To Change the World

Five ponies, one dragon, and one human, sit on a bar.

The five ponies say nothing, seated around an arrangement of pillows and a sofa, forming a circle in the free space at the center of the Friendship Castle’s library. Five sets of eyes were fixed on the lavender sixth, silent pleadings for leadership falling deaf nonetheless in the princess’ ears. One of the ponies is missing, in charge of whipping up some quick refreshments for the present company, a task she’d taken to with gusto, even with the human’s peculiar choice. The rest are statues, rustling restlessly in their seats as a still, contemplative atmosphere weighed down like the Friendship Express on a Monday morning rush over their shoulders.

The dragon said nothing, for he felt there was nothing to be said under the present circumstances, falling leagues from anything of resemblance he might’ve experienced in his short life. He gazed up at the sole anchor keeping his world in place; His older sister, his role model, his lifelong companion. Spike sought guidance in her well-renowned, boundless well of knowledge for the next step to be taken. The awkward expectation seeped in with every breath and made him sweat bullets under his scales, bringing bothersome musings of ill tidings and upsetting the fire in his tummy. The alicorn remained speechless to his pleading, slitted, green gems.

The human said nothing. In truth, he enjoyed the nothingness traveling between him and these disturbingly adorable ponies, who until very recently had been fussing all over him like a flock of concerned pigeons over a piece of bread. The pink one was missing. Good riddance, he was seconds away from clonking her out on her tail on their way from the cell block. His fuse had burned away with a snuff at the fifth mention of a welcome party for him, amidst countless exclamations and screeches pertaining to how EXCITED she was that he was here and how much fun they’d be having together in this place, which they seemed to call ‘Ponyville’.

… Ponyville. The ville of ponies. My, he wondered if there was a ‘Humanville’ back on Earth. Oh, yes. He was no longer on Earth, a kinda obvious detail.

Like a hawk perched on its branch, he kept his sights on a close, searing glare patrolling each pony and the overgrown gecko filling the space around him, for he was the sole occupant of the couch he’d been graciously gifted to plant his aching ass on. Fuck. Served him right for having sat on the stone floor of that accursed cell for too long. He’d take no chances in this place, reading everything in front of him just as he tried to keep tabs behind him in case the pink one returned unnoticed to plunge a dagger into his neck or something. That pinkie mare painted him as a loose cannon for some reason after the total amount of zero words he’d exchanged with her

Also, why were all ponies female? Was it because of the rainbow of colors that were their coats? Shouldn't they be looking either a shade of brown, black, or white? At least two of them subscribed to what the human understood as normal. However, there was also one LEVITATING stuff with a flick of their horn, so what even made sense anymore, and what didn't?

Still, the human personally thought that the puffy-maned mare turning violent was unlikely. Against his initial beliefs, he hadn’t been shown any signs of ill will from these fantasy creatures. In fact, the polar opposite was the case; All of them had joined the winged and horned one (pegacorn?) in their explicit, vocal proclamations of welcome and good tidings. To top the cake, all of them preached under a PG-13 parody of the old pinkie promise that they’d make him feel at home during the time he was there with them… not that they had pinkie fingers to dwell over. The purple one seemingly was leading said effort while her companions pitched in with their own, unique ways, as they all had colorfully described in a surprising show of empathy.

The ambiance as they initially treaded into the library had been filled with joy and excitement, a sea of ideas, propositions and possibilities flying back and forth, with a childish sense of wonder fueling each of the equine’s flames…

That spirit of discovery had lasted for a hot minute until the colorful horses realized that they weren't eliciting any semblance of a response from him, if not outright making his frown sink in more with each friendship proposition they’d fired out. They could no longer take his silence as a lack of communication; They knew he could understand them, and answer in kind too, a miracle at work ensuring that no language barrier prevented them from communicating, like Twilight had feared at first.

Nope, the human simply did not share in their collective enthusiasm. One by one, the stream of offers for a private visit to some orchard, a heartful pleading for an exchange of cultures by the purple equine, a challenge to a race for some reason, an inquiry about his species’ traits, and educated comments about his choice of clothes… all had trickled down into the tense silence they all now basked in.

The human used the stillness in the air to spare a moment and explore his surroundings. He recognized the nature of the place they’d been asked to gather in. Towering shelves carved into the very crystal of the walls, filled with an endless amount of books surrounded them from every direction beside the ornamented doors they had paraded in through. He would have to check up on them at a later time… or perhaps not.

“Ahem!” It seemed that the purple one was in for a second round to tackle this bull. The human could only wonder what that kids-drawing-turned-pony had in store for him this time, for she had been the most inquisitive of the lot in the short minutes it’d taken them to reach this library.

“Um, I can understand how we all might not feel… uh, chatty,” The purple horse grabbed the figurative bull’s head with a sheepish grin, her wings rustling restlessly at her sides, making the human wonder how those, in turn with her horn, had ended up attached to her. No sort of disguise or mechanical prosthesis could ever reach that level of realism from where he came from.

“You can say that again…” The blue Rainbow with the gay-pride banner dyed on her mane and tail scoffed with a dull snort.

The purple mare sent a chiding leer toward the aforementioned pony before fixing back on the human. “Okay, um... How about names? I’ll go first,” She cleared her throat and offered a… hoof. A hoof of all things came to rest above her fuzzy chest as it puffed out a bit where she stood.

Were equine legs and wrists supposed to bend like that?

“My name is Twilight Sparkle. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” The purple horse greeted him with a tiny bow.

“She’s a princess!” A shout came from someplace inside the castle, the culprit being that pink over-sugared missile, making Twilight groan dejectedly, for she’d rather have kept that tidbit about herself a secret. For the time being, at least; She didn't want him to feel intimidated or something, assuming the human had a concept of royalty in their world.

The human’s eyes widened a tad with this new information. The purple horse was apparently a pretty purple pony princess. He found it hard to believe from, well, aside from the general irreality of the situation, her lack of a crown and matching regalia, as well as the very un-royal way she had tugged down on her eyes in frustration, after the pink mare’s unwelcome clarification.

If that pony was indirectly implying the need for proper royal etiquette and titles when addressing her, she had another thing coming.

A second of nothingness rolled by before the mare named Twilight peered to her left, where a sky-blue pegasus lay sprawled over the comfy puff that housed her, her wings hanging lazily at her sides while belly up, exuding as much life and excitement as her pet tortoise would on a good day.

