The Totally Tubular and Tremendously Tenacious and Turbulent Transplanted Teen

by Sparkle Fire

Chapters

Prologue pt 1
Prologue pt 2
Chapter 1: Summer of '88
Chapter 2: It's My First Day of School
Chapter 3: Cherry Berry Time
Chapter 5: The Very Thought of You [part 1]
Chapter 5: The Very Thought of You [part 2]
Chapter 6: Figure It Out
Chapter 7: Enter Diamond Rose
Chapter 8: Best Time of the Year [part 1]
Chapter 8: Best Time of the Year [part 2]
Chapter 9: Snowed In
Chapter 10: A Winter Wonderland of Womanly Whims
Chapter 4: Popping the Question (Two or Three Times)

Prologue pt 1

Ryder’s Journal
April 24, 1987

I’m somewhere on the M5,
but I can’t recall exactly where.

It’s warm outside,
the sky is completely
bare of clouds,
and it’s a Friday morning
in late April.

Today, I start a brand new
chapter in my life.

Today, I emigrate
to Equestria!

I’ll finally get the chance
to make something
of myself,
to take advantage of
the economic and educational
opportunities before me
once I arrive there.

I am traveling with my
two older brothers
in a white Ford truck
with the windows down.

Behind us,
my sister Kimberly
and three more brothers
follow in an SUV.

I once lived up north,
in the Southampton area,
the San Marzano neighborhood
to be specific.

There are a lot of British, Italian,
and German immigrants up there,
so many, in fact, that
I consider them my brothers
alongside the five others that
I already have.

Now, perhaps I should explain
why we’re even leaving in the
first place.

To provide a bit of perspective…

We were once oppressed under the
INGSOC regime that came to power
in 1949.

Starting in the 1970s, however,
we started to fight back,
from the tax protests,
to the feminist protests,
to the race marches,
to the Printer Ink Palaver
(that was fun!),
eventually leading up to
the six-year civil war
that we fought in…
and won.

And then, the Great Revolution.
September 17, 1983.
Roughly three and a half years ago.

I remember it
like it was yesterday…
Fireworks bursting in the sky,
champagne spraying
in all directions…
it was a real hoot!

A close relationship with the
Soviets followed soon after,
followed by rampant double-dealing
and other things.

Our struggle for freedom
and liberty
became a life of repression
and communism.

The new government
fell apart very quickly,
its leaders were involved
in scandals over corruption,
discrimination became rampant
(especially towards those of
different skin colors and beliefs),
and idiocy reigned.

Hate and irrational fear
became the norm.

On top of all that,
the higher-ups
utterly resented
any American influence
(even though the whole of
the Central Executive
Committee had visited
many times)
and any notion of
capitalism
was met with
mass hysteria.

We eventually decided that
we were tired of it all,
so we s-p-l-i-t.

We packed our bags,
loaded the truck,
kissed Mama goodbye
(and promising
that we’d write)
and went on our way.

It isn’t long
before we come upon
a sign;
a motorway exit was near.

Rechtenburg / Geneva

We slid off the motorway.
Danny flipped on his blinker
and turned left
towards the Promised Land…

We began to scale the hill
leading up to Providence Dam,
where we would cross the border
into Equestria.

Once at the dam,
we had to wait in a
relatively short line
at the crossing.

We finally inched forward
to the customs station.

The customs officers
checked our paperwork
and asked about our intentions.

“I was told that I could start working
in those big lumber yards they
have up there as soon as I got there,”
Liam assured the officer.

“I’m going to work in the gem mines,”
Danny said matter-of-factly.

Kimberly and I made a plan to go
to Canterlot.
She’s arranged for us to live
in a nice apartment up there
in the center of town,
a stone’s throw away
from the industrial district
and all the shops.

After fifteen minutes of waiting,
our papers are cleared.
We are good to go.
Victorious in our efforts,
we move on down the road.

We traverse the next
seventy-five kilometers
(roughly 46 miles)
of winding mountain roads
and beautiful countrysides.

We arrive in Ponyville
and drop off my brothers
and all their luggage.

Kimberly and I
catch a train
to Canterlot.

Twenty-five minutes later,
we disembark.
We step off at the train station,
and a nice stallion
offers to take our luggage
so we wouldn’t have to carry it.
We took him up on his offer.

Our apartment is located
in a fairly large corner building
in the southwest corner
of Canterlot,
right next to the moat.

We meet our landlord,
who takes us up
to the seventh floor.

Next thing we know,
the door opens
and we see just how
impressive
this place is.

This apartment takes up
two stories vertically,
and it all simply
s c r e a m s
elegant
spacious
inviting
Canterlot…

The kitchen is fully equipped,
and the adjoining living room
has plenty of chairs and sofas
to sit on.

The master bed and bath
looks as though it came from
a department store window.
Kimberly claims it
almost immediately.

I make my way upstairs
while Kimberly occupies herself
with her new bedroom.

What awaits up here
is nothing less than
b r e a t h t a k i n g . . .

It seems that I’ve come across
a humongous loft space.

The first attraction
is the g i a n t bed
smack dab in the
center of the room
adorned with some of the
best sheets that have ever
graced by skin.

A walk-in closet
is situated not too far away.

Right next door is a bathroom;
a luxurious bathtub
with both hot and cold water
takes center stage,
accompanied by the toilet,
the sink,
and the cabinets.

And last but not least,
the balcony…!

I open the divider
between me
and an astounding view
of ritzy downtown,
the rugged South Side,
and the rough-and-tough
industrial West Side,
with the moat providing
a distinct buffer zone
between these boroughs.

If you pop up to the roof,
you can see everything…
the castle,
all of Canterlot,
a view to the south
littered with suburbs
as far as the eye can see,
the smoky factory air
hanging over the valley
like a stray cat that
doesn’t seem to go away.

And that’s when a noise,
a joyful, resounding noise,
rings in my ears, proclaiming:

“You’re gonna like it here!”

Just then,
I realize…
I think I will!

After a short while
of standing on the roof,
admiring the view,
I make a plan.

I’ll attend the local school
and get my education in.
But before that can happen,
I have to be an Equestrian citizen.

In order to hold Equestrian citizenship,
however, that means
mountains of paperwork
and forms to fill out;
the Immigration Office downtown
has a love affair with forms.

I resolve…
First thing tomorrow morning,
I will inquire about citizenship.

……………….

Ryder’s Journal
November 1, 1987

At long last,
I have attained
Equestrian citizenship!

The papers came in the mail
just after breakfast time today.

Kimberly is so happy
for me,
so happy, in fact,
that she breaks out
a bottle of champagne
and we have the lot.
Thank God Almighty,
we are free at last!

As for as my brothers,
Danny wrote about two weeks ago
telling us about receiving his
citizenship papers.
Liam’s papers came along soon after.
As for the other three,
they haven’t written as of late.
We assume they’ll write soon.

I also received a residency certificate
after my paperwork finally went through.
It states that I have the right
to reside in the city of Canterlot.
It is good for one year.
When it expires, I will have to renew
every year for the next five years,
which I think I can manage.
Kimberly has one too.

I call up Canterlot Academy’s admissions office
not long after, telling them the good news.

They tell me that I can now officially enroll
in Canterlot Academy
for the 1988-1989 school year
as soon as I can provide a copy
of my citizenship papers
and my residency certificate.

I hang up the phone,
excited to start a new chapter
in my life.

“I’ll always remember
the first
of November…”

Author's Note

Nov 17 fixed a mistake

Prologue pt 2

Ryder’s Journal
June 6, 1988

I’ve been living here
in Canterlot
for the past year.

I’ve been a citizen
since last November.

I only need to remember
to keep renewing
my residency certificate
every November 1.

I’m sure you’re asking
the question,
“How do you even get by?”

That’s relatively easy
to answer…

While Kimberly went
to find work,
I used to scamper
around town,
offering to do odd jobs
for the local townspeople
on exchange for money.

The money from this
went towards
paying the rent,
paying for groceries,
and ensuring that our bills
were paid on time.

That was until
four months ago.
That was when
I got a job in town
working the registers
at a coffee shop.

It paid very well,
and my co-workers
were very nice to me.

In fact,
I’m on my lunch break
at the moment.

I’m at Trendy Tavern
on the East Side,
eating lunch with
a Cosararan immigrant
friend of mine,
discussing everything
from the meaning of life
to whether or not
aliens are making socks
disappear.

After twenty minutes,
he finished his sandwich
and walked out.

MEANWHILE
In the main gymnasium at Canterlot Junior High School

“... and congratulations again to the Class of 1988! May you go from this place and remember that your life does not follow any script; life should be soaked in and lived to the absolute fullest.”

With that, the mass of graduates rose from their seats as the band played them off, accompanied with thunderous applause. Once they cleared the entrance doors, they went around the front, down the side of the street, and made a right turn before popping into the courtyard, where a reception was being put on for the graduates.

There were tables with cookies of all sorts were laid out and a giant punch bowl sat nearby, filled to the brim. Over these sweets, the new alumni were clamoring over the talk of the town - the new guy.

“I heard there’s a Cosararan guy coming next year… is this true?” asked Shining Armor, a strong unicorn with a stark white coat, a messy blue mane, unshorn fetlocks, and blue eyes.

“Yes, it is, he moved here last year,” Diamond Rose, a grayish-white pegasus filly with a dark pink mane and blue eyes, replied. She was visibly anxious to meet the newcomer in person.

“Hold on - didn’t they just have a civil war over there?” Lemony Gems, a unicorn with a yellow coat, a bluish-green mane, and eyes as blue as the ocean, recalled.

“I talked to him a while back,” replied Gaffer, a young unicorn colt with an orange coat, green mane, and deep green eyes. “He works at the coffee shop across from my apartment building. He says that he fought in that war, but he didn’t exactly like how it turned out in the end… rumor is, the people that came to power after the war ended became attached at the hip to the Soviets.”

“So that’s why he came here?”

“I would say that’s the reason he jumped ship, so to speak.”

“I suggest that we go and meet him and see what he’s like!”

With that, the group that would soon meet Ryder finished off their punch and ate the last of their cookies and trotted off to the Trendy Tavern. The place wasn’t too far away, given that it was only ten blocks away from the school.

Once they parted the doors to go inside, they saw Ryder, a Cosararan immigrant with a head of wavy hair, tan skin, Italian complexion, and coffee-brown eyes sitting at the bar having a pint of lager.

Gaffer recognized him almost immediately and took a seat right next to him.

“Hey, mate, I know you,” Ryder lit up, a smile showing on his face. “And I see you’ve brought the whole gang with you! How many are there?”

“About twenty of us,” Gaffer said back. “If you like, you can sit here with us.”

“Sure!” Ryder pulled up a chair and joined the group.

“What’s your name, handsome?” Sweetcream Scoops, a unicorn with a green-apple color of coat, sharp blue eyes, and a prismatic raspberry-orange-amber mane, spoke up.

“My name’s Ryder,” he replied. “A pleasure to meet you…”

And thus started the introductions of nearly twenty of Ryder’s new bezzie mates: Princess Mi Amore Cadenza (or Cadence, whichever you prefer), Lemony Gems, Diamond Rose, Moondancer, Lyra Heartstrings, Bonbon, Ivory, Minuette, Cheerilee, Shining Armor, Poindexter [Gizmo], 8-Bit, Gaffer, Soarin’, Goldengrape, Thunderlane, Caramel, Braeburn, Meadow Song, and a few others.

After all the formalities were well and truly out of the way, Ryder started to explain how he became involved in the revolutionary war and the protests, to his eventual dissatisfaction with the new government and his life-changing decision to leave. This led to some joking around at the Cosararan regime’s expense, of which Ryder gratuitously took part in, adding a few witty retorts of his own at times. Through this, the collusion of twenty or so ponies and a lone Cosararan revolutionary-war-veteran-become-immigrant became a tight-knit group of close friends.

“So, what are you doing over the summer?” Cadence asked.

Ryder mulled the thought for a short while before replying, “Other than fool around with my older brothers and sister, I dunno - maybe hang with you guys?”

“Sounds like a plan to me!” Lyra added, happy with his response.

With that, they patted each others’ backs and called it a day.
....................

Ryder’s Journal
June 6, 1988
Late Evening.

I can hardly believe
what I’ve just
been through.

Not too long
after my friend
from work left,
Gaffer came by,
with twenty of
his bezzie mates
tagging along!

They were
so good to
get along with.

We all became acquainted
very easily, becoming
bezzies.

I think I’ll be
just fine here,
thank you very much.

I’ll be meeting them again
tomorrow afternoon
for lunch at the Tavern.

After that,
the possibilities
are endless.

But for now,
I’ll stop writing,
I must retire for the night.

Chapter 1: Summer of '88

The air was still a bit damp after the small bout of rain the evening before as Ryder made his way over to the Trendy Tavern once again on this balmy afternoon in early June for lunch with his new mates. He took the afternoon shift off this day so he could have the time.

As he walked inside, he admired all the fancy decorum: the rustic-looking chairs and tables; the granite bar, lined with patrons and beer taps; the overhanging lantern lights; the funky paintings and table arrangements here and there… He eventually found the front counter, where he ordered a turkey sandwich and a salad to go with it.

Ryder then sauntered over to the far corner; that’s where he saw Gaffer, the orange one, with all of his mates gathered alongside. He pulled up a chair and popped a squat.

“How's it going?" Gaffer called out.

"I'm fine, mate!" Ryder shot back.

"What's up with Ryder today?"

"Not much... I may be visiting my brothers for a while; we've yet to iron out the details, so to speak."

"The ones who work down in Ponyville? Those brothers of yours?"

"Yes," Ryder assured.

“Ohh - those are your brothers?” Sweetcream Scoops asked. “I may have seen Liam stroll into the family shop once or twice.”

“Liam, the curly one?”

“He has some very handsome curls,” Scoops remarked.

“I heard he works in the mines,” Cheerilee commented.

“He works in those big lumber yards they have out there,” Ryder corrected. “He’s a first-rate lumber stacker, but he also works the saw from time to time.”

“What about Danny, that other one?” Moondancer asked.

“He works in the gem mines.”

“That’s good to know.”

“Where do your other brothers work?” Ivory asked.

“You mean Sammy, Bill, and Harry?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, last I heard, Bill was in Big Creek, not doing much… Sam’s working for the street department in Ponyville and junk… and Harry, I think, may be doing trade deals for the market in Ponyville.”

“Sweet.”

At that moment, Ryder’s sandwich was set down in front of him, along with his salad, which came with a dish of dressing that he could pour out as much or as little as he pleased. He picked through it, removing things that he didn’t like, before pouring a generous amount of the dressing on the salad and tossing it about with his fork.

“What’s that?” Lyra asked, pointing to Ryder’s sandwich.

“It’s the turkey sandwich I ordered,” he said.

“What’s it taste like?”

“Let me take a few bites first, hon…”

Ryder picked up the sandwich and sunk his teeth into it.

“Tastes nice,” Ryder complemented. But there was a small taste that reminded him of home…

“However, it seems as though the meat’s imported…”

“What’s that, mate?” Gaffer interrupted. Ryder set down his sandwich.

“I think the meat’s been imported… it’s a shame that you don’t make your own lunch meat. I’m a bit surprised, actually.”

“I’m sorry, big guy, but we don’t have much in the way of meat… we’re mostly herbivores,” Poindexter stepped in.

Ryder dug into his salad while Diamond Rose told a joke to a few others on the other end of the table. Wolfing down about half of it, he realized that he was in the mood for something intoxicating… something sweet… perhaps a pint of root beer.

“As soon as I get finished,” Ryder resolved in his mind.

He took a few more bites of his sandwich and tackled the rest of his salad; it all went down a treat.

He ordered his root beer right after. He made his way over to the bar and got himself a pint of Equestria’s finest, and he went back to the table, where a few of his mates already had mugs full of the stuff.

“Hey, I see you’ve already got a mug,” Shining Armor said.

“Hell yeah, matey!”

“You know there’s a proper way to taste root beer, right?”

“You have to drink it a certain way?”

"It's how you can truly experience the drink, mate."

"Alrighty then... show me!"

"Okay..." Shining adjusted his chair. "First, just take a small sip, and tell me what you're tasting."

Ryder took a swig of the root beer. "It ain't as sweet as I would expect, but rather, it's bitter and I can taste it going down my throat. It's not too overpowering either."

"That's the first thing you have to remember... every individual brand of drink has its own unique qualities to it. Now, do the same with the next sip, but swish it around like mouthwash, and tell me how it tastes after that."

Ryder swished the root beer about. "Now it's mellowed out a bit, and I can taste different things too."

"What you've done now is blended all the spices as well as released the aroma and flavor..."

"That's neat."

"Now about those bitter notes you mentioned... if it's real earthy and bitter like that, then you'll know that there's sarsaparilla root, sassafras, anise, and so on that gives it that sort of flavor. If you find that it's real medinical, herb-crazy or a mess of different flavors, then there's juniper, wintergreen, licorice, birch bark, and so on. If it's sweet, then we have sugar and vanilla."

"If I may ask a question, what makes a perfect root beer, in your opinion?"

"For me, there has to be a balance between earthy and sweet; it can't be so herb-laden that it bites you in the arse, while at the same time, it can't be sugary to the point that it gives you multiple cavities."

“So with that in mind, can I drink some more?”

“You sure can!”

Ryder took a big gulp of his root beer. “Tastes great… still a bit on the bitter side…”

He then swished around his next gulp. “But when you swish it about, you can taste the sugar and vanilla. Overall, very nice.”

“That’s not a bad tasting for your first try.”

Ryder chuckled a bit. “Thanks, mate.”

“You’re welcome.”

At that moment, Ryder felt as though he had to try more. He ordered a pint of ginger ale so that Shining Armor could walk him through the tasting process.

“Does it taste crisp and clean, or is it real sugary and syrupy?”

“It’s got a nice sweetness to it, not too much bubbles, and I can also taste…” He swished it about once again. “...vanilla, caramel, and a touch of citrus.”

“Niiiiiiiice!”

Ryder downed the rest of it in seven gulps, then unleashed a loud burp afterwards.

“Excuse me,” Ryder giggled.

Ryder ordered a pint of cream soda.

“How does it smell?”

“It smells of a very lovely vanilla.”

Ryder took a sip. “It’s very strong on the vanilla, and that creaminess is also there… it tastes fantastic.”

“What else can you taste?”

Ryder swished the second sip. “Is that molasses I taste… and caramel?”

“Wow, that’s a good tongue you have there!” Meadow Song comments.

“Thanks, mate!”

Ryder slams down the rest of the pint. “It’s honestly like drinking vanilla cupcake mix, but in a good way.”

“Are you ready to head back, mate?”

“I have to work the evening shift at the coffee shop… so yeah, let’s make some tracks back towards town,” Ryder said.

“I’m with you there,” 8-Bit seconded.

With that, Ryder paid for his lunch and the three pints he had, walked out the door with Gaffer, 8-Bit, Poindexter, Shining Armor, and Cadence alongside, and headed back into town.

"It was nice getting to know you better," Cadance chirped. Ryder smiled back at her.

"We really need to start hanging out more. I mean, come on, mates, we have the whole summer ahead of us to do whatever - go to clubs, throw parties, piss about - whatever!" 8-Bit chimed in.

"Those are some wonderful ideas, mate, but you also have to consider the fact that I'm a working boy, trying to pay our bills and whatnot. I may also head down into the valley to see my brothers few a couple weeks," Ryder said.

"Don't worry, mate, we're your bestest," Gaffer said. "We're bezzies!"

Ryder's smile grew ever wider at the idea of being bezzies.
....................

Ryder’s Journal
August 28, 1988

What a summer
it has been…

Many things happened
over the past
three months.

First of all,
my new bezzies
are almost like
family to me.

My other three brothers,
Sam, Bill, and Harry,
finally have their
citizenship papers
and residency certificates
in hand.

I visited them
for three weeks
over the summer
in Ponyville.

We had one hell
of a time
while I was there;
fishing,
trapping,
hiking,
off-roading,
and pubbing.
But that’s all
in the past now.

Onto a more
pressing matter:

School is starting
first thing
Monday
morning!

Kimberly took me
around town
to buy school supplies.

We hit up the
stationery stores,
bookstores,
import stores,
and tech stores.

We also went
to the clothiers’
to pick up an
assortment
of new clothes
for both of us.

Let’s face it:
living solely out
of your suitcase
and a few other
odds and ends
gets rather dull
after a while.

We bought
custom-mades,
ready-mades,
designer clothes,
you name it.
Most of these
don’t actually
look bad at all,
considering that
it cost us
roughly CS£300
for the lot.

We picked everything out
last week.

I think I’m more than
ready for school
at this point.

Now that I’ve gotten
all that out of my system,
I’m going to hit the sack.

We get up
at
6:00 AM sharp.

Chapter 2: It's My First Day of School

August 29, 1988
Early Morning

BEEP BEEP BEEP

I slam the snooze button
in one swift motion
to shut the alarm off.

The beeping ceases.

I stumble downstairs
and make a mug of tea,
a habit I took with me
to Equestria.

I splash a bit of milk in my tea
and sit on the big chair
in the living room.

As I sip,
I make a few self-checks
to make sure everything’s
where I want it to be:

Clothes on the sofa
ready to go?
Check.
Money for cab fare?
Check.
Bookbags?
Check.
Lunch packed?
Check.
Folders? Binder? Notecards?
An assortment of pens, pencils,
and other writing utensils?
Check, check, check, and
definitely check.
Notebooks?
Check.
I’m all set!

