Rarity was having a very good day so far. Since it was the first day of the weekend, she had managed to clean up in her workspace and most of her house. Some small details were left but she was not in a rush to complete them, so she was sitting in her kitchen and drinking some wonderfully made tea.

She let out a small, satisfied sigh. This was certainly a small piece of heaven as she and the girls had not been sent out on a world-saving mission in quite a while and she had learned to appreciate the smaller details in life such as this.

All of this was of course violently disturbed by a loud crash coming from her front door.

She nearly jumped out of her fur at the noise, her magic becoming unstable and the tea she was enjoying spilled out on her perfectly groomed coat. She shrieked and ran out to the foyer, dead set on giving whoever entered her sanctuary a good old thrashing.

She stopped as she saw her door wide open, Jay standing by the doorway with a leg raised and a victorious grin on his face. Behind him, Strawberry and Spike were staring at him in abject horror.

“Heeeeeey, Rarity!” Jay lowered his leg and walked inside, giving the fashionista his best smile. His companions followed him inside. Rarity slowly raised an eyebrow.

“Hello there, mind explaining the explosive entry, Jay?” She asked casually, cleaning the tea out of her fur with a quick spell. Jay walked past her and looked at odd trinkets lining the wall.

“Oh, nothing special.” He waved a hand dismissively at her. “I knocked a couple of times but you wouldn't answer us, so I did it the old fashion way.”

“The old fashion way?”

“Vulgar display of power.”

“Oh...”

Rarity sighed and rubbed a forehoof to her temple to soothe a rapidly rising headache. “So what can I do for you all today?”

“Um...” Strawberry started, “I'm sorry for your door, we're here because Jay has a request for you... Go on, show it.” Jay's eyes widened as if he remembered something and withdrew a slightly crumpled scroll that had been folded from his pocket.

He held out his hand holding it to Rarity. She looked at the piece of paper, then up at Jay. She rolled her eyes and then took it in her magic and unfolded it. She silently read through it and her eyes widened, then instantly narrowed as she reached the end.

“You're doing business with Blueblood?” Rarity spat out the name as if it was pure poison. Jay stopped petting an increasingly angry cat and turned to her.

“What's wrong with him?”

“He's a rude, selfish brute with no sense of tact or knowledge on how to treat a lady properly!" Rarity fumed, shaking the letter at him. "The last time I met him at the gala, he spent the night talking about himself and when a situation arose, he used me as a meatshield!" She continued her rant. Jay slowly raised a finger and opened his mouth.

“Question; did you follow him around?” Jay asked, retrieving the paper before it got damaged. Rarity nodded slowly. “So you went with a pony you don't really know, followed him around like a sick puppy and was later surprised when he shut you down?”

Rarity's cheeks painted with a small, pink blush. “...Well, when you put it that way.”

“Anyway...” Jay shook his head, crossing his arms. “Can you help me out? I know it's out of the blue but I didn't know who else to ask that can do something like this in such a short time.”

Rarity sighed, then smiled up at him. “Of course I'll help you. When do you need it finished?”

“I'd like for it to be done by Monday morning, I'm leaving around that time.”

"I'll have it done by tomorrow evening so you don't have to rush over." Rarity levitated her work glasses to her and placed them on her nose, circling him with a thoughtful expression. "But since this is a business meeting, looking and acting professional is a must.” She stopped right in front of him, staring up at him with a frown. “We're going to have to cut your hair.”

Jay raked a hand through his hair. “Why? What's wrong with it?”

Rarity grimaced. “Darling, if I would have to point out the flaws of it we'd be here for most of the day...”

“That hurts, marshmallow.”

“Sometimes the truth hurts, but don't worry I'll help you with that as well! Now, if you'd follow me...” Rarity turned to Spike and Strawberry. “There's tea in the kitchen, Spike knows the way. This shouldn't take long.”

They left the room, heading to her workspace. Jay turned around before entering, mouthing 'sorry' to Strawberry. She waved him away with a hoof and he entered after Rarity and the door was closed in an aura of blue magic. Spike motioned for her to follow him. They walked through another door and entered the kitchen.

