Manehattan Rose

Chapters

Chapter One- Punnett Squares
Chapter Two- Daffodil Sandwiches
Chapter Three- Impressions
Chapter Four- The Tumbleweed
Chapter Five- More Trouble
Chapter Six- The Flower Shop
Chapter Seven- Seasons Greetings
Chapter Eight- Here We Go
Chapter Nine- Zecora's Hut

Chapter One- Punnett Squares

Manehattan Rose:

Chapter 1- Punnett Squares:

A few years had passed since that incomprehensible day in history had taken place. My world, along with the world of ponies, known as Equestria, had managed to collide by some freak accident that had occurred within the space-time continuum. Immense amounts of magic leaked coming from their world, linking with the unknown, and insubstantial portals leading to other worlds. They had managed to seal up most of the portals…except one. The portal that seemed to catch their interest was an awfully strange one indeed.

It contained odd yet curious beings known as humans, and Princess Celestia and her sister, Princess Luna, were greatly intrigued by this knew discovery. Some citizens all over Equestria it seemed had flocked over to the location to see the monumental and unintentional discovery nonetheless. She then decided to carry out a little test for her children of the land, metaphorically speaking. So soon after, some ponies then journeyed into this unknown world, honestly scared at first to be entering into such a strange new world.

However, this turned out to be not as frightening to the ponies as it seemed to their surprise. Eventually, both worlds after a long while even managed to get along incredibly well together, and soon after, even cultures began colliding as well. Our workplaces, religion, science, medicine, everything seemed to be greatly increased and changed in a very positive note, thanks to the minds of these incredible pastel colored equines. The only difference they had from us human beings was having a pony body.

Other than that, they were just like us intellectually, religiously, and within other fields as well.

After this occurred for a while however, Princess Celestia even decided that she would meet the leader of our country…the president in other words. After having a private conference and discussion with each other, they both decided that from then on out, they would share knowledge and resources between the two of their races. Technology was then shared between them, and the portal between their worlds could eventually be officially open, and kept open by the help of a Draconequus known as Discord. However he was told by Princess Celestia, along with the other princesses, that he could not enter the new world under any circumstances whatsoever.

So ever since then, earth had been in harmony with the adorable ponies, and their world. Their expertise in many things natural and organic helped immensely as well. The only things they still did not particularly care to use still were airplanes, helicopters, and firearms. They still preferred to keep to their old ways in successful air technology. Oh but they still rode within airplanes and so forth, but you would never catch a pony trying to learn flying an aircraft of some kind. They just didn’t seem to care since they had Pegasus power to help them out with that stuff.

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Two days ago, and ever since then, I had taken care of my apartment paperwork, along with having to move in my furniture and everything else, I was completely bushed for the rest of that night. I had managed to fall asleep onto the couch a little after midnight, with some of my boxes still unloaded after moving into the massive apartment complex that seemed to tower over one of the main streets of the vast city now known as Manehattan, which used to be Manhattan years before, as the Equestrian term just seemed to stick for many inhabitants. I had managed to transfer to another school within the city from where I originally attended, and had found out about a little over a third of the college’s students were pony. Even to more of my surprise, I had also discovered that a firm number of the college’s professors were ponies as well.

A well-known one, Professor Neigh, was an outstanding science teacher I had heard, though I still did not know what I wanted to do with my future just yet. One thing I did know I needed to do was to get a job, and a good one that could last me. It didn’t matter what job I just needed a job. Though due to Equestrian currency coming into play for certain things, I knew that keeping an apartment would be a lot cheaper now. Their were even banks now that could convert bits into cash, or cash into bit currency.

One bit was about one and a half cents roughly to ponies. Bits mostly went towards payments on buildings, since it was pieces of pure gold to human, as to us it was much easier to use than paying cash or check for keeping up apartment payments like me. It was more precious to humans, and was treasured among us. Cash was now mainly meant for daily or more common expenses, such as gas and groceries.

For bills on buildings or car payments, bits were used since humans considered them much more precious than cash. Though it was almost just as easy to earn bits, as it was for cash now in society, as the same went for ponies. They could still earn their wages just as easy and understandable as we humans did, and that’s simply was made life awesome now.

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Into the early hours just before eight o’ clock now, it was my time to shine. The college’s doors greeted me before I entered into this new and fresh academic world. I decided to make a good first impression on the school and dress nicely for a change. I wore a nice pair of blue jeans, with black work shoes that appeared as nice casual ones, a plum colored dress shirt, and a navy, almost black looking blazer. I felt freshened up with the feel of my new hair gel I had lightly applied to my hair as I combed it all back, still letting some light signs of fringe hang down over my forehead on the sides and front.

“Okay, room one-seventeen,” I thought to myself before taking in a breath thereafter, as I then opened the door revealing students already at their desks within the classroom. It was luckily not as big as I predicted it out to be.

It was my first class, a biology class, and the teacher appeared from the looks of it upon the blackboard, to have just begun a lesson regarding genetics and the punett squares I so fondly ‘enjoyed’. The teacher was a unicorn to my surprise, a stallion by the name of Dr. Maverick.

“Ah, you must be the new one I presume, yes?” he asked of me, as he approached me.

“Yes sir,” I replied.

“Wonderful!”

He then turned facing the entire class, gesturing a hoof over to me standing closely to the doorway.

“Ladies and gentleman, fillies and gentlecolts, we have a new student in our midst as you can see,” he said. “He made great scores on all his entry exams, perhaps some of you might learn from his examples…that’s your queue my boy,” He added, as I then took a couple of steps forward to the class feeling pretty nervous just then.

“Example this!” a wad of paper then came out of nowhere and tapped me on my head.

“Enough of that! Some of you are an embarrassment to the learning process!” Dr. Blackhoof then looked up towards me standing next to him.

“Well son go ahead, you may sit wherever you’d like.” He then gestured out to the classroom, as he made his way back beside the blackboard and waited patiently on me to find a seat before he resumed on his lesson.

“Psst, over here!” a voice was heard towards the back of the room, with the sight of what appeared to be a cream colored hoof waving in the air over at me.

“Uh…okay, yeah thanks,” I spoke up a bit.

I made it to an empty desk next to an earth pony with a rose as her cutie mark as I took my seat next to her desk. Her coat was a cream color, with a velvety red mane, and a light red streak running on one side of her mane, with another single one running along the middle of her tail. Her large light green eyes seemed to coincide perfectly with her color and her smile to say the least.

“I’m Roseluck, nice to meet you!” she said with full on positivity in her face as she smiled.

“Matthew…is what my name is, sorry,” I replied in a slightly shaky tone. I had not met many ponies, even since those three years had passed for what seemed to me like yesterday.

“It’s fine, no worries,” she giggled a bit.

The teacher carried on, and lectured the class to death with his boring, but yet amazing lessons and skills he applied to the populous within the classroom. I found the punnett square thing out of all the rest of the stuff to be the most boring thing he lectured on. When I decided to look over at Roseluck however, she seemed quite intrigued by his teachings.

“Do you have any idea what he’s talking about up there?” I whispered to her.

“Hm? Oh yes actually, because I run my own little flower shop just a few blocks away from here,” she whispers back to me.

This sparked my curiosity, as I knew I needed to get a job as quickly as I could. With her saying she ran the flower shop, it implied to me as if she was the manager, which meant I could earn bits in a much easier fashion than working for a human manager. This had to be my chance to then ask if she needed any workers for her little floral place.

“Wait, you’re saying you are the manager?”

“Yep.”

“Hmm…do you need any workers by chance? I really need a job to keep up with expenses. You see, I just moved here and I-” I was then interrupted by her suddenly having to shush me in a light manner, as she seemed focused on her studies at the moment while scribbling down notes.

“How about we talk about this stuff over lunch in the cafeteria okay?” she insisted, knowing lunchtime would be a hundred times easier than a quiet classroom enduring lectures and taking notes.

“Uh yeah, sounds good…my bad,” I whispered back, only to be shushed once again.

“Shh.”

“Sorry…”

Chapter Two- Daffodil Sandwiches

Manehattan Rose:

Chapter 2- Daffodil Sandwiches:

Lunchtime had arrived within the campus, and many students, human and pony alike were enjoying himself or herself within the large cafeteria. Roseluck had brought her own lunch however, and I had brought my own lunch as well, knowing I didn’t want to end up paying a ridiculous college lunch fee. Roseluck had found us a booth seat next to a large window we could look out of. She had brought two daffodil sandwiches, some raw veggies in a small plastic bag, and then a crisp, refreshing bottle of water.

As for me, my lunch was an odd one for a first day at the college. I had brought a slice of leftover pepperoni pizza, a cold turkey sandwich, some raw baby carrots, and a bottle of water for myself too.

“Now then, what was it you said about a job?” she asked, as she took a bite of her sandwich. It actually looked pretty appetizing from my view, but it had flowers for peeks sake. Was I really that curious to see what flowers with cheese and lettuces tasted like? Apparently so, due to the fact I stopped chewing my bite of pizza as I watched her eat it.

“Um, is everything okay?” Roseluck refrained from chewing any further, and stared back at me with those light green eyes of hers once again.

