We arrived at The Shadey.

"Well, here we are." I said, leaning on the door of the bar, ready to push it in. "Anyone got any last-minute whatevers?"

Ebony raised his hoof. "Is there any alcohol?"

We all looked at each other. "Yes... it IS a bar." I said.

"Oh... okay..." There was a strange pause.

"Anything else?" I asked. None responded. "Good. Now, who is paying? Cause I have literally no-"

"I will, it's on me." Luna said.

"No, I have the money right now," Chrome rebutted, probably just to seem polite. "It's on me."

Luna jabbed him in the side slightly. "I insist." She said, they both smiled. And so did I. Jeez man, to think I made that happen.

I began pushing the door open slowly, as not to make a scene, now was not the time to kick-in any doors, despite my new-found love for it. "Okay, no-one make any indication that Ebony is not normal, ponies go with the majority, so try and be that majority before another one is formed." The ponies agreed, reluctantly.

We all walked in and sat, got some drinks ordered and made small talk. It was a small square table, near the middle of the room. Celestia and Feather had sides to themselves, while Luna and Chrome shared a side and Me and Ebony did the same. Our drinks arrived a couple minutes later.

Feather seemed to be going down her 'veteran' route again and got a bottle of what looked like whiskey. Chrome and Luna shared a very large bottle of red wine, though Chrome often took sips from everyone else's drinks, cause he's that kind of guy. I got some apple cider, cause I was a rather inexperienced drinker besides cheap beer, plus, apples were okay.

Ebony had what looked like the most expensive bottle of... something I had ever seen. I smelt the liquid as soon as the top was pulled of the bottle, it must have been like, 97% pure or something, it even came with its own glass, a very small martini-looking glass. Ebony didn't bother using it and terrified us all by chugging half the bottle at once. Afterwards he explained that alcohol does not effect changelings as much as it does to ponies (and humans).

Celestia just got ice-water. Everyone, and I mean everyone, we were being watched by quite a few ponies at the point, gave her a glare for being the only pony in the entire bar to not have any alcohol. We tried to get her to order something else, but she refused. She is no fun sometimes.

That is where things get fuzzy. I remember we eventually decided, or more 'Celestia guided us', to go back to Chrome's room in the palace to crash. I also remember talking to some of the other ponies in the bar, I can't remember what was said though, hopefully I didn't make any enemies. It seemed everything had gone fine. Until the next day...

THUD

uhg...

THUD

whyyyy....

THUD

I scrambled my arms around with my eyes tightly shut, trying to find out where I was. All I knew was that I had the worst headache, my head was pounding and the sun was in my eyes. All I felt was the plush carpet of Chrome's room. Until I realized a particularly 'plush' part of the carpet was actually Luna. She was hopefully passed out, laying perpendicular to me, my stomach on her side. I got up, reluctantly, but I would hate to have her wake up like that. I opened my eyes after standing, braving the light streaming through the white curtains. I squinted and covered the bright-patch with a hand as I quietly inspected the room.

Celestia was nowhere to be seen. Luna was sleeping in the middle of the floor. Chrome and Ebony were both sitting upright in the corner, back's to the wall and supported by each other's leaning. Good to see they get along, even if it's only when they're drunk, it's something. There was a note on the outside of the bathroom, which was locked. I stumbled over to it to read it. It was scrawled in pencil, but I recognized Feather's handwriting... hoofwriting? mouthwriting?... hornwriting? I dunno. I recognized her writing. It read "Do not enter. Seriously, use the other bathroom or something, just not this one." I put my ear against the door and heard steady, deliberate breaths. So that's where Feather is. Sounds like she had a bit too much. Hopefully she got at least some sleep..

I dare not make a sound, if these guys are any worse than me, they won't appreciate it at all. I walked into the kitchen and carefully ran myself a glass of water, making sure the tap was on the weakest setting, and all the water ran down the inside of the glass, not smashing against the bottom, the sink made enough noise as it was. And I needed to be quiet. Once the glass was a decent amount full, I steadily drank it, attempting and failing to clear the horrible taste in my mouth. It was then I realized something. I quickly wobbled my way to the on-suite bathroom.

