Two of a Kind

by Ambiance Quill

Rating: mature
Tags: Slice of Life, Human, Anthro, Romance
Length: 12346

When the princesses feel that Ian doesn't have as many friends as he should, they set him up to meet a new one. To his surprise, it's a mare by the name of Skyfathom, the last of a group of ancient and powerful unicorns

The princesses feel that Ian ought to have more friends by now than he does. Since it's obvious that he's not willing to start making random friends on his own, they decided to set him up with one. Exasperated, but willing to try, Ian surprised when a mare by the name of Skyfathom, the last of a species of powerful unicorns, shows up. As the two get to know each other they come to the realization that they have more in common than they thought.

Skyfathom belongs to Tiberiumsoul, he/she has let me use this character, I do not own her

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-11-06 17:20:11 UTC

%We've Got a Lot in Common%

The streets of Canterlot where bustling in the mid day sun. Ponies walked about amongst the fine boutiques and cafés, chatting, buying, and generally enjoying the high life of the kingdom's capital. There was one thing off today though, and it had not gone unnoticed by the ponies.

Sitting at a table of one of the café was a creature whose likes had not been seen in Equestria before, a human being. He sat, reclined in one of the chairs, eating a blueberry muffin, and staring up at the sky. His name was Ian Valentine and he was the official representative of his people to Equestria.

Perhaps official was too strong a word. He had come here by absolute accident, through circumstances nopony, but he, was absolutely certain of, and had, after a series of bizarre events, been fortunate enough to meet the princesses. They had seemed to like him, and had decided that very day to make him an official ambassador, though it seemed to everypony else that the decision was rather rushed. After all he had appeared out of nowhere, was of a species hitherto unknown to their world, was he to be so trusted immediately?

However, Ian was unconcerned about such things. Whether or not the ponies, trusted him was irrelevant, he knew he was trustworthy and that's all that mattered. However, the princesses thought that he might be lonely, what with being a sort of social misfit, as well as being new here. So, as a favor, they had set him up to meet somepony who, they thought, he should get to know.

"I think you two will get along splendidly," Celestia said after informing him about of the meeting she had set up between himself and the mystery friend

"Indeed," Luna added, "you two have much in common."

At first Ian was opposed to the idea. He didn't need help from anyone when it came to making friends, he had made several already, especially from Ponyville. However, after some "persuasion," the princesses had convinced Ian to meet the mystery friend, and that brings us to current events.

Ian pulled out a pocket watch and glanced at the time. "1:00 pm on the dot," he muttered "the princesses said the mystery friend would meet me here by now. I wonder if this pony got caught up in traffic or something."

Deciding not fret about the time Ian put the watch away, "it's only a few minutes after all," he said reclining and closing his eyes. Then he heard a voice.

"S'cuse me, is your name Ian?"

Ian opened his eyes. Standing above him was a mare, a unicorn mare. She was different though; in fact she didn't look like any unicorn, or indeed, any pony he'd ever seen before. Her coat and horn were pitch black, like a starless night, which contrasted severely with her bright crimson mane. She was wearing tight jeans and a dark green tee shirt with a magical looking symbol on it. She had to be the mysterious friend, no question.

"I am," he said sitting up straight, "and you must be Skyfathom. It's a pleasure to meet you," he extended his hand to greet her."

"Ditto, and it's cool if you just call me Sky," she said grabbing his hand, and squeezing with surprising strength for a unicorn.

"Alright then Sky," Ian said, pulling back and shaking his hand to get blood flowing back into it

Sky pulled up a chair and sat down. "Jeez, it's good to sit, I've been walking up and down all day trying to find this place, all these cafés look the same."

"I know what you mean," Ian said waving his hand for emphasis, "think they all have the same designer?"

Yeah…yeah," Sky responded, and the next few minutes were spent in a somewhat awkward silence.

Finally Ian broke the silence. "Sooo…I gotta admit you weren't what I was expecting.

Suddenly Skyfathom looked at Ian, she seemed offended. "OH. And what were you expecting." She asked a little too loudly.

"N…nothing," Ian. Stammered trying to diffuse the situation. "It's just that you're a…"

"A what?!" Sky said slamming her hands on the table and standing up " a freak. Some weirdo who's the last of some ancient race of freaks, just like her, who are all gone. Is that it am to you, a freak?!"

"You're a girl," Ian said, his hands in front of his face in defense, "I wasn't expecting you to be a girl." He peeked out from behind his hands to see Sky looking thoroughly embarrassed.

"Oh jeez," she said covering her face with one of her hands "I am so sorry, I…I really didn't mean to snap at you like that."

"It's okay," Ian said as he sat back up "but you just spiked my curiosity. I said you weren't what I was expecting and then you drop this heavy stuff about being the last of some ancient race of unicorns. Mind tellin' me what that's all about."

Sky looked up from her hands and composed herself, though she was still a little red. "Well…you can probably tell I'm not normal," she said indicating her pitch black coat and flowing crimson mane."

"The thought crossed my mind, yes," Ian said.

"Well," Sky said, then taking a breath "it might seem weird but I'm actually the last of an ancient race of unicorns that all had black coats like me and extremely powerful magic." She looked over at Ian, who was staring at her with a cocked eyebrow, she sighed "I knew it, you don't believe me."

"No no, it's not that," Ian said "I believe you. I mean look at me, YOU shouldn't believe that I'M here, who am I to doubt your story. What bothers me is why the princesses set us up? I mean they never told me anything about you. Not to mention, I'm a little less than versed in pony history, so this ancient race you speak of isn't something I've heard of."

"Hey yeah!" Sky said in realization " they never told me anything about you or your kind either, why do you suppose they set us up?"

Ian shrugged "I haven't the foggiest."

For a long while they sat discussing the matter, Ian had several theories, and Sky offered up several more but they simply couldn't figure it out. However, as they talked they slowly began to progress to more relaxed subjects, favorite stuff and the like. After some time they actually began to get to know each other a little better, Sky found out Ian was an avid biology enthusiast.

"I could never get into all that nature stuff," she told him, "magic is so much more fun to experiment with."

Ian shook his head a little, "magic ain't my particular cup of tea," he responded. "It's far to abstract for me to grasp, especially growing up in a world that doesn't have magic, I prefer something I can actually get me hands on, evolution and DNA are things I can relate to."

Sky rolled her eyes and chuckled "you're a real egg head for biology huh?"

"That's not true," Ian responded " "I'm also an artist."

"Oh really," she said coolly "well let see something you've made Mr. Artist, that is if you have anything."

Ian grinned "you really don't know much about artists," he said leaning down and pulling up a duffle bag he had brought with him, "we never go anywhere without something to show off." It was large and black with white letters on it that simply read "UJ portfolio," he set it on the table and unzipped it, rummaged a little, before pulling out what looked like a small jug wrapped in newspapers. He set it down and pushed it towards Sky, "take a look at this."

