//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: One's mistakes 
// Story: The Conversion Bureau: A Boy and his Dream 
// by Lord Chit Chat 
//------------------------------//

	
Chapter 3


Caffeine and I left the infirmary on our way to find and take care of the terrorist that had captured Fluttershy.
“Caffeine, I think it might be a wise thing for me to find a car. Do you know where the rent-a-car was?” I asked.
“Yup. It’s right next to the southeastern sleeping quarters. But I don’t know if there’s still a car left operable. We kinda’ used some of the parts for our own endeavours, so to say.” he rubbed his shoulder.
“Well, it’s worth a shot. Plus there’s always the parking area, I guess.”
“True. Let’s get going then.”
I started following him through the few complexes between us and the rent-a-car. They all looked nice and tidy and maintained. Caffeine Dash sure did know what he was doing. If it weren’t for him, and his people, this place would probably be in ruins by now. The ponies that lived here didn’t seem to live by low standards. Quite the contrary, you could probably compare this to Canterlot standards, but with a more “sharing is caring” attitude. After walking for about half an hour we finally reached a parking lot with cars. But, as Caffeine had said, most of them seemed inoperable.
“Well, looks like along time ago you had quite the choice, but now...I think I’ll be lucky if I find a Ford Fiesta.” I said.
“Yup. I think I’ll fly over the lot and see if I can find something for you.” Caffeine offered.
“Thanks. Now, let’s get to work.”

Caffeine flew over the parking lot indicating cars in possible working condition. The first was a S-Class Mercedes-Benz, however, it had all the seats, the dashboard, the steering wheel, and the transmission bar pulled out. The second one, amongst several ruined Lexuses, was a BMW. Sadly, all the wheels were gone and the suspension started to rust. The third was a Toyota Prius. It seemed alright from the outside, however, when I told James to start it, he said he couldn’t as there was no power. When I popped the hood I discovered why - it was empty. After about two hours searching for a vehicle Caffeine said he found one in good shape. Once I arrived I couldn’t believe my eyes. Caffeine landed next to me and asked.
“What’s wrong?”
“That’s wrong.” I pointed at the Ford Fiesta. I then tilted my head upwards and said “I was just kidding!” after a few seconds I popped the hood just to be sure. Yep, the engine was there. The inside wasn’t too bad either. The only problem was, it was a Ford. And I disliked Fords. And it wasn’t for no reason. You’d think they would increase in quality in fifty years, but I guess that was just someone being optimistic. It doesn’t help with the fact that the latest model Ford had over two hundred complaints for every one hundred cars.
“Considering that there won’t be any other traffic and you will have your AI butler making a few upgrades and drive for you, I doubt that usability will be an issue. Most of the complaints were that it was about as safe as loading an old Yugo with needles and sharp objects in the back. I wish they would’ve let me make them a driving program for it.”
“If you don’t mind I’d like to go with you in the car. Was a long time ago I last drove. Plus you never know what might happen on the road and you might need a pair of strong helping hooves or wings.”
“You might be right. Well, driver’s or co-driver’s then?”
“I call drivers, if you’re okay with it Erik.” I let Caffeine take the driver’s seat, since he won’t do the driving anyway. I closed his door and then I took the co-driver’s seat, after a long time. Being rich doesn’t really let you drive up front a lot.

