Citrus Blush and North Point snuggle together in their booth at The Spitfire Grill. Tim sits across from them, watching North Point’s horn glow softly as she stares at the blank sheet of paper. A divider compass is sitting next to the sheet of paper on the table.

Tim takes a sip of his tea. It didn’t take much coaxing to get Cayenne to add American southern style sweet tea to the drink menu. One taste had hooked the mare, though Tim is still trying to figure out how to create a Long Island Iced Tea with the liquors available in the bar. Even familiar styles of alcohol are still different enough -- the flavor never comes out just right. He sets the glass down on the table and takes a bite of the fettuccine alfredo on his plate, relishing as the heat and flavor spreads across his tongue. Finally he swallows. “Nothing?”

North shakes her head, “I’m just so used to working on buildings, this feels…” She runs a hoof along the paper, “it’s hard to explain... I just don’t know how to start.” She sighs, “I guess I don’t have inspiration.”

Tim smiles, “Perhaps this will help.” He pulls out what he had purchased on his way to the restaurant before work. He takes a moment to unfold the paper, “I found a pretty detailed map of Canterlot.” What Tim doesn’t mention is the snort of surprise from the stallion selling the map, though he did take Tim’s bits without qualms.

North Point brightens on seeing the map, “It’s beautiful!” She touches the thick paper gingerly, “This had to be expensive.”

Tim shrugs, “It’s worth it to see the look on your face.” He glances at Citrus, who’s beaming smile that warms his heart, “And I’ve got a job, earning my own bits. I’m happy to use it for something nice for somepony nice.”

North glances at Citrus, then at Tim. “Are you inviting me to join your herd?”

Tim thinks for a moment, and the look on Citrus’ face tells him all he needs to know, “If you want to join, we would be happy to have you.”

North blushes deeply and nuzzles Citrus. “Thank you, Tim.” She looks down, “I’ve tried to join another herd a while back…” Her ears flick back for a moment, “But their stallion said I wasn’t good enough in bed.” She sniffles a bit.

Citrus nuzzles North Point back. “You just hadn’t found the right stallion, then.”

Tim smiles at the two mares. He says, “You don’t have to decide right now, but dinner service is starting soon, so I’ve got to get busy.” He stands up and glances around. The restaurant is pretty quiet at the moment, though that will be changing before too long. Tim collects a kiss from each mare and whistles a happy tune as he makes his way into the kitchen. It may be the height of summer, but he’s got a fun job, and mares who love him fiercely; he has no worries.

He starts on the dishes, listening to the general din of the kitchen as he can tell more and more patrons are making their way into the restaurant. He smiles at a pegasus stallion that drops off a load of pots and pans for him to work on. He grabs a big pot and gets to work, taking the stiffly bristled brush to the encrusted crud on the sides.

“Hiya!” comes a voice. Tim looks around, puzzled.

“Up here, silly.” Comes the voice again, and he follows the directions, to see a white griffon with gray wings and tail sitting on top of the dishwasher.

Tim looks at her for a long moment, then he smiles, “Galileah!”

She grins, “You remembered my name, I don't need to charge you a mind it fee!" She says with a giggle. He sputters for a moment as she hops down and walks around him, “So you’ve got a job now. You like it?”

He nods. “How did you…?”

She shrugs her wings, replying, “Daddy was hosting some ponies for some business deal back home. I really don’t care about that. I was just about to tell him I was gonna bail when I watched a pony go through the kitchen door and I saw you.”

His eyebrows rise as he glances back at the door quickly, then he focuses back on the griffon. “So, why are you coming back here? I think Apple Stars will be upset if she finds you…” Tim lets a bit of a warning hint into his voice, hoping the little lady gets it before they both do.

The griffon sticks out her tongue and raises her wings for a moment. “Oh, what will she do? Fire me? I don’t work here. If you can’t visit with me here, I’ll have Daddy pull some strings and have Princess Celestia send you to our embassy.”

Tim shakes his head. “But…” he searches for a long time for the word, but finally, “Why me?”

