Keela watched in amusement as I drew on the piece of paper in front of me, my hoof moving surprisingly deftly as it manipulated the pencil. Working with a hoof wasn't that different from holding something when you could stick things to the surface of it using magic, I found out. I'd never had any issues learning to manipulate things with my left appendage, either. Maybe I had always used the left one?

We were in the lounge area of her lab. This vessel, I recently discovered, used to be a large research platform before it was refit with massive engines and used to escape from the Grosh. Now Keela was one of only three researchers who still used the lab section. We were entirely alone, so I felt reasonably comfortable being out and about. My transparent, barrier-body was in an almost perfect replica of my pony self due to the power of the book floating in my chest, and I was busy drawing while seated at a rather comfy table. As odd as the situation was, I'd been taking a bit of comfort out of the audacity lately.

It surprised me a little when I realized that Keela wasn't much bigger than I was in pony form. One thing I didn't recall was that Keldarians were rather small in stature. Standing up, she was maybe a meter tall at best.

"Oooh, she's pretty. You can definitely tell she's a female," my only companion commented finally, sliding closer to my energy body while peeking over my shoulder.

I raised an eyebrow and peeked back at her questioningly. "It surprises me that you can say she's pretty, not being a pony yourself," I pointed out, watching her snicker.

"Traits of attraction are surprisingly universal. I don't know if you recall, but some of our species took an interest in our allies too, even though they're practically hairless, gargantuan, and rather brutal. She's very pretty. I can see why you like her," Keela explained, catching me by surprise. No, I hadn't been aware of relations with our allies such as that. They seemed kind of gross to me, but I supposed everypony had their own tastes. Err, everyone.

"I didn't know that. Or at least, I didn't remember it," I reasoned, staring down at my rather based drawing of the absolutely gorgeous lavender unicorn. She didn't look nearly as good on paper; let alone in monochrome. Vibrant colors had oddly grown on me for some totally unknown reason.

My, dare I say, friend nodded politely, looking deeply amused. "I'm glad you patched things up with her, regardless. I didn't mean to get you in trouble. I'll refrain from sending things through the book from now on," she promised, averting her eyes as a light blush danced onto her cheeks.

"Eh, you know they already think I'm nuts. Maybe watching the paper pop out of me would convince them otherwise," I groaned out, trying my best to keep the bitterness limited. A sudden compulsion hit, and I followed it instantly without consideration.

"Hey now! Don't be so hard on yourself," Keela protested a few seconds after my forehead smacked into the surface of the coffee table. I felt nothing and barely resisted sighing. "Look, I might not know much about love, but I know if she really likes you like that, she'll come around eventually. Trust takes time to build up and you haven't been there all that long, really," she added several seconds later, apparently upon deciding I wasn't going to move anymore without further stimuli.

I shook my head against the hard surface, agreeing with, "I know I haven't been there that long. I'll be the first to admit that I don't compare in the slightest to Celestia. I'm just, I don't know, venting frustration at this point?" It was rather confusing to even me. Something told me that this was the first I had to deal with these kinds of feelings; they neither involved making something work or spontaneously making things no longer work, be it mechanical or organic.

She giggled again. I impulsively decided that it wasn't as nice of a giggle as Twilight's or Fluttershy's. "Their culture is amazingly peaceful, so you're very lucky, honestly. All of your new friends seem really nice, so I don't think you have anything to worry about. Rarity might actually really help Twilight see what she's missing, from the sounds of it," she added, gently rubbing my back. Well, the shield told me she was rubbing it. It wasn't like I could actually feel anything. Still, the sentiment could be appreciated, which she probably knew.

"See what she's missing?" I asked curiously, finally lifting my head off the table and looking back at her to my right.

Keela only snickered; her short whiskers wiggled in amusement as she grinned at me. "Call it a woman's intuition. Rarity spending so much time with you will probably vastly improve your relationship with Twilight," she explained, nodding twice at the end.

The concept was completely foreign to me. "How will hanging out with Rarity improve my relationship with Twilight?" I inquired incredulously, raising an eyebrow to my alien friend.

She just shook her head, looking impish now. "You'll see. If it makes you feel better, I can see why she likes you as well. If she's unsure of herself, you probably make her feel really comfortable, actually."

Okay, I give up. I was never going to understand females, and I was only wasting my time in the trying. Keela let out a humming noise and added more snickers, which started to annoy rather than placate at this point.

I glared at her, but she just hummed a little more insistently. If we hadn't been talking for the past, like, four hours, I'd think she was suddenly nervous about talking to me.

She gave me a questioning tilt of her head, causing me to realize that something was off. I shifted and turned away from her, but the tone and depth of the humming noise didn't change. Okay, that was weird. It wasn't coming from her, then.

"What's wrong, Mender?" she asked, voice shifting a little lower and more serious.

I glanced about, and realized the humming wasn't coming from anywhere. It was in my head, but exceedingly there. There! It was so real that it couldn't possibly be real. Oh crap. It reminded me of what that connection sounded like between the dimensions.

"There's a humming sound coming from my mind. I think it's something to do with the dimensional link. Weird," I informed, glancing back at her in confusion.

She frowned, and then shook her head. "I'm not doing anything differently. Perhaps you should try waking up real quick and seeing if it's not on that end?" she reasoned, shrugging her shoulders.

I contemplated it for a moment before deciding she was probably right. If Twilight had my head in a pot and was smashing it off the wall trying to wake me up, I should at least humor her. "All right. I'll tug on our link if I can make it back to sleep," I accepted, standing up off the couch again.

She nodded and smiled to me before everything went monochrome. I braced myself as I withdrew, keenly aware of the book hitting the couch cushion before everything fell backwards. It was kind of like falling and sliding at the same time, with a warm feeling of liquid running just along your skin. Rather peaceful once I stopped panicking the first time.

