Greg's eyes shot open. The sun was about to rise, and the weak daylight was already coming through his bedroom's only window, bathing his surroundings with its calming colors. He blinked several times, trying to push away the drowsiness from his eyelids and face, and stared at the barely visible ceiling, taking several deep breaths, gauging the quality of the night of sleep that just ended. He stretched his arms up, popping several joints in the process, and threw the covers to the side, quickly sitting straight on his bed, looking around the dark bedroom. The digital clock over the nightstand marked 5:49.

With a quick movement he stood up and set his course towards the bedroom's door. He turned right, going towards the staircase, but halted soon after. He looked back at Twilight’s bedroom door, which was wide open. He turned around and walked softly, trying not to wake up the sleeping mare with his generally heavy footsteps. He rested a hand over the doorframe and peeked inside. Although the place was also pretty dark, he could tell that she wasn't there. The bed was still made. Greg sighed, looking away from the bedroom and walking towards the staircase. At the bottom of it, he scanned his surroundings and, without much effort, found who he was looking for.

He walked across the living room, entering the dining room, slowly approaching the dining table.

"Twilight?" he whispered.

The unconscious mare's ear gave a small twitch upon hearing her name, but she remained lying sprawled over the table. One of her forelegs was spread away while the other served as a pillow. A small dribble of saliva ran down out of her mouth and over her foreleg, pooling over the papers that were lying under her.

Greg got closer to her, resting a hand over her withers.

"Twilight?" he said, a little bit louder.

"Uhmmhum..." she mumbled.

"Twilight, c'mon," he called again, giving her a small shake.

"I got to... vinhs... twish pabers... hold onzz..." she managed to say. Greg sighed.

"Twilight, wake up," he repeated, giving her a more vigorous shake.

"AHH! Uhh, I'm awake! I'm awake!" she said, sitting straight on her chair, panicking.

"Woah, hey, calm down," whispered Greg.

"I uh... I just... what... what time is it? Is it morning yet?" she slurred, cleaning the saliva from her face.

"Yeah, almost," he said, looking at the living room's window. "Did you sleep here again?" he asked, looking back at her.

"Mhm..." she replied, rubbing her face. Greg sighed.

"Why?"

"I was... working on the spell..."

"Yeah, I can see that. Why you didn't go to bed?"

"I guess I lost track of the time..."

"Again?"

Twilight stood in silence. Greg sighed in frustration. "Look, I'm not your parents to tell when you should go to bed. I'm sure you're already old enough to decide what you want to do without giving anyone any justifications, but I can't just watch while you throw your health away. You've been doing this for almost a month now. I can see those dark spots under your eyes getting darker and deeper at each passing day. You can't just keep this going."

"I got to solve the problem with this teleportation spell... it's important..." she said weakly, grasping the pen next to her with her magic, readying herself to resume her work.

"I know," he said, grabbing the pen and slowly putting it back down on the table. "I'm not telling you to stop working on it. I'm just asking for you to rest properly, that's all. This problem you're trying to solve, those papers of yours," he said, tapping on the sheets of paper under her hooves, "those are not going anywhere. I'm not taking them away, and they won't grow little legs and run away. I guarantee that.” He rested a hand over her shoulder. She sighed.

"Alright."

"Good. So, why don't you go to bed? It's still early morning. You can still rest plenty."

"No no. I... I can't. It's already day. I can rest as much as I want during the night. I can't waste daytime sleeping."

"Of course you can. And you'll be resting. I doubt that'd be a waste of time."

"You asked me to help with the breakfast today, remember?"

"Don't worry about the breakfast. I can handle it."

"But... but you asked for help. I can't just let you do it all by yourself while I sleep."

Greg raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously? Are you for real right now, Twilight? What do you think I'm made of, thin glass or something?"

"What you mean?"

"It's just breakfast. I'm not going to die just because I'm doing everything on my own. We can do it another day. A day where you're not trashed. So...?"

Twilight sighed. "Alright, I'm going."

"Thanks," he said.

"I'm sorry I'm not going to help you."

"Pff, you'll be helping way more right now by resting."

Twilight stood up from her seat, her legs failing her slightly until she found her balance.

"When should I wake up?"

"I'll wake you up. Just go to bed."

She nodded and walked away.

Greg stared at her as she went. When she wasn't visible anymore he switched his gaze to the papers covering the table. The sheets had several weird looking symbols, some of them within nodes that were connected in some sort of network. Near each node there was some kind of formula. Greg grabbed one of the several papers and inspected it closely. He tried to understand what was written, but the dim daylight and his lack of knowledge on alien languages weren't helping him much. He put the sheet back on the table and brought a hand to his head, scraping his hair.

Twilight's eyes slowly opened. She eyed around her surroundings while her mental cogwheels started to spin up. The bedroom was brightly lit and a slight breeze was flowing in through the window, the place making her feel comfortable enough, making her eyelids feel like they weighed a ton. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and letting her body relax again. She could feel herself slip back in the realm of dreams, her legs getting numb while her thoughts made less and less sense. She shook her head and opened her eyes once more. The day was already there and she didn't like to spend time on the bed when there's so much to be done. She rubbed her eyes with her hooves, trying to make her eyelids feel lighter, so she could keep them open more easily. She groaned, her tired body complaining every time she moved or breathed.

She threw the covers to the side, sitting straight on the edge of her bed, looking down and forcing her shoulders upwards, hearing a few pops from her joints. She set her hooves on the ground, feeling like her head was filled with lead. She didn't pay any mind. She was sure the sensation would alleviate once she got fully awake.

