A Kind And Loving Heart

Chapters

Chapter I: I Remember
Chapter II: A Bittersweet (Somewhat Confusing) Welcome Home... And The Benefits Of Fingers
Chapter III: An Unexpected Attraction
Chapter IV: The Grand Galloping Gala And Other Engagements
Chapter V: Praiser (Gets) Panned
Chapter VI: Two Hearts Aflutter
Chapter VII: He Tells Me Think With My Head (Not That Thing In My Chest)
Chapter VIII: But You're The One That I Want
Prologue: Who's There?
Epilogue: The Quest For Truth

Chapter I: I Remember

I woke with a start in the bed of my local psychiatric ward, eyes wide open and gasping for breath. I’d had the same dream every night for over a year and a half as I’d been in and out of the hospital more times than I could count. The rose colored sphere, the full moon, the small, mysterious figure who stared at me with glowing eyes. What did any of it mean?

I’d tried drowning it from my mind several times in the past, a task that was far easier said than done. I had much better thoughts to dwell on such as finding my missing daughter, Ariel. It had been 5 years since she was stolen as a baby and my beautiful wife, Savannah, was murdered trying to keep it from happening. All those years hadn’t done anything to diminish my determination at finding my daughter and bringing Savannah’s murderer to justice.

That fateful night played through my mind just as fresh and horrifying as when it first occurred. Despite soo much time having passed, aside from my thick stubble and haunted eyes, there was very little difference between how I looked then as opposed to now at 30 years old. My black hair was still in the same new wave, Anime look as before, if not slightly bushier, and my physical appearance/build had hardly changed all these years later.

O.K. O.K. Maybe I’d put on a little extra weight since then, but nothing too extreme. I mean, give me a break. I still worked hard to make sure that I was in decent physical condition and I doubt that anyone out there would’ve gone 5 years or so without having some form of change come over them.

Sitting up in my bed, I put on my glasses after rubbing the sleep out of my eyes before leaving my room to get breakfast. I know that a lot of people will frequently complain about how nasty hospital food tastes, but, when you’ve been in there for as long as I have, you kind of become accustomed to it and it doesn’t seem all bad after a time.

As I sat in the kitchen eating blueberry pancakes with syrup, bacon, and a bowl of Frosted Flakes, I began pondering all that the day had in store. Today was supposed to be the day of my discharge after spending a couple months in the nuthouse already. Every time that I’d been sent there after yet another psychotic episode, I tried to do everything within my power to convince the doctors there to let me out. Ariel needed me to find her and nothing was going to put a stop to that. Trying to convince them was one thing, actually succeeding was another.

With me being in and out of the hospital as many times as I had, any real friendships that I might’ve had had been pushed aside as I spent most of my free time looking for Ariel. Many of the disability checks that I’d get every month would go towards the best investigators I could afford. Even with them searching as much as they did, no leads ever came up.

Having moved back in with my parents several months after Ariel’s disappearance, they tried to discourage me from blowing through money on investigators as much as I did. My bank accounts were practically non-existent at this point.

I really hated living like this. No. I take that back. I really hated existing like this. If I were truly living, I would’ve been able to find some enjoyment in life. I might’ve hung out with friends more, gone to see a movie, attended a concert or convention, met new friends, something that any normal person would’ve done.

But that was the key word there: normal. I was anything, but. There had once been a time where I’d believed the fantasies I’d imagined about travelling to a world of ponies, even believing that 6 of them had actually visited me and Savannah all those years ago. I’d blamed all of them for her death in my rage filled realization that I’d lost both her and my daughter in the course of a single night. Not to mention the little one Savannah was carrying at the time who I’d never get the chance to meet.

Earlier on, when I was first admitted after the incident and an attempted suicide or two, I’d talked with the psychiatrists frequently about the friends I’d once had but pushed away when I’d needed them the most. They saw this as nothing more than my schizophrenia acting back up, my inability to distinguish reality from fantasy, and, as such, they saw this as an opportunity to “cure” me, whether I wanted to be or not.

As me and Savannah had been the only ones who could recall seeing them before her death, no one else would believe me about these former friends of mine and I slowly started to forget about them as the years went on. I now believed what the doctors had tried soo hard to get into my head, that they were nothing more than figments of my overactive imagination, meant to fill some need that I felt was lacking in my life. Any memories of them I might’ve had were now nothing more than fragments. Even the “cutie mark” that I had on both of my thighs I now believed were simply tattoos that I’d gotten many years ago. I’d been cured by them alright, even if I wouldn’t have wanted to admit it at the time.

As I finished off my breakfast and placed my tray back on the rack, I went over to the TV room to kill time until my parents would come to pick me up and bring me home. Not much longer now.

* * * * * * * *

About a couple of hours later, I’d arrived home with my parents and my 2 youngest brothers, Matthew and Micah. My other 2 brothers, Timothy and Stephen, had long since moved out, leaving only the 4 of them living in our house. At least, until Savannah’s death and Ariel’s abduction. My parents were very understanding of the hardship that I’d been going through with the loss of my family and offered to let me stay at their place for as long as I needed to in order to get back on my feet.

Entering the house, I was swiftly greeted by the family cat, Pepper, as she walked up to me and began rubbing herself against my legs. Picking her up, I cradled her close to me while she was purring up a storm. Pepper was a very finicky cat who didn’t get along well with other people or even other cats. In fact, me and my dad were the only ones who she seemed to genuinely like. If I ever held my hand out in front of her, the 2 most likely reactions she’d have would be to either lick it or rub her face against it. I guess you could say that I just had a way with her.

I held Pepper for a while in my arms before setting her down on her cat tree and heading upstairs to my old room. Upon entering, I saw that not much had really changed since my admittance. There were still the stacks of boxes from my old house that I very rarely went through anymore, my bed was in the same place as always, and the walls still had that bright chartreuse color that they’d always had for the past decade and a half, give or take a year.

Even with everything that remained the same, naturally there were many things that had changed in the past several years. I was reminded of all the famous people who had long since passed on during that period. Some of the ones who stood out the strongest in my memory were Chester Bennington of Linkin Park via suicide (boy did that one really hit home hard for me), Martin Landau who I mostly remembered for his roles of Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood and the voice of 2 in 9 (a personal favorite in the realm of animated movies), David Ogden Stiers who voiced several Disney characters from my childhood, and even the legend to end all legends, Stan Lee, creator of one of the biggest media brands ever with Marvel.

At that moment, ever soo briefly, a small sliver of remembrance came back to me; a memory from shortly before Savannah was murdered and Ariel kidnapped. A memory about some friends of ours, whom said memories of were somewhat fuzzy, having a marathon of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies that had come out at the time. Although, not just the MCU, but the animated Disney movies also. As I tried to remember the details harder, it all just slipped from my mind, like sugar through a sifter, and I lost it entirely.

After that brief reflection, I turned my attention back towards my current surroundings, notably all the boxes that remained unopened. Mom had offered several times to help me go through the boxes and organize them, but I didn’t feel like I needed her help. This was my stuff that I needed to go through and decide for myself what to keep or throw away. I still liked to maintain some sense of privacy in my life, one of the few things that I felt I had any sort of control over anymore.

It was then that I went over and picked up a random box from the pile to go through. Opening the box, I found several notepads, notepads that contained songs that me and Savannah had written and story ideas that I’d come up with long ago when I was still a writer. I scoffed at the contents that lay in front of me before taking the whole box and dumping everything in it in the trash.

Suddenly, while emptying the box’s contents, I heard a small, metallic clink in the trashcan. Looking inside it, I saw a small necklace amongst the notepads, standing out about as much as a fox in a chicken coop. Yet something about this necklace seemed vaguely familiar to me as I reached down to pick it up. Looking it over, the first thing I noticed were the 3 gemstones that rested inside their respective ovals: Emerald, Sapphire, and Ruby.

That small glimmer of realization burst into a full on flame in my mind once I flipped it over and saw the inscription carved into the back of it.

Equestrian Son/The victory won/Return to thy home

Just like that, everything came flooding back into my mind with such intensity that I had to sit down on my bed for fear that I would lose my balance on account of how woozy I suddenly felt. I now remembered everything. I remembered the show I’d once enjoyed watching, I remembered when I’d first visited Equestria almost 8 years ago, and, most importantly, I remembered the friends that I’d made back then.

However, I was also reminded of that fateful night when I’d denied our friendship and turned them away. I’d said hurtful things to them that I’d never meant, telling them that they could go take a flying leap off of a balcony for all I cared. Most painful of all, though, was the looks on their faces when I’d spoken with such malice. All 6 of them looked scarred by my venomous comments towards them.

Letting out a deep, sad sigh at remembering these events, I realized that I needed to return to Equestria now more than ever. My friends had been carrying that pain I’d inflicted on them for far too long and I needed to renew our friendship by any means possible. Would any of them accept my apologies? I didn’t know. I certainly wouldn’t forgive myself for what I’d said back then, but it was far more important for me to let the past die and try to start anew. Plus, the change of scenery might be nice after spending soo much time these past 5 years in psycho wards.

Most importantly of all, I needed to do this for Ariel and Savannah. The more I thought about those toxic memories or even the words I’d said to my friends, the more I knew that neither one of them would want me to hold onto either. If I was going to try and make a fresh start for myself and those friends I’d once cared about (and still did even now), this would be the proper opportunity for that.

Gathering a few of my belongings (mostly some extra clothes I shoved into my backpack) and putting on my favorite leather jacket (just in case) before speaking the inscription on the necklace, I didn’t know how long I’d be in Equestria for. All I knew was that I had a duty to rebuild the bridges that had been burned all those years ago and I was willing to spend however long I needed to. As I jumped into the portal that opened before my feet, though, wings sprouting from my back and pony ears emerging atop my head to replace my human ones, I had no idea what was in store for me on the other side.

Author's Note

Hello Everypony. SapphireWings here. Well, I've finally gotten back around to the next entry in my "Guardian Of Equestria" saga and it feels really good to be back after so much going on in my personal life, including the series finale of MLP:FIM. As mentioned in a previous blog post, I'm trying something a little different this time around by doing a romance story. One quick note I'd like to make is about the Comedy tag for the story. While there will be several comedic elements to show up in the coming chapters, I tagged this story as a comedy much more in the theatrical and Shakespearean sense of the word, much like how Much Ado About Nothing is labeled a comedy. Just felt the need to clarify that especially seeing as the last fic I wrote was a tragedy. I hope you guys enjoy this story and hopefully it'll be worth the wait as it's been over a year since I published the last chapter of my previous fic. Feel free to leave comments below and I'll see you in the following chapters.

Chapter II: A Bittersweet (Somewhat Confusing) Welcome Home... And The Benefits Of Fingers

Meanwhile, in Canterlot, Princess Twilight Sparkle sat in the royal throne room accompanied by her loyal advisor, Spike. It had been quite a while ever since Celestia and Luna had retired from their roles as the rulers of Equestria, passing the mantle off to Twilight. In that time, much had changed. Twilight herself had grown considerably to the point where she was exactly the same height/appearance as Celestia and Spike himself was now of similar height to Twilight as well as having bulked up greatly.

At that time, the princess was waiting for her friends to arrive for their regular Friendship Summit. Ever since taking over the role of ruling Equestria, Twilight had assembled her friends into a sort of counsel that would meet once every moon to discuss the various goings on throughout the land as well as the maintaining of amiable relations with other species from differing kingdoms among other things.

It was in that moment when one such creature, a gryphon by the name of Gallus and Twilight’s Captain of the Guards, opened one of the doors to the royal throne room to make an announcement.

“Princess. The counsel has officially arrived,” he stated.

“Thank you, Gallus,” Twilight answered back. “Please send them in.”

With a swift nod, Gallus opened both doors wide to reveal Twilight’s friends: Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. The entourage made their way through the doors into the throne room as Twilight and Spike came forward to greet them.

“Thanks to all of you for coming to meet with me today,” Twilight greeted as she embraced her friends.

“No problem, Twilight,” Pinkie piped up. “I’m just lucky enough that Pound and Pumpkin Cake were available to watch Li'l Cheese for me.”

“Indeed,” Rarity added, “as am I that Yona and Sandbar were willing to help out with handling all of my orders for the Grand Galloping Gala in less than 2 weeks.”

“It’s quite funny that you should mention that, Rarity,” Twilight began, “because that’s actually one of the topics I was meaning to bring up for our meeting.”

Breaking apart from the group hug, Twilight paused for a moment and looked over towards the doors to make sure that they were closed tightly before speaking back up.

“As you all know, there have been many Galas that have taken place since my official coronation.”

“Tell me about it,” Rainbow remarked. “I mean, this is what? The 15th Gala since then?”

“Umm… I think it’s actually closer to the 20th,” Fluttershy spoke up.

“Mhmm,” Twilight confirmed, “and, for this upcoming Gala, I have some really big news.”

“What kinda news would that be, Sugarcube?” Applejack questioned.

Twilight then motioned for her friends to come closer before whispering into their ears.

“Silverstream is proposing to Gallus!”

Pinkie let out a loud gasp as stars sparkled in her eyes.

“Oh. My. Gosh. That’s incredible!” she exclaimed.

“Quite right,” Rarity agreed, her eyes shimmering with emotion. “I’m soo happy for them. Just as much as I was when Yona and Sandbar got married.”

“Good fer them,” AJ pleasantly stated. “So whataya need fer us ta help out with? Whatever it is, ya can depend on me.”

“Well I-”

Twilight was interrupted by a flash of lightning followed by a loud thunderclap. The group of friends rushed over to the windows to see a heavy gathering of dark blue clouds near Ponyville, lightning flashing forth violently from them. As they watched this transpiring from a distance, a strange feeling of familiarity came over all of them. A spark of realization flashed into their minds, memories from a distant past.

“Is that… what I think it is?” Fluttershy finally spoke up.

“Could it really be?” Rainbow asked.

“Ah think… it jus’ might,” AJ added.

“Well there’s only one way to find out,” Twilight stated. “Everypony, stay close.”

And with a bright flash of their own, all of them were gone.

* * * * * * * *

In the time since I’d last been to Equestria, I’d forgotten about the part of travelling there where I would lose the ability to see for 2-3 minutes from my literally flashy entrance. I’d had plenty of time to think about what I’d say to the girls when I saw them again for the first time in far too long. Even then, though, I still struggled with how to put it into words.

Being on the autism spectrum like I am made it harder at times for the right words to come out the way I intended, especially in moments of intense stress like this. Many times, it was far easier for me to just write down what I meant to say in a letter and give it to someone. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been thinking too hard about bringing a piece of paper and pen with me beforehand.

Additionally, as I took in a deep breath of air while waiting for my sight to return, I’d forgotten how much cleaner the air was here in Equestria when compared to back home. The air back home was still breathable… somewhat, but it couldn’t compare with the natural freshness and higher quality here. With how much pollution had been going on back on Earth, this breath of fresh air was literally a breath of fresh air!

Slowly, but surely, my vision began to come back as I got a good glimpse of Ponyville. Overall, not too much had changed since my last time there, at least from an architectural perspective. Something that I was quick to notice though was a rather large building within close proximity to Twilight’s castle. Judging by the appearance of the building itself, it looked to be a relatively new school.

This struck me as rather odd as I already knew that there was a school in Ponyville before this one so what was even the point of having another one? Maybe I’d find out more about it from any of my old friends, if they’d forgive me that was.

Speaking of my friends, I’d seen absolutely no sign of them since I’d arrived there. The thought had occurred to me that they were quite possibly scared away by my entrance through an electrical storm. Not wanting to waste anymore time waiting, I called out to anypony who might be able to hear me.

“Hello? Is anypony here?”

It took several seconds, but a few ponies slowly started to come out followed by another few. When it came to the ponies that came out from their hiding places, I hardly recognized any of them. But then I saw a few who I remembered from when I’d last visited, except that they were much older. 2 of these ponies I recognized, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who were mere fillies last I saw them, were now full grown mares. How much time had passed since I’d been to Equestria last?

Before I could ponder my question much longer, I was greeted by a bright flash of purple magic in front of me, whereupon a small party of friends appeared in my presence who I was shocked to see. Not because I had no idea who they were, but because there was such a stark difference between how they looked now as opposed to when I’d last seen them.

2 members who stood out the most to me as far as change was concerned were Princess Twilight and Spike. The princess now stood at the same height as Celestia and myself as well as looking much more like Celestia then previously. All I could guess was that she was now the ruling princess over the land. For exactly how long this had been, I didn’t know. As for Spike, not only did he stand at an equal height to the princess, but he had also become much more husky/muscular and apparently had even grown wings sometime between now and then (however far back this “then” happened to be).

The rest of the Mane 6 had slightly different mane styles than what I’d previously seen. Rainbow’s was styled in a manner similar to a fiery mohawk, AJ and Pinkie’s were pulled back in buns, with the latter’s bun resembling a giant cluster of cotton candy even moreso than previously (cotton candy with flecks of confetti in it), Fluttershy’s was rather interesting as it seemed to curl back into itself, forming a loop on the back of her head like a teacup handle, and Rarity had a streak of silver in her mane and tail that made her look even more glamorous than before.

However, different mane styles weren’t the only thing different to stand out among my friends; they were also visibly older. Nowhere was this more noticeable than the lines they had underneath their eyes, the sight of which caused a deep pang inside that I didn’t feel would be going away anytime soon. All 7 of them stared at me with looks of shock and confusion on their faces before I finally spoke back up after several seconds.

“Ah know…,” I began shakily, my Southern drawl coming through as strong as ever, “that y’all are prob’ly… really shocked ta see me. In fact…, Ah’m mos’ likely tha las person… any of ya would ever wanna see. Ah said some hurtful things ta y’all that Ah didn’t mean…, but Ah also know… Ah can never take back. That bein’ said, Ah’m beyond sorry… fer what Ah said… fer how Ah treated ya… fer all tha pain Ah caused. Ah don’ ‘spect any of ya ta forgive me… but-”

I was suddenly interrupted as Pinkie flung herself at me, hugging me tightly as the tears came pouring from her eyes.

“Of course we forgive you, you big silly,” she spoke through her tears as I accepted her hug back. “And we’re sorry for what we did that night. If it weren’t for us leaving you, Savannah, and Ariel alone; maybe all 3 of you would still be here.”

“Hey hey hey,” I whispered, softly. “There’s no need ta worry ‘bout what might’ve been. All that really matters is what we do in tha now ‘n Ah wanna do everythin’ Ah can ta make up fer los’ time.”

It was then that the other 5 mares and Spike made their way over to give me a group hug, tears of joy all around.

“It’s great ta have ya back, Sugarcube,” Applejack stated.

“You have no idea how much we’ve missed you,” Fluttershy uttered with a soft, sad smile showing through her tears.

“Things just haven’t been the same without you here, twin,” Rainbow Dash proclaimed.

“Tell me about it,” Spike agreed.

“What’s going on?” a new, yet somewhat familiar, voice called out. “I saw the lightning striking Town Square. Is everypony-”

The voice abruptly stopped as I looked in the direction of its owner: a light lavender colored Unicorn with a mane and tail that were mostly a rich purple aside from a streak of aquamarine. She stared at me with a look of equal parts shock and confusion. This made sense to me as she’d most likely never seen a human before, especially not one with massive, blue wings and blue pony ears like I had. All of us breaking free from the hug, Twilight was the first to end the awkward silence that had come up.

“Oh, Starlight, this is our old friend, David.”

“Ahh. This mus’ be tha famous Starlight Glimmer,” I spoke up as I approached her with an extended hand. “Twi mentioned ya frequently tha las’ time she ‘n her friends visited me ‘n she speaks very highly of ya.”

“Well, you shouldn’t believe a word of it,” Starlight remarked with a playful smile as she accepted my hand in her hoof. “It’s great to finally meet another close friend of the gang. With what Twilight had mentioned about their last visit, it seemed like I would never get that chance.”

“In all honesty, Ah wasn’t even thinkin’ of comin’ back here either,” I admitted with a pained look on my face.

“I’d heard about what happened to your wife and daughter all those years ago,” Starlight continued, solemnly, “and I offer my sincerest condolences.”

“Ah ‘ppreciate that. Ah’m sure ya would’ve really liked both of ‘em. If only ma little Ariel could’ve gotten a chance ta see this place.”

It was then that the question I’d had swirling around in my mind for the past several minutes that I’d been back in Ponyville finally reached my lips as I turned to the Mane 6.

“How… how long has it been… since you 6 las’ visited me?”

“At least 20 years now,” Fluttershy sadly stated.

Upon hearing Fluttershy’s answer, a sad, heavy sigh escaped me at this shocking revelation. Rainbow then posed a question to me.

“How long has it been in your world?”

“Only a quarter of what it’s been here in Equestria.”

“5 years?!?” AJ remarked. “No wonder ya hardly look any different from tha last time we saw ya. Ah mean, aside from tha ears ‘n wings.”

“Yeah. Ah can un-... wait. Whataya mean ma ears ‘n wings?”

AJ looked a little unsure of herself before speaking back up.

“Ah jus’... don’ remember ya havin’ ‘em before.”

“Yeah. I mean, they definitely make you look 20% cooler, but I don’t remember that either,” Rainbow agreed.

“Me neither,” Fluttershy chimed in.

“How can ya guys not remember?” I asked, incredulously. “Ah got ‘em when Ah defeated that hag that attacked ya guys long ago after findin’ out that Ah’m a descendant of tha Alicorn princess named Destiny who lived here over 1,000 years ago before she wound up in ma world as a human.”

“Who’s Destiny?” Pinkie puzzled.

“Star Swirl tha Bearded’s special somepony.”

“What are you even talking about?” Twilight questioned, looking more confused than ever.

A look of shock and disbelief crossed my face before I spoke up again.

“Do you guys honestly not remember?”

“I’m truly sorry, David,” Rarity started, “but there’s only ever been Celestia and Luna who lived that long ago as Alicorn Princesses.”

“But… how do ya explain ma pony ears ‘n wings?”

“I wish I knew,” Twilight stated. “Maybe there’s something missing that none of us noticed? We’ll have to look into it later, but, for now, we’re just happy to have you back. Especially at a time like this.”

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“So that we could give you these.”

Using her magic, Twilight passed 2 golden colored tickets over to me.

“Are these… what Ah think they are?”

“Indeed,” she stated. “Your ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala as well as your +1. Princess Celestia left instructions for whenever you’d return before she and Luna stepped down from the throne. Additionally, she wanted me to check with you as to whether or not you wanted to cash in that favor she offered the previous times you were here.”

I was reminded of those prior visits to Equestria where Celestia had offered anything that I might need whenever I decided to come back. Now, with all the stuff that had happened to me within the past several years, this seemed like as good a time as any to cash in that favor, but what would that favor be? I didn’t want to be too greedy with my request, but, at the same time, I had just about nothing to my name anymore. No job, no money, not even my own place to live.

That was when it hit me. Those would be the 3 things that I’d ask for. After all, I had no idea how long I was going to be there for, but it certainly wasn’t going to be a short stay by any means and I had no desire to go back home where I’d risk winding up back in the wacky bin for God knows how long again. These would be the necessities I’d need for the time being. With these thoughts in my head, I finally made my request to Twilight.

“Well, Ah’d like ta have some money ta cover any expenses while Ah’m here, a job so that Ah’ll have some form of income, ‘n finally a place of ma own ta live in. Ah plan ta be here fer quite a while ‘n Ah don’t wanna come off as a freeloader, takin’ advantage of somepony else’s generosity by crashin’ at their place durin’ that time.”

“That’s completely understandable,” Twilight replied. “I’ll make arrangements for your own home to be built here in Ponyville as well as providing you with some bits for any needs that might arise. As for jobs, I’m sure it won’t be too hard to find something to do around here.”

“Last time I checked,” Starlight added, “I was positive that both Sugarcube Corner and the Ponyville Day Spa were hiring. You might want to try looking there.”

“Until your home is built,” Twilight continued, “you’re more than welcome to stay at my old castle in Ponyville as you have the previous times here.”

“Thanks,” I replied with a smile. “Ah really do ‘ppreciate all y’all are doin’ fer me, even after how Ah treated most of ya.”

“Oh pfft. It’s all water under the bridge, darling,” Rarity stated. “We’re just soo happy to have you back.”

“Definitely,” Fluttershy added.

“In fact,” Rarity continued, “maybe you could stop by the Carousel Boutique sometime so that I can take some measurements and put something fabulous together for you to wear to the Gala.”

“Ya know ya really don’ hafta do that, Rare,” I replied.

“David, please. It’s the least that I can do to show gratitude for your return to us.”

“Mhmm,” the other 5 and Spike agreed.

“Plus, I’ve already been making outfits for many other creatures besides just ponies for the past couple of decades now. It’ll be a nice change of pace and an enjoyable challenge to make clothes for a human for once.”

There was no way that I could possibly argue with my friends. I mean, I could try, but I didn’t think that that would be the best way to endear myself to them after all this time away so I finally relented.

“O.K., Rare. You win.”

“If you want, Rarity, I could even help you out with that as well as your other orders,” Fluttershy followed up.

“Thank you, darling. As much help as Yona and Sandbar are, any and all additional assistance would be very much appreciated.”

“Hey, bud, whataya say that I help you get back into better shape before the Gala?” Rainbow questioned while playfully poking my stomach with her right hoof. “It looks like you’ve gotten a bit soft since the last time we saw you.”

“Well,” I admitted, “Ah have been meanin’ ta get back ta tha same body Ah had years ago, but Ah could never find tha time between when Ah was in tha wacky bin ‘n lookin fer Ariel.”

I then let a slow smile creep across my face before continuing.

“Knowin’ you, Dashie, ya’d prob’ly put me through quite tha ringer when it comes ta workout routines.”

“Heheheh,” she chuckled. “There’s no ‘probably’ about it, bro. You’re talkin’ to a full-fledged Wonderbolt here. By the time I’m done with you, you won’t even remember how your body looked before.”

“Jus’ be careful not ta run ‘im too hard, hon',” Applejack countered. “Ya can’t ‘spect him ta go all tha way up ta 11 at tha drop o’ ma hat.”

“It’s O.K., AJ,” I answered. “Ah can take a lot more than it may look like Ah can.”

“Ah know Ah know, but, still, Ah’m jus' tryin' ta look out fer ya as a friend.”

“Thanks fer that, AJ,” I smiled.

“Anytime, pardner.”

“Ooo ooo ooo!” Pinkie piped up. “I just remembered something. I’ll be right back.”

And as quickly as she spoke, she was gone in a bright, pink streak.

“What was that all about?” I questioned.

Everypony else who was there simply shrugged in response. It wasn’t long, though, before Pinkie flashed back over with a brown paper bag that she then passed off to me.

“For you,” she stated.

Accepting the bag, I opened it up to see what was inside. Upon seeing the contents, I let out a small gasp.

“A Lemon Muffin Surprise!” I uttered while pulling it out of the bag and turning to face Pinkie. “You remembered!”

“Of course I did, silly. Did you really think I’d ever forget?”

“Well…,” I admitted, “Ah honestly wasn’t sure. There were several moments back home where Ah almos’ forgot ‘bout you guys, much as it pains me ta say.”

“But you never forgot about us entirely, did you?” Fluttershy questioned.

“No. Ah guess not.”

Even with all of the treatments that I’d gone through back at the wacko hut to bring me back to what the doctors their considered “sane and normal”, there were still fragmented memories of my friends that lingered in my mind the whole time afterwards, vague and misty as they might’ve been.

“Then that’s all that matters. You held on to us just as we held on to you all of these years, no matter what, and nothing can ever change that or take it away from you or any of us.”

“Thanks fer sayin’ that, Flutters,” I replied with a smile before turning my attention back to my muffin. “Well Ah guess Ah should eat this while it’s still fresh.”

Taking a bite out of the muffin, it tasted very strongly like the lemon poppyseed muffins I used to have when I was a kid except even better than I could’ve imagined with a lemon glaze drizzled over the top of it. It wasn’t until after biting into it that I discovered the “surprise” part of the muffin: a creamy lemon custard center that was equal parts tart and rich, leaving an explosion of flavor in my mouth.

“How do ya like it, Davey?” Pinkie asked.

“Ah love this, Pinkie!” I exclaimed, upon swallowing. “This has gotta be one o’ tha best muffins Ah’ve ever eaten in ma entire life.”

“Goodie!” Pinkie joyfully hopped up and down in place. “I’m soo glad you enjoyed it.”

Polishing off the rest of my muffin, I turned my attention over to Rarity.

“So, Rare, when do ya think a good time would be fer me ta come over fer ya ta take measurements?”

“I’m not quite sure,” she commented. “Maybe sometime a little bit later on in the week. It’ll give me and my assistants more time to work on all the orders I have lined up and I’m sure that it’ll allow Fluttershy enough time to prepare seeing as she’s soo generously offered up her services to me.”

“I’m ready whenever you are, Rarity,” Fluttershy stated, softly with a smile.

“Perfect,” Rainbow remarked. “That’ll give you plenty of time to get back in shape with my exercise regimen beforehand.”

“Sounds good ta me,” I replied. “Before Ah get started on yer workout, though, Rainbow, Ah think Ah’ll try ta see ‘bout possibly gettin’ that job at either Sugarcube Corner or tha Ponyville Day Spa. Ah’d like ta at least have a steady form of income set up fer tha duration of ma stay here.”