“Hm?” I answered quickly back to her, after slightly dazing off at the sandwich she had. “So…how does that daffodil sandwich taste exactly?” I ask her.

“Well…like daffodils, lettuce, and cheese of course silly,” she giggled.

“You know what I meant,” giving her a look of logic.

“What, you want to try a bite? Fine, suit yourself, but don’t complain if you don’t like flowers, because this is my favorite kind of sandwich after all,” she smiled, before tearing off a small portion of the sandwich for you to try. Making sure she got a part of a daffodil in it as she proceeded to do so just then.

I look at it within my hand curiously as it seems to stare back at me for several moments.

“You going to eat it or what?” she wondered, with part of her mouth still chewing her bite before adding a carrot in her mouth for a distinct ‘crunch’ noise to be made out.

I braced myself as I then took in the bite, and proceed to chew it up. I swallowed it just seconds later with a weird taste in my mouth. She saw the expression on my face, and it made her giggle.

“You didn’t like it did you?” trying to keep from laughing at me, knowing from the very start I wouldn’t have liked it.

“Confound you and your vegetarian diets,” I spoke to her, before drinking down the weird taste from the few daffodil petals I swallowed with my water.

“Yeah, confound our stupid diets. We are so inferior to you humans, knowing we take better care of our bodies unlike you humans,” she teased me.

“Hey!” I replied feeling embarrassed by her comment a little.

“I’m sorry if I seemed to have offended you or anything, it was uncalled for,” Roseluck added back to me as she put her hoof softly onto my hand, which made me blush at the feeling.

“Uh yeah, no big deal I understand. Our country is the most overweight country on earth, so no it’s totally called for!” I laughed, as we both then ended up sharing that laughter along with each other.

“Well you are nothing near overweight. You actually look nice for your height, you seem normal to me,” she replied.

“So now you said you needed a job, right?” Roseluck asked adding along with it.

“I’ve needed one ever since I moved in,” I replied.

“Oh, you moved in recently? Where at exactly?”

“I moved into a big apartment complex about half a mile or so from the college campus,” I said, after swallowing a bite of my amazing turkey sandwich. So simple, yet so juicy and delicious as far as poultry was concerned.

“Well it does so happen I need an extra helping hoof or two. Or well in your case a helping hand around my shop,” said Roseluck.

“You do? I’ll take it!”

“Good to hear! Now then, just so you know I am your manager. So even though we are friends here, you do what you are told at your workplace, okay? Don’t worry either, it’s pretty easy stuff I’d say, as far as watering flowers and keeping them in good shape is concerned. I mean, how hard can watering flowers be right?” she giggled a bit shrugging.

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After a seemingly endless day at school, Roseluck and me were relieved to hear that bell ring. Tons of bodies crammed the two double door entrances. To think there were that many students here attending?

Roseluck led off in front of me, as she was caught up in a different crowd when she broke it, as she was out in the open now to be seen by me from the top of the stairs to one of the entrance’s. I think I had some time to spare; it was only several more boxes to unpack anyways.

“Roseluck, wait up!” I called out to her; she assumed I was going my separate way so she could perhaps set up an interview by tomorrow at least.

“Oh, Matthew, I didn’t expect to see you follow me…stalker much?” she giggled.

“Don’t even go there, you know why I was wanting to catch up to you just then,” I replied.

“Yeah I know silly, hey listen though, I think I might have time to do a quick interview with you before I open up my shop again in a little while for this afternoon. It’s only three o’ clock, so we have some time I believe,” said Roseluck.

“Oh really? Wow, this is going to be so cool! I get to hang out with a pony!”

“What is that supposed to mean?” she wondered curiously.

“Well you could say I haven’t exactly been around ponies very much. Even after these three simple years have passed. I mean I’m in my freshman year for goodness sakes!”

“Oh my gosh, really? Me too!” Roseluck smiled big. “I’m a pro at gardening and anything flowery in general,” she adds.

“Do you have any idea as far as what you want to do in the future?” I asked.

“Me? Pfft, nah, not yet anyways. We are only freshman, so that means we get to be friends for another three years! You’re the first human friend I’ve ever had so far in this new world!”

Just as Roseluck said that to me smiling that adorable pony smile very few could resist, she brought her muzzle up to my hand, and nuzzled it. I had no idea how to react just then, so I simply just let it go, and acted like it was no big deal or anything.

“How old are you by the way? I never got to ask that,” she spoke up, as we were now getting close to her flower shop.

“Twenty-one,” I reply briefly, thinking she might be older, but since ponies seemed to have such excellent complexion, I would have never mustered the courage to guess her age.

“Oh wow…so how old do you think I am?”

She just had to ask that after I literally just now thought to myself I’d screw everything up about her day if I went over. I remained silent, trying to help buy me some time on the subject, but she then looked back up at me, wondering if I even heard her or not.

“Hello?” she wondered, poking my leg with her forehoof.

“Oh, what now?” I faked back to her.

“How old do you think I am? If you don’t want to answer that’s totally fine with me,” she quickly replied.

Thank goodness I didn’t have to see the last bit of sunlight just then, and that I might live another day.

“I don’t think it is proper to let a woman…or mare in your terms for someone to guess about her age, or how old she is if that person does not know,” I answered her.

“Oh? Well look at you, using proper etiquette and all. You know, that reminds me of a certain pony who was real proper herself back in Equestria? She was real pretty too if I must say so myself. She played the cello I believe, and she was really good at it too,” said Roseluck, just before she finally then brought out her store key, and turned the lock for the both of us to head inside.

The smell of incredible floral aromas seemed to have been wafting around within her store all day, as the aromas then leaked outside into the atmosphere just outside the store itself. It stuck around everywhere I went, and follow me as far back as her own office, behind the door that was behind the front desk a couple meters or so. Roseluck then sets her saddlebags down next to her desk, gesturing I have a seat in front of her.

“Okay now sir, how important does this job mean to you?” she doesn’t hesitate, and begins asking questions right away.

“Oh boy…you mean right now?”

“No, I’m just kidding,” Roseluck asked me, as she then scribbled a few places here and there on a sheet of paper before she went down to business.

“Phew, okay good cause I wasn’t-”

“Now tell me how important it is to you?”

“Ready,” I trailed off, realizing she was just warming up that question for me.

Chapter Three- Impressions

Manehattan Rose:

Chapter 3- Impressions:

I did it; I managed to actually land a job where I had to fend for myself financially. Not to mention, I even landed a job with an adorable pony as my manager. Are ponies as cuddly as people portray and claim them to be? Probably not, since they talk and act just like us humans, them being ponies is the only difference between us like I said before. I now remained in my apartment for the rest of that evening, thinking about how it would be to work for a pony for the first time?

I remained still and upright on the couch, flipping through the channels I managed to pick up with my TV antenna. Their was no way I could afford a cable bill with all of this school stuff going on too. The bills for electricity and water were all I could seem to handle at my new personal place of solitude at the current moment. Flipping through those repetitive news channels over the air was nothing but capital B boring.

I still wondered about how all of my friends were hanging in there within Kentucky, Tennessee, and even Georgia, now that I am currently living in Manehattan due to the school transfer. Living here was a good opportunity to get away from the same old stuff down where I previously lived, and I had faith in my instincts, that I knew I could pull this off. I wondered about family as well, wondering how they were managing themselves in Georgia and southeast Tennessee with ponies setting up residencies around them too. I went into one of my pants pockets, and pulled out Roseluck’s number that she gave me on a slip of paper, after she said I’d make a good employee in her eyes.

“What time is it?” I stretched, as I extended the stretching of my limbs to an extent to where I could see the clock hanging on the kitchen wall. It was eight o’clock now, and she did tell me to give her a call later on tonight for some reason, but why?

“Guess it shouldn’t be all that bad at this time of day,” I said to myself, as I made my way off of the couch, and into my bedroom to call the number. The phone rang a few times, making me wonder if she was even there for starters?

“H-hello?” a voice answered on the other line, sounding similar to Roseluck’s voice, which made me assume it had to be her.

“You asked me to call you,” I said.

“Oh yes, I did in fact, well I was actually wanting to ask you something,” Roseluck replied.

“Yes?” my mind now switching to an attentive mode.

“Well…you know how you’ve heard about ponies and humans in some parts of the country getting together and stuff right?”

Her saying this now made me feel a bit queasy now in my stomach.

“Er-yeah…why?”

I didn’t hear anything else for several short moments thereafter, which made me wonder if she felt okay.

“Roseluck, are you okay?”

“Wha- oh yes I’m fine, don’t worry about me,” she replied, sounding like she had something on her mind just then.

“You seemed to go silent there for a minute there, did something happen?”

“Hm? Oh no, nothing down here where I’m at,” she giggled a bit. “Nothing ever happens down here in this part of town,” she adds.

“Don’t we live on the same area or district of town though?”

“Would you like to go and eat with some of my sisters? They live here in Manehattan too,” Roseluck asked, making me wonder what she was up to now since she looked over my question.

“U-uh yeah sure, where did you have in mind?”

