Controlling the Beast Within

So there I was, figuring I was about to be in some seriously deep shit... A horse princess stood before me, along with six other ponies who had just recently fired some kind of “Rainbow Beam” at the “Queen of Darkness”, or something. Both parties, of which, were now staring at me with looks that didn’t feel all too welcoming...

What could possibly go wrong, right?

Suddenly, the white horse-thing that had arrived shortly ago spoke up. "Girls, we will speak more about what has transpired here in a moment. For now, leave this... creature and I alone with my sister to talk."

Ah. See, now that's where it could go wrong. That was also when two things got noticed by me. And from the gasps coming from the girls—Or is the correct term ‘mares’?—they seemed to notice as well.

Over where Nightmare had been now held a smaller horse-thing, curled up in a ball and shivering. She seemed to be a more bluish color than the big nasty was, while also having a lighter blue mane that didn't seem to be alive. Now I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I could have sworn that she had a crescent moon stamped onto her ass. Not like I was looking, of course. It just caught my eye... Sickos...

But noticing her wasn't the only thing that we seemed to be surprised by, judging from the exclamation the ponies gave. "Sister?!"

Yeah, that put me on edge even more. I could already feel the chains around my wrists for “assaulting royalty”. The white princess seemed to move over to her sister's side, saying a few quiet words which, and I don’t know why, I could hear very well. "Luna, I know you may have been resentful toward me before, but I really need your help, little sister." That seemed to snap 'Luna' out of her trance, getting her to her hooves and into her sister's embrace. A quick series of apologies then started flooding out of her. Sadly, during this whole scene, I could also make out voices and the sounds of hooves leaving the room.

I was kind of hoping that the elder sister had forgotten about me, but a pair of angered eyes being laid upon me put those hopes to rest. "I will keep this short. I do not intend to keep you here, in my kingdom.” From her words, I found myself smiling in the hopes she was going to return me back to my own home. “You will surely only bring destruction and sorrow, and must be removed..." My smile quickly faded at that, along with my hopes. She even went to give me a slight nod of her head before her horn started glowing. "You have my apologies."

So. This is how I die. Not like I'd try my hand at defeating another horse princess...

Ah, screw it. Might as well leave her with something to remember me by.

Just as I was getting ready to defend myself, Luna gave out a shouting plea. "Wait, sister!" I swear I felt my entire body go limp. How I managed to stay standing amazed me. "It wasn't his fault! I—" She paused a moment. "...Nightmare was the one that dragged him here against his will, and forced him into this whole thing. He even attempted to fight back against her, regardless of the pain she was putting him through. Given the choice, I’m sure he would have not wanted to harm anyone." By this time she had seemed to put herself between me and the elder princess. "Do not hold the curse against him, I beg of you!"

After a long and very nerve-racking silence, the glowing from Whitie's horn died down. She had watched her sister the whole time during her little speech and was now looking at me with a rather neutral expression. "...Is this true?"

"U-Uh..." How the hell do I respond to that?! 'Damn right, it is!' "Y-Yes, your, um… highness. What she says is true." While her eyes still kept a certain sternness, jaw seemed to tighten somewhat at my addressing her by manner of title. "However, if you'd be so kind, could I please know what the hell is going on...?"

There was a moment where I thought I saw a look of confusion appear on her face, but it was gone before I had time to confirm it. I might have even imagined it. After a moment of tension in the air, Whitie let out a very heavy sigh before giving her head a nod, taking a seat as her sister joined her side. "...My apologies. I suppose you should be informed of what has just transpired." She then gazed upon me with a somewhat different look. Sorrow, maybe? "But first, allow me to introduce myself and my sister. I am Princess Celestia, ruler of the land of Equestria." She then nodded down to the quieter sister of hers. "You have met my younger sister, Princess Luna. However, you may have known her as 'Nightmare Moon' upon first meeting her." The name seemed to make Luna flinch.

Finding myself in a now sitting position, my shredded jeans covering my lower regions, I bowed my head slightly out of respect before looking back at them both. "The name's Nick. I'd like to say it's a pleasure to meet the two of you, but I have to admit that I’d rather not have met either of you at all." I shook my head, holding onto the bridge of my nose. "I'm really confused on what's going on, how and why I'm here, and why the hell I was a werewolf last night."

This time, it was Luna that spoke up in a meek voice. "I-I'm afraid most of that would be my fault. Or rather, N-Nightmare Moon's fault." She almost appeared like she was about to tear up any second. That was when Celestia continued for her.

