After dragging her friend through the streets of Ponyville for nearly an hour to get to the other side of town, Twilight, along with Princess Luna in her disguise, were now in front of the house that Fiery lived in. They pushed Fluttershy onto the front porch before they hid in some nearby bushes to watch what would happen. “Alright Fluttershy, just remember the plan. Use your kindness to help him open up, then tell us what he said.”

Fluttershy, still completely nervous, looked back at her friend with fright. “U-Um, T-Twilight? I-Is this r-really such a good idea? I-I mean, I-I know I said I would help, b-b-but m-maybe he doesn’t want to open up?”

Twilight, who was on her way to the bushes, looked back at the yellow pegasus and smiled. “Of course it’s a good idea Fluttershy. Now, do your best!” And with that, the purple unicorn jumped in the bush next to Luna’s, pricking herself on some branches on the dive in.

Fluttershy, who had turned back to the door and was about to knock on it, gulped in fear. Very slowly, she raised her hoof to the door, and with a quick motion, knocked on it a few times. Wanting to hid herself, she turned around and tried to run, only to have a purple aura surround her and place her back on the doorstep. Using her magic from afar, Twilight knocked on the door once more knowing that Fluttershy wouldn’t do it herself by controlling Fluttershy’s hoof.

Seconds after knocking the door opened to reveal a brown earth pony with a crimson mane and tail, a guitar for a Cutie Mark. “May I help you?” The stallion asked Fluttershy, who still had her back turned to the door. Twilight rolled her eyes, seeing that Fluttershy wasn’t going to turn herself around, and used her magic for a third time to turn her friend in the direction of the stallion.

As Fluttershy was forcibly turned around, she saw the stallion looking at her, a look of slight confusion of his face. She smiled a bit, laughed, and then in typical fashion of when her nervousness overloaded, fainted. Twilight facehoofed herself inside the bush, cursing herself for not helping Fluttershy calm down some before knocking on the door.

Fiery, now completely confused as to what the hell just happened, looked around the area to make sure that nobody was looking at him, before looking down at the fainted pegasus again. Sighing, he reached his hoof out and grabbed the mare’s tail. ‘God I hope no one sees this.’ He thought to himself as he began to pull the fainted mare into the house. After pulling her safely into the house and near the couch, he was able to lift the pegasus into up onto the couch. “So just why did you faint on the front porch? What are you even doing here?” He asked the unconscious pony, knowing he wouldn’t get an answer.

Sighing once more, he went over to where he had placed his guitar and picked it up, before returning to one of the chairs across from the couch. Although it was faint, he could still hear the sounds of Octavia practicing upstairs, and thought it would be good for him to practice as well, or at least try to figure out if what happened last time was a fluke or not. Playing a couple of chords, he could feel the same fuzziness from before flow through him, before his thoughts were interrupted by the stirring of the new guest.

As the pegasus turned her head over to where Fiery was sitting, she ‘eep’ed once more and quickly flew over the couch to protect herself, making Fiery chuckle. “Well, had I known that was the response I was going to get, I probably would’ve left you out on the porch.” He said, somewhat surprised not only at the reaction, but how fast she had woken up.

“D-D-Don’t h-hurt me, please.” Fluttershy whimpered, closing her eyes in fright as she continued to hide in a fetal position behind the couch.

“Hurt you?” Fiery repeated, shocked by the comment. “Why in the world would I hurt you?”

Fluttershy looked up from behind the couch, still frightened, and answered him. “B-Because, t-t-the party. Y-You said…” She ‘eep’ed again and hid behind the couch again, too embarrassed to say the words.

Finally remembering where he saw the pegasus, Fiery smiled at the pegasus and began to try to calm her down. “Oh, I see… I have to apologize, I was really drunk at the time and was in a foul mood, but I promise I won’t hurt you.”

“Y-You Pinkie Promise?”

