"…ake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake uuuuuup!"

Pinkie shook me harder than I'd ever been shaken, pulling me out of my sleep and hurting my shoulder. "PINKIE!"

She let go, tossing me down onto the pillow. "Oops! Sorry!" Pinkie laughed weakly. "But come on! We're about to stop!"

"Yeah, sleepyhead," Rainbow laughed. "We're waitin' on you."

Groaning, I sat up and ran my hand through my hair. "Alright, I'm up," I murmured.

"You aren't seriously going to meet the princesses of Equestria looking like you just woke up?" Rarity scoffed, her hands on her hips.

"Technically, I just did," I chuckled. Rarity's eyes narrowed, and her horn started glowing a faint blue.

A brush and hairspray appeared in my face, and I got sprayed enough to get my eyebrows to stand still. Even as I coughed up a lung, she vigorously ran the brush through my hair until she pulled every knap into a straightened position. After she was done pulling my hair, she levitated a mirror over.

"Behold!" She said with excitement. "What do you think?"

"…"

I looked like some '80s white boy going to see his grandma. While my hair was still wet, I grabbed the brush and pushed my short hair back, how I used to do it.

"There," I laughed.

Rarity looked as though she wanted to scold me, but Twilight stepped in. "Ooookay! It looks nice," she weakly smiled. "We should probably-"

SCREEEEECH!

"Canterlot Station!" The conductor announced.

"Come on, sugarcube," Applejack chuckled. "No more lollygaggin'!"

I nodded and followed after them, noticing Fluttershy was in the dining cart. We got off the train and headed into the city. It was pretty amazing, to say the least. There were tall buildings and upper-class houses that looked like the ones celebrities lived in. It reminded me of a mix of Hollywood and New York, at least from what I've seen on TV about the former. I blended right in with the girls, but we all stood out like sore thumbs from the rest of the nobles and middle-class people. Except Rarity of course, who had a dress much better than most of the woman I've seen so far. They led me further in, where I started seeing more simple and rural homes, and some familiar shops. The girls squeed in delight at some of the trinkets around, while me, Applejack, and Rainbow just kept walking.

"So what happened in Ponyville with you and Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked, smirking I might add.

I knew what she was implying, as indirect as it was, and kept looking forward. "Nothing," I replied.

"Come on now," Applejack smiled. "She was redder than a red delicious when she came running down the stairs. Somethin' musta happened."

"Yeah. And you were wet, to top it off," Rainbow chuckled. "Like soaking."

I gulped silently, my hands getting a bit sweaty. "She just dropped off my clothes and that's it," I said.

"That's it? She just popped in and… gave you… OH MY GOSH!" Rainbow exclaimed, cracking up and drawing the attention of some surrounding people. Applejack soon caught on and laughed as well.

"What's so funny?!" Pinkie giggled, skipping backwards to our front.

"Fluttershy-!" I clamped my hand over Rainbow's mouth, pulling her to the side.

"What do you call cheese that isn't yours?" I smiled nervously.

"I don't know? What?" Pinkie asked.

"Nacho cheese," I chuckled forcefully. It took Pinkie a second, but she burst out laughing like Rainbow and Applejack did earlier.

"Oh, I get it!" She laughed. "Twilight! Twilight!"

She bounced over to the other girls to tell them, and I let go of Rainbow. "Are you serious?!" I silently yelled.

"Hey, I wasn't the one giving Fluttershy a view," Rainbow snickered. I think I was blushing, since my cheeks were burning, and I glared at her.

"It was an accident!" I argued. "I forgot a towel and I was done and Fluttershy stepped in with my clothes and she-"

"Got a sneak peek," Applejack laughed.

"It was an accident!" I shouted, a little annoyed at this point.

"Hey, we aren't saying it wasn't," Rainbow snickered. "So at least she knows you a little better, am I right?"

"What are you talking about?" I groaned, my cheeks getting hotter.

"Really? Ah thought it was pretty obvious," Applejack said. "Well, we think Flutters fancies ya."

