Nolan North was confused and scared. Of all the things he'd been expecting, rejection hadn't been one. Fleeing from the shop where he'd found out Sonata Dusk worked, he climbed into his car and locked the doors.

"J-Just one song. I-I can still drive with one song." Reaching to pull out his phone, Nolan froze. He knew full well how the songs affected him. He made sure the phone stayed in his pocket and reached for the ignition.

The drive home was a short one, and when he parked and turned the engine off, Nolan broke into a run for the back door. A shaking hand put his key in the lock and opened the door.

Barely inside, Nolan North made his way to the basement stairs and walked down into the darkness. Each step down caused Nolan to relax a little more. When his feet reached the bottom of the stairs, he brushed the wall with a hand until he found the familiar light switch.

Dim, low-wattage lights came on. Nolan almost collapsed onto the bed he'd set up in the basement. His arms moved automatically—not muscle-memory, but close—and grabbed the big headphones from his stereo, and he plugged his phone into the cradle on it.

His mind rushed back to the first time he'd heard them—the cafeteria at school—but that wasn't what he had recorded. After that experience, Nolan'd carried his phone around everywhere with a new recording app ready. When the battle of the bands had started, he'd managed to get his phone plugged into the sound deck to record.

Reaching his hand up, Nolan North touched the play button.

"Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh
You didn't know that you fell
Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh"

Then his queen's voice came in, just like always.

"Now that you're under our spell."

The recording was nothing like the power the live performance was, but in Nolan's mind, it created an echo back to the time he'd seen his wonderful queens and mistresses.

Each of the performances were recorded in stunning quality on Nolan's phone. They reached into his mind with musical tendrils and set things right again. The warm blanket of control and submission settled around Nolan, and he lay in a trance until all six tracks had played through.

Relaxed, calm and ready to take up his task again, Nolan sat up and hit play once more. Now the music didn't have any problematic thoughts or ideas to push out—Nolan North was an empty vessel for the music to pour into.

With a wide smile, pin-prick eyes, and a slight sway to his body, Nolan started searching online. He picked up where the trail had last left off. Without their powers, Nolan's queens needed to be less subtle about making ends meet, which meant there were records of them.

The problem with all his previous searches was Nolan had been trying to find three "young women", but now he knew there would only be two. Police records of disturbances, news reports of a rise in local crime, anything he could find was opened and investigated.

"Now you need us"

"Yes," Nolan said.

"Come and heed us"

"Yes…" Nolan said again, the word slurring.

"Nothing can stop us now!"

A shudder of pleasure ran through Nolan, as it always did at this moment. He'd managed to edit the track to remove "them" from it. His queens and mistresses were pure and untouched.

Then he found it.

Two young women reportedly stealing money from donations in a convenience store on 12th street were apprehended and remain in custody.

The article was dated yesterday. Tingles ran through Nolan North's head. He could feel the music pulling him back to his queens and mistresses. "I'm coming."

Nolan sat there, staring at the computer's screen while the music played. Arousal, sexual and potent, flooded him. He could practically feel their voices again. Once the song stopped, Nolan took the headphones off, closed his computer, and grabbed his phone.

Twilight Sparkle sat in her parents' basement and worried. She worried about what was happening to magic in the world, in her friends, and in herself. She worried about their future—college and beyond. But mostly, Twilight Sparkle worried about her date.

A knock on the door went ignored. Twilight had too much and too little to think on. The knocking came again, but this time the door opened a moment later.

"Twily? Darling, are you coming upstairs?" Twilight Velvet asked.

"Is he still here?" Twilight Sparkle turned her head to look at her mother, and had to give a little flick to get her mane to leave her face. "I can't go on a date looking like this!"

"At least talk to him." Giving her daughter to the count of five, Twilight Velvet let up a little huff of determination. She walked down the stairs and over to Twilight Sparkle's "thinking couch."

Looking up at her mother, Twilight Sparkle narrowed her eyes. "You wouldn't."

"Try me." Reaching out, Twilight Velvet scooped her daughter up and clung to her filly. "If you won't go, Twilight Sparkle, I'll carry you!"

"Moooom!" Twilight Sparkle squirmed and shifted, but didn't try to use her magic to escape. "I can't face—"

"You can and you will, young lady. You invited him, he's here, and now you have to entertain him. Your father can't keep the young man busy with your baby photos forever," Twilight Velvet said, walking back to the stairs.

"Baby photos?" The news froze Twilight Sparkle. Then she started shaking her head. "Anything but that. P-Put me down!"

Twilight Velvet was a lawyer, someone who was paid a lot of money to say things exactly the right way to bring about the desired response. Her own daughter was no match. Setting Twilight Sparkle down on her hooves, Twilight Velvet smiled broadly. "They're in the living room! And don't run!"

Timber Spruce was sitting in an awkward chair. It was awkward because Twilight Sparkle's father was sitting across from him, and all Timber could think about was how much he wanted to bang Twilight Sparkle.

The sound of clopping hooves on hardwood grew closer to the living room, and Night Light turned his attention from the television to the doorway. "Here she comes now."

