Tim rubs his eyes, then glances at the approaching sunrise. “It’s far too early to be up,” he grumbles.

Apple Stars hip checks him, “Oh come on, how long have you lived in Equestria? Count yourself lucky you are not in some of the smaller towns like Ponyville or Trottingham; by this time of day they would already be singing or having parades. Honestly, how could humans survive if they only wake up at noon?”

He glances down at her. “I’m not a morning person.”

She giggles, “The early pony catches the apple, my family always says. You knew we were going to take this trip this morning; this isn’t the first time you’ve joined me here, either.”

He shakes his head. “Back home, it’s the early bird catches the worm.”

She looks up at him. “Really? Normally it’s like that here, too, just our family doesn't get along well with worms, so we changed it,” she says with a perky look on her face. She smiles at his nod. “If humans use that statement too, though, that means there are wise humans as well. That’s a good thing.”

One of the other sous chefs for the Spitfire Grill is walking behind them, pulling a high sided wagon. The earth pony shakes his mane as he placidly follows them. The Canterlot Market is just opening this morning. Early workers are already calling their wares. Though Apple Stars has been very busy as they’ve worked their way through the vegetation for sale here, the cart is about a third full with all sorts of lovely vegetables. The business acumen of the purple mare impresses Tim.

She stops before a stall filled with root vegetables. Apple Stars starts haggling with the earth pony mare, and very quickly several bunches of carrots, along with beets, artichokes, turnips, and potatoes end up in the cart. Apple Stars brings out her bit bag, and a generous stack of coins are passed over to the mare. They end up hoof bumping as Apple Stars turns away, a satisfied smile on her face, “I love getting good deals,” she says with a giggle as she brings out a scroll and makes several check marks.

A new source of light gets Tim’s attention, causing him to glance over at Canterlot Castle, where he sees Princess Celestia is on a parapet. Princess Luna stands beside her, both of their horns glowing brightly as the moon finally sets and the sun peeks over the horizon. Tim looks around, most of the ponies have stopped what they are doing to watch. As the Princesses let their horns quiet, many of the ponies stamp their hooves approvingly, including Apple Stars. She looks up at Tim. “Can you believe how much power that takes?”

Tim shrugs, “Back home, the sun doesn’t need any help, our planet revolves around the sun, and rotates itself.”

She looks sad for a moment. “Your people are certainly missing out, Tim.” She looks up at the parapet as the Princesses withdraw back into the castle proper. “Magic is something very important in our world.”

Tim sighs, “I know. There are times I wonder what my world would be like with magic like you have here.” He smiles. “It would certainly be different.”

“Tim!” Comes a stallion’s voice. Tim brightens, the few times he’s been shopping with Apple Stars he’s gotten to meet some of the vendors.

Tim smiles at the silver-gray pegasus with the yellow-blonde mane, “Hi-ho, Silver, how are sales today?”

The stallion chuckles, “Better now that you are here. The usual?”

Tim glances back at Apple Stars, who nods. “I’m guessing the answer is yes.” The pegasus unfolds his wings and zips back into the shop. Apple Stars steps up next to Tim and he takes a moment to look around, watching the other ponies haggle with each other for the fresh wares displayed everywhere. Though a lot of the ponies do eat quite a bit of hay, it’s not really that prominent around the marketplace, simply because you can get hay pretty much anywhere.

Apple Stars giggles, “He’s a cute stallion.”

Tim looks at her, “Really?”

She nods, “Oh yes, nice coloring, and,” her face colors a bit, “pretty nice haunches to look at too.”

Tim shakes his head, Apple Stars isn’t in a herd at the moment, and she tends to keep an eye out for the single stallions around. And since he’s with Cayenne, Citrus, and North Point, she seems to find it just fine to confide in him some of the stallions she finds attractive. “I’m not much for determining how good a stallion looks, Apple.”

She tsks, “Oh Tim, even you can see the stallion, you’ve been here long enough to tell.”

He rolls his eyes as Silver bounces out, “You are going to like the selection today.” He turns his head and grabs the wooden box full of fruit. Setting it on the table, he smiles, “I’ve got strawberries, chokecherries, cherries, and mangos.”

Apple Stars moves closer, inspecting the produce, her horn lights and she picks up a strawberry. She looks at it critically, then she moves over and hip checks Silver, “That all ya got for me?”

“W-what?”

