The Irish Man

Chapters

The Meeting With a Butterfly
The Talk with a Princess
The Apple of My Eye
Strangely Fabulous
The Butterfly Mother
The Challenge from a Blue Angel
The Win?
I Fish, Do You?
Friendship School Bonfire
The BIG Question
The Push
Meeting with the Dead
The Camp Out
The Attack
From Now On
Twi-Hundred Questions

The Meeting With a Butterfly

Cold, or was it hot? It was both; I was cold at first, but then it got warm instantly. It was like I was taken out of my tent and thrust into the cold winter, then instantly placed in a sauna. I then felt cold, icy water against my skin. My back hits something hard. I think I am at the bottom of a lake. I try to move but nothing happens, I can’t even open my eyes.

I then feel something soft touch my arms. I think they were soft; I have a sensation of being lifted up. I feel the sun's heat against my skin as I’m pulled out of whatever I was in. I start to drift back to sleep as I’m carried away.

My eyes snap open as I sit up quickly. Without realizing it, I was sitting on a slightly smaller than normal couch. This caused me to fall off of it and land face-first into the hardwood ground.

I hear a quiet, high-pitched but very cute sounding squeak. I look up to see a little white bunny staring me in the face with anger unknown to most animals on earth. I get up and rest on my knees. The little bunny kicks me in the knee and hopes away in anger.

“Sorry about that,” I hear a soft and calm female voice. I turn to see a yellow pegasus with long pink hair. One of her eyes was covered by her hair. At first, it confused me, then it clicked in my head and I started to smile.

“It’s ok,” I say as I sit back onto the couch. I look around the room for the first time. The room I sit in seems to be the living room. The entirety of the house is made of wood. Behind Fluttershy are stars leading to a second floor. To the far left of that is an open doorway leading into a quaint little kitchen.

“O! You can talk?” She responds a little surprised. She backs up slightly and covers her face with her main.

“Ya?” I say, slightly confused. “Wait, how can she speak perfect English?” I think to myself. My thoughts are interrupted by her sweet voice.

“You are a... interesting creature, I’ve never seen you before,” Fluttershy says, looking at me with one of her eyes.

“I’m called a Human,” I say, sitting down on the ground. She takes a deep breath and takes a few steps towards me.

“Could I look at your claws?” She asks, raising a hoof and pointing at my hand. I smiled and extended my hand towards her.

“They’re called hands,” I say as she sits down and gently grabs my hand. She rubs her hoof along the palm of my hand and flinches slightly when I move my fingers out so she can get a better look.

While she studies my hand, I study her hoof. My hand rests on one of them while the other is touching my palm. I can feel the soft yellow fur against my skin, but there is also a soft spot, almost like a rubber ball. I try to think of what the underside of a hoof is called.

“Could I… Can I...” I try to think of a good way to ask my question. She looks up from my hand and tilts her head.

“What is it?” Her eyes widened. “Did I hurt you! I’m sorry!” She says, dropping my hand and sliding back into the chair behind her.

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” I quickly corrected her. She sighs and looks back at me. “I was going to ask if I could see your hoof, le do thoil,” Her face turns bright red as she covers her face with her mane.

“Ok, just be gentle with the sole,” She says as she gently places her hoof out in front of her.
“So that’s what it’s called,” I gently grab it and look at the sole. It looks like a normal horse's hoof, just a lot more colorful. I look up at her and smile, “Thanks, my name is Brogan Even,”

“My name is Fluttershy,”

“That's a beautiful name,” I respond.

“O! Um..” She seems to have slightly blushed again. “Thanks, your name is..” She scratches her chin in thought.

“Strange?” I say, helping her out. I get up and sit on the couch. She gets up and moves to the chair next to me.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Fluttershy responds.

I chuckle before responding. “It’s probably strange here as it’s strange back at home,” She tilts her head and raises an eyebrow. “In my world, there are many countries, the one I come from is Ireland, a small-ish island. My family moved to another country called the USA, where the name Brogan is as rare as Francium, We then moved back to Ireland shortly after my father's death,”

“I’m so sorry,” Fluttershy says, covering her mouth with her hoof.

“It’s ok, it was a long time ago,” I responded, waving my hand to dismiss the conversation.

“But I must ask, how is it strange when your name is as common as Francium?” Fluttershy asks. I look at her confusingly and then it dawns on me.

“Francium isn’t rare here?” I ask in slight shock. She shakes her head no. “Well, that was a terrible analogy,”

“What did you say earlier?” Fluttershy asks. I tilt my head in confusion. “You said le do thoel,” I smile and chuckle at her cute attempt at speaking Irish.

“That means please in Irish,” I explain.

“O, that makes sense,” We sit in silence for a few minutes. I look out the window to see a couple of blackbirds talking to each other. They fly off as Fluttershy speaks up. “Do you have any animals in your world?” she asks.

“Well, we have many types of bears, like Black, brown, and polar bears,”

“I have a brown bear at the sanctuary named Harry, He’s such a sweetie,”

“Bear’s have names?” I ask.

“Ya, all animals have names, don’t yours?” She asks, tilting her head to the side.

“No, unless you have them as a pet,” I respond. Fluttershy smiles and nodes. She seems to be getting more comfortable. “So, how about I ask things about your world, like what is the name of the planet?”

“I don’t know about the planet, but the country you are in is Equestria,” Fluttershy responds softly.

I can feel my stomach growl with hunger. I grasp my stomach while looking over at her. “Two questions, Do you know where my bag is and two, can I have food I’m starving,”

“You poor thing,” Fluttershy says, standing up. “I should have asked if you needed food,”

“It’s ok,” I say as she walks to the kitchen. I stand up and follow her.

“Any preference of food I should know?” She asks as she rummages through the kitchen.

I look around the room before answering. The kitchen was small, with one icebox, a wooden table and some cabinets. “Do you have any meat?” I ask hesitantly, knowing ponies are herbivores.

“Of course I do, I don’t eat it myself but I give it to my animals who need it,” She explains before turning to me as I sit down at the table. I kind of sit at the table, sitting results in it being slightly too tall, but sitting on my knees results in it being too short. I had to compromise by leaning onto the table with my arms. “I have fish and beef, that's all I have left over from the last time a feed my carnivores animals,”

“I’ll take the fish,” I say as she walks to the icebox. “Thanks again for the hospitality,” I say.

“No problem,” Fluttershy says, lightly blushing as she walks over to me with some dead frozen fish. I raise an eyebrow in slight confusion.

“Did I say something wrong?” I ask.

Her blush fades as she shakes her head. “No, but well...” Fluttershy looks away from me. “Hospitality means a stallion enjoys a mare’s..” She didn’t have to finish when I had a bright blush on my own face.

“Oh! My Ana! I’m so sorry,” I facepalm.

“It’s ok, you didn’t know better,” She responds as she quietly walks over to the other side of the table. She sits down and looks over at me.

I look down at the uncooked fish and back to her. She looks concerned as she tilts her head in confusion. “Do you have anywhere I can cook this?” I say pointing at the fish.

“I should have asked,” She whispers under her breath as she stands up. I stand up and grab a fish. “I just assumed you ate it raw like the other animals,” She says louder as she walks to the front door. She seems to deliberately cover her face with her hair.

I smile and follow her to the door. “It’s ok, as you said early, you didn’t know better,” I say, opening the door for her. She looks up at me and smiles.

“Thank you,” She says more confidently as she walks out the door. I walk out and follow her to the back of the cottage. The backyard was open with a fire ring, chicken pen, birdhouses, and a small shed. The backyard leads to a small forest behind her house. We stop by a fire ring full of wood. “Over there by the shed is fresh wood if you need it, but the fire ring seems to be full,”

She explains as I sit down next to the fire ring. I place the fish on the ground and look around instinctively for my bag. I look to Fluttershy who has brought over flint and steel. She places it next to me and I pick it up.

I hold the two pieces in my hands. The shape of the steel is very odd. The bent metal looks more like a horseshoe. I look over to Fluttershy, “I have a quick question, did I happen to end up here with my bag?”

Fluttershy smiles and nods, “Is it light blue with a green streak in the middle?” I nodded yes as I sit on my knees near the fire ring with the flint in one hand and the steel horseshoe in the other. “My friends Twilight Sparkle has it right now, she said if anything in the bag was in the wrong hoof it could be dangerous,”

I snort out a burst of small laughter as I try and light the fire. “Bullshit, almost half the bag is books and notebooks from my father,” I finally get the fire going. “The other half is some clothes and basic foods,”

“I think she just wanted to make sure,” Fluttershy says, sitting next to me as I spear the fish with a stick. She flinches slightly as the spear pushes some blood out of the fish. I hold the fish over the now flourishing fire.

“Who is Twilight Sparkle?” I ask, rotating the fish.

“Twilight Sparkle is a friend of mine,” Fluttershy says, watching me cook the fish intently. “She’s an alicorn princess of friendship,”

I smile to myself before responding. “The princess of Friendship?” "Why does that sound familiar, was it in my dad's notebooks?"

“Ya, what about it?” She responds looking at me confusingly.

“It’s just funny that you have a princess of Friendship,” I say, inspecting the somewhat burnt fish. I take a bite of it and chew it. Slightly burnt, but nice and warm on the inside. I turn to look at Fluttershy. “Is it ok if I pray?” I ask. “It would make me feel more like I am at home,”

“Of course you can,” Fluttershy says, smiling at me. I smile back and nod. I turn to look at the fish on my stick and close my eyes. My smile fades as I try and remember a prayer.

“Go raibh maith agat, Anna as an duine deas agus as an mbia seo,” I say as I slowly open my eyes and start eating the fish.

“If you don’t mind,” Fluttershy's sweat voice cutting the silence like a knife to bread. “But what did you just say?” I swallow and turn to look at her.

“I thanked Anna for the food,” I say, then quickly expand on what I just said. “Anna is the god of nature in my culture,”

“Is she nice?” Fluttershy asks as I take another bite of the fish.

“She’s not real,” Fluttershy looks at me confused. “We have this thing called religion where we believe in higher powers than us that may or may not be real, like Anna,” I try and explain. Trying to put into words what religion is, is very difficult.

“Oh!” Fluttershy says, seeming to understand my explanation. “So it’s like our princess Celestia, except we don’t know if she’s real?” Fluttershy asks for confirmation.

“Ya, kind of,” I say as I take the last bite of Fish and throw the stick into the fire. We sit there in silence, admiring the crackling of the fire. One of the pieces of wood breaks and falls apart, turning into ashes. The surrounding light is starting to get dimmer. I look up to see the sun is starting to set on the horizon. I sit straight up and smile at the sun. The silence is broken by the knocking of the cottage door along with a voice.

“Fluttershy! You here!?” a female voice asks.

“Twilight I’m in the back of the cottage!” Fluttershy yells as she stands up.

The Talk with a Princess

The most beautiful thing comes walking around the corner of the cottage. Did I say beautiful, I meant majestic. She has both the horn of a Unicorn and the wings of a pegasus. She stood half a foot taller than Fluttershy. She has a bright purple almost lavender color for her fur. Her mane is a darker purple with a light streak down the middle. Her purple eyes land on me and she smiles at me. I smile back as she walks over to me and Fluttershy. Fluttershy sits back down on the ground next to me as her friend sits across from me.

“Hello, I’m Twilight Sparkle, I think I have your bag,” She says, levitating the bag over to me. I grab it and look inside of it. I dig through to see everything is the same.

“Wait, why does she look familiar?” I think to myself as I pull out a small red notebook and open it up. I flip through the book till I land on the page with a drawing of the mar in front of me. The drawing was very crude and drawn in pencil. The colors were wax-like Crayola Crayons. I look below the drawing to see it reads Banphrionsa na Cairdeas. “Princess of Friendship,” I whisper, looking between the pitcher and the pony in front of me. Twilight’s expression fads to worry as she watches me. She leans over to Fluttershy and whispers,

“Did I break him?” Fluttershy looks at her and shrugs. I shake my head to clear my thoughts and smile.

“Sorry, my name is Brogan Even,” I say, extending my hand out in front of me. She smiles and grabs my hand. Her fur is soft as silk with the underside of her hoof being hard as a rock. I let go as she asks a question,

“Quick question, what are you looking at in that book?”

I look between the book and her. “How do I say this so it doesn't sound creepy?” I take a deep breath in and start talking. “This might sound crazy, but there is a drawing of you in this journal,”

I then offer up the book with the page open to her picture. Her horn lights up purple as the book is enveloped by the same color. I let go as she floats it up to her face. She takes a second and looks over the picture. Her eyes widen as Fluttershy scoots over to see what’s on the page.

I barely make out Fluttershy saying, “Do you think,” before she is shushed by Twilight.

“Who made this drawing?” Twilight asks, pointing to the drawing on the page.

“My Dad,” I responded. “He always spoke of a land of magic and friendship that he found and always swore it was real. He would make drawings like that in his journals and try to perform real magic,”

“What do these words mean at the bottom of the page?” She asks, showing me the page and pointing at it with one of her hoofs.

“They mean princess of Friendship in Irish,” Twilight closes the book and hands it back to me. I grab it and place it back into my bag. “Ok, now that’s over, I have many questions,”

“I also have a heap tone of questions,” I say, looking over at Fluttershy, she smiles. “But first can we go inside, it’s getting uncomfortable to sit on the ground,”

“Yes, of course,” Twilight then turns to look at Fluttershy with a kind smile. “Fluttershy, could you make us some tea, please?” Twilight asks, standing up. Fluttershy nods as she stands up and the two start walking towards the cottage. I stand up and grab my bag, then follow shortly behind them. We walk into the surprisingly warm cottage as the sun sets on the horizon. I sit down on a chair by the couch while Twilight does the same across from me. Fluttershy walks into the kitchen and starts brewing tea.

“I’ll go first,” I say, leaning forward onto my elbow. “Do you know how I ended up here?”

“That’s easy,” Twilight says with a confident smile. “I was testing out some magic at a little pond in the Everfree forest, and it backfired and brought you here,”

I look at her skeptically. Something about that last bit sounded tacked on. I let it slide, Mabey she was trying to recollect the incident.

“Ok, I have a list of questions for you Brogan,” Twilight says, unrolling a scroll. It falls to the floor revealing a two feet long scroll. I chuckle and shake my head. She takes a big breath and starts raped firing the questions. “What is your planet called?”

“Earth,”

“How many countries are there?”

“About 190,”

“Where do you come from,”

“Ireland then moved to the United States, then back to Ireland,”

“Does your world have magic?”

“No, but many believe in it,”

“Do you believe in a god?”

“Yes, many gods, but there are others,”

“Do you have any monarchs?”

“Yes, there are now 44, Ireland used to have five,”

“What kind of technology do you have?”

“We are currently in the second industrial revolution. We have lots of different types of technology, I’ll talk about them later,” Twilight nods and continues.

“What are you called?”

“Humans, or technical homosapiens,”

“Do you have schools?”

“Yes, Primary, Elementary, Middel, and High, The names vary but they are essentially the same thing,” She is vigorously scratching down all that I said. “Quick question for you,”

Twilight looks up at me as Fluttershy walks into the room with a tray of tea. “Ya, go for it,”

“Well, I think we should talk about it in private but there might be many differences that might cause some problems,” I say as Fluttershy sits down on the couch blushing. Twilight looks between me and Fluttershy as her face distorts into realization.

“Oh! Ya, we should talk about them latter,” Twilight replied, looking back at the list. I turn to look over at Fluttershy.

“Not to be rude, but I’m not that big into tea,” I try to say as kindly as I can. “Do you have anything with alcohol?” I ask as Twilight’s ears perk up.

“Ya, I have apple cider with alcohol in it,” Fluttershy says, getting up off the couch. “It’s mostly for my friend Rainbow Dash, she loves apple cider,” She says as she walks to the kitchen.

“On that note, does your world of alcohol,”

I look at Twilight and raise an eyebrow at her. “Didn’t you just hear me?”

“I’m just making sure,” She says as she scribbles down my response. “How about animals?”

“There are a lot of animals, Like goats, horses, bunnies, bees, birds, dolphins...” I continue to list over one hundred different animals as best as I can. Fluttershy walks in with a cup filled with cider. “Thanks, Fluttershy,” I say as I pick up the cup from her and take a sip. I smile as the cool liquid slides down my throat. “That's good,” I say as Fluttershy sits down on the couch. She smiles and explains,

“The cider is from the nearby apple farm run by our friend AppleJack,”

“Tell her she makes some wicked good apple cider,” I say, taking another sip of cider.

“You can tell her that yourself when you meet her,” Twilight says, rolling up the scroll. I look up from the drink and look at her confusingly.

“You are going to allow me to go meet others?”

“Ya, so far you seem to be harmless,” Twilight explains. “Besides, you don’t want to be coped up in this house for the remainder of your stay, which could potentially be the rest of your life,”

That last statement hit me like a ton of bricks. My stomach wrenched at the statement. My head became lighter as my heart rate skyrocketed. I had known it was hard for my dad to get back, and that I might end up stuck here, but that sentence was a slap to the face. “Is there a way back?” I ask, setting down the cup of apple cider as I try to calm myself down.

“Why am I having this reaction. This was the entire reason I was on the camping trip,” I think to myself as I lean back into my chair.

“I don’t know, this has never happened before,” Twilight says, scratching her chin. Once again like before it seems tacked onto the end of her sentence. Is there something she isn’t telling me?

“Well, it was nice meeting you Twilight, but..” My speech is interrupted by my own yawning. “I’m getting tired and I need to go to bed,” Twilight nods and stands up.

“You can stay her with Fluttershy if you want to, or you could come back to my castle,”

“I’ll stay here, I don’t feel like walking all that way,” I say as Twilight chuckles.

“Is it ok if you sleep on the couch, there are no other beds in the house other than mine. If that's ok with you,” Fluttershy says as Twilight leaves. Fluttershy stands up as I do.

“Ya, I’ll take the couch,” I say, jumping onto the couch. Fluttershy lightens up and lets out a little chuckle as she walks over to the closet underneath the stairs.

“You remind me of my friend Pinkie,” Fluttershy grabs a blanket from the shelf and closes the closet door. I sit up as she walks over to me with the blanket in her mouth. I grab it from her and unfold it. The blanket was pink and had a very soft and fluffy texture to it.

“Who is Pinkie?” I ask curiously.

“You’ll find out tomorrow,” She says, walking up the stairs. She stops halfway and looks back at me. “Or more like she’ll find you,” She lightly laughs at her own joke as she walks up the stairs.

I lay down and place the blanket on top of me and try to get comfortable. I close my eyes as the day's events come rushing into my head. Overwhelming my mind.

Later that Night

I sit outside underneath a tree looking up at the night sky. My mind is rushed with questions from the day. “What did Fluttershy mean, do you think? Is my dad still here? No, he died, but then do they know him? Why am I scared?”

The questions sink in as I get a funny feeling in my stomach. “I’m not going home am I?” I look at the starry sky for anything familiar. I spot Orian, Ursa major, and Ursa miner. The feeling of wind against my face snaps me out of my thoughts. I look to my left to see Twilight landing a few feet away.

I smile and wave to her, She waves back and walks over to me. She sits down next to me without a word. We sit there looking up at the starry night sky as the moon moves through the sky. Twilight finally speaks up, “Why are you out here?” She asks, turning to look at me.

“I guess it really just hit me now,” I say as Twilight tilts her head in slight confusion. “Why am I going to tell her this?” The question flashes throw my head as I am about to speak. “I might be stranded here,” I turn to look at Twilight who nods and urges me to continue. I sigh and look back at the night sky. The bright white moon is right above us, glowing almost as bright as the sun itself.

