A Light in the Dark

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1: Arrival and Confusion
Chapter 2: Meetings and Introductions
Chapter 3: Roadblock of Love
Chapter 4: A Conflicted Interest
Chapter 5: A Look Into The Shadows
Chapter 6: So, How'd it Go?
Chapter 7: Arrival at the Palace (A Magician's Tricks)

Prologue

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE- THUMP CRASH.
“Arrrrgggghhhhh.” Was all I could manage to say as I rolled out of the bed and fell onto my bedroom floor, there was a throbbing in my head.

I chuckled, “Man, I way too much last night.” I got up and looked around; my room, it was a bit of a mess, as usual. I can never manage to keep it clean.

I proceeded over to my bathroom to get my morning started. I turned on the light and gazed at myself in the mirror, “Looks like it’s time for another haircut.” I stated to myself, noting the shaggy beige hair sitting, seemingly unhappily, upon my head.

I glanced down at my watch, 2:48pm, it read. “Holy shit I slept in today,” I sighed, "God damn it." Having no further need to get ready for the day I dragged myself over to the kitchen to call out of work, then picked up the receiver, nothing.

“Of all the idiotic things to forget, the phone bill was one of those. Well no need to call out of work if I can’t call.” I laughed a bit, which took some of the stress bearing down on me off. I took a glance out the kitchen window, which had a wonderful view of the neighborhood. It was snowing outside. It hasn’t snowed in years around here so I was quite surprised and upset when I realized I’m going to have to shovel snow.

“Now I actually have to shovel the driveway, just my luck.” I went back into my room and snagged my phone off my bed. “It's going to snow all week. Great.” I sighed out heavily. Noticing I have not gotten dressed I grabbed a pair of fairly worn blue denim jeans and by favorite band t-shirt.

“I'll just get something to eat.” I treaded back over to the kitchen and opened the cabinets looking for some cereal. I found it in the form of a box of standard corn flakes which I set down on the counter beside me. I proceeded to open the fridge and look for some milk, I grabbed the milk carton and testingly shook it, and to my surprise there was actually enough milk and more to spare. I prepared my ingredients and sat down at my table with bowl in hand. Cereal on spoon, bite, stir. This mechanical precision repeated seemingly endlessly until I glanced down at my bowl and, noticed it was empty; and which I proceeded to put the bowl into the sink. Then a screeching sound interrupted my thoughts. I fumbled around my pocket and found my cell phone. Oh jeez, it’s my mom, I thought. “What could she want?”

“Yes, Mom?” I said, putting the phone next to my ear.

“Boo, are you there?” A panicked voice came across the line. “Are you okay?! What happened?”

I sighed, “Yes Mom, I’m here. What’s up?”

“You didn’t pick up your land line! I called at least ten times!” She shouted at me. “I just paid your phone bill, you could at least you could answer your phone once a month!”

“Sorry Mom, the power and water over here is cut. So I couldn’t take your call.” I said calmly. “And could you please stop calling me ‘Boo’. It’s getting old now.”

“Sorry Justin,” She said with a hurt voice. “I just got concerned because I saw the power went out.”

Great now I went and hurt my mom, the day couldn’t get any worse. I thought to himself. “Yeah mom, I’m fine.” I replied.

“Sorry, honey.” She said catching, herself in mid sentence.

Justin sighed. “Okay mom, I’ll talk to you later okay? Or will you still be work by then?” I asked her, silently hoping she wouldn’t call later.

“Yeah, honey, I will be at work. I have a double shift scheduled tonight.” She replied tiredly.

“Mom, please don’t work too much please.” I pleaded with her. “Remember I have a job too, You don’t need to work that hard.” I said to her. Well, they wouldn’t have to work that if his scum of a father was still with them. If you could even call him a father. I pushed the thoughts out of my mind for now and focused on the conversation with my mom.

“Well, just try and be careful on your shift Mom.” I said.

“Don't worry about me sweetheart. I’ll be home sooner than you can say---” The line dropped unexpectedly.
“Mom? MOM? MOM!? What in the blue fuck just happened?!” I looked my the phone and saw the call had been dropped.

A moment later, a text message arrived from his phone company that read, “Error, phone contract has expired. Please contact administrator for more information. The number is 1-800-559-9917.”

I sighed loudly, tossing my phone on the counter, watching it slide a few inches and fall to the ground with a resonating crack. With another sigh I frustratingly stated, “Man my bad luck must be rampant today. I really did forget to flip my horseshoe right side up again.” Looking to the wall where a rusty horseshoe hung on a nail, upside down. It was the last gift his grandfather before he unexpectedly disappeared.

“Great, now what I am going to do?” I thought out loud. Just as I said that, a loud growl came from outside and a light flickered on in his room. “Yes!” I yelled, running to my room and fist-pumping.

His Windows loading screen took forever to load up, I was elated when his login screen. Quickly typing in his password, I pushed the 'Enter' key hopefully. “Please work. Please work.” I said to myself quietly, looking at the bars pass by slowly, indicating the booting of his hard drive. The whirr of a fan and the buzz from the hard drive indicated that it was successful.

“Wow, I really need to change my background.” I jumped while looking at my screen. The angry goose looking straight at me startled me slightly. Right clicking the mouse, I pressed on the button labeled ‘Next Background’, and sighed with relief as the Andromeda Galaxy appeared on the screen.

Opening his browser, I read over the document I was looking at for my next lecture. “If there even is one during this weather.” I laughed to myself. I needed to get that check from the company as soon as possible to pay for college. Normally food came first, but since I ate value brand cereal and ramen most days, it wasn’t that important.

Walking out to the kitchen, his stomach grumbled hungrily. Looking at the clocks on the microwave and oven, which were blinking at ten-past-twelve, I sighed and reset them with my weather clock. “At least I know the time. Its also time for me to eat. What do I have to eat?” I mused looking towards to my pantry. Opening the door, I grabbed three packets of ramen and faced them towards me. “Do I want chicken? Hm, maybe beef, but I haven’t had shrimp in a while.” I thought to myself. Sighing, I grabbed the chicken packet, against his better judgement. I did not have too many chicken left, since those were his favorite and I saved them for last.

Tossing away the wrapper, “I don’t need directions, I’ve made this so many times it’s not even funny.” I thought, then my stopped. “How much water did I need? How long do I boil it for? Damn it.” I grabbed the packet out of the wastebasket. “I can’t even make ramen without the directions.” I laughed.

I walked back to my room a few minutes later with my bowl of soup, I heard a loud sound coming from his tower. “Hm, that shouldn’t be happening. I wonder what the problem is.” I said to myself. Opening the task manager on my computer, I looked for any programs that were using an absurdly large amount of CPU. Finding none, I began to look for programs that were using a large amount of RAM, with the same results.

As far as I could see, there was nothing wrong with the way my computer was behaving, as far as I could tell there was nothing wrong with my computer was when there was a virus infesting my computer, “That’s it!” I thought to myself, “There is a virus eating up my RAM and CPU, I need my antivirus software!” I began opening folders and running packets of data to find out what kind of virus it was, nothing. “Then what the hell is taking up so much shit on my computer?” I thought. “Maybe it’s time to replace this piece of junk, even though I've had it for two or three years.” Sighing I sat back against his chair, thinking about what the hell else could be wrong with his computer.

A loud explosion interrupted his thoughts. WHAT THE FUCKING SHIT THAT?! I thought, frantically looking around. I got up and ran towards the foyer, grabbing his jacket from the coat hanger as I sprinted out the door.

“I really need to see what just expl-” I was cut off tripped over the door mat and fell into a huge drift of snow. “Just my luck.” I said, muffled from having a face full of snow. “Now lets see what just blew up.” I said, focusing on getting up out of the snowdrift.

“Woah.” I said, mouth agape, looking at the floating black orb-like object hovering over the burning remains of his car. “Once again, just my luck. It had to destroy MY car didn’t it.” I rolled my eyes, still amazed at the dark rift-like object. The trance was broken by the sounds of multiple car alarms going off. Conglomerating into a symphony of honks.

“If I knew anything about anything I don’t want to get too close, it might suck me to whatever is on the other side.” I backed away from the remains of my car. Grinning a childish grin, I picked up a small pebble and tossed it towards the orb. Nothing happened and it landed in the grass a few feet behind it. "Hm, that's odd. It didn't pull the pebble in." I started to look at the rift closer and closer, until I realized that I couldn't move my limbs. "What the hell?!" I said, but my body moved slowly toward it.

Approaching the orb at a slow pace, I realized that the orb was pulling me inside. It was too late to turn back now. The edge of a black hole, was called an event horizon, I had read about it in the lecture I missed a week back. “So this is it, I’m dead now. I’m going to be torn into atoms and killed.” I said out loud. “What a way to go, thanks brain for being so curious, well curiosity killed the cat.”

Then I was pulled in and, a few second later spit out on hard ground. I hit his head on something hard and saw a blurry figure running toward him. “Why is it running on four legs?! What the hell am I looking at?! Ow, my head really hurts.” Then all faded to black as my consciousness faded away.

Author's Note

Well, here is the first chapter of my story, I hope you guys liked it!

If not, or if you found some errors, please pm me what you found wrong with it.

:twilightsheepish:

Chapter 1: Arrival and Confusion

“Arghh, what the hell just happened? That portal, the thing walking towards me, now my head hurting? Could it get any worse?” I wondered to myself, keeping my eyes shut. “Alright, let’s see where I am.” I slowly opened my eyes, and nearly died of a heart attack. There, standing in front of me, were six pastel-colored mini-horses. And they were all staring at me with their oversized oval eyes.

A horse with a purple coat stepped forward and cleared her throat. “Hello, My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship. Um, I’m not sure what to call you because I don’t know WHO or WHAT you are.” She said, poking my leg with its hoof.

“Wheee! A new friend! I can’t wait to throw you a ‘Welcome to Equestria Party! And I’ll invite everypony and we will have such a good tim--” The voice was cut off by a hoof stuck in its mouth by Twilight.

“Sorry about that,” She said, looking at me sheepishly, “Pinkie Pie can be more than a hooful .”

“Okay, that was pretty weird,” I said, “Well, I’m human, you know, homo-sapiens and all.” I said hopefully. I started to hyperventilate as a horrifying thought came to mind.“There are humans here right? I’m on Earth aren’t I?” I said with a panicked tone.

“Where’s ‘Earth’ and what are ‘homo sapiens’?” Twilight asked me. “But the real question is, how do you speak Equin?” She asked again, quite confused.

“So let me get this straight, there are no humans on this planet?” I asked them.

“No, what are ‘humans’?” The yellow one asked, so quietly I could barely hear her speak. “Do you eat ponies?!” It said, its voice raising in terror. “Eeep!”

“Now look, it went and scared Fluttershy. Hey, hey it’s fine. I’m sure it didn’t mean any harm.” The blue one with a rainbow colored tail and mane said.

I assumed the yellow one with a pink mane was Fluttershy. “No, I don’t eat ponies, though other humans do, but only a few.” I said to Fluttershy.

“Hey! I’m not scared of you!” It responded towards me. “Rainbow Dash isn’t afraid of anything, especially some monster!” It yelled at me, emphasizing the second sentence with a jab at where it’s chest is.

