I knocked on Fluttershy’s door and waited, listening intently for the pegasus to quietly invite me in. Instead, I heard faint footsteps from someone who clearly lacked hooves. If I hadn’t been listening for something as quiet as the shy mare’s voice I wouldn’t have heard it at all.

“Nanaki,” I greeted, as he opened the door, the man looking clearly more surprised than I was, even though he certainly knew I was coming.

“C-Cloud,” he said, blinking before shaking off the surprise and moving to let me in. “Please, come in. Have a seat. I trust you won’t mind we have a fourth joining us this evening.”

I smiled as I headed in, taking in his appearance as I passed. He had cleaned up well enough himself, but he was still wearing that uniform, though he had stripped it of several of the more identifying marks. Back on Gaia it would have been the worst of both worlds; Shinra would call him out of uniform while their enemies would still see him as one of them. Here, it just made for a bit plain of a blue outfit. It contrasted sharply with his bright red hair and bright white smile.

We took up seats across from one another, leaving Fluttershy’s seat, nearest the kitchen, to my left. The fourth member was to my right, getting up to share a brief hug before sitting back down.

“Cloud, darling, you really should have let us know you were going to make this a formal affair. I’m sure we all would have been happy to dress up for the occasion,” Rarity chided playfully. She was wearing a lovely purple cloak that complimented her mane. Nice, but far from her best.

“When did you get back to Ponyville?” I inquired. “We’ve all missed you, especially since you left so suddenly. At least Luna got some word to me about the reason.”

“Just last night, darling,” Rarity stated. “And I came home to a rather unexpected surprise waiting in my bed.”

I thought a moment before giggling. I was still getting used to the extreme unmanliness of the act, but I couldn’t always help it. “Just Spike, or both of them?”

“Both, though I didn’t notice Sweetie Belle until the morning,” Rarity said. “My train got in well after dark, and I was quite exhausted when I got home. Still, it wasn’t so bad. I purchased a new bed for them today, so that we don’t have that particular trouble anymore. And I heard you bought one yourself just yesterday.”

“I have a new daughter to take care of,” I confessed. “I’m sure I’ll be asking you and Applejack for more than a little advice on the matter in the days to come.”

“How did that happen?” Nanaki inquired. “I was pretty certain it takes a good nine months, and I don’t believe Rainbow Dash could be the father.”

“Well the ponies do have quite a bit of magic,” I pointed out playfully. “But no, she’s adopted. Diamond Tiara asked me to take her in, after her mother disowned her.”

“That’s very kind of you, Cloud,” Fluttershy praised faintly as she hovered over the table, pouring steaming hot tea into four cups. I hadn’t heard her enter, which didn’t surprise me. Though it was impressive that she could beat her wings without either that or the cloth of her simple green dress making more noise than a whisper.

“She’s a good foal, and a natural leader,” I said. “I’ll do my best to help her grow in both roles.”

“I heard she was quite the bully,” Rarity said. “Though I guess that was before she joined my sister’s little club.”

“She’s gotten much better, perhaps from their influence… and more than a little of ours,” I stated. “Sadly, that was what got her disowned. Her mother, Spoiled Rich, took offense to her devotion to her ‘common’ friends.”

“If you adopted her, where is she now? Perhaps you should have brought her with you,” Nanaki inquired.

“Not looking like this,” I said, winking to him and earning a slightly goofy looking smile. “My friend, Zecora, is watching her at my house right now. I expect I’m going to be paying her quite a lot of bits over the next few years.”

“How is Zecora?” Rarity inquired. “I haven’t seen her in ages.”

“She’s good,” Fluttershy and I answered in unison before giggling. Fluttershy continued softly. “She usually stops by on her way in and out of town. The townsfolk have been a lot nicer to her now that they know she’s not an evil witch. But she still doesn’t have many friends.”

“I’m sure she could if she tried harder,” I said. “I think she prefers to keep the social contact limited. There’s nothing wrong with being an introvert.”

“Please, darling, we’re trying to have tea here,” Rarity chided. “Let’s keep talk of perversions off the table.”

I flushed and struggled to try to clear up the misunderstanding, until the white unicorn laughed and waved a hoof. “I’m sorry, dear, a cheap joke at your expense. I know what an introvert is, even if I myself am far from it. After all, Fluttershy here is one of my best friends.”

