Ryan was stirred from his nightmarish sleep by the sound of a loud pounding on the front door. He groaned in discontent as he pulled himself off of the living room floor. After the fight with Rainbow Dash he felt obligated to stay there for the night to clean up before laying down to relax for a minute. That minute eventually translated into four hours.

With his mind in a haze and his body feeling worn out, he trudged his way to the front door, glancing at a nearby clock before opening it. "Who the fuck goes around, pounding on people's doors, at six in the morning?"

Applejack stood on the other side, listening to the human grumpily question her. Out of respect for Twilight, she chose not to indulge him in an altercation, but rather take the high road. "Sorry about that. Sometimes ah forget that most ponies don't wake up as early as I do."

She eyed the human for quite some time, taking in every detail of his body. He seemed rather fit, but not bulky in any way. He was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a simple black T-shirt that appeared to have the sleeves ripped off of it at some point.

As the mare eyed Ryan, he eyed her in return. He could tell pretty quickly that she was strong, what with the orange flannel having it's sleeves rolled up and the midriff being too short to cover up her stomach. A pair of jean shorts covered her lower region, regular jean shorts, not those slutty daisy dukes. Finally, he spotted a large hat on her head. If his knowledge of hats suited him well, it was some kind of Stetson, but he was probably wrong. He was actually pretty jealous of how well toned her body was. Her muscle structure was much more prominent than his.

Damn, even this one clearly has a bigger set than you.

Ryan ran a hand through his messy hair, somehow managing to have it styled back to its usual glory. He wasn't sure who this mare was, or why she was here. He should probably ask her.

No shit, Sherlock!

"Would you mind telling me who you are and why I should despise you?" He asked, still being a bit upset at only getting four hours of sleep. Usually he tried for more, seeing how sleep wasn't his strong suit with the ever-plaguing stream of nightmares.

Applejack could see what Twilight meant by saying that he was weird, as well as a bit crude. Then again, he was probably still adjusting to pony society, she should give him the benefit of the doubt. Just like Fluttershy had during Discord's reformation.

"I'm Applejack, one of Twilight's friends. Ah helped free ya from that monster so we could get you to the hospital." She said with a smile, offering him her hand. "It's a pleasure to finally meet ya. You know, without the whole 'bein nearly dead' thing."

He looked down at her hand before grabbing it and shaking with a strong firm grip. With muscles like hers, he knew better than to hold back. She'd probably crush his hand otherwise. "Great, another pony I owe my life to; name's Ryan."

She admired the strength in his handshake. It showed that he was a working man, and that he could be trustworthy. "That a firm grip ya got there. Most ponies fall to their knees once ah get ahold of 'em." She complimented as she released his hand and place hers at her hip.

"Well I'm not exactly a pony now, am I?" He said with a somewhat smug look on his face. This mare didn't seem too bad. Another hard worker fresh from the farm. That knowledge came from the smell she was giving off; Sweat, mud, and pig. He had lived that life once, raking acres upon acres of land, tending to the horses, goats, and so on. It was hard and tiring, but it was honest work.

"Ah would say so." She added, before moving on to the reason she had come over. "Twilight said I could come down to visit just yesterday so ah could meet ya."

"I'm gonna go ahead and guess that, that's the nice way of saying 'Let me come in." She smiled a bit and nodded, "Well, at least your forward about your meaning. I guess there's no point in making you stand outside all day either." He stepped aside, allowing Applejack to enter before closing the door.

"Where's Twi at?" She asked, wondering why her friend wasn't up and moving.

"You said it yourself," Ryan answered, walking toward the living room with Applejack following close behind. "most ponies don't wake up as early as you."

"Oh," She blushed at her mistake. "right..."

Once they made it to the living room Applejack stopped, quickly taking notice of the renovated interior. "Well, this is quite a sight." She said with a hint of admiration in her voice. "Now who up and did all of this?"

"I did." Ryan replied, taking a seat in the wooden chair he had finished repairing last night. "The whole crystal thing was getting old really quick. I thought this would be a much more inviting look."

"Just as I expected, a working stallion at heart!" She exclaimed, her admiration soon being replaced with pride.

Applejack took a seat in one of the other chairs, watching Ryan lift an old looking bag onto the small table that sat in between them. He opened it up and pulled out a small glass and a large bottle with a label that read Serpent's Bite. "What in the hay is that?"

Ryan unscrewed the lid and filled the glass until it was half full before setting the bottle aside. "It's an apple cider flavored whiskey. Hard to come by in my world, and I doubt it exists here. So I've been saving it, but I don't think I can wait any longer."

