Texas Twilight

Equestria

Twilight's Castle, Cutie Map Room

"What in the hay happened to the map!?" Applejack exclaimed as she and the others examined the cutie map. It no longer showed the vast lands of Equestria, but an unrecognizable and dry landscape.

"You're saying Starlight did this with a magic scroll?" Asked Rarity, looking at Spike. Spike nods and holds up one-half of the crumpled scroll Starlight left behind.

"Yes, she used her magic on it, and it shot at the map... Changing it to show this weird desert and... and Twilight got sucked down into it." Spike said with a sniffle. Rainbow Dash approached the map and tapped it with her hoof. The map was solid, not letting her through. She scowls at it before looking at Spike.

"Well, what does the scroll say?" Asked Dash, to which Spike turned it around to analyze it again.

"I don't know. These words seem like gibberish to me... If Twilight was here... she could probably tell what it means... Magic is her specialty..." Spike began to sniffle again, to which he was comforted by Rarity.

"We'll get her back sugar cube. One way or another, we'll get her back." Applejack tried to comfort him, but her calming demeanor was overshadowed by the overly excited and shrill voice of Pinkie Pie.

"OO! Are we going to try and find a way to go through the map like Twilight did? Are we going on an adventure!?" She squealed, the only one among them able to manage a smile.

"Not yet Pinkie dear." Rarity said to the pink fluff ball. "First we need to figure out how exactly Starlight made this spell."

"Well... Maybe the Princesses know." Fluttershy voiced her opinion.

"Not a bad idea Fluttershy." Applejack smiled. She then turned to Spike who was still hugging Rarity's leg. "Spike, take a letter."

Chihuahuan Desert, Texas

10:30am

Twilight awoke after falling asleep on Travis's bed again. He allowed her to sleep there as she was having a very emotional moment last night. She crawls out of bed and stretches, before exiting the bedroom. She enters the kitchen and is a bit too surprised to see Travis is absent. However, a quick sniff in the air could tell anyone he had just finished cooking breakfast. Seeing the table on the other side of the kitchen, she could see Travis had already made her a plate.

She crawls up into the chair, the chairs in this world being a bit tall for her. She sees more of the same, Eggs, pancakes, Strawberries, and blueberries this time. But then her mouth waters to see more of that applewood bacon. She eats it pretty quickly, how come Equestria doesn't have bacon? She'll have to ask that question when she finally returns home. After having her fill, she uses her magic to levitate the plate and place it in the sink.

She then rubbed her horn, her magic still not fully restored, her magic was recharging so slowly that light levitation was practically all she could still do. With nothing left to do, and with Travis not around for some reason, she began to explore his home. If she knew it would be a while before she would go home, she thought she might as well familiarize herself with her surroundings. She finds the bathroom, a few closets, and of course the living room. There was a sofa with a pillow and blanket on it. This must be where Travis has been sleeping if he has offered her his bed for the last two nights.

Sitting in front of the sofa was a black square sitting on top of a small table. She approaches this black square thing and analyzes it. She tilts her head, seeing her reflection in the darkness of the glass that made the front. She then sees the name of the thing, which is on a black plastic lining around the glass. It said "Samsung."

"Samsung?" Twilight said to herself out loud. "Is that its name?" Twilight was about to touch the glass with her hoof, when she heard loud footsteps coming from outside, approaching the door. She looks towards the door as it opens, and inside walks Travis, holding a basket with a bunch of eggs inside. He wore his black hat, and he seemed to be sweating a bit.

"Oh, heya Twilight. You want ta watch some TV?" He asked to which she just cocked her head at him.

"TV? What in Equestria is TV?" She asked quizzically. She gets more confused as she sees Travis's face turned into an unimpressed look.

"You know, I shouldn't even be surprised. You don't have vehicles, so why the hell would y'all have a television?" He begins to shake his head. "I'll show ya what it is when I get done with my chores."

"Chores? Can I help?" She stepped towards him.

