A Fiend's Game

///LEVEL 4: Unwelcoming committee///

Val woke up to a wonderful sight of Twilights ear sticking up from her messy bedmane. Her breath was slow and steady and he could feel her heartbeat under his arm. He couldn't hold himself from kissing her behind the ear. It flopped in response, and soon Twilight shifted in his embrace, waking up.

Twilight felt another kiss on the back of her ear and turned around, planting her hooves in Val's chest to get some distance.

"You are way too huggable, you know that? Sorry." Val's voice was sad and quiet.

She smiled. "You don't have to apologise for that."

"No, I wasn't apologising for that. For yesterday. I failed to control myself again and — did — things to you … ." He trailed off, looking into her wonderful purple eyes. Hell, he wanted to do things to her even right now.

"Well, while it was weird and unusual experience, I can't say that I didn't liked it. Quite the opposite actually, so you don't have to apologise for that either." She gave him a warm smile and leaned in to nuzzle him.

A feeling of her cheek sliding against his washed away Val's depression, and made him smile back at her. "We sure made quite a mess yesterday," He chuckled, making Twilight finally take notice of her surroundings.

"Sweet Celestia, we're dirty." This fact has slipped from her last night. Her side was covered in dirt from lying on the ground last night, and the sheets below her were no better. She sniffed, taking in an odor of sweat and sex that filled the room. She got used to it in her sleep, but now that it came to her attention, she was not going to bear with it.

Without a second thought she channeled her magic, opening two windows on the opposite sides of the room, making the morning breeze sweep the smell away. Only when Val's hands stiffened around her she realised what she just did.

Her mind raced, looking for a solution. How would Valianir react? What would he do? She never explicitly told him that she was powerless, he concluded that himself, and felt so much guilt for that, he considered suicide to be a viable option, and she played along with that. Her ears flattened, as she lowered her head, trying to struggle out of Val's strong grip.

"How did you do that?" Val asked quietly.

"M-magic?" Twilight's fear made her stutter a bit. She remembered well how he dealt with the hydra, and decided that honesty would be the best option.

"But priestesses can't perform magic!"

Priestess? Is that what he mistook her for, whatever that is? "W-what is a priestess?"

Val seemed to be calming down. He noticed that he was holding her too tight and eased his grasp. "A priestess is someone who can call to the power of Divinity to heal, protect and help people. They are incapable of harming anypony, and harming a priestess is the greatest sin one can commit. You healed me yesterday," He looked at Twilight intently.

"I am not a priestess - I healed you with magic, there are several spells for that, but your wound was so severe that I had to use one of the most complex. While you drained my magical power, it returned to me naturally overnight." She felt Val ease up, then he smiled and suddenly pulled her in for a deep, long kiss.

When they parted, gasping for a fresh air, she saw tears in the corners of his eyes.

"I'm so happy. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that was permanent!" He whispered into her ear. Twilight was relieved to hear that. Judging by his reaction, he was not angry at her. She decided that this was the time to ask questions of her own.

"I have never heard or read anything about a 'priestess', 'Divinity' or anything similar. I have read almost all of the books in my library, and many others back in canterlot, and I am pretty sure that none of them mentioned anything like that. That raises a question: Where are you from, or better yet, what are you? I've never heard about anything like you either."

"Well, maybe that is because I'm from a different world?" He smiled back at her.

Twilight's eyes widened in surprise, as she tried to process this information. "... That means that Starswirl's Multi-Universe Theory is correct! But it was proven wrong long ago and — you're an alien! An alien from a different world!"

She jumped straight up from the bed. "Let me study you, tell me about your world, please, please, please, please!"

Val couldn't help but laugh, watching her antics. "I think we had agreed that I will do anything for you." He stated, looking at her with a smile.

"But … ." Twilight stopped. "You have no reason to hold on to your word. You did no permanent damage, and even what you did was not really your fault, if what you're saying is true."

"Ral told me the same thing, but — if you're telling me — then I'll have to agree. However, a man never backs up on his word, and I already gave you mine. I will tell you everything you want to know."

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" Twilight began jumping in circle, overwhelmed with joy and anticipation."How do you do your magic? I saw you glow yesterday when you fought Hydra. Where do you put your weapon? Why did you cut your mane?" Questions flowed from her like water from a spring.

"Wait, not everything at once, and I suggest we take a shower first." Val looked around. "And clean this place too."

"You're right, sorry. I get too excited when I get something new to study." Twilight answered with an apologetic smile. "Come with me." She led him to the bathroom.

"Are we going to use the shower — together?" Val asked reluctantly, standing in the doorway.

"Yes. Is that a problem?" Twilight asked, looking back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, not exactly. But sharing a shower is considered an intimate experience among my kind."

"We already shared a bed, which is much more intimate than showering. Besides, I would really like to examine your body closely. For research purposes." Val shrugged and entered the bathroom with a sigh.

Surprisingly, the bathtub was enough to fit both of them at the same time. When Twilight turned the handle and a warm water rained from above, his nervousness started to go away along with dirt, bloodstains and sweat. He looked at the set of shampoos and soaps. "Keeping that coat and mane of yours in proper state must be tedious at times," he noted, turning back to Twilight. Her wet mane splayed tightly to her head and neck, outlining her gentle curves, as she smiled back at him.

"Not exaсtly. While it is difficult for earth ponies and pegasi, a unicorn's magic makes such tasks much easier." She said, picking up a scrub with telekinesis and pouring liquid soap on it. Her magic flickered, making her lose control and splatter soap over the floor. "Darn it. Looks like my magic is still not reliable enough." She sighed.

Val caught the scrub on its way down and picked up the soap bottle. Placing a hand on Twilight's wither he asked: "So... What shampoo do you usually use for your mane?"

"Depends on the situation, but I like this one the most." She pointed to a white bottle with an orange cap. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, if we already bathing together, why don’t we wash each other? It would be a waste of opportunity otherwise." He beamed a smile at the confused unicorn. "Also what are Earth ponies and Pegasi and why do they have problems with washing?"

Twilight smiled at him, while he run his hand through her hair, applying a shampoo and setting her strands free from knots. That sensation was surprisingly pleasant, making her close her eyes, as Val brushed his fingers into her mane. "Want to start the question session already? There are three main kind of ponies: Unicorns, who have horns and are able to cast spells, Pegasi, who have wings and are able to fly and control weather, and Earth ponies, that have neither, but are much stronger physically and have a natural affinity to growing plants. There are also Batponies, but they are rare, and Seaponies, of whom nopony heard anything for the past thousand of years. Since we stated already, it would be fair if I ask some questions in return. Who exactly are you? Tell me about your species, and yourself in particular."

Val moved the hose to Twilight's head, taking care to thoroughly wash away all the shampoo. "My race is called "Vireny", which means "People" in ancient Virelle, our language. Not very original, I know, but we were never known for originality. We are a genetically engineered race. We changed our genome long ago in an attempt to give us superior abilities. That did not succeed however, and the modified genome got watered down throughout generations. Regular Vireny are just like me, red skin, yellow eyes, but the hair is different — usually black, ash-gray or deep purple. Some of them are born with remnants of failed genomes — like horns, wings and most commonly, tails. We tried to give ourselves the ability to fly, but that didn't turn out well. Vireny with hair like mine are called 'Silverheads'. The 'Silverhead' genome is one of the rarest — only one out of forty thousand has it. Our hair allow us to gather and use magic, a feat no other Vireny is capable of."

