Propositions

The next morning I was up before the sun, as was my normal routine. My body had become so accustomed to this that I did not need to set an alarm, either on my phone, or on my watch.

However, what I wasn't expecting was to hear someone else walking around so early in the morning. When I rose from the couch that Ditzy had so generously allowed me to sleep on for the time being, I noticed a light coming from the kitchen. Shaking off my tiredness, I made my way toward the light. Once there, I saw Ditzy sitting at the kitchen table with her back to me. She seemed to be wearing some sort of blue uniform that matched surprisingly well with her gray fur.

"Good morning, Ditzy," I greeted, which caused my pegasus host to pivot in her chair.

"Oh, good morning, John," she replied with that same sincere smile that I had first noticed when she found me at her front door, "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"Oh no," I smiled and shook my head, taking a seat at the table, "I always wake up this early to take my morning run. What are you doing up this early?"

"I have to get up this early for work," she explained, "I'm a mailmare, and I need to get my route out of the way before I have to take Dinky to school."

"Speaking of which, I meant to ask you yesterday, what season is it?"

"Oh, it's summer. In fact, this is Dinky's last week of school before vacation."

"That's good," I chuckled, "means what I'm wearing is more than sufficient for the weather."

"Are you going to eat something before you go," Ditzy asked.

"That wouldn't be a bad idea. What would you recommend?"

"There's some orange juice in the fridge, and there are those bran muffins I made last night."

"That's perfect," I smiled, heading toward the fridge. Last evening I had discovered where Ditzy kept all her platewear and glasswear, so finding what I needed for a quick breakfast was easy enough.

"Did you have a muffin last night," Ditzy asked, tilting her head one way while her cross-eyes shifted in the opposite direction.

"No," I replied, "I was so stuffed from the casserole you made that I didn't have any room for dessert. But that certainly won't stop me from eating one now."

I found the basket that held the healthy foodstuffs and took out a muffin. My original intention was to savor my breakfast as best I could, but I soon found that to be a lost cause, as the muffin was so delicious that I don't remember taking a breath as I inhaled the entire morsel.

"Did you enjoy it," Ditzy asked with a chuckle, obviously already knowing the answer.

"I will say this," I said after gulping down the last of my juice, "my stomach is kicking me for not having one last night."

Ditzy giggled in a way that I had to admit was pretty cute, particularly with her golden eyes wavering back and forth.

"This may be a silly question," Ditzy said once her giggle fit had ended, "but are you sure you want to go for a run? Some of the ponies in town may find your appearance kind of strange."

"I figure it's early enough in the morning," I replied, "I'm not going to see too many people, I mean ponies, on my route. Besides, I need to learn a little bit about where things are in this town. Specifically, I need to find Princess Twilight's castle. I know you gave me the basics of it, but it's always been easier for me to see something than to try to visualize."

"Well, I hope you enjoy yourself," Ditzy said, finishing her own breakfast, "See you later."

With that, I headed out of the house and began jogging in no particular direction. I figured the best route would be to stay within the city limits, as that would not only help me keep my bearings, but allow me to locate specific landmarks. As usual, I had my iPhone strapped to my upper arm and music playing into the pair of white earbuds which matched the color of the phone. I had already figured out that telephones didn't exist in Equestria, but eletrical devices did. Unfortunately, it seemed as though Equestria used outlets more like the kind you would find in European countries, and thus my charger did not fit in them. I would have to find some way to rectify this, as running without music turned it from a nice bit of exercise to more of a chore.

As I made my way through the town of Ponyville, I didn't notice very many other ponies. The sun wasn't up yet, and Ditzy had told me that most ponies rose with the sun. However, I did spot several groups of pegasi flying above me. I wasn't quite sure what they were doing, but they seemed to be pushing the clouds around in certain directions. I would certainly remember to ask either Ditzy or Princess Twilight about this phenomenon. Most of the pegasi seemed too busy with their work to notice the foreign creature running beneath them. However, I did notice an off-blue coated mare with a distinctive rainbow mane and tail spot me and watch as I passed. She was a little too high up for me to see her facial expression accurately, but I had a gut feeling that she was trying to figure out just what I was exactly and whether I posed any threat, though she must have figured otherwise, for as soon as I passed completely below her, she went back to whatever she was doing and declined to follow me any further.

My original plan was to run until I found Princess Twilight's castle, then turn around and head back to Ditzy's place. I figured it wouldn't be as far as my usual course, but until I learned more about where I was, it would have to do. However, I found what I was looking for a lot sooner than I had expected.

The castle was by far the tallest structure in town, and thus I could see it far before I actually reached it. It didn't hurt that the sun was rising right behind it, which created a silouhette which could probably be seen clear across town.

