Final Frontiers

Chapters

Prologue: Anomaly
1: The Report
2: UFOs
3: Unconscious Memories
4: Exploring the Crash
5: First Contact
6: Stretch
7: Picnic
8: Learning
9: An Odd Day
10: Hell week
A New Star
11: A Knight in Canterlot
12: Love Sick (Clop-Free Version)
13: Breakfast Date Party (Clop version)
13: Breakfast Date Party (Clop-Free Version)
14. Part 1: Surprises (Clop version)
14. Part 1: Surprises (Clop Free Version)
14. Part 2: Lyra's E.F.C. Fight Night
14. Interlude - Guards on Duty
14. Part 3: Parting Ways
15. Gone
16. Captured
17.1 Uncle Titus
17.2 Memories of Making Friends
17.3 A Princess Visits
17.4 Complications and Cages
12: Love Sick (Clop Version)

Prologue: Anomaly

Something was ringing in his ears, muffled as it was. It was an electronic chirp of sorts, not wholly unpleasant but at the same time annoying enough that it wasn't ignorable. There was also an air of urgency to it. He had about a second more to contemplate the noise when the bite of a needle in his chest, followed by the rush of liquid adrenaline being pumped into his body, snapped him from his state of stupor.

Falling to his knees on the hard metal floor his mind raced to piece together the situation he had been flung into while his lungs fought to retch up the gelatinous goo stuck in his throat.

The information came together in fragments. Still on the ship. Emergency alarm. Suspended animation ended early.

Finally coughing the highly-concentrated nutritional supplement onto the deck, the human pulled himself to his feet with the aid of the open locker where his gear had been waiting. A droid entered the room to clean the mess up.

An electronic female voice chimed from nearby, "Scanning." The human pulled the undershirt on while he waited for the sensors to do their job. "Identification confirmed: Marius Aelius, Titus. Query?"

"Situation report," Titus asked, his body was moving automatically - he climbed into the leggings of the bodysuit and worked his arms into the the sleeves of the torso section, "Are we under attack?" The last thing I need to deal with right now is pirates or a Jedi hunter.

"Negative. Ship has been taken off-course by a spontaneous gravitational and energy anomaly. Port-side engine damaged, output down to 63% and falling," the computer answered.

Well, at least it wasn't Jedi hunters. Titus loaded a powercell into his sidearm and checked the charge before securing the weapon in its holster. "Unseal all doors from here to piloting, NOW!" the human barked, grabbing the helmet from the locker and jamming his feet into his boots before taking off toward the cockpit. Only got time to get the bodysuit on, no time for the plating.

Sliding in front of one of the control panels, the screen came to life. Titus' gloved fingers began flying over the surface, each tap or swipe entering a command or accessing information on the ship. "Bring communications online and program self-replicating seeds of the files across every subnet databank you can. Dynamically encrypt each."

The computer chimed an acknowledgement.

"Launch emergency beacon two through six to pre-designated coordinates; set to broadcast encryption keys for the files on all friendly channels."

Another chime, "Port engine output has fallen below the escape threshold. Instructions?"

If I don't live through this, at least the information wouldn't die with me. It's out there for someone to find.

"Instructions?" the computer asked again.

"Send a mayday signal to our handler then cut power to non-essential systems: transfer to inertial dampeners," Titus said, delegating some of his tasks to get as much done in the narrow window he had, "backup navigation and AI to each of the server cores-" the ship lurched hard to port as the anomaly began to suck them further in, bulkheads groaning against the stress and blinking warning lights illuminating the cockpit, "Adjust course to reduce ship profile. I'd rather not go into this thing sideways!"

"Acknowledged: firing starboard engine," the computer calmly stated, followed by a brief pause.

Titus programmed all forward-facing thrusters to fire at maximum burn should the ship survive the trip through the anomaly. Provided, of course, it doesn't drop us off in the center of a sun or planet.

"...course correction complete."

"Now redirect reactor power from main engines to slipstream shielding. Secure cargo bay. Any excess power left over from here on out goes to reinforce the shields," he tapped another string of commands into his console as the ship began to shudder harder, "cut life support on my mark, transitioning to suit support." Entering a command into a display screen on his jacket sleeve, the tiny tetrahedrons that made up the entire suit automatically constricted to a more snug fit, reducing the amount of material that could potentially catch on a surface in low gravity. Next his helmet activated, more tetrahedrons extending down his neck to connect with the rest of the suit and completing the seal.

"Mark," he said, waiting for the life support warning on the console to start blinking red. Titus was still giving commands when the ship was finally swallowed - the anomaly disappearing without a trace a second later.

1: The Report

"Spike?" came a soft whisper, "SPIIII-IIKE~?"

A rather disheveled young dragon poked his head out from under the covers of his basket bed. "Bleh," was all he could manage before his head was back on the little pillow and the blanket pulled back up around him.

"Oh, Spike," the violet unicorn exclaimed, the concern very evident in her voice as she lay down next to the basket, "are you feeling any better at all?"

"Ugh. Sowwy, Twiligh," Spike croaked, one half-lidded eye cracking open to look at her, "I feel a libble bebter, buh myh snouwt is stiww awl stuffed uhp. I pwomish tow helb twibce ab hard onbce I'hm back tow norble."

Twilight patted the top of Spike's head, "Aww that's okay, Spike. With all the help you've been so far on this project, I think my Number One Assistant has earned a few days off," she threw in a big smile in at the end to try to cheer the little dragon up. "Oh! Pinkie dropped off some cookies and a card, I'll leave those here in case you get hungry," she levitated the platter of still-warm cookies and the get-well-soon card closer to the basket.

A garbled response that Twilight assumed was one of acknowledgement came from the basket.

"If you'd like some soup or anything else I'll be downstairs in the study," Twilight gave Spike a quick nuzzle before trotting out of the room, quietly closing the door behind her. Through the door, a faint POP! - undoubtedly accompanied by confetti - and party noise maker could be heard as a certain card was opened, which brought a relieved smile to Twilight face.

Feeling slightly less worried about her little assistant, Twilight stopped to glance out the window at the Weather Team moving dull rainy clouds into the morning sky over Ponyville.

Rainbow Dash did say the Weather Team had a storm scheduled today, but hadn't been clear on just how much of a storm it was going to be. "They needed to make up for two days where unscheduled sunny weather had been required," was what the pegasus had said. I'll have to ask for a more in-depth weather schedule the next time I see Dash, Twilight thought with a nod, It had been really nice of Pinkie to swing by with a fresh batch of cookies, especially in this weather, though seeing her happily bouncing from puddle to puddle was probably a sign that Pinkie didn't mind or hadn't noticed how dreary it was. How she had kept the platter of cookies both dry and in a perfect pile through the trip, however, was still a mystery.

Working her way down the stairs, Twilight continued to think to herself. All of my friends had shown concern when Spike had gotten sick, and throughout the week they'd managed to do something nice for him in their own way - noon on Monday Rarity had shown up with a set of freshly-sewn embroidered pillows to fluff up his basket, Tuesday evening Fluttershy brought some soup and tea she and Zecora had brewed up that should speed his recovery, early Wednesday morning AJ and Big Macintosh came around with an apple pie and some fresh cider meant to help wash away the taste of the soup and tea, Wednesday afternoon Rainbow Dash had given him a copy of her favorite Daring Do book, and today Pinkie had stopped by.

Twilight disembarked from this train of thought when she arrived at the tower of books and reference material she and Spike had been set up in the middle - and on every other available surface - of the study. It had been a rough few days without Spike's assistance but Twilight felt she needed to keep making progress, tired as she was. Pushing the lectern Spike had been using a few inches closer to her own, the unicorn sat herself down and began scanning the text from the tomes she deftly levitated around her, all the while scribbling equations and jotting down notes on the piece of parchment in front of her.

The sound of her quill tapping against the bottom of an empty inkwell snapped Twilight from her focus. With a sigh, she levitated the writing implement back to the lectern and tried to look out the nearby window to get an idea of what time it was, only to find she was unable to focus on anything farther away than her parchment. Rubbing the stubbornness out of her eyes, she tried again.

"Wow, the weather team really brought in a lot of cloud cover for this one," Twilight whispered as light rain pattered at the glass pane. "It almost looks like it's night out-" she nearly finished saying before a short-lived break in the clouds revealed a sliver of moon.

"Oh sweet Celestia! Have I been here that long?" she said aloud, pacing around the study with a slight bit of panic edging its way into her voice, "I still haven't gotten anywhere near enough data to send to the Princess in tomorrow's report!" Glancing from page to page of the parchment, Twilight plopped her flanks down on the carpet and closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths in the process.

Okay Twilight Sparkle, it's crunch time. You're probably going to have to pull an all-nighter, but you're going to get this report done! she told herself, opening her tired eyes and clopping her front hooves together determinedly. "You have your hypothesis," she stated, levitating a page as she did so, "you have the procedure," - up floated another - "and you have the consolidated research and cited sources list," - a ream of pages lifted into the air - "all that's left is to follow the equations you worked out and have Spike send the report in the afternoon." She spent a moment taking in the massive amount of papers floating around her before her shoulders slumped a small fraction.

"I'd better start brewing some coffee..."

The transcription of the rough scribbles and short-hoof notes into the finalized rendition of the report that would be sent to the Princess took her until just slightly before dawn, but the weary Twilight was finally ready to start the casting portion of her project.

Twilight gave one equation that popped out on the page a quick glance, "Hmm... this thaumaturgic equation looks to indicate the differentiating levels of inducements might cause an audi-" a yawn briefly interrupted her monologue until she fought it back, drowning it with what was left of her mug of coffee, "...an auditory discharge. The corresponding frequencies are similar enough and woven together so that it shouldn't be too loud-" she glanced quickly at the stairs through the study door "-but I should do this outside so that I don't wake Spike." Checking in on her recovering dragon revealed a floor covered in confetti, one snoring bundle of covers using an open Daring Do book for a pillow, and a nearly-empty platter of cookies. Twilight snagged one of the cookies as an impromptu breakfast before heading back to the study. Gathering up the pages she'd need to reference and a few pieces of equipment, the unicorn donned a bright yellow rain poncho and set off into the drizzle with the perfect spot to cast the spell in mind.

Despite the weather and the time of day, the street wasn't completely empty; a few ponies had begun the process of opening up their shops for the day and greetings were exchanged as their paths crossed. On her way out of town, Twilight encountered Applejack pulling her cart in for the morning market.

"Hey sugarcube, ya sure are up early," Applejack greeted, giving her friend a once-over and spotting the dark bags under her eyes, "or... are ya up late?"

Twilight let out a weak laugh which tried to turn into a yawn, but she fought it back, "Heheh, the latter, AJ. I'm on my way to conduct an experiment so I can finish writing this report for the Princess. We had been talking about how convenient it would be for me to be able to check out required books from the Canterlot library without having to wait two to three days for them to be delivered."

"Wait, can't Spike-" Applejack started before Twilight cut her off with a shake of her head.

"Large volumes of pages have proven to be an issue - both sending and receiving" she clarified. "Spike being sick is another reason to look into the thematic of setting up a long-range two-way system, which could potentially have more uses across Equestria. For now I'm just seeing if I can send an inanimate object to a pre-determined location without leaving the portal open for any significant length of time. Conceptually speaking, the spell is feasible, provided the caster have a familiarity with unicorn teleportation mechanics-" the unicorn was explaining when an orange hoof pushed against her snout, effectively shushing her.

"Twilight, I wager a few bits yer 'bout ta start using big words from those thick books a yers, an' fer today I reckon I'd like ta keep mah eyes from goin' crossed jus tryin' ta keep up," Applejack said after Twilight had broken from her lecture, "an' besides, got ta get the cart set up: Dash was sayin' early mornin' the weather team s'possed ta be gettin' all this cleared up, so me an' Granny got an inklin' it'll be a good day fer business."

"Oh!" Twilight exclaimed, quickly peering around AJ at the cart she was pulling, "Could I be your first customer of the day?" she asked, levitating a single bit from her saddle bag towards Applejack.

"Sure thing, sugarcube! Nothin' like startin' the day with a good apple!" AJ said before plucking one of the juicier-looking apples by the stem off her cart for Twilight to put in her saddle bag. "Lookin' like me an' Granny were right ‘bout today!" she remarked with a confident grin.

After the two had parted ways, it only took a few minutes for Twilight to reach her destination: a quiet spot atop a hill overlooking Ponyville from the south, with shelter from the rain provided by a small white gazebo. Twilight had thought it better not to mention to AJ that she intended to teleport the apple back to her laboratory in the basement because the farmer probably wouldn't be too thrilled about her beloved produce being used as a test subject. I don't want a repeat of the apples-into-oranges incident. That had taken quite a bit of talking to smooth over.

The sun had already broken over the horizon, evident by a small patch of cloud cover the Weather Team had cleared in the short time they had been at work, when Twilight had finished her preparations. The apple had been placed on a pedestal made using an ordinary garden rock she had moved from the grass, a video camera on a tripod pointing at it, ready to record. Pages of notes lay on one of the benches near her, should she need them for reference. She checked her watch; the camera in the laboratory will have started recording a few minutes ago. She made a mental note to include a copy of both viewpoints with her report. Pressing the record button on the camera in front of her, Twilight stepped into its view.

"Well, here we go..." she said aloud, giving the camera a rather uncertain smile.

Twilight's horn glowed as she focused the necessary magic. The first step was infusing the target subject with a small amount of magic that the caster could then hone in on as an anchor for the next spell, something she and Spike had worked on before (and that was pretty basic stuff, as far as Twilight was concerned). With that step out of the way, Twilight started seeking for that little node of magic she had attached to the apple. Finding it, she began the more complex process of tailoring the usual teleportation spell to bind to the target as a form of proxy. It took a little bit of tweaking for the magician to get the base of the teleport spell to mesh with the infused apple, but the magic held after Twilight had relinquished her connection to the spell.

"The energy seems to be remaining in a constant state of equilibrium - I'm not getting any spikes toward one polar extreme or another. So far, so good!" she stated for the camera, this time the smile was purely genuine.

Opening her eyes for the first time since she started, Twilight turned to look for her library home in the town below her. Finding it, she closed her eyes to focus again, this time seeking out the distinct magical aura she had left as a beacon to guide her to the destination of the test subject. It took a few minutes to sort out her target from the various magical signatures in the town, but once she was certain she had the right one she was able to lock-on and tune out the rest from her concentration. With two definitive points now identified, Twilight began linking the two, connecting the strands of magic of the point of origin to the corresponding strand of the destination - it was much like braiding a mane, but doing so one hair at a time. It was an arduous task, but it became easier the more intertwined the magic became. As the last strand was joined, Twilight opened her eyes to try to catch a glimpse as the spell was completed.

A wavering shimmer around the apple could be seen, almost as if there was a sheet of flowing water between it and the viewer. Half a heartbeat after opening her eyes, a faint-but-audible THWHIP! and the apple, along with the stone, were gone.

"HAHA! IT WORKED!" Twilight cheered gleefully, prancing about on her two hind hooves before calming herself down and addressing the camera once more, "Right. *ahem* Test subject no longer present at origin point. Data note: will need to refine the infusement process as a small amount of additional matter was transported. Initial weaving of teleportation spell into subject's anchor mesh-"

CRACK!

Twilight was cut off when a loud explosion - too loud to be from thunder or lightning - emanated from somewhere in the distance behind her. Spinning about to identify the source, it didn't take her long to find it.

Where there had once been a sky full of clouds, a donut of clear sky had appeared above the town, with the only cloud now above Ponyville situated directly above her library. Looking closer Twilight could see a shimmer identical to the one that had surrounded the apple and stone had started to form on the surface of the now-darkening cloud, angry arcs of lightning reaching out to the lightning rod on the top of her home and sending Weather Team pegasi scattering in every direction.

"Oh buck..." Twilight swore absentmindedly as she took off for the library.

2: UFOs

The closer Twilight got to the library the more ominous the cloud became, and by the time she had reached the library it was a churning mass of shimmery dark grey fluff. The center was completely black, judging from the light put off by the numerous arcs of energy that were lashing out to any lightning rod, weather vane, or street lamp in range in a shower of bright sparks. Twilight's mouth hung open for a second before realization hit her like a buck square to the face.

Spike.

"Spike! SPIKE!" she cried out, glancing up at the bedroom window of the tree house. "Oh no. Ohnoohnoohno-!" Just as she was about to make a beeline for the door when a voice came from a short distance behind her and around the corner of a nearby building.

"Twibight?" Without a doubt it was her stuffed-up Number One Assistant and when her head whipped around sharply she found him peeking around the stonework and waving both arms to get her attention, "Twibight, ober here!"

She had never galloped so fast in her life and the instant she was close enough she was wrapping her hooves around the little dragon, "Oh, Spike! I was so worried about you! Are you okay?" Amid the nuzzles and squeezes she failed to notice his eyes bulging out and a slight blue tinge growing in his face from the embrace.

"Twi-*gag* li-*wheeze*" Spike tried to say around the hug but found trying to speak let what little air he had left escape his screaming lungs.

"Easy there, Twilight. Might wanna let the fella come up fer some air."

The distinct drawl of another of Twilight's friends brought an end to her almost assaulting-levels of nuzzling against the nearly passed out dragon. "Applejack! I'm so gla-" she was mid-sentence when she finally processed what she was seeing, her eyes growing to twice their size and her mouth falling open.

The first thing that caught her eye was a familiar produce cart set next to the wall they were hiding behind and covered in scorch marks, some of which were still smoldering; that, however, had barely drawn any of Twilight's attention as next to the cart was an orange earth pony absolutely covered in apple chunks and dripping with juice to the point it looked like she had taken a quick swim in a pool of apple sauce.

Knowing full well what she looked like, AJ gave the unicorn a stink eye so mean even one of the Princesses would think twice before opening their muzzle. "Twilight, if'n ya so much as giggle..." Applejack growled through gritted teeth as an apple chunk slid from the brim of her drooping hat and down her mane to land in the street with a wet PLOP!

"BWAAAAHAAHAHA!" the loud guffawing erupted from up near the roof. There was only one pony that laughed like that...

AJ's ear twitched ever so slightly though one could almost hear her quickly-boiling blood like a tea kettle on the range.

A rainbow-maned head poked into view over the lip of the roof, "I guess what they say is true," she paused so the incoming punchline would hit that much harder, "the Apple family's produce is just BURSTING with flavor! HAAAHAAHAAHAA!"

"Rainbow. Dash...." the orange, and quickly turning red, farm pony ground her teeth as the pegasus rolled around on the roof laughing uproariously at her own joke, "GET DOWN HERE!"

Twilight attempted to intercede before things got any more out of hoof, "Girls!"

"Hey AJ, let me guess what was in your cart... ZAP apples? AHAAHAAHAA!"

"I'M FITTIN' TA RE'RANGE THAT RAINBOW STRIPE O' YOURS!" Applejack was beyond hopping mad and contemplating the possibility of bucking the building to the ground to get at the pegasus and several apple cores, scorched and visibly mushy, sailed upward in an attempt to dislodge the out-of-reach annoyance.

"GIRLS!" Twilight tried again, this time gaining their attention though muffled giggles could still be heard from the rooftop and every so often Dash's eyes would dart to the farmpony shooting daggers her direction and the fit of giggles would start again, "What happened here?"

"Beats me, darn cloud came outta nowhere! I saw it swirlin' round yer library on my way to the market-"

"It was SO cool!" Rainbow Dash excitedly butted in, "First there was this big bang! Then all the other clouds just kinda disappeared!" she swooped down and hovered at head level, seemingly unaware of just how hard AJ was staring at her and grinding her teeth, willing herself not to wallop her now that she was within range, "I was helping the Weather Team get clear of the cloud when I notice AJ yellin' at Spike, who was standing in the library door with lightning cracking all around the place. Then she just takes off toward him, cart and all!" RD jerked a hoof over at Applejack, who was beginning to calm down ever so slightly because of the praise directed at her. "She must have picked up on some of my awesome moves because she was ducking bolts on her way in, apples exploding all over the place, then she tossed Spike in the cart's storage spot and made a beeline back here, dodging bolts the whole way out! That's when you got here."

"Shucks, I werent 'bout ta leave a friend out there!" Applejack said confidently before jabbing a juice-soaked hoof into Dash's ribs playfully, but still a little harder than normal, "If'n it had been you, on the other hoof, I'd a hafta thought 'bout it"

There was one question that rocketed to the front of Twilight's mind, and the same one that she was always afraid of asking when her experimental magic was probably to blame for something happening in Ponyville. "Was anypony hurt?" Twilight asked worriedly, searching her three friends faces for any form of answer.

Spike casually dismissed the question with a wave, "Na, ebrypony hab scabtered before tha lightbing starteb. Couble bwoken wimbows is all."

Applejack wrung out her hat before cocking her head to one side to look inquisitively at the unicorn, "Say Twilight, that thing you were talkin' 'bout this mornin', that got anythin' ta do with this?"

Her ears flattening back, Twilight suddenly found it hard to look at her friends. "Oh, um, m-maybe?" she said meekly with a nervous grin though she couldn't stop her shoulders and head from slumping, I feel absolutely terrible for putting everypony through all of this. Several arcs of lightning striking nearby weather vanes in rapid succession caused Twilight to jump, startling the answer out of her "Yes, probably."

Seeing one of her friends like this, Rainbow decided to take initiative, "Hey, don't worry about it! You three sit back and let The Dash handle this!" She took off before anyone could say anything.

Rainbow was halfway to the cloud when something large - larger than the cloud itself - launched out of it with a deafening boom and spewing cones of fire in front of it. It Rainboom'd... without the Rain!? she barely had time to register before she was hit by the shock-wave and was thrown back onto one of the thatched roofs. Meanwhile on the ground, Applejack, Twilight, and Spike had all hit the dirt and could only watch as a fire-spewing something barreled by overhead.

The firing of the thrusters caused Titus to whip forward and smash into the console as the shuttle came out of the other side of the anomaly, even with the inertial dampeners running well past the maximum safe-operating output. Wherever we are, there's gravity, Titus watched the drops of blood streak down the inside of his visor as proximity alarms blared and view screens that had displayed the empty vastness of space suddenly displayed dark clouds in a blue sky, a large forest behind a hill, and the rapidly-approaching ground.

Got to act fast.

To his luck, the cracked screen of the console before him still accepted commands. Emergency shutdown of reactor...done. Equalize pressure to exterior levels to avoid explosive decompression...done. Brace for impact...do- a sudden contact on the exterior of the ship sent it flipping over onto its roof, tossing everything inside around violently. The human was able to get his arms up to cradle his head and curl-up in his seat as best he could before he was thrown into the edge of his console. His already throbbing head, exacerbated further by the state of being upside-down, exploded in pain as he felt ribs break and if not for the smart-armor in his bodysuit hardening on impact to absorb much of the blow, Titus probably would have been looking at something much worse.

The cacophony of straining metal against the whine of shields attempting to hold and the g-forces tugging at his harness as the ship spun on its axis saw him off into unconsciousness.

Rainbow was quick to catch her bearings. Good thing this soft roof was here, but sweet sisters, my ears are ringing! Balance is all out-of-whack. Recovering sufficiently, Dash scanned the sky for who - or what - she had nearly collided with. Finding it, she followed its flight down to the ground, cringing as the right side of it smashed into a hill outside of town with enough force to cause a pseudo-earthquake - the buildings of Ponyville visibly shaking and knocking several onlooking ponies from their hooves. She lost sight of it as it flipped behind the hill, dirt and debris being flung everywhere in a spectacular fashion. Rainbow hovered, awestruck that something that large could have been moving that fast, before she snapped back to reality from the growing sound of concerned ponies emerging from their hiding places and flew down to converse with her friends on what to do next.

Twilight's eyes were locked on where the cloud was now dispersing; all that remained was a vapor trail that led over the hill and a dull roar that grew quieter by the second while Applejack could have probably fit half the farm's apples in her mouth for how far it was hanging open.

"Wab thabt a drabon?!?" Spike, the first to recover from the shock, shouted as he ran over to the pegasus.

The mention of a dragon snapped Twilight out of her trance, "D-dragon?" She'd accidentally summoned dumb beasts before on several occasion, but never a dragon and the thought of it made her eyes go wide at the prospect. The Princess is going to banish me for sure!

Rainbow was silent for a moment as she went over her encounter, tapping a hoof to her chin, "Na, not a dragon. It was too fast for a dragon-"

"Well, what else would ya call somethin' big, flyin’, an' breathin' fire?" Applejack interrupted with sound logic as it was the size of some of the lager dragons they had seen in the migration a few months before and it most certainly was breathing fire.

Twilight shook her head, her denial of what she had seen half born because Rainbow, currently the pony to have gotten the best look at it, was saying it hadn't resembled a dragon and the other half being her absolute desire to not have to explain to the Princess why she needed to leave Canterlot to stop a rampaging dragon from destroying Ponyville, "We shouldn't jump to conclusions, but if Rainbow is saying it didn't fly like a dragon I think we should trust her judgment, at least until more evidence comes in."

Shrugging his shoulders, Spike chimed in, "So, if nobt a dwagon, whab oes tha leab us wibth?"

Twilight’s eyes followed the vapor trail, “I don’t know Spike, but we need to find out what we’re dealing with.”

“It crashed on the other side of the hill,” Rainbow performed a wobbly corkscrew to get above the rooftops to point a hoof in the direction, her flight still affected from the shockwave and her recovering equilibrium, “the one south of town, toward AJ’s farm.”

“I reckon if it’s NOT a dragon, it still might be some other critter. With critters involved who better to have on hoof than Fluttershy?”

“Good call, Applejack!” Twilight praised, a plan beginning to form in her mind. “Dash, go get Fluttershy and meet us on the road near the hill-” she had barely finished her instruction when the pegasus had shot off in an almost straight line for the cottage on the outskirts of town. Continuing on with her plan, Twilight was turning to Spike when she finally noticed ponies gathering around, expressions ranging from nervous to near-panicked, causing her to lean in and whisper to her assistant, “Spike, go and find Pinkie Pie; we tell her we need to diffuse this tension. She’ll know what to do.” Spike gave a little salute and turned on his heel to go look for the Party Pony.

“Oh and,“ the voice over his shoulder said after he had only traveled a few steps, “Spike, I need you to send a letter”

“Ugh…” was all he could manage as he looked visibly sick to his stomach.

It wasn't long before Dash, followed by Fluttershy, returned to Applejack and Twilight at the base of the hill where Twilight briefly explained the situation to the yellow pegasus who had stated she had heard the loud boom and had been dealing with several of her startled animals when Rarity, with Spike on her back, came trotting over the bridge.

"Ah, darling, I'm so glad we caught you before you had departed!" Rarity said with a wave of a hoof while Spike hopped down.

"I talked with Pinkie, she's setting up a party and said to leave everythi-"

"SPIKE!" a shocked Twilight interrupted, "You're not all stuffed up anymore!"

"Oh! The poor thing!" Rarity exclaimed, hugging the little dragon close, "I was on my way from the boutique when I came across my little Spikey-Wikey having a terrible fit of sneezes. Just as any mare would, I offed the gentledragon my hankie, and well..." she looked away, a hoof across her forehead, "It was simply horrendous."

"Yeah..." Spike revealed a somewhat-soggy letter to Twilight.

Had Princess Celestia responded to my letter this quickly? Twilight unrolled the parchment with her magic and read it to herself.

"To my faithful student,

I'm so sorry to hear that Spike is feeling a little under the weather and I hope that the delivery of this letter did not bring him any further discomfort. Please pass along my wishes for his speedy recovery; should you feel that Spike's condition necessitates the delay of your project or his absence puts any strain on you do not hesitate to postpone further experimentation and any reports stemming from it until his full recovery.

Best wishes and warmest regards,

P. C."

Finishing the letter, Twilight let out an audible sigh that caused her companions to exchange worried glances.

Applejack was the first to speak up, trotting over and putting a hoof on Twilight's shoulder "Everythin' okay, sugarcube?"

"Well," –Twilight leaned into AJ's gesture – "no. The Princess told me I could postpone my research." All she could bring herself to do is stare at her hooves as a cloud of guilt slowly built over her, "I'm sorry! This whole situation was avoidable but because I put my desire to finish a paper before the well-being of a best friend I put all of Ponyville in danger." She was trying not to cry, fighting hard to suppress the weariness from working all night as it clawed its way up her throat, leaving her to speak in small hitches, "On top of that, whatever just flew over Ponyville may be hurt and lost and scared. And i-it's my fault," the letter from the Princess fell into a puddle at her feet when both hooves moved to cradle her face in an attempt to stem the tide of tears that had started rolling down her cheeks, "It's all my fault."

She would have said it a third time but she was smothered in hugs from her friends.

"There, there, dear. It's nopony's fault."

"But you're sorry, and that's what matters."

"Shucks, 'erypony makes m'stakes now an' again!"

"Yeah, even me! And I'm still this awesome!"

"If anyone's to blame, it's me, Twilight. I'm the one who had a letter stuck in his snout."

Twilight still felt she was responsible for all of this but she wanted to show her friends that their support was appreciated, so she dried her eyes and did her best to squeeze all of them at once into one hug.

"Um, I don't mean to interrupt..." Fluttershy meekly whispered, shifting from hoof to hoof and glancing at the hill behind them "but we really should get going, shouldn't we?" Even the thought of a hurt creature, even something as big and imposing as a dragon, lost or hurt somewhere in the forest was enough to cause the pegasus obvious discomfort.

“I’d love to join you on this little outing, but I promised I’d help Pinkie with the cleanup before the party preparations,” Rarity said, starting to head back toward the bridge.

“Rarity,” Twilight called, “do you think you could take Spike with you?”

Spike was about to voice his disapproval at missing out on the adventure but the white unicorn spoke first, intentionally cutting off his protests. “Certainly dear, I’m sure the muscles of a strong gentledragon such as Spike's will prove useful,” she replied, batting her eyelashes at the young dragon as a beckoning for him to follow.

Resistance was futile. Any objections Spike would have put forward immediately faded as a goofy smile took over his face and his eyes glazed over. He practically floated behind Rarity as the two returned over the bridge.

Applejack hitched herself back up to her cart in the off chance they needed it and whipped her hat in the air enthusiastically as she hollered, "Alright 'erypony, let’s get this wagontrain rollin'!"

A group cheer (accompanied by one quiet "yey!"), and the hill was stormed by a multitude of technicolor ponies. Unsurprisingly, Rainbow was the first to reach the top. Applejack came next, her strong earth pony frame easily bearing the load of the empty cart while Twilight and Fluttershy were close behind. Dash did a wonderful job summing up the group's thoughts in one word. "Whoa."

Part of the hill in front of them - a part that had not been visible from the bottom - had been completely pulverized away; debris was scattered all over and none of the ponies could readily identify what it could have come from off-hoof though it didn't look like anything that could have come from a dragon, save for one or two large scale-like pieces jutting from the dirt. Following the gouge in the hill down the other side, a short distance past the bottom, a deep trench cut a line across the grass field and into the tree line of the Everfree Forest where it continued on for a distance until the tree canopies obscured vision of it. In the distance a plum of billowing smoke was rising, serving as a rather unsettling marker of their destination.

Twilight trotted down the hill into the trench, the bottom of which was speckled with puddles as rain from the surrounding earth coalesced. "If we use this as a path," she stomped a hoof into the dirt with a squelch!, "we can follow it right to, um, whatever it is." Twilight looked up at her friends for approval of her suggestion.

"Ah reckon it's prob'ly the fastest way, too. 'Cept fer the mud we won't hafta work the cart 'round all those trees an' roots," AJ added as she carefully descended into the wet trench, towing the cart behind her while Fluttershy wordlessly glided down with her to land next to Twilight.

With Rainbow leading the way, the group made their way into Everfree Forest.

3: Unconscious Memories

Just one more shuttle.

We can hold.

We have to hold.

The sound of someone yelling for immediate evacuation leaked into his comm. He tried to tune-out the distraction, bringing his weapon up to his shoulder.

"...hostiles advancing..."

Two shots went down range. We can hold.

"...primary objective complete..."

We have to hold. His blaster barked three more times.

"...majority of civilians..."

Mission BLAT! not BLAT! complete.

"..."

We can hold. BLAT!

"..."

BLAT! We have to hold.

"..."

Just one more shuttle. BLAT!

"..."

The distinct roar of lift jets coming to life came across the landing pad. A shuttle, piloted by the person on the comm, ascended above the ridge-line they were holding. The mercenaries turned to watch - they knew the consequences.

It didn't take long.

Two hits to the lightly-armor fuselage just as it cleared the ridge. The plating was unable to resist the corrosion, causing the components below to be exposed. Three more hits in the same area. Emotionless visors continued to watch as the wing supporting the lift jet folded under the force being exerted on it, sending the shuttle spiraling forward of the defensive line. It was crawling with them as soon as it touched down.

Comms were much less distracting after that.

We will hold.

"Mercury-4 coming in hot, cutting low through the canyon. 15 seconds out," the call came over the comm.

Time to go.

After the communications shuttle went down their hold on ground had been repeatedly lost. All they had left was this last hangar and the attached machine shop, and they wouldn't have either for much longer. The heavy metal door on the other side of the airlock began to sag as the corrosion ate away at it.

"Docked. Loading initiated. 60 seconds."

"Confirmed, commencing extraction," his unit leader responded. A hand signal and the four were backing out of the room, weapons remaining at low ready position. He fell into position: one behind him on either side with one more behind the soldier on the right.

A hole in the airlock developed, its size growing rapidly as serrated claws pried at the edges, angry screeches reverberated off the walls of the shop.

Two brought weapons up and engaged as the other two continued to retreat.

"COVER!" he called.

At the call, the two retreating found cover and brought weapons up to engage.

"MOVING!" he called out again.

The two on point fell back, reloading when they got behind the firing line.

The choreography continued as they moved for the hangar.

"COVER!"

He and the other mercenary turned to support their comrades. The combination of training and augmentation let them acquire the advancing targets blindingly fast and drop them even faster. They kept firing as the two on point fell back behind the firing line.

"CO-" Long arms reached down and plucked the trooper beside him up and into the shadows as another creature dropped down in front of him, it’s maw curled back to bare its teeth. They had gotten in the vents."-VER!" One clawed fist smashed the blaster out of his hands as the other reached out for him. He went for his sidearm.

Two hands, weaker hand on belt, strong hand to grip.

Unsnap weapon.

Clear holster straight up. Bring to two handed hold.

Move to target position.

Fire.

BZAT!-BZAT!-BZAT!

Drop to check target over sights.

"MOVING!" His remaining comrades resumed covering fire from the final door while he continued his retreat, discharging into the advancing nightmares that so desperately wanted to drag him into the darkness.

Once he was through they sealed the final door. The comm came to life: "Shuttle loaded. Commencing liftoff procedures. You bounty hunters have 30 seconds."

They were moving for the open cargo hold when he thought he caught motion in his peripheral vision. Something blue. Turning, he brought his weapon up and scanned the area looking for a target. The hanger was empty. The other two troopers had stopped to check for targets as well.

“Contact?” the question crackled over the comm.

“Caught motion in my peripheral,” he responded, "sensors are clear, though." Continuing to check for targets as they fell back, they reached the airlock without further incident; the door hissing closed as the ship sped off into the atmosphere.

Was it a coincidence? Had he been looking at her, or through her at something? The more questions Princess Luna had the more intrigued she became with the odd creature whose dreams had caught her attention while she slept. She spent much of her morning drifting through memories and nightmares.

4: Exploring the Crash

The Everfree forest had a habit of smothering the desire for conversation; Twilight was content just making observations as they followed their path. The depression was fairly uniform in depth and only varied when it was intersected by large stones that had been buried or in areas where the dirt walls had fallen inward. Along the sides of the trench the trees had been pushed over or snapped at the trunk while smaller plants had been crushed and torn out of the ground. Whatever made this had cut an impressive swath of destruction, and she was glad it hadn't come down somewhere within Ponyville. Images of what that might have looked like began to paint themselves in her imagination, but the sudden appearance of a cyan pegasus waving both hooves over her head snapped her out of it.

The group took off at a gallop.

When Twilight got to where Rainbow had flagged them down, she found the trench had widened out to either side, forming a sort of bowl, the trees tipped outward at awkward angles away from what lay in the middle. She ran her eyes over it, spending a few moments analyzing everything she could see from this distance against the knowledge from all the books she had read over the years. When she turned, her friends were looking at her expectantly.

"Spill it, Twilight. What is it?" AJ asked.

Twilight glanced at it once more before answering "Well, it doesn't appear to be a dragon-"

"WOOO! Called it!" Rainbow interrupted, giving an enthusiastic hoof-pump. AJ let out a snort and rolled her eyes.

Twilight quickly continued before Dash or AJ could say anything further, "It doesn't appear to be a dragon, at least not like any of the ones I've read about. It also doesn't fit any sort of description from the other wildlife books I've read, either."

With that last statement Dash flew over to get a closer look, the other ponies moving a bit closer as well. Now that Twilight was much closer she could make out how unnaturally smooth the light grey surface was. The whole thing was wedge-like in appearance, reminding Twilight of an arrowhead. The object tapered from one narrow end up into a wider area and splayed out into two offshoots, fitting the description of wings. One of these was still intact, ending with a boxy frame around a metallic cylinder that pointed toward the narrower end. The wider end - Twilight assuming it was the rear from the way the object had come out of the portal - had several cylinders poking out of it, each ending in a fluted cone section; one of the cylinders sat slightly lopsided in its housing.

"Hey Twi, there's some markings on it up here, but they're all jumbled. Kinda looks like letters," came Rainbow's voice from above her.

"There's some over here as well," Fluttershy added while AJ turned her head to try to read it.

Twilight was slowly backing away as the realization dawned on her.

"There's a yella 'n black line with an arrow pointin' down that says, um... it don't look like any writin' I've seen 'fore, my best guess is 'manual release.' There's some dirt coverin' the bit below that. Want me ta dig it out so I can read the rest?"

"It's a ship," the magician said, stunned. Had it been right-side up Twilight imagined the best way to describe the appearance would be "predatory."

"Wait,” Dash poked her head over the edge of one of the wings, “What?”

Giving a nod, Twilight summarized her observations. "Fairly sure. The writing on the outside, the body material is most definitely manufactured, and the curves and angles are all engineered to increase aerodynamics. Just look at it, Dash. Doesn't it have the body of something built for speed?"

Rainbow gave the ship a once over before nodding her agreement, "When it came through that portal it was going fast enough to do a Rainboom, I know that much."

"It all points to it being a ship of some sort and, if you remember, the first thing it did before it crashed was try to reduce its forward momentum," Twilight said as she worked her way around the craft until she found scorch marks in the dirt, "with a reverse thrust."

"So..." Dash said, looking for somepony to finish the thought for her.

Every ship I've read about has had some form of crew, Twilight thought to herself. "So, somepony might be in there and in need of our help. AJ, did you say there was something that said 'manual release'?"

"Yeah, over here. Ya want me ta dig it out?"

Twilight was frantically digging with her front hooves before AJ could finish her question. This ship had been going fast when it hit the hill. If anypony was in here, please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay. These three words repeated over and over in her thoughts. Between her and AJ it didn't take long to move the dirt out of the way, revealing that the line AJ had mention outlined a square-ish region on the side - about two body-lengths in width by three high - and the arrow had been pointing to a lever. The word 'Airlock' had also been uncovered. Twilight used her magic to manipulate the lever, but nothing happened. She tried once more, but the door refused to open.

"Maybe it's stuck?" Rainbow offered.

Applejack squared herself up to the side of the ship and wiggled her flanks in preparation for what would come next. "Well then, let’s see what happens if'n we KNOCK!" she said, giving it a good buck. There was a hiss of air and AJ backed up a few paces. The ponies watched as the door slid back into the doorframe before retracting completely into the hull. The door opened into darkness, a heavy fog poured out of the door and dissipated at Twilight and AJ's hooves. Squaring her jaw, Twilight focused magic into her horn to create a light and stepped into the gloom, her friends following behind her. Further in they encountered another door bearing the same word 'Airlock'.

"Just an educated guess," Twilight said "but I think the door behind us is going to have to close before this one will open."

"You mean it's going to trap us in here?" Rainbow asked.

"Whats the matter, flymare? Scared?" AJ playfully teased, taking the chance to get back at Dash for all the jokes about the destroyed apples from earlier this morning.

"Me? No way! I just... like to have room to move, ya know? It's a bit cramped in here for anything other than low-speed hovering," she retorted, glancing at the nearby walls.

Twilight pulled the lever to the inner airlock and the door behind them slid closed with a hiss. After the seal had been achieved, the same fog that had poured of the door when they first got it open began seeping out of vents in the walls. Twilight subconsciously held her breath until the inner airlock opened.

The group exited the airlock into a fairly large hallway, wide enough for all of them to stand side-by-side comfortably with room for a fifth, and gazed around at their new surroundings. While the outside of the ship had looked largely unscathed from the crash the interior was a complete mess. Numerous panels on the walls had been jarred off, revealing the wiring and circuitry below; some were occasionally popping in a shower of sparks, casting a strobe-light effect over the hallway. One of a set of double doors at the far end of the hallway hung at an odd angle, keeping its partner from closing properly. A heavy cloud of gas poured from a dangling tube, dissipating in midair. The surface under their hooves was littered with miscellaneous objects that must have been strewn about upon impact.

A sudden squeak from Fluttershy caused everypony to jump. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she whispered, her head down near her hooves. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" When she didn't get a response, she raised her head to find all her friends looking at her. Her face turning crimson at the sudden overwhelming feeling of being in the spotlight, she stumbled to explain "I... was going to look through the crack in the doors, and um.. when I went to move this chirped." She lowered her head down to one of the objects to try talking to it again. "Um...hello?"

The small device flickered twice, then an area lit up. "Hello," a strange female voice replied, causing all the other ponies to gather around the little square of light. Fluttershy gingerly picked the object up and cradled it in her forehooves.

Fluttershy looked each pony around her, getting a nod to continue. "Oh... my name is Fluttershy. Do you have a name? Are you... hurt?"

"Hello, designation 'Fluttershy,' " – the light pulsed with each word – "I am the Integrated Avionics and Shipboard Assistant or I.A.S.A.. You may call me 'Iana' or 'computer,' whichever you prefer. Status: a majority of my primary systems are catatonic and the current interface we are using is damaged - power failure imminent. Recommend replacement or repair at soonest opportunity."

"Oh you poor thing! Here, let’s get you comfortable," Fluttershy tucked the little gadget snugly in her soft pink mane, "Is that better?"

The little box blinked in response, "Unit sensors offline, I am unable to qualify 'better' at this time. Gesture logged and placed in scan queue. Thank you for this experience, Fluttershy. Do you require further assistance?"

At the question, Fluttershy looked to her friends for guidance. A pantomimed conversation of moving lips and waving hooves took place, each pony trying to communicate which question to ask the little box next. Fed up that the routine was getting them nowhere, Rainbow hovered closer and spoke up, "So um, did you say you were a computer or something?"

"New designation detected. Please identify," it beeped.

"New what?" Rainbow looked confused until Twilight mouthed 'it wants your name' at her. "Oh! You can call me Rainbow Dash. So, are you a computer?"

The device chirped then continued, "Designation, ‘Rainbow Dash’ entered. Affirmative: I am a form of computer, capable of adaptive learning."

"Could you, like, access information and stuff?" Dash continued with her line of inquiry.

Chirp. "Certainly, Rainbow Dash. What would you like me to access?"

"This is designation Twilight Sparkle speaking. What can you tell us about the crew?" Twilight interrupted.

"Thank you, designation added. Until more ship systems are brought online I only have access to a remote command log generally used by repair droids. Would you like to see a log of the last commands the crew entered, Twilight Sparkle?" The light on the box flickered and dimmed slightly.

Twilight confirmed she would, and a small cracked screen came to life on the little box in Fluttershy's mane. Twilight read a page or two but was unable to decipher exactly what the commands were for, but a thought struck her, "Iana, when were these commands entered?"

"Checking, one moment. Approximately zero hours forty three minutes ago from a single console in Piloting, shortly after re-entry into unknown atmosphere and prior to shutdown of primary ship systems. Would you... like me to direct you... to Pilotinggggg-?"

Twilight confirmed they would, but all she got was a beep and the glowing light was gone. The unicorn frowned. "Alright, we've got a destination and an approximate crew count now. Look for some indication of how to get to Piloting," she said, turning to focus her magic back into a light source.

"Hey!" Dash exclaimed, getting her friends attention, "these green lights weren't on when we came through the airlock thing. Think maybe that computer thing turned ‘em on?" The green lights Dash was talking about ran parallel to the walls on both the floor & ceiling and traveled through the broken set of doors that wouldn't close properly.

Everypony was too preoccupied making their way across the debris-strewn floor to notice Fluttershy, nearly in tears, gently take the lifeless box down to give it a tight hug, whisper a thank you, and return it to her mane before moving to join her friends. The one functioning double door slid quietly open when the group got close, shepherding them deeper into the ship as they continued to follow the green lights.

The hallway on the other side of the doors was similar to the first, in both appearance and condition, however it was much shorter. Numerous dead screens lined the walls, the purple light from Twilight's horn reflecting off of them like eerie pupils that followed the ponies as they walked past. The group was already halfway through the door at the end of the hallway when Rainbow glanced back and noticed the tears running down Fluttershy's face.

"Hey 'Shy, what's wrong?" she asked, hovering up along side the walking Fluttershy.

"She's-" the yellow pegasus started, wiping the tears away with a forehoof, "she's gone."

"Who's gone, sugarcube?" AJ chimed in, curious.

Fluttershy removed the small box from her mane once more, cradling it like a small animal. "Iasa. She's gone."

"You've still got that broken thing?" Rainbow remarked as an eyebrow climbed up her forehead.

We don't have time for this, Twilight thought. "We can take care of her um... remains, when we get out of here, Fluttershy, but right now we need to keep going." AJ came over to put the yellow pegasus in a hug to comfort her. While Flutters was busy wiping her eyes again AJ and Twilight both shot Dash a glare for her last insensitive outburst.

What did I say?! Rainbow Dash continued to hover in reverse through the door to give some space to the ponies directing stink eyes her direction. Why do they have to pretend and treat it like was some living creature? she watched as AJ and Twilight comforted the distressed Fluttershy. It was only a machine. It even said it should be replaced! She was still mentally grumbling when a lot of scale-like bumps brushed up against the lightning bolt of her cutie mark. She quickly spun around and came face to face with it.

Expressionless and silent, it stared back at her.

"AAAAAAAAAH!" she screamed, hooves and wings going every which way in a panic. In her spasm she only managed to get herself caught in something. Dash tried her best to buck her way free, but she wasn't in a position to give a solid hit and the more she struggled the tighter the thing seemed to hold on.

"DASH!"

"WHAT THE HAY?!?"

"OH NO!"

Twilight, AJ, and Fluttershy came tearing into the room, stopping below where Rainbow as tangled up. Their eyes all went wide.

"HELP! IT'S GOT ME!" Dash threw her hoof into its side.

"Rainbow, stop!" Twilight cried.

"DO SOMETHING!" Rainbow responded, bucking with her free hind hoof once more. This time she connected with something, causing both of them to fall to the floor with a loud THUD! pinning Dash on her back beneath it. “GET OFF! GET OFF OF ME!” she continued to smash her front legs into it anywhere she could; mainly the shoulders and head.

Twilight increased the light from her horn. "Calm down and look at it, Dash!" she said, "It's not holding you; YOU got caught in some straps from your own panic."

Rainbow's heart was beating as fast as it ever had been, but she did what she was told. The longer she made herself look the more the nightmare she had seen was being replaced with reality. It wasn't holding her, her hoof had gotten caught in one of the loops of strapping; the scaly skin rubbing up against her wasn't... well it might be skin, but it wasn't grabbing at her, it was just rubbing against her as the legs or whatever lay there limply. The faceless-face still freaked her out a bit, though.

"Ok, I'm cool," Dash said, exhaling heavily. She untangled her leg and wriggled out from under it to join the three other ponies. "What..." she started to say, still a little short of breath, "What is that?" She was shivering, coming down from the sudden bust of adrenaline and fear.

"That must be the crew," Twilight moved closer to the figure sprawled out on the floor, poking it lightly with an exploratory hoof, “Let’s hope your thrashing and bucking didn't hurt it further, Dash.”

It felt like he was swimming, waves of consciousness ebbing in & out and carrying him from present to past.

"What is that?"

It had been a shuttle full of MagnaGuards. The Master had taught her Apprentice to think for himself and question orders, but she made it clear that her order to run was not one to be questioned by pushing him through the blast door and locking it from her side.

"I ain't seen anythin’ like this before."

He had told them the weapon was a reward from a bounty; the truth would have gotten him killed. He took care to conceal it better after that.

"We'll drag it out if we have to."

Hauling the freighter through the asteroid field had wrecked havoc on his ship. Thanks to his Master's instruction, ship repairs came as second nature to him. It had helped that she was a terrible pilot and provided much to practice on.

"Almost there..."

A couple carrying an infant had come running out of one of the biodomes at the edge of the extraction quadrant. Intel had told them that area was clear.

"What will you do if it wakes up?"

The pirates hadn't been ready for him to wake up. Their downfall; his profit.

"I don't know if you can hear me."

What...? Who was speaking? The voice was not one he knew.

"I'm so sorry."

She was apologizing to him, for what transgression he didn't know. But this wasn't a memory, was it? He slogged his way through what felt like waist-deep water toward the source of the voice as it continued to speak to him.

Fluttershy threw the door open while Applejack and Rainbow lowered the creature out of the cart. The two situated one arm around each of their necks and dragged it through the living room. "Almost there..." Applejack said through gritted teeth, one of the creature's sleeves in her mouth to keep the arm from slipping off. They maneuvered into the guest room, rolling it up onto the bed and laying the body on its back.

Twilight closed the library door behind her. The four guards who had escorted them from the edge of Everfree had posted themselves outside to deter any curious pony from disturbing the occupants. One of them had even gone and collected all the equipment Twilight had left in the gazebo earlier that day, much to Twilight's appreciation. She trudged to the guest room, dropping the equipment in a heap on the floor, following the trail of muddy hoof-prints and two muddy drag marks. She joined the circle of ponies that were silently standing around the bed, watching the creature.

Rainbow broke the silence, "What do we do now?" Everypony exchanged unsure glances before moving out into the living room to continue the conversation.

“Darling, is it wise to keep this–“ Rarity paused to wave a hoof at the figure on the bed, “–animal in your home with you?

“We couldn't just leave it-” Twilight started to reply.

“What will you do if it wakes up?” Rarity asked.

Twilight could only look at her hooves, “I don’t know.”

“What if it-“

“Ah think she gets it, Rarity,” Applejack growled, walking between the two.

Rarity realized how dejected Twilight looked, “Oh, I’m sorry, dear. I didn't intend any of that to come off as mean, I just think we need some sort of contingency if this creature isn't as... friendly as we hope it is.”

“If it wakes up, all I can do is try to communicate with it and hope it can understand we mean it no harm,” Twilight said wearily. And if it isn't friendly, I’ll just have to contain it until the Princess can arrive.

Fluttershy gently placed one of the creature's arms that had been hanging off the edge of the bed back up by its, pulling a blanket up around it, although the length of the creature prevented its whole body from being covered. "Um, I need to go check on my animal friends, but I'd like to come back later. If that's alright with you, I wouldn't want to impose..."

"You're all welcome to stay, if you'd like," Twilight offered. "Even though it's only early afternoon, I know it's been a long day for all of us. I'm going to take a shower to try and relax a bit. If you'd like to order a pizza or something, just be sure to tell one of the guards outside. The last thing I want is my house to be put on a blacklist because a guard arrested or roughed up the delivery pony." With that said she headed upstairs.

The shower felt better than she imagined it would. Twilight lay on the bathtub floor, her hooves comfortably tucked under her. The hot water spraying from the shower head played over her coat, gently massaging the dried mud from the trench out of her fur and loosening the stiff muscles in– well, actually all over. Twilight raised her face into the stream, closing her eyes and relishing the sensation. It didn't take long for her bangs to get completely drenched, and when she lowered her head they flopped down over her face. She snorted and was about to curse her bangs when she realized it felt similar to when Aloe and Lotus Blossom put a hot towel over your face at the end of a massage. She left them like that until the warm feeling had ceased, then climbed out of the shower and dried off. Feeling much better, she headed back downstairs.

AJ and Rainbow were passed out on the couch, a nearly-empty box of pizza open on the floor in front of them. A note was pinned on the front door. Twilight gave it a quick glance, immediately recognizing the elegant script to be Rarity's. She had gone back to the boutique to freshen up. The note also mentioned that Fluttershy had gone to her cottage to make sure the other animals would have everything they needed as she intended to return to the library later in the day.

A gurgling rumble came from Twilight's stomach as it voiced its displeasure from being ignored all day. Putting the note down, Twilight floated the last slice of pizza from the box over and had a mouthful. She didn't like being "that pony" that took the last slice, but the synchronized orchestra of snores coming from the couch told her they probably wouldn't care at this point. BLEH! Twilight made a sour face as something unpleasant hit her palate. Pineapple and... hot sauce? I must have taken one of Rainbow's slices, the pegasus was always ordering something weird on her pizzas. Twilight made her way to the kitchen, popping the fridge open in search of something to wash the flavor down. She perused the available selection and finally settled on a bottle of hard cider she had stashed at the back. Popping the top with her magic, Twilight eagerly tilted the bottle back, the first mouthful of the amber liquid providing immediate relief.

Twilight slowly trotted back out of the kitchen, cider floating with her. She spent a moment standing in the doorway thinking of nothing in particular and eventually wandered back to the guest room. Twilight carefully turned the doorknob to make as little noise as possible, then poked her head into the room. No change. The figure was still stretched out, its chest rising and falling steadily under the blanket. Twilight moved the rest of the way into the room and closed the door behind her before moving to the side of the bed and plopping her flanks down on the carpet in a comfortable sitting position.

She wasn't sure how long she quietly observed the creature, the half-empty bottle of cider - now sitting on the nightstand - was helping to blur the passage of time. Her eyes roamed over the figure; its scaly coat was mostly dark grey, almost black, with stripes of yellow. It looked comically out of place, the bed was too short to accommodate its legs and so wide that another one of its kind could fit beside it. Twilight leaned forward, putting her head down on an empty part of the bed. Her eyes drifted closed.

"I don't know if you can hear me." The words had escaped her mouth before she realized she was even speaking. "I'm not sure you can even understand what I'm saying, but I just want to say I'm sorry." Twilight could feel the weariness bubbling up again but this time she made no effort to hold it back; the cider flowing through her was making it easier to say what was on her mind. "I'm so sorry. It's my fault you crashed your ship here. I was tired and maybe I missed something in my calculations," the tears were welling up behind her eyelids, by Celestia it feels good just to say all this out loud, "and now here you are, hurt and probably lost because I'm such an... egghead." Weak as it was it was the best insult she could think of to hurl at herself at the moment.

Opening her eyes, Twilight scooched her head closer to the arm Fluttershy had put back up on the bed, resting her muzzle in the open palm before closing her eyes once more. She wanted that physical contact, if the creature couldn't understand what she was saying maybe it would comprehend the gesture. "Please be okay. Please. I'm scared because I don't know what to do to make this better - none of us do, we don't know how to help you. You're the first of your kind Equestria has ever seen, as far as I know. I'm sorry. Even if you don't ever forgive me," the comfort of the soft mattress coupled with the weariness from all the pent-up stress was quickly dragging Twilight into the realm of sleep, her words coming out slowly "please... just be... alright." Her breathing became rhythmic as she finally gave in to slumber. Time continued to pass as the two lay on the bed, both hurting in their own way.

5: First Contact

Titus' head throbbed as the ceiling lamp's bright rays assaulted his unfocused eyes, so he closed them so they could acclimate to the lighting through his eyelids. It hurt to breath. Where am I? The low wood ceiling is a good indicator I'm not on the ship anymore. Someone had gotten him out of the ship, that much was evident. Titus brought his left arm up to check the data screen built into his sleeve, making sure to block the obnoxious lamp before opening his eyes. The screen came to life at the motion, alerts popping up as little boxes provided diagnosis and medical advice. Two broken ribs, a mild concussion, and a neck sprain - painful, but I'll live. This wasn't the worst crash I've been in. About to let the arm flop back to the bed he realized how odd it was that he was still in his suit and helmet. Did whoever pulled me from the ship not know how to get the gear off?

The sprained neck sent its complaints to his brain in spikes as Titus slowly turned his head, taking in the room until he finally saw the creature partially sprawled on the bed with its head in his hand, sound asleep. He didn't feel threatened by its presence, in fact it reminded him of a dog that would do the same thing when he was sleeping or relaxing. Of course, the dog isn't a pastel color or sporting a horn in the middle of its forehead. Maybe the person I heard talking to me is the owner. As the human slowly extricated his arm, careful not to wake the creature, he noticed it was shivering. He hadn't felt the cold, his suit was capable of regulating temperature to whatever the wearer felt was comfortable. Upon closer inspection of the shivering creature, the long hair was still damp and clinging to the body.

His arm now free, Titus was able to push himself up, hissing through clenched teeth, and took a few painful breaths while he looked around the room. It wasn't a large, but it had a rustic feel and enough space to comfortably fit what people would consider necessities; bed, chest of drawers, closet, mirror, and a chair. All the furniture seemed small, though. From across the room he identified his holster as it lay on top of the chest of drawers and an old style glass bottle on the nightstand had also caught his attention. The bottle was closer at this point, and he was parched.

Titus reached over and plucked the bottle up, turning it over in his hand to read the label. Never heard of Sweet Apple Acres brand before. He eyed the amber liquid, sloshing the contents in the bottle gently. Placing his gloved thumb over the opening, he upturned the bottle, allowing his suit to get a sample of the fluid for analysis from the sensor in his glove. The reading came back and was displayed on his visor: both the cider and the dried saliva on the bottle were safe. With his free hand, Titus popped the seal on his helmet so he could take a drink, laying the helmet on the bed beside him. It was the best drink he had ever had; the apple flavor was crisp and had no hint of the usual artificial flavors or preservatives in other brands. Before he realized it he had emptied the bottle.

Refreshed, Titus swung his legs over the far side of the bed, which placed his back to the door. Not in any need of a blanket, he leaned back and gently wrapped the blanket around the creature that had shared the bed. No reason you have to be cold, friend. Sitting back up, he leveraged himself to his feet with the aid of the nightstand.

"Thou hath shown that kindness is a universal language. We-"

A voice came from the door behind Titus, who grabbed the helmet and tried to turn rapidly at the sudden appearance of someone else in the room. How did I fail to sense-? Unfortunately his body had other ideas on how fast he should move and he found himself leaning with his back against the wall, his arm gripping at his ribs. What he saw standing in the doorway was distinctly not human. It was a creature similar to the one on the bed, though this one was larger in size, its coat was deep blue, it had wings tucked at its sides, and the hair flowing down its back was quite literally flowing. The horn was longer and looked significantly sharper, as well. He put his helmet back on with his free hand, the visor displaying readings on the creatures before him.

"Forgive us, it was not our intention to startle thy so," it eloquently said as three more appeared behind it, crowding up to get a look into the room at the commotion. The sudden movement had also woken the one on the bed. It stretched, yawned, and rubbed its eyes; the blanket slipped from its shoulders and slid to the floor.

Titus was feeling outnumbered and cornered. One exit and not a lot of cover between you and your pistol, the survivalist voice in his head said, assessing the situation.

Princess Luna was uncertain what to do to calm the obviously startled creature. Glancing around it didn't look like any other pony would know what to do, either. She had seen the cut on his forehead and the hair matted with blood, which meant he was hurt, too. Oh, dearest sister, why did you ask me to handle this? What is it you want me to learn? We tried our best to avoid using the Royal Voice, perhaps it is our stature that he finds intimidating?

The Princess attempted to look smaller and less threatening by lowering her head submissively.

The blue one must have caught you glancing at the chest of drawers, the voice frantically told him, it gave the other creatures a look before lowering its head and now it looks like it wants to gore you!

He's even more tense now! I’ll have to restrain him if he makes any sudden movements. Luna prepared the spell in the back of her mind, a faint glow emanating from her horn.

You've still got your 'saber... The human lowered his center of gravity, every muscle tensed and burning in anticipation, ready to dodge out of the way and deliver a counterattack should it charge him. A patch of the tetrahedrons of his suit in the small of his back parted, partially revealing the hidden cylinder of silver and black.

