Moondancer came by to wish us well, trade theories about what had just happened concerning my magic, and promise to come back tomorrow to help with things like curing the addictive quality of my semen. She didn't really bring up the topic of what happened after I blacked out, but it was easy to see that she was a bit shaken by it. I knew by now that she preferred to process these things on her own, so I didn't push her.

Spitfire bitched about Celestia's bullshit, wished me good luck, and said to write a letter if I ever wanted to take her up on her still-standing job offer as the Wonderbolts' hypnotherapist. I told her I would have to check my schedule, because I already had a client.

We didn't hear from Lyra and Bon Bon. No one we crossed paths with could tell me yet where they were or what they were doing.

Trixie had said her goodbyes for the night and left for her hotel room at the Canterlot Inn. Her reasons being, one, she paid for the room so she might as well use it, two, in her opinion it was actually a little nicer than this palace guest room, and three... she bashfully admitted to talking in her sleep every so often, so she preferred to sleep alone and not bother anyone.

So it was just me and Derpy in the room, and we tucked in for bed early. Awful herbal drinks and bedrest, that's what I needed. And no doubt there was plenty more work to do tomorrow now that everypony important was on the same page, so rest was doubly important.

...Except that a knocking on our door occurred just as I was about to fall asleep. Derpy was already snoozing, so I gently extracted myself from the bed, threw on a complimentary robe, and opened the door.

Standing out in the hallway, lit by only a few sconces and the ambient moonlight from the distant windows, was none other than... Applejack?

"Hey, got a minute?"

I was more than a little apprehensive, but the fact I wasn't being sucker-punched right out of the gate was a fairly good sign. "Uh, sure, I guess." I carefully stepped out of the room and closed the door behind me so we wouldn't bother Derpy. "What's up?"

"Jus' wanted to kinda go over things with you," she mumbled a little nervously, scratching the side of her face. "Twilight just cast that new counterspell on us and... well, we kinda had a long talk about what happened Friday night."

I sighed. "How many apologies and/or free gut-punches do you want?"

Applejack chuckled at that. "Ya might have to look out fer that from Rainbow. But let's put the other ponies aside and just talk about you 'n' me, alright?"

"Sure."

The farm-girl took off her stetson and ran a hand through her tied-back blonde mane. "After some soul-searchin', I... I kinda came to realize that I didn't really... I dunno, put my virginity on that high a pedestal in the first place? Part of me thinks I should be mad that we had sex out of wedlock, but... Deep down, I'm not sure I ever really cared about that sort of thing. Always assumed the right stallion would come along some year and settle down and be part of the farm, but sex was never somethin' I factored into that, y'know? So what happened with you didn't really affect that, since you didn't put foals in me and you ain't marryin' into the family. You followin' this at all?"

"Sort of," I replied, but in truth only barely.

Applejack started to chortle. "Ah mean, if you had done an awful job at sex, this would be an entirely different conversation. Hooee. But, uh... Heh heh. Shoot, I kinda lost the plot there..."

"Let me know when you find it," I remarked. "I'm kind of flapping in the wind myself."

"Well, that's more what I wanted to talk to you about, I suppose," she said. Applejack stepped to the side and leaned back against a pillar of the hallway. "Sort of what your future plans are, or will be. The more Ah think about it, the less concerned I am about you and me, and more about what you'll do to all Equestria, y'know what Ah'm sayin'?"

I nodded a little bit. "That's fair..."

"Ah mean, li'l Apple Bloom just got her cutie mark, so now she's–"

I did an honest-to-God take. "Apple Bloom what?!"

"Yeah, it happened over the weekend! The CMC figured out that what they wanna do is help other ponies with what their cutie marks really mean! Counselors! I mean gosh, can ya believe it?" The farmer actually wiped a tear from her eye. "And she got it by finally makin' amends with that Diamond Tiara filly she'd been feuding with. Couldn't be prouder of her. She's really growin' up."

To say I was flabbergasted would be underselling it. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders... actually got their cutie marks?!"

"Hey, they've been searchin' for a heck of a while," she said, glaring at me a bit. "It's about time."

"No no, I get it," I defended. "Just... I dunno, when I got here, that just seemed like one of the facts of life in Equestria. Pegasi fly, unicorns cast, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders tear everything apart looking for their cutie marks." Not to mention that I couldn't believe it would actually happen in the show, as canon. Had I had something to do with this, indirectly, somehow?! It couldn't be, right? The plot she was describing certainly sounded canon enough...

