adventure The Guardian

[Alexshy 14,709]

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/370173/the-guardian

(C)2017

A common human Alex gets transferred to Equestria. Desperate to return home at first, he starts noticing himself changing. Time comes for him to decide for Equestria destiny. Will he conform? Which path will he choose? Are Celestia's fears justified?

Here is the story of a human, despite being an alien in Equestria, not being an outcast, a door mat or a toy for ponies. His misery comes from inside, painfully at first he accommodates. Equestria changes him and time will come to return the debt.

 

1. Arrival

 

 

A fierce lightning bolt ripped thick clouds and speared into the ruined castle tower so heavily that it made debris and dust fly in the damp air. When the mess settled a bit, partially taken down by the rain, which became really strong at that moment, it revealed the electric discharge being so strong that it carved a deep notch in the stone floor of what previously had been the upper room of the tower. At least when it had a roof. Now, as the rain poured inside freely, it made the strange curled figure in the middle of the lightning carved pit feel quite uncomfortable. Because seconds later a young man gasped and cringed in pain from the feeling of a bunch of burning snakes slithering through his entire body.

“Oh, my…” He wheezed faintly. “What in the name of the creator just happened?”

Slowly and painfully he kneeled. Perhaps it was not the best idea, as nausea struck him mercilessly, so he almost crashed back on the floor. But lying on the stone floor in the pool of rain water, which started gathering in the pit he found himself in, was neither. He realized that he started to freeze in the cold wind, blowing through glassless windows of what he recognized to be some sort of a ruin. That wasn’t nearly nice. His skin burned and reddened, as if he had gone through some fire, but thankfully it wasn’t burnt too much, yet it hardly made the feel better. His clothes now looked like a few shreds of the shirt hanging from the collar and cuffs, some remnants of the jeans wrapping around his legs and annoyingly getting in the way, the rest was completely ruined, burned as well. The charred edges and familiar smell spoke for themselves. At least he had his boxers and boots intact, the former simply missed their chance to burn, being under the rest of the clothes, and the latter were well made of thick leather for man’s sheer luck.

“Great,” He muttered to himself, shivering as another thunder strike rolled in the sky. “At least I don’t need to go barefoot…”

“Go where?” A sudden uneasy thought came to his mind. “And where exactly I should go from?”

Still feeling dizzy, he got on his feet and tried to look around. With the bright lightning flash he got an image of a medium size round room full of stone and wooden debris. It could be anything before, totally unrecognizable now as it was hardly the first thunderstorm hitting the unmaintained building. The roof fell in long ago, showing a few broken beams, which couldn’t stop the wind and rains from doing their destructive job. What could be some furniture, books, anything else now lay in decay. The time-worn chandelier, lying on the floor under the large boulder, appeared to be the most durable thing there.

The only attention-worthy thing in that room was a square opening in the floor near the wall. Surely it looked like an entryway to a bottomless pit in the darkness, but it couldn’t be really that bad. For all, what he knew about castles…

“Castle!” He caught himself screaming that in full voice. “What the flying hell is going on?”

“I can’t remember any castles nearby,” He said to himself, calming down a bit. “Damn, not nearby, not in the whole region, hundreds of miles round neither. What has happened to me?”

“Well,” He grinned painfully. “One step at a time, Alex, one step at a time…”

At least he remembered his name. Seemed not that bad, right? If only it could be worse actually. So… For all, what he knew about castles, they were made of stone and with the priority of safety and stability in mind. So, hardly the owners, builders, whoever stupidly jumped in the pit, there must be stairs under that opening. Hopefully stone ones, which haven’t been destroyed by the time, unlike wooden hatch on the opening – a few planks still hung on the ancient door hinges.

With another lightning Alex indeed saw dark, narrow stone stairs made slippery from the rain. He thought it was time to leave the open room – bombs never hit the same pit twice, but it was a lightning storm and… the day was “strange”. So he decided to err on the side of caution.

He ripped the rags – which were once his shirt and pants – off his hands, neck and legs.

‘Off you go,’ Alex threw them in a pile on the floor. ‘No warmth from you anyway, yet another chance to stumble or catch something and fall all the way nobody-knows-how-far down.’

He stepped on the spiral staircase, sticking to the outer wall and touching it with his left hand. He didn’t smoke and had no lighter or matches… And even if he did, that wouldn’t have helped him as all he had vanished with his jacket. As he remembered the stairs were not wider than the hatch. God only knew if there were beams, landings or even anything in the middle. He caught himself on the feeling that the wind became chilling in the tube of the tower… or was that staircase itself to blame. Alex was afraid of heights.

“I’m not taking any chances,” smirked Alex to himself sticking closer to the wall.

*

The car ate mile by mile of the empty Sunday road. Oncoming traffic was minimal and Alex could focus on his plans and expectations while driving. Surely not every 25-years-old man could think of a better career – benefits of the well planned and qualitative education, personal determination and, let’s be honest pure luck, but what job doesn’t require at least some luck – an IT specialist in a profit-making company capable of having personal transport, simple but comfortable apartment and no Damocles sword of debts hanging over the head.

Well, he really deserved it. Starting from the “ground level”, working with hardware, through endless night shifts, he finally noticed that it naturally started paying back. He could manage everything he came across his daily routines, but sometimes the feeling of completion was slightly tinted with regret. He could have spent more time with parents, with his almost-a-girlfriend. They were neither officially engaged nor limited themselves by any obligations… yet, but Elen was just-the-right-person for Alex. They understood each other wordlessly, they always found time to help each other, they could trust themselves being a stronghold one for another and above all, they both could easily make each other laugh happily or feel safe and serene, when it was necessary. No wonder Alex wanted to give Elen more attention.

But living forced him to prioritize. And it was rare chance to get to the next level of personal freedom and gain. He was offered a job in another company. Same IT field, almost the same duties, but in fact it was a direct promotion from the level he currently had. They have practically been ready to give him a whole subdivision to lead, obviously, that meant bigger income and further career opportunities. In common terms, it meant a private house after a short while and an ability to move in with his special somebody, whom he already asked about and got cheerful consent. Truth to be told, Elen would have been happy to join him in the old place without any special conditions long ago, but he didn’t ask and she didn’t find it acceptable to suggest herself.

Of course, it also meant moving to another city, but wasn’t it better done, while his parents were not too old and he could freely build his life? Besides, it was a neighboring city, not another country or another planet, it was only a few hours ride.

Considering all that Alex took a couple of days off to visit the new place and make the final decision. The new company was ready to give him from a couple of weeks to a month to make all arrangements at his old job and quit with as much dignity as it was possible. So he planned his days off to be Monday and Tuesday, thus having all weekend plus two days for a safe trip and acquaintance.

A few raindrops fell, leaving curvy tracks on the windshield. Alex frowned and raised the side window – the wind became stronger and blew some dust inside. He heard the muffled sound of distant thunder, then a bright flash sparkled in the sky. Soon the whole road ahead was barely visible through the heavy rain. Alex slowed down his car and turned on the lights. Thunderstorms were never a rarity in May, but as long as Alex remembered, there wasn’t any in that day prognosis. They promised warm, even hot, for that time of the year, sunny day without any precipitation. The whole cataclysm started all of the sudden. A few seconds ago it was warm and clear and in a moment the storm began… and the car didn’t even cover a mile during that change.

Flashes of lightning followed now one by one in a matter of a few seconds and Alex slowed down even more, when one of them lit a road sign at the shoulder – sharp turn. It was even darker here; the whole road was covered by the shadow of an enormous tree on the nearby hill. Alex could swear, he had never seen any of that size in his life. It was shimmering with millions of silvery green leaves on swaying in the wind branches. Alex thought it was very strange that no lightning yet struck that giant tree, despite it was standing as the only lightning-conductor in a few miles radius. He also thought, if that tree was guilty of quite a few road accidents every month, as the whole view was simply marvelous and there hardly was a driver, who didn’t lavish it with an extra amazed look.

Next thing he saw were headlights of the oncoming car, which apparently moved considerably faster than reasonable on such a turn, with that kind of weather. The driver managed to swerve past him. Alex took a glance in the mirror and saw the car started sliding uncontrollably on the road, then it hit a smaller tree behind the road shoulder and stopped. Alex pressed the brakes all the way down, risking repeating that driver’s “trick”. He stopped at the wayside and turned off the engine.

“Merlin’s pants, I hope the poor bastards are alright,” he thought, when he rushed to the crash site. “What did they think about, when they were driving that fast… or were they just looking at that damned tree mammoth only?”

There was a woman behind the wheel in that car, she managed to get out herself. More shocked than hurt. She was still shaking off that dizziness, when Alex took off his jacket and pushed in her hands.

“The inner pocket,” he looked in her eyes to ensure that she understood him. “Take the phone and call the emergency.”

He already saw that there was one more person in the car, who definitely needed more help. A girl on the back seat, clutching something yellow and pink and evidently terrified and shocked. Alex tried to open her door, then the door on the other side to find both were jammed, while the girl’s mother was making a call.

Gasoline trailed up his nose and Alex realized, it was the matter of moments. He climbed into the car through the driver’s door and took out the keys. Still, he could swear, he heard the dreading sound of the sparkles somewhere under the hood. He then turned to the girl and forced himself to smile in the most soothing way possible in that situation.

“Hey, hold on, we’re going to get you and your… pony friend out,” he noticed the toy in her hands. “Just a moment longer.”

He then climbed over the front seat and unlocked the belt. The poor little one clutched to him hardly less than to her pony. She didn’t cry, only whimpered like a deadly scared kitten. Alex found that it was nearly impossible to get the shocked child out of the car the same way he got into. She was near the panic attack already.

“It’s raining, your pony needs some cover,” whispered he in her ear, while pulling girl’s head to his chest and covering her from any damage. He then twisted and hit the rear window with all the strength he could afford. After the second blow the glass gave up and out.

Alex grabbed the girl and pushed her out of the car through the opening.

“Here, take her and get away from the car,” he breathed out.

“Thank you, thank you…” Tears mixed with the rain on the mother’s face, when she got her treasure.

She then backed off the car with the daughter in her hands; suddenly Alex saw, how her eyes widely opened in terror.

“Please, hurry, get out now!” She shrieked on the top of her lungs.

Next thing he heard was a zapping sound and the car got lit from the bottom by inflamed gasoline.

And then the world around him dissolved in an unendurable white flash and the sound of thunder.

*

So the last thing he remembered, when the world around was normal, if being fried and electrocuted in a crashed car could be considered nearly normal (well at least it was real), was bright blinding light. That was the first thing he experienced here. But wasn’t the rest around him real too? Alex stopped. Wondering how silly that idea looked he took a small portion of the skin on his arm and pinched it as hard as possible for the resulting feeling to be enough to tell if he was dreaming.

“DAAAAAAMN IT!” The roar rolled down the tower, causing the rumbling echo in the corridors below.

‘Merlin’s pants, that was convincing!’ Alex cringed.

He was into RPG and fantasy, so it sometimes came afloat with the strong feelings. Unsure if Merlin had indeed something to do about all that Alex noted that the feeling of burning snakes inside him didn’t go away, it simply faded, muffled by more actual problems. Besides, he realized he was freezing cold already and started to shake. Like if that wasn’t enough, his legs started feeling numb, as the whole way down the stairs wasn’t that easy, despite being only a few minutes long. He saw absolutely nothing and was to proceed really slow, trying to feel the wall with his fingers and stairs with his feet. The tower had no windows and, while it could be lit by some torches (somehow Alex felt that there were exactly the torches or candles, never the electric light), when it was in its full glory, now it was pitch black all over.

‘I must be thankful for being claustrophobic not,’ grinned Alex. ‘Otherwise, I would probably be stuck in the upper room forever.’

‘So, what do I have now?’ he tried to summarize his score. ‘I was on the ride to a work appointment, when it started raining cats’n’dogs all of a sudden. I couldn’t see the road well enough, so I slowed down.’

‘And there was that sharp turn. And that tree nearby!’ The memory came so vividly, almost highlighted by a thunderbolt. ‘Yeah, there was the thunderbolt, the flash which made the whole surroundings visible, despite the clouds and rain.’

‘That tree was enormous, I wondered if it was more than a thousand years old. There were quite a few such trees in the whole country, and that was probably the biggest one,’ Alex also thought that he had wondered exactly, if many drivers got into accidents, being distracted by the mere look of that silver-green giant. ‘Then another car appeared. It was moving too fast for those road conditions, no wonder they noticed me too late.’

As he remembered, that car lost control, as its driver tried to avoid the collision on the wet road. It slid by and crashed into one of the smaller trees at the road shoulder. The woman, who drove it, got out by herself, but the rear doors jammed after the impact. And there was a girl, about eight years old, on the back seat of that car.

Alex remembered that he had stopped at the shoulder, and rushed to the damaged car, risking to fall on the slippery ground. He had taken off his jacket and threw it to the woman, who seemed to be a complete wreck. There was a cell phone in the inner pocket. Alex told her to call the emergency and climbed inside her car. Taking the keys out didn’t ease the situation – he could feel the smell of gas quickly forming a pool under the car… and there were those damned sparkling sounds somewhere.

Alex tried to calm himself. Panic was nowhere near useful for solving problems. And he was afraid that he could scare the girl even more. She sat there, curling almost in a small ball; she wasn’t crying or panicking, just quietly whimpering. There was hope in her wide opened eyes…

He tried to open the rear doors only to find they both were jammed, then he told her to duck, and hit the rear window with his foot. It got covered in the web of cracks, but stayed, damn those tinting films. He hit once more and thankfully the whole glass flew out.

Alex shouted to the woman and clicked the kid’s seat belt open. He took the girl and carefully pushed her from the rear window into her mother’s hands. The little one gripped tightly to her plush toy – a pony it was… He remembered it so clearly, perhaps for the rest of his life – the yellow pony with soft long pinkish mane and tail. The woman shouted something, while she was backing from the car with her daughter.

‘Well, at least they are on a safe distance,’ he thought. ‘Time to get out of here before all hell breaks loose…’

‘And then the nightmare started!’ Alex closed his eyes, cringing at the memories.

With another sparkling sound the whole pool of gas under the car turned into the bright oven of doom. But before Alex could think, it was the end and a really ugly one – he started feeling heat almost immediately – he heard the ear-splitting sound of thunder and a bright blinding flash filled his consciousness.

Alex shivered. Was he brought here by lightning? By fire? For common sense’s sake, that was breaking the whole world order, he knew and loved. That was simply impossible. Yet it happened. The whole world around him was real. The feeling when he pinched himself was real. And the damnation, he screamed in pain, caused one damn real echo.

His foot stepped on a very real small mean stone… And Alex lost his real balance rolling down the real stairs.

“FUUUUUCK the castles!” He wasn’t sure, if he shouted all that in his mind or the whole castle was blessed loudly. Most likely mentally, as he was lucky to roll only a few steps. “FUUUUCK the stairs, cars and storms!!!”

“… And fuck the ponies!” assumed Alex, when his head heartily “greeted” the floor. With that reassuring thought he fainted.

*

Darkness fell upon Canterlot, muffling all the activity on the streets. Cicadas, occasional dog barking or hurried hoofsteps of rare citizens on their late way home were the only sounds breaking the serenity of the night. Everypony slept in their comfortable beds, resting from daily routines and even leaves on the trees didn’t dare to break the silence in the complete calm. Nopony noticed the distant and violent storm, which poured tons of water and ripped the dark sky with thunderbolts above the old ruins in the middle of Everfree forest. Even the hardest blast, which could easily compete with the light of full moon rising, was most likely unnoticed by anypony. Anypony but one.

“Ahem…”

Luna turned one ear to the approaching delicate steps of her regal sister, but apparently her attention was otherwise completely occupied by something else, as she stayed, where she was, observing distance through a telescope.

“Luna,” princess Celestia, the Ruler of the Day and Sun, called a bit louder, while she entered the observation balcony on the top of the highest tower of Canterlot castle. She waved her wings in unconscious contraction with a sudden windflaw. “Dear, are you here or several dozens of miles away?”

She then approached her younger sister, princess Luna, the Ruler of the Night and Moon, Master of the Dreams. Something was apparently bothering her that much that she decided to abandon her usual patience and extended her foreleg to touch sister’s shoulder.

“Oh, Tia! Mine apologies,” Luna turned her head from the telescope. “Well, of course, I’ve heard thee. I’ve been examining our… strange issue in the Everfree and slightly captured by mine thoughts about. So what didst thou want?”

“So, you’ve already noticed,” Celestia nodded. “That overly strange and, I’m not afraid to call it that, impossible thunderstorm above the woods.”

“Above the old castle ruins to be exact,” Luna rectified with her eyes, returning to the swirl of clouds in the distance, which meanwhile started to fade.

“And what do you think about all that?..”

“It started moments after I raised the Moon, escalated really fast and now, after half an hour, is fading as suddenly as it started,” Luna touched her chin with the hoof, summarizing. “With clouds so thick and swirling in a compact circle, thunderbolts of that strength and the whole amount of water, which managed to come down in a short time, one might bethink, it needed quite an army of pegasi to stage such a performance.”

“Exactly,” replied Celestia with a tiny smile. “But…”

“But thither were no pegasi assigned to that wide-scale duty the present day at all,” continued Luna. “I have checked the prognosis twice and thither was nothing alike planned for tonight. Besides, what was the point of pouring tons of water in the middle of nowhere practically?”

Her strengthened Old language revealed Luna being a bit excited by the events, as normally she tried her best to accommodate to the modern style of talking. Being properly understood by your subjects was sometimes vital and the Royal Canterlot Voice wasn’t an ultimate tool to reach that goal. There was no point of being loud, while others were trying hard to grasp the mere sense.

“The storm started completely by itself,” Celestia emphasized with concern. “And that’s not something we have been getting here for hundreds of years. Not here, in the middle of Equestria. I admit that Everfree lives by its own laws quite often, but still…”

“Thou art concerned about some imminent danger,” Luna nodded in understanding. “Or rather somepony. As we hardly got something unruly without somepony’s assistance the last few times.”

“Even if they were not ponies,” she smiled mirthlessly.

“But I have sensed nothing. Nothing and nopony, possessing any magic at the least, be it malevolent or contrary to that,” Luna’s ears sadly flattened. “I don’t understand, Tia, what are we dealing with?”

“Neither do I,” confessed her older sister. “As you said, “sensed nothing and nopony”.”

“But we shan’t let it out of our attention. I wonder, if I should send some guards there right now, Luna,” Celestia threw a quick look over the distant ruins, but there was silence and peace over them at that moment, as the storm ended.

“I sincerely suppose that we should just wait for a while,” Luna returned to watching the sleeping domain below. “Guards will hardly find any…pony in the middle of the night, despite mine Moon. If thither is anything to look for, I’m unsure.”

“I trust your judgment of that, dear,” with a heartily smile Celestia nuzzled sister’s shoulder.

“Well, I’m not insisting… but I doubt, we are capable to take any effective steps right now.” Luna leaned back to Celestia. “Have some sleep now, Tia. It’s going to be a long day ahead. And I shall return to mine nightly duty.”

“Have it lightly. Good night, sister.”

Luna waved her hoof in the air, showing that she returned the wish, while her attention returned again to the old ruins deep amidst Everfree.

*

“AAARGHH!!!” Absolute darkness of unconsciousness was changed by the slightly less thick darkness of the old castle. ‘It becomes routinely to fall and get hit. Up to no good you are, man.’

Alex sat on the floor and waited, till the walls stopped spinning around him. As he gained normal sight, he noticed that it became less dark around. There was a hallway up ahead and the moonlight patches on the floor noted the existence of windows for once.

He got up to be greeted by his grumbling stomach. What a nice change: just when he realized the flaming snakes feeling was still with him, he was almost naked, cold and bruised, his stomach decided to remind that it existed and needed attention. The mere fact that the last decent, moreover any, meal Alex had, was past noon didn’t encourage as well. Trying not to think that he should rather be concerned of not being eaten in that godforsaken place, than having something to eat (the castle seemed to be abandoned for a few hundred years and could be anywhere deep in the wild), Alex proceeded to the hallway.

The storm was over during his “blackout” and the full moon looked through the numerous bowed windows of the long corridor with dark regular winged statues standing in the arcs. The night seemed to be young still and Alex noticed that he shivered less here than in the tower. Strangely the storm ended without any sign of it taking place, except water, the air outside was still warm and brought the faint scent of unknown flowers. Alex looked out of the nearest window.

‘Bad, bad idea!’ He managed to notice the green sea of trees, apparently surrounding the castle and shimmering silver in the moonlight and breeze… just before the whole picture doubled or even tripled in his eyesight and his guts tried to make a backflip.

‘I’m too high above the ground,’ he said to himself, accurately backing up from the dreading opening. He then added. ‘Great, I’m in the middle of nowhere and still need to find a suitable way out of that castle.’

He was a bit ashamed to confess, he wouldn’t use the faster exit, even if it was twice lower or there was water below. Back home he was never able to enter a balcony higher than the first floor, here it seemed that he was on the fourth or something alike. And the ceilings were high given that it was the castle.

The sudden memory about home was painful. Alex had no faintest idea, how he was supposed to get home without practically anything: the documents, money, his car. The thought that it would be great at the very least to define, where he was and where his home was, didn’t provide much optimism either. Without the phone, map or any clues about the area it wasn’t going to be a game. Alex released a deep sigh. It seemed, he was to stay inside till morning – he couldn’t notice anything outside, which can be used as a landmark, except the very castle, but it wasn’t enough to proceed. He was still uncomfortable about walking around in the wild in underwear only and hoped that perhaps he could find something for the covers. Finally, it was simply stupid to walk through some unknown forest in the middle of the night.

‘So let’s check the other rooms,’ he said to himself, while stepping further into the hallway. ‘If only that annoying pain inside faded, I’d be completely happy.’

The closer look at one of the statues quickly brought the now-almost-native feeling of unease back. There was something familiar in the statue, something that Alex still couldn’t remember, yet making his skin crawl. No, they were not some gargoyles or any sort of other ugly stone abominations so usual for the ancient castles. What stood in front of him was a sculpture of a… unicorn. There was something strange about it: it wasn’t of the size of a normal horse, but smaller, almost like a big pony. However, it was more slender, than a pony any of us could portray, more graceful. In addition to that, the statue was “wearing” the armour. Quick examination made clear that the armour was more like of a soldier, than a battle animal, besides, there were no saddle, no harness, in other words, nothing normally used to ride a… pony. Alex also noticed that not all the statues were the same, as it seemed to him from the first look. Half of them were unicorns, another half had wings, thus being technically pegasi. He giggled nervously.

‘Yet this feeling that I have seen those somewhere…’

“Well, dude,” Alex slapped the closest statue lightly on the muzzle with a cackle. “It seems, there going to be more ponies in my life from now on.”

According to his “internal clock” Alex was wandering around the castle for about an hour already. He tried to keep the general direction of getting down to the ground floor, thus walking down every staircase, he could find not ruined. Yet he felt that he was covering much more distance horizontally than actually descending, not mentioning that he was to backtrack twice because of corridors blocked by collapsed walls.

Alex completely forgot about his hunger. Now he was concerned about warming himself and getting some safe place to sleep without any risk to freeze completely till morning. He wasn’t sure if it was going to get any colder before the sunrise, considering he had no idea, where exactly the castle was situated. What he saw through the windows clearly showed that it wasn’t some polar region. For which Alex was immensely thankful. But every compartment without windows was noticeably colder; the stone walls didn’t keep warmth like probably they did, when the castle was full of life.

He didn’t know if it was bad or good that he apparently was all alone there. Remembering now the yell he gave, when rolling down that stairwell in the tower, he came to the conclusion, that wasn’t the best thing to do. But the sound startled nobody and nobody came to check of the trespasser. So he guessed that tiptoeing wasn’t absolutely necessary, opening the few remaining doors, despite them screeching mercilessly, was safe as well.

Next doors Alex faced were large, heavy, built of thick noble wood. Amazing ancient carving, highlighted by the moon light, coming through the high window behind his back, covered the door leafs. When he pushed them lightly, he was amazed by how easily and quietly they opened. It seemed that particular room was of great importance to the castle inhabitants, so they treated all the stuff inside with great care. The furniture stood intact in the dark room, most likely being of the finest quality, so it survived whatever disaster happened.

“Gasp!” Alex stumbled in the doorway, as he noticed something deep in the room. A human figure in another passage at the far wall.

At first he was worried a bit, but only for a second or two…

“Hello!” Alex rushed inside the room. “I’m lost and…”

He found himself staring at… Alex, same tired and bruised Alex in his dusty boxers and boots; Alex with quite a stupid look on the face, which already managed to grow some stubble. He extended his hand to touch a giant dimmed mirror about 10 feet tall. Alex gave out a deep sigh of relief and… despair.

“Nasty mirror,” he muttered. “I almost thought that I found some help.”

He took another look across the room, which, as he noticed, was a bedroom of some regal person most likely. Closer examination of the king-size bed revealed it being of no use, as there was nor sheets neither mattress left (they were probably that pile of dust beneath the bed). The wooden frame survived, but not the delicate cloth. Alex thought, he was going to have no sleep tonight, as other furniture in the room, at least the chairs and banquettes, were somehow not comfortable for him to relax properly. He remembered that every unbroken seat, he found previously, was as well… perhaps too low for his comfort. Other furniture like tables, cabinets seemed to be alright though.

Alex proceeded through more and more rooms: spacious halls and small cabinets. Checked more bedrooms and bathrooms with the stone basins built into the floor – all with mostly time worn and broken furniture. He passed an enormous library, thinking that he probably was to wander around that castle till morning looking for the exit. He checked a couple of books (more automatically than hoping to find something helpful) one of which crumbled to dust in his hands. Nothing that could help, some historical stuff that could be interesting, if he wasn’t almost falling asleep on the spot.

Well, if he wasn’t, he might have noticed that, despite understanding, what the books were telling, there was no single word written in plain English in them. But his tired mind noticed the content and completely missed, paid no attention to form – the symbols the books were written in.

Finally, after one more staircase, he found himself on seemingly the first floor of the castle, in the long high hall of some regal value. High windows on both opposite narrow ends of the hall let enough light inside for him to see columns, chandeliers at the walls and ends of ceiling arcs, more sets of horse… pony armour, standing on their eternal duty along the walls, another single staircase at his end of the hall, going down and most likely to the castle front doors at some point. With the idea that going outside was definitely some daytime business, Alex headed to the opposite end of the hall, where he noticed a stepped podium with two… thrones.

After approaching that three steps elevation with two large thrones Alex noticed, they were still in nice condition, not only stone frame, but also the soft seats and backrests. Another sign of those being made for the top-class noble asses, as Alex giggled inwardly. One throne was covered with a large ancient tapestry, also quite well retained. It must have fallen from the wall behind the thrones, as a similar tapestry hung behind the second throne.

Alex rose the steps and took the tapestry by its edge to unfold it. The cloth was of amazing quality and lightness, unbelievable for its age, nowhere heavy and rough on touch, unlike almost every common tapestry. This one was made in black, all sorts of blue and silver colours with white outlining. Presumably night sky with stars and bright moon above and a dark blue slender winged horse figurine below facing… flying down. Another tapestry on the wall was generally in blue, white and gold, depicting the sky, sun disc high above and a white slender winged horse figurine flying up.

Alex closed his eyes. The same feeling of unease flooded him again. Both images were painfully familiar, he knew he had seen them somewhere already. But they were parts of a single image in his memory.

*

That was one of those family days, when Alex and his parents were visiting relatives from another city. The latter lived in suburbs, without plenty means of entertaining people, especially younger ones. This and them having two daughters, 12 and 8 years old, practically meant that, while older members of the family were discussing all, what was usually discussed on family meetings, girls were totally Alex’s business. Besides cousins were under the impression of the 19 years old sibling, that sort of impression, which usually leads to looking up to with eyes wide opened, giggles, unintentional innocent flirting and tons of teasing. All harmless, at least until it starts coming at you as a storm… That day wasn’t going to be an easy one, as Alex told himself earlier in the morning.

The relatives lived in a cottage with a large garden. So hide and seek, play catch, some more random running around, while both girls contrived to almost run him over a few times, made Alex finally unsure if he had two cousins only or maybe four… or even six already.

“Hey, girls,” called he, getting up from the grass. “What about getting inside and having a bit quieter entertainment… before it becomes traumatic?”

“Boo, spoilsport!” Older cousin bumped into him and grabbed in a bear hug. “Right when we started having fun.”

“Two of you are too much for the “old Alex”,” he stuck out his tongue, teasing her.

“You’re not old,” she wrinkled her nose, making her freckles jump. “Just a bit grumpy and into your computer stuff too much. Tell me the point of going to the gym, when you can just have fun outside for free with the same result.”

“Yes, yes,” Eagerly jumped the younger, while Alex thought about a dignified answer to the previous question. “We can view some cartoons. Just got a new show on DVD.”

She took Alex’s and her sister’s hands and rushed into the house, sweeping away all possible objections.

“OK, what will it be?” asked Alex, when they sat in the living room. ‘Girly stuff,’ he shrugged mentally, while younger cousin turned the TV on and set the disc into the player already.

It was the new show called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. As he suspected typical girly stuff. Yet despite pinkish gamma and girly hyper voices, what he watched was fun. It was the first episode, where a few pony girls were searching for some relics to prevent an evil alter ego of one of the two rulers of the land from returning from her 1000 years banishment. The land was called Equestria. ‘So original’, smirked Alex to himself. It was ruled once by two sisters: one reigned over the day and Sun, another – over the Night and Moon. The younger sister – Luna got jealous of Celestia, the older sister, thinking she was getting more attention and love, naturally being the princess of the day. Luna went completely mental, being spoiled by the shadow and turned into Nightmare Moon, who tried to take over the whole land and establish the eternal night by refusing to get the Moon down and let Celestia rise the Sun.

It was impossible how Alex could still remember all those names and facts from the show.

Celestia then entrapped her younger sister into the Moon, using those relics and started ruling the country on her own, day and night, Sun and Moon, while mourning of her once beloved sister. But after 1000 years certain conditions were met for Nightmare Moon to return and attempt revenge…

With the help of the relics, the pony girls (main characters of the show) managed to cast out Nightmare Moon and return princess Luna as former kind and sane self. But those were details…

There was the old castle of Two Sisters in that show. And there. Was. That. Sign! Of two regal sisters, rulers of the Moon and Sun.

*

Alex dropped the tapestry and covered his face with hands. It wasn’t obvious if he was going to shriek, cry or curl on the stone platform in disbelief and despair.

‘That simply can’t be true!’ cried his mind. ‘Come on, it was just a blasted movie, a cartoon for kids!’

Well, last time he tried to check, if he was sleeping or delusional, was painful and real. From all forms of insanity, this could be the least possible, Alex could imagine for himself, if thinking about insanity was his common practice.

After a few minutes he managed to bring together, what remained of his trembling, tired and frustrated self.

‘I am regally screwed!’ he gritted his teeth heavily. ‘But, damn it, I’ll deal with this tomorrow!’

‘I’m too tired for logical conclusions. No ponies or nightmares or else will take away my sleep. And I’ve finally found some “clothes”,’ Alex let out a sad grin.

He grabbed Luna’s tapestry…

‘Oh, dear Lord, please, let me be mistaken!’

… and made some kind of toga, wrapping it around his tired body and finding it surprisingly nice and warm.

He then climbed with his legs on that throne in front of him and curled, trying to find the possibly comfortable pose. Minutes later overloaded by today’s events Alex passed out.

 

---

Author's note: If 't be true you like the story (and have FimFiction account, otherwise, you can't vote), please, take a minute to support the book hither: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/370173/the-guardian  "Thumbs up" are very welcome, comments either. Mine most sincere gratitude in advance!

Edited October 27, 2021 by Alexshy
tags

[Fluttershy Friend 25,445]

At last!

Completely accidentally I found that thread and I'm very glad that you decided to promote more your wonderful book and at last especially in that way.

Good luck my friend! I know very well that "The Guardian" deserves for much more attention and appreciation. Uff. I'm literally not even sure if I should write my own opinion here about  that beautiful book.

I guess that much more interesting, for you and me, will be comments and opinions of readers which for the first time will be reading this story.

Edited June 28, 2018 by Fluttershy Friend

[Jade Fire 7,036]

im going to make the time to read this as soon as possible. i hope tonight. i hope ponies find this page and enjoy your book

[Longhaul 6,470]

It's on my e-reader and I can get caught up while I'm waiting for my laundry.Really loving the story so far.

[Fluttershy Friend 25,445]

52 minutes ago, Longhaul said:

Really loving the story so far.

Why I'm not surprised? I am glad that you like this book.

Which chapter do you read if I may to know?

[Longhaul 6,470]

34 minutes ago, Fluttershy Friend said:

Why I'm not surprised? I am glad that you like this book.

Which chapter do you read if I may to know?

I've read the first, and the most recent ones.  I need to get reading the stuff in between.

Much better than the stuff Iv'e written.

Edited June 30, 2018 by Longhaul

[Alexshy 14,709]

2 minutes ago, Longhaul said:

Much better than the stuff Iv'e written.

Dost not be so harsh on thyself! *hugs*

[Fluttershy Friend 25,445]

14 minutes ago, Longhaul said:

I've read the first, and the most recent ones.  I need to get reading the stuff in between.

Much better than the stuff Iv'e written. 

Good heaven! You made for yourself ONE GIANT SPOILER!

[Longhaul 6,470]

Just now, Fluttershy Friend said:

Good heaven! You made for yourself ONE GIANT SPOILER!

I'll have forgotten the last part by the time I get halfway through the story, so it will be fine. 

[Alexshy 14,709]

(New week, new chapter )

2.   Neverfree

 

 

 

An early ray of sunlight sneaked through the arched window into the hall. It jumped from one floor plate to another and soon reached the stepped platform. Soon it climbed the steps, the throne and finally Alex’s nose. When the ray peeked into his eye, Alex tried to move away, frowning through sleep, and woke up. At first he yawned quite peacefully, perhaps he thought that all the events prior to this morning were a dream… or better say a nightmare. Not the worst one in his life, but definitely a shiver-worthy. Then Alex rubbed his eyes, shooing the rest of sleep, and… his eyes met the hall, the floor plates, the high windows with sunlight coming through, the… pony armour sets in the arcs and his own self, curling on the throne and wrapping himself in an ancient night-coloured tapestry.

“GASP!!!”

He was still in that nightmare… or the daymare… or whatever mare it was.

“Oh, no, Alex, you should really hold back from all those horse jokes,” he said to himself. “Right before more of them become real.”

Yes, regardless of his denial or whole impossibility of the surrounding, Alex couldn’t probably imagine any acceptable explanation of the recent events being a joke, prank, any other less mind-wrecking kind of mishap. There could hardly be such a rich and demented fan of the show or even group of them, who could build the castle of Regal Sisters in the middle of nowhere with such care and attention to the tiniest detail. Build and then make it degrade, like if a few hundred years have passed. And the signs of decay were nothing close to artificial, as Alex could remember from the previous night.

So, if it walked like a duck, swam like a duck and quacked like a duck, then it most likely WAS a duck. The only adequate explanation of the events, he faced, was that Alex had somehow got to…

“How it was called,” Alex wrinkled his forehead, trying to remember. “Equestria. God damn right, Equestria. You are in Equestria, man! Congratulations! TADA!!!”

He then thought, if there were IT specialists needed there, or if the person he was negotiating about his new job looked like a horse… a pony better say.

“C’mon, Alex, stop it already,” he laughed aloud. The latter made him cringe again: the feeling of a tight clew of flaming snakes perhaps faded a bit, but it never went away. Then he heard the plaintive singing of his empty stomach.

Alex stood up from the throne and stretched. Surely his sleeping place wasn’t the most comfortable, but he thought he shouldn’t complain, as he got no real choice anyway. Still, it was better than sleeping on the stone floor.

“Now it’s time to get outside and think, what I have to face and how I can get through all this,” he jogged to the stairway at the other end of the hall. Despite the slight pain inside, he simply needed to make the blood run faster. Besides, Alex secretly hoped for the outside forest not to become his second night standing place. All those expectations called for faster moving.

As he thought last night, this wide staircase led him to the hallway on the ground floor of the castle. And the big doors on the other side of the hallway were the entrance. Or in his lucky case – the exit. Alex almost flew to the doors, his feet hardly touched the floor. Fortunately, one leaf was completely missing, while another hung askew on one hinge. If the doors were intact or even locked, he doubted he could open them with bare hands… in that case jumping out of the window would be the only way out. Despite being on the ground floor, the windows were high enough, which already made any thought of jumping through uneasy for Alex.

He exited the castle and ran down a few more stairs to the ground. Ground, finally, Alex was so happy to see it right under his feet, well, boots… thankfully he still had them, that he could probably fall down to his knees and kiss the dust.

The thick wall of the forest closely surrounded the castle. Alex noticed, there were all sorts of trees at once: pines, oaks, willows, elms  – the mix we couldn’t normally see in one climatic area, not even in one forest next to each other. While he was able to identify the majority of the trees (some were still new to him, and if he was a botanist he could easily say that there had been none of some on Earth), the whole variety of smaller plants, bushes and flowers were completely new to him. Alex wisely decided to stay away from completely unknown flora unless absolutely necessary. He wasn’t allergic back at home, but… he wasn’t at home anymore. God only knew, where he actually was, and if indeed it was Equestria (some part of Alex’s mind still tried to struggle with that idea), there could be… surprises as he remembered.

Indeed, Alex was surprised finding out that he remembered enough details from that long-gone day, when he got acquainted with Equestria and its… realities? So, now they were actually real, and it was definitely good that he could remember at least something.

The first thing he needed was the proper direction. Having the castle strictly behind the back he looked to the sky. The position of morning sun told him he was facing north. As far as he remembered, the nearest town, he knew anything about, was also to the north (and slightly west) from here. So, if he proceeded the way he was facing, he should finally get out of the forest and be able to have a better view of surroundings. Thus he could correct his path to the town later outside of the woods… unless he could find a high ground to rise above this sea of trees and see another landmark. He preferred to think not, what it could mean to find a HIGH ground. With this in mind Alex deepened into the forest.

Apparently, it was late spring here too. Lots of flowers filled the air with various unknown delicate scents. Insects were flying everywhere on their daily business, pollinating the flowers. Alex noticed bees, dragonflies, colourful butterflies of unknown species. The trees around him were full of birds’ “chatter” and singing. If he was less focused on his path, he could probably notice some birds practically following him, while chirping in quite noticeable communicating manner. Yet he noticed that the whole life here was innocent, untouched and unharmed by the human. Birds, getting closer to him than anywhere else he was before, were not only more curious up to denying self-preservation, but obviously not familiar with a human, thus harder to startle. Thankfully he had not yet met any of the bigger beasts, which seemed to be common to this forest, judging by how big and wild it was.

Alex was more concerned about his further route through the forest than any sightseeing. He tried hard to remember, which obstacles the main characters of the show met, so he could be at least partially prepared for what he was going to come across. It seemed that his mind finally became capable to operate the events around Alex as parts of reality rather than some bad joke. So he took as the fact that he was in Equestria and needed to follow the path, pony girls from the movie went, to get to the civilized area.

‘If someone told me that I should seriously remember the details of the show as ones of vital importance,’ he thought. ‘I would have told them, they were totally nuts.’

‘So what they were, the obstacles,’ he wrinkled his forehead. ‘As far as I know, there must be a bridge right after the castle, then some shallow river, then some sort of area with dead and spooky trees, then some rocks’, he sighed and shook his head. ‘Always something pleasant, now climbing those rocks. Or were they river, bridge, rocks, then trees. It could be each way equally possible,” he muttered to himself in a deadpan manner. “Although, I suppose the bridge was right before the castle.”

‘SHIIIIIIIT!!!’ Alex gulped nervously. How could he forget? ‘That bridge is deadly creepy suspension bridge over a narrow, but somewhat deep canyon. And it must be really time worn… unless some…pony is regularly maintaining it.’

Alex felt that cold sweat started running down his neck and back. There was no possible case, which could force him to consciously cross that bridge. Even a mental image of thin wooden planks, swinging on the ropes above the sharp rocks far-far below in the mist, gave his stomach almost palpable punch, making Alex cringe in a qualm.

‘Damn that, but who could imagine that I ever get in such a situation?!’

 He kept walking over fallen trees and bypassing particularly thorny bushes, while trying to keep the general direction, his mind spasmodically searched for a less phobia involving solution. The canyon was about 20 feet wide, not a long bridge to cross… for one who wasn’t scared to live higher than on the second floor. And there was no chance one could get over the canyon without the bridge. Of course, Alex’s mind obligingly offered him an image of a fallen tree “bridge”, which he was so “thankful” for. Like if it could be any worse already.

Soon Alex noticed that the forest was slightly thinner here, forming a narrow, but noticeable, long ago abandoned path. Doubtfully there was any other road to the ruined castle, so it was safe to assume that he wouldn’t get lost at least. Reassured by that thought Alex sped up as much as rugged terrain allowed.

Alex covered a few hundred meters, when he noticed the unnatural silence around. And he could swear that before he stepped into the thinner vegetation, the forest around was full of sounds: birds singing, insects humming. Now though it seemed that even wind muted itself, hiding in anticipation of something. Whatever it was, Alex didn’t like it at all. He stopped and crouched, making himself less visible from the distance and trying to remember fast, what kind of predators could one naturally expect to meet here. The thought of a dragon (and there were dragons as he could remember, big adult dragons with tons of nasty habits, not only small and adorable ones like Spike… or how this little pony companion name was…) sent a shiver down his spine, but he dropped it as hardly possible. If it was a grown-up dragon, he would have been toasted already from above most likely.

What else?.. Wolves? Wolves were common here, though they were not like our usual wolves. Alex couldn’t remember, what exactly was special about them and scolded himself for that. And there was, of course, that beast, ponies met in the movie – the Manticore. Right when Alex was wishing heartily, it wasn’t a Manticore, moreover a hungry and grumpy one, he heard a distant roar. Not a very loud and angry, but definitely one which belonged to a larger animal than something like a wolf. And not distant enough for the situation to be calming.

‘Predators rely on hearing and smelling more than eyesight!’ Alex tried to breathe less and make his heart beat slower, but obviously failed at that.

The roar sounded once again, closer to where he was. It was still not agitated, but yet very determined. And the strength of the sound, reminding a heavy load truck diesel, was self-explanatory. The beast, whatever it was, most likely smelled Alex’s trail and the mere fact, he wasn’t chasing yet, said only about him being unfamiliar with everything human related, including smell. Later Alex thought, he was indeed lucky being not seen by the beast, so the latter was unsure till the very last moment if he should deal with the one who left the trail.

‘Merlin’s pants, damn it entirely and every part in particular, I’m out.’ Alex jumped on his feet and stormed along the path as fast as he could, while still avoiding slipping or smashing himself against some tree.

Manticore, and now Alex was absolutely sure it was him, heard the sound of something getting away, roared triumphantly and rushed after.

Fortunately, they were still in the woods and the vegetation, growing and fallen, didn’t allow the clawed menace gain full speed. Alex thought that in the field he would have had no chances. Surely he was in decent form, but so was Manticore, despite the unhealthy diet. And having four legs, instead of two, was, of course, the unsportsmanlike advantage. The heavy crunch of the large beast wading through the foliage behind his back made Alex pay no attention to the branches lashing him. He tried his best to stay at his feet, hearing that the beast was slowly, but constantly, shortening the distance.

‘Oh, finally, this is it,’ Alex heard some noise ahead. ‘If it is a river then I’m lucky on double. If only I could cross it an hide on the other side. Cats don’t like water, besides it must get the bastard off my trails, if I swim a little down the stream.’

‘Fat chance, but… nope!’ his hope faded, when he ran out of the forest into the open area at the edge of the… canyon.

The gap was indeed narrow enough, with its far edge slightly higher. Rocks an old roots were sticking out of the stone wall. The noise Alex heard, was probably wind, whistling in the canyon, or there was some stream at the bottom… That was of no importance now. Alex managed to grasp all that in one wild glance; he still couldn’t force himself to get close to the edge.

The open space was wide, wide and deadly, as Manticore could reach him here in a few good jumps. Alex spotted the bridge to the left from where he exited the forest and stormed towards it at the supersonic speed. Later he thought that he could probably make a Sonic Rainboom, if he tried a bit better.

‘This is it,’ he almost slid to the full stop before the bridge. His stomach happily reminded of itself and his heart started beating somewhere in his throat. ‘Final stop. Depot. What are you going to do next?’

He threw a wild look back. The bushes at the end of the forest path let away a creature, which mostly reminded a lion with small rudimental wings (which could look even funny… in slightly different circumstances) and a thick scorpion tail, which was now evilly raised and demonstrating the sting. This “lion” was about the size of a young elephant though, very angry and disappointed by the fact he still wasn’t able to catch his prey. When Manticore saw his aim being much smaller and apparently easy to claw, he let out a loud howl and leaped towards Alex.

‘Run, you idiot!!!’ Alex turned to the bridge. ‘Beefsteaks aren’t acrophobic for sure, but you’d rather not become one!’

God only knew how much did it cost, but Alex managed to cover half of the bridge in some miraculous leap of faith, as he later called it. Then the whole world started spinning around him and he grasped the ropes on the sides, as his legs suddenly turned into jelly. He couldn’t make himself to move any further, even if someone poked him with a candent metal stick in the butt.

He closed his eyes and prepared for the worst, when he heard… a loud crash behind and receding angry roar, which soon mixed with the noise from the bottom of the canyon.

“Squee!” The sound, which came out of his mouth, wasn’t near anything a grown man could make, it resembled one of a rubber toy with squeaker. He cleaned his lungs. “Cough, cough!”

Truth to be told that wasn’t because of Manticore, Alex couldn’t give less buck about the beast at that moment. Alex prayed for the only thing – the bridge to stop shaking and not falling apart entirely. Though he wasn’t sure which was the worst: to fall down and become a pancake or be stuck at that bridge unable to move.

Risking to get another panic attack, Alex tried to carefully look back. Manticore was too eager to get his annoyingly fast and not giving up prey that he made one big mistake – leaped in the air too early. He landed on the bridge a couple of feet behind Alex and old wooden planks couldn’t hold his weight. There was a several foot gap with the cracked wooden sticks hanging on the suspension. And there was no way back now, not for Alex at least.

In fact, he wasn’t sure, if there was any way ahead for him either. Perhaps the perspective of meeting the night on that bridge didn’t seem bright enough, or something else… But Alex managed to get control over his quaking legs after a minute. Clenching to the ropes like a paralytic, slowly moving his feet forward, one after another, trying to focus on the aim, but not the bridge doubling itself in his eyes, Alex crossed to the other side.

When he reached the solid ground, Alex collapsed to his knees. A fit of nausea was so strong that he couldn’t avoid vomiting. His stomach was empty for more than 24 hours already and that made the feeling even more tormenting. Flaming snakes inside him, almost forgotten due to the fast pace of later events, awoke and added to the whole suffering.

“You could have become more civilized, after Fluttershy relieved you of the thorn in your damned paw!” Alex gave the finger towards the bridge, when he stopped shivering.

He got on his feet and headed to the forest on that side of the canyon. The terrain was gently rising here and the path was more pronounced.

‘Good. That will help me recover after the long run and… stuff,’ Alex twitched, the image of the canyon was still fresh. ‘At least the road is less overgrown with foliage here.’

‘And there must be a river up ahead,’ he remembered, he had no water to drink for ages either. ‘I can take a breath there.’

The returned sound of birds chirping in the trees was the best music to his ears. That meant, there were no threats nearby. Alex thought that perhaps it would be smarter to get something as a weapon, to pick a branch or stone, but soon he dropped that idea. The additional weight could slow him and he didn’t know exactly, how far he was to go to get to the town. Those ponies spent almost a day to cover the whole distance, but again, they traveled on four legs and were most likely familiar with the path in general. Besides he didn’t feel like ready to wave a thick branch. He could easily startle a single wolf away without, but a branch could hardly help against a pack of them or something like Manticore. Alex tried to avoid thinking about facing a dragon, a grown-up one. Speed and reaction were his best weapons at the moment. And the hope of not coming across any more canyons or cliffs.

After an hour of walking, when Alex became slightly worried if he had taken the wrong way, despite apparently there was only one old path here, he started hearing the sound of running water. The air became slightly cooler and tangibly damper. Alex sped up towards the gap between the trees.

The river was not very wide and supposedly not very deep, there were rocks sticking here and there from the running water. It was flowing down the hill towards the canyon behind and no doubt fell into it somewhere, forming a waterfall. Despite the hill wasn’t very steep, the flow was fast enough and formed visible swirls in deeper places.

“Well, at least the water must be clean enough,” thought Alex. He couldn’t think about anything else now, when he suddenly realized, how thirsty he was.

He made one more pleasant discovery, when he reached the bank. A few bushes of hazel (well, they looked like that) with a plenty of nuts, evidently suitable enough for a starving adventurer.

‘Now you are an adventurer,’ he smirked to himself. ‘Lara bucking Croft.’

He remembered the castle and the bridge. ‘What will you adventures end with?..’

Alex kneeled at the river bank, the water was indeed crystal clear and he scooped a handful and tasted it. He thought, he never tried anything more delicious. Maybe it was thirst or maybe the water was indeed so clear and fine. Anyway, Alex drank enough to flush the sour taste in his mouth and to keep himself going further.

‘Don’t know, when I can find any water, and I don’t have anything to take some with me.’

Alex tried a few nuts to make sure, they were indeed what they looked like, then ate as many, as he thought was possible without making himself uncomfortable with unfamiliar food. He decided to stay for a while and have a rest, but before that he got to the water once again and washed his face nicely then dipped whole head into the stream.

‘I can’t afford any sleep now,’ he smoothed wet hair, pressing the water away.

*

The entire morning passed in various cares in and around her cottage. Fluttershy fed and took daily care of her animals, the number of which would probably make any other pony desperately give up. Anypony, but Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness embodied. Besides, while treating her little and not so friends she always showed inscrutable agility and cheer. Everything flew, rolled and sang in her hooves in those moments.

Nevertheless, there was much work to do and time fled insensibly… till it was noon already. And that was considering her having a habit to wake up with the sun.

Fluttershy just finished with the daily medical care of a few sick pets, realizing that she couldn’t delay refilling her potion and herbs reserve anymore. That meant, she needed to visit Zecora and collect some species herself in the Everfree.

Zecora – a strange zebra, tribal traditions keeper and a strong herbalist and magician (practicing mostly natural, if not saying elemental magic), lived deep enough in the Everfree forest. She was a rare guest in Ponyville and not everypony knew her well yet or trusted much… for their own loss to be frank. She was actually kind and caring and could help and teach a lot that one, who wasn’t deterred by her strange speech (she rhymed) or rituals. Of course, that one should consider a fine long walk through Everfree to her hut to get the benefits of communicating with Zecora. It happened that Twilight was the first, who doubted reasons for zebra alienation in Ponyville and eventually made good friends with her. And Fluttershy could make friends with practically anypony (or anyzebra in that case) she met. Taking care of animals and thus having constant need of natural ingredients helped those two get along well.

So Fluttershy was to hurry, if she hoped to visit her zebra friend, let alone collect anything herself in the woods. Everfree wasn’t anything to take thoughtlessly; the closer to dusk, the less. She quickly packed a few necessary things, including a couple of carrots for her favourite pet-bunny.

“Angel, Angel, dear, are you going,” Fluttershy slightly raised her voice, as the bunny again was lingering somewhere. She was already going to check upstairs, when the white rabbit jumped in front of her and impatiently drummed his hind paw. “Ah, here you are little tod.”

“We need to hurry, Angel,” said Fluttershy with a gentle smile. “So we don’t need to deal with wild and ill-mannered forest inhabitants, when sun sets… I… hope you understand. Ready?”

Instead of any answer Angel hopped on her back and made himself comfortable, showing with all his posture that he agreed with the plan, as long as he didn’t need to walk all the way himself. Somepony knocked at the front door at that moment. Fluttershy blew a thread of pink hair off her face and trotted to answer.

The opened door revealed Twilight, standing on the doormat with an apologetic expression on her face.

“Oh… Hi,” Fluttershy hesitated for a second. “Come on in, Twilight. I-I was going to visit Zecora. I’m out of healing potions and a few rare herbs… if  you don’t mind…” She then noticed concern on Twilight’s face. “But if there is some emergency… I-I’m sure, it can wait. I can go later… So w-what do you need?”

“Hi. What?... Oh, no, no, there is no emergency at all,” Twilight stepped in. “I’m sorry, if I mess with your plans. That’s a matter of a few minutes though.”

“Look, I’m terribly sorry, if I’m asking it back too soon,” she explained. “Remember that book on rare magical plants and their effects I gave you last week. I found out, I need it for my study still. If you could return it just for a couple of days… I then could finish and it would be all yours as long as you need,” finished Twilight, blushing and flattening her ears. Confessing that one of her studies went less than perfectly was always a delicate topic for her.

“Oh, and that’s all,” laughed Fluttershy with relief. “Sure, dear, no worries here. And thank you very much by the way. I’ve found out quite an effective recipe thanks to your book. One of my beavers had his tail constantly scraped and suffered hard to heal cuts, but it’s not a problem anymore with that composition, I managed to find in your book.”

“It means that I’ve done with it and I must say it was an amazing reading. I was going to return it anyway. Here, you can take it,” she pointed her hoof at the small table near the door. “Thank you again.”

“Umm… You’re saving my life, dear,” Twilight levitated the book and put it into her saddle bag. She smiled heartily. “As usual.”

“Being a princess doesn’t mean that I have nothing to learn anymore,” she giggled, wiggling her wings.

“Wait, you weren’t saying that you’re going to Everfree,” Twilight frowned with realization. “Not after the dark. Please tell, you won’t.”

“Well, of course, I won’t… stay there longer than necessary,” replied Fluttershy. “It’s only noon yet. I just get some potions, I’ve run short of, from Zecora and go back home via the different path to collect a few plants on my own… if that’s… okay with you.” She finished with a sheepish smile. “It’s not that I’m  going to do something overly daring…”

“Oh, come on, Flutters,” objected Twilight. “They say timberwolves started coming closer to the edge of the Everfree lately… And what if you come across a… c-cockatrice,” she exhaled under her breath.

“I mean just ensure you have enough time to return before dark,” she added quickly heavily blushing. “Not that I don’t realize, who am I talking with about cockatrices, or think you can’t cope with them.”

Now it was Fluttershy’s turn to flush. Twilight remembered that time, when she was turned to stone by a cockatrice in an overly stupid incident. She owed her life entirely to Fluttershy, who managed to Stare damned cockatrice to shaking knees state, thus making him revert the curse.

“I-I… umm… errr… okay…” muttered Fluttershy in flaming embarrassment. “Just… L-let’s go… if… you don’t mind.”

“Besides, I’m going to take Harry with me,” she closed the door, when they both exited, Angel bunny still sat on Fluttershy’s back. “He may be not the… fastest bear around… but I doubt, we will have any troubles.”

“Well, that certainly changes things,” said Twilight. “Just be careful anyway. Won’t mind, if I send Spike later tonight… just… to know you’re fine?”

“I won’t, dear,” Fluttershy waved her fore leg, when they parted ways and Twilight trotted towards Ponyville. “You are more concerned about my walk in the forest, than I should be.”

 

 

She then crossed the wooden bridge over a stream and headed to the Everfree.

*

Rare white feathery clouds passed by in the turquoise sky, the sun was almost at the zenith without being overly hot. Laying under the tree on the riverbank Alex almost came to what could be considered peace in his thoughts, despite all the events, all of the uneasy questions… He was that kind of man, who solved the problems in the order they appear, and now the key aim was getting to the town. What he had seen before brought him to the strong conclusion that at least geographically the region was exactly as it was shown in the show, regardless to how crazy it might appear. So at least he knew, where and how he must go to reach the town of Ponyville. Alex remembered that name as well, just like he was now sure the capital of the land was called Canterlot.

Well, it could be better of course – he could never get into such a trouble. It could be better, so he never was to desperately look for a way to get back home… and it wasn’t something, what could be done in the middle of the forest for sure. But at least he was alive, still in one piece and kicking. Considering how he got here, it was unimaginable luck to achieve.

‘Don’t worry, Alex,’ he encouraged himself. ‘Let’s get to some civilization first, and there, I hope, are some means to revert you woeful condition. Perhaps princesses have something, as I can safely assume they have magic.’

‘Yeah,’ he muttered sadly. ‘The only thing I can rely now on is magic. And I’d be completely happy, if I can get rid of that weird feeling inside, I hope, the lightning didn’t cause some internal injuries. Although, I couldn’t probably make it that far, if it did.’

Feeling recharged Alex got up and looked for an easier way to cross the river. The elevated rocks were few, separated and slippery wet. There was no way of getting across without taking a bath. Alex took a look over himself.

‘Not taking off the boots for sure, who knows what the river bottom is like. I need my feet in good shape, there is a long road ahead.’ He then looked on his regal tapestry toga by some mysterious chance he managed yet to tear not. ‘But this will become too heavy, if getting wet. Besides, it will suck out warmth at light speed, when I cross the river and it starts drying.’

He took it off and folded as compactly as he could. He tore off a long branch and cleaned it of smaller twigs and leaves. Holding the stick in the left hand and folded cloth on his head with the right hand Alex stepped into the water, where it seemed most shallow.

 

 

The water was cold enough, not chilling, yet not very pleasant, which might be explained by the relatively strong current, and the riverbed was rocky. Alex was glad, he didn’t take off the boots, he was trying hard to keep balance. If he entered the water barefoot, he would have fallen over already. Probing the riverbed with his stick Alex slowly advanced.

He was almost on the other side, when the strong current knocked him off feet. He couldn’t predict everything – it was slightly deeper here and the strong current rolled over a big rock. The stick dropped into a pit and Alex lost his balance. He tried to keep the face above the water and was forced to drop the branch to have at least one free hand. Water formed a small swirl here and it rolled Alex, so he was to keep the direction as well. Right at that moment a perfidious underwater rock turned up. The current threw Alex on that rock hard enough for him to let out almost all air from his lungs. Sparkles sprinkled from his eyes because of the sudden hit and the swirl was about to give him a good dive, when the same current threw his beaten body onto the river bank. Or was it something else… for a moment Alex could swear, there was something more solid under him, which pushed him towards the ground.

On his three, still holding the folded cloth almost dry, Alex crawled out of the water. He stopped, only when he made it about dozen feet away. There he sat and regained his breath.

After a few minutes (when he dried a bit) Alex got up and wrapped himself in the tapestry toga again. The sudden memory made him leave the riverside fast enough. There was some kind of water snake or dragon in that river in the show. It wasn’t hostile, according to the show, and evidently, it wasn’t hostile in reality, but…

“Thanks!” Alex said aloud, facing the river. “But I won’t push my luck,” he added under his breath, while heading back to the path.

 

 *

After a couple of hours of walking, the environment changed completely and the changes were of no good. Apparently, Alex stepped onto some sort of equestrian badland. Trees in that area were darker and uglier, with crooked trunks and angular branches, moss hanging from them as a dirty veil, waving at the slightest wind. Many trees had hollows and with those and branches reminding crooked arms with thin clawed palms could surely scare a random traveler shitless during the nights. If someone was mental enough to wander into that part of the forest when Luna’s Moon was high.

When his thoughts touched Luna’s night, Alex looked over himself examining his improvised toga.

 

 

‘I hope nobody will object that I’ve borrowed that old forgotten and otherwise unused piece of art,’ He checked, if every part of it was still in place. ‘At least I was good up to that moment in keeping it fine.’

Now Alex tried to step carefully, as there was more deadfall here than in the forest before, and the ground was springy under his boots, giving away proximity of some swamp. Greenish fog covered the ground and raised up in the air, becoming thinner at about the waist high. Dark green bushes grew in thick heaps and made it even harder to see, what was nearby.

The silence around was deafening. Not birds chatter, not small forest critter fuss, nothing broke it. Naturally, Alex thought that no animal in sane mind would like to make its home here, but yet he learned well, what that silence could mean sometimes. One more thing bothered Alex, it was noticeably darker here.

Of course, it could be dark in thick woods with high and wide-branched trees with tons of leaves even during the daytime, and Alex could say, it was about a couple of hours past noon. But those trees didn’t look exactly like those capable to provide excessive shadow. Neither thick, nor healthy and overgrown. Yet there was something like half-light constantly under them. Was it some sort of anomaly or… magic, Alex couldn’t probably tell.

“Now great,” he muttered under his breath. “It’s about time to face another fugly monstrosity of that place! Just when I thought, it was going to be a walk in the park at last.”

As a confirmation of his concerns Alex heard a muffled rustle in the bushes to his right. He stopped immediately and stared there, ready to flee or kick some ass, depending on who or what was going to appear.

That new whoever-that-could-be didn’t hurry to present itself though, as the rustle moved from one bunch of the bushes to another. When Alex decided that he could have startled a porcupine or some possum or a raccoon, if such animals were common for this place, he noticed that he could hear quiet spiteful croaking coming from the same spots with the rustle. That didn’t make much sense, frankly speaking.

Despite Alex decision to wonder any strangeness not, considering the place he had arrived, a peacock’s head popping out of the thick bush caught him by surprise. Alex froze on the spot, thinking of what a domestic bird forgot in that godforsaken swamp, miles from nearest dwelling. He also thought that a peacock was the least animal, he expected to see here, when the bird let out another grumpy croak and decided to climb out of the vegetation in entirety.

The point was, it wasn’t a bird. A peacock’s head, a few inches of feathery body with wings and a couple of otherwise normal bird’s paws were firmly planted on the end of a long slithery snake body. It was unknown, if the beast could fly or run on its paws, at the moment it squeezed out of the foliage and slid toward Alex.

‘What the flying buck is that crap?’ thought Alex while regretting his former decision of carrying no stick with him. ‘I surely lack a pair of thick pants or jeans or something alike, as my legs are exposed from knees to ankles.’

 

Meanwhile, the snake-chimera approached him, yet stayed at a few foot distance. It wasn’t particularly large or threatening, just utterly strange and, despite the whole situation being least amusing, ridiculous. Apparently, the bird part of the monster was fairly heavy for the snake tail, so it could raise it about Alex’s waist level, while still keeping the balance. There were no poisonous fangs in its beak to Alex’s relief. The beast simply stopped, small evil eyes stared at Alex’s face trying to catch his sight. Alex looked right into the pinprick pupils…

A couple of minutes passed that way. Alex sighed heavily and scratched the back of his head.

“Hey, listen,” he loudly addressed the monster, which was evidently waiting for something and now utterly surprised by not getting that. “If you’re going to play gaze, then it’s not the best time, I have better plans for today. The sun isn’t going to stay up forever, you know…”

Alex took a few steps aside, planning to avoid that serpentine hen-head and continue his hike, but it appeared, the latter had other plans. While looking very puzzled now, the monster slid aside nevertheless, blocking Alex’s path again. It looked quite stupid though, as evidently, something wasn’t working right as it expected, yet it didn’t nest in its tiny bird’s brain and the monster was unable to break its own pattern.

“You!..” Alex grinned unkindly and clenched his fists, popping knuckles.

He aimed carefully, made a couple of quick steps forward. And the monster didn’t have time to react, when Alex’s well-placed kick got its beak acquainted with Alex’s heavy boot. The cock-snake let out a muffled croak, when its body flew through the air, while helplessly flapping wings and paws. It then landed right in the middle of the hollow tree and fell through the trunk with unexpected sound of a cue ball falling down the gutter.

That was too much for Alex, even after all those mishaps he had already. The whole situation was so hilarious that he bent in half in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. He simply couldn’t stop himself, remembering the idiotic expression of the monster, if anything could be read on peacock’s “face”, right before the launch.

A few minutes later Alex managed to calm himself just enough to proceed walking. The badland now seemed not so spooky.

The spiteful and now vexed croaking followed Alex for a while, making him giggle like a school girl, but the monster didn’t find guts to make another attempt. Alex marched forward triumphantly and cared now about stumbling not only.

 

*

Celestia’s sun started setting already, slowly approaching the west edge of the sky. Shadows became longer and the air – colder, it was only spring as Alex assumed, so the day didn’t reach its’ maximum length yet. It wasn’t in his plans to stay in the woods that far from any civilization, when the darkness fell, as he knew, there must be wolves or some other similar sort of carnivore, which scoured in the forest at night. And smaller carnivores always came in packs.

The badland ended about half an hour ago and that fact made Alex extremely happy. Surely the cock-snake incident ended hilariously and brightened Alex’s mood for a while, but the whole gloom of that place slowly started getting under his skin. So, he was glad to see normal forest finally, with flowers, birds still singing (though there were less of them now as some started to prepare for the night already) and squirrels jumping in the tree crowns.

‘I need to hurry up,’ he reminded himself. ‘If I’m not mistaken there are some rocks or hills up ahead. So it definitely is going to take more time to pass than plain ground. At least because I don’t know exactly, what to expect there. I hope nothing has changed, since Twilight’s team (he remembered one more name) passed them last time and there is no avalanche danger there now.’

‘When do you manage to finally overcome your phobia?’ he asked himself almost aloud. ‘You’re now in the place, where acrophobia can be deadly for you. Even not involving manticores.’ He tried to suppress the shiver after fresh memories of the suspension bridge.

Remembering more names and facts from the show… Show? Ha! Here it was history, as real as his own legs carrying him through the forest. Anyway, remembering more brought him to a certain dilemma.

‘If I meet natives… When I meet natives,’ Alex corrected himself as the previous variant sounded bad. ‘Would it be smart to show that I am familiar with parts of their REAL past and present? I mean, if I’m to imagine that some talking pony is found in my backyard and knows me and my family, neighbours, the name of our president, etc, wouldn’t it be utterly strange, if not alarming, for me to communicate with alien creature, who still knows that much about us?’

 

 

'They will lock me in some stone sack or some mental hospital, if they have any of sort… Hey, I wonder what a mad pony looks like,’ Alex smirked, but he was seriously sure that humans were not common to Equestria. ‘They can suspect that I am some spy, evil monstrosity, an alien, I mean extra…equestrian one… or just a bucking rare animal.’ He facepalmed at the realization of delicacy of the situation, he was going to get into.

‘At least I hope I will have enough time to spend with common natives to prove I’m sentient, before officials have a chance to grab me. For what I know, Celestia seems to be not the softest person and I don’t want a vacation on the Moon,’ Alex checked the sun position, when he reached another open place. ‘Wonder, if we can understand each other. Evidently, I could read the books from the library, but those were obviously ages old. Who knows, if the language evolved too much.’

Again, he didn’t pay much attention to the fact that he was able to read the books, while naturally he shouldn’t have been by any logical approach. But his mind was distracted by a view of the mountain behind the line of trees. The mountain wasn’t too high or steep, but Alex still cringed.

‘There is no other way,’ he regained his posture. ‘If I try to walk around, I’ll lose too much time. Celestia won’t hold the sun just for me longer than usual. Let’s simply hope there are no vertical cliffs.’ He gulped nervously and decided to run.

Alex passed the last few lines of trees in a few seconds and faced a long yet not very steep dirt slide, which rose to a considerable height and turned into a plain rock “shelf” running around the rest of the mountain. At least one could walk, not climb that slide. Alex was fine with that variant and kept running up, trying to not look behind just in case. The ascent took him about ten minutes of fast running as he didn’t travel the straight line, because of bigger rocks protruding from the slide, and sometimes was to use all four limbs to proceed. He soon reached the top and climbed on the shelf, immediately getting closer to the mountain side and away from the edge. While catching his breath, he could observe the whole sea of trees far below, painted in red and gold by setting sun.

‘I’m out of time,’ Alex continued running along the stone shelf. ‘But no flying way I’m going to repeat that trick in the nearest future. I’ve coped because of one reason most likely, if I stopped or failed otherwise, I would have never undertaken a second attempt.’

He proceeded as fast as he could, still being on guard, as he heard wind high up in the rocks and rare stone crackling. Making less noise was the hardest task, as any loud bump could possibly cause a rockfall.

‘Come on, you’re almost there,’ he encouraged himself. ‘There is a descent on the other side of the mountain… Damn! Okay, Alex, calm bucking down. There. Is. A. Descent. And you’re gonna make it. Then a couple of miles more of the same forest, then you’ll be able to see the town across the hills. Perhaps you can even meet someone at the outskirts of Ponyville. Someone, who can help you.’

‘If you want to get home faster, your best chance here is Twilight. She knows magic, and stuff and magic seem to be the force running this world, regardless of how weird it sounds for you.’

 

 

'But Twilight is a direct thread to Celestia,’ Alex frowned. ‘I won’t be surprised, if she sends her a letter right after you appear in her sight. Which leaves the question open – is it for good or… not that much.’

‘Remember, you’re still a spy or alien or rare animal, undecided,’ he smiled unhappily while running and trying to keep his breath even.

Seemingly he started to find a strange pleasure in his travel around the mountain. Seeing all the woods below as far as he could observe, setting sun… and having a few foot distance between him and the edge of his improvised road.

Soon his marathon came to an end. Alex stopped and threw a look from under his hand at the wide, but not endless stripe of trees, the green hills behind them and a darker spot with sparkles of glare in the light of setting sun – windows, roofs, whatever there was – there lied the town, his final goal.

The descent here wasn’t a complete nightmare – it was formed by an endless number of platforms chaotically protruding from the side of the mountain, so they practically formed a set of wide but not very high steps. The lower they got the more and bigger plants were growing on them. Few lowest rocks have small trees and thick bushes covering them.

‘Get moving,’ Alex ordered himself. ‘Just a few… Okay, okay, many big steps, thankfully connected by only a few foot high drops, slides, whatever your acrophobic ass is going to deal with. You can easily cope.’

‘I hope…’ added he and started carefully getting down. But before that, he took one more look at the town far ahead to remember the direction. ‘When I’m down, I won’t see any landmark, except probably that mountain. Not even it, when I’m deeper in the forest.’

Descending surprisingly wasn’t as awful, as Alex was afraid, it was going to be. He just focused not further than next rock platform or even mountain side in front of his nose – he decided to climb down facing the mountain side, not the ground below, that was ten times easier. At least it allowed him to divert his mind from the actual height.

Tired, shaking from the stress, sweaty, but still going down at good pace he was above the last platform, when he heard a distant scream from the forest below. Alex strained, the scream was girly, high pitched and undoubtedly one of terror.

Alex quickly jumped to the last platform and crouched behind the bushes. He then crawled flat between the trees to the edge of his watching spot and stopped behind the small log. The cover wasn’t good – the log was probably as thick as his own leg and only three-four feet long, but he had no other choice. Right away he heard the rustling below. Carefully he raised his head and waited.

A small yellow pony pegasus darted out of the bushes to the left of Alex’s hiding spot and stopped almost beneath him. She – and Alex was sure that was a she – turned then, facing the direction, she came from, and stood still, slightly shivering. Fast breath carried whining notes of despair, big turquoise beautiful eyes were wide open, pink mane and tail of impossible length and density now drooped in hopelessness. Alex noticed two saddle bags, a small white rabbit clenching to her back and now trying to hide inside her incredible mane and same marks on both her flanks. Three butterflies!

“I be damned!” whispered Alex under his breath. “Fluttershy…” Surely he was ready for something like that, yet when it happened that suddenly and evidently, he was stunned.

‘Why didn’t she fly away?’ he asked himself noticing her wings tightly folded and pressed to her body. ‘Perhaps she feared the rabbit might fall…’

Thankfully the wind was blowing from the forest towards him. The bushes on the edge of the opening parted, letting out three wolves. Very nasty, hungry, determined and… made of wooden debris apparently – branches, smaller twigs, leaves, even a few rocks. Alex’s eyes widened even more. Meanwhile… timberwolves… started slowly cutting the distance between them and their supposed prey. Alex didn’t have time to do anything, when he felt that something changed below.

The yellow pegasus straightened and stared right into timberwolves’ eyes. Whining ceased to exist, like it never was there in the first place. Alex was surprised by soft and melodic, yet strong and confident voice.

“So if you are a few big bad wolves, you afford thinking that you can offend somepony smaller and weaker than you!” scolded she and her next phrase rang like a bell. “HOW DARE YOU CHASE ME AND ANGEL?!!”

Alex didn’t listen further, he was simply shocked by that impossible situation. Fluttershy was about his waist high, her eyes not reaching his chest level. Surely if she stood on her hind legs, she could put her fore legs on his shoulders and look into his face. But timberwolves were giants compared to her, they were at least twice bigger than a grown up human and could look Alex right in the eyes while standing on all fours.

But… whatever she was doing to them was working. Three wolves crouched with the most guilty look on their muzzles, if the timber muzzles could carry such an expression, their ears flat and their broom-like tails between their hind legs. It took them a couple of moments more to lose their determination completely and flee under the trees. It seemed, they had no plans to return at all.

However, Alex noticed one more thing, which avoided the attention of the yellow pegasus. One more timberwolf evidently managed to sneak around the opening and to the right behind the foliage and was now right out of her field of view, getting ready to jump on her back.

‘Even if I shout, she has no time to turn and distract him or do whatever she was doing to the others,’ Alex’s hands found their grip on the log in front of him, as his blood boiled from the anger towards that sneaky beast. ‘I may regret that next moment, but…’

 

 

"No! You fucking DON’T…” he landed between Fluttershy, who turned 180 degrees in one jump with a loud frightened squeak, and the remaining timberwolf. Alex raised the log like a baseball bat. Even if the wolf was caught by surprise by that sudden change of the scene, it didn’t show much hesitation and attacked. Alex was ready for that lunge and leaned back letting timberwolf’s head past him and simultaneously getting a wider swing.

CRANK!!!

 

 

He put all his momentum into this one well-aimed hit. Wooden head left the neck and flew far into the bushes, where it met the tree trunk and crumbled in small pieces of wooden junk. Timberwolf’s body rolled over with remaining speed and its left paw found Alex’s side in last vile strike!

CRASH!

Beheaded timberwolf dropped to the ground and crumbled into separate branches and pieces of wood.

THUD!

Alex dropped the log and fell on the ground next to his enemy.

All that time Fluttershy stood on the spot, as if she was hit by the lightning. The rabbit timorously looked out of her mane and patted her neck with a paw. She woke of her shock and approached human figure on the ground.

Alex felt heat filling his right side and the nasty trembling in his hands. The fiery snakes inside woke up and jerked, making him let out an unwanted weak moan.

He saw yellow pegasus girl’s face in the reddish veil tinting his eyesight. The pink soft mane covered half of it and left open one lovely turquoise eye, now filled with concern and compassion. Alex reached her mane with his left hand and touched her cheek, feeling the amazing velvet of soft warm coat. To his fading surprise, the feeling was nothing near of a common pony, people are used to – usually more furry and rough; a weak smile touched his lips. Fluttershy’s face then turned into Elen’s in his blurring sight.

A bear muzzle appeared behind. Alex took that with the serenity of the doomed.

 

“Harry,” exclaimed “Elen” in dismay. “We should take him to my cottage… A-as soon as we can… ummm… please, if that’s OK with you…”

The bear muzzle nodded.

   Alex closed his eyes and fell through the darkness…

 

---

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Edited July 30, 2019 by Alexshy

[Alexshy 14,709]

(And hither we go...)

3.    Keep calm and flutter on – Day one

 

Apparently, he wasn’t dead… yet. Alex’s consciousness floated somewhere at the thin border between this world and the land of Eternal Hunt, with him being able to hear scraps of reality from time to time, but not yet see or move. After a while he decided to fight for his chance and started floating through the nowhere towards the voices he heard. Slowly…

 

Bang!

 

The door slammed against the wall, when Fluttershy pushed it and burst in.

 

“Oh goodness, oh goodness!” muttered she, making a wide circle around the room. Curtains on the windows stirred up, caught by her wings’ turbulence. “I have only one bed. I can hardly put him anywhere else… Squee!”

“Come on, Harry,” she landed at the bottom of the stairs and ran up. “Bring him upstairs… umm… please.”

When in her bedroom she swept everything unnecessary from the bed in one swing, a book she read last night and teddy bear went into the armchair in the corner. She dragged the covers to the footrest of her bed. Loud footsteps entered the living room and now headed to the upper floor.

Harry breathed heavily, surely the creature weighed not too much for a bear to carry, but the walk was long. Besides he managed to hold the edges of the wound to avoid bleeding out and was to be careful constantly. Still, there was blood everywhere.

Fluttershy turned to the bedroom door, as Harry got up and was now standing in the doorframe with the “creature” in his fore paws. He pointed with his eyes to the wound and blood drops, forming a trail on the floor.

“Oh, dear,” jumped Fluttershy on the spot. “Just bring him in and on the bed, I’ll clean everything up later. On the right side… please… if it’s OK with you.”

“Wait a minute, we need to take those things off him,” she reconsidered. “Please hold him a little longer.”

After a few minutes of futile attempts they understood that they needed help, as Harry was to hold both the body and the wound and Fluttershy couldn’t get a good grip to remove strange dark-blue clothes.

“Angel, dear!”

White bunny, which ran somewhere, when they entered the cottage, appeared after a few more calls. The reason for his lingering became obvious, when a large heap of bandages hopped in the bedroom. It seemed that he has raided the whole first aid locker downstairs.

“O-oh, dear, you’re so thoughtful,” Fluttershy flew up crossing the room and planted a small kiss on bunny’s nose, making Angel blush. “I’m so sorry, b-but I have one more task for you… if… you don’t mind… Please, go get Twilight here as soon as she can attend!”

“Just be careful out there!” shouted she after him, when he saluted with the fore paw and burst jumped through the door.

Harry sat on the floor, still holding the wounded creature. Fluttershy trotted downstairs to get her saddlebag with the potions, she hoped could help.

The first one foamed, being poured on the terrible wound, cleaning it, pushing out dust and small pieces of wood and flushing them away. The second composition, applied by her caring hooves, was supposed to help stop the bleeding and boost the tissues regeneration. It was also to be applied with the bandage, but for the moment Fluttershy could only make a temporary one. She tried to apply it and fix as tightly, as she could to make the wound edges close.

The creature didn’t react anyhow on her manipulations and Fluttershy trembled. Her touches, despite being careful and wary, should have certainly hurt. But he definitely breathed and the pulse was palpable, when she checked. That made her calm a bit.

There was one more potion at her service, this one was to replenish the blood loss by stimulating the body to produce more and generally strengthen the patient. But it needed to be applied orally and no sane pony would pour something into the throat of unconscious, unless wanting to kill them.

“Oh, dear…” tears started filling Fluttershy’s eyes.

Her sad thoughts were interrupted by a loud snap almost making her dive under the bed. When the bright flash faded out Fluttershy and Harry saw Twilight Sparkle, who transferred herself right into Fluttershy’s bedroom. Angel bunny jumped off her back. Fluttershy took a deep breath with her ears still flat and one of fore legs raised.

“Hi, Flutters,” Twilight waved one hoof in a greeting gesture. “Hi, Harry.”

“What’s up with you guys? Angel jumped around me like mad, until I took him and got here fast. I was afraid something bad happened…” she stumbled as her eyes reached the body Harry held in his paws.

“This… is not…” Twilight’s pupils almost filled the eyes. “F-Fluttershy, don’t tell you’ve found a human! How… ummm…” her wings wiggled unconsciously.

“I-if you say so,” Fluttershy was a bit bemused by that reaction. “I-I don’t get it. I mean, s-surely that’s something rare, b-but… I wanted you here to help… i-if you don’t mind…”

“I, of course, don’t, but it’s not just “rare”,” huffed Twilight. “It’s mythic. I’ve read something about them, but the information was scarce. Lyra should know more, you know. She is mad about those things… creatures, always talking about how marvelous it would be to have hands and so on. That’s while she is a unicorn,” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Can you imagine? She is the one who told me about them initially, now I remember. Then I looked for information myself and couldn’t find much… I wonder… where did she...” Twilight stopped to take a deep breath and think.

“M-m-mythic?” re-asked Fluttershy quietly.

“Yeah, must be it,” she approached. “Two hands with palms and fingers… just like minotaurs have. But the legs must be similar, I mean, no hooves… They have fingers there as well, just different ones, as they walk on those two legs only. Otherwise, they seem to be a lot like us.”

“With one exception though,” Twilight’s tone became very serious. “There are none normally in Equestria. They are from another world, as far as I know. I know your love for the animals and… But how did you manage to get it, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy’s eyes dilated, she looked like she was going to fall. But she managed to take herself in the hooves after a second.

“He saved me from a timberwolf in the Everfree forest,” she whispered. Then her voice became stronger. “And please, Twilight, don’t call him “it”, he was talking, he is definitely sentient… and… he saved my life.”

Twilight looked skeptical. But she was ready to help her friend, as she knew, Fluttershy wouldn’t call her that late without serious reasons.

“Ok, Flutters, I know you long and well enough not to argue. What do I need to do?”

“Thank you, Twilight,” Fluttershy gave her a little smile. “He is bleeding out. I’ve cleaned the wound and used one of Zecora’s potions to slow the bleeding and make it heal.”

“But he lost too much, he was muttering something we couldn’t get,” she added in despair. “Now he is quiet for a while and I fear that my treatment isn’t enough. I can’t use the Refilling potion, as he is unconscious, I don’t want to drown him. Besides, we need to get his clothes off and we couldn’t cope with that in his condition. We need your magic, Twilight, please…”

“OK, OK,” Twilight remembered how enthusiastic Fluttershy could be when saving some “poor thing”. “Just let’s take it step by step.”

 

They managed to take human’s “toga” off together, while Harry held the body. When they took off the boots, Twilight frowned. These were surely comfortable enough for human feet to take long walks, but they could also let more air in during those walks.

“We should wash him somehow,” Fluttershy nodded noticing Twilight’s pout. “Nopony knows how far and long for he was walking.”

“Then you should take off those as well,” Twilight smirked pointing her hoof to the underwear and Fluttershy blushed heavily. “Come on, do you still need him clean and recovering?” She gave her friend a sly grin.

“Could you… maybe… help?” Fluttershy sighed. “I know you’re a princess now and so on…”

“And besides it’s… OK, OK,” Twilight amended seeing her friend frowned, but her grin became wider. “HE is YOUR new… attainment.”

 

Eventually, Fluttershy coped with her task, she was to use her teeth to help her hooves do it. Yes, that was evidently a “he” and the yellow pegasus’ face turned almost carrot red.

 

"You both didn’t see anything,” she pointed her hoof towards Twilight and Harry, when they put the human on the bed finally. “Especially you, Twi!”

Twilight raised her fore leg in juratory gesture, Harry was whistling, while looking at the ceiling.

“Oh, dear,” Fluttershy remembered what time it already was. “Harry… I can’t express, how thankful I am! Sorry for keeping you busy for that long. You can go… if you need to. I can’t probably ask for more.”

The bear nodded with a smile on his muzzle. He then headed out shrugging, like saying “Have fun, girls!”

“Good night, Harry!” Twilight waved a hoof, Harry grunted something in a farewell manner.

“If we need to wash him,” she turned to Fluttershy. “Why not doing that now, before I take a look on his wound.”

Next fifteen minutes they spent washing the dust from the human – Fluttershy brought a washbowl with warm water and sponge. They tried to do with most possible care as when they attempted to turn the body more blood stained the bondages.

When everything was finally done, Twilight asked Fluttershy to accurately remove the patch. The wound was indeed bad and even worse than she imagined. Despite all potions applied there was still enough work to do.

Twilight’s horn produced the bright lilac glow, she decided to try the most simple healing spell, every unicorn filly should know to make wounds close up. She then touched the edges with her magic. She felt a small push and, to her surprise, no signs of her spell working. The wound stayed the same and as she was further trying to heal it, she started feeling slight dizziness.

This very moment the flaming snakes feeling inside Alex finally settled, unnoticed by him of course.

Twilight interrupted her spell and staggered a little. Her yellow friend slipped to her to catch her up.

“No, no, it’s fine,” said Twilight, when Fluttershy looked at her with anxiety and surprise. “It’s just strange…”

“I felt like my spell was draining and sucking magical force from me, but nothing happened. It didn’t help to close up the wound,” she explained to Fluttershy her condition. “Mind if I try something else?”

“S-sure. But… P-please be careful…”

“Of course, as much as I usually am,” smiled Twilight, readying another supposedly more powerful and effective spell.

Same result. Nothing. This time the feeling of exhaustion was stronger and more noticeable, making Twilight sigh tiredly and back down. She sat on the spot with a very puzzled look on her face.

“It’s the first time I could do literally nothing, Flutters,” she looked at her friend, who now checked the human’s condition more thoroughly – fortunately he didn’t get any worse.

Twilight looked across the room to the table under the window, then levitated a cup from it towards herself.

“No, my magic is fine,” she assumed, while Fluttershy was watching her. “And I didn’t feel any drain while doing this. It must be something about him that makes him… magic resistant.”

“But that’s nonsense,” she added in disbelief. “Nothing is unaffected by magic one way or another in Equestria. Well… I must ask Lyra, if she knows something about humans being magic resistant. As far as I could remember, they aren’t…”

Then she turned to Fluttershy, who was fluttering around the human on her bed, covering him up, making him comfortable, murmuring something melodic… In other words behaving, like it was her Angel bunny with a bad cold. Twilight was even unsure, she noticed how the patch was replaced and tightened with more bandages.

“What?” Fluttershy paused and noticed that her friend was watching her with one brow lifted. “Oh, I-I… I’m sorry, Twilight, what did you say?”

“I say,” Twilight still watched them fixedly. “I want you to tell me exactly how it was. How did you meet that… guy.”

“Ummm…” Fluttershy tried to remember the vital details. “Remember you warned me about the timberwolves. I was so stupid not listening to you enough, sorry.”

Twilight nodded in accommodating spirit.

“It wasn’t even late, but they appeared and chased me and Angel,” Fluttershy continued her story. “I was so scared. Sweet Celestia, at least Angel was on my back at the moment it happened. I ran towards the rocks. Twi, it happened right near the mountain, you know, where the old road to Sister’s Castle is…”

“Wait a moment,” Twilight nodded and headed to the nightstand, where the human’s improvised clothes lied. “I knew I saw something strange about this.”

She then unfolded it and stared at the long wide piece of fabric… of the ancient tapestry. Night coloured with the Moon and… princess Luna stylized image.

“I be damned,” whispered Twilight and covered her mouth with the hoof right away, as if being afraid that Celestia might have heard her swearing. “This is princess Luna regal tapestry from the Old Castle. I need to write a letter to princess Celestia as soon as I get home. Now even more than before…”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Fluttershy,” she turned to her friend, who also came closer and now examined the tapestry over Twilight’s shoulder. “Can you please continue?”

“Right… I-I was chased to the mountain side and when I stopped in the opening, I saw there was no way out except… except c-climbing the rocks. You know, I-I always had problems with that, back then… and during that incident with a d-dragon…” Fluttershy smiled sheepishly with her cheeks starting to blush.

“Except you can fly,” thought Twilight, but she said only. “So?”

“So I turned and… w-well, it always happens automatically.” Fluttershy’s voice got more confident. “I’ve just stared the timbervolves… With the Stare I mean.”

“They left, well, I thought so, but there were more than three of them,” Fluttershy’s eyes dilated when she remembered the danger she was in. “But I realized that later. I suddenly heard that somepony jumped behind me to the ground. He shouted, well actually those were only comprehensible words I heard from him, addressed to the wolf I suppose. He said, “No, you bucking don’t!” When I turned around, he was standing there with… a log or something. Timberwolf attacked, but the human dodged and then hit the wolf on the neck with that log. He sent wolf’s head flying far into the shrubs, it hit the tree and crashed. The wolf rolled over, but… I think it managed to hit the human with its’ paw somehow before dropping dead. Then the human fell down and soon fainted.”

Fluttershy took the breath and looked at Twilight, who sat on the floor with eyes wide open. She then realized that the last few seconds she was jumping around her friend, waving her fore legs like a mad baseball stallion-fan.

“Squee…” Fluttershy lowered to the floor with ears flattened and colour hitting her cheeks. “Sorry.”

“Ahem,” Twilight cleared her throat. “Never mind… And what happened next.”

“Pretty much what you already know,” answered Fluttershy with a tiny smile. “Harry came to assist… but he could never get there in time… So if there wasn’t that human, I would have been already… dead.” She couldn’t help but shiver at the thought. “We took him here and he was bleeding all the way, despite Harry managed somehow to close his wound for a while. Then I send Angel after you…”

“Fluttershy, tell me one thing,” Twilight scratched her head with the hoof. “What makes you so sure that the human wasn’t just eliminating the rival? And had no plans to continue, what wolves started, if not being hit by the last of them? I’m just asking…”

“I. Just. Know!” said Fluttershy quietly, but confidently.

“I see,” said Twilight after looking her fixedly in the eyes for a few seconds. “Well, that still doesn’t change that I should write to Celestia about all that, considering Old Castle involved and the human appearing magic resistant.”

“Just don’t make it look darker than it is,” pleaded Fluttershy.

“You know me, dear,” Twilight tried to hold back a tired yawn, it was after midnight already. “I write only facts and it’s up to princess to decide, what that means and what to do with all that.”

“Oh, OK…”

 

"Now, if you excuse me…” Twilight got up. “Unless you still need my help… If I can be of any, as I can’t manipulate him with magic.”

“Oh, no, I’ll cope with it, thanks!” Fluttershy smiled and returned to the bed to check how her patient was doing.

“Then I’ll go back home. I need to think, write a letter and a reminder to myself to bring you more bandages tomorrow… Do you have enough?”

“Don’t worry, Twi,” Fluttershy was an epitome of serenity and confidence, when she got somepony to take care of. “Angel brought here all we had… and if necessary… I-I will rip one of my sheets. One more thing though...”

“Yes?”

“I’m not sure if you know how…” muttered Fluttershy. “I was unable to give him a refilling potion to compensate the blood loss. Simply was afraid of drowning him. Could you do anything about that?”

“This is a matter of minutes,” Twilight cocked her head proudly. “If you have a rubber tube…”

“Twilight?!”

“What? I’ve read about the whole procedure in a book, I have no reasons to distrust!”

*

This day had all the chances to end fine, but suddenly it all went down the gutter. And the four autopsies in the row were not the reason. Normally four was not even close to the workday record. It was the latest analysis results, which made him hate that day and his job – the rare case, as those who do, rarely become or stay pathologists. But the whole absurdity of the situation made him cringe. Miles hated when something couldn’t be explained logically and scientifically. This time he had to deal with the purely fantastic incident. As the case materials told there was a human, white, male, about 25-30 years old in the car, which remnants analysis results were laying on his table right at that moment. In the car, which got on fire because of gasoline leakage and was simultaneously hit by a lightning discharge. But… there wasn’t.

Miles took off the glasses and rubbed the nose bridge. It could hardly be any worse. There were no trails of the human body (intact, decayed, burned or affected any other way) in the samples of seat and salon covers and the ash, in which the biggest part of former car interior turned. But they must be there. There were two witnesses that the case subject got in the car before the incident and didn’t get out before or after car ignition. But some trails should have remained even in the center of atomic explosion. There was nothing though. The analysis returned only presence of some cloth, which wasn’t the salon cover, probably clothes, but completely nothing organic from the back seat area.

“Fuck it in general and in particular,” Miles send the silent damnation to the burned car, the police who requested the analysis and the laboratory, which left him dealing with the blank result. “At least the report will be quite laconic.”

“No trails of human (generally organic) tissues found in the presented samples” – just the same as the result which the damned lab delivered.”

“I have a gut feeling, this will bring troubles in the longer perspective, despite there is nothing else we could do obviously,” Miles gritted his teeth, filling the forms with a frustrated sigh.

Someone knocked on the door of the cabinet.

“Come in,” called Miles not raising his head from the documents he worked on.

“Evening, Sam,” the newcomer sat on the visitor chair opposite to the workplace. That was the police detective, working on this case, and at the same time a pal of Sam Miles, police pathologist.

“Evening, Mathew,” replied Sam quite grumpily. Though his feeling was dictated purely by the results, not by his guest. “Can’t say though a good one!”

“So?” Mathew was an epitome of briefness.

“Nothing,” the pathologist grimaced in frustration. “No trails of the human body or anything at least resembling it in that car.”

 

“But…” Mathew stumbled. “Well… Sam, I need anything you can comment about that case. Unofficially, of course… not for the report.”

Sam put the glasses back on and examined his friend, like if he was seeing him for the first time. After a short pause, he said.

 

"But I have nothing to comment on, frankly. I can comment, basing on the facts or test results. And the result is clearly saying – no body present. So, if you want, there was nobody on the back seat of that car in the exact moment, when it turned into ash and debris. I can make theories about the rest… but, I’m sorry, I somehow don’t want to.”

 

“Look, there were two witnesses,” Mathew leaned forward and talked passionately. “Moreover those witnesses were my own sister and her daughter. That is why I want to sort this case out, even if unofficially. I want to simply understand, what happened there.”

“Umm…”

“My sister is a sane and prudent woman and would never make up such a story, besides… what for?” continued the detective. “And the girl never told a word of lie in her whole life. I know it sounds strange, but she simply can’t, she is like that.”

 

"And they both saw that guy in their car just before it became an oven… with electric grille,” Mathew shivered at the thought of what they evaded. “He actually saved my niece, taking her out of the car just moments before it ignited. We found his car down the road, his personal belongings, documents. My sister was holding his jacket and cell phone, he gave her to call the emergency, right before he got into her car. We found his parents and his girlfriend.”

“So it was a real person,” Mathew took a breath. “He was there in the car… and now you’re telling that he wasn’t…”

“Exactly, despite how much I dislike coming to that conclusion myself,” shrugged Miles. “Look, I don’t know yet, what to do of that report… and you want me to click my fingers and make that guy… or his corpse, materialize here, don’t you? Well, with all respect… I simply can’t.”

The daylight lamp on the ceiling buzzed unusually loud in the silence that followed.

*

First rays of sun and birds chatter, which sounded from outside through the open window, woke her early in the morning. Fluttershy found herself on the edge of her bed near the human, the place she exactly collapsed at about two hours ago (as the wall clock told her) after changing the bandages once again. It was 7am and promised another busy day ahead, especially with new chores to attend to. She yawned and stretched, then remembered something and flew up to check her patient. Everything seemed normal. When she peeked under the patch, the wound didn’t look that awful as before. His breath was superficial, but even, the pulse – calm and palpable.

“Hmm… Those humans must have fast regeneration,” she said to herself. “Or did Twilight’s spell finally work?”

Still, it would be better to hold the edges tighter somehow without making it excessively painful for the subject. Thinking of how hard it would be to achieve, Fluttershy trotted to the bathroom to wash off the sleep and fatigue. She left the door open and listened to the sounds from the room, while showering and brushing her teeth. Silence. She dried herself and entered the bedroom. Angel bunny jumped on the bed near the human and waved his paw to her, showing that he would stay and watch. He squeaked enthusiastically.

“Thank you, Angel,” smiled Fluttershy. “What would I do without you? Could you watch him till I finish feeding others?”

Angel nodded, letting Fluttershy stick to her regular morning business.

 

“I need to hurry,” she thought. “First breakfast to all, then daily care for those who need, then check his bondages and apply potions.”

“Sweet Celestia,” Fluttershy shivered remembering. “I hope Twilight comes before noon. There is no way I’m trying her trick with the tube alone, but he needs that.”

It was already half past ten, when Fluttershy was about to finish her morning routines. She examined a sick squirrel and decided to try a new Zecora’s composition on, when she saw somepony heading up to her cottage from Ponyville. This newcomer jumped the road in a manner, he or she could compete Pinkie Pie, and appeared to be a minty-green unicorn mare with white-blue mane, when she came closer.

“Oh, no,” Fluttershy rounded up her observation and hurried to the front door. “I’ve totally forgotten that Twilight wanted to send Lyra Heartstrings here to see the human and share her knowledge. Why do I suspect troubles to come?..”

She greeted the minty coloured mare, while Lyra almost jumped around Fluttershy in circles.

“Morning, Flutters!” she greeted cheerfully. “Twilight said you could use my help with your new pet. She said it was a human. Did you really catch one? Squee!” She was behaving like a school filly on her favourite DJ concert.

“Well, most likely he is. But he’s not a pet,” frowned Fluttershy.

“Oh, come on, Flutters!” grinned Lyra widely. “Why so serious?”

“Because he is a human, right… Well, most likely as you didn’t see him yet to confirm,” replied Fluttershy irritably. “And because he saved my life in Everfree and now is severely wounded. I need help to make him recover. That is why I’m… deadly serious.” She took a deep breath heading to her cottage. “Are you coming?”

“You brought him from Everfree?” Lyra blinked several times. “And he did what?”

Fluttershy noticed to her satisfaction that Lyra stopped calling the human “it”.

“Umm… Not me technically, but that doesn’t matter…”

“Now if you please,” she stopped at the door, welcoming Lyra inside.

Lyra shook her head then trotted after Fluttershy, not as jumpily, but still with an enthusiastic look on her face.

 

“It’s me, Angel,” Fluttershy opened the door to her bedroom. “You must know Lyra. She came to see our guest.”

Angel hopped from the bed to the armchair and pushed the teddy bear aside. He wasn’t very friendly with other ponies, except her close friends – Twilight and other few. Fluttershy was very surprised to see him helping with the human that willingly and moreover staying with him to keep an eye. Perhaps Angel felt grateful for not becoming a burger for the wolves.

Fluttershy pushed Lyra in the room, as the latter stood in the doorframe with eyes wide open. Minty unicorn made a few steps in and stopped again.

“So? What do you say… i-if you don’t mind,” asked Fluttershy quietly.

This seemed to break Lyra’s stupor, as she jumped high and yelped.

“YESSSSSS!!! It is a human! One head, no hair on the body… almost… Two legs, two arms. With palms and fingers!!!”

Lyra’s eyes dilated and the whole her look said, she was going either faint or grab the human as some sort of rare treasure. She rushed towards the bed and Fluttershy needed to react quickly to get herself between her patient and Lyra.

“Lyra,” called Fluttershy, holding her with her fore legs. “Calm down! And please be quiet… if you don’t mind.”

“Please, be adequate,” she added quieter, when Lyra seemed to catch her breath and calm a bit. “That is why I needed you here. I know next to nothing about humans, except them being sentient and able to talk.”

Lyra allowed to get her seated, took a deep breath and flooded Fluttershy with information. Next half an hour she talked almost without any pauses. Fluttershy sat next to her, listened and nodded, sometimes re-asking. It seemed like Lyra prepared for a lecture… or simply learned everything she could about humans. Evidently, they were her favourite subject. Fluttershy got to know that.

Humans were from the different world entirely. That was expected by Fluttershy, yet getting it confirmed carried a tint of shock to it.

“So h-he is technically… an alien,” she interrupted Lyra’s talk. “An extra-… equestrian creature.”

“Yeah, they don’t commonly inhabit Everfree, you know!” smirked Lyra. “Where did that one come from exactly?”

“I don’t know for sure,” Fluttershy smiled embarrassedly. “He might come from the Old Castle, at least I came across him, where the road to Sisters’ Castle starts…”

Lyra’s eyes, which travelled across the room, stopped at the folded cloth on the table and widened.

“… and he was dressed in that tapestry wrapped around him as a toga, underwear and boots,” ended Fluttershy, when she saw that Lyra trembled slightly. “What? What’s wrong with you?”

“You don’t say… that’s ancient tapestry of princess Luna,” Lyra recognized the colours. Apparently, she was good at history as well as at human matters. “From the Sisters’ Castle Ruins?”

“Perhaps. Twilight says it is. I-I was too scared… last time I w-was in the Ruins to pay attention to t-tapestry stuff. Does that really matter?”

“And he came dressed in that, wrapped his body in?” continued Lyra. Her eyes moved from the human on the bed to Fluttershy, like if she wasn’t sure who now shocked her more. “I reconsider, I’d be careful with that creature…”

“Oh, stop that Lyra,” Fluttershy laughed heartily, when she got, what Lyra was talking about. “There is no Nightmare Moon anymore. And princess Luna is back. She’s kinda nice…”

“You know the legend though,” whispered Lyra.

 

“…I’ve met her in person and saw that my fears were groundless. Come on, you’ve met princess on last Nightmare Night celebration. She’s okay, strange spoken, but who wouldn’t be, spending a thousand of years on the Moon.”

 

"Exactly,” interrupted Lyra.

“And I’m telling you, that legend is just… a legend. I can personally assure you there are no… “remnants” in the Old Castle!” Fluttershy calmed her down. “Besides Twilight founds that interesting, but nothing more. I trust Twilight when it comes to magic.”

“Oh… Well… Perhaps it’s safe then… Perhaps,” Lyra seemed to relax a bit. Mentioning Twilight – the most promising student of princess Celestia – was the right idea.

“So,” Fluttershy tried to return Lyra’s focus to the main subject. “What did you say about humans?”

 

Humans usually lived in groups, be it families, tribes or other formations – this one could be lost and accidentally transferred to Equestria. How, that was an open question still. Humans were omnivores – that could bring some problems in future, but considering them sentient, Fluttershy hoped that could be settled easily. Humans were good warriors – that was apparently correct.

 

“Yeah, that’s typical for them,” nodded Lyra, when Fluttershy told her what happened at the mountain side. “When they defend beloved, family or their principles, they can take out an enemy way stronger than themselves, with the help of a good weapon even more. But why he did that? He was putting himself in great danger confronting a timberwolf, moreover a timberwolf ready to pounce on its’ prey…”

“That’s one thing among others, which makes me completely sure, he is sentient and carries no malicious intent,” said Fluttershy quietly.

 

"Still doesn’t explain – why? You say he was wounded… Can I have a look?”

 

“I was going to change bandages and apply the regular treatment,” Fluttershy trotted to the table to take necessary potions. “It is time to already, so I suppose it’s OK.”

 

“So here is where…” sighed Lyra when a long wide wound opened to her eyes. “A bad one, but he seems to hold. And you treated it really well.”

“Thanks,” Fluttershy gave her a smile. “I tried my best. That was the least I could do for him.”

“…but you could do better,” continued Lyra, while her eyes examined the human’s upper body. “Humans treat bad wounds with stitches. They hold edges together and allow tissues close up faster.”

 

“You mean sewing their skin?” asked Fluttershy with dilated eyes.

 

“Yes, if you have durable threads and some painkilling potion, I could help with that. You see, they possess no magic, so are to rely on simple things like that and medicine.”

 

When everything was ready, they’ve spent twenty minutes sewing the wound up. Fluttershy held the edges together while Lyra operated a needle and thread with her magic. Potions worked nicely and there wasn’t much blood. The human seemed to not notice being operated.

“Now apply the potions outside only,” explained Lyra when they finished. “Don’t try to get anything inside, thus the wound will close up faster. When it does, somepony needs to remove the stitches.”

 

“I suppose that should hurt… a bit,” she added. “But nothing compared to what he has come across already.”

 

“You said, they don’t possess any magic,” Fluttershy returned to what bothered her while placing the patch back on human’s side.

 

“Absolutely.”

 

“And what about being resistant to magic?”

 

“Fluttershy, there were quite a few cases of human getting to Equestria, all of them resulting in different troubles with them, most ending tragically,” Lyra put on mentor tone. “But none of them were resistant to magic. In fact, I suppose this to be one of the reasons most cases ended tragically. Humans are easily affected by magic, thus easily affected by not only healing potions, which operate the body, but by others like love potions, which operate the mind. They can be marionettes at horn too.”

 

“Hmm… Maybe this one is the first then?” asked Fluttershy. “Because he IS resistant to magic. And Twilight made sure of this with me witnessing.”

“You must be kidding,” Lyra came closer to the bed still eyeing the human. Suddenly she grasped the covers with magic and tried to pull it off.

“What are you doing?” exclaimed Fluttershy. “Stop!”

 

“Ehh… I just wanted to check…” Lyra said innocently, but something in her eyes made Fluttershy frown.

 

“What did you want to check?” she interrogated Lyra. “What did you expect to see? Two legs… as you said…” she stopped. “We, me and Twilight, were to undress him to wash the dust off and…”

 

“And?..” Lyra giggled.

 

“There was no “and”,” Fluttershy cheeks started to glow red, while her sight rushed to the floor. “We just c-cleaned him. You know… h-healing wounds needs simple hygiene.”

 

“I suppose,” Lyra was unbearable at that moment. She added with a sly smile. “By the way, did you know that a human male can last in bed at least 15 times longer than a typical stallion? Scientific fact!”

 

Fluttershy facehoofed.

 

“Theoretically…” Lyra’s face became carrot red under Fluttershy’s wild glare, but she still giggled.

 

Suddenly minty glow enveloped human’s right hand. It got brighter then dimmer then again in a cycle, then a thin thread of the same glow connected it with Lyra’s glowing horn. Lyra staggered.

 

“Lyra, stop!” shouted Fluttershy, running to the unicorn and pushing her with her body. She managed to break the glowing connection and Lyra leaned on Fluttershy, then tried to stop her eyes rolling.

 

Fluttershy gave her supporting shoulder and led Lyra downstairs carefully.

 

“How could you be that stupid,” asked Fluttershy when they got into the kitchen and she was making Lyra some coffee.

 

“Sorry, I didn’t believe you,” Lyra’s apology seemed to be sincere. “I’ve tried to lift his hand with magic to check, if he was resistant indeed.”

“But instead of lifting,” she looked seriously bemused. “Instead of that, I felt magic drain. A strong one, like if something pumped the force from me. Sweet Celestia, even if he is not connected to Nightmare Moon, he can be dangerous.”

 

“So can be a fork, if you stick it into your muzzle,” objected Fluttershy. “I’m very sorry, I haven’t mentioned the effects, but you should have listened, when I said that he was magic resistant.”

 

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” sighed Lyra, she seemed to patch herself up already. “And that makes him useless for me.”

 

Fluttershy raised a brow.

 

“I always dreamed to find out what it is to be a human,” confessed Lyra. “And hoped magic could help me getting closer, if I come across a human. I knew them being mythic creatures. What chances I had. And now – the irony – the only human I could probably meet in my life is magic resistant… unlike all the rest.” Lyra seemed to be completely upset.

 

“You wanted to be a human?” Fluttershy didn’t believe her ears. “What for? And… excuse me… there are polymorph spells and so on… if you… want that so much.”

 

“Polymorph spells are a totally different grade of magic,” elaborated Lyra, while sipping her coffee. “Maybe Twilight could perform that, but I was always quite realistic about my magic skills. Besides, they took much energy and were temporary. I always wanted something more… steady.”

“As for why,” she continued her story. “It’s simple. Humans have hands.”

“But you have magic,” retorted Fluttershy.

 

“Magic is not always that convenient, everypony thinks it is,” sighed Lyra. “For example, you can scratch behind your ears. Nicely or not, but you can. What about your back then? What about writing and not being forced to hold the pencil in your mouth… if you’re not a unicorn? And that’s just a small part. You can do so many things with fingers!” she concluded pointedly.

Fluttershy watched Lyra daydreaming with half-lidded eyes and decided not to argue.

*

“Hey, good day,” Twilight almost bumped in Lyra at the porch of the cottage. “You’re fast on decisions.”

“Good day, princess,” Lyra followed the etiquette, but Twilight frowned. She wasn’t fond of friends and generally Ponyville citizens calling her “princess”, as she didn’t consider her own deserts comparable with other princesses. “Twilight” sounded just right.

“When I hear “human”, I’m faster than light,” confessed Lyra meanwhile with a strange smile. “Especially when one needs to hurry, before all good are taken.”

Twilight raised a brow not sure, if she understood, what Lyra was implying.

 

“I’ve told Fluttershy all that I knew, in brief of course. I’m sure I haven’t missed anything important,” Lyra scratched her nose and sighed. “Pity though this one is useless for me… at least in his current unconscious state.”

“I mean, I can certainly learn more from him,” she elaborated. “When he wakes up… if you both don’t mind.” She added with a smile. “I would like to talk to him, when it is possible. But he is resistant to magic…” Lyra shrugged. Then she wished the girls a good day and headed back to Ponyville.

“I’m not sure, I understood her right…” Twilight turned to Fluttershy with question drawn on her face.

“In which parts exactly?”

“First, what’s about magic resistance being some kind of a problem for her?.. How’s she into his magic resistance at all.”

“I’m afraid that’s m-my fault, Twilight,” Fluttershy’s ears flattened apologetically. “I told her, she shouldn’t use magic on him, but I didn’t tell, what might happen.”

“Did she try?” breathed out Twilight. “She seemed fine to me…”

“Yes, when I was distracted. And it was worse, than with you. She just tried to lift his arm and was backfired heavier. But it seemed to wear out, when I pushed her and broke the connection.”

“We must remember to warn everyone, who comes, about that reaction. It may be dangerous, especially if it is going to amplify with time. I wrote a letter to princess Celestia, but she is busy with diplomatic stuff and I’m not sure, how soon she can attend. She promised to address this as fast, as she could though.” Twilight told very seriously. Then she remembered something. “And what was the phrase about… “all good are taken”.”

“Oh,” Fluttershy blushed. “Lyra tried to get under covers… She said, she wanted to examine him better, but I guess, it was m-more in that curiosity… considering that h-human was obviously a male. I’ve stopped her and s-said, we were to undress him and wash… for pure hygienic reasons… you know. B-but she started giggling and joking about… then said…”

“That a typical human lasts 15 times longer than a typical stallion?”

“Yes… Squee!”

“Scientific fact. But you’re right it’s strange how it is emphasized in every source I could find, same for Lyra it seems,” Twilight blushed as well, but suddenly smiled. “We’re lucky, she didn’t know who and how took off his underwear,” she whispered in Fluttershy’s ear.

“We’re lucky Rarity doesn’t know that,” Fluttershy clung to the ground with her pupils narrowed from imagining the possible outcome.

“I swear I won’t tell anyone,” Twilight dropped smirking. “But I won’t be so sure… knowing Rarity. Just give it time.”

Fluttershy looked like if she was going to hide under something.

“Oh, Flutters, I’m kidding,” Twilight hugged her friend. “I hope…” added she under her breath.

“Come on, I’ve brought more bandages,” Twilight waved her head at her saddle bag. “And our rubber tube business is waiting.”

Fluttershy couldn’t help shuddering.

*

It was about 5pm, when Fluttershy could finally take a breath. When they finished patching up their human patient and Twilight left, Fluttershy was to continue her daily routines with other animals, specifically ill ones. Fortunately Twilight brought some convenience food, so the walk to Ponyville market could be delayed. Fluttershy made herself a cup of tea and was going to change Angel who watched the human upstairs, when someone knocked on the front door.

“That human definitely made your days more events and guests filled,” Fluttershy smiled inwardly, getting up to answer it.

“… and I was coming by and thought about visiting a good ol’ friend,” said a strange creature behind the door. It looked like a mix of a dragon, pony, griffin and even deer, with the long tail, unequal paws, horns and eyes of different colour. “Why not, said I to myself.”

“Discord!” Fluttershy smiled widely, yet she seemed surprised by something. “Come in. I wonder though since when you started knocking. You usually just pop out of nowhere.”

“Since two minutes ago,” smirked Discord, showing single fang. “I’m just an old friend and when I sensed you’re not alone here… finally… I decided to knock. Just in case.”

“Oh, it’s not that…” Fluttershy seemed confused. “Tea?”

“Yup, with pleasure,” dragonequs snapped his long fingers and took an empty teacup out of thin air. “You shouldn’t be so categorical though. I’ve said long ago that friends are good, but you needed someone… you know…” he winked. “The one I sensed here, was different from those I know in Equestria. Well almost. So I thought it finally might be the case.”

“That’s a way premature assumption,” smiled Fluttershy, but her cheeks gave out colour which didn’t come unnoticed by her company. “He is a human. You know about humans? I’ve met him in Everfree… W-well, “met” is a bit strong word…” she paused searching for words and pouring tea into the cup Discord held. “Umm… He saved my life… a-and got wounded. So I’m now taking care of him naturally,” she ended simply.

“A human,” Discord turned to the stairs with interest, moving his cup aside. “So that is why it seemed familiar, I’ve met them a couple of times… long ago. But I’m absolutely positive – this one is different.”

The tea continued to flow from the teapot in the air and… ended entering the cup nevertheless. Fluttershy didn’t bat an eyelash, she got used to those tricks of him. She continued pouring the tea, until the cup was full, and simply said.

“You’re right, he is different.”

“Hmm… Mind if I look?” Discord chuckled meaningfully at the word “he”.

“Why not,” nodded Fluttershy, then stopped him. “But I must warn you, he is magic resistant.”

“Now that’s interesting,” jumped Discord. “So you’re going to say, I will carry experiments on him? So much for a few years of friendship…” He pretended to be pouting.

“Oh, come on,” Fluttershy frowned. “I know you well and I know you won’t do anything awful, but one of your jokes, if played, may backfire. Now, if you let me explain, you’ll find out that he is not only magically resistant, but also drains magic applied directly to him. Yet he ignores magic that isn’t directed at him. And that reaction progresses. Two of my friends experienced that on themselves and it wasn’t exactly pleasant.”

“Now I definitely must have a look,” Discord put his teacup on the table and got up. “One of those friends must be Twilight, right?”

“Yes, but…”

“I simply can’t imagine one of you six finding something unusual… and Twilight avoiding being in the center of it,” he explained getting up the stairs.

“What can I say,” Discord arched his body above the bed examining the human. “It’s definitely a human!” He sent Fluttershy a wild look.

“Oh, come on,” Fluttershy poked him with a hoof. “Stop goofing around for once. Like if it was all you can say…”

“Ouch,” Discord pretended the hit was very sensitive. “I will tell nothing, if you keep beating me!”

“OK, OK,” he returned to seriousness in a second, perhaps even too much seriousness. “I’d say whatever you do, DON’T apply magic to him. Not that you are going to do this in particular, but DON’T EVER apply destructive magic to him.”

“I mean “any magical interaction, which can be interpreted as harmful to him”,” explained Discord seeing Fluttershy uncomprehending expression.

“Interpreted by whom?” asked Fluttershy.

 

"I could say by him, but won’t lie to you – I don’t know,” Discord twisted his moustache. “Yeah, yeah, don’t look at me that way, Flutters. Here is something concerning magic I’m unsure about.”

“He possesses no magic on his own,” continued he, when they headed back into the kitchen. “And is resistant to any magic applied to him, this I can trust your experiments in. But according to my observation, while any neutral or positive influence is ignored and… “drained” as you call it, any negative impact can be reflected. Of course, this is theory as we don’t carry any experiments of that kind…”

 

“… because I don’t want your cottage lay in ruins,” he ended with emphasis.

“Is it that bad?” Fluttershy became worried a little.

“I know chaos magic,” said Discord. “I’ve been on both bad and good sides, you know. As for the moment I don’t see anything evil in him. But at the end of the day, a simple fork may be harmful, if you stick it into your muzzle…”

“I’d say he is not dangerous,” he took his cup and made a sip. “Just do what you’re best at, Fluttershy – see no evil in him, and it won’t appear.”

“I’d like to give you one more advice, if you don’t mind,” after a few minutes of thinking said Discord. “It’s all up to you, of course… But if you do feel like that or come to that eventually… stick up to him. I sense that it may appear worthy,” he winked.

“I’ve never yet really thanked you for giving me a second chance once,” he raised the cup, then pointed his long finger towards the bedroom. “This may be it, I mean – what I said. Oh, and the tea is splendid… as usual!”

They kept silence for a few minutes thinking about what was said.

“One more thing,” Discord said without his usual mocking attitude. “Tell Celestia specifically about the magic impact being unwelcome!”

Then a tall hat appeared on Discord’s head, he took it off and pulled a cuckoo-clock out.

“OK, I’m a busy dragonequs,” exclaimed Discord, making a surprised face. “And need to attend to my tasks. Good-bye, Fluttershy!”

With a loud snap he disappeared with the hat, clock and teacup.

*

“Bring thyself in, Tia!” Luna leaned on the pillows, but she couldn’t get asleep. The latest news, she got tonight from the Crystal Empire, were not very calming, the Dark Mist was noticed far to the North again recollecting itself. It looked like King Sombra was slowly gathering power to attempt one more break-in. “I am not resting.”

The door to Luna’s bedroom opened revealing princess Celestia, who trotted towards her younger sister with a concerned look on her face. She levitated an unrolled scroll.

“Morning, Luna!” Celestia greeted. “How did the night passed?”

“Peacefully, more or less… Hast thou got the report from the Crystal Empire yet? Is t what brings a troubled look on thy visage?” Luna seemed to be in her thoughts still thus slightly distracted. “Or some misfortune regarding today’s morning audience?”

“I did get the report indeed,” Celestia nodded, her neck curving in a swan-like manner. “The news are important, but hardly yet menacing or demanding our immediate attention. We simply must be ready to provide Cadence and Shining all necessary assistance, if they ask. Perhaps send a couple of strong mages to help them dissolve the concentrating Mist, before it grows.”

“And this morning’s appointment is just a nuisance,” continued she, trotting impatiently back and forth, while Luna watched her with growing interest – something bothered her sister more than Crystal Empire news. “Can you imagine, a few nobleponies from Fillydelphia combined their investments and asked for the permission to upbuild a new factory. Obviously, they have no idea, how the factory runs and the mere fact of pollution becoming excessive for existing refineries somehow,” she huffed. “…slipped by their minds. I guess somepony like Flim and Flam brothers is standing behind their puffed confidence and money. Naturally, I planned to run over their hopes for the sake of all Fillydelphia. Well, until they come with a realistic and environment-friendly plan at least.”

“But that’s not what bothering thee at that very moment,” concluded Luna, while Celestia was taking her breath.

“Yes. I got a letter from Twilight yesterday, but wasn’t able to address the problem personally due to certain preplanned appointments,” Celestia seemed to have a rare case of self-disappointment mood. “But each time I reread it my concerns double. So today I can attend to the matter myself.”

“I just want you to know the details, especially because you was interested in that event two nights ago – the strange storm.”

If there were any signs of sleep or distraction, now they vanished completely. Luna listened to her sister with full attention.

“Twilight wrote that Fluttershy came across a human in the Everfree, which saved her from a timberwolf…”

“Human, timberwolf, that is expensive,” said Luna in half-voice. “For what I recall about humans those gents never were durable enough to face a timberwolf, let alone defeat t, despite rare books on the subject say otherwise. Humans prefer fighting in masses.”

Her accent though revealed her concern about the subject, being contrary to what she displayed.

“… and got wounded,” resumed Celestia. “She took him home and is taking care of now.”

“But the main thing,” she said a moment later. “This human is magic resistant. And moreover somehow able to drain magic applied to him, despite being unable to cast anything on his will.”

“While the human, being unable to cast magic, is believable,” Luna even raised a bit from her pillows. “I couldn’t imagine one resistant to magic, let alone draining it!”

“Neither do I,” simply replied Celestia. “That is exactly why I need to see everything with my own eyes… and estimate, if he provides any threat to the stability of Equestria… moreover the Harmony.”

“Nopony knew, how he got here, but Fluttershy supposed, he came from the Old Castle direction, as she picked him at the end of the road there,” added princess of the Sun. “He has suffered some accident according to certain evidence, lost almost all his clothes, except his footwear and underwear… and was dressed in your old Royal Tapestry instead.”

“Oh,” Luna shrugged. “The Old Castle is ruins, I suppose one can easily rip off or pick some fusty cloth thither.” But her voice seemed to soften somehow.

“I want to transfer him here in Canterlot, keep secure and inspect… before making any final decisions. Perhaps they are mistaking some… thing for a human,” she explained. “There is one problem though, this appointment. It’s neither serious, nor important, yet I can’t leave it unnoticed. Luna, could you, please, see them for me?”

“Besides I thought that might entertain you a bit,” Celestia added quickly, before Luna even opened her mouth. “I know that is not a common practice, but… You look bored and those snobbish stubborn stallions need a good kick. You could even give your Royal Canterlot Voice an exercise.”

Luna smirked. She loved “playing Nightmare Moon” during Nightmare Night holidays, but those happened only once a year. Besides she never could imagine harming foals. This time was different, perhaps Celestia was right and she could have fun, making those upper-class jerks weak in their legs, no casualties though.

Besides an excellent idea came to her mind, considering the human was sentient, Luna could try and reach his dreams, when he slept. That could be definitely interesting: to know something new and to tease the guy a little, if he was in good enough shape to come through that. Despite Celestia saying he was magic resistant, Luna decided to try. Dreams were totally different kind of magic, a careful approach might play out fine. She was always a bit of curious troublemaker anyway.

“Fine, sister,” Luna stretched and wiggled her wings. “I suppose I can hold myself awake for a couple hours more.”

“Thanks, Luna. I’ll head to Ponyville immediately then,” Celestia turned around and trotted out of the room.

      “Just telleth me later, how it went,” exclaimed Luna after her.

 

---

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[Alexshy 14,709]

(New week, new chapter )

4. Keep calm and flutter on - Day two.

 

Second time in the row Fluttershy found herself in her own bed in the morning. With one exception, the night before she simply collapsed due to fatigue. This time she got on the free half of the bed willingly. There was enough space, nothing could happen, she was to look for him anyway. Besides, the bed was way more comfortable than a couch downstairs.

Fluttershy climbed in the bed and lied on the coverlet. She checked human’s pulse, it was even, then touched his hand. His skin was soft and smooth without any coat, quite an unusual feeling for a pony.

“When he recovers, I need to free another room and get a bed,” she noticed that this thought surprised her only a little.

Taking care of somepony, who can stand for himself otherwise, was different from what Fluttershy experienced before helping her animal friends. They mostly couldn’t do themselves, what she did for them. But taking care of someone, who saved her life, gave her unusual satisfaction, feeling of doing right, more confidence and… sympathy.

With these warming thoughts, she fell asleep under his quiet breathing.

Now Celestia’s sun tickled her nose with its rays. Back in her daily business. She scratched Angel behind the ear, he sneaked on the pillow after her and was sleeping now.

Standing under the water streams Fluttershy turned one ear, a quiet moan reached her hearing from the room. She wrapped up in a towel and stormed to the room, leaving wet prints on the floor. She threw back her wet mane and inspected the bedroom. Everything was in its place, but the human seemingly changed his pose a bit. Fluttershy rushed to check the bandages and to her relief the wound was fine, no blood, no progressing swelling. Angel woke up and stared at her in surprise.

“Perhaps Lyra was right and stitches worked better indeed,” thought Fluttershy returning to the bathroom. “And the rest must mean that he is recovering and may wake soon.”

“Good morning, darling!” Rarity stopped by the fence and leaned on it watching Fluttershy feeding her animal crowd. “Do you have a few minutes for me?”

“Hey, hey,” waved Fluttershy blowing a few hair strands off her face. She wiped her hooves and approached the fence from her side. “Of course I do. Just let me check, if I have everyone filled.”

She smiled and pretended that she had no idea about the possible reasons for that visit. But she was sure she guessed right. Fluttershy decided to let Rarity solve the task of explaining her reasons herself.

“Let’s get in the house,” she said instead and led the way.

“Want some coffee?” Fluttershy asked over her shoulder, trotting to the kitchen.

“…What? Oh, no, thanks, dear,” Rarity took a few moments to stop examining her reflection in the mirror next to the door. “Thank you, I’ve already had it. Too much does no good for my face colour. I start blushing spontaneously, when I drink too much coffee at once.” She whispered confidingly.

“So what can I help you with, Rarity,” Fluttershy smiled and offered a seat.

“Fluttershy, dear, I’m so sorry for bothering you that early,” Rarity chose the armchair, straightened the pillow with her magic and sat in the most elegant pose, she could manage. “But Sweetie Belle got a nasty cut on her leg… and I’ve heard from Twilight you’ve got a new recovering salve from Zecora… Could you give me some, ple-e-ease?”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow, her ears stood up.

“Oh, come on, darling, don’t look at me like that,” Rarity’s tone became plaintive. “I always hide the sharp stuff. But I can’t work with all the scissors being locked in the closets… and she always finds them and tries to help me, or mimic me sometimes. And sometimes she is… half-horned. She’s only a filly, dear.”

“OK, OK,” Fluttershy smiled accommodatingly. “Relax Rarity, I’m not saying you’re a bad sister…”

“You’ve almost got me believing,” Rarity showed a sheepish smile.

“Well, I do have the mentioned salve indeed. And I’ll gladly share,” Fluttershy trotted to the stairs to the upper floor, when she noticed Rarity followed her.

“By the way, Lyra visited me yesterday, we took measurements, as she was going to order a new dress,” Rarity chattered happily. “And she mentioned, you had some new “guest”, she said it was a “human”. I’ve always thought, they were mythic rubbish from the books, she spent too much time with…”

“Aha, now straight to the point,” Fluttershy tensed inwardly.

“Did you really get one? Can I have a look?” continued Rarity.

“Get” is a bit exaggerated term,” answered Fluttershy with a sigh. “I’ve… met a human in the Everfree.” She told her story shortly, while they were heading upstairs, feeling that soon she learns it by rote.

“Now promise me that you’ll play by certain rules I’m going to state,” Fluttershy stopped at the bedroom door and looked seriously into Rarity’s eyes. “This is important. For you especially since you’re a unicorn.”

“Oh, darling, you know, I trust you overly, when it comes to pets,” Rarity rolled her eyes at excessive precautions Fluttershy taking. “We started understanding each other better with Opal after your help and advice. I’ll play nicely.”

“Rarity! He. Is. Not. A pet,” facehoofed Fluttershy. “And please listen. He is a human, he is sentient, he is strong enough to take down a timberwolf, but now isn’t in best shape. Wounded and unconscious. And the main thing: he is magic resistant, moreover he is able to drain your magic, if applied to him… even in that condition,” she took a deep breath. “And this reaction is progressing, Twilight felt slight dizziness, Lyra got almost knocked down… Please, DON’T try your magic on him, OK?”

“OK, OK,” Rarity looked overly interested, her eyes opened wide.

“Let’s enter then.”

“I’ve thought they look like apes. Never saw any pictures, Lyra told me about and Twilight mentioned once, if I remember right,” Rarity looked impressed. “I could never understand, why Lyra wanted to become one or at least have… hands.”

“Now I see,” Rarity stepped closer with Fluttershy following. “While he can, of course, resemble an ape, he is nothing like it at the same time. He is… handsome I suppose… for a human, of course. Just needs to shave badly,” she giggled.

“Do you say, he walks on two legs?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“Must be a tall guy then, and quite toned,” Rarity stared at the body on the bed. “Without any fur… well, except the head. Is he a lot like us internally?”

“Lyra says he is,” Fluttershy checked the bandages and touched his forehead by her lips.

“I’m checking his temperature,” she explained, seeing Rarity watched her with wide opened eyes.

“Oh…” breathed out Rarity. She came closer. “The skin must be smooth and different from ours.”

“Rarity!” exclaimed Fluttershy, seeing how her friend was nuzzling human’s arm, then shoulder, then… “D-don’t poke him in the eye. I mean, w-what are you even doing?..”

“Sorry,” Rarity blushed heavily, understanding that she wasn’t behaving like a lady should do. “I’m… umm…”

“So does he react on all the magic being cast around or only this applied to him directly?” she preferred to change the topic.

“Only applied to him,” confirmed Fluttershy, but she was ready things could go that way. “Don’t even try to.”

“Try what?” Rarity’s sly smile and half-lidded eyes told Fluttershy that she guessed right.

“You know,” said Fluttershy pointedly. “Pull off the cover, that’s what!”

Rarity sighed with disappointment.

“We were to remove old clothes… completely,” explained Fluttershy, feeling that her cheeks started burning unwillingly. “And wash him to prevent the wound becoming contaminated,” she pointed to the long and wide patch on human’s side.

“Fifteen times longer…” muttered Rarity under her breath. But Fluttershy heard and became red as a carrot.

“What, excuse me?” she asked again, the strong feeling of déjà vu visited her.

“I mean, why I’m always out of most interesting events till the last moment,” answered Rarity looking away to hide colour red on her cheeks. “You’re my friend, but you’ve asked Twilight to help. I could help too, with magic if necessary.”

“What exactly with?” Fluttershy felt she started boiling internally. “Sewing his wound shut, giving him medicine through a rubber tube put in the throat, wiping all the blood… you’re afraid of blood, as far as I know. Or stripping him naked and washing him?!”

Rarity froze on spot shocked a bit by her friend’s outburst and even more by the mental image of the rubber tube related procedure. Then her ears flattened and she started examining the floor with great attention.

“I guess all of that…” she said quietly.

“Oh, I-I’m sorry, Rarity,” Fluttershy realized that she sounded a bit harsh. “I-I just couldn’t help noticing that… you moved from thinking he is a pet, an ape, to becoming a little too much fixated… even excited… i-if you don’t mind me… putting it that way.”

“I’m sorry too,” Rarity’s ears raised again and Fluttershy noticed that her eyes returned to the bed. “I mean… if you need any help…”

“Oh, dear,” she jumped on the place, some idea came to her mind. “I could make new clothes for him. He will need them, right? I heard, humans wore clothes all the time, as they had no coat naturally. This, of course, will need measurements, I want to make it perfect,” Rarity cocked her head.

‘Measurements, of course,’ Fluttershy sighed internally. ‘And Lyra is concerned about getting hands, but mentions “fifteen times” thing too often, if you ask me.’

“That sounds reasonable,” she said though.

The familiar sound of clarion and some noise from outside made them both check the window.

“That’s princess Celestia,” breathed out Fluttershy. “Twilight sent her a letter about all that.”

“Are you coming? Although… wait… Stay here, Rarity, but please don’t do anything. Especially anything magical. We couldn’t come in time to catch you, if you pass out. Besides, I’ll give you a good Stare, if you dare to…”

Rarity nodded and this time Fluttershy noticed, she was serious. With relief yellow pegasus rushed downstairs.

“Your royal Highness,” Fluttershy opened the door and stepped back bowing. “Good morning!”

“Good morning, Fluttershy, my dear!” Celestia rewarded her with a warm smile. “How are you? Twilight wrote that you had an awful experience in the Everfree.”

Two guards followed the princess inside and stood by the door. Celestia proceeded to the living room, followed by Fluttershy, and took a seat.

“Thank you princess,” Fluttershy still felt slightly abashed every time in presence of Celestia, even Luna made her tremble less. “I’m fine now. Thankfully I haven’t managed to get really scared. Things happened very quickly, and then I was too busy to care about my feelings… much.”

Celestia batted her long eyelashes, she seemed to make a mental note of that amendment.

“And owing to my “guest” I’m here and alive now,” Fluttershy concluded simply.

“May I offer you some tea, princess? That’s fresh Zecora’s herbal tea, very good for toning up.”

“Oh, no, no, thank you kindly, my dear,” princess replied. “I’m afraid, I have no time for that, sorry.”

“Twilight wrote that you have pacified three timberwolves at once by the Stare,” she continued. “You’re making an amazing progress, Fluttershy, as the Element of Kindness and personally.”

“You’re too kind, your Highness!” Fluttershy blushed. “At the end of the day that wouldn’t make much difference… if not for my guest… the human, I’d still be dead.”

“So, you are positive, it is exactly a human?”

“Umm… Twilight said so… and… I-I trust those who read some information on the s-subject… including Lyra… i-if you are OK with that…”

“Lyra Heartstrings?” a tiny shadow of disappointment ran over Celestia’s face. But this was Ponyville – one could hardly imagine some information to be completely hidden here.

“Humans have evolved from the apes as far as I know,” Celestia preferred to ignore that uneasy fact at the moment. “One must be really brutal to take down a timberwolf like that, with one hit…”

“Oh, no, he doesn’t look like an ape by far, neither behaved like this,” Fluttershy started ardently. “I’m sure he had no malicious intent and was genuine in his actions.”

Celestia’s smile grew wider, when she watched her subject talking about the human.

“Well, I want to see him myself…”

“Of course, princess. He’s upstairs, in my room. We were to get him a better placement than a couch.”

“I hope your own sleep didn’t suffer then,” Celestia continued, watching her fixedly.

“I’m fine, thanks, princess,” muttered Fluttershy sheepishly.

When they stopped at the door, Fluttershy coughed loudly and opened it. She saw Rarity sitting in the armchair with innocent look… but the shape of bed cover told Fluttershy that she just fled from the same place, where Fluttershy spent the last two nights. Celestia apparently didn’t notice anything, yet she was surprised to see Rarity here as well.

“Your Highness, princess Celestia,” Rarity got up and bowed deeply.

“Good morning, Rarity!” even if Celestia wasn’t fond of the fact that more and more ponies appeared to be involved in the incident, she didn’t show.

Meanwhile Fluttershy started explaining quietly but confidently.

“Princess, excuse me, but I need to warn you – all Twilight wrote was true. The human is indeed magic resistant and, moreover, he somehow is capable to absorb magic directed at him. The reaction becomes stronger over time… or maybe, as I’ve just thought, with each attempt. The caster feels magical force drain. Discord… Squee!”

“Discord!!!” exclaimed Celestia, maybe even louder than it was necessary, making both Fluttershy and Rarity crouch a little. “What in Equestria, Discord did here?”

She then realized, how it sounded, and hurried to moderate the impression.

“It’s OK, girls, I guess it was inevitable,” she said accommodatingly.

“Excuse me, p-princess,” Fluttershy was upset. “Was it bad for… anything?”

“No, not bad,” Celestia calmed her with a small smile. “That’s just saying, I needed to address that problem a day before. Totally my fault. So what did Discord do?”

“W-well, he stopped by and got interested,” Fluttershy wasn’t sure if touching that topic was a good idea. “He sensed the human… or maybe that human,” she added after a short delay. “… from outside. He took a look and said that this one was different from those he had seen before. He said he sensed no evil in the human.”

“What else?”

“Umm… he confirmed our suspicions about magical resistance… and said that he wouldn’t try any d-destructive magic on the human… as he wasn’t sure about my cottage… g-going to survive possible reaction.”

“He asked me to tell you specifically, princess, not to try any magic on that human, especially one which might be interpreted as destructive,” added Fluttershy in half-voice. “I suppose, he was going to say that any negative impact would backfire rather than be absorbed.”

“That’s interesting,” Celestia touched her chin with the hoof. “And it renders my plans to take the human to Canterlot useless.”

“I can’t transfer him magically, and he can’t survive the long fly at the moment most likely,” she explained her point.

“I’m sure that’s true,” the tint of relief in Fluttershy’s voice was thick enough to be noticeable.

“I guess I should rely on you and Twilight to look after the human till his recovery,” smiled the princess.

“And anypony else you choose to help you,” she looked at Rarity pointedly, who kept herself surprisingly silent till that moment. “Evidently you six would exchange your information anyway,” chuckled Celestia.

Then she turned to the table, where the folded cloth lied.

“And that must be the tapestry, he came dressed in…”

The unfolded by magic cloth lied on the floor and Celestia started examining it. Fluttershy internally cringed, she became overcautious regarding magic usage even near the human after what happened lately.

Time seemed to touch the ancient masterpiece very insignificantly. Silver and gold needlework dimmed slightly of course due to almost thousand years uncared for, but it still had its’ intended noble look to it.

“Royal Tapestry from the Old Castle!” Rarity jumped on the spot. She just noticed it; obviously, all her attention was conquered by the human earlier.

“I’m sorry, princess,” she elaborated in a calmer voice. “I’ve always dreamed to try to restore some ancient piece of art. Just like this. Could you probably allow me to try? Please!”

Rarity’s eyes shined with such enthusiasm that princess Celestia laughed heartily.

“Of course, dear, you may try. But I should ask my sister anyway, as it is her regal attribute and she will decide finally what to do with it.”

“Besides your favourite work may distract your attention from other… things,” she thought. Princess couldn’t help noticing Rarity’s excessive interest in their “guest”.

“So,” Rarity asked Fluttershy, when they followed princess to her carriage and watched her leaving to Canterlot. “Do you need any help… about the house?” She raised an eyebrow.

“What am I hearing?” laughed Fluttershy. “My dear friend Rarity is voluntarily interested in boring and not glamorous household chores.”

“I thought Sweetie Belle needed your help,” she looked appraisingly on her unicorn mate.

“Oh, of course,” Rarity wasn’t embarrassed a bit. “I’m going home to help my sis, then come back… if you need me here.” Her face was almost pleading.

“Look, Rarity, if I need your help, I will ask you, no doubt,” Fluttershy assured her in the most peacemaking voice. “I promise!”

“Pinky Promise?!” Rarity raised an eyebrow.

“OK, OK,” sighed Fluttershy. “I cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”

She followed each description with the corresponding gesture.

‘And Pinky Promise that I’ll keep an eye on you, if you’re helping me with the human,’ she added inwardly.

“One more thing, sweetheart,” Fluttershy caught her friend on the tail. “You may surely discuss our guest with the girls, I mean Rainbow, Applejack and Pinky. But that is all, don’t tell others… well, Lyra knows already, but I doubt she will talk about that. She is obsessed with humans and doesn’t want too much competition. Aaaand… tell Pinky twice… scratch that, thrice – it’s not the information for the whole Ponyville.”

“My mouth is shut and I forgot where I dropped the key,” Rarity proudly straightened. “Who do you think you are talking to?”

Fluttershy giggled.

It seemed that Rarity was satisfied with the promise given, as she snorted approvingly and headed home, wishing Fluttershy a good day.

*

BUMP!!! “Squee!”

Twilight transferred herself right into Fluttershy’s living room making the hostess jump on the spot. Fluttershy still couldn’t get used to her friend’s favourite teleporting spells, especially when they were being used unexpectedly.

“Woo,” Twilight breathed with relief putting her saddle bag down. “I’ve decided to go on foot not. Someone could notice and become unnecessarily interested, why I visited you several times a day.”

“I’ve packed more bandages, a couple of apple juice bottles and a few books,” she explained, when Fluttershy looked at her saddle bag with the question in her eyes. “Now I’m ready to stay for as long as you need to do your business in Ponyville.”

“We’ve already organized all the books and I let Spike have free time… I feel sorry for the little guy with all that work I put on him with latest studies,” Twilight sighed with regret.

“Well, I’m now free for the rest of the day, so take your time…” she added in a more joyful voice. “And about that juice… When you get back, we’ll try to make him consume some with the potion. I’m afraid he will starve otherwise. But I couldn’t imagine something else we could drive through the tube…”

*

The doorbell rang when Fluttershy entered Sugarcube Corner – bakery and confectionery run by the Cake family. She was greeted with a wide smile of a young pink coated mare at the counter. The mane and tail of the latter were also pink and puffy as cotton candy.

“Hey, Flutters!” she waved to Fluttershy wildly. “How’s it boiling? When do we throw it?”

“Howdy, Pinkie,” Fluttershy waved back, then perked up her ears. “Throw what?”

She wasn’t sure, she understood what way the talk directed to. But it was Pinkie Pie, who she was talking to. And Pinkie was known for her… expressiveness and volatility. Which thoughts drift Pinkie’s mind at the moment would be probably a mystery even for Starswirl the Bearded himself.

Pinkie waited till the unicorn mare with her foal finished choosing candies, paid and left the shop wishing them a good day, before she could answer.

“Welcome To Ponyville Human” party, of course,” her enthusiasm could probably compete with the sunshine. “I’m not going to miss that chance.”

She jumped over the counter and towered above Fluttershy, who even crouched a little suppressed by her friend’s energy. Pinkie took her by the chin with the hoof and looked directly in the eyes.

“Mind that I’ve never seen a human before, so that’s gonna be twice awesome!”

She jumped around Fluttershy with cheerful yelps, while the latter tried to find an appropriate answer.

“Pinkie,” said Fluttershy in soft calming voice. “Don’t you think the party is a bit premature? He is still lying unconscious…”

“But I don’t say we should have it right away, surely when he recovers, otherwise he could miss his special Welcome To Ponyville Human party!”

Pinkie stopped and frowned upon her friend, as if Fluttershy suddenly said a very stupid thing.

“Nopony comes on their welcoming party unconscious, one can’t probably walk being unconscious, or I’m not Pinkamena Diane Pie anymore!”

“Oh, Pinkie,” Fluttershy could have probably laughed at that… under some different conditions.

“Besides don’t you want to thank one, saving your life?” Pinkie’s flow of ideas was endless.

She made a couple more circles, then suddenly stopped right to face Fluttershy. Her voice became unusually serious and concerned.

“Flutters, I know that he is not quite well now, and I’m not going to make any boom right away. But considering what I’ve heard he came from another world or something alike. You know what that means?”

“First,” Pinkie sat on her dock and raised one fore hoof. “Who said he can return back?”

“And second,” she raised another. “And the main thing – he found himself in the middle of nopony-knows-where, all alone, without his family, his marefriend, his friends. Imagine how he must miss his mother, father, brother, sister, grandma, grandpa, auntie, uncle, few cousins… his cat and his dog Barney…”

“OK, OK, I got it,” protested Fluttershy. “Hey, why Barney?” But she looked on her friend Pinkie Pie with totally different eyes now, like noticing something, she rarely spotted before or never paid much attention to, behind usual Pinkie’s light-minded chatter.

“I don’t know,” Pinkie took a deep breath. “Just a figure of speech.”

“And you don’t look like his mother,” she scratched her nose.

“And Applejack doesn’t look like his sister, and Dash doesn’t look like his… cat,” she pointed at the door.

The bell ring noted about more customers coming and Pinkie hopped back behind the counter, but continued explaining.

“And while I’m not looking like his auntie Pinkie…” she waved to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who just entered the Sugarcube Corner. “I mean I’m looking like your auntie Pinkie, but not his.”

Rainbow Dash fluttered around Applejack so intensively that her rainbow mane and tail almost made Applejack’s stetson fly away. She was probably bragging about some new trick, she mastered to impress Wonderbolts, or retelling her friend the latest Daring Do book.

“Pinkie! I got your idea…” Fluttershy tried to stop that chatter. “Besides, “auntie Pinkie”, I’m one year older than you!”

“Whatever,” Pinkie wasn’t that interested in little details. “I mean he must feel really lost and miserable, when he wakes. We could at least try to show him the brighter side of things, surely this won’t bring him back home, but perhaps it tells him, he is not THAT alone here. Isn’t it what friends do?”

“OK, maybe you have point,” muttered Fluttershy. “But still this sounds a bit farfetched…”

“Hey, pals,” Rainbow Dash landed between Fluttershy and Pinkie. “How’s tricks? What are you two whispering here about?”

“You know there is new Daring Do book out?” continued she excitedly without any pause. “And it is awesome! Like super awesome! In fact, it is about twenty percents more awesome than the last one,” she said with a happy grin. “Just as I wanted it to be!”

Applejack simply nodded. It seemed that Dash managed to “spoil” the book to her in brief but completely. But she didn’t mind, working on the farm didn’t leave too much time for reading and stuff. This way Applejack at least kept up with the plot. Though she wasn’t nearly that much of a fan as Rainbow.

“We were discussing our possible Welcome To Ponyville Human party,” simply explained Pinkie with a smile. “Kind of VIP party, as the whole thing is a secret to Ponyville folks. Celestia’s order. But our team is game obviously,” she gave them a wink.

“W-wait, Pinkie,” pleaded Fluttershy. “You’re speaking like it’s already d-decided to throw it… when we don’t yet know when… and whether he is OK with that idea… if you don’t mind…”

“Well, it comes to that eventually, it’s better to be prepared,” replied Pinky with a sly smile. “When it comes to parties trust Auntie Pinkie’s experience.”

“What’s in Tartarus a human, if Ah may ask,” Applejack raised a hoof.

“Must be some new pet-friend, Flutters got lately,” laughed Rainbow Dash.

“Tell us is Angel jealous already?” she nudged Fluttershy lightly.

“The human is a human,” frowned Fluttershy, this “pet” stuff seemed not entirely appropriate to her. “He’s definitely not a pet. Though a friend part may be real… he saved my life in Everfree.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, she then looked on Applejack, who apparently forgot to close her mouth.

“Isn’t it some sort of mythic creature Lyra is obsessed with?” Applejack woke up in a second. “Excuse me, Ah’m usually not in that kind of business…”

“Apparently it’s not that mythic,” intervened Pinkie. “Fluttershy managed to catch one… OK, I kid, I kid,” she added quickly, seeing Fluttershy stared at her.

“Look, girls,” Fluttershy sighed and made a decision. “I guess this was inevitable anyway, we can simply go and I’ll show you everything… after we buy what we came for.”

“And, pleeeease, keep this in secret as much as possible,” she whispered quickly, while more customers entered the bakery. “I don’t want princess Celestia to become mad with me and Twilight, if someone spills the beans.”

“I can’t go, girls,” there was a bit of disappointment in Pinkie’s voice. “Need to run the business today. But I’ll catch up with you later, Flutters, OK?” she winked. “We could discuss the party stuff then.”

Fluttershy facehoofed internally, but that was Pinkie. When she was focused on a party only… another party could distract her… for a while.

*

Cold rain lashed the rare trees, the grass, the rows of monuments and gathered in a freshly dug grave, mixing with clay in an unpleasant yellowish mud. It looked like if the weather itself here forgot that it was actually spring everywhere else and took the form more suitable for expression of woe and loss. The rain bathed mercilessly the new coffin and four men, who were ready to lower it into the grave. The priest, struggling the wind attacks under his umbrella, looked even more mournfully than the moment demanded. He was about to finish his farewell speech.

Three more people – two women and a man clung to each other under a bigger umbrella. Actually, those were the only ones who came to the funeral. The older pair was the parents and the girl supporting the women – supposedly the fiancée or girlfriend. That didn’t matter now, did it?

She came here because she couldn’t ignore the last chance to say “thank you” to one who saved her daughter. She didn’t approach others though, as she wasn’t sure in the reaction of this guy’s mother, the latter looked completely ruined and out of her mind. If not the girl supporting her, she would probably fall into the grave, as her legs struggled hard to keep her body shaking from sobbing stand straight. But her motherly loss could turn her in the raging lioness at the slightest reason, even an inadequate one.

So the woman stood on a distance trying to remain unnoticed and keeping the flowers under the protection of her umbrella. She decided to bid her farewell, when others leave.

The priest finished and the four men started lowering the coffin, then they took their spades to build a roof over poor man’s last abode.

The older woman was crumpled, she fell on her knees right into the wet mud and tears ran from her eyes.

“Alex!” she cried on top of her lungs.

The younger woman took her from the ground and hugged trying to calm down and recompose. Both with the man they managed to keep her contained till the gravediggers finished putting the flowers over the fresh mound. After a few minutes they three left to the car, waiting on the road down the hill.

She could now approach. The woman put her flowers on top of the others and stood there for a while, trying to keep her tears inside.

“Thank you… Alex!” she said barely audible. “Wherever you are…”

*

“Mom, is that you?..”

She entered her house, closing the door and shaking the water off the umbrella to put it in the stand. She took off her shoes stained with clay and felt, she had no force to wash them right now. She decided to take care of that later, when her daughter entered the hallway, holding her toy pony.

“You were there, on the funeral, weren’t you?”

“Yes, dear, I was to…”

“Come on, mom, I told you that funeral was useless… They don’t bury… angels!” said her daughter with the very determined look on her cute face. “And you know that I’m right… even if you don’t admit it.”

“Well, well, what are you talking about again?” her mother started becoming anxious about her fixation on that “angel” fantasy.

“He was there, when our car crashed. He took me out second before it burned down. And then… he returned to his duties,” the girl explained her point.

“I suppose angels can ride the lightning…” she added after a pause.

Her mother stood there, having no words to say.

“Sorry, mom,” the girl hugged her mother with a little smile. “But I’ve heard accidentally, what uncle Mathew told you that day. He said that no body was found in what remained of the car.”

“He works in the police,” she looked into mother’s eyes. “He must be sure in what he is saying. They buried an empty coffin… because… they don’t bury angels!”

The woman kneeled to her daughter’s eye level and hugged her, tears flowed down her cheeks and she didn’t hold them anymore…

*

“Mooom!..” Human’s loud moan made Twilight jump in her armchair. She dropped the book, she was reading and turned the lamp brighter. Angel bunny ran into the room and hopped on the bed to see what was wrong.

Twilight noticed that human’s hand moved slightly, it weakly and randomly scratched the covers then calmed. The human obviously was still unconscious, but he definitely was feeling something or perhaps his blackout started turning into a simple dream. Not a very pleasant one, as his tone was anxious and the human was calling to his mother.

Twilight checked his pulse and touched his forehead – everything was normal, he didn’t feel worse… maybe his pulse became a bit faster. His eyes trembled slightly under closed eyelids. She decided that was a good sign, a sign of him possibly waking up soon enough.

“It’s all right, Angel,” she smiled, when picking up her book.

The sound of the opening front door made Angel rush through the door and downstairs. Twilight put the book on the table and stood in the doorframe listening.

“Hey-y-y, Angel, did you miss me?” she heard Fluttershy’s sweet voice. “Sorry, little guy, I was to buy some food for us. Look I bought you fresh carrots and salad and…”

“Hey, little squirt,” Rainbow’s loud cheerful voice. “Do you get along with the new pe… OK, Flutters, with the new friend?”

Perhaps Angel stuck out his tongue to Rainbow, because she then said.

“Pfft, what did I say?”

“Ah think, it would be smarter to see apples are ripe, before making some juice,” Applejack calmly tried to reason her. “You’re fast judging, Rainbow, too fast, if you ask meh.”

“Girls, come upstairs,” called Twilight. “Fluttershy, I need to tell you something.”

“Oh, Twilight is babysitting today,” Rainbow Dash broke into a wide smile. “To make sure big bad human didn’t eat Angel. Ouch! AJ, what in…”

Applejack said something Twilight couldn’t hear, and Rainbow replied.

“Well, didn’t he take down a timberwolf. Last time we… you dealt with timberwolves, the sheer luck and Spike’s well-aimed throw saved our coats.”

“Come on, girls, stop behaving like school fillies,” Fluttershy nudged them to hurry up the stairs.

“Howdy, Twilight,” both Rainbow and Applejack gave her a hug.

“Yeah, tell us, what did Flutters do to make you sit with an alien creature?” smirked Rainbow, flying up to the ceiling to have a better look at the human in the bed.

“Well, I don’t see how my help may hurt me,” Twilight answered simply. “Besides it is interesting. He is the first human I met and I don’t know that much about them, unlike Lyra.”

“Hmmm, don’t see anything special or awesome enough for that hype,” concluded Rainbow making a wide circle above the bed and examining the human under different angles. “In fact, he looks like a hairless… well almost… ape to me. Surely he is better looking than an average ape, I admit. But that’s about all…”

“Are you sure, he didn’t want to eat you and the wolf was just an obstacle?” she turned to Fluttershy.

“I am,” nodded Fluttershy. “Remember I told you, he said “No you bucking don’t!..” before he send that dreading wolf’s head flying. I’ll stick to what I was saying earlier – he didn’t want to let the wolf hurt me and Angel.”

All three came closer, while Rainbow was still floating above the bed. Applejack didn’t hurry with any judgments, but she looked at the human with wide open eyes.

“OK, even if you’re right and he wasn’t going to eat you himself, thus saving from a wolf,” Rainbow Dash wasn’t going to give up her positions that easily. “You said you met him on the old road to the Sister’s Castle ruins. How do you know he is not some evil abomination or spy… or… Well, there are strange things happening in the Old Castle still!”

“Ah thought, that we agreed that that ol’ story ‘bout the Shadow Pony was nonsense,” Applejack said with a smile. “If you remember, sugar cube, we were scaring ourselves running around the castle and making much ado over nothing… Well, except Twilight, Ah mean,” she nodded towards her alicorn friend.

“Oh, and you, of course, little guy,” she amended seeing Angel looking up at her and drumming his hind paw impatiently.

Applejack was talking about that day when they all managed to come to the Old Castle ruins for their own different reasons. Twilight and Spike looked for some books, well, Twilight did and Spike followed, despite being not quite fond of the idea. Rarity wanted to find some ancient tapestry samples and Fluttershy came with her, but when Angel ran away, she got her reason to search the ruins as well. And they with Rainbow looked for a way to find out, who of them deserved the Most Daring Pony title. And Pinkie simply got bored and followed them, then played the old organ and scared everypony shitless. Besides, there were different secret passages and traps, which made them go on tips of their hooves even more.

Rainbow looked confused, she remembered that she was flying in circles, yelling like a foal just like others during their last visit to the Old Castle. But her confusion didn’t last long, she soon got back to her “Huh, try me” usual look.

“And the one, who played the scary organ was Pinkie,” Applejack continued meanwhile. “So no Shadow Pony there at all.”

“I still think there is too much of Nightmare Moon in those ruins to be that careless,” objected Rainbow Dash.

“Besides, look at him,” she continued her accusatory speech. “He looks like nothing and nopony in Equestria.”

“Well, he is not a pony,” laughed Twilight.

“Oh, Twi, you know I don’t mean that exactly. I mean he can pretty much be a spy, some evil creature right from the Tartarus or whatever else. We don’t know anything about him in certain.”

“Come one, Rainbow, how can you say so,” Fluttershy was disappointed by her friend position. “Twilight knows enough to think humans aren’t a threat and Lyra can be considered an expert. Besides humans are indeed from another world.”

“Then the fewer reasons to trust them,” sometimes Rainbow was really stubborn, if she believed in something. “And you claim he is magic resistant, moreover can… “suck” magic force out of unicorns. Isn’t that a threat on its own. Are you sure he is indeed what you call a human? I mean are all humans magic resistant in your books?”

Rainbow took a deep breath and Applejack said thoughtfully.

“Ah think perhaps Rainbow’s got a point here.”

“Thanks, pal,” when Rainbow was on a roll nothing could stop her, besides she felt that AJ shares her doubts. “You, girls, may wait till he wakes up… and makes trouble… or not, but I’m not going to trust him. Not before I myself convinced, he could be trusted. Until then don’t even expect me to think he is our friend.”

“You’ve said the same about Discord,” said Fluttershy quietly and Twilight nodded confessing she is right. “And it appeared to be wrong at the end of the day.”

“Well, OK, I was mistaking about Discord,” forcedly agreed Rainbow. “But we at least were able to understand his motives. This one is another story, this one is a… blank flank for us.”

“Besides,” she dashed towards the bed and, before anypony could say anything, she pulled human’s cheek aside with the tip of her wing. “Just look at his carnivore teeth, Fluttershy. What do you say about them?”

“I-I say those are omnivore teeth,” protested Fluttershy and in questions of zoology she was the top authority among them six. “And c-considering that he is evidently sentient, I don’t see a p-problem here… if that is OK with you. I mean h-he can surely eat meat… b-but I suppose he can consciously refuse of that… and s-suffer not… perhaps. I-I mean, there are plenty of other things to eat in our possession,” she finished under her voice.

“And what do you think, Applejack,” asked Twilight.

