The lone human in Equestria is a rather unusual title. For the ponies of Canterlot and Ponyville, he’s merely a curiosity. Though when it comes to the ponies outside of where he usually visits, he’s pretty much an attraction. The reaction to him is fairly universal. The adults shy away from the tall biped, though after they see that he’s not menacing the ponies, and more often they see that he’s got herd mates that dote on him as much as any herd mates will dote on others in their herd, the ponies will calm down around him. And quite often he gains a following of foals. The curiosity of children, no matter their species, is boundless. This is also the case with the ponies on the train heading north from Canterlot. A few hours into the ride, Tim now has every pony under the age of twelve gathered around him, peppering him with questions from why is he so tall, to questions about his herd.

One of the colts pipes up. “Why are you furless?”

As Tim opens up his mouth to respond, the filly next to the colt blurts out. “Mom said if you don't wash properly all your fur can fall out.”

A yellow unicorn filly looks at a blue pegasus filly. "Does that mean he doesn't wash?"

The colt leans forward, sniffing his leg. "Does he have the mange? Fluttershy said that mange causes some animals fur to fall out."

“What happened to his tail? Every creature has a tail doesn't it?”

"Yeh even bug ponies have tails."

Tim looks over at Twilight, eyes pleading, she smiles at him and hops off her seat. “Okay my little ponies. You’ve had plenty of time with Tim, head back to your herds and leave the nice human alone.”

One particularly aggressive filly is on Tim’s lap, enjoying ear skritches. She gives the Princess a sour look before hopping down and slowly walking towards the front of the car, her ears down and her tail drooping. Though his lap doesn’t remain empty for long, the head mare of the herd sits on his lap, leaning her body against him. While the ponies are passionate and expressive in private, in public, Citrus Blush is content with simply leaning her body against his chest as the ponies do tend to be physically close most of the time as is their nature. Though the ear skritching ends up happening to her.

Cayenne Pepper is enamored of the view out the window, the train is heading North, to the Crystal Empire. And is following the mountain range that includes the mountain where Canterlot resides. So, to the east of the train tracks, the mountain range stretches up high and off into the distance. On the west of the tracks, however, is flat plains, dominated by mile after mile of cropland. Back home, he would expect to see tractors and other heavy machinery moving through the fields. Not so much here in Equestria, though small clouds are scattered around, with pegasi in attendance, keeping the growing crop of early summer nourished. Twilight has explained the agriculture of Equestria. About half the farms are smaller affairs and orchards much how Applejack runs her family farm in Ponyville. However, there are also larger operations, growing wheat, and corn, and quite a few other crops that would be just as familiar in a farmers market in Dubuque, Iowa as they are in Baltimare.

Usually they are family operated as well, the tendency of Earth ponies to have larger herds does fare them well with dealing with some of these enormous operations. Though there are some that are owned by companies, just like Twilight’s family owns a couple of large farms, that they pay teams of workers to operate. These are usually generalist affairs that just focus on raw output to make sure the nation stays fed. Twilight has mentioned that one of her family owned farms will be coming up during their trip north.

The ponies don’t have to deal with much of the pests that plague food growth back at his home. Through the Earth pony’s harmony with the land, and quite a few skilled mages, diseases like black chaff, and crown and root rot, are pretty much nonexistent. And the incidents of pest damage are greatly reduced, though some is allowed to happen as such pests are part of the food chain overall. Though the ponies seemed rather upset when he had spoken of droughts, like the one much of California suffered under for much of his young life. Pegasi keep the weather ideal for growth. They make sure there’s enough rain and when it’s needed. The farm ponies have clear, cool weather to do their planting. And then the season is regulated quite strictly by the regional weather managers and the source of weather in Equestria. The floating city of Cloudsdale. The ponies control the world around them far better than humans can. Though, Tim does agree, having magic really makes that kind of thing much easier to do.

He watches the faintly pink pony’s cranberry colored tail swish gently as she watches the mountains to the east of the train tracks. He leans over towards her. “Missing home already?”