Rainbow sensed the holes Twilight was digging into the back of her withers. A silent, albeit deafening demand for her to play along with the game of names. Rainbow snorted loudly and recomposed herself on her elbows to dignify the human with a bored, lidded leer under her multicolored bangs.

“Name’s Rainbow Dash.” She introduced herself dryly, making Twilight’s intense leer heat up into a proper glare. Rainbow, shrugging with her wings, promptly ignored her, speaking her mind instead. “And this is becoming boooooring as haaaay. I got places to beeeeee...”

“Rainbow!” The orange mare, sporting an adorable cowboy hat and the southern drawl to complete the set, scolded the slacking pegasus for her blunt rudeness, the latter rearing up in defense with a scratchy voice.

“Whaaat?! We’ve been here, like, forever, and all we’ve gotten out of Big Lug over there is just a bunch of glaring.” Rainbow returned the gesture with her own set of lidded brows, making the human sit a bit more rigidly on the pink-and purple-accented couch. “Perhaps I ought to go and teach him some manners…”

“Rainbow, please!” The one named Twilight Sparkle… seriously, what kind of name is that?... stood between the two heated mares, using her wings to separate the renowned hot-heads before things could escalate badly. “Now is not the time for this.” With unfurled wings, the big pony pushed them apart and stood tall over the flinching pegasus.

“... Tsk, whatever.” In a childish tantrum, Rainbow slumped back on her cloud puff and shut out the world around her, choosing instead to count the number of books on the shelf closest to her, so as to kill some time. The creature was already yesterday’s news to her the moment he swatted her offer for a friendly race like a bothersome fly.

Roaring tornados, he didn’t even have a tail to swat a fly with! What the actual HAY had Twilight dragged in from beyond the rift?!

Dragging her pursed muzzle and disapproving scowl over Rainbow for a few moments more, Applejack followed Twilight’s request and cooled down her southern temper. She used the chance to introduce herself next with an apologizing tone. “You’ll have that excuse Rainbow here. She’s not known fer her courtesy… Anyways!” Dipping her hat like the cowmare she was born to be, Applejack flashed her best salesmare beam at the human, not letting his uninviting frown deter her from making a good impression. “My name’s Applejack. Proud member of the Apple family, here ‘n Ponyville. It’s ah mighty pleasure meeting ‘ya.”

Wouldn't you know that? The human actually liked that horse with the cosplay. Or, in better words, he tolerated her the most from the gathered equines. He could remember hazily that pony being the one to help him down in that depressing cell for his, quoted, ‘own safety’.

Right on their asses it was, he’d seen enough movies and read enough books to know what all this ‘for your own safety’ bullshit was all about. Deep down, he couldn't really blame them for taking precautions, but it didn't cast a better light on his captors either.

The human offered a curt nod of acknowledgment, and that was all the orange mare was gonna get from him.

“My name is Rarity Belle, but please, Rarity is just fine.” The alabaster unicorn with the curls was next from her refined, even perfumed choice of pillows. Their sewn adornments and highlights could only try to dream of the refinement and beauty the white horse was trying her dammest to poetry. “It is quite a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She bashed her hoof suavely, flashing her pristine eyelashes all the way with repeated, unsubtle blinks with her eyes.

Applejack had to roll her eyes under the rim of her hat and snort, causing Twilight's left eye to twitch a little bit in turn. Why couldn't her friends simply introduce themselves like normal ponies for once?!

Not only her trans-Atlantic accent, but the way she cocked her blue perls teasingly at the human, the way her curled mane cascaded partially over her marble features as if to mask her goods in an implied dare to uncover the rest. Also, the way she rested, lying comfortably yet refined on her belly, forelegs crossed placidly in front of her while she made sure to keep her upper trunk high and proud for the human, making sure to fix her unblinking gaze on him to transmit way more than mere words could.

… Creepy.

From his apparent inclination to wear an ample quantity of clothes, Rarity had made an educated, albeit blind superficial assumption regarding his tastes and preferences, drawing a common line between both of their seemingly shared passions for fabric. Rarity was simply too much of a lady to pursue her fellow mares’ rough, uncivilized attempts to rouse some answers from their newest visitor. She’d win the creature over the best way she knew how, and then milk him for every last tidbit of information regarding his otherworldly ensembles, which she made an easy guess of identifying as practical and baggy at first glance.

Now the human had to admit that this tiny horse with fake eyelashes had an attitude on her sleeves and quite a pair of ovaries to back it up. He’d give her that. Alas, to the unicorn’s shame, the only thing her… unabashed introductions managed to invoke in him was a sense of creepiness he could've bet his ass he hadn't felt since the day of the first communion with that weird girl with the braids… yuck. The mare was selling alright, but he wasn't buying the way she batted her rimmed eyelashes at him.

Note to self, put some precautionary distance between him and her at all times.

It was now the turn of the creatures gathered at Twilight’s right, starting from her number one assistant, who hopped from the pillows he shared with the alicorn to introduce himself with as much dragon pride as his little frame possessed. “My name’s Spike.” He proclaimed loud and proud, a thumbclaw over his chest as he puffed it out. “I’m a dragon, in case you haven't noticed.” He graciously informed, adding an unmistakable flash of his fangs and a swish of his spaded tail behind him.

Twilight bit down on her lip, secretly fawning over the adorableness of his little introduction. That was her baby brother alright, she wouldn't crash his bravado and spotlight today.

The human on the couch held a totally different opinion.

‘If that’s a dragon, then I’m the Beast Titan.’ He pursed his brow in contemplation. Two sides warred inside him: a childish side of him blowing its nuts out from the sole reason of having an, albeit self-proclaimed and pretty unconvincing, living, breathing FUCKING DRAGON flashing him his best winning smile. The rest of him, however, remembered his lab partner Elias’s pet iguana, the one with the nasty habit of biting fingers off, being ten times more menacing and imposing than this little guy.

Still, male company amidst a shore full of clams was always a welcome turn of events… Fuck, that was kinda low.

It was now the last remaining pony’s turn, and Fluttershy was not a mare to brim under the spotlight. Any trace of initiative and boldness had promptly vanished the moment Fluttershy had learned of the creature's capabilities of both understanding and speech, lifting him to the same cognitive level as any other pony. Whatever fence separated her fuzzy little friends from your run-of-the-mill pony in the Triggering of Shyness Department, the human had made an exemplary jump over it with an added inverted double corkscrew.

Now, the human was no more innocent or inconspicuous than a manticore in estrus stalking the Everfree Forest, with the difference being that Fluttershy wouldn't have riled a single feather in cuddling and fawning all over that manticore.

