The Machine

by ADRNEL

Chapter XXV~The Party~

Adam and his friends boarded the train to head off home. After spending the morning in the Crystal Empire and assuring that the city got the honor of hosting the games, it was time to leave.

Both Adam and Fluttershy entered their private train car so they could not be disturbed, although the pegasus still felt heartbroken that the human was not being completely honest with her. They both sat down next to each other.

"Uh...Adam..." began the pegasus.

"What is it Shy?"

"I was thinking..." Fluttershy was nervous, but she hoped this idea would help keep their relationship alive.

"About what?"

"Maybe we should bring in a second mare into our relationship." she admitted.

"What?! Why?" Adam was confused, he thought that they were both okay with just being together without others joining in.

"So you won't get bored of me...to spice things up Adam." lied Fluttershy, she was actually worried that he would abandon her completely and end up with another mare, to put an end to the cheating.

"Fluttershy...please...the thought of sharing you with another mare just does not sit well with me." he looked into her eyes. "I love you and only you, no one else."

"Then why did you do it with all of my friends, especially Twilight!" blurted out the pegasus. She quickly covered her mouth in shame.

"What?!"

"I overheard you and Twilight talking...you would rather have her instead of me?"

"What I did...yes...there's no excuse for what I did, but you showed me that I could find love again and I am truly hoping that you would be my first pony someday." pleaded the human, although in reality he already did have sex with pony behind Fluttershy's back, memories of his night with Lyra flooded his mind.

"Y-You mean it?"

"Every single word." smiled Adam.

Fluttershy just gave Adam a tight hug. "I love you so much Adam, please don't scare me like that...I care too much about you!"

"And I love you too."

"So I was thinking...that for the upcoming Gala, it should be themed around Adam's home time period." proposed Luna while she had her tea with Celestia, who stuck with drinking coffee.

The princess of the sun was on the inside offended by the proposal, but he kept a calm face. "What makes you say that sis?"

"To honor the arrival of this extraordinary being...besides, I read his mind, I know how his home time period works." explained Luna.

"So you want him to be guest of honor?"

"Preferably so." agreed Luna. "He seems to be fitting in well among-st us."

"My poor naive Lulu...she still has no idea of the truth...all humans are good for is causing chaos, destruction and coming up with new ways to kill themselves." Celestia said in her head. "Luna must never know about my intentions for this human...she might end up interfering if she does."

"I will keep your idea in mind Lulu." was all Celestia said as she took another sip of her coffee.

At a small cemetery, Applejack placed a single flower at a gravestone, it was Granny's.

The mare just took off her hat as a sign of respect. "I still feel responsible for her death AJ." blurted Adam as he walked towards her.

"Don't be Adam....it was not yer fault." said the orange mare. "It happens when yer old like her."

"So...what's the average life span of a pony?" asked Adam as he stood next to Applejack in front of the grave.

"An Earth pony can make it to a hundred easily if they don't work themselves too hard...pegasi about eighty since their bones are more fragile especially in old age, and how long unicorns live depend on how much of that fancy magic they know." answered Applejack. "By the way," she remembered something. "according to Granny's will...she wanted you to have this box."

"What box?"

"This box Mr. Gray." said Filthy Rich as he took out a metal box from his safe and placed it on his desk. "I have been instructed to keep it locked and sealed until you finally decide to pick up and claim it."

Adam sat in front of the desk and saw the box, he knew its contents since it was the same box he looked in shortly before Granny Smith's death. "Is there anything else she gave me?" the human asked.

"Just this note...I have no idea what it says since it is written in some kind of writing system I never saw before." the stallion explained as he gave the note to the human.

Adam unfolded the note and saw to his shock that it was written in the Latin alphabet, the alphabet commonly used by humans from his time period. The note read: You are not alone

The human was completely dumbfounded.

Celestia teleported herself into an advanced maximum security prison. She had a stern look and marched down the long empty hallways and corridors, no guards to be seen. She made her way to a cell block to the last cell at the end up the corridor. She was face to face to the one she wanted to see, a glass partition dividing them.