"Like, a lot," Rainbow smiled.

I glanced over to Fluttershy, who spun her head around and pretended to be interested with some knick knacks. She liked me? Me, of all the guys I've seen in Ponyville? We just met… well we got to know each other over the week, but she said she'd been living here since she got out of flight school. She was only twenty-three, four years younger than me. I mean, there were some pretty nice looking guys… so what made me so special?

"You don't really think that, do you?" I questioned. They shrugged.

"Hey, you got her to open up faster than any of us," Rainbow told me. "I think that counts for something."

"And the fact that she's always lookin' at you," Applejack added.

I glanced back over to her, and our eyes met when she turned to look at me. She quickly averted them, and I realised some truth behind their words.

"I… I think she does," I slowly said.

Rainbow rose a brow and tilted her head. "Don't you like her?" She asked.

…

This couldn't be happening.

"She's a pretty girl," Applejack said. "Ah thought ya might like her."

…

I did.

But… Discord…

"I… she's cute but… I don't know," I shrugged. "I-Isn't Celestia gonna like, zap me back to my world or something?"

"You… wanna go back?" Rainbow asked. "Don't you like it here?"

"I do, and it seems better than my world… but I have a home. Family. And they're going to be wondering where I am," I reasoned. "I… I just want to get back."

They looked… down, for a lack of better words. "We're here!"

Twilight's chiming voice prompted us to look up, glancing at the large building in front of us. "Is this a hotel?" Rainbow questioned.

"Yup! The Hoofton Hotel!" Twilight smiled. "Come on. We should go tell them about our reservations."

"Reservations?" I asked.

"Yeah! Celestia always gets us someplace nice to stay! And a nice ride, too!" Pinkie giggled.

We went in, and after speaking to the receptionist we took the elevator up to the eigth floor. We each got seperate rooms… well, two for each. Apparently Spike, a dragon-person, who was Twilight's assistant got sick, and he was supposed to bunk with me since we would be the two boys. Which basically meant: I had a huge ass room to myself. Well, it would be temporary, so I guess it didn't matter. I had no luggage or anything, unlike the girls, and so I just tossed myself onto the bed. I guessed we would be leaving in a couple of minutes or so, which would give the girls some time to get settled in.

Knock Knock!

"Andrew! Come on, silly! We're leaving!" Pinkie called, continuously rapping on the door.

What?!

I opened the door, seeing the six of them all dressed nicely, aside from Applejack who was still in shorts, an orange shirt and wearing her stetson.

"To the castle already?" I questioned.

"No, silly!" Pinkie laughed, pulling me along. "Since we couldn't throw you a party in Ponyville, maybe we can go around the city instead!"

"Wait, the princesses are expecting us, aren't they?" I questioned.

"I sent them a message and told them we'll be coming tomorrow, so that Pinkie could show you a good time!" Twilight smiled. "Don't worry, it'll be fun!"

"Yeah! Pinkie's party's are always awesome!" Rainbow added.

"Thanks, Dashie!" Pinkie giggled. "So, ready?!"

I have to admit… Pinkie was doing a pretty good job of showing us a great time. We went bowling, shopped a little, walked through the park, and we had already eaten at a café. She put a lot of effort into getting me to smile, which she did on many occasions. We passed by Donut Joe's Donut Shop to get, you guessed it, donuts as we went on into the night. I was laughing and smiling for the first time in a long time… all because of them. Rarity and Twilight were getting worried about the time, as they didn't want to be late tomorrow, and the two athletes were tired as well. Pinkie was still ready to stay up as long as I wanted to, but I didn't want her to force herself to stay awake. Even she needed to sleep. But there was one girl who didn't seem to need the rest, or she just didn't want to.

Fluttershy.

"I was, um, w-wondering if you… could come with me. To the zoo… before it closes," she stammered, twirling her finger around a lock of her hair.

"Sure," I nodded. She hesitantly motioned for me to follow, and once we reached the gates we saw they were closed. "Aw, man."