“Understandable,” Twilight spoke up. “No pony would fault you for that. In the meantime, I’ll be returning to Canterlot to make arrangements for your home to be built here in Ponyville as well as setting you up with a sizeable amount of bits for any expenses that might come up between now and whenever you start whatever job you may wind up with.”

“Thanks again,” I respectfully bowed towards her.

“You’re welcome and thank you, David.”

“Fer what?”

“Coming back. You have no idea how much this means-” she stretched her wings out in a gesture towards the party gathered around me “-to all of us.”

At Twilight’s statement, I couldn’t help but get a little choked up thinking of all the time I’d lost that I could’ve spent with my friends over these past years.

“God forgive me fer all tha time Ah’ve wasted,” was all I could utter as my friends came around to hug me again.

In that moment, the first of what would surely be many more, I was greatly relieved to be back in my true home and I genuinely looked forward to all that my stay in Equestria had in store.

* * * * * * * *

Not too long after Twilight and Spike had returned to Canterlot, I made my way over to the Ponyville Day Spa first, accompanied by Rarity. Though I could’ve gone there just fine on my own, Rarity insisted on joining me, stating that I could use her as a reference.

Having never really held a job in Ponyville before, I had no idea what to expect in regards to applying, interviews, all that managerial stuff that I’d had to deal with back on Earth. Back then, though, I’d only ever held one job as a security officer at an amusement park and that was almost a decade prior so I wasn’t exactly up to date on what the protocol was for these things. Even for the brief 2-3 years I worked as a writer, that was completely different from a job that you punched in and out of for anywhere from 5-6 days out of a week.

Not to mention, did ponies even use job applications for new hires and how was that supposed to work out? Back on Earth, there were always 3 options when it came to job applications: many companies only did online ones, a smaller amount only did paper applications, and even fewer than that only ever did both. My mom gave me some advice long ago that, whenever applying for a job, if it was an option, always go with the paper applications. Her reasoning behind that was that, when you pick up an application from a potential employer and then return it to them after filling it out, they would at least have a face to associate the name with. Online applications were only ever used as a last resort as they were much less personable.

I couldn’t help but smile thinking back on that and my current situation with potentially working in Ponyville. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about any chance of online applications here; not that most ponies here would even know about the internet aside from my friends (and even then they didn’t have quite the same level of understanding of the internet as someone who’s spent the majority of their life back on Earth, possibly even in the alternate Equestria Girls reality). If my mom knew I was here in Equestria, she most certainly would’ve approved of the lack of online applications in this world. If my mom knew I was here in Equestria in the first place, I couldn’t begin to imagine what her reaction might be or any of my other family members for that matter.

In all honesty, there were times when I wished I could’ve told my family the truth about my past visits to Equestria as well as what I’d discovered there soo many years ago (even if my friends couldn’t quite remember all of the details themselves). Unfortunately, the past few years of being in and out of the cuckoo cabin after a few failed suicide attempts followed by several psychotic episodes did very little to convince many around me that I was in a stable state of mind. Besides, the only doctors that I’d opened up to about my friends and former visits to Equestria scoffed my statements as nothing more than delusions of a troubled mind. If I couldn’t bring it up with them at the time, what made me think that my family would’ve been any more understanding than those quacks?

“David? DAVID?!?” Rarity’s voice snapped me out of my ponderings.

“Oh- uh… y-yes, Rare?”

“Is everything alright, darling?”

“Oh yeah. Ah’m good. Ah was jus'… lost in thought Ah guess.”

“Anything you feel like sharing?”

“Just a little nervous ‘bout ‘pplying at tha Day Spa. Back on Earth, aside from ma brief work as a writer, Ah haven’t really held a normal job in quite awhile.”

“Well I can assure you that you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Lotus and Aloe will know exactly where you’d fit in best there. If I was that kind of mare, I’d bet my boutiques that you’d make for a fabulous masseur. With you being the only one here to have fingers, you could really work wonders relieving stress and muscle kinks on any pony. Why I’m sure that you’d be in such high demand that your employment there would be quite profitable.”

I blushed vividly followed by a reply.

“Now let’s not get too far ‘head of ourselves, Rare. Ah haven’t even been hired ta work at tha day spa yet.”

“Exactly. Yet,” Rarity answered with a playful smile.

I smiled softly back before Rarity turned her attention forward.

“Oh. It looks like we’re here.”

Turning my head to where Rarity was looking, I saw that we had indeed arrived at our destination. I didn’t remember that much about the Ponyville Day Spa from the days in which I’d watched the show so seeing it then with fresh eyes was a pretty important moment for me.

The first thing to capture my attention was the bluish-green roof that rose up in peaks, resembling those of a circus tent as cliched as that may sound. I also picked up on several other details such as the horseshoe-shaped windows, the red door with 2 pink hearts on it (almost bringing to mind a Valentine’s Day card… or, I guess, a Hearts And Hooves Day card?), and a yellow sign that veered on the edge of golden with a wavy-maned pony on it as well as a horseshoe surrounded by light blue flowers. Just looking upon the spa’s exterior, I could tell that this building dripped of class and sophistication. I even could’ve sworn that the building itself sparkled in the sunlight it was that spotless.

“Wow,” was all I could utter at the sight of the spa.

“It’s quite a sight to take in all at once, isn’t it?” Rarity added.

I nodded in agreement before Rarity continued.

“Well I guess we best be heading inside to see about getting you a job.”

And with that, the 2 of us made our way over to the entrance of the building. Reaching the door, I opened it for Rarity to go in first.

“Oh. I appreciate the courtesy, David, but I feel like you should go first. You’re the one who’s going in looking for the job after all.”

“Are ya sure, Rare? 'Cuz Ah have no trouble lettin' you go first. Ya know, ‘Beauty before handsomeness’ ‘n all that.”

“Oh, David,” Rarity giggled, “you make me blush. As much as I value your manners, quite becoming of any true stallion I might add, I insist that you go right on ahead.”

With a soft smile on my face at Rarity’s remark, I finally relented and went on ahead of her. Entering the spa, the first thing that I noticed was the color scheme of the interior, mainly consisting of pinks and violets along with some yellows that were more conservatively incorporated. With Rarity joining me, we made our way over to the front desk where a sea blue mare with glossy pink mane and tail as well as eyes of the richest sapphire swiftly noticed our approach.

“Rarity!” she greeted.

“Lotus, darling,” Rarity replied as the 2 of them hugged. “It is such a pleasure to see you again.”

“Please, Rarity,” Lotus spoke as they parted. “Zee pleasure is all mine.”

It wasn’t long before Lotus took notice of me standing nearby.

“And you must be Daveed!”

“At yer service,” I answered with a kneel.

“Zis truly is an honor, but… vhere did your vings and pony ears come from?”

“It’s kind of a long story. Ah’m not even sure if Ah fully understand tha details ‘bout it either.”

“Very vell then. Vhat can I do for you 2?”

“I think the more appropriate question is ‘What can David do for you?’” Rarity stated, before turning towards me. “Right, David?”

“Yes,” I began, attention focused on Lotus. “Ah heard that yer spa was looking fer extra help ‘n, as Ah’m gonna be here in Ponyville fer quite a while as well as requiring a steady form of income fer tha time bein’, Ah was hopin’ that ya’d consider me fer tha position.”

“Ah yes,” Lotus followed up. “Such a tragedy. Our best masseuse, Quake, got called away to a different spa in zee big city, Manehattan, and it’s left quite zee hole in our business as vee are down a pair of hooves.”

“It’s actually quite funny that you should mention that,” Rare started, “because David and I were just discussing on the way over here how well he might fit in as a masseur for your spa.”

“Hmm…,” Lotus pondered, running her hoof along her chin in the process.

As she was thinking it over, I noticed her staring for a while at my hands, gears visibly turning in her mind. Finally, after almost half a minute of silence, she spoke back up.

“It just might verk. First, zough, vee’d need to put him through a little test run. Is zat O.K. vith you, Daveed?”

“Sure. Why not?” I answered back.

“Fantastique! Now, if you’ll just follow me, vee’ll see vhat you can do vith zose… claws?”

“Hands actually,” I politely corrected.

“Ah yes. Zose ‘hands’ of yours.”

“Well,” Rarity began, as she turned to leave, “while you 2 are busy with that, I really need to get back to my boutique to help my assistants with finishing all of those orders. I’ll catch up with you later, David, and be sure to tell me how it all turns out.”

“Trus’ me, Rare,” I replied, “if all goes well, ya’ll be tha first ta know.”

Rarity then gave a pleasant smile before exiting the spa while I followed Lotus back towards what I assumed was the primary “massage chamber”, for lack of a better word. Before long, we arrived at the room in question where a powder pink pony with a glossy blue mane and tail was attending to a customer, providing a vigorous massage. Upon the two of us entering, the masseuse pony looked in our direction before speaking up.

“Sister,” she stated, continuing the massage. “I vas just about to send for you. Zere’s a massive backlog of-”

Upon spotting me, she stopped speaking and stared in shock at my presence there. After the shock had worn off, she finally acknowledged me.

“Daveed!” she gushed. “It is truly an honor to have you here, but… vhy do you have vings and pony ears?”

“It’s complicated in all honesty,” I stated, wondering more and more why it was that nopony around here seemed to remember me being an Alicorn Prince except me.

After having originally discovered that I was part Alicorn many years ago, I wasn’t comfortable with many ponies drawing attention to that fact, mostly because I didn’t want to be treated any differently from them. But, now, after finally getting used to being referred to as Prince David, nopony else seemed to have any memory of me being royalty. Not to sound selfish, but I honestly missed them calling me a prince as well as me asking them to just refer to me as plain old David. Aloe’s voice drew me out of my ponderings.

“So zen, how can vee help you?”

Before I could even reply, Lotus spoke up for me.

“Daveed is actually here to help us, sister. He’s looking to fill our empty position.”

“Really?!? Zat’s vonderful! Vee have such a massive backlog of ponies vaiting for massages zat any help vould be greatly appreciated.”

“Ah’m more than happy ta be of service,” I stated, plainly.

“Indeed,” Lotus began, “but, first, vee must see him in action to make sure he’s truly a proper fit. Is zee next customer ready do you know?”

“I believe so,” Aloe mentioned before turning her head towards the waiting room and calling out. “Vee are ready for zee next guest.”

Only a few seconds later, a female pony entered the room who I swiftly recognized as Bon Bon (or was it Sweetie Drops?) before she noticed me.

“David?!?” she uttered in surprise. “What’re you doing here? Are you here for a massage too?”

“Not quite,” Aloe replied. “As it turns out, Daveed here vill be giving you your massage today.”

“Really!?! That’s awesome! Wait until my wife, Lyra, finds out that I got a massage from David himself. She'll be soo jealous.”

“Ah’m sure she’ll be quite surprised at that,” I stated with a smile while gesturing towards the nearest table. “Now why don’cha get comfortable on tha table here ‘n we can get started.”

With a quick nod, Sweetie Bon (or whichever name it was) got herself situated facedown on the table while I warmed up my fingers, flexing them several times and cracking them in preparation. With my client (and my fingers) finally ready, I placed my hands on her shoulders first where I began moving my primary fingers in a circular motion before gently but firmly squeezing them with my thumbs in a continuous cycle. The circular manner in which my fingers moved almost brought to mind the classic “Wax on. Wax off.” motion that Mr. Miyagi taught Daniel in The Karate Kid.

As I slowly worked my hands down Bon Bon’s back, she let out several soft moans that indicated that she was enjoying the massage. I’d had plenty of practice back home with giving massages to family members and the occasional friend who might’ve asked for one, although not as much in recent memory. At least now it was nice to know that I “still had it” all these years later in spite of that fact.

With the deep tissue rubbing taken care of, I formed my hands into the classic knife-hand shape of martial artists before doing firm karate chops up and down my client’s back, much to her added pleasure. My knife-hand technique had also been practiced several times before back home; strangely enough, whenever my mom needed graham crackers or the like ground into crumbs for baking. She’d simply put them in a ziplock bag and let me karate chop away at them until they were completely pulverized. Even back then, though, I’d learned how to exercise restraint so as not to overdo it.

After several minutes of massaging, I was finally finished, much to the disappointment of Sweetie Drops.

“I do enjoy massages,” she spoke, hopping off the table, “but I always wish they didn’t have to end.”

She then looked at me with a smile before continuing.

“That being said, this was the best massage I’ve ever had here and I’ll be sure to recommend you to everypony else I come across, if you manage to get the job which I have no doubt you will.”

“Ah ‘ppreciate tha vote of confidence from ya, Bon Bon,” I smiled back at her. “Hope ya have a great rest of yer day.”

“Likewise,” she stated, before leaving.

It wasn’t long after she left that the twin spa pony sisters spoke up after having silently observed me for the past several minutes.

“Vell,” Lotus began, “I must say zat I’m quite impressed by your massaging skills.”

“As am I,” Aloe agreed. “I never knew you had such talent.”

“Well Ah have had plenty o’ time ta practice back on Earth,” I stated, modestly.

“And it seems like all zose years paid off.”

“I believe I speak for both of us vhen I say zat vee’d be glad to have you here as our newest masseur!” Lotus exclaimed.

“Ah’d be honored to!” I replied almost instantly.

“Fantastique! Velcome to your first official job in Ponyville.”

I reached out to shake Lotus’ extended hoof as well as her sisters’, all the while feeling thankful beyond words that my new beginning in Equestria was off on the right foot… or hoof, even if there might’ve been a couple hiccups along the way. In the months to follow, my life would change in ways I’d never before thought possible.

Author's Note

Hello Everypony. Back with another chapter to my story and boy has it been a rough past few weeks for me. One of my closest friends from work left for another job that guaranteed more hours for her as well as being much closer to where she lives and it's just been weighing pretty heavily on my mind during this time. At least we had a good time hanging out after work on her last day 2 Saturdays ago and there might've been some booze and arcade games involved. :ajsmug: Not sure when I'm going to see her again outside of work, but, if the MLP Series Finale showed me anything, we'll still be able to keep in touch. We actually got to Facebook Message each other twice this past week and she came by work to visit 2 days ago so that was enjoyable. As another side note, I'm currently in the process of trying to find another job, but I'll probably save the details of that for sometime later on down the line. Anyhoo, please feel free to thumbs up or favorite this story if you're enjoying it thus far, leave a comment with your thoughts and constructive criticism down below, and I'll see you guys again when the next chapter drops. Take care.

Chapter III: An Unexpected Attraction

A few days had gone by since my return to Equestria whereupon I’d also gotten my new job as a masseur at the Ponyville Day Spa shortly following. With my arrival back to my homeland, there were definitely some adjustments that needed to be made to the status quo I’d previously followed. First off was making sure that I woke up in time for work. This had been tough for me as the last time I’d previously held a real job was about 8 years ago and, as a result, I’d fallen out of the habit of waking up early.

Secondly, I was quickly reminded that Equestria didn’t have nearly as many of the technological advances that modern society back on Earth had. Therefore, certain amenities like cell phones, TVs, and computers among other things were practically non-existent here. That isn’t to say that Equestria was completely bereft of anything resembling modern technology; there were still turntables, speaker systems, arcade consoles, and carnival rides that I was sure must require some form of energy in order to run effectively.

In the last few days, Rainbow had been running me through some pretty rigorous training whenever I had the freetime in order to get me back into better shape. To say that my body was sore from the workout would be the understatement of the decade. From the intense wing-ups to the several dozen laps through an obstacle course she’d created just for the occasion, I didn’t know if my bones would ever be able to relax again for weeks.

At least on this day, I was meeting with Rarity at the boutique so that she could take some measurements in preparation for the Grand Galloping Gala. Being that the Gala itself was a little more than a week away, Rarity needed my measurements as soon as possible if she was going to get my new outfit done in time. Thankfully, measurements wouldn’t be anywhere near as tiring or bone-aching as Rainbow’s workouts had been.

After a quick breakfast from Sugarcube Corner, I swiftly made my way over to the Carousel Boutique, at least, as swiftly as I could without over exerting myself. Even my wings were aching from all the exercise they’d been subjected to. Reaching my destination, I knocked on the door in a little pattern that I’d adopted long ago.

Tap. Tap. Taptap Tap.

It was hardly 10 seconds after knocking before the door opened and I was greeted by Fluttershy.

“Oh. Good morning, David,” she greeted softly.

“Good mornin’, Flutters. Whachu up to here?”

It was then that a confused expression crossed her face before she replied.

“Don’t you remember? I volunteered to help Rarity out with her orders as well as taking your measurements.”

The spark of realization lit up my face as I recalled the moment from those few short days ago.

“Oh right! Sorry fer fergettin’ ‘bout that Fluttershy. Ah’ve jus’ had a lot o’ stuff Ah’ve been tryin’ ta 'just to as of late.”

“That’s perfectly fine. Um, would you like to come in?”

“Sure.”

Fluttershy moved over to let me through as I stepped into the boutique. Upon crossing the threshold, one particular memory came rushing over me. The last time I’d been to this boutique was when me and Savannah were trying to find answers as to why my friends were losing their souls and why I was slowly transforming full-on into a pony after absorbing their souls in order to protect them. I sadly sighed inwardly at that memory and the implications that came along with it: I’d been able to protect my friends, but, when it came to my wife and daughter, I wasn’t able to do the same. What did that say about me as a person?

“David!” Rarity greeted, snapping me out of my thoughts. “It’s soo good to have you here at such an early hour of the day. We’ve been waiting for you.”

Taking in the sight of Rarity with her red rimmed glasses perched on her muzzle and the roll of measuring tape she held with her magic, I could definitely tell that the latter statement rang true. Just how long they’d been waiting for me, I couldn’t quite guess.

“Please, follow me this way,” Rare continued as she and Fluttershy led me to one of the upper rooms which I quickly recognized as the formers bedroom.

This led to no small amount of confusion on my part. Why would she take me to her bedroom for measurements? The sight of several mannequins (pony-quins?) and mirrors only perplexed me even more.

“Umm… what’re we doin’ in yer bedroom, Rare?” I puzzled. “Ah thought we were supposed ta be takin’ ma measurements.”

“Oh we are, darling. My bedroom serves more than just one purpose you know. It doubles as an additional workspace for more personal projects such as when I’m busy making Gala outfits for my friends.”

“Ahh.”

Fluttershy then closed the bedroom door behind us before grabbing a notepad and pencil from a nearby table.

“Now, if you please, I’d appreciate it greatly if you would remove your clothes so we can get started.”

My pupils quickly dilated at Rarity’s request. There was no way that I could’ve heard that right.

“Ah-Ah’m sorry. Wh-wh-what was that?” I stammered.

“We need you to please remove your clothes in order to get started.”

“What in tha actual ass does takin’ ma clothes off have anythin’ ta do with whether or not we can get started!?!”

“Well you can’t very well expect me to get proper measurements with your clothes in the way, especially those baggy pants and leather jacket you’re wearing. You forget that I don’t have any human shaped models at my disposal so I’m required to go by whatever measurements I can get off of you and, in order to do so, the numbers absolutely must be as on point as possible.”

“O.K.,” I relented, “but can Ah please at leas’ keep ma boxers on.”

“If you must.”

“Trus’ me. Ah must.”

“Very well then.”

With those words of confirmation, I carefully removed my jacket, shirt, and pants til only my boxers remained. Both the girls were greeted by quite a sight as they gazed upon my exposed torso. Even with it only being a few days since I’d first arrived back in Equestria, thanks to Rainbow’s workout regimen, the extra belly fat was diminishing exponentially with the beginnings of a six-pack making their presence known.

“Oh my!” Fluttershy commented, staring wide-eyed as a heavy blush formed on her face. “It looks like all that exercise with Rainbow Dash has been paying off.”

“Indeed it does,” Rarity remarked. “Would you mind holding one of your arms out to the side?”

I complied as Rarity raised her measuring tape to find the length from my wrist to my shoulder.

“Fluttershy, please take a note: Subject’s arm length is 22 in. long.”

Pencil in mouth, Fluttershy began scribbling down the numbers she was given as Rarity continued.

“36 in. for the leg aaand… 40 in. for the waist. Now, if you wouldn’t mind turning around, I’d like to get some measurements on your wings.”

Doing as I was told, I turned my back to her and spread out my wings as Rarity resumed her measuring.

“I’ve got a measurement of 9 in. at the base with the bases of both wings being 6 in. apart from each other.”

Stretching out the tape to find out my wingspan, I heard Rarity let out a soft gasp.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” I questioned.

“Oh, nothing. Nothing at all, darling,” Rarity quickly added. “I was just intrigued by the measurements of your wings.”

“What’d you find out, Rarity?” Fluttershy posed the question, equally as curious as I was.

“That David’s wingspan is only about a few inches longer than his normal arm span.”

“Oh my! That’s still considerably long even compared to his arm length.”

At the comments that both Rare and Flutters were making about how large my wings were, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the last time I was in Equestria when those mares from the Crystal Empire were pointing at me and giggling amongst themselves when I’d visited to get Crystal’s dark magic (and the split personality that came with it) removed from me by the 2 sisters. It wasn’t until after I saw myself in a mirror, namely how large my wings were in my pony state, that I came to the conclusion that both of the Crystal mares had been commenting on my “wing size”.

“Well then,” Rarity began, “I’m quite sure that that’s all the measurements I need from you, David. You may put your clothes back on now.”

As I put my pants, shirt, and jacket back on, I winced at the soreness of my body from Rainbow’s intense workout routine. This didn’t go unnoticed by the 2 mares.

“Are you alright, David?” Fluttershy questioned, concern evident in her tone.

“Oh yeah. Ah’m O.K. Jus’ a lil sore from that regimen Rainbow’s been puttin’ me through as of late.”

“Oh Rainbow,” Rarity remarked. “I should’ve known her training would be too much for you. When is she ever going to learn that not everypony is on the same level as her when it comes to that sort of thing?”

“Oh Ah don’ mind it too much. Ah mean, if she hadn’t been pushin’ me as hard as she was, Ah might not’ve gotten as close ta gettin’ that six-pack you ladies saw earlier.”

“Your six-pack does look very nice,” Flutters started, “but, still, it seems like you need someplace to let your body settle and relax, give yourself a break from all that working out. Fortunately, I think I know the perfect place for you to do that.”

“Where’s that?”

“Sweet Feather Sanctuary.”

A look of confusion swiftly crossed my face before I spoke back up.

“Never heard of it.”

“It’s a beautiful and peaceful animal sanctuary that I had built near my cottage shortly after all of us got back from visiting you, Savannah, and Ariel in your world.”

That explained it. Based off of what Fluttershy had told me and my knowledge of the show before I’d stopped watching it, it sounded like the sanctuary hadn’t been constructed until sometime shortly after the start of Season 7 and I’d stopped watching the show after the Season 6 Finale. That would’ve put their visit with me and Savannah directly between those 2 seasons.

“The sanctuary is mostly meant to be a place for all kinds of animals with all kinds of illnesses or physical infirmities to come to until they can get back on their paws,” Fluttershy continued. “That being said, all of my friends are always more than welcome to go there should any of them need someplace to relax themselves. As my friend, you’re no different.”

“Wow. Thanks, Flutters,” I replied as I went over to hug her.

“Oh you’re welcome,” she smiled softly, accepting the hug. “You just take as long as you need to let your bones rest. I might just stop by there myself to check in on you after I’m done here.”

“Ah’d like that a lot.”

Even as Fluttershy smiled back at me, I couldn’t help but notice, for the briefest moment, a twinge of sadness in her eyes; her eyes lined slightly with age since I’d last seen her and my other friends.

“Quite I’m sure,” Rarity added. “In the meantime, I’ll just need Fluttershy for a little bit longer while I figure out what direction to go in with your outfit. Once that’s figured out, I should have it to you within the next 4 days or so, but I can assure you that it’ll definitely be ready well before the Gala.”

“Thanks Rare. Ah’m sure it’ll be fabulous as usual.”

“Oh flatterer,” Rarity giggled in response. “I’ll see you later, David.”

“Same here,” I followed up before turning to face Fluttershy, “‘n Ah’ll see you whenever yer finished up here.”

“Definitely,” Flutters answered back.

And so, with that business taken care of and a good rest of the day open for whatever, I made my way over to Fluttershy’s Sweet Feather Sanctuary for a little bit of R&R. As I made my way over to my destination, several thoughts were running through my mind. Strangely enough, all of those thoughts centered around one individual: Fluttershy.

First of all, I thought about how Fluttershy seemed to be looking for whatever opportunity she could to spend time with me, whether that meant helping Rarity out with taking my measurements or even now saying that she’d check up on me at the sanctuary once she was done. At first, I figured that it was just her trying to make up for lost time, but none of my other friends were going that far out of their way to hang out with me. They still made time once in a while, but Fluttershy was on a whole nother level when it came to the lengths she took towards spending time with me.

Secondly, I thought back to only a short while ago at the Carousel Boutique. Namely, after I’d removed my shirt to reveal the beginnings of my six-pack. In that moment, Fluttershy had blushed vividly. I hadn’t thought much about it at the time, but then she’d made a comment about how nice my six-pack looked shortly following my reveal. The thought then came to my mind: could Fluttershy possibly be crushing on me?

Finally, I thought of my own interactions with Flutters leading up to me exiting the boutique. In particular, one snippet played through my mind consistently.

…I might just stop by there myself to check in on you after I’m done here.

Ah’d like that a lot.

Ah’d like that a lot? Where had that come from all of a sudden? Even before said exchange, I’d gone up and hugged her tightly. Why did I do that? But thinking back on that hug, another realization came to mind: I’d enjoyed it! Not in the same way that I’d enjoyed the hugs from my other friends when I’d returned to Ponyville several days prior, but enjoyed holding her close to me. I’d not felt a sensation like this since before Savannah was murdered: the feeling of holding a girl I genuinely cared about close in my arms like that. I’d missed that feeling.

As I continued on my way to the sanctuary, a strange revelation dawned on me: maybe it wasn’t just a simple matter of Fluttershy crushing on me? Maybe I was just as easily crushing on her back?

* * * * * * * *

Not too much later, I was at Fluttershy’s sanctuary laying back on a hammock while enjoying the peace and serenity of my surroundings. The hammock that I was resting in was hanging from 2 palm trees over near a waterfall, the sound of which only added to the relaxing environment. As I lay in the hammock, I noticed several different animals who had taken up residence in this sanctuary.

Those that I could see were a giraffe, a couple of koalas, a family of raccoons, a wolf, a fox, several beavers, the occasional otter, and far more birds than I could name at the moment. Watching all of them from my perch, they all seemed to keep to themselves for the most part. In that moment, all I could think of was that even Walt Disney himself had nothing on this place. Bambi, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty? Fuck those movies! This sanctuary was the real deal.

Laying back in my hammock, I began to close my eyes when my attention was captured by the shadow of something small flying high above me. The shape of whatever it was looked like it possibly belonged to a dragon, but I couldn’t quite make out who it was nor were my wings in any state to fly up there and find out who it was. With that in mind, I decided to call out to the individual who owned said shadow.

“Hey wait a minute! Who are you?!?” I questioned out loud.

The mysterious figure apparently heard my call out to them as they stopped briefly before flying down to where I was. As the figure came in for a landing, I was greeted by an orange, female dragon with light gold ear fronds (honestly looking quite a lot like horns) and spines of a rich purple. This was a rather strange moment as the 2 of us got a good look at each other, both knowing that we’d never seen the other before.

“Yer… yer a dragon,” I finally uttered.

“Yeah? And what are you?” she posed the question, not out of malicious intent but genuine curiosity.

“Ah’m a human… at least Ah’m partially human. Tha other part o’ me is actually Alicorn.”

“Oh. That explains why you have pony wings and pony ears.”

“Yup. Tha only thing, though, is that nopony around here who remembers me bein’ here in tha past remembers me bein’ part Alicorn.”

“I can see how something like that must be strange to adjust to. Anyways, my name is Smolder,” she greeted, extending her claw to me.

“Ah’m Dayvid,” I replied as I accepted hers in mine.

After having stated my name, Smolder’s eyes grew wide out of disbelief.

“No way! You’re the same David that Headmaster Twilight and her friends talked about at the School Of Friendship! At least before she moved to Canterlot to rule Equestria. Back when the school was first opened, they told stories to us about how you defeated that hag who’d tried to take over the land. Of course, that was a long time ago, back when I was just a student there.”

Hearing Smolder’s recollection of my story being told to her and others at the school got me wondering about the possibility that my friends’ memories could’ve been altered and what might’ve altered them seeing as they had no memory of me being an Alicorn Prince.

“Just out of curiosity, Smolder, how did Twilight ‘n her friends say that Ah defeated tha hag?”

It wasn’t long after the question had escaped my lips that Fluttershy came flying up to join the 2 of us.

“Hi David. Hi Smolder,” she pleasantly greeted. “What’s going on?”

“Oh hey Flutters. Ah was jus’ talkin’ ta Smolder ‘bout tha stories you guys told tha students ‘bout me ‘n Ah was wonderin’ how you guys said Ah went about defeatin’ that hag from long ago.”

“Oh my. It’s been quite a while since anypony’s ever asked me to tell them about how you defeated the hag. They’d mostly ask our other friends to talk about it.”

