There is always a Sparkle in the blackest hole

Twilight's Castle
8:00 AM
Derek P.O.V.

A small ray of light peered through an opening in the blinds, going right over Derek's face. He slowly begins to open his eyes, blinking a few times before shielding his eyes from the rays of the sun. He sits up while making a groaning noise. He swings his legs over the side of the bed, he takes a second to stare at the floor. Despite it only being a full day he has been here, Derek felt really relaxed. That was one of the best night sleeps he has had. The bed cradled him like a baby, he had no stiffness anywhere on his body.

"I'm a bit surprised how well I slept, I'm used to staying up all night, because of that damn night shift." Derek thought to himself as he rubbed the back of his neck. He feels his stomach growling, causing him to then rest his hand on it as well. I'm starving. Cupcakes and other desserts weren't a filling dinner last night." Derek stood up, put on his hat and headed for the door, he opened it slightly before peeking out. He looked down the big hallway that led to the room he was in. He takes a deep breath in through his nose, he could smell it.

"...Breakfast." He said to himself, not mistaking the smell of eggs. He walks down the hall, following the smell as if it was a lure. He soon steps into a decent sized dining room, with a circular table in the middle. He sees someone sitting down, reading a newspaper. She hears him enter and she pulls the paper away to see him. She had hair similar to Twilight's just in a different style and color scheme.

"Oh hi! You're that human the party was for yesterday." She said with a smile. Derek did remember her from yesterday.

"Yeah, I am. You're Starlight right?" Derek asked as he sat down, the table was too low to the ground making him unable to put his legs underneath it.

"Yeah, my name is Starlight. I'm a student of Twilight's." She responded while she put the newspaper down. Derek gave the paper a weird look.

"How in the hell was she holding that?" He thought to himself before looking back at Starlight.

"You're a student of hers? What does she teach?" He inquired.

"She teaches friendship of course." She stated matter-of-factly. Derek raised his eyebrow at that, giving her a puzzling look.

"Friendship? She teaches friendship?" He was a bit confused at that statement.

"Well yeah, she is the Princess of Friendship after all." She informed.

"I'm sorry, that's a bit odd." When he said that she gave him a concerned look.

"How is it odd? Do you not think friendship is important?" She asked.

"Well... yeah I do... but to make a title out of it is just... odd. I'm not trying to be offensive, but such a thing where I'm from seems absurd." He told her while gesturing with his hand.

"Friendship is closely tied to magic Derek, probably the strongest kind of magic possible." She stated as if she had rehearsed that line. But it causes Derek to chuckle a little.

"You say that like you mean that literally." He said, giving her a cheeky smile. She gave him an unimpressed look.
"Of course I mean that literally." That statement caused Derek to furrow his brow.

"Friendship is important, I'm not disagreeing with you there, but come on. There is no such thing as magic." Derek said sternly He had a smug look, thinking she was messing with him, but it quickly disappeared as Starlight gave him a shocked expression. She looked like he just slapped her across the face.

"...How can you say such a thing?" She sounded very upset by that statement.

"Come on, everyone knows magic is just an illusion, sleight of hand, smoke and mirrors. Look, I know this place is very much different than mine, but all known science has proven Magic cannot possibly exist." Derek was sure she was messing with him.

"You don't have Magic in your world Derek?" Twilight's voice butted in. They both look towards the doorway and found Twilight standing there. She had a very concerned look on her face as she stared at Derek.

"Of course not! There is always a logical explanation for everything. To believe in magic is... it's seen as childish where I'm from." He said, not getting why they were doubling down so hard. "I may have been a janitor at a science lab, but I got the job there specifically because I like science! The number one quote all the egg-heads would always say was that 'You must supply proof to your statement.' And there has been zero proof of magic existing." Twilight's eyes widened slightly at that statement, soon she narrowed her eyes, and formed a massive smirk on her face. Starlight began to do the same thing. Derek leaned back a bit, not liking the looks on their faces.

"Starlight, would you like to help me set the table for breakfast?" Twilight turned to Starlight, still keeping the same expression on her face.

"I would love too." She replied as She stood up.

"Spike!" Twilight yelled. Derek could hear a bunch of scrambling noises as he heard someone coming down the hallway. To his surprise, a small green lizard appeared in the doorway.

"Yes Twilight?" He asked. Derek could recognize his voice. It was the same voice he heard after waking up from fainting yesterday.

"Is breakfast done yet?" She asked him.

"Yep! I'm wheeling it down now." He replied.