And my pure muscle memory; my arm went to hit the flush. Luckily, the toilets here are weird and it was placed somewhere else, so I didn't torture myself with that racket. I breathed a sigh of relief as I walked back into the main room. Everyone in the room was snoring softly, it was quite a beautiful sight, if only the sun was not tainting it with its blinding lights. As a side thought I put a paper towel from the kitchen over the three pony's eyes, so at least some of the light would be shielded from them when they first wake.

I went over to the couch, a much better one than the one that was in Chrome's house, and laid down and went back to sleep. Hoping the rest of them would be awake by the time I woke. I was woken not an hour later. But by only one pony.

Something nudged my shoulder. I turned over onto my back to show I was at least awake.

"Oh, did I wake you? I thought you were just resting." Luna said, in a very hushed tone, didn't stop it from hurting, but from the sound of her voice, it hurt her too.

"No," I flinched at my own voice. "I woke up a while ago, I figured you wouldn't want to wake up with me on top of you, so I moved."

She breathed a weak laugh. "Yes... thank you for that. How much... do you remember?"

I rubbed my eyes and opened them, she looked a wreck. "Not much... last thing I remember is... getting the second batch of drinks... then talking to somepony..." Uhg... damn horse language... working it's way into my head...

"Hm, seems I'm not as bad as you, in that regard. I remember everything, I think, everything except getting... here." She said, gesturing to the room with a raised hoof.

"Well... did it go well?"

"Did what go well?"

"Ebony..." I said, pointing at him. She turned and saw the two in the corner, leaning on eachother. Luna giggled, seeing Chrome like that.

"Yes... nothing went wrong at least, so it could not have been that bad..." We both slipped into a reminisant and releived silence. She glanced back from the two in the corner. "Dan?"

I lifted my head, looking away from the ceiling and back to her. "Yeah?"

"Can we... talk? For a second?" Gesturing to the other room. That happened to be a bedroom. At my strange look she added "No funny buisness."

"Yeah, sure, whatever." I painfully lifted myself from the warm confines of the couch and followed her into the other room, she closed the door behind us. "So, what's this about?"

"Me and Chrome." At my worried look she waved a dismissive hoof. "Nothing like that, I just wanted to thank you for... what you did, for us."

"Er- er- sure. I mean... sorry, I'm really bad at this kind of thing."

"What do you mean?"

"Accepting thanks, compliments, that kind of thing. I just never know what to say..."

"Oh... It's okay, I have had similar trouble. Being in a new world must be hard..."

"But it happened back in the other world too..."

"...Ah... well, this is practice then. Go on."

"Er..." I thought. "No problem?"

She nodded. "That's all you have to say."

I sighed. "Sorry, I'm just... really bad with social cues sometimes... you know?"

"Yes... yes I do..." She nodded again. "Dan." She regained my attention with a serious tone. "Cadence is coming today."

"Ooohh... that's not good."

"No no, it's fine, if anyone likes a drink, it's her. So she'll understand."

"Your kidding. Cadence? Drinking?"

She 'pssh'ed "Yeah! She can't help herself sometimes. But that's beside the point. I suggest you keep Ebony away from her though, she has had some... experiences."

"Oh, yeah, I know. I was practically there. It's a shame you guys could not come to a peaceful ending like you usually do..."

She blinked. "Oh yes... your... visions..." I nodded. Huh, Celestia hasn't told her anything?

"Wait, where were you during that invasion?" I asked. She flinched, as if dreading the question.

"I- er -was... recovering... from a night with Cadence." She looked at the floor. "I might have had a bit to much that night..." She changed the subject. "What do you plan on doing about Ebony today?"

"I was planning to tell Cadence about everything Ebony has done for me, and explain what kind of pers- er- pony he is. Without telling her he is a changeling. Then introducing them, as if it was nothing."

She hummed. "Well... it could work. But I will put some wards on Ebony before she gets here, just in case. She uses magic for almost everything, so if she reacts badly, the first thing she will do is shoot a spell at him. Hopefully she doesn't, but I will place my wards anyway."

I smiled at her. "Thanks Luna, if only your sister cared about Ebony as much as you seem to. Everything would be a lot less tense right now."

"Tense?" She asked. "Dan, nothing is 'tense' right now. My sister is just warey."

I sighed "Yeah..."

There was a knock on the door that rang through both of our ears, causing us both to recoil in pain. It seemed the pony performing the sound also suffered, considering the knocking paused, then returned as a quiet tapping. Instead of yelling 'come in'. I just walked over to the door. I opened it to reveal a very scruffy-looking Feather. The other two were still asleep.