She gave him an odd look; her opinion of him quickly changing. First he was a working man with a bit of an attitude, now he just seemed like an alcoholic. "You do realize that it's six in the morning, right?"

"Yeah, that means that it was five o'clock an hour ago." And with that he sucked down the liquid like he was taking a shot, letting it go down with a harsh but warming sensation working in perfect harmony.

Yep, alcoholic; she thought to herself. She watched as he set the glass back down on the table, refilling it before sliding the liquor filled cup toward her. She knew what he was doing, but wasn't sure if it was a good idea to join in. This drink was from another world after all. For all she knew it could be poisonous to her.

"Ah think I'll pass." Applejack said, sliding the glass back down to him.

Ryan's face turned a bit sour at this. He grabbed the glass and slid it back to her, this time being much more forceful. "Just drink the damn thing. Twilight's not going to be up for a while and this is literally the best way to bond with another person."

"Since when has drinkin ever brought two ponies closer together?" She asked, mostly out of curiosity of what his answer would be.

"I don't know about ponies," He began, getting ready to tell her a small story, "but it's worked miracles with humans. I never liked my father, he and I only had one thing in common and that was that we loved hurting other people physically. This led us to get into more fights than anything else. However, when we would drink, we actually got along very well. We would share a few laughs, torment out neighbors, we genuinely got along. We were happy; but when the booze were all gone we were back at each others throats. Ready to fight until the last man no longer drew breath."

Applejack watched as Ryan spoke in a cold tone, his face being locked into a stoic gaze that never left her for a second. She wasn't sure whether she should feel sorry for him, or be scared shitless by his mere presence. With her mind jumbled, and her better sense of judgement cowering in the corner, she quickly grabbed the glass and swallowed down the strong beverage.

Her body shuddered at its intensity, none of the cider she's ever made has even been close to that strong. To be honest, it wasn't something they used to get drunk. It was more of a 'sit down and hangout with friends' kind of drink. Just something to help everyone loosen up a bit

She placed the glass back down on the table, her face contorting slightly as she worked through the aftertaste. The flavor wasn't too bad, it was something she could probably learn to love over time. "Not bad, but don't you think it's a bit strong?"

"I don't think it's strong enough." He grabbed the glass and filled it once more, sliding it back down to her and holding the bottle up high. "To new friends, I guess."

She raised the glass and tapped it against the bottle he was holding, both of them taking their respective drinks and allowing themselves to begin the day properly.

Twilight woke up from her restful sleep, her body and mind feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day. She rose out of her bed and got dressed, putting on another outfit that Rarity had finished for her. A pair of purple skinny jeans that had her cutie mark stitched onto the back pockets and a white button up shirt.

Once she had finished getting dressed and, soon after, brushing her mane. She started making her way out to the hall, stopping for a moment to check her clock; it read nine o'clock. "Oh shoot," She yelled, "I overslept!"

She had originally planned to get up early so she could go down to Sweet Apple acres and help Applejack with the chores. Chores that started nearly three hours ago. She took off down the corridors, moving as fast as her legs could carry her. Right as she had made it to the front door, she was forced to stop. Some sort of commotion was coming from the living room. Her first thought was that Rainbow Dash had come back and her and Ryan were fighting again, which prompted her to charge into the living area.

Twilight shoved the door open, "Can't you two just..." Her words became caught in her throat as she took in the sight before her. Ryan was hanging upside down on the chandelier, holding on to the end of a rope. On the other end of the rope was Applejack, who was walking around in a circle with a bit of a wobble in her step, making the ceiling fixture spin.

"~You spin me right round, baby.

Right round!

Like a record, baby.

Right round, round, round!"

Ryan sang as he was pulled, a big dopey smile adorning his face. He looked like a kid on a merry-go-round having the time of his life, minus the very flushed look he had about him. His face was red and he seemed really out of it despite having so much fun.

Applejack had a similar look about her as well. She also seemed to be stumbling a lot, like she had been-"Oh sweet Celestia." Twilight said as the realization hit her. She glanced over at the table where there sat an empty bottle of what appeared to be some kind of whisky tipped over onto its side.

Twilight grumbled and walked over to Applejack, putting a hand on her shoulder to earn her attention. "Applejack, what are you two doing?"

The orange earth pony looked over at Twilight with a giddy look plastered on her face. She pointed up at Ryan with one hand, still holding the rope with the other. "R-Ryan...He's wanted to make a music video. Ah don't know what that *hic* is, but it soundeded...fun! So ah offered to help him."

"Yeah! Fuckin' music videos!" Ryan shouted, his legs clinging tightly to the chandelier as it continued to spin. "WOOO!!! I'm gonna be famous-Oh fuck!" He lost his grip on the metal bar, causing him to fall to the ground, landing on his back with a loud thud.

