He'd left the toilet situation to Celestia, and ran out of the apartment as quick as possible. Exiting his apartment building to the streets below, a thought occurred to Pete. There was no way he could use public transportation for the massive amount of goods he was about to get. He was looking at a shopping trip of massive proportions, which meant his least favorite thing of all. Driving.

Fishing the keys out of his pants pocket, he unlocked the door to his mid 2000's sedan, purchased cheaply several years ago, and sat. He sat for at least five minutes, keys in, engine off. Finally, after a deep soul searching, he started the car, and went on his way. The traffic was surprisingly light for a week day, and there wasn't a line at the ATM drive through. Pulling out the daily maximum of $800, he made his way to a Wal-Mart.

The vegetables he grabbed were chosen completely at random, simply things he'd seen in salads. A few things that contained no meat, and weren't vegetables as well were picked up as well. Eggs, milk, cereal, basics. Of course, even as he shoved several rows of body wash and shampoo into his cart, he realized how ridiculous he looked. The lady running the checkout line gave him a solid reminder of that, as did the family he passed on his way back to his car. Having to put several bags in the back seat only solidified his dislike of this particular day.

Meanwhile

Twilight, having given up on her notes after only a half hour due to hunger, was next to Rainbow Dash in front of the couch. The unicorn had found several programs that involved human science, history, and more, and had taken to flipping between several of them. Dash, on the other hoof, was bored to the point of tears. Eventually giving up the idea of finding more awesome shows like that “Terminator” one, as long as Twilight had the controls, she got up and grabbed one of the books off Pete's shelf.

Pinkie Pie was cleaning up bits of the kitchen, mainly the oven and stove, while Fluttershy wiped down the counters and table with a damp rag. Applejack had asked them about their chosen activities, the pair responding that it didn't seem fair to be living there and do nothing, which had riled the farm pony for some unknown reason. Pinkie shrugged it off, but Fluttershy was worried. She raised animals, carnivores and omnivores weren't that scary, but Applejack seemed to be more than irritated at the human. Surely by now she would be over the fact that he had to eat meat.

Rarity was unaware of most of these things. The white unicorn had been the last to get into the bathroom that morning and was now taking her time doing what she could with the limited supplies in the room. Styling her mane had been the most difficult part, and she was absolutely going to speak with Pete about some more care products for the bathroom. With no idea when they were getting home it was important for a lady to be as prepared as possible. This thought led her down a dark road, however. For a minute, just a minute, she sat out of sight of her reflection, and cried. A lady did not actually lose control of her emotions in public, play them up, yes, overreact, sure, but a legitimate break down would be horrifying. So the privacy of the small lavatory was best. Once she'd finished, went back to her improvised beauty session. Starting with another face wash.

Celestia was once more on the roof, watching the morning sky. From her perspective, the world seemed not much different than the one she had came from. The sky was the same shade of blue, the sun just as bright, and the clouds still drifted. Not to say she saw no changes at all, the lack of pegasi pushing the clouds around, darting in and out of her vision, the sound of hooves on the streets below were replaced by a plastic clatter, and the smells were much less appealing.

It was about two hours before Pete finally returned, stepping inside with two plastic bags on each arm. Immediately Pinkie was up on him, taking the bags into her hooves and wobbling back to the kitchen with them, causing Pete to gape slightly at the sight. He told the others there were a lot more bags, and proceeded back downstairs to get them. A total of twelve bags were brought up, each taken by either Pinkie or Fluttershy. With his last trip complete, Pete kicked his shoes off as Luna walked up to him.

“A word, if I may?”

“Uh, sure, but I don't think we're going to get any alone space here. So I hope it's not sensitive.”

Luna shook her head, “No. I have found it to be … too noisy out here, and too bright honestly.”

“A problem I've had before,” Pete nodded, having been quite the night owl himself he knew the exact issue. “I'll tell you what. Since our sleep patterns are going to be roughly opposite, if you promise not to redecorate my room you can sleep in there during the day.”