"Several thousand years ago, my sister and I used to rule over Equestria in peace and harmony." Holy balls, that's a long time ago. "I would raise the sun and Luna would raise the moon. For centuries, it continued that way. However..." That's when Luna finally broke and began full-out crying, leaning into her sister's shoulder. Celestia, pausing from her story, seemed kind enough to wrap her wing around Luna's shoulder, trying to comfort her.

I, however, sensed a big drama bomb coming on...

"One night, Luna came to me, refusing to lower the moon because she felt the ponies shunned her beautiful night over my day. Things escalated and her hate got the better of her, turning her into who you saw before; Nightmare Moon." Luna was now just weeping, starting to calm down and become quiet again. "I was forced to use the Elements of Harmony against Nightmare Moon and imprisoned her on the moon for a thousand years."

That's where I stepped in. "And I'm guessing that last night was the end of that thousand-year imprisonment?" Celestia simply nodded, removing her wing from Luna who just looked up at me with tear-reddened eyes.

"Y-You were to be her..." she began quietly before pausing for a moment. "...Her alternative plan. If she could not get the six ponies you saw before to stop their advance on her, she would simply let you... deal with them." While I didn't like the sound of that, I knew what she meant.

I gave a small nod to show her I understood that part but looked at her with confusion still plastered on my face. "But why me? And how?"

Luna sighed, closing her eyes as she spoke. "There is very dark and powerful magic out there, Nick. Nightmare Moon knew much of it, including the curse she placed upon you.” Luna paused a moment, before bringing a hoof to her temple as she let out a small gasp. “H-However, you’ll have to forgive me. My memory appears to be hazy after having taken the full force of the Elements of Harmony, and I can not recall what her reasoning was in summoning you, specifically..."

I glanced down slightly, trying to think back to what the evil-looking entity had said after bringing me here. “...She seemed just as confused as I was about my being here, like she was expecting someone else.”

There was another moment of silence, before Celestia would speak up once more. “...You seemed to be familiar with the form you were forced into. What was it you called it, again?”

“A werewolf." I felt my fists clenching. "The curse, or reasoning for how someone gets turned into one varies depending on the culture you ask, but the outcome is usually the same. A person gets turned into that of a horrible monster. Half man, half wolf. They then, usually, turn into the beast under the full moon and go on a mindless rampage. How I was able to still control myself while being that... thing, even I’m surprised."

Celestia seemed to be either shocked or in awe over what I had just confessed. Celestia was the first to speak up, though. "You say you still had control of yourself...?"

I just nodded with a shrug, itching at my cheek. "Yeah... Why, that’s not normal here, either?"

The older of the two sisters gained an indescribable look, before turning to the other, who appeared to have a mild look of confusion. They both stared in silence another few seconds, before Celestia turned her gaze back towards me. "Nick, I would like it if you would stay in a nearby town by the name of Ponyville. I am quite certain that my student, Twilight Sparkle, will be planning to stay there with her newfound friends, and I would appreciate it if you could stay with her."

Whoa, now... Hold your—selves, ladies. "Um, I was actually wondering if there was some way to get back to my own home?"

This time, Luna spoke up, shaking her head in a rather sympathetic way. "I-I'm sorry, Nick. But that spell Nightmare Moon used to bring you here was… ‘unique’. However she managed it, even if I was at my full power again, and my sister aided me, it would still be very risky to try on you. You could just end up being sent floating somewhere in space!"

That could be bad...

I could feel a knot forming in my gut, the whole realization of what she just told me starting to click. "...You're saying that I'm stuck here.", I said flatly, staring at the stone floor between us. There was a bit of an uneasy silence before one of the princesses spoke up.

"Yes. Sadly, that would appear to be how it is," Celestia spoke, a hint of sadness in her voice. I couldn't tell if it was honest, or not.

I paused a moment more, trying to weigh my options. I was in an unknown world, with unknown creatures that seemed to have never seen a human before. Going out on my own and hoping for the best didn't seem like a good idea, considering both the dangers this place could have, as well as the panic I would probably cause everywhere I went. Oh, and not to mention this curse that I now had.

"Is there at least some way that I could get rid of being a werewolf?" I asked with whatever little hopes I had left.

Luna shook her head, looking to the floor as I had been. "The curse… is not something that can be easily taken away. Any process that I know of is both extremely painful, and usually ends with the victim insane… or deceased."

Well that's just great... Live with a monster inside of me or risk being mental or dead.