"WAIT!"

Huh? I've heard that voice before... The voice was oddly familiar to the human. A lesson from his Master threw itself to the forefront of his memory, Master had said "Nothing is exactly as it seems, nor is it otherwise. Center yourself and your path will be revealed." Titus took a deep breath and let himself relax, Let go of your emotions and *focus*...

"Everypony just back up!" the small violet one that had just been asleep instructed the others, its back turned as it waved its forelegs in a shooing motion, "Excuse me, Princess, but that means you too." It ushered the other creatures out of the room, turning back toward Titus once it had gotten through the door. "Is that better?" it asked slowly.

Five pairs of eyes were locked on the human.

He nodded slowly. The orange, yellow, and cyan creatures whispered excitedly. Titus focused on their whispers and sensed their feelings: general surprise, concern, and distrust – nothing openly threatening or revealing. They were quickly silenced with a wave of a foreleg as the violet one spoke again.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle. W-we don’t want to hurt you."

"Where am I?" Titus replied.

Twilight's eyes went wide, "You can talk?! Who are you?" There were a thousand and one questions flying through Twilight’s mind at the moment and she had a hard time restraining the urge to blurt them all out this very instant.

I can sense the blue one is... strong. Is she a Master? Titus hesitated before responding, "My name is Titus." He had encountered alien life forms before, but nothing like these. Judging from this one's reaction they've never dealt with alien species before. I need to be careful how I proceed.

"Tie...tus?" Twilight asked, struggling to get her tongue around the odd name. "Sorry if I said it wrong," she said with a smile of slightly worried sincerity, “I've never heard a name like that. What... are you?”

"I’m a human,” he replied, and then the apology completed a circuit in Titus's mind. "Were you the one talking to me while I was lying here?" the human asked, indicating toward the bed.

Twilight nodded, "You could hear me?" She hesitated for a moment, trying to think of what to say next. At that point she saw him holding his side, “Are you in pain? Is there something you need?”

“I'll be sore for a while, but I'll live. What I need is to know where I am.”

They had gotten nowhere in their attempted talks about where the biped was - Equestria was as alien to the human as the concept of "star systems" was to the ponies. It had taken a bit of work, but Twilight had managed to convince the human to come out into the living room so they could all sit down and talk.

Titus reached for the holster as he was walking past the chest of drawers- “Hold, human,” a voice rang in his head. He stopped mid-reach; his brow furrowed as he shook his head to dislodge the odd feeling, “We wish thou no ill will, only understanding.” The dark blue creature, a Princess according to the Twilight creature, was looking at him through the door. Was it the Princess who was communicating with him?

“Thou art not mistaken, ’twas we. Thou hath no need of thy weapon,” the voice came again as she nodded to him, “neither of them.”

She knows about... Titus was hesitant but left the pistol on the chest of drawers and placed the hilt of his lightsaber beside it. They had ample time to do harm, had they wanted to. He slowly removed the helmet as a show of additional good faith, tucking it under his arm. Stepping into the living room, having to duck slightly so his head wouldn't hit the top of the door frame, the human took in his surroundings: a comfortable-looking couch faced a padded armchair that had an end table next to it sat at the center of the room, a fireplace was tucked into the wall. There was also a desk and chair tucked into one corner. Two doors, not counting the one he had come through, lay on opposite walls. The farther door at the far end looked to lead to the center of the house, a staircase and book shelves visible from where the human was standing, while the closer had tile floors and cupboards; Titus deduced it was a kitchen.

As the human looked about, Twilight took the chance to observe the creature in front of her. It was tall with broad shoulders and showed a preference to walking around on its two hind legs. At the end of its thick forelegs were a set of five claws or talons of some sort. She'd have to make further observations if the human took its gloves off. Now that it was confirmed that the scaly skin was a protective suit and the thing it was carrying was a helmet, the unicorn could examine its facial features.

The face was much flatter than a pony's, the nose hardly sticking out more than an inch, and was mostly devoid of fur, the visible hair being a dark brown mane on top of its head that hung down to his shoulders - except where it was matted with what she assumed was blood, if the cut on the forehead was anything to go by. The eyes were also much smaller, but that didn't appear to affect its visual acuity as the almost chocolate-colored eyes scanned the room. The jaw was square-ish, and she also caught sight of a set of incisor and canine teeth toward the front of its mouth when it had grimaced while holding its side earlier; Twilight made a mental note to inquire about diet when she had the chance. Gender-wise it was a tossup – while the suit it was wearing was slightly form-fitting, it didn't provide enough *ahem* definition for visual confirmation, and even then this species could be genderless for all she knew. Everything regarding human – Humans? Humani? another point to clarify, – was a new scientific discovery. At this point Twilight noticed the biped was staring at her, "Please, make yourself comfortable," she indicated toward the furniture.

Titus strode to the desk and turned the chair to face the couch and armchair, folded at the waist and knees, and slowly lowered himself into the chair - the fluidity of movement the lanky human displayed was quite impressive to the ponies - he had selected the desk chair because it offered the best view of the room and placed a wall at his back.

The orange one in the hat carefully inched closer to him, a white box with a red cross on it in her mouth. I think it wants me to take it. Titus slowly extended his hand, palm up, the creature placing the box lightly in his grip. He unfastened the latch, An old-fashioned first aid kit? "Thank you," he said.

"Yer welcome. I'm Applejack," Applejack replied with a tip of her hat, watching the human take out a length of bandage, a cotton swab, and the antiseptic with those stubby little appendages. She joined her friends who had found places to sit on or near the couch.

A long silence hung in the air, each party waiting for the other to say something.

Finally Twilight spoke up, "I should probably introduce you to everypony else, shouldn't I? Um, I've introduced myself already but I'm Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn and local librarian." Twilight hopped down from the couch and went around the circle introducing the ponies and dragon; each giving a form of greeting that garnered a nod from the human. Hopping back up on the couch, Twilight proceeded to explain the events up until the human had regained consciousness “…and here we are,” she finished with a shrug of her shoulders.

Titus massaged the bridge of his nose with two fingers. Ponies? Dragons? Magical portals? All of this information, along with the concussion, was giving him a headache. “You’ll have to forgive me; this is proving hard to process.”

“We imagine thou hath many questions, human.”

There was one that popped to the front of his mind, “Can you reopen the portal?”

Twilight shuffled her hooves, “I don’t know. I’d have to review my data and do some research.”

“In that case, I’d like to return to my ship-“ Titus pushed himself to his feet with a bit of effort, “my sensor equipment might have additional data for you...” he was suddenly quite dizzy, causing him to brace himself against the wall with one hand.

“We doth nay think thou should travel this night,” Princess Luna voiced, “especially in thy condition and through the Everfree Forest at night.”

“The sooner I get my ship repaired-“

“On the marrow thou may return to thine vessel. Tonight thou will stay here and rest.”

The look on the Princess’ face told Titus that the last sentence was less of a request and more of a Royal Command. As much as he needed to get his ship back up and running, arguing about it right now would only increase tensions and potentially delay him further. “Very well, Highness,” he said, bowing his head slightly.

“Twilight, before we depart, we doth require use of thy balcony,” Luna hopped out of the armchair, turning to the human “If thou would accompany us, Titus, we would like a word alone.”

The two went up to the balcony at the top of the house, neither of them speaking a word. Reaching the perch, the Princess moved to the railing, “If thou would close the door, we will begin,” Princess Luna instructed, spreading her wings and leaping into the air. She hovered there for a moment, completely motionless, before her horn began to glow.

Titus closed the door and returned his gaze to Princess Luna, who had begun to raise the front hooves she had stretched out beside her above her head. Dumbfounded, the human watched as the moon mirrored the motion of her hooves, ascending until the Princess was centered on the orb in the sky, her figure silhouetted in the moon's pale glow. That probably would have taken the whole Council and everyone in the Temple to do that, if they were even capable of such a feat in the first place!

Her task complete, Luna glided down and landed on the balcony gracefully. She turned toward her audience. "Have you never seen the moon raised?" the Princess asked, dropping her formal decorum.

Rubbing his face as he tried to process what he had just witnessed, Titus responded "No, Your Highness. Not in that manner, anyway. Where I'm from it-" he didn't want to imply it wasn't natural for the moon to be raised in such a manner by saying "it rises naturally." It was probably in his best interest not to offend a creature that can hurl planetoids around, “-it’s different.”

"Even with so many differences, there are still similarities, are there not?" she posed another question, to which he just nodded. "You were a peacekeeper: it was your duty to protect those that could not protect themselves. As a Princess and co-ruler of Equestria, I have a comparable duty to my subjects," she had started moving toward Titus as she spoke, "and just as you dealt with threats to your people, so shall I. Sit," she commanded, indicating a small bench next to the door, "for I wish to look into your eyes for the truth as you answer these next questions."

Titus nodded and sat down, putting his eyes on level with the Princess' own. She was incredibly close; he could feel the breath from her words on his face.

She didn't break eye contact as she began her questioning. "Is there another agenda behind your appearance in Equestria?"

"No," he returned her stare.

"Do you pose a threat to our subjects?"

"No," it felt like he was falling into those large cerulean eyes of hers, but he kept himself from blinking.

"What will you do if the portal can't be reopened?"

"I... don’t know," stars were flying past him as his vision was enveloped.

"What is it like; waking up on an alien world and knowing that its inhabitants will always look at you in a particular way, no matter how long you are here?"

"Uh," the complexity of the last question snapped his concentration and he blinked. He closed his eyes for a minute, waiting for the stars in his eyes to disappear, "I'm sorry Princess, the depth of that last question caught me off guard-" he opened his eyes to try again.

The Princess' head was cocked to one side, a searching expression on her face and when Titus gave her a confused look she spoke, "I'm sorry, the last was more out of personal curiosity, and the other questions were but a formality. I already know you have a good heart, Titus; I saw it in action in your dreams and nightmares while you were unconscious. I have a feeling my presence did not go unnoticed, as it usually does."

"You? You were what kept appearing in my peripheral vision?" By this point Titus was hunched over - his elbows on his knees - staring at his feet. She was in your mind?

"I saw everything - from the day your Master took you into her tutelage to the moment the command was given to eradicate your Order, and I've seen what you've had to do to survive the Chancellor's Purge," the Princess' voice was somber as she spoke, her head and shoulders slumping, "What I witnessed will remain in confidence and I leave what you will share up to you. I apologize for intruding on what should have been your most private of retreats but I hope you'll understand why I had to. "

Titus was almost mad at her for violating his privacy, seemingly probing every dark corner and digging up every memory he had wanted buried or left alone, but at the same time he had to agree it must have been the optimal strategy at the time to evaluate if he had been a threat or not. "I understand, Your Highness. You did what you had to for your people and I can't be mad at you for that," he finally responded, still hunched over his knees thinking.

Luna broke the stillness, moving back a few steps. Once again silhouetted by moon she addressed him with her formal decorum, her wings spread to add emphasize her decree, "On behalf of the Crown and with the power vested in us, we hereby officially extend the royal welcome to thou, Titus Marius Aelius, to Equestria. We doth declare thou a guest of the Crown for the duration of thy stay.”

Luna moved to join Titus on the bench, the human scooting over slightly to give her more room. "She..." the Princess looked away momentarily as she carefully constructed her thought, turning back when she was ready, "What I saw of your Master - she reminds me of my sister, I wish pass on my condolences."

The human bowed his head in thanks, "You must have a wonderful sister, then."

Nothing else was said for quite a while. Both she and the human sat shoulder to shoulder to watch the night sky, crowded together on a bench too small for the both of them. Eventually Luna extricated herself with a sigh, "As much as I don't want to, I must be going. There is still much I'd like to discuss, Titus, perhaps we can meet again under less formal circumstances?"

"Yes, I think I'd like that."

With nothing else to say Luna made her way downstairs, the human wordlessly following.

Twilight watched as the two headed up to the balcony. When they disappeared behind the door she trotted over to the desk to examine the helmet the human had left behind.

“You going to be okay, egghead?” Dash asked, flying over to the unicorn’s side.

Twilight levitated the helmet, looking at it from every angle, “What do you mean?”

Applejack apparently had the same thought as Rainbow, “Far as the Princess' concerned, the human’s gonna be stayin’ here t’night.”

“Mhm” Twilight was too engrossed in her study of the alien object to pay attention to what her friends were saying. I can almost read some of the display on the visor-

“It has fangs, Twilight!” Rainbow exclaimed, gnashing her teeth for emphasis, “What if the human tries to eat you in your sleep?”

“Eat me in my sleep?” Twilight snapped back to reality with the last part of Rainbow’s sentence, the helmet dropping to the floor and rolling under the desk.

“Oh no!” Fluttershy’s eyes went wide.

Applejack cut that off at the pass, “Whoa there, Rainbow. No pony is getting’ eaten.” She shot a questioning look at Dash, “What makes you think Titus is even interested in, uh, meat?”

Dash explained her reasoning, “Well, Titus is obviously a carnival-“

“Carnivore,” Twilight corrected, fishing the headgear from under the desk.

“-yeah that. The fangs are the giveaway,” –Rainbow pulled her lip down to show her teeth– “on top of that, the claws or talons hidden in the gloves.” Tapping a hoof to her chin, she went on, “Now that I’m thinking on it, the eyes are facing forward like a griffon, so that’s another point in my favor.” Fluttershy was nodding in agreement with Rainbow's observations.

“I noticed the rows of incisors and canines as well,” Twilight agreed, mimicking Dash’s pose unintentionally.

“I bet those hind legs give the human a long stride so it can get up to some serious speed to chase prey, though I imagine it’s pretty top-heavy so a pony could beat it in cornering…” the pegasus drifted off, her thought lost, and was now contemplating how a human would stack up in a race.

“Y’all saw, Titus was scared of us,” Applejack said, crossing her forelegs in frustration, “Ah don't want another Zecora incident, so I reckon we oughta not go judgin’ 'fore we get ta know h-“ AJ looked thoughtful for a moment, “Uh, just ta clarify, but anypony know if we're dealin’ with mare or a stallion here? Ah don’t feel right calling Titus an ‘it’ and ‘the human’ all the time.“

Dash and Twilight both shrugged.

“Um, it’s-” Fluttershy fidgeted when her voice drew the attention of everypony else, “-it’s hard to tell, but I think stallion. That's just my opinion though,I'm probably wrong,” she finished, shrinking back.

Applejack threw her hooves up in the air, “Ah don’t believe-” the sound of a door upstairs opening caught all of their attention. “Shucks, I’ll just go ask,” she started for the door to the main room.

“Don’t do that! It might be a touchy subject,” Twilight hissed, pulling the earth pony back, “What if asking insults her? Him?”

"Him, to answer your question."

They all collectively jumped having not heard the human reach the bottom of the stairs. Princess Luna stood behind him, and Twilight could swear she heard a giggle.

The human let out a sigh, “If you ladies don’t mind, I’m going to call it a night,” he said as he slowly walked to the guestroom, “I’d like to leave as early as possible in the morning.” Getting no objection to that statement, he bid them goodnight and retreated behind the guestroom door.

Rainbow insisted on staying the night to make sure the Twilight didn't get eaten.

6: Stretch

Twilight untangled herself from her bed sheets, groggily sliding each hoof to the floor before stretching out the kinks in her legs with a satisfied sigh. Despite Rainbow teasing her until she fell asleep, Twilight had spent most of the previous night further examining the helmet that had been left in the living room when Titus retired for the night. It was remarkably sophisticated, being extremely lightweight and yet strong enough to show no damage from the thrashing blows Rainbow Dash had delivered to it in her panic. A small splotch of dried blood was also caked on the inside of the visor - probably from the cut on the human’s forehead - and had displayed numerous readings when Twilight had pointed it at various objects in the bedroom (including one sleeping pegasus).

The human had planned to return to the ship today. If the helmet had been as interesting as it was, she couldn't imagine what might be aboard the ship. This prospect brought a silly grin to Twilight’s face. She pranced about doing her morning routine; shower, brush teeth, comb mane, make bed, draft to-do list. Coming down the stairs, Twilight heard noise coming from the kitchen. She placed the helmet back on the desk and went to investigate.

"Good morning, Ti-" Twilight stopped when she saw a cyan rump sitting in one of the kitchen chairs, its owner draped over the table limply. "Oh. Dash, I'm surprised to see you up this early," the unicorn said teasingly.

"Ugh... coffee," came a groan.

Twilight deftly used her magic to float a bag of coffee, a box of filters, and 2 mugs down from various cupboards. The two ponies sad quietly; boiling water turned to coffee as it ran through the grounds to drip into the pot, the aroma working its way through the tree house.

It didn't take long for the brew to bring Rainbow around to her normal self. “Early mornings are so not cool,” her face disappeared in a huge yawn.

“You could have slept in-” Twilight began but was interrupted by Dash shaking her head.

“That storm from yesterday is lingering over the Everfree Forest, so the Weather Team has scheduled patrols all day to make sure it doesn't work its way back over Ponyville.” She made a sour face at her mug of coffee, “Of course, they go and put me on one of the early shifts.”

“So you won’t be coming with us,” Twilight unhappily remarked.

Rainbow shrugged, “Not like much was going to happen today, remember?” Twilight’s blank look told her she didn’t remember at all. Dash rolled her eyes and sighed, “Before she left, Princess Luna asked us to show Titus where the ship was,” the pegasus paused as Twilight started remembering, then continued, “then she told us-“

“Right. I remember now,” Twilight interrupted. Princess Luna had told them the human had asked to be given some space for a bit to adjust to Equestria and process everything that had happened. While disappointed that she would have to postpone asking all the questions she had – and gosh, did she ever have a list – Twilight could understand how overwhelming it must be to suddenly be transported to a completely alien world (she thought she did, anyway).

Rainbow got another mug of coffee while Twilight thought her thoughts. The kitchen was quiet.

“Right, I better get going,” Rainbow stated, hopping down from the chair and heading for the door, “I’m probably going to be late.”

Twilight gave her a not-so-approving look, “Rainbow Dash, if you knew you were going to be late-“

“Hey, that’s what they get for scheduling me early in the morning,” Dash joked, looking over her shoulder as she continued, “Before I go, do you think I could use your bathroo-Whoa!” almost bumping into the human as he came through the kitchen door. Startled, Rainbow jumped back a few steps.

“Sorry,” Titus apologized, retreating a bit himself.

“Don’t sneak around like that!” Dash scolded.

The human raised his hands slightly and moved further back into the living room.

Her heart no longer in her throat, the pegasus sighed and made an observation, “You know for such a gangly thing you sure can move quietly.”

“Um, thanks? I think,” Titus said, putting his hands back down. Twilight was relieved he wasn’t insulted by being called gangly or she would have really lit into Dash. “I smelled coffee and thought I heard two voices in here, so I figured I’d let you know I’m ready to leave whenever you are. Sorry for startling you, Rainbow Dash.”

“I’ll get you back for it, don’t worry,” she said, in a (somewhat) teasing manner.

“Oh, you have coffee where you’re from too?” Twilight asked, somewhat surprised.

“Yes, I have a machine on the ship capable of brewing a cup,” he said as Rainbow walked past him toward the front door. He joined Twilight at the kitchen table, squatting down in one of the chairs that was entirely too small for a being of his stature.

“A machine? For such a simple task?” Twilight asked, hungry for another bit of information on human technology.

He was about to explain when Rainbow appeared in the kitchen doorway.

“Uh, Twi?” she said, a worried look on her face, “There’s a buncha ponies at the door.”

Twilight hurriedly made her way over to Dash peak from behind a window curtain, leaving Titus alone in the kitchen.

“Reporters,” Twilight told Rainbow. “Word sure got out quick,” she recognized a few ponies from the local paper and also noticed some unfamiliar faces, “There’s even somepony from the Canterlot Chronicle and the Manehattan Monitor,” one of them caught sight of her, causing her to duck back behind the curtain.

“Through the kitchen and out the back?” Dash suggested. The two returned to the kitchen to find the human crouched behind a counter, hiding from the silhouette of a pony on the window blinds. Twilight walked as quietly as she could over to Titus to tell him about the reporters at the front door.

“What options does that leave us with?” Titus whispered, peeking over the counter to see if the silhouette was still there.

“Normally we could go up to the balcony,” Twilight whispered back, “and I could teleport us from there, provided I could see where we needed to go. However, it’s unknown how you and magic would react with each other, so until further testing-“

Titus shook his head, “No, no magic.”

Twilight was about to assure him that magic was perfectly safe (ignoring when it wasn't, of course) when the sound of the front door opening caused both Twilight and Dash to whirl about.

Titus froze in place.

“Miss Sparkle?” came a call from the front room, “Twilight Sparkle, are you here?” a light brown pony with a silver mane and glasses poked her head through the living room door, “Ah! There you are, and Rainbow Dash, as well.”

“Mayor?” Twilight and Dash both relaxed a bit. Twilight gave a discrete wave of a hoof to let Titus know he could relax; it was a pony they knew.

“Sorry for barging in like this,” Mayor Mare apologized, trotting a bit further into the living room, “I was on my way to Town Hall when I noticed you had quite a, um, gathering outside and wanted to know if I could be of some assistance.” She glanced around the room, still not able to see Titus crouched in the kitchen, “The Princesses released a statement this morning saying that this hyou-man creature is not to be unnecessarily bothered,” she said, “but with everypony curious, the papers were bound to show up eventually–“ the Mayor stopped to glance around the room once more and caught Dash as she made a quick glance behind her.

The Mayor then realized how both ponies had managed to conveniently block the doorway to the kitchen. She stretched her neck and tried to peer over the two mares, “I don’t suppose I could be introduced?” she asked, “Perhaps from there we could organize a brief press conference to get these reporters out of your manes?”

Twilight turned her head to the human still crouched behind a counter, “Well, I doubt they’ll go away on their own. Does that sound like a plan to you, Titus?”

He nodded. It was the best plan – actually, the only plan, they had at the moment.

“Titus, was it? I’m Mayor Mare, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance...“ Mayor Mare’s greeting faded out as the human rose to his full height in the kitchen doorway.

“Ma’am,” Titus greeted.

“I wasn't expecting you to be quite so, um,” she paused, looking for a polite way of saying intimidating, “big.” Mayor Mare gave Titus a once-over, eyeing him from head to toe, “Still, I think we can still make this work. Time Turner!” she beckoned her assistant.

While the Mayor was buys getting the press conference ready and giving Titus a crash course on what to do, Twilight pulled Rainbow Dash aside, “Rainbow, could you go let AJ know we’ll probably be a bit late?”

“Sure thing. Hey, Stretch!” Dash called to Titus as she passed through the living room.

“ ‘Stretch?’ ” the human gave her a curious look.

“Yeah, ‘Stretch’, because you’re tall?" Rainbow rolled her eyes Duh!, “Anyway, you probably want to avoid showing off those teeth of yours, might scare somepony.”

Titus ran his tongue over his teeth absentmindedly. Compared to theirs my teeth must look like fangs.

“Catch ya later, Stretch!” and she was out the door in a flash.

Twilight flashed him an apologetic smile accompanied with a shrug - it seemed Dash had found a nickname for the human already.

Titus turned his attention back to Mayor Mare, “Miss Mayor?” She stopped looking at her schedule for a moment to regard the human. “If I may say so, you’re taking this whole alien-crashing-outside-of-town thing remarkably well.”

She gave a derisive snort, “For one you crashed outside of town, so that drastically reduced the amount of paperwork I had to file. Secondly, Princess Luna vouched for you and informed us that she would be covering any expenses that should occur, so that means there won't be any budget meetings. All in all, this is a pushover compared to what I usually have to deal with,” she gave a glance at Twilight, who shuffled from hoof to hoof guiltily. The Mayor snapped her planner shut as Time Turner popped his head into the room to give her a nod. “Everything is set up, we’re on in five,” she moved for the front door, “I’ll handle the speech, just wait for your cue. Suit up, come on stage casually, wave for a few cameras, and sit down. Once the speech is over, we’ll do the big reveal. After that they’ll probably have a few questions; keep your answers short,” with that last bit of advice, she was through the door.

You can do this, Titus, the human told himself, leaning on the back of the couch and taking a few deep breaths with his eyes closed to calm himself. He felt something push against his knee and opened his eyes.

Twilight was standing there, a hoof on the human’s leg, “I’m sure you’ll do fine,” she gave him a smile to try to reassure him.

“Thanks, Twilight,” he let out a deep sigh and absentmindedly gave her an appreciative pat on the withers, “this is just a bit stressful. First impressions and all that.” He pushed himself off the couch and grabbed the helmet off the dresser before heading to the front door to wait for his cue.

Twilight didn't catch everything he said before jamming the helmet over his head and letting the suit seal itself. A faint hiss indicated the seal was complete. She bemusedly watched as the human bounce from foot to foot at the door, shaking out his limps and rolling his head around in circles.

“Well,” his voice was slightly distorted as it came through the helmet speaker, “Here we go…”

7: Picnic

The sound of her waiter clearing his throat brought Twilight back to the present.

“Oh, right, lunch. Um,” Twilight shook her head a little to clear her mind “I’ll just have a light salad. Thanks,” the waiter nodded and trotted off when she had finished her order.

Twilight let the "newspaper" she was reading fall to her table, the headline in bold lettering reading Monster Menace or Gentle Giant? A frown crept onto her face. It’s been almost two weeks since the press conference and they’re still printing stuff like this. One of the few papers to give him a chance had been the Foal Free Press, the articles being remarkably positive and informative. Which reminds me, Miss Cheerilee asked me to see if he'd be willing to do an exclusive interview for the school paper. Twilight caught sight of another cafe patron with a tabloid, the cover adorned with a grotesque rendition of the biped holding a banana and an equally ugly title. Space monkey. The derogatory term coined for him brought a foul taste to the back of her throat.

The whole situation robbing her of her appetite, Twilight took her meal to go and slowly headed for home. She wasn't sure if Titus had seen any of the papers (the human had been keeping his distance from town since the press conference) and if he had read them he hadn't said anything during any of their numerous chats. An idea began forming in Twilight’s mind. Maybe I could bring him some lunch and we could chat. Looking at her boxed salad from the café she doubted the biped would have an appetite for hay and assorted grasses. I could go home, grab some bottles of soda, a loaf bread, and some cheese. Then I could swing to the market to pick up fritters from Applejack's cart for desert and from there head over to the hill where he should still be working. Titus did say he’d get me more data on the portal, I wonder if he’s made any progress toward that? Deciding to follow through with her plan, Twilight quickened her pace to the library.

“Spike, I’m back,” Twilight called out as she opened the door.

The little dragon appeared at the bottom of the stairs, “Oh hey, Twilight! I re-shelved the books you were reading last night and just finished checking in some books that were returned this morning. “

“Sounds like you've had a productive morning. Would you like to take a break with me?” she asked, trotting into the kitchen. Twilight explained her idea to Spike, who was more than happy to take a break for a picnic, so it didn't take long for the two to gather up a basket and the provisions they had on hoof before leaving the library for the market. The Apple family cart was in its normal spot, today being managed by Applejack’s younger sister Apple Bloom. After exchanging greetings, Twilight and Spike bought the last of the fritters and made their way out of town.

“Human-Watching” had become a bit of a hobby for some ponies in Ponyville, so their presence made it easy to tell when Titus was busy salvaging what he could from the hillside. Twilight could see some of the regulars – Lyra Heartstrings, two of the town guard mares, a group of the school foals and… Action Shot and Snappy Scoop. That would explain where all the pictures in the papers are coming from. Twilight shot the pair a sour look as she and Spike climbed the hill.

“Hello, Twilight! Hello Spike!” Lyra greeted them both, Twilight receiving a warm hug and a discrete lick on the cheek (which, she noted, was quite out of the ordinary), “You two here to watch Titus as well?” Lyra and Twilight had been friends for quite some time; Twilight often asking Lyra to act as a sounding-board for experiments because the mint unicorn was one of the best in Ponyville (Rarity being the other) at being delicate and precise with her magic.

Titus continued to dig something out of the dirt, allowing Twilight a moment to observe him. What he was wearing now was so simple: a light tan short-sleeved shirt and a pair of dark olive pants. He'd recently taken to these sorts of clothes, the only piece of the protective suit to remain with him being the gloves and boots. Definitely a change from the usual grey, yellow, and white coloring. Come to think of it, he always wears a full outfit of clothes. Is he body-conscious or do humans always wear clothes? She'd never gotten around to asking, she realized. Just what does he look like under all that fabric?

“Nope, we’re here to see if he’s hungry,” Spike replied, indicating toward the basket and bringing Twilight back from her observations in time to catch Lyra glancing between them and the guards who were relaxing on the grass and chatting between themselves.

“I tried to go introduce myself earlier,” Lyra explained, “but those two gave me a glare that could petrify a cockatrice.”

“I doubt they’ll mind now, the Princess appointed me as his intermediary, after all,” Twilight stated rather matter-of-factly. She cocked her head to one side, “Would you like to join us for a bite to eat?”

Lyra’s grin spread almost to the tips of her ears.

“Hey T, what’s up?” Spike waved enthusiastically and jogged over to the human, who turned around to greet the little dragon.

“Oh, heya Spike,” he said, performing the customary greeting of high-fives and fist-bumps he and Spike had made up. Twilight had scolded Spike when he first tried the greeting with Titus, fearing he would hurt the delicate-looking fingers. The human had just laughed and proceeded to assure her the fingers were more durable than they looked.

Titus gave Twilight a wave, Lyra following the motion intently, “And hello to you too, Twilight. I see you brought a friend?”

Twilight nodded, “She wanted to introduce herself earlier, but there were, uh, extenuating circumstances,” she discretely indicated toward the two guards - both seemingly content to ignore the group.

“Ah, I see.” Titus knelt to hold an open hand out toward the unknown pony, “Hello,” he said softly, “my name is Titus.”

Lyra stared at the offered hand, up at the human, then back at the hand and its splayed fingers, examining the gesture from multiple angles. “Uh…” Lyra wasn't sure out how to proceed until Twilight demonstrated by placing a hoof in the hand. With a smile Lyra mimicked what her friend had done, “Hey there, I’m Lyra-oh!“ each finger wrapped around her forehoof as it was lightly shaken, the firm-but-different levels of pressure each digit applied sending shivers down her spine. What is this sensation? Oh wow that feels... weirdly good. Before she knew it Titus let go and the delightful feeling ceased, leaving her craving more.

“Well, Lyraoh-”

“Lyra,” she corrected with a giggle, “Just Lyra.”

“My apologies. Lyra, it is always a pleasure to meet Twilight’s friends. I believe I've seen you on the hill before with someone else-” the biped said.

"Oh! That's Bon-Bon, we share a house in town."

“In that case, the next time you two are here feel free to introduce me, if she would be open to that." Lyra promised she would, so Titus turned to address the three, "So, what brings you here?”

“We were hoping,” Twilight floated the basket to Titus’ feet, “that you’d be hungry and join us for a picnic.”

“Sure, I could go for a bite,” he responded, lifting the bag of salvage from his shoulder to the ground and folding himself down onto the grass, his legs crossed indian-style. Titus wasn't actually hungry - the concentrated supplement he had each morning was more than sufficient for a full day’s hard labor - but he didn't want to look ungrateful by turning the ponies and dragon away. Plus whatever they've got probably tastes a whole lot better than that paste.

The four arranged themselves around the basket, Lyra and Twilight sitting to either side of Titus while Spike sat opposite of him. The basket was magically opened as Twilight divided and levitated the food, the ponies and dragon quickly snatching theirs up.

Titus hesitated, however, examining the bread and cheese and poking the soda bottle with a finger as it floated in the air, causing the bottle to spin about.

It also caused Twilight to giggle a bit.

The human took on a shade of pink. “Sorry, just thinking,” he said, taking the bottle from the air.

“Silver bit for your thoughts?” Twilight said, taking a bite of cheese and bread.

“Oh,” Titus indicated toward the magic aura, “it’s just that I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that because, where I'm from, the way you use your magic and the way it manifests reminds me of a group on a remote planet. They weren't nearly as friendly, though." He snatched the bottle from the air, "Was that worth anywhere near a bit?” he said jokingly.

"That was very worth it!" Twilight was beginning to wish she had brought a quill and parchment, “The idea of other planets and traveling between them is fascinating.”

“The moon and sun being raised manually is fascinating,” he retorted, grabbing the bottle cap between his thumb and index finger and twisting it off. Lyra watched the motion like a hawk.

The group was quiet for a while, enjoying the simple picnic and the nice weather.

Titus noticed that both unicorns seemed fascinated by the movement of his hands as they manipulated the food around. He put his bread and cheese down and held a hand out to each. “They must look pretty weird to you,” he said, slowly flexing the fingers, “but I don’t know where I'd would be without them.”

This was the first time Twilight had seen the human open to physical contact, having generally shied away in the past. She looked up to Titus for permission before gently taking the hand offered between her hooves, turning the limb slowly as she examined it. Spike got up to look over Twilight’s shoulder.

“Interesting,” Twilight remarked, her gaze traveling up Titus’ wrist to his forearm to watch the muscles under the skin move as the hand opened and closed, “you've got almost no coat at all. You’re much more, um, fleshy than I thought you would be.” Without his suit Twilight was able to examine the human’s physique to a much better extent. She had already been able to determine he had broad shoulders, especially by pony standards. She also noticed the well-defined muscles of his thick arms and wide chest, Twilight watched as the muscles in his arm expanded, causing her to inquire about the spectrum of human muscular builds. His torso is remarkably like a Minotaur's, though the tapering of the proportions is much less severe.

Titus indicated he wasn't exceptionally muscular for a human - falling somewhere between lithe and muscular - but humans came in all shapes, colors, and sizes. He momentarily took the hand Lyra was examining (much to her dismay) to roll up the sleeve of his shirt before returning it to her, allowing Twilight and Spike to better see how the muscle groups in his arm worked.

"Hey, what's this on your arm?" Spike pointed to something that had been covered by the sleeve.

Twilight stretched her neck to get a better look at the intricate blue pattern that started partially down his bicep and continued up the shoulder, disappearing under his shirt.

"It's a tattoo, they're fairly common and their appearance ranges widely among the races of the galaxy."

"Like a form of tribal marking? Fascinating," Twilight analyzed, "I'd like to hear more when I can record..."

Lyra was too busy examining the alien appendages to hear the conversation between Twilight and Titus. She nuzzled the palm lightly, Titus not seeming to mind. Oooh! Its nice and warm. Softer than I thought it would be, and the other side is a bit lumpy, she could feel the knuckles under the skin when she ran the back of it over her coat. Lyra carefully bent and unbent each finger with a hoof. These are pliable, but I can feel there's strength hidden in these whenever he puts a little resistance up when I try to unbend one. I wonder how sensitive they are? Lyra began thinking of all the things she would try if she had her own set of fingers. “These things are so bucking cool,” she thought, not meaning to say it out loud and realizing too late.

“That they are,” Titus said, Lyra’s coat unable to completely conceal the blush this time, “It’s going to be these little guys that do the majority of the work to get my ship back up and running.”

“Oh,” Twilight interjected now that the subject was broached, “how have the repairs been coming?” She felt a minute trace of the arm in her hooves going limp.

“With the help of a pair of droids I've got basic power up again; doors, lights, that sort of thing. Since then I've been working on something else that will help me lug parts of wreckage too large to carry back,” he said, one of the fingers of the hand in Twilight’s grasp pointing to his shoulder bag before he'd have to explain to the unicorn what a droid was, “Could you get something from my bag?” Titus directed Spike to one of the pockets where the dragon found something resembling a thick clipboard.

"Hey, is this one of those things Fluttershy found?" Spike remarked, passing it to Titus. It was larger than the one they had previously seen, about the size of a regular book, with thin loops and a short cylinder jutting off one of the sides

"It's a datapad," he said, the mares releasing his arms so he could work the device, "I still have a ways to go before getting the primary systems up and running, but during recent repairs I was able to retrieve a portion of the sensor data from a backup computer. I had to re-purpose this bilio-pad to put the data on-"

"Wait," Twilight was on her hooves before Titus could even look up from the pad, "Biblio? This has human literature on it?!" Her eyes snapped up to the human's. Oh please let me have understood that correctly. Please. Pleasepleaseplease.

"Um," Titus hadn't been prepared for the sudden interruption or the purple unicorn staring at him so intently, "I don't think they're exclusively human, there's most likely a translated text or two in there," he returned his attention to the datapad, tapping the screen a few times. Twilight didn't catch the twitch of his mouth as it fought a smile. "It didn't have enough space for all of the sensor data, so I was going to make space by deleting the unnecessary book files-"

"NO! Don't delete them!" Blinded by her inner bibliophile it took a second for Twilight to realize she had gone up on her hind hooves and pushed the seated human onto his back at the mention of destroying the books on the pad - her front hooves were on his chest and her hind legs were on either side of his hips, essentially pinning him to the ground. She could feel his heart racing under one hoof and in the corner of her eye caught the two guards on the hilltop getting to their hooves.

The empty picnic basket rolled the rest of the way down the hill.

Oh no! Twilight desperately searched his face for a reaction, but his alien features were extremely hard to read. Is that a wince or a smile? What have I done? She squeezed her eyes shut as his empty hand moved toward her, preparing herself to be thrown off, "S-sorry," Twilight said sheepishly, "I just-"

Twilight felt her mane get tussled lightly. She cracked one eye open to look at the human.

"It's okay, Twilight," Titus chuckled and waved an arm at the guards to indicate everything was fine, "Rainbow Dash might have dared me to say something that. Sorry. We were talking earlier and I didn't take her seriously when she said you'd attack over the chance to read alien books. I guess I owe her a few bits or something."

Dash would dare him to do something like that, she's probably laughing her flanks off in a cloud somewhere. Twilight searched the clouds for a rainbow mane, but couldn't find one. Lyra leaned in to whisper something to Twilight, immediately causing a burning red blush to appear beneath her purple coat as she became aware of the rather dominating position she had taken over the human.

Titus wasn't sure what Lyra had told Twilight, but her deepening blush was probably his cue to speak up. "Um-" Twilight issued a little squeak when the biped beneath her spoke, "Fluttershy is the yellow pegasus, right? Did you say she had a datapad?" he said, grimacing slightly when Twilight shifted her weight and placed a bit of pressure on his still-sore side. He assured her he was fine when her face contorted in worry as she gingerly moved off him.

"Um, yes," Twilight finally replied after sticking her tongue out at a still-giggling Lyra, "she found one the night you crashed. Unfortunately, it also ceased working the same night. She left it at the library because she wasn't comfortable asking how you would, um, bury it." That last bit received a raised eyebrow from the biped, so she attempted to explain how Fluttershy had come to identify with the artificial intelligence and also repeated what the pad had diagnosed as broken.

The human hummed thoughtfully, Lyra's attention keenly on the fingers now tapping his chin, "That's not complicated, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to fix. With two functional pads I should have enough space to transfer the rest of the sensor data..."

Meaning he wouldn't have to delete the books! Twilight's ears perked up at the realization, "I've still got a few things to do today, but I can come back later to give it to you."

"Sure, that gives me enough time to finish up here and haul this load back," Titus jerked a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the forest. "Before you go, I'll leave the pad with the sensor recordings-" his fingers tapped in a few commands to bring up a list for Twilight, "and the books with you." The human watched an excited Twilight prance her front hooves a bit. Hooves... hmmm. Titus looked down at her hooves and then to the pad in his hand, "Um, potential problem. Our alphabets are similar enough in both letters and phonetics that you shouldn't need to translate anything to analyze the information, but... can you use the touch interface with your hooves?" He turned the screen to Twilight "Here, try pushing a few of the buttons on the screen."

Twilight's tongue stuck out the side of her mouth as she tried to concentrate, lining a hoof up with one of the larger buttons on the screen. *blee-BOOP-whee-ep* A cacophony of tones came from the device as it registered multiple button presses. Another attempt with the tip of her hoof was also a failure - the pad didn't even respond to the hard surface. Twilight's ears drooped in disappointment.

"Could I see your hoof for a moment?" Titus asked with a hand outstretched.

Twilight obliged, her eyes drooping half closed when a wave of relaxing pressure rolled up her leg. Oh wow, he's massaging the soft part of my hoof with his thumb! By the Princesses, that feels good! Now he's running his thumb along the edge... What's he trying to-

The human hummed thoughtfully as his fingers examined the hoof. "The sole of your hoof is the right texture, but it has too much surface area. Meanwhile the leading edge is precise enough but the pad doesn't register the contact. We need to find a balance between the two."

"Try your nose!" Spike suggested.

Twilight rolled her eyes at the idea. But what if it does work? I'd be the first pony to read alien literature! "Sure, I'll give it a shot," she scrunched her muzzle against the pad.

*Bloop!* the device emitted a cheerful tone and the screen displayed a new window of text as the command was entered. Twilight's grin of triumph couldn't have been any wider.

"Great," Lyra said, feigning disappointment, "now she'll have her nose in a book all night."

Twilight, Spike, and Titus issued a collective groan.

With a little bit of practice, Twilight was capable of basic navigation around the datapad's interface. Titus was genuinely surprised at how quickly she had picked up on his instructions, "Twilight," he said, getting her to break her gaze from the device, "By the time you get back I'll have figured something out so you can interface without having to look so..."

"Cute?" Lyra filled in, poking him with a hoof and sticking her tongue out playfully at the other mare.

"Yes, that's one word for it," he admitted with a laugh before he could stop himself - it is cute hearing a little beep or bloop every time she gingerly touches that little nose of hers to the device - "Anyway, like I said, I'll figure something out for you."

"Thank you, Titus," Twilight's cheeks had taken on a crimson tinge, "I look forward to seeing what you come up with."

The picnic was quickly packed up, the two mares leaving toward town while Spike joined a group of school foals for a friendly game of hoofball. With Spike out of earshot, Lyra moved closer to her friend so they could speak in confidence as they made their way up the hill. "So... he called you cute," she started, a grin creeping onto her face as Twilight tried to ignore her by reading something on the datapad, "and that thing he did with your hoof? I bet that felt like foreplay."

Twilight almost let the pad slip from her levitation aura, "He was just-" She quickly looked around to make sure nopony had heard Lyra, "What is going on with you? I swear, Lyra, you're acting like you're in-"

Realization dawned on her.

Lyra's small grin turned into a wicked smile, "It only started two days ago, so I can't be that bad yet. I'm just surprised how restrained you were with him, barring the one case where you were literally all over him." Lyra rolled her eyes when her friend didn't respond to her teasing, "Oh come on, Twilight, lighten up. This isn't the first time you and I been through our estrous cycles together," she said, adding under her breath "and it's not like he moved too quick to get you off of him."

Twilight had stopped walking, instead she was now standing in place shuffling her hooves, "Er, Lyra?" she hesitated, "I, um...I still haven't started my cycle yet."

"Sorry, didn't catch that, Sparkles," Lyra responded, stopping so she could turn to face Twilight.

"I still haven't started my cycle yet," Twilight repeated with a nervous smile.

It was Lyra's turn to have her eyes go wide. "Wait, you mean...? Oh, you sly mare, you!" That wicked smile returned, "You're putting your moves on Titus now, that way you'll have your whole cycle to enjoy those-" she bit her lip as a shiver worked it's way from her ears down the length of her spine ,"-those wondrous fingers of his." Her tail was twitching just imagining what he could do, "When he was letting us play with his fingers, you have no idea how hard it was to resist sticking a few in my mou-"

"Lyra, I-" Twilight felt a bit indignant at the accusation, "I haven't been scheming like that!" She turned around to watch the human as he walked toward the treeline with the salvage bag over his shoulder and a fritter held in his teeth, his hands busy brushing loose blades of grass from the seat of his pants. "He's... Titus is like no stallion I've ever met before."

Twilight caught the sarcastic look Lyra gave her.

"You know I didn't mean like that. I meant that... UGH!" she shook her mane half in frustration and half to dislodge the distracting phantom-feeling of his thumb massaging the sole of her hoof, "Whenever I'm around him I get this sense of excitement, like I've discovered the lost journal of Star Swirl himself."

"In that case you'd better get home and hurry back here," Lyra said, playfully giving Twilight's rump a light swat with her tail to send her on her way before lying down to resume Human-Watching, "before I get tired waiting and try my luck with him."

8: Learning

The rest of Twilight's afternoon went by in a blur, her desire to get at the information on the datapad driving her to complete every item on her to-do-list in record speed. Checking the last item off, she checked the clock and placed the device Fluttershy had found in her saddlebags so she wouldn't forget it when she left. I've still got about about two hours before I should head out, she set the clock to chime so she wouldn't lose track of time. As an afterthought, she packed into the saddlebag two bottles of the cider Titus enjoyed as a thank-you for whatever he was building so she could more easily work the datapad.

Twilight practically pranced her way through her house to the couch. Hopping up, she kneaded the cushion and lounged out comfortably, the datapad floating over from the desk where she had left it. She let out a small *squee!* as the screen lit up then eagerly navigated through the menus as Titus had shown her to the list of books stored on the device.

Catalog? Let's try that, she scrunched her muzzle against the screen to select the option, Alright, what have we... got? Twilight read over the treasure trove before her. There didn't appear to be any order to the titles and a few of the spaces on the list had a blinking "Unreadable Data" tag, Hmm... a creature compendium for various planets, a few biographies, an owner's manual for a R6 droid (whatever that is), a history of something called the Galactic Republic... There's fifteen readable books here! She examined the device once again out of disbelief. How in Luna's name did they get all of those on something that could fit in my mailbox?!

Twilight eventually decided on the owner's manual as Titus' mention of the name "droid" earlier had piqued her curiosity. Her mind greedily devoured all the information held in the intricate diagrams and sketches from the advanced sections of the manual. When the clock in the other room chimed Twilight was so engrossed she wasn't even aware as her body switched to autopilot; she scribbled a note for Spike telling him where she was going and that dinner was in the fridge, put on the saddlebag containing the other datapad, and was out the door.

Twilight's ability to read and walk through crowded streets without bumping into anypony - which she had plenty of practice doing while growing up in Canterlot - was on full display as she worked her way through Ponyville, over the bridge out of town, and toward the hill. What Twilight didn't realize was how her walking speed slowed down in relation to how interested she was in what she was reading.

As she neared the hill, Twilight managed to tear her attention away from the datapad long enough to notice that the hill was devoid of the Human-Watchers, the only ponies in sight being a pair of ponies coming down toward her. Great, the two photographers from earlier. She was about to pass them without a greeting when one of them spoke to her.

"If you're looking for the human, he left a bit ago," the grey-coated mare, Snappy Scoop, volunteered, "the guards had to drag some drunken cityponies off for heckling him. They were acting like they wanted a fight or something."

"What?" Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, all ears for what they had to say.

"Bunch of muscle-heads from Las Pegasus; part of the EFC amateur bracket, I think," Action Shot, the light brown one, said with a snort, scrolling through the pictures on her camera until she found ones of the offenders, "Yeah, here we go; recognize any of 'em?"

Twilight couldn't recognize any of them and didn't know any of the names Action Shot provided; she made a mental note to ask Lyra or Applejack, as they made a night of watching the Equestrian Fighters Competition together occasionally. "So what happened?" Twilight inquired after finding no evidence of a physical altercation in either photographer's cameras, the closest being one image of a banana peel being thrown at her friend's back.

"Nothing happened, the human just walked away from it," Snappy Scoop shook her mane then chuckled as she continued, "Some of us local Human-Watchers weren't so ready to do that, though, were we, Action?" she shot a glare at her coworker.

"What? He's the first and only one of his kind in Equestria," Action Shot returned the glare, "If they want to fight there's a few of us on the Human-Watcher's roster would be glad to step up and buck some sense into 'em, myself included. That's probably why the guards hauled the hecklers off: for their own well-being."

Twilight flipped through other photos they had taken. These photos aren't like the garbage in the papers... There was one where Titus was talking with a pair of professors from Canterlot University, and the other camera had a set that showed the human laughing and playing hoofball as the foals and Spike hung on to every limb. These photographers want to show him in a positive light, almost like they're documenting his stay. I really misjudged them.

"Hey," Action Shot called after Twilight, who had cantered off after returning their gear, "if you catch up with him, let him know a lot of us were impressed that he kept a level head!"

"Yeah! He's one cool cucumber!" Snappy added.

"Thanks!" she called over her shoulder, "I'll let him know!" In her head Twilight knew she could wait until tomorrow, But... but I need to be sure he's alright right now. Her canter turned into a gallop as she dropped into the trench and disappeared into Everfree Forest, her mind swamped as it considered every possible state of mind her alien friend could be in.

Food distracted.

Food tired.

Small.

Not much meat.

Tender meat. Soft.

The pack stalked through the underbrush on either side, hungrily eyeing their prey and waiting for the right time to strike.

Ahead is water.

Prey must climb.

We strike soon.

The ground underhoof was getting slick and when it wasn't slick it was sucking at her hooves. All the water in the ground is collecting down here. Twilight searched for a place to climb out of the trench, dodging a few of the larger puddles as she did so; what she did see was something in the shadows moving parallel to her on either side. The only warning Twilight had was the foul stench an instant before a blur launched itself at her.

Timberwolves!

She barely dodged the one that had lunged out at her, Twilight reflexively casting a spell and blasted it to pieces when it landed. The sticks and logs began reforming and the rest of the pack appeared a second later, forcing her to run.

Too close and too many. Twilight was breathing hard. Another timberwolf lunged but again Twilight dodged, this time blinking ahead a few body lengths with a teleport spell. The more I have to concentrate on not slipping in this mud, the less I can concentrate on spells. The timberwolves were behind her and on the banks either side of the trench, which was getting increasingly hard to navigate - deep puddles had turned into miniature lakes or mud pits and branches and stumps jutted up from the dirt. Ahead of where she was boards had been laid out to form a walkway through the hazardous terrain. She could see one of the taller parts of the ship and put on as much extra speed as she could, her breathing now ragged from the exertion as she thundered across the planks. Almost there!

The ship came more into view, distracting Twilight just long enough for her to lose her hoofing as one of the planks she was on shifted slightly in the muck.

Twilight was thrown into one of the mud pits and a spike of pain shot up her hind leg as something sharp scratched across her coat, the surprise knocking the air out of her lungs. Pushing off the muddy bottom, Twilight broke the surface coughing and sputtering, legs churning as she tried to tread water in the thin mud. The timberwolves were snarling and pacing back and forth, having had encircled the banks of the large pit - Twilight struggled to paddle toward the center to get as much distance between them as possible, the long gallop coupled with the chase made her legs feel like lead. To her relief she found a shallower spot in the middle where her hind hooves could just barely reach the bottom, but only if she stretched and hopped slightly. She tried calling for help, but couldn't achieve much in the way of volume - her throat was parched and she could only shout between breaths as she bobbed up and down in the muck.

The timberwolves were growing bolder (or simply hungrier), a few of them wading further into the mud after the trapped unicorn. They were rewarded with a blast of magic, which only bought Twilight a little more time because they reassembled themselves after a short delay. Behind the wolves Twilight would have been able to see the ship had it not been for the small berm and her low angle of sight. No line of sight on the ship, maybe I can blink behind the wolves and make a break for it. Another jab of pain in her leg as she pushed off the bottom told her she wouldn't get far if she tried.

Twilight's attention was focused on blasting a wolf as it reassembled when one of the predators behind her took a running start at the puddle, intending to land right on top of its meal.

She suddenly found herself showered with the remains of a timberwolf as twigs, leaves, and branches splashed down around her. A series of sharp whistles drew Twilight's attention. Turning around slightly, she saw the human sprinting down the berm along with a dark brown blur that smashed into the pack, destroying one timberwolf before launching itself at another.

The remaining timberwolves' attention also changed - they had no intention of sharing the meal with another predator.

"Over here!" Twilight shouted, waving one leg above her head as she watched Titus thrust an open hand toward one of the wolves closing on him, somehow reducing it to mere sticks and kindling. Magic? No, he must have used a weapon.

In his other hand a blue rod of light jumped out of the familiar silver and black cylinder, the warm hum turning into an angry snarl when it cut down another of the predators; the materials it touched smoldering and smoking when they hit the ground. Twilight blasted a reassembled timberwolf when it moved to attack the human from behind.

Another combination of whistles and the brown creature - a dog by Twilight's reckoning - circled around behind the puddle to flank the last two timberwolves, cutting off their escape. Twilight blasted the nearest one while the biped dodged a lunge and dispatched the last.

"Twilight! Are you alright?" Titus asked as he scanned the littered ground.

"Careful," Twilight coughed, still bouncing off the bottom of the muck pit, "they start reassembling themselves after a short time." Two of the wolves did, but were terminated halfway through pulling themselves back together.

The area now cleared, Titus was about to ask if she could swim out but one look at the exhausted pony was enough to tell him that she'd need help. He gave another whistle and the dog sat, guarding the edge of the puddle as Titus placed his lightsaber at the dog's feet and waded in.

The muck was deep enough that he had to take a few breaststrokes before he reached Twilight on her little island, "I'll have you out of here in a second," he said as he got an arm around her barrel, which she hung on to tightly, "Just try to relax and let me do the work."

The human helped Twilight up the muddy bank to solid ground where she flopped onto her side. "Thanks," Twilight panted, finally able to take a break, "Saddlebag... The saddlebag and the datapads are down there, somewhere."

Twilight gave the pony-sized dog a worried look as it came to its owner's side.

"It's okay, Twilight. This is Dex, he's perfectly friendly," Titus ruffled the animal's ears for emphasis, a happy grin plastered across the panting dog's face.

Titus looked at Dex and pointed a finger at Twilight, "Guard." The dog obediently lay down on his belly near the pony, ears perked and rotating on high alert.

Satisfied, Titus went back into the puddle, submerging himself multiple times until he came back up with a mud-covered bag. When he got back to shore Twilight was sitting languidly. "Twilight, are you alright?" he crouched down in front of her, a hand going to her shoulder. She was shivering. Not surprising, seeing as we're both covered in a layer of this slime.

"Exhausted. Cold. But fine, thanks to you," Twilight got to her hooves shakily, having to briefly lean against the human until she got her balance back.

"Let's get back to the ship so we can clean up and get warm," Titus said, placing the saddlebags on Dex. They had only gone a few paces before he noticed she was avoiding putting weight on her hind leg.

"Hold on," he slowly scooped Twilight, who protested weakly, up in his arms. "I'm not going to let you hobble all the way there."

She conceded and let the human pick her up, though they quickly found that the mud made her coat extremely slick. It took a few minutes to figure out a way to carry her, Titus' arms forming a hoop for Twilight to lay on her back in - her head resting on his shoulder and her forelegs tucked against her chest, one of the arms looped below the hook of her hind leg and the other supporting her at the withers.

After a short stint of silence, Twilight spoke up, "So, are you alright?"

"I'm fine-"

"I mean about earlier," she clarified, "with the ponies heckling you."

"Twilight," he replied with a sigh and coming to a full stop, "did you come all the way out here to ask me that?" Her head having left his shoulder, Titus answered before she could respond, "I'm fine, Twilight. I know some of the townsfolk stood up on my behalf. And besides, they were just some loudmouths that had had too much to drink."

He started walking again, working his way along the plank pathway, "I appreciate the concern but coming out here this close to dark was reckless. Even if we left now we wouldn't reach town before dark, so will you be okay staying here overnight?"

"Yes, I'm fine with that. Sorry for imposing like this," Twilight rested on his shoulder again, "but I was worried," she subtly nuzzled the side of his neck but couldn't tell if he noticed, "They could have seriously hurt you."

"Well this ended up all backwards, didn't it?" she joked under her breath.

"Backwards?" he asked, climbing up part of the fuselage and traversing the top (or bottom, depending on your point of view) of the ship, stopping just short of a large vertical face of metal.

"Mhm," Twilight hummed; she hadn't expected him to hear her with those small flat ears of his, "The mare is, um... is supposed to save the stallion in distress."

"Oh, so I'm a helpless stallion now?" he asked, giving a little squeeze to let her know he was joking.

"The ideal is one of the unfortunate side affects of our matriarchal society," Twilight had to twist slightly to place her hooves over the human's shoulders as one of his arms moved out from under her to push a set of buttons. "You, um-" the shift of position caused the arm supporting her rear to apply a light amount of pressure to her marehood through her tucked-in tail. She tightened her grip on him involuntarily, "-ah, you..." I know that's unintentional, but why don't I want it to stop?

"How about we say we're even, then?" he struggled, the pony being a bit awkward for one arm to balance when she wriggled unexpectedly; he quickly entered the code for the large blast door to the cargo hold, "You did save me from the crash, after all." The door slid open with a smooth *woosh!*

"Deal," Twilight openly nuzzled him this time, rubbing up along his jaw and under his ear and causing a slight tingly sensation to flare in her body. Wow, that feels nice.

She got a small laugh from the human, "C'mon, that tickles."

"Oh? I'll keep that spot in mind." Did I really just say that? What is going on with me?

"I dread to think for what," Titus' expression was deadpan as he shut the door behind them. "Sorry it's such a mess, I'd have picked up if I had known I'd have company," he stated as he crossed the cargo hold, the shivering unicorn examining every item in the room around her. Titus carried Twilight through a set of doors at the far end of the hold, a droid at work turning to greet him with a series of whistles.

Hey! I recognize that! "Isn't that the droid from the manual?" Twilight craned her neck for a better look as the human carried her past.

"Hm? Oh, you chose to read the manual?" he asked, stopping partway through the door, "You're correct, that's an R6 astromech droid," Titus turned so the unicorn could get a better look. "R6, could you follow us and make sure the shower has warm water?"

The droid enthusiastically shifted from foot to foot as it gave a few cheerful chirps. Twilight watched over the human's shoulder as the astromech scooted along, following them as instructed.

Titus walked through another set of doors and knelt down, "Alright, here we are," he gingerly putting his cargo down. It looked like a standard bathroom though a few things had been obviously jerry-rigged to function with the ship on its roof - the shower being one of them. He showed Twilight how to operate the shower, indicating where the hot & cold water controls were.

"If you'd like to wash out that cut, you can press this button here and it'll switch to a saline output." He flashed a questioning thumps-up (Twilight had learned of the odd gesture shortly after his arrival) to the droid, which chirped and whistled a response, "It looks like you're good to go, plenty of hot water on tap. I'll go find some towels and R6 will leave them in the changing room for you. The door is partially broken and doesn't close properly, so he'll stay outside in the hall. If you need anything just give him a holler and he can come get me-"

"Wait, you're not staying?" her head tilted to one side in confusion, "I thought you wanted a shower, too."

The human also looked confused at the question, "I do, I was going to let you go first and take one after you..."

Twilight looked over her shoulders at the shower, then back at Titus, "It's more than roomy enough for both of us, why take turns?" Twilight immediately saw the blush come to his face.

"I'd, um, have to take my clothes off for a shower."

"Well, yeah," she rolled her eyes, "it'd be a bit silly to take a shower with clothes on." What is the deal with humans and clothes? "Go ahead and take them off, I'm curious to see what you look like under all that fabric."

Twilight's last remark caused Titus to go a whole new shade of red. "Being naked around other people feels awkward, especially when they're the opposite gender."

"Good thing I'm not a people then, I'm a pony," Twilight joked, still not picking up on what he was trying to say, "Besides, that doesn't make sense, ponies hardly ever wear clothes. I'm not wearing any clothes right now," she was trying to grasp the human's line of thinking, "and I feel fine like this around you. Does... does my not wearing clothes make you feel uncomfortable?" her ears rotated back, hoping that wasn't the case.

"What? No, of course not!" Titus wasn't sure why he turned to the R6 unit for support, the droid certainly wouldn't know how he felt. "Ponies not wearing clothes is one thing. With humans, and other races for that matter, it's kinda complicated. Generally speaking, getting undressed is the lead-up to a few things; a shower, sometimes sleeping and, um-" he cleared his throat, "serious intimacy." He could feel the blood in his cheeks. How do you explain something like clothing and why you wear it to an alien species that views it as completely optional?

"Oh," it was Twilight's turn to blush, "so, you're worried that taking a shower with me might get you... heated?" The briefest image flashed before her and her haunches clenched together lightly, then her mind began connecting the dots of all the things she'd been thinking and feeling recently.

