For the past half an hour, we had been sitting in the living room, watching random programs on the television, trying to pass the time without any troubles. Rainbow Dash doesn't seem too phased by the idea of television, so she watched idly as I flicked through the channels. Noticing how there was nothing good on, I decided to just let a cartoon run.

"So this is what you do here?" She let out a loud yawn, making it all too clear she wasn't that impressed.

"Yup." I sighed as I turned the volume up.

"No offense, but this is kind of boring."

"Yeah, it kind of is." I agreed passively, tossing the remote next to me on the couch.

"So don't you think we should do something else?"

"I'm open to suggestions."

"Well..." She trailed off as she looked to the ceiling, trying to think of things to do. She glanced behind her and patted her back, which I assumed she was doing because she was going to suggest flying. Finally, she turned back to me and lifted a brow. "We could do something, I dunno, active?"

"There's a basketball net out front." I said, pointing to my left with my thumb while I continued looking at the television.

"Oh? We have that back home." She said with a smirk as she looked towards the front door. "I never really played it though. What are the rules?"

"Well it's not exactly a court, so there aren't really any rules. All you really do is throw a ball through a hoop."

"Sounds simple enough." She nodded, then stood up, keeping a hand on the couch just in case. As she began to slowly walk towards the door, she looked over at me, wondering why I was still sitting down. "Well? Come on, let's go."

"No thanks, I'll stay in here. The ball is right under the net."

"You're not coming?"

"Nope."

"Why not?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Because I'm fat."

"You're not fat. I mean, at least you don't look fat." She stopped and began to rub her chin, now looking me over again. "Are you fat for a... whatever you are?"

"Human? And no, I'm actually twenty pounds underweight." I said honestly. "I'm just lazy."

"Then what were you doing outside before?"

"Well I was going to go for a swim, but I already did that when I saved you."

"For about ten seconds." She muttered in annoyance.

"You're right, and that's enough swimming for two days." I said, shooting her a small, sarcastic smile.

"Funny." She grumbled, taking a step towards the couch. "Come on, at least humor me a little. Twilight could be another few hours for all I know, and I know I don't want to just sit here and do nothing."

"Yeah, no." I shake my head. "You can sit here and watch TV with me, or you can go outside and be active."

"I love my naps as much as the next pony, so I know sitting around all day can be fun every once in a while, but you shouldn't do it every day. It's not healthy." She grumbled, lifting up her palm when she saw me open my mouth, interrupting me before I could speak. "And swimming for a few seconds isn't active."

"I know, I usually swim for longer, but you sort of interrupted that." I said, then smiled at her. "And I assumed you wouldn't want to go swimming again after what just happened, correct?"

"You got that right." She muttered, knowing I was trying to antagonize her. As I looked back at the TV, she sighed and sat back down on the couch. "How much longer do you think you're going to be watching this for?"

"No clue. Maybe until I get bored. More bored than I already am, I mean." I said, watching as she shifted in annoyance. Not wanting her to yell at me, I tossed the remote onto the table. "Alright, I'll play for a bit."

"Awesome." She smiled, instantly snapping off the couch.

I sighed and pushed myself off the couch and nodded at her. Rainbow Dash smiled and walked towards the door, itching to get outside. I then walked to the closet next to the entrance and pulled it open. I quickly sort through the massive pile of shoes and pull out my pair, along with a pair of my old running shoes. I toss the shoes by her feet and slip my shoes on. Without me asking, she slipped on the shoes and reached for the laces, only to pause when the fingers brushed against them. She continued staring at them for a few seconds until she shrugged and clumsily tied the right shoe. It wasn’t perfect, but it did the job.

"You know how to tie shoes?" I asked with surprise as I tied mine.

"My friend AJ taught me how to tie all sorts of knots." She chuckled as she tied the second shoe.

"Oh, makes sense." I grunted dismissively, standing straight up. I quickly walk past the used-to-be pony and reached for the door, only to pause within a mere inch from the doorknob.

"What's wrong?" She asked as she walked behind me.

"Nothing." I said instantly, opening the door to walk out. I figured if I was going to do this without tipping her off that I know about her, I'd have to play the innocent card. "So, uh, tell me about your friends."

"Sure. What do you want to know?" Rainbow Dash asked as we walked out the door.

"I don't know. I guess just tell me the basics." I said, walking down the front steps. "Who's AJ? What is she like? And what about your other friends?"

"Well, Applejack is a pony I know whose family runs the local apple farm." She said thoughtfully as I went to the front of the house and grabbed the basketball from under the net. "I guess she's sort of competitive, but is really a cool pony once you get past the whole farming thing. Not as cool as me, obviously, but she's pretty high up there."