“I don’t partially like my mother,” I say as I smile at the memory of her. “She didn’t like how my dad put impossible thoughts in my head, but she is my mother,” My smile fades as I take a shaking breath. “I’m starting to miss my mom and brother,”

Twilight looks back to the night sky as we sit there in silence. “Who do I thank for the night sky?” I ask Twilight. She looks over at me and smiles.

“You can thank Princess Luna for that,” I chuckle at the answer. Twilight's smile turns into curiosity. “What’s so funny?”

“Back home the Greeks believed in a goddess named Luna, so it’s just funny to think there really is a princess of the moon,” Twilight seems satisfied with my answer and turns to look back up at the moon.

“You should probably get inside and get some rest,” Twilight says, standing up. I nod and stand up with her.

“It was really nice meeting you, Twilight Sparkle,” I say extending my hand. She extends her hoof and I grasp it. Nice and soft like Fluttershy’s, but feels a little less unkempt. It’s probably from her flying here. “Remember, we still need to talk about innuendos so I don’t end up accidentally telling a stallion I like them,”

Twilight laughs lightly as I let go of her hoof. “You will like Pinkie Pie when you meet her,”

“Fluttershy said the same thing,” I say, smiling as Twilight lifts off the ground, pushing air into my face.

“See you two tomorrow at around nine in the morning!” Twilight yells as she flies off towards the town. I nod and walk back into the cottage and lay down on the couch. I cover myself with the blanket and slowly drift off to sleep.

The Apple of My Eye

I lay on the couch with my dad’s journal opened up. I slept two hours after the talk with Twilight, but I couldn’t get back to sleep after I woke up. I turn the page as I hear the birds chirping outside. I have been filled with a mixture of emotions. Sadness, joy, maybe a bit of grief. The page I’m staring at is entitled Féileacán Cúthail. It means the Shy Butterfly.
"I guess there is no good translation of Fluttershy," I think to myself. "But why write in Irish Celtic if he knew English?" I look underneath the title to see a very crude drawing of Fluttershy. Her hair was light pink with her fur light yellow. My eyes lead me to her flank, where I see a single butterfly.

“Was that on her flank?” I think as I sit up. So many questions have been running through my head all night it's hard to keep them all straight. The main question is why my dad had almost perfect, yet very bad, drawings of Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle. I hear the quiet creek of the wooden stairs. I look up from the book to see Fluttershy gingerly walking down the stairs. She looks over at me and smiles softly.

“Good morning,” She says in a whisper as she walks over to the kitchen. I watch her walk into the kitchen as I close my book. I unzip my bag and place the book into it. I stand up and slowly walk over to the kitchen. Fluttershy gathers different kinds of fruits and vegetables from her cabinets.

“Do you have any bread?” I ask, turning to look at her. She looks up at me with a small smile and nods. She walks over to the cabinet in the corner and opens it. She grabs a loaf of bread with her mouth and places it on the counter. “Thanks,” I pause as I grab a slice of bread out of the loaf. “Do you mind if I take some of the vegetables?”

“Use what you like, I don’t mind,” Fluttershy says, putting some carrots into a bowl and placing it on the ground outside of the kitchen. I grab some lettuce and carrots, placing the lettuce on the sandwich as Fluttershy walks back to me.

“Do you happen to have a knife?” I ask, placing the carrot down on the counter.

“Cabinet to your right,” Fluttershy points to the Cabinet near my right leg. I open it up to see a shelf full of different kinds of silverware made for ponies. I grab a knife, the black handle is bent so a horse could grab it better. I close the cabinet and start cutting the carrots into smaller slices, placing the cut carrots onto my sandwich. Once I am done cutting I place the knife into the sink. The sink I notice has no tap for water to come in. “They must have to hall it in from a pump,” I think to myself as I walk past Fluttershy and Angel bunny glaring at me while eating from the bowl.

I sit down on to the soft couch and start eating my sandwich. Fluttershy soon joins me after feeding the animals inside her house. She sits in the other chair next to me. She bights into her own sandwich. The center of the two bread slices is filled with lettuce, tomato, and I think dandelions.

We sit in silence as we eat our breakfast. I hear a group of birds start chirping and pecking on the glass. I look behind me to see a bluebird and two red birds looking over at Fluttershy angrily as they peck the glass some more.

“It’s feeding time for the birds,” Fluttershy says more to herself than to me as she hops off the chair taking the last bite of her sandwich. I finish mine as I watch her walk outside the cottage.

I unzip my bag and pull out the notebook I was looking at earlier. I flip open to a random page. This one depicts a blue pegasus with a rainbow main and a rainbow Lightning bolt symbol on her flank. The drawing is entitled, Fleasc tuar ceatha, roughly translated into Rainbow Dash. I sit there looking through the book with more information on the world than I would ever need.

“How long was my dad here?” I think to myself as a wooden knock rings out from the door. I close the book and place it back into my bag as Twilight walks in. She looks over at me and smiles.

“Good morning Brogan, how was your sleep?” She asks, slowly walking over to me as I zip my bag up.

“It was good, thanks,” She nods and looks around.

“Where is Fluttershy?”

“She’s out feeding the birds,” I responded. “Why do you ask?”

“I wanted to talk to her about something this morning before we left but it’s fine,” Twilight says, turning back to face me.

“So, where are we starting off first?” I ask, standing up and strapping the bag to my back.

“I was thinking of going to my friend Applejack's home to start off the day,” Twilight says, walking towards the door as I follow behind. “She lives on the outskirts of Ponyville,” I close the door behind us as we walk out of the small cottage.

“She’s the one that lives on a farm right?” I ask as I try and remember the events of last night. Twilight nods, confirming my suspicion as she pulls out a scroll. She unravels the scroll and starts reading it. The scroll was only two feet this time instead of the monstrous list she had last night.

“After you meet Applejack we'll try and find Rainbow Dash, then go to Sugar Cube Corner for lunch and meet Pinkie Pie. Finally, we’ll go and meet Rarity at the boutique,” I perk up as I recognize the name Rainbow Dash.

“Question, is Rainbow Dash the one who lives in a cloud house?” I ask, remembering the description next to her picture in the book. Twilight stops abruptly and looks at me in shock. I stop and turn to her, as I tilt my head in confusion.

“How did you know that?!” Twilight asked, slightly freaked out. “We didn’t tell you that?”

I sigh and confess, “I stayed up most of the night reading my dad's notebook about you ponies. I got curious and started reading other entries, Rainbow Dash was one of the,” Twilights face turns from freaked out to neutral. She sighs and continues walking. I follow behind her by a few feet.

“Next time tell me you read it in a book before scarring me like that,” Twilight explains, looking back at me. “My first thought was that you were a changeling, but you're not,” Twilight laughs awkwardly. “You're not right?” She asks, slightly scared.

“Those awful creatures?” I say, slightly offended. “Of course not, they literally steal children,” Now Twilight looks scared and confused. I’m confused at her reaction, then realize there was a miscommunication. “Oh, Irish and Scottish people believe in mythological creatures like a changeling,” I start to explain as the expression on her face softens. “They believe changelings steal their kids and replace them with their own that look exactly alike to their kid because they can’t raise their own child,”

“That just sounds sad,” Twilight says as I try to keep up with her pace.

“Dam, she’s fast,” I think to myself. “Well, I did leave out a lot of the more..." I pause, hesitating for a second. "Gruesome bits, but it’s the gist,” I say, shrugging. I stop as I smell the scent of fresh-squeezed apples in the air. Twilight stops and looks back at me as I look around us. We were walking into the middle of an apple farm. There were apple trees as far as the eye could see. I look around amazed at the beauty of the scenery. I stand there stunted, I’ve never seen any apple farm like this before, every tree was blossoming with bright colors of red and green.

“Brogan, you ok?” Twilight asks concerningly, walking over to me. I turn to her with a big goofy smile on my face.

“This place is amazing,” I say. “No, amazing doesn't express my thoughts very well,” I try hard to think of a word that explains all the emotions I’m feeling.

“Wayul, Howdy Twilight,” a southern accent graces my ears.”So is this the thing yawl wuz talkin' bout?” I look towards the voice to see an orange earth pony about a foot shorter than Twilight. She had a stetson cowboy hat with a red bandana around her neck. Her eyes were emerald green with a smile plastered onto her face.

“Oh! Applejack, good we were coming to see you,” Twilight says, turning to face her friend. “Applejack, meet Brogan eh...”

“Even, Brogan Even,” I say, extending my hand out. She places her hoof in my hand and I give her a firm handshake. Her fur was soft but much rougher than any of the others I have touched.

“Happy tuh meet yawl Brogan,” Applejack responds as I let go of her hoof. She places it back down and turns to face Twilight. “Ah hope yawl don't mind Twilight, but I have tuh go tuh town tuh run an arena,”

“It’s ok, I need to show him around Ponyville, Is it ok if I give him a tour of the farm?” Twilight asks.

“It’s midy find with me,” She then turns back to face me with a smile. “I’ll see yawl around right?” I smile back at her and nod my head yes. “Good, I’ll see yawl later,” with that last remark she starts walking away from us back the way we came. I give a quick glance at her rump to see three bright red apples.

“Watch where your eyes are wondering there buddy,” Twilight warrens me sternly as I turn back to face her. I look at her slightly confused. “You were looking at her rump, any closer and you'd be looking at something else,” My face must have turned bright red like an apple because Twilight’s small smile turned into slight worry.

“Ok, I’ll remember that for next time I check out yall's butt marks,” I say as I walk past her. She follows me and chuckles.

“They are called cutie marks,” I roll my eyes at her.

“Of course they are,” I think as we walk up to a big arching sign leading to a farm house and a barn. The white arch is decorated with colorful apples along the top of it.

“Here it is, the apple family farm,” Twilight says as we walk under the wooden arch. I look to the big red wooden bairn to see a group of three little fillies playing near it. They had a bunch of wood and string. I think they were trying to make a tripod.

“What do we have here Twilight?” a deep voice asks. I turn to see a big red stallion standing a few feet away from us. He was the same height as Twilight with pure muscle alone. He has orange messy hair and a hay strand in his mouth. His face was very neutral as he looked at me.

“Big Mac, meet Brogan Even,” Twilight says, introducing me.

“Hello,” I say, extending my hand out. He looks at it and then looks back up at me. His face shows no emotion other than null. Then out of nowhere a small smile creeps onto his face as he places his hoof in the palm of my hand harder than normal. I wince in pain as I grasp his hoof. I give it a firm handshake and give him my own smile.

“Nice to see another male,” His voice falters for a second before continuing. “Even if it’s a tall hairless ape,”

I laugh slightly as I let go of his hoof. He looks at me and lets out a small chuckle. “Not an ape,” I corrected him. “But close enough,”

“Hey, Big Mac, You know this farm better than me,” Twilight interrupts. “Could you show him around the place? You would be better at explaining some things than I would,” Twilight keeps glancing behind me. I turn around to see nothing behind me.

“I’d be happy to,” Big Mac replies as He turns around and starts slowly walking towards the big red wooden barn. I turn back around and follow behind him and look around for the three fillies that were playing by the barn. I see a purple tuft of hair at the top of a bush by the fence.

“They must be hiding,” I think as me and Big Mac walk into the barn. “I don’t blame them,” I look around the inside of the wooden barn. It looked more like a storage unit than an actual barn. Where the normal stables would be, they are replaced by hay barrels. In the back corners of the room sit stacks of wooden boxes. On the far back wall are metals hung in a row.

I walk all the way to the back and look over the collection of metals. Most were first place bronze metals. There are a couple of second place silver metal, or I think it was silver, it also could be aluminum from how shiny they were.

“This barn is used mostly fah food storage,” Big Mac explains looking around himself. He looks over to where I stand and walks over. He looks up at the metals and smiles. “These metals are mah sisters. She won all uh them frum thuh iron pony competition,” He said every word with a hint of pride.

“Applejack?” I ask, turning to him. He looks at me and nodes.

“So you’ve met her?”

“On the way here me and Twilight bumped into her,” I say, turning around and slowly strolling to the barn door with Big Mac by my side. “She was heading to town for something,”

“She's pickin' up supplies for this summer's harvest,” Big Mac explains.

“That explains the heat,” I think to myself. “I mean, du, am I stupid?”

“Yes you are,” I heard myself reply to me.

“Great now I’m going crazy,” I think as Big Mac leads me to the house next to the barn. The house looked almost like a barn in everything but height. We walk up onto the porch to see an old pony rocking on a rocking chair fast asleep.

“Granny Smith,” Big Mac says calmly as he nudges her. She wakes up from the nap with a startle and looks around slightly frantically while yelling,

“The apples are under the cow!” After she realizes she's not sleeping anymore, she looks to her grandson. “Oh, yawl gist woke may up frum uh good nap,” Her accent is the heaviest of the Apple family I’ve heard so far. “Now who's ya friend?”

“My name is Brogan Even Mis Smith,” I say, extending my hand out.

“Yawl can call may Granny Smith. it's fahn sunny,” She says, shaking my hand very shakily. Her fur was a lot shorter than almost all of the ponies I have met.

“I guess old age does that to you,” I thought as I let go of her hoof. “Nice to meet you, Granny Smith,” I look over to see Twilight walking over to us.

“Other than the house, the rest of the farm is Apple trees,” Big Mac explains as Twilight comes to a stop near us.

“Hello Mis Twilight, whut is yawl doin' hare?” Granny Smith asks.

“I’m just here to pick up my friend Brogan,” Twilight says with a smile. “We have to go, you know,” Twilights voice falters for a second before continuing, “See more ponies,”

“Well, yawl bay awf then. See yawl soon Brogan?” Granny Smith asks. I walk off the porch and look back at her with a smile.

“I’ll be sure to swing around if I’m let go from custody,” I yell back jokingly. Granny Smith gives a good chuckle as Big Mac watches the two of us walk off the property. I turn back around and smile down at Twilight. She looks back up at me with a forced smile.

“Twilight what's with the smile,” I say. “And why were you earlier looking at nothing?” Neither question was answered as the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Twilight’s face turns into panic as I hear a loud boom synonymous with a sonic boom.

I look up and see a blue streak headed straight towards me. Trailing behind it was a rainbow that originated from a ring of rainbows spreading out from the center. Out of pure reaction, I start to move to dodge as I whisper. “Go tapa,”

Strangely Fabulous

I stood there, frozen in fear, as I felt the tip of a feather graze my nose. The skin being barely cut. The blue streak landed on the ground, pushing up a lot of dirt and dust. I slowly reach my hand up and touch my nose, and look at my hand. There was a streak of blood on my finger. I look over to the object to see what hit me.

Standing low to the ground was a bright blue, almost cyan pegasus mare. She was breathing hard with an angry but also kind of worried glare at me with a mix of surprise. We locked eyes, those eyes peered deep into my soul. I felt like if I said the wrong thing I would be pummeled to the ground. My eyes widen as I realize she was the pegasus I was looking at this morning in the journal. Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in the world. What finally broke the silence was the loud voice of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“RAINBOW DASH! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING!?” Twilight yells at Dash as she walks towards her friend.

“Why would you be walking around with him like he's your pet!” Dash yells back. "He could be dangerous!"

“You could have killed him!” Twilight responds, yelling less. Dash’s eyes shrunk as her ears flop down as the information sinks in.

“Twilight’s right, if I didn’t move, I would be a red blood mark on the ground,” I think to myself as Dash attempts to argue back.

“But..but..” Is all that escaped the flustered Rainbow before Twilight shushed her.

“You need to slowly down,” Twilight says. Dash scoffs and rolls her eyes.

“Ok egghead, Like you would have done any different,”

"In fact, I would," Twilight says, puffing her chest out in pride. "I would talk to him before trying to fight him,"

What the hell is going on?” I think to myself as I watch them argue with each other. After a few seconds I snap out of my trance and ask, “What the hell is going on?”

Dash turns to me looking offended. “I was trying to protecting my friend from you,”

“Rainbow, he’s not dangerous,” Twilight says for the tenth time.

“He still could be!” Dash yells back at her. “For all we know he could be playing nice till he mind controls us to do whatever he wants to do!” Dash pauses to take a breath. "We don't know his intentions!"

"Dam, that mare has a big mouth," I thought as Dash rambles on about a hundred different things I could do right in front of me.

“Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yells, finally getting the full attention of the pegasus. "Yes, you are right, but for now all we can do is trust him as we do to every other pony," Twilight says calmly and looking over at me. "I don’t even think you can do magic,” Twilight says, looking at me for confirmation.

“As far as I know, I can’t,” I responded. "I'll have to try to do magic later to see if I really can't in this world,"

“See, now apologies to him,” Twilight states sternly.

“You're not my mother,” Dash retorts, as she flies up to eye level with me. “I'm sorry for almost flattening you like a hay cake,” Dash says grumpily as she extends her hoof put in front of me. I smile and fist bump her hoof, a sharp pain runs up my arm like knives as I immediately regret my decisions.

Before I can recover from the hoof bump Dash grabs my arm and pulls me in uncomfortably close to her and whispers in my ear. "I'm keeping my eye on you. You hurt any of my friends and I'll hurt you," She then let's go and lightly pushes off of me. Landing next to Twilight while still glaring at me.

"Ok.." Twilight says, visibly uncomfortable herself. "Know that's cleared up, introductions are in order. Brogan Even, meet Rainbow Dash," Rainbow's face softens to a smile, but the fire in her eyes never changed.

“Nice to finally meet your monkey, but I have to go, the clouds won’t clear themselves,” Dash says. She then flies straight up, leaving a trail of blue mixed with a rainbow behind her. The wind hits my face, almost knocking me to the ground. I follow her steaks as she flies towards Ponyville. We stand there in silence for a little while before Twilight speaks up.

“You're really getting a bad habit of staring at ponies asses,” Twilight says bluntly, but with a smirk.

“She was too fast, I couldn’t get a good look,” I say reflexively. My face then turns beet red as I realize my mistake. I facepalm as I speak, “For the love of Anna,” Twilight was getting a good laugh out of my embarrassment as she walked by me.

“Come on lover boy, we have more ponies to meet,” Twilight says, intentionally wiggling her butt. I roll my eyes at her antics as I follow her towards town.

Twilight and I walk into town. It was an old, rustic little town. The houses were made of wood with hay roofs. Ponies walk by us, doing their daily work. No pony seems to mind me as we walk through town. Some give me wired glances and menacing glares as they turn to a friend and start whispering to them. Other's just smile at me and nod as we pass them.

“Who do we have here?” a feminine high pitched voice says, standing on top of my head. I look up to see a pink face staring back at me with big blue eyes. “Oooo! Is this the new hoooman!?” She asks, jumping off of my shoulders and landing in front of me. She was an all pink earth pony with three balloons as a cutie mark.

Twilight rolls her eyes as she walks over to Pinkie. “Pinkie pie, this is Brogan Even,”

“Ooo.. Hello Brogan, I know you're new here because Twilight told me. You must be lonely, I guess that's why Twi is showing you around,” Twilight puts her hoof in Pinkie's mouth as she continues to talk, not realising the hoof in her mouth.

“Sorry about that,” Twilight says with a sincere smile. “She can talk really fast sometimes,” Twilight thinks for a second and corrects herself. “Actually she talks fast all the time,” I smile and chuckle.

“It’s ok Twilight,” I say, waving the apology away with my hand. I kneel down as Twilight removes her hoof from Pinkies mouth. She has finally stopped talking and is now just looking at me with the biggest smile I have ever seen. “It’s nice to meet you Pinkie,” I raise a hand out for her to shake.