“Ok, James, start her up.” I told James, who heard me through my wrist phone. After a few lights blinked and shimmered he replied .
“Sorry it took so long, sir. I had to do a few optimizations in the programming.”
“I’m sure you did.  If GM had just asked, I would have given them an AI almost for free, but they didn’t so their cars still lack proper quality.” I remembered to ask about the gas “James, how much gas is there in the tank?”
“It’s full, sir. Now that we’re on our way, would you like me to play some music from your library?”
“Sure, ask Caffeine what he wants to listen to.” I turned to him. He was struggling with the seatbelt.”Caffeine, I doubt you’ll need a seatbelt.”
“But it doesn’t feel the same without the seatbelt.” he said with a slightly sad voice.
“Ok...” I sighed and buckled him up. “There, now let’s go.”
“Where to, sir?” James inquired.
“Santa Monica. And with a bit of haste.” I said.
“Right, sir. And your music?” he inquired further.
“This is not a song it’s a sandvich by Psychostick.” Caffeine said.
The music started playing, but after about ten seconds it stopped.
“The song’s ten seconds long?” I asked Caffeine.
“No, there must be something with the radio.”
I clicked a button on the radio and it fell out. “How does that not surprise me. I guess we’ll have to have a silent drive.”
Caffeine then started singing something he came up with mostly comprised of the words “I’m a pony driving a car.” I found it funny. But after listening to it for forty minutes it got slightly annoying.
“James, Santa Monica is just eight miles from LAX, what’s taking so long?” I asked.
James responded in a barely hearable tone. I forgot the radio was broken, so he was probably talking through the the wrist phone. I adjusted the volume and then asked again
“What’s taking so long, James?”
“I have to take you through Beverly Hills, sir. Satellite imagery shows that most of the city fell in disrepair and all streets leading south and east of Santa Monica are ruined and undriveable by this car. The streets within the city are in rough shape as well, so I’ll have to take a long route around most of the city.”
I sighed “So, how long will it take us to get there?”
“About two hours, sir.” James answered.
“Ok, I’ll try to get some sleep, but this coffee you gave me Caffeine, won’t make it easy.”
“I know. Luckily I gave you a weak blend, since I know you don’t like coffee that much, so it should have worn off by now.” he said.
“Thank God. Well, wake me up when we start approaching Santa Harmonica.”
“Sure thing, Erik.”

I fell asleep slowly as the car drove across the roads of Los Angeles and its surroundings. Luckily this time I didn’t have any nightmares, but neither did I have any wonderful dreams. It was one of those go to sleep, wake up kind of sleeps. Caffeine woke me up as we approached Santa Monica Pier. I remember, when I was still a kid, that I got lost there in the crowds that once roamed its boards. Of course, a few years before ponies arrived they modernized it and made it out of reinforced concrete. Such a shame. I unbuckled Caffeine from his seat and then exited the car myself. I smelled the ocean air, however, it was far from what you could smell fifty years ago.I heard tapping coming from the car so I turned around to see what was Caffeine doing. He couldn’t open the door.

“Whoops, forgot you can’t open doors.” I rushed to his door and opened it.
“You forgot I don’t have thumbs.” he made a frown.
“Yeah, sorry about that. Won’t happen again.” I took a few glances around the surrounding buildings and then asked “So, do you know where this guy is?”
“No, but I’ll see in just a minute. Wait here.” he flew off into the sky.
He was circling the neighbourhood for some good ten minutes or so when he finally landed next to me.
“He should be about two-hundred metres in that direction.” Caffeine pointed west.
“Well, okay, let’s get going.”

Well, now that we’re here, I should probably come up with a plan. Ah, I have a risky one, but I’ll guess it will have to do. If he’s a wuss like me it should have a high success rate, but if it’s a brute so to say, I might have to have something of a backup plan. But I’ll have to devise it once I actually see the house. It may give me or deduct me of some options. Or maybe I should ask Caffeine.
“Hey, Caffeine, what was this building like?”
“It’s an old run down three story house that hasn’t been tended to in about ten years. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, nothing, just curious.”

Damn. Oh well, I’ll see when we get there. After a few  minutes of walking through the neighbourhood, we finally reached the house with the working lights. It wasn’t too bad. It was a standard concrete three-story house with some balconies. This one had plenty of windows, however, I could only see a human figure  through the curtains move. I guess Fluttershy was either in a windowless room, or in the basement. Ok, now for the plan.

“Do you have a plan, Caffeine?” I asked the orange pegasus.
“Well other than storming through the wall, I was kinda hoping you’d have one. You were always good at thinking up business strategies and the weekly planning while I was still at the company.”
“Well, who said I didn’t have a plan? I just asked you if you had one.” I chuckled.
“Ok, shoot.”
“I’ll go to the door. Then i’ll knock on the door. And when he open the door, I’ll punch him in the face.”
“That’s it?” he was amazed by the stupidity of the plan.
“Yep, that’s it. The backup is that you’ll be standing behind me and when he opens you tackle him in any way you can.”
“Well...what if he’s armed?”
“You’re right. Let me take care of that. But then, it may be better if you stand next to the door. So regardless of scenario we’re safe.”
“Ok. I’m ready. If you’re okay with it I’m really feeling for kicking down a wall right now, you just give the signal.” Caffeine seemed a bit worried, but, then again, determined to rescue Fluttershy.

