“Aggghhhhhhhhhh!”

’Twilight. I’ve got it.’

“Oh Celestia this is insane!”

’Twilight. I’ve got it. Relax.’

“You’re crazy! You’ve got to be crazy?! Look how high we are! And we’re wobbling! Even I know we shouldn’t be wobbling!”

’Twilight. We’re only wobbling because you’re panicking and keep trying to take control from me. I know what I’m doing. Let me fly.’

’B-But we’re so high!’ The lavender alicorn’s wings quivered, his legs twitching and jerking in partial panic as he flew above the cloudline.

’Twilight, I know. But you have to trust me, I know what I’m doing. I’ve been flying for the past two years. Twilight, I’m trusting you to keep our minds separate, but I need you to trust me to keep this body safe.’

’I–... a-alright.’

There was a moment of confusion as Twilight tried to pull herself back, to curl up, but the action made their body tense, a flash of irritation from both of them and a hint of guilt and apology from Twilight before she forced herself to relax. The tension slowly bled from their body, the wobble disappearing from their flight.

Emeris flexed their wings, taking a slow breath, feeling the air rushing past their body... and started tumbling as their right wing started twitching and fell out of sync with the left. Thankfully, it only took a few seconds for Emeris to correct and they were soon gliding relatively smoothly again.

’Twilight!'

'I'm sorry! I'm sorry... This is... rather difficult.'

Emeris’ irritation faded some, being replaced with concern, 'What’s wrong?'

'This is not as easy as I thought it would be. It's not just a matter of allowing you control, I have to concentrate on not using my body.'

'...?'

'I know that we have to share this body, but if feels like it's mine. And to simply not use it... it's easier to say, or in this case think, than do.'

'I think we should find another way to handle this. Perhaps we could isolate certain muscle groups to one mind?'

'No, that could be disastrous if one of us become unconscious like you were earlier. I... I think that this is the best way,’ The alicorn took a calming breath, ’I just need to learn how to handle it.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes' Twilight thought with as much determination as she could muster.

'All right then, I'm going to gain some altitude.’

"WHAT?!” the alicorn twitched and jerked some in the air, 'Why would you do that!? We're already hundreds of hooves off the ground!'

'Two reasons: First, it's actually safer. The higher you are the more time you have to correct whatever problems you have.'

'... And the second?'

'For best results when working on control, you should do it in a stressful environment. So we're going to fly at altitude until you can handle that, then we can start having fun.’

’You are such a pain.

’And the worst part is that you know I’m right. Emeris practically radiated smugness, ’Now, are you ready?

Had anypony been around they may have been confused by an alicorn smirking and whimpering simultaneously.

’I’ll take that as a yes! Here we go! Emeris flexed their wings, and with a mighty flap, began to ascend.

’I’d like to amend my previous statement! You’re a bucking asshole!’

’Nice, isn’t it?’

The alicorn soared high above the earth, the world a woven network of green, the tan of roads and train tracks occasionally crossing the expanse. Houses were little more than dots far beneath them as they rode a powerful thermal, warm air rushing up against their body, filling their wings and holding them aloft. The wind rushed through their ears as the sun warmed their back, lighting the tops of the clouds beneath them in a brilliant gold.

’I... okay... it is kind of nice... the alicorn murmured in their thoughts, watching the the world pass beneath them.

’A bit easier to relax up here, isn’t it...?’

’Yeah, it’s... it’s soothing...

There was a flash of memory, of soaring above the sky itself, unimaginable cold at their back, feeling the world shifting and moving beneath them, far away from the troubles, from the insanity and pain, from the temptation far below.

’... you’ve missed this... haven’t you...?’

He was silent for a long moment, slowly adjusting his wings to stay within the thermal, ’... flight was the only good thing that came from being an alicorn... from being a Gary Stu... I... I really enjoyed it, it’s the only thing I miss from that time...’

’... Emeris... are you going to be okay?’

’... yeah... yeah, I will. Just... it’s weird to want something from those two years... There was a moment of melancholy, of despair, but it was pushed away, the alicorn’s head shaking slightly, ’Regardless, how are you holding up?’

’Emeris, I’m not entirely sure that–’

’I know what I’m doing Twilight,’ he snapped, irritation flaring before being pushed aside, an embarrassed and apologetic emotion flowing back through his response, ’So... how are you holding up?’

Twilight’s thoughts were kept to herself for a long moment before she responded, ’I think I’m handling the altitude better now... I should be able to handle more.’

’Good. Because after that horrendously sobering thought I kinda need the adrenaline rush of pushing a body to its limits. Hold on to your hat, you’re in for a ride.’

