Waking up never felt so bad as today. What the hell had happened yesterday? That would be a nice question to ask, if Alexander's brain wasn't muddled to the point of being beyond groggy and more into simply dead territory.

He managed to get himself up from the kitchen's chair, back aching like all hell, as he ignored the droll whale on the table as well as the focus of his nightly attentions. The clock could go fuck itself as far as Alexander was concerned, if he even remembered the damn thing, because all he knew right now was that it was around seven in the morning, that he had woke up way too late and that he needed a shower right now.

A zombie would have looked graceful when you compared Alexander's wobbling to the traditional shambler. Not only was he hard pressed to not hit the kitchen's door open with his head, but he managed to knock one of the larger pictures in the hallway off with his shoulder halfway from his room. Other than acknowledged the crashing sound and the fact that he would have a bruise forming in a few moments, Alexander shrugged it off as he entered his room and headed for the bathroom, not a care in the world as he got himself undressed and into the shower.

For some reason the water didn't comfort him much that morning. Yea, he liked the warm water, like anyone accustomed to heat, as most bakers were, and he loved the feeling it left behind when he was clean, as any normal person would, but his mind was just half there today.

Everything was cloudy, as if he was in a haze that had nothing to do with drowsiness. Well, part of it he could attribute to lack of sleep, as both Alexander and Olivia went to sleep early to be up and bake enough bread in time for the earliest risers around. This wasn't just being sleepy though, it felt like the one time he went out and got so hammered he couldn't properly wake up.

This, however, was more akin to his mind purposely trying to avoid something. It happened before, when he first saw his sister, crying and angry, at his doorstep, but he couldn't place what he was trying to avoid this time around.

Instead of that, he focused on himself for some reason. Mostly, as weird as this would sound, he focused on the fact that he was alone.

Not alone as in the 'completely alone' kind of sense, he did have his sister and his buddies, but in the 'I don't have a significant other' way. He would be the first to admit that yes, his clumsiness was part of it, as the poor picture out in the hallway could attest to, as well as his shoulder, but it wasn't all. Do you know about those things that supposedly help you grow down there? Well, his first girlfriend was a size queen, and she liked the idea of a truly big man more than the person behind it.

You probably can see where this is going.

True that there were people with more than ten inches in length, a bigger girth or the like, but they would be in the same situation as Alexander: Big is not always better, in fact it is usually worse. From six to eight inches? Perfectly fine for most people. More than that and you can usually find more people that complain about pain than anything else. Less and a lot will be picky because they want some substance. It always depends on the person you are with, but in most cases Alexander got his sister's luck when it came to relationships once his tool came into view, and if it wasn't his equipment, it was his clumsiness.

Yea, thanks brain, you managed to get him depressed in record time. Then again it was easy to think about this with Mrs. Cake in the room connected to the bathroom, and maybe that one thing was responsible for his line of thought, as well as the talk with his sister yesterday.

Cup Cake was more than happily married, and now she was far away from her loved ones. How would it feel to make your own family and have someone that wouldn't dump you at the drop of a hat just because you have this or that problem?

Yes, tremble world, Alexander had seen a cute pony cry as her mind broke and he was still enough of an asshole to think she was lucky! For fuck's sake... He didn't know where that line of thought came from, but he was envious of Miss Cake and how easy she had it other than for this little happenstance. She would go back to her own world, he was sure of it, and she would have her perfect life back. She had problems now, but she was going to have it easy once more.

What brought this all up? Alexander couldn't really tell. It was as if waking up had not only messed up his brain, but also brought back the many discussions he had with his parents after he took Olivia in.

Alexander turned the water off and stayed put for a while as he thought about that. Was it the pony's fault? He found himself thinking that 'Yes, maybe' it could perfectly be the case. Despite all his blundering about, Alexander had been quite happy thinking that everything was all well and good, and now here he was, wondering why he felt so alone and why the hell was he looking back to memories he preferred to bury a few feet under.

Despite thinking that Miss Cake was partially at fault, he had to admit he had done everything to screw himself up in that regard. If he had been 'luckier' then, if Cup Cake had appeared here, then what would have happened to here? The thought of his cousin finding her, or any other member of his family, made him grimace at the possibilities that his mind formed.

It was funny though, as something like Cup Cake having a happy marriage got him down like that when it should have made him smile. He had seen the mare breaking down and, despite it being heart breaking when he thought of these characters as perfect, it had showed they were normal people, only they were ponies.

He did enough self bashing about that yesterday, but it just didn't go away in one day. Doing the same just because his mind decided to focus on what Cup Cake had and he didn't, that was a bit too low.

Right now he had time to himself and since he was already late he didn't give a damn. He had a married woman in here, with two kids, happy and eager to go back to her everyday life. Despite feeling like dirt for it, Alexander couldn't help but compare her happy existence, minus the recent events, with how both his sister and he got a life that was just... there. They weren't sad, they weren't happy, they just kept going everyday as everyone else did. There had to be something else out there, but not for them.

How sad was it that he was envying a cartoon character that had a mental breakdown the previous day? Very, very sad.

Hey, no one said he was a perfect guy, right? Perfection was a myth, you just got better and better in as many ways as you wished, or could, and that was it. He was no paragon of virtue or anything like that, he had shown it when he had said he wasn't going to help the pony with everything she wanted, until she broke down that is. If they kept her safe and happy she would go back to having no troubles and regaining her happy life.

Envy was perfectly natural, if you asked Alexander.

...

But it was also not a feeling he liked to partake in, and it would make him feel incredibly bad about himself. He wasn't the best brother, friend or son, fuck, he wasn't even a good freaking lover, he just had size on his side, and that wasn't as much as most people would make you think.

He wasn't sure why thinking about that darned clock was bringing Cup Cake into the equation alongside as many negative things as his mind could cough up. It felt wrong in so many levels, but it was still there, and he couldn't find a reasoning behind it. Was it because the clock had something to do with the ponies? It was as obvious as the sun in the sky, and it could be a reason, but at the moment Alexander just felt like he had already done enough thinking.

All he got out of being idle were negative thoughts about himself and his situation, maybe even about Mrs. Cake. He had already thought lowly of her before and his opinion got thrashed by her sobs. This time he would approach her to try and know her before he judged, that way he was sure about clearing all those nasty thoughts from his head.

With a bit of a smile on his face, and almost dry with how many spins he had forced on his brain with all these thoughts, Alexander got out of the shower and reached for a towel. He wasn't sure as to how long he had been there, but sooner or later someone was bound to come for the daily dose of bread or baked goods, so he had to either get ready and work, or forfeit today's gains. That would be a nasty surprise if he wanted some spare change to buy Olivia her gift after all.