The human felt as if he should at least thank her for her concern for his well-being. However, the most he’d ever gotten from her was a short, mumbled, barely audible inquiry about his species' peculiarities before the yellow horse had shut herself off behind her mane. While the saucy unicorn’s mane cascaded fabulously over her powdered cheeks, Fluttershy used her rich mane as a proverbial wall between the dangerous world and her, making her look like a tiny ball of feathers and fluff from where the human sat waiting.

With the cutest ‘eep’ that’d ever graced the human’s ears, Fluttershy knew it would be extremely rude to try and make herself invisible in front of everypony. Yet, her inherent shyness kept her tied to that post, begging her to remain small and out-of-picture. It was safe and, most importantly, polite.

With these two forces playing tug-of-war inside her, Fluttershy refereed a compromise to keep both sides satisfied. Thus, with a treatment agreed upon, she untangled herself from the little ball and peeked a trembling, sea-green eye from behind the curved reaches of her lavender mane. A pretty one too, the human surprised himself admitting.

“I’m… Fluttershy…”

A cricket sounded somewhere in the distance. As it happened, the human ears managed to tell that sound apart better than whatever the butter pegasus had mumbled in her retreat. Where had that sweet little pony fussing all over his well-being gone?

The loosely pressed collar itched a storm on his neck. ‘For your own safety’, the purple leader had claimed. The human scratched at the reddening skin under its embrace and waited for the shy horse to dig herself out of her mane and repeat her name a tad louder for his inferior ears to catch.

Nothing of the sort happened. The more his expectation and impatience grew, and her friends tensed on their respective arrangements, the more nervous Fluttershy grew until she retreated with a whimper. After a minute, the tension climbed to the point where her friends understood that all they were going to get out of her was a subsonic squeak.

“Her name is Fluttershy. She's a tad shy, I’m afraid.” The one named Rarity graciously stepped up for her best friend with a supportive, albeit a smidge disappointed glance cast over the butter furball. Poor Fluttershy was like a broken metronome. Sometimes, you’d see her sticking it out like the fearsome mare Rarity knew was well hidden somewhere within her best friend. Overall, her shyness and meekness towards other ponies had improved dramatically since they first met.

But, when it came to meeting new ponies… there was still some ground to cover. First impressions were always key.

‘You don’t say…’ The human deadpanned, both inwardly and outwardly. Sadly, considering the bored, leering expression he’d been wearing since the ponies parked their rears in an intervention circle around him, it was obvious that the ponies couldn’t really tell the difference.

“And IIIIIII’m Pinkie Pie!!”

Ever-tactful Pinkie manifested by means Lovecraftian back from the kitchen without anycreature noticing, or else they'd have warned her NOT to ass jump to the already-jumpy human, regardless of how much Pinkie loved to surprise new ponies, with or without parties involved.

No ponies were surprised, though, by the way the human rocketed from the couch as if a scorpion had just pinched his ass. Pretty comical apparently, at least according to Rainbow’s obnoxious guffaws as she held onto her tummy for dear life. The rest of the mares facehooved collectively and resoundingly as the human clawed at his heart, a mind of its own having grown and with intentions to take a break from its beating just then.

Twilight, a spike of adrenaline rushing her, had to fire up her magic and summon a gust of wind to counterbalance the human, sparing him from tripping over and onto the coffee table she’d levitated to host the collection of treats Pinkie would whip up for them, currently being carried on a tray on the mares back. How Pinkie managed to keep them from falling while spooking the human was beyond Twilight. She’d stopped asking the hows and whys of Pinkie a long time ago.

“Hehe, sorry.” Pinkie apologized with a meek giggle, yet the way her eyes brimmed with energy lacked any semblance of regret. “It's just that I’m SOOOO excited to meet new ponies!! And you’re not even a pony! That’s like… TWICE as exciting!!” The sugary mare pranced in a cute dance. The rest held their collective breaths, fearing the tray with their snacks would spill all over the floor in her excitement. A mess somepony would have to clean afterwards.

… No such thing occurred. Pinkie’s ways were mysterious indeed, but the cucumber and cheese sandwiches, lemonade, and a cup filled only with honey as per the human's request, remained glued to the tray, as if the tray remained glued to her back.

One human couldn't have cared less by Pinkie effortlessly ignoring the laws of physics.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?!!”

His sudden boom flattened all pony ears present, freezing Pinkie mid-skip in yet another defiance of gravity, an optional thing for the mare on rare occasions. The startle had him panting like a rabid dog with adrenaline rushing in to flood his system. The human was seconds away from punching the snot out of that pink cunt for almost giving him a heart attack.

“Now now, there’s no need for such uncouth behavior.” Ever-tactful Rarity, smelling his aggressive intentions, reacted to step in between them. A warm, tingling sensation filled the human's right arm, stickily descending from his elbow and down to his hand.

The unfamiliar feeling was enough to spare Pinkie the human’s ire but at the price of his eyes widening in fright when they found a translucent, pale-blue, glowy aura of sorts bathing it. A gentle hum waved and pulsed in time with the alien energy swallowing his arm, applying enough force to overcome his musculature without a visible point of reference. Something that, according to his wide knowledge of the elemental rules of the universe, was impossible.

The human followed the pulsing chiming and the trail of sparkles to find the source of the strange energy in the horn of the alabaster unicorn. The human realized she’d somehow frozen his arm where it hung, without batting a single one of her long eyelashes.

… That purple horse had said something about magic. In retrospect, it was a unicorn keeping him rooted, and he’d seen the pegasus gently pet him with a very functional wing, so it wouldn't make sense for those horns to be just simple props.

Yeah. It made sense to him in retrospect, but the discovery of genuinely and unmistakable MAGIC being manifested didn’t make his surprise any less… colorful.

“¡¡S-S-Su puta madre!!”

For the second time in the last… two minutes, give or take, the human found the springs to jump half his length up into the air. Since his arm was still held in place by Rarity, what should have been a glorious demonstration of leg power ended up ranking a three-out-of-ten, with the three points coming on him smashing his face down on the ground the moment Rarity's telekinesis canceled his momentum, making him bounce back down like rubber.

“Mierda!!” The human cried; while it was in an unfamiliar language to the ponies, it was enough to denote murderous displeasure. He emerged from the drop with a throbbing temple and an even sorer nose. Whatever had assaulted him after passing through the rift seemed to have spared him for the moment, but it didn't mean he wasn’t still tender overall, and cranky as fuck.