The alicorn’s wings tucked as he rolled in the air, Twilight felt a thrill of fear even as a pleasant calm settled over Emeris.

’Oh Celestia...’

Emeris dove.

Twilight whimpered in their mind as the world rushed up to meet them, but forced herself to relax with considerable effort. Carefully opening herself to the mixture of calm and excitement pouring off of Emeris’ helped. She was scared, there were no two ways about it, they were diving towards the ground at a high speed and she knew exactly what such an impact could do to a pony... but for every ounce she was afraid, Emeris was serene and exhilarated.

But, if they were to make this fused body thing work, they’d have to trust one another, and ideally, be friends as well. So, as terrified as she might have been, as worried and uncertain, she was willing to trust Emeris.

As the treeline approached, their body twisted and their wings flared out, catching the currents of air and sending them soaring once more, this time at cloud level over the Everfree.

The fused alicorn performed aerial acrobatics over the Everfree, dipping and weaving among the clouds. The once-again-alicorn was not a stunt flier like Dash, and in truth, lacked finesse, possessing only mediocre talent. But as the athlete had said, this body had immense power, dodging clouds was far easier when it took only a single wingbeat.

While Twilight didn’t find the same thrill and excitement in the athletic dance Emeris performed, but... she could see why he did. The pumping adrenaline, the rush of the wind, the feeling of power and athleticism, the thrill thrumming from his mind... there was something to this.

It took almost an hour of this aerial ballet for them to tire, during the time, Twilight slowly relaxed into their strange agreement. It became easier to allow the more skilled and athletic unicorn to control their body, they had a few issues, one time Twilight had twitched in spite of herself and sent them careening into a cloud, but thankfully their body was far tougher than Twilight expected.

Maybe, just maybe, this wouldn’t be so bad...

Spike was sorting through the wealth of books the Library had stocked for ones that might help Twilight un-fuse herself from this Emeris guy. Something had gone wrong, just like Spike had expected, but... this was a fair bit more “gone wrong” than he’d anticipated.

Well, no matter what, they’d have to–

*Pop!* “Spike?!”

The dragonling scrambled to keep a hold of the stack of books in his claws at the sudden appearance of of a lavender alicorn right behind him, his (her?) voice warbling weirdly as if they couldn’t decide how to speak.

“Ah, there you are! Could you take some notes down for me... please?”

“S-Sure thing Twilight,”

The alicorn paused, a strange look coming over his face, “Emeris is awake again, we’re both in here now.”

“O-Oh...” Spike blinked, well, now it was awkward... “Um... hi?”

The alicorn facehoofed and... his voice changed? The tone and accent were slightly, but very noticeably different, “Ugh... sorry... this is awkward for us too. We... this is just weird. We’re still getting used to all of this and any help you can give would be great, just pretend that I... Emeris that is, am not here...” the alicorn paused, spacing out slightly before shaking his head, “And sorry if we start talking to ourself... selves? Anyways. Sorry if we start doing that, it helps keep things organized up here,” he tapped his temple with a hoof.

“Oh... um... okay?”

Sighing, the alicorn rubbed his head, “Let’s... let’s just get started on this...”

’Emeris?’

’Hrn...? What is it? I jus’ woke up...’

’What is this?’

’What is what...?’

’That!’ she snapped, overwhelmed with embarrassment and awkwardness.

Emeris became aware of a reasonably natural biological event that occurred in males during awakening.

’... oh. That. That’s, ah... that’s normal unfortunately.’

”WHAT?!”

“Twilight! You okay?!”

“Y-Yeah! We’re fine! Just-... just adjusting! First time waking up like this and all!”

’This isn’t the first time we’ve woken up like this!’

’He probably won’t think of it and damnit! Do you want to explain to him what the problem is?!’ Emeris snapped back, almost as embarrassed and awkward as his headmate.

’...’

’I didn’t think so,’ the former human grumbled, more than a little snippy himself, Now yes, this is unfortunately normal for males. It goes away eventually.’

’Oh... that’s... um...’ a tumult of emotions radiated from Twilight, embarrassment, awkwardness, apology for her reaction, disgust and curiosity at the biology.

Emeris’ responded with a similar mess of emotions, embarrassment, awkwardness, irritation, but also understanding.

Jerkily getting out of the bed, the two wordlessly communicated, half-formed words slowly becoming pure transfers of emotion with flashes of information attached. Both seeking a more efficient and less confusing way of communicating with one another without losing their identity.

It was a testament to their combined intelligence (both in a literal and metaphorical sense) that they were able to come up with a coherent system before they got to the dinner table, going through the suddenly extremely awkward morning routine at a snail’s pace.