She grabbed the little jug and started to unwrap it, and after a second or two, the paper came off. At first glance the jug looked normal, however, the part that was laying in her palm told her otherwise. She could feel strange bumps and gaps on the pots surface that was hidden in her hand, so she slowly turned it over to look at it, and flinching when she saw what was on the other side. It was an ugly, distorted human face, with squinted eyes and teeth clenched in a display of nearly comical anger.

"Oh ugh," she said setting it down, and pushing it away from her, "you call that thing art, seriously?"

"Yes I do," Ian said, pleased at her reaction, "it's an ugly jug, their traditional pottery pieces that use to be made a long time ago by slaves in the south.

Sky cocked an eyebrow "slaves," she asked almost disturbed.

"Yeah, I'll explain all that later," Ian said waving dismissively " the point is that pots like these use to be used for religious purposes, they are wards against evil spirits, so they have to be ugly in order to scare those spirits away, at least that's one theory."

Sky gave Ian a questioning look, this human was pretty weird. "We'll it doesn't matter," she said "those things'll never sell nopony would want to buy something that ugly."

Ian never stopped smiling, "you might think that, and I use to believe it too, but then I found out that these things have a real market, just watch I'll sell one."

"Things? You've got more than just this," Sky asked wondering just how many he was implying he had made. She wondered what his house might look like for a moment then shock the thought out of her head.

"Yep, a whole lot," he replied proudly, "I do a lot of different forms of art actually. Painting, sketching, pottery, you name it I've dabbled in it. I'm doing a whole series of pieces on Equestria to take home with me and show off."

Sky chuckled to herself, his house was probably a total pigsty. "Well, that's sounds interesting I just hope they all aren't as grotesque a your pots. Speaking of which, I still don't think you'll be able to sell that thing," she said indicating the one on the table, "I mean seriously, neat concept and all but the fact is that it's just too..."

"Awesome," a small voice said interrupting Sky before she could finish. She looked over to see a small foal on the other side of the café's hedge staring at the jug in wonder.

The foal looked over at Ian, "hey mister," he asked "did you make that?"

Ian smiled smugly to Sky before responding, "yep, this is called an ugly jug."

"It's really neat," the foal said "it's so gross, and ugly."

"Why thanks you," Ian said doing a faux bow, "that's exactly what I was going for. Say, do you wanna buy it?"

The foal's face light up, "really? Sure!" he said "how much?"

Ian contemplated for a moment, "well how much do you have on ya'," he asked.

The youngster pulled out a little pouch for storing his bits, and opened it up, but his face fell when he looked inside. "Awww, I guess I don't have any money like I thought I had. I guess I can't buy it, thanks anyway mister."

"Now hold on kid," Ian said gently grabbing the youngster's shoulder, "I asked how much you had, if that's nothing" he took the jug off the table and handed it to the foal, "than that's what you pay. This one's a freebie," he said smiling.

The foal's face lit up as he took the jug in his hands. "Thanks a lot mister," he finally managed to say, before running off back into the crowd.

"Hey hey hey," Ian yelled after the kid "watch out, don't drop that thing," but the foal had vanished into the crowd. "Geez," Ian muttered, rubbing the back of his head before turning back to Sky. However, she wasn't looking back at him, instead she was smiling after the little foal.

"So you like kids huh," she asked glancing over at him.

Ian smiled as well, "yep, I really love kids, I can't wait to be a father," he said.

Sky nodded "I like them too, some of the kids around where I live often come to see me and play." She looked at him and smiled softly, "I guess that's one thing we have in common," she said.

Ian smiled back "I guess so," he said. Somehow, having found something in common made him more comfortable with her, maybe the princesses had known something about this meeting that neither he nor Sky knew. Well, it wasn't worth putting too much thought into, now they had something to really talk about and that was good enough.

After some time Sky and Ian had found that there was a lot more in common than they had thought. It became easier to talk an to get to know each other, and Ian had the strangest feeling that he was getting to know Sky a lot faster than he had gotten to know anypony else he had met.

"Yeah took some self defense classes," Ian stated, as they were now discussing martial arts, "but I don't think I'm good enough at it yet to actually use it. And since I'm here in Equestria, well, I hardly think it would be necessary."

"You'd be surprised," Sky retorted "I taught myself, and I defiantly had to use it every once in a while."

"Really," Ian said surprised "I never really thought of Equestria as being a very dangerous place."

Sky shrugged in response, "you can't judge a book by its cover," she said, before taking a glance at her wristwatch. Her eyes widened a little in shock, "oh whoa look at the time, we've been here for about 3 hours now."

Ian glanced at his own pocket watch, and he raised his eyebrows too. "Well I'll be, we really have been here a while. Think we ought to start getting ourselves home?"

Sky thought for a moment. It seemed a shame to leave now, after all she and Ian had been having a good time talking, but she finally decided that now was as good a time as any. "Sure, where do you live?"

Ian smiled "I live at the castle actually," he said, a little to pleased with himself.

Sky's jaw dropped. "No way," she said astonished, "you actually live at Canterlot castle, the most important place in ALL of Equestria?"

"Wellll," Ian replied sheepishly "I don't actually live IN the castle. I live on the castle grounds, there are a couple of houses near the gardens that are normally for the grounds keepers and some of the servants to live in, and I moved into one of them."

Sky looked at him skeptically before responding, "wait, aren't you considered an important diplomat or something? Shouldn't you be living in something a little more fancy that the servants quarters?"

Ian awkwardly twiddled his thumbs, "we'll it's not like the princesses didn't offer to let me sleep in a nice guest room in the castle. The fact is, I chose to live in that house of my own will."

"Really," she asked slightly confused "you were offered a place at the royal palace and chose to live in the servants' quarters? Excuse me if I think that sounds a bit bizarre, I thought someone like you would have jumped at the chance to stay at a palace.

"What can I say," Ian said shrugging "it's just not my style, I've never really thought of myself as anything special, staying at such an important place wouldn't sit well with me, I think it might make me feel too out of place."

Sky was confused at his reasoning, but put it out of her mind, deciding that is was probably best not to question human logic. "We'll I'M living in an apartment in downtown Canterlot for now, it's on your way to the castle, so, if you wanna we could…you know…walk and talk or whatever," she said a little more embarrassed than she had expected.

"Oh uh sure," Ian responded, grinning somewhat embarrassed, he could feel himself starting to blush a little, and dove under the table to get his duffle bag, and to hide his face. He grabbed the bag and shock his head a little to clear his face, he'd never been asked to walk a girl home, and he couldn't help but smile at his good fortune. The princesses had done him a solid!

He got up smiling, "I'm ready to go whenever you are."

"What are you smiling about," she asked looking at his goofy smile.

"Of nuthin'" he responded "I just thought of something funny.

Sky was ready to ask but she stopped herself, 'human logic,' she thought, 'just don't question it'. She walked towards downtown, with Ian close behind.