She ducks her head under his chin, running her mane along it, getting his wings to perk up a bit, and a blush to appear on his face, she comes close, “I heard there might be some bananas today.” She coos softly.

His blush intensifies, “I-I-I-I think…” He huffs for a moment, obviously trying to get control of his wings, “I might, just a second.” He hops into the air and zips back into the shop.

Apple Stars giggles, “Oh, he’s a fun one.”

Tim shakes his head, ponies certainly have different ideas on how to deal with each other. He stands there for a few minutes when Silver pops back, bringing three big bunches of bananas to add to the order. All flirting seems to fall by the wayside as they haggle over the price, but soon Apple Stars is counting out more bits for the silver pegasus. As they turn away, Silver calls out, “Hey, Tim.” When Tim looks back, he gestures with a wing. Tim glances at Apple Stars, “I’ll catch up in a minute.”

She rolls her eyes, “Stallions and their gossip, go ahead.” She nods to the sous chef and they both head off.

Tim moves over to Silver, who comically looks side to side, “So, what about Cayenne?”

Tim cocks his head to the side, Silver has said he’s gone out with Cayenne a couple of times several months ago when he first got to Canterlot. But trying to make a living in the crown city has occupied too much of his time and he hasn’t really had much time to worry about anything but that. Apparently, most of those problems are now resolved, “She’s doing good. The restaurant is making good money, she showed me how much recently, and I’m actually surprised. But she’s saving up the bits to open a second and maybe a third location. Provided that she can find a good enough chef who has her passion for spice.”

Silver’s wings snap out for a moment, he takes a moment to deliberately fold them to be comfortable at his sides, “So, do you think she’d be interested? I know you, her and Citrus are a herd, but…” he looks down, tracing a hoof along the cobblestones, “Would you be looking for…possibly…” his face flushes and he flinches back, “Sorry, forget I asked.”

Tim takes a moment to suppress a jealous impulse. He’s never been particularly jealous, and having this stallion seeming absolutely smitten with Cayenne is actually quite endearing. Though with North Point moving in, along with that griffon who’s been acting very weird. And Tim tries hard to ignore the fact that Princess Twilight seems to be interested too. Overall, he’s not completely opposed to some assistance in keeping the girls happy. He’s watched a few herd with multiple stallions, and they seem to be pretty happy. In the end, he smiles, “I’ll talk to her.” He stops, “No, how about this, I’m off work after this purchasing trip, and I do have some plans for the afternoon, but this evening, near sundown, come on by.”

The stallion perks up, “Really?” He laughs happily at Tim’s nod, “Oh, that will be so awesome! I’ll be there!” He offers Tim a hoof, and Tim gives him a fist bump. Tim turns and walks in the direction Apple Stars had gone. He knows where she was planning to go next. A few minutes walking has him next to Apple Stars, she looks up at him and smiles tremulously.

“I’m not a fan of our next stop, you know. It’s the main reason I asked you to come with me.”

Tim smiles, “I know.”

She floats out the bag of bits, now significantly lighter. “Don’t let them fleece ya.”

He laughs, “I know, ponies are pretty good at bargaining.” He grabs the bag, along with the scroll and turns towards the shop. In deference to the diet of most ponies, the advertising of the shop is rather muted. He pushes the door opening, getting a small bell to ring. A pegasus pops his head up from behind the counter.

“Hi, Tim.” Tim takes a moment to inhale deeply, he always liked going to the butcher shop as a kid, and as an adult, he likes it even more. Sausages are quite prominently on display, along with plenty of other meats ready to be packaged for the customers. The pegasus trots over, “So, what does Cayenne need today?” Tim opens the scroll and starts reading aloud. The pegasus listens intently as Tim reads off the orders for andouille sausage, whole and partial chickens, along with quite a few other meats for the various dishes. Finally, Tim winds down, and the pegasus brightens, “Wow, that’s an order.” He looks thoughtful, “Cayenne bumping up her meat friendly menu?”

Tim nods, “The griffin delegation has been coming in more often, and our pegasus hoof traffic has gone up.”

The pegasus smiles, “I’ve been in a couple of times; some really good food there.”

“Yeah, I like eating there.”

The pegasus uses a wing to bump him on the hip, “Yeah, and it helps to be sleeping with the owner, right?”

Tim flushes, “Yeah, she’s great.”