Then there was the sensation of waking up...

The room was almost pitch black, the only light being the soft moonlight coming through the side window next to the small balcony. Even that was reduced significantly by the heavy leaf foliage in front of it. Sometimes I forget that I technically live in a tree.

Remembering why I woke up, I perked my ears up for that strange humming noise. It didn't take me long to locate it in the relative quiet of the night. It was directed this time, clearly coming from downstairs. What was scary was that it was a familiar noise to me at this point. I'd not remembered much, but the humming noise advanced electronics made was still quite clear enough.

I slowly slid off the side of my cot, careful to ease my hooves onto the hardwood floor. They were significantly harder than the rest of my skin and would undoubtedly make noise if I rushed. Easing along and cringing at every creaking noise, I peeked over at Twilight and Spike.

My fillyfriend was completely under the covers at this point with just the tip of her head and horn sticking out. I smiled as I watched the blanket gently rising and falling with her slow breathing, a warm fluttering sensation drifting into my chest. I was glad we were on better terms now.

Spike hadn't moved either apart from rotating onto his back. His light snores were rhythmic and gentle, occasionally accompanied by a twitch of his legs. I tried not to chuckle before slipping past both of them and heading down the stairs.

Unfortunately, the first floor was far darker than the second, which only served to magnify my apprehension. I wasn't afraid of the dark by any means, but there was something absolutely terrifying about the unknown if you dwelled on it for too long. My eyes slowly got adjusted to the lack of light. Of course, they were drawn like a moth to a bonfire in the direction of the darkened corner. I knew that the cabinet was there, ominously hidden in the darkness. The happy feeling in my chest was gone in an instant, replaced by a nervous dread.

My ears twisted around and I almost groaned when I realized that was exactly where the sound was coming from. A few choice expletives were muttered under my breath before I gritted my teeth and inched closer to the three cabinets. My initial instinct was to run back upstairs and wake Twilight up, but I somehow doubted that would be met with much success.

My breathing became a controlled, stifled thing the closer I got to the cabinet as I tried my hardest to quiet any excess noise I might be making. Who knows what might be in the dark, listening intently for me to announce my presence.

I hesitated, stopping a meter away from the object of concern. Shadows seemed to cling to it and I was unsure if that was a product of my imagination or some nefarious will inside. Damn it. I was distinctly aware of the darkness around me, suddenly not wanting to turn around lest I come face to face with some grinning demon or maddening abomination. My heart beat faster as I almost saw its glowing red eyes in the dark as it got closer, smiling with rows of razor sharp teeth. Wicked instruments of torture and misery were in her hands as the shadows hid all but her weapons, clawed arms, and glowing eyes. I could almost smell the fresh blood that dripped off the twisted, serrated drill she held; the blades on it were curved perfectly to slide under and around the eyeball before she turned it on...

Shuddering, I snapped myself out of the darkening images and tried not to throw up. What the hell was I doing?! Glaring back up at the cabinet upon gathering my nerves again, my left hoof flared up with an inner light, bathing the entire lower floor with the intensity of a box of flares going off!

I whipped around instantly, expecting to see things burning away or writhing in agony in the sudden light. I was both disappointed and relieved to see nothing out of place at all. Have some guts, Mender! Damn it. My imagination was going to give me a heart attack.

Swallowing nervously after becoming satisfied that I wasn't going to be ambushed and torn apart, I slowly turned back around and glared at the cabinet. My flared up ball of light behind me split into multiple pieces and scattered about the main room, illuminating row after row of books along with the humble furniture, dwindling fireplace, shelves of instruments and scientific baubles, and entry to the kitchen. Nothing was out of the norm.

My eyes locked back onto the first cabinet directly in front of me. The humming noise was gone, apparently having disappeared at some point during my minor freak out. Maybe it got scared and ran away from me instead. I chuckled airily before resting my hoof on the door handle to the cabinet. Guts, Mender.

After a quick recollection of my breathing, I gritted my teeth again, threw up my forward barrier over my chest, neck, and face, and opened up the cabinet.

The rocks were just sitting there, exactly where she had left them. My spike of apprehension and preparation to defend myself was actually met with a bit of disappointment, honestly. I glared at the three blasted things, wishing I knew of a volcano to toss them into. Of course, even if I knew where one was, walking all the way there just to toss something in seemed like a major pain in the butt. Of course, magic existed, so I suppose Twilight could just teleport me there.

I shook off the distraction before sighing, a little tense still but with dwindling outlook on my mission. I hadn't managed to find the source of the noise after all. Why would rocks hum in the first place? Growing mildly frustrated, I reached out and nudged the left-most one with my hoof.

I could have sworn I pulled something in my chest with how fast I inhaled. Shoving myself backwards with all three remaining hooves probably didn't help either. The stone actually lit up when I touched it, glowing with a soft blue light that almost perfectly matched my coat! Upon retreating back to my meter gap, I whipped up my full barrier in front of me again and watched the stone through it, unable to help but shiver as that noise came back. Damn it! I should have woken up Twilight after all!

The stone wasn't very impressive for something potentially lethal. It glowed softly, barely managing the same strength as a candle. My eyes widened as its edges and cracks faded, however, revealing what I recognized as a wire frame design of blue lines. What the hell?! The blue light washed away the rock coloring completely before withdrawing deeper into the stone. That's when I realized that I could see inside of the thing.

The outer rock became a finely detailed, shaped barrier. It wasn't a rock at all! The wire frame dissolved at the same time the image of a rock did, leaving the barrier to shrink down to that of a glowing sphere instead. I started and backed up another half a meter as the orb of light drifted lazily out of the cabinet and stopped right in front of me. Oh crap. Was it sentient?

