"Invitation, please."

You stared at the two guard stallions guarding the front door of the home you were just in no more than a few hours ago. Whatever was going on in Vinyl and Octavia's house must have been more important than just a regular house party. Not only did it warrant two guards on post outside the front door, but they were also restricting access to the first human in Equestria in over one hundred years. Despite your tendencies to avoid being arrogant, you were a bit annoyed at the sudden rejection, and it was from a royal guard no less. But, as you inspected the guards further, they were somewhat different that the ones at Celestia's castle. They were both had darker fur and an eerie pair of yellow eyes that seemed to pierce your soul and gave you the feeling that they would slaughter you in broad daylight if you disobeyed them. Although, since it didn't seem fair to keep you out (for obvious reasons), you tried to reason with the guards.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get the invitation, but I mean... Certainly someone like me would be welco-"

"If you don't have an invitation, then you can't enter. Princess's orders."

If it wasn't for the fact that Vinyl was right beyond that door, you would've given up and gone back to Twilight's house, but the longing urge to see her drove you to keep trying.

"Are you two Princess Luna's guards? Look, I know her really well, heck, she brought me here to Equestria herself and-" The guards raised their tridents in your direction and gave you possibly the most intimidating faces you had ever seen, even for ponies.

"We said leave! Now! Last warning!" You immediately raised your hands in surrender and backed up several steps from the door.

"O-okay, okay I'm sorry..."

Your head hung low in deep discouragement as you made your way back towards the tree house. This was the second time you had been denied seeing your potential marefriend, and even though on any other occasion it would've aggravated you, it instead made you feel a bit depressed. Perhaps the culture shock of getting everything you wanted because you were human played into your current mood, but it still lowered your spirits considerably. Suddenly, you heard an all too familiar sound: a loud *Pop!*. You had now been in Ponyville long enough to realize this was the sound unicorns made when teleporting from place to place, albeit it was a bit less drastic than the interdimensional deluxe crazy teleportation *Pop!* that Celestia and Luna used to get to Earth. You were beginning to get used to it, but it still made you jump on occasion. After kicking a pebble with you for what seemed like an hour, you heard a nostalgic "Psssst!" coming from behind you. You turned around to see the last pony you would've ever expected.

"T-Twilight?!" Your face flustered into a light pink as you tried to explain yourself. "I um...I was just...I couldn't sleep and..."

Twilight giggled a bit. "Relax silly, it's okay. I heard you leave and I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You left to see Vinyl, right?"

"Well... I guess, yeah." Your eyes darted around a bit. "But those guards over there won't let me into her house. There's some kind of party going on."

"A party? And they didn't invite me?" Twilight responded with a bit of sarcasm that helped lighten your mood a bit. Even though she was a princess and all, anypony would assume that inviting Twilight to a late night party would be like inviting a vegetarian to a barbeque.

"Anyways, if it's the guards that are giving you problems, this might help." She hooved over what looked like a small medallion. It was a brilliant hue of gold and was as shiny as a still lake on a midsummer day. It had four head-like shapes which, judging by the shape of the manes that came off of them, looked like the four princesses.

"Just show that to them and they should let you in. Just make sure you bring that back!" She added with a proud smile and a tiny *squee*.

"Thanks a bunch Twilight...I won't be out too late, I promise."

"Stay out as long as you like, tiger." She said with a wink, "Who knows, she might even let you spend the night...I dunno."

Blushing and chuckling at her, you waved goodbye warmly as she closed her eyes and popped back out of thin air, leaving only a few purple sparkles behind that quickly faded away as well. Clutching the medallion tight in your palm, you smiled and mentally thanked Twilight again as you turned around and headed back towards Vinyl's house.

"Hey! Didn't we tell you to get lost?!" The guards said again, raising their tridents closer to your face this time.

You tried to keep a spiteful grin from your face as you pulled out the medallion and showed it to them. You could tell it instantly hd some significance because the faces of the guards turned from anger to shock.

"How did you...How did you get one of those??"

"Eh...I bumped into Twilight on my way back" You said with an innocent smile. "She told me to show it to you."

The guards looked at each other thoughtfully for a few moments before letting out sighs of defeat and moving out of the way for you to pass.

"Whatever. Go ahead. And by the way, it's Princess Twilight to you."