The walk to Sky's apartment was filled with more talk, but now it wasn't about each other. They were currently discussing each other's species. Sky talked about how her people had been a separate breed of unicorn with much more potent magical abilities, somehow though, this had led to their downfall. For reasons Ian could quite grasp, their population had dwindled over the centuries until, at last, Sky was the only one left. "So after me," she concluded "there won't be any of us left."

Ian couldn't help but notice the sadness in her voice when she had finish, and he thought it best to try and comfort her. "I can kinda understand how you feel," he said to her, and gently putting a hand on her shoulder.

"How," she asked him. "It sounds like there are a lot of your people left back on your home world."

Ian smiled somewhat sadly, "your right, but I'm the only human on this world. As far as I know I may never get home, and if I don't and I spend the rest of my life here, than, once I'm gone, there any be any humans left on this world. Honestly it scares me a little to think I might die here away from my kind, away from my family and friends, and they might never know that I'm gone. So I get where you're coming from, even if it's not quite for the same reasons.

Sky was a little taken aback, she had known Ian was the only human in Equestria, but she hadn't really thought about how exactly that would impact him. At least she knew that she was a pony, and even if she was the last of her kind she was, at the very least, still home, surrounded by other ponies like herself, and they would at least be able to mourn her passing. When Ian died, if he wound up dying here, none of his own kind would even know, they couldn't mourn for him, or say their last goodbyes. "Okay," she responded more glumly.

"Oh don't look so down," Ian said "I didn't mean to depress you! Look, just don't think to much about it or you'll only feel worse, think happy thoughts, for example, at least it's not…" suddenly he felt someone wet all on his nose, and looked up to see dark clouds over head. A clap of thunder rang out and, without warning, a torrential downpour started, drenching both he and Sky before they could react. "…Raining," he said exasperatedly.

"Oh jeez I totally forgot they had a storm scheduled for today," Sky groaned. Suddenly she grabbed Ian's hand and started to run, "come on, let's get to my place, and out of this rain quick!"

"Wait," Ian said trying to keep up with her as she ran, dragging him behind her, "if we run we'll only get wetter!"

"We're as wet as we're gonna get," she yelled at him "now stop being such a wuss and run!"

"I swear to the Virgin Mary I will NEVER get use to how you ponies SCHEDULE your weather!"

"Who's 'the Virgin Mary," Sky asked.

"I'LL EXPLAIN LATER, JUST KEEP MOVING," Ian yelled.

a few minutes later -

Sky and Ian stood panting beneath the awning of Sky's apartment complex, the rain still pouring.

"Gah, finally," Ian gasped "I thought we'd never make it."

"Yeah," sky responded standing up straight now, her hands behind her head to help with her breathing, "that café was further than I thought!"

Ian stood up now too, finally catching his breath. "Well," Ian stated "I'd better hurry back home and get myself dried off." He picked up his soaking duffle bag, and was anything to start running to his home, when he felt Sky's hand on his shoulder.

"Oh no you don't," she said firmly "it's still storming out there, if I just let you keep going in it, you'll catch a cold."

"Actually," Ian corrected "rain doesn't cause you to catch a cold, it's when you're in close proximity with others who have the virus, usually when you're all trying to avoid the rain so…"

Sky didn't let him finish, instead she dragged him up the stairs to the 4th floor, walked down the hall to her room, before finally letting to of Ian's shoulder. "I'm not gonna let any of my friends walk alone in the rain. You can stay here with me till the storm lets up."

Ian opened his mouth speak, "but I…" Sky put her hand out to stop him again. "No buts, just shut up and let me help you out okay," her stern face lightened a little "I'm your friend right?"

Ian looked a bit surprise but his face finally broke into a gentle smile, "I really don't have a say in this do I," he asked.

Sky smiled too and shock her head, "I'm gonna have to insist."

He shrugged, "we'll then it's decided I guess. Never let it be said that Ian Valentine doesn't roll with the punches." Sky then opened the door and walked in with Ian following, and when he saw her apartment he was pleasantly surprised. The living room was painted in earthy colors, with comfortable looking fabric seats, as he explored a bit more he noticed the kitchen was next to the living room, it was painted in a similar style with wood cabinets and a table with a few chairs. He saw two door in the living room that he deduced let to the bathroom and Sky's room. "Nice digs," Ian commented.

"Thanks," Sky responded, "I spent a little time making it feel like home, it was way to brightly colored when I first got it, so I toned it down." She walked to the restroom and picked up a few towels, walking out, she threw one to Ian, "go into the bathroom and see what you can do about drying off," she said "I'm gonna change in my room. You wouldn't happen to have a dry set of clothes for yourself to wear would you?" Ian shook his head, "oh well," Sky sighed "it looks like you'll, just have to wait a while," she said walking into her room. "Oh and just on more thing," she said poking her head out from behind the door, "don't try and peek at me, okay?"

"W...w...what," Ian stammered, "I would never…I mean why would you even think!?" Sky chuckled closing the door, leaving Ian standing, stunned in the living room. For a moment he just stood there in silence, then he suddenly found himself imagining Sky naked, before slapping himself in the face. "Idiot," he said chastising himself "you just met her today! Even if she did like you, its not like it would happen the VERY FIRST DAY YOU MET."

He quickly walked into the bathroom and closed the door, before taking off his shirt, wringing it out, and hanging it on the shower rod to dry. He grabbed his towel and began drying his head and shoulders, before hanging it across them, and looking up at the ceiling, deep in thought. Why was it, that he was concerned when Sky had teased him earlier? He considered himself an easygoing fellow, and if another female friend had made the same joke, he would have known it was a joke.

When she had made the comment however, he had found himself in a slight panic, as though she had made it in all seriousness, and it was only afterwards that he had realized she was kidding. He ponders as to why she made him so flustered, and why for whatever reason he couldn't help but smile when he looked at her. It made no sense, he had never been this way around anyone else, and certainly not after only a few hours of their company, this was something new, and strange to him.

Meanwhile, in her room across the way, Sky was busy taking off her wet cloths and underwear till she was naked, she then grabbed a towel and quickly started to dry herself off. Once she finished, she pulled off her towel and used a quick drying spell to get rid of any residual moisture, before walking over to her chest-of-drawers, putting on some new underwear, and pulling out a new light blue sleeveless top , and a pair of black athletic shorts. She put them on, taking a quick glance in the mirror, when a thought crossed her mind, 'I wonder if Ian would like this?' Almost as soon as she thought it she found herself confused by it, "I wonder what that was about," she asked herself. It wasn't as though she wasn't concerned with her appearance, but normally she wore casual cloths in her home, regardless of company. She tried to put the bought out of her mind, but she found it surprisingly hard to get rid off, so she finally walked back over to her drawers and pulled out a pair of blue jeans and red tee shirt, put them on and made sure not to look in the mirror this time.