"Like what I have done to the place Celly?" said a strange looking creature wearing an orange prison jumpsuit.

"Oh yes...very befitting of you...Discord." she had no time for games with him.

"Well...it is nice to FINALLY have a visitor...you have any idea how long it has been?" began Discord. "Although to be honest, I have no idea either...but oh well...I finally learned how to play a harmonica and made a ton of crafts in the prison-"

"I need your assistance on something!" interrupted the princess, those words left a bad taste in her mouth, but it needed to be done.

"Let me guess," Discord took out his harmonica and played a few notes. "Tirek has escaped...again, didn't he?" played more notes. "What's the point in putting him away in Tartarus if he's always going to escape? Either you should improve security there or just turn him into a statue like you did with me and any other pony that threatened the status-quo?"

"It's not Tirek!"

Discord looked on with surprised and threw away the harmonica. "If it is not Tirek...then what could it be? It better not be those pesky creatures from fluidic space again...my goodness they took forever to defeat."

"It's a human." answered Celestia.

"A human?"

The princess just nodded with a serious face.

"I thought humans killed themselves off over a million years ago?"

"This one invented a time machine and I worry he's going to change everything I have worked over a millennia for."

"You mean you worry that he'll teach your subjects that they can be okay without out?" bluntly asked the creature. "I swear Celly...you have the most severe case of empty nest syndrome I have ever seen...afraid to have your subjects run the kingdom without you much?"

The alicorn gave Discord a dirty look. "I think I made a mistake asking you for help." she turned around to leave.

"I will be willing to help Celly!" he yelled after her. "Under...certain...conditions."

Celestia stopped in her tracks. "And those are?"

"First, I want a guarantee that if I am successful...you will never encase me in stone ever again."

"And the other?"

Discord gave an evil grin. "I want you to beg for my help, and add a little whinny while you do it too."

"WHAT?!"

"You said you wanted my help? Well guess what...my help won't come for free." explained the creature. "Now beg."

Celestia just gave him a serious look. "Buck you Discord." she turned and left in disgust.

"I know you too well Celly! I know you'll be crawling back here begging to let me help! You'll see! YOU MORE THAN KNEW ME EVEN BEFORE I BECAME THIS MONSTROSITY!" yelled Discord as he watched Celestia walk away.

Adam and Fluttershy were on a hill, looking at the sky. "You know...I once had a dream about us that started this way..." stated the pegasus.

"What kind a dream?"

Fluttershy blushed. "Ummm...." it was actually a dirty dream...a blissful dream.

"Oh hey guys!" greeted a new voice. The two of them stood up to see Twilight trotting towards them.

"Nice to see you Twilight." greeted the human back. "Want to join us in our cloud watching?"

Fluttershy was suspicious of Adam and Twilight being together, especially after she figured out what they did.

"I just came here to tell you that you are the guest of honor at the Grand Galloping Gala this year!" broke Twilight the news.

"I am?" Twilight gave Adam the note that Celestia sent her, the human did his best to make out what it said. "Well, I am."

"That's amazing Adam." cheered Fluttershy. "Who will you be taking as your date?"

"Why you Fluttershy, obviously...I'll make sure to treat you like a princess when we go." mused the human. Fluttershy blushed from that comment. He turned to Twilight. "When is the gala?"

"This Saturday...so in about four days."

"Well I guess I have to go over to Rarity's so she can make me a nice suit and Fluttershy a nice dress."

"I already have my dress ready to go." interrupted the pegasus with a blush. "I-I made it myself...just for you."

"Well I can't wait to see it then." smiled the human at his marefriend.

"There...ah think we're done." stated Apple Bloom to Adam as they finished the construction of a new gazebo for the farm.

"Well...it turned out exactly the way it did in the blueprints...nice job AB." congratulated the human as he put the tools away.

Apple Bloom decided to use the moment to finally tell him about her feelings for him. "Can ah tell ya somethin' Adam?"

"Sure...feel free." was all the human said.

"The thing is...well...ah have feelin's for ya..." nervously admitted the filly. "Ever since we first talked ah had romantic feelin's for ya...yer so smart and wise and ah always feel safe around ya." she gave a set of puppy dog eyes at him.