“Rather a bland room than no sleep,” Luna said, just a bit quickly.

Pete gave the princess a light bow, and indicated her towards his room. She replied with her own mock bow and trotted off. After that the human stepped over to the kitchen area and began putting things away, directing the two mares as to what went where. When everything was squared away Pinkie set about making food for the ponies. It ended up just being a salad with the various things that Pete had bought, but in moments there were six hungry ponies gathered around his table.

“It's not the best. Actually its cheap crud from a global corporation, but I only bought enough to … hopefully, get us through the week. I'll find somewhere better by then.”

The ponies kept on munching, hunger overriding what they might normally have scoffed at, but a few made faces. Notably Applejack and Rarity started to eat much slower. Pete, seeing the obviously visible disgust, turned and pulled some cups out of a cabinet and filled them with water. Placing the first two next to Rarity and AJ, who downed the contents immediately.

“Well,” Rarity said, setting the glass back on the table and releasing her magic grip, “I suppose it will do for now. Better than starving at least.”

“Ah can't figure out what's wrong with it,” Applejack said, prodding the salad with a hoof, “How do ya mess up growin' vegetables?”

“It's not that they messed up. With that whole lack of magic and communication with nature thing you all have, humans have to resort to some drastic measures to keep our crops going. ...namely chemicals that kill bugs, and preservatives to keep them 'fresh'. The vegetables don't just get sent to this store either,” Pete continued, having finished giving a glass of water to every pony and refilling the two empty ones, “They ship this stuff from a few farms to stores all over the country. The only way they could keep up that kind of demand is with preservatives.”

“Don't people taste it though?” Dash asked, sliding her empty plate away, “I mean, are your taste buds dead?”

Pete laughed, “No, some do. That's why I said I'd find somewhere else to get food from in a few days. The problem with that is there's limited amounts and it's way more expensive.”

“Supply and demand,” Celestia, Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight all said within moments of each other. The strange echo causing the group to burst into laughter.

“I know, I know,” Pete said, his own giggle fit subsiding.

A few minutes later the meal was done, Pete making a simple meat and cheese sandwich for himself, and the dishes were gathered into the sink. Generally Pete did his own single dishes after every meal, but now there was a small stack, which made him wonder if it wouldn't be easier to just do them all after dinner before bed. Before he could voice this possibility, however, Pinkie started washing off a dish with a wet rag. Pete just shrugged and went along with it, drying each dish off as the pink mare handed them to him.

Pete went into the living room, the dishes finished in short order, and dropped down on the left side of the couch. Opposite from him was Rainbow Dash, the pegasus staring lamely at the droning documentary that Twilight was watching. The unicorn, seated on the floor in front of the couch, was wrinkling her muzzle at the film and glancing between the screen and a sheet of notes she'd made.

“Something wrong?” Pete asked, leaning forward slightly.

“I already found this out,” Twilight responded, levitating the remote and switching channels. “These things play a lot of repetitive information.”

“Yeah, TV, or television, is really more for entertainment purposes. Most folks get home and want to switch their brains off, not learn. So most of these educational programs are kinda bland or watered down. ...I got an idea.”

Twilight watched as Pete picked up his laptop from the other side of the room, then came back and sat next to her. He opened the lid, punched in his password and double clicked the internet. As it loaded he glanced to his side at the unicorn, who was watching the screen with rapt attention.

“This little tool,” he said, snapping Twilight out of her slight daze, “is called the internet. You type anything into this bar with these lettered keys and it'll display lots of articles and information on it.”

Twilight's eyes slowly went wide, the possibilities were endless. “D-do you think...”

Pete held the computer in front of her. “Why don't you go ahead and sit at the table in the kitchen and just use this for your research. ...just promise me you'll avoid looking up anything related to you all, Equestria, that whole subject.”

