“Hi there, Ty…” Pinkie creepily greeted, wearing the most horrifying grin I’d ever seen.

“Um… what up, Pink…?”

“Oh, I think you know EXACTLY ‘what up…’ How could you!? I warned you… Why'd you done-do'ed it, Ty?" She demanded to know, glaring at me as if I'd kidnapped her pet or something.

"I didn't 'done-do'ed' anything... t' my knowledge... could you t—!"

"I don't know how youse do-dunned it, but I KNOW YOUSE DO-DUNNED IT!!!" the mare shouted at me in a strange, yet familiar 1940's gangster accent.

“I knew she was nuts, but holy crap…”

The three mares were closing in on me like lions on an injured antelope... Talk about 'Deja Vu...' I had no idea what they were going to do to me and I didn’t want to find out. I looked around, seeing if any of the others would help. I was sadly mistaken, as they all seemed to just stare at the events transpiring.

“I REALLY wish I knew what you was talkin’ about right now…”

“The Promise, you liar liar, plants for hire! You broke your Pinkie Promise!” she yelled at me. “But I’m here to help you un-broke it…”

“Pinkie, wait!” Twilight called. “I wasn’t crying because I was sad! They were tears of joy!”

“…with this slice of pie. Open wide, ‘cuz here comes the choo-choo…” Pinkie threatened, apparently not hearing the presumably panicked unicorn mare as she cocked her foreleg back to try and hit me with the confectionary. I seriously wondered why making Twilight cry tears of JOY was so bad that she’d be provoked to assault me with baked goods. Nevertheless, I took the initiative to duck under it as she launched it. I heard a splat, which caused me to turn around to see that Pinkie nailed Rarity in the face.

“My WORD!” Rarity complained as she angrily brushed the pie residue off.

“Oopsie! Sorry, Rarity…”

Now so afraid that my legs were trembling, I looked at Celestia, only to see her mouth the word “Run!” to me, which I obeyed without question.

I bolted for the door, swiftly passing by Rainbow and Applejack. Just when I thought I’d make it, Rainbow practically teleported in front of me, prompting me to skid to a screeching halt.

“Goin’ somewhere?” she taunted with a smirk. I looked for a way around her, but now seeing how fast she was, I found myself stumped. However, I noticed Applejack sneaking up behind me, which I took as an excellent opportunity.

“Yea. Out,” I remarked as I spun around to swipe Applejack’s hat and jammed it over Rainbow’s head in order to pull her out of the way before slamming through the door and into the extensive maze of hallways.

“This un’s crafty…” I heard Applejack say as I ran down the stairs a little before turning left into a hallway. I ran until I randomly picked a door to hide behind. I ran into what seemed to be a luxurious guest room. I figured I’d hide there until something in my favor happened, like Twilight coming to save me or something.

“Peekaboo… I see you…” I heard that high-pitched voice of Pinkie’s taunt and giggle. I turned to my right to see Pinkie hiding in a vase that seemed to be MUCH too small to hold a pony. Ignoring the wide range of impossibilities in my panic, I ran out the door and back into the hallway. Unfortunately, I ran right into plain sight as Rainbow Dash spotted me.

“There you are! You’re gonna pay for that little trick you pulled!” she flew at me at an amazing, blinding speed. If I’d have tried running, she would’ve no doubt caught me.

“I’m sorry for this!” I shouted as I reopened the door to have the blue pegasus crash into it with a voluminous *THUD*. I was tempted to check the damage, but I remembered that Pinkie was still in the room, so I ran all the way down the hall and out of the door on the end of the corridor. I wound up in the maze-like garden, which was almost pitch-black due to the sun being almost invisible over the horizon and being replaced by glimmering moonlight. Despite that, I ran into the labyrinth and hid behind a bush to catch my breath.

“That was a close one with Dashie, huh?” Pinkie’s voice asked again. I looked up to see her poking her head out of the bush I was hiding behind. Panicking again, I got up and galloped at full speed, making random turns throughout the maze in hopes of losing the mares.

