"Tex, you in there?" Church asked as he rapped on the door.
"Where else would I be, jackass?"
"Charismatic as always." Church said sarcastically, opening the door to the bedroom. "I can see this place is already starting to rub off on you."
"Thanks, I'm trying hard."
Church smirked and sat on the edge of the bed, staring intently at Tex.
"Just get out with it. Your mopey nature is running the mood." Tex said, half jokingly.
"Classy." Church murmured. "Just wondering what you're thinking about. I thought you'd be out trying to make a name for yourself."
"I don't really know, to be honest." Tex sighed, looking out the window. "I guess I'm just thinking about the future, y'know?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean between staying wherever this is and going back."
"You really are thinking about staying here, aren't you?" Church asked curiously.
"I mean, why not, right? Place is friendly, nobody is at my throat..." Tex said, looking into the town.
"Not yet, anyways." Church finished with a smirk.
"Har dee fucking har har." Tex grunted. "You know what I mean. It's a nice change of pace."
"I thought this place would be pissing you off by now."
"It is, in a way. The colors are hurting my eyes. I feel like a cartoon for fuck's sake." Tex said annoyingly. "But I don't want it to be. I'm kind of tired of being considered a-"
"A completely undeniable bitch?"
"Took the words right out of my mouth." Tex said honestly. "How about you, have you been thinking about going back?
"I don't know. I don't exactly see eye to eye with Celestia, so talking to her is the last thing I want to do." Church said sternly as he thought back to past events. "And I'm not too sure the others are too keen on going back. They're technically wanted criminals now, and I'm pretty sure most of them would rather be a group of pretty ponies than be locked up for the rest of their lives. Besides, I have this feeling that I need to do something here."
"You just don't know what it is yet." Tex nodded.
"Yeah, you have that feeling too?"
Tex looked at Church and nodded her head slowly.
"Any guesses?" Church asked.
"Not a single one."
"That's what I thought. I'll leave you to your thinking." Church said, hopping off the bed.
"I think I've done enough of that for a while." Tex said, hopping off the bed with him. "Kinda preferred it when I just went on my instincts. I'm not cut out for this thinking stuff."
"Now you know how Delta feels." Church chuckled as they walked out the door and down the stairs. "Poor bastard is always lost in thought."
"At least he seems happy with it." Tex said as they reached the bottom of the steps. She looked around the library to see Twilight reading a book at the table, while Spike was on the other side of the table eating something out of a bowl.
"Back down already?" Twilight asked as she flipped to the next page of her book.
Tex nodded without saying a word, taking a seat at the table with her.
"Thinking about what happens next?"
"How'd you know?"
"Just a guess." Twilight said honestly, looking up from her book.
"Yeah. It's hard thinking about the future. I liked living in the now. I barely know what I'm going to do the day after tomorrow."
"You're welcome to stay here until you figure it out." Twilight said warmly.
"And if I don't figure it out?"
"Then I guess I'll have more than just Church and Spike to keep me company." Twilight smiled. "Well, and Owlowicious, but he prefers to keep to himself during the day."
Tex looked at Twilight curiously, waiting for her to continue, but she did not. Tex turned to Church and raised her brow, but he simply shrugged in return.
"Are you being serious, or are you pulling my leg?"
"About what?" Twilight asked hesitantly.
"About letting me stay here. I kind of thought you would have wanted me out of here as soon as possible."
"I'm serious. What kind of pony would I be if I kicked someone else. As it is now you don't have anywhere else to go, and I would hardly find it fair to make you live on the street."
"Then thanks. I'll see what I can do about finding a place later. For now it's just nice to relax a bit."
"I understand completely." Twilight nodded, promptly looking down to continue reading, leaving the room in silence.
"So, uh, what are you reading?" Tex asked after a minute of sitting peacefully.
"I'm reading about the origins of the Griffon empire. Fascinating subject, really. You see, to get accepted into the clan you have to go through a series of trials to prove your worth. Each one proves to be more and more difficult. If you beat all the trials, you get praised and become an equal in the eyes of every other griffon. But if you lose, you get kicked out of the clan and you have to live somewhere else." Twilight said with fascination. "And if you want to visit the empire you have to best their strongest fighter's in a duel."