"Oh m-my! Sweet Celestia, I am sorry!"

Speaking of surprises he didn't want, he had taken too long with his shower.

Cup Cake was there, hoof on the doorknob, eyes wide, mane wild and coat needing a heavy brushing. She had probably all but a good night of sleep, and she was most probably an early riser, like Olivia and Alexander, so it wasn't a surprise that she was up at this hour.

The surprise came when she opened the door to the bathroom and caught the muscular sight of Alexander getting out of the shower, partially wet and nude as the day he was born. Ponies didn't care about nudity much, but it was because, unless they were in heat or enticed by a mare in such state, they practically didn't show a thing. Tails helped too.

For Alexander? He may've been calm, but he wasn't exactly a grower, so his whole size was free for all to see, the same as his blush that turned his whole face red as a tomato, mimicking Cup Cake's own.

Mrs. Cake slammed the door shut and Alexander heard the bed squeaking shortly after. The mare probably was hiding under the bed sheets and Alexander could find nothing wrong with that, in fact he wanted to disappear right now. So much thinking of the baker pony had basically summoned her for some good ol' retribution on his ass.

Whelp, this was slightly off, but it was still the usual Monday.

Clothed with the usual baker getup (Why change when it is not broken?), Alexander had managed to get Cup Cake from under the bed, though the mare was still red as a tomato. The morning could indeed get much weirder and both of them could also get even more ashamed to look at each other, so he wasn't going to push his luck beyond telling her that she could get in the shower. She did wait a second, almost asking for something, but she shook her head and moved away.

Alexander thought back on the idea of how ponies couldn't exactly clean themselves alone. Whether it was simply a fan made idea, or something intended by the creators to reinforce the companionship and herding mentality, he wasn't sure, but something told him that Cup Cake wanted some help.

On a side note: Fuck that noise. Enough embarrassment had been made to last him a lifetime unless they cleared that one very crowded dust bin, and he was all for leaving that thing alone for the rest of eternity unless something important came up.

*Knock, knock*

"At least someone knows how to check for friendlies." Alexander growled under his breath. "Come in, sis."

Olivia basically barged in. She hated to wear baker's clothes simply because they made her look flat as a board no matter what she tried. It usually made her pout for the whole day. Luckily she wasn't the one to attend the customers. Today she was more like neutral than pouty, though.

"The guys are going to come by after lunch, so around three to five." She commented with a neutral tone. "I am surprised both of us got conked out like that."

"It happens." Alexander shrugged. "And yesterday was a bit hectic in a way, despite being such a slow day. If nothing else we are quite lucky since no one seems to be around, yet."

"You know we don't need to open as early every fucking day, right?" Olivia rested her back against the wall. In a hurry to get to work she wasn't. "It is summer; most people are either working and not caring about the morning bread, have picked something at the local cafe, are sleeping or were so fucking drunk that they aren't thinking about food at the moment."

"Ethics first, then we'll take it easy." Her brother resisted the urge to give her a punch somewhere. Olivia could be such a lazy ass sometimes. "Now, why did you come here?" Being curt was fair game though. "You don't visit my room unless you want to test something dangerous on my computer or you have run out of shampoo."

"It is not my fault that you are a macho man in all but your hair conditioner." Olivia poked her tongue at her brother before she procured something she had left outside the room. "And I didn't come to take, I came here to give."

"I can't believe you still have that piece of shit."

Most would've considered it a bit weird that Olivia thought the aberration (or cute piece of junk, depends on your point of view) that was the clock in the kitchen as nothing more than a failed experiment by Hasbro. They hadn't seen what the company had done before they disgruntled their fans enough to cut their losses before fucking it up even more.

The simplest things were pony clothes (Which, let me tell you, were almost spot on as far as size goes since Olivia knew the measurements) or accessories designed for smaller equines and other such things that one could consider 'normal', if you look at horses the same way you do dogs. Those were the first, and most thought that the toy company had aimed for rich kids first and foremost, since there had been quite prominent during the end of MLP:FiM. This was probably because FiM had turned to be 'the next thing' and a lot of them jumped onboard like idiots.

Sounds normal enough? Well, look at the first thing that came after those 'normal' looking things: A tablet... for ponies.

Olivia bought one of the many, many, MANY surplus tablets just for lols. They were massive, even the newer models they made before someone regained their sanity. There was a lot of controversy as to why Hasbro made such massive fuckup, but then again it could be excused, after all FiM had gone beyond expectations, even during the end of the series, even after leaving it 'open ended' (Though most thought that the show makers simply didn't know how to properly end it). Creating the next big thing was a titanic task, but Hasbro probably thought that he could push things along by making new toys and other such things that would appeal to those infatuated by ponies to the core.

You know the result, so hey, big surprise: It blew up.

The H.R.T., Hoof Recognizing Tablet, or simply 'pony tablet' (someone wanted to call it Horta or something the like, but it didn't stick), was simply unusable for humans. It was made for a whole hand, at best, and was clunky unless it was a child sized one since they were almost big enough to compare to, for example, Mrs. Cake's hooves.

That was the first strike, the second was its size. Modern tablets were quite big, mostly so everyone could have a small screen they could use as a quite advanced laptop, though it was more for books, flash games, music and work, and all of them done 'gently'. If you wanted to play the latest and most advanced games, create the greatest games or some shit like that, you still needed a very good computer. For talking it was better to have the stupidly small modern phones or use Skype or something similar.

But you know what? All of those things were small compared to this piece of junk. The pony tablet was easily as big as a computer screen, which meant that it was almost as long as Alexander's arm, and big enough to need both hands to carry it safely, not for the weight, but for the damn width so you knew where every side was at all times or you risk fucking it up.

Third strikes and you are out, but we only count two. So where is the third one? Its prize. Even now they were costlier than a normal tablet, with less functions and designed for a, not so made up, creature that would never buy it.

This thing was supposed to be a collector's item, at least it was made up that way by someone very, very, very stupid. Or maybe someone knew that the ponies did exist? Delusion or foreknowledge, either way the product was the first to bomb like a nuke, only it left no fallout, the devastation did remain though.

Points for usefulness after the fact, but it just came a tad bit early as you may guess. At least this would help keep Cup Cake entertained, so long as Olivia hadn't done something stu...

"Cookie Clicker 3!?" Sound the alarms! We are screwed. "How the fuck did you get C.C.3? It was supposed to be off the market for a few more months!"

