Waking up in Equestria

It was a lovely day in Ponyville. Snow gently fell upon the town, signalling that Hearth's Warming was drawing closer. In the market, ponies buzzed around, buying their gifts for friends and family. Sitting at his stall, Harry was neck deep in customers, trying to keep track of his sales. Planes, boats, and trains flew off his display with lightning speed. At the point, bits were practically being thrown at Harry. To make things worse, the ponies were practically screaming in his ears, making it impossible for Harry to even hear himself think. Standing up, Harry slammed a fist onto his counter.

"IN A LINE. ALL OF YOU! ONE AT A TIME!" he yelled. Immediately, the ponies formed a line, the ruckus having calmed down.

"Thank you. Now, how may I help you?" asked Harry, putting on a smile as a mare approached the stall, a wooden warship carefully clenched in her teeth.

*     *     *

The front door to Golden Oaks slammed open, a exhausted Harry standing in the door way. Before he even took a step into the home, Harry fell face first to the floor, groaning as he laid there. Hearing this from the other room, Twilight trotted in and approached the stallion on the floor.

"Have a good day at work?" she asked.

"Uuuuuugh." replied Harry.

"Plenty of sales?"

"UUUUUUUGHHHHH."

"Going to pay me back from when you went to the cafe?" Twilight asked, small smirk on her features.

"Blaaaaaaaaarrrrrg." replied Harry as a hand reached into his coin pouch and produced about five bits. Taking them in her magic, Twilight placed them into her nearby coin purse and returned her gaze to Harry.

"Want some hot chocolate? Maybe we can cuddle up and read some books?" Twilight offered. Harry nodded silently as he stared at the floor. Dragging himself onto his hooves, Harry swayed a bit before he shook his head.

"I swear, ponies don't know common decency!" Harry proclaimed. Twilight laughed at this and nodded her head in agreement.

"Only during the holidays, sweetie. Now, go find somewhere to relax and I'll join you, okay?" Twilight asked. A nod from Harry showed he accepted this as he dragged his hooves over to the small mountain of pillows.Flopping down on the pile, Harry let out a sigh of relaxation as his muscles released all the tension from the day. Trotting in with two mugs of hot chocolate in her magical grasp, Twilight handed Harry his coco before plopping down on his lap, taking a sip of her drink.

"What shall we read?" Harry asked. Twilight scanned the nearby book shelf and withdrew a book.

"How about, Journey to the Center of Equus?" Twilight suggested.

"Actually, that doesn't sound half bad. Crack it open babe." Harry said, adjusting himself into a comfortable position as Twilight opened the book and began reading aloud.

"Looking back to all that has occurred to me since that eventful day..."

*     *     *

Today was Hearth's Warming Eve. In the center of the library, Twilight and Harry were decorating a large tree. Spike's tail was sticking out of the decorations box as he dug around inside, looking for more things to put on the tree.

"Find the star yet, Spike?" Twilight asked, looking to the dragon. Spikes' voice came from within the box.

"Uh, no. Are you sure the star was in this box, and not any of the others?" he asked, poking his head up from within the box.

"Yes, I'm positive! You just have to look harder." Twilight retorted.

"I've been looking for the past ten minutes, and I've found nothing star-like." Spike replied in a snarky tone. In the past weeks, Spike had been giving attitude to Twilight. She said it's a side-effect of his growing up. The dragon wasn't so little anymore also. He was taller, much like how he looked when his greed got the better of him on his birthday, and a bit leaner.

"Cut the attitude kid." Harry said in a warning, yet playful tone. Spike rolled his eyes in response. Suddenly, there was a knocking at the door, and Spikes' spine went rigid. Harry caught this change in Spikes' body language and chuckled. "Nervous, are we?" he asked. Spike gulped a bit, looking to Harry and Twilight.

"Wh-what do I do?" he asked, his voice a bit shaky.

"Well, answering the door would be a good start." Twilight said, her magic flaring up and grasping the doorknob. The door opened to reveal Sweetie Belle. However, she wasn't a little filly anymore. Her mane was longer and more luscious, ending in tight coils at the ends. She was a bit taller now, her slender legs supporting a decent body. Her eyes sparkled with new intensity, keen on going out to the world.

And on her flank, a cutie mark of a golden bell with two musical notes on it. She had earned her mark after singing like an angel in the schools' production of Les Miserstables. This made her the first of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to get her cutie mark, Apple Bloom following suit, with Scootaloo bringing up the rear.

"Hi everypony!" she said, her voice even more cuter and heart melting than before. Spike, in a nervous sweat, approached the mare, her eyes going to him. She smiled sweetly at the dragon, and Spike fainted right on the spot.

