Tristan looked at himself in his bathroom mirror. He was still having trouble accepting the fact that there were mythical creatures running rampant in his kitchen preparing a dinner. The only problem was that he couldn't convince himself he was dreaming or hallucinating. He felt the ponies' hair and the baby dragon's cold, sleek scales. But he had to be sure. He tugged at the skin on his face, checked for bloodshot eyes, and even jerked a hair off his head as a pain test.

As expected, it hurt. He stared back at his reflection, rubbing his scalp where the small strand of hair once was. "It's just a few weeks. It's just a few weeks." he repeated. "Then everything will go back to normal."

His little pep talk was derailed by the sound of light giggling. His head turned immediately to the direction of the bathroom door, where a very amused Pinkie Pie stood. "You look silly when you talk to the mirror! It won't talk back, you know! It just copies you!" she joked, her curly mane swaying in time with her laughter. "Oh! Dinner's ready, by the way!" Pinkie stood on her hind two legs and assumed the pose of a fancy waiter, holding an imaginary towel with one hoof and showing Tristan the way to his own kitchen with the other. "Right zis way, monsieur" she directed, using her best French accent. She managed to keep a giggle to herself as she bounced back down the hallway, Tristan sluggishly in tow.

He reached the kitchen and was amazed yet again for what seemed to be the millionth time today. The table that Fluttershy had set was impeccable. Eight clean plates lined the outside of the table, each with it's own set if glistening silverware, a couple napkins, and a glass of ice water. At the center of the table was a massive salad bowl filled with vegetables he completely forgot he had, and what seemed to be the grass and flowers that could have once grew around them. A modest half-loaf of bread completed the kitchen scene. Tristan took his lone chair, the ponies stood and rested their front hooves on the table, while Spike found a footstool and used it so he could reach the table as well.

Fluttershy flew around the table, giving generous amounts of the earthy salad to her friends and Tristan. Tristan jabbed at his serving with the fork a few times, sifting through the carrots, apples, tomatoes, and of course, grass. "How did you guys make this?" he inquired.

Applejack removed her hat, as to not be rude, and took a bite from her plate, not once considering the silverware that lay before her. She chewed for a bit, swallowed, and then turned her attention to Tristan. "Well, yer food supply was running a mite scarce, so while you were in the lil' boys room, Rainbow and ah went outside and collected some grass as substitute fer--"

Tristan immediately cut her off. "You went outside?!" he panicked. Everyone else stopped eating as a result of his outburst. "You can't go outside! It's too dangerous!"

Applejack wore an expression of insult. "How's that? I can handle mahself quite well, thank ya very much."

Tristan shook his head and collected himself. He tried to speak as calmly as possible, to avoid further confrontation with the feisty farmer. "It's different here. Most of my kind are afraid of what they don't understand."

"You mean like you were earlier?" Rainbow Dash interrupted, reminding Tristan of his slight episode with fainting. She gave a sly smirk, which Tristan met with a not-so-nice stare.

"Yeah... Anyway, the point is, you can't go outside where everyone else can see you." Tristan finished. Everyone had already continued eating, most of them half done. Tristan twirled his fork around in the green heap and pulled a large fork load within biting range. The scent of the grass made him a little uneasy, but he didn't want to turn down a meal that they worked so hard on. He mustered up all the courage his stomach had and ate. He cringed at the bitter taste of the grass, but found that the rest of the ensemble cancelled it out. He put a thumbs up sign, accompanied with a semi-forced smile. Rainbow Dash and Applejack hoof-bumped in celebration. There was much chatter at the table as the meal continued. Tristan was filled in on everything he needed to know about Equestria, Princesses Celestia and Luna, and about how they have used the Elements of Harmony, which each of the ponies seemed to represent a certain element, to vanquish evil on more than one occasion.

It wasn't long before the topic of family was brought up. Applejack told of her strong, older brother, Big Macintosh, her younger sister, Applebloom, her grandmother, Granny Smith, and her never ending list of relatives that lived all over Equestria. Rarity spoke of her younger sister, Sweetie Belle, and Twilight Sparkle of her parents and older brother who just recently married another Princess from Canterlot.

Then the topic shifted his direction. "What about you?" asked Twilight Sparkle, finishing the last of her meal. "What about your family?"

Tristan looked down at his nearly clean plate. He was silent for a second, but eventually began to answer Twilight's question.

"My mother passed away a few years ago. My father took my younger siblings and left the state a few nights later while I was asleep. He figured I was old enough to take care of myself, seeing as how I was the only one with a job at the time. I woke up the next morning to find a note on the table and enough money to rent out this house for the first month. I haven't seen any of them since."

