I woke up. For a few moments, I couldn't tell why the ceiling looked different, until my confusion was gradually replaced by an overwhelming sense of euphoria. Lying still, I spent several minutes just contemplating the reality of the situation, until my desire to see Twilight again overtook the tranquility of the moment. Hushed voices met my ears as I made my way downstairs. When I rounded the final corner, I could see both Twilight and Pinkie sitting on the entrance hall's floor.

At that, a very different and much less welcoming feeling dwelt up inside me. It seemed to be jealousy, but I couldn't even tell which of them I was jealous of. Maybe both.

“Hey there.” Twilight smiled and gestured for me to come closer. “Slept well?”

“Hey. Yeah, very well.” I sat down next to her, giving Pinkie a smile... wait, wasn't there a problem between us? Oh right, I had betrayed her, and ruined everything... ... oups. My smile vanished, and I instinctively slid half a meter away. “Uh, uhm...” I was about to apologize, but then an inner voice stopped me. I didn't want to apologize. Or did I? I probably should have thought that through earlier.

Ultimately, I ended up not saying anything, in a fruitless attempt to conceal my insecurity.

“We're fine,” Pinkie said.

“Oh... okay. Great.” I sighed in relief. “So... uh, what... did you discuss?”

“Pinkie can stay here,” Twilight said, “but you might want to get a new name.”

I giggled. Pinkie didn't.

“That's great.” I smiled thankfully. “Can she... stay here, too?”

“Yes, for now that should be fine. As long as it is okay for you two to share the same bed. I only have two.” She gave me quick look.

I felt a strange heat creeping up under my face. “Uhm...”

“Yeah, that's fine.” Pinkie stood up. "I'm tired, so if you'll excuse me...” Without giving me a second glance, she passed by and walked upstairs.

“I'm... not sure I understand your relationship,” Twilight commented after Pinkie had disappeared. I bit my lip, trying to stifle my giggles. I wasn't sure how much volume would reach the bedroom, after all there wasn't even a closed door between us.

“I don't fully understand it either,” I said truthfully.

“But you like her?”

“Yes.” I sighed. “Very much. I'd do pretty much everything for her. Which is probably part of the problem.”

Twilight nodded. “Was there...”

“No. I didn't even know how she looked like until yesterday. I still don't know how her old self looked like.”

“Then how...”

“Well, we have... uh, advanced technology which allows us to communicate over large distances, with almost zero delay. In my old life, I was talking to – or, well, writing with – people from around the world almost every day. It's...”

“Complicated?”

“Yeah.” I chuckled. “Though, it is possible to fall in love with someone without knowing how he looks like.” I closed my eyes. “There is this... guy who developed a... well, an obsession for Pinkie, which has caused... a lot of problems, to say the least. I think that had a big effect on her. That was actually the first thing I got involved with when Pinkie and I... well, met. It's a shame he isn't here, really, I think he would fit much better into Equestria than into our world, and I'd like him to be here. But Pinkie has been... troubled by the whole affair. It was a constant balance between keeping him on distance and trying not to hurt him, and we were never able to solve it.” A short pause. “Then there's this other guy, who is an idiot, who got really close to her, although I have no idea how or why...” I sighed. “Well, that's not true, I do have some ideas. Bah. And he has also hurt me more than any other person alive, and he's the reason why Pinkie stopped talking to me. However...” I didn't even attempt to keep the satisfaction out of my voice. “He isn't here either. Too bad for him...”

Blinking, I threw Twilight a look and blushed. “Sorry. I know you haven't asked me to tell you all of this, I just... felt the need to. I never really talked to anyone about it before.”

“Actually, I'd like to hear everything in more detail at some point.”

My heart made a small leap. “Uhm, totally.” I threw Twilight a thankful look. “... I think I wanted to make a point... right, Pinkie. I think that's the reason why she can come across as...” I was searching for the right word, but couldn't find it. “... passive,” I eventually said, although that didn't quite describe it. “Solitary? Uhm... reserved? There is a word for it in... uhm, my native language, which I can't quite translate.” I stocked. “Anyway... do you... do you like her?”

“Mh...” Twilight didn't answer right away, apparently giving the question real thought. “Well, I don't dislike her.”

I immediately chided myself for perceiving the lack of a more enthusiastic answer as good news, which was both childish and irrational, but I couldn't help it.

“Equestrian is not your native language?”

“Uhm, no. We have thousands of languages in our world. The one we are speaking right now is internationally accepted as universal, for the most part. That's why the show is written in it, and it's why I know it.”

“Did you say thousands?”

“Yea.”

“How many people live in your world?”

“Uhm...” I bit my lip. “Around seven billion.”