She looks at my hand for a second then looks back up at me. She jumps at me and raps her hoof around my upper body. “It’s super duper nice to meet you too Brogan Even!” I sat there for a few seconds in shock from her hug. I smile and gently hug her back. Her fur against my skin was soft, but slightly sticky. I can’t put my finger on it, the stickiness doesn't feel like candy. I could be wrong.

“Thanks for the hug, Pinkie,” I say as we separate from the hug.

“I’m the best at hugs, you can ask any of my friends!” Pinkie says, hopping in place. “I’m also a great party pony,” She seems to have an epiphany as she somehow stops in mid air. “I should throw you a party so you have lots of friends,” Pinkie says, zipping away from us.

“Well, that was interesting,” I say, standing up.

“You’ll get used to it,” Twilight says, continuing to walk as I follow next to her.

“I highly doubt it, but ok,” I respond.

“Here we are, the carousel boutique,” Twilight says, stopping in front of a building designed after a carousel. There are even wooden horses on the roof in a circle around the center.

“Wow,” I say, looking over the beautiful decoration. “The building fits its name,” I say as I see Twilight walk to the door and open it. I follow behind her as I hear a little bell go off inside.

“Hello darling, how are you doing today?” a very feminen but very regal voice says as I walk into the store. The room was covered in pony manikins that show off diffraction dresses and suits. I looked over to where the voice was coming from. Standing by a manikin with half of a dress on it is a white unicorn with curly purple main and tail. On her cutie mark were three bright blue gems. She turns around and looks me in the eye with her magnificent blue eyes. “Oh, is this the human you told me about?”

“Yep,” Twilight responds as Rarity floats her sewing gear away, where it lands onto a nearby desk. “Rarity, Meet Brogan Even,” I walk over to her and kneel down. She smiles at me and closes her eyes as she extends her hoof.

“Am I really about to do this?” I think as I gently grab her hoof and kiss it. I let go of it and looked up at her. She giggles and says,

“Someone knows how to be a gentle colt,” Rarity says, looking at me.

“With a beautiful lady like yourself, you need respect,” I reply. “Did I really just say that?”
“Of course you did, are you stupid?!”
“Great, I’m still talking to myself,”
“I’m very charmed to meet you Brogan,” Rarity says as I stand up. She looks me over as her face turns into slight concern. “Where did you get those dreadful clothes?” Rarity says as she floats over some fabric, sewing equipment, and a tape measure.

I look down at my green shirt with basic blue jeans. “From my camping bag?” I say in slight confusion.

“Well, they might be good for camping,” Rarity says as she takes my measurement. “But they simply will not due if you're going to be living here, arms up please,” I raise my arms as I think over her statement.

“She is right, I do need clothes if I’m going to be here awhile,” I think to myself as the tape measure is replaced with a purple screen blocking my lower body from Twilight.

“Now take those clothes off,” Rarity says, more demanding than a request. “I must see how your clothes are made,” My heart stops for a second before I regain the ability to speak.

“Do I need to take my clothes off?” I say as my face turns slightly red.

“Of course,” Rarity says nonchalantly.

“It would also be a good time for me to see how your body is built!” Twilight says, a little too enthusiastic for my liking as she teleports in a quill and parchment.

“Umm.. I don’t,” I say as my face turns becomes very hot and turns beat red from embarrassment. “I don’t know how to say this but,” Both Twilight and Rarity’s eyes were on me. I swallow the lump in my throat and continue talking. “Humans have this… thing with cloths,”

“What thing?” Twilight is the first to ask. Looking up at me from the other side of the divider.

“Humans genitals are exposed, so we put clothes over top to..” I pause trying to think of a good word for it. “Protect?” I ask more than state. Twilight seems to think for a second as Rarity turns around.

“If you're that uncountable,” Rarity pauses and whispers. “I don’t know why you would,” Now in a much louder voice meant for me to hear. “I’ll look this way as you undress, then you can hand me the clothing,”

“That sounds good,” I then look over the divider to Twilight. “You stay over there,” I say, pointing at her. Her ears droop down as her lips pucker into a pout. I look at her as her eyes water up. I sigh to myself and think, “She’s doing the puppy dog eyes to get me to say yes,” I slide my hand against my face and through my hair as I respond. “Fine, you can look,”

“Really!” Twilight says, smiling and looking up at me. I nod my head yes as she writes something down.

“What are you writing down?” I ask as I slip my shirt off.

“Oh, this,” She says, looking at me from the paper. “I wrote down you are susceptible to the puppy dog face,”

“Oh,” I say as I take off my paints and hand them to Rarity. She floats them over to herself and looks them over. “Now make this quick,” I say as I pull down my underwear and slide it to Rarity.

“Dear me, you wear so much clothing,” Rarity whispers. “I love it!” She says enthusiastically. I roll my eyes as Twilight starts to walk around the divider.

“Just think of this as a physical check up,” Twilight says, stoping in front of me.

The Butterfly Mother

“That was, so uncomfortable,” I say, shuddering at the recent memory, as Twilight and I walk back down the road towards Fluttershy’s Cottage.

“Thanks again for letting me do..uh..” Twilight’s face turns bright red as she turns away from me.

“It’s ok, you were just testing my physical fitness,” I reply, also blushing. We walk in silence for a while. I look over the landscape around the town. Lush, bright green hills surround the town, with a forest nearby. I look up at a nearby tree to see a red bird singing to the blue sky.

“Well, we’re here,” Twilight says, stopping in front of Fluttershy’s house.

"That was fast," I think as I turn and look at Twilight. She turns to look up at me with a confident smile. “I hope to see you soon Brogan,” She extended her hoof out in front of me. I smile and fist bump it, realizing my mistake too soon. When my bare knuckles make contact with the hard under hoof of Twilight's hoof, I winced in pain.

"Damit, I really need to remember not to do that,” I think as I rub my hand. Twilight lightly laughs as she takes flight back to Ponyville. I look up at her and watch her fly off as I hear the door to the cottage creek open. I turn round to see Fluttershy looking at me with only one eye and a small smile.

“Nice to see you, you are just in time for dinner,” Fluttershy says, opening the door all the way and holding it for me. I smile and nod as I walk into the house. She closes the door as the wonderful smell of freshly bowled noodles hits my nose.

“Is that spaghetti I smell?” I ask, walking into the kitchen.

Without a word, Fluttershy grabs the strainer with her mouth and places it into the sink. I walk over to the kitching table and sitting down on the opposite side of where Fluttershy stands. She then goes over to the boiling pot of water on the stove and gently grabs it with her youth. She lifts up the pot and slowly moves to the sink.

“Do you need any help, Fluttershy?”

She shakes her head slowly as to not spill the noodles and stops in front of the sink behind me. She starts pouring the spaghetti into the strainer very slowly. The strainer lets the water through and keeps the spaghetti in. She places the pot down on the counter, steam still coming out of the pot. Fluttershy then grabs the strainer and places it in the middle of the table.

“Thanks again for the..” I say as I grab the ladle next to the strainer. I had caught myself before embarrassing myself again. “Kindness,” I say, scooping out some spaghetti into the wooden bowl that sat in front of me.

Fluttershy smiles and lightly laughs, covering her mouth with a hoof. She then grabs the ladle from me and starts putting some food into her bowl. “No problem Brogan,”

I smile at her and start eating the spaghetti. She places the ladle into the strainer and starts eating her own food. We sit there in silence, just looking at each other and smiling. I enjoyed the silence, all except for the noise from outside to break it. Birds sing and squirrels running by with the occasional bear growl.

I would occasionally glance to the door to see Angel bunny looking at me before ducking back outside. With a wooden clank, I place my fork down inside the bowl and lean back against my chair. I smile, rub my stomach and look up at the ceiling.

“Thanks for the food Fluttershy,” I say, looking over to her. She looks up at me and smiles back. “The food was great,” Fluttershy goes back to slowly eating as I sit there looking at her.

Her hair was a nice shade of bright pink, especially when the light hits it at just the right angle. Her hair flows over her shoulders, seemingly avoiding her muzzle as to not get in the way of her eating. Her yellow fur was as bright as the sunlight outside. I blink as I see a light blush on her face starting to appear. I realize I might have been staring at her for to long.

“Sorry,” I simply stated as I looked down at the table in slight embarrassment. The wooden cracks in the table are seemingly more interesting than anything else right now as my face heats up red.

“It’s ok,” Fluttershy says, putting her fork down. I look up at her to see a reassuring smile on her face. I couldn't help but smile while looking at her. “What are you going to do the rest of the day? If you don't mind me asking?”

“I...” I think for a moment before speaking. “I think I’ll read more of my dad’s journal before bed,” I say as Fluttershy starts collecting the dishes.

“I need answers,” I think to myself as I stand up and walk slowly and leisurely to the couch. “Sadly I will not get all the answers from his books,”

"What, because your dad is dead?” I stop and look out the window in shock.
“Did I just think that or, no I couldn’t have,” I sit down as I think about what just happened.
“That voice, I can not put a finger on it, but I recognize it somehow,” I mindlessly pull one of the journals out of my bag and lay down. I flip it open to the first page to see a title in big, bold letters. It reads Draíocht an Domhain, or The Magic of The World. I flip to the next page to see a slanted title that reads, telekinesis bunúsach or basic telekinesis. Underneath is a sketch and a detailed description of how to pull off the spell.
“There is no way this works,” I think to myself as I slowly slip back into a memory of me and my father.

13 of September 2010, Kilkenny Ireland

“Come on, you can do it, just concentrate,” a man says, standing next to a ball on a tree stump. He was around his forties, tall and thin with dark brown hair. His skin was bright white. He wears a plaid red hoodie with blue jeans. He has brown stubbles on his chin and cheeks.

I stand a few feet away from him. I was pointing my finger at the ball on the ground and closing my eyes as tight as I could. Trying with all my might to levitate the ball to me. My hand shakes as I start to sweat. I fall to my knees in disappointment. I look at the dirt on the ground and start dragging my finger through it. The man silently walks over to me and kneels down to my level. He places a gentle hand on my shoulder and squeezes my shoulder.

“Mom was right, this it dum,” I say angrily, whipping away some tears that had started to form in my eyes.

“Son, whatever you do, don’t give up,” I look up at him. He smiles at me and hugs me. I smile and hug him back. “Never let someone tell you you can’t do something,”

I pull back and look up at him. "Even mom?" I ask wearily.

He smiles and chuckles, standing back up. He over ups his hand as he replies, "Even your mother can't tell you no on some things," I smile and grab his hand as he helps me get back up.

I blink as a tear rolls down my cheek. I had unintentionally started to drift off to sleep. The last thing I remember was thinking about my father's "training". I lift my hand up slowly and carefully to my face and torch the tear that had formed. I whip it away and blink again, clearing my eyes. I look around the room to see the fireplace is lit, with Fluttershy sitting next to it. I sit up to see that the sun had set and the moon had replaced it, along with the beautiful night sky replacing the bright blue day.

“I hope you like the fire,” Fluttershy says, looking over at me. “It was getting cold,” I smiled and stood up. I walk over to her and sit down by the fireplace. The heat worms my face and body. I now realize how cold I really was. I start to shiver lightly as I curl up into a ball to try and stay warm.

“I have a few questions for you,” I say, tightening the grip I have around my knees. “Why didn’t we use this to cook the food?” I ask, turning to look at her as she places more wood into the fire.

“The fireplace is meant to warm the house. It's not meant for cooking,” Fluttershy explains, turning to me with a gentle smile. “The house would have also smelled like fish,” I chuckle at the thought of the house smelling like burnt fish. I turn my attention back to the fire crackling in front of me.

We sit there, looking at the fire. I shiver as a brisk breeze finds its way up my back. I watch as one of the pieces of firewood breaks off and collapse in on itself, causing little orange and yellow ember to go flying into the air. I freeze as I feel something soft torch my back. I look behind me to see Fluttershy placing a blanket around my back. I smile at her and nod as I grab the blanket. I pull it around myself as Fluttershy sits back down next to me.

“Is it ok if I talk to you about something personal?” I ask, cutting the silence.

“If you're comfortable with it,” Fluttershy responds. I sit there and stare at the fire as I think. Minutes pass as I build up the courage to talk.

"Why am I about to do this?" I think as I began talking out loud, more to the fire than to Fluttershy.

“I miss my mother, my brother, and most importantly..” My voice falters as I choke up on my words. Tears start to form in my eyes, blurring my vision. They start to roll down my cheek as I sniff and swallow. I clench my teeth as I whimper in sadness. I try and stop myself from crying as all the memories of my dad and his death come pouring back into my brain. It's like the flood gaits have been opened to an over-filling tank of water. I couldn’t get it out, I placed my head onto my knees and started letting the tears flow freely. I hear fluttershy move over and I feel her place her hoof around my back.

“It’s ok," She says softly and motherly. "You don’t have to tell me,” She strokes my head slowly and gently, leaning her head against my neck. My muscles relaxed as she spoke. I feel calm, almost protected, as if someone had just taken the burden of carrying what I was dealing with. That I even didn't know the recent of the burden.

“This feels so motherly,” I think. That just made the tears worse as I remember my mother I left at home. “She’s probably worried sick for me,” We sat there, me letting my tears free with her comforting me the entire time.

“I have such conflicting feelings,” I say, lifting my head up. Fluttershy lifts her head up but keeps her arm around me. I can't bear to even look at her. “On one hand,” I say, lifting up one of my hands. “I was trying to find this place on purpose. My dad always talked of this place, but on the other hand,” I lift up my other hand and look at it. “I miss home, my mother, my brother,”

“What are their names?” Fluttershy asks softly. I lower my hands as I take a shaky breath.

“My Mother’s name is Barbra, my brother’s name is Ivan,” I say, looking over to her. She smiles and says,

“They sound nice,” I can’t help but smile back at her remark. Something about her makes me want to cry into her shoulder for the rest of the night.

“My brother is a pain in the ass sometimes,” I say as I wipe the tears from my eyes. Fluttershy lowers her arm from behind my back. “My Mother is hard but fair,” I look up at her. “And I love them both,” Fluttershy just sits there and smiles at me. “My dad always had his face in his books,” I chuckle to myself. “Sometimes me and him would go out camping and try to do some of the magic he found on his journeys,”

I start to tear up again as I remember my dad's death. "My dad died January 13, 2013. He was driving to my birthday party when he got into a car accident that killed him," The tears start to slide down my cheeks like rain. I can no longer think straight and instinctively barry my face into Fluttershy's shoulder.

She wraps her hoofs around my back as she rubs her head against the top of mine. I hug her back as I let it all out. "It was my fault.." I incoherently say into her shoulder. "If he didn't need to go back to the house to get my comfort stuffed animal, then he might still be here,"

"That doesn't make it your fault," Fluttershy says, leaning back onto her hind legs and placing a hoof under my chin. She raises my head up so we are looking at each other. "Yes, you may have indirectly caused his death, but.." She drifts off as she looks over to the fire. "It wasn't you falt you hear me?" She says, more demanding than a question.

"She's right, but why can't I accept that?" I think, bashing myself for my stupidity.

"I can't imaging what your going throw, but only you can figure it out," Fluttershy says softly and kindly.

“Thank you,” I whisper to Fluttershy before looking up at her. "Thank you for everything you've done for me and my striped ass,"

“You don’t need to thank me,” Fluttershy says, shaking her head. She slowly rocks onto her front hoof and stands up. I slowly stand up as Fluttershy puts out the fire. “The heat should last the rest of the night,”

"Again, thanks for listening to a complete stranger talk about his family," I say as I look at her with a smile. She looks back up at me with a smile of her own.

"Again, you don't have to thank me," Fluttershy replies. "We are friends, that's what friends do,"

I nod and walk slowly over to the couch and lay down, draping the blanket over my body. Fluttershy walks slowly and quietly up the stairs as I close my eyes. I drift off to sleep as a small and genuine smile creeps onto my face.

The Challenge from a Blue Angel

I sit outside by a little pond near Fluttershy’s home. I have been sitting there for over an hour meditating. I calmly and slowly extend my hand out, opening up my eyes as I say, “Suas uisce,”

I see a droplet of water float up from the pond and stop near my hand. I rotate it so my palm is facing upward. The water droplet floats inches above my skin. I smile like an idiot as I try to manipulate the water.

"I can't believe I just did this," I think to myself.

"Of course you did, this place is full of magic," That voice says in my head. I still haven't figured out if I'm going crazy or dying. It potentially could be both.

Breaking my concentration is a soft voice calling from behind me, “Hello Brogan.” I lose concentration and the water droplet falls to my palm. My smile fades slightly as I shake the water droplet off my hand.

“Good Morning Fluttershy,” I say without turning to look. She slowly walks over to me and gently sits down next to me.

“What are you doing up so early?” She asks as I yawn. I swallow my own spit before speaking.

“Urghabháil an lá!” I yell boldly, making poor Fluttershy flinch. However, She quickly recovers, smiling as she tilts her head in confusion.

“Arghubail an la?” She says slowly, trying to replicate what I just said.

“Nice attempt,” I say, smiling at her. “It means seize the day in Irish,” She simply smiles at me. We sit in silence as we watch the sunrise from the forest like the undead. “I was out here trying to do Draíocht Uisce, or Water magic,” I added, quickly catching myself.

“I really need to stop speaking Celtic Irish,” I think to myself as I lift my hand over the top of the pond again. “Suas uisce,” I repeat, but this time with more confidence as a water droplet floats up to my hand. Fluttershy looks at it in slight amusement. “I’ve gotten it to the point where I can hold a drop of water,” I then move my hand in a way that makes the water droplet spin. “It took me a half-hour just to get the water to move up,”

“That's impressive,” Fluttershy says, silently clapping her hoofs together.

“She can clap her hoof together without making noise?” I think to myself. “That's interesting,” I chuckle as I flick the water droplet back into the pond.

“That’s not impressive at all,” I say, leaning back and looking up at the orange sky.

“It’s impressive to me,” Fluttershy responds. “I can barely do pegasus magic myself,” I look over to see her face looking at the dirt. She's playing with a piece of dirt on the ground. A part of my heart breaks seeing her put herself down.

“Fluttershy, don’t put yourself down like that,” I say, sitting up. She looks up at me with a small smile as she wipes her eyes. It seems like her eyes had started to water up slightly.

“It’s ok,” Fluttershy says slightly more cherry. “The only ponies who would care are the ones that don’t matter,” I tilt my head in confusion. She puts her hoof to her mouth as she thinks out loud. “Wait, did I say that right?” As she says this her cheeks turn a slight red.

“I understand what you're putting down,” I respond as Her head pops up and looks at me with beet red cheeks. My eyes widen as my own cheeks turn red. I cover my face as I apologize. “Oh, no, I’m sorry I didn't know,”

“It’s ok,” Fluttershy says shakily as she pats my back. I place my hands on the ground behind me as I look up at the sky.

“I really need to talk to Twilight about that culture lesson,” I say as the heat drains from my face. We sit there as the wind blows against our backs. The sky turning from orange to blue over a made of minutes.

“Umm… Brogan,” I perked up as I hear Flutershy’s voice. I look over at her, but she doesn't return eye contact. She’s looking down at the ground while twirling the ends of her hair. “Twilight told me to ask you if you would like a job in Ponyville,”

I look at her slightly surprised. “Why would Twilight make Flutershy do it?”

“Of course, I was already thinking of getting a job,” I explained. Flutershy smiles softly as she looks up at me. “Does she have anything in mind?”

“Yes..” Fluttershy hesitates for a second. “I think she does, she never told me,” Fluttershy was again looking at the ground.