She stared in shock at us. "Am I... interrupting anything?"

I looked around, before getting what she was saying. "No, just a private conversation that was finished anyway. What do you need?"

She walked into the room, and sharply nodded to Luna and instantly regretted the sudden head-movement. She sat on the side of the bed.

She sighed. "I just wanted to apologize for acting the way I did yesterday. I never even told you how relieved I am to see that you're okay!"

"It's okay, Feather." I moved in and hugged her.

"But it's not! I just... went. No thought whatsoever. I thought I had got rid of that years ago... worse still, Ebony's actually a pretty cool guy, yeah he's awkward and practically immune to alcohol, but he has a good heart Dan, and I likely would have tried to kill him..."

I sighed, Luna put a hoof on Feather's shoulder, Feather looked up at her with teary eyes. "This is a discussion you should be having with Ebony. Not us." Luna said. Feather nodded slowly.

There was a silence, I decided to lighten the mood.

"You won't get a conversation out of him for a while yet, I mean, have you seen what him and Chrome are doing out there?"

Feather snorted a laugh. "Yeah, it's... pretty cute."

"I was talking about what they were doing, not just Ebony."

She rolled her eyes. "You sure you two are not together?"

I sighed. "I pretty sure we'd both be okay with it. But I'm not sure if he 'goes that way'. Hell, I'm not sure if I even 'go that way'."

Both Feather and Luna looked at me with sympathy. "Dan," Feather said. "Have you ever had a relationship?"

"...no."

They both looked surprised. "And your seventeen?" Luna gasped. hm, Seventeen's probably pretty old to not have had a relationship here or something, cause it certainly wasn't this surprising to anyone I told on earth.

I sighed. "Hey, I just never found anyone who seemed like they would stick around you know?" They both frowned sympathetically. "I'm afraid of emotional investment, okay? Like, what I get all dependent and they leave me or something? Or what if I have to leave them?" They both hugged me. In hindsight, that was an amazing hug. But I was to busy repressing my embarrassment, considering what I had just said. Complete honesty is not in my nature.

"You won't ever find a pony like that here Dan." Feather said.

"That and I don't understand pony body language at all. I mean, what if I miss something important? For all I know someone could be flirting with me or something and I would not even know. I mean, You-" I pointed at Luna. "-According to my guard, not Ebony, the other one; during our first meetings you were acting in a..." She shifted slightly. "...Receptive manner." She blushed and Feather Squawked, I swear, she made a bird noise as her jaw dropped.

Luna cleared her throat. "... You surprised me is all..." Deja-vu

"I'll believe that lie for Chrome's sake." I said, smirking slightly.

Luna snorted. "You know, there are very few that are willing to refuse the wishes of a Princess." It was my turn to make the bird noise.

"Woah! Hey now! I mean it's not like I would say no, just... jeez, your with Chrome now! You can't say things like that!"

She blinked, she probably didn't mean to say it like that. "...You wouldn't say no?"

Feather was in a trance at this point, the look on her face was priceless. "Luna." I said. "You do realize, if anypony I know. ANY. PONY. Or not pony, whatever. If any of them came up to me and said 'Hi Dan, I really like you, and would like to have a lasting and meaningful relationship with you' I would say yes. I don't think I have met anyone who I would actually say no to yet. Yes I would likely have to think about some more than others, but I have not met anyone particularly unbearable yet, maybe Steel, he seems a little douche-y sometimes. I mean, he complained at me for 'giving you away' to Chrome."

"Oh... anypony?" She asked. Out of everything I said... THAT...

"Yeah."

"Even my sister?"

I gave her a jokingly suspicious look. "...She IS someone I have met, I think she goes on that list, yes.... why?"

She blinked. "No reason."

I sighed. "Do you actually want to be with Chrome?"

She was taken aback, seemingly offended, it was as funny as last time. "Of course! Why else would I declare feelings?"

"Just making sure. If it turned out you didn't; it would probably completely break Chrome's heart. You know that right?"

She sighed. "Yeah... he is rather proud of himself."

I snorted. "Of course he would be. Anyone would be."

She looked at the floor. "But what if that's it? What if he just wanted to be with 'The Princess'. Not with 'Luna'." She sighed.