She jerks, apparently she had been lost in thought. She looks back at him. “No, it’s just the mountains are just so beautiful.”

He sits there for a time, apparently Citrus has fallen asleep on his chest, he can feel her soft, regular breathing against his body. Finally he grins. “Yeah, the mountains are quite beautiful.” He reaches out a finger and runs it along the spicy mare’s ear. “And so are you.”

Her ear flicks. “I’m fat and ugly and nopony would be interested in me.” She huffs.

That gets her nuzzled by North Point. “That’s not what you were saying last night.”

Cayenne blushes heavily. “You were helping me feel sexy, North. That’s different.”

The two mares lean against each other, Cayenne purring. North wraps a hoof around Cayenne. “You are just pregnant and even lovelier than before.”

Cayenne looks over the back of her seat at the pegasus snoozing quietly on his seat. Then she looks over at Tim. “Would you have joined North and I last night?”

Tim grins. “Of course; I love being with you.” He pitches his voice low, keeping the conversation private. “If I had known some fun was going on… we’ve been celibate for more than a month now… for better or worse”

Cayenne coos, “Awww, has somepony been feeling underappreciated.” She kisses him on the mouth. It is a full, deep kiss with lots of tongue and a bit of moan. Tim finds himself digging his fingers into her neck in a clench. He exhales to find his tongue is sticky and his breath feels hot. Cayenne glances around, her face turning red at the view of the other ponies in the car. Though it seems as though the ponies are deliberately avoiding their herd violating much of the customs of the ponies. Perhaps because he's human? He glances over, or perhaps they are allowing for the Princess sitting next to him.

Twilight giggles as she leans against his other side. Normally he’s not enamored of the middle seat, be it in planes or trains. But here, he gets affection from his mares on both sides, so he’s happy. Twilight looks over at Cayenne. “North is right, Cayenne.”

The spicy mare looks at her middle, grumbling. Tim speaks up. “You really aren’t showing so far. No need to worry. And when you do show, you’ll still be as lovely as ever.”

Cayenne turns and looks at him, her cerise eyes wide. “You’ll want me when I’m just about to drop this foal?”

“Not a doubt in my mind, love.”

That gets a snort from the pony snoozing on his chest. Prompting him to wrap an arm around her. He looks over at Twilight. “So, what’s with the trip to the Crystal Empire?”

Twilight grins. “Well, the primary reason is I’m going to see my niece. But I also get to see my sister-in-law and my brother.” She glances over the back of her seat at Silver, then looks back at Tim. “Shining wants to do some sparring with Silver. He said Silver was the first to lay a hoof on him in quite a long time. He says that our stallion has got some skill and he wants to foster that skill.”

“Sparring?” Tim asks, his brows furrowing.

“Just with gymnasium proxies; nopony uses real, sharp weapons unless they want to hurt somepony. This will be more in line with simply training rather than any serious dueling. No, Silver is not going to gain any new scars, and Shining won’t have any more broken bones to deal with.” Twilight giggles. “Though I think Shining was brought down a peg or two.” She leans closer. “He refused magical healing, so Cadance did her best to make him suffer for trying to play tough.”

Tim tries to suppress a laugh, but it’s futile. He’s never broken a rib, but he knew a friend who had, that was a whole new level of pain. And the Prince didn’t even really show how much pain he was in at the Gala. From what he’s heard of Princess Cadance, she’s got a bit of a troll side to her, so she was likely having him do all kinds of things to keep that rib hurting. The stallion deserved it in his view. That second cut may have been part of reflexes, but he got Silver really damned good. Then he stops, remembering what got them all into that situation.

Fortunately for the human, Twilight is paying attention to his face, she leans forward, putting a wing around his shoulders. She nuzzles his cheek before whispering into his ear. “Love, it’s over. You are forgiven, and the herd is healing.”

