Django came in, the door not closed. He circled around my feet before hopping onto my bed to claim it as his spot for the moment.

But his presence meant that Twilight wasn't moving. But... "Twilight?"

"Yes?" She wasn't moving, but she could still speak.

I gently picked up Django and set him at the door, shooing him into the rest of the house. With the door closed, I turned back to see Twilight had clicked on to the next chapter. "Um... Like... it?"

"Very imaginative." Twilight rolled the mouse wheel, keeping the words scrolling up the screen. "Wildly inaccurate, but imaginative... For not having been there... a decent vision, but still, not accurate."

David chuckled, though looked unsure of where to park himself. Moving Twilight? That felt rude in the middle of her reading. "Like it?"

"You asked that." She turned, chair spinning to face David. "I'm far more curious about you."

"Hm?"

She pointed at me with a plush hoof. "You are not a pony."

"I am not." That felt like a silly thing to argue. "And?"

"You like them." She looked me over appraisingly. "A lot. Enough to write millions of words, which is more words than I can even dream of penning." She let out a woosh of breath. "How long have you been writing? How fast do you write? I saw you working before, you just kept... typing. Typing is the word, right?"

"Right?" I felt tense, but also a little happy. Twilight was complimenting me, I think? "If I had a cutie mark, it'd be that. Oh... This is very silly, but I have a ponysona. Me, if I was a pony."

Twilight burst into giggles, felt hoof over her snout, even if no air was passing. "That sounds cute. I have a humansona, but I actually was that, briefly. May I see your ponysona?"

David reached over and around her to pull up the page with the image of his Ponysona.

There was an earth pony with dark brown and grey pelt, splattered with ink, with a quill in his snout. He was holding a book, crooked up between his arms, hooves dangling below. He was, as the human him was, busy writing.

They had a cutiemark of a scroll, filled with words, with a quill scribbling on it.

I rubbed the back of my neck self-consciously as Twilight peered at the image of my pony doppelgänger. Maybe having a whole pony persona was a silly thing for a grown man. But her eyes were bright with interest rather than judgment.

"Oh, I love his ink splattered coat and that scribbling cutie mark is perfect!" Twilight gushed. She turned the screen back towards herself, scrutinizing closer. "Hmm, I'd guess his special talent would have to be...creative writing?"

I chuckled with a hint of embarrassment. "You got it in one. I wasn't super original there - the quill and book motif gave it away. But I figure he balances out my clumsy human hands with actually being able to grip a pen in his mouth."

Twilight giggled at that. "Well, I think he's wonderful. Though, I admit I’m curious..." She used a hoof to spin the chair fully towards me and fixed me with an intent gaze instead. "What made you so enamored with ponies in the first place?"

"That's...a long story," I admitted, eyes darting away shyly as memories flooded back. But maybe it was one worth telling with an actual pony here wanting to listen. I leaned back against the bed frame getting comfortable.

"See, it all started years ago in my lonely college dorm room when I fell into a deep dark pit of people who are enamored with talking animals. Furries."

Twilight rubbed her cheek, more felt than furry at the moment. "Humans are only furry in a few places... You like... fur?"

"It's not fur, really." I mussed the strandy ropes of her hair. "It's an escape from humanity, if I get down to it. The idea that I could live in a different society, less tied down by a million, bad, human rules that keep people miserable."

Twilight cycled her hooves. "I see... But how did that turn to ponies specifically? Surely humans have more 'furry' ideas than just ponies specifically."

"Oh, yeah, sure sure." David waved that idea away. "We've had them for about as long as we've had humans. Our oldest tales involve creatures that aren't us, but talk and act in human, and inhuman, ways. Furry is an ancient tradition, if often maligned these days."

"Maligned?"

"Let's not get too deep into that." I went ahead and picked her up, sitting and offering my lap as a resting place. Standing was becoming painful. "Either way, when this show came out that promised to be wholesomely entertaining, but also have talking animals and was cute, how could I say no? I never looked back."

Twilight nodded along thoughtfully as she settled into my lap. "Mmm I think I understand better now. We ponies certainly love our stories too about legendary mythic beasts that walk and talk like us. There's something just so wondrous about those fantasies."

She gently booped my nose. "And I'm honored you find us wondrous too in that way! Even without fur," she added with a wink.

I laughed, giving her a gentle scritch along her plush back. "Yeah, you ponies hit that perfect sweet spot - you talk and emote just like people, but with cuddly coats, magic, and your cheerful kingdom, things just feel...brighter."

Twilight preened, puffing out her chest. "Well I can't argue Equestria is pretty great. I knew we must spread friendship for a reason!" We shared a smile before she adopted a more puzzled look.

"But David, if you don't mind me asking...why were you so lonely back then in the first place? You seem perfectly friendly to me." She placed a tiny hoof over my larger hand comfortingly.

I hesitated. Even simple questions carried complicated feelings. But if anyone could understand isolation amidst crowds, it was Twilight Sparkle.