"Wait a minute. You say that your hair operates like our horns, and you — cut it off?" Twilight's eyes widened in terror, as she tried to look him in the eyes. Willingly severing yourself from the source of magic? She dreaded even to think about it. "W-why would you do that?"

Val sighed, carefully scrubbing her side. "My hair absorbs all the energy it can, and I found out that it was the ambient magic of this world that was making me lose control. So the only solution I found was limiting my energy income." He chuckled. "I doubt that cutting my hair is anything similar to cutting off a horn. It's not a bone, it will grow back. I hope I could find a way to make myself resistant to the local magic before that. Yesterday, I thought for a moment that it was magic that made me attracted to you. But then it proved to be wrong." He leaned in and kissed the tip of her ear. "Has anypony told you that your ears are sexy?"

His quiet whisper made Twilight back off and blush. Val's sudden compliment took her by surprise. "Does your kind consider ears to be sexual objects?"

"Usually not, but I find yours very attractive." Val continued to brush her coat and his hand was moving closer to her flank. He started slowly caressing one while washing the other. "By the way, what is the meaning of this picture?" He traced his finger along the starburst on the lavender pony's flank, monitoring her reaction. It looked like this spot was particularly sensitive, and he took mental note of that.

Twilight found it harder to concentrate, as she began to understand how taking shower could be intimate experience, and she enjoyed every moment of it.

"It's a cutie-mark. It appears when a pony discovers his or her special talent. My talent is studying magic and performing spells."

That took Val several moments to take in. How is that even possible.

[Magical world. It follows different rules.]

[About time you showed up.]

[I was trying to figure out how this world affects you and a way to counter that.]

[So, what did you find?]

[I'm no expert on brains, but I can say that the magic of this world works like an alcohol on you. You become mana-drunk and lose all of your inhibitions.]

"What's the matter?" Twilight asked, noticing his strange expression.

"Ral just spoke up. He is one of my demons, the friendly one. As much as a demon can be at least."

Twilight snorted and took the scrub from his hand. She could ask him later. For now, she decided to take her turn and wash him. While Val's interest was more erotic, her’s was scientific. She explored as much of his body as she could, memorising details to put on paper later. His muscles were not as apparent as of some stallions, but they were hard as steel to the touch. She looked down on his flanks and the memories of the last night events came to her with new vibrance. She remembered as these flanks pumped into her yesterday … .

"Hmm. I think I'll take care of myself from here, thank you." Val's face was red from the beginning, so Twilight could only guess that he was embarrassed. His member began to grow and now stood proudly for Twilight to see.

"But thats not fair!" She argued.

"Life is never fair." Val laughed. "Okay. You can stay and watch if you want."

After Val quickly finished with the shower, he and Twilight changed the sheets on the bed. She took Val on a short tour around the library-tree afterwards. Val asked if she had vegetables in stock, and suggested to cook them, which raised a question of his diet.

"I thought with those canines you would be carnivorous?" The thought that she would have to feed him with meat was something Twilight tried to push to the back of her mind.

"Omnivore, actually. I can eat both meat and vegetables. It would be hard to digest grasses and hay though, so I hope you have something beside them."

"Of course I have. Take a look in the fridge." Twilight was relieved that some of her worries were in vain.

After rummaging through the fridge, Val settled on making mashed potatoes. As he began to peel them with a knife, Twilight noticed how nimble and agile his fingers are.

"Could you give me your hand, please? I would like to take a closer look." Val obliged, and held is hand before her eyes. She touched it with her hoof, noticing the pattern of lines on it, then turned it around.

"Hmm... Your claws are rather small. How does your kind hunt for food? I mean naturally, without weapons."

Val laughed lightheartedly, returning to the peeling. "We don't. Our kind has not hunted for a very long time now, because there is no game left in our forests. And even when we did, we never did it without tools, the simplest being a sharpened stick. We grow our food on farms, meat included."

"Wait — what do you mean ‘grow meat’? Just meat? Without an animal?"

Looking at her confused expression, Val burst into laughter. Wiping a tear of mirth from the corner of his eye, finally calming down, he answered "We raise animals on farms, that's what I meant," He scratched his chin. "However there is artificial meat. It's like an animal but without all unnecessary body parts, grown in a tank. It is extremely delicious, but also much more expensive."

"And the animals do not mind? Even if they know that they will be killed? How do you keep them from running away or breaking out?" Twilight heard of griffins trying to farm animals for food, but they ran away way too often, so the practice was rare.

"Well, they are just animals, so they don't care about that. We feed them and care for them, so in the end they live much better than in the wild." Val shrugged. Then the implications of the question struck him. "Do you mean to tell me that local animals are capable of comprehension?"

Twilight nodded. "To a certain extent. Most of them are capable of understanding at least basic concepts. And I know at least one pony that can talk with them and understand their answers."

"Crap." Val cursed. "I guess no meat for me then. I would never eat something that can understand me." He dropped the potatoes into a pot of a boiling water.

"You still haven't told me anything about yourself." Twilight put a sheet of paper before her on the table, not trusting her telekinesis yet, and prepared a quill.

Val scratched his chin. "I am a silverhead Vireny, fifty four years old, served in the military … ."

"Wait." Twilight interrupted him. "What is an average lifespan of your species and how much is a year of your world." She was writing furiously.

"Our year is 365 days, each day 24 hours, each hour 60 minutes, each minute is 60 seconds and a second is about as much as it takes me to make two steps."

"So, pretty much like our own year? I wonder if that a coincidence or there is something more to it … ." Twilight hummed to herself.

"Its no coincidence. A year is about same length in every world I've been to. Nopony knows why it is though. An average lifespan of a Vireny is about 450 years, so I am still considered pretty young. We age fast though, reaching maturity at 23. I had to fake my age to enter military service — I was just 18 at a time, but I always looked older so I managed to pass. By the way how old are you?"

"That is one question mares are allowed not to answer. I'm joking." She said, looking at his expression. "I'm 21, and an average lifespan of a pony is around 80, though I know several ponies older than that. Back to you, why did you fake your own age? What's so appealing in your military service that you decided to cheat your way in?"

"It's not that there was something appealing. It’s that I was sick of my caretakers. You see, I am an orphan. I was found in the ruins of a house that was destroyed during an outbreak. Nopony knew who my parents were though, because the house was uninhabited at the time, and there were no bodies." Val sighed.

"It is unusual for a silverhead to be an orphan. Since we are rare, government takes care about us, providing orphans like me with a proper family, however this time they decided to give me a caretaker. In retrospect I understand what they were trying to achieve. There were several caretakers that changed through the years, they were teaching and training me to become a loyal battlemage for the government, but they made a mistake. They all were strict and demanding, and none of them ever pretended to be a family to me. I had literally no childhood.

But when I grew up and started gaining information about the world not from my teachers, but from books, television and personal experience that I realised that my situation was not normal at all. If government wanted to brainwash me, they did a poor job. I'd seen families, happy ones and others — not so much. I've seen people my age that had time to go to read books they wanted to, hang out with friends or even go to a movie just on a whim. In contrast, my whole life was strictly scheduled from morning to evening. I knew exactly what I needed to do weeks, months ahead even. And there was nothing I could change, except for abandoning my past life entirely.

I faked my ID, adding several years to my age, and applied for the military. Thanks to my training I was more physically developed than a typical boy of my age and knew a lot about tactics and combat. That helped me to pass the tests. I've heard a lot of different things about an army before, not all of them were pleasant, but one thing was for sure: once you're one of them, they stand up for you no matter what. Captain Rakhen, officer in command of my platoon, defended my right to stay with them even after my lie was discovered."

