Awry

I remember Princess Celestia's face when the guards led us to her throne. It was one of those rare occasions when she didn't smile. It was as if she was trying to look us in the eyes with a detached expression, maybe with a slight sternness, but I could read the disappointment from her face. Although I still didn't feel concerned about the punishment for what we had done, my conscience rose up and immediately made me realize what a scumbag I was for putting my own mentor in such an unpleasant position. I felt ashamed, as the private apprentice of the ruler of Equestria, I had behaved unworthy of her name. Way to express how grateful I was for everything she'd done for me...

The gate closed behind us, and the guards pushed us into a line, then positioned themselves on either side at attention, their spears still ready, but not aimed at us. The white pegasus, who appeared to be the leader, lifted his helmet and bowed to the Princess, who did not even get up from the throne.

"I'm reporting that the stolen train has been found as well as the culprits!" he said firmly, painfully emphasizing the words "stolen" and "culprits".

"Thank you," Celestia nodded grimly, then looked straight into my eyes. "I'm waiting for an explanation."

Of course, I could have expected her to ask me the question. She had nothing to do with any of my friends, only with me. And my relationship with the Princess was pretty good to say the least, so... so if I take the responsibility and Celestia is in a good enough mood, I can take the blame...

"I'm so sorry, Your Majesty!" I took a step forward with a repentant face and lowered ears, then I bowed deeply to her. "It was very stupid of me to test our magic like this without your permission. I don't have any excuses, but we all really regretted it..."

"It was not only stupid, but also irresponsible," said the Princess harshly. "How did you come up with such dangerous and illegal entertainment?"

"It was my fault, Your Highness!" I looked up pleadingly at the alicorn.

"I don't care in the least whose idea it was," Celestia declared sternly. "All of you, you committed it together, so it's only fitting that you all get the same punishment. I can't make an exception with any of you."

I gritted my teeth. Well, unfortunately it didn't work out, but at least I tried. "Understood..." I muttered to myself and retreated back to my team.

"You have put me in a difficult position," said Princess Celestia. "As much as I would like to, I cannot ignore what you did, even if nopony was hurt, you brought back the stolen train, and you did not commit the theft out of bad intentions. As an additional mitigating circumstance, I am willing to take into account that none of you have had a similar violation of the law before. So, if you promise that you won't even think of a similar dangerous action, I will only take away your summer break in the hope that you will learn from this. And so that you can make up for your mistakes, I will not sentence you to prison, but to community service."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" a few of us muttered, but the Princess suddenly spread her wings, silencing us.

"Don't thank me!" she continued in the same calm voice, although I could still feel the tension in her. "Show me that you are worthy of my trust! You will receive your assignments early tomorrow morning. Guard, escort them out! Thread, you stay! I want to have a talk with you."

With my head held low, I watched out of the corner of my eye as the soldiers in golden armor escorted my friends out of the room. I had no idea what kind of scolding Celestia was about to give me, but I had never seen her so angry before, which didn't bode well.

"Come closer!" said the Princess, when the last pony left the room and the gate closed again.

I slowly walked over to the throne, still avoiding Celestia's gaze to show how sorry I was for our sins.

"Closer!"

I complied with her order, although it was a bit embarrassing to be so close to her. If I had lifted my leg, I could have touched her. She, on the other hoof, even despite the very small distance, leaned towards me from her seat so that her mane was practically in line with my head.

"Look, Thread..." she suddenly changed her tone, and now her voice sounded much sadder than demanding. "You know exactly how much I prefer it when somepony goes their own way, but this is not the case."

"I know, Princess, and I'm truly sorry," I muttered under my breath. "I promise it will never happen again..."

"In any other case, I would be satisfied with this, but I would like you to understand why I am asking you this," As I raised my head, Celestia looked deeply into my eyes. "It's not just that you did something that, even when considered with simple, common sense, is crazy. Take better care of yourself and take care of your marefriend too! It would be very disadvantageous if you kept wandering about, because if I can't see you, I can't guarantee your safety either..."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, a little surprised.

"Go ahead and enjoy life, but stay in Canterlot!" the Princess smiled. "And spend as much time as possible together with her!" she added with a cheerful squint. "That's all I ask for. Can you do that?"

"Of course!" I blinked in confusion.

"Very well!" Celestia backed away from me a little, stretched her back and folded her wings. "Don't worry about work; I will not impose anything on you that is too difficult or humiliating! After all, you are still my student..."

"Yes, sometimes I feel a bit like you're making an exception with me," I blurted out.

"If you know a better pony for that, just let me know!" Celestia raised her eyebrows challengingly.

"It was not a complaint!" I retorted immediately. "Just... let's just forget about it, shall we?"

The Princess seemed to smile mockingly for a moment, then shook her head. "That much excitement was enough for today," she declared, pointing her leg towards the gate. "Get some rest, and then we'll talk during our next class."

Confused, I took a few steps back, with my head slightly bowed - considering my situation, I didn't want to overextend myself, so instead I took back some of the courtesies I had disregarded earlier - and then I bowed deeply and turned my back to my mentor.

I found her words rather strange. I thought about them the whole time I was walking home accompanied by a pair of palace guards. I would have felt better if my friends or even just Ambrosia waited for me, but presumably they were left with no choice. For example, I myself tried to turn towards my fillyfriend's tower on the way, but the shaft of a spear discreetly drove me back in the original direction. At least they didn't speak to me at then either, and even though it didn't help my sense of comfort that I got stared at because of my escort, the guards left me relatively alone, so I could calmly ponder what was going through the Princess's mind.