"I don't know," she shrugs, "primarily because you’re not a pony, I guess. I don't have to worry about you breaking out into a song and dance number on me.” She rolls her eyes, “especially since I don't have any Songbird in me.” She stops and looks intently at him, “The truth is, there aren't a lot of griffins to hang around with here in Canterlot. Basically just the embassy staff, and they are boring.” She clicks her beak a couple of times. “The yaks just want to break things, the minotaurs are just too aloof and showy for my tastes.” She looks down and grumbles, “some of the ponies seem to like them a lot.” She looks up at him, “But you.” Words seem to fail her for a moment, she opens her beak a couple of times, and her cheeks blossom with a blush, “Well...” She draws on the tile of the floor with a foreclaw, “You’re different.” She looks up at him, “Strange... new... So, when do you get out of work?" she finishes with a hesitant smile.

Tim stammers a few times, “Umm, I’m closing tonight, so around three in the morning.”

She shakes her head, “Oh, that’s far too late.” She glances at Apple Stars, who is working with some of the sous chef’s at the moment, “I could get you fired, make you spend time with me right now…” She muses, tapping her beak with a talon, then she shrugs, “but you like the job, so I can wait.” She jumps into the air, “I’ll see ya around, k?”

She tosses off a salute to Tim before she streaks off. She deftly flies through air above the ponies working in the kitchen. She even stops and clings to the ceiling for a moment as Apple Stars trots from one station to another, then she flies through the door out of the kitchen. Tim sighs and shakes his head. “what was that all about?”

***

Ahh, a Sunday, a nice, quiet day to lay around together. Cayenne typically takes Sundays off to spend more time with the herd. Citrus takes the day off from her shop and the hospital for the same reason. Normally, the mares are so busy during the week, without a day set aside for a quiet time in bed, they wouldn’t really be spending all that much time together. It’s one thing to climb into bed with the other two mares already sleeping, or having one of them join Tim in the middle of the night. But it’s so much better to lie in bed and enjoy the time together. Over a month of working at the restaurant has been wonderful for Tim. In fact, both the mares have mentioned that he’s been happier than they’ve ever seen him.

“So, she just flew off like that?” Cayenne says with a growl, “And she was in the kitchen of my restaurant and none of the ponies noticed her?”

Tim nods, “And the craziest thing about that, I think she’s interested in me. She asked me when I would get off work. And when I told her that it was going to be the middle of the night, she said she should get me fired so I’d have to spend time with her.” He can feel Citrus and Cayenne both tense in response. He squeezes them closer. “It’s alright, she decided that I should keep my job.” He frowns, “Though I wouldn’t put it past her to show up randomly.”

Citrus nuzzles his cheek, “Well, Tim, if she wants to join the herd, and you like her…”

“Whoa, hold on a moment, I wasn’t trying to bring her into the herd – I-I barely know her! North Point did say yes to joining us, she’s got her lease at her place to deal with, but she’ll be moving in before too long. I’m not looking to expand our herd already. Three mares with just me is kinda intense already, and the prospect of another added.” He huffs, “I don’t know if I can handle all of you.”

That gets twin giggles, though Cayenne stops for a moment, a sour look on her face. “You do know that griffins tend to be more monogamous than ponies, right?”

Citrus giggles, “I would like to meet her sometime. Perhaps one of those times she shows up, you can bring her here, let her meet us.”

Tim nods. “At least you girls can get to know her.” He glances at the sound of a knock on the entry door. He extracts himself from the mares, “I’ll get it.” He says as he pulls on pajama pants. He pads down the stairs and through the entryway, “Coming,” he calls as the knock is repeated yet again. Finally, he opens the door. “Oh, good morning, Princess.”

Twilight’s ears are down and her tail is tucked under her rear. “Good morning, Tim.”

He gestures for the young alicorn to enter and closes the door behind her. “I didn’t know when you would show up again, but it’s good to see you.”

