So yeah, I know this took awhile. I apologize for my absence.

And my editors will not be receiving their pudding pops.

Matthias stood lazily against the far wall of Mike’s apartment, a red cup of whatever was in the punch bowl at that current moment in time in his hands, but he dare not drink in fear that someone had spiked it. The room was relatively empty apart from several groups of ponies and humans chatting over the loud music, each were separated according to their species.  

Matthias was surprised really. Twilight had spoke highly of Pinkies parties, saying that they were all the rage back where she was from, with the whole town in attendance and always waiting for the next one. However she had no idea how to host human parties; the music she had down, dub step and up to date dance music, but her idea of fun was a little off. Admittedly, the amount of people that were in the room had severely decreased since the part had started.

“Hey Matthias.” Mike greeted coming up and standing next to him. “Enjoying the party?”

“About as much as the people who are walking out right now.”

Mike turned to see the last of the guests walking out the door, each with an almost bored look on their faces, leaving only Mike and Matthias roommates who had hardly noticed the now almost empty dorm room.

“Hate to say it Mike, but this party is dead.” Matthias stated.

Mike nodded in agreement taking a sip of the punch in his hand. “I guess it’s a little early to be throwing a party with everyone so unsure about the whole cross species thing.”

“C’mon guys, just because everyone else is a party pooper doesn’t mean we can’t have a good time.” Pinkie stated.

“How about a few good party games?”

Mike shrugged. “I’m down, Matti are you in?”

“Better than just going back to the dorm and sleeping.” Matthias shrugged

“Awesome!” Pinkie stated. “C’mon everypony, let’s play truth or dare.”

“Okay Pinkie truth or dare?” Rainbow asked with a mischievous grin.

Pinkie pondered for a moment placing a hoof to her chin. “Dare! I mean Truth!”

“Okay… have you ever kissed a mare?” Rainbow asked.

“RAINBOW!” Rarity stated. “That’s no question for a lady!”

“Of course, I used to kiss my mother every night back when I was little.” Pinkie replied with a smile.

Rainbow paused for a moment, unsure of what to say next.

“No Pinkie, have you ever kissed someone like… I don’t know Ditzy?” Mike explained.

“Why me?” Ditzy demanded.

“You were the closest.” Mike deadpanned.

Pinkie pondered for a moment. “No, I don’t think I’ve ever kissed Ditzy before.”

“Just forget it.” Mike face palmed. “Pinkie, it’s your turn.”

“Okay Mike, truth or dare?” Pinkie asked.

“Dare.” Mike replied.

“Okay, I dare you to eat a cupcake…”

“Pinkie that’s hardly-“

“While standing on your head.”

Matthias let out a small chuckle at Mikes expense earning a hateful glare from the boy as he got up and walked over to the wall, Pinkie trailing close behind carrying a small pink cupcake atop her head.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the group Twilight stared intently at Matthias as he went along his business, taking note of his features and how certain muscles moved when he would laugh, or occasionally yawn, stopping only to compare them to Mikes or to avoid his gaze. “If only he didn’t wake up yesterday, I could have seen him in detail.” She thought to herself.  Suddenly a nearby cough broke Twilight’s concentration and her gaze shifted to the now upside down shape of Mike who now had pink frosting on his mouth, Pinkie rolling on the floor laughing along with the rest of the group.

Getting up from the ground Mike wiped his moth with the back of his hand. “Physical impossibilities aside, that was pretty good.” Mike chuckled as he walked over and took his place next to Lyra and Rarity. “Okay Twilight, your turn.”

Twilight snapped back to reality meeting the gaze of those around her as they waited for her to take her turn. Her purple iris looked at each one of them, at first she considered asking Rarity what the sauciest romance novel she has ever read was, but as she thought about it further, and she hoping to ask Mike or Matthias something about humans but she could probably get the same answers if she asked either of them later. “What would be something that she could ask of them now that they couldn’t refuse to answer?” Then it hit her. “Matthias, truth or dare?”

Matthias thought for a moment. “What’s the worst that could happen right?” “Dare.” He replied, full of confidence, ready to face whatever Twilight was going to throw at him.

A smile decorated Twilights face. “I dare you to become my personal test subject while you are staying in the room.”

Matthias was taken aback for a moment unsure of what exactly was just asked of him. “What do you mean Twilight?”

“Yeah, surely you can’t mean like a sex slave right.” Mike asked in disbelief.

“What? NO, get your minds out of the gutter!” Twilight said with an unmistakable blush on her cheeks. “I just want someone I can research for my human studies here on earth.”

“Perchance I don’t agree to this.” Matthias said.

Suddenly Pinkie popped up next to Matthias getting eye level with him. “It’s truth or dare Matthias, you made the decision with dare, so now you have to follow through with it, those are the rules.”

Matthias looked towards Mike for some sort of way out of all this. “She has a point man.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Matthias said running a hand through his hair. He let out a final sigh of defeat before finally saying “Fine”.

Mike lay lazily in his bed staring up at the ceiling. It had been a little over an hour since everyone had left his room leaving him alone once again in his empty room. Even after the second day he hadn’t met the individual staying with him in his room, even though it had its stuff there which included several books on the shelf’s and posters hanging on the walls which had several pony celebrities on their face. He let out a sigh closing his eyes and trying to fall asleep.

Suddenly a knock came from his door followed by the mint green shape of Lyra walking inside. “Hey Mike, are you up?” she asked coming up to the bed.

“Yeah, I’m up Lyra.” Mike said sitting up and facing the unicorn. “Sorry I was just resting my eyes.”

“It’s fine.” She said with a smile as she hoped up and sat beside Mike. “So wild party tonight huh?”