I instantly recognized the effect as a holographic display as it popped a 'box' up above it in the air. "Entity 002 Recognized" was displayed directly above it in darker blue, computerized print. Below that, slowly fading into existence, were smaller words as well. "DNA Scan Completed: Unlocking"

Well, that seemed a little strange. Actually, this entire event was a little strange. The rather non-threatening little orb of light then spontaneously vanished without so much as an announcement of intent. Two lightly glowing disks, much smaller than the original ball, fell out of the air from where it had been and landed abruptly on the wood with a light chiming noise that was entirely unexpected.

I blinked and tilted my head towards them before nudging the closest one with my shield. It mildly surprised me by doing absolutely nothing. Well that was anticlimactic. Still, I suppose I should be happy that I wasn't being hauled off into an alternate universe by eldritch physics tentacles only to die a horrible, squishy death in a void without a space suit. It could always get worse!

I dropped the extra shields in favor of just the skintight ones and nudged the coin-sized disks with my hoof this time. They continued their pattern of doing nothing, producing further mixed feelings in me. Huh. Upon closer inspection, I noticed they were comprised of two separate glowing sections. The outer ring was slightly darker in coloring and took up maybe a fifth of the radius in width. They looked kind of like an alien bit, almost, if I was comparing them to Equestria.

Finally relaxing a little, I picked one up with my magically enhanced hoof and stared at it. It was the same on both sides, as I kind of expected. This was strange. Why were these things inside of the rocks? Did they have anything to do with the effects from before with the tentacles and potential death? They felt warm to the touch and brought only more questions rather than answers; although it was safe to say that I had located the source of the noise after all.

The second coin-shaped disk proved perfectly identical to its partner, and I set both of them down on the coffee table. Systematically, I reached out and poked another one of the rocks, entirely unsurprised when it started doing the same thing. They were some sort of encrypted storage devices, I decided. Maybe it wasn't an 'accident' that they were sent with me after all. I was obviously on their list of individuals to reveal themselves to, after all. Entity two, huh?

"Mmph, what's with all the light down here?" I suddenly heard Twilight mutter from the stairs. Oh crap!

Totally caught red-hooved, I didn't even try to hide the glowing orb of light drifting towards me from the cabinet as I slowly looked over at her, trying to smile innocently. She stared blankly at me for a moment before shifting to a questioning expression instead, eyes locking onto the orb of light instead. "What are you doing?" she asked a moment later, continuing down the stairs at a more rapid pace. She thought this was something that I was doing?

"Uh, I heard a noise from the cabinet and went to check, and then, um..." I tried to explain before faltering. I realized I didn't exactly know how to explain what was going on in the first place.

Thankfully, I didn't have to. Her eyes widened as the light receded and she recognized the wire frame shape of the rock drifting in the air. She rushed over, horn lighting up with magic as she scanned it rapidly.

"That, is that one of the rocks?!" she asked almost instantly, suddenly significantly more awake than I had given her credit for prior.

I nodded weakly before glancing back at it. "I touched it, and this happened with the first one, too. It says that it's unlocking for an entity zero, zero, two," I explained as best I could.

She watched, eyes shivering with a mixture of what I could only pick up as nervous fascination as the holographic displays lit up with the exact same message as the first one. In the meantime, I picked up the two disks from behind me and offered them to Twilight, hoping she could make more sense of them.

At first, she just frowned down at the two disks before snapping her attention back to the orb as it unceremoniously vanished. She watched the two coins fall to the floor before looking back at the two I held. "These came out of the first one I poked. I wanted to test if it would happen again, which you can see the results of," I offered.

Twilight frowned at the two disks before levitating them off my hoof and closer to her face for examination. "The stones were containers, then," she deduced instantly, surprisingly me with her clarity yet again.

I nodded weakly, adding, "They were locked, and for some reason, I was on the list of accepted individuals to open them." That made me nervous for some reason.

"Maybe them following you here wasn't so accidental after all. Why didn't this happen the first time, however?" she questioned, flipping the two disks over and over as she peeked at them. I was amused at how fast she forgot about sleeping.

That I couldn't answer, however. "The only thing I can think of is that I didn't technically touch the stones directly before; just the tentacle thingy that came out of it after Fluttershy poked it," I offered, tossing a shrug in for good measure after. Fluttershy apparently wasn't on the list that the rocks had. Did that mean that what happened was some sort of defensive mechanism or something? Scary. That was just a guess, however.

"This is so weird. They're precisely shaped crystal disks of some sort with weird magic woven into them. There's some sort of scratching along the inner disk, but they're too tiny for me to pick up fully. Well, this definitely gives me something to study in the off time after the party," she muttered, suddenly looking bewildered and shaking her head at the two floating in the air in front of her.

I sighed before looking down at the ones lying on the floor instead. Wait a second, something was different. One of the two disks on the floor was yellow in the center with a much brighter glowing blue ring around it. Something was in the yellow too that I couldn't make out.

Curious, I picked it up and instantly drew Twilight's attention. She saw the difference too and frowned until I brought it closer to us. Both of our eyes widened drastically as the image in the center of the yellow came into view.

Inside of the now familiar yellow center, the glowing alien disk had a crystal clear image of three butterflies; their cyan bodies and pink wings offsetting the soft yellow perfectly. No. This couldn't be possible, even! Why was that design on something that came from my world?!

"Mender, do you know what these are?" Twilight asked quietly, nudging the coin-shaped artifact carefully.

I shook my head, sadly. "I was just as surprised as you are. This shouldn't be possible. The rocks are from my world, so why is Fluttershy's Cutie Mark on this?" I questioned, staring hard at the brightly colored disk. Something was very wrong, and I didn't have a clue where to begin to guess what.