Oh no, not now! And I just stated I was curious what'd he'd look like naked, another image popped to the front of her mind: one of what she thought Titus might look like naked. One where she had her chest on the shower floor, warm water cascading over her; she held her rump in the air as his fingers intertwined into her tail to-

Nope! Stop right there. Twilight shook the image out of her head. "I guess I'll go first then," her ears flattened and a blush burned through her coat, "I'll, uh, let you know when I'm finished." With a nervous smile, Twilight hoofed the button to close the door, That was too close, she had been been fighting to keep her tail still, now it was swishing frantically from side to side as her haunches repeatedly clenched. Forget the hot water; I need to cool off.

The shower room door slid closed, almost in his face. Well, she changed her mind pretty quick. The human found some towels in a locker and gave them to the droid to put in the room before making his way back to the cargo hold. Titus picked up and organized the tools he had left laying about. Hmmm, this manifold is still usable, the series of twisting tubing floated to a shelf, same goes for this conduit and heat sink, the parts joined the manifold on the shelf. Power scanner, a set of interface visors, tuning stylus, laser caliper..., the tools set themselves up on the workbench or on the wall of other tools. The hangar quickly began looking much more organized as like-things grouped themselves together - crates of parts floating toward the work area, wall panels reattached themselves over exposed bundles of wires while equipment and other gear organized itself over in the corner near the hallway door.

Dex, lounging under the workbench and completely ignoring commotion, sat up and look intently at the hallway door - a moment later the astromech droid scooted into the room, beeping and chirping.

That's my cue. Titus finished moving one last crate before he made his way back to the shower room where he found Twilight waiting for him, "All finished?"

The unicorn nodded, but didn't say anything.

"R6 can show you how to get back to the hold, if you'd like-"

"Can I wait here for you, instead?" Twilight asked hesitantly, "I'd rather not be left alone with Dex right now." Winowa was able to pick up on the pheromones when Applejack was on her cycle, so it's logical to assume the same would be true here. Twilight's tail twitched ever so slightly, though Titus hadn't seemed to notice.

"Oh, sure. If you could wait out in the hall I'll make it quick." Almost getting eaten by those wolf things, I can see why she'd be reluctant to be around another dog. When Twilight left the room Titus undressed.

A violet eye peeked through the crack in the broken door, curiously observing the biped that had his back to her as he undressed. He really is almost hairless. I wish he'd turn around, but at the same time... mmm, that's a nice set of flanks. She had to make a conscious effort to keep a hoof from sliding between her hind legs.

Titus took a quick shower, though found it odd that the puddles on the floor from the last shower were ice cold already. The droid had retrieved clothes for him when he got out; Titus donned the articles and joined Twilight in the hall.

"I feel much better," Titus asked, rubbing his hair in a towel, "how about you?"

Twilight nodded, "I definitely feel better." She experimentally stretched the hind leg with the cut on it, "Ow."

"I'll take you back to the hold and we can take care of that," Titus knelt down to pick Twilight up, but she declined the offer and stated she would prefer to walk.

If he even so much as brushes my marehood right now I'd lose it.

She seems a bit... jumpy? Nervous? Titus slowed his pace to that of the unicorn as they made their way back to the hold, saying nothing as she observed her surroundings intently.

"It looks different from the last time I was here," Twilight stated as they entered the large room that was the cargo hold, "but we never got the opportunity to come through here." There was a workbench halfway along one wall, a rack of tools and a set of tool boxes on either side. In the center was something propped up on a set of crates; Twilight couldn't identify what, but she assumed it was a vehicle of some sort because of the obvious seat built into it. A section of it was opened up to reveal some machinery and an object on the workbench looked like it might have been removed for repair. Her muddy saddlebag lay near a blanket that had been tied between two beams like a hammock - she eyed the setup with a raised eyebrow. Well, probably more comfortable than sleeping on this hard floor- er, ceiling. Whatever. The human beckoned her over with what looked like a small aerosol can in one hand.

Sitting down next to him, she gave the object a curious look, "What's that?"

"This is an antiseptic and topical painkiller spray that also dries into a bandage after a few seconds," he sprayed a small amount on his arm to demonstrate and, peeling the dried substance off, passed it to her.

"That's a pretty ingenious combination," she said, examining the area of his arm and the clear bandage she had been given.

Titus looked at the cut on Twilight's leg and found it was deeper than he originally thought, "I'm going to have to open the cut so the spray gets all the way in. It's going to hurt a bit while it cleans out any dirt or germs, but the painkiller will only take a second to kick in. Speaking of kicking," he gave her an apologetic smile, "I'm going to hold you still so you don't buck me by accident." He completely immobilized both legs; placing a knee on either side of her hind legs and pinning her hurt leg at the ankle with one hand, his fingers within range to stretch and spread the cut open. Twilight's upper body was wrapped around him to one side as he hunched over in preparation to apply the antiseptic.

"Okay. Here we go," he raised the spray, "On three..."

Twilight gulped in anticipation as he pulled the cut open.

"One."

He sprayed.

Twilight's eyes snapped open. Ugh, I knew he was going to do tha-SWEET BUCKING SISTERS!**

Unable to buck against the pain, she inadvertently bit down on the nearby shoulder in response, a muffled groan escaping her lips. BUCK! It burns like that time I backed into a hot plate in the lab! The painkiller thankfully took effect half a second later. The grip on her hind legs was released when they stopped trying to kick and she felt the human pat her barrel.

"Sorry for biting you, I didn't mean to," she got to her hooves and walked around a bit, her leg no longer hindering her. I feel good as new!

"Ah, you didn't bite hard. My oversight for not giving you something to bite down on, and sorry for not going on three," Titus replied. He pulled the neck of his shirt to try to see where she had bitten him, but it didn't stretch that far.

Catching her reflection in a piece blank computer screen, Twilight paused and examined herself. Hmm, I hope I packed that. she walked over to the saddlebag that lay on the floor. The soaked pouch's flap hitting the floor with a squelch!, she floated out the two data pads and the two ciders, "Drat."

Twilight turned around to face the human when he inquired what was wrong, "My mane is all disheveled and is going to get all knotted. I forgot to pack my-" stopping mid sentence when she saw him.

Titus had taken his shirt partially off so he could examine his shoulder; half of it was rolled up around his neck, exposing one side of his chest.

Twilight had only been able to see him from behind when she peeked studied (for the sake of science, naturally) him as he undressed for the shower. Human males have teats?! A-a-and they're so high up on the body... The sudden sight of the exposed skin rekindled that tingly sensation from earlier.

"-my... brush," she finished her previous statement after a moment.

"I don't think I can put my hands on a brush," he said, an idea coming to him, "though I might be able to make something, if you give me a moment." Titus strode over to the workbench, picking up the heat sink from earlier off the shelf. "R6, would you cut this into thin strips, about this wide," he instructed the droid, moments later having a handful of comb-like blades. Placing the pieces side by side and alternating the location the teeth, the human grabbed a pair of goggles from a nearby hook. Bright blue to white light popped from the bench as he welded the pieces together. He continued tinkering, Twilight watching but unable to see as the tabletop was too high for her to see. After a few moments of a high-pitched whining, Titus put down the tool in his hand and got off of the stool.

"It's nothing fancy," he made his way over to Twilight, kneeling down and holding the makeshift brush out, "but I imagine it's better than nothing."

Twilight levitated the brush so she could look at it - though it looked a little crude in its design, it still had an aesthetically-pleasing simplicity. What had once been a square of fluted metal was now semi-oval shaped and the teeth had been filed down, the whole brush had also been buffed to a high polish. She ceased her spell, catching the brush in her hooves and immediately noticed how little it weighed, "It's so light!" She gave it a test-run through a bit of her mane and found that it worked well, the spines giving a relieving scratch at the base of the hair follicles that her other brush didn't. Interesting, there's also no generation of static electricity. Perhaps a property of the alloy?

"Thank you, it's wonderful!" she leapt on him, her hooves going around his neck in a hug, planting an enthusiastic lick on his cheek when one of his arms returned the hug.

"I'm glad you like it," he attempted to mimic a nuzzle on the pony embracing him, his reward was a surprised giggle, "I'll take a look at the datapads while you're busy brushing."

H-he nuzzled me! Twilight was near ecstatic and spent the next few minutes happily brushing her mane and tail. A few stubborn knots gave her a bit of trouble until the human assisted with them, seemingly able to make them melt away. Twilight relished the sensation as the fingers snaked through her hair and gave it light tugs, though she felt a bit bad that he kept getting up from his work at the table. She made sure to show her appreciation by homing-in to give the hands an affectionate nuzzle whenever they got close, which often resulted in her ears getting rubbed - and dear Celestia, did that feel divine!

After one such instance of helping with a particularly uncooperative knot (and an ear rub that almost made Twilight moan out loud), she decided her mane was in a satisfactory state and followed Titus with a spring in her step.

Twilight looked at Titus, sitting cross-legged and slightly slouched with his head resting on a hand, propped up by an elbow on the table while the other arm hung at his side. A strange visor device obscured his eyes from her but traces of light escaped between the edges of it and his face.

"So," the tabletop was too high for her to see what was happening, but that didn't stop her from trying to get a peek, "do they still work?"

He gave a distracted hum, committing to neither possibility of their functionality.

Titus' earlier ministrations with the knots and ear rubs - and the sensations that they had brought with them - had made Twilight feel a bit playful. "I want to help!" her horn glowed and she appeared in the human's lap atop the tall stool. For a fraction of a second, she saw the parts of the disassembled datapad hovering slightly above the work surface.

The stool wobbled with the sudden shift in weight and the pieces fell back to the table and two hands grabbed the edge of the work surface to keep them from plummeting off their perch.

Breathing a sigh once the wobbling had ceased, Titus flicked the mechanical interface visor up out of his vision to address the unicorn that was now sharing the stool with him, "Twilight..."

She didn't even hear him say her name. Those were levitating... "How did you do that?!" Twilight turned to look at the human incredulously, "How?! I thought humans didn't have any magic!"

Oh shoot. I could tell her it was a bit of technology... no, that will just come around to bite me in the butt. "We don't. If you get down-"

"I know what I saw!" Twilight refused to move out of his lap until he told her how he had made the datapad components levitate. "According to the newspaper articles and the independent readings I've taken on my own, you have no magical coefficient! None! You shouldn't have any magic!"

She shook her head, causing the tall stool they were both sharing to wobble about slightly, "Do you have any idea... any idea at all what the ramifications to established thaumaturgic theory - not to mention the very laws that those theories are based on - would be if a creature without an ingrained affinity could use magic?! It would mean chaos, Disc-" Twilight took a few breaths, "Goatface would be having a field day."

Goatface? Whatever, I can ask later. "It wasn't magic, Twilight," Titus tried to explain, "It's called the Force. At the picnic earlier today, do you remember when I mention that group of secluded people that used something that looked similar to your magic?" he waited for the unicorn to nod, "They used the Force. I know it might look similar to magic, and many people from my own dimension or whatever would also call it that, but that's not the case."

"Besides," he tried to subtly change the subject, "just a week ago those same papers you're referencing were saying I was a pony-eater and was going to usurp the Princesses to enslave all of Equestria."

I want to tell him that they still are, but he's trying to steer the conversation. "Show me," she tried her hardest to sound resolute.

"It's kind of-"

"Please?"

"Twi-"

"Please Please Pleeease?" she inadvertently bounced with each word, making the human blush.

"Whoa, Twilight, stop bouncing."

"~♫~You're blushing~♫~!" The leading edge of her estrous cycle giving her courage, Twilight decided to risk pushing her advantage, "Oh, I'll stop," she continued bouncing and flashed him a lascivious smile, then leaned a bit closer to whisper in his ear, "when you show me."

"Fine," Titus sighed, "just. Stop. Bouncing."

Twilight gave a mischievous wiggle of her hips at the end of her last bounce, Oh oops... I might have gotten us both a little heated. She pretended she didn't notice the changing topography of his lap as she turned around to face the table. I guess that's confirmation that he's equipped.

"Sit still," Titus turned his focus to the disassembled datapad, "Being unable to concentrate will make this harder."

Please don't talk about 'harder' right now. Twilight set her jaw and fought for control over her twitching tail and wandering mind. Just... just ignore what's poking you in the flanks and focus. This is a historic breakthrough. Focus.

She got herself under control (mostly) and watched intently as Titus flipped the visor-goggle things back down over his eyes and aimed two relaxed palms at the parts on the table. For a second nothing happened, then one piece and another and another rose up until every component on the table was floating.

There's no visible aura around them, like with pony magic. She closed her eyes to focus. I- I can't sense any affiliation to light or dark magic - I can't detect anything at all. There's just... nothing. If I wasn't seeing this for myself I'd say this was impossible. Twilight stopped focusing and let the glow in her horn fade. The datapad proceeded to reassemble itself before her eyes then settled back down to the table, the screen taking on the familiar warm light as it turned on.

Contemplating what she had witnessed, Twilight stared at the datapad until something gently tapped on her shoulder. Titus, the visor flipped up once again, was holding what looked like a fountain pen. It appeared to be made of some metal or alloy and the tip was rounded almost to a hemisphere.

"Here," he placed it next to the datapad, "this is what I made so you didn't have to use your nose..."

Twilight levitated the pen and was examining it when a whisper tickled the fur on her ear.

"Adorable as it was to watch." The grin on the human's face grew as Twilight twitched involuntarily and her body tensed. Gotcha back for that bouncing.

Twilight's mind was racing at all of the research, potential breakthroughs, and reports she could write on whatever the Force was. "I'd love it if you'd come to my laboratory so I can take some readings and do some tests... Why would you hide something like this!?" she heard the annoyed, bordering angry, tone in her voice and quickly apologized.

"It's alright, Twilight," he gave her a pat, "I... it has something to do with where I came from."

Twilight's ears rotated forward, eager to hear more because Titus hadn't revealed much about where he came from to anypony, save for the Princesses (and they were politely keeping their muzzles shut; Twilight had tried asking both of them). At the same time she was concerned; she hadn't heard the human speak in that tone before.

"Doing anything like this," he floated the datapad up in the air and into his hand, "would draw a lot of unwanted attention."

"W-what? Why?" Twilight was confused, "Is it similar to how earth ponies can be touchy about not having magic and being underestimated because of it?"

"No, it was dangerous-" he stopped to rub the bridge of his nose. "It's probably easier if I just start at the beginning. Before I got sucked into the portal, the galaxy had been in a pitched war for-"

"The whole galaxy?!" Twilight, in shock, interrupted him. She had read about the wars Equestria had during its periods of unrest, but the thought of a whole galaxy in that state was hard for her to comprehend.

"Yes," Titus replied, poking her lightly on the nose, "The. Whole. Galaxy. Now, please let me continue," he looked past her as he recollected the past, "I was a Jedi Knight, a member of the Jedi Order - an ancient organization sworn to protect the peace and uphold justice across the galaxy. My parents gave me to the Order at a very young age so I could be taken to the Jedi Temple to learn and train, much like the special school you went to-"

"Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns," she fed him the title, "but what do you mean your 'parents gave you to the Order,' was the Temple a boarding school?"

"No, perhaps 'gave' was the wrong word. They surrendered me for the Order to raise and teach, severing their ties with me."

Twilight was a mix of confused and shocked, "But... they were your parents... that's-"

"That's how it was," he finished for her, a finger going to her muzzle signaling that the line of discussion was closed for the time being. "I remained at the Temple until I was an adolescent and took the graduation tests, after which Master Krua approached me to be her Apprentice. I continued learning under her guidance until I was ready for the Trials of Knighthood. Two years later I completed the Trials and was promoted to a Knight."

Twilight was all ears, laying down in the human's lap with some effort, as it was a rather small lap; her hind legs would have draped over the side had it not been for the forearm resting on his knee that she could support them on.

"Now, before I continue there were two major factions you need to be familiar with. The first is the Galactic Republic, a representative democracy lead by man named Chancellor Palpatine. The Republic was comprised of various member-worlds or whole star systems from across the known galaxy and governed by the Galactic Senate. The other faction, lead by Darth Sidious, is the Separatist Confederacy, which was an organized movement formed of planets that wouldn't comply with the Republic's rulings, had gotten fed up with the corruption within the representative Senate of the Republic, or could be bought over by the Separatists."

"Just as there was a faction to oppose the Republic there is one to oppose the Jedi; they are called the Sith. Jedi use the light side of the Force, never using it in anger or out of hatred-"

That's almost exactly how the Princess told me to use magic.

"-while the Sith used the dark side of Force. They used it for selfish purposes; not hesitating to harm and even relishing in the pain of others as well as the power their anger or hatred gave them. Darth Sidious was a Sith Lord, and he had an apprentice by the name of Count Dooku."

"Tensions rose until war broke out," he shifted slightly in the stool to keep his legs from falling asleep, "The Republic mustered a force of cloned soldiers, or soldiers quickly created in a lab, to fight for them. We Jedi were also deployed in certain situations at the behest of the Senate or Chancellor, though the Jedi Council governed itself separately for the most part. Meanwhile the Separatists used legions of droids specially built for combat, as well as whatever pawns Dooku could find to further his Master's cause. For three years and across countless planets, they waged their war. The death toll was in the billions."

Billions? Twilight knew the magnitude of the number and felt sick contemplating that many deaths. "So what happened?" she spoke up when the human fell silent for a moment, "Who won the war?"

"No one, Twilight," Titus' whole body seemed to slump in a sigh, "no one won. Toward the end the Republic had the decisive upper hand over the Confederacy, signs that the war was was drawing to a close. What no one saw coming was that Chancellor Palpatine and Darth Sidious where the same person."

"What?" Twilight suddenly sat up, disrupting the balance of the stool before their combined effort got it under control again, "How?"

"He deceived the Senate, making them dance like puppets while he lead the Separatists from the shadows, using Dooku as the public figurehead. The Chancellor had spent decades orchestrating a transition of power that would grant him full control of the Republic. When he executed his plan, he painted the Order as traitors and triggered ingrained protocols in the clone soldiers that caused them to turn on their Jedi allies. The Jedi Order was all but eradicated; any surviving Jedi or their supporters are actively chased down by the Galactic Empire or by bounty hunters looking for a big payout in what is called the Great Jedi Purge, which is why showing anyone you could use the Force was dangerous - you'd mark yourself as a target for the Empire to eliminate."

Twilight was silent for a while before realizing Titus had finished what he wanted to say and she was free to ask questions, "So... how did you survive?"

"For a while my Master and I avoided being found by laying low on remote planets. I continued my training. Eventually a bounty hunter tracked us down and attacked with a contingent of droids. He killed my Master. I killed him." The finality in the human's voice made it clear he didn't want to go into it further.

Titus spread his arms, "This was Master Krua's ship-" he stopped to reach into a drawer "-and this was her weapon," placing the device on the table before Twilight. "They're called lightsabers, and they're the symbol of the Jedi Order. You saw me using mine earlier."

The human looked contemplative for a moment then lightly tapped a finger on Twilight's cutie mark, "In essence the lightsaber is like a cutie mark," Titus placed his own lightsaber next to the one on the table so the unicorn could compare the two, "they're unique to the Jedi that crafted it because each required that the Jedi go on a journey of self discovery for the key component."

Their... cutie marks? Twilight spent many minutes examining and noting every feature of the hilts as they sat on the table, letting Titus activate them for her to observe the green and blue blades.

"What about your ability to control things, you called it 'the Force,' right? How does it work?" Twilight carefully changed her position in his lap, curling up so that she was lying down again. A hand stroked her mane almost in rhythm with the heartbeat the unicorn could feel in his chest.

"The Force flows through every living creature and is all around us. Those that are sensitive to the Force can control it by interacting and communicating with midi-chlorians, which are microorganisms present in every living cell." The human scratched the back of his head, "I don't know if they were present here before my arrival or if they came through the portal with me."

"Hmm. Something worth looking into," Twilight hummed. "Your Force shares similarities with our magic, which is also intertwined in some way or another with everything in Equestria." She fell silent for a while as the hand continued its strokes down her mane; closing her eyes proved to increase her perception of the relaxing sensation. When the stroking stopped, Twilight was left feeling light-headed but completely at ease.

"Speaking of the portal," Titus said, "I still need to clean the mud out of the other datapad so I can copy the rest of the sensor data to it."

"Are you going to use the Force again?" Twilight looked up at him, "To take the datapad apart, for example."

"I sorta wanted to get my hands dirty and go the manual route, but I guess I can if you'd like. Why?"

"You said you communicate with those microorganisms when you use it," she was hoping he'd be open to her idea, "there's a spell that lets the caster feel and see what the recipient feels and sees. It's called Sense-Link." Twilight could see his apprehension, even on that alien face of his. She moved quickly to assuage his concerns, "It's a very basic spell and the only one being affected by it would be me. In addition, the effect is broken and ends immediately if I lose focus on maintaining it."

A few moments passed before he spoke. "Alright. There's going to be a lot of information coming at you, so try to just focus on a few things at once rather than everything."

When Twilight sat up to prepare the spell she caused the stool to wobble chaotically.

"One condition," the human said after steadying the seat, "we perform your experiment on the floor." I really need to fix the leg on this thing...

Once they had gotten off the stool Titus placed the datapad Fluttershy had found on floor and sat, once again, cross legged.

Twilight's excitement from the imminent intellectual fulfillment coupled with the increasingly strong urges of her cycle was causing her inhibitions to much less rigid. Twilight climbed back into his lap, "I was hoping you'd be more hesitant to this so I could try persuading you again," she shifted her hips playfully, this time accentuating it with a nuzzle to that sensitive spot on his neck. Her heightened sense of smell also picked up his scent, causing her to nuzzle even more enthusiastically as the intoxicating aroma filled her nose.

"Twilight, what is going on?" he placed a hand on her shoulder, pushing her nuzzling assault back slightly, "You're acting- well, actually I haven't seen you act like this before."

By Tartarus I'm so heated right now. *And if you don't get yourself under control you're going to be too distracted to cast the spell!** But I want him. I want him right now. Quiet! I'll deal with you base instincts later, right now I have science-ing to do.* Of the two voices in her head, the power of the scholar won out over the strength of desire.

The hand on her coat, giving a subtle rub, brought her mind back, "Oh, sorry. I'm just a bit excited to see what happens." Yeah, 'excited' is one word for it. *I. Said. Shush!***

She backed off his lap and stood shoulder to shoulder with him, "I'm going to start casting the spell. We'll need a point of physical contact, so when you're ready just touch me," she slowly worked the magic into her horn.

The cargo hold fell into complete silence, neither Twilight or Titus moving as they both focused intently.

A barely audible sigh was the only warning Twilight got before a finger lightly traced itself down the spiral fluting of her horn. Whoa, it's like my horn is being licked! The feeling of her horn - now incredibly sensitive from the magic flowing through it - being lightly brushed almost threw her off as a wave of pleasure crashed against her willpower to keep concentrating.

She recovered, catching the spell before it failed and her mind exploded into a sudden, acute awareness of her surroundings - the sense of perception rolled outward, constantly-expanding like a sound wave as it pinged off of everything around her.

It was like she was submerged, watching as an invisible current washed over the various objects around her. She didn't just see her surroundings, she could sense them. Without even turning around she could tell that the crate behind her was older and a different size than the one it was stacked on and somehow she could feel that the distance between her and it. She felt the astromech droid's presence in the hall as its mechanical arms repaired a bit of wiring, the completed circuit sending a pulse into the ship like a heartbeat. In the back of her mind she could feel the creatures outside the ship as they skulked through the night and she could sense their motivations - primarily food, shelter, and sex. The forefront of her mind, however, was monopolized by the sensation of the human beside her.

I can sense him there; not just his physical form, but his... spirit? Soul? No, I can't think of a proper word for it. And his thoughts and feelings... oh, his feelings... but there's hesita-

Something cold and wet brushed her marehood and sniffed, shattering her concentration and causing her to lose the spell as she slumped to the floor with a low moan.

"Wha-? Dex! No!" Titus' fingers wrapped around the dog's collar and led him to the hallway, "Stay." He rushed back to the pony that still lay on the deck panting.

The touch to her horn, the human's feelings she had shared, and the unexpected contact to her sensitive rump had all combined to send a rippling wave of pleasure through Twilight's needy body.

"Twilight?"

Twilight heard her name being called, then felt a hand on her barrel as the voice came again, "Twilight, are you alright?" She opened her eyes to find the human kneeling next to her, worry written clearly on his face. A face that was so close to her own.

She was past the point of trying to fight her twitching tail, clenching haunches, or desire for intimacy. I can't take this anymore. She launched herself up, wrapping her hooves around behind his neck and hungrily pressed her muzzle against his. The voice of the desire had usurped the scholar.

"Twi-mpf!" Titus was caught by surprise. His arms windmilled as he toppled onto his back, a lustful pony falling atop him.

Two hands came to her shoulders to keep her still. Twilight dragged herself up his body as much as the restraining hands would allow to, eager to continue the kiss that had been broken as they both fell backward from her sudden assault. Struggle as she might she was unable to draw herself closer, Titus' iron grip held her fast. Twilight slumped, defeated; laying limply halfway up the human's chest with her legs splayed on his sides. She wasn't so far gone in her lust that she'd use her magic to force herself on him.

"Twilight, what is up with you tonight?!" Titus asked, a bit of irritation in his voice, "What was that?!"

Buck. I screwed up big time. "I'm sorry, I probably freaked you out-"

"Yeah, I'm a bit freaked at the moment. You've been all over me. I mean, I get there's going to be a bit of innuendo or playful flirting between friends, but that was just unexpected," he tried to read her, but she had buried her face in his shirt.

I blew it. Again. Twilight could feel a familiar lump in her throat developing. I moved too fast and was too aggressive, and now I've scared him away. She fought to keep the tears building up behind her eyelids from running down her face, "I'm really sorry, I don't know what made me think you'd be interested in an egghead like me. An awkward... dateless... " Twilight spat the insults out, each one hitting like a sack of horseshoes, "unprepossessing... cacopygian..."

The hands restraining her relaxed.

"Twilight, look at me," Titus put one hand on the side of her muzzle to make her look at him, "I'm just as much to blame for this. I just... don't get it."

"What don't you get?"

Titus made a motion with his hands, rapidly indicating to himself and Twilight, "This! I don't get this. Why so sudden? And why me?"

Twilight somehow managed to slump even more, "This is the strongest onset of an estrous cycle I've experienced and I-"

"Uh," the human gave her a confused look, "Estrous cycle?"

Twilight was astounded to learn humans didn't have heat cycles, so she had to spend a few minutes explaining what she was going through, her lecture giving her some time to cool down and come closer to her normal self.

"So... Oh." Titus had to compile everything Twilight had said before it clicked, "OH." He took his hands off her quickly, dropping them to his sides.

The gesture made Twilight visibly deflate. He must think I've been acting friendly because I'm in heat and just wanted to use him. She looked at the human, his brow furrowed and jaw set. He looks disgusted - he doesn't want anything to do with me.

In actuality, Titus was just trying to figure out what to do next. She said physical contact is stimulating, so what do I do in this situation? I like her, but the Order forbade... no, they just frowned on-

"I-I'm s-sorry, I've made this awkward enough. I'll stay out of your way and in the morning I'll go home and ask the Princess to assign you a new intermediary." I'm just so stupid and clueless. She couldn't keep the dam from breaking this time, the tears streaked down her face and left little dark spots on the human's shirt. I deserve this. "You won't have to see me again."

When she tried to get up the two hands snaked their way around her back and the arms they were attached to pulled her back into a hug.

"That's not it at all, Twi. I was just-" he stopped to reword what he wanted to say. "Look, we were fairly secluded in the Temple and this sort of thing was... well it wasn't strictly forbidden, but this is something I haven't dealt with before."

He's... he has to just be saying that. Twilight snuggled into the embrace but still wasn't convinced, He just doesn't want you to feel bad.

He could feel her sobbing quietly, the reverberations of her sharp intakes of breath thumping against his chest. "I wasn't exactly a socialite myself, I always preferred the company of droids and being elbow deep in the guts of an engine compared to schmoozing with Senators at some banquet or another."

Titus looked down at the unicorn, "So I'm going to ask you; from one awkward, dateless, egg-headed, unprepossessing, and cacopygian-"

"What?!" Twilight's head came up and she looked at him. "Your flanks look great!" she said before her brain-to-mouth filter could catch up. I... I didn't just say that, did I? Her head dropped back down to the human's chest and her ears flattened back in embarrassment, not catching his mouth as it spread into a smile. Yup, I just said that.

It took a second for Twilight to register the ear rub before her mind melted away into the workings of his fingers. He could make a small fortune charging for this at the Ponyville market if it didn't feel quite so amazingly indecent- Twilight had to bite her lip, Yeah, right there! ooh buck...

"Well thank you," his thumb and finger working the ear in a circle, "but what I wanted to say was please don't contact the Princess-"

Don't contact the Princess? The ear rub left Twilight with just enough mental acuity to process what was said.

"-I don't want her to find a replacement for you."

The ear massage stopped when she inched her way closer to Titus' face, He wants me to stay! Maybe I didn't...

"Maybe it's because of my alien perspective that I'm not seeing where you're coming from, but I find you captivating; and sure, you might sound like you're reading from a holobook from time to time, but there's nothing wrong with being an egghead, that's just part of who you are. Oh and-" his hands slid down her back to settle just a little behind her cutie mark, the pats he gave getting a happy giggle, "your butt passes the test with flying colors, too. Sorry for the hesitation earlier, I just had to think over something."

Screw up as bad as I thought... A little closer, her chin was on his sternum, she could feel his shirt bunching up under her as she wiggled the last stretch, his uniquely smooth skin brushing tantalizingly against her teats.

Finally on level with that flat face of his, she hesitantly went in for a nuzzle to gauge his response and felt a hand work its way up her neck, the squeak of surprise when the hand pulled her closer turning into a warm coo as Titus gave her a nuzzle of his own. I-he's giving me another chance!

Tears of happiness welling up in the corners of her eyes, Twilight pressed her muzzle into Titus'. When his lips parted to grant her access to explore his mouth; she slipped past that flat tongue of his and brushed along those excitingly predatory teeth. Their breath mixed together as their tongues caressed each other; one set of fingers worked their way into her mane to give gentle tugs while the other hand brushed up and down her coat, causing Twilight's cognitive reasoning to slowly disappear in a miasma as she sank into the kiss before she suddenly pulled back, having become aware that she had started to grind her hips on the wonderfully smooth, exposed skin of his stomach.

I'm not going to let myself lose control again and mess this up; I'm doing things by the book. She shoved her urge to continue behind as many mental doors as she could, "Mi...mind if I use the shower again?"

"Go right ahead," he replied, breathing into her fur and placing a few light nibbles on her neck.

"Hoo! Those teeth of yours..." she panted as the warm bites left a tingling sensation beneath her fur and her mind clouded, "Wow." She went back in to give him an appreciative nip of her own.

Titus watched the unicorn squirm playfully against the nibbles before letting her get up, "This whole 'being-in-heat' thing looks ha-" he caught himself, the word hard being on the do-not-use list she had recited earlier, "looks like it could be an unpleasant thing to deal with."

"Y-you... have no... idea," her eyes drooped closed and she nodded, "Especially for mares without a herd or not looking to have foals," Twilight kept close attention on keeping her tail covering herself as she moved away from the human, "and if you fall into both categories, like me, it's borderline torture."

"Ah, so ponies form herds. Interesting. I would hazard a guess that's because of a population imbalance?"

"So you already noticed?" Twilight sighed, "Yes, there's approximately, oh... four or five mares to each stallion across Equestria. Add the even lower population of stallions in Ponyville to the equation and you're left with a lot of mares with no herd."

She stared at the human, propped up on his elbows into a semi-sitting position, "Remember how I was saying the whole 'saving the helpless stallion' was a ideal from an unfortunate era? Well, are you familiar with the dark period when Princess Celestia had to rule by herself for one thousand years?"

Twilight continued when he nodded, "During that time the low availability of un-herded stallions lead to their objectification, to the point the number of stallions in a herd was a display of the wealth and power of the mares. Stallions were valued based on their strength and, um..." her tone was a mix of disgusted and ashamed, "sexual prowess. Stallions were essentially slaves to the mare population. When the Princess came out of seclusion she came down on that philosophy hard, but by then the damage was already done. Even these days there are still ponies that feel the only place a stallion should contribute to society is in the bedroom."

"I see. But shouldn't the low population lead to larger herd sizes?" Titus hauled himself up, "Oops! Hang on, Dex is in the hallway. Gimme a second and I'll grab him."

"Thanks. Logically it should, but bio-logically-" a groan from the human as he passed her indicated he had picked up on her intentionally-bad pun, "it puts too much strain on the stallion; you see, the cycle will gradually adjust itself overtime to overlap with other nearby mares, so eventually the herd falls into heat at about the same time. Just imagine trying to, erm... service four mares in heat."

Twilight's face went red when Titus took on a thoughtful expression.

"Hold on, I didn't mean LITERALLY!" she was in front of him and up on her hind legs in an instant, frantically waving her hooves in his face to distract him from his thought when she stopped; a rather important question had come to mind.

"Wait. What is the human stance on inter-species relationships?"

"We're pretty much past the point of thinking about it," he shrugged nonchalantly while Twilight's heart skipped a beat and she did a mental hoof-pump at her good fortune.

"With over twenty million known sentient species in the galaxy it's been pretty much a non-issue for a while now, though there will always be purists or whatever that are opposed to the idea." Titus resumed his thoughtful pose, "So if herd sizes are relatively set, what happens to the ponies not in herds when the cycle hits? You indicated you weren't in a herd, so how do you usually get through a cycle?"

Twenty million variations of human?! Lets see, some probably have horns, other wings, maybe others can breath under water... She was jarred from trying to imagine what sort of differences they could have when she processed his question.

"Well the last time-" Twilight stopped and watched Titus lead the dog out of the hallway, remembering her last disaster of a cycle.

The first day had been miserable but bearable and, thankfully, the Princess had recalled Spike (the letter referring to him as Secret Agent Spike) to Canterlot on a "Special Top-Secret Assignment" earlier in the week so Twilight could have the library to herself. To myself, until that stallion ducked into the library to dodge the group of un-herded mares chasing him. I started showing interest and he immediately locked himself in the basement and six days later it took two stallion guards to convince him when it was safe to come out. A week after her cycle was over Twilight had mustered up the courage to go to his house to apologize only to find he had moved. Only later did I find out from Rarity that he wasn't into mares at all.

"I just seclude myself in the library and read. Sometimes a friend like Lyra or Dash will lend a hoo- um," Twilight cringed lightly at what that line could have been taken as, "will help out."

To show the dog his seclusion wasn't meant as a punishment, Titus briefly roughhoused with Dex before closing him in the hanger behind them, continuing with Twilight down the hallway toward the shower room. "So you read to keep your mind off of it? How do your friends help, though?"

"There are a few, er... devices that can be used to reduce the severity of the cycle, though the relief is temporary at best and some of them require assistance to use, which can be a somewhat awkward topic to broach."

"I can see how not being in a herd could be an issue," he paused to regard Twilight. "Well I hope if I can be of assistance, you'll ask. I could spend some time recovering more books from the computer if you'd like, and I might know a technique of meditation that might help-"

"Hey," she stopped outside the shower room door, "Come down here a second."

Lets lay this out: you're fascinated by him, he's one of the very few stallions that initiates an intellectual conversation - nothing on the level of advanced quantum thaumaturgic relativity or harmonic string theory, but stimulating none the less - and he's got to be the first stallion that's said he thinks you're attractive. He even complimented your flanks! Thinking about that last part made Twilight beam - she had never been very confident when it came to her body. On top of that, he braved a pack of timberwolves to help you, and later you felt that he genuinely cared about you when you used the Sense-Link spell.

When the human bent down Twilight wrapped her forehooves behind his neck, "That would be wonderful, thank you," she placed a series of quick, light kisses along his short jaw, lingering a bit longer on his lips though not going as far as their last kiss, pure bliss flooding her system as Titus returned the kiss in full.

"Woo," she finally broke off, breathing heavily, "right, got to stop. I want to do this by the book, you know, the traditional way; date, dinner, that sort of thing." I should see what the library has on cross-species courtship as well, though I could use Rainbow as a resource. Twilight paused her thought as she rubbed her face against the side of Titus' neck, his long hair tickling her eyelids and nose. I'll gather additional data I need from relevant articles in the library's collection of Cosmarepolitan and cross reference it to the expertise of Rarity. "I need to get you into the lab to run a few tests, as well."

"Hooking me up as the guinea pig for your next experiment? Hope that's not the date you had in mind."

"What? No!" Twilight was shocked until he placed a peck on the end of her nose. Her muzzle adorably scrunched up in annoyance when she realized he wasn't being serious, "No, if I'm going to be around you while I'm in heat I want to run tests to make sure you can't get me pregnant, just in the improbable case I... jump... or, um, restrain you..."

That got a raised eyebrow from Titus, "How improbable are we talking, here?"

"Like I said it's improbable - highly improbable, actually," she tried to sound optimistic, "but with how strong the onset of this cycle is I anticipate it getting much worse, so not completely outside the realm of reason. Think when I jumped on you earlier, but the further into the cycle I am it'll be twice, three times, ten times as hard for me to stop myself."

The look on the human's face concerned Twilight, "I-I'd never think of h-hurting you, though!"

"I know, Twi, the same goes for me," he tousled her mane, "but I'm capable of handling myself; more than you ponies give me credit for, anyway."

It was ingrained in their species that the mare's job was to protect the stallion. The thought that a stallion could protect himself better than a mare could was just very hard for Twilight to accept; she'd been in a few fights as a filly with ponies that had said something nasty about her brother - not that she won many, but that wasn't the point (besides, you weren't supposed to use magic in those fights) - Shiny was strong and brave but the idea of him fighting for himself just felt wrong to her. Not that any respectable mare would raise a hoof to a stallion; unless she wanted to get smashed into paste by any mare that caught wind of her doing it.

I'm not saying stallions can't defend themselves, of course, but Titus is just so... Twilight knew he could handle a few timberwolves, but ponies were a whole different basket of apples. He's fragile compared to a pony - long, thin limbs, the legs don't seem capable of a good buck, and his high center of gravity would indicate he'd prefer to grapple rather than throw hooves. Short of employing his fingers to secure leverage and perhaps biting - and he's liable to take a chunk out of somepony doing that - I can't imagine how he'd stand up to the agility of a pegasus or the grounded strength of an earth pony. And forget unicorns, I doubt he'd have a chance if they used magic.

Twilight felt her gut churning and shook the unpleasant thought of stallions fighting out of her mind. "Look, the tests won't take long; when we go back to town tomorrow we can grab something from the cafe and by the time we're done I'll have results," she placed her own peck on the human's short nose and he mimicked the scrunched-up face.

"I better get in there," she gave him a quick hug and let him go, dropping back onto all fours as she felt that warm tingling sensation returning. "As much as I really - and I mean really - don't want to, if we minimize physical contact I think I can make it 'till morning without incident," Twilight walked into the shower room, leaving Titus standing in the hallway.

"I've got one thing I need to finish before I can crash," he leaned a forearm on a bulkhead, "I'll lower the hammock so you can get into it, it's all yours for the night."

Twilight gave him an appreciative nod and closed the door. This bout of heat isn't going to go away with just a shower, and with no cooler available it's going to take some... she looked at the showerhead and the hose it was attached to thoughtfully, Improvising. A magical aura surrounded the showerhead to float it down from the hook as Twilight switched the output to the saline solution.

Titus couldn't hear what was going on in the shower, the sounds weren't loud enough to reach him in the hangar where he was piecing a turbine engine back together.

He was almost through re-installing it into the speederbike, and halfway through the bottle of cider, when a relieved-looking Twilight shuffled back into the hangar. "Better?" he locked the last securing anchor in place and slid out from under the bike.

"Much better, thanks," she hummed, magically blinking the short distance into the hammock. Twilight floated one of the blankets over herself, "I'm going to hit the hay, see you in the morning." She squirmed a little deeper into the warm blanket and quickly fell asleep.

Twilight became acutely aware of the soreness in her leg when she rolled over in the hammock, waking up with a soft groan. Ow ow ow... I guess the painkiller is wearing off. She also started to feel how cold it was, despite the blanket wrapped around her. The hangar was bathed in red light, Twilight's eyes adjusted to the darkness as she looked around; it was a stark transition from the warm lighting that had been present when she fell asleep. Everything looks so different... It took a split second to recognize the objects in the hangar and a bit longer to spot the low-profile lump of Titus on the floor across the room.

Twilight rolled out of the hammock, still half asleep and covered in the blanket, and stalked over to the sleeping human as quietly as she could. Once she had gotten closer Twilight could see that he had procured a very thin mattress and was using a long brown cloak as a blanket, which was draped over his lower half. He was on his back, one arm bent under his head as a pillow while the other lay at his side.

Her teeth began to chatter, the cold metal of the floor was sapping the heat from her right through the pads on her hooves. No fur and only that shirt to keep his upper body warm. How is he not cold?! Twilight continued to shiver as she looked at the human, who seemed to be perfectly comfortable with the current temperature. Twilight wiggled herself into the crook of the arm and magic'd the blanket over them both without a second thought.

"Something wrong?" Titus tilted his head slightly so he could look at Twilight groggily.

"No," Twilight snuggled deeper into the hollow and used the human's chest as a pillow, "you looked cold, that's all." She was already feeling warmer and the welcome change was lulling her back to sleep.

Sure, that's why you're the one shivering. "What happened to the 'minimized contact' you prescribed?" Titus teased, wrapping the arm around the unicorn that had snuggled against him as a show of non-protest to her presence.

In her half-awake state, Twilight stretched her long neck up to give him a quick kiss, "Sorry, can't hear you. Already asleep." And very quickly she was, one foreleg draped over the human's chest as the warmth and closeness shuttled her into a blissful dream.

9: An Odd Day

"Luna, my dear sister, I am so glad you invited me," Princess Celestia joined her sister, greeting her with a warm hug. The royal guards that had escorted her to the garden saluted and left, leaving the two Princesses their privacy.

"I must apologize that it be so early, Tia," Princess Luna replied and returned the hug. "I realize we have a meeting with the financial advisers scheduled this morning, so I shall endeavor to keep this short. I hope tea and this makes up for it," she motioned to a small but elegant white-frosted cake adorned with masterfully-arranged red and blue edible flowers.

"There is nothing to make up for, I always have time that I can spend with you," Celestia followed Luna over to the the wrought-iron table and waited for her sister to sit before she made her first cut into the cake, the knife diving through the niveous layer of frosting to reveal a layered, dark fudge and raspberry center. At this revelation the second cut was adjusted to give herself a slightly larger slice.

"You look troubled, sister. Perhaps something to do with your friend, Mr. Aelius?" A delicate amount of the cake disappeared into Celestia's mouth as she gauged the response to her guess. Despite ongoing support, her sister still found it difficult to relax around her subjects; Celestia attributed it to her lingering guilt over what she had done as Nightmare Moon. While initially hesitant with the task, Luna started showing enthusiasm before and after interacting with the alien and when Luna had told her they recently agreed to drop honorifics with each other Celestia had been immensely proud of her sister, so, whenever possible, she referred to him as "your friend" which had the obvious effect of bringing a smile to Luna's face. The Solar Princess stuck to using the formal "Mr. Aelius," half the reason being she hadn't met the human yet and considered it impolite for her to assume that level of familiarity with him and half because it was another way to reinforce her sister's sense of accomplishment.

Luna finished pouring her cup of tea, taking a deep whiff of the steam rising into the morning air before answering, "A commendable deduction; that is one of the subjects I wanted to discuss." She took a sip of the brew and savored the minty undertones for a moment, "Regarding the first matter: since his arrival you've trusted me to handle every aspect of overseeing Titus' stay, even going so far as to forward Twilight's unopened reports to me, to which I must pass along my gratitude; they have proven to be enjoyable to read." She silently stared into her tea for a minute, "A recent development has lead me to believe your involvement may be necessary."

"Oh? Is this the dire subject you wished to discuss, dear sister?" Celestia took another bite of cake, chewing slowly as she waited for Luna to continue. A shake of her sister's head was greatly calming.

"No, I thought I'd start the morning on the lighter end of the spectrum." Luna regarded her sister over the lip of her teacup, "Last night while I was guarding our subject's dreams I came across one that involved Titus in a rather vivid fantasy, containing limited anatomical images that seemed to be drawn from personal experience rather than imagination. Upon further investigation, I found the intimate dream belonged to Twilight Sparkle. With this revelation I felt that, because your student is now involved, you would want to be informed. In fact, I have reason to believe she may have appropriated a few scenes of her dream from the 'books' in your private collection; she seemed especially keen on one involving a shower."

Ah, yes. Princess Celestia couldn't help but chuckle that she knew exactly which novel that had come from, Steamy Shower Stallion had been one of her favorites as well, and, while the title was cheesy as all get out, her first edition printing was worth a fortune by itself (adding in that it was hers, of all ponies, would probably cause the price to skyrocket even higher). "And, being the dutiful protector you are and the fact that it involved your friend, Mr. Aelius, you made sure to witness the whole dream should you be required to recount it for court purposes or in case it proved vital to the protection of your charge, am I correct?"

"Of course." Luna knew her sister would be able to read her so it was pointless to act like she hadn't watched the dream in full.

Celestia went back to her cake, chewing around a mischievous grin.

Luna continued with her tale, "As I have told you before, Titus' dreams are obscured from me, though the reason I could see them when he was unconscious is still a mystery. Unlike pony dreams where I get distinct images, all I can get from his - in the event I find them at all - are the general mood he's feeling during them which is why I've been visiting every few nights to converse varying subjects ranging from his well-being to where he was from. He was planning to tell me of the planet he stayed on, which he said has four moons. Four. Moons." She gently shook her head at the notion and took another sip of tea, "And, even more ridiculously, each night they took turns in the sky and raised by themselves. I was eager to hear more, but when I went last night for our scheduled meetup I found your student sound asleep, tangled up in one of his arms with a happy grin and drooling slightly-"

A melodious laugh rolled across the garden, "Oh dear, forgive me for laughing, Luna. That is a face I am all too familiar with. I'd regularly find her wearing it when she fell asleep in the academy library late at night."

"It is quite acceptable, Tia, I myself almost laughed at the sight, though Titus was quick to explain how they ended up in that situation. Dearest sister, with no fur humans turn the most amusing shade of red when embarrassed." Luna waited for her sister's laughter to stop before continuing, "Shall I assume your reaction indicates the situation does not require an intervention?"

"Yes, I imagine that is the right course of action. Twilight is a grown mare and, from everything you've told me of him, he sounds like he could be a good fit for her," she decided not to add "and you seem to be taking to him, as well," as a footnote for fear she would be pushing her sister a bit over the line what with the earlier ribbing she had given her over watching Twilight's dream; instead the fork plucked the last remaining bit of delectable cake into the Princess' waiting mouth. "If I must be honest, I'm proud that she was able to share her feelings with him... though I believe that her estrous cycle may have had something to do with how uncharacteristically forward she must have been to end up in that position so quickly."

"Indeed. Titus seemed a bit surprised with how forward she had become, so I made a spell that should provide a bit of relief and, with her permission, used it on Twilight."

Celestia regarded her sister with concern, an eyebrow raised ever so slightly.

Luna continued, placing her cup back on its saucer, "The spells I weaved together were all stable and of base-level, something a first-year at the academy could cast without fear of magical feedback. It will wear off in a week and, theoretically, it should dampen the symptoms of the heat. But how, dearest sister, did you know she is currently on cycle? Twilight confirmed it with me, but I made no mention of it to you."

"Twilight has always had a cycle a week or two before her birthday. Which reminds me: I need to find something special as a present," Celestia absentmindedly tapped the empty fork on her muzzle as she contemplated what to get her student, her tongue stuck out to one side in thought; something came to mind and the bouncing fork stopped, leaving a few fudge crumbs behind.

"Luna," the fork settled on the empty plate as a knife sliced off another helping of cake, "if you would not be opposed, I would like to accompany you to one of your meetings with Mr. Aelius. I believe it is time I formally introduced myself to your friend that has my student so amorously enraptured."

"I would be most happy for you to join us, Tia!" Luna was clearly looking forward to sharing the experience with her sister, "I will inform Titus of your intent at our next meeting and hopefully we will both get to hear of the four moons and the vessel that could tow entire planets."

Luna's cheerful demeanor faded as she pushed her teacup and saucer away before focusing magic into a spherical barrier of complete privacy around them both, "Sister, as our time is dwindling we must unfortunately move on to the unpleasant subject I invited you here to discuss - we have lost contact with the agent and it is feared her cover may have been blown."

Twilight woke feeling a level of happy warmth she hadn't experienced before. She struggled to untangle herself from the bed sheet pulled over her head and groggily slid her hooves to the floo- Whoa, wait, why am I so close to the floor? And... why is my pillow so lumpy? She shifted on the thin mattress, confused as to why her bed felt so different until the cool temperature of the cargo bay woke her up sufficiently to remember where she was. Recalling the events of the previous day, elation bubbled up inside her and she couldn't help but giggle gleefully into her pillow, which - upon second inspection - turned out to be the bunched-up cloak and t-shirt her human friend was wearing last night. Mmm, the shirt still has his scent. She rubbed the article against her nose and relished the pleasant smell.

Not feeling Titus on the mattress with her, Twilight poked her head out from under the blanket and quickly retracted it as the cold morning air poured into her warm cocoon. I think I saw him over near that small craft... ugh, it's so cold! I wish I could just stay in here all morning, she was busy snuggling into the blanket and pillow when an idea came to her, Hmm...

A minute or so of squirming later she was ready for the cold morning air.

Titus was under the speeder bike double-checking the modifications of the antigrav generator when he felt several gentle bumps to his foot. Lifting his head in what little room he had, he spotted four violet hooves.

"Hey, you," he said warmly. Planting his feet against the deck for leverage, the mechanic's creeper he was laying on slid smoothly from under the machine, Twilight was there to greet him when he emerged. Putting the hot soldering iron he had been using in a place she wouldn't bump into it, he flipped the goggles up onto his forehead and turned his attention to the mare looking down at him him. She was wearing his t-shirt but Titus probably would have described it the other way around - it looked more like the shirt was wearing the unicorn for how large it was on her.

Twilight's front legs protruded from the sleeves and her head poked out of the neck normally enough, but it was comically large to the point that the cloth almost touched the floor beneath her and the hem hung down well over her rump though this seemed to be perfectly suitable (or potentially calculated) because she was careful to get the fabric between the chilly metal floor and her backside when she sat down.

"I'm surprised you didn't wake me up. Rainbow was right, you are good at sneaking," Twilight pretended to scold, gently placing a hoof on Titus' chest and applying a little weight when he tried to sit up off of that wheeled scooter thing he was on, "I would have liked-" she leaned in to bring her face closer to his but wasn't aware the creeper was built to roll in all directions. The sudden lack of expected lateral resistance combined with her hooves getting caught in the over-sized shirt when she tried to correct her balance caused her to topple onto the prone human. Not that Twilight minded the outcome. Not one bit.

"So, like I was saying," it was clear she was enjoying that the situation was in her favor - one of his arms was pinned beneath her while the arm opposite her was forced to push against the floor to keep the creeper from sliding away any further, "Every mare wants a proper kiss from her stallion in the morning."

"Twi, I can feel the grime from this repulsor on my face, let me get cleaned up first-"

Twilight snorted, Excuses!

She cut his protest off with a nuzzle to that ticklish spot on his neck, causing his bracing arm to reflexively come up to fend her off and sending the sled and its two occupants rolling away from the speeder bike at a decent speed and into a nearby crate. Twilight was lost in the sound of the laughs and the wonderfully intoxicating scent of her friend as her nose ground against his skin, oblivious to the objects that teetered off the crate above them. A quick series of rather unfortunate events followed.

What first alerted her that something was wrong was a heavy smack to the back of her head, the blow cushioned by a hand that had moved to intercept it a split second before. Dazed, she felt her horn jab Titus when he rolled on top of her. A grunt and the sound of liquid splashing; an empty can falling from his back and rolling away. A muffled *thwump!* was next, followed by the distinct noise of licking flames as Twilight felt two hands push forcefully against her chest, sending her almost airborne in a trajectory away from him.

A shrieking alarm echoed in the cargo bay, Twilight shaking her head to clear her impaired senses until she finally processed what she was seeing. Before her lay the human, his lower half and part of his torso clearly having been doused in some liquid or another, frantically kicking off his pants as the flames traveled up his legs. He managed to get them off and stripped the shirt off just as the bottom hem caught fire before scrambling away and coming to sit next to her.

In a state of shock all Twilight could do was speechlessly watch the R6 droid speed into the room, a flashing light on top of his round dome blinking as he beeped and chirped at the top of his mechanical lungs. An arm popped out of his cylindrical torso to spray a cloud over the burning clothes until all that remained was a patch of frost. With the fire extinguished and smoke billowing up into the air, the droid zipped back to Titus with the still-frosty cone on the end of the arm pointing directly at him.

"Wait R6, it was an acc-" Titus was interrupted as a brief blast engulfed him in a chilling cloud, forcing him to hold his breath until it dissipated, during which time the series of the clearly annoyed whistles and clicks faded away into another room.

"Sometimes I really contemplate reprogramming his personality," he waved a hand in front of his face, clearing the last bit of fog to look at the pony sitting stock-still beside him. "Hey, you okay, Twi?" he bumped her shoulder with his.

She continued to stare at the charred clothing on the floor.

"I'm fine," Twilight finally replied, quickly turning to check on her friend once her brain had had a chance to reboot; he was dirty, his hair and eyebrows were matted with a heavy layer of frost, he had a cut on his temple, and he was shivering - whether from the cold or the adrenaline high he was coming off of, she didn't know - as he sat next to her, his arms resting on bent knees and the only thing left still covering him were some form-fitting black shorts.

"Forget me, what about you!?"

"Well..." his head bobbed from side to side as he recounted his morning, "I've been assaulted, battered, cut, drenched in turbine lubricant, lit on fire, forced to strip down to my underwear, and blasted with an extinguisher by a displeased droid."

Twilight's heart would have sank if not for the goofy, shit-eating grin he had on his face and the playful shove she got, "Are mornings with you always like this?"

"Ugh! You are incorrigible!" Glad her friend was not only unhurt but still in a playful mood, Twilight ducked her head into the loop created by the arm resting on the knee and dove into a hug that ended up in the fast-becoming-familiar position of her laying atop him. She ground her face his dirty skin, coming away with a few spots on her fur, "Now we're both grimy, so there goes your excuse," she said, leaning in and rubbing her nose against his, "Still waiting on that good-morning kiss, you know."

The lack of clothing made it easy to spot the bruise on his shoulder where she had bit him yesterday and, much to her dismay, it was painfully obvious what had caused it. Oh geez, I'm never going to hear the end of it if any of the girls see that.

"Oh, and I'm the incorrigible one?" The wide smile that accompanied the unicorn's nodding head were hard to argue with. "Fine, you win," the arm she had dove under climbed its way up her back, the fingers tracing lightly along the spine and scratching every now and again with their nails until the hand was resting at the base of her skull, "Good morning, Twi." He would have pulled her in for the kiss but she needed no motivation.

Twilight practically smashed her muzzle against his face, her tongue pushed asking demanding entrance past those scintillating fangs and their tongues quickly began fencing for dominance. She couldn't help but laugh around one of the fiery kisses, Dash is right, winning is awesome! Twilight lost the duel when a hand made a sneak attack on her ear, kneading and massaging her into an unconditional surrender.

"That..." Twilight groaned, her head having dropped to his chest, "that was unfair."

"Victory at all costs," he chuckled at her complaint, his voice taking on a teasing tone, "I mean, I could stop..."

The eye that snapped open was clearly telling him that he'd better not.

"Hey," Twilight pushed into the kneading hand as much as she could, "Could you, um, do the other ear too?" When the hand stopped to switch ears her eye opened again, this time to look at him curiously.

"I meant at the same time," Twilight realized he hadn't used his other hand for a while now, so she forced herself to sit up and motioned to the arm he'd been keeping at his side, "Come on, let me see your other hand." She hissed when she saw the cut that almost ran the length of the palm.

"It'll be fine, just a bit stiff at the moment." Her ears were flattened back so he reassured he was fine by placing the uninjured hand on her cheek, "I could get up and put a bacta patch on it right now or we can stay right here a bit longer."

For the next few minutes they enjoyed each other's company; embracing, laughing, and sharing nuzzles and kisses of varying degrees of intensity. Twilight felt her arousal building and, eager to take the opportunity to explore the newly-revealed expanses of skin, squirmed her way down the human's torso for a better view - ending up partially between his legs, to which his face flushed.

She memorized the curves and depressions of every muscle group for future recording, eliciting little squirms as she poked and traced with her hooves, which worked their way toward her intended target. Her first prod got a raised eyebrow, "Is it normal for males to have teats?" another prod, but this time she ran her hoof in lazy circles around it.

"For humans, yes; both genders have them, though they serve no function on males." He did his best to explain the reason with what he knew about the development of the human fetus. I'd rather not put Luna's spell to the test. Come on, distract yourself... kark! he swore to himself in Huttese, a habit he had picked up from his Master, Quick, think about grav-ball!

Twilight, while interested in the biology lecture, was only partially listening because she couldn't help but be distracted by another type of biology: the protrusion that was currently pressed against her belly just below her ribs. Hmm, hard to tell if the Princess' spell is working. Perhaps a further test. Her heart was fluttering as she leaned in, planting a small lick on the nipple that caused Titus to arch his back slightly; a hitched breath that cut off his lecture in the middle of a word.

"Whoa Twi..."

She looked up at him, her eyes lidded, "Another spot for me to keep in mind."

Twilight pulled herself back up his body, acutely aware of his veiled stallionhood dragging across her belly through the t-shirt she still wore. Continuing to pull herself upward, Twilight didn't stop until she latched her mouth to his, startled as she felt the rod slide out from under her and press against her needy mound through the shorts. O-oh, Tartarus....

Both Princesses were in court listening to two financial advisers squabble about something or other (Luna had always been the one with a head for finances) when Princess Celestia noticed her sister shift in her seat for the nth time in the last few minutes, but this time catching a minute trace of a grinding in her hips. Concerned, she stepped in to the argument and addressed the court, "Thank you for both for your insights in the matter, you shall have our joint ruling for the next session. At this time the Court will be excused for a short recess."

Once the court had cleared the white alicorn turned to her sister, "Luna, pray tell, what is wrong?"

"I am alright, sister. I believe there to be an error-" Luna cut herself off with an audible sigh, though Celestia was fairly certain it was not one appropriate for Court, "in the spell I crafted. A retreat to my chambers is necessary, I'm afraid I will be indisposed and you shall have to preside over court until I am able to sort this out." With a cobalt blue flash she teleported, leaving her sister alone in the deserted room.

The deep navy cushion Luna had been sitting on did a fabulous job of hiding the wet spot.

Princess Celestia, however, had a very keen eye.

Whatever spell Princess Luna used seems to be working! The overbearing intensity of Twilight's heat was definitely muted. Currently I still feel capable of cognitive thought outside of desire... Twilight could feel the control slipping as her powerful imagination took over. Desire of him. Like to be rutted so hard as to leave an indentation in the floor or wall. Or laid over on that crate there. Ooo! Or carried to the shower and-

"Hey. Stop," he applied a gentle pressure to the side of her neck, "Something about the look on your face tells me you've hit the limit of Princess Luna's spell."

"Sorry, you're right," Twilight reluctantly broke away, though she was somewhat relieved that he had taken the initiative to ask to stop this time, "Please understand, before we... do anything I need to-"

"To run the tests," he finished for her with a pat, "I know. That's why I spoke up."

"I-I'm really sorry to keep doing this to you, it must be frustrating."

"It is a bit frustrating, physically speaking, but at the same time it's a bit of an emotional relief as well; honestly, I've been wanting to say this and please don't take this the wrong way, but it just feels like we're moving a bit quick, though I guess I'm just as much to blame for that. I mean, you've only known me for a little more than two weeks and we've only started seeing each other like this in the last twenty four hours."

The pony's ears fell flat and she looked a bit worried. Damn this cycle to Tartarus, I've been rushing him.

Titus felt the need to explain, the look on Twilight's face was worrying him, "I used to have a couple of friends; fellow Jedi I grew up with at the temple. However, the Council was very absolute in their stance on romantic attachment, so all we could ever be was very close."

"Why would your Council prohibit that?" Twilight didn't understand the reason to prevent what must be sheer joy of finding a special somepony, "Princess Celestia has told me that love is one of the most powerful forms of Harmony!"