"Oh you know... I know a guy who knows a guy..." That could literally resume Olivia in a nutshell: She knew a lot of guys. "I managed to get the finished product a bit early, and it is glorious!" Alexander would call that sinkhole of a game something different. "Not only can you make the idle stuff, but also have an active RPG and RTS element in here! You can use your baker hero to kick backed monsters in the ass, and you can also use your army of cookies to encroach on other baked goods' bases! I don't know where they got the ideas but the chocolate bunnies are scary motherbuckers..."

Alexander's left eye began twitching uncontrollably. "You played all night long, didn't you?"

"Maaaaybe?" Olivia offered a meek smile. "You got angry and stressed, it scared the buck out of me, so I tried to relax."

"Of course, of course." He groaned, eyeing his sister as she played with the massive thing. "How is it that you are playing with that piece of crap though? Your computer's down in the dumps again?"

"Dunno, just felt compelled to do it." Olivia shrugged as she scratched her ass with little to no decency. Not like decency was a big thing in this house. "I just felt quite uneasy after yesterday, so I almost smashed my laptop. Around midnight I got restless in bed, got up and found I still had this. Out of desperation, and boredom, I tried to get it to work. Ironically enough, it works better than my computer right now."

"That is because you use your computer to download so much porn that not even the song makes it funny." Though it was true: Internet is for porn. "And despite being up until who knows how late, you seem quite chipper. You are even saying 'buck' again."

"Thought it would be better to keep it PG-13 or something." His sister pointed with her eyes towards the still closed bathroom door. "We are going to need to keep her calm in as many ways as we can, so cursing up a storm like Donald Duck does when he isn't on camera, as any good sailor would, is probably only going to stress someone that has seen only cartoon violence. And I mean LITERAL cartoon violence, she lives with Pinkie after all."

"Yea, well, she is screwed in that aspect. I may have softened a bit and decided to help her anyway I can." Olivia raised a very inquisitive eyebrow at that. "But I am not going to cut the swearing down, the same way you won't stop screwing me over so you can have your fun."

"I can be a perfect lady if I want to."Olivia pointed out, just in time for her character to die in the game. "OH FUCK OFF! It was a crippled undead cookie, unfinished too! How can I get killed by a level one enemy!?"

"I will use the infinite wisdom of Shao Khan on this one." He cleared his throat and made his voice as grave as possible. "You suck."

Olivia was about to punch her brother in the face before Cup Cake opened the bathroom's door. She wasn't exactly as well kept as one would expect, as her mane and tail were still messed up, with her coat not exactly in mint condition either. Alexander didn't have anything to take proper care of equines, obviously, and Olivia hadn't bought any of those things either.

Human equipment wouldn't exactly work as intended on Mrs. Cake, and giving her anything from Olivia's room would do little better, if anything at all, than what Alexander had. It didn't look all that bad mind you, but since the other day, after she woke up and Alexander managed to have a good look, it was obvious that ponies were supposed to be almost 'perfect' as far as looks go. Maybe it was their magic, maybe it was their care and attention to detail, but having some fluff out of place looked kind of wrong in a sense, almost like one of those fluffy ponies.

"I forgot how much I dislike showering alone." Mrs. Cake grumbled under her breath. "Impossible to do myself like I want. It doesn't help that obviously your shampoo and other things aren't made for ponies." She exhaled in resignation as she walked towards Alexander's bed. "Sorry, I don't want to complain, but yesterday I didn't try to get clean, just to relax."

"This is still new, you are still getting used to things, so don't worry about some complaining." Alexander waved it off. "We have had worse people here complaining for less and being worse in general, and I do mean worse." But he wasn't going to into detail with that one, not that it mattered for anything relevant in any case. "So how do you feel today?"

"A bit ashamed?" The blush returned to the mare's face. "I am... I am sorry I barged in. I didn't hear anything when I woke up, I didn't know you were in the shower and..."

"Whut? You caught him in the shower?" Olivia had stopped gaming and was eyeing the two with a teasing smirk. "You saw his monster?" When both of them blushed something fierce Olivia exploded. "Oh my bucking god! You know that he was much smaller before?" And it was time to embarrass her brother. "He was around FOUR inches shorter, but this one girl wanted someone huge, so she convinced him to take some 'supplements' that made him grow and grow and grow... Only for it to end badly when she decided to leave the dumb meat sack behind." It got the complete opposite effect though, as Miss Cake turned from flustered to worried, if not angry, at such mention. "Hey, we were having fun, why the face?"

"Why would anypony abandon him if he sacrificed so much for them?" Cup Cake sounded literally hurt as she asked that. "In Equis you can change your body easily, but it is not until you accept yourself that you are allowed to be however you wish, otherwise you may be fickle and selfish enough to hurt others." She looked at Alexander with worry in her eyes "If you gave her so much that you changed yourself in any way you could to please her, why did she leave?"

Alexander shrugged and looked away. Times like these made him wish that there were some more windows around this damn floor. "Don't know really, but I suppose she got bored or hoped that those things would have an even greater effect." He gave another shrug at the memory. "Humans don't have the best track record with pairings. In most cases there are divorces, various forms of breakups or even domestic violence, it is why marriage isn't exactly painted in the best of lights in modern society." He grimaced at the thought. "Most of the young generation think of marriage as a gilded cage: A pretty trap that will get you, will never let you go, and for as pretty as it looks, it is still a trap that you won't be able to escape unscathed."

"B-b-but..." Cup Cake basically sputtered at the thought. A cage? A TRAP?! How could something as nice as being married to the love of your life considered bad? It was preposterous, it was stupid, it was...! A different culture with no magic to show you who was right for you, who clicked with you, and who would make you happy.

True, not everypony went along with bonds right away, and bonds didn't need to be there naturally, they could be made if you meet someone and spent enough time with them, if you managed to connect, but it also meant that those natural bonds you had would need to form bonds with the one pony (or other creature) that YOU personally had bonded with. Here? Here you needed physical cues and hope, because if there was no obvious bonds that your own magic recognized, then how could you be sure that you really could connect with another?

Her ears splayed backwards and fell flat on her head. "I see..." Alexander hadn't explained, but no pony would ever dare say that Mrs. Cake was slow. She was good with baking, yes, she wasn't as book smart as Twilight, that was also a yes, but she had a good head over her shoulders. "I suppose I shouldn't judge, this is not Equis after all." She mulled as she sat on her hunches. "I suppose you do not 'feel' it when you click with someone."

