Blood Doesn't Really Mesh Well With My Coat, But Purple Does

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Paperwork, a never ending flood of ground wood flakes with carbon black letters soaked into them. It didn’t matter what they had on these blasted sheets of mind numbing boredom!!

I want out!! Fresh air!! My office was too stuffy!!!

Damn, I needed to check the thermostat again to make sure the heat wasn't perpetually on and the vents weren't backed up. I set my glasses down on the fine cherrywood office desk, it was one of those desks with a dark lacquer finish that was probably the best purchase I made with my bits, it was a perfect place to pass out during the dreaded crunch season when tax returns came in. Thankfully this year I made sure to bring a small foldable futon with me so now I could pass out from exhaustion and not feel like I was ten thousand years older than I was when I got up the next day.

My eyes stung and I rubbed them with my hooves, taking extra care not to stab myself with them. The damn things could be sharp for no reason then feel like velvet the next. Caused by magical mumbo jumbo that unicorns talked about all the time but I didn't care to really listen to it.

Ugh… Chiffon Swirl was right, I was becoming bitter in my old age. Well not old, old, I was a 132 single mare with enough spunk to keep everypony on the tips of their hooves , I had plenty of time. The stress working this job had made nearly all my hair turn white, now I looked ten times older than Swirly even though I was only two years older than her.

My beautiful pink mane was now white grey and wrinkled skin was my world now. I looked out the window, it was very late at night causing the overhead lamp to cast dark shadows in contrast of the night sky. I checked the clock on my desk, 2 in the morning.

I sighed heavily, well it wasn't as bad tonight, I might be able to go home tonight if I didn’t have anymore paperwork left. My in box only had a few papers left!! Thank the Princesses and all that is harmony!!!

Freedom at last!

I felt my body wiggle with excitement, my bed! My royal sized four poster goose feather bed! Sweet heaven awaits, and if I can survive long enough maybe even get to use that vibrator I had bought eight months ago…

I needed a marefriend or coltfriend, maybe a plan on retirement sometime soon or maybe I can step down for the next election.

Sorry mom, I held off on having those grandfoals you wanted. Not that I didn't want them! Honest! I wanted four little fillies and colts running around the yard with the love of my life draped over my shoulder.

Course Swirly shows off that cute colt Carrot Cake all the time just to spite me, she knew I hadn't had any in over seventy years and there she goes rutting around with him and their little herd.

I ground my teeth before letting out another long sigh and placing my glasses back on my snout. Now that the world was clearer I finished up the rest of the forms in no time. With pep in my step I hummed happily as I went about locking everything up, nopony was here but me tonight but it didn't hurt to lock up vital paperwork like deeds and social security information in the vaults.

I checked around my office, nice and tidy the way I like it as opposed to being littered with stacks of paper. Need to go check the boiler room and the vents so this place doesn't catch fire. Maybe if I get a successful funding rally going for the restoration of Town Hall I wouldn't have to worry about this place catching fire. The roofs may be fireproof but the wood underneath sure wasn't.

Harmony above is this place spooky at this late hour, the main audience chamber was almost pitch black and a few windows casted long shadows where there was light!

My office happen to be on the third floor and I walked up two flights of steps everyday, so exercise wasn't excessive but it didn't help the blubber on my belly from disappearing anytime soon. Curse you Ink Spot for having those delicious lokum sweets every time I see you in the Rec. Department, you know I can't help myself. I've always liked gummy sweets ever since I was a little filly, and you know how to play me like a fiddle...

I opened my satchel that carried personal belongings. I didn't have much just the regular; lip balm, the Emergency Dragonfire Slip used for medical emergencies or bad accidents (the thing was magically tuned to the pony in question to monitor vitals, if abnormalities happened it would send itself off to the nearest ER with coordinates, or it could be torn manually to alert mediponies that somepony was badly hurt and needed aid), hormone suppressant cream for when my heat comes around, my journal which I kept notes on projects and ideas I wanna propose to Ponyville. As well as my personal thoughts on various things that have popped up over the years, I had fourteen of these little booklets at my house.

Pretty sparse considering how old I am. And finally the flashlight I was looking for, which I shook and pressed the large button. I blinked away the sudden blindness of being a dummy and looking directly into it while turning it on.

“Gah!” I yelped, slamming my eyes shut and dropping the flashlight. I'm so ready for bed if I'm being this clumsy. I rubbed my eyes growling at the annoyance of my retinas burning.

I blinked trying to make the red yellow spots in my vision melt away, my office door closed and already locked so I was out in the pitch black. I picked up the now on flashlight and placed it in my mouth since walking on all fours and carrying a flashlight was difficult. I didn't want to tumble down the stairs, I like having perfectly functional limbs, thanks.

It was quiet and dark… did I mention it was dark? Well it is, and I'm a little scared of the dark but didn't want to turn on the lights since I would have to turn them off for power preservation and that's just a endless loop of walking down the hall to turn them on only to turn them off because the door was three flights down.

Right, boiler.

It was particularly chilly since a snowstorm was scheduled to start a week from now, ending the autumn season and jumpstarting the festive Hearth's Warming season. I shivered a bit as I clopped down the creaky wooden steps, my usual uniform collar wasn't going to cut it for the rest of the week. I have been dying to try out that beautiful winter fashion scarf and hat that Rarity Belle had made me. She was sweeter than the Apple Family on Hearth's Warming and a great match for Twilight.

The second floor was ignored since the boiler was in the basement, I hummed to myself to keep the chill of both my own fear of the dark and the actual cold of the less air conditioned audience chamber at bay. Winter meetings were held in the long room since the vents actually blew enough heat in to keep it warm, sitting on a freezing floor can quickly change my mood to happy to unpleasant.

I sometimes considered buying pants for the occasions I did have to sit my butt out in this cold room, might get a few funny looks but my marehood was sensitive to all that cold and it hurt because of it.

‘creak’

I felt ice run through my veins as I nearly screamed, oh harmony. I do not do scary dark places, please please please don't let this be some ancient evil Twilight and her cohort somehow attracted. I wanted to go home and sleep! I didn't want to be chow for an ancient evil!!

I swung the flashlight back and forth through the dark of the main floor, nothing moved, only small shadows made my heart race when I thought they moved but when I shone the light on them they disappeared. I gave a nervous chuckle, feeling sweaty with the sudden spike of adrenaline of my own paranoia. We seriously needed to get this place fixed if the wood is creaking by itself.

Then I turned the light back around toward the even darker steps into the basement, a supply closet and the boiler room plus a small bathroom for the janitor was down there. Soap Bubble had gone home waaay before me so I knew she wasn't down there, she had a filly to look after.

“Okay, Ivory… you can do this… you are a big mare.” I said with a shaky breath and headed down into the even darker basement. Quick, quick, quick! Ohhhh harmony, too dark and too scary for me nope, nope, nope… the boiler seems to be working okay, yay, turn this valve here and it's off! Now run back up the stairs like a scared filly!

The clatter of my hooves was the only thing I could hear as my butt wiggled from the adrenaline pumping through me. Harmony, I hated going down there by myself.

Now to the door and I'm scot free! And not in this terrifying place!

I turned toward the door and right in front of me in the dark was a… something. Oh is that blood?

Oh… oh dear…

I felt myself go woozy with the overwhelming feeling of terror of seeing something or somepony in the dark.

“Uh… hi??” It said, sounding more confused than I was terrified.

“DON'T EAT ME! PLEASE! I'M ONLY A HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO!! I HAVEN'T HAD FOALS YET!! I'M JUST A ELECTED OFFICIAL!!” I screamed shrilly, backing up to the wall and pressing my back to it. But that exposed my belly, but if I turned around my plush rump would get torn in half but my head was on the front of my body!! I’M TRAPPED!! So I balled up, placing my hooves over my head in some weak attempt to keep sharp things away from my head.

I squeezed my eyes shut, hyperventilating and tensing waiting for that different kind of cold and the weird warm feeling of my blood draining from inside me to the outside me.

“Woah, woah, woah! Calm down, lady? I'm not going to eat anyone.” The deep voice of the thing said, I could hear the creaking of wood underneath their whatever they stood upon moving further away from me which I took as a hopeful sign of my good luck! Maybe I won't die!!

The flashlight had fallen and rolled away from me leaving a long eerie cascade of light that stretched the shadows strangely. I peaked my eye across my hoof to look at the dark shadow, since its voice was deep I was going to take a wild guess it was masculine in nature. It stood tall, like almost the size of a minotaur tall, it had the vague shape of one too especially in the torso area.

In the minimal light their fur was a dark reddish brown… wait… not fur. He was hairless?? So really dark red skin. As my single eye looked up towards the face in the dark, a swath of midnight black surrounded the dark red skin of their face. Their face was… squashed really flat but at least symmetrical so it wasn't as terrifying as before.

I grabbed the flashlight and turned it toward the tall figure.

“Hey! Ow!” he barked which made me quickly drop the direct light from his head as a massive arm rose to shielded his face.

“S-S-S-Sorry…” I stammered like I was hyped up more than Pinkie on several cups of coffee and two batches of sugar cookies. My whole body shook and my breathing was just as bad.

He was wearing… well when I say wearing I mean the clothes on his frame were barely hanging on and there was splotches of red across the torn fabrics. He had several large gashes across his sides and upper torso and was gingerly holding the side of one with his hand.

He was bipedal, standing on his hind legs like minotaurs would. He looked hurt but you never know with all the crazy crap that goes on here in Ponyville. We already had a massive Centaur destroy our town once.

“Can you tell me where I am? Who you are? And why you look like some pastel artists wet dream?”he asked though he didn't sound aggressive and it terrified me even further.

Ohhhh boy, I wasn't cut out for this, Twilight would at least have her powerful alicorn magic to back her up. I had flab and years of sitting on my butt to back me up.

“I-” my voice cracked horribly making my good speech voice come off as weak. Damnit, I wish I wasn't such a freaking scaredy cat!!

I cleared my throat still tensing and waiting for the inpony like leap and flash of fangs.

“I-I am Ivory L-Locket, M-Mayor o-of-of pony-Ponyville.” I felt tears rolling down my cheeks, I was going to get foalnapped and tortured.. oh Celestia…

“Um… okay…” The tall thing said, did I mention this thing was huge? Because he was like three heads taller than me. I wasn't the tallest pony nor was I shortest either, and here I was facing a giant.

Pull yourself together!! You aren't dead yet, show some courage!!

I shakily stood up, my hind legs were weak. Combination of how tired I was and my fear of the dark, plus the new strange creature talking to me I was exhausted. I think it said something about my stamina when I got tired after a league of jogging. To many sweets and sitting on my rump doing paperwork!

My hoof was shaking as I held the flashlight, still pointing it at the tall thing. I slowly started to skid to the side where the main chamber's light switch was. I fumbled around before turning on the lights. They sputtered a bit before clicking on setting the large room alight.

I was now standing to the side of a tall minotaur like creature who looked very hurt. He has the obvious and kind of blush inducing slim, muscular body with a rich reddish dark skin. The only visible hair on his body was the top of his head which was midnight black and long, down to his hips. He wore clothes even though they were so damaged they might as well had been wet rags against his skin.

He was covered in grime and blood and looked like he had been mauled by a Ursa Major with thick red lines of what looked like scrapes, rather than claw marks, that ran across his sides and front!

He was wincing as he stood there, holding his side which was bleeding past his hand and down his leg.

“Holy shit, you are a pastel pony thing! I thought I was hallucinating things!” he exclaimed his dark brown eyes lighting up with what I think is curiosity… or it could be hunger.

“Man… I don't feel so good. I don't know what you are little pony thing but um, I think I died.” He said slowly as he limped toward me before swaying and collapsing on the floor, managing to land on his rear with a loud ‘oof’.

“Fell off the cliff and I thought I died. But I woke up here, in that room over there.” He said pointing his large hand towards the ground floor meeting room.

There was a small trail of blood droplets from the room that indicated he had just come from there while I was down in the basement.

I panicked, now from a mix of fear of him in general and not knowing how to treat wounds! He was clearly hurt and.. maybe…. Not a pony eater.

Oh harmony what do I do!?

I didn't say anything, as I seem to have lost my voice. My jaw worked in cycles unsure of what to do, I glanced to the door. I could run, escape and raise the alarm to let Princess Twilight deal with this creature.

Or I could be the nice one and help a wounded creature… Fluttershy would give me The Stare if I left somepony hurt.

Swallowing thickly and sweating so bad that my back felt like I had water dumped on it making the frosty air even colder, my teeth even chattered.

“I-I'm going t-to come near you. D-Don’t e-eat me..” I stammered, the creature just nodded looking pale and bleeding on the floor.

“Okay Ivory… just… check if he is okay…” I whispered to myself as I took a shaky step forward, then another.

I made my way closer gaining more confidence with each step and by the time I was there he was eye level with me. His squashed face became clearer in the overhead light, his snout was very strange as it wasn’t as jutted out like mine was. He did have fur, it was just really really thin as I could see the tiny black hairs on his neck and shoulders. His eyes were narrow and less expressive, his cheeks were rounded but not in a fat sort of way, just that his cheeks were full.

He was… sorta handsome in a weird exotic way.

“A-Are you alright? I d-don’t know how to h-help.” I muttered, which the large creature let out a equally tired sigh.

“I'm fine… just a side cut, I scraped my whole front half on the side of that cliff. What exactly are you?” He asked, which prompted me to take a closer look only to cause panic to flair within my heart.

That was a really deep cut, like most of his side had been split open. How was he not screaming his lungs out, oh harmony that was a lot of blood.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, s-sir you are bleeding a lot. Like a lot, too much.” I said trying not to scare him or make him aggressive if I told him that he needed medical aid bad.

“I don't really feel it… huh..” he said looking down at it and blanched.