You slipped by them without daring to look either in the eye and entered back into the house. You were immediately met by a low hanging banner to the face and a thick crowd of ponies who instantly turned around and cheer at you, obviously happy to have someone as apparently important as you at the party. You pulled the banner from your face, seeing the words "After-Sun Social" printed on it, and you apologized humbly as you tried to work your way past, unsure whether or not you'd be able to slip past into "backstage" or not. Albeit, backstage for Vinyl's house was probably just her bedroom. As you walked by, you slowly started to notice that the party wasn't going on so much inside the house as it was outside. After trying to find a back door for a while, you finally do so and open it, unleashing the full force of Vinyl's speakers right into your face. It was easy to see over the crowd to where Vinyl's stage was in the back left corner of the backyard. Judging by the atmosphere, you assumed it would be better to simply wait until she took a break or something instead of just going up on stage while she was busy playing. With that in mind, you tried to find a good spot in the back of the group so that you wouldn't block anypony's view. Before you got too far into the crowd, you almost bumped into a tiny filly whose head reached up about to your knees. You would've moved past her if she hadn't noticed you and given you the cutest face ever.

"Hey! You're that human guy!" Her big blue eyes almost made you want to pick her up and hug her because of how cute she was. In fact, she reminded you of Derpy a little minus the eyes. You kneeled down so you could talk to her more directly.

"Yup! That's me!"

"So you're like... Best friends with Pwincess Woona?!" That child's voice almost made your heart melt.

"Mhmm. She's the one who brought me here!" You could easily read the amount of awe that the filly felt towards you. It was then that you noticed her mother standing behind her watching all this happen.

"Don't bother him too much sugar, I'm sure he's here to meet with the Princess too."

"Aw but mom! He can help me see! Look at how tall he is!"

You made eye contact with the filly's mother for a few seconds. "Don't worry, ma'am, I'll be careful." You gave her a reassuring smile before she finally rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Woohoo!" The little filly yelled out as you picked her up, noticing that she was suprisingly light, and sitting her on your shoulders so that she could see over your head. You could only imagine how awesome it was for her to have such a high view of Vinyl playing. It tugged at your heartstrings a bit and made you feel like you did your good deed for the day. The song Vinyl was playing was a little more... Off-the-wall than you preferred, but just the sight of her getting to do what she truly loved made you feel better than any type of music could. And from what you could tell, the little filly on your shoulders felt the same way.

You enjoyed the next few songs with her and her mother, and after you realized that Vinyl was taking a break, you wished them both an apologetic goodbye and went after her. Apparently, the stallions guarding the passage to Vinyl's room weren't as strict as the ones at the front door, as they almost instantly and respectfully let you in once they noticed who you were.

"Alex!!!" Vinyl turned around and trotted towards you before getting up on her hind legs and wrapping you in a warm greeting hug. "I'm so glad you got my invitation!"

"Oh... Uh, I didn't" You said with a bit of humor and confusion.

"Huh? That's weird. Then how did you get in?"

You gave a humorous smile of pride "I know a couple important ponies."

"Oh, yeah. That's right. You're the special guest aren't you?" Vinyl teased and you rolled your eyes at her.

You suddenly heard an ominous voice coming from right behind you. "It is nice to see you again, Sir Alex."

Your heart jumped in surprise as you turned around and soon noticed that it was just Luna. Even though she had gotten over her habit of using her loud royal Canterlot voice, it seemed like she couldn't help it sometimes. Vinyl laughed it off and adressed Luna with a surprisingly informal tone.

"Oh hey Luna, I was wondering when you'd stop by."

"Bringing up the moon took a bit more time tonight. The tides were a little... Irregular. But, I am glad to see that our most esteemed guest could finally come as well. I hope my guards did not trouble you much."

"They're... Strict. But I guess that's why they call them guards. By the way, what's this whole party for?"

Luna answered, lowering her voice but still keeping a bit of pride in her tone. "After my exile ended and I began ruling with my sister once more, many of our subjects... Sympathized with me because they felt that the night wasn't as appreciated as much as it should be. So, with the help of Vinyl and her music, we hold an official annual gathering to celebrate the night and all the beauty it brings for those who take appreciation for it."

Now that you thought about it, it made every bit of sense that Vinyl and Luna would be good friends. Who would appreciate the night better than the best night club DJ in Equestria? You listened to Luna carry on her speech about the importance of night before Vinyl interrupted as politely as she could.