"Powerful, yes, but a double-edged sword - capable of blinding a being to reason. There's more than one historical case where loss or betrayal by a loved one has lead a Jedi to the dark side. I'm not saying there weren't relationships within the Order but most of them were covert. I was privy to a few."

"Did you ever...?"

"No," he replied, "because I was an idiot."

"So... what? Does that make me your first?" she teased with a nudge. When he didn't respond like she expected him to Twilight nudged again, though this time softer as a quizzical expression crossed her face, "What happened? Why do you say you were an idiot?"

"I was too much of an idiot to see what had been staring me in the face all my life," Titus wasn't entirely sure he was comfortable talking about the subject but supportive nuzzles from Twilight, the first person (for lack of a better term) he felt he could genuinely trust after having to watch his back for so long, gradually eroded his reluctance.

"I can't believe I'm telling you this..." he said, shaking his head, "There was a girl, Aurelia Flavia, that the Order took in at the same time I was; in fact our two families knew each other well and we had played together as toddlers. As Younglings at the temple we were practically inseparable to the point that we were thought to be brother and sister despite how different we were - we were almost polar opposites of each other, but regardless we always had each others back. When we had become Padawans we saw less of each other because training occupied almost every waking moment of our time, though that didn't stop us from having fun when we could." Titus recounted one incident where they had stowed-away aboard a clone trooper assault transport that ended up leaving the star system for a battle and, when their Masters finally caught up to them, both of them insisted it had been their idea and not the other's. He promised to tell Twilight more of the mischief they had gotten into sometime and went back to his story, "Even after we completed our trials of Knighthood we were often on different ends of the galaxy fighting for the Republic. We'd still regularly send each other holovids of where we'd been, missions we'd been on, and generally just check in with each other."

"There was one time aboard a star cruiser where we got to sit down and have a meal in the mess hall before leading a strike on a Separatist stronghold. I had wanted to tell her exactly how I felt right then but you can't throw something like that in someone's lap, especially on top of the stress that comes with leading a mission, so I resigned myself to tell her after. That plan fell through when her squad was extracted to a cruiser at the end of the battle while Master Krua and I were immediately dispatched on another mission - the mission which we would still be on when Palpatine revealed he was Darth Sideous, making that the last time I got to see Aurelia. About a month or so after Order 66 was issued, I felt her connection to the Force just disappear-"

"I feel terrible for teasing you, I-I'm so sorry," Titus could feel the air being squeezed out of his lungs as Twilight put as much emotion into one hug as she could, "I'm sure she knew how you felt."

"I really hope she did, but what's done is done. As much as don't want to make the same mistake of letting another opportunity slip by, you're the first person I've been able to trust in a very long time and I don't want you to come out of your cycle and feel like all of this was a big mistake." He used the shirt Twilight had borrowed to wipe the dirt from her face, "When you indicated you wanted to slow down and do things 'by the book' I was really hoping you meant that, and, you know... still do."

Twilight could tell by the look on his face he was concerned he might have said something to offend her or make her angry so she squeezed her hug just a bit tighter as a sign she wasn't either of those, "Yeah, silly, I did. Believe me, if it wasn't for this aggravating biological function I'd probably still be working up the courage to nuzzle." She couldn't help but imagine how that would have gone. He's right about slowing down though, studies have shown that starting a relation based off of nothing but the feelings during a cycle had a low rate of continued success past the two week mark, somewhere around 40% and dropping to 35% at the end of the second month, though my figures might be stale. Note to self: update data for future reference.

"Thanks, I feel better for being able to get that off my chest," he returned the squeeze, "Now come on, the sooner we get you back to town the better; I'd rather not have an angry mob of ponies armed with torches and pitchforks at my door wondering what happened to their librarian."

While Titus got into a set of clothes Twilight had time to think. I'll need to confer with my two experts, but what I've read can be summed up in a basic set of steps: Step 1: Research - learn about your subject; Step 2: Date - spend time getting to know each other; Step 3: Commit - drop the courtship question. I'll begin the first step while the tests are running.

"Ready to go?" her friend asked, emerging from the hallway as he zipped up the orange jumpsuit he was wearing.

"Yup!" Twilight levitated the dusty saddlebags behind her, heading for the door.

"Hold up Twilight. We're not walking," he tossed her a pair of goggles, a microphone headset, and a hat and scarf, "we've got a ride," then beckoned her over to the speeder bike as he threw a leg over the seat and donned his helmet.

Twilight gave the open-air craft a dubious look.

"I'll keep it at a slow cruise," he assured her, taking the saddlebags and placing them in the storage compartment behind his seat, "and don't worry - as much as I want to, I promise there'll be no acrobatic stunts."

That seemed to assuage some of her apprehension, "You'll have to sit behind me and hold on, the sidecar attachment is up there," he pointed to an area above him that was outlined with yellow and black striped tape, "that's the lift to where the bike is usually kept and I'm afraid if I open it there will be an avalanche of cargo or whatever else might have come loose in the crash."

With a bit of assistance Twilight found a position wedging herself between the back of the seat and the back of Titus, the pair doing a couple of laps around the crash site so she could acclimate herself to the vehicle's handling while the human answered her questions regarding how the machinery functioned; she was particularly interesting in documenting how the craft's repulsors kept it afloat, making mention of several every-day uses that could benefit Equestria.

Once Twilight indicated she felt adequately prepared for the journey Titus pressed his back against her as he did a sharp zero-point turn, pointing the nose of the bike down the trench toward town and accelerated faster than he probably should have - experiencing an acute loss of hearing as a squeal of surprise rang through his helmet's comm link and Twilight's grip around his neck tightened in response.

"Sorry! " Titus immediately throttled down to about half of what he was doing before.

"Could we go a bit slower, please?" Twilight shouted right into the mic, once again causing the human's ear to ring. She peeked over his shoulder and squeezed the hooves she had around his neck a bit tighter when she looked down at the ground many body-lengths below them.

Despite already feeling like they were going at a crawl Titus cut back further on the throttle as they flew along at treetop level and felt the slightest out-of-place vibration at the low speed.

Not an immediate issue, he probably wouldn't have caught it if they hadn't had slowed down and made a mental note to check his alignments before flying again. Twilight seems to have grown to enjoy the ride, he noticed her head switch shoulders once again to look at the forest from the new perspective, though I doubt she'd let me get off lightly if I punched it for the last klick of our trip.

"Hey Twi, we're almost there," Titus turned his head slightly toward hers though she could hear him fine the headset, "Do you want to stop at the edge of the forest and go on foot or go right to the library? We could even land right up on the balcony, if you want."

"No-" she realized she was yelling again and lowered her voice, "No, park at the hill. Flying in on this... what did you call it, a 'bark speeder'? Well, that might startle somepony, but I'm sure you'd be able to land there without incident given a day or so of ponies seeing you operating it at low speed," she paused to emphasize that part.

Titus cut their altitude as they closed in on his usual salvaging ground and the bike glided to a smooth stop at the base of the hill. After powering the craft down and retrieving the saddlebag and his own weathered satchel bag the human jogged his way over to where Twilight was busy craning her neck like she was looking for something in the distance.

"Twilight," he waited for her to take a break in her search before he asked, "Can we go over the plan while we walk? What sort of tests will you be doing?"

"Hold up, Titus. We're not walking," Twilight couldn't help but smile at the role reversal, "I guess you could say 'we've got a ride.'" Still wearing his helmet, she couldn't see Titus' eyes go wide a fraction of a second before she cast her spell.

Titus suddenly felt like he was being stretched, squashed, twisted, and pulled and his head was spinning in every direction at once.

"Hey, what's wron-"

"Urg..." he grunted as he fell over onto the deck with a thud. Nothing made sense anymore; up was down and down was up, colors shifted between everything on the spectrum and muffins were bananas... the completely odd and spontaneous images and the phantom smells of the food popping into his head tipped him over the edge, causing him to cough and empty his stomach in his helmet until Twilight yanked it off him (and almost took his head with it).

One look at the human, who was now on his knees and suffering through more retching, made her go white. "I-I've got to get you to the hospital!"

Twilight frantically looked around for help. Vomiting in ponies was a serious, potentially life-threatening problem because of the way their esophagus connected to their stomachs and without ready medical assistance in the form of equipment, alchemy, or spells a pony could end up quickly choking to death on something that got stuck in the valve between throat and stomach. The look on Twilight's face was one of worry bordering on hysteria.

"Twilight! What's going on?" Spike, who had been upstairs and came to investigate the noise, was shouted at to get Doctor Horse. The commotion attracted the attention of a few ponies in the street and caused them to pause and stare up at the balcony.

I've got to do something! Twilight had turned around and was making for the door when she was interrupted mid-stride by a firm tug; a hand had latched itself onto the only part of the retreating pony within range - her tail. Ignoring the spike of pleasure working its way up her backside, Twilight turned to see why in Tartarus' burning fires he was stopping her.

"Twi, I don't ne-*bluugghh!*" he panted before another gut spasm and a third bout of vomiting prevented him from saying anything else, his hand having to go to the planks to support himself as he once again doubled over; he was lucky to have gotten that much of a coherent sentence out with how jumbled his brain felt.

"Just hang on!" Twilight pleaded as a siren in the distance grew closer.

By the time the siren arrived Titus was lying on his back (having just gotten through the torture of a phase of the dry heaves) looking up at the sky and waiting for the clouds to stop spinning.

Nurse Redheart forced a thermometer in his mouth, narrowing her eyes threateningly when he tried to shoo her away. "Ninety seven point nine," she declared, removing it and giving him a pat on the head that seemed to say "There. That wasn't so bad, now was it?"

"I-is that normal, Doctor?" Twilight ventured.

Dr. Horse put a stethoscope to the human's chest, "I've got no idea what his vitals should be," he replied, the stethoscope roaming around in an aimless fashion as he recorded his findings on a patient form, "because I'm a pony doctor, they should have called a veterinarian."

Twilight had to make a conscious effort to ignore that quip.

Twilight, Dr. Horse, Nurse Redheart, and Spike gathered around the human's head, entering his swirling field of vision to look down on him with concerned faces.

Nothing was said until Spike spoke up. "Yo Titus... y'alright?" the scales on one of his eyebrows climbed up. Spike interpreted the thumbs-up gesture for the uninformed medical ponies, "'Yeah, you're gonna be fine.'"

With nothing else for them to do Twilight escorted the nurse and doctor to the door, explaining what had happened. Spike trundled off to get a bucket and a mop, which he gladly left at the door when Titus said he would clean the balcony himself.

It took a few more minutes for Twilight to return, and a few more after that before he began to feel normal again. For starters, he could tell where he was and process just how nasty he felt - his hair was matted from when he puked in his helmet and it had gotten on his jumpsuit. It's even in my nose...

"That was a really stupid thing for me to do," Twilight said, now sitting next to him, peeking out from behind her bangs to give him a "I want to go hide under a rock for the rest of eternity" sort of look. She couldn't have possibly come off as more dejected even if she tried, "H-how can I make it up to you?"

"First, promise you won't warp me somewhere again, and..." Titus slowly sat up, the motion brought back a bit of the head-spinning sensation sent him flopping back down to his previous position, "let me do my laundry, then we'll call it even."

"That's it?! So you're not..." Twilight's head shot up before she resumed a meek pose, "Nothing makes you mad, does it?"

"'Anger eventually destroys the vessel carrying it, one way or another,' is what my Master would say," he propped himself up on one elbow and this time the dizziness didn't return. "I was taught to rid myself of the feelings of hate, anger, and fear. Besides, getting angry over something small like this, especially after you realized and acknowledged the mistake, would solve nothing." Titus pushed himself up to his feet, "Ugh. I do, however, feel like I've rolled around in a bantha pen."

"LUNA!" Celestia's voice boomed down the corridor as she stormed past the unflinching pair of Royal Night Guards, through one of the ornate obsidian & gold-inlay doors that had been blasted from its hinges earlier, and into the chambers where her sister, her back to her, was hunched over a desk. "Not only have I had to sit through the rest of the financial summit by myself, which, I might add, I spent worrying about you, but I have just spent the last ten minutes calming the ruffled feathers of the visiting Griffon delegation because of your little explosion. Little sister, you have been acting oddly since after our breakfast and you will explain what is going on!"

"The blast was an accident, Tia, I was... startled." I am not telling her that it felt like somepony tugged my tail, and I am most certainly *not** explaining how it felt!* "I reverse-engineered the spell I made and found the error. Actually, it was more like a series of oversights." Luna turned around from her desk and walked (in a somewhat funny manner) for her balcony, "Those oversights will soon be remedied."

"Remedied?" Princess Celestia's tone softened when she caught the strange gait, "Luna, please. Tell me what is going on so I can help you."

"Thank you, but assistance will not be necessary, dearest sister Tia. I will deal with this personally." For the second time that day she disappeared in a blue flash.

Scanning the parchment her sister had been scribbling on it was easy for Celestia to connect the dots, shortly coming to realize what had Luna in such an agitated mood. Well, that would explain it, but just what are you planning, Luna?

In a silent mist Luna appeared on a balcony in Ponyville, discretely entering the building before anypony below could see her. The Princess of the Night could feel the gentle throbbing as she closed the door to the balcony behind her. The weaving shouldn't have had this much of an effect on the outcome of the spell. She made her way down the hallway and peaked into an empty room as the throbbing turned into an almost-steady pressure, causing a hitch in her breath. Nothing but a laundry room, though the washer is going so somepony is here. Over the din the sound of running water from down the hall caught her ear.

Of course. The shower. The sound of the laundry machine covered Luna as she strode for the marked door, her teeth grinding against the feeling in her royal rump. It now felt like something had pushed its way inside of her and it took every ounce of self control for Luna to keep from obliterating that half of the library with a torrent of magic. The door to the bathroom, however, was not spared her wrath.

Titus was enjoying feeling clean, though he was just starting to get over the awkwardness that had transpired a few minutes ago. First, when I got out of my jumpsuit so it could be washed Twilight asked why I had changed underwear from earlier that morning and I had to tell her she left a little wet spot on the black pair after she had ground herself against them. There also was the fact that, until the suit came out of the dryer, all he had to wear was a long bath towel, Twilight having accidentally (and that was up for debate as far as Titus was concerned) taken his shorts with the other laundry when he had gotten in the shower. I was going to wait until they're out of the dryer, but I've already been in here for fifteen minutes.

Up next, the only shampoos Twilight had on hand hoof whatever and could loan him were rather scented, so he settled for the least fragrant one which smelled of flowers and grass. Lastly, the fixed shower head poked out of the wall at shoulder level so he had to hunch over to get his hair washed, causing a crick to quickly form in his back. It can't be helped, this shower was built with ponies in mind- His thought was cut off as the bathroom door exploded like it had been wired with a breaching charge, the sudden noise causing him to bolt upright directly under the shower head with a *Dink!*

"CEASE YOUR ACTIONS AT ONCE AND BE STILL, YOU RUT-HAPPY MARE!" The whole library seemed to shake as the Royal Voice reverberated off the tile walls, cracking the mirror and knocking over the toothbrush holder while Luna towered in the bathroom door like an ominous obsidian monolith; wings spread and fire in her eyes.

The tremors from Luna's voice had shaken the bar of soap from its holder where it promptly skidded across the shower floor and went directly under his foot, causing him to pitch forward and grab the shower curtain for support. *Slip!* Naturally the curtain was about as supportive as wet tissue paper and quickly tore out of its rings with a series of quick pops. Still falling, his forehead connected with one of the horizontal bars on the shower wall. *BONK!*

Lights out.

Luna stayed in the doorway, breathing heavily and unsure what to make of the scene that unfolded, the silence that settled like the shower curtain over a large lump on the shower floor only disturbed by the patter of water hitting the plastic curtain like a drum.

"P-Princess Luna?!"

A door in the hallway behind her creaked open and Twilight, glistening like she had galloped a mile, appeared in the doorway. If she's there, then who...?

"I d-didn't realize y-you were here-" Twilight stuttered until she noticed the corner of the shower curtain lying on the floor, "Ti-TITUS!?" she squeezed past the Princess and flung the curtain aside to reveal the crumpled figure and the red-tinged water swirling around the drain.

Not even bothering to turn the water off she skidded next to the human, lifting a shoulder to rest his unmoving head on her forelegs. "Hey! Say something! HEY!" Twilight begged, rubbing one of his cheeks with a hoof.

What... Oh sister, what have I done? Luna almost froze but forced herself to act. "Come," she surrounded his body in her magic and lifted him from the tile floor, "we must move him to someplace more comfortable." Spike appeared at the top of the stairs to inspect the new commotion, a dish towel over one shoulder, to follow the pair as Luna floated the human down the hall and into the open door Twilight had come through, placing Titus on the star and moon covered sheets of the bed.

Spike thoughtfully spread the dish towel over the human's groin, figuring if Titus wore clothing he'd still want a bit of privacy in this situation. Not that he understood Titus' desire to wear clothes all the time, but with the way Twilight was obviously trying - and failing miserably - not to stare it seemed like a good thing to do.

Princess Luna assured him that the human would be alright and thanked the dragon for his thoughtfulness, "Spike, would thou let me speaketh with Twilight for a moment?" She waited for him to leave the room to explain what made her presence necessary.

"Y-you mean you could feel... as I...?" one of the gears in Twilight's mind stripped its teeth as she processed what the Princess had told her. I was basically using my cooler on the Princess. I'm so getting banished. To the moon. "I-I-I'm so sorry, I had no idea! Can you dispel it?"

"No, unfortunately that is not an option," Luna gave a sigh, "After careful research the spell seems to be a strange hybridization of several schools, potentially making this is a whole new class of spell. As you know, alicorns do not feel the symptoms of the estrous cycle, so my original intention was to transfer your urges via a modified Sense-Link spell. Unfortunately," she paused to watch as Titus' face twitched before turning back to Twilight to continue with a air of scientific bluntness, "It appears any arousal or sexual sensations you experienced to your genitalia were also transferred, in response your body began to produce extra chemicals to make up for the sudden loss your receptors were receiving. So, because of the tax it would have on your body, I can not and will not dispel it."

Twilight was a little confused, having not had the chance to sit down and examine the spell components and how they fit together like Luna had back at the palace. It took a bit of time for Luna to convey her research but it allowed Twilight to get caught up to a certain degree so they could have an intellectual discussion on the topic. "Could you explain a bit further what 'tax' you are talking about?"

"An answer to your question requires a question of my own: how in control are you right now?"

"Um..." Twilight gave it some thought, "Fairly? I mean it's been a struggle at times today, but with a reminder or a bit of help I've been able to stay in control. Dispelling your cast would cause a feedback of the chemicals, is that the conclusion you've drawn?"

"Your inference is correct, Twilight. The feedback would not be additive, either."

"Multiplicative?" With an extreme exercise of willpower I might have been able to handle additive...

Luna shook her head, looking grim, "No, exponential. If the influx didn't put you into a coma there is no doubt you would be unable to control your actions. From the numbers I've figured, we're looking at a return index of-"

A groan and movement from the bed drew both the pony's attention. Titus sat up slowly and whispered what the ponies could only assume was an expletive. "By the four moons my head is splitting," he pulled something out that had been prodding him in the back while he was lying down and, upon closer inspection, realized calling it "extremely phallic in nature" would have been an understatement. A hose and hand pump attached to one end, the flat-tipped device flopped around slightly as he held it up. "Uh... What happened?" He really wanted to make an anal-probing joke but realized it would be way too cliché, the addition of the Princess' presence tipping the scales in favor of keeping his mouth shut.

Twilight's magic quickly encompassed her cooler, flinging it into the closet - a wet slap as it hit the back wall - and slammed the door. She almost melted into a puddle from embarrassment.

Luna moved to one side of the bed. "We doth offer our most sincerest of apologies for, through our rash actions, what hath transpired to place thou in such a position is decidedly and without question our fault," having fallen back into the habit of using formal decorum with her friend the degree of worry the Princess was experiencing was obvious. She proceeded to explain her findings, though she eventually returned to her casual tone at Titus' friendly behest. "Again, I must apologize for my failure in crafting a useful spell."

"I wouldn't say it's a complete failure, it could have a useful application," Titus offered, carefully adjusting the small square kitchen cloth to better cover himself. Add K.O.'d to the list of things to happen to me today... He noticed Luna looking at him curiously while Twilight just looked at him. Okay, time to stop re-positioning the towel, Titus.

"What sort of application might you be referring to?" Luna inquired.

Twilight was still too embarrassed from the cooler incident to speak, though the human's fiddling with the cloth certainly had caught her attention.

A hand gingerly explored the lump forming on his forehead, "Well-" it retracted with a wince, "As Twilight told me yesterday, the herd's estrous cycles eventually line up and place a strain on the stallion to perform. Sounds to me like your spell could help a stallion take care of, um, business with multiple herd mates at once. With a male potentially capable of assisting multiple mares at once, herd sizes might increase and help reduce the number of mares unable to find a herd."

"Hmm, an interesting thought, though further study would need to be conducted. You see, the sensation of the stallion climaxing is what brings the relief-" Luna, noticing the human growing uncomfortable, stopped her line of explanation, "Right, back to why I'm here. The only option left to us because I can't safely dispel the magic is to keep you two separated until Twilight can ride out her cycle."

That snapped Twilight out of her stupor, "Wait, is that necessary?"

"I believe it is. Your cycle is only on the second day and it will only continue to take more of your willpower to control yourself. You don't need the distraction of him to make that any more difficult," she gave a look to the human, "That is why Titus will be accompanying me back to the palace in Canterlot for the week."

"No offense Princess," it was Titus' turn to object, "but I can't afford to lose an entire week of work. That first week of downpours practically turned the crash site into a bog and my ship has been sinking a bit further every day. If the engine intakes sink too far into the mud-"

"So you would have no objection coming with me if your vessel was not in danger of sinking is what you are saying. Very well, we shall solve that problem tonight. Come with me, Twilight," Luna lead her out of the room, as a bell ringing from down the hall signaled the dryer was finished, "you may voice your objections in the living room while Titus gets dressed."

Why didn't I think of asking Luna for help? After all, she raises what equates to a small planet each night, something like the ship shouldn't pose a problem, right? He waited for their hooffalls to fade down the stairs before walking to the laundry room and putting his clothes back on; the bag he brought from the speeder bike was also leaning against the dryer. Tossing a strap over a shoulder he headed downstairs to join Luna and Twilight.

"-which is the other reason he, rather than you, will be accompanying me to Canterlot," Luna's voice carried through the door as Titus came down the stairs, "you are more than welcome to send a letter if you wish as I will happily forward any to him."

He knocked on the wall to alert them to his presence before entering, "Hey Twi, I've got a few things I need to do before Lu-sorry, Princess Luna-"

"I thought we agreed to drop titles, Mr. Aelius," Luna teased with a mock tone of seriousness.

"That we did, I was just unsure if that carried over to when we were in other company. Anyway, I have some work to do before Luna comes by tonight to help with the ship so I should get going as soon as I can. What did you need me to do for those tests?"

"Oh, one moment," Twilight disappeared to her basement laboratory, but not before telling Titus of the brunch Spike had prepared for him. She reemerged wearing a white lab coat a short time later. "I'll just need a little blood," she gently dabbed a cotton swab on the cut on his forehead, "There, that should do it. I've got some equipment that will separate the leukocytes for use as test samples."

"I believe that finishes my business here in Ponyville for the time being," Luna approached Titus, the soothing magic of a spell flowing from her horn to quickly heal the cut once Twilight had gone back to the lab, "I shall go to make preparations for your stay and see you shortly before dusk." With a nod of farewell Luna climbed the stairs and left via the balcony.

Titus had just finished his grilled-cheese sandwich and pickle brunch, voicing his appreciation for the tasty meal to the dragon chef as he passed the kitchen on his way to the front door when Twilight caught up with him.

"Trying to sneak out without saying goodbye, were you?" Twilight tapped his knee, a sign for him to come down for a hug. "Mmm, your hair smells great," the scent from the shampoo filling her nostrils when she wrapped her hooves around his neck and rubbed her muzzle against his cheek, "I'll see you in a few days, big guy."

Titus returned the hug, "See you in a few days, Twi," he added in an extra little squeeze before getting back to his feet. As he left, he popped his head around the closing door and gave her a wink, "Lab coat looks good on you, by the way." The last thing he saw before the door latched was a huge smile spreading across Twilight's face.

Hmm, the turbine alignment is alright... Titus had spent the last hour of the afternoon under the speeder bike, unable to ascertain precisely what was causing the minor vibration; it had gotten better, but it was still there whenever he revved the idling bike.

The Human-Watchers had come out in force once news had spread through their ranks that he was working on a strange riding machine, the occasional pony poking their head under the bike to examine the craft; usually giving him a nervous smile and quickly disappearing if they made eye contact with him.

While a constant murmur of hushed intellectual conversation droned on in the background - the group having made a tight circle of sorts around Titus' work area - the noise would immediately die down and be replaced with the scratching of pen on paper as the more scholarly of the group recorded any sort of verbal observation the human made. Titus had been having a bit of fun walking them through his tinkering and offered up his next anecdote while he searched through the tool box he had built into the back of the bike's body, "I have corrected a point zero zero six deviation of alignment in the frontal turbine. The severity of the vibrations has been reduced but are still present." Spotting Lyra in the crowd, he embellished his statement with a few flips and twirls of one of the tools he had been looking for, garnering himself a bit of applause before he crawled back under the bike. A little showmanship now and again for the non-studious members of the crowd.

"What about re-calibrating the overdrive cores?"

Yeah, a burnt out O.D. core could be the cause- he did a double take, Wait, what? When Titus turned to see who had made the suggestion he got a face-full of bouncy pink mane. He immediately knew the pony it belonged to.

"Oh, hi P-*pfft. pfft!*" he sputtered as a particularly long strand of bangs found its way into his mouth, "Hello, Pinkie."

"Hey, your Fluffle is pretty good! *pfbt! Pfp-pfp-pfbbt!*" she mimicked his sputtering noise, "Here's a hint: you were going a bit lip-heavy, you want to use your tongue a bit more."

"Thanks, I think? I'll keep that tongue thing in mind," talking with Pinkie was nothing short of an experience, to say the least, "How did you know about the overdrive cores?"

Pinkie just shrugged, "Seemed like this thing would have some."

"Some? It has sixteen." Not that she'd care, but it had been a lot of work cramming twelve more over the legal limit. Titus wiggled his way over to the panel covering the part in question. Removing the panel and holding a small glowrod in his mouth to get a look at the cores, he realized he'd need one of the instruments on the ground near his waist. He patted around in the grass for a few seconds, unable to find it. Microdial adjuster, no. That's the fusing pen.... I don't think I got the spanner out. He suddenly felt the familiar texture of his hydrospanner tapping against the back of his hand and, when he turned it upward, it dropped into his palm. Glancing toward his feet, he saw the grinning face of Pinkie, who had at some point slipped out from under the bike and retrieved the tool for him. How did she...? No, better not to ask.

"Thanks," he quickly unmounted the cores and placed the spanner back near his waist. "Hey, Pinkie? Could you get the output analyzer? It looks like a-"

"Here ya go!" she pushed the exact tool he needed under the bike before he could describe it.

Curiosity finally got the better of Titus. "Okay Pinkie, how did you know what an output analyzer would look like?"

"Oh, that's easy!" She bounced around the bike, producing a little *boing!* with each hop as she explained, "It's my Pinkie Sense! I just closed my eyes and thought," she squinted super hard and rubbed her temples, "I said to myself-not out loud of course, or you wouldn't have asked me. Unless you can read minds! Anyway, I asked myself 'Pinkie, if you were a out-pudding alligator, what would you look like?' And then I realized I'd look like a little box with two prongs and some dials and a screen thing! Though what that has to do with alligators or pudding is beyond me, you should name your things better."

Titus took another look at the pink face that cheerfully looked back at him like nothing was out of the ordinary. "Pinkie, you are on a whole other plane of existence, you know that?" he stated, checking each of the cores and passing the analyzer back to Pinkie. Only three frakkin' cores still operational. At least I still got a few crates of spares. Heh, stealing those from an Empire lockup had been fun.

"No I'm not, I'm right here," she looked slightly confused for a second, then went back to her cheerful springy self as she traded out the output analyzer for the hydrospanner, "but I do visit sometimes; I've got this great timeshare."

He finished reseating the overdrives with the spanner and just shook his head as he crawled out from under the bike, I'd probably get home faster hitching a ride on Pinkie's transdimensional sense of reality than fixing my ship. Titus turned to the crowd for his next announcement, "With the help of my lovely assistant," he indicated to Pinkie Pie with a little flourish, "we have checked all of the overdrive cores with something called a power analyzer. If I could have you all take a few steps back and make a hole, I'll see if that fixed the vibrations."

Throwing one leg over the seat, Titus - finding Lyra to give her a wink - flicked a few switches and with a hammy wiggle of his fingers, he slowly and dramatically brought the hand down to push the ignition button.

"Mares and Gentlecolts, objective complete!" The sound of machinery humming to life, especially machinery he had recently been working on, always brought a warm feeling of contentment to Titus and this time was no different. "Hey, Pinkie, seeing as you helped if you ever need to... go someplace..." his statement died in his mouth, having found Pinkie leaning in the shade of a tree with her mane greased back, hooves crossed over her chest, rolling a toothpick around in her mouth and wearing a black leather jacket and a pair of black sunglasses she had procured from somewhere.

"I can dig it, but right now I gotta lay a patch and split," Pinkie jammed her hooves into the jacket pockets, and walked to a black and chrome two-wheeled vehicle. Throwing a leg over the seat she kicked a pedal and the black beast shuddered, a deep guttural thrum turning into a throaty bark when she feathered the throttle with a hoof. A few ponies covered their ears at the racket.

To Titus it sounded positively divine.

A stern look on her face, Pinkie looked over her shoulder at Titus, "See ya around, T-Bone." And with that she roared over the hill.

It's Pinkie: obey the cardinal rule of "don't question it."

"Sorry for such short notice, Fluttershy, I only found out myself this morning," Titus ruffled Dex's ears, the dog blissfully panting at the familiar sign of affection, "Twilight can contact me if you need anything."

"Don't worry, that's quite alright. It's always nice making a new friend," she smiled at the dog sitting next to her, though the petulant rabbit in the window didn't look like he shared her opinion on Dex's presence.

"Thanks again, I owe you one," he gave the shy pegasus an appreciative nod while remounting the speeder bike, "I'll see you in a few days."

"I'll take good care of him!" Fluttershy said with a wave as the human sped off on his strange contraption.

Right, that takes care of my co-pilot for the week. Titus kept a meter or so above the ground, enjoying the tactile feedback the bike got as it bobbed along with the terrain. All that's left is to secure anything loose before Luna stops by. He opened up the throttle a little more and the bike greedily consumed the extra freedom given to it, tearing down the road at a breakneck speed. After that reseating, the cores could probably use a test- his thought was cut off as something, moving fast, popped up on his helmet display. Only one thing here moves that fast...

"Hey Stretch!"

Rainbow Dash. Titus sighed, watching the pegasus pull up along side him and do a barrel roll around the bike to give the machine a cursory glance. "Hello Dash."

At the less-than enthusiastic reply Rainbow turned to the human, a pair of worn flight goggles on her brow. "Oh come on, what sort of greeting was that, Stretch?"

"Two reasons. For one," he had to fight the urge to give the bike all the "freedom" it could handle, but he knew a measly three cores probably wouldn't be enough to get away from the pony that made it a habit of grating on his nerves, "I already know you're thinking about a race, so here's my answer: No. I just want to get back to my ship, I've got a lot of work to do which I'm sure you'll find boring, so feel free to just leave now and find a cloud to nap on."

"Actually, smartflanks, I wanted to ask why Twilight had been acting giddy all day, and why she's being evasive as to where she was last night," Dash wished he wasn't wearing that helmet, she had proven to be exceptionally good at reading his facial expressions and she was sure she'd be able find an answer to her questions. Of course her original intention of approaching the human had been to challenge him to a race and she wasn't surprised he had guessed that. Since he had recovered sufficiently from the crash (at least what she had considered sufficiently) she'd been pestering, nagging, and doing her best to goad him into any sort of race but every time he would decline, "Now that you mention it though, yeah, your machine looks fast... but not nearly fast enough to beat me, Stretch-"

"And there's the second - I've got a name, Rainbow, and it's not 'Stretch.'" Titus gave a bit more juice to the repulsors and gradually ascended. He changed his flight path to take him over the treetops; it had been a rough day and right now all he wanted was to not have to deal with the cyan nuisance any longer.

The pegasus followed, "What's your deal with that nickname? It's not like I meant anything."

"Look, I get it; I'm not what passes for normal but it'd-" Titus was going to say more but felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. On instinct he jerked the speeder into a sudden roll to one side and sensed something unseen sail past him. What the?

What's he- Rainbow Dash watched the human do a little aerial stunt and accelerate; a giant glowstick thing appeared in one of his hands as he shouted for her to go back, That cheeky cheater sneak! He's trying to fake me out, he wants to race to his ship! She got about two seconds of acceleration of her own before she found her wings pinned against her, bound there by sticky strands that wrapped around her barrel, legs, and neck. The pegasus let out a cry as she plummeted from the sky.

The upper layer of canopy cushioned her fall, through the trip through the underlying limbs was anything but soft. Leaves and branches slapped, scratched, and beat at her until she landed hard on something woven into the upper boughs that knocked the wind out of her. Still wrapped in near-invisible chords that stuck to her like glue, a hint of her claustrophobia bubbled up. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself and fell back on a survival guide she'd read (it was advertised as Daring Do approved, how could she not buy it?), checking herself for injuries as best as she could. Alright, scratches and there'll be bruises for sure, but nothing's broken. Hoof feels like it's twisted, though. Now where am I? The surface she was laying on was semi-springy, made up of hundreds upon hundreds of the same strands that bound her, though they weren't sticky; there were several openings that lead to what could best be described as tunnels. She was still checking her surroundings when she heard a rapid high-pitch clicking coming from down one of the holes. It was an odd coincidence but a chapter from the same Daring Do book that had the survival guide advert also had a description that sounded a lot like that-

Oh buck no. Buck. No. Louder and more frantic the chittering grew. Struggle as she might, the restraining bonds held Rainbow fast like steel cable.

When the noise suddenly stopped, Dash turned to one of the tunnels and watched in horror as a single spindly leg emerged; the tip narrowing down to a menacing needle-sharp point; then another emerged, and another. Eight disgustingly thin legs suspended a bulbous, hair-&-spine covered body out of the shadow of the tunnel and what little light came through the leafy canopy reflected off a series of eyes. The fangs, almost as long as her foreleg, stopped tapping together and instead quivered in place while the creature moved closer to inspect the prey it had caught.

As the spider slowly stalked closer, Rainbow was frozen, her arachnophobia on full display until one of the thin hairy legs brushed against her. "BUCK YOU!" she jolted into action and landed a good kick on the leg, causing the creature to retreat and tap its fangs together rapidly, the sinister clacking noise resuming as similar calls echoed from the other tunnels. Hearing the response the arachnid reared up, bringing its spinnerets to bear on the pony. Rainbow rolled out of the way of the first shot but the dead-eye spider compensated for the motion and landed the second, a sticky blob landing right on a hoof to immobilize her. Another shot landed on her other front hoof, which was raised in the air at the time so she was careful not to put it down anywhere.

Despite what appeared to be a lost battle Dash wasn't about to give up, her fear had transformed into anger. When the spider got close enough she bucked with all her strength; both hind legs connected right in the middle of its head, cracking the hard chitinous plating and sending the thoroughly-dead spider rolling end over end and down one of the tunnels as three more spiders, then two more, emerged out of nearby shafts with fangs clacking angrily. "Five on one, huh? Bring it!" she snarled.

Snapping branches and swishing leaves above her caught her and her foes attention, the form of the human landing lightly - almost impossibly so, Dash thought - next to her, the blue glowstick thing still in his hand. Dash's ears went back and eyes narrowed menacingly, "Stay out of this, Stretch, I'm about to show these bugs they messed with the wrong mare."

"Fine, but they're not bugs," Titus made one stroke with his lightsaber at the webbing that held her hoof in place, the sticky substance smoldering away as she shook the remaining bits of it off before it reached her coat.

Dash gave him a grin, half out of appreciation for freeing her and half because she couldn't wait to smash these things into paste.

"And, for the last time, my name's not 'Stretch.'"

Titus and Dash, most of the sticky webs removed so she could fly, dropped down from over the canopy and cruised down the trench toward Ponyville as dusk began to set in.

"I didn't need your help, you know," Dash flew a bit closer to the speeder bike so she could talk with Titus, "totally had it under control."

"Yeah, I saw. You handled those five in front of you just fine," he hollered, not wearing his helmet for fear of it getting stuck on his head because of the webs in his hair, "meanwhile, I dealt with the seven behind you."

"Seven? Oh please," the pegasus rolled her eyes, "don't try to boost your numbers just because I got more of them than you; in fact I squashed four more bola spiders before you even showed up. So, HA! I. Still. Win," she stuck her tongue out teasingly.

"Whatever," he huffed, not wanting to get into a debate over who had "won" because he frankly couldn't care less, "Hey, you're going straight to the guardhouse to let them know about that nest, right?" he dropped back on the throttle as they neared the end of the trench.

"Duh! I can't wait to tell them about how awesome I am to knock out that nest for them, I'll probably get a big medal or something... that I can put on the shelf with all the others!" she caught Titus looking at her out of the corner of his eye as they both slowed to a stop at the top of the hill outside of town, "I'll be sure they know you helped a bit so you can get an honorable mention or something."

The thanks he gave her was thick with sarcasm.

"We should spar some time. Not going to lie, you have some pretty sweet moves that I want to see again and... Oh hey, I know!" she flew right in front of him at eye level, "Me, AJ, and Lyra all get together in AJ's barn to watch E.F.C. Fight Night and next time you-" for emphasis she prodded him in the chest with one hoof and gave a push, "are going to join us."

"S-seriously?!" he looked back up at her, confusion plainly written on her face, "I can't believe you forgot about the gunk on your hoof."

"Uh," when she tried to pull her hoof away, the front of the jumpsuit pulled with it, "whoops? Can't you use your glowstick to burn it off or something?"

"The blade is wider than the gap you can make between the suit and your hoof and I'm not going to breach one of my last, perfectly good flight suits," Titus sighed in annoyance, "So here's what you're going to do; you're going to take the suit to Twilight-" he unzipped the front of the suit and climbed out of it while he went over the plan, the zipper thankfully having been kept clear of the webbing by a flap of velcro, "-I'm sure she'd love to hear about our little adventure while she finds something to dissolve or breakdown the adhesive so you can go to the guardhouse."

"Wow you are hairless..." she took a long look at the almost-naked human, "and what's with the clothes under clothes?" She also spotted the bite-mark on his shoulder, a laugh echoing in her mind. Oh, so you're a biter, huh Twilight? Kinky.

He didn't need to say anything, the look he gave her clearly said "Shut it." A nod of the head also indicated for her to get going.

With a bit of effort Dash fluttered a short distance in the direction of Twilight's house - the webbing still in her feathers was playing havoc with her flight pattern while the clothing just proved awkward to carry while flying - when she turned back to Titus, catching him off guard with a question, "Hey, you never finished saying why you didn't like that nickname."

Titus thought about it for a while, "For starters, it'd just be nice not to be referred to like some thing to be gawked at. I already get enough of that; I don't want to be reminded that I'm literally the only one of my species on this whole planet."

Geez, I didn't realize that's why he hated being called Stretch... Dash continuing to struggle to stay off the ground, "How about we find one you like when you come over to watch Fight Night?"

"I think," he turned the bike around back down the trench, "you should ask Applejack and Lyra for their approval first." With that he gunned the speeder bike, the three overdrive cores working in tandem to send him hurtling down the trench to his ship. He was already late meeting Luna.

10: Hell week

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Cycle Day 1

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As he left, Titus popped his head around the closing door and gave her a wink, "Lab coat looks good on you, by the way."

Twilight had forgotten she had her lab coat on and couldn't hide the smile splitting her face in two, that definitely being the first time anypony had said that to her. Her front hooves paced a bit at the closed door, her body yearning to go after him but her mind keeping it in check, It'll only be a few days, and until he leaves this evening the Princess instructed me to avoid contact. She looked around the hall, then down at her hooves. I've only got two - three days tops - before the cycle kicks into high gear and I'm reduced to a hormonal mess, so I'd better plan things out. On her way back to her room, she ducked her head into the kitchen where Spike was standing in front of the fridge writing up a grocery list.

"You're going to the market? Great!" she took an apple out of the fridge to snack on, the apple giving a crisp pop as she bit into it, "If you bump into Lyra while you're there could you see if she'd stop by for a bit?"

"Sure thing," Spike added apples to his list and underlined it twice before looking over the parchment at her, "Hey Twilight? Where were you all last night?"

Crabapples, I was hoping he wouldn't ask.

"Um," Twilight slowly chewed on the bite of apple to give her more time to think. "I was bringing Titus that datapad that Fluttershy found. While he was fixing it we sort of lost track of time so, rather than walking home through the Everfree past dark, he let me spend the night-"

"Oh," Spike exclaimed, going back to writing his shopping list, "Yeah, that makes sense."

Much to her relief he seemed satisfied with that explanation, pushing a chair over to inventory the freezer. Twilight took her chance to escape without further interrogation, collecting one of her low-magnification telescopes from the laboratory before returning to her room for the next few hours to draft out what she needed to accomplish in the upcoming days.

She was once again taking a break from her planning, looking through the telescope she had set up at a window and aimed at the open lea where her human friend had been busy tinkering for the past hour. Sorry Princess, but as far as I'm concerned this doesn't break the no-contact rule. Hmm... what's he doing now? Something rose-colored suddenly filled the view of the device, blurred beyond recognition by its close proximity. Pulling away from the eyepiece revealed Rainbow Dash flying outside her window.

"What are you, a stalker or something?" the pegasus teased with a smirk.

"Says the pony flying outside my bedroom window," Twilight retorted with an straight-faced look.

"Hey! If you had been here last night when I came by for my package," Dash pushed the window open to land in the room, "I wouldn't be here now. Actually, now that I think about it..." she looked at Twilight curiously for a second, glanced over her shoulder to follow the line the telescope drew, then back at Twilight, "And just what were you up to last night, hmm?" she asked, the question decidedly mischievous and accentuated with a waggle of the eyebrows.

Twilight took a few nervous steps back, "I'm sorry I wasn't here when you stopped by, I was... out on an errand-"

"Yeah, 'errand,' my hoof," the pegasus covered the distance between them to drape herself over Twilight's shoulder before she could move away further. "Look, you're in heat and don't try and deny it because I can smell your pheromones," Dash could feel Twilight's cheek burning against hers. When a mare in heat released pheromones to signal a stallion it was considered rude to bluntly point it out because most mares - Twilight being one of them - found it very embarrassing. It wasn't that the smell was malodorous; quite the contrary, each mare had a unique scent that most ponies would classify between the ranges of tolerable to agreeable; it was considered embarrassing because it was one of the aspects of a cycle completely outside of the mare's control.

"Twilight, relax. There's nothing wrong with hooking up for a night to relieve-"

"You're still working a first shift for the Weather Patrol, aren't you? That must keep you pretty busy," Twilight shrugged her off to walk toward the door, "so I'll do you another favor and save you the trouble of coming all the way here by dropping your package in the mail. Derpy usually makes her deliveries-"

"Whoa whoa whoa," Rainbow was in front of Twilight in an instant, "don't even joke about that, Twilight. I can't be getting deliveries of books or other nerdy stuff to my house, I've got an image to uphold!"

Twilight looked less-than-amused at Rainbow's last line. "Some other time you'll have to explain to me how your 'image' can be tarnished by occasionally being seen reading a book," she retrieved the items she had procured, teleporting downstairs and back up to her room in quick succession, "Here's that special order of yours and, for your information, I was out on an errand returning some books a friend loaned me."

Technically speaking that wasn't a lie; the datapad did contain books... Oh drat, now that I think about it I'm pretty sure I left them on his ship.

Dash opened the heavy paper bag to check the contents and immediately removed her prizes: a boxed mint-condition (thanks to the preservation spell Twilight had cast on it) highly-poseable Ahuizotl action figure only available at a convention in Canterlot - one of only one hundred signed by A.K. Yearling and made priceless when the author ordered the mold for the toy be destroyed. Yes! Score! Below that was another Ahuizotl, this one commercially-available, that she could open and add to her hidden shelf of other Daring action figures. Also in the bag were posters, a t-shirt, standard convention tat, and a Wonderbolts jersey she could use to cover the contents while carrying the bag.

"I still don't buy that you were on an errand, but you did me a solid favor getting this stuff," Rainbow said, carefully putting the items back in the bag, "so I guess I can leave it for now." As she passed the telescope for the window she used her superb pegasi eyesight - capable of clearly making out what Twilight had needed assistance to see - to look at what it had been pointed at. Squinting slightly, she could make out a pink pony, That's undoubtedly Pinkie Pie by the way she's bouncing around and... what is that thing?! she was still watching Pinkie when the biped, his figure easy to identify, appeared from beneath the machine in the field. A triumphant grin on her face, she launched out the window to stash her loot at her cloudominium home. Looks like I'm going to have a little chat with Stretch.

Twilight watched the pegasus soar off toward Cloudsdale and she let out a heavy sigh, Why do I get the feeling she's up to something...

A knock at the window woke Twilight from her early evening nap and she disentangled herself from Lyra's limbs, Lyra having stopped by earlier that afternoon to use the cooler; together they had decided a nap was in-order after one of the "help sessions" an estrous cycle frequently required. "I have a front door you know..." Twilight grumbled groggily as she shuffled over to the window to see who it was.

"Rai...Rainbow Dash?" She was exhausted, "W-*yawn* what's going on?" The pegasus flew through the window for the second time that day, though this time she was plainly struggling. Dash touched down, dropping what Twilight recognized as the suit Titus had been wearing earlier that day. She was fully awake in a heartbeat, "What happened and what is that stuff all over you?"

"Me and Titus just had the awesomest adventure! Help get this stuff off of me and I'll tell you the tale of The Amazing Dash and the Nefarious Nest of, um..." she broke off trying to think of a fitting word that started with an "N".

Huh, that's odd. She called him by name.

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Cycle Day 2

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As much as she would have liked to go back to sleep after the long night she had dealing with the bola spider's webs, Twilight rolled herself toward the edge of the bed, waking Lyra mid-snore (something she insisted she didn't do) in the process.

"Mmm-mornin' Sparkles, how ya feeling?" Lyra stretched and let out a long yawn, then flopped back onto the bed, "Thanks for last night, by the way. It would have been a particularly bad one if you hadn't helped."

"Feeling a bit sore," Twilight did some stretches of her own, grunting slightly as she worked a knot out of one of her muscles, "And you know I'm glad to help a friend in need, though I'll probably require the same treatment before this week is over."

Lyra nodded, picking up on the subliminal request, "It's been a week from Tartarus, that's for sure. It's a bummer the Princess' spell didn't work properly," she pointed a hoof at the flight suit that was folded up on the dresser, "and an even bigger bummer that she took Titus and those fingers of his back to Canterlot with her."

"As much as I don't want to admit it, it was the right thing to do," Twilight let out a sigh, "though I hope he's okay - Canterlot is a big place with a lot of ponies who've probably only read what the papers and tabloids have printed of him. And just what is with your obsession over his fingers?" She shook her head, scrambling any images that might have been forming in her mind, "Actually, don't tell me."

"Well, judging by your expression, your imagination is better than mine at coming up what that would be like," Lyra laughed as she wrapped all four hooves around the body-pillow and snuggled against it, "You should have seen him working on his machine yesterday. In an instant he would switch from the brute force needed to remove a troublesome bolt to being absolutely delicate and precise. The display of such dexterity... such finesse..." she stopped to give Twilight a hopeful, almost pleading look, "Does he play an instrument? Oh by the Sisters, please tell me he plays."

When Lyra got a shrug she went back to snuggling the pillow, If he doesn't then I'll just have to teach him - no bucking way am I letting those go to waste. She fell back asleep imagining the wonderful music those ten fingers of his could play for her.

It's the weekend, so I'm sure she's thankful she can sleep in. Twilight floated the parchment on the desk to check the itinerary for the day as a light and rhythmic snoring came the bed. Item one: assemble research materials. Twilight went over what she knew she had on hoof and made a list, working her way downstairs to pull the books and magazines from the shelf. Floating a collection that amounted to a small library behind her and positioning herself on one of the cushions she left on the floor for patrons, Twilight dove in. She didn't break from pouring over her research until a knocking at the front door broke her attention many hours later.

"Spike? Could you get the door?" she called through the library, something she normally wouldn't do - it was a library, after all.

No response.

Closing the self-help book she had been taking notes from, Twilight reluctantly walked to the door, glancing at the clock as she went. It was well past the library's closing time. Geez, where has the day gone? She started talking to whoever was on the other side of the door before the she had gotten it open, "Hello? I'm afraid the library is closed for the evening-"

"Miss Twilight Sparkle?"

"Um," The door now fully open, Twilight stopped and looked at the two ponies on her doorstep; bat wings, dark gray fur, tufted ears, and wearing the blue-tinged armor clearly identified them as Princess Luna's personal guard, "Yes? Can I help you?" Stallions, and dashing ones at that. This could be an issue.

They both gave a crisp salute. "Ma'am," one of them responded, "Princess Luna requests your presence and we've been ordered to escort you to the alien's ship. Please, come with us," he motioned a hoof toward the street.

"Oh," she subconsciously hid her rump behind the door as she fought to control her blasted tail. If I can't get it under control, I'll just have to warn them of my condition. Twilight tried to stall for time, "Certainly, though there have been Timberwolves-"

"No need to worry about them, ma'am," the other guard spoke up to reassure her, "We won't be traveling through the Everfree Forest, Princess Luna is moving the vessel to just outside of Ponyville town limits. Now, ma'am, if you would?" he also motioned, making it clear that these ponies did not want to keep the Princess waiting and neither should Twilight.

Floating the metal brush Titus had made her out of the dirty saddlebag - which still lay near the door where she had left it - Twilight quickly straightened up her mane before putting the brush back in the bag, donning them across her hips and following the two Royal Guards, each falling in on either side of her.

Twilight caught one of the guard's noses scrunch up as he caught a whiff of something. Well, that didn't take long. Bucking biology. She couldn't bring herself to look the guard in the face as she apologized and warned them as discretely as possible that she was on her cycle and might not be in full control of her actions.

"Is that going to be an issue, ma'am?" the guard asked, the deep baritone voice sending a shiver down her spine.

Apparently they aren't concerned, and judging by their appearance they look more than capable of handling themselves. When Twilight indicated it wouldn't be an issue, neither stallion said anything else on the matter and increased their trot to a canter, which turned out to do a good job of keeping Twilight's mind off of her cycle's urges as they worked through the town toward the salvage grounds and what had been unofficially named "Human Hill," catching a few curious glances from ponies that all seemed to be moving in the same direction - Luna's personal guard were a rare sight.

"What did the Princess want to see me about?" Twilight was unsure if one of the ponies was a ranking officer, so she shifted her attention between them until the one on her right spoke up.

"We were ordered to retrieve and escort you, ma'am," his gaze remaining intently searching his surroundings for threats, "We weren't given any details beyond that."

"I-is everything alright?" Twilight picked up on both of the guards elevated levels of alertness, They certainly are different from Shiny and the other guards I've dealt with.

"Like I said, we weren't given specifics. Just let us do our job and-" a pony coming around a corner unexpectedly caused the guard to quickly shift his gaze, "and you can ask the Princess yourself, ma'am."

The trio were pushing hard enough that Twilight was getting a bit of a workout and she began taking small pants between regular breaths. When they reached the bridge, a small group of guards physically blocking passage of ponies curious as to what the commotion on the other side of the hill was while several pegasi guards intercepted any flyers trying to get around the barricade. A nod from one the guards escorting her and they were allowed past, quickly cutting through the crowd and climbing to the crest of Human Hill.

"W-wow..." Twilight couldn't help but stop to take in the sight, her escort also coming to an abrupt halt.

The ship was engulfed in a deep blue aura as it was slowly and very gently lowered to the ground, four large struts with a ski-like foot at the end stuck out of the fuselage - each one roughly four times the size of her bed, if she had to estimate - the legs visibly flexing as the pneumatic chambers worked in tandem to support the massive weight; the vessel settling into its new position with a resounding mechanical *whoosh!* almost as if it was exhaling in relief. Below her numerous ponies were moving about doing one task or another; lanterns having been set up and aimed at various areas, allowing Twilight to also identify several of the disk-shaped protuberances on the underside, remembering the similar devices Titus had shown her under his speeder bike yesterday morning; "repulsorlift engines," he had called them.

She had enough elevation to see a portion of the top of the craft, the warm brown color of the mud contrasting against the light grey body and she could see foot and hoof prints on what was now the underside where Titus must have been walking when he carried her into the cargo hold the night before last.

After giving the unicorn a moment to observe the scene, the guard motioned for her to keep moving, "Miss Sparkle, please." They followed Twilight down the hill a short distance and through a group of artists who were doing their best to sketch the ship in the waning light. A commotion to one side caught Twilight's attention as a few ponies cut in front of her escort and moved toward the source. Craning her neck to see over the guard that was blocking her sight she was able to identify some scientists from the Academy's Research Division studying-

"STOP!" Twilight shouted and bolted from her escort toward the group, some of them giving a startled jump as the unicorn bore down on them. She blinked her way to the center of the circle ponies, the beeps and whirs of the levitated R6 unit suddenly audible as the crowd fell completely silent, "Cut it out! Put him down!" When nopony seemed to heed her request she used her own magic to overpower the aura holding the droid and gently lowered him to the ground.

"There you go, R6. It's okay, it's okay." She turned to look around accusingly at the Academy crowd as R6 shuffled closer to the only pony it recognized. "Just look at him! Can't you see he's terrified?!" Twilight moved closer to the droid in an attempt to calm his scared chirps and beeps.

The two royal guards finally broke through the ponies, the hole they came through closing behind them. They took up positions on either side of Twilight and the droid - R6 continuing to stick right beside Twilight, bumping up against her barrel as his head turned and his sensors scanned the crowd of ponies suddenly observing him once again.

"Who are you and what are you blathering about?" a white-coated unicorn with a bubbling beaker for a cutie mark stepped forward, Twilight realizing it must be the pony she had broken the magic of, "How can it have feelings? It's just a machine - an advanced machine at that, but still." She took another few steps closer, obviously feeling irked that this mare had interrupted her observations, "Now step aside, you're preventing the sanctioned study of an artifact from the space monkey."

Twilight's eyes narrowed menacingly, "Don't you dare call him that-"

"What are you," the unicorn snapped back, "a friend of that monster?"

R6's noises took on a whole new tone as he seemingly picked up on the insult, an arm with a hose attached popping out of his torso. *S-s-sploort!* A jet of black liquid spurted out to cover the front half of the pony.

The crowd was dead silent for a moment as one of their head researchers, Erlene Meyer, coughed and sputtered and muttered quiet curses as she attempted to wipe away the liquid. It wasn't long, however, before the voices of a few ponies that were more interested in what the robot had done rather than to whom caused a chain reaction among the gathered scientists as the voices garbled back into one loud commotion of observations. The droid cooed softly and shuffled to get Twilight between it and the drenched unicorn, the guards placing themselves in front of Twilight to form a wall of armor and intimidating stares.

"A defense mechanism?"

"An ink cloud, just like a cephalopod! Fascinating!"

"Quick, somepony get a sample of that for the lab!"

"Perhaps it is capable of understanding body language?"

An angry roar pierced the rabble, which died out once again. The soaked mare looked on the verge of attacking as she came to realize the liquid was staining her coat and mane, "You and that space monkey freak will pay for this-"

"That is enough!" Luna's voice cut her off, looking none too pleased as the crowd parted and bowed for her. The alicorn came to a halt and looked down on the prostrate unicorn imposingly, "We approved thine expedition under the premise thou would adhere to visual observation only; tampering with the vessel or other artifacts or interfering with the vessel's automation was strictly forbidden. Did we not make our instructions clear at the briefing, Miss Meyer?"

"No, Princess," unicorn responded, still visibly irate at her condition, "your instructions were clear."

"And yet we find thou preventing this-" Luna wasn't sure what it was, instead pointing a hoof at the droid, the gesture causing it to timidly beep and move closer to Twilight, "this machine from performing its duties. Explain thine self."

"I-I'm sorry, Princess," Meyer kept her eyes on the ground, "The Research Division has placed a considerable amount of stress on me to make this trip as profitable as possible. While Your Highness and the creature gave us permission to study, I frankly don't see why we don't just take the technology from the alien. We are strong and many while the monkey is but one and weak. He could not oppose us-"

"Tread carefully, Miss Meyer; the being thou art threatening constitutes a foreign representative under the protection of the crown," she leaned in close, "That 'monkey,' as you call him, is also a personal friend and if we hear thou utter that word in reference to him again we shall turn thou into just such a creature for the duration of a week. So we ask; doth thou wish to continue with thine threats and insults?"

"N-no, Princess," Meyer repeated, this time staring at the ground.

"Good," Luna indicated to her guards and Twilight to follow and the crowd parted to let them pass. Once they were through the crowd Luna issued a decree, "The next pony caught in violation of the conditions set forth shall be removed from the site and brought before the court to explain their insubordination at trial."

As Twilight followed the Princess and her guards away from the gathered ponies she could almost feel the daggers being shot at her back by Erlene Meyer, and when she glanced over her withers her suspicions were proven true; the mare was glaring at her with murderous intent though Twilight quickly lost sight of her as the crowd dispersed. She quickened her pace to bring herself alongside the alicorn, "I'm sorry if I caused you any problems, Princess Luna," Twilight paused to give the droid following her a friendly smile before continuing, "but I had to do something, R6 was terrified."

Luna nodded, "We apologize for Miss Meyer's contumelious behavior. She knew she was breaking the directives we set forth. We shall see to it that she shan't again for we shall be having a very serious discussion with her superiors upon our return to Canterlot, of that thou can be certain. Thou did the right thing in intervening, Twilight; we are unsure how we would have gone about informing Titus of damage to his..." she turned to look at the cylindrical machine tooling along with them, "Pray tell, what is this... machine?"

Twilight recited what she remembered from the droid's manual she had read as well as what Titus had told her in passing, Luna nodding as she took in the information. The group came to the aft of the ship and below the same cargo bay door Twilight had passed through just yesterday though with the ship upright and resting on its supportive landing gear the closed portal was a good distance off the ground. "If I may ask, Princess, what is the cause of this undertaking? Did something happen?"

The Princess nodded then sighed, "Indeed, something happened. Titus appears to suffer from Positional Displacement Distress, a factor we were unaware of when we teleported to Canterlot-"

"You blinked him that far and in one go?!" Twilight cut her off, vividly remembering the severity of his reaction to the short distance she had transported him to her balcony. Positional Displacement Distress was a blanket diagnosis applied to many forms of adverse reaction to teleportation, where the severity of the reaction was often tied to the distance the subject traveled. It was common in foals, though they usually outgrew it by the time they started schooling. **Did I not tell her what happened?* No, you were too busy ogling his towel-covered crotch, you lecher. That tiny bit of cloth was the only barrier between you...* The voices of the scholar and desire once again waged war in her mind, but the concern for her human friend's welfare made it easy for her to blot-out the mental image of Titus' crotch before it could get a hold in her partially heat-addled mind, "I'm sorry for interrupting, Princess. I-i-is he alright?"

"He spent a few moments heaving on the floor at my sister's hooves then promptly passed out. It wasn't until earlier this afternoon that he came around and stumbled out of the infirmary to apologize, throwing the palace into a brief gallimaufry of scattering ponies as he wandered the halls in a daze-" Seeing that her explanation was having the opposite effect of calming the worried Twilight, Princess Luna cleared her throat. "We believe he shall recover with a good night's sleep," Luna shook her head, "We should have taken precautions before blinking him across Equestria. Remembering something he said and looking in upon him before we left the palace, it pained us to see the discomfort our presence has caused him in such a short span of time."

"I doubt that's how he feels about it, Princess. I-it's actually my fault, not yours," Twilight meekly admitted, "Yesterday I teleported him from roughly where we are now to the balcony and he became sick, which is why he was in the shower when you arrived. I should have said something but was... preoccupied."