Then the other realization dawned on me. The three young anthro mares, who already looked like young supermodels by the standards of human women, had just gotten their cutie marks. Which meant they were about to start... growing...

"There it is," Applejack muttered, seeing the look on my face.

I put my hands up. "I... I know I have a reputation, but... I'll leave Bloom and her friends alone, you have my word," I said a little fearfully.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Hoped that would go without sayin', but Ah might as well get a Pinkie Promise while you're at it."

I didn't hesitate. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye?"

"...You didn't do the motions. And how do you know what a Pinkie Promise even is, anyhow?"

Still panicking a little, I fibbed, "Look, I was a social pariah for two straight weeks, and Twilight wouldn't let me stay home. Wasn't much left to do but overhear things. Sorry to say."

Applejack shook her head and put her hat back on. "We're gettin' off-track. Ah'm not talkin' about any direct funny business with the upcomin' generation. That's between you and the law. Ah'm talkin' about the ways in which you can alter the world they're growin' up in."

She took a moment to consider the point she was trying to make.

"Li'l Bloom is, like you suspect, about to come in to a whole new world of size and urges. And hell, she's excited for it. Practically calls it her 'boobie mark' half the time. Otherwise she's got a good head on her shoulders, the whole lot of them do, and it's not like Ah don't trust them to make the best choices they can..." She sighed and tipped the brim over her eyes. "Jus'... what should Ah tell her once you start changin' things? Letting super-sized mares go topless and the like? What're ya gonna change in total, and what am I gonna tell Apple Bloom while she's growin' up, or her little grandkids a decade down the line? What'll Equestria look like then?"

I was a little more genuinely speechless this time, even quite a bit humbled. "That's... a very strong question, Applejack. Not sure what to say to all that."

"Yeah... figured as much," she muttered, and got off the wall.

I took a step back. "I can't look into the future, but I can tell you my general thought process right now, if you like."

"Please do."

Taking a deep breath, I said, "I really don't think I have the expertise or knowledge to start making wholesale changes to the entire world. I just can't predict or control how everyone will react."

The farmgirl nodded. "Makes sense."

"What I can do, though, is help the people I can see. Tackle the problems that are within my reach. And I think what'll end up happening is... all those little changes, those personal changes, will pile up, and a bigger change might emerge out of them. Maybe even taking a life of its own. So I think, if I'm at all qualified to make changes to the world, it's only through that way. By focusing on individuals first."

Applejack hemmed and hawwed, and then her shoulders slumped a little. "All that to say 'No idea' and 'Depends.'"

"M-More of a grassroots effort," I said, my face flushing a bit red.

She thought about it some more. "So you say you'll tackle the issues as you see 'em. What do you think those issues will be?"

"Sexual repression and discomfort," I said straight-out, composing myself again. "Ponies who don't feel comfortable in their own skin, or find it hard to reach out to others, or ponies who are just plain frustrated. ...Hell, I think a lot of regular therapy will happen, too. Probably even more than the sexual healing stuff in the long run. I don't know yet."

The busty orange earth pony mare snorted. "You'll change the world by bein' a perfectly normal sex therapist..."

"That is, generally speaking, 'the plan.'"

"So when Apple Bloom asks me about the topless mares walkin' through town square, I say, 'Well, there's this sex therapist in town, and he's the one who recommended they do that.' That's what Ah tell 'er?"

"Ehhh... You don't have to be that generous," I said with a small laugh. "Feel free to call it like you see it if I'm making a mess of things."

"Ah'm sure I will."

The conversation lulled in the empty hallway.

"So, uh..." I said, "what do the others make of it? This whole thing?"

Applejack grimaced and blew air upwards, tossing aside a few stray golden hairs. "I don't know if I can really put words in their mouths. Everypony seems to be kind of in-progress. Lots of stuff to reflect on, like Cadance said." Rubbing the back of her head, she added, "What I said, though, while we were talkin' was: 'Alright, this situation was a thing long before Pascal arrived. He just kinda fell into it and cracked it open. Part of that's because of how he is, but it means he ain't entirely to blame, either. He stepped into an old second-story room with rotten floorboards, and now we're walkin' in and seein' that half the floor is gone. Gotta at least hear him out.'"