I didn’t respond, and instead looked towards Twilight and said, “Well I’m sure of we all can get along and figure this problem out and get me home as soon as possible. Not that this world has anything wrong with it that is.”

Twilight said her ears perking up, “Alright, we can do something of that sort later after we get you all settled.” She said, looking at me with those huge violet eyes, waiting to eat up any words I spoke.

“Alright, fine.” I said, eliciting a satisfied sigh from Twilight. “But I expect an explanation in turn.

“Good,” she said, levitating a notepad, an ink pen and a bottle of what smelled like ink. "So....should we start?”

“Okay, where I come from is called Earth, a continental life-bearing planet, third from our Sun.” I said, “I lived in Minnesota, a state within the country of the United States of America. Which is located on the continent of North America.” Taking a breath, I looked towards Twilight and saw her scribbling faster than I thought was possible onto a scroll.

“Is that it?” She asked me, her wide eyes looking straight at me.

“Well, no.” I said, “Do want me to continue?”

“Yes please,” Twilight said. “I want to know everything.”

“Okay,” I started again. “The main species that inhabits Earth are homo sapiens, or a human if you will. There were about seven billion people at the last estimate. That’s a lot of people. As far as language goes, there at least a few thousand languages spread over the world. I speak English, and apparently so do you, which makes it a lot easier to communicate.” I said

“Wow! Seven billion humans? That really is a lot,” Twilight said, still scribbling on the parchment.

“Um, hi there, um what’s your name?” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Hello Fluttershy, my name is Justin Marshall.” I said looking at her fondly. I glanced over to Twilight, she was still writing.

“I w-w-wanted to k-know what y-you ate on y-your planet.” Said so quietly, trying to hide behind her long pink mane. “I h-heard you say that you,” She sniffed, “Eat horses.”

I shook my head “Oh Fluttershy, I didn’t say I eat horses, I said that some other people on Earth eat horses. I mostly eat poultry, beef and pork..” Apparently I had said something that scared her.

“Oh no, please don’t eat my animals.” She said so quietly I could barely hear her. “Our animals are very smart, we don’t eat meat, just plants.” She started to cry.

“Oh, so would it be wrong if I ate some other animals? Not yours in particular?” I asked Twilight and Fluttershy.

“Well, the animals here are quite intelligent, some even sentient.” Twilight said, walking over and comforting Fluttershy. “They have ways of communicating with us, and some can speak and reason as well. So that wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“I understand,” I said, looking at them, “I’ve always wondered what it was like being a vegetarian.”

“Essentially, yes.” Twilight said to me. “We kind of frown upon eating anything but plants. Except for the griffins, they eat fish. Because well, they need protein.” She put a hoof to her chin and thought for a few seconds then said, “Well, we could probably give you fish and eggs to eat if you really need to eat something with protein. Or I could find a spell that puts more protein into the food that grows normally around here and give it to you. Hm, that would be interesting.”

“The eggs and fish sound fine for now.” I said gagging at the thought of high protein lettuce. “Well, enough about me. Tell me about you, and what you are I guess.”

“Well, I am a unicorn, and so is Rarity here,” She said, pointing to another white pony with a horn and a gorgeous purple mane. “And Rainbow Dash here is a Pegasus,” She said, pointing to the hovering pony looking at him suspiciously, “and so is Fluttershy but I you’ve already met her.” She said pointing to the yellow pegasus lying on the floor hiding behind her pink mane. “And Applejack here is an Earth Pony,” she said, pointing to a orange pony with a Stetson looking like hat on her head and a grain of straw sticking out of her mouth.

“Pleasure ta meet ya’.” Applejack said grabbing my hand with her hoof and giving it a shake.

“And here we have Pinkie Pie, she is our party pony. As you probably already knew.” She said.

“Hiya Justin!” Pinkie Pie said, lunging forward grabbing me in a bear hug and pushing the air out of my lungs.

“Can’t…… Breathe…... Help.” I said, gasping for air.

“Oops, hehe, sorry my strength runs away from me when I get excited.” She said backing up to the spot she was in before.

I gasped for air when she released me. “Whew, that was a pretty strong hug. Well, that’s all of you then?” I asked.

“Yes, all six of us are here. It is getting quite late,” She said, looking out the window.

“What time is it?” I asked, “What time did you find me on the ground, wherever I landed.”

“We found ya by Fluttershy’s cottage at the edge of the Everfree forest. Ah was delivering some apples for Fluttershy and ah saw you fall out of a hole or somethin’ and hit your head on the ground. Must’ve knocked you out cold .” Applejack said. “Ah think it was about a few hours after sunrise.”

“So I was knocked out for almost half a day and I didn’t know it?” I said. “Well, good thing I woke up.” I chuckled lightly.

“That fall was no laughing matter, you could’ve died!” Twilight said raising her voice with concern.

“Good thing Flutters over here helped me get ya inside and lay ya down on a bed. We contacted Twilight over here and told her we found some sorta weird monster in the forest and she rushed over here as quick as she could.” Applejack said matter-of-factly.

“Well, the Everfree forest is another conversation entirely. We should let you sleep. The hit on your head would have made you dizzy but I healed you just fine with my magic. So you should be good.” Twilight said, quite proud of herself.

“Wait a minute, you can do magic?” I said incredulously. “Can you show me some? Well, tomorrow anyway?”

“Sure, but now it is probably best if you rest. Heh, I’m turning into Zecora.” She said chuckling.

“Zecora?” I asked. “Who’s that?”

“Oh sorry, that’s also another conversation for another day. Well, sleep tight Justin” Twilight said. “You’re going to need your energy for tomorrow. We have much to talk about.”

“Good night, guys, I mean girls.” I said.

“Goodnight Justin.” They said.

I heard hoofsteps, then a door open, then close softly. A lamp turn on, and turning of pages, presumably from Twilight. “Goodnight Twilight.” I said.

“Goodnight, Justin.” She said.

“Her voice sounds so cute.” I thought to myself. “Wait what did I just say? Am I liking this pony? Or am I the alien here.” I thought. “Hm, well, I’ll think about this tomorrow. Time for sleep.” I pulled up the covers and snuggled against the pillow and quickly slipped into unconsciousness.

Author's Note

Well, another chapter cranked out in one night. Geez. I need to get a life. XD

Chapter 2: Meetings and Introductions

A Light in The Dark

Chapter 2: Meetings and Introductions

“Well, I really screwed that up.” I said, walking back outside from Colgate’s house. “She really gets worked up about people not brushing their teeth.”

“Well, it’s not entirely your fault you know,” Twilight said, giving me a measure of my confidence back. “You got brought here with nothing so, you can’t really do anything about that.”

“Well, it would’ve been better had I not argued with her about the ‘correct’ way to brush teeth.” I said shrugging. “I guess humans and ponies are more alike in some ways than others.”

“Well yes, including anatomy, physiology, psychology, and they have more adaptable social interactions than other animals.” Twilight said excitedly. “I never knew that there was a species so much like ponies, well, except for griffons maybe.”

“I really am going to miss steaks, the nice slightly burnt texture, the juicy insides, mmmmm.” I said drooling. “I really could go for a steak right now.” I said under my breath.

“What is a so called ‘steak’ made out of, if you don’t mind me inquiring?” Asked Twilight, intrigued.

“Should I tell her? It probably might freak her out. Oh fuck it.” He thought. “It's made out of cows. Beef or steak comes from cows. That’s what I am really craving right now.”

A completely horrified look on Twilight’s face confirmed his suspicions that he had said something wrong. “Ummm, okay. I guess your planet is different than mine so we would eat different things. Also, don’t tell Fluttershy, she might not take kindly to that.” She said.

“I was not planning on that.” He said, remembering about how easily she is scared, “Well, who are we off to see now?”

“Well, since we saw many of the other ponies, I would say Applejack, we are quite near her house.” She said, pointing down a dirt road. “It’s not that far.”

“Well, I’m up for the exercise. I haven’t gotten that much since I have been here.” I said, looking down my shirt, my abs still prominent.

Twilight chuckled at my expression, “You can’t be that out of shape after a few days here.” She said, “It’s just not possible, unless you’re like me and you don’t exercise very much. Reading can get very exciting. I think I might have packed on a few pounds from snacking.” She said sheepishly.

“Oh Twilight, you are not fat. Don’t beat yourself up.” I smiled hoping she didn’t get angry. “Oh look! We are almost there.” I said loudly, dispersing the quiet moment.

“Oh, okay.” Twilight said, obviously confused about the sudden change in topic. “Look, there’s Applejack.” She said, pointing at the orange pony waving to them.

They walked over to Applejack while she bucked another tree, the apples falling into perfect piles inside buckets. “Hiya Justin an Twilight.” She said, wiping her brow which was partially soaked with sweat. “What brings y’all over to Sweet Apple Acres? Do ya want some apples?” She said looking at us both.

“I’m fine, I had something to eat a little bit ago. So, I’m not really hungry.” Twilight said laughing slightly.

“I’ll have one,” I said, looking hungrily at the apples. “That is, if you are okay with it. Are you?” I asked Applejack.

“Oh yeah, have one,” She said, picking one up with her hoof and tossing it to me. “There are plenty more, but don’t go uprooting trees because they're that good.”

I laughed loudly and bit into the apple. The promptly fell over.

“Justin! Are you okay?!” Twilight and Applejack yelled as they saw me fall over.

“Oh man that is one good apple, I haven’t had an apple like this in my lifetime! It tastes so good! Ohh, the crunchiness and the flavor, oh my fucking god. SOOO FUCKING GOOD!” I shouted while laughing.

They both rolled their eyes then Applejack said, “Are they really that good?”

“Oh hell yes, there aren’t apples like this from where I come from. None came close to how good this was.” I said smiling at a blushing Applejack.

“Ah shucks, thanks Justin.” She said, crossing her hoof in front of the other and pulling her hat down a little to cover her blush. “Ya can always come down here fer some apples if ya wish.”

“Thanks Applejack, I’ll make sure to come down sometime.” I said looking over the farm before looking at Twilight, who was still quite annoyed that I had scared her. “Alright see you around.” I said as Twilight and I began to walk.

“That was a slightly interesting first impression,” She said to me as we began to walk away. “Great, now who should we go see, nearest is Rarity but Rainbow Dash is somewhere around here.”

“Well, why don’t we pay Rarity a visit? She seemed nice enough when I first got here.” I said reminiscing back when I arrived. “Yeah, lets do that.”

“Okay, Rarity it is, she lives over this way.” She said, pointing towards Ponyville. “Its about noon so she might be eating lunch so this might be a good time to meet her officially.”

“Alright, lets get going.” I said walking ahead of Twilight.

“Hey! Wait up!” She said laughing.

A few minutes later we arrived At Carousel Boutique, Rarity’s Home. I knocked on the door a few times with the iron door-knocker.

“Come in !" A sing-song voice came from inside the building.

I opened the door and walked in looking around the room, “Woah, this is really fancy.” I said to myself, wondering how much this stuff must cost. “Hello? Rarity?” I asked, looking around.

“Hello Justin, you look marvelous today, wearing the same clothes the last few days…” She said, laying a disgusted eye on my garments which were covered in stains and holes. “Could I possibly make you some more clothes? You wouldn’t want other ponies to see you wearing that.” Rarity said gesturing to my clothes again.