"Ya wanna help me with my chores?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Of course. Just one of the few ways of paying back your generosity." Twilight spoke with a genuine smile.

"Twilight, you don't owe me anything, I'm just doin' what I think is the right thing by helping ya out." He responded, letting her know she had no obligation to help.

"I understand, but I want to help. As my friend Rarity would say, 'Such acts of generosity shouldn't go unrewarded.'" She chuckled as she put on a weird fru-fru accent. Travis again looked a bit puzzled at her but then shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, Alrighty then. Follow me to my backyard." Travis placed down his basket of eggs and walked back out. Twilight quickly followed, using her magic to grab the hat Travis gave her off a side table she put it on yesterday. He leads her to his backyard where she sees all three of Travis's dogs playing with each other. She continues following Travis and finds that he has a rather large chicken coop. "Just need some help tending to my chickens. I only get my eggs from them, so I treat them properly. I need ya to go grab my hose from off the side of the house."

Twilight looks to where he was pointing and sees a hose coiled on a rack on the side of the house. She uses her magic to unravel it and places the end in his hand.

"Thank ya, now turn on the water," Travis asked her as she also used her magic to turn on the spigot the hose was connected to. Travis began to fill up the three poultry water troughs for his chickens. "While I do this, can you toss some of their feed on the ground for em' Twilight?"

"Yeah, okay." Twilight sees the bag of feed Travis had brought out and was about to feed them himself. She uses her magic to pull out a decent-sized scoop. She then flings it over the fence, the feed scattering all over the ground. The chickens quickly ran over to peck at it and eat it. She smiles hearing the happy clucks the chickens made as they ate. She sees Travis also fill up a small galvanized steel tub with water.

"In heat like this, they need plenty of water to not only drink but also cool themselves off," Travis spoke as he continued to fill up the tub. "That should be enough, turn off the water please."

She uses her magic again and she turns off the water. Despite not working that hard, Twilight had managed a decent sweat. this heat was killing her. She wipes her forehead off with her hoof, flinging the sweat off of it with a flick. They would continue with the chores for a bit, repairing a bit of the chicken wire around his coop, cutting back some weeds growing around Travis's AC unit, and then doing some repairs to the unit as well, as the fan was not running at full speed. Twilight mostly watched him do that, not knowing how to repair an AC unit. The jobs take them a few hours, well past noon and up until 3 o'clock.

"I think that's enough for now, come on Twilight, let's go back inside." His statement was met with a sigh of relief from the bookhorse. He whistles for his dogs, and all 3 of them, plus Travis and Twilight return to the house. Twilight feels the AC, it was much stronger than it was before and she immediately relaxes.

"I got nothin' going on for the rest of the day, so I'm gonna go take a shower." Travis said, to which Twilight's ears perked up at the mention of a shower.

"Shower? I need one too, may I use it after you?" She asked, looking up at Travis.

"Of course, no need to ask me for a simple shower." He chuckled before entering the bathroom. Soon she hears his water running and begins to wait patiently. However, after a good twenty minutes, her patience wears a little thin. She had this problem with Spike back home taking long showers and leaving only cold water left. He better not be hogging the warm water. She approaches the bathroom door and slowly peeks her head in.

"Travis, save me some warm water, ple..." Her eyes widened as she could See Travis showering right in front of her. His shower was a walk-in with clear glass, she could see right through it. And what she saw... caused her to slowly pull her head back out and gently close the door. She was sure he didn't see her, but she saw him... all of him. Her cheeks flushed red and her heart began to quicken its pace.

"...So that's why he's always wearing clothes..." She whispered to herself, her cheeks only getting redder. As if on cue, she hears the water shut off. Her head shoots up and she quickly backs away from the door. Within 30 seconds, Travis steps out with a towel around his waist.

"All yours Twilight." He said, his hair dripping wet.

"Thanks!" She said quickly passing by him without looking up at his face and closing the door. He raised an eyebrow at her eagerness to get inside the bathroom.