"More or less?" It was Olivia the one to answer that question. "I mean, sometimes it feels like it? I have never felt that myself; I just find someone I like and I try to pounce." She snickered at the thought, and the memory, of doing it, literally. "Some find those they connect with, but it is the rare exception. Others just find those that complete them, or those they click with, but in most cases the assumption is this: You just marry to not die alone."

Cup Cake grimaced at that. "I am very happy with Carrot, I haven't been as happy until I found him to be sincere. True that we are very much alike in so many things, and usually it is better to have opposites." She chuckled at the thought of Carrot trying to court her by appearing what he wasn't back in the day. "But he is so sweet, so devoted and so utterly nice... It is funny that he prefers other colts, but like most back home, we all go both ways, with few ponies being 'straight' or simply 'gay', as the youngsters say these days." Wow, Cup Cake never thought she would sound THAT old this early in her life. "But when we meet it was, well, magic. At the time we didn't know, and as weird as it sounds, it was Carrot the one to come and try to engage me in conversation, not the other way around."

"I suppose the fan theory about there being more mares than stallions is correct?" Olivia's curiosity got the best of her, and thankfully Miss Cake nodded at her question, confirming it. "How many? If you don't mind me asking about ratios."

"From two to one in certain areas and climates, to eight to one in others. Stallions tend to be stronger and less agile than mares, so in harsher countries they are more common, but in areas like Ponyville? You'd find a lot more mares." She had to snicker a bit as she thought how hard it was to find a single male around the village. "It does serve pretty well for most of the girls to bond together, in some cases they bond in more ways than one too."

"So..." Olivia bit her lip, attracting both Alexander and Mrs. Cake's attention. "Would... would other ponies care if someone was, dunno... Different?"

Alexander's brow furrowed as he saw where this was going. "Olivia..."

"In what way, dear?" Cup Cake wasn't as worried as Alexander looked. She didn't understand why he would be at least. "Ponies are very open with other creatures and, well, almost anything. True that we have our bad ponies, and true that change is hardly accepted until quite a long time has gone by. Tartarus, even some of today's magitech is still waiting for acceptance with how some ponies are!" She chuckled at the thought. Some ponies still disliked fridges, ovens and the like. Silly if you asked her. "But if you mean accepting of a human... I am pretty sure they would be fine with it if they got to know you."

"No, no, I mean... I am a shemale." Olivia's heart skip a beat as Miss Cake blinked once, then tilted her head and motioned for her to go on with a hoof. "You... don't find it weird?"

"Why would I?" Her question was perfectly genuine too. "We have hermaphrodites back home, naturally born shemales and another intersexed individuals. There are quite a few stallions with a mare's body and parts, but they are still huge in size and strength, and have the strong voice associated with stallions. We accept those that like the same sex and we consort with other species. Why would I mind? Why would anypony mind?"

"So you wouldn't mind if I said that I began as a male?" Cup Cake shook her head. "And if I said that I only like other males, you'd be fine too?" She nodded with a smile as Olivia relaxed. "Thank bucking Christ! Even in this day and age there are too many idiots out there that think you have to be this way or that way to be 'normal' and 'accepted'."

"It doesn't work like that." Mrs. Cake frowned at the thought. "Once you are happy with yourself and know what you want to be, then you are allowed to be exactly that. Stallions can get pregnant, mares can be the father of their foals, with magic everything is possible and happiness and understanding come first. It is true that some ponies or other creatures are a bit too judgmental, but they are the minority and it would be stupid for everypony to be like that since many of us have changed something."

"Stop"

Both Cup Cake and Olivia eyed Alexander and his extremely strained face. It looked angry, sad and plain worried. There was something in his expression that told everything they needed to know without asking a single question, yet neither pony nor human wanted to read what that open book had to say.

"I am not going to allow you to ask Cup Cake to put a word forward to the princesses." Alexander eyed his sister critically. "I know you aren't happy here, but we are not going to allow humans to go and mess up the place." Olivia opened her mouth but her brother beat her to the punch. "And yes, I am selfish, okay? I don't want to be alone and you are the closest friend I have, as well as my sister, so I will be selfish for once in my life since bottling it up doesn't work for shit."

Before the mare could say anything, Alexander fixated his gaze on her. "As for you, Mrs. Cake, I would like to know more about your society too, but I do not want my sister getting her hopes up when the focus here is to make you feel welcome and happy until you can get back." For some reason the disapproving look he had hurt both of them, though both pony and human knew the most probable cause of that pain. "I do not wish to offend you or harm you in any way, but I don't want my sister getting depressed because she can't get something she wishes for, and I am not selfless enough to be okay with the idea of her moving away from me."

No one said anything about that. What was there to say? Cup Cake's frown matched how much she liked it, but she had to admit her focus was on going back home. Would she ever dare ask the princesses for another favor, such as bringing a human that wanted a better life when it could probably drain anypony to just bring one creature back to their home? It could be worse if we take into account that humans have little magic, even if these two felt different than they should if Alexander's words rang true. She still had to check on other humans before she solidified an opinion.

Olivia was less confused and more angry. What right did her brother have to say such things? The right of being the only person that had truly accepted her without so much as a raised eyebrow, ever. That, to her, basically meant a life debt, and she loved him more than she loved almost anything and anyone, but she also wanted to go to a world where more people could be like her brother, more accepting. She would have to admit that it would hurt, immensely so, to leave him, but maybe she wouldn't need to.

"Now, I don't want to be the bad guy here, and if you two want, we can talk about this at a later date." As for Alexander, this was a topic he didn't want to revisit, or dwell on, for much longer. "Right now we are late for the baking this morning and we need to get going. I will be back to start moving things around in the storage room, with help of Miss Cake of course. It is going to be your room, after all."

The mare nodded, still not completely happy, and Alexander knew he was being basically an asshole and a selfish prick, but he usually wasn't the most self focused guy. Would anyone fault him for wanting one fucking thing? It was in line with his previous thoughts when he was in the shower, so he couldn't help himself in that regard.

"What is that?" Either divine providence, or more like Miss Cake trying to change the topic, delivered the mare's attention right towards Olivia's hands. The tablet was there, and the screen with 'You are Dead' written in chocolate was awfully corny and non threatening "Why does it say you are dead?"

"Oh? It is a game." Olivia had almost forgotten about the thing. "I came to bring you this, actually."

"A game?" Cup Cake blinked a few times. She had never been too big on magitech... what were they called? Consoles? Button Mash brought them from time to time to Sugarcube Corner. "I don't know..."