Spike quickly gathered cups and prepared the tea for them. He turned around and looked Strawberry straight in the eyes.

“So... You and Jay, huh?”

Strawberry blanked. She blinked twice and looked down at the baby dragon who folded his arms.

“Um... Yes? We've been together for about two weeks now.” She shifted in her seat, looking away from Spike. His eyes narrowed slightly.

“How is he?” Spike looked away for a few seconds, then back at her. “He's been having it rough ever since he got here. So what I need to know is...” Spike shook his head as he filled the cups with boiling water and placed the leaves in it. “Are you treating him right? I know he's a handful, believe me...”

Once again, Strawberry blinked at the little dragon and a small smile formed. He was looking out for his friend who was different, just like him.

"He's doing better, it was very hard for him for a few days but I'm helping him with what I can..." She cradled the teacup placed in front of her with her hooves, staring down at it. "It was hard for both of us but I would never leave him alone in the state he was.”

Strawberry stared at the little dragon across the room, a fire in her eyes. “Ponies can think whatever they want about us, what's important to Jay and I is what we have. If someone has a problem with that, fuck 'em.”

It was silent for a few seconds before her ears lowered as she realized what she just said. Her blush intensified and she started stammering. “I-I mean... I... You know...” She continued babbling and covered her face with her hooves.

Spike laughed and relaxed his posture, drinking his tea. "Yeah, his way of speaking does rub off on you!" Strawberry lowered her hooves and levitated her cup, taking a sip. "But if you're mean to him and make him sad, I'll make you regret it."

Just as quickly as Strawberry drank her tea, she spat it out in a fine mist at his words.

“She nearly cut my fuckin' ear off.” I mumbled, sitting slouched over uncomfortably in Strawberry's couch. I had my arms crossed and tapped my left biceps.

Spike had run off back to the library to convince Twilight to let him come with me, leaving me alone with Strawberry at her house instead of mine. We couldn't be bothered to take the walk back to my house so here we were.

Strawberry circled to the back of the couch and jumped up, resting her forehooves on the backrest as she looked over my hair for the third time. I sighed and leaned back, staring right up at her. “What?”

“I um... I haven't really seen your ears before since your old hair covered them and I think they're really small and adorable and... and I like them... a lot.” She rambled, then hid her blushing face against the backrest with a squeak.

I swear, she will be the death of me.

I had a bit of an argument with Rarity about how my hair would look like. I wanted it to be cut short all around, she wanted to cut it only a little and style the rest. It ended with the sides being cut very short, but at the top of my head it was slightly longer that became shorter the further back it went. The bangs were combed back, going to the left.

Basically, we got the douchebag 'do in the end. Rarity called it a revolutionary hairstyle, I just kept quiet and left her some bits. When she got to work on the suit, we decided to leave and allow her to work in peace.

“Want to get some lunch?” I asked after a few minutes of silence. “We don't have to go out, I'll just whip something up here.” I stood up and stretched my arms and started walking to the kitchen.

“No, I'll make something. You made breakfast.” She walked ahead of me and started rummaging in the fridge.

“It's no problem, I'll-” I got cut off as she drew her head back from the fridge and glared at me for a few seconds. “Fuckin'... Okay...” Hey, I might not be the smartest person ever but when a girl gives you that kind of look it's better to give up.

I sat down at the small table further into the kitchen. It was really tiny, basically just fitting two plates. In fact, that was a common thing in this house. Everything was really small, no real space for anything other than the bare essentials. Strawberry backed away from the refrigerator and bumped the counter behind her and sighed as she levitated out what looked like some essentials for just making some salad.

Man, this house is small. Not like, comfy small. Just straight out small with a capital S. From where I was sitting I could see the door to the bedroom and if I moved my head slightly to the left it was a clear shot into the living room.

I'm not saying that it's small because I'm bigger than the ponies, I could clearly see that it was uncomfortable for her. I bit my lip.

“So... Strawberry?”

“Mhmm?”

“Want to move in with me?”

The plates she was carrying crashed to the ground and she stared at me with her mouth open and another blush on her cheeks. I stood up and walked over, picking up the pieces before one of us stepped in them.

“Wh-what?!”