Even something as simple as dealing with their hair/mane was a problem, they had to brush their tail and mane, as per Twilight, but really work at it due to having some of the unmanageable aspects of Emeris’ hair. Their habits and automatic motions were awkward and contradictory, not to mention the basic biological functions that were required.

In those thirty minutes of morning prep, the two learned more about one another than most married couples do over years.

It was not pleasant.

Rubbing their face with a hoof, the alicorn groaned softly, leaning against the table.

’Tea.’

’Coffee.’

’Tea’s sweeter.’

’I have coffee.’

’Coffee’s bitter.’

’So is tea.’

’Tea’s better with honey in it.’

’I only have coffee. And we’re not going outside like this.’

’… damnit. Lots of cream and sugar then.’

’I like it black.’

’And I generally loathe coffee, and I’m not particularly eager to find out how our preferences for flavors interact in this body. Lots of cream and sugar.’

’... urgh, fine. Lots of cream and sugar.’

’Thanks...’

“Spike?” the alicorn croaked, “Could you help us get some coffee going? It’s going to be a long day...”

“Twilight darling, are you up?”

“Oh! Rarity!” the small dragon practically zipped to the unicorn’s side as she entered the Library, “She’s... well, they’re upstairs right now going through some texts.”

“Thank you Spike– wait, they?” Rarity’s eyes lit up, “Emeris is up?

“Um, yes–”

“Oh delightful! We were so worried!” the white unicorn began trotting towards the stairs, only to be intercepted by the purple and green dragon, “Spike?”

Spike scratched the back of his head, “Uh, well, they asked not to be disturbed for a bit...”

“But, why Spikey-Wikey? If all they’re doing is studying–”

A soft, but pointed voice interjected in the short pause in the fashionista's sentence, “Our own biology, which is awkward in and of itself.”

“Emmy darling?” Rarity’s eyes snapped up to the purple alicorn walking down the stairs, blinking before murmuring, “Yes, it is you, at least at the moment.” The alicorn made one of those amusing facial expressions that Emeris did at times, tinged with a bit of awkwardness that was entirely Twilight.

“It’s both of us, kind of simultaneously. We... it’s hard to talk sometimes since we both want to speak... but only one of us can without it coming out as a weird... thing.”

“No kidding,” Spike grumbled, “It was just Argleblarglebleeeaaauuuurrghghhh for a bit there.”

The alicorn flushed, and Rarity had to cover her mouth with a hoof to keep from tittering, “Well, that must be... frustrating... darling.”

“Extremely,” they grumbled.

Clearing her throat into her hoof to rid herself of her excess giggles, Rarity asked, “Anyways my dear...s is there anything I can do to help you? I know this is quite the mess and would be happy to assist you in any way I can.”

“There isn’t... well... maybe... it’d be nice if... but then... hrm...” the alicorn scowled for a moment, blinking as his mouth moved silently before shaking his head, “Could you bring us some tea and honey please?”

“... dear?”

“We’d... like some more variety in our caffine, Iagh..” the alicorn winced, flushing as Spike sighed and Rarity’s eyebrows rose, “Sorry... Twilight only has coffee and Emeris prefers tea.”

“Oh... alright,” while obviously somewhat conused about her friends peculiarities, Rarity was willing to accept them if it meant helping, still... “Are... you certain that there’s nothing else darlings?”

“As... as certain as we can be... we need to do some research...”

Rarity smiled gently at her friend(s), placing a hoof on (his? her? their?) shoulder, “It’s alright Twi-... you two, your friends are here for you, we’re certain that you two can fix this.”

Smiling weakly back, the alicorn nodded gratefully, “Thanks Rarity, we really appreciate it.”

“It’s nothing darling~ Though you simply must model some designs for me! Male alicorns are simply so rare that I’ve never had the opportunity to design for one!”

The alicorn couldn’t help it, he laughed.

“Dash! Sugarcube! Ya up there?”

There was a small groan from the window above the orange mare as the blue pegasus peeked out from her window, rubbing her eye with a hoof, “Yeah, wha-iz-it AJ?”

Applejack blinked before scowling disapprovingly up at her friend, “... did ya just wake up? It’s almost noon.”

A scowl that went completely unnoticed it seemed, as she just yawned, leaning against her cloud-window, “Yeah, and? There aren’t any clouds in the sky!” she waved a hoof at the completely clear skies.

With a groan, AJ face-hoofed at Dash’s laziness before shaking her head, “Anyways, I thought you should know that Emeris is awake again! Rarity just came and told me!” Applejack couldn’t help herself, grinning as she spoke. As frustrating as that stallion could be, she was happy that he was okay... well... maybe not okay, but he was awake at least.