“Uh, sure… Anyways, what’s your name?” He asked, playing a few chords of his guitar as he tried to get the pegasus to open up some. She wouldn’t budge at all, only whimpering some. “Okay… My name is Fiery Strings, now what’s yours?” He asked again.

“F-F-Flu-Fluttershy.” She hesitantly said, still not really comfortable giving her name away.

“Okay, Fluttershy. That’s a… pretty name.” Fiery said with a smile. He didn’t really know if it would be a compliment or not, not really being a pony, but he knew that things usually worked that way. Compliment a girl on their name, and they’ll feel more relaxed around you. “So, Fluttershy, what brings you to our lovely abode?”

At the mention of her name, Fluttershy ‘eep’ed again, before calming down enough to answer him. “I-I-I, u-um, I-I c-came t-t-t-to say h-hello.”

Fiery, not really knowing what to make of this, burst into laughter, making Fluttershy hide behind the couch again. “Sorry, sorry.” He apologized to the scared pegasus, continuing to laugh. “I-I just didn’t expect that type of answer.”

“O-Oh, um, I’m sorry.” Fluttershy replied.

Waving his hoof, Fiery was able to calm down and continued to speak. “It’s alright. But really, were you really here just to say hi?” He asked the yellow pegasus while he raised his eyebrow. Fluttershy, not knowing how to really respond, was only able to shake her head. “Do you mind if I ask what you were doing then?”

“I-I j-just wanted to s-say hello?” She repeated, making Fiery sigh.

“Alright then, hi.” He said in an annoyed tone. Seeing that he was going to get nowhere with Fluttershy, he went back to focusing on his guitar. Plucking a few chords, he began to think of a song to play to test out the magic once again. Glancing over to the far wall, over next to the front door, was a picture that Fiery hadn’t noticed before until now. He began to snicker at it, as it was a painting of both Vinyl and Octavia, but as sea animals. Octavia, an octopus; and Vinyl, a shark. Looking at the picture for a little longer, he finally got the perfect idea for a song to test out.

Clearing his voice, he set the guitar up on his lap properly again and began to feel the fuzziness from before return. Fluttershy seemed to have been studying him as he set himself up, and was in a surprise when he began to play a few chords, the sounds of a bass guitar began to play, and Fiery began to sing right afterwards.

“I’d like to be, under the sea, in an octopus’s garden, in the shade.” He sang, with the sound of a piano began playing along with the bass guitar and Fiery’s guitar, with a drum set joining in as well. “He’d let us in, knows where we’ve been, in his octopus garden, in the shade.”

Fluttershy, having been completely quiet the entire time, was amazed at not only Fiery playing, but at all the specters that ended up forming behind him as he played. Giggling at how silly the song was, she began to feel more relaxed around the stallion, and when he was finally done playing, smiled at him. “U-Um, i-if you don’t mind me saying, t-that was a very nice song you played.”

Fiery smiled back. “Thanks.”

“U-Um…”

“Yes?”

“D-Do you mind, I-I mean, i-if it’s a-alright with you; w-where did you learn to play like that?” Fiery’s smile faded away, and sighed, making Fluttershy go into apologizing mode. “Oh! I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to offend, I just thought-“

Holding his hoof up, Fiery stopped Fluttershy before she could apologize anymore. “It’s alright. To tell you the truth, I get that question a lot. If you have to know though, it’s sort of a gift I got when I was young. I don’t know who did it or why, but whenever I play this guitar, I’m able to play like no other pony.” He lied. “The magic of the guitar sort of flows through me, and when I think of a song, I’m able to play. Any extra instruments or vocals that are needed sort of… well, you saw for yourself.”

“I-I see…”

“So, have anything else on your mind?” Fiery asked, smiling at Fluttershy once more. She nodded in return.

“U-Um, c-can I get a drink?”

“Sure. What do you want? Water? Juice?”

