A Doorway to Another Place

Chapters

Beginning
The Morning After
Discovery
Boyz and Mares
A Heated Exchange
Apples and Goblins?
The Watcher Revealed
Canterlot
Aftermath
Home again
Surprises all Around
Goodbye Equestria
Welcome to Ponyville
Epilogue

Beginning

Rick awoke to the sound of birds chirping outside his window, at least he hoped it was birds. The last time he awoke to chirps it turned out to be an angry chipmunk who was already pissed off at something and didn't take kindly to anything venturing into his territory. Luckily this time it was birds and Rick didn't have to leave by the window and face an angry rodent this morning.

He made himself two cups of coffee and blearily wandered out the door and into the sunlight which normally would have been considered odd as he lived in a basement apartment and natural light wasn't common underground. But then this was no normal door he passed through and when he placed the cup of coffee in front of his girlfriend she wasn't exactly what could pass for normal either at least not from where he was from. She smiled sweetly at him, kissed him good morning, finished writing a few things down then putting the quill back on the desk, picked up the coffee with her magic and trotted over to the table where they sat and had breakfast.

Maybe it's better to start at the beginning.

June 1st, 2012 had been like just about any other day before it. The sun went up, hung around in the sky for a bit then went down only to repeat the process the next day. Rick, that being the same person at the beginning of the story, woke up as he normally did and as was his habit made a cup of coffee. He had moved here a couple months ago, fresh out of college and already had a position as a junior developer for a large software company. He had rented a basement apartment from a nice older couple because it was cheap and also because... well actually that was the only reason. Usually his days were spent in front of the PC for long hours on end, but the best thing was he was able to work from home most days just grinding away and coding. But with this job came some long hours so his PC as well as coffee machine was in his bedroom. It just saved time so he could take a nap when needed or if he woke up in the middle of the night with some inspiration it was only a short stumble to the PC. The only thing he lacked was friends, not that he couldn't make them but he was just too busy with everything else.

Meanwhile, in a completely different universe, there was much excitement going on in the Ponyville library.

Twilight Sparkle, the librarian, for many months had been researching a spell to create a magical doorway between her library and the main library in Canterlot castle. Why she wanted to do this was up to interpretation. Some ponies said it was because she was an overachieving little bookworm. Others said it was because she was crazy. Others said it was because she was obsessing over having lost a book and yet another said she hoped Twilight would find what she was looking for.

It had taken her months but finally today, when all the stars were in alignment and she had carefully gone through every part of the spell cast it at a blank wall in the library. Slowly, a haze appeared there, every so often there appeared to be a flicker coming from the haze but it passed too quickly for anypony to see. The flickering became more and more apparent then started to slow down. But while before there was nothing there, now there was a plain looking door where once was a blank wall.

"There it is Spike!" she said, visibly tired from the effort but there was no mistaking that right in front of them was a plain, white door that had not been there a moment ago. "The doorway to the library in Canterlot."

"I don't know Twilight, " Spike said with a little concern in his voice. "It's pretty plain for a library door. Looks kinda cheap. I would have thought that the door was fancier, and heavier."

"Oh nonsense Spike. It's a magical doorway, it doesn't have to look like the real door. Ooooh! Won't Princess Celestia be surprised when I show up!" Twilight was all aflutter with excitement. Had she a little more sense and wasn't so impressed with what she had just accomplished maybe she would have noticed that there were some muffled sounds coming from behind the door.

Back on Earth Rick woke up, had a coffee and logged onto his PC to check his e-mail before getting ready for the day. Nothing exciting caught his eye so he wandered out his door heading towards the bathroom to take a shower and shedding his clothes along the way. However the hallway seemed a lot brighter than it normally did not to mention it was a lot more crowded then he remembered.

Crowded is of course a relative term. 3 people is a crowd according to the old saying and I guess 3 beings could also count as a crowd as he found himself facing a lavender unicorn and a small purple dragon. Everybody froze in place having seen something that they never expected to see. Rick glanced behind himself at the open doorway leading to his bedroom, then forward into what appeared to be a library of sorts with the aforementioned lavender unicorn and dragon.

He stared at them, they stared back. He slapped himself on the face, it stung so he thought this wasn't a dream. It still didn't mean he wasn't insane and this wasn't a hallucination.

Eventually, after much staring and looking back and forth Rick managed to find his voice which surprised the unicorn and dragon. But what was more surprising was when they responded to him. In English. North American English.

"Where the hell am I?" Rick asked looking at nobody in particular.

"You speak Equestrian?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

Rick froze, as it's not every day that a miniature lavender pony actually talks to you and you can understand what it's saying. "Hold on, you're speaking English. You're a tiny little pastel unicorn that's talking to me in English."

"No, you're speaking Equestrian. And very well too." Twilight looked back through the doorway and was shocked to see a rather ordinary looking room with some rather unordinary looking furniture and... things she couldn't figure out what they might be.

"Twilight?" Spike finally said once he got over the shock. "I don't think he's from Canterlot".

"Can either one of you please tell me what is going on and what am I doing here?" Rick asked with a hint of panic in his voice. This was not the way the morning was supposed to work and it was making him a little upset.

"Sorry, I think we need to start at the beginning, " Twilight Sparkle said. "My name is Twilight Sparkle and this is Spike, " she said indicating the dragon standing next to her.

"Hi!" Spike said.

"Hi yourself. My name's Rick and I still don't know where I am or what I'm doing here."

"You're in Ponyville in the land of Equestria".

"Of course I am. Where else would talking ponies come from?" Rick asked rhetorically with only a touch of his normal sarcasm.

"Oh they come from all over. The big cities of Manehatten and Fillydelphia. The far off countries of Prance and Germaney..." Twilight started before Rick waved his hands in an attempt to get her to stop.

"Sorry, that was rhetorical. Maybe you can tell me how I got here?"

"Oh of course. I tried to make a magic doorway to the library at Canterlot and instead I seem to have connected it to your world instead."

"Wait right here, I'll be right back, " Rick said as he walked back into his room. Twilight's gaze followed him, wonder in her eyes as she watched him look out the window before opening it up and hauling himself out.

"Spike! Do you realise what this means?" Twilight Sparkle asked her friend excitedly.

"Yeah, we're going to have to board up that door so he can't come back in."

"No! He's from a different world! A completely different world and we're the only ones that know about him. Think of all the things we could learn!" Twilight was so excited at being the first to discover something new that she was trembling with excitement which made her hooves sound like tiny castanets on the floor. "I need to get a quill and write all this down!" he rummaged all around trying to find what she needed.

Meanwhile Rick had retrieved his spare key from its hiding place and entered through the front door of his apartment. Everything looked okay, nothing out of the ordinary. He got to the hallway that led to his bedroom and could see the open door as well as the room beyond it. Standing at the doorway he carefully looked through before kicking one of his slippers through to the other side. It passed through with no problem. Tentatively he then passed one hand across the doorway and there was no tingle, no barrier, no shock, nothing. Taking a deep breath for some reason he then stepped through and found himself exactly where he wanted to be which was his bedroom. However when he turned back, he saw the library behind him. Shaking his head in disbelief, he walked back through the doorway into the library where the unicorn was quickly running about trying to find something.

"Okay. Majorly weird stuff happening. The only connection seems to be the doorway, but it's only on one side of the door. Namely my bedroom and your library. I was able to get back to my apartment by going out through the window then in the front door. Then I walked into my bedroom, there was nothing stopping me and when I turned around I saw the library. Is there any chance of you... unhooking our two sides of reality?" Rick finished while making unhooking gestures with his hands.

"I'm not sure. I'll have to see if I can find a way but in the meantime do you mind if we talk? I'd be interested to hear about where you come from." Rick's stomach growled at that point and Twilight struck on an idea. "Tell you what Rick, why don't we have breakfast and we'll talk over that?"

"Sure, I guess. Uhmmm, what do ponies eat for breakfast?"

"Oh the usual things, grass, hay, flowers, fruits, muffins..."

"Fruits and muffins? We could definitely do those. I'm not really equipped for the grass, hay or flowers."

"Oh, well that's okay. Just give me a minute?" Twilight asked. She motioned to Spike to get breakfast ready for them while she would try to pump this creature for more info.

"So, Rick was it?"

Rick nodded and Twilight continued. "Okay, can you tell me more about yourself and where you come from?"

Rick went on at length about his planet, nationality, physical makeup and general stuff about Earth and it's culture that he could remember. Twilight found he had an easy going cadence in his voice and seemed to use it to his advantage which made listening to him a lot easier.

After breakfast was done, and Twilight had gone through 4 quills just writing it all down she took him up on his offer to show her his room.

"Welcome to my world or at least my bedroom" Rick said with a grand gesture as he led Twilight Sparkle into his room. She walked in a little warily as there were strange sounds and strange smells coming from it. Nothing really unpleasant, just... strange.

Just about everything in this room was built for a giant, or at the very least not a pony. She was able to make out a bed, an odd looking chair, a bookshelf, a closet and... a strange glowing thing on what looked like a desk. It had the look of a picture frame but there was light coming out of it. Next to it was a large, black box that made a humming noise which is part of where the strange sounds were coming from. It was fascinating and she couldn't help but stare.

"I see you've noticed my PC."

"Pee See? What is it?"

"It's a computer. It does all sorts of things, calculations, plays games, music, watch videos and connect to the internet which is possibly the greatest collection of information and some of the stupidest stuff you can imagine at the very same time. I guess you could call it a kind of 'magic window'. Here. let me show you where you currently are." Rick threw himself into the chair and wheeled it over to the desk. A couple mouse clicks later and he had brought up Google Earth. Twilight Sparkle was amazed, her jaw hung open seeing an entire globe turning slowly in front of her. He clicked a few times and the picture blurred as he zoomed in eventually reaching where he lived. "We're right there" he said pointing to the screen.

"So this is happening now? If you were to go outside could I see you there and here as well?" she asked excitedly.

"Nah, this is a static image. It was taken maybe 2 years ago before I even moved here and it'll stay until they decide to map this area again. Okay, lemme show you something else, " he smiled at her and she liked the fact he had the same passion for learning and teaching like she had.

They spent the next two hours hopping from site to site, Rick taking her on a tour of the internet before his cell phone went off surprising them both. Glancing at his watch he noticed that he was now late for work. <<"Aw hell! Gimme a sec, " he grabbed his phone, cleared his throat a few times then answered.

"Yes?" he asked in a voice that sounded like he was at death's door. "Oh sorry, I must have passed out. Yeah, I'm a little under the weather today so I won't be in and I don't want to infect anybody. Yeah, I can look them over. Just shoot me an e-mail and I'll see if I can get to it later this afternoon. Thanks. Yeah bye." he hung up the phone. Twilight looked at him strangely and also a little oddly at the thing he was talking into.

"This is a cell phone. I can talk to people on this. That was my boss wondering where I was because I should have been at work an hour ago. Looks like I got a little carried away in showing you around. If you're not too busy I can show you more but I will need to do some work today."

Twilight didn't mind, she was feeling a little overwhelmed at what he had been showing her but fascinated at the same time. Also she marveled at how dexterous his fingers were in manipulating the keyboard and mouse and how expressive they could be when he tried to explain something to her. When he did this, he would often gesture wildly with his hands to emphasise what it was he was saying. It was odd, but at the same time fit him perfectly with in those slightly manic moments when he seemed to be almost overflowing with information.

"If you don't mind my saying so, my head is spinning with all of this. Earlier today I never would have imagined that a being such as you existed and now you've shown me a whole new world. Thank you!" Twilight cried and threw her hooves around him in a hug.

Rick froze, unsure of what to do next. Was this a pony custom? Did he hug her back? Was she coming on to him? Oh crap, what if she was coming on to him? But his fears were allayed when she pulled back a little embarrassed. "Sorry, I didn't know your kind didn't like to be touched. That was just a pony thing that we do, " she smiled at him in what she hoped was a non-threatening way.

"That's okay, you just kinda surprised me. I didn't mind although I usually like to wait a while before somebody... or somepony in this case tries to hug me."

"Okay, so I got what I needed from you. Is there anything you want to know before I close the portal?"

"Well yeah there is actually. Do you actually need to close the portal? I mean can you keep it open?" Rick asked.

"Sure I can but why do you ask?"

"Why?" Rick asked as if he couldn't believe somebody just asked him that question. He got up and pointed at the doorway saying, "there is a portal here to another world. Like oh my gawd! Somehow, you've been able to link my world or my universe to yours. I mean that is so cool! I walk out my door and BAM I'm in a place inhabited by ponies. I mean wow, this is the kind of thing that only happens on TV or in movies."

"I'm sorry, what are those?"

"TV and movies. You know, popular entertainment?"

"Oh like in books and plays?"

"Kinda like that yeah."

Twilight had to admit she was intrigued and she wanted to learn more about this human and his world so they decided on a course of action. She would introduce him to aspects of Equestrian life as well as her friends while he would try to do the same to her. But for the time being they would keep this quiet. The last thing Rick needed as the government treating her like ET or having some crazed hunter try to shoot her for sport.

"Well, I need to get some work done... soo do you want the door left open at the moment or would you prefer it to be closed?" Rick asked.

"I think it would be for the best if you were to close it. If some pony comes through here the last thing we need is for them to stumble into your room."

"Yeah, good thinking, " Rick said. "Okay, tell you what. I guess I'll talk to you later then?"

"Okay. Have a nice day, " Twilight said making her way out of the room and closing the door behind her. She trotted happily over to her desk and Spike came up to her looking for an update.

"He seems okay Spike, he's not dangerous or anything and seems genuine when talking to me."

"I'm just worried about... well you know... the reason why you had to make the portal?" Spike said leaving the meaning intentionally vague.

"It's okay Spike. I've come to terms with that but now I've got a whole new world to examine and the best part about it is Rick's not a pony! Nothing can actually happen between us, " she said with a big smile. Spike thought about it for a moment and agreed with her. He might not know much about this Rick guy, but Twilight had a point.

Rick sat in his chair, placed the headphones over his ears, logged into his work account on his PC and set the stereo to random play. Soon his head was bobbing to the beat as his hands flew across the keyboard coding for all he was worth. This went on for a while until he found himself yawning which meant it was time for another cup of coffee. Turning his head to the left he noticed a strange sight. There, sitting on the floor behind him was a bubblegum pink pony with hair that looked like cotton candy. He jumped slightly in his chair, surprised to see her there.

"Hi there! My name is Pinkie Pie! You sure are a funny looking pony. So what are you doing over there? Oh wow, what's matter with your hooves? Why are you wearing clothes..." she nattered on about whatever it was that came into her head.

Rick eased his way around the manic pony as she continued to talk almost non-stop and decided to follow him as he went.

"Twilight?!?" he called out as he escaped into the library, the pink pony hot on his heels.

"What's the matter?" Twilight called as she heard the panic in Rick's voice only to see the source was probably Pinkie Pie which raised certain questions. "Pinkie Pie? Where did you come from?"

Still looking at Rick as if he were the most fascinating thing in Equestria, Pinkie Pie said, "oh over there, " she motioned vaguely towards the doorway with one hoof. "I saw you studying so I didn't want to bother you then I saw this weird door and it took forever to open it because you had to turn the doorknob and who ever heard of having to turn a doorknob? Some ponies just want to make life difficult for others. So then I turn the doorknob and it still won't open and I'm pulling and pulling and pulling and it won't open. Then I found out I had to push. So I finally open the door and see this weird guy sitting there nodding over and over again while looking at a funny screen doing stuff with those things on the end of his hooves but they're not really hooves are they I mean they're like claws or something but not sharp like Spike's. What were we talking about again?"

"Pinkie Pie, this is Rick. He's from... somewhere else... and he's visiting us for a while but it's important that nopony knows about him being here just yet, " Twilight said.

"How come?"

"It's just that if ponies met him and didn't know what he was they might be afraid of him and try to hurt him or something and that's not the way we should be treating guests in Ponyville."

Pinkie Pie nodded then went through an elaborate pantomime where she started to show she zipped her lip and locked the key but it soon devolved into something that Rick couldn't quite follow. He looked at Twilight for confirmation and she just nodded and held up a hoof for a moment until Pinkie Pie had finished.

"When everypony knows about you then we can have a party to welcome you properly!" Pinkie Pie jumped up and down excitedly in front of Rick reminding him strangely of Pepe le Pew from the old Looney Tunes cartoons. "Ooooh! It'll be so much fun! I need to go plan this right away!" and with those words she shot off out of the library and towards Sugarcube corner.

Rick, still feeling a little shell shocked looked at Twilight and asked, "is she normally like that?"

"That's just Pinkie Pie. She loves making people laugh and throwing parties so she can get a little scatterbrained sometimes."

"So she's not crazy or dangerous is what you're saying?"

"No, just enthusiastic."

"Okay, but just in case do you think there should be a sign on the door saying something like, 'keep out, employees only, beware of the leopard...?"

Twilight just stared at him until his face broke out in a grin then she realised he had been joking about the leopard bit.

"I need to get back, " Rick said as he turned away only to turn back when he remembered something. "Hey Twilight?"

"Yes?" she said turning back to face him.

"Since you were so kind as to spring for breakfast this morning, how I return the favour tomorrow? It's a weekend so I don't need to work and if you think of anything else you wanna ask me I'll be more than happy to do so. I can bring something across about the same time?"

"Thank you, that would be very nice, " Twilight said with a smile. They then each turned and went back to their respective areas.

The next morning, as promised Rick walked into the library carrying a serving tray full of goodies which he laid out on the table. They talked, ate, Rick made a couple stupid jokes which Twilight laughed at out of politeness only because she didn't understand the references he was making.

"Twilight, you don't have to humour me if you don't grok what I'm saying. And don't worry about it, people back home don't always get my references either. I'm a pop culture junkie and an information sponge so my mind is a little warped by watching too many cartoons as a kid and too many Britcoms when I was a teen. " Rick said in a self-deprecating way.

"No, it's not that it's just it's fascinating. The more I hear about your world the more I want to learn about it."

"Well, as I said this is a weekend and if you're interested in something then ask away, " Rick said popping a grape into his mouth.

Twilight picked his brain for another hour, asking questions and wondering about minutiae that he himself didn't know but promised he'd google the answer for her if she wanted.

It was about the time that they were cleaning up the breakfast dishes that there was the sound of a small commotion going on outside. Looking out the window Twilight saw that Rainbow Dash was trying to get into the library while Pinkie Pie was doing her best to act like an anchor by holding onto her tail with her teeth and keeping the pegasus from entering.

"LET... ME... GO!!!" Rainbow Dash cried as she strained to reach the library door.

"MMMMMMPH!" Pinkie Pie said, her mouth full of Rainbow Dash's tail.

"I think you better hide, " Twilight said to Rick as he quickly went over to his room and closed the door.

Eventually Rainbow Dash did win and she was able to open the door and drag the protesting Pinkie Pie inside.

"Twilight! What's going on?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Going on? What do you mean what's going on? There's nothing going on here, " Twilight said a little evasively.

"Oh c'mon Twilight, you are such a bad liar. I met Pinkie Pie this morning on my way to say hi to you and she said that nopony was allowed in the library but wouldn’t tell me why. Then you look all nervous, and I see two settings for breakfast..., " her face broke into a big smile. "Somepony spent the night with little miss bookworm and you didn't want anypony finding out about it. So where are they?" Rainbow Dash looked around trying to find the mysterious stranger.

"There's no other pony here Rainbow Dash and I spent the night alone, " Twilight said and it was the absolute truth even if it was a little misleading.

"Sorry, you're still lying about something. I can tell, " she looked around but couldn't find any evidence of said pony but there was still something wrong. A moment later it dawned on her, "where did this door come from?"

"That's nothing Rainbow Dash, it's a... magic trick I'm working on, " Twilight finished lamely. Inside his room, Rick face palmed when he heard this. Seriously, somebody needed to teach this pony how to lie properly.

"Sure Twilight. So what is it really?"

"There's nothing in there Rainbow Dash. Really! Twilight is all alone here in the library so why don't we just leave?" Pinkie Pie said trying to cover for Twilight.

"No way! What's behind the door? Is it supposed to be a surprise! Oh my gosh! I love surprises! Lemme see! Lemme see!" And with those words she threw the door open as hard as she could only to be confronted by a slightly concussed Rick who she happened to nail in the head when the door opened on his face.

"What in the name of Celestia is that?!" Rainbow Dash cried when she saw the human staggering about and grasping at his head.

"His name is Rick, he's a human, he's my friend and it looks like you might have just given him brain damage, " Twilight said as she brought an ice pack for Rick who was currently sitting down waiting for the room to stop spinning and the conga drums in his head to stop beating. He winced slightly and hissed in pain when Twilight pressed the ice pack to his head but then relaxed into it as the ice helped to numb some of the hurt.

"Thanks Twilight, " he mumbled.

"He can talk!?!" Rainbow Dash shouted in alarm which caused the pain in Rick's head to intensify.

"Of course I can talk you blue feathered freak, " Rick said with a little more venom in his voice than was necessary.

"Who the hell you calling a freak? If there anything freaky in Ponyville it's you!"

"Yeah, this coming from a pony with obvious boundary issues. Pinkie Pie tries to keep you from coming in, but you force the issue and then when told there's nothing going on you insist on continuing and coming in anyway."

"That's only because they were both acting weird. And don't go trying to change the subject freak."

"I thought we already established that you're the freak here, " Rick was starting to grin at the verbal sparring he and Dash were having and he could see that she was getting into it too.

"We've done nothing of the sort. You're the one with the freaky skin condition. I mean look at you, I can see your skin though your fur."

"It's called body hair genius, and I'd rather not be completely covered in hair thank you very much."

"Like whatever ya damn hairless monkey. Wanna banana?"

"Ha ha, you want a punch in the mouth?"

"Oh you couldn't hit me, I'm too fast for ya."

"I don't have to be fast, I just have to outthink you and that shouldn't be so hard to do..., "

"STOP IT! BOTH OF YOU JUST STOP!" Pinkie Pie yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Oh c'mon Pinkie, we were just having fun, " Rainbow Dash said.

"Yeah, it's not often I get to cut loose on somebo.. I mean somepony and have them come back at me just as strong.

"You mean you were both playing?" Pinkie asked.

"Maybe not at the start, but I was starting to have fun with it, " Rick said and Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement.

"Yeah Pinkie, this guy is alright even if he isn't a pony, " Rainbow Dash stuck out a hoof towards Rick and he wasn't sure what to do with it. "Don't leave me hanging. Bump it."

Rick gave her hoof a solid bump and she smiled as if he had passed some kind of test.

"What a relief! I was afraid that you would leave and then we couldn't have a party for you and I would hate for you to miss a party, " she thought for a moment and said, "and that's exactly what we're going to do!" Pinkie Pie turned to Twilight and said, "we're going to have a welcome party here for Rick tonight and we'll keep it small so that not a lot of ponies know about him and we'll have...," she nattered on before Twilight stopped her.

"Pinkie Pie, we can't just announce his presence here. Ponies don't know about him and he might get in trouble."

"But Twilight... it's a party..., " Pinkie Pie said with big sad eyes, her mane straightening out.

"Oh alright Pinkie Pie, " Twilight said while Pinkie's mane suddenly poofed out again. "But we'll just invite the fillies okay? So just us, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy. Nopony else."

"Okay! Those parties are nice because you can really get to know people!" Pinkie Pie bounced out of the library to plan tonight's activities and invite the rest of the guests.

"I guess I should be going as well, see you later!" Rainbow Dash said as she turned to fly out the door.

Twilight turned to Rick and said, "I am so sorry about all this."

"Don't be. If we're going to be friends, I might as well get to know your friends as well and maybe a dinner party is a good way to do so. It's formal but if it's small can be rather casual at the same time. Any specific way I should dress, or do you want me to bring anything?" Rick asked.

"I don't think you understand there Rick. This isn't a formal party, it's just a party with cake and ice cream and music and stuff. Pinkie Pie uses any excuse to throw one."

"What seriously?"

Twilight just nodded.

"Okay. Well that works for casual I guess. So if we're done here for the moment I need to head back. I usually do all my shopping and cleaning stuff on Saturday." Rick didn't know it yet, but Twilight was looking for a reason to keep him around but couldn't quite figure out how to do it so in the end let him go knowing that he'd be back this evening when the party was on.

Rick closed the door, collapsed on his chair and took a deep breath. "Too much drama for a Saturday morning, " he mumbled to himself. He glanced at his watch, sighed and set about getting things ready for the day.

That evening, he showed up in the library looking a little different than before. While he bathed every day & used deodorant he only bothered to shave every couple of days which gave him a bit of a scruffy, unkempt appearance and when working from home or when just relaxing about the place he just wore whichever t-shirt was at the top of the pile and a pair of beat up shorts. But for this party he decided to shave and at least make an effort to look good which meant a collared shirt and a nice pair of jeans. Well, nice is a relative term but they were new, clean and looked good so he didn't complain.

Twilight smiled when she saw him and commented on his look. "Hey everypony! This is him!" Rick walked out to face the friends of Twilight and wasn't completely prepared for what he saw.

He expected ponies, that went without saying but he just wasn't prepared for how different they all were. There was an orange one with a cowboy hat that was giving him the stink eye and didn't look like she wanted to be here. A pale yellow one with a pink mane who was currently hiding behind the orange pony. He recognised Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie but his eye was drawn towards a white unicorn with an elaborately styled mane. She looked really high class which was pretty strange given the company here. But she just drew his eye for another reason, he had to admit she looked pretty. It was hard to describe, he wasn't attracted to her sexually but she had this quality of beauty about her.

Twilight didn't notice any of this and just started introducing the ponies to him. "Everypony, this is Rick my friend from Earth. Rick, you already know Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. But these are Rarity, Applejack and that's Fluttershy hiding in the back there."

"Hi every.. pony, I still need to get used to that. Thank you to Pinkie Pie for such a great party and I hope we can all be friends."

"Oh you big silly!" Pinkie Pie said as she jumped up and hugged him.

He stood there, with the pink party pony hanging around his neck and her mane which smelled strangely like cotton candy thrust in his face. After a moment or two she dropped back to the floor and said, "let's get this party going!" She then pulled out a cannon of all things and an explosion of colour burst forth. Suddenly the room was filled with balloons, confetti, streamers and every pony was even wearing a party hat. With a deft flick of her hoof, she started the record player and the music started. "Woo Hoo! Let's Party!" she shouted.

Rick had to admit, that while the party itself was rather childish with cake and ice cream and party games he was having a good time. There was just something infectious about Pinkie Pie and the joy she brought to everyday things and this spread to everypony there.

"C'mon you, let's dance!" Rainbow Dash said as she dragged Rick off his seat. It was an up-tempo number which had a good beat so he could really feel the rhythm. They danced, some ponies looked on strangely never having seen a human dance before and others like Pinkie Pie loved it so much she joined in. Soon most of the fillies had joined them on the dance floor with the exception of Applejack and Fluttershy. When Rick motioned to them to join, Applejack just glared at him and Fluttershy looked shyly away.

The record ended and a new one fell into place, this one a slow song. Rainbow Dash tried to come in close but Rarity jumped in front saying, "you started the last one, let another filly have her chance." She reared up on her hind legs and placed her front hooves on Rick's shoulders.

"I'm so terribly sorry to be so forward, 'Rick', " she seemed to have trouble saying his first name. "It's just that your name sounds so... common. A stallion of your stature and obvious breeding should have a name that is more dignified."

Rick chuckled a bit at that before responding. "Well, that's just the name I go by, it's a diminutive of my legal name 'Richard' which I'm not overly fond of because it's my Grandfather's name and it makes me feel old."

"Richard?" she said her lips moving slowly as if savouring the name. "Oh my yes, that suits you much better. I'm surprised that you go for the other one. But no matter, if you don't mind I'd much rather call you Richard, " she said looking a little coquettishly.

"That's okay Rarity. I don't mind, " Rick said with a disarming smile. He was a bit of a notorious flirt back home and sometimes habits are a little hard to break.

Their actions were not met with approval by several other ponies there. Rainbow Dash looked a little miffed at having been cast aside. Applejack kept a close eye on the stranger to make sure that he didn't do anything to her friend and Twilight looked a little unsure of what was going on. Only Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy seemed unaffected by this mainly because they were also dancing and had their eyes closed although for different reasons. Pinkie Pie had hers closed because she wanted to see how dancing blind felt and Fluttershy had hers closed because she was shy.

The song ended, the two separated and with a flirtatious flip of her mane Rarity thanked him for sharing such a wonderful dance. She immediately went and got herself a glass of punch and sat there fanning herself slightly with a contented glow about her.

As the evening progressed there were party games, more music and more sugary treats. But as all parties go, they eventually had to wind this one down and slowly they left until it was just Twilight and Rick.

"What time is it?" Twilight asked.

"Uhmm, looks like a little after 9:00 according to my watch."

"It's that late! Oh no! I'm going to miss it!" Twilight said as she frantically ran around trying to gather certain things together.

"What's going on?"

"Tonight there's a meteor shower starting in about 30 minutes. There's a big field right behind the library where the viewing conditions are perfect and I wanted to catch it but I won't get everything done in time!" she said starting to panic.

"What do you need? Can I help?"

"How are you at making hot cocoa?"

"I can make that in my sleep. I trained as a chef before going into IT."

"Good, can you make me some of that and meet me out in the field? I need to align my telescope, " she said running upstairs to grab everything.

"Is it okay that I go outside and ponies can see me?"

"Most of them are asleep now and if you leave by the back door, nopony will see you!" she called from upstairs.

"Okay, " he shrugged and went back home. 20 minutes later he came back with a large thermos, a flashlight, his own telescope, a blanket to lie down on and another one in case it got too chilly.

He located Twilight as she worked frantically to get her telescope set up. He lay the blanket down on the ground, set up his own telescope next to her and simply waited for the show to start.

"I'm guessing you've done this before?" Twilight said once she was set up and noticed that Rick had set up his own things as well.

"Yes, I've been fascinated by the night sky since I was a kid and now this also gives me an excuse to see a completely new sky."

"But what kind of telescope is that?" she said pointing to his telescope. It was unlike her own which was of the classical design.

"This here, " he said pointing to his, "is a reflecting telescope. It's open at the top, there's a curved mirror in the bottom and it reflects the image to a focal point inside the telescope which is then seen through this eyepiece. It's not perfect and they can also suffer from image distortion but can give a better image due to the larger opening at the end."

Twilight was intrigued and asked if she could look through it, he agreed and what she saw surprised her. She had focused on one area of the sky and adjusted his so it was focused on the same area but the image quality from his was so much better. It allowed for greater magnification and she was able to see stars and other stellar objects that her old telescope couldn't quite handle. In fact she was so caught up in this that she missed the beginning of the meteor shower until Rick nudged her and told her to look up.

From one point, in the sky there would come a streak of light as a meteor burned its way through the atmosphere. They just sat back and enjoyed the show, occasionally gasping as a particularly spectacular one whizzed by.

Rick pulled out the thermos and offered a cup to Twilight who accepted it eagerly. It smelled unlike any hot cocoa she had ever had before and while it tasted different it was also the most delicious she had ever had. Savouring the taste, she gratefully swallowed before turning to Rick and asking what it was.

"It's hot cocoa, but my own special recipe."

"What's in it?"

"Milk, vanilla sugar, cocoa, some nutmeg, a shot of coffee, and some brandy. Warms you up and tastes great on a winter's night when you're cuddling up in front of a fire although then I suggest adding a little whipped cream to top it off."

"Well it's delicious. Thank you."

"You're welcome, " he said and they went back to looking at the show.

After an hour or so, the show was over but they didn't want to go back yet. It had gotten a little chilly so instead of looking through the scopes they were currently lying down, covered by the other blanket as Twilight described the night sky and the constellations to him.

"And that one right there, " Twilight said pointing with one of her hooves, "is the Great Pony. Those four stars make out his body, those stars are his legs and those stars are his head. The ancient ponies used to say that he circled the sky and made it move. And over there, that one bright red star is the eye of Stormwind the Dragon. If you look closely a little over to the right of that you can see the smoke coming from his mouth. And then over there you can see the twins Canter and Bollux, sons of the Great Pony. They were both great sportsmen and adventurers that helped out the pony heroes of old and some even say led the first ponies to Equestria. Then if you see over there right behind the Great Pony, there's a triangle with that bright star at one tip, the red star on the other side and that binary star at the bottom. That's Kick'em High the Trickster. He was an Earth Pony that went about tricking the gods and teaching ponykind about all sorts of things. As a punishment, he was tied to the Great Pony's tail and was forced to walk behind him for all eternity...."

Rick listened to her go on and on about the constellations and the stories behind them as his eyes slowly closed. He fell asleep, not noticing that she had stopped talking and had fallen asleep beside him as well.