Sure, she liked the stallion, but RD really liked him. Applejack had no doubt that the knowledge that he was at least conscious again would improve her day.

Or, at least, she’d thought it would.

“Yeah...” as hard as it may have been to see the pegasus from the ground, Applejack could almost swear that her face had fallen when she looked away, ”I know...”

The farm-mare blinked, staring up at her friend, “Y’know? When’d you find out? Rarity just told me and hadn’t gotten over here to you...”

Rainbow Dash shifted in place a bit, fidgeting, “I was there when he woke up, he did it when Twilight lost control while flying... totally saved their hay to be honest, it would’ve been a close save...”

“Then...” AJ blinked, the realization slowly coming over her, “Why aren’t ya more excited sugarcube? Ya sound almost sad...”

“W-What are you talking about? I’m really happy! It’s awesome!” even from the ground, it was obvious that Dash’s smile was forced.

Another scowl, this time fiercer, “What’s the matter Sugarcube?”

“Nothing! Nothing’s the matter at all!”

The smile became even more obviously strained... Something was wrong and by tarnation, she intended to find out what, “Sugarcube, you come down here and talk to me!”

“There’s nothing to talk about!”

“Horse apples! Something’s wrong! Why don’t you want to talk to me about it?”

“I–…” she obviously cringed, shifting in the window, “It’s mushy stuff, okay?!”

“Tarnation girl! What did I say about that stuff last time you said that?!”

She shifted uncomfortably, “... that that’s what friends are for...”

“Exactly! Now get your flank down here and talk to me or I’ll go grab Twi and Em and get them to drag you down to talk. You know they can and would!”

The normally confident mare squeaked, “You wouldn’t dare!”

“Ah would and you know it sugarcube! So get down here and talk to me or you’ll be talkin’ with them as well!”

“I–... a-alright...” almost hesitantly, she slipped out of the window and slowly fluttered down to AJ, her ears drooping and wings pressing against her sides. The blue pegasus pawed at the grass absently with her hoof as Applejack’s green eyes narrowed.

“Welp?”

“I-It’s awkward okay? It’s stupid mushy stuff. I just don’t do mushy stuff.”

“Sugarcube.”

“Alright!” the pegasus snapped before wincing and letting out a sigh, “… alright. Look, Em sent me away, okay?”

The implications of that made Applejack’s face soften, her tone a fair bit gentler than it had been before, “Hun, there ain’t no way he meant it like that and you know it.”

“I know!” she stomped her hoof, her teeth gritted before the fire left her eyes and she slumped, “... I know... just... it really hurt... and it’s not like I can just ask Emmy out now that Twilight and him are the same pony.”

“Well... ah suppose that makes sense...” AJ shifted slightly before something occured to her, “Just so long as ya don’t give up totally Dash, it’s not like this is gonna last forever. Both of them are real smart.”

“S-Sure thing, there’s no way I’d just give up that easily! That’s silly! Hehe...”

The awkward chuckle at the end of the sentence did not fill Applejack with confidence, “Sugarcube...”

“Oh! Look! Clouds off of schedule! I’d better go handle that! Talk to you later AJ!” and then the pegasus was gone in a streak of multicolored light before her friend could get a hold of her.

“... well... horseapples.”

“Aspect fusion?” turn and walk.

“No, neither of us had the appropriate Areo aspects to cause the creation of wings,” turn and walk.

“Could it have linked to my wards?” a pause.

“No... not really, if it had, we’d have more aspects of Celestia and Luna as those are the allowed beings aside from yourself, it wouldn’t have given us aspects of you and me,” the clopping sounds resumed.

“Damn... um... physical interweaving?” another pause.

“Well, it’s possible, we do have an increased mass... but not the right amount.”

“Damn, right, you only had about half my mass, but we weigh even more than that. Still, that brings up the question, where’d the extra mass come from then?”

“Pony-feathers, you’re right. That’s the thing though isn’t it? Where’d the mass come from?”

“That and the wings,” a growl, “Seriously, that was burned out of me and you’re a Unicorn, where’d these come from?”

Finally, their audience of one spoke up, “Can you two stop that?! Seriously! It’s not just weird when you talk to yourselves like that, it’s freaky!”

The alicorn glared at their assistant, but the purple dragon stood beneath it steadily, “Seriously, you’ve been pacing back and forth talking to yourselves for the past hour!”

“Spike, we need to figure this out,”

“But do you need to do it like that?”