Val took the pot off the fire and poured the water out in the sink. There was a bottle of milk in the fridge that he now poured onto potatoes, as he began to mash them with a fork.

"So, what was life in the military like?" Twilight asked, preparing for the next writing session.

"It was like — I don't know, having a family? The hardships everybody saw in the army life were just normal to me, but we did everything together, as a squad, and we were always estimated as a whole, not as an individual person. But for our squad to succeed everypony had to pull their weight, and they all understood that. Challenges that we overcame together made us more than just friends in a very short time. We were inseparable even when we were off duty. It was not a "normal life", but much closer to it than what I had before, and I received a good payment for that too."

Val chuckled. "Seeing you writing down my biography as something worth a thousand bits, is flattering, I have to admit." He said, looking at a furiously scribbling unicorn.

Twilight looked up with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, it's not your biography..."

"You wasn't listening? Why did you ask in the first place then?"

"Oh, I was listening, it's just that I have to finish my report to Princess Celestia as soon as possible, and I'm really good at multitasking."

"Report? Princess?" Val sighed. "So... I take it that I'm going to the dungeons then?"

"What? No! Princess Celestia is my mentor, and I have to inform her about a being from another world that will be living with me. I'm sure she will be interested in both yourself and my research of you." Looking at the confused stallion before her, she decided to start from the beginning. "Princess Celestia is one of the two co-rulers of Equestria. She is Princess of the Day, and is responsible for raising and lowering the sun every day. She is a fifteen-century old alicorn, wise and very kind. If anypony is capable of helping you with your magic-resistance problem, it's her."

"Raising the Sun? As in millions-of-miles-away, bigger-than-the-world-ball-of-plasma Sun?" Val's mouth was widely agape in disbelief, threatening to dislocate his jaw.

"Yes. She is a Goddess of the Sun, that's what she does." Twilight answered nonchalantly, clearly amused with his dumbfounded expression.

[Goddess?! Oh shit! Oh shit! We might as well be dead!]

[Ral, what's got into you? Panicking like this is not like you at all!]

[Gods are antagonistic to demons to the point of total annihilation on sight. Let me make it clear to you - if She knows you have even single demon inside you, she might consider incinerating the whole village just to make sure we die! It will take her just a tiny bit of solar matter and "Fwoosh!" Nothing but ashes for many miles, casualties be damned.]

[Crap.]

He looked at the unsuspecting mare before him. Even if he already had accepted inevitable death as a very near prospect, he did not want to endanger her as well.

[I wonder how much did she wrote?]

He leaned in to look at the paper, but all he could see was scribbles. He knew that they should've been letters, but they made absolutely no sense to him.

"Why can't I read it?" He asked in frustration.

"Err... You can read it before I send it, since its about you … ."

"No, I didn't mean that. I can't understand what's it says at all, it's like a completely different language!"

[And what language do you think you are speaking now?]

[GeTra, of course. Can't you tell?]

[Oh, I can tell of course, but why would a sentient pony from another world talk a language devised by humans for General Trade? Clue. She does not. And neither do you. It's a magical property of a cross-world travel - you learn the general spoken language of your destination point, but only the spoken one. You will not be able to read it.]

"Is something wrong?" Twilight asked with concern. The young man just stood there, staring into the distance with an empty gaze.

Val shrugged his weird state off and looked at her. "It may be. I can not read your language, only speak it, so I will ask you: Do not tell anything about the demons in your letter. Do not mention them at all. Should your princess hear of them, she might consider killing us all."

"Princess Celestia will never do such thing!" She screamed at him in shock.

"Even if you manage to prove me harmless, which I am not, a potential threat of a demonic outbreak will surely prompt her to do just that. believe me, Twilight, demons are that dangerous." He tried to convince her.

"Just what the hay are those demons you keep talking about?" Twilight continued to scream, now more in frustration. Of course she knew about beings of Tartarus, but they were not that dangerous, were they?

"By the definition, a Demon is a being that consumes souls of sentient beings to prolong its existence, procreate or gain more power. Since souls are not that easily replenishable, excessive demonic presence in the world throws it off-balance. And if the world's balance is shaken enough, it may start to wither and die, and once that began, there would be no way to reverse it. They have killed many worlds, Twilight. In fact your world is the only one I've seen that is still alive."

Twilight stared back at him in disbelief. These demons were nothing like the ones he heard about before. In his eyes Twilight saw traces of sadness and grief. She was afraid to pry further, but her curiosity took better of her. "But you said you have several of those things inside you. What for?"

"I was born with one of them, as a legacy of my previous life. Apparently, I was a fiendmaster back then and captured him, then killed myself to destroy him, since he was way too powerful to be killed normally. It failed though, and the seal he was held in fused with my soul, making him lose part of his memory and be reborn with me. His name is Ral. When I was little, I thought of him as my friend that nobody else could see. An imaginary friend, you know? When I grew older I began to think that I was a bit crazy and my subconsciousness takes form of a voice to warn me about things and give me ideas. It was only when I encountered my first demon and won did I discovered what he really was. I left military to became a Fiendmaster, someone who can capture demons and use their powers to protect people. And that is what I am best at." He sipped some milk from the bottle to moisturise his throat.

"What is it like, having demons inside your head?" Twilight's voice was quiet. She levitated her quill away. This was not for record. He put his life in her hooves, willing to follow through with her decision, even if it meant his imprisonment or death. She decided to trust him in this, at least for now, but she still wanted to know the truth and estimate a possible danger.

Val put his hand on her cheek and smiled slightly. "It's not that bad. At least while I'm in control. They reside silently within me, but I can interact with them at will. They can try and break out sometimes, but I can subdue them with relative ease, as they are much weaker now than they were, without the income of fresh soul. I do not know why the seal of The Torturer got broken, and I could not hold him back. I'm sorry." He looked into her eyes, and brought his finger to her lips, interrupting whatever she wanted to say. "Had he manage to gain more energy, all of this village would've been in ruins by now."

He smiled again, reading the worry in her eyes. "He won't be able to do anything at all for at least several months now. I've made sure of that. I'll keep him in check from now on."

He sat back at the opposite side of the table. Both chair and the table were too low for him, so he had to cross his legs to sit right. "Our potatoes will get cold If we don't enjoy 'em now."

"We?"

"Well, I made enough for two."

"More like for three." She said looking into the kettle."Ponies do not eat that much. At least I don't". Twilight smiled back at him and tossed the letter she was writing into a trash bin. "I'll write a new one later." She spiced the dish with some dandelion petals.

They have indulged in silence, enjoying their meal. Val observed Twilight, as she levitated her spoon carefully.

"How long until your magic comes back in full capacity?" Val asked with concern once they have finished. He caught Twilight's dish midair after she tried to levitate it to the sink, but her magic flickered again.

"About a day or so. Seems like I won't be able to lift anything larger than a quill for now." she snorted in frustration. "Don't worry. This already happened to me after I managed to transport Ursa Minor back into the Everfree. It's a giant stellar bear about three stories high. Two young colts thought it would be a good idea to lead it to Ponyville."

"That sounds like quite an adventure! And an impressive feat of magic. Telekinesis and levitation aren't the easiest of spells. Do all unicorns have that much power? " He asked while washing the dishes.

