To be quite frank, things for the next few weeks were rather slow for Swaddle-Dee, Carina and I. That's not to say nothing happened of course, but things were definitely settled for quite a bit. Carina had started spending more time as 'Frontline,' saying that she didn't much like being so much bigger than every pony in town. Which was fair, I'm sure it isn't something she would grow used to for a while. She also openly admitted to liking sex more before she matched me in height. I decided not to touch that particular topic for the moment, Carina was Carina and however she wanted to enjoy herself when we were together was up to her. I loved her either way.

We also spent more time in Ponyville, just trying to get a lay of the land and what's available for us to do. I got some looks, ponies recognizing me but not the 'new mare' I was with. I just ignored them, they would get the truth if they asked but they were content with just staring at us. Applejack and Rainbow Dash both came to see us one time, asking about who she was. Applejack was a really simple conversation.

"Who's this filly you got hangin from yer hip?"

"It's still Carina, but she decided she wanted to walk a little closer to the ground. She can do that."

"Hey Applejack! Do I look good?" Rainbow Dash presented a bit more of a confusing interaction.

"Yo, Elfilis! You get tired of Teats already? Or is she aware of your new girl? No judgement if she is, but she's a cool mare so I'd hope you at least let her down easy if you did."

"...I ...Did you just call Carina 'teats?'"

"I do have an impressive pair Elfy."

"Wow, you two are already doing nicknames?" So that took some time to clear up with her. The pegasus was still skeptical until she saw the transformation for herself one day, but after that she began to seek us out a bit more often. We were 'cool' and 'hip' enough to hang out with her I guess. And she was fun to hang out with and trade barbs with. And it only took one week for her to stop challenging me in various ways. Strength, I won. Endurance, I won. Tic-tac-toe? Well, most of the time. It was racing she pushed for the most though. As a joke, the first time we raced I just decided to teleport to the end, but Rainbow took it as a challenge. "Ten bits that by the end of the week I'll be able to beat you in a race when you do that. It'll be good practice for what I learned at the Young Fliers competition." I was skeptical obviously, she was undoubtedly fast, faster than I could legitimately fly/levitate myself at the moment, but to go faster than I could step into one portal and out of the next?

Sure enough though, by the end of our little competition I was stepping out of the portal to the sight of Rainbow Dash prancing in excitement and Carina cheering her on. There was also a giant rainbow expanding out and dissipating from where we had started, which was quite the conundrum, but it didn't take me rubbing two brain cells together for more than a second before I connected the dots.

"Woohoo! I did it! You can kiss my flank!"

"Congratulations Rainbow Dash. Please stop shaking your butt at me." Apparently spinning your tail in circles at someone was a relatively common sports taunt. Something like, 'you can't catch this.' Just another weird rule to try and keep in mind. But regardless, the athletic pegasus became a semi-regular fixture of our time in Ponyville, provided she wasn't off doing her own thing or hanging out with the other mares.

At some point Carina insisted on going off to see Fluttershy, who I realized I have had the least amount of interaction with so far. It's in her name obviously, to not be super social, but it did make me curious as to why she wanted 'girl time' with a mare that we had only talked to once. But I left her to it and instead decided to spend that day looking at property and empty land in the town.

As we talked with and interacted with the residents of Ponyville more, it seemed sillier and sillier be living in a cave in a forest. I felt it would be more convenient for all of us, Swaddle-Dee included, if we had a place just outside of town. The most immediate problem with the few houses already available for purchase was size. Forgo Cave was excavated to accomadate my, and later Carina's, stature. All the buildings here were built with ponies and other common species in mind.

This meant I was a ways out of town looking at empty land when the day grew late and Cari came by to find me, Swaddle sitting on her undisguised person.

"Hey Elfy. You just enjoying the fresh air out here?"

"Mhm. For the record, I don't think Swaddle-Dee qualifies to be a part of girl time."

"Oh? You jealous he got to see- uh. Anyway..." That wasn't like her. I could tell from her tone of voice she was going to make one of her standard lewd teases, but she cut herself off. She had never been shy about saying anything, even if she seemed mildly (very mildly) embarrassed at times. "Anything in particular catch your attention out here?" ... I decided to push it.

"Only your beautiful, stunning body now that you're here." She just looked at me blankly as her pink cheeks slowly turned a light red.

"... Well, thank you. I... am happy to hear that. But, um, what are you doing out here? Seriously." She was watching her words really carefully. Was Carina actually censoring herself? Time to keep pushing! It was going to get me in trouble one day, but it had worked for me so far.

"Thinking about how hot it would be to hold you here at night, under the stars." She turned a little redder. "Our hips pressed together, our antlers interlocked." Redder. "My hands against your teats as you-" Red has reached critical mass!

"Fucking hell Elfy. Ugh. Swaddle-Dee, punch him." I just let the little dude run up to me and start karate chopping my ankles. It stung a little bit more than I was expecting, but he wasn't exactly who I was keeping an eye on. "I messed up immediately. Of course you were going to notice! I'm terrible at subterfuge."

"What- ow, dammit- were you trying to do anyway? I'd never seen you so unsure before. As yourself anyway."

"I talked with Fluttershy today. She's the one who cleared things up for Vinyl on the do's and don'ts of pony living, and it turns out I'm not as caught up as I thought I was. I'm really,really horny Elfilis. I-"

"Wait, seriously?" I didn't believe I was hearing this.

"Yes! Seriously! All that talk I did about ponies fucking around in public isn't as common as I thought it was. It's because of my natural attraction towards love that I saw that more often. And-"

"And who cares?"

