"Rise and shine, Nathan." Twilight said while nudging the human's body with her hoof. "We need to make sure you get a good breakfast before you go in for your tests." Nathan's eyes opened a little, only for the invading light of the morning sun to make him close them again.

"Too.... early...." He grunted before pulling the blanket over his head.

"You're beginning to sound like Spike." She said before chuckling. "Come on." Even though he wasn't entirely awake yet, Nathan could feel Twilight tugging on the blanket with her magic. "Don't you want any pancakes?" This question made Nathan's eyes shoot open before he instantly sat up. Twilight chuckled some more as she saw what her question had done. "I'll take that as a yes." She said before turning to walk to the bedroom door. "I'll wait outside so I can show you where we're having breakfast." Nathan nodded in response and waited until the young alicorn had left the room before he completely stood up.

"One of the few things that'll ever get me to be up this early." He thought to himself as he walked into the bathroom, being careful to avoid hitting the top of the door frame. As he stepped inside the room, a sharp pain in his back made him grunt a little as the decision to sleep on the floor proved to come back to haunt him. Well, the choice for him was either sleep on a hard marble floor or sleep on a bed that was half his size.

"You doing alright in here?" Twilight's voice could be heard while Nathan looked back to see the little alicorn poking her head in the room. "I heard you grunt which usually means somepony is in pain."

"Just my back." He replied before straightening up. "Nothing to worry about."

"You sure?"

"Positive." He said. "I've had worse pains just from sitting in my engineer's seat for too long."

"Alright."

"Now uhh...." He said while looking at Twilight. "If you could be so kind as to give me a few minutes of privacy..."

"Oh!" She said while her cheeks began to turn red. "Right. Sorry." She then quickly scooted backwards while using her magic to close the bathroom door. This made the human chuckle a bit before he tended to his personal needs. After a few minutes, Nathan emerged from the bathroom to find Twilight putting the blanket and pillows that Nathan had commandeered back on the bed. "I'll be sure to look to see if we can find a bed that is better for your size." She said after quickly making the bed to the point where it looked untouched.

"Sounds good." He replied. "But after we get the whole housing situation taken care of first."

"Of course." She said as Nathan put his shirt on. However, she began to note a faint smell coming from Nathan's clothing. "Uhh... Nathan." She said while placing a hoof to her muzzle. "You're not really smelling good right now."

"Sorry." He said. "I don't normally wear the same clothes for this long."

"Well it's a good thing that Rarity is making you new ones." She replied. "But you can't really go out there smelling like this." Nathan then noticed Twilight's horn beginning to glow. "Lucky for you. I know a spell that can neutralize the odor." After saying that, Nathan's body was surrounded in an aura similar in color to the one enveloping Twilight's horn. A few seconds passed until the auras disappeared. Twilight then took a deep breath in and smiled big after exhaling.

"Much better." She said before she started walking to the door. "Ready to go get some breakfast?"

"Yes." He replied as he followed the little alicorn out into the hallway. As the two walked down the hall, the memory of Sunset Shimmer lingered in Nathan's mind as he could probably guess as to what she must be going through right now. "So Twilight." He said, making the purple one look up at him. "What exactly are they going to do with that unicorn we spoke with last night?"

"I'm not sure." She replied. "I don't think she can be held in her cell for long as the only crime that she has against her is trespassing which isn't really a felony. I'm still trying to figure out what she was doing with an almost identical looking replica of my crown."

"Maybe she was wanting to swipe your's while leaving the fake one in it's place." The human said. "Why else would a fake crown be needed?"

"That is true I guess." She replied. "But she said so herself. Whatever plan she had was already ruined when she was caught."

"Maybe."

"Why do you ask though?"

"Well..." He replied. "You remember how before she mentioned being a human back in this world she came from? And then how she just stopped talking?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sure she's probably feeling as though she has nothing left. Kinda like how I was feeling when I found out that I couldn't return home."

"That's what I first thought too." She said. "She did start to act similar to you after you came back from your world. Sad and quiet." Twilight then put a hoof to her muzzle as the two continued walking. "Princess Celestia did say that she didn't really get along with anypony back when she was her pupil. Maybe all she really needs is a friend."

"Wouldn't hurt." The human replied as they came up to a set of doors. He could hear the voices of his friends on the other side as he grabbed hold of the door handle. Opening the door, Nathan found each pony sitting at a round table with several plates of pancakes in the middle.

"Morning sleepyhead." Applejack said as Nathan and Twilight walked into the room. "Sleep well?"

"Eh." He said. "I've had worse nights. But I think my back is going to hate me later on while I'm doing these tests." He then turned his attention back to Twilight. "What exactly did you say they wanted to do?"