Now she sat on her couch, picked up a book she had been reading for a while now, and simple waited for Ian to come out of the restroom. She wondered how far along his clothes were to drying out, he was probably standing alone in the restroom now, half naked and dripping wet, and...she mentally slapped herself. Where are these thoughts coming from, she thought to herself frantically, I know this guy for less than a day and suddenly I start thinking about him in his underwear! WHAT IS GOING ON!?

In the restroom, Ian's clothes had finally dried some, though not without some thorough wringing out, and he began to put them back on, "I can just stand," he muttered "As long as I stay off of the furniture its fine. Besides beats standing around here freezing my near naked butt off." He pulled down his jeans and shirt and put them on, but he left his shoes and socks in the restroom to dry a little longer, they'd probably made enough of a mess already, and opened the door back in the living room.

Ian saw a freshly clothed Sky sitting on the couch and reading a book, she looked up at him as he entered the room, and smiled somewhat nervously. "So what are you reading," he asked knowing full well it was a stupid, awkward question.

"Oh nothing" she responded a little to quickly as she put it down on the coffee table in front of her, "just a little adventure novel, nothing special." She felt that feeling again, her concern with what Ian might be think about her, that's why she had put the book down, when in fact she didn't actually want to. Nice going Sky, she thought now he probably thinks you're some kind of spaz. Wait…WHY DO YOU EVEN CARE WHAT HE THINKS! Just because you can relate to him better than anypony else, and you're letting him weather a storm at your place, doesn't mean that he's all that important to you…does it?

Ian noticed Sky looking a little flustered, and cocked an eyebrow in suspicion, what was she so nervous about it was only a book. He walked over to the coffee table and picked up the book, and he saw that it was the latest Daring Do novel, "Hey, I've been looking all over for this," He said excitedly as he looked at it a little more closely, "it sold out before I could get a copy.

Now it was Sky's turn to raise and eyebrow, "You like Daring Do," she asked.

"Yep," Ian nodded, putting the book back down, "we have something a little similar back home."

"What would that be, " Sky asked curious as to what Humans had that was anything like Daring Do.

"It's the Indiana Jones series," Ian responded smiling, when Sky just tilted her head at him, he decided to elaborate a little. "Well you see it's about this archeologist named Indiana Jones who, Like Daring Do, searched for ancient treasures to bring back for all of man kind to see. Granted, it's a little more intense than Daring Do, but they're very similar regardless. I really liked Indiana Jones, there for it stands to reason that I also like Daring Do."

Sky was a still a bit confused but she decided to let it go. "Well," she said to Ian "if you like it too, maybe we can read it till the storm blows over. I just got started and I don't mind starting over."

Ian felt flabbergasted to say the least. Had Sky just offered to read to him, mixed feelings about this situation began to seep through his head, but he forced the doubt out of his mind, and decided to go with it, after all there could be worse ways to spend a rainy day than having a friend read to you. "If it's cool with you it's cool with me," he smiled "But I'll have to stand, I'm still to wet to sit on anything."

Sky pointed to her kitchen at one of the wooden chairs by the dining table, "You can sit in one of those," she said "Wouldn't want you being too uncomfortable, this is a long book." Ian was about to say something, but she could tell already that it was going to be about how he didn't want to be an inconvenience, so she put her hand up before he could even start. "And I'm afraid I must insist. You have no choice in the matter."

Ian stood for a moment, before deciding to go with it, and getting a chair, bringing it to living room and sitting down, before gesturing Sky to start.

She smiled and did so. "Ahem, Daring Do, and The Arch of Ancients, Chapter 1," she began and soon they were blazing through the book. Time passed, and the rain outside showed no signs of letting up, obviously Canterlot was due for a good drenching, so the two did not stop reading, they intended to wait out the storm. "End of chapter 10," Sky stated as they passed the halfway point in the book, "That was a really intense chase scene huh."

Ian nodded "I thought Daring Do wasn't gonna make it with all those savages gunning for her, but then I guess it wouldn't be such a good book if she didn't live."

Sky marked the page and put the book down so that she could stretch, "it's a really long book at any rate," she grunted, "We're not even half way done with it." As Sky was twisting her back trying to get it to pop, she happened to glance out the window, and her mouth dropped open when she saw that it was already nighttime, not to mention the rain hadn't stopped. "Jeez, it's already so late," she marveled out loud, "that's the second time today we forgot to keep track of time.

"Good lord you're right," Ian said looking out the window for himself, "I'd better leave now!" He got up from the chair, got his duffel bag, and was about to leave when Sky called after him.

"You don't have to go you know."

Ian stopped dead and his tracks, turned around abruptly, and stared at Sky quizzically. "Beg your pardon," he asked. He noticed that seemed to fidget in her seat when he asked, as though she might be kicking herself for saying that.

"It's just that," she started and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly "I mean you just got dry, and it's still raining so if you just leave, and go out in the rain, well then, why even stay here, you know?" Inside her head she was screaming at herself STOP! NO! Don't do this to yourself or him, you are not nearly well acquainted enough to have him sleep over at your place yet. Just give him and umbrella and let him go home, this is getting way to complicated way to quickly! But no matter what reasoning she tried to use on herself, she couldn't bear the thought of sending him out into the cold wet night, so, against her better judgment, she said, "If you want you can stay the night."

Ian dropped his duffel bag, in shock. His mind raced, he was having the exact same inner conflict as Sky, it was still way to early for him to be spending the night with this mare, he hardly knew her. Except…he did know here. In the short space of time they had been together, Ian had learned more about Sky than he had about any other pony he had met here, some how he had felt it was imperative that he get to know her. He could have done many things then, run out of the apartment and get away from this before it became to complex, he could have explained that he thought it was still to early for anything like that, but instead he made a leap of faith, and decided to trust his guts. He picked up his duffel bag, put it off to the side of the couch, and sat down on it, next to Sky. "Alright then," he smiled "I'll just sleep on the couch."

Sky smiled back, deep down she was glad Ian had made this decision, she knew she must have put him in an awkward situation, and she won't have faulted him if he had left, but he had decided to stay. She couldn't be sure why he had done so, but she didn't really care about that, she was just glad that he was staying, and she let it be. She got up from the couch, "good," she responded to his earlier statement "I'll just get something quick to eat and then we can get back to reading."

"Actually, if it's alright with you," Ian said looking at the time, "It's pretty late, I think we ought to get some sleep. Maybe we can finish it tomorrow."

Sky pulled out a banana, "Sure," she smiled, peeling the yellow fruit before taking a bite. She finished the banana off quickly before getting herself a glass of water and heading for her room, she opened the door and was going inside when she stopped to look out at Ian, "good night" said grinning, "Luna keep you safe."

Ian grinned back and made a quick waving motion "You to, pleasant dreams," and with that they went to bed, unaware that this already awkward situation would soon be getting much more awkward soon

A few hours later -

Sky was use to this dream. It was the one where she was standing alone on the shore of a vast ocean at sunset. For some reason it always felt so melancholy, despite the fact that it was such a beautiful scene, she thought perhaps it might be because of her fear for her future. This time though, she noticed it didn't quite feel the same, for one things she was normally clothed, but now she was completely bare, with not so much as a thread on her, and secondly she noted the distinct lack of the usual somberness, instead she felt kind of warm. Then she glanced over and noticed the third change, Ian was standing next to her.