“Do ya still remember tha details?”

“Oh of course I do. You sacrificed yourself to the hag for us when she wanted to steal our souls and, along with it, our magic. After your sacrifice and because you stood up for all of us, the magic inside each and every pony there was awakened and willingly given up, albeit briefly, in order to bring you back to life, allowing you to strip the hag of her own dark magic and banish her to Tartarus.”

Fluttershy paused for a moment before speaking back up, ears folded back and a twinge of pain in her tone.

“At least, that’s how we remembered it. With all that you’ve said to the contrary, I’m honestly not sure what to believe anymore.”

The same pained expression that Fluttershy bore crossed my face just as quickly. After a few seconds of awkward silence, I finally replied to Flutters with the only thing I could think of to say at the time.

“It’s O.K., Flutters. Yer not tha only one ta feel confused ‘n lost in all o’ this. Hopefully, we can find out tha truth sometime later on.”

It was then when a soft smile slowly made its way to her face at my words of encouragement before Smolder directed conversation back to me.

“I also remember them telling us about how you had a wife and a daughter at one point, but that your wife was murdered and your daughter taken from you long ago,” she stated, solemnly. “By Dragon Lord Ember, I’m beyond sorry for your loss.”

“Ah ‘ppreciate yer condolences, Smolder.”

“How long ago did this happen according to time back where you live?”

“Back on Earth? It’s been a little over 5 years since Savannah’s murder ‘n Ariel’s kidnappin’. Accordin’ ta Earth time, Ariel would’ve been ‘bout 6 years-old by this point. But enough ‘bout that. How long have ya been here in Ponyville fer?”

“Quite a while actually. It’s probably been a little over 20 years now that I’ve been living here since first starting school. Of course, I was just a kid at that time. Having wings definitely helps me get around a lot easier than just walking. Almost makes me wonder how it must’ve been for Spike to get around before he molted and got his own wings.”

“Ah can definitely vouch fer that. Ma own wings are a major convenience fer me ta get where Ah need ta go… at least when they’re not overly sore from workin’ out too much,” I chuckled.

“Have you at least been able to relax a little bit more here?” Fluttershy questioned.

“Oh yeah. Definitely. Ah could prob’ly see maself comin’ here quite a few times in tha near future whenever Ah might have tha time off.”

“That’s good to hear. Just know that you’re always welcome at the sanctuary.”

I smiled softly as I looked down and noticed an albino mouse, curiously coming over to check me out. Wanting to pick it up and hold it, I slowly extended my hand to grab it by the base of the tail. However, Fluttershy was quick to object.

“What’re you doing?!?” she blurted out, nearly startling me and the mouse.

“Ah’m sorry!” I quickly reacted. “Ah was jus’ gonna pick ‘im up ‘n hold ‘im.”

“Well you can’t do it like that,” Fluttershy softly continued. “You might handle rodents that way back on Earth, but things are different here in Equestria. If you want to pick up the mouse, you first need to hold your hand out in front of him so he can become familiar with your scent. After that, the mouse will decide for himself if he wants to climb into your hand.”

Following Flutters’ instructions, I gently held my hand out in front of the mouse for him to sniff. After a few brief seconds of sniffing, the mouse climbed into my hand where I gently lifted him up and used my other hand to stroke his soft, white, fluffy fur. He seemed to enjoy this a lot as I could feel him “purring”, for lack of a better word, in my hand.

“There. Now doesn’t that feel better?”

“Yeah actually,” I answered.

“Plus you don’t have to worry about causing him to stress out or panic from being picked up by the tail.”

I then giggled softly as the mouse began licking the hand I was holding him in. This didn’t go unnoticed by Fluttershy as she also giggled and smiled before continuing.

“Aww. Look, he likes you. Of course, with somepony like you, what’s not to like?”

At that comment, I couldn’t help but blush vividly while being reminded of my former ponderings of Fluttershy not long after leaving Rarity’s boutique to come here. However, I decided to keep those thoughts to myself, at least for the time being.

“So Ah take it that all went well with you ‘n Rarity?”

“Oh yes. It only took Rarity several minutes of sketching to come up with an idea for your outfit. After that, she said that I could go and that she’d call on me when she needed help with the more detailed elements of the piece.”

“Ah’m positive that, if there’s any pony other than Rarity who’d have as keen of an eye towards detail, it’d be you, Flutters.”

Now it was Fluttershy’s turn to blush at my remark.

“Thanks.”

“Yer welcome.”

“Well,” Smolder began, “if the 2 of you don’t mind, I’ve got an important get together with Ocellus I need to attend too. It was nice meeting you David.”

“Nice meetin’ you too, Smolder.”

And with a quick flapping of her wings, Smolder was off into the sky, leaving only me and Flutters alone with each other.

“Who in tha world is Ocellus?” I posed the question after Smolder had flown out of proximity and after placing the mouse down.

“She’s a Changeling who used to attend the School Of Friendship many years ago.”

“A Changelin’, huh?”

“Mhmm. Quite a lot has changed since you last visited here.”

“Apparently.”

“So how are you enjoying your new job at the day spa?”

“Pretty well actually. It’s just soo nice ta have somethin’ productive ta do with ma time, even if it has taken a little bit o’ time adjustin’ too. Plus, havin’ a steady flow of income is always a nice bonus.”

“Naturally,” Fluttershy giggled.

There was something about the way she giggled that awakened something inside me that was incredibly hard to describe. Simply referring to the sensation as “the warm fuzzy wuzzies” would’ve only been scratching the surface. What I was feeling at that moment ran much deeper.

“I was actually planning on visiting the spa myself sometime in the near future. It’s been awhile since me and Rarity have had a spa day together.”

“It’d definitely be nice ta see a pretty fa- uh Ah mean… friendly face at work,” I stammered.

What was I doing? I’d been able to talk to Fluttershy plenty of other times in the past without tripping over my tongue. Why was this moment any different? I desperately looked for something to change the subject.

“Well, Ah’d better get goin’ now.”

“Why?” Flutters questioned with a twinge of disappointment in her tone.

“It’s lunchtime.”

“Oh. Right. I guess I’ll see you later then?”

“Of course. Ah’m gonna be here fer quite a while so Ah’m sure that there’ll be no shortage of moments fer us ta hang out together.”

“Just the 2 of us?”

That question caught me off guard for a moment before I finally answered.

“Umm… sure. Ah don’ see why not.”

“Great! See you later, David.”

“You too, Flutters.”

As I flew back towards Ponyville to see about grabbing lunch, thoughts of Fluttershy kept swirling through my mind; in particular, our most recent interactions with each other. There was no longer any doubt that she harbored feelings for me. Anyone else could’ve seen that easily.

However, the more shocking revelation with possibly even less doubt associated with it was that I now knew that I felt the same way towards her. For the first time in 5 years, I felt like I’d finally found someone to love again. Even then, though, there was one problematic thought in the forefront of my mind: I’m a human in love with a pony!

* * * * * * * *

A few more days had passed since my interactions with Fluttershy, both at Rarity’s boutique and at Sweet Feather Sanctuary. Over those days, it was business as usual; Rainbow put me through plenty more exercises to the point that my torso was much more sculpted than when I’d first arrived and my new spa job was going along rather well. Every once in awhile, I’d go to check and see how progress was coming along on my new home. As much as I appreciated Twilight letting me stay in her old castle, where Starlight had apparently now taken up residence, I was intensely eager to have my own place to live in where I could have some sense of independence.

From the last time I’d checked on my home’s construction, I was quite impressed. The workers were crafting my home from polished marble and the sheer size of it was magnificent with a strong resemblance to a Gothic Cathedral like Notre Dame. The funny thing was that I had dreamed up something quite similar to this not long after arriving back in Ponyville. Part of me began to wonder if, with Princess Luna having stepped down from the throne with Princess Celestia long before I’d arrived back here, Twilight was now in charge of overseeing the dreams of her subjects? It seemed to make the most logical sense as there was no other way anypony could’ve known about the aforementioned dream I’d had. If so, I was quite grateful to Twilight for seeing to it that the workers built my house according to my designs.

Even with the past week having flown by the way it did, very little was able to distract my thoughts from the realization I’d reached only a few days prior: that Fluttershy held feelings for me and I secretly felt the exact same way towards her. What could’ve possibly led up to this? Why, after Savannah’s murder 5 years ago, did I only just now find somebody to love? And, most importantly in the forefront of my mind, why a pony?

As you the reader already know, it’s considered a very taboo subject to bring up relationships of that nature between a human and a non-human creature. Even as a Christian, I knew that bestiality was forbidden thousands of years ago when the Bible was first being written. As such, I’d never been attracted to animals back on Earth. That being said, Fluttershy (who had also been my absolute favorite pony from the show now that I thought about it) never seemed like any of the animals I’d come across for the first 20 years of my life on Earth nor did any other pony I’d met in Equestria for that matter.

Even when I’d first started watching the show 8 years before, my mind told me that I was looking at ponies, but, deep down inside, I felt like all of them were individuals no different than any human I’d ever come across in my life. They were much more real to me; humans who just so happened to be in pony form. However, if they felt more like humans to me than anything else, why was I still bothering over having feelings for a pony?

That singular thought kept running through my mind over and over those past few days with no sign of an answer coming anytime in the near future. At the current moment, I was far more focused on my work as a masseur at the day spa. Just as Rarity had predicted, I was in very high demand as the only masseur with fingers. This also proved to be quite a profitable career choice for me as I’d quickly amassed a sizable quantity of bits to make a decent living off of.

At that moment, I just so happened to be giving a deep tissue massage to Lyra; it was the 6th time she’d been to the spa since I’d officially started working there and she always made sure to set up her massage appointments with me. Every. Single. Time. I was pretty sure that Lyra only ever came to the spa nowadays because of her well-known fascination with humans and eagerness to receive massages from one any opportunity she got, but who was I to complain if I had a loyal, well-paying customer? It just went to show that I was clearly doing something right.

After a good few minutes of the knife-hand technique along her back to loosen up any remaining tightness, my session with her was over as she hopped off of the massage table.

“Great job as usual, David,” she commented. “Same time tomorrow?”

“Sure thing,” I replied.

“O.K. then. See you later.”

And with that, Lyra left the chamber rejuvenated as I called out for my next customer.

“Ah’m ready fer tha nex’ client,” I called out.

Within only a few short seconds of me making my announcement, the door opened as my next customer walked into the chamber. However, nothing could’ve prepared me for who happened to step through that door.

“Fluttershy?!?”

Sure enough, there she was, the same mare that secretly made my heart beat just that extra bit faster every time I saw her, here to get a massage from me.

“Hi, David,” she replied simply. “Umm… I heard you call out for the next customer so… here I am.”

After a brief several seconds of just staring at her in silent shock, my brain reset and I spoke up.

“Yes. Yes you are. Please, hop up on tha table.”

I was mildly embarrassed by the way those words had soo awkwardly and stiltedly come out, but Flutters didn’t seem to pay any mind to it as she got herself comfortable on the massage table.

“How ya doin’ today, Flutters?” I questioned, trying to make smalltalk.

“Oh I’ve been doing well,” she answered back, “just been looking forward to getting a massage here from one of my closest friends. Everypony’s been talking about how great your massages are so I finally decided I had to come here and experience it for myself.”

The foreknowledge that this was the first massage session that I’d ever performed on Fluttershy didn’t make me any less anxious as I shakily popped my knuckles and got in position to begin. As I held out my hands above her back, I found it impossible for me to lower them. My hands were trembling uncontrollably. Why couldn’t I do this? Why couldn’t I bring myself to massage her just like every other mare who’d come into the massage chamber?

Because Fluttershy wasn’t like every other mare that I’d massaged before. The feelings I had towards her were soo strong and overwhelming that I couldn’t bring myself to touch her in this way, even if just for a massage. Her body was sacred and I wasn’t worthy of laying even my pinkie on her in that manner.

“Is everything O.K., David?” Fluttershy asked.

When I struggled to come up with a reply, she turned her head around and noticed my hands trembling the way they were. She was quick to speak up about this.

“Oh my! David, you’re trembling. Here. Let me help you.”

Reaching her hooves over towards my hands, she took them in hers, gently, in an attempt to make the tremors stop. Sure enough, my hands gradually settled.

“Does that help?”

Speechless, I simply nodded before she continued.

“Now let’s try again.”

Guiding my hands softly onto her back, with some pretty damn impressive dexterity, she assumed the position on the table so that I could get started. With only a few seconds hesitation this time, I slowly began massaging her, gradually working my way into it. Before long, it was like the trembling had never happened as I soothingly ran my fingers along the base of her wings, working all the way down to her wingtips much to her moaning pleasure.

After finishing off her wings, I continued the massage from her shoulders down her spine to the base of her tail.

“Mmmm,” she moaned happily. “This feels beautiful, David.”

“Then ya’ll love this.”

Moving my hands back up her spine, I stopped at the back of her head whereupon I placed one hand there and the other on her neck directly where the spine meets the base of the skull. It was then that I massaged her neck and head while simultaneously running my fingers through her mane in the process. Her mane was soo long, silky, and beautifully maintained that it flowed through my fingers with little effort. As I tenderly caressed her mane, I could smell the ever familiar scent of lavender emanating from it almost immediately.

It was only a few minutes after starting said massage that I could feel that Fluttershy had completely melted into my touch. Any tension that she might’ve started out with was nowhere to be found.

“Do ya feel up fer ma karate chop technique, Flutters?” I posed the question to her.

“Uh huh,” she answered back in the affirmative. “Just… please be careful not to do it too hard.”

“As you wish.”

As I began the final stage of the massage, I was grateful that I’d had as much experience with the technique as I had, especially in the realm of exercising restraint when it came to handling Fluttershy. Come to think of it, I was also sure that Fluttershy felt the same level of gratitude for my restraint in the matter.

Before long, her session with me was over as she gently hopped down from the massage table.

“How’d ya like it?”

A soft smile came to her face.

“Honestly,” she began, “other ponies’ accounts of your massages just don’t do them justice. You truly do have a gift, David, and I’m glad that I got the chance to experience it.”

I could feel the butterflies in my chest and the heat rising to my face as I answered her.

“Why…,” I paused, “thanks, Flutters. Ya have no idea how much that means ta me, ‘specially comin’ from ma closest friend.”

Fluttershy blushed back deeply as she stroked one forehoof with the other before speaking back up.

“I guess I’d better be going. I’ll be sure to book my next appointment with you, whenever that may be,” she stated while turning to leave.

“Wait!” I called out, abruptly.

This caused Fluttershy to stop right in her tracks before turning back to face me.

“Yes, David?”

The two of us locked eyes and I couldn’t help but feel no small amount of sadness as I looked at the lines under hers. Where this sadness had come from I didn’t know, but I quickly tried to banish it from my mind, all the while struggling for a few seconds to find the right words I wanted to say to her.

No biggie. Just tell the most beautiful mare in all Equestria what you’re really thinking.

Finally, I spoke.

“Maybe…,” I fumbled, “Ah could… stop by yer place sometime… ‘n Ah could give ya massages then.”

Her eyes lit up with a light that I’d never seen from her before.

“I’d… I’d really like that.”

“O.K.,” I smiled. “Ah guess it’s a date then.”

No sooner had the words escaped my lips than I mentally facepalmed myself. A date? Was there really no better wordage I could’ve used? Flutters’ voice drew me out of that moment.

“I guess so,” she giggled, making my heart pitter patter even more. “Oh wait. I just remembered. Rarity wanted me to let you know that your outfit is nearly ready for the Grand Galloping Gala. She says you can come by the day after tomorrow to pick it up.”

“Thanks. Ah’ll remember that.”

“Well… I guess I’ll see you later then. Either before or at the Gala itself.”

“Yup. See ya later, Flutters.”

She smiled softly back before exiting the chamber. As I continued on the rest of my work day, giving massages to client after client, my mind was still strongly focused on Fluttershy. I now knew for certain that I was in love with her. All that “bestiality” bullshit I’d worried about before was shoved from my mind instantly. If loving her was wrong, I sure as hell didn’t want to be right.

With my thoughts dwelling so heavily on the mare that I loved, only one major question still remained: how would I go about letting her know how I truly felt about her?

* * * * * * * *

As sure as I’d stated to Fluttershy, I awoke 2 days after her visit to the spa remembering the need to drop by Rarity’s boutique to pick up my Gala outfit. I was quite anxious to find out what the 2 of them had come up with over the past several days since they’d taken my measurements, especially seeing as the Gala was now only a couple of days away. Knowing Rarity, there was no way that she would disappoint, whatever she came up with.

Before I could go over to the boutique, I knew that I needed to grab something for breakfast. With that thought in my mind, I made my way over to Sugarcube Corner to grab a quick muffin. Upon entering the court of confectionaries, I was greeted by Pinkie Pie at the front counter.

“Welcome, Davey,” she spoke up with eagerness. “What can I get for you today?”

“Hey, Pinkie. Ah’d like ta get one Lemon Muffin Surprise ta go.”

“Comin’ right up,” she replied, reaching into the display counter.

Retrieving the sweet citrus delicacy and putting it into a paper bag, she hoofed the bag off to me whereupon I handed over a few bits to her.

“Thanks,” I stated.

“You’re welcome.”

“Mommy? Who’s that?” a small voice came from over near the swinging doors of the kitchen.

Looking in the direction of the voice, I saw a little yellow colt with a frizzy pink mane and tail much like Pinkie’s giving me a quizzical look over. It wasn’t long before Pinkie spoke back up.

“Oh hey, honey. This is your Uncle Davey. He’s an old friend of mine.”

“Oh. O.K. Hi Uncle Davey!”

“Hey little buddy,” I spoke up before turning to Pinkie. “Ah didn’ know ya had a son.”

“Oh yeah. That’s Li’l Cheese, my and Cheese Sandwich’s little colt.”

“Good ta know. Well Ah’ve gotta get goin’ over ta Rarity’s ta see ma Gala outfit, but Ah’ll catch ya sometime later.”

“Okie Dokie Lokie.”

“It was nice meetin’ ya Li’l Cheese.”

“You too Uncle Davey,” he piped up. “Come again soon.”

And so with breakfast taken care of and a smile on my face, I made my way over to the Carousel Boutique, eating my muffin as I flew. My smile only remained on my face for a short period as, while flying over there, I thought a little more about the sadness that I’d experienced just a couple days ago, namely how it arose after noticing the lines under Flutters’ eyes. I’d tried not to dwell on it too much, but at that moment I finally realized why it was that that had been bothering me.

Thinking back on how much time had passed since we’d last seen each other, according to Earth time, it had been 5 years since that last visit, yet, for some reason, I looked no different now than I did back then. With Fluttershy, 20 years had passed by since she’d last seen me. Not only had 4 times as much time passed in Equestria, but she had also visibly aged in that time, quite possibly being several years older than I currently am. But if she looked that different since I’d last seen her while my appearance hadn’t changed at all, where was the explanation for that?

Suddenly, it came to my mind all at once. It was because I was part Alicorn! That was why I looked the same as I did when I’d first come to Equestria about 8 years prior. That was why my heart was soo panged at seeing how Flutters had aged in that period. When I first discovered that I was a descendant of Equestrian royalty, I hadn’t really thought too hard about potentially being immortal. I mean, I’d watched the show back home and heard a lot of the stuff that the writers had said about how, even though Twilight was an Alicorn Princess now, she would not outlive her friends.

However, with my most recent return to Equestria, I’d found this claim to be total bullshit. Yeah, Twilight had changed in appearance to look much more like Celestia, but she still looked unbelievably young for 20 years having passed by. There wasn’t even soo much as a wrinkle under her own eyes like my other friends had. If Flutters had aged that much in that period, how could I go about admitting that I love her if I only knew that I was destined to outlive her? Remembering that she’d also been my favorite pony in the show only made the situation all the more difficult, especially considering how long ago it was that I’d watched the show and how even more time had passed between now and then, creating even more pain for me in the process.

Banishing the thought from my mind for the time being and polishing off my muffin, I saw that I’d arrived at my destination. Coming in for a landing, I walked up to the door and gently knocked out the familiar pattern.

Tap. Tap. Taptap Tap.

“Who there?” an unfamiliar, gruff, but not unfriendly, female voice called out.

“Umm… it’s Dayvid,” I answered back. “Ah’m here ta pick up ma outfit. Flutters said a couple days ago that it’d be ready by ‘bout this time.”

“David?” an equally unfamiliar male voice questioned. “Like as in, David the savior of Equestria?”

“Ah guess so, unless ya know another Dayvid round here.”

“Uh sure thing. Just one moment, please.”

And so I waited patiently outside for a brief several seconds before the door finally opened up to reveal a couple individuals I’d never seen before. One of them was a greyish green stallion who had 3 turtles as his Cutie Mark. The other was a female yak who stood relatively taller than her pony partner. It wasn’t too much longer before Rarity made her presence known as she approached our little gathering.

“David!” she greeted, enthused. “Soo good to see you here again. I see that you’ve met my associates, Yona and her husband Sandbar.”

“Pleased ta make yer aquaintances,” I replied as I reached out a hand to each of them.

“Same here, brah,” Sandbar smiled while shaking my hand before I turned it over to Yona.

“Pleased to meet friend of Professor Rarity,” Yona spoke up as she shook my hand up and down rapidly.

It was then that I pulled my hand out of the shake before speaking up.

“Wow. That’s quite a strong grip ya’ve got there, Yona.”

“Thanks. Yaks best at hoof shakes.”

“It was nice getting to meet you, David,” Sandbar started, “but right now we’ve got some business to attend to. I assume you’ll be at the Gala in a few days?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Yay!” Yona exclaimed. “Hairless Ape David is coming to Gala!”

As she excitedly reacted to the news, she did a good bit of happy stomping that nearly shook me off my feet before Rarity spoke up.

“Actually, Yona, David here is a human… at least partially. It’s honestly quite complicated.”

“Well we look forward to meeting up with you there,” Sandbar stated. “See you then.”

“Thanks. You too.”

And with that, the couple made their way past me out the door before I turned to Rarity.

“They sure seem like friendly folk.”

“That they are,” she agreed, before changing the subject. “Anyhoo, I’m sure you’re quite eager to see your finished outfit for the Gala.”

“Ya know it,” I replied.

“Please do come in.”

Entering the building, the first thing to catch my attention was the mini stage set up with a curtain, no doubt to hide my Gala outfit until Rarity was ready to show it off. Sure enough, she made her way over to the stage where her horn glowed as her magic surrounded a pull rope for the curtain.

“Are you ready to see it?”

“As ready as Ah’ll ever be.”

And with that, she pulled the rope drawing the curtain back to show off my new outfit. At the sight of it, my eyes widened and my jaw dropped in disbelief. To say that I was surprised by the outfit that she’d come up with would’ve been a gross understatement.

Held up by Rarity’s magic, the outfit consisted of a white, button-up dress shirt that looked to be of fine silk covered mostly by a rich blue blazer. The blazer itself, upon further inspection, had bright silver buttons along the cuffs and front as well as 2 long slits in the back to allow for my wings to stick through it and my dress shirt with no trouble. The pants were of an equally rich blue, but, when I looked closer at them, I noticed on the thighs that Rarity had sewn an image onto both sides of them.

The image in question, just so happened to be of my Cutie Mark, sewn in painstaking detail that it matched my actual one to a “T”. I was awestruck by how well the sword’s blade, the Alicorn head grip, and the winged crossguard bore resemblance to the real thing. Finally, after a lengthy period of silence, I spoke up.

“Wow! Jus’... wow! Ya’ve really outdone yerself this time, Rarity.”

“You really like it?”

“Ah love this! Ah mean, Ah had no doubt that ya’d create somethin’ incredible, but this… this exceeded all o’ ma expectations.”

“You have no idea how happy that makes me feel to hear you say that, David,” she answered, her eyes shimmering with emotion.

“Ah’ve gotta ask, though, where did tha Cutie Mark design come from?”

“Fluttershy told me that it had come to her in a dream she had of you a while back and that she thought it would be a nice touch. Why do you ask?”

“No real reason. Just curious.”

Thinking for a moment, I found it rather odd that my friends had no memory of me being part Alicorn, yet this image of my Cutie Mark had just miraculously come to Fluttershy in a dream she was having. How was this even possible? Rarity’s voice drew me out of my ponderings.

“Would you like to try it on?”

“Sure,” I replied, taking hold of the outfit. “Where do Ah change?”

“Right behind the curtain,” Rarity commented, closing it around me with her magic.

Removing the clothes I was wearing, I carefully put my outfit on, not wanting to accidentally wreck any part of it. Such a piece as this clearly had a substantial amount of time and effort put into its creation and I was not about to risk it being damaged even slightly. With the full outfit on, I stepped out from behind the curtain.

“Why, David… you look… stunning!” Rarity gushed. “We might not remember you being an Alicorn Prince, but you definitely look the part of an Alicorn Prince now!”

Stepping in front of a nearby mirror, I took in the full sight of myself in the completed piece. It was very comfortable to wear and it fit well without being too tight. As I was admiring myself, the front door opened followed by a familiar voice.

“Rarity? Are you here? I brought the extra fabric you needed as well as some of my-”

Turning to face the door, I was greeted by Fluttershy who quickly froze at the sight of me standing there in my outfit. Her mouth was hanging open for quite awhile before she finally found her voice again and spoke back up.

“David? I… wow… I wasn’t umm… expecting you to be here… this early,” she stammered, redness rising to her cheeks in the process. “You… you look… in-incredible.”

“Thanks, Flutters,” I answered, my heart beating that extra bit faster at her presence there.

After a brief few seconds, Fluttershy snapped back to remembering why she was there.

“Rarity, I brought the extra fabric you asked for as well as some of my extra sewing accessories,” she stated, lowering her saddlebag near Rarity’s workstation.

“Oh yes,” Rarity followed up, “thank you, Fluttershy.”

“Well,” I started, “Ah best be changin’ back ta ma normal clothes ‘n makin sure Ah’m all ready fer tha Gala in 2 days. Ah still need ta make sure that ma +1 is able ta make it.”

“Umm…,” Fluttershy began, “if you don’t mind me asking, since all of us already have our own tickets to the Gala, who’s your +1?”

Author's Note

Hello Everypony. It’s about that time again as I’m back with my latest chapter. With this chapter being published, I feel like I need to make something perfectly clear here. This fact being that I know full well that being attracted to/having feelings for any of the ponies from the show is not bestiality as they’re sentient beings. The main character struggling with whether it’s bestiality or not is his own unique challenge for the story I’m telling here and not an opinion that I endorse. I’ve never viewed it as bestiality to begin with, but an interspecies romance which is entirely different so do with that what you will. Additionally, the thought has occurred to me that there’s possibly been some confusion over the story development wherein the ponies of Equestria have forgotten about David being an Alicorn Prince. Well I’m here to let you know that this does serve a purpose to the story I’m laying out and that it’ll all be explained eventually. For those of you following my series, I appreciate your dedication and loyalty. Please upvote or favorite if you’re enjoying this story thus far, leave a comment below with anything you think could be improved, and I’ll see you guys on the next chapter. Later.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow American Bronies/Pegasisters out there.

P.P.S. Happy Birthday Miley Cyrus!!! Praying for a speedy recovery. (Not that she'll actually see this, but whatever)

Chapter IV: The Grand Galloping Gala And Other Engagements

A short 2 days later, I sat aboard the train to Canterlot and the Grand Galloping Gala, decked out in the special outfit that Rarity and Fluttershy had put together for me. During the ride to Canterlot, I couldn’t help but notice several of the ponies who rode in the same car as me whispering to each other in hushed tones at my presence there. A strong part of me was thinking that this was most likely in regards to them seeing me with my great feathered wings and blue pony ears. That seemed to be the response of every pony that I’d come across over the past week or so that I’d been back in Equestria.

I tried to block those kind of thoughts from my mind as I made the somewhat lengthy ride to Canterlot, but it was all the more harder for me to do as everypony else seemed to be drawing soo much attention to that fact no matter where I went. All I wanted was to be able to focus on the night ahead of me, getting to hang out with my friends, possibly meet some new faces while I was there, that sort of thing.

My friends had already left for Canterlot long before I had, stating that they had some important preparations to get ready before the Gala, so I hadn’t gotten the chance to really see any of them beforehand. Still, whatever it was that they had going on was clearly quite crucial, especially in the case of Pinkie as she was apparently the pony in charge of organizing the Galas since Twilight assumed leadership over the nation, so I didn’t hold it against them too much. We’d still have plenty of time for schmoozing later on that night. It wasn’t long before I was drawn out of my thoughts by the conductor’s voice sounding throughout the train car.

“Last stop, Canterlot.”

With that as my cue, I stood up to exit the train along with the other ponies who’d been riding along with me. Stepping out onto the platform, it was quite crowded as creatures of all types were greeted by their friends in all the hustle and bustle that accompanied my surroundings. Standing a good deal taller than everyone else, I began looking around the platform for my +1. Soon, an ever familiar voice rang out from among the crowd.

“David! Over here!”

Looking over in the direction of the voice, I saw an orange Pegasus stallion with a rich, blue mane and tail, decked out in the armor of a royal guard. I couldn’t help but smile as I approached him with an extended hand.