Twilight's eyes widened. “You didn't mention that. I had no idea.”

“I forgot.” I smiled crookedly. “Yeah, our world is big. Big and chaotic.”

“Seven billion,” Twilight restated in awe. “The cultural diversity must be enormous. And the creative output... with the communication methods you described, if so many different people share and combine their ideas... so many different places from which you can draw inspiration... it's unimaginable.”

“Well, only a relatively small part of all people actually have access to this kind of communication. Although this number is growing rapidly. But yeah, the creative output is enormous. Basically, there is more of everything than you can ever consume. I'm... not saying Equestria is superior in every way. There are a few pieces of art which I'm going to miss for sure.”

“Like what?”

“Music, mostly. And... some movies.”

“Yes, I imagine Equestria might not compete there. But you might also discover new things.”

I hesitated. “Maybe. We're digressing though.”

Twilight smiled vaguely. “Well, every time you tell me something new, you touch on something else which jumps out to me. You already know a lot about Equestria, but I know nothing about your home, except what you're telling me. And you're the first pony in recorded history to come from another world.”

“I am?” For some reason, hearing this surprised me. I was past the point where I considered my own world to be 'more real' than Equestria – just because we had a show about it didn't mean we invented it. Based solely on the existence of magic in this world, it might even be reasonable to consider Equestria as the 'original' world, and everything I had known to be merely the creative offspring of someone living here. Although, it was hard to believe that someone would just come up with something so complicated and multilayered out of nowhere. In fact, the higher complexity might itself be a reason to assume originality – or did I just think that because I was used to reality being more complicated than fiction?

Was it arrogant to even put both worlds on the same level? After all, I had been called to Equestria, not Twilight to our world. Didn't that paint a clear image of what was more real? And how could our world even be more original when the mechanics of this world were in clear contradiction with mine, but not vice versa? Unless you presumed the existence of god in some capacity or another, which would in turn put literally everything into the realm of possibility.

“Are you there?”

“Uhm...” I blinked. “Yeah, yeah, you were just saying that there are vague reports of creatures which seemed to be foreign and unknown at that time, but that most historians don't think it's likely for any of them to really be from an alternate dimension or world. I am naturally gifted at multitasking.” I added with a slight grin.

“So... I was thinking about which or our two worlds... came first, so to speak. When I first came here, I instinctively assumed that my world must have come first, but now... I'm starting to believe that the opposite is more likely.”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I've been thinking about that too. I don't see a way for your world to have created ours... unless you are misinformed about the existence of magic.”

“That's...” I stocked. I was going to say 'impossible', but I couldn't. Celestia knew there were enough stories out there about magic existing in secret. I had always been convinced that these were nothing but fiction, but now that I was forced to accept the existence of supernatural elements, all of these convictions seemed to crumble. If magical talking ponies were real, why not other universes too?

Though, I still had never witnessed any supernatural occurrences in my world. If I was pulled form here, my world might still operate under the same laws of nature which I had always believed in.

“Do you... do you think our two worlds are... alternate universes? Like, separate realities?”

Twilight coughed in an untypically derisive manner. “Of course not.”

“No?”

“Nah. There are no 'separate realities', just shortcuts to different places in reality. If your world exists, it's just far away.”

Out of everything Twilight had told me so far, this was the first thing which I found myself doubting. Didn't it contradict with modern physical theories, which, if she was right, had to apply to both worlds equally? But I knew my knowledge of physics to be far too limited to make an argument, so I didn't say anything.

“They might also exist separately. The show in your world and the fact that you two are here is a connection, but it doesn't mean one world has somehow created the other.” She yawned.

“Uh... how late is it?”

“Almost two AM.”

“Oh, uhm...”

“Don't worry, I often stay up late. As you probably know.”

“... yeah.”

“You don't have to feel guilty about it,” Twilight said, having interpreted my expression correctly. “You don't strike me as the type of pony who would use your knowledge to harm any of us.”

“No.”

“I am quite tired though, so unless you need something else...”

“Actually...” I bit my lip. “Can you... make me something to eat before you go to sleep?”

“Oh.” Twilight hesitated. “Yeah, of course. Uh... I'm not sure what...”

I cringed. Even though Twilight wasn't accentuating the issue in any way, I still felt humiliated.

“...” Twilight's look made it very apparent that she knew how I felt, but she didn't comment on it. “I'll make you a sandwich.”

“Thanks.”

Notably, although many of its ingredients did not go coherent with my past liking, the sandwich was met with unanimous approval from my gustatory nerves. I took this as proof that my tastes had evolved alongside body, which, while not unexpected, was still a relief. Not unlike my current disability to use magic, it was something which could have caused me a lot of misfortune had it ended up not being the case.