“Come back here, ya varmint!” I heard Applejack shout from an indiscriminate direction. Unsure of where she was, I kept going and making random turns until…

“Gotcha!” announced a hatless Applejack. I blindly ran RIGHT into her. I tried to do a quick 180 and speed off, but that wouldn’t be the case as she grabbed hold of my mane and pulled me into a headlock.

“OUCH! What a dirty trick!” I complained.

“Ya mean like how ya stole ma hat an’ used it t’ throw Dash outta the way?” she shot back. She did have a point…

“Okay, good po—ACK!” she tightened her grip as she held me in place. I tried REALLY hard to get out by unfurling her foreleg from my neck, to no avail. This mare was VERY strong. Deciding that I wasn’t going to get out of her death grip through brute strength, I decided on the best idea I could think of…

*CHOMP!*

“OW!” she shouted in pain. I managed to get her foreleg up enough so that I’d be able to bite her. Of course, I didn’t bite her nearly hard enough to draw blood or make any cuts; just enough to give her a pinch that would shock her into letting me go. Strangely, she DID have sort of a faint taste of apple… and dirt... with just a splash of manual labor.

“Sorry ‘bout that!” I apologized as I recovered and ran away from her. She was quick to follow suit, seeing as I did nothing to keep her occupied.

“Oh, you’re gonna get it now!”

Not seeing any immediate turns in the current section of the bush maze, A.J. and I were running straight, with her slowly, by surely gaining on me. It didn’t help me in the least that I saw Rainbow, now with a more frazzled-than-normal mane and a couple of small streams of blood trickling from her nose, standing right in the way as she waited for me to run into her. She looked outright livid, glaring hot death at me. I couldn’t stop or else I’d get caught by Applejack, but I couldn’t keep going or else I’d run into a pissed-off Rainbow Dash. Suddenly, another idea had come to me.

I sped up, intent on playing a game of Chicken with the daring mare. I lowered my head, determined to scare her into moving out of the way. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be working.

“You think I’m scared of that?” she asked. “You’re gonna have to do better than that if you…” she trailed off as she gawked at me in shock. Instead of running directly into her, I waited until the last second to test my jumping skills. They were in proper working order as I had cleared the obstacle standing before me. In her shock, she seemed to have forgotten that Applejack was right behind me.

“Rainbow, move!” Applejack shouted.

*THUMP* “OOF!” “ARGH!”

The two mares collided with one another. Hard. I decided not to take the time to look back as I made a left into more maze. I could hear the two arguing with each other as I ran, but it wasn’t enough to get me to stop and listen. I made a few more random turns before I felt satisfied and stopped for a breather.

“Wowee-Zowee, you can jump REALLY high! I’ve never seen anypony jump over Rainbow Dash like that before! Except for this buffalo named Little Strongheart when we were going to Appleloosa one time…” lauded Pinkie Pie as she’d magically found me again. She was standing right beside me, any signs of frustration seemingly gone as she rambled about something I’d stopped listening to as I bolted past her. It seemed like no matter WHERE I went, no matter how many twists and turns I’d made, Pinkie was always RIGHT there to present herself in some random, outlandish fashion before continuing what eventually came to be her story about some race A.J. and Rainbow entered that she was the announcer for.

Fortunately, I seemed to have lost the would-be poachers known as Applejack and Rainbow Dash as they searched for me. However, the real challenge came in trying to lose Pinkie Pie, who must’ve been moving at the speed of light, accompanied with some weird sense of foresight. Not trying to give up, I eventually made my way to the center of the garden where that creepy snake statue was. I was just about exhausted as I leaned on it to catch my breath. I warily looked around to see no sign of Pinkie Pie anywhere.

“FINALLY! I'm safe...”

“There he is! By the Discord statue!” shouted Rainbow Dash, who’d finally taken the initiative to fly above the maze to get a bird’s-eye view of things.

"Damn... I'm screwed!"

She dashed towards me, which I expected. Just as I was about to get up and run away, I felt something wrap around one of my hind legs and forcefully pull it from under me. I fell onto the ground and before I could get back up, Rainbow had slammed her body into my back.

“AHAAWWGH!” I shouted.

“You’re not going ANYWHERE…!” the pegasus hissed into my ear.

