Crossing Over

Part 2: Laughter and Loyalty - Chapter 3: To Cloudsdale

I looked up at the already ready hot air balloon right in front of me. "Why'd you drag me here exactly? The balloon looks ready to me."

"Of course it is!" said Pinkie Pie, checking the ropes that secured the balloon to the ground. "I'm always Pinkie-prepared for everything!"

"Then why--"

"I already told you!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed an exasperated look on her face. "I needed to talk to you!"

I raised an eyebrow. "About what?" I asked, though I had a very strong feeling I already knew what it was.

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Rainbow Dash, of course!"

I nodded. That what I had thought. Before I replied, I looked around to make sure no one was within earshot; I didn't want Pinkie's secret to get out. We were in the center of Ponyville, near Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie had dragged me here in a mind-blowingly short amount of time and plopped me in front of the balloon I was supposedly trying to help get ready for our journey to Cloudsdale. There were ponies well within hearing distance, doing their daily business I assumed, so I moved closer to Pinkie Pie.

"Talk to me," I said, keeping my voice low.

Pinkie looked around and then at me. She looked scared and... desperate. "I don't want Dashie to join the Wonderbolts."

My jaw dropped. "What!?"

She closed her eyes. "Well, I do, because it'd make her happy, but... I don't at the same time." Her eyes opened and I was shocked to discover them. "If she joins the Wonderbolts, she's going to leave Ponyville-- leave me!" She put her hooves to her head and shook it. "Oh, I'm so conflicted!"

"Hey, don't worry," I replied, placing a hoof on her shoulder, "I promised to help you, didn't I? I'll make sure, whatever happens, that you two will be together."

In all honesty, I was worried. I wasn't sure I'd be able to do anything to get Dash and Pinkie together, especially since Dash got this invitation. Of course she'd be accepted into the Wonderbolts. She was the best flyer in all of Equestria, after all. And once she was accepted into the Wonderbolts? I'd be left with a broken promise and an angry, depressed Pinkie Pie; another pony to add to the growing list of ponies who hated me. Spike, Lyra, and, soon enough, Pinkie Pie. I was starting to regret making that promise to her. Even if Dash wasn't accepted by the Wonderbolts, what could I possibly do to get them together? I wasn't a match-maker! I was just a teenager who'd fallen in love once for Christ's sake!

Pinkie Pie looked up at me and smiled. Pulling me into a hug, she said softly, "Thank you, Jordan."

"No problem," I said as I pulled away.

A couple seconds later, Rainbow Dash arrived.  She flew around the hot-air balloon, inspecting every inch of the thing. "Wow! You guys are quick. It's only been like five minutes since you left and the balloon is perfectly ready!"

"Of course, Dashie!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, beaming up at the cyan pegasus. "When it comes to being ready, I'm never a slow-poke!"

Rainbow Dash was now looking into the balloon's basket a frown making its way onto her face. "Um, Pinkie? The basket looks a little small to fit all of us in here, especially with this big picnic basket." To emphasize her point, she picked up an exceedingly large picnic basket from inside the balloon's basket.

"I had a hunch that'd be the case," said Twilight who had just arrived. My heart did a backflip upon seeing her. "So I found a spell that makes the balloon's basket bigger on the inside."

That reminded me of something. "That's exactly like the Doctor's TARDIS!"

Twilight nodded. "During the last Discord incident, when we were waiting for the Doctor to get back with the Chaos Emeralds, Ivo mentioned--"

"Hold on," began Rainbow Dash, landing on the ground and leaning against the hot-air balloon's basket, "how do you know about--"

"Long story," I said, cutting her off. I glanced at Twilight. "So, about this spell?"

"Right... uh, Rainbow Dash? You might want to step out of the way."

Dash looked at where she was standing. "Oh, yeah." She flew over by Twilight.

