With the newly acquired materials, we set to work on the finishing touches to completely rebuild the Pegasus Frame. I still couldn't get over how cute Euphoria looked wearing those blast goggles. She was proving to be surprisingly dextrous with her mouth, using precision tools clenched in her teeth, rewiring delicate eletrical circuitry with the aid of SAM's directions. The only downside was that her jaw was always sore afterwards, but she enjoyed the massages I gave her.

There was a knocking on the door just as I was massaging the aching jaw muscles and Euphoria was leaning into the caress like a cat receiving chin scratches. SAM was eager to pilot the fully functional Pegasus Frame, so he went to answer the door. That proved to be almost fatal.

"SURPRISE!" Pinkie's voice squeeled over the sound of a party horn and the unmistakable explosion of her Party Cannon going off at close range. I turned my head just in time to catch sight of the Pegasus Frame being flung several yards into the livingroom and by the time SAM had righted himself, the damage was already done.

...

"Pink is not my color scheme," SAM's voice deadpanned. He did not sound amused. I was in shock, struggling to take it all in. There he stood, in his equine form that had somehow, impossibly been coated from head to tail in a flawless paintjob consisting entirely of varying shades of pink.

Euphoria collapsed in a fit of silent laughter, gasping for breath as I sat stunned, watching SAM's tail swishing back and forth as he glared at Pinkie Pie who stood utterly unrependant in the doorway, flanked by her closest friends. The Party Cannon had done more than just give SAM a makeover; it had also decorated the livingroom with streamers, balloons and decorations, and already, party music was playing from a stereo that I did not own.

The Mane 6 all filed in, volunteering their opinions on the new color scheme, apparantly not bothering to question the physics behind it.

"Really, Pinkie?" Twilight deadpanned and shook her head while RD was laughing hysterically, kicking her legs in mid-air.

"Honestly, dear, I'm not sure the good SAM can pull off your look," Rarity spoke in his defense.

"Oh goodness, that's a lot of pink..." Fluttershy spoke just above a whisper as she made her way to the corner of the livingroom, sitting near Euphoria.

Applejack just chuckled and strode past, mumbling, "glad it ain't me 'cuz ya sure as sugar ain't cut out fer pink anymore 'n I am."

As if heeding some mysterious calling, the rest of Ponyville's population seemed to gravitate towards my cottage and before we could even turn and look, we were surrounded on all sides by a cocophany of music, chatter and laughter. Euphoria looked like she could just sit there all night, watching the brightly colored ponies, listening to their peals of laughter, her slender body swaying subtley to the rythm of the music. The only concession I'd been able to make was that they wouldn't bring tons of alchohol. I was still healing, after all and getting sloshed seemed like a nice way of undoing all the hard work on my arm and ribcage the instant I keeled over or got pinned by a playful Earth Pony.

To my relief, the ponies had made good on this promise and there was only one spiked punch bowl and plenty of non-alchoholic drinks and those who were hellbent on getting drunk had brought their own supplies. The party guests mingled but as the party progressed, they had seperated into groups with the more boistrous ponies closer to the door or clustered outside. My corner was the more quiet zone with Euphoria and Fluttershy breaking the world record in non-verbal communication.

Big Mac had joined us. He fit in like a natural, seeming to tap into the telepathic communication like a pro. Aside from chewing on his straw and taking a swig of moonshine now and then, he was just hanging out, really. The stuff he drank smelled foul but he was gracious enough to keep the cask away from us after he'd offered to let me have a taste, which I'd politely declined.

Overall, everypony had a blast but the highlight of the party seemed to be when we had somehow been lured onto the dance floor with all the ponies encircling us, giving us expectant stares and barely contained squeels and d'awwws. Euphoria looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole and just ride out the party in there, but somehow, blushing furiously, she managed to rear onto her hindlegs and rest her fronthooves on my shoulders. I was torn between embaressment and breaking into guffaws over the absurdity of this situation, but I just needed to look into her eyes and lose myself in the moment, and I gotta admit, it was nice. We just circled each other languidly to the rythm of a slow song, bathed in the colored lights of the discoball (don't ask how she smuggled it in, let alone mounted it in my ceiling). The ponies cheered and a few couples joined us on the dancefloor. It didn't last long and once we'd had our moment, we retreated to the corner of the dancefloor, letting the other more boistrous souls cut loose to a more upbeat song.

It was a lovely party and Euphoria looked very happy to be celebrated and greeted so warmly. They seemed to have accepted the fact that she was a mute and conversation with her was about as smooth as it was with Big Mac and his eeeeeyup/nnnnope default replies, meaning, they were used to phrasing yes/no questions without dumbing things down to such an extend as to be seen talking down to her.