She nods as she hops on the couch. “I had to deal with some…” she blushes a bit, “personal issues,” she sighs for a moment, her tail twitching beneath her, “I’m sorry for missing so many appointments with you, and then the deer…” she looks up at him, her eyes bright with unshed tears, “I’m sorry, I’m a horrible teacher.”

Tim moves over and gives Twilight a hug, she tenses for a long moment, then finally her wings fold around him, hugging him back, after a long moment, he pulls away, she tilts her head to the side, one ear up, one ear down, “What was that for?”

Tim shrugs. “You looked down, so I’m trying to cheer you up.”

That gets a wan smile from Twilight, “Thank you, Tim. Though I think there’s been a breakthrough on how you got here.”

“A breakthrough?”

She nods. “Princess Celestia got a note from the deer of the Everfree forest, they were complaining about the ponies leaving trash in their forest. Princess Celestia assured them in her note back that ponies don’t send our trash to the Everfree, around here, most trash is treated magically.” She shakes her head, “Well, long story short, she sent some guards to where the deer had indicated. And they did find something.” She flicks her ears for a long moment as she falls silent.

Tim shrugs. “What did they find?”

“Well, I think I should show you. Could you please let your herd know that you’ll be gone for a day or so?”

Tim blanches, “Well, I have to work tomorrow. Apple Stars…”

She looks up at him sharply, “You have a job now?” She looks down. “Geez, have to deal with things for a couple of weeks and everything changes.” She grumbles quietly, then apparently she realizes that she spoke aloud, she flinches and looks up at him, her face turning red, “I’m sure I’ll have you back by tomorrow afternoon. Is that okay?”

Tim nods, “I’ll tell the girls, and let them know about that. I don’t have to go in until late afternoon anyway,” he says. He heads upstairs and in a matter of minutes, the two of them are in the elevator.

He listens to the hum of the elevator as it swiftly descends. “So, what did they find?”

She shakes her head, “We had to excavate some of it, but we aren’t exactly certain what it is. Though we do know it’s metal, and I think it’s from your world.”

Tim’s eyebrows rise as the door opens, he follows her through the lobby and when they get outside, Tim stops and stares, “A chariot?” Tim asks, looking at the golden pony drawn vehicle sitting on the street. Two large pegasus stallions in royal regalia are harnessed to the large chariot.

Twilight giggles as she clambers aboard, “Since my last attempt to teleport you was such a failure, I simply had a chariot brought so we can go there.”

“Right now?”

She nods, “Right now.” She watches him climb aboard and calls out, “Ready.” The two stallions unfurl their wings and start to pull the chariot, quickly they are in the air, Tim looks over the side as they continue to gain altitude, and the city of Canterlot expands before his eyes. He glances at the Royal Palace, then looks down at the streets, teeming with multi-colored ponies going about their lives. Pegasi wing their way above the cityscape, as unicorns and Earth ponies walk the streets.

“Beautiful,” Tim breathes as he picks out other landmarks of Canterlot, restaurant row, the mercantile district where Apple Stars has gone with him on purchasing expeditions. Fresh fish and other protein sources, along with the best Canterlot has to offer of fruits and vegetables line several street vendors. A shift of his head shows him the airship docks. After a moment, a lavender wing folds over his shoulders.

“Yes, the capital city has its own beauty,” Twilight says softly. Tim looks at her, she’s standing with her forehooves on the railing of the chariot, her tail is swishing slowly as they fly, she leans back towards him, “You would be surprised at how much of Equestria is that beautiful.”

Tim nods as the pegasi pulling the cart bring it over the edge of the city walls and start to descend. At first, he thinks their destination is Ponyville, but they actually continue over a large section of forest. Before too long, the city on the mountain is barely visible, and the town of Ponyville is completely hidden from view. Twilight looks down, “This is the Everfree Forest. This is a very dangerous area, and with you not having magic, it could very likely be fatal. If you have to go, make sure I’m with you. Understood?”