"But it's only nine-thirty!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "They can't be closed!"

We spotted a worker locking up the keepers entrance, and we went over to him.

"Um, excuse, zoo keeper, sir," Fluttershy said. "I wanted to ask-"

"Zoo's closed," he said flatly. "Come tomorrow."

"But it's only nine-thirty," I said. "What time does it usually close?"

"Ten, but we're a man short, so tomorrow at ten," he shrugged. He nodded softly and strolled away, much to Fluttershy's dismay.

"I wanted to see the golden-tailed robin," Fluttershy whispered, her lips turning into a frown. "I-I'm sorry I brought you here for nothing."

I couldn't stand to see her that way. Even less when she apologized to me for something I wanted to do for her. "Hey, we came here to see the animals, so damn it we're going to see them," I said resolutely.

"But it's closed," Fluttershy reminded me. "Maybe I could come back some other time."

Before she could start walking a grabbed her arm gently, causing her to freeze up and quickly turn to me. "Flutters, we're going to see them, and that's that, okay?" I smiled. I swear to you I saw the blush in the dim light, and I let go of her arm slowly. "Just fly over."

"What about you?" She questioned. I smirked and looked over to the booth.

"I can handle this," I chuckled. "Did this one time when I was a kid."

"You broke into a zoo?" Fluttershy gasped.

I smiled sheepishly and nodded. "It was for a dumb toy I had," I admitted. "Just go over and I'll meet you there."

She hesitated for a couple minutes, but she reluctantly flew over the gate and waited for me. I got a running start to the booth outside and jumped up, grabbing onto the top and hitting my body against the side.

"Ow."

I laughed at my sloppiness and pulled myself up, then jumped over the gate and rolled so I wouldn't break my legs. Fluttershy looked… sort of amazed, and I smiled that my training had actually helped me in a situation like this.

"Come on. I hear it's better at night," I smiled, holding my hand out to her. She was blushing, I could just feel it, and her silk fingers ran over my palm before gradping my hand.

We disregarded the map and went into the zoo ourselves. Some of the animals were asleep, but a lot were still awake and watched us as we passed by their dens. Fluttershy went into their homes and used her powers of nature to befriend each of them. She petted and spoke baby-talk to some of them, cuddled a lot and got lots of returning nuzzles. I laughed a bit every time she did, and the real reason we came was soon upon us as I broke us into the bird cages. She was a bit reluctant, as usual, but I managed to get her in. I could see the wonder in her eyes as we went around the room, opening the cages and letting them go around the room until they landed on her arms and hands.

She looked beautiful.

Like a part of nature itself. A couple of birds pecked the side of my head, my staring cut short as I winced and shooed them away. Fluttershy giggled as the flew over to her, and she asked them not to hurt me. I couldn't believe that animals listened to her. When she met the golden-tailed robin she was talking about, she squeed like a schoolgirl. She held it, cuddled it, kissed it's head, and followed it around the room. I wasn't too informed on birds, except for a normal robin I saw.

She put each of them back in their cages, leaving her covered in dozens of multi-colored feathers. I helped her brush some away, especially the ones in her wings. She tensed up again, however, and I guessed that pegasus wings were sensitive or something. Hell, I could've broken them for all I know. We left the birds to sleep for the night, and we made our way back to the entrance to the zoo. She flew over again, and I managed to climb the gate this time. But my foot got caught on one of the arches and I landed on my back. Didn't hurt too bad, but I got the wind knocked out of me. I thought Fluttershy would overreact. But she didn't, as I heard her giggle as she helped me up.

"Thanks," I chuckled. "We should get back before the girls start worrying or something."

"Okay," Fluttershy nodded. We made our way back to the hotel, looking at the lights of the downtown area and did some window shopping.