It was an impossible task for me to figure it out, as always. I could already learn how limited of the spectrum I could experience of Celestia's... you could say her entire being. To most, she was Permanence Incarnate, the Heart of Equestria, and the Eternal Splendor. Her mere presence radiated a certain confidence. It was as if she was the Sun herself, which she was able to control with her will. Whenever we looked up at the sky, we saw that it was there. And in the evening, we knew that the morning would soon come and it would be with us again.

But not many have paid attention to what the Sun was doing when it hides behind the clouds or sets below the horizon.

Even I couldn't really see into Celestia's background activities, even though she almost always let me be by her side when she was doing her own business. She never tried to shake me off if I felt like staying with her after our private lesson. True, this often meant that I was allowed to trot after her wherever she went, or if she was busy in the throne room, I could stand quietly by her side. On the other hoof, it rarely happened that I managed to put together who she was talking to on a particular occasion, or exactly what she was talking about. And many times, I either didn't have the opportunity to ask about it, or it would simply have felt impolite. And even if I did, Celestia preferred to answer in riddles. Those occasions were my "favourites", when she herself was busy with other things, and then suddenly a pony in armour or a suit appeared from somewhere and, ignoring everypony else, walked straight up to her and whispered something in her ear. She usually acknowledged the confidential information with a nod, or answered them in a completely nonsensical way, in a low voice, such as "Three will be enough" or "Try from a different direction!". It was impossible to decipher her...

But I couldn't shake the nagging feeling that Celestia was worried about me. I gave her a reason, that's for sure, but she was aware of my abilities, so I didn't understand what she was afraid of. And why does she want to... keep her eyes on me...? She must have had a good reason for asking such a thing, especially since I'm sure she was well aware that at the moment I'd prefer to hide even from her. Only partly because of the incident at night, more because I wanted to be alone with Ambrosia.

That's right, she even mentioned her... Maybe she had something to do with all of this? The Princess was at least broadly aware - although it was dangerous to underestimate how much she actually knew - of what was and is between us. And she obviously had to know what would happen if rumors about our relationship got to Ambrosia's father. Nothing good, that's for sure. However, several ponies could see us at the Gala, and what would rule out that some of them have Saddle-Arabian connections...?

But even so, Celestia must have known about it. She, on the other hoof, seemed to support us. She just asked us to be careful. Maybe she just brought this to my attention as a precaution? Would she like to train me to be alert so she doesn't have to hold my hoof all the time? She must have enough on her plate already; it wouldn't hurt if I didn't burden her with my nonsense, but instead I would be the one to take care of others. After all, this could have been one of her goals when she accepted me as her student, so that I would realize this...

Of course, I speculated too much again, which was good news from the point of view that I started to sober up. I also felt that I was getting more and more tired and lethargic - even though my head was almost buzzing inside - but somehow my sense of fear was yet to return. And that didn't change when we arrived in front of our house, so I blessed my luck that my parents were still working and missed my spectacular entrance. Turning back from the door, I politely thanked the guards for accompanying me and waved to them until they disappeared around the corner of the street. After that, just to be on the safe side, I waited a good quarter of an hour, during which I prepared clean clothes for myself for a few days, a toothbrush and a towel, looked out the window, and then headed straight for Ambrosia's tower with my packed saddlebags. On the way, I realized that I forgot to pack my pajamas, but in the end I shrugged it off. Does it matter between lovers? Ambrosia might even be happier that way...

* * *

In the end, the work turned out not to be as dire as we expected - we basically got jobs that we would have probably taken - or already taken previously - during the summer break. Princess Celestia was really merciful to us. She didn't even take away the possibility of us serving the sentence together. First, we had to help pack the goods at a pegasus airport for eight hours a day, but we were allowed to use magic, which made the whole process much easier, and the guards assigned to supervise us did not constantly watch us with prying eyes. After that, we were assigned to a large kitchen to peel vegetables and wash dishes.

Not much of note happened during those few days, except for Stella's weird accident during work. She thoroughly frightened us, as we had no idea what could be wrong with her. Until that everything went completely as usual, then suddenly we picked up on Lotus shouting. Of course, we immediately gathered around him, but what we saw made several of us almost sick. When Wish saw the blood covering the mare, she galloped off for help, retching slightly...

Stella sat on the floor with a thousand-mile stare; there were fresh cuts on her leg. Lotus gently shook her to see if he could bring her back to her senses, but it didn't seem like he succeeded. A few steps away were the tool that presumably caused the injuries: a regular kitchen knife, the edge of which was still dripping with reddish liquid.

"What happened?" I asked in horror.

"No idea!" gasped Lotus. "Can somepony stop it?"

None of us excelled in healing spells, and considering the growing pool of blood under the mare she would have needed immediate medical care. However, since help was still nowhere to be found, Jasper pulled some sterile bandages out of nowhere with the help of his horn, and he and Ambrosia tried to at least cover the wounds.

"Why am I not bleeding?" Stella asked in a voice that was lackluster even compared to her usual self.

"What are you talking about, honey?" Lotus desperately tried to turn the mare's head towards himself, but she seemed to have looked right through him. "Don't move, help is on the way!"

"Did you cut yourself, Stella?" Jasper shook his head.