He was like her, unclothed, staring out over the ocean, but when she looked at him, he turned to look at her. He said nothing simply closed his eyes and smiled, holding out his hand to her, and without hesitation she took it. The beach no longer felt lonely to her, it felt right, like she was meant to be there, with Ian, no matter what was on the horizon, it would be fine so long as they were there together. No mixed emotions clouded her judgment here, instead she did what felt natural to her now, she leaned over to kiss Ian, and he did the same. Their lips locked, and within seconds they were caught in a passionate embrace, their lips intertwined, and caressing each other's bodies. After a few moments the pulled away and looked at each other, and Ian spoke.

"You look great Sky," he said smiling softly.

She smiled back and felt herself blushing a little, "You too," she responded, "I'm kinda sad that this has to be a dre…" but she did not finish the sentence, because she was interrupted by a loud banging. That banging continued, on and on ceaselessly, she couldn't hear anything else, and when either she or Ian tried to talk the banging would drown them out. Soon it was so loud the beach they were standing on started to quake, Sky looked desperately at Ian, but all he could do was look back at her forlornly, she tried to speak again but to no avail, she tried to scream, and then she woke up. She was alone in her bedroom, but the banging wouldn't stop, and, after a moment, she realized it was Ian knocking on her bedroom door.

"Sky, Sky are you okay in there," Ian asked concerned, "I heard you groaning pretty loudly in there."

"I'm fine," Sky responded frantically, "Just, uh, just had a weird dream." She knew she couldn't tell him what she had really been dreaming, that would make this whole thing seem even more awkward, so she was decided it was best just to lie.

But Ian wasn't about to fall for that. "I heard you call my name," he said. There was absolute silence as Sky stood looking dumbfounded, and Ian stared at her, eyes pleading her to tell him what was going one. "Sky, look, I'm not sure what's going on, but I'm your friend. If there's really nothing wrong than you can tell me and there won't be anything to worry about. But if there is, it's all the more important that you tell me, please, as your friend, let me know what's going on."

Sky bowed her head in resignation, she could tell that Ian was sincere, he did want to know what was happening, but it was so hard considering Sky wasn't entirely sure herself. At last she turned around and motioned for him to follow her into her room, "Come in, I'll see if I can explain." Ian followed, her and closed the door behind him as she sat down on the bed, for a while there was silence, as Ian stood at the door looking on in concern, while Sky looked down at the floor contemplating how best to put this. "The thing is Ian," she began, but stopped hesitant to continue, but she took a deep breath to muster up her courage, "You were sort of…kind of…in my dreams."

Ian tilted his head and looked at her confused, "I was in your dream? Was it, like, a weird surreal dream that didn't make any sense?" She shook her head.

"It was pretty vivid," She said, and she felt her face start to warm up, she could tell she was turning red. Ian was starting to feel a little awkward, but he couldn't stop now of this would 'elephant in the room' would never go away, for the sake of making sure their friendship didn't end after just one day, he carried on.

"Than what kind of dream was it," he finally managed to ask, though he wasn't too sure he wanted the answer.

Sky bit her finger, and feeling like a swarm of angry parasprites were flying around in her stomach, but she couldn't stop now, I've gone with my gut and it's worked out so far, she thought to herself. Might as well keep it up. She turned to look at Ian, he looked nervous, her answer had to be carefully worded, or there was a definite possibility he might faint, or worse. "You see," she said cautiously, careful to choose the words that would sound the best, "I sort of have this reoccurring dream. It's a dream where I'm standing on the shore of some ocean, alone, staring out on the horizon. Well…I had the dream again tonight and, well…I wasn't alone."

"So," Ian asked, "I was on the beach with you?" she nodded, and he felt the tension starting to leave him. "Oh," he sighed in relief, "If that was all…" he looked at her, hoping that that would be all, but to his great unease, she looked at him solemnly and shook her head. The tension came flooding back.

She continued, "The thing is that you and me were, sort of…kind of…naked." She saw Ian's mouth almost hit the floor in disbelief, and she hated to think what might happen next, but she had to go on. "And we also," she paused and sighed nervously "were…making out." Ian's eyes nearly popped out of his skull, and Sky bit her lower lip, afraid that he would leave, freaked out, and disgusted. However, to her great surprise Ian did not leave the apartment, he didn't even leave the room, instead he closed his mouth, blinked his eyes a few times, walked over to the bed and sat down next to her.

He sat there next to her for a moment, not saying anything, until finally he looked her right in the eyes and spoke "I'm not entirely sure what's been happening between us today Sky, we haven't even really known each other for more than a day, but I know one thing for certain, and that is this, while I have hardly known you, I KNOW you better than I know anyone else on this new world. I know so much about you, what you like, and what you dislike, I know your history, and you even trusted me enough to tell me about a small part of your insecurities, and I have told you all the same things, and I shared feelings with you that I have shared with no one else. So yeah, maybe it's a little weird for me to be hearing this right now, but somehow it also feels right, I don't know about you, but I've been having this strange feeling around you recently, like there's something between us that I don't have with anyone else, like something is transpiring to push us together, like there's something more to this than what we're admitting to each other or to ourselves. So I think we own each other this much at least, let's sort out our feelings for each other once and for all, just let any inhibitions go and figure it out as best as we…"

Suddenly he felt a hot pair of lips press against his own, and noticed that Sky was the one those lips belonged to. He sat, flabbergasted for a moment, but as her warm lips pressed against his he felt himself warming up and relaxing until he found himself kissing back. They stayed like this for a moment, kissing each other before finally pulling away, blushing and a little embarrassed.

"Well," Sky said with a smile, shy smile "You did say to let go, so I just did whatever came to mind." She looked at Ian, and he smiled her, and she felt her face get a little redder.

"Well, it felt pretty natural to me too," Ian responded "I think it's all starting to make a little more sense now." He gently took her chin in between his thumb and index finger, and turned her face to his, "But how about we make absolutely certain," this time it was he who kissed her first, but, unlike last time she did not hesitate to return the favor. They both felt free, as though some wall had been torn down, there was no need for words only this moment; nothing else really seemed to matter. They wrapped their arms around one another and pulled into an embrace in order to be even closer to one another, to feel each others warm bodies, each other's heart beats, the smallest touches were amplified, bringing pleasure that neither of them expected. Finally their bodies started to get to hot, the clothes that they wore, seemed too stuffy now, and in the way, and Sky finally couldn't take it anymore.

She gently pushed Ian away, "is it just me," she said seductively, "or is it getting hot in here," she started to take off his nightshirt, revealing her unclothed breasts. She had never really felt comfortable wearing to much clothing when she slept, and bras especially got in the way, and now she was glad she wasn't wearing one tonight, the look on Ian's face was priceless, somewhere between shock, and desire.

