Another sunrise was breaking through, ending the dark setting of night. The third day of an Equestria with humans would soon officially start.

The familiar bright rays of glorious sunlight struck Celestia and brought her out of her slumber. The fact that the sun was out brought instant confusion and worry to the royal alicorn.

"Morning?" She quietly asked herself.

Her surroundings left her wondering where she was. She looked over the room to see all the familiar faces which reminded her of the previous events of the night before.

"Kelly..." Another visual hunt began. She looked to the table where she had seen her last, but it had long since been cleared off. Her eyes traveled around the room to where each pony and human slept. So many were still sleeping, but six couldn't be accounted for. Kelly, Becky, Chris, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Big Mac.

One empty mattress showed a small blotch of blood in the sheets. That had to of been where Kelly was laid down for the night, but where was she now?

She reexamined the room, this time looking behind her as well. Another mattress was discovered. This one held Becky and Rainbow Dash sleeping together. It seemed as if they fell asleep holding each other the entire night. A rather odd sight to see, for sure. Actually, looking back around the room, there were many peculiar pairings.

Cerb slept seated leaning back against the wall with Fluttershy and Rarity laying next to him with their heads in his lap. Lumberman was asleep on a mattress with his arm draped over Applejack. The one called Sniff was sleeping sitting up against the couch, his head covered by Twilight's wing as she slept on the couch as well. Only Benny and Starlight slept alone. Benny in a chair and Starlight on the floor in a heap of blankets.

"Pst! Hey. Princess." Pinkie's voice loudly whispered out from just beyond the sliding glass door.

Celestia turned to Pinkie's voice. The Pink Menace was dancing in her typical overly excited fashion in place. A big toothy smile grinning from ear to ear gave notice to good news.

"Come 'ere, come 'ere," She requested to the princess in a hushed voice. "You gotta come and see."

In a not so typical Pinkie fashion, she turned and trotted off calmly. Celestia took note of the change of mannerisms from Pinkie but wasn't about to waste the day in bed.

She eased herself off of the couch. She must have slept for at least ten hours, yet she still felt tired. Possibly she overslept, or could it be that she lost that much magic last night? She continued these thoughts while walking out, following along in Pinkie's directions. Her nose entered the open air outside and was greeted with a pleasant aroma of something sweet cooking.

"This way," Pinkie called out from around the corner of the house. "Over here."

Celestia made her way around the corner to see Chris, Kelly, and Big Mac sitting around a small campfire with a host of guards chatting and drinking coffee.

"Princess, look who's up," Pinkie chirped.

The soldiers immediately rose to attention and saluted. Big Mac sat up and turned to bow. Even Chris stood up to bow for some reason, although he had something strung over his shoulder. It looked like an oddly shaped staff, but that didn't matter to the princess. Kelly turned in her seat and politely waved with her fingers.

Pinkie started up on a high-speed tangent "Oh, you didn't wake up last night, so you didn't get to see, but we all woke up at different times and found out that Kelly didn't wake up after we used the Elements of Harmony, so we all thought that we didn't' save her, but really she was just really sleepy from magic exhaustion, and had to sleep to feel better just like the rest of us but now you're up and she's up, and everything is great! - " She ended with some panting - “Oh! And now we're making pancakes for breakfast. I'm having mine with gummy bears," She chirped.

Celestia approached the small campfire with the others. Resting over the small fire was a small grilling grate holding up a skillet. Three small pancakes continued frying.; one plane, one with blueberries, and one that looked to be more gummy bears than batter.

"Please, please. Everypony, as you were. There's no need for any of that here. Continue on." She ordered to her guards, which were still stalwart in their stand to attention.

"Good morning, Princess," Kelly cheerfully greeted her and then asked in an innocent voice. "Would you like some pancakes?”

She could see that her cute demeanor wasn’t going to allow her to avoid the obvious. “I guess I caused quite the fuss last night, I hear. And after hearing what all of you did for me, I thought I'd let you all sleep in and surprise you with breakfast" - She continued flipping the pancakes awkwardly with her left hand " - as a thank you."

Celestia was astonished by how well Kelly was reacting to her circumstances. "Kelly... Please, you don't need to be doing any of this. It should be me giving you an apology, not being thanked. Had I come here with a more level head, this whole thing could have been avoided."

"I dunno. I think you made a smart move coming out here the way you did," Kelly replied, completely apathetic to her own near miss with death. " Chris told me all about Sunset and what a crazy bitch she was, so if you thought she came back with us, yeah, that was a smart move. That, and I can't really blame you for what that other guy did to me. The other guards that were there when you gave your orders told us that you never told them to do anything to us. That you just wanted to talk. Well, interrogate us, but it all would have turned out the same way anyhow. So, it's all his fault for what happened. And besides, I'm fine."

"Well, not completely fine, Kel," Chris chimed in.

Kelly reluctantly nodded her head. "Okay, not completely fine, but I'm still up and moving... mostly."

Celestia still didn't know the extent of Kelly's remaining injuries, if any, but needed to know. "Mostly? My dear, please tell me what's wrong?"

Big Mac, who had been silent this whole time, turned his attention to the guards still standing around. "Hey, fellas. You mind giving the ladies some space for a few minutes?"

There were no complaints from the dozen or so guards. They gathered up what few items of gear they had and quickly flew off or walked away to some other part around the property, but all of them out of sight. Chris gave a knowing nod and stood up. He turned and faced away from the others, holding his rifle slung out in front.

All of the effort that went in to ensure the privacy they were all given made Celestia think that perhaps this wasn't the best setting for whatever Kelly was about to share. "Kelly, perhaps we can carry on with this inside?"

"I'm okay with doing it out here, I'd rather not wake everyone else up until the pancakes are done anyway," Kelly answered, sounding rather convinced that this was the right choice. "Mac, help with the arm, please."

"Eeyup," Big Mac sounded off, ready to help.

He readjusted himself to sit facing Kelly's right side. In his right forehoof he held her hand, and with the other, he placed it under her elbow and slowly started to raise it.

Unlike last night, much of any movement on her right side seemed to cause her pain. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Slowly. Ow."

Pinkie looked away, not wanting to take in the sight about to be shared.

With her arm raised high enough out of the way, Kelly started to raise the side of her shirt. It didn't take long for Celestia to see the remaining damage after moving herself into view.

Kelly's skin was naturally a creamy tan color but under the shirt blotches of discolored yellows and greens strayed from darker shades of blacks and blues that surrounded a bloody bandage taped to her side. Not even the entire collection of bruises on Big Mac had any of the severity of what Kelly carried from this one wound.