“Ah think that one must eat darn much of fruit ‘n vegetables to fill a big guy like ‘im,” grinned Applejack.

“Ah mean, Ah hope he won’t be as destructive as a flock of fruit-vampire bats,” she added jokingly, but everypony got the idea that she was deadly serious, concerning about her garden safety.

“Whatever rock your boats, pals,” concluded Rainbow Dash landing near her friends. “Sorry, girls, don’t mean to offend anypony, but I’m not going to like him outright just because he exists. He seems suspicious to me and makes my mane stand, when I think of being near to him. Please don’t expect me sitting with him.”

“OK, Rainbow, we got your point,” Twilight said accommodatingly and Fluttershy nodded with a faint shadow of sorrow. “It’s your choice and we respect it.”

“Sorry, girls,” Rainbow’s tone wasn’t overly apologetic though. “I… just… can’t.”

“It’s OK,” Fluttershy waved her hoof. She was expecting that everything couldn’t go all smooth and dandy and just accepted the things with minimum stress for herself.

*

“So, let’s do our usual tube stuff,” Twilight turned to Fluttershy, when the front door closed behind Rainbow and Applejack. “And… do you need me to stay?”

“Oh, no, no, you’ve already done more than I could ask for,” refused Fluttershy kindly. “I can cope myself with the night watch.”

“OK, then,” Twilight went to the kitchen to take apple juice bottles out of her saddle bag.

“By the way, I want to tell you something,” she said, when she returned levitating the bottles and that rubber tube, the look of which each time made Fluttershy cringe a little. “Seeing Rainbow’s reaction to him I didn’t tell earlier. Didn’t want to make the girls worry more.”

“Something happened?”

“Yes and no,” answered Twilight. “Nothing bad happened, if you’re talking about that. He was all the time stable and still. But I think, he may wake up soon. He started exiting his blackout and is perhaps even simply sleeping right now.”

“He moved his hand a little and he moaned before you came,” Twilight explained, while Fluttershy was listening to her with a surprised look on her face. “I think he called to his mother or something along the lines of that.”

“Oh, poor thing,” breathed out Fluttershy. “Are you sure he wasn’t in pain at the moment, Twilight.”

“I’m sure he wasn’t,” Twilight hugged Fluttershy shoulders in a soothing manner. “I suppose he just dreamed of something unpleasant. But he was definitely stable. And even Rainbow’s tricks didn’t bother him. But I’m sure, he is now much closer to reality than two days ago.”

“That’s amazing,” whispered Fluttershy.

“Oh, can I ask you about one thing, Twi?” she remembered something which apparently bothered her for some time. “Can you convince Celestia somehow that she shouldn’t just grab him for her investigations as soon as he wakes up. I mean, can we simply give him a few days to brace himself? I-I feel sorry for what happened with the guy… I-I mean, he’s here because I was so carefree.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Fluttershy,” Twilight was confident in her opinion. “He seemed to make his perceived choice then. And I’d say he must be a really nice guy, I think Rainbow is mistaking about him.”

“I’ll try to reason with Celestia,” she added reassuringly. “That got easier now, here is the good side of becoming a princess,” smirked Twilight.

“Thank you, Twi,” Fluttershy hugged her friend heartily.

*

The Moon was up obedient to her will and the land of Equestria entered the serene sleep, making Luna look for some occupation for herself not to become bored for the rest of the night. She had her fun this morning, providing Celestia with the helping hoof for the appointment and letting her sister address the human incident. Luna smirked widely at the memory of scolded upper-crust stallions, which were brought to reality by her. Their plans to raise another factory without any real refinery projects were purely greed and stupidity driven. She did right by blowing their cardboard castle away, before they could really harm Fillydelphia. But that was in the morning, thus it was history. And now Luna had a whole night ahead to do almost whatever she wanted. But unfortunately, she can’t think about anything, she really wanted now. Except…

Speaking of human incident… Celestia told her, what she saw at Fluttershy cottage and what Fluttershy warned her about. Magic resistance and backfiring even while the human being unconscious. So even Celestia, who was first determined to take the human to the castle, finally left that idea… till things become clearer. That was very interesting on its own.

Luna decided for herself this morning already. She could try reaching the human in his dreams, if he was having any already.

She entered her room, leaving the balcony behind and lied on the bed, making herself comfortable on the pillows. Then she closed her eyes and tried to imagine Ponyville, its’ outskirts, Fluttershy’s cottage and the upper room, as her mind travelled through the thin, but so tangible matter of dreams. Luna could find the human with ease – his aura somehow yet weak, was different from those of her pony subjects.

She tried to reach his dreams and fears and concerns and found to her surprise that she couldn’t interact with them. She was able to watch like a silent and ghostly observer, which was very unusual and different from her usual dream travels. Normally Luna was able to affect, alter and direct her subject dreams. She could communicate with those who deserved or desperately needed her help, advice, reassurance and she could intimidate and rule those who deserved punishment or correction. She was able to reach them even physically through their dreams.

But… apparently, she couldn’t do all that with the human. Perhaps because of him still being unconscious and thus his dreams were really limited and restricted… or perhaps of him resisting even this form of influence.

Luna felt she becomes more and more interested in this human. And she felt strange respect. She promised herself to tread lightly, for now at least… All she could do was watch, so she started watching.

The first thing she saw, was the human driving some strange metallic carriage, which moved with impossible speed for something having no visible power or propulsion source. Luna found herself, as if she was sitting next to him and listened to the strange music, a small device in the carriage produced. The human was seemingly enjoying the ride and the carriage was obedient to his commands, he provided via a wheel he turned and some pedals he pressed with his legs eventually.

Then the weather around changed suddenly and Luna saw the sharp turn of the road and a giant tree on the roadside. She noticed another carriage running at them directly, but before Luna even got scared, it flew past them wobbling and hit something.

Next thing she saw, was the crashed carriage under a smaller tree and the human saying something to another – a female human. That one, as Luna guessed, drove that crashed carriage and now was in total distress. There was another person inside the carriage – a human foal, small girl. “Luna’s” human tried to open the doors of the carriage to take the girl out, but they were stuck.

Like bewitched Luna watched the human got into the carriage through the front door and tried to talk the girl out of her seat. The latter was apparently in shock, clinging to something in her hands. Luna noticed a toy. It was a… pony. A yellow pegasus with pink mane and tail. Luna’s eyes opened wider – Fluttershy, but how?

Meanwhile, the human got on the back seat, grabbed the girl and smashed the back glass with his feet. He called the female human and gave her the girl through that opening. Luna swallowed the lump which suddenly formed in her throat. She watched how the female retreated with the girl, crying to the human to get out of the… “car” for god’s sake.

A sparkle set the car on fire. Luna’s eyes dilated in terror, when she saw how fast the car turned into the inferno with “her” human still inside. And then thunderbolt speared right into the car, blinding everyone in one unbearable flash.

Luna was still shaking, as if she was freezing cold when the scene changed. She was now in the wide field with rare trees here and there under the pouring rain. Though she wasn’t there physically, she could feel the cold water falling from the gloomy sky. Stone plates filled the field in rows. There was an empty space near to her without a plate, but with a deep pit instead. Four humans were slowly lowering a finely made wooden long box into that pit. One strangely clothed human stood in the head of the pit.

There were 3 more humans on the opposite side of the pit: two females – one young and one older and one male. The older female was crumpled, she fell on her knees right into the wet mud and tears ran from her eyes.

“Alex!” she cried on top of her lungs.

The younger female raised her from the ground and hugged, trying to calm down and recompose, while Luna felt another lump inevitably appearing in her throat… She realized what type of ceremony that was… and with whom those humans were making farewells.

The vision ended suddenly. Luna was in Fluttershy’s bedroom looking down on the bed with the human on one side of it.

“Alex…” repeated Luna under her breath.

Next to the human, next to Alex lied Fluttershy. Her fore hoof was resting on Alex’s shoulder, while she was gently nuzzling his neck.

A sympathetic but sad smile appeared on Luna’s face, when she watched Fluttershy moved closer to the human in her sleep. That little girl didn’t waste time. She saw something about that human, something that Luna just managed to notice, and apparently, she was first.

But she, Luna, The Princess of the Moon, wanted this human to herself. She felt that her boredom can be cured. That was worth competition.

“Fine,” Luna told herself with a small but meaningful smile. “I waited for the thousand years to be saved from Nightmare Moon, what I have learned forsooth is waiting. I can wait again, but I shan't wait passively. And time shalt show...”

 

 

---

Author's note: If 't be true you like the story (and have FimFiction account, otherwise, you can't vote), please, take a minute to support the book hither: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/370173/the-guardian  "Thumbs up" are very welcome, comments either. Mine most sincere gratitude in advance!

Edited July 15, 2018 by Alexshy

[Longhaul 6,470]

Huzzah!  New update!!

[Jade Fire 7,036]

im so sorry i havent had time yet to read these

[Alexshy 14,709]

25 minutes ago, Jade Fire said:

im so sorry i havent had time yet to read these

Dost not worry, mine filly, the book shan't run anywhere

[Alexshy 14,709]

(And hither we go again... Bear with me fixing the extra spaces.)

5. Awakening

 

 

 

“…sorry, girls, don’t mean to offend anypony, but I’m not going to like him outright, just because he exists. He seems suspicious to me and makes my mane stand, when I think of being near to him. Please don’t expect me sitting with him.”

      “OK, Rainbow, we got your point. It’s your choice and we respect it.”

The voices reached Alex’s mind muffled, as if he was floating up from the sea bottom and heard them through the water. A few girls talking, as he could recognize. A few… pony girls! Well, at least that came naturally out of their words. And one called another “Rainbow”. That gave Alex a nudge towards remembering the recent events.

“Sorry, girls,” said Rainbow. “I… just… can’t.”

“It’s OK.”

Then steps got away.

The whole night turned up nightmarish for Alex. He remembered everything which led him to the point where he was step by step. Perhaps some steps exchanged their places in the whole timeline. The old castle he found out himself, the walk through the forest with all the dangers, the brief but brutal fight with timberwolf, when he tried to save the pony pegasus. Why tried? He saved. He definitely remembered that, then total blackout followed. The last he remembered was the accident, where he took a girl out of the crashed car and… got hit by… the lightning?!

Then he saw his parents and Elen on… his own funeral! That wasn’t a memory obviously, it seemed that Alex’s mind just imagined, what the closest people might feel after his strange vanishing. Thankfully, when this dream ended, a strange feeling of tranquility visited him and Alex slept without any more of nightmares till morning.

The breeze from the opened window carried the smells of spring, fresh leaves, flowers, ground after the rain. Alex opened his eyes. In the dim light of early morning he could see the ceiling above him. It was nothing like his apartment ceiling or a hospital ward one. White with dark wooden beams crossing and supporting it. It resembled a countryside house mostly. With almost all memories recollected Alex thought that it should mean that he reached some civilization after his forest travels.

      "Finally.”

Then Alex made mental note of something resting on his shoulder, long hair tickled his bare chest and… he felt light breathing on his neck. Alex cautiously turned his head a little to see. He saw the yellow pony pegasus girl – the one he got into the fight because of – sleeping next to him. Big turquoise eyes were now closed, shadows cast by long eyelashes dropped on her cheeks. The ticklish sense he felt was given by her lush pink mane. Her wings were tightly folded and small accurate hoof was resting on his shoulder. The subtle scent of field flowers and perhaps honey was coming from her and her breath.

Alex was ready to see something like this, thus he managed to jump on the place not, but yet he shivered a little and cringed from dull pain across his ribs under his right arm. It seemed that he got wounded really serious and this… girl, he can’t now think about natives as about some sort of animals, took care of him, and fell asleep. She was keeping touch now to ensure he was all right. Fluttershy – Alex remembered her name…

She was sleeping above the covers, most likely got tired of daily labour with him being an extra. Alex checked himself to find he was completely naked under the covers. He felt how blood rushed in his face. Obviously, she was to do this to treat his wounds, but he still felt confused.

Alex lifted his head a little and looked around the room with his eyes moving only. He couldn’t see his clothes, what remained of them, or any clothes at all. In fact, he couldn’t see anything which can serve as clothes. Even the tapestry, he wrapped himself into in the castle, was now gone.

“Damn!” Alex’s mind quickly looked for a solution.

One door was opened and he could see a corridor behind it. He then spotted another door in the room. That might be a wall closet or a bathroom.

Very slowly and carefully, not to wake Fluttershy up, Alex slid from under the covers and opened that door.

“Thank you, universe!” He faced a small bathroom and accurately closed the door behind himself. “I so needed this.”

He examined his wounded side in the bathroom mirror above the sink and small closet with supposedly bath accessories. The patch was big enough to provide disappointing thoughts, but when he carefully lifted one edge, he saw that the wound had almost closed up completely. Someone made decent stitches across it and despite them looking like an ugly tank track, they did it job nicely. Nevertheless…

“How long am I here for?” thought Alex. “My wound looks like it is recovering for a few weeks.”

     "Surely they must have some sorts of healing magic here, I won’t be surprised considering what I’ve seen before, still it would be amazingly fast,” Alex yet was puzzled. “But I can swear that I don’t feel like it’s been several weeks. My inner clock keeps saying a few days maximum.”

Upon looking at his own face in the mirror Alex noted that it was tired and grey, with the shadows under his eyes, but it hardly was looking like he lied unconscious for a few weeks. That was utterly strange. Yet not the most strange thing in the line of recent events. Alex decided to return to that later.

“Still I’ve managed to grow quite some stubble, not a full beard though, and that says days again, not weeks, but…” Alex rubbed his chin. “I wonder if male ponies shave. Don’t want to go around like that…”

     He smirked sadly. Then remembered one more name from the bucking show – Starswirl the Bearded – there was a powerful wizard or something here long ago. Alex thought that “the Bearded” part wasn’t given for nothing. And as he saw the male ponies without any beards or moustaches that meant they should have something to shave them. One more question to ask later. Alex giggled at the thought that pony girls hardly shaved their legs, besides digging into someone’s bathroom closet would be impolite. So later it was.

The bath was a bit smaller, than he got used to and the shower head hung lower, than it was enough to comfortably stand straight under it. Alex was to kneel down in the bath to use it. He made sure that he had placed the patch back and firmly fixed it, then turned the water on and made the temperature be barely warm.

The first thing he did was drinking right from the shower streams which brought peace to his sore and dry throat. Alex could drink a couple of gallons perhaps, if he didn’t know that won’t be nice for his health.

It was the absolute delight to find a shampoo and finally wash his head twice, removing all the dust. The pegasus girl, Fluttershy, evidently took care of his hygiene, Alex felt he was blushing again, yet he reached the soap. When the main part was done, he sat under the streams and tried to concentrate on what he was going to face. His knowledge of this place was fragmentary and inconsistent. Besides, they themselves could be a threat to him.

“So, sooner or later I must meet the officials,” thoughts flew in Alex’s head like the water on his skin. “Maybe not princess herself, but someone whose duty is to deal with…”

“With what, Alex? Alien contacts, extra… equestrian beings, sudden breakouts? Maybe they have Human Interactions Department of Equestria,” Alex sighed, the joke didn’t look funny to him at all.

“I suppose the authorities will be high enough in this case… and suspicious. What would they think, if I show that I know something, anything about their world?”

“I wonder, if it would be safer not to,” muttered Alex. “On the other hand, how could I lie to that girl for example…”

“Damn,” he gritted his teeth. “This is hard and complicated. I’m seriously not ready for all this… diplomacy. All I need is to get home fast. And I would like to think that my hopes match those of princesses or anyone who runs the whole place – to get rid of the disturbance aka me… preferably by sending me back, not some other way,” he didn’t want to imagine all the possibilities, yet they were real.

“I must think of some strategy,” Alex decided while turning the water down. “Certainly that means I must tell Fluttershy the truth or at least all necessary parts of the truth.”

He dried himself with the largest towel he could find, then wrapped it around his hips. That was the most embarrassing part of the situation, but he could hardly do more than that. Loud rumbling told him that his stomach was awake before him perhaps and now reminded about itself. The water wasn’t enough for sure.

He opened the bathroom door slightly and checked through the gap – Fluttershy was still sleeping with pose unchanged. Alex tiptoed out of the room and went exploring the house.

There were closed doors on this floor, but Alex headed downstairs. Then he suddenly remembered about the bear which must have brought him here.

“I seriously hope he is not a constant resident of the house,” said Alex to himself looking back over his shoulder. “Though he was definitely sentient enough to communicate with Fluttershy and listen to her requests. But somehow I don’t want to check, if his trust includes me.”

The kitchen was his aim at the moment. They were to interact somehow and it would be better, if they start from positive impressions. Besides Alex felt overly grateful for her not leaving him in the forest, despite she had the full moral right to be scared, suspicious, whatever else and thus refused to deal with him. According to what he remembered about the incident, he had hardly shown many differences from the wolf he killed. Fluttershy could think anything about Alex, yet she treated him the kindest way possible. Alex decided that making a breakfast would be at least something to show his gratitude in this situation. That would be a nice gesture anyway.

The furniture in the kitchen was a bit little to his standards as well. But at least he could reach all the shelves and cupboards without any trouble.

      “She can fly up to get anything with ease too, as she is a pegasus,” he smiled inwardly.

Alex managed to find eggs, flour and sugar, the water was in the kitchen tap. He found a frying pan, a bowl and even a whisk. In fact, the kitchen was kept in exemplary order.

“I just need to get used to it,” thought Alex naturally then stumbled upon this thought.

“Hmpf!” he smirked to himself.

“Milk, where is milk?” said Alex loud. “I will need some, if I want to make decent pancakes.”

Lighting the stove gave him a bit of a trouble, but all other accessories were just the same as in the human world. He smiled at the thought that those ponies must have really flexible and mobile joints to operate all the stuff. Apparently, they had no problems with average frying pans, cans or dishes. Perhaps he had more and produced more noise than planned, as when he was looking for milk once again a white bunny ran through the kitchen door and hopped on the table.

Alex turned to him. The bunny looked at him with interest and a bit of surprise, but without any sign of fear or suspect.

“Hey, little guy, umm, Angel… right?” Alex tried to sound calm and friendly, despite the wild fact that technically he was talking to an animal. “Do you know where is milk in that house? Your pony…”

“For all that I know the word “master” is the least suitable,” thought Alex.

“…friend got really tired and is still sleeping. So I decided to take care of the breakfast,” he finished with a smile.

Angel stared at him making some decision, then he squeaked something, jumped to the floor and opened a cooler cupboard under the window. Alex slapped his forehead, he missed its’ doors twice thinking they were part of the wall. He kneeled and took out a big clay jar the bunny pointed at.

“Thanks, pal,” Alex remembered the ponies’ gesture from the show. He stretched out the fist and, to his immense surprise, the bunny bumped it with his own small fluffy fist.

“The best pancake is yours by right,” smirked Alex.

His bachelorhood paid for itself, now when all the ingredients were ready, Alex quickly whipped the dough for the pancakes and had a few fried already, when he heard a loud cry from the upper floor and a series of hurried steps on the stairs. Fluttershy burst into the kitchen and froze in the doorway breathing deeply from emotions.

She saw the human near her stove with a frying pan in one hand and a spatula in another. A few pancakes were already lying on the plate in the middle of the table. Angel bunny sat near and munched on another one. Fluttershy could perhaps laugh out loud, if she wasn’t that surprised, agitated, and… she didn’t know what else…

“Morning!” the human waved her with the spatula, while turning a pancake on the pan. Then he realized he had only a towel on and embarrassed smile crawled onto his face. “Ahem…”

“M-m-morning,” Fluttershy voice was almost faint.

“Well… errr… despite how utterly stupid and hilarious it may sound,” he seemed to hardly find words, just like her. “My name is Alex.”

     "And you are…” the pony girl took a few steps in and leaned on the table like she was looking for support.

“And I’m a human from another world,” guessed Alex the route of her thoughts.

“At least I was one naturally before I was hit by the lightning and carried no one knows how to the old castle in the woods,” he added with a slightly sad smile. “And you?”

“I-I’m F-fluttershy,” she almost whispered after a pause. Obviously, it turned out that it was much harder for her to talk to her guest than to take care of him while he was blacked out.

“I-I’m glad you’re f-finally OK,” she found strength to clear her throat and say louder, then blushed for unknown reason.

“And I’m glad you’re not mad with me taking the liberty to boss in your kitchen and making the breakfast.”

“Oh, this… was j-just unexpected… if you don’t mind me… p-putting it that way…” Fluttershy let herself giving out a little smile.

“I thought that was the least I could do to…” Alex put the last pancake into the pile and extinguished the stove. He then sat at the table and stared in the window.

“Thank you, Fluttershy!” he said simply but heartily after a long pause. “I can’t put it a better way and I don’t know if I need. Thank you for saving my life.”

“Squee!” Fluttershy slid on another chair across the table. She looked even more embarrassed now. “I-if anypony needs to say thanks here… it’s m-me. If not you, I would be dead, there was no chance of Harry getting there in t-time…”

“Harry?” asked Alex. Then he remembered. “Oh, yeah, the bear…”

“Is it a common practice for you here to communicate with animals? I would really like to… W-well, I wanted when I was a kid.”

“You mean, you humans can’t,” Fluttershy looked at him. “Well, most ponies don’t do that or can’t. That’s my special talent – I can understand animals and be good friends with them.”

“Most of them…” she added meaningfully.

“We can’t, people – we call ourselves people when talking about many – can’t understand or talk to animals,” said Alex.

“Though this little guy seems to understand me pretty well,” he added nodding towards the bunny, who sat at the table looking from Alex to Fluttershy and back.

“Oh, where are my manners,” Fluttershy touched her mouth with a hoof. “This is Angel… A-and if you give me a moment… I’ll make us tea… i-if you’re OK with that,” she blushed again.

“Nice to meet you, Angel,” Alex winked.

Alex felt that he started liking this pony girl more with each moment. It seemed he could be outspoken with her, he just needed to be careful and patient, as she was evidently of the gentle and modest kind, just as her name suggested. She must be really worried about his well being that she decided to share the bed with him – a total stranger for her at the moment, despite the one who saved her life.

Alex watched how she fluttered across the kitchen quickly and accurately doing things. The sudden warm thought visited him. He was really lucky that Fluttershy was the first pony… person he met in Equestria. Yet that was something to make his further way harder.

“So how do you get here, in Equestria,” Fluttershy lighted the stove again and put the teapot on. She seemed to get easier around him already. “I mean what happened before you found yourself here.”

Alex found himself easily telling her all his story in brief. He told her a little about his life on the Earth, about studies and work, about parents. She was amazed by some things which were common for him, but he guessed, he was to come across something in her world to amaze him speechless as well.

“Thinking machines!” exclaimed Fluttershy sitting across the table with her cup of tea which she seemed to forget about. She looked him directly into the eyes and he caught himself on returning the gaze with the light heart. “Really thinking like anypony else?”

“Well, they are not thinking by human… or pony standards,” Alex gave a laugh. “It’s hard to explain shortly. We program… teach them to “think”, to solve different tasks. The point is they can perform many simple operations, but very fast, much faster than we do, so they help us solve digital tasks… yes.”

“But they can’t act on a random or abstract pattern,” he continued explaining, when he saw she is still utterly amazed. “Still can’t at least.”

“Oh, sweet Celestia, it’s like magic anyway,” Fluttershy gave out a little girly squeak.

“That isn’t though,” smiled Alex watching her. “We don’t have any magic in our world. Not that I knew about any at least… At least till recently.”

He then told her about his accident leaving out a part with the car crash and mentioning the most important things. Literally how he was hit by a lightning in the car. Fluttershy stopped him and asked to explain what was a “car” telling him that they had balloons and trains, but nothing like cars. Alex thought that technically they were in the beginning of Earth’s 20 century. Not bad for the land of talking ponies. And magic made them even more advanced in general. He told that after a bright flash and pain he found himself on top of the tower, in the old castle in the middle of the forest… and heavy rain was showering the scene.

“So you found yourself in the Sisters’ Castle ruins,” Alex noticed how Fluttershy shivered a little, evidently the castle wasn’t among desired places of interest here. “I can imagine it wasn’t the best arrival, Alex.”

He couldn’t help noticing that he liked, how she called him by his name, for the first time as he could remember. Now they were approaching the hardest part of the talk, yet Alex decided firmly at that point – he was going to be transparent with this girl.

“Before I continue, can I ask you one question, Fluttershy?”

“Mmm…” she muttered in agreeing manner busy with her pancake.

“What do you believe in here… in Equestria?”

“Hmm,” Fluttershy was a bit puzzled by such a twist, but decided to let the human explain for himself. “Strange question… We believe in magic of course, how could we not, in Harmony… I’ll explain later,” she noticed that Alex stumbled upon this term. “In love. Then princesses, Celestia and Luna, they rule the Sun and the Moon respectively…”

Alex was already prepared for that, but still, his heart skipped a bit. That definitely could be his chance and his ticket to home… or to his doom.

“Why do you asking?”

“Well, personally I believe wholeheartedly in one thing,” answered Alex. “Not the one and only actually, but that one for sure. The noosphere.”

“You know, everything you think, write, sing about, everything you create, makes an informational track,” he explained. “And the whole mass of ideas, of information, produced one way or another, forms an informational space, field, ocean… call it whatever you like and can understand better.”

“It seems I can understand what you are talking about,” Fluttershy nodded. “It’s like a library. An enormous library which contains all the knowledge of everypony who lives or lived.”

“Though libraries are Twilight’s turf,” she smiled.

“Right, you may put it that way of course.” Alex returned the smile. “And I now start to believe that this “library” has not only the ideas of humanity, but much much more. In other words, if something simply exists somewhere, the idea or knowledge of that may appear on the other edge of reality.”

“… even in another reality I suppose,” he added after a moment of silence.

“So?”

“Do you have cinema?”

“Of course we have,” Fluttershy became even more puzzled. “Theatre as well. But I don’t quite understand where you…”

Alex sighed. He couldn’t lie right into those turquoise eyes. He would stop respecting himself forever then.

“I knew about Equestria,” he said quietly. “I mean I knew about it even before I got transferred here… unwillingly. Though I swear to gods I never could imagine it to be real.”

The silence in the kitchen seemed palpable. Even Angel looked stunned by the last words hitting the air. Fluttershy sat on her chair both hooves holding her face and staring at Alex with widely opened eyes.

“We have a movie… a cartoon series, telling about Equestria,” Alex closed his face with hands thinking how completely mental he could look and sound for her. “Many things match, including names. I… know that you have a few friends… Twilight Sparkle, you’ve mentioned her already. Then Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash and Applejack.”

“Squee!” Fluttershy sat still, like it was her, hit by the lightning.

“You may say I could hear the names, while I was unconscious and managed to grasp them somehow. But I know a few things more. My knowledge of your world is limited, but it exists.”

“There are also princesses Celestia and Luna, the rules of your country,” continued Alex with serenity of the doomed. “Luna was banished to the moon by her sister for a thousand years… Merlin’s pants, I can’t imagine I’m speaking of that calmly… when she became Nightmare Moon. But you six returned her normal self by defeating Nightmare Moon with the help of Harmony Elements… I don’t know what those are,” he bowed a little towards Fluttershy. “I know that you are an Element of Kindness embodied though.”

“S-so, you’re saying, that humans… p-people know all about Equestria,” Fluttershy’s eyes dilated in terror. “F-from a movie?!”

“Not all, not everything, and… my life for it, I doubt anyone believes it’s real, no one plans a vacation in Equestria, as far as I know,” said Alex in the most soothing voice he could produce. “I am to believe… I am here.”

“I can’t… I h-have no words,” Fluttershy woke up from the stupor. But Alex noticed that she at least wasn’t mad with him or afraid of him personally. It was the mere idea of your whole reality being more or less someone’s show for entertainment which brought her to that state of shock.

“Believe me I was shocked even more, when I realized where I have gotten to in that Old Castle,” Alex moved closer to her and reached her hoof taking it in his hands. “I almost went mad, when I saw those tapestries in the main hall.”

“But I was to tell you all the truth, especially after what you’ve done for me,” he added barely audibly.

“Ohhhh,” Fluttershy let out a deep sigh, then looked down. To Alex’s surprise she didn’t withdraw her hoof. “Now I can imagine what you have come through.”

“Look,” she gave him a quick gaze then. “You don’t say you can watch everything?..”

“No, of course, no. It’s like a tale about some events which took place once,” Alex tried to find better words. “Like you know about Starswirl the Bearded and some of his deeds, despite never seeing him in person.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah, and there is also Spike, Twilight’s aide,” Alex nailed with a deadpan. “I’m sure none of you mentioned him to me.”

Fluttershy put another hoof on his hands and stroked them a bit. Then she giggled, then she burst out laughing holding both hooves at her mouth.

“What?”

“Oh, Alex, I’m so sorry,” Fluttershy sobbed and tried to hold hiccups. “I just imagined your face when you realized, where you got to… and my face moments ago, when you told me I could be a cartoon character for somepony. I understand how you think the… noosphere is connected with that… but it doesn’t sound less mad or somehow funny, sorry…”

Alex could perhaps get angry with her laughing at his trouble. But she was laughing at them both and their reaction to the circumstances, which brought them together. He looked at Fluttershy and felt his lips spread out in a smile too. A moment later he was almost dying form uncontrollable laughter as well.

Angel bunny jumped from the table and got onto the chair aside looking at them as at complete idiots. And they kept laughing and laughing, looked at each other and continued.

“Merlin’s pants!” moaned Alex wiping tears which started to drop already. “It looks like a tragedy, but when you put it like that…”

“Can you imagine,” he added. “I remembered how you with your friends went to the Old Castle when trying to defeat Nightmare Moon. I mean, remembered step by step on purpose, then chose the direction and repeated your journey backwards to get to Ponyville.”

“So, I’ve reached you in time simply because I’ve seen the bucking show and have a good memory,” he looked into her eyes from a few inches distance.

"I wonder, if someone somewhere already makes a movie or writes a book about my troubles," with a nervous laugh Alex voiced the idea which came to his mind suddenly.

“Yeah, but I can see Celestia not liking all that completely,” Fluttershy became serious, when they both calmed down a bit.

“And that won’t help me solve my problem of getting home,” added Alex feeling fun deflated in him like a popped balloon.

“I’m sure we can think something out,” Fluttershy looked at him with sympathy. “I’ve asked Twilight and she promised to try and talk to Celestia to buy us some time till you fully recover.”

“You don’t need to…”

“I do. And you know it. And I feel that I do,” Fluttershy put a hoof on his mouth making him stop. Then she suddenly drew it back quickly and blushed heavily.

“Umm… I-I mean… I want to help you,” she whispered with a sheepish smile. “I-if you are OK with that… that is what f-friends are for…”

Alex nodded quickly. He suddenly felt he couldn’t force any words out, not before he could swallow the lump in his throat.

“Thanks,” he squeezed finally, then cleared his throat. “Albeit I’m not quite in shape to meet a princess anyway.”

He looked down on his towel and adjusted it. Then looked back on her to be granted with the look of red as a carrot Fluttershy. It was amazing how she blushed through her yellow coat.

“Sorry,” she said in half voice. “We were to take them off to clean and to wash you. The wound could get contaminated…”

“I understand.”

“B-but I have only boots and underwear,” he couldn’t say anything before she blazed out of the kitchen and returned with his scarce clothing.

“Rarity took the royal tapestry you came wrapped in,” Fluttershy’s sight was glued to the floor. “She wanted to try restoring it…”

“… and I have nothing except towels, sheets and… dresses,” she muttered.

“I guess with all I’ve come through, I would hardly look more hilarious in a dress, but I probably pass,” Alex took her face in his hands and removed a few strands falling on her eyes. “Besides you don’t have my size anyway.”

She smiled. Alex thought that one could easily drown in those eyes. Then he remembered Elen’s face and his mood faded. He had no idea, when and if he could get back.

Fluttershy jumped on the spot with a squeak. Fortunately, she seemed to notice the shadow on his face not.

“I’m a fool,” she looked at him guiltily. “Rarity offered help, specifically with the clothes. She runs a boutique in Ponyville.”

“You know about that perhaps,” she smirked and gazed on him playfully. “So she knows everything one possibly can about clothes. She must think something out, I’m sure.”

“But I must warn you,” she moved closer, so, her mouth was right next to his ear. “She became… I can’t put it otherwise… excited when she saw you. So be careful around her, I don’t know what she can perform, but she was in a really flirtatious mood.”

Alex facepalmed inwardly, there was a pony excited about him already. Where did the things go. Fluttershy turned away for him not to see her face, when she remembered the “fifteen times longer” remark.

“OK,” said Alex. “I guess that’s inevitable. I can’t go around like that forever.”

Fluttershy thought that she wouldn’t mind really, then scolded herself for that naughty idea.

“I’ll call her then as soon as possible,” she said instead.

“Thank you, Fluttershy,” he definitely liked as it sounded either. “Can I use your bathroom… again?”

He left his boots at the front door when heading to stairs. No need for them at home.

“At home?!” his mind made an intensive leap. “In the house, Alex. That’s “in the house”, right?”

*

“Sweetie Belle! Sweetie Belle,” Rarity looked up calling her sister loudly. “Sweetie Belle, could you come down.”

“What’s up, sis?” small white unicorn filly with pink and lilac mane and tail poked her head through the door into her sister’s working cabinet. “I had the floor in my room shaking, when you called,” she giggled.

“Hmpf,” Rarity cocked her head in a disapproving manner. “I wasn’t THAT loud, if you’re talking about it…”

“Oh, maybe just a little,” smirked Sweetie Belle.

“Have you done your homework, dear?” Rarity asked insinuatingly.

Her younger sister rolled her eyes like saying. “Oh, come on, not again!..”

“It’s May already, Rarity,” she said instead. “Ms Cheerilee gives us almost nothing before holidays…”

“And obviously I have it prepared already,” she added to avoid further interrogation. “Did you need me for something.”

“On the contrary, darling,” Rarity smiled to some of her thoughts and it was obvious that she was pleased by something.

“Tell Fluttershy I’ll pack what’s necessary and move on,” she said to Angel bunny, who then saluted with his paw and leaped outside worming between Sweetie Belle’s legs before she could step aside from the doorway. The letter in Rarity’s magic grasp must have been the one he delivered.

“I was about to suggest,” Rarity continued explaining to her sister. “That you may go to Applejack’s garden and visit your friends, and have your club meeting or whatever you do usually with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.”

“I simply doubt you want to sit all alone till late afternoon. I need to see Fluttershy, darling,” Rarity was packing meters, rulers, pencils, sheets of paper in her saddlebag. The letter flew there the last.

“Is everything all right?” Sweetie Belle was genuinely interested.

“Yeah… Well, yeah,” answered Rarity absently looking over her workplace with half-lidded eyes. “Fluttershy just needed a new dress… and she told me that she had some free time… so I decided to go make all necessary measurements, while I have a chance.”

Her sister became alert at once. Belle’s Cutie Mark Crusader senses told her there was something not quite as simple, as her older sister wanted it to look. Like every little filly she adored secrets and mysteries and innocently poking her nose into those. Like Cutie Mark Crusader she felt it was her duty to investigate everything which seemed nearly secret.

She watched how Rarity spun in front of a mirror checking her coat, checking her mane and tail and brushing it, puffing her lips and examining them with great care. Then Rarity glued a pair of fake eyelashes, extending twice her already long natural ones.

'Don’t stab anypony with them, sis,' giggled Sweetie Belle mentally.

“Oh, I just had an idea about our CMC investigations,” she jumped with a sly smile. “You’re right, Rarity, I need to visit my friends.”

If Rarity listened to her younger sister a bit more attentively, the word “investigations” could have warned her about them planning something… again. Or even better say about Sweetie Belle who just started planning something and was going to involve her overly curious friends. But Rarity was still smiling, truth to be told with a very dreamy look, to some of her thoughts and simply followed her sister outside taking her saddle bag and closing the door of Carousel Boutique behind them.

Sweetie Belle watched, how her older sister headed towards Fluttershy’s cottage indeed, then she turned and trotted to the Apple Farm thinking about what she managed to notice.

“Strange that Rarity packed the letter with her,” thought Sweetie Belle while her legs carried her automatically on the well-known route. “She didn’t throw it on her work table as usual. There is already the complete mess of sketches, pencils, spools of threads there… one small note would hardly add more.”

She reached the Garden fence already.

“Besides Fluttershy is not a fashionista type pony, as far as I know. She doesn’t buy dresses once a week to brighten her mood. The yearly Galloping Gala is not coming soon yet and the dress Rarity makes specifically for Fluttershy is in the boutique still. I must say Rarity surpassed herself with it… No more than yesterday evening she fixed and improved something… and prevented me from sleeping with her dancing around the dress almost till midnight.”

“Well, sis, you’re definitely hiding something,” she thought, approaching a nice tree house – Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse exactly. “You and Fluttershy. Two best friends forever,” she giggled.

“The existing dress hardly needs any measurements at all,” concluded Sweetie Belle, she already heard that her filly friends were talking about something in the tree house. “And you looked happier than Opal filled with sour cream. Something tells me that’s not about the dress…”

She got up on the wooden slope and bumped the door open with her fore hooves.

“Hey, girls!” she trotted inside and hugged Apple Bloom (the yellow freckled filly with red mane and tail) and Scootaloo (the orange one with pink and purple mane and tail). “How’s life? Any daring plans for today?”

“Nothing too fancy,” yawned Scootaloo. “We thought we could try ourselves in diving in the nearby pond. Well, better try this chance as well. Apple Bloom said…”

“Big Mac had a mask, a tube and flippers somewhere,” nodded Apple Bloom. “But I’m afraid they are a bit big for us.”

“Forget about ponds and flippers,” whispered Sweetie Belle in a conspiratorial tone. “We have some secrets to unearth.”

“Didn’t it brought us troubles only the last time we tried?” Apple Bloom was unsure, if that was a good idea, remembering the last time they all three worked for a school newspaper under Chatterbox pen name gathering salt and pepper about Ponyville private life. “I mean the last time was miserable enough.”

“Oh, come one, little Apple,” jumped Scootaloo, who was in for every action except hunger-strike. “It’s not like we’re going to write about that or share it with anypony else. Right, Sweetie Belle?”

“So what’s your plan?” Scootaloo pricked her ears… and Apple Bloom joined in a minute. Curiosity was born before her, apparently.

“Rarity just got a notice from Fluttershy, then packed meters, paper and stuff and fled,” Sweetie Belle told them in brief. “She told me to go for “fresh air” and almost danced away.”

“Umm,” Scootaloo gave her a sly smile. “They say your sister and Fluttershy… are a thing.”

“Ewww,” Sweetie Belle shook her head. “Where did you dig that from, Scoots?”

“Well, some ponies gossip…”

“They say Rainbow and Fluttershy are a thing as well,” retorted Sweetie Belle. “They are just good friends with Rarity. My sister is not into that…”

“Fluttershy is a very popular girl, despite if she wants that or not,” giggled Apple Bloom.

“Don’t tell Rarity,” Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. “They are best friends, yet she barely came through Fluttershy’s popularity… you know, when she was modeling for Photo Finish.”

Girls laughed, then Apple Bloom added.

“And I think that Fluttershy was on a roll as a model. She is so beautiful and manages to keep the look easily…”

“Back to our business, girls!” Scootaloo jumped impatiently. “So what do you think?”

“Well, I doubt it’s about any dresses for Fluttershy, but all the tools make me puzzled still,” Sweetie Belle put her hoof at the chin. “It must be connected with clothes, but it’s something weirder than Fluttershy suddenly becoming a fashionista like Rarity.”

“Hey, maybe they were going to dress Harry as a clown,” suggested Apple Bloom and the girls burst out laughing.

“That didn’t explain why she spun in front of the mirror for quite a while making “everything look just purrrfect, dear”,” Sweetie Belle imitated her sister very closely and girls snorted again.

“So are we going to find out… or not?” Scootaloo stopped giggling and gazed at her friends.

“Sure thing!”

“Let’s do it!”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders – Private Investigators!!!” yelled the fillies and shared a hoof bump.

      *

Fluttershy went outside to perform her daily duties for the animals and Alex decided to wash the dishes and bring the kitchen to usual order. Or better say he convinced her to leave him that part of work as he wasn’t supposed to get outside not to be spotted by anypony. He could at least help about the house, so Fluttershy would entirely focus on her animal friends.

Obviously, Alex got to the bathroom first and dressed – if putting on boxers only could be called that pretentiously, he left the towel on as well, this gave him at least some confidence that he didn’t look like some stripper on performance. In fact, what Fluttershy told him about Rarity’s hopes made him consider putting even a dress on… a serious chance to look utterly hilarious was the only thing stopping him. Besides he wasn’t entirely sure, if that wouldn’t give an opposite effect, who could know those ponies for sure…

Angel followed Fluttershy and Alex was all alone in the kitchen having an ability to think about the whole situation he got in. He was sure that he wasn’t mistaking in Fluttershy, she sympathized him and would tell princess nothing or nothing unnecessary, unless he did it himself. She didn’t see any danger in his limited knowledge of the equestrian way of life, she even found the whole situation amusing. Alex wasn’t so sure that his condition amuses him, but he couldn’t take offense either – that was nopony’s fault. Alex made a mental note of himself accommodating to local speech and sighed.

“I hope that won’t become my new mother language.”

So what did he have at the moment? He was to recover completely, find out as much as possible about Celestia and her methods of solving problems. And of course, he was to gather all his confidence and eloquence to convince the princess to send him home. That if she could…

What could happen, if she didn’t, was exactly the thought Alex tried to avoid.

Some sound from outside got his attention, Alex heard Fluttershy talking to someone approaching the front door. He wiped the last plate and put it into the dryer, then turned off the water. It was time to grasp himself and face any lusty demon his fate prepared for him.

“Well, Rarity,” Fluttershy was saying something to Rarity when she entered the kitchen and stepped aside letting her friend come in. “Let me introduce you Alex, finally up to the mark… if you’re OK with me… putting it like that.”

“Alex, that’s my friend Rarity,” she then added simply. “She kindly agreed to help with your small clothing problem.”

At first, Alex wondered, why Fluttershy stuck to such diplomatic tone, but then he saw she tried her best not to smile.

Rarity floated in the room with her head raised high, she could make swans jealous and ashamed compared to her grace. She evidently spent her time in front of the mirror with good use.

“Thanks, dear,” murmured Rarity examining Alex through half-lidded eyes with such eyelashes that Alex feared of being impaled by them. “We’ve got acquainted already… well, in some sense we did… unilaterally,” she giggled. “But it’s nice to see you getting well, Alex the human.”

Alex made big eyes towards Fluttershy and she rolled her eyes behind Rarity’s back, like if she was saying. “Remember what I have told you.”

“So, Rarity, what do you need to make your measurements?” Fluttershy stepped from hoof to hoof. “I haven’t finished yet with my little friends out there, so if you excuse me…”

“Don’t worry, dear,” Rarity kept eyeing Alex. “But the kitchen is not quite good for our task. It’s too tight here,” breathed she out.

“Too tight for what?” shuddered Alex inwardly. He imagined the bedroom… and thought that he, on the contrary, wouldn’t object staying right here.

“Fine, you can go upstairs,” agreed Fluttershy before he could say anything.

“I’ll check you later, guys,” she added with emphasis.

Rarity wrinkled her nose funnily, but she could do nothing about that.

“Ok, that’s better,” she headed upstairs first.

 Alex watched Fluttershy trotting outside and followed Rarity with fatalism of the condemned written on his face. At least she promised to check them eventually. He was to admit, last thing he was ready for, was the pony girl physiologically interested in him. Though he also was to admit that the waving of cutie marks in his sight was quite hypnotizing.

“Come on, man,” he shook his head. “She is a pony… girl.”

*

“Hey, here you are, Flutters!” the call from above made Fluttershy jump.

Rainbow Dash landed next to her not bothering much about being graceful.

“How’s tricks?”

“Hi, Rainbow,” Fluttershy continued filling the feeders for her chickens who crowded around chirping impatiently. “It depends on what you are asking about.”

“Alex woke up this morning,” she said dusting off her hooves. “And fortunately he is getting better.”

“Oh,” Rainbow spoke stretching the words. “He is “Alex” already.”

“Oh, come on, Rainbow,” laughed Fluttershy. “It’s not his fault that it’s his name. You’re disliking him even before he could do something wrong.”

“Should I wait for him to do it exactly?” huffed Rainbow, she was very stubborn when determined about anything. “I stick to my words – I don’t trust him.”

“Rarity is making measurements now to help him with clothes.”

“And you let her stay with him one-on-one,” Rainbow made round eyes. “Aren’t you worried about her?”

“I’d rather be worried about him,” muttered Fluttershy. Then exclaimed jokingly. “So you don’t worry about me staying with him one-on-one, but Rarity.”

“You,” Rainbow seemed to be surprised with the question. “You’re the totally different story, Flutters. Everypony knows you can Stare even a dragon.”

“It seems Rarity is going to give him quite a Stare as well,” Fluttershy was noticeably embarrassed by Rainbow’s words.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

Fluttershy acted as if she was trying to passionately kiss an invisible partner explaining her point. Rainbow produced a vomiting sound, then laughed.

“Oh,” she remembered something. “Have you seen Scootaloo or her friends lately.”

“No. Why are you asking?” wondered Fluttershy.

“I could swear, I saw three little squirts sneaking around your garden, when I flew by,” explained Rainbow. “That would mean nothing… if I knew them worse.”

“Not that I gave a flying feather for that… human,” Rainbow scratched her head. “But if we screw at hiding him from other ponies that will make Celestia mad about us all and mostly you, pal. I don’t like the idea.” She smiled widely.

“Thanks, Rainbow,” Fluttershy replied heartily. “I’ll keep an eye.”

*

“That’s way better,” Rarity let out a satisfied sigh which made Alex even more worried.

She smacked her saddlebag on the table and opened it with magic. Meters, pencils, sheets of paper started flowing out driven by the blue glow.

“So… how’s the royal tapestry restoration going?” Alex tried to fill the pause.

“Oh, you know already, darling,” Rarity looked at him over her shoulder with a bright smile. “I won’t say it’s an easy task, I must be really careful not to spoil anything. Ultimately it’s an ancient masterpiece of endless value.”

“But I must admit, it kept most of its durability over the ages,” she placed her tools on the table into working order. “And served you well during your journey, Ahlex!”

Alex can’t help gulping at his name voiced like that – it sounded palpably sultry.

“If only I could keep playing on the vanity string long enough,” he thought, remembering Rarity’s weak spot.

“… but I try my best and eventually will prove that I capable of restoring it,” she continued meanwhile. “I asked princess for that honour myself, so simply can’t fail now.” She cocked her head proudly.

“So, dear…” she turned to Alex who stood without any idea what he was to do. “Why don’t you take that thing off.”

“What, sorry?” Alex felt slightly stunned.

“Your towel, silly,” Rarity batted her eyelashes and giggled like a school filly. She thought that she’d rather say “everything”, but decided to take smaller steps. “I need to measure your parameters and supposedly you’ll need pants, so the towel will prevent me from doing it right. Unless you need a skirt instead…”

“Did Fluttershy return you your underwear?” she smirked while coming closer.

Alex felt his cheeks started burning. Buck it! Why should he blush?

Rarity measured him carefully trying to not touch him with magic at all cost. But Alex thought that she was avoiding magic for other reasons as well. And soon he noticed that he was right.

She was going from the bottom and up, measuring his legs, then hips, then waist… while Alex was constantly on his toes. He saw now that Fluttershy was totally serious warning him about Rarity being… excited.

Rarity raised on her hind legs to measure his chest. She preferred to use no magic and was almost to hug him to position the measuring tape. Alex noticed that she stepped closer, as if she was struggling with the meter… and then she snuggled up to him.

Alex was impressed, how soft her coat felt against his skin. She looked up into his eyes and almost purred from pleasure as well. Rarity so looked like a big kitten at that moment that Alex relaxed a bit – later he thought it was an unforgivable mistake – and put his hands on her mane. He stroked it gently and Rarity dropped the measuring tape on the floor, enclosing him in a full-time embrace. He rubbed behind her ears and she literally purred with her chin resting on his chest and her eyes half-lidded.

He scratched her shoulders and reached her back… Perhaps that was what having hands with flexible fingers was about. Alex felt like she literally shook of pleasure next moment, closing her eyes and pressing herself harder into him. Her body started to heat up quite noticeably. Her breath became deeper and heavier.

Alex removed his hands off Rarity’s coat. To his terror he felt that his manly reflexes started reminding of themselves. A few more moments of squeezing him like that and she would certainly notice. Alex didn’t want to think about what could follow…

He took a step back unconsciously, but Rarity clenched to him and followed. She opened her eyes and Alex found himself facing two black holes ready to swallow him. Her pupils dilated that much, it was arousing and scary at the same time. Alex started panicking internally, when Rarity looked towards the bed…

“Ahem,” Alex saw Fluttershy in the doorway. The saviour! At last. Alex was ready to throw himself to her hooves.

“I thought you might need something, guys,” she wasn’t very surprised by what she saw.

“Save me!” Alex semaphored her with his eyes only and thankfully Fluttershy seemed to get it right.

“Is everything OK, Rarity?” she asked. “Rarity!”

“It’s nothing…” raucously answered Rarity, then she managed to focus her eyesight and clear her mind a bit.

“It’s fine,” she corrected herself and let Alex go, then levitated the measuring tape. “I’ve just dropped the meter, darling, while measuring his chest. He is really big.”

Alex felt he was blushing again, he threw a quick look down and thought that Fluttershy appeared just in time… before things started looking really naughty.

“Oh, I’ll stay then… just in c-case… some help is n-needed,” humbly stated Fluttershy. “I’ve finished with my animals anyway.”

Rarity frowned a little.  She quickly finished measuring now avoiding Alex’s eyes for some reason. But Alex decided that it was better to be on full alert, no way she could give up that easily all of a sudden.

“I plan to make some sketches,” she then levitated a pencil and a clip of paper, naughty expression was returning to her face. “If you don’t mind…”

“Can I ask you to strike a pose, darling,” she addressed Alex undressing him with her eyes. “For a start just stand there in relaxing pose, put one foot forward a little, opposite hand on your waist. Thanks. Just what I need!”

They were interrupted by some rustling noise outside. Alex took a few quick steps to hide in the shadows in the corner of the room. Fluttershy flew up to the window.

 

At first, she saw nothing, nothing unusual. Grass and flowers right under the window, a few shrubs and an old tree which spread its’ branches over the roof of her cottage. A few of them were on the same level with the window though. Fluttershy spotted a small curled pony figure which tried to hide behind the leaves, but evidently failed at this task.

“Scootaloo! What are you doing here?” Fluttershy exclaimed in surprise. “I thought ponies don’t climb trees normally.”

“We… I…” Scootaloo tried to look aside. “I was practicing… some of my special tricks… when I tripped over a root… and fell… and my helmet flew off to the tree…”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow looking at orange filly pointedly.

“And I was to follow and look for it here… I found it!” quickly added Scootaloo. “I’m OK, seriously.”

“And where are two other fidgets?” Fluttershy scanned the view again, when two heads with leaves and small twigs in their manes emerged from the bushes. The look on their faces was a bit guilty.

“Oh, here you are girls… Don’t you think that tricks which make helmets fly are a bit… dangerous?!”

“By the way, Rainbow Dash looked for you… well… at least it seemed so…”

“That was the point,” Scootaloo answered in a loud whisper, trying to get down from the tree. “Rainbow wasn’t supposed to see those tricks before it’s time to.”

She slowly backed to the tree trunk, then stopped, deciding, if the better way of climbing down was her nose or her tail first. It was seemingly a very hard choice, because finally she just jumped off and glided to the grass with the help of her small wings.

“Well, we’d better go find some smoother ground to train. Squee!”

“Good-bye, Fluttershy,” squeaked Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, and all three girls whisked under the trees and out of Fluttershy’s garden.

Fluttershy shrugged and turned back to the room.

 

“There were just Cutie Mark Crusaders,” she explained to Alex and Rarity, who froze listening when they all heard the noise. “I wonder if they were indeed just playing there or tried to sneak and sniff something out,” Fluttershy smiled kindly.

Alex relaxed a bit and Rarity returned to her sketches drawing something with sudden inspiration.

“While you are a… secret, avoid getting yourself spotted by them,” Fluttershy explained to Alex. “They always plan for good… but… sometimes things go not quite as planned. Just like when they tried to make ms. Cheerilee and Big Mac be each others’ special somepony on Hearts and Hooves day… with the help of the Love Potion.”

“But they are only little fillies,” she added apologizing them.

Alex gulped loudly… He made big eyes and pointed to Rarity with a silent nod. Fluttershy followed his gaze and put her fore hoof above her mouth cautiously. Fortunately, Rarity was too concentrated on her drawing and didn’t hear a bit about Love Potion. Alex and Fluttershy both took a deep breath of relief.

“Well,” woke up Rarity, she looked rather proud of herself. “I have a couple of ideas.”

“Let’s say I’ll return to you tomorrow… Supposedly I can make some simple clothes for the start and more underwear. Then I’ll try to squeeze some time among other orders to make something fabulous.”

“Until tomorrow, I’m afraid, Ahlex will be forced to stick to his… beach fashion,” Rarity sent Alex another sultry gaze batting her eyelashes.

“And… errmmm…” she lowered the pride in her tone a bit. “Don’t be mad with me, if something works not perfectly right away… It’ll be the first time ever I’m stitching for a human.”

“I can’t thank you enough anyway,” answered Alex sincerely. “You’re literally saving me. No way I was going to face princess looking like that.”

“Hmm… Personally, I wouldn’t mind!” thought Rarity with a sly smile, but she said aloud. “Oh, no worries, darling. You’re always welcome.”

“And you’re always welcome in my Carousel Boutique,” she added with emphasis.

“Only if I can make at least both Fluttershy and Twilight come with me,” thought Alex quickly.

      *

“So, have you seen anything?!” both fillies shook Scootaloo, when they got themselves on an inaudible distance from Fluttershy’s cottage. “What was going there?”

“Well… I haven’t managed to actually see something,” Scootaloo lowered her head in regret. “The curtains were half drawn… and when I tried to sneak closer… Fluttershy looked out and spotted me at once.”

“She was nice and didn’t ask anything… ticklish, but she looked at me very fixedly – you know how she does – I’ve almost fallen down,” Scootaloo shuddered. “I can’t stay calm, when she looks like this.”

“Yeah, she is super cool,” exclaimed Sweetie Belle. “But I always get goose bumps, when she stares at me… even if it’s not yet the Stare.”

“So we got nothing,” concluded Apple Bloom. “For now…”

“Unfortunately… Squee!!!”

“Hey, girls,” Pinkie Pie seemed to pop from under the ground, so all three fillies jumped on the spot. “How’s life? Still looking for your special talent by trying each and everything?”

“Yeah, kinda…” squeaked all three with sheepish smiles.

“Don’t worry, it will reveal itself eventually,” Pinkie smiled cheerfully. “Sometimes it comes when you least expect.”

“Have you seen Fluttershy, girls? Is she at home?”

“She is… and Rarity is also there,” said Sweetie Belle, then decided to play for broke. “Do you guys plan some secret party.”

“I’ve no idea!” Pinkie seemed to be happy no matter what. “But I can bet, if I put my hoof in, there will be some. Look, if there is, I’ll tell you, I promise.”

“Pinkie Promise?” asked Scootaloo with a sly smile.

Pinky pretended to pout.

“But of course.”

“Bye, girls,” and she jumped towards the cottage like a pink fluffy ball.

“Another one,” sighed Apple Bloom. “There is definitely going something interesting… and we are not informed!” she almost yelled, then remembered Pinkie could hear them and went silent with a guilty look.

“Ok, girls,” Sweetie Belle stopped and shook her mane. “I’ll try to dig something out from my sister. Preferably without her even noticing,” she giggled while blushing. “Wish me luck!”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders – Sneaking Ninjas!” yelled three girls and shared a hoof bump.

*

Fluttershy and Alex saw Rarity off to the door, when a pink hurricane blasted it open and burst in. Alex could hardly suppress his impulse to jump on the nearest table with feet, when he found himself enclosed in a bear hug by a pink mare with pink-red, puffy as cotton-candy mane and tail.

“Weehee!” yelped she, squeezing him so strong that he felt his wound a bit. “I’m the last to meet you, human. But here I am.”

“So, what about “Welcome to Equestria Human” party?” she looked at her friends, who still were in some sort of a shocked stupor from her flurry.

“Ahem… Pinky this is Alex. Alex, the mare squeezing you is my friend Pinkie Pie,” smirked Fluttershy.

“Alex. Hmmm… Me likes,” Pinkies smile became even wider. “Welcome to Equestria, Alex! I mean, I’m welcoming you… but as a party title that sounds great either.”

“What?” she asked hearing both her friends huffing without conspiring.

Alex made a mental note that she was still holding him, but before he could fear that it would be “Rarity, take 2” she elaborated.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but if there is somepony here, who needs friends and friends’ attention, it is Alex. Getting somewhere nopony… oh… I mean nohuman knows where without any… human you can trust or rely isn’t the best experience.”

Alex could have gone angry with her for this public preparation of his trouble… again. But she looked up into his eyes and he suddenly realized that her intentions were genuine. And her prolonged hug wasn’t something naughty as well. That was just how she was: always cheerful, impulsive, light-hearted, yet thoughtful and caring in her own way. Soul of the company – Pinkie Pie. He hugged her heartily in return and slightly stroked her mane.

“Hmmm… Now I start to understand Lyra with her fixation on getting hands,” Pinkie raised an eyebrow.

Rarity snorted and sent Pinkie a spear gaze, which Pinkie happily ignored. She said instead of that.

“Actually I came for a minute, Fluttershy. I had a break of running the bakery and thought that a short run forth and back won’t hurt, so I could meet you, guys.”

“Oh, Pinkie, so you’re left without a lunch… because of us,” Fluttershy was visibly sorry. “Umm… Be my g-guest… We have some pancakes left… if you’re OK with that. You too, Rarity.”

“Pancakes!” Jumped Pinkie, while Rarity thanked and refused, explaining that it would be too heavy for her. “Sounds just right.”

She strolled to the kitchen and took one from the pile of remaining pancakes. Then she munched on it and her eyes dilated.

“Fluttershy, you’ve managed to impress me in cooking.”

“Actually, that’s not me…” humbly confessed Fluttershy, nodding towards Alex.

A wide grin flashed on Pinkies face again, she gulped a couple of pancakes more and turned to Alex.

“Isn’t cooking your special talent?”

“People don’t have special talents like ponies do,” said Alex with a small smile. “Of course people learn something specific to master it and work with it mostly, and some have talents for some things. But it’s not like a destiny, one can learn many things, if one really wants.”

“People?”

“That’s how humans call themselves when there are many,” explained Fluttershy. “And Alex’s special talent could have been working with hardware and… how did you call it Alex?.. yeah, software. It’s hard to explain Pinkie… it’s like magic in their world making the… “thinking machines” run.”

“Thinking machines?” re-asked Pinkie. “Why would one need a machine thinking for them?”

“They not actually or only think,” laughed Alex. “But they can operate mechanisms and solve different tasks. Look… Just imagine a machine selling stuff and working with customers instead of you. You could have made twice more candies and pies then, with all the consequences for your income.”

“That could be hoofy,” agreed Pinkie.

*

“Look, can you maybe find something I can do?” asked Alex when they remained one-on-one. “While I can’t go outside, I could do something inside the house. I mean, you are already busy with all the animals and now my problems… I want to help where I can.”

“Well, if you want to… you really don’t need to…” evidently Fluttershy was uncomfortable at the idea of loading him with some work.

“I just don’t want to be a… parasprite,” grinned Alex.

“Oh, don’t remind me,” Fluttershy shuddered, then gentle smile lighted her face. “I’ll trust Pinkie’s expertise. You can make the dinner, if you don’t mind.”

She then showed him where different ingredients were. Alex noted that vegetarian diet was inevitable… Well, he could think about that later, it wasn’t overly pleasant, yet not fatal.

“I suppose as omnivores you have meat from time to time,” said Fluttershy with regret. “But I’m afraid it will be a problem here, Alex.”

“Don’t you worry,” Alex shook his head. “Milk, eggs and mushrooms can provide proteins. Besides you have fish on the market I suppose.”

Fluttershy nodded, then added.

“I suppose you can cooperate with Harry, when it is possible to get out.”

“I doubt he sticks to a vegetarian diet all the time,” she elaborated. “He goes hunting from time to time.”

“Do you have snakes in the forest?” Alex got an idea. “You know, a properly prepared snake could be delicious…”

“Don’t even want to imagine,” Fluttershy shivered. “Ugh! And don’t tell Twilight, she is afraid of snakes deadly… Or maybe she would like that rather, because she is afraid of them, I don’t know.”

“And yes, there are many,” she answered his question. “Too many, if you ask me. Frankly speaking, I treat all the living with respect, but… snakes… I don’t feel confident, they can return that gesture.”

Alex estimated her level of diplomacy with a smile.

“I’ve only seen one on my route from the Old Castle ruins,” he said. “Funny freak with a chicken body and a snake tail. I don’t know, if this was actually a sna…”

“You did what?” Fluttershy’s jaw dropped and her eyes seemed to get the size of dinner plates. “That was a cockatrice!!! How are you standing here then?”

“What’s special about this clown?” Alex genuinely couldn’t understand her shock. “It blocked my road and stared at me… for a while, I tried to walk around it and it kept repeating its… “performance”.”

“Squee!”

“I found it rather stupid,” Alex continued. “Well… I kicked it in the beak and sent flying into a tree hole. That’s all. Fluttershy? Fluttershy!”

“Sweet Celestia!” Fluttershy managed to close her mouth and bring her face to the usual look. “Cockatrice is one of the most dangerous monsters out there, Alex. It can turn you into stone with its stare…”

“Well, that one was broken perhaps,” smirked Alex.

“Or they can’t affect you just like the magic,” Fluttershy was on the contrary very serious. “You’re lucky you are like that, Alex, believe me. Twilight is afraid of snakes and especially cockatrices that much, because she had experience.”

“They say fools are lucky,” Alex didn’t find any reasons to be sad. “Wait… and how she survived then?”

“You look least like fool, simply be careful next time… please. And that incident…” Fluttershy seemed to be embarrassed by her role in it. “I’ll tell you some other day. Well, in brief, I… convinced it to revert the effect. But… it was dangerous… and I’d prefer to avoid repeating that.”

“You’ve stared it like those bucking wolves?!” Alex seemed to cheer rather than ask.

“Yesss,” muttered she in half voice. “And before you send me… into eternal blushing I attend to my daily duties,” she let a tiny smile nevertheless. “And you can save us from starving... if you don’t mind… please.”

“Yes, sir, ma’am, sir!” Alex saluted with a wide grin. Then he frowned slightly, raising his right arm was still a bit painful.

Fluttershy trotted outside with a snort, Alex imagined how he looked and laughed as well taking the dishes out of the closet.

He just finished mixing the salad wondering where those ponies got fresh vegetables in Spring. Not even in the middle of Summer, but supposedly in May already.

“Well, I guess that’s one of the benefits of being capable of doing magic,” he said to himself.

“Cough…”

Alex turned around and found a lilac unicorn pony standing at the kitchen door. A very surprised unicorn pony because she blinked fast and didn’t yet drop any word.

“Hi, Twilight!” he waved the spoon in the air, that calculation was easy: the colour, the horn, the whole stance and face – he could hardly be mistaking. “If you look for Fluttershy, she is outside with her little friends… or not so little, if Harry is there as well,” he added with a friendly smile.

Apparently Twilight was still slightly shocked, as she turned a bit automatically following Alex’s nod direction. Then it was his turn to wonder.

“Wait! Since when you are an… alicorn?!” the proper word floated in his memory just in time and Alex put the salad bowl on the table, not to drop it to the floor.

“I must be seriously missing something here,” he muttered to himself staring on Twilight’s wings. Twilight looked at him with a mix of surprise and unease. Besides she noticed finally his… “beach style” as Rarity called it, and was a bit confused.

“Mmmm…” they heard from the front door. “I can smell it from here. What do we have? I’m starving.”

Fluttershy flit in the kitchen guided by the vegetable smell.

“Oh, hi, Twilight!”

…

“Alex, Twilight?!” Fluttershy alternated between them puzzledly. “What’s up with you, guys? Maybe you stop playing gaze already…”

“Fluttershy, why is Twilight an alicorn?”

“Fluttershy, how come the first question, he asked, was “Since when you’re an alicorn”?”

Alex and Twilight both exclaimed simultaneously, then fell silent and stared at each other once again.

“Oh,” Fluttershy apparently caught, what was happening. “It’s a long story, Twilight. Alex, yes, Twilight is a princess for about a year already… Sorry… for not telling you, I forgot you know only a small part of the… story.”

“I’m sure we can talk this through,” she giggled, amused by their look. “If you be so kind to set the table, while I get to the bathroom, sorry… But you do tell,” she pointed at Alex.

“I’m sorry, princess,” Alex remembered about etiquette and bowed, trying not to think how exactly he looked like. “It’s nice to meet your Highness.”

“Simply “Twilight”, please,” she replied automatically. “And I’m glad you’re getting well… Alex.”

Alex noted that, apparently, she cared about her friends more than about her royal duties if any and the mere title itself.

“Alex …?” she asked while opening the cupboard with her magic and levitating plates and cutlery out and onto the table.

“For you all… helping me to survive… the reality, it’s simply Alex,” he smiled in return and placed sandwiches and fruits in another bowl to accompany the huge bowl of salad. Alex tried to make enough for them with Fluttershy to compensate for protein absence. It was reasonable even more now when there were three of them.

“Excuse me as well,” Twilight poured fresh juice in three glasses, then mounted a free chair at the table. “I never saw a real human otherwise than a picture in an old book…”

“Just like me – a unicorn, let alone an alicorn till recently,” smirked Alex taking another chair.

“Yeah, I guess. And besides, I wasn’t ready to see you… making dinner,” Twilight made a pause then added. “You’re doing very nicely for someone, who…”

“Was put in another world or dimension or whatever, got cut badly and found himself among talking sentient ponies,” Alex continued her idea. “Yes, for that one I’m perfectly fine.”

“Do you imply, that in your world ponies are not sentient?” Twilight was shocked a bit.

“Not exactly. We have ponies there, but they don’t look and behave and think so… human-like,” Alex put some salad on her plate, then on his own. “And, of course, they are not so…”

“Hey, do you feel more comfortable together now?” Fluttershy flit into the kitchen.

Apparently, she just left the shower, as she was fluffy and pinkish, smelling of flower shampoo. Besides, she wrapped a towel around her head to dry her wet mane. With an open mouth Alex followed her flying in and landing on the free chair between him and Twilight. She reminded him about Elen so much at that moment, his heart ached.

“… cute!”

“Who?” Fluttershy sipped her juice, then paid the salad deserved attention.

“Never mind,” Twilight cleared her throat. She was watching Alex all the time with a strange smile.

Alex looked at his plate and pretended that there was nothing more interesting than the salad at that moment.

“So have you told your story already,” Fluttershy looked at Alex. “Come on, Twi is sitting.”

The whole story took him about twenty minutes to tell in brief. Alex mentioned his arrival, the shock he experienced upon realization, his idea about how it was possible for him to know anything about Equestria prior to him being transferred. He ended with the short summary of what he saw in the show.

*

Twilight overcame her shock a bit faster than Fluttershy, perhaps she read something about people specifically or the whole concept of noosphere and its’ effects was closer to her as a magician. But she said exactly as Fluttershy before.

“Princess Celestia may like all that not.”

“You see, Alex,” she elaborated. “We know you personally, you saved Fluttershy, everything speaks for you being generally nice… but Celestia is a ruler of our country, she needs to care for her subjects, to protect them, thus to think deeper and… you are still an… alien.”

“Besides, she has all her experience at her service,” added Twilight. “She may know something books don’t tell about humans. Even if that doesn’t apply to you specifically. So she will be extremely cautious and investigate your case before making any decisions.”

“So you’re saying that there were some cases of human getting here already?” Alex felt hope.

“There were a few according to the books I’ve read. Not recently though…”

“But isn’t it easier for everyone to send me home if possible? To tell the truth, it’s my biggest desire… as I’m indeed an alien here.”

Alex was looking at Twilight, otherwise he might have spotted how Fluttershy stopped munching on her salad and stiffened. Twilight, on the contrary, threw a quick look at her friend.

“I’m afraid, it’s not that simple,” she continued explaining while subtly watching Fluttershy. “No one of those cases returned home, again according to the books. But there were no details. Perhaps it was impossible, perhaps it still is… And princess Celestia may have her own reasons.”

Fluttershy let out a deep sigh.

“You know, this is not directed against you, Alex,” Twilight sent him a sympathetic look. “I’m sure, whatever she does, she does to protect Equestria first.”

“I understand,” Alex felt all the weight of her arguments. “But that doesn’t make it easier.”

“That is why I asked Twilight to try and by us… you some time,” Fluttershy added to the conversation. “So you at least could think it through, before you face the princess and her… investigation.”

“I tried my best,” Twilight nodded. “And you have about a week since you wake, so effectively since today.”

“Which reminded me of my own questions,” said Alex remembering something very important. “So I told you my story, now please tell me yours…”

“How long am I here?” he asked what bothered him the most.

“Didn’t you tell?” Twilight turned to Fluttershy with surprise.

“Well,” Fluttershy was a bit embarrassed. “We didn’t have time actually… Alex just w-woke up this morning, then he made breakfast…”

Twilight raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

“… then we talked and he told me his story,” continued Fluttershy. “Then Rarity came to help him with clothing problem and it took quite a while. Twi, she is really fixated on him… Sorry, Alex, but she behaved like a sexual p-predator… sorry… Squee!”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. When she was goofing about “fifteen times longer”, despite that was a scientific fact, she could never imagine that things would escalate that fast with somepony.

“So… Then…” Fluttershy seemed to lose the thread of her story for a while. “Then Pinkie paid us a visit and talked about “Welcome” party, can you imagine? And when we watched everypony to the door, it was time to feed the animals… so I got to it and Alex prepared the dinner.”

“Oh and there was Apple Bloom with her friends sneaking in the garden, but they haven’t seen anything. I didn’t know, if they suspected something or were simply playing around.”

“It looks like you are having a busy day,” Twilight amusement was drawn across her face. “But you seem to be going together well.”

“He made delicious pancakes. If  Pinkie didn’t grab the last few, you could taste them yourself, Twi…”

Fluttershy tried to hide her confusion in her glass of juice. Alex who watched the whole scene between girls with wide opened eyes repeated his question.

“How long am I…”

“About three days,” Twilight turned to him and Fluttershy nodded. “You’ve been brought here at sunset and now it’s afternoon, so, yes, three days it is.”

“I knew something was strange,” exclaimed Alex. “I couldn’t be here for weeks as I would have grown a beard already instead of that stubble,” he rubbed his cheeks and frowned.

“What’s going on with my wound then?” he asked.

“Well, we treated it with best Zecora’s compositions, both outside and inside,” Twilight explained and Alex decided to ask who “Zecora” was sometime next time. “Lyra made stitches, as she said, humans… people treated open wounds that way. So I guess we did our best and the result is… well, speaking for itself.”

“I’m surely happy with the result,” said Alex. “But look,” he lifted his arm. “It about time to remove stitches already and you say it’s been three days. I don’t know what is written in your books, Twilight, but people don’t have regeneration that fast…”

“And that brings us to the next point directly,” Twilight apparently was ready for that statement. “Alex, you are A – magic resistant and B – you can drain magic from those, who apply it to you exactly. That’s a fact, proved by me and Lyra.”

“And that effect seems to become if not stronger than at least more pronounced with time or each attempt.”

“But I don’t feel anything special, except I started regenerating like a lizard,” muttered Alex. Then he remembered that feeling of flaming snakes inside him upon arrival and noted that he didn’t feel it since waking up here. So… that was… since he was exposed to magic at least twice.

“So what am I going to do about all that,” he asked.

“Unfortunately I don’t know anything more… yet,” Twilight sighed sadly. “I don’t know what it gives finally, I don’t know if it progresses…”

“But I surely know,” she added. “That it will get Celestia’s attention and perhaps won’t settle well with her.”

Alex hid his face in his hands. Fluttershy put her hoof on his shoulder and stroked it gently. Her towel unfolded and fell from her head to the floor, but she ignored it and just blew a few damp strands off her nose.

“P-please… We’ll come up with something…”

After few minutes Alex opened his face, he then put his hand on Flutteshy’s hoof.

“I know… Thanks! I’m… just trying not to… panic.”

Twilight looked from one to another with growing interest.

Alex felt that he was not ready to ask more questions yet. He was tired and crashed, perhaps the body regeneration rate exceeded mental one significantly now.

“Sorry, girls,” he raised from his chair and leaned on the table. “It was a bit much on my plate today. I don’t feel my mind being capable to settle with all this quickly. If you excuse me, I’d like to have some rest.”

“Of course,” Fluttershy offered him support, but Alex calmed her.

“I’m just a bit tired. It’s fine otherwise. I’m sorry for not helping you with the dishes…”

Both Fluttershy and Twilight waved at him, telling him to worry not and have a rest.

“Oh, one more thing,” he turned in the doorway. “Twilight, could you do me a favour and bring a razor next time? This stubble starts getting on my nerves.”

 *

Alex returned to the bedroom and almost collapsed in the armchair near the window. He didn’t bother to undo the bed. It was too much for him for today to deal with and he suddenly felt exhausted. It was his first day up after his blackout, and despite the latter being fairly short, it evidently affected Alex full time. He found himself just sitting there staring at one point, almost without any useful thoughts. Being magic resistant, moreover some sort of magic black hole… fast regenerating…

Angel, who slept on the bed covers and was awaken by Alex’s heavy drop in the armchair, opened his eyes, looked at Alex and stretched his paws. Then he hopped down and headed to the corridor where voices of the girls were coming from. Perhaps the bunny remembered about the dinner and the smell of salad was calling for him.

“Universe, are you bucking kidding me,” Alex thought. “What else do you have for me in the nearest future? If it comes in that pace I’ll be afraid to wake up in the morning soon…”

He blinked…

…Angel, who slept on the bed covers and was awaken by Alex’s heavy drop in the armchair, opened his eyes, looked at Alex and stretched his paws. Then he hopped down and headed to the corridor.

“What the?..”

Alex noticed that no sound came from the corridor this time. With the strange feeling of something changed he raised from the armchair and went to the door.

There was no corridor behind the doorway! Alex saw a wide balcony surrounded by the openwork railing about his waist high. Then he saw distant hills and the forest… far away… and below! Apparently, the balcony was on considerable height. Alex decided to approach the railing not. Internally trembling he looked around – the balcony attached to a white stone wall. Large stained-glass windows lead from the balcony to the room behind Alex’s back. He could hear nothing but the wind and smell nothing but the fresh wind as well. And the proximity of light thin clouds told him that the building he got into was built on some mountain. Most likely another castle… Wasn’t it enough with castles?..

Alex turned around and froze on spot, he now apparently faced not Fluttershy’s bedroom (obviously it couldn’t be attached to a castle balcony anyway), but a totally different and visibly larger room. Noble furniture, high ceiling, long heavy curtains – he saw these things already, though saw them time worn – in the Old Castle ruins. This room was on the contrary tidy, clean and well contained, with everything fresh and brightly coloured.

A winged unicorn pony rested on the pillows of a big bed. The alicorn was noticeably larger than other ponies he saw before, larger than Twilight, despite she was an alicorn now as well. This one could probably look into his eyes easily while standing on all four. Her coat colours varied from light blue to dark and almost black, her mane and tail were flowing sheets of the starry night, her face looked more edgy and mature than those of pony girls he knew, but extremely beautiful with large eyes closed and eyelashes dropping long shadows on her cheeks. She was sleeping, breathing calmly and quietly.

Alex braced himself and took a few cautious steps closer to the sleeping miracle. Now he could see a crescent cutie mark on her flank. Apparently, that was princess Luna, Celestia’s younger sister, the ruler of the Moon and Night. And his miserable troublemaking (mostly for him) self somehow appeared in her bedroom in… how it was called – Alex frowned… the Castle of Canterlot.

“Look, man, this is stupid,” Alex scolded himself. “Stupid and… dangerous. You can wake her… and the castle must be crawling with guards literally. If you are caught… sneaking into this lady’s bedroom, you’re more than screwed. There will be no way home for you then. No other way than on the scaffold. Or, considering I hardly remember of ponies death sentencing anyone, you will be exiled to the extreme buttocks of this world for sneaking into princess’ bedroom like that.”

“Like that – how?” the unwilling thought popped. “Really, how could you get here, when you just blinked sitting in the armchair in Fluttershy’s cottage?”

He wanted only one thing – to get back home. And he meant his yellow pegasus friend’s house under “home” at that moment.

But despite his mind had enough of adventures, his heart craved for more. He found himself approaching the sleeping alicorn and kneeling to her eye level. He just sat there watching her sleep and lavishing attention to her beauty.

Faint lavender scent reached his nostrils, when Alex felt her breath on his face. He then heard footsteps or rather hoofsteps behind the high doors of the bedroom and stiffened. Steps passed the door and dissolved in the distance.

Alex couldn’t hold himself from touching her adorable mane, stroking it lightly in one gentle motion. He removed a strand from her face and placed it behind her ear. Perhaps he scratched her behind the ear unwillingly. The dark blue ear perked up.

Praying for not letting out a sound Alex got up as quickly as he could without falling on the floor. He looked around the room in one long crazy gaze for the exit. The door was no doubt guarded on outside, all the windows and the door to the balcony were of no help either, as he could fly only down from that balcony and become an unpleasant pancake. Hiding here wasn’t an option – nowhere and no point in. He looked at his own reflection in a big mirror. Tired, beaten up, almost naked, unshaven… he stood in the princess’ bedroom and she was about to wake.

He heard a deeper sigh and Luna muttered something in her sleep.

Alex panicked and leaned on the mirror with his hand, touching the cold surface with his heating up forehead. He then felt as he permeated the “elastic veil”… to find himself in the armchair in Fluttershy’s bedroom. His eyes dilated and he jumped on his feet shaking off the remnants of sleep.

“Sleep! I was sleeping,” the relief was almost palpable.

 

Alex stood in the doorway for a moment listening as Fluttershy was washing the dishes downstairs and talking to Angel apparently, as Twilight must have left already. Then he reached the bed and fell flat.

“Merlin’s pants! I could swear it was real… It felt so real. But thankfully it was only a dream, I must have got really tired.”

He turned to his back and put his hand on his face… discovering a faint lavender scent on his fingers.

*

Her last dream wasn’t very pleasant, but it still had something that made it different from all bad dreams of that kind. Luna opened her eyes gaining focus and remembering, what she saw before she woke up.

That was one of her rare, but painfully repeating dreams about her life before Nightmare Moon appearance and long-time banishment. Before she was saved from that Shadow by the Elements of Harmony embodied.

She was only a filly back then. Yet they already were arguing and quarreling with her sister. Luna felt underestimated constantly being in the shadow of her older sister Celestia. Tartarus! She was deadly jealous already. All the love and respect, as she thought, of their pony subjects were given to the princess of the Day and Sun, while Luna’s care about the folk passed unnoticed in the darkness of the night. Boredom, regret and disappointment were killing every good impulse of hers, being especially painful for a young and expecting filly.

That day they were having one of those nasty quarrels with Celestia. The latter was also too young at that moment to understand the whole impact, her dominance made. As usual being the younger sister Luna ended in her room, lonely, lost and crying in helpless sorrow. She curled her small lithe body in the pillows, folded her wings to make herself comfortable, as she was trembling despite the bright fire, burning in the hearth and warming the room. And she cried, cried, and bitter tears formed a cold pool under her face.

Suddenly she noticed that the shadows in the corner of her room became thicker. Later Nightmare Moon would start appearing that way. But this time a dark figure – straight and high – emerged from the darkness. It stood on two legs, had two arms and… wings, but it wasn’t a unicorn or an alicorn for that matter. It was, Luna could swear she had read about those in some old book, a human.

Luna didn’t feel any fear, on the contrary, a strange feeling that her “guest” wasn’t there to hurt her filled the young princess. She couldn’t see his face, but somehow she decided that was a “he”. She couldn’t see any distinctive traits either, just a shadow. Palpable shadow with large soft wings touching the ceiling of her room while their ends reached the floor.

The shadowy man kneeled at her bed and Luna felt, as he was looking on her with sympathy and… understanding. A big hand stroked her mane and wiped her tears. Luna sighed or maybe still whimpered putting her head on her guest knees and slowly calming down from her grief. She fell asleep…

…to wake up in present day as grown up Luna.

The strange feeling didn’t leave her, when she got up and shook off the rest of her sleep. Luna got to the mirror and looked at her own reflection. She wasn’t afraid to find Nightmare Moon in there anymore, since the girls saved her and made the Shadow gone forever. Luna thought that actually more sleep would be helpful, if she wanted to make her night duties effective, when…

“GASP!”

Luna’s jaw dropped as she watched a print of human palm fading on the mirror surface!

The print wasn’t a part of her dream, it was real which meant that anyone, who left it, was just as real. Obviously, Luna knew only one human being in Equestria at that moment. The one whose dreams she visited last night. But how could a human – a creature, who as she knew was incapable of any magic – do practically the same. She was sure that her usual bad dream about quarreling with her sister always ended with her crying then falling asleep eventually. The part with the shadowy figure was totally new to her and could only be brought from outside.

Moreover, the mere fact of someone except her being able to not only enter one’s dream, but also manipulate the reality through that, was… No, not terrifying. To her honour, Luna didn’t feel any terror realizing, what had happened. She felt interested, once for a change something was genuinely worth of her time and thought and might drive the boredom away.

The event wasn’t alarming or harmful to any extent, so Luna decided to keep her discovery for herself for now. As she thought that telling Celestia about it right away would most likely make her reconsider giving… Alex, Luna was sure that the name she heard last night was of this human, time to recover and find some ground under his feet. Giving that out would most likely mean immediate extraction and perhaps even locking up for the time necessary to investigate his issue thoroughly. Luna knew all the benefits of being “locked” by herself and never would make somepony come through that without serious reasons. And she didn’t consider what had happened to be one of those.

“Farewell boredom!” she smiled at her reflection. “May thou rest in the oblivion.”

*

Alex wasn’t sure, what he could do with that. On the one hand, it was a dream, everything spoke about that, including weird transitions and his “travel through the mirror”. Even if this world and magic were going by hand, one thing Alex was sure about himself – he couldn’t walk through mirrors. To tell the truth, he couldn’t regenerate and heal a several inches wound in a couple of days either… till last week.

On the other hand, the lavender scent his fingers kept for a while told him otherwise. He didn’t smell lavender since morning and didn’t touch anything which can leave such aroma. The only place where he felt it, was princess’ Luna room, moreover, the princess herself possessed that scent. All these facts effectively meant that he was there and touched Luna’s mane in reality. Thinking of the summary of those two statements drove Alex mad – strange things kept happening ever since he discovered himself in Equestria. That meant even more strange, than coming to Equestria and making friends with sentient ponies.

He didn’t have a chance to check by himself the abilities Twilight told him he possessed and, frankly speaking, didn’t want to try carrying such experiments. Somehow he believed Twilight and Fluttershy and if they said applying magic to him could be dangerous, that meant it really could. The sudden realization struck him as a hammer, that reaction to magic was already detrimental for his possible returning home. Being resistant provided major trouble as rulers of that land, just as many of their subjects, relied on magic mostly, moreover princess Celestia could easily see a threat in his ability.

No wonder Alex decided to keep this little “sleep-walking” episode for himself for now. As far as he could remember, he didn’t leave any evidence of his visit and nopony saw him. Fortunately, he managed to departure moments before princess Luna woke. Mentioning this to Celestia, directly or via her subjects, before knowing, what she thought about other things regarding him, would be an instant killer. What he could remember for sure, Celestia’s life was full of regret and anguish during the time her sister possessed by the Shadow was banished to the Moon. And now, when Luna was free from her curse, any threat to her even the faintest could make Celestia buck the living hell out of him. That definitely wasn’t a part of his plan.

Thinking of that Alex fell asleep. Again. This time without any dreams thankfully.

*

“Next time please, Angel, if you catch any burdock burrs, tell me sooner,” Fluttershy sat in the armchair brushing her bunny tail and removing the annoying hooks. “It’s very hard to remove when it rolls deeper.”

Angel frowned, as she pulled by his tail inevitably while cleaning it, but carrying elf-locks was less pleasant anyway, so he put up with the execution.

Alex drank his tea and absently scratched a squirrel behind her ear. It seemed some of Fluttershy animal friends got used to his presence, a few even started to try getting some benefits from that. Like that particular squirrel which climbed the table and now sat there enjoying the massage. She even managed to sip from his cup a couple of times, when he put it on the table and wasn’t looking.

For the last couple of hours Fluttershy was telling him shortly, what had happened here since the defeat of Nightmare Moon. She mentioned different adventures her and her friends came through during the few years, dangers and discoveries, even new friends, including reformed Discord. The latter gained Alex’s attention. Alex thought that one living that long and being experienced in different kinds of really weird magic could perhaps help him solving his task. And regardless to Discord’s history in Celestia’s eyes, he was definitely the one to be addressed for help during the upcoming investigation, that considering he saw Alex already and even made up some conclusions regarding him. Not applying destructive magic to Alex at any cost was his idea in particular. For which Alex was thankful by default.

Alex had a feeling that Fluttershy was excessively modest describing her role in a few episodes of their life, for example in the dragon incident or her so-called “modeling career”. She was one of the first ponies to accept princess Luna and find out she wasn’t longer a monstrosity Nightmare Moon was. At first, of course, Fluttershy was deadly frightened to deal with “Dark” Princess, but eventually, she even managed to help Luna gain people’s… pardon, ponies’ trust. Alex wondered, if he could and should tell Fluttershy about his recent sleepwalking occasion, when she told him that princess Luna was capable to visit others’ dreams and affect them.

The story about Fluttershy learning to be more assertive – she told it very briefly and with extremely pink cheeks and ears – made him genuinely laugh, he tried to make this not offensive for his friend though. This “friend” definition didn’t make him stumble mentally. This pony girl became more and more attractive as a person with new facts he found out about her. The more difficult it would be to leave, when the time comes… if that time comes.

He learned new things about her friends, mostly confirming his first impression of them. Twilight being skeptical, and only abstract things she believed were friendship and love, others were under doubt, if not described in books. She totally relied on knowledge, magic and wise support and approval of her mentor – princess Celestia herself. But she believed in friends no matter what and that made her a strong company, if she played on his side.

Rarity being generous and helpful, especially if that involved fashion. She suffered from the misunderstanding between her and her younger sister Sweetie Belle, but hardly could ever confess that she suffered it. Sweetie Belle was too little to be involved in sister’s business, but craved the attention of ever busy Rarity much. When they managed to find some balance, they were amazing and loving sisters nevertheless. Rarity was a determined fashionista with the only thing able to distract her from her aims being the beau monde and its affairs.

“Or a human she wanted to have right there and then,” smirked Alex inwardly.

Applejack was a typical farm girl, with the meaningful exception that she actually run the farm mostly by herself though. Her practical mind and wit helped her to keep up with changing market and make the farm profitable, despite all the adversities. She could always rely on her family supporting hooves, on her sister Apple Bloom, despite her impulsiveness, on her brother Big Mac and his short-spoken strength and on her Granny Smith wisdom and experience. And with the help of her friends she could easily confront even soulless and unprincipled business sharks, like Flim and Flam brothers, for example, with their annoying traveling salesman’s tactics.

A noisy troublemaker (though to be fair very often a trouble solver also), ever resilient, active and chatty tomboy – that one could say about Rainbow Dash. She was kind deep inside, but thought that showing that could buy her an image of a “softie”, thus only her deeds could tell. Rainbow enjoyed a good joke, but sometimes she didn’t notice that her enthusiasm could be hurtful. She treated little Scootaloo like a sister, but that didn’t involve “calf tenderness”, more likely “Hey, little squirt, let’s do something outrageous together!” She was a faithful and loyal friend… to those, she knew, but her suspect towards strangers could make her look bitchy sometimes. She was very close with Fluttershy and that made Alex cringe a bit, as Fluttershy told him what reaction Rainbow showed seeing him the first time.

“Oh, don’t worry, Alex, she will see you mean no evil soon and stop being so paranoid,” Fluttershy told him lightheartedly. But Alex had a strong feeling that it would take more time and effort to gain Rainbow’s trust than he could probably afford, especially considering his plans to return home as soon as it was possible.

The one who managed to surprise him most was Pinkie Pie. He knew that she was ever cheerful, tons more than Rainbow, lighthearted and often lightheaded borderline to overly impulsive, ball of living energy. She even jumped mostly when other ponies trotted or walked. She was obsessed with making parties and friends… sometimes even despite anypony in question wasn’t particularly happy of becoming somepony’s friend at that moment. But she had strong intuition which helped her friends countless times… and sometimes helped her… to avoid saying stuff better not to be said. The most surprising thing about Pinkie Alex found out was that this fluid and, from the first sight shallow, pony girl actually had a big heart and could easily understand friends’ afflictions and sympathize. Unfortunately, she was often too straightforward and open showing or telling that, so might even look tactless. Just like with him, being genuinely thoughtful when guessing the source of his sorrows right away, but hurting him by plainly voicing them.

Alex found out that quite some time passed since the moment of local history he knew something about and the day he got to Equestria in person. That made him wonder, how long would it take to bring him back, if it was even possible, and how much time would pass on Earth, as he was unsure, if the transfer was completely linear. The whole image provided unhappy thoughts. At the very least he would be absent just enough to be considered unaccounted-for… Then he remembered that at least two people saw him in the burning car being hit by a thunderbolt. That could mean that “he” was already buried or something alike. He felt a strong wish to howl desperately.

BUMP!!!

“Squee!” Fluttershy jumped in her armchair holding Angel tight. “Sweet Celestia, Twilight! I will never get used to your teleportation spells.”

“Merlin’s pa…” That was the first time Alex witnessed Twilight’s teleportation, moreover any teleportation. “The buck is that!..”

The squirrel startled by the warp and sudden appearance of a new pony quickly climbed onto Alex’s head and crouched there looking through his hair (which were about to stand as Alex admitted) with scared eyes.

“Oh, sorry, girls…” Alex apologized for his verbal reaction, but he was still sure Twilight could save them several nerve cells, if she teleported behind the door and only then entered.

Twilight watched them both on the edges of their seats, Fluttershy with her Angel bunny in hooves and Alex with a squirrel peeking frightenedly through his hair, and a wide grin formed on her face.

“Are you both sure, nopony ever tell you that you look amazingly alike sometimes?” she asked jokingly.

“Oh, come on, Twilight,” sighed Alex feeling as adrenaline was leaving his blood. “If you appear this way every time, no wonder that everypony looks equally startled.”

He wondered how easily he used that new term – “everypony”, especially considering that he was talking about himself as well.

“Don’t be a bore, Alex,” Twilight seemed to be in a high mood and nothing could break it. “Be happy instead – I managed to get a razor blade. We’re stopping being a porcupine, eh?” she giggled handing him a small parcel.

“First I wanted to ask Applejack, if Big Mac had a spare one,” she continued telling her story. “But then reconsidered – sure thing Big Mac won’t ask any questions, but there is Apple Bloom… and as long as your existence, Alex, is a secret by the order of princess Celestia, we must keep fillies away. So I was to check the store… and the vendor looked at me so strangely… I don’t want to imagine, what he might think. Still, here it is.”

“The girls already tried to sneak and sniff around,” Fluttershy put Angel down and looked at Twilight very seriously. “I’m afraid that constant visits get too much attention and they may think, we are planning something great without telling them. But what we can do about that?”

“Nothing,” nodded Twilight. “That is why I teleport inside the cottage instead of going to you on hooves.”

“Twilight, that’s nearly the best news through the day,” Alex granted her with a wide smile. “I owe you. That stubble started prickling myself already…”

“You’re welcome,” she waved a hoof. Then she turned to Fluttershy.

“More good news, princess Celestia is busy with reports from Crystal Empire… Do you know anything about the Crystal Empire, Alex?,” Twilight looked over her shoulder.

“Yup. Fluttershy mentioned briefly, I know it’s far to the north and ruled by yet another princess Me Amore Cadenza… who is married to your brother, right?”

“Right, though she prefers to be called just Cadence, and she is married to Shining Armour, and the main thing they are having some strange events, so Celestia will be busy for a few days. But she told me that I shouldn’t worry, as Shining and Cadence kept the situation in hooves,” Twilight looked like she was undecided to worry or not, yet it couldn’t spoil her mood either.

“Thus,” she explained her point. “You have a few days for Alex to recover, grasp his thoughts and plan some strategy with which he is going to approach Celestia to convince her he is not a threat, moreover to convince her to send him home if possible.”

The last two words caused a pause longer than it needed to pass unnoticed. Twilight then tried to remedy the awkwardness by asking Fluttershy about totally different things.

“Have you already checked the wound? I thought you two might be planning to remove the… stitches, before they started being more trouble than remedy.”

“Yeah, that was the idea,” Fluttershy glanced at the wall clock. “It’s a bit late already. But we were waiting for you as we need your help.”

*

Twilight used her magic on small scissors to cut the thread strands one by one, so Alex could take them out by catching them with fingertips, almost with nails. Fluttershy couldn’t find a pincette so it took a few attempts eventually to catch the thread and wasn’t entirely pleasant in general. But as it was said there was no use in the stitches already, as the wound closed up.

“And all this after three days,” kept wondering Alex. “Perhaps there won’t remain any considerable scar.”

When they finished with threads, Fluttershy applied more of the healing salve onto his wound. Alex sat on the bed with his right hand raised and put on his head, while Fluttershy settled behind him and gently spread the composition by her hoof rubbing it in with circular motions. Twilight relaxed in the armchair, using magic near Alex demanded much concentration, and watched them with a meaningful smile. A weird thought visited her head, even if there was no chance to return the human home… and Twilight kept all variants in mind being a realist… he had a chance to get into caring hooves of her friend.

“Cadence would love the look of this!” thought Twilight.

When Twilight left, as usual by teleporting herself, it was already half past nine. Alex felt that he was still tired despite having a nap in the afternoon. Perhaps faster regeneration took something in return or more likely he wasn’t ready for any prolonged adventured yet. And he saw that Fluttershy was also close to falling asleep. There was though one open question still.

“Well,” Alex turned to Fluttershy looking for better words. “I really don’t want to be a trouble…”

“You aren’t any,” Fluttershy was surprised by that start. “What are you talking about, Alex?”

“I mean, it’s late and both of us need to have a rest. So… I could take a couch downstairs…” Alex stumbled.

“Oh,” Fluttershy got what he was talking about and blushed. Yet she was rock solid about the rest. “No, no, you shouldn’t do that. You’re too big for the couch and it is too tough, you won’t get any good sleep on it and get up aching…”

“And I won’t let a house owner, let alone such a lovely lady, be banished from her own bed to some cold couch no matter what,” Alex was firm in his politesse. “Do you have at least a mattress or something, I could really settle on the floor…”

“Unfortunately, no and I was too busy to think about asking the girls, if they had something of that kind. You know,” she seemed to be overly surprised by her own bravery at the moment. “We could… leave everything… as it was. I-I was already sharing… the bed with you… for three nights… it’s not that… something… you know… Squee!”

“Won’t you really mind?” Alex wasn’t happy about sleeping on the floor perspective, yet he saw how much did that cost to Fluttershy.

“I-I don’t know… I mean I won’t mind… i-if you are OK with that…” she whispered, then suddenly repeated in a stronger voice. “I won’t mind, if you won’t mind!” She allowed herself a small smile.

Alex thought that sharing a bed with pony girl, at least doing it consciously, would be a weird experience for him, besides he wasn’t into ponies, besides he had a girlfriend… it seemed like ages ago. But refusing it suddenly at that moment would be extremely rude and, as he saw, would really hurt Fluttershy. If she decided to go with it, despite all her modesty and shyness… Besides she wasn’t overexcited Rarity, so… practically what could go wrong?

“I won’t mind, Shy,” Alex said making a serious decision.

“Oh, fine…” Fluttershy became red as a carrot again, no, even orange considering her usual colour. “How did you call me? Nobody calls me “Shy”. It sounds a bit unusual…”

“Sorry,” Alex worried that he could allow himself a bit too much. “I didn’t mean…”

“No, it’s OK,” Fluttershy smiled. “It sounded so… tender…”

Now it was Alex’s turn to blush. He didn’t plan to make a compliment… Or did he?

*

Alex brushed his teeth and shaved… finally!.. using the sink in the kitchen, as the bathroom was occupied by Fluttershy. He rinsed and rinsed giving her time to get to the bed undisturbed.

“I sincerely hope,” he thought, turning the water off. “That Rarity won’t linger with the clothes much and will bring at least something tomorrow. Otherwise, I will have no change and be forced to sleep naked next night.” Somehow he didn’t pay attention that three previous nights went exactly that way.

When he entered the bedroom, the light was out already and Fluttershy curled under covers looking into the window at the rising moon.

Alex lifted the covers a little, just enough to slip under, and tried to find comfort without being of much annoyance.

“Thank you, Shy!” he reached her shoulder and barely noticeably stroked her soft coat with his fingers.

Suddenly she moved closer to him and snuggled up to him like a small spoon to a bigger one. In a moment Alex found himself in the cloud of her hair and the sweet scent of flowers and honey reached his nostrils. He put his left hand under his head and hugged her little body with his right hand. Fluttershy squeaked quietly feeling a strong but gentle embrace and comforted herself a little more.

“Merlin’s pants, she is a pony, Alex, a pony!” told himself Alex feeling her soft coat heating his bare chest.

“Tell me something,” muttered Fluttershy in a sleepy voice. “About your world.”

Alex inhaled the aroma of her hair and smiled to the darkness.

“Have you been at the ocean coast, Shy?”

*

Deep juicy blue sky, of colour which one could see in the summer evenings only, was almost clear and the faint haze made the sun and rare clouds look slightly blurred, like on an aquarelle painting. The cliffs prepared for their night rest being rocked by surf’s lullaby and even omnipresent seagulls hid somewhere and didn’t disturb a casual observer with their piercing shrieks. “Fluffy” sun was setting into the ocean and painted the water green instead of usual blue. Later it would turn gold and even red at the horizon. The air was warm and sweet smell of flowers from the fields above the rocky highland mixed with the salty breeze from the ocean.

It seemed Alex and Elen planned to get to the coast for ages and only that day they could both find time to go. They needed to drive a long way, so despite their early start, it was already way past noon when they arrived.

Alex stopped the car at the edge of the field above the coast and the silence swallowed them. A few seconds they just sat listening to the only sounds remained – quite crackling of the hot engine cooling itself. Alex got around the car and opened the door for his girlfriend. She held out a hand to him putting a large straw hat on, so he could see only her smile from above.

They ran and horsed around the field like two careless foals, played catch and knocked each other into the grass a few times. She was like a cloud of butterflies in her light knee-length dress and Alex couldn’t look away from her. They gathered a large bunch of flowers and she took it to the car.

When she returned Alex tried to catch her in his embrace, but she slid by with a giggle and took his hand. She pulled him to the coast dancing and jumping, but they were to find a more sloping descent as Alex’s height intolerance could spoil the day easily. Surely Alex was ready to hold himself in hands as much as he could knowing where they planned to go and realizing there are high places on the coast usually. But the sudden approach to the cliff edge could make him freeze on spot in panic.

She took off her shoes, when they reached the sandy stripe of the beach at the rocks’ foot, and left them at the end of the trail to free both hands and hug Alex snuggling into him for the moment. But before he could return the hug, she giggled again and took his hand sliding out of his embrace. She teased Alex and pulled further along the shoreline. Alex followed with a smile, her figure in counter light of setting sun looked like a statue of some Greek goddess… in a semitransparent dress and a large straw hat.

When she reached the place, where the view was the best according to her taste, she stopped letting Alex hug her from behind wrapping his hands around her shoulders. She buried her bare feet in the warm sand and leaned on Alex watching the sunset. They both stood there listening, as the ocean muttered with the mouthful of rocks. The sun passed the forested coast on their left which protruded into the sea as the long arch almost reaching the horizon. It was setting and the whole ocean surface got gold and reddish tint.

In the ringing silence faint breeze curled the hemline of her dress around Alex’s legs. She reached his hair with her hand and leaned on him looking up at his face. The hat fell on the sand revealing long pink hair which fluttered around them both. Alex looked into Fluttershy’s wide opened turquoise eyes, feeling like diving into bottomless lakes framed by long eyelashes. The overwhelming feeling of serenity and happiness filled him.

When their lips met, Alex felt some alien look on himself. He preferred to ignore that feeling though, trying to taste each second of their unity. But when she turned to him and snuggled closing her eyes and resting her head on his chest, he managed to take a look over the coast. First he spotted nothing, but when he raised his eyes to the highland edge above the coast, he saw a woman’s figure at some distance from them.

She was too far to see the face or recognize her otherwise, but the setting sun lighted the noble elegant stance, dark blue flowing dress, head raised high and long dark hair. Or were they dark blue as well? Alex realized that she was looking right at them.

 

 

---

Author's note: If 't be true you like the story (and have FimFiction account, otherwise, you can't vote), please, take a minute to support the book hither: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/370173/the-guardian  "Thumbs up" are very welcome, comments either. Mine most sincere gratitude in advance!

 

Edited July 25, 2018 by Alexshy

[Alexshy 14,709]

6. In-Security

 

“Well, those are of course not the best clothes I’ve ever made,” Rarity examined Alex with an unusually modest expression on her face. “But at least they are decent… I even dare to assume decent enough to face a princess.”

        “Though, if I were Celestia, I wouldn’t mind the alternate variant either,” she added in half-tone, yet audible enough for him.

        “You’re joking,” Alex pretended, he didn’t hear the last remark. “If this is “decent enough”, then I wonder how excellent looks in your books.”

        He checked himself in the mirror, Rarity held with her magic. Her vision of his clothes was simple and classy, perhaps she didn’t have enough time to let her imagination fly, but that was exactly fine for him. He sported now straight cut pants of the dark-green colour, Alex noticed that black was generally not very popular for clothes in Equestria, and a pristine white relaxed-fit shirt with long sleeves. Surely for a picky eye he might look like a hero of an 80-s blockbuster in those, but considering circumstances given, it was almost a marvel that she could grasp the general concept of human clothing that fast. He couldn’t draw well to give her any examples and obviously had nothing left to show as such.

        The underwear problem was solved by simply copying what he had for now. All newly made boxers fitted perfectly, as Alex made sure by trying them in the bathroom. He carefully closed the door noticing Rarity following him with a rueful look.

        “You’re a true genius, Rarity,” Alex kneeled to her eye level. “All those for less than a day. I have no words… really… I hope you have slept at least.”

        “You’re too kind, darling,” she looked down demonstrating her eyelashes. “Those are simple enough, so I could easily make them, as long as I got the idea of what you needed. A few… how do you call them… boxers, a couple of shirts more, like that one, those pants and one more pair of a tougher fabric, in case you need something to work in. I didn’t have time to make any of those beautiful, sorry…”

        “Look,” Alex smirked. “Excuse me, if I shock your aesthetic principles right now, but I’m really not into those shiny trinkets anyway. In my world men prefer clothes being practical and fitting… mostly, so do I. I will be immensely grateful, if they stay that way, simple and comfortable.”

        “Somehow I suspected you would say so,” Rarity wasn’t offended by his words and looked up to him appraisingly.

        “I, for example, have no idea what to do with this,” Alex handed her a silk band with a shiny sapphire. “I suppose that’s a tie of some sort… but, kill me, if I know how to tie it properly.”

        “Never was a fan of ties, to be frank,” he said in a half voice.

        “Oh, that’s easy, darling,” Rarity laughed heartily. “Let me…”

        She used her magic with extreme care, not to touch Alex with it, to make the tie slither under his shirt collar and form a proper knot. Then adjusted it a little.

        “Not too tight I hope?”

        “It’s perfect, thanks. But I won’t be able to repeat your magic in the morning or each time, when I will need to untie it then put on again,” confessed Alex. “And I doubt Fluttershy can either.”

        With a faint frown Rarity looked into his eyes.

        ‘I will gladly do that for you anytime necessary, when you move with me,’ she couldn’t hold that thought and blushed a little. Then she said instead.

        “Actually I have bigger plans. I suppose, you’ll need something sleeveless as well, and perhaps some fine clothes. And, of course, something warmer, as you don’t have natural coat… in case of cold weather,” Rarity seemed to mount her hobby-horse. “Besides we can try those… shorts that you mentioned. Aaand… the socks shouldn’t be too different from those which fit ponies’ legs.”

        “I don’t know what to do with your shoes though,” she suddenly dropped her enthusiasm. “We have boots here for some special conditions, like boots Applejack uses on her farm, when there is more dirt than solid ground. But those differ from yours I suppose, and you can hardly find something fitting in the general stores.”

        ‘I sincerely hope that I’ll get home, before I really need warm clothes or boots here,’ thought Alex meanwhile, but he didn’t say anything.

        “I doubt I have enough experience to help you here,” Rarity continued to elaborate. “Maybe when you get to Canterlot and meet princess Celestia… then you can try contacting the maker of royal hoofwear. You know, the one who manufactures ceremonial hoofwear for princesses, he is surely more competent and may come up with some solution for you… especially if the princess supports your request.”

        “Oh, I suppose my own boots won’t stop serving me for a while yet,” said Alex.

        “And to tell the truth I have no faintest idea of how I can repay you for all those,” Alex ran his fingers through Rarity’s mane, so she started purring again. “I mean you’ve spent so much time and effort doing this for me… and plan to do more… and I have nothing to give you instead… for now at least. That doesn’t fit well with my principles.”

        “Huh, I’m doing that of pure generosity, don’t you worry, darling,” huffed Rarity, while snuggling her head and neck into his hand.

        “But if you insist, we can think of something later,” she shot him with a spear gaze from half-lidded eyes, so Alex stiffened inwardly getting ready for… just anything.

    Fortunately, the door opened and Fluttershy flitted in.

        “How’s fitting going, pals?” she then noticed Alex’s new look and landed right next to him. “Oh, Alex, you look totally different now, I like that… n-not that I didn’t l-like how you looked before… I mean… if you’re OK with… oh, squee!” she seemed to lose the idea, being totally embarrassed.

        “S-so, do you… people, always go around l-like this?” she tried to defuse the situation, while Rarity chuckled quietly. “Because we… mostly use dresses for special occasions only.”

        “More or less so,” answered Alex simply, putting a stray strand of pink hair off Fluttershy’s face and behind her ear. He then bowed towards Rarity. “Though I must admit I have never dressed with such a class lately.”

        It was so amusing to watch, how her cheeks reddened through the perfectly white coat.

        “And I’m happy you like it,” he added with his lips only, looking into Fluttershy’s eyes. Her ears perked joyfully.

                The question of returning the favours somehow was still inevitable. And Alex was returning to it willy-nilly all the time after dinner. This time they were making it together, totally denying the proverb about two hostesses being unable to share one kitchen. Fluttershy could cook in addition to her other advantages and Alex was to admit that the soup was indeed delicious. He remembered that Elen was a completely non-cooking type of person, she couldn’t grasp the simplest things, despite all his attempts to teach her. They always laughed at that, but she realized, she was a total disaster at the kitchen.

        “Damn,” Alex stumbled upon that thought. “Why this even came to your mind. Are you already comparing?”

        He returned to the uneasy thought about repayment, while washing the dishes. He could keep his “guest” status for a week or two without that becoming plainly impolite. Maybe longer, if the princesses demanded investigation of his arrival to Equestria. But at the end of the day nopony owed him anything and leaving the things, as they were, would be abusing their hospitality. Alex was a realist and, despite he hoped for the best – fast solution of his problem, he also foresaw the less promising variants. From his departure being under long delay to… completely impossible. This one was a fair chance also.

        As he said already, being a parasprite wasn’t in his plans. So what could he do to earn money in this world? Or repay in any other way for all those services and goods others generously offered.

        Alex was good in managing informational systems, programming, even hardware engineering, but those would stay mostly unapplied here, as according to his knowledge, Equestria didn’t reach the stage of wide usage of personal or industrial electronics. The devices, he saw and heard about yet, were simple, nothing more complex than radio, and he still wasn’t sure about the amount of magic rather than technology put into the latter. The hardware part of his knowledge could be adapted though, if he could simplify and widen it. Alex thought that he was lucky being a technical specialist, if he was a politician or economist, surviving here would be a greater challenge while being completely unclaimed.

        Then a bright idea came to his mind. Alex remembered that he didn’t see any electrical appliances since he came to Equestria. Of course, there must be some, for example, the mentioned radio, but they were not widely used. He could assume that the whole process of producing electricity could be a problem here, perhaps involving too many resources or magic to succeed. He noticed that, despite being close to nature, ponies didn’t realize that useful energy could be produced using the simplest environmental effects like wind or water current. And moreover, this could be done harmlessly to nature.

        “Of course, they got used to that style of living,” said Alex to himself. “And it would be hard enough to prove anypony that for example food can be cooked using electricity, or at least the fuel in the oven can be ignited with it instead of matches, when they use fire all the time and cope perfectly. Nopony would see any advantage of an electric doorbell over an actual copper bell, and so on.”

        “But there are things which could obviously benefit from this type of energy source,” he pondered. “Rarity’s sewing machine could be propelled by electricity, not her magic, thus she could concentrate the magic on something else and as the result could produce more complicated, thus outstanding dresses.”

        “And there is of course lighting,” he couldn’t remember anypony mentioning lighting their houses any other way than with oil lamps, candles, torched, other things of that kind. “Ponyville would only benefit from that kind of “industrial breakthrough”.”

        “If only I could make a simplest electric generator, attach it to the windmill preferably… though a water wheel could also fit, where applicable and the current allows. And then make some sort of electric bulb and hope for it to be stable enough. Propelling a sewing machine will be even easier.”

        “But this calls for blacksmith work, woodworks and the hardest part – wiring,” he slowed down his enthusiastic planning a bit. “I will need to ask the princess for help… if she is ready to help anyway. I’m sure some facility will be able to produce wire of necessary diameter… still, I will need to think of insulation myself most likely.”

        “Yet that can be an excellent start for actually being of some help and use here,” Alex felt as wide smile forms on his face.

        “Hey, didn’t you plan to return home as fast as possible?” said a small voice inside. “And now you’re almost planning your future business in Equestria. Not to mention that it is nearly impossible without the good will of the princess and with your current… “top secret” status. You are not supposed to contact with the locals freely… well, the majority of them.”

        “Are you all right, Alex?” Fluttershy stopped brushing her long hair and watched him for a while already. “You’re wiping the same plate for a few minutes already. Is everything OK?”

        “Oh,” Alex put the plate and the towel on the table. “I was just thinking about earning some money or compensating all that you girls have done for me otherwise somehow. Sorry, if I made you worried.”

        “But why would you?..” Fluttershy seemed to genuinely wonder. “I mean we can afford, what we need… and both Twilight and Rarity are my… our friends, they said already, they were doing it disinterestedly.”

        “Yes, your friends are great, Shy,” Alex tried to elaborate. “But that’s more about my feelings. I simply can’t allow myself to accept all this help, again and again, not returning anything instead. I don’t think that it is socially normal in Equestria when a… stallion lives at some mare’s expense. Back home we called such person a gigolo.”

        “Besides I really need to do something, to mean something… I don’t know how long I’ll stay here for, or even if I’m able to return home at all, yet I need to mean something, not be a decoration or a… pet.”

        “Did I actually sound, like I was treating you as a pet?” Fluttershy let out a small sad smile. “I never tried to put it that way. Really… Sorry.”

        “Look, I didn’t say you were treating me as a pet, Shy,” Alex felt regret for his outburst already. “There were just my expectations, you could take into account not. Not because you intended to…” he sighed.

        “Yeah, I must have sounded terrible,” Fluttershy was noticeably upset and her eyes filled with tears. “I-I’m so sorry, Alex… I thought about it being so great now… when I’m with you… rather than your feelings about being locked and in suspense.”

        Alex approached her chair, sat right on the floor and hugged her knees. Fluttershy looked at him surprisingly.

        “Please, Shy, forgive me for sounding that harsh,” he said. “I didn’t mean to offend you. You the very least… You’re a real miracle, Shy, and I mean it. You were the best of what could happen to me, when I got to Equestria, and I’m truly thankful for that. I just wanted to be on equal terms with you all… and… I guess I suck at expressing myself sometimes.”

        “The inevitable result of spending more time with machines, than with… somepony like you,” Alex looked up into her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

        Fluttershy sniffed, wiped her eyes and then hugged Alex nuzzling his head. He felt so emotionally close to that girl. The more it scabbed in his heart at the thought that he was so eager to leave Equestria, if it was possible.

        “I understand,” she cooed. “I never thought about you as a pet, but I really should take your point of view into account. I know that doing nothing will be unbearable for you.”

        “Somehow I knew that since the moment we met,” she whispered barely audible.

        “So what did you come up with?” She asked lightly after a moment of silence. Alex stood up and grabbed another chair.

        “Well… I thought about a couple of things. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I haven’t noticed that electricity is widely used in Ponyville for example…”

        “Yes, we don’t have any means to collect it,” Fluttershy was evidently interested. “In Cloudsdale pegasi collect atmospheric electricity for their weather making purposes somehow and in Canterlot they use magic to produce it. I’m not familiar with the process though…”

        “Collect?” now it was Alex’s turn to wonder. “So they namely gather electricity from the atmosphere, when there is enough, right?”

        “And in Canterlot they need constant magic propulsion to generate any?”

        “Yeah, something like that,” Fluttershy nodded.

        “I was actually going to suggest making it out of nothing,” Alex smirked. “I mean using the power of wind or water current to generate electricity. Nopony would need to look for lightning or constantly apply magic this way.”

        “And this could be easily used to light the houses, or run the sewing machine, or mix and churn… just anything at Pinkie’s bakery,” he continued describing all the benefits. “So I could finally show my gratitude to those, who helped me… and earn some money, in case I’m staying here for an undefined period.”

        “So you could stop paying for me,” he added with a smile. “But I could buy you a present instead!”

        Fluttershy produced a small surprised squeak and looked slightly embarrassed, but Alex didn’t notice and continued less cheerfully.

        “But this all needs lots of hard work, and while it’s neither a problem nor a let down for me, it still calls for princess help… as I won’t be able to find necessary materials without that. Besides I can do nothing, while I need to keep my presence here in secret.”

        “And that applies to everything, I could think of as something to start with,” he added while absently watching Angel entering the room and jumping onto Fluttershy’s knees, the little tod expected some stroking. “Just every simple work. Applejack needs help with her farm, the local blacksmith can probably provide some job as well… but everything needs me to go out and communicate. Except maybe rewriting stuff for Twilight…”

        “But she rarely needs that, besides this would make me run on the walls from boredom soon anyway,” Alex chuckled sadly.

        “I hope everything becomes easier after you meet princess Celestia,” there was more confidence in Fluttershy’s words than in her tone. “Yet, I’m afraid, it won’t be the simplest task to gain her trust. But she needs to think about her subjects first, of course…”

        “Yeah, yeah, I know,” smirked Alex. “And I’m an alien.”

        *

        TINK! Something hit her window lightly. TINK! TINK!

        Apple Bloom put away her toys and cautiously approached the windowsill.

        TINK! A small stone hit the glass again, somepony was trying to gain her attention from below. Apple Bloom opened the window and looked out. She saw Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo standing in the yard and looking up to her.

        “Psst!” Sweetie Belle waved her hoof. “Are you coming, little Apple? I’ve found something,” she added in a loud whisper.

        Scootaloo impatiently jumped on the place. Whatever it was, it seemed that Sweetie Belle was going to share only with both friends at once, and Scootaloo was dying from curiosity.

        “I’m coming,” Apple Bloom closed the window. She trotted downstairs, peeked into the kitchen and told Granny Smith, they would be gathering in their clubtree house.

        “Would you like to take your lunch with you?” Granny Smith called after her.

        “Oh, no, no, thanks, granny,” little filly answered over her shoulder, heading to the door. “I’ll come back later for lunch.”

        When she got outside, she quickly ran to her friends at the other side of the house.

        “What? What did you find?” asked she Sweetie Belle while regaining her breath.

        “Not here! Let’s go to the clubhouse,” Sweetie Belle cocked her head with such a familiar motion, just like her sister. She was obviously proud that her personal investigation didn’t come fruitlessly.

        “Sweetie Belle managed to dig out something really interesting,” Scootaloo almost jumped over her head, when they headed into the depth of the apple garden.

        When the girls reached the tree house and got up the ramp, Sweetie Belle closed the door and drew the curtains, putting the house into mysterious twilight.

        “Well, girls, that’s a bomb!” she whispered loudly with her eyes sparkling. “Rarity hid everything too well and I didn’t have much time to look,” she was visibly embarrassed by the fact she was to dig her older sister belongings, but the temptation to unearth the secret was too high. “But she forgot those two under her pillow. I wonder why…”

        Sweetie Belle opened her saddle bag and pulled a couple of paper sheets out. She smoothed them out on the table and girls bent over them.

        “Well… That’s definitely…” breathed out Apple Bloom. “I mean we can now say for sure Rarity and Fluttershy are not a thing. Rarity is rather into…”

        “… apes!” exclaimed Scootaloo.

        “What?” she shrugged under the grumpy gaze of Sweetie Belle. “That looks like monkey… But a smooth and furless one. Although, the face is nothing like a monkey, to be honest… It’s kinda handsome I must admit.”

        “Look at those muscles,” squeaked Sweetie Belle. “It must be really big compared to the armchair it sits on. Oh, dear, I now understand, why she was stitching those strange large shirts…”

        “I’d rather say it’s “he”,” concluded Scootaloo funnily wrinkling her nose.

        The drawing on the table portrayed a human figure, sitting in the armchair facing the observer. It was completely naked, except a small towel draping the private area, but with such minimalism that it seemed to reveal more than it covered. The careful sculpting of the muscles on the figure and overall attention to anatomy detail revealed the loving hoof, which made the drawing. In reality Alex could reach that effect only flexing on purpose and not while sitting most likely, but some loving eye caught and emphasized each advantageous detail of the figure, while retouching small flaws.

        Three fillies felt, as their necks and cheeks started getting hot.

        Sweetie Belle woke up and put the sketch aside, opening another to their eyes.

        “Look here!”

        This one made them blush instantly. The same creature was drawn here laying on a couch, draped the same minimalistic way, but this time there was a unicorn laying next to him and leaning over almost touching his lips with her own. A few precisely depicted facial features and curly mane definitely said it was Rarity leaning over that creature, touching his shoulder with her hoof. His fingers ran through her mane while another hand rested on her flank.

        “Wow!” Scootaloo could only say with a sly smile. “So they are hiding this there!”

        “Errmmm…” started Apple Bloom.

        “Hey, girls, you’re here. Ah was looking for ya, Apple Bloom. Ah needed help in the barn and granny said that you were having your usual meeting.”

        Three fillies jumped on the spot looking at Applejack, who just entered their tree house. They tried to hide the drawings on the table behind their backs, but Applejack spotted something right from the door.

        “What do you have there?” her senses didn’t fail her and she approached the table.

        Applejack stood there like hit by the thunderbolt. She felt as her cheeks became red.

        “Tarnation!” she muttered, then gritted her teeth. “Twilight told meh, but Rarity couldn’t be more light-headed…”

        “Look, girls,” she grabbed both sheets and rolled them into a tube, then turned to face the silenced fillies. “Ah feel that we all have something to explain each other. But naturally, you should start…”

        “Sorry, sis,” squeaked Apple Bloom with a guilty look on her face. “We meant no harm. We just thought that you, big girls, were hiding something from us and… We thought it was kinda unfair.”

        “When Ah was of yar age,” frowned Applejack. “Adults hiding something from the kids meant one thing only – that the kids were not supposed to see that! Ah seriously can’t understand, how did you…”

        “It’s all my fault, Applejack,” Sweetie Belle stepped forward. “I’ve sneaked upon my sister and took those drawings from her room. I’m really, really sorry…”

        “Where exactly did you find those?” Applejack interrupted her.

        “I took them from under her pillow,” the filly replied sheepishly. “I supposed that I could find something important there, if my sister was passionate about some subject and she was evidently under strong inspiration.”

        “Will you tell Rarity everything?” she hanged her head low. “I know you are to. She will be mad at me,” she sighed heavily and sniffed.

        Applejack looked down on the girls. Surely they bucked up, but she knew, how this could be turned into an advantage. She was thinking hard, how the essential truth could be told without revealing the detrimental details.

        “OK, girls, you all understand that Ah will tell others that you’ve found out, what you were not supposed to. And Ah am to tell Rarity, where it roots. But…” she made an emphasizing pause. “But we can tell that you came across those sketches accidentally. Like if they were on the floor or peeking from under the pillow.”

        “But this is as much as Ah can do for you. Ah will need to make a big deal with myself about that already and convince that half-truth is not a lie,” added Applejack.

        “Ah will cover up yar little tails, girls. For the last time!” she said meaningfully. “But on one condition only – you keep yar mouths shut about all this.”

        “And Ah mean that!” she made the scary eyes. “Nopony, except us six… and now you, should know anything about the human.”

        “About what?”

        “Look, girls, it’s hard to explain shortly, but Ah’ll try,” Applejack rubbed her forehead shifting her stetson back. “Fluttershy met that creature, that human in the Everfree a few days ago. He saved her life actually, but got wounded and she took him with her and treated his wounds.”

        “He is not an animal, he is sentient, can talk and… well, he is generally like us all,” she explained to the girls listening to her with their mouths open. “He is from another world sorta… Ah don’t know exactly how he is able to understand or speak our language, but… take it as given. He wants to get back home, as Twilight told me.”

        “But why the secrecy?” squeaked Scootaloo.

        “Hey, hey, hold yar mules,” smirked Applejack. “Ah didn’t finish yet.”

        “Two main things you three should know and remember,” she continued. “First, this is a mythic… well not so as of now… creature from another world. Get it? Another. World! He is resistant to all kinds of magic, as Twilight says, moreover he absorbs magic applied to him.”

        “He can drain yar energy in a wink, if you try to fiddle yar magic with him,” Applejack turned to Sweetie Belle. “And Ah’m not trying to scare you, that’s just a warning.”

        “And the second thing,” she said in complete silence. “It’s princess Celestia privilege – to decide what to do with him. She wants to investigate his case thoroughly, to find out, if he is a danger to Equestria and if he can be returned to his home world. So naturally, until she states that ponies should know about his existence, nopony should know about him, except those who do already.”

        “You were not supposed to find out,” Applejack added after a pause. “Just imagine how princess could be disappointed with you.”

        Three fillies stood in front of her with their eyes lowered and ears flattened.

        “Of course, Ah will need to inform my friends about you finding out that secret. But Ah won’t tell how exactly you did,” Applejack told them with a reassuring smile. The girls looked up to her with sudden hope shining in their eyes. “Ah will need you girls to help me. Sweetie Belle, tell Rarity we need to meet at Twilight’s at eight. Scootaloo, please, find Dash and tell her the same. And it’ll be great, if after helping me here you can ask Fluttershy to come, Apple Bloom,” she turned to her sister.

        “But,” Applejack made the most strict face she could manage. “If you fail that and tell anypony… or moreover, spring another surprise like that… and Ah make sure Rarity invents a fitting punishment and even give her some advice about it. Ah hope you understood me right, Sweetie Belle.”

        “Yes, Applejack,” squeaked Sweetie Belle guiltily. “Thank you… for covering our debacle… again…”

        “Just don’t make another one,” warned Applejack, then muttered aside under her breath. “And Ah would rather give Rarity a good slap. But who might think…”

        “Oh, one more thing,” she remembered. “Sweetie Belle, return please those exactly where you took them from. No need to pay them more attention though!”

        She handed the papers to Rarity’s younger sister and raised an eyebrow in a hinting manner. Then trotted outside.

        “Ah still need your help, Apple Bloom,” the girls heard her call.

        “I better go,” fussed the younger sister.

        “So that was why Rarity was almost dancing the last two days, everything was flying in her hooves and she seemed to get special inspiration. She fell in love with… extraequestrian creature!” giggled Sweetie Belle.

        “Yeah, your sister seems to completely lose her head,” Scootaloo remembered the drawings and snorted, feeling how colour hit her cheeks again. “Don’t give that out to her though, otherwise I don’t envy you.”

                That evening the Oak Library looked rather crowded. Applejack asked all the girls to come for a serious talk and Twilight, who was generally informed about the subject, was still puzzled about the urgency and details. Rainbow Dash, who came the first, right after Applejack, seemingly had no idea about there being any problem, as she got to the bookshelf with Daring Do series, chose a book and conveniently placed herself right on the floor nearby. She already managed to fall out from reality, as Spike was to ask her thrice, if she would like some tea. She muttered something ambivalent and Spike waved his hand, fairly supposing that she would join others and choose, what she wanted… if she wanted.

        Fluttershy came next and was constantly lamenting that she left Alex busy with all household without help (even if it meant merely cleaning up after dinner). Besides last time she left him with Angel alone at home, Angel dug out an old darts game somewhere and they made quite a few pinholes on the front door surface. Alex swore that he would patch them up, as soon as he was able to get to the town. Fluttershy still worried that those two might invent some other crazy entertainment.

        Then Pinky joined the meeting and Applejack had a hard time, trying to hold her impatient and curious friend from jumping around the room and asking questions, Applejack wasn’t going to answer before everypony, including the “hero of the incident”, came. Then Pinkie turned her attention to Fluttershy asking her something about the human and Applejack could take a breath.

        Rarity came the last and, perhaps, she felt that it smelled of roast, as she was unusually quiet and laconic.

        “OK, girls,” started Twilight when she saw that even Rainbow Dash put away the book unwillingly and listened. “Applejack asked everypony to come, as she has a serious question to discuss. All I know is that it is human related. So, dear, if you please…”

        “Yeah… Thanks, Twi,” Applejack raised her stetson a bit and rubbed her forehead. “It’s a bit complicated, girls… You all know about the human, and that his existence is still a secret for the majority… for different reasons. Not my idea and not Fluttershy’s… But Ah guess princess has a point preferring to keep it that way.”

        Rainbow yawned stealthily.

        “Is it about “Welcome to Equestria, Alex” party?” Pinkie jumped on her place eagerly.

        “Oh, dear, not again…” whispered Fluttershy while her pupils became pinprick.

        Rainbow huffed disapprovingly, but only Twilight seemed to notice. She watched Rainbow Dash reaction with investigator’s interest though.

        “No, Pinkie, not yet. It’s not the best time for,” smirked Applejack. “But if the things keep going this way, we may simply face that “party” just happening sooner or later.”

        “As you know,” she continued looking at the puzzled faces of her friends. “Only us six were supposed to know about the human… at least until princess Celestia makes any other decision.”

        “But a few, or should Ah say, three exact ponies found out our secret.”

        In the sudden silence the tea spoon, Spike dropped in the cup, sounded like a thunder strike.

        “But… How?” he scratched the back of his head with the claw, then turned to Twilight. “You said he was not leaving the house and…”

        “Oh, no…” Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth. “But I’m sure nopony saw him except you girls and Lyra… At least I-I did my best… to keep everything in secret… Squee!”

        “I was expecting something alike,” muttered Twilight pessimistically. “It’s Ponyville…”

        Rainbow Dash soared with the “I told you there will be problems with that human” look on her face.

        Pinkie murmured something under her nose and seemed to be completely uninterested, but those who knew her well, could tell that she heard everything perfectly, just didn’t find it necessary to react at that moment.

        Rarity wasn’t calm, but she hardly worried more than any other girl, and Applejack concluded that Sweetie Belle managed to return the sketches in time without any problems.

        “Ah mean it’s easy to guess, who exactly,” continued Applejack, when everypony looked at her again expectantly. “We already have met the consequences of their… investigations.”

        Twilight closed her eyes with a deep sigh, as it appeared that her suspicion was coming true.

        “As we all know, Rarity was helping… Alex with his clothing problem,” Applejack turned to Rarity, noticing that the latter blinked and stiffened. Dash huffed once again at the mentioning of the human’s name. “And she made some measurements and… sketches to stitch him something fitting.”

        Rarity’s eyes gazed at the floor at the word “sketches”, Applejack sent Twilight a meaningful look. Spike looked from one to another and the third and back again, not noticing that he was pouring the tea on the table instead of the cup. Then he woke up, noticed his mistake and blushed, wiping the small pool quickly.

        “So today Sweetie Belle came across one of those sketches by pure accident,” Applejack continued while Rarity’s cheeks were almost on fire. “And she found it very interesting, noticing somepony completely different than usually on the stitching sketch,” she emphasized the word “stitching” and noticed, how it made Rarity relax a bit.

        “Naturally she shared her observations with her club mates… And they were guessing what that could be, when I caught them upon that in their club house…”

        “Of course,” Fluttershy slapped her forehead and a guilty look appeared on her face, despite being uncalled for. “They sneaked in the garden when you came for the first time,” she turned to Rarity. “But I’m sure they haven’t seen anything that time. Maybe… just got extremely suspicious about us… behaving s-strange…”

        “Tricky little squirts!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash flying up to the ceiling, her expression was rather approving than condemnatory. Twilight rolled her eyes.

        “Well…” Applejack stumbled trying to avoid the delicate details and keep that unnoticed simultaneously. “Ah simply was to explain them everything in brief and make them swear they keep it shut…”

        “Did they do the Pinkie Promise?”

        “Pinkie!..” Twilight frowned. “That’s a bit more serious, than you treat it.”

        “What? At least they wouldn’t dare to break…”

        “… Ah decided, it would be better, than if they started to ask or poke their noses, where they were not supposed to,” Applejack seemed to ignore Pinkie’s suggestion. “So now they know that we have extraequestrial sentient creature, which is magic resistant and practically dangerous, if you apply magic to him.”

        “They want more information for themselves, but Ah made it clear that we share what possible, only if nopony spills the beans.”

        “Meanwhile we must think, what we can do to avoid further… revelations,” Twilight looked around at everypony. Applejack nodded.

        “And what’s there to think about?” Rainbow Dash seemed to decide everything already and just waited to suggest. “I’m one hundred percent positive that we should just lock him till princess decides what to do with this… human.”

        Fluttershy gasped. Rarity evidently wasn’t sure, if that was a good idea. And Twilight seemed to share their pessimism.

        Pinkie was totally occupied by tea and cakes, but Spike, who was listening all the time very carefully, asked.

        “But isn’t it practically what you are doing to him already? I mean, he is stuck in the house anyway.”

        “Ah guess,” sighed Applejack. “And if we agree with Dash, that will mean no getting out of the house during the day time, when somepony may notice him while passing Fluttershy’s cottage simply, no peeking out of the windows to wave a goodbye as well, and he must stay hidden, if anypony except us comes to visit Fluttershy…”

        “But that’s awful!” Fluttershy’s eyes filled with tears. “Alex is not a monster or a threat of any sort.”

        “Huh?” Rainbow landed next to her and patted Fluttershy’s back. “Flutters, pal, if you can deal with Manticore, that doesn’t mean everypony else can… and last time I heard you exactly saying those words while treating a Manticore like a kitten.”

        “That won’t be necessary for long,” said Applejack, seeing that Fluttershy became completely upset by the seemingly unfair measures. “Celestia is going to address him soon as Ah understand.”

        “I suggest,” Rainbow elaborated her idea meanwhile. “That only Fluttershy and Twilight deal with the human for the time being. Until Celestia finds out what to do with him. I for sure won’t object!” she smirked.

        “I’m still to finish some clothes for him,” Rarity frowned, the idea to stay without her “inspiration source” didn’t rub her feelings well. “So count me in visiting him from time to time anyway.”

        “Why are you so unfair to him, Dash?” asked Fluttershy barely audible.

        “Who says I’m unfair,” huffed Rainbow. “I’m just being careful… He is an alien, if you haven’t yet noticed.”

        “And under “alien” I’ve meant somepony who thinks different, feels different and can spring some surprise anytime. Until proved otherwise, I will stick to my words – I don’t trust him… and I advise you against doing that blindly.”

        “I feel otherwise,” whispered Fluttershy that nopony except Dash heard her.

        “Ha-ha, Flutters,” Rainbow hugged her friend, she surely meant well… but the method was what Fluttershy didn’t like. “You know, sometimes good judgment is all what we need to save us from our “feelings”!”

        “So,” Twilight stood up. “I don’t like this as much as you do Fluttershy, but… let’s round up. Who’s for the lock out?”

        Rainbow raised her hoof immediately, Applejack didn’t hesitate for long as well. Pinkie yawned and said something that made everypony look down in embarrassment.

        “I’ll pass. We seem to forget to invite Alex to our meeting… and now deciding, what to do with him… without him. Yeah, I’ll pass.”

        “I sincerely think that it’s better to keep everything the way it is now,” said Fluttershy quietly. “No need to emphasize any restrictions just to make him feel more uncomfortable than he does. I guess that’s a “No”.”

        “I’m with Fluttershy,” Rarity cocked her head after a minute of thinking. Fluttershy gave out a small smile. “Not because I want to see Alex. Not only because,” she whispered in Fluttershy’s ear.

        “Well, if my vote counts…” Spike coughed a little. “I’ll pass as well. Don’t know him well enough, but for what I know, he seems a nice guy. Locking him out would be unfair…”

        Twilight let out a deep tired sigh. Why it was always her to make the decision? Especially when the decision looked outright unpopular.

        “Sorry, Fluttershy,” she raised her hoof as well. “I believe it would be better, if only we two… OK, three, including Rarity, contact Alex, before princess Celestia takes the case in her hooves. And safer for… everypony.”

            Fluttershy soon left the meeting with the feeling that things could hardly go worse. One thing was to take simple natural precautions, but locking anypony out is a totally another story. Rarity wanted to support her and walk home, but Applejack asked Rarity for a private word, so Fluttershy headed home alone. She didn’t mind though, it was the moment, when she wanted to stay with her thoughts on her own.

        “Look, my friend,” Applejack made sure that other girls were minding their own business or enjoying the baking, before addressing Rarity. “Ah can understand yar interest in… Alex as… extraequestrian creature, though it suits Twilight more. Ah can even understand yar… errmmm… personal interest in him. We’re all ponies at the end of the day and for each their own.”

        Rarity blushed and Applejack almost noticed, how she was guessing which details about her crush were known.

        “But at least make sure that your sister doesn’t come across something, fillies don’t need to see,” Applejack continued in half-tone.

        “What’s wrong with stitching sketches?” hissed Rarity, she tried to keep a good face in a bad game.

        Now it was Applejack’s turn to show embarrassment. She almost broke up, but managed to find the way out.

        “Ah know yar easily enthralled nature, Rarity. Ah am sure there are more of ‘em!” Applejack raised one eyebrow.

        “Yeah, he-he… You got me here, AJ,” Rarity sported a sheepish smile. “I’ll try to keep Sweetie Belle out of all that, sorry.”

        “Not only her, you can easily make Flutters and Twi responsible for a fail, they aren’t guilty of.”

        Rarity nodded with a sigh.

                *

        “Damn it!”

        The sneaky wick didn’t want to get under the roller no matter what, and the lack of simple instruments was a total disaster. But Alex was ready for that, it would be excessively optimistic to think that Fluttershy had screwdrivers, tweezers and so on in her house. He was limited to a thin knife in his repairs.

        The mere idea of doing nothing was killing him. Alex got used to working during the daytime… or entertain himself on weekends. Here though all his duties were very limited and he managed to complete the job fast enough to suffer from boredom. When Fluttershy was at home they could talk, but when she wasn’t time crawled slowly and aimlessly. Alex tried to read, but he caught himself on becoming nervous no matter what. And when he took a book on gardening, he noticed that he was going through one place, again and again, trying to find known terms.

        The thoughts about his possible return relying mostly on the image, he was going to create, and Celestia’s good will, didn’t leave his mind. For all he knew about Celestia, she was a nice… pony generally, but… that was her attitude towards her kin. Besides he knew that she preferred to award only well deserved, in other words, one should at least start solving their problems to be granted some regal help. And Alex had no idea where to start in his case.

        Thus when he came across a broken oil lamp, he grabbed it as a treasure. At least something could distract him from nervous leisure. But this damned wick…

        The knife was obviously too big to reach something that prevented it from scrolling. Alex searched the kitchen lockers one more time and finally found an awl.

        “Aha!” He attacked the mechanism opening for the wick with the newly obtained weapon.

        Some hard slag showered from the slit, that was obviously what prevented the whole thing from working properly. When Alex was blowing it out and looking through the cleaned hole to the light, he heard the front door opened and somepony slowly came through.

        “That’s me, Alex,” something in Fluttershy’s voice made Alex put all the stuff aside.

        He watched, how she entered the kitchen, deep into her thoughts, which weren’t bright, as her head was down and her mane and tail seemed tarnished. Fluttershy placed herself on the chair and leaned on the table, putting her chin on both hooves and looking sadly afar.

        Alex came closer and put his hand on her shoulder.

        “What’s wrong, Shy?” he asked simply, trying to sound most sympathetic. “I thought you were going to meet the girls. Did something happen?”

        Fluttershy sighed and looked up to his eyes. Then she suddenly snuggled into him and Alex was to stand closer. He stroked her mane waiting for the answer.

        “Yes… and no. I-I don’t know how to put it right…” sniffed Fluttershy ruefully. She kept silence for a while.

        Alex reached another chair and grabbed it, dragging it closer. He then sat next to Fluttershy, still hugging her.

        “Come on, girl, tell me. Somepony offended you?”

        Fluttershy nuzzled his shoulder gently.

        “Not me, you…” she tried to find words to explain. “Some fillies, Rarity’s and Applejack’s younger sisters and their friend, found out there is a human in Equestria, that means you.”

        “Fillies,” Alex smiled inwardly. “Kids are always kids, and everywhere.”

        “What could possibly be wrong with that?” he asked. “Unless they start telling everypony… but I doubt there is another Lyra Heartstrings in Ponyville, or a few…”

        “That’s the point. And if you listen to the whole story, before asking…” Fluttershy frowned slightly.

        “OK, OK, I shut up. Do tell.”

        “Rarity’s sister, Sweetie Belle, came across some of Rarity’s sketches. Supposedly stitching sketches for your clothes… B-but I know Rarity, if she is… “inspired”…”

        Alex sighed, understanding what she was talking about.

        “Then she shared her discovery with her friends, Apple Bloom, Applejack’s sister and Scootaloo. They are classmates and run the club – Cutie Mark Crusaders… But… that’s another story…”

        “Well, they didn’t know, my existence was a secret,” Alex apologized for the girls.

        “Yeah… That wouldn’t make explaining it to Celestia easier… Anyway, Applejack “caught” them on discussing the sketches, thankfully between them three only yet. She made them swear, they wouldn’t tell anypony else yet… and promised to share information about you with them, when possible,” Fluttershy facehoofed, understanding how it sounded. “I’m sorry, Alex, if that makes you feel like a showpiece. Really sorry!”

        “Well,” Alex smirked. “That’s not my worst experience here. I’m sure, I can cope with it. But I still fail to see, what I should be offended by.”

        “Alex!..” Fluttershy cocked her head, as he was interrupting her still. Then she turned embarrassed again. “I-I need to apologize for the girls. D-don’t think of them worse… than they really deserve…”

        “It was Celestia’s order to keep your presence in secret and thus we were to conform,” she rushed to explain. “And while today we stopped them in time, nopony could guarantee that nopony else would notice you accidentally. This was where the worst part started,” she sighed sadly and Alex stroked her head again. “Rainbow suggested that nopony except me and Twilight should see you. Moreover, she suggested that you shouldn’t leave the house before the princess decided what to do with you. I know that it is what you’re practically doing now anyway, but… one thing is, when you realize the need, and another – when you’re forced to stick to some rule. Rainbow first would be mad about the latter applied to her.”

        “Well, I can’t say, I’m very much surprised,” Alex gritted his teeth. But Fluttershy looked so miserable, he didn’t want to upset her even more. Besides, it wasn’t her fault. Alex squeezed out a smile. “I’m an alien… and need to be treated with extreme caution. Not every pony is such a daring soul like you, Shy!”

        Fluttershy smiled, her nose became pinkish.

        “We voted, can you imagine,” she looked down to the table with her ears flattening. “I was against that of course… So was Rarity.”

        Alex huffed, but the next phrase caught him by surprise

        “Pinkie said she would pass, as we decided what to do with you without you actually. Spike also passed, saying the whole thing looked wrong to him.”

        “So, it was Rainbow’s idea and she voted for,” Fluttershy said quietly after a moment of silence. “Applejack joined her, but I suppose… she just didn’t want to deal with another incident like with girls. And Twilight…”

        “Don’t apologize, Shy,” Alex stopped her. “I understand Twilight, among you all she is second after you, who takes most pressure and stress. She is a princess, so technically shares the responsibility of Celestia… besides, she is Celestia’s best student. There is no her fault in things turning that way… But why Rainbow hates me?”

        “Alex,” Fluttershy looked up at Alex’s gloomy face. “P-please, don’t say so… She is not… hating you, she is just a bit…”

        “…xenophobic?” Alex smirked grimly.

        “Yeeah… That’s the word…”

        They listened, as a night butterfly bumped against the window.

        “OK,” Alex broke the silence first. “I got it. I’ll be a good human and won’t poke my nose outside… yet. And try my best that nopony else notice or hear me.”

        “Alex!”

        “I’m fine. More or less…” her expression was so gentle and caring that Alex couldn’t hold a smile. “Look what I have found.”

        He turned and moved the lamp parts closer. Now the wick entered its place under roller freely and Alex accurately, not to spill the remaining oil, reassembled the whole lamp. He then rotated the handle, readjusting the wick, waited a couple of minutes, letting the oil come up and lighted the wick.

        “Thank you!” Fluttershy watched the small flame, while Alex put the glass back on the lamp, then raised her eyes on him. “I was going to take it to the workshop.”

        “Are you sure, you’re fine?” she asked once more, still seeing a shadow on his face.

        “Ugh!” Alex shook his head. Then he turned to face her and said. “Let’s just forget about that for now, OK? It was a long day and now it’s late. We both need sleep.”

        Fluttershy leaned to him and rested her head on his chest. Alex nuzzled her hair, inhaling the flowery aroma.

        *

        The bright moon peeked through parting clouds and poured liquid silver onto the forest. The warm breeze touched the trees making their leaves whisper hastily. Alex had no idea how he got here. He looked around, when his eyes accommodated to the twilight, the moonlight can’t come through the crones entirely. Apparently, he was in the Everfree, but he can’t recognize the place even approximately. And the darkness didn’t help it either.

        “Great,” thought Alex. “If I learned something during my staying in Equestria, then it is for sure – Do. Not. Be. Surprised. Ever!”

        “Either this is another utterly strange thing happening, not the first and I suppose not the last, or I’m dreaming again. Last time I found myself in princess’ Luna bedroom, now what?”

        The dream was the easiest explanation, but Alex couldn’t help noticing that all the feelings were too vivid for a sleeping person. Alex listened to the cicadas concert with some night bird soloing in the distance. The grass rustled softly under his feet. The wind, which he felt on his face, brought some tart and exhilarating scent, Alex thought it was somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t recognize it still.

        He decided to go towards the source of that familiar smell. Besides, the ground lowered noticeably in that direction. Alex walked through the forest, stepping over the fallen trees and noticing that he produced way less noise, than he normally did in the same conditions. But when he tried to touch himself, he felt it perfectly. He even pinched himself slightly to find that it hurts as always, but apparently, that didn’t make him wake up. So if it was his dream, it was a very strange yet realistic one.

        The forest thinned meanwhile and the ground inclined more and more in the direction he was heading. Just when Alex wondered, if the realistic dream included realistic wolves or… it was a very unwelcome idea… manticores, the trees parted and he stepped into the wide opening brightly lit by the moon.

        A deep cleft opened right at the edge of the forest and went further and deeper guarded by the trees on both sides. At least there was some path unlike in the forest which seemed all the same here; so Alex went down that slope.

        Soon the cleft became more like a canyon and Alex noticed that he got about sixty feet lower than the rest of the forest. Strangely he didn’t feel any unease about that or about the whole situation. Maybe the faint glow, coming from behind the turn of that cleft, calmed him and attracted at the same time.

        When he reached the dead end, Alex found himself in a large natural chamber. Irregular in shape it was framed with the tree crones far above and lit by the moon. But that wasn’t what made Alex’s heart skip a beat.

        There was a giant tree in the far end of that “chamber”, it was the biggest Alex saw in his life. Or at least one of the two, as Alex immediately remembered the tree near that damned road turn, where he was taken to Equestria from. This one thought was even larger, more than sixty feet high, its crone must be on the same level the crones of common trees above were.

        Alex was absolutely sure, this one wasn’t nearly common. In addition to its size it looked simply… Alex thought that he couldn’t find a better fitting term, even if he tried – magical. The whole crone was rather silvery than green, almost glowing, the enormous trunk and branches were of the same colour, silvery roots covered the ground. The glow seemed slowly pulsating, as if the tree had a heart. Or perhaps it was the heart itself, of the Everfree for example, or…

        He found himself standing there with an involuntary happy smile, looking up to that miracle of nature. The sudden feeling of serenity, of peace and… harmony filled him.

        “Merlin’s pants!” Alex was struck by that lightning-like guess. “It can’t be… the Tree of Harmony! If it is, then it’s the heart of not only Everfree, but rather the whole land… or even the planet.”

        Alex approached the trunk which looked like a silver column twelve feet in diameter. Back at home he was never able to stand near a really high tree and look up to the top as he immediately imagined the whole height of it… and heights and Alex didn’t come together well. Here though he caught himself on looking up to that forest monarch without any phobia clawing his soul. It seemed that the tree would chime, if someone touched it.

        Unable to hold that impulse Alex stretched out his hand and touched the glowing bark. It felt surprisingly warm, not as some usual hard wrinkly bark of a common tree did.

        “Greetings, Guardian!”

        Alex heard the soft melodic voice deep in his head.

        “WHAT?!” Despite the evident oddity of the whole situation, he always treated the bodiless voices in one’s head as something to be worried about. Alex twitched and stepped back, removing his hand from the trunk. He breathed heavily, but heard the light steps behind nevertheless.

        Alex turned around quickly, readying himself to any surprise this strange place might provide. But all he saw was a human figure stepping out of the shadows cast by the cleft wall. When it came closer, Alex saw that it was a woman. Moreover the very familiar woman, or better say the girl as Alex noticed that she looked young and graceful. Exactly the girl Alex already saw in the dream about himself and Elen visiting the ocean coast. The dream where he came to the coast with Elen, but then found himself holding Fluttershy in his hands.

        She approached letting him notice the dark-blue long noble dress, the long hair of seemingly all colours of the night sky, the blue shades on upper eyelids and the whole beautiful face with clearly delineated features. Yet when she smiled, her cheeks rounded almost childishly.

        Alex stepped forward unconsciously, he was amazed to see another human here, especially such a pretty girl. His eyesight blurred a bit and when he regained focus… he saw a night coloured alicorn in front of himself. She had the same blue shades on her eyelids, same starry night mane and tail, same noble beauteous look. Alex saw the sly sparkles in her large dark eyes, when she spread her wings and granted him a smile, making her cheeks round the familiar way.

        “Merlin’s pants! That’s princess Luna, the one exactly who’s bedroom I’ve “broke into” in my strange dream. Or was it…” Alex blinked.

        Alex opened his eyes. When his eyesight accommodated to the darkness, he could discern the ceiling slightly highlighted by the moon, the bed he lied on, the pillows and covers. Fluttershy turned in the bed to face him, then she moved closer and snuggled hugging him with her fore legs.

        “Mmmm… Alex,” she muttered while practically still sleeping. “What’s wrong? Your heart… It’s beating… very fast. Mhm…”

        “It’s OK,” Alex gently kissed her in the top of her head. “I just had a weird dream… one of… Never mind, Shy, sleep.”

        She happily sighed, when he hugged her and held in his arms stroking her mane, and soon he fell asleep under her even breathing.

        *

        Princess Celestia came to Crystal Empire not to pay a courtesy visit or not because princess Cadence and her husband Shining Armour couldn’t rule their domain on their own. The news, they sent her regularly, became more and more strange and alarming each day and finally reached the stage, when Celestia decided to attend personally and check the source of all the troubles on her own. That was why she left Canterlot, leaving Luna deal with local cases, and flew to Crystal Empire with a small squad of pegasi guards.

        The problem, which got her attention, could look like King Sombra revenge attempt from the first sight. If she didn’t know that Sombra was defeated finally and completely last time, not without the help of her bright student Twilight and… despite how wild it could sound, her aide Spike. If also she didn’t know that King Sombra, in his best days, preferred to gather forces and strike in one well-aimed blast, not wandering around outskirts of the Empire in a seemingly aimless manner.

        The Dark Mist surely shouted “Sombra” and was indeed his calling card, but… If it was him, the Dark Mist would be certainly concentrating around Crystal Empire, complicating the travels and transportations, making the residents feel hopelessness and despair, oppressing them, yet gathering and trying to materialize and strike in some single weak spot. King Sombra, peace be upon him, was a bit too straightforward and self-confident, but at least that gave his opponent a chance to get ready.

        Here it looked entirely different: the Dark Mist, and Celestia couldn’t literally find the better name for the phenomenon, wasn’t concentrating in some predictable pattern. Instead of that small sources of it appeared here and there, mostly in the coldest and distant areas of the Empire surroundings, on far north, making an impression that somepony was just trying the turf and simultaneously looking for something, not readying an imminent attack. In other words, it was cautious reconnaissance, not a crusade attempt.

        And that didn’t look like Sombra tactics at all. But who’s then?..

        That is why Celestia sent her guards to keep hooves on the pulse of local frontier defense duties and report any new incident immediately.

            “… and while I devote all my time, making crystal ponies feel our Empire carries solemnity of law and order no matter what, Shining spends his days and nights, watching guards training, analyzing the reports and making the distant scouting most effective,” princess Cadence shook her mane, while levitating a cup of coffee towards her, making the faint scent of roses fill the air. “He practically returned to guard captain duty, like in Canterlot… with the exception that the stress doubled or even tripled. I can’t remember, when he slept normally last time,” she finished with a sad smile.

        “That doesn’t sound right. Completely!” Celestia nodded. “I’ll try to find the way out of your situation in the closest perspective. But I naturally need another incident to base my outlook on.”

        “Your majesty!” the guard which stormed in the room, breaking all the possible etiquette, was breathing heavily and looked extremely anxious. “Your majesty, my deepest apologies! The problem needs your immediate attention!”

        As the protocol demanded, he was to address the ruler of the region, thus princess Cadence, first, but the guard was from Celestia’s personal security, yet addressing the guest first ignoring the host would be direct etiquette breach, so he reported to both princesses at the same time technically. His eyes were moving from one princess to another and back in the cycle.

        “Yes,” Cadence showed that he got her full attention. “What’s the problem, officer?”

        “Your majesty. Princess Cadence, princess Celestia, we have another incident,” the guard took a breath before continuing. “We are having another incident right now. The Mist has materialized this time… and it’s something we didn’t face yet.”

        “The substance formed an… entity and it is already giving our mages troubles,” explained he the urge while Celestia and Cadence listened with full attention. “That’s why we need your immediate assistance, princess,” he bowed to Celestia.

        “Cadence, dear, my apologies,” Celestia raised on her hooves. “I’ll keep you informed, when I check it on my own.”

        “Guard, gather three more and give me the coordinates,” she trotted through the doors with the guard following close. “Five minutes. We’ll teleport there immediately.”

            The warp took them exactly to the place provided by the guard. When the glow faded, they found themselves in the middle of a snowy field. Apparently, winter felt at home here, just like at the whole northern border of the Crystal Empire, where it attempted its regular raids to the south from. The snow was compacted by the frost and its own weight, and therefore easy to walk on. Big rocks in snowy hats – trails of the long gone glacier – protruded through the thick white blanket here and there. The dark band of the forest edge lied to their left and the whole terrain raised forming a big sloping hill.

        Gray low clouds passed by and the sun was barely visible through that gloomy veil, bathing the landscape in the soft dimmed light. Rare snowflakes slowly floated in the cold air. And there was… silence. The only sound they could hear, except their own breath, was the distant wind whistling in the treetops of the nearby forest.

        “Your majesty,” the guard explained noticing Celestia’s silent asking gaze. “We need to go up that hill. Getting right on the scene would be shortsighted due to certain conditions, you will see shortly.”

        “Fine, officer,” Celestia nodded. “Let’s have a look on that… incident.”

        They trotted up the hill bypassing the snowy rocks. The guard continued explaining the situation meanwhile.

        “The Dark Mist materialized as a… creature, we haven’t seen before. We spotted it accidentally and its utter weirdness captured our attention. It’s unknown yet, if it is sentient in usual sense… or just a magical entity controlled by somepony,” the guard took a breath. “A few our mages keeping it distracted and thus locking it in a limited space. When we spotted it, it was moving on a widening spiral, seemingly searching for something, stopping for a while, then proceeding again.”

        “A few mages?” Celestia looked surprised. “Is this… entity that strong and dangerous, that one capable unicorn can’t hold it.”

        “It wouldn’t be a problem, princess,” retorted the guard. “If we dealt with any known enemy. But this one possessed abilities, which made it quite… tough for capturing.”

        “Like which?” Celestia raised a brow.

        “First of all, the creature seemed to be blind, at least we didn’t found any evidence that it could rely on vision. But it “felt” living creatures, moreover, it felt magic and was able to resist it,” explained the guard. “And the way this entity affected ponies made it extremely dangerous to operate with alone.”

        “It simply makes anypony feel despair and panic,” the guard shuddered, perhaps he experienced the effect himself already. “Apparently it is able to drain positive emotions and energy from living creatures, leaving only fear, hatred and so on. When our mages tried to dissolve it with a spell, it quickly chose one of them and rushed towards, making him almost drop in a panic attack. For now, they use all their force to contain it. It seems that if we want to take it down, the attack must be really fast and effective, giving it no time to react and aim the caster.”

        “Hmm… It sounds so nasty, I wonder…” Celestia stumbled, they reached the border of the impact zone.

        She suddenly got the feeling that somepony evil, gloomy and unkind crawled out from under the ground behind their backs and stared on them fixedly. Suppressing the urge to look over her shoulder, Celestia noticed that guards visibly struggled with different symptoms of unease and stress as well while proceeding.