AH-HOW!!!...Is what I should be saying...

"Ryan!" Twilight shouted fearfully, running over to his aid. Applejack slowly followed behind her, disregarding the rope and doing her best to keep her balance. The young alicorn kneeled down beside the human's body, lifting his torso onto her lap. "Ryan, are you okay?"

"I can't...feel...my ass..." He muttered, earning a relieved sigh from Twilight. She was learning really quickly how to tell if he was okay or not, seeing how he seemed to get himself hurt more often than not no matter what he was doing.

"H-he...he's fine." Applejack spoke with a slur. "He's a tough...um...well darn it, ah can't think of a singe apple pun...Wait! Ah got it; he's as touch as an apple tree." She said proudly. That pride soon slipped away as part of her nagged that she had messed up somewhere in there. "Wait a minute..."

"Applejack, I think you should go home." Twilight recommended. She was happy to have her friend around and all, but she was way too far gone for her to deal with. And, on top of that, she was going to have to keep an eye on Ryan so he wouldn't cause any further damage to himself.

"A-Ah don't have to...do anythin that ah...Y-yeah, you're probably right." She submitted, just barely being able to recognize that she had more than exceeded her limit for the next few weeks. "Ah'll be on my way." Applejack rose back to her feet, carefully making her way towards the door.

"Please, be careful!" She called out to her friend, hoping that she would make it home safely.

Applejack stopped and turned around with an angered look on her face. "Ah am a grown mare, perfectly capable of handlin' mahself." She paused, a smile soon dominating her features as she waved off her friend and left. "Goodnight, Twi!"

"Merry Christmas!" Ryan shouted, raising one of his arms to wave seconds after she had already left.

Twilight turned her head to look back down a Ryan. He looked tired, but then again he was drunk so that could just be his liquor face. Regardless, she couldn't help but smiled down at him. "Come on, we should get you to bed so you can sleep this off."

Ryan fought against her efforts to lift him off of the floor, but failed since she was much more coordinated than him. Once he was back on his feet he placed a hand on Twilight's shoulder and raised the other one in front of her face, a single finger sticking out and pressed against her muzzle.

"Y-you...you're..." He stopped just long enough to look over her. "Holy fuck, you are purple...Like, really, really purple."

Twilight let out a somewhat annoyed sigh. "Yes, Ryan; I'm purple." With that she took his arm and threw it over her shoulder so she could walk him to the nearest bedroom.

Once inside she let his body collapse onto the bed, where he pushed himself up against the headboard so he could sit up with little effort. He watched as Twilight was getting ready to leave, but stopped her. "Hey, come here."

She turned around to face him, seeing his hand beckoning her over. She was curious as to why he wanted her to go back to him, so couldn't help but ask. "Why, do you need something?"

"No, just..." He pounded an open hand on a part of the bed right beside him. "Get your little ass over here and sit down."

Against her better judgment, Twilight inches her way over to the bed before finally taking a seat on its edge. Ryan pushed himself away from the headboard, sliding across the mattress to move by the alicorn's side.

Twilight was beginning to feel nervous; her body visibly tensed as he drew closer to her. But, in his intoxicated state of mind, he didn't take any notice to her uncomfortable display.

"So..." Twilight awkwardly began, doing her best to keep her eyes off of him. "Is there a reason you wanted me to come back?"

Ryan didn't reply, he simply fell into her, his head becoming buried into her stomach as his arms worked their way around her torso. He let out a content sigh as he nuzzled deeper into her gut. "You're comfy."

A blush forced its way onto Twilight's face, quickly showing from beneath her fur. She looked down at Ryan, staring at him as he continued to cuddle up against her. "Umm, okay?"

He looked up at Twilight, noticing the blush, but mostly just focusing on that adorable face of hers. He couldn't explain it but, despite her being a completely different species, he did find her attractive. If he were sober, his mind would nag him about how weird it was that he actually saw beauty in something like this. Instead, it spoke thus;

Shhhe's...really pretty

A smile began to form across Ryan's features; one that seemed to continuously grow the longer he looked at her. "You're really pretty, you know that?"

Her blush only deepened at his words. She felt a strange warmth growing deep in her chest, something she had never felt before in her entire life. It was similar to what you would feel when you and your crush locked eyes with each other, but so much more intense. "T-thank you..."

She looks soft...I wanna touch her.

Twilight could not make a single move as she watched Ryan's hand raise up and brush a small lock of her bangs to the side. He then pursued to running his fingers through her hair, following it down to the top of her back. "Ryan, what are you-?"