"Telekinesis comes natural to all unicorns, but everypony have different limits. Being Princess Celestia's personal student, I am one of the most powerful unicorns in all of Equestria." She smiled shyly. "In terms of raw power of course. I still study and practice new spells almost every day."

o--(==========-

After Val had finished with the dishes, he made some tea and the couple began trading questions. while Twilight was eager to learn about Val's world, he was more interested in Twilights life than anything else. Sipping their tea, they began to share the stories of their lives.

Twilight told him about her and her friends adventures, about how they defeated Nightmare Moon and saved Princess Luna, how they defeated the chaotic Discord and thwarted the invasion of Changelings.

Defeating an ancient evils and saving the world was not new for Val either. He told Twilight about regular demonic outbreaks that provided his world with an awful lot of new horrors every once in a while. He told her the story of each and every of his demons, deciding that she deserved to know what she was dealing with, just in case of something going wrong.

She was amazed at the manifestation of the Hound Val provided. Warily, she touched the phantasmal claw, first with her magic, then with her hoof. Val assured her that the Hound was most obedient and tame of his "residents".

The story of the Torturer terrified her. The young man described how he and his squad went on a mission to rescue the research team from the ruins of a city they deemed relatively safe. The squad separated to cover more area, but one-by-one, their radio signals were cut-off, spreading panic among the remaining soldiers. Eventually Val was the only one left. He was forced to use the powers of a demon for the first time to follow the trail of his squadmates and discover what was left of them, on the top floor of abandoned office building … .

Twilight tried to shrug off the memory of her encounter with the being, but failed. Shuddering, trying to hold her tears she felt Val's hands hug her from behind. Val sat down and lowered his head to her level, nuzzling her cheek from behind.

"Everything is going to be alright." He held her tightly to his chest, brushing away her remaining tears. Strangely enough, his embrace calmed her down, clearing her thoughts again. "Lets change the subject. You told me that you know the Princesses really well, but you didn't go into a detail, what are they like?" Val's plan was simple. He noticed that Twilight's face brightened every time she mentioned her mentor, and now she really needed to lighten up. She shifted, adjusting her position in Val's embrace, and began to talk.

"Princess Celestia is an alicorn - she combines the best of all three pony types in one. She is a very kind and benevolent ruler. When I was little, she noticed my magical talent and took me in as her personal student. I lived in the palace with her for many years, learning from her everything I could. She is always smiling and almost never shows when something is bothering her, but sometimes I could feel that her smile is a sad one. I always tried to do something to make her smile for real. Most of the times I tried to impress her with my feats of magic, but that didn't always worked out quite the way I imagined. Sometimes it ended up in a complete disaster, like when I found an old tome with a spell to bake a magical Cake, so I tried to make her one. I ended up ruining half of the kitchen facilities, as well as being completely covered in flour. But at least I made her smile."

Val chuckled, imagining the scene that opened before the Princess.

"Hey! That’s not funny!" Twilight elbowed him lightly.

"Sorry, I just imagined you, pure white from flour sitting in the middle of a large kitchen with confused look. So adorable!"

Twilight giggled. "Well, maybe it was. You have a good imagination. However it was not funny for me back then. I had to clean the whole mess. Without magic." She turned her head to look at Val. "That time I learned an important lesson: If something can be done without magic, most of the times it is better being done without magic. I've forgot it over time, but got reminded about it recently."

Val breathed in the scent of her mane and smiled. "Elven wizards have a saying: 'If something can not be done with magic, it is not worth doing at all.'"

"Elven?" Val noticed that Twilight got her quill and a new parchment ready and smiled again.

"Do you want a short version, or a lecture?"

"Hmm... I would like to report to the princess as much as possible, and I know I'll want to hear the complete version anyway sooner or later, so why not now?"

"Okay, so lecture mode it is then.”

“There are several races living in Ter-as-Nihil, thats the name of my world by the way. It means 'A World above the Abyss'. I already told you about my people - Vireny. There are also Humans, Orcs, Gnomes, Elves and Tashti.”

“Humans, Orcs and Elves generally look just like Vireny, except that Orcs are bulkier, Elves are thinner and Humans are a bit shorter. Elven ears are much more pointy than ours and orcs have fangs growing from their lower jaw. Ears of the humans are round.”

“Orcs are renown for their combat prowess and agility, while elves more known for their magical talents, which is no surprise, considering that they have ages to master and hone their magical skills. Humans are some-what middle ground, there are both talented wizards and mighty warriors, but they age faster and therefore their potential limit is lower. Orcs do not lose their physical abilities with age. They cover their faces with a special tattoo and piercing that describes their life, status and skills, and sometimes even what they are doing now or planning to do.”

“Gnomes are shorter than Vireny by a great margin — average gnome is about 2/3 my size. They are greatest craftsmen and are known for their expertise regarding anything that involves metalwork and engineering. All gnomish males wear long beards. braided in special ways — losing a beard is one of the most terrible things that can happen to a gnome.”

“Tashti are widely different. They are race of insects, covered in black chitin. They have eight legs and walk on two of them, using other six as manipulators . Each individual is not as bright as a regular person, but they combine their thoughts when they gather together, forming a hivemind. A group of three Tashti is about as smart as a regular Vireny. The most interesting thing about them however is their technology and instruments. They can regenerate and change their bodies to a certain extent, so when they need an instrument, they bite off one of their hands and grow whatever they need in a matter of minutes. Oh, and they can not grasp the concept of a personal possession, so they are generally not welcomed in settlements of other races.”

“Now, we agreed at 'answer for an answer' deal, so please tell me, what other people does this world has."

Twilight cleared her throat and began a short lecture about ponies, griffin, hippogriffs, minotaurs, lamas, moose-folk, donkeys and many other different people that populated the land of equestria. When it came to dragons, she mentioned that she had a baby-dragon as a little brother/assistant.

"Wait, wait, wait. A dragon? How can a pony have a dragon for a brother? Or am I missing something here?" Val interrupted her lecture.

Twilight laughed. "He is not really my brother, at least not that way. When I was seven, a dragon egg was found on the outskirts of the Dragon Mountains. Princess Celestia tried to find its parent, but apparently dragons care much less for their children. They told her that they do not care about the egg and she can do whatever she wants with it.

Ponies know very little about dragons, but it is known that for a dragon to hatch, the egg needs to be infused with a special magic, which signature matches the one of a mother of an egg.

So, Princess had many unicorns try and infuse the egg with their magic in order to hatch it, but every single one failed. Then she decided that students of her School for Gifted Unicorns could try and handle this task for her. Nopony from higher grades succeeded, so eventually everypony who hasn't tried it yet was given a chance to do it, even first-graders such as I was.

I tried hard, the egg twitched, but it did not hatch. Then — something amazing happened." Twilight smiled warmly. "Spike has broken through the shell, and that's how I became Princess Celestia's personal student."

"Well, according to you, you are more of his mother, than a sister then. You hatched him!"

Twilight blushed, remembering the thoughts and feelings she had back then on the platform on the day of Spike's departure. "Maybe you're right. But I never thought about him that way before. Besides I didn't even raised him — Princess Celestia did. It's not until I began to really study under her wing when I met Spike again. We quickly became friends and were inseparable ever since." She sighed. "He didn't even changed that much since I first met him, until recently. Dragons grow in spurts, and now he is away, studying in Academy for Gifted Unicorns."

"So, a dragon goes to the school for unicorns and nobody is surprised by that? How many dragons there are in Equestria anyway?" Twilight heard concern in Val's voice, but could not see the reason behind it.