“I’ll have to talk to Twilight about that then,” I respond, looking back at the pond. The reflection of the sun now brighter than ever.

“Well, breakfast is ready to eat,” Fluttershy says, standing up. “You can join me if you want,” She says as she walks towards the cabin.

“Well, that was sudden of her,” I think as I stand up and turn to look at her. Her pink hair is being blown slightly by the wind, her fur glowing in the morning sun. I smile and start walking after her.

I sit there at the dinner table with Fluttershy across from me. She had prepared two bowls of wonderful salads. Every bite makes me want more. I have no idea what she put in it, but it’s wonderful. I finish another bite as the wooden sound of the door being knocked against by the metal horseshoe rings out through the house.

Fluttershy silently slides off her chair and walks towards the door. I continue to eat the salad, but I try to listen to see who came over.

“Good morning, what are you three up to this morning,” Fluttershy says.

“So there’s three of them,” I thought to myself as I took another bite of the saled. “From the way she spoke to them they sound like kids,”

“Hello,” a very chipper and raspy voice responds.“We heard from Twilight that there is a human that lives here, can we meet him?”

“At least they said human right,” I thought as I finished up my breakfast.

“He does live her but..” Fluttershy hesitates. I stand up and walk slowly and quietly to the living room doorway. I look over to see Fluttershy holding the door slightly open. She sees me and looks at me questioningly. I smile and nod yes. She smiles back and opens the door to let the guests in. I lean up against the wall as the trio walk in.

“Brogan Even, meet Scootaloo,” Fluttershy starts introducing me as an orange filly with a purple mane walks in. Her tiny wings bussing happily as she looks straight up at me. Her wide happy smile says everything.

“Twilight told us a lot about you,” Scootaloo speaks with a high pitched raspy voice. The raspiness only rivaled by Rainbow Dash’s voice.

“Sweetie Bell,” Fluttershy continues to talk as a bright white unicorn walks in with curly white hair with pink streaks in it. She looks up at me with a more modest smile than Scoots.

“Hello, Mr. Even,” She greets me similar to Rarity as she does a small bow in front of me.

“Must be Raritys sister or daughter,” I thought to myself as I do a small bow of my own.

“And Applebloom,” Fluttershy says as the last of the three walks in. She was a small earth pony with yellow fur and red hair. She had small white freckles underneath her eyes. She looks up with a big smile, but not as big as Scoots was.

“Hiya Brogan,” She says in a slight southern accent.

“Definitely an Apple,” I think to myself as I respond.

“Nice to meet you three,”

“We’ve heard a lot about you from Twilight and the others,” Scootaloo says as the three basically surround me on all sides.

“Well, technical we pestered Twilight fahwar information about yawl cuz ponies are tawkin' about how..” Applebloom looks down at the ground and scratches her chin.

“Strange?” I ask.

“Unusual?” Scootaloo asks, turning to look at her friend.

“Odd,” Sweetie Bell pipes in.

“Ya’ll an alien frum another planet were yawl eat ponies fahwar fun,” Applebloom says way to enthusiastically. Finally, thinking of what she wanted to say. Her sentence confused me, made Scootaloo look like she was about the throw-up, and Sweetie Bell just looked at me in shock.

“Where exactly did you hear that?” I ask slowly and deliberately.

“Adult ponies and rumors,” Applebloom responded.

“So is THAT why you wanted to find him?” Scootaloo asks Applebloom.

“Ya, kind of,” Applebloom looks up at me. “Is It really true whut they say about yawl?”

I hesitated for a few seconds as I thought over my response. “Yes, and no,” I say, getting a mixture of confused and scared looks. “Yes, I’m an alien from another world,” I start to explain. “Yes, I CAN eat ponies if I wanted to,” I say, emphasizing can. The three have almost unreadable faces. I don’t know if that's because they have no emotions now, or if it’s because they have too many going through their head.

“So,” Sweetie Bell is the first to speak. “You can eat ponies?”

“But you choose not to,” Scootaloo interjects. I nod my head yes as the three whisper to each other.

“Ok you three, I think he’s done with questioning,” Fluttershy says, walking in from the kitchen. We had been so preoccupied we didn’t notice Fluttershy walk off. “I think you all should get some fresh air, if you would like to,” We all look at each other and smile.

“Why the hell not,” I say as the other three cheer in happiness. The three-run out as I walk after them. Fluttershy places a hoof on my back. I stop from her touch, almost choking on my own breath. I look back at her to see a motherly smile plastered on her face.

“Please be careful with them,” Fluttershy says softly. “You are new here and they are very curious foals,” I smile back and nod as I’m handed a bright yellow frisbee. “This should keep them preoccupied for a while,”

“See you later Flutters,” I say as I walk out the door. I turn around to see her standing in the doorway with one hoof on the door. “I can call you Flutters right?” I ask nervously.

“Of course, we are friends after all,” My smile reappears as I wave bye to her. I start running after the trio with a big smile on my face.

“I think I might like it here after all,”

In Ponyville Park

“So, where do yawl come frum?” Applbloom asks as I throw the disk towards Sweetie Bell. She runs after it and jumps up into the air elegantly catching the disk.

“I come from a planet called earth,” I explain to her as we watch Sweetie Bell throw the disk with her mouth towards Scootaloo.

“Ah mean the town, ya silly filly,” Applebloom says as the disk is thrown to her. She quickly runs after it. She jumps up into the air, hitting her head against the disk with a thunk. Both of them fall to the ground with a thud.

“You ok Applebloom?” I ask walking over to her.

“Stay there, Ahm ok,” Applebloom replies as I stop walking. She stands up, rubbing her head with the disk in her mouth. She then smiled at me and chucked it towards me.

“I lived in a city called Kilkenny in Ireland,” I say as I catch the flying disk. I then turn to Sweetie Bell and throw it at her.

“Do you have magic where you come from?” Scootaloo asks as the disk is thrown to her.

“Not that I know off,” I say, scratching my chin. “We might have a little, but I’ll have to ask Twilight about that,” I explain as Applebloom successfully catches the disk. As Applebloom is about to throw the disk, I feel the change in wind pressure behind me.

“You have to be kidding me,” I think as I duck and turn around to see a blue hoof grazing my head. I look up to see a shocked face, Rainbow Dash. She shakes her head and regains composure as the disk lands next to me. We stood there, me in shock at how close that was, and Dash at how fast I was. Well, that's what I’m presuming.

“Holly Hay! That was cool!” I hear the excited scratch of Scootaloo as the trio runs over to use. I stand up straight as Dash lowers her hovering height, so she is at eye level with me.

Dash was about to talk when Applebloom stole the words out of Dash’s muzzle. “How the hay did you move so fast?!”

“And how did you know I was behind you?” Dash asks with an eyebrow raised as she crosses her arms.

“Why were you behind me?” I ask my own question. She scoffs like it’s the most obvious answer in the world, since two plus two.

“Twilight and I saw the stunt you pulled,” She says as my heartbeat starts to rise slightly.

“What stunt?”

"We were both curious to see how fast you are,” Dash then looks me in the eye with that determinate glare. “She put me up to try and tackle and or bruise you by the end of the week,”

I think it over for a second as the trio starts asking a lot of questions. I look at Dash to see her eyes are closed with a confident smile on her face.

“I’ve been curious about that since the accident too,” I say. It seemed to have taken Dash by surprise as she opened up one eye to look at me. I smile with my own confident smirk. “How about we make this fun, you have the rest of the week to get me..” I look down and think for a second.

“If I win, you have to do anything I want for a day,” Dash pips in. I look up to see her pointing confidently at me with a big smirk on her face.

“And if I win, you have to do my bidding for a day,” I responded. Dashes confident smile wavers as her cheeks go slightly red.

“Um.. Brogan,” Applebloom says, tugging on my pant leg. “I don’t know where you come from, but bidding is not the word you should have used,” I looked down to see the trio, except Applebloom, was looking at the ground with beat red faces.

My eyes widen as a wave of embarrassment hits me, and so does the back of Dash’s hoof. I look over at her to see she has her confident grin back.

“It’s no biggie, we all mess up,” Dash responds.

“I really need to talk to Twilight about this stuff,” I think to myself before I respond. “So, do we have a deal?” I extend my hand in a fist.

“Hell ya, you do!” Dash says enthusiastically bumping my hand. This time I can’t hold the pain in as I grab my hand and rub it.

“Dam..” I whisper. Dash and the others laugh at my expense as I smile.

“I really need to stop doing that,”

The Win?

I walk through the town of Ponyville. It was a nice and beautiful day outside like it always is. No clouds in the sky, and the perfect temperature. It has been two days since me and Dash started the challenge. She hasn’t done anything for those two days.

“She must be planning something big,” I think as I walk up to Applejack’s stall.

“Howdy Brogan!” Applejack says, tipping her hat towards me as I stop in front of her.

“Has it been busy today?” I ask.

“It's been on an off all day,” Applejack says, looking into the little chest that sits on the wooden stand. “How bout yawl, what is yawl out an bout for?”

“I need to ask you for a job,” I say. She looks up at me with a slight surprise on her face.

“What on earth would yawl ask me for uh job?”

“Because it’s easier to ask someone who has already met me then to go and find a new pony and ask for a job,” I explain. Applejack slowly nods, seemingly absorbing the information.

“Yawl do make uh mighty fine point thayure,” Applejack responds as she throws me an apple. I catch it and look at her confusingly. “Take that as uh yes. We might be able tuh put your hands tuh good use on thuh farm,”

“Thanks Apple,” I say before asking. “Can I call you Apple?”

“Ah don't say wha not? We are friends, after all?” Applejack says with a smile. I smile back and start to slowly walk backwards.

“See you early tomorrow for the job Apple,”

“As early as yawl can git chur plot awf thuh bed!” Applejack yells back at me as I turn and walk away. I look down at the apple in my hand. It was a granny smith, or at least that’s what it would be called on earth. Then, for just a second, I felt it. The air pressure changed for just a fraction of a second. I look up to see a white cloud above me.

“Damn, the pressure sensitivity for my bones have also gone up,” I think to myself as I feel the presence of someone watching me. “That ability will never stop being creepy to me,” I think as I lean down and pretend to tie my shoes. Rarity had made them out of my old ones. They were bright green with accents of red.

“Nice, you fell for it,” I feel the quick change in wind speed from above. I quickly lay on the ground and rolled out of the way. I hear a loud thud as I feel dirt hit the back of my neck. I stand up and look back to see Dash lying on the ground in a tangle of limbs.

“Nice work airhead,” I say as she stands up and rubs her head. She shoots me and angrily glar as she flies over to me. “Apparently the pressure sensitivity of my bones have increased, so I literally felt the cloud float over me,” I explained with a smug grin.

“Rub that smug grin off your face!” She yells at me while pointing at me. “There is no way that's a thing!”

“I don’t remember exactly how it works, but it’s real,” Dash looks at me angrily, but it seems she’s calming down a bit from my poke at her.

“Good thing I still have three days,” Dash says with her confident grin back on her face. “Soon you’ll be on the ground, doing my dirty work for a day,”

“Maybe you’ll be the one on the ground scrubbing the floors as I admire you from behind,” I say with a confident smile as I turn around. I don’t even need to look to know her face is red. “That time I did it on purpose,” I start walking away until I feel something hard hit my back.

“Ok, note to self, don’t turn your back on her when she’s angry,” I think as I quickly place a foot out to stop me from being pushed onto the ground.

“Damit,” I hear Dash wispear into my shirt.

“Should have gone for the punch,” I say, grabbing her neck. “It would have been easier,” I then push onto the bottom of her neck and she cries out in shock. Her wings stifin and her arms losin as she falls to the ground. She looks up at me in surprise and amazement like a kid seeing a candy store for the first time.

“How did you know to do that!” Dash says, jumping up in the air and hovering to eye level.

“Blam Twilight for that,” I explain. “Me and her had a chit chat about some very private stuff and we started talking about pressure points on ponies,” I turned half way around to show her my neck. “Apparently in pegasus there is a lot of space between the neck bones, easily able to cut off the brain from the body for a few seconds. Only long enough to disable basic body functions like flight,” I say, pointing at my own neck. “Don’t try it on me, it doesn't work, trust me,”

“Wow, I thought you were lame before,” Dash says as my smile grows. “I didn't peg you as an egg head!” She says, laughing at me. My smile fades into a frown.

“Outch, that one hurt,” I think as she calms down. She looks at me in triumfit smile.

“Looks like you're not the only one who can push ponies buttons,” She says, punching me in the shoulder lightly. “For the record, that dosn’t count,” She says, I agree with her as she continues to talk. “You're a cool po.. Uh.. human,” she corrects herself. “We should hang out more after this challenge,”

“I agree with you there,” I say as I start to walk away. “But I need to get to Fluttershy’s house! I promised her I would help put up bird feeders,” and with that, I walked away from her and towards Fluttershy’s house.

I carry a barrel of apples to the wagon and place it in with the rest of the barrels. I take a deep breath in and wipe sweat from my forehead. I sit down on the edge of the wooden wagon and look around.

“It looks like all the apples have been cleared from this area,” I thought as I spotted something blue in one of the apple trees. I smirk and slowly walk over to the tree. I look up to see a sleeping Dash in the tree. I punch the tree, almost immediately regretting it as I clench my fist in my other hand. The tree shakes and Dash falls out of it with a high pitched squeak.

I flex my fingers and turn to look at her on the ground. She shakes her head and looks up at me angrily. “What the hell was that for!” Dash yells, standing up quickly and poking me in the side.

“You're supposed to be tackling me, not sleeping in my boss's trees,” I say, turning around and walking towards the wagon. It then dons on me as I turn around to see her flexing her wings and checking them for damage. “Were you spying on me?”

Her head snaps up to look at me. Her eyes wide with a hint of pink. “NO!” She blurts out, taking flight and hovering over to me. “It wasn’t like that!” I could no longer hold my smile in. My grin slowly creeps onto my face as hers becomes angrier.

“I should have said eavesdropping instead of Spying?” I ask. She nods, still pouting. I turn around and pick up the front of the wagon. “I would recommend you refrain from trying to tackle me while I’m working,” I explained as I pulled the wagon down the hill.

“Why?” Dash asks, flying next to me. “You afraid Applejack might get jealous?” I look over to see Dash making a mocking kissy face while she cradles her mussel with her hoofs.

“No,” I state bluntly, turning to look back at the barn fastly approaching. “Why would you even think of something like that?”

“I don’t know?” Dash says, flying in front of me. I’m still impressed at how she can fly back words while talking. “Maybe because you keep hanging out with her,”

“One, she’s my boss now,” I start to explain as I stop the wagon by the barn. “Two,” I hold up two of my fingers in front of my face. “I hang out with Fluttershy and Twilight a lot to, and three, I don’t think of ponies like that,”

Dash lands on the ground in front of me. She has a devious grin on her face as she turns around and walks slowly to the barn. Swinging her hips slightly more than normal. I look away as my face turns red.

“I could change that for you,” I hear Dash’s best attempt at seductive voice. It was bad, but not terrible.

“Dash, stop doing that before you embarrass yourself,” I say, looking up to see Dash was leaning against the barn in a way that emphasizes her back side.

“Ahd agree with Brogan on thus Rainbow Dash,” Applejack says, stepping onto the porch from inside the house. Dash’s head quickly wips over to look at AJ, then quickly looks down with embarrassment written all over her face.

“Can you believe she just tried to seduce me?” I ask, pointing at her with my thumb.

“Ya, Ah didn't peg Dash as uh slut,” Applejack jokes as she walks over to me. The both of us have a good laugh as Dash turns to us with a bright red face.

“It was a joke,” Dash mumbles.

“From the way you were acting I thought you worked at the local club,” I say jokingly. They both look at me with dead pained expressions. I look at the two in slight confusion. “Too far?”

“To far,” The both reply plainly as Dash’s face returns back to normal.

“Well,” I say, turning around and grabbing a barrel. “These apples will not unload themselves,” I say, trying to get out of the awkward moment. I carry the barrel into the barn, as I walk in I can hear the two talking to each other. I place the barrel next to the rest and start walking back outside.

“Ahl agree he is cool, but sexy?” I hear Applejack say in a whisper. I smile and chuckle to myself.

“Probably talking about a stallion that Dash likes,” I think as I walk out of the barn and grab another barrel. “It might be Big Mac, I’ve seen the way she looks at him,”

“Hey, laddies,” I say. That gets their attention. “Are You two going to stand around looking pretty, or are one of you going to help me like you promised me,” I say, glaring at Applejack. She smiles awkwardly and scratches the back of her head.

“Ok, ok, yawl don't have tuh tell may twise,” Applejack says. Satisfied with the help I started walking my barrel into the barn. Right as I enter I hear Applejack wispear to Dash. “At least he's hard workin', unlike yawl,” I chuckle as I can visibly hear Dash stick her tongue out.

I sit underneath a tree in the ponyville park with Dash next to me. We had been laying there for over an hour after I was done with work.

“You know what I did at AJ’s farm was a joke, right?” Dash asks .

“I know,” I responded. “I do the same to you, so why not pay back,” I say, turning to look at her with a smile. She smiles back and stands up.

“Glad that's cleared up,” She says as I look at her in confusion.

“We sat here in silence for over an hour till you had the nerve to tell me that?”

“More or less,” Dash says, shrugging.

“Well,” I say as I stand up. “You only have one day left to get me,”

“Be on your guard, because I’m coming for that booty,” She barely finishes that sentence before bursting into laughter. I soon laughed at the comment.

“You're going to have to bring your A game tomorrow,” I responded as I walked towards Fluttershy’s cottage.

I lay underneath the same tree that me and Dash hung out in yesterday. I haven’t seen her all day. It seems like she threw in the towel, but that doesn't seem like Dash. I keep my eyes closed as I feel the nice hot rays of the summer sun brush against my face. I feel a slight breeze from my right and hear a very faint clop.

“So, you’re trying to sneak up on me are you?” I think as I hear the soft clopping come closer until she’s right on top of me. A few seconds pass as I mentaly brace for the takel. I sat there waiting for a few minutes.

“Your fake sleeping aren't you,” The raspy voice confirms it’s Dash. I didn't respond to show her I was asleep. “This isn’t fun when you're asleep,” I hear her start to walk away. I opened my eyes up slowly and turned to see where she was, but she was nowhere to be seen. I sat up and looked around for her.

“Did she take off that quickly?” I think to myself as I stand up.

“Got you,” I hear Dash’s voice right in my ear as I feel her body ram into the side of my chest. Her hoofs rap around me as we both go tumbling to the ground. Everything happened so fast I had no time to react. We finally stop rolling with her standing trimpitly on top of me.

“Rainbow Dash comes out victorious!” Dash says, pumping her hoof into the air with a big grin on her face.

“Good work,” I say as I cough. “I was not expecting that at all, but why didn’t you attack me when I was sleeping?”

She lowers her hoof and looks down at me with a smile that says you are inferior to her. “That would not have been fun if you were sleeping when I did it,”

“Now that’s over, can you get off of me?” I ask. Her smile turns into an evil grin when she whispers into my ear.

“Some stallions would pay money for me to sit on top of them,” and with that I burst out laughing as she steps off of me. I pull myself together and sit up to face her.

“What are you, a prostitute?”

“Some stallions wish,” She says, wiggling her eyebrows in the most over the top commedict way. We both start laughing at our antics before standing back up.

“Well, I guess I’m a man of my word,” I say. “Tomorrow I am in your serves,”

“Good,” Dash says, flying up to eye level. “I have some cleaning I need you to do in my house,” She’s about to fly away before a yell back at her.

“How am I supposed to walk on clouds?!”