Twilight awoke to an unfamiliar sensation. Well, familiar in a way in that there was a warm body next to her and she was snuggled up against it although she hadn't slept with anypony for several months since... the incident. But it was unfamiliar in that the body didn't feel like a pony and she seemed to be sleeping outside? Opening her eyes, she saw that dawn was slowly breaking and the grey light of the morning was being replaced with the reddish orange of the rising sun. Looking over, she noticed it was Rick who was sleeping next to her and who's arm was currently around her. She blushed a bit at the thought of this, but that was just wishful thinking on her part. He was asleep and wasn't aware what he was doing so there was nothing to imply in that gesture. They must have simply gotten close together last night due to the chill in the air.

She moved slightly to get out from under his arm when his eyes opened slowly and commented, "Twi? Did we fall asleep here?" before seeing where his arm was and he quickly disengaged much to Twilight's chagrin although she didn't show it.

"Looks that way. Let’s get this cleaned up and back inside before anypony sees you."

"Good call, " he said standing up and stretching before collecting his things and following her back to the library.

A quick setup later and they were sitting down to breakfast.

"So, " Twilight started, " you and Rarity seemed to hit it off last night. What do you think of her, " she said trying to act as casual as possible.

"She's nice, all your friends are nice except Applejack seems a little standoffish towards me and Fluttershy was way too shy to actually look my way last night. But yeah, she's nice and pretty and all but she's too high maintenance for me."

Twilight couldn't help but smile a bit when he said this. "How do you mean?"

"Well, if she was human she'd be the type that always needed to look her very best at every single opportunity. Her mane would need to be perfect, her makeup had to be just right, she'd spend an hour just deciding on what to wear then spend another hour trying on the right shoes to go with her ensemble then ditch it all because none of them go with her purse. That's just too much drama for me. I'd want a woman who was more down to earth and had her feet on the ground and didn't mind getting dirty every once in a while or worrying about how her mane looked. I mean look at you, " he said gesturing at Twilight. "Your mane is all frazzled on one side due to us sleeping outside last night, you haven't combed it and it doesn't bother you. You're obviously comfortable enough with me to let that side of you show. Rarity would never allow that no matter how long you knew her. Had that been Rarity out there, she'd have freaked the moment her mane was out of order and would have spent the next 20 minutes in front of the mirror fixing it. Don't get me wrong, she's nice but she would need a man who would cater to her every whim and that's just not me."

Twilight was speechless hearing him speak that way because it mirrored what she herself thought although now that he mentioned it she had to fight the urge to check on her frazzled mane.

"We've got to do this again, " Rick said with a wink.

"Sorry what?" Twilight said, not quite knowing which part he was talking about.

"The stargazing. Next time how about we do it on Earth. I can take you somewhere where it's nice and dark, we can stare at the stars and I can tell you the stories as far as I know them."

"Oh right, that. Sure. When do you want to do it?"

"Dunno actually. It'll probably have to be a Friday or Saturday night since we'll have to stay up late and I'll want to sleep in the next day. So it won't be for at least a couple of days. I'll have to check the weather to make sure it's not too cloudy or it doesn't rain."

"Why don't you call the weather team? Oh that's right, no weather team, " Twilight said. "Sorry, maybe I need a little more sleep."

"Yeah, sleep sounds good about now, " Rick yawned broadly covering his mouth as he did. "Okay, I guess that about wraps it up. My turn for breakfast tomorrow?"

Twilight nodded and headed upstairs to her bedroom, she lay down just as she heard the door to Rick's room shut. As she lay there in her bed, it felt strangely empty and she wished there was somepony there to share it with her. Sighing, she turned over, closed her eyes and in moments was dreaming of looking up at an alien sky with a pony telling her about all the constellations.

Rick dumped his things unceremoniously on the floor and crawled into bed. His mind kept thinking back to waking up next to Twilight this morning and how nice it felt. Shaking his head he mumbled to himself, "dammit, I need to find a girlfriend. When ponies start looking good, you know you're in trouble, " before drifting off to sleep himself. It's a good thing nobody was listening because he didn't exactly sound all that sure of himself.

When he woke up, the rest of the day was spent doing typical Sunday things like laundry, catching up with friends and generally just hanging out. Once or twice he glanced at the door and had to refrain himself from heading over to Equestria. "Twilight is probably really busy and doesn't want me bugging her. I'll stay here."

Meanwhile in Equestria, Twilight was also thinking that maybe she ought to go see Rick but since his door was closed she figured he wanted his privacy and maybe was working hard on something. "We'll see each other tomorrow morning and contented herself with this.

That evening, after Rick had picked up a few things for tomorrow morning figured he'd make a trip over anyway. There was a bottle of wine he wanted to open, but doing so would mean the bottle might go to waste. However, if he shared it with Twilight it meant they could spend some time together and there was no chance that it would go bad. Deep down he knew it was an excuse but provided it sounded plausible he didn't feel there was a problem.

He entered the library and called out, "Twilight? You home?"

There was a clatter upstairs and the sound of hooves scampering down the stairs before Twilight poked her head around the corner and with a smile plastered on her face said, "oh, what a surprise Rick I wasn't expecting you."

"Look, I wanted to open a bottle of wine but since it's only me there's a chance it might go off before I have another glass. I was wondering if maybe... you know... you wanted to join me in a glass or two and we could kill the bottle in the process with no waste?"

"That sounds nice."

"Okay, give me a few minutes and I'll be right back. If you could get us some cups or glasses that would be great, " Rick said. He made his way back to his apartment, out the window so he could get to the main room where everything was. Already he had set up a platter of raw veggies, cheeses, olives and bread as well as the wine in anticipation of this. He walked back to his room and then backed up into Equestria where he found Twilight in the small seating area off the main room of the library. She had lit a few candles, giving the room a nice gentle glow and some pillows had been placed on the floor to allow them to sit and two cups placed between them.

"You just said wine, I wasn't expecting something like this?" Twilight said with some surprise as she hungrily looked over the expertly set tray.

"If it's a problem I can always take it back, " Rick deadpanned.

"Nonono, it's fine. I'll deal with it this time but just remember not to do it again, " Twilight said with a smile.

"Nice, you're learning, " he said appreciatively as he opened the bottle and filled the cups. "What shall we drink to?" he asked.

Twilight looked about the library, then smiled and said, "how about knowledge?"

"Works for me." They clinked their cups and tried the wine.

"Oh, this is nice. What is it?" Twilight asked.

"Argentinian Malbec. I made it myself. Actually I went to a wine making place and had them make it for me but it was cheap, it's actually a really good wine for the price and I got to bottle on premise which explains the lack of a label."

They nibbled on the food, drank the wine and chatted about various things. By the second cup, Twilight piped up and said, "why do I feel so comfortable with you?"

"What seriously?" Rick started to laugh at that. When he saw her face fall slightly he quickly waved his hands and continued, "it's nothing bad, I was just laughing because I felt the same way. Twi it's weird, it's really weird but you and I just click. I can't explain it but I just 'get' you. You open your mouth and say something and I know how you're feeling and what you're talking about." He took another swallow of his wine and hoped that the flush he was starting to feel in his cheeks and the one rising on her cheeks was due to the alcohol in the wine.

"That's exactly how I feel!" She said happily then sighed. "It's usually so difficult to talk to the other fillies, I'm always afraid they won't understand what I'm talking about but with you, unless it's a cultural thing I know you're going to get it."

They continued to drink, talk and eat and before long the food had disappeared and the bottle had been drained completely. Rick didn't want the night to end so he suggested he get another bottle and get rid of the tray in the meantime. Twilight agreed, also not wanting to be left alone so early. Rick, feeling rather happy, picked up the empty bottle and tray and disappeared back home only to come back minutes later with another bottle and some dark chocolate truffles.

"Rick, you're spoiling me!" Twilight complained without much conviction when she saw the candies.

"They go good with the wine, I already had a box of these and you really need to share these things. So where were we?" Rick asked as he opened this bottle.

"We were talking about stuff, then you went to get another bottle of wine."

"Right. Do you remember what we were talking about?" he asked as he poured her some more.

Twilight took a sip, chewed on a truffle and said, "no."

"That's okay, I don't think it really matters."

They sat there for a few minutes not saying anything before Twilight said, "this is nice."

"What? The wine? The chocolates?"

"No, this, " she gestured between Rick and herself. "We've sat here, we've talked and then we stopped talking. There wasn't any kind of awkward silence and we just feel good about it."

"I think it's the wine, " Rick said with a giggle.

"I'm serious Rick. I think we have something good here, " she took another sip of her wine and raised her cup. "To friendship!" They clinked and drank.

"To wine!" Rick raised his cup and they clinked again and drank once more.

"To looking at stars!" Another clink and more drinking.

"To librarians, without them we'd all be lost in a sea of information, " Rick said raising his cup but Twilight didn't raise hers.

Instead Twilight looked at him a little blearily and said simply, "that's beautiful. Thank you, " she then leaned forward to give him a hug but accidentally spilled a little wine on his shorts.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Here, let me help you with that!" Twilight said as she tried to dab the wine away with a napkin and only succeeded in dabbing at his crotch which made him strangely aroused.

Pushing her hoof away he said, "I'm okay babe, don't worry about these old things, I just wear them around the house so it doesn't matter how they look, " he put his cup down and drew her in for a hug which she returned while still mumbling how sorry she was.

"It's not the first time I got stuff spilled on me by a pretty girl. At times I think I'm a magnet for these things. The worst one was guacamole and I'm not just talking a little bit, I'm talking a whole bowl of this stuff."

"Seriously?" Twilight asked with a bit of an unsure smile on her face.

"Yeah. I'll tell you this story, but then you need to tell me one as well. Agreed?"

Twilight nodded in agreement.

"Okay check it, I'm with my buddies and we're out one night just the boyz and we wind up at a sports bar. No biggie, we just wanted to sit down, have some cold beer and some food that wasn't good for us. So we order wings and nachos and jalapeno poppers and all sorts of other food that is really bad for you but tastes really good."

Twilight was smiling now due to Rick's story telling. She thought in the back of her mind that he could make an ordinary story interesting simply by how he spoke.

"Well, our waitress wasn't all that good. She forgot items, she was really flustered and she forgot the guacamole to go with the nachos. I mean we're joking with her but I think she took it a little too seriously then when she comes back, I don't know what happened if it slipped off her tray or she tripped but the bowl literally flew through the air and landed face down on my crotch. So what could I do but pick up a nacho and dip it in before turning to my buddies and inviting them to have some as well, " Rick was giggling at this point and Twilight was laughing due to the image and the way he was telling it.

"No seriously, there I was covered from the waist down in guacamole while the waitress is desperately trying to clean me up without actually touching my junk. I'm trying not to laugh, my buddies are busting a gut at all this. In the end the bill was free, we got an offer for free food the next time we showed up and I got the waitresses phone number in the process. Nothing happened as she was a bit of a ditz but it was a great story. Okay, your turn, " Rick said to Twilight after taking another drink.

She giggled before taking a drink from her cup and started with, "well, it was in my last year at the magic academy. I've always been a bookworm but there was this really cute stallion that went there and I'll admit I wanted him to notice me. Well, I heard that he liked mares with... a little extra in the rear so I crafted a spell that would... fill me out a little more back there. It didn't go as planned. I didn't know what to look for so I just... went for bigger. And the worst part was he noticed me, but not in a good way. For the rest of the semester he called me 'balloon butt'. Although in a sense it did help my studies. I wasn't about to go anywhere with my rump looking like that so I spent all my time reading and studying and it paid off."

Rick giggled drunkenly at her story. He took another swallow of his drink, thought for a moment and said "Oh I got a good one. Years ago, I was taking a course and I was taking the final exam. Well, the professor ends it by telling us to put our pens down and to bring the exams to the front. So everybody does so except for me. I had to finish this thought, my essay depended on it. So after a moment of frantic writing I bring my paper up and he gets all self-important at me and says, 'sorry, but the time is up and you didn't put your pen down when asked. I won't accept your test.' Now you need to understand that this was a large class and the professor didn't know everybody's name and really didn't care to learn them. So I ask him in a rather self-important way, 'do you have any idea who I am' as if to say, 'I'm really important so you need to cut me some slack'. He shakes his head and says in a condescending way, 'no idea'. And before he had a chance to do anything, I grab the exams, shove mine into the middle, throw them back on the desk and walked out. I got an A."

They spent the rest of the evening just talking, laughing and generally enjoying each other's company. Throughout it all Rick kept thinking to himself how bad it was that she wasn't human or that he wasn't a pony because he would totally tap that ass if either one of those were true. Also as they talked and laughed they wound up sitting closer and closer together until Twilight was leaning into Rick and his arm was around her shoulders. It was simply a pony thing and Rick went with it, he was too drunk to care and he had never stopped a cute girl from touching him even if she wasn't human.

By the end of the night, both were yawning heavily and stood up to make their way back to their respective beds.

"I'm not looking forward to tomorrow morning, " Rick mumbled.

"Why's that? Something wrong with your breakfast plans?"

"What?" Rick said confusedly before he understood what she was referring to. "Nonono, at least not completely. I meant the hangover I'm going to get from all the wine. I'm going to be in pain and less than cheerful tomorrow morning."

"Oh that?" Twilight scoffed. "I can fix that easily. Wait here, " Twilight said before she made her way unsteadily to the bathroom. Rick heard the water running and she came back levitating a glass of water and two pills.

"Take these, drink all the water and I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning with no side effects."

"What seriously? Awesome." Rick took the pills and chased them down with the water. "Thanks babe, " he kneeled down, hugged her and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek before wishing her a good night and saying he'd see her tomorrow.

Twilight just stood there, confused about what just happened. She was sure he liked her and the moment was just right although maybe it was the wine talking. When he went in for the hug, she had closed her eyes and readied herself for a kiss on the lips but it never came. "Of course it didn't come dummy, " she chided herself. "You're not a human and he's not a pony. It could never work." She headed upstairs, wiping away the tears and telling herself that it was simply not meant to be and maybe she'd feel better tomorrow.

Rick walked back into his room and lay his head against the door. He shouldn't be feeling this way. Not only had they practically just met and he falling for her like some lovesick schoolboy but she wasn't even human! "Rick, you're drunk and you're not thinking clearly. You'll feel better tomorrow."

The next day Rick woke up clear headed which was a great relief. "Twilight Sparkle, you are awesome, " he said to nobody in particular. A quick shower and he was ready for breakfast.

Brining the food into the library he was pleased to see Twilight already ready and she also didn't look any worse for wear. Last night was a bit of a blur, while the pills helped the hangover it didn't do anything to change the other effects of the alcohol.

"Morning you!" he called to her. "How'd you sleep?"

"Like a foal. I don't really remember what happened last night after the second bottle of wine, but I hope we had fun, " she said with a smile.

"Yeah, same here. Okay, I've got today's breakfast items special from a small country known as France."

"And what is all this?" Twilight asked pointing to the items on the table.

"That is a croissant. That is a 'pain au chocolat' which is practically the same thing but with chocolate in the centre. That is a baguette. There is of course butter, strawberry, raspberry and blueberry jams and marmalade if you happen to like that stuff. And a bit of a fruit salad made with fresh berries, melon, pineapple and whatever else I was able to scrounge up. Please, help yourself. And if I'm not mistaken, " Rick added by sniffing the air dramatically, "my coffee is ready."

"Could... you get me one too?" Twilight asked a little shyly.

"Sure, but I don't have a cup unless you have one here I can use?" Twilight directed him to the little kitchen and he grabbed one of the available pony cups she had. A moment later he returned with her coffee. "Would you like some milk and sugar?"

"No, this will be fine, " she took a sip and smiled back at him. "Perfect".

"Funny, most people don't drink coffee black from the start. It took me years to get to this point. I always had to doctor it with milk and sugar, then just the milk and finally I found a blend that tasted good black so I've been using that ever since. Twilight Sparkle, you are a marvel, " he said with a wink.

"Why thank you kind sir. It's always nice to be appreciated."

They chatted pleasantly and Twilight talked excitedly about her plans for today which included of all things, examining the migratory habits of the minor Equestrian tree frog.

"That actually sounds a lot more fun than my day. I've got a meeting right off the bat at 9am, followed by another meeting right after, then a strategy session after lunch followed up by some deskwork which will probably take me all the way to 6pm tonight. I'm gonna be a tired Rick when I get home."

"How is it Rainbow Dash would put it? Sucks to be you?" Twilight said with a smile.

Rick raised his napkin like a white flag and waved it back and forth a few times. "That does it, I surrender, " Rick said with mock severity. "But on that note I need to leave, I'll probably be really busy later when I get home so I might not have a chance to drop by so in that case I will wish you a good day and see you tomorrow morning. He gave her a quick hug and was on his way to work.

Twilight smiled and sighed a bit as he left. True, she would miss seeing him tonight but she'd make up for it later. Now it was time to go check on those frogs.

The rest of the week passed uneventfully with casual breakfasts and pleasant conversation being the norm. Occasionally, when working from home, Rick would find himself going over to Equestria for no real reason other than to see Twilight. He'd always make up an excuse for it but most of the time it wasn't anything that really mattered. It was good that Twilight didn't mind that he did this and in fact would visit him for exactly the same reason.

Friday morning, Rick met Twilight as they usually did and he had news that he hoped she would like to hear.

"Oooh, blueberry pancakes! Did you make these yourself?" Rick asked as he put the coffees down on the table and sat at his appointed seat.

"Yes I did, although Spike did help out and supervised. I'm still learning how to cook."

"Well, my compliments to the chef, these are actually pretty good, " Rick said without a hint of irony. Honestly they weren't that bad, a little dry but that's why there was maple syrup to go along with them. Twilight smiled happily at the compliment and watching her friend eat food she had prepared made her feel good inside.

When they were done, Rick popped the question that he hoped she would say yes to. "So, any plans for tonight?"

Twilight smiled a little shyly and said, "no. Why do you ask?" Honestly she did have plans to reorganise some of her bookshelves but she could always do that some other time.

"I want to take you on a trip through time, " Rick said enigmatically. When she looked at him a little strangely he said, "the skies are clear tonight and I know the perfect spot to stargaze. You in?"

"Sounds wonderful."

"Good. I suggest you take a nap this afternoon if you can and I'll come get you around 9 o'clock tonight. Okay, I gotta go make some money so I'll talk to you later, " they hugged, just a moment longer than friends normally do and Rick placed a kiss on her head which made her giggle. "See you later, " he said with a smile.

"Bye, " she replied also with a smile.

The rest of the day was spent doing the usual coding but he finished early enough because he wanted to get a few things done before tonight like tidy the place up a bit. At around 5pm he was done but as it was going to be a long night Rick decided to take a nap.

At 5:30, the door to his room opened which alone was enough to wake him up rather quickly. He was a heavy enough sleeper that small noises rarely bothered him but that was only because he got used to them. If a noise is not supposed to be there, much like his bedroom door opening when he's the only person in the apartment, it would wake him up immediately.

Twilight pulled back a bit in surprise at the suddenness of his movement, but when she heard him call out, "Twi? Is that you?" she relaxed and answered in the affirmative.

"Sorry, I was just taking a nap. Wassup babe?" he asked.

"I was hoping you'd be busy so I could take a nap myself, I accidentally spilled something on my bed upstairs and since your room is really dark..., " she left the rest unspoken.

"Uhmm, yeah, sure. There's room for two, just close the door and crawl in, " Rick said as he scooted over to one side of the bed.

She did just that and got in on the other side. She wiggled around a bit to get comfortable then sighed and said, "this is nice, still warm."

"Mmmhmmm, " Rick agreed as he slowly fell back asleep.

Twilight leaned over, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and whispered, "thank you" before settling down herself.

Two hours later, Rick woke up in a rather embarrassing state. He was spooned up against Twilight with his arm casually draped over her. That wasn't the embarrassing part. He was currently in an aroused state and a certain part of his anatomy was practically poking Twilight in a very intimate place. Good thing for him his shorts were still on even if they were strained outwards and she was still sleeping. Pulling back carefully so as not to wake her, he made his way to the coffee machine and proceeded to make a new cup.

Rick had every intention of drinking it in Equestria so as not to wake Twilight up but he heard her call out in a sleepy voice, "can you make me one too?".

"Sure thing. Mind if I turn on the light?"

"Go right ahead, " she mumbled as she pulled herself out of bed.

Squinting slightly and her mane all messed up, she trotted over to Rick and leaned against him while she waited for her coffee to finish. He absent mindedly rubbed her mane which sent little shivers of joy through her but as quick as it started, it was over and he handed her her cup.

The two of them walked out into the library where they drank their coffee in silence. Like Rick, Twilight wasn't much of a morning person and it usually took a few minutes before she woke up and was anywhere near talkative.

"I had the weirdest dream, " Twilight said.

"Oh yeah? What happened?"

"That's just it, I don't remember except somepony kept poking me in the rear with a banana." Rick upon hearing that nearly choked on his coffee.

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked with some concern.

"Fine, " Rick said coughing a bit. "Some just went down the wrong way."

Rick glanced at his watch, "two hours to kill, " he mumbled to himself. "Have you had dinner yet?" he asked Twilight.

"I nibbled on a little something earlier, but no. Why?"

"I was going to order a pizza, if you're up for it you can join me and we'll just head out from there at 9 instead of my coming to get you. Sound good?"

"That works for me. Give me a few minutes to get my stuff?" she asked.

"Take whatever time you need. I'll go order it, it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes. Is there anything you don't like on it?"

"No meat obviously, but other than that I'm good."

Rick stepped back into his room to order the pizza. It was what he called Rick special which was loaded down with lots of toppings and was a weekend tradition for as long as he lived here. That was of course before this whole Equestria thing started.

"Okay, I'm ready, " Twilight trotted in loaded down with notebooks, quills, ink, telescope, blanket and what appeared to be a kind of sleeping bag.

"What's all this for?" Rick asked.

"Well, the notebooks are for me to take notes and to sketch the positions of the stars, so I need some quills and some ink to write with. Obviously I need the telescope and the blanket and sleeping bag are in case it gets chilly."

"Makes sense but I can provide you with a ball point pen that doesn't require a separate ink bottle and a printout of the stars and their positions if you want it."

"Are you sure? It won't be too much trouble?" she asked uncertainly.

"Babe, it'll take me a couple minutes at most. But you can bring the notebook in case you want to take notes and, " Rick rummaged around his desk until he found it, "here's the pen I promised you."

Twilight looked at it unsure if would actually work, "you mean this thing honestly writes?"

"Yeah, give it a try. You need to push that little button at the top, " he said while indicating the button she needed to push. The tip of the pen snapped out and she made a test mark in her notebook.

"Ohhh! That's... different, " she said as she ran the pen across the page. "It's... smoother and easier to move across the page."

"Yeah, but from what I understand a lot of people in moving to a ballpoint pen have some time to get used to it. But it's more convenient. So anyway, let's go."

Rick took her stuff and placed it outside the window before carefully helping Twilight out. He tried to keep his hands off her rump, but it was unavoidable. It was a good thing that he missed the blush on her cheeks or else he might have made an embarrassing comment about it all.

Making sure the coast was clear, he opened the door and motioned for Twilight to make a dash for it. Down the stairs they went and Rick officially welcomed her to his place. She was amazed at the things he had, not just the tech and things she didn't understand but the bookshelves that were crammed top to bottom with books.

"I see you're admiring my library. It's not very impressive, but I just can't bear to get rid of books. It's weird, I'll buy something and then simply hold onto it because once I get rid of it I'm going to want to read it again at some point. So the books just pile up. I tell you it's a pain to have to pack these things every time I move."

"And what are these?"

"Oh, those are my DVDs, " he popped open a case and showed her. "There's movies on here, I've got currently over 1000 DVDs of movies, TV shows and the like..." Rick was cut off when there was a knock at the door. He motioned for Twilight to stay out of sight as he head upstairs to check. There was a murmured conversation and a few moments later Rick came back downstairs with a flat rectangular box.

"Okay, here we go." He put the pizza down on the table and got out two place settings along with plates. "Sorry Twi, you want wine, beer, juice?"

"Wine sounds good, " she said taking her place at the table.

Bringing out two glasses and the wine he quickly uncorked it, opened the box and invited Twilight to help herself, making sure to keep the side with the pepperoni on his end of the table. Pouring two glasses of wine he handed one to Twilight they clinked glasses and had a drink.

"Please start, " he invited her.

She picked up a piece using her magic and placed it carefully on the plate. It was different than pizza back home, but it was good. Twilight chewed happily and swallowed with a smile. "I have to give it to you, you know good food."

Rick just shrugged and said, "life is too short to eat crap. Enjoy what you can now."

They ate, talked and carried on like old friends which was odd as they had only known each other for two weeks. It did help that neither one knew all the other's jokes yet so there was that. When her glass was empty, Rick filled it again but refrained from refilling his own.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?" she smiled playfully.

"That all depends, is it working?" he responded in kind.

"I'll let you know after this glass, but the only reason I asked is that I noticed you didn't refill your own."

"Yeah, I'll just nurse the rest of this slowly. I'll be driving to get there so I can't be drunk or even the least bit tipsy. But that doesn't mean you need to follow my lead if you don't want to or if you don't want to finish that glass don't feel you have to."

"Two drinks is usually my limit if I still want to keep my head. I should be okay with this, " Twilight said.

"Not a problem, " Rick said shoving the cork back in the bottle. "We can always finish it later tonight when we get back provided we're not too tired.

They talked and laughed a little while longer until finally it was time to go. Rick packed up the car, then when the coast was clear Twilight teleported to the back seat and hid partially under the blanket there while Rick started the car up.

"It's about an hour or so out of town, nothing around it but farmer's fields and long grass. We'll be well hidden so there's chance of anybody finding us. You all set?"

"Let's do this thing!" Twilight said more excited than she had been in a long time. Here she was on a completely different world, being driven in a 'car' and going to look at an alien sky for the first time in her life. In fact, she was a pioneer! She was the first pony ever to come here and see this. Oh, she had to write this down. Pulling the notebook from the saddlebags, she started to write by the light of her horn.

"You comfortable back there?" Rick asked while they cruised along the highway.

"Yeah, sure, " Twilight replied a little distantly.

Rick turned on the radio and fiddled with the dial until he found a song he liked. Twilight perked her head up, having never heard such music in her life. "What is that?" she asked?

"It's the radio. You tune into the station you want and pick up on the song they're currently playing."

"Is that what this music is? It's called 'Radio'?"

Rick chuckled a bit. "No, the device to listen to it is called a radio. The music is of a style, I guess you could call it 80's New Wave, and the song is 'Take on Me' by a band called 'A-Ha'. It's an oldie but a goodie."

Twilight was mesmerised by this, her notes suddenly forgotten as the simple melody washed over her. They spent the rest of the trip flipping through the dial to expose her to music she had never heard and had never imagined existed.

They pulled up to an old, abandoned farmhouse and parked the car.

"C'mon, grab your things, " Rick said to Twilight as he hauled his stuff out of the car.

"Is it okay that we're here?"

"Oh yeah, the owners died a few years ago so there's nothing really stopping us from looking around. Besides, my folks still technically own the place, " Rick said casually. When Twilight looked a little unsure of herself he added, "this used to belong to my grandparents. But they died and since my folks didn't want to move up here it's just been left to die. One of these days, when I have enough money I want to make it liveable again and restore it to its old glory."

Twilight listened to the nostalgia in his voice and how much he loved this place as well as his grandparents. She rubbed her head against him in a comforting way. He reached down and stroked her mane in response.

They made their way through the fields, walking through the tall grass until they reached a point far enough that the light or noise from a passing car wouldn't bother them. Spreading the blanket down on the ground they set up their telescopes and Rick pointed out certain interesting sights and areas in the sky.

"Right there, " he said motioning to Twilight to look through the viewfinder, "is the planet Jupiter. Biggest planet in the solar system. And you should be able to see two of its moons, actually just their shadows right now."

Twilight was amazed. Never before had she seen an extraterrestrial planet in such detail. The bands of colour, the swirling vortex of the Great Red Spot and the Galilean moons were all there in front of her eyes. Rick would occasionally move the telescope and find another stellar object for her to see and admire.

Finally, when she felt head was swimming they decided to lie down on the blanket as Rick named the constellations and gave stories to them when he knew them. The night was getting a little chilly, not cold but it warranted something. Rick broke out the coffee and pulled out his blanket and wrapped it around himself while Twilight went to get her sleeping bag. Problem was, in all the excitement she had forgotten it at Rick's.

"That is so unlike Little Miss Organisation. C'mon, " he said sitting up and opening up his blanket. She hesitantly sat down, her back to his chest, his legs stretching around her as he pulled the blanket closed in front of him. It was warm in his embrace even if the gesture was intended as being completely platonic. After a while, she lost herself in the feeling of having him hold her. She loved the feeling of his strong chest against her back, his warm breath and the slight rumble she could feel when he spoke and how his arms just held her.

"This is what it's like to be content, " she thought to herself and smiled.

"Hey Twi, you awake?" Rick asked.

She shook herself from her reverie and said, "yes, sorry, I was just... somewhere else at the moment."

"Somewhere good?" he asked.

"Yeah. Somewhere really good, " she said. But deep down inside her she thought the only thing that would make it any better was if he would only kiss her. But since he wouldn't, she'd take what she could get from him. And right now, this was really nice.

Rick meanwhile was thinking that this cuddling under the blanket was a mistake. He wanted nothing more than to kiss this pony but that was just wrong. She wasn't even human, she was an animal. Actually that wasn't fair because she had a mind and they talked and communicated with each other in an intelligent way. But what kind of future could they have with each other? And the worst part was, while he knew he needed to let her go, in his heart of hearts he knew that letting her go was too hard. Speaking of which, this closeness and carnal thoughts about this pony were starting a reaction in his pants and based on how they were sitting, it wouldn't be long before she felt it.

"Whew, is it hot in here or is it just me?" he mentioned opening the blanket up and stepping out.

Twilight was caught by surprise at this but didn't say a word. She had however caught the lump in Rick's pants that he was trying to hide and she smiled inwardly. "Maybe I have a chance after all, " she thought to herself.

Yawning slightly she looked at Rick and asked what time it was.

"It's a quarter to one. Wanna pack up and go back?"

She nodded her head and helped to pack things up. She noticed a small wet patch on the blanket where she had been sitting and thinking all those naughty thoughts about Rick. She "accidentally" kicked over the thermos so that it spilled the remainder of their coffee onto that spot to hide it.

"Oh, Rick I'm sorry. I'll get it cleaned for you, " she said with fake concern.

"Don't worry about it, it's an old blanket. C'mon, let’s go."

They made their way back to the car and once inside, they were on their way.

The drive back took a little less time due to there being less traffic on the road but it felt longer because of what each one wanted to do to the other one. They finally pulled into the driveway, it was around 1:30 in the morning and nobody was awake so there was no reason for Twilight to hide or teleport inside. They gathered their things and went back into Rick's apartment.

Both were feeling a little tired but at the same time didn't want to go to sleep. There was simply something in the air between them and it needed to be cleared. Rick motioned her to come to the couch, he picked up some clean glasses from the kitchen and the half-finished bottle of wine and poured them a glass.

They drank a little nervously, neither one wanting to be the first to say it in case they were wrong.

Finally Rick broke the silence. He put his glass down on the table, and asked Twilight to do the same. He took a deep breath and said quite simply, "there's something I need to do and I've been wanting to do this for the longest time...," he was unable to finish as Twilight just leaped forward and kissed him full on the lips. It wasn't like the short kisses on the cheek or forehead they had shared before. Again, the ponies in Equestria did this often and it was simply a gesture of friendship. This time it was different. This was an exploratory kiss on the mouth, her lips moving slightly over his and trying to see how he'd react.

For a moment he didn't react as he was quite surprised at being pre-empted for this, but then he responded in kind. His lips moved over hers and after a moment his tongue entered her mouth and she followed suit. This was so unlike kissing a woman he thought and her thoughts were similar although in her mind she did replace "woman" with "pony".

They kissed passionately for a while, all that pent up desire just bursting forth, neither one wanting it to stop but eventually they had to come up for breath. Both parties were breathing heavily, both of them were rather turned on but due to the nature of both of them didn't know how to continue. They were totally in uncharted territory here. Had Twilight been human, Rick would have known what to do or at least had a general idea how to continue. The same went for Twilight, although admittedly she was a little inexperienced not to mention usually a lot more shy.

"Do you want to continue?" he asked her as he gently ran his fingers through her mane. Twilight Sparkle shivered a bit in pleasure as he did so and nodded shyly.

"Would you want to move into the bedroom or would you feel more comfortable here?" She thought for a moment, felt emboldened then without saying a word hopped to the floor and taking his fingers in her mouth led him to the bedroom. They made sure the door was closed, after all they didn't want anybody else coming in to bother them.

That night they learned about each other in a way that neither one could have anticipated just two weeks before. Man and pony came together as one and as they drifted off to sleep felt truly happy.

