//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 
// Story: Somewhere Along the Way 
// by GrimPInkamena 
//------------------------------//

	A gust of wind blew the soothing warmth off your skin, abruptly waking you from your slumber. Sitting up and opening your eyes you noticed the sky had become a dark purple, with the horizon glowing orange as the sun disappeared behind the round hills.

You leaned back on your arms in a sitting position, feeling the dry grass tickling around your fingers, and turning your head towards Twilight who laid besides you. She had shifted her body while you slept, since now she was curled up in a ball with her facing you. Watching the pony still sound asleep made you feel a bit bad for having to wake her.

"Twilight. Hey, Twilight," you whisper.

The mare slowly opened her eyes and raised her head,  the motion quickly accompanied by a yawn. She looked up at you, then at the murky skies above you. Now awake, she quickly got up on her hooves.

"Oh no, we overslept. I shouldn't have let you sleep for that long." Making a frown she looked at you. "It's probably too late to see more of Ponyville today."

"No worries, it was a good nap." Trying to comfort her you smile, since you had no regrets falling asleep. You'd even had the opportunity to cut the nap short yourself, but chose not to, so it was just as much your fault for oversleeping as it was hers.

You hear a sound of crumpling - or rather, straightening - paper, as a notebook popped out of thin air in front of Twilight.

"But I had planned on taking you more places. I made a list, and we weren't even halfway through it yet," she said, scanning a page in her notebook.

"I had a really good time. It doesn't matter if we don't get to see any more today, we'll get to see more tomorrow," you said trying to imply that you didn't mind staying here longer. Twilight lightened up an ounce from hearing your words.

"Well, I guess." She smiled, and the notebook crumpled back into the nothingness whence it came. "We should get back to the library for now at least, it's getting late."

"Sure thing." You nodded in agreement, drowsily getting up on your feet. The two of you then proceeded to walk back towards Ponyville.

If only you had bothered to put on a hoodie before leaving for university. Merely wearing a T-shirt, the temperature drop was quite noticeable. Though it wasn't freezing, it wasn't exactly warm either. During the day, the sun had been more than enough to keep you warm from the cool late-summers day, but now that the source of heat was gone you couldn't wait to get inside and get cozy under your blanket.



The light of day faded quickly. Even after the short trip back to the library you could clearly see the brightness had dimmed compared to how it was at Fluttershy's cottage. It looked like the sun moved faster after it had set, as the remaining light quickly faded. Now, the moon was rising to do the sun's job to the best of its ability.

When you entered the library, the balmy air met you at the door to soothe your chilled skin. You walked in and stood still for a moment. Not wanting to waltz in and make yourself at home, you wait to see what Twilight was going to do before you felt it was appropriate to make a move.

"You want a snack? We still have a ton of apples."

"That'd be great, thanks."

After the unicorn had walked off towards the kitchen, you decided it was alright to enter. You sat down by the center table and reached for your sleeping blanket. 

Having comfortably wrapped yourself in, you look towards the kitchen and see a red apple floating towards you.

Twilight walked up to the table and sat down across from you, with another apple levitating besides her. Grabbing the apple in front of you, the lavender glow around it faded, and you felt its weight sink in your palm. You looked at the mare with a smirk.

"I'll never get used to seeing stuff float around like that." 

Twilight let out a hearty chuckle.

"It's hard to believe that there's a world out there without magic, and with a whole other set of physical laws. I would have loved to have the opportunity to study them somehow."

"I guess we're in the same boat then." You smiled and took a bite out of the big red apple.

'Mmmmm. Juicy.'

A comfortable silence filled the library as you snacked on the fruits. You finished yours first, leaving your mouth free to talk.

"I guess we won't be able to fall asleep for a while."

"That may be true." Twilight swallowed the last bite of her apple. As she did, her eyes brightened up like she just got an idea. She picked up the remains of the apples with magic and headed for the kitchen to throw them away.

"I know what we can do. I think you'll like it."

Pondering on what the purple unicorn had in store, you watch in anticipation as she returned from the kitchen. She excitedly motioned for you to follow her up the stairs.

"Come on, I have something I would like to show you."

Without unwrapping yourself from your blanket you accompanied her, curious to see what it is she was so eager about.

Your mind started wandering as you moved towards the stairs. Then it hit you.

'Wait... What is it she wants to show me in her bedroom?' You start to get nervous as you ascended towards the door.

Walking up the stairs and into her sleeping chamber, you saw books covering every wall, and her bed in an open space one floor above you, but the mare had already vanished up another spiral staircase located on the right.

You had to bend forward while walking up the stairs. You could have just crawled up on all fours, like the pony leading the way, but your chose not to.

Without flinching, Twilight trotted towards a wooden hatch at the top of the stairs, making it open with her magic, showing you the crystal clear night sky. You found yourself on a terrace at the top of the library. It was a long way down, and you could see the the moon lighting up all of Ponyville with its cold white glow.

On the terrace there was a big telescope that Twilight was already sitting besides. She was looking into the eyepiece while tweaking and turning on different handles.

Not too surprised with what the star-flanked unicorn had in mind, you smile.

'I should have guessed.'



Stargazing with Twilight was fun. Even more amusing was her eagerness to show you everything the sky had to offer, which was quite a lot. Hours went by as you talked about everything from fission to star formations while taking turns looking into the telescope.

