“You think you’re tough?” Felix asked, gasping for breath but still grinning cockily. “I bet you hire gold-farmers to skim loot for you! Probably couldn’t make it out of the undead asylum on your own!”

There was a notable groan from the side, and the voice of Saber soon followed. "Are you going to do this every time you get to take a small break? Is talking a mandatory part of fighting where you’re from, or something?"

Felix glanced to his side, seeing Saber watching him with a raised eyebrow. He glanced back at the training dummy he’d been trash-talking moments ago.

“Arguing with strawmen is a central part of our culture back home, in fact.”

Saber’s resulting confusion bought Felix a few more seconds to catch his breath, and he said, “Besides, you can’t take these things lightly. Who knows when the punching bag will decide to Counter you?”

Saber’s look turned flat. “I’m fairly certain it won’t ever do that.”

“Must be running a Destiny Bond moveset,” Felix said with a sagely nod. Saber smirked back at him.

"You just want a longer break, don't you?"

"... Perhaps."

Saber sighed, but still let out a chuckle at Felix's antics. "If you don't stop wasting time and get back to training, I'll have you run laps around the courtyard until you drop!" Felix couldn't quite tell if she was joking or being serious. It was hard to tell with her lighthearted demeanor.

He figured it wasn't worth chancing, and so moved forward and swung his hoof towards the dummy. "Hya! Aaay!" He said with each punch or kick he tried to perform.

Saber wasn't impressed. "And stop doing that!"

Felix punched the straw dummy, letting out another "Hyaa!" as he did so. "Sorry, it just feels more cool with sound effects. Not to mention every video game character does it."

Saber rolled her eyes again. "Well, this isn't a video game, and it does not make you look cooler."

Felix grinned at her. "You're right. No need to fix what isn't broken." He waggled his eyebrows. She laughed a little, and he laughed as well. "Sorry, it is just so surreal doing this. It hasn't quite sunk in yet. To be here," he gestured around the courtyard with his hoof. "Trained by a magical pony, in magical pony land. At times it all just seems so surreal."

"I can see why it may mess with your head a bit," Saber relented. "But you asked for this."

Felix nodded quickly, sending her a smile. "Oh yeah, I didn't mean to sound whiny or anything. I just sometimes get this wave of, 'wow, this is really happening to me.' " He chuckled. "But I am really grateful to you for doing this."

Saber grinned. "No problem, now get back to it!"

It had been five days since the trip to Canterlot and the run-in with the thieves. The whole conclusion to that ordeal had ended with him getting a bloody nose. Despite being praised for his heroic effort, Felix had been embarrassed with how he had been unable to do shit.

If he was going to stay here for a while, he didn't want to be a useless burden who needed constant protection. Even though most had told him what he had experienced was really rare in Equestria, Celestia had been unable to tell him flat-out he would NEVER face danger while he was here.

So she and Luna had agreed to let Saber train him and show Felix the basics of pony combat. Since he had just learned how to walk and run without crashing into things, Saber was taking it very slow. Even to the point he half expected her to remind him to press the square button to attack.

Even though this was only the second day of training, Felix had advanced two levels! One being gained on the day of the flower shop incident, and one just yesterday.

That had earned him 10 attribute points, but no skills yet.

For now though he had invested the attribute points in intelligence, raising his stat from five to ten, and his stamina, raising it from fifteen to twenty. He honestly didn't know if raising intelligence did make him smarter, but he had to get some benefit from raising it. Or at least that's what he hoped.

Felix made a mental note to raise constitution next. Then he would be able to endure more damage should he fight again. He hoped he wouldn't have to, but while he was here he wanted to be prepared for anything.

But for now, he had his straw arch-nemesis to deal with!

He was sure he looked silly from the outside, but in his mind, Felix was in an intense battle for survival! Leaping forward again, he delivered a series of punches and kicks, just as Saber had shown him.

After a while, Saber stomped her hoof into the sand to signal Felix to stop, which he did, panting from the effort.

"Nice work, cadet Felix," Saber said with a smile.

Felix let out a snort, but still smirked. "Thank you, ma'am," he responded with a half-assed salute.

Saber giggled. "I think that will do for today. I think we can start sparring, perhaps tomorrow if you feel up for it?"

Felix grinned at her, but before he could respond, he felt a rush of energy passing through him. He knew this feeling now! Smiling wider, he saw the text appearing in front of him.

Quest Complete!
450 EXP!

LEVEL UP!
+New Skill.

Felix's ears perked up. A new skill? Finally!