As Pinkie and I trotted over there as well, Twilight closed her eyes in concentration and her horn started to glow, continuing to get brighter and brighter. She lowered her head and aimed her luminescent horn at the balloon's basket. A violet beam of energy shot out of her horn. It zoomed around the basket at an intense velocity, getting faster and faster. All of a sudden, it went up and then down into the basket. Then, with a flash of purple light from within the basket, it was over.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie bounced over to it and hopped in. An instant later, she said, "Wow! Twilight, your spell worked! It's super-duper roomy in here, even with my picnic basket!"

"Of course the spell worked, Pinkie," Rainbow Dash replied, flying over and looking down into the balloon's basket at the pink pony. "Since when does Twilight Sparkle ever fail?"

For some reason, Twilight giggled at that statement. I smiled. She had such a cute giggle.

"Well, i don't know about you guys," I started, trotting over to the balloon, "but I think we should get this show on the road."

I agree." With a flash of light, Twilight teleported into the basket, joining Pinkie Pie.

Upon reaching the basket, I was immediately faced with a dilemma. I couldn't get into it. It was too high for me to jump in (combined with the fact I couldn't bounce like Pinkie) and I couldn't teleport in because I was not a unicorn.

"What are you waiting for?" Rainbow Dash asked impatiently, hovering beside me.

I frowned. "I can't get in."

"Why don't you just fly in?" questioned Pinkie Pie. Both her and Twilight were looking at me over the edge of the balloon's basket.

I could feel my cheeks start to color themselves. "Yes, well, uh... I don't really know how to."

Dash stared at me incredulously. "You don't know how to fly? But... you're a pegasus!"

"Yeah, Jordan, all pegasi know how to fly," said Pinkie.

"Uh, guys," interjected Twilight.

"Well, you see, before yesterday, I was a human," I pointed out, not hearing Twilight. "I've only been a pegasus for a single day!"

"A human!?" Dash exclaimed.

"Oooo, so you are from Sonic's world!" reasoned Pinkie.

I facehoofed. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm from neither Sonic's, nor the Doctor's universe!"

"Guys!"

"But Sonic said there were humans in his universe," said Dash.

"So?" I asked. "There's humans in the Doctor's universe too. Debatably, they were here as well. however, my universe--"

"GUYS!" shouted Twilight, finally getting our attention. She pointed her hoof towards something behind us. "We have a visitor."

I turned around to look at this 'visitor'. Standing a few yards away was a familiar mint green unicorn.

"Lyra?" I questioned, my eyes growing wide.

She frowned at me. "Obviously."

"Why... why are you here?" I said, glancing at the others. They were just as confused as I was.

Lyra rolled her eyes. "Isn't that obvious? I'm coming with you." She darted her eyes towards the others. "If that's alright with you guys, of course."

Rainbow Dash flew over to her. "And why do you want to come, huh?"

"Well," Lyra began, pointing her hoof at me, 'she said she'd prove that humans aren't evil. I'd think the best way for that to possibly happen would be if we were confined in a hot-air balloon for twenty-four hours."

Those last words caused my mind to go off on a different tangent. Twenty-four hours!? this trip would take an entire day? But... how? In the show, it seemed like it only took a few hours to get there. Granted, it never showed the entire journey, but still. Plus, since it would take over a day to get there, that meant we'd be stuck in the balloon overnight. Of course, that meant I'd be in a hot-air balloon overnight with Twilight...

"While I do think they are evil, soulless creatures with a thirst for blood," Lyra continued, "I still find them somewhat interesting."

"Or," I said, smiling, "maybe you want to be proven wrong since, deep down inside you, you can't stand thinking of humans as evil."

"That is so not the case," she growled, glaring at me. "But, in any case, I still want to come."

Dash shrugged and flew into the balloon's basket. "Whatever. I don't care. This just means one more pony getting to watch me strut my stuff, and that's never a bad thing."

"Well, if Dashie wants her to come, than I do too!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Twilight hesitated. She looked from me to Lyra warily. "Um... sure."

"Great!" said Lyra cheerfully, walking around to another side of the basket, opening a small door, and stepping into it.

i stared at the small door. "Are you serious? There was door here the entire time?" I glanced up at Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight. "Why didn't you guys tell me about that?"

"Because we expected you to fly in, silly," Pinkie replied, smiling and rolling her eyes.

