//------------------------------//
// Settling In 
// Story: Friendship is Insane 
// by UnorthodoxMethods 
//------------------------------//

Emerald’s eyes shot open; bloodshot and desperately begging for sleep, he decided to get up due the fact he hadn’t gotten any sleep so far. He sat up and looked to his left, looking directly into the face of Pinkie Pie, whose face was mere inches from his. Startled by this, he fell out of the bed. 
“Hi!” she said, but then noticed that he was on the floor. “Did you sleep well?”
“Ah couldn’t sleep. It felt like somethin’ was in mah room. It was unnatural.” He replied. 
“Oh, there was something in your room? That was me!” 
Emerald simply stared at her before asking her a question, “what were ya doin’ in mah room?” 
“Watching you sleep.” She replied nonchalantly. 
Emerald looked slightly confused now. “You were watching me sleep? Weren’t you tired after that party you threw?” 
“Well, I was, but then I realized that I ate too many chocolate cupcakes, and the caffeine kept me up all night! It’s really a shame because there’s not much to do at night besides play with Gummy and watch you sleep!” 
“Gummy? Who’s that?” 
“He’s my pet alligator! I called him Gummy because he doesn’t have teeth! See, look.” She held the alligator up for him to see. Gummy opened his mouth and showed Emerald his gums. 
“Pinkie, Ah would appreciate it if you never watched me sleep again. OK?” 
“Okie Dokie Loki!” she said with a smile. “I’m gonna go make breakfast, OK? Then I have to go to work.” 
“OK.” Emerald replied as the pink mare trotted off. He decided that he was going to get some fresh air, and trotted off. 







XXX
Rainbow Dash awoke with a start. She had a dream that included her accomplishing her lifelong goal: joining the Wonderbolts. Spitfire and Soarin’ had been waiting for her, and a crowd of her fans had been cheering for her. 
Unfortunately for her, somepony must have not have wanted her to enjoy her dream, because she awoke just as she and the Wonderbolts were about to take flight. Having a clue who that pony was, she flew downstairs and looked at her couch, surprised to find it empty. 
“Sirius, where are you?” she asked, her voice reverberating around her house. Receiving no response, she decided to go outside and find him. 
“Where is he?” she asked herself as she flew throughout Cloudsdale. She then heard the sound of somepony flying and saw Sirius falling towards the ground headfirst with his eyes closed. 
Thinking quickly, she yelled out, “What are you doing, stupid?” 
At the sound of Rainbow’s voice, Sirius’s eyes snapped opened. He opened his wings to slow down, but couldn’t stop himself quickly enough, and hit the bottom of the cloud. Due to the clouds being soft, he wasn’t very hurt, just mildly disoriented. 
“The hay was that for, Rainbow?” Sirius asked in an annoyed tone as she flew up to him.
“You left without even leaving a note! What did you expect me to do?” she countered. 
This question left Sirius slightly taken aback. “I dunno, I figured you had better things to do.”  
“True. I could be training to join the Wonderbolts.” 
“Then why aren’t you?” 
“I’m gonna help you build your cloud house. Unless you think I’m too awesome for your standards.” She challenged. 
Sirius smirked. “Let’s just say your definition of an ‘awesome’ mare isn’t the same as mine.”
“That’s because your definition doesn’t have my picture next to it.” 
“Whatever. You know someplace we can get breakfast, right?” he asked. 
“Sure. Follow me.” She replied taking off in a dash of color. Sirius quickly got out of his stupor and followed. 
As her caught up to her, Rainbow turned to him. “So, what were you doing flying outside with your eyes closed?” she wondered.
Sirius looked at her like it was obvious. “I was trying to dive with my eyes closed, of course.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes as they continued. “Of course.”  