“I was just thinking... This place is small. Like, really small. My house? It's huge to have just me living there alone.” I deposited the shards in a bin and sat down on the floor in a lotus position.

“I-if you say so...” She scratched the back of her head. “It's just... sudden, you know?”

“It's your choice of course and I know what I said about taking it slow but... Look at this place!” I waved around a hand, bumping it on a counter. “You can barely move around without bumping something and you're way smaller than me!”

Her ears flattened and she walked over to me. She leaned forward a bit and kissed me. “...I'll settle things with my landlady and get my things ready.”

I smiled at that and kissed her back. “I'll help you box your stuff after lunch.” I stood up, brushed off my pants and looked around. “Do you still have some moving boxes or something like that here?”

“There's a few folded in my bedroom.” Her attention returned to preparing the food. I walked over to the mentioned room and quickly found a few boxes. I got to work with setting them up and placing them on the floor in order. A few minutes later I heard her call that lunch was ready.

I shimmied back into the kitchen, careful not to knock something over. I took the free seat next to the table and dug in when she had joined me.

We ate in relative silence, just talking about what she wanted to pack herself and which items were a bit more fragile than the rest. When we finished, I grabbed both plates and brought them to the sink and cleaned them.

“Jay?” I turned my head to her.

“What's up?”

“I just... I just wanted to say that I'm really grateful that you're looking out for me and letting me move in with you and...” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes tight, then opened them and stared right at me. “I love you!”

…

…

I blanked. I turned completely to her while wiping my hands clean off the water. I blinked once. Twice. I could see her shoulders start to sag and her forelegs start shaking. I walked over to her and crouched down, moving away a couple of strands of her mane that covered her eyes. She gasped at the touch.

“I love you too.”

We spent the rest of the day packing her stuff, cleaning the house and getting everything carried to my house. We gathered a fair share of stares when we walked through town carrying several boxes across town. Applejack offered to loan us her cart but we managed on our own.

Fluttershy and Twilight noticed us walking past them and both of them stared at us with near face-splitting grins as we passed them.

On Sunday, we spent a lot of time unpacking and setting up what she wanted. When we were done, we ordered in some pizza and ate it outside on the patio in the back of the house. Later in the evening, Rarity came over with my suit and the shoes I asked if she could get made.

Hey, wearing some old as shit worn out sneakers to a business meeting is just bad practice. I'm not sure how the hell she made them on a short notice, they were even sized right and comfortable!

And then... Monday came. The day I had to leave to head off to Manehattan for work. Strawberry and I were walking to the train station, not saying much. She looked a bit down. I have to admit I was also a bit bummed out. Turned out that Spike couldn't come with me.

There was no convincing Twilight this time, she was dead set on Spike staying in Ponyville for some reason. Ah well, shit happens.

I was sitting on a bench with my ticket in my hands and a small black faux-leather bag on my left and Strawberry on my right.

“I'll be back by Thursday morning, I promise.” I said to her, resting my right arm over her withers. She leaned to me.

“I know... It's just... The house will be really quiet and empty when you're gone...” She sniffled and wiped her face with a foreleg. I squeezed her to me.

“Don't worry, Twilight and the girls promised to check up on you and visit. You'll manage and if anything happens I'll get back here in no time!” I smiled at her. I heard the whistle of a train in the distant and stood up. Strawberry stayed in her seat and looked up at me.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

When the train started grinding to a halt, I grabbed the bag and slung it over my shoulder. I saw a few more tears budding in the corners of her eyes.

I leaned down to her and kissed her. She tensed up for a few seconds, then leaned into it. We separated and I stood back up and ran a hand through my hair.

“I'll see you real soon, love ya!” I waved at her and jogged to the train.

“Love you too, Jay!” She waved but faltered when ponies stared at her. She shook her head and waved even harder. “Be good, stay out of trouble and please don't get arrested!”

“No promises!” I laughed and entered the cart and walked into a booth I got for myself.

After a few minutes of waiting, a conductor passed me and punched a hole in the ticket. I put it in my bag and leaned back in my seat, kicking up my feet on the seat across me. Once the train started chugging away from the station, I yawned and then closed my eyes for a little power nap.