“Oh, there is this place that you will love downtown! It’s a southwestern bar and grill restaurant, me and my sisters love to go there,” she answered.

“I have a bit of a thing for southwestern food, so why not? I suppose it couldn’t hurt all that bad, so let’s do it,” I replied, as the silence then fell on her side of the phone for a few moments just then before she answered.

“You will? Oh thank you- thank you- thank you so much, you will love it down there! How about tomorrow night at seven?”

Roseluck speaking like this to me almost sounded like she was asking me out or something? I definitely knew better than to not consider it that way, and end up going along with her wishes on that. That is, if she was asking me out to begin with, which I’m sure she wasn’t right? I did know though, that in places across the country, there were human and pony relationships in a surprising amount even within this very city I now lived in. Not that I had any intention whatsoever of getting into one myself, I’d consider Roseluck a close friend, and that’s if it even gets that far on the friendship path.

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The school bell had rung once again this morning, signaling it was time for Roseluck’s second class and I for the day. Strangely enough, she swapped out her previous class, which was math, to my english class. Why did she like being around me so much? I didn’t want to think the unthinkable, as I didn’t have time for that. All I simply wanted to do, was to resume my freshman year learning on my basic classes, like math, science, english, etc.

Roseluck found her seat next to mine, and when a literary project had come up, she decided to partner up with me.

“Okay class, you all now have your partners, so please approach my desk, and pull a slip of paper from the box. That slip of paper will be what you and your partner have to research on,” our literature teacher stated.

After a few minutes, everyone now had a slip of paper, as we were all asked to open them together. I opened mine, as Roseluck’s eyes then lit up for what our project was.

“War and Peace?” she gasped before looking at me with a bit of a sarcastic smile, causing her expression to make me smile. “Never heard of it?” she trailed off, pondering over what the story was even about.

“It’s a book from Leo Tolstoy,” I replied. “I’ve never done anything on it myself either,” I laughed a bit.

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The day continued on, as the hours drew near to Roseluck’s little hang out plan with me would occur. The bell rang for one last time, as the flood of ponies and people once more stormed out of the exit like they were all still in high school or something.

“Hey, wait up Matthew!” I heard Roseluck say as she caught up to me making my way out of the building.

“I have a question,” I said to her.

“Yes?”

“Why did you swap out your second class to mine?”

“Because you’re a funny and cool guy to be around. You don’t have that typical sense of humor that most do,” she replied.

“So…you don’t like me or anything?”

She then looked at me, and acted like she was about to laugh in my face.

“Don’t be ridiculous! Did you seriously think I liked you or something? Oh no no no, that’s not the case for me. I just like being around you is all, and I think we could be good friends,” Roseluck smiled up at me. Smiles from a person were one thing, but for many pony just about, it would make someone’s heart melt with adorableness.

“Plus I wont lie, but I will say that you certainly look handsome for a friend,” she added with a wink.

I was not the biggest guy around, but I could hold my own with someone. I was only about five feet, and seven and a half inches, and weighed about a hundred and forty two pounds. In my high school years however within my senior year, I was one of the strongest within my weight class. I could squat three-fifteen, benchpress two hundred and five, and powerclean about one ninety-five. If only I went another year in my school with my weight training class, who knows what numbers I could have accomplished. Obviously ponies were not heavy, despite their size. Roseluck was about four feet tall when standing, which was normal for a pony. For stallions, they would stand a little taller than that, or even closer to five feet for larger and better-built ones, such as Big Macintosh for example.

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I felt like I would dress a little nice to make a good first impression for her sisters, should they even arrive. Though Roseluck still told me they would be there, I still wasn’t going to take any chances.

I freshen up, put on a nice pair of pants, and a white button up shirt, with a dressy looking gray vest. I rolled the shirts sleeves up to just under my elbows, letting some of me breath in case adrenaline kicked in a bit around a bunch of adorable ponies asking me questions and stuff. The phone then rang while I was situating myself before I head out the door to the place she told me about.

“Hello?”

“Hey Matthew, it’s me again!” Roseluck exclaimed, happy to hear me on the other line.

“Hey listen, one of my sisters won’t be able to make it. My other sister though, Lily, said she would still meet us both there. Well hey; I will be making my way down there right now okay? I’ll see you then!”

The phone then clicked off, as I decided to make my way down there. I closed my apartment door, locked it, and followed off by a distinct ‘click’ from the lock firmly in place where it should be. My mind, knowing how it was, decided to make a little game out of it, as I then tried to get there before she did. I quickly ran down the stairs, jumping about the last four or five steps on each row on my way down. I gave a wave to a pony taxi, knowing how rude humans were sometimes with taxis.

“Well hello sir, I don’t get very many humans on my taxi at all,” said the taxi driver pulling the cab.

“That’s good and all, but I need to get to this southwestern restaurant,” I said to him.

After telling him the place, the stallion then made his way back out into the pony taxi lane. Thank goodness for these new lanes they designated onto the roads, since it made getting around town for ponies much easier on them and even humans on occasion.

Chapter Four- The Tumbleweed

Manehattan Rose:

Chapter 4- The Tumbleweed:

As I waved goodbye, leaving a tip as well for the pony cab driver, I then noticed that the place Roseluck seemed to enjoy so much was but a mere block and a half away. Hopefully she was not there yet, but as I approached closer and closer to the restaurant, she was in view, and still hadn’t seen me yet. That was then the first time I had ever lost to a pony in my own little personal competition of who was faster.

“Darn, ponies one, humans zero,” I thought to myself, figuring I might as well reveal myself into view for her to see me. I was then a mere several meters away from her standing outside of the restaurant, when she finally turned the other way and noticed me. She gasped, as a smile then formed on her face.

“You’re here! This is going to be so great!” she exclaimed happily hugging me, as I had to kneel down to get to her level to receive the hug.

“What’s the name of this place?”

“It’s called the Tumbleweed, but the name doesn’t mean that it is an uncouth place for everyone, or everypony in my case, to simply enjoy themselves,” Roseluck answers.

“So it’s like a Logan’s Roadhouse, except the peanut shells everywhere on the floor and stuff are gone?”

“What is Logan’s Roadhouse?” she wondered.

“Oh, right…you aren’t fond of that stuff well enough yet,” I scratched my head looking off with my eyes to a different target than her face. “Well it was a popular western style restaurant that had amazing food, mainly for their steak dinners,” I added.

“Steak? We never had steak in Equestria, though I believe some of the griffons were more into that meat thing than we were. The closest thing we ponies ever ate to meat was probably eggs or something along those lines,” said Roseluck.

We carried on into our conversation with each other, until Roseluck froze and noticed her sister making her way across the street over to them.

“Yoo-hoo!” she waved. “Sorry I’m late though, I could have been better on my time, but the traffic is just terrible,” Lily adds, until she finally noticed that I was with Roseluck.

“Is this the guy you told me ab- oof!” I saw Lily get elbowed by her sister in the side for some reason, figuring that maybe it was just sisterly play stuff.

“So, shall we all head inside? I insist, as I then open the door for both of them to head in first.

“Never met a human like you, he’s got manners too Rosy,” Lily giggled, as she teasingly looked over to her sister, then back to me with a smile.

“Do you always have to embarrass me like this Lily?”

“No…but I get a kick out of messing with you sis,” she replied.

As the three of us approached where the hostess was, I was again surprised to see a pony being the one to seat us from the looks of it. Goodness, has this formerly dominated city by human been diminished down to the ponies being the majority by chance? They had certainly flooded a large portion of the northeastern region of the country. As well they were flourishing on the west coast, and even the southern states. Most of the ponies however seemed to enjoy urban areas with a touch of rural, which was how Ponyville was. Not all ponies preferred that, but it’s just what I knew about some of theirs tastes and such.

“Good evening y’all, how many of ya?” a cute sounding pony spoke up with a smile on her face.

“Three, counting two of the ponies below me,” I replied with a little smile creeping onto my face from that adorable face of hers.

“Oh, well I see then,” she said, as she panned further down on the waiting list, which from the looks of it would be a while before we were seated.

“How about this…a little incentive perhaps? These two ponies with me don’t deserve this,” I said, as I then snuck a five-dollar bill from my wallet, and conservatively slid it towards her. She then quickly covers it up with her hoof, and put it into one of her uniform pockets.

“Well then, looks like to me the wait will be just a few minutes from now,” she smiled back to me, as I noticed her scribble my party of three, counting me, close to the top of the waiting list.

As we all took a seat, all the little western accents and small lights that dimly lit its entire interior intrigued me. I saw what appeared to be an animated neon sign from what appeared to be a tumbleweed, what a surprise, judging by this restaurant’s name.

“So what do you think Matthew?” Roseluck asked me, as she seemed to keep deathly quiet until then. Her sister, Lily, was paying attention to some other pony that seemed to look familiar to her.

“This place does remind me of some of the cool places to eat where I lived previously,” I replied. “This resembles an awful lot like a steakhouse of sorts,” I added.

“Hopefully those steakhouses don’t eat us right?” Roseluck jokingly replied, as we both caught ourselves laughing along with each other at her comical remark.