"It must have been by accident..." Cavern muttered weakly. The sight of blood seemingly affected him the most.

"There were at least four wounds..." Jasper pointed out. "There is no such accident in the world."

"I'm not bleeding..." Stella stated again, her eyes becoming more and more cloudier.

"Don't talk, please!" Lotus whined softly. "Help is coming soon! Hold on, please!"

"Did she cut herself on purpose?" I asked, driven by a sudden idea. "Nopony else was around."

"Why would she do that?" snapped Lotus angrily.

"What kind of shit did you give her this time, bro?" Scorch said harshly.

Lotus's pupils suddenly narrowed, his face turned pale, and he shook his head, gaping silently. "Nothing!" he finally moaned when he found his voice. "Nothing, I promise! I'm not that stupid! I could never harm her!"

"Are you feeling sick, dear?" Stella asked quietly, finally looking at her stallion. "Your face looks so green..."

I also took a look at Lotus, but his head could only be described as pale blue since the blood had run out of it.

"Stella, please!" the stallion hugged the mare.

"Hug me, Lotus!" the girl muttered with her eyes rolling back in her head.

"I'm doing it..." Lotus whispered.

"Withdrawal symptoms?" Scorch continued to speculate.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Jasper even kicked out at the red stallion to give momentum to his words barely leaving him time to duck.

"Where is the injured?" somepony shouted from afar.

"Here!" I answered with the same volume.

Within a few seconds, the source of the sound arrived in the form of a robust, paramedic-looking pony.

"Let me get to her!" he snapped at us, and we immediately pulled aside. The stallion lifted Stella's eyelids, gently slapped her face, took a look at her injured leg, and then pulled her onto his back without further ado.

"We have to take her to the hospital..." Lotus muttered uncertainty. "Will she be alright, sir?"

"It doesn't look like she's lost too much blood, but we must hurry," answered the stallion, already trotting out.

* * *

By the next morning, there was already news about the mare. Lotus said before we could even start the day's work that he had been with her the whole time and she was feeling much better. Her wounds have been stitched up, but she will be kept under observation for a few more days to be safe. Lotus, as her "relative", was allowed to visit her after the shift, but we were asked to let the girl rest if possible. So we didn't get to visit Stella, and we accepted what her stallion told her about every single day. And he always reassured us that she was feeling better by the day and would be released soon.

However, before we could see Stella again, another strange incident happened. By then, we had already moved on from kitchen work to cleaning some of the Academy's less frequently used halls and rooms, but luckily, we were still able to stay together. However, one morning, just as we were gathering in front of the designated school building, Wish arrived wearing sunglasses. For a while we were just teasing how it didn't suit her, but when Scorch took it off her as a joke with a quick spell so he could try it on, we got to see the ugly shiner around her left eye. She could barely blink, but when we asked her how she managed to get it, she just giggled with a pained expression.

"But seriously, what happened?" I tried for the umpteenth time. "Did somepony hurt you?"

"Tartarus, no!" the girl squinted with a grin. "I was just being clumsy again. This heat is not helping..."

"How did ya manage to hit yer eye?" Jasper asked, gently brushing Wish's mane aside so he could get a better look.

"I took a close look at the corner of the table," the girl waved, closing her other eye to the stallion's touch. "We have a carpet, one corner of which always gets curled up. I've always been able to step over it for years. Well, not now..."

"Did you try to apply a cold pack?" Lotus interjected.

"Of course, but I couldn't come with a bag of frozen peas tied to my head..." laughed Wish.

"Ya poor thing!" Jasper lamented, continuing to ruffle her mane. "Is there somethin' in the air that everypony is getting sick right now?"

"Horseapples, I'm okay!" Wish snorted, but didn't pull away from the stallion. "I will feel perfectly fine if you finally return my sunglasses."

Reluctantly, Scorch complied with her request, and Wish covered her eyes with a measured, graceful gesture executed with much exaggerated elegance. And then she gently informed us that she would rather we drop her injury as a topic, because - as she said - there is no need to constantly rub it under her nose that only foals suffer such impossible accidents. Instead, she asked Cavern why he had been so quiet lately.

The stallion took the opportunity to tell us that Quickie - or Quicksilver Catalyst by her true name - has recently found him again and is constantly nagging him to get back together. I didn't care that much about that short relationship he had with the grey mare, but I had to pay attention to him a bit, and in the meantime, I thanked Celestia that a certain pegasus friend of mine didn't behave so childishly towards me. Now that Ambrosia and I had gotten along so well, I wanted nothing less than Hacky to reappear in my life.

However, my thoughts were not primarily occupied by this. This was the second unusual injury near me in a short time, so I didn't want to leave it at that. Especially since it happened to Wish. The mare had a tendency to hide her problems anyway. And I wasn't used to her just randomly bumping into things, being so clumsy. I had a feeling that somepony had hurt her, but she didn't dare to say it. And her parents have been suspicious to me for a long time that something was wrong with them. We were not allowed to meet them even once, nor to go near their house. Of course, since Wish asked for it herself, we respected it, but it was still strange... And if it turns out that any of them dared to raise a hoof on this poor, innocent girl, I'll make them regret it!