“Like hell I ain’t!” with that, I rolled onto my back, making the mare fall off of me before I got up and attempted to run again, only to have Rainbow grip my tail to hold me in place before pouncing on me.

“Get over here!” she screamed.

“Oh, sh—!” before I could finish the statement, I found myself rolling around on the ground with the sky blue pegasus mare, trying as hard as I could not to get caught in her grasp. In the ruckus of it all, she’d managed to cuff me in the eye really hard (whether by accident or not, I could only wonder), as well as a few miscellaneous parts of my body. Adhering by human moral code, I decided against trying to hit her back, instead opting to keep her from getting a grip on me. I was doing pretty well as we wrestled on the ground, but I was getting extremely tired from it. After a couple of minutes of struggling and grappling with Rainbow, Applejack entered the fray as I tried to escape. Exhausted and outnumbered, the scuffle didn’t last for too much longer before I was eventually pinned to the ground on my back with Applejack holding my hind legs down as Rainbow held my forelegs down. “Okay… hah… hah… I give up…”

“Hoo doggie, you’re slipperier than an oil-covered snake in the rain… hah…” Applejack breathlessly complimented... I think.

“Yeah… You sure can move… hah…” Rainbow added. “I didn’t think I’d have to use my wings to getcha…” I opened my mouth to reply, but then the Earth pony and pegasus released me. However, before I could get up, Pinkie Pie, seemingly out of absolutely nowhere, leapt through the air and plopped flanks-first on my stomach with the force of a giant, heavy sandbag, knocking what little wind I had left in me, out.

“AAH-HOOGH! *cough cough*”

“Oopsie… Maybe that was a little much…”

“Ya think…?” I groaned as I tried to catch my breath. It was kind of hard to do with such a heavy mare sitting on me, coupled with the fact that I was completely worn out. I guessed that her constantly being around sweets caused her to eat so much of them that she packed on the pounds. It sure as hell wasn’t evident until I had her sitting on me. “Can you… get off now…?”

“Nope!” she bluntly answered as she pulled an entire pie out of her mane with one hoof as she moved the other to grab my face.

“Ty!” I heard a wonderfully familiar voice call. I looked to see that the rest of the gang joined us in the garden while I was still being held down. I noticed Fluttershy was in possession of Applejack’s hat. “Pinkie, stop!” Twilight called.

“Nopey-Dopey, Twilight,” Pinkie answered. “He’s a Pinkie Promise breaker and he has to learn how serious it is to break a Pinkie Promise after Pinkie Promising.”

“But he didn’t break any Pinkie Promise! I was crying from happiness, not sorrow!”

“I know.”

“You… know??” The purple mare asked in perplexity. “Then why are you three doing this!?”

“Because he broke a Pinkie Promise, Twilight! How many times do I gotta say it?”

“Pinkie, you JUST admitted that he didn’t!”

“But he totally did!” At that, Twilight let out an exasperated sigh.

“I… I think I get it now…” Fluttershy spoke up. “Ty didn’t break his promise not to make you cry… but he must’ve broken a different one.”

The entire group except for Pinkie, Rainbow, and Applejack gave a collective “Ohhhhhh,” of realization. Twilight gave a deadpan look, as if to say, ‘Of course…’

“Well do you mind tellin’ me what promise I broke to deserve gettin’ the sh…erbet beat outta me?”

“Ohmygosh, I LOVE sherbet! Isn’t it so wonderfully delicious and fruity and tangy that you could just eat an entire tub—! No, a KAJILLION tubs of it!? But then what about ice cream? Ice cream is delicious too… And you can put fruit in it, but does that turn it into sherbet? No, that would be silly…*GASP* and then there’s frozen yogurt! It’s like regular yogurt, but froz—!”

“*AHEM*” I cleared my throat loudly in order to bring the mare back into the situation at hoof. “Could you PLEASE tell me why you’re sittin’ on me with a pie in your hoof now?” I was growing impatient with being on the cold ground under a mare I’m sure was insane.

“Oh, yeah! It’s because you broke your Pinkie Promise about eating sweets every day to cure your Pica.” I face hoofed and took a long, deep, irritated breath as I recalled the promise I’d made her before I left.