"There's one more rock. You should open it and check the disks there as well. This is beyond weird. You're sure you didn't have anything like Cutie Marks in your world?" she questioned as I stepped over the coin on the floor to poke the last rock in the cabinet.

"No, nothing like that. I'd never heard of them before coming here," I assured, giving her a nervous glance. She returned it and nodded, glancing over as the other rock activated, announced me as 'Entity 002' again, and opened up exactly the same as the other two.

Both Twilight and I watched intently as the coins hit the floor, and I could tell right away that something was off again. One coin was blank, but the other had a light cyan inside. Oh crap. "Rainbow Dash's coat color," Twilight pointed out, picking up the coin. Her bringing it up so we could see it confirmed her suspicions. A tri-colored cloud and lightning bolt was in the center of the coin. What did the coins mean?

"I'm curious. Do you have one of those links with Rainbow, too?" she questioned, bringing up a very good point. I shook my head, however, potentially ruining the theory. She peeked more intently at the coin, not seeming dissuaded in the least, however.

"The outer ring isn't lit up like Fluttershy's. I wonder why that is? Here, try holding it," she offered a moment later, extending the coin over to where I was.

Her expression made me frown. It was almost passive, with her voice abrupt and expecting. Did she think my touching the coin would cause something to happen? Uncertain, I hesitated as I extended my hoof to the coin, stopping barely a centimeter from the shiny surface. Shouldn't we be, like, experimenting on these first before going right to live tests? Of course, I didn't exactly know how to experiment on them, but still...

Twilight decided for me by smiling gently while I hesitated and lifting her hoof up slightly, brushing the coin along the underside of my hoof. I jumped slightly at the sensation of a static jolt, but she pulled the coin back before I could react. It glowed angrily for a moment before the outer ring lit up as well, causing the light created by the coin to be magnified significantly.

Both of our eyes widened as "Connection Established" faded into existence overtop of the coin. Well crap. "Fascinating! You have a link with all of the coins. I think they're responsible for the strange phenomenon between you and Fluttershy," she theorized, sounding a little too curious for her own good.

I coughed lightly, pointing to the coin she was still holding. "You might have just created a connection with Rainbow Dash, too," I reasoned, staring blankly at it. What did the connections ultimately do? Twilight seemed momentarily unsure, hesitating as she looked down at the coin in her hoof.

"It, well, it needed to be tested. Making the connection must be a two-stage process. Fluttershy touched the rock a while back during the first incident, and then you touched it immediately after to free her, which probably caused the connection. But why wasn't Rainbow affected fully, too?" Twilight pondered out loud.

Both of us were suddenly distracted as my flare spell went out and we were plunged into the darkness. Well, we would have been if not for the two fully established coins, and one partially established coin glowing like tiny flares. Wait, partially established?

I glanced down at the coin Twilight had set down and widened my eyes. "Oh crap. Twilight, the other coin you touched!" I pointed out, gesturing towards the coin with my hoof.

She started, still trying to get over to the lamp and being apparently surprised by my sudden outburst. "Huh?!" she let out before glancing down at the coin in question. Her coat color and starburst shaped Cutie Mark was on the coin already, but with no lit up ring around the outer edge. "Ack! Don't touch it!" she exclaimed harshly before catching it in her magic and pulling it over to her. I gave her a skeptical glance, but she just frowned down at the coin and rapidly shook her head. "We don't know what the links truly do, so let's minimize the exposure until we can get more information," she added, looking away from my stare.

My ears drooped a little and a light spike of bitterness shot through me. Sure, she thought experimenting with Rainbow's coin was fine, but when it came to hers, she decided it was too risky. Either that or she really didn't want to establish that kind of link with me. The reality of option two burned and I quietly winced, looking away from the unicorn.

I couldn't really fault her for not wanting to jump into something like that, I guess. A little assurance that she was looking forward to extending our relationship at all, however, would be a rather nice thing. Even our kisses had devolved a little into just friendly pecks. I tried not to think of her saying she was tired or didn't feel like it just as an excuse, of course. I mean, I had said no on the one occasion, albeit for a slightly different reason.

"Um, I'm sorry. That sounded, um, not the way I wanted it to," Twilight spoke up, bringing me back to attention. Looking back up at her, having not remembered lowering my head, I was a little surprised to see her staring right at me. Her expression was difficult to read; softened, yet her eyes darted quickly, searching my face like I was doing to her.

Eventually I decided with taking the safe choice. "It's all right, Twilight. I know that kind of connection to me is a big commitment and can't be looked at from a purely scientific point of view. Further, if it turns out that the connection is bad or detrimental, we're going to need you to fix it. If you're being detrimental at the same time, that would be very difficult," I acknowledged gently, trying to give my most earnest looking smile towards her.

I think she bought it, anyway. I mean, I was trying to do my best to stay positive and not worry anypony. Keela promised that she was actually making headway on closing the link permanently, which was definitely a good thing. If I could solve this issue without anypony else getting involved, it would be wonderful.

Twilight's ears lowered at the same rate as her eyelids. Damn it. She didn't buy it. "Mender, I... Um. You're serious about all of this and I should have taken your word on how you felt at and least tried to be serious, too. I realize that, now. Not even considering how my viewpoint hurt you was also immature of me. I'm going to fix this, don't worry. I have to. Regardless of my apprehensions, I've never felt this strongly about anything not regarding academics and learning before. Ever. The more I think about it, the more everything points to this being exactly what I want. You're everything I want in a stallion, honestly, and are a ton of fun to be around. I'm going to fix this!" she adamantly declared, suddenly looking more than a little scary. I swallowed, trying to think of something to say, but quickly realized that technically she hadn't said any of that directly to me. It sounded more like she was saying that to herself. The gesture made me pleased, of course, but I wasn't entirely sure it was needed.