I walked over to the door of the house, with Caffeine closely by my side. I wanted to knock on it, but I found that it had a doorbell. So I rang. I gestured Caffeine to stay next to the door. You could hear footsteps that were approaching the door. This is it. If I want to change anything in the plan now was the time to do it. Let us assume the worse and he has a gun. Maybe...yes, that’s it! Let’s try impersonating a superior officer. Good thing I read the newspaper every now and then.

The door opened, revealing a white woman, with short black hair , brown eyes and a gun. I got startled for a moment, but then carried on with the plan. “Hello, my name is Jimmy Dash, from the Human Liberation Front. I’m here regarding a particular pony you’re holding captive.” I got nervous. There’s a very high chance she didn’t tell anyone about Fluttershy except the bunny Angel. Whatever the response though, I have to get ready to deal with it.
She lowered the gun.”How did you know about the pony? Did you hack my computer or something?” she asked. I was relieved.
“Precisely. You may not know this, but that particular pony is one of the Elements of Harmony, as they call them, and is extremely valuable to the Equestrian rule.”
“I know. But what are you going to do with her?” she got a little suspicious.
“I am going to take her to our base in the Rocky Mountains, where we will do the necessary things with her to preserve humanity and push back the Equestrian menace. And I would like to apologise for barging in on such short notice, but the connection in the Rockies tends to get pretty weak.”

“Ok. Seems legit. Do you want to go see her?”
“Yes, of course. She’s no good to us damaged, so to say.”
“Oh, she’s in good shape. She didn’t get much to eat, but she’s alive.”
“Good. Very good.”
“Ok, follow me Jimmy.”

I entered the house and, while she wasn’t looking, gestured Caffeine to stay back. The house was untidy. The couch seemed to have been overused by about a century and the coffee table looked like as if it never got a paint job. She went to the kitchen. The kitchen had a laptop on a old table and a couple of cans that used to contain food. Where she took out a key out of her pocket and then said “I locked her in the basement. Those pegasi out there would probably get her if she was on the upper floors.”
“Good call. We wouldn’t want her to escape, now would we?” I said. She then unlocked the door to the basement. It had one lone window in it that was projecting sunlight on the tied up yellow pegasus. She was blindfolded, had her mouth tied, and all four legs were tied up, as if she were just a simple animal. As we approached she started weeping.
“Oh so sad.” I said in a sarcastic voice “Makes me sick.” I approached her and examined her wings. They weren’t broken, luckily. “Ah, it’s such a shame we’ll have to cut these off once we lure your friends into our base.”
Fluttershy started crying.
“You HLF people really mean business.” the woman said.
“It’s only for the good of humanity. And besides, it’s just an animal. There is no moral degradation if you kill animals.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“Oh come now, you don’t really mean to say that you have sympathy for these creatures? What happened to your ultimatum to the Equestrian government?”
“Yes. Yes, you’re totally right.”
“Good. Good.” I know I was a bit harsh, but I had to keep up with the gag until after I have the gun. Who knows what she’s capable of. “Now, let’s go back upstairs and discuss your integration into the HLF.”
“Integration? Well, that one way to say you’re recruiting me.”
We started walking the stairs back up. I was totally into my part. “Don’t worry little pony, we’ll soon get you out of this basement, and into a cell or maybe even a laboratory.”