Ian was in fact shocked, he was taken aback by how quickly Sky had escalated this, and he hadn't really expected to get this far. His confusion vanished when she revealed herself to him though, and her beauty took his breath away. Her figure was lovely; her proportions perfect, her breasts were not large, but not small either, rather they were the perfect size, and her seductive eyes seemed to ensnare his mind. Suddenly she reached over, and grabbed his shirt.

"It's not fair for just me to be taking off my shirt, you should return the favor," and she lifted his shirt off of him. She too found herself admiring his body, his muscles were not large, nor that impressive, but to her they seemed perfect, his chest was solid and warm, while his arms seemed gentle and yet strong as well. His eyes stared into hers and she felt lost for a moment, but she quickly gathered herself. He pushed him lightly, indicating that he should lie down on the bed, and he gladly did so. When he did, she laid on top of him and they began to kiss once more, this time, their shirts were not there to block their bodies from meeting.

Now this was all well and good for a while, they enjoyed feeling each other's bodies, caressing each other, but soon their passion grew even hotter. Now it began to spread lower on their bodies, and Sky felt a bit shocked when she felt Ian's manhood pressing against his jeans, and her leg and she looked at Ian, who was embarrassed once more.

"Sorry, sorry," he apologized, "it's just…well I mean this is all so exciting and you're just…I mean god you're just so beautiful, I guess it sort of got away from me." He thought that this might be where it ended, Sky would probably cut it off and ask him to leave, but to his amazement and joy, she only smiled, and pressed a finger against his lips.

"Shut up Ian" she whispered, "You talk to much." She then slid down his body to his pants, and started to undo them, pulling them away, leaving only Ian's boxers between him and her. She slowly pulled these away too, till Ian's restrained shaft was revealed, erect and ready. Now she felt really her body tingling, and the warmth was overwhelming, her primal urges began to take hold and she leaned over, and took it into her mouth. Gently she began to suck on it, only the uppermost part of it though, but as she got use to it she ventured further and further down the shaft, slowly rubbing it against her lips and her tongue, and using her hand to sensually stroke it. Ian started to groan with pleasure, and she felt herself get all the more excited, as she pushed him deeper and deeper inside of her mouth.

Sky's mouth was divine, and as Ian felt her head bobbing up and down his shaft, he began to grip the sheets with one hand, while he gripped her hair in his other. As she took more and more of him into her, he felt his grip tightening, but he made certain that he did not grab her hair to tightly so that he wouldn't hurt her, and soon he felt a build up in his loins, aching for release. "Sky," he said through gritted teeth, "I'm about to cum."

Sky's pulled Ian's cock out of her mouth so that she could talk, "go ahead then," she said, somewhat surprised at her own response "just let it all out." She went back to sucking Ian, but this time she started to build up speed as well, forcing more of Ian into her mouth, and moaning as she did so. Ian's cock was throbbing in her mouth now, this whole situation seemed surreal, she had never envisioned doing this for any colt, much less an creature from a totally different world, but she no longer cared, all she wanted was to make Ian feel good, and that's just what she intended to do.

Ian grinned as he felt Sky's tongue caress him, as she took more and more of him into her mouth. He hadn't expected anything like this, but he was too distracted by how amazing it felt, and soon the felt the load he was holding boil over. Sky suddenly swallowed as much of Ian's shaft as she could, and he felt his semen spray down her throat, his eyes rolled with ecstasy.

Sky felt let go inside her throat, the warm sperm felt amazing going down her throat, like drinking a warm drink in the middle of winter. She swallowed all that she could, savoring the feeling, and then she took Ian's cock out of her mouth. As she did so some of the remaining cum dripped on her tongue, and suddenly a new dimension was added to the experience, Ian's semen tasted amazing, not to mention a texture like jelly. It was so good that she started to licked what was left off, savoring it before finally pulling Ian's shaft out of her mouth and smiling seductively at him, "Did you enjoy that?"

"Yeah," Ian panted, the sensation of ejaculating into Sky's mouth had felt like so much electricity running through his entire body, and it had left him strangely exhausted. He knew he would have to wait before he could do something like that again, but he did know about something he COULD do. "Sky, do you want me to return the favor?"

"Oh yeah," she said playfully, and Ian tried to get up but she put her hand on his chest to stop him. She leaned forward right next to his ear, "don't move," she whispered "just stay like that for now," then she started to move up on Ian until her sopping wet pussy was right in front of his face. "I want you to eat me out Ian," sky moaned "I'm so turned on right now I can't stand it, if I don't get some relief soon, I think I'll go crazy."

Ian grinned roguishly, "let me help you out with that then," he wrapped his arms around Sky's thighs and pulled her right to him, and started to lick her clit. He heard Sky moan her approval, and continued to softly lick her, before putting the tip of his tongue in between her folds.

"Oh yes Ian," Sky managed between groans, "Just like that, don't stop." She felt him slip his tongue even further into her pussy, and he started to swirl it around, she had to put her hands on the bedpost so that she didn't fall over from the sudden ecstatic pleasure. Having Ian do this to her was making her hot, she felt like she might burst into flames at any moment, but it just felt so amazing that she didn't care, all she wanted was for Ian to make her climax. "Ian," she said biting the tips of her fingers to keep from screaming too loud, "pick up the pace, I want you to make me cum, I want you to finish me off."

Ian caressed her thighs as a sign of approval, he felt her pussy lips clamp down when he did so; she seemed to like being caressed. Ian moved his tongue as deep as it would go and started swirling it faster around her warm, wet insides he also started to move his hands up and down her thighs and rear, groping her every once in a while. He heard her groans gradually escalate as he did so, she wasn't too far from cumming now, and Ian decided that it was time to give his A game. He began to spin his tongue as fast he could inside of Sky's pussy, mixing up her delicious juices and massaging her insides with his tongue, as well as massaging her legs to the best of his ability.

Sky was at her breaking point, Ian's hands and tongue were making her feel so good that the fire from earlier started to build up inside her core, begging for release, and at last she couldn't take it anymore. "I'm gonna…I'm gonna…gahhhh," she never even finished her sentence before a bolt of ecstasy shot down and out of her, she felt her juices spray out in Ian's mouth, and she was over come with dizziness from the pleasure. "Oh Celestia that's good," she groaned after sweet release, "I didn't know you were an expert at this."

Ian pulled out from under her, smiling embarrassed "I didn't either." Ian grabbed Sky by the sides of her torso and gentle pulled her to where she was now laying on his chest again, and gave her a roguish grin, "so was that as fun for you as it was for me?" Sky smiled and leaned in right to Ian's face, "yeah, I think so," she said softly before planting her lips on his. They spent some time kissing each other again, trying to get some energy back from their recent activities.