"So...anyway, the party here is almost done, but we're all going to go to Ponyville park to watch the meteor shower after. You in, Alex?"

Watching a meteor shower sounded attractive in and of itself, but the vision of sitting under a meteor shower with Vinyl sounded like the most romantic thing you could think of. You weren't going to turn that deal down.

"Sure, count me in!"

"Sweet. I got a few more bits to play for everyone, but after that, meet me back here and we'll go together."

You did a mental fist pump out of excitement. Luna teleported away, presumably to get ready for the shower. You guessed she probably had to do something to make it happen. You opened the door for Vinyl and you let her concentrate on her performance while you went over to the bar, which in this case was just the kitchen, for a drink. You assumed it would be okay to open the refrigerator, and you finally found out the answer to the question of whether or not Equestria had beer. You pulled out a bottle labeled "Appleoosa Pale Ale" and tried to open it, but with no success. Feeling somewhat embarrassed by your lack of strength, you turned around and put all your might into it, but it still didn't yield. Suddenly, something came up from behind you and grabbed it with what looked like a purple sort of tail.

"Let me get that for ya."

The purple dragon wrapped his plump tail around the bottle cap and easily twisted it off. It took you a moment to realize who it was.

"Spike??"

"Yup! Thats me! Biggest, toughest dragon in Ponyville!"

You laughed a bit and teased back, "Ooh yeah... The strongest bottle opener ever."

"Hey, you couldn't do it, could you?"

You stuck your tongue out at him playfully. "Whatever. So whats up? I haven't seen you since I've been here, I thought you would've at least been at Twilight's house."

"Oh... Well about that... I uh, had some errands to run and..." You could tell he was obviously hiding something, and remembering Spike's fascination with Rarity...

"Been giving Rarity house calls?"

His eyes shot wide and his face turned red, "N-no! That's not it!" However, he soon realized that you were joking and that his reaction was a dead giveaway, so he cut the act.

"So, how are you liking Ponyville?"

"I love it, it's like a dream but better. And all the people, sorry, ponies are really great."

"I agree. But don't try anything funny with Rarity, got it? I've got my eye on you..." He replied with a mock-suspicious tone that made you laugh at him a bit."

"Noted."

Spike looked to his left and right before speaking and held his hand (or claw, rather) next to his mouth, "Speaking of crushes, I heard you have a thing for Vinyl, huh?"

Although you gave your normal embarrassed response, you had to admit that you were starting to get more and more comfortable with the idea.

"Y-yeah, I guess you could say that." You nearly forgot about your beer and took a long gulp. Fate seemed to save you from a potentially awkward silence between the two of you as a couple of ponies came up from behind you that reminded you a bit of Minuette and Cloud Chaser.

"Hey spike! Come shoot some more fire for us!"

"Yeah, come on! The guards said it was okay!"

"Alright alright girls, I'm coming." He turned back to face you with an obvious lack of effort to subdue his pride, "Well, the party needs me. I'll catch ya later alright?"

"Don't make Rarity too jealous..." You smiled and laughed a little as you wave goodbye, seeing him nearly dragged outside by a crowd of excited ponies.

As he went away, you set a mental note in your head to talk to him if or when you had girl issues, since he was probably one of the few masculine characters in Ponyville that you could relate to. You had to admit that you felt a little sorry for him for being surrounded by girls every single day, and because his only family was mostly megalomaniacal overly-masculine dragons of death. But all-together, you felt like he could be a good buddy to hang out with man-to-man in a sea of femininity (not that a sea of femininity would necessarily be a bad thing).

The night air was a bit more chilly than how it was before you first came to the party, and although a faint ringing remained in your ear thanks to Vinyl's love for volume, you could easily hear the cicadas and nocturnal birds singing away. If there was ever any proof that the night was controlled by an all-powerful Princess, this was it. The moon was completely full, and its beams shot all across the roofs of houses and the open fields that lay beyond them. Because of the lack of lights that Equestria had compared to most places on Earth, there were so many more stars in the sky than you were accustomed to. The awe you felt for the view was magnified by the fact that there wasn't a single cloud in the sky to block it. In the distant horizon, you could barely see an overhanging structure that stood tall against the mountainside, which you could guess would be Canterlot. The tip of the moon had just passed over the tallest tower that you could see and was becoming clearer and clearer as it rose higher and higher into the night sky.