Quickly he focused his mind, and the skill came to him as being summoned to the forefront of his mind. He smirked inwardly; he was getting quite adept at using his mind character menu.

Skill:
Earth Shaker; Sends a shockwave through the ground damaging all hostiles in the area of effect, targets in Hide/Cloak will be revealed and receive additional damage.

Earth Shaker? Now that sounded fun, not to mention hella useful! He also received five attribute points, which he quickly put into the constitution, raising it to fifteen. Grinning, Felix opened his eyes and looked at a confused Saber.

"Equestria to Felix, are you okay? I was starting to think you had fallen asleep."

Felix shook his head, then smiled excitedly. "Actually, can we try sparring right now? I want to try something!"

Saber looked taken aback for a moment by the sudden surge of enthusiasm, but then smiled and gave a nod. "If you're sure you're up for it, cadet. Sure, I guess I can give you a shot."

"Nice! Thank you!"

Saber giggled at Felix's antics as she led him away from the dummies and to the sparring circles on the opposite side of the training yard. Most were in use, and a small crowd was gathered nearby, watching their fellows spar and waiting their turns. Some of them were glancing towards the two of them, Felix noted.

He had no doubt that pretty much the entire guard force knew who he was. Perhaps not that he was human, but that he was an outsider of some sort – maybe even that he wasn’t a real pony. The furtive glances he caught told him that they saw him as a curiosity, at the least. Still, he’d never gotten the feeling they thought badly of him, so, small favors.

As Felix felt slightly self-conscious about the obvious curiosity some of the guards had about his upcoming spar with Saber, he idly realized that this lack of enmity despite his being an outsider meant he was probably getting treated better by the guards than Luna herself was. That stung a bit.

He wondered if the news of his strange gamer powers had made its rounds around the palace. Perhaps that explained why they wanted to watch? Or maybe they just thought it would be funny to see a total newbie like him get thoroughly owned. In either case, he could understand the appeal. As for Felix, he didn’t really care how well he did per se; he was just here to test his new power out.

Perhaps it was a bit reckless to use? But then again, his powers were apparently working on gamer logic, and Saber wasn't an enemy, so in theory she wouldn't be hurt like hostiles would. This was just a practice match after all. Intent probably mattered with magic stuff like this, right? Right.

Felix idly made a mental note he should actually look stuff like that up. Like, in a book. Probably. Or maybe ask someone? Or—

"Are you ready, Felix?" Saber asked with a somewhat bemused smile, both at his odd request for a spar and at his apparent inner dialogue.

It was obvious she wasn’t taking this that seriously, but then, neither would Felix if he was going to fight with someone who literally just learned to walk less than a week ago. He gave a confident nod and a roguish smile as he said, “Yep! I am fully prepared to make a fool of myself,” drawing a few chuckles from the spectators.

"Alright, if you're sure." She said, and got into what Felix imagined was a pony fighting position. Felix copied the stance, feeling like a cat that was ready to pounce on its prey. "GO!"

Saber lunged forward, giving Felix only a second to act. In truth, he had no idea how to use his new power, but as with Discerning Eye it seemed to come naturally; he reared up halfway on his hind legs, then slammed down with all his strength while yelling “Earth Shaker!” picturing the skill clearly in his mind’s eye while his body merely followed along.

As soon as his hooves stomped down on the sand, he felt the ground shake around him. He watched with awe as a shocked Saber stumbled forward and landed in the sand. Around them, the other spectators also stumbled down, although with much less intensity than Saber.The shaking lasted somewhere from three to five seconds, and made everyone around him struggle to keep footing the entire time. The surprise was clear on all their faces.

"You good?" Felix asked, with a slight hint of concern. The way she’s fallen said more ‘surprised’ than ‘hurt’ to him, but he couldn’t help but worry.. She got back up, her initial shock giving way to a look of confusion, and then finally an exasperated smile.

“What in Equestria was that? Did you cast some sort of spell?”

Actually, that was a good question. Was he using a skill like a spell?

"Uhm, I'm not sure." Felix honestly confessed. Saber raised an eyebrow, and opened her mouth to say something else, when a call boomed across the entire training yard.

"ATTENTION!"

Felix flinched at the booming male voice. Everypony else snapped to attention. Felix wasn't a guard, so he wasn't sure what he should do. Before he could think about it though, an older stallion came marching closer with an angry look in his eyes.

"Who the buck did that?! Some pony used magic without permission!?" The angry looking stallion shouted to them all.

While no pony did look at him, Felix had the sense they were all thinking about him. He wasn't really sure what he should do. Should he just raise his hoof and admit to it straight out? Or was somepony else supposed to answer? Before he could decide what to do, somepony else appeared in the yard.