“…You had me chased out of the castle an' around this giant-ass garden AN' got me beat up by your friends, all because I FORGOT TO EAT SOMETHIN' WITH SUGAR IN IT!!?”

“Hey hey hey! This is YOUR fault, not mine,” she indignantly replied. “All you had to do was eat something as small as a piece of candy and none of this would’ve happened. Besides, I told you what would happen if you broke a Pinkie Promise…”

“All you told me was that you’d ‘get me!’ I thought that meant somethin’ like… I dunno, makin’ me eat somethin’ sweet…”

“And that’s exactly what I’m doing, you silly filly! Or… silly colt!”

“Ohh, I see. But come on now... You seriously expect me t' jus’ lay here an’ let you force-feed me like this?”

“No, Mr. Memoir… I expect you to PIE!”

“Ha, I see what she did the—!”

*SPLAT!* Rather than force-feed me piece by piece, she shoved the entire pie into my face. Afterwards, she finally got off of me. After taking it in that I’d just been assaulted with pie, I moved to get up despite being unable to see. Somepony helped me up as I licked some of the residue off of my face.

“Mmm! Sweet potato!” I announced as I wiped some of it out of my eyes; one of which really hurt to touch. “How’d you know this was my favorite?”

“I didn’t, actually. It was more of a hunch than anything! You just kind of have that sweetie potato-ey kind of vibe.” I found it in me to laugh with her, despite being surprised by her knowledge of my favorite pie flavor and confused by her explanation for it.

“Well however you found out, this pie is great!” After I cleared as much of the remains of the sweet potato pie off of my face as I could, I looked over at Rainbow and Applejack standing beside me. “Hey um… sorry about all that…”

“T’weren’t nothin’,” Applejack pardoned. “’Sides, that was actually kinda fun. I do gotta say you got quite the pair o’ chompers on ya, though,” she quipped as she held up a foreleg and shook it.

“Speak for yourself,” Rainbow, holding a hoof over her nose, stated.

“Wow, I feel like such a jerk. Sorry about the hat trick, Rainbow… and the door… and the makin’ you crash int’ Applejack…”

“It’s all good…” she said as she looked up at me. Underneath the nosebleed, I saw her smirking. “Besides, I think I got you back already with that little wrestling match, judging by your eye…”

“My eye…? Ow!” I moved a hoof to touch my left eye to realize that it had been swelling up and was extremely sensitive to the touch. The pegasus succeeded in giving me a shiner for my troubles. Inexplicably, I found it all… humorous. I began to chuckle, which soon turned into a hearty laugh that the rainbow-maned mare joined me in. “Oh, and Rarity? Sorry that you got caught in the crossfire…”

“It’s quite alright, dear. I’ve taken a liking to Pinkie’s baked goods anyhow.” At that, everyone got a good laugh before Pinkie got up in my face with a serious face, abruptly ending the laughter.

“This is your warning, mister. Do NOT break another Pinkie Promise again; ESPECIALLY the one you made to Twilight about never giving her up, letting her down, running around and deserting her, making her cry— unless it’s tears of joy, of course— saying goodbye— unless you’re gonna come back and say ‘hello’ again— telling a lie, or hurting her. Because if you do…”

“I… I understand, Pinkie. I’d probably get it ten thousand times worse and from ALL of you if I screwed up on this one…” I was admittedly worried about the promise itself. I mean, my future with Twilight was questionable; not because of anything bad, but because I was fearful of what to expect, as I was sure anyone would be. I wasn’t expecting it to be picture perfect, but I supposed I’d try my hardest to keep her happy… for her sake… and mine.

“Okie dokie lokie…” she warily replied before backing up. I took that as an opportunity to breathe some hot air out in relief before she startled me by jumping up at me and giving me the stink eye before slowly backing away again.

“WHO DARES ENTER THE ROYAL GARDEN SANS OFFICIAL AUTHORIZATION!?” shouted a voice that sounded like it was coming out of a bullhorn. I looked up into the night sky to spot a sparkling dark blue cloud as it approached. The closer it got, the more it looked like… another pony.