"Uh... Towels are under the sink!" He hollered through the door as he walked down the hall and into his bedroom to dry off and get dressed.

Twilight wasted no time getting into the shower, despite it being rather tall for her, she just used her magic to turn it on. Thankfully, Travis didn't hog all of his warm water, as it began to wash away the grime she had collected from the desert since arriving here. She looks towards the ground, her wet mane falling on both sides of her head. Her cheeks were still red, the mental image of what she saw still in her mind. She glanced at the door a few times, scared that Travis may do the same to her, as she did to him. She takes a few deep breaths as she tries to suppress her thoughts. She grabs the soap and begins to wash up, first her mane. His shampoo was a bit different than the lavender cream-scented shampoo she had back home. She had no idea what an "Old Spice" was, but it had to work.

She then begins to wash her coat with his body wash, her blush slowly returning as she lathered her flanks. Thankfully, the shower head was detachable. She uses her magic to pick it up and begins to wash off all the soap, again blushing as she got to her flanks, trying very hard to not directly hit herself in the middle. She washes off all the soap and puts the shower head back in its spot. She turns off the water and uses her magic to grab a towel underneath the sink. That soap made her smell like a stallion, she frowns at that. Even the little things like her floral soap back home made her homesick. She wraps the towel around herself and steps out. With her towel still around her, she begins to dry off in the hallway. When she does, she sees Travis exiting his bedroom.

"Heya Twilight, ya can dry off in my bedroom, I'm done in there for a... bit... oh." His trail of thought seemed to end as he looked down at her, her wet mane to the side as she turned to look at him. Her eyes sparkled how he had never noticed before.

"Thanks, Travis." She spoke, stepping past him and into the bedroom. He scratches the back of his head as a certain thought enters his head.

"Damn... she's kinda cute." He sighs at the thought, trying to think more rationally than that. He exits his hallway and enters the kitchen. After mostly drying off, Twilight exits the bedroom and goes back to where Travis went off. She sees him in the kitchen where he is eating a sandwich, leaning against the counter. He looks down at her and waves.

"Heya Twilight. I didn't know what you'd like eat after a hard days work, so I just made ya a salad." He pointed to a bowl on the counter. She smiles as she looks at it, it has lettuce, red cabbage, carrots, and a hardboiled egg.

"This is perfect Travis. Thanks." She smiled warmly at him, though a part of her was a bit disappointed to not find bacon, it may be her new favorite. "You have any dressing?"

"Yeah, there is ranch in the fridge." He replied, to which she opened the fridge. she looks around for a bit before finding the bottle of Ranch and squirting some on her salad.

"Welp, wanna watch some TV? I promise you will love it." He smiled.

"Of course, I'd love to try anything new." She smiled sweetly at him. He chuckled at her eagerness and stood up straight. He entered his living room with Twilight following close behind him. He kneels in front of his TV and pulled out a box of movies he had under the TV stand

"So, ya have any idea what a movie even is Twilight?" He asked her as he began to dig through the DVD boxes.

"No, not really." She responded, looking into the box he was looking through.

"Well, the best way I can describe them is that, there like stories that you watch." Travis's answer was met with a very puzzling expression from Twilight.

"Stories? Like, the same from books?" She asked quizzically. "Reading is my favorite pastime! I've read every book in my library at least 3 times! When I get back, I should give them all another read." Twilight placed her hoof to her chin at that thought.

"I'm gonna assume that's a lot of reading. But instead of reading the story, you watch it, like a play." Travis tried to explain.

"Oh! I have read a lot of plays as well! Seen some too!" She smiled gleefully.

"Yeah... uh huh... But there is no reading involved Twilight, you just watch it." Travis deadpanned. "To help me narrow down what kind of genre you will like, can you tell me your favorite books to read?"

"Oh wow! How could I pick just one? let me think on that." Twilight began to mentally go through all her favorite books. As she recalled them, most of them involved a certain topic, one that was close to her heart. "My favorite stories involve Friendship. Not just any kind though, ones that will last a lifetime where all the memories you have made, will be treasured forever."

