Author's Note

Hey, everyone. Long time no read, sorry about that. I know I've been MIA for a while, much to my own dismay. Still, that doesn't mean I've been sitting on my hands the whole time. Now, in regards to this story, it's been something that I've actually had for a while. Originally, it was part of a series I was planning on putting out, but my fixation to make it perfect for you all kept me from doing so. Luckily, i managed to work it so that I could upload the first three chapters to act as it's own short story. I'm uploading it now for two reasons. 1) because I haven't seen many stories like this, I felt it as a bit of challenge to write one myself and see how it does. If it does well, I'll see about getting the rest of the story uploaded sometime later. 2) Mainly because I haven't put anything up in a while and I don't want you guys to think I've given up. I know you're all looking forward to some of my others stories, of which I am currently working on, but I also want to put some new stuff out for you to enjoy. I'm even editing some of my old work so I can update them later.

For now, this is it. As usual, leave a like and comment. Let me know what you think. And again, (bows head apologetically) thank you for your patience and support.

Ch.1 A Fellow Oddball

It was a nice normal day in the small town of Ponyville. You can hear the sounds of the village’s activities easily from your study in your two-story home. However, the somewhat ambient noise isn’t enough to deter you from the laboring task at hand. Sitting before you at your work desk lay a typewriter and currently nestled in its dock a single shred of paper. The page is lined with the remaining paragraphs of your work, your fingers moving in a skilled blur as you let the Muses use your fingers to express their will. You’ve been working for months and all your hard work and struggles are about to pay off. ‘Almost there,’ you tell yourself, your fingers still refusing to stop. “Almmoossst theeeerrrrree.”

You watch as words continue to fill the page, the clicking of the typewriter the only sound filling your ears. As you write, the page is lifting higher as you run out of space, but you’re not worried. The page moves higher and higher up the machine but the second the page reaches the end so do you. “Yes,” you cry out in victory, swiping the page from the typewriter and holding it above your head in a semblance of your triumph. “There, finally finished! I told Fine Print I would finish this before the deadline.”

You place the page atop the impressive stack of others at the edge of your desk before turning them over, revealing the finished product of your work. “Oh, speaking of deadlines,” you mutter to yourself as you look behind you to the clock on your wall. “Okay, I’ve got plenty of time. Just need to head out and drop this off at the Post Office. Come back, get cleaned up and then I’m off to get my girl,” you tell yourself as you stand up and look over your manuscript, “well, not my girl…at least not yet.”

You quickly take your manuscript and place it an envelope, write down the shipping address as well as your return address. You stamp it, grab your bits and head out the door. Traipsing through the streets, you greet and are greeted by your neighbors and other associates.

Despite how much time you’ve spent here in Equestria, you still find it a bit strange that everypony was so open about your presence, given you were the only living human being in the world. But then again, the Princesses were just as weirded out by the fact that you so readily accepted the fact that you were somehow magically transported into a world of multicolored anthropomorphic Equine-like creatures known as Ponies. You always told yourself you were very optimistic and open-minded, but when you arrived here it was like the universe was saying, “Oh yeah? How do you like being an oddball living in a world of otherworldly creatures?”

To which you reply, “Cool, what else you got?”

Needless to say, like all things new and different, living in Equestria took some getting used to, especially up in Canterlot. The Princesses were quite hospitable. Especially Twilight, though that was because she was interested in you as a science experiment, which you understood, given you were something they had never seen before. You’re only real problem was the way some of the nobles treated you. The snobs running through the city couldn’t help but give you the third degree, calling you everything from “The Hairless Ape” to “The Princess’ Pity Project”.

Most of these insults came from none other than Prince Blueblood. The pompous little whelp practically took time out of his schedule to ridicule you. However, as much as you wanted to take the prince’s head and shove it so far up his ass that you could use his horn to stab him in the heart, you knew better. You didn’t want to prove to the nobles you were the mindless brute they thought you were and you definitely didn’t want to make the princesses who took you in look bad by doing so. So naturally, you did what you usually did when faced with something that frustrated you; take that frustration and put it to paper. You can’t remember how many one-shot fictional tales you made of The Misadventures of FoolBlood.

You kept these a secret for some time before you caught Luna going through your stuff for whatever reason; to this day, you’re still not sure why. She found them, read them and started cracking up, she truly loved your work. She then showed them to Celestia, Twilight, Cadance, Shining Armor; soon the legend of Foolblood spread and that became the dumb bastard’s new title. Even now he still doesn’t know where it possibly came from. Karma, she’s good people sometimes.