"But I can't fly!"

Dash raised an eyebrow. "Yes, but how were we supposed to know that?"

"Because--"

"You can't fly?" Lyra asked, joining the other three along the edge of the basket.

My right eye twitched a little. "Obviously! Before yesterday, I-- you know what? Forget it. it doesn't matter."

I walked through the open small door and into the basket. As I did so, i was taken aback by the size of it. It was very roomy. In fact, while the height of the walls stayed the same, everything else was almost the size of my bedroom back home. After I was done looking around, I closed the small door and walked over to the others.

Pinkie and Dash were undoing the ropes that held the hot-air balloon to the ground. Once the last rope was undone, Twilight's horn began glowing brightly as she controlled the balloon as it slowly rose from the ground.

I looked over the side of the balloon's basket and instantly regretted the action. We were starting to get pretty high up. My fear of heights wasn't liking this one bit. Immediately, I realized just how ironic it was that I had been transformed into a  pegasus even though I had a fear of heights. I got the feeling God really, really loved irony.

Tearing my fearful gaze from the ground, I looked upwards and nearly gasped. The very top of the balloon was starting to break through the clouds. I glanced back down at the ground. We were high up, but we didn't seem that high up. Weren't clouds supposed to be thousands of feet in the air? I looked over at Rainbow Dash who was helping Pinkie Pie get food out of the picnic basket. Then again, that probably wasn't the case here. Pegasi controlled the weather here, and if clouds were thousands of feet above the ground, they'd probably get tired very quickly.

Within seconds, we had gotten above the clouds. White puffs dotted the sky below us as far as the eye could see. There were still clouds above us, as was the sun, which was inching towards the highest point in the sky. looking over the edge, this picturesque scene was breathtaking. The landscape stretched on and on. I could even see cities and towns in the distance. My fear of heights was quickly becoming a non-factor.

"There," said Twilight, wiping her brow with her foreleg as the glow faded from her horn. "I think that's high enough."

"And just in time too!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, holding up a sandwich. "Who's hungry?"

"I know I am," Rainbow Dash replied. Taking a sandwich out of the picnic basket, she took a huge bite. I narrowed my eyes, trying to see what type of sandwich it was. To my dismay, it was exactly what I suspected: a dandelion sandwich.

Twilight shook here head. "I'm not. Spike made me breakfast."

"Yeah, I'm not either," said Lyra, sitting down against the side of the balloon's basket and using her magic to flip through the pages of a small book.

Pinkie then looked at me, waiting for my answer.

"I'm not hungry," I lied through my teeth, smiling.

As soon as the last word left my mouth, my stomach let out a snarl that would've made even a tiger jealous, causing everyone to turn and stare at me. I could feel the blood rush to my face, coloring my cheeks.

Rainbow Dash smirked and took another sandwich out of the picnic basket having finished her first one. She took a bite and said, "Liar."

I sighed. "Alright, maybe I am a little hungry."

"But... why would you lie about that?" Pinkie asked, frowning, and looking utterly flabbergasted.

Lyra shrugged and set down her book. "Because humans are compulsive liars."

I stared incredulously at her. "We are not!"

"Actually," Twilight began, rolling her eyes, "it's because humans don't eat what we do."

"Oh yeah!" said Lyra, her eyes lighting up. "I remember reading about that somewhere during my research!" Suddenly, here eyes darkened and her tone had an edge of anger to it. "I read that they eat... meat."

Pinkie Pie gasped. Rainbow Dash dropped the sandwich she'd been eating. Twilight just rolled her eyes again.

"Is... is that true?" Pinkie asked, looking at me.

"Well, yes," I admitted, "but we don't only eat meat. We also eat vegetables, fruits, and sweets; pretty much, we eat what you ponies eat..." I glanced at the dandelion sandwich. "Except for the flowers."

"Oh... okay." She looked a little green.

Dash eyed me curiously. "Does it taste good?"

