Author's Note

Although at some point it may seem like it, there aren't any sexy times in this chapter, nor will there be for quite a while. Thanks guys and gals for tuning in. Please drop a like if you haven't already, I need it to survive in outer-space. Keep trucking everyone. Oh, if you haven't had a chance to read Fiendship is Magic issue 2, I would suggest it. It gives a lot of background information on Tirek who may or may not have some influence on the story.

Chapter 6: Setting Foundation

We step inside the room. Twilight closes the door and then turns to me.

"That. Was. Not. Cool." She says sternly

"It's not my fault you wouldn't get up."

"You pinched my rear in front of this nation's ruler."

"No need to thank me."

"I could do without the sarcasm."

"Well excuuuuuuuse me, princess. Speaking of which, when did you plan on telling me you were royalty?"

Twilight's eyes widen. She then looks down and her ears go flat.

"Pony feathers..." She mumbles under her breath.

My heart is going to explode from the cute.

"What's wrong luv?"

"I haven't been a princess for very long, and if I'm being honest, I really don't enjoy the title. Once you become a princess, everyone starts to treat you differently. Even though I've told everypony countless times to treat me like any other pony, they all still treat me specially. 'Let me carry that for you' 'Free for princesses' 'Can I have your autograph princess?' I guess I was just hoping that maybe I'd have a chance to be friends with somepony, erh, some ONE, who didn't know who I was. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later that you would find out."

I kneel down to Twilight. She's really too modest. I wonder what else she won't admit to. I put my hand on her head and scratch. She closes her eyes and pushes her head into my hand. After a minute I take my hand off. She opens her eyes and looks at me, I return the gaze.

"I don't care." I say matter-of-factly.

"What?"

"I really and honestly couldn't care less that you're a princess. Like Celestia said, it's not my responsibility to treat you any differently, and even if it was I probably wouldn't. To me you're just Twilight Sparkle, the pretty purple pony pleased to help people out of pretty pathetic situations."

"Did you come up with that just now?"

"I may or may not have been working on it for several hours now."

This makes her smile. There it is.

"Okay Mark, time to get started." She exclaims with the same childlike enthusiasm as before. "What should we cover first?"

"First, I'm gonna have me another glass of this wonderful apple juice, then we'll go over basic laws. After that, as much as you may not like it, I'm sending you to bed early, especially if we're going to be going over a lot of information both today and tomorrow."

To drive my point home, Twilight lets out a large yawn.

"Looks like I'm not in a position to argue."

I move over to the bed and throw the pillows to the recliner. I climb up and move to the far end where the pillows once were. I position myself with my back to the wall crossing my legs. I lean forward and pat the opposite end of the bed as an invitation for Twilight. She smiles and hops up onto the other end. Twilight positions herself so that all four of her legs are folded beneath of her.... like a cat. I seriously need to learn pony anatomy. Everything I know about horses apparently no longer matters.

Me and Twilight talk for hours. Much longer than anticipated, but every second is wondrous. Both of us have been excited to learn about each other's cultures and now all of that curiosity and wonder can be quenched. It's like drinking after a hard work-out, each gulp of information providing a refreshing feeling of excitement. For a time, the conversation is relatively one-sided, as Equestrian laws are very black and white compared to human laws. Basically, don't be a dick. The golden rule is essentially the only one that needs to be followed. Treat others the same way you would want them to treat you. Twilight is fascinated by the hundreds of oddball and situational laws that cover the United States. For instance, in Oklahoma it's illegal for dogs to congregate in groups of three or more on private property without a permit. In Idaho it is considered a crime to ride a merry-go-round on a Sunday.

Eyes light up and laughs are had as the conversational bullets fly back and forth. All the while we both casually sip on water and apple-juice. Time becomes lost in the stream of words and banter. It is only until one of the nurses comes in and informs us of the time that we realize just how long we've been engaged in dialogue. Twilight lets out another rather large yawn.

"I can't believe we've been at this for three hours," Twilight remarks with a drowsy slur.

"I think it's time for us to turn in," I point out.

Twilight suddenly and inexplicably blushes.

"Oh, umm..."