The Morning After

The next day Rick woke up to an unfamiliar sensation, there was a warm body in bed with him. It took a moment but the memories of what happened last night came flooding back to him and admittedly for a moment, he felt a little weird. After all, he spent a good portion of last night having sex with a pony. This is not something that happens every day and it's definitely not something you update on Facebook. But it wasn't bestiality, at least not in the classical sense. Twilight Sparkle was sapient, had a fantastic mind, an inquisitive nature, could philosophise and besides she was cute as hell. He had always been a sucker for the intelligent, slightly nerdy librarian types. Seriously, he thought if she was human he'd have been all over her a long time ago. Yes it was weird, but that didn't necessarily mean it was wrong.

Look at sci-fi shows. There were always people getting it on with aliens. Captain Kirk himself practically screwed his way through the entire Federation on Star Trek and he's practically a god to some people. So yeah, once you got past the part where she was a pony it wasn't any different than sex with an alien. Or maybe he was just trying to make excuses. In the end it didn't matter, he felt good with it. Rolling over, he put an arm around her, hugged her and lay his head back down on the pillow before closing his eyes and drifting back to sleep.

Twilight Sparkle was just drifting in that moment between sleep and being awake when she felt Rick pull her close. She opened her eyes and beheld his face, seeing him completely at peace made her smile. She snuggled in closer to him, feeling the warmth coming off his naked body and made her think back to last night.

In truth, she was a little surprised by what happened. When he had said they needed to talk she feared the worse and that he was going to ask her go away and never come back. There was no way she would allow that to happen, not now, not when she felt this way about him. She had never felt this way for any pony before. He was the first and he wasn't even a pony which made her confused for a moment. He wasn't a pony, but was still a fine example of a male. He was smart, funny, a little unconventional but then he was a human after all so it's not like that wasn't to be expected. At that point, she had to kiss him. There simply was no other option and if she didn't do this now, maybe she'd never have the chance to do it again.

Luckily for her, he felt the same way, one thing led to another and here she was feeling almost deliriously happy. She reached up and kissed him lightly on the lips. She heard him chuckle lightly, he hugged her strongly for a moment then opened his eyes. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the love there, the acceptance and possibly a spark of mischief.

"Mornin' you. How'd you sleep?" he asked.

"Mmmmm, I slept great" she responded stretching languorously. "I was totally worn out after last night thanks to you."

"I guess a thank you is in order but you definitely deserve some of the credit yourself." he said."But I also want you to know that I don't make it a habit of trying to make out with every single pony that comes over to watch the stars. You were just a special case."

"What? You mean there have been others?" she said in mock outrage. The normally introverted Twilight had come out of her shell since this tall, strange human appeared. One thing he had introduced her to was sarcasm which seemed to comprise half of his normal dialogue when you got to know him. He and Rainbow Dash would go at it for a while, throwing "zingers" as he called them back and forth. Often times it ended in one or the other either laughing or admitting defeat and

followed with hoof bump. She still only felt comfortable using it around him however.

"Oh yeah, there have been plenty others. First I took Rainbow Dash but she was too interested in just making out. Then there was Pinkie Pie but she just giggled and made funny songs about the names of the stars and constellations. Applejack was next but she was more interested in what kind of apple trees there were up there. Fluttershy spent the whole evening trying to track down little woodland creatures and Rarity wouldn't even go because she felt the dirt would get in her mane, " he said with a smile that only got broader as he listed off pony after pony. "But you, my dear Twilight Sparkle, had something that the rest of them lacked."

Twilight Sparkle, a sweet blush on her cheeks waited to hear the words that set her apart from the other ponies in Ponyville. She just hoped it would be sweet instead of him turning it into a joke. "And what would that be?" she asked sweetly.

"You said yes" he said deadpan but couldn't keep a straight face as he did so. She nudged him in the ribs and said, "that's not nice and you know it".

He chuckled a bit more and said, "you're right. I was just teasing" as he leaned in and kissed her. "The actual reason is, they just don't interest me in any way more than just being friends or acquaintances. You on the other hand have got it all going on. You've got the brains, the nerdy charm and purple has always been one of my favourite colours."

She sighed, luxuriating in the feeling of being next to him as he slowly ran his hand across her flank. She also became aware of something else a little further down which was slowly pressing into her. A quick look revealed that Rick was starting to get a little heated up, which was good as she was as well. She gave him a sultry look, pressing her body up against his and alternately nibbling gently and kissing him on the chest, then moving the shoulder, the neck and finally the lips. They kissed more passionately as their desire took over.

Their lovemaking was different than the night before, it didn't feel rushed or awkward but just seemed to flow naturally. He had learned what made her feel good, like the massaging of her horn when she was aroused and how the base of was rather sensitive. Or how she liked little love bites on the back of her neck. She also learned about human anatomy and typically where he liked to be rubbed, stroked or nibbled. There was no need for words, just one pleasurable sensation after another.

Basking in the afterglow, they just lay there side by side. Her shoulder nestled in the crook of his arm, her head lying on his chest listening to his heart beat out a steady rhythm. She heard him chuckle a bit, looked up and asked him what was so funny?

"I was just thinking that if we keep doing this, we'll have no time to do anything else today. Not that I'm complaining or anything or the thought of making love to you over and over is bad thing. But eventually we will need to get up or we'll just wind up getting all tired and going to sleep again." He however made no effort to move and neither did she, both were simply too comfortable where they were. However things don't always turn out the way you want them to as a rumble came from Twilight's belly, followed rather surprisingly from Rick's as well. They both giggled a bit at this and decided it was time to get up if for no other reason than to get something to eat. But first, they needed a shower.

"Wanna join me?" Rick asked with a leer. "I've got room in there for two."

"Some other time. We'd just wind up having sex in there anyway. I'll meet you in the library when you're done and bring the coffee." Twilight responded as she sashayed out of the room, giving her flanks a little more wiggle than usual because she knew Rick would be staring at her. A quick look over her shoulder showed she was right. She blew him a kiss then disappeared around the corner into her washroom. Rick sighed with a goofy little smile on his face, climbed out through the window and made his way to his own bathroom to take a quick shower.

Refreshed, cleaned and smelling like a combination of Irish Spring and Head and Shoulders Rick sauntered through the door carrying two cups of coffee. He placed one in front of Twilight, gave her a quick kiss and sat down opposite her to have breakfast. There was a lot of goofy staring back and forth between the new lovers and a lot of casual touching of the hand and hoof but very little needed to be said. The looks and touching said it all. In fact it was so obvious and so intense that neither one noticed when the main door opened and Rainbow Dash came in.

She stared in disbelief at the sight before her. Here was one of her best friends, Twilight Sparkle and that human making goo goo eyes at each other and he was actually *touching* her with those fingers of his. But the worst part was she didn't seem to mind him doing this. "What in the name of Celestia is going on here!?" she cried.

Both Twilight and Rick gave a start on hearing this, having been lost in each other's eyes and both looked a little guilty but knew that the proverbial cat was out of the bag. "Should we tell her?" Twilight asked looking at Rick for confirmation.

"I don't think we have much choice in the matter. She's got us dead to rights so either we tell her or we'll need to start to think where to dump the body, " he said with a wink. The last thing they needed now was a misunderstanding.

"Well... you see Rainbow Dash... it's a little like... me and Rick..." Twilight stumbled through the words, not sure of what to say. But Rick stepped up to the challenge and came to her aid. "We're seeing each other. She's my fillyfriend and I love her." he turned to Twilight as he said this, and took her hoof in his hand. She smiled and felt a deep love for this human so strong that it almost bordered on an ache.

Dash, her mouth hanging open, looked at Twilight Sparkle for reassurance and seemed to deflate a bit when Twilight said that Rick was her coltfriend and added with a shy smile that they had just spent the night together. Again, the two lovers shared a smile and one of those looks before turning back to the cerulean pegasus.

"Rainbow Dash, please keep this to yourself for now. We'll tell the others soon, but we don't want everypony to know until we're ready. Okay?" Twilight asked her friend.

Rainbow Dash just nodded dumbly then turned around and walked out the door.

"Do you think she'll be okay with this?" Rick asked.

"I'm sure she'll come around to it once she gets to know you better. And don't worry about her telling anypony, she's able to keep her mouth closed."

Breakfast was done, they cleaned up and came the big question what they were going to do for the rest of the day. They really wanted to spend it together, but as Rick was still a virtual unknown in Ponyville and Twilight was an actual unknown on Earth there wasn't much they could do that didn't involve hanging in the library or hanging at Rick's place. It was Saturday back home and this was the day that Rick normally did his errands for the week, also he needed to clean up the apartment after last night. Twilight said that she needed to do some studying considering she put if off last night to watch the movies and didn't get back here until morning. Again, she blushed slightly thinking about last night as she looked up at her human lover. She reared up on her hind legs and hooked her forelegs over his shoulders. The result was twofold. It helped her to balance but also brought her face up closer to his so they could share a kiss.

When they broke their embrace Rick said "So tell you what. I should be done all this by the mid-afternoon maybe around 3ish. If you want, we can have dinner at my place or not. I don't want to push anything or make you feel like you have..." he was unable to finish his sentence as Twilight leaned in for another kiss in part because she wanted to but also to stop him from babbling.

"I'd love to have dinner with you tonight. What are you making?"

"Honestly I don't know, I never plan these things out in advance. I usually just go to the market and see what looks good." He stopped for a moment, a thought running through his head. "Twi, I know ponies don't eat meat so obviously I'm not going to make any of that for you, but what can you eat? I know you're okay with dairy and eggs but is there anything other than those or veggies you can eat? Can you eat fish or seafood? I know back home in certain countries they feed this to horses as part of their feed. Not that you're like a horse or anything..." Again, she leaned in for a kiss. She liked this when he started to babble, it was fun.

"Yes, we can although it's not something we do very often. Why? Are you planning on making some?"

"Not really, but it depends on what they have. I just don't want to limit myself if it's not necessary. Okay, so I'll get going and see you this evening." He pulled her close, they kissed and Rick walked back to his world. Twilight sighed, after he left and just stared at the closed door. She missed him already, but had things to do today. Shaking herself back to reality she trotted over to her workspace, pulled out a book and started taking notes.

As all of this was happening in the library, Spike was coming back from Rarity's place where he had recently started to spend the night since Rick showed up. Twilight had gone on a "date" with that human, he felt a little lonely so had gone over to her house. She agreed to let him stay if he helped her to clean up her workshop which he did as he'd do anything for that filly. All he got for his troubles was a quick peck on the cheek as she said goodnight, but if that was all she was willing to give him at this point, he'd take it.

"Morning Rainbow Dash!" he called out as the pegasus walked by him. She barely acknowledged his presence and just gave a half-hearted wave as she walked by. This was odd simply because unless she had to, Rainbow Dash flew everywhere. He was about to ask her what was wrong when he belched green fire and a scroll popped out of his mouth. Breaking the seal he read a few lines then ran to the library as fast as he could. Twilight Sparkle needed to know this right away.

"TWILIGHT!" Spike called as he ran into the library looking frantically for the pony.

"Spike? What's the matter?" she responded from her perch.

"It's the princess! She'll be here this afternoon and wants to speak to you about something. What are we going to do?"

Twi bit her lip and thought for a moment, she desperately didn't want to panic but how couldn't she? If the princess showed up and found out about her coltfriend she might get really angry, or worse. No, she needed to think about how to get through this.

"Okay, Rick's gone for the day and shouldn't be back until mid-afternoon but he won't come see me until the evening. The princess should be gone by then so they won't meet and nothing bad will happen. But something still needs to be done with that doorway, " she said glancing over at the plain white door. She thought for another moment and asked, "Spike? How well can you paint?"

Later that afternoon, the princess was finishing up her visit with Twilight. She had noticed that her student was acting a little more nervous than usual, but she thought that might just have to do with her informal visit. She was on her way to Fillydelphia and since Ponyville was on the way, there was no harm in stopping off for a few hours to visit and catch up. The weekly letters were nice, but when it came down to it you couldn't beat the face to face method.

"Again, please forgive us for stopping by with such little notice, " the princess said.

"Oh! No problem your highness. I always look forward to your visits, so does Spike, " Twilight said a little too cheerfully as she indicated Spike who was currently painting on a large canvas which had been stretched over the door thus hiding it's true purpose.

"Your painting is lovely Spike. We'd really like to see it when you're finished."

"O-o-of course your highness. I know it's not very good, but I'm still learning." he stammered.

And just then as she was still looking at the canvas, it moved... inwards and a voice called out, "Hey Twi, I'm done all my shopping so I wondered if you wanted to join me for... " he trailed off as he came face to face with a rather large white winged unicorn who he knew from speaking to Twilight had to be the princess. Everybody froze in place not knowing what to do next. They didn't get much time to think as the princess lowered her horn, and pawed at the ground as if getting ready to charge.

Rick tried to dart out of the way, seeing a large pointy horn being pointed at you is not something you want. Having the same horn in front of several hundred pounds of angry pony ready to rush you is really something you don't want. Unfortunately he couldn't move, there was a nimbus of white light surrounding him holding him fast. The Princess charged, time seemed to slow down, he looked at Twilight, wanting to tell her one last time how he felt, his lips moved but no sound came out.

In a flash, Twilight streaked forward, and threw herself in front of Rick, ready to either die with him at the end of Celestia's horn or at the very least spare his life in the process.

Celestia threw herself back, her hooves skidding on the floor and her wings thrown out to slow herself down. The two lovers closed their eyes, not wanting to see what happened next. Twilight whispered, "I love you" into his ear as she hugged him, he mouthed the same words as he still couldn't make a sound. Only when the noise had stopped and neither one of them were dead did they dare to look. The only thing they saw was a slightly ruffled Celestia looking back at them. Her horn glowed for a moment and Rick found himself able to move once again. He took Twilight in his arms and hugged her tight as she started sobbing slightly. He soothed her as best he could and enjoying the feeling of not only her in his arms but the fact that they were both still alive.

"We believe the two of you have some explaining to do."

Discovery

"Sorry, but before we start there's two things I need to know." When the princess nodded her head, Rick asked two questions that the Princess could honestly say she had never been asked before. "Okay, well, first of all... uhm and I'm sorry if this offends you but I need to know what's with the royal we? From what Twilight has mentioned about you she never said you were overly formal like this."

The Princess stopped for a moment, unsure of how to respond to such a question. On one hoof he was right and on the other hoof he was very blunt but that might have something to do with her trying to kill him after they first met. Most, when addressing her, would have been a little more careful in how they speak. "You're right of course. We... I mean 'I' was trying something out at the suggestion of my sister."

"Gotcha, I guess that makes about as much sense as anything. Question the second, if we're going to be here for a while, I just made some coffee right before I was almost killed walking through that door, was going to offer Twilight a cup and since you're here I figure I might as well offer you some as well."

"That would be most kind of you. Please, " the Princess gestured at the door with her hoof.

"I'll be right back babe, " Rick said to Twilight as he got up to walk back to his room. A few moments later he came back with three cups of coffee. One he placed in front of the Princess, one in front of Twilight and then served himself before sitting down once again. "I drink it black as does Twilight, but you can add milk or sugar to it if that's to your liking."

"Thank you no. Now, you were going to tell me how it was you managed to come here to Equestria and also how it was the two of you came together?"

"I wanted a spell to link the library with the library at Canterlot. If I needed a book, or if I wanted to see you faster I could just walk through the doorway and save myself the trip. I don't know what went wrong and then Rick just walked in on me and Spike when the spell had been completed." Twilight started. "At first, we didn't know what to do about it. I couldn't end the spell and so it just seemed like it was something we'd have to live with." She looked up at Rick with a smile on her face. He smiled back at her, ruffled her mane a bit and was ready to start on the next part when Celestia raised her hoof and said, "this will take too long for you to explain and for me to understand your motives here. With your permission, I'm going to perform a small spell that will link our minds. We'll be... an audience of sorts while the scene plays around us. Just try to think of the times you've had together and the moments that brought you both here now.

Her horn glowed, there was a feeling of vertigo and fragments of conversations floated through the air. All in all Rick supposed it felt a little like being transported to Oz, at least that's the impression he got with all the swirling around and people talking. After a moment the feeling passed and they found themselves in the library once again, but just after Twilight Sparkle had completed her spell.

"I don't know Twilight, " Spike said with a little concern in his voice. "It's pretty plain for a library door. Looks kinda cheap. I would have thought that the door was fancier, and heavier."

A moment later, a half-asleep Rick walked out in the process of shedding his clothes. He looked confusedly at the library, the unicorn and the dragon. They looked confusedly at him. He slapped himself across the face. There was much looking back and forth as well as looking at where he came from until he broke the silence by asking what the hell was going on.

"You speak Equestrian?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"Twilight?" Spike finally said once he got over the shock. "I don't think he's from Canterlot".

"Sorry, I think we need to start at the beginning, " Twilight Sparkle said. "My name is Twilight Sparkle and this is Spike, " she said indicating the dragon standing next to her.

"Hi!" Spike said.

"Hi yourself. My name's Rick and I still don't know where I am or what I'm doing here."

"You're in Ponyville in the land of Equestria".

"Of course I am. Where else would talking ponies come from?" Rick asked rhetorically with only a touch of his normal sarcasm.

"Sorry, that was rhetorical. Maybe you can tell me how I got here?"

"Oh of course. I tried to make a magic doorway to the library at Canterlot and instead I seem to have connected it to your world instead.

Rick left the room to check if the whole room had been transported or if it was just the doorway that was at fault.

"Spike! Do you realise what this means?" Twilight Sparkle asked her friend excitedly.

"Yeah, we're going to have to board up that door so he can't come back in."

"No! He's from a different world! A completely different world and we're the only ones that know about him. Think of all the things we could learn!" Twilight was so excited at being the first to discover something new that she was trembling with excitement which made her hooves sound like tiny castanets on the floor. "I need to get a quill and write all this down!" she rummaged all around trying to find what she needed and almost didn't catch it when Rick walked back in through the doorway.

"Sure, I guess. Uhmmm, what do ponies eat for breakfast?"

"Oh the usual things, grass, hay, flowers, fruits, muffins..."

"Fruits and muffins? We could definitely do those. I'm not really equipped for the grass, hay or flowers."

The scene faded at that point and they were back in the library minus the surround sound totally immersive video they had been watching.

"That's right after I showed up here. Breakfast became a bit of a tradition. I'd show up in the morning, we'd have breakfast and talk for a bit. Eventually I introduced Twilight to coffee and occasionally bring over some baked goods, fruits and stuff from home although I have to admit Pinky Pie or Applejack are a lot better at baking than I am." Rick said. Twilight just nodded in agreement.

"And when did this relationship of yours start? Please focus on that."

They were taken aback by this question and didn't really know where to start. Yes, they had started off as friends and had become lovers. The lovers part was obvious as it just happened the night before but when did they become friends? There was no time to really think about it before the white glow surrounded them once again. But this time it wasn't a linear type of story like the last time but little, almost disjointed vignettes that floated to the surface for a moment before disappearing again.

Just about everything in this room was built for a giant, or at the very least not a pony. She was able to make out a bed, an odd looking chair, a bookshelf, a closet and... a some strange glowing thing on what looked like a desk. It had the look of a picture frame but there was light coming out of it. Next to it was a large, black box that made a humming noise which is part of where the strange sounds were coming from. It was fascinating and she couldn't help but stare.

"I see you've noticed my PC."

"Pee See? What is it?"

"So this is happening now? If you were to go outside could I see you there and here as well?" she asked excitedly.

The scene changed, this was several days later during one of their breakfasts.

"And what is all this?" Twilight asked pointing to the items on the table.

"That is a croissant. That is a 'pain au chocolat' which is practically the same thing but with chocolate in the centre. That is a baguette. There is of course butter, strawberry, raspberry and blueberry jam and marmalade if you happen to like that stuff. And a bit of a fruit salad made with fresh berries, melon, pineapple and whatever else I was able to scrounge up. Please, help yourself. And if I'm not mistaken, " Rick added by sniffing the air dramatically, "my coffee is ready."

"Could... you get me one too?" Twilight asked a little shyly.

"No, this will be fine, " she took a sip and smiled back at him. "Perfect".

Again, that discontinuity followed by another scene:

Twilight walked into Rick's room as he was in the process of getting changed. She didn't quite get the idea of clothes on him as to her they were only worn on special occasions but these humans dressed every day. So she wasn't expecting him to be clad in absolutely nothing. She did however blush, apologised to him for barging in like that and closed the door behind her. "Oh my, " she said once the door was closed. Yes, she liked what she saw even if he wasn't a pony and she thought he had the cutest cutie mark except it was on his arm for some reason.

Rick walked out of his room, dressed in a t-shirt and shorts and blushing a bit himself. "Yeah, I would appreciate it if you knocked next time you wanted to come in."

"Sure, sorry I did that I just wasn't thinking, " she responded. "But it's funny, I never knew humans had cutie marks too."

"I'm sorry? What do you mean?"

"The cutie mark on your arm, like the one ponies have on their flanks, " she turned her flank towards him to emphasise it and it was a good thing he was still a little red from blushing earlier because he felt the heat rising to his cheeks once more.

Shaking his head for a moment to get rid of the image of Twilight shaking her booty in front of him he commented, "that's not a cutie mark, that's known as a tattoo. Although you could say that it's almost the same concept."

Another scene change:

They're both sitting in the library after hours, an empty bottle of wine and a couple of half-filled cups between them. Rick is currently telling a story while Twilight is laughing at the retelling.

The scene faded out with Twilight starting up another funny story. It was replaced by another scene of the two of them lying on a blanket in a field looking up at the stars.

The scene changed to one on Earth with a similar look but now it was Rick pointing out the constellations he was familiar with.

"Over there you have Pegasus, the winged horse. Those four stars make up the body. The head is there and the hooves are there. Up there, right above us is Ursa Minor or the little bear and that one a little bit to the right is Ursa Major or the great bear. The star in the tail is called Polaris or the North Star. It's always north and was used to navigate back in ancient times. Surrounding the little bear is Draco the dragon...."

The library came back into focus and Celestia looked at them thoughtfully. "Most illuminating." She turned to Rick and asked him, "would you mind stepping out of the room for a moment? I would like to speak with my student alone if you don't mind." Rick got up, gave Twilight's mane a little ruffle, said, "don't worry, I won't be too far", walked back into his room and shut the door.

"Now, my little pony. I need to hear it from you directly. Do you honestly love this... human?"

Twilight fidgeted a bit, took a deep breath and looked her mentor in the eyes. "With all my heart. I've never felt this way for anypony before. He's kind, he's smart and me makes me laugh. He sees things in me that I never considered before like I'm not just a bookworm but I'm a mare. In school the stallions saw me as a way to help them study and once they got what they wanted they never came back. With him, it was the opposite. We became friends first and then little by little started having feelings for each other. It all came to a head last night and all that pent up passion just kind exploded and here we are."

"And what about your friends? Do they approve?"

"They don't actually know that we're more than friends. Rainbow Dash does, at least I think she does because she caught us making goo goo eyes this morning." Twilight blushed thinking back to getting caught which also made her think about the sex the night before. But they don't disapprove of him."

"Thank you, would you call him back? I'd like to speak with him too." Twilight got up and went to the doorway. Opening it enough so that she could talk to Rick she invited him back. They sat down in front of the Princess. "Twilight, if you would be so kind as to leave the two of us alone for a moment?" Twilight got up to leave but Rick took one of Twilight's hooves in one hand and placed his other arm around her body, holding her close. The message was clear. The Princess gave a little nod of understanding.

"Twilight speaks well of you but I want to know, do you honestly love her?"

Rick looked at Twilight who blushed shyly and smiled back at him. "Yes, I do. I never would have considered inter-species romance to be possible but then I never met a species as fascinating as you ponies. In the end, it's not really the body that makes a difference. It's the person, or in this case the pony, inside. I'll honestly tell you that had Twilight been human, I would have asked her out a long time ago. But in this case it just took longer to understand what it was I feeling when I saw her. I love her for who she is and I have no intention of leaving her or moving on." Twilight gave a small sob at those words, he leaned over and hugged her with both arms, gently rubbing her side and placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head. She sniffled for a few moments more, he kissed the tears away and turned back to the Princess.

Celestia looked at them both, then stood up and demanded that they follow her. Flanked by her guards, they marched directly to the town hall. Both of them felt a little self-conscious. This was the first time the majority of Ponyville had seen this tall, strange looking creature now following the Princess. It didn't take long before a sizeable crowd had gathered behind them wanting to see what was going on. They walked up to the town hall, the crowd waited outside eager to see what was happening. After a few moments the mayor and Princess came out followed by Twilight Sparkle and Rick. Assorted murmurs went through the crowd. Rick turned to Twilight and said, "no matter what happens next, I'm not losing you and we'll face this together." Twilight just nodded and stood a little closer to her lover.

"Citizens of Ponyville, " the Princess started. "I come before you today with a proclamation. We find in our midst a being from another world and the pony that sheltered him. For almost two months he has come to Ponyville and stayed hidden out of fear. This is unacceptable behaviour. Nopony should feel unwelcome in our lands even if they are not a pony. All are deserving of our respect and our friendship. And so I saw to not only the residents of Ponyville but to Rick our friend from another world 'Welcome to Equestria'. I grant you permission to stay here as long as you wish and I also say that you and Twilight Sparkle have my personal blessing to be with each other." There was a bit of a uproar from the crowd who heard this and didn't necessarily approve. The Princess looked the assorted Ponies over and finished with, "these two are under my protection and my jurisdiction. Let nopony harm them or discriminate against them for whatever reason."

A lone voice from the crowd cried out, "Yippeeee!" as the speaker jumped up in the air. Yes, it was Pinkie Pie and this was all the excuse she needed to throw a party. She raced off to make the preparations and Rick and Twilight walked up to the Princess.

"Thank you your majesty. I don't know what the proper protocol is for this but you have my most humble and sincere thanks." Rick then knelt down in front of the Princess, bowing his head in what he hoped was a gesture of respect.

"You may rise Rick and please call me Celestia." She leaned in a little conspiratorially and whispered, "I don't much go in for all the pomp and circumstance myself but sometimes it's expected. I only ask that you treat my student with the love and respect that I know you have for her."

"Gladly Celestia." He glanced down at Twilight, smiled at her and said, "I'm sure I'll have no problem with that."

Boyz and Mares

"What is he doing?" Rainbow Dash asked herself as she saw the human in the field behind the library swinging a pole around. She had been watching him, surreptitiously from atop her cloud for the past half hour and couldn't quite figure out what he was doing except he kept doing it over and over again. Slowly she moved her cloud forward to get a better look.

For the past 30 minutes or so Rick had been in the field behind the library working on his technique with the bo. He had gotten interested in martial arts when he was only 8 and had seen his first BruceLee movie. Over the next several years he had drifted from one dojo to the next never really liking how they taught or how they placed too much emphasis on sparring. It wasn't until he came to the dojo of his Sensei Tim Millar that he actually liked the way this balding former marine taught. For Tim, it wasn't about the fighting or the belts, it was about adopting the proper mindset and learning the reasons behind the movements and how the language of war was hidden in the kata they did.

As time went by, his attendance there became more and more sporadic as real life intruded in his training and he had to abandon it altogether. Now, he found himself in a position where it might be necessary to start practicing again if for no other reason than to protect Twilight and himself. While most of Ponyville accepted him and even welcomed him, there was a small minority that seemed to resent him in some way. It wasn't always obvious and sometimes he wondered if it wasn't just his mind playing tricks on him because he didn't yet understand Pony culture but occasionally when he went through town he heard some somepony yell, "monkey" and once or twice he had a piece of fruit chucked at him. Good thing the ponies were rather poor shots and nobody actually did anything to his face. He did worry about Twilight though so he felt it was in her best interest as well as his to pick up his bo and start practicing again.

Just like anything you've learned for a long time, your muscles remember the work and it didn't take long before he started getting back into the swing of things. He even started wearing his old dogi while practicing. Tim called this a form of "bio-feedback" in that the slapping of the sleeves when you made the movements showed how well you were actually doing it. So this is where he found himself, in the field going through his kihon and practicing the individual movements before breaking into the kata and trying to imagine an opponent fighting him.

Halfway through the first one, he noticed that there was an errant cloud slowly making its way towards him. Usually this would not be a call for alarm but the cloud in question was barely a dozen feet off the ground and he could swear that he saw a pair of eyes looking at him only to pull back when he turned to face them. He repeated the kata, and the cloud stayed where it was. He went to repeat it a third time but right after beginning instead of turning to the right and striking the first imaginary opponent he spun and thrust the staff into the cloud. He didn't hit anything but there was a startled cry of "Hey!" and a certain colourfully maned pegasus appeared.

"Whaddya do that for? You trying to kill me?" Rainbow Dash cried.

"Why are you trying to spy on me?" Rick answered.

Rainbow Dash sputtered a bit, not prepared for this kind of questioning before saying, "I wasn't spying on you, I was just taking a nap and drifted too close." It was a weak lie and when Rick didn't buy it she admitted "Okay, I was just wondering what it was you were doing."

"I'm practicing with my bo in case I need to protect Twilight or myself."

Rainbow Dash snorted at this. "You protect Twilight? Oh Puh-leeze! She's one of the strongest ponies in all of Equestria. With her magic, she could take just about any pony down."

"Oh, I know that. But what if we get ambushed, or she gets hit from behind or there's just too many for her to handle. She might need someone who's got her back and I intend to be that person."

"Okay, you've got a point. But what if you don't have a stick handy? Or somepony breaks the stick?"

Dropping the bo to the ground he said, "then I'd use my arms or legs if need be, " with that he broke out some punches and kicks that looked impressive enough or at least sounded impressive the way that his dogi snapped at each one.

Rainbow Dash looked like she was going to say something at this, then seemingly changed her mind and drifted down from her cloud.

"So can you show me something?"

"Show you something or teach you something? I'm not stopping you from sitting there and watching I just don't like people spying on me."

"You know what I meant. Are you monkeys so dumb you can't figure out simple Equestrian?" Rainbow Dash started to smile which meant she was enjoying the verbal sparring.

"It's gotta be simple if you're using it. Besides, anypony that knew any kind of martial art would know what it was I was doing even if they couldn't recognise the style."

"Oh right, it's my fault that you're sloppy and move like a pony with a broken leg."

"Nah, I was just being obvious about it kinda like the way you were spying on me."

"Ouch! Okay Mr. Martial Arts Master. Can you teach me something?"

"Well I don't know. You're pretty stubborn and all that. So how about you show me something first?"

"What do you mean?"

"Show me your style. Demonstrate your best form or kata or whatever it is ponies call it."

She thought for a moment, shook herself, took a deep breath and then launched herself into the air. There was no real way to describe it and honestly Rick had no frame of reference for what she did next but he could recognise certain things. The first was, she was good. Her moves were precise, the kicks and punches appeared to have some power behind them although there was very little in what appeared to be defence. Instead of blocking a blow, her style seemed to call for moving out of the way before rushing in to deliver a counter blow. And secondly, he didn't know if he could actually teach her anything. Her style was completely aerial, his style involved gravity.

"So whaddya think? Am I awesome or am I awesome?" Rainbow Dash asked once she had landed.

"Very impressive, but I don't know what it is I can really teach you. Our styles are completely different and we'd have to start right at the very beginning."

"That's okay, I don't mind."

"Okay, if you want. How's your balance? Can you stand on your two back hooves without falling down?"

"Pfff. That's kid stuff, " she said as she stood up bringing her to eye level.

"Nice. Can you throw a straight punch? Try to hit my hand, " Rick said placing his hand before her. She threw a punch but obviously wasn't ready for it as she stumbled a bit, the punch threw her off balance and she tipped forward. Rick wasn't ready for this, so she practically fell on top of him. Her eyes filling his vision, her lips so close to his that he could feel her breathe. They froze like that for a moment then she pulled herself away, shot into the sky and disappeared.

All the while this was happening a pair of eyes watched them from a nearby bush. The one watching didn't like it that they didn't kiss. It would have been great to tell Twilight Sparkle that her stallion wasfooling around with another mare but Rainbow Dash had to ruin it by flying away.

"He's also a lot more dangerous than I thought he was, " the watcher thought as Rick picked himself up, brushed himself off and got his equipment before heading back to the library.

Twilight was not having a good day. Her research into the spell she was trying to craft was leading nowhere. Every time she felt like she was making progress, something would pop up in the calculations that threw everything off. Dammit! Argh! She threw her hooves into the air and put her face down on the desk in frustration.

She jumped a bit when she felt a couple of hands on her shoulders. Obviously Rick wanted to comfort her. He wasn't much good in the library, after all he couldn't really read or write their language and she was next to useless trying to comprehend his. How is it possible that those squiggles he read actually made any sense? But he did try to help out from time to time which included fetching the books she needed and replacing them back on the shelves when done. She was about to tell him that she was okay and would be going back to her studies when she noticed he was doing the most amazing things with his hands. He was... kneading her muscles and forcing them to relax. It felt really odd, but so incredible at the same time. He slowly worked his way along her neck, paying special attention to her shoulders where she was incredibly tense at the moment. He started to move his way down her back when he stopped. She started to say that she wasn't done yet and to please continue.