“No I mean I’m serious though, you humans don’t eat us, right?”

I immediately straightened up, but still couldn’t believe she would ask such a thing to me though?

“You’re kidding right? You actually think we’d do such an insane thing like that? Oh heck no, when we eat meat, we eat cow, chicken, fish, pork, and even goat sometimes,” I replied, assuring her no ponies would ever be harmed in the cooking of any steakhouse anywhere to be found. I then seemed to not catch myself as I said that, when I placed a hand on top of her mane, stroking it back, and then pulling away after knowing what I just did. I just pet a pony for the first time, holy crap it felt so soft!

“Uh, what was that for?” she wondered, after placing a hoof on her mane wondering why I really did that.

“I’m sorry, I just wondered what a pony’s mane felt like is all,” I answered, feeling awkward with saying such a thing. Ponies seemed to be more naturally happy and friendly in general, since they had such great families and friends that were within their lives in Equestria. That country of theirs was ten times better than this country, we were still in shambles economically, and I knew for a fact we wouldn’t recover from it. We owed too much money to other countries to even bother anymore to be honest.

“Oh…well that’s okay then if that was all. I’ve actually never felt my mane be touched like that ever myself, so it was a first time for both of us I suppose. Good thing your hands weren’t like sandpaper or something,” she giggled back to me.

“Heh, yeah, I don’t have the smoothest hands, but I’m thankful they’re not sandpaper hands,” I added onto her good sense of humor.

Lily then butted in as we kept talking, and elbowed Rose to get her attention silently.

“Psst, hey Rose, does that guy look familiar to you over there?” Lily asked her.

When Roseluck was pointed over to a certain stallion in the corner, her eyes shot wide open, as she then immediately looked away.

“Y-yeah…oh gosh…I thought he was still living in Equestria, that jerk,” Roseluck said, looking off with a face of disdain about the stallion.

“Hey, what are you two mumbling about over here?” I wonder.

“See that stallion over there?” Lily points to me.

“Yeah? He’s got a hat over his face, like he’s taking a little power snooze or something?”

“Yeah, that’s one of Roseluck’s former jerk friends,” she said.

“Well then…do you think we need to get out of here then?” I asked Roseluck.

“No, it’s fine, as long as he does not get near me I’ll be fine,” the way she spoke sounded like she had some pretty bad stuff happen to her from that guy, but it wasn’t really my business to talk about it with her anyway.

The adorable hostess pony, having a bit of country twang in her accent then approaches us with a beaming smile.

“Right this way the three of y’all!”

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“Here are the three of you fine guests a menu, shall we start y’all off with something to drink?” The pony then brings out a pencil and paper.

“I’ll just have a water, no lemon,” I reply.

“I’ll have a water as well,” Roseluck added.

“Eh…okay yeah, a water for me too,” Lily spoke up.

“Sounds might fine to me! I’ll get’em right out to you fine folks here in just a second,” the earth pony with that adorable country accent then set off to get our drinks thereafter.

Silence fell between the three of us, as we seemed surprisingly focused on what we were going to be eating that evening. Even when the waitress gave us our drinks, we merely smiled and said a ‘thank you’ back to her, and that was it. I decided to then break the silence with a curious question, as it would continue to eat away at me until I finally found out what the answer was.

“So who was that pony exactly? What did he do to you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“He wanted to get inside of her let’s just say,” Lily replied in an awfully blunt way, making Rose feel pretty embarrassed now.

“Lily! Why did you…couldn’t you have said it a different way?” Rose said back to her a little frustrated.

“What? I’m sorry, it was the first thing that came to my head okay?” Lily then looked back towards me, but Roseluck herself then interrupted her sister.

“He used me, and he figured fluffing me up, or making me feel good all the time would mean I would be going all the way with him. At first, we were…friends with benefits you could say,” Roseluck said, as she was feeling too awkward to give me any eye contact of any kind.

“Hey, I’m listening to you here okay? It’s not like I’ll use this stuff against you or something?” I replied to her, letting her know I had her back.

“Yeah, thanks I suppose…but he was sort of a user too,” she added.

“Man, this guy was a jerk of a friend,” I said.

“You don’t say? After I told you a little bit ago he was a jerk friend, I figured the word jerk would have sealed it right there,” said Lily. Roseluck then snapped back at her sister for being rude from her view.

“Lily! He’s my friend here don’t be mean to him. He’s a sweet guy, and he’s my one and only well…human friend out there,” Roseluck stated firmly to her sister, causing Lily to back down as be laid back now.

“I’m sorry, I’ll be normal now…and normal is no fun,” Lily pouted, making me chuckle a bit at the expression on her face.

“What?” she looked back at me after chuckling at her for a moment then.

“I’m sorry, but I just have to say you ponies are really something I say, hah!”

“Well it’s not my fault Rose here wants me to be normal…normal is boring sis, come on now?”

“There’s definitely a difference between normal and being a little on the blunt side,” Rose replied straightforward to her sister.

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After we placed our orders as the waitress came back with our drinks, we placed our orders with her, which was now about a good fifteen minutes ago or so. A unicorn levitating the hot dishes then accompanied the waitress, so it wouldn’t burn the earth pony’s back or head when she was balancing them towards us.

“Okay now y’all, who had the tenderloin with mashed potatoes and green beans?” the earth pony waitress asked. All of the ponies at that table then immediately looked over to me, realizing I was the only meat eater between all five of us at that table.

“Of course it’s you good lookin, my mistake!” She giggled a bit, before placing the mouth-watering dish in front of me.

After the other two got theirs, she waitress then patiently waits next to me, asking me to cut open my steak, and check if it was just the way I wanted it to be.

“Yeah, it looks perfect? Medium well, just how I like it, thank you!” I smiled back to her, eagerly awaiting the succulent beef, along with the mashed potatoes made to perfection. The green beans along with it were steamed in an excellent fashion, just how I liked them.

“Well no need to thank me doll, it was our fine chefs we have in the back, who are human, so they obviously know way more about steak than we ponies do,” she giggled to me once more, making Roseluck wonder about her.

“Hope y’all enjoy your meals now! We also have karaoke in just a few minutes up on that stage over yonder, but you just let me know if y’all need anything…or anything else,” she added, looking back at me just before she makes her way back to the front of the restaurant.

“She’s one of those ponies,” said Rose.

“What do you mean by that?” I wonder.

“I’ve noticed some ponies seem to have a thing for humans. At the same time though I could see why, I mean they’re more flexible than we are, more useful, taller, faster in some cases, and other stuff too,” replied Rose, before she than takes a bit of her appetizing southwestern salad.

“Yeah, I also heard they were better in bed though rumor has it,” Lily laughed.

“Lily! He’s right here you know!”

I was beginning to feel pretty warm just as she said that, and I apparently ended up blushing like an idiot too.

“They can pleasure better, less animal like, which is a plus also. They’re also-” Lily was then interrupted by Rose.

“Lily, I’m telling you to stop this okay? Please can you do that for me?

“Of course I can Roseluck, I love you, but I mean he is in fact that same age as you, so he’s a big boy,” Lily replied.

Roseluck then silently looked over at me after what she said just then.

“Are you okay with stuff like this? I’m really sorry she’s beign like this. I guess it’s just because you’re the first human I’ve ever been friends with I guess,” said Rose looking off, and then elbowing her sister to shape up out of good faith for her.

“Actually, that is exactly the reason Rose…you’re right, I’ll stop now…sorry Matthew,” Lily smiled, as she now realized she was only making herself look bad in front of the both of us, and even her own self.

“Thank you Lily, that’s mature of you to do so,” I answer back to her, still managing to smile a bit back at her for some reason. I suppose it was just something in a pony’s nature that made me just felt happy inside. Just looking at them, how they acted, how they did things in different ways than we humans did, it has always seemed to interest me.

Chapter Five- More Trouble

Manehattan Rose:

Chapter 5- More Trouble:

Ever since yesterday evening at the restaurant, Roseluck and me had become pretty stable friends now judging by her apparent trust in me with things regarding a former friend to her, who was a big jerk. In addition to this, the school year was only in its fourth day of being underway, and I just so managed to arrive at the school a day late. I started catching glimpse of a pony though that seemed to look off at us, as her and me walked and talked our way to our literature class together.

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The school bell rings, signaling it was lunch now, and many though chose to eat at other places rather than cafeteria food. Roseluck preferred to bring her own lunch, as I did too. Roseluck then found us that same booth we sat at when we first started becoming friends, and she noticed yet another pony that seemed familiar to her start approaching me into the distance as I made my way over to her with my lunchbox tin.

“Hey dude, what’s going on?” I heard a voice call out to me, just a matter of feet behind me. It was a stallion, along with another male following him next to me on the other side of me.

“Um, nothing much, why?”

I knew something in my gut was telling me something was about to happen, but I didn’t know how my gut was as far as actions from ponies was concerned. I looked off to Roseluck just meters away from me now, and noticed she stopped chewing he remaining bite in her mouth, and knew something I didn’t. I then noticed her get up and make her way over to me, putting her sandwich down on the plastic bag beneath it.