I swallow down the
remainder of my tea
and catch up on
the news,
mostly through listening
to the radio
and reading the stack
of newspapers,
both Cosararan and Equestrian,
that sit on the coffee table.

I make my way towards the washroom.
I brush my teeth,
comb my hair into place,
don my new clothes,
and walk out with a sort of
refreshing confidence.

At roughly 7 AM,
I gather up my things
and walk out the door,
then descend the stairs,
step through the lobby,
and wait for a cab
along the avenue.

Ten minutes later,
my chariot arrived…

On the way to the school,
going up along the moat,
negotiating the busy
main roads and tight intersections,
I wondered what all
awaited for me
beyond the schoolhouse gates.

....................

The morning bell rang through the late summer sky as Ryder's first day of school in his new adopted home commenced. As a Cosararan transplant, so to speak, he didn't know what all to expect... it could be anything from harsh teachers, bullies, and condescending principals to something resembling a military boot camp. He honestly did not know the Equestrian education system, having only been here since last April.

All his worries were put to rest once he saw Gaffer at the front gate, along with Lyra and a couple of others.

"Ryder!" they called out as soon as he disembarked the cab and tipped the driver.

"Hey mate, how's it going?" Gaffer scoused.

"I'm fine," Ryder replied.

"That's nice," Lyra chirped. They began making their way to the school's front door, seeing all their friends, even a few more of his mates, going the same way or simply dallying about.

Ryder fumbled with a compartment on his backpack and dug out his class schedule.
He unfolded it, made a quick attempt to flatten it out to the point where he could read it, and asked Gaffer to interpret.

DMITRI, RYDER
HR - Mrs Violet, 246
1. Mathematics, Mr Green, 405
2. Literature, Ms Spirit Melody, 342
3. Basic Equestrian History, Mr Pichaly, 301
4. General Science, Ms Aquamarine, 327
Lunch
5. Health, Nurse Snowheart, 134
6. Home Economics, Mrs Ambrosia, A21
7. Teacher Assistance, 246, 342, or on call
8. *Open Period*

"I presume we go to Homeroom first?" Ryder asked.

"Yes, we do," Gaffer said, noting the room number on the schedule. "And I also think that the room is over in this direction," he added, pointing a hoof towards the stairwell.
They ascended the stairs to the second floor, popped into another hallway, made a right turn, and walked along until they reached room 246 and entered.

“Welcome to Canterlot Academy, Ryder!” the teacher, Mrs. Violet, a brave, experienced Earth pony with a bright, almost neon-like electric blue mane and tail and a purple coat which gives her namesake, said in a warm, genuinely kind voice. “You can have a seat wherever you’d like.”

Ryder sat at one of the circular tables placed throughout, towards the front of the room. The room itself had an appealing air to it; the walls were covered with students’ projects and lots of posters; a small but well-stocked library was on the opposite wall; all in all, comfortable and inviting.

As he was looking around, he noticed a couple more of his bezzies sitting nearby. Over the next few minutes, pretty much all of Ryder’s best mates filed into the second-floor classroom, assuming seats all around the room, and chatting amongst themselves.

Mrs. Violet rose up and trotted to the front of the room, where she was about to give her new Homeroom class her annual 'welcome to the Academy' speech.

"Good morning, class!"

"Morning..." was the response; a few enthusiastic cheers here and there, but for the most part, half-arsed and lacking of engagement.

Mrs. Violet was unamused. "I said, good morning, class!"

"Morning!" The class' response was remarkably more unified.

"Much better." Mrs. Violet cleared her throat and initiated her talk. "So, how are you liking the Academy so far?"

A slight chatter broke out: "It’s okay, I guess.”,”It’s huge!”, “The teachers seem quite nice.”, “What’s for lunch today?” and such.

"I take it that you enjoy it?"

"Pretty much," Ryder commented. "The place looks quite nice. However, since this school is very unfamiliar to me, Gaffer had to head me off in the right direction."

"That's to be expected of newcomers, I guess," Mrs. Violet assented. "I can give you a map if you want..."

"Sure!" Ryder appreciated the help.

Mrs. Violet returned with a set of (not quite) meticulously detailed maps of the Canterlot Academy complex, from the school itself, to the courtyard, to the gym, to the stadium, and so on.

“Thanks, mate,” Ryder thanked.

“You’re welcome.” Mrs. Violet continued.

“The Academy is an excellent place to learn, and I hope you make memories as you prepare for your future career or trade…”

After thirty minutes, her speech came to a close, and the bell rang.

"See you all tomorrow!" she called out as students made their way out.

Ryder went to a secluded corner, with Gaffer alongside, and immediately dug out his schedule.

"You're supposed to go to 405," Gaffer said. "Mathematics."

With that, he went up two flights of stairs and popped in at the door to room 405. Mr. Green (he preferred “Jason”), a slightly burly stallion with a dull green mane and tail and a brown coat, complete with a full-body belt and boots, stood at a blackboard. There were tables set up, all in rows with three chairs each. He sat roughly in the middle of the room.

He could recognize four of his bezzies - Lyra, Bonbon, Sweetcream towards the back, and Moondancer, at the table behind her.

Mr. Green sat the class down, handed out the textbooks that they would use for the year, and expounded his own speech on the class, and what Basic Mathematics would be covering (should everything go as planned).

His second morning class was Literature, located in room 342. Same side as homeroom, down a floor… he had the layout of this bit of the building almost down-pat!

Miss Spirit Melody was there, wiping off one of the low tables that the students sat around.
“Coffee tables in place of desks… we never had anything like this at school back home,” Ryder thought to himself, astounded by this change in setting.

Looking around, every aspect of the room contributed to the relaxed demeanor of the students who went to class here, from the coffee tables to the big potted plants, to the odor of lavender wafting through the air, to the artwork on the walls.

Miss Spirit Melody started up. "I bet you never had anything like this back in Cosarara, did you Ryder?"

"Not that I recall," he replied.

"I'm glad you like it," she said.

At this point, his binder tipped over for no obvious reason, and all his writing utensils spilled over the floor. Ryder dropped to the ground immediately to gather them up. Derek the class penguin, waddled up to him.

“Derek’s trying to say hi,” she explained.

That class went by without a hitch by the time of the bell’s ringing.

Ryder looked at his schedule again once class was dismissed.

Basic Equestrian History... room 301. It should be over towards the back corner; the other side, right across from the stairwell...

He found his way there, and waltzed inside.

Mr. Pichaly (he preferred “Leonardo”) was standing near the back of the room, carefully inspecting his globe. He could notice a few students coming in, to which he said "Come in, have a seat wherever..."

The room this time was like stepping back in time. There was a very pithy feel to the room, with roughly the same seating layout as in Mathematics, except the tables were bent a bit. The room also reeked of nostalgia as well as maturity, seeing that there were a flock of jocks sitting at the table behind him.

"Take your seats, folks," Mr. Pichaly instructed, and class began.

One stack of books and another lecture later, the bell rang.

One more quick peek at his schedule was in order. General Science, room 327... hillside.

Ryder entered the realm of Miss Aquamarine, a water-loving unicorn mare, and set his things on a large desk by the side of the room. He took a seat at one of the lab stations.

The only friendly was Lyra, who had a seat on the other side of the room.

Roughly forty-five minutes later, the lunch bell rang, and he was immediately off, making a beeline for the main hall.

The thought of it's lunchtime! it’s lunchtime! it’s lunchtime! ran circles through his head. Ryder quickly made his way to the cafeteria with his sack lunch in hand. He found Gaffer and his mates seated at a table near the back corner. 8-Bit and Poindexter shifted aside so he could have space at the table.

Ryder packed his own lunch. Inside the paper sack, there was an apple, a bottle of tea, some chips, a sandwich, and two snickerdoodle cookies. He set everything out in front of him.

"How is it, mate?" Gaffer called out for Ryder as he began to tear into his sandwich.

"I'm fine," Ryder replied as he took a massive bite out of the sandwich, washing it down with the tea.

“Do you enjoy school so far?”

“Yes,” Ryder said before taking two bites of his apple. He finished his sandwich as well before wrapping the apple core in a napkin and sticking it into his pocket to be thrown away.

“Like your teachers?” Lemony Gems asked.

"Very much so," he enthusiastically replied. He ripped open his chips bag and started working it down.

"Who's your favorite teacher so far?" Cheerilee asked.

"I'm thinking either Spirit Melody or Violet."

"Radical!"

Ryder polished off the chips and took another swig of tea before crumpling up the chip bag to be thrown out.

"Who's your favorite friend... ya know, out of us?"

Ryder thought for a second. "I can't really decide."

"That's okay, that means you like us all equally!” Cheerilee was obviously pleased.

“Truly outrageous,” Lyra quipped.

“Thank you.” Out came the snickerdoodles. “Thank God I didn’t forget these...”

He finished his lunch, pitched the trash, and hung out with his mates until the next ringing of the bell, when the group dispersed, and Ryder was off to his next class - health - in room 134, just a left turn once he popped out of the caf.

Nurse Snowheart taught the class in a place that looked almost like a hospital room with all the fixings. There was only a set of chairs, no desks, where the pupils could sit and learn stuff.

That period turned out good enough, with Sweetheart, her assistant, adding that they wouldn't be teaching just the basics when it came to health; they would be teaching a wider range of material (use your imagination).

The nurses handed out first aid kits to all the students before the bell rang once again.

Ryder's next class, Home Economics, was not in the 'academic' section of the school; the room was located on another part of the complex, but luckily for him, most of his friends had Home Ec that period, and were nice enough to lead him off in the right direction when he almost went towards the 'B Building' (the arts & humanities building) instead of the 'A Building' (the 'practicals' building).

He found room A21, which contained kitchen appliances and home furnishings of all kinds, complete with a hooked rug in the center for the students to sit on. Their bags were set in a neat pile on one side of the room.

Once class started, the huddled mass was split into groups of four, with each group being placed at a station. Ryder's group comprised of himself, Moondancer, Cheerilee, and Sweetcream Scoops.

Essentially, in Home Ec, under the tutelage of Mrs. Ambrosia (she preferred "Sara"), Ryder would be learning, among other things, the catechism for running an independent, flourishing home; he would be cooking, cleaning, repairing things when they break and such. When assistance was needed, Sara or her assistants would always be available to help.

Again, this was just an orientation; once the whole class settles in, then the real fun will begin. Dismissal came at the next bell's ringing.

His next class wasn't necessarily a class; it was something else entirely, something which requires an explanation...

He had Teacher Assistance, which meant that he would help one or two of the teachers around the school with individual tasks like grading, filing, copying papers, etc., as well as helping them with instructional matters.

Usually, he would be assisting Mrs. Violet one week and Spirit Melody the next, switching back and forth each week. When another teacher needed a helping hoof (or hand), he would have to be ready to do so.

His first day as a teacher's assistant was in Violet's room, stamping textbooks and organizing the room. Once that was behind him, the bell rang for his last class change; looking at his schedule, he noticed something called an "open period".

It should be clarified soon enough...

His open period, which in this case was in the afternoon right after his teacher assistance period, came as a small bit of a surprise, especially because he had never heard of such a thing. Cadence decided to trot alongside Ryder as he contemplated what to do next.

"What is this, an 'open period'?" he asked during their walk down the hallway.

"From where I see it, you can pretty much have that period all to yourself," she explained.

"You can do whatever you want?"

"Yeah!"

"Like what?"

"You can go into other classes, you can sit out in the courtyard, you can do pretty much anything that isn't against the rules," Cadence said. "It's quite a boon to everybody."

"I can see that," Ryder affirmed, noticing a few groups of people chatting amongst themselves in the courtyard as they went out onto it.

It was then that he accidentally bumped into a golden-yellow maned Earth pony with sparkling purple eyes. She shuffled about, obviously a bit shaken from the surprise encounter.

She recognized him as Ryder, the Cosararan guy that everypony was talking about.

"Oh... you must be Ryder," she squeaked out quite awkwardly. "My name's Cherry Berry."

"Hi there, Cherry Berry!"

"Everypony, literally everypony, in my P.E. is talking about you..."

"And spreading the word about me - you don't need to tell me twice," Ryder brushed her off.

Cherry Berry kicked the dirt around under her as she thought about what to say next.

"I'd like to know more about you... as a person, you know, and not from the banter that I hear around here."

"Sure... when would you like to meet up?"

"Friday, after classes, 'round 5:30, at Stinky's?"

"That little place on the South Side?"

"That one."

Ryder committed it to memory. "Okay, it's a date!"

"Alrighty, Ryder, see you Friday..." Cherry Berry chirped as she trotted away. Ryder thought to himself: Could this be a new friend or just an acquaintance of mine? That, of course, is for me to decide…

............

Later that evening, he penned the following in his journal once all of his stuff had been piled up in his room after being taken up in the elevator...

Ryder's Journal
August 29, 1988

First day of school...
what one would consider
an orientation.

One of my friends from earlier
wants to meet me
at a restaurant
this Friday.

I intend to make it,
but one issue
still lingers.

New friend
or
acquaintance?

Decision time later.
Organization of books, etc. now
since I had to haul
ALL this crap up in the lift!!!

Author's Note

So you think it's really good, yeah? You should try making the bloody thing up - it's a real pain in the arse. (Especially his schedule!)

Chapter 3: Cherry Berry Time

Friday evening, after Ryder’s afternoon classes had concluded

Ryder made his way home as usual, and dragged his school stuff upstairs, laying them down beside the closet. He plopped himself down into the bed and had a quick rest.

Many thoughts raced through his head… ‘Wow, it’s been a rough week, getting used to my school schedule and juggling a job at the coffeeshop at the same time… it certainly takes a while to get used to.’

His train of thought stopped when he suddenly realized that today was his date with Cherry Berry. He sprung from his bed and looked at himself in his bathroom mirror. ‘A t-shirt and imported blue jeans won’t bloody cut it,’ Ryder thought, ‘so I must make myself look presentable...’

He bolted into his walk-in closet and fumbled through his nicer shirts and trousers. He decided on a Cosararan-import grey polo shirt and a decent pair of grey shorts. And just for good measure, he dug out all of his military decorations from the war and pinned them on before grabbing his wallet and went down into the living room.

"Kimberly, I'm headed to Stinky's," Ryder called out.

"Let me know when you're on your way home," Kimberly said.

"Okaaaaay..." Ryder opened the apartment door and went down the many flights of stairs to the lobby.

He grabbed a cab and gave the driver the address to Stinky's, an out-of-the-way South Side joint where the owner, Stinky, and his crew fix the best burgers, hay fries, and milkshakes in town.

Cherry Berry was awaiting his arrival, seated at an outside table, where she liked to sit, with a strawberry milkshake in front of her.

"Hey, Ryder!" she crooned almost immediately.

"Hey, Cherry Berry, how's it going?"

"Just fine!"

Ryder sat opposite the young mare, who was eager to know more about Ryder Dmitri, the Cosararan immigrant fellow who attends Canterlot Academy...

Cherry initiated the conversation. "So, tell me what Cosarara's like!"

"Everyone over there's friendly, the quality of life is rather nice, and we have a thing for overthrowing regimes that we don't like," Ryder said.

"That's good to know," she chuckled. "So why did you move over here?"

"The government that we had after the revolution was becoming way too close to those damned Soviets for my liking. Kimberly was concerned that we'd all be speaking Russian by the end of the decade, so we all got together - me, Kim, and my other brothers - and decided to come here. We've been doing better since then."

"The Soviets, hmmm... go on..."

"The ministers were all corrupt, and so were our elected officials," Ryder elaborated. "We decided that enough was enough."

"Hmmm... that's interesting..."

"So we fixed Danny's truck and loaded up Kimberly's SUV and made the long drive over here."

Cherry Berry connected the dots in her head. "Now that's settled the 'communist' rumor..."

"What do you like best about Equestria? Be honest about it..." she continued.

"Considering that all of us have jobs, the opportunities to expand and make a living for yourself are limitless."

"That's a good thing, right...?"

"Yes... it's a wonderful prospect... the princesses should be proud of themselves for helping to build such a well-established economy, and with no meddling government to deal with."

She was impressed at how articulate he could get.

"Wow... you talk very well," she commented.

"Thanks," Ryder replied. "At least I have the ability to string two sentences together..."

Cherry asked her next question: "So, what's your family like? Like, how are your brothers doing, and how're you getting along?"

She sipped on her strawberry milkshake some more.

"That's an interesting question, Cherry Berry... I would have to say that we usually get along just fine... however, we got into squabbles from time to time."

"So they're relatively nice?"

"They're incredibly easy to get along with."

"What do they do for a living?"

"Liam, my oldest, is in Ponyville working in the lumber mills. Danny works in the gem mines. Bill, last I heard, is gearing up for a bunch of job interviews. Sammy works for the Ponyville Street Department, and Harry is the Ponyville market's 'procurer of foreign goods', so to speak."

"And you work at the coffeeshop, right?"

"Now that is what I'm trying to figure out... with my school schedule and everything, I think I may work weekends and weekday evenings when I don't have schoolwork to attend to."

Cherry listened intently and slurped more of her milkshake. "You're thinking ahead... I like that."

"That's quite nice of you to say that."

“What are you interested in… what piques your fancy, so to speak?”

“Well, for one thing, I love having a drink with my mates. I also like eating good food, traveling, and a lot of other things."

"Like what...?"

"History, nature, technology, politics... you name it," Ryder elaborated a bit.

"Wow, you're interested in a lot!" Cherry Berry complimented.

"Thanks."

She noticed the row of decorative badges and pins on his shirt.

"So he DID fight in that war..." she thought, amazed at what he accomplished for a people in need and his contributions toward the revolution in his home country (that didn't turn out so well in the end). Going on that hunch, she asked him about the decorations...

"What are those pins for?" Cherry Berry asked.

"These are my decorations from the Great Revolutionary War, 1976-1983," Ryder explained, adjusting them so that his friend could examine them better.

"Radical!" she exclaimed, astounded by his bravery. "I didn't know you actually picked up a gun!"

"I know, right?" he shot back.

"Totally." She sucked down some more of her strawberry shake.

Ryder felt the need to have a milkshake as well. "In fact, I might go get myself a shake," he said. "I'll be just a second."

"Take your time, sugar."

Three minutes later, he came back, his vanilla milkshake in hand, and sat right next to Cherry again. He sipped a bit of it.

"So you really fought!"

"That's right, sweets."

"Do you know what those badges mean?"

There were two rows of decorations: stripes on the top for his participation in various campaigns, and pins for honorable actions during the war.

"This green stripe means that I fought on the South Coast, this white stripe means that I fought in the Midlands, and this red stripe means that I fought in the Capitol, when we were closing in on the INGSOC loyalists in the City of Maidens."

"Cooooooool..."

"And I'll explain all these pins... this first one - the Humanitarian Cross - I earned this one in my first year and a half in the war. You see, this was one of the first things I did after I signed up for combat... I drove an ambulance, carrying wounded soldiers and supplies to and from the battlefield.

"After that, I was promoted to Private, First Class, and went with two of my brothers in October 1980 to Crown City on the South Coast. I spent two months down there pushing back the loyalists - first to Murjan, then to St. John's Bay, then to Victoria, Port Royal, and Greston - and eventually to Port Royal, all on the back of a Toyota pick-up truck with a 50-cal on it."

"Awesome!" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. He was like an open book with this stuff.

"I got this pin in December of 1980 in Port Royal, after I shot down three loyalist gunships in one sitting towards the end of the South Coast campaign. Everyone in my unit got drunk and all the night I got the award."

"You're an amazing shot," Cherry Berry commented.

"Yes, yes, yes, I get that a lot," Ryder said. "I was a kickass sniper, too."

He showed off his next pin. "I was stationed at the top floor of a hotel in Port Royal when over the course of two days, I almost single-handedly wiped out three squadrons of loyalists that wanted to retake Port Royal."

"You're that good?!"

"Mmm-hmm." Ryder continued. "After we cleaned up Port Royal, I was promoted to Lieutenant and was taken to Paynesville in March 1981. I was put in charge of ten units and was placed in an artillery squad. Under my command, we easily took Paynesville in a fortnight.

"And that was when we got to Croydon, and my god, we spent the better part of six months trying to flush out all the loyalists. They were everywhere... I mean, in the apartment buildings, in the storefronts, in the sewer lines, hiding under the bridges, sitting on top of the towers, you bloody name it, they were there."

"What does this badge mean?" Cherry Berry inquired, pointing at a shiny button right next to his sniper pin.

"Glad you asked," Ryder said. "I got this pin after shooting down a gunship and a loyalist supply helicopter in Croydon."

"Sweet..." She sipped her milkshake some more.

"After we finally had Croydon, I was told to report to Southampton. I was tasked with helping to train 150,000 men for combat in the City of Maidens. Once the rebels reached the outskirts of the Capitol, we would receive the order to give 'em hell...

"This took nearly nine months. That was when I got a phone call from the high command of the rebel forces in, I think, October 1982 - 'We've got Hyrum, we've got the hills, we've got the gateway... we have their bloody Capitol surrounded. Get your arse over here.' They didn't have to ask me twice! My CO's readied up the men, got them suited up, got in their trucks, and we hauled ass for the Capitol district."

"What happened next?"

"November 1, 1982... I had my own crew of 50,000 men positioned at the gateway into the city. I remember the loyalists trying to charge at us. One of the CO's gave the order to go forward, and by god, we went forward... We took out loyalists and took supply camps all over the East Side. Within a month, the Marais, the canals leading out of the city, and most of the embassies on that side were ours."

"Wow, that quickly?"