Upon finishing, I found myself in the awkward situation of not having any idea what to do next. Up until now, I hadn't really spent any thought on how my everyday life would look like. The things I was good at – character interpretation, programming, Prismata, and pretty much everything which involved logical systems – were difficult to apply in Equestria. Now that I thought about it, I also didn't really have a concrete idea of what most unicorns did for living. Rarity was a dressmaker, which for me was about the most absurd prospect imaginable. Twilight probably spent most of her time reading up on things or practicing magic, which did sound much better, save for the fact that I still wasn't able to do magic.

In any case, I had to find some kind of intellectual activity, otherwise I would hardly ever be good at anything. Twilight had said that I was going to be able to use magic, so it was probably the best to wait until that was the case, and then look forward from there. After all, I hadn't even been here for a day.

For now, I should probably just take a look outside. Although I was utterly helpless against pretty much any sort of threat, something told me that walking around Ponyville at night was about as dangerous as watching Season 5. The only real issue would be finding the library if I went too far away, given the unfortunate fact that my orientation skills were about as developed as my sense for art design.

I was about to open the door when I remembered something. I stocked. A strange and thoroughly unwarranted sense of excitement crept into my chest, inspiring the out of place desire to giggle foolishly. Knowing that I was alone and no-one would ever be able to judge me for it, I followed this instinct, all the while being scrupulously careful not to be too loud. After a few seconds I bit my lip, and gradually sank down against the doorframe.

Then another wave of giggles took hold of me, as I realized the irony of my wholly unearned victory in the little competition between him and me, a competition which I had thought lost shortly after ceasing to help him in it.

I reached up a front limb, attempting to wash the moisture out of my eyes, but winced hard when I reached them. Gosh, my eyes were huge. Even though Ponyville had looked notably different from its cartoon-like counterpart, the body structure of ponies had remained unchanged, save for the fact that you could more clearly make out fur and feathers.

A final wave of giggles was followed by a rather well known sensation of mild embarrassment and the fear of having been watched, but there was no reason to assume so. My smile faded as I began to consider my options more seriously. I could go outside. Or... I could go upstairs. There was no reason to do the latter; both Pinkie and Twilight were asleep... but I also had no reason to ignore the urge to do so, after all, I wouldn't have to justify my decision to anyone.

With my heart beating quickly, I slowly ascended the staircase, careful to be as quiet as possible.

When I rounded the final corner, I still didn't have a clue of what I wanted to do, but that didn't stop me from approaching our shared bed and slowly crawling onto my half. Then I stopped, my gaze fixated on Pinkie's sleeping figure, and I tried to understand how I felt. I knew she had chosen to cancel all contact between us, even gone out of her way to ensure that I wouldn't be able to reach her, almost as if she'd been unaware that simply asking me to leave her alone would have been an easier and more reliable way to achieve the same goal.

Why?

Despite my rather extensive thought about the issue, I had never really asked myself this question. He had turned her against me – he had said so himself – but that alone couldn't be the answer, because Pinkie had been aware of it. 'You're too stupid not to realize that he's an idiot' – that's what I had said to her, right upon our arrival, and she had agreed. Moreover, the both of us had talked about this months before she had broken contact. Back then, she had admitted to have been influenced heavily by him, which was only understandable, after all he had kept talking crap about me while I had never said a bad word about him, so it stood to reason that her image of me must deteriorate over time. It may have been a contest, but one where both players were playing on the same side, because not only had I not tried to manipulate her into liking him less, but I had actually supported him during numerous dissensions between both of them, and done so as best as I could.

However, when had I explained my point of view, not only had Pinkie conceded herself guilty of having treated me unfairly and promised to not believe everything he would tell her in the future, but she had also made it rather apparent that she didn't doubt my sincerity, which had to have lead her to the inevitable realization that mine and his behavior were and always would be universes apart, both in terms of honesty and nobility.

No, she had known how things were. One of my recent finds about psychology was that when people made contradictory decisions concerning things they appeared to ignore, they were much more often doing so despite having knowledge of those things, rather than being unaware of them, which was why Game of Thrones was just about the only piece of fiction which consistently got this right. Alas, there hadn't been anything I had needed to tell her. Even though I still didn't understand her motivations, the crux of the problem must have lain in the emotional aspects of her stance towards me, not in the intellectual ones.

Was it possible that there was no further explanation beyond his countless attempts of talking down on me behind my back? Was it possible that, despite knowing he was wrong, she still had him turn her against me all the same? Did her mind simply not rule her emotions the same way that mine did, and was this why I had never truly understood it? Had I, with all my attempts to reach objectivity, in the end just been unable to get over my own psychology?