"It appears we shall both have to seek his forgiveness," the Princess magicked a piece of parchment out of the nether, unrolling it to reveal a list. She handed it to Twilight for her to look over, "and we may have a means to make that possible. Titus asked us to retrieve a number of items from his vessel before we left earlier this eve. Unfortunately he fell asleep before instructing precisely how we are to get aboard and we hadn't the heart to wake him," Luna cast her gaze up at the bottom of the craft, "though we are beginning to regret that decision. As you're well aware, teleporting inside with no previous knowledge of the layout of the room would be foolhardy at best, so instead we have been attempting to gain entry with numerous incantations as well as every watchword we know, yet still the gate remains closed," she continued to stare at the door, seemingly trying to open it with sheer force of will.

It almost looks like she's pouting. Twilight squinted as she scanned the area around the door for what she was looking for. Finding it, she pointed a hoof at the keypad, "Titus entered a numeric code on that device, though I'm afraid I didn't catch the entire combination."

"Ah yes, we found one of those over here on this, um, metal column," the Princess walked a short distance to one of landing gear, "We were focusing on this dial-like component under the number buttons and acted on the assumption that it functioned like a dial combination lock, though we have found conventional lock-picking spells - as well as a few non-conventional spells deemed too powerful to be public knowledge - to be completely ineffective."

"I believe the reason for their failure would be that this lock requires a specific energy signature and doesn't have the usual tumblers or magical seals and barriers we're used to," Twilight closed her eyes and tried as hard as she could to remember what code Titus had used, but to no avail, "Perhaps we could try guessing the digits I don't know-"

"Hmmm," Luna hummed contemplatively, breaking the unicorn from her thought. Twilight watched as the Princess approached the astromech and stuck her face close to the its thermal and photosensitive receptors, examining it intently and not realizing how much she was encroaching on what the droid felt was its personal space. "Twilight, would it be possible this droid knows a way on board?" She took a few steps back, R6's giving a relieved whistle, "It did appear to be familiar with thee, mayhaps thou could convince it we art acquaintances of Titus and art on an errand for him."

Twilight thought it was worth a try, so she floated the parchment in front of the droid's sensors, "It's like the Princess said, R6. Titus sent us to get the things on this list-"

The mechanical eye rotated about in its socket for a brief second to look over the writing before the droid snatched the parchment with a pincer arm and launched into a series of high-pitched whirs and beeps. The noises continued as R6 bumped along the uneven grass to the keypad, inserting an arm into the dial and rotating it back and forth until a loud thunk resounded within the hull of the ship. The astromech retracted his arm from the lock mechanism and rejoined the strange quadrupeds as a ramp extended down from the cargo bay and made contact with the grass.

"Huzzah!" Luna cheered, throwing her hooves in the air before excitedly climbing up to the door, eager to take her first steps inside the ship. How peculiar; before this point in time I hadn't felt curious - Titus was always content to hold our conversations under the night skies I would create, so I never thought it odd he didn't invite me into his home. She stopped, one hoof tentatively poised to enter the ship as the droid's treaded wheels thumped noisily over the threshold, Twilight following close behind. Hmmm, his... home... The alicorn instructed her two guards to station themselves on the ramp; none of the Research Division ponies were to barge in on what she realized was the human's private residence.

"Ahoy the ship!" Luna ceremoniously hailed the droid which was merely a body-length away, "Might thou grant permission that we may come aboard thine vessel?" Taking the droid's cheerful-sounding noises as an invitation into Titus' home, she shifted her body over the doorstep. One giant bound for pony kind...

While the Princess explored the interior of the cargo bay Twilight retrieved the list of items Titus wanted, the R6 unit issuing a melancholy whistle as the pony levitated the parchment out of its grabber arm. "Sorry little guy, just need to take another look at this," Twilight patted the droid as she looked at the list. Nutripaste? Comm link and relay? Reprogramming kit? And what the hay is a Marksman-H remote? Her face scrunched up in confusion and frustration the further she read until she passed the paper back to the droid, "On second thought, maybe you can tell us what the hay this stuff is and where to find it."

R6 chirped a few times and a blue fan of light emanated from one of his lenses, running over the writing several times vertically and horizontally until it suddenly stopped and his arm pushed the paper back at Twilight.

"Um, that light-" she was about to ask what had happened when the droid wheeled itself over to one of the nearby crates and the same arm that had unlocked the cargo door once again popped out of his torso; a few rotations later and the crate made a small click. Twilight levitated the top up and off the container as Luna peered inside, her curiosity having pulled her away from where she had been studying the doors that would open and close themselves whenever she would step toward them and back away; endlessly repeating the astounding process.

"It would appear we hath located the object 'Nutripaste,' Twilight," the Princess levitated several oblong metal canisters labeled with block letters to the floor. Luna turned to the droid, "What, pray tell, doth our list demand we find next, sir droid?"

Rolling to one of the screens it had recently repaired the droid brought up a block of text which the ponies found to be a copy of the list; a few seconds of interfacing and hyphenated numbers appeared next to each entry. It took a few chirps and whistles of communication before Twilight connected the identifying number next to the Nutripaste entry with the number on the crate they had found it in; the droid had procured a ship manifest. R6 scooted out of the room to retrieve the objects not in the cargo hold as Twilight and Luna went about opening containers.

Down on the ramp neither guard detected the invisible form slip past them into the ship, and the alicorn and unicorn were having too much fun uncrating the items on the list to notice as something floated off a corner of the workbench behind them and disappeared.

"And that takes care of the, um..." Twilight had to glance back at the list for what they were called, "I guess we just wait for the astromech to return with what doesn't have a number next to it." She made her way over to the familiar workbench which was set up in much the same way it had been with toolboxes on either side, though the stool looked a bit sturdier than she remembered. Going up on her hind legs, she was just tall enough for her front hooves to brace herself against the tabletop, Well, I found one of them... The datapad containing the books lay on the table before her with a small handwritten note attached and a parcel wrapped in plain brown paper beneath.

Twilight, while preparing the ship for Luna's visit I found something that I hope makes your week a bit more bearable. Enjoy!

-T

Before she could unwrap the package the automatic doors slid open and the astromech droid made its noisy return, towing a pair of crates behind him.

"Ah, sir droid," Princess Luna turned from the screen she had been watching, thinking it was a scrying window of sorts displaying the activity around the ship, "Have thou procured the remaining elements of our checklist?"

Twilight placed the brown paper parcel in her saddlebag and trotted over, popping open the top of the square crate to reveal a collection of spherical objects which she quickly theorized were small droids, judging by the similarity of sensors and surface material they shared with the astromech. Despite numerous attempts and a request to R6 to open the large box - the droid appearing rather frustrated as it wobbled from foot to foot and whined - the container remained locked.

Figuring it must be something Titus felt was personal and or private, Luna suggested they concede and levitated the crates outside where she set them down on her chariot for transport, "We bethink oneself of communicating this before, howbeit, should thou send Titus a letter we shall to forward it unto him. Until such a time, is there any message thou would wish for us to pass along?"

"If you could tell him I'm looking forward to another one of his wonderful ear-rubs when he gets back-" Twilight blurted out, unable to stop herself in time from mentioning the human's particular skill with ears. She gave a nervous chuckle as Luna's facial expression twitched slightly, "And if you thank him for the package and let him know I'm doing alright, that would be appreciated, Princess."

"Very well, we shall." The Princess nodded as her transport lifted into the air, "We thank thee for thine assistance this eve, and wish thou a good night."

I wonder what he's going to do with all that stuff. Twilight waved as the Princess and her chariot sped off toward Canterlot.

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Cycle Day 3

------------

The clock in the hallway chimed twice, alerting Twilight to the passage of time and waking her from her impromptu napping spot. Ugh, I stayed up too late reading those blue holobook things. Right, I need to get ready for lunch with the girls, she got up from the cushion, closing the issue of Cosmarepolitan with a look of disgust. This didn't tell me anything; none of these did! Surely there's a scientific method to follow for optimal results? The magazine was placed in the mountainous stack along with the other literature that had proven intellectually disappointing and gathered up the small group of works that held a gem or two of information she had thought would be useful into her saddlebag for her two experts to vet. Twilight made a quick trip upstairs to inform Lyra that she was headed out but found the room empty, the mare must have left earlier without saying anything - or, more realistically, Twilight was too engrossed to hear her.

Leaving the library in the capable claws of Spike, Twilight made her way down the street to the cafe where she had scheduled to meet Rarity and Rainbow Dash, hoping that they would be able to guide her in what to do once Titus got back. Twilight couldn't help but feel glum as she reflected on her childhood of book-loving as it once again reared its head to bite her in the flanks and forced her into feeling helplessly ignorant - even the countless pages of text she had consulted on the subject had only served to thicken the cloud of confusion over she felt was hanging over her, I've never been good at interfacing with other ponies because books had always been there as an easier alternative. A book was... just a book; there were no feelings to hurt, there wasn't a hidden agenda behind their friendship. If you put the time in to read them, books were always willing to teach you something or take you someplace, no matter how fantastical - it was like the law of equivalent exchange. That gloomy attitude quickly changed with each greeting or warm smile from a friendly face she had come to know since she had started her Friendship lessons.

What the hay am I worried about? This is exactly why Princess Celestia sent me to Ponyville in the first place! I've got the best friends in all of Equestria and I know they'll always be there for me! Prancing the rest of the way to the cafe, this realization was bolstered by the sight of Rarity who was seated at one of the more outlying tables so as to honor the request Twilight had made for a private conversation between them.

Rarity beckoned with a wave and Twilight trotted to the table. "Hello, dear," she greeted and gave a friendly hug, "I just want to convey how happy I am for you."

"Thanks for agreeing to help, Rarity," Twilight placed the saddlebag of research books on the ground beside her chair, "This means a lot, I've got no idea where to start."

"Don't be silly, darling!" Rarity waved a hoof dismissively, "I'd have been remiss to not share my thoughts and expertise to assist in starting a-" she leaned, whispering behind a hoof "relationship." as the waiter approached. Both of them ordered an alfalfa and carrot smoothie to tide themselves over.

Rainbow swooped in a few minutes after they had gotten their drinks, being what Rarity called "fashionably late." She did a little backward somersault before landing in her seat, "Sorry, the Weather Team was dealing with a couple of stubborn cloud banks and I had to lend a hoof, then there's a big traffic jam over near Human Hill that I had to dodge. So what'd ya want to talk about?"

"This is so ♪ex~ci~ting!♫" the white unicorn couldn't help but clop her hooves together in anticipation. She waited for Twilight to answer Dash's question but the poor mare just fiddled with the straw in her smoothie. Taking charge, Rarity sat up properly and composed herself to state their business, "Twilight would like our assistance in planning a date for her and her special somepony."

"So you spent the night with him and haven't even gone on a date yet?" Dash said a bit loudly, one of the closer tables clearly picking up what had been said. While she was shooting them a threatening glare to tell them that they'd forget what they had overheard if they knew what was good for them, Twilight's face exploded in burning red embarrassment which she tried to hide by slurping down a large amount of smoothie and only succeeded in giving herself a bad brain-freeze.

"Rainbow!" Rarity exclaimed, completely shocked at what she thought was a joke, "We've both known Twilight for a while now and she is most certainly not that kind of mare."

"That's what I thought too, Rares, but then she wasn't home all night," Dash retorted a bit indignantly, "and the next day I saw the bite mark, clear as day, on his shoulder. The way it looked he's lucky she didn't take a chunk out of him."

"Bite mark? On his... shoulder?" Rarity contemplated the positional logistics before her eyes went wide, "B-b-but that would require you to be belly-to-belly! Oh, how simply scandalous!"

Twilight had gotten over enough of the splitting brain-freeze to attempt to interject, "There's a perfectly reasonable explanation-"

The urge for golden nuggets of gossip was too strong for Rarity to ignore, "Come now, you simply must tell me: is he somepony I know?"

"Mmm, I don't think he's somepony you know," Dash replied, having a bit of fun at Twilight's expense.

The situation was spinning out of control. "Look, nothing happened!" Twilight was just about at her breaking point - if they didn't listen to her now she'd just get up and leave, "Yes, I spent the night with him but we both agreed that starting this during my cycle was a bad idea and I want to take this at a slower, more traditional speed, so I asked you two here because I needed help. I can't afford to screw this up and... I just... what do I do?" By the look on Twilight's face both Rarity and Rainbow Dash realized they might have pushed the envelope a bit with their antics and they quickly gave their heartfelt apologies.

"Twilight? Darling?" reaching a hoof out to her friend, Rarity quietly rephrased her previous question, "Can you tell us this stallion's name? The more information we have on the pony that has captured your interest the more we can help."

Twilight looked from the unicorn to the pegasus and wanted to answer but only managed an incoherent mumble into her smoothie, the thick glass fogging up and the drink around her lips bubbling as she whispered the name.

"I can't believe this-" Dash could only roll her eyes, "Rarity, she's got the hots for Titus."

Rarity just sat in her seat for a moment. "O-oh," she was clearly taken back at the unexpected revelation but was quick to recover, "How progressive of you! Don't worry Twilight, we'll come up with a plan that's sure to sweep him off his hooves... um, feet."

Twilight, clearly reassured by her friend's confidence, pulled the books and magazines out from her saddlebag and put them down on the table for Rarity and Dash to look through, "I've brought some of the references I've been reading-"

Rainbow cut her off, "I'm not one for studying, but this? Wowza," she turned the magazine she was holding sideways and gave a chuckle as the centerfold flopped out, "Don't tell me: you only subscribe for the well-written articles." An instant later it was yanked away from her, thrown back into the saddlebag as Twilight cleared her throat.

"T-that's not mine, a friend must have left it at the library." Note to self: strangle Lyra, but not until the week is over; I still need somepony to operate the cooler for me. She was, of course, kidding about strangling Lyra, though she realized with that mare she might find she got off on it.

"Anyway, I've dug through the texts - much of which felt very sophomoric, I might add - and cataloged the information I thought would be useful. Please speak up if my assessment needs revision," Twilight brought out a roll of parchment and went over her notes in a rather mechanical manner. After many minutes she came to the end of her list, "As you can see, the validity of this information is still woefully questionable; however, it's all I've got after exhausting the materials in my library."

Dash and Rarity shared a nervous glance with one another before Rarity spoke up, "Um, Twilight, darling? You have taken a stallion on a date before, haven't you?"

Twilight reluctantly told of the single date she had gone on while at the Academy; it had started off well enough but ended up being a disaster, the stallion that she had asked had only gone on a dare from another mare interested in him and he had ended the night by nonchalantly telling her precisely why he had come."I didn't come out of my room for almost a week because I was such a wreck. After that I guess I was just scared of that rejection again, so I didn't even bother with the dating scene."

Rarity scooted her chair closer, leaning up against the clearly disheartened Twilight, "Never you mind that boor, Twilight, it was his loss. In fact, you did well to avoid that spineless mongrel for he quite obviously had no taste, little imagination, and most likely possessed a family pedigree about as long as my cuticle!" Rarity, clearly angered at the treatment her friend had received, went into a tirade of high society insults before the silence of her companions caught up with her, "Please pardon my enthusiasm, Twilight. As I was saying, he did you a favor because now here you are planning a date for your special somep-um, somehuman. Now then, why don't we start with something simple - tell us about Titus."

"Um, oh-kay... what did you want to know?" Twilight raised an eyebrow, swatting the cyan hoof that was under the table rummaging around in her saddlebag; no doubt in search of a certain magazine.

"Well, just as an example," Rarity thought for a moment, "It's not often that a stallion will stand up and tell the mare what they want, so I find little Spikey-Wikey infectiously charming when he gets assertive. He just gets so adorable I want to squeeze his chubby lil cheeks!" She squished her own cheeks together for a moment before recomposing herself, "Tell us what you see when you look at him. Oh! What about his eyes?"

That cleared things up for Twilight, though not really. "His eyes? Well," she closed her eyes to concentrate, drawing an image of Titus' face from her memory, "despite being smaller than ours, my hypothesis is that his eyes are a similarly-complicated combination of aqueous humor fluid and ganglion photosensitive cells-" a sigh from across the table caused Twilight to pop her eyes back open, revealing a thoroughly-facehoofed Dash.

"Twilight, dear, perhaps something a little less, um... scientific?" Rarity suggested, "How do they make you feel, specifically? We can start with his eyes and just go from there, alright?" she gave her friend an encouraging smile and threw an elbow into the side of still-facehoofed pegasus.

"Well, they're a... shade of brown which I find rather nice," Twilight's eyes closed and her brow furrowed as she concentrated again, "and they're warm. And kind. And... intelligent. They can also show forgiveness, even when I've done something completely boneheaded; like teleporting him across a field and causing him to be sick. Despite their small size, if you're willing to look you'll find that Titus' eyes can convey a surprising amount of emotion. Besides his eyes, his confidence is inspiring; he knows who he is and what he wants. It feels odd to say this because I never expected to find that somepony feels this way, but he wants... me, faults and all. I found out because we were conducting an experiment using a Sense-Link spell and I picked up on his feelings; and in that moment I felt like the happiest mare in Equestria. H-how was that?" Twilight nervously inquired, popping one eye open to gauge the response to her answer, Dash was nodding and Rarity was motioning with a hoof to continue, Right. What else?

Twilight thought a bit harder on how she had felt when she spent the night aboard the ship, "I know Titus' size can scare a few ponies and I can understand that the way he has to look down at you can be intimidating, but I've never felt that because he's always been friendly and soft-spoken. He's also very gentle," she recounted the story of her encounter with the timberwolves and the cut she had gotten and how Titus had applied the antiseptic spray, which also gave her the opportunity to explain the bite-bruise Dash had discovered. Caught in the moment of reliving the other night, Twilight realized too late she revealed a few things she had meant to keep her muzzle shut on; like how great it felt to snuggle and nuzzle against that smooth skin of his and the feeling of his fingers working their way through her hair, and not to mention those flanks-

"Oh-ho-ho!" Rainbow Dash became more animated when Twilight suddenly clammed up, her trademarked mischievous grin plastered across her face, "So not only is he a good snuggler and his fingers give mind-blowing ear rubs, but he's got 'flanks that are a gift from the Two Sisters themselves.' Anything else you'd care to tell us, Twilight?"

Her head on the table, Twilight tried to hide under her hooves as her world seemingly ended, "Please, Dash, I shouldn't have said any of that. He's really shy about that stuff; his body in particular, so please. Please. Don't let him find out I told you."

Thankfully I shut up before saying anything about his pseudo-magical abilities. This is bad enough, but that would have been disastrous.

"Um, hello? Element of Loyalty ring a bell? I'm not going blab." The pegasus reclined her chair back onto two legs, "Though, honestly, I have no idea why you asked me to meet you here, Rarity is the one for you want for all this dating stuff."

Twilight sat up, relieved that her friend would keep what she had heard to herself. "Actually, I was hoping you could give me some pointers on cross-species relationships-"

"Geez, this again?" Dash threw her legs up in the air and rocked forward, the chair making a loud clattering as it came to rest on all four feet. "Why does everypony assume Gilda and I were a thing? Look, Twilight," she supported herself on one elbow as she leaned in toward the center of the table, "First things first; Gilda and I were friends at one point. That's it. Friends. Secondly, I'm only interested in stallions and anything else you may have heard is just a nasty rumor that's been circulating since Flight School. If you hear somepony say otherwise, I want their name."

Rainbow's annoyed attitude changed when Twilight clarified she had not intended to insinuate she and the griffon had been romantic; what Twilight had been after was Dash's experience and openness like she had displayed toward other species in general. "Ok, sorry for snapping at you, I just get sick of that rumor. Anyway, Titus is suited to eat both vegetation and meat so if you two are eating out-"

'Eating out.' Aheh. Aheh heh. Twilight's mind started to wander.

"-so you should check the menu ahead of time because he'd have to almost choke down something like a hayburger - fish is probably a good bet, there are a couple of ponies in town that enjoy fishing that would probably sell you their catch for a few bits. I know Fluttershy catches fish for a couple of her animals, you could start with her."

"Sorry, I spaced out for a second," Twilight apologized and Dash repeated herself.

"Another element to keep in mind, dear," Rarity interjected as Rainbow finished what she was saying, "is that Titus' presence might not be... um, how should I say this?" she thought for a moment, composing her statement into its least-offensive form, "His presence might cause a fair disturbance among patrons and the establishment's owners might not be pleased with that. Getting asked to leave would quickly put a damper on an otherwise enjoyable meal, so I would suggest meeting with staff prior to your engagement to ensure that won't be an issue, perhaps booking a seat in a more secluded, private area just to be safe." She patted Twilight to assuage her that it probably wouldn't be that much of an issue, "No need to worry about that now, the whole restaurant dining step is a bit down the road, dear. For now you'll want to start out with something simple, such as a casual lunch or perhaps a picnic in the park."

"Actually," Twilight's ears perked up at the mention, "We've been on a picnic already."

"Oh?" Rarity appeared a bit surprised, "and how did that go?"

"I'm fairly sure he enjoyed it. Lyra, Spike, and myself shared a brunch and sodas with him on the hill-"

"No no no, darling, that simply won't do!" Rarity waved a hoof to stop her from continuing, "No offense, but what you're describing was a friendly picnic. What I meant - and, more importantly, what the situation calls for - is a picnic for two someplace more romantic and charming than a crowded hillock. You'll also want to put some thought into a drink that compliments your meal; if you give me a bit of time I can provide a list of good wine pairings; a fair warning, though, some of them might be a little pricey."

Twilight brought out a fresh piece of parchment and scribbled some new notes, "Okay, I can work with this," her quill was scratching across the surface at an alarming rate, indicative of her eagerness to start the plan in motion as she read excerpts of what she was writing. "The menu; exclude grasses and research the possibility of fish. Rarity," Twilight looked up from the parchment at the fashionista but kept writing, "if you could make a list of wines that could go with fish I'd appreciate it. My personal favorites are something crisp or focused, though preferably both."

Rarity could only nod in the face of the sudden zealotry Twilight was showing.

"Picnic for two in a secluded, charming location... hmm," she thought about the local geography for a moment, scanning her mental atlas, "I remember reading an old journal I found in the basement of the library describing a lovely out-of-the-way corner of the park where a pond was was hidden in a small copse of trees. Does that sound like a suitable spot for a picnic?"

It's all coming together. This... this is going to work! I can do this!

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Cycle Day 4

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Twilight groaned into her pillow. "Lyra, now!" she felt a wonderful release as the mint unicorn squeezed the pump on the cooler, filling that hungry void. Twilight panted hard for a few moments as the sense of alleviation spread through her body before flopping onto her side. There was no pleasure associated with use of the cooler, it was only designed to provide temporary relief and in some ways the lack of pleasure only made getting through the cycle worse.

Lyra joined her friend in an exhausted flop onto the bed, "S...par...kles." she took a moment to catch her breath after the workout she had just gotten, "That's the third time today, do you think maybe it's time to go into lock-down?"

"Got to take advantage of the windows in Princess Luna's schedule," Twilight buried her nose in a sleeve of Titus' flight suit, taking long whiffs of his scent and snuggling against the body pillow firmly squeezed between her hooves, "and no, I can't hunker down just yet. It took Rainbow and I longer than expected to find the site for the picnic, and when we did find it we learned it was in a real state of disarray. This is probably the last day I've got, and there's a lot to still do." She hadn't expected her estrous cycle to have hit as hard as it had when she woke up, and with all the work still to be done to prepare for Titus' return she couldn't afford to stay in bed nursing herself through the day.

Giving a little nuzzle to her friend's neck as she embraced the body pillow - something Lyra regularly did after a session with the cooler, knowing Twilight greatly appreciated it, "I could help out for a bit today if you want to catch a few extra Z's."

Twilight pushed into Lyra's nuzzle. "Y-you sure? I mean, I know I'm going to need another treatment with that blasted thing," she indicated at the cooler almost irritably, "so if helping me clean up the picnic area is going to tire you out too much for that I'd rather you just take it easy." Still clinging to the body pillow, Twilight rolled over to face her friend, "You know, what if we both tackle this? The two of us, in addition to the time Rainbow Dash volunteered to help, could knock this out in no time!"

"Wow, you've been busy," Dash exclaimed as she cruised up to where Twilight was magically yanking an entire bramble bush out of the ground, roots and all. It was clear that she had been hard at work just by the headway she had made; the small pond that was once a scummy mess of algae was now crystal clear, the broken boards of the small pier had been torn up with a stack of fresh boards ready to be placed, the old rotted bench was gone, and the thorny shrubbery that had completely overgrown the area had been reduced to only a few clumps still waiting to be uprooted. "So... what do you want me to do?"

With a firm tug the brambles released their hold and Twilight tossed the invasive weed on the tarp with the rest, "Um, check the clipboard," she pointed a hoof at the board hanging from a branch, "but the grass could be mowed and the lights need to be strung up. Lyra and Applejack should be here with the bench any minute."

At the mention of the unicorn and earth pony Dash's ears turned forward, "Lyra and AJ will be here? Cool!" I can ask them about our extra guest at the upcoming Fight Night.

Twilight was about to ask why she seemed so excited when Rainbow shot past her, pushing the reel mower and showering the unicorn in stray grass clippings; by the time she had finished coughing out some of the blades that had found their way into her mouth she found Dash was already halfway done hanging the lights. At this rate we'll be done in time for another break in the Princess' schedule! Reinvigorated by the thought, Twilight almost charged at the remaining thorn bush. What should have been a small struggle with the monster thistle turned into a full on war until Twilight focused a bit harder and snaked her magic along the full length of the roots for one final tug. With a triumphant cry Twilight lifted the defeated brier above her head.

"Yeah!" Dash enthusiastically threw a hoof into the air in a sense of shared success, "Way to show that dumb plant who's boss!"

"Vic-" The unicorn added her victim to the pile, feeling a bit drained from the struggle, "Victory..." she didn't really agree with the 'at all costs' line of Titus' quote, so she opted to leave it out. Twilight looked at all the progress they had made in such a short time, All we need now is-

"Hey y'all!" AJ trotted through the hidden entrance to the copse almost as if on cue, glancing around at the small clearing before finishing a conversation with the mint unicorn who was levitating a freshly-built bench and following behind her. "Boy howdy, Ah never woulda known a nice spot like this was here if ya hadn't told me. Ya even got a pool to take a dip if'n ya want ta cool off!"

Dash gave a welcoming wave as she hung the last lantern from a branch, "Welcome to the party, AJ!"

"Shucks, after Rarity told me what all this is for it's not like Ah could say no," The farm mare moved toward the pier and dropped the sack she was carrying to pull out a hammer. "Don't worry, Twilight," she said around a mouthful of nails, giving Twilight a wink as she moved a fresh plank into place, "We'll have this here place fixed in a right jiffy!"

Twilight really did have some of the best friends in all of Equestria.

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Cycle Day 5

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A shaft of sunlight peeked through a crack in the curtain to slowly travel up her sleeping form and, almost as if the sun had been placed in the exact spot that was necessary, came to shine directly into Twilight's closed eyes. Her face scrunched up, trying to fight against the light that was slowly drawing her away from slumber. Ugh, what time is it? An exploratory hoof wandered around the bed stand in search of her alarm clock until her brain remembered that her estrous cycle had driven her to smash it out of frustration yesterday-

Wait. Not yesterday, Lyra woke me and the cycle wasn't that bad yesterday. No, it was... so today is-

Twilight's eyes snapped open. When she scrambled to get to her dresser where the datapad sat her blanket got twisted around her hind legs and caused her to fall out of the bed; the covers also dragging with them the flight suit, which fell right on top of her with a rather undignified *th-wump!* - the body pillow shoved inside the suit to give it more mass for better "snuggability" also gave it enough weight to knock the air out of her lungs.

"Oof!" As she gasped for air she frantically kicked the covers and pillow off and dragged herself across the narrow span between her bed and dresser, pulling herself level with the device and powering it on to check the date; the digital numbers on the screen confirmed it beyond a doubt, it was day eight. It was THE day. Oh geez, I have zero recollection of the days between finishing the picnic preparation and now.

Cycle Day 5 Day 8

"Okay. Um," Twilight paced as she talked aloud and rubbed her eyes to look at the datapad once more, "Nope, not hallucinating."

She took a moment and observed the state of her room. Twilight was normally meticulous about keeping her home organized - everything had to be in its designated spot or the whole place fell apart because that's just how libraries worked. Her room was held to the same standard, but currently it was far from being in its normal organized state; the sheets obviously needed laundering, dirty pajamas were draped over the foot board of her bed, the room itself stunk of sweat, pheromones, and... cooler fluids, and pages upon pages of the notes she had taken on the holobooks Titus had left on the ship littered every horizontal surface. Had she noticed the library book lying open on the floor - its spine being unduly stressed - she probably would have flogged herself on the spot.

A small stack of empty or partially empty pizza boxes knocked against her hoof and she almost skidded on the mass of discarded tissues as she walked toward her mirror across the disaster-zone that was her floor. "Yuk," she made a beeline for the shower and, unlike the past week, that didn't stir a tingling sensation or lustful thoughts of fantasy fulfillment. The fact that she hadn't woken up with her first thought being how much she wanted to get rutted was a good sign that her estrous cycle was coming to or at an end. Twilight scrubbed her coat vigorously, determined that no hint of the few days would be present when she met Titus.

The realization that today was the day he'd be returning to Ponville and the day she'd be initiating her plan to court him suddenly hit her full force. W-what if he doesn't like the normal me and only liked the heated me? she stopped her scrubbing as anxiety set in, What if he changed his mind about the whole thing? He's spent the last week with Princess Luna, who he's already close with and who is leagues above me in every way, so it's only logical they'd get closer- Twilight literally shook the thoughts to the back of her mind, her mane flinging water over the curtain and onto the ceiling. No, the Sense-Link spell was proof of his feelings. I'll figure this out. She rinsed herself off and grabbed for a towel but was forced to find the cleanest one from the hamper.

Drat it all, I didn't do laundry.

The unicorn was a mess as she ran excitedly about preparing for the morning; brushing her teeth after getting dried off, then realizing she forgot to use her conditioner so back in the shower she went and dried off with another dirty towel out of the hamper. She made a filling breakfast of oatmeal, orange juice, and some celery sticks - quickly heading back upstairs to brush her teeth again out of fear of having something stuck in her teeth. Spitting the toothpaste out and rinsing her mouth, Twilight looked at herself in the mirror when she came up, turning her head this way and that to judge the state of her mane before tearing half of the library apart, having forgotten to brush her hair after her second shower. She was two hooves out the door and still pulling the brush Titus had crafted for her through her hair when she almost collided with two ponies about to knock on her door.

"You certainly seem in a hurry," Rainbow Dash said with feigned ignorance as she flew a lazy circle around Twilight, poking an elbow into her as she added, "almost like you've got a hot date."

A nervous laugh and a look was what she got from the librarian, "You know I'm headed to the train station, Dash."

"Indeed we do, darling," Rarity took a few steps back so Twilight could close the door and finish her brushing, "which is why she suggested we act as your 'wingmares,' a rather crass term, if I do say so myself. Regardless, we made a stop at the market and brought these for you," a small but elegant bouquet of flowers was lifted from her embroidered saddlebag and passed to Twilight.

"T-thank you," Twilight hadn't even thought of having a gift of some sort and, having forgotten her own saddlebags in her rush to get out the door, ducked back indoors to retrieve them to gently stored the flowers for the trip. "I, uh, I really appreciate the support girls, and I can't thank you enough for getting the beautiful bouquet, but... do you think you could do me another favor? Could you wait up the road a ways instead of following me all the way to the station?" she meekly looked to both of them for their reaction to her request.

While Dash simply shrugged that she was fine with it, Rarity waved a hoof dismissively, "Of course, Twilight. I have no qualm giving you two a moment to reconnect."

Twilight pulled them both in for a quick hug and took off for the train station.

She was almost to her destination when a thought struck her, causing her to slow her pace and catch her breath. Oh, right. Princess Luna's letter stated that I should keep an eye out for him on the ten o'clock train. I've still got a little time, so no reason to work up a lather on the way there... though I've still got no idea what she meant by 'keep an eye out for him.' Twilight brought her canter down to a lively trot for the last stretch of her journey as she contemplated the cryptic meaning of the Princess' words.

Climbing the short set of stairs at the front of the station and making her way past the ticket booth - gleefully indicating to the teller that she was meeting a friend; the teller looking like he couldn't care less - she found the platform devoid of any other ponies. Twilight floated the secret weapon she had brought with her out of her saddlebag, "This is just like a test that I've studied for, but one last look at my notes couldn't hurt."

'Welcome him back with an appropriate greeting.' Twilight read the first entry in the notes and thought back to the lunch she had a few days ago, Rarity had stressed how important the first impression could be. Hmm... Twilight sat on the platform in deep thought for a while, her tongue peeking out of the side of her mouth as her hoof tapped her chin.

"Hello!" No, not personal enough; I need my greeting to convey my feelings. Perhaps "I missed you so much!"? Truthful, but it comes off as too clingy. Or does it? Would a hug be appropriate? And... oh horsefeathers, what do I do if he wants a kiss?! Do I go first or do I let him initiate-

The distant shriek of a whistle reignited the anxiety in Twilight's gut that she had thought squelched. "Come on, brain, think!" Twilight stood on the platform of Ponyville's train station, trying to figure out what she would say to her human friend and how she should act when he got off the train. I've got to get this right! The unicorn nervously paced up and down the platform going over her "condensed" notes - concise as they were, the bottom of the roll of parchment still bounced along on the ground a fair way behind her - unaware as four pairs of eyes watched from a shrub a scant few body lengths away.

"Ah still don't get why ya dragged me along fer this or why we're hidin' in this here bush. Ya said she wanted ya ta wait up the road," one part of the bush whispered in a drawl.

"Because Sparkles is so cute when she gets flustered," Lyra replied jokingly. Truthfully, though, I came along to hopefully get an ear rub. If they're even half as intoxicating Twilight says they are, I'll probably be needing an intervention.

"SHH!" Dash shushed her, "We're, uh, here to help Twilight."

"Helpin' is lendin' a hoof ta fix up her little clearin'; this here just looks like yer spyin' on her."

"Yeah, well..." Rainbow didn't have an answer for that one, "you're here with us, so that means you're spying too."

"Applejack," Rarity whispered and placed a hoof on the earth pony before she could make a retort, "Please try to understand, this must be very stressful for Twilight; just look at the poor dear, pacing back and forth at her wits end. We just want to be here in the off chance she needs us."

The Element of Honesty still wasn't buying it. "If'n she looks like she needs support, why aren't we out there by her side?"

"Because she asked us to wait up the road." Once again Rainbow proved she was a faster talker than a thinker, which got a giggle from the mint unicorn on the other side of the bush before she added a "Duh?" for Dash.

"Oh fer corn's sake, this spyin' ain't right-" she would have walked out of her hiding spot had she not been physically and magically restrained. Luckily the commotion they caused pulling Applejack back into the bush was covered by another whistle and hissing brakes as the train pulled into the station, a cloud of steam washing over their hiding spot and forcing them around the front of the building.

Twilight found it hard to remember to breathe as the locomotive rolled past her and the rate of the clack-clacking of the wheels slowed as the train pulled into the station. The train continued to slow and what seemed like an eternity passed where nothing happened, the pony silhouettes visible in the windows of the cars stirring in anticipation. Two chimes of the engine's bell indicated the full stop and the doors opened; the few ponies pouring onto the small platform in a loud hubbub of indiscernible conversation.

Maybe he's waiting for the crowd to clear, her muzzle scrunched up as she frowned in concentration, searching the crowd despite the sound reasoning of her thought; most ponies passed her for the stairs, some of them giving a friendly hello or smile which she returned out of habit and it didn't take long for the platform to almost return to being empty, though a few of the passengers lingered. Twilight stared expectantly at the passenger cars; looking through each window, W-where is he? Catching the conductor checking his watch spurned her into action.

"Um, Pardon me? Hi," She trotted over to the earth pony, who lowered his watch slightly as an eyebrow climbed a similar amount, "I was expecting to meet one of your passengers - a friend of mine - but I haven't seen him. I-is he still on board, perhaps?"

Twilight watched as the conductor, who had introduced himself as All Aboard, poked his head into each of the cars, "It would appear your friend has already disembarked, miss-"

"What? No, that's not possible. I would have seen him," she shook her head, "You could say he's rather hard to miss." It's not that he hadn't gotten on the train, Princess Luna had written the letter after he had departed. Perhaps he got off at the wrong stop? When she asked about that frightening possibility All Aboard indicated the ten o'clock train was operating as a direct line to Ponyville, so there were no other stops.

"I should clarify: he probably would have been escorted by the Royal Guard," she called after the conductor, who had started back for the train, "the friend I'm waiting for is the human, Titus Aelius-"

All Aboard checked his watch again before addressing Twilight in an almost irritated huff, "Miss, while I'm fairly sure no passenger had a Royal Guard escort, we most certainly did not have a human passenger. Now, we are scheduled to arrive at the depot for maintenance, so we must be going. Good day," with a tip of his hat he climbed onto the engine, instructing his coworker it was time to get underway and they slowly chugged away from the station.

Twilight followed the train as it gained speed and by the time she had traveled half of the length of the platform she was at a fast canter, peering into every window in search of her friend; she was checking one compartment when she bumped into a pony she hadn't seen that had been too slow to move out of her way.

"Sorry!" she called over her shoulder as she strained to keep up with the train to look in the remaining windows. She got a cursory glance in the empty caboose before she came to the end of the platform, screeching to halt and watching as the train clattered down the tracks where it disappeared into the small depot. If I hurry, maybe I can catch up with some of the passengers and ask them... she turned around to head for the stairs and spotted the pony she had bumped into struggling to get to his feet.

"H-hey," Twilight nervously trotted over, hoping she hadn't injured the unicorn, "Are you okay? I'm really sor-"

A pair of warm brown eyes met hers, "I don't know about you, but I've had one hell of a week."

A New Star

Titus lay reclined on the angular roof of his room - as he had been for the better part of several hours - his fingers intertwined under the back of his head as a makeshift pillow and the cool night air of Canterlot turning his breath into light swirling clouds that quickly dissipated as he gazed at the multitude of stars that graced the night sky. Beside him, awaiting the visitor that he suspected would be joining him shortly, was a folded up blanket as well as a special metal cylinder Titus had brought out of storage and along for the trip.

These stars were special, though. Unlike his own universe, where stars were burning balls of gas light years away and usually surrounded by planets - inhabited or not - and their moons, here they were different; they seemed to dance more enthusiastically and shone brighter without detracting from the light of their companions. These stars have souls.

A billowing-yet-tangible puff of cloud (another of the Equestrian oddities) floated into his vision to block part of the constellations from view, getting a sour look from the human until the grey-blue face of the Lunar Princess peeked over the edge to look down at him, "Friend, might we join you? This would have been a night you shared your stories, had it not been for your temporary relocation to the palace."

Titus patted the blanket beside him, "I thought I might have company, so I brought a seat up with me hours ago."

"Oh," something about her friend's demeanor was off. Does trouble still linger? "Our apologies for being late, then; the spell to conjure a riding cloud was lengthy to cast and egress without rousing our sleeping sister proved equally challenging." She floated down and dismounted the cloud, her landing a bit wobbly though the waiting blanket provided ample cushioning; kneading the cloth with her hooves for several quiet moments before laying down and wiggling her way deeper into its warmth.

"Earlier this evening a friend I grew up with... I sensed his connection to the Force fade. I can still feel the void where he was, though he has become one now," Titus finally spoke, the sudden words jarring Luna from the length of peaceful quiet they had shared, "the disturbance ripples out still."

Hearing that he was forcing himself to talk around a lump in his throat, Luna adjusted herself slightly so she could make contact as a sign that she was there if he needed her.

"I remember him, though in reality he was more of a familiar face than a friend; something I will regret from this day onward," he continued, taking the hoof on his shoulder in an appreciative hand, "He was a character of sorts; his imagination was only outshone by how full of life he was; he's what sparked my love of adventure and exploration. I guess he's a major reason I'm where I am now, in a strange... convoluted sort of way - if not for him, I wouldn't have been out exploring uncharted space when Twilight's portal gobbled me up, though I wish I could be back out there," he pointed to the stars, imagining they were a bit more like the traditional ones he was accustomed to, "if I was out there maybe I could have done something; perhaps gotten message to him tell him how much of an impact he had on me."

The two lay on the roof in silence, neither one able or caring to track the passage of time.

Luna, developing a crick from craning her neck to look at the sky, rolled over onto her back and rested her head on the human's shoulder; the position proving much more comfortable. "Titus," the tone in her voice conveying an imminent inquiry as she thought over the events of that morning, "when you do get your ship operational again and if Twilight can reverse engineer a return portal for you, will you go back 'out there'?" She felt him shrug, a heavy sigh following shorty after that she understood to mean he still had to give it much thought. "It is just... I didn't want you to actually disappear, and if you had I would have found myself forever regretting what I had said this morning. I-" Luna gave the stars a searching look in hopes they would provide some way to eloquently word her thoughts though they provided no such aid, forcing her to bluntly express her feelings, "Though words fail me at the moment, the real reason I wanted to talk was to convey how much I wanted to be friends again."

"That's alright, Luna," a hand reached up to rub along her neck as the side of his head pushed into hers, the dampness of the cheek permeating her fur, "I have been, and always shall be, your friend."

The Lunar Princess summoned what magic she could spare from her reserves to create the beginnings of a new star that would forever shine above the skies of Equestria in memory of the being that had had a hoof or hand in bringing her such a wonderful friend.

11: A Knight in Canterlot

"I don't know about you, but I've had one hell of a week."

"Uh," Twilight was confused and unsure how to respond to the odd statement from the unicorn sitting at her hooves. She was positive she had never seen him before in her life though just to be sure she took a few steps back to examine him; his coat, what she could see of it under the walnut brown cloak that hid much of him, was a grey beige which complimented the long, chocolate brown mane that fell down either side of his face and neck in a carefree manner. Twilight sifted through her memory and examined the features of every pony she could remember, going as far aback as her Academy classes, but still she couldn't place him - something about those warm brown eyes felt familiar, though. "I'm... sorry to hear that? Are- ... Where do I know you from?"

"I'm not from around here, I'm from out of town," the unicorn's head cocked to one side, "and I'm talking really far out of town."

She regarded him for a moment, during which time his expression changed to give her a strange lop-sided grin that somehow didn't seem fit for a pony's face but was also familiar enough to cause cognitive dissonance as a thought crossed her mind. No. No way. Twilight searched the eyes and felt them searching her, too; however, the more she thought about it the more it made sense. Perhaps this is what the Princess had meant with the 'keep an eye out for him' line.

Twilight looked at the stallion curiously, "When you say 'really far,' would describing it as being on the other side of the galaxy be fitting?" She watched as the grin turned into the full-on, unadulterated shit-eating smile that she knew from a different face.

"Kark," pony-Titus shook his head and gave a tired sigh, "probably a bit farther than that. Good to see you, Twi."

"Titus? How are... why do you look... what- oh whatever," Twilight hooked a hoof over his shoulder and pulled him in for a friendly hug and a warm nuzzle, "Welcome back!" This was not something she had planned for and thought better of overwhelming him with a sudden onslaught of questions, instead she made a mental list for later. A cross-species transmutation spell! I wish I could have gotten some data on its casting... perhaps Princess Luna kept notes that she'd be willing to share!

Meanwhile, out of earshot, four heads poked around the corner of the station building like some form of miniature totem pole; cyan pegasus, mint unicorn, white unicorn, and orange earth pony in descending order, all of them bearing various expressions of shock or confusion.

"Gracious me! Twilight certainly seems to have made a... friend," Rarity exclaimed, voicing what everypony was thinking but in a much more elegant manner as the lavender unicorn continued her nuzzling embrace, "Do any of you girls recognize him?"

"Hmm," Lyra squinted as she tried to get a better look at his face but could only catch glimpses around Twilight's body and what she could see wasn't enough to get a positive identification, "Not ringing any bells with me; I don't recognize him from Ponyville or from among her Canterlot acquaintances-"

"Well they sure as shootin' seemta know one 'nother... though if'n she was that friendly with a stallion that fetchin' Ah reckon Twilight woulda made some sorta mention'a him," Applejack was quick point out, her distaste for snooping forgotten for the moment, "Ah'd be willin' ta bet bushels to bits she woulda said somethin' that time when we all went out fer drinks and Rainbow was teasing her 'bout how little 'game' she had with the fellers."

Ignoring the reminder of the drunken night she had been shot down by a table of stallions in front of her friends, Rainbow instead spoke from the viewpoint of somepony who'd experienced a devastating misunderstanding from a position similar to the one Twilight was in; Dash wouldn't wish something like that on her, what with this being the first semblance of a relationship the unicorn had ever been in, "Forget who this guy is, Twilight was supposed to be meeting Titus! How's the big guy gonna feel if he comes back and finds her with her hooves around another stallion?" Dudes can be touchier than a rain cloud in spring - too much of a push in the wrong place and you've got a runaway lightning cloud looking to zap you back.

"All of our planning and work to set up her up with Titus will go to waste!" Rarity was not faring well with that prospect whatsoever, "The planned picnic! My exquisitely-selected wine pairing list!"

"Now e'rypony just wait an applepickin' minute," the farmpony tried to be the grounded voice of reason, "y'all ever think ya might be seein' smoke when there ain't a fire? Ah just don't reckon y'all should go-"

"Titus will find them both in each others hooves, our dear Twilight too flustered in her innocence to explain," cutting off Applejack's attempt to dissuade the group from rash action Rarity continued without so much as a breath, melodramatically draping a foreleg over her forehead and pseudo-fainting into the earth pony's hooves, "He'll feel his heart torn asunder assuming she had been toying with his emotions the whole time; for the rest of his days he'll remain on his ship, a lonely beast yearning for the love of a beauty that mistakenly believes the misunderstanding had made him hate her forever! Woe is me, what a disaster!" She pulled them all back around the building and assumed the worst as she went over their options in her mind, "We can't let that happen. Come on girls, form a line; we're going to run interference and get this tale back on track," she lead the way out into the open.

"-and when the spell didn't end when it was supposed to we both thought I might as well use the effect to keep from causing a scene at the Canterlot train station," Titus finished explaining. It's not the whole truth, but it was far superior to telling her exactly what happened. He slowly and carefully worked his way down from the platform step by step. Being forthcoming would involve saying something along the lines of 'Princess Luna was utterly concentrated on taking some genetic readings with an ancient magical artifact, the timing of which happened to abruptly coincide with one of your cooler sessions; the loss of her concentration caused the artifact to misinterpret her input and the result was my current predicament.'

Yeah, Twi would take that real well... He caught her watching him, the expression on her face a mix of concern and curiosity. "I, uh, this was only supposed to last an hour, but that was last night... while I was recovering Princess Celestia said the rate of the spell's decay should have me back to normal sometime tonight or tomorrow, at the latest. They both assured me that I'll be fine, although I've got a direct comlink connection to them if necessary..." Titus shifted uncomfortably from hoof to hoof when the gravely earth poked into the un-callused pads of his hooves. The sound of an approach - signaled by the clopping of hooves coming their direction - caused him to look up the path and catch the small group of ponies bearing down on them, "This is quite the welcoming committee you organized."

Twilight followed his line of sight. "Aheh... w-what are you all doing here?" she asked nervously as she stepped forward in front of Titus; however she forgot to factor in his new height and in doing so gave him a front-row seat of her flanks. When Rarity was close enough Twilight whispered through a weak smile - quietly enough that Titus wouldn't overhear, "I thought you'd be waiting up the road."

"Twilight! There you are," Rarity said with overly exaggerated relief, inserting herself between her friend and the strange stallion, "when the rest of the passengers walked by us and you were nowhere in sight we got worried-" she turned her attention to the unicorn that seemed to be having trouble standing still, pretending to notice him for the first time, "Oh my. Hello there," she adjusted her mane and fluttered her eyelashes as Lyra, Dash, and Applejack fell in alongside their temporary leader to form a semi-circle of probing glances, "Twilight, darling, you simply must introduce me to your dashing gentlecolt friend here."

Titus fidgeted under the sudden increase in scrutiny, unsure of the nature of their interest. "H-hello, Miss Rarity. Lyra, Applejack, Dash; nice to see you," he greeted each of them, discreetly readjusting his cloak. Dammit Luna, just because I have fur doesn't mean I don't feel fraggin' naked right now. With Twilight's flanks and other bits still pointed at him he had to fight from pitching a tent - or whatever it was ponies did.

When her friends showed confusion as to how he could know them Twilight dropped the proverbial bomb and explained what she knew of his situation, "So try to take it easy, girls; at the moment he's feeling a bit like a fish out of water-"

"It's temporary, right? Right?!" Lyra was the first to voice her concern and literally shook the answer of out Twilight, visibly relaxing at the affirmative answer from the dizzy librarian. Tomorrow? Oh thank the goddesses. I've got plans for those fingers of his...

"No way," Dash flew a quick circle around him before landing at his side, "Dude, come on... ditch the blanket and give us a peek at that bod of yours." Before he could stop her she used the tip of a wing to casually flip the cloak up and over his shoulder and exposed him completely.

Titus froze, subconsciously crossing his hind legs and both ears laying flat in response, "I-I'm really sorry."

"For wha-?" It took Dash less than a second to spot why he hadn't wanted the cloak removed and another second to catch that she wasn't the only one in the group to have noticed, "Oh, heh, that. Happens to stallions from time to time so, you know, don't worry about it," she tried to sound cool but was full on staring at him as her wings slowly twitched themselves rigid. "But dude, you, uh... you gotta convince the Princess to turn you into a pegasi next time. I could totally show you around Cloudsdale and I could pull a few strings with the Weather Team brass and get you scheduled for a fly-along and, ya know, maybe we could buck some thunderheads-"

"There won't be a next time," Titus fumbled with the cloak, finding it rather difficult to adjust the cloth without fingers, "not if I can help it, anyway," he finally got his hoof in a looped fold and pulled the cloak back over himself, looking up to find disappointment clearly written on the pegasus' face as her awesomely-radical plans were all categorically rejected. "Sorry Dash, as much as I'd love to fly and probably end up breaking my neck in a crash, right now I just want to get to my bunk and sleep off the rest of this spell," Titus gave her an apologetic smile and started down the path, "but hey, I'll find a way to make it up to you, that I will promise."

"But why the heck did the Princess turn ya inta a unicorn?" Applejack inquired while Rainbow thought over her options of repayment, "Ah reckon an earth pony woulda been a more fittin' choice an seein' as ya don't got magic it'll be a bit weird seein' a unicorn gettin' all gritty with their hooves, if ya catch mah meanin'."

Twilight quickly sidled up next to him. I-is he going to tell them?

"Uh, well, I actually wanted to talk to both Princess Lun-ow!" a particularly triangular pebble dug into his hoof as he put his full weight down and he lurched to one side, his legs scrambled in the loose gravel and tripped over themselves awkwardly but a light blue aura caught him before he completely toppled over.

"Applejack, please," Rarity's magic helped nudge him upright, Titus voicing his appreciation before returning to his trudging shuffle, "he's clearly exhausted, the poor dear; I'm sure he can tell us later. Speaking of later, perhaps you'd be able to drop some of your garments by the boutique, Titus? Earthy tones - such as that cloak you're wearing - and the loose, flowing styles you were seen wearing in Canterlot are all very chic right now." When the stallion wearily agreed to her request Rarity continued to fawn over the simple cloak, going so far as to procure needle and thread from her saddlebag to experimentally hem the article so it fit him better and the edges wouldn't drag in the dirt.

Rarity to the rescue, in more ways than one. The librarian mentally whispered her own gratitude and stepped closer in case he should fall again. He's like a foal in this body, if only he didn't have teleportation sickness I could just warp us to his ship.

"Sorry 'bout that," AJ stopped briefly then trotted to catch up to the shuffling Titus, "Tell ya what, go home and catch some shuteye. But Ah just wanted ta say me, Lyra, and Dash would be more'n happy ta have ya join us fer EFC Fight Night. Shucks, it's always nice ta have more company-"

"That's this Friday," Dash called, a case of the wing-stiffies grounding her, the duration of which was looking like it would be a while because she was making a point to walk behind him to keep her eyes following the rotating motion of his hips. Holy buck Batmare, dem flanks. Twilight wasn't kidding. "How's that sound, big guy?"

Titus turned with a chuckle, looking over his withers at the pegasus to find her staring rather intently, "I'd say it sounds like a part-"

AJ was on him in an instant, desperately slamming his muzzle shut before he could finish and ignoring his muffled protest as she looked around nervously.

Somewhere in Ponyville a pair of pink ears rotated like radar dishes toward the train station and waited. Party Canon acquiring target...

"Hold yer hay bales, par'ner, no need ta be callin' it a-" AJ leaned in close to mouth the word "party", lest the audible mention of the word summon the bountifully-energetic Party Pony. The last time Pinkie had joined them the TV had been buried in an ocean of balloons and confetti and they had missed the whole broadcast searching for it. AJ had also gotten stuck cleaning all of that out of the barn extra early the next morning so it'd be ready for the work day, Lyra and Dash both remembering "previous engagements" when asked to help, "It'll just be a couple'a us watchin' some TV and chowin' on some snacks. Oh yeah, mah big brother - you know, Big Mac? - he'll be there, so ya got no reason ta be feelin' like the only stallion in a mare-fest."

Hm. Never thought Big Mac would be into EFC fights, he seems like he's too mellow to be a fan. Once she thought about it a bit more, she realized she hadn't seen him working the produce stall at his usual times recently. Twilight shook her head and levitated a small rock off of the path as a preventative measure, a second later Titus intentionally bumped a shoulder into her with a smile of thanks.

"I'll stop by a bit early and pick you up. And, uh," Lyra walked alongside Rainbow and, unlike the pegasus, made no attempt to hide that she was enjoying the view; her head shifting position in search of a better angle, "Wear something you can exer-mmm-cise in, although clothing is, as always, optional."

Twilight, having lightly bumped into Titus in return, laughed at the comical sight as he overemphasized the rolling of his large eyes for her and turned his head around to look at the two ponies trailing him, "I'll keep that in mind, Lyra, thanks. Oh and by the way, you two keep staring and I might start charging you both Bits by the minute."

While Dash blushed at being caught Lyra simply fired back at him with a playful wink, "If I'm paying I expect a good show and maybe a few extra 'perks'-"

"Lyra!" Twilight shot her a glare which the mint unicorn acknowledged by sticking her tongue out before smiling at the shuffling Titus again with a hammy waggle of her eyebrows.

"Alright, we'll all get outta yer hair an give ya the space ya wanted earlier," Applejack looked at the other mares; her gaze telling them they'd probably made enough of a nuisance of themselves before she turned to Titus, "See ya Friday, mister!" At the first fork in the road the group dissipated to various parts of town, Twilight and her shuffling human friend giving a nod of farewell before heading down the main street to the Library.

"GO! DON'T STOP!" Twilight shouted ahead to Titus (who, thanks to their current situation, had quickly picked up on how to gallop), both of them tearing through the town street toward the Library. Almost there, and the door is already open! Her heart fell as she watched him catch a hoof on a loose cobblestone.

She wasn't about to leave him to the fate awaiting him at the hooves of the group of heated mares hot on their tails, though. Twilight hoisted him up mid-way through his second somersaulting roll with her magic and quite literally pitched him at the door, sending him barreling into the entry hallway before she slammed the portal shut behind her; sealing it with several of the most powerful barrier spells she knew just as numerous hooves beat against the sturdy wood in an attempt to batter it down as the mares on the other side pleaded to her.

"I just need to borrow him for two minutes!"

"I know it's a library so I promise I won't be too noisy!"

"Come out, poppet!"

"Go cool off, you brazen maumets!" Twilight called angrily through the door, giving it a small kick to get her point across. Breathing a sigh of relief she turned to find Titus where he had landed - having knocked over her table, lamp, and umbrella basket upon entry - legs sprawled out at his sides as he lay on his back and panted heavily. H-he's too burned out from that hard mile we sprinted to care about his modesty. Not that I can blame him, really. Twilight forced herself to look elsewhere as she felt the small tingling sensation she'd become familiar with over the past week working its way down her spine, "Well, we made it. Are you alright? That fall looked rough."

"Just *pant* peachy. Thanks for the save, by the way; the landing was a bit rough, but I guess you could say I'm used to those," a giggle from Twilight let him know his bit of humor hadn't gone unnoticed and, with a grunt, he pushed himself upright so he was essentially sitting, "At this point I honestly can't tell which I prefer; ponies running in terror at the sight of me, or suddenly having to run for dear life from a gaggle of heated mares looking to pulverize my pelvis for pleasure."

"Try saying those last five words five times fast," Twilight sat herself down in the hall and leaned a shoulder against the wall, the exertion from their run finally catching up with her, "Anyway, at least this time they were running the right direction, right?" She tried to laugh but only managed a wheeze while Titus slumped back to the floor. Real smooth, brain. Real. Smooth.

The pounding and pleading at the door continued.

"How about one minute? Work with me here!"

"I'm willing to take seconds! Heck, let me in and I'll even pay my library fines!"

"Sharing is caring!"

Twilight bucked the door harder and ground her teeth in frustration, "Like Tartarus I'd let you get your hooves on him! Buck off!"

"You* buck off! You can't hog him all to yourself!"*

"HA! Who said anything about hooves?"

"Come on out, big guy, I got a 'muffin' for you to butter!"

"Go. Cool. OFF!" She focused magic into her horn and constructed another barrier, the sounds completely ceasing and the library returning to its usual peaceful stillness.

By the Sisters, that's what stallions have to put up with?! Breathing a sigh to release her tension, Twilight stopped to take another look at Titus; back still toward her and sides heaving with heavy breaths. Her eyes roved over his body admiring the specimen he presented; his coat pulled tight over the muscle groups of his barrel, shoulder, and neck as his head turned to look around her home. Interesting, the fur on his shoulder bares a marking identical to his human tattoo patterning. The silence and study continued until he slowly spun his head around to look at her out of the corner of one eye. She felt compelled to say something. "The Princess really did a number on you; your transmogrification certainly is alluring."

Titus dragged his legs under him and heaved his rump off the floor so he could turn to face Twilight, his expression one of concern, "Do I need to lock myself in a closet or something? I'm sorta getting a vibe that says 'I didn't lock them out there, I locked you in here with me.'"

"W-what? No," Twilight laughed and shook her head when she caught his attempt to hide a smile, her multicolor mane bouncing off either side of her neck, "My cycle's in its waning phase and I was just making an observation; besides, it's not like a flimsy closet door would stop me," she pointed out almost jokingly. The image of her wickedly grinning face peering through a splintered door, fire ax in hoof, saying "Here's Twily!" popped up in her mind before she shook the startling scene away.

"Even if it wasn't waning I'd much rather be in here with you rather than out there with them-"

He hasn't changed! Twilight couldn't help but feel a bit of a tingle as her heart fluttered when he said that, even though the choice would have been an obvious one to any stallion with a mind for their own health - serious injury by rutting wasn't unheard of.

"-in any case, until those maniacs outside are gone do you mind if I crash here?" Upon receiving an enthusiastic invitation to stay as long as he wanted Titus limped his way to the sofa where he removed his cloak, leaving it on the floor where it fell and set both lightsabers on the coffee table. It took him two attempts to mount the seat until he managed to get his hind legs high enough, lounging out with a deeply appreciative sigh as his eyes closed and he sank into the cushions, resting his head on one of the arms.

Hopping up on the other end of the couch Twilight made herself as comfortable as she could, crowded against the opposite arm because with the way he was stretched out Titus' hindquarters occupied the majority of the middle cushion. The position, however, was ideal for her to examine the mark on his flank so she eagerly took the opportunity and wiggled a little bit closer; the symbol appeared to be the rough silhouette similar to his ship sling-shotting around a green and blue planet. She was trying to make out the unfamiliar continents when his leg twitched, bringing a halt to her observations.

"Twi, that tickles," he said dryly, lifting his head from the sofa's arm and giving her a small smile.

She became aware of how close she had gotten her face to the cutie mark, having apparently teased his fur with her breath. Twilight apologized for disturbing his rest but before he could put his head back down she decided she would bother him with a question while he was up, "What you said back at the station, about the week you had? What happened?"

