//------------------------------//
// Friends 
// Story: OTR: Escape 
// by The King of Hearts 
//------------------------------//

////
Friends
////

Alex sat on the couch, rubbing his temples in a vain attempt to escape the pain of his now throbbing head. Once the girls found his mother’s clothing, they went crazy, each finding an outfit that more or less fit their personalities. Alex was sure that Applejack would have no problem finding an outfit, but Rarity might have an issue or two.

Still, while all of this was going on, they were continuously pounding on the floor above them, as they freely changed outfits in front of one another. It was loud, and it pounded on his poor head.

Still, through the pain, he couldn’t help but laugh at the strange circumstances he was in at the moment. 

If fourteen year old him were here, he would be going absolutely nuts with all the nude talent in the house right now. But, here he was, in his twenties, and not giving a crap about it—well, maybe he gave a little crap. He was sure that each of the naked girls would pop in to his head at one point in the future, putting him in to an uncomfortable situation.

Checking his phone, half an hour had passed since he sent them up there, and he decided that he would probably want to order some food for them to eat, since nothing was in the house. Luckily, Alex was on the ball, and remembered that the girls weren’t meat eaters. He wasn’t sure how he would explain to them that they had just eaten one of the many beasts they lived with back in Equestria.

So, that was that. He ordered four large cheese pizzas, fully expecting Pinkie to do something terrible with at least two of them.

“Alex!”  Pinkie called from up the stairs, “Can you help me down?”

Sighing, he stood up and headed for the staircase, curious as to the outfit Pinkie had chosen from his mother’s wardrobe.

Meeting her gaze at the top of the stairs, he was impressed that she had found some pink at all. She wore a simple white t-shirt, with a pink zip-up hoodie, and a pair of white short shorts.  

“So… how do you get down these things?” Pinkie asked, one again holding on to the railing, while she tried to take a step down, before chickening out and stepping back.

“Here, let me help you,” Alex said, running up to the top and picking her up, bridal style, “This will save us a lot of time.”

“Ooooh!” Pinkie giggled, instinctively wrapping her arms around his neck, “Nopony’s ever treated me this way!”

“No problem, Pinks,” Alex smiled, carrying her to the bottom of the stairs, and setting her on the couch that sat along the window, “How are the other girls doing? Almost done?”

“I think so!” She said, sprawling out on her back and relaxing, “Go check on ‘em!”

Figuing that might speed things up, Alex turned to the staircase and made his way back up, and walked down the hall to their new change room. 

“How are you guys doing?” Alex asked, opening the door, and instantly turning beet red at the sight he was presented with.

“Why are Fluttershy’s so much bigger than mine?” Rarity almost whined, as she handled the bare chest of her pink haired friend, “And they’re so soft!”

And his nose bled.

////

After taking the fastest, and coldest shower of his life, Alex jumped out, and was happy to see that the girls were no longer in the room. Thank Celestia. Any more of their… exploration would lead to a likely messy situation.

Stepping out of the room, Alex was unable to hold back his laugher, and he saw all of the girls lined up at the top of the stairs, deathly afraid of collapsing down them.

“I’ll carry you guys down.” Alex smiled, as each of the girls gave him a smile and a ‘thank you.’

Walking up to Rarity, he carefully wrapped one arm around her back, and one around the back of her knees, before swiftly picking her up. She was wearing, of course, an elegant purple dress, along with some very done-up hair. He was surprised at how well her fashion sense carried over into the real world, but, was not at all surprised that she chose his mother’s nicest outfit to wear casually.

“You’re a true gentlecolt,” Rarity said politely, wrapping her arms around him just as Pinkie had.

Placing her down on the seat next to Pinkie, Alex headed back up for his next customer, Applejack.

“Thank’ya kindly!” Applejack smiled, as he carried down the blond bombshell.

She was wearing a plaid red and green shirt, with a jean jacket, and incredibly short blue jean shorts. Needless to say, she looked damn good in them.

