The sound of a cell phone alarm started blasting a ‘March Of The Moa’ metal cover at nine in the morning. Taylor quickly sits up and hops of his...couch? Did he fall asleep there after finishing ‘Overlord II’ last night? He lets out a low groan of annoyance at the alarm. And on his day off of all times. He walks over to his computer desk where it sat on its charger and dismissed the alarm so that it wouldn’t go off again. He places it back down and slowly makes his way to his bathroom and does what he does every morning. First, he brushes his teeth and then rinses out his mouth with mouthwash. Nothing feels fresher than a clean mouth after all. After which, he walks to his room to find the door..closed. This wasn’t like him at all. But he was still half asleep to really care. He opens up his door and shuffles his way across the carpet to his closet. He takes out a fresh part of black baggy cargo pants and one of his favorite “Pantera’ shirts and carries them off to the bathroom. All while not noticing the two slightly moving lumps under his blanket.

“Now that I am up and about, there is no way I can get back to sleep now. May as well get the day started…”

He said to himself as he turned the knob that was above the tub. The sound of rushing water is suddenly heard throughout his apartment as he usually leaves all his inside doors open since he lives alone. He tosses his worn clothing into the laundry basket that sat next to his towel closet and climbing into the shower and pulled the curtains closed. Still not fully awake yet, he leaned against the tile wall of his bathroom as the shower of hot steamy water fell upon his body. It felt so nice and it even began to slowly wake him up.

That was a crazy dream last night. Both Twilight and Rarity jumped through my computer monitor to fuss at me, and then we actually enjoyed each other’s company afterward. Why can I have more dreams like that? It was...enjoyable.”

Was all he thought as he finally stood up straight and grabbed his shampoo and began to wash his hair. After which he grabbed some body wash and a loofa. He didn’t care that he showered the night before. Regular cleanliness was a must for him. After getting dried off and dressed, he gets his fresh clothing on and makes his way to his computer and boots it up. He waited for it to finally finish starting before getting it ready for his daily routine. He opens up the usual tabs on his net browser. Youtube, FIMFiction, Google Docs, Warframe.Market, all those necessary websites for his usual day.

“I think I will work on “A Whirlwind Of Change’ today. See what kind of things I can get my dragonwolf OC mixed up in.”

He said as he cracked his knuckles and began his writing process. As he wrote, it seemed like the words were flowing from his fingers despite using a keyboard. He was so incredibly focused at this point as he had his work music playlist going, that he did not notice the two ponies peeking from outside his bedroom door. They watched as his words formed on the screen with such speed that they could understand why others saw a few errors in his work. But the way that his words just appeared on the monitor. It was amazing to see his fingers work at such speed and fervor.

“Darling? Can you see the story he is working on right now? I can’t get a good look at his words. I don’t want to startle him.”

Whispered Rarity as she watched him type. Twilight leaned to the side a bit and noticed at least a name before whispering back to Rarity.

“I saw the name ‘Mystogan. But two of his character share the same first and last name. Some I am not sure if it’s his dragonwolf or his mountain pony. But I wanna know so badly!”

She whispered as she resisted dancing on her hooves with all her willpower. She really wanted to see what he is writing about next. Rarity was just as curious as her friend. They try to get closer when one of Taylor’s favorite songs come over his PC’s speakers. The song was called ‘Shelter’. And they watched as he smiled and began to lightly sway his shoulders as he continued typing. It certainly helped him continue his work and to not notice the two mares creeping up on him. However, as they got closer to him. He quickly turned his head as his sensitive hearing picked up on their hoofsteps over the music. Thinking it was an intruder before he saw them, his first instinct was to grab the dagger he kept at his desk and draw it quickly. Before he lunged at them, he noticed that he was looking at the two mares who had yelped and fallen back on their rears at the sudden motion. A look of shock on their faces.

“Wait...so, last night wasn’t a dream…? You two are really here? Like, REALLY here?”

Twilight groans and stands up and cups his face into her front hooves firmly. She leans in and gets eye to eye with him.

“Yes, Taylor! This is one-hundred percent real! How many times must I convince you?!”

He sighs and lightly pushes her away. Being mindful of closing out the google docs tab so that his work could not be seen as it was not ready yet. Both Twilight and Rarity let out an ‘Aaawwww!!!’ in unison as he did this while reaching out towards his monitor. Taylor crosses his arms as he stands in front of his screen with a playful glare and smile.

“Not even you two will get to see my unfinished work. No one ever gets to. But since this is all real, and you two are still here. How about I make you both some breakfast? Pancakes are one of my specialties.”

“Oh wow...an author and a cook. That is pretty neat, Taylor!”

Twilight said as she bounced up and down. Taylor shook his head and made his way into his kitchen. He takes out his cast-iron skillet and gets his measuring cup and pancake mix and the various other items he’d need for this breakfast. This is actually the first time he cooked for anyone other than himself for a while. And he was determined to do his best.

The two watched him begin the process. They noticed that when he looked at his measuring cup as he filled it with water, he brought the cup a bit close to his face so that he could read the measurements. The same thing with the pancake mix packaging. Rarity gave a slight frown as she saw this. She slowly makes her way at his side and places her front hooves on the countertop. Her gaze lifting up to him as he worked.