So smooth...Now kiss her. Kiss her right on that furry face of hers.

Ryan's hand pulled away from her hair and found a new resting spot on the back of her neck. Using his unoccupied arm, he pushed himself upward while pulling Twilight down at the same time. Once she was close enough, he leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.

As much as Twilight wanted to react, she simply couldn't Something inside of her was crying out for this, begging him to continue showing her more of his affection; to give her his heart. Suddenly, they both felt something. It was almost like an electric shock that ran gently through their separate bodies and connected in the middle.

That felt weird...

He pulled his face away from hers, his head slowly making its way back to her lap. After getting himself resituated he looked up at her once more, still wearing that dopey smile that she couldn't help but find extremely cute. "You should take a nap with me."

While every fiber in her body was screaming yes, she could still hear the call of reality telling her that it probably wasn't a good idea. Hesitantly, she nodded. "No, I think it would be best if you just slept alone."

"But, I don't wanna." He said weakly, wanting to fight her answer but not quite being able to muster up the strength to do so.

She gave him a loving smile and ran her fingers through his hair, petting him like one would pet an animal. An animal that they had raised and come to care about very deeply. "I need to go help Applejack at the farm, okay. Especially now that you got her all sauced up."

Twilight gently shoved Ryan off of her and got off of the bed, making her way to the door. The human let out a disappointed grumbling sound, but made no further attempts to convince her to stay. Rather he chose to get some rest to help clear his mind.

It's n-not gone be that easy...buttercup. You know what I m-men-mean...mrrr

The alicorn paused for a second, swearing that she had just heard someone talking. After finding it followed by nothing but silence, she shrugged it off and took her leave.

It was nearly eight o'clock at night when Twilight and Applejack finally managed to catch up on the chores she was supposed to get done that day. They would have been done sooner if she hadn't decided to start drinking with Ryan, obviously. It also took some time for her head to clear up enough to work at her normal pace.

Despite all of the offers given to Twilight to leave early, she simply refused. She could never leave one of her friends when they needed help. She also felt partly responsible for the morning turning out the way it did. If she hadn't overslept then Applejack may have only spoken to Ryan for a few minutes before they took off to get everything done.

With her body and magic both exhausted, she trudged her way back home. The only thing on her mind right now was getting back to the castle, taking a much needed shower, then passing out for the next week.

When she got back to the castle, she noticed something rather strange. The whole place was quiet and empty. She did a bit of investigating and came to find a note on the dinning room table.

Dear Twilight

Left to go spend the night at Rarity's to watch over Sweetie Belle and assist with new designs. Which basically means that I'll likely be be on clean up duty and have pins in my spines again. But, it's not like it hurts, so it's whatever. See you tomorrow!

Your #1 Assistant: Spike

She let out and understanding hum as she read the note left by her favorite dragon. He would always try to find any excuse to go over to Rarity's, even if it meant doing tedious tasks such as that. "Well, that explains where he is."

Still though, she couldn't help but wonder where Ryan was. She looked around the castle, but found no trace of him. He wasn't in the living room, the throne room, the kitchen, and, most surprising of all, he wasn't digging through the liquor cabinet.

"Where could he be?" She wondered. The only other place she could think of that he could be at was his room, but she highly doubted he would have slept that long. The only other option was-

Wake the fuck up, you cock!

Her thoughts came to a grinding halt at the sound of a voice screaming. It sounded distant and somewhat hollow, but at the same time, it seemed to come from her own head.

HOLY SHIT!!! Right through the neck!

Twilight jumped at the sudden raise in volume from the mysterious voice, quickly scanning the immediate area with her eyes to make sure that she was alone. "Hello? Is anypony there?"

Hit him! Hit that fucking-wait what?

"Who's there?" She asked fearfully.

Hold on, you can hear me?

"Yes...Who are you?"

Look, I'll explain all of that later. Right now, I need your help.

Twilight paused, wondering what it is that a disembodied voice could possibly want from her. "Help with what?"

I'm just as confused as you are, but that's besides the point. Your boy is in his room having a complete freak out. He's been literally locked in to this nightmare for hours and I can't wake him up! So, get in there and fix this!

"B-but-"

MOVE YOUR ASS, BITCH!!!

Twilight flinched a bit at the voice, but obeyed and took off at a full sprint down the corridors and eventually into Ryan's room. He was still laying in bed, but was far from still. His body was twisting and bending around like something was forcing him to do so. One of his hands balled up into a fist and slammed into the headboard before slowly unclenching and clawing down its frame, leaving deep scratches from his nails.