After that, Celestia and Luna were very impressed by your writing prowess. Feeling flattered you asked them if they wanted to read the manuscript of your first real novel. You weren’t quite sure how they would like it since you wrote it when you were back on Earth. You were, in fact, on your way to see a publisher who was interested in your work when you suddenly wound up in Equestria. It was the only thing of value you had on you and figured it would never see the light of day; not wanting to spoil this chance, you showed it to the Princesses and asked for their opinion.

That following week was certainly the strangest since you saw neither hide nor hair of the alicorn sisters, but it wasn’t just you, it was the whole castle. Apparently, they had confined themselves to their rooms, demanding not to be disturbed and their food brought to them directly. Whenever the nobles demanded the Princesses’ presence they were ignored and sent away for a later date. Feeling this had something to do with your work you decided to address the issue and see the sisters, starting with Luna. She agreed to see you, but you were nowhere near prepared for what happened next.

When you saw the lunar princess, her face was flushed red, eyes wide and bright, her ethereal mane fluffed and bushy, swaying with utter excitement; but the one thing that went unsaid was the ambient heady scent of sex in the air. Before you could get a word in, she teleported you into Celestia’s bedchamber and to your surprise, the elder alicorn was in the same shape as her sister; as well as the obvious aroma of sex hanging in the air.

Apparently, they didn’t just like your story…they loved it. You were definitely taken aback by their fanatic behavior. You’d never seen them like this before, but you didn’t mind; in fact, you were happy to see they enjoyed your work. They asked if you had any more stories like your manuscript. You explained to them that you didn’t and that what they read was actually the first in a series you planned on working on.

Realizing what they had to do, the Princesses set forth to help you sell your work and get it out to the masses. They set you up with everything you needed, a typewriter and a publishing company to mass produce and distribute it. You were amazed and awestruck; you had thought your dream of becoming a famous writer was crushed, but here it was, happening before your eyes. When the first copies hit the shelves, they sold like cupcakes at Sugarcube Corner. The ponies loved your work…well, the female ponies did and according to the critics, their coltfriends and/or significant others alike were happily reaping the real benefits of your work.

Your first royalty check nearly blew your mind. You weren’t too sure about how the currency worked here in Equestria back then, but you were sure in any universe that a check with that many zeros was definitely enough to last you a good long while.

Your work quickly became famous, but to the Princesses’ surprise, nopony was swarming you for autographs or screaming as you walked down the streets, which was exactly how you wanted it. You told them you used a pen name so nopony knew who the actual author was. As much as you liked being famous, that was just a bonus; you loved that peop-ponies were enjoying your work more. You knew if you used your real name you’d be mobbed left and right and you didn’t like having that much attention on you. This way you can reap the benefits and work in peace without ponies hassling you. Sure, the female nobles whom you know were enjoying your story still looked down on you since they didn’t know it was your work they were reading, but seeing them read it made you secure and confident enough to smile and simply not care.

Seeing as you were now financially secure, at least for the time being, you decided that moving to a calmer, much quieter place would be best to work on your stories and thanks to Twilight you found such a place in the nice little village of Ponyville. To your surprise, the ponies here were a lot more down to earth and nicer than the snobs up in Canterlot and the party they threw you, compliments of the party pony herself, Pinkie Pie made it all the more welcoming.

You could already tell you were going to like it here.

As you head down the street, it doesn’t take long for you to spot the Post Office. You continue on your way until suddenly a dark shadow begins to loom over you. “What the…” you mutter under your breath as you look up, not spotting a single cloud in the sky. The shadow around you gets bigger and darker, much to your growing confusion; however, no sooner do you turn around do you feel something crash into you with a ‘squeak’. Whatever hits you knocks you to the ground with an audible thud. You groan as you open your eyes and darkness is the only thing that greets your visage. Your guessing the object that hit you is atop your head blocking your vision and given the warmth and amazingly soft, squishy texture of the object, you can already tell what or rather who it is. “Ow,” your suspicions are confirmed as you hear the pony atop you groan in an all too familiar female voice. “I came in too hot. Tried to land on my head, but I didn’t time it right.” she tells herself. “What did I land on?”

You raise your arm and tap her side, trying to answer her question. “Hm…oh,” the mare exclaimed your name in fright, quickly pulling herself up and removes herself from off of you. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you…again.”

You groan as you push yourself up and begin looking yourself over. You’re just a little dirty, nothing too serious. “No, problem, Derpy, I’m used to it by now,” you assured her with a smile. She smiled back and holds her hand out for you as you grab it. She helps pull you up to your feet and when you’re vertical again you quickly start dusting yourself off. “You’re not hurt, are you?” you ask her.

“No no, I’m fine,” she promises. “Though again, I am sorry. I…always seem to be crashing into you and using you as a cushion.”