Celestia and Big Mac appeared to mirror each other's feelings about the injury. A mix of sorrow and unrelenting anger from such a thoughtless act that brought poor Kelly such hardship.

Believing the Princess had seen enough, Kelly carefully lowered her shirt back down, her right arm gently following along with Big Mac's help.

Chris, in turn, rejoined the group, but just briefly. "Hey, I'm gonna go put this back inside, unless you think you'll need a hand."

Kelly dismissed him. "No, you're fine. We can get it from here."

Celestia figured that Chris and the others must have all been aware of the state of Kelly's condition. Chris only stood back to ensure they had some privacy and left her now that she was able to share the sight of the damage done.

"It doesn't hurt if I don't bother it," Kelly clarified to the mournful alicorn.

"Of course, I'll make sure you're taken care of so that it won't be bothered while you finish healing," Celestia offered.

Kelly looked to be disinterested in such a payoff. "Oh, no. I have Chris and Becky, and everyone else. Plus, Big Mac here said that he'd always be there for me."

Celestia looked down to see Kelly's hand holding on Big Mac's hoof. First, the ponies and humans in the house sleeping next to each other, now these two interlocked with each other. Everything about this place was baffling. Absolutely nothing about the humans seemed to make sense.

"Oh no! Kelly Bean! My pancake!" Pinkie spoke up, breaking the flow of conversation and jabbing at Kelly's leg.

Kelly returned her attention to the skillet. “Sorry. I got it."

A minute too late, one side of Pinkie's ill-begotten gummy bear breakfast monstrosity was golden brown; the other was charred sugar gum. Maybe by Pinkie's standards, it was salvageable, so it went into the bin of some thirty pancakes already made.

Celestia looked at the soon to be breakfast. "You know, I fancy myself a fine cook in the kitchen when I have the time. Perhaps we can share recipes over breakfast?"

Pinkie saw an opportunity to invite herself along. "Hey! How about we all trade recipes together?

Royal duties can be quite troublesome on an empty stomach, not to mention that Celestia thought that the others deserved to hear the good news of Kelly being up and healthy after their combined efforts. "Well then, let's head inside and start, shall we? I'm sure the others will be thrilled to see you up and walking."

The three didn't all agree with her sentiment. They all shared an uneasy look about them.

Kelly seemed to shrug it off just as quickly as the sour shift in the air came. "Well, I'm sure they'll be glad to see I'm awake -" she handed the bin of pancakes to Pinkie "- I'm sure the rest will come later."

She turned back to her big red stud. "Ready Mac?"

"Eyup," He all too eagerly spoke up.

Celestia watched as Big Mac walked in front of Kelly and turned his rear end to her. He backed up and sat directly in front of her chair. Kelly widened her legs, though she seemed to struggle to do so.

Her odd behavior and sad reaction were starting to make sense as Kelly scootched and pulled herself off the chair and onto Big Mac's back. When she was close enough, she grabbed on ahold of one of the hames that stuck out from his horse collar. He timed it just right to lift himself up and keep her from sliding off his back.

They seemed to work like a team that had rehearsed and practiced their coordination. Celestia would have thought it to be all too cute, if not for how saddening it was to see how stricken she still was.

Celestia followed alongside them. "I take it that your legs are not well?"

Kelly oddly smiled at the question. "Yeah. Lefty is a little weak and old righty is kind of... numb? But that's okay. Macky said I could borrow his legs for a while."

That warranted a smile from her royal lips. "Well, that's very kind of you, Macintosh. You're a shining example of the type of pony Equestria is proud to have."

Big Mac seemed a bit bashful after the compliment. "Well, shucks. Thank you, Princess."

Pinkie, of course, rushed ahead of the others, excited to break the news. "Hey, everybody on the floor! Time to get up for breakfast! We're all having pancakes!"

Perhaps not the news to lead with, but this was Pinkie after all. Regardless, her alarm clock like voice did the trick, rousing everyone from their sleep. Most of them were groggy, wondering why Pinkie would be so loud in what was half a bedroom and half a recovery ward.

Pinkie started to bounce up and down, excited for the next big announcement. "You all better eat'em up because they were made with extra love and attention by Kelly! And don't forget to kiss the cook!"

A loud thunk echoed through the room.

"Ow. Low bridge Mac," Kelly announced, having smacked her head on the door frame while being carried in.

The room quickly erupted in a chorus of excitement. All of them shouting over each other with confirmations of how happy they were and the relief they had. The only thing interrupting being all three of the newly woken mares attempting to flutter their way over, but all of them either failed to launch or fell after only a two or three flaps of their wings. Clear signs that they were all still subject to the magic exhaustion. Even still, it was hardly much of an interruption, as they all picked themselves up and trotted into the fray with everyone and everypony else.

"Oh yeah, no. Don't bother waiting for me Pinkie. All I did was stand watch all night and help with breakfast," Chris complained as he made his way down the stairs. "I'll just join the post party or whatever."

Everyone seemed to pay no mind to Chris's complaints. They knew he wasn't serious, plus, all attention was on Kelly and her miraculous recovery.

Becky couldn't wait to give her friend a welcome back hug. "Well come on, jump down from there and get in here!" She called out, holding her arms wide open.

Those in the know had quickly lost a bit of the brightened spirit that was so eagerly welcomed.

"Umm, hold on a sec," Kelly quietly said before patting Big Mac on his shoulder. "How about the recliner? Yeah?"

Big Mac only nodded and started his way through the crowded room, drawing everyone's silent attention to the pair. They followed his movements leading over the chair where he turned and arched his back down until his tail hit the cushion. He looked over his shoulder to watch Kelly slide down his back. Once comfortably in her seat, he moved over to her side and waited for the inevitable questions and explanations to follow.

Kelly sat uncomfortably in front of the mass of her awaiting audience. "Well, I'm alive, obviously. Chris and Mac filled me in about what happened after I passed out last night. So, thank you. All of you."

She could see everyone was waiting for the bad news to drop. "Okay, so I'm not perfectly fine. I just have a hard time standing on my left leg, my right leg is a little numb, and I'm still super sore where that ass hat stabbed me."

Applejack leaned over to whisper in Rarity's ear. "Ass means butt."

Rarity's eyes perked open. "That's so vulgar," She whispered back. "... but not inaccurate."

Kelly continued. "I woke up last night for all of four or five minutes and fell back asleep because I was so tired. Then I woke up again about an hour ago... and thought I'd make breakfast."

Sniff leaned in. "Kelly... are you high? Your first thought was to make pancakes, thank you by the way, and not to wake any of us up? Let us know that you're still breathing?"