"Perfect, go ahead and bring it in." She said, Spike nodded before going back into the hallway. Twilight then looked back at Derek. "You want proof science-boy? Allow us to give you some proof." The small lizard returned, pushing a cart with a bunch of plates, and cups on it, filled with food and drink. Derek was about to get up to retrieve some breakfast, but Twilight held up her hoof to him as Starlight approached Twilight.

"Allow us Derek." Twilight insisted as her and Starlight's horn began to glow. Derek raised his eyebrow again, just before witnessing the most amazing thing he had ever seen. The plates and cups began to glow with the same aura around their horns, and then they began to levitate on their own. Derek's jaw practically fell into his lap and his eyes went as wide as the plates themselves. Twilight and Starlight began to set the table themselves, all without touching anything physically. They put a plate in front of him, full of food, and an empty cup.
"What would you like to drink Derek? Milk, Coffee, or OJ?" She said while she levitated all three around her. Derek just looked at her, like he was about to be ran over by a car.

"... c... c... co.. coff... coffee..." He managed to sputter out, causing Twilight and Starlight to giggle. She poured him a hot cup of coffee before setting down the utensils. After everything was set, they both sat down. Spike sat next to Starlight while Twilight sat next to Derek. They all began to eat while Derek sat there dumbfounded. He blinks a few times, trying to process what in fact just happened. Twilight looks up at him with a smirk.

"Are you doing ok there Derek?" She asked him.

"How... in the hell did you both just do that!?" He exclaimed as he put his hands on the table and leaned forward.

"It's magic Derek, we told you." Starlight inputted.

"But.. that.. that can't!..." Derek had trouble trying to find the words.

"I can explain it to you later Derek." Twilight said as she went back to eating. Derek looks at her, and then down towards his plate. He saw pancakes, eggs, and what looked to be hash browns.

"No sausage or bacon? Well... alright then." Derek thought to himself as he reached for the cup of coffee. He took a sip and immediately began to relax a little.
"Mmmm... At least they have coffee here." Derek took his fork in his hands, noticing how they were using their magic to lift their forks, except for Spike.

"Hey, that reminds me, Who are you?" he asked, motioning towards Spike.

"I'm Spike, Twilight's number one assistant." He said pretty proudly.

"But... What are you? You don't look like a pony." He pointed out.

"That's because I'm not. I'm a dragon." He quickly said back.

"Dragon!? You're a dragon!?" He exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm just a baby dragon though. I'll get much bigger when I grow up." He said, pointing his fork towards the sky.

"This world seems to be right out of a D&D Game." He thought to himself. He'll definitely ask Twilight more about him later, until then, breakfast. He began to eat his eggs, and then his pancakes. They were really good, surprisingly good. That was till he went for some of the 'Hash Browns.' He picked some up with his fork and took a bite. His eyes widened and he quickly spat them out and began coughing.

"Gah! What the hell are those!?" He exclaimed. "It tastes like grass!"

"That's hay Derek." Twilight pointed out to him.

"Hay! You gave me hay!?" He looked at her with a shocked expression.
"The horse stereotypes are just writing themselves now ain't they!?" He thought to himself.

Twilight P.O.V

Twilight gave Derek a weird look, not understanding why he was so shocked.
"Yeah... Hay is a popular food ponies like to eat." She stated like it was common sense.
"But I'm not a pony, Hay is not something we eat." Derek pointed out.

"I... I didn't know. I'm sorry." Twilight said. "What do you eat? I seen you eat your eggs and pancakes."

"Yeah, we eat that, but there is also no sausage, no bacon, shoot not even ham." Derek said While Twilight cocked her head at him.

"What kind of food is that?" She questioned.

"Pork." He said bluntly. This causes both Twilight and Starlight to lean back away from him, their eyes huge from shock. Spike just gives him the side eye. Twilight was taken back by what he just said.

"...P-Pork!? ...like Pig!?" She yelled in her head. Derek gives her a confused look.

"What's wrong? You don't have pork here?" He asked, oblivious to what he just said.

"You... you eat... meat?" Starlight said quietly. They both saw Derek's face go from confusion, to realization.

"... Shit... I... I'm guessing you don't... That makes sense the more I think about it." Derek reached up and scratched the back of his head. "Well, guess I have to explain now. In short, Yeah I do. Meat is one of the food groups for humans." Twilight and Starlight exchange looks for a second before speaking again.

"I uh... I had no idea." Twilight admitted to him.