He pulls back, looking at her, then he remembers who he’s got in his lap and snoozing lightly against his chest. Citrus snuggles closer, murmuring his name softly. “Yeah, you are right.”

He leans back, the trip has a bit over a day to go, and he has to admit, the seats in the train are quite comfortable. It’s not too long before his own eyes are getting heavy. Twilight is looking at him mischievously. “Still feeling underappreciated?” He nods. “Just wait for when we arrive at the Empire tomorrow night. Your patience will be rewarded.”

***

A jerk of the train car has everyone in the car waking up. Twilight could have requested a royal coach be attached to the train in Canterlot. But she had decided the necessary delay would not have been worth it for a casual trip. And add in the fact that she really doesn’t like to use many of the perks of her royalty on a regular basis. In fact, she’s fine with not being treated by the ponies the way they act towards Princess Celestia or Princess Luna. As the Princess of Friendship, she’s far more comfortable being among the ponies of Equestria. And this is not an official state visit, but simply her visiting her family. Her sire and dam were due up in the next few days as well. Though she hasn’t disclosed all of her reasoning to visit the Crystal Empire. Among her plans is a visit to the company overseeing the installation of data services in the Crystal Empire. Twilight looks out the window, noting the new advertisements for the phone and data service. Tim had come up with a good name for the phone. She doesn’t expect them to immediately explode in demand. Actually, one of her engineers had informed her that it may be a few decades or longer before the devices become ubiquitous throughout even the larger cities. And in the mean time, they will continue innovating and developing the technology. The projected time to self sufficiency for income from the new technology is actually quite soon. Tim will be spectacularly rich within his lifetime, and any foals their herd births will not ever have to struggle for income. Allowing them to follow their passions, much as she's been allowed to by her own birth herd.

Twilight Sparkle smiles. Her human stallion has actually brought a lot more than a revolutionary communications system to Equestria when he arrived, but also data storage, computer architecture that will do amazing things for the Equestrian economy, and she’s not mentioning the materials science advances due to the jet engine that landed in Equestria. The cost in lives sometimes gets her to pause, most certainly everyone else on that airplane ended up dead thanks to that absolutely freak accident. If Twilight could find ways to get information from Earth scientists on a variety of subjects that her probing into the tech that came with the human, she would. But the magic of the Sonic Rainboom is hard to quantify, the portal was open for the merest fraction of a second and there is no way to reliably tell where in the human world that portal would appear. No, she would have to be content with what she’s been able to glean from her research along with the other ponies at the castle, and those working for her, have been able to ferret out. Some of what they’ve discovered has pointed them in directions they hadn’t even speculated about. Others simply confirmed theories that they’ve held. All in all, the human’s coming to Equestria has been a good thing for all involved on their side of whatever barrier there is between the worlds.

“Twilight!” The familiar voice brings Twilight to the present, surrounded by the guard contingent, her sister in law is galloping towards her. She smiles as she crouches down. The two alicorns say in unison. “Sunshine sunshine, ladybugs awake.” They both sit up. “Clap your hooves.” Then the flip and shake their rears at each other. “And do a little shake!”

Tim steps up next to them. “That’s adorable,” he says, which gets giggles from the two alicorn mares.

Cadance nudges him with a wing. “So, what’s it like knowing you are going to be a dad?”

He shrugs. “Still trying to understand it all.” A quick glance at Twilight. “But technically, Silver’s the dad. I’m just here to help.”

Cadance snorts. “Here to help, just be happy you haven’t had to deal with an alicorn foal. One not only able to fly, and with magic, but is also stronger than some full grown ponies.” She shakes her head. “Flurry has been an education, that’s for certain.”

“Twily!” Comes a masculine voice. Tim turns to see Shining Armor galloping up. He grabs his little sister in a big hug. As he lets her go, he notes the stallion standing next to Tim. “Well, hey there Silver. How’s the jaw?”

“Still attached. How’s the barrel?”

