I woke to the sensation of an aching sensation in my left hand and elbow. SAM and the reality filter were there to dampen the pain and his diagnostic report informed me that the bones were mostly mended. I could move my arm again, but the fractures weren't completely healed. I'd have to take it easy, but at least I had a hand with tactile sensation. Euphoria wasn't there, so I took it she was still exploring quaint little Ponyville. I guess it was home to the both of us now. The equine form of the Pegasus Frame sat by the bedside as I slung my feet over the edge and sat up, carefully lifting my arm out of its sling. It was sore from being beaten, broken and then left to hang from the sling for a few days. Still, that kind of recovery rate is rather astounding. Like Rainbow Dash and her broken wing. Discharged from the hospital before she felt ready to leave.

I smiled, catching myself in another bout of brony fandom. Really, what would the guys at R&D say if they knew? But such thoughts were quickly pushed aside. It was pointless to dwell on what was lost. I went over our various physical needs with SAM. I'd need to let my arm and remaining internal lacerations heal for a while yet, but I was mobile. Able to go shopping, manage the cottage and repair the Pegasus Frame. I put the splint on a shelf and SAM told me of the list Euphoria had transcribed, no doubt with the intent of procuring those items. That would help us reforge the broken wings and even allow us to keep a stock of replacement parts to be molded into whatever we needed by SAM's nanites. There would be more thermite as well, if she could get everything on that list. Surprisingly, Equestria does have all the same substances as Earth, with a few more to boot, but the names are different. Still, in a world with magical Unicorns who possess direct hotlines to their defacto deities and rulers, procuring even precious minerals would be very doable. I owed Twilight for this and all the other things she'd done. I really hadn't been fair with her.

As if heeding my idle thoughts, there was a knocking on my front door and one glance with my inner eye, receiving video feed from a small surveilance camera through my wireless DNI, confirmed that it was the purple librarian. Surprised? I'd thought to put up a few of those, they're miniscule - about the size of a button. The Pegasus Frame has enough of them to receive effective 360 degree vision in all manner of different visual spectrums from infrared to thermographic and of course, normal color picture feed.

I told SAM to go receive her while I ducked into the bathroom, stripping off the lower half of my flightsuit which I'd worn ever since the dragon. I showered quickly and slipped on some of the black denim pants Rarity had provided for me. Another mare it turned out I owed quite a bit beyond the monetary compensation I'd offered. I shrugged on a grey tanktop as well and went into the livingroom, flexing my left hand, trying to massage some more feeling back into it. Everyone has a dominant hand and for me, it was my right hand. I held my knife with it, I fired my gun with it, I threw ball with my right hand. Until it was destroyed that is. I learned to do everything with my left hand then, but it was never as strong as my right hand. Somehow, the gentler tasks always felt easier with the left. Writing, throwing darts, handling keys and other small items. I'd come to treasure my left hand, for all of those delicate tasks, it could still perform and now it was my primary hand with the rifle, too.

Stepping into the livingroom, I saw all the gifts left by various well-wishers. Twilight Sparkle sat by the low table on a pillow, talking to SAM who was piloting the Pegasus Frame in its more equine form. He even sat on a pillow across from her, mimicing the pony way of doing things perfectly. She looked visibly relieved when she saw me - I looked much better. I was groomed, cleaned, decked out in fresh clothes and my left arm was no longer confined to a sling. I had my hair tied back and my beard wasn't so scruffy looking.

"We found Euphoria passed out at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie loves her," Twilight cheerfully informed me. I joined her at the table and laughed as she told me about the rumors of ponynapping and forced taste testing. Somehow, it seemed completely like the white mare to enjoy even the hot-sauce cupcake. We marvelled at that for a while, but inevitably, she conversation strayed towards the grim silverlining surrounding the lovely mare.

"Just what happened to her?" Twilight asked after she'd explained hers and Rarity's initial shock upon seeing the scar on her throat. I sat back, eyes growing distant as I looked at nothing in particular. I thought about it for a while and Twilight grew impatient for an answer.

"Tartarus, that's what you call it, right?" I finally offered, and by the way Twilight's brow knotted and her lips pursed, I could tell I'd hit the mark. "That mare went through Tartarus and even after all that, she had the strength to drag the both of us back out. If you don't want to know what that was like, then you should stop asking questions about her past."

To her credit, she took my words seriously and appeared to be deep in thought before shaking herself from whatever dark place my words had sent her to. She just looked me straight in the eye and stated, "but she's out now, you both are, and she's happy, no she's euphoric. I see why you chose that name for her now," she mused with a bittersweet little smile. I could tell Rarity might not be the only pony who could appreciate the romantic and melodramatic elements of our coupling.