        Celestia started remembering her quarrels with Luna, when they were fillies, all the harsh words they used to say each other because of unequal, as Luna thought, admiration and recognition of their subjects, the image of Luna crying and slamming the door of her bedroom in Celestia’s face…

        “O-o-ok!” Celestia gritted her teeth. “Just wait, I’ll get you!”

        She trotted up faster with the guards forcedly following.

        The other side of the hill was steep, opening the “battle” scene below. At first, it could look, as if there was a small local blizzard surrounding a few sporadically standing stones and low flat shrubs surviving the wind and frost. The wind howled, forming a real tornado below and the snow mercilessly lashed everything in the circle of couple hundred feet radius. Certainly, one couldn’t see or feel anything in the middle of that cold and snowy hell. But higher above the ground the blizzard thinned and from their hill Celestia and guard could see perfectly the dark figure which wandered irregularly, changing direction and stumbling.

        Six unicorns surrounded the blizzard on a considerable distance and obviously, they exactly formed and controlled it with their magic. From time to time one or another gave the creature inside the snowy swirl a magical nudge, making it immediately turn towards the “offender”, aim very precisely and rush to him. Then another mage “kicked” the creature making it stumble and lose track. It was obvious that the creature below wasn’t very intelligent, which brought instant thoughts about somepony’s magical puppet. But what was the purpose of that puppet, nopony could yet tell. One thing certain, it looked nothing like King Sombra’s shenanigans.

        “What, in the name of Starswirl the Bearded, is that?” muttered Celestia, her eyes dilated.

        The dark entity looked most likely a headless centaur without any arms. The whole figure was made seemingly of the dense Dark Mist, with bands of thinner substance flowing around its legs and torso, forming its “tail” and generally curling around the creature, while it tossed about in the snow storm. The torso was wide and could be called muscular, if anypony knew for sure this creature had muscles… or any complex internal structure at all.

        The only distinctive trait was a dark red opening right in the middle of the upper torso. Was it an eye, though the creature seemed to be blind, or perhaps a mouth, nopony could tell. Eventually, when it lost the track of another mage, the creature leaned towards the ground like trying to find something or sniffing the trail with its red orifice.

        “Ughhh!” shivered one of the guards. “What an abomination!”

        “It was doing exactly that, when we noticed it in the field,” he turned to Celestia and she noticed sweat drops on his forehead, despite it was cold and the wind was stronger on the top of the hill.

        When the creature turned facing their side, the disgusting feeling strengthened every time. Celestia felt sorry for the mages on the front line, imagining what they were going through, if she herself desperately wanted to be hugged by somepony and kept away and safe from that ugly spawn down below.

        “Enough!” decided Celestia. “It’s time to stop that… seeker.”

        She jumped in the cold air and opened her white wings, rising higher in the sky right above the raging blizzard. For a moment her pink-turquoise-green mane and tail seemed to cover half of the sky. The guards watched their princess, like enthralled, when she speared to the sun, spreading her wings.

        Celestia’s horn glowed bright and a golden beam of pure blinding solar light aimed at the “seeker”, piercing its black body.

        The muffled howl rolled over the field below. The dark “one-eyed” centaur figure glowed from inside for a one short moment and… exploded, bursting in clouts of Dark Mist, which were immediately devoured and dissolved by the blizzard as the magical force keeping the creature together ceased to exist. The overwhelming feeling of despair and torment vanished at once, like never existed and the world around suddenly seemed so bright and happy, that guards even couldn’t hold uncertain smiles, taking their breath.

        The mages in the field seemed totally exhausted though, as they lowered right on the snow, stopping their spells and letting the blizzard weather out at once. Celestia headed right towards them flying down. The pegasi guards followed her.

        “Inscrutably magnificent. As usual!” exclaimed one of them, when they all landed.

        Celestia let herself a small smile.

        “Thank you. But I’m afraid I’ve overdone,” Celestia was in a self-critical mood. “The spell was too powerful for a simple magical puppet, even such an unusual, this… seeker was.”

        “But I remembered your words about the fast and well-aimed strike,” she added. “And decided to err on the side of caution.”

        “Excuse us, your Majesty!” one of the unicorns they approached was still heavily breathing, yet he bowed low. “We need a couple more minutes to recompose, so we can follow you, princess.”

        “There is no need,” answered Celestia softly. “I’ll transfer us all to the Empire City. Thank you all for your loyalty!”

        The guards and mages saluted.

        The more she thought about all the details of the “seeker incident”, the less she liked the conclusions and the more unwilling similarities became obvious to her. And the latter was alarming as well. She could mistake of course, but the occasions it actually happened were scarce. Celestia watched, how Cadence and Shining Armour listened to her, telling them about what actually Dark Mist activity fruited into, and her decision to investigate the human issue grew rock solid. She told them in brief about latest Fluttershy “discovery”, but it seemed that Cadence and Shining were more surprised by the mere fact there existed a human in Equestria, than consider obvious differences in mythology and actual human capabilities discovered. For them he was still a mythic creature, while Celestia was bothered by his complicated relations with magic. They resembled the “seeker” abilities too much, to be easily treated as a coincidence. Though she was to admit that human’s impact wasn’t nearly as detrimental. Neither it was used as an active attack method ever, as Twilight confirmed.

        Celestia had no reasons to distrust Twilight or her judgment of others, one of qualities Twilight mastered, was her intuition for the personal qualities of those she tried to befriend. But still the security of Equestria was at stake and princess couldn’t ignore any detail, even if it was going to turn out a coincidence. Thus she decided to extract the human and investigate his arrival and nature thoroughly as soon as she was able to return to Canterlot. And the possible means to return him to his mother land… but the Equestrian interests went first.

        “… so I’ll stay for a while more, at least until it is confirmed that the Dark Mist activity ceased and was generally connected to that materialization we dealt today,” Celestia stepped from hoof to hoof. “I suppose it’ll take a couple of days, hardly more. Then I’m returning to Canterlot.”

        “Well, if that hurry is absolutely necessary…” Shining Armour wasn’t still sure that he understood, why the human needed to be addressed that urgently. “But we are always happy to see you here, princess!”

                *

        “So,” Rainbow Dash put a thick branch into the campfire and moved the firewood a little to make it burn evenly. “He naturally thought that it would be a good idea to scare somepony shitless with that trick and waited patiently for his chance.”

        Her move made the burning logs crackle and let out a bunch of hot sparks. Rarity wrinkled her nose and moved back slightly. She sported her comfy dressing gown already and didn’t want it to be ruined by the ashes or unwelcome sparkle. Sweetie Belle snuggled up to her older sister for warmth, the nights were still quite fresh. She yawned, when Rarity hugged her and kissed in the top of the head.

        The fire burned brighter after Rainbow gave it a nudge and the circle of light widened, revealing, in addition to the logs they all sat around it on, the tents, the small glade and the first line of dark sleeping trees, surrounding their camping place. The smell of fresh leaves mixed with the smoke, which raised apeak in the still air, repelling the few mosquitoes. Some night bird whistled sadly and pleadingly in the distance.

        “He made an time-worn looking coat to mimic the Black Thirsty Pony,” Rainbow continued her story. “And next time camping, when night fell, he wandered around the camping ground. He knocked the random tents, put his fore leg inside and wheezed in the most scary voice, he could produce “Waaaater! Please, give me some water!!!” Somepony laughed, but those were rare, the majority were scared, some scolded him when the trick opened up. But generally he noticed that the idea was successful…”

        Applejack huffed disapprovingly, whatever you say, it wasn’t her kind of entertainment – scaring innocent ponies. She looked down on Apple Bloom, who nested on the log and put her head on sister’s lap, and smiled with a wink, like saying “We know, there are no such idiots hiking with us fortunately!”

        “… but then he spotted another small old tent on the edge of the camping ground, closer to the dense forest. The tent was time-worn, dirty and had no light burning in. But that colt was too proud of his joke and wanted to scare the owner as well,” Dash lowered her tone, looking at all the present with a sly expression. “So he came closer and pulled his trick again. Silence. He thought that maybe the tent was empty or its owner was sleeping too tight and wanted to look inside…”

        “When suddenly a black hoof protruded from the tent and grasped the colt’s throat! “WHAT DO YOU NEED MY WATER FOR?!!””

        The fillies squealed more from her sudden exclamation, than from real terror, the last phrase caught them off guard.

        “And nopony saw him ever since. Either he was taken by the Black Pony… or became one…”

        Rarity rolled her eyes and shook her head.

        “Where do you get all this rubbish from?”

        “Oh, come on,” Rainbow stuck out her tongue. “Don’t be a party-pooper, pal. Girls like these stories. Right?!”

        “Yeah!” Scootaloo jumped cheerfully around Dash. “They are awesome. I want more, please, Rainbow.”

        Rainbow chuckled, not long ago Scootaloo was scared of the campfire stories and was too embarrassed to confess that. But since she overcame her fear of Headless Horse during one of their collective hikes, she started enjoying the storytelling talent of her older friend.

        “You enjoyed a bit of careless fun as well perhaps, when you were a filly, Rarity.”

        “Ah somehow suspected, it turns out that way,” huffed Applejack, scratching the back of her head. “The guy was calling it upon his arse, if you ask meh.”

        “Can you tell us something else?” Scootaloo stopped for a moment and looked up to Rainbow Dash with puppy eyes.

        “I have a better idea, girls,” Apple Bloom sat on the log and stretched. “Sis, why don’t you tell us something about the human at last. There is nopony else here, except us, so it’s right about time, you, big girls, spill something as promised.”

        In the silence that followed the bonfire crackled especially loud. The almost full moon raised above the forest and bathed the trees, the glade with tents and resting ponies in silvery light.

        “Well,” sighed Applejack. “Ah guess it is inevitable. What do you want to know? Mind that we don’t know everything, so can tell you what we know for sure only.”

        “At first how did Fluttershy get him?” Apple Bloom raised her ears. Sweetie Belle stopped yawning and seemingly woke up completely, and even Scootaloo stopped horsing around and perked up her ears.

        “Get him” is a bit strong to say,” Applejack smirked. “Fluttershy had a timberwolves-related problem in the Everfree and he saved her.”

        “You don’t say,” Apple Bloom re-asked, making surprised eyes. “There is something in the Everfree Fluttershy can’t deal with.”

        “Apparently there were too many of them, Little Apple,” Applejack patted her sisters head. “Don’t worry, she managed to stare most of them, but the help was just in right time and place.”

        She told fillies the whole story of human arrival as heard from Fluttershy. They listened with their mouths open.

        “But how come he is magic resistant?” asked Sweetie Belle. She turned to Rarity. “Last time I remember you said humans can neither use nor resist magic…”

        “Who can heal a wound half a foot long in three days?” gasped Apple Bloom. “I certainly don’t know a way without magic, like Twilight does.”

        “People”,” automatically corrected Rarity. “They call themselves “people”. Well, that was at least what Twilight and Lyra said – normally they can’t. But apparently, something about this one is different.”

        Rainbow huffed, listening how her friend spoke about the human as something special. She nudged Scootaloo and rolled her eyes, like saying “Just listen to her!”

        “Ah don’t know,” added Applejack. “As Rarity said, he is different. Look, we don’t know many things about him, for example how he got to Equestria actually.”

        “This is what I keep telling them,” muttered Rainbow. “We don’t really know him.”

        “But where did he come from?” Scootaloo sat closer to Rainbow and Dash put her rainbow tail above the girl’s head, so its end hung above her face closing the eyes. Both giggled, while Scootaloo was blowing the tail off her eyes.

        “Long story short, Fluttershy said he came from the Sisters’ Castle ruins,” Applejack added a few sticks to the fire. “Later she confirmed her conclusion… when he told her his story. But Ah don’t know the details yet.”

        “He talks just like everypony else,” jumped Scootaloo. “So she can understand him, doesn’t she?”

        “Ah told ya, he is sentient, he talks, reads… Though Ah have no faintest idea, how comes he knows our language. But apparently, he does…”

        “Alex is like everypony else, just looks different,” Rarity checked her mane and took a random leaf out, she then threw it in the fire.

        Rainbow snorted at her friend mentioning human’s name and admitting his similarities with ponies.

        “What?” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “You don’t like he has a name. But he does, why should I treat him differently from anypony?”

        “Oh,” Rainbow raised her fore legs in a theatrical gesture. “As you wish, Rarity! I’m not trying to offendyour special somehuman.”

        “Hmpf!” Rarity cocked her head, while the fillies giggled quietly.

        “Alex lost his clothes and he came the whole way from the ruins wrapped in the royal tapestry,” she then continued.

        “Princess Luna tapestry!” added Rainbow meaningfully, she huffed. “What a perfect couple: the weird princess and the weird and perhaps dangerous alien!”

        “Hey, princess Luna is not that weird as you tell,” laughed Applejack. “Even Fluttershy got along with her eventually… and Flutters is not the most daring pony, you know.”

        “Just because you have personal… experience doesn’t mean that Luna is bad or strange.”

        “Who said she was bad?” Rainbow Dash blushed a bit. Apparently, the talk changed direction Rainbow wanted to avoid. She still pouted on princess Luna for feeding herself Rainbow’s own recipe on the last Nightmare Night celebration.

        That time Rainbow entertained herself, scaring ponies with thunder and lightning from a small cloud, she dragged with her everywhere. It was awfully funny, when others jumped on spot… and she accidentally startled a bunch of kids, exactly when Luna tried to show her better side. But it was totally… not awesome, when Luna played the same trick on Rainbow, literally sending a small lightning in her plot. Fortunately, there was only one extra witness of that – Twilight and she didn’t tell the details to anypony… but something still leaked apparently.

        “Who said she was bad?” repeated Dash. “Bad and weird are different things, if you ask me. But she still gives me the creeps.”

        “She helped me overcome my fears,” Scootaloo suddenly confessed. “I think that princess Luna is nice.”

        Rainbow gazed at the filly, like finding out something totally new about her younger friend, then she shrugged.

        “I’ll show you the Royal Tapestry, girls,” Rarity decided to change the topic. “But obviously only after I bring it to the best condition I can.”

        “Really? You haven’t told me about yourself working on it…” Sweetie Belle started to yawn wildly again.

        “Come on, Rainbow, Applejack, it’s too late, girls need to be sleeping already!” Rarity stated flatly, watching her sister rubbing her eyes. “We can delay all discussions till tomorrow.”

        “Yeah,” Applejack couldn’t hold a yawn as well. “Ah will get up early anyway. Ah can’t do anything about that, so Ah need to be sleeping already as well. Good night, girls. Let’s go, Apple Bloom.”

        “Good night!” Rainbow Dash directed Scootaloo, who was still sleepless, towards their tent. “Race ya to sleep, squirt!”

        Scootaloo hopped inside, she knew that it was for her own benefit – to get asleep first, as Rainbow snored quite audibly.

        When they closed the tent, Rainbow leaned towards Scootaloo.

        “Listen, Scoots,” she said in half-tone. “I want to tell you one thing… and I want it to remain in between us two, OK?”

        Scootaloo nodded. Obviously, she was always ready at least to listen to her idol and role model. How could she miss an advice from a pegasus, she wanted to become alike most of all in her life?

        “It’s up to you, of course, to decide,” Rainbow shrugged. “Just listen to what I say. Others can have their mindless fun, but I know for sure – I don’t trust the human. I can’t convince my friends, if they don’t want to know anything – they are adults and capable to take care of themselves anyway. But you fillies are a different story.”

        She then spread the sleeping bag in complete silence, seemingly thinking of better words to express her idea.

        “Are you sure, Rainbow?” whispered Scootaloo, pulling her wing to show that she was still listening. “He doesn’t seem dangerous and… girls seem to not share your suspicion.”

        “Well, I can’t be sure entirely,” unwillingly confessed Rainbow Dash. “But look what we have. As far as I know, Applejack is not ready to embrace… Alex wholeheartedly. Then Rarity… well, she evidently has a crush on him… despite how mad that sounds.”

        Scootaloo put both hooves at her mouth at that claim, her cheeks become pink, but the sly sparkles in her eyes told clearly that it would be the topic to discuss with the girls.

        “Fluttershy can deal with any wild beast, as long as there is not an army of them, so she obviously doesn’t take my concerns seriously… unfortunately.”

        “Twilight. Huh, that’s the same Twilight we’re talking about, right? As long as she can study something, be it an alien or a crocodile, she feels awesome,” Rainbow smirked. “And Pinkie… is simply too kind and open towards anypony. She thinks nicely about others regardless of their image and ready to make friends with everypony.”

        “And you, girls, put curiosity before common sense, no offense,” Rainbow turned towards Scootaloo. “Which effectively leaves only two of us with an adequate and careful approach.”

        “So, as I said, it’s up to you. But I would be happy, if you be careful yourself around that human… and hold your friends from thoughtless deeds if necessary.”

        “Yeah, this is me talking,” Rainbow granted surprised filly a smile. “Sometimes the risk must be weighed twice… otherwise you won’t be able to admire the result.”

 

---

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Edited July 30, 2018 by Alexshy

[Alexshy 14,709]

7. Royally locked

 

Only three days passed, but Alex was about to run the walls. That newly enforced secrecy was severely getting onto his nerves. He fixed what could be fixed around the house already, except those pinholes in the front door. Without some filler and paint that couldn’t be done properly, and Fluttershy had yet no time to visit the store. Obviously, Alex couldn’t help that, so each time he passed the door, its image made him sorry for that debacle, they made with Angel. Otherwise, Alex grabbed for every job, which could make the time fly faster and his uneasy thoughts release him for a while… or at least be muffled by the task, he was to accomplish.

        He thought about his oncoming appointment with princess Celestia countless times, but the more he thought it through, the more he was convinced that there were too many unknowns in that equation yet. For all he knew, he decided to tell the truth where possible and… improvise according to the circumstances.

        “Not the best plan of all I ever had, eh?” Alex told himself. “But screw it, I don’t have many variants to choose from.”

        Now he was watching how Harry helped Fluttershy fix the fence around her chicken coop. Alex could laugh at the absurdity of the situation… if it wasn’t happening to him. Indeed, a bear was doing something in the middle of the day openly for everypony around and he was to hide himself, like if he was some dangerous monstrosity. For all what he knew, Alex could think that a freely communicating, helping and generally socialized bear was something way weirder, than a human. Alex was ready to bang his head against the wall in despair. Nevertheless, he patiently waited, untill Fluttershy finished her repairs.

        The opened bedroom window let fresh air and all kinds of spring scents inside, yet Alex was to place the armchair, he was sitting in with the book, the way, so nopony could notice him from outside. Fluttershy trotted through the room and planted a quick kiss on his cheek, while heading to the bathroom. She closed the door already, so couldn’t hear the deep sigh Alex produced.

        He sat and listened to the pouring water, catching himself on reading the same sentence again and again, as if being unable to concentrate and grasp the sense. Finally, she came out wrapped in a towel. Alex smiled inwardly, normally ponies did without clothes, so this girly gesture of recognition of his presence was so funny yet unspeakably cute. Then he remembered, what he was going to talk about, and his smile faded.

        “Listen, Shy, we need to talk,” Alex closed and put away the book.

        Fluttershy took a hairbrush and sat on the bed, bringing her mane to order. After a minute of silence, during which she looked at the floor thinking about something, she finally raised her eyes at him.

        “I guess I know… w-what you are going to talk about, Alex,” she almost whispered, apparently this topic was sensitive for her as well. “About recent… annoying secrecy… enforcement, right?”

        “Yeah,” Alex’s eyes went downcast.

        “I know there is no her fault here,” he thought. “And it’s so damn easy to offend her by making it sound, like she is the one locking me out… But it can’t last this way any longer.”

        “Look, Fluttershy,” Alex saw that she apparently noticed that he called her full name instead of becoming usual “Shy”. “There is an open window here, but I still feel, like I’m not able to breathe normally. I’m surely happy that I’m not claustrophobic as well.”

        He noticed, her eyes filled with regret and sympathy, her ears sadly flattened, and mentally scolded himself for being the reason for that.

        “I made all the way from the Old Castle through the forest on foot and nopony managed to notice me, yet now I can’t even walk to the edge of that forest, in the field, breathe, sit on the grass, do nothing useful, yet know that I can do anything,” said Alex with a sigh. “But that’s only half of a problem. Then I see you do something outside and obviously need help and I’m forced to sit here with a book. That makes me feel like shit, Shy…”

        “But…”

        “I know that’s not your idea, and you’re not happy about it either,” Alex leaned forward running both hands through his hair and resting his elbows on the knees. Then he straightened fast. “And I know that is done to prevent certain problems with town folk and… with Celestia. Yet one thing is when you have nowhere to go, but to be unable to go anywhere is a totally different story. When you’re not at home, I have nopony to talk to. But I obviously can’t demand all of your time. I have nothing to do mostly, I can’t work, I can’t entertain myself, because I’m nervously itching in the perspective of the royal audience.”

        “Merlin’s pants, I can’t even fix those damned holes on the door. Look, Shy, I really sorry, we behaved like a couple of asses… But trying to do this will mean loading you with another task of going to the town and getting necessary stuff, because I again can’t do that myself.”

        “But you are already doing much,” Fluttershy was surprised by him not taking into account, what she considered obvious. “My house was never in such an order, you fixed everything that needed fixing…”

        “Yup,” Alex smirked sadly. “That’s the problem – everything. Now to occupy myself I need to… break something first.”

        “… and you freed me practically from all the work about the house.”

        “But I’m using all of that. I’m living on your expense, Shy, don’t deny that. So that doesn’t count, I simply must do something for you,” said Alex. “But the problem is, it seems I can feel the walls surrounding me. And I don’t even know what Celestia has for me in the nearest future.”

        “But what can we do?” Fluttershy rubbed her forehead. “Surely my cottage is not the most popular showplace in Ponyville, but there are accidental ponies around every day. And pegasi can notice you from a greater distance.”

        “I’ve thought about that already,” Alex left his armchair and kneeled on the floor next to Fluttershy. “I could go outside and around the house at least after sunset. As you say, ponies don’t normally leave the town when darkness falls. Please, Shy, I really need this… I have a feeling I won’t get even that in a few days.”

        He hugged her knees and put his chin on them.

        “Oh, Alex…” Fluttershy stared into his eyes felling that she couldn’t deny him that request. She stroked his hair, when he put his head on her knees. “I think it won’t do any harm, if you do that. But, please, please-please, make sure that nopony sees you.”

        *

        Alex barely waited till evening, it was his only chance to get outside, before… Well, he could only imagine what Celestia could do, he was still an alien, and the reasons and details of his arrival to Equestria were known to nopony. The worst thing was that he didn’t know the reasons himself yet.

        Fluttershy got too tired from the daily duties to make him a company. She curled on the bed, dragged the covers onto her and reminded him in a sleepy voice to stay unnoticed.

        Alex almost flew downstairs and slid through the front door trying to make no noise. He didn’t even put on his boots. Blessed was the land of Equestria, where you can stomp only on an accidental stone or a thorn, when going out barefoot, not on some bucking glass, a piece of plastic or a nail.

        He left the lights in the living room not to bump on things on return and was to stand outside for a while, letting his eyes accommodate. The night was taking its rights, but it wasn’t pitch black, yet the moon was only rising above the forest behind the meadow.

        Alex walked a couple of circles around the house, simply trying to have as much as he could of the feeling of grass on his feet. He held himself hard from jumping and goofing around like a foal. Instead of that he sat under the big tree and leaned on its trunk. The bedroom window above was now dark, as Fluttershy fell asleep almost immediately after getting to the bed.

        Alex stroked the grass near him and listened to the nightingale singing in the crown of that tree or maybe the nearest one. With a smile he thought that sometimes it was unimaginably easy to make someone happy. When the moon raised and added some light to the scene, Alex closed his eyes and enjoyed the air filled with the scent of fresh leaves and grass and…

        Lavender…

        At first, Alex didn’t pay that much attention, as the meadow behind the fence could easily have any type of flowers growing, but then a feeling of some presence made him unconsciously strain. Alex slowly opened his eyes to see the full moon above the landscape in front of him. On the edge of his sight he noticed something dark and flowing, something with sparkles.

        He was going to turn and look over his shoulder, when his heart skipped a beat. Alex felt some faint lavender breeze on his neck and soft silky lips quietly approached his ear. Then…

        “Boo!..”

        His body certainly was going to get up in one wild flurry, when this was breathed out into his ear, but… his feet decided otherwise and after slipping on the grass Alex fell flat on his back, instead of standing up ready to face the possible threat. When he hit the ground, the air left his lungs with a whimper, Alex could never produce willingly.

        When the world around stopped spinning and he regained clear vision, Alex found himself lying flat at the hooves of a night-coloured alicorn, looking at her upside down. The beauty blinked, batting her long eyelashes, and the smile made her cheeks funnily round. Obviously, that was the same pony… person he already saw in his dreams, visions, or whatever they were.

        “We thought, thou wast braver, Alex,” she teased with a tiny giggle. Then she leaned lower, almost touching his forehead with her nose and trying to make her big eyes look scary. Her mane, which looked like a long sheet of the starry sky, got into his open mouth and she removed it graciously. “Our apologies!”

        “If this is your usual greeting gesture,” Alex gulped. “Then you shouldn’t be surprised, seeing others in the similar pose as myself, perhaps. Merlin’s pants, my heart almost jumped out of my chest,” he took a breath.

        “Who’s that… Merlin?” she seemed to be genuinely puzzled. “And what his pants are supposed to do with everything? Thou call for those frequently.”

        “Just a figure of speech,” Alex made a notice of her old-fashioned talk, wondering if he would be always able to comprehend what she said. “It is a legend in my world… That there was… supposedly… a powerful mage. Errmmm… like your Starswirl. But I guess it’s just a legend, people don’t have magic… unfortunately.”

        “As for his pants, well, as I said – a figure of speech. They aren’t worse than any other part of him, so…” he stumbled seeing her laughing quietly. Alex gritted his teeth. “Look, you’ve caught me off guard indeed. Do you always sneak on pe… ponies like that?”

        “Thou art not a pony!” duly noticed the night-coloured joker. Then she added with a sly smile. “Besides, we bethink it’s a fair revenge for thy sneaking in our room and making us equally startled, right?”

        “So it was real?” Alex realized that he was still laying on his back looking up at her. Not the best way to talk to the lady. He then turned and raised on his feet, shaking the blades of grass off his clothes.

        “Apparently t was as real as affecting reality through somepony’s dreams can be!” alicorn nodded, wiggling her wings slightly. She was tall, much taller than common ponies and even perhaps a couple of inches taller than him, as Alex noticed now, when he saw her close.

        “I couldn’t remember that I was capable of that, just as well as of magic for example,” retorted Alex.

        “Wast ‘t ere thou became magic resistant, fast regenerating and so on, or henceforth?” she looked him directly in the eyes.

        Alex shrugged silently.

        “We guess it’s possible because we visited thee in thy dreams, thus making thee able to… reply,” she granted him with a clement smile. Then she remembered something and blushed a little. “Oh, whither are our manners? We are princess Luna, the ruler of the Night and Moon, one of the rulers of Equestria.”

        “Your royal Highness!” Alex replied with a bow. He wasn’t sure, if it was yet prudent to reveal his knowledge of equestrian history. So he decided to tread lightly. “So Celestia is your sister…”

        “Simply “Luna”,” the princess frowned slightly. “Thither is no need in those, especially after we… I shared dreams with thee. And, yes, Tia… princess Celestia is mine older sister forsooth.”

        Alex suddenly felt that sitting wouldn’t be a bad idea.

        “Excuse me, your… OK… princess… Luna,” he lowered to the grass and leaned on the tree again. “I just feel a little weak in the legs after… well…”

        “Thou didn’t seem weak in the legs at which hour thou dashed saving that little girl from the burning… how doth thou call… car, correct?” Luna raised one eyebrow.

        “What? How did you…” Alex even rose a bit, then he realized. “Oh, yes… The dreams… That was a silly question.”

        “Methinks I can forgive that,” she cocked her head, but her eyes were smiling. “Now… if thou puttest thyself slightly further…”

        And to Alex’s utter surprise Luna sat on the grass next to him, spread her wings and… The next moment he found himself “grabbed” by her wing and snuggled to her, so he felt her soft silky coat on his cheek, her warm feathery wing covering him and her heartbeat, as he inevitably was to rest his head on her shoulder.

        “Hey, I don’t bite,” she said noticing him being slightly confused by his position. “Mostly…”

        “So,” she gazed down at him. “Back to mine question. Wherefore didst thou risked, while thou even wast not the reason of their calamity?”

        Alex took a moment to think. Lavender filled his being, gifting him with serenity. He answered honestly.

        “I don’t know. I simply was to. I just felt that I could help; she wouldn’t make it on her own.”

        “Thou knowest, thou art impulsive, and act unpredictably weird oft,” Luna chuckled and Alex looked up to her to see her smiling. “But thou don’t bethink of thyself, at which hour others need thee. I guess, I was not mistaken in thee, Alex.”

        She moved him closer with her wings, so he was now sitting between her fore legs, leaning on her instead of the tree trunk. Luna sighed and put her chin on top of his head. In any other circumstances Alex would consider such gesture as overly patronizing to condescending, but something told him that wasn’t her case.

        They sat silently for a few minutes, watching the moon and listening to the whisper of the leaves. The nightingale, first startled by the talk, started singing again. Alex thought that a few minutes more and he would fall asleep in the warm silky feathery cocoon. He raised his hand and gently touched Luna’s mane, finding it almost water-like, elusively flowing through fingers.

        “Mhmmm…” Luna cooed, when he ran his fingers behind her ear and down her cheek. “I can recall ‘tis touch. Although, the first time ‘t made me almost jump, at which hour I woke up.”

        “Thou knowest,” she added after a while. “Thou somehow managed to change one of mine worst nightmares, at which hour thou wast… “sleepwalking”.”

        Alex listened to Luna telling him about her dream, in which she always quarreled with her sister and ended up crying in her room, and felt that his plan of discrete storytelling gave the first crack. He simply knew that, despite that alicorn was Celestia’s sister, he could be sincere with Luna, just as he was with Fluttershy. Thus he finally told her about his knowledge of Equestria world.

        To his surprise, Luna treated his theory about noosphere with even more tranquility than Twilight.

        “That’s not less possible than mine ability to affect the dreams of mine subjects, even their reality,” she nuzzled his ear. “Even thou, despite thy magic resistance, wast open for that.”

        “I doubt ‘tis is harmful to any extent,” she said a moment later. “Actually I’m more interested in thee personally…”

        “Me?!” Alex couldn’t hold a surprised exclamation. “You are able to get into my head, what’s interesting about me?”

        “…and the reasons of thy arrival. As thou hath said, thou wast not connected with magic at any level ere, so something or somepony must hast hath felt that thou art needed hither.”

        “Oh, I don’t know even a half of what I wanted to about thee yet,” Luna added in half-tone.

        “But what should I tell Celestia,” Alex twitched a bit, as it was ticklish, and Luna giggled. “Everypony said and I believed it was so, that Celestia wouldn’t like perhaps that I… know too much.”

        Luna took deep thought.

        “Thou hast nothing to worry about, thou art not some monster. Tia tends to take some things too gravely, concerning about our subjects, but my sister won’t crucify thee for simply being an outlander. Then, of course, she will want to know everything possible about thee and thy new, as thou sayest, capabilities. So ‘t may take time forsooth.”

        “Besides, thy magic resistance makes the task of returning thee home a bit complicated, if not to say next to impossible,” Luna returned her head on top of his. “As ‘tis forsooth what thou dearly wantest.”

        Alex noticed a faint tint of sorrow in her voice.

        “Speaking of which,” Luna remembered something. “I suppose she wanteth to take thee for… questioning tomorrow…”

        “Tomorrow?!” Alex almost jumped on the spot, but he was “packed” by the princess too tightly.

        “Well… Tia arrived late this evening, and I hath heard, she gave some orders regarding thee, so I believe – ay.”

        “So I guess thou needest to catch some sleep and give thy mind some rest ere thou art to answer questions,” Luna released him suddenly and the night air seemed chilling to Alex after her embrace. They both raised and Alex turned to the princess.

        “Don’t wake thy friend,” with a strange smile Luna waved her hoof pointing at the bedroom window above. “If ’t be true I am right, ‘t will be a sad morning for the girl.”

        “Can I ask you?” Alex was seemingly bothered by some question. “Are you in my dream… or this is real?”

        “We both were in each other’s dreams already,” Luna snickered. “And ‘t turned out to be real enough.”

        “But thou can try to find out arrant,” she advised him… or teased again. “Close thy eyes, then wake up!”

        Alex looked fixedly at her still smiling, then cautiously closed his eyes. He suspected some trick from that unpredictable alicorn.

        Next thing he felt, were soft lavender flavoured lips on his cheek… and then the touch vanished. As well as the princess herself.

        “It must be a dream,” stated Alex opening his eyes, yet lavender said otherwise.

        He ran his palm through the hair. Something was there, something which wasn’t him. With a puzzled look on his face Alex took out and examined a large dark-blue feather.

            He extinguished the lights in the living room, waited till the eyes accommodated to darkness and quietly got upstairs. The bedroom was lit by moonlight, so Alex could move freely without any fear to kick something down.

        Alex took off his clothes and slightly lifted the covers on the bed, sliding under them. The warm bed seemed almost blessing after the cool air outside, it was very late already. He was trying to nest himself comfortably, when Fluttershy sighed and turned to him. She then slid closer, reaching him with her fore legs, and wrapped them tightly around Alex, snuggling her entire warm body into him.

        “Mmmm, you smell of lavender, Alex,” she cooed almost through sleep, nuzzling his cheek. “I don’t remember… lavender growing… my house.”

        And before Alex could say or do anything, he felt her tender slightly opened lips over his own. With a light heart and full passion he answered her kiss and Fluttershy let out a quiet moan, when he squeezed her gently but strongly, running his fingers through her marvelous hair.

        “What are you doing, Alex?” he thought, feeling as lavender-field flowers-honey mix enveloped them both, while they shared their unity for several minutes. “If you need to leave forever… That will… And Luna…”

        His thoughts dissolved, as they made their breaths single, emerging for air then diving back to the sweet pleasure of kissing. Those were not mad tongue dances, French kissing or something alike, yet the soft silky touch, Fluttershy put all her feelings and hopes of last days in, made Alex’s head spin. He couldn’t resist the impulse and sincerely returned the treatment, despite the faint painful thought of possible disaster, if he was to leave her someday.

        After a while Fluttershy calmed down, her heart wasn’t now jumping out of her chest, as he could feel, but she tightened her grip nevertheless. Alex held her breathing evenly and snuggling into his chest, and slowly floated to the land of dreams.

        *

        In the morning Fluttershy kissed him lightly, as usual before heading to the bathroom he just left. She didn’t remember the midnight kiss or, perhaps, thought, it was a part of her dreams. Thus she didn’t blush more than usually, when he returned the gesture, kissing her on the nose.

        The knock at the front door sounded like a strike of fate. Leaving her breakfast Fluttershy headed to answer. Alex was able to see only her from his place, but not those behind the door. Yet by the look of Fluttershy’s ears flattening and her telling something barely audibly to somepony outside, he realized, that Luna was right and problems were only starting.

        Then Fluttershy stepped aside and Alex saw Twilight entering the house. He was about to relax, but the next phrase confirmed his worst suspicions.

        “Morning, Alex!” Twilight nodded slightly. Alex noticed that she wasn’t happy about the ongoing situation. “I’m afraid, it’s time to go… Princess Celestia wants to see you and she sent guards and the transport.”

        “I-I know… about the secrecy… and…” Fluttershy said quietly with tears gathering in her eyes. “B-but… I-I thought… can I?..”

        “Sorry, dear,” Twilight turned to her friend. “I asked princess, but she was firm about that – the audience will be confidential. Only I can attend…”

        “B-but am I not the closest witness?” Fluttershy asked a bit louder and a lot more confident, making both Alex and Twilight share a surprised look.

        “I’m sorry, Fluttershy, I’m really sorry,” repeated Twilight. “I’ll try to talk you through later, but now we really need to go.”

        “Transport?” Alex remembered her words meanwhile. “What transport?”

        “Balloon,” simply dropped Twilight over the shoulder, while hugging Fluttershy, who was sobbing on her chest.

        Alex’s eyes dilated with terror.

        “No bucking way you mean, we will be flying… to Canterlot!” Alex wished that he passed the breakfast today. “No. Bucking. Way! I probably mentioned that I’m acrophobic. Nothing to be proud about, but c’est la vie… And that means, I’m bucking afraid of heights, Twilight! Flights hardly excluded.”

        “Alex!” Twilight released Fluttershy and tried to reason. “We have no other way. Magic can’t be cast on you, especially teleportation spells, who knows what this may result in. And the train is not an option.”

        “What, in the name of Equestria?” she turned to the door, attracted by some noise from outside.

        Alex stepped closer and saw two guards, preventing Rarity from coming inside.

        “Hi, Alex! Hi, girls,” she waved her hoof. “Those brutes tried to hold me. Hooves back! I’m not breaking through!”

        “Twilight, darling, could you please tell those… diamond dogs to keep their paws away?” Rarity pleaded, while both guards snorted angrily. “I came to bring Alex more clothes, as I just finished with them. And they were not letting me in.”

        One of the guards grabbed her saddle bag and quickly searched through it. Another muttered:

        “No worries, he will be given all he needs.”

        “Your Highness!” reported the Pegasus, which checked the bag. “Nothing dangerous, only those rags!”

        “RAGS!!!” Rarity seemed to become even taller. Alex thought that she would kick the guard’s ass in a totally non-lady-like manner in a moment, but Twilight quickly approached her and whispered something in her ear.

        Rarity huffed, but calmed down a bit. Alex turned to Fluttershy in such a way he shielded her from others’ eyes with his back. He kneeled then to her eye level and stroked her mane. She looked into his eyes and tears, filling her turquoise lakes, made his heart drop like a rock. Alex leaned to her and kissed her shortly, but exactly the same way as last night.

        “I’ll return. I’ll return, even if Celestia has a way to send me back. I won’t leave like that…” promised he, not giving her time to wonder about his kiss.

        Fluttershy sniffed and Alex spotted two tears falling on the floor. He hugged her, then quickly got up, took Rarity’s saddle bag with clothes and nodded to Twilight, showing he is ready. Almost…

        Rarity raised on her hind legs and squeezed Alex with her fore legs, giving him that funny and cute puppy look again. Alex stroked her mane and kissed on her nose.

        “Thanks for all, Rarity! I still hope, I can repay you somehow…”

        Walking on the grass Alex looked back to see Rarity comforting Fluttershy, who was crying in the doorway of her cottage. The guards headed to lilac and pink striped menace and Alex felt as his confidence, if there was any in the first place, melted with each step closer to the balloon. When he approached and put his hand on the edge of the gondola, his entire self was literally shaking and his pupils narrowed to pinprick size. Alex could hear the noise of blood in his ears, he was almost fainting. As embarrassing as it was, but he could do nothing about that.

        “I just can’t…” he whispered in Twilight’s ear. “Call me a bucking coward, but I’m always dying… a little, when I face height.”

        “Close your eyes, Alex,” Twilight’s voice was sympathetic yet firm. “Now breathe… Do you still have the bag with your clothes?”

        “What? Here it is,” Alex held up the bag, with his eyes still closed, releasing the edge of the gondola.

        With a gentle nudge Twilight quickly pushed him inside, she and both guards followed. She closed the door, while Alex simply curled in the corner, sitting on the floor and holding his knees. He opened his eyes and looked up to Twilight. Perhaps he wanted to perform a flaming gaze of righteous wrath, but in the given circumstances he could only give out a rabbit facing a constrictor look.

        “I’m sorry, Alex,” Twilight leaned to him and patted his shoulder, Alex twitched like from electric shock. “At least you’re in. Don’t stand up and look outside and you’ll be OK.”

        The dreading balloon raised up in the air meanwhile. Alex was unsure, if it was the gondola waving naturally or the whole world around him dancing some mad dance and noticeably darkening, as his fear attack wasn’t going to release him.

        “Look,” Twilight smiled. “Even if anything happens, we three can catch you easily.”

        She couldn’t say though, if Alex understood her properly, or if that made his condition a tiny bit better. All the sounds reached Alex’s hearing muffled, like through the water. He almost turned to stone in his corner. Though when Twilight leaned over the edge to check where they were, he barely held himself from shrieking madly and grabbing her leg to drag her back to the bottom of the gondola.

        “Did you always suffer from that?” Twilight asked and after a whole minute Alex nodded, almost convulsively.

        “We could try to do something with your phobia later, Alex,” she was thinking aloud. “When you are done with that investigation. I could try to help you with some psychology techniques I’ve read about.”

        According to Alex’s expression, he was hardly sharing her enthusiasm, evidently, everything he could think about at that moment, was the plain ground only. Twilight sighed and looked into the sky, when she heard some noise from him. She turned to Alex and finally heard that he whispered, almost breathed out like an old scratched vinyl.

        “I… I sincerely hope this is my first and last flight ever. Cough…”

        *

        Twilight gave Alex a few minutes to recompose, when they landed directly near the Castle entrance and Alex crawled out of the gondola. He realized how pathetic he looked at the moment, but was incapable to overpower himself about that. Both guards snickered quietly behind their backs. Naturally, pegasi couldn’t imagine, how somepony could be afraid of height and flights, when one didn’t need to fly on his own even, being carried by some transport. But they shut up and straightened, when Twilight gazed at them angrily over her shoulder.

        Leaning on her Alex walked a few yards, before his body realized, he wasn’t in the air, and started acting normally again. Fortunately, the appointment was planned on the first floor and Alex felt better after getting up the stairs with Twilight.

        They walked through a long corridor with guards, standing in pairs in each arc, and approached the large double doors leading to the hall. Alex thought that if Celestia wanted to intimidate him, then the flight itself was more than enough, but evidently, that was just a part of the protocol, which she chose to stick to in letter in his case. Wondering what this could speak about, Alex waited behind the doors, while Twilight entered the hall.

        After a few minutes the guards opened the doors for him and Alex stepped into the new room on the red carpet, running from the doors to the other side of the hall with a familiar elevation. The two thrones were occupied by Celestia and Luna, Twilight sat slightly aside to the left of them.

        “You may approach, Alex the human!” Celestia’s voice rolled across the hall and Alex wondered, how it could be that soft and loud at once.

        He had no idea how to greet the princesses, as naturally Alex never met one before officially. He contacted Twilight and Luna on friendly terms only. So he decided to follow the examples, he saw in historical movies, just in case. When Alex approached the elevation, he noticed that Twilight was looking at him slightly nervous, like a teacher could look at her student facing the final exam. Luna was calm and distant, yet he noticed her eyes smiling. She winked barely noticeably and Alex felt that it wasn’t going to be that bad perhaps. He didn’t look at Celestia yet, but decided to lower to one knee and bow, looking down instead.

        “Luna, haven’t you met the human already?” snorted Celestia in half voice. “I see he prefers to stick to old-fashioned style.”

        “No, wherefore should I?” Luna was an epitome of tranquility. “Besides, Tia, I’m not making our subjects fall flat and speaking in Royal Canterlot voice to those folk for quite a while, thou knowest.”

        “Excellent! You may rise, Alex,” Celestia aimed her attention on his humble person.

        Alex got up, noticing that the princess stood on her hooves as well. She went down the elevation and closer to him, making Alex realize how large Celestia was. Undoubtedly she was stunningly beautiful with her slender white coated body, elegant posture, lush flowing pink-turquoise-green mane and tail, big bright eyes with long eyelashes. But she was noticeably bigger than her sister, let alone Twilight or any other ponies he knew. Perhaps bigger than common adult horses back on Earth. Her wings were tightly folded, but Alex imagined that while spread they appeared quite a look. And her horn was a serious weapon on its own, even not mentioning the magic.

        The princess trotted around him, slowly examining from all the sides, like trying to feel, if there was something wrong or dangerous about him. Then she towered over him again. Celestia leaned closer, making her eyes look directly into Alex’s. Her older sister status was obvious, despite her beauty and grace. No subtle wrinkles in the corners of the eyes, no other stupid… “earth” stuff, she was fresh and divine, but her glance, full of experience and wisdom, and the whole expression, told Alex at once that even if she ended being on his side, she wouldn’t become a factor to easily ignore ever.

        ‘I have nothing to hide,’ said Alex to himself and returned the look openly and calmly, despite her eyes seemed to look through his entire soul to the bottom. ‘Well, nothing dangerous for them.’

        “Hmph!” Celestia nodded to some of her thoughts with a tiny smile, which made her face brighten suddenly, and returned to her throne, where she placed herself with comfort. Alex took a breath inwardly, it seemed he made a nice impression at least visually.

        “So, Alex the human,” Celestia glanced at him from above. “I want you to tell us the whole story of your arrival to Equestria. Tell, as you can remember it, but mention every detail you remember, regardless if you find it non important.”

        “If only I knew where to start…” muttered Alex to himself. He decided to tell about his work-related trip first, then going into necessary details of the sudden storm and the car crash. When he reached the thunderstorm part, princess Luna suddenly stopped him and asked.

        “Art thou sure, Alex, that the storm was neither in prognosis, nor had natural predictors? To put it simple, was ‘t arrant random?”

        “To me it was, your highness,” confirmed Alex. “There were no visible symptoms of it to start, right till it started actually.”

        He noticed, how Luna shared a meaningful glance with her sister, and Celestia nodded barely visible. Puzzled, why the storm was so important to them, Alex continued his story. It took about half an hour in entirety, as he shortly mentioned all the aspects: his wandering around the old castle, his “race” with manticore, cockatrice incident and the rest of the trip to the point he was hit by a timberwolf at the attempt to defend Fluttershy.

        When he mentioned manticore Twilight gasped and put the hoof over her mouth, he didn’t tell her about dangerous encounters on his road to Ponyville, as he considered them to be of low importance at that moment. At the mentioning of cockatrice Twilight became very pale and Alex remembered, how Fluttershy told him that her friend had a special fear for them and all the snakes in general. Both other princesses were surprised a bit by that part of the story, but apparently, the mere fact of his magic resistance explained it. Luna was visibly smiling at the whole image of cockatrice defeat, Celestia though became concerned.

        “… and since that point I can hardly remember, what happened to me, till the moment I woke up in the morning in Fluttershy’s cottage… five days ago,” Alex finished with the moment, when he lost his consciousness after being wounded.

        “Fine!” Celestia’s eyes still examined him. “Since then we were fully informed about everything…”

        Alex felt that it was where uneasy part started. And indeed…

        “… but I have a few questions. And I expect you to answer them with maximum sincerity, Alex.”

        “Yes, your highness.”

        “First of all, what was your vocation, work… special talent in your home world?” Celestia watched him very carefully, perhaps waiting for any signs of hesitation or evasion.

        “Work, princess, people don’t have special talents as ponies do. We learn something, but we alwayscan learn something else,” elaborated Alex. “Certainly, some are more capable of come certain things, but in general we are not destined for some exact mastery.”

        “Answering your question, princess, my work was related to technology. The part of it I haven’t seen in your domain developed much. As I’ve already told Twilight… Excuse me… Princess Twilight Sparkle, my work was in building “thinking machines” and groups of them for solving various tasks, which demanded for vast amounts of calculations in very short periods of time.”

        Alex noticed that Luna was all ears, listening maybe even more carefully than Celestia… but for different reasons, as he supposed.

        “So you’re sure that there was absolutely no connection with magic, any form of it, in your everyday life, right?”

        “Absolutely, princess!” Alex allowed himself a tiny smile. “As far as I know, we, I mean people in general, don’t have any magic at all. And I mean entirely, in the whole world around us… otherwise, someone would have spotted, I suppose. So I’m for sure totally… magic free.”

        “So who is that “Merlin” then, you mention that often, his pants included?” Celestia leaned forward.

        “Oh,” Alex could probably laugh, if the situation wasn’t apparently more than serious. “That’s purely a figure of speech. You see, your highness, people have legends and myths… as well as your subjects, I suppose. So Merlin is a legendary wizard, who supposedly lived long ago. That’s all…”

        “Our legends described, what had its place in reality…” Luna was likely thinking aloud, but she actually said that. Celestia nodded and turned to Alex, as if she was asking him an unvoiced, but not less delicate because of that, question.

        “Our though are the different story,” Alex sighed. “I never came across any evidence that something described in them ever took place actually. Unfortunately…”

        “Why so?” Celestia raised her eyebrow.

        “Your Highness, I personally would never object, if our world contained a tiny bit of magic,” elaborated Alex. “Perhaps life would have been less… boring.”

        He noticed, how warm became Luna’s glance at that moment, and felt slightly more confident.

        “You think so?” Celestia seemed to tick some checkbox in her inner plan of Alex’s personality. “Well, “Merlin” part is a pure coincidence then…”

        “Yes, princess… Unlike Starswirl…”

        Alex realized that it was mentioned too roughly. He was going to touch that subject (of him knowing more about Equestria, than one can learn in a few days, sitting in one house) anyway. Moreover, he was to do that. But this phrase seemed to give an effect of a bomb triggered.

        Of course, Celestia didn’t show the whole tension which built up inside her, but Alex saw how her eyes narrowed and fixated on him in a fraction of a second. Luna was simply shocked, sitting with a slightly open mouth, apparently she considered that as another of his impulsive deeds. Alex couldn’t help noticing that she was very pretty anyway. He could almost feel also, how Twilight stiffened in her armchair. That was the point of his story, they both, him and Twilight, were worried about most of all.

        “I need to explain one thing, your highness,” Alex tried to speak in a calm voice, suppressing all the symptoms of stress, he could. “And that was a great shock for me as well, perhaps even more of a shock for me than it is for you…”

        In the next few minutes Alex described the definition of noosphere and his self-elaborated concept of its impact on knowledge, events and even worlds.

        “This is the only possible and adequate reason of events, which happened to me, and my knowledge therefore, I can find,” concluded Alex.

        He was unsure, if Celestia accepted the concept as at least possible, but definitely, if she was suspicious of him, that only added some oil to the fire.

        “And how much dost thou know?” asked Luna, and Alex thought that she was trying to help him get out of the trap, he put himself in.

        “Not very much, your highness,” Alex turned slightly, showing he was addressing the one, who asked him that question.

        ‘Actually, Fluttershy has told me much more interesting things to think about,’ he said to himself, but obviously didn’t voice it.

        “I know about Nightmare moon, about her attempt to return, about the girls… defeating her and returning your Highness,” he bowed to Luna, noticing that her face turned sad at the mentioning of Nightmare Moon. “I know about Elements of Harmony existence, but don’t know, what they are exactly, I know some names, including mentioned Starswirl and Spike, whom I haven’t yet seen personally. So only what I… well… saw in the movie,” shrugged Alex.

        “Oh, and I simply remembered the path girls followed to the Old Castle, this helped me get directly to Ponyville fast enough,” he turned to Celestia.

        “Fine!” said Celestia, more to herself than to anypony else, after a few moments of deep thinking. “We’ll see then…” She raised her eyes on Alex.

        “At which moment did you realize exactly, where you got?”

        “Umm… In the throne room on the ground floor, I guess,” remembered Alex. “I saw pony armour and statues before, but didn’t make a direct connection at that moment. But when I saw your regal symbol, your Highness… yours and princess’ Luna, I thought, I was about to get insane for a short moment. That moment exactly I realized, I was transferred to Equestria.”

        “Speaking of symbols,” Luna entered the discussion again. “Thou came to Ponyville wrapped in mine regal tapestry. What can thou tell us about that?”

        “Your Highness,” Alex became confused. “I was almost naked…”

        Both princesses downcasted, the pink tint was more visible on Celestia’s white coat than on Luna’s cheeks with her night colours.

        “…when I found myself in the castle tower, so I started freezing eventually. Your tapestry was torn from the wall in the throne room and it was the only intact piece of warm and comfortable cloth, I could find throughout the castle. So I wrapped myself in and fell asleep. If I may add, I tried to keep the banner as safe as I could during my trip to Ponyville.”

        With great relief Alex saw Luna smiling. Celestia still had her questions.

        “Did you spend the whole night in the Old Castle, Alex?”

        “Yes, princess. After I solved my freezing problem, I felt sleepy, besides the realization was too striking and deprived me of remaining strength, so I… got onto a throne… and passed out almost immediately till the morning, when sunlight woke me up.”

        “Wh…”

        “Your sister’s throne, your highness, considering the placement of the tapestries,” Alex predicted the next question and Celestia’s eyes dilated in surprise, while Twilight shrunk in her seat from the inconceivable image – a commoner sleeping on the princess’ throne.

        Alex threw a quick glance at Luna to see her eyes warmed and a strange expression appeared on her face. Celestia huffed disapprovingly, but commented nothing. Instead of that, she continued after a second.

        “Have you noticed something unusual about yourself, since you got to Equestria? Were you always that fast regenerating? As far as I know, your wound was serious enough, yet it took you three-four days to recover. Show your wound… please.”

        With a frown and a sigh Alex took off the shirt and turned his right side to the observers, raising his arm. There was a visible scar yet, but considering that only a week passed since there was an open wound, the result was impressive indeed. Alex slid the shirt back, noticing that at least one of the princesses examined him too fixedly.

        “I noticed and I’ve been told,” he forcedly confessed. “No, people never regenerate that fast normally, neither they are magic resistant or… other stuff I was said I was capable of. I never experienced that, when I was at home, I mean faster regeneration, as we don’t have magic. So I can only suppose that has something to do with my transfer itself…”

        “Your Highness, princess Celestia,” Twilight finally said something. She thought that it was time to slightly shift the direction of the conversation and lessen the stress, though she wasn’t sure that she was going to suggest the proper specialist for that.

        “Yes, Twilight?” Celestia looked at her bright student.

        “I thought that we could use an opinion extra about Alex’s magic resistance,” quietly suggested Twilight. “I mean…”

        Celestia rolled her eyes. She knew that it was almost inevitable, yet wanted to believe they could manage without…

        “Discord…” called Twilight.

        With a loud click, dragonequus appeared in the hall. He sported glasses, an apron, a cooking spatula and held a cookbook in one of his different-caliber paws.

        “Twilight,” grumpily started Discord. “How offhandedly of you to drag me here like that. I was just making myself a breakfast. I guess that last pancake goes to Tartarus…” he pouted.

        “Oh, Celly, Luna, you’re here as well,” he added in a second, pretending that he just noticed the princesses and was overly surprised by that. “And our young guest, he-he,” he looked at Alex over the shoulder.

        “Why don’t you ever stop your clownery, Discord?” Celestia was obviously not happy to be called “Celly” as well as to see Discord generally. “Can you be serious just as an exclusion?”

        “I’m always serious, Celly,” Discord ignored her frown completely. “That’s just another degree of “serious” than others accept.”

        Luna quietly snorted. Alex looked at that newcomer with wide open eyes. He didn’t see Discord in person, yet heard about him. Of course, that mix of different species’ traits in one creature could appear shocking, but Alex remembered that he decided to not get surprised somewhere in the Old Castle already.

        “Hmpf…” Celestia wasn’t the one to be easily distracted. “Twilight thinks that you can add something valuable to our understanding of the human’s magic resistance problem.”

        “Problem?” muttered Discord barely audibly. “For whom is it a problem?”

        “Yeah,” he cocked his head, but the sly sparkles danced in his eyes. “I had a chance to see our guest… Alex… right?.. a bit earlier.”

        Alex thought that Discord had a special entertainment of teasing Celestia whenever possible. He wasn’t sure, if this type of “advocate” could make his case easier.

        Meanwhile, the dragonequus continued.

        “Well, I doubt you want to listen to the whole boring chain of my assumptions, Celly. So I limit my testing of your patience to the conclusions only.”

        “So… Alex is indeed magic resistant, thus any magic applied to him directly does nothing to him… Oh, I’m sorry, better say it does nothing planned to him, as I’m sure there is some magical impact anyway, but the caster doesn’t decide,” he got silent, giving others time to catch the idea.

        “Doth thou mean, that something… still decides?” Luna broke the silence.

        “In a way,” nodded Discord. “You see, if you apply a spell, for example, a healing one, on Alex, you won’t get his wounds immediately healing as you want, but instead of that the magic is used somehow to change him, giving him unpredictable abilities.”

        “Are you going to say,” gasped Twilight. “That my healing spell attempt caused his regeneration boost practically?”

        “Perhaps,” Discord scratched the back of his head. “But your spell was hardly the first magic impact he experienced. I doubt he travelled to Equestria on foot. But that all drags us away from the main direction…”

        “In addition to that,” Discord corrected his glasses, folded his fore paws and took the mentor’s tone, completely forgetting that the apron and the spatula brought an extremely comic look to that. “The human is able to drain magic force from the active caster until the connection is broken somehow.”

        “Which instantly makes him dangerous,” Celestia wasn’t going to give up her positions easily.

        “Not more than a fork, unless you stick it into your muzzle,” retorted Discord, looking fixedly at the princess of the Sun.

        “Besides, he is completely unable to cast magic himself, thus corresponding to common human abilities, but…”

        “But?” Celestia raised her eyebrow.

        “This is purely my assumption,” Discord waved his fore paw. “But I think that every purely negative… It is when you want to harm Alex,” he winked. “Every purely negative spell is reflected and turned to the caster, but in the most unpredictable way, so I doubt he is doing it consciously as well.”

        And before anypony could say a word, Discord suggested enthusiastically.

        “If you don’t mind, I could conduct an experiment… to show you, so to speak, clearly.”

        “Discord!” Celestia raised her voice. “No jokes, do you understand?”

        “Oh, drop it, Celly. If anypony is risking here, it’s me,” falsely pouted Discord.

        “So…” he then turned to Alex, scratching his chin.

        Alex was going to say that he was exactly the one, whom they forgot to ask, and that he wasn’t ready for the… experiments, when Discord clicked his long fingers.

        To Alex’s relief nothing happened to him in the next moment, but… a giant frying pan appeared out of the thin air and smacked the place, exactly where Discord… was a fraction of second before. He teleported right in time to avoid the hit and now appeared a few feet aside. Obviously he was ready to some reaction alike, otherwise, he could hardly avoid the “attack”, so quick it was.

        “You see,” Discord produced a happy smile showing his single fang. “All I was going to do, was to give Alex deer horns… temporarily of course. But… as you could see, it was interpreted as an attack and… I was lucky to avoid the repay.”

        “Obviously, the reaction was completely random,” he turned to princesses, who sat like frozen, unsure if what they saw was utterly strange, mental or funny. “Well, unless it was somehow connected to my breakfast plans… but that’s too weird to assume even for me.”

        “I’m not sure, what I just saw,” started Luna…

        “Yet he is unable to cast magic consciously,” interrupted her Discord. He quickly reached the small table with a jar of water and glasses near Twilight, filled one glass and returned to Alex. Then he simply poured the water on Alex, making sure, what he was going to do to be obvious. “You see now? He surely could have shielded with magic, if he was able to,” concluded Discord with a sly smile.

        Alex simply had no words, he gritted his teeth and popped the knuckles… But then he realized that the whole situation was utterly hilarious. Besides, it was a tie, to be frank.

        “Sorry, pal, that was necessary,” said Discord and patted Alex’s back. Then he added barely audibly, so only Alex could hear. “For your own sake. Because I know Celestia…”

        Alex then noticed that Luna looked at him with pure sympathy and he thought that, damn it, he could bear a couple of glasses more if necessary.

        “Let me sum it up,” suddenly Discord’s tone became very serious. “I believe that there is now more in Alex than in a common human somehow. You most likely can’t do anything with him with magic, besides risking a certain reaction, if you try. You can, of course, harm him physically, despite his faster regeneration. But,” he made a meaningful pause. “Even if you destroy him physically, I believe you won’t be able to destroy everything, what… he now “contains”. And I’m not going to predict, how what remains will develop and which consequences it will bring… without its human part,” Discord narrowed his eyes, looking at Celestia specifically.

        Silence crawled in the hall, while everypony digested the latest words.

        “I have nothing to add, ladies and gentlecolts,” Discord theatrically spread his fore paws. “With that, if you don’t mind, I’m leaving…”

        “Hey,” exclaimed Celestia. “Before you go, care to take that with you,” she pointed at the giant pan on the floor.

        “Can’t help here, Celly. That’s his frying pan…” Discord pointed at Alex and vanished with a click of his fingers.

        “What a…” Celestia gritted her teeth, while Luna giggled quietly. “So, can you get rid of that… Alex?”

        “I admire your sense of humour, your Highness,” said Alex quite grumpily. “But as it was stated, I can’t do magic… on purpose at least. So I can’t remove it. And I want to be frank with you, I felt nothing at the moment of that… show. So I’m not entirely sure, if that’s not Discord’s frying pan actually.”

        Alex realized that he didn’t make it easier for himself with that confession, but he decided to play fair till the end. The idea that he somehow materialized a… well… whatever to react on somepony’s “attack” seemed completely impossible for him.

        Celestia apparently wasn’t sure as well. She remembered about the “seeker” and told herself that they didn’t approach the question of Alex’s connection to them or its absence in the slightest yet. She was going to ask two last questions which were important to her.

        “Were you alone while transferred to Equestria, Alex? Moreover were you alone when you found yourself in the Old Castle? At least how did you feel?”

        Alex was utterly surprised by that, how he saw it, strange question, but he answered sincerely.

        “Yes, your highness. I was completely alone. I gave the girl to her mother before the car was hit by the lightning, and I found myself all alone in the tower. Neither I saw anyone… or anypony, while looking for the castle exit.”

        “And the last question…”

        Alex felt as his heart shrank in his chest in concern that he could do better than he did already, when Celestia looked him directly into the eyes and asked softly.

        “What did you want most of all, the moment you realized, where you got? What do you want most of all now?”

        “I wanted to get home, that is Earth, my mother world,” Alex thought that it was the easiest question for today, moreover for his entire life maybe. “Nothing changed, I still want the same!”

        Celestia seemed to be satisfied at least with this answer, somehow understanding that it was completely sincere. Yet Alex spotted a faint shadow which ran over Luna’s face with his last words.

        A few minutes of silence passed, Alex stood still, hoping with all his heart, he still had the chance to return. Celestia looked seemingly in the distant space, as she was making some decision.

        “Alex the human,” she said finally and Alex involuntarily twitched, like electrocuted. “Here is what I decided regarding you. I suppose you understand that according to conditions given, I can’t send you to your home world right away.”

        Alex considered that variant, yet having it pronounced he felt like if he was hit by that giant frying pan, which still was laying on the floor.

        “I need to investigate the possible means to send you back,” continued Celestia meanwhile. “IF there are any. Besides I need to investigate your arrival more thoroughly. For the time being you will remain in Canterlot.”

        “Moreover, we need to study your nature and abilities better, to make sure neither your stay in Equestria, nor departure could harm us all,” she nailed the coffin. “So we need to take some analysis and carry a few experiments, not of the random nature Discord did. Don’t worry, Alex, nothing detrimental to your health.”

        A nasty feeling of the ground parting under his feet and throwing him into abyss visited Alex. Not only he was stuck here for an undefined period, but he was going to enter another, tighter, lockout, than his previous one. And in addition to the joy, he was going to become a subject of some bucking experiments.

        “Why don’t you just kick me out of your world back? You, who are able to move a star!” thought Alex angrily. “Not making me a guinea pig for pony science!”

        “Kick me out, of course!” the idea came suddenly and looked so simple and elegant to Alex. “Unpredictability is a key to success, that’s what someone like Discord could say,” Alex smirked maniacally.

        Before anypony could say or do something, he quickly got onto the elevation with the thrones and approached Celestia, who was sitting, apparently caught off guard by his impulsive act.

        Alex then leaned to the princess of the Sun, put both hands on her silky cheeks and… placed a delicate, but firm, very affectionate kiss on her soft lips. He watched how Celestia first squeezed her eyes shut in shock, then her eyes opened wide and the sparkles of wrath lighted inside, as he kept tasting her lips. Obviously, that took only a moment, so she didn’t have time to react.

        Alex released the embarrassed and angry alicorn with pink spots on her cheeks and took a step back.

        “Just not to the moon, please…” he muttered quite audibly. Luna, whose eyes were competing in size with sister’s, gasped or snorted, he couldn’t tell for sure. Alex knew that it was a pure gesture of despair, a lame, perhaps, attempt to go for broke.

        Celestia put her hoof on his chest, it wasn’t a strike, yet the hit was quite palpable, so Alex stepped back a couple of steps, feeling a dull pain in his ribs. She was probably going to incinerate him with her wrath, not thinking about his new abilities at all, but after a moment her muscles relaxed, and the princess gave him an unexpectedly bright smile.

        “Roughly working you are, Alex”, Celestia was obviously having fun of that crude manipulation attempt.

        Alex sighed inwardly, but couldn’t hold his tongue this time. Celestia always played her subjects like chessmen, even including the girls sometimes. Mostly to their benefit finally, but she could definitely think about the feelings more. Alex was sure that even if somepony could reproach him for manipulating, that wasn’t her.

        “Well, as I’m not going to the moon apparently, then I could only hope, I can learn something, watching your royal highness around. I’m not that confident to imagine that you could want such a student for more sophisticated mentoring.”

        The larger strike was shielded down, but it seemed that this wasp sting found its aim. Alex noticed how Celestia’s lips twitched slightly, while she was keeping the face. That was a tiny bit harder though this time, and he saw that, giving out a little fake kind smile.

        The quick glance to the left confirmed his suspicion about the sounds, he was hearing – Luna tried her best not to burst out laughing and subtly put her hoof over her mouth, her shoulders shook quite visibly though.

        The whole thing was apparently enough for Celestia.

        “You know, Alex, you’re extremely lucky, there are no accidental witnesses of your… impudent act,” her eyes were glowing. “And take it as an early gift, I’m not kicking your butt. Otherwise, it stays as I stated. The guards will escort you to your… room.”

        Alex bowed theatrically, backing off the elevation. A quick glance on two other princesses told him that Luna wasn’t sure to laugh at the situation or to scold him for being an unjustifiably risky hay head. Twilight seemed to be still frozen from the shock and Alex winked at her, noticing how she twitched, but at least unfroze.

        *

        Two pegasi guards escorted Alex to his new place, he preferred to refer to it like that, despite he realized that it would be rather a cell, ward or anything else of that kind. To be frank, he wasn’t restrained, tied, etc, and that gave tiny hope that he wasn’t still a prisoner, at least formally. But the circumstances said otherwise. By fact, he was a prisoner, first of all, the prisoner of his alien status here, in the land of sentient ponies.

        They got to the ground floor, exited the castle and crossed the wide space between it and a white inconspicuous building within the castle complex boundaries. It wasn’t obvious, if it was a prison or some scientific facility, but to Alex’s relief it reminded him of the hospital most of all when they entered. But he told himself that it was very shortsighted to relax yet, while the guards handed… or better say hoofed him over to a unicorn stallion in a lab coat. At first, that could look like a gesture of trust, but Alex noticed that the facility was unobtrusively guarded inside, and he was sure that somepony constantly kept their eyes on it outside as well.

        Another guard carefully examined his clothes and bag and concluded that there was nothing, the human could take with him not. Then his new guide brought him to a room with a single bed, chair, table, window and locker. The window was fairly small and blocked by metal bars, so it was technically a cell. Alex sighed, but at least they didn’t deprive him of fresh air and the daylight.

        The small door led to the bathroom. Alex smirked, now he was given a personal comfortable prison cell, what a treat. He remembered the proverb that everything was best known in comparison and inwardly scolded himself of being unsatisfied with at least partial lockout at Fluttershy’s house. Now he was completely, royally locked.

        The “medic”, as Alex called for himself, stallion didn’t name himself, but simply stated that Alex could keep his clothes for the most of time, but when he was to be taken for “tests”, he should change to the lab clothes, he could find in the locker. Alex sadly nodded. The unicorn then left, activating some magical barrier, which blocked the room entrance, still allowing to see what happened inside.

        “Great!” thought Alex, getting a dry shirt from the bag and changing. “That’s bucking great! Now I’m like a butterfly on a pin.”

        He then dried his hair after Discord’s “experiment” with the towel, he could find in the small bathroom and left the wet shirt there. Completely out of ideas, Alex sat on the bed and stared at the opposite wall.

                    “So, what do you think about that, Luna?” asked Celestia, when after a short casual conversation Twilight left.

        “About what exactly, Tia?” Luna seemed to emerge from the deep dive of thinking.

        “About the whole story, from the very start.”

        “Well, if thou wanteth mine insight, I must say first that it seems nearly impossible to me that Alex was connected to the… “seekers” or some other evil, at least deliberate one,” supposed Luna. “Given the circumstances in his home world, he got transferred within.”

        “That’s if we take them as granted,” noted Celestia. “As we have yet nothing, except his own words.”

        Luna bit her tongue, she wasn’t going to tell about the dreams connection between them yet.

        “Perhaps,” she said instead. “But I thought thou hast noticed that he was sincere most likely, as thou can feel that oft.”

        “That’s right,” Celestia admitted unwillingly. “My experience said he wasn’t lying in key aspects, but not all the parts of the image combine yet.”

        “Didst thou think not, that might be, because that gent didn’t know everything about himself yet? I doubt that travelling between realms was his common leisure.”

        “Speaking of which, have you noticed the similarities between the storm he got into and the one we watched the night he arrived?” Celestia preferred to change the subject.

        “I did, Tia. Methinks the lightning was just a… following effect of a magical portal. According to mine knowledge of the matter, that could happen, if thither was no exact aim of the portal at which hour it was created. So thither was no actual warp.”

        “Like if somepony wasn’t sure what or whom they were going to transfer, or if they transfer those at all, until the last moment they targeted Alex,” Celestia caught what her sister was going to say. “And all this with most likely some ancient elemental magic. Considering… Earth has no magic, as he claims at least.”

        “More or less so, Tia,” Luna nodded.

        “Well, that tells us only one thing definitely then,” Celestia raised one hoof to her chin. “That his arrival was least accidental.”

        “Somepony planned his arrival and had a certain goal to reach with the human presence,” she elaborated.

        “Did you notice, how fixated was Discord of us not doing any harm to the human?” Celestia suddenly asked.

        Luna shrugged.

        “Perhaps, thou art overreacting, Tia. Discord might genuinely believe in what he said, that Alex was needed…”

        “Which makes me think, if Discord is exactly the one, who brought him here for some sort of his weird plan,” muttered Celestia. “I know he was reformed, but… Discord is Discord. What he sees as a joke, may appear a disaster for others.”

        “Besides, I couldn’t ignore certain similarities in the human behaviour,” huffed she. “In particular his impudence and impulsiveness.”

        Luna gave out a small smile.

        “I haven’t seen that thou wast very much angry with Alex pulling his trick. Was it that bad?”

        “Oh, come on, sister,” Celestia rolled her eyes. “I mean it wasn’t that bad, but the whole situation… Oh!..”

        She blushed and looked aside, while Luna quietly snickered.

 

---

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[Alexshy 14,709]

8. Important lessons

 

        Twilight preferred to teleport to the path near Fluttershy’s cottage, instead of using the balloon or flying on her own to Ponyville. Lately, becoming an alicorn, teleportation spells became easier for her and she preferred to practice them at every occasion possible. Besides she wasn’t still an experienced flyer, like for example Rainbow Dash. And using a balloon would take too much time to get back, Twilight wasn’t going to waste any.

        She then trotted to the front door and knocked. Normally she would simply transfer herself into Flutters’ living room, but today Twilight thought that a more careful approach was more than necessary.

        The door opened and Twilight saw that it was Rarity, who answered. Twilight trotted inside with a thankful nod and looked for Fluttershy. Evidently, both girls were sitting in the kitchen. Rarity preferred to stay to support her best friend, when Alex and Twilight left to Canterlot. When Twilight returned, they were talking. Well, Rarity was trying to talk Fluttershy out of the depressive mood, the latter entered after the human departure, while Fluttershy was simply sitting at the table, laying her head on her fore hooves.

        Rarity put a kettle on the stove already and, when Twilight arrived, she was exactly going to make Fluttershy a good cup of hot, sweet, strong tea. Which she did exactly, putting the cup in front of her sad friend, who looked seemingly aeons away.

        Twilight trotted past Fluttershy and quietly addressed Rarity.

        “Is she like that since morning?” she asked barely audible and pointed with her eyes only to their friend.

        “Yes, more or less, darling,” nodded Rarity taking the kettle with her magic again. “Tea or coffee, Twi?”

        “I won’t refuse a cup of the strongest tea you can manage, Rarity,” Twilight tiredly lowered herself on the chair next to Fluttershy. Then she leaned to her and stroked her fore leg slightly.

        “I tried to talk her out of that,” whispered Rarity in Twilights ear while pouring her a cup. “But to no avail. She keeps thinking that she could do better and avoid this morning stuff happening,” Rarity rolled her eyes meaningfully.

        “Oh…” Twilight took thought, how to put it better. Then she turned to Fluttershy and stroked her a bit again.

        “Fluttershy, dear, we couldn’t do anything else. You couldn’t do otherwise.”

        “I still doubt…” said Fluttershy quietly, but she at least focused on Twilight. “I keep thinking that all should have been done differently, sorry.”

        “What exactly could be done differently?” Twilight’s voice was soft, yet determined. “We followed Celestia’s orders.”

        “Exactly,” muttered Fluttershy. “Perhaps we shouldn’t inform the princess about Alex in the first place…”

        “I mean, what did we risk then?” added she, while Rarity simply dropped her jaw and even Twilight couldn’t suppress the surprised look, watching her usually timid friend saying that. “He was clearly not dangerous. No way I would believe he could do any harm to anypony. It’s like avoiding apple trees for life, because you shook one once and an apple hit your head. With the exception, in that case, it didn’t do even that.”

        “We-e-e-ell…” Twilight cleared her throat, when she coped with the first shock. “Even if we imagine that I could give you a hoof, and you needed my help with Alex, you can’t deny…”

        Fluttershy nodded. She just noticed the cup of tea in front of her and took a small sip.

        “Thank you, Rarity.”

        “…even if we imagine that,” continued Twilight. “And that thereafter I covered an alien, who got to Equestria nopony knew how and for which reasons, living in your house… It’s a hard task to imagine that, if you ask me. So even IF… What would you do then, Fluttershy?”

        “What do you mean?” Fluttershy glanced at her.

        “Would you leave him here, in your house? You surely wouldn’t be able to lock him due to all the reasons, including your kindness and him being a rightful sentient being. So somepony would notice anyway sooner or later. Naturally freaked out and reported him to the authorities, which finally means Celestia. But did that in panic instead,” Twilight took a breath. “Or even worse, after some accident with the human involving magic. Would he be treated better than now in that case?”

        “Or you would heal his wounds and release him into the wild, Fluttershy,” added Twilight after a moment of silence. “But he was not an animal. Where would he go then? He had nowhere to go here in Equestria… and nopony to trust, except us… and the princesses, even if you think otherwise. I doubt it would be a way out, Fluttershy. I’m sorry, but I need to say that.”

        “Twilight is right, darling,” Rarity approached Fluttershy from the other side and hugged her, quietly telling her that. “Princess Celestia tries to solve his problem at least, while we all have no means of doing that.”

        “Yeah, you’re right, you both are right, girls,” sighed Fluttershy after a minute of thinking. “I’m just convinced that the things are going not… quite like they should. He didn’t deserve all that, if you ask me… I mean it’s not him who sneaked to Equestria on purpose, right?”

        “Besides, I… don’t want him to leave,” she whispered barely audible, but Twilight still heard her.

        “That’s another story, pal,” Twilight leaned to Fluttershy and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Believe me I understand you, both you and Rarity,” she whispered in her ear. “Despite Rarity’s reaction was and still is a bit striking to me.”

        “I still think that his departure was way too rushed and… well, it was harsh, Twi,” noted Rarity, making Twilight wonder, if she heard something still. “I know, you could do nothing… but, darling, it looked like you packed him and dragged away like some criminal.”

        “Yeah, I know,” Twilight downcasted her eyes. “But the audience was set…”

        “Look, girls,” she exclaimed. “I have other, and let me say, more important concerns.”

        She was granted with the attentive glance of two pairs of eyes of her friends. Fluttershy seemingly was ready for anything, supposing that the worst was already done – namely taking “her human” from her. Rarity lowered herself on the free chair, not trying to conceal her worries anymore and readying herself to another portion of bad news, and said.

        “Don’t tell, he is a prisoner now literally.”

        Twilight wrinkled her nose at the thought how randomly, yet correctly Rarity got the actual impact of princess’ orders on Alex’s feelings.

        “Let me tell you, what I saw and heard, and then…” Twilight decided to allow herself to disagree with her mentor in regards of informing her friends. She was sure that at least Fluttershy should know. And apparently… telling Rarity would do no harm either. To her honour Rarity didn’t spill a word to a random pony from her numerous customers, ever since she became involved in their human-related secrets. “… and then tell me, if my concerns are justified.”

        She told the girls about the audience briefly, but mentioning all the necessary details.

        “Huh, Discord in his usual repertoire,” both her friends couldn’t hold a smile, when Twilight mentioned the episode with the frying pan.

        “But at the very least it was graphical enough, darling, wasn’t it?” Rarity still chuckled.

        “And then Discord took a glass of water,” continued Twilight. “And poured it on Alex, saying that if Alex could do magic, he would certainly avoid the… shower.”

        “Ugh, there is still enough of his ill manners in him,” Rarity frowned instantly, while Fluttershy said that it was weird, but simple way to demonstrate his correctness.

        To Rarity’s surprise, Twilight sided with Flutters.

        “It could look like revenge indeed,” she said. “But he did it on purpose, making sure Alex knew what was going to follow. I think, he really wanted to make Celestia took Alex less seriously than she could, thus cutting him some slack.”

        “I could suspect Discord doing that in hope of the opposite reaction,” Twilight added thoughtfully. “But… he looked and sounded sincerely concerned about his words getting through. Finally, he literally warned Celestia against making rushed decisions, let alone actions regarding the human.”

        “I wonder,” she muttered. “If that didn’t make the princess consider exactly opposite though.”

        Twilight knew about Celestia’s attitude towards Discord and her inability to change it in the nearest observable future.

        “Frankly speaking,” Twilight smirked. “We three were… kinda stunned during that… experiment. And I couldn’t watch everypony, but… I noticed that princess Luna was about to smack Discord with that mammoth frying pan, when he poured water on Alex, and something told me, she wouldn’t have missed, if she decided to.”

        She noticed the spear gaze Fluttershy threw at her before “examining” her teacup very fixedly again.

        “Ughhhh! It’s too complicated,” Twilight rubbed her temples. “As usual with Discord.”

        “OK!” she shook her mane. “Let’s not twitch about things, which are out of our power to change anyway. Here we come to my main concern.”

        Twilight made a pause, sipped her tea, like choosing better words, then said.

        “Of course Celestia will look for a possible way to return Alex to his home world, but she is concerned about something about him. She doesn’t tell, but I see her thinking that the puzzle is not complete. She will think about Equestria and us all first.”

        “They will need to make analysis and carry out some experiments,” finally Twilight reached the main point with an embarrassed look on her face. “Medical – to determine his condition and particular qualities and… I’m afraid magical – to determine the reaction and danger level of various magical impacts,” she said, like trying to justify and apologize Celestia’s decision. “That’s inevitable, if she wants to send him back.”

        “I can imagine…” huffed both Fluttershy and Rarity in one voice.

        “Exactly,” Twilight’s ears flattened. “This won’t rub Alex well.”

        “Especially the experiments involving actual unicorns,” she added. “Yet I know that there will be some. And according to what I know about him by simply watching him, listening to you, Fluttershy, and… well… I’m genuinely afraid of him caving in at some point. He is too independent, besides if somepony else suffers… just for the sake of proving something... I truly don’t want this to end with the psychotic human.”

        “Oh, dear!” Rarity put a hoof over her mouth and her pupils became pinprick.

        “What have we done?” Fluttershy hid her face.

        *

        After a short while Twilight told that she had things to attend to and headed home. The girls followed her to the front door.

        “Rarity, won’t you m-mind to stay for a while longer,” asked Fluttershy. “I-if that’s not very harmful… for your work. I-I mean… please. I’m not feeling that I can take it alone…”

        “Well, of course, darling,” Rarity hugged her. “I think my customers can wait a day, when my best friend needs support. Or two days… if necessary.”

        “Do you think, Applejack can take Sweetie Belle for a day, Twilight?” she asked. “I suppose she won’t find us an entertaining company, if I call her to come here, besides Flutters needs a calm evening, which is hardly achievable with my sister.”

        “Don’t worry, Rarity,” Twilight smiled kindly. “I’ll gladly spend an evening with her myself. Besides it would be too much of Cutie Mark Crusaders for Applejack, if we bring the girls together for a whole day.”

        Rarity nodded gratefully and Twilight turned to the door.

        “Oh, Celestia, what is that?” Twilight stumbled, looking at the large dark blue feather on the small table near the door.

        “I have no idea, Twi,” Fluttershy tiredly waved her hoof. “I found that today in our… in the bedroom. That must be Alex bringing it. I put it here not to forget to ask you, if he needed it. Did he?”

        “He didn’t ask…” muttered Twilight still looking on the table with dilated eyes. She knew exactly whom the feather of that size and colour might belong. “Now that’s even more interesting,” she said to herself.

        *

        The cautious knock on the door of Celestia’s study informed her about the lead scientist to come for final instructions.

        “Come on in!” the princess put some papers aside.

        “Your Highness!” the same stallion in a lab coat, who was guiding Alex to his “room”, entered the study and stopped on the carpet at an appropriate distance. “We have everything set up.”

        “Excellent!” Celestia’s eyes shone. “What are your plans exactly?”

        “I suppose we’ll start tomorrow,” the stallion put his hoof to the chin. “It will be reasonable to give him some time to accommodate to the new environment, besides if he manages to sleep well that night, the rest will dissolve the negative impression of finding out, that he will be subjected to the experiments.”

        “Reasonable indeed,” nodded Celestia.

        “Do you want us to add a small dose of sleeping potion to his supper, your highness?” inquired the scientist, then he explained. “We plan purely medical tests tomorrow, that dose will wind out fast, besides we know what to exclude in results. It won’t harm the tests, but may help the subject relax.”

        “That won’t be necessary,” Celestia had her reasons. “We don’t know, if he is able to distinguish anything of such nature. If he is not, this won’t make any vital difference, if he sleeps better. But if he is, that would be definitely detrimental to the whole further work. I don’t want him to trust us even less than he does.”

        “Hmmm… Fairly said, princess,” the scientist agreed.

        “So,” he explained further. “As I said, tomorrow we’ll try to take as many analysis as possible. Purely medical ones. One-two more days, if necessary. We need to know what his body is capable of and how different it is from ours, especially considering what you’ve informed me of. If we want to transfer him or defend from him in case of an unlucky variant, we must know everything.”

        “Then I plan to progress with magic tests gradually. Let’s say, we start with simplest magical artefacts, first passive ones, and see, what reaction it causes. Then active impact and later live interaction of a different kind.”

        Celestia nodded. Then she remembered what bothered her:

        “How did he react to you and the whole situation in general? At least, what did he show?”

        “He is obviously unhappy about his current position, your Highness,” the stallion allowed himself a small understanding smile. “But that was natural. Otherwise, he is fairly calm for a situation like that. As for me personally, I’d say he was indifferent, but I tried to show low interest as well yet.”

        “And I plan to limit his contacts with personnel as much as possible,” he added. “This will leave us certain freedom of action if necessary. Obviously, each experiment will be strictly supervised, but the human doesn’t need to see or know anypony, except me and a couple of nurses yet. This, of course, is not related to another party test subjects, I mean those unicorns, who will interact with the human in the later tests.”

        Celestia raised on her hooves and got to the window, she looked down to the castle grounds for a while, when her collocutor took the liberty to gain her attention again.

        “Your Highness, how would you prefer me to report about the results?” the stallion asked. “Should I report shortly about each day round, or make an extensive report once in a while?”

        “I need the results as soon as possible to use them in my own research,” Celestia closed her eyes, thinking. “Send me a written report about each day. If I am unable to attend any or have any questions, I’ll inform you that I need to talk.”

        “Aye, your Highness! Anything else?”

        “No, I guess, no. You may start preparing for tomorrow tests.”

        But before the stallion bowed and left, Celestia stopped him, raising her hoof.

        “One more thing. I’ve seen his room and… Order, please, to put the simple door from inside, before the magic field. Let’s not tempt the luck,” she said with a tiny smile.

        *

        “Big bro, Ah think that we made the last two furrows too deep,” Applejack stopped and looked back, putting her hoof to her forehead for extra sun shield. “The carrots will have some hard time growing through… if we see ‘em at all in the nearest future. Let’s take it less deep this time.”

        “Eeyup!” Big Mac was an epitome of pithiness as usual. He turned his plough, adjusting it to make next pass even.

        They prepared the carrot field for seeding and were going to continue their hard work, when the ear-splitting whistle echoed in the hot still air, making both Applejack and Big Mac pull up heads. In a second Rainbow Dash, and it was exactly her whistling, landed near them.

        “Hi, pal,” she patted Applejack on her shoulder. “Hi, Big Mac. Almost ready for the next season, eh?”

        “Eeyup!” confirmed Big Mac and waved his hoof.

        “So how do you like the weather today?” Rainbow proudly pouted. “Good enough for ploughing, no rain, no wind. I tried my best to make it awesome.”

        “Thanks, Rainbow,” Applejack nodded with a smile. “Don’t forget to herd some clouds ‘ere, when we’re done seedin’.”

        “No probs, mate… By the way, have you seen Twilight today?” Rainbow impatiently jumped on the spot.

        “No, but mah guess would be one should start lookin’ at the library, if needs ‘er,” smirked Applejack.

        “I was there already,” huffed Rainbow. “And Spike told me, she was going to take the human to Canterlot. A couple of guards arrived this morning and they all headed to Flutters’ cottage. I guess that means one problem less!” she grinned widely.

        “But she hasn’t returned still and Spike has no idea, where she may be. I wanted to ask about the audience, what exactly Celestia decided. Hey, if we’re lucky, he even may be halfway home…” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

        “Have you checked at Flutters’?” Applejack scratched her head, while Big Mac started his furrow, not waiting for the girls to end talking.

        “I’m right from her,” Rainbow’s face performed a strange mix of sceptic, disgusted and worried expressions. “I found Rarity there. It seemed she was going to stay with Flutters for a while, as she told me that she asked Twilight to take Sweetie Belle from school and watch after her till tomorrow. It was quite a look, them both with Fluttershy hugging each other, like they lost something precious! Bleeeh!” she made a barfing sound, then laughed. “Though I’m not surprised. They are best friends, now they are sharing one weird crush… That’s totally not awesome!”

        “Look, Dash,” Applejack said seriously. “Ah start thinkin’ that you overreacting a bit. There were no reasons for that kind of personal crusade, that’s mah point. He may be strange, even dangerous, which is to be proved yet to be frank, but has done nothing bad to you, neither anypony yet…”

        “Oh, well!” Rainbow shrugged. “You’ll all see. Somepony says “human”, I hear “troubles”. Just give it time.”

        “OK, as you haven’t seen Twi… I’ll visit her later at home, in case we are indeed lucky. See yah!” Rainbow winked and flitted up in the air.

        Applejack watched her friend fixedly, she thought that in her personal dislike of the human Rainbow Dash was hardly looking less obsessed than Rarity in her desire.

        *

        “I wonder what experiments exactly they plan,” Alex cringed inwardly, sitting at the table in his room. His put the elbows on the wooden surface and rested his head in his hands, but his mind was full of unrest.

        “That’s not a room, that’s a vault,” he took a look around, then returned to watching the opposite wall with the barred window. “And you are a rare alien species. First of all, they will need to take some simple analysis… just like they would do back on Earth in every hospital, if suspecting you to be contaminated.”

        “Are you ready, Alex, for needles and tubes to be put into you in various ways?” he asked himself.

        Twilight told him, how they with Fluttershy were to feed him and give him potions, while he was totally unconscious, but that was another story. The girls wanted the best for him and did everything possible, that deserved only gratitude and Alex felt, he could hardly ever repay, what they’ve done for him.

        Here though he was going to be “dissected” with pure scientific interest. Of course, partially that was necessary to understand his organism better, not to harm or kill him while trying to send back home…

        “If they are going to send you back,” maliciously hissed his inner voice. Alex shooed this uncalled thought to the deep backside of his consciousness.

        Another reason for those tests was having an ability to affect Alex, if something goes wrong or, Alex didn’t have any illusions regarding princess suspicions about him, if he goes totally unruly. Thus they wanted to be certain that they can stop him, if he appears to be a real threat. Alex sighed deeply, he had a feeling that sudden Discord’s rooting for his safety, could still have opposite effect.

        “…and if I can understand the necessity and process of those… medical tests,” Alex continued his thought. “I still have no idea about their magical experiments. Didn’t Discord tell Celestia those could be dangerous? Wasn’t it demonstrated?”

        “Oh, come on,” he scolded himself immediately. “Even I felt nothing and sincerely suspected some trick, what could be said then about Celestia… with her obvious dislike for Discord.”

        “But there was Twilight’s insight as well. She experienced the effect on herself. Well, the girls didn’t try harmful spells, but the overall result could be predicted, basing on what they got.”

        “Ha-ha, THAT is exactly the reason, why they preparing those experiments, instead of Celestia trying to send you back with her magic right away!” That was at least rational.

        “Still I don’t like, how it sounds,” Alex frowned inwardly. “Do they really plan to make… somepony apply magic to me and then look what it leads to? What about… “negative impact” then? Is there anypony ready to put themselves as a target for a nopony-knows-which-and-how-strong reaction? I always wondered where do people… or ponies find volunteers for this weird shit…”

        His uneasy thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the magic field being disabled. When Alex looked back over his shoulder, a young unicorn mare in the nurse uniform entered his room, carrying a tray with supposedly his meal. Alex thought that he could never understand the reasoning behind those ponies using clothes on some occasions and completely ignoring them on others, which seemingly would have called for clothes more… if it was on Earth.

        Meanwhile, the nurse put the tray on the table and turned to Alex. She was miniature and pretty with her beige coat and chocolate mane and tail, and carried that homelike warm feel with her, making Alex involuntarily think that if she had younger siblings, they were extremely lucky. The red cross cutie mark on her flank unambiguously told that care and empathy were her special talent put to the best use.

        “You dinner, sir,” she said with a warm-hearted smile. “And if you need something else, you can simply call,” she pointed on a small bell, standing on the tray. “Nurse room is a few yards down the corridor, so I or my substitute will be able to address your request right away. Or at least relay it to the higher authorities, ifit appears to be out of our competence.”

        “Thank you kindly, nurse,” Alex nodded. He wanted to stand, but reconsidered and kept sitting not to tower above that cute girl and suppress her. “Nurse ...?”

        The pause supposed some answer, but the unicorn girl just shook her head. Alex noticed that a faint shadow of sadness tainted her smile, when she answered.

        “We’re not supposed to answer some questions. Personal for example. I’m really sorry. I don’t justify everything going here, but this is part of my work.”

        “I see,” Alex nodded with a smile. “So how long do you work helping… ponies and taking care of the patients… if that’s not an overly personal question?”

        “Oh, that’s not a secret, since graduation… And anticipating your most possible next question – there are two of us who you can address, that’s except the… doctor.”

        “It seems, empathy is indeed your special talent,” Alex wanted to understand whom he was to be dealing with the next few… days? Weeks?..

        “Sir, we are supposed to limit personal contacts as possible indeed,” her eyes were full of regret, yet she was firm in her determination. “I’m really sorry!”

        “OK,” Alex gave up… for now. “I have a small request then. I realize that you personally can’t decide in that case, so please relay that to the… “doctor”. I would like to have some books, books on the history of Equestria, if that’s possible.”

        Alex remembered, how Twilight told him that he wasn’t the first human getting to Equestria ever. And despite the obvious differences in his case, he hoped to find some answers to his questions, or at least to find out for sure, what those cases ended with and how the previous travelers returned.

        “I’ll tell him,” the nurse nodded. “Anything else, sir?”

    “No. Thank you,” Alex sighed then looked at her fixedly. “I’ll try to bring you less trouble possible.”

        Alex watched the mare leaving and closing the barrier behind her.

        “Merlin’s pants! If they use somepony like her in their magical experiments, that definitely won’t make it easier. Why can’t I simply get home without hurting any…pony?”

        The barely audible humming of the magical barrier was his only answer.

        *

        “Good evening, prin… OK, OK, Twilight,” Lyra corrected herself, seeing as Twilight frowned at her official tone after opening the door of Golden Oak Library. “May I?..”

        “Well, of course, Lyra, come in,” Twilight moved aside, letting Lyra Heartstrings enter. “I’m actually surprised you haven’t appeared earlier. Take a seat and… don’t mind the mess please”

        “I was busy with personal stuff, Twilight, besides I knew that princess would take the human to Canterlot sooner or later. But now when it actually happened… I heard you’ve been there, so… What’s the deal? Will we see… Alex, if I’m not mistaking, Applejack mentioned that name… so will we see Alex again?” Lyra took a look around the hall and her eyes dilated, when she saw piles of books lying on the floor here and there. “Twilight, did you plan… re-cataloguing? I can come later if necessary, or help you, if you need.”

        “This? Oh, no… That’s not a problem. Re-cataloguing neither,” Twilight smirked. “I’m just sitting with Sweetie Belle. You know Rarity’s younger sister, right?”

        Lyra nodded, yet her brows were still high, when she tried to imagine how one filly could wreck such a havoc to Twilight’s kingdom of order.

        “You know, she still hasn’t got her special talent and mark,” continued Twilight, putting the books back on shelves with magic. “So she is in constant search of her vocation.”

        “Sweetie Belle tried to read a few books at once,” she added after a pause, when she managed to put a large heavy tome on the upper shelf. “Normally she is a lot calmer, at least at home, but I suppose, when she saw so many sources of knowledge and possibilities, she got a bit… overexcited.”

        “Nopony can read a few books simultaneously,” huffed Lyra. “Except you. At least I don’t know any others.”

        “Umm… I managed to lure her into the kitchen,” blushed Twilight. “And it seemed that Spike succeeded, gaining Sweetie Belle’s attention to pizza making process. At least I don’t think they have too much trouble.”

        A loud bang from the direction of the kitchen notified that those two at least were busy. But before Twilight and Lyra rushed to the sound, the door opened and a stack of few pizzas floated from the kitchen, spreading the smell of decently, if not to say finely cooked food. It was followed close by happy as a clam Sweetie Belle, whose joy wasn’t overshadowed by the obvious absence of the cutie mark. Then Spike showed, his eyes were a bit mad at that moment, showing that cooking process in Rarity sister’s execution was intense.

        He glanced at Twilight and nodded towards the kitchen.

        “Stay out of there for now,” he whispered with his lips only, his eyes were slowly returning to their usual size. “I’ll clean the mess later.”

        “Hi, Lyra!” Sweetie Belle placed her pizzas on a couple of tables and turned to Twilight with bright eyes. “I… we’ve done it and done it right! Errmmm… the mark didn’t appear yet, unfortunately,” she bit her lower lip, but didn’t lament for long and said happily. “We should definitely have a munch on them, right? I mean, while Rarity is not watching…”

        Both Twilight and Lyra laughed with Sweetie Belle joining them giggling, while Spike was evidently calculating in mind, how much time would it take him to remove the pizza making consequences.

        “So, how many have you made?” asked Lyra.

        “Should we count those on the ceiling?” Spike woke from his thoughts and Sweetie Belle blushed. “Then six, but you can taste only four obviously.”

            “Come on, Twilight, spill the beans. I guess we all here may know,” asked Lyra again, when they tried the pizza, finding it not only smelling well, but being quite tasty. She was helping Twilight put the books back on proper places, while Spike returned to fix the kitchen and Sweetie Belle, tired and filled, was nodding off in an armchair. “What’s up with Alex?”

        “Celestia practically locked him,” cringed Twilight. “And ordered to take some analysis and magical experiments. On the one hand, she truly wants to return him to his home world, thus deeper understanding of the situation is necessary. On the other,..”

        “But isn’t messing with him magically dangerous?” Lyra exclaimed, dropping a book and catching it almost near the floor. “Unfortunately, as I can’t try some of my own ideas on him. Totally safe,” she added, noticing how Twilight glanced on her disapprovingly. “Still I want to talk to him, well, when it is possible… if it is possible now.”

        “Yeah. This is what Discord said as well,” muttered Twilight and Lyra made big eyes, she wasn’t expecting Discord involved in all that as well. “But I guess, princess Celestia has her own reasons. She wants to find out all the details, before trying to send Alex back… If she is able to do that, because the direct interaction is especially unwelcome.”

        “So, it’s undecided, if he is going home or staying here forever,” the hope in Lyra’s voice was quite audible. “Oh, by the way, I forgot to ask. Why are you sitting with Sweetie Belle, is Rarity having a big batch of clothes ordered again?”

        “Ummm… Lyra, Twilight, did you call me?” They heard a sleepy voice from the armchair. “I… I’ll help… I’m…”

        “No, no, Sweetie Belle,” stopped her Twilight. “Just a few books and I’ll walk you to the bed. It’s too late and you’re almost sleeping already.”

        “Rarity is with Fluttershy in her cottage,” she turned to Lyra, continuing in half voice. “They both are not in the best mood at the moment, but Flutters is totally down… so Rarity stayed to help her recompose.”

        “I see,” said Lyra with a sly smile. “Two best friends worry about their favourite human being taken from them.”

        “Look, Fluttershy thinks we haven’t done it right and she is particularly worried that some experiments can make Alex unhappy,” Twilight evidently found no reasons for joking. “And I tend to agree with her regarding that. And Rarity… Well…”

        Lyra giggled and while looking at her Twilight remembered that “fifteen times longer” remark again and blushed.

        “Tarnation, as Applejack would say,” she thought. “Why does this emerge each time the most unwelcome way?” she looked away.

        They arranged the books in the usual order and Lyra left wishing the girls a good night.

        “Good night, Spike!” she yelled to the kitchen door and heard how he grunted something in return.

        Twilight walked Sweetie Belle to the bed and the girl almost crawled under the blanket. She passed out, before her babysitter could wish her sweet dreams. Twilight watched her for a while with a smile, then headed downstairs. It was indeed too late, but she didn’t want to sleep at all, concerned by a few thoughts.

        “Whew!” there was so much relief in Spike’s voice, when he appeared from the now cleaned kitchen. “Is she sleeping?”

        Twilight nodded.

        “The girl is a hurricane! I wonder how Rarity copes with her sister…” at the word “Rarity” Twilight almost noticed a couple of pink hearts emerging in place of Spike’s pupils.

        She trotted to her desk and took something out of her bag, she didn’t unpack yet. Then Twilight returned to Spike.

        “What would you say about that, Spike?” she demonstrated him a large dark blue feather.

        Her dragon aide scratched the back of his head with a claw.

        “Well…” he muttered thoughtfully. “By the look of it, I would say it belonged to princess Luna most likely. Where did you get it, Twilight?”

        “Fluttershy gave me that in her cottage. She was overly puzzled finding it,” obviously Twilight was puzzled as well. “And most likely Alex brought it, as nopony could leave it there… and only princess Celestia visited Fluttershy lately.”

        “Aaa… Errmmm…” Spike wasn’t an epitome of eloquence at the moment. After a minute he realized, his mouth was still open, and closed it with a clap.

        “Yeah, something like that,” chuckled Twilight. “I know one thing for sure – this is not going to be boring. But I’d like to get my answers anyway…”

        “And this is between us two,” she glanced at Spike meaningfully.

        “You know me,” Spike proudly pouted. “As long as you keep my feelings to Rarity in secret, this is buried deep. I swear by the Dragon Codex.”

        Twilight rolled her eyes. Spike was probably the only one in whole Ponyville, who still thought his crush for Rarity was a mystery.

        *

        This evening Alex got to bed early. He had nothing to do in his small comfy… cell anyway, besides the damned tests were planned for the next day and it was better to face the trouble with “battery charged” than feeling like a zombie. Naturally, Alex made himself to fall asleep, it wasn’t an easy task because of all the thoughts filling his mind. But he had one more aim – he was going to try and reach princess Luna in his sleep. First time consciously, as she explained to him, that was possible. She was his only reliable source of information.

        He realized that it would be too self-confident to expect full picture and conclusions from the sister of one, who put him here exactly. But Luna at least seemed to be on his side… if anypony, except Fluttershy and a couple of girls, was on his side here; and having a peek behind the curtains could give him a hint, what to expect next.

        Alex lied on his back and watched last rays of setting sun dying out in the small barred window. He closed his eyes and tried to free his mind of all irrelevant thoughts, trying to concentrate on one, most important. Building the realistic mental image of princess’ room, as he remembered it since the last time he was “sleepwalking”, took him quite some time and effort, but when the result satisfied him, he wasn’t entirely in his room already, assumingly he was sleeping.

        Cool evening breeze faintly moved the curtains on high windows of Luna’s bedroom and brought the sounds of last daytime birds, going to sleep, through the open balcony door. The princess woke not long ago and already brought herself to order, getting ready for her nightly court. Luna raised the curtains completely, watching the narrowing scarlet stripe of the western edge of the sky, as the Sun went below the horizon, obedient to her sister’s will. The approaching night was Luna’s time and kingdom.

        Luna stepped to the balcony, breathing in the fresh air from the snowy mountains, which guarded the rearward of Canterlot, and letting the wind play with her starry mane and tail. The darkness fell quickly, flooding the land below, making everypony look for the deserved rest after daily solicitudes. The veil of silver stars lit itself in the deep blue sky, roughly mirrored on the ground by distant lights of cities, small towns and settlements. Somewhere to the south, in front of the pitch black ocean of Everfree forest, lied and slept Ponyville, now shielded by the pouring rain – Rainbow Dash followed Applejacks request and gathered clouds, which were now watering the freshly seeded fields.

        Luna spread her wings, like the Night itself covered the stars from the accidental observer, if one happened to be in the room, and lightly soared in the sky. Her horn glowed with bright light-blue aura and the Moon appeared from behind the mountains and raised high, following the order of Princess of the Night. For the short moment the glorious figure of alicorn princess appeared against the background of the waning Moon, just like on some of her regal tapestries, then Luna gracefully lowered back to the balcony.

        “I’m truly amazed, your highness, amazed and speechless,” the voice coming from the shadows of her room made Luna float in the air, then she landed carefully. “The poor movie didn’t nearly give you deserved credit.”

        “Speechless, thou sayest,” Luna finally found the words, entering her bedroom and lighting a few candles with her magic. “Thou art quite eloquent for a speechless… alien,” she chuckled. Then she gasped in realization. “But how?! I’m not sleeping at the moment. Tis what I’m sure about.”

        “But I am,” replied Alex exiting the shadows and bowing to Luna with a wide smile. “I’ve watched you for a while, before you woke… And believe me, your Highness, I’m much more surprised than you are, that I’m still here, while you’re awake.”

        “We already agreed on that, Alex, simply – Luna,” she said automatically. “Yet still, how?”

        “I wanted to see you, Luna,” confessed Alex. “But I supposed, you would be sleeping… Now I see it was one more stupid assumption, considering you are the Princess of the Night.”

        “So I remembered how it was the first time and how you told me about… controlling the reality through dreams,” he continued. “I fell asleep while consciously concentrated on my wish to see you and talk to you… So here I am. The rest, I guess, could be explained by the short distance, which was parting us, otherwise, I couldn’t manage that, when you woke.”

        “I never tried that before,” he added with a puzzled smile. “So I can hardly explain it better.”

        “Thou art learning, Alex the human,” Luna looked at him with a new proud expression. “Methinks tis not thy limit by far.”

        “I’m trying,” Alex corrected her modestly. “But isn’t this all an illusion? I mean that only you can see me and… I can’t do magic anyway. I’m not sure this is real, what’s happening. How can I find out?”

        “At least nopony can suspect me of a breakout attempt,” he chuckled. “If they check my “room”, they’ll still see me in my bed, sleeping like an angel.”

        “Tsk-tsk, with that belief in thyself thou won’t go far, mine lief,” Luna shook her head. “As for the realism… we can easily find out.”

        She approached Alex and he felt that familiar lavender aroma immediately. The wind from the balcony door threw her mane forward, when Luna sat on the floor in front of Alex, and a few strands touched his cheek. Alex inhaled deeply and stepped towards her, feeling his heart beating somewhere under his throat, until the big dark eyes of the incredible alicorn princess appeared inches from his own.

        Luna chuckled, looking into his dilated eyes, and raised her fore leg, hugging his shoulders, making Alex take a couple of steps more.

        “Isn’t t real enough for thee, Alex?” she asked, when he nuzzled her neck, enjoying the softness of her dark blue coat.

        “I know, tis real enough for me,” Luna cooed, when Alex raised his hand and ran his fingers through her luxurious hair, involuntarily scratching behind her ear, making her almost murmur in pleasure. “Oh, I can definitely feel that touch of thine, t woke me up realistically enough the last time thou used t.”

        Alex stepped back in embarrassment, but didn’t break the touch, he just wanted to see her face, when talking to Luna.

        “So this is all real…” he muttered, looking on his own hand, then touched Luna’s hoof on his shoulder and stroked it slightly. “But I can’t even imagine…”

        “Tis all depends on how much thou believest, Alex,” Luna giggled like a filly. “And how much thou makest others believe…”

        “And how much thou makest the reality around thee believe that thou art in power!” she added seriously.

        Alex hugged her with both hands and Luna enveloped him in her wings for a while.

        “But it takes some strength to keep me here,” said he in her ear. “I don’t know how much time I have, until my control ceases and I wake up in my room.”

        “Thou hast questions, Alex, am I correct?” Luna released him, welcoming to take a seat.

        “Yes, Luna,” Alex sat cross-legged right on the floor in front of her. “If only I knew how to begin…”

        “Well, tryest something, for a start,” sly sparkles danced in Luna’s eyes, but Alex saw, she looked overly sympathetic at him.

        “What do you think about the audience results?”

        “Hmm… Tis a very broad question, Alex,” smirked Luna. “Besides it’s much more important, what Tia thinks about the audience in that case.”

        “Tia is very concerned about thy arrival to our domain,” she showed mercy finally. “Thither are too many blank spots in thy story and some parts don’t combine in a readable image. One thing she is sure about and I share that feeling, that thy arrival is least accidental. Thither are certain, unknown for the time being reasons for it. Moreover thither is somepony… or something which is interested in thee, in thy presence in Equestria.”

        “So, you’re saying that I was practically dragged to Equestria by some sentient powers, not by a pure mishap,” exclaimed Alex, then he put his hand over the mouth, worrying that it sounded too loud. He saw a faint shadow of sadness on Luna’s face and muttered confusedly. “I… mean… Sorry…”

        “I for one don’t call tis a mishap,” Luna shook her head. “Otherwise thou art correct more or less. And the existence of some sentient… chess master adds to Tia’s concerns. We are to care for our subjects and their safety naturally, Alex.”

        “I’m sorry, Luna,” repeated Alex. “I didn’t mean to… Well, damn, I wasn’t ready to find myself in a totally different world like that. I’m still not ready… despite now I have… friends.”

        Luna’s face brightened a little, when she continued.

        “And the mere fact of Discord being concerned about thy safety didn’t make the circumstances more relaxed. Tia is not ready to believe Discord, I won’t make a crime against truth, if I say that thither is hardly anypony, who can truly believe Discord, except thy friend Fluttershy.”

        “Merlin’s…” Alex hid his face in his hands. “I really hope she is OK, she definitely wasn’t today when I left.”

        Luna watched him fixedly with a strange mix of empathy and sadness in her eyes.

        “Thither are some benefits though,” she said after a moment. “My sister seemed to be convinced about applying magic or destructive force to thee was not a good idea.”

        “So, why are they going to do exactly that?” Alex looked up to her eyes. “If I’m not mistaking they plan experiments with magic.”

        “Tia believes in an accurate approach,” Luna huffed, batting her lush eyelashes, but then justified her sister’s actions. “Yet she needs to know what to expect, if ’t be true she is going to send thee back home.”

        “So she is going to do that somehow… someday,” Alex tried his best to withhold enthusiasm in his voice.

        “The word of the Rulers of Equestria has its value!” Luna cocked her head, then she added in a calmer voice. “She promised to look for a way, if thither existed any. And tis what she is doing in addition to her usual royal duties. She needs more information though, so I’m afraid thou shalt overcome the experiments. If ’t be true she can send thee back home, she will try t.”

        “Unfortunately,” she said aside barely audible, for Alex not to hear.

        “Was she mad with the trick I pulled on the audience?” Alex approached the most delicate question. “There was a moment, I thought, she was going to incinerate me, despite the warning against…” he added with a tiny smile.

        “To tell the truth, I was afraid of the same… And not because thither was a fair chance to blow half of Equestria, at least if ’t be true we trust Discord on that matter,” Luna rubbed her cheek against his, making Alex instantly blush.

        “But apparently she wasn’t displeased by your act more than by Discord’s frying pan trick, and tis talks for itself,” Luna smirked, then winked. “I’d say more, technically she didn’t dislike it. Thou seest, thou wast mayhap the first… errmmm… stallion for a thousand years, who did ‘t that simply, seeing her for the first time. I can’t be completely sure, but I can assume.”

        “Oh…” Alex couldn’t find proper words, while Luna was evidently having fun.

        “She was abashed by thy kiss, but needed to keep face. She was definitely… impressed,” Luna openly giggled. “Thou can exclude that from thy worries safely, I presume.”

        A sly smile wormed on Alex’s face.

        “Then… Know what, don’t let her forget about that?” he chuckled.

        “Thou can count on me,” nodded Luna with a wide grin.

        She then raised, making Alex get up instantly, and gracefully stretched.

        “Thou seemest to undervalue thyself, Alex,” she said, approaching the balcony again and looking out. “Thou still have the force to stay hither through thy… how doth thou callest… sleepwalking. I guess thou hast more strength than thou estimate.”

        “Maybe the short distance played its role,” supposed Alex. “I wasn’t to travel far away in this case.”

        “Why don’t thou cometh hither?” Luna asked, heading to the balcony. “It’s so beautiful, simply takest a look.”

        Alex instantly twitched.

        “Luna, please,” he squeezed huskily. “I can’t go. I’m acrophobic. I’m bucking afraid of heights,” he became red as a carrot. “My heart is jumping wildly each time I see you raising in the air…”

        “Oh…” Luna soared in the air and was hovering a few feet above the balcony floor. Then she said with a wily smile. “But thou said, this wasn’t real. So what can really befall, at which hour thy body is safely resting in thy room.”

        “Besides, thou hast power to control the reality around thee now,” suddenly she became completely serious. “Remember what I told thee. Thou needest to believe only.”

        “But how?” Alex still hesitated. “How am I supposed to?”

        “Forget that thou can’t do something,” reassured Luna. “And simply do it, because at this moment thou can.”

        “Or think that tis thy dream, if ’t be true thou can believeth easier that way. And anything is possible in thy dreams,” she added with a wink.

        “My dream…” muttered Alex. He suddenly realized that it would be much easier to overcome his fear, when he was actually sleeping in a bed, firmly staying on the solid floor. Why not try then? “Believe, you say…”

        Slowly, step by step, Alex approached the balcony door. And despite his heart was ready to jump out of his chest, he managed to exit to the balcony and take a couple of steps further. There he stopped, deciding that it’s already too good for the first time.

        “Merlin’s pants!” he breathed out, Luna was watching him from above, smiling. “Your Highness, you won’t believe,” Alex completely forgot about his promise under the emotional stress. “And I’m lucky, you have no idea, how much it costs me to do that willingly, otherwise you would probably despise me…”

        “Alex,” Luna raised a bit higher and further, just like teasing him, welcoming to take another step. “I would never loathe anypony, simply because they have a long vista open at their feet.”

        “But I’m not a pony, remember?” Alex tried to tease her in his turn, taking a breath and trying not to turn back to the safety of the room. “And I will hardly do that while awake ever, your Highness.”

        Luna frowned a little, but said nothing about him using the title for the second time.

        “Thou art right, Alex. And thou hast nothing to do with magic, other worlds and similar things ere, but I can see thy heart is open to changes, despite thou may bethink otherwise still.”

        Alex took a look around, the view was undoubtedly splendid with all the stars in the sky, the Moon bathing the land in the silver light, and the rare lights on the ground far below. The balcony itself was lit by a few torches, attached to the outer wall.

        “Control the reality? Luna, you sound like persuading me to learn to ride a bicycle,” he smirked, while trying to think, what he could do in his dream, while unable to do that in reality. Fortunately, the answer lay on the surface.

        But his first attempt couldn’t be called successful. When his feet parted with the solid surface, hovering a few inches above the floor, Alex’s eyes dilated with the mix of terror and realization, he lost his balance at once and helplessly shook his limbs in the air, like a puppy learning to swim. Naturally, he landed that very moment right on his ass on the stone floor.

        “Ouch!” he squinted, but he didn’t feel even a part of the pain, supposed in such a situation. “Well, at least it doesn’t hurt much, contrary to my expectations. But I hardly did anything, Luna. I could simply jump in the air with the better result, to be frank.”

        To her honour, the princess didn’t say a word about the fail, despite her eyes were obviously laughing. Alex couldn’t blame her, as he realized how he looked; he snickered, then laughed at the mental image.

        “Art thou going to stop hither, Alex?” Luna asked, when he stopped giggling. “Ask me, thou shalt try again.”

        “Merlin’s pants! You almost demanding the impossible,” he breathed out. “But… oh, well, I’ll try.”

        ‘I won’t forgive myself, if I fail in front of you, Luna!’ he added inwardly.

        He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate really hard this time. When Alex opened them again and found himself hovering a couple of feet above the floor, he almost fell flat again, but summoned all his willpower in time. A fair portion of respect added to Luna’s expression at that moment.

        “What?!” he breathed out, trying his best not to collapse on the floor from the shock of sudden realization. “It actually works!”

        “Thou art believing now, Alex,” simply explained the princess.

        “Yeah, the only tiny thing that left now is to make me believe that I’m not acrophobic, when I’m awake,” smirked Alex. “Something tells me, it would be a way harder task.”

        He looked for something else to try and held out his hand towards the torch on the wall. Alex commanded (he watched the result like bewitched) a small part of flame to jump into his palm and curl in a ball. He held it between his hands in front of himself.

        “How is this even possible?” he glanced at Luna. “I mean the fire should hurt, shouldn’t it?”

        “Tis easier, at which hour thou knowest how,” approved Luna. “I suppose the fire “knoweth”, who is in power henceforth. Thou art, Alex. And thou can decide, if ’t be true it hurteth or not.”

        Alex weighted this new revelation, making the small fireball pulse in sync with his heartbeat. Then, like if Discord nudged him, a stupid trick idea came to his mind. Later Alex scolded himself for that impulse numerous times. Alex parted the fireball in two and spread his hands with them. He made the fire form a line of lights across his arms from one hand to another. Luna watched him now with a tint of surprise, she was to admit, he grasped the basics really fast. Alex looked up at Luna… and suddenly made the flames cover his whole figure and shoot up in two fiery “wings”. His eyes flashed.

        “Beware! For I am the Night!!!” he roared in the deepest voice he could manage.

        Luna’s eyes dilated and she even retreated a little in the air. Alex spotted a shadow of long-buried terror in her eyes, like some unwelcome memories became too vivid for a short moment. The feeling of remorse for his random act flooded him instantly, despite he meant no harm actually, as he did this as a test for himself and an… innocent (at least it supposed to be) prank. But the actual effect made him reconsider and extinguish the flames at once.

        He dropped to the floor and buried his face in hands.

        “I’m sorry, Luna!” he exclaimed with genuine regret. “Please… I didn’t mean to offend you. Don’t know, why I… That’s just the stupid phrase from a bucking earth movie. Forgive me.”

        Luna landed in a second and looked fixedly at Alex, who still stood covering his face. Then he rubbed his temples, looking at the princess with shame and guilt in his eyes.

        “I’m an idiot,” he finally said lamentably. “I reminded you about… the certain “nightmare”… didn’t I? Please, princess, forgive your stupid human.”

        “A bit,” confessed Luna still flabbergasted. “But on the second thought, I can appreciate a strong joke. Thou almost got me believing, for a whole short moment I saw thee turning to evil. It was like the certain Nightmare forsooth. Don’t do that again though, please.”

        She then chuckled and Alex saw that painful memories vanished from her eyes. She put a hoof on his chest.

        “Thou knowest, Alex, thou art a big… bucking impulsive weirdo,” Luna approached Alex, so he could see his reflection in the deep lakes of her eyes. “But…”

        And he couldn’t say a word, when he felt soft tender lips on his own. Luna grabbed him with her wings, putting in the silky embrace, and after a moment Alex wrapped his hands around her swan-like neck, running his fingers through her mane and making her tremble.

        “Why shall I get less than Tia?!” breathed Luna out, when she emerged for air to continue their mutual enjoyment after a second. She snuggled into him and Alex suddenly realized that she in her turn didn’t have that pleasure for perhaps the same period as her sister. That didn’t affect her skill evidently and the next twenty minutes or so flew like one second. Alex’s head was spinning and his only conscious thought was not to lose the concentration and find himself back in the guarded cell. He kept his eyes open though and noticed that Luna was also enjoying the view, unlike the majority of women in similar situation. This made them both clench each other even tighter.

        Suddenly Luna’s ears perked…

        “Somepony is coming,” she said anxiously. “That must be Tia. I wonder, if ’t be true she heard thy last roar,” Luna looked at Alex a bit reproachfully, making him downcast.

        “Thou needst to flee!” with the audible regret she planted a quick kiss on his cheek and released him. “Good night, Alex.”

        “Good night… my princess!” Alex stepped back and his figure started dissolving in the thin air.

        Luna watched him vanishing from sight, then entered her bedroom and closed the balcony door. She was drawing the curtains exactly the moment, when the doors opened and princess Celestia entered.

        “Are you alright, Luna?” there was a fair dose of concern in Celestia’s voice. “I was going from my study, there was too much work to do and I was late to sleep, then I thought, I heard voices from your room, dear. Two of them to be exact. So I wanted to check, if you were okay.”

        “I’m fine, Tia,” nothing could be read in the calm smile of the Princess of the Night. “The wind made the curtain flap loudly, so I was closing the windows. Mayhap thou took the flapping for the voice…”

        “It could be…” Celestia bowed her head in agreement.

        “Speaking of work…” Luna preferred to change the subject. “Didst thou receive any progress in thy research of human’s problem?”

        “Not yet, Luna,” Celestia half closed her eyes. “If we take his magic resistance for granted, I yet couldn’t find a way to “wrap” him somehow or shield the caster in the way necessary to send him through the warp successfully.”

        “Not to mention that he would drain the warp itself, as it affects him directly,” she added in a tired voice. “I need more information, so the next few days will show, if we can do something to return him to his home world.”

        “I wish I could help thee, Tia,” Luna said heartily. “But thou knowest, I’m not a master of warps…”

        “Oh, that’s okay, Lulu, I’ll cope with it… if it is possible at all,” Celestia yawned, delicately putting her hoof over the mouth. “I need some sleep. Good night, dear. Have your nightly duty lightly.”

        “Good night, Sunny,” Luna followed her to the door.

        “Lulu,” Celestia turned in the doorway. “Send a worker to check the chimney in your room tomorrow. It smells of smoke here slightly.”

        *

        Alex opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, apparently, he was back in his room. Safe and… locked. But he knew, where he just was, and irrational joy filled his whole self, despite the position he was in. He sat on his bed and smiled in the darkness.

        The dim light came from the corridor, perhaps from the nurse’s room or somewhere alike. The approaching hoofsteps got to the doorway with the magical barrier. Alex rubbed his face and glanced at the guard.

        “Hey, are you alright?” asked the armoured unicorn stallion.

        “Yeah,” Alex waved indefinitely. “I’ve had a weird dream…” he smiled aside, so the guard couldn’t see his wide grin.

        The stallion huffed something and continued patrolling. Alex waited till the steps got silent somewhere far in the corridor and got up. He walked back and forth in his room unable to get asleep again at once. The scent of lavender on his skin and hair made him remember every single second of holding Luna in his hands. The kisses still burned on his lips, making his heart flutter, pumping blood in fast excited thrusts. To his bewilderment Alex couldn’t tell, if he felt something alike, when he met Elen. The still small voice pricked him right in the heart, making sit back on the bed and dive into deep thoughts.

        “What’s going on with you, Alex?”

        Then Fluttershy’s amazing turquoise eyes filled with tears emerged in front of his inner sight, her sincere warm embrace, her obvious affection made him let out a muffled painful moan.

        “What are you doing, Alex?”

        He couldn’t help himself feeling for both those… ponies, that incredible kind and loving girl and… the princess. Speaking of Fluttershy, Alex wanted to protect and keep her safe, her smile was perhaps the best reward, while her tears ripped his heart to shreds. With Luna… with Luna Alex felt irresistible wish to belong to her, to dissolve in those dark eyes, to share each breath. He felt so emotionally close to her, she was the one and only, who seemed to understand him fully… and that was simply amazing, considering their obvious differences.

        Alex grabbed his head, running his fingers through the hair, he felt completely confused by the events of the last two days. Finding a perfect friend (even if overprotective sometimes), almost an ideal… woman, as Alex confessed to himself, he could easily stay with, in case if he was unable to leave Equestria; and at the same time finding a soul mate… and burning desire simultaneously were not going to make his future either easy or bright. Alex already feared the moment, he was to leave this world. His biggest wish became his biggest torment. The future on Earth, if he ever was able to return, wasn’t now clear. The more he spent in Equestria, the less promising his return looked, as he realized that he would become a ghost of Alex everyone knew there previously. And in addition to all the pain returning home now would double the loss.

        Yet he didn’t feel himself belonging to this world… yet. Alex twitched as electrocuted at this amendment, his inner voice made. If he was to count the ponies, who were not indifferent about him, one hand’s fingers would be really enough. Not mentioning Discord, who finally seemed to want him good. Alex suddenly realized that he could hardly name more people on Earth, genuinely concerning about him. So in pure numbers it was perhaps a tie.

        “Why aren’t you like one of your computers, Alex?” he smashed his fist into the bed mattress, making it creak slightly. “You can think fast and outside the box sometimes… but when it comes to a really important matter, concerning your own life, you’re full of shit. Know what, you won’t be able to make this decision till the end, and will follow the circumstances… then regret it for the rest of your life most likely.”

        “Buck it!” Alex shook his head. “Just get to sleep. You’ll have an important day full of tubes and needles tomorrow. It seems this is the only thing you’re really good for.”

        He turned from side to side for quite a while then, completely displeased by himself and the situation he got into, before finally drifted to the sleep – plain and simple one this time, without any reality manipulations. He saw the ocean coast again and himself sitting on the sand, embracing Fluttershy, who sat on his lap, and… holding hands with Luna. If somepony tried to draw this image to him, when Alex was awake, he would have most likely facepalmed or even “facetabled” really hard.

        *

        “See you at the SPA.”

        This note, put between the front door and its frame, greeted Twilight, when she walked Sweetie Belle to school in the morning (miss Cheerilee was a bit surprised, but didn’t ask any questions) and got to Fluttershy’s cottage to check the girls. She recognized Rarity’s accurate elegant writing at once, Fluttershy’s penmareship was more compact, still well readable. Twilight herself couldn’t boast that, as her writing was fast, but more resembling of a medic, i.e. hardly well readable for anypony than herself… and perhaps Celestia, yet the latter preferred Spikes calligraphy to be frank.

        “It seems Rarity took the situation in her hooves entirely and now resolves it by her own methods,” smirked Twilight. “And Fluttershy is too dumbfounded to resist. OK, SPA it is then,” she incinerated the note with a spell.

        The hot tub with bubbles was always the best place for Rarity to think about her problems in the most relaxed manner, thus the decisions became more fleshed out, less rushed and chaotic. And it was indispensable to recover from stress, even if a certain decision wasn’t possible or needed. But her friend was hardly able to move over her uneasy thoughts at that moment. With a sympathetic and sad look Rarity watched Fluttershy doing everything almost automatically, without passion or interest. She was definitely feeling better than yesterday, but not nearly normal yet.

        “She can’t be left alone like that,” thought Rarity, leaning on the tub edge and watching how Fluttershy quietly and monotonously smacks the bubbles in front of her. “Either she shakes that off, or somepony needs to be near for a while.”

        “But I can’t afford another few days of leisure,” she adjusted the towel on her head, holding her mane and keeping it dry. “Besides I can’t ask Twilight to sit with Sweetie Belle each day. If I could take Flutters with me to the boutique, but… she won’t leave her animal friends… Oh, woe is me!” she rolled her eyes in despair.

        Fluttershy in her turn seemingly didn’t notice Rarity’s troubles. She was quieter than always, if that was even possible. Sitting in the tub was simply necessary, as her friend insisted, but she hardly felt any satisfaction from the process this time. She tried to cover her hair with the towel as well, but due to extreme lushness the towel didn’t hold in place and finally she dropped that idea, simply asking Rarity to braid her mane.

        The sound of hoofsteps made them both turn to the door to see Twilight entering the room accompanied by Rainbow Dash and Aloe – one of the SPA owning sisters. There was a faint tint of concern on Twilight’s face, while Rainbow was cheerful as usual.

        “Hi, girls!” Twilight tried the water, taking her bathrobe off. She wasn’t sure, if Rainbow’s insight on the problem was exactly what Fluttershy needed at the moment, but, on the other hand, Rainbow’s snarky remarks addressed to Alex might drag Flutters out of that pool of indifference. Besides Twilight could hardly join the girls without Rainbow Dash now, as the latter obviously wanted her portion of the news and looked for Twilight for that reason exactly. The foam parted under her hooves, when Twilight placed herself in the tub between Rarity and Fluttershy.

        “So, how she is?” she quietly asked Rarity, nodding towards their pegasus friend.

        Rarity raised her eyebrows with “And it is like that since morning” look, welcoming Twilight to see for herself. She already decided to wait, till the situation was resolved; Rarity needed the human, but interfering with princess’ interests wasn’t her game.

        “Do you still think, we could do otherwise?” Twilight put her hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder lightly.

        Fluttershy shrugged indefinitely, staring at the bubbles in front of her. “See, this is what I told you about,” was written in Rarity’s glance.

        “So, girls, how’s it boiling today?” meanwhile Rainbow Dash dropped herself on the couch, and then addressed Aloe, continuing the interrupted conversation. “… no, no. The tub will make me soft an sleepy, I don’t need that in the morning.”

        “And I like my hooves the way they are, thanks,” she dragged her legs towards her, backing up from the file in Aloe’s hooves. “But a good warming massage would be an awesome treat for the muscles,” she added with a smile.

        “As you can see, it’s hardly even boiling,” sadly smirked Rarity, while Aloe put away the file with a shrug and started to massage Rainbow’s shoulders, when Dash turned on her stomach and spread her wings.

        Rainbow threw a quick glance over her shoulder at Fluttershy and huffed. “No human, no problem!” clearly read in her tone.

        Twilight noticed, how Fluttershy raised her head and blinked, and thought that she wasn’t wrong bringing Rainbow Dash with her. Shock therapy was still therapy, and if it helped Flutters quit her stupor…

        “Well, it’s not very bad yet, girls,” Twilight tried to tread lightly, at least Fluttershy started listening and a tint of interest appeared in her look. “As I said, they’re going to perform some analysis today, something like anypony would come through in the hospital during a regular examination. You know, to find out if he is healthy enough and ready for possible transfer.”

        Fluttershy shivered slightly and Rarity noticed with a chuckle.

        “Well, darling, last time I was to come through analysis in the hospital, it wasn’t a big pleasure, if you ask me.”

        “I’m afraid nothing can be done without them,” sighed Twilight, making a mental notice about Rainbow keeping one ear constantly turned towards them, despite she almost murmured under Aloe hooves, as her shoulders, back and base of her wings got proper treatment. “They need to know how close his organism is to ours and how it can possibly react to the transfer attempt.”

        “… as well as his physical abilities and how they can contain him in case of some… outburst,” she cringed inwardly, but kept that part to herself.

        “Hmmm, and I thought that he is halfway home already,” huffed Rainbow.

        “Thought?” Fluttershy raised her head and the girls heard the sudden strength in her voice. “You wanted to say “hoped”, perhaps.”

        “… or to the Moon,” chuckled Rainbow, who didn’t see Fluttershy’s eyes, which resembled ones of a cockatrice at that moment. “What?” she looked over her shoulder, when the silence became obvious. Even Aloe stumbled and stopped massaging for a second. “The place is now vacant and…”

        ‘I wonder, if Rainbow is unwillingly getting straight to the point,’ thought Twilight. ‘Perhaps Celestia is concerned about this exactly – that suddenly appearing human doesn’t turn… Nightmare Alex?! I can’t help noticing that he came together with princess Luna amazingly fast, if I read the signs properly. Interesting… what does Celestia’s logical chain look like…’

        “I genuinely wonder,” said Fluttershy. “Why do you hate him so much, Dash? I mean you can hardly bring any reasons, except your suspicions, which may have some ground or no ground at all.”

        She then turned to Twilight and said quietly, that even Rarity could hardly hear.

        “I want to see Alex. Can you please do something about that, Twi?”

        “I’m afraid, it’s too early, dear,” Twilight downcasted, while Rarity was all ears. Rainbow got distracted by the massage and paid less attention to the human-related problem, as she knew now that her wish didn’t come true yet. On the one hand, Twilight was happy that Fluttershy evidently dropped her sorrowful mood, but on the other hand, her new active attitude was about to bring new problems, so it was a double-natured feel. “They even limited his contacts with personnel, let alone anypony, who is not involved.”

        “But I am involved!” stated Fluttershy bluntly. Rarity raised an eyebrow, so fast was that mood change.

        “Maybe later, when they get more results and… ensure that there is no harm in visits,” Twilight said in an accommodating spirit. “I promised to talk you through and I’ll try my best to do that.”

        “Unless I’m forced to sneak you through…” she thought, shivering inwardly. Still Twilight wasn’t feeling naughty enough yet for that act. “I sincerely hope Rarity doesn’t have the same plans.”

        The sudden silence in the room was now interrupted only by the foam “whisper” and Rainbow Dash cooing something, as Aloe got to her wings.

        *

        She noticed a new scroll on the table right upon entering her study. Princess Celestia was returning from her mages council and the disappointed look on her face told about lack of conclusive results better than any words. Everypony considered a magical transfer of a magically resistant entity a very dangerous and generally futile venture, being especially cautious without any experimental basis on the human real capabilities regarding magic.

        Frankly speaking she didn’t expect much at the first day, still, there was a faint hope that somepony might have some fresh idea, which could be turned into a feasible method with the help of research and meticulous work. But nothing yet.

        “They say, one head is good, a few are… Cerberus…” chuckled Celestia. “Today it was indeed – much ado, no result.”

        The new scroll unrolling in front of her eyes, enveloped in the golden aura, must be the long-awaited first report of the “Alex research team”. Celestia dwelled in reading, running her eyes along the written lines.

        “Your Highness, Princess Celestia!

        With the following letter let me present you the summary report of the day one of human research procedure. I’m going to be straight to the point and avoid loading you with unnecessary details, thus forwarding right to the results crucial for the goal, you’ve stated: returning the human to his home world or the possibility of him staying in Equestria, if alternative fails.

        The extensive functional analysis along with analysis of human tissues and bodily fluids showed the major similarity between our species. Generally differences are based on walking method; extremities structure – namely the existence of fingers on both arms and legs; ration – the subject is obvious omnivore, but according to his own observation has no issues with accommodating to local ration generally; and the practical absence of fur coating on the 90% of body surface. The latter forces the subject to wear clothes most of the time and makes him subject to temperatures much higher and lower than his normal body temperature, which is 36.6 degrees, thus differs from pony nominal of 38 degrees. N.B.: Should be considered in case of diagnosing and treating all sorts of diseases.

        Speaking of the latter, the human seems to be susceptible to the same diseases as ponies, with the natural exception of species highly specific threats as e.g. Cutie Pox. The subject is non-allergic and non-allergenic in his turn.

        The functional analysis partially showed that the subject is physically stronger than the majority of ponies, with the exception of alicorns, which can be explained by size, mass and overall physical development of the subject. The differences in long-term agility and endurance are still open questions and we hope to get certain results tomorrow, on the day two of medical research.

        Streamline psychological testing didn’t uncover any pathology. The mentality of the human, estimated by test results and communication, seems to be generally comparable to the average of the adult pony subjects of your Highness.

        Naturally, we had no time to analyze the reproductive functions and the ability of cross-breeding, besides it wasn’t our stated priority. But if your orders follow…”

        “Those scientists are incorrigible,” with a sigh Celestia closed her eyes for a second, then continued reading.

        “But if your orders follow, we cover this part of research accordingly. This perhaps could be necessary in case the subject is forced to stay in Equestria.

        Considering all the circumstances given the overall result is as follows: The subject is both physically and psychologically healthy and has no medical contraindications for being transferred in the usual manner. The magical aspects of the same are the subject of further experiments.

        However…”

        “Hmm, now to the most interesting part…” Celestia’s attention sharpened.

        “However, the today’s analysis uncovered a few indirect features.

        First and foremost, the regeneration level of subject’s body is extremely, up to being off the scale, high. To our surprise, it was even detrimental to some of our analysis. For example, we were unable to take blood samples the usual way, the puncture heals itself visibly, before any probe can be taken, so we were to use a syringe instead. Simple cuts of skin and underlying tissues cover at visible speed as well.

        The examination of the mentioned wound on the subject’s right side showed a barely visible long scar. The prognosis is good and the scar will completely vanish in the nearest perspective, despite the crude enough healing methods. The subject himself mentioned using “stitches”, namely sewing together the edges of the wound. This long gone practice was common, if I remember my student days right, among Earth ponies in the Three Tribes era, lately replaced by advanced magical treatment. But the latter is not possible, considering subject’s supposed features (further testing necessary).

        The overall image provides the regeneration level much higher than one of an adult alicorn. Considering your special inquiry regarding possible confrontation of the subject: physical influence is highly unwelcome, the only reliable method of stopping the subject is termination of the majority of the processes at once, i.e. killing the subject instantly. The regeneration level makes conditions like shock or coma practically inapplicable to the subject.”

        “This is what I was concerned about mostly, when heard Fluttershy’s story,” thought Celestia. “So, if something goes wrong, we’ll have a very durable… problem. Oh, well, let’s not concentrate on the unfortunate part of it yet…”

        “The above leaves the question of subject’s lifespan prognosis open as well. We have no opportunity to measure it even approximately at the moment.”

        “Better and better!” huffed Celestia, unrolling the scroll further.

        “The next indirect result, I want to mention, is of the more optimistic nature though.

        The subject is evidently informed about his possible reaction to negative impact. And despite only magical impact was considered, the subject willingly stayed on the side of caution during the tissue analysis and regeneration tests, involving physical damage of tissues, showing the high level of empathy. Personally, if I’m allowed to add my own insight to the report, I must say much higher level than I could expect from anypony in similar circumstances.

        Thus during regeneration test, which supposed performing a cut on the skin and underlying tissues, the subject demanded the nurse to stay on possible safe distance and give him the scalpel instead, which was allowed after discussing and involving a guard. The test didn’t show any noticeable reaction on the damage in addition to fast recovery, thus indirectly confirming the supposed “backlash” being magical only.

        The mentioned behaviour though may speak about either subject preferring to not harm anypony, or good acting, equally possible. Supposedly further experiments will show the real state of affairs.

        Expect the next report tomorrow in similar time.

        With endless respect and admiration,

    always your loyal servant

    …, MD”

        “Well, we’ll see then,” muttered Celestia, putting the scroll in the drawer. Then she realized, that all the time was standing while reading this, and sat behind her desk.

        “Yet it is very interesting and thought-provoking for the first day of research,” she clopped her fore hooves together. “And confirms my few assumptions… but as he said there is still a possibility of acting, unfortunately.”

        *

        The night after the first day of the tests wasn’t memorable. Alex was completely exhausted after all that medical crap, he was subjected to that day. He probably didn’t ever come through that number of analysis for his entire previous life, so that day was a nightmare both physically and psychologically. Being examined by all imaginable ways is not the most pleasant thing in general, and cutting himself in a series of tests was especially awful. But he went for that consciously, Alex wasn’t sure that he knew all of his abilities, so he wasn’t ready to watch calmly how any physical impact might severely backlash somepony, who performed the test according to their duty, not their will.

        When he saw the same miniature unicorn nurse, which was now assigned to perform various manipulations during regeneration tests, he naturally protested, backing up from her. Alex demanded that he was given the instruments and the nurse kept possible safe distance. He didn’t allow anypony to come close, till they decided to satisfy his request after a short discussion. Actually, Alex didn’t see anypony in charge, but he suspected their invisible supervision, as nopony tried to force the predefined route of the experiment, fortunately, and, after a short hitch, he was allowed to do it his own way in the additional presence of the guard. Finally, it didn’t look, as if they were extremely cautious with his suggestion.

        Alex was truly amazed by the visible effect of physical damage being healed on sight, minor wounds closed almost in a wink. He noticed that already, when they attempted to take blood samples, but didn’t pay much attention at that time. But when a fresh cut heals itself in less than a minute with minimal blood loss…

        That didn’t make the exact process of performing any damage less painful though, so Alex was inwardly happy they didn’t plan any experiments on his skeletal structure regeneration.

        No wonder that at the end of the day he almost crawled on the bed and passed out as soon as his head reached the pillow. Only a dead man could “sleep” deeper than him that night perhaps. Alex had no dreams, normal or “sleepwalking” ones, and had no idea, if anypony visited his room during that night. The only thing his exhausted mind was able to notice automatically, when he barged into his room, was the newly put simple wooden door, which now separated the room from the magical barrier. A small opening was left in the door to observe the room without opening it entirely. Perhaps, the room resembled more of a prison cell now, but Alex couldn’t give less buck at the moment. He never approached the barrier, to be frank, remembering about his specific qualities, neither he was going to bang into the door without any vital urge. He just fell flat as a log on his bed and, perhaps, fell asleep even before his body reached the bed.

        The second day was different and, without any doubt, less exhausting, despite that time his strength, agility, durability, etc of the kind were put to the test. Practically they wanted to determine his physical capabilities and calculate the limits, thus putting him under all sorts of load, including running track durability and speed testing and even measuring his lungs effective volume. Alex got used to that on Earth and hardly found much difference from his usual day at the gym, perhaps the intensity was higher than normal. This wasn’t nearly as bad as the first day though and Alex felt rather energetic, than tired that evening. No need of harming himself and no fear of accidentally harming somepony else were reassuring also.

        So Alex forced himself to go to bed, when the last rays of the sun vanished from the window and silence swallowed the building. But he wasn’t going to lie and waste the time. He had certain plans instead, plans which could be realized only when he technically slept.

        Alex noticed that moderate “sleepwalking” didn’t affect his condition much; last two times he got up in the morning fresh and kicking, despite he was active in a way at night. So he decided to use his otherwise free time to do something valuable. Training something that Luna showed him wasn’t a bad idea. This was at least what he could afford anytime and anywhere.

        This time it was even easier. Such small distance didn’t demand any living “anchor” at all and when the hoofsteps of the guard ceased in the corridor, another Alex materialized in the room in addition to the one laying on the bed sleeping.

        Alex stood for a while, watching himself – that was a truly outstanding and even insane feeling. With a chuckle phantom Alex…

        “Hey, why phantom?” Alex thought. “That’s still me, myself and I. Besides I proved to be real enough at least for Luna,” with that memory his feelings warmed up considerably. “Let’s call it… errmmm… “proxy”,” he giggled.

        So, with a chuckle the proxy Alex pondered, if it was a good idea to boop the source Alex on the nose, then swept away that thought, rightfully supposing that it would wake him up most likely and break the experiment. He opened and closed the bathroom door instead, without touching it obviously. That was much easier than any illusions or reality manipulations (to be sincere Alex wasn’t still one hundred percents sure, which one it was… well, maybe 98 percent at that point) with fire. Then he moved the chair, put it on the table, turning upside down. All the time he listened carefully, if nopony was approaching the door from the corridor, ready to hide in the blind spot and thinking that somepony made him a nice present, putting that door, which limited the view and made the space near it non-visible through the opening.

        He was sitting on the floor cross-legged and making the parts of the chair, which he disassembled, spin in the air on the complex trajectory in front of him, when he heard a surprised sigh and a quiet satisfied chuckle behind his back.

        Alex looked over his shoulder, inhaling full chest of lavender aroma and feeling the wide smile lightening his face. The night-coloured alicorn princess watched his trick with pride and approval of a teacher.

        “Congratulations, Alex!” said Luna when he turned and got up to greet her with a slight bow, making the chair parts reassemble with a click and accurately putting the chair down. “I see thou art putting the new knowledge to good use, mine lief!”

        “Yes, princess… sorry… Luna,” Alex corrected himself. “I thought, why not try, as long as I have the whole night at my service anyway.”

        “Wait a minute…” he wondered. “If I’m “sleepwalking”… does that mean that you actually came here?”

        “As thou properly noticed, thou art sleeping at the moment and… as thou putteth it… “sleepwalking” at the same time, and thou doth not seeing me sleeping, then I am naturally real,” smirked Luna. “But variants are possible still…”

        “I wonder, if you stop teasing me someday, Luna,” Alex wasn’t going to take offense though. “But how could you appear here in the locked room? I mean I heard nothing, even if you teleported…”

        “Hmpf!” huffed Luna, funnily wrinkling her pretty nose. “Teleportation is not at each moment done with a bang, Alex. Actually the more thou master t, the more fluid and simple t gets. Thou must judge by Twilight, I guess, she doth ‘t loudly forsooth, but recall, she is still learning.”

        “I see…” nodded Alex. “Well, if you are actually here… let me…”

        With those words the proxy Alex vanished in the air, while real Alex sat on the bed, rubbing his face with his hands. He saw that obviously his beautiful guest is neither going to disappear, nor leave him at that moment. That caused another smile on Alex’s face, real this time.

        It took a couple of steps from each and Alex felt the silk of Luna’s mane on his face.

        “Greetings, my princess,” he whispered in her fluffy ear, which excitedly perked, when he was nuzzling her soft cheek and his hands were traveling on her shoulders, feeling how Luna’s muscles contracted under the coat, responding to his gentle touch. “Now my day is truly not spent for nothing!”

        Luna sat on the floor, wrapping her fore legs around Alex and pulling him even closer into her warm embrace.

        “Thou wast closed for me ere, yesterday,” her soft voice made Alex’s heart flutter. “So I decided to give thee some time for thyself, as t seemed thou wast too not restful. But I wanted to see thee, so hither I am… Real enough as thou can… feel.”

        And before Alex could reply anything, he felt his lips rather occupied by a more pleasant activity than some talking. He closed his eyes this time, tasting Luna’s lavender breath, and tried his best to enjoy each tiny fraction of their unity, while her hooves were involuntarily and faintly stroking his back in pace with her lips and tongue movement.

        After a few minutes of mutual pleasure Alex felt that Luna stiffened slightly and listened to something carefully, turning one ear towards the door.

        “The guards are patrolling once in an hour,” his eyes were smiling, while he was stroking the deliciously soft coat on her swan-like neck with both hands, as Alex supposed, he got her concern right. “And I can always hear their hoofsteps, when they enter the corridor behind the door.”

        “Oh…” Luna raised one eyebrow, looking into his eyes, and Alex put his nose to hers and nuzzled tenderly and slowly with a fitful sigh. She put one hoof on the left side of his chest and giggled like a filly, feeling his heart’s heavy beat.

        “Speaking of which,” Alex took his breath and pointed to the newly installed door. “I have now a convenient novelty.”

        Luna was to look over her shoulder, turning to the entrance and Alex immediately used that opportunity to kiss her behind her soft ear and on the neck, causing a quiet surprised moan.

        “Somepony finally thought that leaving me an opportunity to contact with magical barrier, accidentally or not, wasn’t the smartest thing,” continued Alex with a chuckle, before Luna’s lips passionately forced him to fall silent again for a while and snuggle tighter to her warm chest, running his fingers through her incredible mane. The light blue shadows on her closed almond-shaped eyes made them incredibly stunning and it took Alex a few moments to remember what he was going to say, when she let him breathe freely again. “B-but… I f-found a good use for that. They can’t see the whole room through that window, Luna. So when a guard passes, you’ll simply need to stand near the wall with the door… and I’ll pretend that I’m sleeping. Well… just in case.”

        “Too much talk, mine leaf,” cooed Luna, squeezing him again. “We don’t have all the night forsooth.”

        “It seems that you are slightly abusing the mere fact that you are a bit bigger than me,” noticed Alex, resting his head on her warm shoulder. “And have an extra pair of extremities ready to grasp me.”

        He stroked the margins of her wings, holding him in a warm lavender-flavoured cocoon, and made Luna instantly shiver and quietly coo something sweet.

        “Are they so sensitive?” he stopped and kissed her under her chin.

        “Considerably more than thou thinkest,” sighed out Luna. “And despite ‘t feels wonderful, thou better dost not continue that hither, if ’t be true thou dost not want me to become a jelly.”

        “Sorry,” Alex hugged her again and ran his fingers over her back instead.

        “No need to be sorry,” smirked Luna and added meaningfully. “Simply don’t touch the wings unless thou art absolutely ready for… continuation. I’m not exactly controlling myself in that case, so…” she blushed a little.

        “I’ll keep that in mind, my princess.”

        “Oh, I forgot one important thing…” speaking about “control” Luna seemed to remember something. “Forsooth thither is some magical guarding device in thy room, t must be… tuned to react breakout attempts. Not that thou wast going to do something that no more brain than stone can do, but I felt, I needed to warn thee. Simply be careful, at which hour thou art… experimenting, please!”

        “Thank you for telling me, I’ll be careful,” Alex reached her muzzle to share their breath again.

        *

        Almost three hours fliew with the speed of the light, considering they heard guard’s steps thrice already and were to take “strategic positions”, letting them pass without troubles. After the second “take” Luna giggled like a school filly, watching how Alex gets up from the bed, where he pretended to be sleeping as a log a few seconds before, as the guard decided to take a look through the opening in the door. She obviously had much fun out of their small night adventure, contrary to her daily routines. Boredom was exactly the thing, Luna complained to Alex about, and her worst enemy, despite she learned to fight it successfully enough through the years. Perhaps being Nightmare Moon and realizing that it didn’t solve the problems the desired way, gave her necessary wisdom to stand rock solid in that fight. Being the Master of her subjects’ dreams provided some vent, but…

        Even having a princess, able to affect their dreams, even the reality through those dreams, ponies in general didn’t treat that seriously enough. They rather duly noted the positive changes in their life after her intervention, than actually recognized her contribution, most often. Perhaps that was normal due to the mere nature of dreams, which were known to dissolve strong impressions and round the sharp edges. Sometimes it was a salvation, but in some other cases it rendered Luna’s help ghostly, as if her subjects found the solution by themselves entirely.

        The latest outstandingly different case was, perhaps, Scootaloo, who genuinely felt grateful for all the help Luna offered and instantly recognized princess’ role in her fear related problem solving. She now tended to stand for princess Luna, if somepony tried to downplay her importance in her subjects’ life.

        “I guess this is where ponies are just the same as people,” sighed Alex. “Believe me, I have come across numerous cases, when people recognized material forms of assistance, but totally forgot about good advice, thinking that they managed to cope with their problems on their own after a while… just because they couldn’t… touch what helped them.”

        Knowing that didn’t make the problem itself more pleasant, as Luna sincerely told him.

        “Promise me,” she asked, when they sat the familiar way – with Alex between her fore legs, enveloped in her wings, her head resting on top of his. “Promise me, that we get outside together at least one night, at which hour Tia allows thee out and afore… thou…” she stumbled and Alex realized, what she was going to say.

        “I promise,” this went out lightly and wholeheartedly. “And I will delay my departure, if necessary to keep that promise.”

        “And if my fate happens to be that I never get home,” added Alex after a moment. “I won’t forget about you as long as I’m… alive enough.”

        He felt a hot drop on his neck and his heart skipped a beat. Alex reached Luna’s cheek carefully and wiped another tear.

        “Luna, please…” he muttered awkwardly, turning and kneeling to her, hugging her and stroking her head. “I… can’t…” Words got stuck somewhere halfway.

        In a minute she shook her head lightly and allowed herself a small smile, looking him into the eyes.

        “It’s… I’m fine… forsooth,” she kissed him gently, then asked. “Cometh back… I… like to hold thee that way very much, while I can…”

        In his turn, Alex told her about his previous life, about work routines being his most common company during days, about him being unable to bring more diversity in his life, despite he wanted to. Of course, the work and that style of life paid for themselves, but sometimes Alex wanted more craziness to spice it up.

        “So, tis whither thy impulsiveness roots in,” whispered Luna in his ear.

        “Perhaps,” Alex rubbed his cheek against the soft coat of her neck. “I can’t allow that in my work, and my work takes… took the majority of my time. So in rare cases, when I’m free, it… takes over.”

        Luna chuckled quietly.

        “Doth not allow t take over entirely, Alex. Simply takest ‘t as an advice of an old mare with certain experience.”

        “Don’t. Ever. Say. That. Again!” Alex said firmly. “You are not old, not in the sense you obviously implied now. And you are… one of the most beautiful miracles I saw in my life.”

        “Buck it! I suck at complimenting a… mare,” he muttered.

        “Thanks!” simply said Luna, but Alex heard that she really meant that. Then she added teasingly. “One of…”And who else has the honour to be in that company?”

        “Oh… Thou can tell not,” she added after a few seconds of awkward silence. “I’m quite happy I am in that list.”

        ‘Forsooth I know who thou could name,’ she thought, gently rubbing her chin against his hair.

            As they talked, Luna found out that Alex was a “late bird”, an “owl”, he felt that work and thought were easier during the night hours and came out better finally. Obviously, he wasn’t able to completely shift his schedule, as it would be difficult to coordinate with others, who preferred daytime as their work hours. But when he had some tasks, which demanded his own attention, deep thinking or could be solved by himself solely, Alex tried to address those after the sunset. He felt that he could concentrate better in the serenity of the night and the result spoke about his decision being correct.

        “I never had any problems sleeping four or five hours a day, thus having at least half of the night for myself,” confessed Alex. “Perhaps, this is why I got some results in this… sleepwalking that easily – night and related things are my turfs. I even tried to train something instead of simply sleeping tonight… before you came, of course.”

        “Oh, why tis modesty, Alex,” Luna shook her head, making Alex hair slightly messy. “Thou dost right and receivest excellent results. I can bet, that chair still suits for sitting, despite thou took t apart ere. Thou art on the right path, except certain jokes.”

        “Luna!” pleaded Alex. “I’m sorry. And I truly mean it. Will you keep reminding me about my fail forever?”

        “For a while, yes,” teased Luna with a sly smile. “Thou hath asked me to remind Tia about the certain thing, so, wherefore can’t I remind thee something? Mayhap thou were not completely wrong, saying “I’m the night”, considering what thou art telling.”

        “Yeah!” huffed Alex. “Know what, I have this preference since early school and you better not know, how I was scolded by my parents every time, when they woke in the middle of the night and found me doing things, I should have done during the day, according to their opinion. Less, when I grew up, still…”

        Luna quietly laughed.

        “At which time I was a filly and stayed awake too late, then fell asleep on spot, Tia used to carry me to the bed on her back. She put me in my bed and covered with the blanket, and I didn’t even wake,” Luna’s eyes seemed to focus on the doings of long gone days, when the shadow of Nightmare Moon wasn’t even possible to appear. Then she noticed that Alex was too quiet.

        “Anything wrong, mine lief?”

        “I miss them,” after a short while whispered Alex. “We lived separately with my parents lately, but it’s one thing and being unable to see them completely, to call, to ask for advice, when you need it is totally different. It’s like we’re dead for each other now, except I know they must be alright… and they don’t have even that,” he let out a sigh of the weight of a boulder.

        “I can relate, Alex. I know what thou feelest,” Luna slightly nuzzled the back of his head. “Especially about mine father… I was so close to him, at which time I was a tiny foal… ere…”

        “Don’t tell, Luna, don’t tell, if that hurts,” Alex leaned on her shoulder and wrapped one hand around her neck. “My curiosity isn’t worth your pain.”

        “It’s not a big secret,” Luna allowed herself a small smile, but her eyes explicitly glistened. “They both with mom were keen mages and they experimented a gross amount, one day something went wrong… or simply differently than planned. Tia just reached adulthood and I was a filly… Methinks Starswirl disappeared anon in some way alike.”

        “We didn’t wend nearly far in magic with Tia thenceforth,” she sighed.

        “And that’s good,” Alex tried to shift her attention. “Equestria needs its princesses, doesn’t it? Definitely, I’m in a better position, I know where my parents are… I didn’t want to unearth that, Luna. Sorry, if I… touched it too deeply.”

        “Wait!” a sudden idea came to his mind. “Isn’t it dangerous then, to attempt to send me home? I mean dangerous to the mage, who tries that.”

        “Oh, no, not at all, with regular conditions at least,” Luna seemed to let her memories go for now. “The danger roots in thy ability to drain magic, Alex, not in the mere spell anypony tries on thee to transfer. Tis all well-known magic, the problem is in… shielding the mage from thy reaction, as I understand Tia’s investigations. I’m not a specialist in warps, Alex, pr mine ignorance.”

        “Well, that’s a relief,” chuckled Alex.

        “Thou… Thou art...” Luna bowed to reach him and Alex, getting her motion right, leaned aback slightly. He didn’t have a chance to find out, what exactly “he was”, as they dissolved in their unity for a while again.

 

 

---

Author's note: If 't be true you like the story (and have FimFiction account, otherwise, you can't vote), please, take a minute to support the book hither: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/370173/the-guardian  "Thumbs up" are very welcome, comments either. Mine most sincere gratitude in advance!

 

A shoutout to the caring friend, good author and simply valorous pony - @Longhaul

Read his stories, please:

they are really good. Alas, he took down The Longhaul Chronicles (hopefully for the maintenance )

Edited August 13, 2018 by Alexshy

[Alexshy 14,709]

9. Guinea pig

 

The living room was much darker this evening, the sky behind the windows was covered by thick heavy clouds and the streams of water, produced by their stout bellies, went down the glass, dropping fanciful and sometimes extremely weird shadows on the walls and furniture with each flash of lightning. Alex caught himself on the notice that he didn’t hear the thunder: normally the sound was muffled with all windows closed, but this time there were flashes, yet absolutely no sound audible.