"Obviously." I grunted as I bounced the ball three times, then squeezed the ball, testing to make sure it wasn't deflated. Once I was sure it was good, I tossed the ball at the net. "And the one who used the spell to bring you here. Twilight?"

"Oh. Yeah, she's not really one of the cool ones. She's sort of the town's bookworm or whatever. Whenever she's not reading, she's out trying to help everypony. When I met her she didn't really seem like the kinda pony I'd hang out with, but she's grown on me." She laughed, both from what she said, and the fact that the ball had missed the net entirely. "She also has this baby dragon named Spike, and he's sort of her assistant. She actually hatched him from his egg with her magic, so I guess he's sort of her son too, in a way. Plus he has a crush on our friend Rarity. It's sort of cute, in a weird way."

"That's pretty cool. What's Rarity like?" I asked as I grabbed the ball off the ground, this time taking time to aim my shot before throwing it. This time the ball landed on the rim, rolled on it for a few seconds, and then fell in.

"Well, she's a unicorn, like Twilight, and, uh..." She grunted, thinking over her words as I walked under the net and grabbed the ball mid-bounce. "She's sort of a grade-A drama queen, if you know what I mean. If she gets a speck of dirt on her, you can bet she's gonna complain. I guess when she's out of dirt's way, she's alright. And she makes clothing for ponies, which can be sorta cool, in a girly-girl sorta way. Then there's my friend Fluttershy. She's one of my oldest, and probably closest friend. Me and her have been through a lot together. She's a pegasus, like me, so that automatically makes her great, but besides that she's kind, gentle, and can actually be pretty brave when stuff gets serious. She doesn't like the fast life as much as I do, but she'll be there to cheer me on, which makes her cool in her own right."

"Sounds like it." I nodded, tossing the ball again, this time sinking it.

"Pinkie Pie is... a strange one, to say the least." She grunted, wondering how to phrase it as I grabbed the ball again. "She's an earth pony, but for some reason it almost feels like she can use magic. And not the 'oh, she's good with nature' sort of magic, like Fluttershy, but in a way that she sort of just appears randomly, then disappears just as randomly a few seconds after. She's the friendliest one of us all, but that gets a little creepy sometimes, but boy, does she know how to throw a party. Pass me the ball?"

"Your friends sound pretty cool." I said as I obliged her request, tossing the ball to her.

"Yeah, but that's because they've been hanging around me." She said as she bounced the ball on the ground a few times with her right hand, testing it as well as herself. She must have felt that her coordination was good, so she began switching hands every couple of bounces.

"Jeez, you're a fast learner." I said with surprise as she clamped the ball with both hands to hold it in place.

"Heh, thanks. When I set out to do something, you can be sure I'll learn how to do it fast. Comes with the job of being one of the best athletes in Equestria." She smirked at me, then turned to the net and tossed the ball at it, scowling as it just barely missed, bouncing off the rim. "Darn."

I rub my shoulder to loosen it up as she jogs after the ball that rolled onto the grass next to the driveway. Picking it up, she came back with it in her hands, watching me as I finish a few rough stretches.

"So, you said there weren't any rules, right?" She asked.

"Well, the only one I can think of is that you can't hold the ball while you're moving. You have to keep dribbling it." I shrugged, not really worrying about anything. "You go on offense, I'll go on defense and try to take the ball from you. We'll go first to five points."

"Alright, sounds good to me." She nodded, making her way to the middle of the driveway.

I walked to the middle of the driveway, stopping between her and the net. She bounced the ball once more as I made my way behind behind her, arms spread out to grab the ball at any given opportunity. She looked behind her back and made eye contact me, so I nodded that I was ready. Instantly she turned around, lightly knocked me to the ground and tossed the ball.

"Hey, no fair." I muttered as the ball sunk into the net, earning her a point. "You can't just knock people over like that."

"What? You said there weren't any rules." She said innocently as the ball rolled down the driveway to her feet.

"Clever girl." I grunted as I got of the ground, smiling at her, knowing I couldn't really argue with her.

We walked back to our positions, but this time I had a different play-style in mine. If she wanted to knock me down, I'm sure as hell going to knock back. This time I nod at her as soon as she looked at me. Expecting her to use a strategy that had worked, I backed away from her, making her stumble as her elbow missed me by a foot. Her eyes shot open when she realized that I began darting towards her, so she quickly tossed the ball over my head. I clenched my hands into fists as the ball rolled around the rim and into the net.