The alicorn face-hoofed, “No... but... it helps. Especially for Emeris, he has trouble thinking without moving around,” there was a pause from them before they nodded to themselves, “Spike, you don’t have to hang around us when we’re like this. We’ve got to really think about everything we’ve researched for a bit before we look up anything else, feel free to take the day off.”

“... Twi?”

“She’s right Spike, we’re just going to be a pain in the a–... flank, right now.”

“If you’re sure...”

“Yeah, don’t worry, don’t stress over us, take some time off... just make sure that the sign says closed on your way out!”

While somewhat hesitant to leave Twilight, Spike wasn’t going to turn down the chance to enjoy himself. The young dragon quietly left the library, dutifully checking to ensure that the curtains were drawn and the door locked behind him, the closed sign up.

It was only once they heard the door close that the alicorn slumped to the floor, a somewhat dejected look crossing their face for the briefest of moments before it was pushed aside.

’We are not singing about how screwed up our situation is. Urges be damned. We’re not through yet.’

’Party pooper. … still... it looks hopeless.’

’It looked hopeless for two years Emeris snapped before his temper cooled, embarrassment and guilt flooding them because of his outburst ’... sorry, just... look, we can handle this. It’s only been a day, we just finished our research, we haven’t gone through all of the possibilities, and I don’t know about you, but I’m not about to give up. I will never give up.’

There was an unintentional flash of memory between the two, ’... one foot in front of the other until the end of time... because if you don’t, then you’re no better than dead... you really believe that...’

’... yeah... had to keep telling myself that even before coming here, I’m naturally predisposed to depression and I had to internalize a way to mitigate it...

’... was it really that bad?

There were flashes of days, weeks spent uselessly, unable to muster up the desire to do anything but go through the motions. Months of an ache in his chest, of nothing being fun, of nothing being accomplished... not because there was nothing to accomplish, but because there was nothing he could bring himself to do. While unpleasant for Emeris, it was particularly poignant to the studious and determined Twilight.

’Sorry... didn’t think that’d be that harsh for you... the alicorn flushed in embarrassment, he’d only meant to respond to her question, not actually bother her.

’Don’t be, you couldn’t have known. And if it was that bad for you, you had a reason to internalize that... though I do have to say that your response was a bit extreme, you went to the other side of the spectrum.’ Twilight teased half-heartedly, ’You went from a timid puppy to a rabid timberwolf.’

’… I’d prefer to be compared to a kitten and a tiger thank you very much… more of a cat person…’ Emeris sent back through their conjoined minds.

The amusement from Twilight was tainted with despondence, and the two were silent for a long moment before Twilight sent back, ’… forced levity isn’t exactly effective when it’s in your own head huh…?’

’Not really, no,’ Emeris’ thoughts were faintly amused as well, sharing his headmate’s despondence and resignation, ’That’s… that’s why I tend to get angry… as a great speaker before my time said, ‘When people get sad, they just lay around and moan about being sad, but if you get people angry, they get things done.’ Might be paraphrasing that, but… it’s the truth.’

There was a pause from Twilight as she absorbed that, before she gently, but amusedly suggested, ’Why don’t we skip the getting-angry step and go straight to the getting-stuff-done part?’

Applejack pushed her way into the library, being sure to close the door behind her with a hoof, the basket of treats (both apple-based and not) swinging in her mouth, “Sh’ike?”

“AJ?” the purple dragon peeked out from the kitchen, “Hey, they’re in the lab, something about jeans or something,” he jerked his thumb in the direction of the door to the basement, walking to it himself, “I’ll open the door for ya.”

“Shanks Shpike,” walking through the offered door, the cowpony headed down into the cluttered basement. A number of machines were on, beeping or flashing, some whirring and moving, others bubbling... eventually, among all the things, Applejack found her friend(s) glaring at a set of test tubes, their horn glowing slightly.

“Allo Twi, Em.”

Usually, when Twilight was interrupted while in her ‘sciencey’ mode, she’d either jump a mile in the air or ramble about what she was lookin at, instead, the alicorn waved a wing at her, “Hey AJ, Twi’s a bit out of it at the moment, she needs to focus on the magic right now. Thanks for bringing food by the way, I keep getting caught up in Twilight’s fits of genius and we’ve been forgetting to eat. Definitely a first for me...”

Applejack set down the basket of treats on a clear spot on one of the tables nearby, “So how’s things been goin’?”

“Mmm.”

“That bad huh?” she walked over beside the alicorn as he ruffled his wings, an unhappy look on his face.

“Not really, it just feels like we’re out of our depth.”

“Really? That’s surprisin, y’all are two of the smartest ponies ah know...”