Tim gulps and nods as the pegasi head towards the ground, a large cleared area has been cordoned off, ponies are working all over the place, along with quite a few royal guards. When they land, Twilight leads him off the chariot. Tim is quite content to simply follow the alicorn as she makes her way towards the destination. Before long, she stops and gestures for him to come up beside her. “This.”

Tim’s jaw drops, half buried in the ground is an enormous metal cylinder. It had impacted at an angle sucking debris into it as it hit the ground digging a partial trench. Even in this condition, it’s easily recognizable. “It’s a jet engine.”

He breathes softly, stepping forward putting his hand gently against the cowling. It’s heavily damaged, apparently it had been traveling at a high speed when it hit. The front end is crumpled but it is still attached to its pylon with parts of the wing is still affixed, though torn as if hit by some great force. Tim looks back at Twilight. “Well, this certainly looks like it’s from my world, but how did you figure that out?”

Twilight unfolds her wings and takes to the air, she flies around to the other side of the engine, Tim follows and looks at where she is pointing. The blue color of the engine cowling was enough, but emblazoned on the side of the engine is the website for them, jetblue.com. He glances up, a good portion of the wing is still connected, "That... That could be from the plane I was on.... But how did it get here?" Then he gasps, he looks at Twilight, whose ears are down.

She nods. “You’ve described how your airplanes fly.” She points up, “The metal was sliced, I’m guessing by some sort of portal or dimensional rift.” She sighs softly, “The edges of it would likely make a razor seem dull. And it sliced off the wing with this engine, along with a bit of the body of the plane.”

Tim looks down, “The part with me in it.” He stops, looking at the other debris around, “No way. You are saying this was my plane?”

She nods, “You must have slipped out of your seat as you fell.” She points, “You were found by Rainbow Dash in Ghastly gorge, that’s about five miles that way.” She looks up at him. “Could the plane have survived that kind of damage?”

Tim looks up at the wing, he’s already certain of the answer, but for a moment, he wants to believe it’s possible. After a long time he sighs and shakes his head. She nods, “That’s what I thought.” She says softly. A few tears escape, and she looks up at him, “How many were aboard?”

Tim sighs, “it was an early morning flight. I would guess it was about half full.”

“So, over a hundred humans?”

He nods, he would like to confirm closer to two hundred, but the number is high enough already. She looks down, “Do you know what was happening that day?”

Tim shakes his head, Twilight emits a heavy sigh, “Rainbow Dash was practicing for a special performance, she had done three or four sonic rainbooms that day.” Her ears flick back, “I think she may have inadvertently created a rift with the magical explosion.”

He had seen the sonic rainboom before, some celebration a few months after he had arrived in Equestria, it was truly a sight to behold.

She turns away, her wings, ears and tail all signaling exactly how defeated she looks, Tim moves up next to her, “There is no way you could have known, Twilight.”

She stops and looks at him, her eyes bright with even more tears, “Tim, I had persuaded Rainbow to practice that day. She had been procrastinating, she needed to be in tip-top shape for the summer sun celebration. She was doing it that day at my behest.” She sobs softly, “I’m not only the reason over a hundred humans are dead, but I’m also the reason you are here.”

Tim sits down heavily, everyone on that plane was probably dead. He shakes his head, that’s not possible. He looks back at the ruined engine, then back at Twilight. The alicorn is hugging herself with her wings, trying to suppress her sobs. The other ponies working the site seem to be keeping their distance. Finally, Tim moves over and gives her a hug. That opens the floodgates as Twilight latches onto him as she cries. Great sobs rack her body as he holds her tightly. His shoulder is soaked as she mourns, and all he can do is hold her tightly and let her cry.

Finally, she sniffles and pulls away, “You should hate me.”

Tim shakes his head, “Why? There was no way you could ever have known this would happen.” He looks back at the engine, “the chances of this happening has to be so tiny that there would be absolutely no way to predict that her doing a sonic rainboom could ever cause this.” He shrugs, “This isn’t your fault, Twilight. This is a freak accident.” He finds himself holding back tears, “Yes, humans died in the accident, but how do you foresee a rift like this?”