"Yes, that quickly. We had them crying uncle all the way back to their tanks. They were too scared to even come out of their tanks - they even had to shit in their tanks because they were too scared to leave them!!" Ryder collapsed in a giggling fit.

"Are you okay there, skeezer?" Cherry Berry asked, concerned.

"I'm okay, mate..." Ryder caught what he could of his breath and continued where he left off after slurping more of his milkshake.

"Now, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, we had managed to keep them on the other side of the canals. However, something in their twisted minds snapped and on the 26th, the day after Christmas, they had managed to cut me and my troops off on all sides and plug the canals so we couldn't escape. I brought a few hundred of them with me to where they blocked the canal so we could attempt a breakthrough. They had the damn thing booby-trapped, and sure enough, I got hit with shrapnel from an IED."

"My goodness, that had to hurt!"

"The blast alone killed twenty-eight troops and wounded another fifty or so. I was in an intensive-care unit for almost four months."

He lifted up his shirt to reveal a long, crusty scar across his abdomen. "It's just now starting to heal up."

Cherry Berry stared at the cut, astounded by just how in the heck he could have survived a bomb blast of that magnitude and lived to tell the tale.

"You survived that?"

"That's why I have this Survivor, 1st Class badge." Ryder drank some more milkshake, then continued with his story.

"Once I was cleared to continue combat duty, the rebels had already pretty much washed the loyalists and it became a complete friggin' mess. In April 1983, me and my troops helped clean out the North End down to the Hyrum Gap.

"In May 1983, I was stationed on the Peripheral. I had to fire on any loyalist on the outside of that ring road, because at that time, they were pretty much surrounded. On the 19th, I was called out into the Capitol to help pick out the loyalists from a bunch of government offices downtown. I was running towards Kingston Avenue when I took a round of machine gun bullets to the thighs. I wasn't able to walk for over a week."

"Really?!"

"Then how was I awarded my Survivor, 2nd Class badge?"

She noticed a group of five other badges that were separate from the others after she found the other survivor badge. "These badges... what are they?" Cherry Berry asked.

"After the war was over, I was awarded five medals. These are my Cosararan Hero, 1st Class, my Cosararan Hero, 2nd Class, my Silver Star, my Gold Star, and my Hero of the Revolution badges."

"Cosararan Hero..." Cherry Berry was visibly enthralled. She was standing in the presence of a hero.

"But Ryder, if you're a Cosararan hero, why would you leave Cosarara and live here?"

"Because of corruption," Ryder simply said. "Corruption. The government was so caught up in rebuilding the country in their own image that they forgot who really made this whole thing happen..."

Cherry Berry finished her milkshake and tossed the cup into a rubbish bin near the door.

"Nice shot," Ryder commended her.

"Aren't you going to finish that?" Cherry Berry shot back. He noticed that there was still a considerable amount of milkshake left in his cup, and got to sipping.

"If you would... tell me about what makes Ryder a Cosararan hero. Has he seen any past action?"

"Protesting."

"What kind of protesting...?"

"At first, we had the tax protests. Then, we had the environmentalist movement. Then, there was the feminist movement. Then, we got swamped with the race riots and the bloody Latte Rebellion. And that's when the war started, and that all began in 1977 or '78, if I recall."

"Nice..."

"So, you wanna go back to my place? It ain't too far from here," Ryder said.

"You wanna finish your milkshake first?"

"Oh, yes," Ryder said. "Let me drink the rest of it." He sucked down the rest of it and promptly chucked it into the rubbish.

"That will do."

"Let's make tracks, then!"

The two made their way up to the moat's edge, to the Byrnes Island cross-over, and back to Ryder's building.

“And up we go, about seventeen flights of stairs…” Ryder declared.

“I’ll try and keep up,” Cherry Berry said.

The two caught their breaths once they had finally reached his floor. Cherry Berry collapsed on the ground, panting and a mite short of breath.

“Not used to going up and down stairs, yeah?”

“I didn’t know you lived this high up!” she wheezed out, “... this has to be the tallest building in Canterlot!”

“It could be argued,” Ryder mused, opening the door to the apartment. She treaded inside the door and looked around, amazed at the look and style of the place.

“Totally awesome, dude!” she exclaimed.
“Thanks, mate!”

“You’re welcome.” She plopped herself down on the loveseat. “You mind if I sit here?”

“Not at all,” Ryder said. He opened up the refrigerator in search of something to eat, or to drink, but he didn’t know, exactly. “You want a drink? You must be parched…”

“Sure - what’cha got?”

“I have Pepsi, Dr. Pete, a few beers…”

“I’ll have a Dr. Pete.”

He pulled out a Dr. Pete for the guest and a can of ale for himself, closed the door, and made his way back towards Cherry Berry.

“Thanks, Ryder,” she said, taking the Dr. Pete into her front hooves.

“No worries.” He leaned on the wall next to the loveseat, cracked open his can of ale, and took a sip.

At the same time, Cherry Berry caught an itch of curiosity. She’d heard about Ryder’s massive closet with lighting and everything, and she was begging to see it.

“Hey Ryder, I heard about your big closet...”

“So you wanna see what it’s like, yeah?”

She nodded feverishly.

“Well then, let us see the closet!” And off they went, racing up the stairs to Ryder’s bedroom. They placed their cans of drink on the dresser and paused to calm down.

Ryder stood up and walked to the door while Cherry Berry stood back in anticipation. He set his hand on the handle and slid the door aside, revealing the treasure trove of clothes hidden behind it - a collection of all sorts of articles, from shirts to trousers to bluejeans to tunics. Cherry Berry speechlessly walked inside.

"And I thought you just came here with what you had in your suitcase," she broke her silence, utterly amazed.

"You'd be surprised at just how much £300 can buy you here," Ryder boasted. "And look..." He fiddled around for a rod that hung from the clothes-rack that allowed him to spin it about. "I can even make it move," he continued, swinging the thing to one side and allowing it to spin freely.

"That's so cool..." Her jaw remained open as her eyes stared into the rotating rack, hypnotising her.

"You been out!" Ryder blurted out, breaking Cherry Berry from her trance.

“Wow… where was I?”

“You were staring into my closet,” Ryder explained.

“Was I? Was I, really?”

“Apparently, if you stare into the closet for too long, the closet starts to stare back at you,” he humorously added.

“Radical…”

Ryder took another swig of his beer.

“Could you try on one of your tunics for me?”

“Sure,” Ryder said, setting down his can of drink and walking back towards the closet before sneaking inside and sliding the door shut.

Perhaps we should go into a bit of explanation into the garment in question as Ryder prepares to don it. The tunic, in the Cosararan native tradition, is not what you would find in Roman or Ancient Greek texts or artwork; rather, it is a most peculiar article of clothing.

It should be described as being most like a dress, rendered by taking the entire cloth and wrapping it around the body, underneath the shoulder blade. Once that is done, the last bit is tucked behind the first wrap-around created by the cloth in order to prevent it from falling off. The end result should be a tight fit, but it gets the job done.

Ryder emerged from the closet wearing a red and blue striped tunic in precisely the same fashion as described as Cherry Berry eyed him up and down.

“Handsome…” she said, amazed. “That looks gnarly on you.”

“Thanks, mate.”

“Is that the way to do it?”

“There are people I know that wear it with the dangly bit going over the shoulder, but then you’d have to constantly keep holding it in place, and I find it a bit inconvenient.”

“So you wear it like that?” Cherry asked.

“Pretty much,” Ryder shrugged. “There’s also a little thing that goes over my head that matches this.”

“You’re truly outrageous, you know that?” she said, with a laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that all the time,” Ryder dismissed, proceeding to down the rest of his ale. The conversation paused for a bit.

“You know what would be even more outrageous?” Cherry proposed.

“Like what?”

“I heard a few ponies chatting at lunch today…”

“I’m listening…”

“...and there’s this rumor that a couple fillies wanna ask you to the fall formal coming up!”

Ryder mulled the thought for a brief moment, imagining himself in the embrace of a loving young mare, slow-dancing to the lilting music together.

“Mmmm… that would sound nice… is it true?”

“Yes, it is.”
“Do you wanna go?”

“Hell yeah!” Ryder leaped up and threw his arms into the air.

“Perfect!”

But there was a slight shortcoming in his mind that caused him to step back from his impromptu personal celebration: the fact that he was of a different species.

“However, I have a few concerns.”

Cherry Berry’s ear twitched a bit as she listened.

“I’m a human. Everyone else at my school is basically a horse. How would people think of this? How would my family think of this?”

She stopped and thought to herself right there. “You’re right. It’d be an interspecies thing.”

“And you find it unacceptable?” Ryder said.

“No, no, no, don’t take this the wrong way. I completely support you.”

“But I’m asking about everybody else…”

“I don’t care what the others think. Your happiness is the only thing that matters. Whatever you decide to do, I am, like, 100% behind you.”

“Really?”

“You’re awesome just the way you are, Ryder,” Cherry Berry said. “Remember that.”

“I know,” Ryder replied, with a hint of self-confidence. “I know that.”

Chapter 5: The Very Thought of You [part 1]

Fall Formal Week; September 26 and 30, 1988

I think I’ve made a decision on who will be accompanying me to the Fall Formal, and I’m confident that I did it right. The girl (or mare) is a beautiful, charming lady with a long, flowing mane and dreamy pale-green eyes. She’s got an exquisite physique; she possesses a feminine mystique that attracts stallions (and men alike) like a magnet. Her warm personality and sunny disposition has drawn me to her like a sailor towards a rock, and I can’t imagine any others taking her place.

Given the choice between the three of them, I truly believe that Lemony Gems encapsulates all these traits by demonstrable fact. All it took was the thought of her soft coat against my skin as I tousled her mane, slow dancing, and I was hooked. I truly can’t imagine going to Fall Formal with anypony but her; she's more than the sum of her parts and then some. As we dance, our hearts may as well beat as one, and I, for one, don’t give a damn who anyone else says; my soul has taken the reins. I choose her!
...
He got off the taxi cab on a chilly Monday morning in a confident state of mind, anticipating Gems’s reaction when he would tell her the news. He rushed straight for homeroom and waited patiently, fidgeting in his seat at times, for her arrival.

As she walked in, his heart skipped a beat, and he let out a stammer. Gems stopped where she was.

“Are you okay, bud?” she said.

Ryder took two seconds to collect himself and kick his brains into gear. “Yep.”

“Sooooo… is there something you’d like to tell me?” Here we go again.

“I’d like to tell you something important… I don’t want to say it in front of everypony, so can you come back here with me please.”

She followed him to the nook in the back corner of Mrs. Violet’s room. He waited for another few seconds, took a deep breath to calm himself, and let it out.

He put his lips to her ear, and whispered: “Would you like to go to Fall Formal with me?”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She had to stand there for at least a minute to digest it, her eyes bulging out. When she realised that he was basically saying yes, she couldn’t contain herself anymore.

She let out a squeak of delight and feverishly wrapped her hooves around him, claiming him for herself as tears swelled in her eyes.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you…” she muttered quietly between her hurried breaths.

She then had him pinned down on the beanbag chair as she began to slowly kiss his face - both of his cheeks, his forehead, and an especially passionate one on his lips - while she used her magic to direct his hands to her back, moving them in a back-and-forth motion as their heartbeats synchronised.

He could feel his hands moving lower; she managed to reach the dock of her tail without him flinching. His hands moved lower still under her magical manipulation, swirling his fingers in a small circular pattern on her flank, feeling every subtle curve, investigating and exploring every inch of her body…

When suddenly, his hands grabbed a bit too tightly on the posterior side of her flank, causing her to arch her back and let out a guttural moan. Mrs. Violet cleared her throat and glanced sternly in their direction. Their breaths were still coming out in shallow bursts as they descended to Earth.

Ryder shook his head in utter disbelief. “BLIMEY!”

The entire class broke out in a spontaneous fit of childish, uncontrolled laughter, with some even rolling around on the floor. His cheeks heated up and his insides turned. He could have died of embarrassment at that moment and passed without saying any last words.

As for the mare atop her, she didn’t give the slightest damn about who was around and what they saw - only that she had her Ryder, and that was the end of it.

Eventually, after soaking up all the ridicule, the two returned to their seats, with Ryder still sporting a searing blush on his face.

“I’ll see you Friday!” Lemony Gems called out.

“Oh, we will!” the rest of the class retorted before Ryder had a chance to say anything in reply, falling into another fit of laughter for a minute afterwards.

Ryder didn’t give the slightest damn about it, either.
...
In the caf that day, there were still some snickerings about the event from anypony who was still willing to listen. He could still hear faint accounts of the event as he walked through.

At his usual table, it was different. Let's listen in now.

"... and then we were all laughing our guts out, and there's Ryder and Gems, in the back, going at it!" Cheerilee happily boasted, to which Shining, Gaffer, and several other colts in the immediate vicinity collapsed in laughter.

"What's up?" Ryder took his seat.

"Oh, nothing huge, just you grabbing Gems's behind in Homeroom!"

"Please don't bring that up again," Ryder said, the horrific memory coming back.

"Okay, we won't say anything."

"We were just talking about what we're wearing to the dance Friday. Gems was just wondering what she was going to wear," Diamond Rose said, helping her friend pick out a dress from an array of fashion magazines.

"And we need your input," Bonbon said. "Come here." She beckoned him over with a nod of her head. "She decided that she was going to wear something red, but she can't pin down the right one."

A quick look at one of the open magazines gave him the answer.

"This first one's out of the East Ender's. Whaddaya think?"

Dress A flowed over the body like a red curtain, falling down over the flank like a waterfall, graceful and elegant, with a hint of titillation to capture the attention.

Ryder examined it carefully.

"I have just one issue with it." He pointed to the model's flank. "It's got some arse on it."

A few of them gasped in surprise, some of the colts at the other end of the table laughed and chuckled under their breaths, and it was set aside.

Bonbon had to collect her breath so she could continue.

"Here's the second one. It's out of the Canterlot Fashion Factory."

Dress B was constructed of silk chiffon ruffles made to look like a blooming rose, complete with a shoulder strap to hold the entire piece up, with a cream-colored sash and a pearl headdress to accent the whole thing; red roses garnished the dress to fully bring forth its dazzling magnificence.

"It reminds me of what a Spanish flamenco dancer would wear," he remarked.

"What's a flamenco?" Cheerilee asked.

"Some sort of dance... it originates from Spain, that's where it comes from."

"Have you actually been to Spain?"

"No, I haven't," he replied, accompanied with some snickers from the other end of the table.

The last magazine was pulled out.

"From Manehattan..."

Dress C was a dress of youthful innocence - a modest cut of red polyester adorned with yellow inlays to resemble a ripe strawberry, complemented with strawberry booties and leaves to place in the mane and tail.

"She looks like a strawberry patch girl. A bit cute, now that I think about it."

"Neat. Now on to costs, and you may want to put your thinking cap on," Bonbon continued.

"Costs..." Ryder repeated.

"These dresses can be easily bought at department stores, but you're looking at a price range of between 200 and 500 bits if we do that, since they're all designer made."

"Now you've confused me..." He cringed at the word bits. "You mean Cosararan pounds?"

"No... I'm talking about Equestrian bits, dummy," Bonbon shot back. "You know what they are?" Ryder said nothing, since he's used the pound all his life.

"Back to business now... if we go to Fashion Factory today after school today, and get the fancy rose dress, for example, that would set you back a good 450 bits; at East Ender's, the dress they have is a good 600-700 bits."

"Pffft, big deal. I bet that there's one just like that for thirty-five pounds at a corner store, and the bling to match it, ten pounds!"

"But it's Fall Formal! In Canterlot, for sun's sake! Nopony goes to Fall Formal looking poor!" (And what's with the pounds again?!)

"I'm fucking poor!"

"You live in a fucking penthouse!"

"At least I have my fucking closet!"

"You and that fucking closet again!"

"Fuck the motherfucking closet!"

As the insults and obscenities practically strung themselves together in a constant barrage of sound, Bonbon flipped over a lunch tray in a fit of rage in the heat of the moment, causing food to splatter in that general area, some of it ending up in Lemony Gems's mane.

She made a beeline for the washrooms almost immediately. Bonbon simply looked on, uneasy.

"Well there you go, ya dumbass. You just scared off my date!"

Ryder sat down opposite Lyra as Bonbon bolted after Gems.

"What happened, buddy?" Lyra began.

"Ohh, Bonbomb and I got into a fight, she flipped a tray, some shit landed in Gemmy's hair... She's in the washroom now, trying to repair the damage."

"What caused the argument?"

"She said something about the cost of one of the dresses, I said something about it being expensive, and it went downhill from there, pretty much."

"Are you going to make amends anytime soon?"

"That'll be later. I'm thinking of something right now," Ryder shrugged.

I'll show that pig, he thought vengefully, I'll fucking show her. I don't need fancy clothes or any of that schoolboy bullshit to look good... I know a place where they have nice stuff for cheap - the place where I jammed my closet full of shit - and they accept Cosararan pounds. I'm gonna look good for under a hundred, under fifty even!
...
Home Ec, later that day, was a bit different.

The class was testing out various recipes for cupcakes to sell at Fall Formal - chocolate ones, red velvet ones, carrot cake ones, you name it - when a small grumbling stirred, ostensibly about the intense argument during lunch... either that or the Homeroom 'incident'.

"He did!" "Aww... did he really?" "Gems is so lucky!"

Hold up...

"Gems is so lucky?" Ryder said to himself.

As soon as they heard that quip, a loud, deafening cheer ripped through the room, and a few fillies even jumped up and down and ran up to him, embracing him.

"You're such a hottie," a rambunctious Cheerilee declared. "Lemony Gems so lucky to have you!"

"Is she willing to share him?!" Berry Punch shouted.

"I don't think that can be arranged at the moment," Cheerilee shot back.

After that remark, the mares that had jumped his bones began to back off and return to their stations to clean up.

Sara approached him soon after the class had settled down.

"I wanted to talk to you about something."

"The hugging, the mugging, or the totally obvious?" he asked.

"It's about everything I've been hearing about you. First, you were shagging Gems. Then you got in a fight and threw a tray, with some of the stuff landing in her hair..."

"Let me make things clear," he said with a hint of finality. "Bonbon and I got into a big argument about the dress that Gems wanted. I said it was a mite too expensive, and it went downhill from there, with Bonbon flipping the tray, not me. Everypony simply tacked the blame on me since I'm with Gems now... Bonbon had to track her down after a bit of spaghetti landed in her hair.

"Next, I did NOT do the dirty with Gems. She was moving my hands onto her butt - I did not do that myself!"

"But you did grab her dirty regions, though..."

"I didn't even touch those bits!"

"Okay, no need to yell."

The conversation paused for a few seconds.

"I'm guessing that Gems is your date?"

"Yep," Ryder said hurriedly as the bell rang for dismissal. Now, it was on to the break room; he would be meeting up with Shining so they could make a shopping list for this evening. He was also to bring the magazine cutouts for all the dresses so Ryder's attire would match up.

And once he returned from helping Mrs. Violet grade and file papers for nearly an hour, there he was, as promised, with cutouts in hand.

Ryder sat down next to him on the two-abreast recliner. "I see you have the dresses."

"I do," Shining said, taking out the photos (with Ryder's comments scribbled on them with a marker). "I also looked through the clothiers' magazine that they have, and I think that this red sportcoat could suit the color of all three dresses without you looking too dingy."

He had a look. "Looks nice. Anything else that goes with it?"

"That's the jacket with a matching pair of suit pants. If you add a white dress shirt to go along with it, it tones down the red a bit."

"I'm listening."

"Complete with this £3 black tie, and you should be set."

"Perfect!" exclaimed Ryder, "...but you're sure that's all there is?"

Shining realised this almost immediately. "Oh, wait... you have to wear shoes." Looking in the back of the same magazine, he laid eyes on the perfect pair of black spats. "These should be good," he said, pointing them out.

"Nice..." Ryder complimented. "You've got a good eye, you know that?"

"Yes, I know, my mom says that all the time."

"But you know what'd pull the whole stinkin' outfit together?"

Shining listened as Ryder flipped to the headwear section. "A fedora!"

"Don't you already have one at home?"

"I do, but it's a different color. I'm talking about a black fedora, with a red ribbon around it to go along with the whole red scheme."

"Sweet!" Shining and Ryder high-fived, shuffling about in the seat.

"So it's settled then. This is all we're getting."

"I'll make a list at home, then I'll meet you over there."

"Alright... see you at 5:30, then?"

"5:30..." The pair went about their business shortly after, and the bell rang for final dismissal.
...
Ryder fixed himself a salad with some vegetables on the side as soon as he got home. He crammed the whole thing into his face, ran upstairs, put on his favorite flat cap, and took £50 with him in his jean pocket. He was to meet Shining at the Haberdashery, a clothiers' primarily catering to men (stallions and colts included), to buy the Fall Formal items that they had mutually agreed on.

"Hey, you're here already," Shining called. "Let's go on inside."

Their first stop was the hat rack. The black fedora that they had picked out from the magazine was cheap, but the band could be easily swapped out depending on the occasion; it costed £1.99 (two bits). Check that off.

The black spats came next. Normally, when a local came here, the shoes the customer bought would have to fit around the hoof, which would be measured two times so the shoes would fit after the correct mathematical calcluations were made for the specific wearer.

Today, that would be different. The shoes that Ryder would be wearing were most likely imported across the border from one of Cosarara's tax-free ports.

His pair, an especially snazzy piece which fitted his feet nicely, set him back £24.67 (roughly 30 bits).