“The wildest college party I’ve ever had. How did you enjoy yourself?” Mike joked rustling her mane.

“Personally, I found it to be quite tame compared to Pinkie’s other parties.” Lyra started. “But I had fun.”

“How’s Pinkie taking it?”

“Better after Rarity talked to her. I swear that pony over reacts to everything negative.”

“She seems like she be the one to do so.” Mike joked earning a laugh from Lyra.

The room fell silent as the two sat there for a moment, occasionally glancing at the other, Mike noticed a small blush on Lyra’s face every so often, and she would often glance up at him only to look away quickly.

“Something on your mind Lyra?” Mike asked earning a surprised squeak from the mare.

“N-Nothing wrong!” she said.

Mike raised his brow. “You know you can talk to me about anything right?”

Lyra didn’t say anything at first only started messing with her hooves shifting them back and forth nervously. Slowly she took a final breath before looking up at mike. “Can I ask you something Mike?”

“Sure go ahead.”

“How do you feel about cross species relationships?”

Mike let out a long sigh looking up at the ceiling. Only earlier today he was talking to Matthias about it, and he was obviously against it. However as the day had went on and he saw many ponies talking with humans and even some getting close, he was starting to look at it differently; perhaps a relationship with a pony wasn’t the worst possible thing ever.

“Sorry if I made this awkward.” Lyra stated

“Oh no your fine.” Mike stated rubbing her mane again. “Personally Lyra, I’m still a little unsure about the whole thing, but in all honesty, I think I’m okay with it.”

“Do you think you could ever be in a relationship with a mare?”

Mike nodded. “I think that I could see myself with a pony, I mean they’re not all that different from human’s right?”

Lyra smiled as a small blush appeared on her face.

“Why do you ask, have I caught a mare’s attention?” Mike asked giving Lyra a small smile.

“Y-Yes actually she came up and talked to me tonight to see if you wanted to possibly become closer.” Lyra blush deepened.

“What is her name? That way I can go talk to her about it, maybe ask her out.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that, it’s the mare’s job to approach the stallion.”

“What do you mean?”

Lyra looked at Mike a little confused before her features relaxed a bit. “Oh yeah, the gender roles are flipped here. Basically the mare is the dominate one in any relationship, the only thing the stallion has to decide is whether or not he wants more mares in order to start a herd.”

“Whoa, you lost me. Did you say a herd?”

Lyra laughed a little. “Wow things really are different here.” Lyra shifted where she sat to look at Mike more directly.

“Back in Equestria the number of mares outnumbers the number of stallions living there, if I had to guess I think it’s about seven mares for every one stallion.”

“Wow, must be hard to find a mate.”

“Not when you have a herd. When in a relationship with a mare, the stallion can decide to allow other mares into the relationship. Up to at least 6, but I’ve never heard of one going past that.”

“Geese, this is quite a bit to take in.” Mike stated running a hand trough his hair.

Lyra laughed hopping of Mike’s bed. “Don’t think about too hard big guy, you might hurt yourself.”

“I’ll try.” Mike stated. “By the way Lyra, how will I know when a mare is hitting on me?”

“Oh don’t worry, she’ll make it obvious.” Lyra stated with a wink before heading out the door leaving the very confused human alone to comp template what the mare had said.

Matthias sat uneasy on his bed watching as Twilight jotted down notes in her notebook. She would glance back once or twice, giving the occasional smile before returning to her notes.

“Okay Matthias, let’s start this easy, let me see your hands.” She said hopping off her chair and walking up to Matthias.

“Can’t we talk about this?” Matthias asked. This earned a cold glare from the purple unicorn. “Forget I said anything.”

Twilight nodded as she approached the human’s hand, the black journal floating beside her with a pencil not too far away. With one look she was instantly taking notes the pen going faster than Matthias could comprehend, and only stopping when she changed angles or asked Matthias to turn them over or bend a finger.

Twilight let out a sigh of satisfaction. “Alright the initial observation is done, do I have your permission to touch them?”

Matthias nodded.

She approached one hand and putting one of her hoofs in his open hand the other underneath to hold it steady. Admittedly Matthias had to admit that Twilights hoofs were softer than he expected but he didn’t say anything as she continued to examine his hand turning it over several times, and squeezing it between her hooves curiously examining each finger with the same amazement.

With another satisfied huff Twilight released Matthias’ hand happy with the results, not to mention that she got to hold his hand for a little bit.

“Is that all?” Matthias asked in disbelief.

“That’s all for tonight.” She confirmed. “Tomorrow I’m getting your arms.”

“That’s it? No bone counting or midnight feel-ups?”

“Not unless you want them.” Twilight joked looking back and winking at the human. “Besides, I already counted the bones in your hand; I’m a pretty good multi-tasker when I want to be.”

“Well alright then.” Matthias stated leaning back and placing his head on the pillow.

The two sat in silence for a while as Twilight touched up a few things around her desk preparing for her classes tomorrow occasionally glancing over at Matthias who was playing on his phone. For whatever reason, out of all the humans she had met so far, he was by far the most intriguing, but she couldn’t put her hoof on it as to why.

Closing her notebook Twilight walked over and hopped up into her bed tucking herself under the covers turning the light off on her side of the room with her magic. “Good night Matthias.”

“Night Twi.” Matthias stated turning off his phone and turning over burying his face in the pillow. However he couldn’t fall asleep, for whatever reason he found himself thinking back to the party, how he caught Twilight staring at him every so often, as well as Twilights little examination only minutes before. There was just something that seemed off with the purple unicorn that rubbed him the wrong way, like she was hiding something from him. Shrugging it off Matthias turned over with his back to Twilight and slowly drifted to sleep. Whatever Twilight was hiding, could wait until tomorrow.