She exited the bedroom, headed to the staircase, quickly walking it down and entering the kitchen.

"Hey," said Greg, looking away from the stove.

"Oh, hey..." she replied, rubbing her face with a hoof and yawning.

"Rested enough?"

"Not even close."

Greg chuckled, looking back at the stove.

"I thought you were going to wake me up."

"I tried. Oohhh boy, I tried. You just wouldn't budge. I figured you still needed a few more hours. To be honest, I was about to go upstairs and try again once I was finished with the stove here, but you're already here, so..."

"So, uh... do you need any help? I guess I woke up right in time to help you with breakfast..."

"Breakfast? We’re already long past lunch," replied Greg, smiling.

Twilight stared at him for a while.

"Oh.”

"Yeah. I think you were pretty tired."

"I'm still pretty tired," she replied, yawning. “So, what’re you cooking?"

“Nothing special, some pancakes again. I got hungry, so I decided to take a break from my work and make something to eat. I also realised you’d be hungry, so… yeah.”

They stood in silence for a little while, the room filled with the crackling sound of the pancakes against the hot pan.

"I don't get why you're doing this," asked Greg, without looking away from the pan before him.

"What?"

"Not sleeping," he said, turning his head to look at her.

"I'm just trying to dedicate the maximum amount of time to solve the problem with the spell."

"And how is not sleeping going to help you in that matter?" he said, turning his gaze back to the stove.

"Each day is getting harder to work on it. I just... can't think properly anymore. I'm spending way too much time doing nothing, just staring at those papers, without making any progress. It's frustrating!" she said, hitting the floor with a front hoof, trying to dissipate some of the frustration. "I realised that I still had the hours that I spent sleeping... I could borrow a few hours to work on the spell. I'm—"

"A few hours? You're borrowing almost all of them."

"I'm just trying to dedicate as much time as possible to it. But not even that is working anymore," said Twilight, looking down to the ground, her head still weighing a lot.

"You should know by now that no one works well when tired."

"I know... I know..."

"Don’t you think maybe your difficulty concentrating is because you're not getting enough sleep?" he said. Twilight stood in silence for a little while, looking at the floor and tracing the edges of one of the floor tiles with the tip of her hoof. Greg turned around to look at her, waiting for her answer. She sighed.

"Yeah, I had my suspicions..."

"Should've listened to them. They were right," he said, looking back at the stove.

Twilight sat down, feeling her body get heavier.

"Do you need any help?" she asked.

"Uh, no. It's alright. It's almost done."

"Okay. I'll get back to work then," she said, standing up and walking towards the dining room.

"Twilight, wait," he said, dropping the wooden spoon he was holding over the sink, shutting down the stove and walking towards her. Twilight halted, turned around, and walked back in the kitchen.

"What?"

"I know you must be eager to get back to your thing, but I suggest you put it down, at least for now."

"But I got to—"

"I know, I know," he said, raising his hands defensively. "Again, I'm not telling you to give up on it. I really want you to keep trying. But right now you have to give your mind a breather. Forcing it won't do you any good, believe me."

Twilight sighed, looked down and nodded.

"What should I do then?" she asked, looking up at Greg.

"Get some pancakes, maybe?" he said, smiling.

Twilight's stomach recognized the cue, giving a long rumble.

"Oh, hehe," she said, blushing.

"Aaahhh, I uh... I'm fully full," said Greg, leaning back on his chair with a wide smile on his face, stretching his arms upwards.

"Mmhhmm... this was delicious. I didn't realise I was starving," replied Twilight, releasing the fork from her magic grasp.

"Well, no wonder. You skipped breakfast and lunch."

"Yeah..."

"Are you done with your dishes?"

"Mhm."

"Ok, let me take them to the kitchen then."

"Oh no, let me do that. You already cooked, it's the least I can do," she said, preparing to get off her chair.

"Nope! Too slow!" said Greg, leaping from his chair and quickly taking the dishes.

"No, wait!"

"Yeehaw!" he yelled, running towards the kitchen, dropping the dishes inside the sink. He then peeked in the dinning, making Twilight chuckle.

"You can't beat my dish-takin'-o'-fu abilities, lil' purple grasshopper!" he said, walking in the dining room and faking a martial arts stance.

"Yeah, I'm sure I can't," she said, chuckling.

Greg stretched his arms up the most he could, squeezing his eyes shut, hearing small pops from his shoulders. He then allowed his arms to go limp, interlacing his fingers behind his back, forcing his shoulders forward. He then brought his hands to his cheeks, energetically rubbing them. “Phew,” he said, letting a sharp sight out. “Damn, here comes the food coma. Heh, I feel light headed."

"Yeah, I could go for a nap right now," said Twilight, yawning.

"Me too..." he said, putting his hands on his waist and looking down, slowly nodding while his mind lost itself around the universe. He stood in silence for several seconds.

"Hey... I guess I have an even better idea for something we could do now..." he said.

"Hmm...?" said Twilight, yawning once more.

"Well, unless you’d prefer to take a nap, of course," he said, looking at her.

"Oh, no no. I really don't like sleeping during the day," she said, rubbing her eyes, trying to push the dormancy away. "What's your idea?"

"Why don't we go for a walk in the park? To help all this food settle down?"

"Hmm, go out?"

"Yeah. What do you say?"

"I uh..." she started, eyeing the papers that were stacked at the corner of the dining table. "It's a wonderful idea, but..."