"Just so y'know, I only brought fifty quid with me, so I'll have to keep this whole thing on the cheap side," Ryder kindly let his counterpart know.

Shining became slightly cross as he let out a sigh.

In the suit department, an incredibly helpful young stallion offered to take Ryder's measurements - shoulder, chest, waist, legs, the whole nine yards - and compare them to what was in stock.

"I'm looking for something red," Ryder said.

"This is the dress his date will be wearing," Shining said as he passed the employee a picture of the curvy red dress that Lemony Gems would don at Fall Formal.

He nodded. "I'll see what we can do."

He directed the pair to the undershirt section, where Ryder picked out a white dress shirt to go under the suit. It wasn't too tight or too loose; the bulk of it was just enough to keep the jacket from constricting him.

Shining retrieved the same black tie from the magazine, a smooth silky one, that would offset the red of the suit as well as add to the overall appeal. It took four attempts for Ryder to tie the damn thing correctly without choking or screwing up the knot.

Next, Ryder slid on the spats so the pants could be measured. The pair that fit his exact specifications was a shade darker than he imagined; therefore, the jacket would have to be the same shade of red in order for the whole ensemble to match.

Lastly, the jacket... After crunching the numbers, Ryder managed a 38 short. Luckily for him, it was precisely the same color as the pants. With the shopping list all crossed out, it was time to check out.

The cashier rang up the entire thing, costs coming out to
£92.85
175 BITS

Ryder stared at the register, flabbergasted as he imagined Bonbon laughing hysterically and rolling on the floor.

"Ha ha, you shouldn't have been so cheap!"

He bolted out of the place immediately at the mere thought of it, running at a breakneck pace for home. Rushing up the stairs, he went through the front door and dug three £20 bills out of his stash and made a run for it.

However, Kimberly took notice.

“Whoa there, buddy. Where do you think you’re going?”

In rapid and hurried breaths, Ryder exclaimed, “No time… I’ll explain… when I get home…”

Daddy was always like this when a bill was due, Kimberly recalled. He would be flipping over chairs and couches to find money just for the rent…

I’m surprised that he taught Ryder well in that regard.
... ... ...
Sept. 30, 1988

Ryder, after a recharging nap, stumbled downstairs and into the kitchen, following the delectable scent that wafted through the flat.

On the stove, a pot of pasta was bubbling, with a large bowl of salad alongside it on the counter. On the island opposite, a dish of lasagna was letting off excess steam, adding to the pungent aroma.

"I didn't expect to see you in here so soon," Kimberly said, surprised at her brother's stealthy entrance. "I could really use some help with the table settings."

"Which ones are we using?"

"The red set," she replied, "...with the wine glasses - y'know, the ones with the fancy stems - to go along with it."

"How many do we need?"

"I'd say eight," she reasoned.

"Eight table settings?"

Just then, there came a loud knock at the door.

"Here's why," Kimberly exclaimed. She opened the door to allow Danny, Liam, Sam, Bill, and Harry inside, much to Ryder's surprise.

Many heartfelt greetings were exchanged.

"How's the mine been treating ya, Danny?"

"I was promoted to foreman last week," he declared proudly.

"That's great." He turned to Liam. "How're you getting along with the lumber workers, big bro?"

"Well, some of them still give me shit, but they usually get reprimanded for it the next day after that, since I've become so important."

"Nice!"

"I also get to start working the big saw next week."

"That'll be fun," Ryder said. "Just be careful to not cut your fingers off..." he warned, making Liam chuckle.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," he reassured his younger brother. "There'll be two or three other mares standing right next to me, making sure that doesn't happen..."

"Do they talk to you?"

"During coffee breaks, yes." The pair broke into laughter.

"Alright then."

Ryder's attention then turned to Bill. “What’s up, Little Billy?”

“Not much - just scored a bunch of job interviews,” he replied boastfully.

“Sweet…” Ryder said, in awe. “Where you working?”

“I’m doing a job interview with Big Creek High School next week, then two interviews in Patriot Creek after that, and then a big factory near Kirby.”

“Good luck with that! I’m sure you’ll do great.”

He walked over to Sammy, who was chatting with Kim over the sink.

“How’re you doing, Sammy-boy?”

“I’m a bit stressed out at the moment, but other than that, I’m doin’ just fine,” replied Sammy.

“Why is that?” Ryder inquired.

“Ponyville has this annual thing called ‘Running of the Leaves’, which apparently is like a marathon. The department have been working our collective arse off to get this whole thing set up. I’ve just now been allowed a bit of a break, and because of all this, I’ll be catching the first train back into town tomorrow.”

“Ain’t that a shame,” Ryder sympathised with him. “My homework is almost always like that. There’s always something that has to be done.”

“I feel you, mate!”

Leaving Sam to continue his conversation with Kim, Ryder approached Harry.

"And how is the traveler doing this fine day?"

"Great... we just closed a deal with St. John's Bay. They're agreeing to build a warehouse down there exclusively for our stuff, and it gets shipped straight to the market."

"That's awesome," Ryder said. "The coffee shop where I work at gets its coffee beans shipped out of Port Royal and across the dam from all over the world. It's quite convenient for us."

"Huh. You don't know how long it took for us to get that warehouse approved," Harry smirked. "I had to go over there at least ten times to negotiate all that."

"I bet it was worth it, signing the papers and junk."

"Indeed, it was," Harry said, pulling Ryder aside. "...look at what I have."

He pulled out a bottle of very fine French vintage. "Twenty cases a week, shipped up to Ponyville market... you and Kim might like this, so I brought a bottle up here."

Château de L’Échanson 1969… translating from French as “This is some really fucking expensive shit”...

“How much do old wines go for here? And be honest about it,” Ryder asked. unable to contain his giddiness.

“Usually for over 100 quid.”

“Over 100 quid!” Ryder repeated. “If this is true, then we’re in for a fucking treat.”

“Now, now, Ryder, don’t get too excited,” Harry said in an attempt to bring his younger counterpart back to earth.

"You'll never guess what we had to sit through," Ryder changed the subject.

"What happened?"

"The head principal gave us a big lecture about drugs yesterday."

"Well, that's going to have to be brought up at some point," Harry dismissed. "Did he talk about anything else?"

"Besides not giving birth in the ladies washrooms... as far as I can tell, that's the only big rule."

"He's that loose about it?"

"It's a liberal school, everyone up there's loose," Ryder giggled. "I can imagine the student council asking to hold a dance benefit, and the teachers basically saying 'Okay, just don't burn the place down, don't smoke dope...' and calling it a day...

"You're free to express your opinion, do as you like... It's a very nice experience."

"And I'm assuming your classmates are open to inter-species relations, yes?" Harry asked about Ryder's choice of mate.

"You're just scratching the surface, mate..." he shuddered. "When they found out that I was taking Lemony Gems, I swear to god, they went absolutely crazy. They're all obsessed with me... apparently Cosararan expats are a thing here."

"From your perspective, I don't see why that's not true!" Harry and Ryder doubled over in laughter.

As soon as they came to their senses, another loud knock echoed throughout the top-level
flat. Kim cracked the door to snatch a peek at Lemony Gems, the fair maiden that would accompany Ryder to the Fall Formal, carrying a large saddlebag.

Kim immediately rushed over to Ryder and broke his conversation with Harry, whispering "Your date's here... why don't you go meet her at the door."

Ryder quickly tiptoed toward the door, heart pounding out of his chest with anticipation. He made contact with the door handle, breathing already out of control. He turned it...

...and ever so slowly, he parted the door, revealing the cute unicorn mare in all of her beauty. His heart skipped a beat.

Instantly, the mare followed him inside. She pushed him up against the wall, voraciously kissing his face, his throat, and his lips, while Ryder responded with a frenzied passionate kiss on the lips as he ran his fingers through her mane...

...in full view of his brother and Kimberly, who just happened to have her Polaroid camera right there, snapping a picture. Gotcha.

Ryder froze where he was, and his face became a tomato. Lemony Gems uttered her first words since stepping into the house. "... Aww, sweetie, you're blushing."

He kissed her on the forehead.

"You mind if I can put my bag somewhere?"

"You can take it upstairs and set it down. Follow me."

"Don't make me an aunt!" Kimberly called out as the two ascended the stairs.

Gems set her assortment of caboodles at the foot of Ryder's bed.

"This bed looks nice for jumping," she declared. "...and can you not mess with my stuff? My dress, my makeup, all my stuff's in there."

"I won't touch it."

"Good. Can you join me on your bed? It feels really great."

"For jumping?"

"No, silly! I wanna cuddle." Ryder blushed again. Once he calmed down, he hopped on and snuggled close to his partner, draping his left arm over her body. He purred with delight at the feel of Gems's coat, which felt like a soft pillow against him.

"Your body feels amazing," he complimented.

"Thanks, honey bunny." She kissed him on the lips again. "But I don't want to get too into it, because we have a dance to get to."

"Right..." Ryder promptly leaped off the bed and ran down the stairs, Gems chasing after him.

Dinner was ready. Once every plate was full with salad and spaghetti, Harry pulled out the bottle of L'Échanson from earlier, while Kimberly picked up a bottle opener.

She pulled the cork out and smelled the contents of the bottle. Pouring it out in glasses for everybody, including Gems, she noticed the darker, rustier color as well as it having an older appeal while not being at all spoiled rotten or bitter.

Ryder and Gems took their seats at the table, each having a mound of spaghetti piled in front of them. Harry brought the wine glasses over.

"I propose a toast..." Harry started, and all glasses were raised in the air.

"...to warm, sweet, and passionate love, regardless of any barriers or divides."

"Cheers!" The whole group affirmed this. Gems pecked Ryder's cheek afterward.

Dinner went by without any major difficulty, with all the pasta eaten up and a few portions of lasagna left over. The bottle of wine was capped off and placed on the counter.

"Why don't you put on your stuff and come down here so we can take pictures?" Kim suggested, and the two scampered upstairs.

Gems dug into her bag while Ryder went towards the bathroom.

In there, Ryder stripped off all his street clothes and kicked them into one pile by the door, behind the toilet. First, he put on a clean pair of underpants and slid his pants on. Next, he buttoned up his shirt, fixing the collar as well. Several attempts were made to tie the tie, which he eventually managed to master. The jacket, hat, and shoes went on after that.

Another once-over and he was ready.

Lemony Gems, after organising the contents of her bag onto Ryder’s bed, put on her dress, which flowed down her figure and onto the floor like a crimson curtain, parting next to her flank in the hopes that her Ryder-bug would notice her shapely posterior. She slid on a pair of purple stockings to complement it. She brushed some glittery hair styling product into her mane to give it a glossy look. Lastly, a thin layer of blush was applied to her face, with a bit of mascara on the eyelashes plus one coat of pink eyeshadow to bring everything together.

She sneaked a bit of chocolate lipstick into her purse for kissing Ryder, and she was ready to go as well.

They both met at the bottom of the stairs, stunning the whole family.

“You two look beautiful,” Kim complimented, Polaroid in hand, as she snapped another picture.

“Thanks,” Lemony Gems said. “Can I see that?”

“You sure can.”

The camera spit out a sheet of instant-film; the happy couple’s picture was proudly printed onto it, soon to appear in all its glory. Gems set it on the counter to develop on its own before going out onto the balcony for more pictures.

It was a small bit chilly outside, with a strong wind from the south, which made for some cute touchy-feely shots. Kim came right behind them with the camera.

For the first set of pictures, Gems put her front hooves round Ryder’s neck and looked intently into his eyes. She then pulled him close to her body as she kissed his full, plump lips. Ryder reciprocated by dragging one hand through her mane while teasing her withers with the other, leaving the pair with a sizable amount of swapped spit as their lips momentarily parted.

“Wow, that was a nice set… three very nice pictures,” Kimberly interrupted.

“Wanna head inside, smooch on the couch?”

“Sure.” Kim followed them inside to the large couch in the living room. Ryder plopped down on the end cushion and Lemony Gems sat atop his legs. Kim snapped another photo.

She took out her chocolate lipstick, which had been sitting in her purse, and applied a liberal amount. “I was going to save this for the dance, but now I’ve got an idea…”

She crawled over Ryder’s body and gave his cheek a quick smooch. Snap.

Ryder’s response this time around was to peck her on the cheek again, but this time, he slid his hand into her dress and caressed her bare flank while they kissed again. Kim snapped two more pictures of the passionate scene unfolding before her.

“Okay, I think that’s enough mucking about,” Kim said. “My cartridge is almost out.”

The two jumped up off the couch. Gems closed up her lipstick and sealed it in her purse. They walked out into the kitchen, standing side by side, in the only “serious” photo of the lot.

“Widen those smiles!” Kim said as she snapped the pic.

“That will do.”

“What time is it now? I’m sure the dance will be starting soon,” said Ryder.

“It is…” Gems glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. “...almost six-thirty. We have to be there by eight, so if we get there by seven-thirty, we should be fine.”

“So that’s the plan then?”

“Yep.”

In the meantime, the bottle of wine from earlier was thoroughly drained, and Ryder made out with Gems in Kim’s bedroom.

The two eventually clambered towards the elevator, slightly drunk with lipstick marks and wet spots all over, with Kim and camera in tow.

The elevator squealed and moaned as it made its way down (partly the reason why Ryder prefers the stairs), stopping on the ground floor. They made their way outside, with Gems particularly drawing a lot of attention.

Outside on the walk, a chariot was ready to carry the two off. Kim took a picture with them standing in front of it, and another with them inside the carriage. A few bystanders looked at them, recognising the human who was about to set off in that very carriage.

Kim snapped a final photo as the carriage set off for Canterlot Academy.

“And now I’m out of instant-film...”

Author's Note

**Decided to split this next chapter up into two parts; GDocs is giving me some issues b/c of the size.

I'm experimenting with 1P in the second half! Sparkle Fire is competent author, I promise. I haven't given up on this one yet!

Chapter 5: The Very Thought of You [part 2]

Sept. 30, 1988. Fall Formal Dance; on the courtyard outside. Ryder's point of view.

As we approached the school, the slightly chilled air surrounding the carriage we rode in was getting to me. It was practically freezing my nose and ears solid. We came to a halt right outside the courtyard, where a mass of ponies awaited their turn to enter the gym, where the dance was being held.

Ponies of all races and classes were dressed in their finest, from sharp sport-coats and tuxedos, to elegant and ostentatious gowns. There had to be at least four hundred there, all congregated on the courtyard, chatting amongst themselves and showing off their styles and taking photos.

Gems and I almost immediately ran into Cheerilee upon our arrival.

She stood there, mouth agape, gasping in awe.

"You two look amazing," she praised. The purple filly then beckoned her mates over, who adored us even more. One of them had an instant-film camera in hoof, taking photos. We broke from that crowd afterwards, and then proceeded to meet up with Diamond Rose, Gems's best mate.

Rose was hesitant to make eye contact with me at first, freshly remembering how she was rejected. As a sign of reconciliation, I stroked her silky mane, which was done up with a boatload of styling creme and brush-in glitter and complemented with a small pink bow near the top. She turned around to face me before kissing me on the cheek and putting her hoof around my neck.

"You look cute," she complimented. "And so do you, Gems. You're quite sexy tonight."

"Thanks," Gems said. "You look pretty yourself, what with your pink dress and all."

Rose giggled for a second. "I thought you'd like it."

"Where's your date?"

"He's inside, getting everything ready. I'll introduce him to you once we get in."

"Wanna tag along with us until then?" I proposed.

"Sure."

We then met up with the boys -- Shining Armour, Gaffer, 8-Bit, Poindexter, and the rest -- looking handsome and studly.

We were serenaded with whistles and catcalls (perhaps it was because of Gems's dress) and all sort of stallion-like greetings and salutations. I responded with obligatory fist-bumps (or brohoofs, as it were) all the way round.

"Hey, is that Gemmy's flank I see?" Gaffer flirted, noticing her cutie mark being exposed through her dress.

"Wanna see more?" Gems taunted him some. I held him off by snaking my hand into her dress and teasing her round the base of her tail, pressing down and around, teasing Gaffer like a schoolboy:

"All mine... all mine... all mine!" before slapping her arse, making her cheeks visibly flushed. I pecked her on the lips once to make up for it.

"Don't try that around the jocks, unless you want to be kicked in the crotch once or twice..." she mouthed at me as a playful threat. Rose was standing right next to me, blushing like a pair of electric stovetop coils as well.

I calmed her down as well, kissing her face and stroking her back, admiring her wings and how she'd done them up.

"You look nice in that hat," Rose said.

"Thanks."

The time came to line up at the door. We had tickets that would be presented at the door and stamped on our way in. The mass of Fall Formal-goers were then instructed to wait in the cramped corridor leading into the gym, where final preparations were being made for the evening’s festivities.

After about five minutes, I could hear the record player whirred to life causing music to sound from the speakers accompanying it alongside.

We were one of the first couples to cross the threshold into the gymnasium, which was bedecked in balloons, streamers, glitter, and a gigantic glistening disco ball hanging from the rafters. There was a punch bowl in a far corner, beckoning partiers and revelers to partake in its contents.

A few ponies were already congregated around it, taking some punch in fancy glasses usually reserved for wine and brandy. I took two full glasses from the table, one for me and one for Gems. We met up with some of our mates who had already made it through the ticket line and gathered along a wall.

“How’re you doing?” I shouted over the music.

As I knew it, Gaffer would scouse a reply. “Ah’m fooooine, mate.”

“I know, right? It’s been a really awesome day.”

“Like, how?” Poindexter wondered.

“There was a big pep rally today. The whole bloody stadium was packed, everyone was enthusiastic… screamed my lungs out into my windpipe. Great fun.”

“Glad to hear.”

“There’s a big issue that I have, though.”

“Really?”

“There was a handful of them flying Cosararan flags. Why fly Cosararan flags at an Equestrian school, and at a pep rally, no less?”

“Maybe it’s because of your Cosararan heritage,” 8-Bit chimed in.

“Or maybe it’s a flag of communism, false hopes, and broken promises,” I shot back. I was rather disgusted with the red rag, in my humble opinion, and because of it, I wasn’t in the mood to hear any mention of it.

I had to change the subject. “So, what about all those parade floats? They seemed impressive…”

“I know, a lot of work goes into the floats. They’re always fantastic,” Poindexter commented the laudable effort put forward each year.

“Now, you see, I didn’t know you guys even had a parade the week of the Fall Formal. Is it, like, a major occasion?”

“Yes, it is,” Gems told me. “Always a real hoot, I’ll tell ya.”

“You should see the parades they put on back home… May Day’s a blast, so is Victory Day, Armed Forces Day, 25th of April… Liberation Day and Midsummer Day aren’t as big from what I can tell…”

“I’ve always heard that they were big celebrations an’ such,” Gaffer said.

“But who really gives a fuck now,” I told him off. “I don’t live there anymore.”

“There was also a big polo game afterwards… I heard we won by one point,” Gems said.

“I don’t understand polo anyways… I just don’t understand it.” I downed the rest of my punch and ran over to the punch table to put the glass back where it belongs.

To the dance floor!

We practically burned the joint down with all our sick dance moves.

We walked like Egyptians, we hustled, we jumped on it, hell, we even did the whole Thriller thing. And it was a blast.

But here's where it began to get serious. After a while, this wicked song comes on, and Lyra asks me to dance. I took my jacket off and swung it around, getting into the groove. But then, she turned around and began gyrating her hips on me, while a bunch of ponies cheered. It wasn't long before several other couples began to 'dirty dance' - that is, the stallion rears up onto his dance partner (usually a mare), who is grinding into his crotch. It was quite a surprising sight to see. My, erm, "gentleman's area" began to rise, and so were those of the other stallions involved.

I was beginning to enjoy it - I really was. However, our festivities were cut short by one of the teachers. She took the microphone, made sure that it was working. I could recognise who she was from her physique and her violet fur...

Wait a minute... that's Miss Violet!

"I've been hearing about a great deal of inappropriate dancing on the floor..."

There was a great din of cheering.

"No way," she shouted. "Not happening. If you're caught doing that again, I will personally have you thrown out!"

Some of the stallions in the crowd bowed their heads, disappointed of themselves for their behaviour. A few others went to the punch bowl to drink their sorrows away.

The DJ regained control of the microphone. "Let's take this a little slower," she calmly suggested, laying the needle down onto a record.

At that moment, a slow, romantic song began to play.

"May I have this dance?" I said.

"Of course," Lemony Gems replied.

She leapt up and placed her front hooves around my neck, clasping my shoulders; I put my arms around her chest. I was almost able to look right into her eyes. Considering that she only came up to my own chest at her normal height, this was slightly surprising.

We then swayed back and forth to the music. Unaccustomed to standing only on her hind legs, she hobbled about and turned on the spot. I helped her up whenever she would lose her balance.

Our eyes lulled shut. We could each feel the pattern of our breathing as we drifted even further towards paradise. I kissed her sweet face several times, nibbled her ears, and leaned into her to smell her captivating scent; she responded in kind.

Towards the end of the song, we hugged tightly right then and there, and longingly kissed each other on the lips. We felt like the only couple around, a delicious feeling that we soaked up. I could feel a single tear drip onto my shoulder as I continued to tenderly hold her.

“I’ve got to have you,” she suddenly told me. In that moment, I knew that I had to comfort her, and to let her take comfort in me.

Following this revelation, we said goodbye to all of my friends, as well as hers, before exiting.

Lemony Gems and I walked out of the building in each others' embrace. We passed a gaggle of Fall Formal-goers who were waiting for carriages to arrive; they either decided to leave of their own accord or were kicked out for dirty dancing. Who knows?