"I think all they want is to see how fast and how strong you are while monitoring your heart and blood pressure." The alicorn replied before taking a seat.

"So it's basically a physical exam then?"

"Yes."

"Great." He said before taking a seat between Twilight and Rainbow. "My back is going to love me so much after today." This made the ponies around him giggle before each one looked at the delicious looking butter and syrup covered pancakes.

"Alright everypony." Rainbow said before reaching out to grab a few of them. "Let's dig in!"

"So Nathan." Applejack said as the group walked outside. "You ready for your tests?"

"As ready as I'm ever gonna be." The human replied. "I am kinda nervous though."

"Why's that?"

"Well..." He said. "What if I don't do well on them?"

"I'm sure you'll do fine, big guy." Rainbow said as she hovered close by.

"You think so?"

"Of course." She replied. "After all, you're the only human here. You'll be holding all of the records for your species after today. Fastest Human in Equestria, Strongest, blah blah blah."

"Well when you put it like that, it does make me feel a bit better."

"It is understandable to be nervous." Fluttershy said while hovering on the other side of the human. "After all, we don't know anything about your kind other than what you've said."

"Well, I think there is one pony who'd know." He said. "But she's locked up in the Crystal Empire right now."

"Maybe Sunset could help us in understanding you a bit better." Twilight added as she led the group down a street that was lined with restaurants, clothing shops, and jewelry stores. "But that'll have to wait until after she gets released."

"Until then, we'll just have to rely on your own knowledge." The cream colored pegasus added before the group stopped outside of a large building with a sign that said 'Canterlot Research Facility'. Nathan gulped a little as Twilight's magic engulfed the doorknob and turned it enough to open the door.

"Please let this experience be a good one." He thought before following the group in. Once inside, the human saw a room that looked similar to that of a hospital lobby back on Earth. As the others took their seats in a corner of the room, Twilight motioned with her hoof for the human to join her up at the desk where a light pink unicorn mare was sorting through some papers. Twilight tapped her hoof against the desk, making the unicorn's eyes look up at her before resting their gaze on the human.

"Hello." The alicorn said. "We're here for an appointment with Dr. Heart Beat."

"I see. You must be the one called Nathan Bridgeport." The mare said, making Nathan nod his head to confirm her statement. "Quite a unique creature." She paused to look at a paper before looking back at the two in front of her. "Dr. Heart Beat will be with you shortly to begin your tests. Have a seat and wait for her to call your name."

"Alright." Nathan replied before he and Twilight joined the rest of their friends in the corner of the room. However, his chance to rest wouldn't last long as he soon heard the sound of a door opening.

"Nathan Bridgeport." A voice said, making him look toward the direction that the sound came from. A tan colored unicorn with a black mane while wearing a white lab coat stood in a doorway, looking at him and the others with emerald colored eyes. She began walking over to the group while holding a clipboard in her magic. "I am Dr. Heart Beat. It is nice to finally meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." The human replied.

"Now if you all will follow me, we will get our testing session started." Nathan and the others soon started following the doctor as she entered a small hallway. "So Nathan. Before we can get started. I need to ask you two questions."

"Shoot." He replied, making the doctor stop and look at him with a puzzled expression. "That means go ahead."

"Ah. Alright then." Heart replied before clearing her throat. "First question. Can you fly?"

"No."

"Okay." She said before writing something down on the clipboard. "Next question. Can you do anything with the help of magic? Like levitation or teleporting?"

"No."

"I see." She replied before once again writing something down. "Well. Looks like your test results will have to be compared to that of an Earth pony then." She then proceeded to look at Pinkie Pie and Applejack. "Would either of you two be willing to participate so we can get the most accurate comparisons possible?"

"Sure thing doc." Applejack replied. "I'd be more than happy to lend a hoof."

"Excellent." Heart said before opening a door that led into a giant open area with no roof. The bright light from the sun made Nathan briefly shield his eyes before he could see that it looked like an athletic training area, complete with a track, hurdles, and an observation area where other science ponies were already sitting with clipboards held in their respective magical auras. Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity all started to make their way over to where the other scientists were, leaving Applejack and Nathan to follow Heart Beat as she led them to an area where it looked like competitors would begin their running exercises.

"So what is this first test gonna be?" Applejack asked as Heart levitated a stopwatch out of her coat pocket.

"This first test will compare your speed." She replied. "I want both of you to run one lap around the track as quick as you can."

"One lap?" Nathan asked. "Easy."

"Alright." Heart said as Applejack and Nathan got into position. "On your mark..."

"Come on Nathan!" Rainbow called out from the stands. "Show us what you got!"

"Get set..."