"But...?"

"I think I should keep going at the spell."

Greg sighed. "A little pause on your work won't kill you. C'mon, getting some fresh air will do you wonders."

Twilight's gaze switched between Greg and the papers several times. She sighed. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I am," he said, smiling. "So, let's go!"

"Right now?"

"Uh... yeah...? When did you think we would be going?"

"I... don't know. In the near future? Like, in the next couple hours?"

"Pff, nonsense. We're going right now."

"I'm afraid physical exercise just after eating this much wouldn't be a good idea."

"Oh, but we're not walking there."

"No? So how do we..."

"Car?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Car?"

"Yeah, car."

Twilight gaped slightly.

"Didn't you see it parked inside the garage?"

"Oh... that's a car?"

"Yeah," he said chuckling.

"C'mon, don't laugh at me. I didn't know," said Twilight, pouting and crossing her forelegs.

"I'm not laughing. It's just sort of amusing to talk to someone who doesn't know what a car looks like. It's not common. To me that is."

Twilight kept staring at him.

"Funny, I was sure I had already taken you on a ride with it."

Twilight shook her head negatively.

"Hmm. Do you have any sort of vehicles on your world?"

"Of course. Carriages. Trains. Hot air balloons."

"Carriages? And I guess... they are pulled by...?"

"Uh... ponies?"

"Ponies, yeah. Uhum," he said, nodding and looking away from her.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, a small smile creeping on her muzzle.

"Hmm... what kind of trains do you have there?" he asked, looking back at her.

"Steam engine trains."

"Hmm, so no diesel. Huh, guess you guys don't use any sort of liquid fuel to power vehicles. What do you guys use on your steam engines to generate heat?"

"Uh... coal?"

"Coal. Well, that makes sense," he said, nodding slowly, staring distantly at a wall. Twilight kept staring at him for a while.

"Uh... so, are we going?" she asked.

"Oh, yes, yes. Let's go."

“Oohh, now I get it. Those diesel engines are pretty neat. No wonder they replaced steam engines on trains so quickly.”

"Yeah, it's a perfect substitute for steam engines. They're capable of producing much more power, with less maintenance cost. A win-win."

"Hmm," Twilight hummed. “No need for coal wagons... nor a huge amount of water… or somepony constantly feeding it fuel. Surely more practical. But are those engines as simple as you explained me? I mean, that’s it?”

"Well, I'm not a mechanic. Nor a vehicle enthusiast. I'm sure I missed a ton of tasty details about it. And also there are a million factors that I can't even imagine that exist that ALSO play an important role inside one of those engines."

"And what about this car? Does it use a diesel engine as well?" she asked.

"Uh, no. This one is a gasoline engine. It runs on... well, gasoline, which is terribly more flammable."

"Isn't that somewhat dangerous?"

“Yeah, having a fuel like that can be pretty dangerous. It burns well in cars, but also well on people. Although for some people, that’s a plus.”

Twilight kept looking forward for a little while before realising what he actually said. As the meaning sank in, her eyes slowly narrowed down and she gaped, turning her head to look at him.

“Uh… and… you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

Greg stole a quick glance at her, giving her a small smile, making her stare back at him with an incredulous expression.

“Greg! That’s terrible!”

“What?”

“Why did you set another human on fire?”

“What? What the hell are you talking about, Twilight? I never did that.”

“But you… you… you said… or rather, didn’t say that...”

“Hmm?” he said, looking back at her, trying to keep himself from chuckling.

“You didn’t tell me how you know it burns well on people.”

“Well… uh... it’s just a guess, I guess,” he replied, smiling.

She kept staring at him for a while before letting out a frustrated sigh, crossing her forelegs and rolling her eyes. “Hmph,” she grunted, turning her head to look outside.

“C’mon now, short-tempered,” he said, nudging her shoulder with an elbow, “I’m just joking.”

She didn’t look at him, and instead let out a negative grunt. He looked forward, taking quick glances at her. He stretched his index finger, taking one last glance before poking her in her side.

She yelped, jumping on her seat and recoiling against the passenger door, looking at him with a surprised face.

“Hmm… ticklish?” he said, smiling grimly at her.

“No… don’t even think about it...” she said slowly, using her forelegs to protect her barrel.

“About what? This?” he said, poking her through the gap her forelegs formed, making her spring away from him.

“Dagh! Hey, stop it!”

“Stop what? This?’ he said, poking her again.

“Ah, stop it! St-stop it! Stop it! No! Greg! Quit it! Noo! Ahh!” she said, contorting herself as he mercilessly tickled her side and belly, using all her might to not giggle.

“Only when you let this serious face go, c’mon,” he said, deploying all his fingers into battle.

“Ahh! Greg, stop it! Ah! Ahhahah! Ahhahhahah! St-top it! Stop it!” she said, laughing and snorting a couple of times, kicking her legs wildly and squinting her eyes, with small tears pin-pricking.

“Alright, alright,” he said, resting his tickling hand over the driving wheel, chuckling a bit.

Twilight looked down at her seat, panting. After recovering her breath, she looked at him.

“Are you through being pissed off?”

She looked forward, wiping the tears from her eyes, trying to keep the lightness inside her chest from forcing a smile on her muzzle.

“C’mon, you’re here to relax, not to get stressed,” he said, resting his hand over her shoulder and giving her a small shake.

She sighed. “I’m sorry. I....”

“You do know I was just joking about the gasoline thing, right?” he said, resting his hand back over the driving wheel.