“Rarity!!” Twilight interceded with celerity, canceling Rarity's spell that still kept his arm aloft in an awkward bend. “What did I say about magic?!” She icily reminded the flinching unicorn with a scowl.

“I-I’m sorry, darling.” Rarity fumbled with her fetlocks meekly. “I was just simply looking out for dear Pinkie here…”

“Heh, but I thought the collar kept magic off of the big lug,” Rainbow wiggled in her snout with her own unsolicited observation, not bothering to mask her amusement.

Twilight rolled her eyes tiredly and snorted her frustration. She thought she’d made it crystal clear that no magic whatsoever, not even the most innocuous of spells, should be cast on him without her express permission, or else they might harm the human more than the ambient magic. The collar prevented free magic from seeping into his body and coming back out in any shape or form, but that didn't mean spells could be cast on him, especially of the restricting kind! The collars were only meant to be worn by prisoners, after all.

The human finished nursing his throbbing nose only for it to send him straight into another round of hyperventilation. As he was about to throw a fit at the white mare, another force, albeit more gentle and measured, tugged at the collar of his jacket, forcing his attention. Gentle and measured did not equate to feeble for, before he knew what had gotten its claws on him, he was suddenly back on his feet. The culprit was a certain pink mare and her earth pony inherited strength. He was colored surprised beside, you know, being in the initial stages of a mental meltdown.

“I’m so sorry!” Pinkie wailed with teary eyes and droopy ears, genuinely crushed for having spooked him. She should’ve been more sensitive to his condition. The last thing she wanted was to turn his first day in Ponyville into the Haunted House attraction she and the Cakes threw at the bakery every Nightmare Night. “I just… I just can’t help myself sometimes…” Pinkie admitted from her heart, her droopy head coming to crash on the human’s belly as her mane deflated like a balloon before his very eyes. Fart sound and all!

His gaping bemusement lasted only for a shake of a pony’s tail before life was insufflated back into the pink mare. Her mood did three one-eighties in a row as a profound sense of surprise elicited a deep gasp from her, making the human flinch in readiness for another assault.

“Wait a second!” Pinkie exclaimed so that the birds nesting on the castle's star-like ornament could hear.

“What?!” The human yelled defensively but was promptly ignored by Pinkie as she squinted her baby-blue eyes and pouted her lips with a pensive hum.

“Hmmm…” Pinkie pondered something, making the human squirm nervously while his legs ignored his commands of flight. She fixed her attention on the white shirt peeking out from the flaps of his unzipped jacket, a hoof coming in to scratch under her chin. Twilight and the rest already feared the worst, except Rainbow, who found a thrill in seeing the human squirm under Pinkie’s shenanigans.

“Pinkie! Don’t do anything weird!”

Pinkie took Twilight's word to heart… and proceeded to sink her muzzle into the human’s belly for an encore, gently pushing him back, but lacking the force to drive him back down onto his butt.

An early bird pony tackling their groceries on the market street in the heart of Ponyville could’ve heard the face-slap Twilight treated herself to.

‘Pinkie Pie…’ Twilight growled from her hoof-flattened muzzle. This was supposed to be a simple round of introductions! A mere formality! ‘Hi! My name's Twilight! What's your name?’ Everypony has done at least one of these in school on their first day! Why was it so hard for them?!!

The fuming alicorn was about to rise from her seat and drag Pinkie back by her tail when a revelation rained down on the pink menace. “*GASP!!!* He’s chubby! Like me!” After which she then proceeded to tenderly nuzzle the human’s belly.

For some strange reason, images of his grandmother’s cat when getting angsty for some treats came to the human’s mind. It was fifty-fifty between this and clawing his face out back then. Was this mare on the same page? Should he be thinking about covering his face?

“PINKIE!”

Twilight’s outburst crossed out both possibilities at once when she rose from her pile of pillows and ensnared Pinkie with her horn’s magic. The protesting mare floated away like a cat on an air jail punishment with a pout on her lips. Had the human misrecognized these ponies as equines instead of some weird breed of feline?

The pink mare’s rump collided with a small mountain of pillows, her short attention span zeroed now on the tray of treats she’d left on the coffee table prior to her peculiar apologies. Twilight, sighing as the crisis averted itself, flapped her wings to stand before the recoiling, creeped-out human. Twilight noticed his left eyebrow twitching with a manic streak, announcing him to be on the brink of losing his fuckin’ mind, for the alicorn was of a similar custom should one have consulted Spike on the subject.

“S-Sorry about that, she didn’t mean anything by it,” The princess stammered, tucking her wings in and trying her best to mediate the situation, unable to remember the last time she felt so embarrassed in her friend’s steads. She’d have some words with the gang later, but it’s not like she’d read about behavioral acts and rituals when encountering an alien species either! “Um…” Unable to even meet the human’s towering gaze, Twilight pondered with saggy ears how to patch up this mess, if there was even a way of achieving that to begin with. She wanted to make absolutely sure that the human at least understood he was safe amongst her and her friends, and that she wouldn't allow anything bad to happen to him as long as she had a say in it.

And, to make this work, she needed him to trust in them. Trust in her.

Alas, when she unglued her eyes from the multi-fazed pattern of her crystalline floor to transmit the message, she found herself pleading to empty air with all her friends peering behind her.

Twilight followed their line of sight and felt her bangs spike up like Spike’s crest when she found the human beating a hasty retreat, headed for the library’s exit with his self preservation instinct doing the thinking for him.

These crazy-ass ponies, and that weird whateverness that the fucked up white unicorn had trapped his arm with were gonna be the end of him. He needed to put ground between him and them if he wanted to ever see his home again.

‘Go go go gogogo fucking GO!!! Fuck!!! I need to get the fuck out of here right this insta-GAH!!”

His attempts were thwarted by a blinding flash of light, followed by a cackling similar to thunder, if not a tad more sparkly. The light show blindsided the human into another few missed beats of his already overstressed heart.

The purple horse had somehow materialized in front of him, unfazed. The human sent his eyes back to find empty space where he’d rudely left her with the words on her muzzle and back to the pleading, purple orbs of the alicorn.

“Please!” Twilight skipped the pages back from the beginning of the script, chastising herself for having used a powerful spell near him, but the situation demanded it. “Please, don't try to run! It could be dangerous, for you and for the ponies out there!” Especially the platoon of guards currently patrolling her castle, who no doubt would be more than a bit twitchy and trigger-friendly at his sudden appearance, but Twilight opted to skip that part of her warning.