“Speaking of perversions,” Nanaki said, smirking at Rarity for a moment. “You seem absolutely determined to turn me away from my own xenophilia.” Fluttershy gave him a brief confused look. “I was wondering if you might be willing to accompany me to a formal dance, three nights from now?”

“Three nights… isn’t that… The Grand Galloping Gala?!” Fluttershy quietly exclaimed.

“The Gala? The princess gave you tickets?” I inquired.

The man produced a pair of golden tickets with a grin. “Actually, another generous mare I know was kind enough to provide them. I can always give them back, if you don’t care to go. As someone recently converted, I won’t blame you if it’s too ‘girly’ for your tastes.”

I shook my head. “No, no. I’d love to go with you,” I assured. “I trust it isn’t too ‘manly’ for you to take me. Though I can’t say I know my way around the dance floor.”

“Nor do I, but I doubt the ponies would be able to tell,” Nanaki said. “Any way we dance will look outlandish to them, regardless. But I think it will be a fun experience, and a great opportunity to get to know one another better.”

“And work on curing you of your xenophilia?” I teased.

“I’ll leave that to your discretion,” he countered with a smile.

I noticed Fluttershy had moved to Rarity’s side to exchange whispers, and gave them a questioning look. Fluttershy blushed and hid behind her hair before taking flight to return to her own side.

“I’m glad that’s settled,” Rarity said when she realized we were paying attention to her again. “Now, we do have another order of business before that. Pinkie Pie’s birthday is the day before the Gala. I’ve spoken to Twilight about it, and we want to throw her a surprise birthday party. Heaven knows she’s thrown enough parties for all of us over the years.”

“A surprise party? I’m sure she’ll love it,” Nanaki said. “Two of her favorite things combined into one.”

“Perhaps one or both of you could take on the job of distracting her that day so she doesn’t realize what we’re up to?” Rarity inquired. “The rest of us will split up the tasks to prepare everything for her. I’ll see if Applejack can host it at her farm. The barn worked well for Hearth’s Warming Eve, after all, it can certainly hold a birthday party.”

“At least until it gets too full of apples,” I agreed. “But it’s planting season now, not harvest, so we should be good. The off-season apples don’t take up that much space, and sell almost as fast as they can pick them.”

“Oh… who’s going to bake the cake?” Fluttershy inquired.

“Are we inviting the Elements of Greatness? Silver Spoon is quite the cook, I am told,” I suggested.

“It would help with foalsitting, and Pinkie Pie isn’t one to turn away somepony from a party,” Rarity said. “Also, I rather think foals’ games would make Pinkie that much happier.”

A fresh pot of tea and tray of small, delightful cookies punctuated the end of the party planning. I wondered for a moment if Pinkie would be impressed or underwhelmed, then remembered who I was thinking about. The mere fact of the party’s existence was sure to fill her with an unreasonable amount of glee. At least, once she was let in on that little secret.

“Now that that’s taken care of,” Rarity said, sitting back with her teacup nestled between her forehooves. “Nanaki, why don’t you tell us all a bit more about yourself?”

Nanaki sat back as well, taking on a relaxed look. But to my eyes it didn’t look like the calm of someone enjoying a pleasant conversation, but more the calm of a warrior prepared for the battle in front of him. Maybe I was imagining it.

“Of course, Rarity,” he responded. “Did you have anything in particular in mind?”

“How has your stay in Ponyville been?” she suggested. “I missed much of it because of my own little excursion.”

“It’s been quite lovely. I’ve mostly been spending time with your friends, for obvious reasons, but every pony I’ve met around town has been quite friendly,” he answered.

“It’s ‘everypony’, darling,” Rarity pointed out.

“They use it like we use ‘everyone’,” I commented.

“As opposed to how Shinra uses everyone?” he inquired with a smirk.

“Clever,” I admitted. “Where did you say you were from? Someplace small, I remember. Shinra come cause you problems?”

“Cosmo Canyon,” he answered. “We had Gaia’s best observatory there, and a long history of studying the planet, the Lifestream, as well as the other planets orbiting the sun. And yes, Shinra caused us grief… nothing as bad as burning the place down, admittedly, at least not that I know of. The worst they did was kidnapping me for Hojo to experiment on.”