"No hard feelings if I beat you?" Applejack asked.

"Nope." Nathan replied before chuckling to himself.

"Go!" Upon hearing that, Nathan and Applejack immediately began racing around the track to the cheers of their friends. Applejack immediately took the lead as the human tried his best to keep up.

"Come on pardner!" Applejack called out. "Is that the fastest you can go?"

"I'm.... going as.... fast as I..... can!" Nathan called back in between breaths as Applejack continued to increase her lead to the point where she was already coming out of the final turn before Nathan could enter it.

"Give it all you got!" Rainbow's voice called out, prompting the human to try and go faster to no avail as Applejack had already crossed the finish line while Nathan was just entering the home stretch.

"This... is.... embarassing...." He grunted to himself as he raced by the stands before crossing the finish line. He then slowly came to a stop, breathing heavily before he noticed Heart Beat offering him a mug of water. He eagerly accepted it before chugging it down instantly.

"Interesting." Heart said as Nathan finished his drink. "So according to these times, it would seem that Applejack was twice as fast as you were. She managed to finish her lap in 50 seconds while your lap took a minute and forty seconds." She proceeded to look up to the stands. "How fast did you clock both of them at?" She called out.

"We had the mare registered at doing 30 miles per hour while the fastest speed we had the human at was 14!" One of the scientists called back.

"Wow." Nathan replied between his breaths before turning his attention to the farm pony. "You're a fast one."

"Thanks." She replied. "Was that really the fastest you could run?" The human simply nodded his head in response.

"Alright." Heart said as she flipped to a new page of her clipboard. "Next test will compare your strength by seeing how much weight you can pull."

"Could we wait a bit first?" Nathan asked. "I need to catch my breath. Haven't ran like that in quite a while."

"Of course." She replied. "Just let me know when you feel ready." Nathan nodded his head again and slowly made his way over to a bench to sit down. Once seated, he let out a big sigh before he started looking up at the sky. He could feel his heart racing as he closed his eyes to try and relax before the next test.

"You doin' alright, sugarcube?" He heard Applejack ask before he could feel something sit down next to him on the bench. "You look beat."

"I'm fine." He replied. "Just hadn't needed to run like that in years. I didn't think I'd be this out of shape."

"Sounds like me and Dash could help you out there. We tend to do lots of exercise."

"Yeah." The human said while keeping still. "That would be nice of ya'll to do for me."

"How are you feeling?" Heart's voice asked, making Nathan open his eyes to look at the unicorn as she stood in front of him. "Do you need more time? Another mug of water? Anything to help you at all?"

"Nah. Just needed to sit down." He replied before letting another sigh out. "So what's next for these tests again?"

"Well..." Heart said while levitating her clipboard in front of her. "Next would be the strength test." She proceeded to point her hoof over toward a wagon fitted with seats and metal poles. "We'll hook you up to the front of it and you'll begin to pull it around the track. Every 60 seconds, we'll add another weight or pony to it. The test will continue until you can no longer pull the wagon." Nathan looked at the front of the wagon and saw the harness that would presumably be secured around his waist.

"That sounds good and all." He said. "But humans don't usually pull wagons with a harness." This made Heart stop looking at her clipboard to look at him and raise an eyebrow. "Back home, we'd pull wagons with a handle."

"A han...dle?" Heart repeated. "What exactly does one of these look like?"

"Give me a paper and something to draw with and I'll show you." Heart did as requested and provided the human with what he had asked for. Nathan soon began to draw a picture of what he had described. Now he wasn't exactly an artist, but he did it as best he could before showing Heart the picture.

"Interesting." She said. "It'll take some time for us to modify our wagon to suit your needs. But for every test we have you take, each one will need to be as accurate as possible. So I guess the strength test will have to be put on hold."

"Sounds good." He replied. "So I guess that means we're done for the day?"

"Yes." Heart replied. "We'll postpone the remainder of this assessment until we can have the proper conditions for you."

"That works out good for me then." The human said as Heart motioned for Twilight and the others to come down from the stands. Nathan watched as Twilight's horn lit up before she and the others disappeared in a flash of purple magic only to reappear seconds later in front of him and Applejack.

"Is everything okay?" The alicorn asked as she looked around to see the scientists beginning to leave the area. "Why is everypony leaving?"

"We'll continue our tests once we get our wagon over there suited for our test subject's needs." Heart replied. "I'll be sure to get in contact with you once everything is ready, Princess Sparkle." She then turned to face the human. "Til then, I want you to not engage yourself in any strenuous activities that could result in injury. We'd rather not have to wait any longer than necessary."