The pegasus rears back a bit, “No need to get all bothered.” He rolls his eyes, “I’ll go get your order.” Tim moves over to look in the various chilled cases as he waits. After the first couple of trips, the merchants here have gotten used to him. And now some of the stallions working around have gotten rather pushy when it comes to finding out about his herd. And some of the graphic language has been rather shocking to him. While ponies may be rather reserved in public when it comes to physical acts of love, they talk a better game than most. Time passes quickly as he watches one of the other employees of the butcher shop, a young griffon male, deftly handling a knife as he slices what seems to be the carcass of a pig. The griffon smiles as he works, humming softly to himself.

“Okay, I’ve got your order.” Tim turns around, and a large wooden box is on the table, each cut is wrapped in white paper, just like back at home. The pegasus comes up, “That will be a hundred fifty-seven bits.”

Tim frowns, “I’ve been paying attention to the market price, I’ll pay a hundred.”

That gets wings to flare, a snort, and a stamp of a hoof on the tile of the shop, “Do you wanna bankrupt me? I’ve gotta pay my employees as well as all the other bills here. One fifty.”

Tim grins, the griffons tend to be rather greedy, but not much for haggling, the ponies do enjoy their system -- no price is fixed. They go back and forth for a few minutes, and finally they settle with him fist bumping the pegasus’ hoof. Tim counts out the coins and the pegasus helps him load the meat into the back of the cart.

As the pegasus retreats back into his shop, Apple Stars comes up. “Thank you, Tim. That was really good.” She looks up at him, “I’ll see ya day after tomorrow. Chef seems to be softening on the idea of letting you cook a meal or two. That might just happen,” she giggles, “I never thought I’d see the day when it comes to that. We will get everything back to the restaurant and put away.”

Tim turns and walks back towards his home, offering a wave to the purple mare and he whistles as he walks, his hands in his pockets as he moves among the ponies. After the first few times of him walking through the city, the clear circle around him as he moves has shrunk. Now he has ponies greeting him by name as he walks through the city. While most of the mares will smile in a distant friendly way, many of the stallions will walk with him, chatting from time to time. He’s been in big human cities, and this is nearly the exact opposite. Rather than studious indifference to those around, the ponies engage with each other as they walk. Ponies that have never met, chat about meaningful thoughts as they walk where they are going. Knots of ponies continuing a conversation have to be navigated around, but all in all, Tim really likes the way ponies work.

Tim greets the doormare at his building takes the elevator up. He finally is able to close the door behind him. The empty apartment echoes with every step he makes. Though kicking off his boots is a welcome action on his part. He glances at the clock. There is enough time to fix a quick early lunch.

***

He slides the cooked chicken patties onto the bun, he places the thick cheese on top and puts the top on the bun, a knock at the door gets his attention, she’s always punctual, that mare. “Come on in!” He calls out as he places a second grilled patty on another bun. He glances at the deep fryer, the fries are ready. He reaches for the spider and starts to sift and drain the fries.

“Oh, it smells good in here.”

Tim puts the fries on the paper towel lined plate, a quick shake of salt has the fries ready. “Hi, Twilight.”

He turns around and stops, there are two mares there. The second is a pink mare, with a purple mane with a teal streak in it. Twilight smiles tremulously, “I brought a friend with me today.”

The other mare steps forward. “I am Starlight Glimmer.” She offers a hoof.

Tim shakes it as he looks at Twilight questioningly, she shrugs her wings with a blush. “I was made aware of how inappropriate I was around you before. And, um, Starlight is here to help me in that respect.”

Tim looks at both ponies, then down at the food, “Umm…” he trails off for a moment, before shaking his head, “It really didn’t bother me all that much. I don’t really know much about pony body language, I guess. I muddle through when it comes to my herd.” He shrugs, “But it’s nice to meet you, I made chicken sandwiches. Want one?” He says, looking at the new mare.

Starlight looks at the food on the plate, “Chicken? As in the bird?”

Tim nods, glancing at Twilight. “Yeah, the little orange ones that can’t fly.”

The alicorn smiles, “I would love one, Tim. Rainbow Dash has been showing me some of the different pegasus meals since I became an alicorn. Though even as a unicorn I could eat the food, it just wasn’t very appealing. It’s a lot different now.” He pushes a plate to her, and Starlight’s horn lights, picking up the rest of the fries, which she deposits on a new plate.

She brings a fry up and nibbles some, she smacks her lips. “Wow, these are really good.”