"Dude, Ebony tasted your love from across the room remember? There has to be something there. You should ask Chrome, maybe even HE doesn't know for sure, get him thinking. It'll help." I laughed slightly. "You realize what I'm doing right? You're lucky I care about Chrome so much, or I might have taken you for myself back then." She gasped, probably offended. Yep, that's her offended face. "What? You gave me plenty of opportunities and you know it!"

She sighed. "...I will ask Chrome." She looked to Feather, who looked even more broken. "Are you... okay?" She looked legitimately concerned for Feather's health.

Feather was staring between us, pinprick irises and a slack jaw. I could not help but laugh slightly. Luna hit me in the chest a little harder than I think she meant to, considering it caused me to fall over backwards.

"Wow..." Luna looked at her hoof. "What are you made of?"

"What kind of question is that?! Flesh and bone, like everything else!" I said as I stood back up, cradling my pounding skull.

"Hm, your underweight?"

"Er, yeah? I just spent a month in a cave living off of 1 meal a day at best, and they were not good meals."

Luna blinked. "Oh, yeah." She looked back to Feather, still broken. "Feather?" Nothing. She reached out a hoof and shook her shoulder. "Feather? Are you okay?"

"Dude, she's broken. Just leave her, she'll be fine. I think we have some stallions to wake." I said, indicating to the other room.

Luna gained a smugness I had never seen from her before. "Yes, we do..."

We both walked out of the room, me first, then Luna. Amazingly, they two corner-dwellers were still asleep and leaning harder than ever. Me and Luna stood next to each other, looking for potential.

"You got a slow-wake up spell?"

"Yes, I can do that, why?"

I move over to them and turned their heads to face eachother, pressing their muzzles together. Luna stifled laughter.

"Do it." I whispered. Luna's horn lit momentarily and we waited for a couple seconds.

Eventually they both started to come to. They both lifted a hoof to feel what they were pressed up against. They both felt around in the air for a couple seconds, before their hooves met in the air, connecting perfectly. Both their eyes started to open slowly, then shot open, realising what they were doing, and who they were doing it to. They didn't move for a good 10 seconds, just staring into each other's eyes. Until Luna loudly cleared her throat. Chrome looked like a deer in the headlights as his neck snapped to luna, whacking Ebony 'round the face with his nose in the process.

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Please, Luna. This isn't what it looks like!" He pleaded, slowly getting up. Ebony barely managed to catch himself as the pony he was leaning on moved. Acting along, I protectively rushed in and picked up Ebony, which had become a usual thing by this point.

"Luna..." Chrome said, in a voice that actually pained me, and Luna too, due to the pure lack of hope.

Ebony was staring at Chrome, cyan eyes wide. "By the hive..." He muttered. This got everyone's attention, but he was so entranced by something he didn't even flinch in his usual manner. "That is some of the most pure love I have ever even witnessed..." Luna looked back to Chrome, who was still staring back at Ebony.

Luna teared up and tackle-hugged Chrome. While I let that play out, I turned Ebony around to face me and set him down, standing, on the floor. "You feeling okay?" I asked.

"I am now! Love is a great wake-up call, man. Even if I didn't get to eat any of it... speaking of which..."

"Uhg fiiine." I picked him up and took him over to where Chrome and Luna's hug had ended up, on one side of the couch, Chrome on Luna's lap, both embracing each other. "Hey, mind if we join?" They both looked up at us, and both nodded. "Sweet." I sat on the other side of the couch and did the same with Ebony. After about 10 seconds of this, Feather walked in, considerably fixed.

"Errrrr..." She had froze in the door-way.

I sighed. "Luna and Chrome just found out they love each other for sure and I had to feed Ebony. Welcome to the Hug-con."

She stared, confused for a few seconds. "Oookay then. Well... I have things that need doing today, so I've got to go. So err, bye guys." I blinked. That's the second time she has used a buffer in her speech. 'Er'. She never did that. Hm, maybe I should ask her when she gets back, she probably has something on her mind.

A quartet of "Bye"s followed her out the door.

Once we had all got our emotions in check, Luna explained what all the hugging was about to Chrome and we had all had breakfast of some sort in the cafeteria downstairs. Some two hours later we all met in the throne room, where Celestia was waiting for us.

