn well that I have a shitty knock-off jacket that I wear for strolls.”

He returned my look with one of his own, and his was far more effective. “Yeah, for strolls. I don’t see you with fake bling, a lit up beater, or some ugly skuzz hanging off your arm with a bulging belly waiting to pop out a kid you can’t take care of. We might be a little shit, but we’re not that shit.”

“Fair enough.” I reached over and grabbed one of Roxy’s breasts, ducking as I did so. I wasn’t expecting her to knee me in the forehead.

“Don't get handsy now, Kaid. You’ve got work to do.” She said calmly.

I rubbed my head. “Why is your knee so hard?”

“It gets a lot of use.” Roxy and Max said in unison.

“So do your collective arseholes, but you didn’t say anything about that.” I sniped.

Roxy rolled her eyes and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “Whatever, kid. Get a move on so you can get it over with. The sooner you do, the sooner we can get started on getting to know each other.”

“Damn straight. I know your feelings for Twilight aren’t as intense as mine, so hurry up and let me get back to my imperfect piece of perfection, yeah?” Max requested.

“Sure thing, bruv. I’ll tell her you send hot, sexy, intimate, tongue-filled kisses that she won’t let me have when I see her.” I crossed my heart.

“Tell her that you’ll eat the browneye when you do.” He smirked.

“I really will.” I chuckled. “So where da home button on this bitch again?”

He and Roxy pointed, and as I walked, they took up positions on either side of me like an honor guard of sorts. It was actually kinda cool, having a handsome older version of myself and a hot female version of myself walking with me on my way to exit my mind. When we got to the circle, it glowed and Max stopped me before I could step on.

“Oi,” He said softly, “It’s okay to cry. Thought you might need to hear that.”

“Punk ass bitch.” I replied. “Crying is for pussies, women, and children.”

Roxy pulled on my ear. “I might be a bit of a dyke, but that doesn’t mean I’m not feminine you little fuck!”

“I never said you weren’t!” I protested, trying to get her fingers off of my ear.

“That’s not what I heard.” She nagged brutally.

“Fuck off and lemme go!”

She let me go, much to my pleasure. “Whatever. Doesn’t mean Max isn’t right though. Don’t cry all the fucking time and you’ll be good, so don’t be afraid to let loose when you see Blue again.”

“I’ll be sure to let my balls shrivel right after I turn the bracelet-” I started.

“It’s a bangle.” Max and Roxy chorused.

“What’s the bloody difference?”

“Bracelets have a faster of some sort, bangles slip on.” Roxy explained patronizingly. “Seriously, aren’t you a thief? How do you not know the difference.”

“Wotcha before I smack ya bloody gob, init? I’ll bang you out up and downa street!” I retorted hotly.

Roxy closed her eyes, took a deep breath while raising her arms with her hands in the karate chop position. “Boi. Get on somewhere.” She’d lowered her arms when she spoke. It was a gesture that seemed familiar, but I couldn't place my finger on it.

“Don’t meme on Kaid.” Max chided before shoving me onto the circle. I had enough time to turn around and open my mouth before the circle flashed and I was sent back into the darkness.

There wasn’t much for me to do other than wait, so I stood around for a little bit since I couldn’t move and I felt my body shifting into a certain position until I came to a complete stop. A breath later, I faded back into the moment where Twilight had just finished twisted the bangle. I hurried up and turned it down before anyone could say anything, and the next thing I did was hug Blue like I’d never get to see her again. I made sure to do more squeezing with my right arm than my left since I wasn’t trying to hurt her and I followed Max and Roxy’s advice.

This is the only time I’ll admit that I cried, so pay attention. I cried for the birth I’d never wanted, by which I mean that I never wanted to be separated from Max. I cried for the love I felt like I was going to lose, even knowing that I’d practically spurned it when I’d first come into contact with it on multiple occasions. I cried because I wasn’t even going to get to stay on the planet I’d been put on, even though I wanted nothing more to leave it. I cried because I’d never see Earth, my crew, another shiny bauble to sell, McDonald’s, or my best friend come brother. I cried because I knew that the love I felt for the two women closest to me wasn’t my own, even if they did love me back. I cried because the pain I’d felt on the Moon was nothing compared to the horror of losing everything again. Lastly (as far as I know), I cried because I didn’t feel like a real person anymore. I felt like a shade, a facet of someone else’s being, and that one brought me to my knees.