So I decided. I'm going to find out what happened to her whether she likes it or not. For once, I will secretly follow her home, and nopony can stop me! When Ambrosia and I got a little further away from the group, I brought up my idea to her. Fortunately, she had no objections to it, but she obliged me to hurry back. And I immediately agreed after she told me that she would be waiting for me with a surprise... It was a little confusing, as I thought about it, lately I have been at home - I mean with my parents - less and less and my nights have been spent practically without exception at my fillyfriend's. Nopony had a problem with this new arrangement. Sometimes the instinctive feeling that it was late and I should go home would still arise in me at night. At such times, the bargaining with Ambrosia always started... to get me to stay just another hour... just another half hour, just ten more minutes, and then somehow it always turned out to be so late anyway that it would have been rather impolite to go home. At this time, the "oldies" were already asleep, I told myself, but obviously the main deterrent was that I would have to give up the possibility of sleeping in the same bed with my mare. Which admittedly would have been a disproportionately large and rather unnecessary sacrifice. Anyway, my dad once remarked that I'm already an adult, and it doesn't hurt if I learn to live separately from them anyway, even if my mom had a hard time accepting the situation.

I was really grateful to fate for my parents. Sometimes they could get on my nerves, but when I needed their help, they always did their best. Despite this, they didn't cling to me, and even before I reached adulthood, they always made sure to leave me enough room. And that's why I couldn't even imagine what kind of parents Wish had...

I knew that the girl had always had a kind of fear of adults, which I assumed could be because of them. They never escorted her anywhere, Wish had to do everything herself. Somehow in spite of that it didn't seem like she had more freedom than me. Not always, but in some cases, she had to get home on time, and she strictly kept to this - or they made her keep to it. Sometimes she seemed sad for no reason, and then she refused to share her sorrow with us, just as she never talked about how things were going at home. However, as far as I can remember, there was no instance where there was any sign of her physically being hurt. In short, I felt it was time to look into a few things.

When we were finished with our assigned task for the day, Ambrosia and I accompanied Jasper and Wish to the dormitory as usual, and then we started with the mare back to the intersection, where we normally parted ways. There, we quickly said goodbye to each other, but Ambrosia and I walked very leisurely. I looked back at Wish many times, and as soon as I found that we were at a safe distance from each other, so that she wouldn't turn back to look at us even by accident, I pulled my fillyfriend behind a bush.

"Are you sure this is necessary?" Ambrosia pouted. "It didn't seem so bad..."

"If everything seems to be okay, at least I can come back to you that much sooner," I smiled.

"Alright then. Just make sure she doesn't teleport away from you!"

She was more right about that one than I'd like to admit. Although I could still see the girl as I peeked out from behind the bush, she was actually capable of making my big plan obsolete with a simple spell. So I quickly exchanged a kiss with Ambrosia, then crumbled into a fine powder and followed Wish. She didn't get far, and the wind wasn't blowing much, so it was quite easy to track her down. I tried to keep my distance from her and hovered about a floor above her, even though I was sure, in this form it was almost impossible to detect my presence. And Wish really didn't look to the right or to the left - especially not up - she just moved decisively forward.

A few streets later, after about a quarter of an hour, she stopped in front of a wooden fence. I didn't even understand what she was doing, because she didn't go to the gate, she just put her foot through the laths. And as I looked at the house that stood behind the fence, I would have been unable to associate it with the mare anyway, it was so huge and ostentatious. However, Wish didn't move, she just made a strange, chirping sound - as far as I could tell without physically existing ears.

Something was approaching from the other side. I felt it, but I didn't see it for some time. It didn't look big, but it was definitely not a pony.

"Well, hello, Shiver!" the mare cooed, stretching her hoof even more towards the garden. "Who's a good boy? Yes, you are!"

Now it wasn't hard to identify the purring sound that came in response, so I wasn't surprised by the tomcat trotting quickly towards the mare. The huge, shiny-furred cat sniffed and licked Wish's hoof, then even slowly rubbed against it.

"Had a nice day, didn’t we?" Wish kept talking to him. "Is this a good little kitten?"

She lowered her foot, and the cat meowed loudly, then, carefully prepared for the manoeuvre, jumped on it. They put their heads together through the fence, then the kitten jumped back to the ground and continued to cuddle with the mare. For a while they seemed to just enjoy each other's company, only I got bored watching them, but then Wish finally waved goodbye to the animal. And from here, the house, whose door the mare had actually entered, was not far away.

I was even more surprised by the appearance of the building than the previous one. What I found most peculiar about it was that it was completely average. The small courtyard in front of it was neatly kept, the walls were simply coloured and clean, and the windows were spacious and square. Nothing worth mentioning. Nothing that should have been kept a secret from us.

I waited for her to enter the door, and after she closed it behind her, I waited a few seconds and only then did I carefully slip in through the keyhole. In the meantime, I could already hear her saying hello to whom I assumed were her parents.

"Hello!"

"Hi!" came the answer in the voice of a mare, and after a while a stallion joined her.

They seemed completely ordinary, although they didn't exactly welcome Wish with bursting joy. By the time I made my way through the narrow gap, she was already in the living room - which by the way seemed quite a bit smaller than ours, although probably only because of its furnishings - and was looking at a rolled-up rug leaning against the wall.

"Oh! Did you pack it anyway?" Wish shouted to the other room.

"We'll buy another," replied the stallion's voice. "Check out the table while you're at it!"

The mare went a few steps away and stopped in front of the aforementioned piece of furniture. She just watched in silence for a few seconds, then raised her leg and touched the corner protector that was placed on it. She let out a low sigh, shook her head, and then turned her back on it with a grimace.