"You four all recovered from last night okay?" She asked as we all walked in.

"Yes, sister, We have all been awake for a while now, long enough to recover just fine." Luna replied.

Celestia walked down from her glorified chair and met us half way.

"That is good to hear, you three all doing well this morning?" She directed at Me, Chrome and Ebony.

I shrugged. "Meh, I've had better and worse mornings."

Chrome bumped into Luna playfully. "Yeah, it was good."

Ebony shrugged. "Meh, I've had better and w- er- I mean... I'm fine, thanks." Dammit Ebony, stop being me, that's MY job.

Celestia smiled at the four of us. "As you probably know, Cadence is arriving here in a couple of hours. Dan, Chrome and Luna will greet her and take her to room 070, it's a sitting room, and it's already set up for her. It is up to you, Dan, to introduce Ebony to her. Luna tells me you have a plan?"

"Yeah, I do. I am guessing Luna sent that information to you via magic?" She nodded. "Psshh, magic. But I have a plan, yes. And it's pretty solid, all I need from you two is some protection magic stuff on Ebony, please."

"We can put protective WARDS on him, not to sure about 'magic stuff'." Luna half-mocked.

"You know what I meant."

A couple hours after the wards had been placed, and my plan explained to Ebony; Cadence arrived. She had what amounted to an army of guards around her as she entered the city through the main gates, waving to ponies all the way to the palace, where all the guards left her and we met her.

Me and Chrome stood either side of Luna in the palace's main entrance. There were ponies with cameras lining the door. Cadence walked up to us.

"Luna." She bowed slightly.

"Cadence." Luna returned the gesture. It was clear they were putting on a show for the cameras.

Cadence turn to look at Chrome. He fully bowed. "Chrome Star, Princess." He said.

"Glad to meet you Chrome Star, you are Luna's other half?" She asked, with a blinding smile.

"Not officially, but yes." Chrome said, trying not to sound as awkward as he felt. Cadence practically danced in joy.

She then turned to me, with expectant eyes. I did nothing but stand there. The ponies mumbled. Her eyes widened. "The insubordinate Hero I presume?"

"You assume correct." I said with a smug grin.

"So, you are Dan? The one responsible for Luna and Chrome's... involvement?"

"Yes, I am." I said proudly. Cadence practically squee'd.

Luna had had enough of the cameras. "Let us move to more comfortable conditions, shall we?" Cadence nodded and we all set off into the palace. Cadence walked between me and Luna, probably trying to not get in the way of 'the couple'.

Once out of the public eyes, they all seemed to relax.

"So, how long have you two been together for now?" Cadence asked.

"About... a month now, I think." Chrome responded.

"And? How's it going?" She continued.

Luna put a hoof over Chrome. "We are very happy together." bleh.

Cadence literally danced on her hooves this time. "It's so good to see you finally found somepony Luna!" She turned to me. "You have no idea how grateful I am."

"What can I say? I saw the two of them and thought they would be good together, so I made it happen." Basically a lie. We stopped outside of room 070. Cadence put a hoof on my shoulder and smiled at me.

"Unfortunately," Luna said. "This is where we will have to leave you, Cadence, Dan, I have duties to attend to and Chrome must get down to the labs." Oh yeah, sometimes I forget Chrome is a scientist.

"Oh very well, have fun you two. Come on Dan, I want to here all about how you did it." Cadence said, I got a 'glad I'm not you' look from the other two as they walked off.

"Well..." I started as I entered the room, it was a bare room, with two large sofas in the center facing each other, with one corner touching creating an upside-down V shape. I explained my 'works' as I sat on one of the Sofas, near the corner of the V, Cadence mirrored my sitting arrangement as she listened intently.

"And that's basically how I did it." I said, summing up my actions.

"Hm, strange technique. But it worked, I've been trying to get Luna to find a special-some pony for years now. Then you come along and do it within your first couple days of even seeing this world at all!"

"Did Celestia not tell you about the visions?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot about those. Yes, she mentioned those. She also mentioned how you brought a pony back from the dead in the throne room! That must be quite the story."

"It is, here have read of this, this is exactly how it went down." I handed her my journal after turning it to the correct page.

"Oh! You kept a diary!"

"It's a journal. I have recorded everything I have done so far in Equestria in there."

She read through the section I pointed out then magic'd it back to me.