After a few more minutes, I found myself directly in front of the impressive structure. It was unlike any building I had ever seen before, as the castle seemed to be growing out of a crystaline tree, both of which where mainly a nice lavendar color, not far off from the princess' own coat. Once I reached the front door, I decided to just stand and marvel at the sheer engineering genius that was the palace. Of course, my previous meeting with Twilight had already shown me that these ponies had some magical abilities, and this building seemed to drive that fact home.

While I stood there in an architectural coma, I didn't hear the front door open, and I almost didn't hear a voice speak to me.

"John," Twilight snapped her fingers in front of my eyes, which brought me out of my trance, "are you OK?"

I looked down at the princess to see that she was wearing the exact same thing she had been yesterday. The only difference in her overall appearance was that a brown horned owl, the species that was almost stereotypically associated with wisdom, sat on her left shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied with a chuckle, "just admiring your palace."

"Oh," Twilight looked up and behind her, as if she had never noticed the outside before, "Well, it's a long story."

"I'm sure it is," it was at that point that I realized something, "Twilight, have you been up all night?"

"Oh yes," she said more cheerfully than I would have expected, "I had to make sure that I had everything ready for your visit today. There is a lot of material and information to cover. So Owlowiscious and I were up preparing."

"And am I to assume that Owlowiscious is this guy," I said, pointing to the owl.

"Hoo," he responded, turning his head around a full 360 degrees for emphasis.

"Would you like to come in and begin right away," Twilight asked, motioning to the open front door.

"Well, I had planned on finishing my run," I replied pensively, "but seeing as you went through all this trouble for me, and seeing as how I am already here, we may as well start."

"Wonderful," Twilight clasped her hands together, "follow me, please."

I followed Twilight through the palace for a time. Owlowiscious eventually flew off, presumably to find some place to sleep.

"So where are we going exactly," I asked as we turned down yet another corridor.

"To the library," the princess replied, "Everything is set up there. Besides, it's my favorite room."

"Well," I countered, "I can certainly understand--"

"What in Celestia is that!" a male voice yelled from behind us. Twilight and I turned around to see a purple creature with green spines on his head which went down his back. He was bipedal, was an inch or two shorter than me, and had claws more than actual hands, though they seemed to be able to serve the same function.

"Holy shit," I exclaimed, "a dragon!"

"How do you know that," Twilight asked.

"I was just going on context clues. The scales, the tail, the claws, the sharp teeth. That is a juvenile dragon, or am I wrong?"

"No, you're right."

"Though 'juvenile' hurts a little," the drake snorted, "I'm almost 18 years old."

"Sorry, man," I apologized, extending a hand, "I'm John."

"Spike," the dragon replied, shaking my hand in return, gripping a little tighter than I would have preferred, but I just smiled and returned the iron grip.

"Twilight, would you like anything for breakfast," the drake offered.

"No, Spike, I already ate."

"Were you up all night again," Spike asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," the princess defended, "but I had to to get things in order for John's visit. There is much to cover, and we don't exactly have eternity to do it."

"Ok then," Spike said as he walked off, which allowed me to see his leathery wings for the first time, "see you two later."

Once Spike was out of sight, I turned to Twilight.

"I hope I didn't offend him."

"Well," Twilight sighed, "I will admit that he can get defensive about how he is perceived. He is very different than most dragons, since he has spent his entire life around ponies. He even tried to join a dragon migration at one point. I hope by the time his birthday comes around, he'll be seen by the community for the adult that he is. But you'll understand more about that later."

I wasn't sure what Twilight meant by that last statement, but I didn't want to bring it up right now. Instead, I silently followed hert our destination. The library of this castle was impressive and expansive. When Twilight mentioned that it was the largest single room in the palace, I believed her. I couldn't see the end of the rows of shelves. Upon closer examination, I saw that every shelf was categorized by subject, and then alphabetically by author. The sheer time it must have taken to organize this collection weighed on my mind, before the realization that Twilight could probably just 'will' the books to go where she wanted.

Twilight led me to the middle of the room, where there was a square space devoid of shelving. In this space sat two desks, a tilted one for writing, and a rather large standard one which, judging by the dual stacks of books laid upon it, seemed to be Twilight's reading desk. Giving a cursory look at one of the stacks, I noticed that these books seemed to pertain to either historical or socio-political issues. Of course, that was just a guess, as I had no idea who Nightmare Moon, Star Swirl the Bearded or Twilight Velvet were.

"Now," Twilight spoke, which made me turn to see that she had pulled in a chalkboard and had put on a pair of glasses which made her look even more like a librarian than usual, "like I said before, there is much to go over, so we should get started."

Taking the hint, I pulled over the office chair that was parked next to the large desk and took a seat.