"Does that bother you?" Derek asked.
"Well... no. It's just.... There are many different types of creatures in Equestria that are carnivorous. Like Dragons and Griffins. It's just shocking to hear sometimes." Twilight explained.
"I had no idea he ate meat! And he said it's one of their main food groups!? How in Equestria am I even going to supply that for him!? " Twilight was screaming to herself in her own head.

"It's fine you guys. I guess I hadn't really thought about dietary differences. I can go Vegetarian... hopefully." He forced a reassuring smile.

"I'm not gonna have you deny a part of yourself Derek. It's just like I said... a bit shocking. Um... do you like fish?" Twilight turned to look back at him, she noticed his eyes flare a bit.

"I love fish actually." He told her.

"Well, out of everything, that would be the easiest to get for him. But just how the heck do I prepare it!? She thought to herself.

Shared Perspectives

The rest of breakfast was pretty uneventful. Derek polished off the rest of his coffee as everyone began to stand up. Starlight and Spike began to clear off the breakfast table, as Twilight invited Derek back into her Library so that they may begin talking. There were two big chairs in front of a fireplace, they looked really comfy. Derek sat down, and to his surprise, it was a chair that came the closest to accommodating his height. He relaxed quite warmly into it. Twilight got into the chair in front of him, she smiled at him, seeing how easily he was making himself at home.

"Alright Derek, I just want us to ask each other any question about ourselves. Get to know each other a bit, sounds good?" She wondered.

"Of course. I'd be happy to honestly." He replied to which her smile got bigger. She levitated three books towards her while Derek watched her in awe, still new to magic.

"Alright Derek, This shows how little ponies know about humans. Out of my entire collection, I only have three books on humans. But they mostly focus on human society. How they live, how they interact, and their mating rituals." Twilight began to explain. Derek raised his eyebrow at the last part.

"Mating Rituals?" He questioned.
"Oh, your books taught you about our sexual norms, but not our diets?" He chuckled to himself. She responded rather quickly, eager to share the information she had learned.

"Yes! it's quite interesting! Human males try to swoon their mates by presenting them with gifts and mannerisms to prove that they are a suitable mate! Just like ponies do! One fact however I found most interesting, a big difference between us." She continued to lecture.

"And that is?" He inferred.

"Human females don't go through estrus!" she announced, causing Derek's eyes to widen at that.

"And... ponies do?" He asked, feeling his cheeks start to get warm.

"In fact, we do. Oh how I envy that. Estrus is a cruel mistress." She began to explain, till she saw how Derek began to blush.

"But... perhaps I should drop that subject completely. To us Ponies, that talk is natural, since you have absolutely no experience of it, it may be a bit awkward." She said, clearing her throat. "Any questions you have for me?"

"Yeah, I have a big one. What the hell is magic? How can you use it?" Derek asked as he leaned forward in his chair. Twilight smiled at him, immediately switching to lecture mode.

"Magic is an essence inside every creature. But we all use it differently. Unicorns have horns, allowing us to manifest out magic physically. It allows us to do many things, levitation, teleportation, manipulations, illusions. Anything you can think of really. Pegasus have magic stored in their wings, allowing them to fly. According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a Pegasus should be able to fly. Their wings are too small and weak to get their big bodies off the ground. The Pegasi, of course, fly anyway because the magic in their wings allow them to. Earthponies on the other hoof, channel their magic to give themselves unnatural strength, and agricultural abilities. It's quite impressive actually." Twilight used her magic to levitate a book, showing pictures of each species as she explained them one by one. Derek listened closely, she was able to explain it pretty well in his opinion.

"Ok, I think I have the gist of it. But what about you?" He then pointed to her.

"Me?" She then put a hoof on her chest.

"Yeah, you are a hodgepodge of a Pegasus and a unicorn." He pointed out, to which she smiled.

"Excellent observation Derek. I was born a Unicorn, but when I became a princess, I turned into an Alicorn. Alicorns harbor all three magical traits of Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies. There are currently only 5 known Alicorns alive." Twilight fluttered her wings as she talked. Derek puts his index finger and thumb to his chin. He felt like not all of his questions were answered, but how weird this world seemed to be, he thought it best not to push it, for now at least.

"Ok, got any questions for me?" he leaned back in his chair.

"I wanna know about you personally Derek. So just tell me the basic things about yourself." She leaned on one of the arm rests on the chair.