Titus arduously shifted himself around, noticing Twilight visually perk up at the new arrangement before she tentatively reached out with a hoof. For half an instant he thought to take the hoof in his hand, but all he succeeded in doing was to bump into it awkwardly. "I want my hands back," he dropped his head to rest on her hooves and used his own "magic" to commandeer a pillow from the armchair to make himself more comfortable, propping it under their elbows as the middle cushion of the couch sagged with their combined weight, "Well, Twi, a lot of things happened..."

Twilight rested her head on his neck, giving him a small nuzzle as she nestled in to make herself comfortable and he started recounting his week; something was telling her this was going to be a long story.

Relishing in the feeling of speed as it pushed him into his seat, Titus urged the speeder bike to burn on all three operational Overdrive Cores as he rocketed down the trench toward the crash site. His teeth were chattering in his helmet as the early evening air whipped against his bare skin, having had to abandon the flight suit that would have kept him warm and would have acted as a wind breaker when he left Rainbow Dash at the bottom of the hill.

The craft hit a small dip, launching itself into the air when it exited the other side which prompted Titus to stand in his seat to shift the weight of the bike forward so it would return to the ground, pumping his legs to speed his decent. It was a completely unnecessary thing to do as the systems in the machine would automatically readjust the bike's altitude over a short time, but the act itself made him feel that much more in control of what was essentially a tuned-up engine with a seat. When the bike bottomed out and shot forward again he thought back to the first time he had ridden a speeder bike.

It was shortly after Master Krua had indoctrinated him as her Padawan that he had thrown a leg over a model much like this one, sitting behind his Master as they sped through the bustling Coruscant skyways to a meeting with a Senator whose name he'd long forgotten. The ride had been thrilling, thanks in part to Master Krua's usual terrible flying; they narrowly avoided several collisions as they zipped in and out of traffic, the open air causing his cloak to whip in the wind and the feeling of his stomach falling into this throat as they descended had forever created a special spot in his heart for speeder bikes. After they had parked their ride on one of the platforms they had been met by the Senator's assistant, and when he started to follow his Master into the Senate Rotunda she had turned sharply about and snapped at him to wait with the bike. Unsure why she had told him to join her on her errand rather than wait at the Temple if all he would be doing is watching their ride, he had asked what she wanted him to do while he waited.

"The answers you seek never come when the mind is busy, they come when the mind is still," is what she had said, which he inferred meant he would learn his task through meditation. Initially he had done what his Master instructed and sat in perfect stillness on the platform with his eyes shut; the only sound he perceived, despite the hustle and bustle around him, was the drone of the bike's several repulsor arrays as it sat idle. Titus had continued to listen to the hum for what felt like hours until he noticed the slightest variance and thought his inflection was over. Needless to say Master Krua had not been pleased to return from her appointment to find her Padawan had disassembled and was in the process of reassembling (as he had tried his best to point out) one of the bike's key components; the reason supposedly being it had been out of sync with the other two arrays.

Titus let the memory fade to the back of his conscious as he closed in on the crash site, reducing his speed as he passed the mud lake he had fished Twilight out of the night before. Cresting the small berm the figure of the Princess came into view, her dark flowing mane unmistakable against the light grey fuselage as she sat near the cargo bay doors expectantly. He waved and called out, not wanting his sudden arrival on a strange machine to startle her, "Luna! Hello!"

Hearing the familiar voice the alicorn turned toward the fast-approaching source, "Hail fellow, well met!" Luna watched as the human's chariot climbed up the smooth metal incline to come to a stop beside her where he apologized profusely and explained his reason for being late - Rainbow receiving the lead role in the adventure he told.

The Princess spat in disgust when he mentioned the spiders, "May they rot in Tartarus! We have dealt with the foul creatures on several occasions; just prior to depleting an area of food sources they cannibalize the weakest members of their nest and then migrate, rotating feeding grounds to allow them to repopulate before returning again. It would appear you two have prevented a brood from establishing a hold in this area, so this eve we shall pass our thanks along to the pegasus, Rainbow Dash-"

"Careful Luna," Titus - having changed into a set of clothes and requested that the grunt work of emptying and securing the hold be left to him as it was the least he could do - hoisted a series of damaged crates out of the hold with the Force, motioning and sending them outside to rest on one of the few dry areas around the ship, "Dash's head is already big enough without The Lunar Princess herself making a personal appearance to thank her. Any more praise and that head of hers would be a suitable replacement for Twilight's hot air balloon."

Luna sat and watched as Titus organized the hold, a queer look on her face, "It was our understanding that you got along with Rainbow Dash." The equally curious look from her human companion and his answer that, though he might find her grating at times, he considered her a friend confused the Princess further, "You call her friend but make jests at her expense?"

"It's a game of sorts, nothing serious and no harm meant," Titus explained, realizing now how much he had overreacted at the nickname Rainbow had given him as he shepherded the R6 astromech droid out of the ship - Luna giving it a friendly greeting it as it passed and getting an equally friendly series of noises in response - and tightened a strap around a crate with a broken latch. I'll have to apologize when I get back; I guess we're one point up in her favor.

A torch went off in Luna's mind, "Occasionally we enjoy verbally jousting with our sister, though our words carry no weight and both parties quickly forgive any trespass felt. This is... something similar?" At Titus' confirmation she nodded in understanding, "Interesting, we were unaware our subjects could also amicably deride each other in such a manner."

That was sort of a shock to Titus, who was in the final stages of preparation; resigning to let the chips fall where they may in regards to whatever was loose in other parts of the ship. "Surely you've playfully goaded a friend once or twice?" He tapped a small object that hung from a series of wires from the wall and a concussive drum of mechanical activity emanated from several points in the hull as the landing gear extended.

"We strive to be tactful, lest we offend the few friends we have," Luna replied as he slid down the side of the hull on his backside, his preparations for righting the ship finished. The plan he laid out seemed simple enough to her: she would lift the ship while he used his Force power to collapse the mound of dirt the ship had created when it crashed to form an area of dry flat ground; while he was busy doing that she would rotate the vessel to be lowered onto the prepared area. Aside from the visions of his past and the emptying of the cargo hold she had seen she hadn't actually witnessed the ability he possessed, and while she could have asked for a demonstration as a Princess, as a friend she had felt better respecting his reluctance to share that part of himself.

Moving a short distance away, Luna waited for Titus to give her the signal, the human scrambling up the dirt mountain on all fours. When she heard the all-clear from the other side of the berm she channeled at the ship, her magic splashing against the grey body and spreading as tendrils of the energy snaked out from the point of impact and slowly engulfed ship in her aura. "We await your word to proceed, friend," Luna called as her magic completely encompassed the ship.

"All set over here, show me what you've got!" came the reply, Titus waving an arm above his head.

Very well, we shall. Luna widened her stance and urged the ship to rise, to which her massive target shuddered and began to free itself from the muck. Something about the vessel made it hard to keep her magic focused as it felt almost like trying to push similarly charged ends of a magnet together; both the ship and magic stubbornly wanted nothing to do with each other. The Princess gritted her teeth, her own stubborn streak coming to the forefront and she commanded the ship to ascend; also making a mental note to investigate the reason why she was encountering such resistance.

Titus watched as his ship lurched out of the mud, rivulets of the slop draining off as the Princess lifted it free of the ground; waiting for it to be well in the air before he began, he closed his eyes and opened his mind to the Force, exhaling as the familiar feeling of inter-connectivity with his surroundings rolled through him, sensing the berm extending far to either side of him. Titus envisioned the earthwork as an extension of his body, and, as such, subject to his will. Raising his hands parallel to it, he stepped forward and pushed; the dirt mountain collapsed and rolled over the crash site like a tidal wave, burying the marsh under a fresh layer of dry earth.

While the human was completing his task Luna moved into stage two of hers and, though though the ship was still proving unwilling to submit to her magic without a fight, she began rotating it in a slow roll around its wings. She was focusing so keenly to keep the ship from slipping through her magical grasp that she did not sense Titus stride up beside her, the human watching her manipulate the ship around its axis and lower it, until he spoke.

"This favor you do me is too great be repaid, my friend."

Luna was a Princess, wanting for not and having more freedom, knowledge, power, status, and wealth at her disposal than any other pony in Equestria save for her sister; but the mention of the one thing she truly desired that could not be bought or traded or forced with any of what she had made her heart sing; at the same time, the word "friend" also proved to be the chink in her concentration's armor, one which the object of her struggle was quick to exploit. A crack in the magical aura spider-webbed out which the Princess fought to keep from spreading as she continued to lower the vessel until the bubble finally shattered. Still twice its own height from the ground, the ship dropped the remaining distance to smash down on its landing gear - the thunderous impact sending dust rolling out over the alicorn and human, who created an orb of Force so the choking cloud washed around them.

"Titus, has my err damaged your vessel?" Luna worriedly exclaimed, attempting to peer through the dust.

"I wouldn't worry," Titus reassured with a laugh as the dust settled and the ship came into view, rising up from the cushion the heavy duty landing gear and soft dirt had provided, "She's not much to look at, but that ship is built tougher than a septoid." Jogging over to one of the landing gear feet he poked at a keypad, the cargo door opening once again and a ramp extending to the ground, "Five minutes to get this stuff inside then I'm good to go. Are you sure you want to come back for my training gear later? It would only take thirty or so minutes to get it all together."

"Indeed I am sure, my sister expressed her interest in making her introduction. She has been in and out of meetings to negotiate a small border dispute with the Griffon kingdom recently and this evening is the first opening she has had in quite some time," Luna replied as she watched the myriad of damaged crates floated into the cargo hold before Titus mounted the speeder bike and drove it in as well, the machine gaining her full attention, "Your chariot is most remarkable and we do look upon it with envy, for Celestia and I must have trained pegasi guards to pull ours whereas you are free to come and go as you please."

Titus scratched the back of his head and looked back at the hold behind him as he walked down the ramp, carrying a backpack and his shoulderbag, "If we weren't strapped for time we could go for a spin and I'd show you how to operate it, but unless I modify the controls you'd need hands and fingers-" he emphasized his statement with a wiggle of his fingers before tapping a device on his wrist that closed the cargo doors and retracted the ramp, "the same holds true for basically all of my technology, save for what can be controlled by voice commands,"

"Hands and fingers are required?" the Princess thought for a moment as they slowly walked away from the ship, her head tilted slightly and her gaze wandering across the sky, "Mayhaps I have a solution, however I'd prefer to return to the subject when I've done further research and have consulted with several intellectuals in the field of genetic manipulation."

The human could only raise an eyebrow skeptically, "Um, alright. Speaking of chariots," he searched around for Luna's personal vehicle and the two odd-looking ponies that pulled it, "I didn't see yours when I came up the path, is it around here somewhere?"

"As if they weren't an inconvenience to use already, excursions in the royal chariots are logged in a ledger by the time keeper," she stated, coming to a stop, "and like the times we have met at night to talk of your origin, we did not wish this trip to be so recorded." The Princess' passing glace thought Titus looked hurt at the revelation that she felt required to keep their friendship a secret (she was, of course, reading much too far into his expression), and she quickly moved to explain what she meant, "The ledger is available to court officials, all of whom waggle their tongues like earthworms on the sidewalk after a spring rain; though their unfounded falsehoods, once whispered, prove to be much harder to squish."

The thought of Princess Luna comically attempting to stomp on worms that were fleeing every which way in terror of her made Titus chuckle, "It would seem politicians - the present company being an exception, naturally - are the same here as they were in my galaxy."

"An unfortunate similarity, it would seem," Luna snorted in agreement, "Now then, enough dawdling - our sister awaits through the nether."

Titus looked to his feet as a blue glow encompassed them both, finding he had stepped inside an arcane glyph of some nature he dropped his bags and reached out to Luna in an attempt to stop her, "KA-"

Everything lost focus and blurred then stretched out like he was jumping to hyperspace; instantly suffering from a splitting migraine and fighting his nausea as he felt the bile rising in his throat. Unable to keep on his feet he fell to his knees, expecting them to fall into the warm mud but instead they made hard contact with cold smooth stone.

Princess Celestia had been waiting expectantly in the small room, pausing in her reading of a book she had brought to pass the time when the focusing glyph her sister had scrawled on the floor lit up. Two figures appeared in a brief flash; one her sister, the other a bipedal stranger, "Ah! Greetings, you must be-"

"-ARK! *bleuph!*"

Celestia backed away from the prostrate alien as he coughed, the smell of cheese, pickles, and stomach acid reaching her nose as the pool he vomited up crept closer to her hooves, forcing her back once again, "Sister? What happened?" her worried gaze shifted to Luna, who was wearing the same troubled expression with her mouth hanging open. Princess Celestia lowered her face closer to the human's in hopes of catching a visual cue as to his welfare, "Mr. Aelius, are you alright?"

Those five words exploded like neutron stars in his mind; though disoriented and his vision blurred, Titus still had enough sense to crawl a short distance away from his regurgitated lunch before rolling onto his side. He managed a weak smile accompanied by a thumbs up before his body launched into a brief series of uncontrollable spams and went limp.

Luna broke from her shock to place a forehoof against the side of his neck, breathing a sigh of relief when she felt a pulse, "His pulse is quick but slowing; his breathing steady and rhythmic, and the gesture he gave with his hand - one he often uses for affirmation or approval, for your future reference - leads me to believe he is confident he will be alright." She removed the hoof and took a few steps to stand beside her sister, both of them regarding the figure at their hooves, "Titus' symptoms are congruent with teleportation sickness, though to see them in one with as many years as he and in such severity is... rare. Would you agree with our assessment, dear Tia?"

"I would, however now is not the time for such discussion. Come," she gently levitated the unconscious form, "the infirmary lies down the hall, let us make Mr. Aelius comfortable for his recovery."

"By the burning skies! You still slumber?"

The heavy open-palmed patting of his cheek stirred Titus roughly from his sleep.

"If you do not get your lazy choobies up, my Little Koochu, you'll find my boot firmly up your exhaust port." While calling him "Little Idiot" had been a lighthearted tease she had used since the speeder bike incident, the threat was definitely not an idle one; Titus had called her bluff before which was a mistake he only had made once.

"Had I not been up most of the night with repairs - repairs that your flying skills repeatedly necessitate, I might add - I would not still be sleeping," Titus croaked with a parched throat as he sat up, begrudgingly waking himself from the short rest he had taken from the previous night's labors, "In the future, Master, you should leave the flying to me. Perhaps you've forgotten, but I'm not 'your Little Koochu' Padawan anymore; not only have I passed the tests of Knighthood, I've proven to be a rather accomplished pilo-Hey!" he caught the back of his Master as she turned the corner around the door.

"My apologizes, Jedi Knight Koochu, where were my manners?" her horned head leaned back around the corner to reply in a complete deadpan before ducking back into the hallway, her voice diminishing as she walked away, "Regardless, a sleeping Jedi makes an easy mark and what better way to wake up than rigorous training?"

Swinging his feet to the floor, he pushed his weight off the bed, "Krua, wai-" he found his knees weak, buckling and pitching him toward a wall until a hand caught and steadied himself. Why am I so exhausted? With one hand following the wall he worked his way out the door.

Stepping to the other side of the threshold, Titus felt the muggy atmosphere of the jungle they had landed in. I've been here before... this place is familiar. The door swinging closed behind him only caught enough of his attention to log the oddity of its swinging rather than sliding motion as he worked his way toward the ancient bunker they had discovered a few days prior, following the retreating figure, "Master, speak. What is going on?" he called after her as she disappeared past the archway into the dark shadows.

Titus gave a shuffling chase of his Zabrak mentor, the stone under his footfalls giving light clackings. Pushing the door open he caused a small jungle denizen of some sort to dart away at his unexpected entry; though he gave it no thought and continued his weary gait, catching a glimpse of the edge of his master's cloak before it vanished around a corner and he could call out to her. Rounding it Titus found himself at an intersection, one direction leading to the top of a flight of stairs while the other continued a fair distance straight ahead before splitting off into more hallways.

He had to know if this was some form of déjà vu or if he was really reliving a prior experience. Go straight ahead, then on my third left I'll find a long hallway with large computer displays. Titus followed his gut and hoped it wasn't correct, taking the left turn and startling more of the alien critters as he increased his pace down the long hallway, coming to a stop when a wall of screens stood on either side of him.

I remember.

He and his Master had started that day the same way as the last; swapping a bit of banter before they both worked their way through the underbrush from their camp to the overgrown bunker they had discovered after the crash. Deep in its bowels they went about their usual training regimen, spending several of the evening hours sparring with each other...

"Your skill in the Ataru Form is quite impressive though your Djem So Form still needs work," she tossed the lightsaber hilt back to him as he wiped his bloody nose and shook his hand out, the training blade she had struck him with having given him a nasty jolt. In their duels Krua had never pulled her punches, citing that a Jedi should always be more powerful than the weapon they hold. In addition to her punches, her kicks, elbows, and headbutts were never held back either; something the other Masters at the Temple had not been overly approving of, some going so far as to go before the Council and accuse her of abusing her apprentice.

"A fact you keep demonstrating," Titus replied, catching the hilt and wiping the blood dry where she had smashed her elbow into him. "Shall we go again?" he pulled out a second weapon and whirled them about to shake any remaining numbness out of his system.

She raised an eyebrow, "Using Jar'Kai this time?" The single green lightsaber humming to life was answer enough that she was ready.

The pair circled each other, looking for their opponent to make a move until Master Krua came in with a high strike and a sweeping leg, Titus responding with a deflection and a quick slide back as she continued her assault, using the added momentum his deflection had given her blade to quickly come at him again with her lightsaber arcing up in an attempt to gut him from navel to chin; he again gave ground, the blade coming close enough that he could smell the ozone it was shedding. They continued to test each other's zones in a dance, their lightsabers humming as they sought to score a hit but a guard or parry being raised sent the blades bouncing away with angry-sounding zaps.

Titus launched into his own assault, sending one lightsaber in at her shoulder while the other aimed for her back; both of which she avoided, blocking the first strike and pushing it away so she could get her weapon over her shoulder to intercept the second. As she blocked the attack to her back Titus came in again, slashing as he spun around to land a flurry of blows against her raised blade, his onslaught coming to a halt when she hit him with the Force, throwing him back through the air to land on his feet after a quick mid-air recovery, though not before she had closed the distance to reengage in the fight. She started with a simple diagonal slash from shoulder to hip - something he easily parried; though her sudden step inward, rather than back, caught him by surprise and forced him to somersault backward to keep from catching a knee to the groin and barely bringing his weapon up to block the saber she had thrown at him.

He feigned a counterattack by throwing one of his own sabers, anticipating her move and smashing a wave of kinetic energy into her mid-air when she leapt over his tossed weapon. While Krua was still in the air twisting her body to counter her backward momentum so she would land on her feet, Titus suddenly yanked her toward him with the Force; her own motions to recover from the initial attack adding to the unexpected change in direction and increasing the impact of his two-handed weapon swing as it made full contact across her gut. The duel was over.

"I can see why-" Master Krua's intrinsic Zabrak fortitude reduced her recovery from the blow to only require a few moments of coughing, staying doubled over until she had caught her breath, "-you passed your Knight tests; adapting like that to use my momentum against me, but don't expect it to work again. Come, we start another round..."

The vision faded as he remembered that that was when the alarm he had set up alerted them to the ships entering into the atmosphere. A few seconds later the two shuttles had touched down not far from the bunker; the bounty hunter unleashing his combat droids to aid in hunting down the humanoid lifeforms his sensors had detected within the structure. They had done their best to avoid the IG-100 droids - well known to be formidable opponents, even for Jedi - and it was when a handful of them had engaged Master Krua that she had Force Pushed him through one of the blast doors, yelling at him to run before sealing herself on the other side with both the droids and the bounty hunter. We've got to get out of here while there's still time. He took off back down the hallway, using the Force to increase his speed until he was a blur to the creatures he sped past, skidding around the corner as his boots fought for traction on the smooth stonework and bounding up the stairs three to four at a time, racing to beat the siren that was sure to blare any moment now.

Coming to another large hallway, this one much wider than the last with columns running along both walls, several of the life forms similar to the one that had fled from him earlier stood blocking his path. Indigenous beings. Sentient, judging by their appearance. One of them attempted communication, but Titus found the muggy atmosphere of the jungle in combination with the exertion of his sprint through the structure was hampering his ability to understand what was being said as his mind swam in a fog.

"G-greetings, I search for my Master on urgent business. Perhaps you have you seen her? Yellow skin? Lots of horns on her head?" he raised his hands slightly when several spears were made ready and stern gazes firmly fixed on him. He was growing impatient, sensing his and Krua's time running out when the large metal door behind the creatures caught his attention; it was the one the Zabrak had pushed him through. "There! S-she's just on the other side of that blast door!" He stepped forward to move past the creatures, but they all barked something at him and pointed their spears at his throat and stomach, their numbers increasing as more of them arrived out of a side corridor. I don't have time for this, Krua and I need to leave. *Now.*** Their continued shouts remained muddled in his mind.

Something dark loomed in the back of his conscious, a pressure he had felt before. Anger. Hatred. Lingerings of the Dark Side. Titus attempted to move for the door, but the beings insisted on blocking his way, "I need to get through that door-" as he tried going for it again his mind began comprehending what being shouted, the words ringing in his head painfully.

"Bring... it... down!"

At the order a creature jumped onto his back and wrapped its limbs around his neck, attempting to choke him into unconsciousness while two more grappled his arms around his biceps, biting onto his clothing for a better grip because they lacked talons or claws. Titus didn't have that issue, however, his fingers capable of finding purchase on their armor or around a limb, "I have no quarrel with you!" He grabbed one of the offenders and hurled it off, the creature's arms and legs windmilling as it was sent sailing through the air over the others, "Let..."

"Me..." with one arm free the other being around Titus' arm quickly found the biped's leverage to be superior to his grip, joining his brethren in being bodily tossed off.

"Pass!" The creature around his neck thought himself safe from the human's reach, however Titus quickly proved otherwise; both arms easily capable of reaching over his shoulders, hands locking in a vice grip and tearing him from his perch to throw him into his gathered comrades as several more beset Titus from the air upon their wings.

A wave of Force radiated out from the human, knocking the fliers into the walls and scattering the creatures that had placed themselves in front of him like bowling pins to leave a final line of horned beings between himself and the door. "Why? Why do you continue to bar my way?" he croaked, his throat feeling drier than the sands of Tatooine.

"Stop... resisting..." was all Titus could understand of what the white one in purple armor commanded of him, "Surrender." The white creature and the other's horns radiated colors as they pointed at the human.

A sudden weariness overtook him and he faltered briefly, struggling to keep on his feet. Glaring at the defensive line, Titus shook his throbbing head and grit his teeth, steeling himself against the mental assault, "Mind-tricks... will not work on me," he brought his hands up into a low-guard position as his lightsaber powered on with a *Ffwshh!* helping him focus against their telepathic attack, "I will save my Master."

"Stand down, Captain," a thankfully-familiar voice from behind him on the stairs commanded, "let him pass while thou see to thine soldiers."

Titus never took his eyes off the "Captain," which he assumed was the creature with the gilded purple armor that had told him to surrender, "L-Luna? How did you get here- Nevermind," he cut her off, "as soon as I get Master Krua we've got to make for the ship; once I fly all of us out of here and you can explain." Still feeling the dark presence on the other side of the door, the Jedi kept his weapon ready as he cautiously approached.

"Where are we, friend?" the Princess inquired calmly, the hallway completely silent except for groans of the creatures recovering from the fight.

"We're in an abandoned smuggler's bunker in the jungles of Plyraxis, of course," he replied sharply, feeling like the answer should have been obvious, "it's the only blasted planet in the system that gets this hot and muggy!" Finally standing in front of his goal, Titus beckoned to the Force and began lifting the heavy blast door upward, the effort visually straining him as sweat ran down his brow.

The doors were eventually lifted off of their hinges and fell to the floor, a deafening thud resounding down the hall. "Stay behind me, Luna," his hand instinctually went out to shepherd her behind him as his eyes scanned the shadowy room for the red photoreceptors of the Magnaguard droids and reflective T-shaped visor of the bounty hunter's helmet, "W-what is... where are they?"

Luna walked to the human's side, ducking her head under the outstretched hand and letting it run down her neck until it rested on her shoulder, "Friend, the room is empty. You are not in a bunker."

"N-no, she should be here. Right here! This is where I found her-" he pointed to the floor before looking around the room then the hallway, seeing for the first time the carved stone pillars and long red carpet that led to two ornate thrones that sat at the top of a small set of stairs, "t-this isn't..." The lightsaber fell to his side and powered off, its blade retracting and fading much like the fevered delusion began to; the dingy rusted metal walls gave way to brilliant white marble and tapestries, the cracked and frozen computer screens revealed themselves to be stunning stained glass windows, and the odd alien creatures he had seen transformed into unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies.

"There are no shuttles coming, Titus," the Princess watched as the confusion worked its way onto his face, "and your Master was never here." Luna attempted to ease his obvious pain by placing a hoof on her friend, "You are suffering from a fever made worse by the afternoon heat. This is not where she perished; you are in the Canterlot palace, I brought you here from Ponyville last night." She turned his attention to a pony behind him wearing a medical coat who was helping one of the guards to his hooves, "You must have woken and stumbled out of the infirmary after the nurse came to inform me of your condition for when we returned you were gone, but with the directions of a terrified pony we were able to catch up to you. Come, let us walk back together-" she began walking only to feel the hand that had been on her shoulder slide off when the human remained where he was.

"Was anyone hurt?" he asked, directing the question at the white unicorn with the unique armor and watching the ponies he had attacked, some of them stumbling away with help from others.

"Mostly bumps and bruises from getting thrown around," he replied stiffly, "Thankfully Princess Luna's intervention diffused the situation before we had to use magic more powerful than sleep spells or before you used your weapon."

"Captain, you have my sincere apologies. I... I never meant to harm anyone," Titus bowed his head to the unicorn for a moment, "I-I'm glad things did not escalate further..." he turned to the Princess, unhooking the other lightsaber from his belt, "Luna, I shouldn't be in procession of these right now, would you look after them until I'm feeling better?"

The Princess understood the weight of a Jedi surrendering their weapon from what she had learned during her talks with Titus; although he didn't fully comprehend it, it wasn't entirely lost on the Captain and his expression toward the human softened. Luna reverently took both lightsabers from his open palm with her magic and nodded her thanks, "Your gesture is recognized, and by our word neither shall leave our side," with a quick spell the Princess secured them on herself, the hilts remaining in place almost as if held by magnets in a spot concealed by her flowing ethereal mane.

"Now, if Captain Shining Armor has no immediate need of our presence, shall we return you to the infirmary?" When the unicorn gave a brisk salute and turned away to return to his guards, Titus briefly placed his hand back on Luna's shoulder, catching her off by surprise as the warmth from his hand made its way through her coat; her pony subjects were hesitant to make bodily contact even when bid to do so, such as the castle masseur, who sweat bullets on the few occasions Luna had gone for an appointment shortly after her transformation from Nightmare Moon and return to the palace as a Princess. Yet here her human friend was, acting as if she was just like everypony else (though his current condition might be a factor in that, the Princess noted); the thought that he was comfortable enough to not let her royal status effect their friendship - a friendship that was apparently strong enough that he would entrust his most valued possessions to her - made it impossible for her to keep a small smile from her face as she led him through the halls and slowly back to the infirmary, stopping momentarily so she could cast a minor spell to relieve some of his fever.

They came across several ponies that bowed to the Princess and gave unsettled stares at the creature walking beside her as the pair took a short cut through the garden; after a nod of acknowledgement to her prostrate subjects, Luna noticed a tinge of contemplation hidden on Titus' haggard face, "Something troubles you, Titus. Pray, speak of it that we may ease the burden and mayhaps share in solving whatever vexes your mind."

"Don't mind me, I was just thinking." When the Princess halted and put a hoof out to stop him, the look on her face told him they weren't going to continue until he spilled it. Titus sighed heavily as he dropped onto the stone bench near the fountain they had been passing, "As we left I overheard that the guards had been deployed on a monster sighting... it won't matter how long I'm here, in the back of pony minds I'll always be 'the alien' or 'that monster,' though I guess that's to be expected when I go nuts and charge around the palace attacking guards."

"I know far too well the ache that comes with being looked upon with fear and distrust." Luna sidled over to also sit on the bench, placing a hoof on his knee tentatively, "My friend, put this afternoon out of your mind: what happened was unfortunate but not your fault-"

While Luna continued to try to console him Titus could only stare into the shimmering water; the way the sun was reflecting off the numerous ripples on the otherwise undisturbed surface was mesmerizing. Before he knew it he had dunked his still-sore head in, relishing the immediate cooling effect it had on his headache and neck; emerging and pushing his soaking hair back out of his face revealed a Princess with a mirthful grin on her face. "Sorry, I just... that felt amazing," he said through a sigh of relief.

"Your spontaneity is one of the reasons we enjoy thy company, friend," she shook her head to dissuade apology, "you probably do not realize how tiresome being surrounded by constant subservience can be."

"So be spontaneous, huh?" With a tired grin Titus re-submerged his head in the fountain but this time playfully blew bubbles through his nose and mouth as his reply of "Your wish is my command, Your Majesty!" became distorted by the water. Feeling immediately stupid doing something so immature, he almost came back up when he heard a similarly-distorted laugh and shortly after a dark blue face joined his under the water, Luna blowing bubbles through her muzzle and making a face rather unfitting of a Princess that forced the human up before he choked down water in a laugh of his own; they continued this behavior back and forth making increasingly strange faces for a few minutes until they both came up coughing for breath to find themselves in the company of another.

"It has been a while since I've heard you laugh so freely in these gardens, dearest sister."

'Sister?' Titus wiped the water from his eyes to regard the white alicorn that stood a head taller than Princess Luna.

"Tia! Were you not scheduled to still be engaged with the Griffon delegation?" Luna left the human's side to walk into an open-winged hug with her sister before looking at her curiously.

"While talks progress, headway is slow to be made. All agreed a short recess was required... and it would appear my choice of visiting the gardens was a fortunate one," Celestia released Luna from the hug to take a step closer to her sister's bipedal friend, "You must be Mr. Aelius, our extra-equestrian visitor that I have heard so much of from my sister and faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. It is a pleasure to finally be able to meet face to face."

"Princess Celestia," Titus, unsure how bowing might affect his headache, instead took a knee before the Princess of the Sun, "The honor is mine, though I regret my introduction to the sister that Luna speaks so favorably of and the mentor that Twilight holds in such high regard would be made with such a ragged countenance."

"Please, rise; and I must say I prefer your current state to the one you arrived in," she replied, looking down at the human who was drenched from the shoulder up with her trademark kindness, "and I hesitate to think how the long hours of diplomatic negotiation have left me. I had hoped to make acquaintances while accompanying my little sister to one of your rendezvous from which she so often excitedly recounts your tales of adventure and the marvels of another world, though she never made mention and I only became aware of the magic you posses through an incident report left on my desk by a court clerk."

Luna was quick to explain to her sister that Titus had been suffering from delusions brought on by a fever and provided a brief backstory as to why he had been reluctant to display his "Forcemagic" (as she'd come to call it) abilities.

Princess Celestia nodded to her sister as the story came to a close, apologetically smiling as she spoke to him, "I won't keep you much longer as I have to get back to the hearings but I can assure persecution for your gift will not occur here in Equestria and you are welcome to practice it, though my alarm of reading how easily it neutralized a contingent of our Royal Guards makes necessary that I ask; is your ability purely martial or destructive in nature?"

"Nay, sister, it is not," Luna spoke up for her friend, stepping close to him in his defense, "Through his dreams I have seen numerous instances where he and his kind have used it for the betterment of the beings they encountered and communities they worked in."

Celestia's head bobbed along as Luna recounted - verbally painting vivid pictures of what she had seen in Titus' memories. "Thank you, Luna, that assuages much of our apprehension. Mr. Aelius," she gave a glance to a nearby sundial, becoming aware of the passage of time, "I'm afraid my break draws to a close and I must return to the arduous task of debating on which side of a boulder an imaginary line lies."

"Before you depart," Titus quickly interjected and as a sign of appreciation for voicing her support he placed a light hand on Luna's shoulder, which the dark alicorn openly welcomed - the gesture and the response to it Celestia took discrete notice of, "I feel I should add the Force's nature is a case of how it is wielded, Your Majesty, and by whom. For example, I could use it to help the construction of a building while one of another mind could bring it crumbling down. While I will not deny that I was trained in its use for war, I will say that I and my Order only called upon it though necessity of preservation of myself or another." Titus felt himself pulled by the Force, using it to drain the fountain and gather the water into an orb that hovered high above them in the afternoon air; sun shafts piercing through its depth before the Jedi shot it higher into the heavens to detonate it with a motion of his hand, generating a magnificent rainbow over the garden as the light reflected off of millions of tiny water droplets, "We would have preferred the Force be used for peaceful purposes."

In silence the three stood with their heads craned back to look at the splay of colors before Princess Celestia once again glanced at the sundial, "That was wonderful, Mr. Aelius, thank you. You may find our subjects appreciative of such displays, should you use your Forcemagic in their presence," with that suggestion she bid her farewell and disappeared in the hedgerows.

Once she was gone Titus collapsed down on the bench near the now-empty fountain with a breath of relief before laying down completely on his back, "I can't believe that worked..."

"You did not know the rainbow would be formed?" Luna inquired, looking down at the human, "It was a logical assumption, the effect only relied on the correct dispersal rate of the water so it would have the highest chance of light refraction."

Titus laughed nervously. Huh, turns Luna is a bit like Twilight in her scientific analyses, or vise versa. "Well, I was hoping it would work but at the same time I thought it might unleash a deluge on the two of you, securing my banishment or stay in a dungeon cell."

"Mayhaps you should be mewed up in cage and iron, terrorizing the palace like a berserk fiend as you did."

Titus propped himself up on an elbow to look curiously at the Princess, her uncharacteristic reply catching him off guard.

"W-we apologize," Luna's ears went flat back against her head and she took a nervous stride away, "what came out as biting was meant as playful jest-" she was cut off by a chuckle from the human as he flopped back onto the bench, putting two hands under his head as a cushion.

"No, it was a decent attempt, Luna," he replied, flashing her a smile to dissolve any other worry she might have that she had offended him before pushing himself to his feet and returning proverbial fire, "but it's a small wonder you do not choke on the dust and cobwebs that accompany that antiquated dialect your tongue seems to favor."

Luna snorted in mock anger, "I would have thought the dust and cobwebs would be familiar as they are all you have betwixt your ears, Titus."

"Is that so, Princess?" he gave her a playful shove.

"Tis so," she shoved him back and sent him deep into one of the hedges on account of her alicorn strength, though she quickly offered a hoof so he could pull himself out.

The two continued their back and forth all the way to the infirmary.

Day 3

Titus stretched and was reluctant to leave the bed that had given him such a wonderful night's sleep, having been moved from the infirmary to private quarters in the Lunar Wing of the palace, but the voice of the Princess accompanying the knocks at the door was more than enough to rouse him. Springing lightly from the bed, he was quickly across the room and reaching for the door handle - Titus had noticed handles being more common than knobs on the doors he saw and drew the conclusion that it was because, aside from unicorns, hooves would have a hard time finding a grip to twist them.

Luna was mid-knock when the door opened and a recently-sleeping yet cheery human face peaked around from behind the door. "Ah, I was about to abandon hope that you might stir," she stepped to one side and revealed several burdened porters in the hallway behind her, "I believe these are all of the items you had on your list, though mayhaps you'd take inventory to be sure."

Taking the note passed to him and walking into the room that was rather opulent for his tastes - containing a bedroom, full bath, lounging area with fireplace and stocked bar, and a balcony with a commanding view; Titus lead the small train of ponies with crates on their backs into the sitting area while reading the checklist written in his own untidy script, "I hadn't expected you to go in my absence, I hope securing these wasn't too much trouble- here, I'll get that," he addressed Luna while helping an earth pony with a large container she was struggling beneath, startling her slightly when he harnessed the Force to lift and set it down with the rest with a simple hand gesture.

"After acquiring the aid of Twilight Sparkle the task was soon completed," the Princess bid the porters to leave before watching Titus, who invite her to make herself comfortable before going through the contents of the first box, "Though I must report that there was a minor incident with your machine, the droid, and a pony from the research expedition."

"Oh blast it!" Titus' whole body sighed in exasperation, "What has that karking rustbucket done now? Are they alright?"

Luna explained the previous night's events, detailing how the astromech had been mishandled but not revealing any names, "You have our apologies for this, the fault lies with me for not overseeing the expedition as I should have."

"All that matters is that no one was hurt. That he only emptied his lubricant tank instead of using his electroshock probe attachment is something to be thankful of. I'll still have a word with him, though. " Titus briefly disappeared and returned from the bedroom carrying one of the bags he arrived with, piquing Luna's curiosity as he withdrew a device no larger than a butter dish before tapping on it several times with a finger and opening one of the smaller crates, a small orb darting out to hover in the air a few seconds of further finger tapping later.

The Princess continued to quietly watch her friend and let him do whatever it was he was doing until he took a brief pause. "You seem to have an uncountable variety of intriguing machines," Luna climbed off of the couch she had been observing from to get a closer look at the floating sphere, "Twilight Sparkle explained to us your as-tro-mek in detail, is this another one of your droids? What, if you will tell, does this one do?" The object spun about on its axis lazily, giving Luna the opportunity to observe the numerous protrusions as well as the cylindrical mirrored indents that alternated across the hemisphere.

"These are the remotes from the list," Titus indicated the entry on the parchment before fiddling with the device he had removed from his bag, "as for what they do? Aside from functioning as training equipment- well, how about you start by waving at it and introducing yourself or something?"

Luna regarded him with a raised eyebrow for a moment before doing so, giving a greeting and waiting patiently. When nothing happened for a few moments, she turned to face Titus, "Is it broken, perhaps?"

Yet all he gave in response was a raised palm asking for her to hold, then seconds later he made as if to speak only to look at her mischievously. Luna was about to ask what his game was when she heard her own voice behind her, "Salutations, I am Princess Luna-" she turned about sharply and was greeted with herself, or what looked exactly like her as it recited and mimicked the wave she had given moments earlier, "co-ruler of Equestria with my sister, Princess Celestia, and friend to the human Titus Marius Aelius."

"An astral-projection spell? Or, rather, a replica of one?" Luna approached the image of herself, running a hoof through it and watching the rippling static it produced as Titus explained the hologram before her, switching the machine from record to live-feed and enjoying the scene as Luna and HoloLuna mirrored each other's motions and sounds.

"I've had a few long flights when my hyperdrive was broken and all I had to do to occupy my time, aside from train, was modify or alter my droids. This one I've spent quite a bit of time on; probably more than R6, but don't tell him I said that," reaching into and removing a length of wiring and a black box from his bag - Luna identifying it as the one Fluttershy had with her the night the Princess had first laid eyes upon the human - Titus popped open part of the sphere to connect one end of the cable and the other end to the box. "This drone has a kit of hardware including motion, acoustic, sonic, and seismic sensors, a radiation meter, holocamera, and a holoprojector - those last two you've seen demonstrated."

"I... see," the look on her face made it apparent she hadn't the slightest clue what he was talking about, "So it has these senses, but what does it do with them?"

"Well, most of them are just there because I was bored and had the parts lying around, though they've come in handy once or twice. Just a moment, I'm transferring some programs; once the transfer is complete it can function as the hive-mind for the other ones." He stalled for the files to finish transferring and ripped the cable out, "There, done."

Several more of the spheres lifted themselves out of the crate to position themselves around Luna and Titus, each one creating a copy indistinguishable from the actual alicorn; the droids were similar to the first she had seen though lacked the small mechanical arms dangling below them and were devoid of the numerous bulbous eye-like protrusions and single jutting antennae that served to broadcast Luna's hologram.

"Recording and broadcasting in such immersing detail is an impressive feat," Luna and her holograms turned to the seated human and all spoke in unison, "though it was some time ago that Equestria found the technology to transmit such images into a screen. For what purpose do you use these images-"

"Appearing in all these locations at once?" interrupted another Titus as he emerged from the bedroom door, a rather mischievous light to his eyes while the Titus beside her regarded her with studied interest before finishing the sentence, "The possibilities of such an application I'll leave to your imagination, though I will say I've used it on several occasions to turn a disadvantage into an advantage." The door to the balcony opened and yet another image of the human walked into the room to watch for a moment as the Princess searched for the original before the holograms cut out, the only one of Titus left standing being the one in the bedroom door, "Sorry, having a bit of fun. In addition to their sensors and broadcasting of holograms, they feature ports capable of discharging various intensities of blaster fire."

Luna was familiar with blaster weapons, having seen their use in numerous scenes she had gathered from his memories, as well as how a skilled Jedi with a lightsaber countered and dealt with such foes, "I believe purpose begins to make itself known in their use of training, though that begs the question; what other oddities have you brought?"

Titus walked to the large crate he had set aside earlier, a hand motion unlocking the container that had vexed both the Princess and Twilight the night before. "The remotes and their blasters serve as a warm up for the regimen, the contents here are what truly hone skill," he floated four compact forms out and to the floor on the other side of the room, his lively warmth of his face fading to stony coldness.

"Perhaps a demonstration would be more beneficial than trying to put it into words. Luna, do you still have my lightsabers on your person?"

"As I vowed, they yet remain at my side," twisting her head to one side, Luna revealed the spot they were concealed in her mane, "though before demonstration ample space must be made." Her horn glowed for a brief moment and everything in the room was moved flush against the walls, creating a clear area for her friend's showing. She was startled to feel the spell keeping both hilts secured suddenly fade - though not by her own will - as they left her to fly through the air, one snapping into the human's hand while the other went to his waist.

"Princess, please take a seat somewhere and stay clear," he instructed as he removed his outer layer of clothing, tossing the jacket to one of the armchairs beside the chaise lounge that Luna had arranged herself on. After adjusting his sabers to a low-power setting, Titus rolled his neck and other joints around in preparation before calling over to the remote droid that had floated over beside the Princess, "Iana, activate number four and initiate its training program."

Luna watched as one of the metallic forms across the room twitched, appendages extending out as the machine unfolded itself to stand on two legs and the pair of red eyes blinked on to stare emotionless at the Jedi in the center of the room. The Princess tensed as she recognized the bipedal droid, T-thats...

"Meet the IG-100 combat droid, also known as a MagnaGuard. I take it you recognize it, judging by the hitch in your breath." Titus reached into the large crate at this feet to remove a staff, the droid catching the weapon tossed to it in one mechanical hand and issuing a barking grunt. The human lowered himself slightly, the muscles in his jaw going visibly taunt, "Yes, these belonged to the bounty hunter that killed Master Krua, though after I dealt with him I wiped their base directives so they're now controlled by Iana, who uses the other drones to plot offense and defense. Though vile and insidious by design, they've proven to be effective training tools." The droid began spinning the staff around itself, the chopping noise it produced as it cut through the air accentuated by the snaps of the arcing energy at either end.

The droid issued grunting taunts as it twirled the staff and in a blur both Jedi and droid were on each other. A *zzrakk!* echoed off the walls as the lightsaber deflected one end of the staff while the other hummed through empty air like a swarm of angry wasps where Titus had just been, the Jedi having flipped over the droid's back in a twisting leap to bring his blade in on the undefended rear. The MagnaGuard's continued spinning of the staff blocked the attack made at its back and it quickly countered with a kick meant to catch its opponent mid-air though a hand came down to intercept the limb, Titus using it as a Force-assisted springboard to create distance between themselves once again.

The Princess silently followed the pair from the sidelines as they circled each other, staff or lightsaber occasionally zipping inward in an attempt to snipe through a defense. The dodging, ducking, spinning and exploratory blows continued until they both fully recommitted, Titus bringing the second lightsaber to bare against the onslaught of staff swings in time to block a strike that would have connected with his throat before launching into a sweeping dance of humming blade swings and spinning acrobatics which culminated in a blow slipping through the droid's defenses, one of its arms going limp and Luna assuming that signaled the fight was drawing to a close though she soon saw Titus' opponent was capable of maintaining an impressive defense even with one inoperable limb. A final strike to the side of the droid's neck ended the battle and the machine fell to the floor.

"Huzzah!" Titus turned at the light patter of hooves - the pony version of applause - coming from one side of the room, "A display that kept me on edge of seat, my friend!"

Both lightsaber blades retracted with a *shh-wurp!*, almost sounding like they were aware of their victory, as he took a deep bow toward the Princess. Several strides saw him across the room and into a chair as Luna rearranged the room into its previous state, the human falling into the cushion before holding both hilts in open palm toward the Princess.

"You wish your swords to return to our safekeeping?" Luna switched gaze from the weapons to Titus' face to seek insight, "Does discomfort still linger?"

Titus tilted his head to one side and his brow furrowed, "I do feel better, however after thinking on it I believe you should hold on to these for the duration of my stay here in the palace, both to ease the mind of your Captain and serve as a sign to the ponies of the palace that I mean them no harm."

Contemplating what he had said, Luna nodded after some time, "Very well, your line of thought is indeed a sound one. However, we shall wear them in plain view so to emphasize your pledge of friendship." Casting the same spell as before, the hilts took a spot on either side of her narrow barrel and the magic secured them in place horizontal to the floor. Luna tapped hoof to chin for a moment as she looked over the human, whose response was an eyebrow raised in curiosity (or perhaps it was tentative apprehension, she wasn't sure), "To further your message, another design comes to mind..."

I can't believe she convinced you that this was a good idea, these politicians and high-society ponies are going to eat you alive. Titus shifted uncomfortably as he waited in the side hall, arguing with himself.

No, making myself and my intentions known to the important court members is a smart move, by calming their fears the word will quickly spread.

If you don't screw this up, you mean.

"Titus?" Luna's voice interrupted his retort to himself, the Princess having found a way to get close enough to place a hoof on his elbow before he registered her presence, "We called to you several times but you seemed lost deep in thought, are you reconsidering joining my sister and I as we entertain the members of court in the gardens this evening?"

"More like second-guessing myself," Titus sighed, patting her forehoof and making note of a slight bit of weariness to her face, "Its just been a while since I've performed in a diplomatic function." His back hugging the wall, he inched his face forward until he could peek around the corner of the wall to watch more ponies pass through the door he, too, would soon have to approach. "This sort of thing wasn't my or Master Krua's forte, though in her case it was because she just had a quick temper and couldn't handle the 'pompous self-inflating fork-tongued wimpled lily-livered clotpoles' that were so often the focus of the 'phalli-waving contests' that were diplomatic missions."

Luna couldn't stifle her giggle at the colorful language, "I foresee you having no trouble if you speak well, observe etiquette, and, well, just be yourself- short of dunking your head in a fountain or *ahem* waving anything like that about, of course. We have provided the orator your credentials to make a suitable announcement of your arrival."

Having changed into the traditional earth-toned Jedi robes he had brought with him in case of just such the event he was about to attend, Titus tried to straighten the neck of his tunic; a motion that was not lost on the Princess. "Cease your fussing," a light tug of her magic readjusted the cloth so it was even again, "This is a casual-dress affair, so you appearance is acceptable. You need not worry, friend, both my sister and I will keep an eye out and should you run into trouble we will be at your side promptly."

"Thank you, Luna," he gave an appreciative pat on her shoulder and took discrete note to her slight lean into the gesture and the not-so-slight intake of breath, "Were it not for you I dread to think where I would be."

"Thou wouldst be in cage, my friend, as we discussed yesterday in the debate where thou were so soundly routed," she replied jokingly before rounding the corner, leaving the human to chuckle and shake his head in the empty hallway.

Giving her time to mingle and not draw attention of his arrival coinciding so closely to hers, Titus took the chance to kneel on the balls of his feet and let the apprehension drift away as his mind opened to the Force.

There is no emotion; there is peace.

There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.

There is no passion; there is serenity.

There is no chaos; there is harmony.

There is no death; there is the Force.

After a brief moment of calming meditation, he rose to approach the large set of double doors that had a resolutely stone-faced guard stationed on either side, both of whom admirably did not flinch at approach of the human. Titus gave his name to the stallion operating as an orator for the evening and received instruction to wait for the end of announcement to enter before the orator ducked through the door and began his recital.

"Titus Marius Aelius-"

"Sir?" one of the guards at Titus' side spoke but remained unflinching, "Permission to speak freely, Sir?"

The orator could be heard continuing with the apparent list of titles fed to him by Princess Luna, "Honorable Knight of the Jedi Order of the land of Coruscant-"

"Uh," the human was caught unready by the sudden request, catching the guard's eye flutter to him before it lock back forward awaiting permission. "B-by all means, be at ease. Speak freely," he replied.

The other guard remained a statue save for one ear that rotated toward them. Meanwhile, the announcement still continued through the door, "Peacekeeper of the People of the Galactic Republic-"

"Thank you, Sir," the guard, a stocky earth pony, relaxed and turned his head to address Titus, "word around the barracks is that you fought a platoon of Honor Guard to a standstill."

With a sigh and a nod, Titus crossed his arms over his chest, "I'm just glad nobody was hurt. As I told your Captain, you and your comrades have my apologies, I was... in my fever I was reliving the loss of a mentor of many years; a wound reopened, if you will."

The earth pony guard was quiet for a moment as he studied the human's alien face, "I wouldn't worry about them holding anything against you, Sir. To be honest, they were pretty psyched up to see some action for a change, usually it's hours of sentry duty and the occasional routine patrol; it can get a bit dull around here - but don't tell the Captain I said that, he'd have us galloping laps around the outer wall all day."

"Thanks, that's a real relief to hear," Titus picked up that the orator was drawing to a close. He twisted his head slightly toward the guard as he made for the door, "What's your name, soldier?"

The earth pony came to attention out of habit, "Lieutenant Bulwark, Sir."

"You take care of yourself, Lieutenant," Titus gave the guard a nod before taking a deep breath and ducking through the door into the garden.

Day 4

Both knees dangled over the arm and one hand flopped on the floor as Titus sat, or, more appropriately, lazed sideways in the arm chair waiting for his royal friend to make her appearance. It's unlike Luna to be late. He rolled his head along the cushioned furniture supporting his neck until he could gaze upon the slow-moving hands of the clock on top of the book case. And very unlike her to be this late, though maybe something important came up. Perhaps the same thing that lead her to leave the party early last night. Titus' focus shifted from the clock to the group of MangaGuard droids standing motionless in one corner, the Marksman-H remotes lazily bobbing in the air beside them where they had been since he brought them out for practice shortly before Luna had planned to arrive. He had spent some time dueling with one of the droid's electrostaves, Master Krua having instructed him in their use but he never like the long weapons because they felt clunky and unresponsive compared to the much lighter saberstaff he had once used. I've done my opening regimen, but without my lightsabers I can't finish morning training.

He lost several more minutes watching the overhead fan spin for no other reason than it was something to look at. Titus was reluctant to go anywhere in the palace without Luna's escort, having no desire to be set upon by any of the ponies or creatures he had met last night at the garden party and not wanting another incident involving the Royal Guard thinking him a trespassing monster.

"Not that the party went poorly. No, quite the contrary," he told himself while floating the datapad over to spend a few more moments halfheartedly reading sensor data on the portal that he had transferred for Twilight before putting it down; the material itself incapable of holding his attention for any meaningful length of time. The ponies had been a bit snooty at first with a few snide or snarky remarks hidden behind elegant wording reaching his ears, but once one of them decided to break from the pack and talk to him he soon found himself at the center of a small circle turning this way and that in an attempt to keep up with the sudden volume of voiced interest or inquiry directed at him before Princess Celestia had stepped in to divert some attention away from the quickly-nearing overwhelmed human and giving him a chance to slip away to catch a breath and something to drink. And judging by the two guards I met last night I doubt I'd run into trouble if I went out.

Speaking of Princess Celestia, Luna did say I could seek her out if I needed anything. Titus entertained the thought of sending the remote drones off in search of either Princess but immediately thought better of it for the obvious reason of how startling it might be to a pony to bump into an unknown piece of floating alien technology. Coming to the conclusion that there was no alternative to braving an excursion from the room in search of answers - and, if his grumbling stomach was any indication, in search of food - Titus flipped himself over the arm of the chair and made for the bathroom to clean up, having no intention of potentially bumping into anyone in the post-workout mess he felt he was in and, much to his appreciation, he had discovered yesterday that the shower was just the right size for him. It shouldn't have come as a surprise as Luna had mentioned she had deliberately chosen a room furnished for beings such as Minotaur for him to stay in, however that still didn't explain why she had picked this room specifically - ones much closer to the infirmary had been available, Luna having pointed them out as they had worked their way to the literal opposite side of the palace and up many flights of stairs before she had given him the large silver key to the room he now called his own.

When he emerged from the bathroom he was surprised to see a sealed scroll bearing the mark of a moon in its wax waiting for him on the floor at his feet. "Hello, Luna?" he called out and searched about the room, the towel he had been roughly drying his hair with fell to his shoulders, "Are you here, Luna?" Leaving the scroll where it was and quickly walking through the bedchamber and into the main room, he scanned about for a visitor but found none, the only motion being the drapes of the open balcony door as they drifted in the cool early-morning breeze. While he continued to the balcony for any sign of entry he instructed the modified Marksman droid to retrieve the letter, the droid reappearing from the bedroom a few seconds later with the scroll in one of its fine pincer arms.

"Alright, let's see what this has to say-" just as Titus got his fingers on the paper, at the precise moment where he hadn't quite taken a good grip on it and the droid had released most of its own grip to facilitate transfer of the object, a strong gust of wind took the scroll over the railing to sail on a current up and away from him.

"Kriff!" he shouted as he cleared the distance to the balustrade in a single stride and, without a second thought, vaulted on top of it to propel himself like a shot off the balcony and into the open air after the fleeing parchment.

As a Youngling he had been terrified of extreme heights and had received a good bit of harsh teasing for it when his classmates had discovered as much on their first excursion out of the Jedi Temple and into the upper levels of Coruscant to practice Force leaping and controlled falls. Master Krua had been passing through the hallway and learned of his fear from overhearing the ribbing session; later pulling him aside she had told him that a Jedi could not afford to hold such fears and assured him that she could rid him of his phobia in a single trip to a luxury resort - but only if he was willing to make the effort.

Of course at that point all he knew about Master Krua was that she was considered a bit odd so he couldn't have foreseen luxury would not be a part of his trip.

He had held high hopes as they closed in on the floating cloud city and when they headed for the lower levels of the flying structure instead of the glitzy buildings gleaming at the apex of the dome he figured it was for the cheaper landing pad rentals. He had been extremely perplexed, however, when she had barged into his bunk to strap a set of climbing gear and a small repulsor pack onto him, handing him a grapple gun, a headset comlink and a locator and promptly marching him down the landing ramp to leave him clinging to the railing of one of the remote maintenance platforms, the ship pulling away as she shouted over the wind, "I booked a room for four nights, so the longer it takes for you to climb the less of a vacation you'll have. Oh, and the repulsor pack only has enough lift-power to slow your descent should you fall, so there'll be no flying out of this."

As the landing ramp retracted and the hatch closed, he had immediately raised her on the comlink, "Master Krua, please!" he had begged, barely able to keep his food down as the dizzying nothingness beneath the metal grating he was standing on clawed at his stomach, "I cannot do this!"

"'Cannot,' you say? No, little Youngling, you can. You want to be a Jedi so you will. Start. Climbing." He had almost felt the finger jab from Krua, who he could envision sitting in the cockpit and staring harshly through a view screen with her feet up on the console, a nonchalant shrug accompanying her statement as it had come through his headset, "Or you will not and simply stay on that platform until I return in four cycles time... in which case I will inform the council that you are unfit to become a Jedi and your training shall cease; you'll be sent back home to Alderaan as a wash out and your classmates will have been right about your all along. As I said in the Temple, your fear is a weakness unfitting a Jedi. The choice of your future is yours." With that the ship had banked away and left him stranded at the top of the long stalk that hung down below the floating city.

He had spent two nights suspended from the underside of the structure, blowing in the wind on his climbing harness like a banthan dingleberry and two and a half days of strenuously nerve-racking climbing before - fingers, knees and elbows all a bloody mess - he finally pulled himself over the railing of the balcony of the room Master Krua had booked, landing on the floor in an exhausted heap to find her standing in the door waiting for him with bacta gel and patches in hand.

"I choose to be a Jedi," he had said.

"As I thought you would; my faith in you was not ill placed. Come, let's get you cleaned up," she had said, her deadpan expression held as she continued, "I decided to waste a few extra credits on the suite with the glass flooring, I trust you won't mind, my Padawan."

The memory had only lasted a flash of an instant, though he realized that that experience was probably why he currently found himself rocketing through the air after a piece of parchment several hundred feet in the air with no qualms about his safety. Thanks to the Force-assisted leap he had made his fingers were soon wrapping around the scroll and jamming it securely into his tunic so that his attention could turn to slowing his fall; sooner rather than later. Recounting his training he knew that to slow his fall from a height like this required two steps; the first was to pull as much of the air around himself into a high-pressure pillow to help cushion his landing, and for the second he had to essentially Force Push himself away from the fast-approaching ground while maintaining the pillow beneath himself.

Despite slowing his descent Titus still hit the grassy knoll of the garden hard enough that he needed to break his fall and felt a slight strain in his shoulder as he made a forward roll. Pushing himself to his feet, he tested his limb's range of motion and was mid-way through a sigh of relief when the sound of porcelain clinking together to one side caught his attention. Turning about, Titus found himself in the presence of Princess Celestia, who was seated at a white wrought iron table enjoying what smelled like fresh-brewed tea.

"Ah, how nice of you to drop in, Mr. Aelius," she greeted him, pausing to bring the tea cup to her muzzle for a refined sip, "Luna made mentioned of your spontaneity, though she never conveyed it was to this magnitude. I can certainly see why she enjoys your lively company."

Titus wasn't entirely sure what to make of the situation or how to proceed. Here, sipping tea and enjoying breakfast, was the co-ruler of Equestria casually greeting him like he had simply walked through a door when he had quite literally fallen from the sky in front of her. After a lengthy pause he managed a nervous chuckle, "J-just out to get the mail, Your Highness," Titus slowly brought the scroll from his tunic; he didn't need to be Force-sensitive to feel the unseen unicorns aiming their magics at him - ready to blast him with kark knows what should he try anything. Not wanting to stir up any tension he took a deep bow and made to depart, "My apologies for interrupting-"

"It is hardly an intrusion as I find myself in the absence of the regular company of my dearest little sister. Perhaps you would join me for some morning tea and partake of a scone in her stead?" A set of fine chinaware magically set itself on one side of the table and a guard - a unicorn, as he had thought - appeared to set an additional chair beside the table, the Princess expectantly floating a scone to the empty plate. After the human had taken his seat she continued, pouring him a cup of swirling grey tea as she did so, "You took a small tumble in your landing, will you be alright?"

"Um," Titus carefully rolled the arm in its socket experimentally, having to stop at one point as he felt it begin to lock up. I must have landed harder than I thought. With a grunt he massaged his shoulder as he looked up to search for his balcony, "I thought I'd have a bit more room to slow down, though apparently I miscalculated. With a little stretching and a warm compress I'll be good as new; your concern is appreciated, Princess-" A letter similar to the one he had still tucked in his tunic was set to one side of the Princess, prompting him to break the seal on his own scroll to read it.

When he looked up from the parchment the alicorn had apparently been waiting for him to finish. "I would imagine your letter conveys a message similar to the one I received shortly before your arrival," a nibble of a buttered scone gave the comment a small pause, the Princess clearing her palate with another sip of tea before continuing, "it would appear Luna is feeling a bit under the weather and has sought a reprieve from court duty. I had thought it was to spend more time with you while you were here, however," her eyes fell down to the letter in the human's hands before returning to his, "seeing you in possession of a letter as well it would seem my assumption was incorrect."

Titus took a bite of his own scone, halting mid-chew and breathing slowly in contemplation as the delicious crumbly cake overwhelmed his senses. He must have made an amusing face because a warm laugh from the other side of the table broke him from his momentary stupor, "S-sorry, but of what I've been able to eat Equestrian cuisine is just... wow," a mouthful of the tea proved to have a similar effect and he found it hard to put into words what he was experiencing when the Princess asked, his stumbling explanation garnishing another laugh, "everything in the stores on my ship pales in comparison." Then again Nutripaste isn't exactly known for its flavor.