        Main lights were out, like if someone didn’t want to interfere with the play of this shadow theatre around the room. The only light sources were the hearth with half burned logs, crackling lazily and sleepily, and an old torchiere, standing behind the armchair and providing a sharply defined circle of light (Alex wondered about soft shadows absence), bright enough to give the mid-aged woman ability to read, sitting in that armchair.

        Alex breathed deeply, inhaling the scent of gummy firewood, fine thick furniture casing and something else resembling the mint drops, and made another step forward, stopping at another armchair and putting his hand on the backrest. The woman put down the book, she read, on her knees and took off the glasses; a kind welcoming smile brightened her face, when she raised her eyes on Alex.

        “Alex, dear!” she pointed to the armchair, he was leaning on. “It took you two weeks to remember that you still have parents.”

        Pause.

        He put both hands on the backrest of the armchair, but still kept standing. Apparently, he was saying something in return, as his mom was following the lines and nodded, but Alex couldn’t hear his voice. He didn’t have much time to wonder.

        “Oh, dear, that was only a joke,” she chuckled, yet rather sadly than amusedly. “I know that you are pretty busy the last few months and have too much on your plate. I’d simply like to see you more often. I guess, I’m officially getting older,” another small smile.

        Another pause. Or his silent reply…

        “That wasn’t a complaint, God forbid!” his mother shook her head. “Neither a distress call. Merely stating the fact – I feel it…” Suddenly her eyes narrowed a bit, as she observed her son more fixedly. “Alex, is something bothering you? You look strained and… nervous. Look, son, sit down finally and tell me what’s the matter.”

        Moment of silence.

        “That’s a serious question,” she closed her eyes, her expression becoming serious instantly. “The biggest problem of choices is that they are inevitable. You can’t stop and turn back, avoid your choice, despite sometimes it seems you can walk around the problem. It will pounce you from every corner. And serious choices are entirely yours, if they emerge in front of you. Nobody can help you decide, as it will be their choice immediately, not yours.”

        Pause. Alex took a look around the room, it became noticeably darker. The torchiere and fireplace didn’t emit less light though.

        “I see where you’re going…” mom leaned to him, putting her hand on Alex’s arm. “But, fortunately, some choices can give you concealed freedom, my boy. Those are not that easy or difficult, as choosing one of the two options. Sometimes you can choose both or a mix of them, sometimes you even invent your own option or rule and force your unyielding choice “comply”.”

        Alex looked into her eyes, as the room around started to fade, drowning in the twilight, which turned into full darkness. He saw nothing at that moment, he felt nothing already: no mom’s hand, no armchair beneath himself. Alex wasn’t even sure at that moment if he was standing, sitting, laying down or floating in complete darkness.

        He blinked.

        The darkness became different, he felt something… someone large, bulky and extremely unkind at a short distance. Alex tried his best to see, what he was going to face, but the only thing he could comprehend was a lump of darkness even more black than surrounding space. Then six dim red lights appeared in three pairs… Or were them the eyes?

        “… I could imagine, there is nothing to ponder about here,” a low voice, no it sounded more like a set of voices, as they mixed and reverberated, continued the conversation out of the blue. “You won’t be able to destroy me ever, human. Whatever you became now.”

        “I admit,” insinuatingly continued his opponent after a pause. “There is a fair chance that I couldn’t destroy you either, in a desired reasonable time span at least. The alternative is least entertaining, don’t you think?”

        Silence. Dead silence.

        “I will take what I need of Equestria anyway,” bluntly stated the set of rolling voices. “Yet I’m ready to negotiate. Think of it. Thousands of years Equestria was under the reign of the princesses… and turned into the still swamp. Sweet, harmonic, friendly… friendly sucking you to the very bottom, if there is any. And boring as nothing.”

        ‘That depends on what you consider to be an entertainment!’ flew in Alex’s head.

        “You’re another story,” continued the “provocateur”. “You are human. Even more than a human now, but still enough human inside,” Alex almost felt, how the mysterious beast nastily smirked. “The humans are born to conquer, to fight and gain, but mostly to conquer, as far as I know your kin. And believe me, I know you well. Take out the princesses! It won’t matter for you, if your swarms have “feelings”,” the voices sounded mockingly at the last word. “They will have aims and will follow you, setting those aims. I will show you, how to open portals to other worlds. Just imagine…”

        ‘Who the bucking hay are you?’ wanted to ask Alex, when he heard another voice. His own voice, but coming outwardly.

        “Tis could be reasonable, if ’t be true I were thee!” the voice, the mocking tone was undoubtedly his own, but…

        ‘What? Why am I talking as princess Luna!’ Alex was totally distracted. “He” meanwhile continued.

        “Let me withhold mine enthusiasm regarding thy suggestion though. Mine level of trust is way afar from that.”

        Alex facepalmed inwardly. He spent much time with Luna, but the assumption that he could absorb her manner of speech that strongly seemed unlikely to him.

        “Look at… thyself!” drolled his opponent. “You take too much of them inside already, while you could really make Equestria different. But, well, it was your choice…”

        Alex twitched and… woke up in his room.

        *

        Celestia tiredly closed her eyes. She almost beat Twilight record in the reading marathon during the few latest days, while she searched the Canterlot Library for a feasible method to magically transfer a magic resistant entity. The lack of realistic methods in this case was appalling, as the only visible result she managed to get daily, were the bloodshot eyes, well, not of their usual pink colour of the iris, but redder. Totally not suitable for the princess.

        No wonder that the sun almost smacked down behind the horizon this evening, making everypony surprised by such sudden dusk and fast falling twilight. This was the reflection of Celestia’s own tired condition and the liberty she couldn’t allow herself, unfortunately – to hit the pillows as fast as she lowered the sun. She needed that letter, as the direction of her further research was supposed to base on what she could read there, thus princess stood at the window and random observer could think that Celestia is enjoying the view of the night, coming over her domain. But her eyes were closed, the princess gave them long deserved rest, while she was thinking, if she missed something in today’s studying.

        The sound of the materialized scroll, which fell on her table, rustling the papers, was like music for her perked ears. Celestia opened her eyes, heading to her desk, and sat there with comfort: she felt really exhausted today. However, the golden aura enveloped the scroll, unrolling it; skipping usual formal greetings Celestia started reading, what was really important for her.

        “…

    The following is the brief report of the second stage of human studying. During this stage we plan to perform various tests of magical impact (and the corresponding reaction of the subject – human) of inanimate magical objects also known as artefacts.

        The whole set of experiments is planned to be carried under constant observation and control of the mages of your royal council. We, in our turn, provide generic medical supervision and supplementary services, collecting data and building theories with the help of respected mages accordingly. The same refers to further experiments, involving living interaction (subject to further reports, when done).

        The named artefacts are presented by simple metallic tokens, typically worn on the neck of the subject, or suitable to be placed on the subject any other preferred by the nature of the experiment way. They are made of simple bronze and crystals, and powered by the named mages with basic spells of different nature, range and target.”

        “Why the hay, pray tell, can’t they write in simple Equestrian?” muttered Celestia. “The mere fact that it is comprehensible doesn’t make it comfortable to read yet.”

        “Naturally, we can divide the artefacts on passive and active, with passive affecting some characteristics of the subject or third party, or environmental parameters, e.g. lighting level. Further on the impact of both passive and active artefacts can be directed on the subject himself or anything/anypony in the certain range. In addition to that, the impact can be positive and negative, regardless of the target of it.

        We could test only the limited number of simple interactions for the first day of the second stage. Due to the named reason, we decided to cover the whole range of types of interaction, to have the most complete possible image. Basing on the results of today’s tests we plan to cover the whole variety of spells, your highness’ council mages find appropriate and necessary for our goal. The results of extensive tests will follow; while here is the brief summary of subject’s interaction with inanimate magical objects.

        According to the conventional plan of tests, we started with passive artefacts.

        Thus the simplest possible environmental interaction was chosen – the first test token was powered with lighting spell. The token was placed on the neck of the subject as a part of a necklace. N.B.: Here and further on the subject shows the high concern and cooperation level, placing, activating (when necessary) and operating the artefacts himself. The staff member leaves the prepared token on the test table, then, when the test room is clear, the subject puts the token on.”

        “Hmmm…” Celestia raised one eyebrow. “This level of concern is too high, if you ask me…”

        “Oh, come on,” she reconsidered in a second. “He may be impulsive,” she remembered that kiss and blushed slightly, inwardly scolding herself for that memory, “but not completely mental. He must realize that harming my subjects won’t make his life easier.”

        She continued reading.

        “The first test didn’t bring any unexpected results. Thus when the lights were turned off in the test room, the token started to emit light, according to the applied spell. The decided period of each test is set at twenty minutes, if no interaction takes place, or as long as is enough to register the results without detrimental effects to the subject or/and third party. During the whole test period no extra effects were registered: the light emission stayed at the cast level without any changes, the subject didn’t report any physical or emotional change, the token preserved its initial condition (both physically and magically, as it was confirmed later, when it was examined by the mages). The test was stopped and the subject had a short rest.

        The second test included a passive artefact, affecting the third-party test subject – volunteer. This token was imbued with the spell, increasing the physical strength of the third-party subject on a short range (the room perimeter), the primary subject – the human – was informed about the nature of the spell, the weights were placed in the test room. The primary subject put the artefact on, no changes of the state were registered on both the token and the primary subject. The third-party test subject entered the room. The volunteer immediately reported about the expected impact of the artifact, as test lifting shown that she was able to lift twice than her normal limit. No extra effects were registered, likewise the first test. The test was stopped, when the volunteer tried the number of weights and determined her new limit (under the spell effect), without any changes to the primary subject or the artefact.

        The third test supposed passive impact on the human himself and the token was accordingly powered with the same strength increasing spell, but this time directed on the test subject respectively. The token was made specifically to be activated by pressing the crystal, to avoid unnecessary disturbances and “borderline effects” in the process of putting it on the subject. The limit of lifting of the subject, determined by the medical tests, was approximately eighty percents of his own weight, thus under normal conditions of the spell application, the subject was supposed to lift approximately twice of his own weight. However, when the subject put the token on and properly activated it, no visible changes were registered. The lifting limit remained the same as before the test, but the extra effect was registered instead. The visible bond formed between the token and subjects body. Thus when the subject lifted the token, a thin, bright aura thread could be seen, connecting the token and test subject. The subject reported token temperature increase and, in a matter of minutes, the token disintegrated, corroding (visually the process reminded the corrosion mostly, despite bronze is not supposed to corrode naturally) and crumbling to dust. N.B.: The test subject was visibly shocked by the effect, we suppose that the emotions were not simulated.

        It is necessary to note that those tokens were specifically made as weak enough artefacts, without any extra protection of their own structure, to register the results of the tests in the quickest and most graphical way. Supposedly, any real artifact (possessing protection and higher level of magical power) will resist the effect considerably longer (depending on the power and protection levels, yet it’s vital to notice that more powerful artifacts create more powerful interaction, thus the reflected effect is stronger as well), but still ceases to exist finally, when its magical (and presumably connected physical) potential wears out.”

        Celestia closed her eyes for a moment, thinking.

        ‘Bad, this is very, very bad. We, perhaps, could shield the human from the direct impact with some passive artefact, as the experiments allow. But the transfer supposes direct impact on the transferred object. And in that case he starts draining the transferring magic again… or even worse, some unforeseen effect could be formed by the addition of the shielding artefact.’

        ‘Mom, where are you, when I need your experience in magic so much?’ a single tear stained the papers in front of Celestia.

        After a minute the princess took herself in hooves and returned to the report.

        “The next series of tests included the active impact in the same pattern: environment, third party subject, primary subject. As the results appeared to be similar, I took the liberty to compact the description as much as it was possible.

        The first test supposed active interception of the environmental projectiles aimed at the test subject. We used buckball balls as the projectiles, launching them at the test subject at different speeds. The token was powered by a “sentinel” spell, which knocked down the projectiles with shock impulses, and could be activated by the subject himself. During the test all the balls were taken down by the token, no extra effects on the token itself or the test subject were registered.

        The second test in this series used a healing artefact, tuned to affect third-party test subjects. As the latter, a guard was used. After the primary test subject put on the token and activated, the third-party test subject made a cut on his fore leg. N.B.: The facial expression of the primary subject showed his negative attitude towards the method. The cut was healed by the artefact in predefined manner and time. No extra effects were registered on the token and the primary subject.

        The third test included the same healing artefact, tuned to affect the primary test subject. To trigger the effect the subject was supposed to make a small wound on himself. Considering the off-limits level of regeneration your mages made a few changes to the healing spell, namely prevented it from stopping, when the wound was healed. The proof run was performed without the token to determine the time of complete healing of the cut. During the actual run of the test the same nature cut was made and no changes in healing time were registered, allowing to assume that the artefact didn’t affect the self-healing process. The rest reminded the passive counterpart of this experiment, namely – the bond was formed between the token and the subject’s body and the artefact was destroyed within minutes.

        We considered important to perform two extra tests with purely negative impact on both third party and the primary subject. The mentioned “sentinel” spell was used as the basis for these tests. In the first test the token was tuned to bombard approaching third party subject with shock impulses and a guard in shock shielding armour was used as the third-party test subject. No other effects than pre-planned were registered.

        The second test involved the “sentinel” token placed in the test room and tuned to attack any approaching living creature. The test subject – human – was supposed to enter the room and approach the token, causing the reaction. We did two runs: with the shielding armour and without. In the first run the impulses were reflected by the armour and no extra effects were registered. In the second run the human was attacked by the artefact, when he approached at the defined range, but the impulse didn’t cause any shock effect on human. Instead of that it visibly “dissolved” in human’s body and the artefact itself blasted in a flash, resembling electric discharge. No remnants of the token were found later.”

        Celestia frowned, it seemed that Discord was right, not acting in his outrageous demonstration, despite how clownish it looked.

        “Considering all of the above and to summarize the results, I can safely state the following. It doesn’t matter what kind of spell is used by the test artefact, passive or active, positive or negative, what actually matters, is the direction of the spell. Anything applied directly to the subject causes a magical bond forming and the draining effect, with the only exception that the negative impact causes the immediate and strong “backlash”. Otherwise the subject is inert to surrounding magic as long as it doesn’t affect himself.

        The disintegration of the magical artefacts can be explained by complete magic drain performed by the subject, which causes deeper structural changes, we have no ability to investigate for now.

        We are going to test all the variety of the spells applied with artefacts, suggested by the council in the matter of the following week. But my personal suspicion is that the results will be nearly the same, regardless to the spell.

        We plan to proceed with the interaction with third-party test subjects instead of inanimate artefacts, when current series of tests is over.

        With endless respect and admiration,

    always your loyal servant

    …, MD

            P.S.: Your Highness, princess Celestia, if I’m allowed, I’d like to take a liberty and advise against purely negative impact testing within living third-party test subjects series of experiments. This is my official position.”

        “Agreed,” nodded Celestia without hesitation. “Something tells me that being smacked by a frying pan is not the worst variant an offender could get.”

        “And something also tells me that a prolonged exposure to that “magical drain” effect can make a living mage share the unenviable fate of those artefacts,” she added, locking the scroll in the same drawer with similar others.

        *

        Alex put down the book and listened carefully. He spent the last two hours exactly that way – reading the book on Equestrian history, which was finally decided to be given to him, and paying attention to every sound, which reached his ears from the corridor. The pattern was almost the same as every evening: the guards passed his room approximately once in an hour, the wide confident hoofsteps of the second nurse passed once, and somepony galloped wildly in the middle of the first hour. Alex chuckled, he knew who that most likely was.

        The second nurse, or as Alex, not knowing names, called her for himself – “Ginger”, whose duty was tonight, got late. “As usual”, as another nurse – that kind, petite “brunette” unicorn – mentioned, while bringing him his supper. She was a bit nervous, because that could interfere with her personal plans, but not overly nervous, which told Alex that it was the common practice for “Ginger” to do that. Shortly after he finished his meal, those galloping steps passed his door.

        Contrary to the miniature unicorn, “Ginger” was a fairly tall, leggy earth pony. She was vivid and chatty, even too vivid in Alex’s books and she was indeed ginger. Despite her chatty nature, she bona fide avoided giving out personal information or generally anything about the experiments or personnel, so all her chatting was limited by weather, casual stuff, flowers growing in the Royal Garden or cinema (in those moments Alex got stiff, as he had no idea, if he was able to get to the cinema alone or with… anypony in the nearest future), but that was an avalanche nevertheless. So, each time, when she left waving her sunny tail, Alex felt that serenity was almost palpable in those moments.

        Due to the same reason Alex didn’t ask about things that bothered him, as with “Ginger” his questions would become known by guards, maids, nopony knows whoever else… and finally by Celestia, not by malevolence, but just because of “Ginger’s” curiosity and loquacity. The faster method to bring them to Celestia was, perhaps, going and whispering them himself, right into the princess’ soft ear.

        Alex waited for “Ginger” to come as usual to check him before the sleep and ask, if he needed something. There were certain positive aspects though: Alex knew for sure that after that visit, she would stay in the nurse’s room for the whole night, unless he called specifically, and would be most likely chatting with the guards, when they stopped by during their patrolling. The guards became more relaxed and distracted that way, so his plan could play out nicely; it would be very helpful, if they didn’t listen for every tiny sound in the building.

        He decided to go further with his “personal experiments”. Nothing too outstanding, nothing harmful, but if he was caught, that wouldn’t be beneficial for his general image, especially in the eyes of Celestia. Alex thought that if he was locked physically, nothing still prevented proxy Alex to have at least some freedom and get for a walk. One thing was to see the small square of the night sky through the barred window and totally another – to be able to stand under it in its entire glory. Alex planned to exit his “cell” tonight by “sleepwalking”, get to the roof and stay there as long as he could afford, not being caught by the guards. He chuckled, anticipating his small adventure, which was called to dilute his routine.

        Getting out of the cell was an easy task: Alex could place “himself” everywhere on the fairly short distance, while on the long distances he needed the anchor, the one and only princess Luna – Alex didn’t try to reach somepony else’s dreams and he rightfully assumed that he couldn’t. Speaking of which, there was a certain possibility of Luna visiting him, but he was sure that the princess could find him easily and wouldn’t get him into any trouble.

        Getting to the actual roof of the building offered a bit of an issue though. Of course, Alex could try to appear right there (being unable to actually transfer himself, the only method of “teleporting” he knew, was getting into his real body in a fraction of second, when he voluntarily or forcedly gave out his proxy control), but there were some problems with that. First of all, Alex couldn’t properly visualize his destination and risked to appear somewhere in the building still, moreover right before the eyes of somepony, that definitely wouldn’t be the desired result. And second, let’s be frank, Alex wanted to have a certain element of risk, making his way up, avoiding unwelcome eyes and ears; princess Luna gave him very accurate characteristic.

        Thus after the nurse left, wishing him a good night, Alex waited for a befitting period of time, letting her return to her usual activity: reading or talking to the guard, who already passed his door once again, and finally decided that it was time. He lay on his bed and prepared to his gamble, freeing his mind of irrelevant thoughts and travelling to the Luna’s kingdom.

        After about ten minutes Alex appeared in the dimly lit corridor, behind the door of his room. He couldn’t throw a look through the small opening on the door, as it was blocked (just as the whole doorway) with the magical barrier from that side, contacting with which could bring unforeseen consequences, Alex preferred to avoid. But he knew for sure that anypony, who wanted to check their “guinea pig” for magic, would see him sleeping peacefully… and he doubted that anypony would look at him long enough to suspect that not moving human looked strange. For that moment everything was more than fine, even the supposed magical guarding device, Luna told him about, didn’t react to his trick. Perhaps, it was tuned to address the break out attempts of physical Alex only.

        ‘Surely it could be a bit darker here, that would provide more freedom of movement,’ regretted Alex, getting closer to the wall and listening to the possible sounds from behind the numerous doors.

        He could try and extinguish a few light sources, as the corridor was lit by common candles in the chandeliers. With a sly smile Alex thought that his idea to try making environment-friendly electricity generators for living had good potential. But extinguished candles could startle the ponies, besides, somepony could decide to go and fix the issue, so Alex left them alone.

        One door was slightly opened and threw a bright stripe of light on the floor. The muffled talk from behind witnessed about the nurse being on her duty and, as supposed, distracting the guard from his duty. Alex smirked.

        ‘Thanks, Ginger, that you are making them less edgy and suspicious… Though you could certainly do it not right on my way to the stairs,’ he thought, remembering the approximate building layout.

        Alex was taken for the experiments to the underground levels of the facility, as he could assume, getting a few floors down via the same staircase. If his memory served him well, this was the first floor, the building had a couple of floors more above that one and, supposedly, if there was an exit to the roof, it should be at the end of the staircase.

        Fortunately, he was barefoot and didn’t make much noise: proxy Alex always appeared, looking the same as real Alex. This time it was apropos. Perhaps, he was able to change something in his appearance during sleepwalking, Alex never tried.

        Slowly and carefully he approached that opened door, listening to the talk, flowing from inside the room. Alex thought that it would be nice to have some plan, in case the tone of that talk changed and the guard appeared in the corridor the next moment. He stopped halfway through the corridor and quietly tried the nearest door. It was locked. Remembering how to deal with material objects Alex accurately mentally nudged a few more doors and one of them opened slightly, but with an audible screeching.

        ‘Merlin’s pants!’ breathed Alex inwardly, when the voices became quieter and the talk stumbled. He slid to that opened door in a wink, ready to burst in, if anypony showed in the hallway. The door led to the toilet and Alex scolded himself: if he was to hide, there wasn’t much space in, besides, the light, if turned on, would make the whole idea useless. Unfortunately, he didn’t have invisibility in the list of his abilities and hadn’t asked Luna, if that was even possible for one to perform during sleepwalking. But to his relief, nopony appeared in the corridor and the paused talk was resumed soon, most likely they didn’t hear the screech well enough and left it all to their imagination. Or that particular guard was interested in “Ginger” more, than in his duty; anyway, she distracted him well enough for Alex to proceed.

        When he approached the nurse’s room door though, Alex spotted the top of the shadow, dropped by the guard in the lit doorway.

        ‘He must be standing right behind the opening, leaning on the doorframe, chattering with the mare, yet at the same time listening and watching the corridor through the gap,’ assumed Alex, facepalming inwardly. ‘There is no way I can pass right now, as he will notice the movement most likely. And despite he won’t catch me anyway, he will see enough for me to explain too much later.’

        ‘And I can’t stay here, as, sooner or later, the guard will continue his walk through the building and again see me… or even worse, another one will come from behind,’ Alex took a quick look around. There was literally nothing in the corridor to use for cover and enough light to render almost every attempt futile.

        Nevertheless, there was another door opposite the nurse’s room; the plate said “Storage” and the lock looked rather simple. Alex slid to that door and leaned to it, trying the handle – locked. He then put his palm over the keyhole and concentrated on the lock mechanism.

        It took him a good couple of minutes to imagine the deadbolt and how it backed away from the hole in the door frame. Alex moved his hand away from the door edge and heard the quiet sound of the metal bar sliding back into the lock.

        “By the name of Celestia!” Alex automatically wiped his forehead, like if proxy Alex could sweat… or perhaps he really could. “Just don’t bucking screech that time.”

        He slowly opened the door and entered, stopping in the doorframe and waiting, till his eyes accommodate to the darkness. “Storage” meant lots of stuff and Alex didn’t want to knock something down and startle the whole building. When he saw that he could step aside behind the door, not dropping anything, he closed the door behind himself, not letting it lock again. Alex became all ears. He needed that guard to leave the room and the floor in general, and also a few minutes before the next guard enters the corridor from another side, being able to spot Alex.

        Several minutes seemed an eternity, before the chatter and laugh stopped and Alex heard the sound of the opening door and hoofsteps receding to the left.

        ‘Yay, I’m lucky tonight!’ Alex looked out of his hiding place, smelling of detergent and something else chemical, and found that at least the door to the nurse’s room wasn’t left wide open. He quickly passed the stripe of light, falling from the gap.

        Alex covered the rest of the floor in a few jumps, as he still remembered that somepony could appear in the opposite end of the hallway at any moment. He leaned on the door to the staircase, feeling the cold surface with his ear and listening – silence.

        “Well, I hope, he won’t suddenly decide to go back,” Alex opened the door.

        Good thing – the staircase was empty, bad thing – the staircase was well lit and… empty! No nook or cranny to hide, if somepony suddenly opened the door on any of nearest landings and observed the narrow stairs, instantly spotting him. So, Alex made up his mind, he concentrated and extinguished all the candles in the stairwell from his floor to the top.

        “At least this will give me a few seconds, if anypony opens the door from the lit corridor to the dark stairs, to spot them and flee,” smirked Alex in the pitch black stairwell, slowly starting to recognize the contours of stairs, railings, walls and doors. “And they won’t see me right away, even if the darkness makes them suspicious.”

        If he stopped for a moment and thought better, he would probably realize that he wasn’t naturally supposed to see that well without any light. But instead of wasting time on useless analysis of himself, he spent a second to open the door to the floor corridor slightly.

        “Let’s say it’s the draught, which took the lights out. Besides, I can hear better if somepony approaches the stairs…”Alex walked up, performing the same trick with the doors on the remaining landings, but came across a surprise at the end of his ascent.

        The stairs ended, there was a landing, an obvious door to the last floor – Alex saw the corridor behind it, but no ladder or hatch to the roof, nothing, just solid walls and a ceiling.

        “Buck my life!” Alex gritted his teeth. “I spent the whole evening, waiting for the small opportunity to get under the open sky and it all stumbles upon the stupid hatch absence.”

        “I always thought that if one has a roof, one must have a way to reach it,” he scratched the back of his head. “If I’m not mistaking, the roof here is flat, so… They must at least remove the snow in winter somehow!”

        Then he remembered about pegasi and that didn’t add any optimism. Alex thought that technically he could try the same: namely, fly to the roof. But there was a big difference, to raise a few feet above the solid floor of Luna’s room balcony, or to open a window, if it could be opened, in some room, high above the ground and… actually fly to the roof. There was one hell of a difference for an acrophobic human, who just started to fight his phobia… in the sleepwalking state only yet.

        “Okay, that’s “plan B”,” decided Alex. “If I find guts for the “plan B”. They simply must have some way,” he tried to convince himself, exiting the dark staircase and squinting in the light of the upper floor hallway.

        “Taking out the lights here would be extremely stupid,” thought Alex, trying the doors one by one methodically. “Too obviously suspicious for anypony, who enters the hallway.”

        He crossed the whole floor to the opposite end: locked cabinets, open toilets – two of them, one on each end of the hallway, and the unlocked door to another staircase. Alex checked its landing as well – nothing again. Execrating the architect he returned to the main corridor, Alex left the door to those stairs slightly open as well to hear, if anypony approaches from that end. He started checking the doors once again, more desperately, than really expecting the result, as if there was an exit to the roof, it should naturally be obvious and unlocked. Alex realized that he was thinking, using human logic, but he assumed that fire safety was generic enough to be the same anywhere.

        Right at the moment he almost reached the middle of the hallway, Alex stopped and listened carefully. He was sure that he heard something, most likely from the second stairwell. A coughing sound came from there followed by steps, Alex quietly swore and his gaze rushed frantically around – he had no time to reach any of the opened toilets unheard. Then his eyes stumbled at the inconspicuous narrow door, which he took for a wall closet for the first time and barely nudged.

        This was the only chance and Alex turned the knob and forcefully pulled the door. Fortunately, it gave up and Alex saw another short set of narrow stairs and one more door at the upper end of them, barely visible in the darkness. There wasn’t much time to hesitate, as the hoofsteps were almost behind the door to the hallway. At the very least that was a better hiding place than the unlocked, well lit and fairly small toilet.

        Wasting no more time Alex stormed in and tried to close the narrow door fast, but without any bang. Just in time: the unicorn guard appeared in the far end of the corridor the same second Alex closed the door behind himself. He was slightly puzzled by the stairs door, which was opened to leave a noticeable gap, and inwardly scolded his colleague, who supposedly left it open previously. Meanwhile, Alex flew to the top of the stairs at his tiptoes, almost bumping in the upper door, as his eyes didn’t yet accommodate to the pitch black room. He froze there, leaning on the door leaf and listening, feeling his heart under the throat and adrenaline pumping through his veins. Amazingly the proxy kept all the feelings of the real Alex, at least those, which he subconsciously allowed to reveal themselves.

        The steps approached the narrow door below, Alex stiffened, and passed it, though slower, than the guards usually patrolled: Alex heard them so many times through the last several days, so he could tell the difference. At that moment Alex prayed that this door was unlocked as well, as he had no time to look where the lock was at least approximately, so he would be to find it at first, before even trying to fiddle with. The door looked all smooth for him, even without a visible handle.

        He leaned on it and pushed and with a noticeable resistance the door opened finally – Alex fell out on the roof, almost falling on all four. Raised gaze found the dark-blue sky and the glowing stars, Alex took his breath and closed the door, which was on the highest wall of the small superstructure, lit by the moon. He sat on the roof in the shadow of that exit, leaning his back on the door and relaxing. Alex glanced at the diamonds scattered on the dark velvet of sky and suddenly burst out laughing. For no particular reason, just at the childish feel of well-made shenanigan, he laughed and laughed, feeling how adrenaline left his blood and gave place to unbelievable serenity and some happiness. He was happy to simply sit there under the sky, watch the stars and feel the fresh wind on his face. That was worth returning to his comfortable “cell” after a while and being a guinea pig for yet another day tomorrow. Besides, he finally put his new abilities to the test and some actual usage, not giving up to circumstances, but staying above them, albeit in such an unusual way.

        “And despite my body is still there in the locked room,” he thought, still smiling widely. “That’s me, who feels the wind, the smell of flowers, looks for familiar constellations… That’s a victory, even if small, still a victory!”

        *

        The complete darkness in this stairwell, at least on the upper floors, as he saw the light coming from the lower levels, was a surprise, moreover, an unpleasant and strange one. The guard lit the candles back with his magic and quietly started descending. He disturbed nopony on his way down though, noticing and closing the slightly open doors at two more, previously dark, landings. The last landing without the light was the one on the floor with the human test subject, so the guard started to show anxiety, when he entered the hallway. Everything looked normal though, at least at the first sight.

        The guard quickly, but as quietly as he could on his hooves, approached the lit nurse’s room – it was fine here as well: the nurse sat at the table, reading something and raised her eyes on him with a smile, when he entered. She didn’t look, like if she heard or saw something unruly.

        “Hey, what’s the matter?” she asked amazedly, obviously noticing him being stiff. “You look a fair bit jumpy. Is everything okay?”

        He watched her fixedly for a few seconds, instead of the answer, considering if she was not enthralled, and visibly relaxed, when decided, she was consciously unconcerned.

        “This is what I want to ask you exactly,” he said quietly. “Is everything okay?”

        “In the name of Celestia, just tell what…”

        “Shhh…” hissed the guard, gesturing the ginger nurse to shut up. “Be quiet an tell me: have you checked the human recently?”

        “I did before he went to sleep,” she raised one eyebrow. “But the door was locked and the barrier… I heard nothing since then, he didn’t call… Besides, your partner… passed about twenty minutes ago.”

        The guard smirked, he thought that “passed” was a humble term for sticking here for half an hour and chattering, instead of patrolling the floors, and certain pink spots on nurse’s muzzle told him he made a right guess.

        “Well, let’s go and check,” he concluded. “If everything is indeed calm and quiet, as you claim.”

        The nurse huffed and took the keys, and they both quietly exited to the hallway.

        “I don’t see anything wrong,” whispered the nurse, when they approached the door to the human’s room. “It’s closed and the barrier is on.”

        They came closer and the guard threw a look through the peephole: in the faint light of the moon, coming through the barred window, he saw that the human was on the bed, laying on his back, obviously sleeping and the even breathing raised and lowered his chest rhythmically. Nurse’s muzzle peeked through the opening, appearing right next to guard’s and making him slightly confused by that sudden proximity.

        “See,” she hissed touchily. “He’s sleeping, okay? Was there any need to scare me?”

        The guard huffed, he wasn’t so easily convinced. He produced a short quiet whistle, causing the glare of the nurse, but the human stayed the same, not twitching a zilch, breathing quietly. There was no doubt, he was sleeping and couldn’t exit his room, making strange things happen. To be sure the guard nudged the door slightly and found out that it was locked.

        He shrugged and waved his head towards nurse’s room, heading there first with the nurse following.

        “Okay,” he said, when they returned to the brightly lit room. “Let’s say I believe. And he didn’t leave his bed for the whole evening. And the lights in the left stairwell went out because of the wind, as somepony, some idiotic pony, left all the doors open from this floor and above. Although it’s strange…”

        The mare listened to him with wide open eyes.

        “But do me a favour,” he continued. “Raise your pretty plot and check the human at least once in half an hour, please.”

        *

        Alex caught himself on the strange observation: he could recognize some of the constellations easily, yet some of them were totally unknown to him. He found Orion, both Ursa major and minor, some others, but again the position of them wasn’t entirely familiar to him.

        “On the one hand, the well-known constellations can mean that I’m at least in the same sector of the galaxy, where the Earth is,” pondered Alex, enjoying the night sky view at the same time. “But, on the other hand, there are too many, I have no faintest idea about and can’t recognize. I admit that I’m a crappy astronomer, if any at all, still… That doesn’t entirely compute.”

        “Or I am on the Earth, but in some other parallel dimension and reality,” he twitched upon a wild idea. “That would be quite an irony, universe likes so much!”

        “Hardly though,” he was to confess the brilliant guess to be an absurdity. “Unknown constellations and the maps from the book speak against that. I couldn’t recognize any single continent or territory. The geography is completely different, that couldn’t be Earth in the wildest approach.”

        “That means I’m still in the middle of nopony-knows-where,” sighed Alex, not even noticing that “nopony” didn’t make him cringe inwardly now.

        A lone cloud ran over the moon, which moved across the sky and now glowed slightly to his left, making the lit part of the sky almost turquoise with a bit of pink tint. The amazing eyes of Fluttershy, sad, filled with tears, just like they were on the day of his departure to Canterlot, appeared before Alex’s inner sight. He placed his hand on his chest involuntarily – his heart faintly ached, a cold needle of regret stabbed it.

        What was she doing there, far away, in Ponyville? What was she feeling? Alex could safely assume that he knew her well enough after those few days, they spent together. Shy was an open book, she never concealed her thoughts and feelings. She couldn’t lie, even if it was a lie for salvation – anypony close to her, could tell that there was something bothering her, some second level of the feelings, she was trying hard to suppress, but inevitably giving out by her look, posture and behaviour. So, Alex could tell that she was genuinely upset, if not to say ruined, by his forced leave. He knew that she must still be, thinking again and again about something she could do, but did not to change the situation. She took him to her home, didn’t let him die, not thinking about image or reputation, forgetting about all her fears and weaknesses (even if they were imaginary). That’s where they were close indeed: she always tried her best to do things, which depended on her, the most proper way, becoming desperate, if she failed, especially if the fail rooted not in some force major, but rather in her incapability to handle the situation. Alex thought that it was the reason for half of her insecurities – she wasn’t afraid to do, she feared to fail. Sometimes an emergency was needed to make her act, like an imminent danger to her friends. But when she made a decision, especially in the named urgent cases, she was rock solid. That was what he loved about that girl.

        ‘Loved about that girl… Loved… that girl?!’

        Alex definitely felt special about Fluttershy. He wouldn’t make a crime against truth, supposing that he found actual friends during just a few days in that world, and it was a miracle by itself. But Fluttershy was more than a friend. The question was: how much more than a friend? Like Elen, whom he perhaps didn’t think about the last few days. Or even more… Alex bit his finger, eyeing the turquoise sky around cloud-veiled moon.

        ‘Luna…’

        She was another part of that complex puzzle. Alex knew that he was free in his decisions, yet he would give his life for this incredible princess without the second thought. She found a potential in him, taught him much already, assumingly was completely sincere with him (Alex remembered their last talk, when Luna told him about her parents: that wasn’t artificial in the slightest). She trusted him apparently. Not mentioning the obvious affection, mutual, as he admitted. All that could hardly be done just to confront or surpass her sister. Besides, what Alex saw spoke for the sisters not having any stupid competitions long ago, evidently “growing” above those things; they were heartily concerned about each other instead. So, was the bottom line of all that… him and Luna being more than just friends as well?

        Less than a month in Equestria and things were becoming more and more complicated. But Fluttershy… Alex felt extremely uneasy about how things went with her, for the start they shouldn’t part like that. He couldn’t find a proper name for that feeling yet, assuming that love was perhaps a bit overboard and premature for such a short relationship. But at the end of the day who could know? That wasn’t because he undoubtedly owed his life to her or even because she accepted him so easily. There was something about Fluttershy herself, which made him want to keep her safe, protected.

        ‘Isn’t it exactly love, Alex?’ he squinted at this inner voice suggestion.

        Luna, on the contrary, was totally confident, amazingly treating him like an equal since the first day. Alex had no illusions about actually becoming equal someday, but that was evidently the advantage of the alicorn princess: she could choose one, put at her side and try guiding that one to at least some level of equality. On the other hand, another advantage of being a princess was an ability to abandon the chosen one as easily as to choose, not feeling obliged to explain her choices or reconsideration of them. Although, Alex couldn’t find any visible symptoms of their relationship being something lightweight and shallow.

        While he could tell fortunes about Luna’s motives, one he knew for sure: he wanted to know how Fluttershy was doing, to tell her that he was alright in his turn, nothing awful was happening there… yet. Alex suddenly understood that she was crying not only and mostly, because things went wrong, but most likely because she thought that he might end being transferred home without any chance for them to meet before that or ever again. Despite that he said, he would return for a while no matter what. Tormenting her like that was the last thing Alex wanted to do. And as soon as he couldn’t contact anypony, except a few permitted persons, while being thoroughly examined, he could at least try and relay a message. The most uneasy thing about that: the only person he could trust, doing that, was the one, who could be personally interested in NOT relaying anything to Fluttershy perhaps. Alex could imagine, how it would look like.

        ‘Luna, dear, before you kissed me breathless, please remember to tell Fluttershy somehow that I’m okay and she shouldn’t worry!’

        Alex rolled his eyes, cringing at the mental image of the scene. Yet he would despise himself for not telling Shy anything, while still having a chance to lessen her anxiety.

        ‘This will call for grade A diplomacy not to suck drastically… or at least grade B+,’ smirked Alex, following the shooting star, which crossed the star embroidered sky, and wishing wholeheartedly to finally come to be at home. ‘I’m more than sure that Luna is capable to unearth the double bottom anyway, but it’s better to be not that obvious.’

        The moon moved further on its nightly route, lighting more space behind that roof superstructure, in the shadow of which Alex hid. He was going to move a little, as the light border was about to cross his bare feet, making them shine in the moonlight and revealing his hiding spot right away, if there was an eye, ready to notice. Lingering as long as he could Alex simply enjoyed sitting there, leaning on the still warm wall, stargazing and breathing in the aroma, he couldn’t estimate fully in his personal cell: roses, surprisingly, here in Equestria they had some species which produced strong sweet aroma, so unlikely for roses; acacia as well…

        ‘Merlin’s pants!’ realized Alex. ‘It’s June already… if their acacia isn’t much different from ours… and I’m still sitting on the spot, almost literally.’

        Lavender…

        “Ahem,” Alex raised one eyebrow, not yet turning his head, but already smiling, when he heard a soft, intermittent, surprised sigh. “Howdy, Luna. What an excellent night, isn’t it? Have you decided to join me and enjoy that amazing view of the starry sky? Do you usually sneak onto… anypony like that?”

        “Dost thou always get out, the time thou art not supposed to… and sit like that, simply asking to spot thee?” Luna huffed in return, approaching from behind and sitting next to him.

        “Among all the lunatic, forgive my pun, things thou didst, tis easily holdeth the first prize for that hour,” there was a slight concern in her voice, although, not some disappointment, when she nuzzled his shoulder lightly. “Art thou going for a record, Alex?”

        “By the way, how could thou…” she was genuinely interested and Alex hurried to satisfy her curiosity.

        “Oh, that’s easy,” he turned his face to touch her muzzle and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. “You may get used to it, but I know it’s you as long as I can feel my lavender fragrant… goddess.”

        A small gasp told him that, despite Luna might find the praising of her pony subjects natural, she was pleased by that spontaneous and cordial compliment, coming from the human.

        “And answering your previous question… No, I haven’t gone mad… yet. Was approaching that though, almost running the walls in my room lately,” continued Alex. “If not the book, the free time would be awful. Now I can read, I do push-ups, squats, everything space of my room allows, including even handstands, but I can’t effectively turn off my thoughts.”

        “Besides,” he added after a while, interrupted by a loud scream of some night bird in the garden, Luna perked her ears as well, before it got silent again. “Besides, I wanted to find out, if my new abilities have more practical usage…”

        “And how effective they are…” nodded Luna, looking at him, her eyes were smiling. “Just like me, learning my first spells when I was a filly. Thou needest to be cautious still…”

        “And that’s you, who telling me that,” chuckled Alex. He turned a bit to look into her eyes and moved closer. “Oh, you remind me of one thing: can one become invisible during that “sleepwalking”?”

        “Somepony just almost got caught once… or twice… or a few times,” articulated Luna with feigned strictness, tilting her head. Alex shrugged.

        “Well,” she had mercy finally. “One can hideth their presence really well, as for complete invisibility, I don’t know. I’ve never tried myself, wasn’t necessary, as I said, concealing thy presence is enough oft. Methinks tis a level of magic, when thou shalt control the process entirely, for invisibility to not become non-existence.”

        Alex spotted a faint shadow, running across Luna’s face.

        “Sitting hither in the open wasn’t the smartest thing,” she said, while Alex ran his fingers on her cheek, behind her soft ear and brushed through Luna’s hair. “Ahhhh! Don’t try to distract me, Alex! The night watch reporteth to me, that’s granted… but still, something can reach Tia’s ears, especially in thy case. Shan’t be helpful at all.”

        “At least that can be fixed with ease now,” Luna’s voice trembled, surprising Alex a bit, when she spread her wings in a welcoming gesture. “Comest closer, mine lief!”

        She “grabbed” him the same familiar way, covering entirely with her wings and making him snuggle into her. A small satisfied sigh left her chest, when Luna rested her head on top of Alex’s again; he snorted.

        “What?” she muttered, squinting and shivering, when he stroked her neck. “I really like to hold thee like that.”

        Alex leaned on her forelegs. Everything was amazing, yet he thought hard, how to proceed with what he planned regarding Fluttershy and her fears. A few minutes passed in complete silence, if not mentioning that night bird, which started crying plaintively again somewhere in the darkness of the castle grounds. Alex listened to Luna’s heartbeat and she rubbed her chin and neck on his head slightly, which, to be honest, made her breath noticeably deeper and her pulse a fair bit faster. Alex struggled with the wish to reach her lips and forget about everything for a while, feeling as his own heart started to accelerate.

        Like in confirmation of her earlier words a dark shadow crossed the roof. Alex threw a short glance at the sky to spot a pegasus… with bat wings. A… bat pony! Alex reminded himself that he came to self-agreement to wonder about nothing. Still, as Luna said, it was obviously one of the Nightwatch on their duty, so, Alex understood that princess’ appearance was right in time. He was perfectly hidden in her feathery grasp and… the princess had full right to enjoy her night walk anywhere; even if she preferred some stargazing on the roof of medical, or whichever else, facility, nopony would object.

        Finally, Alex decided to proceed very carefully, starting as far from the main concern, as it was possible, still keeping the logical flow.

        “Have you heard anything new from your sister, Luna?” each touch on her silky coat was one step towards losing his control and clenching to her, caressing and kissing, thus Alex tried to stroke Luna’s neck gently, in a relaxed way, to calm her heart race, while he tried to cool down in his turn. “Anything that could speak about even tiny progress regarding my problem…”

        “Tia didn’t tell anything fancy ere,” Luna shook her head, ruffling Alex’s hair lightly. “I am not involved in that work of hers directly… but I can see that she returneth from the library or the council sad, concerned and even a bit grumpy. Tis speaketh for itself, doesn’t it, Alex? Methinks thither is hardly any progress yet.”

        “Frankly speaking, I don’t understand the necessity of all those experiments,” Alex sighed. “It’s like we are going in circles without any real reason. I could suspect her playing for time, but I see no reason for that either. For what I know about your sister, the last thing I can imagine is her doing anything irrational or aimless. What then? I mean, it’s clearly known now that I’m resistant to any magic directed at me. Why try each tiny variation, when the result is generally predictable?”

        “I thought, that was understandable,” chuckled Luna. “Tia tryeth to find some way around that limitation of thy newly received trait, paying attention to each possibility. Besides, I’m sure, she believeth that careful approach will be only beneficial for everypony, including thee. Knowing thee, I can safely assume that thou wilt jump into the portal, hoping for the best outcome, while not being sure, ‘t is at least safe.”

        Alex shrugged, then remembering that Luna couldn’t see that move, said.

        “Perhaps. The more time passes, the less sure I am that I could enter the portal, without the second thought.”

        “What dost thou mean, Alex?” the surprise in her voice was genuine. “Dost thou wish to return not already?”

        “I still do. But the time is working against me inevitably,” explained Alex. “I mean the more time passes, the harder it will be for me to return… and for the others to accept that. First, there are two witnesses of my so-called death, I suppose… Everyone should already have visited my funeral back on Earth. I can imagine the effect my supposed return provides.”

        “And the second thing: I can hardly tell or explain what happened with me, avoiding the nuthouse,” he added with a tiny smile. “The later I return… if I return… the more of an alien I will be for everyone there. Perhaps at some point even more than I’m an alien for you all.”

        “Less than thou art thinking, in earnest,” peremptorily stated Luna and Alex felt her warm lips on his neck. Trying his best not to melt Alex gathered all his audacity; it was just a matter of time before Luna could become less interested in talk, preferring more pleasant ways of communication.

        “Know what, don’t ever turn to the modern manner of speech, Luna,” he tried to not lose the thread of their talk, while electric discharges wandered his neck and shoulder from her kisses. “That makes you even sexier… if you can be more. For me at least,” he blushed heavily, feeling the places she kissed became flaming hot. “I know, I’m an egotist.”

        “Not more than me, Alex, not more than me,” chuckled Luna, rubbing her cheek against his. “Can I ask thee likewise?”

        “Of course, my princess!”

        “Dost not ev’r become… “normal”, Alex. Overly rational, prudent and… boring. In other words, dost not become non-thyself, I shall hardly bear that.”

        “Tis thou can rely on me in rigidly,” teased Alex.

        Luna squeezed him tighter, finally finding his lips and effectively shutting him for a good few minutes, while she yearningly caught up to her desired level of interaction.

        “As few real friends as I have,” finally released Alex grasped all the willpower not to turn to her and wrap into the proper embrace, with all the consequences for the coherent talk following. He still needed to reach his goal. “But I doubt they can understand what I may tell in all honesty, let alone any of my new features, if I keep them. Just imagine their shock.”

        “Dost thou think that they would be less shocked than me upon thy “I’m the night!” gimmick?” the quiet laughter rolled through Luna’s swanlike neck, vibrating and making the hair on the back of his head stand. “Or less though.”

        “Oh… You will keep reminding me about that shameful event forever, won’t you? I mean as long as I’m here…”Alex felt how blood rushed in his face.

        “Mhm… Mayhap for a while…” huffed Luna, returning her head on top of his. “Speaking of thy friends possible reaction, isn’t it a good test for thy friendship then?”

        “Should friendship be even tested?” asked Alex instead of answering her question. “Besides, it will be an endurance test for me anyway, as keeping the old friends naturally means for me abandoning new ones. I believe I made quite a few, despite the brevity of my stay here. You, for example, or the girls I met first, when… well… when I regained my consciousness.”

        “I extend mine hope for I’m a tiny bit more than a friend,” Luna pouted jokingly. “But I understand what thou art talking about. Tis a choice I can hardly help thee with. Entirely thy burden, apologies.”

        “I know,” with a sigh Alex carefully probed the turf. “And I don’t want to make it harder for everypony, if I add more moral troubles to the parting.”

        “I’m concerned about Fluttershy’s reaction,” elaborated Alex after a moment of silence, feeling how Luna barely perceptibly strained, listening to him. “She was totally upset by how the things went. I mean, my departure and almost imprisoning… I admit it’s not,” he added. “and I have nowhere to go anyway, but it surely looked like one.”

        “I would like to tell her that I’m generally okay… yet,” Alex noticed that Luna listened to him attentively. Even if that didn’t rub her well, she wasn’t going to deny him help. “Despite that, if the experiments go in the direction, I suspect them to, that can become a painful experience. Errmmm… this better not be told though... I’d like to tell her that she and Twilight couldn’t probably do better, which I’m endlessly thankful for, and remind her that I’m still going to tell her this in person, regardless to the result of those experiments.”

        “I’ll tell Twilight to deliver that to thy addressee,” nodded Luna, thinking for a minute. “And I’ll try to negotiate Twilight’s ability to see thee as well.”

        “By the way, thou forgot about Rarity…”

        “Oh, please…” begged Alex. “Let me deal with her, when I’m able to do that myself. I still think it is a good idea to let her thoughts about me cool down a bit – no need to remind her. I’m not sure, if it works anyway, as her affection was quite stormy. Physical affection, mind that,” Alex shuddered.

        “Art thou against physical affection of a pony?” teasingly interrogated Luna.

        “No… I mean… Oh, you…” Alex felt his cheeks getting hotter. “It’s kinda hard to decide, when one is ready to pounce you on the first sight,” he concluded firmly.

        “I know,” Luna kept having fun. “I saw a few of Rarity’s dreams recently, just of pure interest… Thou wouldn’t believe…”

        “Please, Luna, have mercy, don’t tell,” gasped Alex. “I can imagine… not sure, if I’m happy that I can though.”

        Luna giggled like a school filly, thinking that she wouldn’t mind trying something of Rarity’s ideas in practice. But she decided that it was a bit early to mention that. Even so, a certain red flashed through blue coat on her silky cheeks quite noticeably.

        “Wait,” Alex watched her carefully and the realization made him red as a carrot. “Does that mean that you have seen me… in that… delicate aspect as well?” he facepalmed.

        “A little,” confessed Luna, downcasting, now even her nose was pinkish. She quickly added. “Please dost mind, that was only Rarity’s imagination…”

        But something in her voice told Alex that she didn’t mind finding out. Of pure interest, of course… Yeah!

        After a few minutes of meaningful silence, Alex cleared his throat.

        “Cough! So… It’s still undecided, if I can return to my home world. Is there at least any hope?” he noticed how that made Luna instantly serious.

        “I have nothing to add, unfortunately… Tia tryeth her best, besides she can’t break her own promise without a reason. Believe me, unfortunately, she is very uneasy about thy arrival and presence. She hath some concerns about thou, something more serious than about a stranger appearing out of nowhere, she is not telling yet.”

        “It sounds like if Celestia is deliberately keeping you away from that work. At least I feel that way,” Alex said guardedly. “I’m sorry, if I…”

        “She forsooth is, Alex,” he clearly heard Luna’s sad smile in her reply. After a short pause she elaborated. “Ever since mine return she tryeth to keep me protected from any mishaps, she feareth may befall. Tis like coming back to the times, when our parents were with us or shortly after… when Tia filled for both mom and dad for me,” Luna’s voice warmed. “I was a little filly then and Tia took care of me. The only difference we are not fillies at the moment, but still she tryeth her best… Methinks she feeleth guilty for what she hath done… or hasn’t done, partially causing Nightmare Moon to upraise.”

        “Sometimes I envy you a little,” Alex reached her neck, wrapping his hand around and running his fingers through Luna’s mane, making lavender aroma even stronger. He scratched behind her ear, feeling, how it moved, pressing tighter against his fingers, and how Luna leaned to his hand. “I am a single child of my parents. I have only cousins, I rarely see… saw… Damn it!”

        “What?” murmured Luna, when she stopped literally purring under his touch. “Mine deepest apologies, I became distracted a trifle.”

        “I said, I was a single child, no brothers or sisters,” chuckled Alex. “Unlike you, my princess.”

        “I don’t mind sharing,” Luna’s sly smile, her teeth flashed in the moonlight. “But forsooth thou art receiving enough attention from Tia already.”

        “Oh, I can’t probably express my endless gratitude sincerely enough!” with a laughter Alex turned to face Luna and theatrically bowed with almost palpable irony. “I can imagine… Although, Tia… ahem, princess Celestia can’t ever surpass the amount of teasing you provide; as a big sister or not, you’re beyond competition.”

        “Thou thinkest? A big sister is not the position I am craving though,” Luna’s eyes pulled him like two neutron stars. “And calling her “Tia” is alright, at which hour thou knowest her better. Just dost not call her “Celly”, she won’t smack thee on spot, but doing this isn’t the smartest achievement,” Luna giggled.

        “You certainly won’t tell me why, right?”

        “Apologies, I’m not the one, who must tell thee. But thou shalt be sure, if ’t be true Tia telleth thee someday, this would mean thou gained the highest level of trust possible.”

        “Not in this life, I guess!” Alex’s glance alternated from Luna’s eyes to her lips. He decided to take the initiative and put both his hands on her silky cheeks, pulling her lightly and pressing his lips against hers, while his tongue attacked for dominance. Luna’s excited squeak came out muffled and she wrapped her fore legs around him. The moonlit roof swirled around them and the time stopped.

        “Wait! Something…” aeons after Alex suddenly twitched. He looked like he was listening to something or trying to feel, while Luna nuzzled his cheek lightly.

        “It seems, somepony tries to wake me up!” with widening eyes he realized, what the source of his sudden anxiety was. “Merlin’s pants, whoever it is, they found the least suitable moment.”

        “Thou needest to go then, mine lief,” Luna smiled and unwrapped him. “Don’t kick that ruffian too much, at which hour thou see them.”

        “It will depend…” Alex didn’t finish, but stole one more passionate kiss from her lips, fading in the thin air.

        *

        “What?” muttered Alex, waking up in his room. “What’s going on?”

        “Is the building on fire?” he focused his eyes on the extremely concerned muzzle of “Ginger”, who shook him mercilessly with wide opened eyes. “Hurricane? Flood?.. Changelings?” he remembered, what Fluttershy told him.

        “Oh, sweet Celestia! You’re okay,” breathed out the pony nurse, calming down a bit. “You can even ironize that…” she visibly pouted. “You haven’t changed your sleeping pose for quite a long while and…”

        ‘Damn!’ thought Alex. ‘You’re not only chatty, but observant as well. Quite a combination…’

        “… and I was unable to wake you for the good ten minutes,” words were ready to flood Alex, as “Ginger” elaborated on her concern with the machinegun speed. “Thank Celestia, you were breathing and otherwise looking fine, so I didn’t need to call medics, but I was going to call for help anyway. Listen, I was trying to wake you up for the good ten minutes and you didn’t give… a buck!” she became embarrassed and fell silent.

        “Look, I’m really getting tired of all those experiments,” Alex sat on his bed and rubbed his face, thinking that it was a major flaw in his disguise – staying physically motionless, while sleepwalking. One can suspect something. “Emotionally, you have no idea how much. Yeah, I sleep tight when I’m bucking tired. Sometimes I drop as a log. I’m fine, really, thanks for consideration though!”

        He got up and headed to the bathroom, filling a glass with water and downing it in one gulp – all under the undiverted glance of the nurse.

        “I’m indeed okay,” repeated Alex, returning to the room. “Look, everything is fine,” he raised his hands and mockingly turned around twice, showing himself from all the sides.

        “Yeah…” slowly said “Ginger”, thinking about something. “And why are you fully clothed?”

        “Sorry?” huffed Alex. “I said I drop as a log sometimes. And… do you say, you are coming here for a… striptease?!” he let out a chuckle, making her instantly blush heavily. On her it looked like she was burning.

        ‘That’s good, will distract her from unnecessary suspicions at once,’ Alex tried his best to keep his inward mischief well concealed.

        “Oh… I-I mean… Squee!..” the nurse lost the thought, becoming even more confused. Then she tried to keep the face. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay… I guess… Good night, then.”

        When she left, shaky and strained, Alex returned to his bed and tried to nest more comfortable this time, feeling the curious glance through the peephole for a while.

        ‘I need to be more careful now, when it’s her shift.’

            *

        ‘Damn that forest, that rain… and that mission as the whole!’ inwardly spat a young unicorn, when he slipped once again on the wet leaves, covering the fallen tree trunk, and was to jump forward not to fall. The stallion wrapped himself tighter in the cloak and looked up from beneath the hood grumpily, squinting as the big drops fell on his muzzle – the rain was strong and even thick foliage couldn’t hold it entirely. ‘It’s raining cats’n’dogs since sunset, it seems – even more as we reached the forest!’ He quietly sniffed, feeling that only a miracle and a warming spell separated him from catching a nasty cold that night.

        ‘Whoever planned that mission must be a complete hay head,’ he scoffed, trying to see at least something in the wet rustling darkness around. ‘What was the point in hunting Celestia knows whom at night… moreover a rainy night in the thick forest, when we can’t even use the lights? Idiots!’

        The situation was indeed far from routinely. They, the whole magical support group, were gathered late in the evening, off schedule, and given orders. The orders were simple and common for a young mage, who entered magical corps and learned exactly that – to find a magical creature and restrain it, or destroy, if other methods fail. But it appeared to bring a bunch of problems almost immediately.

        First of all, they didn’t know shit about what they were going to encounter, nor they were given any additional information. This was the worst aspect, which made him instantly hesitant – normally no mission started without an extensive briefing. That time they knew only that their aim (and enemy) is big, dark, magical and dangerous.

        ‘How fascinating,’ he smirked inwardly. ‘Now we will know that the thing, which kills us is big, dark and… dangerous. Like the latter was any time different.’

        The only specific information was that the scouts managed to trace their enemy, they called it “seeker”…

        ‘What a nonsensual name,’ huffed the mage, trying his best to determine what is in front of him, a branch, his own leg or maybe a snake. ‘To the Tartarus with that darkness, the sun will rise in about half an hour, but I can easily break a couple of legs till then.’

        …so, they traced the seeker to that part of the forest, which protruded from the main mass of the woods far into the fields as a giant green tongue. Traced and effectively locked there, as it wasn’t reported leaving. Then their group was assigned to brush the forest.

        While it could seem relatively small… from pegasi point of view, high above the scene, it was actually quite big to cover it on hooves. Big and dark and wet and nasty, with plenty of hiding spots. They all could stamp in circles with the monster (and he didn’t ever doubt, it was yet another monster), it even being behind or between them from time to time.

        The pungent odour of mycelium on the damp ground trailed up his nostrils, almost making him sneeze a few times.

        ‘Who could suffer, if we surrounded that part of the woods and kept it locked till sunrise at least,’ wondered the unicorn. He wrapped the cloak tighter again and pulled the hood down to avoid more water coming from above, as the wind shook the treetops. ‘We could at least see further than our noses… and perhaps that bucking rain ended. What was the need to hurry, like if it could lay an egg or multiply.’

        “Horse apples!” hissed he quietly, stumbling again on some root and accidentally touching a big shrub, which granted him an ample cold shower. ‘Bless the cloak.’

        They were actually to keep silence and proceed as discretely as it was possible. Nopony should rush forward or go on random trajectory, not to be taken for the enemy and put under “crossfire”.

        He approached a clearing in the forest and stopped on the edge, hiding in the shade of trees and bushes. It was a fair bit lighter on the glade, making it easier to orientate, but it made anypony coming out of the forest to the opening clearly visible as well.

        Scanning the opening as through as the darkness allowed, he pondered, if it was smart to check it now or wait for at least one more member of their group to arrive. But it was quiet around and nothing moved on the glade; a huge fallen tree lay closer to the opposite edge, black crooked roots protruded in the air like tentacles of an old big octopus.

        He exited the forest and quietly crossed the glade, scanning its perimeter for any movement, which might occur under the trees. Nothing. Approaching the fallen trunk the unicorn thought that even such a big tree couldn’t have such a clod of roots. Besides the dirt must have dried already and fallen down – the tree was dry and lay there for quite a while already. He came closer and closer, quietly trying to approach the pitch black clod and check, if nopony was hiding on the other side.

        *CRACK*

        A small branch got under his hoof and sounded like a muffled shot, broken in half under his step.

        ‘Damnation!’ The young stallion froze on spot, listening if anypony moved, noticing him. The next moment the “clod of roots”, well, actually what was hiding under the roots of the fallen tree, moved and started to rise, stretching and turning to the stunned unicorn. It looked like a giant pony body on long strong legs, with a strange lump instead of normal pony neck and head. A red dimly glowing orifice showed itself on the upper part of that lump.

        ‘What a buck?! Big, dark and… I have no doubt, extremely unkind by its look!’ the unicorn barely managed to launch a bright spark into the air – agreed signal to call for reinforcement in case somepony from their group finds the enemy; he was going to use the light spell and prepare to attack the monster. The dark misty figure finally turned around and towered above suddenly feeling himself a dwarf unicorn, the red eye, or whatever it was, “stared” at him, glowing brighter and brighter, as if that abomination finally noticed its foe.

        The unicorn tried to launch a powerful blast at the seeker, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t sure, if it was still him. His whole consciousness seemed to be squeezed and dragged through some kind of tunnel and… He felt nothing, thought nothing… He was nothing, when his alive, but totally indifferent body hit the ground.

        The air above suddenly became filled with flashes, crossing the space from different directions and bombarding the dark seeker’s carcass, but the unicorn didn’t see that. He might look and hear, but he didn’t register anything, while the challenged by mages monster produced a low growl, visibly backing up under dozens of magical projectiles.

        *

        “How much for ten?” Twilight pointed to the fine big carrots on the grocery stall, taking a scroll out of her saddle bag and checking the list.

        “Two bits, princess!” the shopkeeper turned to her quickly, finishing the deal with the previous customer; Twilight thought that he would probably turn to her even from a still acquiring one, and mentally facehoofed about the “princess” part. She already formed a habit to cross Ponyville with wings tightly folded and not flapping them without a reason, but only her close friends were fine, calling her simply “Twilight” or “Twi” without a second thought. Sometimes she thought that life would be easier, if alicorns were a bit more common.

        “Fine. I’ll take those,” Twilight picked those, she found suitable. “And… Oh, hi, Lyra!” she waved to a minty coloured unicorn, which tried to gain her attention.

        “Good afternoon, pr… Twilight,” Lyra corrected herself under Twilight’s insisting glance. Then she leaned closer and added in half voice. “I’d like to know about… well, you know who, if I may ask of course.”

        Twilight nodded and pointed aside with her eyes only, saying they needed a bit more privacy for that talk, while she paid for the carrots, and both girls moved further, whishing the shopkeeper a good day and letting others approach the stall.

        “He is still in Canterlot, if you’re about Alex,” said Twilight quietly, when they distanced from the busy spot. “Nopony is allowed to see him yet, but Luna told me that she would try to make me an exclusion.”

        “Princess Luna!..” Lyra coughed and lowered her tone, when Twilight hushed on her. “So, princess Luna is managing this… problem,” said Lyra in a more restrained voice, looking around, but nopony noticed in the routine market humming.

        “Actually, princess Celestia,” Twilight wry smile could encrypt any type of thoughts, so Lyra didn’t load herself much with that, focusing on the main matter instead. “But princess Luna… helps, where she can.”

        “So, if I can see him, I could find everything out from the first hooves… sorry, hands,” Twilight snorted and checked carrots in her list, putting the scroll back into the bag. “Until then I can’t find out anything fancy. Anything, which may interest you.”

        She chose one carrot from her bunch and cleaned it with magic, removing the thin peel with all the dust, so the carrot became almost sterile. Spending so much time reading books, and moreover, some ancient faded scrolls, Twilight always took care of her eyes and managed to avoid glasses, despite all the strain on her eyesight.

        “Treat yourself…” she handed the carrot to Lyra, but Lyra shook her head, thus Twilight munched on it herself.

        “Thanks, Twilight,” carrots didn’t bother Lyra at all at that moment. “So, he is not going home anytime soon, I mean, out and away from Equestria.”

        “Not in the nearest future, as far as I know,” nodded Twilight. “There are certain difficulties emerging, connected to some of his traits. Transferring him appears to be not an average task, even for princess Celestia.”

        “Naturally!” huffed Lyra, perhaps a bit louder than necessary, she still remembered their first encounter and her own purblindness, which could end with an accident. “Hey, Flutters and Pinkie coming!” she waved to somepony behind Twilight.

        Twilight looked over her shoulder: both named girls made their way through the herd indeed. Well, actually Fluttershy made her way, while Pinkie was simply hopping around her, miraculously managing not to bump into anypony and keeping their conversation with Flutters at the same time.

        The girls noticed Twilight and Lyra and changed their course. When they finally approached, Twilight and Lyra greeted them. Twilight hugged Fluttershy, keeping in mind the recent condition of her friend; catching Pinkie was a deadly trick anyway.

        “Hi, girls,” Fluttershy’s voice was even quieter than always and despite she tried to put on something resembling a smile, the whole image came out fairly painful, making Twilight’s heart ache in empathy.

        “Hi, Twilight! Hi, Lyra!” Pinkie made a few circles around them three, still hopping in her usual manner. Evidently, she was in a bright mood, which could be spoiled perhaps by a notice that the party, Pinkie was going to, was cancelled. Undoubtedly she sincerely tried to cheer up Fluttershy through their entire market run. To no avail, as the girls could see, but Pinkie wasn’t going to give up that easily.

        “That’s great!” Lyra continued their interrupted talk. “So I can still talk to him about things, which interest me.”

        Lyra apologized for being busy and trotted somewhere on her own, wishing the girls a good day.

        “What is great?!” Pinkie stopped circling and hopped on the spot, tilting her head in a curious manner.

        “If you, girls, keep quiet and don’t inform half of Ponyville, I’ll surely tell you,” Twilight looked on them both with a bright smile, then added. “And could you, please, stop for a while, Pinkie. I feel that my head starts hopping with you…”

        “Is that bad?” Pinkie produced a wide smile, but stopped hopping, she just stepped from hoof to hoof, that was better though. “Okay, okay, now do tell.”

        “First of all I’d like to tell you that Alex is fine,” Twilight noticed how Fluttershy transformed as quick as thought: her head cocked, her eyes became alive and certain sparkles returned to the depth of those turquoise lakes, even a small smile found its way on her muzzle.

        ‘Girl, I’d call that “love”,’ inwardly smirked Twilight and continued. “He doesn’t find his whole time in Canterlot a pleasant vacation, but he is… fine…”

        “More good news – I can probably visit him soon, so ask what you need to know and I’ll tell you everything from the first hooves later.”

        “He’s okay, that’s enough for me,” Fluttershy noticeably cheered up. “But… if you can, Twilight, please, ask if they are going to let him free soon.”

        “I will,” Twilight nodded. “But it’s mostly up to Celestia, you know. But that’s not all, girls. One more thing: there are major problems with him and magic combined, thus with transferring him magically. So, he is not going anywhere anytime soon. That means…” Twilight smiled.

        Pinkie, who kept silence unusually, ruffled her mane, raised onto her hind legs and spread her fore legs, inhaling deeply and pumping her cheeks… Fluttershy reacted in a flash, she grabbed Pinkie and promptly put the hoof over her mouth; the resulting sound came out as a muffled trumpet, instead of whatever Pinkie planned to shout.

        “Let’s not start about Welcome to Ponyville Human party again!” articulated Fluttershy in slightly hissing voice. “Well, until it is really time to… if you don’t mind…” she calmed down a bit and blushed under the surprised glance of Twilight.

        “It’s never too early, sometimes it can be too late!” Pinkie pouted slightly, when Fluttershy released her, but she kept jumping on one spot, obviously taking no offence.

        “Twilight,” Fluttershy put her hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “I asked you before and I’m asking you again. I want to see him.”

        “I realize that Celestia can make an exclusion for you,” she said, before Twilight could open her mouth again. “But waiting, till he is out, is too long for me. There must be some way for me to visit him, perhaps you, as a princess, could help me to get through… You know, that doesn’t need to involve princess Celestia…”

        The last phrase evidently abashed Fluttershy, as she lowered her head a bit and her ears flattened, still she looked into Twilight’s eyes rather demandingly than pleadingly. But mostly that phrase caught Twilight off guard, she saw her friend differently, not for the first time already.

        “I’m in,” Pinkie raised her hoof. “I mean, you will need somepony to help anyway. I’ll be your…” she paused. “… ground support.”

        Twilight ruffled her bangs and looked over two girls, pondering about the venture, they were going to attempt, and the possible consequences. Surely nopony sends a princess, even a new and inexperienced one to the unicorn kindergarten, but the wrath of princess Celestia could be considerable, if they screwed on this one. Why the feeling of a swamp, sucking her in, wasn’t leaving her ever since she saw, how Fluttershy’s eyes brightened after mentioning Alex. Still the whole situation interested her much, she was ready to admit that. And the role of princess Luna in that play. Perhaps ponies didn’t ever have a proverb “Curiosity killed the cat”, otherwise Twilight should know it for sure and it could affect her decision. Perhaps.

        “Okay, in an hour in the library,” with a sigh Twilight made up her mind. “Don’t tell others though.”

        “Jackie and Rarity have younger sisters, who will sneak-follow them even to the Tartarus, if a “performance” is granted,” she elaborated further. “And we don’t want the girls involved more than they are already. One is enough, the whole CMC is an armed fuse. And Rainbow… something tells me, Rainbow won’t participate anyway.”

        “Now finish with your stuff and I’ll be waiting for you… and thinking,” added Twilight in half voice.

        *

        Alex measured his room with his steps. He couldn’t make smaller steps, as they made him nervous, and measured in wider steps the room provided completely depressive mood by its smallness. The table and chair were moved to the window, so Alex could have more light when reading and there was more space in front of the bed to exercise… or flee to the sleeping disguise, if necessary.

        Reading didn’t give him much, except killing time though – they made pauses between experiment days, still, the number of spells and artefacts Alex was subjected to was enormous; with the same results each time. Alex couldn’t find enough information about human encounters in Equestria in a simple historical book, even a good and through one, let alone any clues of how they returned to their home world. It seemed that people were a special subject here in Equestria, not broadly covered in common historic study, due to safety reasons most likely. Asking for a specific source was still something Alex inwardly negotiated with himself about: it could attract unnecessary attention to him. Alex decided to play by Celestia’s rules, at least to the point, when she openly admitted of being able or unable to transfer him. Then he would act on his own.

        Two sets of hoofsteps in the corridor dragged him out of his thoughts. First hoofsteps were slower, but it was obvious that both ponies trot together and Alex realized, that effect appeared because of the size difference. Perhaps he knew, who could be behind the door.

        The quiet “whizzle” of the turned off magical barrier was followed by a loud clank of the door lock and Alex prepared to meet his “guest”. Alex chuckled at that thought.

        Watching as the illustrious mane of pink, green and turquoise strands (the latter reminded him of Fluttershy’s eyes in a flash) flowed inside through the opened door, followed by the tall, graceful, white frame, Alex bowed. A bit, not to strain his tired self more than necessary, yet not to appear discourteous in the eyes of princess Celestia.

        “Your Highness! How did I deserve the honour of being visited by the princess of Equestria herself?”

        “Good afternoon, Alex the human!” Celestia couldn’t avoid noticing the faint irony in his words, yet the calm smile curled her lips. “I was going to visit you sooner or later anyway, but I’m too busy with my daily regal duties… with the addition of your delicate problem, mind that, please. I’m not a monster.”

        “Neither am I… your Highness!” bluntly stated Alex. “Yet I’m enclosed here for… about two weeks already and being subjected to numerous experiments, which, if I may judge, bring similar results, all as one.”

        “From all the… subjects involved, you are supposed to be the first interested that your transfer happened without any flaws,” chuckled Celestia, but her smile became a bit artificial, strained. She trotted inside his room and Alex felt, how the free space shrunk. With Luna there was no such effect, despite she was only a bit smaller, than her older sister.

        “The more time passes, your Highness, the less cautious I became,” Alex faked a bright smile. “Perhaps, at some point I will be ready to jump into the portal without any idea of the outcome, just to do something, you know.”

        “Hmm… This is exactly the reason, why I should be cautious, even extra cautious, on my own and apparently on your behalf as well,” Celestia’s smile became sincere again and Alex thought that she was an epitome of “big sister aspect” at that moment; it didn’t make his condition easier though. “I don’t know, what consequences your deed of that kind can bring to the whole Equestria. And if you don’t care about yourself… I am to care about all of my subjects.”

        “Fair point,” nodded Alex, the ironic expression didn’t leave his face though. “But I’m afraid there is more to my condition here. As far as the experiments go, I can predict the next stage perhaps. And I’m taking the liberty, and full responsibility for my words, to say that I’m entirely against the idea of somepony suffering because of the features I possess now, but don’t consciously control. I’ve seen what happened with some… artefacts, when we interacted for too long…” Alex stumbled.

        “This is another reason, why we must investigate your abilities thoroughly,” Celestia raised one brow at his last phrase. “Somepony should guide you through the entire process of transfer, so it’s better we find out about all the possible surprises here and now, when we control the process, than meeting the problems during the transfer, when we have no time or means to deal with them,” speaking that way Celestia trotted slowly around Alex, just like at the beginning of the audience, as if she was examining him for symptoms, known by her only. Alex tried to shake off the unwelcome similarity to a big white shark circling her prey and involuntarily made a small slip.

        “Tis if thou control the process…” muttered he barely audible and bit his tongue immediately, noticing how Celestia’s ears instantly perked – she was right in front of him at that moment. She turned to face him, but didn’t show any signs of anxiety; perhaps, she pretended that she heard nothing, or indeed thought, it was her imagination. Alex scolded himself mentally nevertheless.

        “I have more concerns about your arrival,” said Celestia instead. “And much more serious ones.”

        ‘Here it is, exactly what Luna told me about,’ thought Alex, bringing all his attention at guard and showing her with a nod that he is ready to listen.

        “Actually, we got precursors of some… unkind force concentrating in distant corners of Equestria for quite a while before your strange arrival. Initially, we thought that it was some emanation of King Sombra, despite he was defeated and technically destroyed.. but with magical enemies you can’t have it simple. Do you know, who King Sombra is, Alex the human?”

        “Yes, princess,” Alex tried to predict her route of thoughts, but couldn’t imagine the connection at the moment. “In brief, Fluttershy told me about him and Crystal Empire. And, please, stop reminding me that I’m a human, princess. I know, besides, I am the only human in your realm for quite a while,” he threw a glance at the book on the table, Celestia’s eyes following. “It really alienates me even more, than I myself could do.”

        Celestia nodded.

        “Later we found out that it wasn’t Sombra: too many differences, despite visible similarities. But I told you about precursors. There were a few real encounters later. When the force concentrated and produced something, we never actually dealt with before,” she made a dramatic pause. “There is an actual victim of that encounter already, Alex.”

        “Fortunately he is alive,” continued Celestia, when Alex raised his eyes on her. “But he is… “hollow”, emotionally emptied. He seems to be in the terminal case of amnesia, Alex, only worse. He lives, he has all the simple needs and can suit himself, but he has… no wish to. Medics need to feed him and he swallows, what is put in his mouth, but he won’t take another spoon himself, even if the death from starvation is imminent. He doesn’t recognize anypony, he seems to lose the mere wish to live…”

        “That sounds awful!” Alex dropped his hands. “But I sincerely can’t see how I…”

        Instead of the answer Celestia levitated a few sheets of paper from under her wing to his table.

        “Take a look. This is what appears when the Dark Mist concentrates.”

        Alex turned away from her and approached the table, slightly moving the sheets to keep them all in sight at once. There were three of them. Each one carried the image of a dark creature, formed seemingly of some flowing mist, four-legged, with a body of a horse and a torso resembling a human, with a glowing orifice (as much as pencil or charcoal drafts could convey) in the middle of the upper torso. The only difference between the images was the angle and perhaps scale.

        “This is as much as we have, I saw one myself, and those images were made by the mages, who encountered these ghastly creatures on a fair distance,” Celestia approached him from behind and Alex felt her breath on his neck. “The victim of the close encounter could perhaps see more details, but apparently he is not in the right condition to tell about them. To be honest, he is not in any condition technically. It looks like he is dead, while being alive physically,” her voice trembled barely perceptible. “Have you ever seen something those monsters alike.”

        Alex’s hand, which rested on the table, clenched into a fist. He slipped between the princess and the table and came to the window, looking outside, turning his back to Celestia, long, silently.

        “We call them… started to call “seekers”,” said Celestia quietly. “As their behaviour reminds of seeking something, when they materialize and gain force. Speaking of mages, we need quite a bunch to eliminate one such abomination, and they seem to grow stronger. They feel magic and chase the caster, who aims at them. They cause panic and psychosis in my subjects, Alex. Have you ever seen alike before or after coming to Equestria? Right when you came to Equestria?”

        Alex spun around in a wink.

        “There are creatures in human mythology,” he started muffledly. “Called centauri. They resemble those freaks drawn by your men… ponies. But centauri supposedly, supposedly because they are mythic, look like a complete human torso with the hands and head planted instead of the head and neck on the horse body. I’ve no idea, if they are genuine or some sort of hybrid according to the legends, but they surely aren’t devouring any miserable souls, even if they aren’t extremely polite and hospitable.”

        “And, no, I didn’t see any of those or centauri equiprobably, before or after my arrival, because A: centauri are mythic, non-existent in reality…”

        “Talking ponies are non-existent in your reality as well,” confronted Celestia.

        “… and B: I don’t take a company with… mind sucking monsters!” Alex took a breath, feeling how cold anger inevitably floods him. “Your Highness, I understand what you are suggesting,” he articulated quietly and ice cold. “But my life for it, I never… summoned or controlled anything like those. Even if you don’t believe me, look here,” he pointed to the barred window, then glanced around his room. “You know that I can’t cast magic consciously, I couldn’t even avoid a glass of water from this strange Discord guy.”

        Celestia silently cringed a little.

        “Partially you are right, Alex…” she put her hoof on the papers forcedly, making the table screech. “I can hardly see you as the driving force of that curse… But I’m more than entirely sure that your arrival somehow is connected to those encounters.”

        Alex stepped to the table quickly, leaning over it and putting his hand on Celestia’s hoof. Surprisingly the princess didn’t pull her warm fore leg away at once.

        “Tell me frankly, princess, do you really want to return me or just get rid of me at any cost?”

        “Does it make any real difference at the moment?” Celestia closed her eyes, slowly pulling her hoof from under his palm. “You bring changes with you. For good or bad, I don’t know yet. But I can’t take any risks, as the price is too high.”

        Alex didn’t find what to say on that.

        “Besides I can’t predict your actions yet. I see too much of Discord in you,” the sad voice of Celestia made Alex look up to her to find the eyes showing visible regret. “With one obvious exception: I’m sure you can’t harm the innocent consciously. For now at least…”

        “Well, there is something reassuring about me,” there was only sadness in Alex’s grin, not even irony at this time.

        “You know, Discord wasn’t the walking menace first as well. But as I said, everypony tends to change. He had been strange and unpredictable, but nothing compared to what he was exactly before the girls showed him the difference,” there was something faintly in the princess’ expression, something Alex couldn’t yet recognize. He decided to go all-in.

        “Was it the time, he started calling you Celly… your highness?”

        The change was so sudden and noticeable, that Alex needed to force himself to stay visibly indifferent. Celestia brought her face close to Alex’s, really close, eyes to eyes, her horn slid on his hair.

        “Don’t tempt me, Alex the human,” she said quietly, but meaningfully, through gritted teeth. “For I may reconsider and… take some risks.”

        “Which for example?” Alex brought his face even closer, narrowing his eyes. He could feel her breath on his nose. “I’m short on my chances anyway.”

        Perhaps the alicorn princess was fairly surprised by that reaction, as she visibly relaxed and the feeling of thunderstorm cloud vanished from the small room.

        “The Moon is now vacant, as you properly noticed before,” said Celestia with a snicker.

        “Oh, that’s an argument,” Alex backed up a bit, raising both hands in theatrical “peace” gesture, then launched another arrow. “Considering given conditions, I would end there together with you most likely. That’s not what I’m wholeheartedly ready for yet.”

        He could expect any reaction, but this. To Alex’s utter surprise Celestia laughed heartily.

        “Though you’d need to wait for a little while – and what are few decades for you – before I die…” added Alex, crossing his hands on the chest. “…if I don’t die right away. So it won’t be such a big problem for you.”

        “I’m afraid it’s not that simple now, Alex,” Celestia’s voice became more serious at once. “Your current regeneration level speaks for you hardly dying due to any natural reason in the nearest perspective. I can’t predict your lifespan with what I got.”

        Alex gasped.

        “Don’t you mean that if I’m forced to stay here for whichever reason, I am to stick here for way more than a few decades?”

        “Perhaps more than you can imagine, Alex.”

        He gritted his teeth to keep mouth shut, any words he had at the moment were definitely not for the ears of the princess. Alex walked around the table, took the chair right from under Celestia’s muzzle, turned it and dropped himself on. If he leaned a bit further, he would snuggle right into Celestia’s forehead; she watched him fixedly. But he didn’t notice anything.

        ‘Each moment better and better…’ rolled in his mind.

        Alex raised his head, looked into her eyes and slowly shook his head, downcasting again. He felt a light touch of the hoof on his shoulder and Celestia silently left.

        *

        “So, you are absolutely willing to sneak to the Canterlot castle, find where Alex is kept and see him and, if we’re lucky and uncaught at the point, have a talk with him, right?” Twilight glanced over her shoulder from the bookshelf, which she was searching through.

        Pinkie and Fluttershy sat in soft comfy armchairs in the lower room of Golden Oak Library. As it was decided, they finished their market run as fast as it was possible and came to Twilight’s place, where they could discuss their plan (if they were going to have any) without outsider’s curious eyes and fluffy ears. Pinkie fidgeted in her armchair noticeably – sitting still wasn’t her game, yet she was much calmer than usual, working out something. Twilight watched her fixedly, sincerely wishing for Pinkie’s new idea not being something troublemaking. Fluttershy joined her fore hooves together, perhaps she was pondering about Twilight’s words in the sudden silence.

        “Oh, here it is,” Twilight finally levitated a thick tome and trotted to the book stand, where she placed it and started leafing over. “I’m trying to find something, which may help us sneak there unnoticed, if were are going to go finally. But for now I only stumbled across simple silencing spells and alike.”

        “So, Fluttershy?” she stared at her yellow friend meaningfully. “I think answering that question is important.”

        “It’s not about me being willing to do that,” with a sigh Fluttershy raised her eyes at Twilight, but her voice was firm. “I’m game without the second thought and you know it. It’s about others going to help, or not. Especially you, Twi. Because I understand that your responsibility is higher anyway and if you feel that our little endeavour is not worthy of risking Celestia’s trust, that’s pretty understandable.”

        “I’m in,” said Pinkie, but her thoughts were somewhere else still, she was so quiet since they came, Twilight concerned about possible outcome more and more.

        “Frankly speaking,” Twilight turned over a few more pages. “I’m still hesitating a bit. Not entirely sure that it would be right, if I help you with that escapade. Especially considering that if I refuse to help, nothing would be done and nopony gets reprimanded perhaps.”

        Fluttershy huffed meaningfully, like saying that it was exactly, what she meant.

        “Girls, what are you up to again?” asked Spike, descending the stairs with a stack of heavy books in his paws. “I’ve just heard “Canterlot” and “uncaught”, and…”

        “Twilight, don’t say that you’re going to sneak into the castle again… for whatever reason, just like last time when you wanted to delve into Starswirl section of the Royal Canterlot library!” his eyes narrowed, when he got down and placed the stack on the table. “Here, I found them on your nightstand… Wait! Do you need all those spells for THAT exactly?” Spike facepalmed with a sigh.

        “Yup, Spike, exactly!” confirmed Twilight with a bright smile, she found the reaction of her aide quite amusing. If somepony could complain about their last trick of that kind, then it was not Spike definitely. He could complain only his greed and stomach, which wasn’t able to cope with that amount of ice-cream, Spike ate, hoping that it would be the problem of the “future Spike” and completely ignoring that he was to become that “future Spike” at certain moment nevertheless. “Are you going?”

        “Ummm…” Spike’s glance alternated from one girl to another. The “team” was unusual: in addition to Twilight, who could sign for any adventure out of curiosity, and Pinkie, who could sign for literally anything, if that promised fun… well, at least in Pinkie’s interpretation, there was Fluttershy, who wasn’t a typical adventurer type at all. It didn’t take him much time to combine all the initial data and Spike narrowed his eyes even more in suspicion. “What for?!”

        “Fluttershy wants to sneak into the castle and find Alex,” giggled Pinkie Pie. “I think I didn’t miss anything important.”

        Fluttershy nodded with a determined look.

        “No way I’m joining that,” Spike shook his head fast. “And there are reasons for you all should reconsider as well.”

        “Here,” he bent one finger. “The last time we sneaked in the library, not in the secured compartment. And it appeared that Twilight had full right to be there anyway, maybe not Starswirl section at that time, but still, it wasn’t nearly some crime. Besides, that was done out of pure curiosity and by mistake. Your mistake Twilight, which we laughed about later… and could laugh more perhaps, if my stomach wasn’t aching,” he muttered grumpily, remembering the event.

        “Then,” Spike bent another finger, not giving anypony time to say a word. “Twilight simply wanted to find a spell, she was going to use on herself to relay a message to herself as well. I know that sounds wicked,” he rolled his eyes. “But at least it wasn’t an attempt to communicate with somepony, who was not supposed to be communicated with by Celestia’s order. Twilight must know better, and while she would teleport you two,” he pointed at Pinkie and Flutters. “Before flak starts flying, she would get caught anyway and take the whole responsibility, despite being a princess.”

        “And three,” he bent yet another finger. “While you three are natives, Celestia knows you well and cuts you some slack, besides, you’re Elements of Harmony, the human… Alex, right?.. The human will get to deal with all the consequences, not knowing about your plan even. I don’t want to be a part of it! The fewer of us involved, the less it looks like a full-time riot, the fewer asses of participants are kicked.”

        “That’s quite a speech,” smirked Pinkie. “But we got your point, Spike. Right, girls?”

        “By the way, what are you going to do?” Spike wasn’t going to give up his positions easily. “I mean, when you find him, Fluttershy. Ask him, if he is okay? But Twilight already told you, he was. Hold hooves… pardon me…” he nodded. “Hold hooves and hands through the window? You’ll have time for that, when he returns. As, again, Twilight confirms, he can’t be sent home easily enough. Oh, well…” he waved his paw.

        Fluttershy wasn’t going to think about things that banal and Twilight held herself not to suggest Spike to imagine Rarity on Alex’s place and himself on Fluttershy’s.

        “I think we should make it simple,” Pinkie suggested her plan, when Fluttershy and Twilight nodded. “We take a balloon to Canterlot castle. Yes, Twilight, it’s fast enough and silent and should hardly be sensed by princess Celestia, unlike your teleporting magic.”

        Despite her staggering, Twilight was to admit Pinkie’s rightness and the latter continued explaining.

        “So, we get behind the castle wall and supposedly nopony catches us, then we need to know, where he is kept. Twilight?”

        “Well, I know, where he must have been escorted to,” Twilight scratched her nose, there was more confidence in her tone, than in her gestures. “There is a hospital of a kind, but I know it is used for medical and applied wizardry research. Alex must be there. But we need to find the window of his room on our own and… not get caught by the guards of course.”

        “Fine,” Pinkie vigorously jumped on the spot. “We need something dark and not movement restraining for clothes, especially me and Flutters, as only a blind pony can’t see us even in the darkness.”

        “You must have your suit since the last time, Pinkie,” Twilight closed the book, which she looked through with one eye all that time, and took the next one. “Mine was almost ruined, but… But I’ll try to make something out.”

        “Mine doesn’t cover my tail,” Pinkie frowned a little.

        “Oh, come on, Pinkie,” Twilight chuckled. “Just braid it once in your life. Well, it seems, this is decided. Fluttershy?”

        “Flutters can pull out her spec ops suit, made by Rarity with love and care, when we sent her to you and Zecora, when Trixie locked Ponyville completely,” said Pinkie with a sly smile. She turned to Fluttershy. “Do you still have it?”

        “Somewhere I do,” Fluttershy nodded. “But I’m afraid, it’s not in the best shape at the moment. I could try to fix it though. I could do that myself, but I don’t have a sewing machine.”

        “Don’t let Rarity suspect anything, okay?” Twilight sighed deeply, her ears flattened, as if she wasn’t still sure that what she was going to do is right.

        “So, have you finally decided?” Pinkie tilted her head, Fluttershy looked at Twilight fixedly as well. “We really need you, Twi. We don’t know the castle nearly as well and have no idea, where to look for Alex, and probably will get caught right after landing…”

        “Okay, okay, I’m with you,” Twilight sighed once again. “Why I still have a feeling that it will bring more troubles, than it solves? But I’m with you, as you will screw it on your own, like Pinkie said.”

        “Thank you, Twi,” Fluttershy hugged her.

        “You, girls, are real maniacs,” Spike, who watched them all that time silently, shook his head. “All I can say, I wish you not to fail that… for everypony’s benefit.”

        “Okay!” Pinkie clopped her fore hooves together excitedly. “When we’re going to start? I mean after we solve the clothing problem…”

        “I’d say – three days on,” Twilight looked at them both. “This will give any of us time to reconsider at least.” Looking at Fluttershy she saw that it hardly was about her.

        “By the way,” Pinkie approached Twilight and asked her quietly. “How did you know that Alex is okay and so on? You said, you were only going to be able to visit him.”

        “Princess Luna told me that, just like that she is going to talk me through all that… security,” whispered Twilight, whose expression hardly told, what she was thinking at the moment.

        Pinkie raised one eyebrow.

        *

    ---

    The following scene needs to be read and imagined as a movie split-screen sequence, when two characters, their thoughts and feelings are shown simultaneously.

    ---

        “Hmmf!” Up! And slowly do-o-own…

        “Hmmf!” Up! And slowly do-o-own…

        The “charcoal” image of the seeker-monster approached and receded in his view, while Alex did push-ups; he put the drafts in front of himself, so he could stare at them and think. Moving like a machine he concentrated on the images, coming to a conclusion that the more he thinks of what Celestia said, the less it appeals to him. At approximately 200 Alex kneeled on the floor and grabbed the papers.

        ‘Things are starting to get ugly. Apparently, the princess didn’t believe a word of mine,’ Alex kept examining the draft, inwardly disliking what he saw more and more with every second. ‘She keeps thinking that I may be connected to those bastards or even control them. What a nonsense! She knows I can’t cast…’

        ‘But I can control things while sleepwalking, can’t I?’ Alex cringed, but his inner voice was right. If he could control fire, why shouldn’t one suspect him controlling the “seekers”.

        ‘I can’t deny that my arrival and appearance of those are too close in time to be ignored easily,’ Alex got up and threw the drafts on the table. ‘But if I remember Celestia’s words right, those “seekers” are what the… how did she call it?.. Dark Mist turns into, when it concentrates enough. And the Dark Mist appeared way before my arrival, it just became more active lately.’

        ‘Aha… Lately means when I arrived,’ Alex facepalmed. ‘Surely, for an observer it does me some justice,’ he huffed sarcastically.

    *

    A small green flash materialized as a scroll, which smacked on her table among the papers. Totally not surprised, as this happened quite often the last two weeks, Celestia took it with her magic and unrolled. It was a small report from the human research group, but what she read there made her rub her tired eyes and gained all princess’ attention at once. Omitting the preface this report was very thought-provoking, despite its brevity.

        “… I consider it important to bring to your attention the following observation made by the nurse […]. Her shift was during the yesterday’s night and a few strange things happened alongside this incident. Here is the full list of events, we found strange and attention-worthy at the very least:

        The guards reported slightly opened doors to one staircase on the first, second and third floors. On the third floor the doors were not closed on both ends of the hallway. Normally guards close those doors behind themselves, while patrolling. Nopony takes the responsibility for leaving them open during that night.

        The lights were out on one patrolling round at the staircase, where doors were open on three floors at once: respectively on first, second and third floor’s landings, including intermediate ones. Ground floor lights were burning all the time normally. The above can be explained by the draught due to opened doors, but… the lights were normal in the third-floor hallway, which was open from both ends…”

        A faint shadow of concern ran across Celestia’s muzzle.

    *

    ‘So, if we take the whole chain of events from the start,’ Alex sat at the table and leaned on it, putting his chin on his knuckles. ‘First, the Dark Mist appeared, then I got here, in Equestria, somehow. For me it rather looks that not Dark Mist appears because of me, but vice versa… Mad, weird? Yes! But logically correct.’

        ‘And this… matter serves as some carrier for those things, according to Celestia’s words. It appears somewhere, accumulates, if nopony interferes, and then… Blam! A hideous centaur-like freak appears.’

        ‘A centaur-like freak which can make ponies lose their minds… At least ponies. Moreover unicorns. That means magic-capable, not entirely helpless ponies,’ Alex smashed his fist into the papers on the table. ‘Even more… This victim was part of the… interception squad, they knew the score and were trained to deal with something like that.’

        He froze and sat still for a while, listening to the birds’ singing, coming through the open window. Alex didn’t even notice, how summer came, while he was sitting here. He raised and got to the window, the sun was slowly approaching the horizon.

        ‘I need to see that seeker victim,’ Alex drummed his fingers on the windowsill, watching the sparrows or perhaps some other small birds jumping and fluttering among the shrubs below. ‘What if I show him those drafts,’ he looked at the papers over the shoulder. ‘Maybe that makes him remember something. Interesting, did they try the same?’

        ‘The worst part of it is that they are close to hanging all the responsibility on me,’ smirked Alex. ‘Just because I’m an alien, who appeared in the wrong time and wrong place…’

    *

    The mere fact that “strange things” happened in the building, where the human was kept, exactly at the same night, when the seeker accident took place, could, of course, be a coincidence. Celestia realized that clearly and being the ruler of Equestria for almost an eternity she was higher than becoming all trigger happy because something seemed suspicious. But… she couldn’t ignore that entirely. Considering her other doubts, this didn’t make the whole image better.

        “…The nurse reported that she was advised by the guard to check the human at least each half an hour, after the above mentioned events were registered. The human didn’t leave his room (locked) all the night through. The nurse checked him every quarter of an hour instead and he remained in his bed all the time. She was alerted after the second or third check by human’s stillness: he didn’t change his position during the supposed sleep, despite she saw him breathing. The human lay on his back, straight and still. After two hours of the same behaviour, the nurse decided to check his physical condition and tried to wake the human. By her own words, she “shook him violently” for approximately ten minutes straight without any reaction from him. His breath and pulse were even, no dangerous symptoms were registered, yet she was going to call for help, when the human finally woke up…”

        ‘Hmpf! This sounds very familiar. Very!’ princess Celestia chuckled ironically. ‘I watch the same scene from time to time, when I need to wake Lulu early in the morning. If she had a busy night, I can’t make her open her eyes for quite a while… Yet the pose being unchanged…’

        “The human confirmed his condition being normal and said that he was simply tired because of the experiments, adding that things like that happen with him, when he “falls down as a log” because of the fatigue. The incident seemed to be over, but the nurse decided to mention it in her report according to the instructions: namely to report everything that differs from routinely events…”

        Celestia galloped the rest of the letter, consisting mostly of the usual politesse and frowned. A sudden idea was worth checking. She turned the scroll and quickly wrote a few words on the opposite side. Another flash swallowed the rolled again scroll, sending it back with a query for elaboration.

    *

    ‘Wrong… Was it so wrong indeed?’ Alex leaned on the windowsill, thinking fast. ‘I never believed in coincidences. And a few weeks in Equestria taught me that I was right, believing in them not. Especially in overly fantastic, like that one.’

        ‘There is no such thing as random “randomness”,’ he smirked. ‘The random part comes from us, not knowing every aspect of the problem. There is always a reason, even if we know about it not. Perhaps I was dragged here – and I’m sure I wouldn’t end up in another realm, if hit by a common lightning – because of something unruly was already happening in Equestria. What for? That’s another question to answer, when I’m able to.’

        ‘The main one still remains!’ Alex shook his head. ‘Seekers or other magical crap, I need to get back home!’

        Another sudden idea made him bite his finger, pondering…

    *

    The scroll returned with yet another flash and Celestia grabbed it in the air, quickly running her eyes across the few words, added to her question.

        “The mentioned incident was observed by the nurse between midnight and 2 am.”

        “Boss shot…” Celestia even said that aloud. ‘The seeker victim got hit approximately at half past three. Well, actually that proves nothing in favour of the human, against likewise. There are still many unknowns in that case,’ she sighed.

        Her today’s study didn’t give a result, that was already habitual, yet not less disappointing because of that. Sending the human to his home world by known means still looked impossible. At least if she didn’t consider “getting rid” of him, as he mentioned earlier.

        Celestia smiled sadly. Straight from the shoulder Alex mentioned the main problem she was to solve, weighing the danger he probably yielded.

    *

    That sudden idea seemed promising to Alex.

        ‘According to what I heard about those seekers, they must be entirely magical creatures, independent or not, but they are built, transferred and guided with magic… if I learned to recognize it.’

        ‘I’m immune to magic,’ a devilish grin wormed on Alex’s face, as he walked away from the window and back to the table, studying the drafts again. ‘Besides, it seems the hostile magic backfires quite effectively without harming me.’

        Deep inside he knew that he already decided everything and nopony could make him reconsider.

        ‘I need to have “a good talk” with one of those bastards, when they appear again,’ Alex preferred to ignore the chance to end like that unicorn, mentioned by Celestia. It was already unknown, when and if he could return home. And that “unknown” seemed to approach “never” each day. ‘If my conclusions are right, that would be a perfect chance to prove that I’m not their puppet master, nor carrying any malicious intent, before Celestia becomes convinced of the opposite. Besides, slab-heads will “think” twice next time, assaulting ponies.’

        *

        His feet hit the thick, soft carpet and Alex thought that he was extremely lucky that night. First, he managed to position himself that far finally – from his room in the “hospital” into Luna’s bedroom directly, and he felt somehow that Luna wasn’t sleeping at that moment, at least the bed was empty. That meant, he managed to cover a considerable distance without a so-called “anchor”, on his own. Second, he wasn’t spotted by anypony. Actually there was nopony in the room: the ancient hearth muttered quietly with the fire burning inside, letting out a sparkle or two occasionally with louder crackle, the noble furniture was lit by the multitude of candles in the forged chandeliers, the big empty bed was yet undone, the curtain was slightly fluttering, telling Alex that the balcony door or at least the window was open.

        Alex examined himself in the so familiar large mirror on the floor stand, the one he came “through” at his first visit, chuckling at the memory. He appeared the same as he got to “sleep”, that is why he got to bed clothed, each time he prepared his sleepwalking. Keeping the shoes would be suspicious, so at the moment he could forcedly enjoy the softness of the carpet with his bare feet.

        ‘Where is Luna?’ he approached the curtain and moved it aside a little, taking a peek from the balcony door, which was indeed slightly opened. The uneasy feel didn’t entirely leave him, thus each time he was to deal with heights, even while sleepwalking, he felt his stomach getting tight. But it was already incomparably better than ever before, when any thought about a window higher than on the first floor, made his feelings go bonkers. There was nopony on the balcony and in the observable part of the sky. ‘I hope she hasn’t flown away on her regal business, otherwise my efforts are futile tonight.’

        Alex returned to the room and stopped at the fireplace, thinking where the Princess of the Night could be at that time – late evening, not yet the night. From the balcony he could see the narrow pink stripe at the west edge of the sky, the sun was still setting… being set by Celestia actually. Hoping that Luna’s sister wouldn’t enter the bedroom to wish her a good night Alex mechanically dragged a long protuberance of fire from the hearth, making it stretch and squeeze several times like a harmonic, pulling and pushing it with his hand, then returned it to the fireplace.

        Next moment he heard a quiet splash of water. Alex turned his head, trying to locate the sound, when he noticed a narrow door at the opposite wall. It was decorated as the surrounding walls and hardly noticeable from the first glance. Alex guessed, there should be the bathroom. He approached the door, it was opened a little leaving a gap and making him able to hear, what was going inside.

        “Ahem, Luna, I’m sorry, that’s me, Alex,” he tried to say that loud enough to be heard, yet soft and apologetically not to startle her. “Are you in?”

        “Oh!” another splash of water and a quiet giggle, Alex blushed. “I’m in the tub, Alex, mine lief. At which hour hast thou come? I haven’t heard thee.”

        “I’ve just… arrived. And… well, I can wait or come next time, if it’s not a suitable one,” Alex backed off the door, but was stopped by Luna’s voice.

        “Oh, no, no. Tis okay,” the heartily laughter made his heart flutter. “I got in just a few minutes ere. So thou art to wait for quite a while, that doesn’t feel quite right. And please don’t go.”

        “I’ll breath some fresh air then,” muttered Alex, swallowing a lump in his throat at the thought, he was to spend some time on the balcony. “Just behind the curtain, in case your sister comes… for whichever reason she may.”

        “Actually, I have a better idea,” said Luna cheerfully and Alex thought that he knew, what she was going to suggest. “Why don’t thou comest here. Mindst, I accept no objections.”

        “That’s hardly a suggestion then,” Alex carefully entered the door, closing it behind. “To be completely honest, it’s not a common practice for me to join a lady in the bathroom.”

        He was granted an amazing view of a spacious room with stone floor and walls of light colours, lit with the familiar candles and containing a large basin built in the floor in the middle of it. Well, it was a tub actually, but only a very greedy beholder could call it that way. The basin was filled with water, covered with a huge cap of aromatic foam, but the main decoration was the pretty alicorn head, looking at him above the foam. Despite being wet Luna’s mane miraculously kept its flowing look, making Alex freeze on spot, eyeing what he could.

        “Alex, ho, did somepony glued thee thither?” Luna waved her fore hoof, smiling and making a few bubbles fly. “Comest closer!”

        Alex gulped and made a few steps, he suddenly felt his head being empty and echoing.

        “Huzzah!” Luna made a small splash, actually having fun. “He finally moved! What’s wrong with thee?”

        “Nothing…” creaked Alex. Then he cleared his throat and repeated. “Nothing is wrong, Luna. Wrong is not the right word… But…”

        “Oh,” her smile became even wider. “I suppose, I know. Ye, people, wear clothes all the time…”

        “Well, mostly…” Alex couldn’t prevent his cheeks becoming pinkish again.

        “If ’t be true thou see me without my neck plate and hoofwear,” giggled Luna playfully. “Doth that mean that I am naked according to thy rules? I mean… more naked than usual!” she nailed the coffin with the sly smile.

        “Merlin’s pants!” breathed Alex, finally approaching the tub and placing himself on the floor next to it. He felt flames, which seemingly his neck and all the face were made of at that moment. Apparently, it was that obvious, because Luna was having fun at his embarrassment full time. “Please, don’t make that thought stick within my head, I won’t be of my normal colour ever again then.”

        “Well, that’s not that awful, if ’t be true thou art able to joke about ‘t,” winked Luna, getting closer to the edge and leaning on it, laying her head on her folded fore legs. “But thou shan’t deny, that I am technically right.”

        “That doesn’t make it less… Well… You know…”

        “Know what?” It seemed Luna wasn’t going to let him have it easy. “I’m just reminding thee the obvious things… And thou – being… uneasy about them. How was thy day?”

        With a sigh Alex lay on the stomach and leaned on his elbows, placing his head on the fists.

        “Same as all the previous, I’m sticking with those experimental artefacts for a week already, it becomes kinda annoying. But keeping in mind what can be the next stage, I guess this one is not that bad.”

        “Seeing you is what makes my day brighter, well, actually night,” he kissed her in the nose. “But I didn’t expect to see you…”

        “Ummm…” Luna squinted and stretched, her illustrious tail emerged from the tub, decorated with ample amount of aromatic foam, and waved from side to side. “Every time I was able to cuddle with thee. I won’t mind… No, I would like to right now as well. A nice massage won’t hurt likewise.”

        Alex gasped, making Luna instantly giggle again.

        “Don’t thee be silly, Alex. Just get in.”

        “Errmmm… I have one question, if I get into the tub in my clothes, will I wake up soaking wet in my room, when I end sleepwalking?”

        “I. have. no. tiniest. idea!” articulated Luna, looking him straight into the eyes and raising one eyebrow with an unequivocal expression on her muzzle. “Fair chance – yes. Thou can only find out thyself.”

        Alex let out a heavy sigh, Luna snorted at his embarrassment.

        “Okay, can you still turn around. And… no funny business, okay?”

        “Oh!” Luna raised her fore hooves in comic gesture, then she moved a bit and sat in the tub, stretching her shoulders and slightly wiggling her folded wings, yet looking away as promised. One ear was still turned to Alex, apparently controlling his progress. “Okay. We are not hurrying anywhere!” “reassured” she.

        He managed to get rid of the clothes quickly enough, pondering if removing them by the willpower would be an easier and smarter decision in that case, while Luna listened to the rustle. Finally, Alex got into the tub behind Luna with a small splash, admitting that the hot water feels quite natural, despite him being not entirely real at that moment. He couldn’t still accommodate fully to his ability, thinking that it would need quite some time to accept it entirely.

        The first touch of her silky coat on the shoulders and back caused a gentle “Ahhhh!” from the alicorn beauty and Luna slid closer to Alex, leaning forward and giving him the full field for treatment. Alex massaged her shoulders, gently, but firmly rubbing her skin, stretching strained muscles… and avoiding wings, remembering her warning.

        “Tis amazing!” cooed Luna, waving her mane, when he scratched and stroked her shoulders and between the wings. “Why thou nev’r…”

        “Because each time we were either snuggling,” chuckled Alex, making her almost moan. “Or you wrapped me in your wings, packed me tight and placed your head on top of mine. Not that I object, it actually feels quite nice. Just answering your question…”

        “Thou can’t imagine, how nice ‘t feeleth,” Luna looked at him over her shoulder, moving a bit closer. “But I guess, I shall accept oft as well. If thou dost not mind.”

        “I don’t,” Alex moved his hands a bit lower, to her back and sides, making Luna purr and stretch. “It actually feels great to massage you. But please sit still and don’t move, otherwise my reflexes can take over,” he coughed.

        “Somepony spoke about “funny business”?” teased him Luna, leaning on him completely. “Besides, it seemeth thy reflexes already quite succeeded taking over, Alex,” she kissed him in the flaming cheek, as he felt, what she was talking about.

        “Sorry!” Alex hugged her gently, leaning on the basin edge and placing Luna on his chest. She wrapped one fore leg around his neck, kissing him in the chin, in the ear, nuzzling his cheek. He didn’t feel much extra weight, despite she was a bit bigger; the water and foam concealed that impression.

        “I take ‘t as a compliment!” whispered Luna in his ear, then their lips met and the reality around vanished for a while, while they were sharing their breath.

        When she calmed down a bit, satisfying her first thirst for him, and nested comfortably on his chest and shoulder, Alex felt himself as a boiling kettle. To relax he started stroking her splendid mane slowly, making Luna coo something tender and rub her shoulders and head against him, while he kissed her behind the ear.

        “Thou makest me melt!” Luna wiggled her folded wings, involuntarily tickling Alex and making him hold himself hard not to stroke the margins. “Don’t stop, please!”

        “If you don’t stop wiggling and applying extra pressure,” Alex deliberately kissed her in the edge of her wing, Luna arched and moaned. “My reflexes will go completely wild, up to uncomfortable. You see? And careful with your horn, please.”

        “Thou…” hissed Luna, squinting at him, Alex closed her mouth with another kiss.

        “I’m just showing you, what I feel when you snuggle into me like that,” innocently noticed he, when they parted for air. “By the way, the sun was setting when I came here. Aren’t you supposed to be raising the Moon, my princess?”

        “The Moon is not always up right after the sunset,” huffed Luna, booping him in the nose. “Isn’t ‘t the same in thy world?”

        “I guess it is,” chuckled Alex. “Sorry, I’m not an astronomer. Besides, you are completely in charge of the Moon indeed.”

        “Exactly. And thou art a… “thinking machines” specialist. Tis kinda far from the Moon raising job,” Luna stuck out her tongue at him jokingly. “Tell me more about them someday, agreed?”

        “I will, I will, my curious princess,” Alex leaned his head on hers, feeling her cool horn with his temple.

        “Speaking of jobs,” he remembered after a while, listening to Luna’s quiet relaxed breath. “Recently I thought what I can do for living in Equestria.”

        “And?” Luna’s ears perked in attention.

        “Well, I would hate myself being an… eternal guest. A parasprite, as you could call it,” huffed Alex. “I plan to pay my bills myself, when I’m finally free enough.”

        “I thought about what I could do here,” he continued as Luna didn’t interrupt him, listening with obvious empathy. “And the prognosis wasn’t very bright. Aside from simple hard jobs in the field or on the construction site, I can hardly be useful anywhere, as my profession is undemanded for in Equestria. I’m not a medic, or an artist, or a teacher…”

        “But then I thought about another thing, I dare to hope I’m good at – hardware!” said Alex. “Not that type of hardware, which is native to my original work, something simpler… I pondered about simple commodities, which your subjects might lack in everyday life and it seemed, I finally found, what I can do to earn some bits.”

        “Wend further, mine lief,” Luna looked at him with a smile. “I’m earnestly interested.”

        “I wanted to try starting with electricity,” explained Alex, Luna raised her brows. “You know, Ponyville for example, could only benefit from electrical lighting, it could be used to pump water in the houses easier and on Applejack’s fields in any direction, not using water wheels only. Rarity could use an electric sewing machine, freeing her magic to more outstanding stuff. Generally, every household could use an electric generator.”

        “Aren’t they big and bulky and demanding for quite a few ponies to operate,” Luna was a bit sceptic.

        “Well, those few you have and use in Equestria surely are,” smirked Alex, kissing her in the nose and making Luna blink from his sudden move and giggle. “I want to suggest small and environment-friendly ones. They won’t be bigger than your armchair and will be propelled by wind or water force entirely. You see, Luna, we, I mean people,” his eyes became sad for a second, but he shook that off and continued. “don’t gather lightnings or use magic to create electricity, but we use electricity instead of magic, we don’t have, quite often.”

        “Tis may work…” thoughtfully muttered Luna, then she raised her eyes at him. “But thou can’t make those out of thin air, mine lief. Thou shalt need something to start forsooth.”

        “Actually, yes,” sighed Alex. “While I can easily compensate all the generosity of the girls, helping me out, when I start making and installing these generators, I still need help to start.”

        “Simply think about what thou needest,” Luna sat in the tub and turned to face Alex. “When thy list is ready, I’ll do what I can to give you a hoof.”

        “But…” Alex felt his jaw dropped, as he sat there with a surprised and perhaps slightly stupid expression. He couldn’t imagine the princess to be that forthright and selfless. His heart fluttered, Alex couldn’t find words to express his gratitude. “I’m… I will compensate for everything as soon as I can… Thank you, Luna. You’re a life savior!”

        “Not that it was necessary,” Luna scooped a portion of foam with her hoof, putting a lump on the tip of Alex’s nose and giggling at him, huffing it off. “Methinks thy life is worth saving anyway. I want ‘t. Isn’t ‘t enough reason for a princess?” she cocked her head jokingly, glancing at him.

        “Fine, I am slightly tired of thy technical talk,” Luna narrowed her eyes, while Alex looked for a suitable reply. She stretched out her fore legs towards him in unequivocal gesture, making Alex sit and move closer to cuddle him in a proper embrace. “Thy princess demandeth for a kiss, Alex!”

        *

        “Isn’t Fluttershy supposed to come already?” Twilight threw a concerned glance at the clock on the wall. She just helped Spike with her magic to bring the tea tray from the kitchen and was now sitting in her armchair, nervously fidgeting. For the last half of an hour she checked the time perhaps ten times and each one didn’t make her less edgy. Everything was ready, they have their own suits fixed and prepared, but for some reason Fluttershy needed more time with hers. Twilight couldn’t even read, despite usually reading helped her find mental balance and think clearly.

        “Maybe in the end of the day she reconsidered,” noticed Pinkie, sipping her tea with unstirred expression. For a change she was totally calm this evening, even rock solid, Maud could be proud with her sister today. That unusual calmness made Twilight even more jumpy.

        “Who? Fluttershy? Reconsidered?! Hardly so,” huffed Twilight, looking at the clock hands again. “Celestia! It’s half past seven… ARRRRRGHHHH!”

        “Hey,” she turned to Spike. “Are you okay, mate? That’s not a cookie, you know…”

        “Huh,” Spike, who didn’t say a word for the whole evening and was pondering about something, obviously important for him, stopped dunking a ruby into his tea. “Oh!..” he made a funny face, threw the gem into his mouth and gnawed it out with a loud crackle. “Indeed!.. I was just thinking, would Rarity shelter me, if princess Celestia catches you, Twilight, and puts you into the cell next to the human…”

        “Thank you kindly!” Twilight nodded with sarcasm.

        “Come on, Twi,” Pinkie put away her cup and smirked. “You look like you’re sitting on a hedgehog! Nothing happened yet…”

        “I could be sitting on a porcupine, no big difference,” huffed Twilight. “As Spike properly noticed, if something fails, my ass is served on a silver plate. And the mere fact that I agreed to help you, girls, doesn’t make me like the whole idea more.”

        “Fluttershy said Rarity needed more time with her suit, so they planned to do final fitting today, but it’s a bit late already,” she added. “What are they making there?”

        As usual with somepony mentioning Rarity, Spike perked his ears.

        “I hope Rarity finds out nothing about your crazy plan, and doesn’t join you, girls,” he muttered with concern.

        “I rather hope that Sweetie Belle finds out nothing,” noticed Twilight. “That would be a true disaster.”

        Somepony politely knocked on the front door.

        “That’s me, Fluttershy,” the voice came like out of the barrel. “Did you reconsider to go? There is a “Don’t disturb!” plate on the door…”

        Twilight and Pinkie looked at each other, both raising on their legs. Spike got up as well, something was strange in that voice.

        “That’s for uninvolved, Flutters,” accurately stated Pinkie. “Come in.”

        The door opened and somepony slid into the lit room from the falling twilight outside.

        “WOAH!!! What is that thing?!!”

        Spike grunted, suddenly finding out that he was bending under the weight of a frightened lilac alicorn, who jumped into his hands.

        “Ugh! Twilight,” he muttered through his teeth. “I thought, only snakes caused that reaction.”

        “That’s… Errmmm…” totally stunned Pinkie raised one eyebrow. “Fluttershy?”

        “What? You think, it’s better without the mask, don’t you?” inquired the pony-like thing in pitch black catsuit. Slender, with the wings packed into the same fabric as well as the braided tail, which now resembled a whip. Various belts and cords crossed the suit; plenty of pockets with zippers; a knife in a sheath, strapped on the shoulder its handle downwards; equally black medkit with the small purple cross, placed on the left flank. The head part covered her whole mane and ears, which protruded, covered in black fabric with metal-like netting. Her muzzle was hidden behind some sort of a mask with metal grid at the mouth part and valves; above all that three tubes with lenses finished the ensemble. The only light part was the Equestria blazon on the left shoulder.

        “Actually, I think, it is indeed,” Fluttershy took off the muzzle plate and apologetically smiled, watching her startled friends, her voice became normal. “Sometimes Rarity becomes obsessed, wanting everything to be ideal.”

        “What in Equestria is that?” Twilight blushed and jumped off Spike’s hands.

        “Umm… I asked Rarity to fix my suit and told her that I was going to cosplay Daring Do on the Nightmare Night,” giggled Fluttershy, spinning the mask on her hoof.

        “But Daring Do looks nothing like that,” gasped Twilight.

        “I know,” Fluttershy waved her fore leg. “And you know. But Rarity doesn’t, she’s not a fan of Daring Do, just like anything connected with forests, nature and bugs.”

        “But I guess, I shouldn’t mention the “spec ops” part really,” continued Fluttershy with a sly smile. “Rarity took that as the basis and made a little research on “spec ops” stuff, that is why, I guess, more time was necessary – she wanted to make it… believable…”

        “She seems to succeed,” breathed out Pinkie, tilting her head while examining her friend.

        “She even got a magical night visor with motion detector somewhere,” added Fluttershy, nodding towards the mask. “Sometimes her generosity goes really over boards.”

        “Did you get here on your own?” suddenly asked Pinkie, scratching the back of her head.

        “Yeah… ummm… I sneaked carefully through Ponyville,” blushed Fluttershy, then brightened. “The suit actually works, nopony spotted me.”

        “I see…” muttered Twilight, her eyes were still a bit wider than normal.

        “We don’t hear bells, nor see a whole herd with pitchforks,” noticed Spike, who just regained his voice. “I guess, nopony saw you indeed.”

        “Okay!” said Twilight, checking her saddle bags once more, when they both with Pinkie changed to their own suits, not that impressive though as Fluttershy’s. “I suppose, we’re ready to go.”

        “It would be better, if we teleport right to the balloon pad,” she added, throwing the last glance at their preparations.

        “Umm… Fluttershy,” Twilight squinted on her friend, who placed the muzzle piece back on. “While I appreciate that you can see in complete darkness now, that will be handy indeed, please, do me a favour – stay so I can see you and… don’t sneak on me from behind. Okay?”

        “Squee!” Fluttershy nodded, flattening her ears. It could appear comic, if she looked differently at that moment. Pinkie snorted, impatiently jogging on the spot.

        “Good luck, girls,” Spike sighed and shook his head. “Don’t get your crazy flanks caught!”

        Twilight shuddered before the bright flash took them three on their adventure.

        *

        It was perhaps about 10 pm or even later, when they finally landed right behind the wall in the far corner of the castle garden, as far from the actual castle as it was possible. Twilight brought the balloon lower and tied it as well, when they tied the basket to the large tree trunk. Of course their transport was a bit bright for that task, but unfortunately, they didn’t have any choice. Inwardly Twilight was ready that they would need to flee using her teleporting magic very likely, if they were spotted by the guards or if somepony spotted the balloon and set the guards on alert.

        “At least it won’t be noticed behind those trees right away,” she shrugged, making the final knot on the rope. “Now quiet, please.”

        Pinkie immediately crouched to the ground, mimicking the pose of a cat ready to pounce. Twilight rolled her eyes, she was sure that Pinkamena even tapped her hind legs and waved her tail at that moment.

        “Can you at least be serious at the moment like this?”

        “I’m serious,” stated Pinkie bluntly. “I am deadly serious. Where do we go, Twi?”

        Twilight froze for a while, remembering where the medical facility was relative to this part of the garden.

        “There,” she finally decided, pointing in the right direction. “But I can’t see hay in that darkness. The moon hasn’t been risen still.”

        “Believe me,” huffed Pinkie. “When the moon is up, it will be only worse, as nopony can see us in the darkness at least.”

        “I can,” a dim glow of the lenses, showed that Fluttershy turned on her visor.

        “Right,” Twilight couldn’t help shuddering at that image. “You go first then, Flutters. Down that alley then to the right. Look where you stepping on, any crackle can give away our position. The garden is not heavily guarded, yet it’s better not to risk. Remember, there is also Nightwatch, they report to princess Luna though, but… If you see anypony, Fluttershy, just let us know… and everypony hops into nearest shrubs and plays dead, agreed?”

        “Agreed,” muttered Pinkie. “Maybe we go finally?” she slightly nudged Fluttershy forward, then let Twilight follow her.

        “Don’t be a scaredy-pony, Twi,” she winked. “I’ll be your shadow and cover your tail.”

        Twilight facehoofed. She hurried to follow Fluttershy, almost holding her by her tail as it was impossible to see her in her suit in the night garden. Only when she looked over her shoulder, to wait for them with Pinkie, three faintly glowing spots gave out her presence.

        Carefully, not to startle any night bird, as they heard a few, they reached the turn and trotted right, as Twilight suggested. There was indeed a lighter spot in the end of this part of the alley, the open space and the exit from the garden. If Twilight’s calculations were right, the building, where human was kept, was not very far.

        Twilight looked up at the darker mass of the castle nearby, it seemed lifeless, except the few lit windows. At least nopony suspected anything… yet.

        “Shhh!” Twilight almost bumped into Fluttershy, who suddenly stopped and stared somewhere into the trees on their right, quietly hushing them with Pinkie. They both flattened on the ground.

        “What?” whispered Twilight in a minute, gulping.

        “It’s just a squirrel,” said Fluttershy. “I’ve heard something, but it’s just a squirrel. Come on, girls, don’t lay on the cold ground.”

        Within a few minutes more they reached the garden exit. It was lighter outside, besides the moon showed in the sky, slowly raising and adding light to the scene.

        “Horse apples!” Twilight glanced at the Moon and the castle, which became gray, then white as the moonlight fell on the walls. “We could really benefit from more darkness here and now.”

        “Okay,” she took a look around to orientate. “See that building over there?” she pointed with her fore hoof at the four-storey building not far from the outer wall, but considerably far from where they stood. “There are shrubs and trees everywhere between its backside and castle walls, except a small clearing around the building, but we have no better variant. Let’s hurry though. Fluttershy, run fast under the wall, while it is still in the shadow and stop, when you’re under the trees, we will follow.”

        “But not too fast, not to be heard by others,” she added, when Fluttershy nodded and burst forward.

        “Well,” Twilight turned to the girls, when they took a breath after their blazing run along the castle wall. They were nicely hidden in the thick foliage now, and it was safe to assume, nopony could spot them as long as they didn’t rustle too much. “Here we are. Unfortunately, I have no faintest idea which room exactly is his and where is the window, we need. One of those,” she waved her hoof at the building wall.

        “I pray for it to be here,” she added. “Not on the facade. As there is also the exit, it is better lit and… facing the castle.”

        “A great combination to get busted!” summarized Pinkie with a wry smile.

        “Yeah,” whispered Twilight, when they accurately approached the borderline between shrubs and open space belting the building. “We should sit here quiet, watch and listen for a while. I’ve heard, Alex gets to bed late, perhaps we can spot the proper window.” Her ears flattened, the idea to go round the facility and search almost right “behind Celestia’s eyes” didn’t look alluring to her. “See that stripe of the bare ground beneath the wall?” she pointed to the open space. “The guards patrol there once in a while and we better not be in the clear view, when they come.”

        A few minutes passed. They seemed ages for Twilight, the uneasy feeling of doing wrong started to press her again. Unable to sit completely quiet Pinkie tilted her head from side to side, while watching. Fluttershy’s eyes seemed to be glued to the building in front of them, the direction of visor lenses told about that; she looked like a stone statue, sitting on her tail and scanning the windows.

        “Look!” quietly, but they thought it was too loud anyway, squeaked Pinkie. She pointed up.

        “Shhhh!” both Twilight and Fluttershy hissed, but they spotted a flash in one window as well.

        It took a couple minutes more to move aside under the foliage cover to end right under the necessary window on the first floor. But now they could definitely hear quiet voices coming from inside. Two voices. The girls sat on the ground and listened carefully.

        The man’s voice talked for a while, then they heard a muffled laughter, in which female voice joined the man. Fluttershy stomped from one fore leg to another.

        “That’s Alex’s voice, no doubt,” she whispered with the corner of her mouth.

        The female voice said a few words and another giggle followed, then some rustling.

        “Well, at least we can safely assume, he is fine,” stated Pinkie smirking and raising one ear.

        “And another voice…” muttered Twilight, she was unsure… or maybe didn’t want to say that first. “I can’t clearly say…”

        “I can,” Fluttershy’s voice dropped and she noticeably wilted. She surely could recognize that voice, eventually, she helped its owner train a more pleasant way to talk to the subjects, so she could distinguish it at any time. “That’s princess Luna…”

        Twilight sighed barely audibly, while Pinkie raised a brow. Fluttershy’s tone was self-explanatory enough. Meanwhile the talk from above continued its flow and it sounded least as an interrogation, but clearly as a friendly chatter.

        “Twilight, please,” whispered Fluttershy. “Could you fly up to the window and take a look? Just stay unseen though…” she added.

        With another heavy sigh Twilight nodded.

        “Just a couple of minutes,” she said, exiting the bushes and spreading her wings. “The guards can show at any moment.”

        Twilight soared in the air, trying to flap not so loud, while approaching the named window. Apparently, the two behind the barred opening were too busy with each other, so they suspected nothing.

        “…as I expected,” said Alex’s voice with concern and regret. “The “doctor” came this afternoon and notified me that they planned new stage of experiments for tomorrow – this time with living casters. I…”

        “Dost thou expect those to be that malignant? I doubt Tia would put anypony’s life in danger,” a few hoofsteps and some rustling, followed by her satisfied sigh. Twilight stiffened.

        “Mayhap, but what if things go slightly… just a tiny bit not as she expects?”

        ‘A kiss… Was it a kiss?’ Twilight blinked several times.

        “I’ve seen what happens with artefacts after prolonged exposure to my drain effect,” continued Alex. “The last thing, I want to witness, is a real pony subjected to something alike. I was fidgeting all the day…”

        “Oh, Alex, mine lief,” with more rustling cooed Luna. “If’t be true I knew that, I’d come to thee ere!”

        Twilight floated in the air, wanting to find herself back on the ground, not hearing, what she heard, and not being obliged to tell Fluttershy. There was nothing wrong in the talk itself, well… almost, but she wasn’t sure, how her friend could interpret the situation as the whole. Fidgeting about that, Twilight decided to take a look anyway; she slowly approached the edge of the opening and looked above the windowsill.

        ‘Well, that’s definitely more than a friendly talk,’ she accurately backed down and quietly lowered herself near the girls.

        “So?” Pinkie tilted her head meaningfully, while Fluttershy kept silence. Exactly that silence was what scared Twilight mostly at the moment.

        “So, there is princess Luna in his room indeed,” accurately started Twilight, watching Flutters fixedly. “They are talking with Alex, about different things, nothing specific or related to his problem.”

        “They talk like old friends,” feeling a certain stone over her heart finally said Twilight.

        “We… I can’t show myself at the moment, right?” dropped Fluttershy; her voice wasn’t desperate and Twilight took a breath, but it was surely dull, colourless. “We don’t want to reveal ourselves anyway. Besides, it would be totally impolite to disturb the conversation that way…”

        Twilight inwardly squinted, she heard that tone from Flutters sometimes, usually when somepony was to be stared in a matter of moments.

        Something rustled in the bushes a few yards to their left and the girls crouched involuntarily, perking their ears, forgetting about their talk for a while.

        “Shhh… Have you heard?” a distant voice asked; that could be a guard only. The restrained rustling approached slowly.

        “Come on, girls,” unfroze Fluttershy, quietly nudging them both. “Follow me!”

        “Do you remember the way?” squeaked Twilight, when they got up and burst away, the same way they came here.

        “Of course!” dropped Fluttershy through the gritted teeth on the run. “This I can easily remember.”

        “Hey! You! Stop right there!” guards voice barked from the dark shrubs behind them. “Some dark ponies fumble here!!! Let’s get them!”

        “Aha, fat chance!” huffed Pinkie, jumping behind Twilight. “Come and catch first!” she made an indecent sound with her tongue and giggled.

        “Here they go!” one more voice shouted from the distance. All were fortunately behind them. “They head to the garden!”

        Last time Twilight ran that fast, when they raced for the Crystal Heart hidden on the top of the tower. They covered the whole way back in a few minutes, not dropping a word not to lose their breath. Fluttershy indeed remembered the path perfectly, here they were, the trees, the balloon. The guards’ hoofsteps thumped somewhere behind in the alley, not too far though to linger.

        Twilight raised the balloon and hopped into the basket next to Fluttershy. Pinkie was trying to untie the rope, when Twilight’s glance dropped on the knife on Fluttershy’s shoulder.

        “Pinkie, get in the basket, hurry!” Twilight grabbed the handle with her magic. “Drop the knots, I have a better idea.”

        With a few hits of the knife she cut the thick rope, when Pinkie Pie hopped inside, the balloon started to rise.

        ‘Too slow!’ panicked Twilight, nudging it with her magic and directing it lower, right over the castle wall and away. The guards rushed about below, a couple of flashes traced in the night sky, but they weren’t aimed, likely fired in sheer hope to hit.

        “Whew! Almost got caught,” said Pinkie, when they took their breath, directing the balloon right down the mountain, as close to the wall as possible not to be spotted, and burst up laughing.

        “Yeah, let’s pray nopony recognizes, who was there exactly,” Twilight wasn’t so optimistic, but a small smile brightened her muzzle nevertheless. ‘Didn’t get caught! Isn’t it great already?’

        Fluttershy was quiet, she dragged off her mask, her ears flattened. She looked at the basket floor fixedly and seemed to not notice her friends’ enthusiasm about the fortunate outcome.

        “Come on, Flutters!” Pinkie nudged her slightly, when she stopped laughing. “He was there talking to princess Luna… So what? Pray tell, have you seen them hugging, kissing… something else?” she made big eyes. “No? What’s the big deal then?”

        “Yeah,” sighed Fluttershy. “Perhaps…” a wry smile appeared on her muzzle. Still was better than flattened ears and fireless eyes.

        Twilight thought that it wasn’t the best time to mention that she actually saw Alex, sitting on his bed with Luna on the floor next to him, putting her head on his chest and almost purring, while he stroked her mane.

 

 

---

Author's note: If 't be true you like the story (and have FimFiction account, otherwise, you can't vote), please, take a minute to support the book hither: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/370173/the-guardian  "Thumbs up" are very welcome, comments either. Mine most sincere gratitude in advance!

 

A shoutout to the caring friend, good author and simply valorous pony - @Longhaul

Read his stories, please:

they are really good

Edited August 20, 2018 by Alexshy

[Alexshy 14,709]

10. Applied sleepwalking

 

“… and I would like to extend my personal observation further and state that I found the subject’s psychological condition slightly strange: the human stays extremely stable under all the emotional stress of the latest series of experiments, involving living third party test subjects. Despite visible disgust and regret find their way onto his face quite often during those tests, he evidently keeps all the strain to himself, not openly protesting… at least he did not till today. Because today’s tests seemed to get to his limits and we were to stop them prematurely, cutting low on our schedule, as it looked like it was only a matter of time, before the human lashed out on the personnel directing those experiments, if he could find them. I assume that he is having it really hard, keeping it inside and I can only imagine, what is boiling there…”

        This letter caught her in the library, where Celestia brushed through Starswirl’s section; apparently, Swirl the Bearded didn’t have a universal method of transferring magically resistant humans as well.

        ‘Now, this is great,’ thought Celestia, lowering herself on a couch in the long room filled with bookshelves. ‘The only thing we need is emotionally unstable “test subject”.’

        ‘What dost thou want, Tia?’ asked Luna’s voice in her head, as Celestia remembered their recent talk. ‘He didn’t want to hurt anypony, tis was granted methinks. But he is forced to drain the energy from strangers now, which supposedly can lead to death even, if ’t be true they keep the experiment (she pronounced “experiment” with audible repulsion) running long enough. I am endlessly surprised, he hasn’t caved in ere…’

        “Indeed,” muttered Celestia quietly. “What should I want? Except trying to keep Equestria safe…”

        The science group subjected Alex to the tests, the main course of which was magical interaction with living ponies, unicorns for that matter, despite it was known that it can provide a certain degree of danger in both directions. Some risks were to be taken, if they wanted to know everything. Thus a few tests with positive magical impact were held already. It was agreed to avoid negative impact, as the result was totally random and unpredictable in nature and, more important, in force.

        The first series of tests, as the report confirmed, involved short sessions of harmless spell application, usually stopped at the will of the caster. The result was predictable: the unicorns felt strong constant drain since the first fractions of second as the magical bond was established. However, no intended effect of the spell was registered on the human, be it healing spell or levitation, or any other equivalently. The third-party test subjects were instructed to stop the spells shortly after starting, specifically before they felt queasiness or any other kind of discomfort, preventing their concentration on the task. They reported that it was hard enough even within a short time span, as they became stunned almost instantly by the drain effect.

        ‘It looks like the reaction is getting stronger with each try,’ Celestia shook her head disapprovingly, returning to the report.

        The second series of tests supposed prolonged (in adequate amounts) interaction, without breaking the contact. Thus the unicorns were to apply the spell and keep feeding it up to the point, when they were unable to break the bond themselves. The barrier was implemented to break the effect upon outward command. Only two tests of that kind were run yet. In the first case, when the unicorn felt dizzy and lost consciousness in a short while, the human started shouting for them to stop the test. The actual quote contained some words not to be repeated publicly and Celestia frowned, reading the report. In the second run the unicorn test subject fell from his seat under the drain effect and the bond ceased even before the barrier fell. The human jumped on his legs though and got to the door in a matter of seconds. He kicked the door with such strength and violence, that the sound rolled through the whole hallway of the building.

        When the guards arrived, the human simply said to them “Escort me to mine room. Now!”

        ‘Now that’s something…’ Celestia even re-asked specifically, if the quote was 100% accurate, the answer was positive.

        The guards were instructed to fulfil his request, given like an order, to be honest; thus that test session was finished prematurely.

        The princess addressed the last part of the letter again.

        “He has it really hard, keeping it inside and I can only imagine what is boiling there. I keep wondering, if the stress has some outcome, as I strongly suppose, there must be some form of compensation…”

        ‘This way exactly Nightmare Moon appeared,’ it would be too mild to say that Celestia became concerned. ‘Back then Luna could cry and shout at me, when we had bad days… But she never told me anything about her problems, which followed, when she locked alone in her room. Maybe I was the worst sister indeed, or maybe that couldn’t be helped. Anyway, she kept the major problem to herself, all the strain, all the negativity… and I found out everything, when it was too late for any remedy only.’

        Celestia wiped a tear and squinted to keep back more of them.

        “I advise, if I may, to end the tests as soon as possible, considering the results keep following the predictable pattern. Meanwhile, I’ll negotiate with the council and brush through our test schedule, to limit it to the absolutely inevitable minimum of remaining experiments.

        If the rest of the tests confirm that conclusion, and we officially have no reasons to think otherwise, the generic decision is the following:

        The human can be freed and socialized safely, where it appears appropriate for your highness, with one vital stipulation – strict warning (with the penalty in case of violation) about inadmissibility of magical impact on the human. Otherwise, it’s decided that the human is not dangerous for generally adequate surrounding, and merely needs “non-invasive” supervision. Further containment is considered excessive and detrimental. The amount of collected data is sufficient for your highness and royal magical council to continue the research of human feasible transfer methods, if any exist…”

        “If any exist…” muttered Celestia quickly scanning the rest of the letter. That was the problem – she still had no idea, if they could send him back in the nearest future. Each suggestion turned dangerous more or less after closer examination, and the council was close to admitting the defeat. She wasn’t going to give up that fast though, especially considering that real danger of the human, or absence thereof, was still questionable.

        ‘Well, Ponyville it’ll be for now,’ Celestia got up, heading to the bookshelves – the rustling army was waiting for her. ‘I guess, Fluttershy can cope with almost anything… and Twilight will keep an eye on him… “non-invasively”,’ she smirked sadly.

        *

        Alex sat behind the table, leaning on it with his elbows, his head rested on the hands, but his mind was full of unrest. The last series of tests really kicked him off the rails. He knew about something like that to be done, but couldn’t imagine, it would turn out so ugly: to know is one thing, but being ready to overcome all that appeared to be another story – he was simply shocked.

        ‘Didn’t Twilight tell them everything clearly enough?’ he shook his head in disbelief. ‘They fear the actual transfer can go wrong, yet they are ready to run those almost doctor Moreau kinds of experiments…’

        He was deep in his dark thoughts, that neither accurate hoofsteps behind, nor familiar lavender aroma didn’t make him raise his head or turn. Alex’s reaction to the delicate hoof, which touched his shoulder, was the same as of a rock – namely nothing. Nevertheless, he said muffledly, like from a well.

        “Luna? I’m sorry, dear, I’m hardly a good company tonight. Still under the impression of today’s… experiments!” Alex angrily snorted. “I couldn’t imagine, it would be so… so…” he gasped.

        “I’ve heard about them in brief, mine lief,” Luna sat behind him, keeping her hoof on Alex’s shoulder. “Was ‘t that horrendous forsooth?”

        “Even worse…” Alex turned to face her and Luna noticed that his eyes were almost black from hidden rage. “And I thought the first day of that crap was bad. So naive! It’s getting worse each day lately, deeper and deeper into the gutter…”

        Luna stroke his shoulder gently, but Alex almost shuddered.

        “Can you imagine a unicorn getting knocked out, because of the magical bond and drain between me and him, all voluntarily… yet, frankly speaking, I start having doubts about that part,” Alex gritted his teeth. “And the test, the bucking test continues! They tend to keep poor ponies that way for a couple of minutes more to register their bucking results!” blasted he, making Luna even squint a little. “And I can do nothing, except shouting at them and kicking the door of the test room, because the bond exists until they lower the barrier or the unicorn gets fully unconscious. I can’t do anything about that! Merlin’s pants, I have never felt that enraged and at the same time helpless…” he hid the face in his palms.

        “Just imagine,” he continued, not giving Luna time to say a word. “They tested, what happened, when the caster had a visual contact with me, and what – when didn’t. There are unicorns, who can imagine the target for their magic well enough, even behind an obstacle, never knew that,” Alex nervously chuckled, it looked more like a seizure. “Then what happened, when there was a transparent obstacle between us… and one hay load of other wicked things.”

        “Alex, I can really feel for thee,” Luna leaned forward, but Alex backed up on his chair.

        “Really?” his sounded suddenly cold and distant.

        “I can feel that they are rushing their experiments,” added he after a second a bit calmer this time. “For good or for bad, I don’t know. Of course, I must be glad, as apparently I’m coming through the less ugly buck, than I could. But that’s not enough to make me happy… What if, instead of releasing me, they plan something else? Considering the dynamics, I fear, what upcoming stage can be… I almost pounced the guards today, again. They seem to understand, not giving me hard time, but perhaps I said something wrong – they were simply stunned by what I shouted… I can’t remember…”

        “But they want to find a way to send thee back…” Luna felt that she hardly believed entirely in what she was saying. “I don’t know… Look, Alex… I’m sorry, I… No, thou art right! That could, that should be done differently.”

        Her words, not defending them right away, made Alex calm down a bit; he loured at her, when she removed her hoof from his shoulder.

        “We are not monsters,” Luna looked into his eyes. “Thou hast made some friends hither, as thou said ere, recall?”

        “I guess, those few aren’t enough for others not to consider me being a monster,” sadly smirked Alex, he was like a thunder cloud still. “Or not to do everything, so I look like one in their eyes.”

        “Whom can I trust here? You, Fluttershy, a couple of others? Hardly enough to change anything, to make anypony change their mind,” he touched her cheek lightly. “Is it worth to put you few at the shooting range? Perhaps, I’d better be alone…”

        “Dost thou love Fluttershy?” asked Luna quietly.

        “I don’t know,” Alex downcasted. “I like her, if that matters, she is my friend and generally a nice girl, kind, caring, thoughtful. But sometimes she becomes overprotective, that is definitely what I could live without. But who am I to judge? It seems I am to be judged all the way rather!”

        “Look, what do you want me to say?” Alex rubbed his temples. “I’m here for a month and there is a pony who wants me physically; a pony who needs me as a friend perhaps, but sometimes sees me as her own… somepony; I’m talking to you, the princess, one of the rulers of Equestria, like if we knew each other for ages… and I’m already almost in jail, at least it feels like that sometimes, by your sister’s command. And all those… tests!” his eyes darkened again. “Should I be entirely adequate?”

        “And I’m getting all this, when my only wish was to return home,” he added.

        “Dost thou want to return home that desperately?” Luna asked sadly and Alex realized that her question meant “Do you want to leave Equestria that desperately?” at the very least… or even maybe “Do you want to leave me?”.

        “I miss my family, my friends…” Alex said simply. Luna put her hoof on his knee. “I’m sure I’ll miss you all as well, when… if…” he gasped, then took a breath and… the cold breeze seemed to have begun to blow from his voice again. “But at the moment I’d better be alone; as I said, I’m not the best company right now.”

        ‘Why should the few ones, I admire and… love, obligatorily witness me being an emotional wreck, drained, undecided, restless?’

        He turned away, leaning on the table again, his shoulders drooped; Luna didn’t know what to add.

        “Look, didn’t you miss your friends, your sister, despite all the trouble, when you were banished to the Moon?” suddenly asked Alex sternly, still looking away.

        “I didn’t have many friends ere…” whispered Luna. “And on the Moon… Thither was Nightmare Moon, she didn’t let those thoughts slide through, so… I don’t know…”

        “But I understand thee, Alex,” she said after a moment of silence. “And I respect thy condition…”

        Alex felt that the room became empty and cold, as the princess quietly left. He couldn’t help but confess himself that she sounded, moreover was offended. The more he thought about their short talk, the more he wanted to punch himself in the face. He could give anything for the ability to rewind the last few minutes and kneel next to her, hug her, ask her to forgive his totally misaddressed outburst.

        How could he be such a heartless bastard?

        *

        Two days passed: nopony visited him, except the nurses, who brought the meals and regularly interested, if Alex needed anything. First, he thought that Celestia “anathematized” him for the recent outbursts; he couldn’t imagine Luna putting her hoof to that, despite her being evidently offended after their last talk. But the general tone, nurses used to communicate with him, stayed the same: friendly, joking and, in case of “Ginger”, chatty as usual. So Alex realized, it must be another reason for them giving him unexpected rest: there was a positive aspect to that indeed – he wasn’t taken for any tests during those days.

        Yet one thing bothered him more and more – Luna didn’t visit him as well. Alex wasn’t ready yet to try and reach her on his own, he inwardly scolded himself numerous times for being an ass and insulting her. Simply appearing out of the blue and saying “I’m sorry!” was not enough for what he did: namely reminded her about Nightmare Moon period of her life for the second time, exactly when it was extremely unwelcome.

        That day Alex roamed the room like a hungry tiger its cage, since morning he tried to find some suitable way to apologize; he already decided to visit Luna, but there must be a necessary detail added – the apology itself! What could he do? He was too limited in his actions, even while he could move relatively free during sleepwalking, he was still captured by the castle grounds, unable to appear further than the certain range.

        The miniature unicorn nurse involuntarily gave him an idea; more than an idea even, a plan. When she entered his room, Alex immediately spotted her happy and dreamy expression and thought that she must have heard or come through something really pleasant.

        “You have some special occasion planned, don’t you?” Alex unintentionally smiled, her mood was contagious. “Congratulations!”

        “Oh!” the nurse became confused a bit. “Is it written across my forehead that clearly? Not a special occasion though… Do you like flowers?”

        “Moderately!” chuckled Alex. “But, please, do tell. I’d like to hear something bright for a change…”

        “I simply adore flowers!” exhaled the mare, putting the tray on the table. “Especially roses. Maids told me this morning about amazing roses, which bloomed in the castle garden. They were making bouquets for princess Celestia’s bedroom and almost dropped unconscious, when the gardener brought those, then decided to use them obligatorily. I guess, the princess prefers roses as well…” she giggled.

        “You should definitely see the garden, when… all this,” she looked around. “is over.”

        “Mayhap…” muttered Alex in half tone, making the nurse perk an ear. “Not that I can do ‘t now by misfortune…” he remembered that he heard about somepony sneaking into the castle grounds a few days ago. Nothing happened and nopony was caught, perhaps it was even somepony’s mistake, but the guards outside the castle were on double.

        “Are you okay?” the nurse looked puzzled. “Excuse me, but you’re talking strangely… strangely familiar… I…”

        “Oh,” waved Alex, he realized his mistake, but tried to keep face, involuntarily remembering his dream. ‘Merlin’s pants! It is indeed happening…’ “I’m fine, was just thinking about something.”

        He squeezed out a smile, trying to make it look natural. The nurse returned the smile and nodded, but Alex still saw a shadow of concern in her eyes, when she left, wishing him “bon appetite”.

        Alex couldn’t make himself pay even a bit of attention to his meal, two ideas drilled his mind. First, the hay was happening? Did he involuntarily start taking Luna’s “style” into himself indeed? That would be a major give away about their relationship for anypony around and Alex promised himself to watch his tongue better.

        And second, apparently, he finally had a plan: he knew now, how he could apologize. Visiting the garden wasn’t the best idea, even for him – too open, too many guards could spot him at once. But he knew, he could get what he needed in the castle, where hallways, rooms, different nooks could give him enough cover during his escapade. An enthusiastic grin appeared on Alex’s face, it would take him only to wait till tonight and not start running on the walls of his room from impatience beforehand.

        His optimistic thoughts were interrupted by the hoofsteps behind the door. Alex looked over his shoulder, that couldn’t be the nurse – too early, besides, there were two sets of hoofsteps again. That was interesting.

        The lock clicked, turning away from the window Alex saw the horn, stripy mane, bright, curious eyes and the rest of Twilight, standing in the doorway. He was definitely glad to see somepony, somepony not involved in those damned experiments; however, his smile was not only sincere, but fairly abstracted – his mind was overly occupied by the plan already.

        “I’ll be right behind the door, princess,” said the guard, locking them both in.

        “That’s hardly necessary,” frowned Twilight.

        “Alex, I can finally talk to you,” her tone noticeably changed, when she addressed him. Twilight approached and raised on her hind legs, giving him a hug. “The girls, well… some… were asking, if you were okay here. And princess Luna (a small muscle in the corner of Alex’s eye twitched) kept her promise, so I am allowed to visit you now.”

        Alex slightly stroked her shoulders, not knowing how to deal with a princess giving him a friendly hug… because it was another princess, not the one, whom he wouldn’t release from his hands that easily.

        “Take your pick,” he made a welcoming gesture, circling the room with his hand. He chuckled and added, choosing his words carefully, because Twilight, he was sure, would recognize the connection immediately. “I hardly have a seat worthy of the princess, but all of them are at your service.”

        “It’s okay, I can stand,” Twilight realized in time, he was joking, so let the “princess” part slide. “I’ve spent half of the day sitting with the books anyway. But that doesn’t matter… How are you, Alex?”

        “Fine, more or less, especially lately, when they don’t run their… tests,” absentmindedly stated Alex, he turned the three drafts of the seekers, which still lay on the table, upside down – he had no idea if Celestia already informed Twilight about the problems and if it fitted her plans. “I’m rarely visited now though, that’s the drawback of quieter life,” he snorted.

        Twilight opened her mouth… then closed it, not saying what was right on the tip of her tongue.

        “So, we can assume that you’re fine generally,” she said instead.

        “We?” Alex blinked several times. Twilight was already informed about his condition, he asked to relay that to Fluttershy. Who else?

        “Well, me and Fluttershy, then Pinkie would be glad to know you’re fine,” Twilight enthusiastically trotted around Alex, who thought at that moment that sometimes she mimics her mentor involuntarily. Then he remembered himself and facepalmed inwardly. “Rarity…” Twilight smirked.

        “Oh,” Alex looked like he swallowed a wasp, he muttered after a short while. “Twilight, let’s not agitate her too much, even before I’m out of here…”

        “By the way,” Twilight picked the theme eagerly. “It looks like you will get out soon enough indeed. Maybe princess Celestia has no way to deliver you home yet, but she got all necessary information to continue her investigation. Yet there is no need to keep you locked here, as far as I know. The princess is very concerned about your… problem, Alex.”

        “Or, better say, about kicking me out of Equestria with fewer consequences possible,” Alex made a face.

        “Oh, I’ve asked her, if expulsing me to the Moon looked a prominent variant for her,” apparently Alex was going to have some innocent fun, Twilight clearly needed more than a simple confirmation that he is fine. But what information, the curious alicorn could crave, did he have? Maybe if he lured her off her planned route, she could slip and give away, what she needed to know. Not giving her time to react he added. “It seemed that Celestia took that suggestion without much enthusiasm though.”

        “You did WHAT?!” squeaked Twilight, she sat on the floor and looked at him with the dropped jaw.

        “It was a simple banter,” Alex waved his hand. “No…pony suffered!”

        Watching how she sat on the spot still, he got to the bathroom and filled a glass with water, then returned and placed it right in her field of view, before her eyes, which stared straight at one spot.

        “Twilight?!”

        Twilight hiccupped and blinked several times, focusing her eyes on him, then on the glass. Alex put it on the floor, so she could pick with her magic, not risking touching him, and Twilight downed it in a couple of gulps.

        “Thanks,” she said a bit hoarsely. “Ahem! So, is princess Celestia a frequent guest here?”

        “Not very,” Alex took the glass, returning it to its place. “But she doesn’t let me get bored definitely,” the irony was dripping from that phrase.

        “And princess Luna?” Twilight tilted her head with a small smile. “She relayed messages from you to Fluttershy and she negotiated my visits mostly. It seems you got a protection here, Alex.”

        ‘Careful, Alex!’ He remembered that story with trespassers and squinted at Twilight. ‘No, that can’t be. Not Twilight… What could they see, if…’

        “I have no idea, Twilight.” Alex tiredly lowered himself on the chair. His thoughts returned to his plan, when she reminded him about Luna. “I have seen Celestia, the “doctor”, two nurses and guards.. that’s except… “third party test subjects”,” he dropped the last words through teeth. “You are the first pony… person uninvolved in all that. I saw princess Luna at the appointment, as you know, and a couple of times later. Not enough to call that a “frequent guest” or “protection”.”

        “And while I’m endlessly joyous to see thee,” he closed his eyes for a second. “Let me extend my apologies, as the recent days took the best of me forsooth.”

        He leaned to her and lightly stroked her shoulder, as Twilight still was out of her element. Twilight twitched, unfreezing, and blinked.

        “Wait, wait,” she raised one eyebrow and one ear, looking at him, that could look awfully comic, if… “What did you just say?”

        ‘FUUUU…’ Alex made an innocent face, while stiffening inwardly.

        “What? I said that I needed some rest, that I was glad to see you, Twi, and happy to know that others are less concerned, when they knew, I was still alive and in one piece,” he shrugged. “I think I missed nothing.”

        “But…”

        “Twilight, I’m terribly sorry, please, if you have time, come tomorrow. I’m shattered indeed and need some sleep,” he hugged her. “I truly appreciate, but you see I’m erratic and… how Rarity calls that? Oh, yes, “half-horned” at the moment,” he chuckled, walking Twilight to the door.

        When the door closed behind puzzled and stunned Twilight, Alex released air almost with the sound of a boiling pot and leaned his forehead on the cool wall. Her look, when she left, told him that Twilight was full of suspicions, as she got now even more questions, than before her visit, and almost no answers.

        ‘Her curiosity is indeed twice larger, than that girl herself,’ a kind, but concerned smile appeared on his face. He had nothing against Twilight, but what would she do with the answers, she wanted to get? And he was now sure, that the day guards tried to catch the intruder, somepony, or better say “somealicorn”, definitely poked her curious nose into their with Luna affairs.

        ‘You’re a true genius as well,’ his sarcasm was enough to pave a road, when he remembered about Luna and what he said. ‘Sure thing, Twilight felt like smacked with a… pan, but when she recovers, she will be running on walls to find everything out.’

        ‘Well, I’ll think of that tomorrow,’ he decided to follow his plan. ‘Some rest is what I need now, before I go to apologize.’

        *

        The wall clock showed 10 pm and Alex impatiently fidgeted on his bed, watching the sunset through the window. There were some flaws in his plan, but he preferred to think about them not. First of all, he was going to push his current abilities to the limits, he needed to get to the castle unnoticed, yet able to move freely. The ideal starting point was Luna’s room, as he knew it well and Luna herself was hardly there, after raising the moon – she didn’t expect him and hardly was going to come as well. That provided the difficulty though – he was to get there on his own and the distance was considerable.

        Alex promptly waited till the moon took its rightful place in the sky… and about half an hour more, giving Luna time to attend to her nightly duties. ‘I hope, she has some and won’t be on her balcony for example, I’m not ready for a plain talk, yet. Yeah, yeah, I know, offending somepony is always way easier than apologizing,’ he sighed.

        The rest was almost routinely stuff: Alex placed himself comfortably enough on his bed, inwardly regretting that it was “Ginger’s” duty tonight as well; however, he couldn’t change the plans, the information provided by her predecessor was vital. Then he closed his eyes, cleared his mind from everything unnecessary and concentrated on his destination.

        In a couple of minutes he stood amidst the familiar bedroom. Alex made a note that he was able to transfer himself faster and faster each time. Unfortunately, long distances were still a major problem: Alex felt, like if he ran 110 yards in 6 seconds.

        Trying to relax and catch his breath he looked around: the same scene, except the armchair was moved slightly and contained a book, laying on the seat. The backrest kept the scent of lavender, like if the princess left her comfy place just a few minutes ago; Alex leaned on it, inhaling deeply, he imagined how Luna spent the evening reading, and smiled unwillingly.

        ‘Merlin’s pants! Man, you’re “lucky”, you got between those two girls: Fluttershy and Luna. Try your best now to wriggle out somehow. Preferably without casualties!’

        As he expected, Luna wasn’t here at the moment, Alex even cautiously checked the bathroom and took a look at the balcony. Another door, he spotted this time, lead most likely to the dressing room and was locked now. Alex thought that he should have a chance to see how pony dresses looked like some other day; listening at the door returned nothing. He had the complete freedom of action for a while. Another quick look around and Alex spotted a vase, which suited his needs.

        ‘Nice!’ he half filled the vase with water in the bathroom and put it on the study, where he noticed an inkstand earlier.

        The worst flaw of the plan were the guards: several aspects depended on how many of them, how attentive and where exactly were placed. Alex approached the big doors to the hallway and listened. A few minutes passed in complete silence, then he heard a quiet metal clank. The guards were present, fortunately not right behind the doors, almost leaning on them, but still too close to miss him, if he tried to sneak out of the room.

        Praying for hinges to be greased Alex slowly opened one leaf, leaving a narrow gap to see the part of the corridor behind. The major part of his view was occupied by a large standing chandelier under the arched window, opposing the door and slightly to the right.

        “Her Highness, princess Luna, left the balcony door open again.” Alex heard one quiet voice and his heart made a jump. He was ready to hide, when the voice added. “There must be really windy outside to open that door.”

        “Yeah. I’ll close…” he heard another voice.

        ‘Please, let there be only two nearby,’ Alex crossed his fingers and mentally pushed the chandelier, hearing the hoofsteps.

        The chandelier swung and slammed on the stone floor with a clunk of a mallet, candles hissed, going out in the spreading puddle of wax.

        ‘That’s not enough to make them jumpy,’ Alex had no other way, than making a small fire show. With loud crackling a small sparkle from the still burning candle “jumped” onto the spread and quickly hardening wax spot, putting the whole surface on fire. He knew that the very moment he gave up control, the whole thing would extinguish itself, but for the guards it surely looked serious enough. The proximity of cloth banners added to the trouble.

        “Hey! What the?..” the steps stopped, then he saw how both guards rushed to extinguish the fire and get the chandelier up; a few candles still burned, throwing uneven twitching shadows on the walls.