"You didn't need to bother with this," she shouted again. "If there's nothing to trip over, I won't hit myself there again."

A strange disappointment came over me. I arrived less than a minute ago and already received the answer to my question, which lined up with Wish's story. The place they lived in was perfectly average, and her parents seemed normal. Yet this whole matter did not let me rest. On one hoof, I didn't want to leave immediately, as if I had done my job well, if I had gathered my courage and "broke in" to them without their knowledge, and on the other hoof, I wanted to find out why I could never just come here if everything was really okay with them.

I wanted to have a look at Wish's parents. While the girl went to the room in the opposite direction and closed the door with a soft click, I floated over to where I guessed the two ponies were. I only found a completely ordinary shorter earth pony mare and a tall unicorn stallion. Wish's mother was peeling an apple in a large bowl, and her father was sitting at the desk with a pencil in his mouth, apparently deep in thought. They were so... mundane that I couldn't get over it. I watched them quietly and motionless for a while, but since they weren't doing anything worth mentioning, I headed towards Wish's room instead.

Inside, the sight that greeted me was finally not what I had expected. As humble a girl as I knew Wish to be, I was surprised by how cluttered her room was. It wasn't exactly a small room, but quite a large part of it was impassable due to the objects piled on the floor. Although the shelves were almost without exception full of all kinds of things, the mare apparently also found the carpet a suitable place for her stacked up books, or for her unused bedding. What immediately caught my eye were the huge stuffed animals that were scattered in different parts of the room; a life-sized dog figure, for example, was placed right on her bed.

After getting rid of her sunglasses, the mare was busy examining her injury in the mirror of her dressing table - the mere existence of which I found a little strange, since Wish was not usually wearing any makeup, at most very minimal one - so I took the opportunity, and I looked around the room more carefully. I found a few certificates hanging on her wall, which she obtained at the Academy, and among them hung a few photos from the class. On one of the shelves, which was noticeably sparser in terms of layout, there were a few more pictures of just the three of us: her, Jasper, and me. I also remembered that she even made us sign one of them, but I didn't feel like checking it now. It also had a couple of magical-looking doodads, but I couldn't even pay attention to them, because by the time I got there, Wish had finally stepped away from the mirror.

I watched curiously what she was going to do after that, but I froze in an instant, as she pulled off her skirt with one quick movement and threw it into one of the open closets with the help of her horn. In a rather unexpected and embarrassing way, I had to realize that Wish really couldn't see me... Suddenly I didn't even know what to do. I knew it was terribly rude of me not to retreat immediately, but something kept me there. If I had a tangible, physical body, I could at least turn away, but this way I couldn't completely push the visual stimuli out of my mind.

With a big sigh, Wish laid back on her bed, causing her blouse to crinkle up. She's wearing panties, I noted, not just a little embarrassed by my own train of thought and the fact that I'm still there, looking at her. The girl, on the other hoof, was apparently not bothered at all: she lightly waved her tail, and she floated a couple of small magnetic iron orbs to her, humming softly and clicking them together. She amused herself with this for a minute or two, but then she sighed again, put down her little toy, shook her head, and flopped on her back, showing even more of herself.

This time she only stayed like that for a very short time, then she pulled the big stuffed dog to herself and slid her other hoof down all the way to her underwear. I didn't even dare to think about what the buck is she doing, I was pulled up short. I never thought that one day I would see her like this.

The mare's hoof was already at the bow and she gently nudged her panties, but then she pulled back.

"It's red," she stated loudly.

I had no idea why she was saying that all of a sudden. And anyway... does she usually talk to herself...?

"I thought I would help a bit," she continued matter-of-factly. "Or are you no longer colour blind?"

I had this terrifying suspicion that Wish was talking to me. After all, she knew exactly that I don't see colours in this dispersed form...

"I know you're here!" the girl remarked with a playful smile, although her gaze wandered uncertaintyaround the room, as if she couldn't see where I was hiding. "I've seen you casting this spell, like, a million times, Thread..."

Did she know all along that I followed her? So why did she act like she didn't notice? And why did she undress...? Or was she just bluffing? If it was so, she would have to play this every single day for it to work...

"Aw, come on, I won't bite!" she rolled her eyes.

Either way, I'm only making a fool of myself if I try to hide any longer. I mustered up the courage to face her, though as my body sank to floor level, and regained its original shape, I had to realize some extremely unpleasant facts such as the fact that my heart was beating so hard I could almost feel it through my ribs. And in a few moments, my sweat damped my fur, which was not primarily due to the summer heat.

Wish's smile turned embarrassed as soon as she saw me, and she instinctively covered herself with the stuffed animal. Needless to say; I couldn't look at her like that anymore. Rather, I turned my head away and, looking in the mirror, I immediately realized how profusely I managed to blush.

"Hi..." I muttered.

"Well, hi..." she answered after a few seconds. But at least her voice didn't sound demanding. "So, as I said, it was red and lacy. Feel free to check it again if you don't believe me..."

I swallowed hard, but it was difficult to bring myself to turn towards her again. She, on the other hoof, was patient, so my curiosity soon overcame my embarrassment. Wish was still lying on her back, holding the plush dog to her chest with her front hooves. She closed her hind legs tightly, but pulled up her blouse, giving me an awkwardly perfect view of her hips and her slightly translucent underwear. Even if Wish hadn't been scrutinizing my face, I wouldn't have been able to stare for more than a few fleeting moments. As soon as I turned away, she adjusted her dress and changed her position, covering herself again. She turned to the other end of the bed and was now lying on her stomach looking into my eyes.

