My parents had Twilight and I sleep in separate rooms that night. They were big on premarital abstinence, and they were insistent that, while we were in their home, we would acquiesce to this one request. We accepted, and I kissed Twilight goodnight before going to sleep. The bed was soft and comfortable, but I couldn’t wait to be able to hold Twilight next to me all night long. We had never slept together, partially because Twilight didn’t want any negative things spreading around Equestria, but also because I wanted to wait until we were married before doing anything like that. I wasn’t as against it as my parents were, but all the same, I did not wish to treat Twilight as a sexual object. I loved her with all my heart, and I wanted to commit my entire life to her before doing something that would lock our bond forever.

Speaking of marriage, I had been considering my proposal for quite some time. But none of the scenarios I thought up were just right, and I was beginning to bang my head against the metaphorical wall. How the hell do I ask her? I asked myself, she’s so beautiful and wonderful! The moment needs to be absolutely spot on, but…I just can’t think of anything. In frustration, I got up from my bed and noticed that the sun was beginning to peek over the tops of the trees. I figured that the rest of my family would be up fairly soon, so I quietly left my room and availed myself of the facilities. Once that was completed, I went into the kitchen and found my mother busily making breakfast.

“‘Morning, Mom!” I said cheerily.

“Good morning, Jeff!” She said happily, before hugging me. “It’s been quite some time since we’ve been able to hear you around in the morning.”

“Yeah, and it’s great to be home.”

I could smell the turkey sausage my mother was busily frying, along with the eggs. There were biscuits aplenty baking away in the oven, and the aromas were intoxicating. I also noticed the big pan of delicious gravy she was making to go with the puffy delights. “Mm…” I said, “biscuits, gravy, eggs, turkey, what did I do to deserve this?”

“You came home,” she said simply.

I was just about to hug her again when I turned and looked out of our front blinds. I gasped as I noticed a news crew getting set up on our lawn! Since my four-year bachelor’s degree was in broadcast journalism, I noted every single thing they did. They set up cameras and all that, but I could tell that they weren’t doing preshow shots for a standard voice over segment or a news package. They were getting ready to go live right on the spot! The reporter, a young woman, was given a handheld microphone and being told where to stand.

I immediately raced to the door and threw it open. “Hey!” I said, “just what the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

She turned and started a bit, but then smiled. “Hi,” she said smoothly, ignoring my question, “I’m Jennifer McPherson with WYAL-TV. We’re just here to ask you a few questions. But my first one is…is she awake?”

“She?” I asked incredulously.

“Yes!” Jennifer replied, “your girlfriend! The ruler of Equestria, Twilight Sparkle! You two have become overnight sensations. You’ve already got thousands of fans!”

“Fans?!”

“Yes, Mr. Johnson, fans! Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, the entire social media universe has been lit up! NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, FOX News, and every major newspaper and media outlet in America is headed this way!”

Once again, I experienced the “stapled mouth effect.” I immediately shut the door and locked it, fearful that one of the ravenous reporters might try and get in. More cars began piling up outside of our small country home, and for the first time in quite a while, I became genuinely frightened. I raced into the guest room where Twilight was sleeping and gently prodded at her. “Twilight, sweetie?” I asked gently, “are you awake?”

“I am now,” she replied groggily. She didn’t look too pleased at having her peaceful slumber interrupted. I understood her feelings perfectly, and I hated to do it. But at the same time, we were about to have the entirety of the American media machine on our front doorstep! We needed to find a way out of this, and we needed to think rapidly. Otherwise, we were going to be on the front page of every newspaper from Atlanta to Detroit, and from New York City to San Francisco!

“What is it, baby?” She asked as she opened her eyes. I was struck by just how pretty they were with the light glinting off them. But she quickly squinted and I moved so she didn’t have to look directly into the blinding emanation.

“Listen, Twily,” I said, using a nickname reserved for only myself and Shining Armor, her brother, “there’s been an…incident.”

“What kind of incident?”

“You know how we have television in my world?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, the entire conglomeration of American news and other assorted media are going to be on our front lawn in less than an hour.”

She immediately sat up. Her eyes were wide and I noticed her lip quivering. She was in no condition to address anybody at that point in the morning, and I could tell that her mind was working on what to say to appease them. Anybody who knows reporters knows that getting a story can drive their actions, and sometimes those actions can be quite irrational, or even unexplainable. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy with the turn of events.

“Maybe we should just jump in my mom’s car and head back to the portal,” I suggested.

“No,” Twilight said, “I am a princess, and the ruler of a nation. I deal with the press all the time. I’m not scared of anything, and I’m not gonna run away. Just give me a few minutes to make myself presentable, and then I’ll address them.”

I smiled at her. Not only was she beautiful and smart, but she was brave and confident as well. I found that falling in love with her wasn’t something that I ever ceased doing. Whenever I felt like I had reached the peak of our understanding of each other, like there was nothing else to be discovered, I found an entirely new dimension to her. She didn’t have three, four, or five dimensions. She had about thirty or so. But that was why I loved her. She was so multifaceted, and could handle situations thrown at her on a whim. She could go from a staunch princess to a kind friend to an angry mother defending a foal that was not her own to a peacekeeping negotiator in a matter of seconds.

I couldn’t help but kiss her. She gladly returned it in full and then smiled. “What was that for?”

“For being you, my Twilight,” I told her, “for being you.”

Author's Note

For those of you wondering how the two became overnight sensations, I'll be answering that in the next chapter. Happy reading!