Kelly shrugged. "I dunno. I was hungry."

A motherly laugh burst out from behind them all. Celestia was laughing with a mouth full of blueberry pancakes. "Oh, my. I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't be laughing. But," - she almost choked on her food - "Excuse me. That's exactly the kind of thing one of my little ponies would do."

She cleared her throat. "That being said, while well intentioned, that was very inconsiderate, and probably even dangerous, what you did. Did the doctor or Nurse Redheart even check you out?"

"We most certainly did not," Dr. Horse announced, trotting down the stairs. "We were up all night reading over the medical documents Becky provided to us, hoping to find something to maybe help you with, and you can't even bother to let us know you’re cognitive?"

Kelly was feeling attacked and was quick to defend herself. "Hey. The last thing I remember was having a spear stuck in my chest and thinking I was dying while Big Mac went beast mode on the three pieces of shit that tried to kidnap me. Most of which I couldn't even see."

Everyone was listening attentively to Kelly as she made her case.

"You know how scared I was? Unable to move while listening to him and the other bastard going at it with a fucking sword against his hammer? A sword versus a goddamn hammer? Are you kidding me? In and out probably the whole night listening to everyone talking about how I was bleeding to death. But guess what! I'm not dead. So when I woke up, still alive, I wanted some fucking pancakes."

Lumberman weakly spoke up. "Hey, we were just worried about you, that's all."

Kelly tried to back off from her anger. "Yeah, I get that, but... I had to wake up Big Mac to help me move around, Pinkie heard us and offered to help. And... I dunno. Can't we just eat?"

Cerb looked around the room trying to gauge everyone's emotional state. “Is that blueberry? I love me some blueberry pancakes." His voice was intentionally devoid of concern as if the conversation never took place.

"Blueberry pancakes? Wow, now I'm hungry," Benny said, joining in on the gag.

Sniff picked up the first pancake he could get his hands on. "Oh yeah, I just love these things. There so soft" - he took a big bite out of it - "and moist... Blah! Ugh, what the fuck?"

He stepped outside and started spitting out the partially chewed up crispy pancake. "Uh! What the hell is in this thing? It tastes like charcoal and gummy bears?"

"Noooooo!" Pinkie screamed, rushing to the back door. "That was my special pancake."

Pinkie reached Sniff outside and jumped up as best she could, still not at full strength, in a panic to get her prized gummy bear pancake. Poor Sniff didn't understand what was going on or why she would want something that tastes so horrible.

Sniff held the pancake over his head and out of her reach. "What? Why would you want to eat this? It tastes like ass."

Rarity leaned over to whisper in Fluttershy's ear. "Apparently, ass means butt in human."

Fluttershy's whole body shot alert with shock. "What? Well, that doesn't sound very good at all. Then again, if this is another one of Pinkie's baking experiments, that doesn't sound inaccurate."

The odds of them both having the same reaction couldn't be ignored. Rarity slowly worked up a deep laugh, causing Fluttershy to see the humor in her own words, making her laugh too. The laughter was loud enough to grab everyone's attention. And while they didn't know the reason they were laughing, they all thought they must have seen something funny outside.

Luckily for them, what took place outside was something all to behold. Sniff was holding the pancake away from Pinkie, no longer to save her, but to annoy her for not leaving him alone. She was so dead set on eating that pancake that she was climbing up his body. He struggled to keep the breakfast pastry as far from her as he could while she loosely held him in a half nelson, batting at his arm with her hoof, hoping to free her prize.

Sniff continued his futile struggle against the Pink Menace. "Damn it Pinkie! Stop! You're not getting it! It's mine now!"

She refused to give up. "No! Kelly and I made it together! It's just for me! Now drop it!"

He grunted through his resistance. "I didn't even want the stupid thing. Now I'm just gonna eat it to piss you off, Ack!" He started to choke from Pinkie tightening her half nelson around his neck.

She was barely holding on. "I don't even know what that means, but it's probably not very nice!"

"Ack!" Sniff had absolutely no reason to be doing any of this. He had nothing to gain. "You're being a very bad horse, Pinkie!"

Everyone was enjoying the show. Royals, guards, guardians, civilians, and humans alike sat and watched the two's pointless struggle. Some were even lucky enough to enjoy some non-burnt pancakes while they viewed the show.

A short while later, through the intervention by Cerb and Big Mac, the quarreling duo had been pulled apart and ended up sitting across from each other at the dining room table. Each was staring the other down while forcing themselves to eat their own half of the horribly burnt pancake they ripped apart in their struggle.

"How's that flapjack tasting?" Sniff asked, his grudge not wavering.

Pinkie took another small bite, barely able to resist the urge to gag. "It's delicious, Smelly. How's your breakfast?"

Sniff took a bigger bite from his piece; it audibly crunched loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. "Taste like the breakfast of champions, Balloon Butt."

"Hey!" Pinkie shouted, slamming her hoof onto the table. "That's crossing the line there, buster. Only BenBen gets to call me Balloon Butt."

He turned his attention to Benny who was calmly eating a perfectly normal pancake. Sniff gave Benny the "Dude, what the fuck" look.

Benny swallowed hard. "Okay, how about this. I'll tell you if you stop eating the gross ass pancake and start eating normal food like a sane person."

Sniff looked down at the wretched thing that couldn't even be classified as food anymore. He then looked to Pinkie and her face that was the most adorable sad face she ever pulled off, knowing her pride would force her to finish her half regardless.

"Deal," He agreed, dropping the confectionary on the table where it broke in half. He wiped his mouth free of as much of the taste as he could on his way to the kitchen. "I'm grabbing a plate. Start explaining."

"Thank god," Benny preached, glad to see their pointless war come to an end. "So, last night I called Pinkie Balloon Butt."

Sniff continued to load up with Kelly’s pancakes. "Okay, yeah, and?"

"That's it," Benny admitted.

"You're telling me that I just gave up my breakfast of champions for that weak sauce?" Sniff turned his attention back to Pinkie who was all but in tears trying to take another bite of her failed creation. "Cool beans."

Another crunch echoed through the room from Pinkie managing to take another bite of her winnings.

Benny couldn't stand to see her suffer from her prideful stupidity, nor tolerate the sound of her munching on the damned food. "For the love of god, Pinkie I bet you two blueberry pancakes you can't throw that thing into the forest from the back door."

"Oh yeah! Watch this!" She announced, running to the sliding glass door.

With an over exaggerated windup, she hurled the charred biscuit to the forest edge.

On any other day, she likely would have made that toss. Today though, it fell short of its destination, striking a guards helmet instead.