“Water will be fine, thank you.” She said politely. Fiery nodded and placed his guitar at the side of the chair, getting up afterwards and walking towards the kitchen. As Fiery walked away, Fluttershy began to look around the room. She noticed that for the most part, the room was very clean. The only things that seemed to be out of place were various papers that were a few days old along with some music magazines that were sitting on the coffee table. Suddenly, she felt a cold, wet feeling on her cheek and nearly jumped into the air ten feet. As she tried calming herself down in the air, she heard laughing and turned her head to see Fiery holding a glass of water in hoof, chuckling at the turn of events.

“S-Sorry, that was mean of me. I didn’t mean to scare you at all, honestly.” He said as he calmed himself down and looked up at Fluttershy, smiling. Fluttershy had also calmed down enough, and accepted his offer. Slowly flapping her wings, she gently settled back down onto the couch. “Here you go.” Fiery said, handing the glass of water over to her. Unfortunately, Fluttershy hadn’t gripped the glass correctly, making the glass slip out of her hooves to the ground, where fortunately it didn’t break. However, the water inside did spill all over Fluttershy.

‘Shit!’ “Crap, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do this!” Fiery exclaimed as he quickly grabbed one of the old newspapers on the coffee table as the water began to run its course on Fluttershy’s body, slowly creeping its way down between her legs. Not knowing what was really going on anymore, and too shocked to really speak, Fluttershy let Fiery clean her up as he began to pat her dry with the old newspaper. As Fiery continued to pat her dry, he began to lower the paper lower and lower towards between her legs, when they both realized where he was going to end up. He looked up slowly to Fluttershy’s face, both of their faces red. “U-Uh, um, t-this isn’t what it looks like?”

“Am I interrupting something?” A voice came from the stairs, making both Fiery and Fluttershy turn their heads. There, standing at the bottom of the stairs, was Octavia with her eyebrow raised, questioning Fiery’s motives.

“O-Octavia! This isn’t what it looks like!” Fiery exclaimed, quickly moving away from Fluttershy. “You see, I had accidently spilled some water on her and I was just cleaning her up and I-“ But he stopped as he saw Octavia raise her hoof up to stop him.

“I know you’re a stallion Fiery, but I’d appreciate it if next time you didn’t try to lie to me. If you wanted privacy, you should have gone upstairs into your room.”

Realizing what she was talking about, Fiery opened up his mouth to respond, when he glanced over to see that the yellow pegasus had, once again, fainted, quite possibly from also figuring out what Octavia was talking about. Getting closer to Fluttershy, Fiery began to poke her with his hoof, seeing if she was alright. Seeing that her chest was rising up and down, he concluded that she was indeed alright and looked back at Octavia. “You know, you didn’t have to say that.”

“And I didn’t have to come down the steps seeing you eating her out.” Octavia replied with an annoyed tone. She began to walk into the dining room and into the kitchen when Fiery spoke again.

Fiery’s mouth hung open for a few seconds, shocked at what Octavia had said. After getting over the initial shock, he shook his head, as if it would make everyone forget the face he had on before he began to yell at Octavia. “E-Eating her out?! Are you insane?! She’s a pony!”

“And what’s wrong with us ponies?” Octavia asked, whipping back around to face Fiery who had begun to follow her.

“Oh, er, nothing. Nothing’s wrong with ponies.” Fiery answered, rubbing the back of his neck. ‘Shit, this is not good.’ “A-As I was saying though, there was some water that had spilled on her, and everything was moving so fast that I ended up grabbing one of the old newspapers that were on the coffee table!”

“Likely story.”

“It’s true!” Fiery exclaimed. He went back to where the glass still was and picked it off the ground, placing it on the coffee table before grabbing the newspaper he was cleaning Fluttershy with. “See?” He said, pointing at the paper with his other hoof. “H-How in the world did you even come up with the conclusion that we were doing something like that in the first place?!”

Now that her face was becoming deep red from her imagination going wild, Octavia turned her head so she no longer looked at Fiery before replying. “I-I saw your head hidden behind the couch arm, and I saw that her face was bright red, s-so I had come up with the conclusion that you were doing something naughty to her.” She said, and then turned to look at Fiery once again. “Is it not alright for me to think that something like that happened?”