"Lieutenant?"

That was Celestia’s voice, Felix clocked instantly. Unmistakeable. Everypony else clearly did too, as they all turned and bowed towards the voice practically like it was choreographed. Kind of wrongfooted him, actually. Were ponies just naturally herd-coordinated? Was he herd-coordinated? No, clearly not. Was he defective? Problems for later.

He smiled upon seeing Celestia and Luna entering the courtyard, waving for a moment, then felt awkward to be the only pony not bowing, so he quickly followed the others, sweeping into a proper courtly bow that would have been perfectly serviceable had he still been bipedal. He was not, and thus this type of bow – standing up on two legs, one foreleg swept under his chest and the other stuck out behind him at an angle – was both excessively physically demanding (thanks, Agility points!) and absurd-looking. The princesses saw him do this, and hid their muzzles behind their hooves as they giggled at the display.

Nailed it.

"Please rise, our little ponies." Celestia said, somehow managing to balance regal grace with clear amusement. "Now, please tell us what just happened?"

“So your strange powers can do more than only affect yourself…” Celestia said thoughtfully, once Felix had finished recapping. They were enjoying tea and cakes in the garden, which struck Felix as an almost impossibly quaint response to the disturbance he’d caused, but he was determined to roll with it.

What could possibly go wrong with being an interdimensional diplomat, causing an incident sort-of resembling a terrorist attack during routine military training, and then having a tea party with foreign heads of state?

See, that sort of observation was why he tried not to actually think too hard about what he was doing most of the time. Instead he chose to think of it as goofing off with Saber, and now goofing off with his confused friends (who happened to be royalty but that was decidedly unimportant. What’s in a career, really?)

“Guess so!” Felix nodded along. “Although I guess you could argue it just, uh, empowered me? Maybe? I don’t know where the lines are drawn for what counts as internal or external for magic. I’m sure you’d know better than I would whether it’s significant or not. Damned cool either way, though,” he added, prompting a laugh from Luna.

“You seem to be taking it rather well that your magic is so unknown to us,” Celestia said with a raised eyebrow. “It doesn’t worry you?”

“Compared to having my entire worldview shaken by the existence of magic, getting nicked off to another dimension, turned into a different species, all that? Nah, it’s whatever,” Felix replied with a grin and a shrug. “I’d be more surprised if whatever magic-stuff I’ve got going on was normal for this place. I’m an alien! Totally different species from a totally different dimension! It’s practically a miracle I’m as normal-looking for all of you as I am.”

This was one of the many things Felix had tried hard not to think too hard about, instead opting to laugh it off and just keep rolling with whatever weird crap happened to him until something he couldn’t laugh off showed up. Working so far!

Celestia sighed with a slow nod. “I suppose that’s true. It just worries me that there are things happening to you we cannot understand.”

“I choose to think of it as potential. I mean sure I might get magical super-cancer or something, but I might also get crazy superpowers. Who knows?” Felix laughed. “And given how things seem to work here? I’m banking on it not being so bad. Magic here doesn’t seem prone to being, ah, dickish. Does magic have a personality? It seems like it does. And a sense of humor!”

Celestia and Luna traded a look at that, and Luna snickered. “He is not wrong.”

“So, you guys said you felt strange magic, right? That’s why you came to investigate?” Felix put in, genuinely curious about this tidbit they had shared at the start of this little get-together. “Was it powerful or something?”

“Oh, no,” Luna said with a grin. “It was honestly so faint that if it were not so bizarre, we’d never have even noticed. Like a child’s magic,” she threw in with a teasing tone.

“The shaking also helped,” Celestia put in with a smirk.

“Well darn, there goes my dream of being the chosen one,” Felix said with an ‘aw drat’ swing of his hoof. “I guess I’ll have to settle for being an NPC with weird abilities. Probably some third-rate optional party-member for the hero, hmph.”

“Why do you think I didn’t tell you to go fight rats?” Celestia put in, and Felix barked a laugh.

“Oh, so that’s how it is! I get the cushy bedroom – and honestly, thank you very much for that – and none of the normal tutorial stuff because I’m just some background character. Makes sense. Well, it’s still a step up from stacking dirt for a living. Ten-out-of-ten would ride the weird magical waterslide to get out of a shift again,” he said with an exaggerated nod.

"But it is still interesting. You said that this Skill of yours isn't a spell?"

"Well, it isn't listed as a spell," Felix said, looking at Luna as he figured she knew best what he meant.