That gets a laugh from the white unicorn. “Oh, you got me good there. Two broken ribs.” At the severe look from Cadance, he chuckles. “Yeah, I asked for healing later. My beautiful wife thought it wasn’t necessary. I think she wanted me to learn something.”

“Yeah, don’t let your opponent get under you on his back, bad place to get bucked.”

“No kidding.”

The two stallions stop and look at Cadance and the rest of the herd. Silver grins. “What?”

Citrus rolls her eyes, glancing over at Cadance. “Stallions,” she huffs.

Cadance nods. “When they aren’t thinking with their equipment, they are thinking about hurting each other.”

“Hey!” Tim grumbles.

Both the other stallions stop and look at him. “Hey, we were fighting on your behalf, studmuffin. Cause you couldn’t keep it sheathed. Don’t blame us for this.”

Silver takes to the air, landing his hooves gently on Tim’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, buddy, it’s all water under the bridge. I actually like marshmallow boy over there.”

Shining’s horn lights up. “You are going to pay for that.”

“Could be different next time.”

“No grapples or sharps this time,” Cadance hisses at them both. Her wings spreading.

“Yes dear”, Shining says before winking at Silver.

They turn and it only takes a few moments for the herd to gather up their luggage and the entire group heads towards the large castle. Cadance and Twilight chatting the entire way. Tim notes that the Duchess’ husband has their foal strapped to his barrel, and he’s also talking animatedly with Silver. The two stallions laughing as they walk along towards the center of power of the Crystal Empire.

As they get close, something catches Tim’s attention. He’s never really noticed all that much when it comes to magic going on at home, the mares are using magic all the time. This, though, is completely different. A large crystalline heart is spinning rapidly, not touching anything, but being kept centered between two crystalline structures, one rising from the ground, the other descending from the castle itself. But the heart, the heart itself simply floats there. “What is that?”

Cadance gestures for the rest of the herd to head inside before walking over to him. “That’s the Crystal Heart. It’s center of power for the Crystal Empire.”

He reaches out, but keeps his fingers clear of the spinning heart. “It’s beautiful.”

She looks at it for a long moment, finally she shakes her head a bit. “Yeah, it is.” She reaches out a hoof, careful not to touch the spinning heart. “It’s saved us a couple of times. It’s powered by the love of all the ponies in the empire. Without them, it would be just a pretty piece of crystal.”

Tim looks around, the crystal ponies are walking through the town, happy smiles on their faces. He looks over at Cadance as she walks towards the entrance. She stops and looks over her withers. “You coming?”

He nods and follows her inside.

***

“Careful.” Cadance says softly, “she’s not going to break, but you still need to be careful with her.”

Tim gently scoops up the bundle, the small form yawns cutely. He cradles her as Cadance takes a step closer. “Remember, foals are shaped differently than humans, so you have to hold them differently than you would a human baby.”

“I have no idea how to hold a human baby.”

That gets a soft laugh from the pink alicorn. “Okay, so no bad habits to unlearn. You support her body, she’s not swaddled, so get that claw…er…hand under her barrel, bring her up to your chest. Pony foals can stand and walk fairly quickly after birth. But you holding her like that causes her to let her legs go limp, lets you hold her up against your body.”

Tim looks at the little foal in his arms, she blinks slowly before yawning again. He and Cadance have woken her from her nap. When he had first gotten close, she had tensed up, but then relaxed when she saw her mom next to him. “She’s so beautiful.”

Cadance nuzzles her foal. “Yeah, she is. And yours will be just as cute when she is born.” She looks up at the human. “So, when can we expect Twilight to be expectant?”

Tim is so startled he very nearly drops Flurry, though he recovers quickly by hugging her close. “Ummm.”

That gets a chuckle from the alicorn. “Nice recovery.” She lights her horn. “I’ll take her.”

Tim pulls away, “I’m fine holding her. And I’m going to need the practice, right?”

She smirks at him. “I’m getting a better handle why Twilight picked you.” She nods to herself. “While I do regret some of what happened, Twilight did get what she needed. But you and I both know she wants a foal of her own.”