Another scone of a different flavor found itself floated onto the plate, followed by another once he had analyzed that one as Princess Celestia repeatedly restocked Titus' dish and supplied him with various jams and other preserves in what he quickly came to realize was an attempt to elicit more reactions but the flavors she was assaulting him with were too rich for him to resist trying the next until he could eat no more, finally pushing his plate away and holding up his index and middle finger in a sign of surrender, "Mercy, Highness, I have met my limit." Truth be told if he thought he could eat another scone he would have, however at the moment Titus was afraid that even reaching to select a new variety he might burst at the seams.

"Oh, very well," the jams and scones he had yet to try floated back down to the platter, "I fear the games usually reserved for our sister were subconsciously consigned to you in her absence, Mr. Aelius. Please forgive this old mare for her oversight."

"'Old,' Your Majesty?" Titus looked at the Princess a bit skeptically; he knew she was well over a thousand years old just from the time she had had to raise both sun and moon by herself but she certainly showed no signs of her age, "You are only as old as you feel and judging from your exuberance this morning I'd say you're just hitting your prime."

Titus' ears tingled at the melodic belly laugh that graced the table, Princess Celestia somehow capable of making each laugh warmer than the last, "O-ho! Mr. Aelius, would you be attempting to flatter me?"

"Hardly, Princess - flattery implies an empty compliment," he replied before finishing the warm tea still in his cup, "I meant every word."

Princess Celestia laughed again and nodded her thanks before pushing her seat back, "And speaking of emptiness; as the griffons are proving to be rather obstinate in our negotiations I must once again get an early start on my schedule," she said, finishing the last few crumbs on her plate while looking rather weary at the prospect of more fruitless sessions of bickering filling her day.

"It's unfortunate they're being held on such a short leash, if you'll pardon the term," having thrown etiquette to the wind after witnessing the Princess licking her dish (which, as it turns out, is a perfectly acceptable thing to do in Equestria), Titus pressing a finger into each of the scrumptious bits of scone still remaining so nothing went to waste, depositing the food in his mouth, "I'm not privy to what's been discussed at the negotiations so correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I learned at the party last night the King has instructed the representatives not to lose the river to a border adjustment because his minister of agriculture is warning of a poor fishing season, which they've also been told to keep under wraps until further into the next quarter when a new, more accurate prediction can be drawn up."

A lone blueberry survivor of the scone massacre caught his eye and reaching in he plucked it up in two fingers, occupying his attention as the Princess' face slowly fell into one of astonishment, "I was also able to pick up that the reason they haven't spoken of it is that they're worried the early prediction of a poor season would be made public and cause disruption in the industry that so much of their economy is built upon; an economy that is currently recovering from a recession, if I'm remembering one of Twilight's lectures correctly. Anyway, in addition to that: if the border is adjusted their local holdings will lose a source of food; one of the delegates quoted it as 'in season, it's the highest salmon-producing river in the area' and she also said the other Providences don't produce enough of an excess to carry the burden if the border is moved under the current rendition of the-" he was completely absorbed in relishing the taste of the blueberry morsel when his inflection was interrupted as he felt himself engulfed in hooves.

"Mr. Aelius, you are truly a gift!" Princess Celestia couldn't contain her excitement at the headway the new information heralded, giving the writhing human squeezes of appreciation without realizing he had already started turning the same shade as the blueberry he had eaten, "This explains their steadfast resistance to our proposals and refusal to give reasoning. Perhaps with this information we can discreetly barter a deal for free-fishing rights for the locals!"

"*Ah-Gak!*" his only way of communicating his distress was to rapidly tap an open palm against her barrel as each "little" alicorn-sized squeeze worked the air further out of his lungs; the Princess only becoming aware of his plight when he didn't answer her query as to how he had come by the information. After taking a few breaths to regain his color, he pointed to an ear, "A lot of my features are often underestimated; despite how flat and stationary our ears are you might be surprised how acute human hearing is, though I might have used the Force to heighten it a bit after picking up a word or two of interest. Of course, I wouldn't have overheard anything if you hadn't extricated me from that circle of ponies moments before."

Heightened his hearing? But the gardens were under a magic-dampening field... Apologizing again for the forwardness of her embrace, the Princess bowed her head as she bid her farewell, "I'd better bring this to the cabinet so we can draft a new measure before the session starts, and I may yet get a decent night's sleep this week if this all plays out. Mr. Aelius, I can't begin to thank you enough for this."

Grabbing the clean plate from the extra spot that had been set out, Titus placed three scones on it and scraped an assortment of jams along the rim. Turning to face the Princess, he gave a small grin and held the plate up, "Letting me take this up to Luna would be a good start."

After approving of the idea and watching the human happily stride off in that awkwardly fluid manner that his two legs carried him, Celestia noticed a small folded parchment under the table. Grabbing it in her magic before it blew off, she opened the small note that that she concluded must have dropped out of one of their scrolls without their notice. Hmm, her brow furrowed before she she bit her lower lip, holding on for several more seconds until she snorted and another hearty laugh bordering on a guffaw broke across the garden, Poor Lulu, this having to be her first experience in over a thousand years. I'll certainly have to check in on her later.

Titus felt a bit foolish that he had not realized the a large set of doors that lay around the corner from his room led to the vestibule before Luna's own quarters; his shock at their proximity was only exceeded by Princess Celestia's when he had asked directions for where to bring the scones. In his defense, however, all he'd seen of the palace was the gardens, the infirmary, and a few hallways; the layout of Canterlot outside the castle wall was a complete mystery to him.

Rounding the corner he was immediately met with the piercing glares of a pair of Honor Guard, scanning over the odd biped to assess what sort of level of threat factor he posed. "Good morning," he greeted both with a cheerful smile but their expressions remained unchanged. He hadn't seen ponies like this before, their wings were leathery rather than feathered; their ears and eyes were different too.

"Luna was going to attend Princess Celestia's breakfast but missed it, so I've brought her a small sample of scones and jam," it must have been his referral to the Lunar Princess in such a familiar fashion that got the most minute twitch of an eyebrow from what looked to be the younger of the guards.

"Sir," the non-twitching one of them replied with a nod, Titus noticing a scar on the outside of one of his ears as he pushed open the humongous door with the steady pressure of a single hind leg, "Princess Celestia alerted us to your imminent arrival."

Word certainly does travel quickly, though I wonder how they do it without comlinks. Must be magic. But how would earth ponies and pegasi...? He nodded his thanks to both guards as they fell in behind him. Titus worked his way down the structurally-identical hallway, though the decor of this one featuring darker tones of blues and motifs of moons and stars in honor of the alicorn that resided at the end of the stretch of corridor behind the doors of ornate dark black stone embellished with gold trimming - one of them marred by a large crack that ran diagonally across it. Wordlessly the two guards moved to either side of the doors, pushing them open and waiting for him to cross the threshold before closing both massive slabs behind him.

He tentatively took a step further into the room, unable to stop himself from giving a short whistle at the scope of the area. Quarters befitting a Princess, that's for sure. Quite possibly the most luxurious sofa he had ever seen was nestled in one corner facing a large screen that sat atop a cabinet of some sort, the shelves lined with numerous spines of what looked like small books and a single cable ran from one alcove containing a boxy piece of technology to end in a much smaller device. His interest in them was diverted when at the end of his whistle he heard the sound of cloth rustling. He decided it would be a good idea to make his presence known rather than stumble in blindly and potentially startle her, "Luna? It's me, Titus."

Hearing a small noise from an open door Titus moved a bit closer and, realizing it was the bedroom, knocked on the wall outside the doorway out of courtesy, "I got your letter and thought you might be hungry, so I brought scones and jam from the breakfast with your sister."

"...go away..."

"Oh, um... alright," he took a step away as the rustling moved closer from somewhere around the corner, "Sorry you're not feeling good. Just let me know where to put these and I'll be on my way-" A form concealed under a bundle of bed covers was suddenly in front of him, only a tiny portion of muzzle poking out from the impromptu hood that was draped over the entirety of her face; he noticed something about her fur was different.

"Thou art 'sorry'? The fault lies with thee for how we feel!" she spat through her teeth as she levitated a pillow from the bed and hurled it at him with excessive force.

Titus reflexively dodged the missile. "Luna, I'm sorry. What did I-" he started as he briefly followed the cushion's flight across the room, turning back to find what little he could see of the Princess was quivering. Shit. I'd probably have been better off not avoiding that.

"Cease apologizing and make haste in removing thine self from our sight!"

He made sure to take the second pillow square to the face, though he hadn't expected the strength the Princess would put behind it and he reeled back a step as stars exploded in the corners of his eyes. Turns out cloud pillows can still hurt if thrown hard enough.

"Thou can disappear for all we care! And take thine breakfast with you, just... Begone!"

The platter of scones and jam fell to the floor and shattered as the power of the Royal Voice sent him off his feet, flinging him against the wall that was a fair distance behind him. He remained where he landed, in a seated position with thorough confusion written on his face as he stared at the bundle that glared back before she collapsed into a sobbing heap of blankets in the bedroom door. What is going on?

The guards hooked a leg under each of his arms and dragged him out into the hallway, none of them catching the whimpered "W-wait..." as it was muffled to silence by the covers.

"Sir, I think you'd better go," the one with the scar said, closing the cracked door and breathing a sigh of relief.

"Listen to the old-timer," the other guard said, getting a sock to the shoulder for his quip before he hauled the human to his feet, "Whatever you did you got off lightly, from the sound of things." As his comrade closed the outer set of doors behind them he instructed the human to remain in his quarters until his statement could be taken when they got off their shift.

The short walk back to his room ended up taking much longer than it should have as Titus had to find the motivation to put each foot in front of the other instead of stopping in the middle of the hallway and going over everything that had happened. After a brief meander resulting in his getting lost down a side corridor, Titus finally arrived at his door and, expecting to just slip inside to quietly think over what he could have done to anger Luna in one of the comfortable armchairs, instead found the door securely locked. Patting his pockets in search of his key proved fruitless as he realized the key must still be on the nightstand next the bed where he had left it before his morning shower. Kark! He emphasized the expletive by hammering a fist into the door once before his head sank to join the fist in resting on the heavy wood planks and sinking to his knees at the threshold, "What did I do? What?"

"Uh, Sir? Is everything alright?"

Turning slightly to catch a glimpse of the pony behind him and upon recognizing the face from last night Titus flipped himself around so his back was at the door, "I don't know, Lieutenant. I made a mistake somewhere and-" he stopped himself, realizing the guard probably had more important things to do or, more likely, wouldn't want to sit here listening to him try to work this out. He tried giving the Lieutenant a way out should he want it, "I'm not distracting you from duty, am I?"

The guard shrugged, "Technically I am on duty, Sir, but while on patrol I'm charged with helping the palace inhabitants and you looked like you needed a hoof with something," Lieutenant Bulwark seated himself in the empty hallway with the clearly distressed alien, "How may I assist you, Sir?"

"Well, for starters," Titus used a hand to push the hair that had fallen in his face back to its usual position, "you can stop calling me 'Sir,' Titus is fine. I was a General back home but here in Equestria I'm a civilian, not your superior officer... nor am I so old that I warrant the title." He hit the back of his head lightly against the door which ended up being an error of judgement as it was still sore from when he had impacted the wall in Luna's room - he grit his teeth in response to the spike that worked its way down his spine and through his vision. Where did I mess up?

"Okay, sure," the earth pony looked a bit confused, "but just so you know here in Equestria being a Knight comes with the title of 'Sir.' I'm assuming that's not the case where you're from, but with both Princesses confirming your status as such at the party it's gotten out and into all of the papers."

It felt sort of odd that this guard was acting so relaxed when every other he had encountered was stiff, and he could tell they hadn't just been acting on military protocol, "Breaking station last night at the party and now helping me out of the blue like this. What's your deal?"

Another shrug, "One of my mares has a cousin that lives in Ponyville that's been sending her pictures of you because none of of the major papers'll buy 'em and in comparison to what's in circulation all the time it doesn't look like you're getting a fair rep. Not to me or my herd, at least, so with a little help from that cousin we started up the Human-Watcher chapter of Canterlot," he pulled a small pendant out of his uniform, a silver relief of a five-fingered hand set against the gold, "I guess I got lucky to draw guard duty last night and when saw you I figured it was my opportunity to speak up and show support."

To think Lyra's little group has spread this far and this quickly. "Thanks, that actually means a lot to know there's some friendly faces out there," he reached a hand out and the two shared a hand-hoof shake.

"So, what can I help you with, Titus?" the Lieutenant asked once again, "If you've locked yourself out of your room, I can fetch a pegasus to fly to your balcony to unlock your door or a unicorn to teleport you-"

"No. No teleporting, thanks; I'd prefer to leave that to the sci-fi novels. Give me a moment and I can get the key myself," looking at the gap between the floor and the bottom of the door it didn't look like the key would fit under. Another idea of how to unbar the latch began to paint itself in his imagination, "and if not the key, I'll figure a way to get this unlocked." The key was on the other side of the door, around the corner, and through the closed bedroom door; which would have proven to be a challenge manifesting the Force to pull the key from there with all the obstacles and no line of sight. The comlink, however, is right were I left it in the bag in the entryway. With a deep exhale Titus placed an open hand on the door and closed his eyes to better envision every detail of the hallway and honed in on exactly which pocket of his bag his target was in; he waited a moment before calling the communicator to him, the device wiggling sightly as it fought against the fabric of the bag.

Not entirely sure what the human was up to, Bulwark's ears rotated further forward at a noise on the other side of the door, "Something's moved in there."

Titus was well aware of that fact. Come on now, easy does it. He had to be careful here, too much strength in the pull would cause the comlink to fly out of the pocket and smash into the other side of the door or pull the whole bag with it; not enough and it wouldn't have enough force to escape the flap of the bag. His fingers brushed over the grain of the wooden door, each motion of a finger lightly coaxing the device in another direction and closer to its intended goal. One such twitch of the finger found the comlink free and skidding along the carpet of the entryway under the tiny gap, "Ha! Gotcha!" He issued a command into the device and a few seconds later the bolt could be heard sliding into the unlocked position.

"Come on in," he invited, lightly pushing the MagnaGuard that had opened the door back against the wall to allow them space to pass, "I'd rather think this over in a comfortable chair than out on the cold stone floor of the hallway," Titus grabbed a cup from the bar and, after asking the pony if he'd like a drink, poured himself an ice-cold glass of water as he strode to the armchair, flopping down and lounging out with one knee over the arm and his back wedged between the other and the back.

Lieutenant Bulwark skirted around the droid in the doorway as its steely gaze locked with his all the way to the sitting area where he joined the human, stopping for a moment when the three other bipedal machines standing at attention and the hovering remote drones came into view, "You certainly have quite the entourage in here." When Titus didn't respond Bulwark realized he looked lost in thought, absentmindedly swishing the water in circles in his glass so he took a seat and waited for a moment he could speak, "You can talk to me in confidence, if that's what is causing you pause. Guard's Oath, I won't speak of it to any," he held up a hoof solemnly.

"It's um..." Titus started, pinching the bridge of his nose for several seconds as he thought how to best tactfully proceed, "I've got a friend who's not feeling well, so I brought what I thought was a nice breakfast up to them only to get quite literally shouted at and thrown out of the room." He recounted the short conversation he and Luna had had, discreetly changing her lines so her way of speaking wouldn't make it obvious to Bulwark who it was.

The guard waited for him to continue, but no further information came. "Well, what sparked it all?"

"That's the thing, I don't know what I did." By the way he finished his drink in a single gulp it was clear to his company that he was frustrated. She ducked out of the party early while I was being accosted with questions. Is that when she started not feeling well? Did I miss some discreet signal from her there?

They both sat in silence and stewed on their thoughts for a while until Bulwark spoke up, "Speaking stallion to stallion, and I'm just assuming you're dealing with a mare here... unless you're into stallions; in which case I won't judge-" even cross-species the expression the human gave made it clear that wasn't the case, "Right, sorry. I know it's a stereotype, but mares are supposed to be the strong ones that get physical since that's just how their gender is socially constructed; they tend to act before thinking things through. We stallions have more sense," he tipped his head before adding, "supposedly. Look, what I'm saying is if my herd is anything to go by sometimes it's something you didn't do or say that sets them off."

When Titus asked about his herd the pony brightened and couldn't stop grinning, "Somehow a lug like me's got the best pair of mares waiting when I come home. Got a young'un on the way, too." Despite being on duty, he didn't turn down the congratulatory drink when the human jumped up and walked to the bar to pour a two shots of dark amber liquid, both of them hissing through gritted teeth at the strong alcohol after the guard's toast of "Praise the Sun! Praise the Moon!"

The taps of their glasses on the table was accompanied by a knock on the door.

It's nearing lunch time. Luna's guards must have gotten relieved and come to take my statement. "Coming!" Titus chugged a glass of water before heading for the door; a second rap sounded as he reached for the handle, "Hey guys, could we do this a bit later-" He cut himself off when he found it wasn't the guards that had been knocking on his door.

"O-oh, Princess Celestia..." Titus was caught unprepared and stumbled over what he should do, meanwhile Bulwark jumped to attention and made a snappy salute. With not enough room to stand aside on account of the MagnaGuard behind him he snapped his fingers at it and pointed; the droid obediently moved deeper into the chamber to join the others, "Please, Princess, come in, I was just congratulating Lt. Bulwark on becoming a father."

"Congratulations are most certainly due; you and your herd must be very excited. If you would like time off to spend with your family please do not hesitate to ask as I will arrange for it myself," the Princess acknowledged the salute so the guard could be at ease then turned her attention to the human as she walked around him into the room, "My apologies Mr. Aelius, I was unaware you had company. Is now a good time to talk?"

"Thank you both for the well wishes, I'll be sure to pass them on. I'll leave you - I should probably be getting back on patrol now anyway," Bulwark stated, heading for the door once Princess Celestia had moved into the room so as not to crowd her. "Titus, just keep what I said in mind," he gave a final salute to the Princess before closing the door behind him.

Celestia watched the soon-to-be father leave, giving him another bow of her head at his salute and waited for a few seconds silence to pass between herself and the human before speaking, "I wanted to thank you again for the information you provided as it has given me a break in my afternoon; this marks the first occasion that the Griffons have asked for some time to confer with their King about the renditions." She sauntered over and lay herself on the chaise, a look of concern coming to her face as she arranged herself on the lone pillow, "After the break in the summit meeting I went to go spend some sisterly time with Luna, however I found she had locked herself in her bedchamber and refused to come out; instead speaking to me through the door. After questioning her guards - both of whom where unable to provide a clear account of the event - I made my way here to gather what you have to say."

Titus returned to his seat in the armchair, sitting more normally than he had in the presence of the Lieutenant with one leg propped up on his knee. "I'm sorry, Princess, but I'm not really sure what happened myself," he said, shaking his head lightly before leaning on one elbow and resting his head in a hand to verbally go over everything he could remember, "and all morning I've been trying to think of what I could have done to anger her but I keep drawing a blank. Did she... say anything?"

"I do not want to speak where it is not my place," Celestia offered, still unsure for whom the small note she had found at breakfast was for and attempting to find a balance between tactfulness toward her sister and alleviation of the human's worry, "but I will say that I hadn't expected her to be this stressed and out of sorts sharing in Twilight Sparkle's estrous cycle or I would have accompanied you this morning, so please try not to hold any resentment toward her. If I may ask, what was it that Lieutenant Bulwark wanted you to keep in mind?"

Titus quoted the guard, leaving out the bit about mares not thinking things through. He looked to the Princess hopefully, "In your opinion, what should I do here? What advice do you have?"

A little bit of warmth returned as the concerned lines faded from Celestia's face and the corners of her mouth edged their way up her face slightly, "You assisted me with information, now I shall repay the favor." She elegantly dismounted the lounge and walked for the door, looking over her shoulder at Titus as she did so, "Come with me." The Princess lead the human through the palace, neither one speaking as they zigzagged their way across a maze of corridors, through several rooms, and down countless number of stairs until they stood before a door and the alicorn princess turned to face Titus, "Welcome to one of our kitchens. I imagine my little sister is growing a bit peckish having missed breakfast and, with my guidance, you will create a brunch consisting of her favorite sandwiches-"

Titus, eager to get started, was pushing the door open before she had finished, "Just tell me what I have to do, Princess." Ignoring the odd stares of the kitchen staff at the intrusion of the famed alien into their domain, he went about following the recipe Princess Celestia recited from memory. The staff's attitude quickly changed to one of muted admiration of his ability to multitask; settling on two ciabatta buns from the available stock he grabbed a knife and sliced the buns in half, drizzling a generous amount of olive oil over the exposed flesh of the bread before sticking them in a heated oven to broil. While he waited for the bread to finish he dashed about the kitchen collecting the sprouts, baby kale, lettuce, arugula, and tomatoes - getting aid in the form of pointed hooves or nods of a muzzle in the direction of what he was looking for. Slicing the avocado and tomatoes, he stopped midway through to pull the bread out of the oven once it had gone perfectly golden brown, promptly spreading cheese over it before continuing with the slicing to add the two main ingredients on, placing the rest of the greens on top of that. A sprinkle of freshly-ground black pepper and the other half of the bun held together by a toothpick topped the whole thing off; the human maneuvered the two small sandwiches to a serving platter to the hoof-stomping applause of several impressed chefs as he placed a silver cover over the meal. With a nod of approval Celestia once again lead the way and the pair soon found themselves coming up on the corner that lead to the outer doors of Luna's chambers.

Celestia halted before the door and turned to Titus, "Before we enter, I should warn you maintaining the spell has proven taxing on Luna's powers; however do not let her appearance alarm you, Mr. Aelius." She magicked the doors open when he nodded his understanding.

Once both doors swung completely open, Titus immediately began to feel a knot in his stomach as they approached the black and gold doors he had been dragged through earlier that morning. I hope these little sandwiches are enough to convince her to hear me out. He didn't get a chance to collect his thoughts as the Princess continued forward, rapping a hoof on the door and not waiting for an invitation to walk in, leaving Titus out in the hall before he felt himself dragged in by an aura of yellow magic that gripped him at the belt.

"Tia, is that you?" a call came from the door of the bedroom, "You were gone for quite a while; h-how fares he?"

"He has been pained by it all morning," Celestia replied factually to the door, holding a hoof up to quiet Titus when he looked like he was going to speak in protest. Several moments of aching silence passed before she spoke again, "though perhaps you should extricate yourself from your bedchamber to talk with him yourself, seeing as he's standing here waiting for you."

"What?! You brought... he's here?" the door cracked open slightly for the blanket hood to peak out for confirmation before ducking back inside, "I-I was not prepared for this!"

"Luna, recall our earlier conversation-" Celestia took a step closer to the door though she was having a hard time concealing the exasperation she felt in her voice. It had been a rough couple of days with very few openings in her schedule for relaxation and, as much as she was willing to help her sister, she still wanted to use what little time she had left of her break for a nice nap or hot bath. Or both, preferably.

"Mayhaps we may speak through the door?"

While Titus was happy just to hear she was willing to speak to him the sound of the bolt sliding into place was the final straw for the weary elder sister. "Alright, that does it! Mr. Aelius, wait right here a moment," Princess Celestia pointed a hoof at his feet an instant before disappearing in a flash of golden light. Shortly after the sounds of a struggle could be heard on the other side of the door; thumps of furniture being knocked about, a minor shouting match - muted by the thick wall and heavy door which bent outward toward him with the strength of their battling Royal Voices - and the piercing shatter of something rather expensive-sounding indicated the ending of the scuffle as the door flew open and a bundle of squirming and protesting covers was held aloft in an aura of shimmering yellow magic to be deposited in a rather unceremonious fashion before the bewildered Titus.

"Now then, Luna," Celestia, breathing a bit hard, cut an imposing figure as she loomed over the small heap draped under the blankets, "You requested I assist you in making amends and I will not let you waffle when presented the opportunity... and for crying out loud take this mess off, you're not suffering from a deformity!"

Titus watched as a quick yank of the covers revealed the Princess lying on the floor though he did a quick double take at the significant change that she had undergone. He folded himself down to balance on the balls of his feet on account of her smaller size to try and make contact with the cyan eyes hiding behind an azure mane, her hair no longer the flowing ethereal spectrum of blues it normally was and laying flat against the grayed-out blue of her coat, "L-Luna?" He thought about what to say for a moment but couldn't come to a decision, instead just awkwardly offering the covered platter he had brought and with a small flourish he lifted the silver lid to reveal the sandwiches, "Your sister said you might be hungry and, um... suggested I make something special as a sign of apology." He was feeling a bit uncomfortable being under the watchful eye of Celestia as the scene reminded him of a teacher watching over two children who had gotten in a fight and were being forced to apologize to each other - not that he was forcing himself but with a third party it just felt... weird.

The enticing smell of freshly-cut avocado and the contrasting sharpness of cheese reaching her nose caused her nostrils to flair lightly, "I-It is we that should be forming words of apology to you, friend. We value your friendship yet we... we spurned your cordial offering of thoughtful breakfast and amiable company and raised our voice to unacceptable levels in our unfounded anger brought about by unreleased stress. Y-you hath no reason to offer apologies-"

"No, I do have a reason," he cut her off, putting the platter down to rest both elbows on his knees and cup his hands together, "You've done nothing but be accommodating toward me since you cast that spell to help Twilight and as your 'reward'-" Titus made air quotes with his fingers, hoping the gesture would convey it meant the complete opposite of the definition of the word, "-has been having to suffer through this cycle-sharing ordeal. Luna, I-I'm sorry; as a friend I should have noticed how tough it's been for you and I should have helped ease that stress." It wasn't until the small blue alicorn started blushing that he did the mental math of what Equestrians thought was insinuated when the words "estrous cycle" and "helping ease that stress" were spoken by a stallion.

Titus developed his own blush as he stammered an incoherent clarification to Luna who, at the same time, tried to explain that that wasn't what she had meant by "amiable company"; leaving Princess Celestia to giggle at their combined fumblings, "Oh sister, you were right! With no fur he does go an amusing shade of red!"

"Your facilitation of our meeting is appreciated, Tia," seeing her friend's ears burn the same color as his face Luna ground her teeth to keep from doing something more potentially stupid than what she was about to, given her weakened state, "however your continued presence is no longer necessary as it is pernicious to our reconciliation."

There was a flash of deep blue light and, mid-laugh, Princess Celestia suddenly found herself in the garden and had to quickly extend her wings to keep from plummeting into an offshoot of the palace moat. For a moment she thought about blinking back up to the balcony but the opportunity to soak in a warm bubbly tub was too good to pass up, "Very well, Lu, I shall give you two a reprieve," she said to herself as she glided to the soft grass without breaking her usual calmly-collected appearance despite her unplanned change of location. But only because this will prove to be more than enough content for a future ribbing.

Meanwhile, back up in the room, Luna gave a deep sigh of relief, "Much. Better." She leaned closer to the platter for another whiff of the sandwiches that were growing more appealing by the second, "These smell delicious, would you be opposed to keeping me company for lunch?"

Titus didn't say anything for a brief second, waiting for the Solar Princess to teleport back and turn the chamber into an absolute warzone. When nothing happened, he finally responded, "Not at all, if you'd have me-" he stopped, a bit worried with how she struggled to push her small frame to her hooves.

Luna caught the look and did her best to make her slump back to the floor appear intentional. As she called to her magic to blink to the couch, her horn glowed for a brief second before the aura sputtered out in a shower of sparks, "I will be alright with a little rest, though in my frustration with my sister I may have... underestimated how strenuous it would be teleport her to the garden like that." She hesitated when Titus offered to help her to the couch though eventually the beckoning comfort outweighed her trepidation and she accepted, watching a bit nervously as slid up along side her on his knees.

"Okay..." as nervous as Luna looked, Titus was almost sweating blaster bolts as he tried to figure out how he was supposed to do this, "I'll just, um... get an arm under your chest to help get you off the floor, if that's alright?" He slowly inched his way closer scoot by scoot. Twilight was alright with me touching her chest and forelegs, so there's no reason that shouldn't be the same here, right?

A bit of irritation, mostly with herself and how she needed help with something as simple as standing coupled with a lack of sleep, crept into Luna's voice as she lashed out at Titus before she could stop herself, "It shouldn't require that much thought to help get me to the couch-!" As soon as she heard what she had said her ears flattened back and her head dipped; the nervous smile that had been on his face disappearing into a slight frown as both arms fell to his sides limply. "I-I apolog-"

"Right!"

"Eeep!" Luna let out a small squeak as the human leaned over her, both arms going out wide to wrap around her and shortly after squeeze her into a strong bear-like hug as she felt herself being lifted from the floor, her legs dangling beneath her and her wings pinned to her sides as she squirmed about helplessly. "W-what art thou doing?! Put us down this instant!"

"First you order me to get you to the sofa and now that I am you tell me to put you down," he replied through gritted teeth, the alicorn proving to be a bit cumbersome to carry as she writhed about in protest, "Excuse me, Princess, but make up your damn mind!" A few steps later he was placing her on the cushion and rounding on a heel to retrieve the platter of lunch.

Now comfortably atop a blanket on the couch, Luna watched him bend over and retrieve the platter, a few strides more carrying him back as he flopped down beside her. She looked at Titus sheepishly as he placed the dish on the coffee table and leaned into the cushion behind him, "Apologies again for snapping at you, friend; a lack of sleep and distaste for my current form has worn my temper thin. Constantly maintaining the spell has proven to be quite a drain as evident by the weakened appearance you must look upon now."

Titus' brow furrowed as he looked the Princess over from horn to hoof, causing her to squirm under his scrutinizing gaze. Not finding what she found distasteful he shrugged, "I don't see what you're talking about; you're still the same Luna that arranges those beautiful night skies and brought me back from my fevered delusion before I got hauled off to some dungeon cell. As long as that stays true I don't care what form you take."

Luna, feeling a bit better at his kind words, gave an appreciative smile before staring at the sandwich she was keeping levitated and spoke softly, "This was my restored form when the Element Bearers defeated Nightmare Moon. While I am grateful to have been given a second chance I do not want my subjects to see me weak again nor remind them of what I had fallen to."

"Which is why I'm here as your friend and not a subject." Titus watched a small bite disappear and when she opened her mouth he thought she might respond but instead she took a larger bite of sandwich, prompting him continue speaking, "So, what can I do to make you feel better?"

Tired as she was she had given up on expending energy to keep her wings at her side; instead they hung down limply at her sides partially spread in their relaxed state and, in her hurry to finish her mouthful to respond, she didn't notice the small amount of cheese spread slowly ooze down the side of the bread bun and drip down her fur onto her plumage, "Friendly company would be grand; i-if your afternoon is free there was a TV series I was going to watch, perhaps you would be willing to stay for that?"

Looking from the large screen that loomed before him then back at his friend Titus gave a nod while taking notice of the escaping cheese. "Looks like you're losing a bit there," a quick and fruitless search for a napkin fulminated in a finger sweeping in to wipe up the dribble before it traveled further or soaked in and dried. "W-ow! That is too rich," he added through a puckered face once the finger had left his mouth, the spread having been far too flavorful for his enjoyment.

Luna smiled around another scrumptious bite as he chugged several glasses of water to cleanse his mouth. Upon finding herself unable to conjure an additional field with which to wield both a sandwich and a remote, her instructions guided Titus to locate the device to remotely turn the television on. He slowly flipped through the channels until the screen went black, "I, uh..." he froze, holding the remote out toward her for assistance, "I think I pushed the wrong button." A small giggle visibly eased him of that worry.

Astounding; all that space-faring technology and he fumbles with a simple TV remote. "No, it's just on the input channel now, which is where we want it." Luna enjoyed the next few moments directing him about the entertainment system, "See that large box? The one with the horizontal slot on the second shelf next to those thin alphabetically-organized boxes?" She indicated toward the piece of technology that had caught his attention that morning, "Turn that on by pushing the button- no, a little to your left. Yes, there! That button. Now, there should be a cord coming out of the bottom corner of the box. Follow that to the controller, which is a weirdly-shaped thing we'll need to-meep!" she gave another squeak as something under her, close to the dock of her tail, moved.

"Hmm, quite the conundrum," he had trailed the cord as it wound from the gaming console, across the coffee table, and directly into the blanket she was lying on. Luna, clearly in no mood to attempt standing up again, squirmed about to try to get her weight off of the controller as he gave light tugs on the cord; eventually the alicorn huffed in exasperation and propped herself up, allowing Titus to snake an arm into the blanket to grab the controller that they had realized must be stuck between the cushions; device finally in-hand they flopped back down on the couch in unison as the TV came to life with a small series of musical notes.

Titus spent the rest of the afternoon and part of the evening on the couch, indulging in an almost-endless marathon of Equestrian television and trying his hand at several of Luna's favorite video games.

Day 5

"Titus, friend, are you sure you can make this work?" Luna, sitting on the couch next to her sister, watched intently over the human's shoulder as he sat with legs crossed like a pretzel (a position both sisters had commented looked uncomfortable) on the floor fiddling with the remote droid as he had been for the last quarter hour.

"Mmm," he hummed, concentrating on the alterations that required the most delicate and precise movements of his soldering pen. After several light touches to the electronic chip, he set it aside to turn his attention to the interface visor that fed him the information he needed to re-code lines of data for the computer. "As soon as we rig the model to your skeleton no one should be able to tell a differ-kark it all," he swore as the test run of the program returned with an error popping up on his visor screen.

"The sooner you stop asking him for updates," Princess Celestia chided, returning from the balcony where she had been lowering the moon to be replaced with the sun - performing both duties to save Luna from the strain it would have on her - this was the third time in so many minutes that Luna had made an inquiry while the human was concentrating, "the sooner he will be finished. Be patient; it was his idea, after all, to loan you use of the hologram devices so you could perform your court duties from the comfort of your chambers without exposing your current appearance to our subjects."

Luna grumbled something about how it would have been a nice vacation as she turned back around from looking at her big sister, resting her head the arm of the couch to resume watching the workings of his dexterous digits from an advantageous angle. She had to admit, his hands had proven very effective when they had played a few of the video games she had in her library - the reach of his fingers allowed him to remain hovering over several buttons at once while manipulating the joystick. He hadn't been very good at any of the games, mind you, but with a little more practice and a bit of training he might prove to be capable. Luna's mind wandered to the multiplayer RPG she'd recently gotten hooked on and much to her sister's voiced dismay as it had negatively impacted her efficiency at completing court paperwork. Come to think of it, he could be a potential party member for dungeon delving as I won't be able progress much further on my own. Hmmm, something that compliments my class... Her scheming to get Titus into the game was interrupted as the visor was flipped up and accidentally bumped into her nose.

"I think..." he paused, tapping a few buttons that appeared on the datapad screen, "I think that's got it. Luna, if you would?" Titus motioned to the open area of the room, holding out a hand for support as she dismounted the sofa. From what he understood after he had left from their movie-extravaganza Princess Celestia had returned to spend the night with Luna, stating that her younger sister had taken comfort in their company that afternoon and evening and dozed right off into a peaceful slumber. While she had definitely had more energy this morning when he came by with the droids - giving him a lively smile and practically pulling him through the door - the Princess still was a bit wobbly on her legs, though she might be a bit hung over from the drinks he had shared on the roof last night in remembrance of his friend's passing. "Alright, just do your best to stand still for a moment as the drone does a quick three-sixty scan of you so the rigging can be done."

Princess Luna did as she was instructed, standing stock still as the remote droid flew a slow circle around her. Flying around the back of her, she stoically attempted to hide her blush as she adjusted her tail to keep herself decent - something she hadn't had a lot of practice doing with her non-ethereal hair. A fleeting glance at Titus, who had put the datapad down and was looking elsewhere, anywhere but the datapad screen, corroded the remaining bastion of her defense and she felt herself burning all the way to the tips of her ears as the machine did a quick roll under her barrel. "T-there, I believe your machine is finished. At least, I hope it is," she stated.

While she was wobbling her way back to the couch Titus stretched out a hand to stop her, "If, um, there's something in the image you don't want in the final render you can blur it out with this," he passed the datapad and what looked like a metal pen to Luna, demonstrating its use a with a scribbling motion, "though keep in mind the more editing you do the less... realistic the model will look up close."

"I dare hope our subjects do not openly gawk at my-" Luna stopped, closing her eyes and pinching her mouth shut for a second before continuing in a much more calm manner, "I will try to keep it to a minimum. Also, thank you for being a gentlecolt and... not staring."

While Luna was passing along her thanks, Celestia had magicked the datapad and stylus over to herself for inspection. "Mr. Aelius? What are these dots and bars next to the image of my sister on your device?" she inquired, forcing Titus to turn about from the hologram image of Luna he had recalled from the droid's memory banks to see what part of the datapad interface she was talking about.

"Those are the image anchors, they allow for macroadjustments to the model. If you tap one with the stylus then slowly drag it around the screen it'll resize the-" he was cut off by a jovial laugh from the Solar Princess as she experimented with the model and various parts of the hologram of Luna took on ridiculous proportions.

"You know, sister, you've always had one giant melon of a head!" the hologram's head expanded to several times its normal size as Celestia slid the scale slider back and forth numerous times as she made a coinciding sound effect of "oOo~OoO~oOo!" before moving on to another anchor; this time the legs stretched like elastic to place the body close to the high ceiling, "Bang, zoom, straight to the Moon!"

"Oh-ho-ho!" the mischievous chortle that erupted from the Solar Princess echoed around the stone walls, "Luna, I've told you time and time again to use the palace gym... or all of those sweets would go right to your flanks!"

Titus didn't need to look to know what had changed size that time. Instead of watching he placed a hand on the small alicorn's withers as a form of light restraint; the contact garnishing a small hum as he reached for the datapad to pluck it from the golden aura, "Sorry to cut your fun short, Princess, but I need to finish this before today's court sessions so I'm on a bit of a deadline here and I'd rather not have to retake the scans." He wouldn't have to retake the scans no matter how many times she tweaked the model, but a small fib to keep Luna from straining herself again teleporting her sister to the gardens was acceptable in his opinion. He also didn't have that much work left to do, but he enjoyed how interested Luna was in watching him work and, once again, he felt a little embellishment was acceptable. Taking his seat at the side of the couch to begin rigging the hologram for animation, Titus only picked up the wearily-whispered "thank you" as the breath from the muzzle that was once again resting on the arm above him tickled his ear. An idea suddenly striking him, he brought up the image scan and adjusted the layers, flipping from the exterior view through the muscle layer and stopping when Luna's own skeleton appeared. A short few minutes of linking her actual skeleton and ligament to the virtual model later the program was up and running smoothly, the excited "Woo!" he issued at the success of his own shortcut startling both alicorns.

Princess Celestia was the first to speak up, "Mr. Aelius, shall we take your elation as a sign of endeavors coming to fruition?" she asked, stretching her neck trying to see over the edge of the couch arm occupied by her sister.

A few dramatic taps on the datascreen and one of the remote drones floated itself from the bag Titus had carried them in and zipped over to hover on the other side of the coffee table, within seconds a holographic image of Princess Luna in her usual form encase and hid the droid from view. "Ta-da! The hard part was creating the hologram from within the image itself, so I had to utilize all of the droid's projectors and then calibrate them so each segment of your sister would line up," Titus explained, beaming proudly at his feat as if either pony would know what he was talking about.

The hologram stared straight ahead, unmoving, as the sisters exchanged a dubious expression behind the human's back.

"I do not mean to belittle your work, friend," Luna said as she continued to look at her holographic image with doubt, "but I do not think the court will be fooled for long with this."

Celestia nodded in disappointed agreement, "The physical likeness is astounding, of that we do not doubt the advisers would give no second thought to, however the figure itself seems-"

"Unresponsive? Statuesque?" Titus supplied the words for her, each one garnishing a nod, "Accurate descriptions; though keep in mind this is the first component, we still need to hook in the input device. Luna?" he asked, removing the visor he had been wearing and turning around to regard the alicorn that was still stretched out on the arm of the couch and looking like she was about to fall asleep as her eyes where half closed, "Oh, um. Princess Celestia, I had wanted to ask if there was somewhere out of earshot your sister and I could go to demonstrate, but on account of her current condition, would you be willing to briefly relocate instead?"

Titus watched as the Solar Princess spent a moment in thought, the faintest hint of a tongue peeking out from one side of her mouth, before stating the hallway that functioned as antechamber to Luna's quarters should suffice for the demonstration; retrieving the drone from the armchair the human lead the way out to the hall to prepare the machine. It only took a few minutes to get the inactive model to appear once again, time that he spent explaining that they needed to isolate the hologram display so that Celestia could provide the best critique without the overlapping audio of both it and the actual Luna talking at once. "Highness, if you notice anything off or have a suggestion to make the image more lifelike, no matter how minor, please let me know," he added before ducking back in the room to prepare the holographic puppet's master.

"Alright Luna, all that's left is to get you-" the alicorn didn't stir as Titus walked up alongside the couch, instead remaining stretched out with wings splayed rigidly to either side (as much as the narrow furniture would allow, anyway) and beads of sweat glistening on her fur. Seeing the state of his friend generated a look of concern as he bent down a bit closer. "Luna?" he whispered, tentatively reaching a hand out but pausing a scant inch from contact as a noticeable tremor ran through her and a faint-but-sweet smell reached his nose. Oh no. Luna... He made his way around the couch arm, squatting down to place his face on level with hers, putting as much compassion into his expression as he could.

"We doth nay wish thou... to layeth thine eyes upon us... " Luna couldn't bring herself to look at him for any length of time, her eyes fluttering up to his and back down, "That thou hath seen us in s-such a state of c-compromise does naught but add to our shame."

"Luna, my friend," he caught a waver in her eyes when they darted up at the word, "I do not want to see you suffer like this; let me fetch a cool towel and a drink of water, and then I'll leave if that is what you wish."

Luna locked eyes with his for several moments upon hearing his offer before giving a tiny murmur of approval, watching as he silently strode to the bar to drape several of the neatly-folded hand towels over an arm, tucking the ice bucket under it and removing a singular glass which he filled before returning to the couch to place the items before her. She gratefully took the offered drink, quickly upending the tumbler as Titus placed the ice bucket beside her, lining the rim with the folded towels before he spoke.

"Is there anything else I can do before I go, Luna?" Titus asked, taking the empty glass from the weak confines of her magic to refill it. Placing the drink back on the couch arm, a forehoof hooked around his wrist and gently pulled it closer in a gesture he equated with holding his hand, bringing a warm smile to his face as he gave the hoof a squeeze.

The recent return of sensations from Twilight's unceremonious ministrations with the cooler - not felt for over a thousand years - continued to leave Luna feeling used; what should have been intimacy shared between lovers instead was empty of emotion like it was being treated as a routine chore. Despite the immense abashment she felt that he had seen her in such an improper state, the simple physical contact of a squeeze of her hoof brought relief to the empty feeling almost to the point of bringing her to tears. "It would do us good to hear you call us 'friend' again," she whispered, continuing to pull the hand in closer as he squatted down to her eye level again.

"Such a simple request? Luna, My Friend," he whispered back and shortly after moved his other hand to cup her cheek so a thumb could wipe away a lone tear rolling down her muzzle, "My chum; my pal; my companion; my pateesa-"

As yet more tears streamed down her face at hearing the treasured word the hand on her cheek slid around to pull her into his shoulder in a hug; Luna's hesitation at returning the gesture became overt appreciation as the empty feeling from moments ago was washed away and replaced with a warm sense of comfort. She couldn't help but happily hum into the shoulder.

"-I would happily shout all of these and more at the top of my lungs for all to hear if it would do your heart good." He gave her a final squeeze and a rub on the neck before pushing himself back, "Now, was there anything else I can help with?"

"No, my dear friend, thank you; your words and embrace were more than enough and precisely what we needed. Forgive my tears," Luna was positively glowing as she wiped the remaining moisture from her eyes. Realizing her coat was still damp with sweat and picking up the faint smell of her expelled arousal, she shied back a bit in embarrassment from the arm still draped loosely around her shoulder, "I-if you would allow me a private moment to myself to refresh, we shall continue with preparing your machines."

As the human stood a white snout retreated back behind the door and into the hallway, giggling mare-ishly.

Titus stood at the base of the small set of stairs to one side of Luna's throne while a charcoal black pegasus adviser gave an in-depth fiscal accounting of some bureaucratic branch or another, his alicorn friend seeming to take vested interest in the subject. He scanned the room for the umpteenth time, looking for any hint of suspicion among the court that their Lunar Princess was, in fact, a hologram. There were no outward signs that the ponies suspected anything because most of them were preoccupied directing their gazes his way, the Princess having declared him amicus curiae and her personal assistant.

A secretary... Titus shook his head and hid a chuckle, remembering the playfully-chauvinistic comment Princess Celestia had made to her sister for appointing herself her own stallion secretary. I'm a karking secretary now. While Luna had tasked him with delivering any letters and documents given to him by members of the court, his real job was to be on-site should something go wrong with the drone.

"Very well. Minister Black Balance, for our examination thou shall provide Sir Aelius with the audit of six months of spending as well as the projected increase in budgeting thou doth see necessary. Should we require additional documentation, the Lunar office shall be in contact with yours," HoloLuna's voice rang across the court as she turned to her sister who was seated beside her and, getting a nod, continued, "So concludes our hearings for the morning. We will reconvene tomorrow as scheduled; please see a memo reaches our aide before he departs should thou have business for the next session of Lunar Court. Solar Court will commence at the first strike of the afternoon. Until then thou are dismissed."

Stepping forward and folding himself down to rest on his haunches to make himself less imposing to the small flock of ponies approaching, the first being the adviser who dropped a stack of parchment that came up to his knee as one of his assistants - another pegasus bearing an identical emblem of office - passed an armful of scrolls bundled together with a strap; Titus noticing a label indicating they were the calculated budget increase. Which makes the massive stack... six months of spending? Wow. This load was followed by more ponies lining up looking to gain the Princess' attention as they showered him in scrolls, loose parchment, and a myriad of envelopes - of which several were addressed to him, those he set to one side for later reading.

Once every pony had worked their way through the line and cleared the room, leaving Titus surrounded in papers as he cast a surprised look that seemed to say "please tell me this is an above-average amount" at the Princesses; Celestia giving an apologetic smile while the hologram (mirroring what Luna was doing up in her chamber) stretched its forelegs above its head as far as they would go.

"Finally our-*Mmh!*" she rolled over onto her back in the throne for another stretch, this time she arched her back and reached all four hooves into the air before they wearily tucked back against her body with a sigh of contentment, "morning court duties are fulfilled! Our thanks to you, friend, for enabling us to do... this," she continued to squirm around on her back for several moments, "Our sofa doth prove to be more agreeable than the cushion of the throne-" HoloLuna stopped to watch Titus as he struggled to pack all of the parchment into his shoulder bag without even bothering to try fitting the audit or budget increase documents in, "Will'st thou be able to carry yonder mountain without assistance?" Luna asked, still subconsciously using her antiquated dialect.

Slinging the bag over a shoulder and balancing the parcel of scrolls under one arm Titus lifted the hefty audit with a slight grunt, "I'll manage... though did you really have to ask for a whole six months of paperwork?"

"Thou bleat at 'a whole six months'?" Luna chuckled and the hologram rolled back into a sitting position, "When a branch office requests an increase in budget we are required to audit to assess the efficiency of their recent spending; thinking of you, we settled for the shortest time-span, which you hold in your hands." The hologram gave him a mischievous grin, Luna slowly working her way back to her relaxed way of speaking, "though on further introspection thou may be correct; if thou would'st prefer we be more thorough we hath kept records on file here, in the palace, as far back as several hundred years... we could go back even further with but a trip to a warehouse." At his unnerved expression at the thought of how much paper would be involved in an audit of that length Luna's laugh accompanied the blue flash of light as the hologram blinked off - Princess Celestia having suggested the drone make it appear like her sister had teleported away.

"Well," Titus gave as much of a bow as he could with what he was carrying to the Solar alicorn, "I'd better take my leave, Princess, and get this paperwork up to your sister before she turns on that entertainment box of hers and she's oblivious to the world."

"A moment, if you would," dismounting her throne Celestia descended the steps toward the human who adjusted the weight of his load in his hands at her approach, "Fear not, I do not intend to add to your burden. Not your physical burden, anyway." She stopped just short of him, smiling and lowering her head to put her eyes on-level with his to show she wasn't talking as royalty, "My sister's anger and frustration yesterday was leading her to a dangerous precipice - one that she has fallen from before with disastrous consequences. For being there to pull her back, you have my heartfelt gratitude, Sir Aelius, though it surprises me how fond with you she has become in such a short time."

Titus bowed again, "Forgive me for potentially bringing up a sore subject, Your Highness, but after returning from her thousand-year banishment - with all of the ponies she had known and made friends with being long deceased and a society that had continued to move forward in her absence - Luna must have felt like she'd been dropped into an unfamiliar world; a sentiment we both share and have been able to bond on. You don't have to thank me," he straightened himself before the tower of parchment tipped over, "I'm proud to say Luna is my friend, and if one of my friends is falling off a cliff I don't hesitate to jump right after them."

The soft kindness returning to the Princess' face as she returned to her full height with a twinkle in her eye, "Please promise you'll better account for the distance of your next leap, Sir Aelius." After his brief chuckle at her joke and striking the deal that if she would drop the 'Sir' title he would look before he lept, she bid her farewell, "This afternoon sees us meeting with the Griffons once again, and this time I hear they're much more willing to discuss terms. Wish me luck, Mr. Aelius."

Adjusting the pile of papers in his hands to cross his fingers for her, and briefly explaining the gesture to the Princess when she cocked an eyebrow at it, Titus and the alicorn split ways as they exited the throne room.

Once Titus got started he found the weight of what he was carrying wasn't so bad, though the awkwardness of it remained as he attempted to keep his arms bent slightly to avoid crushing the scrolls tucked under his arm while he kept the papers from blowing away with his chin and the bag holding the other missives bounced against one hip, giving small appreciative nods and voicing his thanks to ponies that opened doors as he worked his way through the palace. Eventually, however, he started encountering empty hallways and closed doors with nopony to open them for him. Kark... I think I'm l-

"Lost?"

Rotating his whole body toward the source of the voice, Titus found a blueish-silver pegasus with aquamarine eyes and a snow-white mane looking him over from head to foot, "Y-yeah. I guess I got a bit turned around." She's definitely not a guard, and I'm pretty sure I've seen her somewhere; at the party or in court this morning, perhaps?

"Understandable, the hallways can look a lot alike if you're distracted," she gave him a sly smile, "or if you're new here. Where ya headed?"

"I'm trying to get back to my room, it's in the Lunar Wing-"

"Whoa, Lunar Wing?" the pegasus interrupted with a disbelieving look as she held a hoof up to stop him, "You must have gotten really turned around because you're literally on the other side of the palace."

"Just my luck, I suppose." Standing still again Titus had to readjust the weight of his load as he glanced around at the hallways, corridors, and closed doors around him, "Sorry to ask, Miss...?"

"It's... Polar Breeze," she replied, once again looking him over though this time much more intently as she walked a slow circle around him.

Must be the first time she's seen me this close up. Better make a good impression. "Well, Miss Breeze, nice to meet you; I'm Titus, and I'd offer a hoof-bump or handshake but, as you can see, they're sorta full," he gave her his biggest smile, "Sorry to ask but could you do me the favor of showing me where I need to go?"

"No need for introductions, hot stuff, I'd have to be living under a rock to not know who you are, though the last time we met you were with Princess Celestia and dashing about the kitchen making somepony a sandwich," flitting up to shoulder height the mare nodded and motioned with a hoof for him to follow, "Come on, let's get you back to your room."

Utterly lost, Titus followed Polar Breeze down countless corridors and through numerous doors; which she politely held open for him though it appeared it was a bit challenging for her as she had to fly above his head to hold the door open, forcing him to duck under her each time. It was even more awkward for the human as the only way he could bend sufficiently without dropping the mass of papers was to lean back and limbo under her. After one such flexibility exercise Titus tried breaking the awkwardness of the still air, "I'm, uh, glad you're not one of those ponies that's terrified of me because if you'd run off they'd probably have to send a search squad out."

"Me too," the pegasus giggled, zipping across the empty hall to float by another door, "though I wouldn't worry about ponies being so quick to run from you anymore; the fashion magazines are abuzz with what you wore to that garden party and you're a hot topic in the upper echelons of Canterlot's muckety–muck social circles." She pulled the large door open just far enough to get her hooves in the crack before pushing it open the rest of the way with a small grunt of exertion, "Hn-erf! As for this wing it's usually pretty empty so you'd have been wandering for a long time. Castle staff mainly use it as a short cut to their living quarters, which are just a bit further in the direction you were going. We're not supposed to cut through here, so if we hear any hoofsteps duck into a room somewhere and stay quiet."

"Alright. I'll follow your lead, I guess." Ducking through this door Titus felt something incredibly soft brush against his chin and nose and barely stick his lips; it took a second for his mind to register that it had been one of the primaries on Polar's wing. I must have not ducked enough. A weak chuckle at hoping his error had either gone unnoticed or was an obvious accident and, after remembering that an uncharacteristically-flustered Dash had told him that wings were an absolute no-touch zone after an incident involving a leaf caught in her plumage that he thought she would appreciate him plucking out for her, he apologized, "S-sorry, back is a little stiff from all this bending."

"Eh, I don't mind," Polar Breeze replied as she followed him through what seemed to be a storage room of sorts - the walls lined with shelf upon shelf of labeled boxes though a layer of dust obscured what was written. A peek into one such box that had its lid askew revealed neatly-packed books, and further observation lead the human to believe this might be a side room to a library. As he his thoughts wandered from books to libraries to a certain unicorn librarian, he half watched as the pegagus pumped her wings and glided to wait at their next portal, "Don't worry, almost there."

Something's off. That last door felt smaller. Each heavy door seemed smaller than the last as he had to duck further to avoid bumping into the pony again but no matter how he bent a wing or tail would always brush against him. That, and the giggling is almost non-stop now- The sharp *clopclopcla-clop!* of hooves touching down on the hard stone floor after a landing broke his train of thought.

Breeze was standing next to another set of doors with a grin, a hoof on the handle. "Told ya, right through here..."

Stepping through as she pulled the door open, he found himself in what appeared to be an old drinking room; there was a dusty bar tucked against one wall while the other two held a barren fireplace and countless shelves of books. In the middle of the room were several bits of furniture; guessing by their forms under the dust blankets draped over them a lounge, two sofas, and a handful of chairs as well as a large card table beneath the tall window that looked out onto the hedge maze of the garden, across which Luna's tower was visible - still a fair distance away. It was the lack of another door, however, that caused his gut instinct to scream at him. Dead end. Turning around to speak with his guide, he found the pegasus looking at him with a hungry grin.

Sensing trouble and not liking the way she was staring at him one bit he put the stack of papers down on the nearby table to point out the window at the tower, "The Lunar Wing is that way, and now that I can see where I need to go I should be fine. Thanks for your help."

Without breaking her stare, Polar Breeze quickly flicked the lock and turned the rest of her body to face Titus, "You know, when somepony does you a favor..." in doing so she bumped into the door handle and, giving in, bit her lip as she ground her hips against the intruding prod briefly before walking closer to the human creature as an almost invisible strand of fluid stretched between the handle and her now-wet mound, "it's customary to repay the favor with another," she said with a coy smile and extended a wing, placing the primaries against his hip and sashaying a circle around him and letting the soft feather drag against the fabric of his clothing; tracing a path over his firm flanks, across the other hip, and stopping just short of his crotch when he stepped away.

"Miss Breeze, look I'm, um, flattered? but-" he was unable to keep from clearing his throat as the overpowering citrus aroma permeated every one of his senses. Ever since the party the ponies he had dealt with had been much more friendly and there had been several ponies that had started flirting with him - both mare and stallion, either through direct conversation or letters slipped under his door - and some had gotten a little... touchy... but this was leagues beyond any of that. Titus continued to back away, though each step he took was followed by the pegasus stalking him, "I'd be happy to put in a word with the Princess."

"How about you put your 'word' in with me, instead?" Polar Breeze continued her steady advance, enjoying the cat and mouse game they were playing a little too much as a small bit of pre leaked down her leg.

"I-I can't, I'm involved; I've already got what you'd call a special somepony-"

She had his back to a wall, "Oh, I know. It's faint, but I smelled her on you back there when you introduced yourself..."

Wait, "Smell her on me"? Who? Titus quickly did a mental run-through what had happened that morning until he remembered the most likely cause, Kark, maybe she means Luna. The pheromones or whatever she let out on the sofa when I found her must have permeated my clothing.

"♫~Naughty human, you really shouldn't go walking around smelling that way~♫..." she stalked even closer, a hoof on his hip helping to balance herself as she buried her muzzle into the same shoulder he had used to hug Luna and took a deep whiff before pushing herself back off, "covered in an aphrodisiac like that, you'll... get a mare all worked up and jealous, even an alien like you."

Turning to face away from him, the pegasus gave a quick twitch of her tail and revealed her winking self to him, "Now, aren't you going to finish what you started, hot stuff?" When he didn't respond immediately she wiggled her rump enticingly.

"No, Miss Breeze, I'm not," Titus said sternly; finally standing his ground. With a wall at his back there was no way for her to bowl him over in a sudden assault and, unbeknownst to the pegasus, he had discreetly unlocked the door while she had had her head in his shoulder, prepared to make a run for it if necessary, "because it was not my intention to lead you on-"

"Intention or not," her enticing smile was suddenly gone and replaced with a snarl, "you're a stallion - I don't need your permission to use you! Buck, it might even be more fun this way!" Breeze made a lunge for him, intending to tear the the clothes off of him but was caught mid air, unable to get closer no matter how she struggled or flapped her semi-stiff wings as she was held aloft by some form of magic, "Oh, what? You expect me to play the sub now?"

"No." His stern look faded as he closed his eyes, his face slowly becoming completely neutral and emotionless. After a heavy exhale, Titus opened his eyes once more and met her angry stare as he he waved a hand in front of her face. "I'm not the company you're looking for. You want to go home and sleep this off."

Polar Breeze blinked several times and stopped struggling, not even feeling herself being lowered to the floor; glancing at him then around the room, she mumbled to herself, "I-I'm gonna... clean myself up before going home... to sleep this... off." She gave him one more flat look before loosely walking over to the dusty bar to look for anything to wipe herself with.

Meanwhile, Titus took the chance to grab his shoulder bag, the scrolls, and the stack of parchment and head for the door. Thank the stars that worked- His hand was already on the door handle before he remembered to stop himself. Karking crink! Oh well, no point in letting go now. Had it been a door knob, he doubted the slick fluid would let him get enough of a grip to turn it, though thankfully the handle only needed to be pushed and the door slid open, allowing the human to take his leave of the aroused pegasus to her searching. Unfortunately he had to wipe his hand on his tunic as the stack of papers quickly became too much for one arm to bear.

Putting his back against the large black and gold door to push it closed behind him with a grunt, Titus entered the large living quarters. It had taken him easily a quarter hour to work his way from the abandoned wing of the palace to his room, where he spent a few minutes changing out of his tunic and vigorously washing his sticky hand before heading back out.

"Ah! Friend!" Princess Luna sat up on the sofa, the small game controller floating in front of her, "There you are!"

"Here I am," he replied wearily as he staggered over to Luna's personal office nook, depositing the entire burden down on the small desk before giving a heavy sigh of relief, "and here is your paperwork." He was going to plop himself down in the spinning chair, but the Princess' tapping of a couch cushion was much more inviting.

Waiting for the human to stride over in his lumbering-yet-fluid fashion and sit down, again with a sigh, she gave him a smile, "You were gone quite a while, we had contemplated contacting the guard for fear that you had perhaps gotten los-" She topped mid-word and her nostrils flared at the smallest hint of an odd smell about her friend.

The interruption caused Titus to look at the alicorn just as she turned to stare at him, a slow rosy glow coming to her cheeks before she leaned in and took a deep whiff which was followed by a very quick retreat.

"W-well," she said, turning back to her game and focusing intently on her character, trying not to giggle, "that would certainly explain your delay." Every so often her eyes would dart back over to him, followed shortly after by a snort or a snicker.

Putting his head in his hand - the one that hadn't be involved with the door handle - Titus let out yet another sigh before explaining how he had spent his afternoon.

Day 6

"Really, sister," Celestia chided, kneading her hooves into the back of her sister as she lay limply on the chaise, still partially hooked up to the hologram droid and its makeshift controller; Titus having had fabricated it just on the off chance Luna had need of maneuvering the droid to make it look like her hologram was walking about, also requiring him to stay up late inputting a walking animation into the model, "you need to try and relax; you are so tense I could probably bounce a Bit off of you."