You might wanna hurry it up, sweetheart. This is starting to get really ugly-Oh fuck!

Ryan's body curled up into a tight little ball, trembling worse than Michael J Fox when he forgets to take his meds. [I realize that joke is in bad taste, but I gave you all fair warning that there would be touchy humor]

Reacting purely by instinct, Twilight jumped onto the bed and began straddling Ryan before grabbing his shoulders and giving his body a violent shake. "Ryan, wake up. Wake up!"

Once again she felt a strange shocking sensation shoot out from her body, as well as one coming from Ryan. He woke up, gasping as if he had just been saved from drowning. His body was warm and coated with sweat, his eyes darting back and forth rapidly before he finally calmed down; appearing as though nothing had happened.

Ryan's tired eyes looked up at Twilight in confusion. Just the look he was giving her read a thousand questions at once. The most reoccurring one being, "What the hell are you doing?"

Twilight was in a state of shock. One second he looked like he was ready to literally explode, the next he seemed perfectly fine. "You don't remember? You were having a night-"

Shush!

She stopped for a moment, but tried to continue. "You were-"

I said, zip it!

Ryan let out an annoyed sigh and pulled himself out of her grip before readjusting himself so that he was comfortable. "Sweetheart, whatever weird shit you are into, it can wait. I'm too tired for this right now."

"Tired? But you've been-"

Would you just shut up and let him do his thing!

In seconds he was out like a light, which left Twilight both confused and concerned. Nothing that had just happened made any sense and she couldn't seem to come up with a logical explanation for it either. "What just happened?"

I'll explain later, let's just leave well enough alone for now.

This was starting to get extremely aggravating for Twilight. First this voice pops up out of nowhere, then Ryan is having a panic attack in his sleep, she manages to wake him up, and then he acted as if he didn't know what was going on. "No! I'm not just gonna leave it alone. I want answers and I want them-ah!"

Twilight soon found herself being grabbed by one of Ryan's arms and pulled down to the bed where she was forced into a cuddling position that couldn't escape from.

Get comfortable, sweetheart, cause I'm not letting you go now.

She fought back as hard as she could, but his grip was too strong. "What are you-"

Look here; you're exhausted, he's exhausted, hell even I'm exhausted. So please, for the love of God, just let this wait for tomorrow!

As much as she didn't want to, she had to submit. Her body was too sore to fight back and her magic had already been strained from helping Applejack with the chores around the farm. She had no choice anymore. "Fine, but you better tell me everything."

I'll tell you what I know, but for now; fuck off.

Taking that as a sign that he was finally done with her, Twilight attempted to climb out of the bed, but his grip on her was as strong as ever. "Are you gonna let go of me, or what?"

No.

"Why not?"

Cause, no.

"Would you just give me a straight answer for once!"

Okay, you're soft and I'm comfortable! So you're not going anywhere. Get used to this, sweetheart. Even without my help this guy is a massive cuddler and has the grip of a fucking anaconda!

Twilight growled at this, but seeing how, for the second time today, she didn't have any other choice, she accepted her fate. Letting her body relax a bit, she quickly came to enjoy the warmth that Ryan's body was giving off. Minus his feet, which were ice cold for some reason, he was like a living heater.

The less she thought about the events that had just taken place, the more this whole cuddling thing grew on her. She knew what it was and even had a tendency to wake up clinging to one of her pillows, but had never had the pleasure of receiving this kind of treatment from anyone. The way Ryan's strong arms held her in place was soothing, in a way. It made her feel safe; that feeling of safety only growing further as he pulled her deeper into his body.

Maybe she could let go of everything that had happened tonight, but only until morning. Then she would get the answers she wanted. But, for now, she was going to enjoy this for as long as she could. And with that, she began drifting off to sleep with not a single thought running through her mind. Only the gentle waves of heat and comfort surrounded her as she began to find herself in a state of absolute peace.

Author's Note

Congratulations! We have finally gotten through 90% of the serious shit. Know what that means?
Would you stop being a fucking cock tease and just tell them!
Hey, fuck you!
Anyway, it means that we can start getting back to a more humorous nature and all of the drama and seriousness can be brought down to a minimum.
It's about fucking time!
Piss off!
I do regret to inform everyone that I will be posting at a slower rate what with work chewing at my ass and several medical things that I need to get taken care of. Sorry about that...

Anyway, I hope you all liked the little development I threw in here. Twilight will now be able to hear Ryan's inner voice. Imagine the possibilities!
If you like this story, please leave a like and share it with your friends. Feel free to leave a comment below, comments make me feel special :P
And with that being said, I will see you all in the next chapter, adios.
Faggot
Shut up!