“Sure, If you really want to that would be good, I guess.” I said, “How long would that take you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“For you darling, check in with me by the end of the day. I should have at least one outfit done then I’ll work on a few more in the coming week.” Rarity said, walking away to go get some fabrics. “Come see me later in the day! And have a good day Twilight.”

“Oh, okay Rarity,” Twilight said startled, just woken from a trancelike state while reading. “See you later!”

As we opened the door and walked out, I sighed, “Does Rarity always do that? Like offer to make clothes for you all?”

“Well, of course. She is the Element of Generosity.” Twilight said matter-of-factly. “It’s kind of her nature. To be generous that is.”

“Element of Generosity? What’s that? Well, I get the generous part but what’s up with the elements?” I asked puzzled.

“Well the Elements of Harmony are magic jewels that harness the power of friendship. Like me, I am the Element of Magic, Pinkie Pie is the Element of Laughter, Applejack is the Element of Honesty, Rarity is the Element of Generosity, Fluttershy is the Element of Kindness, and Rainbow Dash is the Element of Loyalty.” Twilight said. “These elements bind us to one another with friendship. We have defeated only two or three villains already using the elements, but they were in existence long before I even existed. Celestia and Luna used them to banish Discord to stone and then Celestia used them on Nightmare Moon, banishing her to the moon. Before that, I’m not sure there that they even existed, maybe I can talk to Celestia about that.” She said talking quite fast.

“Alright, I have a few questions about the entire essay you just recited.” I said with a chuckle.

“You want me to recite an essay?” Twilight asked, “I can do that for you, here’s one. ‘The Effects of Magic on Non-Pon-’.”

“Hold on Twi, I was just joking I would like to hear about that just not right now.” I said quickly.

Twilight looked crestfallen at first then perked up, “Really? Well, we have a few other pon-”

“BOO!” Came a voice from a cloud above us.

“AAAHHH!” We both screamed. “Rainbow Dash, that was not funny at all.” Twilight said.

“HAHAHA, that was priceless.” Rainbow Dash said rolling on her cloud laughing. “You eggheads are so easy to scare.”

“Well hello to you Rainbow Dash.” I growled, “Damn she’s annoying.” I thought to myself. “I just don’t know how they deal with her, REALLY good friendship I guess.”

“Well, Rainbow Dash we just came to say hi and see what you’re up too.” Twilight said. “If you wouldn’t mind telling Justin about yourself, that would be fine.”

“Well, if you say so Twi.” Rainbow said, then turned to face me. “I’m Rainbow Dash, head weather-pony at the Cloudsdale’s Weather Control Factory. I’m the Element of Loyalty and I can do a sonic rainboom. Also, future Wonderbolt. That’s me!” She said with enthusiasm.

“That’s pretty interesting,” I said. “What’s a ‘Sonic Rainboom’?” I asked.

“Well, if you must know, its when I break the sound barrier and a really large explosion of rainbows goes everywhere in a shock wave and a trail of them follows me. Its really cool.” Rainbow Dash said, moving her hooves to show me kind of what happens.

“Pretty interesting if I must say so.” I said. “What does ‘head weather pony’ do?”

“Well, I manage other pegasi with arranging clouds into places so that they can get their normal weather. Since clouds don’t move on their own. Except in the Everfree Forest, they move on their own which is weird.” Rainbow Dash said shivering.

“How is that weird? The clouds move on their own where I come from.” I said. “I guess this place is more different than I previously thought.”

“Well, nice seeing you. I have to catch up on my napping schedule.” Rainbow Dash said, pulling the cloud along, ten or fifteen feet off the ground.

“Well,” Twilight said, pulling her nose out of the book, “Lets go see Pinkie Pie, she lives right over there.” She said, pointing to a large structure that looked like a life-size gingerbread house.

“Hiya Twilight!” Pinkie said, floating out of a window with balloons tied to her back. “I heard you talking to Dashie and I wanted to come say hi!”

“Dashie? I’ll have to remember that nickname.” I chuckled.

“Well, Pinkie. How about you come down and talk to Justin about yourself, and what you do if you are fine with that.” Twilight said, taking out her book again.

Pinkie Pie took the strings off the balloons and inhaled the helium while floating back to the ground. “Well, my real name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, but everybody call me Pinkie Pie. I’m head baker over at Sugarcube Corner right there.” She said in an extremely high-pitched voice while pointing behind her.

I had to keep pinching myself from laughing, but I failed in the end. “That voice is hilarious Pinkie, how do you keep it up that high?” I said rolling on the floor laughing.

“Hee hee *snort* that’s why I’m the Element of Laughter silly! OH! Can I throw you a ‘Welcome to Equestria Party?!” She said.

“Sure I guess, that would be a good way to get to know the other ponies around here.” I said getting up off the ground. “If they aren’t that scared of me.”

“Alright Justin, we better head over to Fluttershy’s house. Its a pretty far walk.” She said putting the book back into her saddlebag. “Have fun Pinkie!” She said.

“Yeah thanks Pinkie!” I said over to her.

“Wait! I forgot your cupcakes!” She said shooting back inside leaving a silhouette where she had just been standing. Shooting back outside to cover the silhouette again she handed me a box of cupcakes. “Here you go! Bye!” Shooting back inside again.

“Ho-how does she do that?” I asked Twilight.

Twilight just shrugged and looked at me, “It’s just Pinkie being Pinkie. There is no scientifical explanation so we all just call it the ‘Pinkie Effect’. You’ll get used to it.” She said naturally. “Lets go see Fluttershy.”

“Alright,” I said, taking one of the cupcakes out of the box and unwrapping it. “What flavor is this I wonder.” I thought to myself. Biting into it, I knew what flavor it was. “German chocolate, my favorite. Wait. How did she know I liked this flavor?!” I said out loud.

“Just Pinkie being Pinkie.” Twilight said naturally. “Look Fluttershy’s house.”

Walking up the dirt path, we arrived at the door and knocked three times and a small voice said, “Hello?”

“Hello Fluttershy, It’s Justin. Can I come in?” I asked quietly.

“Sure. I was just preparing dinner for the animals.” She said. “You can watch if you like.”

“If you are busy, we can come back tomorrow in the morning.” Twilight said into the crack of the door.

“That would be nice, if that’s okay with you.” Fluttershy said. “I am quite tired so, I mean, if you want.”

“Okay, we’ll come back tomorrow.” Twilight said walking away. “Come on Justin, lets go see if Rarity has your clothes done.”

“Oh yeah, she said we could pick up the clothes later today.” I said, looking at the sky. It looked like it was a few hours away from sunset. “What time is it?” I asked Twilight.

“Well, let me check.” She said, her horn glowing. “Its about thirteen touns and forty entins through our twenty-three toun day.

“Okay, I’m guessing a ‘toun’ is equal to sixty ‘etins’ and a day is twenty-three ‘touns’ long?” I asked Twilight.

“Well, yes. That sounds about right.” She said, putting her hoof to her chin. “You said that your day was twenty-four ‘hours’ long and an ‘hour’ equated to about sixty ‘minutes’. Correct?” She asked me.

“Yeah that’s right.” I said. “Oh look, here it is, Carousel Boutique.” I walked up to the door and knocked a few times.

“Come in.” Rarity said in her singsong voice.

“Hi Rarity, how’s it going?” I asked her, trying to keep my question at bay.

“I finished your first outfit, I had some trouble with the waistline but I figured it out. Since ponies don’t have much business wearing clothing, I made it out of my good stock of silk that I have acquired. So it should be very comfortable. The pants are made out of a denim/silk hybrid I had the chance of stumbling on, while shopping in Canterlot. Overall I think it is my hardest project so far.” She said gesturing to types of fabric, my clothes hanging on the wall and the room behind her.

“Wow, thank you Rarity.” I said. “Now I understand why they call you the Element of Generosity.” I said while stroking my clothes.

“Thanks, again Rarity.” Twilight said. “We have to go because it is getting pretty dark and I don’t like walking home in the dark.”

“It’s okay Twilight, you’ve got me. Doesn’t that count for anything?” I said smiling at her.

Twilight laughed, “It’s okay I’m fully capable of fending for myself. But I think that you are as well.” She blushed slightly.

“Well, thanks Rarity.” I said opening the door and stepping out into the dirt road.

“Good night you two.” Rarity said giving me a wink.

While walking home, Spike opened a window and yelled down, “Would ya be more quiet? Someponies are trying to sleep.” Then promptly closed it again.

We both laughed and went inside. I hopped onto the couch in the living room and spread the blankets and hopped under them. “Good night Twilight.” I said

“Please Justin call me Twi. Goodnight.” She said.

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long. Was a long chapter and took a while to get out.

Enjoy :twilightblush:

Chapter 3: Roadblock of Love

“I just don’t get why Fluttershy wanted us to come back another day,” Twilight said, “She normally has time to talk to us, well when she’s not talking to Discord.”

“Discord? Who’s that?” I asked her curiously.

“Oh he is a draconequus, it’s a mix of pony and a dragon. We haven’t found evidence of any more of them so he is the only of his race that we know of in Equestria. I guess that is sort of a good thing because he causes enough trouble.” She said.

“Well, it’s a wonder why Fluttershy always has her hands--- I mean hoofs full.” I said, quickly correcting myself. “She said we could still see her today, correct?”

“Yes. She said she was busy yesterday feeding her animals so we are coming to visit her today.” She said. “I do hope she is able to see us, I really couldn’t think of any reason why she wouldn’t be able to.” She said.

“Maybe she was meeting with Discord.” I said raising one of my eyebrows.

“Oh. You mean like that? No, no, no, she just takes care of him. Before he was reformed, he was quite the chaos maker. She was able to reform him into a more relaxed and less-chaotic state, I suppose. He still plays tricks on us but they are less mean-spirited.”

“Well I guess that makes sense.” I said looking up at the sky pondering what she had just told me.

Not looking where I was going, I walked straight into a tree lining the entrance to Fluttershy’s Cottage.

“Well we’re here now,” I said sarcastically, “And so is this red mark on my face.”

Twilight giggled and knocked on Fluttershy’s door.

“Well well well, if it isn’t Twilight Sparkle.” A voice said opening the door. I noticed the creature’s appearance and assumed this was Discord, the draconequus.

“Hello, Discord. We would like to speak with Fluttershy. Is she here?” She asked in a flat voice, ignoring the evident dry humor in his voice.

“Hm.” He said putting a paw (hoof?) to his chin and thinking. “I don’t think so, Fluttershy dear!” He shouted into the cottage, eliciting a “Coming!” from a sing-song voice in the back of the cottage.

“H-h-hello, T-t-twilight. H-hello Justin.” Fluttershy said to us. “C-c-come in, do have a seat… I-i-i mean if you want to.” she said beckoning to a small green couch in the living room.

“Well I must say this is quite a surprise.” Discord said walking out from the kitchen with a batch of hot cookies. My mouth began to water at the sight of them. “Ah ah. None for you.” He said watching me. “These are for the animals.” Discord said flinging one towards Angel, Fluttershy’s resident pest of a rabbit.

“So Twilight, Justin what did you want to talk about?” Fluttershy said, swirling the liquid in the cup in hooves around.

“Well Justin just wanted to know you a little better if you have the time. I know rabbit breeding season is coming up.” Twilight said.