"Well you see, the thing is..." I slowly opened up about those painful early memories. The anxious kid who never fit in. My stranger-turned-savior pony who was there when no one else seemed to be.

Twilight listened with patient empathy in those stitched eyes, like she could see that lonely boy in me still. Finally I trailed off with a self-conscious cough. "Uh, anyway, guess your show was in the right place for me at that time. It became a job even."

"I'm very glad it was," Twilight murmured. "But... job?"

I pulled up another image of Ponyfinder's front cover. "I write books, not just stories. Does Ogres and Obouliettes exist in your Equestria?"

"Of course?" She inclined her head, then smiled brightly. "Wow. I didn't expect anycreature here to sound familiar with the concept of parralel realities. 'my Equestria.' That term is so loaded with ideas. There are other Equestrias, that belong to other Twilight Sparkles. I can only claim the one I came from."

I leaned back in my chair. "And infinite Davids. I hope they're doing alright."

"As I can only hope for the other Twilights." She poked me in the chest, a light motion with a plush hoof. "You are just another step, this whole world. Does it bother you?"

"Why should it?" I shrugged at that. "There are infinite mes, until there aren't any mes, and that's that."

I nodded along to my own philosophical musings, amused a bit by how readily I accepted the notion of alternate realities and other versions of myself out there. Though perhaps that openness to strange concepts explained why I took Twilight's sudden appearance in stride.

"A practical perspective," Twilight praised with an approving smile. "No sense worrying about that which we cannot control or even comprehend." She gestured expansively with her hooves. "Why, just unraveling the mysteries of this one world will likely take all of our combined lifetimes!"

I had to chuckle at that. "Too right you are. More than enough mysteries right here to occupy us without wondering what's happening to other Davids across the multiverse." I playfully booped Twilight's nose, amused by how she scrunched her snout.

"Still, I'm glad imaginary tales about you and your pony pals could be there for other lonely souls," I added more softly. Twilight gazed up at me with those big embroidered eyes full of empathy. I felt my cheeks flush slightly.

Clearing my throat, I rubbed the back of my neck and turned our talk back my open writing documents. "But uh, multiverse ponderings aside, let me tell you more about turning pony adventures into a whole fantasy tabletop RPG..."

As I enthusiastically described building imaginative realms, Twilight nestled comfortably against my chest. I felt warmed to provide some real magic in return for someone whose stories had long enriched lives, mine included.

She was more interested in the idea of pony roleplaying that I'd have guessed at first. "So, are there human games too?"

"Huh, tons." I sat up with her. "Most of them. The ones you play a pony are by and far considered odd compared to most of them."

"But you kept writing them." She inclined her head. "As if it were a calling."

"Destiny?" I hiked a thumb at myself. "My name works out to DMS. DM is short for Dungeon Master, which is the person who runs such roleplaying games."

Twilight laughed at that. "I thought only ponies had such on-the-nose names. Are you responsible for multiple 'DM's?"

Actually... "My book inspired a whole new segment of them, so I guess I am?"

"Then you lived up to your name, DMs." Twilight nodded with satisfaction. "I am Twilight Sparkle." She pointed back to her cutie mark. "I am the Twilight that brought Night and Day together. I am the sparkle of friendship in many creature's lives." She colored faintly, her felt changing hues. "Sorry, not trying to boast."

I waved a hand, touched by her sincerity rather than perceiving any boasting. "No need to apologize - I think it's really neat how ponies' names and cutie marks reveal their destinies. Shows how in tune your society is with everypony's talents and purpose in life."

I glanced down ruefully at my own hands. "We humans don't get any magical insight into what we're meant to do or be good at. Makes it easy to feel lost sometimes." I blinked as an idea struck. "Hey, if you were to give me a human cutie mark, what do you think it would look like?"

Twilight tapped her chin, scrutinizing me with those button eyes from top to bottom. "Hmm, let's see...I think for you it might be..." Her face lit up. "A magical portal with words streaming out! To represent how your writings open doorways to other realms."

My own face split into an excited grin. "A magic portal cutie mark? I love it!" Impulsively I grabbed the keyboard and got to asking a polite machine to doodle the idea out. "I'll have a real artist take a crack at this later, but there."

We admired my newly generated insignia for a moment before bursting into laughter at the whole fanciful notion. But even as we dissolved into giggles. She leaned in over the keyboard, studying the graphic. "How did you do that? Are you an artist? I didn't see your hooves, er, hands moving."

Oops. "That." I pointed to the computer. "There are many like them, ready to think things. I asked one to give an image to my description, putting words to image. It's crude and awkward, but it'll do to send to a real artist to imagine properly."

"Fascinating." She tapped at her chin. "Do you have something like that, for magic?"

"I wish," I got out emphatically. "Magic isn't a thing in this world. That you have some, even weakened, makes you the strongest wizard on the entire planet."

"Wow." Twilight looked up to her flickering and weak horn. "That is a lot of responsibility."

Author's Note

A little philosophy in the middle of things. Always room for that.

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