His voice was quiet, like Fluttershy's, but with a tinge of pain as opposed to Fluttershy's natural shyness. The ponies instantly sobered up. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie hung their heads in empathy. Applejack sniffled, and Fluttershy almost broke out into tears. There was a silence about the kitchen as everyone searched for the words to say to console him. Twilight finally broke the silence.

"I... I'm so sorry... I had no idea." she said softly, a tear beginning to form in her eye.

Tristan stood, pushing his empty plate towards the center. "It's fine," he lied. "You didn't know. You were just asking a question." He picked up his plate and utensils and carried them to the sink. He let them drop with a loud crash and slowly walked out onto his back porch. Taking a seat on the top steps, he lit a cigarette and stared at the ground, trying to put all the images of his mother out of his head.

It seemed like this entire day has passed rather quickly for him. As he started his first cigarette, he noticed how clear the night sky was. The half moon shone just enough for him to see the treeline that stood a few hundred feet away behind his home. The stars were dimly lit and if he concentrated, he could hear the sounds of insects and the scurrying of woodland creatures across the forest floor.

A few minutes passed like this until he heard the door open. It was Twilight Sparkle. She slowly walked over to where he was sitting, still feeling guilty about what she asked earlier. "Is it okay if I join you?" she asked carefully. She had already invaded his personal privacy, she didn't plan on invading his physical privacy as well. Much to her surprise, he scooted over enough for him and her to share the top step.

Twilight smiled faintly and proceeded to lay next to where he sat. The sat in silence for a brief moment, Tristan taking long drags from his cigarette. He felt it was his turn to break the silence this time.

"Look... I'm sorry about how I reacted. It's still kind of painful to talk about sometimes." he explained. "But don't feel bad for asking. You didn't know any better, so don't worry about it, okay?" He forced a smile in hopes of cheering up the purple unicorn. Seeing that it had worked, changing Twilight's previously gloomy expression into a half-smile, he took another drag from his cigarette. Twilight squinted at the burning stick. Her curiosity got the better of her yet again.

"What is that?" she asked, motioning towards his cancer stick. Tristan looked at it, then back to Twilight.

"It's a cigarette. It's a thin piece of paper that's rolled around tobacco and other things." he answered.

"Does it do anything special?" Twilight pressed.

"Not really. If anything, it just hurts my health." he returned. He let out a small chuckle of irony. Here he was, taking pleasure in the same thing that killed his mother just a few short years ago.

"It hurts your health?! Why do you do it then?!" Twilight barked. Tristan just shrugged his shoulders. Twilight wasn't very pleased with that answer. Just as Tristan was about to take another drag, Twilight used her magic to remove the cigarette from his grasp, and incinerated the entire thing just a few feet away from him.

Tristan shot a look of anger at Twilight. "What'd you do that for?!" he interrogated.

Twilight snorted. "Because it's senseless to hurt yourself! You shouldn't partake in something that isn't good for you! Especially for no good reason!" she shot back.

Tristan was about to deliver the final argument when a sleepy Spike opened the door. Yawning, he approached the two. "Where are we all gonna sleep?" he asked, groggy and in a daze. The thought never crossed Tristan's mind. He immediately sprang up and headed back inside. Spike looked at Twilight, who was flustered from a mix of anger and sadness. "You okay, Twi?"

Twilight snapped out of it and returned Spike's question with a smile. "Of course. Everything is just fine. Let's get you inside and into bed, shall we?" She stood and nudged Spike back inside with everyone else, using her horn to shut and lock the back door behind her.

Tristan, remembering that his couch doubled as a pull-out bed, had fixed the bed and retrieved enough pillows and blankets for them all to share. He was surprised at how well five little ponies could fit onto a tiny bed like that, but he wasn't going to argue. Twilight had opted for the recliner so she could do some late night studying, and Spike, who's original plan was to sneak in next to Rarity, was forced by Twilight to use the dog bed Tristan still kept around from when he had a dog. Spike used a bathroom towel as his blanket and almost immediately was asleep after his head touched the cushion of the dog bed.

"Is everyone okay?" Tristan asked, making sure his guests weren't too cramped or uncomfortable. They all nodded and fixed themselves to where they were comfortable. Tristan looked at the clock that hung above his television and rubbed the back of his head. "Okay, well, I have to be at work early tomorrow morning, so keep the chatter down if you insist on staying up."

Pinkie Pie let out a cheerful "Oki-Doki-Loki!", which was harshly met by hushes from the others. Pinkie grinned sheepishly.

"Okay, well, good night." Tristan called as he walked back to his room and changed for bed. Swapping his jeans for gym shorts and his black v-neck for a tank top, he climbed into bed and reached to turn off the light. As darkness flooded his room, so his thoughts went blank and he drifted off to sleep, both physically and mentally exhausted.