We entered the living room that contained the couch and the coffee table. I sat on the couch and pulled out a paper and pen out of my suit. She sat on the other end of the couch.
“I’m going to ask you a few questions so you can join HLF. Let’s start with name?” I said.
“Tricia McMillan. But don’t you know that already from the computer?” she asked.
I drew some scribbles onto the paper. “Yeah, but just as a formality I have to write it down as well.” I paused for a moment. “Age?”
“Twenty-eight. I hardly see how this is relevant.”
I drew a smiley-face on my paper. “As I said it’s a formality I have to ask you, first general questions about you and then some on your personality. Date of birth?”
She sighed “The eighth of June.”
“And year?”
“You already know my age.”
“Eh, can you just tell it so I don’t need to calculate.”
“Oh, fine...2040.”
I drew a picture of a dog eating a bone.”Occupation?”
“I had a job at a car manufacturer, but when the AIs came I got fired since they were cheaper in the long run according to my manager.”
“Sorry to hear that. Anyway, penultimate question. Where are you from? I can hear on your accent it’s not from around here.”
“Australia.”
“Ok now, final question. Why are you against ponies?”
“Well..I...I don’t exactly hate them...it’s just that, I don’t believe that they’re giving people new perfect lives for free and ask nothing in return. Nothing comes free. I should know...” she then lowered her head.
“Hmm, well, excuse me for asking, but could you tell me a little bit about your past? As a personal question, of course.” I stopped drawing Caffeine in the car and focused my attention at Tricia.
“As I said, I was born in Australia. My parents were having problems there so as soon as I was born, we moved to America. When I was four they both died in a car accident and I was moved to an orphanage. I ran away when I was thirteen and been living on the street ever since. I managed to get a job a year before AIs arrived. When they did, I was left with nothing but myself, again. Ponies arrived shortly before though, but it didn’t take any attention from me until I’ve lost my job. Living on the street your whole life teaches you that some things aren’t necessarily true and some people just want to watch you burn. When people give something to someone, they expect something back. But the ponies didn’t say what they get from the whole assimilation thingy. And that’s just too fishy for me. I’m guessing that it’s some sort of ruse and that I shouldn’t be deceived by it. Then about three days ago, this yellow pony arrived and started telling me that in less than a month the world is going to end. Is that true? Is the world really going to end?”

“No, that’s just Equestrian propaganda. Please do carry on.”
“Ok, she then stated that she’s one of the Elements of Harmony. I panicked at the news and tied her up. Her bunny kept attacking me so I roughed him up a bit and told him to tell Princess Celestia to surrender to me, so I can stop the world from being destroyed. He ran out the door in quite the haste.”
I put my hand on my forehead and extended the other. “Can you please give me the gun?”
She was confused “Wha-why?”
“Just give it to me, and I’ll explain just how stupid you are my dear.”
She put the gun in my hand.
“Ok, now if you would please follow me.” I stood up and started walking to the door. On my way I examined the gun to see how you eject the magazine. Luckily, I pressed the right button and the magazine fell on the floor. “No need for this nasty thing anymore.” I suddenly remembered that there might still be a bullet loaded in the barrel, so I attempted to fire it according to what you saw in Battlefield 7 and Call of Duty 23’s animations. Strangely enough the animations were quite accurate and I was able to prime the gun.I aimed the gun at the ceiling and when I pulled the trigger nothing happened. I guess it didn’t have a bullet in the barrel. Good riddance. I opened the door and saw Caffeine hiding behind a rusty car.

“Caffeine! Can you please come over here?”
“Caffeine, who’s that?” Tricia asked.
The orange pegasus with the brown mane appeared from behind the car.
“Yes, Erik?”
“Can you please throw this into the ocean? I know that’s polluting, but its a gun after all.” I handed him the gun.
“Sure thing. Wouldn’t want somepony to accidentally use it.” he took the gun with his mouth and flew away.
“Wait, you know a pony?! Either that pony was a sleeper agent or this whole HLF recruitment was an act.”
“Indeed it was, Ms.McMillan. You had a gun, and we assumed that you were a merciless terrorist just waiting to finish off Fluttershy in the basement. But turns out you’re just a little bit confused.”
Caffeine returned “All done, Erik.”
“Ok then, let’s go back inside and have a nice talk, shall we?”
She jumped away from me quickly pulling out a knife and said “How do I know this is not another part of the equestrian plot?!”
I started laughing “Equestrian plot? Hahaha. You really believe there’s a plot against humanity? Truth is my dear, if they hadn’t arrived we’d all be dead by now. When industry stopped so did the toxic fumes generating from their chimneys. The ponies stopped us from destroying our own air. We’d probably drown in our own dung if it wasn’t for them.Now, if you would please?” I gestured for her to enter the apartment.
She holstered her knife, hiding it once again in her leather jacket, entered the apartment and sat on the couch.