With several enthusiastic nods of agreement, Twilight snatched the laptop out of Pete's hand with her magic and trotted off to the kitchen table. The young man chuckled and sat back down on the couch, flashing a grin, and the forgotten remote, to Dash, who smiled back. Within moments they were sitting on one of the various movie channels that Pete paid for, with Kindergarten Cop playing. Not long into it, however, Rarity pulled Pete aside and brought up her desire for styling tools. Grimacing inwardly, Pete resigned and said he would get them first thing the next morning and returned to the couch.

Flopping down on the middle cushion this time and leaning his head on the back of the couch, Pete sighed and stared at the ceiling high above. His moment of introspection was cut short by a pair of hooves lightly banging on his leg and a muzzle buried next to his thigh into the couch. He looked down to the right to find Rainbow laughing loudly at some corny joke from the movie. The small pegasus was laying on her belly, wings lightly flapping, pounding his leg with her front hooves. The sight overwhelmed Pete and the human started to laugh himself, catching the attention of Rainbow Dash.

“W-what?”

“Nothing,” Pete replied, wiping a small tear out of his eye, “Just, the little wing flapping was too adorable.”

Rainbow's face puffed out in anger and she rose up to his height. Which meant only going to an actual sitting position, and looked Pete in the eyes. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“I just mean I don't think I ever saw that in the show. It's just cute.”

What followed was almost a full minute of pure, soul crushing silence accompanied by the greatest stare down ever given by a small pastel horse. Pete sat, his eyes fixed on Rainbow's, with an uneasy smile on his face, as the mare's expression turned to one of extreme dissatisfaction. Her ears went flat, her mouth was closed and expressionless, and her eyes were slowly turning to slits. What Pete did not realize was that, possibly due to her being the youngest and smallest pony of the group, Rainbow Dash hated to be called cute. Pete's mental faculties slowly shut down one by one as the glaring continued. Eventually his completely shut off brain could say only one thing.

“I-I like wings...”

Rainbow blinked, her expression turning to slight confusion. “Excuse me?”

Slowly the gears in Pete's head started to grind back into motion, and the man slapped his forehead several times with his palm, making Rainbow lean back in apprehension.

“I mean like in a way of, like, I just like them. I think wings are awesome, and that you're seriously lucky to have them,” Pete half dribbled out of his still mushy mind. “So I think it's amazing to be able to see what they do, even if it's something kinda simple. Like how they were just kinda flapping on their own.”

Rainbow's slight blush was hidden well by her fur, and she looked at the wall muttering a little “Oh” at the compliments. “W-well next time use some of those words instead of cute!”

“Duly noted.”

The light blue pegasus nodded and turned back to the movie, still too stunned to move from her new close proximity to Pete. The human was still recovering as well, his heart pounding in his chest, feeling as though he'd just averted an inter-dimensional crisis of misunderstanding. His brain was still grinding back up to speed, processing what had just happened, when Rainbow spoke again.

“S-so you, uh, you think wings are cool?” she asked, biting her lip slightly.

“Yeah,” Pete responded, his eyes getting bigger and enthusiasm showing in his voice. “Well, I mean, flight itself is awesome. Being able to fly that is. It's always been something I've wanted to try. We, that is, humans, have a lot of technology and stuff that can fly, nothing that replicates wings really, but still I always thought it'd be cool to do that. Be a pilot, fly around the world and stuff. So you being born with that ability is seriously awesome.” Rainbow had built up a steady blush again, this one more visible, but Pete seemed to not notice. “And that stuff you can do! Like the-the sonic rainboom! That's seriously just …” Pete mimicked an explosion coming out of his head, “It blows me away! I can't even … I just, it's amazing. I haven't even seen a real one too! I've only seen the kind from the show, which is probably missing a lot of detail considering how you all look. So I bet the real thing would be a thousand times more epic.”