"Yeah, I will but you're in the wrong position. Follow me." He led her to her bed and had her lie down on her front. When she had done so and was feeling comfortable, he started again on her back.Twilight bit her pillow in an attempt to keep her from moaning in pleasure. Oh sweet Celestia! This felt so good! The same fingers that were so gentle when holding her or stroking her were now these powerful digits that were making short work of her tense muscles.

"If you want me to focus on a certain area or if I'm hurting you in any way, please tell me otherwise I'm just going to assume you're actually enjoying this, " he said.Twilight just mumbled something into her pillow. Words were not something she had any real control over at the moment but it came out in an encouraging way so he continued his work.Further and further down his hands moved, unworking the kinks and knots that she didn't even know she had. He traced his fingers up her spine, slowly pressing and working the vertebrae slightly as he went. And when they reached her neck, he worked the shoulders a bit more and now using the heel of his hand slowly worked his way down again. He worked a bit on her rump, not necessarily because she was tense there but because she just had a nice one and it was an excuse to get his hands on it. Down one leg he moved, gently kneading the muscles and gently ending rubbing her hoof before moving and up the other one and just like that he was done. Twilight just lay there, completely at peace and feeling more relaxed than she had felt in... well... whenever. So relaxed was she that she didn't realise Rick had walked off until she heard him walk back in with a cool glass of lemonade. At least she thought it was lemonade at first, but no, it had a slightly different taste to it. It was familiar but she couldn't quite place it.

"It's limeade with ginger and basil. I made it earlier today, thought you'd like a glass right about now, " he raised his own glass in salute and took a long sip.

"You really know how to spoil a mare don't you?" Twilight said while Rick just smirked and shrugged a bit. She beckoned him closer, he smiled as he approached and they kissed, softly and gently but passionately. It was a kiss you share with a lover simply because you love them, there was no other meaning or reason for it. "Thank you, " she said running her hoof across his cheek, "that was exactly what I needed but I think it's time for me to get back to work." She procrastinated there for a bit before sighing and walking back downstairs. She still needed to get that spell working. Rick would be so happy when she did and it would open up a whole new world for her to discover. She however wanted it to remain a surprise so she hadn't told him what it was yet. Before she was able to get back to her studies the door opened and Rarity walked in.

"Twilight Darling! You're still here? We have a spa appointment in 5 minutes. Did you forget?"

Twilight, looking a little panicked, asked, "that was today? I thought that was tomorrow. Sorry, sorry, I'll be right there. Rick was helping me to relax a bit because I was too tense so I lost track of time."

"Oh really?" Rarity said with a wicked gleam to her eye. "I'll bet he did. He's such a strong a virile stallion I must say I'm jealous that you have him to service you whenever you're feeling tense." The way she emphasised the word and how she looked at the two of them made it more than clear she was speaking euphemistically.

"What? No, nothing like that. He kept his clothes on, put his hands all over me and then made me something to drink."

"Of course he did darling. And Richard, just to tell you we're having a bit of a mare's night tonight so after the spa we're going to be dining out. Twilight shouldn't be home too late. Taa!"

And with that Rarity and Twilight left to go to the spa. This left Rick with no plans although he did have an idea.

"Spike? You around here?" he called.

"Yeah, what do you want?" Spike asked as he poked his head out of the kitchen.

"Twi and the fillies are going out tonight so it just looks like it's you and me. Wanna hang out, maybe have a bit of a boyz night? I don't think we've ever hung out before and since I'm seeing Twilight I think we should."

Spike ran this through his mind for a moment and thought it might not be a bad idea. After all he didn't know much about Rick first hand and it might be a good way to learn more about this guy.

"Okay, sounds good to me. Wanna go over to Sugarcube Corners and get something to eat?" Spike asked.

"Actually, I've got a better idea. Follow me." Rick closed the library and led Spike back to his room where they made their way to Rick's apartment. He didn't know much about kids but he did know what they liked.

"Wow, this place is so cool! No wonder Twilight likes to hang out here so much!" Spike said as he wandered through the apartment. Rick turned on the TV, pulled out a couple of controllers and asked Spike, "have you ever heard of Xbox?"

Meanwhile, the fillies were enjoying their afternoon at the spa. Currently they were only missing Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Applejack said she was too busy for it and Rainbow Dash just felt it was too girly.

"So tell me girls, what have you been up to?" Rarity asked as she lay in the hot tub.

"Oh! Me me me me! Pick me!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly.

"Yes Pinkie Pie?"

"Well today I woke up and I had a cupcake and it tasted so good that I had another and then I went to visit BonBon and she had this new candy that she wanted to try out so I tried it and it wasn't bad but it wasn't great either but I ate it anyway because it was candy and how can somebody not like candy then I went and bought some apples because they were nice and juicy..." Pinkie went on at length about her day and what she did today. It was amazing to hear her speak not just because it was stream of consciousness but because she just spoke on and on. Eventually Rarity turned to Twilight as Pinkie's voice faded into the background. "So tell me darling, how's your beau?"

"He's great, but sometimes I know he feels a little out of place here."

"I'm sure he does, being the only human stallion around with none of his kind."

"It's not just that, when we go out in Ponyville he wants to pay some of the time. It's a human custom, but he doesn't have any bits to pay with so I wind up paying and he feels a little down because of it. He does however try to make it up to me later."

"So there are perks to being with him?"

"Oh yes, " Twilight smiled a little dreamily. "He's a great cook, a gentle lover, brainy without being a know-it-all and that thing he did with his hands today." She closed her eyes and shivered a bit in remembrance of it. This was not lost on Rarity who pushed her to find out more. When she mentioned what he did including the limeade Rarity had to stop her to see if she had heard correctly.

"You mean he gave you a massage?" Rarity asked a little incredulous.

"Is that what it was? I've never had one before but all I know is that it felt great!"

"No darling, you don't understand. Your human gave you a massage, for free and you obviously liked it which must mean he was pretty good." She leaned in conspiratorially and said, "do you know how much Aloe and Lotus charge for a good massage? He could give them on the side, or possibly even part-time here and earn some bits to take you out. How does that sound?"

"Actually that sounds pretty good. No, it sounds great. I'll let him know. Thank you Rarity." Twilight smiled at her friend.

"Oh think nothing of it dear. Just remember who gave you the idea and that I get a free massage from him as a kind of signup bonus."

"...and then we came here and you asked what we had been up to." Pinkie finally finished her speech and promptly passed out from not breathing during the entire spiel. During all of this, Fluttershy sat in the hot tub, trying her best not to attract any attention to herself and thankful that nobody had asked her about her day. It didn't last long as Rarity turned to her and asked, "and you dear? Anything exciting happen to you recently?"

Fluttershy just squeaked a bit and shook her head. Rarity sighed, got out of the hot tub and announced that she was ready for her mask.

During all of this, things were heating up at Rick's.

Right now they were deathamtching in Halo 3. Rick was taking it easy on Spike, letting the little guy snipe him a few times and also not teabagging him when he finally sniped him back. There was some trash talk going back and forth, but nothing really too bad. After all, Spike was still a kid. Soon there came a knock on the door, Rick paused the game and asked Spike to make sure he stayed out of sight. Rick walked to the door, there were a few muted words and Rick came back bearing a large, flat box and some metal cylinders.

"You guys have pizza here?" Spike asked excitedly.

"Yeah, actually we invented it. I don't know where the ponies came up with it though. Same thing with cupcakes, sandwiches, pies, cakes, pasta and the list goes on. But, one thing you don't have is this." He pulled out one of the cylinders, pulled the tab and there was a whooshing sound that came from the can. Passing it to Spike, he pulled one out himself and opened it. "Cheers!" Rick said and took a long drink. Spike sniffed the contents of the can and gave a tentative sip. His eyes lit up and soon he had drunk about half of it before giving a mighty belch with some
accompanying green flame. "What is this stuff? It's great!"

"Root beer, " Rick said. Then passing Spike a napkin, they dug into the pizza.

The fillies had finally met up at the restaurant, an upscale place called "Chez Antoine". Drinks had been ordered and they were currently engaging in Rarity's second favourite activity, gossiping.

"Ah'm telling y'all that she dyes her mane. Ah've seen her when she comes to market and there have been times that she's had dark roots."

"Derpy's got her eye on the good Doctor, or maybe I should say she's got her good eye on the Doctor. " Rainbow Dash snorted at her own joke.

"I like Derpy because she likes muffins and anybody that likes muffins can't be a bad pony!"

"Well, I don't know much about that but Angel Bunny did the cutest thing today, " but nobody really wanted to hear about Fluttershy's rabbit.

Orders were taken, drinks were consumed and the girl talk continued.

During all this, Spike and Rick were sharing a moment.

"It feels weird, but kinda good at the same time, " Spike said.

"It's supposed to, just go with it, let it happen and who knows?"

"But, she's a unicorn and I'm a dragon. How are we supposed to make it work?"

"Spike, look at Twilight and me. We're two different species but we've made it work. It took a while for me to realise it though, maybe Rarity just needs time to figure it out. I can't really tell you how to proceed, but she does like you. What you need to do now is to find out where you and she really connect."

"So how did you and Twilight... connect?"

Rick chuckled a bit and thought back to when they had first met. "Well, originally I just saw her as a tiny lavender unicorn. I had no frame of reference where she was concerned and I was shocked when she finally spoke the first time. Talking animals don't exist on my world, or at least ones you can have an actual conversation with. As time went on... we became friends. We'd hang out together and sometimes I found myself making excuses to ask her something simply to be around her. I also found out after we got together that she would do the same thing. She has a passion for books and learning which I adore. As we grew closer I started seeing her less as a pony and more as a person. Then finally we shared a kiss and in that moment I knew that I had found my special somepony. What you need to do with Rarity is find that one thing that you connect on. Once you find that, you're set."

"Thanks Rick! This actually really helps."

"No problem Spike, just think of me as a big brother. And if I'm not mistaken, I think I've got some chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer. Want some?"

"Sure would... big bro, " Spike gave the new word a try looking at Rick expectantly.

"Not a problem, be right back little bro."

A little while later, Spike had finally fallen asleep. Rick had carried him back to the library and placed him in his bed. At that point, as he was making his way downstairs a drunken Twilight stumbled into the library. She gave him a big, sloppy smile and slurred, "there he is, my big bucking stallion. The fillies loved talking about you tonight and getting all the juicy details of our relationship."

"So I'm guessing went well?" he asked her.

"You better bucking believe it big boy." Twilight stumbled over to him and tried to rear up to kiss him but in her state she was in danger of falling over and hurting herself. Rick caught her just in time. "I love you, " she slurred and tried to bring her head around to kiss him but missed and wound up landing on his shoulder. She sighed happily, started swaying back and forth while humming and making "la la" sounds to the melody currently in her head.

"C'mon, " he said picking her up as best he could and grunting slightly in the process. "You're going to bed."

"Oooh, trying to take advantage of me? Well I'm not that kind of mare, " she giggled. "But if you're nice maybe we can come to some kind of deal."

He pulled back the covers, placed her gently in bed and tucked her in. When he got up to leave she cried out, "nooo! Come back! Twilight wants a hug," and beckoned him closer. Smiling, he walked back, undressed and got in bed with her. He held her close and 30 seconds later she passed out.

"G'night Twi, " he kissed the top of her head, turned out the light and went to sleep himself.

A Heated Exchange

"Your game is off tonight, is something bothering you?" Rick asked as he took Twilight's Queen. He had introduced her to chess a little while ago and she had picked it up rather quickly. She still wasn't at his level but considering he had learned it as a child and she had only learned it maybe a couple months ago that was to be expected.

"No, just feeling a little off, " Twilight responded a evasively. She was blushing a bit and not looking directly at him or maybe she was just hot and flushed because she was sweating. He reached out to feel her forehead, not really knowing if you could tell a pony had a fever that way. She flinched back at his touch then pressed her head into his hand. After a moment her eyes closed and she started rubbing her head and face against his hand. Her lips ran across his palm, she started nuzzling and nibbling his fingers while her tail thrashed about before she suddenly stopped and pulled back. Trembling, she moved one of her pawns forward and mumbled, "your turn".

"Babe, what's up? This is not exactly normal behaviour for you." He was getting a little concerned here. She seemed to running hot then cold. That thing with his hand was a little arousing, then to suddenly stop as if embarrassed just wasn't her. They had been together as a couple for about a month now and there was no reason for her to start acting all shy all of a sudden. "Twi, can you at least look at me? Did I do something wrong?"

She fidgeted in her seat and seemed to be fighting with herself. It was like she wanted to say something but couldn't for whatever reason. She had been okay when he showed up tonight and during dinner had seemed a little distracted but nothing really odd. It's only when she suggested they play chess instead of their usual cuddle on the couch that things seemed to go downhill.

He stood up and walked around to her. Lifting her chin up to look in her face he saw her eyes were a little glassy, she was breathing a lot harder than usual and her tail seemed to be trembling almost as if she was trying very hard to keep it under control. "I'm taking you to see the doctor, I don't like the look of this, " he said voicing the concern he felt. But when he got up, she grabbed a hold of him and simply said, "no. No doctor."

"Then what's going on babe? You're not looking good, you're not acting like yourself, your breathing is heavy and I don't like how your eyes are glazed over like a couple doughnuts. Something is up and you're not talking to me. I'm more than just a little concerned here."

Twilight mumbled something that he didn't quite understand.

"Sorry, can you run that by me again?"

She took a deep breath to possibly calm herself and said as clearly as she could, "I'm in heat. It started today but I ran out of the herbs mares use to control it. I had hoped that I could get some before it got to this point but then you showed up and it sent my hormones into overdrive. All I can think about right now is getting you naked and just having my way with you, " she was practically panting by the time she had finished.

"Okay, so what's the problem? We do that all the time and when was the last time I said no to you."

"You don't get it. As much as I want you right now I can't do anything about it. I'm fertile. If we do it I'll get pregnant and I'm not ready for that now. Arrgh! This is torture! I want you to touch me so badly, to wrap your strong arms around me and just take me but I can't risk it!" Tears were forming in her eyes and it was obvious she was very upset with the situation.

"Uhm, how do you think you'll get pregnant? Unless is magic somehow involved?"

"What?"

"We're two completely different species here. If I remember my high school biology, the only way you'd get pregnant is if we're the same species. Yes, I know the whole genus thing can work but the organisms need to be similar and even then the offspring are rarely viable. Hell, our chromosomes probably don't even line up."

She perked up a bit at the mention of chromosomes. "How many do you have? How many chromosomes do humans carry?"

"23 pairs, 46 in total."

"It's different... we have different chromosome counts... we can do this and I won't get pregnant..., " she was coming across a little manic right now, but then her mind was a stew of hormones at the moment so this was understandable. She shook her head, of course the rational side of her should have known this but rational was not something she necessarily had access to at this point. Still she needed to be sure. "You only have 46 chromosomes? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I did pretty well in the genetics portion of the course."

Twilight felt a surge of lust and had to stop herself from throwing herself at her coltfriend right then. If what he said was right, there really couldn't be a way for her to get pregnant. Taking a deep breath, she simply said, "Rick, I need you to take that cute butt of yours into your room and do me. I don't want gentle, I don't want foreplay, I need you inside me now."

"Whatever you say boss, " he said as he was herded into his bedroom with Twilight close on his tail. She practically ripped the clothes from his body, pushed him onto the bed and got up there herself.

A short time later found the couple sweaty & breathing hard but filled with a warm glow. They were relaxing after what could only be called a sexual collision.

"Twi, that was intense and I think you came close to actually breaking something."

"Mmmm, sorry if I hurt you but I really needed that."

"Does that mean you're okay now?"

"Okay for the moment. I'll be getting heated again sometime tomorrow morning. I should be able to get the necessary herbs then but that doesn't mean you're off the hook buster. That was the absolute best sex I've had in a while and we're going to be doing it again, a lot. It'll hopefully just be a little less manic next time, " she yawned widely then snuggled in for the night. "G'night, " she said with a smile.

"G'night to you too."

The next morning Rick awoke to a rather strange sensation, namely the feeling of somepony's mouth on a very sensitive part of his anatomy. Looking down he noticed that Twilight was hard at work getting him ready and her work had definitely made something hard.

"Morning Twi. Lemme guess, you're all heated and ready to go?"

She nodded, a little woodenly but the familiar glassy eyed look from last night had returned. Instead of getting on top like she had last night, she simply got off the bed, turned her hindquarters to him and presented. He got the message. It wasn't a position they used often, but it wasn't completely alien either. He gently grasped her tail and moved it out of the way.

"Hard and fast Rick. Just rut me like there's no tomorrow, " she panted. He obliged enthusiastically.

Even though he wasn't able to maintain this for very long, she was more than satisfied with it. It seems the feeling of him coming inside her was all she needed during this time. They rested a bit afterwards then went to get cleaned up. Her shower was too small for both of them, but his was just right. Another trip outside through the window and back inside his apartment later and they were both getting lathered up in the shower. She enjoyed running her hooves over his wet soapy body and it was always fun to just play a bit without things needing to get too serious.

Once breakfast had been taken care of, she kissed him quickly and went off to Fluttershy's get the herbs. It was a beautiful morning, the weather control team had done a great job and everything just felt so good.

Knocking on the door, she heard a faint, 'one moment' coming from the other side before Fluttershy timidly poked her head out.

"Oh, Twilight, it's you. What can I do for you today?"

"Hi Fluttershy. I need some herbs because I ran out and I hoped you had some, " Twilight answered a little evasively.

"Herbs? What kind of herbs? I have all sorts not only for healing but for cooking as well."

It was always so difficult talking to Fluttershy about things like this. The pony was so demure and easily embarrassed that Twilight almost felt dirty talking to her about this. "The ones a mare needs every few months?" Fluttershy still looked at her blankly. "You know, she needs them when things get too hot?" Fluttershy still didn't seem to get what Twilight was referring to. "Oh for Celestia's sake, I'm in heat. Do you have any marequil?" When in doubt, just go for being blunt.

Fluttershy went red with embarrassment at the mention of this, only managed a squeak in response and quickly dashed back inside. Twilight was left there, standing by the open door wondering if this counted as a "yes" or a "no". A few moments later, Fluttershy came back and gave her a neatly tied up package.

"Sorry about that, you caught me by surprise. There should be enough for the next three days in there."

"Thanks, but I only need enough for today and maybe tomorrow morning"

Fluttershy looked a little confused by these words. A mare was in heat for about 3 days every 6 months. Why would Twilight only need enough for 2 more days unless her heat started yesterday. She blushed again as she was the unofficial healer and occasionally helped out the mares to cool them down so to speak. She didn't like it, but there are things a healer needs to do for her patients and this was one of them. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise, please come this way and I'll get the cooler ready."

"No, you don't understand I didn't come here for that. You know who my coltfriend is right?" Fluttershy nodded and Twilight continued, "well, my heat started yesterday afternoon I was out of marequil and before I could go and get some he showed up and it just took over. He's been great about it, helping me 'cool off' last night and again this morning. It was exquisite. Usually with him it's really good, but those times it was just mind-blowing. I've never had sex when I was in heat before, except using a cooler and while that was okay it doesn't come even close to having the real thing. And the best part about it he can't get me pregnant!" Twilight was grinning from ear to ear now and Fluttershy was unsure if she should be shocked or intrigued. "He explained it all last night, we're a completely different species with a completely different chromosome count. He only has 46, we've got 52."

"That must be nice, " Fluttershy said but her face screwed up a bit as she thought of something. "But if that's the case, why do you need the marequil?"

"Well, that's just to help me focus and to help me get through the rest of the day. When he comes over tonight though..., " she left the implication hanging with a wicked leer which left nothing to the imagination.

Fluttershy blushed again and looked away shyly. She wanted to ask Twilight if maybe she could borrow him when she went into heat. After all, having a coltfriend that couldn't get you pregnant but helped your symptoms must be something special but she couldn't make the words come out. Twilight completely misunderstood what was going on and simply thought Fluttershy was a little overwhelmed with the information.

"Thanks Fluttershy, I'll be going. I don't want to intrude on you any longer."

Fluttershy, her cheeks flaming, merely squeaked in response and shut the door.

Returning to the library, she found Rick in his room already hard at work typing away on his keyboard and nodding his head in response to the beat which came from his headphones. He didn't notice her as he was now in the "zone" as he called it. Not wanting to bother him, she returned to the library and went about her day. The marequil helped her to focus but she still found herself distracted from time to time and her mind did have a tendency to wander especially where sex or Rick was concerned. By midday she smelled coffee brewing which meant he was making a new pot. She could go for a cup right about now and maybe a little time with Rick.

Picking up her cup from the kitchen, she trotted over to his room. He was just in the middle of yawning and rubbing his eyes which meant he was ready to take a break. Perfect timing.

"Hey you, mind if I get some of that?" she asked, bringing her cup to the coffee maker.

"Sorry babe, didn't know you were there, " he stood up, stretched and poured her a cup before pouring himself one. "So how you feeling? Did you get what you needed?"

"Yeah, although I think I might have scarred Fluttershy in the process. When I told her about what I needed she could barely speak but she did give me some marequil. It's not a perfect solution but it will help me get through the rest of the day."

"That's good. At least I don't need to worry about you getting all rapey with me when I least expect it. Do I?"

"No, I'm currently under control although being around you is causing a bit of a... reaction at the moment, " she was breathing a little heavier than normal and it was difficult to think of anything other than Rick thrusting away inside her but she shook her head to get rid of those ideas. "Maybe it's just being in this room at the moment, pheromones and all that, " she glanced at the bed, " and I think those sheets could use a bit of a wash. I'll be in the library if you need me." Twilight forced herself to turn around and walk out but Rick called her back.

"Tell you what. It's lunchtime so I can knock off work now. I'll go wash the sheets and while they're washing I'll get a few things together and we have a picnic. No pheromones, no dirty laundry and we can simply relax. I know you're probably really tense right now and considering your condition I don't think a massage would be in your best interest. So give me... half an hour and I'll meet you in the field behind the library?"

"Yes. Gladly. See you then, " Twilight started forward as if to kiss him then pulled back a little regretfully. Even with the marequil, a kiss could really get her hormones jumping again.

A quick e-mail to his team and Rick said he was knocking off early to take care of his girlfriend who was sick. It wasn't actually a lie in any sense of the word, but it definitely wasn't the truth. Not that anybody at work would know this. They'd cover for him just like he'd cover for them should the need be.

30 minutes later, he walked out of the library with an actual deluxe picnic basket in his hands. It was something that he had won in a raffle and never thought he'd ever get any use out of but here he was using it for the first time. Twilight smiled when she saw him and seemed okay with his touch. A small kiss later, her eyes did glaze over for a moment but that passed quickly enough and they sat back on the blanket while he pulled out all the goodies.

"Okay we've got some bread, some cheese, some assorted veggies, olives & the mainstay of any picnic my special potato salad. I've also got a nice bottle of wine, or some fresh lemonade if you prefer."

Twilight just looked at Rick and asked, "are all the stallions on your world like you? If they are, we're keeping all of this a secret because there will be fillies lining up for a chance at this."

Rick just smiled and said, "I'm one of a kind babe, " and winked at her.

"Good, because I still want you all to myself."

"Good to hear because I don't want to be sharing you with another stallion."

Twilight looked a little oddly at that, "what do you mean by that?"

"I mean I don't want another pony putting his hooves on my filly. You're mine and I'm keeping you all to myself. Ain't no other pony taking your place."

She just looked shocked for a moment before leaning over and kissing him. He was surprised to find tears in her eyes when she pulled back. When asked why she was crying she simply said, "you make me so happy."

"Well you know, I try and if it makes you smile then it's worth it, " he answered with a gentle smile.

Lunch was done for the day, but neither of them wanted to go back so they moved the blanket to the shade of an oak tree and just lay there, enjoying each other's company. A gentle breeze blew by, bringing with it the smell of honeysuckle and jasmine. Pretty soon Rick felt Twilight nuzzling at his ear, gently nibbling and licking at it while one of her front hooves started running up and down his chest.

"Babe, you're going to need to stop that before you turn me on too much, " he turned to look at her and her eyes were starting to get glazed again. "I think you need another dose of marequil or I need to get upwind of you."

"You're right, " she said panting a bit. "It's those damn pheromones of yours, " she said as she brought her nose in close to him and inhaled deeply. "Do you have any idea how good you smell right now?"

"Judging by the way you're practically drooling, yes. Okay, we're getting you back to the library."

She looked at him a little uncertainly.

"The way you're looking at me now. If we stay here any longer, you'll probably wind up ripping my clothes off in about 2 minutes. Not that I'm against the idea, but I prefer these things to be done in private and not out in the open where anypony or passing pegasus could see us." Twilight agreed, a little absently, but also had a hard time taking her eyes off Rick's butt as he led her back home.

Back in the library, one dose of marequil later, Rick returned to his room and Twilight was feeling a lot better. She trotted back over to the door and gave a gentle knock before coming in.

"I'm sorry about all this, " Twilight said. "You've been so good to me during all this and having to deal with a lust crazed overly hormonal mare probably isn't easy."

"Hey, none of that now, " Rick said trying to head off the self-recriminations before they started. "It's not your fault and I'm not blaming you. I don't mind... helping you out with this because it's obviously something you need. I also don't want to make it any worse for you during this time. Babe, the marequil helps you to focus but if I'm around then my pheromones seem to work against it. Twi, if you want to rut just let me know. I'll clear my schedule for tomorrow and we'll just go at it. I just don't want you to feel like you're somehow a burden during this time and you need to avoid me. Or if you're more comfortable if I'm not around until tomorrow evening, just let me know."

Twilight just stood there for a moment contemplating it, then with a mischievous smile walked over to his chair, took the bottom of his t-shirt in her mouth and pulled him up. She led him to the bed and with great care, removed every last piece of clothing from his body. She made sure to take her time and deliberately would rub up against him as she was doing so. When she had finally divested him of his clothing she kissed him, pushed him down on the bed and let nature take its course.

The next evening found them lying in bed, the remains of various meals on the bedside tables, some empty bottles of Gatorade and a stray coffee mug or two.

"I think it's more or less over, " TWilight panted. "I should be okay for the rest of the night. By tomorrow morning it should be out of my system." Their last coupling had lasted a good 30 minutes and both were exhausted at this point.

Rick licked his lips and winced a bit as they actually felt bruised. He turned to face Twilight and asked, "so you say that this is something to expect every 6 months or so?" Twilight just nodded dreamily. Rick sighed heavily. "Okay. I'm going to sleep for a month. Wake me up then." He kissed her as gently as he could then fell into a deep slumber.

Twilight looked at him for a moment and smiled. She gently ran one of her front hooves over his face. Part of her wished he was an actual stallion. While she might not want foals right away, if he was the father she didn't think she'd mind so much. A little contented sigh escaped her lips before she too lay down and slept.

Apples and Goblins?

"Uhm, Twilight? Can I talk to y'all a minute?" AJ said a little hesitantly to her friend.

"What's up Applejack?"

"Well, ya see it's like this, " she rubbed the back of her neck with one of her hooves. Whatever she wanted to say was bothering her slightly. She hemmed and hawed for a while, her face screwing up as if trying not to say something. "Aw heck. Ah need some help down on the ranch. Big Mac done and hurt his back, there's the North field to go and harvest and there's the new fence to put in 'fore next week but between me an Apple Bloom there ain't no way we can git it done. Ah've asked some of the fillies to help with the harvest but we need that fence put in. This is a job for muscles and ah'm figguring that maybe your coltfriend could help out and them hands of his could come in handy for this job."

This had to be rather urgent for AJ to come out and ask like this. She was very proud and normally wouldn't ask for help unless she really had no other choice. But something still bothered Twilight about this.

"He has a name you know. And while I could ask him, I won't. He's my coltfriend, Celestia has given him permission to be in Equestria and if you need something from him you should ask him yourself."

"But Twilight, he's kinda scary lookin'. He's like one of them goblins that Granny used to tell me 'bout when I was just a young'un. All pink skin and hands and wearin' clothes and all, " she shuddered at the thought. Twilight Sparkle came over and gave her friend a hug. "It's okay Applejack. I'll bring him by the ranch tonight after dinner, I'll be there and you can ask him yourself. I promise he won't get all 'booga booga' on you and he'll be glad to help out. And I'll help out as well."

"Thanks sugarcube. Y'all have sure taken my mind off of things. I gotta git goin'. I gotta warn Granny and Apple Bloom 'fore your friend shows up. I cain't have them gettin' all scared like when he shows up."

Twilight smiled as Applejack raced back to Sweet Apple Acres. Now, the only thing she needed to do was to convince Rick to help out. What was the best way to go about this?

Later that afternoon Rick showed up as was his usual habit. Twilight trotted over to see him, a large smile on her face and he walked over to her and met her halfway there. Rearing up on her hind legs before him, they hugged and shared a kiss hello. He sighed partly due to it being a long day and partly because she was simply so good to come home to even if technically it wasn't home.

"So what do you feel like doing for dinner tonight?" he asked her.

"Tell you what, there's this new Neighponese place that opened up that I'd really like to try, " Twilight said. It was close to the edge of town so after dinner they could take a walk which would take them by Sweet Apple Acres, she'd make an excuse to talk to Applejack and then and her part of the bargain would be fulfilled.

"Sure. We can do that but I feel kinda bad with you paying there and also doing most of the breakfast stuff..."

"Listen big guy, " she said tapping him on the chest with one of her hooves. "You provide plenty around here including the coffee which is worth its weight in precious gems any day. And besides, if I pay for dinner doesn't that mean I get to take advantage of you tonight?" Twilight Sparkle added with a wicked leer. As if to emphasise that point she ran one of her front hooves down his side, reached around and give him a playful goose.

"Hey, if you want to take advantage of me all you need to do is ask, " he said with a wry grin.

"I know, but it's not quite as fun, " she responded with a smile. "Get ready, we're leaving in 30 minutes."

Rick was a little apprehensive leaving the library. Yes, the princess had made him an official resident of Ponyville and he was known as Twilight's coltfriend but that didn't mean that everypony liked the idea. This wasn't Manehatten where interspecies relationships were more common and you could see a griffon with a pony and it was considered okay. This was still a small town where sometimes new ideas take some getting used to. So he felt self-conscious and more than once noticed a pony turn their head when they saw him or whisper something to the pony next to them when they passed. He didn't care so much for himself, but he did worry about Twilight when he wasn't around.

They got to the restaurant and he was pleasantly surprised by the decor. This had to be an example of either parallel evolution or somehow ideas bleeding across universes as the restaurant had a very distinct Japanese Izakaya look about it down to the red paper lantern hung outside and the sliding door out front. Upon entering they were greeted by cries of "Irashaimase!" and led to their table by a pony wearing what could only be described as the pony equivalent of a kimono.
"This is incredible!" he said to Twilight. "It's almost exactly like a Japanese restaurant back home including how they greeted us." Twilight recognised the signs in him right away, he was going to break into a nerdy little lecture, punctuated by hand gestures and a lot of enthusiasm. "Oh Celestia, I love it when he does this!" she thought to herself and smiled. He went on about the costumes, the decor, the menu and even the small touches like the inclusion of a small snack and a moist towel when you sit down.

When the server approached, he motioned to Twilight Sparkle that he needed to try something.

"Are you ready to order?" she asked.

<<"Yes. we'd like to look over the menu a little more but I'd like a beer and my friend would like some tea.">> Rick said in slightly accented Japanese. He had spent a summer working on a girlfriend's family farm out in Hokkaido during University and had picked up the rudiments of the language.

The wait pony looked a little shocked at this but responded in what he assumed was perfect Neighponese which to his ears sounded like differently accented Japanese, <<"Very good. I will return.">>

Twilight was amazed at this. "I never knew you spoke Neighponese!?"

"I don't. I spoke Japanese. It's like English and Equestrian or French which strangely enough is called the same thing even though the country is called "Prance". As I said there's some freaky co-incidences here, maybe our worlds have influenced each other in some way. Okay, look at the menu. You know that I'm still learning how to read here right? Your written language is pictogram based so it's easy to see what it is you're ordering even if you don't know exactly what it is. But on the other side is the Japanese or Neighponese characters which I can almost read. There are some minor variations here and there but this character is for "fish", this one is for "noodles", this one is for "rice" and this one is "vegetables". And if you look on your side of the menu, the same 4 categories show up. My mind is boggling not only with the possibilities right now but also because I just saw something on the menu that I absolutely love, can't get a decent version of it back home and I'm hoping that it's done right."

The wait pony returned with their drinks and since they were ready to order did so. Twilight started, "I'll have the mountain vegetable teriyaki bowl with extra alfalfa". She looked at Rick who smiled and said to the wait pony, "unadon onegaishimasu".

"What did you order?" Twilight asked, still a little shell shocked that Rick spoke something other than Equestrian... or English.