Setting her next to Rarity, at the end of his couch, and repeated his step with Twilight.

“I’m surprised how difficult I find it to master walking as a biped!” Twilight said, examining the ceiling as he carried her down, “I never seem to have that much trouble with it when I’m a pony!”

“Dash had some trouble when she was here,” Alex reminisced, earning a sad look from Twilight, “But she was running in a day, no problem.”

“Well… Out of all our friends, I think she’s pick it up fastest,” Twilight said, nodding as she was placed down on the large chair that used to belong to Alex’s father.

As Alex turned and started heading back up, he heard the door be knocked on.

“Oh. That’s the food,” Alex said, taking a step down before Pinkie spoke up.

“I’ll get it!” She said, jumping up from her seat, and shuffling carefully to the door.

Shaking his head, Alex decided to grab Fluttershy quickly so he could deal with the pizza guy. Only problem was, he was moving a little too fast, and jolted Fluttershy in to his chest, as she gave out a nervous ‘eep.’

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Alex said, relaxing himself, and putting her at ease, “I didn’t mean to scare you!”

Fluttershy only blushed heavily, as she kept both hands crossed over her chest, afraid to make contact with his body.

Alex reached the bottom step just in time for Pinkie to open the front door.

“Heya!” She smiled excitedly, as the young guy made eye contact with Alex, and his arms full of beautiful girl.

“Um… I have four cheese pizzas…” He mumbled, looking around the room in awe.

“Do you want to be my friend?” Pinkie asked, moving her face to within an inch of the acne-covered teenager, “I don’t have any friends here yet!”

“Sure!” His voice cracked, as her face lit up in surprise that it had been so easy.

“Yeah!” She beamed, wrapping her arms around his neck, and pressing her body against his, “My first- well, second human friend!”

“Uhhhh,” His voice creaked, as he awkwardly hugged her back, not giving a second thought to her ‘second human friend’ line.

“How much do I owe you again?” Alex asked the guy, looking over Pinkie’s shoulder, with Fluttershy still in his arms.

“Thirty two… twenty five,” He said though the still crushing grip that he hoped would never end.

“That’s the money next to you, Pinkie,” Alex said, gesturing to the shelf next to the door, as he carried Fluttershy to her designated seat in the room, and placed her down carefully.

“Oh!” Pinkie said, snapping back and breaking his heart, “Here you go! Keep the change!”

The broken heart of the small man was mended the moment he noticed that she was giving him two fifty-dollar bills, “Oh! Thank you very much!”

“Any time!” He said, lifting the pack of pizzas off the ground next to him, and handed it to Pinkie, “Here’s your food.”

Pinkie greedily took the boxes out of his hand once the smell made its way to her nostrils, “Thanks! See’ya!”

Slamming the door closed, Pinkie hurried the food over to the coffee table in the middle of the living room, and with surprising skill, managed to not trip and splat cheese all over the place. Opening the first box clumsily with her index finger and thumb, she final reached her goal. The delicious pizza she had been dying for since… well, since she found out that food was at the door about two minutes ago.

Looking up at Alex expectantly, she gave him the widest eyes she could, waiting for his approval to start eating.

“One second, Pinkie,” Alex laughed, running to the kitchen and grabbing a stack of plates out of the cupboard, along with a jug of orange juice, and some cups. He was surprised that he was able to balance it all in his arms.

Running back in to the room, he handed each girl a plate, and then places all of the glasses next to the food, which he promptly filled—Unfortunately, they were all still looking a little lost, when it came to the use of their hands and fingers.

“How much more do I need to do for you guys…?” Alex asked, frowning, just as he sat down, “You know what? I believe in all of you! You guys can work this out!”

They all shot him a dirty look.

“I just carried you all downstairs,” Alex said, smirking as he kicked back and placed his feet on the stool in front of him, “I didn’t ask you guys to wait on me like this when I first came to Equestria.”

