Tim looks at the pony with her wing wrapped around him, then over at the unicorn stalking slowly towards the bed.

“I’m asking you again, what the buck are you doing with my wife!?”

“Wife?” Tim shrieks, “I don’t even know her!”

She pouts, “You don’t remember last night? I’m so disappointed.”

Tim is able to keep from releasing the contents of his bladder, he pushes hard on the wing, and slides out of the bed and stands up, backing away from the white unicorn, “I don’t know what the fuck is going on! I went to sleep, and woke up this morning with that pony in my bed.” He looks down, “And somehow my underwear is gone!”

“You aren’t helping your case here!” The unicorn growls, his horn lighting up.

“Oh, Shining, can’t you see you are scaring him?” The pink pony says as she stands up. She takes a moment to fold her long wings at her side, Tim takes a moment to really look at this pony. After his time in Equestria, he’s able to judge, somewhat, what comprises beauty among ponies. This one is at the top of every scale. She smiles, and even Tim’s heart skips a beat, “Shining, that’s enough now, we’ve had enough fun with Twilight’s guest.” She flutters her eyes, “For now.”

The unicorn immediately stops, and grins, “Gotcha.”

Tim shakes his head. “What the fuck?”

The pink alicorn walks slowly over to him. She is taller than Citrus or Twilight, but still markedly smaller than Princess Luna or Celestia. She unfolds her wings and takes to the air, hovering eye level with him, “Twilight told us about your visit here, so Shining and I decided to have a little fun with you.” She runs a fetlock across his cheek gently. “I can see what she likes about you.” Her horn glows for a moment, then she flinches away, “But she’s also told me about your herd.” Her wings slow down, bringing her to the floor, “I was asked to come because she was having a rough time with her…” She trails off, glancing over at the unicorn, “time.”

“Time?”

She shakes her head. “I’m sorry, I forget you’re not from here. You see, we ponies breed in an estrus or heat cycle, and not even we alicorns aren’t exempt…” Cadance turns and nuzzles the unicorn, “This is my husband, Shining Armor.” She glances back, a roguish grin on her muzzle, “Twilight’s big brother best friend forever.”

Shining nuzzles his wife back and then looks at Tim. “You should have seen the look on your face -- we got you good!” He laughs loudly, getting a flinch from Tim.

“I’m still wondering where my underwear is.”

Her horn glows cornflower blue, and his boxers float over slowly, “Had to have the joke be convincing, but no worries.” Her tail flicks from side to side momentarily, “I am not into non-ponies myself.” She nuzzles Shining lovingly, “It’s just the three of us.”

Tim watches them for a moment, “Three?”

She turns back and nods, “Shining, myself, and our little Flurry Heart.”

“Flurry Heart?”

“Yes, our little filly.” She smiles at him. “We are quite the scandal up in the Crystal Empire.”

Tim moves over and sits on the bed, taking a moment to actually pull on his boxers, “This is too much. What’s a Crystal Empire?”

Shining Armor sits down on his haunches, “Let me clear things up for you then.” He flicks an ear towards the pink alicorn. “My wife, Princess Cadance, right here, is the leader of the Crystal Empire. We are just down in Ponyville visiting my sister for the last couple of weeks.”

Tim reaches for his pants and pulls them on, “Okay, I understand better, but what about scandal?”

Shining barks a laugh, “Oh, our herd is just the two of us, Cadance is very picky on who she wants to join our herd.” He shrugs, “we are taking our time deciding whether or not to expand our herd.”

“My tops candidates are Inyur and Dreams, follow by Manah and Gamy.”

“The papers back home run at least a story a week about the Royal Couple.” He rolls his eyes, “We will add to our herd when we are good and ready.”

Tim pulls his shirt over his frame, “So…”

“Shining, Cadance, what are you two doing here?” Twilight inquires as she walks slowly into the room.

Cadance moves over next to Twilight and nuzzles her. “Don’t fret, we didn’t do anything to hurt him, just scared him a bit.” She glances over at her husband. “Shining can be rather intimidating when he chooses to be.”

Twilight huffs and shakes her head.