"Quite on the contrary. Everypony were surprised by that. Dragons are not known for their magic. Most of them are uncivilized brutes that care only about the size of their hoard and would stop at nothing to increase it. Spike is unique, and his application caused quite a stir among conservative part of nobility. There are very few other dragons in Equestria, most of them are old and know better than to try and assault ponies. They spend most of their time sleeping in the mountains." As she spoke, Val's fingers began to idly stroke her mane. The sensation was pleasant, so Twilight decided to let him do it.

"That sounds nothing like the dragons I heard about." Val noted. "Dragons from the past of my world were noble, wise and had powerful magic. Actually it was them who taught magic to the first 'Silverheads', and the foundation of our magical school stays the same for thousands of years.

They also cared about their offspring deeply. There is a record about a mad king that decided to steal a dragon's egg for himself. After the adult dragons recovered it, they turned his capital into an erupting volcano with a spell, and declared that anypony who would dare to threaten their own would meet a similar end."

Val's voice was quiet, as his fingers ran through Twilights hair, brushing her neck slightly. The sight of her ears sticking out of her mane, twitching slightly every now and then made him smile.

"Wow. I doubt that any being of this world, aside from Princesses can handle the magic of such caliber. You said 'dragons of the past'. Are dragons of the modern times weaker?" Twilight already got a bit tired from writing so much, and that was not something she used to.

"Not weaker. There are no dragons in my world now. They left thousands of years ago, presumably tired of constant wars and conflicts my people waged among each other. Dragons tried to tone down the violence, to stop the wars, but they rarely succeeded. Eventually they gave up and left us to our fate.

It appeared that they could traverse between worlds at will, and that the next world they came to was Khanrakesh, world of the Orcs. The Orcs worshiped them as gods and welcomed them with sacrifices of their own, which was not what the Dragons wanted at all. Orcs were savage nomads at that time and did not knew any better. Dragons left their world and nopony knows where they went. "

Twilight scribbled furiously, holding the sheet down with a foreleg, the tip of her tongue showing between her lips. Val found her concentrated expression adorable.

"So, what are you planning to do now?" he asked, once the mare finished writing and neatly stacked the papers.

"I will need to write a letter to the Princess, since we scraped the first one, and I will need to do some arrangements in order to make villagers accept you."

"I hope they won't come to your doors with torches and pitchforks," noted Val.

"Do not worry," smiled Twilight. "Once Pinkie Pie, one of my friends, will throw you one of her trademark 'Welcome to Ponyville' parties, ponies will see that they have nothing to fear from you. They do not, do they?" she looked into his yellow eyes and asked sternly.

"Of course not!" Val assured her.

"Also, you can release me now," noted young mare. While Val's embrace wasn't causing her discomfort, quite on the contrary, she was not used to such level of skinship.

"Sorry, you're just way too cute and huggable," Val laughed, releasing her.

Not used to receiving such compliments, Twilight smiled shyly. "Do you really think so?"

"Of course I do," Val nodded. "In fact, it baffles me that such a beautiful mare like you never had an intimate relationship and lives alone by herself."

Twilight sighed. "I think that is mostly because of my lifestyle and lack of time. I always have something to study or research, and when I do not — I hang out with my friends, who happen to be all mares. Or some disaster happens and we have to go and save the day. Actually," she smiled sheepishly, "looking back to the times of my scholarship, I think there were some colts that tried to capture my attention, but I was too engrossed in my studies to notice. I prefered silent books and the stories they had to offer to the company of noisy young ponies back then. Now I learned to appreciate noisy friends and parties too." Twilight's smile was warm, as she remembered the fun times she had. "It took direct order from the Princess to make me go to Ponyville and socialise though. If it was not for that, I would have still been a bookworm recluse."

The mare caught Val eyeing her form with a look she never experienced before. She always thought that being perceived as a person was always better than just a ‘mare,’ but right now she found it to be just as flattering as his compliments — it proved that he was saying the truth. As he stood before her with nothing but his pants on, she could not help but admire his well-toned muscles, his strangely alluring fanged smile and a subtle glint of desire in his eyes.

"I see, you are still eager to continue our — bedroom endeavour?" She half-asked half-stated, trying to sound seductive. She never tried that before and was unsure whether she done it right or not, but Val's loud gulp subdued her doubts. "I am inexperienced in such matters, so I think more — experiments are in order to confirm my theory."

While she spoke, Val moved closer and closer to her, and now was looking into her eyes, his face just several inches from hers. "And what is your theory?" He whispered, gently placing his hands on her soft cheeks.

"That having sex is awesome," She whispered, answering him in the same tone.

"I can not deny such an invitation." Said Val, leaning in for a deep kiss. There were no ‘tongue fighting’ this time, but instead slow caresses, brushes and soft touches. Twilight's long and dexterous tongue carefully moved around his, drawing unusual pleasure from it. She may have been inexperienced, but Val never felt anything even remotely similar from kissing some before. He felt an incredible arousal. For a moment he was afraid that the state he was in yesterday has returned, but that fear was quickly dismissed. He still was in control. He scooped the mare and continued their makeout session while carrying her upstairs. Twilight locked her forelegs around his neck, pressing herself tightly to his chest.

Val carefully laid the mare on the bed, breaking the kiss. When they parted, panting, a string of saliva trailed between their tongues. Kissing her jawline, then neck and chest, he slowly made his way down toward his target. In his ignorance, he neglected a certain spots on Twilights body before, and now he was eager to make it up to her.

When his mouth found her little nipple hiding in a lavender coat, he gave it several soft licks, monitoring Twilight's reaction. She looked at him, biting her lower lip, which made it clear that he was heading in the right direction. He grabbed her flanks firmly, holding her in place. His thumbs were tracing circular patterns on her cutiemark, as he directed his attention even further down. Carefully, he coated her clit in saliva and began to give it soft and slow licks, trying to prolong the moments of friction for as long as he could, making Twilight gasp loudly every time. The look on her face, her eyes half lidded, mane disheveled and mouth open, gasping for air, was definitely worth the effort. Val averted his gaze from her, concentrating on the task at hand. The mare's musky scent excited him. With renewed fervor he assaulted her marehood with licks and kisses, occasionally darting his tongue inside her depth. Soon enough Twilight became quite audible, screaming in pleasure and thrashing her head to her sides, splaying her mane across the blanket.

Twilight was riding on the wave of pleasure. The buildup was much faster than before, but when she was about to reach the peak, Val slowed down, holding her right there. He alternated paces and techniques, stimulating all the right spots in her nether regions to prolong her pleasure. She did not remembered when she began to scream his name, all she wanted now was a sweet release and a feeling of him penetrating her. She grabbed his head with her hooves and looked pleadingly in his eyes. Val understood her perfectly. He stood up to remove his pants, when something made him stop and look at the open window.

"Get away from Twilight!" A cyan blur exploded into the room, heading right at the standing man. In an instant Val's reflexes kicked in, as he dodged the sudden attacker. A shotgun appeared in his hand, already aimed at the enemy. The blast of purple energy struck his hand, blasting the gun out of his grasp.

"Don't kill her!" Twilight screamed, quickly realising what was going on. She remembered how effective her new friend was in battle. Her desperate attempt at saving Rainbow took all of the magic she managed to gather so far, making her helplessly collapse on the bed.

