The morning sun was shining right into my eyes, teasing me to wake up. I defiantly threw my right foreleg over my eyes to block away the irritating sphere. I shifted and rolled onto my side. Twilight was lying on my left a- wait. Twilight, my arm. Holy shit. I moved my right arm and peeked.

She was lying on my arm as a pillow. Her back was only a few inches away from my chest. I could feel my heart trying desperately to pound its way through my chest. I held my breath, afraid to move a muscle. She suddenly stirred awake. I tried desperately to look away from her, so she wouldn’t think that I had been watching her sleeping.

She rolled around and faced me. Her mane was frazzled and unkempt. I liked it. She looked at me with tired eyes and smiled. I just froze. I couldn’t move or do anything but to stare at her. Dammit! Get a grip for Celestia’s sake! I shook my head and she giggled. Damn, another stupid smile...

Twilight stood up on the bed and started walking towards the edge of it. I sat up and cracked a few joints. Instead of jumping off the bed, she took cautious steps. Her flank raised significantly as she stepped down with her forelegs.

Funny thing about being a pegasus; when you get excited, your wings snap open in a rather embarassing fashion. And when you have wings as big as mine, you get thrown out of balance. That’s what happened to me. Damn pegasus anatomy...

With a resounding ’‘pomf’’, my wings snapped open and my balance was thrown out the window. I was sitting by the edge of the bed as my wings opened. I raised my forelegs and flailed them to keep me from falling in vain. I fell off the bed and landed ungracefully on my head. Good times.

Now, with a pounding head, I looked up to see Twilight lying by the edge of the bed with her hooves dangling off the edge, snickering at me. Smooth move.

’‘Ouch...’’ I whined and rubbed the back of my head.

’‘Aww... Is the itty bitty woyal guawd hurt?’’ She teased me. So not cool.

’’Oh ha. Ha. Ha.’’ I stood up and cracked my neck. She jumped down from the bed and walked to the desk where my hoodie was.

’‘May I?’’

’‘Knock yourself out.’’

She lifted the hoodie with her magic and brought it over her head. After that, she stepped into the holes where her arms was supposed to be. When she was finished, the hood covered half of her face. Her horn poked at the fabric and made it look funny. All I could see from her face was her huge grin. Her legs ended too short for the arms of the hoodie. It made the arms look baggy and she was far away from having enough bulk to support all the fabric of it. It was freaking adorable with a capital A.

I grabbed it with my teeth by the hoodie and dragged it off her. She pouted and sat down after I had removed it from her. She looked like a five-year old filly that hadn’t been given what she wanted. I chuckled and expertly put on my hoodie without any magic. I flexed my wings momentarily. I flicked the hood up and grinned.

’’It looks better on you.’’ She complimented and walked down the stairs of the loft. I stood there dumbstruck and realised that she just said that I looked good. I mentally cheered and hoof-pumped as I followed her down the stairs. My stomach grumbled in protest. Twilight looked back at me and giggled. I blushed and felt like a jackass.

After navigating my way through the labyrinth of books, we came to a kitchen where the little dragon-dude was making breakfast. I sat down by the table and stared at my hooves. Everything felt so tiny in the library. Even the table seemed so small.

After a few minutes, he came to the table with two plates for me and Twilight. She dug into it with gusto. How can a small mare like that eat like a juggernaut guard? I’ll never know... I glanced down at my food. Eggs, hay strips and a daisy sandwich. Back at the camp, I’d be doing fifty laps around the track with weights strapped to my wings if I’d eat anything like this there. I shrugged and started eating. The dragon sure can cook. I’ll give him that.

’’So... Stronghold...’’

’‘Yeah, Twilight?’’ I stopped eating for a while to hear what she had to say.

’‘How long will you be staying?’’ I gulped. I haven’t thought about this.

’’I don’t know... Since I left the guard I have kinda been moving from place to place’’ I sighed, gaining a troubled look from Twilight.

’‘You could always... you know... Stay here...’’ What. I looked at her with food in my mouth. Because I’m classy like that.

’‘Really?’’

’’If... If you need a place to stay at...’’ Her ears was splayed back and she was blushing. I had to fight hard not to stand up, whoop and raise all sorts of hell. I took a deep breath to calm down.

’‘I’d like that.’’

-----

After breakfast, Twilight had insisted that I’d come with her to take a look around the town. I had been hesitant at first but she had pouted and looked at me with puppy-dog eyes. There’s no chance in Tartarus that I’d be able to resist that. So here I was, following her through town. She had been talking about me maybe meeting her friends the entire time. It had been tiring at first but now I’d gladly meet that Rainbow Dash she talked about. Apparently, she was fast enough to perform a Sonic Rainboom. I’ve heard about it, so it’d be fun to meet her.

We were walking through the same square that I had landed in when I arrived. There was a lot more ponies here today and instead of the red giant, an orange mare with a stetson hat was handling the apple stand. Twilight had explained it to be Applejack, one of her friends. Also one of her friends that destroyed her spare bed. I made a mental note to thank her for it.

When Twilight and I was closing in, I heard a sound from the air. I pushed Twilight out of the way and stood where she had been. I squared my shoulders, spread my wings and braced for impact.

A rainbow streak crashed into my chest. I actually skidded a few feet until I dug my hooves into the ground and braked the momentum. I swiftly grabbed the pony that crashed into me in a headlock. Twilight reacted and told me to stop.

’‘Stronghold! Let her go!’’ I refused at first, but as the pony in my grip started to squirm I saw a rainbow mane. ’‘It’s my friend Rainbow Dash!’’ My mind became blank and I stared at the mare in my arms again. She was screaming a few unflattering words. I promptly released her from my grip. She cracked her neck and shot me a dirty look.

’’Oh...’’ I felt like an idiot. Again.

’‘Rainbow, meet Stronghold.’’ Twilight stood next to me and pulled the hood off my head, revealing my face.

Crap.