I nodded. "Oh yeah. Probably the best--"

"Did you just ask if meat-- animal meat-- tastes good!?" Lyra asked incredulously, looking at Dash. Suddenly, her gaze shifted to Twilight. "And you! Why aren't you surprised or sickened at all?"

"Because we already had this conversation," Twilight replied. "Sort of."

Lyra's eyes darted between the other three ponies, her mouth hanging open. "You guys are all okay with the fact that she eats meat?"

"So what if he eats meat?" Twilight retorted. "That doesn't make him any worse of a person."

"Y-yeah!" said Pinkie Pie, still slightly green. "Why should we judge him based on what he eats? You're supposed to judge based on personality, silly billy!"

"I have some friends in Cloudsdale who eat meat," Dash inserted. "I don't know why, but they're into that sort of thing." Her words said, she picked up the sandwich she had dropped and frowned at it. Then, shrugging, she popped the rest into her mouth.

"I can't believe you guys!' Lyra exclaimed, glaring at them. "How can you be even remotely friendly to this human? Humans are violent, bloodthirsty creatures who... who... who thirst for blood!"

While I didn't like the fact she was insinuating I was an evil, soulless creature, we were both in the same boat on the eating meat thing. I expected them to be appalled at the fact that I'd eaten meat. I mean, from their point of view, it should seem like I was killing innocent animals and then eating their flesh. It should seem like savagery to them. But... apparently not. Apparently, they were okay with it. Not only that, though, but, according to Rainbow Dash, eating meat was some sort of cult thing here. How interesting.

Then Lyra's last words sunk in.

"Hey, hold on a second!" I said angrily, glaring at the mint green unicorn. "Humans are not violent, bloodthirsty creatures!"

Lyra rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Of course a human would say that, trying to make itself seem better than it actually is. Tell me then, if you humans aren't violent, then why during my research did I find a bunch of stuff talking of war and violence?"

I was about to respond, but before I could, twilight said, "Um, Jordan, when I was looking through your memories, I saw a lot of stuff that was about war."

I stared at her, feeling betrayed. She stared back, her face apologetic yet slightly curious, as if she hadn't wanted to say that, but was too interested to not say it.

Sighing, I closed my eyes. "Alright, fine, you caught me. Humans have had wars. Quite a few of them, in fact. However, that doesn't mean for a second that we are, at our core, violent, bloodthirsty creatures." My eyes opened and I looked at each one of their faces, hoping beyond hope that they'd understand.

"Yes, there have been some downright terrible human beings: Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein," I continued. "And yes, humans have created some horrifying weaponry. The atomic bomb, for example, is a weapon that could level an entire city and incinerate thousands of people in the blink of an eye."

By this point, both Pinkie Pie's and Rainbow Dash's faces wore identical masks of horror and shock, while Twilight had a strange, sad look on hers. Lyra was just shaking her head. That slightly annoyed me.

I turned away from them, staring over the balloon basket's edge at the landscape below. "But, even with all that bad stuff, humanity has had an equal amount of good stuff. Music, art, food, literature-- humans are creative; they can make something out of nothing." I gestured at the land stretching out in front of me. "In fact, we created all of this. This entire universe was created by a human; a woman by the name of Lauren Faust, to be exact." I turned back to the others and smiled. "Every Earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn, including all four of you, was created by humans. You guys wouldn't exist without humanity."

Now, instead of horror or shock, disbelief colored their faces, with the exception of Twilight. She'd already seen this in my memories. As it was, though, she looked very interested in what I was saying.

"You're lying," Lyra hissed.

"Why would I be lying about this!?" I demanded, my voice, as well as my anger, rising. "What purpose would that serve? To make humans sound better than they are? I've already acknowledged the bad stuff; that should prove I'm not lying. If I was lying, why would I even talk about the bad stuff? Lyra, you have to understand: at our core, humans are good. People like Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Michael Jackson, and Jesus Christ prove this. The actions of one individual, especially a fictional individual, are not representative of an entire race!"

"I don't believe you," Lyra replied stubbornly, her eyes angry.