“I guess,” she said, shrugging.

“You guess? So you actually think I’d do something like that then.”

“N-no, I didn’t mean th--”

“Now you’re being mean. I thought you were done being cranky. Will I need to tickle that out of you again?” he said, approaching his hand to her.

“No! No no no, no, no, no,” she said, frantically using both her forehooves to keep his hand away.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure. Just… just don’t do it,” she said, looking at him and pressing herself against the passenger door.

“Alright,” he said, slowly bringing his hand back to the driving wheel, making her sigh in relief. He let out a chortle, that quickly built up to a full fledged laugh.Twilight looked at him, raising an eyebrow and scratching her head.

“Uh, what’s so funny?” she asked, confused.

“This. This was so silly that I… ah… this was very silly. Heh. Ah yeah, you silly pony.”

She stared back at him, shaking her head slowly as a small smile crept onto her muzzle.

“Phew. So, now that you’re not exploding in fury… what were you saying?”

“What I…? Uh… I… let me see...” she said, fixing herself over the seat and tapping on her chin. “Ah, I was going to ask you about the difference between this gasoline engine and the diesel engine. I mean, besides the fuel used," she said, looking back at him.

"Hold on," he said, stopping the car at the red light.

"Well, the four stroke idea is still present, but they happen in a slightly different manner on a gasoline engine. While a diesel just lets air enter the cylinders, and combustion happens by injecting the fuel in the ignition stroke, a gasoline engine admits a mixture of gasoline and air during intake. And the ignition happens by means of a spark plug, which lights up the mix. Which burns."

"Hmm. Is that all?"

"Uh... yeah, pretty much. It's rather simple... sort of. I mean, the stuff present on a diesel engine is mostly present on a gasoline engine as well. Crankshaft, intake and exhaust valves, coolant system, cooling fan, yadda yadda. The idea is kind of the same. Again, I'm oversimplifying here because I don't want to stretch myself farther than what I actually know. I'm sure there's more stuff that happens inside an engine I'm not even aware of."

"Hmm..." hummed Twilight, scratching her chin, her mind furiously processing and assimilating all that information.

The two sat in silence for a while. Greg stared at the symbol in the middle of the driving wheel while Twilight looked outside through the window.

"So, what are we waiting for here?" she asked, turning to face him.

"The green light," Greg said, pointing a finger forward without looking away from the symbol on the driving wheel. She gazed to where he was pointing, quickly looking back at him.

"Green? Like that green?" she said, pointing a hoof towards the semaphore. Greg looked at it, being startled by a car behind them that honked its horn.

"Oh shit... yeah, that one," he said, quickly accelerating the car.

"You know, this car... it's so useful. The distance we covered within a small amount of time is just amazing. I mean, the engine doesn't need to stop to rest or anything, nor is the car stuck on rails. Carriages and trains are useful, but with this," she said, tapping at the car's center console, "you're pretty much free to go anywhere you'd like to go."

"Yeah, almost free to go anywhere you'd like to go. You can't drive a car through a wall. Uh, I mean, actually you can, but you shouldn't, because that's bound to destroy the car. And kill you. And you might also hurt someone else. You can't climb walls with it. Nor fly. Well, actually that depends. If you throw yourself off of a bridge, you can say you're sort of flying for a few seconds before hitting... whatever lies under said bridge. You also can, but shouldn't, drive over sidewalks. There's people walking there. You can't drive on the opposite side of the road as well, or you get stopped by the police. You can't drive your car backwards too much on a street with intensive traffic. That can cause problems. So, yeah, not FREE free, but kinda free. You're free to go wherever you want to go, as long you use the proper roads. And don't kill anybody. And are licensed to drive. And you can't drive while drunk. Or while you're high. Nor too fast. Also not too slow. And you ALSO can't park anywhere you want. That can cause a lot of problems."

Twilight kept staring at him with a flat expression.

"Yeah... I guess cars do save us a lot of trouble," he said, smiling. Twilight shrugged, looking outside, staring intently at every building that passed by as they drove down the streets, noticing and comparing the geometry of the architecture of this new world to the kind she'd been used to seeing back home. She looked at the people that passed by, looking at their variety of clothing. Most of the people that passed by didn't notice her. Just a few kept their gaze locked on Twilight, who stared back out of curiosity. She looked at everything she could, taking in the new world that she slowly was getting used to.

"I sometimes wonder how it would've been if we were still using horses as our main transport method," said Greg, breaking the silence. Twilight snapped at his direction. "I mean... well, we'd still be able to clear large distances relatively fast but... well, considering that we wouldn't have steam engines... it would be bizarre. How would we move production and stuff...? I wonder..."

"Are we too far away?" she asked.

"Not much. Around ten more minutes or so."

"Oh. And how is this park?"

"Uh, well... it's... it's alright. It has some nice woods to walk in. Pretty nature-y. Clean air. Yeah, a little bit cleaner air."

"So, what's the deal there?"

"Deal?"

"Yeah, what's the plan when we get there?"

"Uh, none, I guess. We'll just go there... walk around... I have nothing planned. I'm just going. Free like the wind. Following the flow, like a... uh... uh... bah, whatever. I suck at analogies. We're just going there to throw some time away."

"Oh..." she said, her ears falling flat.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? You almost seems disappointed."

"What? No, I'm... I'm not."

"So, what's wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong. I just thought..."

"Mhm?"

"I thought you had something planned."

"Like?"