While slowly approaching the couch, I smiled at her and then remembered that Fluttershy still was in the basement.
“Ms. McMillan, would you be so kind and give me the keys to the basement?”
She threw them to me without saying a word. I exited the living room and walked in through the kitchen and down into the basement.
Fluttershy was still crying after our first encounter. Back in the days I’d say that I got a heart attack twice. I might get one now as a matter of fact. But not before she gets freed. I kneeled before her and untied her mouth first.
“Ppp-please don’t hurt me.” she was shivering from fear.
“Don’t worry Fluttershy. I won’t hurt you.” I said as I untied her eyes. She recognized my voice and said “Pp-please, don’t shoot me.”
Her eyes were as beautiful as those of an angel. They really did take your soul away.
“I won’t shoot you Fluttershy. Nor will anyone for that matter. If you’re wondering about earlier, that was just an act meant to get you freed, that’s all.” I started untying her legs.
“Ww-heres Angel? Is he alright”
“He’s in good care, don’t worry.” I untied her legs and her wings. “There we go.”
She started crying again and suddenly hugged me. “Thank you.”
“No need.” I said. A hug from the cutest pony in all the known universes is worth a lot more then what I did.
“Now let’s go upstairs so we can finish the job you started. And by the way, my name is Erik.”
“Oo-ok. My name is Fluttershy.” we walked back upstairs and found Caffeine sitting on the floor opposite of the the couch smiling at Tricia. Fluttershy hurriedly tried to hide behind me as soon as she saw her.

I turned around kneeled and said “It’s ok, nobody is going to hurt you. Just come here and sit next to me, and everything is going to be alright.”
Tricia was looking at me in an odd way. I saw this and sat myself between her and Fluttershy. I looked at her and asked “What?”
“How...how can you be so nice to her?”
“Why not?”
“Well, I...I don’t know.”
“Look, I know you never really got the love and attention that you need and deserve, but why in God’s name did you unleash your anger on ponies? They’re not here to make mankind their slaves. They’re not here to hate. They’re here to help us and love us. Isn’t that right, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy produced a meep sound.
“Oh yeah, I forgot they’re here to be cute as well.” I added.
“But, why? I mean, if they’re not gaining anything, why are they doing it?”
“Because that is their way. They evolved in a world in which there were little if no wars, plagues and no large scale natural disasters. Until recently they didn’t even know what murder is, let alone commit it. There were no coups against the Princesses, because they are immortal beings that took care of their people, and still are, unlike most of the politicians in this century. If you had grown up with your mother and father, wouldn’t you too have a better life, I ask you?”
“I guess...I guess I would.”
“Look you have trust issues. Probably due to you growing up with no one but yourself on the streets. Have you ever trusted anyone else in your life, or experienced a gift for no specific reason?” Caffeine interjected.
You could see she felt horrible. She turned to Fluttershy and said “I..I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what to do.”
Fluttershy leaned forward so she could see Tricia. “It’s okay. I’m sure you didn’t mean to do it. If I was told Equestria would disappear, oh, I don’t know what I would do.”
“But...But I beat up your pet rabbit, tied you up in the basement and tried to make your entire race surrender to me.” Tricia started to cry.
Fluttershy flew over me and hugged Tricia. “It’s okay. I’m sure that you didn’t really mean it when you did all those horrible things.” It looked so...well in lack of a better term - d’aww.
Tricia sniffed and started to calm herself “You really are the element of kindness. I don’t know, but I want to make it right. Is there anyway I can make it right to you?”
“Well, if you were a pony, I’d offer you to help me around my cottage with all my little cuties, but...” Fluttershy got interrupted by Tricia’s laughter.
“I think I’m ready to get myself ponified now. I might as well get a job.”
“Oh! That’s wonderful! I’m so happy right now I could-” and then she squeed. I almost got a heart attack. I quickly snapped out of it.
“Well, I’m happy that it worked out for all of us.” I stood up and walked up to the door with Caffeine following me. “After you, my ladies.”
They both got up and went to the door, and before exiting Tricia kissed my cheek and said “Thank you...everything.”
“Oh, all in the days work.” I almost left the house myself, but then I remembered a little item I could use “Oh Tricia? Do you mind if I take your laptop?”
“Oh go ahead. I didn’t use it much.”
I swiftly went to the kitchen and took the laptop. It might help out James and me in our knowledge accumulating project.
When I left the house Caffeine was waiting by the rusty car with the girls.
“Well then. Let’s get going, shall we?”
We started walking to the Ford. On our way there Caffeine asked me “What do you need the laptop for?”
I smiled and said “Eh, James and I have this little project of gathering all humanity’s knowledge. Every little bit counts.” I tapped the laptop.
Soon we were at the Ford and as a gentleman I had to do my thing. I opened the doors for both Tricia and Fluttershy in the back. I then opened Caffeine’s driver seat, had him sit down and buckle him up. I entered the car last.
“James, take us home.”
“Do you mean the airport, sir?”
I sighed “Yes, I mean the airport.” and then I chuckled.
The car started moving. As soon as it did I “You see what you made me do, Caffeine? I started calling your airport home.”
“Anything for an old friend. And it’s not my fault I made you an incredibly nice welcome party.”
“I’m sure it isn’t.” I turned my head back and told the girls “We’ll be at the airport in about a few hours. I hope you enjoy the ride.”
“Ok, Erik. I’m sure we’ll find something to pass the time.”
I turned back and started watching the road in front of us. I was listening to the girls talk about all sorts of things. Mostly about their lives up until now. Fluttershy told the story how she got her cutie mark and so on. It was interesting to hear it in person. Tricia told Fluttershy what she told me about her life. I really think those two can help each other. Caffeine fell asleep after about a hour. When everyone was asleep I plugged in the laptop into the car so James can access the data from it.
“Anything interesting, James?”
“Not really, sir. Just a few small new things about the Human Liberation Front and a guide on how to fix a classic induction stove.”
“Well, alright. Anything is better than nothing.”