Shining Armor moves over to sit next to his sister, “Awww, no worries, little sis.” He glances over at Tim, “I approve of him.”

That gets a furious blush from Twilight, “He’s got his own herd, Shining.” She grumbles. She swallows a couple of times and finally stands up, moving over to Tim, “Want to see what I’ve been doing?”

Tim looks around cautiously, “With what?”

“Your phone, silly. I was able to power it up, but it’s got some kind of protection system, I don’t know what numbers to enter.”

That gets his eyebrows to rise. “You were able to get my phone to work?”

She nods. “Come on!” She turns and walks quickly from the room, her tail swishing from side to side, Shining and Cadance both follow, though Tim notices that Cadance’s tail is also flicking back and forth. He gets a definite eyeful of her intimate parts, causing him to blush and lower his eyes to the floor.

“Damn, now I’m looking at all of them,” Tim whispers to himself, shaking his head.

As they walk through the castle, Shining Armor and Twilight walk next to each other, talking animatedly and nearly constantly touching. After a bit, Cadance hangs back to walk next to Tim. Tim glances at her as they walk but he remains silent.

That doesn’t seem to be good enough for her, she leans over. “Eyeful?”

Tim nearly trips over his own feet, but he’s able to mutter, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“She’s attracted to you, you do know that, right?”

Tim looks down, “I thought she was, but Citrus, and Cayenne, and North Point.”

Cadance giggles softly, “Your herd would be instantly elevated having her join you.” She glances to watch the siblings walking ahead of them, then back at Tim, “She has a line of stallions and other herds a mile long, but she likes the crazy looking alien.” She rolls her eyes. “I tell her to go on a date or two, but she says she’s not interested in social climbers and gold diggers.”

Tim huffs, “I’m still trying to understand this all. She’s my teacher; I’ve got a herd back in Canterlot.”

She flicks out a wing and pushes him on the shoulder. “Tim, look at my cutie mark.”

Tim glances back at the crystal heart on her flank, then up at her face, “Okay?”

“Tim, I’m the princess of love, do you know what that means?” She glances at the siblings, who are continuing their talking. Tim shakes his head. She huffs, “I can see how she feels about you.” She moves over and hip checks him. “And while I know you love the mares in your own herd, you cannot deny there is some attraction there.”

Tim rubs the back of his head, “But…” Only to get cut off by the pretty pink pony princess.

“Tim, I know you don’t know much about our society in general, but she needs a good herd. She needs a stallion that will comfort her, and herd-sisters that will support her. She’s got her friends here in Ponyville, and they’ve kept her from being a complete introvert. But she needs more. There is a literal hole in between her legs that needs to be filled.” Tim looks down, after a few moments she comes closer and puts her wing along the small of his back, “Think about it, okay?”

He nods as they walk through the doorway into Twilight’s lab. She bounces ahead of them over to the work bench, the phone is sitting there, sitting on a small crystal that seems to be plugged into the USB port on the bottom of the phone.

“Tim, take a look!” Twilight says, nearly vibrating, I was able to apply voltage to the charge cord, and that put a charge on the pins in the connector. That told me the pins I needed to use. And I didn’t trust a power crystal being able to use that funky AC power, but with that information I was able to make a crystal to power your phone!” Her magic brings the phone to him. “Can you open it?”

Tim presses the button and the lock screen appears along with the number pad. At the bottom, a little bit of text reads out that a fingerprint is needed. He types in the pin code and the main screen pops up. The face in the background of the phone gets Tim to stop. He remembered taking this photo. The icons on the screen are cluttering up everything, so he taps the icon for the photo gallery, bringing up the whole thing. Karen is sitting on the curb, dressed in short shorts along with a bright red tank top. Her smile sticks in his head. Tim stares at the picture, everything else fades out, the only thing in his life at that moment is that picture. “Oh, God.” Tim murmurs, tears falling from his face.

“Tim, what’s wrong?” Tim barely recognizes her voice as he swipes through the gallery, a selfie with the both of them at some bar. Her just waking up and giving him a dirty look noticing his phone pointed at her, another selfie of them at the county fair, the next is her taking a bite of a funnel cake. Another is her on one of the rides, the blur of the photo showing how fast it was going.