When Twilight Sparkle burst into the living room, she only saw her father and Timber watching sports on television. She froze like a deer in headlights as Timber Spruce met her gaze. "Soooo. Uh, hi!"

From the time when Twilight Sparkle and her friends had saved him and his sister from—well—his sister, Timber Spruce had known some pretty amazing magic existed. He expected Twilight to be a little strange, but what he saw before him was an order of magnitude beyond the cute ears and wings he'd been expecting. "You're a horse?"

Twilight Sparkle's nerve almost broke at the question. She gave a nervous laugh. "Yeah. Funny story about that…"

"Well?" Timber tried to resolve his feelings. His body had been aching for relief—real relief—for weeks, and now he finds out the girl he was pining over wasn't even human. The little war was actually fought within his brain, and it wasn't him on both sides. The parasite was almost starving, was underdeveloped, and it had very distinct ideas on what it thought Timber Spruce should do with the girl he'd been aching for. "Ugh. Sorry. I'm being an ass. What happened, Twilight?"

"I think I might go see what my wife wants!" For Night Light, Timber Spruce had gained more respect in that one moment than any series of questions and answers. He got up and walked from the room, but not before giving Twilight Sparkle a wink.

Walking into the room, Twilight climbed up on the couch her father had vacated with a jump. Getting comfortable, she remained silent while she looked down at her translucent hoof. "So me and my friends were getting a little more ponyish. You remember the ears and wings from Camp Everfree?"

"Yeah, that was pretty amazing." Voice a little stiff, Timber Spruce tried to shift in his seat, making sure to keep the bulge in his pants somewhat hidden. Conflict still raged in Timber's head, but elsewhere in his body (where the parasite had a tighter grip) he was completely decided.

"Well, that got worse. Ears led to mane, snout, horn, and even hooved feet. We were all freaking out, and I decided to try fixing it. Pulled all the magic out of me without a problem, but then the spell I used—" Twilight Sparkle said.

"Spell? You can actually do magic?" Timber Spruce asked. "H-How does that work? I mean, there's a difference between a little magic stuff and real magic."

"This is pony magic." With that said, Twilight Sparkle worked power into her horn to make a pair of glasses manifest on her face. Looking at Timber, she raised one eye. "Anyway. The spell backfired. All the magic I expelled rushed back in. Only…

"Before this, I was turning into what Princess Twilight said was an alicorn. They're some—"

"Princess Twilight?" Timber Spruce asked, feeling lost.

"She's the pony from Equestria that all my friends knew. We'd met a few months back, but she was worried about something back in her home. Anyway—I'm using that word a lot. So I was supposed to become an alicorn, and I had all the magic in me a small alicorn should. A small alicorn's amount of power is about twice that of a unicorn, and because I took all the magic out, I got a reroll of the dice."

Timber started to follow the line of reasoning. "So when all the magic rushed back in, it turned you all the way?" When he saw Twilight nod, Timber felt some relief. "So what you need to do is keep doing the spell until you end up back how you were?"

The idea hadn't crossed Twilight's mind yet. She froze and examined the new proposal. "I guess I'd need to find the probability first. I should ask Princess Twilight about this. She made me promise not to do any more magic that affects people—or ponies."

"Probably for the best. You need to know all the variables before real science can be done, after all." For the first time since he'd arrived, Timber Spruce saw a real smile on Twilight's face.

Twilight rocked forward and practically dropped off the couch. "Do you want to see what I've done so far?"

"Sure!" Timber stood up before thinking.

Two facts collided at that exact moment. Timber Spruce was still sporting an erection in his jeans, and Twilight Sparkle was a pony of just under waist height.

That's for me? Does he really like me like this? Holy moly he still likes me! Twilight Sparkle thought. Her mind rushed in circles, and a silly smile grew to cover the sincere one of a moment ago. "It's right this way. Just come into my basement—I mean follow me!"

Timber Spruce followed Twilight Sparkle through the house. His eyes were practically glued to her rump, watching as her tail flicked side to side to reveal—well—all of her. "Y-Y-You said you had your birthday on Thursday, right?"

Looking back over her shoulder, Twilight felt a little sorry that she hadn't invited him rather than called it off. "Yeah. I'm sorry I called our date off, but I didn't think we'd be able to find a coffee shop that would serve me."

Wanting to ask, needing to ask, Timber Spruce cursed his desires as he followed Twilight down the stairs to the basement. "Y-Y-You still want to—uh—Well, do you—"

Twilight Sparkle's heart rate practically doubled. Her eyes widened and she turned slowly to look at Timber. "S-S-S-S—"

"Yes!" Timber Spruce said.

In her own mind, Twilight knew her answer. She wanted to have sex—she wanted to have a lot of sex. Twilight wanted to explore all the things Rainbow Dash had told her about, and also wanted to add everything she'd found on the internet on top of that. All the toys. All the positions. Everything must be quantified and explored. But a matter of compatibility worried her. "You think we could?"

"We could try. There's plenty of examples in nature of unusual, uh, things. Dolphins come to mind." With his conscious mind starting to align to its wishes, the parasite in Timber Spruce's head was calling victory, and started giving a more rewarding arousal. All Timber knew was that he had the hardest erection of his life.