“Hojo… how bad was it? I was unconscious the whole time he experimented on me,” I told him.

“Far too bad to be the subject of discussion at a tea party,” he pointed out.

I looked ashamed a moment, turning to Fluttershy. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to mess up your party.”

“No, no, it’s alright Cloud,” Fluttershy offered. “I know it isn’t all pleasant, but you two have so much in common. Though I do hope that Hojo person never comes to Ponyville. If he did, I might have to do something unkind to him.”

“I’m sure we all would, Fluttershy,” I said.

“I can scarcely imagine you doing an unkind thing, even if it were called for,” Nanaki said.

I shuddered at the memory of our fight with Discord. “I can, I’ve seen it. Though, that was Discord’s own fault for messing with our heads.” When Nanaki looked curious, I continued. “A powerful magical creature had the princesses captured, and tried to ambush us on the way to save them. One by one, he used his magic to reverse our personalities, inverting our strongest trait, one after the other. Let’s just say it’s not a good idea to turn your enemy’s kindness into the opposite.”

“I’m still so very sorry about that,” Fluttershy offered. “At least John has forgiven me.”

“John?” Nanaki asked.

“I can apparently turn defeated enemies into summon materia,” I began. “I managed to render Discord speechless and turn his voice into a summon. For some inexplicable reason, that voice calls himself ‘John de Lancie’.” I shrugged. “He’s proven himself surprisingly handy at times, though using his power takes a fair bit more finesse than a more traditional, offensive summon.”

“So… what, your party disappears into the ether and just leaves your enemy fighting… a disembodied voice?” When we nodded, he laughed. “That’s hilarious… and, actually I could see quite a few uses. In fact… maybe we should get him to help kick off the surprise party.”

Fluttershy’s ears tracked a sound the rest of us couldn’t hear, and between whispers and gestures it was quite clear she was having a conversation the rest of us weren’t privy to. “John says he’d like that very much, thank you,” she finally informed us.

“You can hear him now?” Nanaki inquired.

“The summons kind of… haunt whoever has the materia. The summoner can hear them, and aside from John see them, even though they aren’t physically there. Except when I’m asleep, then they live in my dreams,” I explained.

“How many…?” he started.

“John the voice, Philomena the phoenix, Diamond Dust the windigo, and a massive swarm of parasprites,” I listed off, counting on my fingers. “Fluttershy typically keeps most or all of them when we don’t have a reason to redistribute them.”

“So what’s it like having them in your dreams every night?” he inquired, amused.

“It’s terribly awkward, especially since John and DD are dating, but I’ve had to get used to it. On the other hand, DD can be nice to talk to, at least when she isn’t intentionally giving me a hard time,” I said.

“How does that even-” he began, but I shook my head.

“Speaking of dates,~” Rarity said. “We don’t have long before the Grand Galloping Gala, and I can’t have you going in like that. Stop by the Boutique in the morning so I can update your measurements. It will be quite the challenge with the party preparations, but I’m certain I can make you something that will make you the envy of everypony there. I’ve already got Nanaki’s measurements, and I’ll have him in something suitably gentlemanly to complement you perfectly.”

“I have observed that being well dressed improves the impact of the compliments one gives,” Nanaki stated with a grin. “I look forward to seeing what you come up with, especially for my date.”

I couldn’t help but smile back. “I know it will be good. Rarity’s the best at what she does.”

“Thank you darling. Your flattery is quite welcome, but I’m going to need my rest if I’m going to live up to it,” Rarity said. “Thank you so much for the tea, Fluttershy, but I really must be going.”

“Oh, you’re quite welcome, Rarity. Thanks for stopping by,” Fluttershy offered. She looked to the clock before turning to her remaining guests. “It is getting a bit late. Perhaps you two should head home as well.”

“Truthfully, I still haven’t gotten a home of my own to return to,” Nanaki reminded. “Would any of the three of you like to put me up for the night? If not, I’m certain the guest bed at Sweet Apple Acres will suit my needs once more.”