“Oh.”

“Weird, must be why everythings been getting colder...”

I scrambled in my satchel looking for the emergency dragonfire slip everypony needed to carry at all times. There it was!!

I took it into my hooves and tore it in half releasing a green light that quickly disappeared out the window. The paper reformed the moment I placed them back together ready for another use.

“P-Please don't panic, you are going to lose a lot more blood if you do.” I said still very nervous to be close to him but he was clearly losing strength with the amount of blood pouring from his wound.

“Weird. I'm going to die… again?” he said calmly still breathing normally. Ponyville General was only five minutes away from town hall, I just needed to keep him awake… that's what you do when somepony was bleeding right? PRESSURE!! WE NEED CLOTH AND PRESSURE!!

I nearly threw my satchel in my haste to look for my expensive shawl, the yellow one I liked to wear when my green one was in the wash.

I held up the fabric, and folded it as fast as I could and looked at him and his wound. Well he wasn't going to eat me right now, but he might when at full strength. I didn’t want to see somepony die regardless.

I don't know what was worse, my death or theirs.

I pried off his hand and quickly pressed the folded yellow cloth against the rather large wound. I held it hard against the wound which he took in a sharp breath and I could see fangs in his two rows of teeth and I felt my legs go weak. Spike was the only thing with fangs here in Ponyville and the dragon was still a baby.

I squeezed my eyes shut again and just held the cloth against his wound waiting for the mediponies to arrive. He was becoming a little delusional as he muttered things to himself and then something odd happened.

He pet me with this dopey look on his face. His hand was covered in blood so it got in my mane and coat but he gently rubbed my ears and I almost moaned in pleasure.

The sensitive tissue of my ears was stimulated completely, sending electric shocks down my spine enflaming the feeling of euphoria of having your ear bit when in the act.

Now a really conflicting fear and a strong subconscious desire to find out what those fingers could do. No wonder Lyra had been obsessed with minotaurs for nearly two years before finally settling down with Bon Bon, I could see the appeal.

Harmony above Ivory are you thinking of sex while somepony is bleeding out on you??? I was way too repressed I think.

The next two minutes were a blur as the front door slammed open and several mediponies came rushing in. There was gasps and some cries of fear but seeing the blood a good few of them hardened their expressions and moved me out of the way.

I was left on the sideline my mane and upper head covered in coagulating blood. The ponies spoke so fast and moved around the creature quickly.

I was breathing hard from the excitement, the terror, and my own exhaustion leaving me a little more than drained. A ER nurse gave me a wet rag to clean my face of the blood and asked me if I knew this creature, where it came from, and why it was here.

I answered the best I could but frankly I knew as much as she did. I was asked if I wanted to accompany him to ER. I just nodded dumbly, too worn out to really think on if I wanted to go home and forget this or go with this new strange creature.

The sickening feeling of a teleport spell warping the air and space around me. Then there was a sharp cracking noise like thunder and we were now standing in the ER lobby. I wobbled as my whole being did figurative somersaults from the displacement, I think I left my stomach back at the town hall…

I gagged as bile burned my throat, battling the horrible vertigo that comes with teleportation to keep my light dinner snack down. How unicorns could deal with teleportation all the time was beyond me.

The smell of antiseptic and bleach filled my nose as the flurry of movement happened all around me. The creature was placed on a gurney and rushed into the surgery wing, magic flying everywhere as ponies shouted his condition and what needed happened.

I heard crushed lower ribs, what sounded like spleen rupture, lost a lot of blood. I sat down roughly on the cold tiles of the ER wing, feeling utterly drained. There was a lot of wide eyes around me as they looked at my bloody grey hair and my nice beige coat that was sopping wet from the sweat I worked up.

Well… now what?

For the first time I was lost on what to do with myself, I was usually pretty confident and clear on what I wanted to do. Now though, I was torn between wanting to pass out, go home and forget this highly stressful night, or staying here to make sure the giant was okay.

I wiped myself up with the rag that was given to me and walked over to a nearby chair near the surgery wing.

I sat down and stared at the floor, feeling way too drained to have strong emotions right now.

Another nurse came to question me, and I replied the same way I had to the first. I don't know anything, and I found them bleeding to death. I was locking up for the night.

I passed out shortly after, one minute I'm sitting on the hard chairs of the waiting area, the next I'm being shook awake by none other than Twilight Sparkle.

She looked tired and ready to pass out too since she was woken up so early to make sure things were safe.

“Hey.” She started as I rubbed my eyes and adjusted my glasses. She gave me a nuzzle on the cheek, she and I had become friends since she was now a princess. As being princess came with governmental duties, she was in the main office as much as I was, so growing close was inevitable

“Hey.” I yawned, looking around blearily.

“So the human is stable.” She said sitting on the bench next to me.

“Human?” I asked, then eyes widening as I realized she was talking about the creature.

“Oh, the giant! That's great to hear! I.. I… I'm glad they are okay…” I said said feeling the whole incident and terror of dealing with a dying unknown creature hit me as a few tears rolled down my cheeks. Twilight gently nuzzled my cheek again, murmuring a soft question of if I was okay.

I nodded, maybe a little to hard.

“There was a lot of blood, and and… I was so scared… y-you know how I'm scared of the dark they were j-just there suddenly.” I started, feeling the stress starting to vent from me. I usually could put on a good poker face when the time came for a speech. Tonight was a bit different, and the shock caught up to me. A lot of tears were now rolling down my cheeks, ruining my makeup.

“Ivory.” Twilight leaned her head against mine as a wing wrapped around my back. I shook with a few sobs letting out all that panic and terror from me, funny how such a young mare like Twilight could give off such a confiding aura. I was the older mare, older by many years and I was crying like a filly.

“I-I'm okay.” I said sniffing loudly and rubbing my face with the now slightly damp rag.

“What the hay is a human? You said he was going to be alright? He isn't dangerous is he?”

“Yes a human, I've met them before in another world. He looks a lot different than the ones I've seen but he looks like one. I managed to get Sunset Shimmer to send me copies of medical books of humans so I probably saved his life with those. You saved his life by sending that EDF, he would of died if not for you letting them know.” Twilight gave me a tired smile and lightly bumped her head against mine.

“As for how dangerous he is, I don't know. Humans can be very nice, very mean, or something of both. Sunset was very lax on discussing human nature, just know they are a chaotic bunch that try and follow order most of the time but usually disregard whatever they feel like is not necessary to their goals. Though, generally humans can be nice… I'm not making any sense am I?” she giggled sheepishly.

“What happened to him?”

“He showed all the signs of high impact blunt trauma, it's a miracle that he had only broke his ribs and his left arm. That tear in his side is what would of killed him if he had been left alone. He'll recover with the transfusions we are giving him.” She said looking over to the double doors of the surgery wing.

“Ah…” I said softly, a small tinge of relief touched my heart now knowing that he was going to be okay and that he wasn’t going to eat us.

“You… you think I could see him? I was in a panic when he popped out of the woodwork in the darkness… I just want to visually see that he is okay.”

“Of course, he is in room fourteen now, just don't wake him. Magic can do some strange stuff to humans so we need to monitor him. Then I can walk you home.”

“Right.” I said gently, then I looked over to my friend giving her a small smile before heading off into the recovery wing. Being mayor had its benefits, I didn't get questioned why I was in the recovery wing or why I was walking down the hall to room fourteen.

Because I really didn't know myself.

Maybe it was because that having something almost die in your hooves could make you care, even if things happen so fast. That was several weeks of stress balled up into a bloody package, still... part of me was glad that I didn't run. That I had done the right thing and helped rather than flee like a mouse in front of a cat.

I needed a drink, something hard. Too bad the only alcohol was cheap wine from the market and cider. Most of the good stuff was down south or further up north. Mainly in Canterlot proper, but it was super expensive.

The door to room Fourteen was open and a nurse was checking the human’s vitals to ensure nothing was out of place. She smiled at me and I smiled back and nodded to her, then after she was done she left.

The massive human was on a minotaur hospital bed, the clothes he had on were removed and a blanket covered him up to underneath his chest. Large patches of white gauze covered his shoulder and a few places on his head, he had a weird green bag and IV drip being slowly drained into him. He was breathing slowly and sound asleep most likely under a sleeping and pain nullification spell. Pressurized oxygen tubes were inserted into his nose making sure he got enough air to recover.

I looked at him up and down as I made my way into the small room and sat down on the chair next to the bed.

It was so strange seeing something… so alien. Yet somehow familiar.

He must be at least six feet and five inches. I was only three feet and seven inches standing at full height. I was tiny compared to him. I scooted the rolly chair a little bit forward and gazed down at his hand.

I gently lifted the appendage up, amazed at how his palm engulfed my hoof with such ease. The large hand was attached to a slightly muscular arm that was all the same rich reddish brown, freckles and small moles speckled his skin.

It was puzzling, feeling something that had not apparent fur and how smooth his skin felt despite not having soft fur like my own.

I set his arm down, feeling heat bloom in my cheeks. What was I doing? I needed to go home and sleep.

Yet I sat there looking at the human, absorbed in the details of him. Maybe this is how Lyra felt when she talked about humans and hands. It was fascinating because how exotic it was, what with those dexterous looking fingers just made to grab things. Us ponies had to rely on magic to hold onto things, otherwise the hooves we had would be near useless.

I glanced up to the human's face making sure I wasn't waking him, his breathing was still slow and steady. I leaned down and gave his skin a soft sniff, pure curiosity driving me to do this.

He smelled like salt water, lush forests, fabric softener, and wood smoke. Were you anyone else but a pony you probably wouldn't get that smell, they were extremely subtle but I could smell them. There was also the copper smell of blood and iodine.

“I'm glad you are alright. Even if you scared the stuffing out of me. I wouldn't feel good knowing I just ran away and left you there to bleed out.” I mumbled, more to myself than anypony else.

I adjusted my collar and ascot, feeling awkward now just staring at this large human.

“Well…” I said standing up and coughing into my arm feeling my throat go dry.

“I guess goodnight… and um… get better.”

I stiffly turned myself and started to head to the door and feel myself blush. Harmony, that was awkward as all Tartarus. Even if he couldn't hear me, I felt stiff and unsure what to do since the human scared me half to death then nearly died. I think I got more grey hair from that.

I looked back at the tall human once more before heading out the door back to Twilight. As I walked slowly back I thought about that moment in his delirious state where he grabbed one of my ears and rubbed them, I hadn't felt that kind of pleasure in years. My job occupied most of my life and by the end of the work day I was way too tired to try and date or even relieve myself with the toy I bought.

Maybe I needed to step down for real. I was being consumed by my work and I really did want those foals I screamed about while thinking I was going to die.

The warm image of me loving on a newborn filly that had my pink bubblegum hair and was super wavy like mine popped into my head.It was one of the things I didn't get to experience and one that Swirly was working on right now. Last time we talked she was trying to get herself a few foals.

Even though I was the mayor and was well liked and even loved, it was kinda lonely. Very lonely, I didn't even have fish to come home to and my bed was the only thing that kinda mattered in my house. It's a nice one, being mayor gave me a hefty sum as payment since it is an important job. A big empty house that was there most of the time just to show off to guests when I could pull myself out of the office.

I was so relieved when Twilight came around since she could focus on the outside stuff while I dealt with the nightmare of a bureaucratic system and making sure disasters were taken care of.

It made my job just a bit easier since I didn't have to leave and let the paperwork pile up in my absence. But at the same time I went out less and now was confined to the office more often.

A double edged blade in this case.

Twilight was talking to one of the doctors, she still looked tired even though she was pointing out a few book with several medical looking titles. The doctor was just nodding his head.

“So make sure when he wakes up that you be as calm and reassuring as possible, he most likely doesn't know about this world and its inhabitants so he might freak. A slow acting calming spell would probably help if things get hairy, he won't be able to move much what with his side all tore up.”

“Yes, Princess.” The doctor replied and took the books in his magic and floated them over to rest on his back.

Twilight looked over to me and smiled trotting over to give me a nuzzle which I returned.

“You okay? You look like you've seen more than one human.” She asked and teased lightly but there was some concern in her voice.

“I'm… I'll be fine, just don’t really know how to take this all in. I saved them but at the same time my body was saying run and it's all so confusing. I think I need sleep.” I grumbled closing my eyes and sighing.

“That's okay Ivory, you did a pretty good job of handling it. When I was a human for a short time the first thing I did was scream and panic for about ten to twenty minutes, then more so when I saw my first human.” she chuckled, a light blush graced her cheeks.

“You were a human?” I asked incredulously.

“Yep, the portal I used to get there had a very powerful adaptation spell and converted my body into that of which was most intelligent. Humans happen to be the dominant species on their world, and they have things you couldn't even dream of. All this technology and not a drop of magic in sight, it was incredible and terrifying.” she chuckled again rubbing the back of her head.

I blinked at her, feeling a tiny bit jealous that she went on so many dang adventures while I could barely get out of the office.

I needed a good night's rest.

“Twilight… could you… um.” I hesitated feeling weird to ask the princess this. “Do you mind if I take a day off or two, this whole incident just reminds me that I'm going to crash hard if I keep this up.” I sighed heavily feeling more tired than ever.

“Oh! Sure, Ivory! I'm not going to deny you a break, I can handle things today, you should get some rest and recharge. Take a relaxing bath since you still got a bit of blood in your mane still.” She smiled understanding my need for a small break. I lightly touched my grey white mane and scrunched my face as I felt the drying crust of blood in it.

“Well I'm ready to go home, I need to clean myself up and get some sleep.”

“Alright give me a minute.”

…

The walk back to my house was a quiet one, with me sluggishly dragging my hooves and talking to Twilight.