A slam from the door behind you broke you out of your trance as you turn around, a smile instantly growing on your face.

"Ready to head out? The shower starts in ten minutes." Vinyl said after letting out a sigh of exhaustion.

"Yeah, you bet."

You knew why you were really excited to do this with Vinyl, and you guessed that she did as well. You hadn't had any time to spend alone with Vinyl since you got here, and you had so many things to tell her about and ask her. Your question about Celestia's offer was one of them, but the main thing you wanted to let out was your heart. You never really showed it around other ponies, but inside, your mind had been buzzing with scenarios. What would you say? How would you say it? What if she says no? What if this, what if that? You took pride in yourself for being able to hide emotions so well, albeit it seldom came as a curse. However, your insides were like a washing machine full of feelings, fears, and wishful thinking.

You followed Vinyl behind the rows of houses and cottages into a large open field with only a single tree in the center. It was already filled with ponies, but Vinyl, having done this many times before, led you to a more secluded spot on the edge of the field that nopony knew about. As you got yourselves situated, the two of you basically kept to small talk, giving compliments about Vinyl's performance and talking about other music related things. You found a patch of grass that was void of roots and acorns and laid yourself down, giving you a near perfect view of the rising moon and stars. You thought Vinyl would lay down beside you, but she instead laid herself perpendicular to you and rested her head on your chest, which made you develop an obvious blush. You could see each individual star reflect off of her big maroon eyes as she looked into the night sky and no matter what you tried, you couldn't keep yourself from staring at them.

"Y- You comfortable Vinyl?"

"Mhmm" She affirmed with a nod, letting out another sigh of relaxation as her muscles, worn out from DJ'ing, finally got some rest.

You were about to start giving your "opening up" speech you had planned out, but she continued before you got the chance. This time, she had a more serious and imaginative look on her face, as if she was trying to remember something.

"Me and my dad used to come out here all the time and look at stars." Her sudden seriousness took you off guard.

"Oh, I guess I never asked you about your dad. What's he like?"

A smile stretched along Vinyl's face, as if she was happy you asked. "He was the best. He taught me everything I know about making music and all that."

"Where are your parents? I haven't seen or heard of them..."

Her positive tone didn't dissolve at all as she continued, "My mom passed away when I was little... And my dad moved really far away a long time ago. I still send him letters and stuff...but I barely get any responses from him."

"Oh I-I'm sorry...I didn't know..."

"Its okay." She responded quaintly. If she felt any negative feelings towards the topic, she was very skilled at hiding them. "What about your parents?"

You usually shrugged off the question into a couple of vague sentences to keep from having to talk about them too much, but you opened up a little more for Vinyl.

"Well... They're okay, but they don't really seem like they care for me much. Once I graduated high school and moved on to college, they both moved really far away. I hardly get any letters from them, and they barely send me any money to help me out with stuff. But I guess that's a bit similar to you and your dad, now that I think about it."

"What makes you think they don't care about you?"

You gave a sigh but continued, "I dunno...I guess they just weren't there for me when I needed them."

"My dad didn't have the time to pay attention to me as much as he wanted to. He was always busy with work and never played with me when I was little. But the way he smiled at me and hugged me when he said he was sorry...I knew that was proof that he really did care for me. And even though he's really far away now, I'm sure he's just sitting there wishing he could have played with me more when he had the chance. Maybe your parents are thinking the same thing too. Maybe they're just stuck up there wishing they could have been there for you when they had the chance." She looked across at you with a smile as the words hit you. "Maybe you should give them the benefit of the doubt."

Your admiration for her spiked at that moment. Regardless whether or not she was right, she had been the first person to give a sincere and genuine shit about your family life, or just your life in general. You admitted to yourself that with anypony else, you would've gotten defensive and backed out of the conversation. However, Vinyl seemed to have a way of making you want to talk everything out with her. After staring at the stars some more, you entertained the idea of giving your parents a second chance. Maybe they really did miss you, and maybe you just didn't trust that they really did. After all, Vinyl seemed to have faith in her father even though she almost never had any contact from him. Maybe you should too.

You decided it was time to tell her and you cleared your throat awkwardly before continuing.

"Hey Vinyl?" She looked up at you from your chest again, shooting a gaze from her hypnotizing red eyes that shot straight through your soul.

"Yeah?" You fumbled for words. Those damned eyes.