“When it makes us both embarrassed and have our guest faint, yes!” Fiery exclaimed, sighing afterwards. Looking at Fluttershy again, he sighed once more, shaking his head in frustration. “What are we going to do about her?”

“I think the first question that needs to be answered is why she’s even here in the first place. Did you go out and drag the poor dear back here?”

“Do you really think I’m some sort of sexual deviant or something? Hello! Joseph to Octavia! Not a real pony, not exactly willing to have sex with your species!” He said, glaring back at her.

“You never know, you’re in a stallion body, you might end up some urges.” She shot back.

Sighing again, Fiery facehoofed, then looked at Octavia with a frustrated face. “What’s with you? I mean, I know I haven’t been here long, but when I saw you practicing upstairs, you seemed so calm. What the hell happened to turn you into…”

“Into what?” She asked, crossing her arms as she sat on the ground and giving Fiery a death glare.

Not wanting to get hurt by the grey mare, Fiery continued. “Anyways, why are you acting like this? This doesn’t seem like you.”

Continuing her death glare, Octavia gave in after a while and sighed, before looking at Fiery with an apologetic face. “I’m sorry Fiery, I know I shouldn’t have acted that way… The reason is… well, when I saw you like that with Fluttershy-“

“Wait, you know her name?” Fiery interrupted, raising his eyebrow.

“Of course I do. I mean, she is my sister’s friend after all, and one of the Elements of Harmony. It’s sort of hard not to know her when you’re living here.”

“Oh, I see. You were saying?”

Rolling her eyes, she continued her comment. “When I thought you were doing you-know-what with Fluttershy, it… it brought up some bad memories, alright? I guess I was just a little jealous… Although, this is Fluttershy we’re speaking about, so I suppose I did jump to a conclusion a little bit too fast.”

“You think?” Fiery commented, raising his eyebrow. Octavia ignored him and turned back around, entering the kitchen to make herself dinner. When Fiery was about to comment on her leaving the conversation, he heard the sound of a certain pegasus waking up again. He walked back over to Fluttershy, and as she began to stir awake, helped her sit back up properly. “You okay?” He asked, worried that she was going to faint once more.

“W-What happened?” Fluttershy asked.

“Uh…” Fiery didn’t know how to begin explaining what had happened in a delicate way, so he said it straight. “I sort of spilled some water on you, and… when I was cleaning you up, my roommate sort of, well, had a wild imagination and thought we were doing something we weren’t doing.”

“O-Oh…” Fluttershy’s face was its normal butter-cream yellow for a few seconds, before she began to dwell on what Fiery told her, and remembered what had just occurred. Suddenly, that butter-cream yellow face became beet red once again.

“H-Hey! Don’t faint on me again!” Fiery called out, trying to stop her. It was too late though, as she fainted for a third time. “God damnit…” He cursed silently. Sighing, he went into the kitchen. “Hey, do you happen to know where Fluttershy lives?”

Turning from making her sandwich, Octavia put on a face questioning Fiery’s motives. “And just why do you wish to know that?”

“Because she’s fainted for a third time, and by the time she finally wake up, she’ll just keep fainting until we get out of the house and into an environment that doesn’t remind her of something that somebody said.” He responded in a scolding tone.

Sighing, Octavia put down the knife she was using and began to walk over to Fiery, and motioned him to follow her. “Come on, if we’re going to get her home before dark, then we should probably leave right now.”

Some time had passed since the brown and grey earth ponies left their house with the yellow pegasus on the brown earth pony’s back. A purple unicorn and alicorn in disguise were following them trying to figure out what was going on, but knew they couldn’t reveal themselves, lest they be suspicious about it.

“So-“ Fiery said out loud, trying to break the silence that had wrapped around them from when they left the house. “I think I’ve noticed something about this town.”

“Hmm.” Octavia responded in an uncaring tone.