"She wears that shirt with your scent on it all the time," Twilight continued and I nodded. "She's at the library now. Fluttershy and Rarity are with her. Spike, too of course." She levitated the list of materials onto the table along with a wrapped bundle from one of her saddlebags. I checked the bundle, finding several small bars of metallic substances and a few vials of liquid.

Letting out a low whistle, I sat back smiling. She'd really come through for me, even procuring some of the rarer substances for the Pegasus Frame. Things were looking up for us. I thanked her for the materials but she only became embaressed. So modest. We agreed to go to the library then, walking through the streets of Ponyville, idly chatting while I waved to the many passersby who stopped to watch me. It seemed many were relieved to see me up and about, and a few even scolded their loved ones, claiming the rumors about my initial condition had been exaggerated. I looked much healthier now than I had back then.

Arriving at the treehouse, we stepped inside to find Fluttershy sitting in the couch arrangement around the small coffee table, sitting together with Euphoria who was busy reading. She was occupying both seats of the other couch, lying with her legs curled up under her body, using her nose to carefully turn the pages. It always made her look adorable when she used her snout like that. It seemed she had found a silent companion in Fluttershy as the demure Pegasus was confronted with the only pony less verbose than she was. The two mares sat in amiable silence while Spike was trying to hold Rarity's attention, talking about the gems he'd been out gathering lately. My sudden success with gem gathering had made the little dude jealous for a few days until he'd taken it upon himself to wander the safer regions outside of Ponyville, using his spade-like tail to dig up gems on his own. To his credit, he gave no indication that Rarity's beauty was in any way second to Euphoria's and I caught the fashionista blushing at his earnest compliments.

Overall, the scene looked tranquil and I was left staring with a dopey smile in the hallway as I watched Euphoria simply fitting in. Twilight rolled her eyes and strode past me, leaving me to recover from my reverie and join them at the table. Euphoria looked up from the book and clumsily leapt from the couch, falling flat on her face with a huff, but quickly picking herself back up, ignoring the other ponies' worried expression as she made her way to me. For my part, I just chuckled when she went sprawling and the embaressment made her cheeks glow, but she prefered my reaction to the thinly veiled pity she got from the others, benign as their intentions were. We embraced, Euphoria getting onto her hindlegs to wrap her forelegs around me. Her figure looked almost bipedal when she stood like that, and with her slender physique, her body was cast in a feminine shape that appealed to me on several levels. The others watched, quietly gushing at the romantic display, but Spike simply stuck out his tongue with a sound of 'blegh' which snapped everyone back to reality and we shared a brief laugh before I settled in the couch where Euphoria resumed her original pose, her head and the book now nestled in my lap.

I managed to look decently unaware even as Euphoria noted the signs of my physical attraction. It didn't help anything that I caught her inhaling my scent a few times with her head in my lap. The book she was reading was about equine fashion and I caught Rarity looking over her shoulder a few times, gushing over a particular style of dress. For my part, I was simply running the fingers of my left hand through Euphoria's mane, massaging her jaw and ears, managing to prevent her from reading half the time as she'd simply close her eyes and lean into the caress.

Whenever one of the ponies would adress Euphoria, she'd respond with a facial expression of a simple shrug. Fluttershy eventually worked up the courage to talk to her and ended up asking most of the questions.

Was it scary in the Everfree? She shrugged and smiled - she'd found it beautiful.
Where did she come from? She retreated further behind the veil of her hair and leaned into me.
Would she be staying in Ponyville with me? She smiled and nodded, looking content.

The questions kept up like that, but mostly they only learned that she was completely euphoric in her new life, loving everything for what it was. Even the subject of forest critters eating one another and dying to injury and disease in the harsh Everfree seemed beautiful to her. Luckily, nopony thought to call her out on being clumsy or in bad shape and for all I knew, they assumed she was an Earth Pony who'd led a sheltered life. When Rairty began to talk about her Special Talent and how she wanted to make a dress for Euphoria, the tension grew thick as the white mare grew oddly still in my lap. Twilight and Fluttershy both sensed her distress, and the purple librarian seemed to remember my earlier warning about how much she'd really want to hear about Euphoria's trip to Tartarus and back. She was powerless to stop Rarity's inquiries as the fashionista went on to compliment Euphoria on her complexion and how lovely she'd look wearing a dress suited for her Special Talent. At this point, I felt Euphoria struggling to contain her emotions, but outwardly she sat unmoving like a stone.

Twilight swallowed and with a look of resignation on her face, she spoke up, working to sound appropriately distraught, "speaking of dresses, I have nothing to wear for the upcoming Summer Sun celebration." This thankfully derailed Rarity completely as she turned and assaulted Twilight with questions about her perfect dress, even making arrangements for some measurements to be taken though the holiday in question would not be for several months. I mouthed the words 'Thank you' to Twilight who took it all in stride, nodding minutely to let me know she'd understood our predicamin even if she didn't know exactly why Euphoria's Cutie Mark and Special Talent was such a tender a subject.