Twilight’s attempts were solid, yet the human had had enough for one day. “Get out of my way.” He stated, neither asking nor pleading, for he had no time to play games with this tiny pony. He was fed up with their childish nonsense and was in urgent need of answers and a way to get the fuck out.

Twilight stood her ground against his demand. He could see herself reflected in the black of his quivering eyes. Behind the shadow gazing back at herself, she could attest to the primitive fear the human was trying to disguise under an angry, frustrated façade. A quickly crumbling façade the longer this disaster of a meeting progressed at that.

But Twilight couldn’t let him outside to roam free just yet! It was a matter of security, both for him and for Ponyville’s inhabitants. The last thing Twilight wanted was to provoke a wave of mass panic within the already skittish and distrustful ponies. Their close proximity to the Everfree Forest had sadly drilled the lesson of wariness around everything that didn't walk on four legs and sported a cutie mark on their flank.

Zecora was a testament to that distrust. The alicorn could only imagine how the citizens would react to the human and the permanent scowl on his features.

To her displeasure, and to the human's dismay, Twilight would have to bring her hoof down on this matter. She stood a bit taller and firmer, an unmoving cliff against the human’s harsh glare.

“I-I’m sorry. But I can't allow that,” Twilight drilled into him with authority, flaring her wings and drawing from her royal prowess in the process.

Any other pony would've flinched, or at least reconsidered under the word of an alicorn princess, if they didn't outright fall down to their knees as a start. To Twilight's dismay, she wasn’t dealing with a pony, and her little number was completely lost to the human.

“You told me that I wasn’t a prisoner!” He accused, tugging at the metal collar which continued to itch like crazy the more his nerves caused him to sweat and fret like a pig on a summer’s day.

“You’re not,” Twilight responded as she toned down her voice and reassured him of his freedom, being painfully aware of the irony of the statement at the time she was physically and verbally weeding out that very privilege. “However… it’s in our best interests, all of our best interests in fact, that you remain here where I can guarantee your safety. I also need to determine whether magic is truly poisonous to you or not, hence the need for a magic-nullifying collar which, I admit, is meant to be worn by magically-gifted fiends when we imprison them. Which you, are, not!” She punctuated every word with a stomp, her own brand of bossy scowl clashing with the human's own scowl.

The human wasn't exactly feeling like he was hearing it from the horse's mouth, pun totally intended, and was more than ready to force the issue by any means past the disturbingly cute pony blocking his path, wings unfurled and horn at the ready.

Faust must have been watching the scene unfold and decided to grant Twilight a small mercy. A soft tug grounded the human just as shit was about to hit the fan. Gently biting on the sleeve of the jacket right where that unicorn had previously restrained his arm, Fluttershy was silently beckoning him to comply with what Twilight was heatedly pleading.

Under her meek exterior, Fluttershy was one brave pony, and nopony could say otherwise. She’d proven that time and time and again, and this time wouldn't be any different. Curling under her mane was always a safe bet when dealing with social drama and whatnot, that much was true.

However, Fluttershy still peeked out from under her ample mane and recognized the fear growing in the creature's eyes. Just like Twilight, she was privy to his true, poorly-hidden emotions, if not more so than the alicorn’s. Able or not to talk and reason like a pony, Fluttershy would rather see her cottage burn than turn a deaf ear to a creature’s suffering.

The yellow pegasus’ heart screamed at her to do the obvious. What this creature needed was love and understanding, just like her smaller and weaker critter friends after a close dance with the Everfree Forest’s larger and meaner predators. This situation wasn't going to solve itself by testing whose temper burned the hottest and longest, and she was going to put a stop to it right now!

Fluttershy’s Stare was well known by everypony in Ponyville. This time, however, the mare would have no need for it, choosing a more tender, even deadlier approach. The human’s tested defenses, summed up to the gentle force dragging him down, were no match for the pegasus’ big, pleading eyes and pouty muzzle.

Twilight rendered swiftly and utterly baffled, left to ponder exactly where she’d failed that Fluttershy had succeeded. The caring mare had the human wrapped up under her wing and she gently guided him back to the couch, softly headbutting him with the might of a sneeze right into the imprint his butt had left in the cushions. The human, for his part, had barely registered the trip back, feeling his heart doing all sorts of tricks and hijinks in his chest. He was reeling under an overload of cuteness, Flutterhy’s deadliest tactic to this day.

To drive her point home further, Fluttershy hopped onto the free space on the couch beside him, making herself comfortable in his presence with her forelegs nearly tucked over his legs while her upper half leaned into him. The warmth and reassurance in her smile were enough for the human to be completely bewitched under her spell, making it an easy job to forget the tight spot in which he remained.

“Heh, that's Flutters for you,” Rainbow called with a lopsided smirk, unimpressed with the pegasus skill with critters big and small, even if this languid, talking specimen barely fit the description.

Twilight, imitating her pet owl in her bafflement, thanked Fluttershy for her intervention before dragging her tail back to her seat. She made sure to remember to take a page from the pegasus' book for further interactions with the human in the future. She wasn't going to turn her snout up at what she saw working like a miracle.

“So, mister big creature,” Fluttershy had beaten Twilight to the proverbial finish line and taken the reins of the meeting, granting a much sought-after reprieve to the alicorn, who was in serious need of collecting her thoughts, having forgotten to even ask the name of his species. “Can you tell us all your name?” She requested with the sweetness of an angel, and the looks of one too if the stumped human hadn’t known any better.

He was floored by this particular pony's tenderness and gentleness, both at present and while she was doing a check-up on him earlier. He felt inclined to comply for the first time since the gathering in the library, knowing there was simply no way to ignore that mare’s smile, no matter how hard you tried.

“... Alexander.” He answered almost out of reflex, lost in Fluttershy’s big, deeply expressive eyes. They were at the edge of riding down the slope of the uncanny valley, but not quite there.

“What kind of name is tha-OUCH!” Rainbow was about to be a pain in the flank before a telekinetic tug on her ear from Twilight made her think otherwise.

The mare in question tasted the name on her tongue. ‘Alexander? Hmm… Nope. Can't find any similitude in root, at least as far as pony names are concerned.’ She concluded, unimpressed from the void in her ample repertoire. He was from another world, after all. The last thing Twilight was expecting was small trivialities to match between them.

“Very well! Ahem!” Twilight chirped, taking Fluttershy’s metaphorical baton and addressing the next order of business. “Now that names are out of the way, I'm sure you'll have tons of questions for-”

“Where the hell am I?” Alexander cut her off, his right arm hovering awkwardly right over the space the yellow pony had taken, still bathing him in a warm smile. He was torn as to whether he should rest back on the couch’s rim, over her fuzzy back, pet her, squeeze her like the adorable living plushie she was, or shove her out of his lap with a kick to the stomach.