Many laws of physics didn't work in the same way - or at all - here, and you could barely begin to comprehend the differences as you observed the white stars orbiting the planet you sat on. It was like being in the center of a galaxy. Some stars where moving faster across the sky than others, as they were most likely closer.

Twilight told you about how the sun and moon were moved by magic, by the princesses Celestia and Luna. The thought alone baffled you. How could two ponies have the power to move the huge sun and moon, not to mention stars around a planet? Celestia and Luna had to have some serious power in them to do something this huge on a daily basis.

Some things here seemed to resemble the physics you knew, though. Twilight did some adjustments and turns her telescope towards a seemingly dark section of the sky. You looked into the eyepiece and saw a white and purple space-cloud.

First off, this was a darned good telescope.

"It's the T42 Sparkle Nebula." Twilight remarks proudly.

"It's named after you?"

"They discovered it right after I was enrolled in princess Celestia's school for gifted unicorns. It was her decision to name it that." Happy to hear that there were still some things you didn't know about your new friends, you looked at Twilight, and give her the awe she wanted.

"Now that is cool."

You sat back as Twilight moved over to find the next awesome thing she wanted to show you, eager as ever.  

The cold was really kicking in now. You, coming from a place that had just reached the end of spring, had a hard time adjusting to summer nearly being over, with the chilly autumn weather lurking just around the corner. The thin blanket wasn't enough to keep your body isolated anymore. You didn't want Twilight to know that, though, as she was having the best time you've seen her have all day. It was worth enduring the cold to see her happy.

Twilight turned to you, done with focusing the thick optical tube at a new spectacular target. As she turned around she saw you wrapping the blanket around you closer as you tried to keep warm. Smiling at you, she took a step away from the telescope.

"You know, you could have just told me if you were getting cold."

"Nonsense. I never get cold." Grabbing the blanket tighter you make a gesture that you were obviously joking. Twilight catches up on it and laughs lightly.

"Want to go back inside?"

"Maybe that's not such a bad idea, it would be bad if one of us got sick while staying here."



At the bottom of the spiral staircase, you walked back into Twilight's room, standing still for a moment to sense the warmth in the room absorbing into your skin. You felt a yawn coming on, and welcomed it.

"Maybe we should try to get some sleep? Then we'll have more time tomorrow to get through your list," you said in mid yawn, while forcing through a smile. Twilight stopped in a sudden realization.

"Shoot! I totally forgot about fixing you somewhere to sleep tonight!" she exclaimed.

"It's no problem Twilight, don't worry about it. I'll sleep where I-"

"No." Twilight interrupted. "You're not sleeping on the floor again."

"Then what do you propose?"

Twilight took a moment to think, trotting back and forth in front of you. She halted in the middle of a turn and looked at you, her cheeks turning a familiar shade of red.

"I-It's too late to go out and get something to fix anything up... so you're going to have to sleep in my bed."

"I'm not kicking you out of your bed, Twilight." You said with a serious tone.

"Then..." She pauses for a second. "We can share the bed. It should be big enough, and I don't need that much room anyway." Your heart started beating faster as your thoughts raced about sharing a bed with this girl, forgetting for a moment that she was a pony.

Reminding yourself of this didn't slow your heart rate much, but it set perspective on how the situation was at the moment. She wasn't going to let you sleep on the floor, and you weren't going to kick her out of her own bed.

"Alright, if your bed is big enough, then it won't be a problem I guess. I feel like I'm being a bother, though..." Twilight seemed a bit startled by your answer, her blush becoming more apparent, and she shied her face away from you.

"T-Then it's settled. Just make yourself comfortable up there and I'll be right back."

Twilight headed towards the bathroom, and you walked up the steps towards the bed.

Hesitantly you took off your socks and trousers and dropped down onto the bed. Sitting down, you noticed there was only one pillow present. Feeling a bit relieved you can make yourself busy by fetching your pillow, you headed downstairs to get it.

Twilight was still in the bathroom when you got back up. The bed was pretty large, considering the size of a pony. Not exactly the size of your king-sized bed back home, but not far off. There wouldn't be a problem fitting you both at least. You make yourself comfortable with your head at the opposite end of where Twilight's pillow was placed.

'Why would I be nervous about this? She's a pony, nothing would've happened anyway...' The summoning spell’s description lingered in your mind. What if it was right? Were you meant to get it on with a pony?

The last thought you quickly shrugged off while you shifted under your trusted blanket. It wouldn't be your style to rush things like that anyway. Even if she was a hot human girl, you'd be a gentleman and not try anything rash.

You heard the door close, followed by hoofsteps approaching the bed.

"See, I told you there would be enough room." Twilight said, climbing up on the other side of the bed. You felt her soft coat gracing your leg as she was moving around, getting comfortable on her side. After she had settled herself in a good position, her flank part was in contact with the back of your thigh. Both of you facing opposite directions, none of you seemed to mind. Her touch was warm and the physical contact was fine by you. You shifted a bit yourself, casually getting a better feel of her soft fur against your skin.

"This is certainly better than the floor, I have to admit."

"I suspected it would be," the unicorn responded with a happy tone in her voice.

You lifted your head and let it sink into the softness of your pillow once more.

"Good night, Twilight."

"Sleep tight."

You smile as you closed your eyes, focusing on the warm touch of Twilight's flank on your leg. She had an awesome personality and all, but the thought that you might be flirting with an equine was a little uncomfortable.

Still you couldn't bring yourself to pull away, even though you had plenty of space to do so.