She did. "In games, skills and spells are listed differently. Skills don't use mana, but need a cooldown period. Some use stamina."

“And this didn’t use mana, so I don’t think of it as a spell,” Felix concluded with a smile at Luna. Having someone around who got him was nice! As much fun as it was messing with Saber and Celestia, Luna was his real anchor in this world – the only person in this entire world who knew where he was coming from. Literally!

Felix beamed at her as he considered this, not noticing that beneath her reciprocal smile there was a small blush forming.

“Not a spell,” Celestia mused, snapping the two out of the moment. “A more subtle sort of magic, perhaps.”

“Well, I mean, I don’t really know anything about magic,” Felix said apologetically. “Not really my area, y’know? So maybe it is a spell, or whatever. It’s not like I know the terminology.”

Celestia shook her head with a soft smile, lapsing into magic-teacher mode. “Magic is what the user makes of it. If it helps you to think of spells and ‘Skills’ separately, there is probably a good reason for it. It’s up to you to discover how best to use your special talent, although we’ll do what we can to help you understand it.”

“Usually, magic directed outwards in a controlled, deliberate fashion is considered a spell,” Luna put in. “Something with structure, a very deliberate cause, as thine—erm, as your ability had. The way you described picturing it in your mind’s eye before using it is also much like unicorn spellcasting.”

Felix took a moment to absorb that, tapping his chin. “Hmm, so… like a spell in how it’s used, but all I visualize is my own movements. Like a special move in a fighting game, only, kind of a spell?” Felix’s expression became one of amused befuddlement. “A spell-move?”

“Oh! I quite like that,” Celestia said with an enthusiastic smile.

Felix snickered. “It sounds better than ‘magic move’ at least. Look at me, I do those magic moves. I got them magic hands!”

“You don’t have hands anymore, Felix,” Luna said with a perfectly straight face, as if he had somehow forgotten.

Unable to pass up a perfectly good bit, Felix shook his head and waved her off. “Nonsense! Why, they’re right—” he held up a hoof, then stared at it in mock shock and horror. “Egads! Where’s it gotten off too?! They can’t be trusted without supervision, you know – they’ll probably fall in with the wrong crowd!”

“That’s the problem with magic hands,” Luna said sagely. “They’re never around when you need them. Or you just forget you have them until you’re at the final boss and they don’t work anymore anyway.”

“They’re really only good for completionists looking to get into the secret areas,” Felix affirmed with such frankness it left Celestia utterly at a loss as to where the joke had ended, or if it had even been one to begin with. Surely humans didn’t actually have hands that wandered off? What in Equestria were these two even discussing?

She cleared her throat and tactfully changed the subject. “Erm, please do tell us if you discover any more such abilities, so we can help you understand them?”

Felix nodded. "Of course. I really appreciate the help!" He said with feeling. Honestly, Celestia was just so accommodating! It kinda made him feel guilty.

Celestia continued to be accommodating, unaware of the internal strife she was causing him (and thus, one might argue, failing to be accommodating, in a roundabout way, if one was inclined towards such arguments): “In fact, perhaps you should speak with Twilight about this. She loves all manner of magical puzzles, and the idea of a ‘spell-move’ would certainly intrigue her.”

"You mean, write to her?" Felix asked.

Celestia smiled, but shook her head. "No, I mean, go visit Ponyville." She then looked at her sister, her smile widening, her eyes taking on a spark of inspiration. "In fact, why don't you both go to Ponyville?"

Luna looked between the two of them in surprise, as if searching for a punchline. "You are sure, sister? I haven't left the castle since you brought me back."

Felix noted a hint of pain as she mentioned the last part. He figured it was about what she told him about Nightmare Moon. Even though she told him the truth, it was still hard to imagine her as an evil queen of darkness, and not the adorkable Luna he knew her as.

"I'm not sure it's the right time for me to show myself again, much less to the good ponies of Ponyville." There was a flash of inner pain in Luna's expression as she said that, and Felix remembered what she had told him about how she got redeemed.

Celestia was apparently prepared for that. "I know how you must be feeling, Luna. However, I still think it will be good for you to go out for a bit. But, going as you might bring a lot of attention, so perhaps a glamour spell will be most prudent."

"Glamour spell?" Felix asked, "what's that?"

"Magic that changes appearance for a certain time," Luna explained, still looking a little worried, but more relaxed now. "Sister, are you sure it will work?"

Felix looked back at Celestia, who had just finished another slice of cake. She smiled confidently. "I know it will, Luna! Besides, you have our chosen hero to protect you if anything were to go wrong," She teased, and Felix was sure he saw a slight blush on Luna's cheeks.