She really was a nice mare, I thought about asking her on a date at some point but the Princess status was a tad bit intimidating. She and I would probably be a good match, I got along with her great, we both loved antiquing and I had a love for old foreign history while she had a love for old magical history. We could talk for hours and not run out of anything to talk about since we shared our thoughts and opinions.

She really was nice, and I was lonely.

I glanced at her which she was enjoying the early morning dusk watching the stars as we made our way through the near deserted streets of Ponyville. She was pretty, and now royalty.

I sighed heavily.

“You've been sighing a lot. You got something on your mind?” she asked distracted for a second before turning her purple irises towards me.

“Oh, n-nothing really…” I diverted, feeling my cheeks flush. “Just some dumb things.”

“Really? I don’t think you have dumb thoughts, you are really intelligent.” She praised easily giving me a smile.

My house was in view now and the tall second story cottage there on Yellow Star Street, only two blocks away from the town hall. I pulled my key from my satchel the moment we got to the steps leading up to the house.

“I… I wanted to ask you something. But I don't know if it would be proper now since you are a Princess now.” I gazed at the massive crystal castle in the distance where she and her dragon now lived.

She gave me a lopsided smile in the same kind of category that said I was being silly.

“I'm still me, Ivory, I haven't changed from being a normal everyday pony. Even if I do get into trouble more.” Twilight laughed. Her very pretty laugh.

“Y-You know I'm like a century older than you but… um.” I felt my tired brain freeze up a little with the confession, I wanted to tell her about two months ago but I kept stalling.

The scare, really did make me realize how lonely I was.

Twilight's expression was still a smile but curious confusion on what I was talking about filtered through it.

“Even, so. Recently I… have feelings… towards you!” I stumbled feeling like a high school filly again with my nervous confession.

“I like you… and I wanted to um… go out. To dinner maybe, o-or a movie! I-I heard those were very good.” I panicked feeling my cheeks get hotter and hotter.

Twilight's face went through a sequence of various emotions, shock, surprise, confusion, happiness, nervousness, and a few others I couldn't place my hoof on.

“I uh, well if you d-don't want to i-its fine. The whole scary incident j-just realized how lonely I feel and and-” my tired brain was panicking feeling really stupid, and might of made things super awkward.

“No! No no no!” Twilight said stepping forward and hugging me to keep me from escaping.

“I! I would love to go out to dinner and a movie with you and, we.. we can talk about this. It just so sudden and.. and I'm sorry for not seeing it sooner.” Twilight said nuzzling my cheek. I closed my eyes feeling my lip tremble, and a happy cry escaped my lips as I gave a non-believing laugh.

“I just, since we have grown so close as f-friends I kinda realized I liked you. I'm not as young as you, so I might not be as ‘hip’ as your younger friends o-or herdmates if you have them…” I said placing my face into her neck and hugging her back.

“I'm in a relationship with Pinkie, she… she really likes me and that was a whirlwind of emotion to figure that out” She chuckled kissing my cheek and then forehead.

I rubbed my eyes again feeling relieved.

“That's fine. Do… do you want to come in with me? Help me clean my mane?” I asked flushing a little as we separated and looked at one another.

Twilight's mouth opened and closed a few times her cheeks blooming into a warm blush.

“Y-Yeah, I don't have to be anywhere.” She stammered her left ear flicking in nervous excitement, she grinned at me as I opened the door.

I turned on the light to the inner entrance hallway, my unused living room was to the immediate right. The steps to the second floor was in front while the dining room was to the left and down the side of the stairway was the kitchen, downstairs bathroom, and my own away from work office. I rarely stepped hoof into a lot of these rooms.

The smell of settled dust seemed to cling to the air which I gave her a small apology for the dusty smell. She waved it off and kissed the side of my neck and cheek, her scent mingling with mine giving me small shivers.

“You don’t mind taking a bath with me, y-you are a lot more awake than me and um… yeah.” I blathered feeling my cheeks go hot, communal baths weren't uncommon but this was Princess Twilight Sparkle I was asking and I certainly didn't know proper royal etiquette. I mean I knew some but asking an alicorn to bathe with you wasn't on the list of political questions asked at university.

“Y-Yeah I'm fine with that Ivory, I’d be happy to do your mane.” She said as I returned the greedy kisses to her neck and cheeks. It was too early for the mouth but didn't mean I could kiss her neck and mingle my scent with hers. I could smell Pinkie Pie on her too, the soft smell of sugar and light perfume, Pinkie didn't wear perfume often but when she did it was always just light enough it mingled well with her other smells.

Twilight smelled like a library, cedar, ionized air, and her own scent which was a soft nighttime like smell.

Like a balm for a rough night.

Which is exactly what she was, a perfect balm for me.

The climb to my master bathroom didn't take long, though Twilight seemed just as greedy with the affection. So there was a few moments where the bigger mare pressed me against the wall, her alicorn status was changing her body and it was now slowly becoming bigger. She already passed me in height she was a nice four foot three inch alicorn. That wasn't including her horn which had gotten longer too, I might have a bit of a subby streak in me for larger ponies.

Nothing hardcore but that rush of not being able to fight back and become surrounded by them was overwhelmingly arousing.

This felt good, the trust bonding of all the kisses and gentle loving movements. Ponies who wanted to be closer always did this, because it made us feel closer especially to those who we harbor feelings for. Reciprocation of my gestures made my heart do little jumps of joy because Twilight wanted to be closer too.

After the bath was drawn we both sat in the water her belly pressed against my back and wings draped around my torso. The only downside was that I could barely see past my nose but I didn't want to look too nerdy with those massive glasses I had in my bedroom so I got those half moon glasses that made me look sophisticated. It was probably why I was afraid of the dark since I couldn't see anything more than a inch from my nose. Just blurry blobs of things.

The warmth of the salted bath water and Twilight's gentle breathing against me lulled my aches and stress. I was struggling to stay awake now and Twilight seemed to sense this, because she poured water over my head and scrubbed the nice mix of shampoos I owned in with her hooves and magic.

I sighed happily as I was pampered, it had been way to long since I had somepony to touch me and pamper me.

“Thank you Twilight.” I said between splashes of water and the tender ministrations of her hooves.

“It's no problem Ivory, I'm happy that I could do this for you. I love Pinkie, and I really like you so hopefully you two would like each other. Pinkie can be a bit excessive sometimes, but she really is very sweet.”

“I figured, Pinkie has always been nice to everypony so. The only times I've had problems with her is when I was cranky from work, which seems to be a theme.” I said turning slightly to give her a smirk.

She snorted with a short laugh, shaking her own wet mane.

“Oh I know all too well about your cranky nature, I'm just glad I haven't been in the blast zone.” She snickered.

“I'm probably going to be immune from that from now on, since you know…” she moved my mane away from the back of my neck and kissed it.

Making my whole body shiver and giving me a tingly feeling in the tips of my hooves.

“Y-Yes.” I stammered, wanting those kisses to continue. “I don’t think I could be cranky at you, y-you are one of the ponies I go to for decompression.”

“Aww, thank you Ivory~ good to hear I help you out, close your eyes”

I closed them and felt the hot water pour over my head in a soothing gentle way that made me incredibly sleepy and safe feeling.

Twilight made me feel safe.

She made sure to get all the soap out of my mane and then work on my tail since tail care was just as important as mane care.

“Help? You don't just help Twilight, you are a lifesaver sometimes. When I ran for election I didn't expect this dinky town to become so hectic.” I chuckled, sighing in happiness and some pleasure as Twilight worked her way down my tail.

“I would of had many a panic attack if it weren't for you.”

Twilight pressed her belly against my back again, her large wings covering the entirety of me save for my head.

She and I talked about little things for a while longer before I could barely keep my eyes open which by then we got out of the bath and dried up. My large cool bed was comforting in a way as it was always super soft to lay on.

Twilight pulled the covers up over me, but I mumbled at her.

“No… stay… please?” I asked, sleep was already taking me as I said this. Twilight leaned down and whispered that she would and kissed my forehead.

Last thing I remember was the shift of the bed and feeling warmer than I would of being by myself.

…

I was sore, you know the kind that when you lie in bed for to long your back begins to ache. I woke up because of that, my vision more blurry than normal as I stretched trying to make the ache go away so I could continue to sleep.

Small pops of my bones left that relief of pressure on them as I rolled onto my back to stare at the ceiling. Or the grey white blob above me, I could barely make out anything so I rubbed my eyes and let out a long sigh.

I was awake now, my body seeming to have been fed up with that thing called sleep despite my brain's protests to return to the land of the dead.

I rolled to my other side, finding the bed empty but messy of having an occupant for the night. I blinked trying to figure out why it was like that, the slow grinding of my brain’s gears beginning to turn.

I took a deep breath, and I could smell Twilight’s scent from the bedsheets. I blushed hard realizing in my stressed and sleep deprived state I had confessed to Twilight last night how much I liked her.

It was too early to tell if this relationship was going to work out, she did want to feel close to me since I sort of smelled like her. We went through that whole process of sharing each other's stronger scents to feel more at ease.

I turned my head again to the somewhat open door leading out of my bedroom. I grumbled that Twilight had left or was up and wasn't here so I could cuddle her.

The pang of loneliness touched me at the thought, making me sigh heavily. I reached over to my bedside table lightly feeling out for my ‘at home’ glasses. They were rather nice I will admit but they were a little silly looking on my head, my grey white hair fell across my face as I put on the black wireframe glasses. My natural curls and waves less bouncy since I went to bed with my mane a little wet.

I looked over to the closet mirror, one of those new slide ones with the full body mirrors.

Seeing myself.

My hair was a bit frazzled and I had some dark half circles under my eyes. I was breathing slowly while my phthalo (yes, that is a real color!) blue irises scanned my half covered body in the blankets.

I was small, like I had said before, I wasn’t the biggest pony. I looked like a filly curled up on my king size goose feather bed, I held out one of my hooves examining it. Short, round, soft looking and cute to a lot of mares and stallions. I was well groomed, my coat had a nice soft sheen to it that said I took the best care of it which I tried very hard to do.

I never want to walk into Town Hall looking like I had wrestles with a Ursa major and barely survived.

I lifted the covers off myself showing my round features, I ate a little too many sweets to show off the minuscule muscles since my belly showed no sign of physical conditioning. Which meant my hips were quite ample and my butt big, thankfully it didn't show up in my cheeks since I still had my mother's good looks.

Following along my barrel down towards my hind legs were my two small breasts which had two dusky dark tan nipples which covered most of my navel.

I had all my femininity in the right place between my hind legs. Unlike most mares I was molted with a lighter whitish grey specks that ran around my hindquarters and a little up my back. I had tiny pinkish spots across my coat in general showing that my mother was a dark pink mare with light white mane. My Father had the flaming pink hair that I inherited but it seemed moms hair color was shining through more than anything.

My hoof slowly ran down my chest and belly between my breasts and between my legs, where I lightly touched the soft nub of pleasure that was nestled at the top of the lips of my sex. Another shiver ran through me, I stopped moments later retracting the hoof.

I hadn't felt that kind of pleasure in months, it was hard not to just go to town on myself but I think I could hear Twilight downstairs. As much as I wanted to be with Twilight, I couldn't rush things.

‘We go at her pace Ivory.” I whispered, looking at my sideways figure in the mirror. I was getting on in years but at least I looked somewhat attractive.

Pulled the rest of the covers off and rolled onto the floor, my hooves hitting the ground before I could fall fully. I stood up on my hind legs and stretched again, hearing the soft pop of my bones. Then landed back on all fours again and made my way downstairs, I could smell pancakes which made my stomach growl.

Oh harmony I haven't had an actual breakfast since… I couldn't remember when. It was usually toast, or oatmeal, and that was just shoved into my face fast enough to get moving to the morning meeting.

I had bought strawberries not but a day ago on my way home after I suspiciously got off work early. I was just going to eat them raw but if she was making pancakes of them I think I might kiss her.

I drooled a little and quickly rubbed my face to remove the tiny excess slobber from my lips. I turned down the hallway into the modest sized kitchen I owned which was connected to the dining room, it didn't have a lot of color since I was only in here for short periods of time anyways.

It's kinda sad that my job has become my life, but ever since the influx of ponies hearing about the beautiful crystal castle and countryside view a lot of ponies decided to buy up a lot of real estate. A lot of them just came to ogle the new princess, which I was ‘the demon with the white mane’ when tourist came trouncing through the office to take pictures of Twilight Sparkle. We had highly sensitive documents here in town hall, and a group of rampant ponies could destroy or even worse steal from a desk.

We had a track record of being one of the most peaceful places in equestria with crime being only a 0.3% of kingdom wide crime which hovered around a 4%. Ponies are conflicted bunch, always having a very sharp contrast from being incredibly nice to positively mean.

Twilight was indeed in the kitchen, humming a happy tune that followed no real cadence. Her hair was tied back with one of my hair ties, and she was flipping a flapjack from the cast iron skillet I owned with her spatula.

A plate was already on the table another was empty but had fork and knife laid down next to it.

She bounced to her own music as she added more batter to the skillet making a audible ‘hisssss’ in its wake.

“Love is in bloom hmm hmm two hearts becoming one hmmm hmm hmm huuh!” she sang cutely, I felt my heart take a heavy dose of that and nearly died at how freaking cute that was.

Oh harmony, what a dork, not that I could say much since I tried to be spooky at Nightmare Night in a clown costume but thems the breaks. She turned around setting a plate of flapjacks down and eyes widened when she saw me.

“Oh! Ivory, I was actually about to go wake you up, I called you out today and had Summer Wisp take care of the management duties. He should be able to handle things since he is a hard worker and vice president of the town committee.” She explained giving me a bright smile, and I was thankful that I had glasses on because it would of directly blinded me.

“So I got the day off too! I wrote everypony a letter on instructions for the next day or two since we deserve a break don't you think?” She came over and nuzzled my cheek, which I pulled her into a tight hug.