Twilight takes a big bite of her sandwich, her eyes widen as she chews, Tim pushes a glass of iced tea towards her, and pours a third glass for Starlight. Twilight takes a sip, “Wow, Tim. That’s better than at the restaurant Rainbow Dash took me to.” She looks over at Starlight, “I think you should try it.”

Starlight flinches a bit, “I’m not trying to be rude, but this time, I’ll pass.”

Tim takes a bite of his sandwich, after he swallows. “Don’t know what you are missing.”

She shudders a bit. “I know pegasi and some non-pony races enjoy it, but, it’s not for me. Thank you, though.” She finishes with a little bit of a smile. Her horn lights, bringing a fry up for her to eat. “I do like the fries, though.”

Lunch disappears quickly, and soon Tim is putting the plates in the sink to be taken care of later. He finishes his work as the two mares walk into the living room. He washes his hands, and walks into the living room, using a towel to dry his hands.

Twilight and Starlight are standing together, talking quietly, Twilight’s tail is tucked securely between her rear legs, he clears his throat and both of them look at him, Twilight turns and trots up to him. She smiles, “I’ve been reviewing the information on your phone. That is a fascinating device. It took some serious magic to be able to disassemble it without destroying it. Strong adhesives keeping it together, and a ton of tiny little screws. I would love to see the processes on how some of that is made.” She looks at him seriously, “Are you sure your species has no magic at all? Because I don’t see how some of that could be made without magic. There’s something on the board inside, it’s covered in a type of plastic I’ve never seen before, but it’s got literally billions of tiny little switches. I’m talking tiny, something like ten nanometers!”

“Does it still work? I’ve never taken one apart.”

She giggles, “With the right magical knowledge, it was easy.”

He sits down, “Well, my knowledge on the electronics is not very extensive, but what you are talking about is called the system on a chip. They are made in a factory, in big clean rooms, but that’s about all I can tell you. Those are usually called chips, silicon with traces for the transistors, those are the switches you were talking about. I do remember a website saying something about a ten-nanometer process for building the newest chips.”

“How old was the device when you got it?” She says, her excitement growing.

“Oh, I got it in celebration on getting the new job, and it was the newest from the company.”

She giggles, “Now I need to learn how to read your language.”

Tim shrugs, “I guess we should start with the full alphabet.”

She squees. Her horn lights and a parchment along with a feather quill floats to him. He looks at the quill, she brings out her portable desk. It’s floated onto his lap and the small ink bottle is opened. He dips the quill in the ink, “I’ve never used this to write before.”

She smiles and gestures to the parchment, “It’s all right, Tim. I can clean up any mess you can make with it. For the alphabet, I need the letters, and how they sound, okay?” Her tail starts to wave back and forth as she hops up on the couch next to him.

“Okay.” He takes a moment to write out the alphabet, “Where I’m from, we have thousands of languages throughout the world, but in America, we mainly use English.” She moves closer to him, looking over his shoulder as he writes. He starts to describe the sounds of the letters, but a hoof on his shoulder stops him.

“There’s a problem here, Tim. You are saying it in our language.” She clicks her tongue, “The translation matrix in you might be interfering.” She looks over at Starlight, then back at Tim, “This is going to feel pretty odd.” Her horn shines.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

She nuzzles him, then glances back when Starlight clears her throat, “Uh, sorry.” She shakes her head, “I’m going to temporarily disable the translation matrix in you. So you can talk how you would back at home.” The quill is pulled gently from his hand, “If you are uncomfortable and are unable to understand what we are saying, just tap this word.” She writes a word in the incomprehensible pony script on the top of the page, “And I’ll reestablish the spell so we can understand each other.”

“You said it took all three princesses to make it.”

She nods, “It did, I’m not dissipating the spell, I’m simply disconnecting it. It will still be there.” She hops off the couch and her horn lights again, “Ready?” At his nod her horn brightens, she closes her eyes and concentrates. A loud pop sounds to his ears, he watches as her horn quiets.

She smiles at him, “Kalapap pacha shab we?”

He stops for a moment, he never expected the voice that just came out of her mouth. Far higher pitched than he would have thought, almost a squeaky voice. He smiles, this is exactly what she wanted he guesses. He points to the letter A, and sounds it out. He completes the entire alphabet, her watching him intently, another quill working furiously on another sheet of parchment. When he finally winds down, she clops her hooves together, “Tupopsh hyi” The second word almost sounds like a whinny to him.