"... uh..."

"Cari, you aren't a pony. I'm not a pony. Nothing you did was illegal, right? Just out of place? Vinyl has been living with ponies for who knows how long and is in love with a pony. Of course she's going to act more like one, disguise or otherwise."

"...This is turning into a 'be yourself' conversation again isn't it?"

"Damn right." She snorted, and Swaddle-Dee finally stopped taking swipes at me. He really hadn't stopped the whole time we were talking, and I was positive I was going to bruise.

"Figures. Fluttershy said the same thing. That nothing I was doing was considered unacceptable. Ponies accept that life happens and to leave it be if they see it, and erections and raised tails are an inevitable part of being a pony. I guess... I don't know. I feel like I mislead you this whole time. I knew ponies acted embarrassed sometimes but I thought I was hardly the most sexual one out here."

"Carina. I love you. Not whatever image you're trying to project. If you want to try to fit in better, by all means. But you don't have to pretend with me. Besides, everypony we've talked to has been pretty accomadating haven't they? No one has tried to tell you off for you being yourself. Hell, Rainbow shows her privates to taunt competition. Twilight is the only one I can think of who shows the kind of embarrassment you seem to be expecting."

"But Fluttershy-"

"Is a very kind and understanding pony, I'm sure, but she is one pony who lives pretty secluded from the rest. She likely isn't right about everything. Try getting some extra opinions from say, Applejack, or Pinkie Pie. Ponies who don't literally have the word 'shy' in their name."

"Alright, alright. You're right, I'm probably overeacting a bit... We're coming back here when the sun goes down." Should've seen that coming.

And speaking of the sun going down, Luna was in my dreams semi-regularly. It's a weird sentence without context, but I guess that's just how my life has been going. Sometimes we sparred, sometimes we talked, and she was almost always practicing with her new supply of Dream Matter. After the first few days though, she got tense around me. I didn't believe I had done anything, but when I did my typical routine of trying to push my way through to the issue, the Princess completely stonewalled me. One time a literal stone wall fell out of a crescent portal between us.

And as if that wasn't enough, she started giving me weird looks during our fights. Not her expected calculated expression, trying to decide what move to make next, but more like something I was doing didn't make any sense to her. Was I doing something really amateurish in our battles? I don't know, she stonewalled me. Otherwise though, so long as I could prevent myself from nosing my way into her thoughts, we had a pretty amicable time together. She was getting better at her new abilities, getting faster at producing objects and managing larger creations. And we decided she could use magic to fight me, which meant I got my ass whooped about half the time now.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't last. As time went on she just got worse, and worse, and worse, becoming more closed off and jittery in our conversation. I don't think either of us could afford to let this continue. So, at the end of our latest practice fight, around a week until the Grand Galloping Gala, I made sure that she wouldn't be able to leave without getting whatever it was off of her chest.

"Elfilis, this is ridiculous." I just squished her back against my chest further.

"Yep. I agree. What's wrong Luna? It's driving you crazy, which is driving me crazy. What's so crazy in your life right now?"

"He's holding me hostage right now."

"I am choosing not to dignify that with a response."

"This isn't actually keeping me here, you know that right? I can just wake up from this whenever I want."

"Then I guess you don't actually want to leave without talking about what's up." She took that silently before letting out a resigned sigh. I took that as a sign that I could let go of her, and I waited as she turned around to face me before speaking.

"We were trying to keep our worries from you. You have much on your plate already. Amnesia, a lover, powers you never wanted. I was afraid if I told you, you would once again force yourself to offer help. Despite how much you wish for a regular life."

"... I appreciate that Luna." Pushing hadn't gotten me in trouble yet, but my friend had noticed the habit and had grown worried on behalf. "I promise to let you handle whatever this is, really. And if you don't want to tell me-" That was as far as I finished that sentence. I was in my dream as my dream-self. My physical body was still in the real world, and someone was shaking me. Hard. "Uh, one moment." And I woke up.

I opened my eyes to a very frantic Carina and Swaddle-Dee trying to rattle my brains out.

"Elfy! Elfilis! Are you awake!" I shot up in a hurry, floating above the bed so fast the pillows flew off. She sounded scared.

"I'm up! I'm up! What's wrong? What's the emergency-!" And then I saw him. Standing at the entrance to the cave, leaning on his pronged sword and missing half his mask. Beta Knight, and someone took his left eye.

"My leige... I..."

"What. Happened."

Luna was unsure what to do. It had been a minute since something spooked Elfilis, and she didn't know whether to stay in the dream and wait for him, to go to him in person, or if it was anything of importance anyway. Maybe Carina accidentally kicked him? But he would be back by now if that was it, right? It was as she was finally about to wake up herself that Elfilis's iconic portal opened up to allow him back into his dream.

"Elfilis? Was everything..." Something was wrong. His ringed eyes, which were normally half-lidded and almost drowsy looking, were wide open. Every ring was on display, and all of them were glowing, radiating some kind of energy. His wings/ears, which naturally drooped to some extent, were shot straight out to his sides, expanded to their full wingspan. He looked just like he did in their first fight, when he destroyed her room and unlocked her Dream-Matter. "... What has happened?"

"Chrysalis has killed your battalion of guards and injured Beta Knight. I am getting involved." Oh... oh no.

Author's Note

Hey look, a chapter. And kind of a time skip. I feel like there is only so much life I can go over before you start treading old ground, so I decided to avoid that and make a push for action adventure stuff for a bit now that Elfy and Cari have had a few chapters of relative regularity.