“Thank you Twilight, I needed this.” I said softly in her ear which she nuzzled underneath my chin taking care not to stab me with her horn. Her wings wrapping around me enveloping me in her wholeness.

“It’s nothing really Ivory, I know the need for breaks sometimes and I've been overworked too. I made pancakes! It's one of only things I'm really good at cooking, Pinkie usually makes dinner when I'm over or she is. Since I burn a lot of things.” she chuckled with a faint blush on her cheeks, I rubbed my nose against her's for a brief second, before pulling back from the wonderful hug.

“Twilight, I haven’t had a real breakfast in ages, you are a miracle worker by my standards.” I said eyeing the food and the growl in my stomach increased in audibly. She gave a cute laugh as I rubbed the back of my head with a blush.

“Let's eat then, everything is ready~” she hummed merrily, her wings fluttering as she pulled the chair out for me and I sat down and waited till she sat down too. With a quick flick of her magic, the stove was off and the pans were scrubbing themselves in the sink.

Show off.

I wanted to be a unicorn when I was really little because I love magic, but earth ponies didn't have a lot of options with magic. I could of made myself a foci but that would of cost more than my eight years in law school combined. Sure school had always been affordable but it did have some debts to it, four hundred Bits was a lot for a young mare practicing law by herself.

I had gotten my cutie mark in middle school after I had diplomatically resolved the issue between two clubs over who could use the track field for afterschool activities. I knew then I would make a excellent leader and decided to study law and its practice when I got out of highschool.

I was still jealous because I wanted a magic cutie mark, not some dumb sealed scroll representing a bill. But I digress, I was happy doing what I was doing even though I felt entirely burnt out about it.

I gave a quick prayer to Harmony that Twilight and I would be happy together before taking a bite and groaning in pleasure because of the actual real food in front of me.

“Are they that good? You haven't even put butter or syrup on them!” Twilight laughed brightly, which I stopped and politely coughed. Adding the needed condiments along with a large helping of whipped cream I restrained myself long enough to make sure Twilight had her things ready to go before digging in.

Sweet Celestia on a heart shaped bed, this was good. Real non bland flavour!! Actual food and not from the take out place in downtown!

“Why wasn't I informed about humans before? You'd think since I'm mayor I would know this stuff.” I asked between bites, and slowed to watch Twilight pop a bit of pancake in her mouth then lick the fork for extra syrup that was left over. It wasn't erotic in the slightest but she was very cute, but my mind took it into an erotic context.

I tore my gaze away trying hard to not look like I was some love struck filly. I had stared at Twilight before in the office when she was working with me, just how her lips pouted just a tiny bit or smiled when she read something. The way she moved her mane out of the way when she talked or was looking down.

At first I thought I was being one of the tourists and ogling the princess, but the more we talked over the last two years the closer I became to her. Fear of my age often scared off a lot of suitors, being over a hundred wasn't uncommon but being single over a hundred was. Ponies often got into small groups of lovers or friends when they were young.

I did too at one point, but my work my dedication to my studies often isolated from others. Even some of the more serious students at UC had been off at some point talking with their marefriends or coltfriends or even both.

Reminds me of the first time I had sex, and how awkward and emotionally draining it was since the stallion I had finally gotten into bed was nice but he and I didn't click very well. We had to many disagreements and my temper flared a few times at him, which just left me emotionally drained afterward.

I couldn't hold a relationship long because everypony said I was married to my job. I guess they were right. I was lonely, tired, and burnt out from everything.

I couldn't even smile some days because I was burnt to a husk.

“Well it's not really public knowledge, since The Princesses are struggling with a gate to pass reasonable supplies to their world and finally get trading going. There is a large school there that is being turned into a embassy, kinda sad but the government over there says that another school would be constructed in the meantime. It's an alternative world, there are almost copies of us living out their lives.” Twilight said excitedly, her eyes sparkling when she talked about a subject she really wanted to blab about.

“So.” I said, pausing long enough to chew my stuffed cheeks of their contents.

“You are saying there are just look alikes in that would but they look like that big guy?” I asked frowning, and trying to imagine Twilight as a massive human. She giggled as she saw my look of concentration, leaning over to nuzzle my cheek.

“No, silly. They are like us but not really like that giant in the hospital, he's a special case since he doesn't look like he's from that world. I might need to write the princesses a letter about dimensional space fluctuations making objects or even people pop out of the woodwork. I’m just glad that you managed to save that human.” She said taking bites between her sentences.

“Dimensional what now?”

“Small cracks in the universe, sometimes when teleportation or long distance gate magic becomes old it can fray at the edges of reality leaving the weave of reality to have tiny holes. Which stuff can fall through, usually it's not very big stuff, a bit or two disappearing from the floor, can’t find your hat and you turned the house upside down to find it, it probably fell through.”

“So that's why I can’t find the papers I need sometimes? I had form 4-O disappear on me three weeks ago and that backed everything up.”

“No, not everything like that falls through cracks, did you check the file I sent you that week? There was a confusing error in the form so I had to reprint the paper.”

“You did!? No I didn't, I was freaking out that we didn't have it!”

Twilight belly laughed, making my heart flutter and giving a nice euphoric feeling that I could hear such a pleasing sound.

“Well now I know why Blue Ink was crying and the financial team was looking like they had been stabbed.” Twilight said with mirth, leaning over to me who was rubbing my temples due to my own inability to look at my inbox for important things. She gave me a tender kiss on the cheek, she smelled like strawberries and sugary syrup which made me hungry but a different kind of hungry.

“Another wonderful frantic day in the office.” I grumbled, leaning into her nuzzling and returning the gesture.

“You know it Ivy~ while it's a nightmare most of the time it does have some satisfying results when you get that plan for a building done just right or when the tax information and stocks are going in your favor. Ponyville is growing by the day, I'm partially the reason why but if we plan everything right Ponyville should remain as beautiful and green as when it first started.” she pulled out a odd device that was about the size of a dinner plate, flat and rectangular in shape.

She pulled out a black pen but not quite a pen since it had no tip or feather, and simply looked like a small black stick. The black square lit up after tapping the rectangle, making me flinch.

“Right, so breakfast is about done. Was there anything in particular you wanted to do today Ivory? The Equestrian Network is still very new but I can pull some of those movies up to see what's playing, oh and some fancy restaurants! Though I wouldn't mind just going for a donut at Donut Joe's before we head off to see that movie. They are fantastic by the way! I've seen one already with Pinkie and even while I was over there!”

“Wait wait!? Equestrian Network!? What the hay is that!?” I exclaimed feeling like I had missed a memo and the meeting started without me.

Twilight understandably looked confused too then facehoofed groaning.

“I'm so sorry Ivory, I forgot to tell you. I was visiting Canterlot and it slipped my mind entirely. The Princess needed to show me some of the ropes of kingdom management and introduced me to this. It's very new, and one of the things from their world! They call it a tablet, and its hooked up to a electromagnetic signal that revives data and information in things called ‘servers’! Sunset was very nice in explaining how to use one of these things! Come here I'll show you!” Twilight nearly burst out of her seat to show me the glowing rectangle.

There was a picture of me, Twilight, and the office team on the ‘tablet’. Over the heartwarming picture were these tiny pictures that looked like things you normally see.

One was a calculator, a letter, a sphere that looked like a imaginary world, a photograph, a book, and a notebook. Twilight grinned at me as she pressed the black pen like thing to the photograph icon, which I flinched again as a new image popped up.

It was a small row of tiny photos, which amazed me how they got so small. She pressed the ‘pen’ to one of them and a smiling image of Princess Celestia who was out of center, Princess Luna was standing behind her holding a similar device looking more confused than anything and Pinkie Pie who was a blur in mid air.

Rainbow Dash's face was watching the pink blur in the middle of saying something. Overall it was very cute and I giggled at the chaotic moment Twilight took the picture.

“I tired to take the picture with my hooves these things aren't really made for them.” Twilight giggled, taking a moment to lean her head against mine before swiping the pen to the side and another image appeared.

This one was of a ‘human’ and the four Princesses standing with the tall creature, she was elderly and in a very nice business suit that was a cream color. She had short reddish hair and soft pale almost unseeable green skin, a very nice gold necklace with a ring hanging from it was around her neck.

“That's their leader Madame Joyce Murdoch, she is the president of the nation that the main portal is anchored at. On the right there you can see Sunset Shimmer, she was originally Princess Celestia’s student before me.” Twilight pointed out a unicorn mare who was a honey amber color with red and bright yellow mane that looked kinda like how haybacon looked like, her cutie mark was also unique as it looked like her namesake with the red and yellow motif.

“Sunset initially had been an enemy when she stole the Element of Magic tiara, but after reformation she is a very close friend of mine. After the whole ordeal and our world and magic was exposed she went to their government and initiated contact between our realms. It's not really widely known but they've been in contact with us for about seven months, mainly we have been looking into building a better portal between our worlds so we can trade more easily. Like I said earlier magic is very sparse over there and they have need of it to solve things like cancer, a few incurable diseases that we solved with magic but they couldn't with their tech. The Equestrian Network went up about two months ago and it's already being filled with information, not a lot, a few businesses looking to sell over there, scientists and their studies, among other things.”

“Wow.” I said sitting fully in my chair, completely blown away by the whole thing. “So that's why you requested that week off huh? Well shoot, I wish I knew about it maybe I wouldn't of lost some of the color in my coat if I knew that humans were here.”

Twilight laughed sheepishly as she blushed. I smiled at her, leaning over to scoot my chair closer to her and rest my head against her's.

“I wouldn't mind going to that place in Canterlot, The Plaza I think it's called. It’s got live music almost every night, and a full bar and menu and its formal wear only…” I gave her a sly grin as I pressed my nose into her neckline.

“I would love to see you in a pretty dress for a beautiful mare. I know I'll dress up fancy.” I said gently into her ear, causing the purple alicorn to turn a little more red and her eyes to dilate.

“T-The Plaza sounds good! Um, Mare in the Stars is playing tomorrow night at the Canterlot Cinema, d-do you want to go see that one? It's a romantic comedy.” She said a little breathlessly, ears were my weak spot too Twilight. This made me feel mischievous and I nibbled the tip of her ear, the wings on her back leapt out standing to attention. She held a hoof to her mouth when I heard the tiny vibration of a muffled groan of pleasure.

Ponies like myself and quite a few others were very affectionate when it came to wooing somepony, nibbling, biting, nuzzling, all in the name of enticing the other into a relationship. Twilight and I were already close friends, I was also touch starved and Twilight seemed to be happy to receive the attention so I may be laying it on a tad thick.

Being without somepony to hold in ages can really make you a little reckless when it comes to such things. I wanted to love on her because I really liked her, even if she was only twenty five. I was much much older than her, so I didn't want to overstep my bounds.

So if she asked for me to stop I would.

“I haven't seen any cinema before so you pick, I'm sure it'll be wonderful regardless!” I chirped, I really was excited to see the movies. I heard excellent things about them and they were much more entertaining than reading from what I was told.

“R-Right.” Twilight said tapping her tablet a few times then looked back up at me with a small twinkle in her eye.

I took another bite of my slightly cold pancake and gave her a wink.

“Are we going to see that human today?”

Author's Notes:

You know Ivy, you could of asked me sooner you know. I really was crushing on you while we still just friends, and don't fret so much about your age! Everypony is older than me, Pinkie has like four years on me!

I thought I was really overstepping my bounds there! You don't just ask your princess if you just want to get together!

But you did, and you did it so cutely I just had to! It so totally reminded me of how Shiny asked Cadence out, you did better than him since he just blurted out 'GO OUT, PLEASE?!' while we were at dinner. Cadence laughed so hard the wine she was drinking came out of her nose!

Look I stalled, mainly because I've been out of practice. You even know I haven't even been with anypony since you two came along, nerves got the better of me.

I know, but I'm super glad you did!

Hey, looks like I'm going to be recapping on what happened to me before I passed out, so scoot over scroll butt or sit in my lap.

Being Human Sometimes Sucks.

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[Human Perspective]

Have you ever broken your ribs? Or maybe gotten a road rash on the side of your body?

By the time I opened my eyes I felt like crying, and probably did considering the pain caused by every breath. That was the start of my troubles, the stiff painful feeling of my entire body prevented any sort of free range movement. So if I was laying at the bottom of a cliffside washed up on shore this was going to take some considerable effort of will.

Strangely enough, I was warm and laying on something soft. There was a small chill that kept running up and down my right arm, providing a bit of relief of the stiff painfulness that was my being. I couldn't move my left arm at all though my fingers wiggled in a hard encasing which caused hot bolts of fire through my arm making me groan with the pain.

I opened my eyes, the pain causing a need to move to sit up and find out why I was in such pain. First thing I saw was my own body laying on what looked like a bed with green everywhere.

The room itself was a soft pastel light green with brown or white accents, a curtain was pulled blocking my right side view. The very soft beep of a heart monitor annoyingly rang in my ear to my left. I looked down at my left side seeing my arm was being held in a cast that ran up the entirety of it leaving only my fingers and thumb exposed, it was grey in color and made of that course hardened wrapping you see often in most casts.

In my right arm was a IV drip, with a white pad and tape keeping it covered. There was also a sickly green liquid being injected into my lower right arm which was making that odd cold feeling of numbness. Some kind of painkiller but none I've seen before.

I checked my functionality of my legs doing a small flexing of the appendages. I seemed to have retained all functionality in legs which is good so I wouldn't be in a wheelchair.

Memories of the events leading to this surfaced in my pain addled mind, the fall, the sea water filling my lungs, the cold as I was slammed into the rocks, the feeling of weightlessness then suddenly I had felt dry if very cold.

Then the talking pony thing in the night.