"My apologies, Tia, but y-ugh-" Luna apologized dryly, her face contorting with another grunt as a hoof rolled over a muscle in a rather unpleasant manner, "you don't understand how stressful maintaining this karking spell all day everyday has been. Not only that, but I still have t-ouch!-" she shot her sister a glare as another sore spot was prodded, "I still have to deal with your faithful student's estrous cycle and that gartal device she uses incessantly."

"Stop squirming! If you remember, I did make arrangements for the palace masseuse but when she showed up for the appointment you magically barred the door and told her to go away. I gave you that choice, and instead of accepting the hooves of a professional you opted for the hooves of your sister. I also must point out that the predicament you find yourself in is one of your own making, due to... what did you call it? 'Oversights'?" Celestia put a bit more weight down on her hooves, effectively pinning her sister to the lounge as she saw the opportunity for teasing present itself, "As for Twilight Sparkle's use of a cooler I would like to call into question the authenticity of your disapproval, based on the familiar smell Mr. Aelius had lingering about him at court yesterday I have my doubts-" she leaned in extra close to her sister's ear as the blush spread upwards toward it and breathed softly, "unless, of course, it wasn't from the cooler..."

The Solar Princess watched the diminutive form pinned below her as it rapidly grew red and squirmed, struggling to break free until it was too tuckered out to continue at which point Celestia resumed kneading, moving from the shoulder to withers as Luna grumbled several more of the alien words in conjuncture with a feeble defense of her actions yesterday, "There you go again; your usage of Mr. Aelius' terminology has increased significantly as of late yet I doubt you know their meaning. I am curious; he uses the word 'kark' quite a bit, could you make sense of it?"

Luna cast a mildly perturbed glare at her elder sister which was accentuated with a grimace as yet another tender muscle was leaned on in the agonizingly-amateurish massage. By the way he had apologized after first saying the word in their presence both sisters agreed it was fairly safe to assume it had been an expletive of sorts, though the severity or lewdness was still not clear and a bit of an interest to both of them as they both enjoyed linguistics a fair deal. Having a better vantage point than her sister, Luna realized it was the perfect opportunity to deflect the teasing directed at her at her bipedal friend, detecting that he had arrived with her daily assortment of paperwork, "Why, dearest Tia, why not ask him yourself if you're so curious?" she innocently and conveniently challenged just as Titus pushed the door open with a shoulder because both hands were full.

"Ask me what, Your Highness?" he inquired, completely oblivious to the sisters game as he carried the handful over to the desk to sort it into the respective boxes as he had been instructed yesterday, in the process missing the squinted stare Celestia gave Luna.

So she wants to play, does she? Princess Celestia looked down on her sister imposingly, still pinned under her hooves but eyes yet burning with defiance. Very well, in due time we shall make the insolent worm squirm!

"Good afternoon, Mr. Aelius," she warmly greeted without giving hint to her ploy and stopping her massage but keeping her weight applied so Luna couldn't escape, "Before I pose my question, I must thank you for assisting my sister with her administrative duties; I was pleasantly surprised to find all of the important forms and documents I required this morning had been properly filled out and were waiting for me in my office's inbox without needing to traipse across the palace and hound my sister to finish them." The modest response that he had had little to do with it fell on deaf ears; Celestia knew her sister hated doing paperwork though she didn't push the matter further as she was currently more intent on setting up her maneuver against Luna, "Well, should you find yourself in need of or desiring employment I would personally see to it that we arrange a more permanent position. Having my sister's paperwork regularly completed in a reasonable amount of time would be well worth the expenditure."

One look at the heaped desk was enough to tell Titus that it would be more than a full time job considering that the papers visible were all related to current affairs; Luna having told him that the Solar and Lunar offices were currently working through a backlog when he had sat her down and almost strong-armed her through her workload, slightly worried that failure to meet the request Princess Celestia had made to him as they left court that he "please try to get these to my desk before court tomorrow afternoon" would be a black mark next to his name on some shadowy list somewhere.

"Now then, Luna and I were discussing your dialect as she has picked up several of your... colloquialisms yet we are left wondering their nature," Celestia feigned embarrassment at having to ask to sell her play. Clearing her throat after a brief pause, during which an eyebrow on the human raised in curiosity, she continued, "One that she seems to have taken a liking to is 'kark,' perhaps you could elaborate on its meaning."

Sitting himself in the desk's chair as both Royal Sister's fixed their gaze on him, Titus struggled with where to start, "Uh. Well, it's... less than polite, to be frank; sorry that that was what rubbed off-"

"Your apologies are not necessary, Titus," Luna cut him off with a snort and a roll of her eyes, "we are hardly the stuffy old mares our subjects would oft have you believe so please, enlighten us to the meaning of 'kark.' Is it equivalent in vulgarity or bear similar meaning to 'buck'?"

Titus drank in the odd sight of both royal sisters staring at him intently from over the back of the sofa, heads slightly titled to one side and ears fully forward eagerly waiting for his explanation of his otherworldly swearing. "I wouldn't say it's equal," he started, leaning back in the large chair to stare at the ceiling while he thought, "it's a bit shy of that... certainly getting there. No, the equivalents would be 'kriff' or 'frag' or 'crink' when it's used properly in a phrase, such as 'crink off' and there's a few others from various planets like 'irrumo'- that one's particularly crude.... Anyway, something to keep in mind is that human language varies from planet to planet and system to system; in fact 'kark' isn't a word of human origin - it's Huttese." At their shared expression of a raised eyebrow, he spent the next several minutes describing the slug-like Hutts that he had had dealings with, ending the lecture with a teasing grin of his own, "there's a countless number of other lexicons to draw from, as well. Perhaps you'd like me to make you a list of expletives for your perusal?"

"Were you to record what you know we imagine many of the ponies interested in linguistics would be very appreciative, ourselves among them. Speaking of recording; I must say, it was rather easy to ascertain whom had filled out the forms. Compared to hers," Celestia moved her hooves to another point on Luna's back in preparation for the powerplay she had set up, pushing her sister back onto the couch and out of sight. Floating one of the sheets from the outbox on the desk and retrieving a small notebook from the nightstand with her magic, she sent them drifting over to Titus for comparison, "your pencraft is much neater than that of my sister."

Holding the sheet that Princess Celestia had passed him Titus briefly opened the book to compare the two scripts before quickly shutting it again, realizing that it was Luna's diary and she probably wouldn't want him snooping around in it though the temptation was certainly there to read a few entries. Placing the book on the desk and turning away from it, he nodded his thanks for her praise, "I'll have take your word for it, Princess. I was more than happy to lend a hand filling out the paperwork for her as she dictated. If it meant Luna was preserving a bit of magic-"

Oh, almost forgot! A sudden look came to his face as he remembered that Luna was still plugged in to the hologram droid for her morning court appearance. Standing up from the desk chair, Titus made his way over to the sofa, "Sorry about that Luna, let's get that equipment off of you."

While the two were busy discussing how well the setup had been working, neither of them caught the mischievous glint to Celestia's eyes as a small smile came to her face; several moments later she took Luna's sigh at being finally free of the cables and visor she had been wearing as her cue to bring down the proverbial hammer on her sister, "Thank you again for your assistance in aiding my dearest sister, this whole situation is-" the Solar alicorn subtly shifted the weight of one hoof onto one of Luna's sore back muscles and allowed the small yelp to cut her off. Looking up to the somewhat startled human, Celestia scrunched her face up in feigned contemplation for a moment before smiling brightly, "Mr. Aelius, I don't suppose you'd be willing to once again lend a hand or two with another matter plaguing my sister?"

Something in her eyes made Titus hesitantly gulp, casting a look to Luna who was clearly as confused as he was and couldn't clarify what Princess Celestia might be talking about, "I... sure. What can I do?"

"As you're aware constantly maintaining the spell every minute of the day has been incredibly taxing for her, and-" a thought-out adjustment of her weight produced another grunt. "My apologies, Lulu," Celestia copied the sarcastic tone her sister had given her earlier and leaned in to whisper, "Lucky for you, it would seem a third option has presented itself."

Celestia watched with amusement as her sister squirmed for a moment before returning her attention to Titus, "Like I was saying, the spell has caused her a lot of stress and, as you can see, her muscles are all tied up in knots and we believe this may be interfering with the regenerative process of her magic. In the past I have not had an issue massaging her however my hooves are proving a bit too cumbersome on account of her current, smaller frame." Again Celestia pushed a hoof lightly into the taunt muscles in the appearance of illustrating her point, though in reality she was acting to prevent the forthcoming resistance her counterpart would put up, "Normally this wouldn't be an issue but because of her appearance she has obstinately refused to allow the palace masseuse an appointment, which left no other option than for me to do my best; that, Mr. Aelius, is where I would request that you and your hands step in."

The emphasis she had put on her "request" was the only warning he had before she took his wrists in her magic and navigated them to a spot high up on Luna's neck, the pull forcing him to sit right next to the alicorn languishing on her belly. W-what is Princess Celest- it was then that he felt the taut muscles beneath her fur, each one so stiff he was surprised she could move. He had been pleasantly surprised when he had arrived this morning to find that she definitely looked better than she had the previous night as her mane had gone back to its usual flowing form and she had begun to molt her grey-blue feathers with a fresh batch of midnight colored ones coming in, but her current state brought him to worry, "Wow Luna, a-are you okay? You're really tense." He subconsciously started rubbing lightly with his fingers, "Look, I'd like to help, but uh... I don't know if I'm the best person for this."

"As I've already said, she refuses to see the professional we have on staff. Correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Aelius, but does your hollow image machine not function by mirroring the movements of our sister?" Celestia posed, continuing after a hesitant nod from Titus, "So, in her current state of immobility any image broadcast will also mirror her distress, and should the court take notice - which I can assure they most certainly will - it will raise questions on Luna's health. She's stiff as a board! One could prop her up under the muzzle and rump and the middle wouldn't sag. Are you following what I'm saying, Mr. Aelius?"

"I am, Princess," he replied, taking a long glance at the remote droid and gear sitting to one side before switching his attention to Luna, "What are your thoughts on this, friend?"

Before Luna could respond another hoof pressed into her back and all the visibly nervous alicorn managed was a *erk!* in response.

Princess Celestia giggled. "Here, try lightly kneading right... there! Go slowly," her golden aura dragged his wrists slightly to one side. A few minutes of work later and the flexed muscles in Luna's upper neck were visibly relaxed, the motions of the fingers getting a sigh of relieved contentment from the little alicorn. Again the magic pulled, moving his hands halfway down her neck as Celestia instructed him to use a bit more strength.

"Mmm!" Luna sighed as Titus' thumbs pressed harder and moved in small circles, following the length of the muscle he was working like he was trying to push everything out of a tube of toothpaste. Sorry, sister, but I see your scheme and it backfired. I was nervous about this, but it simply feels too divine for me to care. She experimentally rolled her head around before resting it back on the arm of the sofa, "It was a nice attempt Tia, but we're quite tempted to place this human creature in our indefinite custody as a personal masseur; if you would just fetch the necessary forms from one of our desk drawers we will file them posthaste with the dungeon master," she joked, poking her tongue out teasingly at Titus who only rolled his eyes.

Don't get cocky, kid. Princess Celestia smirked as she used her magic to adjust Titus' hands, sliding them slowly across her sister's fur toward her forelegs. This? This is only the beginning. "Really dig those fingers and work her triceps, biceps and pectorals. After that, make your way slowly down to her hoof." It took Titus quite some time to inch his way down each of her long legs, following the muscle groups as they were pointed at with a hoof and having to shake out a hand cramp out at the end. Celestia appeared a little startled at the pops of his fingers as he bent them forcefully with his other hand, though studying his unflinching face as he cracked the knuckles on his second hand made her realize it must have been a normal thing for humans to do, "Have you strained your hands, Mr. Aelius? Do you require a respite?"

"Uh," Titus' brow furrowed as he looked from Celestia to Luna, who was visibly less tense as she rolled both shoulders freely, "I thought I was done. Did I miss something?" Shoulders, arms, and neck... sounds like a fairly thorough massage to me.

Princess Celestia ran a gold-shod hoof from the base of Luna's skull all the way down her spine to stop just above where her back connected with the base of her wings before flashing the human a coy smile as she lifted a wing with one hoof and spread it open with the other, "You still have a little more to do."

"S-sister?!" Luna sat up in shock when her wing was unfurled from her side. She's bluffing.

While Titus had secretly wanted to run a hand over Luna's soft-looking wing for some time now, for some reason - probably spawned by what Dash had told him about touching wings - he shared in a small portion of her apprehension and sat up a bit straighter on the lounge, "Um, the wings? A-aren't they a bit... sensitive, Princess?"

"Oh they are very much so, but they've become a necessity to our everyday routine. You've seen how we use our wings for authoritative displays in court; but look-" she replied as she continued to extend the wing. It was only partly open when it started quivering from the tension, at which point Celestia released the appendage and it quickly snapped back closed on its own, "Tell me, on a scale of one to ten, how regal did that little display look to you?"

"Maybe a... three?" he answered honestly and gave Luna a rub on her shoulder when his low score caused her to noticeably deflate, "Sorry friend, but your sister does have a point..." Titus trailed off as she stared at him, not entirely sure what the look on her face was trying to convey.

"F-fine!" the small alicorn pouted, sticking her lip out in a very cliché manner as she wiggled deeper into the soft cushion of the lounge. A three? A three?! Yes, we will definitely be discussing this later, friend. One eye opened to shoot him a glare when the rubbing turned in to several gentle pats before the hand left left her shoulder, "Just get it over with, but know that I hardly believe that was deserving of such a harsh scoring."

Princess Celestia waited for her sister to relax back into the chaise before magicking Titus' hands and lending a hoof to gently hold the wing open for him, "Take the wing here; do you feel that bone? That's the radius and the one slightly below and running parallel is the ulna." She gave him a moment to run his fingers lightly over the two bones and continued when he gave a satisfied nod that he had identified both bones; Luna, in the meantime, had sunk even lower into the cushion with a small sigh. "Follow the ulna down toward her back and you'll encounter the wing triceps with the bicep just forward of them, and a little bit further down toward her barrel is your final target: the supracostalis." Celestia could tell that Titus was fighting to process the small biology lesson while the distraction of Luna's feathers brushed against his hands; sitting opposite him, she leaned in and whispered softly into her sister's ear, "I think Mr. Aelius admires your plumage, Lulu." The desired effect of both of her sister's eyes snapping open as a blush of pure crimson rushed to her cheeks told the Solar Princess that she knew which of Luna's buttons to press.

"Indeed I do, Princess," Titus offered as his thumbs and fingers pressed the muscles in a wave-like motion and watched as the action slowly sent his friend's muzzle back to the arm of the chaise with a heavy breath, "blue is one of my favorite colors and Luna happens to be displaying two very nice shades at the moment." While he meant well with his compliment and hoped it would ease her tension it had the exact opposite effect on Luna and he had to restart the tricep massage.

"My apologies, Mr. Aelius, one would think after the garden party I would know not to underestimate your hearing." She watched as Titus moved down from the tricep to the bicep and applied pressure from both the top and bottom of the wing at the same time, which drew another heavy breath from the little alicorn. Part of Celestia sulked at the contentment on Luna's face which changed every now and then into silent "Ooo's" and "Aah's" as the human's fingers rolled in small circles down the supracostalis. Drat. It would appear my plan failed; my sister is either enjoying the massage too much to care or she's just that comfortable with him. Still, well done my dearest Lu, well done.

"You certainly look happy, Princess," Titus inquired, having taken notice of Celestia's cheerfully-lost-in-thought look.

The Solar alicorn gave a hearty laugh, "As I very well should be! After a long week of bitter arguing and political showboating a brief meeting tomorrow morning is all that remains between now and Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom making a formal announcement at court that we've come to an agreement." Just the thought of an end to the whole ordeal made the Princess sigh out loud, "Seeing as my sister is enjoying herself so immensely, once the Griffon delegation has departed perhaps you'd be willing to turn the attention of your hands to our own aching muscles-"

"Tia, were you not just reprimanding me because we-Mm~mmf!-we've got somepony on staff for that?" Luna playfully chided and took her wing - now no longer muscle bound thanks to the massage - and draped it over the closest of his shoulders to seemingly shield him from her sister, "and I'm afraid you'll have to find another human to befriend and abscond; this one is my personal masseur."

"Unbelievable," Titus said under his breath and shook his head, reaching over Luna to move onto her other wing in such a way that the wonderfully soft and comfortable one on his shoulders didn't have to move, repeating the process of working from muscle group to muscle group. It became apparent the alicorns had heard his muttering as he quickly found both sisters waiting for him to continue with quizzical looks on their faces, "It's just that in one week I go from being an intergalactic traveler to a court secretary and amateur masseur."

"You needn't sound so disappointed, Mr. Aelius; you forget to add 'covert political espionage' to your list of accomplishments for the week-"

"And 'Best Friend' as well!" Luna twisted herself around to nuzzle her face against one of his working hands which stopped massaging to cup her cheek; Luna quickly wrapping her hooves around the limb to keep it in place.

"Thank you both, but uh... Luna?" while Titus appreciated the gesture and attempted to return the feeling in kind by using a thumb to rub her muzzle, eliciting a surprised purr, Luna's more subtle changes in body language went unperceived on account that he was still learning the different tells, "I can't finish this until you let go."

Princess Celestia was not only old enough to know what to look for in ponies but knew every nuance that was unique to Luna; from the more subtle way the tip of one of her ears would twitch slightly to how several of the stars in her ethereal mane shone ever so faintly brighter than the rest and the more obvious signs such as her shift to get the maximum amount of area of physical contact with his hip. Judging from my sister it would seem my faithful student once again seeks relief from her cycle. Celestia placed a hoof on Luna's shoulder to draw her attention away from the human and leaned in close to whisper - this time low enough that he couldn't possibly hear, "Sister, forgive me; but you must let Mr. Aelius go. You know why you can't do this.."

The nuzzles against his hand stopped and the Princess that had looked so content seconds ago suddenly was crestfallen. Thinking it was his own fault, having told her that he had made prior arrangements for the afternoon, Titus apologized, "I-I'm sorry Luna, but I really do have to keep to my schedule - I agreed to drop by the barracks because the Lieutenant's herd really wanted to meet me while I'm in Canterlot. That, then a display of my training regimen per Captain Shining Armor's request, and I'll be right back here to help you knock out today's paperwork." He knew that the mention of having to deal with the day's work would definitely not brighten his friend's day, so he leaned in to Luna's other ear and hid his mouth from Celestia with a hand using an obviously fake whisper tone, "And then, once we're done, you and I can fire up Vanguards of the Oubliette; I stayed up late last night looking over the spreadsheets you gave me for my character."

That was precisely what Luna needed to hear to brighten up.

Day 7

"No! No, come on in," Titus pushed his door open with a foot, hands full of the daily missives for Luna. Placing the shoulder bag and papers on the hallway table he led Lieutenant Bulwark and his herd into his quarters. "It's not an intrusion at all; in fact I've got a little bit of time before I have to deliver these as the two Princesses are in a meeting. Let's see, uh, you guys said you're pretty interested in my tech so there's some droids in the corner over there if you want to take a look at those while I get some drinks," he gave them a moment to inspect the MagnaGuards; one of the machines balancing on the balls of its feet to shake a hoof as Titus made for the bar and quietly thanked the insomnia that had kept him up last night to program several actions in an attempt to make the combat droids a bit less imposing. When the ponies had gotten their fill, the trio of ponies all hopped up on the sofa opposite the armchair.

"Thanks for waiting; we discussed and slept on the idea for a night..." the pregnant yellow earth pony mare, Engilding Glimmer, stated from the sitting area with her husband to one side of her and on the other the forest-green pegasus Emerald Contrail. Taking each of their hooves in her own, she continued, "and we agreed we would like to know what to expect; colt or filly."

"If you're sure," Titus finished pouring the various flavors of juice and made his way over to place the drinks on the coffee table before he knelt down in front of the couch where the ponies were sitting and extended an open hand, "Alright, let's see if we can say 'hi' to your youngling. Glimmer, may I?" At her nod he placed his hand on her swollen barrel and, like so many times before, let out a deep breath as he drew on the Force to seek out her foal; all the while questioning why he had felt compelled to offer to do this as the procedure would have been far simpler if he had access to his ship's medical bay and its pair of droids. Heck, if Luna wasn't using the remote droid, modifying the sensors for this would be a cinch. Feeling a small kick helped him zero-in on his intended target. "Oh, hello there..." he muttered as he slowly back-traced the ripples in the Force the little foal's kick had made.

Bulwark sat up enthusiastically, "Have you found her?"

"Him," Glimmer corrected her husband half teasingly, turning to her pegasus herdmate as best she could from her position lying down on her side, "And what about you, Connie? What are you hoping our little munchkin will be?"

Kark, what have I gotten myself into? I don't know anything about kids. Foals. Whatever. Titus mentally brushed through the miasma of the mare's Force signature to hone-in on the one in her womb. Come on, little guy gal *you*, gimme something... A small flicker caught his attention and Titus subconsciously shifted his head to face it. Gotcha!

Emerald evidently didn't want to pick sides and rolled her eyes dramatically, "Niece. Nephew. I don't care as long as I get to be an aunt."

Finally achieving a lock on the unique aura, the smile on Titus' face quickly transitioned to a frown of contemplation as the ponies continued to chat excitedly amongst each other, Gotcha... both? It only took a second to confirm that there were, in fact, two almost-identical yet unique signatures though one of them was slightly weaker than the other. Something about it felt wrong. "Uh," his brain, sluggish from lack of sleep, ground until it found the gears to chug forward with his thought while maintaining his focus on the two flares in an attempt to acquire more information. "Well..." pulling his hand away, he looked from the Lieutenant to Glimmer, "if you've made any wagers with each other I'd say they're void - from what I've found you're actually carrying both."

He gave them all a moment for the news to settle and several hugs to be passed along - himself receiving an enthusiastic one from the mother-to-be before moving on to his concern, "I don't want to alarm anyone here but- it's probably easier to show you than explain, so..." he repeated the process but had a much easier time locating the two signatures the second time around; once he had a clear image of both he extended a second hand in search of one of the other ponies and flooded their conscious with what he was seeing when he finally made contact, letting them observe for themselves and say hello for a few moments before showing it to the next parent. "I'm not saying I can tell something is wrong with any certainty because, quite frankly, you guys are alien to me, but it wouldn't hurt to check in with the doctor or hospital, just to be safe-"

"And Aunt Connie says we'll be going right now. Let's go stud, move those flanks! You too, Glimm," the pegasus was the first off the sofa, physically pushing her husband to his hooves and marching him toward the door to hold it open as her pregnant herdmate followed in a careful waddle. "Thanks for this, Titus. Here-" she said with beamish smile and a wave; something small sailing through the air which he snatched as the door closed before he could formulate a response.

Titus stared at the back of the door for several seconds then down to the small medallion identical to the one the Lieutenant had. I think it's safe to assume who's the alpha in that herd. As he was fastening the gift around his neck the paperwork still awaiting delivery caught his attention from the corner of his eye and drew Titus' knackered mind back to the present to contemplate all that he yet had to accomplish with the day, though the thick rug he was sitting on was very comfortable and was tempting him to just remain where he was. After a quick glance at the grandfather clock he spent several moments looking over at the idle MagnaGuards. "Kark me I'm tired... but 'what better way to wake up than rigorous training,' right?"

"-as pertaining to your inquiry; by law, the Lunar Office requires a notarized copy of Requisition Form C-47, in addition to-" Luna was lounging on the summoned riding cloud above head level as she dictated to her human friend (and temporary secretary) when she stopped; a small red dot appeared and spreading out as it was absorbed into the parchment. Realizing he hadn't noticed she tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to her muzzle with a hoof as several more splotches fell beside the other.

Titus' hands went up in exasperation. "Oh frag it all to-" he swore as he crumpled up yet another missive to suffer from similar tarnishing and tossed it in the trash can with the others. Reaching for a tissue and holding it against his nose, Titus pushed himself an arms-length away from the desk, "Sorry Luna. If you give me a second to stop... leaking I'll restart the form; I've got the entries all but memorized, so you can relax and watch your telly-vision or something."

"You go relax and watch TV 'or something,'" she counter-offered, plucking the quill from his hand with a bit of magic and dipping it in the inkpot with an amused grin, "I am perfectly capable of completing my own paperwork."

It was just as quickly snatched back and the Princess' conceited grin was rewarded with a finger lightly bopping her on the nose, "Stop that! You know Princess Celestia said 'No Magic' until you're back to one hundred percent power, and uh-" he pointed to her tensed wings and their two-toned plumage, "you're not quite there yet." While he had to admit Luna was continuing to look much better - which Celestia had attributed to yesterday's massage reopening magic-channels or something, the explanation had lost him somewhere around the time it had started to sound like one of Twilight's lectures on advanced spell-weaving theoretics - the muted blue-grey and midnight feathers in conjuncture with her smaller frame were hard to miss.

"What are you, my caretaker now?" she pouted playfully and reached down to poke his shoulder again with a hoof, "Some sort of Magic Police?"

Ow that karking smarts! Titus hid a wince and regretted the choice of this morning's training with the droids in his exhausted state because before he had been able to put them down he had received quite a thrashing, one which was outwardly evident by the bloody nose that that had been spontaneously reoccurring off and on since. "One appointed by your sister, yes," he emphasized his statement by jabbing the fluffy end of the quill at her, coming close enough to almost brush her snout with it, "And, I might add, she told me I was to ignore your protests at not being allowed to use magic; going so far as to grant me the authority to disobey any commands you might give me to overlook said usage. Speaking of... is that cloud you're resting on any form of expenditure of your reserves?"

"Really, how lecherous!" Luna feigned indignant shock at the question and stuck her snout in the air haughtily, "Such talk of my 'reserves' and their expenditure is both a private matter and highly inappropriate, Mr. Aelius!" She was having a hard time keeping a straight face and peaked out the corner of her eye to judge the impact of her response to find her friend hunched over the table scribbling something. Subtly stretching her still rather stiff and aching neck, having opted to get her court paperwork out of the way before the massage rather than vice-versa, and with Titus making no attempt to obscure her vision of the parchment she easily followed along as the words were quickly and surprisingly neatly written. 'Dear... Princess... Celestia...' He's writing a letter to my sister?! 'Luna... is... acting... like a... pigheaded... foal-'

"Oh, 'a pigheaded foal,' huh?" The quill left a long streak across the parchment as she swiped it up from the table with a small amount of magic before she crumpling it up and bounced the offending article off of his nose, "HA! Take that! Your leaky nose is much more akin to a pig's than ours!"

Glancing at the balled-up letter now rolling away on the floor, Titus pointed a finger up at Luna then down at the evidence, "Hey! That was an unapproved use of magic! I'll have none of that on my watch!" He quickly realized he might have underestimated just how much of a playful mood his friend was in when multiple sheets of blank paper from the stack he kept to one side floated up and crunched into little balls while Luna stared at him with a defiantly mischievous smirk. "Don't. You. Dare," a sharp jab of a finger in her direction accompanied each word.

"Oink oink oink!" Several more missiles bouncing off of his head indicated his attempt at seriousness was an utter failure as a cry of "Down with the Magic Police!" broke through the room and the riding cloud zipped away.

Titus found himself under constant barrage as his friend reacquired the projectiles she threw, forcing him back out of the office nook and into cover - but not before he grabbed a handful of blank parchment for his own use. "Cease and desist this instant!" he shouted back blindly firing his ammunition around a corner; a few shrieks of laughter indicating hits, "Rebellious scum! Take that!"

"It's over, friend!" she gleefully hollered down at him as the dense cloud deflected several of his shots. She sent a storm raining down on the human's cover though none made contact as he briefly scooted across an open area behind the rolling office chair before doing a diving roll behind the bar, "I have the high ground!" She failed, however, to see his arms were full of readied projectiles just waiting to be unleashed.

The light paper ammunition plonked off of the stocked bottles of the bar, the missiles only outnumbered by the taunts also hurled his way from the alicorn on high. A multitude of shots whipped around the corner of the counter-top at an impossible right angle, catching him by surprise. Well then, if she's going to use magic to cheat it's only fair to level the playing field.

Breaking from his cover in a blur, his Force-heightened speed allowed him to nimbly dodge multiple projectiles that should have otherwise hit him; a sweep of a hand brushed aside her second desperate salvo as he closed in on her position and vaulted himself up off of the back of the sofa. In a hail of fire that made Luna duck behind the cloud for cover, Titus Force-leapt himself into the air well above her and let loose his armament, paper wads bouncing off of her snout, flank, forehead, shoulder, and one impaling itself on her horn. Still firing at his target, Titus somersaulted in the air and planted his feet against the ceiling rather than careening into it head-first, going into a full crouch as his legs absorbed the remaining energy of his leap; his momentum spent he began his fall, intending to land back in cover to resume his assault on the upstart alicorn.

Luna, however, was fast to recover - magically snatching the descending human mid-air and pulling him the short distance onto the soft cloud beside her. Now in close quarters, the two wrestled on the springy surface as the cloud floated to the living room floor, unable to support their combined weight; Titus' size and leverage advantage proved difficult for Luna to handle for a short time, however her brute alicorn strength (and maybe the covert usage of a little magic) eventually overcame it and she pinned him on his stomach below her. "W-we ha-*haa*-have thou, villain!" she said around her panting breaths at the sudden exercise, wings spread out triumphantly, "Surrender and agree to our terms or be trounced a second time!"

"Magnificent," Titus whispered reflexively, catching sight of her displayed two-tone plumage out of the corner of his eye and only becoming aware he had spoken aloud when an intense blush broke through Luna's coat. Feeling her weight shift in her abashment - unfortunately right onto his sore shoulder - he very briefly contemplated breaking the pin and continuing, but for the sake of preventing any further use of magic and resuming the day's work Titus opted to end their conflict. Sputtering several puffs of cloud that had found their way into his mouth on account of a hoof on one side of his head lightly yet forcefully pressing it into the fluffy mass, "A-and what are your demands?" he made a show of weakly struggling to play the character of a foe defeated, "I shall know them before deciding whether I submit or fight to the last!"

"Our demands are threefold," she replied with an air of authority as she realized that, despite his allusion to further roughhousing, he was giving up and, deep down, she was a little disappointed as this sort of physical activity wasn't one she could enjoy very often; she was no match for her sister, who was often too busy or would just pin her little sister beneath the Royal Solar Rump until she conceded, and the thought of even asking a guard or subject was unfathomable. "First, after your clerical duties are completed thou shall remain here to engage in a block of entertainment of our choosing. Snacks and refreshments are to be provided for the defeated party to partake for the duration," waiting for a moment and seeing no visual cues of objection to the first term of surrender on his face, Luna continued. "Demand the second: in regards to the message from Twilight Sparkle we delivered earlier this week, thou shall administer for our experience and critique one, um... 'wonderful ear-rub,' as she described it. Are the terms of your surrender agreeable thus far?"

The human's head bounced up and down on the cloud as much as it could from his current position, "Yeah, I guess so. But what about the third?"

"I-it will be made at the conclusion of the first two..."

Her reply was a bit too sheepish for Titus' liking, so decided to take advantage of her earlier shift in position to pull a reversal - one arm shooting up behind the base of her wing and along her barrel while a foot swept her hind legs out from under her, depositing her roughly onto her side as several more puffs of the springy cloud floated up around her cushioned impact. "If I'm going to surrender I have one term of my own: you're going to oblige your sister's request, so if there's anything you'd usually use magic for you'll instead ask for my assistance first. Do we have a deal?"

Luna sighed as she sent one last paper ball bouncing off his nose before she gave him a nod, "Very well, we have an agreement. Come," she directed the cloud into a slow glide across the floor back to the office nook where their brief firefight had started, "let us finish this karking paperwork so that we may move on to more enjoyable activities."

It wasn't until several hours later that Titus set the quill pen aside for the last time, gently blowing on the immaculately-completed document to dry the ink before placing it in the outbox with a combination of relieved sigh and weary grunt as he tried to reinvigorate himself by rubbing his face with both hands, "Thank the stars that's done! I don't think I could stand to look at another form let alone fill one out."

Do I tell him he still had wet ink on his hands or let him walk around for a bit with those blotches all over his face? The Princess was doing a good job of suppressing her mirth at her friend's expense and managed to keep a straight face as he turned to look at her on the cloud. Realizing it would be suspicious to not say anything, she nodded in agreement, "Yes, we are on 'Easy Avenue,' as my sister likes to say, for the rest of the afternoon."

"Easy? Easy for you, maybe," he grunted as he pushed himself out of the office chair with some effort, rolling his shoulder around in its socket a couple of times once he had stood up, "If you've forgotten, you wanted to get your paperwork completed before your massage, so I've still got that staring me in the face before I'm anywhere near Easy Avenue or whatever."

"Perhaps you could... not and say you did?" Luna offered hopefully though in the back of her mind she knew Titus would not betray the promise he had made to her sister so easily. Her gut feeling was proven correct when he snorted in response and removed the wad of paper still stuck on her horn so he could bounce it off of her snout, shoo'ing her and her cloud toward the lounge with the other hand. Desperate and with no other way to stall the impending massage Luna informed him of the ink smudges covering most of his cheeks and forehead.

Thinking she was fibbing Titus moved his face closer to a silver platter that lay on the coffee table and checked himself in the reflection for the ink - identifying the serving platter as the same one he had seen at his scone breakfast with Princess Celestia. "Right. It would seem you've bought yourself a brief moment," he said, turning this way and that to inspect the dark blotches before summoning up his best disappointed glare to return back at his alicorn friend, "You know, I would have appreciated it if you'd have told me before I rubbed my hands all over my face, though that little smirk of yours is telling me you probably enjoyed watching me do it. I'll be right back then there'll be no more delays, got it?" With her permission he stepped into her bathroom to wash his face.

It was the first time he'd been in a bathroom as large and gorgeous as this one; pristine white tile offset by dark woods and black marble counter-tops, shining silver and gold faucets and taps, a full porcelain bathtub set flush into the floor and a massive walk-in shower with the image of the moon etched into the glass door. He had scarcely lathered his hands and started scrubbing when the door swung open and Luna made a quick beeline for the shower, "Uh, everything okay-?" it was at the moment she passed him and closed the shower door - tucking her hooves under herself and laying on the shower floor - that a familiar sweet scent wafted along behind her. Oh... she'd probably appreciate me not saying anything. As odd as it felt how nonchalantly she had just hopped in the shower with him there, Titus went back to clean his splotchy face but the mirror he was using fogged up as the bathroom quickly turned into a sauna, steam literally pouring over the top of the shower as Luna remained comfortably arranged on the floor with an expression of complete contentment.

"D-did you hear that, friend?"

Her question came just as Titus had his face under the sink's running tap. "Sorry, did you say something?" Turning to face her, he found a dripping wet Luna already halfway out of the shower and tentatively headed for the door leaving little watery hoofprints in her wake, the shower still running full blast as even more steam billowed out.

"T-Titus?" Luna's ears were on full alert as she silently stalked the final distance to the bathroom door that was cracked slightly open, pausing on three hooves and going statue-still when she recognized a familiar sound. "Titus, there's somepony at the door. There's somepony knocking at the door! I... what am I going to do?!"

Doubting she had heard anything, Titus instead thought had seen he was almost done washing his face and was trying to stall again, nevertheless he stuck his head out of the bathroom to listen and heard the voice call from the door. This is bad. The whole operation is at stake. "Okay, calm down Luna," Titus quickly finished dunking his head in the sink, though a good portion of the water ended up on his shoulders and neck of his shirt, before hastily drying himself as best he could with a small hoof towel from the stack on the counter while sliding sideways into the bathroom doorway beside the alicorn, "It'll just take a few minutes to hook you back up to the-" a sudden flash of memory reminded him that the droid he had spent hours calibrating for projecting Luna's hologram was still in his shoulder bag in his room, "Kark, we don't have any display drones here in your quarters that are ready for use."

A sour look came to Luna's face as a familiar and rather unwanted voice called through the door. "Ugh, it's that stuck-up, egotistical distant nephew of mine, Prince Blueblood. Under no circumstances is he to see me like this or it'll be all over Canterlot before the sun even sets! Expeditiously answer the door and get rid of him," she got behind Titus and started physically pushing him out of the bathroom, "I don't care how you go about it!"

A third set of raps that were obviously from a pony growing impatient meant Titus only took a few seconds to weigh his options and formulate a plan. If the guards hadn't have been sent away to prevent them from spotting Luna or note how she never left her room this would have been a quick matter of her ordering them to turn away visitors. Wait... the guards- The thought of the guards made him recall when he had been dragged from the room a few days ago, sparking the beginnings of a rash plan.

Titus turned around and leaned closer to face the alicorn that was steadily pushing him for the door; her frantic look of desperation as if her world was on the brink of collapsing prompted him to extend a hand to her shoulder that eventually slid up to her cheek when the contact didn't have its usual calming effect, "Luna, I have an idea. What I need is for you to yell like you're mad at me... and maybe sock me lightly in the nose, too." Luna's expression turned to one of confusion as she tried to grasp what he had planned; when she sputtered that she couldn't just be angry at him for no reason and she certainly wouldn't be hitting him Titus realized he'd have to try and provide a worthy cause for her to raise her voice and, with no time to explain as a forth series of raps on the door was followed by the locked handle being tested, he took her other cheek in his hand held her head steady, angling it to one side as he spoke, "Luna, I'm improvising here, so please forgive what I'm about to do."

"Friend, w-wait, what are you-mmph!" Luna's eyes grew to monopolize most of her face as her friend quickly closed in; the feeling of his lips pressing on hers cut her off mid sentence. The contact was fleeting and nothing felt forced, but it was enough for her heart to skip significantly more than a single beat from the sudden unexpected shock. When he pulled away she could scarcely believe what had just happened, "W-w-why... Why would you do that?!" she hollered incredulously.

Standing up he was quietly thankful she hadn't magically turned him inside out or teleported him to the center of the sun. "Sorry Luna, I uh... yeah," Titus gave her his best apologetic smile, "But hey, that was good - there's no way your nephew didn't hear that. So on to phase two..." taking his nose in one hand he gave it a sharp yank, rewarding him with a fresh dribble of warm blood and a slightly queasy look from Luna. Titus made as much of a racket as he could jogging over to the door, going so far as to brush several of his less delicate tools from a table to the floor in a metallic clattering that echoed off the walls as well as retrieve the silver platter and place it near the door. And if this ploy doesn't work I could always try the mind trick; it worked on that pegasus, afterall. With a nod of assurance to Luna he unlocked the door and ducked out of her room in one fluid movement, yanking the door closed just as he used the Force to propel the platter at the closed portal like it had been thrown at him.

Titus exhaled heavily, playing it up like he had sprinted for his life as his head came to rest on the heavy obsidian door. He remained like that for a few more short breaths before rolling himself to place his back against the door and find a thoroughly startled white unicorn backpedaling away from him.

"Egad!" Blueblood's gaze was firmly fixed on the ample amount of blood flowing from the biped's nose. "G-get back, creature! Don't come any closer!"

"Hey, relax." Slumping to a sitting position with a sigh to make himself appear less threatening, though more subtly he was arranging himself to bodily block the door should the pony try to get around him into Luna's quarters, "I'm not going to hurt you-"

The Prince shook his head and ceased his retreat though he remained well out of arms reach, "Hurt me? You're that alien - it's well known you're not hostile. I'm more worried about that," he pointed a hoof at Titus' nose, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get red stains out of a coat as white and well groomed as mine?! Now then, if you'd kindly mop up any remnants of your nasal gushing and demonstrate your primate ability to walk upright to promptly remove yourself from my path I, Prince Blueblood, would seek audience with my aunt, Princess Luna, to discuss highly important business - business well above your station and most likely beyond your limited sapien intellect."

It was Titus' turn to shake his head, "I should warn you that would be a bad idea, Prince. A very bad idea. In case you haven't noticed, the Princess isn't in the best of moods right now and I can't really blame her - she's looking at having to completely redo a bunch of reports and double check the entirety of today's paperwork, which includes filing additional forms to make the other offices aware of the required revisions. Needless to say your aunt has a long grind of ahead of her." He mentally crossed his fingers in hope that Luna's distaste for paperwork was common knowledge or, at the very least, known to someone like the Prince.

"I had heard she was teaching her pet to do tricks but I am to believe that is why you are bloodied and look scruffier than normal? What role did you play in putting the Princess in such a foul temperament, human?"

Scruffy? Who's scruffy looking? A second glance at his current appearance and Titus had to concede that point to Blueblood. "Being her appointed secretary I brought to her attention a rather glaring oversight on her part on a key document and, as the closest release of frustration, a lovely arrangement of flowers and the vase they were in was dumped on my head; hence my current dampness," he gestured to his drenched hair and clothing before pointing at his bloodied nose, "This I got when I tripped over a fold in a carpet during my hasty retreat for the door when the error I found carried over to entries on other forms which required redaction. Hardly the Princess' fault," his head slumped to his chest as he hid a second use of the Force, searching for and pulling multiple objects from within the room to crash into the other side of the door in quick succession, "again, I wouldn't go in there if I were you; it sounds like anything in hoofs-reach is liable to be thrown."

Several seconds of silence transpired as Prince Blueblood weighed his options, glancing from the disheveled, weary looking human to the sealed door barring him from his business with the Princess.

"I bet that last crash was the wine bottle labeled Marelot that she had pointed out this morning," Titus wagered with himself just loud enough for the Prince's heightened equine hearing to pick up as a trace amount of red liquid pooled from under the door and (with a little assistance from the Force) ran in the Prince's direction, "A shame, really; having just restocked her quarters there's all of those other red varieties at risk of being wastefully destroyed..."

That was what pushed Blueblood over the fence, "I should go see Aunt Celestia, perhaps she will be available to discuss a raise in my weekly allowance." Muttering something about risking wine stains on his coat the Prince retreated down the hallway, casting several more glances at the waving human pile still slumped against the door amid the red puddle before disappearing around the far set of doors.

Pushing himself up from the floor with a grunt Titus slid back through the door, carefully stepping over the shattered bottle of cranberry juice and working himself around the puddle lest he leave red footprints in his wake as he moved back into Luna's quarters. "Luna? Where'd you go?" he called out, not catching sight of her immediately but on a second scan around the room he spotted a trail of little puddles leading to a comfortable-looking reading corner; behind a lone armchair a horn and a pair of ear-tips poking out from their hiding spot. "Hey, you can come out now," he walked the short distance and peered around the back, finding the shivering alicorn seated with a bath towel over her still-drenched body as she tried to hold a hand mirror steady, "Mission accomplished."

"S-so I s-see," she replied; her teeth chattering lightly she turned the mirror to face him to show that the reflective surface instead displayed an image of the hallway and the black door, "A good f-fib regarding the oversight, however s-saying I d-dumped a vase of water on you w-was a l-little over the t-top, wouldn't you a-agree?"

"Maybe... but it all worked in the end, right?" he was forced to back up to allow her escape from her hiding spot, though once out she continued toward him menacingly, "Right?!"

"Oh yes-s-s, the outcome was a-agreeable," she said before pulling the towel from her shoulders and twisting it almost like it was a rope, "it was y-your method that left something to be d-d-desired!"

*SNAP!*

"CRINKING-Nnngh! What the frag was that for?!" Titus shouted in response, gripped the spot on his outer thigh where the towel had viciously whipped him. One look at the Princess was enough to guess exactly what it was for, "Luna, look; I apologize, but we didn't exactly have time to sit down for a briefing what with Prince Narcissist battering down the gates and I needed you to sound upset. I'll admit it was a rash thing to do, and I appreciate you not blasting me for it, but the other option I was considering was smashing your game machine-"

"Yes, fine! From the two we will admit you made the preferable choice," she waved a hoof dismissively as she cut him off. Of all the amenities of her luxurious quarters, it was the common gaming console that Luna enjoyed the most and in the time before she and Titus had become close she had considered it the nearest thing to a friend that she had - as immature and inane a thing like that was, now that she thought about it - had the cherished little machine been smashed she wasn't sure what she would have done. "A little warning next time would be appreciated, however."

"Oh, expecting a 'next time,' are we?"

Luna whipped him once more on the calf of his leg, though with less of a resounding crack, "Do not think your roguish charm makes you impervious! Such a stunt would normally carry grave consequences though, fortunately for you, I am simply adding a few terms to your prior surrender." It's not like it was unpleasant, just... unexpected. And my sister is right; my position as a Princess would only cause issues for us both. She trotted after him a short distance, snapping the air behind him with the towel and playfully herding him toward the bathroom, "Now go fetch my bathrobe and manedryer; I'm positively freezing and, as you've forbidden use of magic, you shall have to aid me." He emerged a short time later - having taken the chance to wash the blood from his nose and get his hair back in what could loosely pass for order - carrying the deep cyan bathrobe draped in one hand and a rolled towel over the other; the sight of which caused Luna to retreat from him in fear of retaliation for her earlier whippings.

"I wasn't sure what your manedryer looks like, so I grabbed-" noticing her reaction to his approach Titus chuckled as he knelt down, a hand extending to pass the bathrobe to his still-shivering friend. "Don't worry, I'm not about to get involved in a towel fight," he assured her, unrolling the towel he waited while she sat on her haunches and tied the cloth belt around her barrel to secure the bathrobe in place, "A paper war is one thing - something I wouldn't mind doing again, actually - but a towel fight? Stars forbid I get a good whip in on you and leave a welt somewhere visible for somepony to notice; 'Alien Assaults Princess' isn't a headline I want to see in the papers."

Luna was about to remark that a headline of 'Alien Canoodles Princess' would be equally disastrous but suddenly found her crown plucked off and head enveloped in the soft white towel, her mane and ears were gently tousled which made her head bounce from side to side between his two hands in a way that reminded her of a time long ago when her sister and she had been little fillies and Celestia had dried her in a similar manner. Then there was that song she used to hum, what was it-?

"What's with the goofy grin, Princess?" Titus asked, catching glimpses of the upturned corners of her mouth as the ends of the towel flopped about.

"Nothing," shoving the pleasant memory to the back of her mind with the intent of asking her sister about it later Luna put a hoof up to the human's hand to get him to stop and let the towel fall about her shoulders as she shook her head side to side vigorously, the thoroughly fluffed mane standing up on end in several places when she stopped. Shooting a quick glance at the clock display on her console, she became aware of how much time had passed, "Oh, quick! The movie is about to start!"

Despite being well over twice her size the little alicorn proved she was perfectly capable of bodily shoving him and did so - her front hooves on two spots of his back as she directed him over to the sofa; Titus taking a seat on one end while Luna found a spot on the other as she hoofed the remote to turn the TV on. "I'm sure this is going to sound completely stupid," he started, sinking into the cushion as some pony on the screen overly-enthusiastically tried to sell him some form of powdered cleaning agent, "but I've never actually seen one. A movie, I mean."

"Wait, really?!" she was more than shocked at the honest nod he gave her. How could he not have seen a movie?! Luna thought about the correct course of action, immediately hopping off the couch and quickly trotting out of view when she had come to a conclusion. "If this is your first time there are a few necessities you should know about for a successful 'movie night,' as they are called," she shouted around the corner, her voice accompanied by a clattering of dishes and a rapid series of pops from her miniature kitchen, "First is a copious supply of hot popped corn, buttered and salted to taste. To compliment that some form of chilled drink is also required; I have a variety of sodas here as well as some juices, though feel free to take your pick of something stronger from the bar. Ooo! Candy. We need candy." She went by at a canter, depositing her load of vittles and ducking into her bedroom to appear a short time later with several elegant boxes of chocolates balanced on her back which she placed with the rest of the food before hopping back on the sofa once again - though this time she arranged herself to lean cozily up against Titus' side, "Lastly but most important to having an enjoyable viewing experience, you need a friend-" sticking her tongue out she quickly added, "but I guess you'll have to do."

Titus once again mentally wished she would use his non-sore shoulder and moved his arm up to rest on the back of the couch, tweaking her ear lightly for her tease. "Here I was thinking this wouldn't be a major event but that's quite the list of preparations," he said, staring over the coffee table piled high with snacks as the television screen went blank and a smooth, deep voice announced the feature presentation would be starting shortly. Now that his hand was in the ideal spot for it he began to very lightly rub the ear he had tweaked.

"After... the corruption of Nightmare Moon..." Luna was initially startled by the fingers that had unexpectedly taken hold of her pinna but she quickly sank into the feeling as her head unintentionally started following the motion of the thumb and fingers rotating in small circles and her eyelids drooped, "...Twilight Sparkle took it upon herself to reintroduce us to Equestria's m-mmm-odern society though a 'crash course' and one of the subjects covered in the study materials was 'Being Social: Movies and Movie Nights.' I took... very thorough notes, but in the end the only other pony I've ever invited has been my sister."

"So it's a first for both of us, then," Titus observed as the Princess leaned her ear into his hand, a signal to rub harder if there ever was one, so he began working from ear tip to base with a bit more pressure.

"Shh! The mmmovie is about to start..." she shushed through a purr, her body having sunk so far that she was now resting her head on the cushion alongside his thigh as both ears were rubbed in tandem, "And I hereby command you: do not cease what you're doing. By the heavens..."

Titus did his best to follow along with the plot of the movie but there were several parts pertaining to Equestrian history that he had to have clarified to understand the story - a young mare in a family of treasure hunters whose grandmother believed their ancestors buried a treasure somewhere in Equestria and had hidden cryptic clues to its whereabouts on everything from national landmarks to a secret key made when both Princess' crowns were joined together like a jigsaw puzzle; all the while racing against the Royal Guard as well as a ruthless adversarial sibling to keep the secret treasure from falling into the wrong hooves. They had only gotten a short amount into the movie before Titus' hands had cramped up, forcing him to stop amid pouting glares from the Princess, who eventually resumed her previous position of leaning up against him after muttering that she should chain him to her work desk and force him to be her personal full-time Royal Ear-Rubber and secretary. Her tangent was brought to an abrupt end as a piece of popcorn bounced off her nose, leaving a small splotch of butter behind which she eagerly licked off before adding that she would have been kind and taken him out for "walkies" occasionally.

Luna quieted down after that and Titus - realizing she was holding firm to her promise of not using any magic - left an open palm full of popcorn between them for her to take munches from; during yet another advertisement break in the movie, however, the buttery snacks were blown away as she flapped her wings in what looked like discomfort. "Everything okay, Luna? Every ad break we've gotten you've done that," he picked up the scattered bits of food and deposited them on the table so they wouldn't fall between the sofa cushions, "Are your wings stiffening up?"

"W-what?! No!" she indignantly exclaimed, though by his confused look at her response she quickly came to realize he hadn't understood that he had basically asked her if she was getting a pegassi hard-on, "It's just that I've been molting those ugly feathers and there's this one that's loose and ready to come out, but of course it won't shed of its own accord and has to be in a spot I can't reach. The little blighter itches like karking crazy and it's driving me up the wall! You see normally I'd just pluck it out with magic, but ♫nooo~♫ somebody..." she shot him a glare but it was empty of any ill-temperament, "is kissing my sister's flank and won't let me use any-"

"Here, let me see," remembering what Princess Celestia had shown him he took the elbow of her wing in one hand and applied a light amount of pressure to the joint, causing it to freely and painlessly extend over his lap; it only took Titus a second to spot the tip of a lone greyish blue feather buried between a patch of her midnight blue secondary and marginal coverts. He pointed a finger at the culprit of his friend's discomfort, "This the little bastard right here?" When she nodded he quickly and gently worked his fingers between the layers to get at the base of the offending feather before she could say otherwise.

A gasp had barely left her lips when she felt a light tug and the itch was instantly relieved, the small grey feather held aloft between a finger and thumb by her stupidly-grinning human friend. "Y-you just... p-preened..." she pulled her wing back to her side and briefly looked at the floor as she knew both her cheeks had to be burning red, her gazed returning to him just in time to see the grin fall from his face as he realized he might have done something incredibly insensitive. Luna quickly jumped in to reassure him, "It's alright, my friend, I feel no semblance of transgression I was just..." she was about to explain the significance but stopped and regarded him for a short time before dismounting the couch and asking him to wait a moment, taking one of the small boxes of chocolates and disappearing into her bedchambers for the remaining duration of the advertisement break. When she returned she quietly sat down next to him, noticing the small feather set to one side of the coffee table before ignoring his obviously curious stare that had followed her all the way to the couch; instead focusing her attention on the final scenes of the movie though her mind remained thoroughly elsewhere until she had enough of a break in her thought that she realized the credits were rolling. "H-here," she said, suddenly thrusting the small box she had left with out from under a wing and into his lap before moving the feather from the table on top of it.

"A gift?" Titus took the small feather and gently traced the tip across his palm before running his fingers along the vane, "Wow, I really appreciate it. May I open this one now?"

Another nod answered his question. "Well y-you said you admired my plumage, s-so I thought..." Luna watched with growing embarrassment as her human friend slowly removed the top of the box to go stock still when he saw the contents, "I-I was just going to put it in my keepsake chest where it would collect dust with all the others, b-but instead I decided I want you to have this one - an alula from the leading edge of my wing."

Reaching into the box Titus removed another feather with a level of care and delicacy like it would break just from breathing on it; beneath it a simple note with the words "For my best friend, now and forever." Reaching from the tip of his middle finger to his wrist, the color shifted from midnight blue to almost black as he rotated it in the light.

"You needn't be so gentle with it; they've been permeated by a small amount of alicorn magic which makes them exceedingly durable," she said with a small laugh, "I still have feathers such as that one from... from before my fall," her mood turned dark for the briefest flash before she caught sight of Titus absentmindedly running the gift over his cheek, her embarrassment was rekindled at just how content he looked until he noticed her flushed face.

"Luna, I-" he extended an arm, placing a hand on her closest hoof and gave it a firm squeeze, "Thank you. A personal gift like this calls for an exchange, though you know I don't have much to give in return-"

She watched as he froze in contemplation momentarily before he wordlessly dug around in several of the pouches on his belt before removing a wound up coil of thin wiring - identifying it as transmission wire, something he said he had learned to always carry with him from creatures called "woo-keez" - and followed his hand that slowly moved over toward her and gently plucked his lightsaber from her hip, his fingernails purposefully scratching against her coat pleasantly in the process. Luna's head cocked to one side as he slid off the couch and squatted on the floor before the coffee table; a sweep of his hand clearing a small amount of space where he placed the weapon and the small feather next to it. "What are you-" she started to ask but stopped when both hands hovered above the table, a familiar sign that a display of his Forcemagic was imminent.

What happened next captured Luna's full attention, subconsciously her head lowered down almost to rest on his shoulder and her ears rotated forward completely. "-I don't have much to give in return," he continued where he had left off, "but what I can give you is something very few beings outside of the Order have seen - the construction of a Jedi's lightsaber."

The lightsaber vibrated briefly before it floated evenly above the table and emitted several metallic clicks; pieces slowly moving away from each other as the whole hilt disassembled itself before her eyes; the only parts she could readily identify - circuitry, wires, tubes, and small lenses - floating in a slow orbit around the main casing. A pair of crystals in particular caught her eye.

"Those gems," Luna whispered into his ear, her gaze following the path of the crystals; one almost-clear with a slight golden tinge and the other smaller and lightning blue, "I've not seen anything of that hue before..."

Having routinely disassembled and reassembled his lightsaber as part of his Master's training program, Titus had more than enough control over the parts to be able to split his attention and notice how keenly the crystals were reflected in her eyes. Deciding to indulge in her curiosity, he flicked a finger toward the Princess and the crystals floated over to her waiting hoof for closer inspection, "This blue one is called an opila and is the primary crystal that I use to project the energy of the lightsaber. It was a gift from my Master, who had gotten it from her Master as an Apprentice and he from his; the gesture going back as far as days of the Old Republic," A few minutes passed before a wordless nod from the Princess and the other took its place, "and this one I managed to recover from my ship's cloaking device after it was destroyed in a boarding attempt by some pirates with very bad aim and an even worse sense for business; it's a stygium crystal, and it focuses the beam from the opila to form the blade." When Luna had finished admiring the crystal it floated back to the table. The midnight blue feather suddenly joined in the moving ring of components and quickly disappeared to find a spot inside lightsaber as the hilt came back together like an impossibly-complex jigsaw puzzle, the final touch being the small length of transmission wire attaching itself to the loop used to hang the handle from his belt and securing its other end around the quill of the grey-blue feather he had plucked from her wing effectively forming a garnishment. With his display complete Titus hoisted himself back up onto the sofa, his head resting on the back and his entire body sinking into the plush cushions as he exhaled a weary sigh.

"My friend," as he was far too enveloped by the couch to receive a proper hug Luna pushed herself against his side instead, "I feel privileged to have been witness, you have my thanks; I feel I must inform you I never expected anything in return. If I may ask... why did you choose to integrate my feather into your blade?" Not getting a timely response she poked him lightly, "Titus?"

The exercise in concentration left Titus feeling thoroughly drained and his brain finally decided it had had enough and punched out. A limp hand came over from the back of the sofa to loosely plop itself between Luna's ears, "Your gifts... treasure... with me at all times-zzz..." The rest of his response was garbled beyond recognition as the lack of sleep from the previous night and the comfort of the sofa bore his consciousness down like an anchor and the hand atop the alicorn's head slid off to one side of her neck.

Luna watched the rising and falling of Titus' chest for several moments before smiling. Very well friend, though the demands of your surrender are still not met... she squirmed a bit further into her comfortable position, letting out a contented sigh as she leaned up against his side and closed her eyes, I shall let you rest for a few hours before having you fulfill them. Drifting off herself, she went back over the lengthy report on targeting specific attributes of a species her genetics experts had drafted at her request; the thick tome having been included with the special set of Starswirl's magical analyzing spectacles her sister had retrieved from the palace's artifact vault.

The library once again fell silent as Titus concluded his recounting, "And the rest you know from what I explained at the station... sorry Twi, I didn't intend to be so long-winded about it." While his story telling had taken them into the late afternoon to early evening, he had left out or changed the sensitive bits of his tale - such as Luna's reversion to her weaker form as well as several topics discussed in court pertaining to Equestria's security - the Princesses had both asked as much while they were helping him pack his machines and luggage up because he himself had found it incredibly difficult to do so on account of his unfamiliar body.

Twilight stirred, on the brink of sleep herself, and lifted her head off of his neck where she had been using it as a pillow, "At least it sounds like you had fun; I was busy up until the point I had to lock myself in my room, after that my week was about as pleasant as hooves grating on chalkboard..." her sentence trailed off as she stopped and shuffled back enough to study him. The librarian stayed quiet for a moment then gently placed a forehoof on his cheek and stroked it gently, "I just realized - I'm what broke the Princess' concentration and caused the artifact to... it's my fault, isn't it?" When he sighed heavily instead of denying her inquiry like she had hoped he would, Twilight slumped with the feeling of abject guilt slowly forming in her gut.

Sitting up in a similar position, Titus scooted a bit closer to negate the distance she had created so they were face to face.

"And again, I'm to blame for something unpleasant happening to you..." she tried to retreat further down the couch however her butt was firmly squished against the arm so Twilight instead turned to look away from him until a hoof on the side of her face gently pulled her gaze back to receive a warm smile from Titus; a scant second later he leaned in and she felt his muzzle press against hers lightly. She closed her eyes and sighed into the kiss, letting his tongue play against her lips before meeting it with her own and briefly tangling together before they amicably pulled away, both smiling foolishly at each other.

"Come on... you know I wouldn't blame you for something like this; even with my record of encounters with magic, it was my choice to let the Princess use those glasses on me. Besides, you could say I've got it on very good authority it's only temporary," Titus calmly stated as he inched further forward until they were almost shoulder-to-shoulder, experimenting and finding a comfortable position to rest his head on Twilight's withers which she mimicked shortly after, "and it's more than tolerable now that I'm back in Ponyville, with you," he nestled in a bit for emphasis, "I missed you, Twilight... it's nice to be home."

Giving an enthusiastic nuzzle full of gratitude and a small hum into Titus' shoulder rather than put what she was feeling into words Twilight closed her eyes again and simply relished in the physical contact they were sharing after her own long and arduous week; from her position she felt his sides begin to rise and fall rhythmically, an accompanying barely-audible snore told her that he had finally fallen asleep as only one thing went through her mind.

He called this home.

12: Love Sick (Clop-Free Version)