"Well, are you satisfied?" she asked in a voice that was meant to be confident, but was too timid for that. "Although I will note, it would have been easier for you to ask if you were so much interested. That I do wear your gift!" she added a little impatiently, probably seeing the incomprehension on my face.

I must admit, that would have been the last thing I thought of if she hadn't said it. My visit had nothing to do with anything like that, and it was all Jasper's idea anyway; I almost forgot about our little outing before the Gala. I didn't even know what to say about this whole situation.

"That's... not why you came here, huh?" Wish asked with some uncertainty in her voice, though still smiling indulgently.

I just shook my head.

"But you sneaked into my room..." she raised an eyebrow slightly over her undamaged eye. "And you waited for me to undress."

"Okay, first, I wasn't expecting that, and second, if you knew I was here, why did you do it?" I finally found my voice, although I couldn't sound much more confident than her either.

"Well first, because I, unlike you, am at home, so only you should be embarrassed," explained Wish, parodying my style. "By the way, I hate walking around in my own room in clothes, so I left these on only because you're here. Second, I thought you wouldn't leave me alone until you saw it with your own eyes, and I couldn't have stopped you if you really wanted to."

"You really think I'm so aggressive?" I asked.

"No," she giggled. "But I would have been curious as to how long you would have followed me if I didn't say anything. By the way, does your fillyfriend know that you are running after other mares?"

"Of course we discussed it," I switched to a more serious tone. "I was worried about you. I didn't want you to end up in the hospital like Stella."

"And what did you want to do about it, big guy?" Wish grinned more and more relieved, unlike me. "You can't be there all the time to catch me when I trip!"

"It was hard to believe that it really happened the way you told us..." I remarked.

"And you still don't believe me, do you?" she shook her head smiling. "But accidents happen sometimes. I think it's just the weather. A warm front, or what the heck, in addition to this heat. Don't you feel that you have become more tired these days?"

"Honestly, no," I replied. "Apparently, I'm not that sensitive to such things."

"Well, that could be the case..." Wish nodded.

Neither of us spoke for a while. Wish thoughtfully poked the edge of her bed with her hoof, and I sneaked a few glances at her flank, which was almost not covered at all by the underwear from behind, especially since the mare also threw her tail a little to one side. I didn't know exactly why I was looking there. I had a partner and was perfectly happy with my relationship, and Wish was my friend. Although I always found her cute, she didn't arouse any kind of desire or dirty thoughts in me, but somehow, I was still tempted by the rare opportunity to let my eyes wander over her body for a bit. Of course, the simplest explanation must have been that I'm a stallion, that's why I can't stop... I can't even say that despite my best efforts, since I was rather trying to be cunning so that she wouldn't notice if I sneaked a peek sometimes. Perhaps, knowing Wish, I wanted to take advantage of that, exceptionally, she opened up in front of me.

"Shall I get dressed?" she asked, as if she had guessed my thoughts. Or maybe I wasn't as cunning as I thought I was.

"No, you don't have to!" I replied, maybe a little too quickly. "I don't mind if you're like this..."

She closed her eyes and sighed heavily.

"That felt... nice..." she said softly.

I also felt a pleasant feeling that I could hear this from her, but at the same time I was a little startled. I didn't want her to think for a second that I felt anything but friendship for her. It should have been clear anyway, after all, I had Ambrosia, but the fact that Wish was behaving so strangely made me unsure again. We should avoid getting tangled up in some nasty misunderstanding...

"Look, I really didn't mean to peep at you!" I said after some time. "So I promise, it won't happen again."

Wish squinted at me for a while, then pulled her mouth into a sly smile. "You are always so... circumstantial, my friend," she concluded. "You don't have to explain; I know you so well. I'm glad if I'm not indifferent to you as a mare, but that obviously doesn't mean anything more. Not many ponies have looked at me the way you did today, so thank you for this little experience." She laughed merrily. "I can put it in the right place and it will stay between the two of us. And don't be afraid that I want anything more from you! I wouldn't try anything even if you didn't have a special somepony right now."

"Can I ask... is it because of Jasper?"

"We could say, although it's a bit more complicated," she smiled mysteriously.

"I have some spare time at the moment," I said cautiously. "As long as I don't bother you..."

"You never bother me!" she winked. "But I don't like that you are so tight. Sit down here next to me! Just watch out for Bogey!"

By way of explanation, she used her magic to lift the stuffed dog and lay it down on her outstretched hind legs. I hesitated a bit, then I climbed onto the bed next to her, although I didn't sit, but rather leaned on my side and rested my chin on my hoof so that we could maintain eye contact. She also turned towards me, essentially mirroring my body position. And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop myself from glancing at her hips while she was settling in this new position. Of course, I was again lucky enough to be caught by my momentary digression, but she didn't seem to really mind it aside from blushing a bit again.

"It's funny, but not even in my dreams..." she began, but then her face turned beet-red and she shook her head a little. "Whatever..."

I looked at her questioningly, but she just kept smiling shyly and flopped back her ears as she turned away a little. I didn't want to embarrass her even more, so instead I helped her change the topic, even though I was terribly curious about what she was about to say.

"So he's your dog?" I asked, poking at her hind legs.

"Uh-huh! You can pet him, just don't poke his nose, because he doesn't like that!"