After another few hours we finally reached the airport again. Instead of parking at the parking lot, James managed to find a way and park it right next to the airplane that got me here. I woke up the ladies and Caffeine. “Ok everypony, we’re here.”
I swiftly got out of the car and opened the door for both Fluttershy and Tricia who came out yawning.
I opened Caffeine’s door, but he was still sleeping. I had a  pretty nice idea. I started scratching him behind his ear. He started moving his legs and arms and kept saying “Oh, yeah. That’s the spot.”
I started laughing as if somebody just told me ten really good jokes in a row. He then woke up and saw me laughing uncontrollably. “What is it, Erik?”
“Oh, nothing Jake, just nothing.” after calming a bit I unbuckled him and we proceeded to the infirmary where we thought we might find Twilight and Angel. But, as soon as we entered the building, everypony we passed started clapping, or rather, clopping to us.
“Why are they clopping to us?” Fluttershy asked.
“I have no idea.” I answered.
“I guess news about you being captured, Ms.Fluttershy, got spread fast. So I guess seeing you here means everything went alright and you’re saved.” Caffeine said.
“Wow, did I really cause all of this?” Tricia asked.
“Yea....” Caffeine and I said.

As we found our way to the infirmary the halls filled with the clopter of the cheering ponies

Twilight heard the clopping and steps behind her. So she turned around and started saying “Can’t you see he needs peace and-” she then realized it was Fluttershy. “-quiet?”
“Hello Twilight.”
“Fluttershy!” she immediately ran to Fluttershy and hugged her. “I was afraid I wouldn’t  see you ever again!”
“I know, I’m sorry I made you worried. Erik and Caffeine were nice so it all ended up nicer.”
“I’m glad it did. Do you want to check on Angel? He’s doing fine. Just a little bruised up.”   
“Oh, he’s a tough little bunny, I’m sure he’ll make it. But best if I nurse him. You know how he gets grumpy if you don’t get his food just right.”
Twilight giggled. “Yes, you’re right.” she then turned to me and Caffeine “I’ll leave you two alone then. I’ll see you later, Fluttershy.”
“Bye Twilight. Now, where are the band aids?”
Twilight left the room and closed the door behind her. “Well, I guess Equestria and I owe you two now.”
“Don’t be silly Twilight. It was an adventure and a pleasure for us both. You don’t need to repay us.”
Caffeine flew up to ear height and whispered something into my ear.
“Oh, but Caffeine wants one of those blimp-yacht thingies.”
Twilight laughed “I’m sure I’ll be able to arrange something.”
Tricia was soon able to break through the crowd that had gathered around us.
“Wow, I never saw so many ponies in one place.” She said.
“Erik, who’s this?” Twilight asked.
“Ehm, this is Tricia McMillan, she was Fluttershy’s captor. Don’t worry though, we got it all settled and she’s accepted ponification.” I said.
“Good to hear, Ms.McMillan. I’m sure you won’t regret it.” Twilight responded.
“I’m sure I won’t. Fluttershy already agreed that I’ll work at her cottage after everything has been done.”
“That’s great! I’m glad you managed and hope you’ll have a great life as a pony.”
“Well, I’m sure it will be better than my human one.”