"Come on, don't take it easy on me." She said, sticking her tongue out playfully. "You're just embarrassing yourself."

"Alright." I said under my breath, gritting my teeth, not liking how someone who has had a human body for an hour was already beating me. It was time to do something that I hated doing. I had to try. "Game on, bitch."

This time time I went to the middle of the driveway and nodded at her. Again, she went for the elbow check, which I quickly dodged. She then got ready to throw the ball into the air, but I slammed my hand down, knocking it out of her grip. As she readjusted to go for the ball, I grabbed it out from under her, spun around and tossed it. Much to my happiness, it bounced off the backboard and fell into the net.

"Nice one." She grunted reluctantly, but smiled at me as she grabbed the ball off the ground. "Good to know you're actually going to put up a fight."

I didn't reply to her remark, but walked back and got ready to knock it out of her hands again. This time when I nodded, she didn't try to knock me out of the way. Instead, as I jumped back to dodge her, she bounced the ball in her hands and ran to the side of the driveway. I instantly sprinted towards her as she threw the ball. As she began to smile, I jumped in the air and tapped the ball with the tip of my fingers, knocking it off course. As it missed the net, both Rainbow Dash and I ran towards the ball. As I got there, I grabbed the ball and spun around, readying my shot. But as I tossed the ball into the air, she jumped like I did, but rather than just ruin my shot, she grabbed the ball mid-flight and tossed it, all while still being in the air. The ball, much to my dismay, went right into the net.

"Three to one." She laughed. "You don't play this much, do you?"

"Actually it's the only sport I play." I said quietly, looking at the ground.

"Wow, that's... sad." Rainbow Dash said harshly. "I think you need more practice."

"Yeah, yeah." I mumbled.

"Don’t feel bad, I've walked on my hind legs before, so it’s not like this is the first time I've done it or anything. It was just a matter of finding my balance, and that doesn't really take that long, y’know?" She said, both in a mixture of sincerity and show-boatiness as she threw the ball from one hand to the other. "Only thing I have to get used to are these things."

I nodded firmly at her, remembering one of the times I saw her stand up on her back legs in the show. At least I felt a little less embarrassing about her beating me so far at that point.

"Now stop playing like a chump and get your head in the game." She added as soon as we went back into position.

I ignored her comment and nodded again. The next few rounds were relatively quick. I scored my third point by faking her out, then grabbing the ball while she was distracted. She scored her fourth point by jumping away from me and tossing it right into the net. Then I scored my fourth point to tie up the game by snagging the ball from her and pushing her back with enough force to make her stumble, but not enough to actually make her fall. As she grabbed the ball off the ground, she shot a small glare at me, and I returned it with one of my own as I walked to the center of the driveway. Even though it really was only a game of basketball, for some reason it was one of the most tense moments I’ve had in the past while. She nodded ever so slightly at me and gripped the ball as hard as she could, not willing to let it go. I nodded back. As soon as I did, she swung her elbow at me, this time with more ferocity than general playfulness. I jumped back, but slowly enough for her to hit my t-shirt. I shot my hand towards the ball, but she quickly jumped away from it. Then, to my surprise, she ran straight at me and shoulder checked me. With a grunt, I hit the ground hard, but spun onto my back, ignoring the pain, only to see Rainbow Dash nearing the net. Thinking quickly, I glance over to my house.

"Oh, there’s Twilight." I yelped, pointing a shaky finger to the door, even though she wasn't looking at me.

"Huh?" She asked, stopping in her tracks.

I then hauled myself to my feet as fast as I could and darted at her. Before she could turn around to realize what I was doing, I ripped the ball out of her hands and tossed it at the net.

"Hey!" She growled as the ball bounced off the rim a few times and fell into the net. "No fair, you totally cheated me out of that!"

"Yeah, too bad that aren't any rules." I smiled thinly.

The anger in her eyes flared, burning into me with more heat than the sun. The glare wasn't a semi-playful one, like the ones she gave me in the game. This one seemed to be genuine anger, and that made me feel uneasy, most likely due to the fact that I tend to shy away from violence. Her hand clenched up into a fist and I looked away from her, remembering that she had a pretty good swinging arm. I waited for three seconds before looking back at her to see her hand extended.

"Good game." She said as she let out a heavy breath, anger subsided.

"Yeah." I smirked sheepishly as I shook her hand, glad she didn't swing.

"I would have won if you hadn't cheated though, just so you know." She added as I pulled away from the shake.

"Hey, you cheated too, so it was pretty much anyone’s game." I said defensively. She really doesn't like losing.