I was still wiping wet spots from my face when a carriage finally arrived. Gems gave her home address to the driver and off we went.

We arrived at an apartment building in the very far south reaches of Canterlot's suburbs, a stately yellow building with a chain-link fence surrounding it.

"Follow me," Gems said. I followed her every move, up two flights of concrete stairs and down a long pathway to her family's apartment building. She dug her spare key out of the flowerpot on the windowsill to unlock the door, and we went inside.

The apartment itself was quite modest indeed; there was a Victorian air to it, with ancient wallpaper that was peeling in places, and the furniture smelled strongly of cigar smoke. I took a second to acclimate myself to the air, and laid out my suit jacket and set my fedora on the aged leather armchair. She opened the door to her bedroom to let me inside. Her room had roughly the same feel as the rest of the apartment; the flowery wallpaper was getting ready to peel off the walls. Posters of her favourite bands were strategically placed where the original wall was already exposed.

The modern world was somehow imported into this room, with a fancy lamp from a Canterlot department store gracing her simple wooden nightstand. A record player and a small portable cassette player sat on top of her dresser, along with a picture of me from this past summer that she had kissed with lipstick and placed in a picture frame (my name was written in gold glitter on the frame).

She magically slid out of her sexy dress and laid it on her bed. And she finally spoke to me in that sweet, gentle voice of hers...

"I'm so glad that I have you," she softly said to me.

Tears began to well up in my eyes and stain her mane as we embraced each other in the security of her private quarters. I began to take my shirt, tie, and shoes off and lay them on top of her dress.

We laid on the bed and looked into each others' eyes, my hand holding her hoof. We slowly moved closer into each other, a loving feeling of closeness and intimacy coursing through us. As our lips touched, we became intoxicated; stroking her mane and the occasional light touch sent even more tingling sensations rippling through our bodies and adding to the moment.

She nuzzled her body up against mine, spooning me - I was the big spoon, she was the little one. My arm and one of my legs was draped over her body as the moon shone brightly through the window.

"I wish we could be like this forever," Gems professed.

"I agree," I replied, "but I have to start making my way home soon. So would it kill you to give me a goodnight kiss?"

"Totally..." We untangled ourselves from our web, while I got dressed. I tucked my shirt back into my pants, adjusted my tie back into place, and slid my shoes back on.

"Goodnight, my love." We kissed passionately one last time before I set out the door. I made sure to grab my jacket and fedora on my way out.

I made it back into town at almost midnight. That blissful experience was still in my mind as I drifted to sleep.

Author's Note

I just want to inform you that I am experimenting with a different point of view, I hope it’s better that what I’ve put out up to this point. Enjoy this as well as the next couple of chapters!

Chapter 6: Figure It Out

Monday after Fall Formal; October 3, 1988. Morning.

"Ryder, do you know the answer to this?"

He raised his head in surprise, not expected to be named in class. His mind was in various other places at the time.

“Yes, I do…”

“Will you tell us?”

"Umm... do you know... those sweet potatoes that are quite popular in Jamaica and used in some of their rather spicy and interesting soups and stews?"

"No, that's not quite it."

"I'm sorry, my head isn't screwed on this morning as I'd like it to be."

"Still thinking about Gems?"

"Sorta."

"Well, we're going over the set of questions from the textbook that we answered last week in class. That should get your mind off her for a while."

Mr. Green's playful telling-off roused a few giggles from a class of kids dazed from the events of the past week and from the dance.

With that, Ryder had fully emerged from his insightful daydream, evaluating his relationship with Lemony Gems and formulating a plan as to where it would go from this point forward. He had a rough idea, but it was an empty shell at best.

On his way to his next class, he bumped into her in the corridor, making the pleasant memories from that evening bubble forth, causing him to blush. He stood silently for a second.

She pawed the floor for a few seconds before finally breaking the ice.

“Look… I know we’re good friends and all -- ”

“And kinda ‘in love’ if you’re asking me,” Ryder mindlessly interrupted, not being able to think.

The train of thought momentarily derailed.

“So… with that in mind… would like to, you know… kinda… go out together?”

Ryder was dumbstruck. He’d only met her four or five months ago; he’d only legitimately ‘hung out’ with her only once or twice in that time. Why this sudden leap into serious relations now?

She continued. “Well, we’re not exactly ‘going together’, but you get the point…” Ryder had leaned against the wall, his head tilted upwards, his mind muddled. “...Right?”

He let out a long sigh. “We’ll try it, but just this once.”

“You don’t necessarily have to do it if you’re not in the mood to. I understand.” Gems tried to reason with him.

But then, circumlocution attacked! “It’s just that… this is a bit sudden, that’s all. Not that I don’t like you, Gems, I just want you to realise that…”

“Whoa, whoa, slow your roll, buddy; you’re talking yourself into a frenzy again.” She put her hoof on his shoulder. “How about Tealove’s place, after classes today? You can just walk over there, and we can have a nice little chat.”

“...And sort this whole thing out. I like it… I’ll see you there, then.”

The two parted ways, satisfied with that plan.

In Home Ec that afternoon, after all the equipment was put away for the day, his mates wouldn’t stop buggering him about it.

“Hey, I heard you were dating Gems,” Cheerilee taunted him.

“Well… yes. But only ‘dating’, not officially going ‘together’, y’hear? We agreed to try it once, just to see how it goes. If it works, all’s well and good. If it doesn’t… I‘ll try again with Rose.”

“That’s a bit groady, if you ask me.”

“I know, but it’s a precaution… I’m not into any serious relationships at the moment. Like I said, if it goes well, I’ll consider… you know, ‘going together’... yes?”

“For sure,” Cheerilee agreed with him. “I understand now where you’re going with this.”

“That’s good.” Ryder sighed and leaned his head back in the chair he was sitting in. “She wants to go to Tealove’s tea room on the Embankment after class shuts today.”

“You’re right next to it!”

“Close… it’s six blocks from my building. I can easily walk there.”

“That’s great, Ryder. Are you taking her back to your place?”

“Probably not. We’re still figuring it out.”

“Okay, then…”

The bell rang through the classroom right then and there.

"Well, I've to be off now. I'll see you round."

He made it back home with no difficulties.

...............

As Ryder opened the door, he would usually see Kimberly first thing, getting dinner ready, cleaning, or something of the sort. Today, she was strangely absent, not a trace of her anywhere in sight.

That was, until he discovered a note on the kitchen counter. He picked it up and skimmed over it.

Ryder --
Have to work evening shift. I’ll be back at 10:00 or so. I’ve left some money in an envelope for dinner, you’ll have to fend for yourself.

Kim

He picked up the envelope next to the note, slipped his jacket on, and sailed out the door.

He saw Lemony Gems, in a simple shawl, standing outside the window awaiting his arrival. She hoofed open the door and allowed herself and Ryder to enter.

They were greeted by the proprietor Tealove, a gentle and generous green Earth pony, who escorted the pair to an empty table in the middle of the room.

“I’ve got some water heating up for you… I’ll get it as soon as it’s ready. There’s some sugar and milk on the table, as well as some tea bags.”

“Thanks,” Ryder said.

Once the water arrived, Gems and Ryder retrieved two cups and two saucers from the center of the table.

Ryder picked a lovely black tea, while Gems selected a traditional green tea; they both then proceeded to prepare it as they liked - Ryder with enough lumps of sugar to make it remarkably sweet, Gems with just a small pinch of sugar.

He stirred his tea around and sipped from time to time as it cooled down, looking at the steam rising into the air and fading away.

"Listen..." Gems began, "I know you're confused."

Ryder stared mindlessly into his teacup, thinking of nothing.

"Hello? Ryder..."

"Whoa... where was I?"

"You looked like you were in another world there."

"I know, I know. So where are we?"

"We're in relationship negotiation mode."

At this point, Ryder clammed up, suddenly hesitant to speak.

"Like I said... I've absolutely no clue how we're going about a relationship. Feels like I'm rough waters."

"I'm in the same boat, so to speak," Gems concurred. "Apart from Fall Formal, we haven't, ya know, seen each other."

"I'd prefer that we stay close friends," Ryder suggested. "I'm not seeing a serious relationship in the cards."

Gems suddenly began dispensing compliments. "I don't just see a friend; you're nice, friendly, smart, truthful, you have great looks, you're sociable, you're everything anypony could want in a friend..."

Ryder was just worried about her yammering her head off.

"Slow your roll, sister..." He stopped her. "I think it's quite clear that we get along."

"So we can be an item?"

"I don't want to say 'item', but if that's the appropriate term," Ryder conceded, "then sure, I guess we're an item."

The yellow mare squealed in excitement.

"But here's the thing..." She calmed herself so she could hear everything.

"We take it slow. We don't do anything outright serious or, shall we say, suggestive, until we're absolutely certain of the relationship. If it doesn't work out, then I guess we'll go back to being good friends."

"Sounds good to me," Gems replied, sealing the deal and opening the door to further relations while they were at it. Mutually agreeing, they finished their tea and paid up before readying to head back to the apartment.

Their stroll back to the apartment was stately one. When they reached an alley right next to the building, Ryder suddenly tripped over a hole in the walk and lost his step. The watery, muddy puddle that he landed in managed to soak his clothes, leave a decent-sized mud stain on his shirt as well as splatter some on his face and in his hair, and rip a small hole in his trousers.

"Are you okay?" Gems asked, concerned. He simply bolted for the entrance to the building, leaving her to climb seventeen flights of stairs to get to his door. Once she reached it, she saw Ryder curled up over an air vent on the kitchen floor, stripped down to his skivvies with his wet and soiled clothes in a pile nearby, trying to warm up.

"You poor thing," she sympathised with him. "I'll go get a couple of towels... the mud totally got me as well. Do you know where they're at?"

"By the upstairs bathroom, in a closet. They should be there."

She wasted no time in retrieving them. Ryder snatched one and rapidly shook it through, drying off his hair and wiping himself clean.

"I can shampoo your mane, if you want."

"You wanna?"

"Totally."

"Over the sink?"

"Unless you prefer washing up in the shower..." Gems taunted, feeling a bit mischievous.

"Ha ha, very funny, Gems."

"Seriously, dude. You wanna shower together?"

"I'd rather not," Ryder replied in a terse tone of voice to show that he was not interested.

In lieu of not actually having shampoo to spare, she settled for using her magic and drying his hair with the towel. Once it was fairly dry, he took his filthy clothes into the laundry corner and set them on the top of the washing machine for later.

Little did he know, the jaune, jocular young mare was waiting in the living room with her towel in a bind. Upon his entering the area to watch a little TV, the towel snapped at his legs. He then chased after her around the entire flat with a towel in hand, only this time, he was aiming the towel towards her flank.

"I've got you now," Ryder boasted as he backed her into Kimberly's closet. Gems retaliated by tickling his underarms with her magic, making him laugh hysterically. She ran after him into the living room, where she tackled him onto the couch and kissed him, much to his surprise. Ryder simply stared into her eyes, shocked. His heartbeat was through the roof, and his hairs were standing on end.

That was when he took the lead: he clasped his arms around her neck, laid his hands on the back of her head in a prime position to stroke her mane, turned her on her side, and commenced his assault on her lips.

Funny noises escaped from their throats; moans of pleasure and longing rang through the flat. He tugged on her mane and flicked her ears. His left hand drifted down her back - teasing her withers and massaging her croup - as the spit-swapping festivities edged closer towards a climax.

Being the testosterone-fueled adolescent male that he was… his, shall we say, ‘little soldier’... rose to attention, causing his underwear to tent up. The kissing was momentarily interrupted when she took notice.

“Ohh… is my Ryder-bug getting all worked up?”

He couldn’t deny it. “Stooooop… I’m not ready for sex. We only went on, like two dates!” He begged of her to stop.

“But it’s all your fault… I want you so much,” she said, grinding her hindquarters against him.

“I want you too,” Ryder said, “but like I said, I’m not ready yet...” His hand was against her cutie mark. He rubbed her behind and patted it a few times.

“But your cock says you are…” she whispered. “I can feel how ready you are…” She magically slid off his underpants, exposing both his erect cock and the accompanying scrotum, with the testicles inside pulled into him. “Ohh, baby, you’ve got me all worked up…”

She sat down directly on his crotch - his penis ended up lodged within the warm valley between the pair of ample teats that hung from her nether regions; his swollen jewels sat opposite her dripping wet femininity, that entrance to heaven, that gateway to her womb, her very soul!

“I’m gonna take you for a ride, cowboy…”

“Oh, shit…” He’s in for quite a ride.

She began sliding up and down on his cock like a bucking bronco, building her arousal even more. Her nether regions rubbed against his balls every once and a while. Back up top, their lips reunited once again.

Meanwhile, Ryder put his hands to work. He put his fingers at the dock of her tail and pulled it back towards him, causing her to moan in delight as her tail flagged and her sopping wet rear end was trusted into the air.

“Do that again! Do that again! Do that again!” she demanded.

“Oh, alright…” He pulled at her tail again and again, making her scream louder and higher. He lifted his nasty bits to hers so she could continue grinding on him. He also tugged on her mane. All this sensory attention made them both explode with pleasure before collapsing on the couch in a tired, worn-out heap.

They were still breathing heavily when they finally got off the couch and discovered a wet spot on the cushion.

“What’re you going to do about it?”

“I’ll put a towel over it.”

Ryder, still naked, walked over to the fridge and got himself a beer. He then made his way back to the couch.

“You know… we could have satisfied ourselves without that whole… thing.” Ryder said.

“Don’t worry about it… we will.”

“The thing is, I don’t have a lot of experience… that is, when it comes to sex… I haven’t the slightest clue how to do it… to satisfy mares, I mean.”

“Just wait until I go into heat,” Gems warned, “then I’ll really show you how you satisfy a mare…”

“If I didn’t know you any better, I’d think you were sleeping around.”

“I’d never sleep around.”

“I know that… but just for the record, you were the one who threw me on the couch… and did most of the teasing.”

“You’re a massive tease and you know it!”

“Wait… I am,” Ryder realised before collapsing in laughter.

“I’ve got to be going now,” Gems told him. “It’s getting late.”

“Alrighty, see you later.” Ryder hugged her and planted a single kiss upon her forehead before she left.

“Take care, toots.”

At that point, he just threw a towel on the wet spot from the steamy make-out session earlier, lied down on the couch, finished his beer, and basked in the glorious afterglow.

Chapter 7: Enter Diamond Rose

October 5, 7, and 8, 1988

In Homeroom, the day often starts with the class generally talking amongst themselves while Mrs. Violet is out running errands or on hall monitor duty.

Today, the talk of the town was Ryder’s politically soupy homeland.

“Our neighbours are crazy,” Lyra began.

“They certainly are,” Sweetcream Scoops seconded, laying out her things for the day.

“Especially their leaders,” Gaffer said. “Bunch of squabbling, empty-headed morons anyhow.”

“You said it,” Ryder hit the nail on its head.

“There’s this skimpy one that really grinds my gears,” Shining Armor pointed out. “She always had whore clothes on, used to be Speaker, drank a great deal…”

“You’re talking about Stephanie Kaye,” Ryder said. “She won her seat in the last parliamentary election a couple of years ago.”

“Didn’t she become Speaker?” 8-Bit asked.

“Unfortunately, yes, she did,” Ryder lamented.

“But she’s gone now, right?”

“I’ll get to that in a second…”

Lyra trotted up beside him and sat next to him. “But why does everyone hate her?”

“Well, I’ll tell you...” Several of his classmates came trotting up to him, attention turned on him. “A few months after she became speaker, she flirted with a bunch of delegates from her own party. When one of them, Derek Wheeler, turned her down, she simply wanted to make him jealous. So she approached Joey Jeremiah, another socialist.”

“And what happened with him?” 8-Bit asked.

“I’ll get to him when I get to him. Now, the opposition Workers’ Party knew about an open ministerial position within the government that they really, really wanted to have… they approached Yick Yu, and told him he should go for it, to have Stephanie nominate him for that position… but she blew him off.
“At this point, she sweet-talked Joey into becoming the new minister, and of course, he accepted. He was confirmed as the new Minister of Culture.”

“Then what happened?” Sweetcream Scoops butted in.

“The Workers’ Party absolutely lost their shit! They started telling the media that they were going to impeach her, do this, do that… it was a mess.

“Soon after, Derek found out about that little scheme, and Heather and Erika Farrell - two socialist delegates, twin sisters to be precise - thought that Speaker Steph was abusing her power, using Joey to get back at him. Joey asked the twins the exact same thing, and they said yes.”

“Did they get rid of her after that?” Shining Armor asked in anticipation.

“You won’t believe what happened next!”

“What?”

Pause for dramatic effect…

“He quit… a week later!”

Jaws dropped all around the room.

“Yep… he decided that we wasn’t going to play that game and went about his business.”

“And that, I’m afraid, is just the tip of the iceberg,” Shining declared.

“She had a bad habit of showing up drunk to things like fundraisers, charity events, committee meetings, and such. One time, she vomited on the Chief Justice of the People’s Supreme Court at a benefit for foster children...” Ryder continued, “... and often wore skimpy clothing, like Shining said earlier, as part of her ‘image’.

“Throw in a further shitload of scandals and back-door deals and you see her, crying her eyes out on national TV, resigning her speakership…”

“Serves her right,” Lyra dismissed. “The slippery bastard…”

“And that was just in March of this year. She’s not running for re-election next summer, either!”

“Sweet. Hopefully they sort themselves out,” Gaffer said, feeling a bit optimistic.

“There’s a big election coming up, at year’s end,” Ryder elaborated.

“What? There’s another election over there in crazytown?” Sweetcream Scoops disorientedly asked him.

“They’re voting for the Premier,” Ryder continued. He further explained that unlike their Soviet trading partners, Cosararans have the privilege to elect their top government leaders. Being the only socialist country to offer citizens that opportunity after having their past leaders forced onto them for so long, they would be sure to take advantage of it.

“So yeah, that’s Cosararan Politics 101 for you.”

Buck Withers then had the gall to mention the ‘encounter’ from Monday.

“Yes, yes, yes, I may engaged in questionable activity with Lemony Gems,” Ryder blew the over-excitable one off. “Kim noticed a great big wet spot on the couch when she got home. She assumed that I’d spilled a sugary drink or something on the cushions. She gave me a big lecture about not ruining the couch before she cleaned it off, that’s all.”

Lemony Gems blushed, knowing that the wet spot was entirely of her own doing… well, her and Ryder’s doing.

The bell then rang for first period, putting an end to the impromptu naming. Diamond Rose, another mare who was quite interested in Ryder, trotted up beside him and struck up a quick conversation.

“Diamond Rose?”

“Hi!” She said.

“How’re you doing?”

“I’m doing just fine. I’m just on my way to class… I’m right next door to you.”

“I remember… You’re right across from my Maths,” he connected the dots.

The pair giggled for a bit.

“Soooo… thanks for dancing with me at Fall Formal,” she said.

“Sure… anytime.”

She paused in thought for a moment. “I was wondering…”

Ryder stopped and listened intently.

“Would you… maybe… like to go out sometime?”

“Ohh… I’m not exactly sure about that.”

“If you don’t want to, I understand. I’m not trying to force you into anything…”

“No, it’s just that…” He pondered his options from here. He could either turn her down or he could go for it, but also carry the burden or juggling two relationships with two different ponies at once, and from two different races. After putting some thought into it, he made his choice.

“Sure, why not? Ehh… do you want to catch a movie or something? Maybe… on Friday?”

“This Friday?”

“Yeah…”

“Absolutely!”

“Then it’s settled…” But then, he remembered something. “... ah, wait! I’ve gotta run errands for Kim after class that day… but I can pick you up, say, at around seven?”

“Sounds good.” Ryder nodded his head in the affirmative. “Here, I’ll give you my number.”

She then pulled a slip of paper and a pen from her purse and wrote it down, passing it to him afterwards.

“That way, if plans change, you can give me a call.”

“Alright.”

“Listen… I’d better head to class now. My teacher for this class is a bit strict about anypony being tardy.”

“On that note... I guess I’ll see you Friday.”

“Okay… buh-bye.”

.....................

That Friday, Ryder and Diamond Rose enjoyed a particularly entertaining movie in Canterlot's East End, all the while pissing themselves silly.

After wiping up the resulting mess (especially in Ryder's trousers), they walked for about thirteen blocks to a pizza parlor, where they were seated in a booth.

"What'd you like to drink?" the server asked them.

"Diet Coke, please," Ryder said.

"Your finest lemonade," said Rose.

"I'll be right back with that, what would you like to eat?"

"We'll split a large pepperoni pizza."

"Great... you should expect it in fifteen or twenty minutes."

"Sure!" And she was off.

And then, bang on, the pizza arrived, in twenty minutes’ time. The pair gnawed into the pizza, savouring every last bite, washing it down with the drinks they’d ordered.

Until they reached the final slice.

“Are you sure that you don’t want the last slice?” Ryder asked.

“No thanks, go ahead… I am stuffed,” Diamond Rose said.

“If you insist…” He claimed the last slice for himself before chuckling underneath his breath hysterically.

“What is it, Ryder-baby?” Rose called him out, referring to him by his other pet-name.

“I was just thinking about that scene… where that one guy lost all his clothes,” he replied. He was talking about the comedy film that they saw earlier that evening, which was a playful satire of the Cosararan political scene. The scene he was referring to contained references to an old law outlawing traditional Cosararan tunics throughout the country (of the type Ryder possesses) and the response to it, which occasionally involved resisters’ tunics being yanked off their bodies before they were sent to prison for violating the law.