"What's on your mind luv?"

She shifts uncomfortably.

"Well, you see," she begins while avoiding eye contact. "There's still one last bit of information I have to have in order to allow you to stay in my castle."

"And that is...?"

"I... need to know how rapidly you absorb magic passively. Without anything magic cast on you or forced into your vicinity. We would have done it earlier, but we couldn't conclude whether or not your injured or fevered state would increase or decrease the rate."

"And how do you propose we do that?"

She blushes even harder and shifts once again. This is gonna get awkward real quick.

"I regenerate my magic at a constant rate while I'm asleep, and if you're asleep, there's no worry about you incurring extra magic absorption through any sort of action."

I raise my eyebrow at here. She sighs.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, if it's okay with you..." she hesitates, likely not sure on how to proceed with her question. "If you'd be okay with sharing a bed tonight?"

She makes herself as small as possible, the question obviously embarrassing her to no end. It's a pretty erratic question, one that I certainly am not prepared for. I look at things from her point of view for a moment. It's a fact that I absorb magic like a sponge, but she does hold a very important question: Just how potent is my absorbing power? If she's going to let me stay with her, it's only logical that we know how much damage I could cause to any surrounding magic structures. If what she says is true, then she'll be able to determine how fast I take in magic based on how drained she is after some hours asleep.

"How necessary is this?"

"Honestly, I wouldn't ask something so personal if I didn't think it was important. It's the closest we'll ever get to a control. We can take our chances if you're too uncomfortable with it."

"Are you comfortable with it?" I inquire.

"Well, this may sound weird, but I'm really am," she begins. "I know we haven't known each other for very long, but I feel... safe, around you, despite what happened earlier. Is that a weird thing to say?"

"I don't think so. There's no reason for you to feel unsafe around me, at least in my mind there isn't." I look into her lavender eyes. "I have no qualms with you staying the night in here as long as you don't either."

She loses some tension but her cheeks are still a bright red (how is that possible with purple fur?).

"Why don't you go get everything you need and then we'll settle down for the night."

"Ok," she replies.

Twilight hops off the bed a trots out of the room. What in the world just transpired? God, it sounds like the setup to a terrible porno. I throw my legs over the side of the bed and put my elbows on my thighs. I guess if this is gonna happen I'll be sleeping in these clothes. I may be willing to share a bed, but I still refuse to be nude around her. I stand up and move over to the chair. I'm pretty comfortable with the idea, but that's the part that scares me. Is it that I just feel comfortable with her? Maybe there's some dark park of me that has an ulterior motive to letting her sleep with me. Hell, maybe SHE has an ulterior motive for wanting to sleep with me. I could never be attracted to an equine... could I?

Ugh, why am I even doubting myself? Of course I'm not attracted to a pony. I grab the pillows from the chair and place them back onto the bed of origin. I jump up and let gravity take control of me as a plummet to the bed. I land sprawled out on my back. Yeah, she's a pony. I couldn't have a relationship with a pony. So what if she's nice and smart and cute? Those things don't matter... the fuck is wrong with me? I lay here in a daze for quite some time. I'm just staring blankly as thoughts race through my mind at a million miles an hour, none of them ever being fully processed. A voice from the corridor rouses me from my stupor.

"Glad to see you're already comfortable," observes Twilight as she enters the room.

I raise my head up to catch a glimpse of the purple unicorn. Twilight has dawned a midnight blue, two piece set of pajamas. There's one top which covers her chest and front legs down to her midsection with I assume two holes for her wings. The bottom covers he lower torso, rump and back-legs with I'm assuming a hole for her tail. The pajamas are dotted with yellow starts and white crescent moons. I chuckle.

"What's so amusing?"

"I just think it's funny that you walk around the entire day without clothes on, something considered taboo where I'm from. Then at night just before bed when it would be considered acceptable to be nude, you decide to put on clothes."

She makes her way to the bed.

"I used to sleep without pajamas. It's a habit I picked up not too long ago. I got used to the feeling of silk at night, so I had a personal pair tailored."

"I like the night sky theme."

Her eyes brighten a bit.