I stared at her for a moment, uncomprehending. Then, all of a sudden, my temper flared, my anger turning to rage. "Fine then! Don't believe me! You think I care about what you think? No, I don't!" The next instant, I was in her face. "Go ahead and hate humanity, you stubborn bi-- mule! I don't care! I'm done! I retract my vow; I can see you're too fucking stubborn to really listen!"

With a huff, I wheeled around without waiting to see her reaction and trotted angrily over to the balloon's walls. However, staring at the landscape below, the anger that had just been seething within me vanished, only to be replaced by guilt and regret. What I had said was uncalled for. Lyra probably hated me even more now, but now it was a well deserved hate. My thoughts turned to the others. What did they think of me after my little outburst. They were probably horrified. Dash probably regretted bringing me along, Pinkie probably didn't want my help anymore, and Twilight... it hurt just to think of what her reaction had been. With a stabbing pain in my heart, i realized she was probably horrified as well and wouldn't want me to stay with her anymore, despite knowing about my temper beforehand. Knowing about something and seeing it in action were two entirely different things.

A fluffy white cloud passed by as I briefly contemplated jumping over the edge of the balloon basket.

Suddenly, a hoof touched my shoulder, making me jump. Then, turning to see whoever it was who was touching me, I saw it was Lyra, looking at me apologetically. That surprised me even more than the hoof on my shoulder. I was the one who was supposed to be apologizing here, not her. Of course, there was a smaller, more selfish part of me that was satisfied by this.

"Yes?" i asked hesitantly, glancing at the others. Twilight was talking to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie about something in a low voice. When she saw I was looking, she quickly smiled at me and then returned to the conversation she was having. For a couple seconds, the was all I could think of. Seeing it filled me with an intense joy because it meant she hadn't been horrified by my outburst. Then, suddenly, I realized Lyra was still talking to me.

"...wrong of me to be so close-minded. I'm sorry. I promise to be a little more open-minded from now on," Lyra vowed. With a whisper I wasn't sure I was supposed to hear or not, she added, "That's what Bon-Bon would want. She didn't like it when I held grudges."

I smiled at her. "Hey, it's alright. What I said was uncalled for. I shouldn't have tried to make you change your opinions like that. I'm sorry for being insensitive."

Now it was her turn to smile at me. "No worries. I guess we were both being kind of stupid, huh?" She started to laugh.

"yeah," I said, joining in, "I guess so."

As we were laughing, I realized happily that I could cross her off the 'Ponies Who Hate Me' list. The only one left on the list (at the moment) was Spike, who wasn't technically a pony. He was going to be tough to get off the list, seeing as I had no idea why he hated me.

"Did somepony tell a joke?" Pinkie asked, bouncing over to us (which wasn't exactly smart due to the fact that we were in a hot-air balloon). "Tell me! Tell me!"

"No one told a joke, Pinkie," I assured her, turning towards her. Twilight and Rainbow Dash were coming over to us as well.

"You guys made up already?" Dash questioned, looking impressed. "Wow, that was fast."

Lyra shrugged. "Yeah, well, we both realized we were being stupid."

"Jordan, no that Lyra isn't as... antagonistic towards humans," Twilight began, her eyes shifting between me and Lyra as if she was suspicious or something, "don't you think it would be a good time for us to explain your universe?" For some reason, she put extra emphasis on the 'us' part. I kind of liked it, but, at the same time, I didn't.

I sighed. "I guess," I said reluctantly. But, strangely, I felt ready, ready to try and explain everything. As a smile stretched across my face, I added, "Sit down, kiddies, this is going to be a while."

The rest of the day passed in a blur of words and images. I had never talked so much in my life. As it turned out, I had needed Twilight, but not nearly as much as I expected I would. She chimed in whenever I needed help, but otherwise was pretty much silent. Every time something important came up, Twilight would use her magic to conjure up an image or video clip from my memories to emphasize what I was saying with some visual evidence.