Ponyville seemed like the perfect place for her to rediscover the pony life and I was very happy I could return her to this world. As the party died down, most of the ponies were headed home late in the evening but by some unspoken agreement, the Mane 6 seemed to linger. I'm sure their intentions were pure and Euphoria was much more comfortable talking to a small group of ponies as opposed to half the town.

We sat clustered around the livingroom table and Pinkie Pie had somehow made most of the party decorations and empty bottles and garbage disappear when I wasn't looking, creating a more intimate atmosphere. Euphoria seemed at ease, perfectly mirroring the opinions she shared and listening intently anytime one of the six friends hit on a subject unfamiliar to her. She'd volunteered some information about herself. She had lived in Canterlot and seen Manehatten, both huge cities. I knew her profession had been the glamorous life of a professional singer and the other ponies knew that she'd led a life more like Rarity's as opposed to the small town life they'd settled into here. They understood it was a closed chapter in her life and they were pleased that she'd come to Ponyville.

The conversation had then shifted to the cottage itself as Fluttershy made a quiet remark about the comfortable atmosphere in the wooden structure, so like her own dwelling, but with fewer animals - though to her mind SAM made up for a lot of the lack of saids critters, with him embodying the properties of a plethora of animals, like a chimera or a manticore. She then gushed, "and such a lovely bathroom, the shower is so big, I guess because Samuel is well uhm..." the trailed off sheepishly, ears folded back against her skull.

Rainbow Dash suddenly exploded with laughter, still incredibly suspended in mid-air flapping those tiny wings without even whipping up any wind, as she pointed at me and said, "bwahaha! Because he eats, moves and snores like an ape?"

Yeah, Rainbow had found it hillarious when she'd later learned of my chagrin when The Doctor had called me an ape and Fluttershy had only made it worse by calling me a strong ape, but I was... nice. I scowled at her but it was hard with Euphoria shaking with laughter in my lap. That sound is still the most beautiful thing I've ever heard and I completely forgot to glare at RD because I sort of just zoned out, admiring the mare and her silent peals of laughter. To me no voice she once may have had could possibly sound more lovely than her demure, yet completely unshakable nature. The others caught onto the intense romantic atmosphere, but surprisingly, they didn't find it awkward to witness such intimacy. Rather, they found it endearing that I'd trust them to be so close.

Rarity and Euphoria

Rarity blushed as Samuel's casual massaging of Euphoria's ears suddenly overwhelmed the quiet mare's senses and she became puddy in his hands, quivering with pleasure at the simple caress that she had not been able to feel for so many years, even before her imprisonment. It had felt like ages ago.

"You should come to the spa," Rarity gushed, all but crooning over the beautiful mare, as the fashionista wondered how the pristine coat might glow with a healthy regimen of oils, sauna visits, massage therapy and hooficure. Then a mudbath and of course to end it all, a proper bubblebath in a pool with perfumes and massaging water currents. She had to witness the beauty that could be wrought with a make-over, not that the mare needed cosmetics, her coat was just perfect. But clothes! She had seen how Euphoria had gushed over the fashion designs in that book of classic Manehatten and Canterlot designs. She had thought to start a new line of such classicly inspired designs to bring back the glamour of those days, and here was the perfect mare to breathe life into such a vision.

To Euphoria, this spa treatment sounded like, well, like euphoria to her. That night time seemed to last almost an eternity. The sequence of events became obscured in a haze of exciting revelations and ever soaring heights of joy. She wasn't sure her behaviour had been entirely appropriate that evening, but she couldn't resist the temptation of sniffing, touching and nosing into the warmth of Samuel's soothing embrace.

SAM, Twilight and Euphoria

SAM, the icy, alien intellect wrought from synthetic computer technology, a true sentience born from Samuel's mind, proved to be another subject of irresistable curiousity. He had not been silent throughout the party and he had in most cases acted as a public ambassador previous to that, representing both Samuel and SAM, the A.I. and the incredible world they came from. An enigmatic world which Samuel seemed to refuse to speak of more than strictly necesssary. She had respected his privacy and saved him from Rarity's scrutiny of Euphoria's Cutie Mark, allowing that knowledge to remain sacred. But the A.I. proved to be more candid with information than its maker had been. That wonderful screen had been revealed behind his face and it showed the marvel that was Earth and its surrounding galaxy, which was only one in a multitude of galaxies that collectively made up the Visible Universe, not to mention speculations on this 'Dark Matter' which seemed to make up a sort of paralel plane of passive energy that was not too well understood, yet. But SAM had made strides in that field of research, leaving Twilight in awe at his visionary intellect, and more incomprehensible still, the intellect that birthed him. Research into this world and quantom technology had allowed his existance, a fact which seemed to boggle even his mind. He truly seemed to possess a soul even without magic, a thought which terrified her. He even had a sense of humor and joked about how he couldn't even measure his own intellect as the thought of contemplating his own mind had generated an infinately recursive string of introspection as he generated abstractions and used up so much processing power that even his software for measuring his processing power had been overloaded and he had been forced to shut down the string of introspection before his CPU could be damaged from overheating. Having just told the nerdiest joke she'd ever heard, SAM had laughed in that ghostly voice, so like Samuel's, even mimicing pitch and tone change so subtley as to sound like a breathing thing. Yes, he made breathing sounds with his voice synthethizer, even though he had no lungs. Speaking of voices, SAM had even been able to give Euphoria a voice!