“Ask Twilight! She has a cloud walking spell!” Dash yells back before dashing off to who knows where.

“Well, Looks like tomorrow is planned out,” I thought as I jog towards Twilight's castle.

I Fish, Do You?

I sit by a lake with a makeshift fishing rod in my hand. The fishing pole was just a wooden pole with strings attached and a metal hook. I had started craving meat and decided to catch some. While I was there I was asked by Fluttershy to catch some fore Harry the Bear who really likes fish.

I yawn and stretch my arm as I look up at the sun beating down on me. I had been there all morning and not a single bit. I had thought about giving up many times, but thought it best to stick it out. I was about to nod off to sleep until I heard a loud gasp, similar to pinky pie. I snap my head up in surprise and turn to see who made that sound.

Standing in front of me was a Hippogriff. The griff had blue and light blue stripes going through her main and tail. Her fur was very light purple. Her eyes were sparkling with a big grin that rivals Pinkie Pie’s.

“Um.. Hi?” I awkwardly say while also awkwardly raising my hand to wave at her.

“Your the Human,” the Griff says with a weird mix of Fluttershy’s voice mixed with the hyperactivity of Pinkie Pie’s.

“The one and only,” I say, puffing my chest out and placing my hand on my chest. My chest deflated as I lowered my hand and asked, “And who are you?”

“Oh! How rude of me not introducing myself,” She says, walking closer to me. I can smell the scent of saltwater coming off of her. “I’m Silverstream,” She says, extending a claw out. I grasp it and shake. The claw was similar to the talons of an eagle, but still oddly soft, almost smooth.

“My name is Brogan Even,” I say, letting go of her claws. She immediately sits down and grabs my hand and starts looking at it.

“I’ve never seen claws like this before!” She says really enthusiastically.

“I’m also not a normal part of the world,” I say with a smile. Trying my hardest not to show how uncomfortable I was with the situation.

“Soft skin too,” She says, poking at my arm. Surprisingly causing little to no pain. “But why no fur?” She asks, lifting my arm up for closer examination.

“Humans evolved to wear clothes for warmth,” I explain as she sets my hand down and listens intently. “Causing us to only have hair on our head,” I say pointing at the brown mop on my head I neglected to brush this morning.

“That’s interesting,” She says.

“Never thought someone would be so interested in me like that,” I say as the fishing pole jerks. I grab it and pull it back as I stand up.

“Oh, I love learning, not book worm level of learning, but I still like to learn new things as long as they're not boring,” She says as she continues to talk about something called the School of friendship, and how when it first started out it was like any other school.

I on the other hand was trying to pull what looks to be a pretty big fish. I grab the string and start pulling the fish in as Silverstream finally stops talking.

“That looks like a good catch,” She says, licking her beak with her tongue.

“You like Fish?” I ask as I try and hold down the flopping big mouth bass.

“What do you think we eat when we are stuck underwater for hundreds of years?” Silver stream asks as I finally get the bass off the hook and into the basket. I turn to look at her with many questions.

“What are you talking about?” I ask, sitting back down as I grab the string the hook is attached to.

“You don’t know about how the storm king took over a good portion of the world, causing the hippogriffs to go underwater for hundreds of years till Twilight saved us!?” She asks me enthusiastically.

I chuckle as I throw the hook into the water. “Now I know,”

“I have sooooo many questions,” She says, sitting down next to me. I place the fishing rod between some rocks and turn slightly towards her. Her eyes glistened in the sunlight, her smile wider than even Pinkie Pie’s.

“Go for it,” I say, leaning back against a tree. Her smile widens even more before she starts asking in a manner similar to when Twilight asked me questions when I first got here.

“What is your home like?”

“Earth was nice, but the humans there can be very stupid and violent sometimes,”

“What’s the water like there, you know, how it feels,”

“Depends on what water you're talking about. Saltwater is easier to float on and it feels like...” I sat there, stumped at how to describe the water’s texter. “I would say wet, but that just doesn't cut it,”

“Oh! I have that problem all the time,” She responds, waving her hand in the air in an ark above her head. I get a good laugh out of her gesture before she keeps talking. “You could describe water as sparkling mineral, or permanently fresh, unlimited hot if it’s a hot spring, O! I Love those. Cupful cold,” She goes on for over five minutes describing water. What finally stopped her was not me, but a voice calling her name from a distance.

“It sounds like someone is looking for you,”

“Oops, I forgot I was supposed to get sticks for my friend's bonfire we are having tonight,” She says, standing up. Then a light bulb seems to go off in her head. “Do you want to come, it’s open for everyone!” She says with a big smile.

“Why not, I have nothing else going on,” I responded.

“Cool, I’ll tell my friends,” She says, flying away excitedly. “See you tonight at the friendship school!”

“Wait where is the..” I tried to yell after her, but she was long gone before I could get her attention. “Well. that's one more thing to ask Twilight about,”

Friendship School Bonfire

Me and Fluttershy walk along the dirt road of Ponyville as the sun finishes setting in the west. I had put on a red hoodie to keep me warm, but it didn't help keep the nerves shivering away. Fluttershy must have noticed as she speaks up.

“Don’t be nervous, just be yourself and you’ll be fine. That’s what my friends always say,” I look down at here with a kind smile.

“Easy for you to say, you teach at the school,” I say, trying to remember the book Spike gave me after I put Twilight in her bedroom.

“That doesn't make confrontation easier for me,” Fluttershy retorts, playfully hitting her hoof against me hip. I chukel, looking around the very silent town.

We walk silently for a while as my eyes wander up into the sky. I spot the Gemini Twins next to a set of stars that look like a big cone of ice cream. I imagine myself among the stars, high above the earth without a care in the world. I’m brought back down to earth when I feel something soft rub against my leg. I looked down to see Fluttershy had slowly creeped closer to me as we were walking.

She was looking around slightly frantically. I look around myself to see no one at that time. I guess everyone must be asleep right now. The dark had slowly overtaken the town, and now the charming houses seem like a delapidated mess that could hold untold evile.

"Dam, this town really looks diffrent at night," I think as I'm reminded of the frantic little pegusis caressing my leg.

“Fluttershy, are you scared of the dark?” I ask jokingly, producing a high pitched meep out of Fluttershy as she jumps up a few inches. She looks up at me in embarrassment as her face burns bright red. She promptly looks back down, finding the rocks on the ground more interesting.

“N-no.. I mean yes!” Fluttershy blurts out, extending her wings slightly out in a deffenive reflex. Her face starts turning even reder then befor. She slinks back down, trying to hid her face from me. “I just never got over the dark, it’s the reason I never go alone out at night,”

I now feel bad about poking fun at her. I reach down and scratch behind her ear. The fur on her body feels extremlly soft, almost like silk. Her head pops up, then melts into my hand like ice cream on a sunny day. She pushes her head into my hand while smileing like a little kid.

“It’s ok, Flutters. Everyone is afraid of the dark to some degree,” I say, checking around us out of paranoia. Fluttershy closes her eyes as she smiles and hums in content.

“Thanks,” Fluttershy says.

“For what?” I ask confused as I remove my hand from her ear. She looks up at me with the adorable smile that threatens to kill me where I stand.

“For being a great friend,” Fluttershy says as we are stopped by a voice.

“Brogan! Fluttershy! You overshot the school!” I hear the ruff voice of Rainbow Dash. We turn to see her flying after us. I look over to see the giant schoolhouse built into the side of the mountain. It then regesters in my head that there are children talking in the distance.

"How did I not hear that?" I think to my self as Rainbow flies closer.

“Sorry about that, we were having a friendship moment,” I quickly explain while Fluttershy tries to hid her blush behind her hair.

“Uh Hu,” Dash says, stopping in frount of us whilecrossing her arms. Her eyes are looking at Fluttershy with the face of "ya right" printed on it. “Anywase, you passed the school, I’ll show you to the fire,” Dash says, flying towards the school, leaving behind a rainbow vaper trail. I follow her with Fluttershy next to me.

We walk in silence as we entered into the forest next to the school. We walked into a clearing where a mass of creators have assembled. In the middle of the clearing is a giant fire ring made out of red bricks. In the center is a blazing fire full of wood.

Some of the students were cooking marshmallows at the fire while others we setting up games around the fire. I spot Silverstream sitting next to a Blue Griffin as they both cook marshmallows.

“Brogan! Fluttershy!” I turn to see Twilight waving at us. She and AppleJack stand next to a table with snacks and different assortment of drinks. I walk over as I wave back at her.

“Twilight, I thought I told you to sleep,” I ask concerning.

“Ah done said thuh same thang,” AppleJack wispears, glaring at Twilight.

“Guys, I’m fine, that power nap did a lot of good for me,” Twilight says before giving a small yawn. “Ok, maybe I’m still tired, but I’m still fin,”

“Brogan!” I hear Silverstream yell my name exitedly. I turn to see her flying over to me with a reluctant looking griffin she was sitting next to earlier. “I’m happy you could make it!” She says with a smile as she lands in front of me. “Brogan, meet one of my best friends and only specail griffen friend, Gallus, Gallus meet Brogan,”

“Hi,” Gallus says, limply extending his claw. He looks unamused, ether that or he’s tired. I grab his claw and shake. It feels very similar to Silver’s, but much ruffier and covered in dirt. We let go as Gallus tries to slip away, but Silver grab him.

“Silver, I love you, but you have to let me sleep at some point. I’ve been up...” He was cut mid sentence by the biggest yawn I have ever heard comeing from his mouth. He smacked his beak a couple times, making sure there were no yawns left before speaking. “For three day, non stop parting because of you, please just let me sleep,” He says, pleading with her.

“Fine, but once the game starts I’m waking you up,” Silver says, giving Gallus a peck on the cheek.

“Thank you Silver,” He smiles and rubs his head against her neck before walking towards the fire and rolling up into a ball like a cat.

“Where were we now?” Silver asks herself while scratching her beek. “Oh!” She perks up as she grabs a drink from the table. “We have food and Drinks made by the students, and we will have games starting at around eleven o'clock by yours truly,” She says, placing a claw on her chest.

“Sounds fun,” I say as I grab an apple cider. I take a sip to confirm that it indeed has alcohol in it. It’s not very strong, but it’s there.

“It is,” Twilight says as Fluttershy grabs a muffin from the table next to the drinks. “The students host all the activities so they can learn how to be a team,”

“So what’s up first on the list?” I ask sarcastically. Silver gasps as she pulls out a scroll from seemingly no where.

“First is truth or dare. You can toast marshmallows all night when you want to. There’s Orgs and Obliets. Pin the tail on the pony.” Silver goes on to list over one hundred different activities that the students had set up.

“I’m going to need something stronger if I’m staying up all night for this,” I think as I chug the apple cider. I place the cup on the table as Silver is rolling up the scroll.

“Question? Is there anything stronger than this cider?” I ask to Twilight.

“The strongest stuff we have is the double shot of Granny Smith. There are regulations we have to follow with alcohol at parties,” Twilight explains to me. I started to think this was a bad idea to ask her. “Double Shot Granny Smith has an alcohol concentration of 0.05 of alcohol per pound of pony. It’s 0.03 below the legal limit of a drink to be served to kids,”

“That’s interesting, how old do you have to be to be able to drink?” I ask as I start to slowly walk over to the green barrale marked Granny Smith.

"This could be helpfull for later," I think as Twilight fallows me.

“When a pony is 4 they can drink 0.01 per pound, that’s what’s in Apple Cider Light. When they turn 10 they can drink 0.025 per pound. Apple Cider is the most common, along with Francium. Fun fact, the drink used to have Francium in it before it was found out that ii causes canser.” I pour the drink into a cup while trying to catch all the information Twilight is saying.

“Finally when Ponies turn 15 they can consume any amount of alcohol, but at parties it’s caped to 0.08 per pound if there is anyone younger than 20 at the party,”

“That’s interesting and all, but to be honest I’m going to forget most of it,” I explain as I take a sip of the new drink. It hits like a train running into a penny. My taste buds are overwhelmed with sourness to the point I spit it back into the cup.

I must have made a weird face because Twilight asks, “Are you ok?”

“Ya,” I say, trying to get rid of the taste, “Just a lot more sour than I thought it would be,”

“Don’t worry, that happened to everyone,” Twilight responded nonchalantly.

I take a sip, but this time I let it slide past my tongue and down my throat where I almost feel the hit of alcohol immediately.

“Shit, that hits like a freight train,” I say, taking a step back to keep my balance as I adjust to the drink.

“That's why it’s capped to 0.08...” Twilight then thinks for a second. “How much do you weigh?”

“145 pound?” I say slightly worried. “Why do you ask?”

“I would recommend you only drink two at most, or els you’ll be over intoxicated,” Twilight explains.

“How do you know that?” I ask, shaking my head as the talking creatures start to blend together.

“You take your weight by 0.1 to find out how much you could handle. A normal pony could handle up to 20 pounds per alcohol, but you could only take 14.5 per pound,”

“Duly noted,” I say, taking another sip of my drink as I walk over to Silverstream who is with five other creators. “Hello Silver,” I greet as the group turns to face me.

“Hi Brogan! I would like you to meet my friends,” Silver says, bouncing over to me like Pinkie Pie. “You already know Gallus,” She says, pointing to the napping Griffin by the fire. “That’s Sandbar,” She points to a young stallion. He has a green tint to his fur and green spiky hair with a light green highlighting his hair.

“Hello,” Sandbar says, smiling and giving me a little wave. I smile and wave back as Silver moves onto the changeling standing next to him. I think it’s a changeling, it’s bright blue with a red shell and light blue eyes.

“That's Ocellus the Changeling,” Silver says as Ocellus gives me a meek smile and a small wave. Her head is down while looking at the ground. “She’s not really a party pony,” Silver whispers into my ear as she moves onto the yak standing next to Ocellus.

Before Silver can speak, the yak introduces itself. “My name Yona. Yona is happy to meet Brogan,” Yona says, extending a hoof. I grab it and immediately regret it as she shakes my hand violently up and down.

“Nice to meet you Yona...” I say as she lets go of my hand from her iron grip. I look at my hand lying limply in the air. I shake my hand to try and stop the pain I feel in my wrist.

“And this is Smolder the Dragon,” Silver says as Smolder eyes me up and down skeptically with her hands on her hip. I move uncomfortably under the gaze of the dragoness. She gives me a devilish grin as she extends her fist out.

“Nice to meet you Brogan,” Smolder says in the ruffest voice I have ever heard. I fist-bump her. This time not getting the pain I usually get from fist-bumping creators.

“Nice to meet you too,” I said as I lowered my hand and smiling back at her.

“Now that everyone knows everyone we should play truth or dare!” Silver yells in excitement. Silverstream walks over to Gallus as the rest of the group makes a circle and sits down. Silverstream soons comes back with a yawning Gallus.

“So, who wants to start!?” Silver asks, sitting down with Gallus lagging behind.

“Yona will go first! Yona want dare!” Yona yells, breaking my eardrums.

“Ok ok.. Let me think,” SIlver scratches her chin with her claw. “Oh! I dare you to take one of the bricks from the fire pit and break it over your head!”

“That to easy,” Yona says as she struts to the fire pit.

“This is going to be a long night,” I think as I sip my drink as Yona breaks one of the breaks from the fire pit over her head.

The BIG Question

I look up at the giant blue and purple crystal castle that houses the princess, Twilight Sparkle. The castle will always be oversized in my eyes for who lives here. I hear the door open and look over to see a pink unicorn with curly purple bangs and two streaks of light green going throw her hair and a cuity mark of a shimmering shooting star walking out of the castle. She gives me a small forced smile and a wave.

I give a small wave as she passes me walking down the road towards sugar cube corner. The atmosphere between us has always been weird since I arrived. I think it started when a few miscommunications between Twilight and her happened before I met her. I shake my head to get rid of the thought as I grab the door and walk-in. I make my way down the overly sized hallway towards the library. I made it there after a few wrong turns and an accidental walk into the bathroom to see spike... to put it nicely, flexing.

"Twilight really needs to make a map for this place," I think as I open the door to see Twilight skimming throw a book before closing it and lightly tossing it aside as she grabs another book with her purple magic. She has a small smile plastered to her face as she opens the other book. She seems well-rested this time, but books still litter the floor like grass after the lawn was mowed.

“Good afternoon Twilight, did you sleep well after the fire?” I ask as I pull a chair out and sit down.

“After a little sleep magic I was out like a log,” Twilight says, her eyes never leaving her book. “Are you ok after what happened last night?”

“Honestly,” I take a shaking breath, trying to remeber what happed last night. “Not good, I didn't think my first intercourse here would be with a dragon,”

“Technically it was with me at carousel boutique,” Twilight says, lightly blushing as she puts the book down. My face heats up at the event that happened the day after I had landed here.

“I-I don’t count that,” I say, taking a few deep breaths. “There's a difference between the V and the mouth,”

“Why don’t you say vagina?” Twilight asks, wipping around to face me, almost sounding offended. “We are all grown ponies here,”

“Because it feels wrong to say it,” I say, shrugging, not really know the reson I call it the V. “Anyway, you asked me to come here after I got some sleep. So what’s up?”

“Oh!...” Twilight says, her eyes drifting away from me and into the table. “Ya… that...” Twilight’s face slowly turns a little red as she drags her hoof across the hard crystal seat of her chair she was sitting in.

“If it was just a drunk episode I can leave,” I say, trying to quickly comfurt her and get out of the wired situation. I started to stand up, but was quickly stopped by Twilight's hoofs grabbing my waist.

“No!” She yells like a clinging child does to their parents when they drop them off for school while looking up at me with those big eyes. “I mean,” Twilight says, letting go and shrinking back into her chair. “Please stay, I do have something to ask,” I slowly sit back down in my chair, unnerved by her reaction, as Twilight taps her hoofs together nervously.

“So what do you want to ask me?” I asked shortly before I got my answer.

“Do you love me more than just a friend?” Twilight asks at the speed of Pinkie Pie. This catches me really off guard. My heart rate starts to rise as I try to formulate a response to the very serious question she has presented me.

“Twilight I..” I swallow the lump that had formed in my throat. I could feel myself shiver as the room suddently turned cold. I take a deep breath in and slowly let it go, trying to slow down my heart rate. Twilight watches me with great interest, waiting for me to answer. “Twilight, I like you as a friend, nothing more,”

Once the words left my mouth Twilight’s ears flopped down against her head as her smile plastered on her face said the opposite. She has a small smile on her face as I stare into her eyes. They are a mix of sadness and joy.

“Thanks for being honest,” Twilight says, standing up on the chair and embarrassing me into a hug. I smile and hug her back, suspicious of her joyful appearance. “In all honesty, I knew you would say no,” Twilight says, sitting back into her seat. Her ears were back to their perky position on top of her head.

“So, you're not going to run into your bedroom and cry for three days?” I ask in a very sarcastic tone. Twilight lets out a chuckle as her smile widens. My smile widens in respons to her smile. It's good to know she is taking this well.

“Of course not, that would be silly,” Twilight says, waving her hoof in the air like she was brushing the joke away. “It does hurt a little, but I know you’ll find some pony you love that loves you back, maybe more than me,”

I simply lean over and give her another hug. She gently wraps her hoofs around me as the two of us stay there for a few seconds. “Thanks for understanding Twi,” I say, standing up. “I’ll see you tomorrow for our regular meeting?” I ask as I slowly start to walk towards the door.

“Of course!” She exclaimed as I walked out into the hallway. I close the door and lean my ear against it. I suspect she might not be telling the truth. I hear nothing for a few seconds before sobbing starts.