"A favourite of mine from back home. It's grilled freshwater eel served over rice." Twilight made a bit of a face on hearing the word eel but Rick continued anyway. "It's been a long time since I found a place that served it and if this place makes a half-decent version then I'm definitely coming back."

Their food arrived and they dug in. It was delicious, Twilight asked to try some of Rick's and while she said it tasted okay she didn't seem to enjoy it very much. The only disappointment to Rick was the lack of chopsticks to eat with as that was part of the fun.

Once everything was done, they paid the bill and instead of heading home Twilight suggested they take a walk. It was a nice evening so Rick agreed and they slowly made their way out of Ponyville into the countryside. Twilight was still fascinated with what had happened in the restaurant so Rick kept a running commentary on other aspects and similarities between their two worlds. So engrossed in these ideas was Twilight that she hardly noticed they were coming up on the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres.

"We're here already? Wow. That went by fast." Twilight shook herself as if to get her brain back on track. "Since we're here do you mind if we stop off and say hi to the Apple clan?"

"Sure, I guess but I don't think AJ likes me very much. She's always staring at me like she's afraid I'm going to go all crazy all of a sudden."

"Nonsense. She likes you. She's just really shy when it comes to newcomers... especially when they're.. not ponies..., " Twilight gave a nervous smile which meant she was hiding something.

"Okay, out with it. We're here for a reason. What's going on?"

"Going on? Nothing's going on? C'mon, let's go see the Apples!" she added trying desperately to sound nonchalant.

"Fine but I just want the record to show that I know something is going on and I probably won't like it, " Rick said as they started to walk towards the house.

"What record are you talking about?" Twilight asked.

"No further questions your honour. If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit. I'm not out of order, you're out of order, the whole freaking system is out of order. You can't handle the truth..." Rick continued spouting famous courtroom phrases as they made their way down the path. Twilight had learned not to question him when he was having these moments as it only gave him more ammunition.

They finally made it to the door and after knocking heard some hurried whispers coming from inside for a moment before the youngest member of the Apple clan opened the door and greeted them.

"Howdy! C'mon in, they're waitin for you in the parlor." Rick looked suspiciously at Twilight who simply smiled almost apologetically but not quite as Apple Bloom led them to the parlor.

The rest of the Apple clan were there to greet them. On the table was a collection of apple goodies as well as some of their famous cider. "Look, I don't want to be rude or anything, but if I was the suspicious sort which I happen to be, I'd say that all this was arranged in advance. What's going on?"

"Well you're straight and to the point, ah like that, " AJ responded. "Ah talked to Twilight earlier today 'cause we needed some help on the ranch with Big Mac down for the count it's only me and Apple Bloom. We got to harvest the North field but we already done and got some help for that. And Big Mac was supposed to put up the new fence but in his condition he cain't. We hoped y'all could help us out. Ah'm sorry for all the subterfuge but ah didn't know how to ask you, " she finished a little shyly and looking away. When she happened to glance at Rick she didn't like the look he was giving her and winced as she looked away again.

"I'm sorry, but before I respond to any of this I need to know one thing. Have I done anything to offend you? I only ask because up until now you've avoided me, when I happen to be around you make some excuse to leave or get all fidgety if I happen to look in your direction." There, he had thrown down the metaphorical gauntlet and wanted to see what she'd say next.

The room was rather silent with all eyes on Applejack who squirmed a bit in her seat. Finally it was Apple Bloom who spoke up and said, "she's scared a' you". This brought an indignant, "ah am not!" from her sister before she looked back at Rick and looked nervously away. Apple Bloom smiled and seized the opportunity to tease her big sister. "She thinks you're lahke one of them goblins that Granny used to tell her in those stories. They were big and pink with big noses and grabby hands that would snatch up little ponies and take them back to their caves where they ate 'em."

Rick, as hard as he could, tried not to laugh at this but the mirth was threatening to overflow. Twilight on seeing this also bit her tongue and put her hoof in front of her mouth to stifle her own laughter. Soon everybody, Applejack included although her cheeks were flaming red due to embarrassment were openly laughing or giggling at the idea.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Rick turned to her and said, "I never in my life would have thought that was the issue. I thought that you didn't approve of me personally or felt I was somehow monopolizing Twilight's attention. You need a fence built? Not a problem, I practically grew up on a farm. Every summer my folks would ship me off to stay with my grandparents on their farm. They claimed it was to build character, I just think they wanted some alone time but I learned a lot and it helped to make me who I am today. Just tell me when you need me and I'll be there." They spent the rest of the evening talking, laughing and enjoying some of the fine hospitality that the Apples were known for. Not wanting to overstay their welcome as Rick knew from experience farm folk got up early to do what they needed to do they made their goodbyes and promised to come back in a couple days to help out.

Walking out into the cool evening air neither one noticed that hidden in the foliage, a pair of eyes watched their every move. There was disapproval in the look directed not only at the human and Twilight but at the Apple clan for actually inviting them into their house. Out of everypony she felt that AJ and the rest of the Apples would be on her side and now they were cozying up to the enemy. Something needed to be done and soon. She couldn't allow this to go on much further but for now, she didn't want to show her hand and simply followed along far enough that she couldn't be seen and could dash away if needed but close enough to hear their conversation.

As they walked back to the library not knowing that they were being followed Rick broached a subject brought on by AJ's situation. "I guess that only leaves Rainbow Dash out of the rest of your friends."

What's this? Suddenly this got more interesting the pony following them thought.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Most of your friends accepted me or at the very least didn't feel weirded out if I was there with the exception of Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Hopefully we've fixed the AJ situation or will fix it when I help out with the fence but that still leaves Dash. I thought I was getting through to her when we'd throw sarcastic barbs back and forth, she was really into it and afterwards we'd do a hoofbump but since she found out about us she's avoided me."

Twilight seemed a little down when he mentioned this but said nothing. Rick looked at her, placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "okay you know something. Spill it."

"Okay, I'll tell you, but do you mind until we get back to the library first?"

"Sure, but no trying to distract me and acting all sexy until we've had this out Ms. Thing. I know how your mind works when you don't want to talk about something, " he said with a bit a wink.

The mysterious pony heard this and nodded grimly. She would hide outside the library and find out what Twilight knew. Although sometimes the best laid plans don't work out like you'd hope they would.

They walked back to the library in silence, each one deep in thought. When they got back, Spike was asleep so they made their way to Rick's room. A quick trip outside the window and they were now sitting on his couch.

The pony that had been following them spat out a curse, having been denied what she hoped was some ammunition and vanished into the night

Meanwhile on the other side of the doorway Twilight sighed, "I wasn't sure of this before but after Rainbow Dash caught us I had my suspicions. So later that day at the party I talked to her and she was a little evasive but let it drop that she was shocked but not because she didn't approve. Then recently when we had that mare's night and we all drank a little too much, Rainbow Dash was even more drunk than I was and she admitted to me privately that she did have feelings for you as well even if she couldn't admit it to herself at the time, " she looked at Rick who had a bit of a stunned expression on his face. At no point did he even get that Rainbow Dash had a crush on him. Granted he didn't know this about Twi's feelings either until she kissed him. He chalked that one up to the differences in their species and how they communicated especially non-verbally. "She had wanted to be your fillyfriend because she thought you two were so in sync. Firstly because you were the only one to go hoof to hoof with her verbally and then later after you showed her all those martial arts moves."

"You mean that one time she asked me to show her some martial arts moves, she trips and almost kisses me accidentally she actually wanted to kiss me?"

Twilight simply nodded before continuing. "She said she felt jealous and a little betrayed by what happened. When she saw us touching, she wished it was her that you were putting your fingers all over me as she put it. We talked some more and then she came out asked me if she could join our herd, I wasn't sure how you felt about it being human and all but I said I'd see. In the end I didn't want to share you with another mare much in the way you didn't want to share me with another stallion. I know I'm being selfish in this but I can't help it. Do you forgive me?" she looked at him with her big eyes conveying all the emotion she couldn't say.

"I'm sorry but I only got about half of that. What do you mean by 'herd' and 'share'?"

"You've noticed the rather large difference in terms of gender right?" Twilight asked.

"You mean how there's only maybe 1 stallion for every 5 mares or thereabout?"

"Exactly although it's closer to 1 in 7. That's just not enough stallions to go around. Mares usually wind up getting together for a while to fillyfool around and then if someday they want foals they find a stallion that wants them both and they join his herd. But even if he wants them, it's up to his primary mare if she wants them to join. Look at the Cakes. There were mares lined up around the corner to join his herd once he chose the future Mrs. Cake. She on the other hand wanted no part of herd life and wanted to keep him to herself. That's why it's only the two of them."

"So Rainbow Dash said that she wanted to join and you didn't want to ruin your monopoly on the human so to speak?"

"Yes, " she sighed. "I know it was wrong and I should have asked you but I'll admit the idea of sharing you made me jealous. If you want, I can speak to her about this and set up a date for the two of you..."

Rick held up a hand to forestall anything else before he got too deep into this. "Sorry, this is just a lot for me to digest in one day. First you have a Japanese restaurant, then I'm a goblin and now you're talking about starting a herd. I'm sorry, but that's just a little too much for one day, " he looked at Twilight who was still looking down. He reached out, and gently raised her chin so he could look in her eyes. "Twi, I'm not angry with you or anything, I'm just feeling a little out of my depth here. We can talk about this tomorrow. Okay?" He gave her a smile and she gave him one back in return. She reached out and placed her hooves around his neck giving him a big hug.

"I love you, " she whispered in his ear before giving it a playful lick.

"Love you back, and love your backside too, " Rick said as he gave her a light slap on the rump. Twilight gave a little whinny of pleasure at this. "You bad boy, " she whispered in Rick's ear. "I take you out to dinner and this is how you repay me?" She started nibbling on his ear, slowly running her tongue over it. "I think you owe me for that, " she started kissing and nibbling at his neck. She pulled her head back, her eyes smouldering with what could only be described as hot, burning desire and finished with, "and I'm here to collect in full." She came forward for a kiss, he met her partway and they decided that the couch was just as good as the bed so there was no reason to move from where they were.

Later, after dozing on the couch entwined in each other’s arms or hooves as the case may be they decided the bed was more comfortable for sleeping so they got ready to sleep.

"Rick?"

"Yeah babe, wassup?" he said, having a little trouble keeping his eyes open.

"I think you gave me too much in exchange for dinner. I don't feel right taking advantage of you like that."

He chuckled a bit, "no need to worry about that sexy. I was happy to oblige."

"No, I insist. Here's your change, " and Twilight kissed him sweetly on the lips. She smiled, snuggled closer to him and simply said, "goodnight".

He squeezed her tightly and wished her goodnight as well before falling asleep.

The Watcher Revealed

The bell rang at Rarity's dress shop indicating that another customer had entered. "Coming!" she cried from the back room. Making her way to the front of the shop noticed the person that entered and gladly called out his name.

"Richard! Oh my, is it that time already?" she of course knew what time it was having looked forward to it all week but she couldn't necessarily let on like she had. No, in these cases, decorum was the word and she used it to its utmost.

"Why don't you set up over there and I'll close the shop while we get busy."

Rick walked over to where she had indicated and set up his table. When Twilight had mentioned setting himself up as a masseuse to earn some bits he didn't really know if the idea appealed to him. Honestly, this was only something he did with the special woman or pony in his life and he wasn't anywhere near professional. Girlfriends in the past had described his work as orgasmic, sensual, and the best foreplay they've ever had but he always felt they were biased. Besides, he had a full time job back home and the time he'd have to devote to massaging ponies other than Twilight meant less time he could spend with her in Equestria. So a compromise was reached. He'd be completely freelance which meant no working at a spa, he'd make his own hours and set the price depending on the pony in question. Rarity of course was one of the first to avail herself of his services and made sure that her next appointment was booked before Rick left for the day. Rick did make enough money to spend on Twilight here in Equestria as well as hanging with his little bro down at Sugarcube Corners so he felt it was an even trade.

As he worked his magic on Rarity's muscles his gaze kept on being drawn to an open chest with some assorted gems in it that had been pushed carelessly into the corner. To his eyes they were flawless, not to mention really big and most amazingly already cut and polished. Rarity's gift was the ability to find these gems although she often times used Spike as a form of cheap labour to actually dig them up. It wasn't a bad deal. Spike got some gems to munch on and got to spend time with the unicorn of his dreams and Rarity got to use those gems in her designs without having to actually pay anypony. Gems were after all pretty, but they were rather common so giving Spike a couple that were flawed or imperfect saved her the trouble of throwing them away. This didn't explain why she'd sometimes wind up giving him one of the best ones they found that day.

"Rarity?"

"Yes Richard!" she breathed then realised how that came out and tried to change her tone to something a little less... excited. "I mean yes?"

"I'm just wondering, those gems you have over there in the chest there. Are you using them for anything specific?"

"What those old things? They're not really what I need at the moment. Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering if I could borrow a couple for maybe a week or so, I've got an idea for something and I'll bring them back when I'm done."

"Bring them back? Darling, if you want them so badly I'll give them to you in exchange for next month's copy of Vogue and a half price massage next week."

"Done. Always the business mare aren't you Rarity?"

"You better bucking believe it big boy, " she muttered in a way that was very Un-Rarity like.

"Sorry what was that?" Rick asked not quite believing that the uber-proper Rarity had said such a thing.

"Oh nothing dear, just enjoying the massage."

Twenty minutes later, Rick walked out of the dress shop with his things, some bits in his pocket and a small chest of flawed gems. He made his way back to the library smiling politely at the ponies that passed his way. Once or twice he looked around because he felt he was being followed. On impulse he looked up as well but there were no clouds following him either. He shrugged and continued on his way.

Hiding in the shadows, a unicorn watched him as he made his way into the library. Either he was getting better at sensing her or she was getting worse at hiding. She heard Twilight cry out happily when he walked in which made her grit her teeth in frustration. Something had to be done about this situation and soon. But what to do? She skulked through the shadows when she finally realised the perfect solution to her problem. It's going to take some work, but soon the human would get exactly what he deserved.

Rick walked into the library and called out, "Lucy, I'm hoooome!" in a strange kind of accent. It didn't matter to Twilight however as she cried out happily and rushed down to see him almost bowling him over in the process.

"Hey sexy. I'm guessing you missed me while I was gone?" Rick said as Twilight caught him in a big hug and rained kisses all over his face before finally planting a long lingering one on his lips. "Gotta say, I like the way you say hello" he said with a smirk as he put his things down. "So what's got you so excited?"

"We're going to Canterlot! Shining Armor, he's my brother but you haven't him and his wife Princess Cadance are going to have a foal! I'm going to be an aunt! And they want us to come to Canterlot to celebrate!" she danced about the library, her little hooves clicking about on the floor.

"That sounds great. When are we leaving?" Rick said with more than just a little worry in his voice. Twilight however was too caught up in the good news to catch any of that.

"Tomorrow. I've already made the plans, the train leaves at 9am sharp, we'll be staying at the castle and there's a big party tomorrow night. It'll be so great. Oh wait, you do have something formal to wear right? If not, maybe Rarity can come up with something really quickly. Or maybe I can magic you up something..." Twilight, in her enthusiasm started to get a little side tracked. Rick reached out, took hold of her cheek and kissed her. Hey, it worked for her when she wanted to shut him up so why not the other way around?

"Yes, I have something formal to wear. I've got a nice tailored black suit which might be a little drab for ponies, but it's the best I can do on such short notice. I do have one question for you however. Does your brother and sister-in-law know about us? Will they be prepared to see a human walk in with you?"

Twilight looked at him a little strangely and then blanched a bit. She had mentioned in her letters back home that she had a new coltfriend but never mentioned he wasn't a pony. It was just one of those things that she took for granted and hadn't considered how others might take it. Beginning to panic again Rick calmed her down with another kiss and then asked her, "Princess Celestia knows this and I'm assuming she's the one that sent you the letter?" Twilight nodded in agreement. "Good, so there's a good chance that she told them or at the very least mentioned something to them. In any case, the Princess approves of us so it's not like anypony can do something about that. And if worse comes to worse, I can stay in the room and you can celebrate with your family. It's no biggie."

"No! It is a biggie... whatever that means, " she said a little uncertainly. "You're my coltfriend. You're my stallion and if Canterlot can't handle you then that's their problem. We're going there together and if necessary we'll be leaving together."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence. I'll be happy to go to Canterlot with you and see your family and we'll see what happens then. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to put my stuff away and get dinner ready."

"Oooh, what are we having?" Twilight asked eagerly.

"We're doing Italian tonight. I found some nice tomatoes and basil at the market. So it's a caprese salad to start, some fettuccine di pesto alla genovese for the main followed by some espresso, a nice tiramisu for dessert and maybe some grappa if you're interested. The movie will be either 'Roman Holiday' or 'La Dolce Vita'. So I need to get things started, I've got a suit to press and I'll need to pack a small overnight bag." Glancing at his watch Rick said, "tell you what? I'll come get you in about an hour or so when all the boring stuff is done and we can relax, have some wine and do whatever until it's time to eat. Deal?"

Twilight smiled, gave him a quick kiss and said, "deal, " before heading back to her books.

Rick walked through the portal and hid the gems securely in the back of his closet. If everything went according to plans, very soon he could be a very rich man and maybe stop having to exit through the damn window to get back to his crappy little basement apartment. But right now he had things to start and things to get ready. Crawling out the window he navigated his way under the deck and snuck back into his apartment before starting on dinner.

There actually wasn't much to do in the kitchen. The salad just took a little time to prepare the ingredients but it wasn't complex or anything. The pasta just needed to be boiled, the pesto had already been run through the food processor and the tiramisu was defrosting. Yes, it was a bit of a cheat but he had never been very good when it came to making desserts and besides, this came from an Italian bakery and it was spectacular. By the time Twilight would come, everything he needed to do would be completed and they could just relax for a bit before dinner time.

He pulled out the ironing board and iron to give his suit a quick press. It looked okay and it's not like anypony in Canterlot could tell the difference between a good suit and bad suit but it mattered to him and he wanted to make as good an appearance to Twilight's family as he could. It didn't take long to get the suit done, all that was left was the shoes and to give them a quick polish before going back to Equestria.

There came a knock on the door, opening it revealed Mr. MacKenzie his landlord. "Hey Mr. Mac, what can I do you for?" Rick asked.

"Rick, I just wanted you to know that the Missus and I have enjoyed having you as our tenant. You've helped us out a lot during the winter in clearing the snow, helping to rake the leaves in the fall and helping us out whenever so it's a little difficult to say this but we're selling the house."

Rick felt a pit open in his stomach at those words. "Why? Do you need more money? I can stop using so much electricity if it's costing you too much or start taking cold showers or something."

"No, nothing like that. We're just getting on in years. We never had children and the house is getting to be too much work for us so we've decided to put it on the market. I want you to know that we'll give you as much time as we can for you to find another place and we'll gladly give you a recommendation if needed but we will have to sell."

Rick suddenly thought of something that might work out for both of them. "Mr. Mac, do me a favour and before you put the house on the market find out how much you want for it. Maybe I can come up with a solution that will work for both of us. Give me a week. If we can't come to an agreement, you can put the house on the market and I'll go with whatever decision you make. Agreed?" Rick held out his hand and they shook on it.

Going back downstairs, there was still a little time before he called Twilight over so he needed to check out people in his town that bought and appraised gems. He didn't know how much the gems he got from Rarity were worth, but if they were enough to purchase this house in its entirety then that was what he would have to do. Scribbling a few names and numbers down he would call them on Monday morning and see if there was actual money to be made on this. Otherwise when the house sold he'd have to come up with a way to deal with the new owners and hope they wanted a renter.

Poking his head back into the library he called Twilight over. As was usual, she closed the library and they went back to his apartment. Sitting on the couch, a bottle of wine on the table in front of them, they just sat back, chatting a bit but more often than not just staring at each other and smiling. It was incredible that even after so many months of being together, she still affected him like this. Often times there was no need to speak to each other, just sitting together and getting lost in each other's eyes with the occasional caress or kiss thrown in. The alarm went off, Rick had a tendency to set it when they spent time like this because otherwise they could spend the rest of the evening just looking at each other and smiling.

Getting up, he leaned down to kiss her before picking up his glass and making his way to the kitchen. A violet glow surrounded her glass as she trotted over to the stools on the other side of the island and sat down to watch him work.

"Do you want some scallops with yours?" he asked.

"What are those?"

"It's a type of seafood, the abductor muscle of a bivalve. Sautee it lightly on a hot pan a little white wine and it goes well with the pasta. Wanna try?"

"Mmmm, I don't know. Make me one and if I like it I'll just steal a few of yours, " she said a little mischievously.

"Yeah, you wish honey. I'll make you some and eat what you don't want."

"Spoilsport, " she said sticking her tongue out at him in the same way he'd often times do to her.

Rick just laughed and blew her a kiss.

She loved to watch him work in the kitchen. Suddenly the guy that was easy going had this intensity about him when he prepared food. He might not like it and would say that often, but she knew that this was simply one of the ways he showed her how much he loved her and he wanted to make sure her food was prepared exactly as it should be. She could also see that he had practiced this often. He never actually measured everything, just eyeballed it and it always came out the way he wanted it to.

20 minutes later, dinner was ready and they sat down to eat.

"So what is all this again?"

"The salad is fresh basil, sweet tomatoes and slices of young mozzarella with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The pasta is fettuccine, the sauce is basil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan and olive oil. And the scallops are... scallops. Try to eat the salad so you get a piece of everything at the same time."

Twilight did as she was told and was rewarded by an explosion of flavour. The basil and tomato worked well together and the cheese worked by adding texture and giving it consistency. She chewed happily and Rick smiled knowing that she enjoyed it. Same for the pasta, everything was balanced with one flavour not overpowering the others. It just worked fantastically and the wine added a nice counterpoint to the meal. As usual, not a lot was said during their meals. The food simply spoke for itself.

"That was delicious as usual, " Twilight said.

"Thank you milady. It's a pleasure cooking for somebody that appreciates it, " Rick said as he cleared the table. "You ready for dessert or you want to wait?"

"Let's wait on the dessert, but have the espresso now."

Rick walked over to the espresso machine, it was a gift from his parents but he hardly ever used it. Originally it was just too big and bulky, not to mention a pain to have to clean each and every time. His current coffeemaker in his room was one of those that used a kind of pod with the coffee and filter all in one. A quick push of the button and he got a nice cup of coffee with no real waiting or hassle. However, the espresso machine did come in handy and now that he found the right espresso, it did get some use. A friend of his at work had brought back some espresso packs from Italy. They were simple filter packs with a high quality espresso in them. As his supply was rather short until he could find a way to get more, he would ration these out for semi-special occasions.

He placed the shot of espresso in front of Twilight as well as a shot of grappa. "Be careful with this stuff, it's the good stuff which means it doesn't taste like paint thinner but it's powerful. It might burn a bit, but it goes well with the espresso. Drink the espresso first. Then when you're ready for the grappa don't sip it, just take it in a shot. Okay?"

Twilight agreed, they enjoyed their espresso then took the shot. Twilight did make a bit of a face when she swallowed but afterwards did admit that it followed the espresso nicely. When he asked if she wanted another she said no but she did levitate the wine bottle and glasses over to where they were sitting.

"So which movie do you want to watch?"

"Doesn't matter, whichever, " Twilight was just content to be here with her stallion and the warmth that his presence caused in her. Or maybe that warmth was from the grappa. It didn't matter, she still liked it.

They watched the movie, Twilight giggling at certain things that Audrey Hepburn did and the situations that she put Gregory Peck into. Leaning into Rick she said, "I want to go there someday".

"Someday we will. We'll ride through Rome on a scooter, visit the sites, have some good food and good wine and make love in our room while the strains of 'O Sole Mio' play through the open window."

She giggled and snuggled up closer to him. Her ear pressed against him so she could hear his heartbeat.

Meanwhile, things were happening back in Equestria.

For months now she had been following them, sometimes it was the human, sometimes it was Twilight. Getting their movements down, learning their patterns but one thing always eluded her, what happened when they went through that damned doorway? She needed to find out more and so tonight she was going to find out where it led.

Stealthily she crept through the bushes, hiding in the shadows of the buildings until she made it to the door of the library. Trying the door, she found it locked but a quick burst of magic popped the lock and she slipped in without being seen. Approaching the door on silent hooves she reached for the doorknob only to be foiled because she couldn't turn it. Trying to grab it in her teeth didn't work because they kept sliding off and her hooves weren't dexterous enough to turn it. She needed those finger things that the human had to open it. Then, she facehoofed and used her magic.

Success! The door swung open and she could see... an empty bedroom. The human and Twilight weren't there but she was sure that they had come through here. Looking about, she didn't see any place they could be hiding. Maybe they went out the window, but that was too high for her to reach. There were some strange things not to mention some strange smells coming from this room. Was that the human that smelled like that or was it... she sniffed the air and found traces of Twilight as well. Obviously she spent a lot of time in this room. Possibly letting that human touch her all over, she was sick but maybe something could be done about that. Poking around the room she was drawn to the desk where there were some empty glasses, books, papers and a strange black box making a whirring sound.

Suddenly she heard voices and scampered under the desk, hoping that they wouldn't see her.

"Funny, I could have sworn I closed the door before coming over. Do you remember me closing the door or not?"

"All I remember is your hands on my butt when you helped to push me through the window, " Twilight answered with a leer.

"Don't pretend like you didn't enjoy it. I know I did."

"Oh I know you did and I guess it felt okay on my end."

"Yes, your end felt very nice, " Rick deadpanned.

They bantered for a while as they got undressed, got into bed and turned off the lights. From her vantage point under the desk and with the room plunged into almost complete darkness she couldn't see exactly what was happening but there was nothing wrong with her hearing. It sounded like they were kissing... heavy breathing and... moans of pleasure? Sweet Celestia! You mean Twilight was actually letting him mount her? She felt sick but still couldn't see well enough in the dark to escape so she took to stuffing her hooves in her ears and trying desperately not to make a sound. How could Twilight let this... this... monkey anywhere near her? She needed to get out of here, she needed to find help and she knew just who to ask. Rainbow Dash would help her. Rainbow Dash wouldn't let the Great and Powerful Trixie down not after what this human and Twilight did when they spurned her.

Oh no, they would pay. But first she had to get out of here and take a long, long shower.

She waited for as long as she could then slowly removed her hooves from her ears. All she heard was the soft snoring coming from Twilight, the sound stung her and tears came to her eyes as memories flooded back to her. She growled slightly, fighting them back. She wouldn't cry. Twilight Sparkle wasn't worth it. No, she'd have her revenge and Rainbow Dash would be her instrument. Slowly she made her way across the floor, careful not to hit anything. She slowly opened the door, fearful that the light from her magic would awaken the two sleepers but luck was with her and they remained asleep. She stole from the library into the night and freedom.

Canterlot

"Rick, wake up, " Twilight nudged him slightly but he just grunted a bit and rolled over. "C'mon buster, wake up. We need to get ready to go to Canterlot. The train leaves in an hour." She nudged him a little more, then standing up on the bed, leaned over his face and started blowing in his ear. After a moment or two of trying to escape whatever it was that was happening he opened his eyes to see a slightly miffed Twilight looking down on him.

"Mornin you. Wassup?" he said sleepily.

"I can tell you what's not up. Now hurry up and get ready, we need to leave soon. I've been ready for 30 minutes so far. The train is leaving in less than an hour now and I know you get cranky if you haven't had your morning cup of coffee. Now move!"

"Yes dear, " he mumbled as he got up and stumbled to the coffee maker. He made a cup for Twilight and when she asked if he wasn't going to make one for himself he simply said, "I'll get it on the flipside when we leave." He kissed her goodbye, then crawled through the window so that he could take a shower.

15 minutes later, looking as presentable as he could given the time frame, he came back to his bedroom, made a coffee and poured it into the travel mug that he hardly ever used anymore. Picking up his things he marched into the library where Twilight was starting to get impatient.

"There you are! Okay, we need to get to the station to catch the train but we might be late because of you."

"Babe, stop worrying. The train isn't leaving until 9, it's only 25 after 8 and it takes maybe 15 minutes to walk there from here and that's at a slow pace. So don't worry. We'll get there on time. So we'll go, stop off at Sugarcube Corners and get some muffins or something to go and enjoy them on the train. Deal?"

Twilight wasn't convinced. Everything in her life was bound by rules, timetables and to-do lists. Everything in her coltfriend's life was bound by... well... nothing unless you wanted to count caffeine. His laisser faire attitude about just about everything was almost enough to drive her crazy sometimes. Not because it didn't work because for him it worked spectacularly well but because she simply had a problem when people didn't stick to the carefully drawn out plans and timetables that she created.

It was 8:50 when they got to the train station, muffins and cupcakes in hand and that was more than enough time to get on the train, find their seats and dig into the baked goods before the train left. Twilight was grateful that at no time Rick said, "I told you so".

It wasn't a long trip to Canterlot, but it was boring enough for Rick to fall asleep with Twilight snoozing in the crook of his arm. They awoke to the sound of the conductor calling out their arrival in Canterlot. They gathered their things, grabbed their bags and made their way to the exit only to be greeted by the royal guard when they stepped off the train. Twilight dropped everything and rushed forward to see a white unicorn dressed in military regalia. She nuzzled at him and he nuzzled her back before she just threw her hooves around his neck and laughed happily.

Rick, feeling a little left out, stood back a little ways, not wanting to intrude on what was obviously a touching family moment. Twilight glanced up at him and motioned him forward. He approached the unicorn with more than just a little trepidation. This was not only Twilight's big brother, but the captain of the guard and a prince in his own right. Shining Armor looked at the human coming towards him with a mixture of suspicion and something else Rick couldn't figure out. When he was about two steps away, he raised his hand in greeting unsure how to greet Twilight's brother and whether or not he should hoofbump him, shake his hoof, bow or just wave in a non-threatening manner. He chose to wave and simply said, "hi there, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Shining Armor just stared at him, almost as if he didn't know how to deal with a talking monkey. Twilight noticed this as well and was about to say something when her brother smiled in a friendly manner and said, "welcome to Canterlot. I've heard a lot about you but I wasn't quite sure what to expect."

"Hope I haven't disappointed you."

"No, not at all. You've made Twilly very happy and the Princess approves of you so you must be a decent fellow. Come, I will show you to your rooms."

"Wait a minute, " Twilight said. "Did you say 'rooms' as in more than one? You don't have to protect me from him, we sleep together all the time and I don't see why we can't do that here."

Shining Armor simply smiled a bit and said, "trust me on this little sister. Wait till you see them."

He led them through the castle until they got to the residential wing. The guards stationed at each hallway, snapped to attention each time Shining Armor passed. Rick did notice with some trepidation that there were a lot of guards here. More than he would have expected. Maybe it had something to do with the Princess and her baby or maybe it was something more. He wanted to point this out to Twilight but she was too caught up in trotting after her BBBFF as he led them through the hallways.

Finally, he arrived before a set of doors which had more guards posted outside. They snapped to attention like all the others before them and with a wave of Shining Armor's horn, the doors opened. It was a luxurious room to be sure. Complete with pony sized everything which made Rick feel a little out of place. The balcony overlooked the Royal gardens, there were fresh flowers all over the room, plush, comfy looking chairs for relaxing or reading, a bookshelf, table with chairs but it was missing a bed. They were led to one end of the room where there was a doorway. Opening it revealed a bedroom done in light, pastel colours and a pony sized bed. "This is your room Twilight. And over there, " he said pointing at the door on the other end of the room and opening it with his magic, "is your coltfriend's room. Why don't you get unpacked while I show your friend his room."

Shining Armor led Rick to his room which was done in a more masculine way. He was pleased to see that the bed was a lot larger and it was big enough not only to hold himself but Twilight as well. The unicorn looked at the human and said, "I'm not going to tell you how to act around Twilly. She's a grown mare and capable of making her own decisions. What I will do is say if you harm her in any way or make her feel like less of a mare, I will defend her. I know our parents would prefer if you slept in different beds but I won't enforce that. Just remember though that I'm watching you and I can make you disappear quite easily. Do we understand each other?"

"Perfectly. But you don't have to worry about me. I'd rather die than hurt your sister. She means the world to me."

Shining Armor looked him in the eye for a moment, nodded gravely and walked out.

Rick sighed in relief as the captain of the guard left the room and more importantly left them alone. He walked into the sitting room just as Twilight came out of hers. She raced towards him and practically threw herself into his arms. "Isn't this great?!" she cried as she hugged him tight.

"Yeah, it's one hell of a room. Gotta admit, I've never stayed in a real castle before, " they continued the embrace for a bit longer when Rick decided to speak up. "So what's with your brother? He's a little... protective of you."

"Why, what did he say?"

"It's nothing important. Only that I need to treat you with the respect you deserve and not to embarrass you or anything, " Rick left out the part about being made to disappear.