"Well... my full name is Derek William Moore. I was born on July 19th 1998, I am 24 years old. Both my parents have passed on, my mom died when I was very young to cancer, and my dad passed away about 4 years ago from a heart attack. I've been on my own. I got a job as a janitor at an Astro-Science lab. I enjoyed the environment, but never really liked the job itself, but the pay was decent, surprisingly. I have to say my most prized possession is my hat." He took off his hat and looked down at it. It was just a plain red baseball cap. "My parents gave it to me when I was young, it reminds me of them. Though they didn't stick around long, They were some of the best things to happen to my life."

Twilight listened to him closely as she soaked up the info about him. She reacted accordingly when she heard about his parents, feeling some sympathy towards him, she got more and more sad as he talked about them, she almost teared up when he finished.

"That's so sad, Derek. I'm so sorry to hear that." Derek responded by putting his hat back on, and he gave her a smile.

"Thank you Twilight. It used to bother me pretty bad when they left, but now all I can do is look back on them and smile. I was grateful to have them as long as I could." Though he was smiling, a small tear formed in his eye, and ran down his cheek. "I still miss them very much though." he felt his heart begin to ache a bit.

"Can I... Please give you a hug?" She asked him, her big eyes starting to swell. Derek looked at her, his aching heart then began to melt. Can she get any cuter?

"... I would like that." He responded.

Twilight got up while Derek scooted closer to the edge of his seat. Twilight got up on her hind legs, and hugged him. It was the second hug she had given him, and it was just as comforting. Derek ran his hands across her sides and onto her back, pulling her closer to him. She wrapped her hooves around his neck and held his head closer to hers. Derek resisted the urge to rub her back, to dig his hand deeper into her fluffy coat. He buried his face into her shoulder and getting a quick sniff of her mane, she smelt like lavenders. Twilight however nuzzles her way into his neck, she too couldn't help but get a quick smell of him, finding his natural smell... somehow comforting. Her body relaxed as she felt his strong hands run along her sides and onto her back. She wished he began to rub her as the feeling of his hands sent shivers down her spine. They stayed in the hug for a lot longer than the first time, both with their eyes shut and soaking in the embrace. They both felt their heartbeats synchronize, which is what caused them both to open their eyes. They slowly pulled their heads away and then looked into each other's faces. Twilight's soft violet eyes met his bright green ones.

They both began to softly blush more as they both got lost into each other's eyes. Though both of their gazes were alien to them, they were also... familiar. For a brief moment he wasn't looking into a pony's eyes, and she wasn't looking into a human's. Their gazes saw deeper than that, as if they were looking into their very souls. That is where they felt their connection, somehow deep behind their eyes, they could see something familiar, drawing them in closer... and closer. Twilight moved her hooves off from around his neck, and rested them on his shoulders. While Derek moved one of his hands from her back, and gently placed it on her cheek. She leaned her head into his palm, resting it there while her unblinking eyes continued to look at him. All while they continued to get closer to each other, they could feel each other's breath against their faces. They almost made contact, when almost in unison, they both realized something very important.

"HE'S A HUMAN!!!"

"SHE'S A PONY!!!"

Their own thoughts sounded like they were screaming at them causing the both of them to widen their eyes and quickly pull away from each other. Twilight went down on all fours while Derek stood up straight. They both looked at each other like they just did something horrible. They were both breathing heavy as they looked at each other in total shock, their faces bright red. Twilight feels her whole body get warm, while Derek felt his knees begin to shake.

"I... I... I gotta go!" Twilight said loudly as she quickly exited the library. Derek sat back down in the chair, putting his hand over his chest. His heart was beating a million miles a minute.

"I.. I almost kissed her... she... almost kissed me!" He thought to himself. "But... she is a pony... how can I... how can I feel that way toward something that isn't human?... or... or do I even care about that." Derek could feel his emotions rising as he began to ponder that thought. Twilight however once she left the library, she slammed the door behind her, before quickly leaning her head on it. Her eyes were wide, and she found it difficult to control her breathing.

"That was close! We almost... we almost...." Twilight slowly lifted her hoof and placed it on her cheek, the same spot Derek placed his hand on. She could feel herself getting warmer as she thought about how soft and gentle his hand was."He was so gentle... so soft... so... so..." She began to think about how he rubbed his hands over her sides and onto her back. The thought gave her the phantom feeling of him doing it again, making her whole body shake, and her wings to unfold. "I... can't be acting this way... he isn't a pony... he isn't a pony!... HE ISN'T A PONY!!!... GAH!!! Why doesn't it matter the more I say it!?... Do I even want it to matter?... Do I?" She feels her heart beating faster and faster the more she thinks about it. "I just... I need time to think..." She finally lifts her head before turning around and walking away from the library.