“Taylor, would you like me to help you? It would be no trouble at all~.”

Taylor shook his head with a gentle smile, reaching a hand down and gently scratching behind Rarity’s left ear.

“It is very sweet of you to offer, Rares. But I can do this no problem. After all, I have been doing this ever since I was twelve years old. You two go and relax. Breakfast will be done before you know it.”

Rarity still wanted to help him. So she got a nice little idea. She walked over to Twilight and whispered to her.

“What do yous ay while he is making us breakfast, we help clean up his place a little bit? It’s the least we can do.”

“That’s a good idea! Maybe we can learn more things about him too!”

They both got to work immediately. One thing they noticed is that the surfaces of the walls and floor were neatly kept free of dirt. But it seemed like he had a habit of leaving his shoes and boots left about. And even some of his clothing didn’t quite make it into his closet as it should. Rarity couldn’t help but giggle to herself as she picked up his clothing with her magic as she walked into his bedroom.

”Just like a single stallion…”

She thought to herself before opening up his closet. What she saw inside made her blink and pout to herself a bit.

“Ugh...all this black. He hardly has any other colors in here! And even the different colors are all dark!”

She said as she stomped her front right hoof into the carpet. Clearly, her fashion sense did not approve of all these dark colors. But they were his clothes. And while her urges started to surface, she didn’t want to upset him with changing out his clothing. But the one thing that caught her attention was his demonia reaper boots and a black denim long coat. A couple items of familiarity from his first story.

”He actually wears those?!”

She quickly folds up his clean clothes and places them in his closet before her urges get any harder to resist. Going about and straightening anything she could. Meanwhile, Twilight was busy organizing the small shelf of books he kept. Most of it was books he read for pleasure, others were old college books that he had kept for references on anything that suddenly came up. She noticed one book in particular. It was called “Code Of The Templar’. She skimmed over the pages with her inhuman reading speed and could see why he writes stories the way he does. And then another one called ‘The Zombie Survival Guide’. Maybe that explains why she sees various weapons hanging on his bedroom wall and a sword right next to his bed tucked away between the mattress and nightstand. Eventually, breakfast was done and he called them to the kitchen to the table, setting out the plates with four pancakes stacked on them each.

“Twi, Rares, breakfast is on!”

They both come rushing in to see that he indeed did know how to make pancakes very well. The smell and the look of the hotcakes were absolutely wonderful. He knew that since they are both unicorns, he places a knife and fork beside the plates form them. He also sets out the syrup, jam, and butter should they want some. After everything was ready, they all three sit down and get ready to eat. However, out of the three, only two were eating. Taylor just shook his head and laughed to himself before cutting up his food.

“Something wrong, Taylor?”

Twilight asked after swallowing her first bute. He shakes his head one more time and just smiles at them both.

“To think that I am having breakfast with Twilight Sparkle and Rarity. If someone else told me about this whole thing between you and me happen to them, I’d be extremely skeptical. Like, just straight up laughing my ass off. Oh, I almost forgot!”

Rarity was about to scold him for his language at the table. But when he got up to go to the fridge and grabbed a few glasses, she went quiet.

“What would you like to drink? I have apple juice, orange juice, milk and-...”

Taylor saw a leftover to-go box in his fridge from the night before. He suddenly got a wicked grin on his face and pulled out the box and takes out what was in it.

“Hey Twi, how do you feel about….quesadillas?”

He said as he held one out towards her. Her eyes widened as she saw it and the fur on her body stood on end. She looked like she was ready to jump out of the chair as he approached closer. Seeing that she really didn’t want to be near them, he blinks and places it back into his fridge before making the drinks they asked for after the little scare.

“So, you really are afraid of them..?”

“I am not afraid of them! They are just so….cheese-y…”

The breakfast went quiet after that. After they all finished, Taylor took the plates to the sink and began washing and cleaning them before placing them on the dish rack to dry. After he did that, he dried his hands with a rag and walked out of his kitchen.

“Darling, will you come and sit with us on the couch, please? We...have something we’d like to discuss with you.”

Taylor blinked and tilted his head, but complied and walked over to the couch and sat between the two of them. He suddenly bursts out with.

“You two didn’t find my secret stash did you…?”

“What secret stash…?”

They both asked. Taylor lets out a sigh of relief and waves a hand to dismiss the subject.

“Nothing, now what is it you two wanted to ask me about?”

“Well, as you know, we are fans of your work. And not just us, or friends are as well. And they’d love to meet you in person as well. But the thing is...that would require us to take you back to our world. But, we could only do that if you promise not to tell anyone here of its existence. Could you do that for us..?”

Taylor was absolutely speechless. They wanted him to go back with them?! He didn’t know what to think. He wanted to scream ‘YES!’. But at the same time, he had a life here. A job, his family, his friends, not very many, but yes, he had friends.

“Well?”

They both asked. This choice was hard to make. And his future weighed on this one decision. What will he choose?

Author's Note

In the words of my tenno. "Oh, this looks fun!"

May the darkness grant you peace.