“It's fine, it’s a nice little unsuspecting surprise,” you reply with a smile. “Besides, I’d hate to see anything happen to my favorite mail mare.”

“Flatterer,” she said with a blush, looking up at you with her trademark wobbly eyes or rather eye as one looks at you and the other looks away toward the ground. She soon takes notice of your parcel and says, “Oh, got something for me today?”

“Yup, need to get this sent out ASAP,” you tell her.

“Come on in and we’ll get you sorted out then,” she smiled as she turned to lead you to her place of work. You follow her until you reach the Post Office and she lets you both inside. You stand behind the counter and give her time to set her things down and get situated. You really like Derpy; most ponies complained about how accident prone she is and you couldn’t deny it, she is a bit of flying disaster, especially given how often she crashes into you; although you’re not sure if you can really complain when most of those crashes ended up with that amazing bubble rump of hers landing atop you; you’ve never been much of a butt man or a MILF man for that matter, but you couldn’t deny, Derpy was hot.

With a light gray coat and a pair of gray wings flapping a bit behind her; she had a short creamy blonde mane that banged over and framed her face with a matching long creamy blond tail. Her body tight and pretty curvy, going from a slim midsection to her amply wide hips; her arms thin and sleek and her legs long and supple with just the right amount of plump thickness to her thighs; her chest was a very decent bust, big but not overly so, but her best feature was truly that round very squeezable derriere of hers.

But all the same, she is a nice pony. She works hard, did her job, despite her crash record and all while taking care of her little one, Dinky; one of the cutest little things you’ve ever seen. Most single mothers struggle, but Derpy seems to do just fine for the both of them; that’s why whenever she needed a hand with someone looking after Dinky while she worked a little overtime here and there you had no problem looking after the little unicorn. Though truth be told, you didn’t think it was really necessary since, despite her age, Dinky seemed to be able to take care of herself just fine. Still, you liked having the little munchkin around and she loved showing you what new magic she could do.

Derpy finishes setting down her stuff down behind the desk counter as she turns to face you. “So, let me guess, another package heading out to Fine Line Inc?” she asked.

“Right as rain,” you smile back. “When do you think you can get it to them?”

“Hmm, a couple of days at the most,” she said, tapping her finger to her chin in thought, one eye looking at the ceiling and the other at the floor. “We’re not that busy as of late so maybe sooner.”

“Excellent,” you reply, digging into your pocket for her payment. “So, the usual cost, right?”

“Nah, it’s fine, I’ll spot you this time,” she said, waving off your cash.

“What, no I can’t-”

“It’s fine, really,” she assured you. “I still owe you one for watching Dinky all last week for me so I could take in some overtime.”

“C’mon, Derpy, that wasn’t much. Just helping out a friend,” you tell her. “Besides, if you’re not that busy around now, don’t you need the bits? You can pay me back some other way.”

“Hmm, okay, how’s this,” she said, holding up her finger with a smile. “You can pay for your package, but you let me take you out sometime?”

“Alright, I can work with that,” you agree as you fish out the bits from your pocket and place them on the desk along with your manuscript. “Here you go.”

“Thank you for your patronage,” Derpy said happily as she took your bits and your package.

“Okay, now that that’s taken care of I gotta go home and get ready.”

“Oh, got plans tonight?” she asked inquisitively while she filed your package away.

“Yup, I gotta date tonight,” you said happily.

“Oh right, you said you were seeing…somepony,” Derpy said in a somewhat saddened tone.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” you ask, quickly picking up on her lessened cheery attitude.

“Hm, oh nothing, don’t worry about it,” she said with a strained smile and waving her hands back and forth, trying to reaffirm herself. “So, how are things between you two?”

“Fine, so far,” you answered, rubbing the back of your head in thought. “We’ve been going out for a while, though…” you trail on, as a few unnerving thoughts go through your mind.

“What?” Derpy asked a look of confusion and intrigue on her face.

“Nothing, forget I said anything,” you chuckle a bit nervously as you start to move toward the exit. “Sorry, Derp, but I gotta go. I’ll check with you later, kay?”

“Okay, bye, have a good time,” Derpy said with a smile, waving goodbye as you left, though, just before you leave, you could have sworn you saw the smile on her face turn into a depressed frown. You’re not sure if what you saw was real and you want to go back and check to see if she’s alright, but you quickly wave it off, thinking your mind was playing tricks on you; wouldn’t be the first time. You then remember you’re on a timetable and need to get moving before heading back home to get yourself cleaned up. When you make it home you quickly set up your attire on your bed. While you’re going out, it isn’t to anywhere too fancy, so you don’t want to overdress; a nice shirt and dress jacket and pants are perfect. After that is sorted you head into the bathroom, take a shower and a quick shave. After putting on some aftershave and drying off, you get dressed up, grab your wallet, keys and head out.