Travis looked at her as she explained. The way Twilight explained that felt genuine somehow. Like Twilight has a deep connection to the concept of friendship, part of him thought she may have been thinking of her real friends at home. Slowly he looked back into the box of movies, and he knew which one she would love. He reached down, near the bottom, and pulled it out. He smiled at it, it was one of his favorite movies as a kid. He then showed it to her, to which she took it with her magic.

"The Sandlot?" She asked, reading the title.

"Yeah, that's one of my favorite movies. if you want to watch a story about friendship, there is no better movie than that." Travis smiled, taking the movie out of Twilight's aura. "And it also involves America's favorite pastime, Baseball."

"Baseball? What's that?" She asked looking back at the movie.

"It's a sport, a bit complicated, I will tell you about it later. But the main point is that you use a bat to hit a ball being thrown at you, and you have to run around a diamond shape on the ground. And when you make it back home, you score a point." Travis tried to Explain it the best he could in a nutshell.

"Interesting..." Twilight was trying to visualize it in her head when Travis picked up the remote. He pressed a button on it, and the black screen that was on the TV turned to blue. Twilight, a bit surprised by it, took a few steps backward. Travis then opens his DVD player, places the movie in and closes it. Travis stands up and looks at Twilight.

"While the ads play, let's get some snacks." He told her.

"Uh, ok." She would follow him back into his kitchen. He pulls out a bag of potato chips and dumps them into a huge bowl. He also grabs a half-eaten pack of Oreo cookies. Finally, arguably the most important part, a six-pack of PBR beer.

"Beer? As in Alcohol?" Twilight scrunches her nose, she was never a big drinker back home.

"Oh hell yeah, can't forget the beer." He replied as he carried all the snacks. He walks back into the living room and sits down on the couch. Twilight joins him on the couch, sitting on the opposite side. Rusty jumps up and gets in between both of them while Pharaoh and Barb sit on the floor, patiently waiting for a chip to be tossed their way.

"Alright Twi, get ready for one of the best movies ever made." Travis places the bowl of chips in between them with Rusty very very close to it. He opens a can of beer and hits play. The movie starts with a man walking toward the announcer's box of a baseball stadium. Twilight's eyes immediately widened at what she saw.

"Whoa whoa wait!... The pictures move!?" She exclaims and her jaw drops to the floor. "How the!... How is this kind of technology possible!?"

"Pretty simple Twilight," Travis said as he took a sip of his beer. "This movie is about 30 years old."

"30 years!?" She exclaimed again, looking at Travis like he was an oncoming train. She stands up on all 4 hooves as the movie continues to play. The movie shows a bunch of kids playing a sports game that she immediately assumes is baseball as told by Travis. Oh how she had a million questions on how such a thing like this was possible, but as quickly as the questions came to her mind, they also quickly vanished as the movie began to draw her in. She was... fascinated... enthralled, and the movie was only 5 minutes in. She sits back down as Smalls explains how he built up the courage to go to the Sandlot to make friends.

The story was already catching her attention, she felt like she was there. The movie makes her think she was really at the Sandlot herself watching the events play out. Travis chuckles a bit at her large eyes fixated on the movie as he tosses a few chips into his mouth, and then to both Barb and Pharaoh, and Rusty, never forget Rusty. He hears a small sad gasp from Twilight as she sees Smalls run away from the Sandlot the other boys begin to laugh at his pathetic throw. Oh how she wanted to fly towards him and wrap him up in a big hug, but she was smart enough to know that if she tried, she ran face-first into the glass.