"I am also sure Twilight and her friends will be happy to help you two out, and show you around." Celestia then added, as she slid yet another cake onto her tiny plate. Felix couldn't help but wonder where it all went. "I will write to her, and if we are lucky, you might be able to go tomorrow."

Felix found himself smiling widely. Normally he had never been one for long travels into places he had never been before, but this was a magical kingdom filled with colorful tiny horses! Of course he had to see more!

"Thank you, princes—eh, I mean, Celestia." He looked at Luna with an excited grin. "It's going to be fun, right Luna?"

Luna looked back on her friend. His excited expression lifted her spirits, and she found herself smiling back as she gave a firm nod in return.

Celestia watched them as she sipped her tea. Once again, Felix had managed to calm her sister, and even got her to take a leap of faith. Perhaps it really had been fate that had pushed these two together. The chances of Luna finding the exact dimension – and the exact person to connect with – by sheer random luck would have been, quite literally, beyond astronomical.

It was more than luck that Luna had found someone like Felix; Celestia had seen fate’s gentle guidance at play more than enough times in her life to recognize its touch here. Of course, fate’s opportunities – like all magic – was only what you made of it, Celestia knew. She had to change her approach to helping her sister, and while sending her to Ponyville to come out of her shell a little would help, this would not be as simple as Twilight’s situation had been.

She spent a moment fretting over how best to handle the situation; how much should Twilight tell her friends beforehand? Should they know who Luna was ahead of time, or was it best to let her meet everypony in disguise with a fresh slate? How much did they know about Felix?

Ultimately, she decided to just leave the decisions to Twilight. Luna was taking a leap of faith in agreeing to go, and Celestia had to do likewise; her own ideas about how best to help Luna had failed, so it was time to step back a bit, as much as it worried her. Surely this would be a good experience for Felix and Luna both, right?

Celestia foresaw another afternoon of uneasy pacing in her throne room waiting for news (and probably confusing her guards), just as she’d gone through when she sent Twilight away. The thought actually brought a slight amused smirk to her face; after all, that had turned out all for the better, hadn’t it?

She looked over at Felix and Luna, who were bantering about how best to distribute residential, commercial and industrial districts in a city, of all things. Something to do with some game, Celestia gathered, but they both looked so engrossed and happy, even as the conversation turned into a surprisingly heated debate (apparently, Luna felt very strongly about ‘walkable cities’, while Felix felt mass transit was better. Who knew?) It made her worries melt away to know that Luna would be in Felix’s care, given his strange ability to relentlessly cheer her up.

“What do you think?” Felix suddenly directed at Celestia, wronghoofing her completely.

“Huh? Oh! Well, I’ve always been fond of trains?” she offered.

Luna blew a raspberry. “Mass transit is naught but a crutch for thine poor neighborhood-layout skills!” she declared.

Celestia really had no idea what to say to that, or if she should take offense. Felix snorted and shot back, “Well you can’t blame her for liking trains!” he said, waving a hoof at Celestia wildly, “she bench-presses the sun every morning! She could suplex a train any time she wants!”

“You can just use phoenix down on it instead,” Luna responded, provoking a look of mock outrage from Felix.

“That’s practically cheating!” He retorted.

“I actually have a pet phoenix, so I could do either,” Celestia stated indifferently with a sip of tea, causing Felix to stop and stare at her in fascination.

“Wait, are you being serious?” he looked over at Luna in befuddlement. “Phoenixes are real? She has one as a pet?” Luna’s nod of affirmation rendered him speechless.

Celestia had two takeaways from that thoroughly alien exchange: firstly, that things would indeed be fine. Second, she really ought to play a few of these games if she ever wanted to understand anything Luna (or Felix, for that matter) ever said in the future, shouldn’t she?

Felix was pacing impatiently in front of Luna’s room the next morning as he waited for them to finish the glamour spell – whatever that meant. Celestia had said that Twilight and her friends would be showing them around Ponyville today! Explore more of pony-land, meet more of the locals! Snag some quests? Hah, could happen!

Canterlot was a kickass city in Felix’s very-well-informed opinion. He knew fantasy architecture and damn if Canterlot was not a truly stunning example thereof. Even so, the first step in any big new open world game was to explore! It was time to get his bearings beyond just the starter-town!

Of course, realistically, he knew some rustic little town called ‘Ponyville’ would probably be boring and peaceful and not-at-all a good spot for big quests or XP, but hey, he could dream, right? As far as Felix knew, it could be a hotspot for monster attacks and disasters! One every week! Not that he was hoping anyone got hurt, or anything. It was just that after having been thrust into a magical-isekai-fantasy-world-adventure type of thing, he had expected that sort of thing.