Tim’s eyes widen and his eyebrows rise. “You know as well as I do, I’m an entirely difference species, not from your world. Twilight’s checked our DNA, it’s not possible.”

That gets chiming laughter from the Alicorn of love. “Never underestimate the power of magic, Tim.” She nuzzles Flurry, who’s eyes have closed, and her breathing has evened out. She looks up at the human. “So, what do you think of Cayenne having a foal?”

Tim looks at the foal in his arms, then at her mom. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around that.” He stops, looking at Flurry. “To be honest, I’m terrified.”

“Of what?”

“Being a dad or a sire, however you ponies word the relationship.” He contemplates the small bundle of life in his arms. “I have to be responsible for him, or her. I have to teach them to be a good pony, when I really don’t have any idea.”

That gets a soft nuzzle from the alicorn, her greater height allowing her to reach his cheek without really stretching too much. “Oh, Tim. You are overthinking it. That teaching doesn’t just fall on you, but on the entire herd. You will have lessons that you teach, so will Silver, Citrus, North, Twilight, and Cayenne.” She takes a step back. “Remember, Tim. We are herd creatures, what you teach, by being an example, is important. But the entire herd is what brings up the fillies and colts. The job is big, that’s why you have the herd to lean on in that respect.” She tilts her head slightly. “Your contribution will be important, don’t ever forget that. But remember that we are ponies, this new life that Cayenne is bringing into this wonderful world is a pony. He or she will look up to all of you.” She looks down. “That’s why a foal being brought up with a herd is so important. Our cultural mores, where it’s not acceptable to have a foal outside a herd, it’s because that herd is important for the life of the foal.”

He looks over at her. “What if something horrible happens to the sire, or the dam shortly after birth?”

“It’s rare, but it does happen. Herdless mares that are with foal are typically brought into a herd fairly quickly, the mare’s drive to take care of her foal or foals is overriding pretty much everything. A stallion caring for a foal will likely attract eligible mares pretty quickly.” She smiles. “Nothing sexier to a lot of mares than a stallion that can take care of foals."

She tilts her head to the side slightly. "Stallions like fecundity, especially junior ones who haven’t had their turn to sire yet. And mares like stallions with a love of family. Just to warn you a little bit, we hit on dads a lot. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself getting propositioned.” She nudges him gently. “And speaking of, I think Flurry likes you. She’s out like a light, so she trusts you. No need to worry when it comes to being a sire. And speaking of that stud you know…” Tim cannot mistake the purr. “If it’s no offense… what would you say Silver’s best qualities are?”

Tim pauses. “Silver’s best qualities… well, he’s hardworking and speaks his mind. He’ll be your best friend and tell you when you’re full of crap.”

“Mhmhhm, I see. That’s what I thought from what he told me when I was putting his jaw back on. What does he like in a mare?”

Tim laughs, “If he were here he’d say his dick or something. He first joined the herd by chasing after Cayenne. He likes caring with a bit of an attitude. Between you and me, I think he actually likes having somepony to fuss over, even though he pretends to be annoyed.”

Cadance smiles and ruffles her wings. “You would not mind if I were to seek his company?”

“Meaning…?”

“We’ll see. I don’t want to go behind your back.”

Tim laughs, “He’s not my slave or anything; feel free to see him.”

Cadance suddenly hug tackles him, planting a lush kiss on his lips with an embrace like a coil of steel. “Oh! Thank you! Some stallions are just so insecure! I knew you wouldn’t be!” She kisses him again and suddenly peels off him. “I mean, that is very welcome.”

“What did I just agree to?”

“Like you need to ask,” the pink alicorn giggles, magically pulling the filly from his arms and places her gently in her bed, her little stuffed snail tucked up next to her. Galloping hooves gets both the human’s and the alicorn’s attention. Cadance darts ahead of Tim as the door opens. The guard walks gently, quieting down his hoofsteps, though he makes a beeline for the duchess. He bows his head to her and speaks quietly as Tim takes one last look at the alicorn filly peacefully sleeping. “Tim.” Cadance’s voice startles him from his thoughts. Getting him to look at her. “Come here.”