Away in the distance, the female guards' complaints could be heard. "What the hay?! Somepony just hit me with a brick. Err. No. It's more like Yak droppings with... is that a gummy bear?"

"Oops," Pinkie cringed. Not just for losing the bet, but also for hitting the poor guard who was diligently roving her patrol. "Should I go apologize?"

A golden aura started to glow around the door handle and pulled it closed.

Celestia tried not to laugh and encourage another interaction with Pinkie and the guards. "Let's keep their mystery alive for now. I can handle it later if it becomes an issue."

"My bad," Pinkie apologized with her hoof caught in the cookie jar smile.

Sniff decided to throw her a proverbial bone for a solid effort and excellent shot. "You made it halfway, that's at least one pancake you earned."

"Good point," She agreed, seemingly ending their feud.

"Okay, so what's the plan for the day?" Cerb asked, not knowing what to expect from the tired ponies and Kelly's still undiagnosed condition.

Becky jumped in to lead the planning. "Well, me and the Doc still need to take a look at Kelly. Oh, and girl, you need a bath. I think all of us do. After that, I dunno. What do you girls need to do?"

Celestia answered for them. "Well, I for one think today should be a recovery day. After yesterday's events, I think we could all use a break."

"We could make it a movie night?" Chris suggested.

"Movie night?" A multitude of the ponies asked.

Benny liked the sound of that. "Sure. I got some gas to spare for the jenny. We could do that."

"Yeah," Kelly budded in. "We're ooh & one for road trips out here."

Lumberman about choked on his last bite and coughed it back up. "Kel. Too soon."

Kelly stood by her words. "Hey, my body. My jokes."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "I dunno, Kelly. That's in pretty bad taste. Maybe not Pinkie's pancake bad cooking taste, but still."

Pinkie was quick to shut down any food shaming experiments she made. "Not cool, Dashy. It was just a bit overcooked. That's all. Next time it will be better. You'll see."

Twilight chuckled. "Pinkie, with the amount of pressure you're putting on that pancake, the next time that charcoal will come out as diamonds."

Sniff rose to his feet, rushing over to give Twilight a high five. "Ehh! Princess with the nerd jokes!"

It was rare for Twilight to receive praise for her humor, so she met his hand for the high five/hoof without hesitation. "I have my moments."

Of all the mares, it was Fluttershy that brought the conversation back on topic. "So, umm... What movie would you like to go see? I don't even know what's playing in town."

Chris seemed confused by this new spot of information. "Hold up. Does Equestria actually make movies? And when did you get a movie theater?"

Rainbow Dash answered in true sarcastic fashion. "Uh, yeah. We do. And it's been there like, forever."

"Oh!" Becky called out. "They showed it in the first Babs Seed episode."

Chris started to recall it now. "Oh, yeah. I thought they just threw that in as a gag."

Benny retook control of the conversation. "No, I mean we can watch movies here at my place. We got a big-screen TV. So long as it still works, I mean."

Cerb clapped his hands together. "Okay, so. How about we have Kelly get checked out, we can set up the TV and stuff, and everyone else can get cleaned up."

It was overwhelmingly agreed upon to be the plan for the day. Chris went upstairs into one of the few stable rooms to catch up on some sleep while the girls went out to bathe and have Kelly get looked over by Nurse Redheart and the doc.

"Um, ladies,” Twilight interjected into the group. "Would you mind giving the rest of us some time alone to clean up? We have some official royal business to discuss."

Kelly looked down from Big Mac's haunches, looking concerned that she had done something wrong. Even Becky seemed to be concerned.

Twilight did her best to ease their minds. "It's nothing bad, about any of you. I promise. You two go get cleaned and have a thorough examination before we start the festivities. We just need to discuss some concerns about the Elements of Harmony. I don't mean to be rude, but there are some things that are for our ears only."

"So, like national security kind of stuff?" Kelly asked.

Twilight smiled at Kelly's recognition. "That's a good way to look at it. Thank you for understanding."

The two groups went their separate ways. Kelly and the others into the first bath tent, Twilight and the other mares into the further away bath tent.

Twilight held the tent flap open for her friends and motioned for another group of guards to come over. "Listen. The Princess and the rest of us need some privacy to discuss some private matters. Could you make sure we're not bothered and can talk without anypony or person eavesdropping?"

"We'll see to it, Princess," The guard acknowledged the order with a salute.

Inside the tent, the mares started preparing themselves for a well-deserved scrub in the suds. All of them except Applejack, she sat next to one of the tubs, not seeing the need for another bath. Or at least one not provided by Lumberman's assistance.

Over the sound of running water and Pinkie squeezing into a rubber ducky floaty ring that she somehow managed to bring out, Twilight gathered her thoughts and recounting the news she discovered that brought about her delay the night prior. "Girls, Princess... I didn't get a chance to discuss this all with you last night, but there was a reason I was late coming back from getting our reservations for dinner."

Pinkie jumped into the tub with the most water, splashing nearly everypony in the tent. "Don't leave us in suspense, Twilight. What's the scoop?"

She hung her head and lamented on the news she was about to break. "I discovered that our situation with getting the humans back is going to be a lot harder than previously anticipated."

Twilight was trotting her way out of the Ponyville and over to the hills back to the humans. "This is so amazing. Our first interdimensional Status of Forces agreement and an embassy to a new species right in my own back yard. Maybe we can find a way to get them home and still be able to come back and start a whole new cultural exchange."

She pulled out a fresh new notebook to start writing her ideas down. Glowing in her magic, she opened to the first page.

"Oh? This already has a to-do list started in it. I could have sworn I picked up a new one. What did I even write in this one?"

Curious, she started to read aloud. "Let's see. Things to do. One, open notebook. Two, start to read the to-do list? Three, help Discord find Fluttershy?"

"Oh, is that something you already had in mind? I was afraid I'd have to trouble you from your busy day to help me," Came the familiar voice of Discord.

"What?" Twilight groaned, realizing she was going to have to deal with the Spirit of Chaos. "Oh, no. Discord. Not now, please."

Discord's head popped out of the notebook, looking rather pleased to see her. "Not now? But you already had me penned in for the day. Didn't you?"

She closed the book on him and shoved it back in her satchel. "What do you want, Discord?"

He reappeared in a safari outfit, peering through a pair of binoculars. "You know, it's the oddest thing. I'm usually so good at keeping tabs on all my new friends. But when I wanted to drop in to surprise Fluttershy with some singing daffodils for her garden, they're supposed to go well with some baritone roses I've been growing, but she wasn't home or in any of her other normal hangouts. I was starting to get worried when I couldn't hear or see her anywhere. I couldn't hear or see any of you little ponies. And believe me, I tried. Are you hiding her from me?" He ended his question with his face resting on his palms, trying to look adorable.

