Michael sat on the bed, his back leaning against the wall. Having slept right through lunch and waking up around three, he turned the page on the book he was reading. Looking at his watch, it was almost four o’clock.

"Michael?" Twilight called from below.

"Yeah?"

"We have to leave after dark, right? So why don't I give you a couple of hours of training before dinner?"

Michael closed the book and turned to sit on the edge of the bed, "Training? What do you mean?"

"You know, magic training."

He stretched as he walked down the steps, "Right now? Shouldn't you be getting ready? We leave tonight, remember?"

"I just thought you'd want to learn something while we still have time."

He conceded, "Alright, fine. So," he stood across from her, "What do I do?"

Twilight looked around and pointed to an orange on the table, "I want you to levitate that orange into your hand."

Michael looked at the orange, then at his hand, then back at the orange, "Alright, here goes nothing."

He concentrated on the orange, but it didn't move so much as an inch.

"Try again," she said, encouraging him.

He took a deep breath and extended his arm towards the orange but, again, it didn't budge.

"I don't understand," said Twilight, exasperated, "You repelled Princess Celestia so easily this morning."

"Yeah, but that was on instinct. I didn't even know I had magic at that point," Michael answered. "How does magic work?"

"How does it work?"

"Yeah, I mean, how did you learn to activate your magic?"

"Well," she started levitating the orange and peeling it mid-air, "at this point it's just like walking, but it took a lot of practice and hard work for me to get to the level that I am."

"So me not being able to do anything is-"

"-normal," Twilight said, finishing his sentence, "But I honestly thought, given your display today, that you'd be able to do at least that much."

Despite his understanding that he was at the beginner’s level, Michael couldn't help but feel like a heel for letting her down.

Twilight could see his disappointment in himself, "Don't feel bad. So what if you're having a rocky start? Think of it this way: You're the first human ever to even have the ability to perform magic. That's gotta count for something, right?"

Before Michael could respond, the front door slammed open. Trying not to be seen, in case it was a normal resident of Ponyville, Michael scrambled up the stairs and closed the curtain.

"Twilight, where is he? Rarity told me he was here."

It was Irene.

Michael let out an enormous sigh of relief as he pulled back the curtain that hid him. He was about to say something along the lines of "oh, Irene, It's you" but, before he knew it, she was right in front of him.

She tackled him to the ground, "Michael! It's true! You're here! How did you even get here!" she got off of him, "Never mind, I don't even want to know. I don't care!" She pushed him to his feet and began nudging him towards the stairs, "We didn't really talk all that much at the center. C'mon, let's go to my place!"

"Irene, Irene, Wait!" He said, turning around and kneeling down to be at eye level with her.

"What? What is it?"

"Irene, I can't go out there. Humans aren't supposed to be able to be here, remember?"

"I know but..."

Twilight headed towards the door, "Michael, we've still got some time left until nightfall: Why don't I leave you two alone for a while?"

He smiled and nodded, "Thanks Twilight."

The two of them sat on his bed.

"So," He started, "I guess you're wondering how I got here."

Irene leaned on his side, "No, I'm just glad you're here." She looked up at him and gazed into his eyes, "Michael, I missed you so much after I left."

He smiled, "I missed you too." This was the conversation he had hoped for, but his smile dimmed slightly. Something felt off. He couldn't describe it but there was definitely this feeling in him that something wasn't right.

   "So," she continued, "How have you been? How are your classes going?"

"I'm not teaching anymore." he said, his voice artificially more cheerful than he felt, "The university doesn't need me with all the students dropping out. But they still pay me my salary, so I build stuff like that." Michael pointed at the motorcycle standing in the corner on the floor below.

She pressed harder against him, "Oh, Michael, I'm so sorry. I know how much you liked teaching."

"Well, time marches on. How about you? I guess you're working in Rarity's boutique? You were training to become a lawyer; how'd you end up there?" he asked.

"You know," Irene answered, smiling, "I'm not really sure myself. I had just arrived in Ponyville when I saw her boutique. I wandered in and was looking at some of her dresses when she approached me and said 'why DARLING, You have the most beautiful hair!' She wanted to make a dress for me: my first piece of pony clothes. Afterwards we just hit it off and since I just arrived, she offered me a job as her assistant." She laughed, "Turns out I'm actually pretty good at making dresses!"

Michael laughed lightly.

She continued, "So Rarity told me about you and Twilight leaving tonight for the mainland."

"Yeah."

"Is what you're doing going to be dangerous?"

"Hopefully not."

"Well, you'd better come back in one piece; I still owe you a dinner."

He smiled, "Yeah, I'll be back. Don't worry."

There was some silence between the two.

She looked at his face, at the same time looking at the old photograph of him in her mind’s eye, "You know, Jack told me you had changed, but I didn't know what to make of it."

"I'm fine; still the same guy I was a year ago.

Irene looked at him even more closely, but with a scrutinizing eye rather than an endearing one, "No. No, Michael, you're not. Michael, what happened to you?"

He was taken aback, "What do you mean?"

"You look so much older now," she said softly. "I noticed it when I first saw you. I thought it was just because I hadn't seen you for a while but it's still there. I still see it. Michael, what's wrong? Why do you feel so hollow?"

He wanted to cry, but something was holding back the tears. Maybe it was that he didn't want to admit to himself that he really was older on the inside than he ought to be. Michael smiled weakly and ran his hand through her ebony black hair, brushing his fingertips across her cheek.