As I fell to my grief, Twilight and Blue were doing their best to console me, but I was gasping for air just to let out more cries of anguish. It wasn’t just for what had happened on Equus anymore: no, it was for every little thing that had ever made me hurt, every little thing that had made me want to break down back on Earth. Every tear I’d held onto for the past four years, every drop of sorrow, fell in turn, finally making their way out like I’d always wanted them to. It took hours for me to dry it up and get the fuck over it, but when I was finally done, all I could think of was what I owed to the older versions of myself. Never knew it would feel so good to be a little bitch, but here I am, sweating from my fucking eyes again because everyone is a little bitch-made at heart.

I cleared my face with Magic when I got the last pathetic moans out of my system and lifted my head from Blue’s chest so I could look at her. “I-I know this love isn’t mine, but I… I know I’ll love you on my own. I swear that I’ll make space for you in my heart.” I oathed, nearly breaking down again.

Blue looked at me, confusion in her eyes. “I don’t understand, baby. What do you mean?”

I rubbed my eyes and took a deep breath. “I-I met Max. My feelings for you are his feelings.”

“... You… Met yourself?” She asked.

I nodded a few times. “I’m not just young Max. I’m a fragment of him. There are four of us in total, but Max is the main.” My lips quivered. “I’m just a personality.”

Blue’s eyes took a hard gleam to them. “That’s a load of bullshit.” She spat. “I barely grasp what you’re talking about, but you’re SO much more than just a personality, Kaid. You’re a living breathing ‘person’ with thoughts and feelings that no’one’ else can claim but you. You make your own decisions, and you have your own opinions, and I don’t give a shit what any’body’ has said to you on the subject, but you’re every bit as much my son as Max is!”

“Thank you.” I managed through some eye-sweat. I hugged her again because I’d needed to hear that. I needed a lot of things, and a mother like Blue was one of them.

She held me tightly. “I love you, Kaid. Don’t you ever forget that.”

I sniffled and generally just went full-bitch while in my Mum’s arms, but then again, where else should you spend time crying if not within the arms of someone who loves you? Twilight had been silent for a about an hour while I was being weak, but she had to ask, “I-I really do hate to bother you right now, Kaid, but I need to know if Max is okay.”

“Twilight-” Blue started.

“Max sends kisses and says he wants to lick your rosebud.” I hiccuped.

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. “What are you feeling right now, Kaid? Is there anything we can do for you?”

“... No. I’ll be good in a mo’.”

“Do you want to talk?” Blue asked.

“.... I feel like I’m losing everything all over again. It’s like when my birth-giver killed my dad, or when I got rolled and had my arm broken, or when I woke up in Equestria, or when I got sent to the Moon, but it’s just SO MUCH WORSE. I don’t want anybody to ever have to feel like this. There are people I hate from the core of my being, but no one deserves this.” I said thickly.

“Why is it worse, baby?” Blue prodded gently.

“I’m gonna be stuck in Max’s head until he decides to let me out. I’m gonna be trapped with four strangers that I’ve talked to for less than an hour. I’m not even gonna be able to see either of you unless I wanna watch through Max’s eyes.” I murmured.

“Oh. Oh dear Heavens.” Blue said, her voice full of shock and pity. “I-I’m sure Max will let you have some time with us, baby. It’s not like him to just let a pony suffer for his own personal gain, and you can believe me on that. If nothing else, I’ll be on him until the Sun stops shining to let me see you again. I promise.” She held me down, but I just couldn’t sweat from my eyes anymore. I think I was dehydrated.

“If Blue can’t convince him, then I’ll do it.” Twilight swore. “We might not be as close as Max and I are, but I do love you, Kaid, even if I can’t show you like I want to.”

“... Max promised to get you into his head somehow so the four of us… Others, I guess, would still have someone to love. It kills everyone when they can’t be with you themselves.”

“Wait, there are four people in Max’s head who are all in love with me?” Twilight asked, shocked to shit.

“Yeah.” I elegantly replied.

“... Well, I suppose I’d like to meet them some time.”

“I would too. If they’re all people that have some of Max’s feelings like you, then I’m sure they wouldn’t mind meeting their mother.” Blue said.

I held the hand she’d been stroking my hair with to my face. “I specifically asked for you.”

“... It’s nice to know that I’ve already had such a lasting effect on you.” Blue said warmly.

“I need a Mum in my life, whether I think I do or not.” I replied softly.

“So you’re finally seeing reason! It’s about time!” She chuckled and pinched my cheek.

‘Tell her you’ll have Onyx stick a finger in her bum if she keeps it up.’ Roxy said in my head.

I passed the message along. “Roxy said to tell you that I’ll have Onyx stick a finger in the backdoor if you keep it up.”

“... Roxy?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, she’s another Other.” I replied.