I laughed. "Thanks for the defense."

She looked a little bashful and shrugged. "Eh, best analogy I could come up with on the spot. It weren't just me, though. Fluttershy seems to think you're alright, and, y'know, that by itself helped calm ponies down. At the end of it, we took a step back and said, 'Alright, Pascal's here to stay. Celestia's wishes. It's up to us individually to figure out where we stand with him and what lines to draw.'"

"That's what this is?" I asked, pointing between the two of us. "Figuring out where you and I stand?"

"Yup."

"So where do we stand, then?"

"Actually..." Applejack chuckled. "Ah kinda wanna hear what you think first. Been doin' most of the talkin' so far. Where do I stand with you, loverboy?"

That sounded fair to me, but hell if I knew what to say. "Uh... Well..." I shrugged with a wide gesture and let my hands bounce off my sides. "I'm scared of you. I respect you. I'm worried I hurt you. That... goes for all six of you, really."

A knowing smirk grew on the side of her mouth. "But you'd still wanna fuck us if you could, huh?"

My eyes darted down to the twin bulges in her red plaid shirt. I winced. "Yeah... But that's the same for just about any adult mare. If you want nothing to do with me from here on out, I completely understand."

"Don't get ahead of yourself just yet," Applejack replied. Then she peered over my shoulder and said, "Looks like mah time's up."

I turned around and saw two more mares coming down the moonlit hallway: Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie wasn't bouncing like usual but she still had a spring in her step, and Rainbow Dash was rubbing her fist against her other palm.

"Well, see ya 'round, Pascal." The Element of Honesty turned around and walked confidently in the other direction. "I'll meet y'all at the train station. Don't leave too many bruises on 'im, Dash!"

"I won't!" the brash pegasus called after her, then grinned evilly at me.

"Hey Pascal?" Pinkie Pie asked, coming to a stop next to her marefriend.

"Y-Yeah...?"

The jubilant earth mare's face fell. "What the Masters did to Celestia... It's really– uhuhugh..." She shuddered from her tail to the little curl at the top of her mane. "...really SKEEVY, right?"

"It– It is, yeah!" I agreed.

"Like OH MY GOSH!" Pinkie shouted to the ceiling. "What has to be wrong with you to turn a fun thing into an awful thing?! Like, what if it was cupcakes instead of sex? Having a lot of cupcakes is fun. Maybe you have too many cupcakes and you forget that you had things to do that day and that's kinda bad but still not evil...! But! But! You make a whole species to do nothing but make cupcakes and eat cupcakes all day every day, and you program their minds so that every cupcake fills them with ecstasy so that they can think of nothing but more and more cupcakes?!? That's just so incredibly wrong I CAN'T EVEN– GRAAAAH!!"

Rainbow half-lidded her eyes and lowered her hands. "Yeah, 'cuz that's what this is about. Cupcakes."

Pinkie Pie stopped her freakout and patted Rainbow on the head. "It's a metaphor, silly."

"I feel the same way," I told Pinkie. "Hyper-endowment is my fetish, but... Seeing it on Celestia, seeing how they used it to torture her... It was like, 'Great going guys, it was fun at first, why'd you have to go that far with it?'"

Pinkie switched back to freakout mode and threw her hands in the air triumphantly. "You get it! YOU GET IIIIT." And then she was her chipper self again, smiling innocently. "That's all. We're good now. Rainbow?"

Rainbow Dash smirked. I took a fearful step back.

"Oh, calm down," the speedster muttered. "I'm not actually gonna punch you in the solar plexus. Much as I want to."

That was a worryingly specific promise. It did nothing to reassure me.

Rainbow folded her arms. "First off, I just want to know the answer to one question: Why?"

Why had I convinced her that she enjoyed human cock worship? Slumping a little, I replied, "One part petty payback for crashing the party, two parts wanting to test the limits of my power over other ponies' minds. Y'know, my ability, or lack thereof, to actually dictate what another pony thinks. Your 'method acting' rationalization actually helped me and Derpy understand a lot..."

"Ohhhhh," Rainbow grumbled, rolling her eyes, "so I was a test subject. Well that makes it allllll betterrrrrr."

She turned her head towards Pinkie and covered their mouths with her hand, and they started whispering to each other very quietly. The only part of the exchange I could catch was "You still wanna...?" and "Heck yeah."