“Ah’suppose,” Applejack sighed, not happy feeling this useless, “Well Pinkie! Show us how it’s done!”

“Yes Pinkie,” Rarity nodded, smiling to herself, “Please show us how one would eat on earth.”

“I’d be happy to!” Pinkie smiled, instantly burying her face in the pizza, as she grabbed a slice with her teeth, and pulled it up and away. Then, she proceeded to place it on the plate in front of her, “Easy peasy!”

Alex wasn’t sure if he should laugh, or tell her how she really needs to do it.

“Who’s next?” 

////

The past fifteen minutes had been filled with the girls all fumbling to get themselves situated with their food. But, all in all, it worked out well enough. Alex only had to show them the proper way to eat three or so times, by laying the pizza flat on his open hand, and bringing just the tip of the slice in to his mouth. 

They had insisted that they just burry their face in it, but he told them it was insulting on earth to not eat the customary way. Yeah, it was a lie. But, the last thing he needed was his uncle walking in to see five women all eating with just their mouths. He’d think Alex was in some kind of creepy role-play that involved the most beautiful women he had ever seen.

“So,” Alex said, relaxing as they all made their way through the food in front of them, “You all came to take me back?”

“You can’t say no to all of us, Alex,” Rarity said, shaking her head with a smile, “Besides… there was another reason that we came and found you.”

“Rarity!” Twilight said quickly, her voice in a hushing tone, before looking back to Alex with a nervous smile on her face, knowing that the secret was going to come out now, regardless.

“As if we won’t tell him!” Rarity said back, “Keeping it from him would only make things worse!”

“Ah’ don’t know…” Applejack said, on the fence of telling him whatever the secret was.

Pinkie was uncharacteristically quiet during the argument between the friends. 

“I don’t know if he can handle it!” Twilight argued, talking as if Alex wasn’t even there.

“He’s right here!” Fluttershy spoke up, silencing her friends, “You’re being very inconsiderate by talking this way…”

“What’s going on with Dash?” Alex asked finally, giving a thankful smile to Fluttershy, “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what you’re talking about.”

Twilight bit her lip and sighed, “She’s being inducted in to the Wonderbolts next week.”

“We all decided to go and support her, as her friends,” Rarity said softly, making sure her tone was apologetic, incase Alex was upset with the news, “And we wanted you to come with us.”

Alex didn’t answer. He simply placed his hands together, and held them to his mouth.

“We all know what’s going to happen once Dash becomes a member of the Wonderbolts, Alex,” Twilight said, scratching the back of her head, “We won’t be able to get an audience with her without a massive amount of effort to put in.”

“All of us want to talk to her, at least one more time,” Fluttershy said, “It’s hard not to take sides… but I still care about Dash.”

“Me too.” Rarity added.

“Ah’ owe her another conversation mah’self,” Applejack added.

Pinkie sighed loudly, obviously filled with conflict over the topic, as, apparently, she had been the hardest hit by Rainbow Dash’s betrayal, aside from Alex. 

“You still haven’t told us if you want to go, Pinkie,” Twilight said, raising an eyebrow at the pink haired girl.

“I… I don’t know.” Pinkie said, her happy mood from the pizza now all but gone, “I just don’t think I could face her.”

No one knew why she was so reluctant. All of Dash’s old friends seemed willing to at least give her one final send off, regardless of the mistakes she made. But, Pinkie had been hit so hard by this, that it confused all of them deeply, including Alex. Even he figured that she would have been the first to forgive the mare.

“Why is it so hard for you?” Alex spoke up, surprising them all with his curiosity on the topic, “You’re Pinkie. I couldn’t see you staying mad at anyone, or anypony.”

She sighed. 

“You know,” Pinkie said, tilting her head, “I always held Dashie in such a special place in my mind.”

Pinkie fought back the urge to cry again, as she had so many times since this revelation.