I worked to get Euphoria to cheer up and Fluttershy excused herself, going to the kitchen, brining back a pot of hot tea. By this time the conversation was flowing freely in the library and the mood lifted with the addition of tea. Euphoria seemed to be enjoying the scent already and she looked eager to taste it, blowing away the steam rising from her cup which sat balanced on my knee. When it had cooled enough that she could drink it, she sat up on her haunches, leaning on me, freeing up both front hooves to carefully grasp the cup in her hooves. To her credit this didn't look any less practical than Fluttershy who held the cup in one hoof, being just as careful not to spill or burn her lips. The Unicorns looked oblivious to Euphoria's feat of manual dexterity as they simply levitated their cups. Spike and I exchanged glances and on cue, we gave each other a thumbs up and with extended pinky fingers, we lifted our cups and sipped. I had to hold back laughter and Spike looked just as smug. Fingers were neat.

Euphoria had warmed up to the other ponies by now, and it was her turn to question them, giving inquisitive stares that caused the recipient to segue into a whole little monologue in a particular subject until she'd nodded her head, looking satisfied. It looked adorable how her expressive eyes commanded their attention, even managing to disrupt Rarity mid-speech by sitting up and gasping when a particular anecdote seemed to impress or confuse her. The fashionista had to launch into a detailed description of everything about the particular colt she'd met in Canterlot and Euphoria was smiling, clearly picturing this stranger as something about his demeanor seemed to appeal to her. She liked intelligent and inquisitive personalities and delighted to hear of the stallion's success in setting up a deal with the fashionista to sell some of her latest designs.

When it had grown late and everypony was headed home for supper, Euphoria had fixed Twilight with a pleading look and touched the book on fashion designs with a hoof. Twilight had smiled and signed out the book for her, telling her she could bring it back whenever, and she'd added, "feel free to stop by anytime and I'll be happy to check something out for you. Don't worry about closing hours, after all, we're friends, right?"

That had done it. She'd stopped and stared at Twilight, lower lip trembling until she'd enveloped the purple librarian in a hug, sobbing silently into her shoulder. Rarity and Fluttershy had paused in the doorway, smiling with misty eyes as they watched the freely flowing emotions. Still sniffling, Euphoria had released Twilight almost reluctantly from their hug and backed away bashfully, hiding behind my legs as my hand twined into her mane, calming her with the gesture. Twilight for her part looked only mildly surprised with the emotional response, returning the smile as she allowed Euphoria to retreat behind me. She cleared her throat and called out, "Spike, take a note, please," and the little dude, who hadn't even made any gagging noises at the tender moment, was poised and ready, quill-in-claw.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

"Today I made a new friend and while she might not talk a lot, we shared a great deal about ourselves and I learned from this quiet mare that friends never take each other for granted. Even the simplest gesture can make or break a friend's happiness, and I'd never thought that small gestures could evoke such a response in a pony, but she hugged me and thanked me simply for calling her 'friend.'

"After all, it is by virtue of the bonds we make that we can keep moving forward even when it seems impossible. Taking the time to let somepony know what they truly mean to you is better than letting it go unsaid.

"Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

Aww, would you look at that? She even got a friendship report. There was no chance of stilling the flow of happy tears streaming down her cheeks as the letter was incinerated and sent on its way via draconic hotline straight to Princess Celestia herself. She'd hugged Twilight again, and even Spike, Rarity and Fluttershy, too, before they'd said their goodbyes.

As we walked down the streets of Ponyville, I was again blown away by the sight of the sun suddenly dipping below the horizon as the moon pulled a black curtain across the sky, the sparkling stars fanning out behind it as Luna's night replaced Celestia's day. Euphoria stood and watched the spectacle with me. While she was raised in this world, she had lost the sun and moon for too long that she could never come to take them for granted now.

As we made our way back to the cottage, we ate a simple meal together and lounged on the couch, reading and cuddling.

...

Friendship reports are awesome.

Author's Note

Have another chapter. I hope you like it and I think I'll be adding the Mane 6 to the character tags, since they're fairly involved in the story, even to the point of taking over the narration at times.

As always, feel free to comment with critique and praises. I'm still writing without bothering with a spell checker so if you notice typos, feel free to point those out to me as well, but I make a habit of re-reading my older chapters, looking for mistakes on my own.

It won't be long before I'll be picking up another adventure arc where Samuel and Euphoria will be going out exploring together, but I won't give anything away here. Feel free to mention anything you haven't seen yet, but you would like to see, such as Griffins, more dragons, minotauers, other ponies etc etc.