I froze, blushing lightly. If I hadn’t adopted Diamond Tiara, I almost certainly would have invited him over then and there. As it was, I wasn’t going to be quite so quick to head down that road, but I still wasn’t comfortable with the thought of him spending the night with any of my friends. It just reminded me that I had no standing to demand his fidelity to me.

“You’re welcome to stay here and use my couch if you like,” Fluttershy offered.

“Thank you, Fluttershy. The title ‘Kindness’ certainly fits you well,” Nanaki returned.

“It will be nice getting a chance to talk with just you for a while, as well,” the pegasus continued. “If that’s alright with you.”

I closed my eyes a moment, fighting back the jealousy before climbing to my feet. When I opened my eyes, I saw Nanaki’s eyes on me, quietly observing without comment or obvious judgement, which made me blush all the more. “Thanks again, Fluttershy. You always serve the best tea,” I said before heading for the door.

“I’ll see you soon, Cloud,” Nanaki said as he waved goodbye.

“Tomorrow,” I agreed on my way out.

“So… how’d it go, Mom?” Diamond Tiara asked. “Did you ask him out on a real date?”

“Better,” I admitted. I was sitting on the couch, and Diamond was doing me the favor of sitting across my lap, letting me brush her mane. It was nicely soothing for me, though I would never mention to anypony what it reminded me of from home. “He invited me to the Grand Galloping Gala. Somehow he got a pair of tickets from Rarity.”

“Really? Spike and Sweetie gave him theirs, I’m surprised she didn’t want to go herself,” my daughter told me. “Maybe she’s avoiding Prince Blueblood for some reason.”

“Maybe. She didn’t mention him all night,” I said with a frown. “When I see her tomorrow for my fitting, I’ll have to ask how they’re doing. You know, find out whether I need to commit a bit of regicide while I’m up there for the Gala.”

“Mom! Don’t even joke about that!” she said. “You have a daughter now, you can’t go getting yourself thrown in Tartarus forever! At least wait until I move out on my own.”

“Do they allow visitation in Tartarus? You’d come visit me, wouldn’t you? You and Rainbow Dash… on different days,” I said, half joking.

“Why different d-?” Diamond asked, before sticking out her tongue at me. “Mo~om!”

I laughed a bit. “Sorry. Nanaki would be better, but that’d be getting ahead of myself. Anyways, aren’t you being a bit oversensitive about the topic when you’re trying to fix me up.”

Diamond was still unsettled. “Fine. It just snuck up on me, is all.” She looked at me thoughtfully. “The Gala’s just a few days from now. We really need to figure out the makeup thing. Enough with my mane, you promised I could experiment on you.”

I groaned a bit but didn’t fight it.

I woke to the sound of Pinkie Pie singing, or trying to sing while nearly out of breath. Groggily, I made my way hastily to the door. I opened it and looked down to see the mare had a party hat on her head and a red clown nose on her snout.

“You’re not the guest of honor, but you’re probably second place,
So please come to his birthday, we can’t wait to see your f-
Fffffttttt- bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha, heee hee heee, hoo hoo hooo hoo”

The pink pony fell on her back, holding her sides, rolling back and forth laughing. By the time she stopped, I realized I must have had some remnants of Diamond Tiara’s experiments still on my face. Or at least some remnants of the allergic reaction I had gotten to some of the products. I could still feel a bit of the swelling.

“Laughter,” I greeted. “You said ‘his’ birthday? Whose?”

Pinkie instantly jumped to her feet, saluting. “My pet alligator. Gummy is turning one year old tomorrow. See you at the party!”

That put it the day before Pinkie’s birthday party, I noted silently. “I’ll be there… well, where? And is Diamond invited as well?” I asked.

“Sugarcube Corner, or course!” Pinkie wheezed out excitedly. “And of course Diamond is invited. She’s the life of any party! Or at least the afterlife of any afterparty!”

“I meant my daughter. Diamond Tiara,” I pointed out. “Though I’ll make sure someone brings DD’s materia as well.”

Pinkie drew in an unhealthy amount of air, grabbed her head with both forehooves and bugged out her eyes a bit. “Diamond Tiara is your daughter?!”

“Adopted,” Diamond and I said in unison.

Pinkie instantly returned to normal. “Oh, well that makes sense. Bye!”