“Knew it,” I think as I frown. “I hope she can rebound from it. I’m just not ready for a thing like that.” I start to walk down the hallway slowly. The empty corridor echoing the sounds of my footsteps against the crystal floor. “I also don’t like her like that...” I stop in my tracks as my mind runs like a cheetah on drugs.

“But I do like her,” I think as I smile at the memory of a close friend. I shake my head as I look back down the hallway. “She’s just not the mare I’m into,” I start walking down the hallway again as I hear the distant sound of a door opening and closing along with some sniffing.

I lay under the tree at the top of the biggest hill in ponyville park. On the other side of the tree sits Rainbow Dash. We have been napping for a good hour just enjoying the sun on our faces. I was half awake and half asleep as I heard Rainbow move around.

“Did you have a good nap?” I ask as I hear her joints pop and crack from her stretching.

“I slept like a cat on drugs,” Dash says. I turn to look at her while she shakes her entire body like a dog. Her wings extended slightly as her fur puffs up in response.

“I would scold you, but in that context it makes sense,” I say as Dash looks over at me with half-closed eyes as her fur returns to normal and her wings close. She gives me a soft smile in response to my comment.

“Do you keep forgetting we don’t have those types of drugs,” She says, emphasizing those.

“Honestly, I do sometimes,” I say, turning back around as I close my eyes. "Trying to remeber what I learned from Twi over two mounths ago can be hard," I say as I hear Rainbow Dash move around to my side of the tree. I feel her warm body against my side as I feel her head lay against my lap.

“You're comfortable,” Dash says, sleepy.

“You sound drunk,” I responded without opening my eyes. This was the routine we had fallen into every day. We would meet underneath the tree. Go play pranks, do some running, maby help the CMC with whatever they are doing at the time. We would return to the tree and nap for an hour or two. Then both of us would wake up and insult each other with good intentions. She would then walk over to me and sleep on top of me. It was nice to just relax with her for a bit instead of doing some sport she wanted to introduce to me all the time.

The peaceful moments with Dash were rare but nice. We sat there as I gently pet the top of her head. I get a happy, almost cat purring sound out of her while she pushes herself closer to me.

“This was perfect, now all we need is Pinkie Pie to make it better,” I think, remembering the time I had cuddled with Pinkie Pie inside her room. Pinkie is the softest pony I had cuddled with so far. Though I haven’t really had a lot of ponies cuddle with me. The only other ponies that had cuddled with me were Twi, Pink, Dash, and Flutters on occasion after we had gotten done with the animals.

“Brogan, can I ask you something?” Rainbow asks. I open my eyes and look down to see her looking up at me.

“Sure,” I say hesitantly. I was slightly afraid of what she had to ask me. The memory of what happened earlier that day burns in my head. Dash looks back down at the ground as she taps her hoofs together.

“Nervous, looking at the ground.Thats not a good sign. She’s definitely in love with me,” I think as I nervously await her response. She sits up on my lap with a determined look on her face, a flair in her eyes I've only seen when we compete in games to see who is the best. She grabbed the sides of my head and pressed her lips against mine. I freeze with the sudden kiss. My mind trying to keep up with what just happened.

Her lips were soft but very ruff with a hint of dirt, the kiss was definitely her first-ever. If I’m honest to you, it felt amazing to feel her lips against mine. I immediately shook that thought out of my head as I remember who I loved, sadly it’s not her.

She releases me from her grip while leaning back. She keeps her eyes closed while her head drops down to look at the ground. “How do I put her down gently? I know her, and she can have very violent reactions to new situations,” I try to think of a way to keep my friend.

“Rainbow Dash..” Even before her name had escaped my mouth Dash had silently gotten up and started to walk away from me.

“No need to tell me, I know now that I was stupid to even think you loved me,” Dash says sadly while not looking at me, spreading those magnificent wings of hers.

“Dash, please hear me out before you go off and cry in your house,” That gets a reaction out of her.

"Three, two, one.." I was expecting an explosion from her, and she delivered. If I was scared of her before, now I'm extremely scared. She violently turned around and stared at me angrily. My heart starts to rise at a few hundred beats per minute as her eyes start to water with anger in her big irises.

“How dare you!” Dash yells at full volume. I take a sharp breath in while my heart rate rises and my palms get sweaty. “You have no right to a soom anything from me! I am Rainbow Dash, the best and coolest pony in ponyville and the best flyer in the entire world!” I sat there as I see the bold and angry Rainbow Dash start to slowly dwindle into a crying mess. Dash lets out all of her anger before the tears got too much for her and started crying.

She sits down with waves of tears rolling down her cheeks. Her eyes were firmly planted on looking at the ground. I get on my knees and hug her. She flinches at my touch, her wings flaring up ready to take off, but she accepts it. She leans her face against my shoulder. Her tears rolled down my side while we sat there for a few minutes. I pat her on the back, rubbing my hand up and down her back, allowing her to let it out. Finally, she stops crying and just sniffles as her wings fold back onto her back. She pulls back, but still refusing to look at me.

“You good?” I ask, letting go of her and leaning back to look at her. She nods slowly, still not looking up. “Rainbow, you are a wonderful mare, but I don’t like you that way,” I gently grab her chin and pull it up so she is looking at me.

“You probably hate me for crying like a bitch,” Dash says, looking away from me.

“No, not at all. I think that's what makes you great,” Dash’s ears perk up while her eyes slowly look back up at me. I lower my hand as I stand up. “You’re just too fast for me, if you know what I mean,” I say, cracking a cheeky smile.

She smiles and sniffs at the same time. I extended my hand out in front of her. She grabs it and I help her up. We stand there looking at each other for a few seconds before we both crack a big smile.

“So, if not me, then who is the lucky mare?” Dash asks, jumping into the air and flying to eye level with me. She wipes her eyes of tears as I talk.

“I’m not telling you that,” I started to walk away from her before she stopped me with four simple words.

“Are you a chicken?!” Dash yells at me. I slowly turn around to face her. She has the smuggest grin in the entire universe.

“Checkmate,” I think, already knowing she has me.

"No one calls me a chicken," I say, calmly but firmly.

"Then prove it, tell me who you love," Dash says, flying up next to me and whispering into my ear. She was so close I could smell the dried sweet from her fur. She pulls back to look at me with that bold grain.

“You have to Pinkie promise not to tell anyone,” I say, pointing at her sternly.

“I cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Dash says, going through the motions.

“Ok, the mare that has my eye is...”

I open the door to Fluttershy’s home while I knock on the door frame. I had scared her once by coming in unannounced. She says I don’t need to do it, but I still do it out of habit. I look behind me as I enter the house. I see Dash behind a tree giving me what I can only assume to be a thumbs up.

“I’m in the kitchen!” Fluttershy yells calmly and somehow quietly. I smile at Dash and close the door, before turning around and strut into the kitchen to see Fluttershy placing a bowl on the window sill. One green bird and a yellow bird flew to the bowl and started to peck at the food that was laid out for them.

“Fluttershy, I have to ask you something,” I say, slowly walking over to the table while brushing my hand against the icebox nervously. My heart started to speed up as Fluttershy turned around to face me with that sweet smile. Her fur bright yellow fur glows in the beautiful rays of Celestia's sun.

“What is it, Brogan?” Fluttershy asks as she sits down at the table. I kneel down at the table while my head runs through all the things I could say back.

“I have a few things...” I hesitate. “Maybe it’s best if I ask Twilight,” I say hastily as I quickly stand up and walking over the door frame before Fluttershy stops me.

“I can’t make you do anything, but if there’s something you want to ask, don’t be shy,”

“How Ironic is it that I’m being encouraged by a mare named FlutterSHY,” I think as I look over at the window above the couch I first woke upon. Dash’s eyes are peeking over the window sill. I smile and chuckle at her. She ducks back behind the wall after we make eye contact.

I take a deep breath in and turn around to face Fluttershy. “Is it weird I fell in love with a pony?”

“Smooth one Brogan,”

“Shut the fuck up, I don’t have time for you know,” I think at the voice in my head while Fluttershy shifts slightly uncomfortably.

“You fell in love with a mare?” Fluttershy asks, almost disaportantly.

“Ya?” I ask, taking a few steps towards her. ”Is that bad?”

“No! Not at all, it’s wonderful,” Fluttershy quickly clarifies. “You deserve a mare who loves you, and no, it’s not strange at all,”

I smile at her, but internally I hurt like the rings of hell are burning inside me. “Thank you, for everything,” I say with a shaking voice.

“If you don’t mind.. May I know the name of the mare?” Fluttershy asks, slowly pulling herself into her hair. She’s trying to avoid my eyesight, shrinking into a little ball of fur.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy, that’s a secret even a Pinkie Promise can not hold,” I say, stepping back words like Michael Jackson at a concert.

“Oh, I understand, dinner will be in an hour,” She says while standing up. I nod, then quickly walk out of the house. My heart is threatening to pump out of my body. I stopped by the tree me and Twilight had talked under the first night on this planet.

“Damit!” I yelled, punching the tree as hard as I could muster. I leaned my head against the tree while rubbing my hand in pain. I look down to see splinters in my fingers as tears start to roll down my face, bluring my vision, but it's not from the pain from my hand, but in my heart.

I turn around and lay my back against the tree and slide down to its base. I sit there looking up at the sky as my heart calms down. I hear and feel the wind change next to me.

“How the hell did you do it?” I ask, turning to look at the blue pegasus that landed next to me as my tears slowly stop. Dash sits down next to me and looks at the ground.

“Technically I didn’t ask you,” Dash retorts, pointing a hoof at me as she looks up at me.

“Don’t get smart with me now,” I say, looking into her eyes. I see a burning passion within her eyes. I have never seen anyone, or anypony look at me like that before. She truly loves me more than I could imagine.

“Brogan, I still love you, which means I will do anything to see you happy, even if it’s not with me,” Dash says standing up, her eyes lighting up with determination. A small smile starts to creep onto my face, seeing a different side of Dash I have never seen before. “I think I know just the pony to help us,”

The Push

I sit on a chair in the middle of Carousel Boutique with my elbows on my knees and my hands in my hair. The smell of fresh fabric is currently in the air. “Maybe this was a bad idea,” I say, my hands muffling my words as I tap my foot nervously. Rainbow had dragged me inside to get Rarity's help.

“Rarity is the best pony I know that can help you with your pony problem,” Dash responds fling from the stars towards me. She lands and sits down next to me. “She should be down in a second,” Like the devil itself decided to answer, Rarity came walking down right at that moment. My heart speeds up as my mind starts to fry itself.

"I really don't want to do this,"

“Sorry for keeping you waiting, darlings, but I had to finish a letter to one of my shops. Apparently having a cat clothing line might be a bad idea,” Rarity says, scratching her chin in thought.

“It’s ok Rarity,” Dash says, standing up. “We are here to ask you for help with...” Before Dash could finish her sentence, Rarity interrupts her.

“Oh my gosh! Are you two together!?” Rarity yells excitedly. I face balm as I try and hid my embarrassed face. “No, Rarity, he needs help with getting a mare,” Dash explains. Rarity looks disappointed unit a smile starts forming on her lips. Rarity's eyes light up like the sun as a light bulb goes off in her head. I hide my face back into my hands.

“Darling, you should have asked sooner!” Rarity says, squealing like a little filly. “So, who is it?”

“It’s Fluttershy,” I say, mumbling it into my hands that still cover my red face from embarrassment.

“You have to speak up. I can’t help you unless you tell me who it is? Every Mare has a different style they like,”

“It’s Fluttershy!” I yell, slamming my fists into my legs as I look up at Rarit. Rarity stands there, slightly baffled, and I think slightly impressed. “Sorry, I didn't mean to...”

Rarity cuts me off as her smile widens even more than before. “Of course! Why didn’t I see this before!" She hoof palms herself. "You two would be adorable together! I mean Fluttershy has been...” Dash gives Rarity a wicked glare as she bushes her head towards me in a fashion that says, "Focuse!". Rarity chuckled awkwardly before saying, "I mean we should get to work right now," She starts to walk back and forth between the walls of the room, almost at a fast trot. “We could make a date for you two.. No, that would scare por Flutters, expressly for the first impression of love...” Rarity mumbles ideas to herself.

“Rarity, I came here to ask how to tell her I love her. I don’t want to go on a date..” I look to the ground as a small smile creeps on my face. “Not yet,” The idea of going on the perfect date with the sweet but shy little pony makes me feel warm inside.

“Oh! Of course,” Rarity yells, snapping me out of my thoughts. She scratches her chin as she keeps walking. She stayed deep in thought for a while until she starts mumbling again. I look over at Dash who was leaning back and looking up at the ceiling with her hoofs propping her up. She seemed to be deep in thought.

"I can't imagine what's she going throw," I think to myself. "Is she doing this for me, or for her sanity?" Rarity stops in front of me and Dash and proclaims to me proudly,

“You should just ask her. She doesn't like people hiding something, but she also doesn't like upfront confrontation… that might be a problem,” Rarity goes back to thinking.

"Besides, I've already tried that," I say, resting my chin on my hand. "It didn't work out very well,"

"Of course darling, I'll think of something to help you," Rarity reassures me.

“Maybe he could give her something?” Dash interjects into our conversation.

“Something small and nice, and not too expensive. Fluttershy would love something simple,” Rarity bounces the idea off of Dash, turning to face her friend. Rarity's smile had started to get bigger as Dash smiles back at her.

“I think I know exactly what to give her then,” I say, instantly getting an idea. The two mares look at me like they forgot I was in the room.

“What is it?” Dash asks, tilting her head to the side.

“Something so simple even I can’t mess it up,” The two stare at me, urging me to tell them. "Technically I could, but me and Fluttershy have done it enough nether of us would be akward,"

“Come on, spill it,” Rarity says as the two take a few steps closer to me. Making me very uncomfortable at the suden closeness.

I lean down and whisper into their ears two simple words. “A hug,” Rarity’s eyes lit up almost instantly while Dash backed up confused.

“Sweetie, it’s perfect! She’ll be more comfortable when you tell her,” Rarity excitedly shouts.

“What’s so great about a hug?” Dash asks as Rarity turns to Dash.

“Rainbow, it’s perfect for little Fluttershy, she’s uncomfortable in conversations, but a hug could get her at ease. Especially if you ask first and had a small conversation before you tell her,” Rarity explains to a very confused Dash.

“Ooohhh...” Rainbow dash says, realisation dawning on her face. “Well, what are you waiting for, go get her!”

“I’ll try,” I say standing up.

“Come on, be more confident then that, say I can do it!” Dash says, flying up into the air with her hoof in the air like a fist pump. I smile at the silly little phrase, but I go ahead and yell it.

“I can do it!” I strut confidently over to the door as the two mares cheer me on. I feel unstable, I feel like I can do anything.

I will tell her my fellings I think as I reach for the doorknob, but before I can open the door, the door opens itself, smacking me in the face. I push the door closed as I rub my face and turn to see who just walked in. Pinkie was jumping up and down with notes in her mouth and a smile on her face as usual.

“Rainbow, Rarity, I have an invitation to a party at the lake today!” Pinkie says, handing them the notes. The two mares looking confused at Pinkie as they take the notes. Shen then turns around to look up at me with a smile. “You’re the main event of the party Brogan.” She says, jumping up and handing me a note.

I grabbed it to see a very quick and crude writing of an invitation with a very bad map to the lake she was talking about.

“It’s a party celebrating your three month anniversary of being here!” Pinkie say, jumping over to the door and opening it.

“Pinkie!” I say, moving before I get hit by the door again. She stops in mid air and looks back at me.

“What is it?” She drops back onto the ground.

“When is the party?” I ask.

“It’s in an hour, most of our friends are already heading there now,” Pinkie says, happily hopping away.

“And she’s just telling us now?” I ask, turning to look at the other two in the room.

“She does that a lot,” Rarity says, placing the invitation on the table with her magic.

“This will be perfect,” Rainbow says. “You can ask her while we are at the party,”

“That does sound like a good idea,” I say, walking out of the building. “I need to get ready first,”

Me and Fluttershy walk through the forest towards the lake they had found me at. I had changed into a blue and red swimming trunk with yellow flowers that Rarity made for me. I also had a blue shirt with white stripes meant for swimming.

Fluttershy was looking at everything else but me as we walked. She seemed to be nervous about something. I asked earlier. She just said she didn't like parties. I don't believe it, but I didn't want to push her more than she wanted to tell me. We finally come into a clearing where the rest of our friends are at. It was a big clearing with a pretty big lake. I never got to see the lake, mostly because I was too busy trying to make a live-in Ponyvill. Twilight was sitting at the edge of the lake with Pinkie pie doing a backstroke in front of her while spitting water out of her mouth like a fountain. Dash is on top of the cliff that overlooks the lake. She runs and jumps off the end while curling into a ball.

“Garagramo!” Dash yells as she lands in the lake with a big splash. Socking Twilight and Rarity, who had just sat down next to Twilight. Rainbow pops back out of the water, spitting some up like a water fountain. Her main was now stuck against the side of her neck and to the top of her forehead.

“Rainbow, could you refrain from splashing me,” Rarity says, drying her hair off with her magic. "I just put on my swimming makeup and I don't want it to get ruined,"

“Really Rarity," Dash rollers her eyes as she rolls onto her back. "That’s no fun,” Dash says, doing a backstroke while passing Rarity.

Rarity rolls her eyes as Applejack yells, "Yeha!" while running by Rarity and Twilight, running right into the water, splashing some on to Rarity. Me and Fluttershy walk over to the group. Pinkie is the first to notice our arrival. She smiles and waves at us excitedly.

“Hello Fluttershy! Hi Brogan!” We stop next to Rarity and Twilight as the two look up at me and over at Fluttershy.

“It’s good to see you could come,” Twilight says.

“Honestly, I had nothing else better to do,” I say, slowly walking into the water. The water feels cold against my bare feet, but also feels nice. I remember the sensation when I was first brought here. The cold, the heat, the freezing cold water. I shake my head as water is splashed onto my body. I shake off the water as a cold breeze makes me shiver. I look over to see Dash getting ready to splash me again. I smile and run deeper into the cold water.

I hit my hand against the water, creating a big wave that hits Dash in the face. She spits out the water out of her mouth while she rolls onto her back laughing. Pinkie swims over, joining in the splashing contest.

Pinkie somehow jumps up on the surface of the water and canon balls back in, splashing both me and Dash. Me and Dash look at eachother with determination and node. Pinkie come up from the water as we splash her. Pinkie rolls onto her back and starts kicking at us. Dash does the same as I use my hands to splash them.

I dive under the water and swim underneath Pinkie Pie. I pop back up and cuddle her like a baby in my arms. She screams and laughs as I dunk her into the lake. Dash starts splashing me. I turn my face away so I don't get water in my mouth.

I look over at the edge of the lake to see Fluttershy sitting next to Twilight while Rarity lays back, sun bathing. I feel a warm body press against my back as water stops being splashed at me. I turned my head around to see Rainbow on my back like a kid does to piggy back.

She leans her head next to my ear and whispers to me. “You should go over there and tell her,” She then jumps off my back, back flipping, then diving into the water as I fall to my knees from the force of her push.

“Here goes nothing,” I think to myself as I walk over to the group of three mares.

“So how is everyone been doing?” Rarity asks as I sit down next to Fluttershy.

“Other than a hiccup earlier, I’ve been good,” Twilight responds, smiling over at me. I smile back at her, knowing what she means.

“I've been fine,” Fluttershy responds sweetly.

“I’ve been a little ruff, but I think I’ve finally got the hang of it,” I responded, flicking my wrist as I whisper "Uisce." Water splashes Dash and Pinkie. They both look at Applejack, who points at me. We all get a good laugh out of it before they return to playing.