There was no way he was going to opt for the last one, no matter how much he tried to convince himself that he should.

Albeit more rudely than Twilight would've chosen, she saw how that would be his most pressing topic. Nonetheless, she was more than happy, and ready, to shower him with an abbreviated, although not less insightful summary, of the wondrous land that was Equestria and its inhabitants.

Yes, she’d been rehearsing for the eventual time where two cultures would meet in her game plan. Number two-hundred-and-fifty-six on her list, in fact.

“That's a magnificent question!” She claimed excitedly, barely able to believe she was the one to break down the intricacies of Equestria to a completely alien species, not simple off-continent delegates or something.

… Scratch the abbreviated part, Twilight needed to be thorough and tactful and put on the best of impressions, or she wouldn't be able to sleep that night. “Well, for starters, the town this castle is located in is called Pon-”

“Actually, fuck that,” Now this time Twilight knew that the human was being a pain in the flank on purpose, prompting her brow to knit itself into a frown. “I don't have time for this. How do I get back home? Like, now?”

A myriad of awkward glances were shared between the gathered ponies and dragon, all of them finding sanctuary in Twilight who, with a sigh of resignation, filed her small presentation away for a later time to address the MOST pressing of questions first.

‘Welp, it was bound to happen sooner or later… Horseapples, why couldn't it have been later?!’

“Um, well… y-you see… the thing is…”

She hadn't rehearsed this eventuality, as it happened. Twilight hadn't a straight answer to give him. Not one that wouldn't paint her as the main and sole culprit of his current situation, which she was. Twilight had already done her best to avoid revealing that small, ‘inconsequential’ tidbit for the time being, should it provoke things taking a turn for the worse and messier.

Alexander did not let the mare’s fumbling hesitation deter him. “How did I come here?! What the fuck happened?!”

Alexander was getting pushier and edgier the longer Twilight dragged her oh-so-convincing insecurity on his face. Twilight almost felt how he must've been reading her mind on the spot, for Alexander was aiming for the exact answers that would paint the proverbial target on her back. The way her tail swished nervously behind her and her ears twitched with a mind of their own should've told the human everything he needed to know, had he known beforehand about equine body language, an insight he sadly or fortuitously lacked, depending on whose point of view it was.

Applejack, an impartial onlooker of the tight position Twilight was inevitably going to dig herself into, stepped up in an attempt to ease the stirring flames of the human's no-longer-existing patience. Yet, the farm mare could not escape her Element from doing the talking for her.

“You see here, sugarcube. Twilight was trying to do a magic thingymagimmmph!”

In another flash of teleportation, Twilight was onto Applejack to pry her muzzle shut before the Element of Bucking Honesty could spill the beans all over the ashamed princess.

Twilight laughed feebly like a mentally-impaired mare in the middle of a job interview, trying her dammest to ignore the spooked looks of her friends, and especially the human, were scrutinizing her with while she struggled with the squirming earth pony.

“W-What my friend Applejack here is trying to say is… um…” A big gulp was required to swallow down the lump forming under Alexander's intense gaze. His icy front was funnily contrasted with the way he’d inevitably ended up surrendering to the inevitable and having begun inadvertently petting Fluttershy's withers, to the mare's visible pleasure, the sight booting Twilight out of her script momentarily. “Ahem. What I was trying to say is that we don't yet know the details of your arrival here.”

Ohh, she was digging a biiiiig, nasty hole here for herself. Twilight could feel the disapproval in the way the girls were bathing her in surprise and reproach.

“Explain,” Alexander demanded curtly. He quickly caught himself treating the pegasus to a very condescending round of pets in his eyes, apologizing briefly to the mare and trapping his hands together in a tight ball. Fluttershy’s disappointed whine was not lost to him, only feeding the flames of confusion around these colorful cat-ponies-or-what-have-you.

Twilight had scarce, precious seconds to cook something up. Standing in the middle of the crossroads, she opted for the safest bet on a knee-jerk choice. A pint of truth and a touch of lying, the cocktail named ‘Life.’ It would make her sound convincing while covering her flank. She had a good reason to keep the human in the guessing game, or at least that's what she tried to tell herself, despite the soul-crushing guilt she felt at doing it.

The truth was unavoidable regardless of her best attempts. Her curiosity should’ve gotten the better of her, yet the fear of retribution won the match. She had the lion's share of the blame and, considering how the game of twenty questions with the human was playing out, Twilight had become wary of his potential reaction. The human was to be treated as a stray arrow until she’d had the chance to dissect him (figuratively, she wasn't that far gone yet) and learned what made him tick. An approach insensitive as buck to her own ears, but it was by ear how she was playing everything.

Once she’d cracked the egg and found a way back to his world inside, she'd come clean before him and take her punishment as the grown mare Twilight prided herself on acting like. Most of the time, at least.

Although, with her being a princess and all… No, Twilight wouldn't shy away from taking whatever the human had in store for her. She needed to mare up to her mistakes if she was to one day reach her mentor's place and wisdom for the betterment of the ponies under her wings.

Talking about wings, the way they rustled at her sides, in tandem with her folded ears and darting pools of lavender, made Twilight the worst player at Cluedo to ever live… at least, the worst ever pony player.

Alexander remained blissfully oblivious in his ignorance, ready to board the express train down to Madness if that purple three-year-old-kid’s-drawing-of-a-horse kept beating around the bush with him. As far as he was concerned by her behavior, she might as well be suffering a stroke when she fidgeted, or needing a quick break for a number two from the way her rear hooves skidded over the floor.

A barely-coherent fabrication was then assembled by the cornered princess. Words trickled out as she conjured the materials on the spot. She rode the edge of her ample knowledge of magic to lose the human in a complex labyrinth of formulas, principles, and assertions while driving her point home beside her alleged innocence. The aberrant mixture birthed from her fast-paced trail of excuses would've made any senior in the High School for Magic and Research throw themselves from the highest tower of the royal castle in embarrassment.

Even Twilight’s friends cringed as they too digested her pathetic dissertation. They had no hopes of keeping pace with the well-read mare either before or after her spell had gone awry, but they knew Twilight well enough to find her speech nothing short of a load of horseapples being thrown, one after the other.

“... and since the aëtheric strings have yet still to harmonize to resume an even flow of magic back into the Wellspring, according to Professor Arcane Athuros’ third principle of magic conservation, it would be unwise to prod the damaged fabric of the continuum to probe for a way back.”