She faltered after seeing me shrink slightly under her level of hot bloodedness. "No, no, no, Mender. I'm not going to hurt you. See?" she asked before slowly extending both of her forelegs out, smiling gently at me. My brain recognized it before my cognitive thoughts did as the universal 'want hugs' gesture. I relaxed a little and nodded before leaning forwards again. She took me against herself as gently as possible and just held me there. A moment passed, and I lowered my muzzle down to her neck, sleepily resting it there against her fur.

To my surprise, Twilight let out a content sigh instead and pulled me tighter to herself. Her forelegs let out a shiver as she squeezed, slowly rubbing them up and down my back while clinging to me like a life raft at sea. If it had been any harder, it might have actually hurt.

"It's okay, Twilight. I'm just happy you're going to have it looked into," I muttered, slowly breathing in her light scent. The raspberry scent of her shampoo from this morning drifted into my nostrils and I exhaled slowly, relaxing further against her as she took over supporting my entire weight. Not that it was a lot of weight to support at the moment.

"More than just that. I believe you now. There's more to this than just your imagination. These coins prove that. But let's deal with this more in the morning. Well, later morning. It is four o'clock. Let's go back to bed for now, Mender," she suggested, slowly lifting my head up to stare directly into my eyes instead. Hers were soft and sleepy looking and I had to restrain a snicker. The smile got through, though.

"Okay, Twilight. I'll trust you to keep the coins safe," I agreed before lowering my head again and resting. She was right, of course. Three and a half hours didn't feel like enough sleep at all.

"Somepony likes my neck," Twilight cooed impishly while she lifted the coins back into the cabinet. I watched the doors close again before chuckling.

While her statement was true, I further corrected, "It is a very nice neck and very tasty looking, but in all honesty, you smell good. It's making me relaxed and sleepy," I muttered tiredly.

There was a momentary pause, and for a second, I worried that I'd said something wrong again. Twilight lowered her head down as well, however, and gently nuzzled my neck in return. "That's rather romantic, actually, and probably a good thing," she murmured quietly, exhaling against me.

As probably intended, my curiosity spiked. "Why is it a good thing?" I inquired against her neck.

"Ponies can pick up pheromones on other ponies. If you think I smell good, that probably means that your body is telling you we're biologically compatible with each other and an optimal choice for a mating pair. You smell good to me, too, by the way," she explained in a disturbingly casual manner, leaning back and smiling at me with lowered eyelids.

Her choice of wording was a little creepy, however. I tried to toss up an assured smile, but I think it came off as nervous instead as I swallowed. Well, I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything else. "Does that mean you want kids in the future?" I asked, attempting to not only sound casual as well, but change the topic from 'optimal mating'.

Her eyes widened again and she blushed, smiling shyly. "I've never really thought about it, honestly. I was pretty goal-oriented before moving here, in an academic sense. Sure, I've really opened up socially since then, but nowhere near enough to even realize that I might have the opportunity to become a mother in the future!" she exclaimed, looking oddly like she was somehow scaring herself.

She didn't let me go and run screaming for the stairs, however, so I took it as a good sign. Heck, she actually squeezed tighter, which was actually kind of painful now that I thought about it. "Ah, um, my insides are still squishy and fragile, Twilight," I reminded, wincing slightly.

She let out the cutest squeak I'd heard since last hanging around Fluttershy and promptly eased up the pressure, smiling with a slight embarrassed tint to her expression. "Ah, sorry. Are you okay, Mender?" she asked cautiously.

"Eh, if I got to pick my preferred way to die, that would definitely be it. But I'll be fine," I teased, managing a grin to her finally. Hopefully she'd take the hint and lighten up a little. I felt bad that I had gotten her worked up, especially if she was going to try to go back to sleep soon.

Her expression shifted back to warm mirth, and she nodded. After a light parting kiss to the forehead, she released me and stood fully again. "Let's go back to sleep, Mender. You need to get more rest and so do I. We have a lot to do tomorrow," she warned, gesturing towards the stairs with her head.

Sighing, I nodded and stood back up again, definitely feeling the tiredness. Well, on the bright side, even since I'd been hopping over to the other world and telling Keela more about Equestria, it had obviously warded away any bad dreams. Might as well enjoy keeping my end of the bargain if I could. If it meant making Equestria safe again, permanently, it was definitely worth it.

In my distraction, I failed to see Twilight duck in and give a gentle, yet extremely wet lick to the side of my cheek. The sly unicorn teleported at the same exact instant of contact, shifting both of us upstairs in a blinding flare of light. My stomach dropped back into my body and I was momentarily disoriented as I fell over onto something warm and soft, in an embarrassing heap of limbs and fur. Wait, these blankets were a lot higher quality than what I remembered them being all of a half an hour ago.

Twilight giggled at my sprawled out form before tucking me in and... My mind froze, spitting out memory overflows and error messages as I felt the warm unicorn slip under the covers next to me. Twilight no doubt sensed my immediate rigid stupor, as she informed, "I'm lonely tonight and want to keep your bad dreams at bay. Don't worry, Mender. I won't even touch you if you don't want me to."

Her whisper came out warmly and danced inside of my chest for a while, being carried by the butterflies. Well, maybe this wouldn't be so bad. I nudged forwards a little, lightly pressing myself into her chest. She let out a pleasantly surprised cooing noise, and I felt her forehead rest against mine. "Thank you for trusting me, Mender. It really means a lot to me, and I'm not going to ever betray that again. Let me prove it to you, even if it takes forever to do so," she requested. I felt a gentle warmth drift into my mind before lightly intermingling with my own magic. It was an amazing sensation and I couldn't help but kiss any of her skin that I could make contact with. The feelings distinctly belonging to Twilight were drifting into me, and it made me feel very secure indeed.