"Man down." said Harry deadpanned. Twilight facehoofed and groaned.

"We've been practicing with him for weeks." Twilight said, rubbing her temples. Sighing, she beckoned Sweetie Belle in, dragging Spike back with her magic.

"Is Spike going to be alright?" she asked.

"Oh, he'll be fine. He just needs to remember what we taught him." Twilight said.

Que flashback, about a week ago

"Um, Twilight?" asked Spike.

"Yes?"

"Um...promise you won't tell anypony?"

"Of course! What is it?"

"I was well...thinking of asking...Sweetie Belle out..."

"Oh Spike, that's adorable!"

"But I don't know how to."

"Oh. Well, erm, g-go ask Harry for help."

"But, you know every-"

"GO ASK HARRY!"

"Alright, alright, jeez!"

-A few minutes later-

"Hey Harry?"

"What can I do fer ye', laddy?"

"How do I ask a mare out?"

"Ha! That's simple! You just get some alone time with her, and tell her how you feel. Then ask her. It's simple!"

"Really? Just like that?"

"Eeyup. That's it."

"Wow! This is gonna be easy! Thanks!"

"No problem, and good luck!"

Present day

"Twilight, it's not like we sent him through Dating Basic Training. I just told him to tell her how he felt." Harry said. Twilight rolled her eyes and shook Spike awake.

"Wake up Spike. Sweetie Belle is waiting." she said.

"Bleh, I'm up, I'm up." Spike said groggily. Sweetie Belle giggled a bit and helped Spike onto his feet. "Thanks Sweetie. So, uh, ready to, uh, go?" he asked, the nervous sweat resuming. Sweetie Belle nodded and gave a small smile, turning and walking out with Spike. Twilight sniffled and Harry looked to her.

"Are you crying?" he asked.

"Hey! I've raised him since he was an egg. And now, he's taking beautiful mares out on dates, getting ready to date one. They grow up so fast!" she said, wiping a tear. Harry chuckled and took her into a hug, nuzzling her neck. Looking up, he smirked.

"Don't look up." he teased. Curious, Twilight looked up and gasped a bit.

"I-is that..."

"Mistletoe. Pucker up and bend over babe." Harry growled playfully, taking Twilight by the chin and kissing her.

Later that afternoon, the couple found themselves sweaty and panting for breath on the floor of the library, giggling like a couple of drunkards.

*     *     *

Two days later, after everyone received their gifts from each other, Harry took a trip to Ponyville Hospital. He was going to pay Lyra a visit and ask her some questions.

After being admitted in, checking in with the receptionist, Harry walked to Room 115 and knocked.

"Come in." came Lyra's response. Entering, Harry waved at the mare as he closed to door and sat down. In the weeks since the incident in the cave, Lyra had been given magical treatment for her eyes, regrowing them from the remains that were in her bloodied eye sockets. So far, they were back to full shape and size, but the golden irises were a bit cloudy.

"Oh, hello. Why did you come to visit?" Lyra asked, tilting her head.

"Come to ask some questions." Harry replied simply. Lyra nodded and laid back onto the bed.

"Ask away."

"You were once a human, like me, right?"

"Yeah. My human life, was like, totally bogus."

"I know, I saw. Anyway, how long have you been here?"

"Oh, about five years now."

"If you came through as a human, then why are you full on pony?"

"Oh, when I came through, I became a hybrid, like you! Eventually, I wanted to fit in more, so I had a unicorn friend of mine cast a spell that made me full pony. If you want, I can get her to do the same with you!"

"No thanks, I'm perfectly fine right now. So, why did you ruthlessly hunt me down?"

"Well, back on Earth, I never got any form of affection. At times, if I wanted physical contact, I'd either use myself, or corner some poor guy and get him to hold me. When I got here, some stallions were interested in me, but never showed affection; just wanted me for my looks. As time went, I started feeling lonely. Then you came along, and something just..."

"Snapped?"

"Yeah, snapped. Then I got even more obsessed as I kept thinking about you and stuff. And well, I kinda lost myself for a bit. By the way, I'm sorry for everything." Lyra said. Harry waved a hand and shook his head.

"Think nothing of it, I'm cool with it. Just as long as it doesn't happen again, alright?" Harry asked. Lyra nodded and watched as Harry got up, ready to leave.

"O-oh, leaving already?" she asked.

"Have to. I got a job I need to be at in ten minutes." Harry said as he stood in the doorway.

"Okay then, see you later."

"See ya' around, Lyra." said Harry as he left, closing the door behind him.

"Well now, that's one loose end wrapped up. Now I don't have to constantly worry about being stalked, kidnapped, or raped!"