“Oh! Dear Sister and friends!” the pony said in a much less voluminous voice as she landed by Celestia. This mare seemed to be the polar opposite of the Sun Princess in terms of looks. Her coat was dark blue, her mane, while sparkling like Celestia’s, was an even darker blue, and her jewelry seemed to take on the same colors as her body. Her eyes were a bright ocean blue. She was somewhat smaller than her counterpart, but she still outsized the rest of us. I noticed her necklace, which had a crescent moon on it. I figured out who it was immediately. After everyone else greeted the mare, I decided I’d introduce myself.

“Hello!” I greeted with a smile. She returned the gesture with a bewildered look.

“Who, may I ask are you?” she inquired in an unsure and surprisingly wary tone.

“This is Ponder Memoir, sister.” Celestia introduced. “However, he prefers the name ‘Ty.’ He is Twilight’s newest friend.”

“Oh dear. Um… salutations, newest friend Ponder Memoir.” She seemed… somewhat afraid as she approached me. “I am Luna, Princess of the Night.” She slowly reached out a hoof to shake.

“Please, jus’ call me Ty,” I said. “I’ss definitely a pleasure t’ meet you, Your Highness.” I extended a hoof to meet hers. Rather than immediately shake my hoof, she lowered hers and looked at me with worry.

“Thine tone of voice… it shows no signs of apprehension. Thou… dost not fear me?” That question confused me; not because she was speaking in Old English, but because she actually expected me to be afraid of her.

“Fear you? I don’t even know you yet. So far as I know, there ain’t a reason t’ be scared. Besides, we’re all friends here, right?”

“THIS IS MOST WONDERFUL!” Luna shouted in my face with that megaphone voice, accompanied by a gust of wind as strong as a hurricane. I thought my eardrums were going to explode with how loud she was. Soon after, her horn began to glow a slightly brighter blue than her body.

“Hey, what—?” Before I realized what was going on, she wrapped me up in her glow, levitated me towards her, and gave me the new worst ‘hug’ I’d ever been victimized by. “AAAAHAHAHAHOWWWW!!” It was here that I’d developed a new sense of pity for anything and everything that required squeezing.

“THOU ART NOT FEARFUL OF US! WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR THINE BRAVERY, NEW FRIEND!”

“Luna! You’re doing it again…” Celestia scolded.

“*Gasp* Oh! Our… My apologies, Sir Ty,” the Moon Princess, who I could probably guess was unbelievably socially awkward, said as she loosened her grip to allow me to fall flat on the ground.

“It’s… Ah! Okay… I’m completely fine with not bein’ able t’ walk again. At least I… ow…! At least I get t’ say I broke my back huggin’ a princess…” I quipped in pain, which I got a few giggles from.

“Thou… I mean YOU… are humorous. I must say, however, that you appear to have been involved in an arduous battle that... seemed to include a confectionary treat. I especially take notice of your eye... It seems injured.”

“What, this?” I rhetorically asked as I got up and placed a fore hoof over my swollen left eye and examined the rest of my body to see the rope still tied to my leg. “Rainbow Dash an’ I, bein’ the GREAT friends we are, got into a heated game o’ tag. Long story short, I gave her a nosebleed and she punched me in the eye. After that, Applejack and Pinkie Pie jumped me usin’ a pie an’ some rope as weapons.” Luna blinked and looked at the pegasus holding her nose, then to the two Earth ponies (the orange one with a slightly scraggly mane and tail, but reunited with her hat), and then back at me with my swollen eye before raising an eyebrow.

“I… do not understand. I was under the impression that friends did not commit acts of violence against one another.”

“No, we didn’t do this to each other on purpose…” Rainbow began. “…well, at least, HE didn’t do this to ME on purpose…” I exhaled in shock and offense, joined by a few of the others gasping as we gawked at her. I couldn’t believe her. She actually MEANT to punch me in the eye! “What? I was maybe the TEENSIEST bit upset, alright?”

“Oh gee, well I hope you feel better now,” I remarked.

“Not gonna lie, Ty… I do… I do.” She followed her comment with a titter.