“Oh yes it is I almost forgot.” Fluttershy said. “But you wanted to know me a little better Justin?”

“Hm… Oh yes, sorry I was looking out the window,” I said blushing hotly. “ That would be fine with me.”

“W-well, my name is Fluttershy and I live here,” She said gesturing to the small cottage that I was sitting in, “I take care of all types of lovely critters that happen to wander near me.” She said, playing with a wisp of her hair.

“Well, I’m Justin Marshall. I’m from Earth, I had two older brothers, Austin and Alexander, a younger sister, Elizabeth, and two slightly absent parents. Which now that I think about it wasn’t all that bad considering I had the rest of my family around.” I said shrugging.

“O-oh my, I wonder why your parents were never around. Well I guess that could be another story for a different time.” She said still playing with her hair.

God that face was cute. “Well, It is about lunchtime,” Twilight said, “And I brought some food, not knowing if we might be here for a little bit so here you go.” She said, opening the basket that was moved around the corner into our line of sight. She produced what looked like sandwiches with daisies and tulips, some hay “fries”, a box of crackers and what looked like wine.

“Twilight, Is that wine?” I asked, pointing towards the slim bottle that was levitating around filling up our cups.

“Hm? Oh, no, no. It’s one of my inventions of course. It’s somewhere between grape juice and apple juice. I haven’t been able to come up with a non-silly name other than ‘Grapple Juice’.” She said giggling.

“Well, pour me a glass. It sounds like it tastes as good as it sounds.” I said. “I might as well be dreaming then, sitting with my favorite out of the six.” I said under my breath.

“Awww, well isn’t that nice. Isn’t it now.” A voice came from above my head. “It would be a shame to have to pick and choose, wouldn’t it now?”

“Who said that?” I said getting up and looking around. “Who are- wait a second. That voice is familiar. Discord, get out of my ear.” I said, moving my hand toward my ear.

“Ouch, hey let me go!” Discord said, as I pulled him tail-first out of my aural tract. “You silly human, you can’t just hold me.” He grew to his normal size. Flattening me on the ground.

“Can’t……Breathe…….Help.” I managed, before Twilight lifted Discord off of me. “Thanks Twi. Discord, what was that for?” I asked him.

“I can’t go anywhere without people trying to shoo me away because I’m ‘annoying’, hhmph.” He said, crossing his, um, hoof and claw.

“Sorry, Discord. I meant no disrespect. I just was startled to feel something in my ear that shouldn’t be there, and,” I whispered to him, “Don’t tell them I said that. So shush.”

“Okay okay, I’m sorry for popping your personal bubble.” He winked at me then whispered, “Your secret is safe with me.” He promptly then disappeared in a puff of pink smoke.

“Well, that was unexpected.” Twilight said, “I guess he was partly jealous that we walked in on you and him having tea.” She said, gesturing to Fluttershy, who was sitting on the ground with her head in between her hooves.

“Well, nice to meet you Fluttershy.” I said, kneeling down and kissing her hoof, which prompted a face wide blush for both of us.

“Nice to meet you Justin. I hope you enjoyed my company.” She said quietly, rolling a lock of her pink hair in her hooves while looking at my feet.

“I did as well, I hope we do get to hang out in the future.” I said, opening the door to exit her house before I said something really stupid. “Goodbye!”

“Well, see you later Fluttershy.” Twilight said, walking out with me.

“Whew. That was one heck of a get together, hm?” I said, lightly nudging Twilight with my elbow.

“It was indeed, though I am still wondering, what were you and Discord talking about while I was conversing with Fluttershy. It looked like it was important.” She said reminiscing about what had taken place a few minutes ago.

“Oh it was nothing.” I said, working a kink out of my arm. “I just got annoyed that he was in my ear and he apologized and such. I think he’s actually pretty cool, you made him sound like he was a demon or something.” I said, gesturing towards Twilight.

“Well, he was extremely troublesome when we had our first encounter about a year ago. He made the streets out of soap, made it rain chocolate milk, and the clouds of cotton candy so that the pegasi couldn’t move them. And let’s not forget about what he did to the animals around here. He turned the rabbits into weird tall things and trample ponies.” She said with a small smile. “He really was a trouble-maker. Until the second encounter a few months ago. We gave Fluttershy the opportunity to try and reform him. And she seems to have done a pretty good job at it as well.” She said.

“That must have taken a while for her to do that. It seems as though he has had a lot of history with chaos magic.” I said, looking around. “It seems as though he is quite the character. I hope we can hang out with him more.”

“Hm,” Twilight said. “Why in equestria would you want to hang out with him? He wields chaos magic for Celestia’s sake!” She said, slowly raising her voice.

“Well, he seemed like a cool ‘guy’.” I said, air quoting the word guy. “I would still chill with him, although I do hope he doesn’t curse me or something.”

“I would stay away from him,” Twilight said, trotting a little closer to me, “because I care about you and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Did my mind just draw a blank or did she really just say that? I fumbled for the right words, “Ahm, uh, Th-thanks Twilight. I care about you too.” AGH that was a stupid thing to say, now I look like twice the idiot I have been now, ugh.

“Wow, thank you. We should get back to my house before it gets too dark.” She said, turning away and blushing.

“Can we walk slowly at least?” I pleaded, “The sunset will be so awesome, and it’s nice to watch the end of the day. It always makes me feel so calm and collected. It is definitely good for laying on a blanket and watching the stars come out, and then waking up in the morning with a small layer of dew covering the pores in your face. I swear it’s the most relaxing thing you could ever imagine, probably more so than a massage. Wait what are you doing Twilight?” I asked, finally breaking out of my descriptive speech.

“Well, you said that it would be very relaxing so come on, we can watch the moon and the stars rise on the hill over here. It’s one of my favorite places to relax,” Twilight said, “I thought you might enjoy it as well.”

“Wow, Twilight, thanks.” I said, blushing, “I just thought you wanted to go home but, this is awesome. I hope it is really relaxing.” I laughed.

“Well, I am pretty stressed out so this is definitely a welcome activity.” There was a flash of light, a telescope appeared out of nowhere covered in a purple aura. “Also we can take a look at some of the stars closer.” She said, starting to walk up the the top of the hill.

“Well, let’s not keep the stars waiting!” I said sprinting up the hill. “Catch me if you can!”

“Oh yeah?” I heard the voice say behind me. There was a flash and she was at the top of the hill, already setting up her telescope and laying down the blanket for us to sit on. “Well come on already, I’ve been waiting forever.”

I rolled my eyes and jogged up to the crest of the hill and sat down next to her on the blanket. “Well, I guess you win. What should I do now, m’lady.” I said, with a bit of sarcasm while smiling.

“Well for starters, you are going to sit there and listen to a lecture about the universe!” She said excitedly, turning to face me. “Well it all began with a small dot of infinitely compressed matter, then it explo-” She stopped mid-sentence, looking at me and rolling her eyes.

Mainly because I had my head back, mouth open and drooling slightly. “Hrrrruk.” I grunted, slowly lifting my head and looking at her with half open eyes. “I’m sorry,” I said, quite sarcastically, “I seem to have drifted off in the middle of your lecture madam.”

“Stop it!” She said, whacking me with her hoof. “Look, the sun is setting. Wow, I’ve never actually seen it from outside, I’m always working so I never get to see it.” She said, sniffling.

“Well now's your chance to see it for real this time.” I said, laying down on the blanket. “Look the sun is setting.” I said pointing at the horizon.

“Oh my gosh, it looks even more beautiful than ever. Maybe it’s because I’m with my real best friend.” She said, leaning up against me, a dreamy edge in her voice.

I almost flipped out of my skin, not being used to female contact. “Wow, I um, thanks Twilight. You’re my best friend too.” AGH! STUPID STUPID STUPID. Why did I even say that, there go my chances of being with her. Wait, don’t I like Fluttershy……..This is all just so confusing.

“Justin? Are you okay?” Twilight asked me, “You seem like something is wrong. If you want you can tell me, I can try to help you.” She said, wrapping her hoof around my arm.

Do it, do it, do it. You’re going to have to tell her. “Twilight, there is something I have to tell you.” I said, sitting up and looking at her. “It’s important. So please listen.”

She sat up and looked at me. “Okay, what is it? Is there something wrong?” Her facial expression was one of worry.

“I wanted to tell you something a few days ago, but I didn’t have the nerve to say it in front of your friends.” I took a deep breath to calm my spazzing nerves. “It’s been bugging me ever since the third day I came here and, pshhhh, how do I say this?”

“What did you want to tell me?” She said, giving me a little nudge. “I’m sure it’s pretty important. I mean if you haven’t told me since then.”

DO IT! IT'S YOUR ONLY CHANCE, THERE’S NO BETTER TIME. “Okay Twilight, I’m going to tell you.” I said, “Promise not to freak out?”

“Yes, yes. I promise, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She said, waving her hoof around her chest, and face. “Now tell me.”

You got this, you got this. “Okay Twilight.” I said, my face turning bright red. “I love you! Not as a friend, as something more. A girlfriend…? No, as a mare.” I said, breathing a sigh of relief. Wow that felt like a weight off of my back.

“I never knew you felt that way about me,” Twilight said, blushing heavily. “I thought nopony would ever like me, much less be my marefriend or coltfriend.” She said tearing up. “I’m sorry if I don’t really know what to say, this is just a really new experience for me. I actually started liking you a few days after you came here. At first I was really confused at why, but I guess I just felt like you were more different than everypony else in the town. Not because you were human but because you had a more careful atmosphere around you. That’s really what made me so attracted to you.” She said.

“Thank you Twilight for just being there for me, and letting me sleep at your house while I’ve been here for the past week or so.” I said. “What about we look at some stars, hm?”

“Oh yeah!” She said, walking over to the telescope and looking at the sky. “Here’s one thing I wanted to show you.”

Kiss her, do it. It’s now or never. Perfect timing, life is all about that. Getting up and walking over to the telescope I sat next to her and leaned in near to her. “Hey Twilight, I wanted to show you something.” I said.

“Okay what is i-” She was cut off as I put my lips against hers and kissed her deeply, She resisted for a second then started to push her tongue into my mouth. I pushed my tongue into hers and into her mouth. She made a moaning noise then we separated, a thin string of saliva connecting our mouths. “Woah, so that’s what a kiss is like.” She said.

“I hope I wasn’t to bad. It’s my first time at it.” I said blushing again.

“I hope I wasn’t that bad, It’s my first time with a boyfriend or coltfriend so I probably did pretty badly.” She said tearing up.

“Twilight,” I said reassuringly, “If you were bad, I probably was horrible. I had no relationship or friendship with a girl so, talk about inexperienced.” I said, reaching my hand up and scratching behind her ear.

“Mmmmm, that feels good.” She said, “Oh, I totally forgot! The Horsehead Nebula is visible tonight. We have to look at it!” She said moving the telescope around.

“When you’re done madam,” I said, ever so politely, “If I may have a look, if it so pleases you.”

“Absolutely,” She said smiling, “You can keep scratching my ear though. That would also please me.”

I laughed then brought my hand around to scratch her ears. “I think I’m doing a pretty good job.” I said, hearing a satisfied hum, I then looked through the telescope at the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire life. It looked like someone had thrown a water balloon of colors and it had exploded in the sky. I heard a yawn next to me, interrupting my deep thoughts about the heavens.