        Alex pushed the door leaf more, just to have a gap wide enough to squeeze himself through, and slid into the hallway. Damn, the gallery was huge, perhaps it went across the whole castle, or a half of it. Not losing time Alex quietly stuck to the wall and sneaked in the shadows behind the columns, as far from the muffledly swearing guards, as he could in a couple of seconds. Right when he released his mental grip, the fire died as fast as it started, leaving the puzzled guards scratch their heads. Alex crouched behind the familiar armoured pony statue and tried to arrange his further route, pushing away the thought that he was to return the same way later. Fooling the guards for the second time wasn’t doing to be an easy task.

        Another problem was the direction, Alex had no reliable information about the castle, some faint memories, accidental clues only. He needed to get to the certain room, but all he knew about that room was that it must be guarded as well, having similar large doors… and… well…

        ‘I guess, Luna would have had a good laugh, if she knew about my plan, totally confirming her mental image of me,’ smirked Alex, trying to remember at least anything, which might help him in his crazy endeavour.

        ‘The last time Tia almost caught us, she was heading to her room and passed Luna’s by. I was in the facility already and the research started. Where she could go from that late, if she had a whole day of regal duties?’

        Alex froze, as the patrol of two armoured unicorns passed his hiding place, but the latter appeared to be good enough, nopony noticed him behind the statue.

        ‘The library! She mentioned that she spent there more time than Twilight recently. So, the Luna’s room is somewhere amidst the library and Celestia’s room.’

        ‘Now, if only I knew, in which direction the library was,’ huffed Alex sarcastically, accurately looking out into the gallery.

        To the right, where he came from exactly, the gallery was relatively short: Alex could see the turn and something resembling stairs, perhaps even a tower. To the left though the gallery ran far away and got lost in the distant twilight, he couldn’t see where it ends. Alex was thankful that the hallway wasn’t lit better and especially that the moon wasn’t lighting the facade (at least he thought that the side of the castle behind his back was the facade) directly, it would be impossible to hide there otherwise.

        ‘Celestia’s bedroom is hardly in the tower or somewhere alike,’ pondered Alex, scratching his chin. ‘But the library could be there… or on another floor of the castle and there is a staircase to the right.’

        ‘Her room must be somewhere on that gallery, similar to Luna’s…’ Alex realized that all his assumptions are based on his subjective human logic, but he couldn’t simply stop a guard and ask, where the library was. Asking where princess Celestia’s room was would be a top wicked trick likewise, Alex quietly giggled at the mental image. ‘So, to the left we go.’

        Crouching, flattening himself to the wall, freezing behind the columns or statues, when necessary, Alex slowly advanced. There was no risk for him personally, but his apology deserved to be performed faultlessly, making him dissolve in every shadow on his way not to be spotted and forced to flee. He thought that he was crawling for an hour already, but he hardly could proceed faster. Faster meant less cautiously and he was to play dead at least thrice: twice, waiting till the patrols pass (one was going from behind), fortunately, Alex noticed them in time; and once, when two patrols met almost in the middle of the gallery and… stopped, chattering about some irrelevant crap. Alex leaned his forehead on the cold column, which he hid behind.

        ‘Come to think about that, “Ginger” isn’t that bad!’ he thought, feeling himself starting to boil. Finally some higher rank guard came and kicked the lazy asses back on their routes. The commander in his turn lingered on the spot for a while, thinking about some of his own pegasus business, so, when Alex could move further, he had no idea, how much time he lost because of them.

        Mentally anathematizing every chatterbox Alex feared that his time was quite limited, considering all the tricks, he pulled already, and especially those, he was going to pull. And he had to return as well.

        Finally, he reached the place resembling the one in front of Luna’s room. Large noble doors, same hallway layout and the guards.

        ‘Be blessed symmetry!’ winked Alex. He stealthily approached the doors and the guards as close as he could, staying unnoticed and unheard, and crouched behind the pegasus statue. He didn’t have much time, as some patrol might arrive and he would need to wait till they pass or change.

        ‘Here goes!’ Alex squinted and pushed another chandelier lightly, it responded with an audible metal clank. The guards perked their ears and stared into the hallway, Alex did his best not to snort at that image. ‘Thank you, Luna, you’re truly marvelous! This is where your lessons come to practice.’ he thought.

        Then it was time for a more interesting thing: Alex started to pull a few long banners, which hung in the wall niches, making them waver.

        “Did you see that?!” one of the guards lit his horn and headed to the source of disorder. Alex yanked the far banners a couple of times more and froze. The guard reached that part of the gallery exactly and was looking around with extremely puzzled expression. Another one tried to see anything from his place at the door, but there was nothing to look at obviously.

        Alex sneaked closer and stopped behind the column, near which the first guard stood earlier. It was a couple of yards to the door and… maybe four to another guard, which was visibly ready to join his partner, if the situation demanded, but still was unsure about leaving the post even for a short while.

        ‘Come on, just get a few yards away!’ Alex gritted his teeth, then turned to the hallway and pulled the banners again, making them twitch.

        “Just stay where you are!” the first guard waved his hoof, while still trying to spot the reason for the banners’ strange behaviour. “There seems to be nothing here, but…”

        “That’s strange!” Another guard threw a quick glance over the shoulder to the door, making sure it is closed and nopony is going to change that. “Maybe we should notify the nearest patrol? Somepony needs to check it thoroughly, while we stick to the post…”

        ‘Just don’t do that!’ Alex prayed for the guards to be less thoughtful at that time, otherwise it would become impossible to get through. ‘A couple of steps into the gallery would be ideal though.’

        He jerked the banners once again, not even looking at them, and when the guard checked once more, if everything was in order and turned away, pulled the door, making a gap.

        “But what caused that?” he heard from the gallery. “A draught? I can’t feel any…”

        The nearest guard gave up to the anxiety and, let’s be honest, curiosity and made a few steps into the gallery towards his partner. Alex threw a quick glance at them, noticed that their attention was totally fixated on the banners and surrounding part of the gallery, and rolled into the door like a hedgehog, quickly and softly closing it behind, just a second before the guards looked back and decided to return to their post.

        ‘Phew! They really didn’t have any strange crap happening for quite a while!’ smirked Alex, taking a look around, when he raised to his legs. ‘The last several years must have been spent without any serious conflicts. First the trespassers, then this, if I were in charge, the castle would have been crawling with guards from the dungeon to the roof, but… Either they are too relaxed, or don’t expect anypony sneaking through that way.’

        ‘On the other hand, they got used to dealing with magic, perhaps even trained to feel some, and what I’m doing is not magic… at least strictly speaking doesn’t look like one,’ Alex thought that he found a plausible explanation. ‘Nevertheless, unicorns must recognize the kinetic impact, they are so good at themselves. Well… I can’t say that I’m complaining, they didn’t.’

        The room, he got into, was similar by size and layout to Luna’s, but decorated in lighter tones generally. Dimly lit noble furniture, fireplace, undraped windows, letting moonlight inside, a few vases with flowers and… Alex spotted, what he needed: a big vase with a sumptuous bouquet of dark purple roses, those exactly petite unicorn nurse told about. There was perhaps a hundred of them, Alex could feel the aroma from his spot.

        ‘Excellent!’ he thought. ‘Taking out a few won’t make much difference.’

        There was a problem though, moreover, two of them. The image of illustrious pink, green, turquoise mane on the pillows of the large bed made Alex freeze, Celestia was sleeping, but…

        ‘Well, you didn’t expect her to be somewhere else, when you planned that, did you?’ he asked himself. ‘Now it’s not the time to linger!’ He listened to the sounds, coming from behind the door, apparently, the patrol changed, but he couldn’t hear too much of concern or anxiety in the voices.

        ‘Fine, if there are other guards, when I try to get out, it’ll be even better,’ smirked Alex.

        Another problem was presented by a big fiery bird, sitting on the high perch near the footrest of Celestia’s bed. It could be sleeping, but unfortunately right now the bird opened one eye and watched Alex fixedly.

        ‘Isn’t it a phoenix?!’ Alex slowly breathed out. ‘Well, it’s now or never!’ he told himself, slowly approaching the table with the roses. ‘I can always flee, simply vanishing… but it would be a total fiasco of my plans!’

        The phoenix watched him, turning her head (Alex remembered what Fluttershy told him about that bird and inwardly grasped himself – Philomena, that was the phoenix name, had really strange sense of humour). For now though she looked rather interested, than startled, and kept silence at least. Alex thought that he preferred to walk under manticore’s nose once, or twice, or even thrice, to that slow stroll under the phoenix fixed glance, with Celestia sleeping in a few yards.

        The princess sighed through her dream, turning to another side and making Alex’s heart skip a beat.

        ‘OUCH!!!’ thought Alex, approaching the vase. ‘Now I know the easiest reliable suicide method,’ flew in his head. ‘Just come close and boop her nose!’ Alex shook his head, smirking, despite his back was cold as ice.

        He took out a dozen of roses, checking twice, then looked over his shoulder – Philomena still watched him with interest. Alex made the main bouquet look untouched, then took the roses and after a moment of thinking separated one. He turned back, but stopped halfway.

        “Thanks for not giving me out,” he whispered barely audibly with a small bow and handed the rose on the long stem to the phoenix. Alex knew that parrots at least ate flowers and even small twigs sometimes, he had no idea, if phoenixes found flowers interesting, but occupying her with something else, than his humble self, could be useful.

        With quiet sound Philomena grabbed the flower with her beak and munched on it, Alex was to admit that roses smelled delicious indeed. Letting out a smile Alex held the rest eleven roses close and headed to the door. There was silence behind, letting him think, there were only two guards again. This time it was a harder task though: he was to open the doors and leave at once, there was no chance to distract them first.

        Alex looked over his shoulder, the phoenix was busy with the flower. The phoenix! Alex remembered again, what Fluttershy told him – the phoenix and her tricks!

        Alex put the roses under his shirt, trying not to crumple them. The fireplace was lit and Alex dragged a strand of fire out of it; he wrapped himself in the fiery shield. It was time to recall what he learned from Luna. Alex raised the couple of feet above the floor and leaned forward, making the fire around him blaze brightly – Philomena watched him again, stretching her neck, with growing interest, making a quiet clattering. He burst through the door in one fiery flash, quickly passing stunned guards and getting lost between the columns of the gallery. Alex hid behind one and extinguished the flames at once, landing on the floor. He quietly took the breath, listening.

        “Damned phoenix,” muttered the guard. “And her tricks again…”

        “Hey, relax!” answered another voice. “She will get bored of that game soon.”

        The silence that followed told Alex that the guards had a look into the room and… obviously, spotted the bird sitting on her perch, innocently munching on the rose. The silence became palpable, then the doors closed with a quiet “thump”.

        Alex was considerably far already, barely holding himself not to burst into laughter. After that, his path back seemed to him at least twice shorter. He was lucky to pass the guards quickly, even when one of them started to sniff around loudly, saying that he could feel the strong rose smell.

        To his sheer fortune, the guards at the Luna’s doors changed as well. Alex got closer and pondered: he could try to distract those too, but he would need to turn his back to them, when trying to get inside. That wasn’t the best idea and Alex froze for a second, thinking, what he could use to his advantage. He tried to visualize Luna’s room with his inner sight, remembering the layout of it. There were some sort of curtains at the doors. ‘That goes!’

        Alex concentrated on the balcony door, opening it completely, then slowly opened one leaf of the door to the room. Attracted by a quiet sound both guards looked back and frowned.

        “What’s with those doors today?” muttered one of them, entering the room. “It wasn’t any strong wind in the prognosis.”

        “The previous shift reported the same,” answered another, he stayed outside though. “Maybe it’s better to close the balcony door before the draught knocked something in the princess’ room?”

        ‘If they both don’t enter, that won’t work!’ Alex gritted his teeth, he peeked from his hiding place.

        If they were a bit more attentive, they could have noticed that the curtain was entirely blown outside, so the first guard was struggling with the cloth piece, trying to close the balcony door – thus the draught, coming from inside of the castle, couldn’t open the room door.

        “Maybe you shut up and come to help me,” grumpily answered he. “Perhaps, hold this curtain!”

        ‘Thanks!’ Alex saw that the second guard entered the room and joined his partner. Alex slid into the room and hid behind the drapes, while both guards dragged the naughty curtain inside and closed the balcony door. They were already exiting, when one of them stopped and inhaled deeply.

        “Strange… Can you smell roses?” he sniffed the air once more with a puzzled expression.

        “That’s from outside,” waved another. “Princess Celestia’s favourite roses bloomed in the garden yesterday… Come on, there is nothing to do here…” They shut the doors behind them.

        Alex raised one eyebrow, thinking again that the guards must have been having it easy for quite a while. They ignored distant impact amazingly easy for those, who used magic themselves. On the other hand, that wasn’t magic in the usual sense; besides, everypony knew, he couldn’t cast spells. Alex preferred to load himself not with guessing, if he was in those guards “dreams”, or vice versa, or he was “making the reality believe”, as Luna called that.

        He put the eleven roses into the vase instead, rejoicing that he managed to break none of them. Alex grabbed a quill, the sheets of paper were found in the upper drawer of the study.

        It took him the good five minutes to understand that using a quill and ink was above his current skill. Why couldn’t there be a pencil, let alone a ball pen? The quill squeaked, Alex tried to make less noise and cringed when it did, and left blots: he threw two pieces of paper into the bin already.

        ‘Damn it in entirety and each blot in particular!’ exploded Alex inwardly, realizing that after all his risky tricks, some stupid quill could render his apology futile, if Luna couldn’t read a word normally. He desperately looked around, the fire was out in the hearth, but there were a few “alive” embers inside still.

        Alex smirked, in a second the fire woke up and roared in the hearth and he could drag a thin thread of the flame outside, making it curl and add up into words. A scorched note lay down under the vase.

        “Please, forgive me, if you can. I could never hurt you intentionally, was just a weird buck… as usual. Didn’t want you to see the wreck of mine, I guess, but I should think better of my words, instead of worrying about the look. Mine tongue was longer, than mine thoughts, mine most humble apology!”

        ‘Not the epitome of eloquence, mayhap… Damn! Again!’ Alex thought that he hardly could make something better, he was already exhausted by that moment. ‘I’d rather take back each word, I said that night instead… but… Oh, well, I hope she understands,’ he threw one last glance around, making sure everything else was untouched and vanishing in the air.

        The next moment he found himself in his closed room, laying on the bed. Alex smiled with relief and closed his eyes, in a few seconds he fell into the real, visionless dream.

        *

        “Oh, Philomena, you chewed the flowers again…” sighed princess Celestia, throwing the stem into her paper bin. The phoenix pretended to be dozing, but when Celestia trotted by, Philomena opened one eye with a sly sparkle and watched the princess, who already raised the Sun and was ready for her daily regal duties.

        But first Celestia planned to visit Luna, ask her, if the night wasn’t stressful, listen to the news – do what she usually did, being a thoughtful older sister. She crossed the long gallery, followed by guards saluting and stopped for a moment in front of Luna’s room doors: two maids were scratching and cleaning the stone floor, removing a big hardened spot of wax. Celestia raised one eyebrow, looking inquiringly at one of the guards.

        “The chandelier, your royal highness,” reported the guard. “It fell over last night and the wax got on fire. Nopony suffered.”

        “Hmmm, the wax getting on fire is something new to me…” the princess pulled the door with her magic, entering her sister’s bedroom. “Good morning, Lulu!”

        “Morning, Tia!” Luna delicately covered her involuntary yawn with the hoof, she looked happy, despite obviously being tired and sleepy.

        “How was your night?” Celestia noticed her smile and watched Luna with interest. “Did something joyful happened?”

        “Methinks having ‘t easy is joyful enough,” cooed Luna and nuzzled Celestia’s shoulder. “I feel amazing today, had a nice walk ere and… the night was quiet, no desperate subjects with nightmares,” she laughed quietly, like a silver bell rang.

        Celestia blinked, last time she saw Luna in such a mood was quite long ago, then something else gained her attention. She approached the study with a bouquet of eleven bloody scarlet, carefully selected, fine roses in a vase.

        “I always thought that you didn’t like roses much, Lulu,” smirked the Sun Princess, inhaling the sweet aroma.

        “I didn’t and I don’t still, but some of the maids didn’t learn that yet, mayhap,” Luna came closer as well, smiling like a school filly; she read and removed the note already. It didn’t look like she was much disappointed by the “not favourite” flowers being brought, as Celestia noticed. “I allowed them to stay, if ’t be true the girls put them here.”

        “But thou art right, mine favourite are the Star Lilies as always,” Luna closed her eyes for a moment, remembering. “Unfortunately the last place I saw them was the pond in the Old Castle garden... ‘t seems that was aeons ere.”

        “Perhaps we could send somepony to bring them…” Celestia pondered about something, inhaling the flowery aroma.

        “Tis an excellent idea!” sly sparkles danced in Luna’s eyes, but she couldn’t hold back another yawn. “Apologies!”

        “Oh, I’m sorry! You are tired, Luna. Have a rest then…”

        And kissing her sister on the cheek absently Celestia left her bedroom.

        *

        Alex sat on his bed cross-legged with a book, for the first time in a long while he was absolutely calm, even serene, the mental image of Luna receiving the flowers and his note made him smile. However, his pleasant thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the opening door: two guards arrived and despite their look wasn’t intimidating, Alex still pricked up.

        “Follow us, sir. The princess wanted to see you,” nodded one of them. “And, please, take your belongings.”

        It didn’t take long to gather, what he had, and the rest of the way Alex tried to remember, if putting anypony in the dungeon was a common practice here still. On the one hand, it didn’t look like Celestia was totally mad with him, besides gathering his things could mean that she was going to release him finally. On the other hand, that equally could mean moving him to a better guarded place…

        ‘That will be extremely “funny”, if my nightly journey leads to that,’ he rolled his eyes, following the guards to the main castle.

        Finally, the throne room. The guards escorted him in and went away, leaving Alex with the same company as on his first day here: all the three princesses. The atmosphere seemed a fair bit friendlier though, Alex approached the elevation, put his bag on the floor and bowed slightly, waiting for Celestia’s words. He glanced stealthily at Luna and Twilight to find out the general mood of the meeting, they didn’t look concerned to him, yet he told himself that it was too early to relax.

        “Greetings, Alex!” Celestia remained seated and Alex made a mental note that she wasn’t adding “the human” this time as well. “I ordered to bring you here to announce my decision regarding your further stay in Equestria, as you might understand.”

        Alex waited silently, that wasn’t a notice of arrest, nor of an eviction though, and “further stay” told Alex that her announcement was hardly going to meet his desired expectations as well.

        “To my regret,” meanwhile continued the princess. “We were unable to find a reliable and safe method to transfer you to your home world… yet, considering your specific features. Nevertheless, we’ll continue investigating the matter, assigning the best minds of royal mages council to that task. For the time being the science team approves your complete socialization among equestrian subjects with limited supervision. They didn’t find any reasons to keep you restrained and suggested simple precautions instead, based on your magical resistance.”

        Alex allowed himself to take a breath. Of course, he was stuck here for an undefined period of time, but at least not in a personal cell, as it seemed; besides, Celestia wasn’t going to give up on his case yet apparently.

        “So, in normal pony language,” Celestia let out a small smile. “You will be returned to Ponyville, where you first came to, and assisted in reasonable ways with settling down for the period, needed to find a way to bring you home… or longer, if circumstances demand,” added she in half tone, but Alex realized, what that meant. “The citizens will be warned to avoid applying magic to you and generally avoid using magic in your proximity, when not necessary. The named supervision is merely a formality, don’t worry, and will be performed by princess Twilight Sparkle.”

        ‘Sounds not bad!’ Alex tried not to fixate on the thought that his stay might become prolonged, shooing away his memory of Celestia, claiming that she had no idea about his lifespan.

        “I suppose, you won’t object, Alex,” the princess added. “That means also that if you have any concerns or requests, you can address Twilight freely, or us directly in the urgent cases.”

        “Thank you kindly, your highness,” Alex answered reservedly, expecting some addition from her.

        A quick glance at Luna showed Alex that she was smiling and his heart happily fluttered: she got his note and evidently forgave him. That alone was worth a couple of arrests.

        Twilight nodded, Alex thought, she was happy to have an ability to study humans further… and the related aspects as well. He was a bit concerned that she wasn’t going to cease her curiosity regarding his relationship with Luna.

        Suddenly a small flash revealed and dropped a scroll in front of princess Celestia. She took it with her magic, unrolled and scanned quickly, frowning more and more with each second. Then she got up and magically dragged a big mirror on a stand from somewhere. Another bolt of magic, directed to the glass, made the mirror look like a pool of quicksilver first, then, to Alex’s amazement, an image appeared instead of the mirror surface. No, a “video”! Alex’s eyes widened at this interpretation of visual communication link, which he witnessed; Luna and Twilight came closer as well.

        The magical vision showed a grove, a field, seen between the trees, some buildings barely visible far away. After a second a unicorn appeared in the “mirror”.

        “Your Highness,” he reported. “My apologies for distracting you from your appointment…”

        “It’s fine,” mercifully nodded Celestia. “I know, you won’t contact without a reason. Please, continue!”

        “As you wish, princess,” the unicorn threw a quick concerned look over his shoulder. “We located another place of Dark Mist concentration at Birch Grove Mill,” he named a place totally unknown to Alex. “In the buildings behind me, you can probably see them from here. Unfortunately, it reached the stage, when we can’t simply dissolve it, before the transformation takes place. We expect a new seeker in a few minutes.”

        Alex decided on everything already. While the mage was telling Celestia other details, he approached Luna and quickly whispered something to her. Twilight perked her ears, watching how Luna leaned to the human and nodded with a strange smile.

        “… could try… and taking down… resistance,” heard Twilight separate words, but the whole sense was still a mystery for her. “… too far… need an anchor. … safe… sleepwalking! I’ll try… …”

        “… please… careful,” Luna nodded once again. “Thou knowest… I’m in, of course.”

        ‘What are those two planning?’ Twilight’s eyes dilated.

        Meanwhile, princess Celestia inquired the mage commander.

        “Do you consider our forces to be enough to take down the monster?” she asked bluntly. “Is my direct intervention necessary?”

        “It’ll take some time, your highness,” said the mage. “But I’m sure, we can cope, with certain precautions, unless the seeker is much stronger, than the last one.”

        “Your Highness!” interfered Alex. “Princess, let me offer my help!”

        “Apologies,” dropped Celestia over her shoulder. “But this is the matter of great importance. Our subjects’ safety depends on… I…” she turned to them, when the sense of his words reached her. “What did you say?..”

        “I suppose I can help, princess,” repeated Alex bluntly. “If you are ready to allow me and accept that help.”

        He looked least joking and Celestia realized that; despite being still on the fence regarding his suggestion she said.

        “Do speak. But as brief, as possible.”

        “Princess, my magical resistance is not a secret,” said Alex. “Backfiring of any hostile magic applied to me – likewise.”

        Celestia nodded.

        “I would like to try dealing with those seekers, if you allow,” Alex squinted meaningfully. “To be honest, I didn’t like, what they did to your subjects. Besides, I’d like to show you, I’m not their… puppet master, as you may still suspect.”

        Small pink spots on her cheeks told Alex that he was right in his assumption and he continued.

        “I suppose these magical creatures won’t “feel nice”, if I make a direct contact with them. Well… Here is my suggestion in brief,” he waited for her decision, while Twilight stood, like hit by the lightning, because of what she heard, and Luna mysteriously smiled.

        “But the distance to the place, they found it at, is too long…” Celestia took thought. “We can’t transfer you magically and you’ve heard him – it is a matter of minutes.”

        “Your Highness, there is a reliable way to get me there,” Alex talked quickly, not giving her time to interrupt him or reconsider. “But I will need your sister’s, princess Luna, help.”

        “She will be safe with the mages and I won’t let the seeker approach,” he added, seeing how Celestia’s eyes dilated.

        “My life for it! No harm will be done to princess Luna!” he added quickly and fervently. “If I fail, they will transfer her here immediately!” Alex looked at Luna sternly, showing, what he meant exactly – “no useless heroism”!

        “I’m going to try!” said Luna in tone, disallowing any objections.

        “All right,” Celestia gave up under doubled pressure. “But the full responsibility is yours, Alex, and I mean it. And if anything happens to my sister…”

        “I know,” said Alex simply. “And I’m taking the full score, if necessary, but I’m confident, it will work.”

        “What’s your crazy plan exactly,” Celestia squinted.

        “It’s longer to explain, than to try,” smirked Alex. “The only thing I need is something to put me to sleep, but not to stun me to a log state.”

        “I know, what can help…” suddenly Twilight regained her voice. They turned to her, while she wasn’t entirely believing that she was suggesting it. “I used that potion, when I needed some sleep after hard and extended studying, but feared to forget, what I learned.”

        Saying no more Twilight teleported with a flash and… after a couple of seconds returned.

        “Here,” she handed the vial to Alex. “That’s not a spell, so I guess it’s fine. One sip only; I don’t know, if it settles well, if you take more.”

        Alex nodded, then turned to Luna.

        “Let’s go. But, please, tell them as agreed – if anything goes wrong, they take you here first of all. Promise!” he demanded.

        “I’ll do, I told thee,” Luna let out a tired sigh.

        “I need to be sure,” said Alex. Both Twilight and Celestia watched them fixedly. “Tell them, it’s your sister’s order,” Alex gathered all his impudence, ignoring Twilight’s gasp. Celestia was apparently too concerned about what they were going to do to pay enough attention to that little liberty of him.

        Luna teleported instead of an answer, Alex gritted his teeth, turning to the mirror.

        They watched, how princess Luna appeared in the field and was telling something to the commander insistently. The mage nodded, then he spread the cloak on the ground and Luna lowered herself on it. A magic beam from the horn put her to sleep almost immediately.

        “What, in the name of…” started Celestia, boiling internally.

        “No time,” dropped Alex. “Watch after us, in case… Damn, there must be no such case!”

        He threw everything useless out of his mind, concentrating on his princess, and took a gulp from the small vial. Apparently, the potion was strong enough, as he stood for a second, then collapsed right on the spot; Twilight could only catch the vial.

        Both Twilight and Celestia looked fixedly at the magical vision, feeling that their eyes becoming wider and wider at the scene, unrolling in front of them.

        The unicorn commander almost backed up, when he saw, how some haze appeared next to sleeping princess Luna and quickly materialized into the human figure. Alex got up and looked around, despite Luna must have told the unicorn, what to expect, the latter was visibly shocked by what he observed.

        “Commander, did you get clear orders from the princess?” Alex towered above him, trying to shake him to action.

        “Yes…” The drill took over fortunately and the meaningfulness returned to the glance of the mage. “Yes, sir!”

        “I insist that you follow that order in letter, commander,” repeated Alex. “If the seeker is not stopped or approaches your position, you must teleport her highness to the castle immediately. Princess Celestia won’t accept our failure!”

        “If we succeed, simply wake her,” added Alex, turning away and heading to the field, visible between the trees.

        He started running, almost not touching the ground, trying to reach the buildings as fast as he could, because he was to leave himself as much time as possible for the actual encounter. Alex didn’t know, how long he could control his sleepwalking, especially if some hard resistance took place. Fortunately, the grove wasn’t too dense and he could easily run through the spinney, hopping over the fallen trunks and startling birds and small animals, who hastily sought to get away from the route of living projectile.

        The last line of the trees was infrequent and he spotted the unicorns, who formed the outer ring of the improvised cordon. He blazed past them, so they could only follow his trail. Hoping that they have some sort of communication and he was not going to get a magic discharge in his back, Alex proceeded.

        “Hey, don’t come too close, if you decide to constrict the ring!!!” he shouted on the run, when he passed the second line of mages in the field; the grass rustled under his feet. Fortunately, he nearly didn’t feel any physical strain in that condition and decided to speed up more, as it was still about a mile to what looked like an old abandoned windmill with a few sheds nearby.

        Alex already saw that it was something unruly about that mill – the whole building was wrapped in some grey veil, separate “cloths” curled around the walls, waving and “flapping”, despite the wind wasn’t very strong. It resembled fabric and simultaneously smoke or mist, if one could imagine some cloth made of them; besides, it looked disgustingly alive with its movement, reminding Alex of a breathing creature. Like a giant twitching octopus, which was going to produce something even more vile and dangerous.

        Alex just approached the first of a few large rocks, protruding from the grass here and there, when the veil suddenly retracted inside the building through the windows and cracks of time worn walls. A distant muffled hum sounded above the field and the next moment… the old mill collapsed inside, crumbling into pieces and producing a high club of dust.

        Alex could see the materialized Seeker inside that grey cloud, despite the fair distance. The pitch black figure, surrounded by the strips of thinner mist, was really huge, perhaps thrice taller than an adult human, and looked exactly like on the drafts, Celestia showed him. It was a headless, armless “centaur” with powerful legs and one red eye, or mouth, or whatever it was, on its torso. The whole body looked like made of the same concentrated Dark Mist, which formed its tail and the strips curling around the body and legs.

        At the same moment Alex realized that he could feel the thing: a lump of hatred, moving hunger and thirst, intention to devour everything light and kind, it could touch – he could point the direction the Seeker was in, even with closed eyes. Alex approached, but a bit slower, trying to examine the seeker better, while it was possible.

        However, the beast spotted Alex as well, or better say, felt his presence, as Alex wasn’t sure, if the thing had any eyesight in the common meaning. The seeker “stared” at him with his dimly red orifice, which started brightening up. Alex didn’t feel anything strange, perhaps the distance was too far… but the short holler from behind told him that the mages definitely felt some discomfort from the Seeker’s presence. He looked over the shoulder, the unicorns were slowly narrowing the inner ring, but nopony was hurt yet.

        Alex went forward, the seeker most likely felt the danger, as it could do nothing with its approaching enemy. Or perhaps the thing could feel that Alex differed from those, it (or its kin) encountered before; Alex was sure that all the seekers were connected in between and to the same, unknown yet, root. So, the monster got out of the ruined building and tried to escape, it looked heavy, if something not entirely material could be deemed heavy, and moved in a tired canter, probably not gaining full potential yet, as it just materialized.

        Alex burst at full speed, cutting the monster escape route; the wind whistled in his ears, as the field smudged in one mottled stripe. In a matter of seconds the seeker “realized” that it had no chance to leave the ring and outrun its pursuer; the monster quickly turned and galloped back to the ruins. It jumped over the remnants of the walls and its hind legs started working with the speed of a machine gun.

        “Fuck it!” exhaled Alex, when debris, planks and fairly big stones flew his way. He needed to get into tactile contact with the seeker to try his hypothesis on practice, but now it suddenly became a very uneasy task. Alex ran to the mill in a broken line, ducking, hiding behind the rocks, where it was possible.

        The bricks and wooden planks showered like the rain, the damned brute seemed tireless. Alex stumbled on something in the grass and got hit by a thick plank in his chest, thankfully the long side, not the tip, but the blow was still very hard. Cringing from the pain Alex dived and rolled under the next piece of wood, probably twice bigger, then hid behind a large rock. He could control objects, but he couldn’t concentrate on that many of them sent flying.

        Things became serious: the seeker ran out of small debris and bigger parts of the building went into play, a long metal rail bumped into the rock, making it boom like a bell and Alex squint from a sudden loud sound. Alex looked out of his hiding place, swiped a thick beam aside in the air and blazed to the next rock, closer to the mill. He dived behind it, right when something very similar to millstone buzzed above and carved sparkles.

        ‘Of course!’ Alex looked back and saw that unicorns came even closer.

        “Hey!!!” shouted he on top of his lungs, addressing them. “Set something on FIRE!!!”

        “Just fucking IGNITE ANYTHING!!!” repeated he, seeing them lingering.

        A single beam of magic pierced into one of the sheds and the flames towered over it, devouring the dry wood. The smell of smoke, brought by the wind, which blew the fire stronger, was like a blessing for Alex, who had some sort of weapon or armour or both at once at last.

        Alex raised his hand with the thumb up and jumped out of his cover. He blazed to the seeker, perhaps, even faster than before, stretching out his hand and dragging stripes of flames from the fire. The flames obedient to his command curled around his body reflecting the smaller “projectiles”, sent by the defending beast. Another batch of flames formed a stripy sphere around the human. Alex set a couple of wooden beams on fire, launching fireballs and taking them down.

        “Do you see that as well, so I’m not daydreaming?” Celestia turned back from the mirror for a tiny moment. “Exactly when we were almost sure, humans can cast no magic… Though I have doubts, it is magic in the usual sense,” the latter sounded more like thinking aloud, than directed to anypony.

        “Errmmm… Princess, I haven’t yet seen somepony being in that condition,” Twilight threw an unconfident glance to Alex’s body on the floor. “He is physically here, yet… I… Do you have any explanation?”

        “Really? You haven’t seen anypony doing likewise,” chuckled Celestia ironically, apparently what she saw exceeded her expectations of a human. “Haven’t Luna ever entered your dreams, Twilight? For me it looks very much alike.”

        He was very close already. Remembering about direct contact Alex decided that he should attack the seeker from above, where it was most vulnerable; besides, the thing hardly could launch the debris up vertically.

        Alex raised in the air slightly. Just in time! A large piece of the crumpled wall approached fast and Alex jumped right on it, running to the other edge, while it was in the air, to keep momentum. The Seeker produced a low roar, which sounded angry (if the creature could have emotions) and at the same time desperate.

        Alex’s eyes dilated – the windmill rotor, launched by the black abomination, came his way, spinning, delivering death to unseeing – he forcefully pushed away from the wall piece and hopped on the rotor, setting it on fire and launching himself higher in the air. The rotor fell behind, plugging into the ground and cracking in two parts, which kept burning. Now Alex was almost above the ruined mill, feeling that he had no time to waste, as he reached the limit of his abilities.

        Far away in Canterlot princess Celestia blinked several times in front of the mirror, providing her the magical vision of the battle ground. Something jangled behind her and Celestia turned back to see Twilight with open mouth and eyes like teacups, who dropped the potion vial, which she caught from the hand of real Alex, when he fell on the floor. The thin squeaking sound was going perhaps from Twilight’s throat.

        Meanwhile, Alex sent a band of flames at the remnants of the wall below, setting it on fire and making the black monster recoil. He floated right above the Seeker and, like somepony turned the switch, the fiery sphere blasted with a loud boom, igniting everything below, which wasn’t yet burning. Alex dashed down, right on the Seeker’s back, piercing it through.

        Ear-splitting howl rolled over the burning mill, the wriggling monster collapsed over the standing human figure, raising a cloud of sparkles and ash in the air, and started convulsing on the ground. Unknown force tore it into pieces and stripes of Dark Mist: some dissolved in the air and flames, some retracted into the center, being absorbed by the human body. In a matter of seconds everything was over.

        “Eat it, soul sucker!” Alex showed a finger to his vanished enemy, dissolving in the smoke with a tired smile.

        “Arrrghhh!” Alex hardened and tried to get up from the floor, he felt like being overrun by a truck. “Someone… somepony, give me a… hoof!”

        Twilight unfroze and handed him her fore leg, Alex got up with her help, rubbing his chest.

        “Damnation!” he muttered. “I can still feel the plank, that bastard sent into me… Apologies, princess!”

        With a bright flash princess Luna appeared in the throne hall, apparently, she felt a bit dizzy from the sleep spell: she shook her head, focusing on everypony present.

        “How are you?” asked Alex, leaning on Twilight still.

        “Could be better forsooth…” a weak smile curled Luna’s lips. “Being the subject of sleep spells is not mine common practice. I missed everything, right?”

        Alex released Twilight’s shoulder and came closer to Luna, cringing.

        “I’ll show you later,” whispered he, smirking. “Ouch! The first time wasn’t performed ideally,” he shuddered, then added even quieter. “I hope you’ll keep visiting me, when I am in Ponyville, my princess… that’s, of course, if I’m not entirely doomed after that little… adventure.”

        “Naturally, I shall!” answered Luna quietly.

        The magical mirror showed unicorn commander again and Celestia was talking to him at the moment.

        “No signs of the Seeker or Dark Mist,” reported the mage. “You highness, in the name of Equestria, what exactly it was?.. What did we just see?”

        “Later, commander,” Celestia shook her head. “Now extinguish the flames and get back to Canterlot.”

        “Already on it, princess,” reported the mage through the fading vision. The mirror dimmed, turning to its usual reflective state.

        “Now!” Celestia turned to them. Alex and Luna stood, trying to keep innocent faces, despite sudden and strange urge to laugh. “I always thought that my dearest sister, princess Luna, was the only one capable of… “dreamwalking” and affecting reality through somepony’s dreams. But it seems that I am wrong. Some explanation could be immensely useful, don’t you both think?”

        “There is not much to explain,” Alex still held on his chest. “We (Celestia blinked) discovered that ability of mine accidentally. As your highness can see, it’s still not magic, as I can’t do similar things, when I’m awake. Besides, I can enter only your sister’s dreams, nopony’s else,” Alex decided not to tell yet that he could sleepwalk on short distances even without outer help.

        “And how long “we” are experimenting, pray tell?” Celestia gritted her teeth, but her tone wasn’t overly threatening. “And, moreover, when did “we” suppose to inform me about that “insignificant” plot of you two?”

        “He is another story, I admit,” Celestia turned to her sister. “But you, Luna… I was least expecting that foalish behaviour of you, dear! What were you thinking about?”

        Alex raised his hand, before Luna could find some snarky reply.

        “Excuse me, princess!” he moved slightly, entering Celestia’s view again and shielding Luna with himself. “That was entirely my responsibility, I was the one who was… “experimenting”; with manipulating objects as well. Besides, princess Luna can’t affect my ability to enter her dreams or block it,” he threw a quick glance over his shoulder.

        Celestia squinted at him mistrustfully.

        “Does that mean that Luna visited your dreams as well? Specifically knowing that magical interaction with you is dangerous?”

        “The first time I noticed “strange things” happening, when I slept, was when I accidentally reached her dreams,” Alex thought that it was only partially a lie, as he was unconscious, when Luna tried to enter his dreams the first time: so, technically, all he said, was true. He noticed, as Luna tried to tell something, but reconsidered, when he voiced his version of the events. “I was simply shocked, perhaps, I was the most shocked one… And, yes, she did. But that was different, your Highness, there was never any drain. I can’t explain: maybe it’s some different magic, or not magic at all, as everypony understand it,” for the first time Alex thought that Luna’s ability indeed resembled pegasi ability to fly, rather than some intended magic – it was inborn, special.

        “What about us all being able to see the trick, you threw? That’s not how Luna’s dreams manipulation works…” Celestia wasn’t easily convinced.

        “I can’t answer your question now, princess,” Alex downcasted. “I don’t know that myself. I’m a different story; I guess, it matters… And when I enter her actual dreams, Luna…”

        Celestia raised one eyebrow.

        “…princess Luna sees it differently. Well… It’s too complicated for my human mind to grasp yet, let alone to explain it. I need to sort everything out myself.”

        “Besides, ‘t was my idea – to try taking down the Seeker,” he repeated meaningfully.

        Celestia closed her eyes, thinking. Fortunately, Alex wasn’t alone this time, confronting her suspicions, he regretted only one thing – he couldn’t lean on Luna’s warm shoulder, Alex still felt fairly exhausted after the fight. A few minutes passed, it seemed an eternity to them, when finally the princess came to a conclusion.

        “Very well, Alex. While the most natural and perhaps reasonable reaction on your today’s shenanigans would be putting you to the dungeon… which we didn’t do for a very long period of time, to be honest,” Celestia spoke strictly, but her eyes were laughing. Luna came closer to Alex and stood shoulder to shoulder with him, Celestia smirked. “But the recent circumstances showed at least that you had no malicious intent and despite glaring impudence and outstanding impulsiveness of your act, I withdraw the punishment with the light heart… mostly.”

        “I will stick to the Royal Word given,” she added, cocking her head and making her illustrious mane flow. “You are returning to Ponyville as suggested. Perhaps the supervision will be a bit more attentive and strict,” the princess made a mischievous face. “Twilight, my dear girl, you are unusually silent today, please, unfreeze and listen to me,” she turned to her apprentice.

        “Ahh… Ummm… I’m sorry princess,” Twilight looked a bit stunned still. “What did you want me to do?”

        “I’m sure Alex won’t object, if you kindly observe his well-being from time to time and inform us as well.”

        Using the moment that Celestia and Twilight were talking, Luna nuzzled his cheek and Alex squeezed her fore leg slightly.

        “Dost thou know, roses aren’t mine favourite flowers?” Luna whispered teasingly into his ear. “But I appreciate the move nevertheless…”

        “Oh, mine regret is endless, mine princess,” Alex facepalmed inwardly at his mistake, but he couldn’t predict it really; he kept the same tone as her. “Let me correct myself, at which hour thou tellest me which are…”

        “That’ll be quite a task to bring them hither,” she breathed out, remembering where they actually grew. “The Star Lilies grow in the pond of the Old Castle garden,” she tried her best not to grab him and kiss, as two witnesses were nearby.

        “Yeah, that would be a problem,” remembered Alex with a sigh. “Considering the rope bridge is now busted… not that I was ever happy to even see it, in the earnest.”

        Celestia threw a quick glance at them at the moment.

        “Now, Twilight, please, check, if the balloon is ready to take you two to Ponyville.”

        “One moment longer, Alex,” Celestia turned to him again and waved her hoof. “For a word, please.”

        Alex approached the princess and Celestia leaned to his ear, making her speech private.

        “First of all, I would like to warn you, Alex the human (he cringed slightly), that while I value the safety and prosperity of my subjects most of all, there is one thing I value even more – the well-being of my sister. Seeing that she is taking part in your destiny scripting and generally finds some interest in your persona, I still hope that you avoid harmful deeds and detrimental decisions towards Luna. While you are near her, you are responsible for her safety at least from your own acts! And if you fail to comply, or, moreover, hurt her intentionally, I’ll ensure that your trip to the Moon is – she made an intended pause – lightning-like. If I am to travel there as well, I won’t deprive myself of an additional pleasure of kicking your… backside, before I return. I extend my expectations of being completely understandable to you! So, is it clear enough?”

        “Celestially!” muttered Alex. The princess chuckled, then continued even quieter, almost touching his ear.

        “And one more thing… I have no real evidence, we both know that… But if you sneak into my room once again… without permission… I suppose I can find a suitable dungeon for you, my dear, as long as the Moon is not an option,” Celestia sported a kind smile.

        Alex kept the silent poker face.

        After a moment he remembered something and raised his eyes at Celestia.

        “Can I place a personal request, your Highness?” he asked quietly. Seeing that Celestia shortly nodded, Alex continued. “About the Seeker’s victim, you’ve told me. I suppose, you plan to bring him to Canterlot to be able to examine better and try to help his condition.”

        “That was the plan exactly,” Celestia confirmed cautiously. “He will be transferred to the same facility, you were lately at.”

        “I guess…” cringed Alex slightly. “Can I have a word… well, at least have a close look at him, when he is here. With all necessary precautions, of course. I mean he could hardly get any worse, but I hope to find out something, which can help us against the Seekers.”

        “I think, I can allow that,” answered Celestia after the second thought. “Won’t hurt I suppose. But you can hardly get something from him – he is completely inert, as I said earlier.”

        “Still I would like to try. Thank you, princess,” bowed Alex. He then turned to Twilight. “Let’s go to that flying menace, your balloon… before I reconsidered and decided to go to Ponyville on foot.”

        *

        The whole trip back to Ponyville on the balloon went in complete silence. Upon boarding Alex noticed the abruptly cut rope at once, a new one was tied next to the stub, but didn’t say anything, keeping his conclusions to himself. He didn’t shake much this time, rightfully deciding to accept the inevitable, and simply sat on the bottom of the basket, trying to fixate on the flight not.

        Twilight was occupied with her own thoughts, occasionally throwing a glance at him with a non-confident smile, but it suited Alex’s own condition – he was thinking about his further life in Ponyville. Something told him, it might drag on for quite a while. Then he remembered about Fluttershy and a smile lightened his face.

        Naturally, nopony was meeting them at the balloon pad at the outskirts of the town. The absolute majority of commoners knew nothing about him and Twilight was to inform Mayor Mare that everypony should be notified about the prohibition of magical impact on the human. Nopony seemed to give much attention yet to the newcomer.

        But when the balloon landed and Alex exited the basket after Twilight, a yellow and pink blaze dashed to them and jumped in his hands. Alex promptly opened them to catch the body, which made him even stagger in surprise. In a second Alex found himself tightly wrapped by all four legs of a warm pegasus girl and surrounded by the cloud of flower-honey fragrant hair. He held her tight and with a small sigh Fluttershy’s lips found his own, joining them in the mutually enthusiastic kiss.

        Twilight coughed, blushing and looking away; she took the liberty of notifying her friend about their arrival, but the result exceeded her wildest expectations.

 

---

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[Alexshy 14,709]

        11. Ponyville

 

        Twilight admitted that she had quite a few things to arrange and headed to Ponyville Town Hall, despite it was obvious, she had several questions and barely held herself not to start “interrogating” Alex on the spot. Evidently, her unusual silence during their balloon flight fruited ripe. Nevertheless, Twilight parted Alex and Fluttershy, saying them a good-bye, with visible regret; Alex was sure, she would shake her answers from him, like Applejack her apples from a tree, well, at least try to, at the closest occasion possible.

        As there was only one road here and Twilight went in the direction they practically flew from, Alex wanted to walk in the one, Fluttershy obviously came from – opposite the town; Fluttershy blushed and released him, soaring in the air and then landing next to him. Riding home in his arms was still a little bit much for her, besides, random ponies could be met during the short walk. She trotted along, as Alex tried to conform to her speed not to make her run, and the rest of the way they simply talked about random things, weather, recent events in the town: mostly Fluttershy told him about what he missed during the month spent in the “medical” facility.

        Alex tried not to show the consequences of the seeker encounter, besides, his chest almost ached no more, only some stiffness in movements remained. But Fluttershy noticed him being slightly beaten up anyway; perhaps she didn’t want to ask him here, but rather in a more private and comfortable atmosphere. Alex thought about what and how he could tell Shy, without making her excessively concerned about himself; he was absolutely sure that certain details would.

        Anywhere they passed by, Alex saw and felt the signs of summer taking over: the leaves on the trees and shrubs became bigger and darker, the fields changed their colour slightly, even more of the insects appeared. The birds though became less hearable, but that was natural: now with nests being built, they needed to address their growing families more than their songs. The windflaw suddenly brought the strong scent of honey from the west and remembering Ponyville surroundings Alex realized that Applejack’s apiary must have been running nicely as well.

        The stream, the bridge, Alex saw the few smaller trees hung with birdhouses already; when some fish splashed in the stream, they crossed the bridge at that moment. His stomach replied to that splash with quiet plaintive squeaking, which Alex tried to ignore and hide with a prick from his conscience: the fish in this stream, like any living creature in a certain radius (except snakes), were good friends of Fluttershy.

        When they reached the fence and were ready to enter the cottage’s yard, Alex looked back and spotted somepony, some pink pony, who hopped after them through the fields like a fluffy ball.

        “Shy, I think it’s Pinkie,” Alex touched Fluttershy’s shoulder lightly, attracting her attention – she was opening the gate at the moment, quietly humming something tender. “It seems the quiet time is over,” he chuckled.

        Fluttershy stretched her neck and looked, where he pointed. Her expression became ambiguous: on the one hand, she was always happy to see her friends, on the other hand, she evidently knew what Pinkie wanted and wasn’t sure, if it was the right time and place.

        “Yeah, it’s Pinkie,” sighed Fluttershy. “And I think, I know, what she is going to tell…”

        ‘Well, at least that’s not Rarity!’ thought Alex. ‘If I saw Rarity, hopping like that after me, I’d have looked for a helmet, vest and a nicely locking basement with food and water reserve,’ but he said instead. “Let’s find out, maybe it’s not that awful…”

        “Oh, no, it’s not awful at all,” said Fluttershy with a strange smile. “But… W-well, you know Pinkie… You’ll see…”

        “Hey-hey!” there was a good twenty yards between them, but Pinkie covered them in a few hops; Alex shuddered. “Finally! Here is our human! Hi, Flutters; hi, Alex. How was the flight?” she asked with a sly smile.

        Alex raised one eyebrow at “our human”, but returned the favour answering Pinkies question.

        “Hi, Pinkie. Not bad! At the very least calmer, than one of the previous on that balloon,” he looked fixedly on her.

        Both! girls’ noses and cheeks became pinkish (on Pinkie it looked reddish rather) and they embarrassedly downcasted. Alex started to realize the line-up of the night visitors, who startled the castle guards about a week ago.

        ‘But, Fluttershy!.. I can’t believe. I wonder, what they heard and saw, or what Twi told them, as she most likely found out as much as she could. Merlin’s pants!’

        “Cough… Well,” continued Pinkie after a delicate pause. “I’ve met Twilight and she told me about the reunion…”

        Before returning to natural colour Fluttershy’s cheeks flamed up again. “Squee!..”

        “So I asked her, if we could finally return to our plan,” Pinkie pretended that she noticed nothing. “Okay, okay, MY plan,” corrected she under the fixed glance of her friend. “Actually she agreed with quite a look and a heavy sigh, but…”

        ‘I’m dying to find out why…’ sarcastically thought Fluttershy.

        “…but we finally can throw our long awaited “Welcome to Ponyville, Human!” party,” nailed Pinkie with a victorious look. “Although, not that grand, as I expected, and with the limited number of invited guests.”

        Alex facepalmed, but quickly pretended that he thought deeply, leaning on the fence.

        “Practically that means us all, except Rainbow most likely,” she added in half tone, then continued more brightly. “The fillies then, they haven’t yet met you in person, Alex.”

        “Oh, I hope you don’t mind, Fluttershy,” remembered Pinkie finally. “Hope, you both don’t mind,” ended she, smiling widely again.

        “I-I don’t know…” Fluttershy timidly looked back at her house. “I m-mean, of course, my little friends… can cope with that for a while. Just not too noisy, okay?” she quickly added.

        “Let’s come through that now,” Alex leaned to Fluttershy and whispered in her ear. “Once… and while it’s not overboard; besides, it could be fun, if we keep it under control. If you don’t mind, of course…”

        “We could gather outside, no big deal!” added Pinkie, flattening ears and making puppy eyes.

        “Okay, okay,” Fluttershy finally gave up. “But no “party cannon”, Pinkie, and I mean it. I don’t need some of the animals to have a heart attack.”

        “Boo!” pouted Pinkie, but it was an obvious play as her eyes shone in anticipation.

        “I have no objections about no “party… cannon?!”,” Alex raised both hands. “I can surely have a look at it any time later. But isn’t it a bit early indeed? I mean, if we make much ado of it, somepony may become interested…”

        “That’s exactly what Twilight is dealing with now,” waved Pinkie. “She was going to visit Mayor Mare to ensure that everypony would be notified, that using magic on you is prohibited. I suppose, everypony will know that till tomorrow’s evening anyway.”

        “Well, I have lots of things to prepare,” she jumped on the spot enthusiastically. “Won’t disturb you more, pals. Have a nice evening!”

        And with a wink and meaningful smile Pinkie Pie turned and hopped back to Ponyville, Alex and Fluttershy exchanged glances and shrugged.

        “At least that will keep her busy for a while,” muttered Alex approaching the front door. “And we may extend our hope for not facing more of the sudden ideas. After you, dear…” he stepped aside, opening the door.

        “I wouldn’t be so confident about that,” Fluttershy threw a quick glance on him from under the long eyelashes. “Thanks!” she entered the house, Alex followed.

        The majority of small animals and birds whisked to their nests, startled by the newcomer; they have forgotten him most likely as he didn’t spend much time with them. Although, the familiar squirrel recognized him and hopped on his shoulder. She sniffed his ear, which made Alex giggle from ticklish feel, and then quickly examined his few pockets, climbing on him like on a tree. When she found nothing, she ran away, but returned shortly and to his surprise Alex found a chestnut on his palm, where he held her.

        “Thanks, little one!” chuckled Alex, scratching the squirrel behind the ear.

        Angel, who hopped from somewhere, shared the usual fist bump and quickly made an innocent look, tapping his hind paw and almost whistling, when Alex glanced on the small pinholes on the inner side of the front door.

        Alex took off his boots and “flew” up the stairs to leave the bag in the bedroom; when he returned, he suddenly felt that his energy reserve for today was almost drained. Fluttershy was in the kitchen already, fluttering between the sink and the stove, humming something again; the delicious scent of fried mushrooms and something, Alex couldn’t recognize, filled the air. Despite all his protests, she made him sit and Alex leaned heavily on the table, finally feeling that the fight didn’t come unnoticed by his body – he was at the very start of the road yet.

        ‘Road? Which road, pray tell…’ thought Alex tiredly, feeling that his eyes were almost closing, then opening, then closing again…

        He was in his room in Canterlot castle, or better say, the “medical” facility; sitting at the table with the book in his hands Alex watched the setting sun in the small barred window. He threw a quick glance at the wall clock – supper time. At least there were no damned tests that day, that only made it quite nice already.

        The hoofsteps behind the door notified him of the approaching nurse. But why he was hearing them like they were close, almost next to him? Alex looked back, no, the door is still closed. The delicious smell of homemade food reached his nostrils, something resembling mushrooms with unknown sauce.

        ‘What? Here, in the facility? Homemade food?’ Alex cringed at the thought that those wicked experiments affected his brain the undesired way. He must be totally seeing, hearing and smelling things.

        ‘Congratulations, weirdo!’ smirked Alex inwardly. ‘You’re not only a sleepwalker now, but full-time hay head buck.’

        Somepony put the tray in front of him, the smell made Alex’s head spin and mouth water.

        “Alex, dear, what’s wrong?!” “Ginger” leaned to him looking into his eyes from a couple of inches distance…

        Alex twitched and… opened his eyes, finding himself in Fluttershy’s kitchen, sitting at the table. A plate with delicious homemade food was indeed under his nose, spreading steam and aroma, which made him feel the hunger twice stronger.

        “Alex, what’s up with you? You’re scaring me…” repeated Fluttershy, leaning to him and looking at his face with concern.

        Alex shook his head and focused his eyesight on her incredible turquoise eyes.

        “Ah’m… cough… I’m okay, Shy, don’t worry…” he touched her cheek gently and Fluttershy snuggled to his hand. “I’m just a bit tired from all.. the stuff. And… I’m… I was there again, in Canterlot castle… when I closed my eyes.”

        “Sorry, if I scared you, sweetheart.”

        Alex leaned forward and covered her lips with his own, feeling that Fluttershy eagerly answers, much more enthusiastically, than when they parted the month ago. They could stay that way for quite a while, but Fluttershy said that the dish was better while hot and returned to her plate with a bit pinkish nose. She was smiling though, throwing quick glances at him out of the tail of her eye.

        With each piece of food Alex felt that the fatigue gives up its positions. Not entirely, just backing up, promising to return, when he lessens his defense, for example tonight, but he already felt himself a living person, not a puddle of a sleepy human.

        At the table Alex told Fluttershy briefly about his mishaps in Canterlot, not darkening the colours obviously – he knew from Twilight already that Fluttershy had a general idea about the nature of the experiments, being held there, and being run on Alex specifically. There was no need in giving her even more ground for anxiety. Obviously, he didn’t mention his sleepwalking yet, just like his fight with the seeker. There were too many unknowns, even for him; too early for sharing the few thoughts with those, who were already more than concerned about his well-being. Nevertheless, he caused a few excited and a few terrified exclamations from Fluttershy and inwardly praised himself for providently not telling her more.

        Alex mentioned casually the invaluable help of princess Luna and her general compassion to his problem; he managed to catch the spear glance, Fluttershy threw at him from under eyelashes. She didn’t say anything though, except vague and simultaneously meaningful “Hmmm…”

        He didn’t allow her clear the table on her own though and, after they quickly washed the dishes, suggested to get outside, as the lack of the fresh air was perhaps his second main problem of the last several weeks.

        “I planned to check the animals,” said Fluttershy. “So you can join me, i-if you’re not too tired for that.”

        “Naturally, I will!” Alex brightened up at the opportunity to distract himself from sad memories. “I hope, I won’t startle any of them… much,” he added not entirely confidently.

        “Don’t worry – you’re with me!” Fluttershy cocked her head, proudly raising her nose in a joking manner, Alex couldn’t help but smile.

        He was completely astonished by the quantity and variety of the animals and birds, Fluttershy had on her back yard. Truth to be told, he had no time or chance to estimate her household before, as he managed to get out of the house once only. And even that one time he was busy enjoying the mere fact he was in the open, then, later – the company of princess Luna. The actual yard appeared to be much bigger, than Alex suspected and saw in the… show. Now Alex cringed each time, when he remembered the show, so weird it seemed: this was the reality, objective, hearable, palpable; his previous life seemed more like a “show” from time to time. Alex shook his head, trying to drive away that scary thought.

        There were mostly relatively small and timid animals and birds, but Alex knew that even completely wild (in general sense) ones, like foxes and badgers, came to Fluttershy from the woods, when they needed help. The most amazing thing was: nobody touched or hunted smaller or weaker ones here, even if natural laws supposed otherwise. This could be explained only by Fluttershy being really able to communicate with each and every of her animal friends. The final confirmation was a bear, which stomped heavily, passing by, and waved to them with his fore paw. Fluttershy nodded in response and Alex realized that it was Harry.

        Alex couldn’t help but instinctively watched the bear from the corner of his eye, till the latter disappeared behind the trees on the edge of Everfree. Most likely that was exactly the case, as Fluttershy once mentioned, when Harry went hunting. She only shrugged lightly, so Alex realized, that she merely accepted that, as the inevitable “evil”, as some animals couldn’t be complete vegetarians; not wanting to know the details simply and knowing for sure that Harry wouldn’t touch any of those, he knew. Alex thought that the bear went to the river for a fish or two most likely. There were also snakes, whom nopony would mourn about much; Alex knew at the very least one exact alicorn, who would be happy, if the snake population in the nearby forest became smaller. He decided firmly to join Harry someday, as he felt himself exactly that “animal”, which couldn’t be complete vegetarian all the time. That was, of course, not for the fluffy ears of the surrounding ponies… but snakes, if cooked properly, were fine enough.

        It took them about an hour to attend all those, who needed that, despite Alex helped, where it was possible. He noticed that the absolute majority of animals didn’t run away from him, even if squinted first suspiciously; the mere fact that he was with their friend Fluttershy made him non-dangerous in their eyes.

        ‘Fortunately, they never saw an average human from my world!’ thought Alex, being inwardly ashamed for the behaviour of quite a big part of his kin.

        Finally, they finished and sat under the familiar to Alex big tree, relaxing and watching the sun, which slowly drowned behind Everfree. Alex leaned on the tree trunk and Fluttershy put her head on his shoulder, snuggling to him. He hugged her, gently stroking her shoulder and burying his face in her splendid hair, inhaling the smell of the flowers and honey and listening to her quiet breath. When he started scratching behind her ear, she rubbed against his cheek like a big cat, causing him to chuckle.

        “What? That feels so nice,” cooed Fluttershy, turning to face him.

        “I know, that is why I’m doing it,” said Alex, feeling himself being dragged into the bottomless depth of her big eyes. He slightly booped her nose with his own, but that didn’t distract her a iota and in a second their lips melt into each other’s again, while her fore legs wrapped around his neck.

        Alex had no idea, how long they spent under that tree: when they headed home, the sky got almost completely dark and the first stars appeared. Fluttershy trotted lightly, there was something dancing in her gait; Alex watched her and felt that… he was doomed – there was no chance for him to choose. He inwardly facepalmed. And if he tried to imagine both girls together, side by side, it was even harder. Then sudden realization that he was pondering, almost choosing the… marefriend! hit him as a 200 pounds mallet, making him facepalm once more.

        ‘I’m thinking, as if it is 100% defined that I’m staying here for good…’

        The next surprise awaited him in the bathroom, when Alex got to the first floor, while Fluttershy lingered downstairs for some reason. Alex turned on and adjusted the water, got rid of his clothes, throwing them into the laundry bin, and stepped into the tub. When he took the shower head and switched the flow to it, turning to the wall to place it on the holder, he noticed another holder, attached to the wall almost twice higher than the lower one, so it fitted his height. A heartily smile curled his lips, when he put the shower head on that holder and stepped under the water streams, feeling like warm flow takes away all daily problems with dust. Of course, it was a temporary, but simply amazing feeling.

        Alex just managed to wash his head and rinse the foam off, when he heard the quiet sound of the opening door; in a few seconds he felt a warm touch of the coat on his back and two gentle hooves wrapping around him slightly below the chest level. An average pony was about his chest to shoulder high, when raising on their hind legs, so, the small hot kiss was placed somewhere between his shoulder blades. Alex slowly turned in that embrace and was met by the determined look of deep turquoise eyes. He took Fluttershy in his hands, lifting her and giving her the ability to wrap all the four legs around him. Now her face was a bit higher than his own and her fore legs wrapped around his neck. Fluttershy’s cheeks were pinkish, but something told Alex, that wasn’t the colour of embarrassment that time, when she leaned to him and kissed with a thirst of a traveler, who covered a few dozens of miles in the desert without water.

        Alex stepped from under the shower slightly and turned to be able to lean on the wall. Supporting her with one hand he stroked the margins of her wings very lightly. The result was instant and avalanche-like: with a loud flap the wings went fully spread, almost knocking down the shower curtain with the beam, they looked suddenly large in the small room and felt amazingly strong, when Fluttershy snuggled into him even tighter, pressing him into the bathroom wall. Alex kissed her neck and felt that the sigh went seemingly from the very deep of her self. When Fluttershy waved her head, a thick braid fell on his shoulders, telling him, what made her linger downstairs…

        *

        Next morning greeted Alex with a few early sun rays, which danced on his nose and made him shield his eyes with the hand, waking up slowly. He accurately slid from under Fluttershy’s hoof, which rested on his chest, put her head on the pillow and kissed her on the nose. Fluttershy muttered something through her sleep, when Alex untangled from the sheet, they were covered with, and got up. He watched her with a smile: she grabbed the pillow, which he was resting on, and snuggled into it, her sumptuous mane got unbraided and, along with her tail, covered nearly half of the bed.

        Adjusting the curtains, so the sun didn’t hit Fluttershy in the eyes, Alex thought about the oncoming day: Mayor Mare hardly informed everypony yet, so the visit to the town and possible job search were the tasks for tomorrow likely. Then he remembered about Pinkie and her plans for the evening and inwardly braced himself.

        ‘Well, that’s inevitable! And knowing Pinkie, it’s better to be done that way, than involving half of Ponyville,’ Alex firmly decided that anything Pinkie could plan was better to be performed outside – the less work for Fluttershy and him bringing the house to order after. Especially if the fillies were expected; he knew already (Fluttershy told) that they were like a small, but very meticulously overwhelming hurricane sometimes, when brought together.

        Alex quietly took a shower, dressed up and headed downstairs, followed by Angel bunny, who stopped pretending that he was sleeping in the living room armchair, when the signs of upcoming breakfast appeared. Deciding on milk and cereals for himself and a big carrot for Angel Alex made coffee, inwardly smiling about Fluttershy still sleeping tight, despite she was usually an early lark. This time he managed to find a pencil as well as a sheet of paper, so any fire tricks were unnecessary.

        “Good morning, sleepy filly! I’m outside. I hope, the coffee is still warm, when you find it…”

        The note was placed on the table next to the coffee pot, which Alex covered with a thick towel to keep hot. Alex went outside, deeply inhaling the fresh morning air and trying to remember, where Fluttershy kept all the stuff for her little friends. The bunny preferred to stay at the house, than wandering around that early, and curled in the armchair again, nesting with all the possible comfort.

        It took Alex some time to find and sort things out and he was already feeding the chickens, when he heard a series of bumps and sounds of very scurrying somepony, galloping downstairs. The hoofsteps entered the kitchen and stopped, after a few moments of silence a quiet melodious giggle reached Alex’s ears through the open kitchen window, then it opened wider and Fluttershy appeared in full glory of her bed head.

        “Good morning, restless… colt!” Fluttershy blushed at her spontaneous joke, while Alex praised the look, she was so homely beautiful at that moment. “I’ve almost lost you… well… you know…”

        “I’ve heard, Shy!” Alex laughed, startling the chickens and making them resentfully cluck, running around his legs. “Next time, please, be careful, running downstairs, while you’re not fully awake…”

        “Oh, that’s…” Fluttershy’s nose became even more pinkish. “I’m fine. I’ve just opened a few doors too harshly… Anyway, what are you doing there?”

        “I decided that your little companions shouldn’t suffer from us getting up later, regardless to the reason,” Alex continued filling the bird feeders. “So am doing, what I can. But the good part of treatment is still yours, Shy, as I have no idea what to do and not every animal here trusts me enough.”

        “Bear with me for a few minutes more,” Fluttershy rubbed her eyes. “I’ll join you soon. Can’t believe, I overslept.”

        “Well, there was a reason,” smirked Alex and Fluttershy waved her hoof at him, feeling that her cheeks start flaming again and backing up to the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of coffee and took something else for her simple breakfast and after a short while Alex heard her heading back upstairs. In a few minutes more Fluttershy with slightly damp mane joined him outside, explaining and showing, what she usually did for her animals.

        ‘Truly the Element of Kindness embodied,’ thought Alex quietly feasting his eyes on her, bustling around them. ‘Her vocation is to sympathize, help and… well, love.’

        He caught a moment, when she stopped for a while, to kneel and hug her. Alex wanted to say something, but realized the words were excessive, when she snuggled to him and he looked in Fluttershy’s eyes.

        “That was… quite an experience!” she whispered into his ear, kissing behind it. “I-I wouldn’t m-mind to repeat… if I’m alive enough after all the boom, Pinkie is going to arrange… if you are okay with that.”

        *

        When the regular morning inspection was over, Fluttershy decided to go to Ponyville: they were running short of some food and household stuff. Alex was going to join her, but she managed to convince him to wait for a day more at least, until Twilight could confirm that everypony is informed and no magical incident can occur. Remembering the first Lyra’s reaction Alex was to agree with Fluttershy and simply asked her to check the general store for some filler and suitable paint – looking at the pinholes at the front door every day already got him. Besides, that would be an ideal way to occupy himself before Pinkie’s party (Alex still didn’t feel much urge to celebrate, so it was more for her than for him indeed); besides, light smell of paint would convince everypony to stay outdoors and that was a nice change, as Alex had enough of four walls for the next few months perhaps.

        While Fluttershy was in Ponyville, a sudden idea caught Alex and made him sit and dive into deep thoughts. When his future was undefined, that problem seemed distant and insignificant; to tell the truth, he never actually thought about that being a problem before. Now, when he more or less was defined as a Ponyville resident (regardless for how long) and considering he was firm about not being a constant “guest”, which meant getting a job first, this issue raised before him and unambiguously claimed about itself. His “citizenship” and legal status! Being the only at the moment, as far as he knew, human in Equestria, he practically had neither the former, nor the latter; both de jure and de facto. Any employer would like the workers to have both, so it was a large problem anyway.

        While anypony (any actual pony) here could get some job, especially when the employer was in dire need of free hooves, even without paperwork, Alex was a totally different story. For example, seasonal work at the field or garden or heavy lifting needed the employer to know you and where to find you mostly, without excessive bureaucracy – if you were a pony! But Alex, as he forcedly admitted to himself, still was Celestia-knows-who for the absolute majority of the locals, so could hardly get any job without some sort of his legal status definition.

        Despite all that, he decided firmly to try to negotiate for at least something, not later than next day, because addressing Celestia right at that moment didn’t look like a good idea to him: she had enough of him after the last two days most likely. Alex imagined how his attempts to find a job would look like, he didn’t know if to laugh at the obviously hilarious image of an “alien for hire” or grit his teeth at futility of that attempt. Perhaps Applejack could help for the start, but Alex knew that she was on the fence regarding him and listening to Rainbow, how the human couldn’t be trusted, hardly was going to be entirely welcoming.

        Thus he forced himself to pretend everything was normal, when Fluttershy returned: it was entirely his problem and he was going to solve it himself, even if that demanded for disturbing Celestia again. Fluttershy brought, what he asked for, so, Alex shooed all the unhappy thoughts away for a while and focused on the front door. Angel poked his nose closer, when Alex was filling the holes, perhaps with a faint shadow of remorse on his muzzle, but when Alex opened the paint can, Angel snorted and whisked in the garden. The smell was strong indeed, they were even forced to have their lunch in the yard, where Alex tried his best to clean the lungs, leaning to Fluttershy and snuggling into her mane. Nevertheless, when he finished painting the door with the second layer a few hours after the first pass, Alex felt a bit dizzy and hoped that completely open door would dry mostly till night, so a few open windows were enough to feel that smell in the bedroom not.

        The sun was slowly approaching the western edge of the sky and they started preparing for the upcoming party. Fluttershy said that it would look like a picnic with a bit of celebrating feel to it most likely. At least she hoped that Pinkie wouldn’t throw some crazy trick, besides, the “Party Canon” was banned this time. Alex was already interested, what it was, but agreed that refusing it was a nice idea, if they didn’t want to attract half of Ponyville attention. So, they took a few plaids and a gramophone outside and chose a suitable place in the garden.

        Alex was totally amazed by that old piece of art the gramophone was. Of course, he expected something like that to be used as a music playing device in the world where steam engines were still dominating, but the mere fact that he saw one as a child at granny’s house made him treat that vinyl player like a rarity.

        “Just wait and you’ll see a totally different side of Twilight Sparkle,” giggled Fluttershy, nodding at the gramophone. “If she likes the music and decides to dance.”

        “I supposed, you all liked to dance,” smirked Alex. “Or…”

        “Oh, we do,” Fluttershy still smiled mysteriously. “But believe me it’s a totally different story, when she’s at her best.”

        “Dance, like nobody… umm… nopony is looking,” muttered Alex. “It’s been quite a while since I did.”

        “What, honey?” asked Fluttershy, putting the picnic basket on the grass; Alex had no idea, what she cooked, but it smelled delicious.

        “I said, I haven’t danced for quite a while,” Alex tried to take a peek into the basket, but was gently stopped by a small hoof.

        “A-ha! Just have patience.”

        “By the way, would you like to learn some human dance moves?” Alex kneeled to Fluttershy and grabbed her into a hug.

        “Perhaps,” she giggled, kissing him in the nose. “Teach Twi as well, that won’t hurt.”

        A bright flash and a loud clap and Twilight appeared personally, but not alone: she teleported a few baskets and a big cardboard box with her.

        “Good afternoon, pals,” greeted Twilight, then took a look on the sky. “Or should I say “Good evening” already?”

        “We just talked about you,” Fluttershy puffed a few strands of pink hair from her eyes, while Alex inwardly noted that she didn’t jump on the spot, when Twilight teleported this time. They were still keeping their embrace.

        “Really?” smirked Twilight. “It looks like you both were more busy with each other…”

        “Ahem… And what’s the stuff?” Alex nodded towards baskets, changing the topic, while Fluttershy hid her becoming pinkish nose on his chest.

        “This? Oh, I’m helping Pinkie to deliver, what she can’t take on her own,” with a bright smile Twilight pointed on the cardboard box. “That’s a cake, for example, others are something special of her making as well, I suppose.”

        “Looks serious,” Alex didn’t know how many of them will be on the party, but he already had certain doubts about them being able to consume all these. “Are you sure, she is not inviting more than we know?”

        “Don’t worry,” waved Twilight. “That’s Pinkie, she will help us with all those. Sometimes I wonder, how she can combine all this with being fit…”

        “Did you guys decide to run it outside,” Twilight looked around. “Well, there was no rain in prognosis at least.”

        “It’s easier to fit everypony’s habits that way,” shrugged Fluttershy. “You know, the fillies like to run around and make a mess anyway.”

        “Besides, it smells of paint a bit inside,” mentioned Alex. “We had some repairs and painting today.”

        “Oh, yeah. The front door and the holes…” guessed Twilight, making Alex blush.

        “Alex, I forgot the records,” remembered Fluttershy, facehoofing. “Can you, please, bring them as well? Check the second shelf of the bookcase in the living room.”

        “Hmm… We have music tonight…” Twilight stomped from hoof to hoof and Alex smirked, heading to the door; the show promised by Fluttershy was granted evidently.

        “So who’s coming exactly?” asked Fluttershy, when Twilight nested on the plaid, they placed on the grass. “I had no time to ask Pinkie, as she was flying like a hurricane.”

        “Thankfully, not many,” waved Twilight. “I noticed that Alex was still undecided about big herds… just like you Flutters,” she stuck out her tongue jokingly. “So, except me and Pinkie, there will be Rarity and fillies, and Spike… and that’s all I guess.”

        “Then why Spike is not with you?” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “He’ll get late, if walks here on his own.”

        “You know Spike,” huffed Twilight. “There is a special occasion and Rarity is coming… What do you think he is doing? He asked for a half of an hour more, as he is undecided about what to wear.”

        Both girls giggled, then Twilight added.

        “I will pick him up in…” she looked at the Sun. “In about twenty minutes. If he is ready… and if not, it’ll be his problem.”

        “I’m glad that Lyra is not coming tonight,” added Twilight, looking at the road to Ponyville. “I have nothing against her, but in that case “Welcome to Ponyville, Alex” party would quickly turn into “Q&A with Alex” or even “Interrogate Alex” evening instead.”

        “Oh, noes…” gasped Fluttershy. “That’s the last thing, we need right now, after…” she stumbled, but no explanation was necessary.

        “Exactly,” continued Twilight, then she remembered something and chuckled. “And with her usual remarks about “fifteen times longer” and so on… What? Fluttershy?!”

        Twilight looked fixedly at her friend, who became red as a carrot meanwhile, and…

        *Giggle-snort*

        “Fluttershy? So you… both… errmmm…” Twilight made big round eyes, stifling that outburst. “So is that true? I always thought, it was some weird mistake, despite it was stated as a scientific fact…” she talked quickly, as usual, when she was eager to find out something new, sometimes completely ignoring the delicate details.

        “Tell anypony and I’ll Stare you, Twi,” Fluttershy glanced at her from under the long eyelashes. “Especially Rarity!” she added in a second.

        “Oh… I… I guess the answers are all “yes” then,” smirked Twilight, her eyes were still a bit dilated. “Well… Congratulations! Errmmm…”

        “Twilight!”

        “Okay, okay! You know me, won’t tell,” Twilight still smiled slightly, then added. “Pinkie Promise.”

        “Here they are. Took me a little longer, as I had no idea that the “second shelf” meant “the second from the top” actually… and why are the books upside down?” Alex returned with the records and looked at the girls in surprise, handing them to Fluttershy. She was a fair bit pink still and Twilight stared at him with a strange expression. “What? What are you girls up to…”

        “That looks like one of the jokes, Discord could play,” said Fluttershy, gladly changing the topic; Alex squinted at Twilight once again, so she unfroze and looked away in embarrassment. “Sometimes that’s stronger than him, I guess – he must have turned it upside down. The bookcase is symmetric, so nopony noticed, until you started looking for the records.”

        “Hmpf,” Alex shrugged, thinking that Discord was even stranger, than he considered him to be initially. That was more harmless, than being poured some water on, anyway.

        “Hey, look!” he straightened, observing the road from under the hand, the Sun was low, shining into his eyes from aside. “Somepony is coming, must be the rest of the company…”

        “Oh, if you excuse me…” Twilight raised on her legs. “Just a second, I’ll bring Spike… whatever stage of preparations he is at,” she added with a devilish smile.

        Alex still looked at the road: he spotted two pony figures, one was hopping the familiar way and he could be sure that was Pinkie Pie, even if the Sun didn’t let him see the colours exactly. Another one, pacing proudly and graciously, must be nopony else, but Rarity; Alex inwardly grasped himself, getting ready for… for anything. And he could spot somepony, who ran in circles around the girls, making them move slower, than they could, and almost blurring in a colourful stripe… or, better say, three stripes, as Alex concluded, when looked more fixedly.

        ‘The fillies,’ guessed Alex. ‘Those, whom I heard about, but never saw in person yet.’

        Twilight vanished in the flash of magical light and in a second or two appeared again with a… small pink dragon with green spikes, who sported an elegant black bow-tie. That was seemingly everything Spike – and it was exactly him – had time to choose, or the only thing he considered fitting the occasion (seeing Rarity obviously, not the party itself, as Alex concluded).

        “Woah!” exclaimed Spike, jumping down from Twilight’s back. “He is even bigger than I thought… Errr… I mean, hi!” he waved his paw.

        “Woah!” mimicked Alex. “A real dragon! A real talking dragon! Merlin’s pants… I mean, hi!” with a smile he handed Spike his palm for a handshake, but then, seeing as Spike looks puzzled, Alex remembered that Spike spent all his conscious life with ponies. So he changed the palm to a fist, that came through better and they shared a fist bump, slightly softer variant of hoofbump, ponies got used to.

        “It seems I’ve heard exactly those words from somepony else once,” smirked Spike. “Was it you, Fluttershy?”

        “Perhaps,” nodded Fluttershy, then she started opening the basket. “Come on, mates, give me a hoof. The girls are coming. From you, Alex, a helping hand is expected,” she nudged him lightly.

        Spike looked at Twilight, she just shrugged, making a face, like saying: ‘Yeah, as you see!’

        They just managed to unpack the food, Alex wondered once more about the quantity of sweet stuff Pinkie provided, when the girls and fillies approached the gate.

        “Hey, fillies and gentlecolts,” Pinkie greeted them all with a wide grin. “Good evening. Here we are and we won’t let you become bored,” she glanced at three fillies meaningfully. “And here is our lucky… man!” and Alex couldn’t say a word before he became enclosed in a bear hug. “Good to see you… finally free.”

        “Thanks, Pinkie!” breathed out Alex, rubbing his ribs, this pony had quite a grip. “I’m glad to see you, too.”

        “Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash couldn’t come, she was training, again,” Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Something to impress the Wonderbolts. But I’m sure, she joins us mentally,” she didn’t let the uneasy pause hang too obviously. “And Applejack is overly busy with some work in the garden, she told me, but I didn’t understand much from the specific terms…”

        ‘Or she is still undecided, if I’m an awful threat, a carnivorous alien or something of that kind…’ sadly thought Alex, but the next phrase told him that he might be dramatizing things a bit.

        “But she sent a few bottles of finest apple cider, apologizing she couldn’t come and wishing you to finally settle in Ponyville and find your place,” Pinkie shook her saddle bag a tiny bit, making it produce an unambiguous sound.

        Alex thought that it was a nice sign of Applejack, if being not entirely on his side, not thinking of him as a dangerous extraequestrian creature at least.

        Rarity raised on her hind legs to hug him as well, but she did it lightly and extremely graciously, batting her long eyelashes and looking into his eyes. Alex couldn’t help but compare her mentally with a big kitten, involuntarily leaning closer and getting a warm kiss on the cheek. He noticed with the corner of his eye, how Spike frowned slightly at that scene.

        ‘Great,’ thought Alex. ‘The little guy seems to have a crush on Rarity. Perhaps, I could explain to him that I’m not going for THAT competition,’ Alex suddenly had an idea, which could help him cool down Rarity, as he hoped.

        “Good evening, Ahhlex, darling!” almost purred Rarity, releasing him and ogling once again. Her tone didn’t leave room for any doubts about her future plans regarding his humble persona.

        “Evening, Rarity,” Alex tried to stay cool and composed; Fluttershy smiled, that was obviously the case, when she was completely confident. Alex imagined her modeling for Rarity and his heart fluttered.

        “Hi, girls!” he turned to the fillies, who, perhaps the first time for the day, sat still on the grass, completely stunned. “So, you’re obviously Sweetie Belle,” he nodded to unicorn filly. “You’re must be of Apples family, judging by your coat and freckles,” Alex winked to red-haired one. “That tells us that you are Scootaloo,” with a cheerful smile he turned to the most confident among them, pegasus filly with shortly cut, unruly mane. “Nice to meet you all in person, sorry, in pony.”

        “H-hi, Alex,” said all three girls at once, with slightly unconfident smiles, he was still an unknown figure for them. Scootaloo added.

        “You look bigger than on the sketches…” she gasped and her nose quickly began to get pink.

        “Sketches?” Alex raised one brow, all three fillies looked at each other and Alex turned to Rarity and other girls. “What sketches?..”

        “Oh, just the stitching and modeling sketches, I did for your clothes, darling,” quickly replied Rarity, but her obvious embarrassment and pinkish cheeks told Alex that there was more to those sketches, than simple stitching. “The girls haven’t seen you in… person, but on those sketches only…”

        “Oh… Okay,” Alex told himself to sort out that question later, he had certain assumptions, but… they were a bit wild, so… ‘Later. Let’s not spoil the evening anyway.’

        “At least they didn’t lie about me having one head, two hands and two legs,” he laughed, noticing that the fillies relaxed a bit and started instigating each other quietly.

        “Errmmm… Is it true that the magic has no effect on you?” finally made up her mind and asked Apple Bloom. “And that you can take magic from a unicorn.”

        Twilight quietly squeaked, she was unsure, if Alex would react normally to questions alike after all the experiments, yet feared that some questions would still raise. But Alex just smiled, a bit tiredly to be completely honest, and sat on the plaid, welcoming the fillies to come closer with a gesture.

        “Well, I don’t know myself, which of that is true and which is partially true,” he said. “I won’t say that magic has completely no effect on me, just not the one the caster wants to achieve. As for the rest, yes, I’m afraid, that’s true, that is why exactly everypony was warned to avoid applying magic to me.”

        “Was everypony warned by the way?” Alex turned to Twilight.

        “Yeah, I guess the information settles well in the heads till tomorrow morning,” nodded she.

        “Excellent,” Alex looked at the fillies again, who gathered the courage to come closer. “But I’m not some kind of a magic… vampire. I don’t control that process, nor drain some magic willingly. I’m not… Nightmare Alex,” he smiled.

        “You don’t look like one indeed,” Sweetie Belle jokingly squinted at him. They with Apple Bloom came closer and Alex could stroke their manes. Sweetie Belle even snuggled into his hand, and both girls looked very much like kittens at that moment as well, Alex noticed how Rarity smiled, obviously, her sister coming along nicely with Alex fitted her expectations. Alex sighed inwardly.

        Scootaloo though sat at a tiny distance and examined Alex thoroughly, as if she wasn’t entirely sure that he was a totally safe acquaintance. Instead, she asked a bit bluntly.

        “And what else can you do, except reflecting magic?”

        “A nice question, Scootaloo,” smirked Alex. “And very vital one. I guess I’ll find out in a few days, what I can do in your world for living.”

        “Oh, Alex is being overly humble,” chuckled Twilight. “He is much more capable than he admits, as we could see…”

        Alex quickly made big scary eyes towards Twilight, pressing his lips into the thin line and then articulating with them only “L-A-T-E-R!”. Fortunately, nopony seemed to notice.

        “Twilight means my outstanding regeneration levels and extreme durability against applied magic,” said Alex with a wry smile. “As the latest… experiments have shown.”

        He got up and took a look over their preparations, then facepalmed, as if they missed something.

        “We got only teacups, Fluttershy, and we have some cider now. I’ll bring some glasses,” he said heading to the house. “Twi, would you be so kind to help me.”

        “Careful, the door is still sticky,” warned Alex, hearing that Twilight trots behind him and turning to the kitchen.

        “So?” Twilight got straight to the point as they entered. “What did you want to say in private, Alex?”

        “Look, Twi,” Alex opened the cupboard, looking for the glasses, then leaned on the table. “I know that what you saw in that mirror in Canterlot yesterday looks a bit strange and needs some explanation…”

        “At the very least,” Twilight nodded, scanning the inside of the cupboard. “We were both completely stunned… Well, I guess, Celestia a bit less than me, but still. What the hay did we saw?”

        “I wish I had a passable explanation myself,” sighed Alex. “My relationship with magic is too complicated even for the whole Royal Council, not for me only. Don’t know, if the only simple theory, I have now, satisfies your interest at least partially…”

        Twilight silently nodded him to continue.

        “Well, I don’t know how it works exactly… I guess only strong interaction causes that, or maybe certain bonds are necessary for magic to work that way,” Alex took a few glasses himself, then turned to Twilight. “Besides, I suppose it worked only during the short period after my arrival, because lately I was subjected to the tons of different spells and neither made me a “superman” or something…”

        “So what do you think about all that… “seeker hunting” and…” Twilight looked up to him with sparkles of scientific interest in her eyes.

        “Well, I can only guess, but…” Alex shrugged. “When you tried to heal me, as Fluttershy told me later, you didn’t get any visible effect, but later my regeneration level became excessive, borderline excessive as they told me at the… “facility”. A bit later Luna… (Twilight blinked) princess Luna tried to reach my dreams, interested in what I was exactly. She succeeded, but I got the ability to reach her dreams as well… and even more, as you saw. Neither Lyra’s spell, nor the spell galore in Canterlot didn’t change anything, but I can guess certain magic can, or could… change me somehow. I just don’t know what conditions are necessary for it to work, nor I control the entire process. And… well… and that’s all for now…”

        “I’ll tell you, if I find out something… anything,” he added after a pause. “But I would like you to keep it between us… four, including Luna and Tia (Twilight raised an eyebrow), for now. And I don’t want to make Fluttershy worried specifically,” he added meaningfully.

        “What about the things we saw that day?” Twilight wasn’t going to give up before asking every question that bothered her. “Particularly you controlling objects, making things fly, making yourself fly… and all that fire show at the end. I admit, the way you took down the Seeker could be explained your magic draining ability, but the rest…”

        “Luna explained to me a few things,” Alex let out a small smile. “I tried myself and learned something, I guess I’m not hopeless. But as you may notice I can’t do that all, when I’m awake or sleeping normally. And the fire… Well, that was my first experience, when I came here, so, later, I guess, fire became most responsive in my case…”

        “But princess Luna affects the dreams of her subjects, not the reality itself,” Twilight looked stunned still.

        “Art thou entirely sure?” Alex seemed to dive into deep thinking. “Art thou sure, thou can define whither thy dream endeth and reality reigneth, at which hour thou art sleeping?”

        Twilight dropped the glass, she was holding with her magic; with a blazing dash of his hand Alex caught it in the air, like if he suddenly woke. Twilight forcedly closed her mouth.

        “What do you think, you just said?” she asked quietly after a second.

        “Umm… That you can’t be sure, if Luna is changing your dreams, or the reality through your dreams, or simply the reality around you, if you are supposedly dreaming at the moment. Something like that, right?” Alex shook his head.

        “I mean, do you know, HOW exactly you said that?” Twilight corrected herself.

        “Don’t you see, what is happening, Alex? You sometimes speak exactly like princess Luna, even like her, when she is worried much,” explained she, seeing Alex’s bewildered glance. “Her ancient language takes over specifically strong in that case.”

        “I’ve noticed…” muttered Alex, then sighed. “Look, Twilight, that’s complicated. You want the answers, I don’t have yet, in the earnest.”

        “But…” Twilight touched his hand.

        “They say, if you communicate with an interesting person… pony in that case, too much, you start accommodating to some of their habits, and vice versa,” Alex put the glass on the table.

        “Alex, for Equestria sake! You didn’t sound like you were mimicking or “accommodating to Luna’s habits”, you sounded, like it was your native manner of speech for ages!” Twilight wasn’t so easy to distract.

        “I still stick to my point,” Alex provided her fitting competition. “What’s wrong in me taking something from her in. She was the only person, who talked to me normally for the whole month in Canterlot… well except one nurse, but she was to keep silence on the experiments matter.”

        “Errmmm…”

        “I don’t imply that any of you were indifferent about me or my fate, Twi,” amended Alex. “Especially Fluttershy. But… you were here in Ponyville and did, what you could, right? Yet she was the only one there, who treated me like an individual, not the “primary test subject”. I’m not afraid, claiming that without her I would most likely become completely mental or at least asocial.”

        Twilight kept silence, somewhere deep inside she understood that Alex was right – before she was allowed to come, nopony except princess Luna could treat Alex as a person.

        “And you see a particular problem in me speaking like princess Luna sometimes. Why? I have no idea, how that happens, Twilight. But, know what, I find her manner of speech cute, awesome… well, attractive, Twi. Yeah, I said that. I do forsooth!.. Oh, don’t look so shocked, please, like if you see a snake…”

        “Oh, Alex,” Twilight downcasted with a sigh. “The problem is not in you talking, like anypony. The problem is in you changing, sometimes completely strange and unpredictable. Where will it lead finally, do you know? I don’t, so does not Celestia, and that bothers her. Me either…”

        “Art thou capable to change anything, Twilight?” Alex spoke ardently; Twilight gasped. “Or the fate is called that, as we are unable to do anything with what is supposed to befall. The only way to stop changes, thou fearest, is to eliminate the source completely,” he squinted at her. “I’m sure Celestia hath thought ‘bout that variant, mayhap even more than once. Thou can as well, who am I to object? While it shalt surely work, dost thou see ‘t as a worthy way? Art thou ready to try?”

        Twilight closed her eyes, she had no answers for those questions, inwardly facehoofing at the flood of “old speak”, poured on her.

        “Hey, guys, we became afraid, you got lost in the house,” Fluttershy entered the kitchen and stopped, examining Alex and Twilight, both holding the glasses, they obviously found easily, yet both in the state of deep thinking or being puzzled by something.

        “What’s up with you, Alex, Twi?” Fluttershy’s voice became worried. “You both look, like you’ve seen a ghost…”

        “Twilight asked about some results, we got in Canterlot,” Alex unfroze and took a few glasses in one hand, hugging Fluttershy with the free one. “And they were indeed strange. I don’t know what to think of them myself. That’s not mentioning I’m entirely far from magic. But I guess I should accommodate to it being everywhere around,” he kissed her lightly with a smile.

        “Oh… Well… L-let’s go then, if you found the glasses,” Fluttershy alternated from him to Twilight. “Don’t make everypony wait.”

        Alex caught the moment, when they were exiting the cottage, to lean to Twilight and whisper in her ear.

        “Please, Twi, I hope we agreed, you won’t tell about the seekers and other… things yet. I really don’t want to scare anypony…”

        Twilight nodded shortly; she kept to herself, what she thought at the moment.

        Finally, all the snacks were unpacked, glasses filled with cider for adults and juice for fillies and Spike: the latter was very prudent in that regards, keeping himself alcohol-free even while having a chance to get it – the dragons are naturally way more… alcohol-tolerant. Everypony chose a place of their liking, unobtrusively placing Alex closer to the center, next to Pinkie, who, being the actual guest here, was de jure the hostess of the party, as it was entirely her idea and mostly her realization. She puffed her mane and tail proudly and obviously was going to throw a speech.

        “Fillies and gentlecolts… ahem,” Pinkie looked around. “Better say, gentleman and gentledragon,” she giggled and Spike nodded, raising a claw. “I was going to arrange that party long ago, but the circumstances worked against us all…”

        Alex thought, he didn’t notice himself being worked against, at least regarding the party, but said nothing, just smirked, not wanting to be a spoilsport. Meanwhile, Pinkie continued.

        “First Alex wasn’t in suitable enough shape, then some regal interests took over. Mates, I waited a whole darn month to say those words. Besides you, girls, held my hooves tight all the way. Even now I’m half restrained in my favourite work – party making, with no Party Cannon allowed,” Pinkie sniffed regretfully. “We gathered here in close, almost family company… To be honest I could hardly remember running a party like that…”

        “But,” she added more cheerfully. “I say, let’s have fun and let’s share some fun with one, who, as I think, needs it right now. Something to brighten up his day, well, sorry… evening…” she turned to Alex. “I hope, you can find yourself here in Equestria, while you are here, or…” she sighed meaningfully. “At least you have friends here, Alex, and we’ll try to make it easier for you, and easier to make new friends as well,” she winked, raising on her hind legs. “So, Welcome to Ponyville, Alex!” half-yelled Pinkie, spreading her fore legs and kicking a small box behind her with one hind hoof – quite a trick for an Earth pony, to be honest.

        Alex thought, that Pinkie could do that even louder, she simply remembered about Party Canon ban and didn’t want to be one herself, but the next moment he gasped…

        The box opened and released a colourful band with letters, a bunch of balloons and tons of confetti and streamers; the latter flew out in a blast with the muffled sound of a trumpet and Alex involuntarily chuckled. Evidently Twilight put her hooves on that surprise, as the band hung itself, attaching to the tree branches, to be read with familiar “Welcome to Ponyville, Alex!”, so did the balloons.

        Fluttershy, who sat next to Alex, put her head on his shoulder and the confetti rained on them, just like on everypony present. Alex looked closer and noticed that quite a portion of confetti was heart-shaped.

        “Twilight?!” he squinted on alicorn girl, removing a shining heart flake from his glass.

        “Don’t look at me like that,” replied Twilight with a satisfied smile, cocking her head. “We ran out of simple round confetti with Pinkie, while preparing the surprise greeting. Only those left. We couldn’t let you have a dull small amount of them,” she threw a sly glance at him.

        Alex sighed, inwardly facepalming, and downed his portion of cider, catching a few surprised looks. The drink didn’t look much different from apple juice to him, but it was seemingly strong enough for ponies to be treated as proper alcohol. Others finished their glasses in smaller portions, trying the snacks.

        ‘Great,’ thought Alex. ‘If my life here gets on my nerves, it would take quite an effort to even get drunk the right way.’

        Nevertheless, despite Alex was initially sceptical about the whole party thing, it was really going better, than he expected. Everypony just talked, laughed and enjoyed the meal and company. Alex liked that he didn’t get overly more attention than others, even if it was technically “his” party. He ate and drank less and watched and listened more, finding out new tiny, but meaningful aspects, about his new friends. The more he thought of them, the more he admitted that he liked them. The whole party wasn’t much different, than any close company, he had on Earth before.

        He felt the warmth of Fluttershy at his side, hugging her with one hand, looking in her eyes and chatting with her and Twilight, who he teased every time possible, still thinking that the heart-confetti trick wasn’t accidental. Pinkie was the soul and engine of the company, stirring it, not letting them catch even a faint shadow of boredom. Spike tried his best to gain Rarity’s attention, becoming especially eloquent tonight. Rarity divided her attention, responding him, talking with others and sneakily ogling Alex, evidently regretting that he was “guarded” from both sides by Fluttershy and Pinkie. The fillies took part in the whole company, but in their own way, as they couldn’t sit quietly long enough – they started running round and about, startling squirrels and sometimes bumping into Alex, who caught them with laughter. They reminded him about his cousins more and more, with the only difference that there were three of them.

        Alex felt almost like if he never got nobody-knows-where, almost like home, not twitching about that already. The ambiguous feeling visited him: the warm homely attachment to those ponies and the thin stinging pain in his heart at the realization and fear, as he was inevitably to leave them someday (alas, he still hoped to get back home). He was to admit that it would hurt him, and saw that it would obviously hurt quite a few of his new friends; that didn’t make things easier. Trying to become possibly less emotionally attached at first he drastically failed at it finally. Choices, losses, if only he could avoid at least some of them in his life…

        He thought about Celestia and Luna; how many losses they managed to overcome being eternal. His problem was hardly different: the mere fact that he could feel the pain less than eternity, didn’t make it less painful for him. Alex sometimes wondered, theoretically, how could an immortal person live? Not building any attachment at all, being a coldhearted slab of a person? But, for example, Luna was nothing like that… and if to think about it, Celestia as well. So wasn’t Twilight, considering she was now an alicorn.

        The last thing Alex could imagine was that Luna avoided building strong attachment, it neither felt, nor looked like that. And Fluttershy was totally giving herself to her feelings. Then Alex remembered about regeneration tests result and Celestia’s words that she wasn’t going to predict his lifespan now. He closed his eyes and gritted the teeth not to moan in despair.

        Perhaps, Fluttershy felt that something was not right with Alex, because she stayed close, snuggled into him, her gentle hoof stroked his back soothingly. And Alex ran his fingers through her mane, inhaling the aroma, nuzzling her cheek (and making Twilight smirk quietly), while feeling a stone over his heart becoming a boulder, then turning into a rock slowly. But he tried to keep up with the girls and the party feel. Thus a couple of hours passed and the Sun was about to dive behind Everfree.

        ‘Anyway I doomed,’ admitted Alex. ‘Isn’t it better to relax and enjoy, what I have right now and right here?’

        ‘If only it was as easy to do as to say,’ he sadly smirked; Fluttershy looked into his eyes with worry, her latest kiss wasn’t friendly, it was rather spousal… like last night. ‘I must ask Celestia, how she keeps her composure, constantly facing that problem.’

        Right at the moment Alex remembered about Celestia, Spike made the round eyes and… suddenly burped with a small flash of green fire coming out of his mouth.

        “Sorry,” muttered Spike confusedly, catching the scroll, which materialized in the flash. “That’s from princess Celestia,” he handed the scroll to Twilight, who unrolled it with magic and quickly scanned the header.

        “Actually, it’s addressed to you, Alex,” Twilight floated the scroll to him with a surprised look on her muzzle.

        Alex held out his hand and caught the scroll, when Twilight dropped it. When he unrolled it entirely, another, smaller sheet of thick, hard paper fell out of the scrolled letter on his knees. Alex put it into his shirt pocket, starting with the letter first.

        “Dear Alex…”

        He widened his eyes and chuckled, imagining Celestia’s expression, when she wrote that, despite it was only a figure of speech.

        “…As your departure was slightly chaotic and preceded by the certain stupefying event, detrimental for careful planning, we all forgot about the very important aspect of your residence here, in Equestria. Namely – your legal status, or unfortunately the lack thereof. (You certainly have to blame mostly yourself for that and I’m still waiting for some articulated explanation, when you manage to sort this out, but that’s the matter of future appointments).”

        Alex almost saw how she smiled at that phrase.

        “…Thus I’m going to correct that unforgivable mistake and define your citizenship once and for any time necessary for your residence in our domain. The applied document should be enough for you to be accepted as a sterling Equestria citizen and make any legal deals freely, if any questions arise. To keep it safe and by hand is now entirely your task.

        

Your (for the time being) Sun Monarch,

    

Princess Celestia”

    

 

    ‘Well, I’m legal now – that’s good,’ Alex smirked, examining another sheet of paper, he took out of his pocket again; that was technically a passport, visa, registration, all-in-one, signed by the monarch to eliminate any doubts of authenticity. ‘But at the same time I’m a full-time equestrian now, that means, if Celestia finds it necessary, my ass is served on a silver plate. I guess one can’t have one without another.’

        He carefully put the document back, then folded the letter and shoved it in the pocket as well. At the same moment Spike produced another green flash and caught another smaller scroll, which he gave Twilight as well. She nosed at it slightly and handed to Alex with a raised brow.

        “That seems to be for you, too.”

        Alex unrolled the short notice, feeling lavender smell and guessing who else could realize; he noticed, how Fluttershy stiffened a bit. He couldn’t blame her, it was obvious enough, if Celestia wanted to add something, she would most likely add it to her first letter. He couldn’t blame Luna either, as she was unable to add to Tia’s message:

        “At midnight. I extend mine hope thou hast thy list ready as well, mine lief.”

        Alex tried to keep dispassionate face and thought, if that generosity of princess Celestia wasn’t a result of Luna’s work. But he was thankful for that anyway; just in time, he had no idea how to proceed with job search without that.

        Right at that moment Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle jumped at Alex and all the three rolled on the grass in free-for-all romp, tickling each other and laughing; Scootaloo followed, waiting for a tactical moment to take down Alex, who, frankly speaking, missed the beginning of the “attack” and was in a less prominent position. The fillies obviously got tired of quiet sitting and that forced minute of silence, when Alex got his letters.

        “Phew!” breathed out Pinkie. “Everything is okay, thanks Celestia. Because I thought, somepony put a silencing spell on you all.”

        “These three are enough to break any dull spell forsooth,” Alex tried to take his breath, but he was to stop tickling and release Apple Bloom, when other two girls piled up, and finally all three victoriously sat on him. “Okay, okay, I give up! There are too many of you and when you jump around, it seems to be twice more,” added he with a laughter, putting them one by one on the ground and sitting straight.

        “Don’t know about you,” stretched Twilight. “But I agree with the girls – enough sitting, time to move your flanks a bit.”

        In a wink she reached the gramophone and started to brush through the records, looking obviously for something quicker and more energetic, than soothing ambient, that was on at that moment. Soon the track of choice was found and put and Alex, to his surprise, found that equestrian dance music wasn’t too different compared to familiar Earth compositions. He grabbed the cover and read the name “DJ Vinyl Scratch”.

        “Hmmm…” Alex raised one eyebrow, placing himself near the gramophone and watching the girls. Well, he could easily join the lambada like chain, but some of their tricks definitely called for four legs rather than two. But the best show started, when Twilight decided to solo.

        Fluttershy warned him, but still, Alex tried his best to keep face while watching. With her eyes almost closed, sometimes even sticking out her tongue a little in zeal Twilight danced and spun and jumped, on her hind legs, on one fore and one hind and sometimes even touching the ground with one leg only. She was evidently having great fun, but Alex couldn’t escape the feeling that it resembled some martial art occasionally and it wasn’t totally safe to get close, before Twilight starts hearing something except tunes. To the end of the track Alex was holding himself as much as he could to avoid neighing like a horse, despite all the pun.

        “What?” Twilight stopped and looked at snorting Alex, when the music ended. “Anything wrong?”

        Alex shook his head violently instead of an answer, showing her both thumbs up and wiping the tears of restrained laughter.

        “Won’t you mind, if I show you all, how people dance, in return?” asked he, when he caught his breath.

        “Well, of course,” Twilight broke into a smile.

        “I have no objections, darling,” slowly said Rarity, causing another spear glance from Spike.

        “Okay,” Alex rose and approached Twilight first. “This will need two legs on the ground, some concentration, rhythm and… Well, let’s see how it goes.”

        He explained Twilight that she should stand on her hind legs and give him one fore leg, putting another on his shoulder or as near as possible, that wasn’t too hard, as they were almost of the same height, when she was on her hind legs.

        “That’s called “waltz”,” Alex put his right hand on her waist, causing Twilight to blush a little. “I doubt you have music for that, so I will count and lead, explaining to you, what to do, if necessary. You should follow my moves and general direction.”

        “Sounds not too difficult,” said Twilight with a smile. “I think, I understand.”

        “Don’t let your tail get in your way!” smirked Alex. “A-a-and…”

        They made a few circles, Alex measured the count and corrected her; he was to admit, Twilight was a diligent pupil and stepped on his feet only twice, yet lightly. After the second circle she got the rhythm completely and Alex stopped counting reserving the breath for movement, spinning Twilight, who obviously started to enjoy the dance, laughing like a filly.

        “Hey, don’t use wings, Twi,” exclaimed Alex. “Don’t cheat, or we both fall!”

        They stopped after a while and Alex supported Twilight for a few seconds, when she stood on her four.

        “I think, my head is still dancing,” giggled Twilight. “An unusual feeling.”

        “Just stand still for a while, it’ll stop happening with practice,” Alex bowed, then added with a smile. “Mine endless gratitude, princess.”

        Twilight huffed, then started giggling again, as he obviously said that to tease her.

        “Unfortunately, this calls for at least nearly equal height of the partners,” said Alex, looking at the fillies and pondering, how he could deliver it to them. “I could lift you, girls, but this will hardly tell you what you need to do.”

        “I think, I saw and heard enough to understand the basics,” declared Spike. “So, if you girls don’t mind, we could try…”

        Counting Alex was to admit that Spike was hardly less capable, than Twilight: he grasped the rhythm fast enough and was able to make the fillies join the fun easily.

        So, Alex was to go a few rounds with each, so at the end he started feeling his head dancing, even when his legs didn’t, just like Twilight. Besides, he didn’t know exactly what time it was; the starry sky said about it being late enough, so the girls were to bring and light candles and a few lanterns. He trusted Luna to be prudent enough and check the ground before appearing, but still didn’t want to make her wait long enough, so became a little nervous about that.

        Pinkie didn’t like waltz much, as Alex expected, it was to slow and dry for her. But nothing could spoil her mood and Alex promised to think about something more suitable for his vivid friend.

        Fluttershy was a timid and… well… shy partner, so she was sometimes a tiny bit late for the movement, but in general Alex was to admit, she was the most fluent and gracious at the movements themselves.

        ‘More practice and, as the result, confidence,’ thought Alex. ‘And perhaps practicing tete-a-tete.’ He understood what that could end with, but it wasn’t a crime against truth to say, that would suit them both.

        Rarity took the lesson with major enthusiasm, even more than necessary perhaps, but that wasn’t a surprise for Alex.

        “Okay, Rarity, just give ‘t some space,” smirked Alex, when Rarity snuggled with almost her entire body to him. “That’s not tango.” His eyes glazed for a moment – last time he was dancing tango with Elen on her birthday, seemed aeons ago, in another life.

        “What’s wrong, darling?” asked Rarity and her eyes started shining, like if tears were going to appear. “Am I such a bad dancer? You seem to stumble at spot…”

        “No, no, it’s okay,” unfroze Alex, making himself to smile heartily. “Just a little memory… What were we at?.. Oh, you see, there must be at least a… hoof between us for it to go properly.” He noticed from the corner of his eye, how Spike watched them, resembling a snowstorm cloud.

        When everypony, -body and –dragon lost their breath and decided that it was great, but it was the right time to call it a day and have some rest before the next busy weekday, Alex caught the moment and asked Spike to help him with dishes and stuff, so he could share a few words without curious fluffy ears around.

        They gathered as much as they could carry without breaking anything and headed to the cottage. In the kitchen Alex put his load on the table and, ensuring that nopony except Spike was following, turned to the dragon boy.

        “Listen, Spike,” he started without unnecessary preface. “I understand that you have feelings for Rarity, but…”

        Only the long practice allowed Spike to put the dishes, he carried, on the table without dropping, as he stared at Alex.

        “Errmmm… Is it that obvious?” Spikes eyes wandered around the kitchen. “I told…”

        “Twilight didn’t tell me anything,” guessed Alex with a smile. “And none of the girls did…”

        “Oh…”

        “Well, I’m not blind… and you are… eloquent enough, Spike, if I can state it that way,” continued Alex. “But I wanted to tell you that you were worrying in vain, I’m not after that prize, honestly.”

        Spike made round eyes and, while he was looking for words, Alex continued.

        “Rarity is a good friend, that’s given. But I’m not interested in her otherwise as a friend, Spike. And her… overwhelming attention sometimes strains me. Moreover, ‘t scareth me oft.”

        “You speak stra…” squinted Spike, but Alex didn’t give him time to think about that, mentally scolding himself for that mind slip.

        “I mean, I won’t refuse to help her, if she asks, nor will I single her and dance with her not. But those are purely friendly gestures, I think. Same, for example, refers to you helping Fluttershy, if necessary. But I don’t expect anything more from Rarity.”

        “So, if you understand me right,” continued Alex, seeing that Spike finally listened to him very attentively. “I, let’s say, will be only happy and thankful, if you take your chances, proceed and gain some more attention from Rarity, thus making her give me less of her attention. I, in my turn, will try to avoid her traps at my best, like I’m, frankly speaking, doing already for quite a while.”

        “I’m completely honest with you and think it’s fair enough,” Alex held out his hand for a shake and Spike accepted after a second of thinking. “So it’s up to you now.”

        “Hey, what are you guys up to now?” the girls entered the kitchen and caught the glimpse of their handshake.

        “We were discussing the evening and decided that it won’t hurt to gather like that from time to time,” stretched Alex innocently, he yawned. “Sorry…”

        “Yeah, right!” confirmed Spike with a wide smile, ogling Rarity.

        “Just don’t tell Pinkie right away,” smirked Alex. “I’m afraid, she can decide “from time to time” means tomorrow. Methinks thither were some precedents, right, Fluttershy? Where is she, by the way?”

        “She can indeed,” giggled Fluttershy. “She’s outside with the girls…” she and Rarity noticed nothing, but Twilight frowned a bit and signaled Alex with her eyes to watch the speech.

        Rarity left soon, with visible regret, she was to walk Apple Bloom home, while Pinkie escorted Scootaloo. Twilight and Spike helped a bit and left as well, when they all brought everything to order.

        “Alex, I’m going to fall on spot…” muttered Fluttershy, her eyes were closing and she leaned on him.

        Alex looked at the wall clock – it was half before midnight – and inwardly took a breath. He then took Fluttershy in hands and headed to the stairs, she curled in his arms snuggling her warm frame to his chest and nuzzling his cheek, her forelegs wrapped around his neck.

        “Mhhmmm…” Alex saw that she was half-sleeping already, when he carried her to the bedroom. He was to put her on the bed and then undo one side, then move Fluttershy to undo another side. Undressing he put his clothes on the footrest, knowing he would need them in half an hour. Fluttershy snuggled into him, when Alex got under covers and started stroking her head.

        After about twenty minutes it became apparently too hot for her, as she moved aside slightly and uncovered. It was the right time and Alex kissed her lightly on the shoulder and slid out of the bed. He dressed again quickly, watching Fluttershy sleeping; her amazing hair spread on the pillows, she was slightly smiling through her sleep. Alex felt a tiny prick of conscience, being with two girls didn’t look entirely right to him… and was to admit that he hardly ever could make that choice.

        *

        Alex ran out of the cottage, almost not touching the ground, it was already five past midnight. He got around the house to the same tree, he sat under, when met Luna personally for the first time. It was darker tonight: clouds, appearing out of nowhere, overshadowed the moon. A lonely nightingale still sang optimistically, expecting the sky to clear and Luna’s Moon to bless the ground with its presence. A big moth touched Alex’s cheek with its velvet wings, when he approached the tree and leaned on the trunk, waiting for the princess. The minutes passed slowly, if only the wind could pep them up, just like it drove the clouds, making them run faster, and ruffled Alex’s hair. The same wind brought the smell of hay from the meadows, but there wasn’t any lavender tint to it yet.

        After about ten minutes, which seemed an hour to him, something rustled in the shrubs behind Alex… and in the next second he found himself in the middle of a warm, silky, feathery, lavender fragrant flurry, which caught and whirled him, finding his lips and yearningly conquering them.

        “It’s been more than a day,” said Luna, sitting on the ground and finally giving him some breath. Her fore legs rested on his waist, while her wings habitually wrapped Alex, holding him closer to her. “I’ve started to feel lonely, mine lief!”

        “I can guess!” Alex wrapped his hands around her swan-like neck, waiting till the world around him stop spinning. That was probably a futile attempt, as Luna’s dark blue eyes, looking into his from a few inches distance, didn’t help to get a clear head. He kissed her, making Luna close her eyes and squeeze him tighter with a quiet moan. “Methinks thou art overmodest about that.”

        Luna’s ears perked and she stared at him in surprise.

        “Sorry, Luna. I’m not trying to mock you, not a zilch, in the earnest,” tried to explain Alex. “Oh… Don’t know how it happens, but I really find your manner of speech very attractive and… I guess there is more to it. Twilight already told me, it was a part of my changes, which bother her… and Celestia. Not the old language itself, but the whole process of me changing.”

        “Mayhap Celestia worries even more than Twilight, she thinketh of them as of something dangerous,” added Alex quietly, snuggling his forehead to Luna’s nose bridge. “’t was amusing forsooth, how Twilight was shocked each time, ‘t slipped through. But I understand thither is nothing to celebrate.”

        “Mayhap thou needest to control thy speech a bit more then,” chuckled Luna, nuzzling his cheek. She put her head on his shoulder and let out a satisfied sigh. “I’ll be frank with thee, ‘t was… very unusual to hear thee speaking alike, even for me. I can imagine how everypony around thee can react,” she giggled again, like a silver bell rang.

        “I try my best,” Alex said, running his fingers through her mane. “But it slips out, when I least expect. It comes naturally, when I worry or…”

        “I can feel thy heart racing,” with a small smile Luna put her hoof on his chest.

        “You’re a tease,” smirked Alex. “First of all, I’m glad to see you. Besides, I was a bit late – waited till Fluttershy falls asleep. We had that “Welcome to Ponyville…” party, Pinkie was craving for, so Shy got a fair bit tired and almost collapsed.”

        Luna raised her head and looked into his eyes again, she wasn’t anxious, her expression was unusual though… concerned and interested at the same time. Alex wondered, if she knew anything about previous evening, but apparently, she didn’t show any discontent anyway. She snuggled tightly into him again and the new kiss was long and indescribably tender, not unveiling the mystery of her thoughts at that moment.

        “I’ve waited for you a bit,” Alex almost touched her lips with his own. “I know - the girls can’t come earlier,” two joyful sparkles glanced in Luna’s eyes at those words. “But I worried, you wouldn’t come; something could interrupt you.”

        “Not in that case,” simply said Luna and the ambiguous feeling visited Alex again: he sharply felt that he couldn’t make this choice ever and was doomed to feel guilty for that. “So, how did the party go?”

        “Way calmer, than Pinkie planned initially,” Alex kneeled in front of Luna, when she gave him the freedom of movement, folding her wings. Her fore hoof still rested on his shoulder though, as if she didn’t want to break the touch completely. “She brought tons of sweet stuff of her own making… and I think I had the weekly reserve of dessert tonight.”

        “Applejack couldn’t come, but she was busy. And Rainbow… well, Rainbow Dash still had her reasons to distrust me. I have no faintest idea why though.”

        “Rainbow Dash is too demanding to herself, if ’t be true thou askest me,” nodded Luna. “’t overplays oft, especially at which hour she treateth others the same. Tis will settle someday.”

        “I can only hope,” sighed Alex. “Even Rarity held herself in the hooves tonight… almost,” he rolled his eyes. “We mostly talked and had fun, the fillies added to it a lot… Methinks they are much like mine cousins,” his eyes glazed for a tiny moment. He found the strength to switch the thoughts though. “Yeah, one more thing, dancing…”

        “Dancing?” Luna snorted, then started giggling like a school filly. “Mine apologies, Alex,” said she after a while, taking her breath. “I simply…”

        “Imagined Twilight?” Alex raised the eyebrow, that guess was easy.

        “Correct,” Luna started shaking from laughter again. “No offence to her, but it’s always such a view…”

        “Well, I’ve shown the girls, how people dance,” noticed Alex. “And it seems Twilight grasped it nicely. At the very least it looked classy enough for the first time.”

        “Really? And what didst thou teach them? How did the others do?” Luna leaned to him again and the talk was interrupted by the more pleasant activity for them both.

        “It was a bit embarrassing for Fluttershy, but she is very gracious and fluent, she’ll grasp it fast…” answered Alex, when he could.

        “Rarity asked her to model with reason,” noticed Luna, nodding.

        “… and it was a bit slow and boring for Pinkie, which I wasn’t surprised a bit with,” Alex ran his fingers behind her ear and down Luna’s neck, hearing how her breath deepened at once. “Methinks we should find something faster and… crazier for her,” he smirked, then a faint shadow of vexation ran over his face. “Rarity was her usual self, she was since we met...”

        “Naturally,” snorted Luna again, Alex glanced at her, feeling that another commentary about Rarity’s dreams was on her tongue. “Dost thou know that I can dance the “human style” likewise.”

        “How come?” Alex was totally caught by surprise.

        “One human taught me long ago,” Luna glanced at Alex from under her eyelashes. “Ere to Nightmare Moon days. We were almost fillies, at least I was, at which hour Starswirl summoned a human in the Old Castle by pure accident. Something went wrong with one of his spells, so, the warp appeared and then the human fell through. Nopony knew, who was more shocked: the human or Starswirl himself.”

        “I can imagine,” huffed Alex quietly. “I believe though the human was shocked more. You all here somehow got used to seeing different sentient creatures, but in my world people are the only truly sentient species known for now. So, how it was?”

        “Starswirl needed some time to prepare the proper spell, ere the old chap was able to return the human…”

        “So that human could get back?!!” Alex interrupted her fast, Luna noticed two hot sparkles, which burnt deep in his eyes, and downcasted.

        “Alex, mine lief,” she said with a sigh. “That was a common human, not the one like thou art at that moment. He was neither magic resistant, nor reflecting the spells. The problem grounded in the proper returning, not in the human traits. It took Starswirl half a year to properly synchronize the spell and return the human to the same place, he was taken from. Not sure if ‘t be true to the same time though, I can recall Starswirl complaining about the extreme complexity of that task. Mayhap the time on… Earth flew not at the same pace, as for that human hither.”

        With a heavy sigh Alex unconsciously snuggled into her tighter, putting his head on Luna’s shoulder, as in drastic need of some support. Feeling how his fingers tremble slightly Luna preferred to change the topic.

        “Well, back to our matter of interest,” she said exaggeratedly cheerful. “This human taught, well, tried to, me and Tia simple dancing moves. I’ve managed to succeed at exactly what thou said – “waltz”, if ‘t be true mine memory serveth me well.”

        “I’ve started with it, because it’s simple forsooth. Equally for professionals and beginners, who got used to standing on four legs, instead of two,” a weak tint of a smile touched Alex’s lips.

        “I started learning a more complex one,” continued Luna with palpable relief that he distanced from the sad thoughts. “It was called “tango”… or something alike…”

        “Yeah,” smirked Alex. “There is such a dance, it’s more… intimate than waltz so far.”

        “So, I succeeded… more than Tia… She took all the mistakes too close to her heart, especially if ’t be true she couldn’t do something and I could cope with it,” said Luna with a tiny sad smile. “Now I see, tis was the very beginning of the unholy vista, leading us both to the Nightmare Moon problem…”

        “Let us return to the more pleasant aspect of mine memories, if ’t be true thou dost object not,” Luna shook her head, shooing the mental image of them quarreling with Celestia. “I would like to refresh my “mastery”,” she chuckled. “I would like to do that with thee, Alex!”

        Alex wrapped his hands around her neck and the following kiss was more than self-explanatory.

        “I… guess… tis meaneth… “yes”,” muttered Luna in between the attempts to fight Alex’s tongue for domination.

        Alex slightly nodded, not breaking the kiss or the embrace.

        “What exactly do you want to practice?” breathed he out, when they parted for air.

        “And what dost thou think, Alex?” one could drown in her eyes, hypnotized by her sly smile. “I choose tango… unless thou hast more interesting suggestions.”

        “That will need you to come here, as I won’t be able to reach Canterlot, while you are awake, Luna,” Alex pondered. “Too far for my capabilities.”

        “Methinks I can find time for that.”

        “We will need to define your skill level and then… Do you need that for some special occasion? I mean, if there is some… deadline or…” asked Alex.

        “We’ll have a ball in the castle in… three weeks or about,” Luna wrapped him in her wings again and Alex got the hint, he sat closer and leaned on her, letting her hold him and put her head on his. “’t would be amazing, if ’t be true thou could attend it somehow. Thou could have a look at our festive dresses, as thou wished, and we could bring some fresh stream to ponies’ dancing repertoire.”

        “Fresh?” Alex let out a laughter. “That dance is about a century old at my world…”

        “Tis fresh enough for a three thousand years old princess…”

        Alex threw back his head, dragged Luna closer and covered her mouth with another kiss to stop that blasphemy.

        “I have certain doubts,” chuckled he a while later. “Tia would hardly send me an official invitation. And I’d like to specifically ask you, Luna, not to put yourself as a target, trying to invite me somehow. So that’s an open question still, mayhap I could find some way. I’d happily be your partner, of course.”

        If Alex could see the more than enthusiastic sparkles in Luna’s eyes, he would guess that wasn’t entirely because of the upcoming dancing lessons.

        “And, please, take into account that it’ll be harder to move in your dress, if you practice first without it.”

        “I can’t help that unfortunately,” Luna nuzzled his cheek. “It isn’t ready yet and now, at which hour I have some new ideas, I may ask for some changes in design… Besides, I would like ‘t to be a surprise.”

        She wrapped him tighter and for quite a while they both forgot about dances, balls, dresses and problems, almost forgot about breathing, sharing one breath passionately.

        “Ahhh, mine head is spinning,” weakly said Luna, she folded her wings and lay on the grass, taking Alex with her, so he was to lay next and put his head on her chest, looking into the sky. Luna’s mane covered them both, silkily touching, lulling.

        “I could spend the whole night tis way,” Luna’s fore leg nested on Alex’s shoulder and Alex thought, he could easily say the same thing, listening to her heart. “But thou needed some help, if ’t be true I’m not mistaking, mine lief.”

        After a short hesitation Alex took out a folded sheet of paper, Luna’s magic enveloped it, unfolding and holding in front of her eyes. The list was long enough, Alex hoped, he didn’t forget anything, he couldn’t make himself initially. Luna scanned the list for whole several minutes, while Alex patiently waited, what she could say: he was ready to hear that something is totally impossible to do here; in his thoughts he tried to compute different alternative variants for the most complex parts.

        “Copper wire, magnets, dense fabric… the long list of metal parts… hmmm,” Luna turned her head to look at him. “Thou forgot about one important thing, thou won’t be able to make anything without, mine lief – the bits!”

        “The money, you mean?” re-asked Alex.

        “Exactly.”

        “Come on, Luna, I can’t! I told Fluttershy the same and I’m telling thee. I’ll try to earn myself enough for the start at least, while…”

        “Alex, don’t be foalish. How much can thou earn in, allowest me to think, a week or two?”

        “A week?!” Alex’s eyes rounded. “I thought, getting all those would take much more time.”

        “Not for me, mine lief!” smiled Luna. “Besides, methinks I know where to look for those. I can load Fillydelphia Steam Company with the majority of thy list, Alex. But I’d like to advise thee to go to the Ponyville blacksmith for the metal parts. The old chap is a noble soldier and true master of his work. I haven’t seen him personally, Tia told me about, but her words were more than praising. I knew his father and grandfather though, both were good blacksmiths as well – tis their family business. Mayhap old Will is coming through less than the finest times now. There are gossips about him around, but thou shan’t believe them, Alex. The old unicorn is the honesty embodied, he will tell thee his story mayhap, if ’t be true ye find some rapport. Thou can find him at the north edge of Ponyville, an old smithy, I’m afraid, even a bit ruined at the moment.”

        “How could that happen to an honest person… pony… unicorn?” Alex even raised on his elbows.

        “Tis a sad story, Alex,” Luna sighed. “The clients flow dried out naturally, as he grew older and big companies took a part of the market, so, he has less than half of the customers, he used to have. But the worst thing is gossips: some ponies think differently about his soldier career, some consider him to be strange, offish, even malevolent… But finally many try to avoid him. He has a fair pension as a veteran, tis enough to live fine with his niece, he took, when her parents died. But his smithy is… slowly extinguishing and he is too principled to take direct help; I know, Tia tried… to no avail.”

        “Yeah, sometimes I see absolutely no differences between people and ponies,” sighed Alex.

        “The tragedy is in him unable to find any apprentice or at least some helping hooves,” Luna closed her eyes. “He is desperate about forwarding his mastery to somepony, but can’t do it still, while not getting younger.”

        “Mayhap ‘t is a nice idea to ask him for a job as well,” Alex voiced his thoughts. “I’m free from local prejudices and now, when my legal status is defined…”

        “Speaking of which,” Alex turned to face Luna. “I probably should thank you again for making Tia define it.”

        “What art thou talking about, Alex?” asked Luna, covering him with her wing and bringing closer.

        “I’ve got a letter this evening and… practically a “passport”,” smirked Alex. “Wasn’t it you, who convinced Tia to do that?”

        “Hmmm… she did ‘t that fast,” muttered Luna, then added. “Wrong guess this time, mine lief. I was hardly less surprised than thee, at which hour Tia talked about ‘t during the breakfast. She froze with a teacup for a good few minutes, muttering something about “unforgivable lapse” and “job getting problems” and then said with a sigh that she had to correct her own overlook regarding you, while you were forced to stay resident.”

        Alex glanced at Luna in disbelief.

        “What?” chuckled she. “I tell thee, Tia is not a monster. She… “bounces on corners” oft. Too much oft. But doth any of us do that nev’r?”

        They talked for the whole two hours more, about various things, not paying attention to the time or fresh wind, as Luna’s wings served a good cover for both, staying close, holding hooves and warming each other with mutual affection.

        “I will regret that words in about a few minutes,” said Alex finally. “But I’m afraid I need to go, Luna.”

        “Unfortunately, yes,” sighed the alicorn beauty, now resting her head on his chest. “Tia will raise the Sun in an hour or so. Besides, thy little pegasus fairy may become worried,” she stroked him gently with her hoof.

        “Apologies, Luna. How art thee about all that?” carefully asked Alex. “I can’t do anything… Tis hard to explain…”

        Luna raised her head and looked directly into his eyes, Alex saw a smile on her face, perhaps because his anxiety was easily audible.

        “I’m not going to start a… marefight over thee, Alex,” she honestly told him. “Not now at least. Why should I spoil our relationship with that? We’re both adults, so is Fluttershy, and none of us is engaged… I’m sure ‘t gets sorted out somehow, someday. Now I’m going to enjoy each day or night I can spend with thee, especially considering thou can vanish as suddenly as thou came hither!”

        Her deep dark-blue eyes filled his consciousness, as her lips pressed tightly to his own, hurrying to get more, before they were to part for a long while.

        *

        It was too late in the night, or better say too early in the morning, to get asleep and hope for a nice recharging rest; one would rather get up feeling even worse, than not sleeping at all. Besides, Alex hardly had any wish to sleep: amazingly, time spent with Luna refilled his reserves better, than any sleep, he was ready to face another day. That is why he simply got into the bed and spent the rest of the night, guarding Fluttershy’s sleep. She felt his presence, right when he returned, and snuggled into him, putting her head on his shoulder and wrapping her legs around him. With a quiet sigh Fluttershy smiled through her sleep; she nuzzled his neck and inhaled deeply.

        “Your Highness, princess Luna, please… don’t take Alex to Canterlot again…” muttered Fluttershy in her sleep, her expression changed to slightly anxious. Nopony knew what she dreamed of before, but right at that moment the remaining lavender scent apparently woke some of her deeper concerns. That could seem funny for a random observer, but Alex gasped: Fluttershy suspected some interest from Luna, despite she could be unsure which exactly; besides, it was only a matter of time, when she could find out that frequent presence of the lavender aroma was more than just her dreams. Alex inwardly facepalmed, he had no idea how to avoid hurting one of them deeply. Another part of him faintly smiled at the thought that Luna was with him even more, than he could expect. Fortunately, the aroma winded out quite fast, but Alex told himself to be more careful next time.

        The east edge of the sky started to get golden and pink, when Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes. She focused her sight on Alex and snuggled to him tighter with a smile.

        “Good morning,” she kissed him under the ear. “How long have you been awake?”

        “For a while,” Alex run his fingers through her mane, kissing her in the nose. “You are my little sunflower, Shy. Well, you’ve missed the sunrise, but only once…”

        Fluttershy’s cheeks got tinted pink.

        “I… ummm… there was a good reason. Who can know better than you, Alex?” she slightly nudged him, then leaned over. Her amazing turquoise eyes filled his view, while she covered his lips with hers, watching his reaction and apparently enjoying each moment of it.

        Needless to say, this sunrise got missed as well.

        *

        After a quick breakfast Fluttershy threw a glance at the clock and shook her head, it was 7 am already. She couldn’t remember last time, when she got up that late in summer, well, except the one, which made her blush a little still. She had the usual morning routines laying in front of her, so she couldn’t join Alex on his first Ponyville visit.

        “I’d like to have a good run around the town, it seems that the last month of sitting in the closed space with limited movement wasn’t entirely beneficial for me,” explained Alex. “Don’t want to look like a badger… no offence to badgers, of course. Besides, I can run into somepony, who needs a pair of helping hands – it’s long overdue to look for a proper job for me, considering I’m going to stay for quite a while…”

        “Just be careful, dear, okay!” Fluttershy sighed deeply, making Alex realize at once that she was still thinking, he was rushing things up, but she didn’t say anything about his job search “obsession” this time. “I don’t know… We can’t be completely sure Mayor Mare succeeded to notify absolutely everypony about you and magic. Promise me, you will stay out of the trouble, Alex,” she looked at him pleadingly.

        “I will try my best,” Alex hugged her with a smile. “It’s just a town of friendly ponies… I hope… well mostly at least, not some rendezvous with… timberwolves,” Fluttershy shuddered, while he continued. “Even if troubles tend to find me recently, what could probably happen in Ponyville?..”

        “I would like to go with you so much,” Fluttershy looked up to him. “But I have my little friends to take care of…”

        “There is no need to divest them of your care and attention, because of me, dear,” Alex was at the front door, putting on his boots already. “Look at me, I suppose, I can cope with problems myself as well.”

        “I know,” Fluttershy said with a sad smile, following him to the door. Alex couldn’t get rid of the feeling that there was much more subtext under those two words.

        “Everything will be alright,” he kneeled to her and planted a long tender kiss. “I’ll have a walk, find at least some job and stop hanging on your neck entirely,” Alex looked into Fluttershy’s eyes tenderly. “That’s for the start… and then, we’ll see.”

        ‘I can’t go anywhere, guarded by one of the girls each time,’ he thought, but kept that to himself. ‘That would be ridiculous… And if I meet Rarity and she goes a little bit too enthusiastic, I’ll have the whole town to run and hide,’ Alex smirked inwardly.

        He passed the yard, opened the gate and stretched hard, inhaling the delicious morning air deeply. It wasn’t yet hot, as the Sun was fairly low, but the wind changed from the nightly cool one to warm, bringing the smell of wild strawberry from the field. The wooden planks rattled, when Alex jogged across the bridge, entering the road to Ponyville. He slowed down at the crossing and threw a quick glance to the big old clock tower amidst the field to his right.

        Alex was to admit that again, the show didn’t do it much justice: there it looked insignificant, hardly suiting the purpose of a clock post; nevertheless, in reality it was rather some old stronghold ruin, the remaining tower was simply huge with the two time worn wall remnants connected to it like wings. Only the lower half was somewhat restored and the clock was mounted in the middle of the tower, but it was apparently enough for it to be visible from any point of Ponyville, despite the trees surrounding the area and effectively hiding the lower buildings from the town view. The upper section was yet untouched and still wrapped in scaffolding, the whole tower most likely being locked from a random visitor to prevent accidents, as the lower clouds easily touched the upper unroofed landing.

        Alex checked the time, then shuddered, when his glance brushed the upper unstable part of the tower and the “toothy” top. He preferred to turn his back to the dark structure and head straight to Ponyville, speeding up, as Alex felt, some training was necessary – the whole month spent locked in 4 walls didn’t pass unnoticed by his body, so, Alex felt some strain in muscles, when he shouldn’t normally. He chose the tempo and passed the uncultivated field, which most likely was “resting” this season. Alex enjoyed the view of distant fruit trees and the smells from the field and the garden, breathing deeply and regularly on his run.

        A small disturbance appeared, right when he passed a long old abandoned, but yet solid barn, built right in the middle of the field. It was presented in the form of a fairly small, but very dense, darkening cloud, which aligned to his course and practically followed him, overshadowing. Alex remembered his self-promise to not wonder, considering where he got, but admitted that at the moment it was harder to do: the weather was perfect, the Sun was raising, so was the temperature, and the rare clouds were white, light and flying high… except for that lone one.

        Meanwhile, it darkened more and more, when finally reached the colour of full-time thunderstorm one, a single short discharge wormed across its belly. Now the cloud was right above Alex and moved with his speed.

        ‘Shit!’ Alex sped up some more. ‘Exactly when the last thing I need is some rain…’

        Like the answer to his concern, the floodgates above him went open and in a matter of seconds Alex became soaking wet from the heavy rain, which suddenly poured on him from that relatively small cloud. Thankfully it was quite warm already, and the rain couldn’t change it noticeably, still Alex looked, like he was bathing clothed in the nearby lake, and his boots started sloshing.

        Alex changed his course and headed into the field, praying for the ground to be smooth enough not to stumble on something and roll on full speed. He hoped to get out from under the rain, considering the size of the trouble, but to no avail. The mean cloud followed like on a leash, despite him running on full speed almost in zigzag trajectory, showering Alex mercilessly – who may think, there would be so much water in it.

        ‘Merlin’s pants!’ Alex threw a quick glance over himself, thinking about keeping the breath only. ‘Now my chances to be hired become thinner, than the spring ice, at the half of the decent places, I planned to visit. All because of that fucking cloud with its rain.’

        His initial plan was to visit the Town Hall and consult Mayor Mare, if there was some job available for him, be it for her or somewhere in the town. She knew about him from Twilight at least and he thought that it would be easier to start that way, especially now, when he had his citizenship legally confirmed. But now he doubted the practicability of that visit – he looked like a wet stray cat and wasn’t sure, if he could find an appropriate explanation for his condition, even in the world, where strange things, including magic, tended to happen.

        The reserve of water seemed to be reached for the cloud, when Alex crossed the big bridge over the river at the actual edge of the town; the rain became thinner and slower, but that could hardly help, because at that moment Alex wasn’t sure, if he didn’t consist of 99 percent of the water, instead of normal average 70. He stopped for a moment, making his choice and a mental note that the cloud stopped as well. A quick glance to the left and Alex shook his head: of course, the Carousel Boutique was within easy reach and he was sure that Rarity would gladly accept him anyway, perhaps even more eagerly, when he looked like that, but…

        He turned right and quickly passed the Town Hall, heading to the market: plans changed according to the reality, Alex decided to start from the simplest opportunities, which didn’t demand for some strict dress code. ‘Still, fuck that cloud!’

        Fortunately, it was early in the morning, so the town wasn’t yet herded and nopony got a chance to enjoy a show of a soaking wet human runner, being lazily showered by almost emptied cloud, which finally became thinner and lighter again. Alex reached the market, when the rain stopped completely, but the cloud was still following him. He was about to suspect Discord, as the source of his problems; frankly speaking, it was a joke right in his spirit, besides, a perfect revenge opportunity for the “pan incident”. But Alex knew that Discord wasn’t a frequent guest in Ponyville, besides, that would be too much, considering he made him look stupid in front of the princesses already.

        The market was only opening, with the stalls slowly getting prepared by their owners, those who managed to arrive already, being early larks. Alex spotted the familiar hat and the straw-blond mane underneath at one of the tents and headed towards immediately. Apparently, Applejack was one of those early larks, so she was preparing for her market shift with the help of her brother, who unloaded the crates from the cart at that moment.

        “Good morning, Applejack!” Alex came closer, raising his hand in salutatory gesture.

        “Morning!” she raised her eyes on him and a small smile transformed into a wide grin, when Applejack scanned him from head to feet. The sympathy for Alex’s strange and miserable look was clearly written in her big green eyes, but she couldn’t hold herself from laughing naturally. “Or was it not entirely good for somepony? Have ya jumped into the lake on yar way ‘ere, Alex?”

        “Yeah, and I decided that I was to jump there with all my clothes specifically,” muttered Alex. Perhaps he had enough reasons to frown, but imagined his own look instead and involuntarily started snorting with her. “No, there was another reason for that. Can I use your tent for the cover, just in case?”

        “Sure thing!” Applejack nodded, still giggling. Then she moved a bit and turned to her brother. “Hey, bro, that’s Alex, Fluttershy’s new friend, I told ya ‘bout, and, ehh, a human, as ya may notice. Alex, that’s Big Mac, my older brother, ya probably know already…”

        “Morning, Big McIntosh,” Alex waved his hand. “Nice to meet you in… pony!”

        “Mutually,” Big Mac waved his fore hoof, then returned to his “logistics”.

        “He is always that eloquent,” smirked Applejack. “So, what brought ya ‘ere that early… And what’s yar problem?” she looked over Alex once again.

        “I know,” Alex slid under the tent. “I planned to look for some actual job today, thus coming early. But it seems, I’ve got… “discorded” on my way here,” he nodded towards the cloud, which still hung nearby, waiting. Alex thought, he could hear some muffled laughter coming from there. “Never could imagine that amount of water holding in such a cloud. Was being poured on from that barn in the field… Now, I guess, I’m kinda limited in my choices, as I can’t expect being looked at seriously enough.”

        “From the old long barn on the road to Flutters’?” Applejacks eyes widened. “Ah’d say that’s quite a shower…” the sympathy took over in her eyes, perhaps even more, when she realized that Alex couldn’t apply to the good half of possible places successfully now. “Ah think, that’s hardly Discord. Ya know, he’s not an entirely welcomed guest in Ponyville still. But Ah know, who that can be…”

        The laughter became obvious and Alex convinced himself, he was not hearing things. Applejack raised her head and yelled.

        “Dash!!! C’mon, show yarself… The joke became old, don’t ya think?”

        A ruffled rainbow head showed up from behind the cloud edge and a couple of sly magenta eyes glanced at them. Evidently, Rainbow Dash had much fun, she couldn’t stop giggling and visibly forced herself not to fall back on the cloud; Applejack rolled her eyes and Alex frowned, the whole thing could be funny, if he was simply having a walk, not trying to find a job.

        “Hey, what’s up?” inquired Rainbow Dash with fake interest. “Isn’t showering in the morning simply healthy, be you a pony or… a human?”

        “Ah think, it is too much already,” Applejack found the prank less funny, than her friend did. “Don’t be so foalish, Dash! Besides, Alex…”

        “Wait,” Alex put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her. He wasn’t sure, if informing Rainbow that she managed to make him put his foot into it twice: once literally and once figuratively, wouldn’t make her fun double. “Can I take it for a moment?” he glanced at an empty bucket.

        “Be mah guest,” Applejack nodded with a puzzled look on her muzzle.

        Alex grabbed the bucket by the handle and headed to the fountain on the market square, where he scooped it full of water. Meanwhile, Dash still rolled from laughter.

        “Come on, Jackie, don’t be a bore, that’s only some water! You’ve missed much, he was zigzagging like a rabbit on the road. The guy seriously thought, he could outrun me!” she huffed proudly, then added, seeing that Alex returned. “And I got a good exercise, bucking and dragging that cloud. That was quite a work! Alex, you could say “thanks” for all the effort to deliver that shower to you, don’t you think?”

        “What? I can’t hear ya!!!” Alex got hold of the bucket better. “Mind to land here and repeat, eh?”

        “I could try to throw it,” he told Applejack from the corner of his mouth. “If I was sure that it wouldn’t come back on our heads. Besides, I don’t want to break your bucket.”

        “Thanks, I have washed my muzzle already,” Rainbow snorted again from above. “But I see that I need to bring more water next time, your ears definitely need more treatment, Alex!” and sticking her tongue towards him she flew away, pushing the cloud.

        “Ugghhh!!!” Alex shrugged and put the bucket down. “I guess that’s one-nil in her favour… Okaaay, it’s not the end of the day.”

        “Actually, she’s not that bad, Alex,” Applejack chuckled. “Yet Rainbow’s jokes can be tough indeed. But she always knows when it’s really time to stop…”

        “Somewhere in between breaking my limb and killing me instantly, right?” Alex saw, how Applejack gawked at him, and added. “Tis a joke. Relax Jackie, I know that thy friend knoweth, whither to stop… Still would prefer, if she stopped a couple of tons of water before,” he sighed, while Applejack squinted at something that seemed very familiar to her.

        “By the way, thank you kindly for all the cider for yesterday’s evening,” Alex bowed slightly with a smile. “I’m so sorry, you couldn’t come.”

        “No probs,” Applejack seemed to make a connection not and relaxed. “Ah need to apologize, but ah was too busy, simply couldn’t cut some free time, sorry. So, what are yar plans exactly?”

        “Well, at the moment I can try only a few applications,” said Alex, examining his wet self. He took off the shirt and squeezed the water out, catching a couple of quick glances from mares at nearby stalls and a raised eyebrow from Applejack. “I’m going to ask ponies at the market, if they need help with heavy lifting, namely a loader for the start and end of their marketing day… Besides, I know you have a railway station, can check there as well. And I’ll check for some more sophisticated stuff later, when… if I manage to reach Ponyville unshowered,” he smirked, then added. “I see you have that part of work covered.”

        “Yeah, the jobs are pretty limited at Ponyville, mostly taken, if ya ask meh,” sighed Applejack, then added with a wide grin. “But Ah think ya will easily cope with what ya planned. Ah know only one two-legged creature bigger than ya… and he is a minotaur.”

        Now it was Alex’s turn to burst into laughter.

        “What?” he wiped a couple of tears, seeing how Applejack raised an eyebrow. “I need to ask Rarity for a T-shirt with writings both on the chest and back:

    1.Yup, I’m a human.

    2.I’m that big, no illusion.

    3.I’m not a bald bear, minotaur or let alone an ape.

    4.I can’t cast. Totally.

    5.Don’t cast on me, will backfire.”

    “And the sixth one – “See, Ah warned ya…”,”Applejack snorted, then started giggling with him.

        “Well, good luck then, Alex,” breathed out she, when they calmed down a bit.

        “Yeah, I’m sure I’ll need plenty of. Thanks, Jackie!” Alex put the shirt back, feeling that he got a free cooling at least. “Have a productive day, too. And don’t hesitate to tell me, if you happen to have more work on your farm and not enough free… hooves to cover it,” he winked.

        Alex couldn’t complain much about that morning, he managed to reach an agreement with two stall owners on the market; both were mares, both witnessed the scene between him and Rainbow Dash and had their laugh, but both had no extra hooves to help them with daily (or better say, regular morning and evening) lading, so that job was guaranteed. One more trader was unsure, but said that he will address Alex, if he had an extra load to operate. That was enough already to cover daily needs, thus Alex was glad he didn’t need to live on Shy’s expense any more.

        Generally, he got equal shares of interested, friendly, neutral and disparaging looks that morning. All like in every other society, nothing to worry about. Naturally, the document, signed by Celestia herself, helped much to turn neutral attitude to more interested and friendly and even some negative – to neutral at least. But as Applejack said, jobs were very limited in Ponyville and mostly taken already, Alex should be happy he found at least a couple of employers for partial-time work that fast. That was normal for a relatively small non-industrial town with calm, hasteless life, where every business had its history and long-established traditions. For example, Alex couldn’t comprehend why quills and sofas were to be sold specifically in one place, but everypony took that as given, the shop was even named simply like that: Quills & Sofas.

        The negotiation with traders on the market took his whole morning though, so when Alex finished with that, the Sun was high already, spreading hot rays of Celestia’s blessing around. There was a positive side to that: Alex finally dried out completely. But he decided to stick to the plan and check the railway station that day, and then… Then it would depend on the results and remaining time, he was still to come to the market, as he ensured both mares that he can start with his job as soon as necessary.

        He ran through the northern part of Ponyville, catching more of surprised looks. Of course, everypony was informed by Twilight and Mayor Mare about the human presence, but one thing was to know and totally different – to see themselves: for the majority “a human” was an abstract enough term, so they saw one in front of them for the first time. Fortunately, nopony took him as a dangerous creature just because of his magic resistance, simply accepting the announced precaution “as is” – no magic? okay!

        Alex in his turn enjoyed the view of picturesque houses and cottages with wooden and hay roofs, large and small gardens, flowers galore, accurate fences and everything, which makes small towns, where everypony knows and mostly respects each other, so special and different from “stone jungles”. Alex realized that he could hardly ever find the place in the whole Equestria, where his former speciality is demanded for, but he wasn’t going to mourn about that – having it simpler, closer to the ground was good enough for a change. ‘At least while I’m forced to stay,’he thought.

        Fluently he crossed the north part of the town, making a mental note of an old smithy, which he spotted through the clearance between town houses. The place looked fairly dead, even from the considerable distance – the smithy was at the far north outskirt of Ponyville. It was natural in its best days, as it kept ponies safe from constant noise and movement at the facility… when the smithy was in best shape and running full day. Now though it only helped ponyvillers forget about the old blacksmith more and more. According to Luna’s words, he didn’t even come to Ponyville recently, his niece could be seen from time to time at the market or in some shops, when they needed supplies. Alex sighed, it seemed that this quiet place selected and made an “alien” for themselves, even more unwelcome, than him – a creature from another world – was.

        Alex knew that he couldn’t cope with his planned task without a good portion of blacksmith work, he hoped that both the place and its owner are still in good enough shape to fulfil his demands. And if not… Well, he decided that it was worth trying to raise the smithy from ashes. What the princesses failed to do, because of the stubbornness and pride of the old blacksmith, unwilling to accept “charity”, Alex could do as a simple customer and… perhaps, an employee. Back in his historical reconstruction practice they were to make weapons and armour for themselves and Alex had some experience; the real smithy looked like an unreachable dream, but now he could try himself on that turf as well. Still, while he could freely try applying for a job there, placing an order or investing in the smithy some other way demanded for an important component, he didn’t have at that moment – bits, god damned money. Thus it returned him to moving and stacking the crates and other stuff, where it was possible and paid for.

        Occupied by the sad thoughts about unenviable blacksmith’s fate and his own limited capabilities Alex slowed down a fair bit. He didn’t even notice how he reached another local sight on his way to the railway station – the Golden Oak Library, and at the same time the home of Twilight Sparkle. Only when he accidentally spotted a few small oak saplings in the shrubs at the edge of the street and felt the smell of oak leaves, Alex woke from his trance. He raised his head, examining the tree giant, which namely contained the whole library, with all the rooms and books, inside its trunk and lower thick branches. The oak was huge, but the mere fact that somepony could live, work and study inside, like in a proper building, put Alex’s self-promise, to wonder not, to a serious test. The forest giant apparently had no problems at all about the rooms being carved in its trunk, somepony hanging bookshelves, putting furniture in, trotting about and minding their own business in an actually living tree: this was the most amazing part for Alex. And one more thing, the Golden Oak reminded him instantly about two other trees: the huge one of unknown species near the place, his transfer occurred (back on Earth), and the Tree of Harmony, he never actually saw, except in his weird dream. Alex already started having doubts that the tree at his “point of departure” was a complete coincidence.

        After having plenty of enjoying the view of the mighty forest giant, Alex noticed that a window was open on the “ground floor” (apparently having windows and balconies, built in the tree itself, didn’t hurt the oak a zilch either), left of the front door. He came closer to see a relatively small room, the walls of which were covered with bookshelves (supposedly like any of the other rooms in the library), but most important – Twilight nesting on a couch and reading a book, which she levitated in front of herself, turning the pages with her magic.

        “Good afternoon, Twilight!”

        “Hey, Twi!” Alex was to repeat his call twice, before Twilight raised one ear first and then her eyes with a slightly absent and puzzled expression. When the book released her and Twilight focused her glance on the source of disturbance, a smile appeared on her muzzle.

        “Hi, Alex!” her expression became slightly embarrassed. “Sorry, didn’t notice you coming. I was reading about teleportation spells; it seems I know everything about them, yet checking if you can find out something new never hurts.”

        “I might have gotten a bit distracted from reality,” she put the book away, marking the page with a band. “How many times did you call?”

        “Twice… only!” chuckled Alex.

        “You’re either very loud or lucky… or both at the same time,” laughed Twilight. “Usually it takes more, when I’m into a book. Come in by the way, the door is unlocked.”

        “Thanks, Twi. I’ll come a bit later, if you don’t mind. I’m afraid, if I get inside now, I become even more distracted from reality and stay for quite a while, examining your unusual apartment and I still have things to do,” explained Alex. “Don’t think that I’m neglecting your invitation, please.”

        “That’s okay,” Twilight got up and approached the window, leaning on the windowsill with her fore legs. “I understand your concern. The first reaction is always strong. I myself was stunned the first time I got inside.”

        “I mean, I saw even more books gathered at one place, of course,” she elaborated. “But the whole place packed inside a giant tree made me freeze in awe. So your worries aren’t groundless,” she giggled, then suggested. “Come closer then and don’t mind the flowers under the window. They are spell protected, one can’t crumple them,” Twilight cocked her head, visibly proud of her invention.

        Despite her words, Alex carefully stepped over the plants of the improvised front garden to approach the window.

        “So what are your pressing problems?” asked Twilight with a smile, when he leaned on the low windowsill from the outer side. “How’s the first day in Ponyville generally, Alex?”

        “Not bad. At least I’m not generally frowned upon or being chased and watched, like a rare animal…”

        “You haven’t yet met Lyra, I suppose,” huffed Twilight. “She’ll give you some hard time with her human obsession, will see.”

        “Just when I supposed, the calm and boring life awaited,” shrugged Alex, making them both laugh. “Actually I was looking for some job, to cover at least simple living needs. Just as planned. Fluttershy may say that I don’t need to, out of her endless kindness and sympathy, but I can’t be an eternal guest, let alone freeloader.”

        Twilight nodded slightly, her expression clearly said that she expected exactly this, with a faint tint of satisfaction, because of her assumption being correct; while Alex continued.

        “Naturally, I got equal loads of positive and reservedly negative reaction, both at my own self and my application attempts. But I guess that’s normal, considering who and where I am.”

        “Jobs are pretty limited here,” said Twilight with visible regret. “So, somepony may think that you are going to steal some and frown upon that. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care of your needs.”

        “Yeah, that’s what Applejack told me this morning exactly,” Alex ruffled his hair, finding them a bit messy after the shower provided by Rainbow Dash. “I met her at the market, her and Big Mac.”

        “Actually,” continued he. “I could only find a couple of places where my service of a loader was needed. Well, for now, it’s not bad anyway, at least it should pay regularly and cover the basics.”

        “Something tells me that you are aimed for more,” Twilight smiled with her eyes only. “Heavy lifting is not yours, despite you can cope with it evidently,” she threw a quick glance over his frame.

        “Yup. I have certain plans. But they need some solid ground at first,” sighed Alex.

        “I found some help,” he added cagily. “The rest depends on me entirely. Thus I plan to visit the railway station, Twilight. I hope there could be more job, even if it is still loading for the start.”

        “And I wanted to see the blacksmith,” Alex said after a pause. “Luna… princess Luna told me in brief about his harsh fate and him refusing to accept any direct help. Maybe I could change something… elusively, I will need his mastery anyway for what I plan to make.”

        “Hmmm…” Twilight pondered, Alex’s amendment didn’t slip from her attention. “Did she tell you about his reputation as well?”

        “She did. Just as she told me, tis a nonsense,” Alex frowned a bit. “I can’t believe in the earnest, he hath done anything, making the whole town alienate him severely, at which hour none of the princesses hath reacted to that. Celestia is not omnipresent forsooth, but I doubt, she knoweth not about any crime of her subjects at the end of the day…”

        As usual Twilight visibly strained at his old language strike, perhaps a bit less this time, getting used to that manifestation of concern.

        “I’m not jumping any bandwagon, Alex,” she explained fast. “Not in my habits, as you may have noticed. But the general attitude towards old Will is, let’s say, less than entirely friendly,” diplomatically rounded it Twilight. “It is based on rumours, of course, and I can hardly tell which of them have real ground and which – none at all… But be aware that you may feel it as well, working with him close; ponies will surely have concerns,” she added with a guilty look.

        “I’m ready to take some risks,” chuckled Alex. “Besides, I can’t proceed without his help.”

        “I’ve noticed that already,” Twilight made a face, then suddenly became serious again. “Just mind that, please. I won’t judge you, you’re an adult and Will’s past has nothing to do with any of your current plans, besides it’s a long gone history, whatever it was. I still can’t be sure about others…”

        “Thanks, Twilight,” Alex took her hoof in hands for a second, leaning closer. “I truly appreciate. Promise to be careful. Usually, I can unravel a person… pony, well, you know, pretty accurate. But thank you anyway.”

        “Simply be prudent, okay?” Twilight gave him a hug, stroking his back with her fore hoof. Alex inwardly smirked, Luna would never give him that advice, knowing that he hardly would be overcautious.

        “Okay,” he waved her goodbye, stepping over the flowers again and going around the Oak Library. The station was already visible from here across the wide field.

        Despite his initial worries, the railway station appeared to be more welcoming towards Alex, than the market. Alex was to make another mental note that in reality it looked different: maybe the station, its main building, office was relatively small, but it was accompanied by a variety of huge warehouses in the terminal area. Being practically the main and only transport artery of Ponyville the station handled loads of different stuff, coming through it daily, and stored for a while, like at the transit depot. Thus capable hooves, and in his case – hands, were always in need there.

        After a few questions being asked, Alex quickly found the stationmaster and addressed him with the application. It would be a crime against truth to say that the stationmaster wasn’t surprised, even stunned a bit, by the fact that a human (a mythic extraequestrian creature according to the majority’s ideas) came to ask for a job. The unpocketed documents quickly dispelled his doubts, when he saw that the human residence in Ponyville was approved by Celestia herself. Of course, the chief knew about the human from the Mayor Mare announcement, but extra caution was never excessive, when you were managing a strategically important transport hub.

        Fortunately, they indeed had a vacancy at warehouse work, practically the same loader, but with more responsibility and wider set of duties. It paid back better as well, compared to simplistic market work. Thus when all the legal questions were rounded and Alex proved that he knew, what he was going into actually, he spent the rest of the day getting acquainted with the whole facility and his personal working area.

        One could easily get lost at first in the web of service lines and variety of buildings at the freight yard and Alex chuckled once again at the memory of how the station was portrayed in the show: namely a small office building and a couple of railways. That was totally different from what Alex faced in reality, but he hoped to learn the place layout in a few days, so he didn’t need a map further to do his job. For the first time observer the large hangars of warehouses looked all the same, which in company with narrow dark passages between them could give the creeps to a novice. At least they had numbers, written with bright paint in large digits; Alex assumed they were clearly visible even at the night time.

        The Sun started to roll down already, when Alex finished his first “tour” around the station complex and learned what needed to know to start working, at least what he could learn right away. He was going to start right the next day and promptly negotiated the working hours, considering that he had some job at the market as well. The stationmaster was surprised by that request first, but when he found out that Alex was trying to combine three work places at once, practically being nobody in Ponyville, he seemed to understand his position and reluctantly agreed (later he was to admit, he made the right decision).

        Remembering that he was to arrive at the market in time – being punctual at the very start was vital – Alex departed, keeping in mind that he planned to have a closer look at the blacksmith’s place on his way back. Thus he crossed the few railways and the field, separating the station from Ponyville, but this time headed more north, avoiding the actual streets and getting around the town through its northern outskirts. After a few minutes of walking Alex exited to an old road, it looked rarely used, all bumpy and unmaintained, totally unnoticeable from the field; he could never tell there is one, if he didn’t come to it accidentally. Alex guessed that it could lead him exactly to the smithy and this simple guess, accompanied by the condition of the road, made him produce one more heavy sigh. It seemed that blacksmith’s business was in a really deplorable state, the only source of stable income being Will’s soldier pension, as Alex was told. This road, supposedly connecting the smithy with the railway station, was now almost unused, as the stream of materials, orders and customers turned into a thin rill, and Alex thought that the road from the smithy to Ponyville was hardly in better shape likewise.