Well, she could write, but wasn't the written word just more perfectly suited for conveying simple facts, writing deeper, more daring thoughts than one would ever dare speak aloud? Still, her word use was a bit repetitive.

Euphoria.
Everything is euphoria to me.
To breathe, to see and feel and hear,
everything is euphoria to me.

Twilight had to supress an excited little squeel as her keen intellect allowed her to observe how the mare seemed to write in prose or even like verses of a song. Perhaps she had been a singer once? Still, she was intent on respecting the mare's privacy and as a consequence, she had been roped into a make-over to allow Rarity to create her perfect dress for the Summer Sun Celebration. Nevermind that it was still several months before the celebration, that just allowed for more time being subjected to Rarity's regimen of spa cures to make her look her best in the dress.

Well, at least SAM and his oddly named Pegasus Frame could come with them into the spa, assuring her that the moisture and heat wouldn't damage anything, though he seemed to be made of metal. It turned out he could withstand astonishing levels of heat and cold. He didn't need to even breathe so he functioned just as well bereft of oxygen, be that in the upper atmosphere or even submerged in water or mud. He'd slinked closer to her and whispered, which confused her since he could have simply written a discrete message on his screen, but he had closed the visor and those glowing eyes seemed to make eye contact with her as he chuckled and revealed, "I might even sit in the hot coals inside the spa to vaporize this awful paintjob. Seriously, this was the one color scheme I did not need," he sighed and even seemed to sag with the motion, further impressing Twilight with just how life-like he could be.

He then proceded to boast that the heat wouldn't even burn him, rather it would help him recharge his power cell as he absorbed the heat and generated electricity from it, and if he got hot enough, his nanites could even repair and modify his exterior, allowing him to choose a new color scheme. Euphoria had chuckled silently and bobbed him on the nose with a hoof, to which he jokingly responded with an 'ow' even though he felt no pain. She'd glared at him and he had sighed and unfolded his screen to allow her to stare into the soft glare of the screen as the tracking softwhere allowed her to select letters an words simply by looking at them.

You'd look good in purple, like a Twilight sky with a few sparkling stars.

As the pristine, white mare sat giggling silently, Twilight didn't know whether she should be embaressed, flattered or mortified at the awful pun that played on her name and re-ignited this mildly posessive flirt that had been going on for over a week now. She had found it hillarious when SAM had been dyed first like Rainbow Dash, then Rarity, and now even Pinkie Pie had claimed him. Yet here Euphoria sat suggesting that Twilight might be the next one to 'claim' him. Admittedly she had been pretty close to SAM, but it was only a shared interest in her culture as the machine intellect hungrily absorbed all the knowledge she could contribute, which was a lot. It had just been so flattering how he'd be able to sit there with seemingly infinite patience, listening to her as she completely monopolized the conversation and even lectured and he just fired back a rapid succession of questions and follow-up questions as he made observations about her world.

Rainbow Dash had teased her endlessly about the relationship, laughing as she claimed to witness many 'nerdgasms' from Twilight. She blushed furiously and scowled at the pranking Pegasus, but she'd managed to get back at her by distracting her simply by keeping the argument going until the skyblue weathermare had suddenly found herself inside the spa with them. When she'd panicked and tried to flee, Twilight had held her long, manyhued tail with her magic and yanked her back down to share in the torment that was known as Rarity's little group spa trip. Fluttershy had even come to her aid, ganging up on the brash pegasus by telling her how it might help relieve muscle tension and thus help her become a better flier.

So they'd all gone to the spa, barring Applejack and Pinkie Pie who had to get up early for work, so they needed to be going home for sleep. Yes, contrary to popular belief, Pinkie Pie did sleep.