"Just in case it will be only for today, unless you like it." Olivia cut the mare off before she could go on. "This thing can connect to the internet, allow you to hear music, read things, etc. You can basically search anything you want that we know of with this thing, but I would prefer to have some time to show you how to use it, since it just decided to start cooperating with me yesterday after owning it for almost two years." She frowned at the thought, something in his mind, only to let it go quite quickly. "Anyway, this game is called Cookie Clicker Three."

A nice explanation flew over Alexander's head a moment later. He was not one for idle games to say the truth, he lacked his sister's patience to do nothing at all if you were wondering why. Olivia told Cup Cake about the clicking the huge cookie with her hoof, to buy the auto clickers and other buildings, that X number of buildings gave benefits, etc. Then she got into the RPG and strategy stuff and before they knew it, it was nine in the morning.

By the time Alexander managed to drag his sister away, Olivia had at least gotten Cup Cake interested in the silliness that was Cookie Clicker. With the first version being a simple clicking game with those crazy grandmas on the background and the 'proper' Cookie Clicker being a bit more... crazy, so to speak, he wasn't sure what Cup Cake would find in the newer one.

"Die, die, DIE!"

Those were words that Miss Cake thought she would never utter, but here she was; killing 'undead' cookies that drove at her base of operations in waves. She had been surprisingly quick and adept at the idle, RPG and also the strategy part of the game. Was it because this was the only time burner she had at the moment? She wasn't sure, but she was decked out for a beginner.

Who knew a chainsaw could be made out of pure dark chocolate with crust for chains and white chocolate for teeth? Also, who knew that it could both increase cooking level and fighting level at once? Mrs. Cake did now, and she had to admit that she found the cartoon violence hilarious as she ripped cookies apart, though she had been genuinely scared when the first chocolate bunny enemy had popped up during her first oven dungeon exploration. Those things were worse than vampire jackalopes!

After the first dungeon came the first batch of cookie soldiers, thus the first strategic battle with her avatar still fully equipped in basic cookie gear other than the chainsaw that she didn't know she had gotten. Once she was done with the tutorial all hell broke loose and she had to admit she was loving the adrenaline she felt by playing this game.

Was this addicting? She asked because she was so against moving away from the bed and this game, to the point of forgetting that she was incredibly hungry. Maybe that was the feeling Button Mash felt when he was playing games. If that was the case then Cup Cake would need to get off his back when he came visiting for something.

Finally one of her recruit cookies finished the last undead cookie monster, punching straight into its 'gut' with that makeshift spoon and 'gutting' it, spraying chocolate chips and the like all over the area it was killed. The soldiers started to revive, Cup Cake's avatar regenerated, a cheer, a congratulating screen and it was time to go back to the idle game as another screen popped up signaling how long until more wild baked goods would try to raid her base.

This was stupid, but fun. At least it ate away her worries as she had something to do, even if it was silly and worth basically nothing since she hadn't done anything more than play games for hours. At least she wasn't worried or feeling ashamed anymore.

"Miss Cake, are you alright?" Cup Cake almost jumped out of bed when Alexander's head appeared on the open doorway. "Sorry to startle you, but it is almost three in the afternoon. Olivia already had lunch and is waiting for her friends, so I was hoping you'd join me for some food before we start with your soon to be room?"

"Oh yes! I am quite famished."

Mrs. Cake found herself jumping out of the bed in quite an unladylike manner. She may have never been such a thing, but she liked to at least be decent instead of acting like a school filly. Manners be damned though, she was hungry!

For some reason that made Alexander crack a smile, which was good because he had sounded a bit strained when he poked his head into view. She wasn't exactly sure about the reasons, but she was sure that he hadn't been like that just because she had screamed 'die' a bit too eagerly thanks to the game. She would need to watch out though, it seemed she was going to enjoy games, at least that one, a bit more than she thought she would.

When she hit the kitchen she noticed why, in fact she smelled it right before she arrived. Cooked meat.

Cup Cake froze at the smell and it was only because Alexander bumped on her rump that she moved away, eep included. She had to say that the kitchen looked spacious, well furnished and, well, a bit bigger in the equipment area of things, but it was to be expected when it came to creatures as tall as minotaurs. What unsettled her was the smell that she couldn't get out of her system, much less out of her mind.

"I guess you probably noticed by now." And Alexander was not so slow that he would miss it. "Humans are omnivores, we need meat. You can rest assured that we do not eat sapient creatures, and most people simply do not eat anything that is decently intelligent, like monkeys or dolphins, but others aren't as picky." He got close to the table and offered Cup Cake a seat. "So to be direct: We aren't going to eat you." The wink didn't do the trick in the way he expected, though.

She grimaced, trying to offer a sincere smile, but just didn't quite manage it. At least she did get up on the chair, thankfully one very solid and with a back for her to feel safe, but she couldn't help to feel curious about what she would see when she looked around the table.

Cup Cake found herself quite pleased to have a salad in front of her, a fork on her right and some condiments in front of the large bowl so she could have it however she wished to. Most, if not all, that was in the mix she knew about, even broiled eggs that she took part from time to time. While pegasi and unicorns required more protein than other species, which meant they usually had fish, maybe even chicken or other meat, earth ponies tried to avoid it like the plague since they couldn't digest it well. Eggs? Eggs were good and almost needed in most diets.

On his side? Cheese covered pasta, no tomato though. There were bits of minced meat and something else there though, and she wasn't about to ask what it was or where it came from. The smell wasn't disgusting, since most ponies got used to it as there was almost no village or city without pegasi or unicorns, but it was a bit unsettling to eat next to them.

"Olivia goes more for fruit than anything else, but we both need meat. In my case? I just like it more, and pasta too." Alexander pointed at his food as he sat down. "I do not want to offend you, but I think we will be better using the shock therapy kind of approach instead of dancing around the topic."

"Thanks for the sincerity if nothing else." Cup Cake gave a weak nod. "Don't get me wrong: I know ponies that eat meat, there are one pegasi who goes for it more than anything since he is built like a house." She shuddered a bit. Bulk Biceps was a very nice stallion, a bit dimwitted, but nice. He just... had this fixation with growing stronger that was just a bit eerie, more so when you saw him eating whenever he thought he needed more protein in his system. "But I have never been in front of somepony eating meat like you are about to do."

Alexander frowned for a moment. "Once we get your room done I can deliver your food there if you want, because I am the furthest thing from a vegetarian." The idea was instantly thrown in the trash bin by Cup Cake as she felt something just plain ugly at such a mention. She couldn't tell why or what, but Alexander noticed. "If you would prefer to eat with me and my sister... I am sorry, but you will need to get used to it."

