Given Hearts and Hooves day was fast approaching and that Ranma had entered into two relationships rather recently, Twilight thought that exploring relationships and how they functioned was an appropriate topic for this interview. So it was she set up the recording at the agreed upon time and sat across from Ranma.

“This is Twilight Sparkle, former student of Princess Celestia and Princess of Friendship. The date is February 8^th 1006 ANM. The time is approximately 10:30 AM. This is the fourth interview with Ranma. Today’s subject will be relationships and how courtships ultimately culminate,” Twilight reported and turned to Ranma.

“So, Ranma, while I realize relationships weren’t exactly your forte before coming to Equestria…” Twilight couldn’t keep herself from making that cheeky jab.

“Yes, yes, make all the jokes you want about my previous eternal bachelor status. It all rolls off my back like water off a duck, for I am a bachelor no more!” Ranma beamed happily.

“And we’re all very happy for the three of you. But getting somewhat back on track, I understand relationships like the one you currently enjoy are rare on your world, as per a statement you made in an earlier interview,” Twilight said.

“Polygamy actually has a fascinating history on my world. Polygamy appears semi-frequently in the Old Testament of the Bible with Jacob, Abraham, King David, and King Solomon being notable among them. King Solomon especially is said to have practiced both polygamy and had a harem, with 700 wives and 300 concubines,” Ranma said.

“1,000 women?!” Twilight exclaimed in shock.

“That’s what the Bible says,” Ranma shrugged, “Further, it’s said that David and Solomon’s wives led them astray, into worshiping strange gods. Meanwhile Jacob and his wives were blessed and Abraham was commanded by God to marry a second woman after his first wife became too old to carry child. However, by the time the New Testament took place, marriage was almost entirely monogamous. In fact, I struggle to think of a single instance of polygamy in the whole of the New Testament.”

“Any idea what caused the change?” Twilight asked.

“Best guess is it had to do with the Romans, who dominated most of the known world at the time, and the Greeks before them. They weren’t terribly kind to the Jews and even less so to the Christians who came about later on. So it wouldn’t surprise me if polygamy stopped being a thing to avoid persecution,” Ranma replied, “A similar thing would happen much, much later on in the 1800s where a sect of Christians known as the Latter Day Saints were practicing polygamy but due to the local government hunting them down over it, the practice was suspended.”

“Hunting them down..? Can you clarify?” Twilight asked.

“I mean sending local militias to burn down their homes and kill them and when they fled west to unclaimed territories they sent the national army after them,” Ranma replied candidly.

“Over marriage practices?!” Twilight shouted in indignation.

“There were other reasons, of course, but that was one of the major ones,” Ranma replied.

“Ranma, I mean no offense to you, but your home world genuinely sounds awful,” Twilight said candidly.

“I’m not exactly its biggest fan myself,” Ranma deadpanned, “Anyway, that about does it for relationships on my world: Polygamy, monogamy, and harems. Mind you, when I say polygamy, most commonly it was one man being married to however many women independently.”

Twilight nodded at this information, “Polyamory here on Equuis is almost always a group who are intermarried to each other. It’s most commonly seen amongst Ponies and Hippogriffs, but you’ll find relationships like that in most species. Monogamy is practiced almost exclusively by the Minotaurs and the Breezies. Finally the harem structure is most commonly seen among Changelings and Griffins in both its regular and reverse forms.”

“I see. What other forms of relationships are there?” Ranma asked.

“Well Dragons don’t have relationships per say. The males and females get together every so often and then raise the fertilized eggs together. The only exception is the Dragon Lord can pick one egg in a clutch to raise as his or her own if they so desire. In practice it’s rare for a Dragon Lord to pick an egg more than once a century, if that,” Twilight replied dutifully.

“That’s certainly an interesting way to go about things. On Earth there was a saying that went like ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, but the Dragons seem to put it into practice,” Ranma mused.

“Then the Griffins, aside from harems, which are typically seen amongst the nobility, also have what they call flocks. Typically they’re made up of 2-3 males matched up with 7 or so females. One of the males is the ‘alpha’ male and the others report to him and he decides who can mate with who and when. However, the other males can challenge for the position of alpha at any time and it’s quite common for the role of alpha to change claws a dozen or so times in the lifespan of the flock,” Twilight explained.

“And the flock stays together after these challenges?” Ranma asked in mild surprise.

“The flock is considered something sacred, so breaking it up over something they see as such a trivial thing reflects very poorly on anyone who leaves the flock,” Twilight answered.

“Are there any other forms of relationships?” Ranma asked.

“The Sea Serpents are an interesting case. They swim across the oceans on more or less the same route over the course of a year for almost all of their adult lives. Any Sea Serpent who shares a part of their journey is considered something akin to a husband or wife. It’s rare for any Sea Serpent’s path to cross over more than 3 other’s paths. However, there’s always at least one member of the opposite sex who shares part of their path. As far as anyone’s been able to figure out, it’s some sort of magical homing instinct,” Twilight said with an unsatisfied shrug.

“That’s fascinating,” Ranma said appreciatively.

“Last, but not least, it would be remiss of me not to mention the Buffalo. The chieftain decides all mating pairs and the pair will stay together until the child is old enough to fend for themselves before being potentially matched with a new mate,” Twilight said.

“What if the pair is completely incompatible for whatever reason?” Ranma asked curiously.

“Both parties are then sent on individual walkabouts for about six months in order to cleanse themselves of their ill feelings. Typically upon their return they will be matched with new mates, but it’s not unheard of for the returning pair to try and work things out between them,” Twilight replied promptly.

“It’s wild to hear how many types of relationships there are,” Ranma remarked.

“Said the person from the world where they persecute you if you aren’t strictly monogamous,” Twilight snarked.

“It has changed a tiny bit in recent years, but not much,” Ranma admitted in defeat.

“Speaking of, it strikes me how quickly you adapted to being in a polyamorous relationship, given the circumstances,” Twilight noted.

“Individual humans are eminently adaptable creatures, given sufficient motivation. I’d say being transformed into a fictional character and dropped onto a new world is great motivation to adapt. Or curl up in a ball and cry. 50/50 split, probably,” Ranma said with a completely straight face.

“Well, when you put it like that,” Twilight suppressed a giggle behind her hand.

“There’s also the fact that Fluttershy and Luna both mean the world to me and being able to make both of them happy and letting them make me happy with no conflict of interests or fears of cheating and hurt feelings…it’s quite liberating,” Ranma said.

“I see,” Twilight, for her part, was glad to hear this. Still, she would be failing in her duties as Princess of Friendship ifs he didn’t do a little good natured prodding, “So, any plans to add anyone else to your relationship?”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss that with the public,” Ranma retorted.

“Oh, come on! You can’t say something like that!” Twilight groaned, now made deathly curious by the cryptic answer.

“I can and I will,” Ranma smirked.

“This concludes today’s interview,” Twilight huffed with a noticeable pout and turned off the camera.

Something a little bit beefier in honor of 3 fantastic nights of sleep. Unfortunately, those 3 nights were only peripherally related to my CPAP. I got a full face mask for it, which is better, but the pressure is so low I can barely breathe. Since I can't modify the pressure myself, I'm stuck until the doctor in charge of my case comes back.

Still, when I first got the mask and used it, I would wake up with terrible post nasal drip. A call to my general practitioner and he prescribed me some allergy nasal spray. This is what lead to those 3 nights of great sleep. The nasal spray opened my sinuses wide open and I was able to breathe at night for once. Unfortunately, that nasal spray is also highly addictive, so I could only use it those 3 nights.

Still, it's given me a nugget of new information to share with my doctor, so hopefully it helps in the future.