In her best Russian accent, she responded as close to the movie quote as possible: “‘Zat is ze most obscene article of clothing zat I have ever laid eyes on!’ and he yanks it off…” before collapsing in a fit of laughter.

“I agree, that was an awesome movie…”

“That was hilarious… and the food fight?”

They laughed themselves into delirium once again, remembering the allusion-laden scene satirising the pugnacious state of politics in Ryder’s homeland, with the Cosararan Socialist Party and the opposition Cosararan Workers’ Party constantly bickering, with meetings of the National People’s Assembly often breaking out into fights.

“That was great… why can’t life be like that, you know? Why does everything have to be so serious?”

Ryder polished off his pizza and downed his Diet Coke.

“Soooo… I don’t have to be home for another hour and a half. What do you wanna do?” Diamond Rose proposed.

“I dunno, what do you wanna do?”

She stared at him, dreamy-eyed and deep in romantic thought. The look in her eyes screamed ‘let’s jump into bed now’.

Ryder had an idea almost immediately. After paying the bill, he found a secluded alleyway next to the shop. He managed to sneak past the back door and hide behind the dumpster. Diamond followed close behind.

"Okay, sweets, the coast is clear," he assured her.

"Alright..."

The young mare made the first move, pushing him against the cold brick wall and pressing her lips to his. A warm strand of saliva connected the two as they stared into each others' eyes.

Another round of fevered and passionate kissing ensued, with Rose attempting to unfasten the button on his pants as her wings involuntarily spread to zenith, a phenomenon known in these parts as a 'wingboner'. Ryder's fingers danced through her mane and tickled her ears. He eventually reached down to play with her feathers, and she suddenly let out a loud groan as her tail flagged ever so slightly.

"They're very sensitive," she explained to him.

"I'm just worried that someone may've heard that."

"Don't worry about a thing. I'm whisper-quiet when I need to be."

While somepony is standing there, bewildered and bug-eyed, unnerved at the scene unfolding before him…

...........

The next day, at Shining Armor's house, rumors of the encounter began spreading like a contagious disease of juicy gossip over a friendly game of Hocuspocus: The Get-Together.

"Did you hear of Ryder making it with that other one?" Gaffer excitedly mused.

"You mean Diamond Rose? That one, from Fall Formal?" Shining asked, wanting confirmation.

"Yep."

"I knew she liked Ryder a whole awful lot..." 8-Bit chimed in. Poindexter was analyzing his hand of cards, not caring much for the conversation at hand.

"But did they really go that far?"

"Seriously, mate, I live right across the street from that shop and I could see them, in the alleyway, goin' at it, third base an’ all that," Gaffer proudly boasted.

"Whoa... he's very lucky."

“But what if it doesn’t work out?” Gaffer posed the question, “...Then all their hearts would be broken.”

“Well, I know that.”

“My question, therefore, could be… will Ryder be able to hold on to those two, or will one of them find out about the other and ruin the whole damn thing?”

“One of them will find out, let’s put it at that.”

“But they’re both obsessed with him!”

“Which opens the door for a ménage à trois,” 8-Bit suggested. “and that will be the tricky part.”

“But whatever happens, Ryder’s got a lot of rough seas to navigate if he wants to keep it together,” Gaffer concluded in the most effortless of terms.

"What I wouldn't give to have two mares in love with me..." Shining's train of thought chugged out of the station.

Chapter 8: Best Time of the Year [part 1]

December 24, 26-31, 1988

Christmas (or Hearth's Warming, as the locals prefer to call it) in Equestria is not unlike Christmas back home; parties are still held, gifts are still exchanged, and holiday decorations trim absolutely everything.

Ryder is actually hosting one of these parties in Canterlot, worlds separate from all the snooty, up-the-arse types endemic to this area, with a fully bedecked Christmas tree and free-flowing beer and wine. His brothers are back in town, and all of his mates have come over. Lemony Gems is chatting with Diamond Rose and having a glass of wine, and he's having a lager with Shining Armour and Lyra Heartstrings while holiday music pipes from the record player on the TV stand.

"So let me get this straight... You first had Gems." Lyra said.

"And I almost banged her."

"Then there was Rose..."

"When Gaffer saw me snogging her."

She connected the dots very easily.

"You're making it with both of them?" Lyra gasped.

"That's right," I said. "I'm very close with both of them."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Shining contributed.

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Because if one of them finds out about the other, you'll break both of their hearts, and that's a thing you don't want to see happening, especially in a community-centered culture such as ours."

I wasn't in the mood to hear that lecture again. I finished off my beer and promptly chucked the empty bottle in the rubbish bin. I returned to the conversation with a small plate of chips and dip ready to go.

"But there are literally herds of ponies that mate with each other and raise children as a group... so why shouldn't I be able to try my hand at that?"

"How long have you been here?" Shining rebuffed me.

My thoughts came back to me as I ate a tortilla chip, the crunching noises somewhat aiding the process. "About a year and a half."

"There you go," he said.

"The main thing that I'd like to point out is that humans aren't exactly suited for more than one mate. And judging from the looks of it, they're looking for a one-on-one thing, not a 'wild thing'... you dig, my brother?"

"Sure..." I said reluctantly. There couldn't be any way that this could be true. I did my homework (to some degree) and the books show that ponies are more interested in herds than traditional monogamous relations.

I decided to do my own investigation. I walked up to Gems, who had just finished her wine, and so, was swaying gently from side to side.

“You want another glass?” I asked.

“No thanks, I’m tipsy as hell,” she simply said.

“Come sit with me on the couch.” I managed to lead her to the couch and she sat herself down.

“Whaddaya want?” Gems asked me. I could smell the light trace of alcohol on her breath as she spoke.

“About us and Diamond Rose… do you think we’re good together?”

She was staring at me, incredibly confused. Apparently I said the wrong thing. I tried again.

“Do you like me and Diamond Rose?”

“Of course I like you,” she said breathily. She was moving closer to me, clearly under the influence. “You’re the best guy friend anypony could ask for.”

“Even with all the mushy shit?”

“Mm-hmm…” She was now rubbing her head on me, and Diamond noticed this from across the living room. I tried to wiggle myself free, but Gems was grabbing my neck with her hooves, attempting to hug me close to her.

“Stop it, Gems! You’re choking him!” Diamond Rose shouted.

“Thanks, Rose…” I freed myself from the grip of yellow hooves and fruity breath.

“You’re welcome,” she said as she leaned into me, her ears twitching just enough for me to notice. I played with them for a while, then made my move.

"Do you like it when we're close with each other?"

"Yeeeeeesss..." I could tell she was also drunk. She collapsed into me, nearly bogging me down while she wrapped her front hooves around me. I had to get her up on her own hooves, which was fairly easy due to her being practically weightless (what with being a pegasus and all).

"Look in my eyes, sweetie... I know you like me, but do you mind if I'm close with both you and Gems?"

She stumbled my way for a moment, not saying anything.

"Yes or no?"

Diamond Rose fainted into a heap of drunken pegasus in front of me, not providing an answer to my simple question. Gaffer offered to take her home shortly after.

The party didn't take long to fully wind down, as it was approaching 12:30 in the morning, which mean that Santa (or whatever the Equestrian equivalent is) would be coming. Looking at the crowd, I marked that some, of not the majority, of my party guests were clearly drunk, passed out on the floor or plopped onto my furniture to sleep off the alcohol. I remembered my brothers falling asleep somewhere in my own quarters, and Kimberly fighting a hangover in my closet.

While most of the guests were making their way home, Cherry Berry offered to help me clean up, which was a much-needed blessing. Once all the rubbish was jammed into a giant trash bag in the kitchen, I bid her adieu and called it a night.

................

The next day, Ryder's family members exchanged gifts, drank, and patronised a local restaurant to indulge in a Christmas roast. Combine that with obscene amounts of dessert, and you've got a recipe for a spectacular holiday hangover.

The morning after (Dec. 26), the phone's ringing roused the lot awake.

“Who's it?” I languorously walked over to the phone, still fighting the after-effects of yesterday’s festivities.

I picked it up. “Hello?”

“Guess where we’re going over the holidays?” I could recognise that voice immediately; it was Lyra’s.

I shifted the receiver to my other ear. “I don’t know, what do you have in mind?”

“We’re going to Bear’s Paw… my aunt lives out there. She’ll be calling in a few to fill Kim in on the details.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yeah… You’ll like it down there. You’ll like my aunt, and her husband is an okay pony too.”

“Sounds radical.”

“It’s gonna be… and Ryder-babe, wait ‘til you see the snow they get down there!”

I hung up, the drunken torpidity vanishing into thin air as I prepared to tell Kim the news.

“Guess where Lyra’s invited me?”

“To her house to screw around?”

“No, it’s nothin’ like that.”

“Tell me then,” she said.

“Down south, to Bear’s Paw… her aunt has a place down there. She’s gonna call ya.”

“Don’t expect me to say yes just like that, sonny,” she rebuffed me. “I’ll have to think about it once I hear the details.”

The phone rang at about noon. “That must be her,” Kim said. “I’ll go ahead and take it into my room.” My brothers were all still asleep.

When she popped out fifteen minutes later, I asked her what Lyra’s aunt had said.

“She sounded quite nice,” Kim replied.

“Go on…”

“She mentioned a big resort in Bear’s Paw, on the way to Morin Heights, but not near the border with Cosarara. She said that a bunch of Lyra’s friends were planning a big outing for the week of Christmas - ”

“They prefer Hearth’s Warming,” I said.

“Would you let me finish? … I think you have some winter clothes from your big shopping trip over the summer.”

“I can go look, if that’s the case.”

“The drive’s about an hour.”

The wheels began clicking into place in my mind. “So I can go?”

“I suggest you start packing now.”

“You mean it?” She nodded in earnest.

"Thanks, Kim!" I hugged her as hard as I could and ran upstairs to pack my suitcase and winter gear. I was careful to not run into my brothers, who were still dealing with their hangovers.

Almost immediately, I dragged my suitcase out from underneath my bed, swatting away the cobwebs and picking at the dust bunnies. I packed enough warm clothes, assuming a full week in the mountains.

In a separate bag, I crammed my high-visibility ski jacket inside, as well as my navy blue ski pants and my snow boots. I packed my gloves, a toboggan, and a pair of snow goggles just in case. I found a hot pink scarf in a dark, disorganised corner of my closet and decided to throw it in the bag for good measure.

The phone rang as soon as I bagged up my toiletries; I picked it up off the ringer and yanked the antenna to full mast.

"I have it!" I shouted down the steps to let Kimberly know I was using the phone. "Hello?"

"Ryder, buddy! Ready to go yet?"

"I've just been packing," I told him, excited about the outing.

"Good on ya," he said. "We'll be at the train station waiting for everypony. The train leaves at 12:30."

"Sounds great." We chatted for a couple more minutes and hung up. I left for the train station soon after.

However, I'd forgotten something. I ran back inside, rocketed back up the stairs, and dug £500 out of my secret sock-drawer stash that I keep for special occasions; I was most likely going to have to convert to bits when I got to Bear's Paw.

....................

Looking out the window, there was snow everywhere. I saw several small villages in the valley below and icicles were dangling from every tree.

Other than that, the train ride to Bear’s Paw was somewhat uneventful; all there was to do was get drunk, play Hocuspocus (which I wasn’t too interested in) and tell stories from school for one and a half hours. I remember having two rounds of vodka and losing my footing while I was stepping off the train. If the stewards weren’t so helpful with our luggage, I don't think we would have made it.

We took a taxi to the resort complex itself, which was about two kilometers from the train station. Our group (myself, Shining Armour, 8-Bit, Gaffer, and Poindexter) met the girls (Lyra, Cheerilee, Cadence, Diamond Rose, Moondancer, Berry Punch, and Bonbon) in the lobby, where they were waiting for us, lounging against a massive pile of luggage.

A collective “Yo!” could be heard in the lobby was we hugged and greeted each other.

"Where's Gems?" I asked. "She doesn't seem to be here."

"Family commitments," Cadence told me. "She's in Manehattan with her parents this week. They won't be back until New Year's."

"Oh." Then again, we wouldn't be back until New Year's either.

“We’ve checked us all into the hotel… here are the keys,” Lyra informed us all, and we proceeded towards the two rooms held for us. Our rooms were set at the end of a long hallway; we went into the room on the right while the girls (or fillies, rather) took the one on the left.

Us boys (or colts) unceremoniously threw our stuff on the floor and explored the place. There was an electric fireplace on one end of a big gathering room with a shaggy beige rug, flanked by a pair of giant sofas. A television occupied one corner. The mini-fridge and kitchen were right next to of the sofas.

The bedroom had two decent-sized beds inside it as well as a small closet. The bathroom was impressive, to say the least; a jacuzzi tub and shower were contained in the same small space as the only toilet and sink. Faux stone tile lined the walls.

I ventured across the hallway to check out the girls’ quarters while the guys were getting accustomed. Same old story here, only the rug was slightly more manicured. And that was when I laid my eyes on the balcony - upon opening the sliding glass door, the simple concrete base and boring plastic chairs was a bit of a downer, but the spectacular view of the snow-blanketed valleys and ice-encrusted trees below made up for it.

After a half hour of admiring the view, the buzz from the vodka had begun to wear off when the boys were invited for drinks and a spot of gifting.

Diamond Rose stepped out of the bathroom in what amounted to little more than a skimpy Santa Claus outfit; the red dress she wore only came down to her hips, and the candy-cane stockings drew the attention immediately to her unmentionable bits, which were covered with a pair of silk panties. The red bow on her tail complemented the take me nooooow look about her. The show was becoming too much to handle for me and the boys, given the evidence of our instant collective arousal…

Diamond’s soft tail swished against my masculine area before she gave me a tantalising peek of her most feminine of places. She sat down on her flanks and handed us lot a few presents.

As for myself, I was handed a small heart-shaped box. I shook it and guessed that there was a piece of jewelry inside. I untied the pink bow on the top and opened the box itself.

Inside, I not only found a unique necklace - a gold chain with a circular disk hanging from it that had the words Forever Yours plus her cutie mark etched into one side, and Ryder the other.

"This is a beautiful necklace you've given me, sweetie," I told Rose.

"Thanks, baby," she said before leaning over to kiss my cheek. My face lit up brighter than a Christmas tree and she knew it. I put the necklace on

For the next two hours, we passed out gifts, sipped wine, laughed, and tried to take off Diamond Rose's outfit.

It was roughly 10:00 when she came up to me, eyes half-lidded and clearly drunk, and said "Let's hit the sack..."

Lyra caught on and told the two of us goodnight, and we took our wine glasses and the remainder of an open bottle of sherry across the hall and into the other room.

"You can use the bathroom first," I told Rose as soon as we entered, ostensibly to change out of that saucy outfit.

"Okaaaay..."

"I'll be setting the alarm for 7:30 so we can get an early start."

"Fine with me." She pecked me on the cheek again.

"Just yell when you're done in there."

"I will!"

Three minutes later, she came out wearing a long, white, brushed nylon nightgown kept together only with a piece of string round the waistline.

"You like it?"

"I love it... very much." I then went to turn on the electric fireplace while Rose filled up our wine glasses, emptying the bottle. I went into the bedroom to change into my sleep clothes.

For a while, we sat on the sofa enjoying each others' company and enjoying the wine.

"Forever yours," I said, looking into her dreamy eyes.

"Aww, Ryder, that's so sweet," she replied, and we clinked our wine glasses together. We drank the rest of the wine, set our glasses down on top of the TV set, and made our way into the bedroom. She lied down on one of the beds, right next to me, and put her front hooves around me so we could share one of the most sensual kisses I had ever experienced in my life. I could even taste how drunk she was as she pinned me down on the bed, the kiss becoming wetter and sloppier as it continued.

"Gems... wouldn't like this... very much," I manage to gasp as we came up for some breath.

"I wouldn't worry about it," she said. We locked lips again for a few more seconds.

I then felt the strange urge to tear her clothes off and have my way with her. I literally had to push her away and mentally shun the thought of physical union, mainly because I've only been on nine or so dates. Sex was out of the question this early in the game for me. I breathed through my nose to calm the fire to a degree.

"I wasn't going to touch you tonight," I explained, "I'm not like those sex fiends who go around breaking hearts."

"I would 'ave been disappointed," she told me teasingly. "I was really hoping we'd spend the night together."

"Sleeping in the same bed?"

"For sure!"

With that, we were back at it, kissing and snuggling up against each other, savouring the sensations; my fingers found their way into Diamond Rose's flowing mane, tousling her withers, and feeling every curve of her delectable body through her nightgown.

While we were in an especially deep kiss, my right hand reached for the ribbon that held her heavenly-soft covering in one piece and, with surprisingly good precision, untied it. In one smooth motion, she beckoned it off and exposed her near-perfect physique, freeing her wings and sticking her butt in the air, flashing her hindquarters to the mirror opposite our bed.

"Oh yeah, you've got the right idea," she said, and had me take off my pajama top.
"I wanna feel you against me," she declared, and pressed her warm and comforting body to mine before putting her hooves around me again.

"This feels positively wonderful," I remarked in a whisper, gently kissing her face and ears. She softly moaned and dived in for another passionate kiss as my hands wandered down her naked body and towards her ample flanks.

I managed to sneak my hand down to her soaked silk panties and prepared to touch the downy soft mound that lay beneath, but she scooted away at the very last second.

She gasped in surprise. "Nuh-uh... not tonight."

I stared into her eyes, dumbstruck. She could see the dejection in my face.

"I just don't want to get carried away, okay baby?"

"I understand."

"So don't get worked up..." she whispered into my ear, sending a tingle down my spine.

"Can't you tell? I'm already worked up."

"You didn't have to tell me. I know."

We kissed for a final time, then I spilled: "I love you, Diamond Rose. I mean it... I really do."

She was probably thinking the same thing.

"I've never heard you say it like that before..."

"But what about Gems?"

"Don't worry about her. She's with her family, enjoying the season. Just calm yourself." She kissed me on the cheek.

"But enough about that." I rolled her off of me so that she was laying next to me on the bed. We were still in each others' soothing, protective embrace.

"I wanna hold you all night," I asked of her.

"Mmm, I'd be delighted."

We fell asleep with our arms around each other, not noticing my roommates walking in to settle down for the night.

Chapter 8: Best Time of the Year [part 2]

Dec. 27, 1988. Bear’s Paw Resort. 7:00am in the morning in Ryder’s (shared) hotel room.

Shining Armour
had the nerve
to wake me and
Diamond Rose
in the middle of our
loving embrace!

And at 7am,
that is something
you don't want to do
especially
when
it's

me.

I sipped a mug of piping hot tea from the hot water machine and dived into the bagels sent to our room for breakfast, still fuming over Shining Armour shaking us awake. Diamond Rose ran right across the hall into the other room, scared for her life. That was a shame.

After that, I sneaked a peek out our window and marked that it was sunny and cold, but I heard no wind outside. Perfect day for playing in the snow, I thought.

Shining, 8-Bit, Gaffer, Poindexter, and myself took turns changing into our winter gear. I volunteered to go first, since my stuff was already in the bedroom with the rest of my luggage.

I changed into a pair of long underwear, a thermal shirt, my snow pants, my winter coat, a sweater, two pairs of socks and my snow boots. My body felt very stiff.

I made it to one of the sofas and plopped down onto it, waiting for the boys to get changed into their coats and such.

After a while, I got bored and decided to drop in on the girls, who were presumably doing the same thing. I knocked on their door, and Lyra answered.

"Hey, Ryder!" Lyra beamed. "Getting bored?"

"I just wanted to check in. How's it going?" I asked.

"We're... in various stages of getting dressed. Don't worry about us."

"We'll be on the slopes soon..."

I turned round and went back towards my room, falling over once I got inside - must have been all the layers. I could hear some girls laughing.

About thirty minutes later, we were all ready. From our hotel, it was just a short trek to the tubing runs. We had to buy lift tickets when we got there, which cost us five bits apiece (roughly £2 for me).

“I never knew that snow tubing was that bloody cheap,” I said to Lyra.

“That’s the main reason the ponyfolk like coming out here,” she told me. “It’s incredibly easy to get to from the hotel itself, and it’s loads of fun.”

We each got an inner tube and boarded the magic carpet to the top of the slope. Once the carpet let us off, we all saw the massive snow wall at the bottom that the riders would slam into.

We decided that the ladies should go down the hill first for chivalry’s sake, while me and the boys would wait until they were well out of the way.

It would then be our turn to slide down. I used my feet to get the process started, while the ponies used their back hooves to scoot down. Gravity then took it from there, rocketing us down the hill at an unbelievable speed. The sheer velocity was enough to send us hurtling towards the snow bank, more often than not crashing into it. It was an exhilarating feeling for all of us.

Eventually, we became famished, so we headed back to the hotel for lunch after about three hours of tubing, not including the health and safety lecture that everyone had to sit through before the slopes could be opened.

We threw off our coats and laid them on the sofas in our rooms, then headed off to eat. Over salads at the little restaurant they had in the hotel, the girls could be heard having a conversation about me.

"He's such a nice boy, isn't he?" said Diamond Rose. "Cuddling with me last night, that's very sweet of him."

"I think so," Lyra said.

"But he seems so... tied up."

"How do you mean?"

"He's very close to Gems, and he's been warming up to me at the same time... I don't want him to have to choose..."

I thought carefully about my next move. I didn't know what I was going to say to Rose that wouldn't cause a stir.

But Lyra noticed me, and said: "Hey Ryder, you wanna hit the sled trails later?"

"Totally," I told her.