“I knew that the sonic rainboom is more than just a colorful display. It has some really powerful and ancient magic behind it. It’s very rare that a pegasus has the ability to create one. The pegasus can’t just be fast, but also has to have a strong magical component to their flight. Rainbow Dash is the first in decades to have that ability. I know of only two pegasi who have the necessary magic components in the world right now.” She sighs, “I’m sorry, Tim.”

Tim sits there for a long time, looking back at the engine as more ponies continue their work, “What is going to be done with it?”

Twilight sighs and finally sits on her haunches next to him, “It will be taken back to Canterlot, we will disassemble it, try to figure out how it works.” She looks at him sideways, “Unless you know how jet engines work?”

Tim shakes his head. “Just the basics, that engine will tell you a lot more than I ever could. I can work on piston engines, not those.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Well, one of them requires a bunch of pistons around a crankshaft, but these are turbofans, which is kinda like having a fan use you to burn a bunch of air and fuel together to make it go.”

She nods, albeit more in a placating than understanding manner. Both of them sit and watch as a group of unicorns work their magic together to lift the engine on to a wooden sled. As the ponies are lashing it down, Twilight turns to Tim, “You know, what you had in your pockets is in Ponyville.”

Tim furrows his brow, “I didn’t have much in my pockets, my phone, my wallet, some cash, my keys.” His eyes dart side to side as he tries to remember, “I might have had my charge cord, too,” he smiles, “my laptop case was under my seat, don’t guess you have that.”

“I’ll have some guards scour the area between here and Ghastly Gorge, but I doubt it will be found. I’ve been able to repair the glass of the phone.” She giggles softly, “I learned a few things about them with my time on the other side of the mirror, though I couldn’t use my magic on them in that form.” She shrugs, “Though I’ve been unable to power it up, I hesitate to try to charge it, applying voltage in the wrong part of it could fry it, and it would be dead.” She stands up, “Let’s go take a look at it.” She glances up at the sky, “It’s getting late; I can have you as a guest in my castle tonight.”

Tim stands up and follows Twilight back to the chariot, and it doesn’t take long for the pegasi to bring them to Ponyville. Twilight brings Tim through the castle and down several flights of stairs to her lab. He glances at the mirror as she leads him to a work bench. Her horn alights and a large crystalline box floats off a shelf and lands in front of her. She gestures for Tim to open the box, he does so and he looks inside. He smiles as he brings out his old cell phone, the glass is pristine on it. He rubs his fingers along the surface for a moment, and pushes the power button on the side. The screen remains dark.

He chuckles, “Well, it keeping power this whole time would be too much to ask for.” He reaches into the box, a small crystal bowl has the change that was in his pocket.

“This is money from my world.” He says as he also brings out his wallet. Opening it up he brings out a bill, “This is worth twenty dollars in America.”

Twilight’s eyebrows rise. “I think I’ve been there! Dollars, right?”

He nods as he flips through the change, identifying the denominations as he shows each one to Twilight. Per usual, her horn is alight and a quill is rapidly scratching across the parchment. “These don’t look like any money I recall from your world. Where’s the old human mare? Where’s the birds on the dollar coins?”

Tim laughs, “Oh, I see, you were in Canada.”

“Canada? A what?”

“Never mind,” grins the human, pulling out his jeans, they aren’t exactly shredded, but they will never be worn again. The ponies had apparently cut him out of them. He reaches in again and pulls out his charge cord, “Yeah, this is the charge cord for the phone.” He looks at Twilight, “You know about electricity?”

She nods, “We use magic for most things requiring power, but we know of it.”

He looks at the small power brick, reading the information on it, “It takes one hundred twenty volts of AC power.”

She scrunches her face a little, “AC?”

He nods, “It means alternating current. The voltage switches between positive and negative sixty times per second back home. It’s so we can transmit power long distances. The phone itself uses direct current, and very low voltage.” He sighs, “I couldn’t tell you which pins inside here that you could apply voltage to when it comes to charging.” He touches the charge cord, “But I don’t know how you would get power to this.”