Seeing as the blur was heading towards him for a second strike, Val jumped with a spin and put all of his momentum in a single kick to redirect enemies trajectory straight into the second window.

Being a relatively good soccer player, his aim was true and the hit struck its goal, sending whatever it was out of the house.

Looking through the window, now he could see that his assailant was in fact a sky-blue winged pony mare with a weird rainbow colored mane. She hovered before the window for a moment before disappearing in the distance with a scream: "Hold on Twilight! I'll get help!"

"I guess that was one of your friends you told me about?" Val asked, still looking at the window. The whole encounter took only about three seconds.

Twilight was laying on her back, panting heavily. Rapid transition from ecstasy to panic and magical exhaustion took their toll.

"Yes. It was Rainbow Dash." She said between pants. She was happy that her friend was safe. "What made her attack you though?"

"I think it may have something to do with the facts that the windows were open and that you were screaming." Val laughed nervously. "How did she missed the context is another question entirely."

"She may be bold, brave and loyal, but she is not very keen, especially in certain areas." Twilight sighed, finally managing to calm down.

"So... Should we expect townsfolk to show up with their monster-hunting inventory?" The young man frowned. He didn't want to deal with an angry mob.

"I doubt it would come to that," stated Twilight, trying to get up from the bed. "I think she would firstly gather my other friends. Don't worry, I'll be able to convince them that this is a simple misunderstanding. Meanwhile we should make ourselves presentable." She sighed. "Rainbow sure knows how to ruin the mood … ."

o--(==========-

Rainbow Dash was flying with all the speed she could muster to the apple orchard on the outskirts of the Ponyville. Her friends very life was in danger and she was not known for letting her friends down.

Seeing the orange earth mare bucking one of the trees, she darted down, stopping her descent right before Applejack's muzzle.

"Monster-in-the-library-is-going-to-kill-Twilight! We-gotta-help, hurry!" She screamed out in a single word.

The mare before her sighed. "Now say that again, sugarcube, in Equestrian please."

Rainbow took a deep breath. "Twilight must've summoned some kind of a monster in the library and now it is going to kill her! I'm going to gather the others, hurry!" Without waiting for a response, she flied back to the city at a breakneck speed.

"Ah, horseapples!" Applejack cursed, taking off in the gallop to the giant tree prominent in the middle of a small town.

o--(==========-

"I think I hear the welcoming committee," said Val looking out of the window. Not far from the library five ponies were rushing in to storm the building.

"This is just a misunderstanding. I'm sure you will get along once I explain everything. They are nice ponies," said Twilight assuringly.

She was still weak after the burst of magic and swayed a bit when walking. Seeing this, Val carefully picked her up. While he believed that her friends were indeed 'good ponies', he prefered to be ready for anything, so he set his Spellsinger to paralyzation beforehand and took Twilight to the door. The first thing he saw when opening it was a familiar cyan pegasi coming right at him like a cannonball.

"Put her down right now!" Screamed Rainbow Dash, aiming for Val's head.

In one fluid motion the young man summoned his pistol and lined up a shot, then ducked below now unconscious, but still flying pegasus, putting Twilight down and covering her, just in case. The mare's body shot past them through the doorway, crashing in the bookshelves.

The orange earth pony with a hat was running at him, and a clear bucking intention on her face told Val that negotiations were not an option at this point. When the mare was near him, preparing to buck, he made a swipe at her hooves, using the advantage of longer legs, making her roll along the grass. He shot her with another paralyzation charge as she began to get up, taking her out of the fight.

Right after that he had to dodge a boulder aimed at where his head should have been. A furious white unicorn with deep blue mane was dismantling the road and hurdling the stones at him with magic. He had to fire several shots at her, since she was light on her hooves and shooting a moving target while dodging her assault was not easy.

He looked back at the remaining ponies. The pink earth mare didn't seem that eager to fight and the yellow pegasus was clearly afraid of him. She tried to hide behind her long pink mane, but then she frowned, and brushed the strand away, looking right into his eyes.

The world around Val disappeared.

o--(=====-( x x )

The memories of his life unfolded before him.

When he was fourteen he lied to his caretaker to sneak out and go to the movie.

"I am sorry."

When he was eighteen he counterfeited the documents and faked his age to join the military.

"I am sorry."

He covered up for his squadmates faults whenever they decided to break the regulations and have some fun in the barracks.

"I am sorry."

o--(=====( x x )-

He felt that something was wrong there, that something was watching them. They should not have separated. Had he voiced his suspicion, had he insisted that they should not separate, his squad would have still been alive. Their faces stared at him from the walls of Torturer's chamber.

"I am sorry."

They are already dead and do not need your apology. They no longer care. A simple apology is not enough.

...

[S___p _t __ it!]

o--(====( x x )=-

You shouldn't have done that.

He stared at the body in his arms. Several minutes ago it was a young demonslayer. He thought his will would be strong enough, he thought that Val would cover his back in case of trouble. Val was too late.

"I am sorry."

Your apology would not bring him back. It is not enough.

...

[W___ __e _l_ r ___ d___g?!]

o--(===( x x )==-

The plan required flawless teamwork. They all knew that and they all volunteered. Behind them was a city, covered in an unnatural snow. Before them were armies of undead lead by a demonic necromancer, and the necro-dragons soared in the sky above. Val held back. He hesitated using Folgora's power in fear that she may consume him. His hesitation cost them dearly. Now ten powerful demon-slayers were frozen solid in the Dragon's Graveyard.

"I am sorry."

They could have done so much more, save so much lives — yet they are here, because of you. Your apology not enough.

...

His hand started to move up.

[S__P! T_R_ A__Y F___ H_R!!!]

o--(==( x x )===-

She told him about her suspicions. She told him to turn away and head home, yet he didn't listen. He neglected the advice of the one who cared about him the most, and opened a doorway for demons into a clean world, putting his friends in grave danger. And then he disappeared without a trace.

"I am sorry."

You know she is blaming herself for what had happened to you? She will carry it for the rest of her life, and that wound will never heal, for she is a priestess. Your apology is not enough.

...

He switched the firing mode to fireblast, full power.

[NO!______E____D!]

o--(=( x x )====-

She was lying on the ground, curled up in a ball and crying from pain and terror. It was his fault. He could have stopped him, had he steeled his will and did what had to be done, yet he failed. He gave up before even trying. And he enjoyed it.

"I am sorry."

That will never be enough. You have done enough harm to those around you in your life.

o--(( x x )=====-

The barrel of the gun pressed hard against his forehead.

[_________]

I hope this would suffice.

Something moved in the corner of his eye, perception of the world slowly coming back to him.

Is that a cannon?

-===( x x )==)--o

A cake impacted Val's face with a loud splat, knocking him to the ground and clearing his mind from the influence he was under. A pony jumped on his chest, bouncing on it several times, proclaiming "I hit him! I hit him!".

In a single swipe of her tongue the pink mare licked the remainings of the pastry from his face. "Mmm, tasty!" she said, smacking her lips.

Still not feeling quite right, his head aching like hell, Val raised his gun to zap the bouncing pony.

[S___CH __E M__E!]

[What?] Ral's voice was nearly indiscernible over the noise in his ears.

[Switch the goddamn firing mode, or you will spill her brains all over the place!]

Val switched the spell back to paralyzation and fired straight at the mare's head, then stood up, shoving her limp body off himself.

[At two hours, slightly down, don’t look at her.]