"Whenever you wish to proceed, princess," I said in my most formal tone of voice. This was serious business to Twilight, and I wanted to make sure that she understood that I took it just as seriously.

"Excellent," Twilight said, using her magic to pick up one of the books off the desk, "I believe it's best to start here..."

*-*-*-*-*

I have no clue where the next ten hours went. Twilight covered pretty much everything I needed to know about Equestrian history, politics, economics, and culture in such an efficient manner that it wouldn't suprise me if she rehearsed the entire lecture the night beforehand. It was remarkable. I knew people that were paid to teach for a living that couldn't hold my attention for 30 minutes, let alone many times that amount. Even through the lunch that Spike provided, she didn't lose her concentration or competency.

That's not to say that she didn't allow me to get questions in, and it was a good thing, as I had many. There were many things about Equestria that were so different from home. And, as I didn't know how long I would be here, it seemed in my best interest to be as clear as possible.

"OK," Twilight said after she had explained the importance of cutie marks, a special brand that everypony received that said something about their special talent, "There's one more topic that we have to delve into, and I purposely saved it for last."

"What is that," I asked, leaning back in my chair, only a little bit happy that the extended lecture was nearing its end.

"Well, if you're going to live here for an indefinite period of time, you must understand the custom that we have come to call 'Propositioning'."

"OK," I replied with a bit of a brow raise, waiting for Twilight to make her point.

"OK, so you remember back when I asked you how personal relationships were treated in your world?"

"Yes," I said with a nod, "You said there was something important that you would come back to later."

"Exactly," Twilight said, removing her reading glasses, "the cultural idea of propositions and proposals are the Equestrian answer to your world's system. You see, since ponies first recognized the concept of marriage, as you know it, it has been understood that this convention in a singular, monogamous, relationship was not rational in Equestria."

"What do you mean by that," I asked with a definitive tilt of my head.

"Well, in early Equestria, ponies realized that there was an intersting imbalance between the numer of mares and the number of stallions. This led to the custom of 'herding', or, in other words, the practice of a stallion mating with more than one mare."

"That doesn't seem odd," I countered, "in certain societies on my planet, that is also practiced, though we call it polygamy."

"Reasonable," Twilight replied, "However, since the beginnings of the reigns of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the practice of herding slowly began to die out, mostly as towns and cities began to grow and the mare-to-stallion ratio became more balanced."

"Reasonable," I parroted.

"However," Twilight continued, "the idea that stallions should be able to mate with more than one mare, and even vice-versa was still seen as an important part of becoming an adult. Thus, ponies began to set down laws to govern the...exploits that young mares and stallions might have."

"This is going to be a long list, isn't it?"

"Not particularly," Twilight shook her head, "there are only a few things that you need to know. First, that a pony becomes 'of age' at 16, at that point, they are what you would probably call 'legal'. This is very important, as the only two crimes for which death is still the penalty are murder and rape, rape being extended to also mean having relations with anypony under the age of 16.

"Secondly, any mare or stallion may proposition any other mare or stallion who is of age. Usually, propositioning is done through a very direct phrase, though there can be alterations based on the individual relationship one pony may have with another. Two ponies who are dating may not always directly proposition each other, as it is understood in Equestrian society that they are probably going to engage in sex. As a corollary to this, it is understood that anypony has the right to say 'no', and this right is to be respected. Even if it is a mare who propositions a stallion, the stallion is no more expected to acquiesce to the mares desires than a mare would in the reverse setting."

"So," I said, leaning forward and bringing my hands together near my mouth, "you're saying that it is perfectly legal and acceptable to ask any mare to have sex with me?"

"In blunt terms, yes."

"Even a princess," I asked with a smirk.

Twilight blushed slightly, "Yes. Though that wasn't a very good attempt at it."

"Didn't mean for it to be. I was just trying to do away with any possible awkwardness."

"Well," Twilight's blush grew, "it didn't work."

"Was the sex ed really the last thing you needed to teach me," I asked, the smirk no longer present on my face, but certainly audible in my voice.

"Um...yes," Twilight stammered, obviously more flustered than she wanted to be, "If you don't mind, I think I should go to bed. I was up all night, as you recall."

"I recall," I replied, "Should I show myself out, or are you going to?"

"I suppose it's best if I show you out," Twilight replied, finally regaining her composure with a smile, "you might get lost."

I wanted to be offended by that comment, but I just couldn't bring myself to be.

Twilight led me back the exact way we had come in the first place, back to the entrance of the castle. Once I was on the other side of the threshold, we both just stood there for an awkward pause.

"Well," Twilight broke the perfect silence, "goodnight John."

"Goodnight princess," I replied with a bit of a bow. I looked up just in time to see that cute blush return to Twilight's cheeks before she magically shut the door.

"Yeah," I chuckled to myself, "not awkward at all."