"I didn't realise that the pony you saved was Luna's partner! I also didn't realise how deserving you are of the title of 'insubordinate'." She giggled.

I chuckled along. "Yeah, I wasn't very happy right then. Say, did Celestia tell you about my 25 day 'holiday'?"

"No? I have not heard anything like this! Do go on."

"Well, me and Celestia had a little row, that's all settled now though. But this row included one of my good friends. It was so bad, that I left Canterlot."

"Where did you go? Somewhere nice?"

"I can't tell you where I went, all I can tell you is that it I lived in a cave for 25 days, living on what my friend could bring from the nearby town."

"Oh dear, that doesn't sound nice at all! How did you fair?"

"Celestia eventually asked me to come back after 25 days, but during that time, me and my friend bonded quite heavily, and our trust in each other grew immense, as, to survive, we had to share body-heat at night. Well, my friend could survive the night on their own, but I could not. I am a lot less 'hardy' than the ponies are."

Cadence smiled "Its nice to see that even a being from another world can make such good friends so quickly here."

"Yes, this place is amazing in that respect, but I do have a problem I think you are qualified to handle."

She shuffled onto the edge of her seat, getting slightly closer to me. "Yes?"

"I became rather attached to the pony that I spent all that time with and they became attached to me." Her smile broadened, seeing where this was going. "I'm thinking about starting my first ever relationship, with this pony, could you help me?" This was not part of the plan... But I felt that then was the right time.

She beamed so hard I thought she had dis-located her jaw or something. "Of course! But in what regard?"

"I know what I'm doing in terms of asking them, we trust each other with everything at this point, that would be no different. But what I don't know is whether or not I actually love them."

"Hmm, tricky. Tell me, what do you think of them?"

"Oh, there quite shy, they often hide behind me during more heated discussions. They care about me, and I care about them. Without them I would have died in those caves. They are a little strange sometimes, but in a cute kind of way, you know?" She nodded. "I trust them, and they trust me, they even took what I said over what Celestia said once." She smiled at the concept. "And I've have already put myself between them and Celestia and said 'give me your best shot'." Cadence gasped.

"Why would you need to do such a thing?"

I sighed. "I am not at liberty to say, you will have to ask Celestia, I don't want to say anything I'm not meant to. But I will say that that happened during that 'row' we had."

She covered her mouth with a hoof. "Oh my... Who is this lucky mare? To have somepony so dedicated and trusting..."

"...Thats another problem..."

"What is?"

"They are... not a mare." Her eyes widened. I thought she was about to smack me up-side the head or something, but then her smile only grew.

"Oh this is wonderful! The romance! The danger! I love it, please, tell me more about this stallion."

"I could get him in here but..." I sighed. "I don't think you'd like it..."

"Why not? I have nothing against same-sex couples! You should know that."

"No, it's just... he's not techically a pony."

"...oh... Zebra?"

"No."

"...Minotour?"

"No."

"Dragon?"

"Heh, I wish, that'd be awesome."

"Errr, hmm... What else is there?... Dog?"

"No."

She turned deadly serious. "Is it Discord?"

"No! Why? You had to deal with him before? Or does Celestia have a crush on him or something."

Cadence burst into a fit of coughs. "N-No, N-nothing like t-that at all!"

"If you say so." I said, shrugging.

"Oh! Donkey!"

"No."

"Aagh... sheep?"

"No."

She sighed, I could see her counting to ten in her head. "...Griffin?"

"No."

She burried her head in her hoofs. after a couple seconds "Pheonix?!"

"No."

"Okay, okay, I don't know. Please just me so I can help you!"

"Cadence. You do know. You, better than anypony knows."

"What do you mean?"

"This speices affected the biggest day of your life, there is no way you cannot remember them."

"The biggest da-?" She snapped to look at me. "No... no no, there all gone Dan! There's none left!"

"No, this guy was left behind. By another group, years ago."

"So he... never... attacked?"

"No, actually, he fought them. He's been in the royal guard for years now."

"Hm... I wasn't aware Canterlot had a changeling guard."

"No one else knew either, until I found out."

"Wait he was..."

"Disguised as a guard, yes."

She sighed "Usually, I would never do this Dan. But... for this relationship, I have to be prepared to do anything... Bring him in."