“*sigh* you an’ I are gonna get along GREAT, I bet.”

“I’ll say…” Twilight spoke towards both of us. She then turned her attention to Rainbow. “From you almost bucking his head off when you two met, to accidentally slapping him in the face when he tried to hug you goodbye, to you helping me give him a chance at being able to come back here, only for you two to get into a fight over a broken Pinkie Promise…”

“If ya needed a punchin’ bag, you coulda jus’ got one at the gym, Rainbow!” Applejack joked.

“Yeah, but how many ‘punching bags’ punch back?” the blue pegasus wittily retorted.

“A punchin’ bag, huh? Okay, I see how it is… jus’ wait till next time,” I jokingly warned, winking at her with my good eye.

“You… you’re not seriously going to fight each other… are you?” Fluttershy worriedly asked. I gave a light chuckle at the question.

“Of course not, Fluttershy. I’m jus’ sayin’ Dashie here betta check herself before she wrecks herself.”

“Anytime, anyplace, tough guy!” Rainbow challenged, giving me a cocky smirk. And to believe, according to Twilight, that she of all ponies helped me get a chance to talk to Celestia again…

“On a different note,” Rarity began. “It is delightful that you’re able to stay, Ty. Maybe you can help Twilight with her—!” before she could finish what she had to say, she got evil stares from both Twilight and Pinkie Pie. “…studies.”

“Oh, okay,” the purple unicorn and pink party pony said in unified relief.

“Yea… yea I could do that…” With that, we all enjoyed a relatively short amount of time conversing with one another on various subjects before I let out a large yawn, the events of the day finally catching up to me. “I’ss gettin’ late… I’m beat.”

“Yeah, it is gettin’ pretty close t’ quittin’ time, ain’t it?” said Applejack.

“Yes, it is time to rest, my little ponies,” Celestia stated. With that, we all migrated to the front of the castle. There, we said our goodbyes. In the midst of it, Rainbow told me that no one calls her ‘Dashie’ but Pinkie and that if I said it again, she’d let me have it. I responded by telling her that I wasn’t scared of her and then proceeded to antagonize her by calling her ‘My Little Dashie’. She answered by poking me in my bad eye and laughing at my misfortune. A chariot carried everyone except Twi and I back to Ponyville. We stayed behind because Celestia had mentioned that she wanted to discuss our situation further. The two monarchs, the unicorn, and I all returned to the throne room.

“Now then…” Celestia began. “This is quite a new situation to address.”

“What situation is there to address, dear sister?” Luna quizzically asked.

“You see, Luna, Twilight and Ty here are… how you say, courting.” Luna gasped with delight.

“Oh, my! You have found yourself a lover, friend Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yeah, I… guess you could put it that way…” Twilight bashfully admitted, blushing and rubbing the back of her head with her fore hoof. I instinctively put on a goofy smile as I felt a little hot myself.

“However, Ty is not originally from Equestria… In fact, he is from an alternate world entirely.” Luna gasped again, this time in surprise.

“My word! What kind of world is it?? Who are its leaders?? Are there such things as the fun and games??”

“All of that, I’m sure will be answered in due time, sister. The issue at hoof here is how to accommodate for the bizarre circumstances of their union. So far, we have covered that you are allowed to visit at yours and Twilight’s leisure so long as you do not inform anypony of your travels until an appropriate time is chosen, that you do not under ANY circumstance abuse this privilege, and that an alternative transformation spell to the one under effect at the moment is to be found and cast upon you.”

“Transformation spells…? I am befuddled as to why transformation spells are necessary… Does this mean…?”

“Yes, Ty’s original form is not that of a pony, but of an entirely new species… called ‘humans.’” Luna took in another shocked gasp. With all the air she’d been taking in, I was surprised she didn’t get lightheaded. “Before you develop any more questions, dear sister, I believe that the answers will come in due time… especially when you are able to read this…” With that, Celestia used her magic and pulled something out of a nearby chest that shocked me and especially shocked Twilight, whose eyes lit up at the object.

“The… the notebook!!” the starstruck unicorn shouted as Celestia levitated it towards her. As soon as she grabbed hold of it, she began bouncing Pinkie-style in circles around me, chanting “Yes!” over and over again in rapid succession.