Rainbow let out a shaky chuckle as a jolt of euphoria ran down her spine, causing her to shiver a little. Finally, she took up a slightly relaxed position and smirked. “Yeah, I am pretty awesome.”

Pete smiled back, “I know, believe me.”

Within moments the pair were back to watching the movie, but both had become acutely aware of the other. Around them the other ponies had mostly missed the little outburst, Twilight absorbed in the wonders of the digital world, Celestia back out on the roof, and Pinkie and Fluttershy in the kitchen. The only two privy to the full conversation was Applejack and Rarity, who had been talking with each other in the corner. When things went back to being quiet they shot each other glances of intrigue. Glances that turned to ones of scandal not long after.

When the movie ended, Pete lifted the remote with his left hand and started checking the guide for another good one. In the hour between his cognitive break down he'd managed to relax again, the pegasus next to him managing the same thing. The two were less than a foot away from each other, Dash had resumed her laying position, and Pete had his right leg on top of his left knee. As he continued to channel surf, his right hand, which had been propped up on the back of the couch, became semi numb and he started to move it. Passing over Rainbow's form his mind fell into auto pilot, and his hand descended to her back and began gently petting and rubbing the space between her wings.

A dozen thoughts rushed through Rainbow Dash's mind all at once, and pleasure was close to the top of the list. She knew what this normally meant, but she'd never heard of it being so relaxing. Not that she'd ever really minded a little wing touching, which Pete wasn't really doing. It was more between the wings, totally fine. Some more prudish, or shy, pegasi might have found it more of an intimate gesture, but not Rainbow. Subconsciously, a smile spread across her face and she settled down into the couch next to Pete. It took the man roughly five minutes before he came to his senses and pulled his hand off suddenly, a horrified look on his face.

“Oh jeez! I'm sorry!” He shouted and recoiled, causing the remote to fall to the floor.

“W-what?” Dash looked around, a little wild eyed.

“I was just petting you! I-I didn't mean to … ugh, crap.” Pete placed his head in his hands again and rubbed his face. “My sister has a lot of animals,” he started before Rainbow could, “So I'm used to being around things that are up on the couch and stuff and just petting them without realizing it. It must have just kicked in. I'm sorry.”

“H-hey, don't worry,” Rainbow Dash smiled reassuringly. “Nothing wrong with it. Just, uh, maybe ask next time, or give some warning.”

Pete nodded with his hands still on his face, but across the room Rarity and Applejack had entirely different expressions.

The petting incident had been the last for the day, Pete taking a trip to the bathroom not long after and then seating himself on the far left side of the couch when he returned. Dinner passed without much involvement. Pete had leftover burgers, which he ate far away from the ponies to avoid upsetting stomaches, and the ponies had more salads. Not long after dinner Luna woke up, which prompted Pete to head to bed. Bidding good night to his guests, the human closed the door to his darkened sanctuary and sighed. He had somehow hoped that living with eight magical talking ponies would be easier than it was. Pete dropped down onto his bed, removed his glasses and curled up next to the wall as he normally did. Sleep came in moments to the exhausted human, despite his nagging worries about tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the mane six were doing their own preparations for bed. The mass of blankets and pillows that had been mostly folded up and placed in the corner all day were pulled back out into several pallets, and the mares took turns using the restroom before laying down. It was in this moment, the group idly chatting about things, mostly Twilight mentioning parallels between Equestrian and human history, that Rarity brought up the incident on the couch earlier in the day.

“I hate to interrupt darling,” Rarity said to Twilight, who shown no sign of slowing down, “but there's something I'd like to ask Rainbow about.”

Twilight's face fell just a bit and a slow blush creeped up on her on her, “Oh … yeah, sure.” She had forgotten how uninterested her friends were in history and other academic pursuits.

“I wanted to ask, Rainbow, just when you became so … attached to our host?”

“What are you talking about?” The mare cocked an eyebrow at her friend. The incident largely forgotten by now.