He finds himself on his knees as he continues through the pictures. “Oh, dear God, Karen,” he sobs as he continues to swipe. A picture she had sent him when he was on the road, she had dressed up in blue jean bib overall shorts with a green tank top. The look on her face just so sexy to him. Another swipe stops him in his tracks. He stares at the picture, they had been working on his old beat up truck. They had been upgrading his exhaust system. He had pulled out the phone to take the picture because they had been talking and laughing as they worked, and he had noticed she had gotten a bit of grease on the tip of her nose, and he had told her she was cute right before snapping the picture. The look on her face in that picture, the love evident on her face. The phone slides from his grip to smack onto the floor. Both hands cover his face as he sobs, “I miss you so much!”

A body presses against him, enfolding him as he continues to cry. Twilight’s voice is in his ear as he sits there, whispering soothing words that he really doesn’t hear. Soon another body is holding him as he tries to start putting himself together. Both of the alicorns hold him as he continues to cry.

“I’m so sorry.” He’s able to gasp, remembering the picture, remembering her smell, the feel of her, “Oh Karen.” He shudders in the grasp of the two ponies, “I can’t even let her know I’m okay.”

“I’m so sorry, Tim.” Twilight says as his sobs begin to ebb. “I know you miss your home.” She glances at the phone. “And the people there, maybe if you get back, you can be together again.” She says, her ears flicking back for a moment. “Tim, I really want to help you.”

After a long time, he shrugs the alicorns away from him. He sits there for a long time, arms wrapped around his knees. He looks up at Twilight, “You know what magic brought me here, do you think you can replicate that to where I could go back?”

Twilight looks down, “I don’t know. Finding out it was the rainboom that did it.” Her ears flick for a long time, “It tells me the direction to look when it comes to the magic.” She shakes her head, “But the amount of power it would take…” She looks at him, her own eyes watery, “I don’t even think linking with Celestia and Luna would be enough.” She sighs, “I’m not going to say it definitively, but the odds of me being able to send you back home have gotten a lot smaller.”

Cadence’s horn lights and a tissue is brought to him, allowing him to blow his nose. Twilight nuzzles his cheek, “I had no idea that this would get such a response from you.” Her magic brings the phone off the floor.

“That’s easily fixed.” She says gently, gesturing to the cracks running along the screen. The magic runs over the glass and suddenly it’s pristine again. Tim reaches out and takes the phone once again.

He runs his finger over the glass, “You would be able to make a killing back at home, fixing glass that easily.” He’s able to smile a little bit.

She laughs, then her face turns somber, “Well, I can tell you were in love with her.” She gestures to the home screen picture, “That is what Karen looks like?” Tim nods and she runs a hoof along the glass, though it doesn’t respond to her touch, “How are you able to use this thing?”

That gets a laugh from Tim. “It’s a touch screen, I don’t think the engineers had hooves in mind when they designed it.” He runs a finger along the screen. “I don’t think there’s all that much I can show you, other than the pictures.” He presses a few icons, getting error messages. “I’m guessing you don’t have LTE service here.” He glances at the top of the screen. Sure enough, no bars. “I used Spotify for my music, and Netflix and youtube for videos.” He glances at another icon. “And Facebook wouldn’t be of much use here.”

“Facebook?” Twilight says, scrunching up her face, she glances at a book on the work table, “How would…” she trails off. After a moment, she flops her ears back and forth, “Well, whatever information I can glean from this would be helpful.” Her magic enfolds the device and he can see shimmering movement over the touch screen. He glances at Twilight as she seems to be concentrating, her tongue poked slightly out the side of her mouth as she works with it, finally the screen responds and she smiles, “Ahh!” She says triumphantly. The gallery comes up, and she starts swiping through the photos on the device. “The picture clarity is really vivid.”

“We will leave you too this; we need to check on Flurry Heart.” Comes Cadance’s voice.