"I've just... I've just been missing you." That was as close as he could get to saying "I love you". He wanted to tell her how he felt, but that same something that made the situation feel wrong, that held back his tears, held him back once again.

And then she kissed him. Not a peck on the cheek. She tilted her head back and kissed him, wrapping her hooves around him.

Michael was stunned. He didn't expect it to feel so... normal. Something in him wanted to stop, but he wanted this, he knew he did. So he acquiesced, and let this new experience flow over him.

When Irene eventually pulled away, she looked at him, blushing.

"I've wanted to do that for such a long time."

"I- I..."

   Michael could only stammer. His mind was turning in on itself. This was everything he wanted but at the same time not how he wanted it at all. And it was then when he realized why.

"She's a pony. Despite her being the same on the inside, she's a pony. Am I this shallow?" Internally, he put himself into perspective, "No, I'm not being shallow. This isn't something like hair color or height; she is a completely different species. But why does she still feel like she does towards me?"

Then it hit him.

"Because I'm not the one that changed."

His heart and mind were tearing each other apart but, finally, his saving grace arrived.

Irene snapped around at the sound of the door opening, "Twilight!"

From the floor below, she looked at the two of them, "Sorry for... interrupting, but Michael and I really do need to start getting ready now."

Irene got up off the bed and began walking down the steps. Michael followed, but stayed a few feet away from the frame of the door to avoid being seen from the outside.

"I'll see you when you get back." She said to him.

"Yeah. See ya."

Twilight closed the door and looked at him with a cocked eyebrow, "What was that?"

Michael let out a deep sigh and flopped back onto the bed.

"I wish I knew."

        By the time nightfall had finally arrived, all the other ponies had gathered in Twilights library. Despite the carriage Princess Celestia had sent having already arrived, they insisted on staying until Twilight and Michael left.

Rarity wrapped a scarf around Twilight's neck, "Here, Twilight, you may need this. I know it's barely fall, but you never know how the weather might turn."

"Thank you, Rarity."

Michael straddled the bike and put on the helmet, activating the map overlay. Zooming in to the beach, he watched as the green rectangle, representing the LCVP, approached the shore.

He turned on the helmet's interior lights so everyone could see his face through the smoked glass, "Our ride is almost here. We should get going."

As Twilight climbed onto the bike, he pulled on his gloves and turned to the group, "Could one of you turn off the candles. The less light on us when that door opens, the better."

He looked over his shoulder at Twilight, "We're going to be going very fast, faster than you've ever gone in your life. I don't have a helmet for you, so you need to keep your head behind me and hold on to me as tightly as you can."

"Alright."

The last of the candles went dark and Spike opened the door. Michael slowly inched the bike outside, checking for passersby. The coast was clear, and everyone stepped outside for one last goodbye.

Rainbow Dash approached the motorcycle, "I'll follow you guys in the air as far as the Everfree forest."

Michael nodded and turned off the lights in his helmet, "Just try to keep up. You ready Twilight?" He felt her forelegs wrap around him tightly.

"Ready."

"Alright," Michael flipped the power switch on the handles and turned on his helmet’s night vision, "Here we go."

The bike sped off with Rainbow Dash flying beside them. As the motorcycle silently approached two-hundred miles-per-hour, the fastest Michael dared go on the dirt roads, vapor trails started forming from the tips of Rainbow Dash's wings.

"She's fast."

As they passed Sweet Apple Acres, Dash called out to them, "The forest is just up ahead, so I'm gonna pull up. Good luck!"

Michael nodded silently through his helmet and slowed as they entered the thick of the woods. Down to a relatively crawling speed of thirty miles-per-hour, Michael pulled up to the dry river bed where the Gambit was waiting. Helping Twilight off, he stowed Gambit Jr. inside it's big brother's trunk, and entered the driver’s seat.

"You seem to have quite a few things prepared for such a last minute trip." Twilight remarked as she climbed into the buggy.

Michael activated the infrared lamps on the Gambit as he slowly drove it out of the riverbed.

"Well, I was planning on trying to get in before, but, well... let's say I had a change of motivation."

Nearing the outer edge of the forest, his helmet once again sounded a warning about the barrier ahead. He slowed to a stop.

"What is it?"

"The barrier; it's just up ahead."

"I don't see it. How can you tell?"

"This buggy has sensors that can pick it up. It feeds the data to my helmet so I can see it." He took a deep breath and eased the car through the force field.

He was alright.

Michael sighed in relief and drove the buggy up the ramp of the LCVP that waited for them at the shore. He and Twilight climbed out of the car and stepped onto the ramp.

Twilight looked up at the sky and sighed.

Michael took off his helmet. "Something the matter?" he asked.

"I just don't usually come to the beach that often and the stars are so bright here. It's a shame we can't stay longer."

"Yeah, but darkness is our friend tonight. We need to make the most of it while we have it." He noticed Twilight's face taking on a hint of sadness after he finished. Michael turned his head towards the roof of the LCVP and had a stroke of inspiration. Pulling out a few pins, he removed two of the six panels that comprised the roof.

Twilight, noticing his gesture, smiled, "Thank you."

He nodded, "C’mon, it's three hours from here to the dock."

"Alright, I'll be right in."

As Michael moved towards the bow of the ship, Twilight took one last look at the beach and the forest beyond it, and entered. Next Chapter: Chapter 14 Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 28 Minutes