“Whatcha eating in there? Wish I had some money to eat with, don’t you think that’s fair?”

The stallion then shoves the lunchbox around and out of my grip, causing it to fall to the floor.

“What the heck was that for you jerk!”

“Don’t you yell at me, human.” He shoved me once more, as his other buddy seemed to just stand there and let him do all of that.

“You going to just stand there and let him do this stuff to people?” I asked the bully’s buddy.

“I’m just a friend of his, but I think that he’s got this,” the other pony replied in a Brooklyn accent.

“Hey, lay off of him now! Or should I say, Bold Move?”

Roseluck then stands firmly next to me, knowing that me having a pony by my side, I wouldn’t get in trouble for tensions between both of our species at the school.

“Well now, if it isn’t little Rosy,” he chuckled in a fairly annoying tone.

“Wait…you two know each other?” I was shocked, first a friend of hers luckily not managing to notice us at the restaurant yesterday, but now this? Why was I being burdened with all of it?

“Yeah, I know this little whore here,” he answered.

“Shut the buck up you jerk! You said you wouldn’t do what you did to me that one time!” Roseluck exclaimed back to him trying to now hold back tears, causing the four of us to get the attention of several people and ponies around us looking.

“Whore,” he replied to her again, until him and his buddy then walked off laughing their way out of the cafeteria. She did nothing, and simply took it right then and there, and with nearly the whole lunchroom now watching her. I wasn’t the one to simply let someone get hurt or pretty much ripped to pieces like that, as I then called out to the jerk who hurt Rose.

“Hey you little four legged freak, turn your butt around right now!” I raised my voice out to him, causing him to flare his nostrils and glare back at me with anger.

“Ooh, so scared of a pony who couldn’t even get a business started…wow…what a pathetic little name for such a ‘enterprising’ pony,” I added.

“You son of a bitch!” Bold Move then ran up to me, talking me onto the floor, and hitting me hard into the side of my face. Luckily he was a unicorn, otherwise and earth pony’s natural strength capabilities would have decked me with that hit just then.

I then punched back as he stood over me, trying to land blow after blow, and kicked him up into the air with both of my legs. He then teleported, and got back onto the ground, as I quickly got myself back up ready for more.

“Matthew! Please stop!” Roseluck exclaimed next to me with tears almost starting to come down her face. She then grabbed hold of my hand, causing me to lose my focus in front of me, and look back down at her.

“Look out!” she pointed, as I then got decked again right square into my face.

“You humans still can’t find ways to fight better can you!” Bold Move laughed, as his horn then began to glow.

“I said stop you two! Right now!” she yelled out to us again, but neither one of us seemed to care less. I staggered up from another big hit to my face, now having a bloody nose and lip.

“What’s the matter blood bag? Too much for a human to handle?”

“N-no…but thanks for the warm-up,” I replied smiling with light amounts of blood between my teeth from my lip hitting hard into my teeth. I brought up a stance once more, as he then began acting like he was going to charge at me. I knew with that horn, it wouldn’t be pretty for me if it hit me.

“I said enough! Both of you!” Roseluck then stared back at Bold Move seething with anger. He knew she wasn’t pretty to deal with when she got angry; he knew that from experience in the past.

“Hmph…fine…let’s get out of here,” Bold Moves stated, as he made his way out of the cafeteria straightening himself out.

“Oh gosh are you okay Matthew? You look hurt?” Roseluck asked me in a delicate tone of her voice.

“He- ouch! He can land a punch in the face that’s for sure,” I chuckled under my breath, trying to clean myself up with napkins she got from the condiment counter in the cafeteria.

“I am so sorry; I swear I didn’t know he actually went here too. It’s okay, you’ll be fine now,” Roseluck then brought both of her forelegs around my neck, hugging me, then planting a soft kiss on my cheek. Though she was trying to help me out, I could still notice she was keeping her pain nestled within her own self too.

“Also, thank you for having the courage to stand up for me, no one else other than my sisters have done that for me,” she added with a smile of compassion for me.

“Y-yeah, I couldn’t just let him say something as terrible and brutish as that was, how dare he!” I raised my voice feeling a bit frustrated about why a sweet and caring pony as Roseluck would be dealing with such terrible partners, friendship or courtship.

“Well you’re a sweet guy, and I’m glad to have a friend like you…but I think we need to get you to the nurse to get you cleaned up. Cheap cafeteria napkins won’t fix you,” she giggled a bit before helping me on my way out. The students within the room seemed awfully intrigued as it occurred, since it was the first fight to take place between a pony and a human on school campus.

Chapter Six- The Flower Shop

Manehattan Rose:

Chapter 6- The Flower Shop:

In addition to the bruises I got on my face, luckily I didn’t receive a direct hit, which would have led to me getting a black eye. After school had let our for the day, Roseluck and me made our way over to her workplace, but again I encountered other unfortunate events. I slipped on a wet part of the concrete, and twisted my body partially, causing me to land on the side of my shoulder. I ended up hurting it bad on such a hard surface, and yet that wasn’t even it. I then slipped once more, but falling forward on our way over there, ending up in a scraped knee. For the last thing just a few blocks away, a cab driving by kicked up a pebble, hitting me right into my forehead, sending me into disarray for a few moments. I was bleeding on my forehead pretty good from the power it had been fired, and I was still lucky it didn’t do anything other than smacking me right on the Bullseye.

Roseluck turned the lock, as I noticed her leave the sign to “closed” when she led us both inside, closing the door behind her.

“Why aren’t you going to open today?” I asked her.

“I don’t open on Wednesdays,” she briefly replied, before gesturing me to head on back to her place behind the store. She had a built in house right into her store; so waking up to sweet aromas of flowers must have been neat to experience.

“Just lay down on the bed okay? I’ll get you fixed up, because those cheap little wraps aren’t worth anything now, look at how much they’re bleeding through?”

“I’m telling you, I’m capable of making my back to my apartment Rose,” I reply.

“That’s brave of you to do that, but it’s not in me to leave you looking hurt, I’m here to help you get better okay?” I then notice her grab something in her mouth, and set it next to me on the bed, as she hopped up onto the bed sitting down in front of me. It was a first aid kit, and when a pony feels motherly…I guess let them do their thing, why not after all? An adorable pony to heal you up, you can’t get any better than that, other than supernatural healing stuff right?

“Okay…now this might sting just a bit but-”

“Ouch! Ah!” I jerk a bit from the sudden sting of strong and yet very affective alcohol, as it was applied to my forehead wound. It almost looked like a bullet wound that simply broke the skin real well, and didn’t get to the bone, but that pebble hit me pretty good though.

“Shhh…it’s okay, I’m here for you,” Rose said in a motherly tone of her voice, wanting to just relax me the best she could. No doubt her voice was a relaxing one indeed, that soft small tone of a voice that only a pony could manage to pull of was like a little four-legged angel or something along the lines of that.

“U-uh…Rose- ah! Crap that stings again!”

“Shhh, I’m sorry, but it’s the best thing for it,” Roseluck continued showing me a soft smile, knowing she had everything under control.

After applying a few more things to my body, me being shirtless, and having excessive amounts of wrappings around all the affected places of my body for today, she then told me to remain where I was, and simply lay on my belly at the moment. I didn’t really know why she would ask of me to do such a thing, but I still obliged.

“Okay here we go, I have a little aromatherapy stuff for you too,” she said in a laidback tone, hopping back up next to me on the bed. She then steadily made her way beside my back, as she began putting this strangely nice feeling oil of some sort.

“W-what on earth do you think you are doing?” I ask her curiously.

“Well I mean if you don’t a little massage that’s fine, but I just felt like being a little nicer is all,” she smiled back to me, before she then began to rub her soft hooves across the areas of my back. I could feel knots in my upper back begin to detensify, as a delicate expression on her face kept showing back to me. I kept checking back up with her facial expression, and all she could merely do was give off a little giggle here and there, followed by delicate smile.

“H-how did you manage to do this so well?” I ask her, the sound of my voice letting her know her magic touches across my back seemed to be working.

“Oh, I used to work for a couple of gorgeous little spa ponies back in Ponyville where I lived. They were sisters, and they needed a couple of extra helping hooves for a season. So I managed to get a little seasonal job there, and I learned a surprisingly good amount of things relying on aromatherapy and such,” Roseluck stated.

“Wow this feels amazing! It’s almost better than human hands at times,” I smiled at her.

“Well I’m glad you think so, because ponies do have more keen senses in certain fields, so we know things about as far as bodies are concerned. We know when someone is hurting, we have a better sense of smell, and even our hearing is much better than a human’s is,” she replied.

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Every single time I felt her soft delicate touches with those naturally tense hooves coming from an earth pony, they just always seemed to hit in all the right places across the surface of my bare back. Every now and then, she even felt little knots being let loose across a few areas herself as well. If I wasn’t mistaken, this session seemed to go on for at least a good hour.

“Okay, I think I’ve done all I can…do,” she trailed off, noticing I had fallen asleep, still lying flat on my stomach.