"He's my BBBFF and he's just trying to look out for his little sister. Don't worry. I'm sure he'll accept you." Anything else Twilight was going to say was cut off as there was a knock on the door and Princess Cadance walked in. "Cadance!" Twilight squealed and ran over to see her former foal sitter. They did their childhood greeting then gave each other a big hug.

"I'm so happy to see you Cadance and it's so great you're having a foal! Oh, you're going to be a great mother!"

"Thank you Twilight, it's good to see you as well. But I understand you brought a special friend as your guest? I'd like to meet him if I could."

"Of course Cadance, " Twilight looked over to where Rick was standing, he looked a little nervous. This was not only one of Twilight's oldest friends, but the wife of the unicorn that threatened him as well. But Cadance simply smiled, as Twilight led her over to her coltfriend. "Cadance, I'd like to introduce you to my coltfriend, Rick. Rick, this is my very dear friend Princess Cadance."

"Uhm, hi." Rick said a little nervously.

Cadance, cocked her head to the side but gave a gentle smile at Rick's clumsy greeting. "Hi yourself Rick. This is how we say hello in Canterlot." She reared up slightly, then gave him a hug. Shocked, and a little unsure how to continue as he had never before been hugged by an actual Princess Rick did nothing for a moment before deciding it was rude not to reciprocate and gently hugged her back. "There we go, " she said before dropping her front hooves back to the ground. "Rick, I'd like to welcome you to Canterlot and hope that your stay here with us is a happy one."

"Thank you... uhm, sorry what's the proper term to refer to a Princess... I'm not quite up on my heraldry and I don't want to accidentally offend..."

"My name is Cadance. I'd like you to call me that."

"In that case, thank you Cadance. I appreciate it."

"Cadance? Do you know if the Princess is available? I'd really like to see her too, " Twilight asked.

"I believe she's in session right now, affairs of state and last minute plans for the ball tonight. She asked that I deliver her condolences for not greeting you but she will see you both later. Now I must go as well. Please feel free to visit the castle grounds and we'll see you later tonight, " with those words Cadance left the two of them alone.

"So what do you want to do now?"

"I don't know. I've never been to Canterlot before and I wouldn't mind seeing the sights unless you think that I'd cause too much of a scene or something?" Rick thought for a moment before coming up with what he thought would be the perfect place to visit. The library at Canterlot. After all if it wasn't for Twi wanting to create a doorway to the library they would never have met. He mentioned this to her and she agreed whole heartedly.

The library, to put it bluntly, was bucking huge. It reminded Rick of one of those libraries you see in movies where the shelves just go on, and on and you literally can't see the other end because that's how it looked. Row upon row, shelves upon shelves just crammed with books. He breathed in deeply and sighed. There's just a certain smell that old libraries have that made him feel calm. Looking at Twi she too had a dreamy look on her face. And while he wanted to see more of Canterlot, he knew his fillyfriend wanted to spend some time here.

"Okay, 30 minutes to look around and see what they have. No studying but you can borrow some books for later. You still need to take me around Canterlot remember?"

Twilight just nodded and trotted happily into the library, eager to see what was new and interesting. Rick followed in her steps smiling at seeing her so happy.

It had taken most of the morning but Trixie had finally managed to track down Rainbow Dash. The cerulean pegasus was notorious for taking naps when there was work to be done but with her speed, she always managed to complete her duties on time. Right now she was snoozing on a cloud which was drifting slowly over Sweet Apple Acres. A nimbus of pink light surrounded the cloud which promptly vanished, the pegasus fell but managed to save herself before hitting the ground.

"You!" she shouted as she flew straight for Trixie intending to pound her into the dirt.

A nimbus of pink magic now surrounded Rainbow Dash, slowing her down and bringing closer to Trixie but keeping her out of striking distance.

"Lemme go!" Rainbow Dash cried as she struggled within the bubble of magical energy.

"I'm not here to fight you Dash. I'm here to talk and I need your help. Give me 5 minutes, if you don't like what I'm saying then I'll leave and never bother you again."

"Why should I trust you after what you did to Twilight last time? You used her for your own reasons then threw her away like yesterday's garbage!"

"Yes, I deserve that, " Trixie said with shame that she didn't feel in the least. "But I'm here because of you and you need to hear what I have to say. Listen to me for 5 minutes, if you don't like what I say then I'll leave and won't bother you again. Do we have a deal?"

Rainbow Dash looked at her disapprovingly but nodded. It couldn't hurt to hear what she had to say and if she felt like it after she could still pound Trixie into the dirt.

"It's that human that Twilight Sparkle is with. He's not right for her, he's not right for Equestria and the longer Twilight stays with him the worse off we'll all be."

"What do you mean? He's great to Twilight. She loves him and... and he... loves... her..., " Rainbow Dash stumbled over the words, feeling the pain that only unrequited love can cause.

Trixie smiled inwardly as this was the reaction she was hoping for. All it would take is a little pushing and prodding to get Rainbow Dash to turn on the human and it would destroy Twilight in the process. Her revenge against her former fillyfriend would be complete. Putting on a sympathetic face she placed her hoof around Rainbow Dash's shoulder and gave her a hug. "This is why only you out of all the ponies here in Ponyville understand. And what about Twilight? She's been spending all her free time with him. When was the last time the two of you spent any time together just having fun? No, it's that human's fault and I've got just the right plan to get rid of him." She led Rainbow Dash down the road as she explained the details of her plan and what Rainbow Dash needed to do.

"That was great! " Twilight sighed as they walked out of the library. I wish I could spend all day there. Looking at Rick she quickly added, "but that wouldn't be fair. We still need to see more of the city."

"Don't worry about it, we've got some time before this evening. If you really want to go back I could always poke around Canterlot myself." Rick did think however that maybe there was a way he could add to Twi's information. It would take a little work but a magical doorway could effectively be replaced with a magical window. He'd have to check up on a few things once they got back.

Twilight thought about this for a moment and almost headed back to the library but she really wanted to show him around. She shook her head and simply said, "the library can wait. You can't."

He reached down and felt her forehead, then took one of her hooves and glanced at his watch. She looked at him strangely wondering what he was doing. "Sorry, just checking your temperature and pulse. I wanted to make sure you weren't sick or anything, " he replied with a smirk. She nudged him in the ribs and said, "c'mon funny-man. We've got a city to see."

Canterlot, was to put it mildly, impressive. Twilight led Rick through the streets and to the credit of the residents they hardly blinked. Of course these were jaded city folk that had seen it all and even if they hadn't seen the likes of him before they'd simply act like that did. It just wouldn't be seemly to goggle at somepony and some... thing walking down the street.

Lunch was the next thing on their agenda. They managed to find a place where Rick could eat but it took some time to get his order right. It's not hard to mess up a salad, but the inclusion of hay and daisies in it was a little too much. As if to make up for it Twilight brought him to the place she claimed had the best doughnuts and hot cocoa in all of Equestria: Pony Joe's.

"Twilight! It's been forever since I saw you. How have you been?" Pony Joe called out to her as she walked in. "And who's your big friend there? I can't say I've ever seen him around."

"Joe, this is my coltfriend Rick he's a human from another world. Rick, this is Pony Joe, the best baker in Canterlot."

Rick and Joe greeted each other and settled on a hoofbump after some awkward attempts at shaking hands.

A couple of doughnuts and some hot cocoa later Rick had to admit that Joe definitely delivered.

The rest of the afternoon was spent seeing the sights like a couple of tourists. Well, 1 tourist and 1 pony. But as is usual in these situations, they weren't able to see everything and had to head back in order to get ready for tonight's festivities.

"Babe? Is there any way I can get some boiling water here?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I want to make some coffee before we get all set up and I'm assuming you'd want one as well?" Rick asked Twilight.

"I'd love one, but how are you going to get one here?"

He went into his room and pulled out a glass contraption and a small, non-descript bag. "It's called a French Press and it's what I use when travelling to places where it might not be possible to find a local Starbucks."

"Leave that to me, " she trotted over to the door, spoke to one of the guards and within minutes a servant came to the door with a pot of boiling water and two cups.

Rick spooned some of the grounds into the press and poured the water on top. Letting it steep for a few minutes, he them placed the top on the press and pressed it slowly but purposely down. They sat for a few minutes on the balcony, drinking their coffee and enjoying the view. But they couldn't dally and had to get ready for tonight's party.

Twilight had brought the same dress she had worn for the Grand Galloping Gala. She had considered getting something new, but this wasn't going to be a huge event like the Gala and more of a small intimate party for family and friends. That would be the case if a party of 100 ponies could ever be considered intimate. It was also the first time she had seen Rick dressed in anything other than his t-shirt / shorts combination so she was pleasantly surprised when he stepped out of his room, fully dressed in what she assumed was high class human wear. It fit well, but gave him enough room to move freely. He looked a little imposing all dressed in black but at the same time incredibly yummy.

"Rick. We're going out more often and you're wearing that thing when we do."

"Do you like it?" He then proceeded to model it by walking up and down an imaginary catwalk and doing what he called "catalog poses" which involved him standing still in the most ridiculous ways that were supposed to look spontaneous. Twilight giggled at this not fully understanding what he was doing but knew he was playing around as it was his wont to do.

"And, what do you think of my outfit?" She trotted around in a circle to give him the full view. He had to admit it looked good on her. Ponies might not necessarily wear clothes on a day to day basis but when they did, they typically looked good when they did it.

"You look lovely, but we might have a problem."

"What? Is there a tear or something wrong with my outfit?"

"Definitely. You look so good in it that I doubt anypony will be paying any attention to the happy couple and will be looking at you instead, " he said with a wink. Twilight blushed, then putting on a lustful air said, "get your cute butt over here and give me a kiss before I do something unbefitting of a mare." Rick was more than happy to oblige.

They arrived at the ballroom and were announced by a grey maned unicorn as the Lady Twilight Sparkle and her consort. A couple of unicorns came forward to greet them, Rick wasn't sure who they were until Twilight called them "Mom & Dad".

The brother and sister-in-law were one thing, but meeting your girlfriend's parents the first time is always a bit of a struggle. Dads immediately disapprove of you, or at the very least make you work for their approval while Moms typically are a little more welcoming. He approached the Sparkles with as much dignity as he could while secretly shaking on the inside and introduced himself to them. Typically he had done well with his girlfriend's mothers up until now as he could be a charming SOB when he put his mind to it so hopefully ponies could be equally charmed.

"Mr. & Mrs. Sparkle, my name is Rick and it's a pleasure to meet you both on this very happy occasion, " not knowing if he should try to shake hands, or hug or do whatever he chose instead to bow deeply to them. They dipped their heads in response but the look they gave each other showed that they weren't familiar with this kind of greeting. They chatted for a few moments, had some nervous small talk and then the grey maned unicorn announced the arrival of the Princesses and Shining Armor. Everypony turned to face them as they walked down the centre of the room towards the dais where their table was. Ponies dipped their heads in respect as the royals and the guests of honour passed by. Celestia gave Rick a welcoming nod as she passed as did Cadance. This did not go unnoticed as there was a quiet murmur from some of the assorted ponies when it happened.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts!" Celestia spoke. "We are here today to honour Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor on the announcement that the princess is with foal!" There was respectful applause at the mention of this or the pony equivalent of stamping their hooves, the happy couple looked happy and shared a brief kiss. "As is tradition, can both families please come forward so that they may share in this blessing." About a dozen ponies, the Sparkles included, came forward to stand with the happy couple as Princess Celestia spoke a blessing over them. Once done, more applause and the ponies went to find their assigned seats.

Rick found himself seated at the Sparkle's table which was uncomfortably close to the front of the room. He felt like he was on display and more than once did find ponies from other tables looking in his direction and whispering to the ponies next to them. Twilight placed a reassuring hoof on his hand and smiled as if to say thank you for going through this. But in all honesty, while he might feel uncomfortable with the scrutiny he was willing to put up with all of it and more for the sake of his fillyfriend.

Twilight's father kept up an almost constant barrage of questions. Nothing you could really take offense at, but it was clear from his words that he didn't approve. Rick kept hoping something, anything would happen to save him from this grilling. Sometimes it's just not nice to tempt fate because at that moment there was a huge crash that came from the one of the picture windows shattering as a rainbow streaked through the hall.

There was panic, screams coming from left and right and Rick felt a something stab him in his side as he instinctively threw himself over Twilight Sparkle to protect her. He could hear the guards galloping into the hall to take order but something was wrong. The sounds seemed to be coming from far away. Shaking slightly he pulled himself off Twilight, and felt something rip in his side as he did. Twilight called out his name, he had trouble focusing on anything, the room felt like it was spinning, he tried to catch himself on the table, he felt himself falling and then there was only darkness and silence.

Aftermath

Twilight screamed in anguish as her coltfriend lay bleeding out on the ballroom floor. Everything else was ignored. The tussle Rainbow Dash was having with the guards. Shining Armor trying to get the guests out of the ball room. The Princesses trying to deal with the terrified guests. All that paled in comparison to the human who mattered more to her than her life itself.

A moment later he was enveloped in a cocoon of golden magic as Celestia did her best to keep him stable. While she could stem the bleeding she couldn't stop it and his life's blood continued to drip from the wound. In a flash, she disappeared along with Rick. Twilight shouted to bring him back but Cadance was quick to point out that she had probably teleported him directly to the hospital. Twilight immediately followed them.

Twilight appeared in the hospital just in time to see Rick being wheeled into the emergency room as Celestia looked on sadly. She rushed forward to be with him but the princess held her back.

"No, my faithful student. The doctors must operate to save his life. They can't do so if you're in the way."

"But.. what if he... what if they...?" she couldn't finish the thought. The idea of losing her coltfriend was simply too much for her. Tears came to her eyes and she cried like she hadn't cried before. There was a commotion as her parents, the princesses and Shining Armor suddenly arrived at the hospital. Her parents and princess Cadance tried to comfort her as best they could but they were in shock as well. Her parents had seen how he had thrown himself in front of the glass, saving their daughter possibly at the cost of his own life. Mr. Sparkle especially felt bad for the trouble he gave her coltfriend. That he would sacrifice himself without a second thought showed how deeply and truly he cared for Twilight.

"Celestia, do you mind if we speak in private?" Shining Armor asked the princess.

"Not at all, follow me." They walked down the hall a bit away from the other ponies.

"We captured the one that caused this. I don't know why she did this as she's not answering any questions but it's one of Twilly's friends. The one called Rainbow Dash."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would she do such a thing and attack Rick?"

"I don't think that was intentional. She doesn't seem to be herself but for the moment we have her in custody. She was pretty banged up when we caught her but once we did she just stopped completely. I believe she might be under the influence of an evil magician or maybe she came into contact with an ancient artifact. I'd appreciate it if you were to see her. Maybe you can pick something up that we can't."

The Princess nodded and asked that Shining Armor look after his sister and family while she went to check on the prisoner. She teleported out of the hospital back to the castle. Twilight was too far gone to notice any of this however.

Hours later, Celestia came back to the hospital with more questions than she had before. It was true that Rainbow Dash had been under the influence of somepony or something but she couldn't see that it was. The only thing she was able to get from her was a name: Trixie. It seemed familiar but she couldn't quite place it.

Walking over to the Sparkles as they waited in the aptly named waiting room she noticed that Twilight had fallen into a rather fitful sleep. Poor dear was probably exhausted with what had happened. Shining Armor and Princess Cadance came to see her, worry lining their faces.

"You were correct that Rainbow Dash was under the influence of some magic. I haven't been able to pierce it yet but I was able to get a name from her mind. Does 'Trixie' mean anything to either one of you?"

Before either one could answer they heard the now wide awake Twilight yell out, "Trixie!? She's behind all this?!?" and before anypony could stop her Twilight teleported away.

Meanwhile, just outside of Ponyville, the Great and Powerful Trixie was waiting for her puppet Rainbow Dash to come back. It had been foal's play to get the hot tempered pegasus worked up then when her anger was at its peak to use the pendant to sap her will and make Rainbow Dash do what whatever she wanted. The idea was to have her crash the party, make a scene and accuse Rick of two-timing her. She would then proceed to tell the ponies there how Rick had planned to abandon Twilight Sparkle. Later, when Twilight was all alone and miserable the Great and Powerful Trixie would swoop in and save her, to comfort her, to kiss her tears away and make her forget all about that monkey. It was foolproof. Or at least it would have been had Rainbow Dash not taken her at her word and literally crashed the party but Trixie didn't know that just yet.

Suddenly there was an explosion in front of her and a very angry, very pissed off Twilight Sparkle appeared. She was breathing heavily, her teeth grit in anger and if that wasn't enough, her dress was covered in blood. In short, she looked like either a mass murderer or a creature straight from the pits of hell. Trixie swallowed nervously and said weakly, "hi sweetie. I'm glad you're back".

"Don't you dare sweetie me you b1tch! All this is your fault. My coltfriend is in the hospital and he might die because of you. So give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now."

"K-k-kill me? But Twilight, I did this for us so we could be together again."

"Together? We were never together! You took advantage of me in a moment of weakness when I needed somepony and I thought you needed somepony as well."

"But I've changed. Really I have."

"You used one of my best friends, twisted her, raped her mind and possibly even killed the man I love and you don't feel sorry about it, " Twilight was beyond angry now. She had gone from sadness to anger to righteous anger and whatever lay beyond that. It burned within her belly, giving her a strength and focus that nopony had. And right now, all of it was focused on Trixie.

Not knowing what to do next, Trixie threw a couple of books at Twilight who just stood there and didn't even acknowledge that anything struck her. She attempted a spell that would bind Twilight but the rope just fell off as if the magic activating it had been drained. At this point she realised that Twilight was like a force of nature. There was nothing she could do to stop this juggernaut, but maybe she could still try something.

"Why are you doing this?" Trixie cried. "You loved me and I loved you! You said we'd be together for all time. When I came back for you I saw you cavorting with a monkey. I got rid of him so we could be together again! Please! I did this for us! Don't hurt me!"

"Don't you dare call him a monkey!" Twilight's voice packing an almost palpable force of its own so much so that Trixie felt like she had been slapped.

"You never loved me, " Twilight growled. "You never loved anypony except for yourself." Twilight's eyes were glowing with an unearthly brilliance as step by step she got closer to the cowering Trixie. "You used me as if I was an object then threw me away when you thought you had gotten everything." Her mane started to move of its own volition, as if caught in the wind. "You then tried to take from me the one thing in this world that I did love and who loved me back and you DARE ASK FOR MERCY!?" Twilight's voice was now like the howling of a demon.

Trixie was frozen in absolute terror, Twilight had been pushed to the edge and had come back stronger than ever. She was a shy, timid bookworm no longer but a mare out for vengeance. It would take a miracle to survive this but Trixie still had an ace up her metaphorical sleeve. Holding the pendant out before her she started chanting the spell that would rob Twilight of her will or at least that was the plan. A nimbus of purple energy surrounded the pendant and it exploded knocking Trixie out. Exhausted beyond measure but being powered by a hatred so strong, Twilight did manage to walk a few more steps before finally blacking out herself.

The explosion caused three things in rapid succession. The first was Rainbow Dash came out of her trance. The second was it alerted Celestia to their location. And third, it scared Fluttershy so much she ran and hid under her bed. That last part has no real bearing on the story however and probably would have happened anyway. She is after all the pony that could be scared by her own shadow.

Awareness came back slowly. Distorted voices filled her ears, shadows moved across her vision and she finally was able to focus on what was before her she saw her family gathered around her bed.

"What happened?" Twilight managed to croak through a throat that felt rough and extremely dry. A sip of water helped to clear that up. She felt dizzy and a little out of sorts and felt she had forgotten something when last night's memories came flooding back to her. She sat upright in bed, ignoring the dizziness and pounding headache and yelled out, "where's Rick!?"

"He's over there dear, " her mother pointed to the bed next to hers. Her coltfriend looked awful, his skin had a greyish pallor and he was breathing shallowly. She had to stare at his chest to make sure he was breathing. Struggling to get to get to her feet, she was pushed back firmly by her brother telling her not to overdo anything.

Somepony must have contacted the Princess as Celestia walked in at that point and explained what happened.

"The doctors were able to stabilise him. It was touch and go for a long time, he had lost too much blood and they were sure that he wouldn't make it but your coltfriend has a strong will to live. Possibly he just has a very good reason to do so, " she said looking directly at Twilight. The meaning of her words was obvious. "While there is no human blood in Equestria, we were able to come up with a spell to speed up the production of his own blood. He'll be unconscious for a few days while his body works on healing but he should make a speedy recovery."

Twilight sighed in relief. The tears of pain and sorrow threatening to burst forth were replaced with tears of relief and joy. She sniffled a bit and then asked about Trixie and Rainbow Dash. There were some uncomfortable looks shared by her family and she knew something bad had happened.

"We don't blame you for what happened to Trixie. She had uncovered some old, and very dark magic. Only the ancients could have properly harnessed it and Trixie was nowhere near strong enough to do so."

"Why? What happened to her?"

"In your rage, your magic caused the pendant she wore to explode. The magic had a... rebound effect on her. Her mind is simply gone. There's nothing of Trixie that is left. She's in effect an empty shell of a pony. The doctors can keep her alive and comfortable but they can never repair the damage done."

"Good, " Twilight said with some finality. That part of the nightmare was over and the "Low and Pathetic Trixie" would never bother her or her friends again. Taking a deep breath, she then asked, "and Rainbow Dash?"

There was an uncomfortable silence as the gathered ponies looked away, not wanting to look Twilight in the eye. Something had happened to her friend, and it wasn't good for anypony involved. "Please, somepony tell me what happened to Rainbow Dash."

"Maybe it's better if you come and see."

They brought out a wheelchair and wheeled Twilight down the hall where a couple of guard ponies were stationed outside a room. They snapped to attention when Shining Armor passed by and one of them opened the room. There, tied down by straps, was what appeared to be Rainbow Dash. At least, it was a cerulean pegasus but a heavily bandaged one. She just stared blankly at one point on the ceiling, only the occasional blink showing she was awake. "Rainbow Dash?" Twilight called out but there was no response from the pegasus in the bed.

"She's been like that since the accident. She got cut all over after crashing through the window and when the guards tried to restrain her wings were damaged. Later when she was in custody and the pendant was destroyed she came back to her senses and tried to kill herself which is why she's tied down right now. The guilt and the shock of what happened has caused her to escape back into her own mind. She'll make a physical recovery, but the mental scars might take a lot longer to heal."

Twilight felt sick. That evil Trixie had caused her so much misery and now that her mind was gone there was no way for her to atone for her crimes. "Take me back to my room, " she whispered.

When they finally brought her back, she asked to be left alone but requested that her bed be brought over next to Rick's. At least that way she could be near him and maybe her presence would help his recovery. The beds were moved and carefully placing herself on his good side she lay her head on his chest so she could hear him breathe and hear his heartbeat.

The days passed, Twilight never left Rick's side even though she was well enough to leave. She had heard that speaking to a person when they were unconscious was good for them so she spoke about whatever passed through her mind, or read him stories that she hoped he would like. On the third day she was dozing when she finally heard the thing she had been dying for over the past few days.

"Twi?" Rick croaked weakly as he opened his eyes. "What happened?"

"RICK!" she cried somewhere between alarm and joy. She moved forward to give him a hug, but he winced slightly and hissed in pain as pressure was put on his wound. "Sorrysorrysorry, " Twilight said in an attempt to apologise. But she was so overjoyed to see him awake that she started crying again.

"No babe, don't cry. I'm here. I'm okay even if I don't know what happened." He reached up and gently cupped her cheek, wiping the tears away with his thumb. Twilight closed her eyes rubbed against his palm as she brought her hoof up to hold his hand in place. She kissed his palm gently and looked back into his eyes. "You look like hell," he said with a smirk.

"So do you, " she replied with a smile.

The nurse, coming in to check on the noise saw him awake and immediately called the doctor. Twilight was moved off to the side as the doctor checked on his patient before nodding to himself and saying that Rick should be fine but he'd like to keep him for observation for another day or so.

"So what do you remember?" Twilight asked once they were alone.

"Nothing much. We were at the party for your brother and sister-in-law, there was a crash and I got stabbed or something?"

Twilight nodded. "It was a big piece of glass that would have killed me if you hadn't gotten in the way. We thought we lost you but you're too stubborn to die from something like that, " she said with a forced smile.

"But what crashed through the glass? I remember there was a commotion, but maybe that's just my mind playing tricks on me."

"It was Rainbow Dash, but it wasn't her fault! She was being controlled by a manipulative little b1tch but that's taken care of."

"Is she alright?"

Twilight sighed heavily. "I don't know, " she was badly banged up and then when she heard what she did even accidentally, " she gestured to his wound, " she went a little crazy. They've got her under observation down the hall."

"And the manipulative daughter of a female dog? What's her story?"

Twilight bit her lip for a moment. Here it goes, the moment she hoped they would never have to speak of but Rick deserved to know the truth of what happened. "Okay, I'll tell you, but I need you to just listen until I'm done.

She related the story as the "Great and Powerful" Trixie came to town with her boastful attitude and how it was Twilight that had finally defeated the dreaded Ursa Minor. That wasn't the difficult part but what came next was.

"It had been several months since that incident and everypony went on with their lives. Nopony thought of her and eventually she was forgotten. Until the day she came knocking on the door of the library. She seemed contrite and apologised for what she had done and wanted to make amends. I wasn't convinced but she claimed she had changed and wanted to show me. For the next few days she helped to clean up the library, fetched me books and even brought me my meals as I studied. She had no place to stay so I offered her the guest bed. It took several weeks but one night we were getting ready for bed, I thanked her for all her hard work and I was feeling vulnerable. She took advantage of that and took advantage of me. We fillyfooled around, it wasn't my first time with a mare but it was definitely my last time. From that day on we studied during the day and made love at night. I knew it was wrong, but I just wanted somepony that saw me as a mare and not just a bookworm or way for them to get ahead. I didn't want a stallion because I didn't want any foals and stallions get too needy and think they own you after your first time together. So, I wanted another mare, " she sighed at the end.

"You don't have to tell me all this if it hurts, " Rick said taking one of her hooves in his hand.

She shook her head. "No, I need to clear the air and I told you to zip it mister."

Rick made a zipping and locking motion across his lips. It reminded Twilight of something Pinkie Pie would have done.

"Where was I? Oh right, I wanted another mare and Trixie was willing and able to fit that role. My friends didn't care too much for her, but then she did nothing to endear herself to them. She just wanted me and didn't want anything to do with the others. We were together for a couple of months, then one day she just left. She said that I wasn't what she was looking for and needed to find a real mare to take care of her. I took it pretty hard but later found a book on magic missing from the library, " she sighed heavily. "I guess she never wanted me in the first place, just my knowledge and access to my books. I'll admit I hated her for it but she was the one that set me on the path to create the portal. My plan originally was to be able to use the portal to see if I could find that specific book in the library then after figured why not make it a permanent spell and always have access."

Rick motioned to her to come closer. She hopped up on the bed, careful not to put any stress on his wound. He gingerly put his arm around her as best he could and gave her a simple hug. She snuggled in close and they just lay there, enjoying the closeness they felt.

The news of Rick's recovery had reached everypony and they were more than happy to see this human back among the living. Twilight's parents were overjoyed at this and while he might still not like the idea of this human being with his daughter, Mr. Sparkle did give his blessing. Mrs. Sparkle turned into a mother hen for the man that saved her daughter and said if there was anything he needed, no matter what it was to ask her and she'd make sure to get it for him. Shining Armor thanked him personally for saving his little sister also apologising for the mild threat when they first met. But the happiest out of all of them was Princess Celestia.

"I suppose I have you to thank for my being back among the living?" Rick asked the Princess.

"Think nothing of it Rick, it was my duty as the ruler of Equestria to make sure that all my subjects are taken care of. Even if they're only here part of the time. Besides, Twilight Sparkle would not have forgiven me had I not done everything in my power to save you."

"Doesn't matter. I owe you my life and I will be eternally grateful and in your debt. If there's ever anything you need or want, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you Rick, but I don't think it will be necessary but I do appreciate the gesture."

They stayed and talked for a bit, but Rick was still recovering and soon found himself getting sleepy. The assorted ponies decided it would be best if they left. Twilight however stayed at his bedside, not wanting to let him out of her sight. Eventually joining him once again on the bed and falling asleep at his side.

Meanwhile in a room down the hall a single tear ran down the cheek of Rainbow Dash. Nopony was around to see it just like nopony saw her shut her one good eye for a moment before returning to her examination of the ceiling.

Home again

To all observers she looked calm and at peace, almost serene but her mind was a maelstrom of pain, anger and loss. She replayed the same scene over and over in her mind, accidentally killing the one she loved, finally getting free of Trixie's control and then attempting to take the only honorable way out for what she did. Yes, it wasn't her fault as she was being controlled like a puppet but she could see and hear and feel what was going on, she was just powerless to do anything about it. It was almost the same as if she had willingly done it.

So there she lay, unable to move due to the straps holding her down. Ignoring all attempts to reach her. She felt she didn't deserve their help and they should just let her die. It might not make things right as she could never bring Rick back to life but it would help to balance the scales. Her only companion during all this was the pain, not just the emotional hell she was going through but the deep down body pain that seemed to have worked it's way throughout her entire being. But she bore the pain gladly in fact she welcomed it because she felt she somehow deserved it.

And so days passed and she just stared at the ceiling. She had no way to tell how long it had been that she was lying here. The room was dark, no natural light entered through the shuttered window, her only way of keeping count was how many times she slept and then awoke. Sleep was no comfort however, because the nightmares would start as soon as she closed her eyes leaving her clammy and soaked with sweat when she awoke. Nothing could make her world right anymore, she was in a hell of her own creation and would never be okay again. That is until one day she heard a voice that she had never thought she'd hear again. But that was impossible, she killed him. She saw him fall to the floor with a gaping wound in his side and Celestia carry him off. She must be dreaming again, nopony came back from the dead. That only happened in fairy tales.

"There you go, " Twilight said. "She was brought here after everything and hasn't moved since. Celestia thinks she's hiding inside her own mind because she can't deal with what happened."

Rick stared sadly at Rainbow Dash. The pegasus was such a bright spark that nopony could keep down for long and yet here she was completely broken. It was difficult to believe this was the same pony that he had sparred with so many times. He sighed deeply, it was almost painful to see her like this. "Are you sure there's nothing that can be done?"

"From what I understand, they've tried to reach her but she just doesn't react. She's in there somewhere but until she decides to show up again, there's not much we can do."

"Babe? Just gimme a moment with her alone. You talked to me when I was out and maybe that helped to reach me. Maybe if I talk to her she'll come out of it or something."

Twilight looked at him for a moment, then nodded, gave him a quick kiss and left the room. Rick hobbled over to the bed, his cane taking some of the strain off his mending side and sank gratefully in a chair by the side of Rainbow Dash's bed.

"Hey Dash. Dunno if you can hear me in there but doctors say that it's good to speak to people or ponies in your case when they're in your situation." He paused for a moment trying to formulate the proper words. "Look, I don't know what happened and maybe part of that is my fault. Even after all this time with Twi, I don't fully understand pony culture and how you guys communicate when you're not actually talking. If I did, I want to apologise and I'm sorry if there was ever any misunderstanding between us. You are important to me not only as a friend and fellow snarker but as one of Twi's very best friends as well." He reached out and took one of her hooves in his hand, maybe she would feel it where she was, maybe she wouldn't but it couldn't hurt to try.

"I just want you to know, that I forgive you. What happened wasn't your fault and if Twilight is okay with it, maybe we can put all this ugliness behind us and start all over. We're heading back to Ponyville today, I need to get back home or risk losing my job but we'll come visit you when we can. I promise, you haven't seen the last of us, " he stood up, leaned over and gave her a chaste kiss where her head wasn't bandaged.

As he turned to leave he heard her croak, "that the best you can do?" and turned around to see her looking back at him with her good eye.

"Dash! You're okay?!?"

"Shhhh! Not so loud buster! I'm fragile right now."

Twilight rushed into the room after hearing Rick shout and with tears in her eyes rushed over to her friend. "Rainbow Dash! You're awake! We were so worried about you."

"Yeah so worried that you never came to visit me except that once?" Rainbow Dash said with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

Stung slightly by this Twilight defended herself, "Rick was unconscious for 3 days, I spent all that time by his bedside. I needed to be there when he woke up. But you were aware of everything going on during that time?"

Rainbow Dash nodded solemnly. "I thought I had killed him and that was my punishment for doing so."

"But it wasn't your fault! That was Trixie taking control of your mind."

Rainbow Dash nodded again in agreement. "But, deep down I was angry at you and Rick. Part of me wanted to hurt you both for what happened. I think that's why Trixie was able to control me so easily. And speaking of her, where is she now?"

Rick and Twilight exchanged a look. Rainbow Dash didn't know that Trixie had been defeated and was currently nothing more than a drooling meatbag in some sanitarium somewhere. This look was not lost on Rainbow Dash who then asked, "so what happened to her?"