XXX
Mood woke up and got out of bed, his vision better than before. His heart was also better, as it no longer ached. The light blue stallion walked downstairs to see Twilight and the purple and green thing from before. 
Twilight smiled as she set a plate of daisy sandwiches down on the table. “Good morning, Mood Swing! Did you sleep well?” she asked. 
“I slept well enough, I guess.” He replied as he sat down. 
Twilight pointed a hoof at the purple thing, which Mood could identify as a baby dragon. “This is Spike, my number one assistant. Spike, this is Mood Swing.” 
“Hey.” Mood replied while munching on a daisy sandwich. 
“What’s up?” Spike asked. He then leaned in and put a hand to the side of his mouth as he asked, “Are you Twilight’s coltfriend?” 
“Spike!” Twilight exclaimed sternly while Mood did a spit take. The stallion looked at Spike with a ‘WTF’ look. 
“No, I’m not her coltfriend.” He replied. 
“Really? Why not? You’re the first stallion she’s ever brought here… for anything, really.” Spike said, earning a glare from Twilight. 
“I don’t feel, OK?” Mood asked while grabbing another sandwich. 
“What do you mean by that?” Twilight asked as she got a sandwich for herself. 
“I don’t have emotions.” 
Twilight was visibly stunned by this. “What? How can you not have emotions? Everypony has emotions.” 
“Yeah! You’re telling us that you don’t feel happy, sad, angry, or in love?” Spike added. 
“I just don’t have emotions.” Mood replied, looking at Spike, who was standing in front of him, staring at him. “Aren’t you hungry?” 
“Nah, I already had some sapphires for breakfast.” He replied. 
“Wait, didn’t you show emotion when you first saw me?” Twilight asked.
Mood took a bite of his sandwich before continuing. “Yeah, but that usually never happens.” 
“That never even happened with your friends? Don’t you feel any sort of bond to them?” 
“I guess there’s something there. I do care about both of them.” He replied. Twilight smiled, as she suddenly had an idea. 
“Come with me, Mood. I have a few experiments I’d like to perform with you.” Twilight said, levitating a quill, an ink bottle, and some parchment with her as she walked. Mood shrugged and followed suit. 







XXX
After his breakfast with Pinkie, Emerald left to go find a nice plot of land. He currently had a few sheets of metal and a shovel balancing on his back as he walked. 
Emerald stopped when he saw a sign that read the following: 
Property of Emerald Terra
-Mayor Mare 
“Alright! Ah cain’t believe ah got all this here land!” he exclaimed, surveying the land. It was a decent enough size, and would serve him well. He put the metal down and began shoveling dirt.







XXX
Sirius wiped some sweat from his brow. Keeping up with Rainbow was hard work. Thankfully, though, she worked fast and together had already gotten a good start on his cloud house. 
“Is it always this hard to build a cloud house.” He asked, tired from working so long. 
Rainbow, who wasn’t tired or sweaty at all, smirked. “This isn’t hard, you just have to position the clouds right. Haven’t you ever done this before?” 
“My parents never wanted a house in the clouds. The best things in Los Pegasus are on the ground, anyway.” 
“What do your parents do, anyway?” 
“I’d rather not talk about it.” 
“Oh, sorry about that.” She said. 
Sirius waved her down. “Don’t worry about it. How much longer will it be until the house takes on a better shape?” 
Rainbow smirked. “Not long with me on the case. I’ll have it looking 20 percent cooler in 10 seconds flat.” She boldly declared. 
Sirius stared at her for a minute before responding. “Oh, really? 10 seconds flat? That’s fast even for you, right?” 
“Wanna find out?” she challenged, getting into a flight pose. 







XXX
Twilight and Mood walked upstairs, the former tired and the latter bored. Twilight walked over ti her carpet and sat down, Mood doing the same. Spike, who had been sweeping the kitchen, walked over when he heard Twilight’s exasperated sigh. 
“So how’d it go?” he asked. 
“It’s astounding! All this data on emotions, and none of it matched up with Mood at all.” She explained. 
“His name is Mood Swing, after all. Maybe his special talent has to do with his emotions.” Spike suggested. 
“It is what I got my cutie mark for.” The stallion answered, causing them to look at his flank. His cutie mark was three round faces: a smiling green one, a straight-faced yellow one, and a sad red one.  
“What exactly is your talent?” Spike asked. 
“Emotion based magic.” Mood replied. 
“So your magic relates to your emotions or lack thereof?” Twilight asked, causing him to nod. He then held his head, for his eyes were in pain again. 
“What’s wrong?” Spike wondered. 
“My feels… they’re hurting again.” 
“You mean your eyes?” 
There was a pause before Mood answered. “Yes.” 
“That only seems to happen when you look at me. Am I the only pony you feel anything about?” Twilight asked. 
“Well-“Mood was interrupted by the door opening and his two friends entering. Sirius looked at the two ponies and smirked.
“What were you three talkin’ ‘bout? You tryin’ to put the moves on Twi, Moody?” he asked. 
Emerald gave Sirius a ‘so what’ glance before speaking, “He’s doin’ better’n you, Sirius. Ah think he might give you some competition.” 
“Who are you two?” Spike asked, intrigued by the pair.
“Twi and Moody didn’t tell you about us? I’m Sirius Bolt, and this is my friend, Emerald. We’re friends with Moody.” The Pegasus said while hovering in a relaxed pose.
“Who’re you?” Emerald asked, looking at Spike. 
“I’m Spike, Twilight’s number one assistant! I send all of her letters to the Princess!” 
“Wait, Princess Celestia? Ya mean the Princess Celestia who lifts the sun every day?” Emerald asked. Twilight nodded. 
“Cool.” Mood said while looking to the side. 
Sirius saw this and turned to his friend, “You OK. bruh? You ain’t looking Twi way.” 
“My eyes are hurting again. It’s even worse than before, and only happens when I look at Twilight.” Mood replied. 
This caused Twilight to look down at the ground. She turned to Mood and asked sadly, “I’m hurting you, aren’t I.” 
“It’s not your fault. I just need to figure this out.” 
“Are ya gonna be building your house anytime soon?” Emerald asked. 
“No. I’m staying here.” 
This stunned the other two. Sirius was the first to speak, “The buck?!” he exclaimed. 
“Sirius!” Twilight scolded while motioning towards Spike. 
“Sorry, Twi!” he exclaimed before turning to Mood. “Mood, you wanna stay with Twilight even though you get hurt every time you look at her?” 
“Yes.” He said simply. 
“Why?” Emerald asked. 
“I don’t know. Maybe we can find a way around this.” He proposed. 
Sirius and Emerald glanced at each other, both concerned about their friend. They then decided it would be better not to argue. 
“Fine. You wanna do this, go ahead.” Sirius said. 
Emerald looked more skeptical. “Ah don’t know. Should we do more to help?” 
Surprisingly, Twi waved him down. “It’s alright, boys. I’m sure we can figure this out.” She replied. 
Sirius shrugged and smirked again. “Alright, fine. I’ve got things to do. See ya!” he exclaimed, before flying out. 
“I’d better go too. Ah need to make some more progress on my house, and keep Sirius from sleeping in a tree tonight.” Emerald said before galloping off. 
Spike looked at Twilight, who had walked over to Mood. His eyes were closed, but he could tell she was there.” 
“Why don’t you and I go look for a few books on emotions? I’m sure we’ll find something that relates to this situation.” She suggested with a small smile. 
“Sure, let’s go.” He agreed. The two began walking off with Spike close behind, hoping to be of assistance. 