“Ahem…Matthew? I’ve finished your back,” she said again, but no answer. After shaking me a couple of times, I still remained deep in my state of sleep. Rose herself then began finding herself to be a little tired here and there, and began yawning a few times.

“Oh come on Roseluck, we can’t just leave him here. He has a place of his own he can sleep at. What if…no it’s too risky, besides…what would happen if I…” Roseluck then looked back at me, before she left her room to get ready for bed herself. “Did do that?” she added onto her previous statement with curiosity.

Eventually she returned to her bedroom, her mane and her coat all freshened up and ready for bed, but still noticed I was lying there sleeping peacefully on her bed. My head was located just at the foot of a pillow, as she hopped up into the bed herself, lying next to me. She looked at my peaceful face, knowing that she was about to be sleeping with a human being, simply sleeping with him. Not to make it sound like something it wasn’t, because it certainly was nothing other than a human unfortunately falling asleep onto her bed. She didn’t feel like having to wake me up, so she went on ahead and let me get my rest, and chose not to disturb me any further that night.

It was three in the morning, and I had managed to wake up, and I had realized that I had totally forgotten about me falling asleep due to that heavenly massage I had received from her. I looked back at the clock, and indeed it was three o’clock sharp in the morning. Not wanting to believe what was happening, I went on ahead and checked to see if by chance Roseluck was asleep. She was, and she seemed to be awfully close to me, almost sleeping right next to me, with her body curled up in the shape of a crescent. I could barely make out her body slowly rising and falling from her breathing with the faint amounts of moonlight reaching into the room.

“Okay, yeah I think I better head on out,” I think to myself, but yet afraid to even move, wondering if I would cause her to wake up or something?

So I took my time trying to get up, and she felt the shift of my body weight while getting out of the bed, and putting my shirt back on.

“Hmmm?” she slowly mustered, waking her sleepy eyes to see what was happening in front of her.

“Oh I uh…I have to get back to my place, but thanks anyway though,” I replied back to her with a smile.

“Stayyy…pleeeease.” she trailed off, barely enough for me to make out from her tired voice at a distance from her bed. I felt bad leaving her if she didn’t want me to go, but at the same time she would understand still if I did leave anyways.

“Well…there’s always a first time for everything, but uh…eh why not,” I think to myself shrugging lightly, before deciding to lie back down next to her. As she felt my weight coming down onto the side of the bed next to her, she then brought herself up close and next to me with a faint smile being made out from her face. Her muzzle nestled over the middle of my chest, as her soft mane rested just under my chin along with that.

Before she eventually returned to her recent pony slumber, she said something that really made me think that night.

“You’re…my best friend,” she exhaled with a soft tranquil smile left on her face.

“Best friend?” I wondered. A freaking pony just called me her best friend, how on earth did she not have a best friend already despite just how nice and sweet ponies are most of the time anyways? It didn’t make any true sense to me, but again don’t question logic regarding ponies, as you will lose. Just simply accept it, and move on. Well, there’s actually a boundary on stuff like that, so scratch that. Overall though, falling asleep with a pony snuggled up to you, I couldn’t ask for any much more than that at that very moment. Who knew having a friend, as an adorable pony could be so neat and so interesting? I then thought to myself one last thing just before I closed my eyes to drift off to sleep next to her…friendship had never been so adorable.

Chapter Seven- Seasons Greetings

Manehattan Rose:

Chapter 7- Seasons Greetings:

Christmas eve had arrived within the world, and Hearth’s Warming Eve for the ponies, as they knew it. Roseluck’s flower shop had been closed up for weeks now due to winter rolling in, as it seemed like me and her meeting for the first time had went by in the blink of an eye. We met during summer, and now it had reached the holidays so fast it seemed! Rose and me had been best friends ever since we met that day early one morning, and I’ve never had a friend quite like her, nor as sweet and kind as she was.

We spent Halloween together, going to a party that happened at someone’s house just outside of town, quite a posh neighborhood too where it was. Next, during Thanksgiving, Rose didn’t want to eat the turkey that day, and simply dug into the macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and green beans that day when we both decided we would have it at my apartment. Her sisters were there, and they kept bothering her about me and other things. Lily and Daisy were really something I tell you, they were funny, while still knowing when to keep their jokes and teasing down to a suitable level when needed. Overall, Rose should have been thankful, for one that she was alive to begin with, never take life for granted…ever. At least she was thankful for having such cool and caring sisters, which all three of them together would call themselves the Flower Ponies when together like that.

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It was now Christmas Eve, and you would think all the way up here it would have been a good amount of snow. Well fortunately, we got slammed…sort of anyways. Unfortunately it did snow that night, when Roseluck was still over at my apartment. Her sisters still teased her about hanging out with me, and all of that jazz, like most sisters would do to the one who got more attention than they did.

So it now takes place at my apartment, up on the highest floor, despite my slight fear of heights. The snow was starting to come down even harder now, and only one thing had managed to ruin my day just then…the heat had quit working in my place. So now I had to use my little oscillating heater within the living room to heat it up now, as I sat there on the couch covered up in my blanket from the bed. Roseluck obviously was perfectly fine, as her fur could keep her warm flawlessly.

“This sucks…I want to just get warmed up in my bed now,” I said to her, as we kept watching TV together on the couch.

“Sorry to hear that, but to me I don’t feel a thing right now,” she replied with a smile.

“Because you have the magic of fur on your side that’s why,” I added. I still looked like a fat mummy with that huge bed cover wrapped around me, and I absolutely hated the cold. I am a warm weathered person, and that normal to me was between eighty and eighty-five degrees. I sometimes wondered what this current weather would be like in her world just then? Would it be more forgiving, or would it be even colder than this? I figured it would have had to be more forgiving, since I mean it was the magical land of Equestria for peeks sake. Come to think of it, they’re all ponies, so I suppose they just make it look so easy despite their tolerance to cold. Most of the time normally, you would see a scarf around their necks, but that was pretty much it.

After another few hours, it was getting late, as I noticed the clock had nearly reached midnight that night. I went on letting Roseluck know she was free to leave whenever, which she enjoyed hearing me say that, since she liked having me as her only human friend. I assumed she had left my apartment by now, since I told her she could leave whenever, which I though would have happened at least by the time I got out of the shower…that was not the case. I dried everything, and myself off after putting on a pair of boxers to sleep in, and a thin white sleep shirt. I made my way into the bedroom then stopping myself in my tracks.

I noticed Rose was lying down in my bed, her back facing towards me. A board creaked under my feet, making one of her ears twitch attentively on her ear in actually quite a cute fashion. She then raised her head up and looked back at me with a smile.

“Can I stay here for the night Matthew?”

“No Rose, you need to go home,” I replied.

“Besides, it’s not like you’re going to freeze to death out there when you make your way back,” I added once more.

“I know, but it’s just far away for me,” she pouted.

“It’s only like a mile away, how hard is that?”

“Oh it’s challenging let me tell you!”

“Rose…” I trailed off, not wanting to hurt her feelings of telling her she needed to go back home. So I figured maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have her sleep over for just this one night.

“Okay fine…you can spend the night here,” I exhaled.

“Oh thank you so much, I knew you’d let me! I promise I’ll be good,” She smiled once more with a squee expression on her face.

That smile she did almost never failed to me, as I found it irresistible except on only two or three other accounts. No doubt pony smiles seemed to reign supreme when it comes to putting a smile on someone else’s face, and making their day just a little better, even when things are looking to be in a pickle at times.

I got myself into my bed; I brought the thick bed cover over me. Rose decided to then commence snuggling up to me from behind, as she brought a foreleg over my body, partially wrapping herself around me. I heard her giggle a little bit, as I felt the fur from her face tickle my shoulder a bit, nuzzling up against it. Her mane brushing up against my bare skin made me just want to turn around and give her nothing but hugs all day if I could.

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I figured I would bring her over to me closer, as I let one half of her body lay up against mine, bringing around one of my arms to bring her in close to my torso. Rose’s hoof lying over the top of my chest made it feel awkward, but she wasn’t wrong minded like that, and neither was I.

“Um…Matthew?”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“If this is making you feel weird, I perfectly understand. Because I might feel the same way as you do,” said Roseluck.

I then looked over to her, my eyes now fixed with hers perfectly. Those delicate gorgeous green eyes that I could find calmness and peace within.

“Well I certainly know that you are a bright mare Rose, and actually to be honest, I do feel kind of awkward at the moment. However, it actually feels kind of nice, since you have a soft and innocent nature to begin with,” I replied.

“Thank goodness I wasn’t the only one feeling that way,” she answered back to me, giggling a bit. She then got a bit closer to the side of my face, and leaned over a pinch to place a light kiss on my cheek.

“You’re an awesome friend, and I appreciate you standing up for me and stuff,” Rose added.

I ended up freezing from the feeling of actually getting kissed by a pony? Not in an immature or uncouth way, but just out of being sweet natured from her. Roseluck seemed to just have love and appreciation radiate out from her. She looked back at me blinking once and smiled a bit, assuming I didn’t feel normal at all when that happened.