"Sounds... interesting?"
"Sorry, I don't mean to bore you." Twilight said sheepishly.
"Don't worry about it, I'm still trying to get a hang of small talk." Tex said modestly, and smiled weakly. "As you can see it's a work in progress."
"You have to start somewhere." Twilight said graciously.
"I guess so."
There was then a loud knock on the door. Twilight closed the book, but placed a feather on the page she was on, using it as a bookmark. Twilight opened the door to see Rainbow Dash smiling at her.
"Oh, hello Rainbow Dash." Twilight said with surprise. "Come to pick up the latest Daring Do?"
"She's mine!" The Necronomicon said snappishly from the bookshelf.
"Don't mind him, he's recently grown attached to miss Do." Twilight giggled. "I can just go grab it though. He can live a day without her."
"Nah, not tonight." Rainbow Dash shook her head as Tucker landed by her side, panting lightly.
"Why'd you tag me? You know I'm tired."
"We both are you doofus. And it's your fault anyway-"
"Then why are you here?" Twilight asked quickly, interrupting the fight.
"Oh, right. Is Tex around?"
"Er, yes." Twilight nodded. "Stay right here, I'll go get her."
"Okay." Rainbow Dash said as Twilight disappeared into the house.
"You're not really mad at me, are you?" Tucker asked.
"I'm not really mad, but I'm not really happy either." Rainbow Dash shrugged.
"You wouldn't be mad if you just let me show you why they call me Dr. Fu-"
"What's up?" Tex asked as she opened the door. "Twilight said you needed to talk to me for some reason?"
"Yeah, we were just wondering if you were busy tonight?" Tucker asked.
"No, why?" Tex asked with mild curiosity.
"I was thinking we could go to dinner together."
"Dinner, really? Your little thing with Dash already over?" Tex asked contemptibly, looking at Dash. "Though I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. It was bound to happen eventually."
"What? No, we're still good, but-"
"Define good. Because from I've heard you've just been pissing her off a lot."
"She's over it." Tucker said with a smile, turning to her. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and looked away from him. "See? If she really was mad I'd be on the ground clutching my sack for dear life."
"Uh-huh. So what's with this dinner thing you're talking about?"
"We kinda decided that we wanted to show you a good time." Rainbow Dash said when Tucker opened his mouth, not wanting him to say anything stupid. "Y'know, to show you that we support you."
"Really?" Tex asked with a smirk, believing there to be something else. "And who came up with that idea?"
"Fluttershy."
"Really?" Tex asked again, but this time feeling slightly guilty.
"Yeah, and normally she hates going out in public to eat, so she must really want you to feel welcome."
"Guess I have to give her an apology then." Tex muttered under her breath, staring at the ground. She looked back up and nodded after a few seconds. "Sure, why not? Dinner sounds... nice?"
"You go tell Twi and Church, we still need to go tell Caboose and Pinkie." Rainbow Dash said, starting to turn around.
"Wait, are the Reds coming too?" Tex asked seriously. "Like, even Grif?"
"Yeah, but Grif didn't seem to keen on going." Rainbow Dash said hesitantly. "But I think in the end he felt bad for the way he acted, so this is his way of apologizing."
"Sounds too smart for him." Tex chuckled. "Then again, I think he knows he's not much better with words than Tucker is."
"Hey!" Tucker snapped.
"You got that right." Rainbow Dash grunted jokingly.
"But seriously, why do you stick around with Tucker?"
"Celestia's orders." Rainbow Dash shrugged. "He's my charge or whatever it's called, but if it wasn't for that he'd have been kicked out a long time ago."
"You're kidding, right?" Tucker asked with a smile.
Rainbow Dash shook her head and began flying away, but smiled once she was certain Tucker could no longer see her face. Tucker turned to Tex leaving and his smile began to waver as he grew concerned. Tex smirked to herself, gaining a small sense of respect for the cyan pegasus.
"She's kidding, right?" Tucker asked after a few seconds, almost pleadingly.
Tex snorted and closed the door.