"Oh!" Twilight had actually been thinking about more human-related examples—she'd seen videos and read stories. "That's right. Well, we could try, but you should lock the door before we do."

"Parents?" Timber Spruce asked.

"Parents. Dad won't come in until we ask him, but Mom would probably barge in and give us both pointers." At the thought of it, Twilight shuddered. "There should be a bolt on the door."

Timber's whole body sang with what Twilight's words implied. He certainly found the bolt, and slid it across. His heart beat like a drum, forcing more chemicals out—via his bloodstream—to every corner of his body. Walking back down the stairs, he looked at Twilight and shivered. "You look amazing."

She couldn't help it, Twilight Sparkle blushed. She looked at Timber, and had to admit that while he'd definitely dressed up, he seemed a little bit of a mess. His hair was mostly neat, but she could see some parts that weren't stylishly spiky, and were actually just messy. "I've been spending too long with Rarity."

"What?" Timber walked toward Twilight and crouched down. His hand cupped her cheek perfectly, and though it wasn't a human cheek, and she definitely wasn't human, he bent forward and down.

Twilight had her first kiss. She had to tilt her head up and push with her forehooves for a little more height, but when she pressed her lips against Timber's, it felt distinctly underwhelming. There was a moment that went by, but she got none of the fire or excitement she'd been expecting.

The moment the kiss broke couldn't come soon enough for Twilight. She made what she hoped was the pony equivalent of a seductive smile. "I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing."

"Me either. Well, I know what the actual—uh—sex part is, but I want you to feel good about it." Timber Spruce reached his other hand out and down, and slowly began to rub Twilight's neck. "I'd rather not get my hardness meter out, so if you could tell me if something feels good, it'd be a huge help."

"Oh! Right! I knew that!" Closing her eyes, Twilight leaned her head into the hand on her cheek. The stroking felt nice, but nothing like when she'd experimented. "It feels nice. I like your hands, but it's not—not arousing."

"You know what that means?" Timber could see the makeshift bed on the floor to one side. He straightened up and made his way over to it.

"Uh…" Twilight watched Timber's pants come down, watched him take off his shirt, and in her mind some bad striptease music played. The question was now the furthest thing from her mind as she looked at Timber Spruce wearing only a pair of boxer shorts.

"Come on, Twilight. We experiment," Timber Spruce said.

The mere mention of science perked Twilight back up—though she was still a little distracted by almost-naked Timber. "F-First we need a hypothesis."

"Hypothesis is, certain parts of your body are going to be erogenous zones." Timber sat down on the bed and leaned back. "Proposed experiment. You come over here and let me explore until I find them. Feedback will be gained, and the hypothesis supported or disproved."

Walking over to her bed-away-from-her-bedroom (mostly used when she was up late doing science, and didn't want to wake her parents going to her bedroom), Twilight actually felt excited now. She liked Timber's nerdy humor, she definitely liked how fit he was, and now she started to feel a little flush of excitement at the thought of what they were going to do.

"Experiment two. Forelegs." Timber sat with his legs spread, leaving Twilight the obvious place to be as between them. When she walked close enough, he reached to her side and ran his hand all the way to her back and toward her rear—then he pushed down.

Twilight had expected him to get her to turn around, and was surprised when Timber made her sit down. She looked down—followed the movements of his hands—and let out a happy sigh when Timber stroked up and down her forelegs. "That feels nice and—there!"

Timber's fingers had just found the inner edges of Twilight's upper forearms. He slowed down and focused on the spot, only to hear a happy little snort come from her mouth. "Good?" The nod Twilight made cemented that spot into Timber's mind. Inner forearm of the front legs was added as the first item. "A little more?" He kept rubbing and got a nod.

Unable to ignore the little noises she was making, Twilight Sparkle floated on the sensations coming from her body. Timber stroked at first, then used his fingers to draw patterns, and finally he used a little pinch. When the sharp sensation stole her breath, Twilight Sparkle's eyes snapped open.

"Too much?" Timber asked.

Twilight tilted her head to the side. "N-N-No. But really intense. I liked it, but…"

"Moving on. Chest?" Timber's hands slid to the muscles of Twilight's chest, or at least what would be a chest on a horse. On Twilight, it was like rubbing soft gemstones. Timber could feel Twilight's body moving under his fingers, but he didn't want to think about her actual body or how it even existed in a scientific world.

The stroking along her front improved Twilight's mood. She closed her eyes again, and this time she leaned forward while Timber rubbed her. Twilight's second kiss was leaps and bounds better than the first. Soft lips met hers and she worked her lips against Timber's.

Twilight was much smaller than him height wise, but Timber was aware that she actually weighed about the same, and with all of her weight being low to the ground and spread over four limbs, she easily pushed him backwards until he was flat on the bed.

Author's Notes:

Sci Twi: progress update?

"Uh—" Twilight Sparkle looked at the scene that was playing out. "I'm just a little busy with—um—research! Yes! Research! I'll be right with you right after I get all this recorded..."

---

So I do this "Ask X" thing. X can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and they will definitely, hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories, and they will answer the best question in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer. Try to keep it to one question per post! They will pick one question per chapter.

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