Tim looks up to smile at her as she walks from the room with Shining Armor. Then he looks down at the phone, “Um Twilight, I think you’ve seen enough there.”

She is still going through the photos. “There’s hundreds of these on this little thing, this is remarkable…” then she stops, her cheeks glowing.

Tim groans as her magic presses the triangle play icon in the middle of the screen. The phone loads the video file and starts to play, Tim reaches out and tries to grab the phone, only to have her whip it away from him. The slapping sounds of two bodies in passion pours from the speakers. He recognizes his own moans, and well as Karen’s squeaks and moans. The sound continues, “Twilight, please, stop it.” She ignores him as she whirls away from him. Her blush is from her chest to the tips of her ears, though her wings are up and quivering slightly as she stares at the device suspended in her magic.

“Fascinating,” Twilight murmurs as she moves the phone away from Tim trying to grab it again.

He remembers that day very well, that video was taken about a month before he had accepted the new job. Karen had asked him to take video as they had sex, and he had agreed, but now… “I should have deleted that.”

Twilight stops and looks at him, she floats the phone over to the work bench and sets it down gently, “Tim, it’s just fine.” She clears her throat, “I am, first and foremost, a scientist.” Her cheeks glow again, “I can observe such things as necessary. And while seeing how humans have sex is not specifically helpful in determining how to get you home, it is valuable information on your interpersonal relationships. And that is important.”

“Just kill me now.” Tim murmurs as video reaches its climax, both in the action and file length.

Twilight hums softly as the video finally completes, she looks up at him, “You had something over your penis, why?”

He groans for a moment, trying to avoid the question. He glances over at Twilight, who is looking at him expectantly, “We didn’t want kids yet; that was a condom. It captures the semen so she doesn’t get pregnant.”

Twilight’s eyebrows rise, “Fascinating, since you don’t have spells to prevent pregnancy, you use physical barriers.”

“Unlike you, we’re fertile year round.”

She swipes to another picture, Karen sitting on the bed, cradling her breasts, “Your physiology is very different.” She looks up at Tim, turning the phone so he can see the picture displayed there. “There are quite a few pictures here showing these. Why do you focus on them?”

“Her breasts?” Twilight nods. He continues, “I’m a bit of a breast man; I really like them, a lot.”

That gets a blush from Twilight, “Something ponies lack.” She steps closer, “Are you sexually satisfied in your herd?”

Tim whirls away from her, he can feel his face is positively glowing. “That’s not an appropriate question, Twilight.”

He folds his arms, hugging himself. He can hear Twilight’s hooves shifting on the crystalline flooring of the lab, finally he hears her wings unfold. He doesn’t have any time to react when she wraps all four legs around him, and finally her wings complete the hug. She holds him for a long time, just being close. But finally, “Tim, I am personally responsible for you ending up here. I can’t change the past, I can’t change what happened. The strongest time travel spell I know how to use can only send me back seven days. I can’t change how you got here. But what I can do, is do everything in my power to make your life here as pleasant as possible.” She squeezes harder, “I had to deal with some truths that I had denied the last few weeks. I have feelings for you, more than just as a teacher or mentor.” She pauses for a moment, “But I know you have your herd, and you are happy with them. But you are an alien here, you are very different, and I need to know you are satisfied with everything. Tim, I have wronged you in ways I can never right” her voice cracks, “but I will do anything within my power to make amends, since I can never settle that debt with you.”

Tim looks down, “Twilight, you have no debt to me. I was caught up in the craziest of freak accidents, you had no malice or intent to harm me. I am satisfied with my herd, sexually and emotionally. Citrus and Cayenne would do anything at all for me.” He sniffles, “And I would do anything for them. Right now, all I want to do is go home.”

Her body stiffens a bit, and her wings bring her away from him. “Very well,” she says, her voice small. “I had the chariot prepared before I came to get you. All you have to do is head outside, and the guards will take care of you.” A soft clop announces her landing and he can hear her hooves as she moves to the work bench, “I can have your phone returned to you, along with a couple of extra power crystals configured to power your phone, but it will take a few days.”