“I’m sorry Matthew…but you’re just a sweet guy and stuff. You are honestly one of the best friends I’ve ever had, and probably the best human friend I’ll ever have,” said Rose, as she then laid her head down across my chest looking up at me from the side of her face.

“Y-yeah…I didn’t honestly think that would ever happen from you,” I replied, still not bothering to look over at her.

“It’s okay, I know what you mean. Getting kissed by a pony, even as simple or petty as that was is certainly no everyday thing I’d say is it?”

“It isn’t…except the ones out there who are in those human and pony relationships I’ve seen around here every now and then,” I said.

“Right…I can’t see myself with a human to be honest. Though the thought about something like that has crossed my mind many times however?”

When I heard her say that, I hoped that what I thought when we first met, and how she acted in and around me wasn’t true after all. One thing I knew about human and pony relationships, was that for one, it was impossible to start a family of their own if they…you know. Because since they were two separate species, the reproductive compatibilities would not coincided with one another, thus they could have no children together. Having intercourse with a pony would make someone known as a pansexual, or having a sexual attraction to ponies. I never had that desire, and never shall; yet I never seemed to muster the courage to tell Roseluck.

Question was about her I had, was that did she have any kind of attraction to humans at all? Or was it just out of simply being good friends? I absolutely loved having a pony as my best friend; it was just about the best thing that could ever happen to a guy like me.

“Matthew?”

“Yeah?” I look back over.

“Um…can I ask you something?” Roseluck asked me, sounding quieter than before.

“U-uh yeah sure,” I replied sounding straightforward to her. But really my mind was now curious as to what she could possibly be asking me at such a late hour now?

“Well uh…how would you…like to visit Equestria? I mean I’ve been living in your world for a long time now, and I was going to see how neat it would be for you to live in my world for a while why not?

My eyes then shot wide open to her, not believing what I was hearing? Despite many human attempts to go into Equestria, Princess Celestia wouldn’t allow a huge number of human inhabitants into their world. Across the entire land of Equestria, the princess would conduct an annual assimilation to those who wished to stay in Equestria for good. Meaning this, it meant that the humans who had lived in the world for a period of over a year exactly, they would have the chance to whether or not go back to their world, or undergo a dramatic transformation into the form of a pony.

The decision or choice was a lot tougher than most portrayed it out to be for humans. Most humans figured being a pony would be the coolest thing to ever live as. For starters, if they chose to be a pony, they would have to learn whatever attributes and additions to being a pony would be…right from scratch. Trying to fly and use magic would be the hardest things you could do, and the simplest would be learning to walk on all fours, though it was still not easy for humans walking on two legs their entire lives.

“Um, hello?” Roseluck waved her hoof that lay across my chest, in front of my face.

“Oh- er…yes?” I snapped back into reality after thinking about such an interesting and inconceivable moment it would be to actually become an actual living pony.

“Sooo what do you think of that idea? Pretty neat don’t you think? I think so, because then I can know what it would be like to-…never mind,” Roseluck smiled awkwardly, as she then looked off and away from me.

As the night continued onward, the clock had finally reached a minute passed midnight, and Roseluck was just barely awake before I was about to fall asleep myself.

“Merry Christmas Rose,” I trailed off with softness in my voice, and my eyes feeling very heavy and content.

“Same to you too,” she softly nuzzled the side of her face across my chest with her eye still closed. The side of her face tickled me a little bit once again before I eventually fell asleep mere minutes later cuddled up to her.

Chapter Eight- Here We Go

Manehattan Rose:

Chapter 8- Here We Go:

So from Roseluck’s plan, she wanted me and her to go to Equestria for about a week or two, since it was winter break and during the holidays, which was perfect timing. We had finally arrived at the location of where the portal was, which she knew exactly where it was, since she arrived into my world from it in the first place. When I saw it, the site was really something, though obviously I wasn’t the only one wanting to go in.

“There’s a line to Equestria? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“Well duh, it’s an incredibly beautiful and mesmerizing world to be a part of, and you could even live there if you wanted. You would just have to be awfully prepared to take such a leap of faith if you were not ready though. Princess Celestia has a way of assimilating ones appearance, to where their body takes the shape of a pony and everything. However, that only happens after the humans are in Equestria for about a year or so if they decide to become an official resident of Equestria. If she finds that they can contribute to the land, then they can stay, but only if they become a pony,” Roseluck stated back to me, looking ahead along with me at the daunting line I had to wait in. It seemed daunting, though it was literally only like four people, though it seemed to take them forever.

After waiting for over an hour, my time had come and I was about to set foot into what seemed like the coolest world out there. So happy and so innocent of a world, how could it even be possible?

“I need your identification sir,” a security guard asked of me, before I then handed him my driver’s license. He took a look at it before what appeared to be him typing my name and my information down into a computer, which I assumed their might be a database to help contain the flow of people and ponies coming in and out of the portal.

“Okay sir, no loose objects, and be careful going in. You will feel an awful lot of tug on your body, but if you keep calm about it, your body and yourself in general will be fine.”

The security guard, along with two armed guards then stood to the side, allowing me access to the portal.

“You sure about this Roseluck? I don’t think I’m ready for this just yet?” I asked her with worry and concern for my own safety about this procedure.

“I promise you won’t get hurt okay? It’s just a lot of tugging going through these things. The same thing happened even to me when I first arrived through this thing just a couple of years ago.”

Rose then stood next to me, and began gently nudging me closer and closer to the glowing gateway between our worlds.
“Oh goodness…um…Rose?”

“Think fast!” she then pushed me with all of her strength, as she ended up going in along with me.

“Waaaaaaahhh!!!!” I grabbed a hold of her head just before I went into the portal, causing her to be dragged in along with me.

After traveling through what felt like my body being a rubber band being stretched, everything then went black for me after about several seconds.

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“Hello? Matthew are you okay?” a muffled voice was saying to me, clearing up with the passing seconds.

“Please wake up, you’re starting to worry me here.” that familiar voice said once more, before finally my eyes seemed to flutter a bit eventually opening up slowly.

“Uhhh…my head…” I trailed off moaning a bit, grabbing a hold of my head, and still feeling the tug on my body a little bit.

“Thank Celestia you’re okay!” Roseluck then hugged me around my neck, as I found myself sitting on a patch of soft lush grass eye level with her.

“Uh yeah, having a bit of a headache, but I’m doing fine I suppose,” I replied, still trying to regain my composure of where I was, and what I was currently doing. When my mind had been cleared up, and my vision the same, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing before my very eyes. It was the magical land of Equestria, a truly indescribable moment for someone like me or any human for that matter. I was actually here...I was really freaking here! I couldn’t believe my mind, I felt like I was going to lose my sanity due to my mind feeling so awestruck and speechless at all the sights before me.

I steadily rose myself up, managing to finally look over these adorable little pastel colored equines once again. I noticed several ponies from every direction seemed to stop and look at me for a moment, but after a few moments of observing me, along with Roseluck, they seemed to just carry on with their day. I guess they were pretty used to humans being in their world now, visiting them on a daily basis. The flaw with the portal when it comes to humans from their world traveling to their world was that it would be random. Another words, their may be a single way in and out, but when a human went within the world and landed in it, they could be transported literally anywhere in Equestria. It was one of the flaws or “bugs” of the portal, though many blamed Discord, since it managed to be kept open by him in the first place.

Luckily, I managed to wind up just outside a train station in Ponyville, thank goodness we didn’t wind up anywhere else, because we both barely had any money, and Roseluck forgot to bring some bits with her for my visit to her world so I could get back when it was time for me and her to leave. Her sisters, Lily and Daisy, were thankfully not with us. Though I was wondering why she didn’t tell them about this before we left? They would probably get pretty worried if they hadn’t heard from her in these two weeks we would both be spending in Equestria at her house in just inside of this cozy little town called Ponyville.

Before I could say anything, I looked back behind me, and noticed that the portal closed up with a small flash of light as it got smaller and smaller, before finally disappearing into thin air.

“How the heck do I get back!” I began freaking out and worrying like crazy now.

“It’s okay Matthew, calm down! The original portal location is still in the royal castle in Canterlot, located close to the throne room where the princess is,” Roseluck assured me. Perhaps I did get a little carried away just then? After all, she knows this place like the back of her hand…or hoof in this case. So I think I should be able to get back home whenever I want. Thank goodness I took care of any expenses before I left, and went on ahead to pay the rent on my apartment a month ahead of time before I left there just in case.

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After traversing through the quaint little town, I finally arrived at Rose’s part home, part flower shop house, which was definitely something to call unique in my eyes. I had never seen anything quite like it, probably never will, and her house smelled so incredible. It was filled with fragrances I had never smelled in my life. The aromas from flowers that didn’t exist back in my world filled the air in a sweet scent of incredible satisfaction unlike I had ever experienced before just over something as petty as flowers were concerned.

“So…what do you think? Pretty nice place I have here right?” Roseluck smiled at me.

“Yeah, sure! I’m not complaining at all, If just this house seems so amazing, I could only wonder what it would be like living in your world for the next couple of weeks if that’s okay with you?”