I remember it having a feminine sounding voice so she was cute for whatever she was. Even though it was my brain trying to make sense of the world through fever dreams… Hopefully.

The sound of the door opening made me glance towards the curtain, it hurt way too much to move right now and I was guessing that it was a nurse or doctor coming to check on me.

The curtain was drawn back after a few seconds and my brain went blank, standing there was a pastel pony thing. She definitely has a feminine shape to her face and eyes, was white and very light pink. Her coat was an ivory white that shimmered in the light of room, her very light pink hair was almost like light cotton candy in color with very pretty, and I must admit very pretty! Baby blue eyes looking at my light brown ones.

We stared at one another, the small three foot something tall pony in a very well maintained nurse uniform and cap that had hearts around and in the center of the universal symbol for aid; the red cross.

Her light pink hair was pulled back into a bun and tucked neatly on the back of her head.

Her ear flicked in a nervous sort of way as she looked me all over, which I did the same.

“Ahem.” She cleared her throat, swallowing audibly as her stance became more rigid to hide her obvious nervousness.

“I am Molly Redheart, or Nurse Redheart. You were in a accident and we provided aid to you, you had a ruptured spleen, crushed ribs, broken upper and lower arm, many lacerations of varying degrees, and a concussion. You are currently in Ponyville General Hospital, Equestria, on the Planet known as Equis. I ask that you remain calm so you do not tear the stitches we applied for recovery.” She started though her voice cracked at the very beginning of her sentence.

A strange emotion swirled in my head as I looked upon her, feeling that sense of existential minusculity that was brought upon by the knowledge of a world too big for you to understand. The five steps of grief quickly ran their course as I didn't want to believe my eyes.

Yet here I was.

If I step back and reflect upon the situation, she was as likely as terrified as I was due to a alien looking at her and she to I.

So I decided to direct the stand off mood of the room into a better light rather than destroy what was left of my spleen. Which is what I felt like doing but destroying my spleen would not be in my best interest.

So instead I sat back further into the pillow and let out a long sigh.

“Alright, I know you know that I'm quite aware that I should be freaking out and wanting to scream but destroying what is left of my spleen wouldn't help me in that matter. So instead I am going to take this in stride and ask a few questions just to satisfy my curiosity.” I said taking another painful deep breath to calm myself.

“Am I dead?” I asked turning my head to the small ivory colored pony.

“You wouldn't be talking to me if you were.” She said, she was still nervous but the question managed to make her smirk.

“Excellent.” I replied taking a moment to congratulate my finding that I was indeed not dead.

“Next, what are you Nurse Redheart?”

“I’m a Earth Pony, which there are two other of my kind; Unicorn and Pegasus.”

“I suspected that you were some sort of equine race, my theory has been confirmed thank you. It seems not only am I in a world where slightly anthropomorphic equines speak, there are the mythological counterparts living here as well. Which is both exciting and terrifying in its entirety.” I said, very slowly pushing myself back up into a sitting position.

“My final question is how did I get here?”

“You suddenly appeared late last night and our Mayor managed to call us, you are lucky that the Princess was here to give us some information on your kind.” Nurse Redheart said taking a tentative step forward to me, “Do… Do you mind if I come close? I need to check your stitches.”

“Ah, yes. Do what you need too.” I said gesturing vaguely with my good arm. The little pony quickly came closer and checked the machines and then got on her hind legs to slowly peel the covers back off my person.

My modesty was thankfully left covered as I viewed the large and ugly bruise that covered nearly my entire torso, white patches of gauze littered my body but the largest was around my left abdomen side which was slightly dark red from dry blood.

“I'm impressed that I survived.” I said as she dexterously but gently pulled back the large patch over my left side. It looked like someone had took a considerable chunk out of my side, I was going to have one hell of a scar.

“We were too, or that you could move in the state you were in.” she said reaching over to a side tray roller that was near my bed and pulling out a brown bottle, she took a clean rag and poured the clear substance onto it.

“What is your name?” she looked up at my face giving me a small smile and continued “This might hurt a little.”

“It's Aaren Fjeld-Oooowwwchhh.” I said then ground my teeth as a burning sensation covered my side when she gently placed the rag on my wound.

She dabbed at the stitches, making me catch my breath as it stung. It made me wanna roll my eyes back and pass out.

“Sorry, but we don't want you to get a infection.” She said as she continued to clean up my wound and then placed a clean patch over it again.

“N-No.” I rasped, then swallowed hard “I understand, you are more of the medical expert than I.”

“You wanna tell me how you got so banged up?” She asked as she took another clean rag and pulled another patch up.

“Honestly, I think I fell off a cliff. Or got pushed. One or the other, either way it was a long drop and I hit rock. Really I don't remember much of what exactly happened, other than the strong smell of cinnamon.”

I took a moment to look at the pony who was providing me aid, the more we talked the more at ease she seemed to fall into. Her cute round, if rather chubby ear twitched when I talked giving me the overwhelming urge to touch it.

If just to sate the curiosity of what her fur felt like, most of the numbness was in my stomach area and just the cleaning solution she was using seemed to be the only thing strong enough to pierce through it.

Impulse took charge and I reached up and gently rubbed my forefinger and thumb together over the tip of the ear. My assumption that it was soft, was shattered as it wasn't just soft, it was the softest thing I think I've ever had the pleasure of touching.

Her body temperature was higher than my own so it was warm, borderline hot. But incredibly fluffy.

Nurse Redheart went rigid as a steel bar, as I in my own obliviousness continued to rub the tip of her ear. I didn't want to hurt her so I was gentle with it, amazed with how damn soft it was.

She made a small squeaky noise and one of her hind legs suddenly quivered and kicked in some kind of reflex. Enraptured by the strange softness and her reaction I went lower gingerly rubbing the center of her ear then upward in small up and down motions.

She let out a gasp and one of her hooved arms covered her mouth as incredibly she began to turn shades of pink through her fur. The visibility of this was defying logic as her fur should've covered the flush of blood to the surface of her skin making it unnoticeable. She hadn't said stop or anything so it seemed to be pleasing to her, perhaps I was overstepping the rules of personal space here but if you had felt the softest thing you could ever imagine you would be hard pressed not to want to continue to feel it.

This time I went from the base of her ear rubbing the small chubby folds that protected her inner ear, my thumb easily big to almost cover a good deal of her ear. I blinked as I could smell something, it was like a gentle perfume of something sweet.

It was probably what she was wearing while she worked as a nurse, Nurse Redheart looked like she was trying to keep her mouth closed but her legs quivering made soft ‘clack clack’ noises as her legs shifted to support herself.

What in the world was happening, Aaren you are making first contact with a unknown species and you are rubbing their ears like you would a dog or cat!

Shut up other voice this is a soft ear and she hasn't said anything so she clearly must be enjoying it like our cat would!

Are you not paying attention you dolt!!? That is clearly a look of sexual arousal!! You are getting her rocks off!!

What!? Really??

I blinked a few more times as the good Nurse couldn't keep a bit of a low moan from escaping her. A very slow sexual kind of moan that said, this felt good in the sexual way.

“B-Buck…” She whispered to herself looking lost in the feeling.

Realizing my error I let go as if my hand had caught fire, which in my better judgement might of been done differently because it made my entire side scream in anguish.

Molly Redheart took a shuddering breath and looked very disappointed that the stimulation to her ear was gone, because she almost made a piteous whine. Before taking a moment to realize what had happened to her and she back up faster than I thought the little pony could her tail tucked between her legs looking red faced and breathing heavily.

“I-I-I'm sorry I-I don't know what came over me!! Really! Your ear looked soft and I just couldn't help it!”

I had an obsession with things that were soft, the feeling gave me goosebumps which had to do with my skin having a high awareness of the texture of soft. My brain simply enjoyed the feeling of it a little too much.

“N-No it’s!” she took a deep breath trying to get her blush under control.

“It’s fine, I-I figured you would be curious. B-But make sure t-to ask next time, you didn't hurt me… quite… quite the opposite.” her voice lowered as she mumbled the last part. I felt my own cheeks flush with embarrassment and how weirdly fucking cute that was to think rubbing her ears made her feel that good.

“Ahem, l-let me finish taking care of your wounds first t-then I can let you touch my coat.” She said looking away for a second and tried to adjust her uniform and her cap, making sure her bun was still secure.

“You aren't mad?” I asked, even though I was about 6’5 in thanks to my father's tall family genes the voice that came out of the large native American/Scandinavian mouth of mine was quite tiny.

She shook her head.

“No, out of all the ponies here in the hospital I happen to be use to other species being curious of us. I worked in a hospital that had more species than pony in them and the city around it. I expected something but, I expected you to ask, so I apologize for not telling you.” She said now getting her breathing under control.

“Pony ears are exceptionally sensitive, you have to ask if you can touch somepony's ears. I'm gonna let what you did slide since that felt magnificent, but if I say stop, stop…” she said before coming back to the side of the bed.

“Y-Yes…”

I sat in silence for the next five minutes as Molly cleaned me up, checking my temperature, then nodded before pulling up a chair from the wall directly in front of me to to my bedside where she sat taking off her cap.

“Okay, Mr. Fjelds you may touch any part of my head, just no invasive things like sticking your finger in my eye that still hurts.” she said her voice warm and a tint but eager.

“So you are all ponies? Everyone here in the hospital?” I asked as I lifted my hand to touch the downy soft texture of her mane. I gently dug my fingers through the top of her mane, which she let out a content sigh and tried not to lean into my hand to much.

“Yes, Ponyville is solely a pony populated area. We have a Dragon and a Zebra here but Zebra’s are so closely related to ponies that doesn't matter. The dragon is our Princesses's companion.”

My fingers massaged her scalp and hair making her close her eyes and press her head into it, this was too cute. I don't think I could handle this kind of cute.

My hand moved down to her warm cheek feeling the difference between the textures of her fur. Her fur was longer in places that didnt move so much, so her cheeks had a nice velvet like fur that was squishy because of her plumpness. She was plump, but it didn't seem to be excessive as I looked her further down and saw on her flank was a image directly ripped off her cap. The crazy thing was is that it was her fur, it wasn't faded or even blending like normal different colors would do on fur patterns but exact and clear.

Her rump was round and kinda plush looking that curved towards her dock and tail which was the same color as her mane. What kind of genetics would birth pink fur was beyond me.

That soft perfume smell had faded a little but I could still smell it.

“Why do you have an image on your butt?” I asked, and Molly snorted with laughter, giggles escaping her that made her more adorable than I could handle.

I think how these ponies survived was through sheer cuteness factors.

“That's a cutie mark, it shows what my special talent is even if the image is a bit archaic. My special talent is helping others feel better at the hospital, both through medicine and through company. Nopony likes feeling like they don't have anypony to talk to while they are sick so I try to be their friends.”

“That's very important, I grew up with a mild case of asthma so I've been to hospitals more than I can count simply because I couldn't breathe. So our village Healer and local doctor got to know me pretty well, certainly helped.”

She smiled at this, “It's why I love this job, I get to meet all sorts but it's nice not have to rush around all the time as it was before I moved here.” Molly almost purred as my fingers rubbed the tips of her ear again.

You might think me a strange lot for enjoying this so much but you try being in my situation and tell me what you think. Not ten minute in this brand new world and I'm already petting the local residents, it might say something about me.

I could be yelling and screaming my lungs out terrified beyond belief that I wasn't just far away from home but also dimensions away too.

But I saw no beneficial point to all that other than making it all worse.

There was a knock on the door and Molly turned her head taking my bruises arm and placing it back on the bed as she adjusted her hair quickly and then put her cap back on.

“Come in.” she called, getting up from the chair and walking to the base of my bed where she grabbed a clipboard and scribbled something down on it with a attached pen.

“Hello? Nurse Redheart is that you?” A feminine voice asked from further away, presumably the entrance to the room. Moments later two more ponies had drawn back the curtains, one that was a light grayish mulberry color with a ever darker purple mane complete with violet eyes.

She reminded me of a pretty bunch of grapes, those aesthetically pleasing ones you see on some wine bottles or jam jars. Her eyes were bright, and they sparkled almost literally with intelligence, her confident stance and broad chest setting her a bit different than the others.

She had wings and a horn, which looked both downy soft. How a horn could look soft even though it was a protuberance of bone, I couldn't answer you. She was tall looking to be a head taller than Molly and the other one that was fidgeting and trying to hid behind the purple one.

She looked to be a slightly older pony, the small crows feet around her eyes were much more visible than with the others.

She was topping the cuteness meter with the gold rimmed glasses that were delicately placed atop her nose and extended back of her head where a small wire band kept them tastefully on her nose without the risk of them falling. Her hair was a soft cotton white and shades of grey thrown in on top of a sand colored coat, she was plush too as her belly and flanks showed signs of roundness that would indicate a healthy mature woman on my own species.

On her butt was a scroll wrapped in a blue ribbon with a ivory colored seal at the center holding the ribbon together. The walking grape advertisement had a dark pink and light pink starburst with five smaller white twinkles surrounding the center one.

The sand colored one's eyes were a ocean deep blue something humans couldn't even hope to replicate, she had a round face less narrow than the other two. She looked tired but awake enough that told me she was normally in a state of being up constantly. I felt a pang of sympathy because I knew that feeling well.

Having spent long night studying and grinding through college was enough to make anyone who been through that kind of hell know when one of their own is in the room.

Her dark blue eyes wandered over me as I did her even though this had occurred within eight seconds.

The purple one smiled brightly at me her wings extending to do a small flap in her excitement. Her expression was surprisingly easy to read and very human, this world must be one of those really weird parallel worlds where things are really similar but entirely different.

“Hello! It's good to see you are awake and I don’t detect any calming magic which means you haven't caused Nurse Redheart any problems! Thank you for that really, I was really worried that you or somepony else would get hurt in a panic.” She said brightly and trotted over to my bedside, she was a bit taller than the other two and it became more clear as she drew close.