Mrs. Cake sighed, but she did nod. "I'll have to. My little ones aren't big enough to need meat, yet, but after their second year? I will need to get used to seeing meat AND cooking it." She shuddered a bit at the thought. "At least there are a few pegasi and gryphons that have a small part of the market for themselves there. I won't need to do anything special to get what they need."

"Not looking forward to that, eh?" Alexander did his best not to chuckle.

"Heh, not really, no. My love is baking, if we are talking about cooking, not... well, that." She pointed at Alexander's food, just as her stomach growled in anger. "But I think I can ignore it for a little while if nothing else."

"Sooner or later you'll need to tackle it, though. I can give you a hand if you wish." Cup Cake gave a shy smile and a nod, better than what Alexander expected. "But for now, how about we enjoy our food? I doubt your stomach will stop complaining if we keep yammering on and on."

With that said, they dug in.

Cup Cake took her time preparing the salad to her liking. She marveled at how close to home everything rang, as if this world and hers were almost identical, minus he magic part. She did ask Alexander about it, making some idle conversation while they ate, and he confessed that he hadn't been a fan of the show like his sister, but since it was 'made' by humans, then it was bound to have similar things with Earth in some ways.

She wondered about that for a while as they ate. Cup Cake, as said, was no Twilight, but she was curious, more so since she was going to stay here for a while unless the princesses acted fast enough, and that was quite unlikely since it would take a lot of magical power, alicorn or not.

How closely did Equis and Earth resemble each other? Alexander said that, without magic or any of that 'fantasy stuff', Earth had to do with technology alone, and since her own magic did seem to fizzle a little bit, it was possible that just technomagic, instead of magitech, was possible on this side of things. Just plain old technology was banned from Equestria though, and no other species liked to use it all that much either. It contaminated, killed the land and consumed resources without giving back or generating more than it consumed, so nopony liked it. Here? Here they had no choice on the matter.

Soon they went for something much nicer, and quickly lunch went from a quick thing to an hour long engagement as Cup Cake told Alexander about what she liked to bake, the recipes she loved the most, and some of her favorite dishes that she wondered if he could make. As she had expected though, hay based cuisine (or fast food) was nonexistent here, and with only humans as sapient creatures there was no need to make other species feel welcome... yet.

In return he told her about his dreams of leaving the baking business behind, mostly because his family had it more than covered and he had always dreamed of something more exciting than staying home and baking things all day long, which explained his love for science fiction and conflict. He didn't mince words when it came to explaining he sucked at doing anything but baking though, as if he had been burdened with great skills on that front, and cursed with inability to do anything else. Miss Cake snorted and joked about him having a bit of pony in his person, or maybe more magic than he thought possible.

The conversation soon hit a big and very obvious rock in the road. "So, despite the conversation being this nice, I have to ask: Why were you trying to get to your husband?"

Alexander had been quite adamant about cleaning everything himself, and he had promised her that he would get her a toothbrush as soon as he could so everything, and he meant everything, could be cleaned. But that topic quickly derailed when it was made obvious that Cup Cake had asked because she was avoiding talking about her recent ventures like if it was Discord's home, which she had the bad luck to visit once thanks to Fluttershy.

"Sooner or later you are going to have to tell us." Alexander's tone was not stern, but it was quite clear that there was no negotiating this one. "There is no need to bring everything up other than the obvious." He let the cleaning on standby as he faced Cup Cake. "Mrs. Cake, Olivia and I have been in enough bad relationships, it is quite obvious there is no one 'perfect' for us, mostly because of how we are." Alexander made sure to stop Miss Cake before she said anything. He still had something to add. "I know I was a jerk when Olivia was talking before, and I hardly am like that, in fact I am told I can be quite sweet... But I mess up a lot and I have a very bad temper while my sister can be a bi... a very headstrong woman."

There was a pause as Alexander thought on about what he was about to say. "Point is that humans are generally neutral. I mean that in the sense that we look first for ourselves in most cases, then we look out for the rest, and most of us are close minded in a few areas, it just varies when it comes to which areas from person to person." Looking to the hallway, as if expecting Olivia to come over all of sudden, Alexander went on with some apprehension behind his words. "Olivia will always be a man, in a sense. She was born male and, despite identifying as a female in a few senses, she will always be male in many others. In the past this was beyond taboo, but nowadays it is almost widely accepted, or at least tolerated. The thing is that you still have to fall under X or Y category, otherwise people tend to make your life miserable, which is why I fear she would prefer to leave with you when we know that would be pretty difficult, if not impossible."

"My point here is simple." And Cup Cake was wondering where he was trying to get with this. "What is wrong with your relationship?" Then, all of sudden, she found herself wishing he hadn't told her. "I have fucked up enough time, Mrs. Cake, I know when things are going wrong. While in your case I highly doubt it will derail until it crashes and burns, if the cartoon is anything to go by, it could still hurt the relationship a lot. Both me and Olivia could try to help, after all I am only clumsy with my hands, not with my brain." Alexander paused and chuckled a bit at the thought. "Most the time."

Cup Cake frowned as she thought of how to say it. First she had to wonder why she should even share her problems, but in most cases it was best to talk things out, as Cookie had told her in quite a few occasions. Much like her, Cookie wanted a large family, but her husband was happy with two daughters and didn't want anymore. That rant had been epic, but Cookie felt much better afterwards.

The problem is that there was no rant to be had here. Cup Cake felt happy enough, and her only peeve was that they could NOT have more kids, not that Carrot didn't want them. She felt dirty just thinking about what her husband had suggested, mostly because she once thought she would do anything to her husband to make him give her babies, and the heat would make her mind think of any other male pony that way if Carrot couldn't provide. It was sickening, and it was biology. That is why she felt a modicum of happiness thanks to her present situation.

"There is no problem with Carrot, if that is what you are wondering." In the end it could be better to at least talk. "The problem lies with me, with our biology."

"First wait a second." Alexander stopped Cup Cake before she could go into detail. "First let me share a few things. First: Humans don't go into heat, this is mostly because the fan theories speak of estrus and such. That was never shown in the cartoon, but just in case. Second: It is unclear how deeply magic interacts with you ponies, so remember to explain it to me like I was very, very dumb if it is necessary. Third: Humans are one to one when it comes to male and female ratios, more or less, so only marriage is common for us. Polygamy is somewhat of a taboo, so once more, speak as if I don't know anything since you said the ratio is skewered for ponies."