“What’s going on?” He asks as he gets up next to her.

Her horn lights, and his hand is placed on her withers. “Something is wrong with Twilight.” She surges her magic and they both disappear.

They pop back into existence in a different part of the castle. Tim looks around. The herd is all gathered around the purple alicorn, as well as her brother and a few of the Empire guards. An explosive sneeze rebounds through the room, along with a beam of magic that splatters the ceiling.

Cadance steps up next to her sister-in-law, her horn alight. “What’s going on, Twilight?”

Twilight sniffles. “I don’t know, but from the moment I’ve gotten into the castle, I’ve been sneezing.” She stops to sneeze again, another beam from her horn, though this time it streaks across the room.

Shining Armor looks back at his sister. “Did you just turn that apple into a bird-apple hybrid?”

Twilight sniffles, her eyes are inflamed and red. “Did I? I dunno…” One of the guards floats over a tissue, where Twilight takes it and blows her nose. Her eyes search around and her gaze lands on Tim. “Oh, Tim! I’m so happy to see y…” Her nose scrunches up. “Ah…ahhhh.”

Tim dances back as the alicorn lets out yet another explosive sneeze. This one is also accompanied by a magical beam from her horn. The human isn’t fast enough, and the beam bathes him in energy.

Shining Armor hoofs over another tissue before looking back at Tim. He stops, frozen. “Um…Twily.”

Cadance looks at Tim, she shudders before tapping Shining Armor with a hoof. “I think it would be smart to put Twilight in a warded room, and I think I’m going to have to bolster the wards. She’s got an alicorn’s strength, wouldn’t do having her blowing holes in the walls like Flurry did before her crystalling.” She stops, looking at Tim. “You okay there, Tim?”

Tim shakes his head, trying to clear it. “I felt the magic hit me. I'm shorter, so I'm guessing she did something?”

Cadance nods her head before hoisting Twilight with her magic. “Shining, see if you can help Tim.”

Tim looks down, noting pink hooves. He lifts a hoof. “Well, this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been turned into a pony.” He smiles, shaking his head. Then he stops. “Does my voice sound different to you?” He notices a savory scent almost like unsalted nuts or sanded wood. He took a deep breath and exhales. “What smells so good?”

Citrus sits down, directing a baleful glance at the nearly unconscious Twilight as she is floated from the room. “Yeah, I think Twilight did more than merely turning you into a pony, Tim.”

He looks at his tail, flicking the big bushy two toned lavender colored tail, then he runs a hoof through his mane. “Well, it’s different than what happened when I came back through the portal.” He reaches up and feels. “Well, I’m a unicorn again.” He sits down to look at Citrus, a smile on his face. Then he closes his eyes and his horn lights. “See! I remember what you taught me.”

Cayenne steps up next to him. “Sweetie, there’s a problem.”

Tim furrows his brows. “Let’s see, four hooves, check, horn, check.” He stands up, flicking his tail from side to side. “Tail, check. I remember how to walk like this too. So that's good.”

Silver snickers “There’s one more body part that happens to be missing there, bud.”

Tim turns in a circle, “No, everything is there, looks perfectly normal, though I’m a different color.” He puffs his cheeks out. “And my voice definitely sounds different than when I was a pony before.”

North Point walks closer, putting a hoof on his mouth. “Tim, look down.”

He complies. “Okay, two forehooves.”

“Further down, sweetie.”

Tim looks between his forelegs at his rear legs. Then he gets really still, his tail stops waving. He raises his head, looking at North, then at Citrus. “Oh, Fuck me!”

"Bad choice of words Tim, bad choice," Silver says, laughing.

Next Chapter: Chapter 40. Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 29 Minutes