“Thanks, but it’s not just about being smart. This is completely unlike conventional magic. It really feels like we’re starting from scratch. It’s...” he gestured with a hoof, trying to find the words before inspiration struck him, “It’s like trying to get apples, but there aren’t any trees around so we’ve got to grow our own.”

She blinked before asking for confirmation, “An the apples in that are the solution to this mess?”

“Yeah. If this was a normal problem, Twilight or I, probably Twilight,” he admittedly easily, “Would be able to draw on our existing knowledge of magic and fix it. But it’s not. This is something that conventional magic considers impossible.”

Applejack felt her heart plummet, worried for her friends, “Then... how are ya gonna fix it?”

“Step one is figuring out what actually happened. Once we get that, between the two of us, it should be relatively easy to figure out how to fix it. We’ve already gone through some of the more likely explanations and discarded them, we’re currently testing one of the other possible ones...”

“Is... is there anything ah– we can do for y’all?”

“I wish...” the alicorn sighed, glaring at the test tubes still, “But at the moment, we’re just getting–” he trailed off, his differently eyes unfocusing for a moment, “Ah... hrm... okay... well... well.”

“Um, Em?”

“Sorry, we just finished the experiment... it’s... the data’s confusing at the moment... but... promising,” the small smile on the alicorn’s face was hopeful.

“Oh, good,” a small sigh of relief escaped Applejack as the alicorn began to move the test tubes around, placing some in machines while others into a cooler, muttering to themselves more animatedly than Twilight normally would have. Then again, they could literally talk to themselves...

Still, she wasn’t here to listen to her more bookish friends talk to themselves, and dropping off the food had only been a part of it.

“Anyhow sugarcube,” she interrupted the alicorn’s musings, “Ah just was wonderin’ if there was any chance we’d get in any more tutorin’ or if we’re gonna have to wait till y’all figure this out?”

A sad look spread across the alicorn’s face, “We’re going to have to wait AJ, neither of us wants to risk this turning out to be the curse returning, so we’re trying to get it handled as quickly as possible.”

Applejack schooled her facial expressions, trying not to show the brief bit of sadness that news brought. It made sense, preventing that curse from coming back. But still, a small, traitorous part of her wished her friend could keep tutoring her. Sure, he could be a pain in the flank sometimes; but the lessons made her feel smart, and it was nice to spend time with a friend, “It’s alright, ah understand, just wanted to be sure an’ all.”

The gentle nudge against the underside of her chin made Applejack flush as she turned to the alicorn who had gotten considerably closer, “Applejack, I’m sorry about this mess, once we get it fixed, we’ll catch up on everything we missed, promise.”

“Ah– a-alright,” surprisingly flustered, Applejack couldn’t do much more than nod, “Thanks, Ah-Ah’ll be goin’ now, let y’all work an’ everything.”

“AJ–” the stallion started to raise a hoof, but she’d already practically dashed back up the steps.

“Talk to you later sugarcube!”

The door was closed behind her before the alicorn could say anything else. Heaving a sigh, they facehoofed, “Damnit.”

’Y-You–... I... we... but...’

’... what?’

’Since when have you been flirting like that?!

The male of their combined mind nearly jumped from their skin at that, ’I– I–… I suspected but…she just looked so sad and… and I couldn’t just do nothing!’

’There are any number of things you could’ve done! You could’ve just said something! Put your hoof on her shoulder! Nudged her! Why–‘ There was a flash of memory, of Applejack with the sun rising behind her as she worked, of her face whenever she was teased, of wrestling with her, of teaching her and learning from her, of the warmth that spread in his chest when he made her smile, ’… oh. Oh.’

’Sorry… I can’t… I can’t control my stupid heart… and I just… I just do things sometimes before thinking them all the way through…

Embarrassed for a multitude of reasons, Twilight covered their face with a hoof, ’Ugh… just… can you court her after we’re separated please?’

He groaned through their conjoined minds, ’Don’t worry, I’m not even seriously considering a relationship at the moment. I’m still adjusting to the idea that someone close to me isn’t trying to get into my pants.’

’Get into your pants…?

’Ah, um… sorry, it’s a euphemism for sex.’

’... that’s... ugh...

’Yeah, sorry.’

’Is it... really that bad?’

’I... had a rather significant freak-out when Rarity got a bit too close to me... I’m still a bit... ah... fucked in the head from then...’

There was a wordless ‘Why?’ from Twilight that was met by flashes of memory, of the many times that interaction with ponies had devolved into him being molested, of the many times a pony close to him meant that they were about to either molest or attempt to rape him.