Your walk through town isn’t as casual as before. You get a few cat calls from some of the friskier mares in town, namely Lyra, Bonbon and Berry Punch. You give them a polite smile and wave and continue on toward your destination. It takes a bit of time, given it’s close to the northern outskirts of Ponyville, but you finally reach a small clearing where a pink earth pony mare with a yellow mane in an aviator's jacket, helmet and goggles is sitting in a lawn chair, reading the newspaper. Behind her sits a large pink air balloon with a yellow basket, tied to the ground with a number of stakes. “Hey, Windy,” you call out to greet her.

The mare’s head jumps up in response before a smile crosses her face. “There’s my favorite human,” she beams at you as she stands up, her eyes, trailing up and down your frame. “Ooh, look at you all dressed up,” she said in a teasing tone as you reach her.

“I know, I look good, right?” you ask, puffing out your chest a bit.

“Yeah, you’re looking good…for a human, I guess,” she says with light sarcasm.

“I’ll take it,” you tell her, happily adding a point to your charisma meter. “So, ready to go?”

“Yup, just waiting on you,” she answered as she starts folding in her chair. “Get in and we can take off.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” you said as you did as you were instructed and hopped inside the oversized basket. Windy quickly unhitched most of the balloon’s anchors, leaving only one inside before she tossed her chair in and jumped inside herself; she pulled the final stake loose and quickly pulled it into the basket as the balloon began to take off. Windy was another good friend, as well as a fellow oddball, given that she’s an earth pony who took up a profession ferrying ponies around in a hot air balloon, but that was fine with you. You loved oddballs, unique individuals that stood out from the normal and everyday mundane. You respected them for what made them different and their ability to make it their own and ironically enough, giving your current circumstances as the only human in Equestria, you could proudly count yourself as one too.

You like to think that’s what caught the attention of the mare you’re currently courting; you knew that she was an oddball if only for the simple reason that she was the first mare to show any real interest or attraction to you since you came here. You remember meeting her at a party the Princesses were throwing at the castle.

A Few Months Ago

Naturally the only interesting ponies there were the Princesses, Cadance and Twilight included, the elements of harmony, as many called them, and of course, the master of mayhem himself, Discord made a crazy enthusiastic entrance to your great pleasure.

After having some fun with Pinkie Pie and Discord trying to liven things up, you caught sight of a pegasus mare off by herself heading outside to one of the balconies and sadly enough you saw Blueblood, following toot sweet after her. You quickly got an idea and told your good buddy Discord about it. Always up for a good laugh, he was more than happy to help. You then made a beeline to the balcony, making it just in time as Blueblood sauntered over to the mare. “Come now, dear,” Blueblood said, speaking in his usual stuck up haughty tone as he tried cozying up to the mare who was leaning over the edge of the balcony, doing her best to ignore the pompous ass. “No need to be so reserved. What would it take for you to go out with me?”

“Hm, don’t know, how bout you taking a flying leap from here?” she replied with heavy sarcasm, her voice sounding feminine, but a bit rough around the edges.

It took every ounce of willpower you had not to laugh; you didn’t know her back then, but that response instantly said this was your kind of girl. “No need to be so rude, Miss Captain, I’m just trying to be hospitable,” Blueblood said as he wrapped his arm around the mare’s waist.

The mare growled at him as he tried to pull her closer, while she tried to push him back. It was then that you made your move. “Yo, Blueblood, just the guy I was looking for,” you called out walking into the open with a bright smile on your face.

Both Blueblood and the mare stared at you, the former in annoyance, the latter in surprise and confusion. “You,” Blueblood spat in disgust as he released the mare to glare daggers at you. “What do you want, Ape?”

“Blueblood, I’m hurt,” you reply in feigned depression as you reached him and wrapped your arm around his neck, pulling him away from the mare. “I thought we were good chums.”

“Release me, you detestable brute,” Blueblood demanded as he tried to get free. Good thing he was a weak little momma’s colt; your grip wasn’t that tight on him.

“Relax, I just came to tell you something. One of the maids asked me to,” the second your sentence ended, so did his struggling.

“Oh, and what did this maid say? Was she cute?” he asked, his eyes gleaming as his imagination took him.

“The cutest,” you answered in an assuring tone, looking back at the mare and giving her a wink, telling her you’ve got this under control. She smirked at you and crossed her arms, watching you work the dumb bastard in your grasp. “She told me how handsome you were and how she’d love to get to know you. She asked me to tell you to meet her somewhere…private.”