Euphoria

As the spa trip unfolded, the raw sensations had almost completely melted her mind as once again, events flowed together and she was left just remembering sensations and shared moments. One moment she was trembling with bliss under Samuel's strong hands as he had massaged her tender muscles while Aloe and Lotus worked on the other mares - the next she was pinned underneath Samuel, hidden away in some private alcove in the hot baths. She lay on her back in the shallows, her golden mane fanning out around her in the water, feeling completely vulnerable. This position was unfamiliar to her but no stranger than the way she'd been able to ride him the first time. However, this time Samuel had not been bedridden and he could feel her now, groping her with his more delicate left hand. He loomed over her, his powerful muscles tensing as he just took her and she received him, spreading her legs in wild abandon. How could it possibly be even better than that first time? Yet it was. His needs were so unlike a normal stallion's, as they normally only became this agressive when their mares were in heat. She wasn't in heat, but after years of unbearable loneliness, she couldn't resist his advances. He'd told her humans were always sexually active after a certain age and with him it seemed to hold true. She'd lost count of how many orgasms she'd endured that night.

Also weaved into the heated succession of love making, were other more chaste memories - the lovely heat in the sauna and the incredulous stares SAM had drawn when he'd vaporized Pinkie's paint job by sitting directly on the glowing coals. She knew he could take the heat, as she clearly remembered burning his joints so hard they seemed to become plasma and he'd just remolded the broken pieces back into a symetrical wholeness; a spectacular design. By comparison, this was hardly even lukewarm to the Pegasus Frame. Once he'd stepped out from the glowing embers, the nanites had made his smooth chrome black surface come alive, rippling as he made good on her earlier joking suggestion and adopted a color scheme clearly inspired by Twilight. The librarian had blushed adorably and Rainbow Dash had been in hysterics, drinking in the sight of the purple mare's embaressed pout, but she seemed to enjoy the attention on some level as she did smile and then she'd launched into more conversation about Samuel's home world. Her stallion had grown oddly still during those moments, so she tried to distract him, which was probably why they so often retreated to another corner of the spa to have more sex.

Then in the bubblebaths it had all gone horribly wrong. She'd been extremely conscious of her ruined Cutie Mark and her broken horn up to that point. She'd been so careful and thankfully the durable fabric of the flight suit took well to heat and moisture. Even during the mud bath, she'd been able strip and climb into the thick mud, able to hide her 'Cutie Scar' as her tormentor had once called it. But in the clear, sparkly waters of the baths she could hide nothing and when she'd hesitated at the edge of the pool, still wearing the skirt, Rainbow Dash had zipped down and yanked the fabric clean off her flank and thrown Euphoria into the water. The Pegasus had meant well and she'd likely thought the prank harmless enough, but Euphoria panicked. She spluttered, flailed and even kicked Samuel as he tried to reach for her, to calm her.

Scrambling onto the wet floortiles, she'd been on the verge of tears with embaressment and the only thing that could've made it worse was if she'd tripped. So of course she soon found herself sprawled on the floor, exposed under the harsh glare of one of the lamps, shivering as dread gripped her tight; everypony was staring at her and they could see everything. From her grotesque 'Cutie Scar' that once resembled a shiny silver note to signify the music her voice made, now run through by thick, angry scar tissue, to the scar on her throat that had forever silenced that voice, but worse still, they could see the jagged protution from her forehead as her wet mane did nothing to hide the ivory root of what was once the source of her magic. How could she even call herself a Unicorn without a horn? She had no magic, not even in her stupid, clumsy hooves that had just clobbered her stallion senseless.

She lay frozen as Sorrow took her, returned from Tartarus like an old friend. Her lovely face once again became a mask of infinate sadness and loneliness as she lay exposed as the wretched heap that she was. Not a Unicorn, not an Earth Pony and certainly not a Pegasus, and even her stallion had wings which was more than could be said for her.

Yes, there she lay, helpless as she watched Twilight's eyes grow huge as her pupils shrank with terror. The librarian stared at the broken horn, her jaw hanging wide open, her breath stuck in her throat. She watched as Rarity's eye twitched when she caught sight of Euphoria's 'Cutie Scar' and the fashionista gritted her teeth, then her eyes rolled back into her skull and she'd collapsed; fainted. Fluttershy sat bolt upright, still as a statue, tears streaming silently from her eyes. Rainbow Dash was preoccupied helping her wounded stallion from the pool. Samuel had a split brow and crimsom lines of blood streamed down his face, but he had few bruises otherwise. He'd somehow managed to parry her wild kicks with his right arm, the hidden synthetic steel limb absorbing the blows like armor.

Tartarus. She was back.