Twilight was focused on the next scene, Where Smalls's mom talks to him, calling him a very smart kid, and how she didn't want him cooped up all by himself with no friends. Twilight felt her heart go into her throat during this scene, feeling an incredible amount of Deja Vu. She could relate to the scene when she first went to Ponyville. A lonely bookworm at Canterlot asked to go make friends in Ponyville during the summer sun festival. The feeling gets even stronger when Smalls refers to himself as an egghead... Something Rainbow Dash used to call her playfully. 10 minutes into the movie, and she was already relating to it. A small tear rolls down her cheeks as this all makes her think of her friends back home. Travis notices and pauses the movie with the remote. Her ears perk up and she looks at Travis, who gives her a concerned look.

"Twilight, you ok? Why are you crying?" He asked her with genuine concern, this wasn't even supposed to be a sad part of the movie.

"Oh, y-yeah I'm fine Travis." She responds wiping away the tear. "Just... had a random thought that made me a bit sad."

"Well... alrighty then." He un-pauses the movie and Twilight went right back into being glued to it. He would continuously glance over at her, just to make sure she was fine.

Twilight begins to smile at the movie again as she sees Benny, making efforts to try and befriend Smalls, and even convince Benny's other friends to give him a shot. As the 9 boys were talking among themselves, Twilight had another question brewing. Who were the boys talking about? Who was the Sultan of Swat? The Titan of Terror? The Colossus of Clout? The King of Crash?

"Travis?" She spoke up.

"Yeah, Twi?" He responded, looking back over to her as she pulled her eyes away from the screen to look at Travis.

"Who is the Great Bambino?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Travis instantly began to laugh.

"Of course, you wouldn't know who that is. It's the many nicknames of a man called Babe Ruth. Said to be one of the greatest baseball legends of all time." He began to explain, drawing in Twilight's interest. "He set many records during his career in the major leagues. He is an icon in the professional world of Baseball."

"He was a real pony?" She asked

"Ha! He was a real Person yes. Even though this movie is fiction, Babe Ruth was real." Travis explained. Twilight was genuinely interested. This world she was sucked into, has so much to offer for her to learn from. Oh, how she felt the need to go to the library immediately and begin learning all she wanted. But she doubted there would be one close in this desert wasteland. Plus she wanted to see more of the movie, so she forced herself to quell her need to learn and refocus on the movie.

She smiles at the part where Smalls is finally able to befriend the kids at the Sandlot. She leans back against the couch cushions and uses her magic to levitate some chips to her mouth. She was a bit reluctant to take a beer, but Travis insisted. She popped the top and smelled it. It didn't smell all that different from the beer in Equestria, but then she took a sip. She widens her eyes and she gags. the initial taste was not something she was used too. She decided to nurse it throughout the film. She only got through half the can when the scene where Squints tells the story of The Beast started.

When the screen went to black and white as the supposed back story of The Beast was being told, it genuinely scared her. Never seeing anything like it with her own eyes. She shook a bit as she saw the bones of cows being torn apart by The Beast in a junkyard. And finally, the scene of the Beast killing the thieves. When the massive paw struck one, she let out a frightened yelp and quickly leaned toward Travis. Stealing Rusty's spot, she wraps her forehooves around Travis's left arm.

Travis looks down at her, seeing her so frightened by the scene. Though the movie was made for kids, since she was new to the idea of movies, it is technically the scariest scene she has ever seen. Twilight was still so focused on the movie that she appeared to not even realize she was holding onto Travis. He was about to say something to her. Almost. But she wasn't bothering him, so she let her continue.

The scenes that followed were no longer scary, yet she continued to hold Travis's left arm. She would laugh once or twice during the pool scene, and watch on in amazement during the 4th of July scene. Then the scene with a rival group of kids showed up to the sandlot. Ham and Phillips were the ones who started yelling insults at each other.

"Moron!"

"Scab Eater!"

"Butt Sniffer!"

"Pus Licker!"

"Fart Smeller!"

"You bob for apples in the toilet! and you like it!"

"You play ball like a GIRL!"