I had to say, I kind of liked living. Plus having whatever form of sane mind I had was a bonus. With a very regretful nod, I made my decision. "What else is there I can do...?"

Celestia, as if sensing my dampened mood, slowly approached me and sat at my side. Even with her regal stature, I could still smell some kind of scent coming from her that my mind automatically related to unease. "We are very sorry, Nick. Believe me when I say that if we had any other option, we would try to send you home. But you have to remember that with your curse, you most likely would be better off here anyway." I hated to admit it, but she had a point. "I will speak with Twilight Sparkle about your housing situation after we all return to Ponyville. I will also try to get you introduced to most of the ponies living there, so as to not cause a disturbance."

Her kind words were only slightly helping my mind calm down, but I thanked her for her help anyway. "Your actions are very welcomed, Princess. Thank you." She answered my thanks with a gentle nod.

Luna had taken that time to make her way over to my other side, resting her wing around my shoulder. In all honesty, it did feel kind of nice against my bare back... "And if you ever need anything, you need only ask. I, myself, will most likely be seen as..." She looked away from me for a moment, sadness again beginning to show on her face. "...a monster, for some time." She looked back to me with reassurance in her eyes. "In reality, I blame myself for the position you have been thrown into. Therefore, I will try to help you whenever you need it."

I'll also admit that that made me smile a little bit. Giving her a quick hug, which no doubt surprised her, I said a quick thank you before releasing her. I could swear I could just make out the faint look of a blush through her fur–which was extremely soft mind you–but decided that it was probably just my imagination. That, however, was when I realized something.

"Um, I'd hate to trouble you two for any more assistance than you've already offered me, but..." I picked up the nearby shred of shirt, chuckling half-heartedly. "I could probably do with some new clothes."

Celestia, for some reason, smiled at that, her horn lighting up a moment later. "Of course." In mere seconds, all the shreds of clothing started floating before me, including the torn jeans I had been using to conceal myself, and began repairing themselves. "I will admit, though. The fashion in which these pants of yours were created is rather... uncommon." They must not produce much denim here.

"It's made from cotton, though through which process they used to get it looking like that is beyond me..." I said quietly, trying my best to cover myself back up again while the now good-as-new camo t-shirt, boxers, and army-green jeans floated over to me. After speedily putting my underwear and pants on first, I stood back up, getting my shirt on next. It took me several seconds to figure out something was missing.

...Where the heck are my shoes?

After a brief look around, I found the tattered remains of what I once considered a very fine pair of sneakers. A pair of torn socks were also still in them. "I doubt you could use those fancy tricks of yours to fix these as well...?" I didn't even need to turn around to hear that sound that I was starting to relate to 'magic'—as I had come to grips with—being used. A few seconds later, both my sneakers and socks were back to normal, seeming a lot less used than before. "Thank you, Celestia."

After I got my feet back into their comfortable homes, I stood back up and straightened out my back with a few, loud, pops. I turned to see one semi-amused princess and one rather disturbed one.

"Please don't do that again..." Celestia's face was priceless.

Shrugging, I glanced over toward where I assumed the six ponies had left and had been waiting for some time now.

"So, are you two going to fill in the others now that I'll be staying around longer than planned?" I looked back to see the two heading right for the exit as I spoke.

"Yes," Celestia stated. "However, I'm afraid there are a few other things that will be needing discussion before then. Such as a few things that may happen now that you hold the curse." There's more? Great... "You may feel a bit different than usual. Nothing to get worried about, though." Who's worried, right? "But for now, we shall all head back to Ponyville."

"Alrighty then.", I casually replied, following them.

For the sake of not having to explain it, I'll just skip a few minutes to us... teleporting to this 'Ponyville'. Or rather, I thought that's where we were going. I, however, ended up flashing into a weird-looking bookstore or something, feeling groggy and confused.

Yeah. Note to self. I really don't like teleporting...

After a moment of regaining my bearings, I started searching around where I was. All I could see of importance were books. Tons and tons of books. Now, I'm not usually one to snoop around other peoples' houses, or stores, or whatever this place was, but I found myself just wandering around a bit.

The whole bottom floor seemed to be one massive room of sorts, most if not all the walls being huge bookshelves filled to the max. There was a pedestal in the center of the room with a golden horse head on it, which kind of reminded me of a chess piece. There were a few entryways that went into smaller rooms, as well. I then caught sight of the staircase going to the second floor, and stepped into what looked like a bedroom with, get this, more books.