With a sheepish smile, and feeling herself shedding several stones of fur and feathers, Twilight had answered Alexander's query regarding his arrival, as well as the means of a prompt return, in her own way. She dotted the entire quandary with an unabashed ‘maybe’, pertaining to his desire to seek a path back to his homeworld as soon as possible.

A deafening silence highlighted each rivulet of sweat that trickled down the young royal's forehead. Twilight didn't break character while her friends simply sighed and shook their heads tiredly, knowing well how she’d just written herself into a tight spot with little chance for a happy ending. Applejack in particular was peeved at Twilight’s approach over the spineless reveal. Alas, the alicorn remained at her side to make sure to rope the Element of Honesty into compliance, one way or another.

“... Bullshit.” Crass and rude, Alexander was not sold by the show of faux intelligence.

“W-What?” While unfamiliar with the cuss, Twilight could feel the hostility of his accusations hammering her down into the floor tiles. “I’m not lying!” No, she wasn't; She was only telling half the truth, however.

“Mmmmph!!” Applejack tried her dammest to speak up, yet she'd need to grow a horn and wings of her own to match Twilight’s stubborn resolve.

Alexander held into his glowering, not another word being uttered as his arms crossed over the butter pegasus’ sprawled body. The silence, however, carried all the clues necessary to make his displeasure known.

Twilight quickly got fed up with his unwavering front. The two could spend all day bashing foreheads, and she happened to have a thick one too when she became cross.

“Look. Do you even know a single thing about magic? Hmm?” Twilight sneered, leaving a half-suffocated Applejack to steal air greedily down her pipe. While remaining true to her zero-magic policy around the human, she wasn't going to tolerate being called out in such a fashion, especially when she’d stated plainly and clearly her desire to help him.

Trotting with authority, Twilight’s jab clung to the air like an omen. Alexander would not dignify her with a response, however, yet the mare was quick enough to glimpse a sliver of doubt in his brown eyes.

“Thought so,” She sassed, coming down hard on him and standing a hair from his weird-looking snout while she tried, and failed,to gain the upper hoof on him. His superior height, even while seated, made it hard for Twilight to amass any semblance of an edge. The fact his balled hands trembled to the point of making his knuckles creak like the doors of AJ’s barn didn't slip from Twilight’s mind, either.

“... Okay. Why don’t we all take a deeeep breath,” Seeing as she wasn't going to temper the human by herself, Twilight made the case about everypony present being a means to spread the fire to manageable levels. Leading by example, Twilight put Cadance's breathing exercises into the spotlight. Her second best means to chill down and feel herself again never failed her.

The first one was wolfing down half of Ponyville's stock on hayburgers with a diet soda on the side. Her mare friends would forever grow envious of her alicorn metabolism and have it not translate to a pudgy belly and humongous flanks.

“I need to go home. NOW!” Alexander stressed again, yet a thousand times repeated wouldn't land him any closer to his world’s shores.

“And I will do my best to see that you get home!” Twilight once more reaffirmed for the mule-headed human, her tone denoting her frustration. “But this dangerous, magical phenomenon we're dealing with? The only thing we're going to achieve rushing headfirst into this is getting ourselves killed! Or worse!” Now of that, Twilight was being one hundred percent honest.

All this talk about magic and leylines and the Aëther flew over Alexander’s head like a summer's breeze. His nerdiness granted him the chance to follow the mare in terms of similarities and parallelism he could draw from all forms of fantasy media consumed. But that was the sum of it. Fantasy. No fundamental law of the universe could hold against Twilight’s speech and implications as far as he was aware. And, Alexander's line of work made him aware of many things, as it happened.

One thing stood out clearly to him. He wouldn't find help in that obnoxious purple horse. Or, at least, not with the celerity he required if he wanted to see his friend and family ever again. The seconds were ticking down, and Twilight’s colorful arrangement of friends wasn't looking likely to chip in for his cause, either. None of them had added anything of substance besides awkward whistles, and bored laments from gay pride over there.

‘Fuck it. I'll take it on my own hands like fucking always.’

“I need my things,” Alexander nailed a scowl on the purple pony, standing up without notice, dragging poor, unprepared Fluttershy down the couch since he’d completely forgotten about her existence. That pony was so quiet, it was hard not to. “I know you took them,” He pointed an accusing finger at Rarity, apparently having followed some of the story while spending the morning bleeding his guts out of his nose. “Where are they?”

Offended beyond measure, Rarity abandoned all pretenses of remaining a pillar of charm and refinement, sending her snout high in the air. “Well, excuse me!! I was just simply trying to help! You seemed so busy soiling those prudy garments you undignify yourself by wearing, you… you ruffian! Hmph!”

By soiling, Rarity meant hanging on at the brink of death as Alexander had felt every system that kept him from kicking the bucket shutting down the more blood he felt he lost until his eventual turn to claim his spot beside Harambe arrived.

In the end, it hadn't been that bad, nor was he really feeling all that symptomatic from the aftershock. But, with a plate of scrambled eggs as a mindset that Alexander was currently suffering from, everything sounded and felt out of proportion.

On a side note, the human had a mind to shove a lesson so far up that stuck-up pony’s ass that she’d taste shit. For fucks sake, those curls, the baby blue on her eyelids, and those fake eyelashes that wouldn’t fool a blind man high on trippis. What the fuck was her point?! She was a fucking horse!! A horse doesn’t care about that bullshit!!

This entire situation was nothing short of ridiculous. Ludicrous even. Maddening. IMPOSSIBLE!! WHAT IN THE FOREVER-PARTY-DANCING-HELL WAS GOING ON?!!!

Alexander lacked the fuse to remain rooted while Rarity called him names. “Grrrr, I'll give you ruffian, you overpriced slu-OSTIAS!!”

With yet another blinding flash, his hands, primed and ready to squeeze down on some equine neck, found themselves dragged down under a new source of weight. An unfazed Twilight had teleported his bag from where she’d asked Rarity and Pinkie to store it for the time being. The aforementioned mares had ensured that everything pertaining, and possibly dangerous, to the human was stored inside, making the black, Adidas bag’s seams strain like a pregnant pony carrying triplets, and weighing accordingly.

By an inch was the bag and its contents spared from a nasty crash the moment Alexander locked in and fought against the pull of gravity. His prior assumption had been erroneous, born from the sudden surprise and freefall, the sentiment trampling over the immense relief to see his belongings returned by a most unusual means.