“Where!? Where!?” he quickly coughed to clear his throat and try to regain his composure. “And where is this fair maiden?” he asked in a more controlled tone.

“She said to meet her down in the garden,” you told him as you let him go. “She should be there by now.”

“Then there’s no time to waste, I’m off,” he said as he ran back inside and disappeared.

“Good luck, you’re gonna need it and probably…hopefully some therapy afterward,” you muttered to yourself. You then turned around to meet the mare’s gaze, “You okay?”

“Yeah, I am, thanks,” she said, a smirk still plastered on her face. “I gotta say that was nicely done. I could’ve handled him myself but I didn’t feel like going to prison for punching a noble’s lights out.”

“No problem, saving a damsel in distress, it’s what I do,” you said nonchalantly as I walked over to her.

“Really, cuz I can tell from here, you don’t look like much of a fighter,” she said chuckled a bit.

“Looks can be deceiving,” you tell her, looking over the edge of the balcony.

“Don’t I know it,” she muttered just loud enough for you to hear. You weren’t sure what she meant, but before you could inquire she asked, “So you’re the ‘human’ creature that’s been livin’ it up here in the castle I presume?”

“Yup, the one and only,” you said proudly. “So, you heard of me?”

“Not much. Just whatever rumors run through the Royal Guards and a few nobles. The most common one is that you’re Princess Celestia’s new pet.”

“Yeah, I get that one a lot. Kind of annoying, but that’s Canterlot high society for yah.”

“Tell me about it,” she huffed in agreement, blowing a lock of her mane from her eyes. “But all the same, you seem pretty cool to me.”

“Thanks,” you smiled at her. “You too. Anypony that’s got the brass to tell Blueblood off like that is okay in my book.”

She smiled back at you, Luna’s full moon illuminating her fiery gaze. Time seemed to slip by as you got lost in her eyes. She instantly caught me staring and asked, “What? Why are you staring at me?”

“Sorry, my bad,” I chuckled nervously as I scratched the back of my head. “I know this is gonna sound cheesy, but I think you have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen.”

In that instant, she started laughing, causing you to do so too. You half expected that to happen, so you weren’t hurt or really surprised. “You’re right that was pretty cheesy,” she agreed, calming down from her laughing fit. “Do you know how many times I’ve heard that line?”

“Just enough for it to still be funny I’m guessing.” you answered with a shrug.

“True, but you know what? Out of all the times I’ve heard it, that was the first time it sounded genuine,” she said with a slight blush. “So, thank you. That’s very sweet of you.”

“You’re welcome,” you tell her. You also half expected that, well the last part at least, so that somewhat surprises you. Even though she caught you staring, to this day you still believe that to be her most attractive feature, those blazing red eyes that could burn like a raging inferno or as calm as a relaxing fireplace.

In that instance, your eyes saw a white blond blur moving down below toward the garden. “Hey, you wanna see something really funny?”

"Sure, you’ve gotten a few good ones out of me. What else you got?” she inquired with deep interest.

You hold up a finger, telling her to wait as you dig through the lining of your tux and pull out a pair of binoculars, compliments of Discord who didn’t want you to miss the festivities. You look through the lenses to see Blueblood heading into the section of the garden where Princess Celestia kept her exotic wildlife. The pompous stallion slowed down his running to search for his secret admirer, which didn’t take long as he spotted a feminine figure not too far away. You pass the mare the binoculars and point her in the right direction as you said, “Check it out.”

She takes the binoculars from you and looks toward the direction you pointed to and quickly finds her target. “No way, he actually went down there,” she asked with a chuckle before her amused expression turned to one of confusion. “Wait…wait a minute, why is he walking up to that-”

“Shh,” you tell her, a smile of absolute mischief plastered on your face as you watch Blueblood draw closer to his ‘admirer’. “Wait for it…wait for it…”

It doesn’t take much longer before Blueblood reaches his mark and in one swift motion, twirls her around and dips her back so he could plant a kiss on her lips. You could hear the mare beside you audibly gasp as you’re left chuckling to yourself like a mad man. Blueblood finally breaks the kiss and pulls away to look at his catch only for him to scream a second later when he realizes that the female that he kissed wasn’t a mare or even a pony, but a massive brown bear wearing a loose-fitting maid outfit. He tries to run, but the bear instantly grabs him and pulls him into a bear hug before it starts licking and nuzzling him affectionately, causing him to release the most girlish scream you’ve ever heard in your entire life. He continues to scream with every lick while you and the mare by your side burst into a pure fit of laughter, the only thing holding you up is the balcony banister you were both leaning on. “How…how did you…do t-t-that?” she tries to ask through her laughter.