"It's good to see you are improving in using magic," Twilight says, looking over at me. "That could come in handy one day," I chuckle at the use of a human term.

“So, Brogan, I heard you had something to say?” Rarity says, looking over at me. Twilight and Fluttershy look up at me confusingly. It then dawns on Twilight as her smile widens.

“All right, time to ask,” I think as I take a deep breath in, before I can say anything a loud crack from the forest rings out into the opening. Everyone freezes for a few seconds as we all turn to see where the noise came from.

I stand up, taking a step towards the bush that the noise is coming from. Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy stand up while the other three look over at us in confusion. They then turn their head to see what we where all looking at. For the first time, I have been here, I was shocked, amazed, angered, and saddened by what I saw.

Stepping out of the bush was a tall thin man that had moby brown hair that was poorly cut and with bright white skin. He has stubbles growing on his chin and is wearing a red coat a green shirt with blue army geans. “Madra damba!” The man yells, kicking the bush in anger.

Meeting with the Dead

“An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?” I ask, already know the answer to my question. I slowly walk closer to him as he looks up at me.

“Tá, ar ndóigh,” He responds in a very heavy Irish accent, looking at me like he took a fence to my question. He looks me over as the others follow behind me. “An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?”

“Sea, sin an fáth gur féidir liom tú a thuiscint,” I respond as the man's face turns into realization.

“Oh! Did I slip into Galic again, I really need to stop doing that,” He says, coving his mouth with his hand as he rubs his stubbles.

“Sea..” I shake my head as I try and get my head out of Galic Irish myself. “I mean yes,”

“Well, it is nice to meet another human. My name is Finn, Finn Even,” I look down at his now extended hand as my eyes water up a little. I smile as I grab his hand firmly, finally getting to feel the hand of my father.

“Nice to meet you Finn, my name is Brogan Even,” I say as we let go of each others hands.

“Even?...” He asks, sceptical. “Are we related some how?”

“Mabey, your name sounds familiar,”

“Finn, it’s nice to see you a live,” Twilight says happily walking between the two of us. Then all the anger I felt early comes back as I rub the tears away from my eyes.

“I need to ask her later, if my hunch is correct I’m going to have to yell at her,” I think as the two talk about the crazy wild life in the forest.

“There was this big Madra, dog looking thing made out of wood,” Finn says, widening his arms to show how big the animal was.

“That’s a timber wolf, they are very dangerous and can’t be killed or taken out easily,” Twilight explains to Finn.

“It was easy to deal with once I threw it a bone,” Finn replies.

“Where did you find a bone at?” Twilight asks, but before he answers, I interject.

“Finn, whould you mind if me and Twilight spoke alone for a bit?” I ask, giving my most warrming smile I coud muster with all the emotions that were running through my head.

“Sure, I need to head back to my puball to get ready to move. The meet eating butterfly’s won’t right them selfs down in my jornal,” Finn smiles and turns around, walking back into the forest. Once I think he’s gone, I wip around angerly staring at Twilight.

She looks up at me as her ears flop to her head, looking up at my with the expression a kid gives a parent when they know they are in trouble.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle!” I yell with all the anger that had botteled up into me as I take a step closer to her. She takes a shaking step away from me as the others look at me in surprise. I see out of the corner of my eye that Fluttershy has ducked behind Rainbow Dash.

“I.. I can explain Brogan...” Twilight says, slumping onto her honches as she waves her arms franticly in frount of her.

“You better Twilight Sparkle,” I say through gritted teeth while I point a finger at her. I take a deep breath in and kneel down in frount of her with a more calming daminer. The anger still bowling in me like a tea pot.

Twilight takes a deep breath in before begining to talk. ”Brogan, to be perfectly honest. I knew the hull time… I just didn’t want to take the chance,” Twilight’s head slumps down, looking into the dirt sadly. “I’m sorry,”

“How long have you known?” I ask, placing a gentle but furm hand on her sholder. She looks up at my hand for a few seconds before looking up at me.

“Since I looked into the journal. Me Fluttershy and Dash are the only once who knew about your connection with Finn. I didn’t want to take the chance that he might have been just a friend, or mabey a dead hero.” Twilight pauses as she looks down at the grown. "Or maybe something worse,"

I take a shaky breath in as I close my eyes. Thinking over the information Twilight has given me. “Twilight..” I open my eyes while I squeeze her shoulder, getting a little meep out of her. “Thank you, but now I have to say goodbye to him, even if he dosn’t know who I am,” I stand up and start walking back towards the road that lead me here.

Twilight just stands there while the others walk up to her and starts talking. Fluttershy on the other hand fallows me as we walk silently back to the cottage. Nether of us talk as the silence thickens between us.

I was tempted to tell her to go back, but I couldn't do that to her. I was enjoying her company anyways.

We finnaly make it at of the forest and to the cottage. I open the door and immediately start packing my bags, grabbing every camping thing I could find by the couch. Fluttershy just watches as I place the journals into my bag and zip it up. I throw it over my shoulder and head for the door. I open it, but before I can step out Fluttershy speeks up.

“Brogan.. I..I need to tell you something,” Fluttershy says, looking up at me. I turn my head to the side to look at her while my hand grabs the door knob.

“Make it quick, I need to catch up with my dad,” I respond bluntly and coldly. She shrinks under my bland response, but I don’t notice.

“Brogan.. I love you,” She almost meeps out all at once incoherently, but with my better hearing I could make out the words she just said. It hit my heart hard. I feel everything crashing down around me as those words sunk in.

I grip the door knob harder as I try and hold back my tears as I quickly step out and close the door on her. WIthout turning around to hear what happens, I briskly walk towards the forest to find my dad. Tears streaming down my face over what I have done.

There is no going back from that, I think as I walk into the forest. I walk for a bit before a voice in my head stops me.

"Are you sure this is the right decision?" The sweet and kind voice says in my head. I look around to make sure no one was around before yelling,

"Who are you!" I sit there and wait for a response.

"You know who I am allready. I am the first person you thanked in this knew world," I shrug my sholders at the voice.

"You have to be kiding me," I say as I continue to walk towrds my dad's camp. I am stoped by a blue magical ara suroundin my body.

"Licen Brogan, are you sure it is wise for thy to choose past over futuer?" I try and pull away from the magic, but it won't budge.

"Pulsanna draíochta leictreacha!" I yell as a big pulse of blue energy shoots away from me, allowing me to start walking again. "Maybe that stopped the bitch from talking to me,"

"Why do you assume I am a mare?" The voice asks.

"Because one third of the population of this planet it female. Now who are you?" I say, getting angrier at the voice in my head.

"I am someone you know, but have never meet in person," I roll my eyes as I think.

"That makes no sence,"

"Remeber that night you thanked me for the beautiful stars?" I stop dead in my tracks as the words hit my head.

"How the hell do you know about that?" I ask, getting really creeped out.

"I am the one you thanked that night. I found you, confused, lost, and ambanded by your family,"

"My family did not ambaded me!" I yell as tears form in my eyes. "Get out of me head now!"

"If you wish. We will meet again, I don't know where, or when, but I know I will meet you in person soon," The last word leaves my head as a kneel down onto the ground as I let out my tears.

"Maybe she's right," I think before wiping the tears away. "No, this is my chose, my life!" I stand up and start running. I run past the girls still at the pond as they all question twilight. Me and Twilight lock eyes as I run past. I don't look back as I fallow where my dad had walked.

Author's Note

This was a hard chapter to publish. Did I write a good chapter, not in my opinion, but this book must get to its conclusion so I can get better at writing. I hope you enjoyed this chapter a little bit, even with its cringe.

The Camp Out

I walk through the forest with a brisk pace when I feel and hear wings flapping behind me. I turn my head slightly to see Dash flying up next to me with a saddle bag that matches her fur color with her cutie mark as the buckle.

“I’m going with you, like it or not,” Dash says bluntly, not looking at me.

“Did she know what I did?” Thinking about what happened almost opens the floodgates of emotions again. I shake my head, turning back to the road in front of me. “I have a mission to do. No time for feelings and relationships right now,”

“Quick question Dash,” I say, turning to look at her. She looks over at me with a blank expression. “Why are you, Twi, and Fluttershy the only ones that know about my dad?”

“Twilight saw him in the lake drowning and pulled him out. She brought him to Fluttershy to find out what he was. I was visiting at the time and we agreed to keep him a secret.” Dash says, turning back to look forward, saying the enter thing in a dead pain tone.

“She definitely knows,” I think, turning back to look at the path.

We finally walk into a small clearing where Finn had set up a tent and a makeshift fire ring out of rocks and a two feet deep hole. Finn steps out of his tent as we stop by the fireplace. He looks at us and smiles before saying, “So you two decided to come out with me?”

“Somthing like that DaaaFinn,” I quickly stoped myself from calling him dad.

“Remeber, he dosn’t know you are his son yet,” The sweet, but mysterious voice says in my head. I have no time to dwel on it as I take off my bag and set it down. Dash lands next to me and slides the sadel bag off. Finn brushes the wired name he was just called and walks over to us.

“So, did you both bring a puball?” Finn asks, sitting down at the fire ring. Dash looks at him confusingly.

“Puball is a tent in Galic Irish,” I respond, pulling out the foldable tent. “I did,”

“I didn’t, I don’t think I will stay that long,” Dash says, sitting down.

Finn smiles and scoffs at Dash’s remark, which gets a confused look from both of us. “I feel you two are closer than you think, I believe you’ll be staying,” Finn says, pointing at Dash. She blushes, immediately covering it with her hoof pretending to scratch her nose. I walk over next to Finn’s tent, thinking nothing of the comment. I put up the tent as Finn talks to us.

“So Brogan, how long have you been here...” Finn trails off as I respond.

“I’ve been here for about 6 months,” I respond, putting the stakes in to hold the tent in places. I realize after finishing the last stake that Finn had stopped talking. I stand back up and look over to see Finn has the thinker look on him as Dash looks at him concerningly. I slowly walk over and sit next to Dash.

“Finn, are you ok?” I ask. He looks up at me, still thinking about whatever he was thinking about.

“Ya, it’s just… your name is very familiar,” Finn says, sitting up straight. “This might be a long shot, but.. Are you related to a Brogan Even?” Right when my name left his lips my heart slowed down. Cold sweat forms on my forehead while I try and think of a response.

“On one hand, I could tell him I am Brogan Even. On the other I could tell him I am related to myself,” I think as a response leave my mouth before I can think it over.

“Why are you asking?” I say, slightly more irritated than I would have liked. Finn seems to recoil from the response.

“I was just wondering if you are related to my son who was just born a few months ago, Brogan Even. It’s a strange coincidence that you have my sons name,”

“I don’t think I’m related, do you have a family tree I could look at?” I ask, already know the answer.

“Of course, I never leave without my family,” He laughs at his own joke as he walks towards his tent. I turn to Dash and quickly whisper.

“What do I do, I can’t tell him I am his son!”

“I don’t know, Mabey tell him you are his grandson or something,” Dash whispers back frantically waving her arms about. We both turn to see Finn stepping out of his tent with a black book with green strips zig zagging across the cover. We both straighten up as we watch him walk back over to us. He sits down and starts flipping through the book.

“You said your last name was Even,” Finn asks, looking up at me. I nod yes as he flips throw the book until he finally stops on a page. “Here you can look for yourself,” He says, handing me the book. I grab it from him as Dash scoots closer to me to see. I look over the family of the O’Eveners.

I skim over and see names I recognize and some I don’t recognize. I finally find my family. Finn, Barbra, Ivan, and me, Brogan O’Evener. I gently place my hand on the piece of paper, like it would somehow reconnect me to my family.

“That’s my Seanathair,” I say as a tear forms in my eye. I close the book and wipe the tear from my eye. The waves of sadness about losing my family rekindled inside me. I get a better look at the book. It’s green with gold lacings around the border, in the center in big gold liters is the title, The Irish Man. I hand him the book as he looks at me concerningly.

“You ok ghrian?” Finn asks, placing the book down at his feet. Being called sun hit me harder than I could have ever imagined. I feel overjoyed to hear him call me that, but also saddened hits me hard for some reason.

“I’m fine Finn,” I say, lying throw my teeth. “Just remembering my family, it’s saddening,”

“I know how you feel,” Finn says, scooting closer to rest a hand on my knee. I shift uncomfortably under his touch.

“Why did I do that?” I think as Finn keeps talking.

“It doesn't get easier, but when I find a way out of here, I will come back for you,” Finn squeezes my knee as a memory flashed through my mind.

Kilkenny Ireland January 25, 2013

I lay in bed covered by red bed coverings. Sitting on the bedside is my father, Finn, he has a green book opened up. He was reading me one of his stories from his adventures.

“I met a human of all things,” Finn says as I look at him with a smile and wide eyes. “He was named Brogan Even. He camped with me. He even brought the pegasus Rainbow Dash with him. He helped me out when our camp was attacked by timber wolves!” Finn lunges over me and tickles me. I burst out laughing as he keeps telling the story.

“Sadly, we had to part,” Finn says, sitting back up as I try and stop laughing. “I was hanging off the edge of a cliff over a river. He said sorry, and let go of me, and that's how I got back. That river was magic, and I am dedicating everything to try and get back to him to get him back home with us.”

“Is Equestria truly real?” I ask as he slowly walks to the door of my bedroom and shuts the book.

“Of course, you just need to know where to look. Now go to sleep, we have a busy weekend ahead of us,” Finn says, shutting the lights off and walking down the hallway, leaving me in my bed.

“Oh my Súth,” I whisper as Finn leans away from me in slight confusion. "He dedicated his life to try and get his own sun home,"

“What is it?” Finn asks, standing up.

I shake my head before responding. “Sorry, nothing,”

“Ok, but I’m here for you ghrain,” Finn says, walking towards his tent, again stepping into it.

I turn to Dash and whisper into her ear. “I know what’s going to happen,”

The Attack

Author's Note

I know a fair few of you have been waiting, and thank you for that. I need to get this off my chest for those who care. On multiple rereads of this book, I don't like how this arc was put together. I think I have learned a lesson here. I hope you enjoy this trainwreck of a chapter.

The Attack

“What do you mean?” Dash asks as I take a quick glance over to Finn’s tent to make sure he hasn’t come back.

I turn back to face Dash, who has a worried look on her face. “Dash, Finn used to tell me stories of his adventures. I remember a story he told me a lot. To cut to the chase, I think it was about me. I always thought he made it up, but it might be true,” Dash’s ears perk up as Finn walks out of his tent with a blue backpack that has a green strip down the center of the back where the latch holds the flap down. We turn to face him, both putting on a smile.

"Isn't that your bag?" Dash whispers into my ear. I node yes as Finn walks over to us.

"As I said earlier, the meat-eating butterflies are coming through soon, just a few clicks to the north. You too are welcome to come along if you like," Finn says, heading out into the forest.

"We should follow him," I say, standing up. Dash grabs me by the hand as she flies up to my level.

"Brogan, if you know what happened, then can't we stop it?" Dash asks as we follow Finn into the forest.

"Not really," I reply. "What's about to happen has to happen, or else I might never have come here, then it would be a paradox,"

"You've been hanging with Twilight too much," Dash complains to me before flying ahead to fly next to Finn.

"So, what have you been up to since I last saw you mister adventure?" Dash asks, getting the attention of Finn.

"Mostly research into the wildlife and its magic," Finn says as he casually snaps his fingers. A flash of white light consume his hand before fading away and revealing a small red notebook had appeared in his hand along with a pencil. "I've also learned some magic,"

He turns to look back at me while still walking forward. "I should teach you it some time, it could come in handy,"

"Trust me," I pause to raise my arm up and pull my hand close to me while whispering "Gaoth ar ais," A gust of wind just powerful enough to pull Dash back to my side. She wobbles in surprise before correcting herself and looking at me with daggers in her eyes. "I know magic is useful,"

"Don't do that again," Dash whispers angrily at me as Finn turns back around.

"I was just making a point," I whisper back. Dash rolls her eyes right before we both run into the back of Finn.

"Finn, why did you..." Dash stops talking after getting a better look at why he stopped. Right in front of him was a gaping ravine with a river at the bottom.

“Well, that explains why you stopped,” I say, looking over the edge of the cliff.

“Come on, it’s not much further to the bridge that leads to the butterfly fields,” Finn says, waving for us to follow. We walk along the edge of the ravine for a while to the point my feet starts to hurt.

“Can we take a break, my feet are starting to hurt?” I ask, stopping as they turn to face me. Dash looks aggravated, but Finn smiles warmly.

“Sure, it’s a good time to get a snack,” Finn says, sitting down. I follow his lead and sit on the ground as Dash lands next to Finn. Finn slides off his bag as I do the same. Finn pulls at an apple and looks up at me. “Want a úll?”

“Sure,” I say as Finn tosses the apple to me. I ketch it and look at it. The skin was green and shiny. I take a bit out of it to feel the sweet taste of a granny smith apple hit my tongue. I looked over at Dash to see she was nibbling on a dandelion that was growing nearby her. I smile and shake my head at the similarities that they have with horses on earth. I take another bite out of my apple as I hear a crunching sound of a branch being broken behind me.

I turn around to see nothing behind me. “Was I the only one who heard a tree branch break?” I ask, slowly turning back around. Dash and Finn looked at me and shook their heads. “So I’m not going crazy,” I slowly stood up, Finn and Dash following my lead.

“What do you think it could be,” Finn asks as I look around at the forest.

“Fís teasa,” I whisper, but nothing happened. “Wurth a shot,” I think as I put my foot back in a fighting position as I raise my hands over my head. “Nocht tú féin!” I yell as a blue ball of energy forms in between my hands. The wind it stirs up does nothing to cool down the heat it radiates. I push my hands as hard as I can towards the forest, shooting the ball to the trees. The blue ball splits once it hits a tree and thousands of little blue streaks go from it. Nothing happens for a while, to the point Finn speaks up.

“What was that supposed to do?” Finally one of the blue sparks hit something not too far from us, maybe two hundred feet away. Lighting the thing up with a bright blue border. Dash and my jaws drop as Finn looks at it shakily.

“Is that a,” I say before Finn cuts in.

“That’s a timberwolf,” Finn says. “We should run,” The timberwolf jumps out at me. I slide out of the way as it lands on the ground with a loud thud. The wolf was completely made of oak wood. It looks up at me with its shark wood teeth ready to kill. Its yellow eyes burn into me as it rises to full height. It towered over us like a skyscraper.

“Brogan!” Dash yells at me. I blink, snapping myself out of the trance before yelling.

“Ar ais!” I yell, pushing my hand, palm up, towards the timberwolf. Wind rushes past me, hitting the timberwolf and sending it into the raven.

“We better go, there will be more,” Finn says, running. I turn and follow with Dash flying next to me. It wasn’t long till two more timberworlfs show themselves. One jumps over our head and in front of us as the other one corners us from behind.

“I’ll handle the back one, you two get the one in front,” I say, turning to the one behind us. I raise my hands up and spread my feet in the most generic fighting stance ever.

“You sure?” Dash asks.

“I can handle myself, thanks,” I say, making it come out harsher than I meant to. The wolf looks at me and charges straight for me. I rase my left hand over my head in an arc before stopping it informant of me and clenching my fist.

“Trasfhoirmigh!” I yell, feeling my legs shake. I take a sharp intake of air as the timberwolf stops in its tracks. The world falls apart as I lower my arms. “That’s.. not how that’s supposed to work,... but whatever,” I say, shrugging my shoulders. I turn around to see Finn has his hands to his chest with a shield symbol formed out of his fingers. A blue shimmer of light is the only thing showing there is anything there. Dash was flying around the wolf, flying by and hitting it every so often. I run over to them as Dash is swatted out of the air. She lands on the ground and rolls towards us. I pick her up and drag her into the shield.