Twilight smiles, “I knew that the cord was for the phone, but I could never figure out what it actually did.” She rears back and clops her hooves, “You’ve reduced the potential from twenty-four pins, down to two. And you said the voltage alternates between one twenty positive and one twenty negative volts sixty times per second?”

He nods, “Well, it actually makes it up to about one sixty, but it averages out to one twenty.”

“And by voltage, you mean one volt through one ohm gives you one ampere?”

He closes his eyes and thinks for a moment, “That sounds about right.”

She giggles, “Math, it’s not only a universal constant, but a multiversal constant. Thank you, Tim, that tells me a lot more than I knew before.” She points at the text imprinted onto the plastic of the charger, “Remember, you haven’t finished teaching me your written language. So I couldn’t read all of this.” She gestures, “I’ll get you set up in a room. I’m going to perform some experiments based on what you told me.”

Before long, Tim is settling into a bed in Twilight’s castle. He suspects that the lavender mare will be up all night.

***

The air lacks humidity, the low hum of fans forcing and recycling air doesn’t help with Tim’s mouth and tongue feeling dry. Smacking his lips, he tries to move, but the belt across his lap holds him in place. The clanking of the drink cart, the sound of a pop can being opened encourages Tim to seek a respite from the dryness.

Tim gasps himself awake, he looks around. The low thrum of the jet engines are what lulled him to sleep. He takes a moment to smile at the flight attendant as she moves the cart past him offering a bag of blue potato chips to another passenger. He shakes his head; his mouth was still dry but he wasn’t sure what he wanted. Why is he in a center seat in the middle set of rows? He was in the left window seat over the wing when he fell asleep. He glances around, the seat he was in is now empty, a dark wet stain on the seat. Did someone spill a drink?

He shakes his head; he’s still foggy. What’s going on? With a loud bang, the lights flicker out. The sound is deafening as an eighteen-foot section of the wall, as well as the seat beside him, is ripped out of the plane. The air screams out of the airplane as the oxygen masks drop, but they are blown back by the airstream. Everything loose in the cabin becomes airborne. Tim screams with the rest of the passengers as the plane flips on its side with the loss of the wing. A moment later the plane drops into a steep dive as parts of the aircraft start being ripped off due to the speed and structural failure. As the plane falls, he can see the ground getting closer as the plane flips over and over.

Beside him a little girl grabs his arm, crying for her mama. The stewardess is thrown to the back of the plane, followed by the cart as it bounces off several seats on its trip. Tim can hear someone behind him praying to God, begging for forgiveness, pleading not to die. Tim gathers in a large breath and screams, “Ohhhh, shit!”

Tim gasps himself awake as he coughs, rubs his eyes, and looks around. Everything on the plane looks normal again. He moans and stretches for a moment, what’s going on? He’s in a different seat, an aisle seat in the back of the plane, what happened here? He leans forward, there’s his seat, but a little pony is sitting there. A pegasus with light blue fur and darker blue mane and tail. On her hip, a dark purple potato chip with a pair of wings sprouting from it. Beside her in the aisle seat on that row is six-year-old girl holding the pony. Tim shakes his head, this is different, what’s going on?

A loud bang is followed by the rending of metal, the side of the plane disappears as though some great force ripped it apart, the chair with the pegasus is sucked out a look of horror and sadness on her face as she mouths ‘help me’. Tim stares at the aisle seat of the row he had been in. It’s now empty and cut in half. Tim’s voice is added to the general din as the plane starts to tumble to the ground. Fire engulfs the far side of the cabin, burning bodies crying for help.

Without warning, everything stops moving, complete silence reigns for long moments, and then a voice calls out gently, “Well, that’s enough of that.”

“Princess Luna?” Tim calls out.