Grinning back at me, Rainbow spread out her arms and announced, "Good news, perv! I'm willing to let the whole mind-control blowjob thing slide. Heck, I'll even still give you them from time to time."

"They'll be Marefriend Approved!" Pinkie jumped in, giving me a thumbs-up.

I looked between their smiling faces, feeling the color drain from my cheeks. "How big is the other shoe?" I hesitantly asked.

"In return," Rainbow responded, "you owe me – us, actually – big time. And you'll pay off that debt with favors. That I can call in at any time. No questions asked." The grin on her face widened to its maximum. Pinkie's less smug smile nonetheless matched Rainbow's for size.

Comprehension dawned. These two mares... the prank queens of Ponyville. "Ohhhhhh no..."

"Problem?" Rainbow asked knowingly. "I can go back to being vindictive if this ain't working for ya."

I opened my mouth to speak... paused, closed my mouth, opened it again... then gave up. "Fine. I reserve the right to ask some basic questions about what you want to do. But you've got me morbidly... morbidly curious." I sighed and raised my arms in a dramatic shrug. "Sure, Rainbow. The Avatar of Acceptance is at your disposal."

"Awesome." Rainbow Dash reached over and gave me two pats on my shoulder. "We'll be in touch."

The two of them practically jaunted away, one skipping and one flying, both giggling amongst themselves. I was left with the sense that I had committed to a hilarious mistake.

But at least Rainbow Dash wasn't going to knock me on my ass.

I reached for the bedroom door and grabbed the handle, but I was interrupted by a soft voice. "Pascal?" I turned to see Fluttershy and Rarity approaching from the opposite end of the hall, and I thought, Really?! I'm actually getting kind of sleepy now!

Wiping my face to wake myself up, I said, "Hello. How are you doing this evening?"

"Oh, um, just fine, I guess..." Fluttershy mumbled awkwardly, her hands fidgeting beneath her absolutely titanic breasts within her overgenerous sweater. Next to her, Rarity stood expressionless, her arms folded and one finger tapping. Fluttershy said, "Are you alright? We got worried when you just... dropped like that."

"Yeah, uh... Magic burnout. Tried to do too much too fast."

"Twilight told us," Rarity said evenly.

"Are you fine now, though?" Fluttershy asked.

"Mmhm, I can at least stand under my own power again. Not gonna try to cast any big spells anytime soon, but hey, a rookie like me has no business doing that anyway, right?"

"So you can use magic now?" Rarity inquired with some measure of piqued interest.

"Sort of? The Normal was always magic. Just sort of passive and I could tweak it. But I guess I'm starting to unlock these new abilities that actually cost energy to use? It's weird. I'm hoping Luna or someone can help me through it." I looked down at my hands. "It would be rad if I could learn to use TK, actually."

"I think you could sign up for remedial magic lessons," Fluttershy pointed out.

Rarity looked off to the side distractedly, a hand on her chin and her elbow pressing against her bosom. "Hmm, yes..."

Our small talk petered out, and I waited for the inevitable pivot to the topic of the night. We all looked at each other, thinking the same thing but not sure how to start talking about it.

Finally, Rarity said, "I have something I want to say to you, Pascal."

"Go for it," I said back.

"You respected my boundaries that night, and I appreciate that. But moving forward, I want it to be absolutely clear: Those boundaries shall stay firmly where they are."

It made enough sense, except for one part. "So... wait, so what about the masturbation...?"

Rarity's white face made spotting the early signs of a blush much easier. "If... If my body inspires lust in you, I won't be offended if you accidentally display or... have to exorcise that lust. Managing overactive sex drives is practically part of your job description now. I can accept that... so long as we can remain professional about it, and not take it any further between us."

I took in her words and nodded. "That's actually more than I was expecting, to be honest. I'd say that's fair."

"Good," Rarity noted. "Good."

Fluttershy took her turn to speak up. "Pascal, I... Oh..." She partially hid her muzzle in her hands and turned towards Rarity. "You won't hate me if I say this, will you?"

"What? No, of course not Fluttershy!" Rarity took the pegasus's hands in hers. Standing so close together, their massive busts inevitably smushed against each other, making the tops of all four breasts practically bulge up to their necks. "I'm here for whatever moral support you need!" Glancing at me, she said, "I think you should avoid getting attached to him, certainly... Make it about yourself, not him. But I will never scold you for wanting to explore yourself."