XXX
Sirius walked into the marketplace, looking around the stalls until he saw the one he wanted. He made his way over and saw an Earth pony running a flower stand. She had a raspberry mane with light raspberry streaks, and an extremely pale coat. Her most defined feature was her cutie mark, a rose. 
Arriving at the stand, he asked. “How’s a fine specimen of flora like you doin’ today?” he asked, surprising her. 
“Are you talking to me?” she asked. 
“Of course, girl!” he exclaimed. 
She gave him a half-lidded gaze. “Then you do know that flora is plants right?” 
“Ain’t you as beautiful as that rose on your flank?” he replied. 
She blushed a little. “You think I’m beautiful?” 
“Yeah. Can I get ya name?” he asked. 
She blushed again before answering. “Rose.” 
Sirius reached over to her, putting an arm around her and began stroking her neck. “That’s a pretty name to go with a pretty mare. You wanna do something with me?” 
“Like a date?” she asked. Sirius nodded, and she smiled. “How’s dinner  at my house sound?” 
“Too good, Rose. Too good.” Sirius replied. 
Rose quickly closed up her stand and began leading Sirius to her house. Sirius could only think one thing as he looked up into the sky.
‘Celestia is a merciful goddess.’ 







XXX
Hours later, Emerald was walking throughout the town, searching for Sirius. He left no stone unturned as he was looking for his friend. The stallion then stopped when he heard when he heard a voice he thought he recognized coming from a nearby house. He walked over, stopping in front of it. 
“Well, here goes nothing…” he said, putting an ear to door. 
“You want to take this to the next level?” asked a feminine voice that he did not recognize. 
“If you want to, then I’m game.” replied a male voice, the voice of his friend, Sirius. 
Emerald heard a noise that sounded like one of them was shifting uncomfortably. “It’s just that it’s been a really long time since my last time, with the lack of stallions in this town.” 
Sirius was quick to reply. “Don’t worry, Rose. I’ll make this worthwhile.” 
About a minute later, Emerald heard an awful amount of noise and the following shouts: 
“Oh, yeah! Gimme that plot! Gimme that plot!” Sirius yelled. 
“Oh, Celestia! It’s been a while since I’ve felt this good!” Rose yelled.   
Emerald was slightly stunned, but soon decided to pretend that he had heard nothing and left. 
Later, Emerald entered Sugarcube Corner. He was immediately greeted by Pinkie Pie, who was smiling brightly. 
“Hi, Emerald! Did you have fun with your friends today?” 
“Living in this town is fun enough.” He replied. The pink mare offered him a cupcake and some punch, which he accepted. 
“What do you mean?” she asked. 
“I mean that the fun is just startin’.” He replied as he swallowed the cupcake whole and downed the punch. 
Pinkie smiled heartily, which confused the stallion. “Why are you happy?” 
“You and your friends are settling in just fine! You’re doing much better than Twilight when she first arrived.” Pinkie replied as she walked off. 
Emerald wanted to know more about Pinkie’s friends, but decided to save it for another time. He then walked upstairs and went inside his room to rest.