“Well, seeing that my only other option was to writhe in agony because I tore all my stitches and then messed my insides more up than before because of the screaming I would of had I been in better condition. But seeing that my entire left side is killing me even now, I've just gotten good at hiding it.” I said then coughed which made my left side erupt in pure agony. But whatever was in my blood right now numbed it quickly.

“Ow.”

“Did you tell him where he is and what we are?” she turned her head to Nurse Redheart, which Molly nodded and this seemed to please her greatly.

“Yeah I know I'm not in my world, but hell I could be dead and this is my brain trying to grasp at reality in its last moments before I die, die.” This earned a small snort from the sand colored one and she tried to hide a small smile.

“Last time I checked, you are pretty real and bleeding. Now, you are real and bleeding a lot less.” Molly said in an airy tone, giving me a quick grin. I couldn't help the grin that touched my lips too the morbid humor of it all.

“Great news! So, I guess I better introduce myself I'm Princess Twilight Aria Moonseeker Sparkle; High Magi of the Royal Society of Mages, Grand Duchess of the Mossgrove Provence, and the Element of Magic of the Elements of Harmony. Beside me is Ivory Locket or Ivory Scroll as known to many, she is the Mayor of Ponyville, Head of the Recreation Committee and Preservation Society. As well as my new marefriend.” She finished proudly her wings extending a little.

Molly gave a loud squeal of excitement, as she nuzzled the two of them.

“I'm so happy you two got together! Snowheart was wondering when you two would finally date!” She gushed happily.

Ivory Locket blushed hard while Twilight's cheeks colored lightly.

“Was I that obvious…?” Ivory asked in a small voice which Molly nodded once, making the older mare blush even more.

“Everytime you two came to check on the hospital I would catch you sneaking looks at Twilight, I even remember when you were so busy watching her you spilt that coffee on yourself and we had to treat the burn.” Molly clapped her hooves together, the mare in question seemed to turn more pink than sandy brown. Twilight giggled and rubbed cheeks with her girlfriend while Ivory just looked at her hooves. looking very happy about hearing that.

“Right! Sorry!!” Twilight burst out quickly righting herself and looking back at me. I gave them a grin, even if I was injured in a far off land these pony folk sure were wholesome. Which definitely makes the whole healing process better in my book.

Would rather die of something wholesome and cute than painful and cold.

“As you already know you aren't in your world, but I have a few questions I would like answered and then we can go from there. May I have your name? I don't want to just call you ‘human’ when we talk.”

“Aaren.”

“Aaren, thank you. Aaren do you remember what country you came from before you got hurt?”

“I come from a country called the United States of America my ancestors there have been living before the country was founded however so I'm more Native American than actual American.” I said wondering why she wanted to know the country I came from.

Twilight's Smile faltered for a second her ears drooping just a little.

“Do you happen to know the International Union of Earth?” she asked hopefully.

“You mean the United Nations? I think we are apart of the UN.”

Twilight's smile faltered even more and I got a bad feeling in my gut and not just because it had been nearly torn out.

“So, you don't know that America became the Allied Union between the old countries of Canada, Mexico, and the USA when they signed the congressional constitution of better earth of 2057…?”

I blinked at the princess, what? I kept up with the news some but last time I checked it was 2018 and we were still arguing about whether or not climate change was a thing despite the overwhelming proof it was going on.

“Um the last year I remember it was 2018 close to 2019.”

Twilight looked at me with searching eyes as her ears dropped fully.

“Oh boy… who is your president?” she asked though I had a feeling she wasn't going to like the answer.

“Donald Trump, even though I voted for someone else.”

“Oh no… Was there a Japanese American woman by the name of Rei Yokoyama who ran for presidency along with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump?” she almost looked heartbroken at me and the bad sinking feeling got even worse.

I slowly shook my head.

She blew out a held breath while the other two looked just as confused as I felt.

“This is going to be very hard to hear Aaren, so please, please try to remain calm.” she said gently which this brought me wholly on edge is she in playing what I think she is implying.

“I was hoping this would be a easy fix but now… nopony can do it. Aaren…” she took a deep breath.

“You can't go home to your world anymore, you are stuck here… probably forever. We have only one portal anchored to your reality and it's one that has significantly branched from your own timeline. Even if we were to try and tune the portal to anchor into your specific reality it wouldn't guarantee when or where it would send you, but tuning the portal we do have would take infinite time to even find the branch of time your reality come from.” she said looking at the floor and actually looking teary eyed at this.

“There is a reason only one portal to another dimension exists here, it takes a very, hundreds of thousands of years to anchor portal output into a physical reality and keep it stable. It's a Harmony given miracle that ours even works as well as it does and its older than known history! it's going to take years for even us to make a bigger portal to support trade between our dimensions!” She let out an exasperated sigh sitting on her haunches.

“Aaren my point is that, if you were to travel back over to what you know as Earth, it would be a entirely different Earth you knew. The version of you over there probably is living there now with family and friends that might be different from your own. You… you are human out of time and space… and there isn't any way to help.”

I sat there, my mind empty as I slowly consumed the information I was given.

One; ponies invented cross dimensional travel via portal connection. Assuming that Unicorns are known to be highly magical it is a reasonable estimation that magic is abundant and usable in this particular dimension that allows manipulation of laws of space time though like any mathematics professor in physics would tell you like my mathematics Professor Gerald Hughes who said ‘Dimensions are fucking nuts, and a shit storm to theorize their possibilities because the math involved just doesn't want to play nice.’

Two; Earth still exists and is accessible to go back to but it is a parallel world that branched off the 2016 elections into a whole new series of events that would be almost alien to me if I were to go back.

Three; Parallel Aaren Fjelds is likely living in the same area as his family and it would be beyond strange to go invade their lives when they never missed me in the first place nor did I fall off a cliff…. Or have buried their child and me being there would just make mom cry a lot.

Four; holy shit that means I don't have anywhere to go back to or anyone that knew me since I died or never left in the first place leaving me really out of place in second Earth to start a whole new life either here in magical pony land or in alternative world earth.

Five; Unfortunately I couldn’t Samurai Jack this and fight Aku for a portal to not just go back in time but also through space.

Six; Damn whatever that they got me on was allowing me not to freak out as bad as I thought I would be. But I guess feeling numb and knowing your entire life was ripped right out from under your feet and an almost fatal fall to my death would lead to a series of unfortunate and peculiar events.

And the most terrible thing was I didn't have Tim Curry narrating the entire thing.

Not only have I been orphaned, displaced, battered and bruised, almost washed up, left with nowhere to go, and out of any sort of currency. I could feel a greater sympathy for the Baudelaire siblings because now I knew exactly how they felt.

I just hope there wasn’t a Count Olaf and his cronies out to kill me for the nonexistent inheritance I had.

Twilight was whispering to the others while I just stared at the blanket covering my modesty as there was no clothes for me at the moment.

“I'm in a bad situation… I don't have any money, clothes, a place to stay, any information that will help me out there, I feel like I should grieve but I… can't… I would probably be dead in my reality if I hadn't popped into this one so I don’t know which is worse. Being dead or having nothing at all? I guess having nothing at all is better than being dead since you can't go anywhere but up when you hit rock bottom. In my case almost literally.” I said placing my good hand over my face and rubbing my swollen face gently with the insanity of it all.

“Aaren! Aaren, it's okay!” Molly exclaimed as I blinked realizing I was crying. Warm wet tears rolled freely down my cheeks and onto my chest, Molly quickly came over and got on her hind hooves to wrap me into a hug and delicately placed her nose against my cheek giving me soft squeezes because it would hurt if she did it any harder.

“You are going to be alright, you aren’t alone Aaren. We aren’t going to throw you out into the wind, promise.” Molly said reassuringly gently rubbing her nose to my cheek, I took a shuddering breath a sob racking through my being making everything hurt.

I placed my hand against my face trying to hide it from the world and it's terrible way of hurting the living.

A few minutes of sobbing left me as the emotional pain left me of losing everything I ever cared about. My tribe, my mom and dad, my grandparents, my friends, the beautiful national park I grew up in, the years of college to become a environmental conservation scientist.

I didn't know any trades other than knowing how to hunt, fish, and identify herbs, I knew how to carve wood but not furniture, I knew how to take care of temperate rainforests and Arctic Alaskan estuaries and seas, I knew where to find endangered species and their habitats in those regions, I could tell you the difference between trees species by the shape of their leaves and how to spot sickness in their roots and trunks.

I knew how to test the pH levels and soil composition for better growth and sustainability, as well as how to plan for symbiotic growth of both environmental and urban planning.

But now that all seemed useless, all that effort to help my tribes homeland be green and healthy. Gone and up in smoke. I should of became a doctor in medicine then my skills wouldn't be so area specific and specialized

“Aaren?” Twilight spoke up enough to catch my attention.

“Yeah?” I said roughly from the sore throat I had.

“Would you like to stay with me till we can get you back on your feet? I live in a large castle with many empty rooms so you would be welcome to stay there until you sort yourself out and recover. You wouldn't have to worry about rent or food! I revive a care fund from the country treasury to take care of myself and Spike.” Twilight said taking a few steps closer to me and gently placing her hoof on my leg in reassurance.

“A-And I can help too! For work! M-Money I mean!” The one called Ivory finally said after her long silence, she looked eager to do something to help.

“The Apples have been putting in request for farm help, the cidery needs to have somepony watch it so it runs right and it's only just the four of them there so they can't do everything… Um let's see.” she looked up her eyes darting left and right as if reading her thoughts before speaking.

“Aloe and Lotus Blossom are willing to train a new masseuse for their salon, with his hands he would be sought after if he is willing to learn. Hmm… the bowling alley needs a pin jockey, Earl Grey and Orange Fragrance needs somepony to watch their tea shop over the weekends since it gets so busy. The Flower trio need a gardener for their greenhouses and somepony with a strong back since Daisy sprained her back leg.” The mayor said looking proud of herself that she had something to offer me, I suddenly felt warmth blossom in my heart for these three.

This charity to help me made me feel like I had to give them something back, my father use to say that if you remove one tree you always place four more to make up for the forests loss. I was in their debt.

I wiped the corners of my eyes and sniffed which Molly gently butted my head with her own affectionately.

I leaned my head against hers thanking her with my own head rub.

“T-Thank you… all of you. I don't know what came over me. Yes, I would appreciate that Twilight… Do I call you Princess or Princess Twilight, I just remembered I'm in front of royalty and made a fool of myself.” I gave a weak smile, which earned me a small one from Molly who seemed content that I was doing better.

“Just Twilight, I became a princess recently so it's still a little weird to be called that!” she laughed nervously, Ivory walked up beside Twilight and pressed her nose into the crook of her neck then kissed her cheek before looking at me again.

I gave her and Twilight a weak smile.

“Would it be too much to ask for some pants? It feels weird being naked and only having a thin bed sheet between me and the rest of the world.”

…

[Ivory Vision]

The human's name was Aaren Fjelds, and by harmony I couldn't stop looking at him.

His size was probably a big factor to why I kept looking him up and down. The first time he stood up as Molly wanted to see if he could since nothing was wrong with his spine or legs, just his left side had broken ribs and arm.

Twilight was nice enough to use her magic to hold up the bedsheet for him with her magic while Molly checked his upper and lower back because he had stitches there too. He was probably going to be scarred for the rest of his life, the long raked lines of red inflamed flesh on his back as well as the dark purple bruising that covered his entire form.

Molly's tail was only visible as Aaren slowly stood up with a bright reddish blush on his cheeks because someone was viewing him naked.

Twilight had whispered to me that humans were sensitive about their privacy when it comes to their body. Seeing that nudity was related to intimacy in their culture especially when concerning the groin area, males were fully visible and did not retract into a sheath like our stallions so they hid themselves behind clothing to both protect their skin from weather and outside forces but to keep their groins from showing.

“Just remember to keep your tail down over your rump while in his presence, we need to give him his cultural courtesy of keeping the privates private.” She whispered gently into my ear which I lowered my tail over my hind legs covering myself with my white fur.

“How do you know all this?” I asked as Molly politely asked him to turn, which the human groaned in pain as he shifted his weight to turn to his side.

“Sunset, she's been living with them for a long time since she isn't from there she ages a lot more slowly than they do.”

“How long do they live for?”

“About eighty years their time, but it's been shown that magic extends their lifespans phenomenally if they saturate their bodies in it. If Aaren stays here the R&D of Canterlot suggests that he might live for about two thousand years our time once completely saturated. Humans are surprisingly like sponges when it comes to magic, but I joked with Celestia that if you pour a waterfall into a near empty well it's going to fill up very quickly.” Twilight giggled as Aaren grumbled something about bossy small horses because Molly was being strict on his posture.

“Aaren if you favor one side it's going to ruin your posture, you want to constantly lean to your right? Stand straight, the pain medication is dulling most of the pain so do it.” She tsked, there was the sound of tape tearing and then being pressed against him as he swayed.

“Yes mom.” He said in a sulking manner and tried to straighten himself.

Aaren himself was just to damn fascinating to rip my gaze from, just how he was so tall and how his muscle and body was defined. His face was the strangest because despite its flat nature it was very expressive almost like our own. His ears didn't move but his eyes did and were very expressive to make up for the lack of ear movement.

I imagined that he could pick Twilight and I up with no issue once he healed, he was probably quite strong with how his fingers and arm had some definition.

I blinked a few times feeling my cheeks flush because of the Submissive side in me that wanted to be overpowered and surrounded by something bigger than myself. It made my mouth dry and I licked my lips as I forced myself to look away from his chest and arms.