“Flash Sentry,” I spoke as I shook his hoof. “How ya doin’?”

“Can’t complain honestly. Got promoted to Captain of the Guard at the Crystal Empire a good while back. Not much else aside from that. How about you?”

“Quite a bit. Ah jus’ got back here fer tha first time in a long while ‘n Ah’ve been busy tryin' ta turn ma life around here in Equestria when compared ta how hard tha past few years have been back on Earth.”

“I’d heard from Princess Twilight that your wife was murdered long ago as well as your daughter being stolen from you and I’m beyond sorry for you having to go through that,” Flash spoke with a downturned expression.

“Ah ‘ppreciate that a lot, Flash. Ah’m sure ya would’ve loved ta meet both of ‘em. But enough ‘bout that. Whataya say we make our way over ta Canterlot Palace?”

“Sure,” he began before seemingly noticing my wings. “You feel up for flying there on those wings of yours?”

“Definitely. Let’s go.”

And with that, the two of us took to the sky as I was somewhat grateful that Flash hadn’t really questioned the fact that I had wings the way that other ponies had. As we flew off towards the palace, I was eager for all that lay in store in the coming night.

* * * * * * * *

After a brief few minutes of flying, the 2 of us finally came in for a landing at the gates of the palace where we both passed our tickets off to one of the guard ponies posted at the front.

“You 2 are all set,” he stated. “Enjoy your night.”

“Thanks,” we both replied.

Making our way through the grand entryway, I came to the realization that this wasn’t just the first Gala that I’d ever been to but also the first time I’d ever been to the palace itself. Taking in the sight of my surroundings as we walked the hall towards the main ballroom, I now knew without a doubt that this palace was the fanciest establishment I’d ever been to in my whole life.

Finally entering the ballroom, a loud trumpet blast sounded, nearly deafening me, before one pony made an announcement.

“Announcing the human savior of Equestria, David, and his guest, Captain Flash Sentry of the Crystal Empire.”

This announcement caught me off guard as I’d been hoping that my presence at the Gala would’ve been a bit more discreet. I mean, as discreet as a human among ponies and other creatures can be. The point being, I hadn’t wanted too much attention to be drawn to myself. As far as I was concerned, tonight was merely meant to be a time for me to hang out with my closest friends, take my mind off of the stresses and cares of everyday life, you know, the usual.

Fortunately, very few creatures around me treated me all that differently, aside from the few who kneeled in my presence as I passed by. It was in that moment that I couldn’t help but wonder how far my legend had spread amongst other creatures since my friends had told the students they once taught. Making my way further into the ballroom, I noticed a few of my friends over at one of the nearby tables, namely Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, who were joined by their respective sisters. Seeing the now grown up Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo for the first time, I couldn’t help but reflect back on how young and small they’d once been the last time I’d visited.

Now, soo much had changed that it was mind-boggling. Apple Bloom now had a husband in Tender Taps and I’d even heard rumors among some of the other ponies that she was looking to run for Mayor of Ponyville now that Mayor Mare was stepping down after many years of serving. All 3 of them had grown up quite considerably that I still struggled to grasp that concept. Just add that one to the ever growing list of things that I’d be struggling to come to terms with now that I was back in Equestria.

Looking around the ballroom, I unfortunately saw no sign of Fluttershy anywhere. While this was disappointing, I was sure that I’d get to see her here eventually. I’d still been thinking about my ever growing feelings for her and had also been considering when the best time would be for me to come out to her about how I truly felt. At one point, I’d been thinking of telling her right here at the Gala, but had to quickly scratch that off the list. The Gala was far too gaudy and showy for me to tell Flutters how I felt towards her. If I was going to do this the right way, it would have to be something more intimate and less theatrical than this. Fluttershy deserved the absolute best as far as I was concerned and, as such, this moment would have to be nothing short of perfect.

Turning my attention towards one of the other tables, I noticed a rather colorful assortment of individuals socializing there, half of which I recognized pretty quickly. Those who I remembered were Sandbar, Yona, and Smolder, but the other 3 I’d never seen before. These included a Gryphon who was decked out in the armor of the royal guard (quite possibly from right here in Canterlot), what I could only assume was a Changeling (could this be that “Ocellus” girl that Smolder had mentioned only several short days ago?), and a creature I’d never seen in Equestria before but quickly recognized as a Hippogriff.

In the time that I’d been back here, I’d noticed a lot more diversity in regards to those who either took up residence or visited there. As such, I’d kind of been a little nervous about socializing with these other creatures as I wasn’t fully aware of what their cultures were like and was worried that I might accidentally do something to offend them. Hell, I didn’t even entirely understand everything about PONY culture despite watching the show and being a pony descendant myself so how could I socialize with those outside of my social circle without potentially doing something they’d consider offensive?

“David!” I heard Princess Twilight’s voice draw me out of my ponderings. “So good to see you here!”

Taking in the sight of the Princess, she was decked out in a dark blue dress with a transparent train that shimmered like stars as she moved. Her 2 forehooves had long silk gloves covering them while she also wore a pearl choker and diamond teardrop earrings.

“Hey, Twi,” I greeted pleasantly with a hug. “Good ta see you too.”

It was then that both Twilight and Flash Sentry noticed the others presence there.

“Uh… H-hi, Princess,” Flash nervously spoke up.

“Oh. Just ‘Twilight’ is fline- uh I mean… fine, Flash,” Twilight tripped over her tongue awkwardly.

The 2 of them gazed into each others eyes for a good while, blushes creeping to their faces before I finally spoke up.

“So, Twi, Ah see Smolder, Yona, ‘n Sandbar over there, but who’re tha other 3?”

“Oh,” Twilight began, snapped out of her trance. “I can introduce you to the others if you’d like.”

“In the meantime, I’m gonna grab some punch. Either of you want some?” Flash questioned.

“Sure. That sounds great,” I stated.

“I’m good,” Twilight politely declined. “Thanks for asking, though, Flash.”

“You’re welcome, Twilight.”

The 2 of them each gave parting smiles to the other before he went to grab punch and she took me over to meet the other 3 individuals. It wasn’t long before 3 of the gathered party noticed our approach. Those 3 being Yona, Sandbar, and the Changeling. The latters eyes lit up as soon as she saw me.

“Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed. “Y-You’re-you’re really him! You’re David!”

“Yes. Yes Ah am,” I replied simply, a smile creeping across my face at her enthusiasm.

“Oh wow! I am such a huge fan of yours! The stories our teachers told us about you are easily among my favorites. I-I’m Ocellus.”

“Nice ta meet ya,” I stated as I shook her extended… hoof (was that what Changelings had? Hooves?) before turning my attention towards the others gathered there, specifically the Gryphon and the Hippogriff.

“David, you said you’ve already met Smolder, Yona, and Sandbar,” Twilight started. “I’d like you to also meet Gallus, my Captain of the Royal Guard, and his girlfriend Silverstream.”

“It’s a pleasure ta meet you 2,” I pleasantly greeted with an extended hand towards both of them.

“Likewise I’m sure,” Gallus replied, shaking my hand.

“Same,” Silverstream answered as she enthusiastically shook my hand up and down in a rapid manner. “It’s honestly soo surreal to finally meet someone who we’ve only ever heard stories and legends about before.”

“Ah can understand how that mus’ feel fer y’all,” I remarked. “Back home, Ah’d only ever heard stories bout’ Twilight ‘n her friends as well as all o’ tha things they’d accomplished. While Ah’d enjoyed those stories a lot ‘n wished deep down inside that they were real, Ah never could’ve imagined how real they’d be until Ah accidentally wound up here maself. Now that Ah have, though, Ah can’t imagine how Ah would’ve been able to live ma life without ‘em or any of their stories bein’ real.”

“I have to ask, though,” Ocellus spoke up, “where did your wings and pony ears come from? I don’t remember the accounts of your stories mentioning anything about that.”

Before I could open my mouth to answer, Twilight was quick to reply.

“In all honesty, it’s kind of complicated. None of us know why this is the case, but it’s quite possible that we might’ve missed something. We’re still trying to figure out the reasoning behind this.”

It was then that Flash Sentry finally came over with 2 cups of punch, 1 balanced on each wing.

“Thanks, Flash,” I answered as I reached out to grab my cup from his wing.

No sooner had I reached out for the cup then a mysterious green aura emanated from my right hand, surrounding the cup and lifting it up towards me. Surprised, I quickly grabbed the cup with my left hand while it was still levitating before it could fall and spill. This didn’t go unnoticed by the party gathered there.

“Whoa!” Sandbar exclaimed. “You have magic?”

In the time since I’d returned to Equestria, I’d strangely enough forgotten about the magical abilities that I possessed. Even with the memories that I was part Alicorn, the thought had never occurred to me that I could use magic. Something that came to mind was the possibility that I’d just forgotten about it as a result of the fact that nopony else seemed to remember my royal ancestry; sort of a messed up Pavlovian Conditioning kind of thing for lack of a better term.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, I finally spoke back up.

“Ah… Ah guess so.”

“Wow. I never knew that you had those kind of abilities,” Twilight uttered.

“Neither did I.”

Hearing that ever familiar voice, I turned around to notice that Fluttershy was standing in my presence. How long she’d been standing there, I had no idea. Taking in the sight of her, she was wearing a stunning dress that was a mixture of reds, oranges, and yellows, bringing to mind the fiery nature of a sunrise or sunset. The yellow in her dress made it even harder for me to tell where it ended and her buttery coat began. Something else that I was quick to notice was that she was wearing the Aquamarine Teardrop pendant that she’d bought at Wal-Mart when they’d last visited; I’d almost forgotten about that necklace. After staring at her for several seconds, the words finally came back to my lips.

“Flutters,” I greeted. “Ah… wow. Y-you-you look beautiful.”

A heavy blush reached her face at my response to her as she also smiled softly before speaking up.

“Th-thanks. You look pretty incredible yourself.”

My heart began beating all the more faster at her compliment towards me before Twilight spoke back up.

“David, was this the first time that you’ve used magic since you came back here?”

Drawing my attention back to the events that had transpired just a short while ago, I finally uttered a reply.

“Yes,” I stated, taking a sip of my punch.

“I never knew that you had magic to begin with,” Ocellus voiced her thoughts. “I wonder why that is?”

“Well,” Fluttershy began, “even though none of us can remember it at the moment, David claims that he’s actually part Alicorn, descended from another Alicorn Princess named Destiny who lived here in Equestria over 1,000 years ago before accidentally winding up in his world as a human even farther back.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Gallus commented. “Celestia and Luna were the only princesses around at that time.”

“That’s what we’ve believed too,” Twilight replied, “but, at the same time, we know that David isn’t the kind to lie about that sort of thing and, with this new resurgence of magic from him, it raises even more questions that seem to point in the opposite direction of what we previously thought. It’s honestly a lot to think about, but there’ll be more time for that later on. For now, let’s just focus on enjoying the Gala.”

“Sounds good ta me,” I agreed.

“If you don’t mind, David,” Flash began, “I’m gonna go talk with my sister for a little bit.”

“You do that, Flash.”

Not long after he left our little gathering, Twilight voiced a question towards me.

“Sister? When did Flash have a sister?”

“Well, technically, she’s more of an adopted sister,” I explained. “Ya see, Flash was adopted a while back when he was jus’ a colt by these 2 ponies. Ah think he said their names were Aunt Holiday ‘n… Auntie Lofty if Ah remember correctly.”

“Wait a minute,” Twilight spoke back up. “Those ponies were Scootaloo’s guardians while her parents were away. Are you saying that Scootaloo is Flash’s little sister?!?”

“Adopted little sister,” Fluttershy politely corrected.

“Mhmm,” I replied. “Flash told me that himself after Ah’d had Crystal’s dark magic removed from me tha las’ time Ah was here.”

“Huh. Wasn’t aware of that,” Twilight commented.

“It’s O.K. In all honesty, Ah’d completely fergotten ‘bout that up until now.”

“Oh. I just remembered what I came over to talk with David about,” Flutters started as she turned towards me. “I’m supposed to be meeting with my parents for lunch at their place in a few days and I thought you might like to come along. I'm sure they'd love to meet you.”

This question caught me somewhat off guard. I’d never actually gotten the chance to meet her parents previously and her bringing this up now only reminded me further of my belief that Fluttershy held feelings for me. She probably saw this as an additional step towards pursuing a relationship with me. Despite being caught off guard, I had absolutely no problem with this arrangement at all.

“Sure. Ah’d love ta meet yer folks too.”

“Great.”

“That reminds me of something too,” Silverstream spoke up as she turned her attention over to Gallus. “Gallus, I know that we’ve come quite a long way since we were kids, especially you rising up to become Captain of Princess Twilight’s Royal Guard, and, in that time, I’ve thought long and hard about a few things. First and foremost in my mind is that I deeply value our friendship that we’ve shared over the years and I don’t want to be without that.”

It was in that moment that she paused briefly to pull out a small velvet box before speaking back up.

“So, I guess what I’m trying to ask is,-” she opened the box to reveal the ring inside “-‘Will you marry me’?”

Yona, Sandbar, Ocellus, Smolder, and I all gasped at this sudden proposal. It took a few short seconds before Gallus finally spoke up in reply.

“Of course I will.”

It was then when the 2 of them came together and kissed to the roaring approval of all of us there. Congratulations were abundant as my gaze shifted over to Fluttershy, the mare who I loved the most. While the Gala continued on for the rest of the night, I couldn't help but think to myself if I would ever reach a point like Silverstream had with Gallus; a point where I could make that kind of commitment towards my beautiful Flutters.

* * * * * * * *

A few short days after the Gala, I woke up in Twilight’s old palace remembering my get together with Fluttershy at her parent’s house. As I had no way of knowing exactly where her parents lived, the most logical step to me seemed to be to meet up with her at her place in order for her to show me how to get there. And so, after several minutes of morning meditations to prepare myself for the day ahead, I took to the sky, flying off towards Fluttershy’s cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville.

As I flew over Ponyville, I began thinking back to the Gala only a few days prior where my magic had made an unexpected resurgence. Having been a while since I’d last been to Equestria (even a longer while here than back on Earth), it was kind of embarrassing that I’d forgotten about my magical abilities in that period, especially since I still remembered being an Alicorn Prince the whole time. Still, it probably wouldn’t hurt to go through a little crash course while I was here in order to refamiliarize myself with my abilities, figure out what my limits were, that sort of thing. The problem with that, though, was who could I go to in order to teach me in the ways of magic?

It was then that the thought occurred to me to ask Starlight Glimmer to be my tutor. I mean, outside of Princess Twilight, Starlight was arguably one of the most powerful magic wielders in all Equestria so she seemed to be the most natural teacher to go with… that is if she were to have the freetime for that sort of thing.

In the time that I’d been back in Ponyville, I’d been caught up on several different things that had changed since my previous visit. One of these was the fact that Starlight now worked as the Headmare at the School Of Friendship. That being said, the official school year was still a little ways off from starting back up again so it was possible that I could try to get some training in with her before she was caught up in the hecticness of having to deal with new and returning students.

I quickly turned my thoughts back to the present moment as I realized that I’d finally made it to Fluttershy’s. Coming in for a landing, I couldn’t help but notice that just about half a mile away from her cottage was where my own home was still under construction, but, by the sight of it, also seemed to be nearing completion. I let out a smile, not just at the fact that I would soon be able to have my own place to live in, but also that it would be within such a shorter distance from where Fluttershy lived as opposed to Twilight’s former castle.

Turning my attention back to why I was there in the first place, I walked up to her front door before tapping out my familiar knock on it.

Tap. Tap. Taptap Tap.

2 seconds had hardly passed by when I heard her voice from the other side of the door.

“Just a minute, David.”

And so I waited patiently for her to answer the door, letting her take all the time she needed to get ready. Finally, after about 20-25 seconds, the door opened to reveal Flutters standing before me.

“How’d ya know it was me at tha door?” I questioned.

“It was simple. Your knock is easily recognizable,” she stated with a smile.

“Ahh. Ah guess it was kinda obvious.”

“Kinda?” she remarked playfully.

I couldn’t help but chuckle a little at her comment before a familiar scent caught my nose. Smelling a bit harder, I could now make out the easily discernible aroma of citrus; lemon to be quite specific, which I quickly realized was emanating from Fluttershy herself. I was quick to voice my observation towards her.

“Flutters, is that lemon I smell?”

“Why yes it is. I just sprayed myself with a new lemon scented perfume I bought recently,” she replied, rubbing one forehoof with the other. “Do you… like it?”

With a soft smile, I simply nodded back in response.

“Thanks. I was hoping you would. So are you ready to head over to my parent’s place for lunch with them.”

“Yes. Ah’d love to.”

“Great. Let’s go then.”

And so, the 2 of us took to the sky, heading all the way up to Cloudsdale where I’d never been previously. It was during that time when I briefly thought back to the first time I accidentally visited Equestria. More specifically, after having defeated the hag whereupon I found out that I’d only have one more day there before I needed to return back to my world, whereupon I’d never be able to return to Equestria ever again. To try and make me feel better, Rainbow had taken me for a flight over Ponyville on my newly gained wings and, for a brief while, the 2 of us had sat on a cloud where we briefly talked about my fears of never being able to return there again after going back to Earth.

Fortunately, Twilight had been able to find an ancient spell from a book I’d come across earlier in my visit, allowing me to return to Equestria whenever I felt like it. I’d never forget how grateful I was at being able to visit these friends of mine that I’d met back then, arguably the closest friends that I’d ever been fortunate enough to have in my life over the past several years.

My attention then turned back to the mare flying right alongside me. I smiled softly at her and she smiled softly back as we enjoyed each other’s company during our flight. It wasn’t long before she led me in for a landing outside a quaint little house with a cloud roof, a wide window across most of the front, 4 oval windows of increasing size directly above, 2 small columns just outside the front door, and a fence around it that seemed to be made from an actual rainbow. It looked even nicer than I’d previously remembered from watching the show all those years ago.

“We’re here,” Fluttershy stated.

Making our way to the front door, Flutters gently tapped her hoof against it as we waited for an answer. In less than 10 seconds after knocking, the door finally opened to reveal a Pegasus mare whose coat was a similar yellow to Fluttershy’s, but also had a red mane and tail sprinkled with grey in some areas, wide framed glasses that stood in front of deeply wrinkled eyes of a rich shade of raspberry, flowery earrings, and a necklace that appeared to be made out of golden beads. I swiftly recognized her as Fluttershy’s mother.

“Mom!” Fluttershy exclaimed as she went towards her for a hug.

“Fluttershy, dear,” Mrs. Shy answered while embracing her daughter. “It’s soo good to see you again.”

I stood there smiling softly at this display of familial affection before they pulled apart and Fluttershy spoke back up.

“It’s great to see you too,” Flutters turned to me. “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought a close friend of mine along with me. Mom, I’d like for you to meet-”

“David!” Mrs. Shy interjected as she reached out a hoof towards me. “Fluttershy has told me soo much about you in the past and it’s a pleasure to finally meet you face to face.”

“Please, tha pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Shy,” I smiled back while softly kissing the hoof she’d offered me.

“Oh my. Such manners,” she replied. “Would the 2 of you like to come in? Lunch is almost ready.”

“We’d love to,” Fluttershy and I answered simultaneously.

Mrs. Shy chuckled softly at our combined response as we made our way inside. Heading towards the kitchen, the ever recognizable smell of cooked pasta wafted towards me.

“Lunch smells incredible, Mrs. Shy.”

“Thank you for that, David.”

“Umm, Mom, do you know where Dad is?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh, he’s just out in the back organizing his cloud collection. He’ll be in shortly. Why don’t the 2 of you get seated at the table so that we’ll be ready for when he comes in?”

“If ya don’ mind, Ah’d like ta help out with gettin’ tha food ready,” I stated.

“Oh no, David. I couldn’t ask you to do that. You’re the guest here and I wouldn’t want to trouble you.”

“It’s honestly no trouble at all, Mrs. Shy. You jus’ sit yerself down at tha table ‘n leave tha prep ta me.”

“David is quite skilled with cooking,” Fluttershy added. “He did a pretty fair amount of it when we were visiting him and Savannah all those years ago.”

“O.K. O.K. You 2 win,” Mrs. Shy remarked, taking a seat.

And so, as I got lunch prepped, I was grateful that I’d been able to make such a strong and positive first impression towards Fluttershy’s mom and I looked forward to all our little visit entailed.

* * * * * * * *

Several minutes later, the 4 of us were enjoying lunch and some casual conversation around the table, Mr. Shy having joined us not long after I’d finished prepping the food. Along with the pasta, there were also a few loaves worth of garlic bread as well as a very nice salad Mrs. Shy had put together comprised mostly of lettuce, tomatoes, cubes of cheese, and clovers. Funny enough, this wasn’t the first time that I’d eaten clovers.

I was reminded of when I was over at a friend’s house approximately 2 decades ago and his mom encouraged us to eat the clovers that were growing along the side of the house. She might’ve been joking about it, but we didn’t know that at the time. As far as the flavor was concerned, there was a pleasant tang to them that I really enjoyed, almost like citrus. Fortunately, the clovers in this salad tasted exactly the same, possibly even better than I’d originally remembered.

“So, David, how have you been enjoying life back here in Ponyville?” Mr. Shy posed the question to me.

“Pretty well, in all honesty,” I answered after swallowing a gulp of sparkling apple juice. “Of course, there’s been some stuff that Ah’ve needed ta ‘just to as of late. A lot’s changed since tha las’ time Ah was here.”

“I can understand how hard it must be for you coming back here after such a long period of time has passed,” Mrs. Shy commented. “Still, I know that Fluttershy and her friends are happy beyond words that you’ve finally come back.”

“Ah’m pretty happy ‘bout that maself.”

“In fact,” Mr. Shy began, “she informed us about your return right after your reappearance in Ponyville. She was quite excited about it.”

“Guilty as charged,” Fluttershy blushed softly.

A smile crossed my face towards her before I took up a forkful of pasta with spaghetti sauce and shredded sharp Cheddar melted into it as Mrs. Shy continued.

“Fluttershy would talk to us for quite a bit over the past several years about how you’re one of her closest friends outside of her pony friends and that she wanted nothing more than for you to come back to Equestria. She was soo devastated at the way you guys had left things back in your world that she didn’t want for that to be the last time she’d ever get to see you.”

“Ah honestly didn’ want ta leave that kind o’ bad blood between us either. Ah was jus’ goin’ through a rough period of hurt at tha time, but Ah didn’t want that ta be tha last impression Ah left ‘em with either,” I stated sadly, taking another swig of juice.

“Well the important thing is that you’re back now and you’re able to make new, positive memories with your friends in place of the old. Bless your heart for that.”

At Mrs. Shy’s final statement, I nearly choked on my juice before speaking back up.

“Excuse me?”

“What? What did I say?”

“You said, ‘Bless yer heart’. What was that supposed ta mean?”

“What’s so wrong about saying that?” she puzzled. “When I said, ‘Bless your heart’, I’m pretty sure that I meant, ‘Bless your heart’.”

It was then when I realized that she’d meant exactly what she said and that I’d erroneously been thinking that she’d meant it in the way it was often used back on Earth.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” I apologized. “It’s jus’ that, where Ah come from, when a person says ‘Bless yer heart’, it’s quite often code fer, if ya’ll ‘scuse ma language, ‘Go *ahem* yerself’.”

“Oh dear dear dear no!” she quickly answered. “I’d never use it in that manner. Your world sounds like it must have some rather strange customs.”

“Ah won’t argue that. Even Ah struggle at times ta keep up with what somethin’s supposed ta mean back on Earth ‘n Ah’ve lived there fer most o’ ma life.”

I then used a slice of garlic bread to begin mopping up the sauce that still remained in my bowl before trying to change the topic.

“Ah couldn’t help but notice that ya have a very lovely flowerbed outside, Mrs. Shy.”

“Why thank you, David.”

“Reminds me a lot of when ma Grandma would visit ma family’s place in Spring. She’d often spend her freetime outside in ma mom’s garden ‘n flowerbed workin’ tha soil, pullin’ weeds, waterin’ tha plants, that sorta thing.”

“My mom loves tending to her flowerbed whenever she can,” Flutters spoke up. “She truly does have a gift in that realm.”

“Oh, Fluttershy, stop,” Mrs. Shy modestly remarked while blushing softly. “It’s just one of my personal hobbies. I’ve got that while your dad has his cloud collecting.”

“Speaking of which,” Mr. Shy started, “what are some of your hobbies you enjoy doing for fun, David?”

“Well, 3 of ma biggest interests have always been singin’, actin’, ‘n writin’.”

“As somepony who’s been around David for about a month back where he’s from, I can truly vouch for his great singing voice,” Fluttershy stated. “He could definitely make a living off of it if given the chance.”

“Ah ‘ppreciate tha vote o’ confidence, Flutters. Unfortunately, Ah haven’t had much time fer any o’ that since ma wife’s murder.”

“Yes,” Mrs. Shy sadly stated. “Fluttershy told us all about what had happened that night. Out of all 6 girls who’d visited you back then, Fluttershy was the most devastated by that turn of events after returning to Equestria.”

A sad expression immediately crossed Fluttershy’s face at her mother’s statement before the latter continued on.

“I know that we’re definitely not the first to say this to you, but me and my husband are beyond sorry for you having to go through that kind of loss for as long as you have.”

“Thanks fer that, Mrs. Shy, as well as fer tha meal.”

“Oh you’re quite welcome.”

“Umm if you guys don’t mind,” Fluttershy began, standing up from her seat, “I think I’ll use the little fillies room quickly. Be right back.”

And so, she left the kitchen to go use the facilities, leaving me alone with both of her parents. Mr. Shy was the first one to break the silence.

“So Fluttershy has spoken very highly of you since you first came to Equestria and I can see now why she likes you soo much.”

My pupils immediately dilated and a heavy blush rose to my face at his comment. I hadn’t expected him to be as forward with something like that. Clearly Fluttershy wasn’t the only one in her family who had become bolder in the time since I’d last watched the show. After about 30 seconds of awkward silence, Mrs. Shy spoke back up.

“David, do you like our daughter back?”

“Well-umm… Ah-Ah-mmm, it’s… Ah mean,” I stumbled over my tongue before finally nodding nervously and letting out a slightly squeaky “Mhmm.”

“That’s what we thought,” she pleasantly remarked while taking Mr. Shy’s hoof in hers. “Both me and her father could tell by the way you 2 look at each other and talk about each other. Reminds me of when we were much younger ourselves.”

I smiled softly as the 2 nuzzled each other before I spoke back up.

“Ah truly do love ‘n care ‘bout yer daughter. Ah’ve jus’ had trouble tryin’ ta come out ta her with ma true feelin’s. As far as Ah’m concerned, tha moment would need ta be perfect, ‘specially fer her.”

“Well I’m sure that the right time will come to you before you know it,” Mr. Shy stated. “Knowing our Fluttershy, she’s probably just as anxious to tell you how she really feels towards you.”

“You certainly have our blessing,” Mrs. Shy commented. “You’ve proven yourself well enough towards her for that.”

And so the visit went on for another several minutes before it was time for me and Flutters to leave. Giving one more thanks to Mrs. Shy for the meal, I escorted Fluttershy back to her cottage before heading back to Twilight’s old palace. On my way back to the castle, I was comforted knowing that I had the blessing of Fluttershy’s parents for whenever I decided to come forward about my feelings towards her. When that moment would be, I had no idea, but I was now determined more than ever to find that right moment. All I knew for certain was that it was simply a matter of time, a case of sooner rather than later.

Author's Note

Hello Everypony. Boy have the last few weeks been hectic. Between the holidays, more time at work, shopping, birthdays (including mine just last week), writing more of this story, and helping out 2 of my brothers with moving into their own place, I've had a lot going on as of late. Not to mention I got a new phone that I'm enjoying having a battery that doesn't go from 27% to 0% in less than 5 minutes. Over the past few weeks that I've been working on writing, I'm happy to say that I've been able to knock out about 1,500+ words in a single session, meaning that I'll hopefully be able to get these chapters published relatively quickly in the near future. The next chapter will even feature an appearance from a certain critical art pony who David will really get to lay the smackdown on in what I hope will be just as enjoyable for you guys to read as it was for me to write. Anyhoo, I appreciate all of your support, I wish you all a Happy Hearth's Warming, and I'll be back with even more chapters in the New Year, which I hope will be even better. See y'all on the flipside.

Chapter V: Praiser (Gets) Panned

As the next several days went by, construction on my new house had finally been completed and I was able to move into it not too long afterwards. I had to admit that I was quite impressed by the work that the crew had done on my new abode as it was quite large and incredibly crafted. I’d mentioned previously how the outside of the house had the appearance and size of a Gothic Cathedral much like Notre Dame, but the inside of it was equally just as lavish. 25 foot high ceilings supported by thick marble columns, a winding staircase that led up to the 2nd and 3rd floors, a grand master bedroom as well as 4 additional bedrooms, and 3 equally spacious bathrooms were just a few of the features this house held in store.

In the time that my home had been finished, I’d used a sizable chunk of my own bits to go towards buying furniture for decorating the rooms. A couch here, a table there, throw in a king-sized bed for good measure, just some of the basics to make it more homey. As grateful as I was to finally have a place of my own to live in after such a long time of having to rely on others when it came to whatever roof happened to be over my head, this home still felt much too large for just one person.