"Well... look, I don't want to sound unappreciative. I'm really thankful you're trying to help me to relax a bit, but..."

Greg stood in silence, waiting for her to continue.

"Twilight, what's wrong?"

"It's just..."

"Yes?"

She sighed. "It's just that I feel this time would be better spent working on the spell. I mean, if you don't have anything planned in the park, and we're just going to throw some time away, I can't help but think that this time would be better spent elsewhere. And that elsewhere would be the spell."

The silence fell like a brick after Twilight finished speaking. They stood silent for several seconds. Twilight's mind started to replay what she said and, each time she went through her just-spoken words, a pit deepened inside her chest. She bit her lower lip, looking outside through the window. Greg sighed deeply, pulling the car to the side of the road, stopping entirely.

"Look... Greg... I'm s--"

Greg raised his hand, interrupting her.

"I get you," he said, resting his raised hand over the driving wheel.

"Uh... you do?"

"Yeah. You have a problem that only you can solve... and you want to spend the maximum amount of time on it. You want to get back to your world. I get it. It's understandable."

"Oh, Celestia. I sounded like a jerk just now," she said, covering her face with her forehooves.

"Hey, hey," he said, resting a hand over her shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "It's ok. I just thought that taking you away from your puzzle a little bit would be healthy for you. I still believe that, to be honest. I mean, just in this meantime we talked about... well, engines... and cars... and trains. You managed to get your mind out of that problem for a bit, talking about something else."

She looked at him.

"When I suggested that you take time away from it... it's not because I'm trying to hinder your progress or anything. On the contrary, I'm really hoping you find your way home. But believe me when I say that spending EVERY SECOND on a problem is bad. I know because I used to do that."

"Hmm?"

"Yeah. When I was younger... and eager to prove to my employers that I was a programming genius... I would go lengths to deliver a working solution for whatever problem they had. I would spend the amount of time necessary to write the most robust code I could, debug the shit out of it, and make sure it ran as fast as I could make it run."

Greg sighed.

"Well, my brilliant strategy finally took its toll upon me, because there was a brief period of my life that I literally couldn’t think. The lack of sleep started to stack up more and more... I kept pushing... and it kept getting worse. My family had to interfere... before I had a breakdown or something. It took a few months for me to get back at full steam. From all of this I learned a pretty valuable lesson. Don't trade your health for progress on finding a solution to a problem if you're not sure that you'll get there soon enough. One or two bad-slept nights are acceptable, though I don't recommend it. But a whole month... that's terrible for one's health. And you've been doing the same things I did years ago. You're making the same mistake I made, and that's making me worried."

Twilight gaped, but gave up on forming a coherent sentence.

"I don't want to tell you that you might be obsessing over this spell, because I know it’s your only way back home. Without it you can’t go back, and you’re the only who can fix it. But you essentially want the solution for yesterday, and that’s not how things work. If you end burning yourself out over this… I mean, the more you’ll try to push, the less you'll achieve. I'm just trying to steer you away from this. Please, Twilight, don't go down this path. Give yourself some time to recover."

"I... I..."

"It's really tempting to go back and keep working. I understand that feeling waaaaay too well. But... just a little breather won't kill you. Alright?"

"Alright... alright," she said, nodding. "I wish I hadn't said that though..."

"Pfft. It didn't get to me," he said, waving his hand, looking forward. "So, what do you want to do? Should we go to the park...? Or home, maybe...?"

"No, no, the park. It does sound like a good idea. Some time away from that spell. Yeah, let's go to the park."

Greg smiled at her. He looked forward, accelerating the car. A few seconds later they stopped at a traffic light.

"I'm happy you choose the park, Twilight," he said, looking at her. His smile soon vanished. Twilight's face held a deep expression of dread. Her stare was fixed forwards. Her mouth was slightly open... and trembling. Greg gaped slightly, not understanding what was going on. He rested a hand over her shoulder, giving her a slight shake, but the mare didn't budge. Her stare kept focused at something far ahead of them.

"Twilight, what's wrong!?" asked Greg. He followed the direction of her stare. She was staring at a man crossing the street. The hooded man stood still, some meters away from the car. His stare... was dead on Twilight. Greg switched his gaze between Twilight and the creepy man a few times, his worries getting worse.

The hooded man started to make his way towards the car, which made Twilight's face contort itself in horror. Greg looked at the approaching person, and his brain quickly began to put the pieces together. Something was very wrong with that man. It was him that was making Twilight act strange. Her face... she was getting more terrified with each step he took closer to them.

In a split second reaction, Greg pulled the glove compartment open and pulled out his pistol. He threw his seat belt to the side and pushed his door open, getting out of the car and aiming his gun at the creep. The man halted upon realising he had become a target.

"Go ahead, motherfucker, make my day," he growled through his breath, his eyes narrowing into slits, just waiting for that sordid person to make the wrong move. The man seemed to take the hint though, shoving both his hands inside his pockets and walking away in a brisk walk. Greg tracked the man with his gun until he was no longer visible. He checked his surroundings, looking for someone else that might seem suspicious. The street was almost deserted though.

He got back inside the car, pulling the door closed and fastening his seatbelt. He looked down at Twilight. The horror expression now had given way to... tears. Twilight had both her forehooves covering her mouth, muffling powerful sobs. Two streams of tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Twilight?" he asked, putting his gun over his lap and resting his hand over her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Twilight slowly looked at him, using all her might to keep her sobs under control.