“She's talkin about that 'petting' earlier on the couch,” Applejack said flatly.

It was Twilight's turn to raise an eyebrow. “Petting?”

Applejack nodded, “Yeah. When they were watchin movies. He started rubbing his hand on her back, and she was okay with it.”

Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie thought on that for a moment, none of them coming up with anything really wrong with it. Until Rarity spoke up again.

“It was focused between the wings ladies.”

While Pinkie and Twilight remained oblivious, Fluttershy's own wings suddenly sprung outwards and the timid mare turned crimson in the face. Twilight and Pinkie then followed suit with the blush, averting their eyes, and refocusing on Rarity.

“D-does that mean something?” Twilight asked, trying to ignore her semi aroused friend on her left.

“Ya tellin us that you, the smartest unicorn in Equestria, doesn't know about this?” Applejack kept her eyes on Twilight, however hard Fluttershy's slowly receding wingboner made it.

“I don't, though I think I can guess at the implications,” she replied, giving a tentative look to her left.

“It's fairly intimate, yes. Not really denoting anything, but certainly for somepony like Fluttershy you would need quite a bit of trust to touch there.” Rarity gave a little more elaboration, only touching briefly on the the wings being an erogenous zone, and focusing more on the level of trust even a pegasus foal would require to let something touch their back. “So, having been here hardly a day...”

“It seems kinda off, Twi.” Applejack concluded, then looked at Rainbow.

“What,” the cyan mare shrugged, “I don't think it's that big of a deal. I mean, look, we're living in his house, we can't go outside, we're already trusting him to feed us and all that, so what's one more little thing like that?” She topped it with a roll of her eyes.

“W-well, she has a point,” Fluttershy half whispered. “I-I mean, if we're relying on him to k-keep us alive already then I can see what she means.”

“It's still no reason to be gettin' all buddy buddy with him,” the farmpony retorted, her ears flat against her head. “We're gonna be leavin just as soon as Twilight and the Princesses figure this spell out.”

“Applejack has a point,” Twilight said, “But so does Rainbow. If she doesn't see the harm in it then who are we to say no? It's not like she'll decide to stay here when we leave.” Twilight laughed at that idea.

AJ sighed in defeat and laid down. “Suit yer selves, but don't say I didn't warn ya.”

“Well,” Rarity said towards Rainbow, after a moment of silence, “I was honestly curious about how he'd managed to sweet talk you into such a position.”

“He didn't really. … Well, I guess he did mention how awesome I am, but come on, that's a given.” She gave a cocky smile to her friends, “If I let everyone that brought up how awesome I am touch my wings I'd be too busy with that to get anything done.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and magically tossed her pillow at the arrogant pegasus, who responded in kind with her own pillow. The room devolved into a small pillow fight and giggles, except from Applejack who pulled her pillow over her head and sighed again. Once the pillow fight was over, and exhaustion from the day had set in the group laid down and slowly drifted off. Their first real day hadn't been nearly as bad as many of them thought, even Applejack had to admit that, and the worry and rush to return home abated somewhat from all but one of their minds.

Applejack couldn't believe how comfortable her friends had gotten. Sitting in the den of a meat eating creature twice their size, laughing and acting like they were at some casual slumber party instead of trapped in another world. Far from home, their families, other friends, it was jarring for her. Worse, Twilight hadn't spent more than a few minutes trying to figure out how to get home. It irked her so much! How could her friend just ignore her duties like that? Twilight was the one that cast the spell, MADE THE SPELL, and yet she was content to just read up about these creatures instead of find a way home.

AJ rolled over and kicked at the covers on her pallet. She was restless. Pacing the apartment all day hadn't even burned half her usual energy, and her thoughts weren't helping her get to sleep. She told herself that she'd talk with Twilight tomorrow, that's all she needed to do. The studious unicorn was known for being easily side tracked by things she found intriguing, so all she needed was a little push back on course. That was all. … She hoped.