“One word,” you reply, “Discord.”

As if on cue, the god of chaos himself appears over you sitting in a floating theater chair in a penguin tuxedo, white gloves, stove pipe hat and a pair of old time binoculars clapping as he cried, “Encore! Encore!”

Discord’s sudden appearance seemed to spook your new friend as she stopped laughing and backed away the instance she saw him. “Nice job, D. That was beautiful. Simply beautiful,” you applauded him.

“Me? Oh no no no no. I cannot possibly take credit for this, my friend. This work of genius is all yours,” he said, tipping his hat to you.

“Oh, why thank you,” you said, bowing down graciously.

Discord turned to your companion, once again tipping his hat as he addressed her, “Captain.”

She gives no response and with that Discord does his thing and snaps his fingers before disappearing from sight. “I’m guessing you’re not a fan of his?” you asked casually, the look of disdain on her face is clearly enough of an answer.

“And you are?” she replies with a raised brow.

“He’s not all bad,” you reply with a shrug. “He’s different. I like different. Different makes things more…interesting.”

She looks at you as if she’s deeply contemplating your answer. She then looks away at you staring out at the equestrian capital. “I…I guess I can understand that reasoning.”

You smile at her and hold your hand out, “I never got a chance to introduce myself. The name’s…,”

She looks back at you and smiles before she straightens herself out and shakes it, “Nice to meet yah. I’m...”

“We’re here,” Windy’s voice pulls you from your memory. You turn around and just as she said, you have arrived at your destination, Cloudsdale. Windy starts to lessen the air pressure in the balloon, allowing it to finally touch down on the cloud surface. “So, pick you up at the usual time. Nine thirty?” she asked.

“Hmm, that might not be necessary,” you answer, your voice filled with uncertainty.

“Tell you what, because you’re a good friend, I’ll give you an extra half hour. If you’re not here by ten, I’ll assume you’ll be spending the night with your lady friend. If so, then I’ll pick you up in the morning around eleven. Sound fair?”

“Sounds fair,” you say as you pull her payment from your pocket and hand it to her, “well, see later then.”

You hop out of the balloon and onto the clouds. You bounce a bit before your footing settles “Thank you, Twilight for that Cloud Walking spell.”

“Seeya later,” Windy as she takes off, heading back down to Ponyville. Now that you’re finally here, you waste no time making your way into the city. It still amazes you how pegasi can literally manipulate and produce weather phenomena the way they do. It is quite impressive; even despite the fact that pegasi fly everywhere and yet they still had stores, restaurants, and houses along the ground or rather clouds.

This fact makes your walk through the city more relaxing since it’s fairly deserted; the only pegasi on the ground with you were shopping or ponying a vending stand or two; everypony else seems to be flying around above you, going about their business; this left you alone to your thoughts about tonight’s events. Even though you seem relaxed on the outside, you were naturally a bit on edge on the inside. You’ve been on plenty of dates with the object of your affection, but there were times that it seemed like she was being seriously defensive.

You remember once you went to go see a movie and she placed a hand on your knee. Seeing this signal, you decided to reciprocate the gesture. However, for some reason when you did, she instantly took your hand away and moved it atop hers and kept it resting on your leg. You then changed your tactics and settled for wrapping your arm around her, which she easily nestled into. Later on, during the movie, she had snuggled up to you and swung her leg over yours, trying to get even closer to you. But not even seconds later, she quickly removed her leg and seemed to tense up. There were plenty of other weirder scenarios such as these, but still, it never seemed like she rejected your touch, just only certain places or positions. The biggest one being that despite all this time, you two still haven’t slept together.

Normally this would be fine, you weren’t pressuring her, yet it seems like she is avoiding the act almost altogether; now you’re pretty optimistic, but you’re not stupid. She’s hiding something and whatever it is, you were hoping to get her to open up to you and tell you what it was. Most people would give up, but you were more than curious. You were determined and that was tonight’s goal, the truth.

Even though you were lost in thought, that didn’t stop your body’s motion as it seemed to be moving on autopilot. By the time your internal tirade ends, you find yourself at your mare’s apartment building. It’s nothing too fancy, at least not that you can tell from the outside. It’s made of clouds like everything else in the floating city, which makes it hard to distinguish by architecture but you’ve been here enough to recognize it.

You make your way inside and manage to just catch the elevator. You press the button leading up to her floor, patiently waiting until you reach her floor. The elevator soon stops and gives an audible ‘ding’ before the doors swing open. You enter the hallway and head toward her apartment door. When you finally reach it, you give the fluffy door a good knock; you’re still surprised your fist doesn’t simply go through the door, but you pay it no mind.