Twilight continued her trotting pace, hoping if she didn't engage that he would stop pestering her. "No, Discord. I didn't hide her from you. She's presently up ahead with-"

She came to a sudden halt echoing his words through her head. "Did you just say that you couldn't hear or see her? Why would you say that?"

Discord always enjoyed teasing the Equestrians with his vast knowledge and secrets. "Come now, Twilight. Isn't it obvious that I can listen in on any conversation or see past any obstacle if I really wanted to?"

"Discord," Twilight tried to speak slowly, gritting her teeth. "Did you have anything to do with Trixie's accident or our new guest arriving?"

While still staring, the draconequus created a copy of himself behind her, sporting a replica of Trixie's cape and hat. "Oh, silly Twilight. I don't know what kind of accident you're talking about, -"

Twilight turned to face his new persona he would use to address her.

" - but it's not like she needs my help to mess up one of her tricks," He concededly replied, attempting to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

He didn't pull out a rabbit from the hat, though. Instead, he pulled out a stuffed bunny with a stick of lit dynamite jutting out of its side. His eyes shot out of his sockets with a cartoon look of shock and horror as it exploded, leaving dismembered pieces of his body to comically fall to the ground.

"So I take it that you just so happen to know nothing about humans?" Twilight asked, appearing to be amused by his antics.

A low flying cloud rotated itself, revealing Discord again, this time reading the book Atlas Shrugged. "Oh, I wouldn't say I know nothing about humans. Interesting creatures, but not nearly as entertaining as you ponies are. No magic at all. Where's the fun in that?"

Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing. "So you did bring them here. Of all the horrible things you could have done-"

Discord transported himself down in front of Twilight and grabbed her face, full of excitement. "Did you say there are humans, here? As in here in Ponyville?"

He flashed away, reappearing out in front of her, excited to see them. "I've never actually been able to see one. Where on Earth did you manage to find one? How many of them are there? Will you introduce me to them? - " He gasped, "Of course! New creatures in Equestria, that's where Fluttershy is, isn't she? These humans must be utterly adorable to have Fluttershy... invisible?"

Discord slowly turned to Twilight, feeling like he was jumping to the wrong conclusions. "Twilight... why can't I find Fluttershy? Normally I can find anyone, or anything for that matter if I really want to. But I can't find her. What's going on here?"

Twilight was starting to think that maybe Discord wasn't behind this. "You honestly don't know about Trixie trying to open a portal, the humans arriving just over the hillside by the Everfree forest?"

"Am I supposed to?"

Twilight got into her inquisitive spree and started to dig through the mound of questions that were buzzing in her brain. "What about Trixie's dream where-Hey! Ow!"

Another copy of Discord appeared behind Twilight and started to drag her away by the tail. "I'm sure you have plenty of questions, none of which I'm sure I have any interest in answering."

She wanted answers, and she was going to make him answer them, one way or another. But first, she had to free herself from his grip. Or at least she did until he stopped without warning or explanation.

"Twilight..." He asked with an unusual amount of concern in his voice. "What am I looking at and why is it here?"

Twilight looked over her shoulder towards the hillside but saw nothing out of the ordinary. She took this moment of his distraction to teleport herself free from his grip. "Now listen to me, I want to know if you played any role in this... Discord! Are you even listening to me?"

Discord didn't answer. He merely stared out towards the hills passed where Trixie had performed her last show. He looked onward like a lost foal would look around aimlessly for his parents after being separated from them.

"These humans you mentioned. Just where did they come from?" he asked, his eyes now searching over the empty space separating them from the humans.

Twilight came to realize that he would be of no help. "We don't know. And I'm sorry for thinking you might have brought them here or messed with Trixie to make this happen."

"I assure you I would not bring such a death trap to Equestria, even if it did bring humans along with them."

"Death Trap? They don't seem that dangerous to me. Tell you what, why don't you come along and meet them yourself. Maybe you can even help us find them a way home?"

Discord took a few steps back. "Twilight, I'm not setting foot in whatever place that is they're in."

It wasn't uncommon for Discord to be antisocial, but he was taking the offer like it would put him in danger. Maybe he meant that the human's house was unsafe? Or did he mean something else?

"What do you mean you're not setting foot over there? It's just the outskirts of Ponyville. You've been there before." Twilight clarified, pushing for more of an explanation.

"Alas, poor over-educated yet still grossly ignorant Twilight. You don't see the world the way I do." In the time it took for Twilight to blink, Discord switched out to a cowboy outfit and was twirling a lasso. "Now let me rope you in for a lesson you won't find in any of your library books."

The lasso swirled in the air and landed squarely around her, from hindquarters to chest. He gave the rope a sharp tug to reign her in. The line grew taut and snapped, leaving Twilight right where she stood. She stared blankly at the broken rope, trying to understand what he was doing.

Discord frowned, disappointed at his attempt to bring her back to his side. "How about you just walk over here and spare me any more embarrassment so I can show you what I mean.

"Fine," She groaned and trotted over. "Now what's so important that you have to show me?"

He answered her question by dropping a pair of 3D viewing glasses over her eyes. "Now my dear Princess, tell me what you see."

Twilight trained her eyes around her. There was a mesh of lines strewn about in all directions. There were clearly distinguishable patterns with them, but she still didn't understand what she was looking at.

"I don't get it? It's just a bunch of lines. What are you trying to show me?" She asked, now at least curious.

"These are the strings, for lack of a better term, that make up the types of magic found here. Different patterns make up different magic. Light, Darkness, Friendship, Love, Chaos, and a few others that pop up every now and again. But now look again to the hills, where I presume your new human friends are."

She looked towards the house she had to return to. Focusing her sight passed the different floating strings of simple patterns lay a grid of far more intricate lines. They were uniform with repeating patterns that interlocked with each other.

"What is that?" She asked walking closer and into the finely woven invisible strings.

"That, my dear Princess, is Order," He answered coldly. "Order is rarely seen anywhere since it isn't magic. It's actually absent of magic. Not only that, it doesn't take too kindly to chaos."

Twilight looked down to the rope he threw around her earlier. She could see the disorganized strings that made up his chaos magic wither and reform themselves to mesh with the strings of Order around it. With each new string that fell apart and was restructured, more of the rope broke down and disappeared.

If what Twilight was starting to understand was true, it's possible that Discord wasn't involved with the humans arriving. "Are you telling me that if you were to spend too much time in these Order strings, you'd disappear like this rope?"