And if all this musing on the wondrous possibilities of the supposedly-quaint-and-peaceful little town he was visiting was really just a thin veneer to help him stay upbeat and cheerful for Luna’s sake, did that really matter?

If nothing else, it helped distract him from the fact that this outing felt suspiciously like a date. With the cute pony princess he’d already had a couple of somewhat-romantic-ish moments with. Just the thought of that brought heat to his neck and face and made his pacing pick up a notch - which was why he was trying not to think of it. Luna was his friend, he’d tried hard not to think of her that way, and right now she was very emotionally vulnerable - especially towards him, both because he was her only friend and because she felt she’d wronged him. Now wasn’t a great time.

Then again, when was a great time? And they were practically being sent on a date together by her sister! Did Celestia even realize what she’d done? Probably not, Felix figured - he was still new here, but he got the impression ponies (as opposed to humans) weren’t quite so prone to assuming a male and female were interested in each other automatically just because they were near each other. Just a vibe he’d gotten. In some Earth cultures, assigning a female guard to a male guest would be seen as downright scandalous - here, Felix had a vague-yet-growing sense he’d have to explain at length why someone might think that.

He might even have to bring some diagrams.

The wait was agonizing. Felix had wanted to see the glamour spell in action, but had been turned down - he gathered it was somewhat like changing clothes back in the human world. They had seemed embarrassed when he asked. Come on! It’s magic! He wanted to see it for science! Magical science!

Felix was contemplating how to build magitek suits that could be operated by ponies when the door finally opened.

Finally, the door opened, and out stepped Celestia with a mischievous grin on her lips. "It is done, my sister is no more." There was a dramatic pause, and in one elegant side step, she revealed... no one?

Felix near-instantly figured out what happened – that Luna must have shied away – and, with a mental agility that surprised even himself, immediately flopped onto his rear and began clapping with his hooves. Slow-like.

“Bravo, bravo! Well done! You truly did make her disappear!” he declared. One of the guards was visibly struggling not to laugh, and Celestia directed a look at Felix that was so flat it could probably be used as a surveying tool. With a groan, Celestia walked back into the room, disappearing from sight.

“Come on, Luna! You look absolutely adorable!” Felix heard her say, somewhat muffled by distance. A similarly muffled-reply (this one too faint for him to hear) came in a voice that resembled Luna’s, but wasn’t quite right.

Celestia scoffed loudly enough to be clearly audible even out in the hall. “No he is not.” she insisted. Another inaudible reply. “No you don’t.” A few more such exchanges passed until Celestia – apparently having had enough of this – stamped the ground rather loudly. “Sister, don’t make me drag you out of here!”

This time Felix heard the not-quite Luna voice respond with a more clear, "Okay, okay..."

Celestia strode back out, clearly satisfied with herself, and once more beamed and declared, “Ahem, like I said. My sister is no more! But in her place, please say a warm welcome to the adorable Starry Skies!” Celestia punctuated this declaration by stepping aside, and this time someone actually came out – looking very embarrassed.

Starry Skies was, as it happened, adorable indeed – even more so than most ponies Felix had seen, which was saying a lot, really. Luna had adopted a pegasus form with a long white mane, tail, and feathers, along with blue eyes and a black coat that offered a stark contrast. The edges of her eyes were white, too, which was a distracting little accent he rather liked.

The fact she was half a head shorter and very obviously bashful just added to how cute she looked. Her resemblance to Luna was visible because he knew where to look – especially in her expressions – but no one else would figure it out. It fell to Felix to properly welcome Luna in this new form and put her at ease.

Which he did by wolf whistling very, very loudly.

“Yowza, someone shelled out for the premium DLC skins,” Felix said with a mischievous glint in his eye. “You’re just showing off, aren’t you?”

This display got the intended response from Luna, which was a long-suffering eyeroll paired with a faint little grin that told him the joke had landed and jostled her out of her embarrassment a little.

“Thank you,” she said in a quiet voice.

Celestia had at first been mortified at Felix’s actions, but upon seeing Luna’s response she sighed in relief and giggled.

“I take it that was a compliment?” she asked. “It wasn’t clear.”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Felix said sheepishly. “Sorry, gotta remember not everyone speaks ‘gamer.’ “

Luna stepped up beside Felix and nudged him. “Well, that shall be fine, since it will just be the two of us, hm?”