        ‘I wonder, if ’t be true I want to achieve the impossible,’ Alex gritted his teeth. ‘Extending mine expectations further than simply making some necessary parts for the generators with the help of the old chap. Mine order shalt hardly change much, tis needs more interference, than I thought. Methinks, I found the next step after loader work. At least I must try…’

        Alex took off his shirt, exposing his back to the Sun, which wasn’t hot already, and quickly walked up the road, inhaling the mixing smells of the field flowers and dry dust.

        *

        “Uncle Will, come here,” Silver Ingot stopped setting the table and approached the open window. “Take a look, there, behind our fence.”

        The breeze, playing with the curtains, prevented her from seeing the stranger well and the young unicorn mare grasped the light cloth with her magic to move it slightly aside – just enough to see a strange creature outside. She pointed at him, when the old blacksmith approached.

        Willsmash Steel only huffed quietly at the look of their “guest”, nopony could tell by that sound, what he thought about at that moment.

        Alex just reached the end of the abandoned road to find that it led to the smithy indeed. He stopped behind the fence and took a long look around the house, the smithy, all the yard. The wind ruffled his hair and the whole look of the attacking and being accurately, but futilely, fought desolation ruffled his thoughts. For the time being he saw no effective ways to revive the place, despite looking for them desperately. Time worn, long ago extinguished furnace, old withered awning above the anvil, trough and larger instruments, weather-beaten closed shed, which most likely contained the workbenches and whole lot of smaller instruments and looked its large blindly shut gate at the anvil – everything told Alex than the old blacksmith tried hard to keep them in order, but each day had less and less force and inducement to bring them to former exemplary state. There was something fateful in that, like if he realized the futility of this care – there were hardly any customers coming in the nearest future, but his steel-fused soul protested against complete abandoning of his beloved craft and erstwhile pride. Alex wasn’t even sure that old Will could find it reasonable to fan the furnace and clean the crucible for the single order, which would hardly change the fate of the smithy, let alone save it.

        The house was kept with more meticulous touch and Alex understood that old soldiers pension was by a narrow margin enough for the household, the rest was over the limits of the two, struggling with the herd’s prejudices.

        ‘Tis calleth for a more careful approach, than I thought,’ sighed Alex, sweeping the windows of the house with a quick glance; the curtain moved slightly on the open one. ‘I shall be ready, at which hour I come to make ‘t pump.’

        Meanwhile, Silver Ingot measured his figure with her eyes once again.

    “That must be the human,” she turned to her uncle. “I’ve heard about him yesterday’s evening at the Town Hall square, when Mayor Mare and princess Twilight made their announcement.”

        “Quite an unusual case, you’re right, my filly,” muttered old Will, rubbing his chin. “I’ve heard about humans enough through my long life, a magically resistant one – that’s something new to me.”

        “He doesn’t look dangerous though,” the young mare let out a small smile. “He looks a bit… lost, uncle. Or at least looking desperately for something.”

        At the very moment Alex leaned on the still solid fence, frankly speaking, totally bewildered by the clear evidence that it had been quite a while, since the last time the fire blessed the old forge for some work.

        “He may be looking for his own self,” sadly smirked the blacksmith. “Being an alien among ones unlike you, both physically and mentally, all of a sudden… that’s definitely enough to get lost. He is lucky, if he has at least a few ones, whom he can trust. I can only imagine, how he must feel sometimes.”

        “Yeah, resembles our case, uncle Will, doesn’t it?” sighed Silver Ingot, heading to the half-set table, which she was distracted from by the unusual sound of steps, coming through the window, and then by the look of the two-legged stranger. “We are simple ponies, yet sometimes, very often, to be frank, I feel like an extraequestrian creature, when I come to the market.”

        “I’m so sorry that I made you come through all that, my filly,” the old unicorn tiredly placed himself on the chair, which pleadingly screeched. “You are suffering the ponies’ mistrust because of my reputation only. It’s not your fault, yet it’s your reckoning.”

        “Oh, uncle, please stop saying that,” his niece left the dishes and gently touched Will’s shoulder. “I can’t complain. What about should I really? You taking me as a foal, when mom and dad were kidnapped by the changelings? Saving me?”

        “Otherwise I would have hardly make it to the orphanage,” she added quietly.

        “Quite a few years passed since then,” the smile lit Will’s eyes. “A small weak foal grew up into a beautiful young mare.”

        Silver Ingot blushed and looked away, involuntarily glancing through the window again.

        “And now my past is staining your future, spoiling your life,” the old blacksmith downcasted. “Don’t you see, a young girl shouldn’t live like that.”

        “We both can hardly do anything about that. Ponies have prejudices and… tend to believe what they hear. Especially if they hear that on every corner,” his niece wasn’t going to bow to or snap under life’s injustice. “I’m fine as I am, to be honest. And I’m happy that I can help at least a bit with what I learned. Making jewellery is still better than nothing.”

        “You’re too humble, my dear. You’ve made a great progress recently. It’s a calamity, you’re getting barely tithe of what your work really costs.”

        “Anyway, I’m not going to stop being myself simply to look more socially acceptable for anypony,” Silver Ingot cocked her head. “Even if I could…”

        She finished the preparations and welcomed her uncle to their simple supper.

        “He is standing there still,” noticed Willsmash, coming to the table. “I wonder what interest may he have… Or does our smithy look that stunningly awful already?” he chuckled.

        Outside Alex weighted all pros and cons once again and flexed involuntarily. He threw one more glance on the house and turned to the road to Ponyville, immersed in his thoughts, absently putting his shirt back on. The market still waited for him, so did two mares, who he was to help packing their stalls.

        “As you said, he must be looking for his own self,” Silver Ingot let out a small smile. “Right now he may be looking for a job. Can’t imagine what a human could do in his home world, but being thrown here he must think about most common vital things first, I suppose.”

        “Well… The helping hooves… or hands are hardly necessary, if we aren’t supposed to have any customers in the nearest future,” the blacksmith seemed to be weighing something in his mind. “But if he came here and asked for a job… and had his hands growing from the right place, I would gladly hire him. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen most likely.”

        “Physically he can easily cope with that work,” Silver Ingot measured Alex’s receding back. “Still I doubt that he is very enthusiastic about getting a job at the place, which is about to fall apart.”

        *

        Several days passed in routinely manner: Alex got up early and after a light breakfast headed to the market, where his two faithful clients waited for him. He was stronger than ponies and naturally could lift and carry more, so, seeing that everything was done fast and accurately each time and both mares had no problems with their worker, other traders estimated the possibilities and started asking for Alex’s service, when they needed extra help. If time allowed, Alex never rejected such work, as he realized that his further plans needed any bit, he could earn.

        After the market, when the Sun raised higher, he ran to the railway station, put on his badge and helmet (Alex managed to find the fitting size) and dived into the busy life of the transport and storage facility. It could seem boring to an inattentive distant observer, actually, the work at Ponyville railway hub could be hard, exhausting, but never dull. One must know and keep in mind too much in addition to the labyrinth of the storage hangars and the hard work of lifting and moving the heavy crates itself, so even not mentioning the different nature (and conditions of storage, for example of alchemic ingredients of increased danger level) of cargo, one didn’t have any chance to get bored at that work.

        The closer to the evening, the harder it was, because despite its importance, the station and the freight yard were very limited in lighting. Some types of goods didn’t suppose any fire being used near them, so firefly-lanterns were used mostly, when the sunlight was limited inside their hangars. Alex noticed that he could see in the darkness much better than any of the ponies: where he saw decently, others saw nothing. Thus dealing with loads in limited lighting conditions soon became his special well-paid task. And he knew, which place would definitely benefit from his upcoming invention; first he planned to use the wind power here. Alex was told that there was an irrigation dam at the river nearby, so later a water turbine could be placed at the spillway to feed the station needs (that would need a totally different, higher level of engineering, thus was a more distant plan).

        First Alex was afraid that having magically advanced, kinetic capable unicorns, ponies would need his service as a loader not that much. But the reality told otherwise: nopony knew exactly why, perhaps because of historical prejudices, there were almost no unicorns, doing that “unpopular” work. Alex found that funny and totally impractical as, for example, Rarity could lift and move quite a large amount of things with her magic – Applejack told him once, how they went hiking and how Rarity took “a darn huge load o’stuff, consarnit! Ah never thought of her being able to carry that much…” But he could see only a couple of unicorns working at the freight yard and nothing told about them being straining themselves too much. That was pouring water on his wheel, fortunately. Besides, Alex was always guided by physics principles, while stacking anything, so once the stationmaster put him as an example to others, saying that “a bucking earthquake must occur to shatter that stack of crates”. Thus being friendly, where possible, accurate, strong enough and capable to work in considerable darkness quickly made him a valuable part of railway station team. There was one more positive aspect of the hard work – Alex felt that almost no remnants of the month, spent sitting in four walls, left; more of the same workout and he started gaining. No gym could ever offer that boost.

        ‘Now I need only to learn the placement of damned hangars perfectly,’ chuckled Alex inwardly. ‘And I can safely assume I will reach the upper limit of myself at that place.’

        Finishing his daily part of work Alex left the station earlier, much earlier than others, as he was to reach the market in time and do the evening loading for the traders, he worked with. That was initially agreed, but lately Alex started noticing that nopony frowned upon that anymore – he managed to do tons of work fast and accurate enough even up to that early hour, so nopony objected he left the freight earlier.

        Working at the market Alex saw and was able to share a few phrases with Applejack and Big Mac daily; he started helping them, when the load of goods, brought for selling, was excessive for two earth ponies to handle fast. Alex never took any bits in return, but he didn’t refuse some fine apples, if offered – Fluttershy loved apples, so did Alex.

        He noticed that he was getting along nicely with Jackie’s brother, especially when working together, despite Big Mac being extremely laconic, mostly limiting the conversation to simple “Eeyup” and “Nnope”; a special case was needed for a more complex phrase to leave the taciturn stallion’s mouth.

        A few times Apple Bloom came with her older siblings to help at the market stall and they both with Alex always found time for a joke or some merry fuss. Apple Bloom’s loud laughter spread throughout the market square, when Alex picked her up and tossed high in the air, then caught and tickled.

        He saw Granny Smith once as well; mostly she visited the market later, when Alex was at the railway station already. That day she needed something for her special recipe, which took quite some time to prepare, so she was to get it in the morning to cook everything till dinner. Alex was awarded by “what a fine young… stallion” words of her, which made both sisters giggle and even Big Mac snorted quite audibly.

        And Alex’s nights were often blessed by visits of his incredible princess, Luna never could bear more than a couple of days without him, thus their meetings became regular. So did their dancing lessons. Alex praised the simple fact that they with Fluttershy lived at far outskirts of the town, so, nopony could spot them with Luna, dancing in the moonlight. He chuckled each time at the mental image of somepony thinking they saw a couple of ghosts in the night veiled field.

        Alex could assume that almost everything settled fine during his first few conscious free-roaming days in Ponyville. Everything, except three problems of different severity and nature.

        The first and the biggest was his thoughts about returning home and progressively thinning chance to do that; they usually stood back, expelled by work or engineering (he had a large stack of paper, covered in drafts, “blueprints” and calculations, and smiled mysteriously, telling that it was a surprise, when Fluttershy asked, what was in them) or his time together with Fluttershy, but always returned, when Alex had a few free moments to himself. Accompanied by the insecurity regarding the feelings, he could leave a few ponies in upon his departure, they became almost unbearable; Alex tried to leave himself less unoccupied time possible. The nightly visits of princess Luna helped immensely, he could completely dissolve in her embrace, simply listening to her heart and not letting sad thoughts come through. They didn’t talk about his possible departure, but Alex felt that Luna was concerned hardly less, than himself: she snuggled into him and kissed so hard each time before leaving, like if it was their last one.

        Another problem could be considered funny, if it wasn’t merely uncomfortable: Rainbow Dash found the idea of morning showers quite beneficial for Alex, besides, she never troubled herself with checking the temperature of the water in the cloud, so it was pure lottery; Alex started wondering if she secretly had some hardening program for him. Fortunately, Rainbow adored a good nap even more than a good prank, so her shenanigans could be easily avoided by sneaking along the road to the market earlier. But not very early, not to make Fluttershy protest the morning… deprival.

        The third issue was purely cosmetic, if we can call it that way – Alex noticed that his hair grew too long to become a certain trouble. Shaving the stubble wasn’t a problem, but Alex could never cut his own hair properly and decently. One day he was to let out one more deep sigh and admit that visiting Rarity (as he knew nopony else, who could help him with the haircut) was imminent, before his hair started to obscure his view, hindering the work.

        Alex had a talk with both of his market clients to find the evening, when they didn’t need his help much, and when the stipulated day came, he headed to the south end of the town right after his station shift and taking a shower. Carousel Boutique was his aim and Alex was to admit that he found racing the manticore a bit less unnerving. The time was chosen not randomly at all, Alex extended his hope to see Sweetie Belle at home at this hour, thus her older sister supposedly should keep herself in hooves better… well, not pouncing him right at first sight at least.

        When he reached the “chic, unique and magnifique” round building and stepped on the paved walkway across the front garden, he noticed the unusual silence, interrupted by Rarity’s sewing machine clacking only. Alex smiled – Rarity was busy with some work as usual (when not having her relaxing SPA treatment), and sighed – when Belle was at home, she produced more noise. He grasped himself and knocked at the front door. The sound of sewing machine stopped, Alex accurately knocked once more.

        “Just a minute,” he heard the familiar “faceted glass”-like voice inside the house. “I’m coming.”

        The door opened, revealing Rarity in all the glory of her pristine white coat and perfectly stylized violet mane and tail. She managed to take off her glasses, she used for stitching, but a meter band still hung on her neck and a pencil was casually placed behind her ear. Nevertheless, she kept the noble, almost regal look, easily; the image of her visitor made her noticeably relax, yet Alex spotted a couple of self-explanatory sparkles in her eyes.

        “Oh, good evening, Ahhlex!” Rarity breathed out with a benevolent smile, batting her long eyelashes.

        “Good evening, Rarity,” Alex couldn’t hold back the sincere smile, caused by her regal expression and the sewing tools combined.

        “Ahem…” Rarity followed his glance and her nose become slightly pinkish, she made the pencil and meter fly back in her workroom with her magic. She didn’t hesitate much though and opened the door wider. “Come on in, darling. What is bothering you? Maybe I can offer my help…”

        Alex followed Rarity in the living room and the salon at the same time, the dresses were presented along the walls and the thick curtains shielded the entrance to a couple of dressing cabins. He told himself that the curve, Rarity’s flanks followed, was hardly unintentional, and strained inwardly. Rarity welcomed him to take an armchair at the round table with a wide gesture, placing herself into the opposite one and crossing her legs in the most seducing for a pony way. A part of Alex’s mind was smiling at the obvious symptoms, another was preparing for any wild consequences.

        “So?” Rarity placed her chin on her hoof, leaning on the table and staying the epitome of grace simultaneously. She tilted her head and batted her eyelashes, glancing at Alex from under them.

        “Well… To cut things short, excuse my pun,” smirked Alex. “I had a long growing problem, Rarity – my hair. It’s a matter of days they start interfering with my eyesight severely, preventing me from doing my work… Not to mention that it’s getting too hot under that… mane.”

        Instead of an answer Rarity got up and approached Alex, she examined his head from different angles, then raised on her hind legs behind his armchair and put her fore hooves on his shoulders. With a quiet sigh she nuzzled his hair, Alex inwardly praised the shower, he took after the whole day of hard work, then she rubbed her cheek against his head.

        “Sweet Celestia!” Rarity finally voiced her thoughts. “You are blessed with such strong and good hair. It’s a crime to cut them short, if you ask me, darling.”

        “I can’t walk around with a braid or… pony tail,” Alex rolled his eyes. “I’m already almost blowing the bangs like Fluttershy, when my hands are busy. But I can’t cut them myself not becoming a scarecrow instantly. From all the ponies I know, from all my friends, you are the only one, Rarity, who can do it properly, I suppose.”

        “Right you are, Ahhlex!” Rarity cocked her head proudly and Alex realized that he played the right string. “But still, darling, it would be such a waste…”

        After a short arguments exchange Rarity gave up, asking what Alex actually wanted to be done with his haircut.

        “I suppose you are higher than simply asking for “cut-it-somehow” version, darling,” she murmured, ogling him. “You could probably draw, what you need.”

        “Unfortunately, drawing is not one of my virtues,” sighed Alex. “You know, Rarity, there is a list of things, I’m a total loser and avoid scaring others by my attempts at. So, drawing is somewhere within… along with the ability to cut my own hair decently. I can only try to explain.”

        He spent a few minutes more, telling and showing Rarity with his hands, how he needed his hair to be cut – very short at the back of the head and behind the ears, slightly longer at the top and front, but short enough to be able to lay without extra help.

        “Well, that’s as thorough and detailed as I understand it and can explain without any experience,” Alex shrugged, then smiled. “You are certainly free to make the rest fashionable enough. But not too fashionable,” he winked. “Just remember that’s me, not princess Cadence.”

        Rarity huffed, but she wasn’t offended a zilch, she nodded instead.

        “Come with me, Ahlex, I have the suitable mirror and armchair in my workroom.”

        But first they headed to the kitchen, where Alex made his hair damp under the tap above the deep sink. When he turned on the water, the pipes under the sink made a nasty screeching sound, Rarity frowned a little.

        “They are that way for quite a while, darling,” she told him in an apologetic tone. “It’s fine when the water is running, but when you turn it on… you heard that.”

        Alex weighed the idea to check the pipes for Rarity, he still was unsure, if staying with her tete-a-tete longer than necessary was safe enough.

        “It’s very quiet in the house otherwise,” he mentioned instead. “I thought Sweetie Belle must have been at home that late.”

        “Oh, she ran away to her club mates, they have some meeting about their cutie marks hunt,” Rarity laughed heartily.

        “So we are all alone here,” she added with a sly smile, seating him in the armchair in front of a big mirror and covering from the neck down with a sheet. “Purely adult swim…”

        Alex didn’t reply, he found it not prudent to interrupt somepony with scissors and cutting his hair, even if holding them with magic. Especially holding them with magic, he wanted his ears as… well, ears, not a distant memory. Besides, he noticed Rarity getting more and more heated, as she stayed around him. She approached him from one side, then another, snuggling into him, when it was possible, on the pretext of checking, how he looked in the mirror. He could feel the faster heartbeat and caught her glance almost undressing him, now it was up to him, getting out in the most diplomatic way.

        Finally, Rarity was done with fine trimming and apparently satisfied with the result. She brushed the cut hair off Alex and took the sheet away, welcoming him to check the haircut in the mirror.

        “I hope it’s close enough to what you wanted,” she looked at him from under her eyelashes.

        “You’re joking, right?! That’s exactly what I wanted,” exclaimed Alex, examining himself from different sides. “Rarity, you’re a star, I can’t thank you enough. It’s classy… exceeds my expectations by far. I hope I didn’t interfere with your main work… too much.”

        “That’s okay, darling,” Rarity stepped closer. “A nice activity change, when it was needed, and a break from my stitching work.”

        “And a nice company,” added she with widening eyes, taking another step to him; Alex noticed the same sparkles in her eyes. “Just what I…”

        A loud bang from the kitchen interrupted her, followed by repetitive thumping noise. Both Alex and Rarity burst there to be greeted with an image of a water pool quickly spreading from under the sink.

        “The water pipe got loose,” Alex grabbed bewildered Rarity by shoulders to bring her to action. “Rarity, come on, where are the valves?!”

        “The v-valves?” re-asked Rarity with widened eyes, but the image of Alex’s eyes at a couple inches distance seemed to wake her.

        “Yeah, the valves, to cut the water,” Alex forcedly smiled in the most cheerful way, Rarity easily lost her head about simplest living troubles. “I need to cut the water, before your kitchen turns into a swimming pool.”

        “Oh!” Rarity cleared her throat. “They are in the basement.”

        She quickly trotted out of the kitchen and Alex followed her on the stairs behind the hatch. They quickly found the water mains’ entrance and the valves in the soft light of Rarity’s horn. Alex noticed that the whole place was kept in order, Rarity was faithful to her principles, but the plumbing certainly needed man’s hands; when he tried to close the valve, he was to put all his strength to turn them, as they got stuck pretty tough. The muscles on his arms popped like ropes and he noticed out of the corner of his eye, how Rarity watched him passionately. Finally, the water was cut and they got back to the accident site – the kitchen.

        ‘I’m getting wet again!’ thought Alex, kneeling and opening the cupboard under the sink to estimate the damage, fortunately it was clean water from the mains. ‘It’s getting routinely annoying.’

        Rarity brought the lamp and Alex could measure the broken pipe – the hose from the mains to the tap got loose from its nut and the thumping noise, they heard, was the water coming out. There was quite a pool of it already, thankfully the floor was made of stone in her kitchen and to her honour Rarity didn’t drop a word about wading in the cold water.

        “I hope the general store is still open,” Alex got up, noticing his pants got all wet from the knees down. “I’ll be back shortly. By the way, do you have a wrench, preferably adjustable one? I can attach the hose with bare hands tight enough, but it’ll better be screwed properly,” he added almost from the front door.

        “I-I think, I saw it somewhere… I’ll t-try to find…” said Rarity, standing in the kitchen doorway, she was still in slight shock by the accident.

        Chased by the setting Sun Alex thought that this race could easily beat the manticore one, when he jet-ran through Ponyville to the general store, followed by amused glances of a few fillies and stallions, and some disapproving by a few elderly mares. Fortunately, the seller understood him from the first word and after a few moments and spent bits (he bought an adjustable wrench as well, just in case) Alex “flew” back, passing the same ponyvillers once again, causing surprised glances this time.

        To his surprise Rarity managed to clean up all the mess, while he was getting the necessary tools, moreover, an old wrench waited for him on the floor near the sink.

        “You thought that such a girl like me must have no idea about the tools, confess, Alex?” Rarity pouted slightly, but made it so cutely that Alex laughed kindly.

        “Well, maybe just a single thought. Sorry, Rarity,” he took the lamp and opened the cupboard again, pondering, how to reach the pipes in a more handy way. “Frankly speaking, I took it just in case. Besides, now I can hold the pipe in place with one and drive the nuts with another – twice effective.”

        But Rarity didn’t plan to pout too long: when Alex got under the kitchen sink, laying on his back, as it was the best way to keep both hands ready for work, she placed herself at the kitchen table and put her chin on her hoof, watching him fixedly. Alex started unscrewing the old hose, throwing quick glances at Rarity and forcedly admitting that the whole scene reminded him more and more of a certain adult movie, involving a housewife and a plumber. Facepalming inwardly and shooing the idea away, Alex put more effort into the pipework and pressed the handle with a groan, so, finally the old nut gave up.

        “Need some help, darling?” Alex noticed that Rarity already placed herself next to him and lit her horn. That made the scene lit twice better and Alex was to confess that it helped, but at the same time the proximity of her warm body was distracting him, nopony knew, what was up Rarity’s mind at that moment.

        “Tis fine! Dost not worry,” Alex detached the hose and quickly tilted his head as a few drops of water came out of the pipe just to the spot, his face was a second ago. “Almost thither…”

        Rarity let out a deep, and to be honest quite excited sigh, and apparently noticed nothing. Alex fitted the new hose and tightened both nuts to hold in place as long as possible, while Rarity watched him with deepening breath, he almost felt electricity coming from her.

        “So…” started Alex making the final turn of the wrench, suddenly he felt gentle hoof traveling up his leg. Apparently, this caught him entirely off guard and with a gasp Alex raised on his elbows fast enough… for his head to meet the metal bottom of the sink with an audible boom. A flock of colourful birds fluttered in front of his eyes and Alex fell down, entering a well deserved for that reckless move black out.

        When he regained his consciousness, Alex lied a few moments still, finding something wet on his forehead, something soft under his head and… something warm and alive on his chest. Alex slowly opened his eyes, focusing on Rarity’s eyes in a couple of inches.

        ‘Well, whom could I expect?’ blinked in his head.

        Somehow she managed to drag him a little from under the sink and to the middle of the kitchen (quite an achievement for a pony unable to use magic on him), put a pillow under his head and the wet thing on his forehead was a towel, placed over his almost an egg size bump to cool it down. Rarity lay on his chest with a mixed expression of lust and fear for his condition, she watched his face for the signs of waking up all that time, but her hooves unconsciously stroked him. She threw a quick glance down, her lips were at the hair distance from his.

        Not waiting for the continuation that was too obvious Alex cleared his throat.

        “Ugh-oh!” His head was still spinning slightly, but he quickly examined himself mentally: fine, except the bump, and the main thing – his clothes were entirely in place, he was unconscious for a couple of minutes most likely.

        “Thanks for placing me more comfortably,” muttered he, raising his hand and rubbing his face, thus naturally making Rarity back up a little to give him space.

        “Oh, I’m so sorry, darling!” breathed out Rarity, still holding him in her grasp; she might move a little, but still was nesting cosily on him. “You’ve made me so scared, Ahlex…”

        “That’s entirely my fault,” chuckled Alex, then squinted, the vibration made his head spin a little more. “Should be more cautious. I’ll be fine… in a while.”

        “You definitely must lay still, darling! And I’ll be here in case you need something,” Rarity started advancing again as soon as he removed the hand. Alex felt, how her heated body trembled slightly, as her eyes and lips were approaching his.

        The salvation came in form of the sound of the opening front door, apparently, the fillies had all their questions discussed and further adventures planned, so the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ meeting came to an end.

        “I’m home, sis!” shouted Sweetie Belle from the door. “Rarity?!”

        Then apparently she saw the light, coming from the kitchen, and a series of quick hoofsteps brought Rarity’s younger sister to the doorway, before anypony could move.

        “Errmmm…”

        “Good evening, darling!” Rarity rushed to explain, but her pinkish cheeks were quite eloquent. “We had a terrible disaster here – a water pipe got loose and a flood was inevitable,” she rolled her eyes dramatically, getting up from Alex’s chest and allowing him to sit finally, holding the wet towel on his head. “Thank Celestia, Alex came earlier for a haircut, so, he was here, when it happened. He practically saved the place and fixed the pipe, but then accidentally hit his head on the sink… I-I was checking, if he w-was getting better…”

        “I see,” Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow, the memory of certain “stitching drafts” was too fresh and she was to admit that one of them reminded the scene close enough.

        “Are you okay, Alex?” she came closer and looked into Alex’s eyes, her expression was sympathetic and understanding though, it seemed she understood the whole scene right.

        “You must be hungry, give me a few minutes,” Rarity fussed around the kitchen, trying to change the accent.

        “I’m fine,” Alex took off the towel and handed it to the filly with a smile. “Thanks to your sister, she did everything fast to remedy my mishap, and the bump is way smaller, than it could be, if not treated in time,” he felt his head with his fingers.

        “Thank you,” he leaned closer and whispered in Sweetie Belle’s ear, when Rarity was busy. The filly simply nodded, understanding what Alex meant under that.

        “Okay, girls, let’s try turning the water on,” Alex slowly got up, feeling that at least that wasn’t a concussion – his head stopped spinning and there were no noticeable aftereffects. He headed to the basement with Rarity following close, she generously provided the light, while Alex was turning the valve counterclockwise; this time it went much easier. Alex raised his voice to be heard out of the basement. “How’s it going, Sweetie Belle?”

        “The water is going from the tap,” her head appeared in the basement hatch. “But not from anywhere else, it’s not supposed to… So, I guess, it’s fine!”

        “Well… I’ll better go… home,” Alex let Rarity come first, then got out of the basement as well. “Before Fluttershy sends the rescue party after me. Oh… How much…”

        “No, no, no!” Rarity quickly turned to him. “I wouldn’t take any bits from you for a simple haircut. Besides, you saved me from all… this,” she took a look at the kitchen door, rolling her eyes the most dramatic way again. “Are you sure, you can walk all the way to Flutters’?”

        “I’ll do my best,” smirked Alex, kneeling to Sweetie Belle and stroking her mane, he winked at her, getting a smile in response. Then Alex got up to be enclosed in a hug by Rarity, who raised on her hind legs to give him one of her best “big kitten” looks, and kissed her on the nose lightly, making her blush and squint.

        Both sisters walked him to the front door to make sure he wasn’t staggering, Sweetie Belle wanted to be sure Rarity wouldn’t throw any other trick as well. Alex managed to hear the loud huff of the filly, before the door closed, and giggled, imagining that Sweetie Belle would definitely comment the situation. The rest of his road to Fluttershy’s Cottage went without any “adventures”, despite the falling darkness.

        “Oh, thank Celestia, you finally came…” Fluttershy even soared in the air from the armchair, she was apparently waiting for him quite for a while, worrying much already. “You have never come that late! Is everything okay?” she fluttered to him.

        “I’m okay, Shy, calm down,” Alex caught her in his arms and she wrapped her legs and wings around him. “I visited Rarity for a long wanted haircut, a water pipe got broken in her kitchen, so I fixed it for her. Then… then she almost cornered me, well, you know… Thankfully, Sweetie Belle came home right in time and… that’s all. I was able to get home as well.”

        “Well…” Fluttershy leaned back a little and examined him. “Quite a classy haircut, a bit of waste of your hair though… but I guess you aren’t going to sport a full-size mane,” she said with a chuckle. “And Rarity… is Rarity,” apparently she was quite confident, the latter wasn’t a competition for her.

        “And what’s this, if I may ask?” his caring pegasus girl spotted the big bump on his head and examined it closely. “I think you’re not telling me everything,” she squinted at Alex jokingly, but her tone was serious enough.

        “I accidentally hit the bottom of the sink while fixing the stuff,” Alex shrugged, rubbing the bump lightly. “And got unconscious for a couple of minutes. It’s exactly when Rarity almost cornered me, but first she managed to place me with comfort and put a cold towel on my head. Then her sister returned and prevented Rarity from anything, she was going to try.”

        “Seriously, I’m fine already,” repeated he, seeing the concern in Fluttershy’s eyes. “We can hardly do anything else.”

        “Are you sure?” Fluttershy frowned. “I at least could provide some cold for your bump as well.”

        “It’ll hardly help now,” Alex stroked her mane. “But thanks anyway.”

        “Well, I know another medicine,” she giggled. “Will serve you as a painkiller,” said Fluttershy covering his lips by her own.

        “By the way, you’ve got a letter,” mentioned she after a few minutes of their lips being tightly connected.

        “Me?” wondered Alex, thinking that this letter wasn’t smelling of lavender most likely, as Fluttershy mentioned it quite casually.

        “It must be from princess Celestia,” answered Fluttershy, nuzzling his cheek. “I’m not getting letters smelling of roses on regular basis,” she giggled.

        “Okay, let us see,” Alex reached the armchair and sat down, holding Fluttershy on his lap. He unrolled the small scroll, fragrant of faint roses smell indeed.

        “Dear Alex…”

        Alex involuntarily chuckled again and Fluttershy joined him, when she saw the reason for his fun.

        “Dear Alex

        Remembering our last talk I want to inform you that aforementioned unicorn is being transferred to Canterlot and will arrive at the medical facility of the castle at Friday night or Saturday morning, in case of any complications. Thus you can visit him on Saturday, if time matters for you. Needless to say that all necessary precautions are to be taken, as we don’t know how adequate (or not) the subject is.

        

Your (for the time being) Sun Monarch,

    

Princess Celestia

        P.S.: If by any chance you want to take somepony involved with you, simply ensure that you both know well, what are you stepping into. Otherwise, you are free to have a reasonable company of those, you can trust and expect help from.”

        Alex marveled once more at the foresight of princess Celestia, who worded her letter neutrally enough, obviously understanding that it could reach some third-party eyes, and leaving him the freedom to interpret it the desired way to others. Besides, she kept in mind the probability of him taking somepony (read Fluttershy) as the company and freed him from the additional task of asking her for permission, while it was possible.

        “What unicorn is she talking about?” asked Fluttershy, looking at Alex wonderingly. “And why do you need to see him that urgently?”

        “Celestia told me about the victim of one extremely strange accident, when I was in the Canterlot castle,” Alex answered evasively, he wanted to keep Fluttershy safe and far from everything involving Seekers. “I extend mine hope to think ‘t can help me solving mine problems,” he scolded himself for another slip, but the words already left his mouth.

        Fluttershy’s ears flattened and her eyes dimmed, not because of the language, but because she understood perfectly, what he meant under “problems”.

        “Can I go with you, Alex?” she asked quietly. ‘As your time may be approaching…’ she thought, but didn’t say that.

        “Of course, Shy!” Alex held her tight, stroking her mane; the scroll fell down on the floor from his hand. “I’ll stop by Twilight tomorrow and write an answer to the princess, notifying her about you coming with me.” He found her eyes and kissed Fluttershy gently, making her cheer up a bit and give out a small smile. “Come on, I’m not leaving to anywhere in the nearest future…”

        “I hope so,” Fluttershy snuggled into him with a happy sigh. “Hey, are you hungry? I’ve made an apple pie.”

        “I’m that hungry, I could eat an elephant,” huffed Alex. “Well, figuratively,” he amended under her surprised glance. “But an apple-pie will fit as well.”

        *

        Friday came subtly, or, better say, it went unnoticeably till sunrise, when after a couple of hours it became obvious, that day would easily be the hottest day of that summer. Alex managed to get to the railway station without any problems, as it wasn’t too hot early in the morning. It was bearable in the cool twilight of the storage hangars as well, even if he was to move usual heavy loads. But when Alex was to get from under the roof, the sweat started running down him in streams after a few minutes outside, so, he felt like in the hot sauna at the very least… if not causing Celestia’s wrath upon himself.

        The freight yard smelled of heated metal of roofs and rivets, wooden planks gave out tar in the scorching heat and the pathways added dust to that mix. No wind touched the boiling pot, which Ponyville with its surroundings turned into. All the animals and birds found their cover and even Everfree froze still as an enormous slab of malachite, placed on Equestria land. All the ponies looked for cover at the noon, any trading attempts were futile and the market square was deserted.

        Alex wondered, if the weather pegasi decided to play some nasty trick on the others (which he knew was impossible) or planned an “Italian” strike. Perhaps it was Applejack’s special request to give fructifying cucumbers on the fields some boost after a few preceding rains; still, Alex thought that they could at least keep some clouds above Ponyville and one big above the station specifically. He envied the girls a little: Alex stopped by the Oak Library in the morning to write princess Celestia an answer and tell that he was going to come with Fluttershy (he asked the princess specifically not to discuss all the details about the Seekers in Fluttershy’s presence), when Twilight told him that they planned to spend the hottest hours at the lake, under the blessing shadow of a tree or a beach tent. Alex knew that even Rarity, who didn’t like the deep water, wouldn’t refuse to take a swim that day. But he was to deal with the goods and storage as usual, if he wanted to bring to life his ambitious plans. The sudden thought that he could leave behind something valuable, instead of suspicions and troubles, upon leaving Equestria, was heartwarming and Alex let out a tired smile and kept working.

        This evening came, like the long wanted deliverance; as the market wasn’t working that day, Alex stayed at the station later than usual. He managed to do more work and, to be frank, was able to hide from the raging Sun as long as it was possible. It was still high enough in the sky, when he finally finished his shift and was going home; Alex lingered in the shower longer than usual, stayed under the almost cold water, realizing that it would take quite a while, before he could cool down himself properly again.

        The Sun wasn’t as merciless, when Alex finally hit the road, but he was to admit, he went twice slower than usual, feeling himself like perhaps a lemon did, after a good portion of lemonade was made out of it. When the feeling of sandpaper in his throat became unbearable, Alex decided to stop by the “Bouncing Barrels” bar on his way home: a good portion of apple cider and some cover were exactly what his tired self needed.

        Frankly speaking, he didn’t visit places like that in Equestria before, so there was a lion’s share of pure naturalist’s curiosity, Twilight could understand, in his motion – it was interesting, how a bar looked in ponies’ interpretation, especially considering that strong alcohol wasn’t something favoured by the majority.

        A squeaky door opened, letting him inside the dimly lit large room, which didn’t look much different from any earth counterpart according to his fluent glance. The main part of it was occupied by the tables, taken by the couples and companies at that time of the day. There was a free space between the “tables zone” and the counter with high chairs at the far wall of the room, a fairly small stage – in the far left corner, empty at the moment, but undoubtedly used for some live music, when special occasions demanded. A couple of billiard tables to the right finished the ensemble and provided the willing with an opportunity to spend their free time more actively; a few young stallions lazily sent the balls rolling, taunting each other. A quiet calm music filled the scene and Alex guessed that it was the techno-magical Radio Equestria.

        Generally, the bar looked much more reserved, than any alike on Earth: the ponies enjoyed their drinks and snacks, talked in half tone and simply saved themselves from the outside heat. There were no annoying tingling slot machines, ear-splitting music or extremely loud customers, let alone some drunk troublemakers, unless the company of grumpy looking unshaven stallions at the table in the corner could potentially stir the trouble. They looked like some construction site workers, a couple of younger ones and a few mid-aged, Alex never saw any of them at the market or station, so he decided that they must have been some builders indeed.

        Alex remembered that he was technically a loader himself, looking perhaps the same way after a hard day; he shrugged and stepped over the doorstep with a light smile, slightly ducking under the barrel hanging above the doorway and heading to the counter, gathering surprised, interested and disapproving glances in equal amounts, as usual. Despite he wasn’t a total stranger for the majority by that moment, it seemed that the ponies didn’t expect the human to appear here all alone, without any company. The talks muted for a moment, but Alex wasn’t going to pay much attention to the herd and the usual hum continued after a short pause.

        “Evening!” Alex nodded to the approaching bartender, placing himself on the high chair at the counter.

        “Hey, it’s always nice to see a new face here,” the bartender greeted him with a social smile. “Good evening! What’s your choice?” Apparently, he preferred to stick to polite and business beneficial neutrality, regardless of what he thought.

        “A pint of cider, please,” Alex returned the smile then added. “It’s hot as hell… errmmm… Tartarus today!”

        “It really is,” the stallion turned to take a mug and fill it with cider from one of the barrels behind the counter, he dropped over the shoulder with a smirk. “But it’s darn good for the business, right?”

        Alex chuckled in agreeing manner. The bartender returned with his cider and a carton mug stand, placing them on the counter in front of Alex.

        “Thanks,” Alex raised the mug, the first gulp brought serenity to his sore throat. Suddenly the bartender strained, Alex noticed over the edge of his mug, how his muzzle gloomed, while the stallion was looking at something behind Alex.

        Alex lowered his mug and ever so slightly turned his head to see from the corner of his eye a couple of stallions – the supposed builders – coming from their table. One was a young colt, another was fairly older, a middle-aged pony; Alex remembered that a few of disapproving glances were coming exactly from their company.

        “Hey!” the colt started deliberately loud, when both came closer; Alex enjoyed his cider, while keeping them in his field of view. “I don’t come here to be drinking with… apes! Right?” he turned to his partner.

        “Yeah,” spat the older one with a wry grin. It was so obvious, what they wanted to achieve, that Alex inwardly rolled his eyes.

        ‘Sometimes ponies and people are all the same indeed!’

        “Well,” Alex made another slow sip, then accurately placed his mug on the counter. “There is only one bar nearby. So, as I’m forced to drink with horses,” he winked to the bartender slightly. “You can stomp your pride and drink with apes likewise!”

        “What did you say?” both stallions came closer. When on their hind legs, ponies were just a bit shorter than him, besides, these stallions were naturally bulky, working hard all days long. Thus, considering the hooves, those two could provide some serious problem.

        “Got cement in your fluffy ears, eh?” Alex took the mug in his right hand, taking another lazy sip. “Unfortunately I can’t recommend a suitable medic…”

        “You!..” the younger stallion raised on the hind legs, putting his fore legs on the counter and overhanging Alex’s shoulder.

        Nopony could hear, what he was going to say. Alex’s left elbow was still resting on the counter, but the back of his fist made a ninety-degree swing and met the bully’s muzzle with a sharp, hard, shocking punch. The stallion froze in the air for a fraction of second, then collapsed to the floor in his black out.

        The following events happen that fast, so nopony could clearly see them. The older stallion appeared to be a lefty, thus, despite the unhandy position, managed to perform a strike, Alex unfortunately missed. Alex felt like meeting a fast closing door, when a hard hoof smashed into his left cheekbone, throwing him to the floor from the bar chair. He rolled and jumped to his legs, shaking his head. His cheek was quickly poured with heat, and the metal taste in the mouth was self-explanatory, yet a quick examination with his tongue told Alex that all the teeth were on their native places.

        When he focused on his foe, Alex realized that the bully didn’t waste time: there was a thick glass bottle in his hoof already.

        “Hey! Stop that bucking…” the bartender reached under the counter, most likely for some ponderable argument, but a short whistle from behind Alex’s back made everypony freeze.

        Alex threw a quick glance over his shoulder to spot the billiard cue, which one of the playing stallions tossed him. Catching it in the air Alex turned to the older bully with an unkind grin, it was time to put his historical reconstruction practice to good use.

        The cue hissed like a snake, cutting the air, while being spun by Alex around himself on a wide trajectory. He threw it from one hand to another, raising above his head; when his foe tried to estimate the direction of the hit, the cue lowered, making another full circle, and its end reached the bottle in his left hoof, smashing it into a load of useless splinters.

        Not giving the bully any chance to realize the situation, the cue retracted, then Alex made a quick step forward, squatted, making another full circle with the cue and catching his enemy under his knees. The builder lost his balance and crashed down flat on his back with a thud, kicking the rest of the air from his lungs. With a lightning speed Alex got close and leaned over the defeated enemy, denoting, but not applying with the cue the lethal strike into his throat. The stallion, knocked out by the fall, weakly moved on the floor, trying to focus his eyesight; nopony rushed to help him.

        The first one woke up from his blackout already and attempted to get up, but the legs didn’t serve him well enough yet, he knocked a couple of chairs to the floor, while twitching. Alex approached him, putting the cue in the left hand… He handed the colt his right hand and, after a moment of hesitation, the latter accepted the help, so Alex could raise him on his legs. He held the colt by his shoulder for a moment longer, giving his legs time to stop shaking.

        “Apes don’t do this!” slowly and meaningfully stated Alex, looking into his opponent’s eyes, when they regained focus.

        “Hey,” a heavy hoof lay on Alex’s shoulder and Alex regretted that the cue was in his left hand, he turned a little, getting ready to duck and strike from his right, but then spotted Big Mac’s smiling muzzle behind.

        “Hey!” repeated Applejack’s older brother. “Cool down, big guy…” It was quite a long tirade for him, but apparently, it wasn’t the limit.

        “It’s not like the others want to join the fun, right?” Big Mac patted Alex’s back, nodding to the rest of the builders, who humbly took their beaten mates back to their table.

        The silence was torn by a few whistles and cheerful whoops from behind, Alex smirked, feeling his bruise, and threw the cue back to the stallion, who lent him his game accessory.

        “Mine gratitude!” Alex caught a few interested glances of present mares.

        Big Mac was really bigger, than any pony around, as Alex could notice, besides, he had an evident authority in Ponyville, so the incident died down immediately. Besides, Alex didn’t break anything, except an empty bottle, so, considering the builders started the quarrel, he was on the safe side.

        McIntosh nodded towards the counter, then leaned closer to Alex’s ear, saying in half tone:

        “Ponyville is a small town. You see, things going not so smooth at the building site, so they come here and drown their problems… or try to compensate by looking for some fight. Newcomers are always the preferable pray. Not your case though, right?” he chuckled.

        They sat at the counter, defiantly turning their backs to the public.

        “Need some ice?” the smile of the bartender was now sincere, apparently those stallions managed to get on his nerves before.

        “I guess, I can live with it, as it is,” Alex touched his cheek, the swelling vanished already, as his regeneration took over; the colour effects were going to be visible for a few days more likely – no regeneration can remove the blood, shot out already. “Thanks anyway.”

        “Okay,” the bartender shrugged and turned to Big Mac. “As usual?”

        “Eeyup,” smirked the latter, reaching for his portion of apple cider. Apparently, the long sentences were not needed anymore.

        *

        “See, Flutter-nutter-butter, here he goes,” Pinkie smiled widely, placing her hoof on Fluttershy’s, when both girls heard the sound of the front door opening. “You’ve worried for nothing.”

        “He is coming late the second time in the row, Pinkie,” Fluttershy tried to hold the small crocodile and tape up his tail simultaneously. “I wonder what troubles did Alex manage to get into today? Sit still, Gummy! You like putting your tail in the doorways, then you should like it being bandaged as well.”

        Alex heard two voices talking as soon as he opened the door and entered, but he couldn’t tell right away who visited them with Fluttershy and inwardly prayed for them not to be Rarity – he couldn’t bear two evenings of her shenanigans one by one. He had nothing against Ra-ra personally, but what if she started making a pass at him again. Pinkie’s lush mane of the self-titled colour, appearing in the kitchen doorway, dispelled his concerns and Alex greeted the earth pony with a wide smile, preparing for a usual bear hug. Which obviously shortly followed.

        “Well… here… we… are!” heard Alex satisfied Fluttershy’s exclamation from behind Pinkie’s back, when she finally placed the last tape and fixed it on Gummy’s tail. “And don’t put your tail in the closing doors anymore, okay?”

        Fluttershy entered the living room, carrying the crocodile, and handed him to Pinkie.

        “Why are you so late again,” quietly complained she, raising on her hind legs and wrapping her fore legs around Alex to bring him closer and kiss. “You know I’m worried much every time. You still don’t know the place, as well as the local ponies, and…”

        Fluttershy stumbled mid-phrase, she stepped back and examined Alex’s face; Pinkie noticed the new “decoration” as well.

        “A-and what is th-this?” apparently she was fairly shocked by the look of a fresh hoof shaped “blueprint” on Alex’s cheekbone. “Alex! You really… got in some t-trouble… How by Celestia’s…”

        “Celestia definitely has nothing to do with it,” smirked Alex, running his fingers through Fluttershy’s mane and bringing her closer again, while Pinkie Pie quietly snorted behind. “Actually, there was nothing too interesting for an extended telling.”

        “But...” Fluttershy’s eyes filled with tears, when she examined his bruise, ever so gently touching it with her small hoof. “Alex, Alex! Does it still hurt?”

        “Not much, dear,” Alex kissed her on the nose at the same time tenderly wiping her tears. “Well, I worked my… backside out all day long… all hot day long, I must say. So I decided to have a refreshment and hit the bar at the south end of the town. How is it called?”

        ““Bouncing Barrels”,” hinted Pinkie. “One block down from Sugarcube Corner.”

        “Yeah, so… I just got in and ordered some cider, when those two builders approached,” Alex continued, holding Fluttershy in his embrace. “There were actually more of them, but those two exactly thought, perhaps, that their evening lacked something.”

        Fluttershy shuddered and Alex stroked her head lightly, feeling her warm wings enclosing him in addition to her legs.

        “One said that he didn’t want to drink with apes!” Fluttershy gasped and Pinkie huffed disapprovingly upon that part and Alex chuckled a bit guiltily. “I told them that as I was to drink with horses… Sorry girls!”

        “And what’s wrong?” Pinkie was genuinely wondering. “If you called a pony… well, a pony or horse. Technically, that’s a promotion in strength and size,” Pinkie giggled and even Fluttershy gave out a tiny smile, her eyes dried. “But I believe there is a certain difference between an ape and a human. Just like between a pegasus and… a certain L-word!”

        “Okay… I told them that as I was to drink with horses, they could shut and drink with apes likewise,” Alex shrugged. “This apparently rubbed them the wrong way, so, the first guy tried to intimidate me and I hit him right in the jaw, instantly knocking down. But I have nothing to brag about – totally missed the second stallion’s strike, thus here is the bruise.”

        “And?” Fluttershy looked up at him with questioning expression.

        “Fell down, got up,” dutifully reported Alex, keeping the poker face. “Caught the billiard cue, kindly thrown to me by a fine stallion – a few played billiard there. My “enemy” already got a bottle somewhere.”

        “Ouch!” Pinkie was a bit surprised by such a manifestation of sudden hostility in their quiet town and Fluttershy snuggled tighter to Alex’s chest.

        “I was to remember my historical reconstruction fighting practice and first smashed the bottle, then knocked him to the floor and… well, showed that I was to be taken seriously. And that’s practically it,” Alex automatically stroked Fluttershy’s back while talking. “Then Big Mac appeared and we had a couple of drinks together. By the way, Shy, I came earlier today, than on Tuesday.”

        “Aha,” Fluttershy looked at him fixedly. “I’ve told Pinkie about Rarity’s plumbing mishap already.”

        ‘But not about her attempts to use it to her advantage,’ said she with her eyes only, Alex returned her a loving smile.

        “But you managed to get hurt twice in a few days, not at your work, mind that,” Fluttershy wasn’t going to give her positions easily.

        “Come on,” Alex huffed loudly. “I heal like an… alicorn anyway.”

        Pinkie snorted, then started shaking, stifling the laughter, and in a second they three laughed like mad.

        “Okay, guys,” Pinkie wiped the tears and put Gummy, who looked at them puzzledly all that time, on her back. “You need some time for yourself and Auntie Pinkie needs to go home,” she made a face. “Have fun and… avoid traumas.”

        Fluttershy blushed instantly and, frankly speaking, Alex was sure, he did likewise.

        “Jokes aside, I seriously think that you need to be more careful, Alex!” Fluttershy looked into his eyes, after they walked Pinkie to the door, reconsidered of the late supper, took the shower and were slowly drifting to sleep after a long and tiresome day. “What about becoming more far-sighted and calculating, dear?”

        ‘And stopping being myself?’ wondered Alex, nesting better and hugging Fluttershy. “Look, Shy, I don’t search for troubles, troubles tend to find me lately – just about since my arrival here,” said Alex with a sad smile. “It’s not like it was another way first, then suddenly changed.”

        “Besides, I want to be extremely sincere with you, Shy,” he added jokingly. “I need you – Fluttershy – as the marefriend, not as the second mother.”

        “Hmpf…” huffed Fluttershy, raising one eyebrow. In a second she attacked him, tickling mercilessly. “Stop teasing me! You magic-resistant troublemaker, you…”

        “Okay, okay, I give up,” Alex got tired of laughing hard, despite deep inside he was sure that his remark was fairly serious. “Better tell me about your day.”

        “I was definitely less adventure-rich than yours,” Fluttershy kissed him, then nested on his chest, closing her eyes.

        Alex touched her mane lightly, inhaling the incredible flower-honey aroma and listening about the girls’ day at the lake; Rainbow’s and Pinkie’s tricks and merry fuss; Applejack’s futile attempts to get tanned properly, so her freckles become less visible; Rarity’s drama and complaints about cold and deep water; Twilight, laying in the tent shade and watching all that above the edge of unalterable book; her own relaxation, listening to the most durable birds, who still sang, despite that heat. Until Fluttershy suddenly slowly repeated the same phrase twice… and then stopped amidst the next one. Alex felt her even, quiet breath on his chest, telling him that she fell asleep. Holding her and smiling he slowly closed his eyes.

 

---

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Edited September 7, 2018 by Alexshy

[Alexshy 14,709]

12. Sequence of tensions - Part 1

 

Alex woke up earlier than Fluttershy on Saturday morning (the Sun just showed its edge above Everfree tops) and stayed awake in bed for good twenty minutes, thinking of what he was going to find out that day and how it might affect his future. To be honest, he had no faintest idea yet, which questions he could ask, if it was possible to ask them – if the unicorn was that bad, as Celestia said, then trying to communicate would be futile.
    
    ‘Anything I ask will depend on what I see,’ decided Alex, feeling how the unknown possibilities made his impatience itch: finally he had a chance to get closer to his arrival mystery. Alex was sure that his presence in Equestria and the Seekers were connected somehow, what was the reason and what – the consequence, was still an open question; yet finding out something about his arrival might help him to return.
    
    ‘I feel that I need to see that poor pony,’ Alex stretched under the cover and Fluttershy moved a bit. ‘Even if he is in some vegetable-like condition, maybe I can fish something from him. And if I manage to establish the contact, I may even get some answers. I can only hope…’
    
    He was a bit worried yet that they could have certain problems with train tickets to Canterlot, buying them right before the departure. ‘What if there are no free seats? Ask Twilight for another balloon flight? Uggghhhh!!!’
    
    Fluttershy opened her marvelous turquoise eyes and gave out a little smile, focusing on his face. She was pretty, even when sleepy and having a bed head, and Alex forgot about his concerns for a while, leaning to her, kissing and stroking behind her ear lightly. She squeakily yawned and moved closer to him, wrapping her fore legs around and snuggling into his chest.
    
    “Good morning, dear!” Fluttershy stretched and managed to release him not at the same time: the motion of her coat against his skin made it crawl with goosebumps of sudden pleasure, and Alex squeezed her a bit tighter, making her squeak in surprise.
    
    “Mhm…” Fluttershy looked at the clock, when their lips parted. “Don’t worry, Alex. There will be free seats on the train,” she made a perfect guess, Alex was to admit. “The Canterlot train is never overherded on an ordinary weekend. Special occasions, like the Gala, are, of course, another story.”
    
    “You are so strained,” her gentle hooves ran across his shoulders. “Why you are so nervous about this appointment? We can’t be even sure that it helps, right?”
    
    “Yeah… And I even don’t know where to start from,” Alex was about asking her to stop not, melting under her touch. “But I have a strong feeling, Shy, this is important, one way or another – I… we simply must see that guy!”
    
    “We need to get up,” he sighed sadly, making Fluttershy giggle, understanding his regret. “Who’s first to the shower?”
    
    “Why anypony should be first?” smirked Fluttershy. “Well… I know that it takes more time, if we go together, than any other way, but…”
    
    Alex grabbed and lifted her, instead of an answer, making Fluttershy produce one more excited squeak…
    
    As her little friends needed her attention and kindness, Fluttershy attended to the regular morning duties of feeding and taking care of the animals and Alex headed to the kitchen, estimating his chances for making a light and healthy breakfast. He reconsidered about anything involving milk this morning, his stomach already felt like a bag of fighting cats because of the nervousness, thus cereal and omelette were declined. He considered making a salad a nice alternative instead, and half an hour later they with Fluttershy did it deserved justice, appetizingly crunching on the vegetable mix.
    
    “I hope, we can make it a one day trip,” Alex put away the fork and sipped his juice; he was jumpy enough without any coffee, but made a cup for Fluttershy. “If, as you say, we manage to get the tickets easily in the morning. I suppose, it takes a few hours to reach Canterlot on a train from here…”
    
    “About three hours,” Fluttershy smiled above her cup. “If we get on the express, not a regular train, which can stop at a few smaller stations on its way. So, yes, about six hours to get there and return and we’ll have plenty of time for anything you plan to ask, examine or… well, do any other stuff, Twilight usually likes to do.”
    
    “Excellent. I’m not extending my expectations that far to hope Celestia hath time or wish to set a guest room for us. And have absolutely no idea, whither to stop at Canterlot. Had no chance to find that out, at which hour I was sitting in four walls at their… “castle hospital”,” chuckled Alex, while Fluttershy perked her ear.
    
    “Alex, you talk… strangely familiar,” she gathered the dishes, putting them into the sink and turning the water on. “Are you sure, you haven’t communicated too much with the princesses?” giggled Fluttershy.
    
    “I don’t think, princess Celestia talks like that though…” squinted she, remembering.
    
    Alex hid behind his glass, having no suitable reply.
    
    “Mmmm… What would I do without you?” murmured Fluttershy, putting away the last dish, she washed, and planting a warm kiss on his cheek, when Alex approached from behind and leaned to her, hugging and stroking her shoulders.
    
    “Oh, come on, Shy,” Alex laughed. “It’s just cut and mixed vegetables with some salt and a portion of condiments. Not that I spent half of the day, cooking something special…”
    
    “Well…” she turned in his arms and booped his nose lightly with her hoof. “First, I would have my breakfast much later, if I was to prepare it alone… after my morning duties. And the main thing,” Fluttershy added meaningfully. “It’s totally different, when you return home and get something carefully prepared by somepony’s loving… hands.”
    
    She threw a look around the kitchen, finding it in usual exemplary order now.
    
    “We are filled, so are the animals, everything is done. It seems, we can go to the station, Alex. If this is our way of choice to spend this Saturday,” added Fluttershy, funnily wrinkling her nose.
    
    “Oh, come on, Shy,” huffed Alex. “It is important. Besides,” he added with a sly smile. “I have certain plans for tomorrow, this is why it was important to make it a one day trip.”
    
    Fluttershy looked at him with a question in her eyes.
    
    “You see, I didn’t only hit a bar and participate in a fight,” Alex raised one eyebrow. “I passed the cinema yesterday and made a notice of what’s on this Sunday evening. I hope, you can choose the program for the rest of the day yourself.”
    
    “Oh, is it finally a proper date?” Fluttershy nudged him lightly, blushing and habitually hiding half of her muzzle behind her sumptuous mane; Alex was to admit, she looked… divine, as he concluded without any overstatement. Another degree of divine than Luna or Celestia, but still…
    
    “And the whole day of it,” Alex kneeled to her eye-level, he looked into her eyes, moving away the hair and touching her cheek. “I’m at work throughout all the days lately, solving my problems even at my free time, but…”
    
    Fluttershy nuzzled his cheek, snuggling into him, and her happy sigh told Alex that he didn’t need to say anything else.
    
    After a few minutes they hit the road to Ponyville, as they didn’t need to pack anything and Alex promptly took the drafts of the Seeker: they nested in his pocket tightly folded.
    
    Alex watched the sky very carefully, while they passed the fields with the old white barn: he couldn’t allow another trick of Rainbow Dash, resulting in Fluttershy being showered with rain or something as improper. The morning breeze herded some light clouds, but nothing signed any problems. There was a fair chance that Rainbow reconsidered doing anything, seeing them together, but Alex would rather send Fluttershy forward, in case of any chance of being “pranked” by her determined friend, and keep the “prank” to himself – he had no umbrella to protect Fluttershy. As for Alex, he had enough reasons already and secretly promised himself to give Rainbow a good shower or something alike, if there was a chance. But it seemed, it was too early indeed for the rainbow nap lover and they managed to reach Ponyville without trouble.
    
    Fluttershy turned left after the bridge and, despite it was indeed the shortest way to the station, Alex strained a bit: going through the south end of the town meant passing Carousel Boutique, thus passing Rarity. Lately Alex prepared himself to literally anything, being near her, and frankly speaking tried to limit that to absolutely necessary cases; the last episode in her house told that it was reasonable enough.
    
    Despite his hopes that diligent fashionista could be still sleeping or busy with some of her dresses, they met Rarity indeed, while passing her colourful round house and salon. She held the watering can with her magic and waved her hoof to them enthusiastically, slowly moving along the front garden. Naturally, Alex and Fluttershy were to stop for a minute, as the common courtesy demanded.
    
    “Ahlex! Flutters! Good morning,” Rarity said with a perfectly diplomatic smile. “Where are you going that early, if I may ask?”
    
    “To the station and then to Canterlot,” Fluttershy threw a quick look at the clock tower, which was perfectly visible from any part of the town, pondering, if they had time to board the express. “Alex…”
    
    “To Canterlot?!” Rarity dropped the watering can, fortunately, she was moving it from one rose shrub to another, so nothing suffered from the heavy drop. “You mean to the castle? Did the princess…”
    
    “No. I’m not going anywhere… yet,” Alex stifled a laugher, properly guessing the reason for her confusion. “But there is a small chance that I get some answers. If I can ask proper questions… If I can ask any questions,” added he, raising an eyebrow.
    
    “Oh…” Rarity picked up the can, her nose became pinkish; she understood that her reaction was too obvious and concerned. “Good luck then… I…”
    
    “We’ll tell you, if there is anything to tell,” Fluttershy let out a small smile, then two sly sparkles appeared in her eyes. “Come to us later this evening, I suppose, we will return till then.”
    
    “Yeah, and bring Twilight with you,” Alex quickly found, what seemed a partial way out. “I’m sure she would like to know everything straight from the horse’s mouth… Oh!..”
    
    “Just a figure of speech,” explained Alex to both girls, who first stared at him, then started giggling. “Means “first-hand”. Don’t you have such a phrase?”
    
    “We don’t and I hope, you don’t mean that Celestia must turn you into a horse to achieve that,” Rarity took her breath. “As you are supposed to be telling.”
    
    Alex shuddered, imagining that.
    
    “Okay, we really need to go, sorry,” said Fluttershy, still snorting. “Good-bye, Rarity.”
    
    “Have a nice day!” Alex waved his hand.
    
    “You both too, mates!” Rarity gave him a languid glance from under her long eyelashes.
    
    Alex and Fluttershy headed through the town, which little-by-little became filled with ponies, as more of them woke up and addressed their daily routines. Fluttershy threw a quick meaningful glance at Alex, when they came up to the familiar bar; Alex shrugged and touched his cheek to check the bruise.
    
    “Yeah, yeah,” nodded Fluttershy. “I hope you won’t scare the princesses by your looks,” she smirked.
    
    “I doubt, there is anything I can surprise Celestia with lately, let alone scare,” Alex tried to imagine, what he could do for Celestia to consider unexpected. ‘Unless I decide to stay willingly,’ he ironized inwardly. “And Luna would rather appreciate that two bullies got a good manners lesson.”
    
    He noticed how Fluttershy frowned a little: regarding his lightheadedness or him mentioning Luna – that was another question without an answer.
    
    They passed candy fragrant Sugarcube Corner and a small queue of ponies, waiting for its opening and promising Pinkie Pie a busy morning; the square with fountain; the “Quills and Sofas” shop, which made Alex wonder and chuckle each time. The Library was all quiet this time, Twilight was sleeping most likely, so was Spike. Alex smiled, suspecting that their alicorn friend read too late yesterday or was busy with some experiments, giving Spike some hard time as well.
    
    The railway station met them with almost deserted platforms, compared to daytime at weekdays. Alex remembered the schedule and thought that if the weekend one didn’t differ much from weekdays, the regular train must have departed a few minutes ago, while the express didn’t arrive yet. Thus the lack of the usual herd.
    
    “Hey! Going anywhere… or just can’t live without the station already?!” a stallion in the porter uniform patted Alex’s back. “Morning, Fluttershy!”
    
    “Oh, hi…” Alex smirked, sharing a hoof bump with the unicorn; Fluttershy waved her hoof. “Yeah. I decided to see it from another point of view, so to speak, using the service…”
    
    The whistle of Canterlot Express approaching the platform drowned out the rest of his words.
    
    “Alex, this is the one we need,” Fluttershy looked over her shoulder at the brightly coloured locomotive. “It stands for a while, but we need to hurry to the ticket office. Excuse us,” she added with an apologetic smile.
    
    “Going to Canterlot? Serious business, I see,” nodded the unicorn. “Good luck, the King of Proper Stacking!” he pointed to the luggage cart with a narrowing pyramid of crates and bags. Each one was carefully placed according to its size and shape and the whole construction can be “disassembled” only using proper conscious handling, not an accidental bump. “Using your method and… there is something in it indeed, I don’t need to hold them with magic since then,” he waved after them.
    
    “Already got some friends… and a nickname?” Fluttershy nudged him gently, when they were waiting at the ticket-office window for their tickets to be properly issued. “The King of Proper Stacking, eh?”
    
    “Have no idea, who came up with that,” chuckled Alex. “I sincerely hope that’s not my limit! Just approaching my work methodically… Can I approach at least something methodically?”
    
    “Except finding… errmmm… adventures?” Fluttershy raised on her hind legs and hugged him, looking into his eyes.
    
    “Something like that,” laughed Alex, kissing her and making the mare at the office diplomatically cough, handing them their tickets.
    
    They shared the four-seat compartment with two young mares, who were travelling together apparently and boarded the express earlier, maybe even in Appleloosa, having time to discuss every topic possible and waiting for new impressions. The two girls were chatting, when Alex found their with Fluttershy compartment and opened the door, and gasped surprisingly, when they saw a human: he seemed huge to them, sitting at the long soft seat, when he appeared in the doorway. Then they produced an involuntary sigh, when Fluttershy entered, surrounded by the cloud of her illustrious mane and followed by her long lush tail.
    
    “Apologies, ladies!” Alex’s words made both mares unfreeze and nod quickly. “I hope we won’t disturb you much for the rest of the ride.”
    
    Fluttershy sported a timid smile, sliding on the seat next to Alex and snuggling to him, the mares kept staring at them silently.
    
    The express blew an ear-splitting whistle and jerked, gaining speed on its way to Canterlot. Little by little the initial awkwardness vanished and everypony continued minding their business, almost not paying any attention to the forcedly added neighbours. Almost, as both girls talked now in half voice, but threw quick glances at Alex and Fluttershy, whispering and giggling quietly. Alex noticed that one of them looked at him and Fluttershy more fixedly, with a faint shadow of unrealized recognition, and wondered, what that might be.
    
    He and Fluttershy, on the contrary, didn’t watch their neighbours much. Alex sat at the window, these views of Equestria were new to him, as he didn’t find the strength to enjoy them from above, while flying on the balloon. Besides, the express moved on the different, longer path. So, Alex enjoyed the landscape, passing behind the window, and gently stroked Fluttershy’s hair. She finally relaxed and rested on the seat, putting her head on his lap and closing her eyes. She wasn’t sleeping, but rather thinking about something, looking up to him affectionately from time to time and causing more interested glances from the opposite seat.
    
    Meanwhile, they passed a few settlements, the express didn’t stop on the smaller stations, exactly as Fluttershy said. The loco reached its cruising speed and fields, meadows and forests flew by faster, making it harder to distinguish, what was growing there. Alex asked the mares, if they were not objecting, and opened the window slightly: the wind started blowing in smells of flowers and hay; distinctive, but not too unpleasant smell of cattle farm, when they passed one; the heavy smell of damp leaves and ground, when they rode through the rainy forest. A few raindrops fell through the gap on Alex’s face, but he didn’t stop smiling to some thoughts, looking into the window.
    
    About two hours passed according to Alex’s impression, the landscape started going uphill. When the train rumbled across the bridge over the river (the metal trusses flew by the window, making the shadows dance madly in their compartment), Fluttershy yawned squeakily and got up, sitting next to Alex and putting her head on his shoulder.
    
    “You like trains and riding them, Alex, don’t you?” she raised her voice a tiny bit to overlap the clatter of metal.
    
    “Yup,” Alex turned to her and removed a stray hair strand from her face. “At least I can enjoy the ride and the view, not thinking solely about my life, compared to balloons.”
    
    “By the way,” he leaned to her and whispered in her ear. “I wonder how you and Twilight dared to sneak into the castle grounds on the balloon overnight. Or there were more of you that night…”
    
    Fluttershy’s soft ear twitched.
    
    “Oh, and somepony told me that I seek trouble,” chuckled Alex, needing no answer, as her nose, which he kissed, became pinkish already. Fluttershy downcasted and Alex pondered, what she saw that night or what she was told by her “companions-in-crime”.
    
    “I was wondering all the way, why Celestia allowed you to step in,” Fluttershy preferred to change the topic. “Or this case is connected to your arrival closer, than you tell, and you and the princess are keeping something in secret.”
    
    “I told thee everything already,” Alex sighed inwardly about her shrewdness. ‘What can I tell thee now not to make thee scared and demand that I stop diving further into this?’ he looked into her eyes. The last thing he wanted was to involve Fluttershy right into the Seekers related problems, one victim of unknown future was more than enough. Alex clasped his fingers together nervously. “This case may be connected to mine problem indirectly, or may not. I need to sort it out forsooth. And Celestia… Well, she thinketh, I can affect that poor guy positively mayhap… She sees no contraindications so far.”
    
    “The events, preceding tis mishap, were not entirely safe, I don’t want thee to get into troubles alike,” he sincerely revealed his main concern after the second thought.
    
    “Do you hear yourself?” Fluttershy’s eyes dilated, she straightened on the seat and listened to Alex, covering her slightly opened mouth with the hoof, definitely recognizing the similarities.
    
    The young mares at the opposite seat, whom Alex and Fluttershy seemed to forget about already, heard “princess Celestia” and everything following that fell on the deaf ears, fortunately. They dropped their jaws almost synchronously and stared at their fellow travelers in disbelief.
    
    “Ahem… Errmmm… Excuse me, please,” unfroze one of them. “Do you know our princess personally? I mean… mmm… you were mentioning her highness so… in such an everyday manner…” she stumbled.
    
    “We had to communicate,” neutrally confessed Alex, inwardly preparing for more questions. They were, of course, like a tenth of “Ginger”, but as he could already notice, talkative enough and only some natural awkwardness of casual small talk prevented them from asking their neighbours about everything bothering them.
    
    “He is being overly modest. Although, it seems, Alex is a closer friend to princess Luna, right, dear?” Fluttershy said with a smile, but Alex heard the sad sarcasm in her voice and a faint shadow of real jealousy this time. “As we might hear already…”
    
    “The Princess of the Night!” dropped another girl quietly, her pupils unconsciously narrowed and voice trembled slightly. “Wow… I…”
    
    Alex forcedly smiled to both mares and shrugged.
    
    “Shy, please,” he threw a reproachful glance at Fluttershy. “She helped me, when Celestia was… less positive and I’m immensely thankful for that, hoping for her support further on, if extremely necessary. But you painted our relationship as almost kindred.”
    
    “Is it not?” Fluttershy raised her eyebrow, while both mares gawked at Alex. He heard though that her tone changed and she was merely teasing him at that moment. “Oh, thanks Celestia!”
    
    She leaned to him again, putting her hoof on Alex’s chest.
    
    “I’m sorry,” she breathed into his ear, her lips slid gently on his neck, making Alex gasp. “But she is definitely concerned about you. Those letters, her visits – Twilight told that princess Luna visited you in Canterlot, despite not being involved in Celestia’s research… What should I think?”
    
    ‘You can’t say, you didn’t know that was coming,’ Alex facepalmed inwardly, admitting that if he gets out this time, it would be only a temporary solution, miraculous, but still temporary.
    
    “That we became good friends with Luna,” he looked into Fluttershy’s amazing eyes, putting a strand of pink hair behind her ear and stroking her cheek lightly. “Very good friends… But I’m with you, Shy,” Alex added barely audible, as the girls across the compartment perked their fluffy ears again. “I’m with you and at the same time trying to keep you out of the troubles, which follow my entire path through Equestria.”
    
    “I know,” whispered Fluttershy, nuzzling his neck and wrapping her fore legs around him. “I’m sorry, I just can’t control myself, if I suspect somepony trying to take you from me… Even if she is a royalty.”
    
    Meanwhile, the train reached the mountains and the tracks were visibly ascending; their path ran through several tunnels in the cliffs, putting the compartment into complete darkness for a few seconds, as the lights couldn’t turn on in time in short tunnels. Alex realized that they were approaching Canterlot, as they were practically spiraling around one enormous mountain. The train entered a high openwork bridge above a deep canyon with clubs of fog circling around sharp cliffs at the far bottom.
    
    “It’s hard to sort out all, what I suddenly got into,” Alex felt the strong urge to turn away from the window at that moment, he felt as his fingers were treacherously trembling at that moment. Thankfully the deep turquoise lakes of Fluttershy’s loving eyes were the best remedy, Alex totally gave himself to. “My whole life became… well, different ever since that rainstorm back on Earth. And the things are going stranger and stranger each day, even when it looks like the routine life already.”
    
    He hugged Fluttershy and brought her closer, she put her head on Alex’s shoulder, covering him by the cloud of her lush hair and unconsciously stroking his chest with the hoof. One of the mares stared at them fixedly again, it looked like she was trying to catch some memory, they (or Fluttershy specifically, as Alex knew, he never saw any of those two girls before) resembled, but couldn’t at that moment.
    
    The train dived into a long tunnel, putting the compartment into complete darkness for a few moments and causing an involuntary exclamation from one of the mares. Alex felt the sweet breath and hot silky lips on his own and eagerly responded, holding Fluttershy closer, making his fingers travel through her hair. The obvious sound of the passionate kiss was followed by muffled giggling from the opposite seat, but they both couldn’t pay less attention, snuggling tighter into each other.
    
    When the lights turned on – this tunnel was the longest and the last before Canterlot – both mares witnessed a most interesting view of their whole ride, at least that was clearly written on their muzzles. They let out an excited and a bit confused sigh, watching as Alex and Fluttershy almost dissolved in each other embrace, uniting their lips. Alex threw a quick glance at them and took a thick strand of Fluttershy’s hair, shielding them both from the curious eyes of the young mares like with a pink silky curtain. Fluttershy stifled a laugh, she started covering his lips with short fervent kisses, while it was a chance to. Her cheeks were flaming, but she was very determined about what she was doing, she threw a sly glance through her hair at the mares opposite.
    
    “Oh, Celestia!” suddenly squeaked one of them, the one which was trying to remember something throughout their entire ride. “Of course! I knew, I saw you before.”
    
    Alex and Fluttershy parted their lips and stared on their neighbours, keeping the embrace and frankly speaking straining a bit, while the girl continued.
    
    “You are Fluttershy, right?” she pointed at Alex’s confused marefriend. “You must be her! I can’t be mistaking. You’ve worked as a model for Rarity and moreover for Photo Finish… Shortly unfortunately… But your fame isn’t something to fade that easily!” she laughed nervously, reaching for her bag. “I’ve recognized the glance and angle, when you and your coltfriend… well… errmmm…” the mare blushed heavily, but she couldn’t beat Fluttershy at that, whose cheeks could compete with some poppies perhaps.
    
    “Oh, noes!” she breathed desperately in Alex’s ear, he almost saw, how she inwardly facehoofed. “I hoped, everypony forgot already. I guess, it was our luck to run into one of my fans,” she shuddered.
    
    “… It was a total disaster, if you ask me, that you decided to prolong the contract not. For the whole equestrian fashion!” the mare kept talking fast, while convulsively digging in her bag.
    
    Alex thought that he knew, what was going to happen next, fortunately, he could see the Canterlot station and the whole city in the distance. Yet it seemed, the determined fan was going to achieve her goal no matter what. He stroked Fluttershy’s shoulders, while she buried her face between his cheek and shoulder completely, now even her ears were flaming, and rolled his eyes when a fashion magazine and a quill saw the light, being taken from the depth of talking mare’s bag.
    
    “Miss Fluttershy, please!!!” the mare folded her fore hooves together in the most pleading manner. Alex thought that she was already going to kneel in front of Fluttershy, who seemed to be ready to climb on his shoulders, like a cat from some threat. “Please, please! Million times please! I’m one of your most faithful fans, I have all of your photos, magazines and interviews… But no autograph. I was desperate, when you quit and I didn’t manage to get it…” she sniffed.
    
    “Shy, dear,” whispered Alex in her pink ear, Fluttershy was already sitting on his lap. “It’s better to put a stop to that, before it escalates, I think. I can understand… but… could you please…”
    
    “Okay…” Fluttershy quickly nodded, looking at him, like a small animal caught into a trap, and covering her face with her hair again. “You’re right… let’s get this over with.”
    
    Alex was to take the magazine and hold it, while Fluttershy quickly scribbled something cheerful and signed, she snuggled into him, like if the mare was going to pounce her and drag to the collection as well. When it was done and both mares repeated their words of gratitude over and over again, a lucky thought came to Alex’s mind. He leaned forward, making the most serious face, he could in that situation, while doing his best to stifle the laugh.
    
    “I have a personal request, young ladies,” he said quietly, but meaningfully, narrowing his eyes. “I extend mine expectations that this sensational news… that Fluttershy hath come to Canterlot, shall be kept unvoiced to the… ahem… broad masses. So, I shan’t need to ask Luna to visit you and explain privacy values, tonight mayhap!”
    
    Both girls quickly nodded, while their pupils became pinprick again. They evidently got under the impression, as they kept respectful silence for the rest few minutes till their arrival and exiting the train to the platform.
    
    *
    
    Alex watched with eyes wide open, as they quickly passed green picturesque streets of Canterlot, after getting off the express on the station. Previously he had no chance to see the city in all its glory, travelling to it on the dreading balloon; he even saw the Castle partially only, especially from outside. It was amazing how the big city architects and builders managed to stay true to the ponies’ principles and close to the nature: the houses were surrounded by flourishing gardens, trees were planted on every street and square, despite the whole city was technically built on several rock terraces; some of which, Alex was sure, were made with the help of magic. He involuntarily remembered the White City from the “Lord of the Rings” book, although, the latter wasn’t so perfectly planned and gardened. Alex was sure that, for example, Manehattan was way less pleasant to the eye and breath.
    
    The time was approaching noon and there were quite a few ponies in the streets, curiously gazing on the pegasus beauty and some strange biped creature accompanying her. Fortunately, they were restrained and polite enough, so nopony asked questions; yet Alex was on guard, he realized that not everypony could know about the people in general and him in particular, let alone was warned about his magic resistance, with all consequences it might bring.
    
    They walked quick enough for some extended sightseeing anyway, so Alex decided to enjoy the views some other day and be content with what he could notice at that moment. The Castle was not too far from the station, it was well visible from almost every spot, but getting to it on the ground could be a problem for a newcomer. Although, Fluttershy perfectly knew the path through the net of wide and narrow streets, thus leading them the shortest way.
    
    The guards at the Castle gate were evidently warned about Alex and Fluttershy coming, as they let them through, nodding without any questions.
    
    “Excuse me, officer,” Alex addressed the commander of the shift. “Could you, please, notify the princess about our arrival? Unless her highness wanted us to wait at some specific location…”
    
    “In a moment, sir. Her Highness, princess Celestia ordered to relay that you should wait for her at the hospital entrance,” the unicorn waved his hoof, denoting the direction.
    
    ‘Yeah, right, “hospital”,’ Alex inwardly shuddered at the memory, but squeezed out a smile and said. “Thank you.”
    
    “Well, let’s go, Shy,” his smile to Fluttershy was sincere, her presence made his new “meeting” with “the hospital” bearable. “Better we wait for Celestia, than vice versa,” added he in half voice for only her to hear.
    
    They headed right from the gate and, after a few minutes of walking among the hedges and trees of the front garden, exited to the clear place in front of the white featureless four-storey building. Alex subconsciously frowned, when they reached the entrance with the glass doors. He preferred to turn away from the “hospital”, while they were waiting on the small bench in the shadow of the single tree, and examine the white, shining in the sun mass of the Castle. He thought he could see the exact place on the wall, where windows of the long gallery opened to; both ends of it had larger windows and huge balconies protruding from the castle wall. Alex turned to the right balcony; if his spatial thinking was serving him well, that was Luna’s room exactly – his heart made a leap.
    
    “I couldn’t imagine, they would place him here as well,” Fluttershy leaned to him, stroking his hand gently. “So you need to return to that… building. That’s a bit…”
    
    “Sorry?” Alex emerged from his thoughts. “Ah, yes, “the hospital”,” he huffed ironically. “Don’t worry, dear, I’ll cope with that…” he covered her small hoof with his hand.
    
    The princess didn’t make them wait for her too long and they soon saw her white graceful frame, landing further in the alley in the company of two pegasi guards and heading to the building entrance.
    
    “Your Highness!” both Alex and Fluttershy bowed, when Celestia approached them.
    
    “Good afternoon!” the princess smiled graciously. “It’s a pleasure, my dear Fluttershy, to see you again! Alex, are you ready to visit the unfortunate mage?”
    
    “Thank you, princess,” Fluttershy bowed once more. “Mutually!”
    
    “I’m ready,” shortly stated Alex. “Is there anything else, we should know beforehand, in addition to what you already told me, your highness?”
    
    “I’m afraid, no,” Celestia slowly shook her head. “He is still completely inert. You’ll see it, Alex, he almost needs to be treated like a doll.”
    
    “Oh, my! What’s this, pray tell?!” she leaned closer, examining his cheekbone with almost faded bruise of very distinctive shape.
    
    “It’s fine, your highness, thank you,” Alex felt uneasy, while Celestia looked at his face from different angles. “Yesterday I visited a bar in Ponyville, hiding from heat and looking for a refreshment. A couple of stallions tried to convince me that I was an ape.”
    
    Celestia frowned, Alex spotted the small nodules on her cheekbones going up and down, as she squeezed her jaws automatically.
    
    “And I convinced them, their interpretation of good manners was far from exemplary forsooth,” quickly added he. “Don’t worry, no magic was involved,” he let out a small chuckle. “But next time those two will think twice.”
    
    He saw how the princess relaxed, stifling a smile.
    
    “Well, if you think, that was enough…”
    
    “More than,” Alex nodded. “I’m okay, your highness… in that aspect at least.”
    
    “Fine then!” Celestia welcomed them inside with a nod. “Up to our appointment.”
    
    Heading towards the doors with Celestia, Alex made it that way, so the princess was between him and Fluttershy, like a common courtesy. The guards followed at a reasonable distance.
    
    “Please, your highness,” Alex leaned to Celestia, telling her in half voice. “If I may ask, could you avoid mentioning the details about the Seekers and… the rest… to Fluttershy as long as possible? I would like to keep her out of those problems, she knows about the accident in general only, taking it as a random event yet.”
    
    “I see your reasons and it seems, we can allow that so far,” Celestia slowly nodded in agreement. “But you must understand, Alex, that the circumstances may change at any moment. Besides, the longer you stay, the harder will be to keep your friends uninvolved.”
    
    “I know, princess. That’s one of the thoughts burning me mercilessly,” Alex gritted his teeth. He threw a quick glance at Fluttershy to ensure that she didn’t pay much attention to their short exchange.
    
    “Your Highness, w-what we are g-going to see exactly, if I m-may ask?” Fluttershy’s sudden question was at the same time timid and ultimately straightforward; Alex strained.
    
    “A victim of an overly strange magical accident, my dear,” to his relief Celestia easily avoided the sharp edges. “Which might help us understand Alex’s arrival and further events a little better. Especially if Alex knows the proper questions and how to ask them,” she chuckled lightly, trotting along the hall.
    
    ‘Here you caught me, Tia,’ sighed Alex mentally. ‘I just want to see his reaction to the Seeker’s images and if he can remember anything. He was the one, affected by the monster directly and might know… well, keep that information deep inside his memory… something about those Seekers. Maybe it helps me understand their supposed connection with my arrival. Maybe…’
    
    The familiar nurse met them inside, Alex granted her with an involuntary wide smile, seeing his petite unicorn guardian-angel again.
    
    “Your Highness!” the nurse bowed low, then she turned to Celestia company. “Alex! It’s nice to see you… finally as a visitor,” she couldn’t hold back the smile as well. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, miss Fluttershy!”
    
    “You’re much more famous than you can confess, my dear!” sly sparkles danced in laughing Celestia’s eyes. “Oh, what’s wrong, Fluttershy?” she asked, seeing how Fluttershy suddenly became red as a carrot and subconsciously held closer to Alex.
    
    “We met one of Fluttershy’s fans at the express, princess,” elaborated Alex, hugging Fluttershy protectively. “You know… We could barely get rid of them finally.”
    
    “Oh, right, the model career…” Celestia let out a small smile, then addressed Fluttershy. “You shouldn’t sweep under the mat, what you naturally mastered with perfection, my dear. That was your star moment. And, frankly speaking, I have one of your best photos as well,” she added quietly.
    
    ‘Just don’t ask her to sign it, okay,’ inwardly prayed Alex. ‘Or Shy will drop unconscious.’
    
    Nevertheless, Celestia’s words seemed to patch up Fluttershy’s condition, as she regained her normal colours, quietly telling the princess something in response.
    
    “So, how was it going, while I was away?” Alex jokingly asked the unicorn nurse. “Is “Ginger” still getting late every time?”
    
    “Ginger?” she stumbled for a second, then giggled like a school filly. “Oh… And, yes, she is incorrigible in that. Do you have a nickname for me as well, by the way?” she squinted at Alex.
    
    “No.” sincerely confessed Alex. “Speaking of which… As I’m not the “test subject” now and the policy of controlled reticence spreads on me not anymore, can I at least know your name?”
    
    “Scarlet Rose” she downcasted modestly. “My parents are florists and they hoped for me to follow the family trend. I think, it was a surprise – my cutie mark and my work. But they still guessed right, I mean my love for roses,” she looked up at him with a smile.
    
    “It’s a pleasure,” nodded Alex. “And thank you for your love for roses specifically,” added he in half voicee, meeting her surprised glance, but explaining no more.
    
    They got to the first floor of the building and entered the long hall, coming through the whole storey.
    
    ‘Now, if they put him into the same room, that would be something,’ Alex rolled his eyes, when they stopped at the door with a peep hatch, but without a magical barrier this time. He couldn’t tell if that was the same though.
    
    “Now please stop for a minute and listen to me,” the nurse stopped and turned to them all. “The patient is… resting at the moment and the doctor asked to relay that he would come shortly. You can ask your questions, well, try to. I will stick to my duties, if you don’t mind my presence during your appointment.”
    
    “Not at all,” Celestia nodded shortly. “Besides, it will hardly take too much time.”
    
    Scarlet Rose opened the door and they entered. As Alex could see, the room was indeed very familiar, almost the doppelganger of the one, he spent over a month in. The only difference was the bed and one totally unknown to him unicorn, occupying it at the moment. He wasn’t restrained, but Alex spotted immediately that it was hardly necessary – the unicorn’s eyes stared at the ceiling, like button eyes of a teddy bear. Their complete emptiness and lifelessness made Alex stumble a little, while the nurse approached the “patient” and helped him get up.
    
    Meanwhile, one of the guards followed Celestia inside, another stayed behind the closed door.
    
    “Please, your highness, stay at the entrance,” asked Alex quietly, watching as Scarlet almost made the unicorn get up and walked him slowly to get seated at the table in the middle of the room. Alex witnessed that the doll comparison wasn’t some exaggeration, as the Seeker’s victim hardly bent his joints, moving only when somepony made him to. “Fluttershy, please stay with the princess, just in case. I don’t want him to be distracted by many of us… if he can be distracted,” added Alex forcedly.
    
    “Reasonable amendment,” Celestia leaned to Alex’s ear. “I wasn’t joking, saying he was treated like a doll, as you can now see, Alex. If he falls from that chair, he will need somepony’s help to be seated back, despite how awful it could look and sound.”
    
    “I’m still going to try…” Alex turned his head slightly, looking into her eyes. The nurse left the unicorn sitting and got aside, moving something on a smaller table at the wall, probably preparing to the doctor’s visit.
    
    Alex slowly approached the table from another side. He didn’t take the chair and remained standing, reaching into his pocket and taking the folded drafts out.
    
    “Good afternoon, sir!” said Alex in calm relaxed voice, despite his body froze from inside. The unicorn kept sitting, looking straight in front of him without any expression in the eyes, resembling unpowered light bulbs. “I’m going to ask thee a few questions. First of all, dost thou hear me? Can thou understand mine words? If ‘t be true thou can, but can’t tell, blink thy eyes twice, please.”
    
    Celestia’s eyes dilated, but she slowly shook her head, confirming the futility of Alex’s attempts. Alex unfolded the sheets of paper and straightened them out on the table; neither the pose, nor the direction of unicorn’s sight changed.
    
    “Okay,” sighed out Alex. “Let’s try more straightforwardly…”
    
    He took one of the drafts, leaning closer, and placed it right in front of the unicorn’s eyes at the half-yard distance.
    
    “Dost thou recall…”
    
    The unicorn suddenly blinked, Alex saw, how his eyes started darkening, filled by the rage, flooding the poor stallion from inside.
    
    The following happened like in slow-motion. The unicorn popped up, like stung by a wasp, and slammed both his hooves at the table crumpling the rest of the drafts. Alex leaned back, the stallion’s fore legs got under the table, lifting it and throwing aside. At the last moment Alex saw nurse’s eyes, widened from the terror; she turned to the noise and realized, where the whole wooden mass would land the next second. With a blasting kick of his foot Alex intercepted the table mid-air and sent it to the back wall, making it smash at the protruding windowsill and lose a leg with dry crackling. He jumped to the nurse and shielded the petite unicorn mare by himself. But before he turned to shout Fluttershy and Celestia to leave the room, what he least expected happened.
    
    A yellow and pink flash dashed past him and Fluttershy stood right in the way of enraged “patient”.
    
    “NO, YOU WON’T DO THAT, MISTER!” Fluttershy’s voice, becoming suddenly strong and loud, filled the room and Alex almost saw this time, how the waves of energy spread from her widely open eyes, which stared… no… Stared at the unicorn. For the short moment the time itself seemed to stop. The unicorn staggered, like hitting the concrete wall in the middle of his mad rush. He slowly dropped on the floor and blinked several times. His eyes started moving, like ones of a living creature, not a mannequin, and tears flowed out of them.
    
    “W-what’s happening?” his voice came like from the bottom of the well. “Where am I?” and then quieter and more desperately, grabbing his head. “Who… am I?!”
    
    Alex loudly breathed out, releasing the nurse, whom he was blocking by his back before. He was surprised by her self-control and endurance, she hurried to the unicorn, like nothing happened, calming him and trying to get to the bed again. He was trembling, cried like a foal still, asked several times, what was happening, and once for help. There were no symptoms of any rage attack anymore, yet the guard immediately got at the other side of the patient, ready to restrain him at any moment, another guard entered the room as well.
    
    Alex considered some strong reaction possible, but he wasn’t ready for this, as he admitted to himself. This looked like somepony turned a switch… and, to tell the truth, was really scary. He approached Fluttershy, who stood at the same spot still, and kneeled next to her, wrapping his hands around her graceful frame. She shuddered, unfreezing and almost falling in his arms with a fitful sigh. Alex gently stroked her mane, cooing into her soft ear that everything was alright and she was incredible and other things. He felt a light touch on his shoulder.
    
    “Quite impressive reflexes, Alex,” Celestia’s soft voice sounded right above his ear.
    
    “Thank you, princess. I’ve already missed one hit,” Alex looked up at her, he touched his left cheek, hugging Fluttershy with another hand. “Not going to repeat the same mistake anymore.”
    
    Celestia nodded, then addressed Fluttershy.
    
    “How are you, my dear? That was unexpected, yet I must admit very effective, as we all witnessed.”
    
    “Better now, your highness,” quietly said Fluttershy, holding on Alex. “I don’t know how, but it happened spontaneously, as usual… I’ll be fine in a moment.”
    
    “I suppose, we all understand how important, what we saw here, could be,” Celestia cocked her head. “Guard. Escort my guests to my study, please,” she threw a strange glance at Alex, then addressed them both again. “You should wait there for a while, I’ll attend to you shortly, as soon as I can sort this out,” she nodded towards the still shaking mage.
    
    “It’s okay,” Fluttershy looked at Alex with a weak smile. “I can walk fine on my own,” she turned to the guard.
    
    “Alex, stay for a word, please!” Celestia’s tone was unobjectionable.
    
    “Tis fine,” whispered Alex in Fluttershy’s ear. “I shall catch thee up in a minute.” She nodded and Alex noticed that she didn’t twitch at his old speak this time. Perhaps she was still in a slight shock, as she didn’t react at Celestia’s wish to speak to him privately, moreover, without Fluttershy, as there were still other ponies in the room.
    
    When the guard left the room, followed by Fluttershy, Celestia turned to Alex.
    
    “First of all, I’d like to say that the situation changed, Alex,” she said sternly. “You saw the effect the Stare made on the Seeker’s victim. I’m going to admit, that could be a coincidence, of course, but chances are high, she is the only remedy in that case. Do you understand, what it means?”
    
    Alex got up and nodded shortly, it seemed that his plans to avoid involving Fluttershy in more troubles were busted. Meanwhile, the princess continued.
    
    “If we get more victims, we will need to try everything to return them to the normal condition…”
    
    “Apologies, but tis looketh normal condition alike not,” huffed Alex.
    
    “He reacts, talks, feels… for a change,” Celestia frowned. “That is why I need specialists’ conclusion, thus making you wait for me for a while.”
    
    “Returning to our main question,” she raised one eyebrow. “I can grant you my trust to decide, when and how to explain her everything, the most important parts at least, but it will depend mostly on the conclusion, the medics give on his case,” she nodded towards the unicorn. “Don’t linger too long anyway, Alex! We may need her anytime soon and she’ll better be informed about everything.”
    
    “I see your point, princess,” Alex downcasted. “Just give me some time…”
    
    “And one more thing, what’s going on with you using the old language sometimes?” inquired Celestia, yet in more relaxed tone. “Luna speaks that way, as you might have noticed, but you didn’t, when you first arrived.”
    
    “I don’t know why it’s happening,” Alex looked in Celestia’s eyes openly. “I’m trying to control myself lately, but it always comes out naturally, when I’m worried or angry… generally in the moments of strong feelings.”
    
    “So does Luna; in the moments “of strong feelings”, as you say, it becomes more pronounced,” Celestia closed her eyes, thinking.
    
    “I guess, the sleepwalking didn’t come alone,” Alex sighed.
    
    ‘You were quite alike even before that, I don’t know why and where it leads, but that bothers me,’ Celestia watched him for a minute, then waved her hoof, letting him go.
    
    Alex caught up with Fluttershy outside, the guard led them through the front garden to the Castle entrance; this place was familiar to Alex, but not the rest of the way. They took the central stairs, passing the familiar throne hall and getting to the third floor, but considering the height of the ceilings here, it equalled to regular tenth probably. Alex instinctively tried to keep further from windows, scolding himself inwardly for this weakness he only started to overcome. When they entered the long hall, the guard turned to the right, trotting along the huge gallery with columns and statues.
    
    “Keep up with me please, one can easily get lost here for the first time,” dropped he over the shoulder.
    
    Alex coughed, stifling a laugh – he couldn’t get lost here for sure, as he recognized the gallery and most likely knew, where they headed. Naturally, he wasn’t going to tell that he knew, which rooms were located at this gallery and where, but he smirked, when they passed the high ornate double doors to Celestia’s bedroom and entered the next one.
    
    “Take a seat and wait for her highness, I’ll be behind the doors; notify me, if you need something,” the guard left them alone.
    
    The large room under the high ceiling was decorated in light colours, just as Celestia’s bedroom. The walls were almost entirely covered by the bookcases and Alex thought with a wry smile that Celestia chose herself a perfectly fitting apprentice. The high window let the sunlight flood the room and make the noble furniture and some books’ spines shine, reflecting in thousands of pendants of the large single chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling. The heavy table could easily compete with the billiard one and the high armchair behind it completed Celestia’s workplace. Alex took a look around, avoiding the window, and chose the small couch, fairly supposing that a double seat was exactly what they needed.
    
    Fluttershy trotted next, following him on the thick carpet, which muffled the hoofsteps almost completely, and sat next to him. Alex hugged her, comforting the girl, letting her overcome the stress under his psychological protection. She snuggled to him tightly and hid her muzzle on his shoulder, while Alex stroked her mane.
    
    “Sweet Celestia, what was that?!” whispered she barely audibly after a while.
    
    “Some severe magical accident, I suppose,” Alex closed his eyes, what he did, wasn’t pleasant to do at all. He decided to tell at least a part of the truth. “Something caused this guy to totally lose his identity… well, till you… did something to him. Now it seems better… errmmm… better than it was for sure. Let’s wait for what the princess tells.”
    
    Fluttershy shuddered convulsively, like from a cold draught. There were none though and Alex held her closer.
    
    “It’s okay, Shy. I’m here… I… shouldn’t let you come with me and see all that.”
    
    “Don’t say that,” Fluttershy looked into his eyes. “I’ve chosen to go with you myself, besides that made this poor unicorn wake from his… stupor in the end of the day. I’m not regretting anything, neither should you, dear.”
    
    They waited for about half an hour, when they heard the hurried hoofsteps behind the door, and in a minute Celestia quickly trotted in.
    
    “Apologies for the waiting!” her tone was fairly cheerful though, Alex thought that the good news was exactly what they needed. “He was shortly examined by the medics and…”
    
    “And?..”
    
    “I had my pleasure already to find out that patience was not your strongest virtue, Alex,” chuckled Celestia, placing herself behind her desk and moving some papers aside. “Sometimes it’s a blessing, of course, but sometimes…” she made a meaningful pause.
    
    “The good news is – our patient exited his totally unknown and unmanageable condition and, as medics claim, is now in some sort of severe amnesia, so, it is at the very least curable within our capabilities,” continued she, when Alex’s face showed at least some signs of remorse. “The bad news – this will take time, long time to fully recover him and restore his memories. But still, it’s better than to deal with a… “hollow” pony.”
    
    “I want to thank you again specifically, dear Fluttershy, for what you’ve done,” added the princess with a bright smile. “Even if it was a spontaneous act… It seems to be a feasible method to help similar cases. I hope you won’t mind, if we ask for your help in future, if necessary.”
    
    “And I’d like to thank you, Alex, as well. Without your actions we wouldn’t have found out, what we know now… and we wouldn’t have had the hope to help this pony. But… next time, please, at least inform me of what you are going to undertake,” Celestia looked at him fixedly.
    
    “Your Highness,” Fluttershy found the strength to sit straight, her fore hoof still rested on Alex’s knee though. “W-what happened to this poor stallion, if… if I may ask?”
    
    Celestia threw a quick glance at Alex, who returned it fully, widening his eyes and silently asking her to follow the agreement.
    
    “Well…” Celestia closed her eyes for a second, making some uneasy decision. “My apologies, Alex, but the situation changed significantly and I must revert from my previous decision.”
    
    Alex buried his face in his hands, he imagined the shock Fluttershy could be in the next moment and her possible suspicions. He didn’t bother much about Rainbow’s opinion about himself, but Fluttershy was another story. Luna was extremely rational regarding his possible connection to the Seekers. Would Fluttershy show the same level of non-emotionally driven prudence? On the other hand, she needed to know everything sooner or later, considering her role in the situation at that moment. Perhaps, Celestia was right, thinking that sooner was better. Alex threw a quick depressed glance at the princess and nodded sentencedly.
    
    Fluttershy put her hoof on his knee and stroked it reassuringly, she seemed to pay less attention to the “previous decision” words, than they deserved.
    
    “We came across some strange creatures appearing in Equestria recently,” the princess was extremely straightforward. “What we deemed to be the remnants of King’s Sombra power appeared to materialize as magical hostile entities, not of Sombra’s origin. They look like a human torso without the head and arms planted on the horse body – entirely formed of the dense Dark Mist, the black fog-like substance we found before.”
    
    “Their general form is somewhat familiar to Alex, as there are similar creatures in his home world’s mythology,” continued Celestia, making a pause for the previous information to settle in. Alex noticed how Fluttershy’s eyes started dilating. “With the exception that centauri from his home world were purely mythic and didn’t possess the same physical features and magical effect on others. Namely, they had arms, heads and were not draining positive emotions from the living beings around.”
    
    Alex nodded and Fluttershy quietly asked in disbelief.
    
    “You highness, you want to say that…”
    
    “Moreover, I’m already saying that,” confirmed Celestia. “The unicorn, you saw, was subjected to direct impact of the Seeker’s powers, resulting in the condition, he was found in. The condition you, my dear Fluttershy, was able to revert by merely using your Stare on him.”
    
    “What creatures must those… Seekers be to cause damage like that?” gasped Fluttershy. Then added after a second. “Why “Seekers”, i-if I may ask?”
    
    “They aren’t some living creatures as we suppose,” Celestia looked fixedly at Alex. “They are somepony’s magical “puppets”, entities used for some purpose, we don’t know yet…”
    
    “Okay, if we took this route already…” Alex decided to cut it straight. “Shy, her highness, princess Celestia wanted to say, that she suspected direct connection between me and those Seekers.”
    
    Celestia’s cheeks got some pinkish tint and Fluttershy looked into Alex’s eyes for a whole long minute, then slowly shook her head. She was shocked by the news no doubt, bewildered, stunned, but to Alex’s enormous relief, there were no panic, hostility or suspicion in her turquoise eyes.
    
    “They drain all the positive emotions from ponies on the certain range, causing fear, despair, bringing back painful memories instead,” continued Celestia; she squinted and Alex wondered what “painful memories” the first Seeker revived to her. “Apparently the impact and drain are so strong upon direct contact, that it causes identity loss of the subjected pony. Answering your question, Fluttershy, we started to call them Seekers, because they literally look for something, when not disturbed…”
    
    “Him?!” Fluttershy threw another quick fearful glance at Alex, fearful for his fate, not of him, to Alex’s surprise.
    
    “No, not Alex,” Celestia allowed herself a small smile. “Some recent events showed that Alex is the only one here, who can easily take a Seeker down without any mental risk for himself. Yes, they can feel him and if they can’t attack him physically, they try to flee.”
    
    “I can feel their presence on a short distance, but nothing like others do – no fear or unease… it’s hard to tell, I just feel them,” said Alex carefully, still unsure what reaction all the given information could cause from Fluttershy. “And they can feel my presence, as I don’t know, if they can actually see. They feel, I’m dangerous for them. Look, Shy, I drain magic and reflect the hostile impact, thus I can destroy them by simply… touching them.”
    
    “What was clearly demonstrated by him and my dear sister on the day Alex left Canterlot,” said Celestia.
    
    “There was a Seeker in Canterlot…” gasped Fluttershy.
    
     “No, quite far from here actually, but that doesn’t really matter,” Celestia waved her hoof and Alex threw a thankful glance at her, grateful for not touching the details of his mental bonds with princess Luna. “What really matters is, if we assume that Alex is not the one, who controls the Seekers and sets their aims, I still can’t take the fact, they appeared in Equestria almost at the same time, as a pure coincidence. There are some more similarities,” Celestia downcasted, then made a “control shot”. “That unicorn was subjected to an extremely strong power drain, even life energy drain, as we can safely assume. That is why Alex and I concluded, this case can be connected to Alex’s problems and give him some answers. Apparently, it brought more questions for now instead.”
    
    Alex strained, getting ready for the reaction, he considered being the most natural at that moment. That was why he wanted to tell Fluttershy everything differently, not giving the natural, but so unfair by fact, accent to the situation.
    
    “Do you think, Alex’s reaction to magic can cause identity loss as well? Making him dangerous…” Fluttershy covered her mouth with the hoof, struck by that possibility. Nevertheless, she moved closer to him, Alex could feel her reassuring warmth. “We must do something to help him. He can’t stay like that then…”
    
    Celestia let out another small smile and Alex swallowed a lump, which suddenly formed in his throat.
    
    “No, I don’t think so,” finally said the princess. “Alex drains magical force, not the mere life power. That happens, when somepony applies magic to him, and he is not controlling the process… or initiating it consciously.”
    
    “As for the rest of your concerns, dear… Alex already IS dangerous, as anypony with numerous unknown aspects about them; we try to find out, how we can lessen that danger or avoid it completely, but at least he is not intentionally dangerous… Albeit, when you start behaving impulsively, Alex, I barely hold myself from putting that statement under doubt,” Celestia gave him a long fixed glance. “And deciding, if he can stay like that, is completely out of our power, I’m afraid.”
    
    Fluttershy let out a fitful sigh, squeezing Alex’s leg.
    
    “Unfortunately, that’s all I can tell for now,” Celestia looked at the wall clock, getting up and approaching them. “Excuse me, as I can’t devote you more time, too many things demand for my attention.”
    
    “You will be escorted… unless Alex can find the way himself,” sly sparkles lit in her eyes, Alex understood that innuendo clearly.
    
    Fluttershy bowed, following the formalities to say goodbye to the princess, and headed to the door. Alex lingered for a second.
    
    “Thank you, your highness,” he said with a faint tint of sad irony. “Surprisingly it went better, than I expected. I would like to keep Fluttershy out of all these problems, but I guess, it will be much harder to accomplish now.”
    
    “Sometimes circumstances are stronger than us,” with the meaningful expression Celestia cocked her head, making her illustrious mane flow. “If she stays around you, she has the right to know, what you are going into. Especially, considering her newly found ability. I extend my hope, we’ll meet in a more relaxed atmosphere next time. Good luck, Alex!”
    
    “Have a nice day, princess!” Alex bowed, then he remembered something. “And… Oh… Never mind, sorry!”
    
    “I’ll tell Luna that you both were here,” chuckled Celestia, following him to the doors. “And what we found out today. Stay safe both of you.”
    
    Alex’s bewildered expression, when he looked back at her, amused the Princess of the Day much.
    
    *
    
    It appeared that they had plenty of time to get back to Ponyville, so, Alex and Fluttershy bought tickets to a regular train, not to wait longer for the next express and had their late lunch at the station.
    
    “Why haven’t you told me anything about the Seekers, Alex?” Fluttershy woke from her deep thoughts and raised her beautiful, yet sad eyes on him. “You knew about them already, when you returned to Ponyville…”
    
    “That’s an easy question to answer, the decision was much harder to make though,” Alex let out a heavy sigh. “I wanted to protect you from those troubles. I don’t know, if I bring them with me or it’s just a coincidence indeed… but the least thing I wanted was you dealing with anything, related to the Seekers. I still think that Tia… princess Celestia was too straight to the point.”
    
    “Tia?” Fluttershy raised one eyebrow, then waved her hoof, asking instead. “Wasn’t it completely futile to hide that information from me, while we all are in the same danger? Except maybe you, as the Seekers don’t affect you much.”
    
    “When we all shared the same risk, it was exactly rational not to drag you deeper into the problem, not to scare you,” Alex pointed out meaningfully, he leaned forward, looking into her eyes. “I could protect you from an accidental encounter just being near you, Shy. Now, when you are involved, I can’t be sure… Celestia can need your help at any moment… but the risk is too high…”
    
    “But I want to help!” retorted Fluttershy with sudden passion, she put her daisy sandwich aside, barely touching it. “What chances that poor unicorn had? He could die in a few hours, if not constantly helped, simply because he had no… no passion to live… Now he has a chance to become himself again at least. How can we judge, if somepony deserves this chance or not?! Of course, I’ll agree to help, if the princess needs it! Wasn’t it necessary to take my own opinion into the account as well?”
    
    “That is why I regret our discovery,” muttered Alex woefully. “It’s always easier to judge, when you see the victims with your own eyes.”
    
    “What if you become subjected to that Seekers’ effect, Shy?” his voice became stronger. “I know arrant, I can’t… “stare” thee into thy normal condition! I… I fear for thee, Shy… Is ‘t selfish? I guess it can be deemed as such, but…”
    
    Fluttershy covered her mouth with her hoof again. Several minutes passed, Alex watched the impudent sparrows, whisking almost under their table, he had no more words to say. Fluttershy got up and around the table and suddenly hugged and squeezed him tight with her fore legs.
    
    “I’m sorry, Alex,” whispered she. “I knew your motives and I… Well… Now I can’t stay completely out of this I’m afraid. We just need to be careful,” she nuzzled his cheek. “I know you wanted to protect me, but we need to think about others, who may need our help. Don’t think that I’m not scared, because I darn sure am!”
    
    Fluttershy shuddered and Alex wrapped both hands around her.
    
    “Forgive me, Shy. I didn’t think about your own opinion indeed, was too concerned about your safety. About the safety of somepony dear to me,” he ran his fingers through her hair and Fluttershy snuggled closer to him. “Promise me that you won’t rush to the point of attack, whatever happens. And… when I’m not around, being at the station or somewhere else… If you ever feel irrational fear, unease or depression out of the blue, stop doing anything you are doing and… run to… to Twilight. She has magic at least and direct contact with Celestia. Don’t do anything to make me regret, we came to Canterlot together today.”
    
    Fluttershy let out a fitful sigh, resting on Alex’s chest; he could feel her trembling ever so slightly. The adrenaline blockade of the moment started to release her, giving Fluttershy back to the impression of today’s appointment and disturbing information, she was given.
    
    “We can’t tell Rarity all the details,” Alex stroked Fluttershy’s back gently. “Celestia wants to avoid broad publicity and I tend to agree with her here. The complete information will bring panic only…”
    
    “But she can’t keep everypony completely uninformed either!” Fluttershy looked up at him.
    
    “I know, Shy,” nodded Alex. “I’m thinking about that, how all the ponies can be warned at least about how to avoid direct contact with those things. And I’ll try to make some plausible version for Rarity… for now at least.”
    
    “Merlin’s pants, I guess, the problems have only started to come,” added he, but the noise of arriving train overshadowed his words.
    
    Boarding a regular train turned out to be a doubtless advantage, when they found out, they had the entire compartment for themselves. No mad fans, no chatterboxes…
    
    “I wonder how many of her friends now… well, not right now, but eventually… will be informed about her getting an autograph of a famous model, even after the latter finished her career, not being a public pony now,” Alex laughed, imagining the mare gathering others alike and bragging with the speed of machinegun.
    
    “Alex, please, don’t remind me about that…” Fluttershy shuddered, she was still under the impression of their appointment and the reaction of the unicorn. “Like if it wasn’t that awful. Those mad herds of fans exactly made me stop the so-called career, not the photographing or attending fashion events, despite I don’t like being in the center of attention,” she let Alex get to the window, in the corner of the seat under the lamp, then nested next to him. “Thinking of it now, I could hold more, purely for Rarity’s benefit, if only those fans didn’t pester me. But considering how it was, I’d like to forget about that part of my life.”
    
    “Okay, okay, won’t touch that topic again,” Alex lowered the curtain, as the Sun was shining right into the window now. The compartment drowned in the intimate twilight. “I just think that you truly have everything for that work, Shy… and if it was within your mood and character, you’d keep it done perfectly.”
    
    “Stop it…” Fluttershy blushed, nudging him lightly. Alex comically raised his hands, giving up.
    
    This time the road took about five hours, as the train stopped at the several smaller stations, Alex saw on the way to Canterlot in the morning. He wasn’t watching the passing by landscape, thinking about something and absently staring in front of himself. Fluttershy curled on the seat near him and it was obvious, she tried to recompose after the events of that morning, probably thinking about Celestia’s words regarding the incident.
    
    She looked strained and concerned and Alex ran his fingers through her mane, stroking her head, scratching behind her soft ears and trying to comfort her, while still thinking what to do with the load, placed on their shoulders by Celestia.
    
    ‘Right when I wanted to keep her out of all those troubles… Damn it! She is not a universal medic… What now? Making her attend every case, when some hay-head stupidly gets subjected to the Seekers’ effects? The last thing we need, the last thing I need is to get Shy near those bastards, risking her own sanity. Of course, she can kick somepony back on track by her Stare, but I doubt she is ready to confront the Seekers… I have no doubts, if I try to take down more of those monsters, if they appear, she will follow me,’ Alex closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. ‘I can’t risk her!’ he reached Fluttershy shoulder, stroking it gently.
    
    Little by little Fluttershy relaxed, her strained muscles softened and her shoulders became less stiff; it took more than an hour, but the change was visible and Alex was glad that stress finally released the girl. She raised her head and Alex could meet the glance of bright turquoise eyes, not veiled by concern or fear anymore. Fluttershy smiled gently, she got up on the seat and leaned closer to Alex. Her soft silky lips touched his own and the time seemed to stop for a while, albeit differently, than when she stared the mage today. She closed her eyes, listening to her feelings, while Alex watched her, wholeheartedly giving the kiss back. Fluttershy’s small hooves traveled randomly on his shoulders, chest, arms, like trying to feel that he is still here, not going to vanish suddenly.
    
    “Did you lock the compartment door?” she breathed out in between the kisses.
    
    “Right after… we entered and… I saw, we were lucky… having no co-travelers this time,” Alex nuzzled her nose, when she stopped covering his face with short, but demanding kisses. “I didn’t want that to change!”
    
    “Excellent!” cooed Fluttershy, snuggling into him with her whole body.
    
    In about three hours they got off the train at Ponyville station and were to go back home on slightly wobbly legs. No wonder that the whole road took a bit longer, despite Alex felt like a kite and Fluttershy got some dancing tint to her gait. The clock on the tower showed almost 7 pm, when they saw it, and Alex remembered that they were to host still: Rarity and Twilight, they invited them both in the morning. Alex racked his brains to find a way to tell Twilight everything, not informing the other two girls about unwanted details. Besides, he had one more talk planned for that night, the talk which demanded proper timing, otherwise, he couldn’t reach the one, he wanted to see.
    
    *
    
    “Tea or coffee, Shy?” Alex was to shout, as he already entered the kitchen after bringing himself into order and changing upstairs.
    
    “Huh?!” she turned off the water, Fluttershy wanted to wash her mane, getting rid of “Ponyville’s roads dust”. “What did you say, dear?”
    
    “Take your pick, tea or coffee,” repeated Alex, lighting the stove.
    
    “Are you kidding, Alex? Drinking coffee in the evening? I’m not…” Fluttershy stumbled. “Tea of course. I’m so tired, ready to fall, wonder, if I can hold, while the girls are here…”
    
    ‘Not drinking coffee in the evening, because she is not whom?..’ smirked Alex. ‘Was she going to mention Luna again?’
    
    ‘Well, tea it is for both,’ Alex got the kettle and filled it with water. ‘I surely need some sleep as well. First, because I really need it, and second, because I must get asleep to see Luna!’ he checked the clock, then the window – the Sun was slowly going down. ‘And before she attends to her duties, or I can’t reach her in Canterlot.’
    
    Right when the kettle started whistling and Alex finished making the sandwiches (he decided that the lunch was history, besides, girls could come at any minute), he heard somepony knocking at the front door. There were more than two voices behind it and Alex raised his eyebrow, wondering who that could be. He saw Fluttershy going downstairs, she braided her tail and made a huge towel turban on her wet mane.
    
    “It must be the girls.”
    
    “Hmm… There are more of them, than Rarity and Twilight, as I could hear,” Alex shrugged, opening the door. “Oh, good evening, Rarity!”
    
    “Ahlex, darling, Fluttershy, good evening!” Rarity pecked him on the cheek, putting some hot parcel, she levitated, into his hands. “I hope we are not too much of a burden…” she returned him a slightly guilty look and Alex wondered, what else was going to happen. “My sister, she wanted to come so much and I couldn’t leave her at home, alone and bored… So,” she stepped aside and revealed… all three fillies to Alex’s sight.
    
    “You’ve said “alone and bored”, Rarity,” Alex made a mischievous face, he heard from behind something resembling a gasp, a snort and a giggle at the same time – Fluttershy seemingly appreciated the situation as well. Now Alex understood what was that rustle behind Rarity’s back, resembling the sound produced by mice; three big mice, to be exact. How he managed not to drop Rarity’s parcel at that moment was a separate question.
    
    “Squee!” Rarity shrugged and made her best “puppy eyes”, like saying. ‘What could I do with them?’
    
    “Okaaay!” slowly breathed out Fluttershy. “Don’t know what kind of entertainment we can provide… but why not.”
    
    “Now we won’t fall asleep for granted,” she whispered to Alex.
    
    “Hi!” said all three fillies, looking up at them. “Not going to be a problem, honestly,” smirked Apple Bloom, the other two nodded.
    
    “Hi, girls,” Fluttershy took the process in her hooves firmly, shaking off her sleepiness, even if temporarily. “Come in! Did you have any adventures today?” she took the girls into the living room quickly, Alex followed them with his sight.
    
    “Evening, Alex,” the last in the “queue” was Twilight with “That wasn’t my idea” expression on her smiling muzzle.
    
    “Evening. What’s up, Twi?..” her smile seemed to Alex too meaningful, maybe his face was still dumbfounded or she simply intercepted his glance at Fluttershy taking care of the fillies… and made her own assumptions.
    
    “Nothing, I’m glad to see you both being fine,” Twilight trotted inside, letting Alex close the door. “How did the Canterlot appointment come?”
    
    Alex looked back to make sure that Rarity followed the girls. He leaned closer to Twilight, taking her saddle bag to place it on the small table by the door.
    
    “With unexpected results, but I didn’t find out much about my problem,” whispered he in her ear. “Fluttershy knows everything or almost everything now, as you wanted. Celestia told her, what we both knew about the Seekers.”
    
    “But?..” Twilight eyes became bigger than teacups.
    
    “Not now, Twi,” Alex looked back again. “Rarity isn’t involved and doesn’t need to be for now. I’ll tell everything, but mind that I am to keep the real reasons in secret yet. So, the victim and the effect I describe are of Seeker’s origin, not some undefined magical disturbance or experiment, as I am forced to say,” he added quickly.
    
    Twilight nodded, becoming serious at once.
    
    ‘Now, what can we do to keep the girls busy and entertained at the same time,’ pondered Alex, following Twilight to the living room. ‘There won’t be any problem, if they hear, what I’m going to say, I’ll keep it masked enough, so they won’t find much interest in it, perhaps.’
    
    “By the way, what’s this?” he asked Rarity, nodding towards the parcel, he held in his hands still.
    
    “Oh, this is my berry pie,” Rarity sported a bright smile. “I’ve made it specifically for the evening and it appeared to be even more handy… as we came as a bigger herd,” she looked over the company.
    
    Alex unwrapped the pie, putting it on the table. He stared at the top of Rarity’s culinary masterpiece, resembling a lattice, every cell of which was occupied by a berry of different, but fitting together sorts; that gave Alex an excellent idea.
    
    “Girls, do any of you have a grid copybook and some pencils?” he addressed the fillies. Meanwhile, Fluttershy made a cup of tea for everypony and Rarity cut the pie. “I’m not sure, if our talks can entertain you, but I know, what probably can.”
    
    “Don’t know about the girls, but I have one for sure,” smirked Twilight, levitating a copybook from her saddle bag.
    
    “Thanks, Twi! A saviour of the evening,” Alex took three sheets of paper out, found the pencils and put the whole set on the table. “Now, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, did you ever heard of “Battleship” game?”
    
    To his utter surprise, despite all the similarities of two worlds, noosphere was unable to reproduce that simple Earth game into Equestria realm and all three fillies puzzledly shook their heads. Other girls did the same, to be honest.
    
    Alex quickly drew a couple of 10x10 fields on each sheet, then after the second thought, added the third field to each, marked the coordinates and quickly explained the simple rules.
    
    “So you are free to place your limited number of ships as you like, they just must bend or overlap not,” Alex gave each filly her own sheet of paper and a pencil. “Here is your own field, those two are of the opponents. Thus each of you can make two shots in her turn, instead of one, if you were one on one.”
    
    “This makes the game harder a bit,” insinuatingly noticed Alex. “But when did challenge scare you since?”
    
    Scootaloo huffed meaningfully and Twilight threw a quick respectful glance at Alex. Now he could be sure that the fillies were busy and entertained at the same time, as they got involved in the game with great enthusiasm. Even if something of adult talk reached their fluffy ears, it wasn’t harmful and was overshadowed by the game quite nicely.
    
    Alex quietly told Rarity and Twilight in brief, what happened at the Castle “hospital”, inwardly smiling at his story being interrupted by cheerful “Miss!” and rare sad “Hit!” coming from the girls, none of them managed to “destroy” one whole ship of the others yet.
    
    “That must have been horrible,” shuddered Rarity, her eyes dilated and Alex noticed that it wasn’t some acting, but truly her reaction to the incident. “Even being told by you, not witnessed myself!” she held her cup of tea in both hooves, not with her magic, like using its warmth to repel her own chilling fright. “What kind of magical accident can make this damage?”
    
    “I don’t know exactly, what kind of impact and of what nature can provide that effect,” Alex shrugged. Twilight threw a quick evaluating glance at him, Fluttershy examined her teacup intensively. “Being magically resistant doesn’t mean that I became a specialist in all that stuff suddenly.”
    
    “Ti… Princess Celestia has no idea either… how that was done,” Alex put away his cup and rubbed his nose bridge tiredly. “The worst thing is that the unicorn is still in severe amnesia condition, thus he can’t tell a word about what he really got into. The rest was exactly as she told, he was totally inert, not reacting on words, acts of others or any other events.”
    
    “Until you showed something to him, right?” re-asked Rarity, alternating from Alex to Twilight; she must have spotted the glance of the latter. “What was on those sheets of paper, Alex, that made him exit his stupor?.. Moreover, in such an enraged way.”
    
    Fluttershy strained, watching Alex; Rarity clearly felt some awkwardness of the moment.
    
    “Hmm…” Alex tried to relax inwardly, looking over Rarity’s head, trying to avoid her eyes subtly. “These drafts were found at the place of the accident, so they could be connected to the process or the reason to the mage… identity loss. Celestia showed them to me in hope, I can recognize something, but I didn’t. There were dark spots, stripes, some red light of sort, nothing that could be deemed as a portal, to be honest. Well, according to how I can imagine a portal anyway…” Alex tried hard to balance on the thin borderline between the truth and… well, “partial truth”. At least he managed to describe the images quite close, not giving the whole impression though.
    
    “You know, portals can be different. Sometimes they don’t look like a swirl or whatever you expect them to be,” Twilight rolled her eyes, it looked too far-fetched for her, but nopony objected.
    
    “It’s your talent – magic, not mine,” retorted Alex with a chuckle. “I won’t recognize one, if my wallet… Merlin’s pants, I even don’t have one now… So, even if my theoretical wallet turns into one, I’ll start suspecting something, only when money begins to vanish through it.”
    
    “Did you come here through a portal?” Apple Bloom turned to him, distracted from the game.
    
    Alex squinted, he would like to forget some aspects of his arrival completely.
    
    “The problem is, I have no idea, what it was,” he answered sincerely. “I was riding a car…”
    
    “A car?” all three fillies perked their ears. “You mean, by a train…”
    
    “No,” smirked Alex. “Well, it’s hard to explain in brief, but a car, an automobile is a big self-propelled carriage. It moves by using combustion power, like the train. I got into an accident with another car… tried to help those people, but their vehicle got on fire, when I was in… and then a lightning hit it.”
    
    Three fillies fell silent, freezing in bewilderment; Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity heard the details already, nevertheless, they shuddered involuntarily at the image.
    
    “The next thing I could remember was finding myself at the top of the Old Castle tower. Back then I was too shocked to think about it, but now I can say, finding myself not fried was a big surprise as well,” Alex stared at the tea in his cup almost for a minute, until the fillies started fidgeting impatiently. “As for your question – to me it looked least as a portal, but as Twilight said…”
    
    “Wow!” breathed out Apple Bloom.
    
    “Anyway, returning to our story,” continued Alex. “We left the drafts there, they must have trashed them already.”
    
    That was part truth only – Alex managed to keep one draft, the one exactly he showed to the mage; he crumpled it, when the incident happened, but kept holding it automatically, then folded and hid it later.
    
    “I have a feeling that you haven’t found out anything for yourself today, Ahlex,” pensively muttered Rarity. “You aren’t closer to your problem solution, as you don’t even know, if that case is connected… And this unicorn talking is a quite far perspective.”
    
    “Well, technically I did nothing today,” confessed Alex. “And I have nothing to be proud of indeed, But… we found out that Fluttershy can help with cases alike. At least she can put the victim on the road of healing quite effectively.”
    
    Fluttershy blushed and said quietly.
    
    “I prefer that there are no such cases to remedy anymore…”
    
    ‘I know, dear, I know… Merlin’s pants, if only I could grant that,’ thought Alex.
    
    “Woohoo!!!” Scootaloo’s loud whoop made them all jump on their seats, the filly managed to hit all Sweetie Belle’s ships and now was to confront only Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle pouted and looked so sad, that Alex took another two pieces of paper and suggested.
    
    “Tis a game only. Shall we try again?” he drew new fields and handed one sheet to Sweetie Belle with a smile. “Thy fleet versus mine… While thy friends are finishing their match.”
    
    Fluttershy sighed, Twilight squinted at Alex and only Rarity noticed nothing, watching him and her sister with a pleased smile.
    
    Scootaloo and Apple Bloom continued their battle and it looked like a really hard one, as they managed to take down all of the larger ships and “swept” the enemy’s field, searching for the rest. Alex played with Sweetie Belle, talking to girls at the same time. Perhaps his attention was spread, or he didn’t take the competitor seriously enough, but Belle hit the targets quite effectively, making him lose the match soon. Almost at the same time Scootaloo won against Apple Bloom in the epic battle having only one, one square ship left; Apple Bloom took that defeat stoically, she definitely decided to take revenge next time. As the result all three fillies were rather happy about that evening, Alex knew that they heard almost everything, but apparently that didn’t interest them enough to stick in.
    
    After a short while Rarity threw a quick glance at Fluttershy, who was almost sleeping on Alex’s shoulder and said that it was time to go; she was to walk the girls home as well. Fluttershy shook up a little and followed Rarity and the fillies to the door, while Twilight lingered for a while.
    
    “What was on those drafts?” she leaned closer to Alex, putting the pencils back into her bag. “I mean, actually…”
    
    “The Seekers,” sighed Alex, the answer was obvious. “Other mages, who were lucky to watch them from the distance, draw them… and Celestia showed the drafts to me.”
    
    “So the worst thing the Seekers can cause,” whispered Twilight. “Is the identity loss… And Fluttershy can revert that damage merely by her Stare, right?”
    
    “Yes, but I preferred that we didn’t find that out, Twi,” Alex shook his head. “Now it’s only a matter of time, when another victim appears and Celestia needs her help.”
    
    “Isn’t it good that we have at least anything against their damage?”
    
    “Putting Fluttershy into all that - isn’t!” dropped Alex. “I don’t want her to become a victim, whether the Seekers are connected to my arrival or not… And making her involved puts her under the risk more than…”
    
    “I don’t think that not telling her the entire truth was a way out either, so you did right finally,” Twilight put her hoof on his hand.
    
    “Not me, Celestia did, in the earnest,” chuckled Alex. “I was to conform under the pressure of circumstances.”
    
    “Anyway, you both did right,” said Twilight, then added meaningfully. “And one more thing, watch thy tongue better, please.”
    
    She trotted out to follow Rarity and girls, Alex stood in the kitchen, leaning on the table.
    
    ‘Thou art right, Twilight… As usual. Now I must find some way out of this!..’
    
    Fluttershy entered the kitchen and started gathering the teacups and sheets of paper from the table; Alex still looked at one spot, totally occupied by his thoughts. Suddenly he felt her soft embrace and a kiss on his neck: Fluttershy snuggled to his side, handing him his own “Battleship” paper… where he was drawing the ships, all the time around squares, which Sweetie Belle hit. Alex shrugged with a smile, looking into her loving eyes and getting one more kiss, on his lips now.
    
    “Let’s go,” Fluttershy dragged him upstairs. “I’m dropping dead almost…”
    
    *
    
    They fell into the endless well of dreams, as soon as their heads touched the pillows, so exhausted they both were, physically and mentally. Alex was even afraid that sleepwalking, demanding for certain mental powers, wouldn’t work that night. But to his surprise it happened very fluently: one second ago he was holding Fluttershy, breathing evenly on his chest, and the next moment he stood in the so familiar room in Canterlot Castle.
    
    Fortunately, it wasn’t too late, Luna was still in her bed, sleeping on her side, her head rested on her fore legs and her hair covered the pillows with the luxurious veil of starry night. She was smiling through her sleep like a small filly, so her cheeks became prettily round and the small dimples on them made Alex’s wish to touch and stroke her cheek almost irresistible. Luna’s long eyelashes trembled slightly, she was going to wake any moment soon. With a wide smile Alex ran his fingers through her mane, breathing full lungs of lavender, then kissed her shoulder lightly; her nose funnily twitched at the moment.
    
    Alex stepped back and sat in the armchair, taking an open book from it, marking the page and putting it away. Waiting for her and watching the sleeping beauty waking up wasn’t a bad occupation at all. He threw a quick glance through the half-curtained window: the last thin stripe of clouds, highlighted pink by the setting Sun, drowned into the darkness. Luna sighed in her sleep and straightened her fore legs, stretching with her eyes still closed and making Alex’s heart race, so exciting was the look.
    
    “Mmm…” cooed the Princess of the Night, slowly opening her beautiful eyes. “I knew ‘t wast thou, mine lief!” she wiggled her shoulder, Alex kissed, and her sly dark blue eye stared at him through her mane, which covered half of her face, as Luna got up.
    
    ‘Just like Fluttershy in the morning!’ flew in Alex’s head, he caught himself watching her with slightly open mouth and quickly made a more neutral face.
    
    “Mine apologies,” Luna shook her head, cocking it proudly, and her mane streamed in the insensible wind. “Now it’s better,” she giggled, heading to the bathroom. In a minute Luna trotted back fully awake and ready for her night, as Alex clearly read in her shining eyes.
    
    “Good evening, my princess,” Alex barely had time to say that, before Luna grabbed him in her warm embrace, sitting in front of him.
    
    “I missed thee much, mine lief!” cooed Luna, wrapping him in her wings and bringing nose to nose with her.
    
    The first kiss turned out to be hasty and insatiable and Alex tried to feel each tiny second of it, while her soft lips and tongue danced with his own. After a while, Luna calmed down a bit, except for her racing heart, Alex could easily feel, placing his hands on the soft coat on her chest. She opened her eyes, so he could dive deep into them, while still gently sharing his breath with the princess. Luna watched his half-lidded from pleasure eyes and threw back her head with a happy silvery laughter.
    
    “I can see, thou didst likewise,” she snuggled him closer.
    
    Suddenly Luna frowned and got slightly aback, carefully examining his face. Alex realized that she noticed the almost faded bruise in form of a hoof on his cheekbone; he sighed. ‘Three… Two… One…’
    
    “What miserable soul from the forsaken depths of the Tartarus dared…” her eyes shone furiously, or maybe that was the glint of the hearth fire, anyway the steel notes of hers were the Royal Canterlot Voice precursors. “I shall rip ‘t to pieces and fill with endless nightmares!”
    
    Alex ran his fingers through her mane, behind her soft ears, making Luna let out a quiet uncontrolled moan of pleasure, and covered her mouth with his lips.
    
    “Mmmmfff…” started Luna, but soon relaxed and wrapped her fore legs around him; her gentle hooves travelled all over his shoulders and back, like looking for a fulcrum to bring him even closer. Alex released her, only when Luna calmed down completely, becoming soft and to be honest quite hot and fluttery in his hands.
    
    “Still…” started she in inquiring tone, throwing a glance at him.
    
    “There is no need to rip those souls, regardless of them being miserable or contrary to that,” chuckled Alex. “I suppose they have got their retribution for the act fully.”
    
    He told Luna about the whole accident in the bar on Friday; she gritted her teeth at the description of the racist and aggressive outburst of two builders, with new hot sparkles appearing in her beautiful eyes, but finally laughed at the image of both bullies getting their lesson the hard way.
    
    “Ha-ha, I like the way it turned out!” she brought Alex’s head closer to her chest, laughing like a school filly.
    
    “I still can’t understand, what got into their heads,” sincerely wondered Alex. “Big Mac said, they could think I’m taking the limited vacancies in Ponyville, but… I haven’t ever appeared at the building site…”
    
    “In tis case they are getting their jobs out of control, if ‘t be true they still fear thy pressure.”
    
    “Anyway, I regret nothing!” Alex removed a stray hair from her face and put his palm gently on her cheek. “It must be impossible, but you become even prettier, when enraged, truly adorable!” confessed Alex with another soft kiss.
    
    “Doth that mean that thou art going to enrage me oft?” wondered Luna with a sly smile. “Simply for the show.”
    
    “Only if it is totally safe, for me and others around. But I know a better method…” with these words Alex put his fingers on Luna’s wings margins.
    
    It took only a faint move, like a butterfly wing touch, to start the marvelous transformation: Luna’s wings spread out; her luxurious mane formed a dark, silky, starry halo around her head, like blown up by some insensible wind; she bent her swan-like neck, glancing down at him with dilated glowing eyes.
    
    “Thou! Thou art a tease…” almost moaned she, Luna’s mouth stayed slightly opened, as her breath suddenly became faster and voice deeper. “I tell thee, thou shalt avoid touching them like that, if ‘t be true thou art ready for the consequences not…”
    
    “Okay, okay, not doing anything!” smirked Alex, removing his hands. “As I said, I knew a better way to reveal your divine look in full glory.”
    
    Luna squeezed him, kissing, then put her head on his shoulder, breathing out loudly into Alex’s neck.
    
    “I barely holding myself,” huffed she, her hoof unconsciously stroked his shoulder. “Thou should know better. I crave for a comparable revenge,” Luna let out a silvery laughter.
    
    “Apologies, mine goddess,” Alex tenderly kissed her in her nose, then in her warm silky cheek, then started coveting her closed eyes with soft gentle kisses, feeling how his heart almost jumped out of his chest in its turn. “I tend to think ‘t was worth the risk forsooth!”
    
    Luna gasped, throwing a quick surprised glance on him; she didn’t get used yet to be mirrored.
    
    “Oh, I have forgotten almost,” she giggled quietly in a second. “Thither is the duty I can’t sabotage under any circumstances.”
    
    “The Moonrise!” guessed Alex, when she released him and headed to the balcony. He followed the princess almost without any hesitation, this view was always worth overcoming his acrophobia a little. Nevertheless, he stopped right behind the door, not approaching the railing and watching, how Luna spread her wings and soared in the quickly darkening night sky.
    
    Her horn glowed with the blue aura and the Moon appeared from behind the mountain, raising in the sky, obedient to the will of the Night Princess. Luna turned to face Alex and for a short moment her gracious figure with widely spread wings and flowing mane and tail appeared against the Moon, highlighted from behind with soft silver light.
    
    ‘Truly divine!’ with widely open eyes and heavily thumping heart Alex watched her, descending to the balcony. ‘Girls, what are you both doing to me?!’
    
    “I can say that thou enjoy the view greatly, simply by looking into thy eyes,” chuckled Luna, floating in the air above the balcony; her mane formed an amazing flowing halo around her head again.
    
    ‘Just of the different colour,’ thought Alex involuntarily, his heart made a passionate jump. ‘Starry night instead of soft pink!’
    
    “I thought about a small walk, Alex,” meanwhile suggested Luna, watching him freezing in awe obviously gave her much pleasure. “The night is so beautiful, tis a crime to spend it in four walls, in the earnest.”
    
    “But…” Alex unfroze and glanced at her in surprise. “Where, my princess?”
    
    “The garden is hardly less beautiful at night,” Luna gave him a cheerful smile. “Thou haven’t seen it yet, right?”
    
    “The garden is a few galleries and stairwells from here, thousands of steps and nopony knows how many guards,” said Alex with a bewildered look. “I doubt it is a good idea, if they all see me here.”
    
    Luna simply darted down from the balcony, instead of an answer, and when Alex was going to rush to the railing, forgetting about his fear of heights, she soared back to the same level.
    
    “Thither is another way, thou knowest,” teasingly giggled the Night Goddess. “The garden is less guarded and… one doth need to walk far not.”
    
    “Thou knowest, thou can do it,” Luna approached him, looking deep into his eyes. “Thou hath done and thou art capable of much more… Remember thy fight with the Seeker!”
    
    She pressed her lips firmly to Alex’s, still floating in the air, and slowly backed up, not breaking the kiss. This way they almost reached the railing.
    
    “It’s not so hard, right?” with another smile Luna fluttered higher and over the balcony railing.
    
    Alex felt the fresh wind on his face and the tantalizing aroma of night flowers from the garden below; he gulped loudly.
    
    “Okay… I know I can regret this,” he squinted. “What’s down below, Luna?”
    
    “A gravel court,” Luna giggled. “No trees, no buildings, no rocks, if ‘t be true thou art asking about things alike!”
    
    “It better be a haystack,” muttered Alex quite loudly, causing another silvery laugher from the princess. ‘Okay, I can do it. Merlin’s pants, I truly hope, I can… The mill with the Seeker wasn’t of a high-rise building height though!’
    
    Alex straightened, concentrating on the task – moving himself in the air was considerably harder than controlling different objects or simply jumping higher, when he was sleepwalking. He raised in the air and reached over the railings. To be honest, his heart was beating somewhere above his throat, when Alex felt the cold wind whistling in his ears, while he descended fluently, straight as an arrow with arms outstretched slightly for balance. He would never confess that to Luna, but descending from this height was scary enough for the first time and, as Alex was going to admit, that hardly seemed to change anytime soon. Nevertheless, as the blissful relief, one of his feet met the ground and then another; he managed to keep balance, not falling or kneeling upon landing.
    
    “Tis was wonderful, mine lief,” Luna landed next to him and covered his shoulders with her soft wing. “Believing, as I said, is the key to the mastery.”
    
    ‘I won’t tell you that I did it with eyes tightly shut this time!’, Alex breathed out noisily.
    
    “Are you sure about the garden?” re-asked he, looking up to the balcony and shuddering inwardly at the height. “Because last time I tried to take a walk “around the castle” on my own, Tia didn’t take it well.”
    
    “Mayhap it was, because thou sneaked into her room and took a few flowers,” giggled Luna.
    
    “I deny anything!” Alex made an innocent face. “Besides she doesn’t snore and looks quite elegant while sleeping… Not as divine as you, of course,” he added with a smile, Luna wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue to him in a totally non-princess-like manner. “But she has nothing to worry about…”
    
    “I wonder, if ‘t be true thy cheeky deeds bring thee more adventures, than thou expect.”
    
    “You probably won’t believe, but my life before was routinely boring most of the time,” Alex followed Luna on the gravel path to the green hedge, which contours became clearer in the darkness with each step they made towards the garden.
    
    “Hmmm, what else we are to witness, at which time thy… inner Alex compensates the bore?” chuckled Luna.
    
    They reached the arched entrance to the garden and Alex could have a look at it with his own eyes. It wasn’t some banal labyrinth of green hedges, geometrically correct, molested shrubs and boring squares with fountains and benches. To Alex’s surprise and delight, it was more of a park; the garden looked as close to wild and natural as it was possible, while still keeping it well-groomed and beautiful. The strict plan and caring hoof were present everywhere, yet the trees and shrubs looked like randomly grown, where they “wanted”; flowers formed small meadows, rather than deliberate flower-beds; and benches, fountains and statues, where they were visible, didn’t spoil the whole naturalness. Alex breathed deeply, the aroma of night flowers mixed with lovely lavender of his princess, he could hear distant nightingales deeper in the garden and some other night birds, he didn’t know. A late squirrel whisked in the tree top, rustling the leaves. Alex alternated from smiling Luna to the magical image of the moonlit garden and felt, how his heart was filling with inexplicable happiness.
    
    “Come hither, tis not a problem if ‘t be true thou art with me,” Luna approached him, seeing that Alex was still hesitating; she pressed her nose against his and looked into his eyes. “I shan’t enjoy mine walk as much without thee, mindst that.”
    
    Alex put his both palms on her silky cheeks and gently kissed Luna instead of an answer. She squeaked from surprise and quickly pulled him closer, so the gentle kiss switched to the rather passionate one. Alex felt, his head was ready to start “floating”, while Luna’s hooves wrapped around him and her fragrant hair surrounded them in a soft cloud of living silk, when a quiet metal clank attracted their attention.
    
    Not breaking the mutual embrace Alex and Luna turned to see a frozen on spot and totally bewildered guard. Alex stifled a snort, readying to break out at the hilarious expression of the unicorn, and Luna quickly told the latter with her widened glaring eyes that he was dismissed and could attend to his duties… somewhere else. The guard “picked up his jaw” and vanished almost magically.
    
    “Well… ahem… this one shan’t tell anything,” she turned back to Alex with sly sparkles in her beautiful blue eyes. “Tia doth need to know everything right away not. Shall we go, Alex?” Luna led him somewhere deeper in the garden. “I want to show thee something.”
    
    “Because you spotted him, Luna,” huffed Alex. “Others, whom we might notice not, will surely discuss… But know what? I don’t care…” he stopped her and squeezed tighter, continuing interrupted pleasure.
    
    “By the way,” noticed Alex, when they took a break for some air. “Tia definitely knows or at least suspects something already…”
    
    “She said that she will tell you about our today’s… experiment, when I was only about to suggest something alike,” explained he, as Luna stared surprisingly at him.
    
    Alex briefly told her about the victim of the Seekers’ evil magic, about their with Celestia decision that it could be connected to his story indirectly, about their appointment earlier that day and about the rage attack, the unicorn entered upon seeing the drafts of the Seekers. He already described what happened next and Fluttershy’s sudden act, resulting in partial recovery of the victim, and was telling Luna, how Celestia decided to tell Fluttershy the significant part of the information, as she could be very important in confronting them.
    
    “…and when we were going to leave, I decided to relay you a message, my princess,” Alex rubbed his forehead, realizing that it wasn’t the smartest act perhaps. “But reconsidered. Yet Tia guessed what I was going to say in a wink and suggested the same herself. Needless to say, I was dumbfounded instantly. She was going to tell you everything in the upcoming morning, I suppose.”
 
    “I mean,” Alex pleadingly looked in Luna’s eyes. “Show her a bit of surprise at least, when she does, please. Like if you haven’t heard everything from me already.”
    
    “Fine, mine lief, I shall cover thee. Methinks ‘t shalt be an entertaining talk,” Luna’s eyes laughed, while she dragged him further, until they reached a small pond.
    
    “’t seems we arrived too early,” she observed the water surface, expecting something and not finding it yet. Luna threw a quick look at the sky. “The Moon is not high enough yet…”
    
    “But what…” Alex watched the pond surface fixedly, then turned to Luna. “…we are supposed to see there.”
    
    “Patience, mine lief,” Luna hugged him, wrapping in her wings. “Tis a surprise!”
    
    “Okay, like you say, my princess,” Alex put his head on her shoulder, stroking her silky dark coat and inhaling the lavender aroma.
    
    “Hey, why don’t we use the time, you insist to spend waiting, for our practice,” he looked up in Luna’s eyes teasingly. “Or you feel completely confident in dancing already.”
    
    “Art thou joking?” huffed Luna, but her eyes shone with anticipation. “Standing on two legs is not mine common practice, let alone acting alike. I’m all for yet another lesson… with thee,” added she meaningfully.
    
    “Shall we waste our precious time not henceforth?” Alex raised one eyebrow.
    
    After a few passes Alex was to admit Luna’s considerable progress at “human dancing”. She felt far more confident that night, raising on her hind legs and handing him one fore hoof, while another was firmly placed on Alex’s shoulder. Alex accepted her accurate hoof like some precious jewellery and held it gently, leading the princess in their dance, trying to ignore the silky softness under his another hand on her waist, not to lose the rhythm… and his head completely. He noticed that they didn’t need any counting already, perfectly feeling the pace and each other; moreover, Luna didn’t need as much Alex’s support, as when they started only, moving on two legs much better, than their first time.
    
    “I’ve practiced a lot lately,” confessed Luna with a slight pink tint on her cheeks, Alex never got tired to admire and be amazed by the prettiness of that simple manifestation on her face. “Surely dancing without a partner is a totally different story. I broke a vase,” her nose became pink as well, but she managed to keep the balance despite embarrassment.
    
    “Are you sure, we can pull this out at the Gala?” Alex looked deeply in the blue lakes of her eyes. “Moreover, that you can cope with it in your dress… because it’s going to be different, perhaps considerably different.”
    
    His words weren’t groundless, tango was noticeably harder for ponies, even for alicorns, to succeed at. Alex explained and showed Luna everything, but was to take out a couple of non vital, but very advantageous to his opinion, elements – they were hardly doable for a pony, even on two legs. Besides, Luna was larger and a bit heavier than him; Alex was to look up constantly to keep eye contact, otherwise, his eyes enjoyed not higher than the silky coat on Luna’s chest. Judging by Luna’s regretful look, she would be glad to keep and employ the mentioned elements, perhaps even more eagerly than Alex. Nevertheless, the progress was obvious, she didn’t stomp on his feet a single time that night and generally became more fluent and natural in her movements.
    
    “Tis mine idea,” Luna cocked her head, returning Alex his glance. “And I shall do mine finest to succeed. With thy dear help, of course.”
    
    Alex didn’t ask about the music this time, Luna ensured him that she was keeping that aspect under her personal control, the very tight one. The glare in her eyes told Alex that poor orchestra would rather learn any human dance in a couple of days, or even nights, than fail afore of the princess.
    
    More passes made them breathe heavier finally, maybe because of Luna’s constant laughing at her remaining clumsiness; for Alex that laughter was better than any accompanying music though. Thus they decided to take a break and have some rest, the nearby low bench looked suitable enough, but Alex lowered himself right on the grass at the pond bank and Luna followed him, seating herself behind.
    
    “It seemeth, it’s the right time, Alex,” whispered she in his ear, wrapping him in her warm wings and placing her head atop of his, as usual. “Lookest thither, mine lief!”
    
    Alex wanted to say something and suddenly stopped, looking at the pond: surely the water mirror was beautiful itself in its green lush frame, its calmness; the moon track shone across the water, the nearby trees bowed their lower braid-like branches to the pond. But the reason for him freezing on spot was different: a few opalescent “diamonds” were there, right in the moonlight, among the large dark green leaves on the water surface. Each white flower with light golden middle almost tingled in the still air, seemingly emitting the visible glow. Large, bigger than his open palm, as he could evaluate, they seemed to be woven from the moonlight itself. Alex couldn’t care less, if he looked stupid, staring at them, he literally gasped.
    
    “These are the Canterlot Water Lily,” Luna was quite amused by his reaction and to be honest pleased much as well. “The… younger sister of the Star Lily.”
    
    ‘How must the Star Lilies look, if those are “younger sister” only,’ Alex kept staring at the amazing flowers, which attracted a few large moths already.
    
    “They produce almost no aroma and are smaller than Star Lilies, which are about the size of thy head. The Star Lilies are pristine white, very beautiful and rare,” Luna ruffled his hair with her nose. “I remember only one place, whither they grow – the pond in the Old Castle garden… If ‘t be true this pond still existeth…” added she with a faint shadow of sadness in her voice. “’t was seemingly aeons ere, at which time I was a filly.”
    
    ‘There is nothing impossible to overcome on the way,’ flew in Alex’s head, while Luna told him about the beauty of her favourite flowers. ‘I could easily get there and back in a couple of days… if not that suspension bridge over the canyon. It brought the creeps, when it was unbroken, now it is a complete nightmare!’
    
    “If they are still there, mine princess, I’ll bring them to thee, somehow. I don’t know how yet… But I shall do it, in the earnest,” Alex leaned on Luna’s shoulder, running his fingers up her neck, cheek and diving into her amazing starry-night mane, stroking it and making Luna almost purr, eyes closed, while she was kissing his face, searching for his lips and finally sharing her breath with her human adorer.
    
    *
    
    The cinema attendant in uniform showed them their seats, so, Alex and Fluttershy could nest with comfort without too many strangers making a noisy herd around. There was one particular reason, why Alex insisted on taking their seats slightly beforehand – there were still enough ponies to eagerly stare at him, while they came to the cinema. Even more that evening, as he was with Fluttershy, thus both gaining double attention. Now though they could quietly take their seats right in the middle of the auditorium, after the wide walkway; thus Alex didn’t need to strain his legs much, trying to fit between the rows, still they could see and hear everything perfectly, while being not too close to the screen.
    
    The auditorium was slowly getting filled with ponies, as it was a bit early and some preferred to have a chatter with kith in the hallway or spend some time in the cinema café. Sitting on their places Alex and Fluttershy were not catching too much sight and Alex thought once again that it was a nice idea, as walking in, when the auditorium was full, would be comparable with some red carpet stroll, which he was happy to avoid.
    
    Alex noticed Applejack and Big Mac a couple of rows higher and accurately waved, getting two smiles and a hoof wave in return; Apple Bloom must have stayed with Granny Smith (perhaps with her club mates) as the movie had scenes not suitable for fillies.
    
    Mr. and Mrs. Cake were here as well, but Pinkie, as Alex assumed, stayed home with baby Cakes, letting their parents have a break. Somehow Alex was sure that Pinkie could have much fun anyway, with her character babysitting wasn’t a big problem.
    
    Three familiar manes passed his view, making their course through the fifth row; Alex wasn’t sure that watching a movie on a big screen from that close was better, but Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow could have their own reasons. Twilight spotted them with Fluttershy and nudged both her friends, then waved them enthusiastically.
    
    “Hi, pals!” Twilight winked. “Decided to compare, Alex, eh?”
    
    Alex nodded with a smile, he understood what Twilight was talking about: sticking to his noosphere hypothesis, there must be certain similarities between movie superheroes of his home world and Equestria.
    
    Rarity squeezed a small smile, she was still pouting for the morning; Alex naturally didn’t understand how they could do otherwise. Then she started “questioning” Twilight about the comparison, Twilight mentioned, and Alex stifled a laugh: curiosity followed generosity very closely.
    
    Rainbow Dash simply huffed meaningfully and turned away to the screen, taking her seat and not paying much attention to the reproving glance of Twilight. Alex inwardly chuckled, he would be surprised, if something had been going differently in her case, but he preferred to address his memories instead…
    
    The morning! The morning started from Fluttershy waking up and facing a large, no, a huge, no… an enormous bunch of fragrant field flowers at the footrest of their bed. She trotted downstairs with starry eyes and hung on Alex’s neck; he was to wipe flower pollen from her nose before kissing and offering her some coffee, thinking with a smile that gathering them all at midnight was one hell of a work, yet it was entirely worth the result.
    
    After the breakfast Alex could find out what Fluttershy chose as the ideal date program, first they went to the lake. Both were light on their feet and hooves, so, in less than half an hour they could swim, sunbathe and generally horse around, enjoying the weather and themselves.
    
    Laying on the sand and holding Fluttershy’s hoof Alex noticed Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow, who seemed to make a similar decision regarding their Sunday morning. Thankfully they were on the opposite bank of the lake, as Alex, having nothing against Twilight’s company, couldn’t take much of both two other mares at once. Rarity already noticed them and waved Alex and Fluttershy, inviting to join their company; Alex was sure that if it was a swimming pool, not a fairly deep lake, Rarity would easily swim to them, so excited she looked. Alex in his turn thought that swimming and sunbathing in Rarity’s proximity wasn’t the best idea, considering her unrealized desires.
    
    Rarity told two other girls, but Rainbow seemed to notice them with Fluttershy on her own, as she cocked her head in disapproval already. Alex was still thankful for no attempts to make a local rain over him, obviously affecting Fluttershy. He pretended that he noticed nopony and he was sure that Twilight exactly held Rarity back from making any further plans.
    
    Alex realized that Fluttershy noticed the girls as well, but she didn’t show it, preferring to wrap around his body in the water, in tranquil solitude of their distant small beach, to some larger company. Three other girls didn’t interfere, but that couldn’t prevent them from seeing Alex and Fluttershy spending time together and enjoying each other; thus Rarity’s pouting was easily explicable.
    
    When the Sun became too hot, Alex and Fluttershy headed to Ponyville and had a lunch in a small café. Alex told something funny, making Fluttershy giggle like a school filly; she tried to attract not too much attention, yet failed each time at the most hilarious moments.
    
    Later they took a walk at the edge of Everfree and Alex realized that it was a completely different story, to walk in that forest with a beloved somepony, instead of doing it alone. He was to admit, this idea of a date fitted his own taste quite well. Watching Fluttershy, walking between the flowers, listening to her melodic voice, telling about different animals and birds, made Alex’s heart happy and serene, almost singing. He was amazed, each time like the first one, how seemingly wild critters trusted his marefriend and approached them without any fear. For the first time in his life, Alex saw, how a bird perched on his outstretched hand and… sang! That was easily explicable – Fluttershy, the epitome of divine kindness in the crown of her amazing hair, shining in the sun, was near, smiling and nodding in approval, whispering something in Alex’s ear and kissing his neck. Alex didn’t hear, what she said at that moment, all he could hear, was the thumping of his own heart…
    
    The third ring interrupted Alex’s musing, but before the lights slowly went down, an attendant (not the same, which followed them to their seats) trotted to the stage in front of the screen. The whole auditorium quieted down in a minute automatically and everypony looked at the stallion interestedly, as the pre-movie announcements were not common, unlike onscreen advertisements, thus might contain something really important.
    
    “Fillies and gentlecolts!” the stallion raised his well-trained voice a bit to make sure, even the last rows can hear every word. “Good evening and welcome to our cinema. Before you all immerse into exciting adventures of our beloved Mare-Do-Well, I would like to make a short announcement.”
    
    “We don’t usually issue any like that one,” continued he, hearing a few quiet, yet surprised voices. “Besides, each of you receives a copy via regular mail. However, this one was issued by her Regal Highness Princess Celestia herself, thus we suppose, it is of certain importance.”
    
    Omitting the titles and usual in those cases foreword the message consisted of the following:
    
    “The Department of Experimental Magic of the Royal Council warns: As the result of a few ongoing transportation magic tests the stray magical anomaly appearing is possible. For the attention of everypony: In the case of appearance of anxiety, unexplained fear, sad or painful memories, etc of the similar kind without any reasonable premises, please, leave the area of the aforementioned effects immediately and notify local authorities or/and the royal guards, if present! The anomaly may be accompanied by visual manifestations in form of shadowy horse-like creatures. Be aware, these creatures are dangerous, as well as approaching the epicentrum of the effects, and may cause serious mental damage to those, objected to their impact. Stay safe and attentive.”
    
    “So, the egg-heads from the Council bucked it up again,” huffed in half voice a mid-aged stallion to the left. “As usual, we pay the taxes, they unleash some nasty trash after our flanks!”
    
    His wife said something about it being not severely dangerous, as she didn’t notice increased guards presence, calming him down; but the foals should play near the house only, according to her next notice.
    
    Alex heard several similar sentiments quietly voiced by nearby ponies. Rainbow Dash huffed something like “Huh, stray anomaly? Yeah, right!”
    
    Only three knew what that announcement meant actually, Fluttershy took his hand and Alex noticed how Twilight’s shoulders strained, but she kept looking at the screen. One more knew about the ground events partially. Rarity couldn’t hold herself and turned back, throwing a concerned and caring glance at Alex.
    
    A few muffled voices still discussed the announcement, when the lights went out and the screen lit, presenting short advertisements and movie trailers as usual before the main session. Alex and Fluttershy had nothing to discuss here, they already knew a lot more, than was said in the message; sharing a meaningful glance both decided that Celestia was cautious enough in her announcement not to inflict panic among her subjects. Alex tended to agree with her here, complete information and some inevitable panic as the result would certainly do more harm than good.
    
    Alex slid down on his seat, as low as he could, almost laying in it, not to obstruct the view of those, who happened to seat right behind him. The pose wasn’t entirely uncomfortable, more likely unusual enough for watching a movie in the cinema, not on the couch at home. But it allowed Fluttershy to easily put her head on Alex’s shoulder and hoof on his chest, thus entirely compensating for even tiny inconveniences. Alex nuzzled her hair, inhaling the floral aroma and getting a quiet happy sigh from the girl, when he kissed her behind her ear.
    
    From the first few minutes after the titles Alex realized that he knew the certain earth equivalent of that movie, that being not a turn down for him though, but rather making the whole thing more interesting. The similarities of the stories: masterful usage of the lasso and whip (but the epee), the masked hero, among others clearly told Alex, that was “equestrian Zorro” – the home version of which he knew and loved as a kid. That naturally made his impression of the movie even brighter.
    