Well, at least he made sure to get to the point. Cup Cake nodded and went on. "Well, yes, ponies do have estrus cycles. It depends on the pony, with some of them having them every week if they are unlucky, others having them monthly, every six months or every year. It is more common to have a yearly cycle, though a few have them weekly, it depends on their overall health for reasons that don't matter right now. Besides..." She chuckled as she almost went into lecture mode. "If you wanted to know everything you should ask Twilight, if you ever get the chance, I just know enough to get by."

"In any case." She cleared her throat to go on. "I have yearly cycles, though it is not exact, and in my case it has been well over two years since my last cycle thanks to my pregnancy. Between having my little ones and taking care of them it is possible that the heat was delayed, but as it approaches a mare can feel it: We get both moody and in the mood, more aggressive or at least assertive, and we go for affections more easily, not just physical intimacy."

Mrs. Cake gritted her teeth at the next part. "The problem with heat is that it is not only a biological function, but also a magical one. I am not entirely sure on the magical aspect, but it encourages for friends and family bonding, to help those close to get closer, and, of course, to create new life. It also helps to ensure that, in the case of familiar relations, there is no problem whatsoever if you are to get pregnant that way, or that the young fillies and colts can have foals of their own without any problem." Then she decided to drop the bomb. "What is so bad about that? That the heat doesn't go away if your partner doesn't fill you up, and even if they do, it won't go away for good unless they knock you up."

Alexander tilted his head a bit as she said that in such a way. For a mare that was portrayed so nicely, Cup Cake could really sound angry. "What does it have to do with Carrot then? Doesn't he want more foals?" And the annoyed look she threw looked equally out of place, but it did the trick. "Wait..."

"Carrot is sterile." She frowned, her eyes glassy as she mentioned that. "He had real problems giving me our kids, and it didn't have anything to do with his mixed heritage, as some said. He has never been too potent, probably a joke from magic to balance things, as he prefers other feminine looking stallions more than mares." Cup Cake shrugged a bit. She had to admit she shared her husband's interests on that one. "Harmony tends to make everything balance out, though it means pain for some ponies. With all the good that Twilight and her friends have been doing I would like to say that it is harmony's way to 'mess' things up to make them right, but it sounds like nothing more than a cruel joke."

Cup Cake rested her chin on the table, looking both angry and defeated. "I am a single child, and even in a married couple, something that is usually frowned upon even if my family tends to go for marriage only, a single child is rare. From my side it has been simply a biological problem." She threw Alexander a glance. "Most magically derived illness make mares more prone to heats, or at least it is one of the reasons that happens, but simple biological... problems, yes, let's go with problems, don't do that. My family, in most cases, is simply close to infertile for some reason, and not even potions, spells or modern medicine helps much." Her gaze slipped away from the human as her mind went back to her children. "My desire, more than being a baker, was to have a really big family someday. Carrot shared my wishes, and I was the only mare to really sway him, more than Pinkie or any other mare that ever caught his eye. We love each other, we sacrifice ourselves for each other... That is why I am so angry at this!"

Both of them were surprised at Cup Cake's reaction. She basically sat on her rump, lifted her forehooves and then slammed them down, pure rage marring her face. Neither of them had expected such a thing, but the results were obvious.

The table had, HAD, been made of metal. It was lightweight but durable, more practical than anything else, and made to resist Alexander's butterfingers if he needed to move it somewhere. It was not made to resist any impact from an earth pony. Miss Cake could be nice and gentle, but the impact had bent the metal in such way that the table was almost folding in two.

"I... I am sorry." Once more Cup Cake felt useless, angry and desperate. "We were so happy after so many years of trying. I don't know about humans, but ponies are quite liberal. Even when married both Carrot and I loved to have some of our friends join us to have fun, but I never allowed any of the stallions to finish inside." She sighed at the memory, slightly flustered. "I don't ever peek at another male's bits without my husband's permission, that is why I was so... well..."

Alexander made sure to disable the situation before it felt any weirder. That was one minefield to avoid. "Don't worry about it."

"Thanks." Truly, Miss Cake was glad to put that behind her, though that probably was the wrong phrasing to use. "Anyway, we loved having fun, and we loved it with our friends or simply between us two. It was always so enjoyable to do it with someone you loved or at least cared for." She had a dreamy look in her eyes at the memory, but it quickly snuffed out. "Even after we were told we both enjoyed each other's company. But as time drew near, as the heat approached, I grew frustrated."

It was at that point that she just hid within herself as she explained further. "Carrot gave me permission to find another stallion to make foals with." Alexander almost chocked at that. From what she had said, it would seem normal for most ponies, but for someone as devoted as Cup Cake it would be like any other human cheating on their significant other. "It... It hurt... But it didn't hurt as bad as when I called him a gelding during a spat we had the day before I came here."

Okay, that hurt. It was probably not that bad if it was a fact, but it simply spoke of emasculation or impotency for a male. It wouldn't matter how close two ponies were, it would hurt to some extent.

"I... I don't know how he can be so understanding... I have been giving him the cold shoulder for a while and he still loves me more than his own life." Cup Cake was doing her best to evade any tears, but at least a few droplets were developing. This topic was going to haunt her until she came back and could talk to her husband once more. "He HATES the idea of truly sharing me, of forming a herd, even with his family doing that almost exclusively, but we both know that if I was to have someone else's foals, then they would need to be part of our family. It is not open for discussion." She threw Alexander a heated glare as he was about to speak. "I will NOT lie to my foals, I will NOT accept one night stands if I am to have their children, and I will NOT allow a stallion to hide from the family WE would be making." And her voice almost rose beyond what both of them were comfortable with.

"It is obvious where the conflict lies then." The not so obvious part for Alexander, and for Cup Cake, was how to solve it. "On one side you have your desires, and on the other you have your love life, and in this case they can't exactly meet in the middle."

"There is no simple way out of this." Cup Cake frowned. "I have wished for a large family my whole life. It won't go away for a long, long time, and the frustration makes it worse." She was this close to finishing the poor table, at least that would make part of her anger go away. "And I can't bring myself to do what Carrot asked. How would that be a fair trade? I would gain somepony that would care for me, with some luck, but there is a problem. Where would that leave Carrot?" The distress in her voice answered all possible questions. "Would that stallion care for him too? Would he share us in the way a herd is supposed to go? Neither of us felt any connection towards others since before our marriage, none that went further than friendship."

Sincerely speaking, as much as he disliked to say it, Cup Cake was boned, and not in a good way. True that this was not the kind of all consuming problem he thought he would find, but it certainly was anything but nice. How could someone help the mare in this situation? She didn't want a fling and she didn't want to hurt her husband either, but it was obvious that Carrot had given her a nice free pass for the season.