We finished our lunch, put our clothes back on, then trekked up the larger hill to the sled runs, which looked terrifying at first. I could note the ice cream cone shape as it flattened in places to allow sled riders some air time. There were also two big banked curves on the way down the hill, and that was on the main stretch. I could easily see the trip down being a fun one.

Once we reached the top, it was ten bits (for me, £5.50) to go down the big hill. (You could go on every trail at the resort for fifteen bits, or about £7, which we opted for.)

We paid our tickets and set off. I tested the snow by tentatively grabbing a handful of it. It was dry and fluffy, which Lyra said was just right for sledding.

I threw my sled down onto the ground, as the rest did. The ponies 'paddled' in order to start the process; I kicked my feet over the slope, and gravity took care of the rest.

I became a speeding bullet going down the hill, building speed and momentum. I leaned my body from side to side to control the direction. Then, I hit one of the flat portions, which sent me flying like a rocket, airborne for a moment in time. I hit the snow on the bottom, leaving a small snow crater in its wake. To brake, I leaned my body and used my leg to 'dig' into the snow in order to create friction and stop the sled, doing so just as I was about to crash into the bushes and possibly through a window.

I felt like a million bucks shortly after, and I loved the feeling. I ran back to the ascending trail, craving more. And so were we.

We sledded until 5:00, when the slopes closed. We chatted about the experience - some of us crashed, spun out, or otherwise flew through the air. When we got back to the hotel, I stripped down to my thermal shirt and undies in the hope that the boys wouldn't notice when I helped them out of their bindings.

"I've had the greatest time," I said to my roommates. "I loved the snow."

"I'm glad you say that," 8-Bit remarked. "But the one you should really be thanking is Lyra. She convinced her aunt to pay for all this."

I wondered for a moment... "Is her aunt rich, by any chance?... Considering ---"

"Considering what?" Gaffer butted in.

"Oh, just considering." I patted Gaffer on the head endearingly.

I then went off to the bathroom, threw off what was left of my clothes, ran a warm bath, and soaked up the warmth. During my soak, I somehow managed to fall asleep, because the first thing I saw was Diamond Rose reaching her head into the tub and licking my face, rousing me awake.

"You need some help getting out of there?" she crooned to me as my eyes slowly opened.

"Huh?"

"I thought you'd like to join us," she continued. "The girls and I decided to come over and hang out with you guys."

I shifted my position in the water. "Alright... just let me get ready. If you could lay out a towel for me to step on, that would be nice of you."

She rolled one out next to the bathtub. "Here you go."

"Thanks, sweetie." She kissed my forehead and left the bathroom.

I had to run to the bedroom and put on a change of clothes since I forgot to bring one into the bathroom with me. I simply slapped on a simple black shirt and a pair of sweatpants and joined the festivities.

Lyra called me over and asked me to have a beer with her; I happily obliged as she popped the cap open for me. She told me that she was going to call up a place in Morin Heights and order some pizza for us. That would be necessary, as we were all going to be getting the drunken munchies very soon.

Thirty minutes later, and the pizza delivery colt showed up, who also got a ten-bit tip for his troubles.

I finished my beer and put the cap from earlier in the pocket of my shirt. Diamond Rose comes up to me and says, already showing signs of intoxication: "Hey baby... the stars are all out... wanna go out on the balcony?"

"Absolutely," I said, my insides turning out.

"Don't freeze your ears off," Lyra called after us.

I grabbed my coat and threw it on as well as wrapped a blanket around Rose to keep her warm as well. As soon as we were outside we kissed, and my arms went around her.

I held her close to me; we were both amazed at all the stars we could see. It was almost like sitting front row at a concert, except we were the only audience for miles around.

"I've never seen so many stars..." I said, mouth agape.

"That's because there's no city lights, traffic, pollution -- any of that," she told me (but in a huskier voice than usual because of the alcohol). There was no traffic on the road fronting the hotel that we could see, and we were far enough from Canterlot that the lighting wouldn't pose much of a problem.

I could smell the alcohol on Rose's breath, but that was about it.

"I love to look at stars."

"I love to look at you."

"Aw, Ryder... you magnificent bastard..." Rose gave me a noogie with her front hoof.

When we got back inside, the electric fire was on, half of the pizza disappeared, and everypony was stretched about the front room, cackling amongst themselves with dazed looks on their faces. Cheerilee, usually straight-laced, held an aluminum Pepsi can to her mouth with a hole cut on the other end of it; a lit match was being held through the hole as smoke leaked out. That's when I realised that the gang was smoking dope.

I confronted Lyra about it. "Why are you lot smoking dope?"

"It's not drugs, in case you were wondering," she told me. "It's from a special plant that grows a lot in the mountains that the zebra tribes used in medicine for a long time as well as in special ceremonies."

"Is it marijuana?"

"Not maryjane, silly -- they called it 'blueberry koosh'," she quickly corrected me. "It's totally legal, too. Wanna try some?"

"I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to try it once," I said, taking a roll of the stuff that looked like a Cuban cigar, but instead of tobacco, it contained a mixture of fuzzy green leaves and near-dehydrated berries.

Lyra was kind enough to light me up using her magic, and soon, the end of the blunt was fully engulfed.

"You have to inhale it, Ryder," she told me. Once I did, the flame was almost immediately extinguished. I choked on the cloud of thick white smoke that entered my lungs while, at the same time, coughing violently and breathing even more heavier than I did on the slopes.

Diamond Rose patted me on the back a couple of times while the end of the roll smouldered and let off some sidestream smoke.

I recovered fairly enough, then went back to the joint. I held it to my lips and took a long drag, then letting the smoke leak out of my mouth and dissipate into the air.

"It kinda tastes like fruit pie," I marked.

"It doesn't fuck you up as much as weed does, and it's also cleaner and cheaper than the hard shit smuggled from across the lake. It won't make you an addict, either, so that makes it much better."

I felt a burst of energy rush through my head after a few more pulls. I took another drag, popped the joint out of my mouth; I then tilted my head back and exhaled like a factory belching out smoke and pollution. My tongue felt tingly. I had to breathe in and out through my mouth to clear my lungs.

Cheerilee set the Pepsi can down and noticed me. "Damn, Ryder, you're smoking like a fuckin' chimney... can you pass it around, dude?"

"I'd be glad to." I offered the joint to Diamond Rose, who took a quick puff before handing it off to Bonbon.

"Sure," she said before taking a few drags, proving that the cream-coloured mare could loosen up if she set her mind to it, offsetting her usually tightly-strung and regimented personality.

I grabbed another beer and sucked it down. Bonbon offered the silly stick to Moondancer, who knocked back some more of the smoke. The coagulum of ash and black soot on the end of the blunt suddenly fell off and landed on the carpet, resulting in a bit of a mad dash to prevent a massive fire.

Moondancer asked Cadance, who politely turned her down; she then handed it back to me. I set the blunt down on the table, seeing that Cheerilee was already high as a kite.

Cadance then went back across the hall to retrieve a bottle of very choice whiskey - a Wild Turkey, to be exact. Gaffer dug a bottle of Tanqueray gin out of the cupboard, and Berry Punch pulled a bottle of rum out of her saddlebags and set it on the table.

Gaffer made me a glass of tonic and gin with a lemon slice, and I had it with some of the pizza that was left over. Lyra smoked some more of the blueberry koosh while I was at it.

Once that was downed, Cadance wanted to pour some shots of whiskey for all of us. We each had a shot and continued until the bottle was drained. I had four shots myself, and I was feeling quite odd.

Then, Berry Punch asked me to have some rum; she thoroughly washed out my glass and poured some of it, mixed with a splash of Coke, before preparing one for herself. I ate some more pizza with that. By now, it was obvious that I was drunk. I was stumbling and slurring my words as well as tripping over the empty bottles that were scattered about the floor. I had to sit down; I popped a squat next to 8-Bit and Poindexter, who were passed out on the couch.

For some reason - and I don't know whether it was the weed or the alcohol acting on my behalf - I started fiddling with Poindexter's ears, rubbing them, biting down on them, and licking them all over. They would perk up and twitch at times, and I would laugh, as he was incapacitated himself.

After about fifteen minutes of that, Diamond Rose bit my hair and tugged me in the direction of the bedroom. She pushed herself on top of me and we kissed. I broke it in an instant.

"Whaaaaaaa..." I said, having no idea what was going on.

"Don't worry about a thing. You're gonna make Rosie feel very good," she told me.

She started rocking back and forth on my leg as our kiss gained even more depth and my fingers began pulling on parts of her mane. My eyes closed; nothing else existed but me, my Rosie and the moment that we were sharing.

I felt a slight dampness on my trousers as I heard her moan things like "Yes..." and "Oh yeah baby..." softly into my ear; that dampness evolved into a sticky and wet puddle of something. Her body wasn't there anymore, from the feeling of it. I bravely reached down, took a sample with my finger, and tasted it. It had a strange honey flavour to it that was hard to identify... and then she had to open her mouth.

"I just came..."

I put two and two together in my booze-addled mind, and concluded that not only had she just used me for her own personal sexual pleasure, but I also tasted her vaginal lubrication. I felt dirty, but also naughty and delighted at the same time, and that put a smile on my face.

I fell asleep with her on top of me, her sopping wet crotch on mine.

...

Dec. 31, 1988/Jan. 1, 1989. Back in Canterlot. New Year’s Eve party at Ryder’s place.

There were roughly twelve of us sitting on the living room floor around our coffee table. On that table, there were a few bottles of wine in various states of consumption, as well as a £75 bottle of champagne that was to be opened at midnight.

We sat around that table, chatting amongst ourselves and drinking wine while we reflected on the last year. We had fired up the record player so we could play some of my albums I brought with me from the motherland.

Some of the girls were talking about me, and again, they seemed quite concerned about me. I listened in:

“How’s come you haven’t made a move on him yet?” I could hear Sweetcream Scoops say.

“Well… I was kinda hoping that he’d break out of his shell first,” Gems said, knocking back the rest of her wine.

“And then you go on to the next level?” Diamond Rose postulated.

“Obviously,” Gems retorted. “then I become his special somepony.”

“No, I’ll become his special somepony,” Rosie shot back.

“I will!”

“No, I will!”

"I will!"

"I saw him first!"

"If that were after promotion...!"

...and it devolved into a drunken-filly-shouting-match argument from there. Clearly, I have a big decision to make soon.

"So how was the sledding?" Kim asked me as she came out of the bathroom.

"It was incredible," I told her. "We did every sled trail there... I had some near-misses with trees and flipped over a few times, but other than that, it was great."

"Glad to hear it."

"I loved the snow in my face!"

At midnight, I opened the champagne bottle as we sang Auld Lang Syne. I took a drink straight from the bottle to celebrate the new year, then passed the rest of its contents around the room and we toasted.

We continued the party until about one in the morning, when everypony went home. Thankfully, Rosie was able to help me clean up the party mess. Once that was done, she went home as well. I put the corks back in the wine bottles, set them back on the counter, and went to sleep on the couch for the night.

Author's Note

Last update for a short while. I'll be uploading my Dash Academy fic by the end of next week at the latest.
Enjoy this chapter...
~ Sparkle Fire ~

Chapter 9: Snowed In

January 24-25, 1989

It was an incredibly cold night in Canterlot, with the wind blowing furiously around the building, causing the windows to rattle. The air leaked in through small cracks in the wall where it met the baseboards, chilling the place to the point that Kimberly insisted that all the heaters in the apartment be on full kick and all the doors and windows be sealed.

Lemony Gems and Diamond Rose were sleeping over tonight after several weeks of nagging. We were winding down following three straight hours of playing Monopony. We argued for some time because Gems kept stealing from the bank, but we calmed down with a round of beers.

We also studied for several upcoming tests on the horizon that were worth a good chunk of our grade. Eventually, we got bored, and just decided to tuck in for the night and fool around under the sheets. Each of us used my bathroom, going through our evening routine. I went into the closet and changed into a sleep shirt and pants, away from the prying eyes of my filly crushes.

When I emerged, Gems was already laying on the bed, beckoning me to join her. She was wearing a pair of baby-blue silk panties that hugged her succulent hips and added to her already angel-like figure. I sat down next to her, and she throws me into her embrace, her lips meeting mine.

Rosie came out wearing her nightgown from Bear's Paw, but with the buttons already undone. She joined me and Gems, then parted the fabric to reveal a pair of pink lace panties with a bow on the waist.

My manhood grew to full mast as I looked upon the scene before me. The smell of lilac perfume permeated the air and helped to muddle my judgment even more.

Gems rolled on her side so that her lips met mine. We kissed passionately, our tongues doing a sultry, teasing merengue as our eyes lulled shut. Her hooves explored my back and tousled my hair; my own hand reached down and squeezed her juicy derrière, making her moan a little.

I had to fiddle around with my cock so that it wouldn't bend inside my pants. The tip of it could be seen peeking out of my pajama bottoms.

"I've got to have you..." I whispered in her ear as I wrapped my legs around her, pulling her body directly over top of mine as we continued our kiss, letting out groans and grunts of passion as our moment deepened.

My hand lingered down to her flanks so I could tease her panties off and take her for a ride. Before I could do that, Rosie had to cut our fun short.

"My turn," she said, before pinning me onto the bed, dominating my very soul as my erection throbbed.

"Take those pants off," she commanded. I tossed my pants and undies to the side of the bed and she threw herself into it -- shoving her tongue into my mouth and grinding her moon hill on my gentleman's area with a particular vim and vigour.

I could feel her getting moist down there, her moaning growing louder and louder; I tossed her onto her back, with her flanks resting on my chest, right in front of my face. I yanked her undergarment off, exposing her soaked crescent, which was as pink and perky as it could be. I licked my lips and formed a suction seal with my mouth around her clit, making her throw her head back, screaming in delight.

"Yes... yes! Oh yeah! Keep doing tha-a-a-a-t!!" she trembled, her body convulsing on top of mine. From her down-under shot a clear, viscous liquid that covered my face and hair.

"I should 'ave warned ya," she told me as she came down from her high, "I'm quite the squirter."

I wiped my face on the bedspread, then licked her mound clean.

"Why'd you have to jump Ryder-bug just as I was getting into it?" Gems demanded.

"Because you always wanna do him first," Rose told her off.

I then felt the Sandman begin to work his magic, so I nudged myself in right next to Gems and let Rosie take the other side; that way, they would both have equal access to me, and there wouldn't be any more quarreling over the issue.

Gems switched out the light with her magic, and we all fell asleep in our collective embrace.

...

The next morning, we woke up and shook ourselves awake. I made my way downstairs to make morning tea. Kimberly was already awake and dressed in her work clothes.

"Ryder, the school just called - they're closed for the day."

"It is?" I asked her.

"Yessiree," she said. "It snowed quite a bit last night when you three were sleeping."

"Has it?"

"Go out and see for yourself..."

I opened the balcony door, and the frigid air blasted me in the face, shocking me awake from the sheer cold. Looking out onto the town, everything in sight was blanketed with snow. Everyone, from the looks of it, kept off the streets.

"You're not bloody kidding me," I told her, suddenly deciding against tea. "Old Man Winter doesn't piss around out here."

"I still have to go to work, though..."

"Out of sight... have fun," I snidely commented. Kim replied by sticking her tongue out at me as she walked out the door.

I tiptoed back up the stairs and slipped quietly back upstairs. Rose immediately sprung to life from my sudden appearance.

"Hey, sweetie," she greeted me.

"School's cancelled tomorrow, baby. Wanna head down to the couch and screw around? Kim's going to work."

"Absolutely!"

I carried her sexy body down the stairs in my arms and laid her down next to me. We didn't do anything too raunchy; we felt each others' bodies, kissing, moaning, and rubbing up against each other.

I heard the clip-clop of hoofbeats parading down the stairs. And lo and behold, out of the corner of my eye, Lemony Gems was standing there, watching our little romp unfold. Her eyes tightened into a scowl as her horn lit up with magic.

"It's my turn now, you whorse," Gems asserted herself, and a spark flew from her horn. Rose leaped behind the couch, fearful of her life as well as her ass.

Speaking of ass, Gems was still sporting the pair of baby-blue panties from last night's affair, which framed her womanly figure and accented her feminine curves perfectly. She was breathing heavily, and I could see her chest expand and contract with every breath. She crawled on top of me, pressed herself onto me, and said:

"You're mine, Ryder, and don't you forget it."

I could also feel a slight wetness where it counted the most as she staked her claim to my heart. She kissed me on the forehead, knowing that I had learned my lesson. We fooled around for most of the morning after that.

We had lunch from a take-out taco stand in the South Side, called Cecelia's. It was quite popular back in my homeland, and it's also popular among expatriates. We ordered a "fiesta platter" with tacos, tortilla chips, and plenty of queso, salsa, and pico-de-gallo.

When we took our first collective bite into the tacos, our taste buds orgasmed.

"This beats our school's tacos by a long shot!" Gems declared with her mouth stuffed.

While the girls were digging into the feast before them, I craved something to wash all the Mexican food down. I went into the kitchen, opened one of the cupboards, and pulled out a bottle of Argentinian merlot. The check stamp from St. John's Bay was still there.

"You've got wine," Rosie quipped.

"Yes... there's plenty more," I replied. "Sometimes, when I'm overwhelmed with stress, I pop the cork of one of these bottles, pour myself a glass, and all that stress seems to melt away. Otherwise, I may just have a beer or a bottle of pop."

"Seriously? You're a drinker?" Gems asked me, concern in her voice.

"Yes."

"Don't you get sick afterwards?"

"Only if I drink a lot of it, but other than that, I'm good," I reassured her. "I don't abuse it, though. Kim would be pissed if I did."

I retrieved three glasses from the rack over the stove. I made sure to pour equal portions for myself, Gems, and Rosie.

Rosie proposed a toast. "I'm glad that Ryder's my friend," she said.

"Me too," Gems added. "Cheers up."

We all clinked our glasses together and sipped slowly. We polished off the rest of the platter as well as the salsa, leaving the pico-de-gallo largely untouched.

Rosie then followed me back into the kitchen. She watched as I stuffed the cork back into the top of the bottle and placed it back in the cupboards where I found it. Curiosity then struck her like a bolt of lightning in a thunderstorm.

"Do you have anything else in there?"

I only mustered an unceremonious "Naw, nothing interesting."

She flapped her wings and hovered in the air, inquisitively staring at all the bottles laid out inside.

"There's a whole liquor store in here!" she exclaimed. She then yanked out a bottle of tequila that was almost empty, with a sell-by date on the check stamp from three months ago.

"Can we drain this?"

"Sure, sweetie pie," I told her, and I grabbed three shot glasses off the countertop and wiped then clean. Looking at the bottle that Rosie set on the table, there was only enough for us to take two or three shots each.

I poured the first round, making sure the level of tequila was equal all the way around. We sunk it, the sting of the alcohol setting our throats aflame.

"This shit is disgusting," Gems jibed.

"Well, when you consider the fact that this expired three months ago, you'll know why that's the case," I nonchalantly explained to her. "I dunno how long it's been sitting up there, y'know?"

"Let's drain the motherfucker, then," she shot back at me.

"Fine." We were able to get two more rounds in before I started to lose my head. I had to lie down on the couch for a while. Expired liquor does that to you...

I woke up with a slightly sour stomach and a vice-like gripping headache about three hours later. I could see that Gems was passed out on the floor.

Rose was sitting on the armchair, reading a magazine. I got up from the couch and hobbled my way over to her, naturally curious as to what portion she was reading. She noticed me out of the corner of her eye and set it down, the contents fully on display. The lascivious smirk on her face, combined with the alcohol and the racy article that she was just reading, meant only one thing...

Shit was about to go down...

"I... want you..." Rose was breathing heavily, each breath accented with the odour of alcohol. Her heavenly blue eyes were implacably fixed on me; her tongue grazed against my face before her attention turned to my lips. She leaned into me, and our lips met. Rose rudely crammed her tongue into my mouth. Her wings spread all the way out, confirming that, yes, she was indeed aroused - aroused for me.

"Shall we head for the bedroom?" she said, tripping over her tongue.

"I don't think you should be doing this..." I tried warning her, but to no avail. She doubled her efforts to tempt me.

I saw her, right then and there, in a suggestive position: her front hooves were propped up on the counter, and she had her head cocked back in my direction, waiting for something else to be pointed in her direction.

I walked over to her, and she rubbed her flanks on me. I used my hand to scratch her ear and tousle her mane; she cooed in response and kissed me on the cheek at times.

While this was going on, Gems, awake from her afternoon siesta, was shocked by the sight before her. And boy, she wasn't very happy about it.

"DIAMOND ROSE!"

We both froze where we were; I turned around to face her, my heart pumping faster.

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

"Rose did it..."

Gems then proceeded to chew Rose out in a very vulgar manner, marching over to her so that they would be facing each other from across the counter.

"What is it about my Ryder that turns you into a cheap whore?"

"Uhh..." Rose was very confused, but also scared.

"Why can you not keep your tail down in Ryder's presence?"

"Hey... I can't help it that he's so cute!"

"But he's fucking mine," Gems raised her voice. "Apparently, you've forgotten."

"I can have him if I damn well want to."

"You fucking try!"

Throughout the war of words, I tried several times to stop a riot from unfolding in the kitchen, with no success. The argument reached a boiling point, and Rose finally screamed:

“Well, maybe I’m in love with him, and I wanna marry him someday!”

The whole room fell completely silent.

“Pardon?” Gems said, unsure of what to say.

“I’m sorry of the fact that I’m totally in love with him, and I wanna have his foals and junk…”

“Whoa whoa whoa… hold your horses,” Gems stopped Rose again. “Is that the reason why you’re vying to get into his pants?”