"Hey, I may have gone on my hind legs before, but I’m still not completely used, and you've played this more than me."

"Now you’re just looking for excuses." I grunted, then grabbed the ball as it hit my feet and put it under the net. "Well, that was fun, I guess. Time to go back inside."

"You don't wanna play another game?"

"Nah, I don't really feel like it."

"Alright, I guess." She said reluctantly, following me back into the house.

I lead her back to the living room, where she laid down on the couch. Before I sat down, I flicked on the TV and began walking towards the kitchen.

"Are you thirsty?" I asked as I pulled open the fridge.

"A little bit." She replied.

I reached inside and grabbed a bottle of water, along with a bottle of beer, and then closed the door. Putting the water bottle on the counter, I grabbed the cap of the beer bottle and twisted it off, then did the same for the bottle of water. I grabbed both of the bottles and made my way back to the couch. I handed the bottle of water to her, and she instantly brought it to her mouth and chugged it within a few seconds. Once she finished, she watched as I took a chug of my bottle and set the bottle down, and then grabbed the laptop that resided on the same table.

"What's that?" She asked curiously.

"It's a beer. I didn't offer you one because it was the last one in the fridge." I said quietly as I turned the computer on and put the password in. I glanced up and noticed Rainbow Dash giving me a blank expression. "Oh, this is a laptop. It's sort of like a portable TV, but it can do other stuff."

"Sound neat. What can it do?"

"Lots of things. I can talk to my friends who live far away with ease, I can watch shows, listen to music, write, all sorts of stuff." I said as I opened a few things on the laptop, waiting for them to load up.

"Wow, sounds pretty cool. I bet Twilight would have a field day with that thing."

"Probably, but I think it would take her much longer than a day to figure everything out."

"You don't know Twilight." She grunted as she turned her head towards the television.

Glancing up, I noticed the television was still on the channel that showed cartoons. I leaned forward and grabbed the remote, switching the television to a sports channel. I settled back down as a few men lined up on a track, getting ready to race. Hopefully Rainbow Dash wouldn't ask me to play any more sports with her. My prayers seemed to had been heard, as we sat in silence for a few hours, her watching sports while I chatted with people over Skype. What broke the silence, however, was Rainbow Dash noticing the sun setting through the window. Getting up, she walked to the window and pressed her face against it, staring at the pool.

"What's taking her so long?" Rainbow Dash asked impatiently, beginning to grow antsy. She looked over to me and rubbed the back of her neck,  face filled with worry now. "It didn't take her long to do the spell that brought me here, so it shouldn't take that long to do it again, right?"

"I don't know, we don't have magic here so I don't know much about it." I said in an attempt to make her more comfortable, but instead it seemed to have the opposite effect. I sighed. I knew I was going to regret it, but I'm not completely heartless. "There is a guest bedroom in case you need to spend the night, just in case it takes her overnight."

"Cool, thanks." She said as she flashed me a small smile. But there was something behind the smile that made me slightly peeved. It was a smug smile, almost as if she thought I wanted her to stay here for a bit longer. I didn't like that one bit. She tilted her head as I put on a headset and put the laptop on my lap. She sat down on the couch with me and looked at the screen, scratching her chin in contemplation as I flicked through some menus. Her eyes narrowed slightly as the screen went black and a man with a valve on the back of his head appeared on the middle of the screen. "What's that?"

"It's a video game." I said passively, eyes going to the screen. "Do you have those where you're from?"

"Yeah, but they're usually on these really big machines, and not many ponies have them in their homes. They're usually in arcades. But I never saw one that could just fit on your lap. What kind of game is on it?"

"Lots of kinds. You got fighting games, strategy games, racing games-"

"There's racing on there?" She asked, eyes brightening up.

"Nah, I don't have on here."

"Why not?" She asked, then she rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you're so lazy that you won't play any video games that involve moving..."

"Actually, since you're in a car and not being physical, that's one of the only kind of games that I'd probably do in real life..." I muttered as I clicked the mouse a few times, causing a loading screen that looked like a movie poster to pop up.

"Well..." She said after a few seconds as she looked back at the screen, watching the little bar on the bottom right move from one end to the other. "What kind of game is this?"

"It's a game called 'Left 4 Dead 2'."

"Sounds... strange. What do you do?"

"Well, you..." I trailed off as somebody in the game said hello.

I wasn't sure if this was the sort of thing I should be showing a pony from the apparently peaceful land of Equestria. From what I've seen they don't take well to a little mischief, let alone violence and dismemberment.

"Here, it'll be easier if I just show you." I said as I grabbed the gun and turned the mic on.