"I'll give you another chance, Twilight. Don't worry about that. I just wish you trusted me a little more." It was the truth, of course. She probably knew it all along, but it felt good to get it out.

She winced gently, but nodded against my forehead. "I do trust... Well, I'm going to start from now on. During my talk with Rarity earlier, she mentioned several techniques that could use to build trust in you and vice versa. A few are a little, um, embarrassing, but you're totally worth it," she assured. I felt her temperature rise a little bit, oddly.

I didn't really understand what she was talking about, but nodded gently and just let the energy drift into me. My mind idly traced the magic back upwards and I saw where our energy pools were actually connecting. It was rather interesting, once I managed to think through the haze that was building up in my mind. "You said before not to push my energy back into you, right?" I inquired quietly.

Twilight paused, and I felt her energy stir a little, but she surprisingly didn't withdraw. "Yeah. Please don't do that. It's not just from pushing your energy into me. It's only if I'm already moving mine into you at the same time. I can tell you more about it tomorrow, if you want," she offered softly. She already trusted me a little more, I realized. I stayed my ground, not about to try it and betray that newfound trust, of course.

"I'm not going to, don't worry. I would like to know why eventually, though," I agreed, relaxing and simply enjoying the hazy sensation of her heat both against me and drifting into my mind.

She smiled and I realized she picked up on my contented feelings. A general feeling of happiness drifted into me as she mirrored my earlier nod. "We have a long train ride tomorrow, so I'll explain it then. Rarity would already know, of course, but she'll probably be able to add far more onto the romantic and bonding aspects of it," Twilight relayed softly.

Oh. With that admission, I suddenly understood the implications a little better. Twilight picked up on that too and released a gentle giggle before snuggling closer to me. Yeah, this was nice. The pressure and expectations weren't what I was expecting, which is to say, they were essentially non-existent. We were just enjoying each other's company, really.

Eventually, I couldn't manage to form coherent thoughts anymore and drifted off to sleep, pulling a pleasantly murmuring Twilight Sparkle with me.

Another bump jarred my reasonably upset stomach yet again. I winced and curled up further, trying to keep the nausea under control as I lay on the nicely cushioned train car seat. The pearly white unicorn sitting across from me gave a look of sympathy as I double-checked the bucket was still at the base of the seat. Okay, I officially hated trains.

"I didn't expect such a violent reaction. Why do you have no problem doing loops on Dash's back through zero gravity while being fired at, but a train going barely sixty kilometers per hour gets you sick?" Twilight asked skeptically from directly next to me. She sat nearest my head, and despite her rather venomous tongue, her tone was soft and she gently rubbed my neck and cheek at the same time.

I swallowed dryly before wincing again, sticking my head over the seat just in case. "Rainbow didn't vibrate while feeling like a sack of worms against your legs," I protested, deciding the mental image just made it worse.

"This is truly unfortunate. Were you able to grasp any of our explanation at all?" Rarity asked politely. Okay, so that conversation had been the last thing on my mind until now.

"Kinda. She puts energy into me, I put energy into her, and then we absorb each other's energy and gain some sort of bond," I managed to summarize without barfing, amazingly enough.

Rarity made a disappointed 'Tsk' noise with her mouth before shaking her head. "Well, I can see you missed the various romantic aspects of such a bond. Surely, given your apparent connection with Fluttershy, you can understand why such a link is sacred," she lectured idly, flicking her mane to the side in mild irritation. The motion made my stomach churn but, like a train wreck in slow motion, I couldn't look away for some reason. Okay, bad example given the context.

"Oh leave him be, Rarity. As sick as he is, it's a wonder he got that much," Twilight defended, gently massaging my shoulders as I took deep breaths over the bucket. Damn.

It was true, though. Given my connection to Fluttershy when in close range, I could appreciate the romantic undertones of such a bond. Frankly, I think she was the only reason I regained my composure at all after my vivid hallucination and panic attack. Once I got back from this silly trip, I was definitely going to thank her. We needed to talk a lot more about this thing anyway. Oh yeah, and maybe warn Rainbow before she freaks out from hearing 'voices' in her head sounding remarkably like me.

"Oh yes, and you are suddenly the quintessential understanding mare, I know," Rarity muttered dryly. Twilight's hooves jolted against my shoulders before digging in a little. Uh oh. I suddenly regretted my compromising position next to the ungodly powerful unicorn.

"So you remind me every chance you get. I know; I get it. I'm a horrible fillyfriend who doesn't deserve Mender. Let me guess, you feel you're better for him?" Twilight asked, seemingly forgetting my squishy muscles were there and pretending it was Rarity's neck instead of my own. Oh please help me live through this train ride, somepony!

"What?! I am simply looking out on Mender's behalf! I cannot believe you'd stoop so low as to insinuate such under-hooved intentions. You really must get a grip on this terrible case of paranoia that has you! It is simply not befitting of a lady," Rarity warned back, looking truly offended for the brief moment my vision caught her before I started gasping for air. Note to self, make sure Twilight was fully aware of her body at all times. Further note to self, haunt the crap out of her if you don't live through this train ride.

The lavender unicorn in question let out a low growl before pointing out, "Surely, you're not so perfect as to have never made a mistake before. There, I said it! I screwed up and lost the trust of my coltfriend! Does that make you happy?!" she asked dramatically, voice now loud enough to probably be heard through the walls. Well, glad this wasn't a private topic or anything. Oddly, however, having half of my windpipe pinched off was doing wonders for making me forget about the nausea. Still, dying wasn't a good motion sickness prevention method.