He looks down, he’s still buckled in. Though all the debris is still in the air, it’s just not moving. He glances around, looking for the voice. After a moment, a pony appears, walking slowly down the aisle. She stops at one seat, the drink cart had collided with a man’s head, blood is splattering everywhere. The vivid red droplets shimmer as they hang in the air. She closes her eyes and disappears from that aisle and reappears in the other aisle. “So gruesome.” She murmurs softly, looking at a middle aged woman, her skin flayed by the fireball, her mouth open in a rictus of a scream. She shakes her head before she continues walking and comes up before Tim to sit on her haunches next to him, "Wow humans really do think dark," She says in a gentle voice, "I'm sorry, I was drawn to the pain and suffering of this dream, but, I didn't expect this. I've heard about you, though I just wish I could have met you in a more peaceful setting."

Tim rubs his eyes, looking at the dark gray pony sitting there with the sea blue mane and tail. Her cutie mark is a crescent moon with a purple star on the top of the crescent. “My name is Moon Shadow; I am a dreamer.” Her ears flick a bit, “I’m also Princess Luna’s apprentice.”

“Where is Princess Luna?”

She smiles, “She has decided to have a quite night with another pony tonight, she left me to look over the dreams of our little ponies.” She cocks her head to the side, “Even Princess Luna deserves a break once in a while.”

Tim looks all around, “This is a dream?”

She nods, “You were having a nightmare, so I came to help.”

Tim shakes his head and puts a hand to his forehead, “That was a dream?”

She nods and he flops back onto his back, “That felt so real.”

“Dreams have a tendency to do that.” She moves over and sits next to him, “You seem to have strong fears.”

Tim huffs softly, “I just found out how I got to Equestria, the plane I was on was destroyed by magic.”

That gets a snort from her, “What?”

He nods, “Apparently the sonic rainboom opened some kind of rift between our two worlds, and I was the lucky one to survive.”

She cocks her head to the side, “I would call it luck, you did survive.”

“But everyone else probably died!” He huffs, “It was pure random chance -- what gives me the right to survive while all the other people on that plane died!?” He sits up and cradles his head in his hands.

“It was something outside of your control. You are the only human here in Equestria, I’m pretty sure that you are counted among the casualties of that crash. Though you had it pretty bad yourself. You were in a coma for months, you very nearly died yourself.” She leans against him, “If you truly feel guilty about their loss, just remember that you are still alive, live your life as best as you can.” She sighs softly, “That’s all you can do.”

Both are silent for a long time, finally she shifts a bit, “Do you regret your time here?”

Tim shakes his head, “No, I love Citrus and Cayenne. Hell, even North Point is growing on me. I wouldn’t change my time here for the world.”

She leans her head against his shoulder, “Then live, continue on. Remember the people you’ve never really met, but have lost their lives. They are lost, but you are here. Still alive, continue on and be the man you are. Show love to your mares, and be the man you can be. That’s the best you can do.”

He reaches an arm and hugs her tightly for a moment, “Thank you, Moon Shadow.”

She smiles and suddenly she’s away from him, and both are on their feet. She looks around, “I cannot control what you dream, but if you have another nightmare, I’ll be here for you. Now that you know you are in the dream, you can control your feelings better. Pleasant dreams young Timothy.” With that she disappears.

***

Tim finds he more than a bit warm as he finally wakes. The dreams of the night take their time dissipating as he shakes his head. He goes to move his hand and discovers there’s someone in bed with him. He lifts his head. “Twilight?”

The face that greets him is pink, a pink horn juts up from a tri-colored mane, purple, hot pink, and cream stripes, he can feel a wing folded over his body, the source of the excess heat he’s feeling. The alicorn’s eyes open and purple eyes greet him. She smiles, “Good morning.”

“Ummmm.”

Tim’s trying to figure out how to get out from under her wing as the door to the room slams open, a white unicorn is standing there, his multi-hued blue mane is bristling as he stalks into the room.

“What the buck are you doing with my wife?”

Many thanks again to Kalash93 for editing! I should have had this in at publishing.