"C-can we go h-home... please?" she asked, whispering, the sobs trying to force their way out.

"Home? Twilight, what's going on!?"

"Please?"

Greg gaped several times, all of that not making any sense at all. What the hell just happened? Who was that person? Why did he seem to make Twilight so terrified? Billions of questions spawned at the same time inside his head and he had no way of dealing with any of them right now.

"Okay, sure. We're going home," he said, accelerating the car.

The car rocked sideways as one of its wheels hit the border of the ramp that lead to the garage. The muffled sound of the car's shocks were almost nonexistent compared to Twilight's powerful sobs. Greg slowly made the car go up the ramp. Twilight lit her horn, quickly pulling the passenger door's handle and shoving the door open.

"Hey! Twilight!" exclaimed Greg, violently stepping on the break after realising Twilight had ran outside. He pulled the handbrake, threw the seatbelt to the side, pushed his door open, and ran inside after her.

"I’ve got to solve this... I’ve got to solve this... I’ve got to solve this..." Twilight whispered through sobs, sitting in her chair, her hooves shaking as she pulled all the papers close to her.

"Will you PLEASE tell me what the hell is going on, Twilight? Twilight!" said Greg, stepping in the dining room.

"I’ve got to solve this, Greg! I’ve got to solve it right now!" she said, sobbing.

"God dammit! Would you just TALK to me!?"

"NO! NO, I CAN'T! I DON'T HAVE TIME! I HAVE TO FINISH THIS!" she yelled, using a hoof to clear the streams of tears of her face.

Greg gaped several times, his mind going in several directions trying to find an explanation. Upon realising he didn't have enough to infer the cause, he groaned.

"UUGGH, what the hell is wrong with you!?" he said, stepping closer to her. She didn't respond.

"Twilight!" he said, putting his hands over the papers, stopping her. "What's wrong!?"

She looked down to her seat, her sobs getting out of control.

"What happened!? Who was that guy!? Do you... know him?"

Twilight slowly nodded, never looking up.

"From where!?"

"I... I-I... can't do this... I can't do this... right now... I need to... rest..." she said weakly through sobs, getting out of her chair and running upstairs.

Greg kept looking at the staircase for a few seconds before averting his gaze to the papers on the table.

Greg stood still, facing Twilight's bedroom door. He brought his head to the door, focusing on his ears and trying to capture any noise coming from her bedroom. The only things he could hear were his own breathing and the faint thumping of his heartbeats inside his ears. He unsurely brought his hand upon the door, giving it a soft knock.

"Twilight?" he asked, almost whispering. No response from the mare.

Is she still sleeping? he asked himself, straining his ear against the door even more.

He knocked again, this time harder. "Twilight?"

"Yeah...?" the alicorn responded, her voice barely making its way out of the room.

"Uh, can I come in?"

"Sure..." she replied.

Greg carefully gripped the handle, slowly twisting it until it gave a soft click. He pushed the door open, peeking his head inside. The room was almost pitch black, with little light coming through the room's window.

"Hey," he said softly, fully opening the door and walking in. He stepped closer to the bed, halting in front of Twilight, who was laying down, facing away from him.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked.

"Mhm," she sighed, without looking at him. Greg sighed, sitting down at the edge of the bed, remaining in silence for a little while.

"I uh... made you a sandwich. Heh, figured you'd probably be a little hungry by now so... I hope I didn't mess it up too much. I'm still not used to cooking flowers..."

"I'm not hungry... but thanks..." she replied weakly.

Greg stared at her for a couple of seconds before switching his gaze to the plate he was holding.

"Oh. Uh... well uh... alright then," he said, standing up and walking towards the door.

Twilight quickly rolled on the bed. "I'm sorry for earlier," she said, sitting straight up.

Greg halted and turned around. "Well, I don't even know what happened, so I'm not sure why you would need to apologize."

"I was... rude to you."

"Hmm... you were?"

"Yeah, I... yelled at you and... ignored your questions... and left you talking alone... when I came up."

"Did you?"

"Yeah. That was pretty rude of me."

"Huh, that's funny... I didn't notice any of that," he said, taking a few steps towards her.

"But it happened..."

"Hmm..."

Twilight averted her gaze away from him, letting it fall upon the sheets that covered her partially.

"You really worried me, you know?" he started. Twilight looked at him. "I... uh... never saw you like that. I mean, it's been weeks since you got here. I get that you have your way of doing things and your own habits and all... but just... crying like that? I didn't know what to make of that," he said, approaching the bed and sitting down on its edge. "I mean... I actually have some theories of what made you cry like that, but I don't want to start tossing them around and make things worse."

"Look, it's..." she trailed.

"Yeah?"

"Uh... it's nothing. Nothing important, I mean. I was just not feeling okay earlier, that's all. But now it's already passed."

"Hmm... will you tell me what you were feeling that made you cry like that?"

"It's... not important," she said, trying to keeping her voice from trembling.

"To make you cry like that? I think it IS important."

"Please, just... just forget it, okay? Just pretend that what happened today never happened. Just ignore it. Can you do that for me?"

He stared down her purple eyes for a few instants before giving a short nod.

"Thank you."

"I can't promise I'll forget it, though. Or that I won't think about it. I still expect you to tell me what happened, just not right now."

"Okay."

He sighed.

"So, uh... I'll leave you to rest then," he said, standing up.

"Greg?"

"Yeah?"

"You're right."

He stood in silence, trying to figure out what she was talking about.

"About...?"

"Me... overworking."