Carrying through with my new concept of self-preservation, I began flailing my forelegs about to hopefully get my fillyfriend's attention while gasping like a fish out of water. As predicted, she glanced down quizzically at me before widening her eyes and instantly letting go. My lungs screamed in triumph, or perhaps whiplash, as I inhaled heavily and rolled over onto my back, panting. Wow. That wasn't awkward timing at all.

"No! No, no, no! Why does this always happen?!" Twilight groaned, surprising me once more by flopping over sideways onto my upper half with herself at the same time. My yet gasping muzzle inhaled a few rogue strands of fur from her chest as the warmth washed all around me. Well, at least she wasn't a female of my species, or this position would be exceedingly awkward indeed. If I vaguely recalled correctly, which I wasn't going to bet any bits on, pony anatomy placed the female mammary glands significantly lower. Oh, and they retained almost no mass when the mare in question wasn't with foal. I supposed that it was actually more convenient that way, anyway.

My cheeks grew hot as I squished my eyelids shut, trying to drive the thought chain out of my mind. Damn it; I hated it when this happened.

"I didn't mean you're a horrible fillyfriend. I'm sorry for speaking too rashly. Will you forgive me?" Rarity asked softly, doing a surprisingly good job at attempting to defuse the situation. Well, at least I thought it was a good apology. Thankfully, it also served to distract me from images of a pregnant Twilight. Of course, as far as, um, attractive daydreams go; I guess that one's fairly evolutionarily justified. She would look incredibly gorgeous pregnant, in my opinion. Ugh. Why did I do this to myself?

Twilight let out a low murmur into my stomach before nodding gently. "I know. Mender's very understanding, thankfully. I probably reek of being totally new at this."

"I am still here, you know," I reminded politely upon realizing I could talk again. Curse that air threshold for speaking.

It was very strange feeling of Twilight smiling against my stomach. She lifted off me a little and looked into my eyes instead from an upside down perspective. Feeling a bit brave and hoping it would make her realize it wasn't that big of a deal, I reached both of my hooves up and gently pulled her down into me.

She let out a soft muttering of nothing in particular upon breaking the upside down kiss a few seconds later, and smiled more fully down at me.

"Does that mean you forgive me?" she asked hopefully, eyes dancing a little in the light.

I couldn't help myself. "About the overly enthusiastic neck rub? Of course," I assured, smirking now. Predictably, her ears flattened back and she gave me a barbed stare.

"Careful, you might wish you hadn't said that once you find out how I plan to earn forgiveness for the rest of it," she warned, mirroring my expression in an instant.

My ears drooped and I managed a timid swallow. "Uh, isn't that kind of defeating the purpose?"

"Oh, simply no imagination. You'll thank me for giving her the ideas afterwards, I'm sure. Once you recover, of course," Rarity tossed in, sounding oddly devious. I glanced over at her with widening eyes, which caused her to burst out into copious amounts of laughter, followed promptly by Twilight. Well, I was doomed...

The train hit a particularly jarring bump before I could properly formulate words and I groaned again, remembering why this bucket was lying in front of my spot on the seat. Damn it. I contemplated asking Twilight to strangle me again so I'd forget about the nausea.

"Oh, you poor dear. I think it's almost worth sending a letter to Rainbow Dash upon our arrival, requesting that she pick him up for the return flight," Rarity suggested politely after my dry heaving was finished.

I sighed weakly before shaking my head, protesting, "Rainbow shouldn't have to fly all that way and then haul me back just because the train makes me sick. That's not fair to her."

"That's very kind, Mender, but she probably wouldn't have a problem with it. She thinks she owes you, anyway," Twilight reminded, earning a groan of lamentation from me. This was promptly followed by a groan of my stomach trying to crawl out of my body.

I heard a light, almost imperceptible squeaking laugh from Rarity before she tacked on, "Or we could always talk to Princess Celestia about having the royal carriage and guards fly you home."

After recovering from almost falling off my seat in a coughing fit, I finally managed to scramble back and glared up at her. "No! I'd rather walk than ride in a royal carriage. Ugh. It probably costs a few thousand an hour," I protested weakly, earning a giggle from Twilight.

"It doesn't. That's what I first rode to Ponyville in. It's very comfortable. Although if you're uncomfortable with Princess Celestia, you could always ask Princess Luna. She seems to have taken a liking to you," Twilight suggested, sounding deeply amused at my expense. I glared back at her over my shoulder and saw only a grin in return.

"Oh! Is that my Scandal Senses tingling?! Quickly, this calls for gossip!" Rarity exclaimed, suddenly from the seat right next to Twilight and leaning in closer to listen. The lavender mare in question seemed more freaked out than anything, starting in place before falling over onto me in surprise. Any rebuttal I had carefully selected was promptly drowned out by a second helping of Twilight's chest and stomach fur.

"Rarity, it's not like that at all! She just likes his name because it has," Twilight started to rapidly explain. Well, she tried anyway. Her thoughts must have been fairly disrupted when I suddenly closed my eyes and licked gently along the fur of her tummy.

"Whaaa!" she squealed before flailing off the side of the seat and crashing onto the floor, blushing furiously. Oh, payback was worth the probability of death that earned me.

Quickly, I threw on my innocent facade. Rarity gave me a skeptical and extremely scrutinizing stare in the meantime as Twilight recovered on the floor. Several intentionally awkward seconds passed before Twilight restored her capacities enough to roll her eyes. "Try to limit kisses and licks to my face and head please. That felt a little weird," she managed to request, spoiling all of my current and future fun at once.

"There's no fun in that, Twilight. Surely you can be more imaginative," Rarity concurred without needing my specific input. I snickered before lowering my head towards the bucket again. I'd hate to drop my guard and end up having yet another mess to clean up.

"Shush. That's a bridge that can be crossed far, far, far, far in the future," the lavender mare shot back. Well, that boded well for me. Actually the ironic thing was that I couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing.