It was funny how she talked about the plush as a living thing. I stretched out my hoof to reach for it, though I stopped for a moment when I realized that the stuffed animal was lying on top of the girl, so it could have been indirectly interpreted as petting her. So instead I only scratched the fur of the plushie very superficially.

"He likes you," Wish stated. "He growled at Jasper at first, but got a liking for him too now."

I imagined the girl hoofing the stuffed dog to the stallion, Jasper tries to pet it, but then suddenly recoils as the toy unexpectedly growls at him.

"Wait a minute!" I put two and two together as what the mare said actually meant. "Jasper has visited you?"

"Only once or twice," Wish flopped her ears a little.

I felt like I had been fooled, and it probably showed as she hung her head in remorse.

"Did I... miss something?" I asked, aiming for a neutral tone.

"Sorry..." she muttered quietly. "I should have said that you can also visit me sometimes..."

"Why, what has changed?" I asked in surprise.

"We grew up," she stated simply.

"And your parents prefer that you lock yourself in your room with grown-up stallions?"

"Eh, they don't care what I do at all," she shrugged. "That is, as long as I don't disturb them."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said."

Her cheerfulness seemed to have vanished, and she stared in front of her with a completely expressionless face. Her horn flared faintly, and her stuffed dog rose slowly, then dropped on her back; his nose almost reached her ear. "Come on, Bogey, bad doggie!" she laughed and shook herself so that the plushie would slide down on her.

"You're so cute," slipped out of my mouth. "It's rare to see you so cheerful."

"I'm glad you came," she replied, looking into my eyes again. "Even if I misunderstood your intentions."

"Wish..." I stroked the sheet in front of me. "Can I ask you something?"

"Fire away!"

"Are you and Jasper dating?"

"Honestly?" she asked back with a long sigh. "No. But I want to, and I feel like he does too. It's just... obviously I can't take the initiative..."

"Should I tell him?" I offered carefully.

"Holy Sweet Celestia, don't you dare!" the girl suddenly turned pale. "I promised that I wouldn't tell anypony about you being here either! Don't do this to me, please!"

"Hey, I'm just trying to help, okay?" I retorted immediately. "But you're right, this is your business."

"Thanks Thread!" She patted my shoulder, then sighed. "Anyway... how do you see it? Do you think he likes me a little?"

"It seemed to me that he hangs around you all the time," I replied thoughtfully. "And you're not making it hard for him..."

"Well... if it was up to me... Oh, don't give me that look, please!" Wish blinked shyly at me. "You hear me?"

I don't know exactly what kind of look I was giving her, but she got up and turned around, then fell on her stomach again and hid her head under her pillow. Of course, it didn't escape my attention that with this maneuver she left her rear uncovered again. After some deliberation, I took advantage of the situation and tugged very gently on the bow tied at the base of her tail.

"Okay, noted..." she muttered from the depths, but she only raised her tail a little at my teasing. "Even then, it would be stupid for me to discuss it with you if you were a mare, after all, we are talking about a mutual friend."

I sneaked another glance at the mare's flank, but so that she wouldn't accidentally notice it, I also turned towards the other end of the bed so that our heads were in line.

"I would say that we shouldn't make a big deal of it, but maybe you're right," I said thoughtfully. "If only so that we don't talk about him behind his back. It would also be a bit awkward to hear anything like that about him..."

Wish raised her head from the pillow and looked mischievously into my eyes. "Well..." she began, but then, raising her ears, she turned towards the door.

Somepony was fumbling about outside, which made me break a sweat in an instant. I couldn't imagine what would happen if Wish's parents "caught me" with their daughter. Especially since I stayed in their house not only uninvited, but completely secretly.

"You, Wish!" I whispered. "What if they open the door on us?"

"Well, my dear friend, that would be a historic moment!" she answered cheerfully, in a normal speaking tone. "Don't worry, I always have a soundproofing spell on my room! Also, I tend to lock the door. Well, it's not like they would come in anyway..."

"Interesting..."

"But staying on topic, can I also ask something?" she asked again bashfully with her ears down. "What do you use for... for... protection?"

"Nothing," I answered.

She opened her healthy eyes wide and stared at me.

"I really hope you're just pulling my tail!" she said unusually forcefully.

"Okay, I'll tell you, if you're so interested, that it was not needed yet," I reluctantly explained. "Nothing like that has happened between us yet."

If possible, Wish was now even more surprised than before.

"Well, I never would have guessed!" she shook her head in shock. "I was totally, like, you guys, you know... did it a long time ago...! Is there seriously a stud who can wait so long for a mare? Well, huge respect, then!"

I nodded with a half-hearted, not-so-sincere smile, while thinking about the evening of the Gala and about Hacky. I felt like Wish was giving me way more credit than I deserved.

"Don't be afraid, you'll get there with time!" she patted my shoulder sympathetically, misunderstanding my reaction. "But really do pay attention to this, so it doesn't become a problem! May I ask about your plans? For protection...?"

"Haven't actually talked about it..." I shook my head.

"Stella is taking pills, as far as I know," she continued, looking deeply into my eyes. "They've been using it for a couple of years now, and it looks like it's working well. But if you don't fancy that sort of thing, I know a pretty good spell."

"How do you know it's good, have you tried it?" I tried to tease, but she didn't react the way I expected her to.