"Oh, well, yeah. You're overworking yourself."

"I find it really amusing..."

"Hmm?"

"I gave this very same advice to a friend of mine... months ago..."

"About overworking?"

"About not taking care of yourself."

"Oh, uh... so... why didn't you follow your own advice?"

"I tried. I swear to you, I REALLY tried. But I wasn't making enough progress. And each day that passed... felt like I was slowing down. Felt like I wasn't moving forward. I know that resting enough is important in order to work properly, and reaching an answer is just a matter of time, but... I've been stuck on this thing for so long that... you know, once what you know fails consistently, you start to doubt what you know. I started to doubt that it was just a matter of time to get a fix for the spell. Maybe I just had to work as hard as possible. So that's when I decided to dedicate MORE time to it. I just want to fix that spell so I can go home. I just... want to fix it..." she said, bringing her forehooves to her face, rubbing it.

Greg sighed, approaching the bed once more and sitting down on its edge. He put the dish over the nightstand and rested his hands over his knees.

"And it's hard for me to do anything other than work. I got lucky with you speaking the same language as me, but your writing is completely different. I absolutely can't understand anything that's written in any of your books. I'd totally LOVE to read them, learn everything I can from what this world has to offer. But I can't read them... and... and... what else is there for me to do? Fixing this spell is really a big priority to me, and I don't have ANYTHING else to distract myself... I mean, there are the movies, but really... I was never much into movies, so it's hard for one to really catch my interest..."

They stood in silence for a while.

"Wow," he said, slowly nodding.

"Hmm?"

"You know, It's a really good thing that you said all that. I wasn't aware I was being an awful host."

"What?"

"No, really. To find out that you've been overworking yourself because you're utterly bored... because I didn't offer you anything else to do... damn... I truly messed up."

"N-no, that's not what I—"

"I'm glad you told me how you feel. I really am. I'm happy to find this out. Now that I stopped to think about this, it makes sense. I should've made your stay here more interesting. I DID think several times about inviting you to do different things, to go out for a jog... or maybe a workout... but I felt I would be intruding too much on your business. You're grown up, I can't just tell you what to do. Also, you're a princess, so I guess you're used to having even more authority about what you want to do. I felt like I shouldn't be suggesting activities, but... now I see I should have. I should've asked more instead of assuming that you'd tell me to get lost."

“I’d never tell you to get lost!”

Greg stood in silence, staring at her. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

His sight lingered towards the mattress, remaining locked on it for a while before he gave a short nod.

“And I didn’t mean to say you’re a bad host, because you’re not. I mean, me not having something else to do is not your fault. It’s just the situation. I don’t have any of my books here and—”

“Actually… it is… my fault. I mean, a little bit. If I had offered something else for you to do… I mean, taking into consideration what you just told me… you probably wouldn’t be overworking yourself if you had something else to do. And since I’m the host, I have to provide that something else, otherwise… well, there won’t be anything new.”

Twilight sighed, slowly shaking her head, looking away from him.

"You know... I had an idea," he said, standing up.

"What?" asked Twilight, looking at him as he left the room.

"Hold on," he said.

After a few instants, he returned to the room, holding a rather big object. Twilight eyed the thing on his hands, squinting her eyes, trying to deduce what he was holding.

"Is that... a book?" she inquired.

"Yeah, it's a book."

"So, what's your idea?"

Greg approached the bed, sitting down on its edge.

"Do you like detective fiction?"

Twilight gaped slightly at his question, staring for a few instants at his half-illuminated face.

"Uh... yeah. Why?"

"So," he said, tapping at the cover of the book. "This one is called Sherlock Holmes. It's one of my favorites. This book right here," he said, tapping once more at the book's cover, "contains several short stories about him."

"Uh, that's nice, but I can't read them."

"But I can."

Twilight stared once more at his face, her eyes slowly turning into slits.

"Wait... do you... are you offering to read them for me?"

"Yeah," he said with a warm smile on his face.

"No no, really, it's not necessary. I'm very grateful for the offer, but I can't ask that from you."

"Why not?"

"Well, it's... it's because... c'mon Greg, look at me. I'm already a full-grown mare."

"So what? I'm already a full-grown man. I don't get your logic."

"Bedtime stories are something that parents tell their children before bed. Their YOUNG children."

"Well, you're not my daughter, but you're not old either. So I really don't see a big issue here. C'mon, you said you can't distract yourself with books because you can't read them, but I can read them! It'd be good to distract yourself a bit right now."

"Look, thank you for the offer, but I... I don't feel comfortable about the idea," she said, resting a hoof on his shoulder. Greg's smile slowly got dissolved, and he looked down to the cover of the book.

"Uh... well, alright then," he said, sighing. He stood up, making his way out of the room, with Twilight staring at him as he went. He slowly pulled the door closed, leaving just a small gap for the corridor light to get in. When he wasn't visible anymore, she looked around the almost pitch black room, seeing the roof of the neighboring houses illuminated by the street lights through the window. Most of the windows from the other houses were unlit, making her wish she was also asleep by now. The night was very calm. Even the crickets seemed to take a break from their duties. That silence was enough to make all the noise that was going inside her mind unbearably loud, not allowing her to relax. The whole day was a mess, from start to where she was now. Although she wanted to think that the day was worth it because the time spent talking with Greg was good, she couldn't help but recall the events that took place on that street. That... man. The mere thought of him made her blood freeze in a manner she had never felt before.

She squeezed her eyes shut with great effort and slowly shook her head, forcing every thought about what happened out her mind.