The alicorn flinched at the memories, both the giver and the receiver, ’Sorry... I–... I didn’t mean to show you that... just...’

’PTSD... you have PTSD...

There was a flare of confusion from Emeris before the acronym was translated, ’Oh... oh. Um... yeah... I... I guess I do... an unidentifiable mess of emotions washed through him at the realization, bleeding over their link, Sorry... I–... sorry that you’re stuck linked with me like this.’

’No! No... you don’t have to be sorry. I got us into this mess, this is my fault. Don’t... don’t apologize for that...’

’I–... okay...’

A long, awkward silence settled over the two of them as their minds withdrew from one another, trying to absorb the information and revelations between them. Emeris trying to sort out how he felt about being more distorted and messed up than he’d originally assumed... and Twilight as she tried to understand, really understand what it must’ve been like, what the effects on one’s psyche would have been to have ponies, all ponies, be like that... and that she was stuck linked with him, their minds fused and bleeding over into one another. They’d just had uncomfortable revelations about love, sex, and trauma, awkward didn’t even start to cover it.

There was a pulse of thought that could only be likened to a cough between them, ’Well! We should get back to work.

’Yes! Right. Lets. Where were we?

“Twi? Em?” Dash knocked on the door of the library hesitantly, “I got the letter from Spike, what do you want–”

There was a sudden lurch and a flash of purple and as the pegasus stumbled around, she realized that the world around her had become the inside of the library, “–orry, Spike’s not in and Twilight didn’t want to open the door.”

“Wha–?” blinking her rose-colored eyes, Dash swung her gaze around to find an apologetic looking alicorn beside her.

“We said that we’re sorry for that. Twilight didn’t want to open the door and Spike’s not in at the moment,” his wings shifted uncomfortably against his sides, though something was... off... “Twilight’s been more than able to teleport others for a while now, but Emeris’ power and magic made the spell a bit different than she’d thought it would be. We’re sorry about the disorientation.”

“Oh... okay... just... um, don’t do that again please?” there was something off about the alicorn, and Dash couldn’t put a primary on it. Sure, she’d only seen her friends combined like this for a little bit a few days ago, but something definitely seemed off about them right now... “I mean, why didn’t you two just yell for me to come in?”

The alicorn blinked before face-hoofing, “Right. Sorry. Should’ve done that. Won’t happen again.”

Rolling her eyes at her friends antics, Dash waved it off, her worries fading, “Yeah yeah, anyways, what’d you two need me over for?” it was still weird knowing that she was talking to both Twilight and Emeris at the same time right now... but it wasn’t ‘things are different between us’ weird, and that was a good thing in Dash’s book. Apparently they really had just needed to sort things out between themselves.

This relieved Dash more than she’d care to admit, she’d been more than a bit worried before, but... well... AJ had been right!

“Well...” the alicorn stretched out a wing, “We need-”

“Holy horseapples! What happened to your wings?!”

The alicorn winced at the reaction, “Ah... well... “

There was good reason for Dash’s response, at least in her eyes. The large and otherwise beautifully structured wings were a mess. Feathers were askew all over the place, the down was rumpled, some of the primaries were bent, and there were bits of dirt scattered through the wings, “Well what?! What the buck happened to your wings?!”

“Ah... we... we don’t know how to preen ourselves...”

“... what.”

The alicorn sighed, looking sheepish, “Twilight obviously doesn’t know how to preen, and, well, Emeris never had to learn while as Gary, his wings just stayed nice the entire time... so we never learned how to preen and... well... you can see,” the alicorn waved the disgusting wing slightly.

“You’ve got to be bucking kidding me...” the pegasus muttered in disbelief, “You never had to preen?”

“Not once, it was one of the little blessings of the state, though it was linked to that ridiculous mane. Blech.”

“And you wanted to get rid of that? Not the mane because that looked stupid, sure. But you wanted to have to deal with preening and crap?”

The corner of the alicorn’s mouth quirked up in a very Emeris-like smirk, a subdued smirk of meloncholy and amusement that seemed out of place on such an attractive face, “I wanted to be able to talk to others about things like that, not cardboard cut-outs speaking through them.”

“... oh. Heh... yeah... that must’ve gotten old quick...”

“You have no idea,” the alicorn groaned, a strange resonance to their voice, sounding like both of Dash’s friends rather than just one. With a sigh, the alicorn looked back to her, shifting his wings, “Still, could you help us out here? These are getting uncomfortable, making the neat-freak in Twilight go crazy, and not knowing how to do it is really bothering Emeris.”

Dash coughed slightly, looking away, “O-Okay, but why me? Why not Fluttershy?”