Felix started slightly, and glanced over at Celestia. “Oh, you’re not coming with us?” he asked in surprise. Somehow, he’d just assumed she would – although in retrospect, he realized, she was probably busy. Running a country. Because that was her job.

He was still getting used to that.

“No, I thought you two would have a better time on your own,” Celestia said brightly. She was oddly chipper, Felix noted. “Sergeant Saber will be escorting you to the station, though.”

Felix contemplated this situation deeply. So deeply, in fact, he sat down and rubbed his chin with his – what the heck was that part of a pony called anyway? Fetlock? Fetlock! He was clearly deep in thought.

“So what you’re saying,” Felix said slowly, “is that I'm going to be alone with Luna all day, away from the safety of the palace.”

Luna cocked her head for a moment, and then rolled her eyes with a grin. Celestia, ever the diplomat – some would say downright enabling – decided to give Felix the setup he needed.

“That’s right. Is something the matter?”

Felix shook his head, and shared a look with Luna. She braced for impact. “Not at all,” he said. “It’s just that I realized that this is an escort quest.”

Luna groaned. Celestia, not missing a beat, said, “That’s right. I expect you to keep my little sister safe and happy, or there’ll be no… XP, was it? None!”

Felix sat up straight and saluted. “Yes ma’am! You can count on me! Guy who needs levels is reporting for duty, and I’ll make sure she’s back in bed by curfew!”

“I’m not a foal,” Luna said, groaning again.

“Well yeah,” Felix said, giving her a bemused look. “Escort-quest for a kid would be pointless since they’re invincible anyway.”

“Real life isn’t Fallout, Felix!” Luna cried, waving a hoof at him in frustration. Felix waved his hoof right back.

“It totally is for me, though! I put points into my intelligence stat recently, Luna! My life is a videogame!” He paused. “And heavens know I needed that stat-boost.”

“Oh let’s just go already!” Luna huffed, clearly not nearly as annoyed as she was putting on as she began striding away.

“Oh no! My escort target is already running off without me!” Felix declared, scampering after her. “Don’t you know there’s always ambushes everywhere during these things? It’s like you’ve never…”

Celestia watched them go off together, banter fading to a low din as they rounded a corner. She smiled, feeling as if a giant weight had been lifted off her heart. Despite the unfortunate circumstances that had led up to this, Celestia was grateful that Luna finally had someone who could help her out of her shell, and back to the Luna she once knew.

No, Celestia corrected herself. Someone better. And, hopefully, she would be better this time, too – a better sister to her.

By the time Felix and Luna had made their way to one of the palace’s many staircases, the banter had died down. Luna had grown quiet, and Felix caught her making furtive glances through the windows.

“Nervous?” Felix offered more than asked.

Luna sighed, nodding. “It has been a long time…”

Felix considered that. “You… have been outside the palace since coming back, right?”

Luna walked in silence for a few seconds before responding. “Very little, and usually only at night, when most are asleep…”

“Only the boring ones, duh,” Felix said with a snort. Luna looked over at him with bemused – and slightly amused – expression.

“What do you mean?”

“Uh, night life?” Felix said incredulously. Luna’s blank expression told him something wasn’t coming across. “You know,” he pressed, “Night clubs? Dance clubs? All-night LAN parties?”

“Are those real where you come from?” Luna asked in surprise. “I thought they were just made up for games!”

Felix thought back to how much time they had spent gaming together at night, when Luna’s night-court had apparently given her fuck-all to do. Did ponies really not have any night-life? Or maybe Luna had just been too shy to find it? Either way, this wouldn’t do, Felix decided.

“They are real where I came from, and I bet there’s something like that here, too. We’ll find it together!” Felix declared. “The days of shut-in Luna are over. I’m nervous too, but we’ll be alright as long as we tackle it together, yeah?”

Truthfully, Felix was more nervous about making sure Luna had a decent time than anything else that might be going on, but he tactfully left that out.

“If you say so,” Luna said uneasily, scuffing the floor as they approached the double-doors that marked the palace boundary. “To some extent, I wonder what the point is. I can hardly expect to befriend anypony, disguised as I am. Is it not so?”

Felix had a feeling Luna’s occasional lapses into archaic speech might undermine the disguise just a tad, but shrugged.

“Whether you choose to tell them who you are not is your business. That’s the freedom the disguise gives you! You won’t get anyone acting weird while you’re in public, so you can spend time getting to know someone in peace. Besides, you need to level-grind your social! You’re out of practice with public places, right?”

“I am…” Luna agreed reluctantly. Felix seized on this.