"You got it." He replied before she started to walk over to the exit, prompting him and the rest to follow. "At least my back won't be as sore as it would've been." As the group walked out into the lobby, a thought entered the human's mind as he remembered Twilight mentioning another test. "Hey Twi." He said, gaining the alicorn's attention. "Didn't you say something about another test these ponies wanted me to take?"

"The personal endurance test?"

"Yeah."

"Well." She said. "I told Dr. Heart Beat to cancel it. I don't think that you would've been willing to go through with it if you knew what it was about."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you about it later." She replied. "Right now, lets just get back to Ponyville so we can finish what we started yesterday."

"Alright then." The human replied as he followed the others outside. But as he walked out of the building, he wasn't expecting for the little alicorn to have stopped directly in front of him. "Twilight!" He called out before falling forward and landing face first on the ground, luckily avoiding to fall on top of anypony. He grunted a little in pain before hearing hooves stop just inches away from the top of his head.

"Princess Celestia." Twilight's voice said, prompting Nathan to lift his head slightly to find the gold hoof covers of the Princess just a few inches from his face. His eyes then darted around to see everypony other than Twilight bowing as he began to stand up once again. Once back to a vertical standpoint, Nathan noticed that another pony was with the Princess. The one who he had met the night before.

"Didn't keep her for long." He thought as Sunset Shimmer stood by the Princess of the Sun with her silver inhibitor ring still placed around her horn. Behind the two stood a small squadron of Royal Guards.

"What brings you here?" Twilight asked as she eagerly went over to Celestia.

"The guards of the Crystal Empire brought Sunset here because her records still had Canterlot as the city in which she lived." Celestia replied. "But she doesn't have a home."

"I see." Twilight replied. "Do her parents live anywhere near here?" This question seemed to affect the restrained pony as her eyes immediately darted to look at the ground. Nathan noticed this and subtly tapped Twilight on the head before pointing at the unicorn. "Oh!" She said. "I'm so sorry. I... I didn't think she was..."

"An orphan?" Sunset asked. Celestia cleared her throat, making Sunset look up at her before looking back at the ground.

"Many years back, I found Sunset at the local orphanage after seeing that she possessed great magical potential. Since then, she had always lived in the castle." The elder alicorn said as she looked down at her former protégé. "Unfortunately, the whereabouts of her parents are unknown." She then looked back at Twilight. "I offered her a place to stay in the castle, but she declined. So that is the reason why we are here."

"You were wondering if she could stay with one of us?" Twilight asked. Celestia silently nodded in response. "Well, if nopony else has a spare room, I could see if I could clear a room out for her."

"Actually Twilight." Nathan said, gaining everypony's attention. "I may have an idea."

"Yes?" The little Princess asked.

"Well, this would only happen if Sunset willingly agrees." The human said. "But she's in need of a home, and so am I." He proceeded to look at Celestia. "Perhaps Sunset and I could live together. I'm sure Ponyville would have at least one two-bedroom house available. And it would be less trouble compared to one of you guys clearing out a room." A minute or two of silence passed before Celestia turned her head to look at the human.

"That does seem like a good idea." She replied before once again looking down at her former student. "What do you think, Sunset?"

The restrained unicorn kept looking at the ground for a few minutes before raising her head to look at the human. "Sure." She said in what sounded like a sarcastic tone. "I guess I could live with the human." Nathan then saw her mumble something, but couldn't quite make out what she had said.

As he looked on, he soon felt Twilight poke him in the leg. He then knelt down to see what she wanted. "Are you sure about this?" She whispered, only for the human to nod his head.

"You said so yourself." He replied. "Maybe all Sunset needs is a friend. What better way to show her that I could be a friend than to offer her a place to live."

This made Twilight place a hoof to her muzzle in thought for a moment. "I suppose that's true." She said. "Well... If you're sure that this could work, then I'll let you go through with it."

"Sounds good." He replied.

"Well then." Celestia said, gaining everypony's attention. "If everything is settled, then I will release Sunset into your custody." Once she said that, a gold aura surrounded the inhibitor ring on Sunset's horn before it magically disappeared. All eyes were glued onto the gold colored unicorn to see if she would try to run away. But to the surprise of most, Sunset just slowly walked over to Nathan and the others before stopping beside him.

"Thanks." She softly said. "Just don't make me regret choosing to go along with this."

"I'll do my best not to." The human replied in thought as he, Sunset, and the rest of his friends began to walk toward the train station with Celestia and her guards following close behind.

Author's Notes:

Hello everypony,

Well, I really do hope that this new ending will make up for what was originally posted as the tenth chapter. I was originally going to have this take place in the eleventh chapter, but I'm now rethinking how this entire story will pan out.

- Harms Way