"Okay. Thank you," Fluttershy breathed, forcing herself to come down from a mild panic attack. She turned to me, her massive breasts swinging slightly, and tried her best to smile. "Pascal, um... I actually... really like what happened. I know it was technically mind control, but... You made me feel better about my breasts than I have in a long time. And... And I'd really like to do more of that again sometime."

"Well, obviously I do too," I said, blushing a little myself and rubbing the back of my head. "But yeah, if it makes you more comfortable with yourself, even better. Figure that's one of the ways this power lets me do some real good in the world."

"So... next time you're in Ponyville?" Fluttershy asked hopefully.

I was surprised. "That soon? Uh, yeah, sure. We'll see if we can make it work."

"Great. Thank you, Pascal." The top-heavy pegasus stepped back and turned to her friend. "Thank you, Rarity. Have fun with Fashion Week. I should probably be getting to the train station with the others..."

"It's been a long night," Rarity agreed. "Have a good week, Fluttershy."

"You too." And Fluttershy walked down the hall, her huge breasts visible from behind as they bounced with every step.

Once I'd had my fill of the sights, I looked over to Rarity. "You're... here for Fashion Week, huh?" I said carefully.

Rarity nodded and turned to walk away. "Yes. Even have my own room in the palace. Though I doubt we'll see much of each other." She managed about five steps before she suddenly stopped mid-stride. Her high heels clacked back into position, and she slowly craned her head over her shoulder to stare back at me. "Pascaaaal... Is there something I should know about Fashion. Week?"

I laughed nervously. "Heh heh heh... Heh heh... As it turns out...!"

20 minutes later...

"At the very least, if you ever find yourself in the situation where you're about to inject a brand new counter-culture fashion line into the highest-profile event in all of Equestria, you must please, please consult me first!! This is my livelihood! This is my passion!"

"Okay! Okay!" I protested. "I don't plan on making a habit of it anyway!"

"I should hope not!"

Rarity looked ready to continue her tirade even further, but we were interrupted by the sound of hard footfalls coming down the hall. We both turned our heads, and saw Twilight Sparkle emerge from the shadows and into the light from the sconces. Her purple-and-pink mane was completely disheveled, and even her clothes were haphazardly askew.

"Are you two busy...?" Twilight asked quietly, her voice soft and meek.

Rarity and I shared a meaningful glance and immediately straightened ourselves out. "We were just finishing up," Rarity explained, turning towards her friend. "Twilight, dear... What happened to you?"

Seeing Twilight in this state, my breathing became shallow. "Did you...?"

The young alicorn nodded and rubbed one of her eyes. "I... I used the counterspell on Princess Celestia." From the tone of her voice, it sounded like it went about as badly as I could have feared.

"It... didn't go well, I take it," Rarity said.

"She had a breakdown right in front of me."

Rarity stifled a flinch and pouted at her. "Oh, Twilight...!"

The Princess's gaze stared a thousand yards straight between us. "She started drooling."

"Um..."

"Drooling from everywhere."

Rarity put her hands up. "Okay Twilight, that's, um..." She caught herself. "Come here, darling." Rarity beckoned Twilight over with arms wide open, leaning over a bit so her bust wouldn't get in the way. Twilight stumbled over to her and buried her face into the white unicorn's shoulder, sniffling hard a couple times. Rarity stroked her mane and said, "There, there..."

"Oh boy..." I muttered, covering my mouth and looking aside. It sounded like it had been worse than I thought. Part of me had hoped that Celestia would've recovered a bit after we'd reached our accord. No such luck. My magic-empowered encouragement really seemed to be a key support in her psyche right now. I could hardly believe it. Was her mind really in that rough shape without my help?

Of course it was that bad, I realized. There was 1300 years of shame, fear, paranoia, and repressed lust all coming back to the fore now that a human was in town. My little mental barrier at least kept the nasty voices at bay. Truly frightening to think about.

Twilight broke away from the hug and looked at me with puffy eyes. Seemed she'd been crying a little while ago. "I owe you an apology," she said in a halting voice. "I didn't want to believe it was all true..."

"Believe me, none of us do," Rarity said, reaching over and rubbing Twilight's shoulder comfortingly. "It would all be so much easier if we could pin it all on Pascal here. But at this point, I'm afraid that would be sticking our heads in the sand, wouldn't it?"