"Well, after you were captured and Rick was in surgery, Celestia got the name Trixie from your mind. I went a little nuts, tracked her down and there was an accident. I caused her pendant to explode, she lost her mind and I found myself down the hall recovering next to Rick here. The Princess says that she's completely gone and her mind no longer exists."

There was a moment of silence before the pegasus just said, "good. She deserved it." She sighed then said, "look guys, I'm sorry for everything and I know I can't make up for it but I hope maybe we can move on from here and like Rick said start fresh."

Twilight smiled and said, "I'd like that." She leaned over and kissed Rainbow Dash lightly on the cheek and said, "we'll come visit from time to time but hopefully you'll get better soon."

As they walked out of the hospital, there was a carriage with 4 strong pegasi waiting to take them back to Ponyville. The Princess had insisted that they be taken back using her personal carriage. Goodbyes were made. Cadance kissed the two goodbye. Twilight promised to return to see them more often. And Shining Armor and his guards gave Rick a salute as he passed. They settled back in the carriage and it was airborne.

"One hell of a party."

"Thank you Mr. Understatement, " Twilight said dryly.

Rick chuckled and gave his fillyfriend a kiss. "Have I told you recently that I love you?"

"No, " she said as she smiled sweetly at him waiting for those three words that she loved to hear.

"Just making sure, " he said with a smirk that turned to a giggle when she realised he was just playing with her. He kissed her again and then said it.

"You're infuriating you know that?" she said with mock severity.

"It's all part of my charm," he placed his arm around her and they kicked back while watching the scenery pass by.

Finally back in the library they each went about taking care of some loose ends. Spike, while he had gotten a scroll from the Princess telling him what happened was still worried that his sister and big brother hadn't come back yet and was overjoyed to see them walk in. The library was spotless, obviously he had done a lot of cleaning over the past few days to keep his mind off what might have happened.

Rick walked back into his room, his phone had several messages from work wondering where he was and his boss said if he didn't contact them by today he'd be fired. Needless to say he called them, made up a story about having an accident and spending the last few days in the hospital. It wasn't exactly a lie, but saying it happened when going rock climbing was easier to understand than saying it was indirectly caused by a flying pony. He promised to come in tomorrow and show off the wicked scar he got from it. He also remembered the gems that he wanted to get appraised. Pulling a few out of the chest, he walked back into the library to tell Twilight that he needed to leave for a couple hours but he would be back for dinner.

"Are you going to be okay? Shouldn't you rest?" she asked with more than just a little bit of worry in her voice.

"I'll be fine. I need to get this done before the end of the week. With luck, I might have hit on a way to keep us from having to go out the basement window every time to enter the apartment."

Twilight looked at him funny, but then shrugged and said, "dinner is on me tonight. I don't want you straining yourself to do anything for the next few days."

"Whatever you say sexy. And I'm going to hold you to that promise, " he said with a leer.

Easing into his battered little hatchback, he drove off to his first appointment to get the gems appraised. He wasn't holding out much hope that they'd be worth a lot of money but just from the size of them, they had to be worth something.

Three different jewelers gave him three similar prices for the gems he brought in. Yes, they were large. Yes, they were cut and brilliant. And yes they were slightly flawed but none of that mattered. The gems had an average value of several thousand dollars each or at least that was what the jewelers were willing to pay for them. A quick calculation showed that if the rest of them were as valuable, there was a small fortune stashed away in his closet. It was hopefully more than enough to purchase the house from the MacKensizes but the only issue was how to sell them. He was missing the papers for these gems. One or two he could claim were from a relative that had passed on, or maybe from an estate sale but a whole chest of them would arouse suspicion. He needed to come up with a way that satisfied the legal requirements of selling gems without having to deal with the shadier aspects of the underworld. He needed an angle then hit on the perfect option: an auction. With so many people bidding, that usually drove the price up and he could avoid some of the legalities by saying he had found it while rock climbing or something like that. Then the auction house would take a small cut but it would take a lot of the hassle out of it.

Once back home, he spoke to the Mackenzie’s and told them of his plan. He didn't reveal the details except that he would be getting a good deal of money in the next few weeks and with their permission would buy the house from them. It was a win-win deal. They would get the money they needed. He wouldn't have to pay rent anymore and the portal to Equestria would remain his secret. Also, once he had bought the house he could knock down a wall and make a second doorway which would make travel between Equestria and his apartment a lot easier. The Mackenzie’s agreed, they would draw up the contracts and by the end of the month would have sold the house.

Feeling good, Rick traipsed down the stairs back to his room, made two cups of coffee one of which he brought out to Twilight in the library. She was busy at her research but accepted the coffee with a grateful smile. As he turned around to back to his room to relax with his own coffee Twlight called out to him. "Before you do anything that takes up too much time, I want you to go see Rarity. She has something for you."

"What is it?"

"Your clothes that got damaged during the... scuffle. I had them sent back and Rarity was able to mend them."

"Seriously? That's awesome. Thanks babe."

"Don't worry about it. I told her to put it on your tab."

"Great, another half-price massage. Oh well, if she did a good job at repairing the suit it's a small price to pay. I'm assuming that because you want me to get that you want to get dressed up tonight?"

"Yes. We're going to a fancy restaurant to celebrate. My stallion and best friend are alive, my sister-in-law is having a foal, my parents love you and that b1tch has been vanquished. I think we've earned a night out."

"Okay, I'll go see Rarity after I've had my coffee. Deal?"

"Perfect. I want you ready to go at 6:00 tonight."

"Roger Wilco. Over and out, " Rick made a squelching noise at the end and threw a salute. Twilight looked at him funny, then just shrugged and went back to her books. After all these months, she had gotten used to the strange comments he made even if she never understood what they meant.

Suitably relaxed, Rick entered Rarity's shop where she made an awful fuss over him.

"Oh my dear Richard! I heard what happened to you, how dreadful it must have been."

"I'm feeling much better Rarity. Thank you for your concern."

"You're very welcome but what would I do without you? Those lovely magazines you bring with you once a month, the massages, the prestige of being your tailor. No, if anything I should be thanking you for all you've done for me."

"Thank you Rarity, you're very kind but unfortunately I don't have much time to stay and chat. Twilight sent me over to get my clothes. She said you were able to fix them?"

"Darling, I did so much better than just repair them, I made you a whole new ensemble. Behold!" With a flourish she tossed her head to the side, soft blue magic erupted from her horn and the curtains parted to reveal a whole new suit of a slightly different cut. What had once been a tailored Italian suit, was now a differently tailored suit of unknown origins. It looked vaguely like a tuxedo with moderate tails. A waistcoat with a slight hounds tooth motif went underneath the jacket and it was topped off with a red bow tie and honest to goodness top hat and cane.

"Well? What do you think?"

Rick stood there agog. This was so unexpected that he was stuck for what to say next. "Rarity... I... don't know what to say. Thank you, this is an incredible gift, " he kneeled down and gave her a gentle hug.

"Well... yes... you're welcome, " Rarity said with a slight blush and stammer. She knew he was just being friendly, but this wasn't the first time she had thought of him in a more than just a friendly way. Those hands of his were marvelous and there was many a night she wondered what else those dexterous digits of his could do. She composed herself and said, "please try them on. I can make some last minute adjustments just in case."

He took the clothes to the fitting room and tried them on. They fit perfectly. It was as if the clothes had been made specifically for him with him in mind and with his exact measurements. Stepping out of the changing room so Rarity could see, she almost swooned at the sight.

"Oh my, I am a true artiste! Such a wonderful looking suit and such a handsome stallion to carry it off. I dare say that all the mares who see you tonight will be absolutely green with envy when they see you and Twilight together."

"Thanks Rarity. Gotta admit, you did a fantastic job on this, " Rick said admiring himself in the mirror. A few minutes later he had changed back into his street clothes, picked up Twilight's dress that had been cleaned and repaired and was on his way. Rarity watched him leave with a mixture of admiration and regret. If only she could find such a fine specimen to warm her bed on those cold nights alone, to hold her in his arms when she needed comfort and to massage her inside and out with those wonderful fingers when she was feeling tense. With a heavy sigh she returned to her shop, locked the door and went to draw a bubble bath.

That evening, a well-dressed couple walked out of the library to Chez Antoine. While not the fanciest or most upscale restaurant in Ponyville it did have an excellent menu and was known as being the best bang for your bit.

They lingered over appetizers, shared some wine, gazed lovingly into each other's eyes and generally carried on like a couple deeply in love. The meal was excellent and for dessert they decided to share a chocolate mousse. Rick would take a spoonful, then give a spoonful to Twilight. It was insufferably romantic and while more than one filly wished her date would treat her as well, Twilight and Rick never noticed. They were on after dinner drinks, Twilight was slightly tipsy and Rick wasn't doing all that well either but they didn't care. The bill was paid and they slowly made their way back to the library.

"You know, I take it back, " Twilight said as they walked.

"What do you take back?"

"How good you looked back in Canterlot before the party."

Rick looked at her a little strangely, not sure what she was getting at.

"Back then, when I saw you in your suit I thought you looked absolutely yummy. But now you look so much yummier." She raised herself and put her hooves on his shoulders so she could whisper in his ear, "I'm so ready for you now. If we were somewhere more private, I'd just take you. Of course I'd do all the work tonight." She pulled back to look him in the eyes and pouted prettily. "My poor stallion is hurt. It's only right for his mare to do whatever she can for him." Twilight then leaned in and kissed him hard. Rick was hard pressed not to respond in kind and for a moment he did. They ignored the ponies walking through the night. They ignored the stares that some gave them and they ignored propriety as they started practically making out in the town square.

Gasping for breath, Rick pulled back and said, "babe, we need to stop and get back to the library now. If we keep this up, they'll be calling the cops and I don't want to be spending this night away from you."

They practically sprinted back to the library, ran through to Rick's room and placed the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. Not that it mattered as there was nopony or nodragon there. On these nights that Rick and Twilight went out, Spike made his way to Rarity's. They had grown closer over the past few months, spending a lot more time with each other. Of course Rarity kept up the same charade where she'd have him clean and tidy up first only to give him a chaste kiss on the cheek when he was done. But had there been anypony else there they might have noticed that Rarity did look upon the dragon with a certain affection when he was cleaning up and she would primp in front of the mirror to make sure she looked stunning when he knocked on her door. Tonight was no exception but there was a change in their usual procedure. Spike usually slept in a small basket by the foot of Rarity's bed. Before he showed up, she made sure Opalescence had not only used it, but abused it. When it came time for them to go to sleep, Spike's bed was in ruins and it was too late to fix it or get him another one. So tonight, but just tonight he could sleep with Rarity in her bed provided he was a complete gentlecolt and respected a filly's modesty. Spike agreed willingly and Rarity smiled as she went to sleep. Now how could she convince Rick to teach Spike to give a massage? The question would have to wait to be answered later as she fell asleep dreaming of her strong dragon slowly working the tension from her muscles then when the massage was done, they'd get down to business.

Spike of course knew nothing of this and was simply happy to be sleeping next to Rarity in her bed. It truly was the best night of his life. If only he knew what she was thinking, it might have even gotten better.

Surprises all Around

It was a Saturday morning and Rick awoke to the sound of somebody knocking on the door. Groggily he got up, careful not to disturb Twilight as she slept soundly next to him and searched for something to throw on before going to the door and seeing who it was. Needless to say it was the shock of his life.

"Mom... Dad!?"

"Look dear, I told you he'd be surprised to see us" his Mom said giving him a big hug and kiss on the cheek.

"W-w-w-what are you doing here?" he asked with more than just a little bit of panic in his voice as he stepped out into the morning chill and carefully closed the door behind him.

"Do we need a reason to come and see you? Oh don't give me that look, we're just passing through on our way to see your Aunt Janice so we're not staying long. It's been such a long time since we saw you that we thought it would be nice, " his mother continued.

His father shrugged and simply said, "it was your mother's idea. For some reason she's got it into her head that you need looking after."

"Yeah, look I'm really happy to see you two but I've kinda got company and I don't want to make things awkward. You know, her meeting my parents like this."

"You have a girlfriend and didn't tell us? Oh, I need to meet this girl who's so special my own son doesn't feel it's necessary to tell his mother."

"No, please, not like this, " Rick was into a full blown freak-out. There was no way his parents would understand the girl in his life was a pony. Hell, sometimes the concept was still rather silly to him but there was no denying the attraction or the feelings they shared. "She's still sleeping, why don't you come back later and you can meet her then?" Hopefully by the time they came back, Twilight would be back home and he could come up with some other excuse.

Before anybody could say anything else, the door behind him opened and he heard a familiar voice say, "good morning, my name is Twilight Sparkle". Rick nearly fainted when he heard this but this turned to outright astonishment when a very human looking Twilight stepped past him to greet his parents.

"Twilight Sparkle, you say. Is that your stage name dear?" Rick's mum asked once introductions had been made as she eyed the young beauty sitting demurely in front of her wearing one of her son's dress shirts and oddly enough his boxers as well. His father was more pragmatic about it and simply said to Rick in a voice that didn't carry to his wife, "nice work son. She looks like a keeper."

"Actually my parents were hippies, I grew up on a commune and everybody there had a name like 'Rainbow' or 'Applebloom'. I'm actually a librarian, " Twilight said.

"A librarian with that hair colour?"

"Yes Mom, she's a librarian and has purple hair with pink highlights. She's also a vegetarian, enjoys a drink once in a while, has a tattoo of a star on her butt and when company isn't around likes to walk around nude which explains why she's wearing my clothes as hers are in the wash. Not that I mind any of those things, but I'm just getting this out there right now."

"Well, far be it from me to cast any judgements on your new friend. Whatever happened to that nice Julie you used to see? She was such a nice girl."

"You mean the one that had a green mohawk, multiple piercings, worked in health food store, smoked weed and you called a shiftless dreamer who wouldn't amount to anything? Last time I checked she was going through law school and working to become an environmental lawyer."

This went on for a bit. During that time, Rick's dad was being a little more friendly with Twilight.

"Sorry about his mother, she's a little overprotective of him and sometimes this can come across as hostility towards his girlfriends. She'll come around in time. I see the way you look at him and how he looks at you so I know you two care about each other. I'm not going to interfere and I won't press anything but I think you're exactly what Rick needs right about now."

"Thank you sir. I appreciate it."

"Please, call me Walter, " he said with a smile.

"I will, thank you Walter, " she responded with a smile.

"So Rick, how's work?" his father asked trying to steer the conversation away from Twilight.

"Well, it's good. Although technically I'm kinda between jobs right now, " Rick really didn't want to speak about his "business" of selling Equestrian gems which made him rich enough not to have to work.

"Between jobs? Are you okay? Do you need some money for rent? Your father can speak to your landlord if you want and set something up, " his Mother going into full mother hen mode.

"Mum, it's okay. Technically we own the house. We bought it last month."

"What? You bought this place and you're still living in the basement?"

"Actually we're remodeling upstairs and once it's done we'll be moving up there, " Rick lied. He knew when he started this that the truth would eventually come out but he just didn't expect it to be this soon.

"And how did you pay for all this?"

"Actually I paid for most of it. My grandparents were wealthy and left me a lot of money provided I left the commune and got a real job. I liked books, and learning so I became a librarian. And it was in the library that I first met Rick, " Twilight smiled as she put her arms around Rick and gave him a big hug.

Rick could tell that his mother was looking for a reason to argue or disagree with this but was having trouble doing so. He attempted to move the conversation to a less personal line. "So you said you were going to see Aunt Janice. How is she doing now?" Okay it was lame, but Rick was still reeling from too many shocks this morning.

They chatted pleasantly enough for a little while longer when finally Rick's father said they needed to leave if they wanted to make it to Janice's place by this afternoon. They said their goodbyes, Rick promised to call more often and finally they left.

"Babe, I am so sorry about my Mum. She means well but can't quite get it through her head that I'm no longer a child. And now that that's out of the way, " he waved his hands in her direction, "where the hell did this come from?"

She placed her arms around his neck and kissed him. "You know, I could get used to this. It's so much easier to kiss you this way."

"Yes, it's all well and good but how?" Rick ran his hands down her body and she felt exactly like she looked. A quick peek inside her shirt and a rather lengthy exploration of her backside and he had to admit that the look was complete. "I mean you don't just look human, you actually feel human with all the in and out bits that go along with it."

"It's a spell I was working on for the longest time, I didn't want to show you right away but when I heard your parents upstairs I figured either I do so or try to hide and have you explain how your fillyfriend escaped through your bedroom. So do you like it?" she twirled around, letting him get a good view from all sides and he had to admit, she looked good as a human.

Rick smiled as something suddenly occurred to him, "hold on. If you're human now, does this mean I can show you around my world a bit?"

"One step at a time Rick. I'm not sure how long I can hold this form, " and almost like that without warning the magic gave out, Twilight immediately lost height and reverted to her pony form. She looked a little unsteady but was able to make it back to the couch before collapsing.

"Twilight? Twilight! Don't make me slap you to wake you up unless that's a turn on or something."

She nodded groggily then sighed. "Sorry, that just got away for me for a moment. Whew! Well, there you go. Right now looks like about 1 hour. Sweetie?" she looked at Rick.

"Yeah babe, what do you need?"

"Caffeine then a cuddle and a maybe a nap after. I haven't decided yet."

"Alright, c'mon, " he picked her up and made their way to his bedroom where he lay her down on the bed. He walked over to the coffee machine and was about to start it but the soft snores coming from behind him said that it could wait.

Yawning a bit himself, he decided that maybe going back to sleep was the best thing right now. He lay down next to her, turned off the light and fell asleep himself.

He awoke a couple hours or so later to find Twilight gone. There was a light on in the apartment so she must be in there. He wandered out and saw her walking about in her human form just running her fingers over objects and feeling different textures. She was also completely naked and he was pleased to see her cutie mark was actually still on her butt. Damn, she looked fine as a human and her appearance did cause a certain physical reaction in him which he tried to cover up as best he could while watching her move about.

She turned his way and gave a little startle when she saw him, then smiled and hurried on over to give him a big hug and run her hands across him. "These hands are incredible. They're so sensitive and versatile! Everything feels like it's brand new. I just want to touch and feel everything!" Her exploration of Rick's clothes and body continued until she got to his groin and noticed his arousal. She smiled sexily at this. "Do you like what you see? Is this reaction because you saw me walking around naked?"

"Hey, I'm a guy. I'm programmed to react that way to the woman in my life is walking around nude then holds her beautiful body against me. So yes, this is entirely your fault for being so desirable."

"Do you prefer me as a human?" she said a little uncertainly.

"Babe. The first time I was with you, you were a pony. I fell in love with you as a pony. But I have to admit that I like you as you are now. The constant of course being that it's you in there. I'll admit that the human you is very arousing especially how you're looking now but even if you never used this spell again and stayed a pony forever I'd still love you and I'd still want you. That hasn't changed."

She smiled and then said, "in that case, there's something I'm dying to try." Taking his hand in hers she led him back to the bed, helped him remove his clothes, lay down and beckoned him to join her.

"I'm assuming you want to see the difference in how it feels between human and pony?" Rick asked as her caressed her body.

She gasped when his fingers slowly traced their way down her body before gently rubbing between her legs. "Sure, " she said breathlessly, her eyelids fluttering slightly. "Let's go with that!"

Partway through her first orgasm her concentration must have been broken as she once again reverted to her pony form but neither one cared although it make for a slightly awkward segue. All that mattered was they were together and sharing their love and desire for each other.

As they lay there in that warm, fuzzy period of post-coital bliss Rick raised the question. "So, did you prefer one over the other?"

She smiled dreamily, thought for a moment and said, " they're different and yet the same. Although I will say you feel a lot bigger when I'm human. You never stretched me like that as a pony."

"Thank you... I think. But I'm guessing it's because your human form was still a virgin. I think we'll have to conduct more tests to find out if the same thing holds true later on." He leaned in and kissed her gently.

"Mmmm, sounds good to me." She stretched a bit and said, "I think I'm ready for that coffee now."

Fetching two cups of coffee, Rick came back to bed and gave one to Twilight before rejoining her under the covers.

"So what do you want to do today?" Rick asked her.

"We're going to visit Rainbow Dash in rehab."

"Oh. Right. I forgot."

"Rick, don't lie. I know you don't like to see her in that condition and neither do I, but this is important to her and it's a good thing that her friends are there to support her during this time."

"Yeah I guess, " he sighed. "It's just difficult seeing the pain in her eyes when she sees us together. She might try to hide it, but it's still there."

"I know, " Twilight leaned against Rick, he put his arm around her and they just sat there for a few moments without speaking. No words needed to be said.

When they got to the clinic, Rainbow Dash was sitting outside in her wheelchair, AJ was already there trying to get her out of the chair.

"C'mon sugarcube. You can do it, " AJ coaxed.

"No I can't."

"Oh stop being such a baby. Yer physical trainer is gonna come out here soon and he's gonna get you outta that there chair and on your hooves like yer supposed ta. Now show him who's boss and git!"

"She being stubborn again?" Rick asked as they walked up.

"Howdy stretch! Yeah, this little filly's bein' a royal pain in the butt."

"Hey! I'm sitting right here you know!" Rainbow Dash complained as the two ganged up on her.

"Ah know you are sugarcube but you need to work at gettin better. The longer you stay in that chair, the harder it's gonna be to git you out."

"C'mon Dash. Is this same Rainbow Dash who's too cool for everything? The same Rainbow Dash that did a sonic rainboom? The same Rainbow Dash who won the youngest flier competition and who's going to be a member of the Wonderbolts one day? Or should we just start calling you 'wheels' from here on in?" Rick was getting a little mean with his comments but he knew that Rainbow Dash needed a large push to get her going. She had been wallowing in self-pity for so long that the wheelchair was effectively her protection from the world. AJ saw this and gave a slight nod. They were going to have to work on her pride before she was ready to get out.

"Ah don't know Dash. Maybe he's right. Maybe yer days of being the most awesome pegasus are over and it's time fer a new pegasus to take the title."

"What? I'll show you I'm still awesome!" And with those words, Rainbow Dash slid out of her chair and gingerly put her feet on the ground. She had always hated the feeling of the ground under her hooves, but her wings were still healing so she had no choice. She was a little wobbly, but she did manage to stand. "There! I stood up!"

"That's great. Now, walk to me, " AJ commanded.

Her face screwed up in concentration, she took a couple faltering steps towards Applejack. Once or twice she almost fell, and you could see she was working hard at trying to stay up. All the while, AJ, Rick and Twilight gave her encouragement until finally she reached Applejack who threw her hooves around Rainbow Dash and hugged her.

"Ah knew you could do it sugarcube!" AJ cried. "Ah'm so proud o' you!" Applejack then did something unexpected. She kissed Rainbow Dash full on the lips and the pegasus reciprocated. Rick and Twilight stared, a little shocked as this was not a development they had expected. The two fillies broke the kiss then a slightly blushing Applejack turned to the others and said, "ah uh, guess we have a bit of an announcement to make."

While Rainbow Dash was going through her physical therapy, the three of them sat by an old oak tree and AJ related the story.

"It's like this. Years ago, when we was just fillies, Dash and ah had a bit of a competition going on. We're both really competitive n' stuff but we was friends too an' respected each other an' what each one of us could do. Well we was getting to that age where a filly starts ta get innerested in stallions. Problem was, we didn't know wut we needed ta do ta rope one in an keep 'im. So one night, Dash and me head off ta our secret clubhouse and we tried stuff out on each other. Stuff like kissin', and being mounted. Of course we wasn't equiped for that so we used a carrot and some straps then later we just stopped pretending it was about stallions. We stayed together fer a while but then Rainbow's folks moved to Cloudsdale an my folks died in a freak storm so ah needed to help out on the farm more. Dash and me saw less and less o' each other until we just drifted too far apart. Then, she comes back ta Ponyville all banged up like she was an' my heart just went out ta her. All them feelins we had just came back and we picked up where we left off."

"That's great! " Twilight said, full of enthuiasm for her two friends. "Are you two going to get married?"

"Well shucks sugarcube, we ain't even talked about that yet. Nah, we're gonna wait a mite longer. There ain't no rush to get this done. Dash is talking of movin' in with me at Sweet Apple Acres but we'll have ta see. We're taking it one day at a time right now." She looked at Rick and Twilight for a moment before looking away back at Rainbow Dash. She sighed, "an there's two things I'd like ta do. The first is ah'm gonna ask the two of you ta keep this under yer hats. Ah slipped up and kissed her because ah was so happy for her but right now ah don't want the other fillies to know. Pinkie Pie will wanna throw a big party, Rarity will get all gooey an' ask for all the gory details and Fluttershy will just say it's nice. An two, part of me wants ta thank you fer forgivin Rainbow Dash. That took a lot of pride and if it weren't fer that, then she and me might not have gotten back together and she'd still be moonin' over you."

"And the other part? What does it want?" Rick asked.

"The other part o' me wants to kick yer butt for makin' 'er cry. It's a good thing for you that ah'm not the type ta hold a grudge. You and me is square. Ya'll helped out at the ranch and did a fine job on that fence and Dash and me are back together. Which reminds me, " she reached into one of her saddlebags and brought out a large ceramic jug. "This here is some good ol' Apple family apple moonshine. Don't let the sweet taste fool ya, this stuff goes down easy but it has a kick on it like a mule. We still make a batch of this every year ta honor my ancestors and the land they tamed to help start Ponyville. It's also an Apple family tradition to give a gift of it when somepony has done them a great service. It connects us together, makes us like one big family." She popped the cork and took a swig directly from the jug. "It runs through our veins, " she then handed the jug to Rick and motioned him to drink from it which he did. It had a sweet taste, went down easy but then exploded like fire once it hit his stomach. He handed it to Twilight who took a similar sip. "And now it runs through yer veins too. Y'all may never be a pony, and y'all might never have an Apple member in yer herd but y'all are now part of the Apple clan at least in spirit."

"Or more aptly in 'spirits', " Rick said with a bit of a smirk. Both Twilight and Applejack didn't get it though so he just said, "sorry, bit of a lame pun there. And this is how I say thank you and welcome to the family, " He motioned Twilight to come closer, when she did he brought all of them together into a large hug. They broke the embrace, he was surprised to see tears in AJ's eyes and he felt quite misty himself.

"What's with all the hugging?" Rainbow Dash said as she slowly made her way over to them.

"Just welcoming them ta the family darlin' in the old Apple tradition."

"That's cool, " Rainbow Dash said in her typical way. She sat down next to AJ and leaned gently on her. She was among friends and family now and didn't feel the need to act other than she felt. After a moment she looked at Rick and said, "don't let this go to your head or anything, but I wanted to say thanks for everything."

"Not a problem Dash. I hope the two of you are happy together."

"Don't worry, she will be, " AJ said as she put a hoof around her fillyfriend and kissed her. Rainbow Dash, sighed a bit and lay her head on AJ's shoulder.

"I think we should leave you two alone. We'll see you again next week, " Twilight said as she stood up.

"Yeah, and thanks for the moonshine. It really is a special gift, " Rick said putting the cork back in and taking the jug by the neck.

"Mah pleasure. When it's time to make the announcement to the fillies, ah want both of you to be there."

"Gladly, " Twilight said. They then turned around and walked back to the library, leaving the two ponies to sit and enjoy each other's company.

"So what's on the agenda for the rest of the evening?" Rick asked as they slowly made their way back to the library.

"Nothing. We're free to do whatever we want."

"Cool. Wanna get drunk and horse around?" he said shaking the jug of moonshine.

"Maybe, but we're not wasting that. It's special."

"Hey, any day is special if you want it to be but I get the point."

They walked back into the library, Rick went to put away the moonshine and grab some coffees. When he came back Twilight had booted up her laptop and was currently googling. He had gotten it for her a couple months ago and she used it often not only to send him messages and e-mails but to research Earth and human society in general.

"What you looking for?" he asked.

"Nothing in particular. Just wanted to see what 'horse' has to do with fooling around. So far there's no real explanation for it."

"That's slang for you. The meaning of the words get lost over time and people forget what it used to stand for. No big deal provided we all know what it means now. So, what do you feel like tonight?"

Twilight thought for a moment then said, "pizza. And that movie with the princess and the pirate."

"Sounds like a perfect evening. My favourite food, movie and girl all together at once. Rainbow Dash is on the mend and we have an extended family here in Equestria. Seriously, life simply does not get better than this."

Goodbye Equestria

The morning of June 1st, 2013 was going to be a special date Rick thought to himself. It had been one year since the linking spell had linked his door to Equestria. He never went in much for significant dates but he had a reason to now. He had spoken to Pinkie Pie about this, there would be a special breakfast set up when they woke up, followed by a Pinkie Party a short time after. It was a package deal, but Rick did manage to convince Pinkie to keep it small and only invite Twilight's closest friends.

It being a Saturday and while he didn't have to work anymore he still made sure that his schedule was clear so they could spend it together, depending on whether or not Twilight wanted to spend it in Equestria or on Earth he had a plan for both which would keep them occupied for the rest of the day. This would be followed by a nice dinner and finally an evening of star-gazing, a private showing of Twilight's favourite movie and if things went well a proposal of marriage. It was going to be perfect.

As usual her side of the bed was empty as she had awoken before him and had gone back to Equestria. In any case, it was about time to get things started. Rick smiled knowing how much Twilight would appreciate what he did for her today.

He opened the door only to be confronted with a sight he had not seen for the last year, the hallway leading from his bedroom to the rest of the apartment. Rick froze for a moment trying to understand what it was he was seeing or technically what it was he was not seeing.

He closed the door and opened it again, but the hallway remained there. Starting to panic, he opened and closed the door over and over in a vain attempt to recreate the connection but aside from making some dust bunnies dance across the floor nothing else happened. He glanced down where the ethernet and power cables had run from his room to her laptop, they had been neatly cut where they ran through the portal and now lay broken and useless on the floor. It felt like the world fell out from beneath him, but actually it was only his legs giving out as the weight of the situation started to make him realise what had happened. She was gone, trapped on the other side of the doorway on another world, somewhere in another universe. The reality of it was still too unreal for him and it wasn't until he dragged himself to his chair and reached for a coffee that he caught sight of her cup and his world came crashing down. The tears he had been fighting back suddenly burst forth and let the pain and the loss wash over him.

The rest of the day was spent in a bit of a daze. He poured over the pictures they had taken, sometimes gently running his fingers over the screen and tracing her features. He read the e-mails and messages they had sent to each other over and over again reading her part in his mind with her voice. He wandered aimlessly through his apartment, gently picking up the items she had left behind and holding them close as if he was holding her. Eventually he just collapsed on the couch, totally drained of any energy, lay his head back and stared at the ceiling. He knew he'd eventually get over this, but it was going to take more time and effort than he had at the moment.

Hours later, he was dozing on the couch having not moved from where he was when he felt some soft fingers gently touch his face. He started and opened his eyes to see a very human and very naked Twilight Sparkle.

She stood there in front of him, unashamed, her face all puffy and eyes red from crying but in that moment she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. He sat there frozen for a moment, afraid to make a sound or move in case the spell would be broken and she'd disappear like the dream he thought she might be.

With a trembling hand, he slowly reached out to her and took her hand. It was real and warm and her fingers closed tightly around his. That was all it took, he jumped up off the couch and held onto her in a fierce embrace as she held him back. Both of them crying tears of joy, she rained kisses all over his face, he spun her around, laughing through the tears as if all the problems in his world had suddenly disappeared.

Giddy and out of breath, he put her gently down and drank in the sight of her. He opened his mouth to speak, she simply placed her finger on his lips and simply said, "I really need a cup of coffee".

Covered now in one of his T-shirts as her naked form was a little too distracting at the moment she gratefully drank from her cup. "I never thought I'd ever have this again, " she said as she took another sip.

"So what happened?" Rick asked. "I woke up this morning and the portal was gone."

Twilight sighed and said, "it was a little longer than just this morning." She looked down, took hold of his hands, gently running her fingers over his. She sighed and said, "it's been over 3 months for me".

Rick was of course stunned by this. All the time they had been together, time had been synced on both their worlds. It might have only seemed like a couple hours for him, but it had been so much longer for her. He felt an incredible need to hug her right now which he did and she returned gratefully.

After a few moments she pulled back and related the story to him.

She had awoken early that morning because she wanted to surprise him. It had been a year since the portal had been created and she wanted a way to celebrate the day. So she had planned a special breakfast set up, there would be a small party later with her close friends and she had managed to clear her schedule for the rest of the day so they could spend the whole day together. Everything was set, the table was ready and she knew he would be waking up soon but she was too excited to wait. She walked back to the door, opened it and was greeted with a blank wall. She closed it and opened it again and again just saw the blank wall. Twi cried out in alarm and just started opening and closing the door as fast as possible, but it solved nothing. The portal had disappeared and her lover was trapped on the other side.

She fell to the floor, realisation hitting her like a brick and deep, wracking sobs came from deep within her as she started to cry. Spike immediately rushed for help and her friends did their best to console her.