"WHAT!?" The shrill voice of Twilight is now being heard over the movie. Travis looks down at the offended face of Twilight and he lets out a hard belly laugh. Twilight scowls a bit a bit at Ham's last remark, but doesn't say anything else. Travis was laughing so hard he had to lean against the right armrest of the couch, now partially lying down. Twilight who still had his arm, was then beginning to lean on him. She would cringe hard at the carnival scene, nearly looking sick herself as she watched.

The movie went on, and they were now fulling lounging on the couch, not paying attention to each other and what they were doing, but still acknowledging each other's presence. Travis was still leaning on the armrest with Twilight now practically laying on his side. The arm she held was no longer in her grip as his arm now laid over and across her back.

The movie would go on, to Smalls losing his dad's autographed baseball, to the antics the kids went to try and get it back from the beast. It was a comedic and heartwarming visual of these friends trying their best to help out one of their friends. She smiled with her cheek resting on Travis's side. The moment when Benny was running from The Beast was suspenseful, causing her to cling to him more. But the ending was perfect. Showing how even when friends grow up, and you will be separate for a while, you will see each other again, and you will always be friends.

Twilight smiled warmly at the ending, feeling some comfort within it. It was a story that she needed to see, something felt like it put her nerves at rest, relating it to her current situation. Even though she was separated from her friends currently, she just knew that she would see them again. She closed her eyes and let out a satisfying sigh as she laid her cheek back down on Travis's side.

"Travis, that was amazing. Thank you so so much for showing me that." She said with a breathy tone, feeling fully relaxed and snuggly for some reason.

"You're welcome, that's one of my favorite movies from when I was a kid," Travis said with a smile. He looks to the side to see her, now with no movie to distract his mind, he sees how they are laying. His beard could not hide the blush that was beginning to form on his face. As things grew awkwardly silent, Twilight opened her eyes and looked at Travis, seeing his blushing face confused her at first until she looked down. She was practically lying on top of him, and his arm was wrapped around her. She quickly sat up, her face instantly turning crimson. She looked him in the eyes, their awkward blushing faces not saying a single word. They had no idea how they ended up in that position... and secretly, a part of each of them missed the warmth of each other's body heat.

"Uh... so... Th-thanks for the visual story or whatever you called it Travis. I liked it... but I think I'm going to turn in early tonight..." She looked away, now not even bearing to look him in the face.

"Really?" Travis looked at his watch, his face still red. "it's only 5:30."

"Yeah, but... I'm tired...Night Travis!" She quickly steps off the couch and scurries into the bedroom. Now alone with just his dogs, Travis slowly sat up. He looks towards the bedroom where Twilight went in, and then back to himself. More specifically where she had been lying previously. He places his hand on his side, still feeling the warmth from when she was there. He let out a soft sigh... kinda wishing she was still there.

Twilight, however, was pacing around the small area around the bed of the bedroom. Her face is still red and her thoughts still racing through tons of thoughts. She couldn't believe she snuggled up to him like that. She was used to snuggling up to her pillows, or maybe even Spike sometimes when she would read to herself at home. But this... this felt... intimate.

"First I accidentally invade his privacy by seeing his... and now this..." She covers her face with her hoof in embarrassment. Travis was already going above and beyond by allowing her to stay in his home. "and this is how I reward him? Why didn't he just shove me off?... Yeah... wait... why didn't he?"

That thought stuck with her for a bit. It couldn't have all been her, he had his arm wrapped around her after all. And he did look a bit flustered like she was. Was it an accident they both made... or...?

Twilight shook her head at the thoughts, she was definitely overthinking. She began to take slow deep breaths, keeping her cool and not going over the edge like she normally does.

"Maybe it was just a mistake... and maybe I'm thinking about it too hard. Just pretend it never happened Twilight." She would say to herself as she crawled up into the bed. Another thought suddenly hits her, this was Travis's bed. Why didn't he make her sleep on the couch? He even gave her his bed to sleep in during her stay. She let out a long sigh and closed her eyes once more.

"Travis is such a great guy... and I feel like I haven't been properly paying him back... Tomorrow I should apologize for my actions... I hope he doesn't feel uncomfortable around me now..."