"Thank you! I love it because it has all my favorite constellations. I would tell you about them, but they don't have any translations," Twilight's eyes widen. "Except this one." Twilight moves her hoof to her side making a pointing gesture as best she can with hooves. "It's called Sagittarius."

I look closer, but I'm not an astrology expert.

"You mean the centaur one, right?"

"Exactly!"

I can practically see the information racing through Twilight's head. I'm sure all this would be more interesting if I wasn't getting so tired. I see the fatigue wear on Twilight too, as her eyelids half close and she lets out a yawn. She mumbles something about researching tomorrow and climbs into bed. After a bit of awkward shuffling, both of us manage to get under the covers. Twilight rolls over to face me.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" she asks once again.

"Like I said, if you're okay with it, then I'm okay with it," I reassure her.

"Thank you, Mark. Good night. We'll talk more in the morning."

"Good night luv."

I watch as her horn flares and all the light in the room disappears. We both roll over with our backs facing each other. What a day it's been. I close my eyes and sleep hits me like a truck.

Twilight Sparkle

I can't bucking sleep.

So much has happened these past couple days, not to mention the weeks leading up to them. My mind has become my own worst enemy as it constantly processes information. I have so many questions that still haven't been answered. There is still so much to do, and my brain refuses to let me get the rest I need to finish. It's driving me insane. There's so much I don't know, and Celestia knows I hate not knowing. Right underneath disappointing my friends is ignorance on the list of things that kill me on the inside. This isn't your average everyday ignorance though, this is advanced ignorance. Normally I could clear something up by just asking a simple question or reading a book, but this, this is all entirely new. There's so much I don't know. I'd let out a scream if I was alone.

Then there's Mark. He's quickly become a good friend, but he's alien. Is it wise to form an attachment to him? Even though the chances are slim, there's the possibility I'll have to say goodbye to him permanently. I also know next to nothing about him. It's strange, but there's just something about him that makes me feel safe. If it weren't for that, I'd be keeping as much of a distance between us as I can. He seems like a really good guy, but I don't know anything about his life. For all I know, once he's established a decent foothold in society, he could take off.

I think the thing that troubles me most about him is how cold he can be. Ever since he was given the details of his fate, he's had a stone cold gaze in his eye. They come back to life when he's engaged in conversation, but when I watch him think his eyes die. I don't know anypony who can just tun off his emotions and stop feeling like that. What does one have to go through in order for that to become an option? I really do know nothing about him. Could he honestly just not care? Maybe he's okay with never returning, maybe-

sob

That wasn't me.

sob

Is... is he crying? I slowly turn over in the bed to get a better look. He's also managed to turn over and is facing my direction. His eyes are still closed. I watch as he shudders while taking in a deep breath. When he exhales I can hear a sob and a whimper. His face is scrunched like that of someone in pain. I reach my hoof out very tenderly and feel his forehead. As far as I can tell, he hasn't started a fever yet, which is both good and bad. It's good because he's not in physical pain. The thing is, I can help with that, but I can't help with trauma.

What was I thinking? He's not a cold monster, he's just lost and handling it the only way he knows how. I feel my eyes sting and tears begin to form. I can't help but feel sympathy for the human. I'm the one that brought this on him. I feel sick to my stomach. Sweet Celestia, how did I let this happen? He doesn't deserve this. I'm so bucking stupid. I hate everything about myself right now. I roll over and-

"Eep!"

Suddenly I'm being dragged to the center of the bed by two appendages. I feel Mark bring me in close to him and he nuzzles into me. He nestles his head into the back of my neck and I can feel the tears soak my fur. My back is making full contact with his torso and I can feel his arms tighen their grip slightly. He's so warm. Next I notice that his once shaky and shuddering breath one again becomes smooth and stable. Is he still asleep?

"Mark?" I whisper.

No response.

Any and all malicious or negative thoughts I had swiftly exit my mind as I accept Mark's embrace. He's managed to pull me into a position that's still comfortable, albeit a bit close. I swear Mark, by all things good, that I will do everything in my power to make sure you feel welcome in Equestria. I close my eyes and sleep comes easily.