"You do?"

The filly nodded.

"Well...I am very flattered that you think of me so highly...but you're a filly and I am an adult...it will never work out between us." admitted the human as he tried to not upset her. "Besides, I always see you as more like a daughter."

"Ah would be just as fine with ya bein' like my father." Apple Bloom gave a small reassuring smile. "But thanks to ya, ah finally know what ah want to do with my life."

"And what's that?"

"Go to college and become an engineer...or the very least a carpenter...but still, ya inspired me to find new life outside of the farm, ah want to be the first in my family to go to college." stated the filly with confidence.

"Now that's what I call a goal." the human smiled as he wrapped the filly into a hug. Apple Bloom happily hugged back, she was glad that even though they can't be together romantically, he will still be in her life regardless.

As Adam hugged the filly, he noticed a small flash of light in the corner of his eye, coming from her. "Uh...Apple Bloom?"

"What?" she broke the hug confused.

"Look at your rump." he pointed

Apple Bloom, still confused, did as told, but what she saw next would change her life. "A CUTIE MARK?! I HAVE A CUTIE MARK?!" she couldn't believe it.

"Congratulations." smiled the human, happy for her.

"A heart and a hammer?" she said as she examined it. "What does it mean?"

"Whatever you want it to mean...you have the mark...now you have to make something out of it with your life." assured Adam.

Apple Bloom charged up and gave the human another tight hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she kissed his cheek and the human blushed slightly.

"Today was a great day Fluttershy." mused Adam as both he and the mare were cuddling on the mare's couch in her cottage.

"So glad you helped Apple Bloom get her cutie mark." she was so proud of him. Adam happily and gently stroked her mane, something she loved so much.

"So...two more days until the gala...ready?"

"I already told you I am silly." giggled the yellow mare as she rubbed her nose against Adam's.

"You still won't let me see your dress?"

"You'll see it once we leave for the gala...don't worry....I also plan on making that night as special and as romantic as possible."

"I was planning that too!" he said in fake surprise. "Who told you?"

Fluttershy gave a cute laugh. "A very nice and kind human." she started to play along.

"A human?"

"Why...a sexy human."

"What does he look like? I need to know so I can have a stern talk with him." the human joked.

"Tall, long brown hair, brown eyes that can melt any mare's heart...especially mine...and nice abs."

"Nice abs?" the human chuckled from such a statement. "Well that's what you get from being more active here than in my home time period, what with the walking, and farm working and all."

"I need to pick on you once in a while you know?" the pegasus mare giggled.

"GRRR!" gave a playful growl. The growl sent shivers down Fluttershy's back, her wings extended and her face blushed.

"Oh my..." she did not expect such a reaction. but she immediately pounced on the human and kissed him passionately. Adam went along with it. "I love you so much Adam...I want to make your time at the gala special..." she said between kisses.

"Me to.." he kissed back as he rubbed the pony's sides. "...but I suggest we wait until then before we go all the way."

"You mean?" she stopped the kissing.

"I am ready to take this relationship to the next step with you....are you?"

Fluttershy happily hugged the human. "I'm always ready when you are...our first time will be romantic and special and nothing will ever ruin it!"

Celestia looked at the night sky from her chamber window with a determined look on her face. "Like I would ever degrade myself like that for him...such a shame that he was punished into becoming who he is now...partially because of me...he taught me the dark arts."

Her train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Sis? Are you still awake?" asked Luna from the other side of the door.

"Just getting ready for bed Lulu...don't worry about me...I'll see you in the morning." assured the sun princess.

"I'll see you in the morning too." said Luna before she left.

"It pains me to keep my own sister out of the loop...but knowing her...she'll naively side with the human and I'll probably be forced to exile her again if I did tell her...she'll never be ready for such a revelation...but for now...I worry about the human, I'll take care of my sister afterwards." she took off her regalia and shoes before she lied down on her bed. "Oh well...tomorrow is a new day...the things I have to do to keep things the same..."

TO BE CONTINUED...