Young man followed the instructions, disabling final and the most dangerous pony in the group. Twilight said that only unicorns were capable of magic, then what the hay was that? Even the mental attacks of the demons were weaker than this. A little bit more and he would have killed himself. Val shuddered at this thought.

He looked back at the doorway, where he left Twilight. With a blank expression, tears streaming down her cheeks, the mare stared into the distance.

Crap! She must've thought I've killed her friends!

Hurrying up to her side, Val kneeled down before her, taking her head in his arms. "Everything is alright. They are all alive, just paralyzed. It will wear off in about fifteen minutes." Life started to return to Twilight's eyes as she began to sob. "Did you really thought I would've killed your friends?"

"I have seen what this thing can do! I did not know what to think!" Twilight answered, trying to subdue her crying. "Do not you dare ever do something like this ever again!" She punched Val in the chest, as he tried to hug her, but then gave up and buried her head in his shoulder.

"Alright. Next time I will allow myself to be killed," said Val, stroking her mane lightly.

"I didn't mean it like that! We could have easily explained to them that you are not a monster. You should not have resorted to violence!" Still angry at him, Twilight punched again.

"Well, I'm quite sure that if I didn't paralyze them, I would have been dead at least three times over before you even began talking. That Rainbow mare alone could have taken my head clean off. By the way, I didn't intended it, but she crashed really hard. We should check on her," Val answered, looking into the library.

The pile of books under one of the bookshelves grunted and shifted, revealing a pegasus slowly crawling her way from under it. The spell was wearing off faster than Val expected, but it would take time for the mare to regain her fight capability. She stood up, swaying from side to side, and waved her hoof at him, mumbling something incoherent. That made her lose her balance and fall to the floor, where she continued to try and push herself up.

Val walked up to the mare and kneeled down. "Would you please stop trying to attack me? I am not an enemy, and as you can see your friend Twilight is unharmed."

The lavender unicorn already pulled herself together and was near him now. "He is speaking the truth."

Rainbow blinked looking at the weird monster before her and tried to say something, but her tongue was still limp, so it just fell from the side of her mouth, refusing to cooperate. The mare groaned in frustration.

Twilight giggled at the sight. "Do not worry, she took far worse crashes without any serious injury," she said, noticing Val's concerned look. "She had crashed into my library several times before. We better gather up the others and explain everything to them."

o--(==========-

After about fifteen minutes the effects of the spell wore off completely, and Twilight had her friends sitting on the pillows in the main room of the library. She introduced Val and told them the story of his arrival. She left out quite a few details though.

"Woah! A real alien from a different world! And you are some sort of a hero back there too? That's cool!" Recovered after the effects of paralyzation, Rainbow Dash was hovering in the air before Val. "Well, we are heroes too! I'm Rainbow Dash, the coolest one, and the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria!" She offered her hoof to Val.

"But not the most modest one, I see," Val said, after a hoofshake. "Also, honestly, I am not exactly a 'hero'. I am a demon-slayer. I kill monsters, and from what I gathered your kind generally does not consider any killing a 'heroic' deed."

Dash's hoof and facial expression froze still for a brief moment, while she composed herself. "Y-you only kill bad guys, right?" She asked nervously.

"Only the worst," Val assured her.

The yellow pegasus, that was sitting quietly before, perked up. "But there should be another way!" she said with firm resolve. "Any intelligent being can be reasoned with!"

[For someone who nearly drove you to suicide she sounds quite pacifistic.]

[Hypocrisy wasn't invented yesterday, after all.] Val tried hard not to meet the mare's eyes, and eventually decided not to look at her at all, just in case.

"Most demons aren't intelligent at all, and those who are use their intelligence for one purpose only. Demons are beings of destruction. It is the only thing they want, and the only thing they do."

[Oh, really?]

[Exceptions confirm the rule, Ral.]

[You know that is not true.]

[I can believe whatever I want.]

He heard loud gulp coming from Fluttershy — that's how Twilight called the mare. Suddenly two large blue eyes obstructed his vision. Somehow the pink earth pony with a puffy mane appeared on his shoulders, leaning over from behind of his head, so her face was upside down right before his.

"I'm Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet you, Mr. Alien! Since you're new to both Ponyville and Equestria, I absolutely definitely positively have to throw you both "Welcome to Ponyville" and "Welcome to Equestria" parties! Two parties are always better than one, but what should I do? I could throw you both parties at once and double the fun, or I could make them consequential and double the length! What do you think? What do you like? Do you like cupcakes? Pies? Cakes maybe?" The pink pony's unstoppable barrage of questions continued for some time before Val's ears began to ring again.

"I'll leave it all up to you." He interrupted Pinkie, reaching to his back to pick the pony from his shoulders and put her before himself. "I have no preferences in terms of parties, but can I ask you something?"

"Double the fun it is then! And you're already sort of did, silly!" The mare giggled. "What is it?"

"Where did you get that cannon you fired the cake from? I didn't see it when you were coming to the library." That was bothering the young man since the fateful shot that saved his life.

"Well, I store a spare party-cannons all over the Ponyville in case of party emergency! Well, actually I don't. My Pinkie-sense told me that if I won't bring it with me somepony is going to die, so duh, of course I brought it with me!" answered Pinkie with a smile, as if predicting the future was completely normal.

"Pinkie-sense?" Val began to doubt Twilight's statement that only unicorns could perform magic in this world. He turned to Twilight with a raised eyebrow.

"Pinkie somehow is able to predict outcomes of different situations, or feel when somepony breaks a 'pinkie-promise' based on reactions and twitches of her body. Don't question what Pinkie says or does, and don't try to make sense of it or find an explanation. That only leads to confusion and self-combustion." Twilight noticed that her last sentence made Val even more confused, and sighed. "Don't ask."

Meanwhile, the alabaster unicorn named Rarity took an interest in the pants that the young man was wearing. "Excuse me, darling, but I must say that I am quite intrigued by the material your garments are made of. I can not say that I have ever seen anything like this."

"It is an enchanted leather." Val expected her to back away, but the unicorn leaned in instead, touching the side of his jacked with a hoof.

"Hmm … ." Rarity mused, tracing the pattern on the jacket. "What animal was it made of? And what of its enchantment? It does look a bit like a zebrican, but it looks so much more sophisticated."

"The hide of a bullboar, enchanted to be unstainable and very hard to damage. Unfortunately, it can not withstand cross-dimensional tears." Val tugged the other side of the jacked to show her the long thin hole.

"Hold your horses, sugarcube. Ya mean to tell me that this thing was made out of a livin' critter?" Applejack was clearly taken aback by that revelation.

Fluttershy's reaction was different though. She had backed away, as if trying to hide behind the backs of her friends. Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes, and kept hovering behind Val's back, as if such things were usual here.

"Oh, do not be such a prude, dear." Rarity made a waving gesture with her hoof at the orange mare. "Griffons make quite a lot of their clothing out of their livestock. Living in the harsh mountains they learned to get absolutely everything from what they have. Since I feel obligated to know as much as I can about clothing and fashion, I have learned everything I could about their designs. And I must say, they have nothing close to this quality! This is so fascinating!"

The mare scratched her chin with a forehoof, over-thinking something. "Idea!" She suddenly sung with excitement. "How about you let me repair your clothing as an apology for hurtling those stones at you?"

"That is a generous offer, but you see, my kind does not have as much protection against environment as you ponies have, so we wear clothes all the time. The problem is, what I'm wearing now is everything I have, and I'm not comfortable walking around naked." As Val spoke, Rarity's smile grew wider, and at the end she was quivering with joy.