    The main character – Mare-Do-Well – saved the common ponies from the dangers, natural and not so much, helped the poor and unfortunate, but the main plot rolled on the rails of saving the locals from the oppression and exploitation by the infamous diamond dogs. Thus the action took place at the north-eastern border of Equestria and at times before sisters’ regime explained the toothy offenders the status quo once and forever, usage of “the iron hoof” included. Prior to that diamond dogs capturing the ponies and making them work in the mines was a quite frequent type of incident in that region. So, Mare-Do-Well did her best to fight that… perversity, this among other gests of the daring masked hero.
    
    “I wonder what other… superheroes do you have in Equestria?” whispered Alex in Fluttershy’s ear during the less intense scene. “Do young fillies dream to become… errmmm… Supermare or Batmare and colts – Captain Equestria, or somepony else alike?”
    
    “How would you know?!” softly chuckled Fluttershy. “Yes, we have Wonder Mare indeed, and Superfilly…”
    
    “Wow!” that was the first which came to Alex’s mind at the realization of the solidity of his noosphere theory, similarities between worlds included. “We do have Wonder Woman, no joking. That’s among some others, whose names will definitely sound familiar to you, Shy.”
    
    “So, does your Wonder Mare also dodges and reflects bullets, outruns time and so on?” Alex ruffled Fluttershy mane, making the flower aroma even stronger.
    
    “Well, we don’t welcome firearms widely in Equestria,” squinted Fluttershy. “But generally – yes, like you say…” she snuggled tighter into him, a romantic scene was on the big screen right at that moment, so, they both decided to follow suit and shared a tender kiss.
    
    “Hmm… That makes me think…” Alex chuckled after a few minutes of watching. “If Wonder Mare is a secret identity of our cheerful friend Pinkie Pie.”
    
    “The ease both manage to defy the laws of physics sometimes,” explained Alex under the surprised glance of Fluttershy. “You won’t deny that some of her tricks make one think deeply, being hardly achievable without a… special special talent.”
    
    After momentary thinking Fluttershy quietly snorted, obviously, that didn’t come into her mind under that perspective, but at the moment Alex said it…
    
    Both quietly giggled at the idea, getting a stern quick glance over the shoulder from a mare on the row across the walkway. However, she could neither object their silent kissing, which followed, nor do anything with, even if it distracted her from the movie itself.
    
    *
    
    “So, you want to say that you have already seen this,” Fluttershy turned to Alex in continuation of their relaxed talk on the way home. They discussed the movies, including the one they saw, and stunning similarities between the heroes of Earth and Equestria.
    
    “Not exactly “this”, but the whole plot was familiar and recognizable to me,” Alex looked into her smiling eyes. “That didn’t make it boring or tiny bit less enjoyable, in the earnest.”
    
    He leaned and picked her up, making Fluttershy produce a surprised, yet excited squeak, as he held her tenderly, but strongly.
    
    “Everything was awesome, the date, the movie… The evening is awesome!” said Alex, touching her nose with his own and noticing happy sparkles dancing in Fluttershy’s eyes. “And thou art awesome, mine love!”
    
    Yet another surprise for this evening awaited them, when Alex and Fluttershy crossed the wooden bridge over the stream near Fluttershy’s cottage: a fairly large carriage was parked at the gate and a few delivery workers rested under the nearby tree, obviously waiting for the addressee to come. Alex and Fluttershy paced up, exchanging glances; Alex supposed, he knew what was in the carriage.
    
    “Good evening, sir, miss!” a unicorn in delivery uniform saluted them, bringing the fore hoof to his cap. “Special delivery for you, sir. As I believe you must be Alex… the human.”
    
    “Good evening, gentlecolts!” Alex waved to the whole company, Fluttershy slightly raised her hoof, totally puzzled by the event. Alex wasn’t sure, if it was the best time for that exactly delivery, as he had no idea how Fluttershy could take yet another… manifestation of involvement from Luna. “I extend mine hope, ye all didn’t wait for us for unforgivably long time.”
    
    “Not very. Just about half an hour,” the stallion squinted with a smile. “I beg your pardon, but you speak too familiar, sir, to ignore that. The sender, I mean the princess insisted specifically that we waited for you as long as necessary, fairly supposing you can have your own affairs on Sunday evening.”
    
    “Oh, fine then…” Alex blushed a bit under his smiling glance. “How much…”
    
    “The delivery is pre-paid, sir, no worries. Where do you want us to put the crates?” the unicorn levitated a scroll and a bag forward. “There is a letter and… this as well.”
    
    The unambiguously tinkling bag fell into Alex’s hands followed by the lavender fragrant scroll, when the unicorn added meaningfully.
    
    “The princess specifically asked to not accept anything, if you try to return. I believe, she was sure that you could try to.”
    
    “I’ll get inside and take care of the supper, if you don’t mind, Alex,” the true meaning of that quiet Fluttershy’s phrase was known to him only and Alex inwardly sighed. “Have a nice evening, gentlecolts!” she nodded to the rest of the company, heading to the front door.
    
    “Just a minute, dear,” Alex caught her, handing her the bag and the letter. “Can I use the old shed on the backyard, Shy? We need to stack them somewhere,” he pointed to the carriage.
    
    “Surely, you can,” dropped Fluttershy over her shoulder, the happy sparkles in her eyes noticeably faded, making Alex produce another sigh. “They can’t lay outside anyway, I suppose there is enough space in the shed, if you rearrange some stuff…”
    
    It took quite some time to carry and place all the crates and parcels into the shed, despite the assistance of the delivery workers; but when they finished, Alex could have quick and fairly easy access to all the materials, yet there was even some free space left. Alex thanked the workers and wished them good luck; they were actually surprised – the addressee actively helping them with the heavy load was perhaps a rare case.
    
    The bag and scroll lay on the table and Fluttershy was flitting around the kitchen, when Alex entered. He took the chair and tiredly placed himself on, leaning on the table. The money bag – and what else it could be, judging by the sound – was quite big and Alex inwardly squinted. Hasn’t he asked Luna not to worry and put him in an uneasy position?
    
    “Omelette will be in a couple of minutes,” Fluttershy poured him a big cup of tea, placing a bowl with baked apples on the table. “Have you managed to squeeze everything in?”
    
    Alex realized that she wasn’t that interested in the delivery or the crates, but needed to talk about something to hide her tension, looking for proper words to voice, what bothered her.
    
    “Yup, perfectly,” muttered Alex, than brought Fluttershy closer, hugging her and making her sit on his lap. “Shy, please! What’s up?”
    
    Fluttershy kept silence for a while.
    
    “I guess, she is up,” finally squeezed she a small sad smile, nodding at the scroll. ‘And I’m down!’ wasn’t said, but was thought “loud” enough to be heard by Alex. “Up, high enough to provide invaluable help and take part in the building of your future like that. There is nothing to complain about here, right?”
    
    ‘And I’m not naming other aspects, still fearing them to come true, if not being true already,’ inwardly shuddered Fluttershy.
    
    “Come on, Shy,” Alex wrapped his hands around her slender warm frame, kissing her above the eyebrow. “Nopony is… questioning your presence in my life, let alone your contribution in the mere fact, I still have any life. But… I was nobody here till about a couple of weeks ago. Frankly speaking not very far from that yet.”
    
    “I didn’t want to be somepony’s burden since the first day, you know,” he gently stroke her shoulders, trying to soothe Fluttershy’s tension. “But it appeared next to impossible without some initial help – the favour, I still hope to return fully as soon as possible. Whom could I ask for that, if not the princesses? And it was endlessly generous of Luna to help, when I asked.”
    
    ‘Why not Celestia then? And you keep calling her Luna all the time…’ thought Fluttershy. “It seems, princess Luna is endlessly interested in your well being, Alex!” she raised one eyebrow, sporting a dry smile.
    
    “I guess she is, thou art likewise, by the way,” Alex kissed Fluttershy behind the ear, feeling how she became softer at once. “But I’m here, not in Canterlot right now.”
    
    “Shall we see, what she wrote?” said Alex more cheerful, than he actually felt, inwardly embracing himself and hoping for Luna’s prudence, while he opened the sealed scroll. Fluttershy leaned on his shoulder, she seemed to calm down and regret about being a bit harsh, while Alex started reading a fairly short letter.
    
    “Dear Alex (just a common formality, yet it made Fluttershy strain a bit again),
    
    I extend mine sincere hope, that moderate assistance, thou got (as we agreed), shalt support thy ambitious plan and bring its realization sooner. Thou deserve far more, than some loader’s “career”…”
    
    “Hmm… You’ve started working after leaving Canterlot Castle,” Fluttershy nudged him lightly, but Alex felt, she was only partially joking at that moment.
    
    “I believe, her sister told her everything, and I doubt, anything about my life here is a secret for princess Celestia,” Alex shrugged quite naturally.
    
    “…therefore everything supplied with this letter, shall not be returned… At that moment at least. As for the bits, thou hath had undoubted urge to return… I shall demand back thrice than that, at which hour thou art capable to afford (Alex chuckled at that phrase). And I am deadly serious… or mayhap not that much.”
    
    ‘Oh, Luna! You’re such a filly sometimes!’ Alex imagined her expression, with which Luna was writing those lines, and his heart ached again – he loved, now he was sure, both equally.
    
    “At this entirely enthusiastic note, I spread a good wish upon thee and thy uneasy endeavours.
    

    Thine sincerely,

 

    Princess Luna.”

    
    Fluttershy meaningfully huffed at the signature, throwing a quick glance at Alex.
    
    “Hey,” Alex was truly surprised to see the post scriptum. “There are a few words for you, Shy!”
    
    “P.S.: My dearest Fluttershy, I’m endlessly grateful to thee for thy concern and care about Alex, the same glorious kindness thou hast shown once, at which hour thou hast been helping me at mine laborious path back to equestrian society. He could hardly fall into more caring hooves.”
    
    ‘Except mine…’ finished Alex the phrase for Luna, inwardly chuckling, yet praising the tact and neutrality of her written message. She knew that Fluttershy would be near Alex at the moment most likely… and she openly showed that knowledge of hers, yet only an entirely paranoid one could find anything “criminal” in that letter, which, to be honest, left Fluttershy rather puzzled, than annoyed by Luna’s motives. She was, no doubt, suspicious still, but masterly defused for the time being.

 

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Edited September 10, 2018 by Alexshy

[Alexshy 14,709]

13. Sequence of tensions - part 2

 

“Hello! Hello, anypony alive here?” the old gate creaked, letting Alex in; from the first look nothing had changed at the old smithy yard since his previous visit. The same desolation spirit haunted the surroundings and the rays of morning sun didn’t do much credit to the blacksmith’s hold, mercilessly highlighting every scratch and notch on time warn instruments. The smithy looked verily better under the bright daylight, now though only rolling tumbleweed was missing to make the scene complete.
    
    Alex approached the furnace and leaned on the stone sidepiece, which was clean to his surprise, despite the general abandoned look. He ran his hand along the cold stones, the stones, supposed to be hot and breathe life into the metal.
    
    ‘Hmmm… Maybe it’s not that bad yet and the place can resurrect, if someone gives it another chance…’
    
    “Hello there!” the door of the house opened and Alex turned to the clear girl’s voice from behind. “May I help you, sir?”
    
    “Oh, it’s you again…” the young unicorn mare with silvery coat and bright golden mane and tail, braided tightly, accidentally voiced her thoughts. Alex raised one eyebrow.
    
    “I mean, we saw you earlier, when you took a view over the smithy… and there is hardly another human in Ponyville,” she became slightly embarrassed and tried to hide that under a small smile, then returned to the official tone. “So, how can I or my uncle help you?”
    
    “Apologies for breaking in, miss,” Alex threw a look over the smithy, justifying his interest and impatience upon entering the yard. “My name is Alex and, as you properly noticed, I’m indeed the only human in Ponyville… and most likely the whole Equus at the moment,” he let out a smile as well, then elaborated. “I need to see the blacksmith, Will…smash Steel,” he stumbled on the unusual name. “As I’d like to place an order…” Alex refrained from adding “if you are taking any”.
    
    “Uncle Will!” called the filly inside the house. “Uncle Will! A client here! Can you come?”
    
    Alex heard the stifled happiness in her voice, as if she was afraid to scare away the accidental, first for the long time period customer, and smiled inwardly, simultaneously swallowing a lump. ‘Now careful!’ he told himself – considering what Luna said about the blacksmith, showing that help was included in his plans was highly unwelcome at the moment. For the time being he was only a customer.
    
    Meanwhile, the muffled answer from inside the house and quick enough, firm hoofsteps told Alex that the old blacksmith was hardly the retirement material yet; that put more weight on the hope shoulder of the scales.
    
    “Oh, where are my manners?” remembered the unicorn filly, blushing slightly. “Guess, lack of communication imprints the habits. I’m Silver Ingot, Willsmash Steel is my uncle, as you heard. It’s nice to meet you.”
    
    “Mutually,” Alex took another, better look over her. Quite tall for an average unicorn, slender and light, with amazingly long legs and golden hair; bright eyes and faint warm smile (that was the natural form of her lips) lightened her muzzle. She reminded him of some Earth actress, Alex couldn’t remember the name. The cutie mark looked as some complex silvery pattern of foliage-like jewellery, as far as Alex could see from that distance; one shouldn’t stare close on barely known filly’s flanks.
    
    “Yes, Sil,” the old unicorn appeared in the doorway and Alex could estimate his strong frame, accurate beard and attentive perceptive glance. The coat and beard were touched by silver of age and when the blacksmith turned to him, Alex could see a black patch over one eye and a few old, yet still noticeable scars across his muzzle. But everything told that the old soldier was still solid as a rock, strong and full of life, and only the absence of customers threatened to make his mastery rust.
    
    “Have I heard you right, Sil?” repeated Will. “You said a customer. I thought, I forgot the sound of that word,” he chuckled lightly, subtly examining Alex.
    
    ‘Sil,’ thought Alex meanwhile. ‘The name suits her.’ He remembered the movie, it had nothing common with the blacksmith’s niece, except name… and the look. ‘What was the actual actress’ name,’ Alex mentally cringed at his holey memory. ‘There was something Russian about it…’ Alex shook his head, returning to the present day.
    
    “Good morning, sir!” Alex bowed his head slightly. “I would like to place an order, you heard right.”
    
    “Name’s Alex, uncle,” added the filly. “He seems to be serious about the order so far.”
    
    “I see, child, I see,” the blacksmith looked at Alex, studying his potential customer. “So, young gentlecolt, you are going to place an order here, not at some big facility in Canterlot, despite you see the condition of our smithy; moreover, you know the rumours or at least heard something down in Ponyville, yet ready to work with us, don’t you?”
    
    “I think, it will be worth the risks,” Alex allowed himself another smile.
    
    “Don’t get me wrong, sir,” explained Will after a moment. “I’d be immensely happy to finally have a customer, but we simply can’t allow ourselves start working and then drop everything amidst, if that customer refuses to work with us due to any… considerations. And not even due to financial reasons…”
    
    “It seems, I understand you,” interrupted him Alex, nodding. “I dare to assure you, I prefer to judge pe… ponies myself, this usually calls for working with them first. Besides, methinks your mastery and scrupulosity are crucial in mine case, not your past.”
    
    The old blacksmith perked one ear, but fortunately, he seemed to not talk to princess Luna personally, so that small slip didn’t alert him.
    
    “Thus, as I said,” continued Alex, seeing his collocutor attention. “I’m absolutely positive about placing my order here… if you don’t have any objections now and in the nearest future.”
    
    Old Will nodded shortly and Silver Ingot approached her uncle, putting her fore hoof on his shoulder, like silently supporting him in his decision. It was obvious that this order meant much to both, rather psychologically, than profit-wise; in the latter case, one order would be a single drop falling on the sandy hill, changing nothing.
    
    “You see, I have a few blueprints with me,” Alex waved the tube of papers. “If you don’t mind, I will show you, what I need to be done; so, if you can make that, we’ll call it a deal and can discuss the details.”
    
    “Hmpf!” chuckled the old blacksmith, then waved his head towards the door. “Let’s go inside…”
    
    
    *
    
    After half an hour they were still sitting behind the table, examining the blueprints, Alex explained what he needed.
    
    “An unusual order, to be honest. And mere forging is not enough here, I’ll need to cast some details,” Will shook his head. “What do you say it will be?”
    
    “The casing and some inner parts of the machine,” Alex rearranged the blueprints to make them observable at once. “Machine converting kinetic energy to electricity, but a compact one, not like those magical or atmospheric you have. So, you can make these, don’t you?”
    
    The old unicorn huffed, then muttered, cupping his beard with the hoof. Silver Ingot put full teacups in front of them, took her own and sat next to her uncle. It seemed, she knew his work well enough likewise.
    
    “This is some complex forging, but I said I could do it and I still stick to my words. Yes, I can make them.”
    
    “Excellent!” Alex’s face brightened. “There is absolutely no deadline on the work, as I understand the complexity. Any reasonable time is okay. So how much will you take for those?”
    
    Willsmash named the price; frankly speaking, Alex was ready to hear a sum twenty-thirty percent higher.
    
    “Half right now, the rest after work is done,” after sharing a hoofbump, Alex started to count necessary bits.
    
    The blacksmith levitated the papers to see them closer and examined them very carefully again, muttering something under his breath. Alex was quite impressed, how fast old Will engaged in the work; perhaps he was waiting for that chance for too long.
    
    “One more thing,” Alex smirked. “For the faster start… I decided to eliminate some supply issues. So, the coal is mine.”
    
    Will froze, like struck by the lightning, even his niece turned, wondering, if she heard the human right.
    
    “Yes, the price we agreed on is for the job only, I’ll pay for the coal and materials separately,” Alex’s tone was inflexible.
    
    The sound of approaching and stopping cart interrupted them, making turn their heads to the window: something heavily loaded just stopped outside and a loud voice inquired, if there was anypony at the smithy.
    
    “And here they are, right in time!” exclaimed Alex exiting to the yard and seeing a full cart of coal and two earth pony stallions, who brought it here. He turned to the blacksmith. “Apologies for that little disturbance. Where should they unload?”
    
    Will cleared his throat.
    
    “You know, sir, you remind me of a certain princess,” he was rather amused by that little trick, than angry. “By your meticulous advance planning and confidence in it playing out, just as you want. If the nature of your order wasn’t totally weird… if not say insane – the customer is always right of course, yet still – I would think that you were working for princess Celestia, whatever she was planning this time.”
    
    Alex raised his hands in a comic gesture, smiling.
    
    “I’m on mine own, in the earnest.”
    
    *
    
    This shift wasn’t any different than all the others, in fact, it was going to end even calmer, considering that day’s cargo throughput. Alex put his helm into the locker… when the sound of agitated voices from the personnel room attracted his attention. What could the colleagues discuss in such a manner in the end of the day? Alex slammed the locker shut and headed to the muffled sound source.
    
    A few freight workers and the stationmaster were arguing about something, when Alex opened the door; he thought, he heard a tint of fear in the voices.
    
    ‘What the hell is going on?’ the palpable tension made his nerves tingle warningly.
    
    “What’s up, gentlecolts?” inquired Alex, coming closer and leaning on the column in the center of the room (the main station office building was old enough, built in peculiar style).
    
    “Ah, Alex, come here,” the stationmaster was visibly concerned, yet annoyed as well. “This is near your area, as far as I know. Have you heard or sensed anything unusual near the 7^th warehouse hangar?”
    
    “N-no…” Alex strained, the question reminded him of something unpleasantly familiar. “But I finished the work about fifteen minutes ago, then went here, so I might miss all the stuff. And what’s going on?”
    
    “Those guys,” his chief pointed the fore hoof at three workers, two of which were nervous to the point of visibly shivering. “Those guys told that it was completely impossible to approach the 7^th hangar, because of the unbearable feeling of anxiety and fear, painfully real, as they said. They came exactly ten minutes ago… to tell that story. And I say “What the hay, gentlecolts?”” he turned to the workers.
    
    “B-but…” started one of them, a young unicorn, he held calmer than other two, but Alex noticed his pupils still being pinprick. “You may go and check yourself, chief. We couldn’t bear that longer than two minutes, it ran over us like a loaded rail-layer…” The stationmaster only huffed taking off his cap and wiping the forehead.
    
    ‘Fuck!’ inwardly dropped Alex – the whole situation sounded like unfortunate déjà vu.
    
    “Wait,” he outstretched his hand warningly. “Nopony go there yet, please. I’ll check myself.”
    
    “What?” everypony present turned to the human in bemusement.
    
    “What I said!” cut Alex short. “First, I suppose I know, what it is all about; second, the 7^th is the so-called “dark hangar”, with inflammable goods stored. At that moment…” he threw a glance at the wall clock. “… it must be pitch black thither for you all. I shall go!”
    
    “Is the main hangar door locked?” he turned to the unicorn colt, who seemed to hold himself in the hooves better.
    
    “Yes…” started the latter timidly, then said more firmly. “Yes, locked tight, I’m sure.”
    
    “Excellent!” Alex squinted. “Please, somepony go to Ponyville, find princess Twilight Sparkle and tell her exactly that “our old “friends” returned to freight yard, hangar 7”. Twilight knoweth what to do!” he continued, despite surprised whoop. “Please, gentlecolts, for Celestia or Luna or whoever else’s sake… DO NOT open the 7^th hangar, before I give you a sign or Twilight arriveth. I particularly insist on that request of mine being fulfilled.”
    
    A few ponies nodded, as the human seemed to influence them positively with his confidence.
    
    “I can go… Tell princess Twilight…” volunteered the young unicorn. “Of course, if you have no objections, chief,” he looked at the stationmaster.
    
    The stationmaster waved his hoof permissively, his thoughts were clearly written on his muzzle. ‘Whatever trick those clowns decided to throw in the end of the day, at least they won’t buck up the daily work. Better Alex, than those three – at least he seems to know, what he is doing, besides, he sees there better indeed…’
    
    “Excellent, partner!” Alex cheered the colt with a smile and the unicorn teleported in a flash.
    
    “Okay, gentlecolts, let’s start,” Alex already ran to the door. “Remember not to approach the 7^th too early!”
    
    “Hey!” shouted the stationmaster after him. “Where? Without the helm?! Darn…” he waved his fore hoof once again, as the door slammed behind Alex’s back.
    
    Alex flew, like having wings, almost not touching the ground; the Sun was setting and long shadows fell between the warehouse buildings.
    
    ‘Damn! Tis not what we need hither definitely!’ thought Alex. ‘Merlin’s pants, I am lucky as usual – the “dark hangar”, I can’t even use any fire thither. Ughhhh!!!’
    
    He slowed down, approaching the necessary warehouse, as he thought; silence was his only advantage at the moment – he needed to know exactly, what he was going to deal with. Despite he was almost sure, that was another Seeker. He quietly approached the long hangar, strangely he felt nothing here, nothing alike he felt near the first Seeker at the old mill. Alex listened, leaning to the wall – nothing moved inside.
    
    Theoretically, the workers could play a prank on each other from time to time… But those three couldn’t be pretending, that Alex was absolutely sure about: they were literally shaking and some aching anguish was seen in their eyes, even after they came to safety. They looked like ponies, objected to the real Seeker impact, no doubts.
    
    Alex accurately approached the corner of the hangar, the large doors were closed and strengthened with a thick bar indeed. But… there was a round digit painted on the doors.
    
    ‘Horse apples!’ swore Alex. ‘That’s 10^th! I still bucking mistake them…’
    
    He burst running again, catching up lost time; for some weird reason the 7^th warehouse was quite far from the 10^th.
    
    But it was the real deal there! Even at some distance Alex could feel them. Yes, exactly them, as the sensation was very strong and he could distinguish at least two creatures.
    
    “Better and better!” huffed Alex, running. He switched to walking not far from the proper hangar and now could definitely hear muffled movement inside. The next second the monsters seemed to stumble.
    
    ‘Damn! They felt me likewise!’ thought Alex. ‘Well, I extend mine hope, they can’t tell, whither I am exactly…’
    
    He checked the main doors – they were locked as well and ready to hold quite an attack from inside if necessary. There was a narrow metal staircase at the side wall of the hangar, leading to the door at the top level, which opened to the catwalks under the roof of the warehouse. The latter was quite high for Alex’s liking.
    
    Alex smirked unkindly, taking off the boots at the bottom of the stairs. ‘It seemeth, either I kill mine acrophobia eventually, or it killeth me!’ He tried to ascend soundlessly, accurately stomping the cold metal bars with his bare feet.
    
    ‘Now easy…’ the door needed to be opened slowly, Alex lifted it slightly on its hinges not to cause a tiny screech: it was indeed pitch black inside. Far below (it seemed perhaps twice further to Alex) only the glowing arrows, drawn on the floor and marking the passageways between stacks, penetrated the darkness – Alex involuntarily swallowed a lump, climbing on the narrow catwalk with railings. He closed the door after himself with the same precautions, effectively cutting off the only light source, except the long narrow windows at the very top of the hangar under its roof. Those merely lit themselves and a part of the wall nearby, when the sun rays were falling at that angle.
    
    A few seconds passed, before his eyes accommodated to the darkness and Alex’s “night sight” started working; meanwhile, he turned all ears and could clearly hear something unconfidently tramples in the middle of the building.
    
    Mentally anathematizing his acrophobia Alex slowly crawled along the catwalk; it belted around the hangar and a few sections ran across the whole building in several places, giving access to almost every stack top. Alex could see almost perfectly already, yet he was to move carefully, orienting by the sound, as he hadn’t noticed the Seekers yet and revealing himself too early wasn’t a part of his plan.
    
    They must have just appeared or materialized, if we call it that way, and having no actual eyesight got a bit distracted in that narrow cluttered place. Alex didn’t spot any traces of the Dark Mist and concluded, it was used to form the two (he was now sure, there were two of them) creatures in entirety. Turning to the cross-section Alex lingered for a moment, freezing on the spot, when empty space appeared under him; his eyes were directed strictly forward as he was unsure, if he could go further, accidentally throwing a look down.
    
    Alex proceeded, more rustling and rumbling sounded in the darkness to the right; finally, he reached the high, long stack of crates near the middle of the hangar and was able to slide down to it. He was to avoid making a single sound, the Seekers could clearly feel his presence and it made them “nervous”, as he could tell. Some humming reached his ear from the right again and Alex decided to get closer to the source of it, before taking a look down. He thought, it would be harder for the monsters to find his exact location, if he was right above.
    
    Quiet hoofsteps told Alex that he reached the point and he accurately looked over the edge: there were two dark silhouettes down below, one Seeker quietly stomped on the spot, another was rising to its legs from the floor. Alex decided to watch them for a short while, the last time he didn’t have any chance to examine his rival properly, as the whole encounter was fast and violent. He realized though, he had limited time, before those two took action or the workers arrived at the hangar and tried to open the door, if no signs of activity were visible. The latter could turn out a calamity, Alex was to avoid at all costs.
    
    The Seekers started examining the area around, it was only a matter of time for them to realize, they were in a confined space, and start to look for an exit… or try to make a new one. The last encounter clearly told, they were capable of such. Two monsters rumbled and bumped around, slowly getting away from the spot of their supposed arrival. One looked a bit darker to Alex and he wondered, if the Seekers could vary, till that day nothing told that, all the previous incidents looked very much the same.
    
    It was too high to climb, or better say, jump down here, for anypony and Alex threw a look to the far right, where he spotted a notch in the otherwise ideally even stack. Crates weren’t properly arranged there yet and formed uneven steps at that moment, which could be used to get to the floor quietly. Crawling low in that direction Alex kept watching the Seekers from the corner of his eye, they already reached the main hangar doors. There was no time to waste, Alex snuggled to the crates, almost flowing from one to another, lower and lower, finally reaching the floor.
    
    Meanwhile, the Seekers examined the doors: the lighter one (now Alex could clearly tell, it looked less solid, like if it wasn’t enough Dark Mist for two, but he thought it was hardly the reason) quietly and almost unconfidently bumped it with the hoof, then slid it down with a nasty sound against the hard wood; another one found a narrow stairs to the right, leading to the catwalks. This, darker one tried to go upstairs, but the construction was too unstable for the big carcass, it wiggled, losing balance, and crashed down onto the floor breaking one wooden beam of the railing. The whole image could seem funny, if Alex knew not that the abominations were deadly dangerous, for the ponies at least.
    
    The darker Seeker started trying the door as well, like feeling that it was the only actually fitting their size way outside; another one headed around the hangar and disappeared behind the crates to the left. Alex slowly approached, keeping himself low and quiet. He spotted a passage between crates to his right and slid inside, now being completely invisible from the doors. Trying to attack the Seeker from behind the corner Alex quickly got around the smaller stack and took a look – the Seeker was still at the doors, stomping from one hoof to another, it seemed to get nervous, as Alex approached in the shadows along the right wall. The creature bumped the doors with more force than before, obviously checking the lock durability; Alex was in a couple of yards already, still unnoticed.
    
    About twenty minutes passed since the moment Alex left the main office, he was sure they managed to notify Twilight, so, the ponies might come at every moment. Another Seeker was still somewhere at the back of the hangar. Alex made a final pounce! Surprisingly, his palm met the solid and quite cold, for a living thing, flank, fingers slid on the smooth skin, instead of going right through the Seeker, bringing damage and “death” to it.
    
    Alex had no time to wonder the irrecusable fact, that particular Seeker was somehow fully material, when his enemy twitched convulsively and sent hind hooves to own protection rather instinctively, than consciously. Alex caught both in his chest and felt like being hit by a bus, he was sent flying parallel to the floor and ended up crashing into the staircase to the upper level. Sparkles lit before Alex’s eyes, as the sharp pain pierced his right side. Through the red tint he noticed the wooden beam protruding through his body at the moment. Thankfully, it seemed no vital organs were affected, still, there was a lot of blood coming out.
    
    The latter was going like in slow-mo: Alex saw how the Seeker wriggled between the crates and the door, frantically looking for the escape. Then a new wave of pain came: his body started regenerating fast, squeezing the wooden pole inside like a vice, trying to push the foreign matter out and making Alex involuntarily groan from striking pain. The Seeker, which first rushed into the walkway between the crates, returned to the door, it found no other way out, and seemed to decide that attacking the human, while the latter was immobilized, was a good idea – it headed right to Alex, obviously going to buck him a few times more. The Seeker sped up, going to throw its fore hooves at laying Alex with the whole weight of its large body and smash the human.
    
    Alex heard a nasty dry crackle from behind and found that he finally could move freely again: his body broke the wooden beam, he got impaled onto, pushing the smaller pieces of wood out. Overcoming the pain Alex got to his knees and pulled remaining part of the pole outside with a loud groan, more blood splashed out; the broken end was spiky, all red and wet. In his blurred vision Alex saw the hulk of the Seeker towering above with hooves raised, ready to stomp… Dark spots floated in front of his view, but Alex turned over the beam and stabbed the Seeker in its belly with the bloodstained end, pushing it forward with his whole mass.
    
    The Seeker got intercepted mid-pounce, like shot on the flight; it tumbled over and crashed to the floor in convulsions. Apparently, each part of Alex, including his own blood, was deadly for them, as Alex could never believe that a hit with a wooden stick could instantly take the Seeker down. At the moment though the monster was twitching on the floor, weaker and weaker with each stripe of Dark Mist flowing out of its wound: some stripes dissolved in the air, some flowed to Alex, being absorbed by him.
    
    Next moment Alex heard two things almost simultaneously: the voices behind the door, accompanied by the sound of the door lock being opened… and quiet rustle behind himself. Alex looked over his shoulder: another Seeker made a whole loop around the hangar and returned to the exit, finding no alternative. The wound closed quickly, getting rid of the small flinders, but Alex felt like losing a half gallon of blood; hissing and spitting from the pain he tried to reach the wooden stick still protruding from the first Seeker’s corpse. The Seeker behind stepped back, but Alex saw, it was taking space to speed up, the bucking stick got stuck and didn’t give up.
    
    The sound of the opening door made Alex’s mind clear at once. ‘Even if Celestia is already there… how many ponies shall suffer, before she taketh the Seeker down?!!’ Alex cupped his closing wound with his palm, collecting still flowing blood, as a wicked idea came to his mind. He already guessed that the second Seeker was like the first he ever encountered, not fully materialized one: that was the reason why this one looked lighter, less solid than another.
    
    The Seeker took a speed up and launched itself forward, jumping over Alex and its “partner” in the pool of Alex’s blood, but Alex managed to throw his right hand with the rest of his strength. The line of large blood drips raised in the air, piercing the Seeker like machinegun bullets. This monster landed, stumbling, and crashed to the floor, like the previous one, twitching – the “taste” of Alex’s blood didn’t rub it well likewise. Leaning on hands Alex crawled forward, seeing the opening hangar doors and rushing to reach the Seeker before anypony accidentally could. He “grabbed” its hind leg with the last forceful push. The shiver came throughout the defeated creature, it twitched convulsively, being crumpled and torn like an origami figure, falling apart to the clouds of the Dark Mist.
    
    Alex tried to sit, raising his hand to cover the eyes from the unbearable light, coming through the opening hangar doors. He saw princess Celestia glowing like a supernova, ready to take down the monsters, before fainting and finally hitting the floor.
    
    *
    
    Saying that she was utterly shocked by the first sight would be likely saying nothing: the first image, when the doors opened, was quite thought-provoking by itself. Celestia could spot the huge heap of the dead Seeker further in the hangar, the blood pool and trail towards the doors, where Alex sat, covering his eyes from the bright light, over what resembled another Seeker very slightly; the cloud of Dark Mist at his feet floated to Alex, being absorbed by his body. The eyes of the human were pitch black at the moment, perhaps due to the pupils widened enormously, because they started narrowing quickly in the light. His eyes returned to their usual sea-green colour, finally rolling up, and Alex fell unconscious, which wasn’t strange, considering the amount of blood he lost.
    
    “Twilight, could you, please…” the princess nodded to her apprentice, then she turned to the guards following. “Keep the citizens away and take this out, please,” she pointed at the dead Seeker with the gold-shod hoof, “I need to examine it.”
    
    The guards accurately levitated the large carcass, carrying it outside the hangar; strangely there was no blood, except the red human’s one – it seemed the only thing, which flowed out of that body, was the Dark Mist, like if it was the actual “blood” and force of the Seekers. Other guards ousted the civilians to a considerable distance, to avoid the unnecessary witnessing.
    
    “Ohhhh…” with a groan Alex awoke, feeling himself being supported from behind by somepony. “What… Is the Seeker… Has it hurt anybody… Mmmfffffff!” he almost hissed, the side still ached and his sight was floating around.
    
    “Take it easy…” he heard Twilight’s voice, finding himself leaning on her, as she kept him in sitting position. “You’ve lost a lot of blood, Alex!”
    
    Next thing he could clearly see was Celestia’s muzzle, her eyes looked fixedly into his and she tilted her head left, then right in his field of view. Alex’s eyes followed the movement and the princess seemed to be satisfied with him being fully conscious.
    
    “How are you?” Celestia watched his reaction. “Does it still hurt? What do you feel, Alex?”
    
    “I’m… fine…” creaked Alex, coughed, clearing his throat and squinting from the pain again. “Less fine, than… actually fine, but… I’ll be okay. The shirt is completely ruined though,” he faintly smirked, throwing a look over himself.
    
    Twilight nervously chuckled, it was her exactly, who ripped his shirt open to check his wounds, finding a small star-like scar on his side, luckily between the liver and lung, which already looked quite old – Alex’s body was patching up at the visible pace.
    
    “Princess, are you sure, he is entirely adequate?” she watched him with concern.
    
    “Twi, what are you talking about?” Alex rolled his eyes, trying to sit straight and finding that quite a task at the moment. “I was always like that… The weakness is a new thing though,” he looked at Celestia. “Your Highness, I hope nopony suffered… The doors were opening, when the Seeker tried to escape.”
    
    “Everypony is fine, as I may judge,” Celestia allowed herself a small smile. “Perhaps a bit shocked by the whole scene… but we tried to clear the area fast enough. As for the Seeker… it was down, when we entered, you were… consuming it, don’t you remember?”
    
    Alex downcasted, hearing the mixed mischief and concern in her voice. What could he do about that and about him being able to absorb magical force in general?
    
    “Another one was already dead,” continued Celestia, looking fixedly into Alex’s eyes. “It was different from what we saw before. Fully materialized this time, embodied, if I may say so…”
    
    “I’ve noticed,” smirked Alex sadly. “I tried to touch it, when it bucked me… and threw to the stairs… Princess, when you finish with your research, please, burn that thing completely.”
    
    “Actually, I thought about the same,” the princess straightened, throwing a quick glance outside. “You need to have a rest, Alex. Twilight, please, take him to your home and ensure everything is alright. Don’t notify anypony, except Fluttershy about the incident…”
    
    “I’ve already told Spike to go after her in half an hour…” Twilight’s ears flattened. “I hope, I did nothing wrong, your highness?”
    
    “That’s fine,” Celestia’s glance was a bit absent, she seemed to think about something else already. “We’ll finish here and I’ll join you at the library. Don’t go anywhere before,” she turned to Alex again, making sure he got her right. “Can you move?”
    
    Alex slowly turned over to his knees, then tried to rise: the pain seemed to retreat, but he was to lean and hold on the nearest crate not to fall.
    
    “I can go,” he waited, until the world around stopped spinning in his sight. “A bit weak, but that’ll pass…”
    
    “No need to strain yourself right away, Alex,” Celestia had another point of view on his condition. “I’ll send guards to carry you to Ponyville, you’ve lost too much blood to be galloping around tonight.”
    
    Later, when they crossed the field between the railroad and Ponyville, Alex was to admit, that the princess had a point; he fainted twice and it would be a certain problem for Twilight, if not the guards, who carried him.
    
    The Sun rolled behind the horizon completely, when they reached the Golden Oak; the long shadows, cast by torches on Ponyville streets, fell on the ground. Thankfully, the library was close to the edge of the town and they met nopony on their way, still, Alex was sure that not later than tomorrow’s noon the whole Ponyville would discuss the rumoured version of the incident, as the station workers would surely share, what they could have noticed. The lack of actual information would make ponies’ imagination go wild, but Alex could do nothing about that. He decided to rely on Celestia and her ability to think out a plausible version of the events for the masses.
    
    Opening the door with her magic Twilight followed Alex to the couch, as he walked by himself through Ponyville. The guards made sure that the human was delivered safely and left them alone, but stood outside, Alex could hear them talking quietly behind the front door. But that was the least thing bothering him at the moment, Alex leaned on the backrest and closed his eyes.
    
    ‘One thing Tia noticed right – the bastard was fully material!’ he rewound the recent events again and again. ‘And that’s totally different brew now. Those I can’t eliminate right away, while their… “touch” can be quite hurtful.’
    
    “Okay, wait here…” Twilight interrupted his thoughts after making sure Alex was placed comfortably enough and wasn’t going to fall anywhere. “I’ll make some hot chocolate, you need something to compensate for your blood loss…”
    
    But before she was able to finish, the front door burst open so fast, it slammed the wall, and a pink-yellow flash blazed into the room, slowing down and stopping at the couch. Alex knew who that was, yet he made an effort not to jump on the couch with his legs, when Fluttershy stopped almost with a hearable scratching of her hooves on the floor. Apparently, the guards outside were instructed not to let anypony out, before Celestia came, but not to prevent somepony from getting in.
    
    “Oh…” exhaled Fluttershy, she leaned to Alex, putting her fore hoof on his knees. “Thank Celestia, you are okay!” she dropped next to him, breathing heavily, her big eyes were dilated and wet. Alex wrapped his arms around her shoulders, bringing Fluttershy closer, and she snuggled to him, quietly sniffing.
    
    “I’m okay, okay,” repeated Alex, stroking her mane and trying not to look at Twilight at that moment.
    
    “My, what a race…” huffed another voice from the front door. Spike leaned on the wall, holding on his chest and loudly breathing, he waved his paw in a greeting gesture. “Twi, I didn’t even finish talking or had time to jump on her back,” he quietly addressed Twilight after taking his breath a bit. “She flew like a spear, after I told about the incident at the station…” he breathed in noisily.
    
    “What happened there?” Fluttershy wiped her eyes and raised them on Alex, still wrapping her fore legs around him. “Spike didn’t tell any details…”
    
    Spike huffed quite audibly, following Twilight to the kitchen.
    
    “Well…” Alex got ready to choose the words, telling Fluttershy about this evening. “The shift was over and I already got to the office, when…”
    
    He told her about the workers being disturbed by something strange in one of the hangars and the rest in brief, avoiding the most graphical details. Her eyes dilated in terror nevertheless, when Alex reached the point, when he actually confronted two Seekers. Fluttershy squeaked, noticing his shirt being torn and bloodstained, and started palpating him.
    
    “Oh, come on, Shy, it tickles,” pleaded Alex, calming her down. “I’m okay already. It was worse then… One of the Seekers appeared to be fully materialized.”
    
    “You mean that…” Fluttershy covered her mouth with the fore hoof.
    
    “Yeah, different to all the previous, that one had an actually solid body,” nodded Alex. “And I was able to touch and feel it, instead of mine hand going right through, instantly hurting it.”
    
    “You mean that now they can actually hurt you in return?” Fluttershy was concerned about different things, than the Seekers becoming solid. “Oh, Alex, you shouldn’t forget that while you are immune to magic, even regenerating fast, you aren’t invulnerable,” she leaned to him again.
    
    “It seems some of them indeed can now,” forcedly confessed Alex, comforting the pegasus girl gently. “Which makes me think, I need some sort of armour perhaps, if I keep dealing with that problem…”
    
    “Alex, please! You shouldn’t,” started Fluttershy pleadingly, but Alex could hear growing confidence in her voice. “There are mages, who are specifically trained to deal that sort of things… and the princess herself…”
    
    “Shy, come on,” interrupted her Alex. “I saw, what it cost the group of unicorns to simply restrain a single Seeker… and I saw, what the Seeker could do with the ponies, if they come too close!” Fluttershy wanted to add something, but Alex quickly continued. “And princess Celestia supposedly spends quite some power to take the monsters down… I only need to touch one or, in the case of a completely materialized Seeker, to hurt it physically first, to make their magic “flow outside”. Even my blood is deadly for them…”
    
    Fluttershy squeaked at the word “blood” and squeezed Alex tighter, he saw in her eyes clearly that she was rock solid about convincing him to avoid confronting those creatures. Twilight returned to the room, levitating a tray with a steaming pot and some cups, Spike followed her closely and they became accidental witnesses of Alex’s with Fluttershy talk.
    
    “Besides, didn’t you tell me, when we discovered, you can remedy the Seekers’ effects, that if it was necessary, you were ready to help,” exclaimed Alex ardently. “simply because you could and you should, as your nature told you?”
    
    Fluttershy downcasted and forcedly nodded. Twilight put the tray on the low table and started pouring hot chocolate in the cups; she avoided any commentaries, rightfully supposing those two should solve their problems themselves. Spike pretended, he was not there.
    
    “So do I…” continued Alex, looking Fluttershy in the eyes. “I can’t stay aside, when I can help and can do it without much strain.”
    
    “That’s different!” Fluttershy was confident as never before, voicing her counter-arguments to Alex. “One thing is to help somepony heal, after they were exposed to the… Seekers’ magic. When you all are safe… you know, what I mean, Alex, don’t argue. And another – when you deal with those monstrosities one-on-one… or even worse, like today… And risk getting a few extra holes in yourself,” she gasped from the passion and the inward image of the situation.
    
    “I shall think about some protection,” objected Alex immediately, starting to wind up. “As I said ere, tis calleth for the armour.” Twilight and Spike shared a glance, while Alex continued. “I shall talk to old Will, methinks we can make something to avoid further mishaps…”
    
    “Oh, Celestia!” huffed Fluttershy exasperatedly. “Now it’s all about “old Will” again…”
    
    Twilight raised the eyebrow, looking at Alex, like saying “See, I’ve told you”.
    
    “Old chap’s past hath nothing to do with mine affairs or mine orders, current or planned anon,” tiredly breathed out Alex. “If ‘t be true he can do his job in accordance to the desired standards, I need nothing more. Besides, I am not entirely sure about the rumours ‘bout that gent being justified, in the earnest. Need to find out myself… So, what else can befall, pray tell?”
    
    The audible metal clank from behind the front door interrupted them. Those were the guards saluting, as the next moment the door opened, letting princess Celestia in; she was to bow her head slightly to fit the doorway.
    
    “Stay, stay seated,” she waved her fore hoof, noticing their attempt to raise and dragging an armchair with her magic. “Good evening, Fluttershy, my dear. Spike,” she nodded with a small smile.
    
    Alex couldn’t tell by her expression, what she managed to find out, yet he thought that the news wasn’t entirely bad.
    
    “I examined the remaining Seeker,” started Celestia without any preamble, straight to the point. “And must say that while having solid body structure, bones, flesh looking quite natural, it lacks the important internal organs,” she made a pause, letting the information settle in the heads.
    
    “What?” Alex broke the silence first. “Apologies, your highness, but how is that possible?”
    
    “Well, despite it had a so-called body, it was actually a meat puppet,” Celestia frowned, then continued. “They are driven and kept “alive” by the same Dark Mist, as non-materialized ones. That is why there was no visible blood, except yours…”
    
    Fluttershy quietly squeaked, snuggling tighter to Alex, who rubbed his face and exhaled heavily.
    
    “Methinks, ‘t bringeth us to one very interesting conclusion, princess,” he gritted his teeth, understanding the whole seriousness of his assumption. “The whole “body” thing was specifically done to protect their magical essence. At least ‘t looketh quite plausible for me.”
    
    “Go on,” Celestia shortly nodded.
    
    “Thither is some… feedback from the Seekers to their puppet master. Mayhap something or somepony, who is responsible for their arrival, knoweth ‘bout me… Well, not me in particular, but some method of destroying the Seekers’ magical structure at contact, thus trying to shield them with… rough matter.”
    
    “There was at least one encounter in between that on the station and the one you took down with Luna,” Celestia raised one eyebrow, noticing the quick glance, Fluttershy threw at Alex. “Why wasn’t that Seeker fully materialized then? Moreover, why both of today’s monsters were not “solid”?.. Oh, thank you, my dear,” the princess accepted the freshly poured cup of hot chocolate from Twilight.
    
    “I can only guess…” Alex stared blindly in the middle of his own cup, then he blinked and raised his eyes to Celestia. “Mine speculations lead me to one conclusion only: the distance or extreme complexity of communication between the Seekers and their host. Why somepony would spend so much power to send… dummies hither? Mayhap merely because they can’t appear themselves… yet. Or they must be sure the attempt is successful, as we know, the Seekers are actually seeking for something.”
    
    “Besides,” in the sudden silence Alex started to calm down, thinking clearly. “the transfer itself or materialization are complex and cost much energy. Anyway, it took a couple of weeks to “realize” that a common Seeker risked being destroyed easily, work out some measures against that and send… “new prototype” here,” Alex smirked. “And from the two of them, only one arrived as fully materialized to my fortune!” Alex sipped his drink, feeling, how healing warmth spread throughout his body.
    
    “That means we have a small advantage and some time to prepare…” Celestia delved into deep thinking. “To what exactly? I can’t tell now, can you, Alex?”
    
    “I’d like to tell I can, your highness, but unfortunately…” he shook his head, warming his hands on the cup.
    
    “By the way,” Celestia’s eyes glanced brightly at some thought. “It is safe to assume that you can absorb that Dark Mist without any visible harm to yourself.” Involuntarily everypony in the room strained at those words, but for different reasons, and the princess elaborated. “Can you feel anything during the process? Any memories or visions maybe? Something, that could help us understand, what we actually are dealing with…”
    
    “It’s hard to tell,” Alex slowly shook his head again. “Everything is… hesitant at that moment… If we think about it, I could never absorb the Seeker completely yet, to tell for sure, if there is some link to their master at that moment… I definitely feel the power gain. I can feel their hatred… towards everything living, but it dissolves fast without any consequences… Something else, dark, thirsty for… I don’t know yet.”
    
    “Apologies, princess,” Alex let out a sigh. “I can’t tell for sure now and I don’t want to make a mistake, which can cost a lot at the end of the day.”
    
    “No need to apologize,” Celestia rose with a kind smile, going to leave. “These events are unfamiliar to you, just like to the others. Unfamiliar, sad and… dangerous.”
    
    “Two more things…” remembered Alex. “I watched those two Seekers for a while and I can confirm that they don’t have any eyesight in our common understanding. And… that one fully materialized Seeker, it was laying on the floor, only started raising, when I found them. I think it takes some time to get that… as you called it “meat puppet” under proper control! Not a big detail, I admit, but it may be helpful somehow…”
    
    “Oh, by the way!” Alex even rose from the couch. “Did you burn the…”
    
    “It freed us of that task by itself,” Celestia allowed herself another dainty smile. “We barely managed to examine the remnants. It seems that without the force running it, the Seekers disintegrate really fast. It literally crumbled to dust in an hour.”
    
    “Oh…” Alex froze in bewilderment, others looked equally surprised.
    
    “Of course, I left guards at the warehouse,” added the princess. “And gave orders to clean everything there as soon as possible!” She addressed them all. “Well, good night… and take care, my little ponies, and you, Alex.”
    
    “And…” she lingered for a moment more, emphasizing the next words. “I extend mine hope, you all realize how important it is to keep those events in secret for now. We decided that the version with a predator, accidentally getting to the freight yard and being taken down by the human and guards, would attract considerably less detrimental attention.”
    
    Celestia left, followed outside by Twilight, who probably had another question or two, as usual; Alex tiredly lowered himself back on the couch, in warm Fluttershy’s embrace.
    
    “See, even princess Celestia admits that it’s dangerous… for everypony,” Fluttershy nudged him lightly, returning to their previous discussion. “How can you throw yourself in the middle of that so light-headedly?”
    
    “Oh, come on, Shy,” sighed Alex. “Don’t start it over again. I said, I would think about some sort of protection…”
    
    “Yeah, yeah, pack yourself in steel with the help of that old suspicious blacksmith,” muttered Fluttershy. “We heard that…”
    
    “The fewer Seekers remain, the less of them and the consequences you and everypony else will deal with!” Exclaimed Alex with an affected smile, kissing Fluttershy in the nose. She pouted and hid her muzzle on his neck.
    
    “Alex, the princess told that the station master gave you a few days off,” Twilight returned after Celestia’s departure. “He saw the pool of blood, which flowed out of you,” whispered she in Alex’s ear for Fluttershy to hear that not; Alex nodded shortly.
    
    “Thanks, I think I can put them to good use,” Alex stroked his marefriend shoulders lightly and Fluttershy showed her muzzle, blowing a stray hair aside.
    
    “Now, mates,” the used cups started to stack on the tray, guided by Twilight’s magic. “you can stay here tonight, if you want. We have plenty of space.”
    
    Alex looked at the window, at the falling darkness behind, imagined the necessity to get up early to go back home, as Fluttershy’s little friends would still need attention: it was better to strain themselves a little bit more at that moment, than the next morning.
    
    “Thank you kindly, Twilight. But I think, we’d better go. What do you say, dear?” he turned to Fluttershy with a smile.
    
    “I-if you can go that far safely,” she raised her turquoise eyes with concern. “Because if you faint midway, I-I’m afraid, I c-cant drag you…”
    
    “Well, I feel better…” Alex got up. “A bit stiff in the joints, but nothing I couldn’t cope with.”
    
    He stretched to the crackling in the bones, the already torn shirt couldn’t overcome that and fell completely apart. Alex sighed, rolling his eyes and making a face, while Twilight blushed and looked away.
    
    *
    
    Next morning and the whole day, to be honest, were restless; just as Alex worried, some rumours started spreading in the town, despite all Celestia’s precautions. The workers must have seen something, imagined even more and naturally shared some of that with their families, friends, etcetera. Those who heard less than others started to make guesses, one wilder than another.
    
    Alex promptly hid in the shed with materials and spent the majority of the day working on generator parts, those he could start assembling without the results of blacksmith’s work. He showed himself several times, when especially persistent visitors came, but didn’t answer any uneasy questions, telling that everything was explained by the authorities already.
    
    “Yes, there was some wild beast in one of the hangars.”
    
    “I have no idea, which exactly, I’m still new to equestrian fauna… Besides, it was fairly dark there.”
    
    “Must have gotten in from the nearest forest, the freight yard touches by its back side. The forest borders Everfree on the south, so, nothing impossible…”
    
    “Simply cornered it and held still, until the help arrived. Yeah, got scratched a bit, but nothing serious. That’s all.”
    
    “Blood! What blood? The trespasser knocked a few crates over, something might flow out. But we don’t store blood there, we’re not a medical facility.”
    
    And something along the lines. Then Alex simply apologized, telling that he needed to work, and vanished behind the doors. Fluttershy got rid of the overly curious guests extremely politely, referring to being busy as well.
    
    Quite a few ponies came and left in this manner, some were familiar to Alex, others were complete strangers.
    
    Applejack came and asked about the incident and possible danger. She was specifically concerned, if that wasn’t an attack of fruit vampire bats. Fluttershy quietly snorted aside and Alex swore that he saw nothing flying during that evening, not even a leaf from a tree.
    
    A few unknown ponies asked uneasy questions about what beast exactly was there and how it was treated. Alex and Shy got rid of them quickly, after Fluttershy quietly said that those were “animal rights protectors”. “Exactly that kind, which prefer making hype and feeding on it, instead of providing some real help, dear!”
    
    A pompous stallion, who was concerned only about the party of some goods, he was to receive shortly, so it was supposedly stored at the freight yard. Fluttershy addressed him as Filthy Rich and he frowned and asked to be called “simply Mr. Rich”, making Alex stifle a laugh and tell Mr. Rich that he had no idea about his cargo, but if it wasn’t inflammable, it was stored hardly anywhere near the place of the incident.
    
    Rarity came after that and Alex was to have a talk with her, as she was absolutely insistent to find out that he was fine. She told them with Fluttershy that some ponies seriously discussed, how the human “got into a fight with a manticore at the station freight yard”. Alex suppressed a shiver at the thought about the manticore and inwardly facepalmed.
    
    ‘“Got into a fight”, pray tell… What are these ponies thinking about?!’
    
    Thankfully even Rarity found that sensational idea quite stupid; truth to be told, only because the last time, she saw a manticore, was more than three years ago. But she told another story, which made Alex worried a bit. Apparently, Sweetie Belle with her filly friends thought that the official version was “incomplete”. So, they equipped with binoculars and took a high ground behind the station fence, which allowed them to observe the hangars perfectly. They managed to notice the royal guards on their posts around one of the warehouses, widely open doors and more guards cleaning something inside. Some large stain on the hangar floor, as Sweetie Belle told her sister with dilated eyes and fitful breath.
    
    “Hmmm… They might spill something this morning,” Alex shrugged, making the most innocent face, while Fluttershy glanced at him scowlingly, like reminding that he lost enough blood to continue messing with that problem. “That’s not my hangar, but I told them that the stack left to the entrance may tumble over…”
    
    “What is more important,” he shook his head disapprovingly. “The girls shouldn’t get farther, than the gardens and fields around Ponyville. There are timberwolves in the nearby forests… I know, it’s not the season, but still…”
    
    Rarity’s eyes widened and she quickly nodded in agreement.
    
    “Timberwolves? Huh…” huffed Fluttershy, when Rarity left. “If only…”
    
    Alex grabbed her, instead of answering, and started kissing and tickling, so she finally laughed, forgetting about her concerns for a short while.
    
    “Ahem…” coughed somepony insinuatingly, making them both jump on the spot. “No, no, mates… Go on, don’t mind me!” added the minty-green mare behind the fence, making an overly mischievous face.
    
    “Lyra!” exclaimed Fluttershy, flushing instantly. “Stop sneaking on others like that!”
    
    “Okay, okay,” Lyra threw her hooves in the air comically. “I give up, just don’t stare at me like THAT, Flutters!”
    
    “Hey, Alex,” she switched the topic instantly. “They say, you “got into a fight” with a manticore at the warehouse… Were a few stallions in the bar not enough?” Lyra giggled, watching how Alex slaps his forehead.
    
    “Don’t know who told you that and don’t want to know! Or… wait…” reconsidered Alex. “Perhaps I want to know, not to tell those anything ever again.”
    
    “I heard that from two mares talking at the market today,” shrugged Lyra, then added. “Not those you are working with, Alex, relax…”
    
    Alex glanced at her strangely. ‘Is she stalking me? Merlin’s pants, not another trouble…’
    
    “Actually, I came to check, if you remember that I was going to ask you a few questions about the humans and your arrival in particular, Alex.”
    
    “Mine apologies, Lyra,” Alex rubbed his temples. “Methinks it’s not the best day for that. Thou seest, I am a zilch busy with mine pet project right now… Don’t want to buck anything up. I am a very-very distracted collocutor today.”
    
    “… and why you talk like princess Luna sometimes,” continued Lyra, not being offended by his rejection, while Fluttershy gasped; Alex was a bit bemused as well. “But okay, we can meet later. Mind that I won’t let you go till the end of the week, until you agree to give me some time. I’m leaving for Manehattan for a couple of days, but wanted to interview you beforehand. There hardly will be any free time next two weeks, before the Gala,” added she with a bright smile.
    
    ‘Merlin’s… The Gala… Luna… tango!’ Alex felt the chills. ‘The time flies too fast. What would Shy say, if she is already jumpy about me and Luna?’
    
    “Okay, mates, see ya!” and Lyra turned on the spot to leave, but was almost knocked down by another visitor, who seemed to teleport from the thin air.
    
    “Weeee!!! Sorry, Lyra! Howdy?” Pinkie jumped on the spot a couple times more, while Lyra muttered something greeting and trotted away. “Hmm… What’s up with her today?”
    
    But before anypony was able to answer, she continued with the speed of a machine gun.
    
    “Oh, Alex, is it true that you took down a manticore at work? They say and I didn’t believe at first, but then remembered about cockatrice and timberwolves, and decided to ask myself. So is it, is it? Oh, by the way, Rainbow said “Poor manticore!”, when she heard that story,” Pinkie pouted slightly. “I think she is a little bit harsh to you. I mean, the manticore is definitely more dangerous than a typical human… Oh! Squee…”
    
    Fluttershy giggled quite audibly, Alex stood, like hit by a frying pan; it seemed Pinkie had another of her typical hyperactive pinkie-mornings.
    
    “There was no manticore, Pinkie,” slowly, trying to relax his mimic muscles, said Alex.
    
    “A dragon?!!” Pinkie stared at him, jumping again once.
    
    Alex heard a half-gasp, half-snort… half-trumpet from behind, like there was a young elephant, instead of Fluttershy.
    
    “Yeah a dragon,” he gritted his teeth. “We played chess with Spike after my work and didn’t come to an agreement about score…” More of this crap and he would need to pick Fluttershy up from the ground.
    
    “Come on, Pinkie,” Alex took her by shoulders and shook lightly, as her eyes seemed to reach the hairline. “I’m kidding! I have no idea, what it was… Some wild beast got into the hangar with inflammable stuff and I was to restrain it, before guards arrived. Otherwise, it could set something aflame accidentally.”
    
    “Oh, so it wasn’t a manticore,” slowly said Pinkie, she seemed to be disappointed that such a sensational idea turned out fiction. “And I wanted to throw a party for Alex, surviving a deadly poisonous manticore attack…”
    
    Alex facepalmed and groaned. But Pinkie suddenly nudged him with a wide grin.
    
    “A-ha! I got you,” sly naughty sparkles were dancing in her eyes. “I was kidding… I simply came to find out, if you were alright… But the idea was quite promising,” added she, seeing that Alex started to relax too quickly.
    
    Alex apologized and said that he still had lots of work to do, if he planned to assemble at least a couple of prototypes till the end of the week.
    
    “A prototype of what?” Pinkie’s ears perked and she made an impatient hop.
    
    “That’s a secret yet,” smirked Alex. “But I’m sure… I hope… it will end beneficial to each of you in own way. I can show you the parts of my work, but I won’t explain anything just yet.”
    
    “What surprise will it be then?” Pinkie waved her fore hooves. “I’m sure I can wait, till it’s done. I have tons of patience, you know!” and Pinkie proudly puffed like a pigeon, making Fluttershy snort quietly again.
    
    The girls were still talking about some random things, when Alex returned to his engineering. The rest of the day passed the similar way: a few more visitors with the same questions; it was exactly the day, when Alex truly realized that Ponyville was a small and very quiet town most of the time, so news like these agitated the herd greatly. Even after the town overcame a few incidents and cataclysms, since the Elements of Harmony revealed themselves. Getting no sensations the ponies lost interest though, finally accepting the official version of the events. Fluttershy shrugged, wished them a good day and they left after their own business.
    
    The fillies didn’t come and Alex had a strong suspicion that they were to thank Rarity for that; she might have intercepted her younger sister with the hyperactive friends after the talk with Fluttershy and him.
    
    Fortunately, no more familiar ponies came and he could concentrate fully: accurately making generator windings, assembling rotary inductor on the metal shaft, connecting the parts, which he could, as the whole construction was still missing the casing with the magnetic layer. The most troublesome part was the current collectors; Alex spent probably a half of the day trying to make them with limited tools: the contact should be constant and stable, yet not restricting the movement of the rotor. It wasn’t a problem for some factory, but he was to make everything almost manually; quite a hard, even if worthy, task.
    
    Finally, Alex managed to prepare the details for two generators, one more set was half finished. Telling himself that it was unbelievably nice for a start Alex decided to perform precise fitting after the test run; when the casing parts were made and he could assemble the whole device.
    
    There was, of course, a whole long road ahead: windmills and water wheels preparation or connection to the existing ones, where possible, load schemes and balancing, breakers, etc, etc. But the first step was made and Alex allowed himself a small tired smile. One more problem remained, Alex took a look over a couple of wire coils, made of highly refractory metal, which were specifically hard to find, but vital for the lightening part of his project. Electric lamps did exist in Equestria, but were rare enough and hard to get in the quantities necessary (as they were not overly needed everywhere). Alex was going to prove this problem to be solvable simpler and cheaper and hoped that Twilight could help him with it.
    
    *
    
    The Sun passed almost three-quarters of its daily path through the sky, when Fluttershy finished with her duties; the flow of visitors dried up and she could finally have some rest, making herself a cup of tea and nesting in the armchair. The wind changed its direction, entered the open window and played with the long light curtains, bringing floral scents from the fields and Everfree and freshness from the stream nearby. Birds’ songs and muffled mechanical noises from the shed mixed and got inside as the cacophony of various sounds.
    
    Fluttershy enjoyed the serenity, sipping the hot tea and smiling to some of her thoughts, she perked her ears. During the last two hours the open window let her hear Alex quietly swearing in the shed, something was definitely going worse, than planned. She knew nothing about this technical stuff, therefore couldn’t be of any help and preferred not to interfere. But lately the sounds coming from the shed turned purely mechanical again, seemingly the solution was found and the work continued, letting peace reign over the yard again.
    
    It was doubtlessly nice to know that he got the job done, slowly reaching the goal, but a shadow of anxiety touched Fluttershy’s muzzle, wiping the smile off: she was worried that Alex’s endeavours could lead him nowhere safe.
    
    ‘He wants to make something significant, to help others, to provide some material acknowledgement for everypony, who helped him – okay. But he needs to deal with that extremely suspicious blacksmith to do his work. Ponies wouldn’t tell things about Will’s army career for nothing, would they? He absolutely must have a couple of skeletons in the closet.’
    
    Fluttershy shook her head at her thoughts, which became more and more uneasy with time.
    
    ‘And Alex keeps saying, he gives no damn about Will’s past as long as the latter does his job. I clearly see that he doubts the suspicions and sympathizes the blacksmith instead; probably even wants to find out the details about his past. Alex with his impulsiveness and vehemence and old Will with his dark veiled past. Wouldn’t seeking for the truth actually get Alex in trouble? Will can definitely draw him into something… or, what’s more possible, they will draw each other into something mutually. I’m afraid it will be worse than if Rainbow Dash had a younger competitive sister of the same temper!’
    
    Her eyes dilated with the mental image of possible consequences.
    
    ‘Alex just arrived and faced all kinds of dangerous beasts, if not to mention the mere conditions of his arrival, got severely wounded, found out a bunch of new shocking details about himself, which, as he said, never revealed themselves at his home world. Being the “test subject” wasn’t a relaxing experience as well.  Then those Seekers appeared and… the first thing he needed to do was to get himself right in the middle of the events. He is here for four months barely, but already needs some “body armour” to stay in one piece! What next?!’
    
    Fluttershy made another sip of her tea, noticing that it became almost cold, while she was captured deep into her concerns. Things more important, than cold tea, bothered her at that moment though.
    
    ‘I’d really like to know, what princess Luna has to do about all that… I could think about romance, but wouldn’t she try to keep him near herself in that case? She seems quite calm about him being here with me instead. Of course, I’m just a little pony and may not see the whole picture… Unfortunately, being an Element of Harmony doesn’t help solve absolutely every relationship problem.’
    
    ‘But that’s the minor part,’ she put the cup aside and rubbed her temples tiredly. ‘Uuughhh! I can’t sit and watch as he gets himself hurt again and again, more severely each time. He may be magic resistant, regenerating, durable enough, but he is not immortal still. I can’t let him get into even more dangerous accidents… with armour or without,’ at the thought about armour Fluttershy’s muzzle became gloomy again.
    
    “I must convince him…” said she aloud, when an insinuatingly mocking voice interrupted her.
    
    “Convince whom and what about, if I may ask?” the draconequus appeared almost soundlessly and dropped into another armchair; Angel, napping there a second before, barely managed to whisk away and was now sitting on the floor, looking grumpily at the newcomer.
    
    “Oh, Discord, it is you,” a small smile lit Fluttershy’s muzzle.
    
    “Yours truly!” nodded Discord, saluting with his paw. “What’s up, Fluttershy? Talking to yourself… And I’m quite shocked to see you not wincing at once, when somepony suddenly appears! Are you okay?”
    
    His observation was straight to the point – Fluttershy barely moved, when he teleported right into the room and flopped into the armchair.
    
    “The last few weeks were so rich of events, not always soothing,” smirked Fluttershy sadly. “I guess, I’m getting used to the surprises, whatever they are.”
    
    “Hmm…” huffed Discord, scratching behind his ear. “Maybe it’s bad… or maybe not so much,” He sniffed the air. “New tea?”
    
    “Yeah, want a cup?”
    
    “If you please! So what bothers you?”
    
    “Alex!” simply said Fluttershy, heading to the kitchen for the teapot. “And his plans.”
    
    Discord raised one eyebrow.
    
    “As far as I can feel, he is still here…” He seemed to be listening to something. “In your shed, working on something… and… appears to be satisfied with results. What’s wrong with that, dear?”
    
    “You see, he finds the troubles, he gets in accidentally and inevitably, to be insufficient to consider his life saturated, thus looking for more,” explained Fluttershy, she filled a large materialized out of nowhere cup. “And this work is something indirectly leading him to more trouble unfortunately.”
    
    “Interesting…” muttered Discord, quite intrigued. “I’ll take a look, what’s that problematic thing, you are so concerned about, if you don’t mind.”
    
    And before Fluttershy could say anything, he drew a circle in the air with his long claw; the circle turned into a glowing warp, which Discord immediately poked his head into, Fluttershy only squeaked surprisingly.
    
    Alex observed the details, he managed to make, and pondered, if he had full right to call it a day and have some rest, he didn’t notice how the generator rotor on the table behind him popped two very sly eyes of mismatching colours and took a quick look around the place, taking notice of the human himself, the assembled parts and the remaining materials; eyes blinked several times.
    
    With a sound of a tight cork being taken out from a bottle, Discord pulled his head out of the warp; the head still carried the shape of the generator rotor and with a good shake he returned it to its usual state. Fluttershy watched with dilated eyes, while the warp vanished.
    
    “Well…” declared Discord with the most trivial expression, like nothing strange happened. “He is surrounded by some metal parts and junk and looks quite happy about that. Nothing particularly dangerous, as I could notice.”
    
    “That’s the whole point, in those metal parts,” sighed Fluttershy, her eyes slowly returning to normal. “He wants, no doubt, to help everypony with what he is making… Some machine… t-to produce electricity the easier way… or something alike,” seeing that Discord still didn’t get what was wrong with all that, she explained. “But despite his means are good, he needs external help to finish his work.”
    
    “He needs blacksmith’s help!” added Fluttershy dramatically, obviously expecting some reaction. “Come on, I told you about our blacksmith, at least once… didn’t I?”
    
    “Yeah,” Discord musingly stared at his tea, making the liquid in his cup raise and take the form of an anvil. “I’ve heard something with one ear about old… funny name, ahhh… Will…smash Steel. Right?”
    
    “Right,” Fluttershy wasn’t so calm though. “Then you probably heard about his reputation and speculations about the incidents during the war as well. He is a… dark horse really… forgive my pun. Now imagine Alex’s character multiplied by old Will’s influence… I’m afraid that the old unicorn can draw Alex into something… unruly.”
    
    “Speculations! Exactly…” Discord raised the long claw insinuatingly to Fluttershy’s total surprise. “Have you ever thought that the blacksmith could be not so… villainous, as almost everypony preferred to think and tell.”
    
    “Celly is not perfect, but I have certain doubts that she does nothing, if the pony in question is indeed guilty of some severe crime,” he continued, sipping his tea, while Fluttershy kept silence. “She likes giving “second chances”, of course, but still…” Discord shrugged. “Besides, maybe Alex wants to sort thing out himself or blacksmith’s past isn’t anyhow detrimental for his current work.”
    
    Fluttershy facehoofed tiredly.
    
    “You are talking exactly like Alex now!” huffed she. “He doesn’t want to be careful, when it comes to his… hardware. He is already talking about body armour… and that means more blacksmith’s work naturally.”
    
    “Oh,” she blushed a little. “I didn’t tell you about the last incident…”
    
    “I’ve heard a few bits here,” Discord looked at the ceiling with a totally innocent expression. “and a few bits there. But, of course, won’t mind hearing the whole story… as well as the conclusions you both might have made.”
    
    “As for the rest…” he continued, putting the cup on the low table and leaning forward. “My dear Fluttershy, just imagine that his perception of “being careful” is a zilch different from yours… at least when he speaks about himself. Besides, he is already being careful, thinking of armour, thus trying to protect himself, whatever that means,” Fluttershy listened with ears drooped and Discord added. “I think that you shouldn’t rush it, as it may cause a purely negative effect from him.”
    
    “And what do you know about those Seekers?” asked Fluttershy accurately, some idea came into her mind. “Moreover, what do you think about them? About the first incident?”
    
    “The first incident ever or the first with your human involved?” re-asked Discord, paying exaggerated attention to his claws at the moment.
    
    “The l-latter, if you are okay with that,” simply said Fluttershy.
    
    “You probably know that he needs to simply touch the Seeker to destroy it completely,” Discord looked at Fluttershy very seriously.
    
    “Yes, princess Celestia told me briefly about the incident, but I thought you knew more…”
    
    “So, Alex and Celly and me as well, all think that his arrival is somehow connected to those Seekers, but for different reasons. Celestia, as usual, suspects some danger for the whole of Equestria and is determined to find out, if the human is, if not the driving force, but the reason for that trouble. She is worried and still unsure about him, and would rather send him back… if she could,” Discord rolled his eyes sarcastically. “Alex is still determined to return, he thinks that understanding the Seeker’s nature may help him do that… But he now wants to take down as many of those creatures as he can, I suppose. You see, what they do to your kin didn’t rub him well.”
    
    At those words Fluttershy squeaked quietly and the sad expression on her muzzle turned to the concerned one again, while Discord continued.
    
    “I don’t make any assumptions without facts and am simply curious about what is going to boil here. And I have no doubts that something is. To tell the truth, it would be extremely unlucky, if the whole Equus felt apart… I like this ball of rock kinda…” confessed he with a grin, then added with much more concern. “And I’d like to avoid you being hurt, Fluttershy.”
    
    “Thanks,” Fluttershy let out a small smile. “So, you think those Seekers are a part of something bigger, right?”
    
    “Very likely so,” nodded Discord. “So do others, I suppose… I mean Alex and…”
    
    “But what can he do about all that?” exclaimed Fluttershy passionately. “The last time he got wounded pretty bad. I know he regenerates fast, healing his wounds at a visible pace, but… he is not immortal. I don’t want…”
    
    ‘…to lose him!’ ended she mentally. ‘Won’t you lose him anyway, if he is able to return to his home world?!’
    
    “Hmmm…” Discord smiled strangely, for those uncommon to his appearance that might look like a threatening grin. “Immortality is a complex phenomenon, Fluttershy. I’m pretty sure, you want to say, he is not invulnerable.”
    
    “Is there any difference in that case?”
    
    “Of course there is!” Discord looked a bit affronted by her remark, not overly though. “Always. Remember the school in Cloudsdale, Fluttershy, biology classes… When does an organism start to age and finally die?”
    
    “W-when the cells slower their division speed, thus regeneration, then cease to regenerate,” confusedly answered Fluttershy. “But I don’t understand…”
    
    “According to what I found out about Celestia’s experiments… and their results,” Discord interrupted her. “His,” he pointed outside with his claw. “regeneration level and potential are that high, court mages and medics don’t dare to predict his lifespan now.”
    
    He nodded meaningfully, while Fluttershy slowly closed her mouth in shock.
    
    “But that doesn’t mean that, if somepony takes his head off, he is still able to survive. Sorry, Fluttershy,” quickly added Discord, seeing that she stiffened in terror. “I don’t know how to explain simpler…”
    
    “I guess that is why he admitted the armour need finally. What was the premise, by the way?”
    
    Fluttershy shuddered, obviously the mere memory of the “premise” terrified her, taking herself in hooves she told Discord about one of new Seekers being fully materialized and thus harder to take down, wounding Alex instead.
    
    “Ah, so there is some feedback indeed,” muttered Discord, cupping his beard. “Even if a delayed one.”
    
    “That’s exactly what Alex said and that’s making him think about some armour… while I’d like him to keep away from those Seekers, if possible,” confessed Fluttershy, then cocked her head with suddenly stubborn expression. “There are specially trained unicorns for that in the end of the day, royal mages, who know how to fight against magical threats!”
    
    “…and we saw one of them exactly at the medical facility, being a complete vegetable after Seeker’s impact, until you gave him a good Stare!” added Alex, entering the living room and closing the front door.
    
    “Good evening!” he nodded to Discord with exaggerated courtesy, then continued, addressing Fluttershy again. “The Seekers can’t tumble my brains at least, Shy. What’s so bad about helping to get rid of them?”
    
    “Evening!” smirked Discord. “Perhaps Fluttershy thinks, it’s a bit bad that one of them tried to tumble your body instead…”
    
    Alex squinted at the draconequus suspiciously. What could this weird chap tell already?
    
    “Oh, I’m totally on the fence here,” Discord threw his paws in the air in a comical gesture… crossing “fingers” on his “tail-paw” simultaneously.
    
    Alex tiredly dragged another armchair closer, grabbed the teapot and poured himself a cup; the tea was cold already and Fluttershy soared, when he tried it.
    
    “I’ll make more…”
    
    “No, thanks, Shy. Just boil some water, if you please. I’ll dilute that one.”
    
    While Fluttershy was busy, lighting the stove, pouring water, Alex pondered, if he could ask some questions and hope to get proper answers without any harm done. Alex knew that Discord wouldn’t hurt Fluttershy on purpose, but he might already involuntarily tell something, which only amplified her concerns.
    
    “So, why don’t you think it’s better to leave the Seekers to mages?” Fluttershy broke the silence, returning to the room.
    
    “And why don’t you think the victims, already hit by Seekers, can’t cope without you, Shy?” confronted Alex.
    
    “Oh, come on, that’s the different story,” Fluttershy threw her hooves up, calling the heavens to witness Alex’s stubbornness.
    
    “Can you really Stare the one, “brainwashed” by the Seeker, back to normal?” Discord repeated with considerable admiration.
    
    “Not exactly,” flushed Fluttershy. “I can… Stare them to amnesia, instead of complete inertness… and this is curable, as the princess says,” she turned to Alex, ready to convince him of being wrong. “Nopony could do anything effectively to him. Why shouldn’t I help if I can?”
    
    “The whole bunch of mages couldn’t do anything effectively to the Seeker without risking their sanity… At least not take it down within a few minutes,” retorted Alex.
    
    “I can’t believe there were not enough capable mages in Canterlot…” stumbled Fluttershy.
    
    “That wasn’t in Canterlot exactly,” said Discord.
    
    “But how…” started Fluttershy; expecting the next question Alex quickly interrupted Fluttershy, putting his hand on her hoof and stroking it lightly.
    
    “So, what do you think about those Seekers? What do you know about them exactly?” he asked Discord; Fluttershy glanced at Alex, but said nothing.
    
    Discord sighed, it was hard to tell, if he noticed how Alex quickly changed the topic.
    
    “You probably know already that they are not independent, have one puppet master, who sends them through considerable distance to literally look for something here, they can communicate somehow with their master, but the distance or some other complexities make that communication delayed…”
    
    “Speaking of non-independent,” added Alex. “The fully materialized Seeker turned out to be a dummy… “meat-puppet”, instead of a proper organism.”
    
    “Hmm… that’s really interesting…” muttered Discord. “That tells clearly, whoever sends them recognizes your actions, which, I assume, work quite well, confronting those Seekers. As the so-called complete materialization was done the simplest way and looks to me like an attempt to prevent you from destroying the Seeker easily. Other than that, I know hardly more than you about them. There are some thoughts though…”
    
    “Who or whatever is sending them, must be quite a powerful entity,” said he after a pause. “As the problematic transfer, delayed communication and some other symptoms tell us they must be sent from… what you call “another realm”. Their master forced to “squeeze” them through the matter of universe to Equus and be content with all the limitations it provides, even if it wastes much power, sending them… because getting here him or herself would cost much more for some reason.”
    
    Fluttershy brought the teapot, refilling the cups and lit the candles, as it became dark outside; Discord continued.
    
    “Will it stay that way, till they get their chance to find, what they are looking for… or their master comes eventually, is an open question still.”
    
    “I don’t think that your arrival here is a coincidence,” he touched another concern. “Taking someone from the world without magic… Perhaps your summoner staked on your human nature. I wonder, if you were brought here specifically to confront these monsters and their puppet-master, in that case your new abilities must become a real surprise for your supposed enemy. Well, if it knows about humans…”
    
    Fluttershy snuggled to Alex involuntarily and both sat quietly, listening.
    
    “Or your magical resistance and other capabilities… just like the whole ability to develop them, are simply the byproduct of your transfer,” smirked Discord slyly. “Then it’s a big surprise even for your summoner. But I have doubts about the latter… Anyway,” he grabbed the teacup again. “I may be the King of Chaos, yet making wild guesses is not in my favourite practices list.”
    
    “But what about that mysterious summoner? Do you… suppose anything? Celestia tried to find the one, who could do that, but, apparently, without any success. She thinks, that could help send me back,” Alex felt, how Fluttershy strained, but he was to ask that question.
    
    Discord squinted at reminder about Celestia and her futile attempts to solve that “magical equation”.
    
    “There is one assumption… But I hate groundless assumptions, as I said,” grumpily said Discord. “Besides, telling Celly that I suggested anything would guarantee her to avoid that route.”
    
    “The problem is, she looks among those, who may do that, according to her own perception,” mercifully he gave some information away at last. “It may be helpful to remind her, there are still some powers that be on the Equus, motives of which even we can’t foresee entirely. Without mentioning me, of course, as the author of this idea.”
    
    ‘Great! He could have said nothing, would be equally useful,’ Alex internally waved his hand at that already.
    
    “By the way,” Discord seemed to remember something. “You are so concerned to return, Alex. What do you think about the acceptance? Your image in the eyes of others, considering your new capabilities? I doubt the transfer back, if possible, will magically revert them…”
    
    ‘Fuck!’ the last phrase hit Alex quite hard, he was to admit that he already thought about that numerous times and the conclusions didn’t make him happier. ‘Why he even voiced that? And what’s more unpleasant – why he is straight to the point with it?’  Then a mischievous smile wormed on his face. ‘Okaaay! I can ask uneasy questions likewise.’
    
    “Hey, while you are still here, Discord,” Alex tried to look only mildly interested. “Can you tell, why “Celly” is a banned word in Canterlot castle?”
    
    Fluttershy squeaked quietly and Discord frowned, then he relaxed and shrugged, visibly accepting the inevitable.
    
    “This is the rare case, when I prefer to play according to her rules,” said he with a sad smile. “If she wants the real reasons to not be named, so be it. She is the one who can tell or not tell, if finds necessary. Nothing too fancy, to tell the truth, more like a monument to… wrong decisions…”
    
    “You were more than just friends someday, long ere,” Alex said thoughtfully, looking fixedly at Discord. “Tis the only case, at which hour two can “hate” each other so much and exchange spear hits without ignoring each other completely or starting a real war instead…”
    
    “We were very young these days,” Discord seemed to look somewhere deep inside himself. “I could have done better, I suppose. She blames me entirely and, thinking of it now, I tend to agree with… Celestia. I was older, than the sisters, and must be more provident, yet failed. Well… I told you enough already… the rest is not my decision to reveal.”
    
    “And she doesn’t want to be reminded about those times,” nodded Alex.
    
    “As I said, nothing sensational,” Discord squinted with a sly smile. “At the very least much less interesting, than you, talking like princess Luna sometimes…”
    
    And with a click of his fingers Discord vanished in the thin air; he managed to have the last word.
    
    Despite all the attempts of Alex to dispel the impression, Fluttershy was very pensive and quiet for the rest of the evening. She replied absently and monosyllabically all the time and, when bedtime came, simply snuggled into Alex hiding her muzzle on his neck, apparently being deep into some thoughts still.
    
    While the last phrase was dropped on purpose, Alex was almost sure that Discord was genuine during the rest of the talk. Almost… as it was Discord still. It didn’t look like he noticed though, what effect a couple of phrases gave on Fluttershy. It was safe to assume that she kept pondering henceforth about “how much Luna” she was to deal with. Stroking her mane and fruitlessly looking for some way to solve this dilemma Alex fell asleep.
    
    *
    
    Alex tried to utilize the next few days to the limits; the first one was thankfully a day off still, so he could give it entirely to working on his project. Thus he spent the whole morning explaining Rarity that the light-frame windmill at the backyard of Carousel Boutique won’t spoil the view, especially if properly decorated – he suggested to let Sweetie Belle paint the construction (while it was down) to fit in. Then he managed to convince the fashionista to give him the sewing-machine for modernization: thankfully Rarity kept the old one as the spare, besides, she was rather looking at Alex, than listening attentively to his arguments. Alex decided, that would do the thing; besides, he could add the newer machine, when Rarity saw the benefits of automation.
    
    Next Alex headed to Twilight, as she was the only one, who could help him solve one relatively small, but not less sophisticated because of that, problem. The idea was to make the generators useful, even when they were not serving their main purpose, if possible. Alex was still short of some resources there due to his position, specifics of local industry and time limits; he decided to make as many parts as it was possible himself, so, his work would be more independent from rare details and facilities, easier replicable and could be applied literally everywhere in Equestria with a little bit of civilization present.
    
    Thus he was to implement simple hardware breakers for his first prototype to avoid complex spare loads (except generic resistors) and add something to drain and utilize the extra energy. Naturally, lightening could provide that extra drain easily, while being energy consuming, yet useful addition. The problem was: Alex never saw an electric light bulb during his stay to Equestria, at least not at the places he was till that moment. Theoretically, he knew, they existed and were used in industrialized areas, but he had neither time, nor wish to look for them, when he supposed a replacement could be made relatively easy.
    
    ‘Technically it’s cheating’ smiled Alex inwardly, approaching the Golden Oak library. ‘But in the world, where magic goes parallel with technology, beating it sometimes, many technical problems are already solved with the help of that “cheating”. Why not mine?’
    
    The doorbell sound loudly rolled through the large hall a couple of times, before Alex could hear the steps; the door wasn’t locked most of the time, as the majority of doors in Ponyville, yet Alex couldn’t simply enter out of common courtesy, that was a convention easy to conform to.
    
    “Oh…” obviously Spike was surprised to see him. “I couldn’t imagine… Come in…” and the small dragon stepped aside, letting Alex enter the hall.
    
    “I heard that you recovered fast and even saw the result myself,” Spike shook his head, closing the door behind Alex. “But you look quite cheerful for somepony, who had a bleeding hole in his side a day before. I guess, that’s good! Twilight!”
    
    “Twilight!” yelled Spike again, so Alex squinted stifling an attempt to cover his ears. “That’s futile, let’s go and show you to her,” he rolled his eyes. “Guess, what she is doing right now. Two tries…”
    
    “One is enough,” chuckled Alex, following Spike to the back room, which was filled with bookcases, covering the walls, just like the majority of other rooms here.
    
    They found Twilight behind the desk, which could boast the exemplary order, except a few high columns of books. At least three of them were floating open around Twilight, while she was making some notes on paper, moving the quill with her magic and looking up thoughtfully. She definitely wasn’t there with them at the moment.
    
    “Twilight,” with a smile Alex touched her shoulder lightly. “I’m sorry for bothering you, but… Twi…”
    
    Twilight turned to him absently and Alex could see how almost a second was necessary to focus on him, instead of her thoughts, another second was spent for “switching off the studying mode”.
    
    “Morning, Alex,” she probably realized what happened, so the tip of her nose got pinkish. “Did I hear you both not again?” Twilight alternated from Alex to Spike with a sheepish squeak. “Sorry, I was totally lost in my work…” she put off the quill, the books dived into their proper stacks.
    
    “Good morning, Twilight,” Alex was smiling. “And yes, I noticed. Anything particularly interesting?”
    
    “Well… It seems the connection is finally established,” snorted Spike quietly, turning to the door. “And I have my own duties, if you don’t mind.”
    
    “Thanks, mate!” Alex’s grin became wider, Twilight nodded; Spike waved his paw with a doomed look, exiting the room.
    
    “Nothing outstanding to be honest,” Twilight remembered Alex’s question. “I was trying to systematize new information about transportation and teleporting spells… provided by princess’ Celestia investigation of…” Twilight stumbled. “… of you, Alex. But unfortunately…”
    
    ‘Unfortunately, this won’t help me return home,’ finished Alex for her, but he wasn’t going to let the sadness celebrate its victory in his soul at that moment.
    
    “Great!” Alex looked like teleporting spells was the most interesting thing for him. “Because what I hope you can help me with lies very close to teleportation, I believe.”
    
    “Really?!” alicorn girl ears perked and there was even more interest in her eyes now. “And what can I help you with?”
    
    Instead of answering Alex took out of the pocket and put on the free spot on the desk something, that looked like a homemade replica of a common light bulb: he managed to put the electrodes with a high refractory bridge between them into a vial of thick glass and melted its neck, sealing it shut; two metal wires still protruded outside.
    
    “Isn’t it used to produce light by applying electric discharge to those wires?” Twilight looked up at him after examining the device; Alex nodded.
    
    “But a good lightning will most likely blow that tiny thing apart,” Twilight threw another sceptical glance at the desk. “Of course, I can use magic to…” her horn glowed lightly.
    
    “Wait, wait, wait, Twilight!” exclaimed Alex and she stopped, looking confusedly at him. “I’m not going to hit that with a lightning for sure. As for applying your magic to light it – it’s a great idea, thank you… But a bit later, to check, if my plan works.”
    
    “You know,” elaborated Alex, seeing that Twilight looked at him with interest, but overly puzzled. “If we try to light that “bulb” right away, the glass will dim with metal evaporations and the bridge burns out very fast – there is air in the vial still. That is why I think, your teleportation spells can help me immensely, Twi.”
    
    “You want me to…”
    
    “To try and remove the air from the sealed glass vial, right,” nodded Alex. “Don’t worry, the glass is thick, it shouldn’t implode after that.”
    
    “So you aren’t sure, eh?” chuckled Twilight, then concentrated on the vial. “Okaaay…”
    
    Her horn glowed again, enveloping the improvised “bulb” in the lilac aura and lifting it afloat slightly. Twilight squinted, trying to perform the exactly requested effect… The bulb trembled, then fell on the desk empty. Completely empty! No air supposedly, no bridge… no metal wiring inside the vial. Twilight flushed, throwing a quick glance at Alex; her ears dropped and the tip of her nose reminded Alex of Santa’s deer.
    
    “Well…” Alex snorted, scratching the back of his head. “Almost there. Almost, but not exactly…”
    
    “Come on, stop teasing me,” huffed Twilight, nudging him slightly with her head. “I can do better, just need to adjust the conditions…” she was pinkish still.
    
    “I believe wholeheartedly,” Alex kept giggling. “That is why I made a few of them.”
    
    With these words, he took out another one and put it in front of Celestia’s apprentice.
    
    When Alex left Twilight half an hour later, his pockets were full of inelaborate, but fully working light bulbs; they even checked one – Twilight used her magic to apply potentials to outer contacts. The bridge glowed bright, but the vial remained undimmed and the glow was stable, ensuring Alex that the construction was hermetic.
    
    Another pleasant surprise awaited at home: Fluttershy told him that some details were delivered from the blacksmith. She told the delivery workers to put them in the same shed accurately, but Alex saw that she was quite concerned about these parts being not entirely safe. Obviously, the public image of old Will’s reputation was stronger than her and Alex let out a sigh.
    
    This gave him the opportunity to prepare at least one full set for the demonstration. Alex assembled the generator, the spare load and balancing scheme, the engine, which technically was the reverse replica of the generator. He tried to work as fast as he could, while still maintaining quality and being accurate – he planned to deliver everything to Carousel Boutique and assemble all the parts into working complex at daylight.
    
    Fortunately, the summer sun gave a plenty of time, thus when the ordered cart arrived, Alex loaded it, still having a couple or more hours of decent lightening ahead.
    
    “Are you sure, it is safe, darling?” there was a fair dose of concern in Rarity’s voice, when she trotted around Alex, who was fastening the generator at the top of openwork frame, laying yet on the grass. Alex decided that the workers should erect the completely assembled construction, as he couldn’t trust others with assembly and nopony could probably force him to climb an upstanding windmill (higher than the boutique building) to mount everything there.
    
    “Totally!” squeezed Alex, leaning on the wrench with all his weight to make the fastening rock solid. There was quite a strong smell of paint everywhere, Sweetie Belle murmured something under her breath, finishing her part of work on the giant windmill rotor, which shouldn’t spoil the boutique “chic, unique and magnifique” gamma, when put in place. She threw a quick glance on Rarity bustling around Alex, and produced a sly smile.
    
    “Don’t you worry, Rarity,” Alex got up and stretched. “Despite it is a waste of wiring, I asked to place the windmill that way, so it won’t touch the house, even if it falls. Which it shouldn’t do, to be honest.”
    
    “As for the rest…” Alex was distracted by Sweetie Belle “artwork”. “You can paint here, here and here, dear. But this part, please, leave as is.”
    
    “Aye!” winked the filly, throwing another sly glance at her sister.
    
    “As for the rest…” Alex continued explaining. “Everything is safe, if you follow the simple safety rules, applied to every electrical device: don’t touch bare wires, until sure, they aren’t under current, don’t wet them, don’t shorten, don’t tumble, twist, cut, etcetera. Don’t turn it on, if you have a feeling something is not right, or turn it off completely, if it was working before…” Alex stumbled, then squinted and let out an ear-splitting sneeze. “Oh… Sorry!”
    
    “Oh, Celestia! It’s all because of that horrible paint,” Rarity nudged them both towards the house, then threw a loving glance over Alex. “Come on, darling, we all need to have a break… and clear the lungs of that smell,” she wrinkled her nose funnily, following Alex; Sweetie Belle skipped behind.
    
    It was really a nice change to feel the aroma of delicious pie and tea, instead of paint, metal and oil. The fresh august wind brought sparrows chirping through the open window and remedied Alex’s breath. The setting sun painted everything outside in pink, yellow and gold and played in Rarity’s mane, making it shine with thousands of tiny sapphires. She was sitting and ogling Alex, who suddenly remembered about completely missed dinner (in his work he totally forgot about the proper meal, thanking Fluttershy, but refusing because of the hurry). The pie was truly awesome and they swept almost everything with Sweetie Belle, who got hungry as well.
    
    Meeting Rarity’s constant glance and observing her dreamy smile, Alex tried to concentrate on the precautions, he didn’t voice yet, to ensure that the girls understood everything right. He was to go to the station for his regular work tomorrow, yet hired the workers to raise the windmill during the day, so, he could perform the final connections and run the device in the evening.
    
    “They know what to do,” he ensured Rarity again, she was still worried that something could go wrong, but the fear to appear a scaredy pony in Alex’s eyes prevented her from saying that aloud. “They… and you both as well… should keep the lever, I showed you, down all the time and avoid shortening the lower contacts on the frame. I insulated them fine, but still can be shortened on purpose. Better not do that!”
    
    Rarity nodded absently, looking at him and squinting like a big pleased cat.
    
    *
    
    Alex spent the whole next day like sitting on a hedgehog; he was to attend his usual duties at the railway station, but the anxiety didn’t want to let go. Despite being sure that nothing should go wrong (nothing could possibly go wrong, after checking and re-checking and fixing and… more checking), yet he was fairly nervous about that first run. Too much depended on it: the impression, the acceptance and finally the future of his suggestion; moreover, his own future, at least while he was in Equestria.
    
    The reason was, Alex easily topped his abilities at the freight yard, there was nowhere to develop from the point he already reached. He could probably increase the speed of his work a bit, though it would need a fair bit of stress and concentration added. Was it worthy? Questionable. Another way was to build a precise mental map of the whole freight and start working with “eyes closed”, as Alex was joking sometimes, to turn literally into a… “freight bat”. Otherwise, Alex felt that if he had nothing to bother about, except his work, he would get deadly bored quite easily. For the moment he had no spare time for boredom, but the anxiety about his invention future was easily explicable.
    
    Nevertheless, he managed to find time to visit the 7^th and take another look at the scene in the daylight. The hangar was open, the royal guards left the place already and his colleagues were stacking more crates to the middle row, where he was hiding during that infamous evening. Somepony managed to wash off the blood stains and repair the broken railing in the last two days, while he was absent. In other words, nothing told at that moment about the nasty scene, which happened here recently; Alex decided that suited him entirely.
    
    At the end of the day Alex headed back to Ponyville calm, self-collected and… with an irreducible feeling of butterflies, bouncing in his stomach. He covered the whole road from the railway station to the town “on autopilot” and if somepony asked later, what and how he did exactly, he couldn’t probably answer.
    
    Approaching Carousel Boutique Alex could estimate his planning and Sweetie Belle’s work: placed behind the house and painted with love and care windmill didn’t protrude like an object totally alien to the place. Inwardly smiling Alex made a note that evening breeze spun the large rotor quite fast, providing enough juice for the generator, when it was connected to the gears. The idea was simple – the windmill was hidden by the building itself and nearby trees, leaving only the rotor open to the winds. The boutique was the hardest place to fit his technology, but Alex started with it on purpose. If nopony said “Ewwww!” next morning, then it meant that they succeeded in this work both technically and ergonomically, making it easy to add to any existing household.
    
    Both girls were waiting for him already and, after short greeting and listening to Rarity’s complaints about the workers making quite a mess of her lawn, Alex could address the final stage of his work. He connected the wiring to the windmill contacts, blessing the weather and finally insulating them, checked all the fastenings, then returned to the house. The main part of the work inside was already done yesterday, thus he was to finally connect the engine and lightening part of the scheme and double check everything. The moment of truth!
    
    “Let’s try now. As I said, everything is safe, but I need thee to try every step thyself, so we can see, if ‘t be true thou art capable to operate ‘t,” a bit shaky Alex welcomed Rarity to her workroom, which was fairly dark, but Alex insisted, no other lights to be brought.
    
    To tell the truth, Rarity was quite anxious as well about what was done to her workroom, the tip of her nose becoming pinkish from emotions; she didn’t find any drastic changes at the first look though. Maybe the old sewing machine became a bit bulkier, adding at the left part of its stand; wires were going right upwards to the ceiling from there.
    
    “Have a look,” Alex walked her to the window, pointing outside at the openwork frame. “There are two levers on the frame.”
    
    Rarity nodded shortly, she was too concentrated, even forgetting to throw a loving glance at him.
    
    “The upper one grounds the generator firmly, that’s for severe rain and thunderstorm cases, not to burn the generator. I’ll add a better solution later,” Alex shrugged a bit confusedly, then continued. “The lower lever connects the generator to the gears, when lifted, so it starts working. They are connected that way, so when you ground the generator, you disconnect it from the windmill automatically.”
    
    Rarity threw a pleading glance at him and sighed.
    
    “Well…” Alex scratched his nose. “Let’s put it that way, if you feel that a lightning can strike the whole thing, you need to pull the upper lever down, that’s all. When you need the generator to work, ensure that the upper lever is up and turn the lower one up as well. You need to turn the upper first, if both are down.”
    
    “That’s a bit better… comprehensible, darling,” breathed out Rarity, snuggling to him subtly.
    
    “Go on, try to turn the lower lever up,” suggested Alex, rolling the eyes inwardly, feeling the warm shoulder leaning on him. “I suppose, thou can “grab” ‘t with thy magic from hither.”
    
    After a second of hesitation Rarity indeed could envelop the named lever in the sapphire blue aura and with a bit of concentration turned it up. Nothing fascinating happened, except quiet hum going from somewhere under the window outside. Rarity let out a tiny nervous chuckle.
    
    “That’s okay,” Alex smiled, foreseeing her reaction. “The generator is working now on the spare load, heating the air literally. I’ll try to get my hands on some batteries later, so we can store power and use it for lightening at least, when the generator can’t be operated.”
    
    “If you say so,” cooed Rarity. “What next, darling?”
    
    “Now turn that switch, please,” Alex pointed on the wall near the door.
    
    With a click the room turned flooded with light, Rarity squeaked, squinting and snuggling tighter to Alex – a few light bulbs provided enough light to work as comfortably as during the day; the hum outside became almost inaudible.
    
    “Errmmm…” Rarity looked up at him, finding no words yet, but Alex saw, how her eyes shone.
    
    “Now turn on your old sewing machine,” suggested he with a smile. “No, no, not that way…” he interrupted Rarity, seeing that she habitually applied her magic to the wheel. “There is another switch on the stand.”
    
    “It was a bit simpler before, Ahhlex,” jokingly pouted Rarity, presenting him a puppy look from her rich collection.
    
    “The switches are for additional safety,” Alex shrugged slightly. “So nothing turns on, before you want it to, dear. You can adjust the feed as before by machine controls. There is a treadle on the floor, go stomp it.”
    
    With Rarity’s hoof on the treadle the old sewing machine came to life, filling the room with usual clacking. There was no cloth or threads on it, but it was obvious – the thing worked as supposed.
    
    “Oh!” Rarity looked back at Alex with a mixed expression on her face; he was standing there, crossing his hands on the chest, grinning widely. “So I simply need to keep standing on it to…”
    
    “Not necessarily,” smirked Alex. “Thus you control the feed entirely, but if you need it to constantly operate, simply apply more pressure to the treadle.”
    
    Rarity pressed harder and heard a click. She threw a quick glance on nodding Alex and removed the hoof, the machine kept working steadily. Rarity pressed the treadle again to the click, removing the hoof, the machine stopped.
    
    “It seems, I get it right,” she smiled a bit unconfidently. “I think, I get used to that.”
    
    “Excellent!” Alex showed her both thumbs up, feeling relief and joy – everything worked. He could realize at that moment, how important it was for him and how stressed he really was, preparing. “Now your magic can be used to perform… more complex operations, getting even more outstanding dresses as the result.”
    
    In a wink he found himself in Rarity’s embrace, when she raised on her hind legs and wrapped her fore legs around him, nuzzling him with closed eyes.
    
    “Thanks, darling!” perhaps there was more subtext under those words, but at the moment Alex saw that Rarity was genuinely thankful for the help exactly.
    
    “WOW!” the squeaky voice from behind reminded them about Sweetie Belle, who watched the whole process silently, with eyes dilated. She cleared her throat. “I mean… Wow! Really… This looks like some kind of magic,” she looked at Alex with a wide grin, then glanced at her older sister, who was still holding on him.
    
    “Actually it is, what we constantly use instead of magic, having none of the latter. You have it as well, but not so widely spread and applied as in our world,” Alex smirked, holding Rarity with one hand. “And it was done thanks to your help as well, Belle,” he ruffled filly’s mane.
    
    “Now, let’s hope, it works as planned on real clothes tomorrow,” chuckled Alex. “And nopony protests against their dresses being stitched by the electrical monster.”
    
    “One more thing, Rarity,” remembered Alex. “I don’t know yet how much time or effort this will save you, but don’t speed up too obviously right away, not to become overloaded by the orders. And… if you want the same surgery performed on this one,” he pointed at the newer machine. “Ask anytime.”
    
    Rarity let out a deep sigh of mixed feelings, she understood unwillingly that the lady should let the visitor free already.
    
    *
    
    The rest of the week flew by like one day: Alex worked, took measurements at girls’ places, planned and drafted the improvements, prepared parts; he crawled to bed late at night and fell asleep immediately, when sleepy Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around him. He placed the new order at the smithy and the faint sparkle of hope in the eyes of Sil and old Willsmash filled his chest with warmth and realization of following the right road. The old blacksmith solemnly promised that the parts would be ready in time, perhaps even earlier, and Alex interested, if they needed more coal.
    
    Thus Alex was able to assemble and run another generator at Fluttershy’s cottage, this was connected to a waterwheel, as a quick stream nearby provided the constant energy source. Fluttershy asked him perhaps a hundred of times, if the wheel wouldn’t hurt the fish, and Alex patiently explained that he placed the parts specifically, so nothing and nobody could get stuck, and got rid of the sharp edges. Soon they could have the light independent of fire and fuel. Alex couldn’t think of some other use, except maybe heating, as in the face of approaching autumn and winter some animals could need more warmth and light. For the start it was more than nice and Alex caught himself on the thought that he was preparing, like if he was going to stay in Equestria for quite a while.
    
    As he had another generator only half finished, Alex could only plan further installments for Twilight and Applejack. But he already saw the interest of others to his work, first pure curiosity, but it was enough to get ponies talking. Passing Carousel Boutique at least twice a day Alex saw ponies, stopping for a while, watching the windmill and bright light, coming from Rarity’s windows, and discussing something quietly. Alex smirked and headed his way.
    
    The first swallow arrived, when Alex was at the Apple Farm, discussing his further work with Jackie and her brother. Well… Big Mac was mostly listening, of course; saying anything, when it was absolutely necessary.
    
    “…so, you can have safe lightening anywhere on the farm, power the juicers during the cider season,” Alex leaned his back on the warm wall of the barn, heated by the evening sun. “Provide more light and warmth to the chickens in winter, pump the water to the crops and Granny Smith’s flowers more effectively.”
    
    Applejack nodded, she stood crossing her legs and watched the sunlit apple orchard, spreading down the hill anywhere their eyes could see; she moved her stetson to the back of her head and squinted imagining the perspective. “More effectively” meant better harvest, more bits earned, less stress to the family and even the ability to help other relatives; this sounded worthy.
    
    “Nice!” dropped Big Mac, placing himself on the lone haystack and taking a look over the sea of apple trees below from under his hoof, covering from the low sun. He estimated the ability to avoid spinning the juicers, until he was almost falling flat, to simply prepare all the cider in time for the thirsty ponyvillers; Rainbow Dash alone could probably gulp a barrel. There was enough hard work for him even without that, especially during the harvest season.
    
    “And if we can squeeze enough juice, forgive my pun, for the pumps,” Alex was sure that a few windmills at that high ground would be enough. “We will raise the water pressure more than any water tower can provide and make the sprinklers really effective.”
    
    “Ah can always ask Rainbow to drive more wind to the rotors, when it’s too hot and mah babies need more water,” Applejack munched on a straw with a happy smile.
    
    “Just don’t tell her what for,” chuckled Alex. “Or she will be in a rage, finding out her weather organizing skills must accompany something of my origins.”
    
    “Ah still have no idea, why she treats you that way, partner,” Applejack shrugged, stomping from hoof to hoof. “But this is Rainbow Dash, she changes her mind, only when sees rock solid reasons or is absolutely forced to…”
    
    “Like with reading?” snorted Alex.
    
    “Yeah, kinda.”
    
    “Can we do something with those darned fruit bats, Alex?” Applejack looked at him with hope; it seemed, that was the question she silently pondered about the whole evening. “Ah told ya, they are a catastrophe, when they come in masses… If we could repel them somehow…”
    
    “Well, if I can find proper crystals,” Alex ruffled his hair, pondering, how he could pull that out. “I could probably apply electric current to them and make them stridulate at unbearable for bats’ ears frequencies… Worth trying anyway.”
    
    “Hey,” Big Mac even raised a bit from the stack of hay, looking fixedly at something down the road. “Somepony is coming. Hmm… I’d even say rushing” he huffed, pointing at the pony figure galloping between the trees up the hill.
    
    Alex strained inwardly, lately, he didn’t expect any good news from anypony running to find him that fast; he was somehow sure, the visitor wanted to see him, not Applejack or Big Mac. Stretching out their necks nonetheless they couldn’t see in the counter light of setting sun, who it was exactly. The huffing, becoming closer, gave out the visitor to be a mid-age stallion. Applejack raised one eyebrow, then shared the puzzled glance with Alex.
    
    “Good… Ummfff… evening!” huffed out the dark figure, coming closer and appearing the “Quills and Sofas” owner to Alex’s sheer surprise.
    
    While the shopkeeper tried to catch his breath and tell, what exactly drove him here, Alex carefully examined his looks and didn’t spot any signs of fear. He allowed himself to relax a bit, as the anxiety the earth pony showed was seemingly of a business nature, not some danger.
    
    “Good evening, Alex,” meanwhile the shopkeeper nodded to Jackie and her brother once more and addressed directly to the human. “I was looking for you, somepony at the market said you were here at the farm, so…” his breath was still faster than normal.
    
    Applejack’s eyes alternated from him to Alex, Big Mac smirked meaningfully.
    
    “Evening. What’s happened, sir?” Alex shrugged and showed polite interest, having no idea, what that was going to mean anyway. “I’m afraid, I don’t understand why…”
    
    “Well,” the sand coloured stallion stomped from one fore hoof to another impatiently. “I’ve seen Carousel Boutique recently… From outside, then paid Rarity a visit to see the changes closer. I’ve heard others talking and… some rumours about her productivity boost.”
    
    Alex sighed, despite his warning, Rarity simply couldn’t hold her perfection pursuit in hooves well enough.
    
    “I don’t know, if it is true and what Rarity is doing behind the scene,” the owner of “Quills and Sofas” continued meanwhile. “But I saw the new showcases for her dresses and thought… I thought that my business could benefit from better light emphasizing the advantages of the goods sold,” he proudly puffed.
    
    “Errmmm…”
    
    “I was going to find you, Alex, and heard at least two ponies at the market pondering about placing an order,” he left Alex no chance to interrupt him. “Then I thought, the more I linger, the further in the queue I risk to stay. I knew, you were working with Applejack,” the stallion nodded to Jackie. “And somepony said that you were at the farm, so I decided to lose no time and find you first.”
    
    Alex’s dream was exactly orders to start coming, nevertheless, when the first customer suddenly arrived, he froze like a salt column. Applejack nudged him lightly, Big Mac’s grin became even wider.
    
    “Umm… Err…” Alex finally woke. “I think we can make a deal, when I finish with Jackie and Twilight.”
    
    “Excellent,” the shopkeeper almost jumped with enthusiasm. “I just need the same “magic” as Rarity’s showcases to be done to my shop. And then we’ll see…”
    
    Not entirely believing in his luck Alex quietly breathed out, while his new customer added.
    
    “It’s probably late today, but I’d be glad, if you come to my office tomorrow, so, we can arrange the details. Oh, and don’t forget to visit the other two at the market,” he named the actual stalls. “But remember that I placed my order first, okay?”
    
    “Sure thing!” Alex caught himself breaking into a wide smile, just like Big Mac.
    
    *
    
    Alex burst in the house, followed by the stream of evening chill and the smell of the wet oak leaves – the rain was coming from Everfree; he barely caught the front door from bumping the wall. Fluttershy, who sleepily sat in the armchair, preferring by habit the soft fire light to the newly installed electric one, almost jumped on the spot, dropping the book and staring at him surprisingly. Then she looked through the window, noticing quickly thickening darkness (clouds quickly covered the sky, promising the rain that night to be strong and long-lasting), and let out a sigh: she could never get used to him coming late, making her worry each time as the first one. But he brought more than the smell of the rain, she saw Alex being almost visibly charged, like electrified by the starting thunderstorm or… one of his generators.
    
    “Shy! We scored!” in the couple of wide jumps Alex crossed the room, grabbing her with the plaid, Fluttershy wrapped herself in. “I’ve got three orders!”
    
    Fluttershy, perhaps being sleepy still, didn’t quite understand him yet, her eyes becoming rounder and bigger, when Alex lifted her, snuggled and spun in an emotional swirl, laughing and making her let out a surprised squeak. Angel woke up and perked his ears, watching them and trying to understand, what happened.
    
    “Those are proper orders, Shy!” Alex calmed down a little, he nuzzled her gently, looking in the eyes. “That means I’m actually getting paid and the ponies realizing the benefits of my suggestion. I know, it’s only a start, but it worked… It darn worked! Merlin’s pants!!!” he took a breath and sat, holding Fluttershy on his lap.
    
    “Oh… Congratulations, dear!” Alex was granted with the cutest sleepy smile for the last few days, with a light heart and sincere laugher he buried his face in Fluttershy’s fragrant mane, kissing her in the top of her head. Fluttershy flushed and wrapped her fore legs around his neck. “I guess, that was what you desired much.”
    
    They kept that embrace for a while. Fluttershy listened to Alex’s racing heart, he was completely overwhelmed by that sudden small success and she sincerely wanted to share his glee, but something elusive held her back, not allowing her to enjoy that uplift entirely. Alex closed his eyes, he preferred not to think about all the troubles, which might await, giving up to the feeling of another small victory and proximity of one of the girls, he owed that victory to. One of those who supported him, well, maybe not in every aspect of his endeavour…
    
    “You probably can’t imagine, how much,” Alex touched her cheek lightly, when Fluttershy released him. “I can finally feel involved in building my own fate again… even if partially and stop being a “book character” without the distinctive role in the story, if you understand, what I mean.”
    
    Fluttershy nodded slightly and Alex could notice a faint shadow of anxiety running over her face and taking a fair portion of pinkish colour from her cheeks and nose.
    
    “That means…” accurately started she. “You will be making more of those… generators.”
    
    “Generators, yes, and other things necessary for them working properly for the… customers,” Alex was still high as a kite, winged by the long anticipated, yet coming suddenly success. He released Fluttershy, letting her curl in her armchair again. “That’s a certain step forward from the freight work, isn’t it?”
    
    “That means, more work along with the blacksmith?” she looked up at him, piercing his glance with her starry turquoise eyes.
    
    “Oh, come on, Shy…” Alex huffed, but he couldn’t hold back the smile. “Let me show you!” He rushed upstairs to come back in a few seconds with a large stack of papers, which he placed on the table.
    
    “Look!” he spread a few sheets, showing Fluttershy drafts and blueprints of the modified generator, engine and almost incomprehensible sketches of something, being his new ideas on the very early stage perhaps. Despite being unable to draw living creatures decently, when it came to hardware, Alex evidently knew his job.
    
    Fluttershy approached him, raising on her hind legs and leaning on his side; Alex wrapped his right hand around her gracious frame, while she was examining the drafts.
    
    “We can make those… and much more, when… if I can make the income stable,” Alex face got lit by another smile. “I have plans for the railway station as well, nopony will need to work in the unlit “dark hangars”, if I can pull that out! Not mentioning the opportunities for you, girls. Each of you!”
    
    “You don’t understand, Alex,” Fluttershy clung to his hand, trying to tell him about her concerns. “I’m afraid of that blacksmith… just like many ponies in Ponyville are. There were a few quite nasty episodes during the war involving him. You know me, normally I can come along with almost anypony, but I’m afraid I can’t understand this one completely. If he has nothing to hide, why doesn’t he refute all those rumors?” she took a breath, then added more confidently. “There must be some ground under those rumours then. I’m afraid, it’s only a matter of time, when he drags you into a story. And you are facing enough troubles already to call for more.”
    
    “Do I need to know about them, to be able to judge his work?” Alex couldn’t understand, why those otherwise friendly ponies alienated the poor unicorn that jointly. Except maybe Twilight, who was rather on the fence and cautious, but Twi was always more open-minded, than the rest. He wanted to say that they all feared Luna for quite a while, even after she was saved from the Shadow, like if she still was Nightmare Moon, but realized in time, mentioning Luna wasn’t the best idea at the moment. “He didn’t look a walking, talking menace to me, when I met him, Shy. He knows his job and, the main thing, I can’t work without his help.”
    
    “As you said, it is only history now,” Alex looked at Fluttershy tenderly, however, his cheerful smile faded. “He does his part perfectly. Better than I can hope for, everything works, as I want it to.”
    
    “I don’t doubt his mastery as a blacksmith…” sighed Fluttershy, she looked pleadingly into Alex’s eyes, then moved a few papers on the table. “And what is this, pray tell?”
    
    “Alex?!!” what she held in her small hoof was a rough sketch of something resembling a… breastplate. With clasps to fit and spikes to keep enemies away or even hurt them. The papers got lit by a bright flash behind the window, shortly followed by a first thunder strike.
    
    Alex intercepted her glance and shrugged.
    
    “The recent encounter with the Seekers told me that I still lack of something,” he took another sheet from the heap; there was a study of the knee or elbow joint of the armour. “I wanted to visit old Will and discuss that tomorrow.”
    
    “Alex, please, don’t…” Fluttershy snuggled closer to him, shaking her head and filling his breath with the flowers-honey aroma. “I don’t want you to suffer… W-what if you can’t… reflect their h-hits all the time?” her voice descended to a whisper.
    
    “Shy, we both saw what those bastards do to your kin,” Alex buried his face in her lush hair, stroking her shoulders, trying to calm her down. “You couldn’t stay aside, when your help was needed. Moreover, you are going to help whenever necessary, despite I think getting closer to anything Seekers related is unsafe for you. I, in my turn, want to do, what I can.”
    
    “You don’t have much against those monsters!” Fluttershy’s hooves travelled all over his back, like if she was looking for the way to keep him closer and away from dangers. “And you are moving from one dangerous decision to another, ever since you came here, lately it brings physical damage to you. I fear for you pushing the limits!”
    
    “So dost thou,” dropped Alex, with a tint of irritation in his voice. “At the very least they can’t affect mine mind. Tis quite an advantage. The rest I can take care of, I extend mine hope decently enough.”
    
    “Don’t start it again,” Fluttershy inwardly gasped. “I never need to face the Seekers directly, you are another story…”
    
    “I can’t judge, whether mine arrival and the Seekers appearance are a coincidence or not, tis simply out of mine competence. But if ‘t be true I can help, why shan’t I, pray tell?” sighed Alex. “Besides, I have no idea how much time I have left hither, Tia is still working on returning me. I can’t simply step aside, when I can destroy the Seekers magic easily. The more I take down now, the less you, you all, need to deal with anon, when…”
    
    ‘This is it!’ Fluttershy even released Alex and stepped back a bit. ‘The main reason of my fear is that I can lose him anyway. Oh, Celestia, I will most likely lose him… not because of Luna, but because he doesn’t belong here. Doesn’t belong to me, unfortunately. But I don’t want to lose him earlier than I’m forced to.’
    
    “Alex,” she said seriously. “Remember you aren’t immortal…” she remembered, what Discord said.
    
    “Okay, I can’t say that for sure,” she shuddered inwardly at that thought. “You aren’t invulnerable, that’s the point. But you constantly behave, like if you are!” she facehoofed, then took a deep breath and quietly nailed. “I-I don’t w-want to lose you…”
    
    ‘Thou can’t imagine how I don’t want to lose you,’ flew in Alex’s head. ‘But I’m not sure if ‘t be true I may decide, let alone I am capable to.’
    
     Fluttershy seemed to make some decision, an uneasy one, to tell the truth, her eyes shone and cheeks flushed. She didn’t bat an eyelash at the blinding flash of another lightning and ear-splitting thunder strike.
    
    “I can’t allow you to risk that much thoughtlessly!” she exclaimed point-blank.
    
    Alex’s eyes darkened, he squeezed the table edge, his fingers became white from tension.
    
    “Apologies, what?” Fluttershy clearly saw, he tried his best to hold himself. “Methinks we have touched that aspect long afore… Ere me being taken to the Canterlot castle,” Alex took a breath, but he felt the need to talk that out. “I thought we agreed on that and extended mine hope, I was given enough credit to make even vital decisions about myself.”
    
    “And how many vital decisions brought you to the mortal danger then, Alex?” retorted Fluttershy, starting to agitate as well. “I simply want you to keep your life, can’t you understand. Correct me, if I’m wrong, but I can see nopony else here, who is as much concerned about you staying in one piece and doing something for it!” she even stomped the hoof rest of the armchair, making the teacup jump and tinkle.
    
    “I’m still in one piece and hither with thee,” Alex’s eyes returned to their usual colour, he closed them, embracing himself inwardly and coming to some uneasy conclusion; his expression turned sad and painful. “I try mine best to stay likewise and be helpful at the same time.”
    
    “Barely!” usually timid Fluttershy was now like a comet on its trajectory. “You see, you don’t even understand, why I fear for you. If you can’t take care of yourself, somepony definitely must! Why not me?”
    
    “Shy, please!” Alex said slowly, trying to think rationally. “We have discussed that afore, thou knowest. I still extend mine hope that I’m not somepony’s pet or something alike. Thou art the closest one for me hither…”
    
    ‘What about Luna then?’ Fluttershy barely held herself from saying that aloud.
    
    “…and mine heart constantly aches, at which hour I think about returning. Tis escalated very fast forsooth. Not that I protested, guilty as charged!” Alex nodded with a sigh, then added. “And now thou art practically saying that thou shall decide for me, whether I can risk or not, how I must dispose of mine abilities. Tis arrant wrong, we shouldn’t come to that!”
    
    Fluttershy opened her mouth to say something, but Alex continued, not letting her interrupt.
    
    “Mine life shalt be shuttered most likely, I withhold any illusions regarding that. Considering all that happened, considering that I love thee, Shy (Fluttershy squeaked involuntarily), and…” Alex stumbled. “I don’t want thee to suffer even more. We can’t think straight and need to cool our heads, mine lief! Merlin’s pants, what are we coming to?..”
    
    Alex covered his face with a heavy sigh, Fluttershy shrank into a ball in fear of what might follow, of what she was sure would follow; the silence pressed their ears, they could hear Angel stretching. Then another thunder strike rolled outside, making them all shudder.
    
    “We need a break, Shy,” Alex felt that his heart dropped somewhere to the center of Equus. “Both of us… before we do something wrong. What I know arrant, we need to calm down and give each other some time to decide, what to do next.”
    
    Fluttershy straightened, her eyes glared, she knew that wasn’t going to end well, but she couldn’t hold herself anymore.
    
    “Before you make any more of your signature impulsive decisions,” she looked him straight into the eyes. “Can I ask you a question, that bothers me for quite a while?”
    
    Alex shrugged, returning the glance. He wanted that talk to never take place, but the situation was stronger than him. He loved Fluttershy, he loved Luna, he drowned more and more in the circumstances… and each thought of possible departure made him freeze inside, despite he thought, he still wanted that. But did he really do? He wasn’t entirely sure of that as well at that moment.
    
    “You took down the first Seeker… the first you encounter, together with princess Luna,” Fluttershy watched him fixedly. “But it was far from Canterlot, as we know. How could you get there shortly, if you are magic resistant, Alex?”
    
    It seemed the questions broke the floodgates finally, Fluttershy’s eyes shone with tears, but she tried to sound calm.
    
    “How is princess Luna informed about the small details of your life, when you are in Ponyville? Why are you talking like her that often, when stressed specifically? But the main thing, again, how could you get away from Canterlot that fast?”
    
    Alex got up and kneeled to Fluttershy, looking into her sad eyes.
    
    “I’m a sleepwalker,” that fell like a boulder from a cliff; Fluttershy gasped, her eyes dilated.
    
    “Like… her?!”
    
    “Not quite…” Alex raised his hand to touch Fluttershy’s cheek, but dropped it with a sigh instead. “She visited mine dreams once, at which hour I was unconscious yet. It started happening anon, shortly after my awakening.”
    
    “But I can’t reach anypony that way,” continued he after a pause; Fluttershy remained silent, a single tear ran down her cheek and to the floor, making Alex close his eyes and swallow a lump. “I can reach only her dreams and… appear wherever she is. Or I can “materialize” without anypony’s help, but on a relatively short distance from mine sleeping body.”
    
    “Tis complicated. I can affect the reality to the certain extent in that condition, move objects and do other things alike…” Alex added in the complete silence. “So yes, she was to teleport to that place and I… I followed.”
    
    “All that time…” whispered Fluttershy. “You and Luna… were…”
    
    “We saw each other frequently, talked and…” Alex slowly nodded, Fluttershy’s equanimity was unnatural, somewhat alarming. “And yes, we are more than friends forsooth… Thither wasn’t anything… thou knowest… between us yet. But… she is more than a soul mate for me. I think, I love her as well. It’s all complicated, Shy!” Alex groaned, gritting his teeth and ruffling the hair. “I can’t… Merlin’s pants, that soundeth terrible, I know! I can’t choose and feel like total scoundrel…” Alex fell silent.
    
    Fluttershy slowly shook her head, like unable to believe into what was happening. She knew that she was suspecting it for quite a while and inwardly was ready for that turn. But when the reality hit, she didn’t resemble a pony who was truly prepared for that, being shaky and crushed.
    
    “I guess, I better go now,” quietly said Alex, suppressing a strong wish to touch her face again; he wasn’t sure, if it could be properly accepted at that moment… Hell freeze, he wasn’t sure, if he was worthy anymore. “I extend mine hope, we can come to some conclusion, at which hour we calm down, Shy. Forgive me…”
    
    ‘No! I won’t let you go!’ flashed in Fluttershy’s head at that moment, right when another thunder strike rolled in the night sky. ‘YOU ARE MINE!!!’ But she just looked up at him with tears flowing down her cheeks.
    
    Perhaps Alex could read that clearly in her raised, flaming, despite all the tears, eyes; he stepped back a little and shook his head.
    
    “Where do you go?” Fluttershy asked instead, her voice became colourless, her ears flattened.
    
    “Not to Canterlot, if that’s what thy question meaneth,” Alex said quietly, Fluttershy looked at him with a mixture of woe and hope in her eyes. “For the same reasons I’m not staying hither for now.”
    
    ‘Although, I must say, Luna taketh everything much more philosophically,’ admitted he inwardly.
    
    “I suppose Twilight has some space, where I can calmly think, what to do with my miserable life now, what to do with us… still being “us”, Shy. I will understand, if you don’t want to see me, but I need you to know, I really love you… I… simply… don’t want that love to torture us to the end of our days and don’t know how to avoid that. I will do anything for you...”
    
    Fluttershy simply waved her fore hoof weakly and Alex grabbed his papers, then headed upstairs – he didn’t have many things to pack.
    
    The front door opened and closed, letting a few drips fall on the door step; the sound of starting rain muffled the receding footsteps.
    
    Fluttershy turned and climbed back into her armchair, curling on the seat with her legs, ignoring the plaid, which remained forgotten on the floor. Angel bunny got next to her, feeling her sorrow, and Fluttershy held him closer.
    
    ‘Foal! Foal!’ spun in her head, while the elemental powers outside broke loose, flooding the dark room with light, flash after flash. ‘I knew that it could end like that! And Discord warned me not to push it hard on Alex. And then I still tried to talk to him, like to one of my wounded animals… Like if I knew better what was right for him. At least Alex admitted my right to help the Seekers’ victims, if I wanted.’
    
    “We remained alone, Angel. Again…” whispered she, stroking bunny’s head lightly; a few tears dropped on his white coat.
    
    ‘But Luna… Alex… How could he do that?!’ she burst in tears, Angel lied low, waiting for the storm to run out.
    
    ‘But he was with me, while he could easily stay in Canterlot, nothing was preventing him from doing that,’ thought she after a few minutes, sniffing, sighing squeakily. ‘I saw, something was pressing him constantly, even when he tried to entertain me. I should be wiser, more careful…’
    
    ‘Now she will get everything…’ Fluttershy felt like a cold shard pricked her heart. ‘And you, little foal, delivered it with your own hooves.’
    
    ‘But we were friends! Long before he even appeared in Equestria. Is she really going to take him away, doing everything for that? We are best friends with Rarity as well, that doesn’t stop her from trying to seduce Alex. Yet I’m not very much jealous in that case, don’t feel the competition, or what?..’
    
    ‘Silly filly, Luna doesn’t need to try… She need only to bat her eyelashes. Others may be afraid of her still, but not Alex. He is exactly the one, who finds her attractive with all her shortcomings, if any exist… and she won’t lose her chance!’ Fluttershy inhaled fitfully, sniffing and wiping the tears. The rain outside “cried” for her, going to last for the rest of the night.
    
    “I won’t give up on him that easily,” said Fluttershy quietly, but firmly, pounding the tears back.
    
    *
    
    The single doorbell sound woke her, but Twilight stayed in bed for a while longer, unsure if it wasn’t a part of her dream. She looked at the window, curtained from outside by thick streams of water – the rain lashed the Golden Oak mercilessly, despite the main thunderstorm already passed to north-east. Then a quiet knock on the front door convinced her, the doorbell she heard was real.
    
    ‘Oh, Celestia! I wonder, who dares to go outside in such weather that late,’ Twilight slid out of the bed, quickly wrapping herself in the nightgown. ‘Must be something urgent!’
    
    Alex already raised his hand to knock once again, when he heard quick hoofsteps down the stairs, and in a moment the opened door revealed the quite sleepy Twilight, who shivered from the cold dampness, levitating a candle. The warm wave of air from the library made Alex almost weak in the legs and he leaned on the door frame.
    
    “Oh, Celestia!” could only exclaim Twilight, when she saw Alex, wet and cold to the bone, standing on her doorstep. “What has happened? I mean… come in, quickly!”
    
    She slammed the door behind him, effectively cutting all the rain and chill; quite in time, as the pool of water started forming under shivering Alex.
    
    “Excuse me, Twilight,” muttered he, trying not to clack his teeth audibly. “I can’t ask anypony else… So, I thought, maybe you can…”
    
    “Of course,” Twilight got it right at the first sight. “I have plenty of room. But… What happened, pray tell?”
    
    “That’s a long story, Twi,” sighed Alex, downcasting. “Shy thinks, she knows better, what I should or shouldn’t do to stay in one piece… and is ready to “keep me safe”, if necessary. It escalated too fast… and I decided to leave, before… we lost heads completely. We both need to think calmly, but I have nowhere to go,” he looked at Twilight fixedly and added. “Besides, she knows about Luna… Luna and me,” he shivered convulsively and his fingers released the bag, which smacked on the floor, while Alex leaned his back on the front door.
    
    “Oh…” Twilight flushed and picked up the bag. “I guess, the story can wait till morning… The bathroom is to the right and hurry, before you catch a cold. Where are you going to settle?.. I mean tonight, before we arrange everything properly.”
    
    “I saw a couch in the left room,” with a faint smile Alex nodded towards the door. “If you don’t mind, of course.”
    
    “But the couch will hardly fit,” Twilight measured him in one quick glance. “You’ll feel worse in the morning.”
    
    “Believe me, Twilight, it’s the least important of mine problems,” sighed Alex. “I already regret what and how I did, but I hardly had any other way… not that I was able to rewind time likewise.”
    
    Twilight opened her mouth, but reconsidered saying anything; she remembered that the last time she tried fiddling with time, wasn’t nearly perfect.

 

 

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[Alexshy 14,709]

14. The Gala

 

 

“Have you heard about the ghost, appearing in the southern fields?!”
    
    Fluttershy perked her ears, turning back from the vendor and looking for the pony, she accidentally caught that from. She spotted a couple of mares, talking at the nearby grocery stall, and what she heard made her concerned at once.
    
    ‘Oh noes, are the Seekers already lurking at Ponyville doorsteps? And… Oh, Celestia!’ Fluttershy almost crouched. ‘Southern fields, it’s near the Clock Tower and… and my cottage.’ Her pupils became pinprick at the mental image of all the possible dangers to her animals. Meanwhile, the mares continued in half-tone.
    
    “Have you heard about the ghost of the southern fields?”
    
    “Oh, dear! Are there ghosts already now? Don’t you think, this and the recent announcement are connected somehow?”
    
    “Hardly. The announcement was about some anomaly and horse-like creatures…”
    
    “But you said “ghost”?”
    
    “Did I say “pony ghost”, mate? No. They say, it’s tall and has two legs, it was spotted several times near the Clock Tower and the edge of Everfree, where the fields end. As described it resembles much that… human, you can see in the town sometimes. You know, the one working at the railway station and making electric stuff. But the last time I saw him, he was pretty much alive; besides, he possesses no magic…”
    
    Fluttershy relief was so strong, almost palpable, she barely stifled a laugher. It must be Alex, Alex and his nightly walks. Sleepwalking or not, he wasn’t a Seeker and wouldn’t harm anypony. She raised an eyebrow though, the reasons, making Alex supposedly appear each night at the south-eastern outskirts of the town, were a mystery to her. Well, to tell the truth, she had one suspicion, but wasn’t sure, if that, making her flush and smile, reason was the true one.
    
    ‘Well, ladies… Unable to cast spells and possesses no magic are different things, I suppose,’ she perked her ears again, but the mares chattered about something irrelevant already; apparently, one managed to convince another, there was no real ghost or something along those lines.
    
    ‘I can safely visit Twilight and find out how matters stand now,’ Fluttershy threw a quick glance at the Clock Tower, it was late morning and wherever Alex was, he definitely never stood at home at that time. “At home”… That sounded strange and Fluttershy thought that “at home” should have referred to the totally different place; that idea came so natural, it didn’t even embarrass her a iota.
    
    Throughout the last few days they met several times with him, here and there, at the market, at the Apple farm, where Alex was still working on his devices, in the street. Each time Alex was nice, helpful, but simply friendly, like for example Big Mac could be… easily more talkative, of course, but still distant enough, not like the special somepony was supposed to be. Once Fluttershy even stifled an impulse to grab him and shake, kiss him and wake from his “winter sleep”, because he smiled, talked lightly, but never touched their mutual problems; Alex never tried to shorten that distance, they artificially made between them the last weekend. At the same time Fluttershy was completely sure, she didn’t deceive herself, seeing a faint shadow of sad pain deep into his eyes.
    
    Occupied by those thoughts, imperceptibly Fluttershy reached the Library through the north edge of woken up and busy town, trotting almost automatically and absently replying to the greetings of ponyvillers. She emerged fully right near the Golden Oak, where her accidental glance across the field stumbled upon the distant trail of smoke, telling unambiguously that the old smithy started working again after a few years of inactivity. Fluttershy shivered and hurried to knock the Library door.
    
    “Just a minute please!” the door opened and revealed Twilight with a feather on her nose, levitating a book and a feather-duster. “Oh, come in, Flutters. Sorry, I’m almost done!”
    
    Apparently Twilight was performing some cleanup and rearrangement in the main hall, as a few stacks of books were still laying on the tables and floor and Spike balanced with another quite tall one; he peeked from behind of it, unable to greet Fluttershy properly, risking to drop those books, and muffledly muttered something.
    
    “Morning! I didn’t mean to interrupt… ummm,” Fluttershy pointed with her fore hoof. “Twi, you have…”
    
    Twilight squinted at her nose, huffed, blowing the feather off and sending it somewhere with a sparkle of her magic. “Yeah, that’s it…”
    
    “Come one, dear, we’re almost done, no disturbance at all!” with a bright smile Twilight picked up the books from Spike’s paws and levitated them, putting at the desired places on endless shelves along the walls. Spike took his breath with visible relief and finally was able to wave to Fluttershy. “Good morning!”
    
    “Those are from the lower shelves,” he selflessly pointed at the remaining stacks. “I’ll arrange them, Twilight…”
    
    “Thanks, Spike!” Twilight nuzzled her small dragon aide, causing him to blush a little and wave his paw, like saying “You wanted to talk anyway, girls…”
    
    “So, it’s been a while since breakfast,” Twilight turned to Fluttershy, while Spike started arranging the books, remembering where they were. “Do you want some tea or maybe coffee?”
    
    “No, no, thanks, Twi,” Fluttershy scratched her nose confusedly, thinking how to say that, then finally decided. “I came to ask about Alex… and… how he settled here. Squee!”
    
    “I understood,” Twilight let out a small smile, hugging her friend with the wing. “Well, he is quite undemanding, so… I suppose, what he has, suits him entirely.”
    
    “I mean, now he has an advantage, knowing how I’m doing,” quickly explained Fluttershy, blushing for some reason. “As he seems to appear near my house on the nightly basis. But I know nothing about his wellbeing…”
    
    “That’s the main reason he asked for the room on the ground floor, I guess,” Twilight headed to the door left from the front one. “Thus he doesn’t disturb anypony, simply walking out of the window, when necessary… nights included, I suppose. Actually, he doesn’t use the front door mostly,” added Twilight with a smile. “Keeping the window always open.” At that moment exactly Fluttershy noticed the fresh draught, she kept feeling for a while.
    
    “Obviously, he will need to stop that practice and close it in the late autumn and winter, if necessary,” Twilight shrugged and Fluttershy’s heart made a leap.
    
    “What?” Twilight noticed her frozen on spot friend. “Oh… Well, dear, I’m a realist… Princess Celestia works hard on his problem, devoting all the time possible, but I see that she isn’t approaching the solution yet.”
    
    “Considering everything, I’m afraid that it may be impossible indeed to return him,” added Twilight after a pause. “I’m not telling him about my conclusions yet, of course…” Fluttershy let out a sigh, making her friend throw a quick interested glance at her.
    
    “Anyway,” Twilight wiggled her wings, like shaking off the uneasiness. “He doesn’t make a secret of his work, Alex even showed me everything… I didn’t quite understand a few details yet,” Twilight blushed at the thought that she didn’t catch something up on the first try. “But technically I didn’t notice anything dangerous in his projects… And… I assume, he won’t mind, if we take a look,” she opened the door, welcoming Fluttershy to follow with a nod.
    
    Obviously, that smaller room was full of bookshelves as well, leaving uncovered only the window, now opened, and the area around the fireplace. The small couch was moved to the wall and its place in the center of the room was now taken by the large sofa, a few ponies could easily sit on it with comfort.
    
    “The old one was too short for him,” Twilight followed Fluttershy’s glance. “Alex barely stretched in the morning, saying that he even fell from it once and regretting he didn’t stay on the floor after that.” She shrugged apologetically, seeing Fluttershy’s drooping ears. “Then he bought this one, they brought it the next evening with Big Mac and had some hard time taking it in… Alex suggested to drag it through the window, then they finally managed to squeeze it through the door.”
    
    The fresh breeze curled and waved the curtains and rustled with the papers on the small table in front of the sofa. It was obvious from the first sight that Alex spent almost all his time here behind it. The sheets, covered with drafts, notes, some calculations, were held in place with an empty teacup and a few shapeless stones. Girls approached and Twilight picked up a pencil, blown to the floor, she returned it on the table with a smile.
    
    “Funny, he is like a small foal, when it comes to the quills,” Twilight pointed at the papers with pencil writings. “Can’t use them normally yet, thankfully we have plenty of pencils instead.”
    
    “And what’s that?” Fluttershy picked up one of a few sheets, which looked differently – the drafts and letters on them were thinner, yet darker, sharper and more pronounced, than the pencil lines.
    
    “Don’t even ask, how he makes them. I have no idea,” Twilight shook her head slowly. “The lines look burned out on the paper, so I may only guess… I suppose, that’s connected to his sleepwalking somehow.”
    
    “Did he tell you everything, Twi?” Fluttershy looked directly into her friend’s eyes. “About the reasons making him leave and…”
    
    Twilight nodded shortly.
    
    “He told about you wanting to decide, what is better for him,” Fluttershy’s ears flattened and Twilight continued. “About himself unable to accept that, about everything going too far between you and him, so, his possible departure could hurt you both badly.”
    
    “Celestia! You can’t imagine what it cost me not to say that his departure became more and more ghostly with each day,” breathed out Twilight. “But Alex didn’t look like somepony, who solved his problem, on the contrary, he looked rather regretful and lost, so, I preferred to keep that idea to myself… Who knows, maybe I’m wrong… Sorry, Flutters!” added she, noticing Fluttershy’s expression. “He told me that you know everything about his newly gained abilities, and…”
    
    “… about the princess,” Fluttershy finished for her quietly.
    
    “And about princess Luna,” Twilight touched her shoulder lightly. “Fluttershy, I…”
    
    “I’m okay, Twi. So, what do you think?”
    
    “I said that I wasn’t the one who should give any advice here. You both are completely informed now, both are adults, nopony can solve that problem, except you. Remember, how I didn’t intrude into your and Rarity’s misunderstanding, when…”
    
    “I know, I know,” squinted Fluttershy. “Please, go on.”
    
    “Well, you both solved all the issues between you finally,” shrugged Twilight. “Thinking of it now, I suppose, I could do more harm, if I intervened with some advice. In this case I told Alex only that, considering everything he told and I saw myself, maybe it wasn’t necessary to “solve” the problem THAT way…”
    
    “And?” Fluttershy examined the table and papers on it with exaggerated attention.
    
    “And Alex said that I was most likely right,” sighed Twilight. “But any other way would be even more painful at the end of the day… and if he could return to the beginning, that would probably change nothing. I remembered about the time spells, how they tend to turn out and… Maybe he is right, Flutters? I know that hardly helps,” Twilight’s guilty look made Fluttershy lean to her with a kind smile.
    
    “Never mind, Twi. Perhaps we both need to cool down indeed. Although, I have no idea how Alex sees that possible; I personally can’t approach the situation with a cold head still,” she sank down on the sofa tiredly; Twilight nested next to her.
    
    “Actually, all the girls know, what happened,” Twilight’s ears drooped. “They don’t know all the details, of course, but it’s natural that they noticed the change during these few days.” Fluttershy slowly nodded and Twilight elaborated further. “I’ve no idea, if they told you anything…”
    
    “Applejack and Pinkie visited me,” something made Fluttershy smile. “Rainbow is busy training all days long lately, and Rarity… Rarity, I suppose, is simply unsure how to react, being my closest friend.”
    
    “One part of her perhaps thinks, this is entirely wrong,” added she with a shudder-like wing wiggle. “Yet another part doesn’t want to lose the sudden opportunity, making her miserable as the whole and hesitating to voice her concerns.”
    
    “I can guess,” Twilight’s sigh was full of sympathy towards both of her friends, she didn’t know what to do and the books contained no exact advice for that case; the best probably would be to keep neutrality, which she tried her best at. “I saw her yesterday, Flutters: she was busy with that royal tapestry and talked a bit absently…”
    
    “Oh, I have completely forgotten… that she asked to try to restore it. Did she succeed?”
    
    “At the very least the work was boiling hot yesterday and it seemed, she was approaching her goal,” Twilight kept silence for a second. “But at the same time, as I said, she was a bit absent, maybe pensive. Like if she was pondering about something, mate. Anyway, she didn’t tell a word about Alex,” the alicorn girl said with a puzzled expression.
    
    “Applejack preferred to stay neutral,” Fluttershy shrugged. “She was genuinely stunned by this news, but hoped we are smart enough to solve anything; she asked not to make hasty decisions. If anypony really surprised me, that was Pinkie. She tried to convince me, we were wrong both in words and acts, for perhaps a whole hour and said, she was going to give Alex a good kick, to call for his common sense. I’d say she was very determined of the latter. Squee!.. D-did she come here already?”
    
    “Oh, Pinkie seems to seriously consider you and Alex a couple since he returned to Ponyville… if not since she saw you both for the first time,” Twilight laughed sincerely, wrapping her wing around Fluttershy’s shoulders. “I think, maybe she is not mistaking that much…” Fluttershy let out a sad sigh.
    
    “Sorry…” Twilight leaned to her friend. “But you come together, it’s obvious… Yes, she was here… and pressed Alex for quite a while. She didn’t look convinced by the simple explanations that you both needed to think calmly about the future, and I’m sure, she will try to “put him on the right track” again. So, that’s how the things are, Flutters.”
    
    For a few moments only the sounds from the street, coming through the open window, and another heavy sigh, dropped by Fluttershy, broke the silence.
    
    “Hey, what are those for?” Fluttershy picked up one of the stones and turned it in her hooves, examining; the piece of rock looked porous, with shiny blotches in it.
    
    “So, Twi, I finished with the books!” the girls were interrupted by Spike, appearing in the doorway and leaning on the frame. “Do you need anything? Maybe some tea…”
    
    “Thanks, Spike, maybe later,” Twilight waved her hoof, welcoming her aide to come closer instead. Then turned to Fluttershy. “About those stones… Alex and Spike dug out some cave on the road to Winsome Falls, you know in the foothills north-east from the town. They made two “sorties” already,” she nodded fast, seeing her friend’s widened eyes. “Yes, during the last few days… and brought tons of those stones.” Following Twilight’s glance Fluttershy noticed the long crate, accurately placed under the window.
    
    “So, what are you looking there for?” Twilight turned to Spike, raising an eyebrow.
    
    “He looks for some minerals,” emphasized the little dragon. “Which exactly, I have no idea. Whether or no, gems don’t interest Alex at all, except maybe diamonds. Not that I objected much,” he smirked; obviously, Spike’s gastronomic demands were more than satisfied by that collaboration, as he could take all the found gems to himself. “Many of them don’t look like some ore even, which is quite strange, considering his latest interests.”
    
    Spike unambiguously poked towards the drafts of metal details and notes about smithing.
    
    “As far as I could understand, Alex wants to affect the properties of metals and perhaps smithing conditions,” Twilight shrugged, examining one of the sheets, covered in calculations and formulae. “I didn’t check yet, what exactly he was going to do, was busy with my own work, but… I may take a look, if you want to know, Fluttershy. Although, he mentioned something and seeing all those,” she pointed at the table. “I think he is going to quit the railroad warehouse work and concentrate on his generators and some… metalwork. Technically I can see, why it is more advantageous, than his current job…”
    
    “Seeing him really determined and serious about his work, I advised Alex to write a request into the patent bureau,” added Twilight. “I assume his generators may be deemed an invention, let alone an improvement.”
    
    “He must be quite busy lately,” muttered Fluttershy, sorting the notes mechanically. “Does he even sleep, Twi?”
    
    “To tell the truth,” Twilight flushed a little. “I hardly see Alex more often, than when he lived with you. He gets up early, leaves to the station, goes to the smithy after or returns here and sits with his blueprints and notes till late night. He cooks for himself and leaves meals for everypony often, mostly breakfast,” she shrugged with a confused look; that was one of the rare cases Twilight was uninformed about something and couldn’t do anything about that. “I swear, we communicated more, when they were preparing those “geological trips” with Spike.”
    
    Spike nodded shortly, examining the stone sample in his paws; he couldn’t see the reason somepony to be interested in that dull rock. Then left, saying that if girls didn’t need anything, he was going to address the dinner.
    
    “Alex is going to build one of those generators for me next, then probably will be in the sight more…” said Twilight. “For now I know that he works late at night quite often, so I have no idea, how much he sleeps… and how he sleeps exactly,” added she quietly.
    
    Fluttershy, on the contrary, was entirely sure that Alex visited her neighbourhood nightly; she probably knew why and that made her heart flutter, despite their break – the Seekers felt his presence and avoided him, Alex simply tried to keep her safe that way. But if he did that in the regular way or during his… “sleepwalking”, that meant Alex was quite active almost twenty-four hours a day. Fluttershy’s ears drooped involuntarily.
    
    “Did you hear those stories about the “ghostly creature”, Twi?”
    
    “Yes, mate, of course, each day at the market… since Alex settled here,” Twilight produced a wry smile. “I suppose that you understand, what they mean actually. He is walking around the town at nights, mostly in your area,” snorted Twilight. “Because of his work or not… I never caught him sleepwalking actually, but on the other hoof, I sleep tight after daily duties…”
    
    Twilight noticed that Fluttershy was hardly following her reasoning and raised the eyes at her friend – Fluttershy looked fixedly at something in the corner of the room, her eyes dilated.
    
    “Oh, this…” following Fluttershy’s glance Twilight said in a strange tone. “It seems Alex wasn’t joking, talking about the armour. He stayed at the smithy overnight and then brought that. I believe it’s a prototype still…”
    
    Fluttershy’s attention was captured by the human-size metal chest plate with stiffeners and clasps to mount, dark grey, shining wanly and evidently quite heavy, laying on the piece of cloth in front of the corner bookcase. The pegasus girl quietly gasped, noticing fresh burn marks, notches and quite a big area of crumpled and half-melted metal at the side of the armour plate.
    
    “Don’t worry, Flutters!” Twilight caught her glance. “Those appeared yesterday, apparently they were testing it and… the results are yet far from ideal, as Alex said. He sat with his calculations till after the midnight.”
    
    Fluttershy’s eyes were still chained to the damaged armour, she felt as her decision, to leave Alex with his shenanigans alone, is fading with the speed of light.
    
    *
    
    Alex leaned over his notes, checking his calculations and the results again and again: apparently, there was no mistake and they have reached the limit of durability indeed; at least with the existing technology and materials. He could change the metal of the blank slightly, with a tiny increase of the qualities of the final product… but that was it. Not a big difference, nothing that could provide a significant safety boost against known hazards. He was to admit that making armour barely holding against the most common strong impacts looked hardly reasonable; besides, he was going to deal the potential enemy of greater power, than those ponies of Equestria typically confronted.
    
    Of course, if whole earth scientific and industrial potential was at Alex’s service, he would never be in such a trouble; Alex would simply order a certain product with certain qualities… and the materials, technology and other aspects would be someone else’s problem, not his. But frankly speaking, on Earth Alex never came across anything, which made him prepare himself that way.
    
    Here though the metallurgy didn’t have all those advantageous alloys, instruments and techniques yet. Surprisingly Alex admitted that it didn’t affect the everyday life of commoners in some detrimental way – ponies got used to relying on magic and quite succeeded in that. Earth ponies could always be sure, their problem, if revealed, would soon be solved with the help of their pegasi and unicorn neighbours, who can fully trust earth ponies wit, agility and diligence in return.
    
    One might ask, of course, why Alex didn’t follow the well known and natural for Equestria way then… In that situation he could fully trust Twilight and even both other princesses to help. But… First of all, Alex was unsure about possible consequences, if he was provided magical help. He knew that only active magical impact, directed at him personally, provided unpredictable and often very dangerous results; nearby magic, if not touching him directly, passed unnoticed by his “defensive mechanisms”. But he didn’t want to rely on that solely, partially because he had no idea what effects the mixed magic interactions around him could bring and partially because it was clearly visible – his own abilities were still evolving; thus the simpler his defense would be (without effectiveness decrease, of course), the better.
    
    And the second thing, but probably the most important one – Alex wanted to make that armour himself. With the help and knowledge of an experienced blacksmith – yes, but preferably without some powers that be, doing every significant part of work for him.
    
    Exactly because of that Alex was to remember and meticulously collect all the shards of knowledge on metallurgy, chemistry, forging, he had remaining since his student years and historical reconstruction experience. He praised the masters numerous times for insisting on them all making armour and weapons themselves for their training, cramming the theory in the young hay-heads, not only fighting, but the supplementary aspects as well.
    
    Alex squeezed his temples and tried to concentrate on his problem again, remembering the alloying additives and their effects, conditions of forging, necessary temperatures.
    
    ‘It seemeth, quite a grim painting is coming out,’ with a sigh Alex considered the forging methods he needed to use to reach the desired effect. ‘I shall reconstruct the whole smithy for that… No, that’s a bad idea. Methinks it’s smarter to build a new forge… arrant different…’ he started quickly drafting new form on the spare sheet of paper.
    
    “What did you say, Lyra? I’m sorry I got carried away a bit…”
    
    “I noticed,” muttered the minty unicorn with fake grumpiness in her voice. “Are you sure, Alex, you can do both things at the same time?”
    
    “Yeah, I’m totally fine… if you don’t mind the pauses,” smirked Alex.
    
    Despite his polite reply, the task actually became twice more complicated, as Alex was to concentrate on both. Alas, he could hardly find any other time to let Lyra ask her questions, yet not going to disappoint her, as Alex promised to arrange that meeting before the weekend.
    
    It looked like there was no end to Lyra’s questions and comments; Alex wondered, if she, reading all the possible sources about those “mythic beings”, was going to verify every fact herself, having an alive human in her hooves. At least every fact, she had any doubts about. Lyra asked about human culture, including music, literature, art; traditions, Alex was to debunk some weirdest speculations with laugher; science and simple everyday life, the latter interested her hardly less than some more exotic problems.
    
    Obviously he wasn’t an absolute authority in all the named fields, nopony can know everything; nevertheless, Alex tried to fulfill Lyra’s interest as accurate as he could, simply saying that he had no reliable information in several cases. At the same time he was working on his project, catching a few glances from her. After cultural and scientific review, which; confirmed quite a number of similarities between ponies and people (Alex wasn’t surprised much, to tell the truth), his minty interviewer decided to touch the topic of human evolution as the whole.
    
    “I still can’t believe, despite I read that from a quite reliable source,” Lyra scratched the back of her head. “That humans… people evolved from the apes.”
    
    “Do you have apes in Equestria?” the question amused Alex greatly. “I’m asking, because I haven’t seen any yet. On the other hand, I’m hardly a diligent tourist, so that’s excusable.”
    
    “Of course, we do, in the forested areas at the south-eastern part of Equestria mostly and… in Canterlot zoo, I assume,” Lyra looked puzzled still. “You probably know, they are quite messy and cheeky and impudent… can be totally unbearable… I mean, I admit that quite a lot of time must have passed to achieve that…” Lyra kept silence for a while. “But I still can’t believe humans… people, sorry, came from those…” she wrinkled her nose.
    
    “Yet we did,” Alex laughed. “Us having culture, science, etcetera, generally behaving more decently; although, it’s not always the case,” added Alex with a grin. “doesn’t mean that our ancestors never hung from the trees. It took quite some time indeed. That is why I consider you, ponies, as much more fascinating… species.”
    
    “Why so?!” Lyra stared at Alex, when she realized, he wasn’t joking.
    
    “Supposedly, your ancestors didn’t have the social and political institutions, science and other advantages all the time since the beginning, gaining all those in the process of evolution as well. But you haven’t changed much physically, as I can assume. Your ancestors could have magic, but started using it consciously and in more sophisticated ways in the process of evolving only,” Alex took a breath.
    
    “You developed mentally, gained advantages, but stayed the same in general…” Alex smirked at his thought. “That could mean that Nature considered you as nearly perfect as you were already.”
    
    “Are you teasing me?” Lyra pouted jokingly.
    
    “Not at all!” Alex started elaborating. “Look, apes needed to pick up sticks to help them with their needs, walked straight to free their “hands”, collaborated consciously and developed speech, invented writing, thought out laws and started inventing different tools and devices to make their life easier. All that, while constantly changing, which actually brought them from being “messy animals” to what you see in front of you, Lyra.”
    
    “Well, ponies, supposedly did the same…”
    
    “Exactly. Yet they had magic, well, some of them… And at the same time they didn’t change much physically. I find that overly interesting at the very least.”
    
    “Maybe…” slowly said Lyra. “By the way, isn’t what you are doing now exactly inventing?”
    
    “That’s an interesting question,” nodded Alex. “Well, technically I’m not inventing anything new in the universal sense.”
    
    Seeing Lyra’s confused glance, Alex explained.
    
    “Actually, you, I mean ponies, have the generators, metalwork, etcetera already, but the usage of those isn’t completely systematic. I suppose that’s because of magic. So, I’m simply filling the “gaps” in development,” smirked Alex. “Making various instruments, you simply didn’t think of some details, despite, them being able to simplify your life in various aspects galore. People don’t have magic, thus electricity mostly works for it – we need to take all those aspects into account to progress.”
    
    “I didn’t see that your lack of magic made your work at the railroad station less effective,” smirked Lyra, making Alex wonder, how close she was actually studying her favourite object.
    
    “Oh, come on,” huffed Alex. “That doesn’t mean they know nothing about operating things. They simply pay less attention to small details, because things like magic are constantly at their service.”
    
    “That’s the biggest weakness of your great advantage!” Alex glanced slyly at the minty unicorn girl. “But if you combine magic with… errmmm… “magic-less approach”, your progress will be unstoppable.”
    
    “Know what,” Alex turned the paper sheet and continued his notes and schematic on another side. “I think the most amazing thing done is the union of three tribes, Lyra. Ponies combined their advantages and started compensating their flaws together. Since then every foal has much more open roads almost after birth…”
    
    “I on the contrary, despite being treated often like some mythic creature, feel myself… out of my element,” Alex chuckled at own accidental pun. “Everypony is easily superior to me on their positions, simply because the jobs you have, they mostly can do better; what I can do the best way, is practically undemanded here. Thus I need to look for any opportunity, I need to do something for my living. Covering, what you all missed, isn’t that bad and evidently pays back.”
    
    “Hmmm… I think you shouldn’t be so harsh to yourself, Alex,” Lyra stopped writing and looked up at him very seriously. “I mean, all that humans do, they reach with their brains and hands only, even to be able to use electricity, you put quite an effort in; having no magic indeed and effectively overcoming it is hardly a weakness to me… You wouldn’t call the earth ponies weak at the end of the day,” added she slyly.
    
    “Exactly,” said Alex with emphasis. “Look, Lyra, you are making your notes using your magic, right? But you do it like that, because you got used to it, it’s simply more comfortable. But Fluttershy…” Alex sighed, then continued. “Pinkie, Applejack can do the same, despite they have no unicorn magic. That didn’t make them less capable. Now look at me,” Alex raised his hands. “Tie my fingers together and I’ll become more helpless than a newborn foal. Merlin’s pants, I can’t learn to use a quill normally,” laughed Alex. “Why do you think I use those pencils? That is why I feel useless, when I do nothing here. I simply need to do something myself, with my own hands. I’m still in debt, of course, but I’m going to do my best to return it fully…”
    
    “Speaking of hands…” Lyra even raised a little. “Can I have a closer look?”
    
    “Sure thing, I’m not making a commercial secret of them,” chuckled Alex and Lyra left her notes and sat next to him.
    
    “Fascinating!” exclaimed she after examining, touching and flexing his palms and fingers. “Don’t even tell… such a complex instrument, I won’t believe there are only a few things it can do better, than hooves or even magic. I stick to my point!”
    