It wasn’t long after getting settled into my place that I thought back on when I’d been married to Savannah and the large beach house we’d once lived in. Even though that house we’d lived in was quite massive in size (dwarfed only by my new home here in Ponyville), it was still shared by the 2 of us as well as Ariel. Since Savannah’s murder and Ariel’s kidnapping, that beach house had become too large for me, yet, at the same time, too constricting. It was far less like a home or personal sanctuary and more akin to an elaborate, ornamental tomb that only seemed to drain me more than rejuvenate me the longer I stayed there.

This, combined with the loss of my family, had served as the primary catalyst for my attempted suicides that landed me in the nut shack these past few years back on Earth. When I was there, as disturbing as it was at times to be haunted by those ghosts of my past, it was somewhat comforting living in this crowded place. I’d briefly tried making friends during that much earlier period, but it never worked out as I would’ve hoped and I stopped trying altogether shortly after a few failed attempts. All of us had our own personal demons that we were dealing with at the time and I wasn’t exactly stable enough back then from a mental standpoint to really maintain any kind of lasting friendship with any of the other inmates.

Thinking back on those dark moments from my past, I was all the more grateful to be back here in Equestria among my true friends who wouldn’t judge me and had been forgiving enough to welcome me back to them, even though I didn’t really deserve it after how I’d treated them before. Now that I was here, I was determined more than ever to make sure that their forgiveness towards me hadn’t been in vain and to prove that I was the good friend that they’d once remembered me as when I first came to Equestria.

Over the past several days since I’d had lunch with Fluttershy and her parents, I’d been meeting with Starlight Glimmer during whatever freetime I had to brush up a little more on my magical abilities. Starlight had been more than willing to bring me on as her apprentice as there was still a pretty fair amount of time before the new school year was scheduled to start. She was a great teacher as she refamiliarized me with spells I’d long since forgotten like elemental attack spells, healing spells, repair spells, teleportation spells, and countless others. Even with these spells I practiced, I knew that I had far more to learn if I was ever to return to the same knowledge of magic that I’d possessed years ago.

At this particular moment, I’d just finished up my morning shift at the spa and was on my way over to Rarity’s boutique. She’d invited me to join her on her latest trip to the gem caves as she needed more of them to go towards creating an outfit one of her clients had ordered. Flying over Ponyville, I reached her boutique in no time at all before I gently knocked on her door. It wasn’t even 10 seconds before the door opened to reveal Rarity, wearing a headlamp as well as carrying one for me along with 2 sizable baskets with her magic for the gems we’d be collecting, each basket holding a pickaxe for each of us.

“David!” she greeted with enthusiasm at my presence. “I’m soo glad that you were able to make it here.”

“Ah’m pretty glad ‘bout that maself,” I replied with a smile. “It’s good seein’ ya Rare.”

“Likewise, darling. You all set to go?”

“Ah am if you are.”

“O.K. Let’s go then.”

And so we made our way over to the gem caves with Rarity leading me along. It was during this period of travelling that we struck up a conversation to pass the time.

“So how has yer business been goin’ since tha Gala ended? Have ya been able ta relax a bit more now that that’s outta tha way?”

“Somewhat. Of course, business never truly dies down. There’s still plenty of other ponies and creatures who put in orders after the Gala has already passed, but I will admit that it’s considerably less hectic than it was pre-Gala.”

“That’s good ta hear.”

“How about you, David? How have things been going with you since the Gala ended?”

“Pretty good. Fluttershy had me over fer lunch at her parent’s place 'bout several days ago ‘n it was quite enjoyable. Ah feel like Ah made a positive impression on both of ‘em.”

“I’m sure you did,” Rarity remarked with a smile. “Considering your feelings towards her, I’ll bet that leaving that kind of impact with her parents must’ve been quite an accomplishment for you.”

I blushed heavily at her comment before speaking back up.

“Is it really that obvious?”

“Pretty much. I’ve seen the way that you 2 act when you’re together and I think anypony else could clearly see that the 2 of you have feelings for each other.”

“Ah guess that’d be true. Unfortunately, Ah haven’t been able ta find what tha right time would be fer me ta come out ta her.”

“Well I wouldn’t stress over it too much. The stars will eventually align when the need arises and you’ll know in your heart when to break the news to her. Knowing Fluttershy, I’m sure she’s feeling quite similarly about when to tell you how she feels herself.”

I let out a small, timid smile at Rarity’s statement. I knew that she honestly meant well, but, as someone on the spectrum, telling me that I didn’t need to stress out over something was quite often counterintuitive. Oftentimes, I’d just wind up being more stressed out as a result. Thinking about that reminded me of a particular scene from the movie Inception when Saito was asking about the possibility of planting an idea in someone’s mind and Arthur gave an example of that concept: He’d told Saito not to think about elephants and, naturally, the first thing Saito thinks about is elephants, even though he knew the whole time that it was never his original idea to begin with.

The truth was that I knew all too well about how thoughts planted in people’s minds could manifest and change them, slowly but surely turning into that person’s reality in the process. I’d dwelt on the nightmares I’d had about Savannah’s murder and they came to pass like prophecies. I’d been told by shrinks that my pony friends who I’d spent time with years ago were nothing more than figments of my imagination and they began to slip from my mind over that period, giving way to fragmented memories that were nearly impossible for me to make any sense of at the time.

“Well here we are,” Rarity spoke up, drawing me out of my ponderings.

Focusing my attention back on our surroundings, I saw that this was indeed true as I quickly noticed the vast, open mouth of the cave that stood before us. Rarity then used her magic to turn on her headlamp while I put on my own headlamp before the 2 of us finally entered the gem caves together.

“Just be sure to keep it down while we’re in here,” Rarity whispered cautiously. “We don’t want to disturb the bats.”

It was then when I turned my light upwards to see the ceiling of the cavern crowded with dozens of the nightflyers resting peacefully above us. I couldn’t help but think of my first visit to Equestria when me, AJ, Rare, and the CMC went to the Castle Of The Two Sisters to find information about a terrible curse that had fallen over the land. On the way to the castle’s library, we’d passed through a hallway where countless bats were roosting on the ceiling up above. By the time we were finally leaving the castle, they’d all woken up and came flying out in such a mad frenzy, swirling around us as they left.

I’d enjoyed it quite a bit, all those bats flying amongst us like that, but apparently I’d been the only one to enjoy that experience. It could’ve possibly had something to do with the fact that bats are one of my favorite creatures. That being said, I could still respect Rarity’s wishes that we not have a repeat of that previous incident.

I quickly focused my attention back on our purpose for being there as I held both baskets with the magic of my left hand. The gem caves had a limitless supply of gems of differing shapes and sizes. Some were as small as pushpins while others were larger than my fist. Not only that, but they also came in a wide rainbow of different colors. Each of us took a pickaxe and went to work collecting the gems necessary for Rare’s order.

“So how many gems do we need ta collect fer that customer?” I posed the question.

“At least 3 dozen,” Rare replied, chiseling out a gem before placing it in one of our baskets. “The way I see it, the 2 of us should be able to gather 18 gems for each basket.”

“Got it. Ah’ve gotta 'dmit that Ah never knew one could find soo many gems in a single place like this.”

“It’s true. I take it that there aren’t very many places like this close to where you’re from back in your world?”

“Not really. There’s a few places similar ta this one scattered ‘cross tha world, but none of ‘em are very easily accessible. Here, it seems like anyone could jus’ drop by whenever they wanted to. That sorta thing would never fly back on Earth.”

“That’s quite a shame in all honesty. I can’t imagine what it would be like if a place like this had those kinds of restrictions. My business would most likely suffer as a result.”

“Ah can understand that,” I agreed as I dropped 2 more gems into my basket. “Even Ah hafta ‘dmit that life back on Earth can be far too complicated fer me ta follow most o’ tha time ‘n Ah’ve lived there fer tha pas’ 30 years now. Now that Ah’m back here in Equestria, things jus’ feel simpler ‘n less stressful.”

“Well, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: all of us are beyond happy that you’ve finally returned to us after all these years,” Rarity stated, with a smile.

I softly smiled back at her before returning my attention to the task at hand. As I continued looking for the best gems I could find, I suddenly came across a small cluster of nearly several dozen gems of a beautiful shade of cyan that was right on the border between green and blue; all of these gems were no bigger than a pearl. Looking at this cluster before me, my mind was swiftly flooded with a sudden realization: that particular shade I’d only ever seen in the eyes of 2 individuals in my life, both of whom I cared very deeply about. It wasn’t long before my creative juices were flowing through my head as I was struck with an idea for my own little project, my mind racing at lightning speed as the project came to life all at once.

“David?” Rarity called out, snapping me from my trance.

“Oh uh… yes Rare?”

“Are you quite alright, darling?”

“Oh yeah. Definitely. Ah jus’ found some gems here that Ah thought might work well fer a li’l project of ma own. Check it out.”

It was then that Rare came over to where I was standing, looking upon the cluster I’d discovered. Upon seeing the tiny gems I’d found, her eyes swiftly lit up before she replied softly.

“Oh my! David, these are beautiful. You certainly know how to pick ‘em, don’t you?”

“Thanks,” I answered back. “As soon as Ah saw these gems, Ah was immediately inspired ta use ‘em fer ma own personal creation Ah jus’ came up with.”

“Well, it’s like they say: you never can tell when your creative muse will speak. You’re more than welcome to take those gems for your little project, whatever that may be.”

“Thanks, Rare.”

“No problem,” she replied before coyly posing a question to me. “Any chance you’d like to share what your project is?”

“Not quite yet,” I stated while carefully chiseling the tiny gems out of the rock. “Ah’d like ta wait at least until it’s finally completed before revealing it ta everypony else.”

“That’s quite understandable. You’re an artist who must be allowed to ‘art’. Whatever this project is, I greatly look forward to seeing it once it’s ready.”

I began pocketing the pearl sized gems I’d dug out while thinking out loud.

“Now all Ah need ta do is find a good sized chunk o’ marble. Hopefully, there’s some left over from when ma house was bein’ constructed. Starlight’s also been teachin’ me some magic that Ah think might help out with what Ah’m tryin’ ta ‘ccomplish.”

“I’m sure that it’ll all work out well for you, David,” Rarity affirmed before looking at our baskets. “Well it looks like we’ve gathered all the gems I need for my project. It was nice being able to hang out with you as well as chat for a while and I appreciate your help with collecting these gems. Good luck with your project and I can’t wait to see it finally unveiled.”

“Neither can Ah.”

And so, with those final parting words, the 2 of us went our separate ways to work on our own individual projects. My mind continued racing with the ideas I had for what I intended to create: a tribute to my loves of the past and the eventual future. Maybe this piece would be what finally allowed me to come up with the courage to tell Flutters how I truly felt towards her? I guess I’d have to just wait and see once my project was finished. All I knew for certain was that I’d take as long as I needed to for this piece to be perfect and nothing would stop me from completing it. I swore on Savannah’s grave I’d see it all the way through.

* * * * * * * *

It wasn’t long after my visit with Rarity that I’d managed to find a sizeable piece of marble from the construction site of my new home and was on my way to Twilight’s old castle to meet with Starlight about my project idea. I’d had a fair amount of time to think over the project I proposed and what I wanted it to look like. The project in and of itself would require a considerable amount of craft and skill to be fully realized as I saw fit. Fortunately, Starlight was just the pony who I knew could assist me in bringing it to life. I mean, I could still remember that one time in the show where she’d made a layered cake in just a matter of seconds through the simple combination of the ingredients needed. She hadn’t even needed to use an oven!

Carrying the large marble chunk with my magic, I flew off towards the castle while being very careful not to accidentally drop the piece. Only a few careful minutes later, I was outside the castle where I came in for a landing at the front door before knocking on it.

Tap. Tap. Taptap Tap.

It was nearly half a minute before the door finally opened to reveal Starlight standing in front of me.

“Oh. Hi, David,” she greeted pleasantly. “Are you here for your lessons?”

“Hey, Starlight. Somewhat. Ah’ve actually got a project that Ah need some assistance with tryin’ ta complete.”

It was then that Starlight noticed the chunk of marble I was carrying.

“Is that what the marble is for?” she questioned.

“Mostly yes. Ah’ve also got a sizeable amount o’ gems here ta go towards tha same project.”

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the handful of gems I’d collected from the caves. Seeing the gems I held, Starlight couldn’t help but comment.

“Wow. David, those are beautiful.”

“Ah know.”

“So what kind of project is it that you need help with?”

“Well, Ah’m lookin’ ta create a bust where one half of it is Savannah’s face ‘n tha other half is Fluttershy’s face. As fer tha gems Ah have here, Ah was hopin’ ta use ‘em fer both o' their eyes seein’ as they’re tha ‘xact same color.”

“Wow. That’s quite the undertaking,” Starlight remarked. “Well why don’t you come inside and I’ll see what we can do about this project you’ve proposed.”

And so the 2 of us made our way inside, Starlight leading me over to the castle’s throne room where my 7 friends (the Mane 6 and Spike) used to meet whenever there was a friendship problem. Entering the room, I saw the Friendship Map of the entire kingdom and beyond sitting there idly after years of not being used, a permanent fixture of a bygone period. It was then as we approached the map that I set my sizable piece of marble down on it before Starlight spoke back up.

“Using magic to craft something from marble is no simple task. I’m able to do it relatively easily now, but, when I was first studying magic, it took me at least a week or 2 of practicing before I was able to master the skill. On the bright side, once you’ve gotten it formed the way you want, incorporating your gems into the piece should be easy by comparison, even if it might require a little more precision when it comes to proper gem placement.”

“Good ta know,” I replied. “So do ya have any tips fer me in regards ta usin’ ma magic ta sculpt it tha way Ah want?”

“Concentration and focus are crucial. The ability to picture the finished product in your mind needs to be fully honed in if you want it to come out right. The project that you’re proposing has the added challenge of it being a half and half sculpture. Another factor is that only you have the mental image of how Savannah looked like so that part would be all up to you to create.”

“Got it. Now how do Ah start?”

“Clear your mind of everything except for the project at hoof. Now reach out with your magic to craft the image in your head.”

I then focused all my attention on my magic, hands outstretched towards the marble chunk with the vision in my head of how I wanted it to turn out. My hands made the movements of sculpting as I kept my eyes closed to allow for better concentration without distraction.

“Don’t be too disappointed if you don’t get it completed on the first try. It took me a good while before I was able to perfect it myself. Just focus on feeling the marble taking shape under your magic.”

I followed Starlight’s instructions as I continued using my magic to craft the piece. It was during this time that I began to feel a growing sense of strain from focusing my magic too hard, but I wasn’t finished yet. Fighting the pain that was coming over me, I pushed myself even harder to make sure that the task at hand was completed. After nearly a minute, though, I finally had to stop, struggling to catch my breath and nearly collapsing after the tremendous amount of exertion I’d put forth. Starlight was quick to notice my exhaustion.

“David! Are you alright?!?” she asked with concern evident in her tone.

“Yeah. Ah… Ah think… Ah’m O.K.” I panted. “How… how did Ah do?”

“Why don’t you see for yourself?”

Pulling myself back to my feet and turning my attention over towards the marble piece, I saw that almost half of the sculpture had been completed. This half being the half of Savannah’s face. While still relatively rough in some areas, that portion looked almost exactly like her when she’d come to Equestria with me shortly after we were married. Upon visiting Equestria and seeing how she looked in the style of the show, I’d noticed that she bore a striking resemblance to Krista from Attack On Titan. No. Not Krista. Historia, I remembered.

It was then when I was taken out of my thoughts by Starlight’s observation.

“I’ve gotta say, David, I’m quite impressed by what you’ve been able to accomplish with your project.”

“But Ah haven’t even finished half o’ tha piece.”

“Still, what you have gotten done is quite exemplary considering you’ve never done this before. All that half needs is a little bit of polishing and it’ll be all set for you to start working on the Fluttershy half. You’ve also gotta realize that you’re only just now starting to refamiliarize yourself with your powers, hence why you wound up soo exhausted just now. In time, you’ll be back to the same level you were at before; possibly even greater.”

“Ah ‘ppreciate yer affirmation, Starlight,” I replied with a smile while grabbing my project. “Ah’ll jus’ take this piece with me ta work on some more later on.”

“O.K. But make sure that you don’t overdo it. I don’t want you wearing yourself out on my account.”

“Fair enough. See ya later, Starlight.”

“You too, David.”

And so, with my project in hand, I left the castle to head back to my place. Overall, I was pretty amazed at the progress that I’d made on my piece. At this rate, I was positive that it would be ready before the week was up.

Not much longer now, my loves. I thought to myself as I continued on the rest of my day, thinking about Savannah, Flutters, and the tribute towards both of them that I was eager to finish as soon as possible. With the progress I’d made thus far, nothing was going to stop me now.

* * * * * * * *

Several days had passed by since I’d met with Starlight about my project and, in that time, I’d made great progress. I’d focused a good amount of my freetime on sculpting my bust until I was sure that it was absolutely perfect. It took about 4 more full days for me to get it properly sculpted with my magic (while also heeding Starlight’s advice to not overdo it all at once) after which I went back to Starlight for help on incorporating my gems into the piece for the eyes. Melding the gems into the bust had taken another 2 days or so as it required even greater skill and precision than sculpting had.

Finally, after nearly a week of hard work on my project, it was now officially ready. As it had neared completion, I’d informed my friends about the project that I’d spent all this time working on just so that they could show their support when I finally got around to unveiling it. Outside of my interactions with Starlight, I hadn’t really gone into specifics about the project around my friends, especially Flutters, as I wanted it to be a surprise. All I had told them was that it was a special project made out of love and that I would unveil it outside my home when it was finally finished.

Now, that day had arrived as I carried my bust hidden underneath a sheet out of the front entrance of my home. Stepping out the door, I immediately saw not only Rainbow, Flutters, Pinkie, Rare, and AJ, but several dozen other ponies, gryphons, dragons, changelings, and other creatures waiting to see my project. This overwhelming presence caught me off guard as I silently motioned my friends over to me.

“Where did all these creatures come from?” I posed the question to my friends after they’d come closer.

“Well,” Rainbow began, “we thought that you might appreciate having as much support here as possible so we told a few friends and they told a few friends and now here we are.”

“It seemed like a good way to help you bring back more of your confidence,” Flutters spoke up.

“Yes indeedly!” Pinkie piped up.

“I even brought over a pedestal for a proper display of your piece,” Rarity stated, using her magic to place a sizable column near me.

“Twilight ‘n Spike said they’d come by a little bit later ta see yer piece,” AJ mentioned. “They jus’ have some business ta ‘ttend to first.”

I couldn’t help but smile at how thoughtful my friends were in trying to support me in whatever way they could before speaking up.

“You guys are tha best friends a guy like me could ask fer.”

I then set the covered piece down on the pedestal Rare had provided before turning my attention back to the gathering before me.

“Ah greatly ‘ppreciate all of y’all fer comin’ out here ta see this piece that Ah’ve crafted over these past several days. It’s taken a long time fer me ta get ta tha point Ah’m at now after all tha hardships Ah’ve gone through fer ‘bout 5 years back on Earth ‘n yet ya’ve all been supportive of me durin’ ma period of adjustment here in Ponyville ‘n Ah’m beyond grateful fer that. Now, without further ado, Ah present ta y’all ma finished piece that Ah call ‘Love Across Ages’.”

And with that, I pulled back the sheet to reveal the finished bust. At the sight of the piece, everycreature there gasped in amazement. The bust was a perfect half and half split of Savannah’s face as well as Fluttershy’s with the pearl-sized, cyan-colored gems encrusted into it, making up their eyes. Savannah’s straight falling hair was contrasted by the swooping nature of Fluttershy’s mane and the latter’s muzzle was projected slightly further than the former’s lips, yet all of it worked out effortlessly; a finished piece I was genuinely proud of. It was then when I turned my attention over to Flutters herself just to see what her reaction was. Looking over at her, I saw a soft smile on her face as well as her eyes shimmering with emotion.

Before I could speak up towards her, though, I noticed that the crowd gathered before me was parting nervously as one pony made their way up to the front where my piece was displayed. The pony in question was a gray stallion who had a small tuft of a white mane poking out from underneath his black hat, a white tail to match, 2 thin lines for a mustache peppered with gray as well as 1 line composing his equally peppered goatee, rectangular glasses perched on his muzzle, a black scarf, and, what stood out the most to me, his Cutie Mark was of a painted canvas with an axe hacking through it.

All the while as I was staring at him, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d seen him from somewhere previously, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where. I knew for certain that I’d never seen him in the show… at least, not that I could remember. But if not from there, where else?

“Oh great,” I heard Rainbow mutter under her breath. “It’s Praiser Pan. Who invited that buttmunch here?”

Praiser Pan? Now I remembered him, but, at the same time, I had even more questions. From what I could recall, Praiser Pan had only ever shown up in the My Little Pony comic line. Though I’d never actually read any of the comics, I’d heard others within the Brony community state that the comics didn’t really count as being part of the show’s canon as there were several cases where the comics clearly contradicted things that had already been firmly established in the show. If that was the case, though, what was Praiser Pan, a character from the comics, doing here? Were the events in the comics somehow canon now? To what extent? Was this yet another lie that I’d been told after the comment about Twilight not outliving her friends?

I was drawn out of my ponderings by Praiser Pan himself finally speaking up in his nasally voice.

“What a sad day it is for ponykind when such amateurish pieces as these are passed off as actual art. Such a piece as this is nothing more than hand-me-down kitsch that would not even pass as being worthy enough for display in anything other than a county fair and even that would be considered generous. In all honesty, the pony who made this and anypony who actually likes and supports this piece should be ashamed of themselves and would seriously need to reconsider their own life.”

To say that I was incensed at his “critique” (if it could even be called that) of my work as well as his cheapening of both Savannah’s memory and my love for Fluttershy would’ve been putting it mildly. The level of venom in his insult of my piece, me, and my supporters was enough to make my blood boil to the point where Hell would look like a frozen wasteland by comparison. It was then that I began making my way over towards him, angrily popping my knuckles as I went, ready to give him a piece of my mind.

“How dare you insult him and his work like that!” Flutters spat out as she stepped between me and Praiser Pan, surprising me in the process. “He created this piece as an expression of love in remembrance of his late wife who was murdered long ago as well as expressing his feelings of love in the present and I will NOT have you shame him or anypony else with your venomous comments!”

“Excuse me?!?” he shot back. “Who are you to say what I can or cannot say about ones work? You are no critic and therefore have no power to condemn me for what I say. As for my comments, I’m simply stating my opinion. It’s not my fault if others are offended.”

Hearing the level of pompous stupidity in his statement was enough to make me facepalm myself I was that shocked by his ignorance. Instead, I decided to tell him how I really felt.

“No,” I simply began.

This caught his attention as he responded after a few seconds of silence.

“What did you just say to me?”

“I said ‘No’,” I answered firmly, ready to unload on his ass, not holding back anything. “I refuse to let you speak so shamefully about me or any of my friends. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but this isn’t the first time I’ve come across your defensive remark. I’ve honestly heard it used soo many times back on Earth that it would be hilarious if it weren’t soo pathetic.”

Everycreature gathered there let out a stunned gasp before I continued.

“Oh yeah. That’s right. It’s pathetic. All that you’re really saying with that comment is ‘I expect others to invest time and energy into hearing what I have to say, but I’m unwilling to spend that same amount of time and energy crafting a response that will connect with my audience or contribute something of meaning to society’. You call yourself a critic, but you’re a fraud. You don’t have any passion for art or a desire to see others rise to prominence, but are more focused on whatever keeps you in that high and mighty position that you somehow managed to obtain.

“Back home, I have a brother who used to do a lot of stand-up comedy work whenever he got the opportunity, but there was always this one audience member at his events that would always heckle him any opportunity he got. When I confronted him about this, he gave the sorry excuse that he felt like it was his life’s purpose to be my brother’s heckler. Well, guess what? That’s honestly a really shitty existence if you think your sole purpose in life is to tear someone down for no other reason than ‘just because’ rather than contributing something meaningful to someone’s life. I almost feel sorry for individuals like you and that heckler, but let me tell you something right now.

“You may not know me all that well, but I’m also an Author and, as such, I have a certain level of power in regards to what I write and what events can come about as a result. Now, I wouldn’t abuse that power, but individuals like you make it awfully tempting and, if you knew the kind of power I was capable of as a result, you’d probably watch your mouth a little more around me. So you can run and tell that, homeboy.”

This “power” that I’d been talking about wasn’t just the ability to alter a story’s trajectory, but also the ability to simply write a character out of existence. It wouldn’t be all that hard. Just write down the name of any character and say that they were now gone and that would be that. They’d vanish and no one would ever remember they’d been around. It was during that moment when I was briefly reminded of something that I’d discovered a few years ago back on Earth. This something happened to be a Marvel comic book item known as the “Continuity Stone” (or was it the Continuity "Gem"? I dunno. For the sake of posterity, I'm just gonna call it "Stone").

Anyone who watched a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie in the past decade most definitely knew about the Infinity Stones, hell the first 3 phases of the MCU were collectively titled “The Infinity Saga”, but not many people were aware of other stones that existed in alternate realities of the Marvel Universe. One of these was the Continuity Stone, famously wielded by Deadpool and holding the power to completely alter whatever was previously considered canon. My power as an Author, to a certain extent, I liked to consider as being comparable to having my own personal Continuity Stone… just in the form of a pen, computer keyboard, or other writing tool.

Actually, now that I thought about it, this power was much more similar to something I'd seen in Dragon Ball Super years ago. The instance in particular being when Beerus had used his own power to wipe the evil Zamasu from ever existing which is really saying something when you take into account all the instances in the Dragon Ball franchise where characters come back from the dead multiple times over. This was probably a much more fitting analogy of the power I possessed.

True to my word, though, I hadn’t abused my Authorial power in that way nor did I have any plans to do so in the near future. This had all simply been a scare tactic with the purpose of getting Praiser Pan to finally shut up.

And it worked. Praiser Pan looked at me with a fearful, stunned expression like he was about to wet himself before he finally spoke back up nervously.

“Oh… umm of course… I-I-I accidentally… misspoke.”

“Hey,” I replied in a much calmer tone than before, my Southern twang coming back to me. “No one likes a kissass. Ya need ta be able ta stand by what ya’ve said, but also think before speakin’ ‘n sayin’ anythin’ that could be potentially hurtful. It reminds me of a sayin’ Ah was taught long ago: ‘Say whatcha mean ‘n mean whatcha say, but don’ say it mean’. Do ya think ya could at least try ta do that?”

With an audible gulp, Praiser Pan slowly nodded at me before silently slinking away back to whatever hole he’d crawled out of. With him gone, I turned my attention over to Fluttershy who’d been standing next to me this whole time.

“Thanks fer standin’ up fer me, Flutters,” I smiled. “We make a pretty good team, you ‘n Ah.”

“Oh it was no problem at all,” she replied modestly. “I really liked the piece you put together. It was very well crafted and I loved your attention to detail.”

“Again, thanks fer that.”

“You’re welcome.”

We then stood there for a good several seconds in silence before I finally spoke up.

“So… Ah hope Ah’m not bein’ too forward here…, but would you… like ta go out with me… sometime soon?”

Her eyes lit up like the 4th of July at my proposal before replying.

“Why yes I’d love too. Would this Friday work for you?”

“Yup. Ma Friday’s wide open fer ya.”

“O.K. I guess it’s a date then.”

“Definitely. See ya then, Flutters.”

And so, with parting smiles, the 2 of us went our separate ways and the crowd eventually dispersed as I couldn’t feel any more happier that I’d finally gotten up the courage to ask my dear Flutters out on a date. At this rate, things could only go up from that point forward.

Author's Note

Hello again Everypony. Hope y’all had enjoyable holidays as well as getting the chance to reflect on the past year in preparation for the new one that’s now upon us. I must admit that I had a lot of fun with this chapter when it came to the verbal beatdown that David gave Praiser Pan. The whole process was quite cathartic and therapeutic as I felt like I could just unleash all that pent up aggression towards certain critics I’ve come across out there who like to think that their opinions on pieces of work are gospel and that anyone who doesn’t share the same opinion as them is somehow lesser than them (trust me, we’ve all come across at least one person like this in our lives). So yeah. You could say that Praiser Pan was somewhat of an effigy that I got to channel all of that negative energy into unloading on his ass and it was quite enjoyable. Coming up, I’ve got a special chapter with a special release that I’m really excited about so be sure to stay tuned for that. Til then, feel free to “thumbs up” and/or Favorite if you haven’t already and I’ll see you guys again in the very near future.

Chapter VI: Two Hearts Aflutter

Several days later, it was finally Friday. I’d both been looking forward to this day as well as being nervous about it ever since I’d proposed it to Fluttershy. I knew that this would be my big chance to finally come out with how I truly felt about her. The biggest question, though, was at what time during our date should I confess my love towards her? Doing it too early could either come across as too rushed or too desperate, which was not the impression I wanted to give off. However, if I waited too long to tell her, the proper opportunity could slip by me too quickly.