“I’m *yawn* going to take a nap.” Twilight said, laying her head down on my lap. “G‘Night Spike. G‘Night Justin.”

“Goodnight Twilight.” I said laying down on the blanket covered by the cool, crisp night air. “Goodnight my love, sleep well.”

Author's Note

Holy crap guys. This chapter took a while. And So did my writers block, procrastination and annoying computer that reset my document a few times.

Well, it's sort of long, but I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 4: A Conflicted Interest

I slowly opened my eyes to the tip of the sun rising over the horizon, causing a large conflagration of colors to permeate the clouds. “Ahhh.” I sighed. I rolled over to the left, coming face to face with Twilight as she yawned and turned to me with half-lidded eyes.

“Good Morning Justin.” She said, yawning again. “How did you sleep?”

“I think this was the best sleep I’ve ever had in my entire life.” I said, shifting my legs into a more comfortable position. “And I know who might have caused that.” I gave her an eskimo kiss then backed away for a second.

“Oh you can’t tease me like that!” She said. As she thrusted her mouth onto mine. We engaged in a passionate kiss, like the kind shared by an intimate couple, just scratching the surface of their beginning relationship.

I broke the kiss by slowly breaking away and looking her in the eyes. “I love you Twilight Sparkle.” I said softly.

“Justin please, call me Twi.” She said, blushing, “And by the way. I love you more.” She then gave me a wink.

“Ah,” I said, “Shouldn’t we be getting you home by now? Spike might be worried about where you went last night with this strange man.”

“Oh, that’s right, I can take care of myself you know.” She said, “We should hurry back, he might be more worried if I’m not up or there.” Gathering up our picnic supplies from the previous night, we started on the road back to her treehouse. “Do you use big words just to impress me?” She said as we began our way back.

“How do you mean? Like whereabouts and other words that would be imperative to the conversation?” I said laughing, realizing what she meant.

“Like that!” She said laughing at my realization, “You just used a few big words in that sentence!”

“Nah, It’s just how I learned to speak,” I said to her, “It really began to help about a year ago in my world.” I said, starting to reminisce, “I wanted to impress people more so that I could get a better job and make more friends, and believe it or not, it kinda worked.”

“Well, I guess that might be a good addition to your mental state. Considering the predicament you are in currently. Well, here we are.” She said, sidestepping a bush to open the front door. “Spike! We’re home!”

“There you are Twilight!” He said, walking down the steps. “Where did you go?”

“We went out early in the morning to watch the sunrise and look at the constellations.” She said, “We also saw the Horsehead Nebula. It is really interesting how they call that the ‘birthplace of stars’.” She said, walking into the kitchen.

“You saw the Horsehead and you didn’t invite me?” Spike said, “I really wanted to see it, just as much as you.” He pouted.

“Spike, it will be visible for another few weeks before the sun obscures the view but we will be able to see it in the near future, maybe even tonight if you want.” She winked at me, I double winked back.

“Well, Justin and Spike, what do you want to do today? I’m not sure we have anything planned for today, but let me check the calendar.” Twilight said, sitting down at her desk. “Well, I do have a meeting tomorrow with Celestia and Luna. They also said that they would like to meet you, Justin.”

“So these rulers that I am going to meet,” I said nervously, “Are basically like immortal beings, and they have wings and a horn? So that makes them a… hm, Unisus?... No, Pegacorn?” I said, looking for the right word.

Twilight chuckled, “They are immortal, in the fact that they can live forever, and they know a lot but not everything. And the word you are looking for is Alicorn.” She said correcting me.

“Hm, I feel a little less nervous about meeting them.” I said, rubbing my temples, “So what time do we have to leave tomorrow in order to arrive with punctuality.” I said, exaggerating my word choice. Which made Twilight laugh, “I’ll be here all night folks.” I said, under my breath.

“The train to Canterlot takes about three hours and Celestia wants us there by noon so we should leave by about nine in the morning.” She said, pulling the train tickets out of a drawer. “Spike, would you like to come along or are you going to stay here? Princess Celestia sent three tickets so you are welcome to come if you want.”

“Wooohoo! Oh yeah I’ll definitely come with!” Spike said, jumping off the couch and running into the side room, “I’m gonna pack my bag!”

Twilight just chuckled and levitated a book off of the shelf, sitting down on her couch. “It’s always funny to see him get excited about the smallest things.”

“Well, this isn’t so small now is it?” I said, trying to plan out how the meeting might go. “You said you only visit with her every so often, but only when she needs you.”

Twilight gave me a quizzical look. “Well it’s not like that, we communicate every now and then but she is mainly busy with Day Court and a lot more work that has to be done for the kingdom to run smoothly. I may not be one of her top concerns because she trusts me to solve problems by myself.”

I hopped off the floor and sat next to the lavender unicorn, “I didn’t mean to insult your relationship with the Princesses,” I said giving her a kiss on the cheek, “I just didn’t understand the fullness of your relationship with her.”

I hear a bag drop behind me, “Uh Justin,” The dragon standing in the side room doorway, “Did you just kiss Twilight?”

Oh shit, not getting out of this one. “Yes I did. I have some strong connection with Twilight and we have gotten closer over the last week and I have decided that she would be my, uh, marefriend..?” I said fumbling with the last part.

Spike looked at me with a ‘what the hell’ look for about thirty seconds, although it could have been well over an hour. “I’m fine with it but aren’t you concerned about the you being a hum-a-whatever and her being a pony?” That remark earned a sigh from the lavender unicorn sitting beside me. “I’m just asking.”

“Spike, please. I don’t think he is that shallow in order to think that just because I don’t look like a human doesn’t mean he can’t love me for who I am on the inside.” She scolded him. “I couldn’t have asked for anyone so caring.” Twilight kissed me on the cheek and looked back at Spike. “I-” She was cut off by me.

“Look Spike, I know this is odd for you.” Gesturing to the both of us, then to Twilight and I. “It’s just I feel like Twilight and I are trying this out to see if it works and if it doesn’t,” I shrugged my shoulders, “then it won’t. It’s really just an experiment.” Twilight looked at me quizzically.

“I’m just an experiment to you?” The purple unicorn said, her eyes brimming with tears. “That’s it? The first in a line of marefriends for you, and I’m in the way of you getting another one?” A few tears streamed down her, hurt and angry expression.

“Twi, that’s not what I meant.” I said reaching out for her, only to have her shy away.

“Then what did you mean.” Twilight said turning to look at me, her face stained with anger and tear trails. “Because I am now very interested in how you are going to explain this.” She cocked her ears forward, pointed towards me.

I gulped, this didn’t look good. “What I was trying to say was, I have never had any girlfriends or marefriends before you Twilight. I just didn’t really have the social eptitude for it, or the looks.” I said needlessly flicking my thumbs around.

There was a long silence in which everyone waited for someone else to say something. A cry of forgiveness, a long lost memory being shared, a personal experience, or something. It pained me and, I’m just guessing here, Twilight and Spike as well. We just sat there in silence for what felt like hours, but in reality was only a few minutes.

“I’m sorry.” We both said at the same time, not realizing that the other was going to speak. “Go first, no you. No you!” We burst out laughing and I hugged Twilight and I gave her a kiss. “I apologize, my earlier comment was not well thought out and totally insensitive. Would you forgive me?” I said giving her my best puppy eyes.

She threw her head back and laughed, “Haha, yes I do forgive you Justin. If I were you, I wouldn’t let those kind of comments come out of your mouth during our meeting with the Princesses.” Checking the clock on the wall, she got up off the couch and began to collect her bags. “We should get going, the train should be there soon. C’mon Spike!”

As we walked out of her house and down the street to the train station, many of the normally open windows and doors were closed. I mind wandered and as I looked down a side street, what I saw was not what I had in mind. Multiple ponies were sprinting through the back door of a house, after they all had gotten in, I heard a loud clank and a screeching as a bolt secured the door. I looked around and saw multiple ponies look at me and shut their windows. Many were still running off the streets, still opening and shutting doors.

I simply rolled my eyes and turned to Twilight, “Did you ever introduce me to the townsfolk?” I said, apprehensively looking around me, my paranoia now in full effect. I started to imagine ponies waiting outside their doors ready to kill me if I got any closer to them. “Because I, for one, am pretty sure that you didn’t.”

She shrugged and kept walking, “Don’t worry about them, they’ll probably just get used to you after a bit of time. Just like they had to get used to the ‘Town Librarian’ after I moved in a few years ago.”

Arriving at the train station, she approached the ticket booth and the pony inside looked up and shrieked, diving beneath the desk.

“Go away!” She shouted, “Princess run there is a monster following you! It looks like it’s going to kill you!” Then silence, other than her labored breathing.

“Who do you mean? Oh…. Justin? He’s a friend of mine.” Twilight said, peering in the booth, “He’s not going to hurt anypony, we just need to get to Canterlot so we can see the Princesses.” Twilight said, huffing loudly and rolling her shoulders. “Would you please come out from under there?”

“As l-l-long as that thing promises not to attack or eat me.” She said, poking her head out from under the desk and looking at me expectantly. “Not a moment before then.”

“Justin, could you promise this darn pony that you aren’t going to do anything to harm her?” She said, rolling her eyes. “Just do it, the train is coming. I don’t want to be late.”

“I promise that I won’t attack you,” I stopped for a second. “What is your name miss?”

“I-it’s M-medal R-rose.” She said, slowly getting out from under the table, “Twilight said your name is Justin? What an odd name.”

You have no idea, I said under my breath. “Well have a good day, Medal.” I said.

The train arrived at the station, about a minute late. To anybody it would have seemed normal like “Hey, it happens.” But to Twilight, whew, you thought the whole world just fell apart. “Now I am going to be late for the first time in my entire time being a student.” She cried, pacing back and forth on the train. “They’re gonna send me back to magic kindergarten and all the little fillies and colts are gonna laugh at-”

“Twilight,” I cooed, “just chill out. You’re gonna give yourself an anxiety attack from all the worrying and fretting over one small thing. I’m sure they are not going to do anything bad to you, well not with me around.” I picked her up and plopped her on the train’s couch next to me and gave her a kiss. “All better?” I asked.

“Much better,” The lavender mare said, relaxing and leaning against the cushions. “Who knew that such a simple act can make one relax so easily.” Twilight questioned, “Maybe I should write a book titled, Your Human and You, By Twilight Sparkle, Human Expert.”

“Why would you need to write a book about something I can teach you about?” I questioned, “I have no problem writing books, but that would just be silly because I’m the only human here, hm?”

Twilight’s only answer was to snuggle against me and sigh contentedly. We began to drift off as the train chugged its way towards Canterlot, and my ever present fears were not calmed by my little Twilight sleeping with her head on my lap.

Author's Note

Wow holy crap that took a while. I decided to throw this in as a new years kinda thing ya know. :twilightsheepish:

Sorry for the wait but I hope you enjoy this addition to the story.

Chapter 5: A Look Into The Shadows

I awoke with a start as I heard the train’s brakes begin to tighten and it beginning to slow down, that meant that we had arrived. I was already beginning to feel really nervous about meeting these two ‘demigods’. What would they want from me? What would I want from them? But all of this worry was for naught of course, because I had Twilight on my side. They wouldn’t hurt me if Twilight stood up for me, right?