“... That’s incredible. I know Max acts differently when he’s Roxy, but I didn’t think she’d become her own being…” Twilight said numbly.

“The other two are called Prince and Primal if that makes any sense to you. Prince is a real nice guy, but Primal’s kind of a dick. He’s not all that bad, but he’s a bit peevish, y’know?” I said, chilling on Mum because I was comfortable, safe, and warm. It was a nice place to be.

“So the Paths Max told me about became separate beings as well? That’s fascinating! I can’t wait to learn more about them!” Wifey was clearly excited.

I reached into my pocket and found the pocket watch Max had given me in his head. I don’t know how it came over to reality, but I was glad for it. “I’ve got just under ten hours left with you. Is there anything we can do?”

“Well, we live in Ponyville, so…” Blue trailed off.

“We can go to Canterlot and have some fun there, or we can go to the Crystal Empire and try some of the local faire. I don’t know how much of it you can actually eat since Max never tried any of the native foods, but I’m sure you’ll have a good time!” Twilight said cheerfully.

“Whichever sounds fine to me. As long as I’m spending time with my two favourite ladies.” I said softly, feeling the ache. It wasn’t just from knowing that I only had so much time to spend with them. What Max and the Others said about Twilight made my heart twinge.

“Then stand up so we can get to it! The sooner the better, right?” Blue let me go.

I got off of her and onto my feet, giving her a hand up when I rose. “Yeah. Let’s make this a good day.”

And so we made the most of it. I don’t wanna go into detail about what all we did because we did a lot of shit and I’m pressed for time already. I’ve got about ten more minutes to write this out before Max takes over, and it’s hard to see right now, but I’ve gotta get this done, leave my mark on the world in some small way. Here goes nothing. We went to a cafe, first and foremost because I was starving after bawling my fucking face off for so long, and the food was pretty alright, though I would’ve rather had lunch at the castle where there’s actual meat instead of shitty tofu. Still, the trip to the sweet shop, a nice place called the Canterlot Crown Confectionery, was great and the gummies I got were awesome. I tend not to chew gummies for some odd reason, but I don't think it really matters. I think it’s because they last longer that way, but again, I’m not sure. The next place we went was the Canterlot Castle Gardens where I avoided talking to animals because that shit was fucking weird! Like,Twilight knew full and damn well that Max could understand animals, and I think that’s why she was laughing when I started freaking out. Fuckin’ bitch.

After Blue got done chiding Twilight for her shitty prank, we went to a museum that was so boring, I requested that we leave less than ten minutes into the tour, so we went to another museum, but for art this time. Some of the more famous painting were awfully similar to some I’d seen in textbooks and on the internet on Earth, so seeing the Ponified versions was pretty cool, though I can’t say that art is really my thing. It wasn’t Twilight or Mum’s thing either, so we split like a banana from that borefest and went to watch a group of trained fliers called ‘The Wonderbolts’ do a show at some weird track. They basically just did some interesting aerial maneuvers and flew hella fast, but I had a good time watching Twilight and Blue ‘Ooh’ and “Ahh’ at them, so it was time well spent. I can’t fly, nor do I ever want to, so I wasn’t really on the whole Wonderbolt Wavelength.

We went from the track to an arcade, and I found out very quickly that Twilight is absolute garbage with a joystick, but Blue may as well have been the fucking Queen of the place since she set top scores wherever she went. Still, I wrecked more scores than she did and accidentally dashed one of hers, which earned me a stern look about one-upping one’s own mother, but that was a half-hearted talking-to at best and I could tell that Blue was mostly just jealous of my super tubular skillz. After the arcade, there was a botanical garden that ‘Do Not Eat The Flowers’ plastered on signs every five meters like fucking clockwork. Twilight totally ignored them when she came across this one species of roses that were extra thorny, plucking one of the flowers right off of the bush. Someone came to chide her about it, but then they realized that they were talking to a Princess and welcomed her to eat as many of the flowers as she wanted. Twilight refused and apologized, but she said, “It was just so appetizing, I couldn’t help myself!”. I still think eating flowers is fucking weird, but-

Max just told me that my time’s up. He’s gonna let me finish this off, so I gotta be quick about it. Blue, Mum, if you ever read this, I want you to know that today was one of the best days I’ve had in years. Twilight, if Max lets you read these pages, I want you to know that none of us Others (besides Primal) is bitter about being forced to love you. There’s no one else I’d rather be with, even if you won’t fuck me.

This is Kaid, signing off one last time. It’s been one Hell of a trip, yeah?

Author's Notes:

And thus we see the last of Kaid, or rather, sixteen year-old Max... Or do we?

As Always. Stay Cool, Kids.