I tried not to worry too much about it as I prepared for our date. I’d just stepped out of a nice hot shower when I began running a brush through my new wave styled hair while standing in front of a very sizable mirror to make sure it looked perfect. After my hair was properly groomed, I ran a stick of Axe Dark Temptation deodorant under my pits several times; it had always been my favorite deodorant as it had a rich chocolatey smell to it that I was sure Flutters would definitely enjoy just as much as I did. I then sprayed myself with my favorite Nightmare Before Christmas themed cologne, Bone Daddy; both the deodorant and the cologne I’d been fortunate enough to pack with me before returning here to Equestria.

After getting dressed into some comfortable dress clothes I’d also packed, the shirt in particular being my favorite black dress shirt with a blue flame design, I made sure that I had a small pouch of my own bits to cover any expenses that came up during our date. I’d already set up our date at the local Hay Burger restaurant followed by a visit to the nearby ice cream shop just a couple days prior. Granted I’d never eaten hay burgers before, but I’d already enjoyed black bean burgers well enough back home so I figured hay burgers weren’t too far of a stretch from that. With everything all set and a pouch of bits in my pocket, I exited my abode and made the very short flight over towards Fluttershy’s cottage.

Arriving at my destination in a matter of seconds, I came in for a landing outside the front door where I tapped out my familiar knock to alert Flutters of my arrival.

Tap. Tap. Taptap Tap.

It took nearly a minute before the door opened, but I didn’t hold that against Fluttershy. In my past experience with dating Savannah, I knew damn straight that it was always best to give the girl the time she needed in order to get ready, no matter how much time that happened to be. As I was greeted by Flutters at the door, I knew that all of that time she’d needed to prepare for our date had all been worth it.

Standing in the doorway, Fluttershy’s buttery coat had such a remarkable sheen to it that I’d never before thought possible, her mane and tail were soo richly glossy that I was sure anyone could easily view their own reflection within them, and, as I stood before her, I could smell the rich, enticing, aromatic blend of lemon and mint emanating from her being.

“Oh. Hi, David,” she finally spoke up.

“Hey, Flutters,” I answered back. “Ya look ‘specially beautiful today. Ah-Ah mean, y-ya always look beautiful. Ah was jus’ meanin’-”

“Thanks,” she softly giggled at my little hiccup of tripping over my tongue. “You look pretty sharp yourself.”

It was then when a quizzical look crossed her face as she began sniffing the air near me before speaking up.

“What’s that smell? Is that… chocolate?”

“Oh yeah. That’s ma special Dark Temptation deodorant. It gives off tha scent o’ chocolate.”

“Nice. I like it.”

“Thanks. Ah was sure ya would.”

“So what do you have planned for us?”

“Ah was thinkin’ that we could have lunch together at tha Hay Burger ‘n then go ta tha ice cream shop afterwards. Aside from that, Ah wasn’t really sure what else we could do.”

“Oh, I think I might have a few ideas myself on what we could do, but that can always wait until later. For now, I think what you’ve proposed sounds lovely.”

“Glad you approve. So, shall we get goin’?”

“Yes. Let’s.”

And so, the two of us took to the sky, making our way over to the first location for our date. It was during this flight that I decided not to worry too much about when I’d come out to Flutters with my true feelings towards her. In that moment, I was much more happy to see where things would go. All that stuff I’d been worrying about could wait. What truly mattered in that moment was getting to spend some quality time with the mare I loved. I was positive now that I’d know when the right time would be for me to confess how I felt about her.

* * * * * * * *

“...’N so, ma brother went ta make himself a sandwich, but there was no bread left, so he told our mom, ‘We’re all out of white bread.’ ta which Ah then replied, ‘Did ya look in tha mirror?’” I finished telling Fluttershy of a funny moment from back home as we sat at a table waiting for our orders to come.

“Oh, David!” she giggled heartily. “You are soo bad. I’d forgotten that you have such a feisty side to yourself.”

“It’s O.K. Ah’d even fergotten ‘bout ma feisty side these past several years back home. Now that Ah’m back here in Equestria, a lot o’ stuff has been comin’ back ta me as of late.”

“That’s definitely good to hear. I’m sure that even more will come back to you as time goes on. Speaking of which, how’re your magic lessons with Starlight coming along.”

“Pretty well. A lot of it has mostly been recappin’ stuff Ah already knew before, but we’ve also been movin’ onta new material gradually.”

It was then when the server came over with our orders. This server just so happened to be a dragon.

“Here you 2 go,” he stated as he set our plates down in front of us. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks,” me and Flutters replied in unison.

With our food now before us, I closed my eyes to pray silently before eating, thanking God not only for the food, but also the opportunity that he’d given me to return to Equestria to mend the bonds I’d once had with my pony friends. I also thanked him for the time I got to spend with Fluttershy and that he would bless that time as well as giving me the strength to confess my love to her when the time was right.

After I’d finished my silent prayer, I noticed that Fluttershy also had her eyes closed before eating. Was she praying too? I decided to wait for her to finish before posing the question to her. Less than half a minute later, Flutters finally opened her eyes whereupon I spoke up to her.

“Ah didn’ know that ya still prayed too.”

“Oh of course. I’ve prayed frequently over the past 20 years ever since the last time we visited you and Savannah.”

“Huh. Ah wasn’t aware o' that.”

It was then when I picked up my hay burger to try it out for the first time. Back home, whenever I had homemade cheeseburgers, I would always have them with mayonnaise and barbeque sauce. This had been the case ever since I’d had a cheeseburger with those condiments at Six Flags once and enjoyed it immensely. Unfortunately, not every pony around here ate meat and, even then, not too frequently so barbeque sauce was somewhat of a rarity. In that case, I’d had to settle for ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise on my hay burger.

Taking a bite out of said burger, it was actually pretty good. A little bit chewy and not quite on the same level of a black bean burger, but definitely better than most veggie burgers I’d previously had back home. The sharp, melted cheddar cheese on it was a pleasant compliment to the burger.

“So,” I spoke up after swallowing a mouthful of burger, “there was one question that Ah’d been meanin’ ta ask ya.”

“What question would that be?” Flutters posed before taking a bite from her own burger.

“When Ah went ta see Rarity a couple weeks back fer ma Gala outfit, she mentioned that tha image she’d sewn onto both thighs of ma pant legs had come to ya in a dream ya’d had of me. Was this dream one that ya’d had recently?”

“Oh no,”-she shook her head.-“I’d had that dream for quite a while before you came back to Ponyville.”

“How long had ya been havin’ that dream fer if ya don’ mind me askin’?”

“About 6 years before your return.”

6 years?!? I thought to myself. Aside from that being an exceedingly long time to be having the same dream over and over, there was something more to it, something that I couldn’t for the life of me put my finger on, but was by no means any less important. Maybe it would come to me later on? For now, I returned back to the present moment with my beloved Fluttershy.

“Just out of curiosity, why had you been asking about that image in particular?” she questioned back to me.

“Well,” I began, “because that image that ya saw in yer dreams happens ta be ma Cutie Mark.”

It was then when Flutters’ eyes widened in disbelief.

“Wait. You have a Cutie Mark?!?”

I simply nodded in response, having swallowed my last mouthful of burger.

“How is it that I’d remember something like that when I can’t even remember you ever being an Alicorn Prince to begin with?”

“Ah honestly wish Ah knew why. It seems like everytime part o’ tha past comes back inta tha light, it jus’ raises even more questions.”

“That can be quite frustrating,” Fluttershy agreed, polishing off the rest of her own burger before wiping her mouth with a napkin.

“Anyhoo, you ‘bout ready fer us ta head over ta tha ice cream shop?”

“I am if you are.”

And so, after leaving a small handful of bits at our table to cover lunch and the tip, the 2 of us exited the restaurant and made our way to the nearby ice cream shop. It didn’t take us too long to get there as we entered the establishment and walked up to the front counter. Looking up at the menu above us, I was surprised by the vast variety of different ice cream flavors they had there. Finally, I spotted an old favorite of mine on the list. That being Mint Chocolate Chip.

It was then when the server, a Changeling, approached us from behind the counter.

“Have you 2 decided on what you’d like to have today?” she asked us.

“Yes,” Flutters began. “I’d like a Vanilla Oat Swirl please.”

“‘N Ah’ll have tha Mint Chocolate Chip please,” I spoke up.

“Will that be it?” our server questioned.

“Yes. That’ll be all, thanks,” Flutters stated, before suddenly remembering something. “Oh and, when you’re serving David’s ice cream, could you please make sure to use a clean ice cream scooper? He has a deadly, serious nut and peanut allergy and we wouldn’t want for there to be any cross contamination from that.”

“Sure thing,” she smiled as she went to get our orders.

In that moment, I’d completely forgotten about the fact that I had a nut allergy and hadn’t thought of asking the server to make sure the scooper was cleaned beforehand. Still, I was grateful to have somepony like Fluttershy who would have my back in situations like this, just like when she had my back several days ago against Praiser Pan’s venomous comments towards my artistic tribute to both Savannah and herself.

“Thanks fer mentionin’ that, Flutters.”

“Oh it’s no problem really. Just looking out for my closest friend.”

I smiled softly back at her as our server came over with our ice cream cones. Taking both cones in one hand, I handed the server several bits with the other, thanking her for the ice cream in the process.

“Come again soon,” she spoke up pleasantly as we left.

Leaving the building, I held my cone in my hand while using the magic in my free hand to hold Fluttershy’s cone as we walked along enjoying our ice cream. I especially enjoyed the chocolate chunks that were speckled throughout mine. In the past, I’d had Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream that couldn’t even be called Chocolate Chip as it had what was more akin to chocolate shavings which were not nearly as enjoyable and were technically false advertising on their part.

“How’s yer ice cream, Flutters?”

“Oh it’s lovely, thanks for asking. How’s yours?”

“Cold ‘n minty fresh. Jus’ how Ah like it.”

“That’s good to hear. Is Mint Chocolate Chip your favorite ice cream flavor?” she asked before taking another lick of her ice cream.

“One of ‘em. Ah honestly like a wide variety of ice cream flavors. Vanilla, Mint Chocolate Chip, Black Raspberry, Cookies ‘n Cream, Lemon Cake, Rainbow Sherbert, Ah’ve even had Key Lime ice cream one point in tha past. Ah’m pretty sure it was durin’ a vacation ta Old Orchard Beach long ago.”

“Oh my. That is quite a lot of different flavors.”

“There was also one time when Ah had Bacon flavored ice cream with a Bacon Caramel drizzle over tha top. Sounds strange, but it was actually pretty interestin’ ta try out.”

“Well, if you like Vanilla, then you might like Vanilla Oat Swirl. Would you like to try mine?”

“Are ya sure ‘bout that, Flutters? Ah wouldn’ wanna mooch off o' ya.”

“It’s perfectly fine,” she insisted.

And so I took a small lick of Fluttershy’s ice cream. Interestingly enough, it tasted just like regular Vanilla ice cream, but, with the added texture of the oats, it almost seemed like there’d been a granola bar mixed into the ice cream itself.

“How do you like it?”

“Honestly, it’s actually pretty good,” I replied before holding my own ice cream out to her. “Here. Ah’ll let ya have some o’ mine.”

“Oh. O.K.”

She too took a small taste of mine before speaking back up.

“Thanks for that, David.”

“Anytime, Flutters. Anyhoo, Ah’ve already told ya some o’ ma favorite flavors of ice cream so what’re some o' yers?”

“Well, for the most part, I like a lot of different fruit flavored ice creams.”

She then had a thought cross her mind before speaking back up.

“As long as that fruit isn’t tomato,”-she made a face.-“Tomato flavored ice cream doesn’t sound all that appetizing.”

I let out a soft chuckle at her comment before speaking.

“That actually reminds me of somethin’ ma therapist once said ‘bout tha difference between knowledge ‘n wisdom. He said, ‘Knowledge is knowin’ that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowin’ that ya don’ put a tomato in a fruit salad’.”

Fluttershy giggled at my statement before replying to me.

“Sounds like some pretty solid words to live by.”

“That they do,” I stated before polishing off the rest of my ice cream, cone and all. “So ya said earlier that ya had some additional plans fer our date. Do ya feel like sharin’ what those plans are?”

Flutters took another lick of her ice cream I was holding with my magic before answering.

“Well, I was thinking that we could hang out at Sweet Feather Sanctuary for a bit where I could introduce you to more of the animals staying there and then I could take you to the Everfree Forest. There’s something there that I really want to show you.”

“Sounds like a pretty enjoyable time ta me.”

“Great,” she replied, finishing off her own ice cream in the process.

And with that, we took to the sky and made our way to Sweet Feather Sanctuary. All the while, I looked forward to all that the rest of our date had in store, no matter what happened next.

* * * * * * * *

Before long, the 2 of us were back at her animal sanctuary whereupon the animals seemed to be particularly happy to see us, probably more happy to see her than me. Soon after arriving there, we were greeted by a rather large warren of bunnies, all of them white. This brought up a question in my mind that I needed to know the answer from Fluttershy.

“Are all o’ these bunnies here Angel’s descendants?”

“Yes,” she replied sadly. “Angel Bunny passed away long before you came back here.”

“Ah’m really sorry ‘bout that, Flutters,” I offered my condolences. “Ah know how he was a major support fer ya.”

“It’s O.K. It’s just part of the natural order of life.”

It wasn’t long after she mentioned that that I felt a sharp pang deep down inside my very soul. All I could think was how much time had passed since my friends had last visited and vice versa as well as how much further on in years all of them had gotten in that time. As far as Flutters was concerned, that realization pained me the most. Soo much time had been wasted being angry at them for what had happened to Savannah and they’d all suffered as a result of my closing myself off from them. Now I had a second chance with them (especially Fluttershy), but, as they were much older now, I had significantly less time than I would’ve wanted.

Time is a very perplexing concept when you really think about it. All of us are given time to use in whatever way we want to, but, along with never knowing how much of it each of us has, none of us has any way of procuring more time. Whatever time we’ve been given, we can never get back once its already been wasted. This hit particularly hard for me when thinking of the years I’d wasted away from my friends. If there was ever a way for me to get back that time and use it more wisely, trust me, I would’ve taken that opportunity. I’d’ve spent more time with my beautiful Flutters letting her know how much I loved her before 20 whole years had passed by in Equestrian time and I wouldn’t have the overwhelming sense of guilt I felt now that I had no way of getting that precious time with her back or even because she’d surpassed me in years during said period, cutting the time we had together even shorter. Sadly, I now had to lie in my bed the way that I’d made it.

But what if there was a way for me to get more time back? What if I could prolong the time that I had with my beloved Fluttershy? Was there possibly some magic that existed deep down within me that would allow for that?

“Would you like to give them a treat?” Fluttershy questioned, drawing me out of my ponderings.

“Oh uhh sure,” I answered back.

And so I followed Fluttershy over to an alcove near the waterfall where a door stood out amongst the normally rocky exterior. She then produced a ring of keys with which she proceeded to use one to unlock the door whereupon the 2 of us entered inside the chamber. Looking upon my surroundings, I was quick to notice a large number of shelves stocked heavily with whatever Fluttershy needed to run her sanctuary properly. From food items to medical supplies, it looked like she was ready for just about anything that would come up.

Of course, the 2 of us weren’t the only ones in that room; Angel’s descendants had followed us inside, no doubt because they knew that treats were coming. There might be many different species of animals throughout the world, but treats seem to be a universal language that any of them could easily understand.

“Let me see here,” Flutters spoke up as she went through the shelves of supplies. “We’ve got sunflower seeds for the rodents, millet for the birds, got some vegan cookies here, but where are those carrots?”

Looking through the shelves myself to help her out, I finally found a stash of carrots where she hadn’t looked yet.

“Found ‘em, Fluttershy,” I stated, holding up a small bouquet of the vegetables.

“Oh good,” she replied.

At the sight of the carrots, all of the bunnies got excited and began hopping up at me trying to snatch one for themselves.

“Now now now,” I began, “don’t crowd. There’s more than enough fer each of ya.”

But none of them seemed to pay much attention to my statement as they continued hopping up to snatch them and even shoved each other out of the way. It was in that moment when I stared at them with wide, angry eyes locked onto all of them. At the sight of my stare, they all cut out their formerly wild behavior as fearful looks crossed their faces. When I felt like they were finally behaving themselves, I ceased my staring and set a carrot down for each of them.

“There’s some good bunnies,” I stated, pleasantly.

Flutters, who had been watching the whole scene play out in front of her, was amazed by my skill in handling the situation.

“Oh my,” she remarked. “I never knew that you could use ‘The Stare’ also.”

“Oh yeah,” I replied. “Ah’ve been able ta do it fer quite a while now, even before Ah started watchin’ yer guys’ show. It would work on some of our pets ‘n Ah was even able ta use it when ma youngest brothers were misbehavin’. Unfortunately, ma Stare isn’t anywhere near as effective as yers is. Some of our pets were too brainless ‘n ditzy fer it ta work on ‘em properly ‘n ma little brothers eventually grew too old fer ma Stare ta ‘ffect ‘em either.”

“That must’ve been hard for you. Still, it seems like your Stare works well enough for you here.”

“Ah ‘ppreciate that, Flutters.”

It was then when we were joined in the chamber by another animal. In this case, it was the fox that I’d remembered seeing from the last time I’d been to the sanctuary in order to rest myself after Rainbow’s intense workout. This fox, I recognized, walked with a bit of a limp as its front left paw was bandaged up.

“Oh. Hello, Faye,” Fluttershy greeted. “How’s your paw doing?”

The fox held her paw out for Fluttershy to remove the bandages from in order to get a better look. With the bandage removed, I was finally able to see that she had a sizable burn mark on said paw.

“What happened ta her?” I couldn’t help but question.

“She had an accidental run in with a territorial Phoenix that didn’t end well for her.”

It was in that moment when I remembered a magic spell I’d been reacquainted with during my lessons with Starlight that I was sure would help out in this situation.

“Hey, Faye, is it O.K. if Ah see yer paw fer a second?”

Faye looked a little hesitant and nervous at the thought of me handling her paw. This was understandable as she hardly even knew who I was. Fortunately, Fluttershy was able to help ease her anxiety.

“There’s no need to worry, Faye. David here is very gentle and trustworthy. I promise he won’t do anything to hurt you.”

With Flutters’ expression of encouragement, Faye gently held her paw out to me which I covered between both of my hands while recalling the spell that would help out. Closing my eyes to concentrate, I visualized the result that I wanted to happen: that result being the healing of Faye’s burn. Focusing and reaching out with my magic, I could sense the warmth flowing from my hands into Faye’s paw. Within less than a minute, I pulled my hands away to reveal that the burn had been healed completely with soft fur growing back in its place. Faye then carefully set her paw down to test it and make sure that it was completely healed. Sure enough, she didn’t limp on it anymore.

“Feel better?” I posed the question to Faye.

She nodded back at me eagerly and I even could’ve sworn that she smiled too.

“That’s good ta hear ‘n since ya’ve been soo brave while Ah was doin’ this, how ‘bout a cookie?”

Reaching for the jar, I plucked one vegan cookie from it before handing it over to Faye who gratefully accepted it. As she was eating her cookie, I held out one hand to gently scratch behind her soft, fluffy ears, much to her added enjoyment. It wasn’t long before Fluttershy spoke back up.

“Wow, David. You really do have quite the magic touch when it comes to animals.”

“It all comes with experience, honestly,” I plainly stated. “Surely you’d know a thing or 2 ‘bout that considerin’ yer skill with animals.”

“This is true,” she remarked. “Umm do you feel up for going to the Everfree Forest for me to show you what I wanted too?”

“Sure thing, Flutters,” I answered, stopping scratching Faye’s ears much to her disappointment.

And so, with Faye and the bunnies evacuated from the storage chamber before locking it up, me and Fluttershy made our way towards the Everfree Forest, all the while I couldn’t help but wonder what it was that she wanted to show me. I guessed I would find out soon enough.

* * * * * * * *

Before long, the 2 of us had made our way into the Everfree Forest, the thick canopy of trees overhead blocking out a significant chunk of daylight. Neither one of us really seemed to pay much attention to that fact as we walked along, enjoying each other’s company.

“So what exactly is it that ya wanna show me, Flutters?”

“I’ll show you when we get there,” she remarked playfully.

Not wanting to argue with her any further, I continued following her as we made our way ever deeper into Everfree. I couldn’t quite tell in what direction we were going as everything around me began to blur together and all look the same. Finally, though, we reached a river that I instantly recognized from my first time there when I’d been looking for AJ, Rare, and the CMC.

It was also the same place where I’d encountered that manticore drinking from the stream and narrowly avoided being his dinner. That flashback of my near brush with death caused me to hyperventilate a good deal out of anxiety, which was quickly noticed by Fluttershy.

“David? Are you alright?”

When I couldn’t get the right words out properly, she reached over and placed her hoof on my hand to try to calm me down. Thankfully, it helped and I was finally able to voice my anxiety.

“Sorry, Flutters. Ah was jus’ havin’ a flashback ta tha firs’ time Ah was here when Ah nearly got attacked by a manticore.”

“Oh my. David, I never knew that had happened to you. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have asked you to come here with me.”

“No no no. It’s O.K. Ah really do want ta spend time with ya ‘n see what it was that ya wanted ta show me. It’s really not that big of a deal.”

“Oh. O.K. If you’re really alright with it, I guess we can continue on.”

And so we crossed over the stream and made our way further into the forest with very little else spoken between us. After a good deal of walking along, I finally began to realize where exactly we were and where we were heading.

“Isn’t this tha way ta Celestia ‘n Luna’s old palace?”

“Mhmm.”

I couldn’t help but wonder why we’d be going to The Castle Of The Two Sisters when I’d already been there before. I began pondering in my head the reasoning behind this, trying to think back to what I’d seen from their show when I’d last watched it. Suddenly, it hit me. Not only was the old palace located there, but directly underneath it was the Tree Of Harmony. Could that have been what Fluttershy was bringing me there to see?

Before long, the 2 of us came close to a gorge that I instantly recognized as the same place where the Tree Of Harmony was located. Flying on ahead of Flutters, I immediately went down into the gorge.

“David, what’re you doing?” she questioned, following close behind me.

In my eagerness to see the Tree Of Harmony, I didn’t think to answer Fluttershy at that moment as I raced down into the gorge. When I got down there, though, I was greeted not by the Tree, but a large, crystalline pillar that went up into the cave roof. Undoubtedly, I was quite confused by the sight before me.

“Where’s tha Tree O’ Harmony?” I posed the question.

“What’re you talking about?” Flutters asked back.

“Ah thought you were bringin’ me here ta see tha Tree O’ Harmony.”

“Oh no,”-she shook her head, sadly-“The Tree Of Harmony was destroyed by King Sombra a long time ago.”

This piece of news really caught me off guard. Last I had remembered was that King Sombra had been killed off all the way back in the Season 3 Premiere. How could he have been brought back to life after dying soo long in the past.

“Wait. Ah thought he was killed off shortly after tha Crystal Empire came back. How could he possibly be brought back ta life like that?”

“Well, he wasn’t killed off exactly,” Flutters replied. “He was banished to the Aether, at least that’s how Rarity worded it… but then…,” her voice began to trail off as she continued, “Discord brought him back… along with some… other villains.”

“What!?!” I blurted out, incredulously shocked by that revelation. “Why in the 9 circles of Hell would he bring villains back like that!?!”

“It’s a long and complicated story that I’ll have to tell you about later, but shortly after he was brought back, Sombra destroyed the Tree Of Harmony along with the Elements.”

It was during Fluttershy’s description of these events that had happened soo long ago that I felt an added pang of guilt deep inside me, but this wasn’t like the pang that I felt at the fact that soo much time had passed since having last seen my friends. This pang was on account of me not being there to help defend Equestria from these evils that had arisen in my absence. As a son of Equestria, it was part of my responsibility to be there whenever evil threatened to destroy the land. Not only had my absence from here out of anger been hurtful towards my friends, but it had also been me shirking off my duties as a citizen.

No. Not just a citizen. A prince who was supposed to put the needs of my fellow ponies before my own selfish pettiness. What was that supposed to say about me as a person?

At the same time, though, I was also deeply disturbed by the fact that Discord had brought King Sombra back along with additional villains from Equestria’s past. Who these other villains were and why he’d united them, I wasn’t entirely sure about, though I did have my suspicions about the former. One villain in particular disturbed me the most considering Discord’s own past with them, if this villain was indeed among the party that he’d brought back which, in that case as I thought about it, would’ve been incredibly fucking stupid on Discord’s part. And on top of that, had he even been thinking about the countless pony lives he'd put in jeopardy by bringing these villains together? Had he even been thinking!?!

Drawing my attention away from those thoughts and returning to the now, I posed a new question to Fluttershy that had popped up in my head after her revelation that the Tree Of Harmony and the Elements along with it had been destroyed.

“So,” I began, “if ya weren’t gonna show me tha Tree O’ Harmony, what were ya gonna show me?”

“I was going to show you what was made from the Tree Of Harmony, directly above where we are now.”

“Ya mean there’s more than jus’ this crystal pillar here.”

“Uh huh. Follow me.”

And so I followed close behind Flutters as we made our way back up the gorge before flying over to where the Castle Of The Two Sisters was located. However, when we arrived there, something caught my eye that I wasn’t expecting. Sprouting up from within the castle ruins was a massive crystalline treehouse unlike anything I’d ever seen in my life.

Standing well above the castle ruins themselves, the tree had shimmering, pink crystal leaves on its many branches as well as several strands of diamond-shaped crystals hanging from them. Along with that were a couple of balconies I quickly noticed, exquisitely decorated windows, and a massive domed roof standing high above the 2 of us. Needless to say, the sight of this treehouse was quite a lot for me to take in all at once.

“Wow,” was all I could utter at the sight of this magnificent structure.

“It is quite impressive isn’t it?” Flutters replied.

I could only nod back as words failed me in that moment. Fortunately, she was able to fill the empty silence between us.

“Shortly after the Tree Of Harmony was destroyed by King Sombra, those 6 students who you met at the Gala came together to try and craft something from the ruins in remembrance of the Tree itself. From their combined efforts sprouted this: the Treehouse Of Harmony. It was created to be a safe haven for them as well as future generations whenever trouble might arise. Any creature could seek out safety within these walls should the need come up.”

“That’s good ta know,” I finally spoke up. “It certainly looks welcoming enough.”

“That it does,” Fluttershy agreed.

Looking up at the sky, I noticed that night would be falling soon. I’d been having such an enjoyable date with her that I’d lost track of the time.

“We should prob’ly be headin’ back.”

“O.K.,” Flutters answered back. “Hopefully, we’ll still have time for one more thing before this date is over.”

“‘N what might that be?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see when we get there,” she smiled back playfully.

And with that, the 2 of us began making our way back to Ponyville. It was during this time that I’d remembered that I still had my confession that I wanted to tell Fluttershy. I’d gotten soo wrapped up in the fun time that we were having that I’d lost track of that. I began thinking again about when the right time would be for me to come out to her with my true feelings. Should I tell her now as we were making our way back or should I wait until whatever it was that she had planned in store for the end of our date?

“David?”

“Oh uh- y-yes Flutters?”

“Is there something on your mind?”

It was incredible how she had such a strong knack for reading others simply through silent observation. My guess was that this had come about from years of not really interacting much with other ponies before her friends came along and just watching the expressions and body language of them from a distance. In a strange way, she kinda reminded me of Cassandra Cain from DC Comics, who would go on to take up the mantle of Batgirl after Barbara Gordon.

While definitely among the lesser known females to become Batgirl, I remembered reading earlier on about how Cassandra had been trained by her crime boss assassin father to read other people's body language, predict their movements so that she could counter an attack with ease. The downside of her harsh training was that she was never allowed to speak and therefore was unable to read nor could she carry on a simple conversation with others, something soo simple that anyone like you or me might've taken for granted. As time went on, though, she was eventually able to expand her vocabulary in order to talk with those she interacted with, even if her thoughts and sentences were somewhat stilted.

Fluttershy, when I really thought about it, definitely seemed to have that same uncanny ability for reading other ponies and even struggled earlier on in the show I'd once watched to communicate with them, just like I'd remembered reading about Cassandra dealing with similar struggles. However, Flutters' reasoning for struggling to express herself hadn't come from years of abuse under harsh parental figures; she'd just picked up the same meek personality that her parents had.

Anyhoo, I quickly realized that my mind had wandered a little too much as I finally spoke up to answer.

“Yes. There actually is.”

“Anything you feel like sharing with me?”

Before I could answer, a loud, thundering roar sounded off in the distance, but was clearly getting closer. My hairs began to stand on end as I fearfully thought about what could possibly be making that noise. Sure enough, a manticore came charging through the underbrush before standing within our presence. Though overcome with fear, I stepped out in front of Fluttershy, my trembling body shielding her from this threat that now stood before us.

“Stay back, Fluttershy,” I shouted as I raised my hands up towards the manticore. “I don’t want you to get caught in the crossfire.”

It was then when balls of crackling electricity began to form in both of my shaky hands as I prepared to defend us by any means necessary.

“WAIT!!!” Fluttershy screamed as she jumped between me and the manticore. “Don’t harm him.”

“Flutters, I don’t want him hurting any of us, especially not you.”

“He won’t. Trust me on this. He’s just as scared as you are.”