“Keep it, it doesn’t have service, and you can likely find out a lot more about it by studying it. Oh, and thank you, Twilight.”

She’s sitting on a stool before her work bench, her horn alight and the phone suspended in her magical field. Though what stops him for a moment is the tears slowly running down her face, he sighs as he walks away, he’s already told her that she wasn’t at fault. He can’t make her understand. She’s going to have to work through that herself. He glances from side to side noting the guardspony there, an enormous midnight blue mare with a predominantly sky blue mane that is streaked with several other colors. That’s actually different to Tim. Spending most of his time in Canterlot Castle, the guards had magic in their armor to have each tribe with its own specific look. Here, the ponies in Twilight’s unique armor seem to retain their natural coloring. Things are just so different here. The big mare glances at him as he walks through the corridor. After a bit, he stops, glancing at the door to Twilight’s lab. He shakes his head and finally makes his way outside, where a chariot is sitting, waiting for him. The pegasi stallions from the previous day get into their harnesses and quickly he’s in the air, heading back to Canterlot.

***

Tim closes the door behind him, the latch engaging echoing through the entry foyer. He walks slowly through to the kitchen, no breakfast plate is sitting there, waiting for him. Tim turns and takes the stairs up to the bedroom. The neatly made bed greets him, he strongly considers just lying in bed and waiting for the girls to come home. He looks at the empty bed for a long time, then he turns to the bathroom. Stripping out of his clothes is a simple affair, and soon the hot water of the shower is playing over his body. That gets an involuntary groan from him as he enjoys the warmth. He relishes the feeling of the water as he scrubs his body; getting clean in Equestria is usually a very pleasant experience.

The shower finished, he pulls on the underwear and jeans, he fingers the light orange shirt, on the breast pocket is now three cutie marks. Those three girls make his life in this world very happy. Does he want to add a purple star to it? How would that white mare react with him asking to add another mark? She is one of Twilight Sparkle’s best friends. He shakes his head, he doesn’t want to think about her right now. He pulls on the shirt and is quickly ready for work. The elevator takes him quickly to the ground floor, and he nods at the doorpony as he heads for work.

“So, are ya banging her?”

That gets Tim to stop dead, he looks over at the griffin standing next to him, “Wh-what!?”

She unlimbers her wings to take to the air and hovers close to him, “When a pony mare shows off herself that much, she’s only doing that with a mate.” She elbows him. “So, have you been pounding the purple plot?”

Tim pushes her away. “No! What do you care, anyway?”

She rolls her eyes, “Oh come on, dude. you turned down the chance to mount the pony princess of friendship? What’s wrong with you? She’s the hottest lay in town.” She clicks her beak a few times, “What next, turning down the princess of lust?” She giggles, “Or would it be love? Lust, love, whatever.” She leans closer. “I know she’s just got her husband, I’m pretty sure you’d be able to join him in some fun romps together. That’s the way those ponies like it, the more the merrier.”

“Actually, I did meet her, and her husband. No, I didn’t mount her either.” Tim says in an aggrieved tone.

She giggles, “Oh, come on! It’s been a whole week since I saw you last. You could at least smile when you see me.”

He isn’t very expressive. “I’ve got a lot on my mind…”

“So, the Princess of Friendship is pretty much throwing herself at you, and you got to meet her sister-in-law, and yet you haven’t gone after either? I don’t get it.”

Tim rolls his eyes, “I’ve got to get to work, Leah.” He starts walking, only to have her claw close around his upper arm, whirling him to face her.

“I get it, you aren’t interested in what’s under a pony’s tail. But are you completely xenophobic?”

“What? No! I never said I wasn’t interested. I….” he finds his face getting hot, “I don’t think such topics are for polite conversation.”

She rolls her eyes, “So, you aren’t into the pony princess, your loss.” He shrugs off her claw and starts walking towards the Spitfire Grill, after a few moments, she catches up with him, “Why are you so dodgy today?”

He looks at her from the corner of his eye. “Why won’t you take a hint?”

“Well, duh, I wanna know you. You don’t seem to have any ambition to reach for higher status, which is not normal for a pony living in Canterlot.”