You hear no response, so you give another couple knocks and wait once again. “W-Who is it?” you finally hear from the sole occupant.

“It’s me, I came to pick you up,” you tell her.

You then hear a series of thuds and grunts before you hear the door’s lock ‘click’. “Door’s unlocked. You can come in now.”

You open the door just in time to see a yellow and orange streak disappear. You enter the room and close the door before setting your eyes on her loft apartment. The living area is wide and spacious, a coffee table sitting in the middle, surrounded by a couch on its left with a matching twin on the right against a wall and a reclining armchair opposite of you with three large windows behind it that gave off a wonderful view of the sun and city. On the left side of the room sat an open kitchen and small table off in the corner with a window side view. Trailing up the right wall above the couch, you saw a staircase that leads up to the second floor which you’ve never been up to and to your right was a hallway that led to a pair of guest bedrooms and a bathroom.

As you head over to sit on the couch you hear your companion call out, “Do you know what time it is? Why are you so early?”

Her voice sounds a bit flustered but not angry or upset so you answer casually while you sit down, “I finished up my work early so I thought I’d surprise you.”

“Well…congratulations, I’m definitely surprised,” she says with a light layer of sarcasm.

“What’s wrong, I didn’t catch you at a bad time, did I?” you ask.

“Well…kinda, I was…in the middle of… of something.” she tells you, her voice still sounding flustered.

“Sorry, my bad,” you quickly apologize as you stand up, your worry and curiosity getting the better of you. “Are you okay up there?”

“I’m fine,” she replies quickly. “I’m fine, just…trying to get ready. Let me take a quick shower, get dressed and I’ll be ready to go.”

“Take your time, we’ve got plenty of it,” you tell her in a calm tone. You soon hear the shower going and resign yourself to wait, but before you go back to sit, you see something sitting on the coffee table; something you couldn’t believe you missed. Atop her table sat a copy of your book with a bookmark wedged in it, about halfway through. You can’t help but chuckle to yourself as you think, “Didn’t take her for the romantic type.”

You pick up the book before falling back and crashing back on her couch, completely relaxed. You open up the book to where the bookmark sat and looked it over. It’s not the first time you’ve re-read your own work; you do it every now and again, just for the hell of it. Apparently, she had gotten to a pretty juicy spot and given how flustered she sounded, your timing couldn’t have been worse. “Oooh, my bad”, you tell yourself.

As you run through the book, a strange odor suddenly assaults your sense of smell. It isn’t bad per say, but it is quite…strong. You sit up and place the book down, looking around for what the source could possibly be. You take a few experimental sniffs of the air and the smell seems to get strong as you turn to your right. You look around at your right side, seeing nothing but the three windows and the corner of the room, yet the smell remains ever potent. You stand up and look around the couch and that’s where you find it; a small trashcan wedged under the arm of the couch. An obvious attempt to conceal it, but the reason for its concealment is hanging around the edge of the top.

You feel your face contort into suspicion and confusion as you pick up the can from the opposite end and find what appears to be a used condom. Your confusion only grows as not only does the condom appeared to have been used it appears to have been used multiple times as the balloon at the end is almost was big as a grapefruit. “What the hel-” your thought is soon cut off as a breeze suddenly hits you.

You look over to the three windows sitting a few feet away to find that the window and the far right is cracked open. With your curiosity and suspicions more than roused you stealthily walk over to the window. When you reach it, you place your fingers against it, your pulse racing as you fear what you might find. After taking a calming breath, you quickly push the window open and peer outside. You see nothing but the city below you. You look around, up, down, side to side and still nothing.

You pull yourself back inside, shutting the window quietly and then turn your attention back to the strange evidence in your hand. “Okay, I know what this is and I know what it looks like. But…but…but it can’t be…,” you tell yourself as you feel your emotions and thoughts starting to swirl out of control. “No, there’s no way. She’d never do that to me. She’d never cheat on me…would she?”

Your torrent of thoughts began piecing things together. Her odd behavior when you tried to touch her, not wanting you to stay over or even go up to her room. The evidence starts to pile up and your mind tells you it’s an open and shut case. But even still, your heart doesn’t seem to want to listen. Your ears quickly pick up the sound of the shower turning off and you instantly go to put the evidence back where you found it before going back to sit on the couch.

You have some time to try and calm yourself and you needed to think. You knew you could easily confront her about this here and now, but where would that get you? You had one single piece of evidence and despite how hard the evidence was you knew it wasn’t enough; not for you to fully accept or for her without hearing her side of the story. You wanted more…needed more proof before bringing this issue to light.