"Well...I've been thinking about everything and..." She, again, broke your concentration by getting off of your chest and climbing on top of you, her face literally inches above yours.

"And... What?" She whispered with a teasing and slightly seductive tone before giggling a bit. It yielded the reddest blush you had ever given to anyone. You couldn't form any words after that point, other than...

"I really like you...a lo-"

She cut you off by leaning her snow white face in and closing her eyes before embracing your lips in the most sensual kiss you ever had. Her lips were incredibly soft and just moist enough to add a bit of naughtiness to the kiss. After your pupils dilated a bit, your eyes closed along with hers as you wrapped your arms around her and ran your fingers through her soft white fur, pulling her closer to you. You peeked out of one eye through Vinyl's electric blue mane to see about a dozen meteors whizzing in the sky, as if celebrating what was happening with you and Vinyl at that very moment. You closed your eyes again and inhaled forcefully after completely forgetting to breathe.

Ecstasy turned into surprise as her lips opened and her tongue slipped slowly into your mouth. A low moan escapes your mouth as your body becomes more and more heated by the intense kiss. Her tongue swirled around the edges of yours as your urges took over. You flipped her over and assumed your position on top, breaking the sloppy kiss. She gave you a look of shock and intense arousal at your sudden spurt of dominance, and then narrowed her eyes at you in the sexiest "come hither" stare you had ever seen.

"S- Sorry, I got carried away..." You diverted your eyes from hers and you went to get off of her, but she caught you by the arm and kept you where you were.

"Don't worry about it... Wanna take this back to my place? Everypony should be gone..."

The castle balcony that hung off of Luna's chambers glowed a faint blue, reflecting the soft light being given off from Luna's horn. With one last flicker of magic, she summoned one last shooting star before her magic was extinguished. She let out a tiresome sigh and laid down on the cool marble floor to rest her mind. She jumped slightly as her sister who, fighting off her drowsiness, came to check in on her.

"Sister? Are you alright?"

"I am fine. It would appear my magic has become a bit weaker since my banishment. I had hoped to continue the meteor shower for a while longer."

"You did an excellent job, Luna. Your gift of making the night beautiful surpasses even my abilities."

"You have my thanks." Luna replied bluntly. Celestia knew that her sister didn't like to be flattered too much, and so she changed the subject.

"How is our newest student coming along?'

"He seems to have taken quite the liking to a certain mare in ponyville. And I have reason to believe that the attraction is mutual between them."

Celestia's eyes drifted downwards at the marble floor in contemplation. "I see...Perhaps his new-found love will influence his decision to stay after all."

"It remains to be seen." Celestia, somewhat agitated by Luna's snappy attitude but realizing she was likely just tired, turned around to return to her chambers before stopping.

"Also, I have received recent reports confirming isolated sightings of changeling drones near the outskirts of Canterlot. I thought you would like to know"

Luna let her concern slide. "Although it is troubling news that they have been sighted so close, I do not think it to be a cause for panic. One or two changeling drones pose no threat without their queen."

"True. But please be on your guard just in case."

"I will, sister. Goodnight." Luna ended the conversation without realizing that Celestia was still close behind her. She leaned down and kissed her weary sister on the forehead.

"Goodnight, princess." Celestia whispered to her with a sisterly love.

Luna's cheeks flushed a bit. She knew that Celestia knew that she was a sucker to affection. After being away so long, she cherished any form of physical contact.

And with that, Celestia retreated to her chambers for the night. Luna waited until she heard the door completely close before trotting back inside and laying down on the large dark blue pillow-mattress that took up the majority of the center of her room. There was still one last thing to take care of tonight, and she needed all of her magical strength for it. Entering dreams might sound like an effortless task for the Princess of The Night, and but since her power hadn't fully recovered from her time in exile, it was an all-together different story. At her prime, she could have easily dream-walked for hours at a time with little to no difficulty at all. However, she now needed full concentration and focus just to pull it off for a mere thirty minutes at a time, not to mention the fact that she had never entered the dreams of a human before.

After taking many deep breaths, she began meditating and prepared herself for her deamwalking ritual.

"Your next lesson will not be how you expect it. I hope you are prepared, Sir Alex."

Author's Notes:

Just a quick note: My editor wan't able to view the last quarter of the chapter because of some technical difficulties, so I had to go back and edit the last bit myself. Again, if there are any grammatical errors, please PM me and let me know so that I can fix them asap.