"Precisely," He confirmed to her with an approving nod.

Twilight walked out of the strings of Order and back to Discord. "How is that possible? Me and everypony else have been in there for hours, and we're fine. Why would it affect you so differently."

"Let me explain," He offered, pulling up a chalkboard.

A piece of chalk raised itself and started to illustrate everything that Discord dictated.

"Everypony and all the other creatures of Equestria are born with different levels and strengths to conduct magic through and around their bodies. However, unlike all the poor mortal creatures of Equestria, I don't actually have a body."

"What?" Twilight objected. "Of course you have a body. You have tons of bodies. You have like, three bodies for every pun or gag you pull."

"Right you are. Well, almost right," Discord went on to explain. "I make these little constructs that look, act, and feel just like the real deal. But you have to remember. I am the Spirit of Chaos. I wasn't born looking this charming and given such a title. I was brought into existence by Chaos. Or at least I think so. I mean, whoever remembers being born?"

Twilight looked back to the hills. "Okay, but what I don't understand is if this Order structure is so rare, how did we suddenly get so much of it?"

The chalk drawing of Discord rubbed his chin and pondered. "Hmm, well to understand that. I'll have to trade out for some new specs."

Discord brought himself out of the chalkboard and swapped her 3D glasses for a pair of googly-eyed glasses.

She looked around with the new glasses, but the googly eyes obstructed her view of anything. "Uh... I don't think this pair does anything."

The sound of muffled laughter drifted in from the Spirit of Chaos. "Well, of course not. I just thought you'd look funny wearing them."

"Oh my gosh! This is serious!" She shouted, tearing off the goofy glasses.

As soon as they were removed, Discord touched Twilight between her eyes and a flash of light blinded her.

"Magic isn't the only type of invisible strings I can see," Discord announced with a grin. "Let me show you the fabric of reality."

His talons extended and cut through the reality they resided in. He pulled out a few strands of their reality to show them off. "You see. These strings make up everything tangible and intangible."

His hands twirled and spun the strings together creating a tiny bird. "And now just add some magic -" he reached out to grab various strings of magic, intertwining them into the fabric that made up his new creation "- and walla!"

He held out his hand with the tiny bird. The little creature flapped its wing and moo'ed like a cow before shooting out a spider web from its tail and slinging off.

"And now that you understand how that works, let's go see just where this all happened to come from," Discord ordered, wrapping her in his arms and flying through the tear in reality he created.

They traveled inward, exploring the array of lights that glowed in infinitely long strings. Many hues of light seemed to phase in and out, many of them appeared to travel in all directions, and each new group seemed to vary in all sizes, combinations, and colors.

"Now I'm sure you must be confused by what you're seeing my dear," He spoke out, waving his hand out in front of them to display the sights he was sharing with her. "These are all strings of many different realities. Different worlds. Different dimensions, all of them overlapping and intertwining with each other. Of course, if you were like me, you wouldn't be able to not only see them, you could mold them to your liking at will."

The whole time, traveling through the maddening torrent of sights, Twilight felt lost and off-balance. Even when being pulled by Discord, she felt like she was in a constant state of falling. When she twitched or tried to brace herself, she could feel resistance against some invisible force, and the direction of falling would swing. This became all the more nauseating from the fact she never changed her trajectory. It was just the feeling of it happening over and over again that made her stomach churn.

"And here we are," Discord announced. "Uh, oh... Well, this isn't good."

Twilight shook her head, trying to get her bearings back again. She looked up to see a band of frayed strings. "What's not good? Are they not supposed to rip like that?"

"Twilight," Discord asked, sounding like he was holding back what he was feeling. "These humans that were brought here. How big are they?"

She thought for a second, regretting not being able to take more invasive notes or recordings on the humans, yet. "Well, I haven't had the chance to take measurements, but the tallest one can't be more than six feet. Why do you ask?"

He remained unphased as he stared on looking past the frayed strings; his expression seemed rather perturbed. "Well, I didn't want to overwhelm you on your first trip, but let me show you a bit more. Now hold still, I'm going to take your vision off the low setting."

"Low setting? How much more is there-"

Discord dropped his fist down on Twilight's head with an audible thunk.

"Ow! What'd you do that for?" Twilight yelp.

Her question was answered as her eyes illuminated with a flash of Discord’s chaotic magic. The soft visuals of the twisted space around her grew brighter. The few random strings that ran in all directions multiplied to countless millions, far too many to try and quantify. New lights and indescribable constructs shined into view. Then the real mess that troubled Discord revealed itself after he pushed her further ahead.

Making her way deeper into this gap of dimensional space, opened up a massive tear that had ripped its way through a chasm of torn strings. The threads dangled and arched like downed power lines. Their energies mixed and reacted violently, creating a seemingly endless spiraling tunnel of sparks and energy discharges that flared out like puffs of burning plasma.

Discord didn't bother switching to a new persona or pulling out another random object for a gag. He stood there frustrated, tapping his foot. "Well, I certainly have my work cut out for me. Can't leave this mess to fix itself. Who knows what could find its way to Ponyville with all these dimensions left wide open."

"Wait!" Twilight had an epiphany. "Could you trace this back to where it started from? Maybe where it ends is where the humans were pulled from?"

A discouraging groan creaked from Discord. "Hmm. I suppose it is possible. Although, I would never be able to get close to their world if it's composed of Order, and that's if I could even make my way past the empty void that these tears have created, which I can't and don't know of anyone that can. So I wouldn't put much stock in me finding it. Oh, my. Just look at the time."

Twilight glanced over to something Discord was extending out in his claws. She expected him to show off some fancy watch or alarm clock that had his arms for the seconds and minute hands, but instead, it was a shiny green flake.

"Get it?" He asked, assuming she would get the joke. "Because it's time? I told you to look at the time, and you thought I meant... never mind. It's too smart of a joke for you."

He brought the green flake back and bit into it, eating it like it were a potato chip. "Hmph. Stale... Must have been sitting out here for at a least year," He complained before tossing the rest in his mouth and swallowing it whole. "Too bad, eighteen to twenty is a good range for time to develop into a fresh and vibrant flavor. Not that you would know anything about that."

He looked around his footing, eyeing more of the green flakes. "These things are everywhere. Who would be so wasteful as to smash up so many years and just leave them to go to waste? At least they were smashed at eighteen. Anything less than that and-"

It took a few missed jokes for Discord to realize that Twilight wasn't following along or laughing. He frumped at Twilight examining his commentary and puns that made no sense to her. With a heavy sigh, he gave a weak explanation.