“Okay, I’m ready,” you hear her call out in her normal calmer, more confident tone. Even on clouds, you can hear the clopping of her hooves as she comes down the stairs. You instantly get up as she reaches the bottom of the stairs and turns to face you. Even in your still somewhat tense state, the remaining tension and anxiety seems to almost melt away at the sight of her. Standing before you is a light golden yellow mare, her shortcut mane and long tail a contrast of light orange and light amber making it almost appear as if she were on fire.

Her figure is sleek but curvy which showed in her small hips and toned midsection; her legs are long and elegant with her thighs nice and firm; her arms short and tone with some of the muscle visible, but not overly so; her breasts were a substantial size, not too ample, but not too small, perfect for her overall figure and job occupation; finally, her most discernible features, her golden yellow wings tucked tightly against her slender back and her eyes, those fiery orange eyes.

Here before you stood the Aerial Ace, the Captain of the Wonderbolts herself, Spitfire. She wore some of her most casual attire, a pair of tight blue jeans that hugged her beautiful legs perfectly; a low-cut red t-shirt and her (apparently) lucky black leather aviator’s jacket. “Jeez, look at you,” she says as she saunters on over, her eyes scanning you up and down, “all dressed up and whatnot. I’m startin’ to feel underdressed.” she comments as she reaches you, pulling at your clothing as she inspects you, much to your sudden embarrassment.

“It’s not that fancy,” you chide back, looking yourself over. “Just thought I’d wear something nice is all.”

“If I’d known we had a dress code goin’ I would’ve put on somethin’ nicer. You know I like to look go for you.” she smiles up at you flirtatiously.

“You always look good to me,” you tell her, which was the honest truth.

This seemed to get a strong reaction out of her as her face flushes red. She quickly turns her face from you to hide her embarrassment. “Dammit, why’d you have to go and say something like that?” she snaps, but her voice holds no semblance of anger.

“Wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it,” you shrug.

It’s funny, really, she’s supposed to be this great aerial captain. She’s done countless shows and stunts in front of crowds by the hundreds of thousands, even the Princesses with such bravado and confidence, but a few words from you and she turns into this cute flustered mare and you can’t get enough of it. With her head turned to the side, you see her eyes widened as she snaps, “Aw crap.”

She quickly moves past you to the couch and grabs the book where you left it. She clutches it to her chest, her ears pulled back for a moment before she turns her head, a deep blush still plastered on her face. “You…you saw this…didn’t you?”

“Yup,” you say casually, chuckling to yourself, “didn’t know you liked those kinds of books.”

“Well I just…urgh,” she groans as she turns to face you. “Look, this isn’t mine, really. It’s Fleetfoot’s. She’s been going on about this series for the longest time. I had been meaning to start it but never got around to it so she let me borrow the first one to see how it was,” she explains, almost angrily as she tries to defend herself, crossing her arms and pouting.

“Oh, she’s a big fan I’m guessing,” you ask, trying to alleviate some of her embarrassment.

She blows a puff of air in clear exaggeration of your statement. “You have no idea. You so much as mention the author’s name and she practically creams herself on the spot.”

"Hmm, there’s goes another bump to my ego," you tell yourself. “And what about you? You’re about halfway through, what do you think?”

Your question once again got a blush from her. “It’s…It’s pretty good. Better than I thought it would be, actually. I’ll probably pick up the next volume. You know, for kicks,” she answered, trying to come off cool and casual, but her blush betrayed her.

“Have you ever…read this?”

“Yeah, but I can’t call myself a fan. I’m not all that big on smut fics.” you lie with a shrug.

“It’s not smut,” she snaps defensively. “It’s touching and heartwarming. The love scenes are so romantic and…” Spitfire stops her fanatic tirade as she sees you smiling almost devilishly at her reaction.

“You’re an ass sometimes, you know that, right?”

“I’ve heard that in passing, yes,” you admit. “And you’re clearly a lot more invested than you let on.”

“Okay, so it is good. Really good,” she confesses as well before glaring at you. “You better not tell a soul about this. If I have to hear smack from Soarin, I’ll be smacking you and him around, got it?”

“Yes, ma’am,” you say with a proper salute.

“Good,” she said as she tossed the book back on her coffee table. She then came over to your side and wrapped her arms around yours and pulled you toward the door. “Then c’mon, you’re taking me to the Busted Wing. As punishment for your genuine asshole-ery, you’re buying me a drink.”

“Yes, ma’am,” you repeat with a small smile as you let her pull you through the door. Despite the fact that you’re in a relatively good mood, you still haven’t forgotten about what you saw. Before this date was about getting her to open up and share whatever secret she was hiding; now your mission was to make her tell you whatever secret she was hiding.