    Her delight and the whole image of the unicorn girl, looking at his hands with awe, were so cute that Alex involuntarily stroked her mane with a smile, ran his hand on her neck, then started scratching behind her fluffy perked ear. It wasn’t hard for him, yet Lyra melting at his touch and almost murmuring something like a minty kitten was so amusing. Alex ran his fingers through her mane and scratched behind Lyra’s ears for a while longer, causing her to lean on his arm; when she opened her eyes, they looked a bit crossed, her glance floated.
    
    “Mmmm…” Lyra rubbed her cheek on Alex’s arm. “You can’t talk me round, this solely is enough an advantage!” She gathered her thoughts.
    
    “Besides, humans seem to be quite strong,” added she, touching his arm again and examining with her hooves.
    
    Alex shrugged.
    
    “Never thought about that specifically. If you ask me, I would never imagine in my turn that hooves can touch so gently…” Alex stumbled suddenly, he fancied the aroma of honey and field flowers.
    
    “Don’t you say! I think, nothing special,” shrugged Lyra, still leaning on Alex’s arm. Suddenly she flushed a little; Alex noticed nothing, as he continued his work, leaving his left hand in her hooves.
    
    “Errmmm…” Lyra was evidently unsure about her next question, making Alex surprisingly raise his eyes. “Can I… ask you… one personal… eh… i-if you don’t mind, of course. I simply need to confirm or refute a rumour,” she added quickly and embarrassedly.
    
    The tip of her nose became visibly pinkish and Alex closed his eyes tiredly; by Lyra’s embarrassed look he guessed, what she was going to ask the next moment most likely.
    
    ‘Merlin’s pants, why… Why again?’
    
    “Okay, go on, Lyra,” he rolled his eyes inwardly. ‘It’s better to end with this here and now, than return to it again later.’
    
    “I’ve read…” Lyra’s voice went down to unconfident whisper, her cheeks started flaming; she inhaled fitfully and made another daring attempt more loudly. “I’ve read somewhere that humans… errmmm… human stallions,” Lyra stumbled and the flush reached her mane already. “… males can… well… compared to an average stallion, I mean,” now her ears were flaming. “last about fifteen times longer, well, you know… with the mare…” she brought her fore hooves together in an unequivocal gesture and her voice dropped again, so, she barely squeezed. “I mean… Squee!.. eh…” Lyra gasped and fell silent, yet looked relieved of that uneasy question, she somehow felt absolutely necessary to ask.
    
    “Oh… you mean… while making love, right?” sighed Alex, but he wasn’t going to make Lyra’s life easier at that moment – it was her curiosity, so the embarrassment must be hers either. “So, a typical stallion, if I remember biology, can last one-two minutes, right?”
    
    Lyra shortly nodded, red as the finest Applejack’s tomato, hiding her eyes.
    
    “Well, the “rumour” is correct then,” mercilessly chuckled Alex. “As for an average man fifteen minutes is the minimum, if he wants his girlfriend to be satisfied.”
    
    Lyra squeaked quietly, while Alex elaborated.
    
    “Personally, I don’t think that half of an hour is a big problem, if your partner needs that to enjoy it. Sometimes, even less is enough, but generally, as long as both like it, the more the better,” he barely stifled a smile, watching how Lyra’s flaming ears, perked involuntarily. “Including the foreplay, obviously,” he nailed the proverbial coffin.
    
    “Eek!..” a quiet half-gasp, half-sigh interrupted their constructive discussion, making both Alex and Lyra turn to the door. Lyra jumped on her hooves and quickly returned to her place, checking her notes with exaggerated attention.
    
    Rarity knocked the door frame markedly, apologizing for the interruption, but her dilated eyes and pinkish nose told Alex that she didn’t just come, on the contrary, she most likely stood at the entrance for a few moments before and definitely heard the last question and answer.
    
    Alex facepalmed, quickly making it look like he was rubbing his temples tiredly. The last thing he needed, was Rarity hearing all that from himself, let alone that information sticking in her mind, encouraging her for more endeavours.
    
    “Good afternoon, Lyra!” waved Rarity with exaggerated enthusiasm. “Ahlex, darling…”
    
    “Howdy!” Alex sported a diplomatic smile, while Lyra nodded with an absently-innocent look on her pinkish muzzle.
    
    “Oh, it’s so nice I found you here!” Rarity trotted in and rubbed her soft shoulder against Alex’s, giving him a loving glance and bright smile. “I thought, I absolutely needed to visit you today. I finally finished with the restoration!” exclaimed she and carefully placed, what she was levitating, in the middle of the table.
    
    Embarrassment on Lyra’s muzzle changed by the expression, as if she suddenly came across a hornets’ nest, and she visibly tried to slide back with her armchair.
    
    “So, according to princess’ Luna will, I return it to you, darling!” there was a faint tint of disappointment in Rarity’s voice, diluted in the vast amount of well deserved, to be honest, pride for her masterful work. She evidently ignored the mere fact that anything Luna and Old Castle related caused uneasiness in Lyra – the carefully folded cloth on the table was the royal tapestry, Rarity solicited to try to reconstruct in its full glory.
    
    “Oh… How did you… It even looks newer, Rarity!” Alex stared at the tapestry, finding no words, touching it gently with the tips of his fingers. His eyes seemed to look through the royal banner though, as he thought at that moment about something unspeakably more gentle and silky than that – Luna’s shoulders, neck and mane, the main colour of the tapestry reminded him of. Alex blinked and returned to the reality. “It looks truly amazing!” He got up and unfolded the tapestry, raising it by the edge. “Mine most sincere gratitude, Rarity!”
    
    The fashionista cocked her nose higher, her smile became wider; even Lyra, despite her cautiousness towards the artefact, couldn’t deny its beauty and the quality of Rarity’s work, watching with a slightly opened mouth.
    
    “Thank you… I… have no words!” Alex carefully folded the tapestry again as a great treasure, then suddenly leaned and kissed Rarity right onto the proudly raised nose. She squeaked, flushing and batting her eyelashes fast, her eyes became dreamy at once, but at the same time she noticeably made some inward decision finally.
    
    “Ahhlex, dear,” Rarity looked slightly unconfident, for the first time in quite a while. “Actually I looked for you, because of one more thing…” She lingered, like looking for words. “I thought… Could you… Umm… I’d like to ask you… if you could… keep me the company at the Gala?” She looked up to him with starry and at the same time pleading eyes.
    
    For a fraction of second Alex froze on spot, but he couldn’t deny, Rarity did very much for him, including that restored tapestry. Besides, he didn’t want to offend her with refusing.
    
    ‘Okay!’ he sighed inwardly. ‘There will be a whole herd of ponies at the Gala, she can hardly undertake anything. Besides, I could really have some entertainment for the change… and Rarity is exactly the company to do it the most classy way.’
    
    “I will,” he said simply, smiling sincerely and looking into Rarity’s eyes.
    
    “Awwww!!!” Rarity grabbed and squeezed him slightly above the waist with her fore legs, then quickly regained more reserved posture, putting the lady look back. “Ahem… I mean, thank you, darling!”
    
    ‘Now there is no need to invent some way to get to the Gala to bring our plan to life,’ came into Alex’s mind. ‘If Tia wants it or not, I’m dancing with Luna!’ He smirked, anticipating the event wholeheartedly, despite the certain risk of Rarity trying to catch him off guard again.
    
    ‘Poor Spike!’ sighed Alex. ‘But I could hardly do anything to suit both parties. I promised to show no interest, but I won’t offend her on purpose. Besides, he is definitely going with Twilight anyway, having a chance to pay attentions to Rarity, if he wants.’
    
    “Okay… Now I need to do something,” after getting the positive answer, Rarity suddenly became fidgety. “The Gala is nigh, I need to finish my preparations, darling!” she stroked Alex’s arm, looking at him affectionately, then turned to the door. “Have a nice day, mates!”
    
    Alex and Lyra exchanged puzzled glances without conspiring, watching Rarity leaving with proudly cocked snoot; Alex shrugged.
    
    *
    
    “So, girls, he left Fluttershy,” in half voice Apple Bloom continued interrupted talk, leaning closer to her friends. “Asked Twilight for a room… and is living in the Library now. I mean, it will be easier for him, as I heard he is going to try his technical… mumbo-jumbo at Twilight’s place next…”
    
    “That… stuff works quite nicely…” muttered Big Mac, heading outside for the rest of his work. They just had the dinner and, after clearing the table, the girls sat in a close circle for a talk. The big brother huffed, squinting at the sun, which passed the zenith, but still bathed the land below in heat, so the house was the only cooler place at the whole Apple farm. He was going to remove the cut dead trees from the far edge of the garden, quite the hard work, thus he left the girls at home, despite their attempts to offer some help. Truth be told, he had no illusions about their activity, realizing that the girls would spend their time discussing recent news, especially now, when they touched such a promising and curious matter. They came across it even before the dinner, when Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had enough of running about the garden and their usual noisy fun (a tradition of every Cutie Mark Crusaders meeting), they gathered around the table in the living room; little by little the talk reached what puzzled them much, as Big Mac could hear from the edge of his ear.
    
    “Yeah, right…” Apple Bloom’s glance followed her brother and she added quieter. “But I still have no idea, why they broke actually… It’s so strange, I mean, they looked quite happy together and stuff…”
    
    “He is working closely with that creepy blacksmith, as I heard,” continued she. “And Fluttershy was nervous about that and Alex possibly getting into some trouble or being hurt… So I heard,” she kept silence for a while. “I really have no idea how blacksmith work can be… well, of course, it is not selling flowers,” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “But still, it’s hardly more dangerous than any other hard work… I don’t understand, girls! I think there is more behind them breaking, than that only.”
    
    “Maybe that’s because he may leave Equestria any time soon,” slowly and pensively said Sweetie Belle. “Alex doesn’t look like one, who can do that simply to hurt anypony…”
    
    Scootaloo huffed.
    
    “We’ll see, how it goes,” Sweetie Belle shrugged. “Do you know the “hot news”? Rarity invited Alex to the Gala… And it seems he accepted her invitation. She was bustling around the house, busy with last moment preparations, when I left. She had two clothes cases with special Gala clothes supposedly, but she didn’t reveal, what was in them,” the filly nodded meaningfully after the girls’ surprised “Wow!!!”. “That’s given, she is treating the event and what she expects of it very seriously. But I don’t know for sure about Alex. So I’m totally going to return, before they leave and see everything with my own eyes, girls.”
    
    “You won’t stay?” sadly muttered Apple Bloom. “I thought we could arrange a sleepover, girls… Granny Smith is going to bake her famous cakes this evening and…” she scratched the back of her head. “On the other hoof, I can understand your reasons, partner… You can see everything rightfully without making anypony suspicious.”
    
    “This, and…” Sweetie Belle was unusually serious. “I’d like to be at Carousel Boutique, when they get back. I know, Alex will walk Rarity home and it may appear so, that my presence there is kinda more useful for him, than Rarity,” she raised one eyebrow and elaborated, keeping in mind the evening Alex came to Rarity for a haircut. “Been there, done that once, mates. So… leave me a slice or two of those cakes, please.”
    
    “Rainbow Dash says that we must… beware of the human. She suspects, he isn’t that nice. Maybe she is right, girls?” Scootaloo voiced her concerns finally. “Look, one of us is already suffering, and because of him exactly, you can’t deny that!”
    
    “Come on, Scoots,” smirked Apple Bloom. “Rainbow hardly ever talked to Alex to make any conclusions about him. I mean, sometimes it’s maybe good to be stubborn, but not when you have no real arguments… So, relax, partner.” She mimicked her older sister expression so well, that it caused an involuntary smile on everypony’s muzzle.
    
    “Is Fluttershy being upset not an argument?..” muttered Scootaloo, not going to openly admit that her friends were actually right about Rainbow’s attitude towards the human.
    
    “Oh, no, she actually exchanged one or two phrases with him,” Apple Bloom continued louder with a laugher and Scootaloo made a face. “When Rainbow was watering him mercilessly the whole morning.”
    
    “Or was it a preventive measure,” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle kept giggling. “Afore he maketh something horrible?”
    
    “Speaking of which,” Scootaloo stuck out her tongue. “Don’t you both think he sounds overly strange sometimes… overly similar to the certain princess. Maybe he is… older than he looks… and, you know… where he came from…”
    
    Both fillies snorted.
    
    “Scoots, if anypony knows there is no Nightmare Moon now, it is you. You met princess Luna personally and…”
    
    “Wait,” interrupted Apple Bloom with a wide grin. “Why don’t you ask yourself, Scoots? Alex or the princess… I mean, princess Luna is your hero anyway.”
    
    “Girls, I’m serious…” groaned Scootaloo. “Besides, Belle has better chances of asking tonight, when both our revellers return.”
    
    “I wonder, how do you imagine that, Scoots?” Sweetie Belle rolled eyes. “I admit, if I were Rainbow Dash, I would have probably done exactly that: “Hey, Alex, ain’t you a Nightmare Moon agent?””
    
    The tone turned out so close to the original, that all three fillies burst laughing again.
    
    *
    
    “Come on, Ahhlex, darling! We don’t want to get there late, do we?”
    
    It was already half past four, the sun shining high into the almost clear sky with rare white fluffy clouds, running by, like small sheep in the Crystal Empire zoo. Gentle breeze bothered the tops of the crops around them, making the fields look like some green sea touched by low lazy waves. Too light to bring mess to her carefully laid mane – Rarity spent two good hours to reach the expected perfection – it came from the western orchard and brought the sweetness of the best Jackie’s apples getting ripe.
    
    ‘Interesting, what would he say about my another delicious apple dessert?’ flew in Rarity’s head. ‘Not that I was as masterful as Granny Smith at that, I admit of having lots of practice ahead, still… I keep the best recipe to try yet!’ she threw a quick glance at Alex following her across the field and a smile curled her lips.
    
    She kept graciously prancing, keeping the lady posture, despite Rarity’s heart was ready to join the chirping birds choir, while she herself wanted to squeal and jump around as a small filly.
    
    ‘The lady must be lady all the time, at least do her best to be; besides, I may look funny in his eyes, well, stupidly funny – definitely not the effect, I desire,’ Rarity threw another sly glance at Alex, who was distracted by something in the distance and now caught up with her. ‘Of course, he doesn’t look like somepony, who could frown upon a bit of foalish fun, but I need to be more accurate. Yet… Squee!!!’
    
    Alex accepting her invitation to the Gala was a happy surprise for Rarity, truth to be told, she was ready for him refusing. She restored the royal tapestry for him, helped him solve his clothes problem, thus he had all the reasons to be thankful; although, he did quite a lot for her as well, maybe even more in the longer perspective, thus keeping her the company at the Gala was truly optional. Remembering the last less than successful attempt in her house, when he fixed the pipe, Rarity was to admit, she was as subtle as a steamroller that time. It was her mistake, caused purely by unsatisfied desire hitting the “safety valve”, and she promised herself to stock up with patience, strategy and wit for the future attempts.
    
    ‘Calm down, darling,’ she held back all the jumps and squeaks, postponing them indefinitely, despite the electrifying jolt, which made her coat twitch, when Alex came up to her and put his palm on her shoulder lightly. ‘You may look sad, desperate, even ruined, or on the contrary squeakily happy… when necessary. But you must see the aim and tread lightly!’
    
    “What was there?” Rarity batted her long eyelashes, minding the delay; Alex was never able to understand, why she, having her own natural beautiful ones, used those fake extenders so often.
    
    “Oh, simply checked the clock tower… Aren’t we getting late?”
    
    “Don’t worry, darling!” Rarity theatrically shrugged with a chuckle. “I’ve managed to book the tickets to Canterlot Express, besides, I always plan it that way to get to the Gala in time. Some ponies may think it’s great as long as you get there, no matter if you are late, but I prefer to be there from the very beginning.”
    
    She cocked her head proudly, checking if the clothing cases levitated high enough to touch the ground not. Actually two of them, which unambiguously told Alex, Rarity prepared something outstanding for him as well; she didn’t let him carry those, but there was nothing offensive in that – Alex knew already how meticulous Rarity was with everything fashion related. He knew about her tasteful approach likewise, thus being calm and convinced, his supposed parade clothes to be classy enough. Alex decided to let Rarity have a fair bit of her innocent joy, he could bring own corrections to his image anyway, if her vision of him at the Gala appeared overly… outstanding.
    
    Obviously, she couldn’t allow her best recent work sweep the road to the railroad station or get any stains from the thick grass and crops in the fields around, thus Rarity made all the necessary precautions and was very proud of herself.
    
    ‘Better safe than sorry!’ Rarity inwardly listed everything to be sure, she didn’t miss a single trivia in her Gala preparations. ‘Plan, hard work, result, that is how success reached.’
    
    Busy with her thoughts she completely missed another glance, Alex threw back, otherwise, she could easily tell, one hardly observed the clock or time-worn tower with such an expression. Somewhere deep inside the feeling of impropriety of the happening kept gnawing Alex: he knew from Twilight that Fluttershy wasn’t going to the Gala. To be frank, Rainbow Dash was neither, but those were totally different things. First of all, Alex couldn’t give a damn about Rainbow’s plans for that evening; moreover, the farther from him, the better – Alex wasn’t entirely convinced, Dash could hold herself of playing some trick on him… even at the Gala. To become a ridicule for the whole herd, let alone Luna (despite he was sure, the princess wouldn’t enjoy his humiliation)? No way, thank you!
    
    Shy was another case: her animal friends provided a certain problem, needing care, but practice said, they could easily cope without her for the several hours. The actual reason followed Rarity through the fields at that moment, as Fluttershy couldn’t go to the Gala with him, she decided to not go there at all. Not being a party pony in general, at least not liking the big herds of hardly known ponies, Fluttershy could go to the Gala with the rest of the girls, of course, but something told Alex that she feared, what she could witness: not him being there with Rarity (she was well informed about that), but him meeting Luna and possible consequences.
    
    The unwelcome memory of her preparing the dress for that event (and the final fitting was not only a decoration to hide real reasons for Rarity to visit Fluttershy, when he just arrived) made Alex’s condition truly detestable. The guilt fought the rejection of being decided for, guided or even motherly protected and he couldn’t say for sure which side was winning at that moment.
    
    “What’s wrong with you, darling?!” his stone face made Rarity emerge from her pleasant musings and she looked at Alex with concern and anxiety. “You look like you have seen the… Headless Horse!” with a small nervous chuckle Rarity tried to turn it into a joke.
    
    ‘Just mine inner demons, hardly headless, as I can hear their teeth clenching already!’ Alex cringed a bit.
    
    “I simply feel like a fish out of the water,” he squeezed out a smile. ‘No need to spoil the day for yet another girl…’
    
    “You know, Rarity, I was never invited to such an event before, so…”
    
    “Oh, don’t worry, darling!” Rarity stopped and leaned to him, nudging Alex lightly. “You are lucky to be in the right company for the events like that,” she playfully winked.
    
    ‘If only I could get an inner guide for my thoughts and deeds that easily…’ Alex knew well, he was wishing for too much.
    
    They sped up, as the station was in direct view and the red loco was letting out long jets of steam already. All the tickets to the express appeared to be booked indeed, as there was no queue at the ticket office and the whole registration process took them a couple of minutes.
    
    “Phew! Just as planned!” exclaimed Rarity, sliding the compartment door shut behind them.
    
    “And we have plenty of time to bring ourselves to the exemplary order after that awful dusty road!” she accurately placed her dress cases on the seat and opened the carpetbag, which Alex put on the table, levitating a brush out and some other, supposedly hoof-polishing, instruments.
    
    *
    
    “So, is it your final decision, Flutters?” Twilight covered her friend’s shoulders with the wing, leaning to her and trying to find her eyes, hidden behind the lush pink mane. “I’m sure that your little friends can spend an evening without their caretaker; they were quite capable of that before.”
    
    “Yes, Twilight,” Fluttershy’s quiet voice was determined. “I’m not going. I mean, I really have to do much for my animals… Besides, what’s the point?”
    
    Mixing the ingredients for some medicine seemingly demanded for her whole concentration, but Twilight wasn’t that easy to trick. She sighed deeply and the prolonged pause made Fluttershy voice her concerns finally.
    
    “Of course, Twi, I could arrange everything, so I had enough free time for the Gala,” Fluttershy put away the vials and turned to face Twilight, wiping hooves with the towel. There was something except sadness in her eyes, which made her alicorn friend look at her more fixedly. “But those galas are all the same each time… Remember, princess Celestia complained about them being a bore three years ago. There is no tragedy in missing one. Dashie is not going as well…” she looked away almost whispering.
    
    “Dashie is head over hooves in her training,” retorted Twilight patiently. “She is daydreaming about impressing the Wonderbolts with some new tricks and spends all the time flying. If I didn’t know that’s for the Wonderbolts, I’d think, it’s some sleepless changeling in her disguise,” smirked she. “Rainbow neglecting a nap sounds like nonsense. But she will do as she wants anyway.”
    
    “But you could spend the night with us three, brighten up the mood,” Twilight looked determined to cheer her friend up no matter what. “Simply distance from your problems.”
    
    “Look I’m not going to either justify his act,” said she finally. “or blame him point blank, despite he could think better, before dating Luna, while… Ooooh!” groaned Twilight scowlingly. “See, I am judging already, while I probably shouldn’t. I’m not Alex, I don’t know how serious it was…” she fell silent.
    
    “Actually, he said quite clearly, they were more than friends,” breathed out Fluttershy, then added quietly. “Yet I’m somehow sure they didn’t… umm…”
    
    “What I mean,” continued Twilight after a pause. “ Is that you both are adults and the situation is better seen from inside, of course. But Alex going to the Gala with Rarity shouldn’t stop you from having some fun. She might be not entirely right, inviting him, but it didn’t look like she was going to from the start… Besides, from her point of view Alex was free at that moment…” Twilight shook her head. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy! I don’t know what to say, sorry…”
    
    “What I know for sure, is that Alex accepted that invitation as a friendly gesture only,” Twilight put her fore hoof on Fluttershy’s lightly. “He isn’t happy about Rarity giving him excessive attention, nothing changed since the first day.”
    
    “Oh, I know that,” Fluttershy allowed herself a tiny smile. “That’s not what bothers me, Twilight. I’m pretty sure Rarity would be tiptoeing around Alex, even if he went to the Gala with me, not because of ill will, but purely because she couldn’t hold herself.”
    
    Twilight patiently waited for the rest of the confession.
    
    “I’m not blaming him entirely for what happened either,” that statement made Twilight open her mouth slightly, while Fluttershy elaborated. “He was wrong, no doubt, but so was I. Probably because of different reasons… But I shouldn’t give up the fort myself, make it easier for him to leave. Alex keeps saying, we must cool down, because if he is to leave Equestria, that will be the more hurtful to break, the closer we become. But I think, I repelled him with my assertiveness, my wish to keep him safe. Yeah, I never thought I could say that about myself…”
    
    “He may be selfless, when somepony needs help, but at the same time he can be selfish, when he fears for his freedom being taken over by anypony. Typical for a stallion… a man,” Fluttershy shrugged, turning to her ingredients again; Twilight noticed that her fore legs trembled a bit. “But I knew, it could turn like that, Twi. Yet I decided to try to convince him. We both can be stupidly stubborn, dear, and to be honest are worth each other,” sad chuckle mixed with the rhythmic sound of small mortar, while she ground up some herbs.
    
    “But She takes him as he is,” Fluttershy suddenly moved the mortar aside and froze, looking into the window. “And I don’t feel ready yet to witness, how they meet at the Gala. I’m not sure, I can hold myself in hooves, Twi…”
    
    “That is why I’m not going,” Fluttershy turned to her friend again. “And the dress,” she remembered with a sad smile. “Nopony saw it yet, except Rarity, I guess, it can wait for the next time. And if the fashion goes forward, I can always say that they understand nothing in the “retro” style!” dropped she with a tear in her voice.
    
    The lump in the throat prevented Twilight from saying anything, in a flurry she embraced her pegasus friend and hugged tight.
    
    “I-I… could stay, Flutters… really, if…” unconfidently started Twilight.
    
    “No, no, no…” Fluttershy’s eyes dilated. “No need to do that Twilight, I’ll be fine, don’t worry. Besides, if you don’t go, Pinkie and Applejack can hardly operate the balloon, right?” a faint smile touched her lips. “And… you’re a princess, Twilight. You must be at the Gala.”
    
    “Tartarus with “the princess”,” muttered Twilight grumpily, then added. “Are you sure?”
    
    “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” repeated Fluttershy, releasing her friend. “Everything settles… somehow… eventually…”
    
    “Okay…” sighed Twilight, shaking her head. “You’re a big girl… Just in case… We’re taking off in an hour from the balloon pad,” she looked at Fluttershy meaningfully. “An hour.”
    
    “Yeah, yeah,” Fluttershy waved her hoof. “Have fun, girls. I mean that.”
    
    *
    
    The train covered mile after mile and entered the mountains already, it was safe to assume, two thirds of the road were left behind. They couldn’t see the sun, as the compartment window opened to the east, but the trees, which covered yet low mountainside, were painted golden, thus telling them, Celestia’s star was low enough above the horizon; the day was coming to its end. It was colder here at the foothills, more windy and the forest trees greeted the passing train with light bows of respect.
    
    Rarity was chattering incessantly throughout the whole ride, she told Alex what to expect and which aspects to pay special attention to make a good impression at the Gala, named a few ponies, regular visitors of those social functions, acquaintance with which could help him in his further life in Equestria.
    
    ‘It seems, Rarity took mine inability to leave their world as inevitability… and is quite content with that!’ Alex inwardly smirked, sadly to be honest. ‘At least she is sincere in her wish to help me accommodate,’ at the same time he was to admit, that didn’t make the acceptance easier.
    
    One look was enough to tell, Rarity was on the top of her spiritual ascent and Alex pondered, if that was her usual pre-gala mood or the company made it so clearly pronounced that time. He listened to her with one ear though, just enough to keep up with the route of her thoughts and fill the pauses with appropriate comments. His own head was partially busy, looking for the way to make their with Luna plan play out naturally enough. With Rarity inviting him to the Gala, he was totally safe as the part of the event at that moment, even if Celestia planned to have some rest of him, she couldn’t do anything till the point it would be futile to try.
    
    ‘I’ll be there and we’ll bring our plan to life with Luna, no matter what! I wonder though, what Tia can say or undertake, when she sees me?’ The image of Celestia’s expression made him chuckle inwardly. ‘I suppose my presence isn’t included in her checklist of “perfectly run entertainment”, yet she would hardly let it spoil the event for her. Well, we’ll see then…’
    
    Alex threw another look through the window: the landscape was steadily raising, trees grew right next to the tracks here and it became noticeably darker. If he remembered the road right, the tunnels should start shortly and that meant they were approaching Canterlot. One more thought bothered Alex thereby – Rarity took two cases with her, obviously one with her dress and another with parade clothes for Alex. Supposedly they were to change (or in Rarity’s case better say dress) in the train to approach the castle in full glory; at least that was his fashionista companion’s plan.
    
    But Alex didn’t feel daring to change in her presence at all and now frantically looked for some polite way to get out of that uneasy situation. Telling her directly seemed a bit harsh to him, as ponies’ relationship with clothes were still a mystery for Alex: they could pay no attention to the conventionalities in some cases, yet be overly meticulous in the others.
    
    ‘To undress almost completely in front of Rarity in that convenient compartment… Merlin’s pants!’ Alex cringed.
    
    Maybe Rarity anticipated some involuntary striptease, but Alex wasn’t sure, it was worth the risk – the latest incident clearly showed, his unicorn friend could take any favourable chance.
    
    “Hmm… It’s too dark here! We must be approaching the city, but I can’t see anything because of that wall of trees, besides the mountainside looks all the same everywhere,” suddenly complained Rarity, she didn’t give much credit to the forests and everything connected. “Ugghhh! It’s too bad the window is facing this side…”
    
    Alex quietly took his breath.
    
    “Perhaps I should go and check, where we are. We’re riding for more than two hours non-stop, it must be the time to dress up for the event already,” with a bright unequivocal smile Rarity opened the compartment door, exiting to the car passage to check the west facing windows. The door closed behind her automatically.
    
    ‘Please, enjoy the view for a while instead and give me a few minutes!’ with the speed of light Alex jumped to his legs and picked up the clothes cases, carefully opening them. ‘I must be lucky tonight!’
    
    The first case revealed something red and aethereal through the slightly opened zipper and Alex closed it, putting aside. Despite all Rarity’s extravagance, Alex couldn’t imagine her dressing him in something alike. Another case let out something pristine white! Suppressing his first urge to squint, as the suit almost flashed in the twilight of their compartment, Alex raised the shoulders higher.
    
    The pants were of the same style, he got used to; the free cut shirt with the lacy collar made Alex facepalm, but thankfully was moderate and the long band, accompanying them, was probably the fashionable tie. Remembering him despising the official style, Rarity didn’t include any jacket, rightfully assuming that her work was truly classy without. The fabric was unfamiliar to Alex: dense, but light on touch, silky and non-permeable, but not unpleasant to the skin. But the main thing everything was of blinding white colour, making Alex freeze for a moment!
    
    Alex didn’t have time to stare at it in awe, one precious minute passed already. He accurately put the suit on the seat. Listening to the sounds from behind the door he almost jumped out of his clothes in a single jolt, quickly putting on the parade ones.
    
    ‘Let’s hope, I won’t be looking like a fridge at the end of the day,’ Alex quickly checked everything in the mirror on the compartment door and put the shoes back on. ‘Not entirely fitting, I admit… But…’ he threw another glance in the mirror. ‘Hmpf! I doubt anypony would look at them anyway.’
    
    He stepped back; with the light noise the compartment door slid open.
    
    “Oh!” Even if Rarity frowned upon the missed show, she did her best to show that not. “You are fast, Ahhlex! I guess, I need to catch up,” she closed the door with a small laugher and levitated the remaining dress case.
    
    Alex returned to the window and promptly stared outside with exaggerated interest, giving Rarity time to dress with dignity… and trying to get rid of the uncalled thought that most of the time she was practically wearing nothing.
    
    Observing the darkening trees, rare road posts, grassy openings, passing by behind the glass, Alex listened to the rustling sounds behind his back. Despite the experience and magic, ready to come to the aid in particularly complicated situations, it took Rarity a good few minutes to cope with her dress and fit it properly. Alex was unsure, if providing her with a helping hand would be appropriate, besides, he didn’t want to give her the freedom of interpretation, being absolutely sure about how exactly could she take that act.
    
    With echoing noise, born by stone walls, the train entered one of the mountain tunnels, Rarity even squeaked slightly from suddenly fallen darkness. In a second the train lamps turned on and the dark rocks behind the window changed to the mirrored view of their compartment, Rarity almost finished, spreading the fabric on her shoulders and stretching the sleeves or better say long “gloves”; Alex noticed they were not connected to the dress itself.
    
    He turned around to face very proud and at the same time slightly embarrassed Rarity, as if she wasn’t entirely confident in Alex’s reaction. Although, her hesitations were completely futile, Alex was to admit, Rarity looked fabulous in her dress. Tightly fit at the upper body, it was opulent and freely flowing from the waist down, giving her the ability to move freely and visually counterbalancing her lush, beautifully laid mane. The dense fabric went to the chest, but ended slightly below fore legs, turning into lacy and transparent one, which ended at the collar; that upper part was practically invisible from the short distance, providing the impression of completely bare shoulders and low décolleté. That would look like a quite audacious human evening dress, if the ponies had cleavage, but Alex involuntarily concluded that proudly puffed chest fluff, coped with the substitution task quite well in Rarity’s case.
    
    The large sapphire on the collar, and a few of its brethren, placed in the thin silver tiara, shining in Rarity’s mane, finished the ensemble. Everything looked perfect to Alex’s taste.
    
    Although, it seemed Rarity had some trouble. With exaggerated grace, holding the dress in place on the shoulders with her magic, little fashionista approached him, raising on her hind legs and leaning on the table, bending her back.
    
    “Darling, I need some help of yours!” Rarity shot him from under her long eyelashes, Alex noticed the tip of her light indigo tail waving from side to side under the dress hem.
    
    “Any time, Rarity. What’s…”
    
    She turned around and Alex saw that there was a long thin zipper at the back of her dress, opened at the moment, so, Rarity’s graceful back shone in the soft compartment lights, framed by the red fabric.
    
    “Okaaay…” Alex inwardly took his breath and accurately took the fastener, feeling her sly anticipating glance over the shoulder. ‘No way I’m buying this old trick, dear! You look radiant in your dress, that’s given, but I’m not a whelp to fall for that.’
    
    With a tiny smile Alex zipped the dress close, slowly and carefully not to pinch Rarity’s quickly heating (he almost felt that) skin. When he accidentally touched her coat between the shoulder blades, Rarity shivered and quite audible fitful breath left her lips.
    
    “Here we are,” emphatically neutrally concluded Alex. “Fully ready for the event.”
    
    “Excellent!” she turned to face him with slightly dilated sparkling eyes, then noticed something and theatrically frowned.
    
    “Ahlex, Ahlex!” Rarity pulled the white band from his hand with a giggle. “You are incorrigible. This is an important part,” she shook her head, spreading the thin aroma of some fancy shampoo, while the band accurately formed a necktie on Alex, guided by the cyan aura. “Now it is significantly better!” she took out a sapphire clasp and fixed the tie, then added a pair of fitting cufflinks to his costume.
    
    The train emerged from the tunnel, but the lamps remained on to compensate for the setting sun, insufficient to provide enough light. The forest was left behind and purely mountainous landscape took over, a few more miles and tunnels left before Canterlot.
    
    With a quiet laugher Rarity took Alex’s hand and dragged him closer to the mirror, so he could estimate the final image in entirety. Obviously, she was going to play on the contrasts and Alex was to admit Rarity’s success: her rich red dress didn’t overshadow her natural coat colour, but emphasized it quite advantageously, making Rarity’s skin glow even under soft compartment lights; with the bright lights of the castle hall, she would hardly pass unnoticed by anypony.
    
    Alex’s costume was simple, but classy and outstanding at the same time, surprisingly fitting Rarity’s dress, despite the colour difference; Alex noticed that the latter was suspiciously human-like and was guessing, where this inventive unicorn mare could find her inspiration. He decided to ask Twilight a few questions later, as she mentioned that she had got her hooves on some historical notes about humans.
    
    However, the laconic jewellery finished the impression, leaving no doubts to the beholder. When Rarity raised on her hind legs again and leaned to Alex, correcting his tie and throwing a satisfied glance into the mirror, it became strikingly obvious, that she exerted maximum effort for them to look like… a couple.
    
    *
    
    “Ah still can’t believe, he accepted her invitation, sugarcube!” Applejack shook her head, then threw a quick glance at the wide stairs, running from the castle entrance to the gravel square below, empty at the moment, but going to be full of arriving at the Gala ponies in the half of an hour. “After all the tricks our dear Rarity undertook to get her hooves on Alex… Besides, Ah was sure he would come with Flutters still.”
    
    Twilight only shrugged, inwardly she decided to stay on the fence regarding those two; despite she found out more during the last few days, she felt, everything was even more complicated and she didn’t have the complete image yet. Pinkie let out a deep sigh, staying unusually silent; surprisingly she treated the incident most seriously among the girls, not accusing anypony, but actually seriously, quite concerned about the outcome.
    
    Both girls arrived with Twilight on the balloon, slightly beforehand, as Twilight was to be at princess’ Celestia side right at the Gala opening, greeting the guests. As Celestia was still busy with some preparations (she preferred to perform the final check herself, guaranteeing the quality of the event, as nopony could dare to fail afore princess’ eyes), Twilight used a few free minutes to peek outside, to the terrace at the castle entrance. Maybe the fresh air helped to ease the nervousness, Twilight didn’t get quite used to the role of the princess at the galas, or perhaps she secretly hoped to see Fluttershy, finally reconsidering and joining them, on the road to the castle; although, Twilight couldn’t probably imagine the way, for Flutters to get there in time.
    
    Twilight’s glance didn’t get unnoticed by Applejack, who understood it properly and sighed. Her dress could easily fit a social function and a classic fox hunt, if only ponies ever hunted foxes. The caring hoof of Rarity could be easily seen in how the dress reflected the personality of its owner: made in green, dark golden and light brown colours, not excessively volumetric at the hem, very convenient to move in, it could even seem a little bit rough for the occasion, if it wasn’t extremely classy, balancing on the edge between utility (valued by Jackie) and fashion (constantly upheld by Rarity). The high leather boots on Applejack’s hind legs were equally convenient for dancing and apple bucking, with the obvious visual lean towards dancing, as Rarity was uncompromising in that aspect.
    
    “Well, girls, let’s go inside! I truly don’t like it, like if we are saying somepony’s vale,” with a sigh Pinkie seemed to make some decision. “You don’t need to greet the guests on those stairs, Twi, right?”
    
    Pinkie shook her lush curly mane, everypony almost expected the confetti and streamers coming out of it, and turned on spot, making her opulent colourful dress rustle; the first look at it was enough to understand – its owner was the heart of the party on her own and could easily make quite a boom even at such a grand event as the Gala. She resembled a soft delicious dessert, not mawkish though, as sometimes Rarity knew perfectly, when to catch her flying imagination.
    
    “I know, I know… But we can’t help them now, not by the mourning at the Gala definitely,” she looked at Twilight and Applejack over the shoulder, blowing away the lace, curled in the wind. “Believe me, if auntie Pinkie knew how to fix the situation, I would have tried my best already. Don’t make that face, Jackie,” smirked Pinkie. “I see you. I’m not talking about some love potion. But I totally have something to talk to Alex about…” muttered she aside.
    
    “I guess, you are right,” those thoughts helped Twilight to switch her attention and become less shaky before the event. Later, when the Gala actually started, she would quickly calm down, but at that moment the Princess of Friendship felt out of her element, up to the point that she thought, she forgot something drastically important or her feverishly pink nose and trembling legs completely didn’t fit the expected role and amazing dress. The latter, luxurious and heavy, with wide and lush standing collar, rich decoration and deep gold and lilac colours, made Twilight suspect princess Celestia taking part in the choosing specifically to make Twilight get used to the regal role faster. The dress was perhaps easily more complex than Celestia’s one and according to Twilight didn’t fit her shaky condition completely. Although, this was a common situation, when Twilight prepared for something important… and didn’t make a “to do” list prior. Thus she took herself in hooves forcedly and squeezed out a smile.
    
    “I would like to be able to fix the situation as well…”
    
    “Here you are!” Spike appeared in the doorway paws akimbo, hailing the girls. “Do you three plan to greet the guests on that terrace? Twilight, please, wake up!”
    
    “Hmm?!”
    
    “Twilight,” sighed Spike. “There are no books here even, where are you travelling? Princess Celestia wanted you to help her with something.”
    
    “Let’s go, girls… umm… unless you want more fresh air,” Twilight shook off the nervousness and followed Spike, who seemed to regain interest in the Gala, anticipating Rarity’s arrival most likely.
    
    Twilight smiled upon remembering, how they came home about an hour after Rarity invited Alex. Lyra was still there, the flood of her questions just dried and Alex managed to finish his work, so they simply enjoyed some freshly brewed tea. Twilight shared her observation of very inspired and encouraged Rarity, they met on their way home. Chuckling she told about Rarity almost prancing, hurrying to Carousel Boutique, and voiced an assumption about the new collection being on Rarity’s mind.
    
    Alex made a face and revealed the true source of Rarity’s inspiration; that wasn’t entirely unexpected, yet caught Twilight by surprise – she couldn’t imagine Rarity to actually dare. Personally Twilight thought about suggesting Alex join her and Spike, but she wasn’t sure both Alex and Celestia needed more time in each other’s company.
    
    Naturally, Spike became grumpy at once and pouted till late evening, but eventually, he was to admit, there was no crime in Alex accepting Rarity’s invitation; it was totally her idea and refusing could undeservedly offend her. Obviously Spike decided that Rarity coming to the Gala was more important; besides, her coming with somepony, not interested in her personally, rather than a dedicated admirer, was almost a gift of fate.
    
    *
    
    “Hmm… We have a few spare minutes, Rarity!”
    
    Alex jumped off to the platform and threw a quick glance at the wall clock of the station office, painted golden and red by the light of the setting sun. He filled his lungs with damp air, the loco stopped quite far from that point, their car was in the middle of the train and all the smoke was taken away by the constant evening wind coming down the mountains, leaving only a faint bitter tint in the nostrils. Long, flowing, mystically glowing in the bright station lights, sheets of fog curled around the light posts, benches on the platform and large regular trees behind the platform railing; Alex remembered that they passed a waterfall at the railway entrance to Canterlot. It was contrastingly fresh here after the warm comfort of the train compartments and ponies quickly filling the platform shivered and wrapped into their cloaks and shawls. Alex caught a few bewildered glances already, protruding like an iceberg from the stripes of fog, curling at his feet.
    
    He smirked and turned to the car door, Rarity stood at the upper step, looking down at him with a bright smile. Alex eyed her crinoline, getting down the car steps seemed a non-trivial task for his companion; without the second thought Alex leaned to her and accurately picked Rarity under her fore legs, causing a tiny surprised squeak. He managed to lower her on the platform quite gracefully; obviously, her hind legs touched the ground first and Rarity put her fore hooves on Alex’s shoulders, staying like that for a moment longer and giving him a fiery glance of dilated eyes.
    
    Alex felt slightly embarrassed, as half of the herd on the platform interestedly examined them at the moment or so he thought.
    
    “Thanks, darling!” breathed out Rarity, unfolding the soft, dense red cloak and wrapping it around her bare shoulders. She kept holding on him and leaned closer. “We shouldn’t hurry too much, Ahlex,” whispered she in his ear, when he leaned closer. “Let the herd unflood the platform and head to the castle, so we can follow more freely. It’s not like the third ring in the theatre, darling!” she almost cooed.
    
    Alex nodded shortly, he understood Rarity’s reasons and inwardly wondered, how she kept following her plan of gaining attention “the proper way”. Her calculations were simple: that wasn’t the last and only wave of guests, so they wouldn’t come “late”, still they wouldn’t hurry and hustle in the herd, but would instead catch the short pause between “main waves”. But the main thing was, Rarity and Alex arrive at the castle entrance, ascend and enter the hall under the dozens of glances of ponies already present at the top and bottom of the castle stairs.
    
    That being Rarity’s “red carpet” wasn’t hard to guess; she prepared to “walk out” her outstanding dress, appear in the center of the big herd with an unusual partner and simply entertain herself as much as possible. Rarity sincerely believed, she would entertain Alex as well that way; so, with a tiny smile Alex gave up and allowed her to bask in the rays of her well-directed performance.
    
    Thus they lingered a bit, waiting till the main mass went ahead; Alex shrugged under a few more couples of evaluative eyes. Distracted by enjoying the evening sight of the surroundings (he was unable to estimate it fully the first time they came here with Fluttershy) at first, Alex found Rarity still nesting in his warm hands – it appeared, they stood like that the whole time the majority of the passengers trotted by; the glances were explicable and Alex inwardly facepalmed. Rarity’s nose was slightly pinkish, when she released him and stood on her four legs, but her eyes were starry and shone with badly concealed triumph, while they headed to the station exit side by side.
    
    Further the terrain started to ascend and they need to go up or by the zigzag path, when the street architecture didn’t offer the straight line. Alex admitted that he couldn’t probably find the way to the castle fast enough even on his second arrival at the station; besides, the atmosphere that time was more relaxed and he used that opportunity to pay deserved attention to the city views, prudently not looking back, down the mountain, of course. Involuntarily the same comparison with Minas Tirith, the White City from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, came to his mind, causing another smile.
    
    Alex didn’t cease to wonder the mastery, the architects combined the stone terraces, buildings and flora with, practically turning whole Canterlot into blooming garden with white stone walls protruding from the foliage, but not breaking the natural beauty. It must be full of life during the daytime, but now only rare birds broke the silence, chirping in the gardens drowning in falling twilight, which was softly diluted by the street lights. The only sound becoming stronger, as they approached the castle, were the tidal waves of the noise of ponies, gathering at the upcoming Gala.
    
    “Come on, Ahlex! I said we must linger a bit, but I didn’t mean we must catch another herd going after us,” Rarity looked at him over the shoulder with a laugher, she led the way almost prancing, on her peak of inspiration she anticipated ascending the stairs so visibly that Alex chuckled quietly. Rarity threw a sly glance at him. “What?”
    
    “You’re like a… filly on her prom night, Rarity!” Alex raised a brow, returning her glance with dividends. He heard the approaching noise from behind, supposedly from another wave of guests, and was to admit her reasoning.
    
    “Hmpf! I haven’t had such fun for a few months already,” she cocked her head and almost jumped on spot enthusiastically. “Especially in such a nice company!” her half-lidded eyes shot another spear at Alex and very pleased with herself Rarity proceeded, looking at him playfully from time to time.
    
    Soon Alex noticed that the road to the castle, which towered its whole white mass above them already, was designated by additional lightening, so, even a newcomer could probably avoid getting lost on his way to the Gala. That discovery turned out futile though, as after three or four turns they finally entered the short, straight as a tensioned string, path to the castle gate.
    
    *
    
    Stomping on the gravel path behind the castle gate Alex inwardly braced himself: Rarity’s calculations were correct, quite a herd of guests gathered at the bottom of the stairs and the top landing, before the doors to the hall. The mares straightened out their dresses, couples met their kith and greetings and small talks filled the air, making that hum, which could be heard long before the castle gates, delivered by evening breeze.
    
    ‘Okay, you knew about that,’ Alex inhaled deeply and followed Rarity, adjusting to her pace. ‘You and Luna had certain plans for that evening, that’s primal, so, take that “red carpet stroll” as inevitable “evil” and stay cool!’
    
    Giving that wise advice was obviously far easier than following it, while pacing along that path, which seemed about a mile long to Alex, under all kinds of glances: from interested and evidently smiling to surprised and bluntly shocked. To the honour of the guests Alex couldn’t tell, he spotted any visible negativity, caused by his arrival; perhaps ponies, who gathered here, could cope with their feelings better or the majority of them simply decided to conform the general spirit of the event, keeping their thoughts to themselves. That allowed Alex to relax a tiny bit, to let one single hair of the fiddlestick loose.
    
    Rarity distracted everypony’s attention quite successfully as well, she paced right to Alex, nodding with an almost regal smile to the ponies, she knew personally. Her head was proudly cocked, letting the mane, gathered into complex sumptuous hair dress, sway lightly. There wasn’t a single mare left non-stunned by Rarity’s dress: they stopped half-word and followed her for a moment with nearly opened mouths. Whatever they thought about her dress and were going to discuss later, one thing was certain – it was seemingly unusual and audacious enough for the pony society; if Rarity wanted them to be noticed, she topped that by quite a margin.
    
    Alex would be happy, if she completely overshadowed his presence, but obviously, that wasn’t a part of her plan; considering his costume and height difference, everypony paid attention to Rarity’s unusual partner as well. Meanwhile, Alex tried to think about Luna and what they wanted to do at the Gala, constantly catching himself at the urge to take his girl’s arm, remembering that Rarity had legs and it would be quite uncomfortable for her to walk like human pairs supposed to.
    
    ‘Something tells me that, if Rarity knew about that gesture,’ Alex chuckled inwardly. ‘She would have coped with any inconvenience to add that to her performance.’
    
    They came up to another pair at the bottom of the stairs and Alex noticed a familiar muzzle to his surprise: he saw the stallion already, when they with Fluttershy got rid of numerous visitors after the warehouse incident – Filthy Rich or “simply Mr. Rich”, as that one preferred to be named.
    
    “Good evening, Mr. Rich!” Alex nodded with a diplomatic smile and the stallion replied, taking a look over Alex and Rarity and sporting a sly smirk.
    
    His spouse, as such a characteristically similar mare could hardly be anypony else, stared at them with dilated eyes for a second and Alex spotted from the tail of his eye, how she quickly whispered something into husbands ear right after them.
    
    Rarity stopped for a second and took a quick critical look over herself and Alex as well, like checking, if everything was according to her preplanned order.
    
    “Are you ready, darling?” like there were at least several “a”s in “darling” Rarity asked him in half-tone, but at the same time quite a few guests heard that and turned.
    
    “After you, Rarity,” Alex made a welcoming gesture and suppressed one more impulse to offer her the hand, he followed slightly behind instead, securing Rarity in her long dress on those quite steep stairs.
    
    ‘I would bring Shy up in mine arms!’ flashed in his head suddenly. ‘And let a few snobs fall down in jealousy!’ He caught himself on flushing slightly.
    
    ‘I must be here with her instead,’ his heart pounded and Alex went up the stairs, like a robot, looking at one spot in front of him. ‘But we let ourselves go too far already… If I leave… When I leave, she will suffer, we will both suffer… She treats me like her… man already… Merlin’s…’
    
    Perhaps his eyes looked glazed, when they reached the top, Rarity turned to Alex with a fair dose of concern.
    
    “Is everything alright, Ahlex?” she looked up into his eyes. “You look a bit…”
    
    “I’m okay, dear,” Alex shook his head, emerging to the reality, he took a deep breath, noticing the smell of the garden flowers, the baskets of which the stairs were ornate with, at that moment only. Alex could swear, he felt the aroma of honey and field flowers a moment ago.
    
    “Oh, let’s go then!” with a tender smile Rarity leaned to him, rubbing her cheek on his arm.
    
    The doorway was free and in a second Alex and Rarity stepped into the long corridor with columns, so familiar to Alex by his first visit to the castle. Two guards opened another pair of doors for them, letting into the giant hall and making Alex shudder involuntarily from the unwelcome déjà vu feeling. But the following surprise was even stronger.
    
    Right a few steps behind the doors Alex saw two figures, he couldn’t mistake for anypony, despite the bright light coming from behind them, making them appear as two dark silhouettes in Alex’s and  Rarity’s sight.
    
    “… and meeting the guests right from their first step for the change, instead of sitting there, like a stone statue until the last one arrives.” Celestia nodded to her companion with a smile. “I may actually like that method, Twilight.”
    
    Her long, flowing, almost white but with faint coral tint, as Alex could see in the bright light of numerous chandeliers of the hall, dress with gold ornament and lilac elements made quite an impression on him, when Alex’s eyes accommodated. Surprisingly the dress author managed to make it lush, at the same time not making the princess look even bigger, compared to common ponies, than she actually was. Yet, when Celestia spread her wings under pure inspiration and excitement, the look was stunning indeed.
    
    Alex and Rarity approached, the princesses turned to the newcomers, interrupting their talk.
    
    “Welcome to the Gala, our valorous po…” Celestia forgot about the old formula, seeing who arrived that time. Even if she was surprised to see Alex there, nothing reflected on her muzzle, at least at that moment the princess coped with her feelings and corrected herself. “Welcome to the Gala, Rarity and Alex…”
    
    Alex noticed the final stumble and inwardly thanked the princess for not adding formal “the human”. Rarity bowed low, delivering Alex totally inappropriate for the event memory of the circus horses; he couldn’t do anything with himself, the pose was very familiar. Stifling the smile Alex bowed slightly.
    
    “Come, join the guests.” Celestia raised her gold-shod fore hoof in the welcoming gesture. “We will attend to you all shortly.”
    
    A mischievous thought flashed in Alex mind, with extremely gallant, yet lightning-like (not giving the princess any chance to retreat), gesture Alex took her hoof and with another bow barely touched with his lips above the golden attire, inhaling the faint roses aroma.
    
    “Your Highness!”
    
    Rarity froze on spot, Celestia’s eyes met at her bridge, as she stared at Alex with her nose and cheeks getting pinkish; then she threw a quick glance at Twilight, forgetting to put her leg down, despite nobody held it already.
    
    “It’s just an ancient human tradition to greet a noble lady!” Twilight obviously lately paid more attention to small details of human studies, than Celestia did. Her wide smile could make any dentist cry of despair and realization of self-uselessness, when she warmly greeted Rarity and Alex… keeping her hooves on the floor though and not letting to play the same trick with her. “Welcome, friends!”
    
    “Oh!” Celestia finally put her hoof down, quickly checking, if anypony saw the scene, her cheeks were still out of their usual colour. “Ahem…”
    
     Twilight intercepted the glance, Alex scanned the large hall with methodically, she raised to her hind legs and leaned to his ear.
    
    “She will come down later, Alex. Still preparing something. She didn’t tell what exactly,” with sly sparkles in her eyes Twilight watched confused Alex.
    
    “Come on, Alex, only Spike is more obvious than you,” she added in half voice, nodding and welcoming Alex and Rarity to join the herd in the hall.
    
    “Please, don’t tell that you invited Discord likewise…” Celestia asked Twilight barely audibly, but Alex was able to hear the hope in her voice.
    
    Among the gathering guests Alex quickly found the ponies, he at least knew well, maybe because they stayed near the entrance, instinctively supporting their friend, or maybe because Rarity’s style was truly unique, making the girls stand out from the herd easily. Anyway, Alex nodded to Rarity, drawing her attention to their friends and changing the course.
    
    “Applejack, Pinkie, what a wonderful evening, girls!” almost murmured Rarity, throwing another spear glance at Alex, who made his best diplomatic expression and greeted the girls with a light bow, obviously noticing their slightly strained smiles.
    
    “Good evening!” Applejack and Pinkie reservedly and almost synchronously waved and Pinkie added barely audibly. “Unfortunately not everypony is able to enjoy it…” getting a light nudge from Applejack, whose smile at that moment became even wider.
    
    Alex inwardly admitted that he deserved a good kick for all that, thus when Applejack addressed him, using the moment Rarity told something Pinkie about her dress, he was ready to listen to all the unsightly truth about himself. The bigger was his surprise to hear otherwise.
    
    “Look, partner, Ah’m not going to spoil the evening by that talk,” Applejack squinted towards girls to be sure they are still busy. “Not going to judge you both, yer are adult ponies… Eh…”
    
    “It’s okay, I get what you mean,” Alex nodded with a tiny smile.
    
    “If you did this exactly, Ah believe there were some reasons, right, pal?” Applejack looked over her shoulder, Rarity was still explaining to Pinkie that the dress needed to be worn with grace, not hopping like a doe. “Ah’m going to trust Twilight’s judgment in that case…”
    
    “Thanks, Jackie!” breathed out Alex. “Despite how pathetic it may sound now, I… we had reasons forsooth. I admit, I started worrying about that too late, mayhap even when nothing can be helped already.”
    
    “Wait, Alex,” frowned Applejack. “Ah said, Ah need no explanation now. What Ah was going to tell – please, be smart, pal!” she nodded towards Rarity meaningfully. “And… one more thing. Don’t let Pinkie catch ya for a talk, she is full of determination to tumble ya for leaving Flutters.”
    
    “Excuse me, girls, but I need to take Ahlex away from you! Have fun…” Rarity cheerfully dragged him further on under the fixed look of pouting Pinkie.
    
    In the last half of an hour Alex greeted an uncountable set of guests, it seemed Rarity knew personally the lion’s share of Canterlot beau monde; he had time to get tired of nodding, supporting the more or less meaningful small talks and smiling, smiling, smiling… while accurately looking around every time possible.
    
    ‘Whither is Luna?’
    
    He was able to sneak away from Rarity a few times and meet the ponies, he knew; there were not many of those though. Alex stopped by Mr. Rich once again and interested, if the latter got his party of goods in time and decent quality, getting a cheerful “yeah” back; Mrs. Rich looked at Alex far more benevolently after him sympathizing their problem.
    
    Mayor Mare asked Alex, if he liked his stay in Ponyville, and Alex wholeheartedly dispelled her concerns, rightfully supposing that mentioning the single case at the bar is unnecessary. Although, he wondered, if her question was more of the professional nature, but she looked quite sincere.
    
    “Excellent, dear!” with a smile she patted his arm lightly. “The longer you stay, the more you enjoy our quiet town. You’ll see!” Alex inhaled loudly.
    
    Rarity intercepted him again and introduced to a bunch of stylishly looking ponies – owners of a few fashionable boutiques in Canterlot – as she explained. A few mares and a stallion, each one gave due attention to their looks and congratulated them (mostly Rarity) for “masterful approach”, “pushing apart the boundaries” and something else Alex didn’t trouble himself to remember.
    
    Frankly speaking, the rainbow flickering of the guests in their colourful dresses behind his eyes started tiring Alex slightly, he escaped the “fashion club”, voicing some plausible reason, and leaned on the column in a quieter corner, observing the hall; they made almost full circle with Rarity and the guests kept coming, making the scene properly herded. Alex thought, that some actual entertainment wouldn’t be detrimental already.
    
    There was another problem: while Alex was perfectly able to enjoy the drinks on the Gala, the light snacks were not designed for humans completely. Alex had no doubt in his ability to digest, for example, a daisy sandwich; he was rather unsure about that process being enjoyable though. That wasn’t, of course, something to blame the organization for, but evidently added to his feeling of not entirely belonging.
    
    Deep into his thoughts, Alex didn’t notice a light touch on his sleeve at once.
    
    “Oh…” he emerged to the reality, focusing on the mid-age pastille unicorn with suddenly bright yellow sandy mane in simple, but very expensive looking tuxedo and thin glasses, aiding sharp insightful grey eyes. “I’m sorry, was carried away a bit… Can I help you, sir?”
    
    “Most definitely,” the stallion levitated his glass aside and bowed slightly. “As obviously you are exactly that Alex, I’ve been told about, there is hardly any other of your kin in Equestria, right?” he sported a small smile.
    
    Alex nodded, his interlocutor’s serious and official tone suggested listening to him very attentively.
    
    “I’m Solid Deal.”
    
    “It’s nice to meet you, sir! But…” with semi-questioning intonation Alex showed polite interest and perplexity at the same time.
    
    “I’m from Canterlot Steam Company,” Solid Deal elaborated, while Alex strained inwardly. “Somepony, I guess your good friend, suggested me to pay attention to a few interesting devices, built lately in Ponyville.”
    
    Alex raised one eyebrow.
    
    “I decided to see with my own eyes… and must say that I was quite impressed with what I saw, sir,” the unicorn made a wide gesture with his fore hoof. “A fashion boutique with local production, two different households, a farm…”
    
    “Well… the farm is still in the making,” humbly amended Alex, suspecting the further course of their conversation and mentally praising himself for foresight.
    
    “It doesn’t matter, sir, it is!” Solid Deal nodded meaningfully. “And I’m informed about your future plans…”
    
    “A shop and few more households, maybe something else, yes,” Alex confirmed, looking directly in his collocutor eyes. “So, what do you think about them?”
    
    “I still can’t forgive myself, and in my face the whole company, that we overlooked such an opportunity,” Solid Deal’s tone was a bit grumpy, yet humorous, and Alex noticed how he funnily wrinkled his nose in a theatrical frown. “As I said, I was impressed. By how you incorporated various power sources as well. Power from thin air,” he shook his head. “But what’s done is done. We’re catching up here.”
    
    “You have nothing to worry about, Alex… Can I call you “Alex”, sir?” After short confirmation Solid Deal continued. “I made inquiries in the patent office…” Alex held his breath. “… you so promptly addressed recently. They confirmed your invention status, actually they have already sent you all the patent documents, must arrive shortly.”
    
    Alex inwardly took a deep breath, not letting an overly enthusiastic smile appear on his face. Meanwhile, Solid Deal sipped from his glass and changed his tone from jokingly grumpy to purely business.
    
    “Naturally, I have a suggestion, well, Canterlot Steam Company does rather. With all respect, you can’t cope with mass production, which actually your device demands for. This is exactly our company’s turf, thus we could use your invention and launch it, for suitable compensation and to mutual profit, of course. What would you say, Alex?”
    
    Alex inhaled, grasping his nerves in a fist and pondering about how daring he felt actually.
    
    “The suggestion is very interesting, I admit; moreover, I’d be happy to co-operate, sir. Methinks forty percent could be called that “suitable compensation” exactly,” he stated insinuatingly.
    
    “My!” the glasses even jumped on Solid Deal’s nose. “I knew, it wasn’t going to be easy, but… That’s a strike, sir! I was going to offer twenty actually. Twenty percent of the income is quite a nice compensation for non-exclusive rights, as I think this exactly what you are aimed at.”
    
    “Thirty.”
    
    “Hmmm…” the unicorn cupped his chin with the fore hoof, he threw a quick glance up at Alex, then stared into his glass, like if the solution of his dilemma could be fished up there.
    
    “Come on, sir!” reminded about himself Alex. “Simply imagine the conveyor belt with new shiny generators with CSC logo on them.”
    
    Suddenly Solid Deal laughed loud.
    
    “Okay! You have convinced me. Thirty. That’s final offer…”
    
    “And I keep exclusive rights on development,” quickly added Alex. “So, I am responsible for future improvements of construction, technology and so on.”
    
    “That was exactly what I was told about,” the unicorn sighed. “That you would give me some hard time making that deal.”
    
    “But we will have priority, implementing every improvement you make,” squinted he.
    
    “Of course,” Alex nodded. “And if the company can’t make any details, we produce the necessary.”
    
    “Oh, that hardly will be the case,” chuckled Solid Deal, not believing in such a nonsense, that Canterlot Steam Company can’t cope with some hardware; yet he threw an estimating glance at Alex. “Okay! Thirty percent of income, exclusive development is yours and exclusive production is ours… unless we can’t manage something. In that unlikely case we call for your help. I suppose, I missed nothing,” summarized the unicorn.
    
    “Deal!” Alex and Solid Deal shared a hoof bump and the stallion added. “I’ll send you the documents to make it official, supposedly you have somepony to assist you with legal aspects and present your interests, checking them, so we can quickly reach the final consensus.”
    
    “Rest assured, I do,” Alex nodded with a smile. ‘I need to ask Twilight to have a look or help me find an attorney as soon as possible.’
    
    “Excellent!” Solid Deal nodded. “I wish you to enjoy the Gala, sir. And I’m more than sure that you are capable to entertain yourself, if needs be.”
    
    “Same to you!” Alex saluted with the half-empty glass, the drink was familiar apple cider, light and refreshing. “And thank you, Solid Deal!”
    
    Alex took a look around the large hall, the herd became even bigger, if that was possible, and Alex thought, if any dances were supposed, the majority would need to spread along the walls to provide some entirely free space. Lazily listening to the rhythmic hum of ponies talking, he scanned the scene, when his glance was intercepted by princess Celestia; realizing that she gained his attention, she nodded to him from the middle of the sea of ponies.
    
    He pushed himself away from the column, with a thankful smile left his glass on the tray of the young unicorn maid; lingering when necessary, apologizing, smiling Alex without much effort made his way through the herd to the princess.
    
    “Your Highness?”
    
    “Finally, you found something to entertain yourself at our Gala, Alex, a few ponies you know and share common interests,” Celestia’s tone was peaceful, despite his trick. “I’m glad you can enjoy it.”
    
    “Well, I met a few old acquaintances yes,” Alex took another wide look over the hall. “and made a couple of new useful ones indeed. But without your regal sister, princess,” he bowed his head slightly. “Without princess Luna the event seems to be unforgivably incomplete.”
    
    “Oh, I see…” Celestia let out a tiny smile and Alex noticed two sparkles of amusement deep in her eyes. “The evening has just started and she was preparing something special, not even telling me… Besides, princess Luna is to attend to her usual duties, Alex.”
    
    After those words Alex really noticed that the princess has already lowered the Sun and darkness flooded everything behind the castle windows; he didn’t pay attention to the night subtly claiming its rights because of bright lights of the Gala.
    
    “Truth be told,” Celestia suddenly changed the topic, fixedly watching Alex. “I expected you coming with Fluttershy… if you found any interest in the event. But I can’t even see her anywhere, and you making Rarity a company instead. Is everything alright with Fluttershy, Alex? You were close enough, therefore I decided to ask you.”
    
    “It’s a long story, your highness,” with a heavy sigh Alex looked up at the princess.
    
    “I think, I have some time for a brief exposition,” with a kind, yet unobjectionable smile Celestia encouraged further explanation.
    
    “Close enough is mildly said, your highness,” Alex braced himself inwardly, telling their story as it was.
    
    “…it became stronger than ourselves finally. I can barely cope with the break now and Shy… apologies… and Fluttershy even wanted to affect mine decisions, those she judged to be dangerous to mine wellbeing. You can see, princess, mine own concern returneth to me to strike mine own back… twice harder, it seemeth.”
    
    “The girl is quite strong in her affections indeed,” quietly stated Celestia, closing her eyes. Then she looked directly into Alex’s again. “But that’s not the only case, right?”
    
    “Verily! I realized, mayhap too late forsooth,” Alex confusedly looked aside, while Celestia squinted, catching his thickening accent. “That the imminent partying would be unbearable for us both… especially for her. The more severe, the longer we keep the unity.”
    
    “Apologies, princess!” Alex interrupted his story, noticing Rarity, sending him welcoming signs across the hall, and waved back, gesticulating that he could come in a few minutes. Thus the sad long look, Celestia gave him, passed completely unnoticed and didn’t alert Alex, while it definitely was to.
    
     “So… That’s purely mine decision, princess, and arrant mine guilt, but we needed to cool our heads up. I don’t know any solution for that now, have no idea, whether we can come to something anon, in the earnest.”
    
    “I see,” Celestia nodded shortly and to his relief Alex didn’t spot any disapproval in her sigh.
    
    “Rarity did me quite a few favours, your highness. So, at which hour she asked me to join her at the Gala, I agreed without any back thought, as her friend and out of pure gratitude. And… And Fluttershy… decided that if ‘t be true she wasn’t coming with me, she wasn’t coming at all,” Alex let out a heavy sigh. “So, yes, I am forsooth guilty of her absence.”
    
    “It’s a complicated question, Alex. Guilt and…” Celestia slowly shook her head. “There are too many complicated questions arising lately.”
    
    “You need to hurry,” she lightly touched his shoulder. “It seems Rarity is showing impatience already!”
    
    “By your leave, your highness!” Alex nodded and Celestia waved permissively with a smile. Thoughts about Fluttershy made Alex miss the fair dose of concern in her expression again.
    
    He tried to tune in a brighter mood on his way to Rarity, slowly making his way through the ponies, wandering around, and trying to switch his thoughts towards the unexpected luck with the Canterlot Steam Company. Suddenly he realized that in absence of Luna (Alex didn’t see her yet), he was the second largest creature at the Gala after Celestia, and not less bright one in his white clothes, protruding like an iceberg above the herd; that mischievous thought made Alex chuckle. He threw a glance to the orchestra, playing something soothing and unintrusive, heating up before the actual performance for the dancing couples; the kapellmeister though looked a little nervous, scanning the hall for something or somepony.
    
    “What amused you, darling?” Rarity raised on her hind legs, taking Alex under the arm finally and catching a few surprised glances from the guests.
    
    “Oh, something quite important just happened,” Alex looked at her, leaning her head to his arm. “If I’m lucky, I may consider my generators to start being profitable at last.”
    
     “And you, are you enjoying the evening, Rarity?” asked Alex, watching the herd; the single guests were still coming, despite the Gala was officially open for quite a while – nopony thought it was a totally bad idea to be late to the beginning, the most important thing was to be at the event anyway. He stopped a waiter and took a couple of glasses from his tray, offering one to Rarity and trying the refreshment himself. There was some light wine in them, not usual apple cider, Alex got used to in Ponyville, but something with complex vinegar, fruits and flowers blend.
    
    “Ahlex, darling, I do, without any doubts,” Rarity raised her voice a bit to overshadow the orchestra and took the glass with her aura, releasing Alex and throwing a starry glance at him. “Naturally, when you attend to them all, they become slightly boring, dear: same talks, same stilted snobs, to be honest,” she batted her lush eyelashes. “I asked you to keep me company within reason, Ahlex – now it is completely different.”
    
    “And I’m happy, it turned out that way,” she graciously leaned on his hand, causing Alex to kneel to her eye level.
    
    “For the plans, which are coming true!” she raised the glass, floating it with her magic, with a bright smile, looking into Alex’s eyes.
    
    “For our plans!” Alex supported her toast most neutrally, he spotted the sly sparkles deep into Rarity’s eyes, but could do nothing about it, except being twice more careful. Their glasses met with a tingling sound and they sipped the wine, doing it well deserved justice.
    
    “Hmmm… This year it’s excellent,” Rarity squinted, enjoying it. “I wonder, if princess Celestia changed the…”
    
    She suddenly stumbled and Alex noticed anxiety in her widened eyes, which looked at something… or somepony behind his back.
    
    “Excuse me,” Alex softly touched her shoulder, slowly getting up and turning to the source of Rarity’s obvious unease. He didn’t notice anything particularly alarming there, just two unicorns in their evening dress, most likely a married couple, belonging to Canterlot high society, as Alex could determine in a couple of seconds, while he examined them. They stared at him in return with a strange mix of interest and hauteur.
    
    “Oh, who do we see here?” the eyes of a grey stallion with the dark-grey mane focused on Rarity, who seemed to forget completely about her happiness, she proclaimed just a second before. Alex spotted a shadow of vile pleasure in them, as the unicorn in tuxedo looked like a school bully, who noticed his favourite victim. “ Dear Rarity,” this sounded like a mockery, falling from his thin mouth. “I hope, you are enjoying the evening.”
    
    The olive unicorn mare with white and light-violet mane kept staring at Alex, like at some rare specimen. She could look very pretty in her evening dress, if not a constant faint expression on her muzzle, like if something not very pleasantly smelling was placed under her nose.
    
    With an inward sigh Alex looked back at Rarity, her desperate glance clearly said “And here troubles begin!”, but she grasped herself and addressed the couple with a forced smile (which seemed painful enough to Alex).
    
    “Good evening, Jet Set! Upper Crust! I suppose, you’re enjoying the gala… We surely do,” she tried her best to look and sound cheerful, but it came out noticeably forced, through gritted teeth to be honest.
    
    “My! You came with a partner,” the stallion showed simulated amaze, like if spotting Alex just at that moment. “Well, dear Rarity, maybe you introduce us…”
    
    “Of course,” reservedly said Rarity. “Where was my head? This is Alex, my good friend and… a human, as you both might notice.”
    
    “Alex,” she turned to him and he heard how her voice trembled ever so slightly. “Let me introduce you Jet Set and his lovely wife Upper Crust,” Alex heard faint irony tint at the word “lovely”, while Rarity continued. “Significant – I won’t lie, saying that – part of Canterlot toffs.”
    
    “It’s been a pleasure,” nodded Alex diplomatically, inwardly getting ready for anything, as he knew that facial expression – a ruffian was always a ruffian, of the upper class or not.
    
    “A human?!” Jet Set’s voice seemed to gain an octave in fake surprise. “I’ve never heard about such thing. Did you, darling?” he turned to Upper Crust, sounding like “Wow, that thing talks!”
    
    “No, dear, never,” his wife slowly shook her beautiful head with a sly smile. Jet Set made a step back, as if he wanted to see Alex better as the whole.
    
    “To me it looks like a big talking ape…” musingly muttered he, examining Alex from head to shoes. “Where did you get it from, Rarity? And more important, what for?”
    
    Alex squinted at the couple, gritting his teeth. A small town bar or regal function, morons were omnipresent, but he couldn’t simply knock this one off, compromising Celestia’s Gala. Rarity noticed, how the nodules jumped up and down on Alex’s cheeks, when he tried his best to keep calm. Meanwhile, Jet Set continued.
    
    “I wonder, what are you keeping it for, Rarity? Surely an ape can’t be a sterling companion for the Gala… Oh, you had it dressed, quite fancy I must admit…” he chuckled, welcoming his wife to share his entertainment. Alex noticed, how a small herd started to gather around them four, sticking their fluffy ears to an obviously heating talk. “Are you going to advertise your new line here that way? But you were always stitching for ponies, not apes, if I’m not mistaking…”
    
    Upper Crust giggled evilly, while Rarity was about to burst into tears, keeping herself restrained by a monstrous effort.
    
    “Or maybe, you need it for some other service, heavy lifting, guarding… Or some other kind of things,” concluded Jet Set in a manifestly vulgar tone. “I’ve heard, apes were specifically dexterous at some… errmmm… physical activities,” he smirked, glancing at the nearby witnesses with the expression of a hooligan, successfully throwing his best (at being the worst) trick.
    
    Alex looked at Rarity, her lips trembled, she swallowed the treacherous lump, trying hard not to let a single tear out. She raised her big shiny eyes at him, noticing, how Alex’s own eyes started to darken with the rage slowly boiling inside.
    
    “Rarity, mine lief, givest thy… mantle to me, please,” Alex leaned to her, gently touching her shoulder. Rarity nodded in confusion, having no idea what Alex needed it for, but allowing him to take it.
    
    Alex dragged fine silk mantle off her shoulders and slowly folded it, then once again, making the cloth piece in his hands shorter and thicker; he then quickly stepped to the unicorn, who was still smiling, but not so confidently already.
    
    “I extend mine hope, that thou spoke with full responsibility for thy words!.. Sir…” added Alex mockingly. “Ergo the retribution is not a surprise for thee, moreover, thou can support thy claims by thy deeds, as insulting the lady isn’t something, I count an act of dignity!” and with those words Alex slapped Jet Set on his muzzle with the folded mantle several times, with considerable strength. “Or shall I consider thee a filthy ruffian, a lump of cowardice henceforth?”
    
    That made an effect of the triggered bomb, Upper Crust simply gawked at Alex with utterly stupid expression, while her husband was plain stunned. Not for long though.
    
    “You!!!” almost roared he. “I’ll crush your miserable ape ass for that!”
    
    “Mine impatience in waiting is endless forsooth!” Alex folded the hands on his chest, measuring the unicorn with the glance of the naturalist, spotting a rare vermin. Rarity gasped at his words and realization of what might follow. “Carest to choose thy weapon… sir! However, pickest wisely, as the magic is not going to provide the desired effect,” chuckled Alex.
    
    “Huh! I need no weapon, filthy critter,” Jet Set was beside himself of anger, his horn lit with the magic. “Prepare to be tossed, like some pretentious trash, you actually are!”
    
    Rarity closed her eyes, she knew too well, what would happen. A bright flash was followed by somepony’s bewildered choked shout; when Rarity opened her eyes, she saw, just like everypony gathering around them, how Jet Set was hung in the air by his tail, surrounded seemingly by his own magical aura. Alex stood next to Rarity with an uninvolved look, lazily observing the unicorn, which was slowly turning, being sometimes jerked higher, then lowered again. Jet Set muttered muffled curses, straining himself to free from the grasp, becoming a frightening surprise for him, his wife was close to syncope.
    
    “What’s going on here, pray tell?!” the soft, but stern voice drowned out the choir of ponies, gathering around them.
    
    Alex looked over his shoulder, noticing princess Celestia in her sumptuous dress, working her way through quite a herd, which subtly gathered around the place of the incident. She approached him and Rarity and looked at the playing out scene over Alex’s shoulder.
    
    “Alex!” Celestia threw a quick glance at him. “Could you, please, put him down?”
    
    “Mine sincere apologies, princess,” Alex looked up to her muzzle, his eyes were laughing, while he kept the serious face. “I have no power to do ‘t, in the earnest. As you may remember, I can’t cast.”
    
    Celestia sighed, closing her eyes, while Alex continued.
    
    “Tis… no more brain than a stone je… Apologies! Tis… stallion insulted Rarity, so, I saw my duty in standing for her. I challenged him to a duel, your highness, leaving him the choice.”
    
    “Alex!” Celestia’s voice was reproving, but he could hear a stifled laughter in it and she returned him the mischievous glance.
    
    “I warned him about magic becoming a certain problem, in the earnest. But he preferred to try nevertheless. The rest you can have a pleasure watching, your highness.”
    
    Meanwhile, Jet Set kept spinning, his powers were ceasing and he twitched weakly, still trying to set himself free. Upper Crust tossed beneath him, bending her fore legs pleadingly.
    
    “Princess!!! Please…”
    
    “If ‘t be true he stoppeth trying to grab me with his magic,” noticed Alex calmly. “He hath a fair chance to become free… from his own magic immediately. I’m not insisting, tis merely a friendly suggestion.”
    
    Celestia snorted, apparently this farce was too much for her already, yet Alex noticed that she wasn’t entirely upset about Jet Set getting his punishment. It seemed that he had it coming for some tricks alike, he might throw quite often. A golden beam from Celestia’s horn set the stallion unconscious… and the magical bond ceased immediately, as Jet Set couldn’t apply his magic anymore. His unconscious self smacked down, landing on the muzzle, quite hurtfully, as Alex could suppose, but nopony, except Upper Crust, seemed to be very much concerned about that.
    
    Celestia waved to the guards, ordering them to take the unconscious troublemaker to the hospital. Whining and throwing angry glances at Alex Upper Crust followed. Rarity, who seemed to wake up from her stupor at that moment only, convulsively grabbed his hand; Alex granted her with an encouraging smile.
    
    The least sound, Alex expected to hear at that moment, was applause, but he was to admit, there were them exactly. Alex looked around to spot two stallions, who approached and watched the whole scene and now stomped their fore hooves on the stone floor, producing the sound, evidently supposed to be the local variant of applause. They threw utterly amused glances at leaving Jet Set and his wife, then turned to Alex.
    
    “Mine gratitude!” Alex bowed theatrically, smirking.
    
    “This was quite a show,” the pink stallion with white mane let out a sincere smile. “Thank you… Sorry, I don’t know your name, sir. Finally, that jerk had it fully on his own head.”
    
    “Yeah,” confirmed another one – the white slender pegasus with light-grey mane. “Jet Set is always so unbearable, trying to show by any means, he finds applicable, that he is higher, than anything or anypony, especially those he can’t understand or accept personally.”
    
    “He is full of his xenophobia and coxcombry,” nodded the pink stallion. “But this may teach him a lesson! Although, he is extremely amnesic to good lessons, if this is the same Jet Set, I know.”
    
    Both stallions giggled, bringing their heads together.
    
    “Oh,” remembered the pink one. “Where are my manners? I’m Slingshot… and if you find races interesting, I suppose you must have heard my name occasionally…”
    
    “A name like a good spaceship launch,” Alex let out a smile.
    
    “And this is my coltfriend,” Slingshot gently leaned on pegasus’ shoulder. “Silver Chord. He is an artist, Vocal Chord’s guitarist. Ever heard of Vocal Chord band?”
    
    “Do I look like one, who does?” chuckled Alex. “No, sorry… Cause I’m a human and… I’m… in transit here. Hope I do,” added Alex barely audibly, then continued louder. “I’m Alex. Well, I’m magically resistant, which this guy failed to comprehend, thus getting it back on him.”
    
    “It’s been a pleasure,” sincerely said Slingshot and Silver Chord nodded enthusiastically. “I’ve heard something about humans as a foal, but never thought I could meet one… when I heard that royal announcement, I thought, it was… well, it didn’t sound serious to me,” he shrugged with an apologetic smile.
    
    Alex felt a soft warm touch on his arm and his eyes met with Rarity’s; she quietly approached and wrapped her fore legs around him.
    
    “Ahlex, darling, do you still need it,” she pointed at his hand and Alex realized that he was still holding her folded mantle.
    
    “No, Rarity, thanks. And sorry…” Alex covered her shoulders with the silky cloth; Rarity rubbed her cheek on his arm.
    
    “But why? You shouldn’t be, that was quite…”
    
    “You are with Rarity,” a wide smile appeared on Silver Chord’s muzzle. “Congratulations, she‘s quite a figure in the fashion world. So it was her, you stepped in for against this moron…”
    
    “Twice more points to you,” added Slingshot, he raised his fore hoof and Alex shared a hoofbump without hesitation.
    
    “Well, enjoy the night,” said Slingshot, after Alex introduced both stallions to Rarity, who appeared to know Silver Chord’s music, but wasn’t a fan of races, so Slingshot was a new pony to her. “And remember, if you come to watch the races, find me, free tickets to Jet Set’s “teacher” and his company,” he winked and both stallions mingled with the herd.
    
    Rarity snuggled into Alex, but before she was able to say anything, they heard fast approaching hoofsteps. Celestia, who managed to sort the problem out at that moment, was followed by her sister.
    
    At the sight of the younger princess Alex gasped, all the thoughts flew out of this head at once, leaving it empty and quickly filling with the thumping sound of his racing heart.
    
    Apparently, not only Rarity decided to play on the contrasts tonight. Alex knew from the girls, who mentioned the galas shortly, that princess Luna usually preferred the dresses of the classic fashion: wide hem, tightly fitting bodice, high and lush collar; besides, the colours were always matching or fitting her starry mane and tail. The more stunning her current experiment looked, making quite a few, if not the majority of, heads turn and follow her for a while with a mixture of shock and rapture in the glance.
    
    Alex, who wasn’t visually familiar with usual Luna’s style, froze on spot like a stalagmite, forgetting about all the words, frozen on the tip of his tongue, and simply staring, staring, staring… Contrary to the tradition, Luna chose the blinding white colour for that night and Alex thought that the long seemingly glowing from inside gown could easily make his own costume drop out of the competition as grey and dull in comparison. The dress, strapless, unique in its simplicity, yet elegance, tightly fitted Luna’s figure, advantageously emphasizing all the lady curves it was supposed to. It started under princess’ fore legs, forming the proper décolleté and probably using some magic to hold in place, silkily embraced her body and freely flowed down with quite narrow long hem. Sporting no visible décor or accessories, it simply shone, emphasizing Luna’s coat and starry-night mane in full glory of their variety of blue tones, and Rarity’s slightly opened mouth clearly told that half of Carousel Boutique could be bought for a roll of the fabric that fabulous dress was made of. The tiara-like crown and silvery hoofwear were the same, but Luna complemented the ensemble with the different, narrower and more elegant necklace, so it didn’t overshadow heavily her décolleté.
    
    When Alex regained his ability to breath, he absently noted that Luna’s dress in its hemline is barely fitting the pony anatomy, making the princess move with short quick steps to pace with the older sister. Although, it had a high cut on one side, almost at the entire leg length; the edges were held together with silver clasps at that moment, but apparently the cut could be used for more comfortable movement at any time. Alex realized that the whole dress was designed to satisfy and highlight the moment, they both anticipated the most; the glimpse of Luna’s cutie mark made his heard jump and a small content smile curled princess’ lips.
    
    “Well, thankfully Jet Set didn’t suffer much and we may deem the incident over… technically,” Celestia still looked concerned. “Are you alright, both of you? Alex… Alex!”
    
    “Ahem… Princess? Apologies!” Alex twitched and emerged to the reality, looking up to the white alicorn; his eyes slowly returned to their usual size.
    
    “The ponies keep discussing it and hardly anything can be done about that!”
    
    “Excuse me, princess, I can’t help that,” Alex shrugged, clearing his throat and turning to the younger sister.
    
    “You royal highness, princess Luna!” Alex followed the formal protocol, bowing with the whole elegance he was capable of, while still lavishing glances of delight. “Now the evening seems to be complete finally, like your Night after the moonrise!”
    
    “Alex, Rarity, good evening!” with a dainty smile, yet bright and extremely sly sparkles in her eyes, Luna bowed slightly, responding to Alex’s compliment and the reverence of finally unfrozen Rarity. Then the shadow of concern tinted her serene face and she addressed her sister. “I must have missed some incident. What exactly our subjects keep discussing, Tia?”
    
    Celestia lingered with the answer, looking at Alex fixedly instead; he sighed, visibly pondering about the words to describe the situation, which would be less provoking the explosion. Alex remembered Luna’s reaction to the incident in the bar, Jet Set had a fair chance of his unconscious self to be kicked once again and considerably harder this time. Besides, making Rarity come through the details of that talk again seemed unnecessary to him.
    
    “Your Highness, we came across… one of Rarity’s acquaintances,” Alex tried his best at keeping the poker face and neutrality in the tone. “He wasn’t the epitome of mannerliness, to tell the truth… Perhaps he never saw a human prior… Errmmm… Possibly he masked his surprise under being simply rude, but… he ended up voicing the suspicion that I was an “ape”. Maybe my posture made him say so…” diplomatically added he, inwardly shrugging and getting ready to what might follow.
    
    Pause! Watching how Luna closed her eyes and pursed lips Alex almost felt the electricity quickly filling the air.
    
    “Ape?” Luna’s voice was quiet, yet full of arctic ice. “Posture?..” added she slightly louder and the metal notes in her voice made Alex think that it would be hardly smart to calm her down by the well-tried method in front of the whole herd. Yet he would gladly take the risks, if she continued in the Royal Canterlot Voice, whatever happening after…
    
    “I shall show them the “posture”…” hissed Luna, squinting, her nose became pinkish from stifled rage. “Well, Merlin’s pants!..” dropped she suddenly with a challenge, making Alex literally drop his jaw. A few nearby ponies interrupted their talks, turning to their small company and watching with growing interest.
    
    Luna’s horn flashed with a bright magic orb, making everypony, including Alex, froze; Alex thought that he even pitied the poor moron, as he knew, Luna was perfectly capable to reach Jet Set from here. But the magic aura enveloped Luna herself instead, leaving Alex guessing, what idea came into that pretty head.
    
    When the flash faded, surprised and shocked sigh rolled across the hall accompanied by the loud trumpet sound from the orchestra podium – somepony clearly had less self-control and expressed their awe by breathing into the instrument accidentally. Now the dress was completely fitting, as Alex could notice with great relish: the décolleté, the narrow hem, the high cut – everything; despite being totally inspirational move, Luna’s spell came awesomely to the place.
    
    Luna stood on her hind legs: not raised for a while, but exactly stood, quite comfortably, as she managed to alter her posture to become closer in shape to Alex. He completely understood those who gawked at the Princess of the Night, including the kapellmeister; Twilight mentioned polymorph magic once briefly, but Alex never saw it in action before. Although, the kapellmeister was professional to the bone, and despite the initial shock, followed each princess’ move with great attention; Alex started understanding, what she was going to undertake.
    
    So, Luna kept her natural muzzle, mane, tail, hooves, everything a dignified alicorn should have, but she made herself smaller in size, completely fitting Alex’s height. She could move on two legs fluently now, freeing her “hands” to hold on the supposed partner. The dress fitted her like the second skin and Alex involuntarily noted that Luna remembered his first dream she visited, making the décolleté be not only a “concept”. Yet Alex was thankful, she didn’t mimic the whole girl appearance from their first “meeting”, staying the same Luna he loved and anticipated to see on that gala.
    
    With another spark of her magic Luna unfastened a few clasps to be able to move faster, her mane formed a starry halo around her, when she quickly approached Alex, who barely stifled the urge to touch the silky coat of her leg visible through the high cut. He raised his bewildered glance on her instead, having no words.
    
    “Follow me, lief!” Luna grabbed his hand gently, but firmly, and proudly cocked her head, making a barely noticeable nod towards the kapellmeister, who quickly turned to the orchestra and with a single glance brought the surprised herd to order. The familiar melody broke the forced silence and Alex let out a small smile, looking into princess’ bottomless eyes.
    
    “Let’s show them… apes. Hmpf!!!” Luna dragged him to the center of the hall, where guests already formed widening free space, properly guessing their intent.
    
    “Luna you’re simply… That was incredible,” whispered Alex. “What would Tia say though?”
    
    “We shall find out a zilch anon,” Luna’s eyelashes flew up, the sly sparkles danced in her eyes. “I admit that wasn’t in mine plans, Alex. But came out quite nicely, considering I didn’t practice polymorph magic since last Nightmare Night; besides, we can dance easier now, mine lief!” She turned to him, reaching the spot.
    
    Alex gallantly caught her silver shod fore hoof and placed his left hand on Luna’s waist gently, causing a barely audible sigh of excitement. He started leading without the delay, as the orchestra finished warming up and already played the melody, they had enough time to learn to be able to reproduce with closed eyes and probably tied hooves. Luna nodded approvingly, she didn’t spent her free time for nothing, being able to move properly without any count or noticeable guiding. Alex wondered how much time she spent training lately, as the dance came out fluently for her; Luna even was able to maintain the conversation without concentrating tensely on what her body was doing at every single moment.
    
    “I thought about having the fingers likewise,” Luna placed her free hoof on Alex’s shoulder, the starry glance of her eyes seemed to pierce to the bottom of his soul. “But reconsidered the last moment. I didn’t try to turn into humans ever yet… Having an idea to try the same look thou hast observed in thy first dream, I entered, I was afraid to do something wrongly, lief! Henceforth hither I am of mine best effort…”
    
    “People, my princess, people,” chuckled Alex lightly, holding her like the greatest treasure in the universe, advancing in cadena, making Luna step back, controlling the movements, minding the tail and at the same time enjoying the whole thing immensely. “I’m greatly thankful, you stopped, where you did, in the earnest. The result is exceeding all mine expectations!”
    
    “Thou shan’t argue, that it’s easier to dance like that; I supposed that, but was surprised how much it is!” Luna snuggled to him, sharing the strong beat of her heart and feeling his one racing; she let out a satisfied smile. “Of course, it’s different from what I experienced afore, even on two legs, but amazingly easier, despite I didn’t try it,” she advanced in her turn, keeping her muzzle inches from Alex’s face, their glances constantly chained. The visible effort, Alex made, not to kiss her right at that moment, apparently brought her much pleasure.
    
    “Oh, you are overly modest tonight, my love,” Alex brought her even closer, enjoying the look of dilated blue eyes. “You are wonderfully accurate and graceful, your highness! I couldn’t ask for more…” He spun Luna in a swirl, letting her away, holding on one hoof, then drew back, embracing from behind, enjoying the silky coat of her shoulders.
    
    “Flatterer!” breathed out Luna, tilting her head back on his shoulder and almost touching Alex’s ear with her lips. “Although, thou art a good teacher, admit it.”
    
    “I’m trying to conform you, my princess,” Alex chuckled, unable to shift his glance from her, from Luna’s smile, eyes, excitedly perked fluffy ears, from fast breathing and stretching the fabric of the dress chest.
    
    Nopony dared to make them company in their dance, the guests kept the wide open space, Alex and Luna conquered entirely. The eyes of majority returned to their orbits already, yet the ponies followed them with the mix of surprised, amazed, enjoying and completely shocked glances. Among the herd with stunned, smiling and frowning muzzles (although, with the light heart Alex noticed that the frowning were in minority) Alex spotted two familiar stallions, sporting wide joyous grins; Solid Deal, whose eyes looked round behind the glasses, which he took off and started wiping, like trying to verify his vision; another unknown rank and fashion stallion with a beautiful young mare, the stallion nodded and a small smile curled his accurate moustache, his marefriend leaned on his shoulder with dreamy look. Then two mid age mares got into Alex’s field of view, those were frowning disapprovingly, pursing their lips; Alex noticed with a bit of gloating, they lacked the partners evidently.
    
    Celestia’s and Rarity’s muzzles, who managed to get their feelings under control and watched him and Luna with eyes probably slightly wider than usual…
    
    Then guests, walls with chandeliers, high dark windows, everything merged into smudged colourful stripes. Luna’s mane surrounded them, touched Alex’s shoulders and face, they both were in their own lavender fragrant world, others were unable to reach or affect.
    
    “So, what hath happened actually, mine lief?” Luna performed exemplar molino, holding Alex’s shoulder and keeping eye contact.
    
    “Everything was almost perfect,” Alex rolled his eyes. “Almost, because I tried to find you futilely all the time. Then a couple approached, it appeared that Rarity knew both well. Jet Set…”
    
    “Oh!” Luna sigh was self-explanatory. “Tia didn’t have time to explain, but I arrant understand it now. After mine ill-mannered nephew Blueblood Jet Set is the second major Rarity’s disappointment in Canterlot upper crust… Excuse mine pun!” Luna smirked.
    
    Alex briefly told her the rest of the incident between Rarity and Jet Set, not going deep into the details. He noticed in astonishment that Luna performed her part perfectly, almost automatically doing all the moves; she used her newfound biped form for the maximum advantage, trying the elements, they talked about, but barely tried with her, while learning. Thankfully Alex was ready to that turn right from the moment, she used her polymorph magic; although, he kept wondering, what she was going to undertake next.
    
    “…and that was obviously too much to let slide,” Alex made a face. “I took Rarity’s shawl and slapped him nicely on the muzzle, telling everything, I thought about him and his manners.”
    
    “So, thou practically…” chuckled Luna.
    
    “Yes, I duelled him. What else did it look like?” Alex brushed her mane, letting the awesome hair flow between his fingers. “I left the choice to him and clearly warned him though that magic will backfire.”
    
    “And he still tried to affect thee with it…” Luna finished for him, giggling like a school filly and leaning her head on Alex’s shoulder. “I recognize Jet Set – incorrigible no more brains than stone snob. I extend mine hope he got, what he “craved for”.”
    
    “More than he could expect, my love,” chuckled Alex, leading again, as Luna was almost ready to stop and simply stay for a while in his embrace. “I won’t lie, I was even afraid a bit that the moron tried something different, than a kinetic spell, and the reaction would be overly strong and unpredictable. Thankfully he simply ended up being hung by his own tail.”
    
    “Oh, lief!” Luna laughed openly, throwing her head back and making her marvelous mane flow, bathing them both in lavender. “Couldn’t thou wait a zilch with that, so I had a look likewise?”
    
    After a few minutes of silent watching, princess Celestia and Rarity shared a bemused glance, evidently bearing the question: “Do you see, what I am seeing?”
    
    With all due respect Celestia managed to control her thoughts and feelings noticeably better, although her eyes were still wider than usual. Rarity’s expression was still the mix of bewilderment, awe and, truth be told, despair; her lips trembled slightly, her wide open eyes shone and it seemed a wink away from the lakes to overflow. She opened her mouth, but the words got stuck somewhere amidst her throat, letting only a quiet intermittent sigh away.
    
    “Exactly!” Celestia shook her head slowly. “I have no words either… What was that, pray tell?” She gently covered Rarity with her wing and nuzzled her ear reassuringly.
    
    “I don’t know, your highness…” Rarity barely whispered. “But I can’t deny, they look… Ohhhh!” she squinted afflictedly and almost tore from her heart. “They look fabulous!”
    
    “That’s exactly what I’m worried about,” quietly muttered Celestia.
    
    Meanwhile, the melody passed its climax, approaching finale slower, more measuredly; although, seeing the shine in Luna’s eyes Alex realized, her adventurous nature demanded for more. His amazing alicorn partner looked fixedly into his eyes and a gamine smile touched her lips.
    
    “Knowest what, Alex,” playfully whispered Luna, watching him. “I’m arrant ready to try what we couldn’t do, at which hour I was larger and heavier than thou.”
    
    “But it calleth for thy aid, mine lief!” her eyes were smiling, engulfing Alex, taking him away like a strong compelling tide. “As tis a game for both of us.”
    
    “Llevada element? Merlin’s pants… Yes! Why not?” Alex lingered for a second only, giving back her smile and turning Luna fast, embracing her from behind; an excited squeak left her mouth, as she snuggled to him. ‘We only discussed that move, never tried it on practice, but… she seems confident and knows exactly, what she wants! My incredible princess!’
    
    Three more pa to their triumph or fiasco… Two!.. One…
    
    With the last high note they turned and Luna arched backwards, holding on his shoulder and hand and throwing her knee up on Alex’s hip, wrapping her leg around his; Alex supported her under strained shoulders, placing another hand on her cutie mark, which burned under his touch. He leaned to that alicorn beauty, his heart thumping its way out towards Luna’s raising chest, while she fluttered in his hands with eyes closed and her sumptuous mane flowing to the stone floor.
    
    An eternity passed… Alex gently helped Luna stand up, they stood face to face, literally touching with their noses, holding hands and hooves; the sudden gust of wind threw Luna’s mane, covering their faces with the lavender veil, and Alex managed to steal a fast kiss.
    
    “Thou art wondrous, mine princess!” Alex’s lips moved, but all he could hear was the sound of blood rustling in his ears. Luna whispered something, touching his billowing chest lightly.
    
    When Alex could hear again, he thought first that the ceiling was falling, thunderstruck by the loud rumble around – perhaps half of the herd stomped their hooves on the floor, a few stallions were especially rampant. A wide grin wormed on Alex’s face, he knew, that was sound of their with Luna triumph. Less enthusiastic part of the guests kept stunned silence, but they both paid no attention to those.
    
    Alex stepped back and kneeled to Luna, placing a kiss above her fore hoof and looking into her shining eyes, as the princess nodded benevolently.
    
    Following Luna back to her sister and holding her “hand”, he noticed how the guests started mingling, flooding the center of the hall again and obviously anticipating more familiar music to dance. They quietly talked, throwing quick glances at Luna and Alex, making him inwardly chuckle.
    
    Celestia met them with the poker face, carefully hiding her current emotions, but the absence of usual diplomatic smile didn’t bother Alex much this time.
    
    “That was… quite an unusual experience, Alex!” finally finding the words the princess blinked, her left ear twitched up and down. “Although, after your the very first demonstration I am ready to the surprises seemingly of any kind.”
    
    “Lulu, dear, what in Equestria…” she turned to her sister.
    
    “Apologies, your highness,” Alex interrupted the Princess of the Sun softly with an apologetic gesture. “Princess Celestia, Luna…” Celestia quietly gasped.
    
    “Could thou excuse me for a tiny moment longer, darling?” Alex kneeled to Rarity’s eye level, while she was looking up to him with a glimpse of tears in widely open hopeful eyes; Luna muffledly giggled at her sister’s expression at that moment. “I shall be back shortly,” he touched Rarity’s shoulders lightly, then quickly straightened.
    
    Following his notable figure fixedly, Rarity bit her lower lip and watched Alex, approaching the orchestra podium. He gained the kapellmeister’s attention and leaned to the aged stallion, explaining something; the latter nodded finally, a smile made his moustache funnily wiggle, and turned to the musicians, raising the stick.
    
    The sounds of the waltz, or something very similar from the usual Equestrian repertoire, reached their ears, before Alex returned to Rarity, making the majority of guests perk their ears: this was the melody they could perfectly dance under, in their own style.
    
    Rarity threw her eyelashes up and her glance, dull and sorrowful lately, ignited again in a wink, when Alex bowed to her slightly, inviting for a dance. Straightening and becoming an epitome of grace again, she followed him side by side to the open space, already occupied by a few couples, who wasted no time with the first sounds of the local equivalent of the waltz.
    
    Rarity took a victorious look around, making Alex smile inwardly, and raised on her hind legs, mercifully giving him one fore hoof and placing another on his shoulder. Standing straight she reached his neck only, forced to look up at Alex’s face constantly, but apparently, that didn’t spoil her pleasure; her starry again eyes and flushing cheeks clearly told that. They were given some space at once; perhaps, ponies feared such a large dancer as Alex slightly.
    
    “Apologies, Rarity, I promised that dance long ago,” Alex leaned to her, pointing at Luna with his glance. “But this one is for you only!”
    
    “For us, Ahlex!” Rarity batted her eyelashes, aiming that shot directly at her “prey”. “Maybe I am slightly angry with you… or maybe not, but you are atoning for your mistakes quite effectively, darling!”
    
    “That was the actual plan!” chuckled Alex, spinning with Rarity fluently.
    
    The guests joined the dance little-by-little, enlivening the evening; Alex’s glance jumped from one familiar muzzle to another, despite how few they might be. Mayor Mare in pair with an unknown stallion (Alex inwardly smiled, watching the stern mare having fun); Mr. and Mrs. Rich; that conspicuous high society couple of beautiful mare and noble stallion with a moustache, they felt and met his glance. Alex slightly nodded thankfully, keeping in mind their positive reaction to his dance with Luna, and got two dainty smiles in response.
    
     They didn’t talk much with Rarity: she was the less confident dancer, and paid more attention to her moves and her dress not to stomp on it, trying to snuggle closer to Alex at the same time, when the moves allowed. In his turn Alex tried to control the situation constantly, supporting and helping Rarity, to make her experience the best possible.
    
    He noticed Pinkie with a random partner, despite waltz being not her favourite dance, that pink lump of energy couldn’t stand still, given a chance to move. Applejack stood under the column with a pensive look, when suddenly a stallion approached her and bowed, inviting; dazedly Alex recognized Solid Deal. Jackie stumbled for a second and flushed, then a modest smile lit her muzzle and she nodded energetically.
    
    Twilight, paired with Spike, moved quite classically and made Alex quietly snort, remembering her outstanding “exercises”, he witnessed once already. Spike was the only one, except them, dancing on two legs, but Alex and Rarity gained considerably more attention from the herd due to obvious reasons. Some ponies kept staring at them deliberately, throwing quick curious glances at the princesses, like trying to guess, what else that company could undertake tonight.
    
    Watching sisters talking, Alex felt, how little inner discord nudged him under the ribs with a naughty thought, to check what effect could inviting Celestia make. Although, she was too large for him; besides, he remembered Luna’s words about her sister being not particularly good in dancing human-style; besides, Alex clearly knew the limits of his luck and dare for one evening. Now, when he wasn’t a prisoner or a test subject, the trip to the Moon in Tia’s company looked even less promising idea.
    
    Luna noticed his glance and waved; Rarity nested her head on Alex’s chest, minding her horn not to poke his neck, her hoof stroked his shoulder unconsciously.
    
    “Yet, Luna, dear, what are you doing for Equestria’s sake?” Celestia leaned to her sister, whispering loudly (although not too loud to let the nearby ponies hear) in her ear. “As it clearly was your idea as far as I could notice.”
    
    “Defusing the incident, ye both told me about… and having much fun, in the earnest!” Luna threw a sly glance at Celestia. “What else did ‘t look like, Tia? Methinks galas are exactly about enjoying the company, dancing, having some fun, not about guests quarrelling or something alike.”
    
    “And yes, that was mine idea from the start,” added she with a mirthful smile, watching the herd, like nothing happened. “For quite a while, if ‘t be true thou wantest to know.”
    
    “Lulu, I thought, it was strange, when you spent so much time with the orchestra,” Celestia sighed. “But I couldn’t imagine it was going this far. It looked like something Alex could undertake exactly – random and… quite provocative.”
    
    “Well, that was the point, Tia,” Luna was of the totally different opinion, finding the whole situation entertaining only. “I extend mine hope, thou understand, our little “show” shalt make everypony forget about the quarrel, the reasons of it, all the “strange effects”, Alex caused, ten times faster, than thy negotiation and persuasion. We haven’t done anything unusual, Tia, we simply danced,” Luna shrugged, stretching her wings graciously. “I say that again, I haven’t had that much pleasure for aeons it seemeth!”
    
    “But the way you look… Lulu!”
    
    “Hmm… I wanted to have the fingers likewise, must have been nice experience, Tia” Luna examined her fore hooves musingly. “But reconsidered at the last moment, didn’t want to fail something. I can’t recall, I ev’r mimicked a human afore, so… But it turned out well,” she raised her “hands”, stretching and doing a 360-degree pirouette. “What dost thou think, Tia?”
    
    “Now the eyes of the whole herd are chained to you… and Alex,” almost hissed the Princess of the Sun. “And while he was in center of their attention all the evening, you attracted too much of it to yourself, Luna… To both of you at the same time,” added she meaningfully.
    
    “Hmpf!” huffed Luna with a silvery laughter, making a few guests look back at her. “They shall talk about that dance, nice change from the usual boring court rubbish, I must say.”
    
    “Besides, nopony dareth to mention any… apes now!” she snorted angrily, hot sparkles flashing in her eyes.
    
    “Oh, that’s granted,” Celestia let out a wry smile. “But I’m not talking about that aspect only...”
    
    “What then? We were simply having fun. And I’d like to believe, succeeded at that.”
    
    “Exactly! Lulu, you both look like a proper couple tonight. Imagine the talks!”
    
    “I extend mine hope wholeheartedly, we did!” slowly articulated Luna, smirking. “As for the rest – I don’t care, in the earnest. I advise thee to follow suit, sunny! They are always talking. Didst thou always take close to thy heart everything, the court gossiped about, Tia?”
    
    “So, how long do you plan to keep that… look?” with a sigh Celestia preferred to change the topic. “It’s not bad, don’t get me wrong, blueberry! But it’s utterly weird…”
    
    “For the rest of the evening I suppose,” Luna said casually, shrugging. “I tend to like it, sunny.” She waved to Alex with a smile, causing Celestia to facehoof.
    
    ‘I guess, that’s a rare coincidence,’ Celestia watched Alex and Rarity, alternating to Luna and back. ‘They look so much alike. Rarity must have made quite an effort to achieve that effect subtly, but in case of Luna and him pure coincidence made the impression stronger… Poor Rarity…’ Celestia shook her head slightly.
    
    Meanwhile, Rarity nested her head on Alex’s chest and completely gave up to his careful lead; what was in her head could only be guessed by her half-lidded eyes and dreamy expression, a mirthful smile made her muzzle lit with serenity and satisfaction.
    
    Bathing in her undoubtedly promising thoughts she didn’t even noticed, how the melody came to its end and the hum of the herd reached their ears again. A few dancing pairs applauded and Rarity dazedly noticed that some applauded them as well as the orchestra, which did their job flawlessly to tell the truth.
    
    “Oh, darling, that was fabulous!” Rarity’s eyes shone, she noticed that they stood in their embrace for a few moments after the waltz finished; Alex held her by shoulders gently and Rarity’s heart jumped like a sparrow on a twig. “Although, I’m a tiny bit tired,” confessed she apologetically, flushing a little. “I’m not used to moving on the hind legs for that long, Ahlex!”
    
    Since that moment Rarity found the Gala, the guests, the program (which to tell the truth didn’t change much throughout the last years) simply fabulous; everything suited her as long as her own idea of the nicely spent evening came to the ealization in entirety… Well, maybe something was missing still, but in general she enjoyed greatly, what she had.
    
    They made almost another full circle around the hall, spent in small talks; well, it was mostly Rarity who greeted the old kith and talked, Alex kept the diplomatic look and smile, fashion and style were not his stronger sides. Although, Rarity was quite surprised, when the stallion in thin glasses, who entertained Applejack with socialite talk, nodded to Alex and said something about their dance; Rarity even didn’t pay much attention to the actual words.
    
    “Do you know him, Ahlex?” Rarity looked a bit stunned, when they distanced, so Jackie with her gallant couldn’t hear.
    
    “Yeah, that guy… Solid Deal, he is from Canterlot Steam Company,” casually waved Alex, looking for somepony in the herd. “Talked to him a bit here on the Gala…”
    
    Rarity opened her mouth to say something, but they reached Twilight and Spike at that moment and distracted Rarity lost the thread. Her bright mood drifted her away from anything non-important and she paid exaggerated attention to Spike with his jokes, laughing sincerely and nuzzling him gently on the head, making the little dragon flush instantly and release two heart-shaped streams of steam from his nostrils. She didn’t even notice, how Alex kept deliberate neutrality and the understanding glances they shared with Twilight.
    
    They danced several times more and Rarity even benevolently switched partners with Twilight a couple of times; quietly giggling Twilight whispered to Alex that with more of Rarity’s favour she would need to carry Spike home like a balloon, holding by his tail. Alex nodded absently, he felt the fixed glance on his back and, looking over the shoulder, noticed Pinkie, watching him with a strange expression.
    
    Little by little it passed midnight. Alex volunteered to bring the refreshments, while they came to an agreement, that Gala came out nicely, almost without weird incidents, sparing Jet Set’s vagary; he returned, then parted with Rarity, Twilight and Spike again.
    
    At some point Rarity caught herself upon not being able to see Alex for a little while; she stumbled, answering Spike’s question, and took a quick look around. She could swear, she saw him a minute ago, cornered under the column by Pinkie, who meticulously tried to talk something through; Alex nodded and told her something, caught the concerned glance of Applejack from another edge of the hall, but smiled and waved both girls, showing he can perfectly handle. And indeed he managed to distract Pinkie and whisk away from her “mentor’s grip”.
    
    Pinkie just joined them, her smile clearly told that she managed to deliver, what she wanted, at least partially, or so she thought. But Alex was nowhere visible…
    
    “I’m sorry, darling,” Rarity patted Spike lightly. “Girl, please, excuse me!”
    
    She threw another concerned look over the giant hall, yet seeing no signs of her companion. Rarity crossed the hall, looked behind the rows of columns at both sides; there wasn’t a place Alex could stay unnoticed, definitely not among the herd, unless he decided to sit on the floor, but Rarity couldn’t imagine the reason for that. He wasn’t on the large open terrace either, among the few ponies, enjoying the fresh night air and more private talks, as she could see through the high windows, approaching them.
    
    Almost about to ask princess Celestia of where her quite noticeable company could vanish, Rarity noticed that she couldn’t see one more character on that stage. Princess Luna was also missing among the guests, like Alex she should be easily seen above the herd, but…
    
    Rarity’s heart skipped a beat.
    
    On another side from the entrance the hall opened to the long, almost dark now, dimly lit by rare torches, gallery and Rarity decided to look there, as it was the last possible place, Alex could reach without teleporting from the Gala.
    
    A sudden chilling draught fluttered the long red hem, curling around her legs and making Rarity involuntarily shudder: the gallery seemed to go across the whole castle, with a few turns to avoid racing winds, yet plenty of space to search for a couple of hours. Rarity turned her head perplexedly, she had equal opportunities to go left or right from the main hall, when she fancied distant voices from her right, coming from the twilight of the gallery.
    
    Long rectangles of ghostly moonlight alternated on the gallery floor with warm yellow spots from the crackling torches; Rarity tried to keep in the shadows to stay unnoticed by the mysterious collocutors, slowly slinking forward and inwardly scolding herself for each accidental rustle of her fashionable dress. A strange thought about borrowing Fluttershy’s spec-ops masquerade suit instead popped in her mind, Rarity shook her head exasperatedly.
    
    The voices became closer, Rarity could easily distinguish the male one – Alex. A couple yards closer, trying to breathe less often, Rarity slid further, staying at the line between light and shade, mentally blessing her relatively dark dress. She heard and recognized the female voice as well, silvery and tenderly flowing, with laughing notes piercing the quiet tone. But it wasn’t necessary already: Rarity could clearly see two tall white figures in the misty twilight under the column; stifling her rapid breathing she turned all ears.
    
    “Thou art so heavily guarded tonight, mine lief!” Luna’s eyes radiated. “I thought, I had no chance to reach thee…”
    
    Alex simply sighed, he was lucky, he could escape Pinkie with her attempts to drive into his head the idea about them with Fluttershy behaving overly stupid, breaking like that. He barely managed to intercept Luna’s glance and follow her to the gallery, sliding out of pink energetic pony grasp by some unbelievable miracle.
    
    “I couldn’t simply leave them right away, my princess,” Alex looked into those large deep blue lakes, feeling he was sliding in, drowning already. “Besides, we needed the guests… and your dear sister to relax, enjoy the evening and loosen their vigilance, otherwise, we couldn’t probably be given a single chance to enjoy our talk.”
    
    “Oh, Alex, Tia is already almost sure about us,” the dark blue beauty funnily wrinkled her nose, making a face. “Mayhap unsure about how far it hath gone, but arrant not having any illusions.”
    
    “Well… my butt is still not served on a silver plate, so, maybe I was right not making things even more obvious,” Alex felt his heart beating faster, as Luna stepped closer.
    
    “Or mayhap thou simply liked dancing with little miss Rarity,” giggled the princess, placing her fore hooves on his shoulders. “Comest on, mine lief, make a confession…”
    
    Alex quickly pulled her closer instead of an answer, the silk fabric of her dress cooled his hand pleasantly; diving into her eyes Alex ran his fingers through Luna’s starry mane, causing another wave of lavender aroma surrounding them.
    
    “Mayhap I’m wrong…” quietly added Luna, leaning to him and wrapping her “hands” around Alex’s neck.
    
    “Rarity is a good friend, my princess,” Alex stroked her bare shoulders, making Luna coo and snuggle to him tighter with every second. “An awesome friend and I always tried to do my best to be thankful for that, but she allows her dreams run in front of the reality, I can do nothing about that, Luna. I accepted her invitation wholeheartedly, but as a friend only… Besides, I could hardly…”
    
    Alex leaned to Luna’s soft ear and, despite she stretched her neck and perked the ears, Rarity couldn’t catch a word from the end of the phrase, said in a whisper; although, she could see Alex’s hands travelling across Luna’s back, stroking, caressing tenderly. Suddenly Luna rested her knee on the column, letting Alex’s hand drop on her hip and snuggling into him with her whole body.
    
    “Thou dost not need to tell anything, lief! I know… I am arrant happy everything played out as it did. And… I enjoyed our dance immensely. Certain elements espe… Aahhhh!”
    
    Luna squeaked and threw her head back, Alex squeezed her leg gently, placing a hot kiss on her neck and making Rarity bite the fore hoof in her hiding place, not to give out herself. Feeling Alex’s palm on her burning cutie mark, Luna held his head in place for a while, squinting and almost purring, then released and kissed his forehead.
    
    “Something… is still bothering thee, Alex,” half-asked half-stated she, looking fixedly in his eyes. “Is it… thy parting with Fluttershy? What did actually befall, if ‘t be true thou can tell?”
    
    “Yes, my princess,” Alex wrapped his hands around Luna’s shoulders, letting her nest her head on his shoulder, her night coloured mane covered both like the luxurious mantle. “I love you, I love her, I can’t decide… And I arrant hate myself for that. I fear the moment, I’m able to leave, the inevitable words and feelings… and I’m already unsure, if ‘t be true I’m doing right, trying to leave…” Alex took a breath. “Thou seest, Luna, I’m one big sack of contradictions lately, that helpeth find the solution not. The one, which shan’t be hurtful for us all.”
    
    “Tia doth the best she can,” quietly said Luna, stroking his chest with her hoof musingly. “But I don’t know, if…”
    
    “Fluttershy knoweth about us,” Alex sighed heavily. “I was to tell her that I am a sleepwalker… and all the rest naturally. In brief, but that changeth anything not.”
    
    “I expected that, lief,” Luna nodded calmly, then she looked up into his eyes. “But that’s not the main problem, correct? Thither is more to your problem than that.”
    
    “Truth be told, we parted the way, we should nev’r actually come to,” Alex downcasted. “Unlike thee, Luna, Fluttershy is uneasy about me unable to decide and choose, but at the same time she is uneasy about me wanting to decide on other aspects of mine future.” Luna waited till Alex elaborated.
    
    “She feareth for me dealing with the Seekers, me working with the blacksmith… and at which hour I mention the body armour, she becometh shaky, realizing that I’m ready to take even more risks,” Alex rubbed his temples tiredly. “She wanted to decide what was safe for me and what wasn’t. And I simply can’t stand, at which hour others try to pamper me like that, without the actual reason.”
    
    “Alex, Fluttershy was always of a strong motherly type,” Luna nuzzled his cheek soothingly. “It’s her native Element – Kindness. I’m ready to admit, it can be excessive oft, but…”
    
    “… but I used that as an excuse, because I’m afraid of what can happen, when it’s time to leave, Luna!” Alex finished for her with a doomed expression. “It all has gone too far and we eagerly allowed that, the more painful it can be, when… She doesn’t have your serenity and wisdom, my princess, you are too different. But maybe that is why I am unable to choose. I said we must find some solution, but I don’t see any yet, I’m still at the starting point.”
    
    “Knowest what,” Luna threw a sly glance at Alex. “Not so long ere, if ‘t be true any stallion made such a confession to me, I would have made him regret any tiny word of it most likely… But things change oft, so do ponies,” she squeezed him tighter, biting his ear slightly and making Alex gasp. “This solution is arrant thy burden, mine love.”
    
    “Can I make another confession… while I am safe from the royal wrath seemingly?” Alex tenderly took Luna by her cheeks and stared into her eyes. “Luna, I appreciate your gesture verily. That made the evening, the dance, my experience special, for which I’m immensely grateful. But… could you please return to your usual form, my princess? Because that’s Luna, I once met and sincerely love. I don’t know how else to say, but… I’m quite happy with you being you!”
    
    Luna’s eyes dilated, she stepped back a bit and in a second bright flash of magic returned the regal alicorn to her usual form and size, her dress magically fitting the changes. Alex couldn’t say a word before the dark blue and white flurry grabbed him into the warm, soft, lavender fragrant embrace, his lips melted into Luna’s and two white silhouettes became one again.
    
    For a few blissful moments Alex forgot about everything: the gala, the guests, the gallery. There were only them two in lavender clouds, holding on each other, sharing their breath ardently. Luna’s fore hooves stroked his back, pulling Alex closer to her soft warm coat, her eyes were closed, she even staggered and Alex was to support her a little, leaning his back on the column not to fall himself. He ran his fingers through her mane, touching her swan neck lightly, stroking her soft ears, which perked excitedly, like carved from the stone; Alex kept caressing Luna’s awesome hair, unable to stop, feeling its watery silkiness on his skin. Luna’s breath became noticeably faster, panting she rubbed her cheek on Alex’s, when they parted, then brought her nose to nose with him, hypnotizing with her half-lidded eyes… only to conquer his lips again in a series of fast hungry kisses.
    
    “Lu-u-una-a-a!” Alex could only quietly moan, when she relaxed the embrace slightly. He blinked several times, focusing.
    
    The magic of the moment was interrupted by a stifled whimper and loud sound of hoofsteps quickly receding from the place of their spontaneous rendezvous. Turning to the noise Alex and Luna were able to notice the edge of the red dress, flashing in the rectangle of moonlight.
    
    “Merlin’s pants!” Alex facepalmed with a heavy sigh. “Right when she finally calmed down…”
    
    “How long did she hide in the gallery behind? What do you think?” added he after a few seconds of awkward silence.
    
    “Could do for any amount of time, but methinks the last few seconds were more than enough, mine love,” Luna shrugged, letting out a tiny smile and nesting her head on Alex’s shoulder; Alex exhaled forcedly, then lightly touched her silky cheek.
    
    “I don’t want…”
    
    “I know, mine love… And I know Rarity,” Luna stroked Alex’s chest lightly, trying to hide the sadness in her voice. “Thou needst to go, Alex. Follow her, so she maketh something weird out of pure emotions not. I shall see thee anon, mine lief!”
    
    “Promise?” Very slowly, half-heartedly Alex broke his embrace with Luna, still holding her fore hoof. He had no tiniest wish to leave her sitting alone in that dark gallery, but at the same time understood that prone to overdramatizing Rarity could throw any trick, after witnessing them.
    
    “Royal Word!” his blue beauty raised her nose comically, then whispered. “I promise…” Right before Alex caught another short, but very affectionate kiss of her lips. With a sigh she watched his back, vanishing in the shadows of the gallery; the accelerating steps faded in the distance.
    
    Accurately, with an innocent expression Alex entered the large hall, trying not to gain unnecessary attention. A quick, but inspective glance around revealed no signs of his unfortunate fashionista partner.
    
    ‘Naturally!’ inwardly scolded himself Alex. ‘What else did you expect? Well, it’s already half past midnight, she could head to the station only…’
    
    Bracing himself Alex headed to princess Celestia, easily finding her among the herd.
    
    “Your Highness!” Alex cleared the throat diplomatically, elaborating, when Celestia turned. “Mine deepest apologies, the circumstances force me to leave the Gala. It’s been a pleasure, princess…”
    
    ‘Up to the certain moment,’ added he inwardly, then decided to ask. “Ahem… Maybe… Your Highness, did you see Rarity? We… errmmm… missed each other and…”
    
    “Oh, of course, I saw her,” Celestia’s voice was noticeably dry. “She apologized and bid a goodbye a few minutes ago. I think I’ll be hardly mistaking, if I say her eyes were tear-stained… You can still catch up with her, if you want.”
    
    “Thanks, princess! And excuse me…” Alex breathed out, bowing and almost running to the exit, making the ponies give him way fast. Celestia followed him with a concerned expression on her muzzle.
    
    “What did I miss, Tia?” the silvery voice made Celestia turn and look at her sister.
    
    “Rarity and Alex just left. I must say they crumpled their goodbye noticeably, can you imagine?” Celestia watched Luna fixedly, then smirked. “Oh! What made you reconsider, Lulu, against your extravagant look?”
    
    “He simply asked me to,” stated Luna, not batting a single eyelash.
 
    
    *
    
    Alex found the road back quite easily: first he was able to check the “landmarks” from the castle terrace at the top of the stairs, the rest of the city lied lower and the station was discernible from the distance; besides, the road was still highlighted by extra lamps at the most unobvious crossings. Although, he took an extra turn once, but quickly oriented and returned, not even walking the whole block in the wrong direction.
    
    The castle with its noisy party stayed behind and the streets were quiet, a single night bird chirped wistfully in the distance, a dog barked from behind somepony’s fence, disturbed by his steps, loud in surrounding semi-darkness. Everypony, who by any reason were not attending the Gala, already slept in their houses; the ponies usually got to their beds considerably early, if nothing demanded for staying awake late.
    
    ‘Well, not all the ponies…’ Alex looked back at the lit mass of the castle, the thought of ponies, preferring nightly activity, made him smile wide involuntarily. Perhaps even made his steps lighter, as after a few more minutes of wandering the dimly lit streets with dark gardens at the sides Alex finally reached the railway station.
    
    The fog noticeably took over since evening and the bright station lamps on their long posts looked like floats, swaying above the white clouds in the cooling down air; they lighted the milky mist around, but were unable to let see through it decently. All the boarding platforms were empty at that moment as far as Alex could notice through the foggy veil. He scratched the back of his head; obviously, it was too early and the trains supposed to be given in time to take returning guests back, when the Gala is over. At that moment the cars were resting somewhere not to obstruct the transit tracks. But where?
    
    With a low warning whistle a cargo train passed by, slowly dragging the heavy cars through the fog, like a long shoal of whales. Alex looked around as far as the mist allowed, it took him a while to spot a darker silhouette under the light post near the station office, ghostly shadow floating in the damp air.
    
    ‘Interesting, how do they fight the rust, if the proximity of that waterfall makes each evening alike,’ absently pondered Alex, heading to the building. ‘Or we are simply that lucky tonight!’ He thought that a bit longer and his fancy shirt would stick to his back.
    
    “Good evening, sir!” Alex’s voice and greeting gesture pulled the station worker out of his thoughtful observation of the platform and tracks and made the earth pony stallion in railway uniform and cap pay his attention to suddenly emerging from the mist human figure.
    
    “Evening. How can I help you?” the grey pony wiggled his moustache and looked over Alex from head to toes, his eyes stopped for a second on Alex’s tie and cufflinks.
    
    “I’m looking for the… Southern Express cars…”
    
    “They are at sidetrack five, down the dead end,” the stallion waved his hoof, showing the direction. “There. Just be careful not to slip on the tracks; you need to cross a few, sir. The fog is quite thick tonight…”
    
    “And the…” continued Alex, but the railwaypony interrupted him, taking another look over Alex and stifling a smile.
    
    “And your lady headed there a…” the stallion checked the office clock. “… a quarter of an hour ago. I thought she needed help crossing the rails in that dress of hers, but she was quite determined and quick…”
    
    “She looked upset and mildly stressed,” added he with a tiny sympathetic shrug.
    
    “Oh, mhm… Thanks,” Alex downcasted, heading in the shown direction. “Good luck on your shift!”
    
    “Have a good night, sir!”
    
    That sincere wish wasn’t excessive; although, Alex wasn’t entirely sure, if it had a fair chance to become implemented. The tracks he crossed were wet and slippery indeed. With the mental image of Rarity crossing them, supporting the hem of her dress with magic and swallowing tears, Alex inwardly scolded himself. On the other side, she knew enough about him and Luna, she knew everything about him and Fluttershy, he agreed to make Rarity’s company at the Gala, but if she expected much more of him, that wasn’t his fault – he definitely didn’t give her any chance to treat that evening anyhow, except as a friendly gesture. That was pure logic… Unfortunately, the reality felt uneasy anyway.
    
    It was darker here, but Alex managed to almost bump into his train, even before his night vision worked; he raised the hand and touched the cold side with condensed drips, walking along the tracks and looking for their car. He didn’t know, if the lightening was working, besides, the compartment windows were from another side, thus Alex was to count the cars, considering the train was oriented exactly the same way it arrived at the station. Alex followed along the train, thinking about Rarity’s reaction.
    
    ‘What exactly she expected to see on the Gala? Me completely ignoring Luna? I tried my best to make the evening enjoyable for her… considering all, that happened. But if Rarity hoped that I would push Luna away, simply because I “came to the Gala with her”…’ Alex facepalmed inwardly.
    
    Finally, the right car was found, Alex groped for the door in the light of distant lamp at the dead end and got inside. The corridor was dark, only a little light came through the windows from outside, but one of the compartment doors was loosely shut and a thin gap let out a stripe of dim light into the hallway.
    
    ‘That’s going to be more serious, than I thought…’ Alex sighed and slowly shook his head, he seemed to hear a quiet whimper.
    
    *
    
    ‘What did I do wrong?! Oh, sweet Celestia, why… why it’s always happening to me?’ Rarity didn’t change her pose seemingly since she entered the compartment, turned on the magical light crystals and dropped herself on the seat, fore legs onto the folding table and her head on her hooves, completely forgetting about the unforgivable possibility to crumple her manedress. Bitter tears of regret, when she mourned another lost opportunity, changed with moments of apathy and Rarity absently pondered, how she could affect the event and if she ever could change anything.
    
    ‘Everything was almost perfect,’ sighed she, accurately blotting the next portion of tears and checking, if her eyelash extenders were in place. ‘We had fun, Ahlex actually enjoyed the Gala… I could see that right before… before…’ she sniffed again, then let out a little smile. ‘It was the first time, when my encounter with Upper Crust and Jet Set ended differently. Unbelievable… but Ahlex easily made them pay for each evil word, still being above the situation.’
    
    ‘And he did it for me exactly!’ her reflection in the dark window covered with condensed water from outside nodded to her and Rarity examined her own sad eyes, tear trails on the white coat and tiny smile, that stayed for a while, when she remembered, how she watched the scene with dilated eyes and half-opened mouth; despite she was in shock, her heart fluttered happily at that moment. ‘He was completely calm, watching with the wry mocking smile, when Jet Set badmouthed him personally… and that smile turned into gritted teeth in a wink, when those two tried to insult me…’
    
    Rarity let out a sigh, absently drawing the imaginary pattern on the glass with her fore hoof; her pensive reflection bowed the horn and sapphire tiara in her mane dimly flickered in the compartment lights.
    
    ‘The incident wasn’t a pleasant experience, of course. I can’t remember something like that happening, but there was no our fault in that – Ahlex warned Jet Set clearly, but the stubborn snob preferred to check himself. And even that couldn’t spoil the evening, princess Celestia was quite understanding and resolved the situation quickly,’ Rarity remembered, how she snuggled to Alex afterwards and he wrapped her shawl around her shoulders and hugged her; another smile, this time pleased and dreamy, appeared on her muzzle.
    
    ‘Princess Luna though…’ Rarity slowly shook her head with disbelief. ‘I always do everything methodically, meticulously planning everything beforehand, as father teaches me at every occasion. Planning is the key to success, I made this dress, quite daring for ponies, and Ahlex’s costume specifically to… “stake out the plot”. Everything worked just right, guests looked at us and saw at once that we came to the Gala together. But then her highness appeared,’ Rarity frowned a little, she still felt a bit insecure in princess Luna’s company. ‘And crossed out all my efforts…’
    
    “Ugghhh, daaarling, you’re trying to compete a royalty! Don’t expect it to be easy,” Rarity said aloud, trying to swallow a lump and hold back tears, treacherously filling her eyes again.
    
    ‘Still… Her dress, despite being simple, looked more classy and daring at the same time. I wouldn’t wonder, if it held on with magic usage partially,’ Rarity rolled her eyes with a tiny viperous smirk. ‘Furthermore, it was of the same white colour as Ahlex clothes, what an unlucky coincidence…’ she inwardly facehoofed. ‘And when she threw out that trick… Ohhhh, she looked almost exactly as one of his kin… Sweet Celestia, they danced and looked like a couple. And there was true passion in their dance, not simple politesse or entertainment; she simply grabbed him and dragged to the center of the hall.’
    
    ‘How she leaned to him, looked and smiled…’ Rarity’s ears flattened. ‘And the last element… Ahhh!’ Dreamy sparkles shone in her eyes for a moment, she so wanted to be on Luna’s place there, not even thinking that it would be impossible to repeat every move with pony anatomy. Rarity squinted.
    
    ‘On the other hoof, it did only good actually,’ she let out a small sad smile. ‘Everypony stopped discussing the incident and switched their attention to Ahlex and… and princess Luna, their dance,’ Rarity sighed heavily. ‘Yet, he invited me next… Second, but I managed to look and move quite elegantly… and that dress paid for itself!’
    
    Rarity cocked her head and seemingly enjoyed her memories for a few moments; then suddenly her joy faded again and head drooped.
    
    ‘But then… then…’ Rarity sniffed with a fitful sigh. ‘After a while I noticed that Ahlex simply vanished from the hall! He could want to take a breath on the terrace or… but he didn’t tell me a word,’ Rarity’s eyes glistened wetly again. ‘Then I noticed one of the princesses missing as well. Exactly THAT one!’
    
    Rarity remembered, how she decided to look for Alex in the nearby rooms and hallways, checked the terrace, finally entered the long gallery behind the large hall; her breath became more and more uneven with each second and it traitorously tingled in her nose again. The image stood before her eyes too vividly to stay calm: she entered the gallery, took a look left and right, deciding, where the human might go, then headed to one side… she didn’t even remember, where exactly. Rarity thought, she heard quiet voices in the shadows of columns, further in the gallery… Slowly and accurately, not to let accidental hoofstep give her away, she approached the sounds. Then she was able to see two white silhouettes in the soft twilight under the large column. Then the two silhouettes… became one.
    
    ‘They simply glued to each other!’ tears ran down Rarity’s muzzle, as she quietly whimpered, masochistically recalling more and more details. ‘They talked so tenderly, almost cooed and Luna snuggled to Ahlex… then he asked her something and with a chuckle she returned to her usual alicorn form. Still, the snuggle became only tighter after… How they embraced each other…’
    
    Rarity sobbed again, dropping her head on her fore legs, exactly how she did after running out of the gallery, squeezing an apology to the princess and leaving the castle in frustration and despair. She ran to the station, asked about their train and curled in the compartment like a small filly, deprived of a holiday.
    
    ‘Why it is happening to me each time? The worst thing ever… The worst thing that can happen to a lady at the gala!’
    
    She pitied herself and inwardly complained about the injustice of that world, but a small voice told her that she was a silly filly and if circumstances were different, Alex would hardly ever leave Fluttershy, so she had even no chance for that attempt. Then an uncalled thought about trying, how it was to be at Spike’s place once, came afloat, but Rarity banished it away quickly.
    
    Remembering about Spike Rarity thought that despite her mare charms always worked flawlessly on everypony (for example, Spike was unable to resist her slight eyelash batting), those arrows missed Alex completely and he managed to treat her kindly, thoughtfully, even gently… but as a friend only. That called out another burst of tears, but inwardly Rarity was determined to accept the challenge. She sniffed and let out a sigh full of sorrow, at the same time bracing herself and getting ready for a new “battle”.
    
    ‘Nopony can say that Rarity gives up that easy! We’ll see…’
    
    What exactly everypony should see remained secret, as the steps and sound of opening door interrupted her thoughts and almost made her jump on the spot a little, despite Rarity anticipated it. She stayed in her sorrowful pose, crying and sniffing quietly, but one ear carefully caught each sound in the compartment. She heard, how Alex closed the door with a heavy sigh, then the seat went a bit down under his added weight.
    
    Alex stretched his hand to stroke her mane, but the suffering girl sounded so miserably, he reconsidered, unsure if touching Rarity at that moment was a good idea.
    
    “Rarity,” Alex cleared the throat, noticing that the cute white ear perked a bit more; the little fashionista still sobbed quietly. “Rarity, please… I’m sorry, it went that way! But…”
    
    “Look… I couldn’t simply ignore others on the Gala,” said Alex quietly in the most soothing tone, he was capable at the moment; a whimper followed. “Not princess Luna definitely. She… she is one of the few, who really understand me, moreover, she is not indifferent to my fate… We are very close, emotionally, by our characters and…”
    
    “I noticed…” another quiet whimper.
    
    “Rarity, I don’t know, what you want me to say… and if I really need to report to anypony in that case,” Alex sighed and shook his head. He looked around the compartment and took out one of the clothes cases, opening it and putting on his seat. The cufflinks and tie clasp resisted him for a while, so he huffed impatiently, finally detaching them and putting on the table.
    
    Alex took off his fancy clothes, trying to do that fast enough and not look at Rarity at that moment. Both white ears perked high already, hearing the rustle, Rarity fought a strong wish to turn and watch him. Alex managed to replace his daily clothes in the case with his fancy costume and put on his casual pants, when she gave up, letting out a particularly woeful sigh and sniffing again.
    
    Rarity raised her head and looked up to him, Alex met the glance of large sad eyes, compartment lights reflected in them, shimmering like distant stars. Nevertheless, a small smile lit Rarity’s muzzle and she blinked several times, drying her eyes.
    
    “It’s me, who needs to apologize, Ahlex,” whispered she finally. “I’m a silly filly… Dreamed things up, made myself a complete foal in front of Celestia and the guests, ran away like a tiny filly. We agreed to go together and have fun… and instead of that, I decided that I could…” she sighed. “As I said, Ahlex, a complete foal I am.”
    
    “Don’t say that…” Alex left his shirt on the seat and sat next to Rarity, finally stroking her mane lightly. The girl squinted and unconsciously leaned to his hand, Rarity’s ears lowered horizontally and it looked a bit funny, how she enjoyed the touch. “I’m sorry, it turned out a bit disappointing to you… I… I really tried…”
    
    “Don’t apologize,” an obvious sigh of pleasure left Rarity’s mouth. “I got… a bit… carried away… Cried like a little filly… all the way back here…”
    
    “I think we need to have some rest,” Alex got up; even if Rarity preferred him to stroke her mane more, she didn’t show any regret. “The Gala will be over soon, but the road takes over three hours and we need to walk to the town from the station. Some sleep won’t hurt.”
    
    “You’re right, darling,” Rarity got up as well, but leaned on the table with a sigh.
    
    “I’m still a little shaky and weak,” she looked at him over the shoulder apologetically, then straightened up. “I need a couple of minutes…”
    
    Alex nodded, he hung his clothes case and opened another, putting it on Rarity’s seat, made his one into a bed, using the bedding, mindfully brought by the conductor. When he turned, Rarity still stood with tiredly closed eyes, holding on the table. Alex approached her, taking her by the shoulders lightly; thick fog stuck to the window from outside, letting it reflect Rarity with Alex behind her. She barely noticeably staggered.
    
    The touch on the dress zipper made Rarity wake from her thoughts and she looked at Alex over her shoulder; he noticed that she was actually tired, perhaps the evening and the following tense was too much for her. Gently opening the zipper Alex put his hands on Rarity’s shoulders, sliding the dress down; he felt how her coat instantly heated at his slightest touch, as unicorn girl leaned on him, looking up sleepily.
    
    “Ahhhlex!” Rarity’s eyes dilated, when he took her under the fore legs and practically lifted out of the gala dress, sitting on his seat and letting her nest on his lap, wiping the remnants of her tears accurately. She couldn’t keep that surprised look for long though, her eyes were closing and she was soft and limp, like a doll.
    
    Rolling the eyes inwardly Alex felt, how Rarity wrapped her fore legs around his neck and nested herself on his bare chest. He held her warm body and inhaled the smell of her mane; Rarity nuzzled his neck gently, cooing something muffledly and placing a hot kiss under his chin. But before Alex thought that he might overdo with sympathy, he heard her quiet, even, relaxed breathing – Rarity fell asleep.
    
    Wrapped tightly into his unicorn friend Alex shrugged and tried to get at least some comfort for himself: he lay on his, prepared for the night, seat and accurately placed Rarity the way, not to risk being poked with her horn in the eye. She immediately snuggled her warm back into him, smiling happily through her sleep.
    
    A whistle from outside notified about the loco arrival, muffled voices of the station workers, attaching the train, came from behind the window. In a few minutes their car jerked as the loco headed to the platform delivering the Southern Express to the waiting passengers. Alex held Rarity to secure her from sudden train pushes, he buried his face into her soft mane and stroked her shoulder lightly, thinking about all the troubles, this girl was going to bring him yet.
    
    The train stopped again at the boarding platform, tired and enlightened voices of the returning guests filled the car. Somepony trotted back and forth behind their compartment door, but Alex didn’t hear that already. The following whistle and another push of the departing train were completely ignored by them – both Alex and Rarity slept tight.
    
    *
    
    “Knock, knock”
    
    Fluttershy waved her mane to remove the naughty strands from her muzzle and listened. Was she falling asleep already and hearing that in her thin and transparent yet dream?
    
    “Knock…”
    
    Apparently, somepony was behind the front door, asking to let them in. The wall clock unambiguously told that it was half past midnight; quite late for her, no wonder that she felt drowsy, Fluttershy totally forgot about the time, distracted by her duties. Nevertheless, she approached the door calmly, neither timberwolves, nor Seekers knocked.
    
    “Who’s there?”
    
    “It’s me, Flutters…” Rainbow’s voice was tired and colourless, but still easily recognizable… up to barely audible at that moment “So what?” tone to it.
    
    “May I come in for a minute?” Rainbow floated like a balloon inside, when Fluttershy opened and nodded surprisingly, feeling that the sleep was dispelled completely.
    
    “Sure… What has happened, Dashie? You simply burst in usually,” Fluttershy chuckled, but hugged Rainbow wholeheartedly. “I wonder, what could make you knock on the door tonight?”
    
    Rainbow wrinkled her nose funnily, like if she was going to make a face, then suddenly reconsidered.
    
    “I’ve trained till late night, pal. While I was able to see the obstacles fine,” simply said she instead and nuzzled her friend’s cheek. “You know, I need to impress Wonderbolts, so I need to be awesome or not be there at all! Then I flew by and saw the light… and decided to check, if you were alright, pal. You’re not a night-bird, Flutters, so…” Rainbow shrugged.
    
    “Oh, well,” suddenly exclaimed she. “I didn’t simply fly by… I wanted to see you, pal, and ensure you are okay. But trained till darkness and came that late instead. I guess, I’m lucky, you stood up that long. Sorry…”
    
    “You are training all days long lately,” Fluttershy slowly shook her head. “Is it necessary to stress yourself that much?”
    
    “Oh, Flutters, you know, what I think about that,” the rainbow pegasus girl rolled her eyes. “Of course, it’s worth all the effort… I can’t remember even, when I pranked somepony last time.” Rainbow Dash followed her friend and dropped into the armchair with a sigh of relief.
    
    “This part I miss the most,” added she with a grin and sly sparkles lit in Rainbow’s eyes. “I have a few awesome ideas for certain human,” she winked mischievously.
    
    “What?” asked she, seeing how Fluttershy glanced at her reproachfully. “Wasn’t he making you sad, moreover suffer lately?”
    
    “Speaking of which… How are you, pal?” Dash examined her friend fixedly. “I heard, you were not going to the Gala because of him,” the contempt in her tone was enough to fill a small barrel.
    
    “Not exactly so…” Fluttershy’s voice was more conciliatory. “Of course, if… everything was as usual… we would go there together,” she sniffed quietly and bit her lip. “But I had absolutely no drive to go alone…”
    
    “You could go with the girls, pal!”
    
    “Oh, you know, what I mean,” Fluttershy waved her hoof slightly. “Besides, Rarity invited him and Alex agreed to make her company. I simply couldn’t…”
    
    “Ugghhh… Rarity!” squinted Rainbow. “Rarity in her repertoire!”
    
    “Knowing Alex I am sure, it was simply a friendly gesture from his side,” Fluttershy let out a small smile. “Rarity, of course, may expect something, but I don’t know, what must happen for Alex to live up to her expectations.”
    
    “Knowing Alex?” her friend smirked venomously.
    
    “Come on, Dash, don’t start it again…”
    
    “Fluttershy, pal, I told you!” Rainbow leaned forward. “I told you all, the human wasn’t that nice. And look what has happened already… He made one of us totally upset already, moreover, crying…” Rainbow looked into Fluttershy’s eyes fixedly. “Don’t deny, Flutters. What next? He is dangerous!”
    
    “Our friction with Alex,” Fluttershy pronounced it with pressure. “Even any of us being upset about that, don’t necessarily tell that Alex is dangerous to any of us, sorry. Him being unable to sort out his feelings doesn’t make him our enemy.”
    
    “You didn’t know everything, Dash, I assume,” Fluttershy continued, giving Rainbow no chance to reply. “We both were not ideal, treating each other. I may be disappointed, even angry with him, but I’m not going to judge, whose guilt is heavier…”
    
    “Still… he made you really suffer…” Rainbow looked at her friend, surprised by her determination, Rainbow’s stubbornness was yet hard to overcome. “That’s exactly what I warned you all about.”
    
    “Wonderbolts are hard to impress, they bring much stress to your life, Dashie,” Fluttershy glanced at her friend with a sigh. “You are even upset because of something not going… “totally awesome” sometimes. That doesn’t mean they are dangerous and any of us, including you, Dash,” she stared at Rainbow fixedly. “must keep away from them.”
    
    “I’m going to believe him,” she added simply. “And see, if he… if we can find any way out of that problem.”
    
    Rainbow kept silence for a couple of minutes, watching Fluttershy very attentively.
    
    “I’m sorry, Flutters,” finally muttered she confusedly. “Sorry, that I poured salt on your wound. What happens between you is indeed not my business, pal. But I don’t know what to expect of him… and I don’t like that feeling.”
    
    “And I don’t like the one causing that feeling, Flutters, sorry,” added Rainbow, getting up and embracing Fluttershy tightly. She clumsily stroked the soft pink mane.
    
    “I know, what you think about him,” said Fluttershy softly. “But all that I saw and knew about him, told that he sincerely wanted to help those, he came across in Equestria. If he succeeded in that or not, it’s another question, Dash. Alex may be impulsive, even weird sometimes, he may behave like a complete hay-head, but he isn’t a monster.”
    
    Rainbow Dash sighed.
    
    *
    
    Alex woke up, maybe the train car passing the railway switch was guilty of that, or Alex’s feeling of being captured and slightly strangled by somepony, which he had the last half of an hour through his sleep. The answer was more prosaic and less dangerous: Rarity turned over and wrapped all her legs around him, so his face ended snuggling into her neck, barely letting him breathe through her mane. Apparently, she dreamed about something pleasant; she didn’t wake, when Alex moved, letting out a sigh instead and nuzzling his head with a tiny smile on her muzzle. It took him a while to accurately slip out of her embrace, not waking Rarity up; she grabbed his pillow instead and cooed something, cuddling it even tighter, when Alex gently stroked her flank.
    
    Taking a look into the mirror Alex smoothed his hair and wiped a couple of faint lipstick prints from his chest, Rarity didn’t lose time even while sleeping; Alex rolled his eyes, wondering how lucky he was not to be poked with her horn. The train passed another switch, they were approaching the station and Alex thought about packing.
    
    The shirt, the boots, in a couple of minutes he was completely set. Rarity’s dress was still on the compartment floor, where they left it; Alex picked and accurately packed it into the clothes case, then swept the jewellery into the small carpetbag.
    
    There was a dilemma now: he had two clothes cases, the carpetbag… and sleeping Rarity, and obviously only two hands. Alex decided not to wake the mare yet, because Rarity was really tired and because he was unsure about more fancy ideas, which could appear under that stylish manedress. Alex scratched his head, that wasn’t a really heavy load, but not quite handy to carry all at once.
    
    ‘Rarity will go mad, if she finds out, how I used my tie,’ the silky band was durable enough and Alex tied it to be able to hang both clothes cases and the carpetbag behind his back. Meanwhile, the train was slowing down, the wheels rattled on the frequently passed switches, the dim station lamps slowly floated by behind the compartment window. Alex took a quick look around, checking if he forgot to pick anything, then sat on the edge next to Rarity.
    
    The loco softly rolled past the station, bringing the cars at the boarding platform and coming to a complete stop. Alex waited till all the ponyvillers from their car follow to the exit and leave, then lifted Rarity, who frowned a little, when he took the pillow out of her grip. Although, she consoled quickly, curling on his hands and wrapping her fore legs around his neck. With a happy smile Rarity nested her head on Alex’s shoulder, tickling him with her even breath.
    
    ‘I think, I can make it to Ponyville without resting,’ Alex estimated the weight, leaving the compartment. ‘Now all I need is to get out from that car safely…’
    
    It wasn’t a trivial task, despite seeming simplicity, Alex descended the narrow steps really slow, inwardly praying for the express not to start moving again right at that moment and causing a few surprised glances and at least one understanding smile from the conductor and station workers. He was to wait till the train departed to be able to cross the railways and head to the town through the field.
    
    The light breeze played with Rarity’s curled mane, throwing the strands into Alex’s face and making him quietly huff them away, but she still slept on his hands, lulled by his paced walk. Only once she muttered something, snuggling her warm body into him tighter and placing a hot kiss on Alex’s neck.
    
    After a while, as the extra weight affected his speed, the rare lights pierced the darkness; Alex reached the edge of Ponyville. The town was deep into its sleep at that late hour, almost very early hour already, as the morning was nigh; only a few windows glowed on their whole way to Carousel Boutique. Although, one ground floor window was lit there, apparently Sweetie Belle didn’t go to sleep, waiting for her sister, or woke up already.
    
    Inwardly regretting at that moment that he had no magic, Alex was to accurately knock the front door with his knee. In a moment he could hear the hoofsteps and non-suppressed loud yawn, making him smirk.
    
    The door opened, the yawn transformed into “Eek!” sound and for a second the filly stared at him with open mouth and wide opened eyes. Then Sweetie Belle giggled, covering the mouth with her fore hoof.
    
    “Good night, Alex, bring the big girl in…”
    
    “Good night!” the whole scene made Alex smile wider, while he waited till she closed the front door behind. “Or maybe it’s “Good morning” already… Hey, can you help me a bit?”
    
    “Oh, right…” Sweetie Belle untied the knot with her magic and levitated the cases and carpetbag to the nearest chair. “Did everything go fine?”
    
    “More or less,” diplomatically shrugged Alex.
    
    “She slept all the way home,” Alex nodded at Rarity, who nuzzled him with a sigh, making Sweetie Belle flush slightly. “I didn’t want to disturb her and thus carried from the station…”
    
    “Squee! Sorry…” the filly jumped on the spot and turned to the stairs. “Come on,” Sweetie Belle skipped to the upper floor, Alex followed. She opened the door to Rarity’s bedroom and uncovered the bed, so Alex could accurately put Rarity down and make her comfortable. Frankly speaking, the girl let him go quite reluctantly, but soon stretched and relaxed under the blanket, Alex covered her with. Finally, he could stand up and flex the numb arms.
    
    “Sleep well, Rarity!” Alex turned off the light and they exited with Sweetie Belle, closing the door quietly.
    
    “Maybe some tea?” the filly looked up at Alex, when they headed downstairs. “It’s quite fresh outside already and…”
    
    Alex thought that giving himself a ten minutes rest wouldn’t hurt, taking a seat and relaxing his legs and hands was exactly what he needed at that moment.
    
    “Sure thing, Belle. Thank you!” he followed Rarity’s sister to the kitchen and dropped on the chair. “And one more thing, before I forget… Please, untie that band and put it into the case with the rest of the costume. And don’t tell Rarity, I used it as a sling, okay?”
    
    “Well, I definitely must cover you, right?” Sweetie Belle agreed, giggling. She put the kettle and turned to Alex. “So?”
    
    “What can I say? I’m not Pinkie,” Alex stretched to the bone crackle. “Big parties are nice, but in moderation… Definitely too much for me in one evening!”  
    
    *
    
    “Good night, Sweetie Belle!” Alex nodded with a light smile, then winked. “Be gentle with her in the morning!”
    
    The filly snorted, closing the door; Alex leaned his back on the frame and inhaled the night air, gazing into the black velvet, woven with silvery constellations, and listening to the whisper of leaves in Rarity’s garden.
    
    ‘Rarity, Rarity…’ he slowly shook his head. ‘It’s a miracle, that day ended without… “casualties”.’
    
    Alex pushed away from the wall, crossed the dooryard, exiting to the street and throwing another look back. The large rotor lazily mixed the air above the sleeping garden behind Carousel Boutique. The window at the ground floor became dark: Sweetie Belle must have headed upstairs as well.
    
    ‘I need to stop pushing my luck with Rarity,’ Alex rubbed his temples, feeling that sleep fled completely. ‘She may try different tactics, but at the end of the day, I see one thing – staying with her tete-a-tete becomes a hard game!’
    
    He turned right, going east, instead of north-west – Alex still had one self-assigned duty to attend. The wooden bridge rattle under his quick steps, Alex’s eyes accommodated to the darkness already, his ears caught every quiet sound, including the splash of some fish in the stream below. Leaving Ponyville he took the road through the fields.
    
    The wind became stronger in the open area, making the high grass bow in constant strong waves and turning everything around him into a dark green sea. Nothing interrupted the serenity of the moment, except rare sad cries of some night bird far away at the edge of Everfree. Despite all his problems, current and awaiting him in the future most likely, Alex felt the strange wish to whistle something quietly, a crazy thought came to his mind.
    
    ‘Maybe everything settles some day…’
    
    ‘Aha, fat chance!’ Alex sadly smirked, pacing forward on the dark road.
    
    Suddenly the silver light flooded the fields: the crescent Moon emerged from the single large cloud and highlighted the road, waves of grass and the old white barn to the right – insensibly Alex covered half of the way. He sped up, then ran lightly to his aim, barely touching the ground with his springy steps.
    
    The dark cottage met Alex with silence, not a single window shone; the large trees guarded its sleep, only even noise of the water wheel in the stream broke the lull. Alex felt that everything was alright here tonight, like numerous nights before. Nevertheless, he circled around once, not entering the garden and listening. The hens sleepily clucked in the wooden coop, something rustled in the tree top, perhaps a late squirrel fiddled in its hollow through the sleep.
    
    Alex spent a few minutes in the shadow of the tree, looking at the familiar window on the first floor, now dark and curtained.
    
    A feeling of somepony watching him fixedly made Alex turn around. The moonlit field looked empty, farther was the dark, darker than the sky, stripe of Everfree, the pitch black mass of the Clock Tower penetrated the air to the far left; everything silent and motionless. Alex slowly scanned the neighbourhood, when his eyesight stumbled upon a low grassy hill with a single large tree in the field, halfway to the forest. A smile lightened his face, when Alex headed there.
    
    “Art thou coming hither every night?” she was laying gracefully in the tree shade and it seemed the part of starry night sky descended and covered the ground around; Luna’s eyes glowed in the darkness slightly.
    
    “Yes, regularly,” Alex simply sat on the grass next to her and Luna rubbed her cheek on his shoulder gently. “Sometimes personally… and sometimes through my “sleepwalking”.”
    
    He moved closer and leaned to her, inhaling the lavender aroma, listening to the leaves above and feeling unusual tranquillity again.
    
    “So, thou art exactly that “ghost”, rumours of which wander in the town,” whispered soft lips in Alex’s ear, making his skin crawl and heart beat faster.
    
    “You’ve heard already…” Alex shook his head with a chuckle, then his tone suddenly became very serious. “I left her house, but I can’t leave her without any protection completely. Thou shan’t deny, the Seekers become more and more impudent… or arrant ignore ponies’ presence lately. It becometh dangerous, mine princess. What could they do next? I’m not going to foresee.” Alex turned to Luna and looked into her eyes. “What I know for sure is that they try to avoid contacting me, feeling mine presence and trying to leave the area.”
    
    “So, I come nightly to check, if everything is alright, if she is safe; I can’t do otherwise,” continued Alex, relaxing a bit. “And make sure they stay away, even if they appear nearby. At least I will feel them… and try to… get rid of them.” Alex went silent, listening to the cicadas he paid no attention before. A couple of minutes passed. “Fortunately they didn’t show up in the sunlight yet, but… I feel out of my element each day, while I don’t know for sure…”
    
    “I understand, lief!” Luna looked forward and, following her glance, Alex saw sleeping Ponyville below: rooftops between the trees, rare lights scattered across the streets. The Night Princess crossed her fore legs and put her head on top, watching the town; a few blades of grass trembled in her lavender breath and her awesome mane flowed, curling around Alex, giving him soft, watery, yet amazingly warm touch.
    
    “I come hither each night I visit Ponyville, lief. Simply beautiful, isn’t it?”
    
    “Yes. Beautiful…” but Alex didn’t look at the town at all. He ran his fingers through her soft mane, behind the horn and let his hand travel in her hair, to the back of Luna’s head, along her gracious neck…
    
    “Dost not stop…” cooed the Night, arching her swan neck under his touch. Smiling, Alex did another pass under the sly glance of half-lidded eyes.
    
    “I guess, it was you, who advised the Canterlot Steam Company representative to have a look at my humble efforts here,” Alex pondered aloud, while stroking Luna’s mane gently.
    
    “They would pay their attention anyway, sooner or later, lief… Or somepony from the patent office would inform them eventually. I simply sped up the process a zilch,” the princess giggled like a small filly. “I extend mine hope the attempt wasn’t futile and thou came to some agreement with Solid Deal.”
    
    “I… simply have no words…” Alex shook his head, catching himself on absently scratching behind Luna’s ear. She didn’t protest though, visibly enjoying it.
    
    “Dost not worry, Alex!” Luna’s smile became even brighter. “It’s still arrant thy merit, not… “mine protection”!” she huffed lightly.
    
    “I know Solid Deal for about two years,” elaborated she. “And he didn’t make a single harmful for the company decision yet. Methinks he isn’t in the directorate for nothing…”
    
    “What?!” Alex froze. “Thou dost not say…”
    
    “What terms did you come to?” Luna threw a quick glance at bemused Alex.
    
    “Thirty percent,” slowly squeezed Alex. “Mine exclusive development… and they address me, if ‘t be true they can’t cope with any production. Merlin’s pants, I’d be more discreet, if…”
    
    Luna burst out laughing instead of an answer, making the cicadas shut up instantly. She raised and moved closer, sitting next to him and putting her head on Alex’s shoulder, having much fun of his bewildered look.
    
    “Thou tumbled him arrant,” she still giggled. “Thou seest, he must have been under the strong impression of their missed opportunity… and decided to catch, what they still could. I warned him that thou would give him hard time.”
    
    Alex shook his head slowly, looking at one spot, somewhere miles behind Ponyville. A soft tender kiss on his neck sent an electric jolt along his spine, tearing a gasp from his mouth. Alex turned to the princess.
    
    “Thou art mine soft feathery ruffian, thou…” Alex ran his fingers along her sensitive ears, feeling the strong urge to kiss them, caught Luna’s silky cheeks in his palms and brought his nose to her, looking into big blue eyes.

 

 

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