Rarity made an amused sounding half snicker before adding, "I do suppose you intend to ship him away with the rest of the single stallions in a few weeks, then?" Okay, that caused my brain to stall out.

There was a soft smacking noise as Twilight mushed her right forehoof into the spot directly under her horn. I gave her a curious yet observing stare. Apparently what Rarity said triggered some sort of memory in her that she seemingly forgot. Or broke her brain and that was how she rebooted it.

"Great! How did I forget about the stupid heat cycles?! Um, yeah. That would probably be a wise idea," she finally muttered, sounding a little dejected. What did temperature have to do with sending away all of your males? Did the mares turn into bloodthirsty, ravenous monsters or something if the temperature increased too much? No, that sounded far-fetched, even for me.

Rarity gasped, looking horrified. At this point I was getting used to her having that expression. "Oh my, Twilight! It's unheard of! A stallion who actually has a fillyfriend being sent to those horrible cabins!" she exclaimed. Her voice was strange, and I couldn't tell if she was serious or not. I knew she had a taste for dramatic flair, but it was often too subtle for me to separate from what might actually be a disaster. Frowning, I looked up and tried to pay attention just in case.

"Oh come on! The cabins are quite nice and you know it. It's more of an inconvenience than anything. Talk about stalling out our entire economy for a good week," my fillyfriend reputed.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "Um, not to sound stupid, but I need to sound stupid here. What are we talking about?" I asked curiously. Now that I thought about it, this was starting to sound vaguely familiar.

"Heat, Dear. Are you unfamiliar with the word?" Rarity asked, causing Twilight to perk up out of her stupor and glance over at me instead.

I nodded wearily, frowning slightly. Rarity gave me a smile instead and nodded as well in a more assuring manner. "It's perfectly understandable given your unique arrival here. Heat is a little complex, but I'm sure you'll understand it fine. Normally, when a filly enters into marehood, she..." Rarity started to explain. Wait. Oh, this was starting to sound familiar.

"Estrus?" Twilight alternatively suggested, interrupting her friend. Oh hell! My eyes widened as my ears flattened back in an instant.

"Wait, you ponies go through an estrus cycle?! How many times a year, and does it sync up?" I asked rapidly, suddenly realizing exactly what they had been talking about.

Rarity momentarily looked totally flabbergasted, while Twilight just giggled and nodded, answering, "Yes, it does sync up with other mares so we mostly all go into heat at the same time if we live together long enough. That's cumbersome for tight knit communities like Ponyville. It occurs twice in a year; once in the spring, and a somewhat lighter one in the beginning of fall. You luckily showed up after the first one."

Rarity coughed lightly and looked away again, nodding. "Indeed. You wouldn't have found any males at all, and probably would have actually been pursued had you shown up a mere week and a half earlier, just for a different reason other than food. I'm sure that would have worsened your opinion of us severely."

Well, I guess I lucked out after all. "Well, if he'd arrived for the spring one, yeah. The fall variety isn't that bad. Regardless, we evacuate the males more for their comfort than anything. All of the pheromones drifting through the air makes them a little awkward," Twilight corrected in a rather proper manner. Well, they seemed to be extremely civilized about it. It was more like a biological annoyance than a true danger, then.

"Eh, I don't mind being shipped off to some cabin for a week. You'll have to give me the specifics when it comes closer to being required," I requested, easing back down into my disaster prevention position, deciding that it wasn't really that dire a conversation after all.

Rarity let out a huffing noise before rolling her eyes. "I personally think you're crazy not to go with him, and would hate to see the social stigma that will stir up, but as your friend, you have my support," she finally gave in, averting her eyes from my now slightly flustered looking fillyfriend. That was so weird to think about.

"It's not that big of a social stigma! I mean, lots of mares decide to wait before, um, that," Twilight defended, probably needlessly, given what Rarity had just finished saying. That probably indicated something, but I was too lazy to think about it further. Plus I felt like crap.

"Perhaps. I'm simply concerned for the stability of your relationship if you truly decide to wait as long as it sounds," Rarity pointed out. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think I heard an impish undertone to her voice. Weird.

My stomach finally started to settle gently. Twilight looked suddenly like she might need the bucket instead, however. "W-What?! Um, but I haven't read anything about... Oh no, I didn't read the advanced relationship books yet, though! I didn't think I'd need those for a few years still!" she exclaimed, starting to shift into her telltale panic state. Uh oh. Wait, years?!

"Years?! Oh, I truly feel for you, Mender," Rarity teased, letting out a light giggle as she looked over at me instead. Twilight practically spun in circles between looking at the two of us. Was Rarity doing this on purpose just to rile up Twilight? Wow, I hadn't realized pranks could get so ugly!

"Stop teasing her, Rarity. You know I don't, um, mind waiting as long as she needs to," I reminded, carefully choosing my words to hopefully head off the panic session. Twilight dismantling the train while we were moving sounded like a bad thing, yet something she might do while freaking out.

I shouldn't have hesitated in thinking up the proper wording, though. Twilight let out a soft whimpering noise before shrinking a little. Well, I guess we wouldn't be making it to the party after all. I braced for any potential magic catastrophes as best I could. Hey, at least my stomach felt better now!

The train's forward momentum slammed to a halt in an instant, sending my stomach lurching upwards into my lungs, it felt like. I winced before almost sliding off my seat. Rarity merely leaned back slightly in surprise while Twilight slid from the center of the room into the base of the seat Rarity was on, eyes getting a little watery and appearing oblivious to the sudden shift of momentum.

"This has been a successful test of the emergency brake system! If this had been a real emergency, it would have been accompanied by much more screaming. Thank you for your time!" I suddenly heard blaring over the speaker system in a male voice.

I promptly threw up into the bucket.