“Of course it is! I actually wanted you to live with m- I mean uh…I actually think that would be nice for you to visit with me here in Equestria,” said Rose, before turning away blushing a pinch.

She then took a few steps closer, and then looking up at me standing in front of me from her stairs that led up to her second floor, where her along with her sisters lived within. I looked back at her slowly starting to wonder why she kept looking at me with a smile on her face.

“Roseluck, you feeling okay there?” I wondered, laughing off what I said a bit to hopefully lighten the matter.

“Of course I’m fine, it’s just so cool to finally have you here with me! You’ll like it here so much I just know it! However…I do know of a way you could perhaps experience this the pony way for a just little while if you would like to?” her eyebrow then raised back towards me, as she started giggling a little bit.

Her giggling seemed adorable no doubt, but she as well seemed like she was up to something when she said that is what I was curious about? If only I could read her mind, and find out what she was really thinking of me just then…she seemed so mixed to me, and even unpredictable at times.

“Well uh…so what do you mean by that?” my eyes then widened up a bit, assuming the crazy thoughts in my head.

“There’s a potion for that…isn’t there?”

“Mhmm,” she nodded smiling a bit. “Her name is Zecora, and she visits my shop every now and then for herbs and other ingredients she mixes with her little alchemy experiments and stuff. I’ve only been to her place once, and she seemed to have literally any kind of potion for anything you could imagine,” Roseluck added.

This really sparked my interest now; perhaps I might have a chance to know what it was like to become a pony for the first time in my life? I certainly wouldn’t want to be that way forever, because I had a world of my own to get back to. But no way could I pass up an opportunity or chance quite amazing and awesome as this seemed to me.

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After a good long walk, and me apparently having to keep Roseluck at ease over a merely overgrown forest. I just didn’t see what the big deal was about when we went through it? She said that it grows on its own, and it has always felt “alive” for as long as Equestria folklore could recall about it.

“Big deal, plants grow on their own, what is so bad about that?” I shrugged, shortly before we were supposed to arrive at Zecora’s hut.

“No, you don’t understand, the animals feed themselves…the plants…they grow without any proper care. This forest just isn’t natural,” she replied back to me, as I noticed her walking next to me scanning all around her body and beyond like crazy. Making sure there wouldn’t be any vines that would come alive and grab her or whatever it was, I had no idea to be honest?

“Okay, here we are, we’ve arrived at our destination!”

“Thank you for flying with American Airlines,” I replied jokingly back to her.

“Hey, come on now, I’m trying to be at least a little bit mature here before I see her. I haven’t seen her in months, so I am a little bit nervous.”

“Please be sure and check your seatbelts and luggage before you depart…thank you,” I added in before laughing a little bit out loud.

“Stop it! Ponies hate flying anyways,” she looked away, but fighting to hide a smile from my humor.

“Except Pegasi, they love it from what I’ve seen, and they fly all their own…but anyways, am I going to be experimented on or whatever?"

“No, if I know her, she might have a little something for a little someone.” Roseluck then nudges me before passing me up to the hut’s front door.

“Okay then…whoever or whatever lives there…hope I don’t die in a forest like in some horror movies I’ve seen,” I gulped, totally unknown to what was within that tribal looking hut of a house.

“Oh…and Zecora is a zebra by the way, so yeah,” Rose added to me standing next to her, before she then finally gave the door a firm knock three times.

“A zebra? In Equestria? What!?”

“Yep, she’s a zebra!” Rose smiled to me again, letting me know everything would be fine.

“Oh…well then…guess that explains the African looking masks out side of her place I suppose,” I mumbled to myself.

Chapter Nine- Zecora's Hut

Manehatten Rose:

Chapter 9- Zecora’s Hut:

Roseluck and me now stood just outside of the exotic and tribal looking hut, until Rose went ahead and knocked on the door.

“W-what?! I’m not ready to meet her just uh- yet!”

“Shhh…she’s coming,” she replied softly to me.

The door creaked open to the sight of what appeared to be a zebra from the looks of it. All I could see was her head out from behind her front door.

“Hmm, a familiar face of one I have seen…oh Roseluck, how long has it been?”

She seemed to rhyme like a professional too, it just sounded so natural when she rhymed. It was like it just rolled right off her tongue or something?

“Zecora, it’s so nice to see you after all of this time!” Roseluck greeted Zecora with a short hug, before breaking it up.

“Yes of course come in please.” Zecora then looked over to me, and realized I was a human.

“Please come in if you would like too, for I might be able to assist the both of you,” Zecora added before letting me walk into her home.

All of the incredible things and ornaments I saw were something I would see in a tribal village or something. Incense was being lightly singed, as it filled the air with its delicate and pleasing aroma. Zecora was also however looking like she was working on quite an interesting brewery of sorts, as far as potions were concerned.

“Zecora, well um, I am so sorry to just go on ahead and simply ask you if you had anything for something on such short notice. After all you did invite the both of us in…by the way this is a good friend of mine, his name is Matthew,” said Roseluck happily.

“Hello Zecora, it’s nice to meet you, have you met any other humans yourself?”

“I have indeed yes, but most of the time I prefer it much less,” Zecora replied, implying she seemed to be bothered by some humans a while ago or something.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, did anything bad happen?” I ask her.

“They did not bother me, nor my tree, but at one time they would not leave me be,” she replied once more, rhyming like a pro as she seemed to pull of so naturally.

“Well Miss Zecora, um…I was wondering if you had anything or any concoctions of any kind for a human perhaps? Liiiike…maybe temporary transformation or something?” Roseluck wondered.

“Hmm, yes of course, I might have what you need. However I need a pony for this to bleed.”

With Zecora saying this to her, Rose seemed a bit frightened and worried about what she said, but started to relax, only to realize she just needed a prick from her.

Zecora arrived out from her storage with the ingredients to make some strange miracle happen. She also pulled out a little tiny needle, and made her way over to Roseluck, leading her over her brewing cauldron.

“Stand strong for me, for this might sting. After these few drops however, good it shall bring.”

“How do you rhyme so well with what you say everytime? Sorry…I just had to ask that,” I blurted out by accident, causing Zecora to look at me just before she got what she needed.

“Sorry…go on with whatever it was you were doing with her.” I then looked over to Roseluck, seeing a look of pain on her face.

“Roseluck are you okay? Do you want her to stop?”

“No…no I want this to happen,” she replied, before finally it was finished. Zecora had managed to get the few drops of pony blood she needed, before letting it go into the cauldron, and adding a few more ingredients.

“Mixing these ingredients takes a time or two, so once it is finished I shall call on both of you,” Said Zecora.

A few minutes since she had said that we needed to give her space and time to focus on making whatever it was she had plans for. Rose and me simply lied around within her living room, talking and making games about all the neat stuff she had around her hut as we waited. One game we did was out of all the silly designs and masks we saw, we would try and copy the expressions they had, which made us almost on the verge of tearing up when it came to the last few faces.

I was so glad to be friends with a pony for a change in my life, it was utterly awesome to be honest, and hopefully my friends or family wouldn’t have any problem with it either.

Zecora asked for us to give her a few minutes, but from the looks of it she had never done a single brew or thing for humans. She made her way out from her alchemy room, and caught us both still cutting up and fooling around like the best buddies we were.

“Ahem, I will need to speak to you…the one who calls himself Matthew.”

Rose and me went silent after she said that, as I straightened myself up, making my way back to her alchemy room.

“Yes, is there something you need to take from me as well? By the way, how is the pony potion coming along, hm?”

Zecora merely gave a slight roll of her eyes, and went straight to the chase.

“The way of your kind being like ours, takes a whole lot more than mere minutes or hours. I cannot make it happen, for I have never done this. To a certain pony princess however, I know that research is bliss,” she replied.

“Oh…” I stared off to another direction feeling disappointed in the fact it couldn’t happen. However, she gave me directions back to Ponyville to a certain Alicorn princess who allegedly lived there, and not in a big castle like she would normally perhaps. After she explained everything to me, I made my way out of there, as I then gestured for Roseluck to follow me back out and through the Everfree Forest.

“So how did it go, huh? Did you get it? Did she make it?”

I could tell Roseluck would be thrilled to hear good news about it, but that good news would not come for now.

“No Rose, she wasn’t able to pull it off. She said that she had never made a certain type of thing like that, despite the alchemic pro she was I’m sure,” I replied.

“Well…at least we made funny faces of where she lived!” Rose laughed out loud.

“You can say that again!” I laughed along with her, as I then made a couple of quick funny expressions from the masks on our way out of there.

We made our way out of that “unnatural” forest, and on our way back into town. I explained to Rose that we needed to find an alicorn princess by the name of Twilight Sparkle that apparently lived in Ponyville.

“So you’re saying that Princess Twilight can help us with this?”

“Well it’s worth a shot, Zecora said she loved doing research on stuff, so this should definitely make her brain work extra hard this time. Zecora said she was into books and reading, and so forth a whole lot, so it seems promising to me,” I stated back to her, looking back down at the map that Zecora drew out for me to locate a giant tree in the middle of town… a tough place to find I guess for a human anyways, cause I sure as heck couldn’t find it immediately.