"You know it's rude not to laugh at a perfectly good joke, Twilight. But if I have to explain it... Never mind. These shiny things here are bits and pieces of time made tangible between dimensions. I really should bring you here more often," - he declared holding up another flake of the shiny green material - "I could show you what inertia looks like when it's in its tangible form, too. Maybe we can ball it up and have an inertia ball fight." He chuckled. "You'd never know what hit you."

Twilight cringed at the terrible joke.

"Get it? Because it's inertia that's hitting you? Instead of something with inertia that's hitting... You're no fun when you're like this."

No longer entertained, Discord snapped his fingers, and they were both again outside the space between dimensions and back to where they originally departed for their tour. At least he was kind enough to bring her back on her feet and not several feet in the air as he would typically do when he didn't get his way.

"Well, go on then, Princess. Go ahead and play with your new human friends in your little death trap. I don't mind being left out and excluded," He sneered, grabbing a fedora and walking away with a briefcase and dressed in a bargain bin work suit.

He opened up a door he materialized, leading back to the inner dimensional space and walked through, slamming it behind him. He disappeared behind it but immediately opened it again to poke his head back out. "And do me a favor while I'm gone cleaning up this mess. Don't tell Fluttershy about the flowers. I'd still like that to be a surprise if you don't mind."

Twilight took a moment to collect herself, looking up to the sun to see just how much time must have passed by during her little venture with Discord. "Oh, no. That took longer than I thought it did. I need to get back to Celestia fast. She needs to know about this."

She made an uneasy entrance back into the field of Order she remembered being invisible there, wondering what its influence may eventually have on her if it could be so destructive to Discord. "Maybe I can pull her aside before we head out for dinner and get her guidance on this."

"And then I came back here and walked in on the situation with Kelly. I still don't understand what it all means, but it sounds like even if we did know where they came from, the path to take them back home is too badly damaged right now. Plus, whatever the void is, if that separates us from a path back to their home, Discord made it sound like it's not possible to pass through it," Twilight finished her recap, only leaving out the part about the flowers Discord wanted to give to Fluttershy.

Starlight broke the long silence she had been holding. "Did you tell him that their whole house and yard was brought here, not just the humans themselves?"

Twilight lowered her head. "No. I was so overwhelmed with everything I was taking in, and his stupid jokes, that I never got the chance to tell him."

Rainbow Dash defied the odds with an original idea. "Hey. Can't we make a new mirror? Starswirl made a mirror to another world. Can't we magic up our own and make it go to their world instead of doing it... uh... the other way that you don't know how to do yet?"

Off in a tub by herself, Celestia felt an old heartbreak return. "I'm sorry, but that is unfortunately not a realistic option."

Twilight turned with an inquisitive look. "Why is that, princess?"

The princess rinsed some of the lather off her chest, remembering a long lost love. "Starswirl and I worked together on the mirrors to get them to work. Some worlds can only work through the precise alignment of the moon and stars. Other methods tend to lead to worlds that are barren or uninhabited by civilization. It can take decades to figure out a proper combination of spells and alignments to find a world that's safe to travel to, but all of them end in tragedy. And now with the mirrors- " she coughed and cleared her throat "-mirror broken as it did I believe that method to be unreliable at best."

"Okay," Starlight spoke up again. "So we just stick with our original plan to reverse Trixie's spell. I'm sure we can figure that out."

Twilight had her doubts, and it wasn't something she could hide. "I'm not so sure that's an option anymore either. Trixie made her spell so broken that it shouldn't even have worked to begin with. And if what she told us about her dream is true, I think she's onto something about my doppel playing a role in this. A portal that size that was created, the formation of the bridge, and for a spell to pull that much mass across so many different dimensions, with the amount of force used to create all the damage it did, and not seriously injure anyone caught in its path, let alone kill them... No pony could hold that much power by themselves. Just crunching the numbers in my head, the amount of magic needed would be more than what all the Alicorn's in Equestria combined could manage."

Twilight started having a little mental break down. "Then trying to understand the properties of Order, I don't think its design is meant to interact with magic. And if the difficulty I had attempting to catch Kelly when she was sick the first day we met them all, or how little the healing spell combined with the elements of harmony worked, gives us any indication of the amount of magical resistance they possess... It... It-it could likely take the combined power of hundreds, if not thousands, of alicorns to pull off that spell. It's just not possible for Trixie to have done this on her own."

Her words left the occupants of the tent silent for a moment.

"Why don't they just live here?" Pinkie suggested with a cheerful burst. "They're already good friends with us. And that's after Kelly was shish kabob’ed."

"Pinkie!" Starlight lectured. "That's a horrible thing to say."

Fluttershy shyly spoke up. "Well, she's not entirely wrong though. They can be rather kind when a pony is in need."

Rarity nodded. "Yes, quite so. They're so supportive and reflect so many of the qualities we already exemplify as the Elements of Harmony."

"They're downright helpful and cheerful ta boot," Applejack added. "Plus there's so much they can do for us with dem hands of theirs."

Rainbow Dash perked up. "Yeah, they're so cool and have a lot of new ideas that are just awesome."

"Ou! And their music!" Pinkie butted in. "You just got to listen to their music."

"Everypony, just hold on now," Twilight interrupted. "They're fine staying here for the time being, but this isn't their home. We owe it to them to find them a way home. So we can't just abandon any attempt to send them back."

Starlight added more support to Twilight's position. "None of them asked to come here. They all have lives back where they came from, not to mention the medication Becky needs. It would be wrong of us not to do all we could to send them home."

"Nothing good ever comes from leaving one's own dimension and trying to start a life somewhere else," Celestia said coldly. "We don't even know if them being here is a danger in and of itself.”

She appeared to look somewhat sad explaining her position. "If two worlds are close together, there are consequences by visiting too often or staying too long. Or at least that's a problem with a mirrored world. Their world is far different than ours. The dangers could end up being far worse given the distance."

The explanation came off with a strikingly foreboding ambiance. "We will do all that we can to ensure a safe return home for them and make their stay as comfortable as possible."

Ending her position, Celestia stood up and shook herself free of most of the water she was soaking in and stepped out of the tub. She grabbed a towel with her magic and started to dry herself off. "I'm not saying we can't or shouldn't enjoy our time with them or learn from each other, but I strongly recommend that you don't get too attached to them. It makes it much harder to say goodbye... If you're even lucky enough to have the chance."

It didn't take long for Celestia to dry off and exit the tent, leaving the others to mend over their thoughts.

"Well that was awkward," Pinkie said, breaking the silence again.