The conversation had taken hours. I had tried to explain as much as I could about the world in which I'd been born; words flowed out of my mouth more eloquent and concise than I'd ever thought possible. It did get a little tense at times, as when I was explaining about wars and weapons and atrocities. However, those parts of the conversation passed rather quickly, and we were onto the other, less unpleasant parts of the conversation. The ponies were especially interested in how human music sounded. I tried to explain it to them,but, in this instance, Twilight couldn't help very much as she too had a hard time explaining the music, so I just told them that they'd have to hear it themselves, and I promised them I'd try and find a way to do just that.

Trying to actually explain my universe was extremely strange, but, at the same time, it felt good to finally be explaining myself and my world. The strangest the conversation got was when we reached the subject of 'My Little Pony' and its every-growing collection of die-hard fans. They were very curious about this; even Twilight was curious, despite the fact she'd learned about this in my memories. I had wondered briefly how much my memories had really explained on this subject. Apparently, it hadn't explained with much depth.

Lyra had been the only one who payed attention throughout the entire conversation. rainbow Dash had fallen asleep halfway through and Pinkie Pie followed no long afterwards. Their curiosity about my world's music and 'My Little Pony' apparently hadn't been enough to keep them from sleep. That, of course, made me realize it had gotten dark. Once again, I was taken surprise by how fast time moved here. I wasn't entirely sure if this was how time normally moved here (it seemed a little too fast), but no one else said anything about it, so I pushed those questions out of my mind and continued to answer as many of Lyra's questions as possible, though if I was changing her opinions on humans was frustratingly unclear.

Eventually, however, the conversation ended and Lyra too had fallen asleep. As soon as she did so, fatigue washed over me and I fell backwards to lean against the basket wall and lay on the basket's floor. I hadn't realized how tired I was, nor how tiring talking could actually be. Explaining a universe really takes it out of you.

I glanced at the three sleeping ponies and was surprised to see how adorable they were. When they were sleeping, every trace of every negative emotion drained out of their faces and was replaced with a peaceful, happy mask. This was something they'd never show in the actual TV show. most people would think it too boring. I, on the other hand, found it more enthralling and interesting than any episode of the show.

Suddenly, something soft and a little squishy landed on my chest. I looked down at it. It was a sandwich.

"Eat up," I heard Twilight say.

I poked at the sandwich with my hoof and glanced at her in disgust. "Twilight, remember what I said about not eating flowers? Flowers in a sandwich still fall under that category."

"That sandwich has no flowers in it," she assured me. "Check between the bread."

Doing as she told me, I peeled a little of the bread off. Sure enough, there were no flowers. Instead, inside was a creamy, brown spread... peanut butter? No, I couldn't get my hopes up. I wasn't entirely sure ponies had invented peanut butter in the first place. This spread was probably something else. In any case, I decided to ask about it.

"Is... is this peanut butter?" I asked tentatively, looking over at her.

"Yep," she said, smiling, as she made her way over to me. Taking the spot directly beside me, she added, "I remembered something in your memories about peanut butter. Luckily, Pinkie Pie brought some, though I'm not sure why she did."

I stared at the sandwich, silently debating whether or not I should eat it. "Pinkie Sense?"

"Maybe," Twilight muttered. "Aren't you going to eat?"

I gulped. "Yeah, of course." Not meeting Twilight's impatient gaze, I took a small bite of the sandwich. I chewed slowly for a few moments and then swallowed. It wasn't that bad! I mean, it was no JIF peanut butter, but it wasn't bad! I hungrily scarfed the sandwich down, nearly forgetting to chew. It wasn't enough to sate my hunger, but it was good for now.

I tried to swallow the last bite and the dull, slow pain in my throat alerted me to the fact that I had a lump in my throat. Upon realizing this, I immediately started thumping my chest, trying to dissipate the lump. I'd dealt with these things before, usually when I ate too fast. This was the best way I'd found to get rid of them.

Twilight looked at me in alarm. "What are you doing? Is something wrong?"

"Not really," I said, staring straight ahead and concentrating on dissipating the lump, "it's just-- *thump*-- that I-- *thump*-- have a-- *thump*-- lump in--*thump*-- my throat." Then, with one final thump, I felt something dislodge. I took a tentative swallow and was relieved to find no pain attached to the action. The lump was gone!