Twilight just sat there, rocking slowly back and forth while hugging one of his t-shirts to herself as this was the last link to his world that she had. It was her lifeline and she was not willing to let go.

In the end it was Pinkie who naively asked, "I don't get it, she made a doorway once. Why not make it again?"

TWilight heard this and with a slightly unhinged look on her face started rummaging around for the scrolls and books she had used last time. All the time muttering to herself, "yes! I need to repeat the spell! I can do the same exact thing I did last time and we'll be together again!"

Her friends slowly backed away from the crazed filly who was currently having a bit of an argument with herself over whether she was standing exactly here or there when she cast the spell. The stress was causing her mind to go and with it possibly her sanity. Luckily as she was rushing too and fro searching for everything she tripped, hit her head and knocked herself out. Actually AJ stuck out her hoof as Twi raced past.

"Ah had to do it. Poor filly was gonna worry herself sick."

It was agreed a doctor should be called and the Princess notified at once.

Twilight opened her eyes and immediately wished she hadn't. Her head throbbed but a moment later she remembered everything that had happened to her today which only made her feel worse. She was lying, restrained in a hospital bed and felt something around her horn. She was unable to summon her magic, possibly a dampener had been placed there to prevent her from doing something stupid. So she just lay there as tears streamed down her face but she didn't care. She felt hollow inside as if somebody had simply torn out her heart and nothing could ever fill that void again. She felt utterly and completely alone which was odd considering that there was another pony in the room with her but in her state she wasn't aware of this.

A little while before, the princess had been alerted and came to see her favourite student as soon as she had heard. Her friends filled her in on what happened and why Twilight now found herself in this position.

"Oh my poor student," the princess said sadly. "That she should suffer so. I will admit that I wish that man had never come to our land."

"Beggin yer pardon princess, but in the past year since he come to Ponyville ah ain't never seen Twilight so happy. And gosh darn it he weren't a bad feller. He was a real hard worker who helped out on the farm when needed and them fingers of his sure came in handy at times."

"Yeah! And if it wasn't for him AJ and I wouldn't have gotten back together. And he showed me all sorts of cool new things and ways to fight!" Dash said as she did karate kicks in the air.

"Your majesty, we all feel this way. He loved Twilight Sparkle and she loved him. To say you wish he never showed up would be the same as wanting her to have missed out on something good. I'm sure that she would agree if she could." Rarity added.

The Princess sighed as she knew they were right. He had impressed her with his ways, his knowledge and the fact that he made her favourite student so happy. She dismissed the others and made her way into Twilight's room to await her waking up.

As Twi lay there, tears streaming down her face, she felt a tissue brought up to wipe away the tears. "Who?" she called out, stuggling to see. The princess walked forward, "it's just me my student" she said. "I came as soon as I heard."

"Oh Celestia! " Twilight called out as she started crying again. "He's gone forever! This was supposed to be a celebration and I'll never see him again."

Celestia calmed her down as much as she could, sat there an listened to her student about what she wanted and finally cast a small spell to get her to relax and finally get the sleep she needed. The poor child had been through so much today and needed rest. Come tomorrow they would talk some more and hopefully be able to work on a solution.

She found the others in the waiting room, all of them looked up expectantly when Celestia walked in. "I will be leaving now, Twilight Sparkle is currently asleep and she will remain asleep until I get back."

"Where are you going?"

"Back to Canterlot. I have a lot of work ahead of me and hopefully tomorrow I will have an answer." They all bid her farewell and one by one walked morosely out the hospital. Even the normally ebullient Pinkie Pie was strangely quiet and reserved, well at least for her. There was no spring in her step but she trotted along with a rather serious un-Pinkie look on her face. This was something that not even a Pinkie Party could fix, and when that wasn't possible it was pretty bad.

The next afternoon a visibly tired Princess Celestia came back to the hospital with news that she hoped her student wouldn't want. She didn't want to lose Twilight Sparkle but knew that in the end it would be her decision and that she most probaly would want to be with her love no matter what the cost. She approached her sleeping form, gently touched her horn to Twilight's and the young pony slowly woke up. She looked blearily around the room and finally focused on the Princess before recognising where she was before slumping back down on the bed.

"It wasn't a dream was it?" she asked. "He's really gone isn't he?" her voice thick with emotion.

"Yes my little pony, but there is a chance that he might not be lost to you forever."

Twilight suddenly brightened at the Princess's words. She would see him again! "How?! When?! Why are we waiting here?!? Let's go do this now!" Twilight said as she scrambled to get up. The Princess gently pushed her back in bed and said, "let me finish. There is a chance we can do this but it will take time, such things are not done quickly. The time must be right and everything must be in alignment if it has a hope to succeed. However, this comes with a price."

"What is it? I'll pay anything, I don't care. If it means seeing him again I'll do it, " Twilight pleaded.

The Princess sighed as this was not going as she had hoped. "Twilight. If this has any chance of succeeding it means you'll never be able to set hoof in Equestria again. You'll be a pony, on Earth with none other of your kind. What kind of life could you lead there looking like that? Rick was a fine man, but not everypony here in Ponyville accepted him. I know he loves you and you love him, but how understanding are his friends and family? How will people walking down the street react to the two of you?"

Twilight thought about this for a moment and then said the words that nopony would have thought she'd ever say. "Then make me human".

Needless to say the princess was quite shocked and said it was impossible. Twilight still had something to show her so she asked if Celestia could remove the dampener from her horn and she could prove that it was, at least in theory, possible. Nopony other than Rick had ever seen her change so there was no reason to believe her until she proved it to them. Okay, it was still a temporary spell and she could only maintain it for a couple hours at most but the Princess was practically a god. If anypony could help her, she could.

Her horn started to glow and the glow spread over her body with the familiar tickle. Slowly her limbs started to grow, bones shifted, her muzzle flattened, organs changed position and size and finally after about a minute there lay a human woman instead of a lavender unicorn. Her eyes were the same colour as was her hair but the rest of her was human all the way down to her toes. Celestia stared at her with a combination of disgust & wonder. It's a hard expression to properly pull off, but she did it like a champ.

"This was a spell I came up with just a few months ago. For the longest time Rick wanted to show me his world but I couldn't go very far looking the way I did. This allowed me to go out and see the sights even if it was only for a short period. It's not an illusion, this is actual transmogrification. But I can't maintain this for more than a few hours. My magic is used up and I revert to my pony form. But you could help me make this permanent!" Her eyes looked at the Princess, pleading with her for help.

Celestia sighed, she knew that her cause was lost and her student would truly try whatever was necessary. "Rest now, I'll ask that they release you tomorrow. I'm not going to make you a promise, but if this is truly what you want I will do everything in my power to help you in this one dream."

And so she did. The spell to permanently change Twilight Sparkle into a human didn't take much time to create, in fact there already was a spell in the archives which could turn any creature into a pony permanently. All Celestia did for this one was reverse it. The rest of the time was spent waiting for the universes to come back into alignment at the right spot. Every universe that exists, intersects with others along the way and there are times and events that can facilitate travel from one to another. Of course the location must also be right. It was during one of these freak times that Twilight Sparkle cast her linking spell that linked Equestria and Earth. The two universes were close and were intersecting at that point in her library and Rick's room. The spell effectively cemented those two bits together but eventually the stress was just too much and the two universes separated at that one point effectively closing the portal forever. But if you know what you're looking for, it is possible to force a tear open and send something through. The problem with this is, reality doesn't like it and the two universes are flung far apart possibly never to meet again. This is why it was a one way trip and Twilight Sparkle needed to be sure that this is what she wanted.

But her mind was made up. She didn't just want to be with the tall, slightly strange human. She needed to be with him. Knowing that she would see him soon made the intollerable slightly less intollerable. Oh her friends tried to convince her otherwise, that eventually she'd forget about him and meet a nice mare or stallion and most of all stay in Ponyville. When that didn't work they tried to talk about the Elements of Harmony and how they'd be useless without her. She countered that by saying that there were other unicorns out there who could take her place. There wasn't anything special about her that some other filly couldn't do. The next step was their friendship and how they'd all miss her when she was gone. She said she'd miss them too, but a part of her soul was missing and until she was re-united with Rick, she would never be complete. Eventually her friends came to accept her decision even if they didn't like it.

Finally it was the day, Pinkie Pie had arranged a going away party and while there was cake and punch and all sorts of party games, it felt like a very somber affair. The fillies talked, cried, had ice cream and more than one begged Twilight Sparkle to stay knowing that it was all in vain. Spike took it the worst. He was losing the best friend he ever had, hell he was losing the one person that had been like a sister to him all these years. He would continue to look after the library in her place, not that he could ever replace her. Rarity, stepped forward and said she'd look after the young dragon. It was a touching moment as all ponies there knew of the budding romance between the two of them but this was the first time Rarity had spoken of such a thing out loud.

One final tearful goodbye, Twilight Sparkle with the help of Celestia transformed permanently into a human and vanished from Equestria forever.

"And then I appeared in your bedroom." She smiled wistfully.

"I can't believe you gave all that up for me. For the first time in my life I really don't know what to say."

She sat on his lap and placed her arms around his neck. "Are you happy to see me?" She asked.

He kissed her, said, "more than you could imagine" and kissed her again just in case she didn't understand the first time.

"Do you love me?" she asked, with a shy grin.

"Yes my sweet little filly. I love you, " he replied.

"Good. Then nothing else needs to be said. But there is one more thing I need from you right now."

"What's that?"

"I've got three months worth of hormones that I need to release and I really want to put this body through a workout." She took his hand in hers and led him to the bedroom.

The next morning Rick woke up alone. Twilight's side of the bed was empty and he felt the edges of panic start up again. Had something happened to her? Was she somehow transported back to Equestria? Were there unexpected consequences to her coming back? He was about to call out to her when he heard the toilet flush and she walked back into the bedroom. He breathed a silent prayer as she got back into bed and snuggled up next to him and held him tight. His arms went about her and he knew he would never let her go. But there was something he needed to do first.

"You know, yesterday I had the entire day planned out." Twilight looked at him oddly when he said that. "Yeah, I know I'm not the type to plan but you must have rubbed off on me. So, it was going to start off with a fancy breakfast, we'd spend the day doing whatever you wanted, then a nice dinner, some stargazing and we'd watch your favourite movie. But there was one thing during all that time that I wanted to do more than anything else and figured I'd wait until the right time to do it." Rick rolled over and got a small bundle wrapped in silk cloth from the bedside table. He sat up in bed and motioned for her to do the same. "It's a human custom created almost entirely by the jewlery industry to sell overpriced baubles where a man offers a pretty ring to the woman in his life. It represents his undying love, an eternal commitment and desire to spend lots of money on her." He removed the silk cloth revealing a delicate looking ring set with a large, pale amethyst that would have matched the colour of Twilight's coat had she still been a pony. Holding the ring out in front of him he said "Twilight Sparkle. Would you do me the honour and the privilege of marrying me and becomming my legally wedded wife?"

The tears Twilight had been holding back came forth, she managed to choke out a "yes" and threw her arms around her man. He slipped it onto her finger where it looked comically large.

"I originally had it made to go over your horn which is why it's so big. We can take it to a jeweler to get it resized." Twilight simply smiled and concentrated on the ring. A pale purple glow surrounded both her forehead where her horn used to be as well as the ring. Slowly the band started to shrink in size until it fit perfectly on her finger. Rick wide eyed and in more than just a little bit of shock couldn't believe what it was he had just seen. Twilight Sparkle, now fully human had used magic!

Twilight looked at her fiance, gently shut his mouth with her hand and said, "you shouldn't be so surprised. I was born a unicorn and while I'm now human the magic is still in me. I'm not as powerful as I was in Equestria but it's enough."

"You're amazing. Have I told you that recently?" Rick asked.

"No, but I knew that already, " Twilight responded while admiring her ring. She couldn't keep a straight face however and disolved into giggles. He pulled her close, relishing the feel of her in his arms. In a way he was a lot happier because now there would be no issue taking her anywhere and finally maybe his family and friends would stop trying to set him up with whatever random strangers they might know. He no longer would have to say that they weren't serious or that she was sick to prevent his friends from finding out she wasn't human. And on that note, as she was now able to go outside without having to hide who she was, there was no excuse for them not to do anything together.

He pulled back, looked into her deep violet eyes and said, "well, Twilight my love, we have the whole day ahead of us to do whatever it is you want to do. I had planned a whole bunch of things and there's nothing stopping us from doing them today."

"No, " she said with a gentle smile as she stroked his cheek. "We have the rest of our lives to do that. Today, it's just me and you." She drew herself towards him, kissed him with all her heart and pulled him back down onto the bed.

Welcome to Ponyville

Note: Yes, I went with shortskirtsandexplosions version of Lyra from Background Pony. It's a great story and if you haven't read it, you really ought to do yourself a favour and do so.

*********

"Oh here they are! Welcome!" Pinkie Pie yelled as the guests of honour showed up at her impromptu party. The whole gang was here as well as many of the townspeople. Whether they were there because they liked the idea of a human in their midst, they just liked being part of a Pinkie Party or they had been coerced into coming remained to be seen. Twilight and Rick decided to take it all in stride after all there was not much they could do otherwise.

"Thank you Pinkie. It's really nice of you to do this for us, " Twilight said.

"Yes. Definitely. This is so unexpected. Thank you, " Rick repeated at a little loss for words. He liked Pinkie Pie, it was almost impossible to hate her and her cheerful personality but he always felt there was something slightly wrong with her, like she was bipolar and permanently stuck in the manic phase. Either that or she was on a perpetual sugar high which considering where she lived and worked might explain a lot. However, she was one of Twi's closest friends, she was friends with just about everybody in town and she threw some fun parties. So it was with good cheer that he accepted her and her enthusiasm while keeping a close eye on her at the same time just in case she snapped and went completely nuts.

While Rick was keeping an eye on Pinkie, somepony was keeping an eye on him. It wasn't a malicious or dangerous look but it was a look that said the pony in question didn't trust his motives and like Rick felt about Pinkie, this pony didn't want to be around if and when the human let his "true face" be shown.

"Darlings! So glad you could have made it to this soiree, " Rarity said as she walked over with as much class as she could muster. "Richard, you *must* come to my shop one of these days and let me make you an outfit. Those clothes you have on are useful I suppose but are lacking in any kind of style or flair. I'd also like to pick your brain on the fashions of your world unless what you're wearing is considered fashionable in which case I might have to come with you one of these days and show your people what true fashion is."

Dressed in his usual shorts, t-shirt and sandals Rick knew he wasn't anywhere near stylish but he typically dressed for comfort unless there was a reason for him to dress otherwise. "You'll be happy to know that this isn't fashionable but it is comfortable and I get to show off my legs at the same time." Rarity stared at his legs for a moment as he stuck one of them out and posed dramatically. She however for the life of her could not figure out what was so attractive about them or why he'd want to show them off. She shrugged mentally and figured it was simply a human thing. Rick chuckled internally at seeing her do this and Twilight stiffled a giggle knowing that Rick was just playing around. In any case he decided it would be rude to ignore such an offer and since she was one of Twilight's friends he might as well get to know her better as well. "Sure, one of these days I can do that. And I'll see if maybe I can bring along a couple copies of Vogue. That's a fashion magazine from back home with lots of pretty pictures in it."

"I look forward to it. And Twilight dear, you really are a lucky mare to get such a handsome and eligible stallion all to yourself. Why, you're the talk of the town and there are a few mares that are absolutely green with envy over your choice. Oh excuse me darlings, but there's a pony over there I simply must speak to. Taa!"

Rick and Twilight stared blankly at the spot where Rarity had been. "Did she just say that there were some mares jealous of our relationship?" Rick asked Twilight.

"Yes she did, " Twilight responded.

"Okay. But this begs the question why? Most residents of Ponyville were unaware of me up until today. So why would a mare be jealous of you if they just saw me for the first time today?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe it's the novelty, or maybe they think something is going on, or maybe..." Twilight trailed off at that point and looked around the room. "Listen Big Guy, I need to follow a hunch so I'm hoping I can let you mingle without getting into too much trouble?" Rick nodded and Twilight disappeared into the crowd. He stood there a moment longer, not really sure what to do next do he wandered over to get some punch. On his way there, several ponies personally welcomed him to Ponyville, more than one wanted a hoofbump. Maybe it was the novelty of it or maybe they were genuine and wanted to show him, it didn't matter and he gave it gladly.

As he was getting his punch and trying to decide which of the baked goods to eat first, he became aware of some furious whispering behind him. "No! You go first!", "I don't wanna go first, you ask him!", "It was your idea so you ask!", "Will one of you ask him? I wanna know too!", "Then why don't you ask?" He turned around and found three fillies seemingly arguing about which one was going to ask him. Caught up as they were in this, not one noticed when Rick turned around, knelt down and asked, "ask me what?"

The three fillies froze on being discovered and nopony was willing to speak up first so two of them took it upon themselves to push the third one forward. She was a cute little thing, all yellow with a red bow in her hair. "Uhm, howdy!" she said in a slight southern accent.

"Are you by any chance related to Applejack? You sound just like her."

"Yeah, she's my sister. My name is Apple Bloom and this here is Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, " pointing to her friends in turn.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance or would that be acquaintances? It doesn't matter, I'm pleased to meet you all. Now, what was it you wanted to ask the 'big, scary guy'?" Rick said with as much lightness as he could and making air quotes.

"You're not scary!" Apple Bloom said with a giggle. "Some ponies think you are, but I seen you with Twilight and she ain't scared a' you so you must be nice! But we was wondering, " she said looking back at her friends "if'n you was..." she didn't get to finish her question as somepony yelled out "Apple Bloom!" and said pony by the name of Applejack rushed towards her little sister. She pulled Apple Bloom away saying, " ah was supposed to keep an eye on the young'uns. Sorry if they was botherin' you. I'll take 'em off your hooves... or hands," AJ said with a bit of a shudder as she started to herd the three youngsters away.

"But Applejack, we was just talkin' and he was nice and friendly like, " Apple Bloom complained as her big sister practically pushed her and her friends in her rush to get away from the human.

"None of that now ya' hear? I told you three to stay away from him, you don't know..., " AJ continued her recriminations until they were out of earshot. Rick didn't quite know what to make of this but he figured the earth pony just didn't like him for whatever reason. Maybe he was too alien for her liking or maybe it was just one of those things. He was about to get back on his feet when two hooves covered his eyes and a too happy voice called out, "guess who?"

"Would it be Pinkie Pie by any chance?"

"Oh! You got me! How did you figure it out?" the pink pony said with some disappointment.

He turned around and whispered in her ear, "it's because you smell like cupcakes and cotton candy. And I don't know any other pony that smells as sweet as you, " he said with a smile.

"Oooh! I never thought of that! Hee hee! Thanks for the tip!" she gave him a big hug and bounced off to who knows where. Rick shook his head a little. She was almost unbearably sweet and difficult to understand but that's not to say he disliked her. Quite the opposite, he just didn't know how to handle her in large doses.

Nibbling on a cupcake Rick wandered around the room, a little aimlessly. He was never much one for parties, especially when he didn't know many of the people there but he was determined to put on a happy face for the sake of Pinkie Pie and Twilight, wherever she had gotten off to. As he wandered, he heard a sound coming from one of the rooms to the side. The door was closed but there was definitely music coming from the other side of it. He poked his head into what appeared to be a storeroom and saw an aquamarine unicorn in a threadbare hoodie with her back turned towards him playing a lyre. The song spoke of loneliness & aching desire but there was a thread of hope in it. He stood there mesmerised by her song, practically daring not to breathe lest the spell be broken. The song was so pure, so... true that it brought up emotions in him that he would never have thought a mere melody could. With a lump in his throat and the beginning of tears in his eyes he slowly started to move out of the room. He wanted to hear more of it but he didn't want to intrude on what was possibly a very private moment.

"You don't have to go, " she called out softly, so much so that he wasn't sure she had said anything.

That was it, he walked in the room and shut the door. "I'm sorry, but I heard your music and had to see what was happening. That was absolutely lovely. I don't think I've ever heard something that moved me like that."

She looked down, a little embarrassed but smiled prettily and thanked him.

"What are you doing in here? There's a party going on in the other room. My party I guess it is but with Pinkie you can never really tell. Why don't you join us? By the way, my name is Rick."

"I know who you are Rick. My name is Lyra, but that doesn't matter at this point. I was there earlier, I wanted to come and see the human. I had heard you existed but wanted to make sure. Once I saw you and knew you were real, I just wanted to be alone with my thoughts and my music."

"I'm sorry, you seem like a nice pony and all that but I feel there's something you're not telling me?" Rick pushed the point. There was something a little off about her. He was sure that he would have noticed a pony wearing a hoodie at the party but for the life of him he just couldn't remember seeing her at all."

Ignoring his question she merely said, "thank you I'll join you shortly, I just wanted to finish this and I'll be in soon. It was nice meeting you and I'm glad to see that you make Twilight Sparkle so happy. We're old friends her and I."

"Okay. Well, I'll leave you alone and see if we can save you a cupcake or something, " he responded as he turned to walk out of the room a little lost on what just happened and why it was he was he was here in the first place. Looking about, he saw nothing out of the ordinary, he felt a little cold but maybe that was just the storeroom. Shaking his head he walked out right into Twilight who was looking for him.

"Hey you, " she said while she got on her hind legs and gave him a hug.

"Hey yourself, " he said hugging her back. "Take care of what you needed to do?"

"Yeah, I had an interesting talk with some ponies. But it was just mare stuff, you wouldn't be interested. So what were you doing the storeroom just now?"

"You know for the life of me, I don't remember. I walked in for some reason, looked about and then came out. Oh well, it couldn't have been important, " as they walked away from the door, they didn't hear the small sigh that came from the other side or of a lyre being softly played.

The party went on for a while longer, but ponies had been trickling out for a while now until there were very few left. The food was gone, the punchbowl had been empty for a while and those that were left were feeling a definite sugar crash. Twilight was leaning into Rick, her eyelids fluttering slightly as she came down from the events of the day. He asked her if she wanted to leave, she nodded sleepily and they made their goodbyes. Once again thanking Pinkie Pie for her hospitality, she scoffed a bit and said it was nothing. They thanked her anyway and Rick led Twilight back to the library.

"If you're tired, you can take a nap. I need to get dinner prepped so I'll have a coffee unless you want one as well?"

Twilight frowned a bit as if weighing the options and said, "wake me up in an hour. Preferably with a kiss" as she made her way upstairs to her bedroom.

"Okay, you go rest. I'll see you in an hour". He checked his watch, it was 4pm. They normally had dinner around 6ish which was plenty of time to get things ready. He had gotten this beautiful wild salmon filet at the market today but didn't know what to do with it. Oh there were loads of options, but now that today had turned out so nicely he decided that he should do something a little special with it. After all it wasn't every day you meet the resident monarch of another country who gives you her blessing not only to stay there but get permission to be with the girl... or pony of your dreams.

Half an hour later, the prep work was done and he found himself yawning a bit as well. He pondered whether or not to have another coffee but didn't want to risk being up longer than he had to tonight. But it was either that, or take a nap himself. He yawned once more and decided that a power nap didn't sound like a bad idea. So went to his room, set his alarm for 30 minutes, turned off the lights and lay down. As he drifted between being asleep and awake he heard the door open to his room and a shadowy unicorn got into bed with him. He smiled, rolled over and took her in his arms. "Was somebody lonely all by themselves?" he mumbled. A soft "Mmm-hmmm" responded.

"That's okay babe, I missed you too." In the darkness of the room, he felt for her lips and kissed her gently but something was different. She didn't respond like she normally did but he chalked that up to them both being tired. Within moments he was asleep and the pony just snuggled in next to him relishing in the unfamiliar feeling of warmth.

The alarm came on and with it the strains of "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5. Rick practically slammed his fist down on the radio mumbling how much he hated that song. The movement started the unicorn who then sprang out of bed and ran out of the library her hooves clattering on the floor as fast as she could and slamming the door behind her. He stumbled from bed, ready to run after her when he heard Twilight calling from her room asking whether everything was alright.

"How'd you do that?" Rick, still half-asleep asked her.

"Do what?" she responded equally sleepy. "And why did you slam the door instead of waking me up with a kiss like I asked?"

"I didn't slam the door. Babe, I don't know what's going on right now. All I know is you were in bed with me while I took a nap, the alarm went off, I turned it off and you ran out like the hounds of hell were on your tail. I came out to try to see what's up and I find you in your bed instead."

She looked at him from up the stairs and said, "Uhmm... I wasn't napping with you. I've been up here this whole time. You sure it wasn't a dream?"

"No, at least I don't think so, " he smelled his shirt and there was something there other than him but it didn't smell like Twilight did. Then he looked at the door which had been locked when Twilight went up to bed but now was unlocked after whomever it was had come in. "It couldn't have been a dream, the door wasn't open when you went upstairs. So then who was in bed with me? No word of a lie. I'm lying there, a unicorn that I thought was you walks in and gets in bed with me. I was half-asleep and you know how dark my room is all I could see was a shadow. Besides you who else would do such a thing? Anyway, we didn't do anything although I did kiss her and while I thought something was off in how she felt, I thought you.. I mean she.. I mean I thought she was you but you were too tired to kiss back properly, " Rick shuddered involuntarily at the thought. It's not every day that you wind up kissing somepony thinking it's your fillyfriend then find out it was a complete stranger. But not only that, whomever it was knew what was going on at that time which meant they were watching and waiting for such a moment. This pony knew that Twilight was sleeping and that Rick had also gone to take a nap. What else did this pony possibly know?

Twilight also looked a little disturbed by this, not only because her coltfriend had unwittingly kissed another pony but that somehow, in some way that was a violation for both of them as well. She was the only one that he should be kissing like that. But that was nothing compared to how disturbed Rick looked with the entire matter. Usually he was easygoing and didn't take things too seriously, now it was like he had swung completely the other way and was an entirely different person. She hopped down to where he was standing and was surprised to see tears in his eyes. She reared up and placed her hooves on his shoulders and hugged him. He hugged her back tightly and it almost broke her heart to hear him sniffle a bit. He was usually so strong yet here he was feeling hurt and there was nothing she could do other than comfort him. After a few moments he sighed deeply and mumbled, "I'm okay now." She looked back at him, wanted to argue the point but felt it was best to let him work this out himself.

"Okay, if you insist tough guy. But I'll be here in case you want to talk about it."

Rick held on for another moment then said that he needed to get dinner started. Twilight looked like she wanted to say something but decided instead that she would feel best if they both went back to his apartment while he cooked. Twilight closed the library early and they left Equestria. Had they stayed a little while longer, maybe they would have heard coming from just outside the library door a sad song being played on the lyre and the soft sobs of a pony that nobody could remember.

Rick fumbled his way through the kitchen, seemingly out of sorts while Twilight relaxed on the couch in front of the TV not really paying attention to what was happening on the screen and instead listening to Rick with some concern. After a few moments the sounds stopped and Rick walked out to the living area, a roll of aluminum foil in his hands and asked, "Twi, why did we come back here?"

Twilight, for the life of her couldn't remember and said so. They looked at each other for a moment, Rick shrugged and went back to the kitchen.

Soon some delicious smells starting wafting through the apartment, was that lemon he was frying? Twilight smelled again and her curiosity piqued, she wandered over to the kitchen to see what he was doing. Yes, he was frying up some lemon slices in a pan until they were all nice and brown on each side then placed them carefully all over a beautiful salmon fillet which was sitting on a bed of fresh herbs. "Is that what we're having?" she asked eagerly.

"Hey, nobody allowed in the kitchen when the chef is working. All this is supposed to be a surprise, " Rick said with mock severity.

"Fine, I'll sit over here and watch 'the master' at work, " as she walked around and sat on one of the stools in front of the open concept kitchen. "Is that better?" she asked.

"Much. And your sarcasm is improving, " he said as he blew her a kiss.

The salmon was wrapped in several sheets of aluminum foil then placed in the oven. He then pulled out two eggs, separated them and beat the yolks quickly over an open flame. Occasionally removing the bowl from the heat while whisking continuously. Twilight could only smile on seeing her man doing something that he was not only good at but enjoyed doing. A quick squeeze of lemon and some clarified butter and it was back to the whisking over the flame until the mixture was smooth and thickened enough that it drizzled slowly from the whisk when he pulled it away. He threw some freshly chopped dill into this, whisked it around a little more and was done. Putting that aside he turned to the vegetables that were steaming and with a quick check gave them a few minutes more. The timer dinged and he carefully pulled out the salmon from the oven. Opening the package, a delicious odor of fresh herbs filled the room.

Twilight inhaled deeply and while she might not have been hungry a few minutes ago, just smelling this gave her an appetite. Rick busied himself plating the food and pouring a generous portion of the Hollandaise sauce over the fish. He motioned to Twilight to get to the table while he served with a certain flourish. A quick twist and pull of the cork and he poured some wine into their glasses. While he had no pony glasses or cutlery, Twilight's magic was more than capable of getting the job done. They clinked their glasses together and dug in.

"Rick! This is fantastic!" Twilight said as she swallowed her mouthful. "How come you never made this before?"

"Well, I figured a special occasion calls for a special meal and what could be more special than today? Ponyville loves me, Celestia says I'm welcome in Equestria and I have the love of a good filly. What's not to celebrate? Besides, good news always makes the food taste better." Rick said with a grin.

Twilight couldn't help but grin back. Then went back to her food and ate with gusto. He was right, the meal did taste really, really good but that might have simply been his skill in the kitchen. Very few words were spoken during the rest of the meal and they weren't missed.

"Now that was an excellent meal, " Twilight said sitting back in her chair. "You've got a gift in the kitchen. I'm surprised you're not a chef."

"Yeah, you'd think that but I honestly don't like cooking. At least I don't like cooking for strangers or spending hours in a sweltering kitchen making food for people who don't appreciate it. No, I'd rather stay here and cook for the ones I love. Seriously, that's one of the ways that you know that I love you is if I not only cook for you willingly but I actually offer to do so. It's when I start suggesting we get take out on a regular basis or demanding that you cook more that you know something is up."

They moved to the couch, Rick brought the bottle and Twilight brought the glasses which he promptly filled again.

"You know, there's one thing left that would make this night perfect, " Rick said.

"What's that?" Twilight said, readying herself for a kiss.

"Just one of the greatest movies of all time." He got up and went straight to his DVD shelf with all its assorted movies and pulled one out. "It's got romance, action, comedy you name it." He popped the movie into the DVD player and after a moment of shuffling through the previews and warnings the MGM lion showed up followed by the title, "The Princess Bride".

1 hour and 33 minutes later....

Twilight had been transfixed throughout all this. "Thank you, that was a beautiful movie but it's not the perfect ending to a perfect day."

"Oh no? What else is there?"

"Why don't you come to the bedroom and find out?" Twilight said with a wicked leer.

"Oooh, a pony after my own heart!"

"It's not your heart that I want right now."

"As you wish, " he said with a smile followed her into the bedroom.

"I love you too, " she said and closed the door behind them.

Epilogue

She floated in darkness and silence for what could have been an eternity. There was no way to tell the passage of time where she was. An hour, a day, a year they were all the same. She didn't feel cold, tired, hungry or anything. She just floated.

Then seemingly from far away she heard a sound. She welcomed whatever it was that would change the oppresive nature of this nothingness where she found herself. It was hard to make out but it sounded like... claws? The sound of claws that skipped and slid on slick stone. She focused on that and the more she focused, the louder it got and the louder it got the closer it seemed to be. For the first time in a long time, ever since she could remember she felt the stirings of fear.

Suddenly when she felt she could no longer take it, it stopped. She was breathing quickly, her heart pounding, straining with every fibre of her being to hear what was going on but still nothing. Did she imagine it? Was that sound just her mind playing tricks on her? No, she was sure there was something out there but maybe it had passed her by. She resumed her floating, letting the currents of this place take her whereever they did.

Evil, chuckling laughter filled the space and her insides turned to ice. It was still here but it was playing with her for it's own sick purposes. She wanted to scream, wanted to run but no sound came and she was frozen with fear. Then she felt it. A presence. Something huge, powerful and above all else evil. No, not evil. It was different. No, not different, in-different. Something that simply didn't care either way. Something that wasn't good or evil but just was. She knew what this was, but couldn't speak the name but unbidden it came to her mind.

"Discord."

"Oh you're so right my dear! You don't seem to be using your body at the moment, do you mind if I borrow it for a while? Please speak up if you disagree. Oh, the fun we're going to have."

At that moment her body with Discord in control came to life. There were no straps to hold her down and no locks on her door. After all, why strap down and lock in a patient who's not going anywhere. Discord stole through the halls, making as little sound as possible before finally breaking outside.

The unicorn breathed deeply of the still night air, raised her hooves in the air as if addressing the world and said to nopony in particular "Hello Equestria. Daddy's home!"

And in the depths of her mind, unable to stop the monster that had stolen her body, Trixie screamed in terror.