At last, Ian felt like he was ready for something a little more intense that what they had been doing earlier, but he wasn't sure that Sky was ready. He didn't want to push Sky into doing something that she wasn't ready for, and even though his body was practically begging to take the next step, he wasn't about to do anything stupid. He pulled away from Sky's lips and looked her dead in the eyes. "Sky I know this is a bit sudden, but I was wondering, well, since we've already gone this far, I wanted to know if your ready for…"

"Oh just shut up Ian," Sky said, smiling seductively "You've got to stop beating around the bush when you ask for something. No more fancy speeches, just ask me right now what you want," she took his face in her hands and this time her smile was not tempting, but sincere, she really wanted Ian to be straight forward with her, she wanted him to not feel like he needed to be so fancy with this. Ian stared at her for a moment, and then took a deep breath, "Sky, do you want to take the next step?" She looked at him warmly "If it's with you," she said nuzzling his neck "I think I'm ready."

Ian nodded, and lifted himself up so that he was sitting up against the backboard of the bed, Sky in his lap. His cock was stiff now, and pressed hard against Sky's marehood, eager for entry, Ian licked his lips nervously. He was still a virgin, and this was making him a bit nervous, even if he had proposed it, he wasn't sure about what the best way to start was, he was worried he might make a fool of himself in front of Sky. He looked up at her, hoping that he wasn't making a fool of himself, and fortunately her eyes told him that he wasn't. She seemed as nervous as he was, it was obvious that she was a virgin too, however when she saw him looking at her, she smiled, reminding Ian that they had decided on this together. No matter what happened there was no way they could make fools of themselves, this meant too much to the both of them. Ian smiled back and started to adjust himself so that his cock was now barely poking inside of Sky's pussy, she groaned a little in pleasure. Ian sighed internally, glad that she liked this so far, and decided to take the initiative and push a little further. Suddenly, Sky made a small cry of pain, and seized up, Ian halted looking up to Sky worried that something was wrong, "Sky I'm sorry did I hurt you!?"

"It's not your fault Ian," Sky said still shuddering a little for the pain, "I'm a virgin so I've still got so…physical issues." Sky felt ashamed, she had just given Ian the go ahead, had told him everything was all right, and then she had scared him. She wasn't about to stop here though, she had already told Ian that she was ready, not to mention it had felt incredible up to that point, she wasn't going to call it quits now just because of a little pain. "I'm sorry for scaring you," she said to Ian, "but I'm alright I promise, just keep pushing, I said it before and I'll say it again, I'm ready for this."

Ian looked a little less nervous; now that he knew that it her hymen that was hurting her and not him, he felt better about continuing. "Still," he said comfortingly, "You shouldn't have to go through that kind of pain without something to help you out." He lifted himself up so that he was kneeling on the bed, holding Sky close to him, his manhood still in her entrance, ready to go. He pressed his lips against her neck, gently kissing her, and eliciting a moan of satisfaction, before pulling away to whisper in her ear, "I'm gonna help you through the pain." He started to kiss her neck again, and nipped softly as well for good measure.

Sky moaned with gratification, Ian knew just where to put his lips or the greatest effect; this would defiantly help her out. "Whenever your ready tiger," she purred, and Ian took the initiative, slowly pushing back into her. It wasn't long before she felt the pain again, and clenched up letting out a small squeak, but Ian didn't stop, he kissed her more, while pushing harder. The pain was terrible, but Ian's kissing was in fact helping, she tried her best to focus on the pleasure of him caressing her neck with his lips. Suddenly, she felt her hymen burst, and a wave of pain forced her to let out a sudden cry of pain, however, Ian didn't stop kissing her neck, he even started to message her shoulders and back. He didn't move further into her though, thankfully, and let her just focus on him stroking her, until finally the pain began to subside, and the pleasure took hold again. Ian pulled back and smiled at her, as if to say 'your welcome' and Sky smiled too, she did not need to speak to express her thanks.

Ian was amazed at the warmth and tightness of Sky's vagina, it was like someone had drawn a warm bath and dunked him right into it. She felt so good that he started to feel an animalistic urge well up inside of him, an urge to take her here and now, and to let all inhibition go, but he knew he couldn't. She was till recovering from having her cherry popped, he had to be slow, and gentle…for now, the time would come to unleash the beast soon enough. He moved his hips now, pushing into her, drawn to her inner warmth, and before pulling back and pushing in again. Sky's insides where getting tighter now, it felt like her pussy didn't want him to pullout, and every time he did, she squeezed his cock, making him feel even more pleasure, he started to groan in ecstasy.

Sky was feeling some amazing sensations herself. Ian's now constant pounding was sending shivers up her spine and her eyes were starting to roll back. His rod was like nothing she had ever felt, the spots he was hitting were creating pleasure she hadn't ever dreamed of, she couldn't believe how amazing this position was. It only got better as Ian, emboldened with passion, began to push himself harder and deeper into her, hitting more and more sweet spots. "Ian, that feels so good," Sky managed say between gasps "keep doing that, don't stop! Faster, Harder!"

Ian felt the beast inside of him begin to well up again, he could feel his body heating up and his mind started to get fuzzy, his instincts were taking over now, and they would not be denied. He finally conceded to his more primal urges, letting go of any and all restraint, and started to viciously slam his shaft into Sky's warm cunt, moving faster and harder than he had thought possible. Sky's moans and groans were escalating too, becoming cries and screams of elation, they were only making the beast in Ian wilder, he wanted to do so much more than what he doing, but he couldn't think how to. Then a simple solution entered his mind, without thinking Ian started to lift Sky up, and he himself stood up, holding her legs to make sure she didn't fall. Finally he turned around so that Sky's back was against the wall, then he mustered all his strength and will and began plowing into Sky's marehood as fast and as hard as he could.

Sky cried out when Ian changed positions, and started to go all out. Ian had let his primal self take hold, and Sky was letting herself go too, grabbing Ian and pulling herself against him, all she wanted was to be as close to him as possible. She didn't care it anyone heard her cries, all that mattered was here and now, she wanted to climax with Ian, that was it, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. At last she felt that familiar electric feeling building up inside her core, and she knew she wasn't far from sweet release, "Ian," she cried "I'm about to cum, I want you to cum inside me!"

"Can…do," Ian grunted, he was excited that Sky was going to let him let go inside of her, the consequences didn't matter right now, whatever happened they could deal with it later. He kept his pace, thrusting fast and hard, trying to get as deep into Sky as he could, he wanted to let himself go as far inside Sky as was possible. He started to feel a build up in his loins, aching for liberation, it couldn't be stopped now, and Ian wasn't about to stop either. "Sky," he growled "I'm gonna…gonna," he couldn't finish his sentence as he felt the build up start to boil over, and with a final thrust and a yell of sheer satisfaction, he slammed into Sky's womb and let his hot, thick cum explode right into her deepest area.