“Canterlot Station!” The voice over the loudspeaker said, rousing me from my thoughts. “Next stop, Appleoosa. All passengers for Canterlot disembark now.”

“Twilight, cmon.” I said to the sleeping purple unicorn on my lap. “We’re here, and I think the media is as well.” The flashes of cameras was getting closer as we approached the platform. Gah, I hated the media. Even the thought of a picture being taken of me was not in my realm of comfortability. Not that I had gotten much media exposure when I was on Earth. “How did they even know I was coming here?”

Twilight yawned and hopped off the bench with Spike on her back. “Oh sweet Celestia. What is all the commotion for?” She said, spotting the crowd of journalists. “Hold on, I’m going to teleport us to the palace steps. Spike you too.” He just murmured something in his sleep. Her horn began to glow and suddenly there was a blinding flash of light.

I was standing on the steps of a elegant palace that had guards on almost every single door. Although I wasn’t paying attention to that, I was on the ground groaning at the massive migraine that had suddenly assaulted me. I got on my knees and suddenly had the urge to vomit, looking frantically around I saw some bushes and rushed over to those before I spoiled the practically glowing marble that adorned the steps. Just as I reached the bushed I vomited, heaving up what I had eaten for breakfast and probably the food I had eaten yesterday. “Okay,” I said wiping my mouth on my sleeve, “Can we not do that ever again?”

Twilight looked at me sheepishly, “Sorry. I had no idea that would happen but then you are…” She drifted off as her pupils went wide and she started to hyperventilate. “OH MY CELESTIA ARE YOU OKAY? LAY DOWN I NEED TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE OKAY. THAT COULD HAVE KILLED YOU WHAT WAS I THINKING?”

“Twilight?” I said, shielding my ears from the screaming. “Do you think you could tone it down a notch?”

“Sorry,” She said in a voice so quiet I could barely hear it, “I just thought I hurt you and I-I just snapped….” Twilight started to cry as she covered her mouth and looked at me, tears staining her lavender fur. “Because I-I-I love you.” She sat down, her tail curling around her body.

I just sat down, too stunned to say anything, I just sat there. I had no idea what to say because I didn’t know she felt that way towards me. Do I love her back? Is this the fear talking or a deep down feeling that she really cares for me? I know she told me that a few days ago but this seems more heartfelt. Tell her you love her! “Thanks, Twi. But I think we should get off the street. The reporters are closing the gap pretty quickly.” You coward! Damn. Every single time. I picked her up and started jogging towards the palace.

“Justin, you can put me down you know. I can walk.” Twilight said, frowning slightly.

“Oh, hehe sorry.” I said blushing as I put her down at the top of the steps. “Well shall we?” I said, gesturing towards the doors.

Guards approached us as we walked towards the door, fanning out to keep the journalists and reporters out. “What is your business with the Princesses?” A guard said as he approached us. “They are not taking visitors right now.”

“We are here to see both of them in fact.” Twilight said, “I am here on behalf of Justin here. The Princesses wanted to see him and me as well.” She said, approaching the guards.

They nodded and began to open the door, eyeing me very carefully. Slightly glaring at me, the guard on the left began to say something, “I’m keeping a close watch on you creature. Don’t try anything.” Then the door closed, leaving us in a huge, open foyer.

I looked around at the colored glass windows depicting multiple apparent battle scenes. It was quite easy to pick out the victor and the villain, the victors looked the same in some of them. I made a mental note to ask this ‘Celestia’ and Twilight about these. “Hey Twilight, where are they? The princesses I mean.” I heard footsteps coming from behind me and I turned around. Before me is one of the Princesses, I think this one is Celestia.

Celestia smiles at me and turns to Twilight, “This is the ‘hooman’ isn’t it?” A nod from Twilight causes her to smile again. “Well Justin, that is your name correct?”

I just gulp and stand there still in awe of her presence. Under the awe I can just feel the power radiating off of this ‘demigod,’ like a huge wave from the ocean of infinite calm just crash over me, so much for putting up a resistance. It swept over my entire brain relaxing my muscles and calming my worst fears. A small whistle came from Twilight as she was waving her hoof in front of my glazed over eyes. “Hmmm, yes?”

“Justin, Princess Celestia asked you a question.” Twilight looked at me with concern, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah sorry.” I said, pushing my hair back and standing up a bit straighter, “I just had the weirdest feeling ever. But it passed now.”

Celestia turned to me and looked me in the eye, very carefully before looking at Twilight, “You have certainly chosen an interesting creature to house. His mind is far larger than any of the other creatures you have had me analyze. It seems to me that he is smarter than some of my little ponies that live here.” Celestia said matter-of-factly.

“Its pronounced hu-man, Princess.” Twilight said, looking quite nervous as she corrected the solar princess.

Celestia only smiled and nodded. “Well as long as he promises not to go rampaging around the town striking fear into the hearts of my citizens,” Celestia said smiling at me, “I shall let him reside in Ponyville with you.”

Twilight stood up a little straighter as she heard her mentor’s response, “Thank you Princess. I’ll keep and eye on him and make sure he doesn’t do any of that.” Twilight winked at me.

“What say you human? I haven’t heard much from you in this meeting.” The white alicorn said to me.

“Uh, I promise not to go around ravaging your towns.” I said, my right eye twitching as it does from time to time. “Thank you for letting me stay, even though I have nowhere else to go per se.” I smiled at Celestia.

A door behind Celestia opened revealing another alicorn, slightly shorter and more slim but lacking no natural beauty. She approached us, eyeing me warily. “Sister? What hath thou brought to our castle?” She said, moving closer as if to sniff me. “‘Tis some sort of rare beast? Twilight, thou knowest much of such things, what tis this thing?”

“Oh Luna, where art thou manners?” Celestia scolded Luna, “This is Justin, he is a human. A creature, brought here by Twilght, from another world I should assume.”

“HUZZA! AN OUTER WORLDY BEING! TWILIGHT, THOU SHALT STUDY THIS BEING VERY CAREFULLY!” Luna said, raising her voice to an ungodly loud volume, and with enough force to knock me over.

I rubbed my head from being knocked down and Twilight walked over to me in concern, helping me up. “Woah, well nice to meet you too Princess Luna.” I got up, with help from Twilight, and kissed her hoof.

Luna blushed and covered her mouth with a hoof. “My my, what a gentlecolt thou hast brought into our residence.” She glanced over to Twilight. “Bring him here anytime thou needest some relaxation.” Luna turned around and sauntered out swaying her hips and tail more than necessary, then adding a sultry wink before disappearing down a hallway.

Celestia only gave me a dumbfounded look. “Well that was unexpected, very unexpected. She has never acted like that towards anypony else that I know of. Very odd behavior for her given her circumstance.” Celestia smiled then turned to Twilight. “Well this went better than expected, make sure to take good care of Justin and educate him on the value and lessons of friendship.” She then began to walk back to her throne.

I looked outside and saw that the sun was lowering. ThenI remebered something that Twilight told me, they lowered and raised the moon and sun. So I walked toward her throne as she was signing a stack of papers. “Celestia, is it true you lower the Sun and the Moon?”

She looked at me quizically then set down her papers, “Yes that is true.” Celestia said, “But my sister Luna, who you met today, now raises and lowers the moon. Per and agreement we made a few months after she came back from being banished from Equestria. That is a story for another time, perhaps when you come to reside at the casitle again in the near future perhaps?”

I nodded in agreement, “That would be fine, as long as Twilight doesn’t have any objections of course.” I looked towards Twi, who seemed deep in thought. “Twi?”

Twilight snapped out of the state she was in and blushed, “I’m sorry, what did you ask Justin?” She smiled sheepishly.

“I asked if you had any objections to us coming back to Canterlot for ‘Celestia’s Story Time.’” I said jokingly.

Twilight pressed her hoof to her chin in thought, “No I can’t seem to have a problem with that.” She said, looking at Celestia who was chuckling. “I can’t wait for ‘Celestia’s Story Time’ either.”

Celestia only chuckled more, then gave us a warm smile. “Goodnight Twilight, have a safe ride home, and don’t forget to teach Justin about friendship. It seems as though he needs a lesson or two.” She said, causing me to break out into a blush. She waved her hoof in goodbye as we walked out of the front doors, closing them with a soft boom. “Cadence, are you here?”

Another alicorn popped out from behind a statue and walked towards Celestia. “Yes, here I am.”

Celestia smiled, “Did you record how he felt through out the meeting?” Celestia said eagerly, “Because I believe that Justin and Twilight have developed a relationship pretty quickly for ones of different species.”

Cadence nodded, “I felt that too, but I think it might be a bit more intimate than you can see, of course my talent is love.” She said, gesturing to her cutie mark. “It would be a waste of talent and insight for me not to notice such an outright and strong relationship.”

Celestia only smiled, she was glad that her star student was finally finding love. It may be unorthodox, but it would enrich her learning experience and how she saw the world. “Cadence,” She said, waiting for the pink alicorn to acknowledge her. Cadence looked at Celestia then she continued, “do you think that the nobles of Canterlot will be happy with such a development? I mean, he may be sentient like the rest of us but they may only view him as an animal. I worry for them and us, would this be warranted?”

Cadence thought about this for a moment before answering, “If they do try to make an issue out of it, I’m sure you can reassure them that he was not intending to make their lives harder or discourage them.” Cadence said. “You know more than I on how to control these nobles. It is up to you in the end.”

Twilight and I had just gotten to the train station just in time for the last train to Ponyville, we purchased our tickets from a teenage pony who just gaped at me before hoofing over our tickets. We boarded the train that arrived a quarter of an hour later. Twilight, who had been sleeping on my lap, was carried by me and laid down on a cushion next to me. She seemed to know that I had moved her slightly away from me and sleepily motioned her over to me. We cuddled against each other on the duration of the train ride home. After a few restless hours later, we arrived at the Ponyville train station. I decided it would be rude of me to make her walk home, so I carried her all the way to the Library. After arriving tired and out of breath, I put her on her bed and walked outside, putting my hand over the sign that read ‘Golden Oak Library’.

“Home. I feel at home.” I said before walking back in, turning off the lights and climbing into bed next to a slightly awake Twilight, who noted my absence and motioned me next to her. I climbed in and fell quickly into a deep and restful sleep.

Author's Note

HOLY Crap that took a while but here it is I wrote this in a shorter time that chapter 4 but whatevs.

Now comes the fun part with Luna but ya know no spoilers. :twilightsmile:

Chapter 6: So, How'd it Go?

Chapter 6: So? How’d It Go?

The sound of chirping birds woke me from my deep and peaceful slumber, only to be accompanied by the sound of a sizzling I knew all too well. I realized the ceilings were a little low, but I decided to try jumping out of bed anyway.

I launched myself towards the side of the banister, and overshot by a decent amount, hitting my head on one of the slats on the ceiling. After hitting my head, I fell down the flight of stairs, landing face up in front of an unamused Twilight. “Morning Twi. Ow that kinda hurts, I had a little accident coming downstairs this morning.” I said, smiling sheepishly while I rubbed my head. It hurt quite a lot from the impact on the slat and the flight of stairs. Twilight rolled her eyes and dropped a pancake on my face then laughed.