Slowly, kneeling beside Pinkie's sleeping figure, I drove my tongue over my lips, contemplating the strange nature of our conflict. How did it ever come this far? It was so absurd, so unintuitive. Modesty was a trait which I only practiced towards others, not myself, and I knew how large the intellectual contrast between us really was. He was young, unstable, emotional, inconsistent, unaware, and had simply never achieved any sort of intellectual maturity, while I... but it had been my fault, it had all been my fault. Nothing had forced me to develop this insane obsession about making him like me, only to then suffer through a continuing sequence of instances where I was hurt because what I projected onto him didn't seem to match his actual self. Yet, if someone had asked me to interpret his character back then, I too would not have been unaware of what I knew now. I just... I didn't even know. The length to which I had pursued my absurd relationship with him could probably pride itself in being the most baffling decision I had ever made in my life.

I sighed. Fact was, he had achieved more than me, even if he hadn't beaten me half as much as I had beaten myself.

Until now.

Now he was gone.

It was ridiculous. Absurd. The whole affair was a shining example of how the real world was operating without any sense of predetermination or justice, only for it all to be turned around by... this. I didn't really believe there to be more than coincidence to its cause, but that didn't change how it felt to me now.

And it felt right. Right, just, and satisfying.

Immensely satisfying.

A smirk crept onto my face. I still hadn't answered myself the initial question, but I quickly realized that I didn't want to think about it now. Instead, I simply kept sitting there, watching Pinkie's sleeping figure while the minutes slowly crept by. Eventually, I backwards-crawled to the edge of the bed, slid off, and slowly shuffled towards the door.

“Silver?”

I stocked.

“Y-you're awake?” I said, internally slapping myself for this reaction, which was made even worse by the fact that I had instinctively talked English.

A pause.

“No,” she said in German.

“Uhm... I didn't mean to wake you. Sorry.”

“It's impossible not to wake me up when you enter a room. I'm a very light sleeper.” Pinkie turned herself around, causing me to interpret the look on her face as an invitation. Hesitantly, I crawled back onto the bad and kneeled down beside her.

“Silver?”

“Yeah?”

“I'm sorry.”

I gulped, gradually realizing the gravity of these two words. A few days ago, I'd probably have claimed that there was no reason for her to apologize, but now I wasn't sure anymore.

Did I feel like she had treated me unfairly?

A knot was forming in my throat as I gave myself the answer to this question. Yes. Yes, I did. I had neither expected nor demanded an apology, but now that I was given one, I did feel that it was justified.

But we both knew that I was going to accept it. Rather than saying anything, I simply leaned forward, barely touching her brow with my lips, but the gesture was clear. Never would I have dared doing this as a human, but as it was, it somehow felt... right.

“Thanks,” Pinkie whispered. And then, even more quietly, “I'm glad that it's you who's here.”

“Now, is that really the truth? You don't have to choose, you know.”

“It's true. I don't want him to be here.” She sighed. “Not really.”

I bit my lip, but I couldn't suppress a smile.

“So, we're friends again?”

At that, Pinkie's expression strongly reminded me at Twilight's at the end of Magic Duel.

“Of course. We've been through so much together, that binds.”

I giggled, recognizing her reference. “But this time, don't stop being my friend weeks after you say that.”

“I promise.”

She pulled me closer. Carefully, I lay down beside her, taking her into a gentle embrace, amazed by how naturally it all came together. She was shorter than me; I hadn't noticed this until now, but it fit her well.

“I'm glad you two are getting along.”

I winced hard. Both Pinkie and me jerked back at once as if caught by something intimate, even though our little moment had been purely platonic.

“Sorry,” I said with short breath. I had completely forgotten that Twilight was sleeping only two meters away from us. “I didn't mean to wake you up.”

“Nothing to apologize for.” It was rather apparent that our reaction wasn't what Twilight had expected. “I need five seconds to perform another sleeping spell. I didn't mean to startle you.”

“Not your fault. I'm just not used to show affection... especially not in front of others.”

Beside me, Pinkie giggled, accompanied on my end by a strangely pleasant sensation of embarrassment. Twilight yawned, then smiled. “Well, good night.” Her horn lit in its usual fashion, and a few seconds later, she was sound asleep once again.

I looked at Pinkie. Both of us giggled.

“Are you still tired?” I whispered.

“Yeah.” Pinkie crawled back under her covers.

Even though I was wide awake, I nonetheless followed suite and snuggled up beside her. Soon, her breathing slowed down and her body went limp in my embrace. I lay awake for much longer, but I didn't seem to become tired or restless.

After all, I was in paradise. Why not just lie there and take a moment enjoy my luck?

Finally, I was convinced that everything was going to work out well.

Author's Note