“*AHEM*” Celestia sounded, bringing the unicorn mare out of her happy place.

“Oops… sorry.” She shyly apologized out of awkwardness. “But… I thought you destroyed it when you took it away…”

“I had no plans on destroying your information. I was actually going to examine it myself, but I hadn’t the time. However, with everything I’ve observed from you two since Ty’s arrival here, I believe I’ve more than enough information to suffice for now. I do hope you realize, however, that I’m expecting an extensive letter on what you’ve learned about friendship… from both of you.”

“No problem, Princess Celestia! Consider it written!” Twilight happily replied.

“Wait… what??” I was completely bewildered.

“See it as one of the perks of dating my most faithful student. You have also become a scholar on the subject of friendship under me, which means I expect a letter on a lesson of friendship from you as well.” I had mixed feelings about that, but I supposed nothing comes absolutely free, no matter what universe one was in.

“But… I—!”

“There’s no pressure. You may write one if, and ONLY IF you happen to discover a lesson on friendship.”

“Yea, but... *sigh* I suppose that’s fair. Come t’ think of it, it WOULD help you keep on track with your studies, no?” I asked Twilight.

“Certainly.”

“And if you’re going to continue your studies of the human world, I’d like to know what you’ve learned on that as well, if that isn’t too troubling to you, Twilight,” Celestia requested.

“Not at all. I’d be happy to.”

“Heh. What, are you tryna go there yourself sometime?” I remarked.

“Perhaps…” the Sun Princess slyly answered with a wink, which piqued my curiosity. However, I kept the thought to myself. “I do believe we’ve covered the basics of your situation other than the spell. With that, our meeting is adjourned.”

“Alright. So… now what?”

“If my memory serves to recall, you have work in the morning in your world, don’t you?” Twilight asked.

“Eugh… I do… Good thing i’ss Thursday today…”

“*sigh* Yes, unfortunately… but after that, I’m totally free till Sunday night.”

“Excellent! In that case, would you want me to wait until you got home so I could bring you back here?”

“I suppose, but… are you sure you have enough energy t’ take me back AND change me back?”

“Barely… but I think I’d have a better chance if we did so early tomorrow morning.”

“Okey doke. I guess we’re goin’ back to the library t’ rest up then?”

“Indeed.” With that, we said our goodbyes to Equestria's leaders, although Luna seemed to be a bit disappointed. I took the initiative to assure her that we’d likely meet again if that was okay with her; an offer she graciously accepted. We were delivered to Twilight’s home in Ponyville via chariot. The ride itself was mostly silent, but I was too caught up in my thoughts over everything that had happened; not just this day, but over the course of my entire time with Twilight to be able to say much. Ignoring the throbbing pains in various parts in my body, my gaze fixated on the pretty little mare staring off into the night sky as I thought about her. Eventually, we made it to her home and didn’t hesitate to make our way upstairs and into her bed facing one another.

“You know, you look like you could really use a healing…” she whispered to me.

“Heheh, I FEEL like I could use a healin’… but for now, I think sleep will do wonders…”

“Don’t get too comfortable. We’re getting up bright and early to write that letter before I take you back home…”

“Ha, good one…”

“Good what…?”

“…Oh no, you’re serious…? Come on, Twi… can’t it wait?”

“No. Not with how far behind I am on my studies. In fact, you’re going to be helping me to catch up on them this entire weekend…” At that, I groaned in reluctance. But I knew I owed it to her for everything she’d done for me.

“Oh, alright… It is the LEAST I can do for ya…”

“Oh, would you two be QUIET!?” Spike suddenly complained, startling the both of us.

“Sorry, Spike…” We whispered at the same time before turning our attentions back to one another.

“Well, g’night, Twi…”

“Night, Ty…”

“One more thing…”

“What’s up…?” As she asked, I gave her a small kiss on her lips.

“To a long, beautiful friendship…” she responded by returning the gesture before turning around.

“To a magical, loving friendship…” she said before we got comfortably snuggled together and drifted off to a blissful slumber...