“Come sit at the table Justin, I’ll get you some in just a second.” Twilight said, kissing me on the lips allowing me to get a subtle taste of pancakes. She walked back over the the stove flipping pancakes and putting a few onto a plate, levitating it over to me.

As I poured a copious amount of syrup onto my pancakes, I looked over to Twilight, “So what are we going to do today? As we went into the castle, almost got mobbed by reporters, had one of the princesses flirt with me and got permission to live here.” I said, stuffing my mouth full of fluffy goodness. “So what now-” I didn’t get any farther before a pink missile hit me in the chest, causing me to fly back into the wall.

“OHMYGOSHIMSOHAPPYTHATYOUCANNOWLIVEINPONYVILLEIHAVETOTHROWYOUANOWYOU’REACITIZENPARTY!” Pinkie Pie spoke so fast that I couldn’t even tell what she was saying.

“Pinkie how did you manage saying all that without taking a breath? You are at least half my size.” I said, trying to puzzle out how she could have done such a thing.

“Justin, don’t overthink it,” Twilight reminded me, “Besides we’ve leveled it down to ‘Pinkie being Pinkie.’”

I just sat on the ground, a pink mass of hyperactivity that was Pinkie Pie still sitting on my chest. I decided to just let it go and move on. “So, what are we going to do? Other than Miss ADHD over there throwing me a party.” I said, gesturing to Pinkie, who had gotten off my chest and began bouncing up and down near the doorway. “By the way, how did you get in here without destroying the doo-- wait, Pinkie being Pinkie, got it.”

“What’s ADHD?” Pinkie said, still bouncing up and down, “That’s fun to say! ADHD ADHD ADHD! Come on, say it with me! ADHD ADHD!”

I slapped my hand against my face and let it drag all the way down to my chin. “Pinkie, that’s not good by the- you know what? I don’t care, have your fun.” I said, not trying to explain it. That mare was far beyond any help that could be offered by any society.

“Well nice of you to drop in Pinkie,” Twilight said, walking her to the door, “We have to get ready for today as we have some errands to run. So, we’ll stop over at Sugarcube Corner after we’re done, okay?” Twilight said, as Pinkie hopped out of the door.

“Okie doki loki!” She said, hopping away. “See you in a bit Twilight!” She shouted louder than Twilight did at the castle. What?

I just stood there trying to puzzle this out but remembered what they had told me, ‘It’s Pinkie being Pinkie’ and I didn’t think about it anymore. “Well Twilight,” I said, after finishing the rest of pancakes, “Don’t we have errands to run? Or so you said.” I sat in the chair and smirked, leaning a bit far back I fell over onto the floor. Twilight and Spike stifled a laugh as I laid there. I sighed and got up, “Well Twily, want to go do those ‘errands?’”

Her ears perked up and faced towards me as if I said something of great value. “If you say so.” Twilight said, “Let me go get my bags, we’ll be out of here before you can say no.” I just rolled my eyes.

“Spike, how long does it take her to do her errands?” I said to the purple dragon laying on the couch. “Give me an honest estimate.”

He looked up at me, “An honest answer?” He said rolling towards me, “Well it usually takes her the entire day. Give or take a nap in the middle of the day, maybe because I’m a small dragon but hey. Maybe she won’t have much on her list is--never mind.” The drake said as Twilight walked down the stairs, a list at least as tall as me. I groaned.

“Oooh I just can’t wait to get started!” Twilight said, smiling and rolling up her list and tucking it in one of her saddlebags. “Alright Justin, let’s go shall we? We have a long day ahead of us.”

A deep groan emanated from my mouth as I followed Twilight out the door. “Is this really going to take all day?”

------------------------------------------------ Later that Day ------------------------------------------------

I sat down on a bench and yawned loudly, “Alright, what time is it because the last time I saw the sun out was a few hours ago.”

Twilight huffed and looked at me, “Oh come now, it hasn’t been that bad.” The purple unicorn said to me, “You actually enjoyed most of it, except the parts that had shopkeepers screaming in fear and running away.”

I sighed and laid my head on the back of the bench, “Well it did give me a chance to meet a lot of the local populace, even if they aren’t all as attractive as you.”

Twilight blushed, “There are plenty of other mares out there that are prettier than me, I could name a few but I don’t want any competition for my man here.” She said, hip checking me. “Especially if he is one of a kind.”

I laughed very loudly causing some of the townsponies to look at me, “Well if you want more of me then bring another human here! Actually that’s a bad idea, one of my kind is enough. We cause enough chaos as it is.” I chuckled quietly.

Twilight picked up her bags and began walking home, “You better hurry,” She said, “I’ll leave without you.” She winked at me and kept walking.

“Wait,” I yelled after her, “Didn’t we promise Pinkie Pie we would come over for a treat or something? If I’m recalling correctly that is.”

“Oh that’s right,” Twilight said, “ Well I don’t want you to have to drag all of these bags around for the whole night so let’s drop them off and then we will go to Sugarcube Corner. I just hope you have a high tolerance for sugar.” She laughed and continued walking home.

“Wait what’s that supposed to mean!?” I shouted, “Am I gonna die if I eat something there?!”

------------------------------- Later That Afternoon at Sugarcube Corner ----------------------------------

The doorbell rung as Twilight and I walked into Sugarcube Corner and scanned the room for the hyperactive pink mare. Suddenly a spotlight blinded me and I stumbled backwards, trying to block the sudden assault on my eyes. Falling to the ground I hit my head on the tiled floor

“SURPRISE!” I heard voices say as I got back up, moving out of the spotlight. I looked around the brightly illuminated room, all around it hung banners that said ‘Welcome to Ponyville/Equestria’ and others that said ‘Congrats on becoming a citizen party’.

“Pinkie did you plan this party for me?” I said to the pink mare standing in front of the crowd of other ponies, “But I didn’t do anything for you.”

“Oh you silly filly!” Pinkie said, bouncing up and down, “You don’t have to do something to get something in return! That’s what friends are for.” She hugged me and started talking to some of the guests at the party.

Looking around I recognized many of the ponies I had met the first few weeks I had been Equestria. Seeing Medal Rose, the ticket stand pony from a few days ago, I went over to talk her. “Hey Medal,” I said walking up from behind her, “How have you been?”

Medal Rose made a small squeak and turned to towards me, her face red, “H-h-hey Justin. How’ve you b- I mean I’ve been great. Still working at the train station. How have you been?”

“Ah you know, just hanging around Twilight’s place,” I said laughing, “Generally making a nuisance out of myself, and speaking of nuisances I need to get a job or something. Sleeping is good and all but you can’t do it all day.”

“Well I would but I have a job to do.” Medal Rose said, chuckling quietly. “The more annoying thing is the wake up time, you have to be there before the sun rises! That’s before anyone is up, though I’m glad I don’t have the night shift like Star Shine over there.” She said, gesturing to a pegasus stallion with a turquoise colored coat and cobalt mane.

I smiled at her, “I bet that's a pain, as in boring that is.” I chuckled nervously, I’ve never been good with talking to women. “I’m gonna go get some punch and be back to talk to you soon, okay?” As I walked away, I heard some of her friends say something about me, which made Medal Rose blush then laugh with them. I was glad that I had made another friend besides Twilight, but he wasn’t sure how she would feel about that. He needed to see if she was really possessive or over-bearing, or something that would put him off.

“Oh hey Justin,” the voice in front of me said, “Heard you’ve been spendin’ some time with ol’ Twilight. How’s it been?” Rainbow Dash, the brash, headstrong, boastful resident speedster of Ponyville.

“It’s been good I suppose,” I said, not sure how to approach the subject with someone like Rainbow, “She’s been really hospitable and overall a good friend,” My eyes narrowed ever so slightly, “Why are you asking?”

“Oh no reason,” Rainbow said shrugging, “Just wanted to make sure she wasn’t like being too clingy and stuff, ya know.”

So she really was just asking, that or she has something that she’s hiding from me. “Well enough about me, let’s talk about you.” I said, grinning.

Rainbow Dash snickered then burst out laughing at the grin in my face, “Oh man that was the best thing I’ve ever seen.” She continued laughing before going into a coughing fit. “Just don’t do that without telling me next time.”

I laughed and looked over to my left and, seeing Applejack approach me, I turned her way. “Oh hey Applejack, what’s up?”

“Justin please, call me Aj everyone does. Everyone except Twi, it kinda gets annoying ya know.” Applejack said, her brow furrowing a little. “Well how’s it been living with Twi? I know she can be a bit overbearing and stuff like that.”

“So what is it with asking me how it is living with her?” I said, a hint of apathy coming into my voice, “I’m thankful for a place to sleep at night and a house to live in. She’s been nothing but caring and hospitable.”

“Bet you ten bits she’s sleeping in the same bed as him.” Rainbow Dash said to Applejack, “But I bet you I would already have won.”

Applejack rolled her eyes and shook Rainbow’s outstretched hoof, “You’re on Dash, ah would watch what yer doin if I were you.”

I was blushing so hard it felt like my face had been badly sunburned. “Okay we are going to switch topics because this is making me slightly uncomfortable.” I said, shifting my feet. “I’m going to go talk to Twilight now, have fun with your scheming and such.” They looked at each other and laughed. “Women, I will never understand them in the first place.” Deciding against my better judgement to drink the cider out on the table, I settled for some other drink that tasted like lemonade. Even though I couldn’t recall there being any lemon trees around. I shrugged and walked over to Twilight, lightly moving my fingers up her back. She quivered at my touch and looked at me with a sultry smile.

“Justin,” Twilight said, “do stay here. I wanted to include you in on this conversation, it's about mares.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin. Talking about women was one of my least favorite thing to talk about. Even if it was just a friendly conversation, it was one that was very low on my ‘To Talk About’ list. “So, uh, what are we talking about?” I said nervously, rubbing the back of my head.

Twilight and the other mare, who was Fluttershy started to laugh. “I didn’t know you would get startled that easily!” Twilight said, still chuckling. “Well Fluttershy just wanted to check up on you, that’s all. You being one of the last of you kind and all.” Twilight said, taking a sip from her glass of punch. I snatched the glass from her magic and sniffed it. Yup alcohol.

“Twilight,” I said, nervously thinking how to approach the subject, “Why are you drinking alcohol?”

She looked confused, then smiled, “It’s Applejack’s cider that she always brings to every party ever.” A kind of dopey smile came over her face. “It’s really good even though I can only have a few glasses before I get a little tipsy.” She hiccuped a few times before her magic flickered and the cup dropped. I caught it just in time so it didn’t fall to the floor. “Where’s my drink at? Where’d it go?” Twilight’s head moved around scanning to look for her fallen drink.

“Twi I think it’s time we got you home before you did something you might not want to do.” I said, taking a sip of the drink. It was surprisingly good so I drank the rest, not really caring if it had alcohol in it or not. “Wow that is good. Tell Applejack that her cider is good, but Twilight and I have to go.” I said to Fluttershy, she just blushed and nodded. I carried Twilight out of Sugarcube Corner and towards her house. “Twilight, no. You are not going to try to walk. Come on, let’s get you home before you make a foal of yourself. As you say.” Now I’m using pony mannerisms and terms. Ugh this world is really getting to me. I carried her out onto the main road from Sugarcube Corner and began heading towards the large crystal castle that stood at the edge of the town, facing west.