After hearing her statement, I slowly but surely lowered both hands as the lightning balls within them dissipated. After my hands were lowered, Fluttershy came over and took my hand in her hoof before leading me over to the manticore.

“Wh-wha-what’re you doin, Flutters?!?” I stuttered.

“It’s O.K. Just stay calm,” she reassured.

When we were finally standing in front of the manticore, Fluttershy gently placed my hand on his forehead. Sure enough, my hand that had originally been trembling uncontrollably began to settle down as the manticore closed his eyes out of enjoyment regarding my touch.

“Is that better?” Fluttershy posed the question.

“Yeah. Actually it is.”

It was in that moment when the manticore began gently licking my hand with his rough, scratchy tongue. I couldn’t help but giggle as I thought back to my family’s cat, Pepper, who would react similarly towards me. Fluttershy giggled too at this creature’s display of affection towards me before speaking up.

“Oh look. You’ve made a friend.”

“It appears so,” I replied.

After the manticore was done licking my hand, it turned and ran off deeper into the forest, leaving the 2 of us alone to ourselves. It was then when we were both reminded of how much darker it was getting as the day was coming to an end.

“Oh,” Fluttershy spoke up, “we’d better hurry if we want to make it in time for the moonrise.”

Not wanting to waste anymore time standing around, we quickly made our way through the Everfree Forest on swift wings, me following behind Fluttershy. Before long, we’d made it out of the forest as Fluttershy went flying quickly to the top of a nearby hill. Trailing behind her, I made my way up there with her just as the full moon was beginning to rise in the night sky. Standing behind Flutters, I couldn’t help but notice the dark silhouette of her that the moon produced. Something about that particular shape seemed familiar to me, but what?

Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, I was struck with a realization: The shape that I saw of her was the exact same shape that I’d seen in my dreams back on Earth for the past year and a half. All this time, I’d been dreaming about Flutters. Now that I thought about it, she’d told me that she’d been having the same dream of me every night for the past 6 years before my return to Equestria.

Doing the math in my head, it had been 5 years in Earth time since I’d last been in contact with my friends, but 20 years in Equestrian time, 4 times longer by my calculations. Considering that I’d had the same dream of Fluttershy for a year and a half back on Earth, multiplying that by 4 would’ve come up to approximately 6 years here. That meant that Flutters and I had been dreaming about each other for about the same time without even knowing it.

Taking a seat on the hill next to my beautiful Fluttershy, I thought long and hard about what I’d finally wanted to tell her. I wasn’t sure if the words would even come out right, but I knew that it would be far more important that I tell her how I truly felt about her before I wasted anymore time. Turning to face her, I finally spoke up.

“Flutters,” I began, “there’s somethin’ important Ah need ta tell ya.”

“Yes, David? What is it?” she questioned, looking over at me.

I struggled for a little while to come up with the right words to say to her.

“Ah know it’s been a really long time… since tha las’ time that we saw each other… before Ah came back here ‘n Ah know… that Ah’ve wasted a lot o’ time spent in isolation from all o’ ya…, but… Ah realize that that was foolish on ma part. Now that Ah’m back here, Ah don’ wanna miss any more time apart from you guys. Most importantly… Ah don’ wanna miss any more time apart… from you.

“These past few weeks have led me ta realize how much Ah care ‘bout you… ‘n even love you. After years o’ livin’ without friendship or even love, Ah realize Ah don’t wanna live without it any longer. Ah don’ wanna live without you any longer because o’ that love Ah have for you, Fluttershy. Ah’m not sure if ya feel tha same way ‘bout me, but-”

I was suddenly interrupted as Fluttershy quickly leaned in for a deep, passionate kiss on the lips, my pupils dilating, my wings shooting up in what I’d heard described as a “wing boner”, and a certain other “member” bulging within my pants in that moment. After the shock of the surprise kiss wore off, my eyes closed in relaxation and I placed my hand on the back of Fluttershy’s neck, fully pulling her into the kiss as the two of us ran our tongues against the others, exploring each others mouths thoroughly while enjoying this beautiful moment, her lips as soft and delicate as butterfly wings against mine.

Finally pulling apart, a playful look came across Fluttershy’s face.

“Was that a bunny in your pocket or were you just happy to see me?” she smiled mischievously.

I was caught a little bit off guard by this frisky side to Fluttershy that I’d never seen before. It wasn’t long until I spoke back up.

“Ah take it that ya feel similarly ‘bout me?”

“Honestly,” she began, “you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear what you just said. After Savannah’s murder, it pained me deeply to see how hurt you were as well as having lost a friend in her, but it pained me even deeper when you denied our friendship before we came back here. It was like I’d lost 2 friends in one night. I feared that that was going to be the last time that I ever saw you again.

“Over all of the years since then, I spent whatever time I could praying to God, the princesses, anypony who would listen that I’d get to see you again. Over 20 years later, I began to lose hope that you’d ever come back. By the time you did, I feared that you wouldn’t share the feelings I had for you and that you’d look for somepony younger. Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara, or even Pumpkin Cake. Not an old mare like me.”

That last name Flutters mentioned really surprised me at first. It took me several seconds before I remembered that 20 years had passed here in Equestria and that Pumpkin Cake was technically a grown mare now. Even with that realization in mind, though, something about the thought of pursuing a relationship with her like Fluttershy had speculated just now felt wrong to me. Very wrong.

“Aww come on, Flutters,” I replied after that thought had passed. “Yer not that old.”

“David, I’m 38 years old right now which puts me as being about 8 years older than you currently are,” she firmly stated.

“So what?!? That doesn’t change tha way that Ah feel bout ya. Ah felt a connection between us shortly after Ah came back here, but Ah was ‘fraid that ya might not feel tha same way.”

“If I’m being completely honest,” Flutters began, “I first fell in love with you on that first day you came to Equestria to protect us from that hag, but when I found out that you had Savannah, I was willing to put my feelings for you aside. Then, when she was murdered, I was devastated. It hurt me seeing the way that it hurt you and losing the friendship we had was even worse. I never thought we’d get the chance to be friends again after that.”

“Well Ah’m here now ‘n Ah wanna spend as much time as Ah can makin’ up fer what’s been wasted. Ah ‘specially wanna make sure that you know how much Ah love you, Flutters. You’ve been one o’ ma closest friends this whole time ‘n Ah don’ want anymore time ta go ta waste. As far as Ah’m concerned, yer ma future.”

With a smile on her face, she leaned in to kiss me again as I pulled her close, simultaneously running one hand through her mane, my fingers lacing their way through its silkyness, and massaging the bases of her wings with the other much to her moaning pleasure. We thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company til I escorted her back to her cottage before heading back to my own abode, calling it a night in the process. With my confession towards her finally off my chest, I looked forward to all that this new chapter of my life had in store.

Author's Note

Hello Everypony. Happy Hearts And Hooves Day. I hope y'all have a special somepony to share the day with, but, if you're single like me, I hope you're still able to find some enjoyment elsewhere. Just to give some quick updates, I'm nearing the end of this story, currently working on the last chapter and the Epilogue after that. I'll most likely have the story polished and published in its entirety within the next few months. Additionally, I've published my first ever one-shot for this special day titled Flutters Is Love. Flutters Is Life. The story itself is a play off of the Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life meme with far less cringe and explicitness. You can find it on my main page if you're interested in checking it out. Aside from that, not much else comes to mind. I hope you guys are enjoying this story as I'm writing it and I'll see you guys on the next chapter.

P.S. I just remembered something. Many of you have probably noticed that a certain "Klutzy" character has yet to appear in my story despite being listed in the character line-up. Well, don't worry because he'll finally make his appearance in the next chapter ready to wreak havoc in the only way he knows how too. Hopefully, it'll all be worth it for you guys and I'll see you then. Take care.

Chapter VII: He Tells Me Think With My Head (Not That Thing In My Chest)

Several days had passed since I’d made my confession of love towards Fluttershy. It was nice to finally have that off of my chest and not bottled up any longer. Not long after we’d made our relationship official, word began spreading like wildfire throughout Ponyville about the two of us being an item, even making its way directly to Princess Twilight in Canterlot. To a select few of varying races, the fact that I was dating Flutters was somewhat of an odd detail. I mean, aside from the fact that I had pony ears and wings, none of them really had any memory of the fact that I was part Alicorn. Very few of them even knew what a human was.

For the most part, though, many of those I came across were fully welcoming of the idea that the 2 of us were dating. They saw it as no different than the fact that Yona and Sandbar were married or that Ocellus and Smolder were dating themselves. I was of a similar mindset to the latter of the 2 opinions. Me and Fluttershy truly loved each other and that was all that mattered. Anycreature who had a problem with our relationship could take their prejudice and shove it up their ass for all I cared.

On this day, I was busy with work at the spa as usual. Lyra was getting her umpteenth massage (I’d honestly stopped trying to keep count at that point) from me as I ran my hands along her shoulders vigorously. Before long, her session with me was up as she hopped off of the massage table.

“Thanks for the massage, David,” she pleasantly stated.

“Yer welcome, Lyra,” I replied. “See ya nex’ time.”

And with that, she exited the chamber as I called out for my next client.

“Ah’m ready fer tha next customer.”

It wasn’t long after I’d made the announcement that the next pony came in. Much to my surprise, that pony turned out to be my girlfriend.

“Fluttershy?” I reacted.

Fluttershy never really came by to see me at the spa anymore as I gave her massages for free whenever we spent time together. Aside from that, she’d occasionally visit me when I got off of my shifts, but, in this case, my shift didn’t end for another 2 hours.

“Hi David,” she finally answered back. “How are you doing today?”

“Pretty good now that yer here. How ‘bout you?”

“Pretty good.”

“So what’re you up to here? Ah take it ya didn’ come here fer a massage.”

“Oh no. I simply came to let you know that Twilight has invited the 2 of us over for tea at her castle this evening.”

“That sounds great, ma love. Ah’ve always enjoyed many types o' tea. One o' ma personal favorite teas is Echinacea with some agave nectar ‘n a nice touch o’ lemon. O’ course, honey is perfectly fine too if agave nectar isn’t available.”

“That’s good to hear. She also mentioned that she had a special surprise treat for you to try when we get there.”

“What kinda surprise would that be?”

“Now, David, if I were to tell you that, it wouldn’t be a surprise anymore.”

“If ya told me, Ah could still act surprised.”

Flutters then let out a soft giggle at my response before speaking back up.

“Well somepony’s certainly playful today.”

I smiled back at her before answering.

“O.K. Fine. Ah guess Ah’ll wait ta see what it is,” I relented.

“I’ll see you once your shift is over, babe,” she spoke up as she turned to leave.

“You too, Flutters.”

And with a parting smile from her, she exited the chamber allowing for the next guest to enter as I continued my shift, all the while looking forward to whatever it was that lay in store regarding this little get together that Twilight was having. It was in that moment when my mind began racing thinking about our upcoming teatime. Was it merely just the 3 of us getting together to shoot the shit or was there a more formal reasoning behind it? Guess I’d find out soon enough.

* * * * * * * *

Before long, my shift was finally up and I exited the spa whereupon I immediately noticed Fluttershy waiting patiently outside for me. Her face instantaneously lit up at the sight of me.

“Hey beautiful,” I greeted. “Have ya been out here waitin’ fer me tha whole time?”

“Yes,” she answered back. “I just couldn’t wait to spend more time with my boyfriend.”

I smiled softly back at her before speaking back up.

“Do ya feel up fer a fly ta tha palace?”

“Sure.”

“O.K. Let’s go then.”

And so, with wings spread wide, we both took to the sky as we began the somewhat lengthy flight over to Canterlot. Given that we had a good while and distance to go before reaching our destination, this seemed as good of a time as any to strike up a conversation on our way there. Fluttershy was the first to speak up.

“So I’m not sure if I’ve asked you this before, but how’s your family doing?”

“They’re doin’ O.K. Aside from me, ma 2 youngest brothers are tha only other ones livin’ with ma parents at tha moment. Ma 2 middle brothers moved out a long time ago.”

“Wow,” Flutters remarked. “You certainly come from quite a large family. And you have a younger sister too?"

"Sure do."

"That's quite a lot of siblings. I just have 1 younger brother, Zephyr Breeze, but you probably already knew about him.”

“‘N how’s he doin?”

“Pretty well. He’s had a pretty successful career as a mane stylist for a while now.”

“That’s good ta hear. Ah’m sure he mus’ be enjoyin’ havin’ a steady form of income as well as a sense o’ fulfillment in regards ta how his time is spent.”

Fluttershy giggled softly before continuing.

“Yes. There certainly is that.”

“Time is one o’ those commodities that Ah believe could be argued is even more valuable than money. If Ah’d been thinkin’ ‘bout that on that night 5 years ago… 20 years ago here, Ah would’ve spent ma time a lot more wisely. Now, that’s time Ah’m never gonna be able ta get back.”

“Don’t be soo hard on yourself,” Flutters spoke, soothingly. “Everypony makes mistakes. What truly matters is that we don’t allow those mistakes to define who we are. Ever since you’ve returned here to us, you’ve been doing everything within your power to make up for that lost time. That shows incredible growth on your part. The time we have with each other in the now is what’s really important. Yesterday is already passed and tomorrow can worry about itself. What was that thing Rafiki said to Simba about the past in The Lion King?”

“He said that, while tha past can hurt, ya have tha choice ta either run from it or learn from it,” I stated as I thought back on when we’d all watched that movie, among others, together.

“Exactly,” Fluttershy continued, “and all that you’ve shown to us since coming back is that you’re learning from your past. It would’ve been easier for you to just spend the rest of your life angry and bitter at us, never wanting to come back here, but you chose to be the bigger pony- er… person and fix the friendships you had with us. It might not’ve been easy on your part, but I’m sure you’d agree that it’s been much better for all of us that you’ve returned.”

“Ah guess yer right,” I answered back. “Ah know that, if Ah’d never come back here ta y’all, Ah definitely wouldn’ have found a girlfriend as beautiful, kind-hearted, ‘n lovin as ya’ve been towards me. Ya’ve definitely helped fill a void Ah’ve felt deep down inside fer a while now.”

Fluttershy blushed heavily at my statement.

“I’m more than happy that I’ve been able to provide that for you.”

I smiled back at her before realizing that we were finally at Canterlot Palace.

“Oh. Looks like we made it,” I stated as we came in for a landing. “Guess Ah’ll finally be able ta find out what tha surprise is that Twilight has.”

“I guess so,” Fluttershy giggled.

And with that, the 2 of us made our way into the palace to meet for tea with Twilight. As long as I got to spend time with my beautiful marefriend, I was happy with whatever the future held in store.

* * * * * * * *

Not long after we’d entered the palace, Gallus came along to serve as an escort for me and Flutters, leading us over to the throne room where Twilight was waiting. Once the two of us had finally made our way into the throne room, I was swiftly taken aback by the size and scope of it. Along the walls on both sides of me were massive stained glass windows that commemorated historical moments from Equestria’s past.

Some of them I recognized easily like the defeat of Nightmare Moon and Twilight’s ascension to becoming an Alicorn Princess, but others were harder for me to make out or even describe what they served as memorials for. The thought then occurred to me that it was quite possible the windows portrayed events that came after I’d stopped watching the show. I swiftly made a mental note that, whenever I did return back to Earth, catching up with the show was my top priority.

But, no matter. At that moment, me and Fluttershy made our way over towards a small table that Twilight was seated at in the throne room. At the sight of both of us entering, she rose to her hooves to greet us.

“David. Fluttershy. It’s good to see the 2 of you on such short notice,” she stated pleasantly.

“Good seein’ you too, Twi,” I replied as me and Flutters came over to hug her.

As the 3 of us broke apart from the hug, Twilight led us over towards the table where we all took a seat on the cushions set up around it, me taking up an Indian style sitting position. It was then when I noticed what the surprise was that Twilight had in store, for on a platter in front of us was a stack of sandwiches, all of them filled with a creamy, tannish substance as well as another substance that held all the colors of the rainbow. I now had a good idea as to what kind of sandwiches these were, but chose to confirm with Twilight first.

“Are those what Ah think they are?” I posed the question to the princess.

“I believe so,” she answered back. “They’re SoyNut Butter and Zap Apple Jam sandwiches. Not long after we’d returned to Equestria from visiting you guys on Earth, I turned the jar of SoyNut Butter we took with us over to some of our top pony scientists to determine its composition so that it could be mass produced. We even did the same thing with the jar of Marshmallow Fluff we brought back. I understand that these types of sandwiches are a bit… unconventional when it comes to teatime, but I still thought it would be a nice gesture to let you try it out as I don’t believe you’ve ever gotten to taste Zap Apple Jam yet and SoyNut Butter seemed like a natural fit. Go ahead and try one.”

“Ah really do appreciate that, Twi. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

I then reached for one of the sandwiches before taking a sizeable bite out of it. The SoyNut Butter was just as good as I’d remembered it, but the Zap Apple Jam was what really caught my attention from a flavor perspective. Upon hitting my tongue, I was overcome with a flavor sensation that was equal parts sweet and tangy. It was safe to say that it was unlike anything I’d ever tasted before, something soo syrupy and yet tart at the same time.

“How do you like it, David?” Fluttershy asked.

“This is incredible! Ah mean, Ah’ve enjoyed many types o’ jams in tha past, but Ah never knew it could taste this good.”

“Glad to hear it,” Twilight replied with a smile as she used her magic to pour cups of tea for all 3 of us gathered there. “I hope you don’t mind Peppermint Tea. I also have some honey and lemon if you feel the need for them.”

“That sounds lovely,” I stated, accepting my cup from her.

After adding the appropriate level of honey and lemon to my tea, I took a small sip of it to help wash down the bite of sandwich I’d taken just a short while ago. Peppermint Tea had always been among my favorite types of tea, but I didn’t really get to have it all that often back at home and, even then, the last time that I had had it was soo long ago that I’d never originally thought about using honey or lemon with it. That being said, lemon and mint is a flavor combo I could never get tired of so, along with the sandwiches, this was a pleasant treat for me.

“So,” Twilight finally spoke up after pouring the last cup of tea for herself, “Starlight informs me that you’re making great progress in regards to your magic lessons.”

“That’s nice o’ her ta say.”

“Definitely,” Flutters concurred before taking a sip of her own tea.

“I got the chance to see that piece you put together about a week and a half ago, your tribute to Savannah and Fluttershy, and I’ve gotta say that I was quite impressed by the level of detail you put into the piece.”

“Oh that was nothin’,” I blushed. “Ah simply wanted it ta be tha best piece that Ah could possibly put out.”

“While your modesty is to be commended,” Twilight continued, “I think you should give yourself a little more credit than that. You created a piece that was both exemplary and beautiful, especially considering that you’ve never really gotten the chance to practice your magic back on Earth the past several years since you last visited Equestria. A piece like what you made deserves to be congratulated.”

“Ah honestly jus’ made what Ah felt in ma heart.”

“Those are oftentimes the very best pieces one can make,” Flutters spoke up after swallowing a mouthful of sandwich. “Pieces that have a true level of love and passion put into them can easily convey that same love and passion outwardly to the viewing audience.”

“Mhmm,” Twilight agreed, “and, ever since you 2 came out with your feelings for each other, you’ve both certainly become the talk of the town.”

“Well, when Ah first came up with ma idea fer tha piece, ma intentions were ta use it ta build up ma confidence ta finally tell Flutters how Ah truly felt ‘bout her,” I stated as I took Fluttershy’s hoof in my hand. “Ah guess it’s safe ta say that it all worked out perfectly.”

“That it certainly did, my love,” Flutters smiled softly at me before nuzzling the side of her face against mine.

Twilight couldn’t help but smile at this display of love and affection towards each other before speaking up.

“I’m just happy that you’ve been able to move on from where you were years ago when that tragic incident happened.”

“As am Ah,” I answered back. “If Ah’d never decided ta come back here, Ah’m not sure where Ah’d be. Possibly back in tha cuckoo cabin, thinkin’ that all tha times Ah’d spent with you guys were nothing more than delusions.”

“We were here for you then and we always will be. Even now and long into the future,” Flutters boldly affirmed.

“Ah truly do ‘ppreciate you guys sayin’ that,” I stated before taking another sip of tea.

“Twilight,” Fluttershy began, “were you going to tell David about the proposition you had for him?”

“What proposition?” I puzzled.

“Well,” the princess started, “ever since you came back to us, I’d been reminded of how much you loved to sing from when we’d interacted with you in the past. So I thought to myself that maybe you’d want to take that back up again? Possibly make a career out of it?”

It was after Twilight’s proposal that I was taken aback. I thought about how much I’d enjoyed singing in the past, but, at the same time, felt like that window of opportunity for me to try and make a career out of that passion had closed long ago. There was no way that a nutcase like me would ever be able to get back into music again. Nonetheless, it was something that I was still passionate about even now so maybe there was still a chance for that passion to continue on, especially if the ruler of all Equestria was offering it to me.

“Twilight… Ah’m flattered that ya’d think o’ me like that,” I replied. “Ah honestly don’ know what ta say.”

“I understand that it’s probably quite a lot for you to take in all at once,” Twilight stated after swallowing a bite of sandwich, “but it’s not something that you need to decide on right this minute. Take as much time as you need to come up with an answer.”

“Whatever choice you decide upon, I’ll always be there to support you,” Flutters spoke up.

“Thanks, you guys.”

“You’re welcome,” Twi and Flutters answered simultaneously.

And with that, our tea time continued for another half hour or so as we sat there talking about nothing else in particular yet still enjoying each others company all the while. Afterwards, me and Fluttershy thanked Twilight for our time with her before the two of us left, me escorting Fluttershy back to her cottage before heading back to my house for the night. Settling in for the night, I reflected happily on the time we’d just had, not knowing how it would all fall apart the very next day.

* * * * * * * *

The next morning, I woke up refreshed and rejuvenated. Being that it was my day off from work, I didn’t really have much on my schedule of any major consequence. As I thought to myself what I might want to do that day, I figured that the first and obvious choice would be getting breakfast for myself from Sugarcube Corner. With that thought in mind, I also figured it might be a nice gesture to get something for Fluttershy while I was there.

Taking to the sky, I made the short flight over to Sugarcube Corner whereupon I was greeted by the Cake twins at the front counter.

“Good morning, David,” Pound Cake greeted.

“What can we get for you today?” Pumpkin Cake asked.

“Hey guys,” I began. “Ah’d like 2 Lemon Muffin Surprises ta go.”

“Coming right up,” Pumpkin stated as she used her magic to pull the muffins from the display and place them in a paper bag.

I then passed over several bits before gladly accepting the bag from her.

“Thanks you guys.”

“No problem,” Pound replied. “Come again soon.”

And so, with breakfast in hand, I exited the building before taking off for Fluttershy’s cottage. I was at the front door in almost no time at all before I tapped out my ever familiar rhythm on it.

Tap. Tap. Taptap Tap.

It wasn’t long after knocking on the door that I noticed 2 circular shapes begin to form on it at eye level. Suddenly, the circles opened up to reveal 2 yellow eyes with red pupils staring directly at me.

“Ahhhh!!!” I cried out in surprise, leaping backwards in the process.

While I was still in a state of shock at this unexpected greeting, a tall, slender shape began to emerge from the door itself, a mishmash of various parts that looked disjointed and random.

“Ah. You must be David,” the figure, who I soon recognized as Discord, greeted me.

Upon realizing that it was Discord, I was somewhat able to relax a bit more. I only say “somewhat” because of the unsettling thoughts still lingering in the back of my mind regarding what Fluttershy had mentioned to me about Discord that time when we were in the Everfree Forest together.

“‘N yer Discord,” I answered back.

“I see my reputation precedes me.”

That’s certainly one way of putting it, I thought to myself.

“What’re ya doin’ here?”

“What?” Discord responded as a question mark formed above his head. “Does a close friend really need an excuse for seeing another close friend? I just came to visit Fluttershy for the heck of it.”

It was then when Discord noticed the brown paper bag that I was holding.

“Ooo! What do you have in there?” he questioned. “Something from Sugarcube Corner, perhaps?”

“Jus’ 2 muffins.”

Discord then gasped before speaking back up enthusiastically.

“You brought over one for me?!? Why, David, you really shouldn’t have.”

“Ah didn't. One is fer me ‘n tha other is fer Fluttershy.”

After my statement was made, Discord visibly deflated like a balloon until he was nothing more than a flattened rubbery mess on the ground.

“Oh. I see how it is. Discord’s just not important enough for the ‘Savior of Equestria’ to bother with doing something nice to him,” he answered, disappointedly before he finally reinflated into his usual self.

“Dude, Ah hardly even know you. We’ve had literally zero interaction with each other in tha past.”

“Is that supposed to be an excuse?” he reacted in mock offense. “You obviously knew about me from my show that you used to watch.”

“Ya mean Twilight ‘n her friends’ show?”

“Technically, I count as a friend too.”

“But would a real friend bring back an evil shadow king from tha dead?”

“Oh please. That was blown way too far out of proportion. It was nothing that serious.”

It was then when I came to realize that this conversation was getting very much off topic before finally speaking back up.

“Anyhoo, do ya know if Flutters is here by any chance?”

“She was. She had to leave just a few minutes ago because of a situation that arose over at her animal sanctuary.”

He looked at me with a mischievous gleam in his eye before continuing.

“Somepony anxious to see his marefriend, by any chance?”

“What business is it of yers if Ah am? What goes on in our love life is private as far as we’re concerned.”

“Suit yourself. I just hope that you’re ready for the inevitable backlash that’s to follow.”

“What backlash?” I puzzled.

“Oh nothing all that important. Just the backlash that’ll come from the fact that a human is dating a pony.”

“You should already know by now that there is no backlash here. Most everycreature round here has been nothin’ but supportive of our relationship.”

“Oh no no no. I’m not talking about your friends here. I’m talking about your family back on Earth.”

A shocked expression crossed my face at the statement that he just made.

“Ah yes. You hadn’t thought at all about that, had you? I’m quite familiar with many different traditions and customs among those from other worlds and dimensions. Standing out strongest in my mind is the fact that humans having relations with non-human animals is very heavily frowned upon in your world. I believe… 'bestiality' is the word best used to describe it. Your family in particular would be quite ashamed of and disappointed in you if they ever found out you were in a relationship with a pony. They’d cast you out from them, just like a leper.”

Just to comically illustrate his point, Discord suddenly turned sickly pale as his lion paw, his feathered bird wing, and his tail fell off of his body. Then he simply snapped his eagle talons and was back to normal.

“Y-y-you don’t know th-that,” I stammered.

“Don’t I, though? Humans in particular are rather closed minded in regards to things that they neither understand nor are willing to accept. In all the thousands of years that they’ve been around on Earth, this mindset towards ‘bestiality’ has always existed and I don’t see any reason for it to be changing anytime in the near future.”

Discord then let a smile cross his face before continuing.

“But, then again, what do I know? I’m just a god of chaos who’s been around for more than a millenium. You’re more than welcome to do whatever you feel like. I mean, it’s just your family’s love and approval you’d be throwing away. Don’t let me get in the way of that.”

As I stood there completely dumbfounded at what Discord had just stated, he turned his wrist towards his eyes as if looking at a watch, despite the fact that there was no watch there. Still, he spoke right back up after looking at his wrist.

“Oh look at the time. It’s half past mole. I really must be going. Please do tell Fluttershy that I had to run, but that I’ll catch up with her later. Ta ta.”

And with that, a portal opened up beneath his feet that he simply vanished into before it closed right back up, leaving me there all by myself to think about what had just happened. As much as I hated to admit it, Discord was right about what he’d just mentioned a short while ago: human relations of that nature with non-human creatures were a very strongly taboo topic and one that humans were just as strongly opposed against. As Christians, my family’s mindset towards the issue was no different and there was no way that they would ever approve of me and Fluttershy’s relationship if they were to ever find out.

I mean, what was I supposed to do? Completely cut myself off from the human world for the rest of my life just to maintain our relationship? My family would still miss me terribly. They’d spend the rest of their lives worrying about where I could possibly be and why I never came back to them. I could see spending some time away from my family, but the rest of our lives? There was no way that I could subject them to that kind of pain.

Even with that, though, the next big problem I faced was how I would go about breaking the news to Fluttershy? I still loved her deeply and didn’t want to see her get hurt, but could anyone truly get out of a situation like this without being hurt in one way or another?

“David?” I heard a familiar voice call out, drawing me out of my ponderings.

Looking up, I saw my dear Flutters flying towards me.

“Hey, Fluttershy,” I spoke up as she came in for a landing near me.

“What’re you doing here? I wasn’t expecting you here this early.”

I struggled to come up with the right words to say in reply, my thoughts a jumbled mess that was nearly impossible for me to make any sense out of. Upon noticing the paper bag that I was holding, Flutters posed a question to me.

“Whatcha got in the bag there?”

“Oh, jus’ a couple o’ muffins. Ah got a Lemon Muffin Surprise fer each of us.”

“Oh, David, that’s soo thoughtful of you.”

I then reached into the bag before handing a muffin off to her and taking mine out. After about a minute of awkward silence while eating our muffins, Fluttershy finally spoke up.

“Is something bothering you, David? You don’t seem like your usual chipper self today.”