Fluttershy was looking away from me, for the most part, but I felt her arm brush up against mine from time to time. She made sure to look away, and I couldn't help but smile. I held her hand as it grazed mine, and she turned to me quickly, blushing madly. I smiled at her and looked forward, chuckling to myself when she gripped my hand tighter and rested her head on my shoulder. I'm not that tall, which made it a perfect spot for her to rest her head. We made it to the hotel faster than I would've like, and we got a few glances our way. One stallion in particular sent a thumbs up my way, getting a chuckle out of me. The elevator was empty, save for the two of us, and the silence felt nice with her leaning into me. I looked down at her, and she managed to smile weakly. I did the same but more freely, and the elevator chimed as we reached our floor.

The short walk to our rooms were moments I would never forget. Our rooms were right beside each other, and so I held both of her hands as we stood in front of her room.

"I-I… I, um… had a nice time with you," Fluttershy managed to say, smiling nervously. "Th-Thank you."

I smiled and nodded softly. "Your welcome. And I had a lot of fun with you too," I told her. She blushed softly, and it only worsened when I kissed her forehead. Her wings twitched, I swear to you, and her hands felt a bit sweaty.

"S-S-So… goodnight. Andrew," Fluttershy stammered, bumping into the door before she got a grip on the handle.

She went inside and quickly shut the door, and I went to my own door and stepped in. Since I didn't want to get my shirt messy or whatever, I tossed it on the opposite bed and stripped down to my boxer-briefs, but I heard the tinkling of the gems. I went over to the bed and reached into my pants pocket, grabbing the three gems and holding the green one. Tomorrow I would be meeting the princesses, and I could finally keep my legs and get my life back. But… I struggled to press it…

…because I knew it was wrong.

This place wasn't bad at all. There were friendly people, or whatever they are, some jerks like every other place but it was peaceful unlike most places I've seen. They were innocent in their own way, trusting me right off the bat. They were nice, Pinkie wanted to see me smile, and Fluttershy…

…Fluttershy…

…

It's break her heart if I-

click

I practically dove into my bed and got under the covers, taking the three crystals with me. Cracking an eye open, I saw a figure shyly step into my room, dressed in a yellow nightgown reaching to her knees. She carefully moved across the rug, making sure not to move too fast. Her face was a mere inch over mine, and I could see her green eyes trying to find my brown ones. When she was confident I was asleep, which I wasn't… it happened.

Something soft and moist pressed against my lips. The feeling lingered for some time, during which I wished I could return the favor. She pulled away, then hurried out of the room. When I was sure she was gone, I sat up and touched my lips. I… I couldn't… damn it I couldn't do this anymore. I'm an asshole but I'm not a heartless one.

I tapped the gem three times and waited until it glowed.

"Yes?"

"The deal's off," I said quickly.

"Andrew… remember our deal."

"Get someone else to do this. It's over," I said. Pain shot through my legs as I felt them disappear suddenly, but I a cloth in my mouth muffled my scream.

"I can see the problem, so I'll remind you. You can do this for me and get your legs, your life, and your friends back. Or, you can nod you head and get sent back to that rathole of a home with that rusty wheelchair and no one bothering to help you. I'm going to count to five."

I struggled to scream as I tried massaging the pain from my stubs, falling to the floor and writhing.

"One… two… three… four-"

"E-ay!" I tried screaming, my legs still crackling in pain.

The agony stopped, and my legs appeared again. I pulled myself onto my bed and panted as I clutched my chest.

"You agreed to this, so stop being such a wimp and just go through with it."

I panted less and less as I caught my breath. "We're… we're meeting the princesses tomorrow," I forced from my throat.

"I'm sending you a fourth gem. Wear it around your neck under your shirt when you go to see Celestia. We're almost through here, so I hope you're ready to get home."

"Just make sure I don't remember any of this, okay?" I sneered.

Discord chuckled over the connection before the gem stopped glowing. I groaned and punched the wall behind me, feeling the stinging and acheing but caring less than I would have. I threw myself back and cursed in my head, glancing to the door.

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy."

Author's Note

It's been a couple months since I updated this. Sorry! Anyway, like, fav, comment, and have an awesome day or night! Peaces!