The sun had fully set and the moon had begun rising into the sky, a lovely full moon, which I could see the craters that formed the pattern of a unicorn or something. I sighed and stood still for a minute just thinking, something I hadn’t done in a long time. It wasn’t unusual for me to stop and think about whatever came to my mind, but I hadn’t done that since I had arrived in Equestria. Arriving at the castle, I wandered around trying to find where Twilight slept so I could put her to sleep. After a few minutes of wandering around, I found her room and tucked her into sleep and began to walk out.

A breath of green fire in front of me alerted me that I had been spotted and apparently was an unwanted intruder. “Sorry Justin!” I heard the dragon say as I felt like I was crammed into a box and popped back out again.

“Why hello Justin,” Celestia said, “I assume that you are having a good night?”

I groaned, “Why yes I am.”

Author's Note

Woah another chapter this fast?

Joking of course. I will be uploading semi-regularly now but enjoy.

(This was a fun chapter to write.)

Chapter 7: Arrival at the Palace (A Magician's Tricks)

Chapter Seven: Arrival at the Palace (A Magician's Tricks)

“I must say that was quite a day for you then. All the shopping and dealing with the denizens of Ponyville.” Celestia said, sipping tea from one of her ceramic cups. “Well I do hope you have had a good time. Although I must say you need to be getting back, Twilight must be fretting over her coltfriend being gone for so long.” A teasing smile leaped onto her lips.

I blushed but still sat in my seat entertained by the white alicorn sitting in front of me. “I thank you for your hospitality Princess Celestia. It has been most gracious, although I haven’t seen your sister around. Does she sleep during the day?” I said, looking around all the while. I saw the navy blue alicorn walk out from a door and stare blearily at the table. First looking at me then at Celestia, then me, then Celestia again.

“How didst thou get Justin to sleep with thee?” Luna asked, slowly approaching the table, and sitting down in the chair next to me. “We would like a turn if thy would allow it, sister.”

I blushed so hard and put my head in my hands, trying to seem as small as possible. “I didn’t sleep with Celestia and I won’t be sleeping with you either. I just got transported here by accident, nothing more, nothing less.” I looked at the confused Luna, wondering what I should do. “I will, however, give you a hug. If that is sufficient for you.” I walked over to give her a hug and she lunged for me, her lips pressing against mine.

The main hall door slammed open, revealing an extremely disheveled Twilight and and the other five. A look of shock was plastered onto Twilight’s face, as was betrayal and jealousy. All adding up to a shitstorm that reminded anyone of the term, ‘if looks could kill.’ Of course, I didn’t notice. I was still making out with Luna, in fact, I hadn’t even heard the door open. She finally broke the kiss, a small strand of saliva connecting our mouths as we pulled away from each other.

I noticed something moving on the edge of my vision and I turned around to see Twilight with tears streaming down her face, staining her pristine lavender colored fur. Her mane and coat was in disarray, probably from the hangover and looking for me. At first I couldn’t understand why she was crying then it hit me. “Oh Twilight, you thought… No it’s not like that Twi. I didn’t mean for tha-”

“THEN YOU BETTER START EXPLAINING OR SO HELP ME, I WILL THROW YOU THROUGH THESE WALLS AND OUT OF THE PALACE.” The force of her voice, or the Royal Canterlot Voice as I later learned it is called, was enough to knock me backwards and smash me against one of the walls in the palace.

“Twilight,” Celestia said, stepping between Twilight and I, “I think that is enough. You need to solve this problem quietly and as friends.” It sounded more like an order than an option.

Twilight only flared her horn and moved Celestia behind her and slowly began to approach me. “No, I will solve this problem the way I always have. Not that you would ever feel betrayed by one you loved.”

Confusion slowly crept it’s way onto Celestia’s face as she suddenly realized what was going on between us. “I still think you are blowing this out of proportion. You can solve this among friends. Can’t we? After all my sister is tired and was not fully aware of her actions.” Everyone looked towards the table and we saw her face down in a slice of cake covered in butter.

“Well Twilight,” I said carefully getting up off the floor, “I suppose we can go back to Ponyville now, I apologize for the situation that I just put you through.” I walked over to her and she backed up a little, resisting my touch. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Do you still love me?” She said, a few tears still staining her her cheeks. I nodded and she threw herself into my arms. “I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry.” I only hugged her harder, which she responded with a passionate kiss.

Imagine it like this, you have lost your significant other and have this deep pit of sorrow that you don’t think you would ever be able to get out of and you just sit there in despair. Then that person comes to you one day, out of the blue. So unexpected that you can’t help but not believe that the person, or pony in my circumstance, is standing there. I kinda felt that this was how Twilight felt, at least a little. Besides being jealous. And a little of nagging and overbearing. But hey, I can right all wrongs can’t I? No, no I’m not god but I can try my best. “Hey, let's get going. I may be mistaken but, today was, and still is, supposed to be our date night. So let’s go have some fun out on the town.”

We all grouped together and began to walk out of the palace when I noticed a movement off to the side of the hallway. I turned my head to face a still disheveled Luna walking down the hall towards me, occasionally winking at me and flipping her mane. Me being extremely oblivious to what these things meant, except the winking, just turned my head forward and kept walking. I then heard a quiet noise that sounded like “pshhhhh” come from where Luna had been standing a few seconds earlier. As we exited the castle, we began to go to the train station where then we would get back home. I didn’t like the idea of teleportation as my first bout with it had left me nauseous and I did not want to relive that at all. Also it might be taxing on how many people, er ponies, Twilight could transfer before she became too exhausted. So I just decided to keep walking towards the train station.

“Are we still… you know.” Twilight said, nervously nudging my side. “Together? It’s okay if you don’t want to be together, I did kinda blow it back there.”

I picked up the lavender alicorn and faced her towards me. “Oh please. I couldn’t think of a single thing that would make me leave you. Well I could think of a few, but I have a feeling those are pretty far off. And many of them require me dying.”

Her ears perked up around the time I was talking about dying and she gave me a weird look. “On an unrelated side note, how long do humans normally live? Just you know, for science.” The weird look was still on her face as she asked the question, then I finally realized what the look meant.

“Oh you think I’m gonna die soon?” I threw back my head and laughed, startling the other five behind me, making them flinch. “Oh no, you are stuck with me for a good sixty to seventy years sparklebutt. We humans are a very resilient species.”

Her face lit up. “There! You are doing it again! Using the big words when normal ones would suffice!” She snuggled in closer to me, “That’s why I love you Justin. I just don’t think I could bear to see you with somepony else.”

“I could believe that isn’t going to happen for a really long time.” I said. “Well we have arrived your majesty. Shall I get your carriage?”

Twilight only blushed and hopped out of my arms, landing nimbly on the ground. She walked up to the counter and got our tickets. Then we proceeded to make somewhat awkward conversation with the rest of the group. They didn’t really seem to mind much that Twilight and I were dating, but they also didn’t really want to get involved either. Of course I had a plan for tonight. I had asked Applejack to lend me some bits in exchange for working on her farm, not that I enjoy hard labor but hey. I had even made reservations and, without telling her, snuck the thing on the calendar. She hadn’t even realized it until the day after I did, and she still thought it was hers. Man that was too funny and cute when I told her I was taking her on a date.

We all got on the train and settled in on the seats. Since they were made for ponies, I laid down and let Twilight sit on my chest. Not really caring about the myriad of whispers that were going around. Comments like “What is that thing” and “What is it doing?” Were far too common for me to actually care. Once the train ride had started, they began to die down as the other ponies went on with their business. I started to scratch behind Twilight’s ear, making it flick back and forth every now and then.

Rainbow Dash, seeing that Twilight enjoyed my ear massage, quietly got off her seat and hopped up next to me. Twilight’s ears moved to where the sound was coming from and I heard a small growl, come from her. As if she was challenging her to a fight. Rainbow Dash ignored this and snuggled up to me, nudging my hand, if asking for an ear scratch. I placed my hand on her head and began to scratch her ears. She made a slight squeaking sound, causing her and I to blush and Twilight give me an angry eye. But it didn’t last for long because I stopped scratching her ears and she whined at me to keep going.

“Darling,” Rarity said to me, a magazine in front of her face. “What are you doing to them to make them make those noises? Hopefully nothing naughty.” I blushed and closed my eyes. She only chuckled lightly.

I beckoned with a finger to her to come over here. “I’ll show you if you want. It’s something that I learned that some animals enjoy very much. And I’d be glad to show you, sit here.” I gestured to a part of the bench that was not occupied by the sleepy ponies on my chest and near my head.

She sat down and I moved my hand off the ears of a now sleeping Twilight who, on an unrelated note, looked so cute while she slept. I put my hand in the middle of her head, slowly rubbing in small circles and began to scratch between her ears. “Oh my. That is simply divine, where did you learn this?”

“A good magician never reveals his tricks.” I said, scratching a little harder on one ear. “Of course you can’t really do this because you don’t have fingers.” Rarity’s head leaned closer to where my fingers were exerting the most pressure.

“Justin?” A small voice came from near the floor just to my right, “Eeep!” I looked at her and gave a little smile. She smiled back blushing, “Would you mind scratching my ears? I mean if you want to…”

The butterscotch colored pegasus made another squeak as I picked her up, setting her next to Twilight. My hand moved from the now sleeping cyan pegasus, who was snoring ever so slightly, to Fluttershy’s ears and I began to rub very softly.

“O-o-oh my.” Fluttershy said, “That feels very nice. It’s almost if I could fall asleep right now.” A yawn escaped from her mouth and she laid her head down on the bench.

“It feels simply amazing.” Rarity said, “You could make so many bits even if you charged an hourly rate. It’s that relaxing.” Fluttershy smiled in agreement.

Suddenly I saw something pink on the edge of my vision and I moved my head around and saw Pinkie Pie coming out from behind one of the pillows that was near to me. “Yes?” I said, still puzzled at how the pink mare was able to appear to come out of a pillow. “Let me guess? An ear scratch?” She nodded, and then I smiled. Taking my hand out of the pink maned pegasus now laying on my chest. I went to lay my head back down but instead of a pillow, I was laying on Pinkie’s stomach and her head was facing me.

I began to scratch her ear, and she let out what sounded like a sigh. “Wow Justin that feels really good! I might have to treat you to something else when we get back to Ponyville today.”

“I’m sure you might. But remember,” I moved my mouth closer to her ear, “I’m going on a date with Twilight tonight. Don’t tell anyon-, I mean anypony.”

“Cross my heart, hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye!” Which I assumed was the Pinkie Promise. Somehow she had gotten a cupcake and smashed it into her eye, getting some icing in my hair.

Suddenly I felt myself slide a little backwards and the train brakes screech slightly. “Well time to go everyone. It’s not even like noon and I feel tired. I should have taken a nap.”

Everypony took a while to get up but the conductor was a nice pony and he let us take our time. Once we had gotten out we all walked our respective ways. Twilight turned towards me and said, “Hopefully you didn’t forget about tonight did you?”

Author's Note

Wow, this is the most I've typed in a long time.

I hope you enjoy this chapter and I will be updating about once every week, I hope. If writer's block allows me too. :twilightsheepish: