*POOF*

My eyes shot open after I’d heard what sounded like a small burst. I was still woozy from the nap I took after the miserable day I’d had. I moved to get up, only to feel something pinning my chest down. Given how dark it was in my room, coupled with the fact that I was halfway asleep, I couldn’t make out a clear image of what was suddenly on top of me. I lifted a hand to grab at the foreign object. My hand was met with some kind of soft, silky, yet bristly-feeling material, like a broom or duster of some sort.

“What IS this…?” I ran my fingers through the object, still unable to get a clear idea of what it was. I moved my hand upward a bit more to find that the material had connected to something else… Whatever it was felt warm… and furry. It also felt fleshy and soft as I gently squeezed the new, velvety material and rubbed it, still trying to get an idea of what was laying on me. It was as if whatever was on me was alive…

“Hey, watch where you’re putting those hands…!” a familiarly feminine voice quietly scolded. It sounded like… like…

“Twilight!??” I shouted as I popped my head up, quickly withdrawing my hand from what I could now guess was her flank.

“Hey there, sleepyhead! *cough*” she greeted as she lit up her horn to reveal a whimsical smile. Although my heart was pounding like crazy because of her scaring me, I couldn’t help but be overjoyed that she was back. “Miss me?”

“Oh, I dunno…” I nonchalantly quipped as I lay back down and folded my hands behind my head as the unicorn towered over me. “…if I could tell you that. Mind if I SHOW you instead?” she giggled as I lifted my head up to give her a kiss. She happily welcomed the embrace as she sat and placed her fore hooves on my shoulders to get more comfortable. We separated briefly to passionately press our lips together time and time again, enjoying every aspect of the moment. This culminated in me feeling something unfamiliarly slimy and warm trying to make its way into my mouth on the last kiss. I pulled my head back in a mixture of surprise and intrigue as I eyed the unicorn with a raised eyebrow.

“I-is there something wrong?” she worriedly asked.

“Nah, nothin’s wrong… I’m jus’ a li’l bit surprised you would try usin’ your tongue…”

“Oh! Well, there’s *cough cough* this new technique I learned *cough* from reading this book in my library…” I resisted the urge to laugh at how ridiculous that sounded.

“Wait… you have some kinda book on how to…?” I took her silence and sudden sense of shyness as a “yes.” I let out a chuckle as I shook my head. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at that. But… t’ be perfectly honest… I don’t know myself how t’ use my tongue.”

“Oh, well allow me to explain it to you. According to the book, we just— *cough cough cough* *AHEM*”

“Hey, you alright?” I asked, somewhat worried about her frequent coughing. “Why you coughin’ so much?”

“Oh, it’s *cough* nothing… just a scratchy throat is all…” I was skeptical, given that I spent a good amount of my years watching people come down with horrendous colds and fevers that started with scratchy throats. At the same time, however, I hoped she was right. After she basically tried to get a taste of the inside of my mouth, I REALLY hoped she was right…

“If you say so…” I warily replied, now concerned about Twilight’s health, as well as my own. “But speakin’ of explainin’, how’d you send me that letter?”

“So it DID make it to you!” she excitedly stated.

“Yea, it did… Right when I ran int’ those three guys from the other day again in the city.”

“Ooooh… sorry about that… I had no idea…” she shyly answered with a giggle. *cough*

“You good.”

“Thank you… Why were you in the *cough* city?”

“I had t’ go t’ work. I spent the whole day bein’ interrogated about what I was doin’ with my time off, gettin’ yelled at by my boss, and when I got off and was on my way home, I ran int’ those guys again. They didn’t let go that we had t’ teleport t’ get away from them, so they kept pressin’ me on it. Right when I was about t’ tell ‘em I had no idea who you was or what they were talkin’ about, your letter popped up right in front o’ me. So I grabbed it an’ ran.”

“How’d you get away?”

“I ran around for like three hours until I guess they gave up. After that, I was free to get int’ my car an’ drive home.”

“Wait a second… *cough* If you had one of these ‘car’ things of your own, then what *cough* *AHEM* was the reason for us going on that other bigger ‘car’ with all those other humans the other day?”

“Hmm… I will answer that with this: If we drove there, how much information would you have gotten compared to our li’l bus ride?”

“Probably the same amount…” she informed matter-of-factly. “Buuuut… I don’t suppose it would’ve been as fun.” We smiled and shared a laugh.

“How did things go with the princess?” I asked after we quieted down.

“She… *cough* she didn’t give me a straight answer…” that made my heart skip a beat.

“Well… w-what did she say t’ you?” I timidly asked, fearing the worst of her response.

“She said she wouldn’t…*cough* *cough*" The mare paused to clear her throat. That half-second lapse in her response sent my heart sinking into the pit of my stomach as my eyes widened in aggregate fear and anticipation of her answer. "Sorry about that... as I was saying, she told me she wouldn’t give me an answer… *cough* without you there to hear it.” At that, I wasn’t sure how to feel. Twilight’s reply was almost completely ambiguous. I mean, I was happy that I was able to go to Equestria one more time, but… did that mean Celestia wanted me there in person so she could tell me that she was staying firm with her choice? Or possibly that she was reconsidering it? Or maybe she wanted me to explain myself before she made her choice? Questions were swimming around in my head like crazy as Twilight and I went silent (more so me than her, given that she was coughing so much). I decided against bombarding her with them as the feeling of excitement for being able to set foot in Equestria one more time was more than enough to momentarily satisfy me.