I think somebody's got a problem~

My little exploring in the bedroom, which also took up the whole second floor, led to a doorway that I hadn't noticed until then. Opening it, I discovered what looked like another bedroom, though much smaller than the one I had just come from. Mid-sized bed, though just a bit too tiny for my taste, a dresser, some surprisingly empty shelves, and a circular window. On closer inspection, it appeared the window exited out into a little balcony of sorts... which oddly seemed to have tree branches around it.

Guest room, maybe? And what's up with—I paused a moment to look around again, taking in note something I had seemed to overlook before. The whole room itself appeared to be made of wood. Carved wood.

...I'm in an actualtree house! Huh.

Looking back out the window, I could see that it was still morning or so. "Well, now what?" I mused to myself.

Exiting the guest room, I made my way back downstairs and began my search for something to do at the bookshelves. Wouldn't you know that, with my luck, all the books seemed to be in some kind of language I couldn't understand. Thankfully, some had a bunch of illustrations I could look at. I was even taken back by some of them. For ponies, they sure can draw.

And that's how I spent a good hour. Finding a book, flipping through the encoded pages, and looking at any pictures they may have had. Needless to say it was boring as hell. After repeating this process with what felt like every book downstairs, I found a blank scroll and quill atop a desk in the room, and got to doodling. Thankfully, there seemed to be enough inkwells, as well.

Again, I did this for a good hour or so. My God, when will this chick get here?! As if on cue, I began hearing voices approaching from outside. Finally!

I had just enough time to get up and go to the door before watching it glow in a pinkish aura and open on its own. Lavender Pony, looking very shocked to see me, paused a moment before letting out a small gasp. Just before I could even try to greet her, I found myself being thrown back by an invisible force, slamming me against the faraway bookshelf and causing an avalanche of books to start cascading down on me. Yeah, it hurt just a little bit. So did the ear-piercing scream the unicorn let out.

So much for a good first impression...

"W-What are you doing in my library?!" she yelled out, horn flaring up again. "You have five seconds to get out of here before I—" She was cut off by a... burp? That's when I noticed the purple and green reptile thing next to her, now holding a scroll in one of its claws. There's no way that is a dragon.

Of course, after being surrounded by ponies, unicorns, pegasi–I think that's the plural form–along with mixtures of all three? Yeah, I should have known better than to question things by now.

Anyway, while I was attempting to get myself out of the pile of books I found myself in, Ms. Fire Magic, Ask Questions Later was reading the scroll now hovering in front of her face. The somewhat nice silence was suddenly broken by another gasp, followed by all the books getting pulled away from me in a pinkish glow.

"I-I am so sorry! I had no clue Princess Celestia was going to be having you... stay with me." She didn't finish that with much excitement.

What the hell, Celestia? Not telling the pony I'm staying with that I'm at their house before they actually get home?! After you sent me here!?

I simply got up with a grunt, rubbing at my sore head. "N-Not a problem. I always did get that kind of reaction from the ladies..." I mentally laughed at my bad joke since she didn't seem to get it. "Still, I don't get why she couldn't have told you I was here waiting for you."

She stared a moment longer at me before shaking her head abruptly. "Sorry, I'm just still getting used to, well, you." She let herself into her home, trotting over to a nearby couch. "Yes, that would have been helpful..."

I suddenly felt a tugging on one of my pant legs, which turned out to be the little dragon thing. "Uh, excuse me, but... what exactly are you?" He was staring at me with some kind of awe or wonder.

"Uh..." I kind of felt awkward about that question already. "A human?" His blank stare told me he had no clue what that was. "Um, alright. Do you know what a monkey is?" He nodded. "Well, I'm kind of like one of them. Only smarter—” Yeah, right. " —taller, and not as hairy." He opened his mouth as if to ask something more. "And no, I don't just eat bananas." He closed his mouth.

The unicorn was now sitting on the couch, looking at me with the same look of awe that the tiny dragon had. "Nick, if you wouldn't mind, could I ask you some questions about your species? As far as I know, you're the only known- ‘Human’, was it? You're probably the first one ever seen in Equestria!"

I thought about it for a second, before shrugging and heading over to a lazy boy that was— Hold on. When did this get here? In fact, when did the couch get there?! I paused a moment to stare at the two before shrugging it off uneasily and taking a seat, looking back toward Twilight. The dragon was now seated next to her. "I guess that's alright... So long as you introduce yourselves first." Yeah, I knew her name. And apparently, she even knew mine. But she had seemed to neglect giving it to me herself, as well as asked me for my own. And that’s just plain rude.