Sky felt Ian let his semen spray her womb, and her body reached it's breaking point as well, and she let her boiling juices spray out all over Ian's lap and groin. She let out an ear piercing scream, feeling Ian semen overflow inside her, and spill out onto the bed sheet. Her head was spinning and her vision was blurry, she panted hard trying to catch her breath. She felt Ian's heart pounding against his chest, which was heaving with exhaustion from the incredible exertion he had just put himself through. They stayed in this position for a while; feeling each other's juices mixing together and seeping out of Sky's pussy, at last Sky broke the silence. "Wow, that was incredible," she panted, "I didn't know it would be so good."

"Yeah," Ian chuckled, his wits finally coming back to him "you were incredible, I seriously lost it for a while there.

Sky smiled at Ian warmly, "you were pretty good yourself tiger," she cooed "I didn't think you could be so athletic." Ian blushed a little at the complement, and Sky chuckled herself, "don't let it go to your head though." She leaned forward, pressing her lips against Ian's kissing him gently for a moment before pulling back, "Now," she said seductively if you could put me down."

-Later-

Ian and Sky lay next to each other in the bed, Ian had one of his arms wrapped around Sky's shoulders. Neither of them could really believe that they had just done what they had just done, it seemed so improbable, but it had happened nonetheless. "So," Ian asked, "what happens now?"

Sky furrowed her brow in thought, neither of them had thought this far ahead with this, "I really don't know," she said "I mean I've never been in a relationship like this before. I guess we just have to try and sort through all these feelings and make our decision."

"I guess so," Ian sighed, thinking about what exactly he was feeling at this point. "I think," he said after a while, "that I like you Sky, a lot, and that hasn't changed even after what we've done. So if it's all the same to you, I think that, maybe, we should keep seeing each other, and just see where this takes us."

"I think you're right," Sky said happily, "and, to be honest Ian, I'm not sure that I just like you, I think it's something a little…stronger," she said looking at him.

Ian felt his heart speed up just from looking into her eyes. She looked so beautiful right now that he had to stop himself from breaking eye contact with her out of embarrassment. He had been lying to himself when he said that he had liked her, his feelings for her were defiantly much stronger than that. At last, he smiled back at her, "yeah, I think my feelings might be a little stronger too." Suddenly he felt Sky's claps the hand he had around her shoulder with her hand, it was warm and he felt like he could spend forever like this with her, together on the shores of tomorrow.

-The Next Day-

Sky woke up to the smell of pancakes cooking. The aroma was heavenly, so heavy she could almost taste it, "Best alarm clock ever," she mumbled happily as she got up. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes she looked around for her nightclothes, which she had tossed aside during last nights events. When she found them she got dress and walked out into her living room; she looked over to the kitchen and saw Ian manning the stove, humming and occasionally flipping one of the pancakes.

He looked over at her, "Good morning, I hope I didn't wake you up. I just thought I'd whip up some breakfast." Ian lifted up one of the pancakes to make sure it was done, and when he had determined that it was, he happily moved it over to a plate that was already stacked. "How do you like your pancakes?"

"A little butter on top, and drowning in syrup," Sky said "and thanks for making breakfast, you didn't need to."

"I just thought I ought to make myself useful while I was here," he responded "besides I'm told my pancakes are pretty good, figured I could do you a favor, since you let me stay here last night." He rubbed the back of his head and blushed a little when he mentioned the last part, smiling somewhat goofily. "It was nice of you, REALLY nice of you."

Sky chuckled at Ian's embarrassment, "I'm glad you stayed," she said smiling "I enjoyed having you over," Ian blushed more. Sky picked up her fork and jabbed it into the top of the pancake stack Ian had put in front of her; She took a bite and was astonished by the amazing flavor. "Mmmm," she sighed happily as she swallowed the first bite, " these are really good, how do you make them taste this way?"

"Practice," Ian said smugly "I practically had to live of this stuff and boxed cereal when I was going to college.

"Well, kudos to you," she said making a faux salute "I tip my hat to you for you're exceptional pancake making skills."

"Thank you, thank you, you're too kind," Ian said responding with a faux bow, before going back to cooking his own pancakes. 'Oh by the way," he said "is there anything you need me to do while you're eating?"

"Ian you don't have to do anything else," Sky said "You're my guest, it's enough that you made breakfast, don't start going out of your way for me."

"Come on Sky," Ian pleaded "I WANT to do something for you. Tell ya what, just give me one thing to do and I won't ask to help you out with anything else today, deal?"

Sky rolled her eyes, smiling at Ian "fine, but just one thing." She thought for a moment before coming up with something, "I know, could you get the paper and the mail for me," she asked.

"Can do," Ian said putting down the spatula and walking out the door. Sky sat in the silent kitchen chewing on her pancakes, her thoughts began to drift back to the previous night, it was amazing how much of a change she and Ian had undergone for that night, and now they were having pancakes almost as if nothing had happened. But something had happened, something about their relationship had fundamentally changed, and Sky found herself a little worried. Last night they had been caught up in the heat of passion, and both she and Ian had been unprotected, she didn't know if it were biologically possible for her and Ian to conceive a child, but the thought started to creep into her mind. Something about it seemed frightening to her, and yet, on the other side it seemed…exciting, but she shook the thought out of her mind, she could talk with Ian about it some other time, for now she was just going to relax. Soon she finished up her pancakes, and it dawned on her that Ian was taking a long time, 'he should have been able to find the mail boxes by now,' she thought, 'and the paper isn't that hard to find, what could be taking him so long?'

Finally, Ian came back, a small bunch of letters in one hand. However, in the other hand he was holding a scull, she wondered why it was in the mix of letters. "What's with the scroll," she asked Ian, curious herself as to why it was in her mail. "It can't be," she heard Ian mumble to himself, "What can't she asked walking over to him and looking at the scroll, to her amazement, she saw the royal seal binding the scroll closed. "Is that a letter from Princess Celestia?" she asked taken aback "Why would she send me a letter?"

"I'm not sure it's for you," Ian responded pointing to the his name on the letter, "it's for me."

A thought suddenly dawned on Sky, "Wait, how could they have known you were here, It was a spur of the moment thing, nopony could have know you would be spending the night here."

"That's what puzzles me too," Ian said, rubbing his chin, "I guess I'll just have to open it and find out. He broke the seal and unfurled the scroll, and started reading aloud.

My dear friend Ian,

I'm just sending this letter in regards to the events of yesterday, my sister and I are eager to known how you and Skyfathom are getting along. We hope that you too have found that you have as much in common as my sister and I suspected you would, and we also hope that you too will be staying good friends for a long time. Friendship is such a wonderful thing, and sometimes it can lead to amazing things you could not even have imagined before, I hope it has lead you two some place new and wonderful.

Sincerely yours

Princess' Celestia and Luna

Ian and sky looked at each other shocked, it almost seemed like the princess knew what happened last night. "Sky," Ian asked, looking back at the scroll, "You don't suppose the princess knew more about this whole thing than they were letting on do you?"

"I don't know," sky responded, "I mean how could they have, it's not like they can see into the future," she looked at Ian who had a thoughtful expression on his face, "Can they?"