"Don't worry girls," Twilight said, hoping to calm any concerns. "We'll help them get settled in and get familiar with Ponyville first, then we can break it to them just how difficult this is going to be. Not that we're giving up, just that it's going to take a lot longer than we hoped."

Fluttershy had some mixed emotions on all of this but seemed hopeful for a promising future with them. "Maybe after a while, they won't even want to leave? I know I wouldn't."

Applejack stood up and made her way for the exit. "Well, ain't nuthin' getting better just sitting around in here. I think I'll head in and see what I can help out with."

The rest of the girls didn't feel like leaving any prep work or cleaning to Applejack or their new human friends, so they hurried with the rest of their baths and departed together. However, if Applejack lounging on the couch was any indication of the workload, then they may have needlessly rushed themselves.

Rarity was the first to raise a question. "Applejack. I thought you came in to help?"

Applejack stretched and half sat up on the couch. "Yeah, well Doc had to raise a fuss about me still needing more rest before he left, and then every person else sided with him. They told me to take a load off and chill on the couch."

Celestia walked in from the garage holding some type of rectangular pastry. "Oh girls, please just relax for a while. I sent out for some snacks to help us celebrate tonight's festivities. Although, if you get a chance, the human treats are something you simply must try."

She held up a half-eaten chocolate-covered wafer Little Debbie treat. "Benny told me this was a Nutty Buddy Bar. Oh! They're Nutty because of the peanut butter, and Buddy because two came in each package. How clever."

Lumberman walked in from the garage, passing Celestia on her side. "Pardon me, Princess. We're about to start the generator, get some power going."

"Transfer switch is good!" Cerb shouted from the garage.

"Start'n 'er up!" Benny's voice called out from the front yard.

A dull roar of a small engine, sounding much quieter than the truck did, could barely be heard.

"Turning the breakers on!" Cerb shouted again.

A series of beeps, boops, chimes, and hmms sounded off inside the house with a collection of lights turning on.

"Power's good!" Lumberman called out to the others.

The ponies looked around the rooms, taking in the array of new sights and sounds, trying to understand their origins and purpose. Then a new sight took their attention. It was another version of the small rectangular device Chris had, only it was the size of a royal portrait.

Benny came back in to assess the status of his equipment. "Oh, hell yeah. TV still works. Hit the surround sound."

Cerb walked in just behind and stood next to the others, glad to see a familiar form of entertainment had survived the trip.

Lumberman grabbed the controller and pressed some buttons, bringing up the Xbox One home screen. Without explaining what he was doing, he picked up a controller and started working his way through the menus, bringing up the Blu-ray player.

A bang erupted in the room, matching the motion of a human on the screen holding something that flashed a small light and recoiled. Fluttershy jumped at the noise, latching herself onto Cerb's leg. The screen changed to another man dressed in all black falling backward and waving his arms, dodging distorted ripples in the air. More and more scenes changed, each only lasting a few seconds. Many had more exploding sounds, humans fighting, strange machines and too many other sights the ponies didn’t recognize.

"The Matrix?" Becky asked. "What is this? Did we time travel back to 1999 when this movie was still cool?"

Sniff scoffed at the insult to such a classic movie. "Oh please, like you wouldn't drop dem panties for Keanu."

"I never said Keanu Reeves wasn't hot. I just said that the movie is dumb," She protested.

Chris wasn't going to take the nonsense he was hearing. "What? The first Matrix movie was amazing. Two was good, and the last two shouldn't have been made, but you can't discount the first movie just because of the sequels."

"Does the movie have to be so loud and scary?" Fluttershy asked, still clinging to Cerb's leg.

Caught up in her adorable cuteness, Cerb pet her head. "Nah. We got other movies you would like. Or a lot louder movies that I would like."

A certain fashion horse couldn't resist the urge to win a few brownie points. "I find the intensity a welcomed changed from the quaint and quiet day by day going ons of Ponyville. I personally wouldn't mind watching a movie like this. Do you have any recommendations, Mr. Cerberus."

"Oh hell yeah," Cerb answered enthusiastically. "We got plenty."

Benny was pleased with the results of the test and decided it was time to save on gas. "Actually, why don't you all figure out what to watch later. I'm gonna shut the generator off so we can actually use the stuff tonight."

Thus started the great debate of what to watch. Everyone ran through the collection of DVDs and Blu-rays, as well as Chris and Benny naming off a few they remembered having on their computers. Many choices were unfortunately cut out. Too much gore, cursing, sex scenes, complex social topics or technologies, and human history killed off a lot of titles. They would undoubtedly bring about unfavorable reactions from the ponies or ruin the night by showing too much they couldn't understand. It was like a mix of picking out a movie to watch with kids were too young to watch them, but also were too smart for their own good.

"Hey, whoa," Cerb exclaimed to himself before turning to the owner of the movie. "Benny, my man. Good taste, wrong place."

The DVD case was tossed over to Benny, who was quick to catch it.

"Shit, my bad," He apologized, without explaining what his mistake was. "I'll stash it with the others."

"Lemme guess, another movie we're not ready for?" Twilight inquired.

Benny didn't care to stop and leave this hidden gem exposed longer than it already had been. "Nah, just an old... biology documentary."

As his words left his mouth, he couldn't believe he mistakenly dubbed the movie he was hiding as something educational to the only pony obsessed with knowledge. "Jesus Christ, you fucking idiot. Why not tell her it's an advanced learning course while you're at it."

Of course, Twilight was intrigued. "Biology? I love biology. What's the topic about?"

Leave it to Chris to swoop in and save the day. "Uh, Twilight? If you had a hard time dealing with Kelly last night, you wouldn't want to see what that movie is about," He explained with a wonderfully crafted lie.

"Oh," Twilight cringed a bit, not knowing what the contents of the movie were, but no longer wanting to find out.

Sniff grew a cruel smile. "Yeah, lot's of girls insides exposed and gushing out."

Nearly every mouth in the room opened up to condemn Sniff's terrible joke. A few of the complaints cast his way were even accompanied by pillows that pelted him. While the ponies thought he made a tasteless comment about another human being wounded, his friends knew that Benny needed to do a better job at hiding his porn.

Hopefully, the rest of the day would pass by without incident. After all, what better way to spend a rainy night than inside with friends, popcorn, and a movie?

Starting to introduce some more complex ideas into the story that will lead to some major breakthroughs in the future. Also, for those that know some of the comic's Celestia had a love lost that still weighs heavy on her heart. Add in that all the mirror portals are broken, that dream is long since been destroyed.

Expect to see some more light-hearted humor mixed with some heavy innuendos and suggestions in the next chapter.