“It might sound dumb… But I always looked up to her,” Pinkie continued, her hair almost losing its volume as she spoke, “Whenever I looked at her, I always saw a dedicated pony that would rather lose her wings, than hurt her friends.”

The lack of her usual tone and expressions was enough to put a pit in all of their stomachs.

“But, not only did she betray Alex… but she did it eleven times!” Pinkie exclaimed, looking to Alex, and frowning, “I lost my faith in the world when I found that out… If Dashie, the most loyal of loyal-ist ponies could do something like that, then what could everypony else do?”

The silence that followed in the room was truly horrible. They were all silenced by Pinkie’s speech, each pondering what she had said, and just what it meant.

Dash had deceived all of them, and then lied to not only them, but Alex as well. It was… unforgivable. 

Even Rarity, the one who had been the largest advocate for seeing Dash off, was reconsidering her position on whether or not she would be going to the ceremony.

“I’ll go.” Alex said, snapping every gaze from the room to him.

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked, “I mean, she—“

“I know what she did,” Alex said in a thick tone, as he finished the last piece of crust from his plate, “But I was too scared to confront her.”

Alex stood up and walked past the girls to the large window facing the street, and opened the curtains. He looked outside, and shook his head at just how… dark this world was. It sounded terrible, but he hated it here. Equestria had become his home over the past four years, and he wanted nothing more than to move back, and have everything be okay with Rainbow Dash. But, unfortunately, with that mare being ruined, it was enough for him to despise that world too.

So, what were his choices?

Stay here, live a boring life while hiding his magic, and knowing that in thirty years, all of his friends in Equestria will be dead.

Or, go back there, live in constant reminder of what he lost, and be sad forever? Well… he would likely find another mare to care about. Pinkie would probably be a lot of fun.

Shaking his head, he was thinking it over too much.

“Honestly… the last few weeks, all I’ve  been thinking about it my future,” Alex sighed, “All the shitty stuff I have to face from this point on in my life, whether I go back to Equestria, or stay here. But, maybe… maybe I should just take this one step at a time.”

“That’s a good idea,” Twilight nodded, standing up and joining him next to the window, “Don’t make yourself sick over all of this. Take it one step at a time, and we’ll all be right there with you.”

“You bet we’ll be!” Pinkie smiled, jumping up from her seat, and joining them.

“You’ll have Spike and I as well.” Rarity nodded, standing as well.

“Couldn’t get rid of us if ya’ tried.” Applejack smiled, following suit with the others.

“Please don’t try, though.” Fluttershy giggled, not wanting to be the only one sitting, as she joined them at the window.

“Although, we may be a little biased,” Twilight said, wrapping her arms around giving him a friendly hug, “We think Equestria is a pretty good place to live in.”

Alex closed his eyes and smiled, as all the rest of the girls laughed and joined in to the group hug. He had made some of the best friends of his life in Equestria, and they were all here, rooting for him during this terrible time in his life. 

How could he ever consider staying on earth? 

“I love you guys.” Alex said softly, a smile now across his lips, as they all ‘aww’d’ in response.

"We love you too, Alex!" Pinkie beamed, wrapping her arms around the group even tighter.

Opening his eyes, Alex noticed something strange in the window of his uncle’s house. There was a silhouette in the upper level bedroom. Narrowing his eyes, he could only shaking his head at the figure, his uncle, who had been watching them through binoculars. But, upon seeing that he had been noticed, put them down, and started giving a mixture of waving, and thumbs up-ing.

Smirking, Alex replied by casting a quick spell, pulling the curtains back over the window.

////

Across the street, Chet could feel his chest fill with pride. 

If Alex’s father were alive to see him now, he’s no doubt be feeling exactly the same way. 

After all, when anyone related to you was getting in to six-ways with girls like that, you get a little cooler just by association. He couldn’t wait to go to the bar tomorrow night and talk it up to all his friends.

////