Their smile was gentle, “We wanted the best...” then it turned amused as the accent became distinctly Twilight’s, “Well... Emeris did.”

Flushing at the compliment, Dash smiled a bit, “Well you went to the right pegasus then! Now,” a wicked grin crossed her face, “Spread’m.” The alicorn coughed and sputtered, amusement and aghast horror competing on their face. It was a weird sound to hear a pony try to laugh and stammer and yell all at the same time.

After a moment of watching the alicorn’s confused emotions, Dash took pity on them, “Your wings of course, can’t help you out if you’ve got them tucked like that!” The affronted “Dash!” was all Twilight, but the chuckles were definitely Emeris, “C’mon! I’m serious, spread’m out.”

With a sigh, still obviously torn between a grin and irritation, the alicorn spread his wings out. Dash had to suppress a cringe, the wings really were pretty bad, her wings were one of the few things she was a neat-freak about, improper wing care could really hurt your flight performance after all.

With a sigh, Dash walked over and circled the still surprisingly large alicorn, taking in the mess that was their wings, “We should probably sit to make it easier for you to get to them huh...?”

“Yeah, and we’re going to be here a while, there’s a lot to do... yeesh. Did you even try to fix this?”

The alicorn coughed as their flanks sank to the floor, their wings twitching, “We started to, but were afraid we’d make it worse.”

Rainbow Dash scowled at the large wing in front of her for a moment, “Y’know, I’d almost say that’s stupid, but knowing you two, you just might’ve.”

“Oh hush Miss Crash,” the alicorn grumbled.

Victory achieved, Dash stepped up to the alicorn, coming to a stop as she approached his wing. Swallowing, she forced down her nervousness and issues. Sure, she was about to help an alicorn preen, an alicorn that happened to be two of her best friends at the same time, one of which she was very seriously considering asking to be her stallion...

But the two of them probably had no idea what they were asking! And it’s not like preening was automatically romantic or anything just... usually romantic.

Ugh. As awkward as this might’ve been for her, her friends really did need her help, those wings needed help. A lot of help. Sighing in resignation, Dash began to work

’... seriously. Two of my friends?!’

The male unicorn’s mind cringed away, ’Sorry! It wasn’t on purpose! I... they’re just so amazing... they’re strong and energetic... sorry... I... sorry...’

’I... ugh... no... I understand... just...’ the mare of the two groaned, their body facehoofing in exasperation. There was a surge of apologetic feelings from Emeris, but Twilight waved it off, ’No, really, I get it, I’m just surprised and... it was an automatic reaction. I spent years thinking you were taking advantage of my friends and finding out you actually like two of them is a shock.’

’I–... sorry.

’Don’t be sorry for your heart. Just... again, leave it all until after we’re seperate.

’Agreed, wholeheartedly. I don’t even know if I’m comfortable with romance right now, let alone interested in pursuing it... I know I’ve got way too many issues to work through before I even consider dating... hell, I thought that before you pointed out my full on psychiatric issues like PTSD, sheesh.

A sudden surge of emotion from her headmate made Twilight cringe, ’What is it...?’

’Just... I just realized that I’m broken... really broken...’

’Emeris...’

’Ugh. What a mess. Can we get back to doing things now? I’ll fix my brain after we get seperated. If anything, it’ll provide a distinction to help pull our brains apart.’ he grumbled.

Sympathy and unintentional empathy radiated from Twilight, the closest the two of them could get to a comforting gesture between them, ’Alright, I have an idea, but I’m going to need your knowledge of Countermagic here.’

’Alright,’ the alicorn took a steadying breath, the unnecessary emotions discarded, ’Alright.’

There was a soft tinkling of a bell as the door of the shop opened.

“Welcome to the Carousel Botique, how may I– oh! Applejack, how can I help you dear?”

“Ah... ah could use some help fixin somethin...”

Author's Notes:

Holy flying fuck (Pegasi Priests not included) that took way too long to get out. I'm very sorry folks. I got a job at a restaurant and between learning basically every job in it and filling in for the shifts we were missing as we've gone through half-assed employees... I've had very little free time until recently.

I'm sorry about this not being up to my usual standards of size, but I wanted to get this out sooner rather than later.

And gah, I'll be happy when the plot lets me get away from Emeris as the focus. He's the PoV character, not the focus of the story damnit! Ugh.

Regardless, thanks again to Aburi and Anhero for beta'ing and editing. And I am happy that we got to see another side of Emeris and Twilight both while developing their changing relationship. I'll just be happy when I can get Emeris to being more background observer than focus of the plot.

Anyways! Autobots! Roll out!