‘... No. This is lighter than I remember...’ Alexander realized for the full ten seconds he remained trapped under that notion. More important things had demanded his attention. It’d been a long day despite barely catching up with the midday sun, and he was far from feeling himself to make educated guesses.

With his worldly possessions secured against his chest, Alexander didn't even dignify Twilight with a simple ‘thanks’ before planting his rear back onto the couch, not sparing a thought for Fluttershy as briefly flew up with a startled ‘Eeep!’. Pumping her wings, she lost the confidence to try again and decided to grant the glowering creature some breathing room.

“You freaks better not have fucked anything…” Alexander grumbled under his breath. Sadly, he’d underestimated a pony’s superior sense of hearing. One mare in particular didn't take a shine to his rude observation.

‘“Hey!! Who are you calling a freak?!” Rainbow parked all pretenses of being bored to tears to stand up for her friends, who reeled back with shock, and a touch of hurt.

“I'm calling you a freak, Skittles!” Alexander spat out, sparing the rainbow-maned mare an icy glance before returning to his belongings. If a reason for thought had been present to rein in his spiraling anger, Alexander would've realized how insulting his current hosts was a poor move, and probably not one in his best interests. Alas, he was pissed beyond measure and scared out of his wits to give a flying fuck about that.

The horses could nicker and whiny all they wanted while he got shit done.

“Me?!” Rainbow's wings flared out, a taste of ozone emanating from her feathers at the pace the pegasus burned bridges faster than Fluttershy by her side tried to rebuild them. “The only freak here is you!! You… w-weird, sickly-looking monkey-thing!!”

Her raspy insults entered one ear and came out the other. Alexander was simply beyond petty games, having had his own share of verbal jousts to know when to pry further and when to let it simply die by itself. Skittles there had a short fuse and was trigger-happy, that much was plainly evident. He had no time to entertain such archetypes.

“Rainbow! Please!” Twilight begged, losing control like a mere leaf under a hurricane’s winds. No matter how hard she tried, the only thing this meeting was achieving was fueling Alexander’s frustration and landing him further from reason, painting him as the unfriendliest, most rude human from the rich list of two specimens Equus had had the privilege of hosting.

“He started it!!” Rainbow snorted, mashing foreheads against the young princess.

“Now hold on a minute here, Rainbow…” Applejack stood to support Twilight.

All ensuing arguments and chatter were drowned out alongside the rest of the world in Alexander's ears. A heated exchange called all ponies present into a circle at the center of the room, each of them adding their own take to the flaming pile of shit about him, none of them painting him in any sort of good light while loudly debating as to what to do with this creature of such an ill-mannered temper. All ponies except Fluttershy, who preferred to remain on the sidelines, refraining from piling in while plainly disappointed with his conduct.

Alexander unzipped his bag and called it a jackpot. A visual overview revealed everything he was carrying with him right where he’d left it, on top of all his electronics and other possessions seemingly intact. Knowing how easy it was to nick a screen with a hard-enough sneeze these days, the fact that his devices, in tandem with the glasses he’d balanced on his nose had survived the journey in pristine condition was nothing short of an act of God, not that he believed in one or anything.

With the ponies distracted in their bickering, Alexander seized the moment for a quick roll call.

‘Phone? Dead, we already knew that. Tablet?... Also kaput. I hope the portable battery carries enough juice for them both… Hmm, fuck, no luck there, either. At least the laptop has something going for it, I think. Headphones?...’ He brought the black, crome-played earpiece to his ear and pressed the ‘ON’ button. A soft chime followed to his delight. ‘Fucking A…’

Mouse, USB-C chargers, a few pocket-sized books, small suitcase, pack of bubble gum, metal canteen on the exterior, elastic net, casing for the glasses, notebook… All your tell-tale belongings for a college student such as Alexander. The anomaly had caught him on his way to meet with a colleague, dragging with him the clothes on his back and the things he’d carried in the bag as his sole material possessions.

His first order of business was now done. Alexander was unsure if these ponies had any semblance of an electrical grid he could hook his devices to, much less hope that the voltage and amperage would just conveniently be the same, and not outright fry his electronics in a sizzling light show. Not a desirable outcome, he’d have to find a safe alternative, and fast.

In his hands were the only tools he had at his disposal, his only chance for achieving any breakthrough on his way home should the ponies not stand by their word and sit through this with him. The only person he could trust now was the sole person present in the room. Himself.

The notion failed to prevent the pressure from continuing to build up inside him. Like a pot about to burst, that whistling chime, annoying as fuck, drilling at the back of his head. His situation was slowly settling down, taking a heavy toll on his psyche. By the time he was feeling detached from this Earth, or whatever this planet was called, Alexander was latching onto his bag more than holding it, reeling against a creeping icy haze tuning down the colors around him. Blood rushed to his ears to drown everything out except the erratic breathing hammering in his chest.

He was trapped, alone, most likely on his last legs if he was to collapse again. The ponies had forgotten about him for the time being, too busy throwing hooves and words about this thing or another.

Their heated discussions flew completely over Alexander’s head. The hot topic of his arrival had been kicked out of the scene and replaced by petty callbacks, quips, accusing hooves, and a healthy share of blame to pass around. All ponies, except yellow shy over there, bore down on one another before converging over a shrinking Twilight. They warred about the human's uncouth behavior and, most imperative of all, what the hay were they supposed to do with him.

Poor Twilight tried her best to keep up. Rainbow wanted to straight-up throw hooves with the human and teach him a thing or two. Applejack did her best to rein the buck-friendly pegasus in whilst chewing up Twilight for the blatant carousel of lies she’d spewed out in terms of her participation in the human’s arrival. Alexander was thankfully too lost in his own crisis to notice Applejack’s accusations, to Twilight’s visible relief the moment she darted her eyes towards Alexander for a brief spell.

That relief, however, wouldn't withstand Pinkie’s forceful butting-in, hoofing back to old classics and assuring everypony that a party is what everypony needed to chillax and lift that cuddly-looking-creature-whatevs-called grouchy spirits.

The alicorn princess was cornered, flanked on all fronts by countless demands, running her ragged. Not one of them harbored any form of utility as they piled up on top of her, squeezing down on her chest until her breathing started to become problematic. A shrilling beep drowned her friends’ pleas to her folded ears.

At that moment, Alexander and Twilight were of the same mind. The pressure built up and up and up…

“ENOUGH!!! EVERYPONY!!! STOP TALKING!!!”

There was only so much Twilight could take in a single morning.