“I didn’t know you could do shield magic?” I ask more than I state.

“It’s a lot harder than it looks,” Finn says calmly. I then notice his eye were closed as he was completely focused on the shield. The timberwolf was now pawing at the shield as Dash slowly stands up and shakes her body. “Try setting him on fire,”

“I’ll do that,” I say, outstretching my arm behind me, then bringing it forward as fast as I could. I feel the heat build-up as I say, “Liathróid Dóiteáin.” I feel the fireball fill my hand as I throw it like a baseball towards the wolf. It lands on his head, sending him backward in a blind ferry as it swipes at the fire on its face.

“We need to go now!” Dash yells sleepily as she stands up, pointing behind us. We turn around to see the timberwolf from earlier was reforming.

“We should,” I say, turning and running past the wolf on fire. Dash and Finn fallow behind me as the timberwolf fully brings itself together. I look back to see it was running towards us. Then a loud thud comes from next to me. I look to see Dash had fallen face-first into the dirt.

“Dash!” I yell, turning around and squatting down next to her.

“Brogan!” Finn yells, stopping to turn and look at us. I look up to see the timberwolf jump into the air.

“Gaoth iomlán!” I yell, putting my hand in the air. I felt the wind push up from where I was standing to where I was pointing to. I feel my energy drain as the timberwolf is sent into the raven. I slack down as I take a few deep breaths. It felt like I couldn’t go on anymore.

“Note to self, don’t overuse magic,” I think as I hear Finn walking over to us.

“You two ok?” I turn just in time to see Finn miss-step, slipping into the raven. He grabs at the ground unsuccessful as he falls. I lung and grab his arm. We slid until my chest was over the edge of the ground.

“Dréacht suas.” I say, trying to pull Finn up. Nothing happened as I struggled to try and pull him up. Fin tries to grab the side of the ground but is unable to get a good grip. I look at the ground as my eyes start to water as I know what I must do.

“I’m sorry, I can’t hold on much longer,” I say as I slowly let go. I stare at the ground as I hear Finn splash into the water below. I close my eyes as I slowly sit up. I open my eyes slowly as I hear Dash getting up. I stare across the raven as my emotions hit me like a truck.“What if I never came? What if I didn’t use up all my magic?” I think as I hear Dash walk over to me as she groans.

"What happened?" Dash asks, standing next to me. I ignored her as I continue to think over what happened. "Brogan?" Dash asks, putting her face in front of me. She flies in front of me as she waves her hoof. "Earth to Brogan, what happened?" Dash looks around then turns back to me. "Where is Finn? Did he get away?"

"Yes he did," I think as I slowly stand up. Dash sighs as she flies up to me.

"So, what happened?" She asks as I start walking towards the campsite. The timberwolves were gone. Dash flies up next to me as I stay silent. "Brogan? What happened?" Dash says, starting to get worried.

"I'll tell you when we get back," I say, continuing to walk.

"No!" Dash yells, she flies in front of me and stops me. She places a hoof on my chest. I look up at her angrily as she looks down at me with disgust. A part of my heart breaks that wasn't already broken. "I am not having this stoic, hard Bullshit." Dash lowers her hoof and lowers to eye level. "This isn't you, tell me what happened," Dash says with the most sincere sadness in her voice.

"Talk and walk," I say, walking past her. She flies up to me as I start telling her what happened.

From Now On

I lay in the tent staring up at the calling. I have been up all night thinking through everything that had happened. "I could have stopped this, I could have saved him, if only.." scenario run through my head. The night ticked on, not carrying that what had gone down had broken the very soul that was supposed to be sleeping.

Everything around me started to go black as the cold rushed in. I sit up quickly as the cold wind stops and a blue shimmer starts to form around me. It spreads out in all directions creating the ground. I look up to see the stars of the night sky giving light to this strange place. I slowly stand up as I try and understand what just happened.

"We have finally had the pleaser to meet thy," a comforting feminine voice says from behind me. I turn slowly around to see a dark blue alicorn with a blue mane and tail. Her mane is covered in little white stars like the night sky. On her rump is her cutie mark, which was a recent moon.

"Who are you?" I ask my voice echoing in the fast void.

"I am Princess Luna. Princess of the night, and dreams," She says, gesturing to the area we are in. "This is a type of connection between our mind and thy,"

"You're the voice, but why?" I ask.

"When I first saw you, I was skeptical at first. We've had humans in the past before coming into our world. I watched you, even tried to communicate with you. You were hurt, and I thought I could help."

"You're a little late," I responded coldly.

"We don't mean Finn. You need to let go, if you don't you are going to miss the things that are right in front of you," Luna says, slowly walking over to me as she talks. She stands just a little taller than me.

"I don't understand," I say confused.

"You might not now, but when you wake you will," Luna's horn lights up, blinding.

We get out of our tent in awkward silence. Neither of us talked to each other. I'm still reeling from what happened during my sleep as I grab my bag as Dash takes the tent down. I slowly place my stuff into my bag. We make our way to the fire pit and sit down across from each other. I look down at the ground, unable to think of anything coherently. I hadn't been able to sleep at all.

Dash finally cracks the silence by saying, "We should go home," I look up at her to see sadness plastered on her face.

"It had to happen Dash," I say. She looks at me and smiles. For that seconds, my heart stopped. I smiled back as I remembered why I liked her. That then lead to me remembering Fluttershy back home. My eyes widen as my thoughts finally correlate to one point.

"Shit!" I yell, grabbing my bag and standing up quickly. "I need to go, I have to apologize and tell some pony how I feel about her," I say, turning and jogging away before Dash's voice stopped me.

"Brogan!" I turn around to see her smiling at me. "Go get her," She says, giving me a node. I node back and start running back through the forest.

My feet hit the ground at a constant but fast rate as I run towards Fluttershy’s cottage.

“What have I done?” I think as I almost miss the turn to head out of the forest. I slide to a stop and turn around to head down the path towards town. I jump over a downed tree on the path.

“I hope she’ll forgive me at the very least.” I go running out of the forest at full speed as I run-up to the door. I stop and take a breather. The wind completely knocked out of me from running. It takes me a few seconds before I knock on the door and start to slowly open the door.

“Come in,” the sweet but broken voice of Fluttershy radiates through the house. I cringe at her hurt voice knowing full well I caused it.

“Fluttershy, I’m back,” I say meekly as I slowly shut the door. I can hear her sadness from where I stood. Fluttershy walks out of the kitchen with her bangs over her eye as she looks at the ground. I kneel down and hug her, which makes her flinch violently before she relaxes.

“I’m sorry,” I start to apologize as tears run down my face. “I’m sorry for closing you out when you opened up to me. I’m sorry for running. I’m sorry for hurting you.” Fluttershy pulls away and places a hoof on my mouth to stop me from talking.
She smiles at me as she moves her bangs out of her face. “It’s ok, I’m just glad you're ok. I thought..” Fluttershy looks down at the ground as she lowers her hoof. I relax as I lean against my legs. “I thought you hated me for asking,”

“Never!” I say, making Fluttershy flinch as she looks up at me. “I could never hate the pony that got me used to this world. The pony who has had no problem with me living here,” I place my hand gently on her cheek. She smiles and leans into my hands as I rub her cheek with my thumb.

“I love you to Fluttershy,” I say. Before Fluttershy can react, I place my mouth against her’s and kiss her. She squirms a little but doesn't break the kiss. She closes her eyes and presses back. Her lips were soft and tasted like fish.

“Must have brought fish to her animal friends,” I think. We separate and look at each other as I lower my hand away from her face. We stare into each other's eyes for what seemed like forever as the light of the setting sun cut through the house. The red and orange light lights up the side of her face as she smiles. Tears form in her eyes as she jumps up and hugs me.

I almost fall over in surprise. I smile and wrap my hands around her body. “I love you Brogan” She pauses before pulling back. “Oh and this..” She says before smacking me in the face. I turn to look back at her in shock as I grab my jaw. “Is for breaking my heart,”

“Didn’t expect that, but totally deserved,” I say as we embrace each other back into a hug. “How about tomorrow we start on the right hoof and have a nice data at your animal sanctuary,”

“That would be nice,” Fluttershy says softly as she rubs her head into my neck. I place my head on top of her’s.

I stand in front of the bathroom mirror as I brush my hair as best as I can. The date wasn’t going to be formal, but I thought I might as well look somewhat presentable for Fluttershy on our first date. I had put on a nice red hoodie and blue shorts. I told her to meet me at the sanctuary.

I open the door and walk into the living room. I grab my bag and some wood. I asked Fluttershy if we could have a fire. She agreed but asked why. I didn’t want to tell her at the moment that I was going to burn the last of my belongings that belonged to my dad.

“Nice save Romeo,” The voice in my head says as I step out of the cottage.

“You’re getting better at talking with me in my head,” I think back as I head down the road towards the sanctuary.

“We have gotten better at projecting our thoughts to you,”
“But why talk to me?” I think, looking up at the invisible thing.

“Because thy is a working creator of society like the rest of our little ponies,” I chuckle at the last part. “What is so funny?”
“Nothing,” I replied. My mind starts to wonder as I walk through the park. I smile as my face turns beet red.

“You humans get excited fast don't you?”

“Ok, now you are reading my mind. I could get Twilight to repel you from my head if you keep doing that,” The voice goes silent as my face returns to normal. I walk into the sanctuary and look around. The center of the place was a is a beautiful waterfall that leads into a lake at the bottom. Animals roam around freely, playing, eating, and drinking. I feel something hit my foot. I look down to see angel bunny looking up at me as he taps one of his feet with his hands on his hips.

“Calm down, I just got here,” I say as I rethink who I was talking to. “Where is Fluttershy?” I ask. Angel bunny hops away and I follow. He hops to a building that looks like a small barn. Angil nods his head towards it like he is telling me to open it. I place my bag and wood down by the door before opening the door.

“There you go, be careful next time Gefery,” Fluttershy says sweetly. I look in to see Fluttershy taking care of a gerbil. My eyes stay fixed on Fluttershy. She has her bangs brushed back with a flower clip holding it out of her face. She seems brighter than normal like she just took a bath.

“Hello,” Is all I can crock out with a big smile on my face. The gerbil runs past my feet as Fluttershy turns to look at me. She looks up at me as a small but very cute smile grows on her face. My heart races, almost ready to bust out of my chest.

“Good morning Brogan, how are you this morning?” Fluttershy asks, standing up and slowly walking towards me.

“I’m good,” I say, swallowing the lump in my throat. “You look great,” I say, stepping out of the way to let her out.

“Oh,” Fluttershy blushes as she tries to hide it behind her hoof. “Thanks, I didn’t know how dressed up we need to be,” She says, pushing back her hair. I squat down and hug her.

“You didn’t need to do anything, you are perfect the way you are,” I say as we nuzzle into each other's necks.

“Thanks,” Fluttershy responds as we sit there in an embrace. We let go of each other as I stood up.

“Do you have a fire pit here?” I ask, looking around.

“Ya, it’s over by the lake,” Fluttershy says, pointing to a fire ring near the lake. I grab my bag and the firewood as we walk over to the fire pit and sit down. I place three logs in a tepee shape as Fluttershy adds some kindling. I pull out my flint and steel from my bag and light the fire. This time it catches easily.

I pull out my dad’s journals out as the fire spreads. Fluttershy stands up and walks back towards the shake. I watch her as she walks. She looked great as always, from the flower in her hair to her slightly plush rump. I smile like an idiot as my face turns red. I look back to the fire as Fluttershy slips into the shed.

“Hay, hay, hay, stay out of my shed,” I think to myself as I chuckle. The red from my face goes away as I laugh. “Where have I heard that from?” I think as Fluttershy comes out of the shed with a basket full of sandwiches. I hold one of my dad’s journals and look at it as Fluttershy sits down next to me and sets down the basket.

“This is the last I have of my father,” I say, glossing my thumb over the ruff journal. Fluttershy looks at me sadly. “It’s also the last thing that connects me to the human world,” I say as I throw the book into the fire. Fluttershy looks shocked as the book goes up in flames.

“W-why would you do that?” Fluttershy asks as I grab another book. I watch as the paper slowly melts into ash before responding.

“Because I live here now,” I say, throwing the other book in. “With you and everypony else,” I say, before wrapping my arm around her shoulder. She smiles and shifts closer to me. Nuzzling into my chest as she closes her eyes happily. “You are my new family Flutters,”

We sit there and watch the fire burn the books away. Animals drink from the lake and run around the sanctuary not batting an eye at us.

“I hope I can love you as much as you love me,” Fluttershy says, looking up at me with a small smile.

“Just be yourself,” I say, rubbing my cheek against the top of her head. She nuzzles unto my body more in repons. “I love you Flutters,”

“I love you B..” Fluttershy pulls away and looks up at me in question. “Can I call you B?”

I smile before responding, “Of course you can Flutters.” She smiles and sighs before leaning against my chest again.

Author's Note

I'm done, this chapter might be rushed and bad, but fuck it I want this story done so here it is.

Twi-Hundred Questions

I stand in front of the giant castle that is Twilight’s home. It looks out of place amongst the old-fashioned housing of Ponyville. It looks like it should be in the Crystal Empire, then Ponyville. I raise a hand to the door and knock. I can hear the echoes of my knock bouncing off the walls of the castle. After a few seconds, I hear claws running on crystals as a child's voice says, “Coming,”

The door opens to reveal Spike, a small purple and green dragon. “Hello Spike, I’m here to see Twilight,”

Spike smiles up at me as he says, “She’s in the library." He moves out of the way as he opens the door to let me in. I walk in as Spike closes the door. The entryway is huge, with multiple stairs leading to different floors. It always amazed me that Twilight doesn't get lost in this maze of a house.

I walk up the stairs and turn left down a hallway. A little walking later, I see the door to the library propped open slightly. I grab the door and slowly open it as I walk in. The walls of the room were lined head to toe with bookshelves. Books were lying everywhere on the ground around a table in the center. Sitting in the middle of the mess is the usually calm and collective Twilight. Now with frizzled hair, bloodshot eyes, and dark bags under her eyes.

“Twilight, have you been up all night?” I ask wearingly. I quickly walk over to her as she takes a sip of what I think is coffee.

“Yes,” Twilight says staring off into space as she sets down the cup. “I think I’m on the way to finding you a way home,” I pull out a chair and sit next to her.

“Twilight, I know you’ve probably heard this a thousand times from your friends, but you need to stop pulling all-nighters just for my sake,” I say as I pull the coffee away from her. She limply try's to grab the cup but fails tremendously. She just giving up and deciding to rest her head on my arm.

“It is my duty as the one who brought you here to find a way to get you back,” Twilight says, slurring her woods as her eyes start to close. She’s slowly losing the battle of conscious.

“Twilight, if it harms your health then I can’t ask you to do that,” I say as Twilight's horn glows limply. She blinks a couple times as the bags under her eyes disappear with a people flar. Her blood shot eyes return to normal with her last blink. She sits up and smiles at me.

“See I’m fine, now what are you here for?” She asks with a hint of tiredness still in her voice.

“I’m here to ask about what and where the schools of friendship is,” I say, sipping from the coffee. I recoil as the bitter taste hits my tongue. “Dam, Twilight, you need to add milk to this, it’s really bitter,”

“Oh! You want to know about the School!” She says enthusiastically. Ignoring my comment about the coffee. She teleports in a cup next to me as she teleports the coffee back to her. Twilight floats over a glass bottle and uncorks it. She fills my cup up with what I presume to be whiskey. I grab the cup and take a small sip. I’m suppressed at how sweet the liquid feels as it runs past my tongue and down my throat.

“What kind of whisky is this?”

“It’s ginger,” Twilight replies as she unfurls a map of Ponyville. “So about the School. I made it to teach other creators about the Magic of Friendship,”

I chuckle as I think “She said it, not me,”

“The school is located just a few blocks away from my castle. Might I ask why you want to go there?” Twilight asks, looking up at me with those enormous eyes.

“A hippogriff named Silver stream invited me to a bonfire at the school,” I responded.

“That's the yearly friendship bonfire,” Twilight says, clapping her hooves together excitedly. “Everyone is welcome to the fire. I’m glad you get the chance to meet more creators,”

“Why was the friendship bonfire made?” I ask, taking another sip of the lovely drink Twilight gave me.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s always a reason a tradition started. How did this start?” I ask, putting my cup down.

“The Students started it after the school was reopened after being closed,” Twilight explains nonchalantly.

“It was closed?”

“Ya, the higher-ups disagreed with the way we were teaching the kids, but we got Celestia to overrule the court just for us,”

“Isn’t that abuse of power?” I ask, taking another sip of whisky.

“Well..” Twilight thinks for a moment. Her head drifts down to her neck as her eyes slowly close. Her head bumps the table and jolts her awake. “What!... Sorry, but what did you ask?”

“Never mind what I ask, you need to go to sleep,” I say, standing up.

“I don’t need sleep, I'm fin..” Twilight face plants into the ground after trying to stand up. Her muffled snoring could be heard through the ground.

"Bocht tuirseach banphrionsa," I think to myself as I shake my head in disapproval. “Spike! Twilight needs to be put to bed!” I yell as I pick her up gently.

“What do you need?” Spike asks as He walks in with a frying pan and a chef hat.

“Could you point me to her room, she fell asleep in the middle of our conversation,”

“She does that a lot,” Spike says as I walk over to him. “Her room is down the hall on the left,”

“Thanks,” I say as I walk down the hallway towards her room.

I lay underneath the noon sun as I try to sleep. The keyword is trying as I feel something on my chest. I open my eyes to see a certain Pink pony on my chest. I’ve slowly gotten used to the anomaly that is Pinkie Pie.

“Good morning Brogan,” Pinkie says, lightly bouncing on my chest.

“Technically, it's a good afternoon,” I remarked.

“Technically, Smebally,” Pinkie says, swaying her head back and forth. “The good thing is your awake so I can ask you a few questions,”

“Great, more questions,” I think as I sit up. Pinkie jumps off of me and lands perfectly next to me with the biggest smile I have ever seen. “Ok, go for it,” I say, giving her the go-ahead.

She takes a deep breath in before asking a tone of questions. “What’s your birth date?”

“The first winter on the 13th of 1045 I think,” I say, trying to remember the conversion me and Twi did earlier that month.

“Do you like parties?”

“Fuck ya!” I say, almost as enthusiastically as her.

“What is your favorite type of cake?”

“Chocolate,”

We sat there for an hour, her asking and me answering questions. She finally got to the last question, which took me off guard compared to the more childish questions.

“Do you have a special somepony?” She asks. At first, this took me by surprise, but I regained myself quickly and responded.

“Not yet,”

“Oh,” Pinkie’s normal happy deminer changes into one of sadness as her mane and ears drop down and the color from her face disappear. “Well, hopefully, one day you’ll find that special mare!” Her chipper self returns to her. “Or Stallion,” She nudges my shoulder while winking at me. I roll my eyes as she hops up to all four.

“Is that all the questions, Pinkie?” I ask her as she hops in place.

“Yep,” Pinkie states as she hops away down the street. I chuckle to myself as I Look up at the sun.

“That is one wired pony,” I thought to myself.

“You're one to talk,” I hear something in my head respond to my remark.

“Searsly, what the fuck is that it’s definitely not me,” I wait for a response, but nothing happened. “Ok, maybe I am going crazy,”