Harmony damnit Lyra, you should of never gave me that fetish book with creatures with hands and how they were often bigger than us. A Diamond Dog's paw hands could wrap around a averaged sized mare with little effort.

T-The only reason I read it was because I might have a thing for large… imposing… probably stronger than me things.

And he happen to fit that bill!

Eventually he sat back down looking very worn out and Molly very happy as she trotted with high steps to take the dirtied bandages off to the biohazard bin, her pink tail swishing with her pleasure.

“I never expected to be bossed around by a small horse much less expose myself to one.” Aaren said laying his head back into the pillows his body now fully covered.

“Nurse Redheart is just doing her job.” Twilight snickered.

“All that poking and prodding was probably revenge for rubbing her ears without asking.” he said defeated and waving a figurative white flag.

“Y-You did that to me too you know.” I blurted remembering the waves of pleasure from having one of my ears rubbed. He looked at me with a slightly horrified expression and I just waved it off before he could apologize.

“Its fine, that's the only action I've gotten in…” my eyes widened and I slammed a hoof in my mouth to shut myself up, my face burning as Aaren looked both uncomfortable but blushing at what I had just said. Harmony I was so stupid!!

“Annyyywayys!” Twilight announced saving us from the embarrassing moment.

“Aaren I'll go set a room up in my castle for you, you know about dragons right?”

“Holy shit you have dragons!!?” Aaren’s face lit up like a foal on Hearth's Warming morning when gifts are given, the young colt like excitement seemed to make him forget his lack of energy.

“I'll take that as a yes!” Twilight grinned and snickered behind a hoof, “Spike is my little baby dragon brother, I hatched him myself. He is a sweet little dragon if a bit snarky, I take from your reaction you wouldn't mind him? And maybe possibly be his friend? He doesn't have a lot of ponies to talk to his age or any stallions to get along with other than my friend's big brother and he gets lonely when I'm off working or out and about.” Twilight asked hopefully which Aaren grinned, I felt a small shiver run through me as I saw those large canines he had.

“Yeah, I can try but that's like every kids fantasy to have their own dragon! I wanted a dragon when I was growing up!” he looked up and seemed to be lost in his imagination, which made me feel warm inside.

There was more talk about accommodations and recovery, Molly wanted him to stay in bed for the next week with light exercise and make sure his wounds weren't infected. So he was confined to the hospital for the next week and Molly was very adamant about Aaren getting better.

Molly always did have a soft spot for her charges and when she is handling one it's good to know she is handling it well.

Twilight made sure to get some clothes for him but a hospital gown for minotaurs would have to do for now. Minotaurs were so rare here in Equestria that they might as well be myth. They lived on a continent to the west past the Luna Sea where tall wild grasslands grew. And rarely did they travel to the colder climates of northern Equestria.

So the gown was a tiny bit and moth eaten.

But it was better than nothing.

Twilight and I left the hospital after asking Aaren a few more things and if he needed anything, other than requesting food and water he had been satisfied with his position. Twilight was walking close to me in the chilly afternoon air her wing over my back and pressing me to her side both for warmth and because Twilight liked having her marefriends close to her.

I had a dark red thickly knitted wool scarf wrapped around my neck and a knitted beanie which held the back of my mane in place to keep the biting wind away. Twilight was cute, she wore purple ear muffs, a white and pink striped scarf and a wing shawl, which is what pegasus ponies used to keep their wings warm so they could fly in cold weather.

The weather team had to go in fifteen minute rounds to place snow clouds up in the air because of how freezing it got up there, so the beginning of any snow storm was slow and methodical to keep pegasi from getting frostbite or even worse hypothermia.I’ve had a few pegasi decomissioned until they thawed out and recovered from injury when the season changing teams got together in town hall.

Bulk Biceps was calling out to anypony who would listen for fresh hot chocolate for a single Bit as he rolled his cart towards town square stopping quite often by ponies of every type to warm themselves up with hot chocolate.

Bulk happen to have many odd jobs because of his athletic career of being a professional weight lifter and trainer didn't pay too well so he ended up buying a confections stand to make up the difference. He was doing quite well from what I've seen and heard.

“What do you think?” Twilight asked as we stopped by the stand and waited in the short like for hot chocolate.

“About the human?”

Twilight hummed her conformation and pulled me closer when a gust of cold wind blew our way.

“I think he is nice, I just can't get over how tall he is. To talk to him while he was standing up you’d have to strain your neck just to look him in the eye.” I said resting my head against Twilight while we stood there waiting our turn.

Twilight giggled returning my head lean with her own.

“Humans are not usually that tall but they can be, males tend to reach at least six feet, while females stay around the height of Princess Celestia or a little bigger. But their height doesn't really make them strong, so animals in their world are usually much stronger than them. Unlike us who had magic to help us survive, Humans adapted to everything quickly. Humans on their world spread across their entire globe in every habitat and have incredible endurance because they are a hunter gatherer species. I read a translated anthropology book of theirs and it's said that their ancestors use to walk after their prey until the animal collapsed in exhaustion while humans only had exhausted a little amount of their stamina.” Twilight said in her ‘ I'm excited to share my knowledge with you’ voice.

“That's kinda scary to think about, no matter how far you run they just follow behind you at a even pace until you can't run anymore.” I shivered at this feeling a prickle of fear touch my heart at knowing that.

“It is, just the whole eating meat kinda sets me on edge but it's no different than how Griffins and Diamond Dogs eat deer or small animals and fish. Fluttershy even catches fish for the otters and bears under her care so it's just something we have to accept.” she said before turning her head at me and giving me a sly smile.

“I noticed that little slip up by the way.” She said into my ear making me blush hard.

“If you want me to bite your ears and kiss them than I would like to extend the offer.” She said lightly nipping the tip of my ear, the feeling of two hard teeth gently grinding my ear never breaking skin but threatening to sent shockwaves down my spine and I sucked in a large gulp of air to keep from letting out a suggestive whine.

Was my glasses getting foggy?

“I-I.” I stammered trying to form a reply but Bulk interrupted our frisky behavior.

“HEY! WELCOME! DO YOU WANT SMALL OR LARGE MARSHMALLOWS OR DO YOU WANT THE HOT CHOCOLATE SPICED!? THE NORMAL CUP COSTS ONE BIT WHILE MARSHMALLOWS AND SPICED COST TWO!” The loud abrasive shouting expected of the muscle bound pegasus blew our way making my and Twilight's ears ring.

“Two hot chocolates please, I would like mine with lots of marshmallows!” Twilight cheerily replied seeming to have a victory of my moment of weakness.

“S-Spiced please.” I stuttered still feeling the warm shockwaves of pleasure from having my ear bit so intimately.

“THAT WILL BE FOUR BITS, PLEASE!”

Twilight pulled her coin bag from her inventory space and fished out the needed currency, two silver Bits was laid out onto the counter of the hot chocolate stand.

“THANK YOU! ONE MOMENT PLEASE!”

“You are evil.” I glowered at her with mock anger, which she grinned at me even bigger this time.

“That's what you get for telling somepony how they like being a-”

“HERE YOU TWO GO, TWO HOT CHOCOLATES!”

“Thank you Bulk! You have a good day!” Twilight answered and taking hold of the two tall red lidded cups with her magic.

“I-I thought you'd want to know s-since I haven't told you before!” I squeaked back at her as we turned to head towards her castle, Ponyville was busy as usual but less so since it was dropping below zero at night and chilly winds kept blowing through the cobblestone streets throughout the day.

“I know~ but I've never had somepony that liked the whole subby dominant stuff before, it just makes me want to tease you~” she nuzzled my cheek giving me soft kisses on my face. I let out a huff, feeling my cheeks flush again which kept the cold away at least.

“Besides Ivy, Pinkie probably wants to date you too since she is the type that wants to be apart of whatever their partner loves. Pinkie is a lot more in control during our intimate nights, but that's because I get all light in the head and have hard time thinking. So she would definitely be dominant.” Twilight said gently next to me keeping her voice low so we could talk about my likes without anypony overhearing.

I grabbed my cup of hot chocolate and took a tiny sip, warm creamy chocolate with cinnamon and vanilla accents rolled across my tongue. It was a bit on the hot side but not enough to burn my tongue, which I sighed contentedly with the warmth it provided.

“Speaking of Pinkie, I'm surprised she didn't jump our new resident today. She has a sixth sense when somepony new is in town it's almost strange not to hear the excited yelling of ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ and the party cannon going off.”

Twilight took a long sip of her own hot chocolate then licked her lips.

“She's off with Maud for a couple days, it's a sister thing she and Maud do every winter season. She and Pinkie have always been super close, much more so than the rest of her family so they are going to visit the Crystal Empire this year. They went to Seattle last year, the pictures of the cliffs there are beautiful, it's just funny how a lot of the destinations Maud or Pinkie chooses benefit both their interests. Maud loves her rocks, Pinkie loves Maud and seeing new things together and Maud loves spending time with her sister.” Twilight smiled brightly as she looked up thinking about Pinkie.

Twilight always looked star struck when she talked about Pinkie Pie, the glow and affection she had when she said her name. Pinkie meant a lot to Twilight.

While I hadn't been particularly close with them over the last five years, I knew about Pinkie's slow romance with Twilight.

Pinkie as Twilight told me was very guarded with her heart, warm and happy to everypony that meets her but she let's very few ponies in past the guest hall of her heart so to speak.

Their relationship really got going when the cloning incident with Pinkie happened and Twilight nearly broke down because she realized she couldn't tell her apart from her clones. I remember standing in town hall after the paint trial happened, Twilight sobbing into Pinkie’s chest about how she was a horrible friend who couldn't tell them apart and how scared she was that she would disintegrate the real one just because of her own blindness.

Twilight's personality and attention to Pinkie shifted after that, Twilight became focused in getting to actually know Pinkie Pie, not as just her friend but one of her closest.

Then about six months later they were starting to date,Pinkie and Twilight just became happier and happier towards one another. It was a peculiar sight to see Pinkie stop everything including a party to see if Twilight was fine, or actively look for her when she was doing something else.

The girl was so scattered when it came to activities but she always made sure to look in and check up on Twilight everyday.

“I would like to travel.” I sighed looking out across town square to town hall, the rickety old beast. “I really have let my career in politics get the better of me, I’m just a small town mare who took up office and never went anywhere else. Can you believe I haven’t been further than Canterlot in what…? Three years? Last time I was outside the Greengrove county boarder I was visiting my mother for Grandma’s funeral.”

Twilight’s wing gave my barrel a soft squeeze as we trotted along the cold streets, the two of us occasionally drinking our hot chocolate.

“I think we should.” Twilight said after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

“I’ve got to get a feel for this whole Princess of Friendship thing and the Cutie Map has broaden the need for friendship outside just Ponyville so I think it would be a great opportunity to travel and because I’m a Duchess I can easily allow you to freely step down from office and hold the next election! You, Pinkie, and I can go travel around to see the sights!” Twilight gave me a cheek nuzzle which I returned almost hungrily. Twilight was too nice to be real, she was just so sweet and kind, and my hunger of physical affection made itself known.

“I would really like that, and I would like to visit you a lot more because you are the best Twilight and don't let anypony tell you otherwise.”

…

[Human perspective]

It took a week and a half to be given a clean bill of health and well enough to walk around without feeling like my entire body was going to tear itself apart.

Molly Redheart had become my friend over the week and she was probably one of the best friends I've ever had. Which is saying something because I've had really close friends before.

She had also been a constant companion besides Twilight and Ivory who came in to check on me every other day. I had fresh clothes, they weren't anything fancy or designer but they kept me warm.

I had a burgundy colored wool sweater and long white shirt made of heavy duty cotton similar to long johns, simple boxers and heavy denim pants made just for the cold season. Twilight was still working on getting me a pair of shoes since ponies never needed them there wasn't a shoemaker that made my kind of shoe.

Some of my stitches had been absorbed and healed but there was a lot of off color scar tissue that was left behind. I had a huge one on my forehead but it thankfully hadn't marred my face too bad.

The cast was hard to adjust to since I was so use to using both my hands, not being able to move one made doing tasks a little difficult.

Overall I was doing pretty well, Molly though looked dead tired since I've rarely seen her gone more than a few hours.

“I live just down the road from the hospital, besides I just can't leave you alone when you don't know anything about this world so I sleep when you sleep.” she would tell me when I asked, this caused me worry about burning her out because she cared.

Molly had definitely become very affectionate towards me especially after she and I opened up to one another. I told her about my tribe and the world I lived in, the things humans have done in a positive light. She told me about her life and how she got her cutie mark by taking care of her sick friend while they were out of town. She gave up her fun to take care of her friend because she cared and that's when her cutie mark appeared showing her that she had a very big heart.

She ended up passing out throughout that conversation as it was late into the night when she told me it. A very big heart indeed, I had picked her up and laid her on my lap gently rubbing her mane and neck.

She really had gone above and beyond for me and I wanted to do something for her but I couldn't just yet since the shoes and more clothes weren't going to be here until Sunday.

I had stayed up deliberately to continue to watch over her, these ponies were really good at worming their way into your heart and I've only known this girl for a week.

But if anything were to happen to her I would blow up this town then myself…

Okay maybe not that but I would be really, really sad.

She was cute, funny, bossy (I was the wimp that let her do it too), caring, and had really strong desire to help anyone that needed it.

I wonder why she was so adamant about taking care of me? Sure I was the big lumbering oaf, as she once called me, and could barely do anything without knocking something over. Which I blamed on trying to become dexterous with my non dominant hand, hell I was so big compared to these ponies I had to duck my head everytime I walked through the door.

One of the doctors, Dr. Fizzle Heal was outright terrified of me because she was scared of minotaurs, while Dr. Dream Healer was one of the coolest dudes ever. He was chill and sounded like he was straight from London, though he had a small obsession with trying to take MRI and CAT scans of my brain to figure out how it ticked. I couldn't blame him since I was a new species to him and very intelligent so he would want to understand what’s in my head since he himself was a neurologist.