"Don't worry, darling! I have designed clothing for bipeds too, so I think I'll figure something out for you too wear." Noticing that young man was about to argue, she hurried to dismiss his doubts. "Don't think I'm doing this just for you, dear. I wanted to practice working with leather for quite some time now. Unfortunately the demand for it is nonexistent here, so this will be a great opportunity and pleasure for me."

"Ah can understand your obsession with fashion and all, but Ah think being eager to meddle with dead animal's skin is mighty creepy. Besides," Applejack stepped into the conversation, "Ah don't trust this fella. He's a predator, but thats not what bothers me. He’s a trained killer!" She turned to Twilight. "How can ya be sure he won't harm no pony?"

"He... promised?" Twilight looked at Val for the confirmation, but Pinkie had other ideas.

"Oh I know, I know!" Bounced the pink mare. "Make him Pinkie-promise!"

"If ya can hold him to it, sugarcube, that'll be fine by me," agreed Applejack.

"Nopony can break a Pinkie-promise without me knowing, silly filly. I thought you'd learn that by now!" Came the answer.

"Ah sure as hay did." Applejack ruffled the pink mane lovingly.

"This is the second time I’m hearing about this 'Pinkie-promise'. What is it?" Asked the young man.

"It's simple! You promise something, then you do this," Pinkie started to make a closing gesture with her hoof. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" She made some other gestures as she spoke, and Val felt a weird tingling sensation on his nape. His remaining hair stood still.

[Looks like a magic ritual to me.] Ral suddenly decided to speak up. [You should be very careful with the wording of your promise.]

[If that what it takes for them to accept me ... .]

"I promise not to harm anypony, unless they explicitly try to harm me." He performed the Pinkie's ritual, and that seemed to ease the tension around him. Applejack seemingly relaxed and the shy yellow pegasus peeked up from behind Rarity. Val quickly averted his gaze not to make an eye contact with her.

"Well, that settles it. Ah still think there's something' fishy about ya, Ah can feel it with my guts, but until ya break the promise, you have nothing to fear from mah side," Applejack assured him. "Ya haven't told us everything though, sugarcube. What the hay made Rainbow assume he is a monster?" The orange mare turned to the Rainbow Dash, awaiting the explanation.

"Well, I was doing my morning practice, when I heard screams coming from the library. The window in the bedroom was open so I rushed in and saw him," Rainbow Dash pointed her hoof in Val's direction, "looming over Twilight. She was screaming, what else was I supposed to think? I rushed in through the window and then — What?" She asked noticing her friends reaction.

Applejack's mouth began to hang open, as she processed the implications of the described situation. "Sugarcube, don't tell me that you — and him … ." Her voice trailed off as she pointed at Val. Twilight's face lit up with red, as she shrinked in with an embarrassed smile, confirming Applejack's suspicion.

Rarity placed her hoof to her mouth with a quiet 'oh my', blushing slightly. Fluttershy's wings were trembling slightly, as she tried to hide her burning face behind her mane. Pinkie, on the other hoof, smiled widely.

"Ah don't wanna sound judgemental, Twi, but — Really? Instead of a nice stallion, ya picked an alien predator? Ah can understand, ya always strived to be open-minded, but this — " Applejack pointed at Val "just feels wrong."

Val sighed. Such reaction was perfectly normal, after all. Did he really expected something else? He looked at Twilight, who tried to find an argument in her defense and opened her mouth to speak up, when somepony else took the initiative.

"I can perfectly understand Twilight!" Pinkie Pie declared loudly. "He is tasty!"

"Wait. What do you mean 'I am tasty'?" Val asked in surprise and confusion, but the pink pony just flashed her smile at him and winked. The fact that there was at least somepony else supporting him cheered him up, making him smile back at the mare. She saved his life, and now she also backed him up. He already liked her.

"Well, I don't see any problem, Applejack. If that what makes Twilight happy, then so be it. Besides there are not that many stallions available, and what is more important, worth looking at, in this town, so it is quite understandable that she decided to look for opportunities elsewhere, " stated Rarity, looking at the cowpony.

Val's smile grew wider. This went much better than he had expected. It looked like he had some allies here, and he hoped, future friends.

Applejack sighed, refusing to continue an awkward conversation.

"What are you all talking about?" asked Rainbow Dash, hovering above them.

"Don't worry, darling," said Rarity softly, realising how wonderfully oblivious her friend was about sexual matters, "I will explain everything to you, and maybe even show you, if you find time to visit me later." She always liked the brash pegasus, and found her attractive. She even tried to give her subtle hints from time to time, yet Rainbow always ignored them, and now Rarity knew why. She was perfectly innocent. Always trying so hard to be best at everything she does, Dash simply ignored things that were of less significance to her. Things like stallions, or mares for that matter. Anything that was 'mushy' or too 'girly,' as she would say herself. And that was magnificent. She had so much to learn, and Rarity was more than willing to teach.

"Hmm, okay." Rainbow Dash scratched her head. "Aliens are cool and all that, but if there is no emergency, I'd rather go catch up on flight practice. See you later!" With that, the cyan pegasus took off and flew through the open window, not noticing the look her alabaster friend was giving her.

"I don't mind him either," said quiet voice. Fluttershy decided to speak up, finally walking from behind Rarity, making Val flinch slightly. "If Twilight says he's nice, then he must be. Um, excuse me, but I have to go, my animal friends need me... if that's okay with you, I mean."

"It's perfectly fine, Fluttershy," Twilight assured her.

"I'm afraid, I have to depart too, darling! I have a set of clothes to make! Ta-ta!" The white unicorn decided to follow her friends example and take her leave.

"And I have a super-fantastic Welcome-to-Ponyville-and-Equestria double party! Oh, wait! Now it is Welcome-to-Ponyville-and-Equestria-Mr.-badass-alien plus Congratulations,-Twilight,-for-loosing-your-virginity party! That makes it a triple party! Thus is the best day ever!" Pinkie Pie started to bounce around.

"Pinkie! Losing my virginity is not something I would like to declare to other ponies, and certainly not something I'd like to celebrate." Twilight frowned, darkening Val's mood. He felt obliged to cheer her up, but could not think of anything right now.

"Aww, are you sure you don't want to celebrate?" Pinkie's mane looked like it lost a bit of its puffiness. Must've been the light, decided Val.

"Pretty sure." Twilight confirmed.

"Alright then, I'll be on my way. Be sure to visit Sugarcube Corner at eight!" Pinkie smiled, bouncing away.

"Shucks, why do Ah feel like Ah am a bad pony all of a sudden?" asked Applejack to nopony in particular. "Look, sugarcube, Ah don’t have anythin' personally against ya, but Ah don't think Twi did a well thought-through decision either," she said to Val. "And Celestia help me, should ya ever make her cry, ‘cause I'll have the whole Apple family coming after ya, got it?"

"I would never forgive myself either, if I do, so feel free to give me everything you've got." Val suddenly didn't feel obliged to be nice anymore. If that pony had a problem with him, that was her problem alone. For now.

When everypony left, he looked back at Twilight, who was still sitting at the table, deep in her thoughts.

"I don't think she likes me."

Twilight perked up and smiled at him. "Relax. She will come around. And now, I believe we have a party to look up to! You have to make your best impression! I'll give you a quick rundown on things you should … ."

[Why do I suddenly have a feeling that we are going to get an exam instead of a party?]

o---{>=L=O=A=D=I=N=G=-