Looking around him, Fiery could see all the stares he was getting from the various mares around the town that were still out. These weren’t normal stares though, as Fiery could detect a hint of lust behind them. “Is it just me, or are the wo-, err, I mean mares really creepy in this town?”

“They find you attractive.” Octavia said in the same uncaring tone.

Fiery turned his head to Octavia with a confused look on his face. “Attracted to me? What’s so special about me?”

“You’re a stallion.”

Becoming even more confused, they were both silent for several more seconds before Fiery had to know what she meant. “What does that exactly mean? I mean, yeah, I have a dick, but so what?”

Octavia rolled her eyes at Fiery’s choice of words. “It’s because of said… ‘thing’, that the mares are attracted to you. After all, our male population is low, and the mares are desperate to find a mate.”

Thinking he heard wrong, Fiery stopped in his tracks and began to pick at his ear with his hoof, then looked at Octavia with a confused look. “What?”

Sighing, Octavia turned to look at Fiery and began to explain. “Have you noticed something Fiery?”

“You mean besides the mares?”

“Yes, besides the mares.”

Looking around, Fiery began to search if there was anything out of place. Sadly, he couldn’t. “I give up.” He said looking back at Octavia.

“There are almost no stallions, Fiery. It might be strange to hear because I assume from the stories you told me, there isn’t the same problem on Earth as here, but… Our population is dying out in a way.”

“How?” Fiery asked with curiosity. Octavia only shrugged her shoulders.

“Nopony knows. All we do know is that around 100 years ago, we saw a massive change in our population. About 90% of the foals born were female, and the other 10% were male. This is a huge problem, as it seems to continue with each generation, including this one. That’s why, around 50 years ago, Princess Celestia decreed that males were allowed to have harems so-“

“Wait, harems?!” Fiery exclaimed, surprised at the remark. “You mean to say that the reason why I keep getting looks from the mares isn’t because I’m attractive or anything, but-“

“But because you’re seen as a hope for the next generation, yes. Granted, there are rules that go along with the harems, like it can only be ponies, and that you can’t have polygamy marriages, but for the most part, most stallions keep their harems until they get married, in which it becomes illegal to keep it anymore. The problem here, in Ponyville, though is that most of the stallions… well, they’re either married or not interested. That’s why you’re getting so many looks Fiery, because you’re available.”

“Waaaaitwaitwaitwait.” Fiery said while he sat down, having Fluttershy roll off his back and onto the ground gently while he tried to figure everything out. “You mean to say, that if there was no way for me to return to Earth, and as you said earlier, ‘I could have urges’… I could potentially become a stallion that could have as many mares as he wanted? And I wouldn’t get in trouble with either the government or the mares? And why is it illegal to have polygamy marriages or to keep the harems afterwards?”

Rolling her eyes and slightly annoyed, Octavia nodded. “Yes, you could, but that doesn’t mean that all the mares would be accepting of being number two or three. And please, don’t ask about the marriage part. Nopony really understands it.”

“I see… So, is that what happened to you?” Fiery asked, making Octavia blush.

“W-What? What in the world are you talking about?”

“Well, with how you reacted earlier today and said how you felt jealous and bringing up bad memories… All I can really conclude is that you’re the type of mare who’s old school, am I correct?”

Looking away, and slightly angry at how he figured it out, Octavia nodded. “Y-Yes, you are… I’d rather not talk about it.”

The two became quiet for a few seconds, when Fiery spoke again. “I see… You know, this is all interesting and stuff, but… I just don’t know how to feel about it.”

Octavia looked back at Fiery, raising her eyebrow and having a confused look on her face. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that, yes, having a harem would be cool and all, being a guy, but… something in me says it would just be wrong. I don’t know, perhaps I’m old school as well.” He responded while shrugging his shoulders. Looking back at how he made Fluttershy roll off his back, he began to pick her up once more, when she began to stir again. “She’s waking up again.” He said out loud. ‘Hopefully for the last time.’