It was kind of awkward sometimes when I could see pony junk, the ponies had fur and different seasonal coats so they didn't require clothes and those that did were used for comfort or fashion depending on the situation. Molly wore a loose fitting white jumper most of the time mainly for my sake and because she sometimes was a ER nurse and cleaning blood from her coat was a nightmare.

Though I've seen things…

Like tonight, where she was sleeping in my lap and I was petting her neck. She didn't have her jumper on so if I were to lean just a little to my right I could see her privates.

She looked… well she looked like how a pony’s would, tear shaped and not as furred as the rest of her body which showed the main color if her skin, her skin was powder white pink and small blemishes could be seen across her back and sides and it was no different there.

I've worked with animals before, it's been apart of my job description as a environmentalist that you would begin to work with animals. My uncle had a horse farm where he would breed racehorses or leisure horses, I've been around them quite a lot and knew how to take care of both genders.

But now since it was attached to such a pretty and wonderful ‘person’ I had mixed feelings.

My hand ran down her neck making sure to gently rub my fingers into her fur just the way she liked it, something that became more common was allowing me my obsession with soft things through petting her fur or mane. Even now as her chest rose and fell, a kernel of warmth popped in my heart of just how trusting she was of me to sleep this soundly in front of someone that was practically stranger to her.

Always expecting the best of me and never the worst.

These ponies were too pure.

I let out a sigh, feeling a little ashamed of myself that I had taken a peak of her personal privacy without her consent.

There was a stray thought or two to just set her down on my bed and sit in the chair until she woke up, or nap in the recliner next to the bathroom.

Call it curiosity of their anatomy or just the sudden warmth in my chest for this three foot, four inch tall mare or perhaps it was just a darker aspect of my curiosity to see and feel.

I let my hand wonder past the neck onto the barrel of her chest, I let my hand rest there for a moment feeling the muscles contract and retract as she breathed, the soft ‘thumping’ of her heart. I closed my eyes focusing on that sound.

‘ba-bump… ba-bump… ba-bump…’

It was slow and methodical, a testament of her life and all that she is contained within her being. A hot flush of blood colored my cheeks as I imagined that heart pounding from more intense activities and her breath ragged.

I quickly let go of her chest, opening up my eyes and turning my head away from her sleeping form. Talk about perversion, I just imagined her in a heated moment of sex.

I felt more shame that I had thought that in the first place, I barely knew her. She was from a different world, a world where trust and love come very easy to them.

I felt like I had done something perverse to upset that trust, just to think it. Her attachment to me might even be more akin to a brother or perhaps a kid she was taking care of. The only time she had done something remotely sexual was the first time I rubbed her ears and she nearly got off on it because of my own ignorance.

Pony ears were extraordinary sensitive, she told me that accidents with ears were so painful they've had a few ponies go into a state of shock because of it. Their ears were both exceptionally good at picking up minute shifts in wind (which was critical in their sense of smell since wind carried scents and if the wind shifts and the smell disappears they can tell why.) And they could hear a soft whisper across the equivalent of a average sized ballroom but whether or not they could actually translate the whisper was dependent on pony but they are aware of the sound at least.

I went back to gently petting her neck, sometimes feeling her pulse in passing.

Then my hand went further up to her ears and I gently rubbed them starting from the base of her large squishy ears, she made a little noise as I massaged the lobe gently. I leaned down straining just a tad to talk softly into her ear.

“Thank you, Molly…” I murmured giving the precious nurse a ginger kiss on the cheek. She smelled very sweet, not in the way of perfume or anything but some kind of natural smell.

I leaned back trying to get comfortable on the bed while having the small pony on top of me.

The movement seemed to wake her as her eyes fluttered open and slow blink half unfocused. She lifted her head and turned it around slowly, scanning the room before looking up at me which I gave her a small smile.

She smiled back and stretched before standing up allowing my legs to unfold and sink further into the bed itself.

“You know…” She whispered yawning and turning back towards me gently crawling up to my chest and laying herself on me snuggling her head into my neck. I felt my cheeks color again feeling awkward about this.

“You could've done anything to me… but you didn't… it's probably why I feel so safe with you.” she murmured pressing her nose into my jawline.

“Y-You do? Were you awake?” I asked my voice a slight octave higher than normal.

“Mmmhmm… I woke up when you placed your hand on my chest, I'm a very light sleeper and I've suffered from insomnia since I was a filly.” she continued wrapping her hooves around my neck.

“Sorry.” I murmured back feeling nervous.

“Its alright Aaren. Ever since you came to this hospital I felt just this… I dunno what it is, it's kind of like a feeling but not. I felt like I could trust you, some unicorns say that it's because harmony magic is connecting us and when two harmonies grow close they resonate in sync. Maybe it's that I like you, or perhaps even love you… I don't know.” she said kissing my cheek just like I had done for her.

“But what I do know is that I can sleep without waking up randomly in the night when you are around, and laying in your lap just gave me such a feeling of security… at first it was just a test to see if it was just me and if you got close to my rump I would wake up and tell you this but now know it was just me. But I really did fall asleep without any struggle to stay asleep when I started, you know you hum softly when you pet me?” She said untying her hair and letting her very long mane drape across her back and my side.

“You make this soft deep hum, I bet you don't even notice you are doing it~” she giggled then snuggled herself against me, I would hold her but I felt stiff with worry and confusing feelings.

“It makes me feel so safe, like if anything were to happen you would curl yourself around me to protect me from harm. Even if you were hurt like you are… it's why I wanted to see you get better and took up some extra shifts to keep an eye on you.”

She wasn't wrong, I had highly protective instincts and my first thought was to cover or push someone down rather than myself in dangerous situations.

Breaking my left leg and getting kicked by a horse is a testament to that. Uncle Samuel was an older man and the horse spooked because it was sick and abandoned so it didn't trust us. It had a large sore on its hind leg and ended up spooked and tried to kick him, I saved him but ended up with internal bleeding.

The breaking my leg was because of a sport in high school, ended up with someone landing directly on my leg after a reckless attempt to defend the ball.

“So…” I started feeling my throat a little dry, “What exactly are we going to do about this…”

“Figure out our feelings… I know you might feel weird if I asked you out to test the waters. Ponies date to make each other comfortable if they feel something good. For some it's rather intense if they were friends before, the urge to mark and claim each other but it gives them a better understanding of their feelings. While others like us might be affectionate but I'm not going to pressure you into it. Like I said before I feel safe with you but I don't know if I like like you or even love you like that.” Molly whispered pulling her head back to look at me.

It's the strangest thing when you can tell something is gorgeous even though it might not even be the same species as you.

Molly was gorgeous, in a way that was exotic and alien. She had no real human features but anthropomorphic enough to clearly read her expressions and let it express her beauty.

Her baby blue eyes slowly traced my face a small playful smile on her lips.

“Your expression makes me want to kiss you.” she snickered, her eyes wandering my face again. I probably had a confused and slightly scared look but at this point I couldn't tell.

“Maybe that would help me figure out what I want…” she trailed off, “Feel that spark of lightning when you kiss somepony you love or desire…”

Holy tap dancing cow on a motorcycle, was I about to be kissed by a alien?? I think I was!!

She pushed herself up a little looking at me with such a strange expression, that was a multitude of emotions at once. Happiness, fear, desire, confusion, and just general hesitation.

“Can I kiss you Aaren? It doesn’t even have to be long, because I don't know what I feel…” she bent down slowly. Her breath smelled like mint and something like chocolate, she herself smelled that delicious perfume like smell I had noticed on occasion.

It took a lot of willpower not press my lips against hers and let her go at her own pace, because there was a thrum in my chest that was… excited?

Yes that’s the word, excited…

There was almost like an ozone that crackled with static electrical sparks surrounding us. How sudden and painfully the world almost seem to try and bring us closer, but this was just my wild imagination of about to be kissed by a sentient pony.

Her face was slightly flushed as she leaned down even further, her downy soft nose gently brushed against my own and pressed her lips against mine.

Tiny sparks tingled in my lips as she pressed hers against mine. I gently ran my fingers through her mane and cheek as the velvet lips of Molly Redheart touched mine in a slow but hungry way.

Molly’s hooves dug themselves under my neck and pushing the pillows away to embrace me.

The kiss never got hyper intense but there was a growling hunger in it. A hunger for closeness and being together, a hunger for me, but also fear that it wouldn't last so I was trying to soak up as much as possible.

After what felt like five to ten minutes of gentle but hungry kissing, Molly reluctantly pulled back. Her cheeks were rosy red and I probably fared no better.

“oh…” she said softly, touching her lips with her hoof “I… I think… I think m-my heat's started… I.. um… ah.” she blinked a few times before tears started to swell between at the corners. And suddenly Molly was crying on my chest, small hiccups catching between her breaths.

“I’m… I'm sorry…” She hiccuped, I sat up the best I could holding her close to me.

“Hey, hey… it's okay Molly, why are you crying?” I asked her holding her into a tight hug.

“I-I…” she stammered struggling weakly against me, “I'm sorry for… for this..”

“I-Im trying to seduce you and I didnt even realize it…” she hiccuped between her words.

“You are m-my friend and I'm trying t-to seduce y-you.” she said piteously. I sat up fully and thankfully I wasn't in so much pain that it would hinder me from doing so because Molly was crying.

“You said heat… are you talking about your estrous cycle?”

She gave me a slow nod her face buried in my chest unable to look at me. I felt a weird mix of emotions course through my head at this knowledge, that these ponies had heat cycles in the first place was odd but not unpredictable but that Molly was trying to seduce me while in her heat cycle.

I felt flattered but at the same time hormones on that scale made things more askew especially when it came to feelings.

“Molly…” I said gently to the hiccuping mare whose face was buried in my chest. I wrapped her up in my good arm and hugged her before reaching down to lift her chin up so I could see her.

“Molly, you haven't insulted me or anything…” I said leaning down to rub her nose with my own she hiccuped again and nodded.

“If heat is anything like I know with ponies on my side, it's going to make you do weird things. But truth be told I like you Molly, I have really confusing feelings about you as well but I like you and I'm not mad at you. I liked the kiss we shared, I just think it might be sudden even if it was exhilarating..” I said giving her soft kisses on her lips which she was eager to give back.

“I never thought I would have a hard on for an alien but here I am.”

She laugh/hiccuped at this and pressed her head into my neck.

“I think we better wait. I just got here and I'm not leaving anytime soon so… let's sort out our feelings first when you have a clear head to really think about it. To be honest, I haven't dated in like four years so I'm really rusty and probably a little too eager myself for company.” I said kissing her neck and soothingly rubbing her back. I gave her a soft nibble of her neck making her giggle because she was ticklish there.

“T-Thank you for not getting mad… Y-You are the only one I've been really seeing so y-you've been on my mind a lot a-and you d-do make me feel so safe. I-I just wanted…” she trailed off holding onto my neck.

To tell you the truth I've never really be sexually attracted to anything but personality and character, I've had boyfriends and girlfriends before so yes while her being a miniature pony does make things weird I often don't look at physical because then you judge their beauty by what's physical. The heart itself physical but our emotions and thoughts are not, Molly was a beautiful girl, a girl I was attracted to but I was unsure because things have moved quickly. I've barely been here a week and dating someone would probably end in tragedy because I didn't know enough about them to really listen to them.

Most of our time together had only been recently deep with our thoughts and pasts, which needed time to mature and grow.

Molly and I sat together while we hugged and rubbed noses and occasionally kissed since she was hungry for them. That and I could not get over how soft her lips are and how good she smelled.

I found myself gingerly biting her neck and ears, making her give off these cute squeaks and soft feminine sighs but we quickly had to stop since I could feel a slight wetness against my leg and she got horribly embarrassed about how much she was turned on just by affectionate gestures. She apologized to me for leaving a small wet spot on my leg but I waved it away telling her that she was fine and that I understood.

She spent a few minutes in the bathroom cleaning herself up before telling me I should get some sleep because it was late in the night and she was going to go home to clear her head.

I laid my head down on the pillow looking up at the dark ceiling wondering where my life was going to take me.

Author's Notes:

Oh my... *adjusts foggy glasses*

Yeah me and Molly had a moment like that, I love her a lot. Just wish I could of fit some of our deeper talks in there but that would go on forever.

Not even a week in and you’ve managed to seduce our resident super nurse~ That was very sweet of you Aaren, Molly deserves to be loved! That and you were kind of a Harmonic sponge which made Molly feel things for you since you were eating magic up by the gallon.

That really wasn't my fault! It was so surreal too! But I am glad that you two are so accepting of my love for Molly, hell all of Equestria has been really accepting of just loving others be it intimate or not. While you Ivory were the first one I met, Molly was the one that took care of me and i'll always love her for that.

Its a lot more than I could ask for you know?

I love you Aaren always will! Even if you go off romancing Molly now and again, I want to be pampered just as much ok!? Lots of those chocolates and white roses for me~

OOOO Does this mean I'm next!!? I get to talk about our date together Ivory!! yay! That was one of the best dates a mare could ask for!

oh boy, the one where I couldn’t think straight because you were so pretty. Half of that date was a blur for me because I was so sucked in by you I wasn’t paying attention to anything else.

And you aren’t now? Ivory you stare at us a lot, like a lot alot. Why do you think I strip tease you all the time?

I-I can’t help it, you both are my favorite eye candy.

Come here you cute pony and let me kiss you silly!

*lots of giggling and half hearted shouts of protest*

Right where to start...

Ivory Lining

by Purple-Book-Horse

Blood Doesn't Really Mesh Well With My Coat, But Purple Does

Being Human Sometimes Sucks.