“Uh-huh,” Rose declared unapologetically.

“So that’s how it is... “ Gems paced around the living room in a thoughtful and potentially devious manner. I stepped back towards the bathroom door just to be safe.

“I wouldn’t be as… let’s say, loose… as you are, considering that I’m a virgin -- ”

Rose stammered and said “Oh, come on, you’re just saying that! I’m a virgin too, and unlike you, I’m actually in love with him.”

“Oh really?” Gems retorted. She then paused, right in the middle of her tirade, as if she’d received a revelation. I then remembered about our make-out session a while ago.

“Shit… I’ve fallen for him too.”

“I’m a virgin too, in case you didn’t know already,” I said matter-of-factly, careful to not blow my own horn.

“And I know about this thing you two have for me, and it’s quite much for me to bear,” I continued. “Realising this, I have made a very big decision.”

They listened intently to me. “If you want to… ‘go together’... I’m up for it. Even if that means popping the cherry.

“However, for the time being, until we know for sure where we’re going with this, let’s keep it chaste… safe for school if you wanna call it that.”

“Okay, baby,” Gems told me reassuringly. “I can agree with that.”

She came up to me and nuzzled her head into my side, her eyes lulling shut as I caressed her mane. She sighed contently as Rosie rounded the corner and kissed me on the cheek.

...

We eventually calmed it down, talked it out, then we tossed a big salad with all the fixings for dinner - shredded lettuce, the contents of the vegetable crisper, and a bottle of dressing alongside it. We pulled out the merlot and sipped it as well, chatting about life and swapping stories about school.

I flipped on the radio so we'd have some background music. We later put the kettle on and had a slightly drunken chin-wag over tea. We first chatted about politics back home.

"So, what'd you think of your first big election?" Gems asked me.

"Back home?" I said.

"Yeah."

I took a generous sip and set my cup down. "I've read in the papers that they've elected a military officer... and a Socialist at that," I said, referring to the unsurprising victory of Mikhail Tukhachevsky, the new Premier, the month prior.

"What's he gonna do?" Rose asked me.

Remembering his promises from over the radio, I haphazardly threw something together. "Basically, he told the voters he was going to get rid of people that supported INGSOC. On top of that, the CSP went for a military guy because the military is their primary means of support."

“Were there any other people running?”

“Well, there was a candidate from the Worker’s Party, and his name was Michel,” I recalled. “Can’t remember his last name, though.”

“Who was he?” Rose chirped.

“I know his dad is a senator,” I said. “That’s because I helped him campaign.”

Gems stared at me, dumbfounded, suspending her cup of tea in the air with her magic. “Here’s what I don’t get…”
“Which is?”

“What exactly is a Premier? And why’s he so important?” Gems asked me.

“We elect the Premier directly, first of all,” I began my lesson. “He’s basically the president’s right-hand man, and he has to be ready to act on behalf of the President or the Executive Committee in case either of them lose the plot.”

“An understudy, perhaps?”

“If you think of it that way, then yes,” I said.

“Hmm, and there’s another election coming up next year,” she told me. “I saw in the paper.”

Elections for the National People’s Assembly were due for later that year, so I replied in the affirmative.

“But I don’t know if the Socialists will make it,” I chimed in. “Since Stephanie Kaye, our House Speaker, got into trouble, it’s reflecting badly on the whole party. If I had to bet any money on the outcome, it’d be a win for the Worker’s Party. They have a better plan for the country, and they’re very stable when you think about it.”

That’s when I heard Diamond Rose yawn rather loudly. At this point, sleep wasn’t much further than two seconds away from us, so we finished our tea and slipped towards my bedroom.

We fell asleep in a warm, sweaty huddle, just barely detecting each others’ heartbeats. I was beginning to drool when Kimberly came knocking on the door.

She must’ve come back from work, I immediately thought.

I marched down the stairs, leaped over the couch, and met her at the door. I let her in, and she took off her snow boots and unceremoniously threw her winter gear on the kitchen counter.

“Hopefully, you survived the storm,” she said.

“Don’t worry,” I told her. “We got along just fine.”

Chapter 10: A Winter Wonderland of Womanly Whims

February 3, 1989

The speakers crackled to life during lunchtime, and the caf fell silent.

"Attention... due to the approaching ice storm, which you may have heard about, all classes have been cancelled for this afternoon..."

A majority of the ponies cheered as soon as they heard. That meant we would get out of a big Home Ec assessment, and I couldn't help but get into the excitement myself.

As soon as our lunch period concluded, we were escorted outside. I looked to my right as soon as I got to the taxi queue, noting the ominous black clouds looming over the horizon and approaching quickly. I headed straight home.

When I reached the apartment, I threw my bags onto the couch and sat down on a nearby armchair, readying for a nap. I heard a knock on the door not too long after that; I hobbled over to the door to answer it.

Unsurprisingly, it was Gems and Rosie; they headed straight for my apartment. I knew they would. None of us could wait to be together in each others' embrace. They let themselves in, tossed their school bags onto the kitchen counter, and began nuzzling me while they stripped their clothes off.

It heated up from here. Gems pinned me against the back wall and fervently kissed me. I reached down and touched her flanks, gripping onto them, going near her filly parts at times.

Rose butted in and rudely shoved her tongue into my mouth. The unicorn was knocked down, and I could see her getting back on her hooves out of the corner of my eye. I wrapped my arms around her body...

"Ughhhh, bite me!" Gems screamed. Rose stopped, broke the kiss, and cocked her head the other pony's way.

"Fuck it," Rose whispered, and we kissed some more. The yellow one was in Kimberly's bedroom moping to herself.

Eventually, we began to starve, so that need would have to be attended to. We got dressed and headed out to eat.

For lunch, we stopped by a coffee shop along the moat for lunch. I had an Earl Grey since I wasn't a coffee drinker myself. After that, we commissioned a sleigh to draw the three of us around town - all along the moat, into the city centre, past all the shopping, entertainment, and retail co-operatives backed by foreign (especially Cosararan) investment. Canterlot, we concluded, is still a very swell place to live, even when it's covered in snow, slush, and ice.

We arrived back at the apartment, immediately tossing our winter gear on the counter and stomping the dirty snow out of our boots. Except, that is, for Gems, who kept her clothes on.

“I have to be home soon,” she told me before stepping out the door. “Take care,” I told her as she left.

On that bombshell, it was Rosie and I together in the living room, a slight tension between us. We were both soaked in sweat from being covered in layers of clothing.

“I feel dirty,” Rosie crooned. “Can you run us a bath?”

“Run… us a bath?”

Rosie winked at me. I couldn’t exactly pin down the strange mix of emotions that powered through me. She’s your friend, my conscience told me so, but my cock was saying, Let’s go!

“I’ll get it ready. You can wait in my bedroom.” I jogged up the staircase into my lofty sleeping quarters, the pink pegasus following me. I continued to have second thoughts as I opened the water faucet and closed the drain, testing the water temperature often as the tub filled to capacity.

I stripped off the rest of my clothing and tossed it into the corner of the bathroom. I laid a towel on the side of the tub and hopped into the warm water, then rolled my head to one side as I began to unwind and allow my troubles to melt into nothingness.

It was then that my friend nudged the door open with her nose and let herself in. I felt very much at peace since my soak started; my body was practically begging for company at this point.

“Come on in, the water’s perfect,” I mumbled softly. I sat up in the tub to give her ample room to enter. Once she was in the water, she snuggled up very close to my naked body. Normally, I would gently push her away; this time around, I welcomed it.

Using my hand, I collected some water in small amounts and tossed it onto her body and into her mane. Her eyes were burning into mine; she nuzzled my face from time to time.

“There’s some shampoo up there,” Rosie whispered sweetly, almost inaudibly. “You can shampoo me if you wanna.”

“I’d love to,” I said. I reached up for the bottle of shampoo. I screwed open the top and poured some into my hand, then held it up to my nose to take in its aroma. I delighted in the scent of lavender that flushed through my sinuses.

My hands traveled up and down Rosie’s delectable curves, making her shiver; moving in circles to work the shampoo into her coat seemed to exacerbate it further. I shampooed her mane in the same manner, working the soap into a lather. Her eyes were already closed from all the pleasure.

There was a plastic container for washing out shampoo and conditioner when either Kim or myself needed it. I filled it up with fresh water and let it cascade down her pink mane. I ran my fingers through it as we kissed.

If it was said that I had to resist the temptation to ravage her until dawn, right in the bathtub, with my hands on her flank as I thrusted inside of her, you'd be damn right. I successfully restrain myself, however.

We sucked tongues for a few more moments, moaning and groaning with delight.

She broke the kiss and said, "Can you dry me off, sweetie?"

I wriggled out of the tub, exposing the whole of my naked physique to the mare opposite me, who was stepping out onto the towel I had set out for her earlier; I grabbed two towels, wrapping one around my waist (therefore covering my bulge) and then drying Rosie with the other.

I dried her mane, then drifted down to her neck. I wiped her legs and hooves dry, going down her thigh and planting a kiss upon each one of her hooves as I finished, as a gentleman should. I was careful to not damage her wings as I reached her torso. I took care of her back legs, trying my hardest to not stare at her belly and teats, which were erogenous zones for this species. When I dried her flanks off, her hips swayed back and forth and she cooed softly to me.

"You're making me feel so much like a princess," she told me sweetly.

"Thanks," I replied. "Anything for a friend." I went into the closet and dug out a hairbrush out of one of the grossly unorganized compartments.

I brushed her mane using long, slow strokes so she would enjoy it. I finished each stroke by curling it back upwards, since she has curls in her mane.

"Do you need curlers?"

"Not right now," she said. "I have some at my place."

I moved to her tail, again using agonizingly long, slow strokes. I noticed her back leg pawing the floor as I was brushing, but I didn't think too much of it. Her breathing certainly became heavier, and the dock of her tail was twitching with every stroke of the brush. I soon finished up and laid the brush on the sink.

She then spread one of her wings and asked me if I could preen her. I knew what it entailed - rearranging feathers and yanking out those that were out of place. When I tugged one of the feathers free with my mouth, she exhaled heavily and stomped her hooves just a bit.

"That felt nice," she remarked. So pegasi really do experience pleasure from preening...

I gently mashed down on the joints inside her wings and petted the feathers at the same time, making her gasp in ecstasy. It was then that she had the idea to "take this to the bedroom". Naturally, I obliged her.

I carried her into my bedroom like a hero would after rescuing a damsel in distress. We went to town on the bed, kissing, sucking tongues, grasping hair, you name it. I wiggled out of the kiss, and I couldn't help but see just how she presented herself... her hind hooves were in the air, her flank was prominent, and her rose was partially exposed. My maleness took note of everything.

The look on her face served to excite me even more; her dreamy eyes were slightly closed, her ears were perked straight up, and her whole body seemed to cry out, "Come get some..."

Eventually, I could take it no longer. I approached her and kissed her passionately on the lips. Our tongues twisted, and we were hooked. A spark set off a burning silver flame of sensuality inside me, and I absolutely ravaged her. She wanted - begged - to be caressed. One last strawberry-sweet kiss, and I was off.

My mouth wandered down her neck and up one of her front legs. I slowly and painstakingly kissed her leg, gliding across her thigh. I then planted a juicy wet kiss on her hoof, causing her to grunt her approval.

"Keep goin', baby," Rosie told me. "Keep it burning..."

That was my cue. I blazed a trail of kisses down her chest and belly; Rosie kept moaning and blubbering her praise through all of this. She was especially loud when I reached her bodacious booty. Her wings and her tail shook ferociously, her back arching while she groaned. "Oh yeah baby, that's it!"

I adored every supple curve of her hips and her flank, grasping it, fondling it. I drifted towards the centre of it all - her flower, with her petals already wet and inviting - and lightly teased it.

I circled my tongue around the whole of her pussy, purposefully avoiding her clit and her opening. I could see her engorged button already popping out of its hood, demanding attention; she was dripping down there like a faucet as a result of my masterful stimulation.

I then heard my bedroom door squealing open. Kimberly was standing under the doorframe with a confused look on her face, her eyebrows askew, her mouth agape.

"What... are... you... doing?" she said, barely stringing together a sentence.

I tried my best to come up with a response. Honestly, I was just as shocked and confizzled as she was.

I let out a childish squeak, and then a chuckle, and Kimberly left the room without saying anything.

Damn, that was close!

Chapter 4: Popping the Question (Two or Three Times)

A week before Fall Formal; September 23, 1988

As Ryder woke up on a Friday morning in late September and made his morning tea, aware that he may be recognized as a potential partner for the upcoming Fall Formal... he wondered about those who would ask him; there could be as many as a few to potentially the whole school begging for him. He could tear down a major taboo in the next fortnight...

Realizing this fact, he grabbed his journal first thing and wrote as soon as he laid the newspapers on the table in front of him and tuned his radio.

............

Ryder's Journal
September 23, 1988
Morning

The fall formal
is coming up.

September 30,
to be exact.

Exactly one week away.

One week
to finally be seen
for who I am.

One week
until I reach
the Next Level
(relationship-wise,
of course).

One week
until barriers are broken,
walls are torn down,
and standards are tossed
out the window
in the name of love.

One week
to make that happen.

Matchmaker, matchmaker,
give me a match!

............

As per usual, he grabbed his stuff, hustled down seventeen flights of stairs, and caught his cab. Needless to say, the rest of the morning went by without a hitch.

Once he reached the school, he didn't have to wait long for his potential suitors to come running, as he was soon to learn. Three mares spotted him in the courtyard and followed him inside, mouths open and drooling, ending their pursuit once he reached Homeroom, at which point Ryder hurriedly closed the door.

"So you're available, I see," Mrs. Violet commented.

"I've been considered 'on the market' for the past four weeks, almost a month now," he replied. "A few of them have even followed me home or hidden in the back corner of the coffeeshop, waiting for me to show up!"

"You're kidding me."

"I kid you not," he shot back, and he took his seat. "It's getting way out of fucking hand, I'm telling you now."

“It’s not out of hand, the way I see it,” Violet said. “...they really seem to like you.”

“Tell me about it.”

In the midst of his brief rant, Lemony Gems trotted past him while on a run to the restroom. She caught sight of Ryder and stopped in her tracks. She walked back towards him and flashed him a sincere smile.

“You’re available, yes?” Lemony Gems asked.

“I guess,” Ryder shrugged. “...everyone in Canterlot’s been following me around like I’m Michael Jackson or Madonna or something like that... Whaddaya want?”

"Do you wanna go to Fall Formal with me?"

Ryder reached out and twirled his finger through her mane, twisting the two colors together. "I'm not sure right now... I mean, can you wait a while and let me think about it?"

"Okay, I understand." Lemony Gems launched into a squealing fit on her way out.

Women... can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em... Ryder thought as he scribbled her name on a sticky note, remembering to give her a call later.
...
During lunch hour, Ryder, with sack in hand, was followed yet again by two more mares, and this time, some frisky colt decided to show up. He promptly shooed them off and proceeded to find his regular table, at which point Diamond Rose accidentally ran into him. A bit of her lunch ended up on the floor.

"Would you like me to get that?" Ryder asked, politely.

"No thanks," she replied.

"No, I insist," he continued. "It's part of your lunch."

"I said no thanks... and besides, there's prob'ly germs on it already anyways."

And they continued.

"How was your morning?" Diamond asked.

"Sniffed on and rubbed against too many times to count..."

"They must really like you." Ya think? Ryder thought, annoyed.

"All morning, I've been the object of many dripping wet delusions..."

"Don't go any further," Diamond stopped him. "I'm trying to make my point."

She stood there in a pensive sort of stance as she contemplated what to say next.

"I don't know how to tell you this..."

"Just say it, Rosie. Whatever it is you have to say, just say it."

The mare put her muzzle to Ryder's ear and whispered in a sweet and soft tone of voice, "Would you go to the Fall Formal with me?"

He reached out to scratch her behind the ear. "Let me think about it today..." Before he knew it, he saw another random mare start to lock her sights on him and bolted straight to the table, diving and cowering underneath it in the hopes that these strange folks would leave him the hell alone.

"What the fuck, dude? What's up with you?!" Caramel demanded to know.

"These crazy mares... won't stop... bloody following me around..." Ryder managed to squeak out.

"You're fair game to 'em, mate, so get used to it," Gaffer said, not knowing what else to say to him in his highly irritated state of mind.

"Gee, that's good to know!" Captain Fucking Obvious... Ryder threw his arms up into the air. Exasperation setting in, he wolfed down his lunch.
...
"After your apple tart's out of the oven and ready to present, remember to tidy up your workstations and put everything where it belongs," Mrs. Ambrosia called out.

Ryder and the rest of his Home Ec group were waiting for the timer to trip so they could take their apple tart out of the oven to be judged and graded. To pass the time, the four decided to toss around some gossip. On the subject of Fall Formal, the tension racked up.

"So Ryder, who're to taking to fall formal?" Moondancer asked.

"I don't know yet."

"Have you asked anypony?" Sweetcream Scoops asked.

"I've been asked twice."

All three now crowded around him, astounded. "Who asked you!?" they jubilantly asked.

"Lemony Gems asked me in homeroom, and Rose asked me during lunch. That makes two."

Cheerilee gasped a bit. "I wouldn't 'ave guessed... so who's the lucky one?"

"Once again, I haven't decided yet!" Ryder huffed.

As soon as that happened, the timer went off with a loud, mechanical
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrinnnnnnggggggg!!!

"She's done!" Ryder hurriedly grabbed an oven mitt as Moondancer grabbed a bowl and some confectioners' sugar, Cheerilee tossed him a sieve, and Sweetcream went for some whipped cream in a can.

Cheerilee opened the over door, and Ryder immediately reached inside and grabbed the ends of the dish. He set it down on the island. After that, he spooned up some confectioners' sugar and patted it through the sieve, adding a soft powdery sheen to the tart itself.

There were two more groups putting the finishing touches on their tarts at this point, so Berry Punch decided to drop in on him.

Ryder noticed. "What're you doing here, toots?"

"I just want to see the tart that you made," Berry explained in simple terms.

"You like it, huh?"

"Well, in case you haven't already seen it, the two other colts that I was stuck with decided that they wanted to dump a whole thing of applesauce into the top of it, so that's why looks a bit sloppy."

"So that nice yellow one, she isn't here?" he inquired, referring to Lemon Hearts, her other group member, who was out sick.

"Unfortunately..." she lamented. "She knows how to keep the other two in line and get shit done."

"I can see that."

The conversation paused.

"Aside from that, I'd also like to ask you something..."

"Yes?"

"Would you like to go to Fall Formal with me?"

Ryder's heart skipped a beat; everypony in the immediate vicinity began shuffling their hooves and 'oohing', anticipating a response.

He clammed up.

"I'll think about it," he responded, shooing her off to the dismay of his classmates.

“‘I’ll think about it’ this, ‘I’ll think about it’ that,” Sweetcream went on. “When will you make up your mind?” She was visibly annoyed.

“Well, I’m soooorrrry,” he said, “But when the entire fucking city’s breathing down your neck, constantly wanting to know who you’re dragging to Fall Formal, it really gets to you…” Ryder was very cross.
…
In the break room that afternoon, nursing his tea, he sat in one of the recliners and tried to forget the incident in Home Ec.

Lemony Gems asked him first thing, and exploded in a hyperactive giddy fit.

Diamond Rose asked him, and another mare made him bolt.

Now Berry Punch, another good friend of his, popped the same question, and it only made his Home Ec partners moan rather loudly.
It made him want to throw his hands in the air in defeat. The thought of it constantly racked his brain and muddled his thoughts. It was driving him nearly to drink.

He finished his tea and thought of Lemony Gems, since she was the first to ask.

Gems seems like a sweetie, he began, but after I said ‘maybe’ this morning, she hopped up and down like she’d met George Michael or Johnny Depp something, as if he’d autographed her a picture.

However, I’m getting the feeling that she’ll be quite possessive, she looks like she’s obsessed with me, he added. If I choose her, remember the old mountain saying: ‘it takes a strong man to handle a broken woman’. She might be coming down from an emotional high tide or something unfortunate in her life. That, and she has a nice physique.

On to Diamond Rose now…

Oh yes, what to say about the fair Diamond Rose? Very beautiful hair, soft fur, dreamy eyes. She could practically melt in my arms. If I choose her, Ryder continued, she'll be absolutely excited and kissing me like crazy. She seems content with life, and with no emotional baggage, I'll fit right in. But yeah, still not diving right in.

And last but not least, Berry Punch.

Berry Punch, the sophisticated one - very sophisticated for an Earth pony from Ponyville or the mining towns, I'm surprised to say. My only issue is - and this is a big one - distance. She lives in Ponyville and takes a train every morning to go to school here. Wouldn't want to have that in a relationship, though - train fares add up very quickly.

This would be quite the tough decision to make. Unfortunately, the dismissal bell rang, derailing his train of thought. He went straight home.

He ran upstairs, grabbed a pencil, and wrote in his journal.
...
Ryder's Journal
September 23, 1988
Evening, After school

Lemony Gems
Diamond Rose
Berry Punch

For the first time
in history,
(for one of these
lucky ladies -
names up there)
it's gonna start
Raining Ryder!!!

Off to work now.
...
As he shut the cover on his journal, he suddenly remembered the note he scribbled down that morning; he dug it out of his pocket and laid on top of his dresser for safe-keeping.

Author's Note

Let me know how I'm doing (and if you're liking the story so far) in the comments!

I may also need a cover picture...