"Oh course! My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is my assistant, Spike." Spike just gave me a wave, of which I returned with a nod.

"Pleasure to meet the both of you. In case you weren't informed, the name's Nick." I relaxed back in the chair a bit, laying my head back in my hands. "So, let's hear these questions of yours."

So began a very long discussion on practically everything I could answer about the 'human species'. In all honesty, it wasn't a lot. I mean, she was asking things like what our anatomy was like–which I wasn't that great at in health class–what kind of things we ate, as well as what exactly my home world was like. I just kind of described it as big, noisy, and overcrowded. Then came a rather fun topic of explaining.

"So, what kind of magic are you humans capable of using?" Twilight asked, having made a massive scroll, an ink jar, and quill appear sometime during our informal discussion.

"Oh, magic doesn't really exist in my world." The looks on both of their faces when I said that. "I mean, there are people who can make illusions, and I guess ‘fake magic’, but I've never seen someone even do that. Well, at least not in person." YouTube, baby.

"M-Magic doesn't exist in your world?!" Spike gasped. I simply nodded a confirmation. "Whoa..."

"No magic? That's definitely different," Twilight said, noting something down. "What about other species? Who do you share your world with other than humans?"

So that started the huge discussion on Earth’s inhabitants. I started it off with how we had ponies and horses, though none were sentient. Humans were the only sentient life forms on the planet—or at least that we knew of. She seemed really surprised at that, but the topic of how our sun and moon moved without magic made her even more intrigued.

“They move on their own?” She questioned, still taking down every word I said.

Sigh… I then had the privilege of explaining how our universe worked, and how our planet kind of just took care of itself. Aside from people who helped plant trees, I guess. After I’d told her a little about whatever basic astronomy I knew, she finally seemed content with her newfound knowledge, and ceased in her questioning.

After what felt like hours later, and turned out to be just that, it looked about late afternoonish outside. And that's when my stomach growled, causing all of us to stop what we were doing, a faint blush appearing on my face. "Um... Do you have anything I could eat? I kind of haven't had anything since—" How long ago was it since I had eaten lunch back home? "Well... a while ago."

As if right on cue, another rumble was heard, this one coming from Twilight herself. A very noticeable blush shined through her cheek fur, causing me to grin. "Looks like I'm not the only one," I said. That only made her cheeks redder.

"I-I suppose a break is in order," she hastily said, looking to Spike. "Spike, could you please make us all something?"

With a quick hop off the couch, Spike started for the kitchen. "Sure thing, Twilight!" I couldn't help but watch him as he disappeared around a corner.

I waited until I was sure he couldn't hear me before looking over to Twilight, who seemed to have been staring at me while I wasn't looking. She immediately lowered her gaze when I noticed; that small blush coming to her lavender cheeks again.

“So, how long have you two known each other?”

“Oh, since I hatched him!” The confusion and, quite frankly, grimace I felt come across my face quickly went noted, the unicorn waving her hands–-hooves–-before her. “N-Not like that. It was for my entrance exam into Princess Celestia’s School of Magic.”

“...Wait, your entrance exam was to make a dragon egg hatch?” I couldn’t help finding that a bit… extreme? “Did anyone else manage it?”

Twilight appeared to think, before gaining a sudden look of stupor. “No. Now that you ask, I can’t seem to recall any doing so before or after me.”

“Huh.” A gave my head a quick shake at that, before swerving my train of thought back to my prior curiosity. “So, after you hatched him… You raised him yourself?”

The mare would shake her head. “Oh, Celestia, no!” I couldn’t help but take note of how she’d used the princess’s name. “I was only a foal when I managed that. No, he was raised, for the most part, by Princess Celestia, before eventually moving in with my family and I.” She gained a rather pleasant smile, looking off towards the kitchen. “He’s basically been like a little brother to me ever since.”

There was a mild pang in my chest, though I tried to push it aside, forcing a small smile onto my face as I closed my eyes. “...That’s pretty cool.”

A few seconds later, I could hear the sound of scaled feet on the wooden floor coming back to the room. "I wasn't really sure what you could eat, but I knew you said fruits were alright." I opened my eyes in time to see an apple being tossed to me, which I surprisingly caught without much thought.

...Well that's new. Hm.

"Thanks, Spike. Apples are fine." Though I was sure one apple wouldn't be enough to fill me. Regardless, I gladly started taking bites of it, just noticing the other two getting comfortable on the couch and eating what looked like sandwiches.