"Thanks Cadence." I said as I got out of my chair and walked out of the room, then went into the janitor closet round the corner.

I peaked 'round the door. "She wants to see you."

"Really? What for?"

I sighed. "Dude I... look just come with me."

"Yeah, yeah okay."

I walked back to the door labeled 070. I peeked my head in, Cadence was still in her chair, and had her head in her hooves. "Ready?" I asked. She nodded, not lifting her head.

I walked in and Ebony followed, I sat back in my original position on the Sofa, while Ebony sat next to me. Cadence slowly lifted her head, easing the changeling into her view, flinching at every feature, hole and wing. Until she reached his face, then her expression softened.

"I'm sorry. Whats your name?" She asked in a sweet voice.

"E-Ebony Towers, you are Cadence?"

"Yes, Ebony." She sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I- I-" She exhaled. "I have seen your kind in a bad light, a very bad light. But I can tell, just from what I've heard and seeing you here, that you mean no harm."

"It's okay Cadence, at least you are making the effort. That's more than most ponies do..." Ebony said. I resisted the urge to attempt to comfort him, as cute as it would be.

Cadence looked to me. "Dan, could you wait outside for a minute or two?"

"Sure. You okay with this Ebony?" I asked him.

"Y-yeah it's fine." He didn't seem sure, but he sure was trying to be.

I nodded to him, then nodded thanks to Cadence as I left the room and let them talk. I was outside the door for about 5 minutes, before Cadence opened the door and led me back inside.

Hm, to open the door she had to get up and walk over to it, that means Ebony is still on the sofa otherwise he would have got the door, that means Cadence turned her back on him trustingly. That's a good sign that things went well in there.

I sat back down in my previous spot again. Ebony hadn't moved. "So, what did talk about?"

"Oh, just some questions." Cadence answered, sitting back down on the other sofa. "Sorry Ebony, but could you go sit in this bubble? I need to talk to Dan for a while." Cadence created a bubble on the end of my sofa, just next to Ebony. He shuffled along the sofa and into the bubble without a word.

"Well? What do you think?" I asked.

"Dan, I don't know how you did it, but he's perfect. For you, that is."

"Like, how?"

"He feels the exact same way you do Dan, he trusts you with his life, just as you do yours. All you would have to do is ask and he'd take the next step, he's waiting for you to do it. I reckon you should go for it.

She beamed at me as I nodded. "Thanks Cadence."

"No problem, now, go take him somewhere he feels safe and ask him."

"I will, really, thanks for this." I said just before the bubble dropped.

"No problem Dan, come back to me if you need anything else."

"Hopefully I won't need to, but thanks." Ebony gave me a strange look. "Come on we should get back to Chrome's roo- Wait, we have our own room don't we? Meh, I'll go ask."

"Bye Cadence" Ebony waved as he left the sofa.

We all exchanged goodbyes and went on our way, we alerted Celestia that Cadence was introduced and dealt with. Then I asked where my room is, turns out it's right next to Chrome's room. So we headed there.

I closed the door behind us and prepared for bed using the stock room-equipment as best I could. Once I was ready I sat on the sofa.

"Hey, Ebony, come here."

"What is it Dan?" He walked over and stood in front of me.

I sighed. This is harder than I thought it would be. "Ebony, you know how we've gotten very close as of late?" He nodded, I could tell he knew exactly where this was going. "How would you feel about taking it that extra step?" His eyes widened and mouth dropped. Okay, never mind, he had no idea.

"Dan, that would be a- That would be amazing!" He goddamn jumped on me, lucky changelings are lighter than ponies. He hugged around my chest. "Thank you so much!"

"You don't need to thank me dude. I should be thanking you."

"Why?" He looked up from the shirt he had buried his face in.

"Cause now I have a spare bedroom." He hugged back into me. "You're goddamn adorable, you know that?"

Updated: 08/11/15
-Fixed Grammar
-Fixed some spellings I think
-Conversations easier to follow

Yep, this is a thing that happened.

Not my initial intentions at all. At one point I planned for Dan to end up with Feather. But things change I guess.
Well, that's bound to happen, I wrote this; making it up as I went, so yeah. It's bound to take some turns even I can't see coming.
I don't know why I did this one NOW. It's like... 2am. I swear this thing has made me lose more sleep than... well, anything else. Last chapter for today.