In response, he taps the word on the top of the sheet, she nods and her horn lights again. She brings the brightly shining appendage close and gently touches his forehead. As it touches, the world becomes bright lights inside his skull for several very long seconds. Another loud pop nearly has his ear drums feeling as though they met in the middle.

“Can you understand me?” Twilight asks softly.

Tim nods, putting a hand to his head, “That’s one hell of a spell.”

She stands up, her tail waving side to side, “I was able to get a recording of all of that.” She brings out a small crystal, “working your phonetic language is going to be fascinating. Ours is verb initial – VSO, to be exact, head initial, and heavy in bilabial stops and fricatives.”

“I have no idea what you just said.”

“We start our sentences with action words. The most important information goes last. Our species doesn’t like to wait for the big information to be conveyed. And most of our sounds, to you, are made with our lips and the forward areas of out mouths. Lots of popping, snorting, and maybe a bit of stuff that sounds like clopping.”

“I get it,” said Tim, not really grasping it at all.

“And how does yours work?”

“Uhhh, well… we do subject-verb-object, descriptions before nouns, and we have I guess a pretty normal number of consonants, though my drunk linguist friend told me we had a buttload of vowels. I don’t really know more."

“Fascinating.” She frowns, “Though there is something odd there.” She glances back at Starlight, then looks at Tim, “May I scan you?” Tim shrugs and nods a she lights her horn again, this time not touching him with it, but he feels a chill run through his body. “That’s totally odd.” She says softly when her horn quiets.

“What?”

Her tail starts moving even faster, “You know that magical resistance? It’s fading, at an accelerated rate too.”

He furrows his brow. “How?”

She shakes her head. “I have no idea at the moment, I’ll have to compare measurements, but I think I could teleport with you right now. And probably in a couple of months, you won’t have that resistance anymore.”

He glances at Starlight, who shrugs, then back at Twilight, “Why?”

Her eyes cloud for several seconds, her tail stills as she thinks furiously. He reaches over and grabs his tea and takes a sip, sometimes she will go into this kind of state for several minutes when thinking things over. Her eyes move and she focuses on the tea glass, “Aha!” She crows, her horn lighting and the glass is enveloped in her aura, “Yeah, I thought so. Magic in our world is infecting you, Tim.”

He shakes his head. “Huh?”

She smiles, her tail wagging faster. “I’m beginning to understand further how little magic is in your world. But you are living here, you are eating the food, breathing the air, drinking the water. Everything in our world is imbued with magic, from every blade of grass, to the sun itself. Your body metabolizes the food, absorbs the oxygen from the air, and absorbs that water. Elements of our world are becoming part of you. And so, your lack of magic is becoming less and less.” She looks down for a moment, “I’m surprised that would have taken so long. You’ve been here for over a year.” Her ears flick back and forth, “But the point is, before long, your whole body would be part of Equestria like all of us.”

He shudders, “Does that mean I’m going to be doing magic like you?”

She shakes her head, “Oh, probably not, but it means magic is going to be a part of you for as long as you are here. Ouch!” She flinches and glances back at Starlight, who’s horn quiets and she gives Twilight a warning look. She looks back at Tim, her face red. “Oh, sorry.”

Tim looks at Starlight, then at Twilight, then he shakes his head. “It’s just fine, Twilight.” He glances at Starlight, “No need to be so hard on her.”

Starlight sniffs and glances at Twilight, who blushes, “No, it’s okay. I’m not always aware of when I’m inappropriate, so she’s here to help me.” She looks down, “I hope you can forgive the way I’ve acted towards you.”

Tim reaches out and grabs her cheeks, looking deep into her eyes, “Twilight, I know I have a herd, and I do like you, and think you’re cute.” She gasps and flushes, “I am dedicated to Citrus and Cayenne, but that does not mean you cannot be my friend.”

Her eyes water. “Really?”

He nods, bringing her closer for a hug. She wraps her wings around him, holding him tightly. “Thank you, Tim. I had thought you were rejecting me completely.” She lets go and bounces on her hooves, “Well, either way, we’ve got a great deal of information. There is quite a bit of text data on your phone, so I will be working on that as well. Next time, I’ll work on getting you more up to speed on our written language.” She smiles brightly, “I’ll see you next week?” She heads towards the front door, opening it for Starlight. The other mare smiles politely and heads out the door, Twilight hangs back for a moment, “Tim, there’s been a griffon, she’s been trying to get an audience with me for the last week or so. I’ve had Spike delay her, but I don’t know.”