...Are those flowers hanging out from them? Well... I can understand Twilight eating those, being a pony and all. But Spike?

I just shook my head lightly, not bothering with questioning it as I continued to munch on my apple. I had to say, it tasted... different. I wasn't sure if it was a good different, or a bad different, but it sure didn't taste like what the apples back home were like. Lunch continued on in an almost awkward silence, the smell of tension hanging in the air. No, seriously. I could smell it all over the place.

The hell is with my senses? Maybe this is what the princess was talking about…?

After I had gotten to the core of the apple, and had patiently waited for the other two to finish, I started up a new conversation. "So." I glanced around for a trash can of some kind, spotting one by the door to the kitchen. At least thirty feet away, or so. Not really feeling like getting up, I tossed the core like a basketball, not really expecting anything from it. In fact, I’d already started to lean forward from my seat to pick it up off the flo-

*Clunk*

...Well then.

I leaned back against the chair and looked back to a surprised unicorn and extremely amazed dragon. "Dude! That was awesome!" I couldn't help but grin at that.

"I-I must admit, your coordination is incredible!" Twilight sputtered, still with a look that told me she couldn't believe I just accomplished that. Honestly, neither could I.

"I’m, uh, honestly pretty shocked I even made that. I was sure I'd miss it." Shrugging, I closed my eyes. "Must have to do with my curse, or something."

"...Your curse?" Twilight asked in confusion.

Oh shit. Was I supposed to tell her? If the princess hadn't informed her of it already... "Nothing. Just a joke." I waved her off, hoping she'd buy it.

She did. "If you say so..." Or at least, I hoped she did. She didn't sound too convinced.

I quickly attempted to change subjects. "Well, I've told you about me and my species." I opened one eye, looking over to her. "What about you and all the other ponies? How about you fill me in more about yourselves?"

To my surprise, she almost seemed to grow excited about answering me. Again, a rather long, but kind of interesting, lesson took place. There were three types of ponies: earth, unicorns, and pegasi.—I knew that was the plural form!—Earth Ponies were pretty much the farmers of the land, taking care of the land and its animals. She even mentioned something about how everypony—I couldn't help but smirk at that word—helps out to 'clean up winter' for the springtime. However, they could also do other jobs as well. All depended on what their 'Cutie Mark' was; a butt stamp that basically dictated what they were meant to do in life. Unicorns could learn spells and magic with the use of their horns, and were mostly made up of scholars. However, again it depends on the Cutie Mark. Pegasi, obviously, have wings and are the weather controllers of Equestria. They are able to walk on clouds, as well as move them around or even get them to rain. Most pegasi live in some cloud city called 'Cloudsdale'.

It also turned out that Equestria was pretty much like The States back home, even having cities named “Manehattan” and “Fillydelphia”. It seemed odd to me at first, but again, I didn't really question it. There were also other continents around the world, though not much was known about some of them. The calendar system was, also strangely enough, near identical to Earth’s, with the current date being roughly the same as I’d left back home. To say the least, it was a very educational session.

Too bad I probably won't do much with the knowledge.

Oh, to back step a bit, the princesses were also 'Alicorns', kind of a mixture of all three species. So at least I didn't have to call them 'horse-things' anymore. Sadly...

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Twilight gave me a tour of the tree library—yeah, I felt kind of stupid now—showing me all the important rooms worth mentioning. Of course, I didn't tell her about my personal tour, prior to her arrival. It was kind of fun though, considering that she was pretty new to the place as well, holding off names until we were already in the room.

Before we knew it, the afternoon was gone and the sun was setting through the windows downstairs. Twilight was quietly reading a book, while Spike and I were just getting more acquainted with what went down this morning. I kind of left the whole “And now I’m a monster!” part out of it, and stayed rather PG all the way through. Boring, but it passed the time faster. By the end, it was dark out and Spike was barely staying awake without yawning every second. Twilight must have noticed, for she was soon noting her spot in her—...Is that a different…?—book and levitating Spike onto her back.

"Alright, it's getting late. Time to retire for the day." She couldn't hide her own drowsiness as she paused a moment, turning to me. "Coming, Nick? I'm sure I showed you the guest room."

I waved a hand, getting up from the floor. "Yeah, I'll be up in a few." She accepted that answer, nodding and trotting over to the stairs. "Oh, and Twilight?" She paused, halfway up, looking back at me. "...Thank you." She smiled brightly before continuing to her room, leaving me downstairs by myself, and my thoughts.

…I miss my sister.