"It's fine, Twilight," I said. "I understand."

The Princess stepped away, staring at the wall as if it might have any answers. "I just feel like... I failed." Turning back to us, she said, "I feel like we all failed here. None of this should ever have happened in the first place. If Celestia had reached out to somepony before this all happened, if that planetary discharge had been a few degrees off, if the scraps describing humans didn't paint them as demons, if Pascal didn't have his... particular interests, if Ponyville wasn't the type of town to mob up, if Pascal had felt safe enough to tell me about this...!"

I sighed and shrugged helplessly. "It was the perfect storm."

"And we were all caught up in it," Rarity agreed.

Twilight's hands became fists. "We could have avoided all this, I know it. But we didn't. We let it get to the breaking point. And now our best chance to make things right is to let Pascal be a free agent with a passive brainwashing power. ...We failed."

A depressing silence came over us, and I felt like I had to say something to bring things back up.

"Twilight, I'm sorry I didn't let you in on this. And I'm sure Celestia feels the same way. We didn't want you to get tied up in this... lewd web of secrets." I sighed and said, "But I think this is it. This is us bringing you in. Laying all our cards on the table, sharing every secret we have. And that's because you're the pony we trust to help with this. It took us a while, but... we really need you now. This adventure isn't over."

A low grumbling noise came from deep in Twilight's throat. "You need me to figure out how to make your semen non-addictive."

Rarity grimaced a little. She was probably very glad she had refused to take any of my seed earlier.

"That's only the beginning," I responded. "I'm here to help with the physical part of her recovery, and keep her from falling apart, but..."

"She's going to need friends," Rarity interjected, picking up what I was getting at. "She's been bearing this all alone for a dreadfully long time. Celestia is going to need Luna, Cadance, and you. The ponies she trusts the most."

Twilight likely didn't feel very trusted at this moment, but she nodded anyway and sniffled again. Then, reluctantly, she staggered towards me until she was standing only a couple of feet away from me, her chest nearly touching mine as she looked me in the eyes. "If we're going to do this," she said very seriously, "there's one thing I need from you. One condition going forward."

I braced myself. I'd had several caveats and rules thrown at me already in this gauntlet, what was one more? "Name it."

Rarity politely stepped back to give us some space.

Twilight closed her eyes hard for a second, frowned, and then gave me a very hardened look. "What happened between us, while I was under your influence... It doesn't count. I don't want you coming to the castle for a 'booty call' or to 'have a sample taken' or anything like that. We don't have a sexual relationship. We never had a sexual relationship."

In my surface thoughts, this seemed harsh but reasonable. Deep down, though, my heart actually sunk a little bit. It was hard to articulate why. I really did care a lot about Twilight, maybe even beyond just as friends. Being asked to distance myself hurt a lot more than I was expecting. I got more than a little angry. Why take this so far? Did she not want to face what she did? To avoid grappling with the idea that maybe she wanted it too? I quelled such thoughts as quickly as I could. This was not a battle I could fight today.

This was the gamble inherent to dubious consent. With her, I lost.

"Clean slate?" I asked.

Twilight nodded firmly, her face softening a bit now that I was getting the picture. "Starting from scratch. You're not my ward anymore. You're the Avatar of Acceptance, I'm a Princess of Equestria. And that's all we are."

I closed my eyes. "Okay." It hurt to say it, but I said it as firmly and clearly as I could.

"Okay," Twilight echoed. She turned around quickly and started to walk away at a brisk pace, hiding her eyes. She stopped for a moment and said, "First thing in the morning, I'm going to take another 'sample.' After that, and after all this is done, I don't even want to think about your genitalia for a very long time."

"That's fair," I mumbled.

"Goodnight," Twilight said back, and disappeared down the dark hallway.

Rarity watched her go, then looked over at me. I was the one sniffling now and taking deep breaths. She stepped forward and gave me a sympathetic smile. "You've come a long way," Rarity reassured me. Morphing her expression into a smirk, she added, "You've been making more eye contact lately."

I scoffed, but still laughed a little in spite of how I was feeling. "Sure, sure, roast me while I'm down..." I muttered.

"I just mean to say, you're not quite the same human we were afraid of a week ago. I think that's starting to shine through."

"I hope you're right, Rarity..."

"We'll see, won't we? Goodnight, Pascal."

"Goodnight."