Tim suppresses a groan, “That’s Galileah, she’s been pestering me a bit, I think she likes me.” He thinks of the last thing she had said to him, Twilight perks a bit as she sees him blush, he waves a hand, “See her if you want, but I have a feeling that she wants you and her to team up to get me.”

“Get?”

Tim smiles, “I think she’s got romantic ideas when it comes to me, and she might be wanting to recruit you.”

Twilight scrunches up her face, “I would never…” She stops for a moment, her wings starting to rise, “You mean she wants you and I…” She blushes hard at Tim’s nod.

“Tim, don’t worry, I’ll let her know you are happy in your herd, and I won’t be trying to steal you.” She giggles, “After I make her wait a decent time, Spike can say that the Princess is exceedingly busy and she will just have to be patient.” She stops, folding her wings at her sides, “Tim, thank you for this, I…” words fail her for a moment, then she awkwardly smiles and leaps up, giving him a kiss on the cheek. She turns and gallops away.

Tim touches his cheek where her lips had just touched. “I hope she doesn’t think that means friends with benefits…”

***

Tim grabs the stack of plates, he pulls out some forks and spoons -- the girls are going all out today. Since pegasi don’t have magic, they have a couple of extra flatware that has a strap, so non-unicorns can use them. With Silver visiting today, he will probably appreciate the special equipment. All three girls seemed to be really happy when Tim had said that Silver was going to join them for dinner. He sets out the plates, his family had a formal dining table when he was young, so setting out the service is actually pretty easy for him. Cayenne is humming softly in the kitchen, since both her stallions like meat, she’s making a meat dish, a sour cream chicken enchilada dish that he had showed her a while back. Her horn lights and she opens the oven, looking at the two glass pans with the cheese bubbling on the top. She closes the oven and turns back, “About ten minutes -- when is he supposed to show up?”

“Around sundown.” Tim calls back, getting a happy squee from the light pink unicorn. Tim glances into the living room, where North Point and Citrus are curled up together, reading a book. Tim smiles, watching the two unicorns snuggle together. A knock at the door gets his attention, he moves over to the front door and opens it, “Hi ho, Silver!”

Silver is all dressed up, in somewhat formal clothing, even with a small tie. He looks pretty good even to Tim’s eye. “Hi Tim, I brought some flowers for Cayenne and the girls.” He extends a wing with a big bouquet of flowers.

Tim takes them and looks at them, “Well, that’s a first for me.” He smiles, “Thank you Silverwing, they are very nice.”

“I thought they were pretty; I hope you all like.”

Tim turns around, a vase is sitting in the middle of the table, and Citrus trots into the kitchen, tossing a smile over her shoulder as she disappears into the other room. Tim smiles as he puts the flowers into the vase. He stops and looks at the multi-colored display. The colors seem to remind him of the colors of the girls coats. There is a vivid yellow for Citrus, a faint pink for Cayenne, and a very light blue for North Point. Then there is a fourth color, a dark brown. Tim reaches up and feels his hair, looking at Silver, who blushes. “It took me a while to decide on a color for you, Tim. I don’t know your favorite, so I guessed with your mane color.”

Tim finds himself chuckling, stammering, “That’s very thoughtful Silver.” He goes over to the stallion, kneeling down for a hug. The stallion enthusiastically hugs him back. Citrus and Cayenne have been teaching him some of the norms for the ponies for multiple stallion herds, mainly so he doesn’t get shocked. Stallions here in Equestria act somewhat different than men on Earth, as he had almost most certainly noticed. By earth standards, he was pretty normal. By Equestria standards, he was nearly hyper masculine. Silver Wing was pretty normal, though, by local standards.

Happy humming and the chime of magic gets Tim to turn around. Two heavy glass pans are suspended in Cayenne’s magic as she walks into the room. She sets down the pans and moves over to Tim. She uses her magic again and gently pulls him down towards her. She brings her lips to his, and quickly opens them, her tongue invading his mouth strongly. Tim enjoys the kiss, though when he pulls away, more than a little breathless, North Point is there, a hungry look on her face as she looks at him. Tim quickly moves over and gives North Point a kiss, knowing that Citrus will be wanting attention as well.

“Oh, I smell chicken.” Come’s Silver’s voice.

Cayenne giggles, “Well, since Tim is a big fan of it, and you are a pegasus, I thought both you boys would enjoy a meat meal today.” She whaps Tim with her tail as he finally disengages from North Point, continuing, “In fact, the recipe came from him. He’s a veritable fountain of foodstuffs for us.”