The illusion was dispelled as her stallion scrambled to her side, leaning over her, scooping her up on his arms, hugging her. She could move again and hid her face in his shoulder, shivering with shame. Rainbow Dash was stammering, now aware of the disaster she'd wrought, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright, everything is perfectly fine," Samuel's baritone voice cut through everypony's voices before they could assault Euphoria with their pity. That exclaimation shocked the room into stillness as he went on, stroking her mane from her face with infinate care, "Euphoria is fine, she isn't hurt. She has been this way since I met her."

That seemed to break everypony from their initial shock as Twilight managed to heave an unsteady breath and shut her mouth, blinking her eyes. Rainbow Dash had settled next to Twilight, sitting on her haunches, looking at Euphoria for the first time with something other than remorse as she took in the sight of the broken horn and mangled Cutie Mark. She even looked curious. Fluttershy was still busy trying to revive the unconscious Rarity.

It wasn't easy to stomach all that attention, but she kept reminding herself, this isn't Tartarus, this isn't Tartarus. These ponies were her friends, they knew her. It was different from the endless succession of stallions who would weep for her and then die horribly before her uncaring visage of apathy. She was feeling fine now and her friends deserved to know the truth.

With that in mind, she squirmed free of Samuel's hold and everypony seemed to hold their breath, following her with their eyes as she neared Rainbow Dash. She stood firmly in front of the Pegasus, allowing them all to look at her marred flank and broken horn, pretending like nothing was wrong. Bending her neck, she bit down on Rainbow Dash's multichromatic tail and with her whole body, she heaved, managing to swing the squeeling weathermare in a half-circle, straight into the pool.

As the skyblue Pegasus spluttered and struggled to the surface in a near-perfect replay of Euphoria's earlier panicked reaction, the pristine white mare collapsed in a fit of silent laughter, rolling on the wet floor tiles. Samuel joined in the laughter and that seemed to dispell the horrible tension that had built up. Just like that, they were back to laughing and chatting with one another and even Rarity joined in once she'd recovered from her shock.

Without the need to hide her flank, Euphoria felt relieved as she could move about without reservation, swimming in the clear water, tossing back her blond mane, allowing her to view the world unobstructed. The only problem was the way Samuel kept ogling her flank, making her feel naked. It was true, she'd worn the skirt 24/7 since he'd first given it to her, so most of the time her intimate areas were hidden from view. Still, most of the other ponies were naked and she'd never caught Samuel ogling their flanks. She was blushing furiously, certain that the other girls had caught a glimpse of her sex now and then. That wasn't really considered taboo in normal pony society, but the added shame of having her scars put on display and the fact that she was obviously aroused served to make it that much more awkward.

Samuel had explained to her that he'd initially had some difficulty with the subject of nudity, as in his world such a display was usually a clear indication of an intent to mate. To his eyes, she wasn't just naked; she was stripped and ready to be rutted. Still, even this sexual tension was preferable to the pitying stares she had been forced to endure during her imprisonment. She tried to keep her tail tugged between her legs to avoid further exposing herself.

"Oh my, I think you'd best get dressed again, dear. I don't think poor Samuel can take much more of this," Rarity giggled and levitated the black shirt, draping it over Euphoria's flanks. She exhaled, visibly relieved to have the concealing cloth back in place and Samuel just muttered something about common decency as he adjusted his trunks.

It seemed she wasn't the only pony more relieved to see the awful scars covered up, and Rarity was probably the one who took it the hardest. Maybe Twilight as well. The way she'd just sat petrified, unable to tear her eyes from Euphoria's broken horn had sent chills down her spine. In the end, the purple Unicorn had approached her and this time, her eyes were on Euphoria's face and not her broken horn as the librarian had confessed, "I think you're incredibly brave. I wouldn't have been able to power on the way you do, not if I'd..." she averted her eyes, trailing off unable to finish the sentense.

Brave? Well, she supposed that was one way of looking at it.

...

Perhaps things wouldn't be so bad, even if a few other ponies had seen the true extend of her injuries.

Author's Note

Phew! Another long chapter. I'm not gonna post a cencored version of this one since,

A) It just wouldn't work, too many important things take place paralel to the light sex scenes, and,

B) I tried to keep it less graphic this time around. This isn't a clopfic so much as it's a story with light sexual themes. Like a movie where the camera doesn't fade to black anytime the hero's about to get lucky.

Anyway, I hope you liked it and I'm always eager for feedback. Did the repeated change in perspective seem confusing or unnecessarily complicated? I am hoping that wasn't the case, but like I said: feedback. Good or bad, let me know what you think.

In the next few chapters, I'll have some more action/adventure for you.