She sighed heavily, opening her eyes and letting her gaze fall over her forehooves. She stared at them, noting how the light from the outside reflected off them. She brought a hoof near her face, slowly twisting it, marveling at how it reflected the light coming from the outside rather well. She looked at it for quite a while before staring outside once more, looking at the several houses around, taking in that they were filled with creatures just like Greg. The outside... this world... so much different from hers... but also very similar in some aspects. A place that felt so pacifistic, but is actually one that contains great dangers. So much stuff that she could see and learn from this place, but she couldn't because she didn't feel secure enough. Never had she experienced such a sense of insecurity before. What happened today... if it weren't for Greg... what would've happened? Would that man have gotten to her?

She squeezed her eyes shut once more, pushing out that thought.

She sighed, laying down, resting her head on the pillow. She stared at the wall, thinking about her current situation. She wondered how far away she was from fixing that teleportation spell so it would become stable enough to be used. Several weeks spent working on it and she still hadn’t managed to find a fix. Something as simple as a teleportation spell. Regardless of her efforts, the problem almost presented itself as unsolvable, and every time she tried to force her brain to work on it, she could feel a pit of anxiety form inside her chest, almost like her whole body was refusing to spend one more second on it. The mere thought of tackling the problem made her want to forget it entirely. She could feel her mind saturated from constant failure, and she just didn't want one more for the collection.

She sighed deeply, letting some of the frustration out.

Her thoughts shifted to the conversation she had during the car ride with Greg. Rare were the times she actually had someone to nerd about stuff with. Generally ponies would put her down for trying to start such a conversation, and yet she managed to spend several minutes talking about the mechanics of diesel engines and other interesting matters with him. And she agreed with him. Doing something other than working on the spell actually helped her, for the constant feeling of hopelessness that'd been looming over her completely vanished during that brief moment. Brief but relaxing. Well, until that traffic light came...

She squeezed her eyes closed again, grunting at the persistence of that thought. She rolled on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. Yeah, she agreed with him. Taking some time off, thinking about something else for a while. It helped her to calm down.

She sat straight on the bed, eyeing the nightstand and the sandwich he had left there. With the little light that illuminated it, she could tell that the bread didn't have its crust. She never had anything against it, but having it removed was rather nice.

She looked down, sighing deeply, thinking about that little gesture. One of many. He's been trying to help her lately more than never. Making her rest properly, taking her to the park, making her sandwiches, offering to read bedtime stories...

Her mind halted on that last part. Read... a bedtime story. The idea almost seemed surreal. Was he really willing to do that?

He WAS willing to do that... but I put him down... really smart move, Twilight, she thought, sighing. She looked at the door, staring at it for several seconds. Honestly, what would be the problem? Is there any problem? she questioned herself, expecting any of the mental voices that she used to argue with herself about problems to give her a reason not to accept. She waited, but an answer never came. Nothing other than the one that she had already given him. And she didn't believe in it herself. She pursed her lips, looking down to her front hooves, slowly shaking her head. She sighed, looking at the door.

"Uh, Greg?" she called. She waited for several moments, but got no answer back.

"Greg?" she called again, this time louder. She kept staring at the door, waiting it to open, but soon gave up and looked down to the floor, sighing.

The door slowly swung open just enough so Greg could peek his head inside.

"Yes?"

She snapped at his direction. "Uh... do you... do you think you could... read that story for me?"

Greg raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Won't it make you feel uncomfortable?"

"Well... I thought about what you said... about the story helping to distract myself. I think it's a good idea to get my mind away from that spell a little bit. Even if it feels a bit weird..."

"Well, if you really want it, I'll read it for you. I'll just grab the book, hold on," he said, pushing the door open and walking towards his bedroom. She stared at the corridor as she heard his footsteps going towards his bedroom. Soon enough, he walked back in the bedroom with the thick volume on his hands, and sat down on the edge of the bed. Twilight kept staring at him.

"Uh, you're going to stay like that?" he asked.

"What you mean?"

"Well, generally when one reads a bedtime story to someone, this someone is lying down on the bed, trying to fall asleep."

She just stared back.

"Of course, you don't need to do that. It's just a suggestion."

She gave a quick nod, laying down, nestling her face on the soft pillow, using her magic to pull the sheets closer, smiling at him. He smiled back.

"You know, since you don't feel too much comfortable with this, I could teach you how to read my language."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You know, if you don't find the solution for that spell soon, I mean. It's not THAT hard, and then you'd be able to read by yourself. I think it'd be more practical for you. So, what you say?"

"Uh... honestly, that'd be really nice. I'd like it very much," she replied, smiling.

"Cool, so we could do that when you manage to free yourself a little bit from the spell, okay?"

"Okay."

"Nice."

"Uh, you'll still read for me now, right?"

"Of course."

"Will you manage to read like this? It's pretty dark in here," she said.

"Yeah, see?" he replied, turning the book's cover towards the bedroom's door. "There's plenty of light coming from the corridor. It won't be a problem."

"So, what story will you read?"

"Uh, let me see..." he said, going to the summary of the book. "Alright, I think this is a good starting point. 'A Scandal in Bohemia'."

"Ohh... interesting..."

"Yeah, this is a nice one."

"What is it about?"

"You're about to find out. So, yeah, brace yourself," he said, looking down at Twilight, who returned the look with a smile. "Here we go. Ahem," he said, clearing his throat, "'To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name...'"

Author's Note

: )