In Earth that would mean so much debauchery. In Equestria? For Cup Cake? It meant a moral dilemma that was eating at her as much as being stuck here.

Once she returned, heat gone and all, she would still be miserable if she didn't get what she wished for. If she returned earlier, then she would fall prey of her own desires and needs, and she would probably feel worse than dirt and cheaper than... well, you know. Not to say it was assured to backfire, but if they shared everything, then going for somepony interested only in her could end quite badly.

Simply put: The outcome was a Russian Roulette. She could find a stallion interested in one night stand and her heat could probably push her to do it, only to make not only Cup Cake, but also Carrot, miserable. She could find a pony interested in her, but not in Carrot, and this would also hurt things too. Cup Cake could also luck out and find a stallion interested in both, but that was like asking for natural 20s in one of the many board games that used the bloody dice. There was a chance, that you would get nothing more than that, but it was as high as wining the lottery every time you tried.

Then again, Alexander quickly found another possible choice, but he decided to not tell. How well would Cup Cake react to it when she already had problems processing the possibility of a single extra male that could, or could not, care for her and her husband? Adding more fuel to the fire was not exactly smart.

At least he knew part of her grief, so now there was one easy thing to do for her: Distract Cup Cake with something. Yea, it would not help her much with her primary problem, but that was a topic that was still very much raw, and rubbing salt on the wound didn't do good to any living creature, much less if Mrs. Cake got mad enough to use that strength of hers on, oh I don't know, Alexander's face for example.

"I thank you for sharing your worries, and we both know that you will get back home." Or at least they hoped she would. "While the talk may not be the best cure, I hope that, if nothing else, it made you release some frustration out of your system. It is bad to let it fester, and it would be even worse to go back home bottling it all up."

Mrs. Cake gave Alexander a sincere, but strained, smile. "Yea, I feel a bit better, but it is hard to think about what will happen when I get back. One way or another there will be a problem waiting for me there. It will be confronted early, or it will be left for later, either way I will end up with my hooves full at some point." She let out a tired sigh. "I just would like a simple day in Ponyville, it is that so much to ask for?"

"In Ponyville? You are kidding, right?" Alexander was unable to hold a chuckle at the simple wish. Ponyville was the most, or one of the most, accident and catastrophe prone village in Equestrian history, he was sure of it. "Tell you what: Leave your worries for now."

"Oh? How?" For a moment Cup Cake thought of going back to her game, but quickly scratched that plan. She wasn't about to turn into a lazy flank. "I... don't think I can do anything here. You said I should not be seen, just in case."

"Yea, it would be better." Alexander gave a slight nod. "But it is obvious that this summer is going to be a bit lazy, at least for a while. We don't need to get out of here for a few days and I have a friend that owes me a favor, so I can ask him to pick a few things for me. For now we can start with simply getting everything out of your future room and we can use the tablet my sister gave you to see what you'd like to have in there, then I can make sure that most of the windows downstairs are closed."

Cup Cake scratched her chin with a hoof, wondering why he would do that. If this had been Pinkie then she was sure that a light bulb would've appeared atop of her head right then. "You mean you want me to help you baking?"

The man nodded. "I doubt you want to sit on your rump until this is done, and staying put is probably going to make you restless. If you want something to do, then why not bake? It is something you love and something we can appreciate too, so you ease our work load and in turn you get your mind off your problems for a while. We both win something and everyone is happy."

"It would be better than doing nothing, and maybe focusing on something else, alongside some entertainments, would be enough to calm me down." Yea, she couldn't get her mind away from that game for some reason. What had Olivia unleashed in her mind? "But... Are you sure you want this old mare's help? You have seen how... how frustrated I am. I thought I had better control than this, but it is obviously not enough."

"Okay, how about this?" Alexander finally approached Cup Cake and took a knee in front of her. "Let's go for, say, three days, okay? Three days should be enough to get something for my sister, to have your room up and running, and to see if you are doing at least somewhat okay...ish." He chuckled as he offered her a hand. "What do you say? Sounds good enough?"

Mrs. Cake smiled with more candor this time. Alexander was no knight in shining armor by any stretch of the imagination, but he was at least nice, even if he had some bad spots here and there. Who was all good anyway? She was lucky that she had at least been found by someone direct enough to address her problem.

Now, three days sounded quite delightful if nothing else. She would have time to calm down, talk with them about any kind of problem she may have and, maybe, get to know them better, enough to force herself to ask for their opinion when it came to what she should do. At first she wondered if she should go back to her parents when she went back home, ask them about what she should do, but that was as bad as asking Pinkie Pie. Miss Cake loved the pink dear, but she was not about to try and make sense of some of her ramblings that, more often than not, were prophetic, and cryptic, in nature.

Alexander was simply happy now that Cup Cake was at least smiling. It was a feeling he had never experienced watching the series, simply because it was him that made someone else smile. That it was a colorful pony didn't matter much, it was the same thing when he made his sister smile, and it was a glorious feeling that always warmed him. When Cup Cake let her hoof fall on his hand the feeling just grew stronger as she showed at least a modicum of trust on his judgment.

During the exchange neither human nor pony saw a certain clock blinking in and out of focus, as if it wasn't truly there.

A three was highlighted in blue, with the rest of the numbers slowly counting down seventy two hours from now. It marked a very precise time three days from now: Midnight.

Cup Cake shuddered after she got on her hooves, about to follow Alexander to her soon to be room. It was the same feeling she had noticed the other time, that of pure wrongness and strong magic. She looked towards the area that seemed to radiate it, but there was nothing there. Even if something was basically screaming at her to look harder, she just couldn't see anything more than the kitchen itself and all the utensils around.

Who could fault the little pony for missing something so obvious that you would simply not notice it until it was in front of your face? After all, even the ones that saw a clock would not recognize the object when it was nothing more than a small and wide frying pan.

For some reason, once she glanced around the area the frying pan rested, the uneasiness grew and she felt her hair stand on end. What was that? And why did it feel so wrong? She just didn't know, and she was sure she didn't want to know. Cup Cake found herself fleeing the room faster than she thought possible, and only the promise to at least be civil to Alexander and eat with the two brothers made her think of coming back again.

Once she left the clock came back, a simple word flashing in blue.

Change.

Author's Notes:

Well, next chapter the fan is going to start spraying it, as if an emotionally unstable Cup Cake was not enough to stir some trouble. Have fun everyone.