Tim rubs his rear surreptitiously; Cayenne’s tail slaps can be pretty energetic at times. “I just tell you about them, you make them into meals -- some pretty good meals,” he adds, smiling at Silver.

Silver hops up into his chair and he fits the strap for the fork over his hoof as Cayenne’s magic deposits a serving of the enchiladas onto his plate. He inhales deeply as Citrus hops up into Tim’s lap as he sits down. She doesn’t demand a kiss from him, but she slides her plate over to be next to his. She glances back. “Is this okay, love?”

Tim reaches around and holds her tightly. “Fine with me.” He says as their plates also gain food via Cayenne’s magic. Tim is glad he can use his left hand to eat as his right hand is busy holding Citrus close to him on his lap. She brings up a bite of her food, and without hesitation, she takes a bite, humming appreciatively as she does so.

Silver looks up from his half finished meal. “Most unicorns are a bit skittish when it comes to meat in their meals.”

Tim nods, answering, “I know. I was at lunch with one earlier.”

“Who,” Silver asks.

“Starlight Glimmer.”

The table goes silent, but then, just before it gets awkward, Cayenne giggles, glancing at Tim, “Living with Tim for the last few months has been eye opening. And palate expanding as well.” She looks back at Silver, “I’ve always had a few pegasus and griffon friendly dishes at the restaurant. And I always taste new menu items, so, it’s no big deal to me.”

North Point puts down her fork, “It was surprising the first few times, but I’ve found I like a lot of Cayenne’s recipes from the restaurant. So, it’s nice to try new foods.”

They eat in silence for a while, though Silver seems to be powering through his meal, he smiles a lot at the girls, and at Tim. Finally, all of their plates are empty, Silver sits back, enjoying the full feeling, “So, what else are we planning on this evening.”

Cayenne giggles, “Oh, I’ve got a couple of ideas.” She hops off her chair, her horn lighting and all of the plates fly through the air into the kitchen, “We can handle dishes later. But I wanted to finish what we had started a few months ago.” She wraps her forelegs around Silver and kisses him. Citrus leans back into Tim as the kiss goes on. And Tim watches as Silver’s wings slowly start to rise. By the time she pulls away, his wings are stiff as boards, and standing straight up.

“Girl, you don’t waste any time, do you?” Silver says.

Citrus giggles, “Cayenne is pretty good about getting to the point.” She glances as Cayenne makes her way up the stairs, her tail waving from side to side. Tim watches her marehood flex in an extended wink. It’s a promise of delights.

He hugs Citrus close. “I’m guessing bedroom?”

Citrus turns on his lap and puts her forelegs on his shoulder, her face inches from his. “Tim, I know your culture is far different, and you’ve told me how there are some cultural issues when it comes to having another stallion here. I just want to know if you are really okay with all of this?” She glances as Silver pauses on the stairs, glancing back. North Point comes up behind him, nudging him gently. Both disappear upstairs as she turns back to Tim.

Tim smiles and boops her snoot. “I had an idea that tonight would end up in bed; you’ve said It’s normal for ponies. But where I come from, earth, it just doesn’t happen. I don’t live there anymore. I want to know more about what is normal for ponies.” He kisses her, running a finger along the edge of her ear, getting her to shudder as he holds her. He also notices his right thigh is getting rather damp, which gets a bigger smile from him when she pulls away for air.

She smiles at him. “Have I told you how much I loved you?”

He grins as she hops off his lap, allowing him to stand and follow. “Not in the last hour, love.”

“Tim, I love you with all of my soul.”

“Citrus, I love you with everything in me.”

“And Cayenne? And North?”

“Them too.”

Citrus smirks. “Are you ready for some very intense lessons in cultural… sensitivity…?”

“As ready now as I’ll ever be.”

The mare kisses his neck, challenging him, “Then follow me and enjoy the show…” She starts up the stairs, her tail deliberately held scandalously to one side. Tim follows, eager and apprehensive in equal measure.

Author's Note

Kalash has been extra busy this chapter! First off, he's the linguist who suggested the design for pony language, and how it would be structured, there will likely be more of that as the story progresses. And also adding in little details that make the chapters work well. So, toss him a like, and read some of his stories as well!

Minor edit: I had intended to have a small blurb about Galileah in this chapter, but it somehow disappeared during the writing process. I have since added it back in the chapter. Sorry about the oversight.