“Well there you go! It’s a step-by-step process. But you’ll see – being locked up in here all the time isn’t the answer. Life will be much better—”

As Felix said this, he pushed the double doors open, and mid-sentence his tone suddenly changed to that of singing (in a rather impressive register and cadence, in his estimation) as he spontaneously flung himself through the air to land perfectly in line with a group of ponies acting as… backup dancers?

“~Ooooout Theeeeeere!~”

On perfect cue with the deeply-confused Felix’s declaration, an entire chorus of backup ponies echoed calls of ‘Out there! Out there! Friends await! Out there! Out there! It’s not too late!’ in a slowly-falling volume.

Everyone dispersed and went about their business. Felix stood there utterly stupefied.

“That… what?” he babbled. “Did I just stumble into the ass-end of a musical number?”

Luna snickered at him lightly. “That you did, friend Felix. I suppose this was your first exposure to song magic?”

Felix opened his mouth dumbly and closed it a few times, and then took on a stern expression.

“Luna, you live in a world of fucking musicals?”

Luna flinched slightly. “... Yes?”

“Oh my god,” Felix said as he looked around with fresh eyes. “It’s a fairytale pastel musical wonderland. I don’t know if that’s perfect or cringe.”

Luna giggled and cocked her head. “Why would it be cringe?”

“I have so many questions!” Felix said suddenly, spontaneously energetic. “What happens if a song number breaks out in the middle of a surgery?! Or a fire?!”

Luna recoiled from Felix’s unexpected enthusiasm. “It wouldn’t?” she said in a questioning tone, leaning back from him as he leaned far too intently forward. “The magic of harmony that makes it possible would never take hold in such a scenario.”

“So it’s sort of like a subconsciously mutually-agreed-upon thing? Now that’s efficient…” Felix said, trailing off into thought.

The silence lasted a few moments, Felix clearly in deep consideration, before Luna suddenly went from slightly unnerved to giving him a wry look.

“You are imagining how to use this concept for videogaming, aren’t you?”

“Of course!” Felix belted out. “Haven’t you?! It’s perfect!”

Luna paused to consider. “I… suppose?” she said, only half-grasping what he meant. “For some sort of… cooperative, coordinated game…?”

“Not just that! Think about it! It lets people subconsciously agree on what kind of experience they want to have and then coordinate perfectly! There’s gotta be a use for that…”

“You are taking this a bit better than I expected,” Luna admitted with a roll of her eyes. “I would have thought your first heartsong would be more of a shock.”

“Well I’m still in the learning-the-mechanics phase of exploring this world,” Felix said, tone very faux-academic and clearly put on for effect. “It’s only natural to expect to find strange new experiences as I do so, you see. Indeed, indeed, quite,” he added, just for more effect. Luna snorted.

“And you truly have nothing similar in the human world, I take it?”

Felix half-choked with laughter, ruining his academic facade entirely. "In my world I know how annoying people would be if they were suddenly dragged into some rando's musical number." He started to mock and sing what he could imagine someone singing about in his world. "Not that you probably care, but I just need to share, that I'm not wearing any underwear!"

"Felix!" Luna laughed, and gave him a playful shove.

"Sorry, but it's true!"

Felix laughed back. He couldn't help but wonder if any song would do the trick. Felix knew a lot of dirty and funny songs. If that had been in his heart, would the ponies be magically compelled to join in? He snorted and struggled not to laugh at the thought.

"What?" Luna asked.

Felix waved the question off. "Don't ask, I don't want to risk another incident." He chuckled, and they both walked to the large entrance to the train station.

They quickly found Saber waiting for them with their tickets – plus some spending bits. Celestia had certainly thought ahead. It was a reminder how lucky Felix was to get help from someone like her. He really owed her!

After saying goodbye to Saber, the two of them found the platform with the train waiting to take off. Standing side by side, Felix looked at Luna, who looked more relaxed now, but still a little nervous.

"Ready?"

Luna looked at him for a moment, then smiled and nodded. "Ready."

Smirking, Felix dramatically pointed to the train. "Alright, to Ponyville!"

Author's Note

Name: Felix
Gender: Male
Age: 20

Species Pony
Tribe: Earth Pony

Level: 5

Class: Player

Attributes:

Strength: 20
Agility: 10
Stamina: 20
Intelligence: 10
Willpower: 10
Constitution 15
Magic: 5

Skills:
Discerning Eye; The ability to see information about living things and objects.

Earth Shaker; Sends a shockwave through the ground damaging all hostiles in the area of effect, targets in Hide/Cloak will be revealed and receive additional damage.