This moment pained me to no end as I thought hard about how to break the news to Flutters. There was no way that it was going to be easy by any means, but I still wanted to handle it as delicately as I could. Finally, the words came to me.

“Yes. Somethin’ is botherin’ me.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

I sighed sadly before responding.

“Ah jus’... don’ think there’s any way… you ‘n Ah are ever gonna work out.”

A look of shock crossed Fluttershy’s face, like I’d smacked her.

“W-why would you say that?” she puzzled.

“Because o’ tha backlash that would come up from us dating.”

“But just about everycreature here is fully supportive of our relationship.”

“It’s not here that we gotta worry ‘bout, babe.”

“What do you mean?”

“Back on Earth, there’s very strict laws regardin’ what’s considered natural ‘n ethical. In ma world, relationships like ours are very heavily frowned upon.”

“So what if your world looks down on stuff like that? You’re here in Equestria now. All that should truly matter is that we love each other.”

“Would that it were soo simple.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“In all honesty, what ma world thinks doesn’t bother me nearly as much as what ma family would think. If they found out that Ah was datin’ a pony, they’d turn me away. It’s not even like Ah could jus’ spend tha rest o’ ma life here in Equestria cut off from them. We’d miss each other far too much. Ah still care fer you, Flutters, but… Ah can’t love ya like that.”

It was in that moment when Fluttershy’s expression completely dropped, the color draining from her face, and that spark in her eyes dying entirely. After several seconds, she finally replied.

“No. You’re right. You need to put the thoughts and feelings of your family first. I… I just hoped… that I could’ve been… part of that family.”

That statement stabbed me in my very soul as I tried speaking back up.

“Flutters, Ah-”

“Please don’t,” she cut me off, sadly as tears formed in her eyes. “I need some time by myself to… reconsider my own life.”

It was then when she flew as far away from me as she could. As I stood there in shock all the while, the biggest thought running through my mind was Dear God, what have I done?!?

Author's Note

Hey guys. Hope all of you are doing well. Personally, I've been going through a serious bout of depression over the past week or 2 and I'm not entirely sure why. Just how depression works most times, I guess. And on top of that, I just found out yesterday that my hours at work have been severely cut because of the coronavirus situation going on right now. As such, my financial stability is uncertain as far as the foreseeable future goes. Still, I've been busy working on this story even as it nears the end. This chapter was pretty enjoyable in that I finally got to incorporate Discord's wackiness that we all love to see. I hope that I was able to do him justice as this was my first time writing for him in any of my works. Additionally, the title of this chapter came to me from a song that I've been listening to a lot lately called "This Feeling" by The Chainsmokers and Kelsea Ballerini as did the title for the next chapter. Anyhoo, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and I look forward to releasing the next one in the near future. See you guys later.

Chapter VIII: But You're The One That I Want

Very little time had passed since I’d broken up with Fluttershy as I made my way sadly through Ponyville, but even though such a short amount of time had gone by, to me, it felt like ages and was by no means any easier for me to swallow. I walked through Ponyville with a heavily downcast expression, thinking to myself about all that had transpired leading up to the breakup: my arrival at her cottage, the run in with Discord, his statements, and me ultimately calling off our relationship much to Fluttershy’s tearful reaction. I played the moment through my mind on repeat countless times over, each instance more painful than the last.

As I walked along in solitude through Ponyville, face downturned, several creatures noticed me and began whispering amongst each other as to what was possibly going on with me that had brought me to this lowly state. It wasn’t long before I was walking past Sugarcube Corner when Pinkie Pie came out to greet me.

“Good morning, Davey. How you doin?”

“Ah’m really not in tha mood right now, Pinkie,” I deflected, walking right by her.

Watching me continue on my way, a confused expression crossed her face.

“What’s wrong with Davey?” she questioned to herself.

It was in that moment when I continued walking along in my solitude. I wasn’t sure where I’d go, but-

“Hellooooo. I asked you a question.”

…

“I can see you there writing this story, Mr. Narrator.”

… P-Pinkie?

“Yup. That’s my name. Don’t wear it out.”

H-how’re you able to communicate with me this way?

“Oh I’ve always been able to do this. I’ve just never had a good enough reason to do so until now. So what’s wrong with Davey?”

Well… he just had a really stressful break up with Fluttershy and is now really torn up about it.

“Oh no! That sounds awful.”

It is.

“But wait a minute. If you’re the one telling this story… and it’s from a first pony perspective, does that mean that… you’re Davey?”

…

“It does, doesn’t it?”

… Y-yes. Yes it does.

“Cool. So you’re writing this story after the events have already happened?”

Yeah. That’s one way of putting it.

“So can you tell me if you and Fluttershy ever get back together? I can’t imagine the 2 of you living apart like this.”

Unfortunately, I can’t give away that kind of information, Pinkie.

“Aww. Why not?”

Because if I just spout off information about what happens in the future, it could possibly create an alternate timeline or a time paradox that could have negative consequences.

“Ohhh. You mean like in those Back To The Future movies we saw long ago?”

Yes. Exactly like that.

“Well, in that case, I hope that it all works out well for you 2.”

I-I appreciate that, Pinkie.

“You’re welcome, Davey.”

“Pinkie? Who’re ya talkin’ too?”

“Oh hey, Applejack. No pony in particular. Just thinking out loud. Anyhoo, I gotta go check on Li’l Cheese right now. See you later. La la la la la la la.”

“What tha hay was that all ‘bout?”

…

I’m sorry. I need a few seconds to reorganize my thoughts and catch back up to where I was before this little interruption. Now let’s see. Pinkie asked if I was David, she broke the 4th wall before that… ah yes! Now I remember. I had been walking along through Ponyville alone with my thoughts. Well, not too long after that, I thought to myself that it might be helpful if I were to go and talk to Twilight about what had transpired between me and Flutters, have another ear to bounce it off of, so I made my way over to the train station before hopping aboard a train to Canterlot. Please don’t ask why I didn’t just use my wings to fly there. That wasn’t exactly in the forefront of my mind at the moment.

Sitting aboard the train, I kept replaying the painful memory of breaking up with Fluttershy in my head. Other creatures aboard the train whispered amongst themselves as to why I looked as downtrodden as I did. I did my best to block them all out as I thought about what I’d tell Twilight once I finally got to the palace. All I knew in that moment was that the train couldn’t get me there fast enough.

* * * * * * * *

After a pretty long while aboard the train (although it might’ve just felt that way because of the mood I was in), I arrived in Canterlot and immediately began making my way towards the palace. It took quite a bit of time to walk there from the train station, but I finally reached it after far too long. Gallus was there at the front doors to greet me.

“Hello, David,” he stated.

“Hey, Gallus. Is Twilight here by any chance?”

“Why yes she is. You’ve actually come here at just the right time. She just finished up an important meeting with Dragon Lord Ember and has a few minutes before her next one. Would you like for me to serve as an escort to see her?”

“Ah’d appreciate that a lot, Gallus. This palace is soo large it’s too easy fer one ta get turned around.”

And so, Gallus led me through the entrance of the palace and down the many long hallways towards the throne room. It was only a matter of a few minutes before we reached our destination, Gallus entering the room first to announce me.

“Princess, David is here to see you.”

“Thank you, Gallus,” I heard her reply from inside. “Please send him in.”

And with that, Gallus let me pass by him into the throne room before closing the door behind me. I then made my way over towards the princess, seated on her throne.

“Hello, David,” she amiably greeted. “I wasn’t expecting you here. Is everything O.K.?”

A sad sigh escaped my lips before I finally spoke up.

“No. Everythin’ isn’t.”

“What’s wrong?” Twi questioned in a soft, concerned, motherly tone.

“Ah jus’ broke up with Fluttershy earlier this morning.”

“Oh no! Why did you break up with her?”

“Because there’s no way that our relationship would ever work out. Ah’m a human ‘n she’s a pony. Tha backlash over us datin’ is not somethin’ Ah’d wanna subject her too.”

“But I thought that many creatures around here were fully supportive of your relationship.”

“It’s not that kinda backlash Ah was talkin’ about. Ah mean tha backlash from ma family if they found out Ah was datin’ her. Back on Earth, relationships o’ that nature between a human ‘n non-human creature are viewed very negatively. Humans are far too closed minded 'bout that kinda thing. Ma parents would never understand or accept that ‘n it’s not like Ah could jus spend tha rest o’ ma life here in Equestria completely cut off from ‘em. They’d miss me too much.”

Twilight simply sat there silently for a while, letting what I’d told her fully sink in. Finally, she spoke up.

“So you’re afraid of being in a relationship with Fluttershy because you feel that your family would reject you as well as her?”

“Mhmm.”

“Let me ask you something, David, and I want you to think really hard on this. Think about all the media that you’ve seen portrayed back in your world. Are you sure that there’s absolutely no examples of relationships between 2 completely different species at all?”

As I thought it over in my head, several examples of relationships like that slowly came to my mind.

“Well… there was this one show from a while back where a famous space captain was constantly gettin’ inta flings with various alien women.”

“Mhmm.”

“There was also an animated fantasy movie series wherein a dragon ‘n a donkey wound up havin’ kids together.”

“Yes.”

“‘N there was a live-action/animated hybrid where a human woman was married to a rabbit.”

“Exactly."

"But, how would you know ‘bout that?"

"Because of that one time when all 6 of us were inside your head, as fuzzy as my memories of the incident are. And don’t forget that Spike had a crush on Rarity for the longest time. Not to mention that I myself had a crush on Flash Sentry’s human counterpart in that alternate reality when I was younger.”

“Yer right.”

“In fact, Flash’s crush on me reminds me of another movie you saw long ago where a Unicorn was turned human and fell for a human prince. Even after that prince found out she was a Unicorn, he never stopped loving her. Do you remember what he specifically said about the matter?”

It took me a little while of thinking, but the exact quote finally came to me.

“He said, ‘Ah love whom Ah love’.”

“Precisely. And of course there’s your favorite Disney movie, The Little Mermaid, which makes me think of your relationship with Fluttershy all the more.”

“Why’s that?” I puzzled.

“Because it features a romance between Prince Eric, a human, and Princess Ariel, a Mermaid; a being that’s half-human and half-fish. Much like Ariel, you’re composed of 2 separate parts too. You’re part human and part pony just like us with your pony ears and great feathered wings while Fluttershy is fully pony, much like Eric being fully human. Technically, your pony ancestry still means that you’re more connected to Fluttershy than most other species, even if we can’t quite remember that ancestry on your side.”

“Huh. Ah’d never thought ‘bout it that way before. In fact, Ah’d completely fergotten that Ah have pony ears ‘n wings.”

“Maybe this human culture you talk about back on Earth is more open-minded and accepting of something like this than you give them credit for? More importantly, we’re all sentient beings here and, if you truly do love Fluttershy as much as you’ve claimed, then that love for her is all you really need in the long run, regardless of species, just like the human prince who loved the Unicorn.”

“Ah guess yer right,” I spoke up before berating myself. “God was Ah stupid ta push her away like that.”

“Well there’s no better time than the present for you to make things right with her. I’d suggest you do it quickly, though.”

“Thanks, Twi. Ya’ve been very helpful with providing clarity on the situation.”

“Well that’s what I’m here for,” she smiled. “Good luck with getting her back.”

And with that, I left the palace on swift wings back to Ponyville, determined more than ever to win Fluttershy back by any means necessary no matter what it took.

* * * * * * * *

It probably goes without saying that the flight back to Ponyville was far less time consuming than when I’d taken the train from there to Canterlot. As far as I was concerned, it was much more important that I preserve as much time as I could, that way I’d have much more of it to focus on winning Fluttershy back. Even then, my mind was racing with what I would say to her when I found her, what my apology would be to her for being such a dumbass. All I knew was that I’d already dug myself a pretty deep hole this time and it would most likely take more than a simple apology to get back into her good graces again.

I finally made it back to Ponyville in record time. I mean, as close to a record as I could possibly get. I’m not Rainbow Dash here. That being said, it was definitely a relief to know that I was that much closer to getting my beautiful mare back. While making my way over to Fluttershy’s cottage, I had soo many thoughts running through my mind that I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. As a result, I soon found myself flying headlong into a palm tree.

I wound up hitting the tree with enough force that I ended up with a pretty bad brain-throbbing headache afterwards.

“Ow!” I reacted while rubbing my head after the collision. “Who put a freakin’ palm tree here?”

“Why, I did,” a familiar voice responded as the palm tree morphed into Discord, startling me in the process.

“Jesus Christ, Discord!” I voiced my frustration. “Why can’t ya ever be normal?”

“Now where would the fun be in that?” he questioned back.

“What’re ya even doin’ here?”

“Well, Fluttershy has expressed interest in the past with being a tree so I figured I’d try it out for myself. I’ll admit that it’s been rather interesting just being a fly on the wall, watching other ponies go about their lives while hiding in plain sight.”

“But why a palm tree out of all things instead o’ somethin’ smaller like… Ah dunno, a bonsai?!?”

“It just seemed appropriate for the season,” he shrugged, sticking one of his talons in his ear to scratch an itch before pulling an entire coconut out of it and flicking it aside.

I swiftly shoved the thought from my mind as I returned to the matter at hand.

“Anyhoo, do ya have any idea where Flutters is? Ah’ve got somethin’ important ta talk ta her ‘bout.”

“An apology perhaps?”

“Do ya know where she is or not?”

“Why yes I do. She was very upset after you broke up with her, though.”

“You mean after you purposefully drove a wedge between us?!?” I reacted angrily. “Your meddling caused me to send her away in tears. I promised to myself that I’d never cause her to cry like that.”

“Well you’ve been doing such a bangup job with that so far,” he sardonically remarked. “You made her cry when you sacrificed yourself to the hag, when you lashed out at those dragons, when you denied your friendship-”

“O.K. O.K. Christ and biscuits, I get it! Just please stop already.”

“Oh but I was having soo much fun pulling your leg,” he responded, while holding up a very familiar looking leg.

Looking down at my feet, I suddenly realized that the leg Discord was holding was my right leg, completely detached from my body. Before I could fall over from standing on only one leg, I flapped my wings til I was hovering in front of Discord so that I was a bit more balanced than I was on the ground.

“Well somepony’s certainly quick on their feet,” he spoke back up before returning my leg. “Too bad you couldn’t be the same way towards Fluttershy.”

“What’re ya talkin’ ‘bout?”

“Well, as you’ve probably known, Fluttershy happens to be one of my oldest and dearest friends, but, despite hearing how much she used to talk of you over the years, I knew hardly anything about you. So I thought to myself ‘how can I truly know if he deserves Fluttershy or not’? It was then when I thought of a test for you. Only if you passed that test would I know that you and Fluttershy belong together. At first, it looked like you’d failed spectacularly, but I see now that you’re showing remorse for your actions, actions that may or may not have been because of my meddling.”

My expression softened a bit more before I finally spoke up.

“While Ah ‘ppreciate tha thought behind this, Discord, it’s not yer place ta decide if me ‘n Flutters should be together nor is it mine. That decision can only be hers alone ta choose. Ah plan ta go ‘n apologize ta her fer actin’ soo stupid, but whether or not she wants ta continue our relationship will ultimately be up ta her.”

“You’re probably right,” he answered back.

“So do ya know where she is?”

“Yes. She’s over at the Treehouse Of Harmony in the Everfree Forest.”

“Thanks,” I quickly replied as I flew off in that direction.

“Any time,” he answered back while I made my way towards Flutters’ location, more determined than ever to make things right between us.

* * * * * * * *

After all that had transpired on that day, it was about late afternoon by the time I finally reached the Everfree Forest, flying through there as quickly as I could while also trying to stay focused so that I wouldn’t accidentally fly headfirst into a tree again. Even after our date together nearly a week ago, my memory of the forest still stood out pretty strongly in my mind. Reaching the river further confirmed that I was on the right course as I flew past it.

Despite my focus being heavily relegated to where I was going at the time, I couldn’t stop thinking of how I would go about apologizing to Flutters when I finally found her. I’d already focused a good amount of time on figuring that out ever since leaving Canterlot, but there was still a heavy cloud of uncertainty that hung over me all throughout. What would I tell her? Would my words come out right? Would they be enough? Would she be able to forgive me after how I’d treated her? All these thoughts and more ran through my mind as I flew along through Everfree.

Before long, I finally saw the Treehouse Of Harmony standing tall in the distance as I breathed a sigh of relief. Flying even faster, I made my way over towards it in no time at all. Coming in for a landing, I entered the Treehouse and went from room to room calling out Fluttershy’s name.

“Flutters? Are ya in here?”

Finally, I reached a room where I found Fluttershy with her back towards me, laboring over something I couldn’t quite make out.

“Flutters?”

She let out a small “eep” before swiftly turning to face me. Upon seeing me there in her presence, she spoke up in a puzzled manner.

“David? What’re you doing here?”

“Ah could just as easily ask you tha same thing. Ah was lookin’ everywhere fer ya cuz Ah was worried.”

“Wait. You came looking… for me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Cuz Ah wanted ta ‘pologize ta you fer bein’ such an idiot. Ah never meant any o’ tha things that Ah said ‘bout us not bein’ able ta work out. Ah let tha words of another individual get ta me ‘n cloud ma judgement ‘n lead me ta say some stupid shit that Ah never even meant. Tha truth is that Ah love you deeply, Fluttershy, no matter what anyone else says.”

“But… what about your family?” she questioned.

“In all honesty, what ma family says ‘bout this doesn’t bother me nearly as much as spendin’ tha rest o’ ma life apart from you. One o’ these days, Ah hope ta have you as part o’ ma family… if ya’ll ever forgive me fer bein’ an ignorant jackass.”

It took several seconds for Fluttershy to process all that I’d said to her, but, finally, eyes shimmering with emotion, she flew into my arms before embracing me tightly.

“You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that,” she spoke up as I hugged her back. “Of course I forgive you, David.”

It was during this moment of our loving embrace that I looked over her shoulder to see what it was that she’d been working on before I’d found her. All that I saw when I looked behind her was a lengthy piece of vine. My mind was troubled at the sight of the vine as I thought of the possible implications behind it and how I’d managed to find Flutters at just the right time to apologize to her. That being said, I didn’t want to ruin this beautiful moment that we had with each other so I held my tongue on the matter.

Instead, a different thought came to my mind, a way that I could make sure that she knew just how important she was to me, before I spoke back up.

“Ah just thought of a way that Ah could make it all up to ya fer tha trouble Ah’d put you through.”

“Oh, David, you know you really don’t have to.”

“Please jus’ let me do this one thing fer you,” I insisted.

“O.K.,” she finally gave in. “What did you have in mind?”

* * * * * * * *

A few hours later, it was nighttime as both me and my beautiful Fluttershy were lying in bed together back at my place. I had made this proposal to her with the very clear disclosure that there was absolutely nothing sexual about it at all, but rather an exercise in trust between the 2 of us. I was not the kind of person who would willingly deflower somepony as pure-hearted and innocent as Flutters outside of the context of marriage. While certain that the day for marriage would eventually come, I was more concerned with making sure that she knew full well that I’d never leave her and this was meant to be my way of expressing that towards her.

In that moment, lying there while holding each other close, nothing else mattered to us as we enjoyed each other’s presence.

“I hafta admit,” Fluttershy finally spoke up, “this is the first time anypony of the opposite sex has ever invited me to sleep over at their place.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Really. Aside from sleepovers with my friends, it hasn’t really been my thing. You’re the first relationship I’ve been in who’s ever invited me to spend the night together.”

“Well Ah’m honored that Ah could be tha first,” I smiled back at her.

“So what made you change your mind about being in a relationship with me?”

“Ah went ta visit Twilight at her castle where she helped talk some sense inta me. Ah’d mentioned how closed-minded most people were in regards ta relationships like ours before she reminded me o’ several instances o’ media back on Earth that featured relationships o’ that nature. Stuff like Star Trek, Shrek, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, 'n Tha Last Unicorn among others. She even brought up Tha Little Mermaid ‘n how it actually reminded her more about tha 2 of us than anything else.”

“How so?” she puzzled.

“Well, she said that Ah was much like Ariel in tha sense that she was part-human ‘n part-fish much like how Ah’m part-human ‘n part-pony, somethin’ that Ah’d fergotten ‘bout at tha time, before statin’ that you were much like Prince Eric in that he was fully human while yer fully pony.”

“Huh. I’d never thought of it that way before.”

“Neither had Ah in all honesty.”

It was then when Fluttershy let out a soft, adorable yawn before I spoke back up.

“Looks like somepony’s gettin’ tired. It’s prob’ly a good idea fer us ta get some rest.”

“O.K.,” she replied before giving me a soft kiss on the lips. “I’ll see you in the morning, my handsome prince.”

“See ya then, ma beautiful mare.”

And so, we fell asleep shortly afterwards, holding each other close all through the night while thankful to share our lives together.

* * * * * * * *

Waking up the next morning with Fluttershy still in my arms, I gently brushed her mane away from her eyes as she smiled back at me.

“Good mornin’, sunshine,” I pleasantly greeted.

“Good morning, David,” she replied back. “How’d you sleep?”

“With you in ma arms, babe, Ah slept phenomenally. How ‘bout you?”

“Beautifully. Thanks for asking.”

“Yer welcome.”

It wasn’t long afterwards that our stomachs started growling in unison.

“Guess it’s breakfast time,” Flutters spoke up with a giggle as the 2 of us finally got out of bed.

“Ah guess so. Ya know what Ah could really go fer right ‘bout now?”

“What’s that?”

“A Golden Delicious apple from Sweet Apple Acres. Ah haven’t had one o’ those in quite a while.”

“That sounds lovely.”

Making our way outside of my house, the 2 of us took to the sky and were over at Sweet Apple Acres before too long. Not too surprisingly to us, we saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash hard at work upon arrival as well as Big Mac and his wife Sugar Belle. Granny Smith had unfortunately long since passed on between now and when I’d last visited Equestria. The 4 of them were quick to notice me and Fluttershy’s presence there as Rainbow was the first to speak up.

“Well if it isn’t the happy couple,” she playfully remarked. “How ya doin’ today?”

“Pretty good, Dashie,” I replied. “How ‘bout you guys?”

“Eh. Can’t complain,” AJ answered.

“How can we help you 2 on this beautiful morning?” Sugar Belle posed the question.

“We were just here to see about getting a couple of Golden Delicious apples for breakfast,” Fluttershy stated.

“Well we could definitely help you 2 out with that,” Big Mac answered back in possibly the first time in a long while that I’d heard him say anything outside of his standard “Eyup” or “Nope”.

“I’ve gotcha guys taken care of,” Rainbow replied.

In the blink of an eye, she was gone and back again with a Golden Delicious apple in each forehoove, passing them off to me and Fluttershy.

“Thanks,” the 2 of us answered in unison as we gratefully accepted the apples.

“No problem.”

And so, as the 2 of us ate our apples, Sugar Belle was the first to break the silence that had arisen amongst us.

“So, David, Applejack and Rainbow Dash have informed me that Princess Twilight said you were possibly considering taking up a career as a singer.”

“Yup,” I replied after swallowing a mouthful of apple.

“I think that’s pretty incredible. I never knew that you had that kinda talent.”

“Oh he definitely has that,” Flutters affirmed as she pulled me towards her in a sideways hug.

“Whenabouts would you consider taking that up? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Not at all. Ah was plannin’ on pursuin’ it sometime after Ah return ta Equestria again.”

“Wait. You’re leaving?” Fluttershy puzzled with a tinge of worry in her voice.

“Only fer a little bit, ma love. Ah jus’ have some stuff that Ah need ta take care o’ back on Earth, but Ah promise that Ah will come back here within tha near future.”

“Pinkie Promise?”

“Cross ma heart, hope ta fly, stick a cupcake in ma eye,” I answered while going through all of the appropriate motions, “‘n if that’s not enough, Ah have this fer ya.”

Reaching for my right ring finger, I pulled a small ring off of it before handing it over to Fluttershy.

“This ring used ta belong ta ma late grandmother. She gave it ta me before she died because she was sure that it must’ve had some sort o’ value to it, but Ah could never bring maself ta ever sell it. It’s one o’ tha few possessions o’ hers that Ah still have. Ah’m givin it ta you as a symbol ‘n a promise that Ah will return.”

“I’ll protect it with my life,” Fluttershy stated while gratefully accepting the ring from me. “I also have something for you.”

Spreading out her left wing, she turned her head around towards it and, with her teeth, plucked a feather right off of it before passing it off to me.

“Just something to make sure that you don’t forget about me.”

“Aww, Flutters,” I began, “Ah’d never ferget ‘bout you, but Ah’ll still hold onta this til ma return.”

It was then when I took Fluttershy in my arms and kissed her passionately for about half a minute before finally pulling apart. Gazing deeply into her beautiful eyes, I gently ran the back of my hand against her cheek as she willingly leaned into my touch, eyes closed and a pleasant smile on her face. I then turned my attention back to the rest of the party gathered there before me.

“Ah’ll be back here again before ya guys even know it. Tell tha others Ah’m sorry Ah didn’t have time ta say goodbye ta all of ‘em, but Ah will return soon.”

“Done and done,” Rainbow assured.

“See ya when ya get back, Sugarcube,” AJ stated.

“Eyup,” Big Mac agreed.

“See y’all later,” I proclaimed to them.

And so, with Fluttershy’s feather in one hand, I used my other hand to hold up the pendant that had the inscription on it for me to read it out loud.

“Equestrian son/The victory won/Return to thy home.”

No sooner had the words escaped my lips then a bolt of lightning struck the ground before my feet and a portal opened up. With one last look towards my friends, I jumped forward into the portal before it swiftly closed behind me. After a short period of awkward silence, Rainbow finally remarked.

“No matter how many times I see it, it never gets old.”

The others merely nodded in agreement before each of them went their own separate ways.

Author's Note

See next chapter.

Prologue: Who's There?

I was in the middle of a dark forest at night time. The forest itself felt equal parts familiar and foreign, amiable and alien. There was hardly any light coming in through the thick canopy of leaves above me and the forest was strangely silent to a level that bordered on eerie and uncomfortable. I was the only sign of life in this desolate backdrop.

Suddenly, I was greeted by a rose pink ball of light that steadily approached me in a flittery manner. The mystic sphere would alternate between shining brightly and fading to a dull shadow of its former brilliance in a pattern similar to a heartbeat or pulse. This seemed fitting as the orb exhibited a nature that was both tender and fragile in equal amounts.

Mesmerized by the ball’s brilliant, beautiful blaze, I reached out to touch it before it darted away in its erratic manner.

“Wait! Come back!” I called out as I gave chase. “Don’t leave me here!”

I followed the glowing orb through thick brush for what felt like several minutes before finally reaching a clearing with the soft, welcoming glow of the full moon lighting up my surroundings. The pink sphere must’ve vanished as I could no longer find it near me. Either that or the light of the moon had rendered it unseeable. As I looked towards the moon in the sky, something entirely different captured my attention.

Right in front of the moon’s glow atop a small hill, I could make out an unusual shape at the hill’s peak. The shape itself seemed somewhat familiar to me, but I couldn't quite figure out why it felt so. Drawn in out of pure curiosity, I made my way up the hill quietly so as not to startle the owner of this strange silhouette. I’d almost reached the summit when I accidentally stepped on a twig, causing the figure to rapidly turn around and stare at me, eyes glowing white.

Author's Note

Next Chapter >>>

Epilogue: The Quest For Truth

It wasn’t long after I’d returned to Earth that I got right down to business with everything that I needed to take care of while I was there. The main priority in my mind was to refamiliarize myself with my friends’ show and get caught up on the episodes that I’d never gotten around to watching. Far too much had happened since they’d visited me and Savannah and when I’d just recently returned to them. Not to mention some of what had happened didn’t entirely add up such as how my friends no longer had any memory of me being an Alicorn Prince. There had to be some sort of explanation for why they couldn’t remember that. I was positive that somewhere in their show I would find the answers I was looking for. No matter how long it took, I would figure out what happened to their memories and would return to them when the time was right. One way or another, I’d be with all of them again, especially my beautiful Flutters. I swore it.

To be continued…

Author's Note

Hello Everypony. Happy Arbor Day or, more importantly, Happy Fluttershy Day. Another day, another story comes to an end. I always enjoy writing these stories (especially that little bit of fourth wall breaking with Pinkie Pie on the previous chapter) and I appreciate how much you guys enjoy them back. While there will definitely be a sequel to follow this one, I cannot say with absolute certainty when exactly it'll come out. This whole coronavirus pandemic has affected quite a lot of us and, as such, there's still some stuff in my own life that I need to get straightened out. I'm out of work for the time being and have to rely on other sources for financial stability. Unfortunately, not a lot is certain in the next few weeks or even months possibly, but I'm sure that all of us will be able to make it through one way or another and I'll still be here to provide my stories for y'all to enjoy reading. But until that day does come, if y'all enjoyed reading this at least half as much as I enjoyed writing it, then feel free to Favorite or upvote this story. And if you want to see more stories like this, feel free to follow so you can stay updated on all the new content I put out. Until the next story, this is SapphireWings999 wishing y'all safety and positivity as we face this threat together. We will be able to overcome this sooner or later. With that being said, you all have my thoughts and prayers with you in this uncertain future. Til the next story comes along, take care y'all.