"I've practiced a lot, but I'm yet to use it in practice. My father taught it when I was still in preschool. I've read about it since then, and it has a pretty good rating in scientific circles."

"Were you interested in such things so early on? I wondered.

"You can't prepare early enough," she said seriously. "I don't want to accidentally get pregnant..."

"You're being a bit too anxious about this, don't you think? Is that why you have such a hard time opening up to stallions?"

"Well... I don't want to fall in the same pit as my parents," she pulled her mouth into a bitter smile.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked when I processed her words a little.

"Have you seen them?" she asked with the same expression. "They really like to be left alone, in peace. You can imagine that the last thing they wanted or needed was a foal..."

"So... you were... unwanted?" I tried to put the picture together.

"Exactly!" she giggled. "The most surprising thing is that I am here. You know, a foal changes everything. And they didn't want change, but if such a misfortune had befallen them, they wouldn't have had the heart to get rid of me. I can be grateful that they kept me..."

I couldn't believe what she was saying. Do such ponies really exist? How was it possible to live like this, knowing this? Or how did she even find out? I had so many questions in my head, I didn't even know where to start. Or am I even doing the right thing by simply trying to pry into her past to satisfy my own curiosity, recalling such painful memories with her... After all, if I think about it carefully, would this also mean that her own parents don't love her?

"I think I've been putting off telling anypony for long enough," she finally continued. "I must admit, I wasn't even sure that anypony was interested at all. But if nopony else, you and Jasper deserved to know... if you want to, I mean."

"I'd be curious, but... I don't want to pry..."

"Come on, it's okay!" she waved a hoof cheerfully. "You can get used to it in a couple of years. If I'm not in their way, I hardly notice. You know, it's not very lucky to have foals for ponies who hate kids in general. Which I understand by the way; they can be quite annoying. They never shut up and they follow you everywhere until you finally deal with them. You have to feed them, buy them things, and you have to do everything for them, because they can't do anything by themselves. If they don't like something, they whine and throw tantrums. And now imagine a situation where you get married to the love of your life, and then another little resident sneaks in between you and does everything to prevent you from enjoying each other's company! Who wants that?"

"I never thought of that before..."

"Of course, because your parents love you!" she grinned. "They don't get irritated by the little ones. Don't take it personally, but you were very much a spoiled brat compared to me. I've been doing everything I can by myself for a long time. As soon as I was able, I had to buy my clothes too. Do you think they ever cooked anything specifically for me? Is it a problem if I hate what we have to eat? Either I made something else for myself, or I had to take it. That was the deal. They don't interfere in my affairs, if I want to put it nicely. The truth is, of course, they don't want to deal with me. They never wanted to."

"Horrible..." I remarked regretfully. "To be honest, I thought they were just very strict with you. Or that you need to save money, and that's why you're often so tied up."

"Oh, we have money, don't you worry!" she waved dismissingly. "I'll get as much of it as... as I get. I basically furnished this room. Okay, except for the bed and that one wardrobe. But do you think I ever got anything from them besides money?"

She talked about it so easily, even though I was sure it hurt her. If not now, then in the past.

"You made it very homely!" I tried to compliment. "Really nice to be here."

"Thanks." She looked around smiling. "I brought in the furniture as well!"

"Nopony helped?"

"My parents don't like strangers coming into our house," she shook her head. "Especially if they are foals. Only trouble with them."

"What can I say, it must have been difficult for you!" I grimaced sympathetically.

"Well, I wouldn't say it was easy," she smiled. "But it's not that bad. No matter how much they disliked it, they did raise me and turned me into something pony-like, didn't they? All in all, I think I'm happy. It could have been much, much worse. For example, they never hurt me! Once or twice I got how much better their lives would be without me, but that was it."

"You poor thing! If I had known..."

"Even then, you wouldn't have been able to do anything. You can't even now. But you don't have to. I am actually grateful to them, and to the coincidence that I exist at all..."

She herself didn't seem sad at all, but it was a terrible feeling for me to know what she had to go through. Why her, who was such an innocent, benevolent creature...? My best friend had such a terrible foalhood and I never even asked about it. But if I knew, I'm sure I'd have been much more understanding towards her. And I would have told the others not to tease her so much with all kinds of nonsense.

"Oh, don't give me this grievous face!" she patted my back.

I pulled her closer and hugged her gently. I stroked her mane as she closed her good eye.

"It was nice of you to hear me out," she said after a few minutes of silence, during which I tried to comb her mane with my hoof. She didn't even look at me, but she seemed to enjoy my touch, even though in this sense we only sought contact in rare cases. "I'm a little relieved that I could finally tell you. And thank you for always being there for me. You are a real good friend!"

I saw her smile, but her pillow seemed to be wet. I pushed my head to her and let her lean on me a little. She sniffed softly, but then continued in a clear voice. "You know, you are just as important to me. You and Jasper. Only you are always looking for reasons and solutions. And he... he can cheer me up at any time. I hope I'll be lucky enough one day..."

She didn't finish the sentence, but she didn't have to. I understood her better than I ever had in my life. I stayed there for a long time, stroking her back. I waited until she calmed down and her cheerfulness returned. We didn't talk much after that, but I promised that I would always be there for her and take care of her. It was getting dark by the time I started back to Ambrosia. I knew she wouldn't be happy about me coming home so late, but I had an idea of how I could make it up for her. And she had to understand that Wish was somepony in my life whom I will devote my time to whenever she needs me in the future...