I yawned “I think I’ll be going to be early. Good night everypony. And Tricia.”
“But, Erik, I think they wanted to throw another feast in your honor.” Caffeine pointed out.
“Caffeine, I think a feast in my honor is a thing that could be done once every four years. Not every other day. And besides, I really feel like your coffee has worn off and honestly, I’m barely on my feet. But you have fun, okay?”
“Okay, I guess we’ll manage. Good night Erik.” Caffeine grinned at me and then hopped away to the some other ponies.
I squeezed myself out of the crowd and exited the building. I just barely made my way to the control tower and into the room Caffeine gave us. As soon as I closed the door behind me I fell into the bed and said “Hello, Miss Pillow. I hope you missed me as much as I’ve missed you.” and then promptly fell asleep, despite the fact that the entire airport sounded like one big boombox now. But after about twenty minutes of slumber, Twilight teleported herself into the room with a large bang.
“Ouch... that seemed better in my head.” she said.
“Yeah, teleporting can be tricky I guess.” I said with my face stuck in the pillow. I lift it up and then asked “But never mind that, what is it Twilight? The party doesn’t sound like it has ended yet.”
“No, the party’s excellent. Considering Pinkie Pie didn’t make it.”
“Well, no surprise there.”
“Anyway, I just wanted to thank you once more for saving Fluttershy. I don’t know what I would have done if I lost her here.”
“It would be a tragedy, I’m sure. But,  really, it’s no big deal Twilight. I was surprised how easy it was in fact. I was expecting a man with booby traps, mad ideas and an arsenal of weapons at his side. But instead, I found a young girl who just never saw kindness. Not that I want Fluttershy being captured by a bloodthirsty madman, but this situation, I’m sure anyone could have taken care of it. ”
“Well, nevertheless, I’d like to thank you once more.” Twilight approached the bed and kissed my cheek. It was a very odd feeling being kissed by a pony. Both strange and warm at the same time.
“I’ll be going back to the party now, so-” Twilight started leaving.
“Ehm, Twilight, can I have a word with you for a second.” I interrupted.
“Sure, go ahead.”

“Well, Twilight, I don’t know how to put this, but, even though you and your kind were here for two decades, I still feel astounded and surprised you’re here.” I paused for a moment “And, I might be going a little overboard with stating this, but, when I was seventeen and the show still aired, I watched ponies not only because they symbolized the very essence of good morale and good in general, but I also watched them because they, well, you, were cute. And being hugged and kissed by you just seems, well, strange.”
“So you want me to stop hugging and kissing you?”
“Kissing, yes, hugging, not necessarily.”
She started laughing “Ok Erik. I promise I won’t kiss you anymore.”
“Can I get a hug, though?”
She hugged me. Here comes that d’aww feeling. “Of course you can.”
“Thanks Twilight. Now, go on, the party's waiting, and I need to get some sleep” I yawned.
“Okay,” she giggled “I’ll see you in the morning. Good night.”
“Good night Twilight, and have fun.” and she blinked out of sight yet again. I went to sleep once more, with the sensation of being hugged by a pony again. I don’t know what’s with me and hugs. It’s like drugs, but without the side effects. And being hugged by ponies is like a near overdose. Yep, it was good day to be a brony. But, then again, every day is a good day to be a brony. But this one was one of those when it’s especially nice to be a brony. And then I fell asleep, once more.