"Is the, uh, lump gone?" Twilight asked, looking a little worried.

"What? Oh, yeah, it is."

The worry, or whatever it was, disappeared. "Oh, that's good. you choking to death wouldn't be a very good thing at all."

I wasn't sure why, but the way she said that made my heart do a fluttery little dance. "Well, the lumps never actually choke me, strangely enough. They only ever hurt. Quite a bit, in fact."

Twilight nodded, but all she said was "Oh."

Silence settled between us for a while. Long enough to where I nearly fell asleep. However, before I could, she spoke.

"So, about that girl in your memories..."

My eyes snapped open and my hearing became hyper-aware. I could hear Rainbow Dash's quiet snore perfectly, as well as Pinkie Pie's low muttering of "Dashie" in her sleep.

"What about her?" I asked hesitantly, trying to build up the courage to pull my gaze from the basket floor and look at Twilight.

"Well," she began, "I was wondering, even though she hurt you... a lot, if you were still in love her."

Wow. Way to get straight to the meat of the issue, Twilight. Right to the point.

"Um..."

"If... if you really don't want to answer, you don't have to," Twilight said with a strange emotion in her voice that I just couldn't put my finger on. Was it... sadness? Disappointment?

Still staring at the basket floor, I said, "No, I don't mind." As soon as I said it, I realized that I meant it. I didn't mind, not really. The pain I'd thought I would have during this conversation never materialized. Realizing this, I found the answer to her question rather easily. "And no, I'm not in love with her, not anymore." And it was true! I was free from my old heartbreak! Now the only heartbreak I'd have to deal with would be Pinkie's... and my own future heartbreak when Twilight would inevitably reject me.

Twilight sighed. A delusional, optimistic part of me wanted to believe it was in relief. I squashed that part of me quickly. Hope was no allowed in this establishment. It would only cause me more unwanted pain in the future.

"But don't go blaming her for all my pain!" I continued quickly. "It wasn't her fault; it was mine. I'm the one who kept trying even though I knew it was futile."

"She could've at least tried to give you a chance," Twilight muttered.

Finally, I tore my gaze from the floor and looked into her eyes, her breathtakingly beautiful eyes, trying to figure her out. Why was she defending me from my own blame? It had been my fault,I could see that now. In fact, I was starting to feel downright embarrassed about some of the things I'd done. But how could she not see that it was my fault? Why defend my foolish actions? I could find no answer looking into her eyes.

My eyes drifted back to the floor. "No, it was a good thing she didn't. I wasn't the one for her; she didn't want me... no one wants me." A deep sadness welled up in me as I realized that these words too were true.

Suddenly, I felt something on my hoof. Glancing over at it, I saw that Twilight had placed her hoof on mine. Once again, my heart fluttered, and I couldn't help but look into her eyes. They held a quiet intensity, though I couldn't fathom why.

"Don't say that," she said with the same quiet intensity her eyes held. "Don't you ever say that! Of course there's somepony who wants you. You just have to know where to look."

Bullshit, I wanted to say. There was no way someone would actually want me. Instead, looking at the floor again, I said, "I... guess."

I waited for her to say something else, but all that greeted me was a light snore and relatively even breathing. I glanced at Twilight and discovered that she'd fallen asleep. Her head was resting lightly against my shoulder and I saw that her hoof was still on mine. My heart swelled.

All of a sudden, I got a strange, yet highly persuasive urge to lean over and kiss her hair. That urge started a small war inside of me. Half of me was all for doing it since no once could see me. The other half of me didn't want to do it because Twilight might wake up and it seemed slightly creepy. The war waged within me for a few minutes before one side finally won: I was going to do it.

Quickly, after checking that the others were indeed asleep, I leaned over and gently kissed the top of her head. i froze when she stirred a little, but, instead of waking up, she sighed and mumbled something unintelligible. My heart fluttered and swelled simultaneously. This was nice. Very nice. With Twilight leaning against me, I felt like I could lay there forever.

A couple minutes later, the thought of my kiss still running wildly through my mind, unconsciousness finally overtook me.