As she slowly opened her eyes, the first thing Fluttershy saw was a smiling brown stallion looking at her. Next to him was a grey mare who seemed to have a worried look on her face. “Are you alright Fluttershy?” The mare asked.

“What happened?” Fluttershy asked, confused as to where she was.

“Uh, perhaps it’s better if you didn’t know that for right now. Here, let me help you up.” Fiery said as he reached a hoof out and helped her up. As she got up, Fiery continued to smile at her. “Hey Fluttershy?”

“Y-Yes?”

“Do you think you could get to your house on your own from here?”

Looking around to see where she was, she didn’t see Octavia hit Fiery lightly for being inconsiderate, before looking back at the two earth ponies. “U-Um, I-I think I could.”

“Alright then, I guess we’ll be-“ But Fiery was cut off by Fluttershy as she continued.

“B-But! I-I think I w-would like it if there was somepony to help me go home. I-I mean, if that’s alright…” She trailed off, remembering the entire reason why she had gone to Fiery’s house in the first place.

Fiery and Octavia looked at each other for a second, before Octavia made a face that told Fiery to go with Fluttershy. Fiery understood, and turned back to Fluttershy with another smile. “I suppose I can do that.”

Fiery and Fluttershy had walked all the way back to her cottage on the edge of town without saying a word, the moon had long since come up and the stars began to shine bright in the night sky. Before going inside, Fiery looked up at the night sky and smiled. “You know, I really didn’t get to see anything like this before back where I came from.”

Fluttershy’s ears perked up, as it seemed that Fiery was finally going to talk about himself. “O-Oh? I-Is that right?”

Fiery nodded. “Back where I came from, the night sky was always blocked thanks to the lights in the city shining bright, making it impossible to see the stars. But here, it’s just… so beautiful…”

“W-What was it like? Where you were from?”

Fiery shrugged. “Alright I suppose… For some reason, I just feel… more calm here.”

“R-Really?”

Again, Fiery nodded. “Yeah…” He said as he turned towards to Fluttershy and continued to smile. “Hey, um, I know this might be the weirdest time to bring this up, but… I kinda want to apologize for the first time we met.”

Fluttershy, feeling the kindness from him, smiled and shook her head, feeling more comfortable around him now. “No, you don’t have to.”

“But I do! I mean, if I don’t, I’d just feel like one big dou- um, forget that. Anyways, what I mean to say is… You’re a real nice girl Fluttershy.”

“O-Oh, um, thank you.” She replied, blushing.

Without really knowing what to say next, Fiery began to unconsciously swing his front hoof back and forth. “Uh, well then, I guess I should get going.” He finally said, smiling at the yellow pegasus.

“Oh, u-um, alright then.”

Waving goodbye to Fluttershy, Fiery turned back towards the way back to town. Not wanting to fail Twilight though, Fluttershy tried calling out to Fiery, but couldn’t find her voice to do so. It didn’t seem to matter though, as Fiery saw her attempt to communicate. “Yes?”

This time around, Fluttershy found her voice. What she was about to ask though, was extremely embarrassing for her. Her cheeks were becoming red once more. “U-U-Um, I-I-I w-was j-ju-just w-wondering...”

“Yes?” Fiery asked once more.

“U-U-Um, a-a-are you, p-perhaps free?”

Not understanding what she meant, he stood there, silent. Shaking his head as if it would somehow make him suddenly understand, he asked the timid pegasus. “Free?”

Fluttershy nodded her head furiously. “I-I-I m-mean, i-if i-it’s o-okay.”

“... Yes, I’m free?”

Happy to hear this, Fluttershy gave him a quick reply before flying into her home and slamming the door behind her. “GreatgoodtohearseeyounextFriday!”

As the yellow pegasus seemed to shut herself in her house with the quick reply, Fiery stood still, completely confused as to what had just happened. It ended up taking him multiple seconds to decipher what had just happened, but when he finally did, his reaction was- “Did... Did I just get asked out on a date by a pony?”