“Well, I’m not a pony,” Tim growls, his shortened fuse starting to catch him by surprise. This gormless griffon would be a very nice target to go off, guilt free, for being a pest.

“As if I didn’t know that, but I know how many of those pony herds are salivating at getting her into their bed. The newest pony princess in a thousand years has ponies from all over Equestria vying for her attention. Scuttlebutt says she’s got her eyes on a non-pony. But most of the nobility have no clue who that non-pony is. I saw yesterday that it’s you, yet you are not interested. You don’t make sense, Tim.”

Tim turns onto Restaurant Row. “If she’s such a hot lay and if she seems interested in non-ponies, why don’t you try?”

“Me? I told you why I’m not all that much into ponies. I want something different.” She stops and taps her beak with a claw thoughtfully, “But that is something her and I have in common. Maybe I should talk with her about it.” She smiles evilly, “I know, her and I could team up, get you really interested.” She laughs and takes off, straight up. She does a loop in the air and heads towards the castle.

Tim watches as she disappears around one of the taller buildings, then he shakes his head. “Dear fucking Christ… Everyone in this world is crazy!” He catches himself, caught off guard at his own vehemence. Tim opens the door to the restaurant and greets Orange Swirl quickly before heading back into the kitchen to start work.

***

Tim turns the key in the lock, and is satisfied with the thunk of the dead bolt moving into place. He puts the key in his pocket and waves at the bartender as she walks towards her home. Tim turns in the opposite direction, pleasant thoughts of sleep already clouding his mind. Though he keeps an eye out for that griffin. Since she informed him of what she was planning four days ago, he’s been waiting for her to appear randomly. A quick scan of the sky shows three thestrals winging their way along the quiet streets, but no griffins. He quickly makes it home, not really interacting with the few pedestrians on the streets. There is no doorpony that late at night, but he makes it into the elevator without a problem. The door to his apartment is only a matter of a few steps from the elevator. As he opens the door, he notices that more lights than usual are lit this time of night.

“Tim!” Citrus squeals as she bounces over to see him. She leaps into his arms, and he kisses her. Knowing with that kiss that means everything in the world is right. The kiss goes on, but finally they pull away, both of them a bit breathless. Tim glances around. “You should be in bed, love. It’s late.”

She smiles coyly, “Come into the kitchen, we need to talk.”

Tim finds himself shuddering, “No scarier words in any language than that phrase.”

That gets a giggle from her, and he carries her into the kitchen, with two other ponies sitting on stools. Tim deposits Citrus onto one stool as he collects kisses from the other two mares. Though Cayenne takes a moment to run a hoof gently along his inner thigh, and she slaps his rear with her tail as he moves to sit down, a lustful smile on her face. He finds his own seat, “So, what do we need to talk about?”

Cayenne’s horn lights, and a rich cream colored envelope with golden script floats to him. Tim glances at his name and address on the front. He furrows his brow, “What is this?”

“I think I know what this is, but you need to open it.”

Tim looks at the wax seal on the envelope, it’s Princess Celestia’s cutie mark, a rayed sun. He breaks the seal and pulls out a thick piece of parchment. A quick scan has him looking up at his girls, then down at the parchment. “It’s an invitation.” That gets squeals from each of the girls. He clears his throat,

“Mares and Gentlecolts,

You are hereby cordially invited to this year’s Grand Galloping Gala, held in the ball room of Canterlot Castle. Enclosed you will find sufficient Gold tickets to grant you full entry and access to all Gala Events including food, drink, and access to the VIP lounge. This year’s entertainment will be provided by The Rock and Beats, with an airshow performed by Equestria's Own Wonderbolts. If you require more tickets, please contact Raven for additional bookings.”

Again, the girls squeal as Tim checks in envelope, there are the tickets. He inspects the first one, “This is a sheet of gold.” Tim says softly. He looks at the tickets, “What’s going on here?” That gets all three girls attention, he fans out the tickets, “There are five tickets here, and only four of us.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 13. Estimated time remaining: 15 Hours, 35 Minutes