"I... I see..." I murmured, the dissonance in my voice leaving my emotions unmasked.

"Yeah, I don't know what to expect, either... At the very least, you're able to come back for a short time..."

“True... How was the rest o’ your day? I’m guessin’ it wasn’t great, accordin’ t’ that letter…?”

“Oh, it wasn’t too *cough* bad… As soon as I went home, Spike tried blackmailing me into *cough* giving him the day off, using you as the blackmail…”

“That sneaky li’l dragon…”

“Then after I got him to *cough* send Princess Celestia a letter, Rarity came in and took him away on a date before she sent a response…”

“Well shut my mouth wide open… He actually scored a chance with her…!”

“Then Rainbow Dash dropped by asking for advice…”

“Advice…? On what?” I asked, curious about the headstrong light blue pegasus.

“Um… *cough* I’ve said too much already on that…” she smiled and winked at me. I wasn’t sure how to take that, given I was completely in the dark (no pun intended) about what Rainbow could’ve needed advice for. “Anyway, she agreed to take me to Canterlot *cough* herself if all else failed… Believe me, Ty; that was possibly the WORST thing I’d done all day…”

“Is that so?” I asked with a chortle. “How?”

“As fate would have it, her offer was my only option. The *cough cough* pegasus guards responsible for transportation via chariot were off today, Celestia was *cough* too busy to come and see me herself, and she said the only way I could’ve gotten there at that point was to take the train, which would’ve taken MUCH too long. I sat at home for hours on end waiting for either *cough* Spike or Rainbow to get back to deliver that news to me. I used some of that time to write you that letter and try to send it to you. Speaking of, I had sent the *cough* letter expecting it to land in here for you. I sent it while I conjured up a mental image of your face instead of an image of your *cough* room. I guess from there, the letter recognized you and materialized as soon as it found you…”

“I see…” It didn’t make much sense, but given that I was talking to a unicorn from an alternate world, I went with it without question.

“Right after I sent that *cough* letter, Spike came in with the letter from Princess Celestia that told me the circumstances of the visit. Soon after, Rainbow Dash came bursting in with Rarity held captive…” I had a good laugh at what it would look like to see Rainbow holding Rarity against her will.

“Why’d she drag Rarity to you?”

“I told her Spike was *AHEM* with her, but I guess that by the time she found her, Spike was already on his way back to me. Anyway, before we left for Canterlot, I took Rainbow to Sweet Apple Acres to get some rope…”

“Rope? What did you need rope for?”

“We were afraid that Rainbow would wind up tiring herself out if she tried carrying me. We acquired the rope in order to tether ourselves together. After that, I cast a spell that allowed me to become weightless like a balloon…” I could already see where this was going.

“Oh boy... An’ lemme guess,” I interjected. “She took off like you WASN’T attached to her?”

“Yes! It was a *cough* nightmare! She was going so fast, I could hardly see anything. She even wound up making me fly through a cloud, which got me all soaking wet and cold. It didn’t help that we were so high up in the air… and THEN we made it to Princess Celestia.”

“Y’know, you prolly shoulda half-expected that t’ happen. But it sounds like you had just as bad a day as I did…”

“Tell me about it… *cough cough cough*”

“Hey, you sure i’ss just a scratchy—!”

“HATCHOOO!!” Before I’d even finished my question, Twilight decided to grace my face with a spray of her pony saliva via sneeze. “I’m so sorry!”

“And THERE’S the icing on the shit cake for today…”

“It’s… it’s fine,” I said with the slightest hint of irritation, sighing as I wiped the residue off my face. “Maybe we should jus’ get some rest. Hopefully, you’ll feel better tomorrow.”

“Yeah that sounds good. We’ve got a very special meeting planned for tomorrow, anyway.”

“This is true… sweet dreams, my little pony…” I liked the sound of that name at this point, despite it being the name of that TV show that was apparently an on-camera look at life in Equestria. It had a catchy sort of ring to it.

“Good night, my giant human…” she retorted as she leaned in for a peck. I pressed two fingers to her lips.

“Don’t you think you’ve gotten me sick already?” I asked, removing my fingers.

“I suppose you’re right…” she dejectedly answered as she lay her head down.

“Aww, you’re just adorable…” I whispered as I rested one hand on her head and stroked her with the other. “Fine, you win,” I conceded against my better judgment regarding my health. She said nothing back; only lifted her head up to look at me with a warm, inviting smile with her eyes half-closed as she lay on my chest. I swear I could’ve gotten lost in those sizable, stunningly beautiful glimmering oases of royal violet, in addition to that adorable straight dark blue mane of hers; how perfectly the deep purple and hot pink streaks complemented the rest of her colors. The bangs of her mane draped so perfectly over her eyes, just short of hiding them, with that cute little glowing horn protruding from the middle of her forehead, through her hair. The wonderful sight I was beholding was completed by that petite, cutely modest smile she wore.

“How could I say ‘no’ to a face like that?” I quipped as I brought the hand I was using to stroke her back up to caress her cheek.

“Mmmmm... You don’t care that I may be *cough* sick?”

“Ah’ont think it matters now… you probably already infected me. I jus’ hope that colds can’t be transmitted from ponies to humans. If they can, then I hope the colds we wake up with tomorrow won’t be too much t’ deal with…”

“Or it could be that I have a scratchy throat and we’ll both be okay.”

“Here’s t’ hopin’…” I said before I puckered up.

“To ‘hopin’’…” she mocked.

“Hey…” I shot back in amusement before we shared one last quick kiss before calling it a night…