"<Bye love, I'll see you back home!>" Thunder Peal said in Equestrian with a wave of her hoof, before launching off from the playground quickly, eagerly soaring through the sky in the wrong direction. Not that she was lost, or disoriented, she simply liked taking the scenic route.
"I really wish she would try to keep it to English, even with you," responded Mister Gonzalez, her elementary school teacher, as he watched the pegasus slip farther into the distance.
"I know, and I try to keep her to it as much as I can, but some things she says aren't meant for any other ears," Robert replied, as he lowered his hand, farewell wave completed. "Don't tell me you've never switched to Spanish to keep the gringos from knowing what you're saying. Anyways, I think she's doing a lot better already, don't you?"
"Better, sure, but she's got a lot to work on in both English, and History. And that last one goes for you too, young man. A couple of A's in math aren't going to carry your whole GPAs," Mr. Gonzalez pointed out. "Now go, your ride's probably waiting for you."
"I'll study, I promise. And I'll make sure she does too," Robert insisted, waving once again as he headed out toward the pickup loop. When his psychiatrist, Dr. Schrödinger, let him into the car, he let out a tired sigh and settled in for the car ride. "No police this time?" he teased again.
"I don't observe any police, so they may or may not exist," the doctor joked, again. It was becoming a bit of a ritual between them. With a turn of the key, they were off, making their way to the psychiatrist's office.
"How are you and Thunder Peal getting along? Are you... you know?" Dr Schrödinger asked, as he flipped through his notebook, looking for the next blank page.
"What? No. Jeez. Yes, we used to be lovers, but we're both prepubescent again. How would that even work?" Robert said, squirming uncomfortably on the couch. "I mean, I still appreciate her looks, a lot more than anyone else at school I'm sure, and we're still, you know... a couple. Again. I'm hoping we can keep it together in the long run, and become lovers again when we're physically old enough again."
"I thought you said you were married now already, at least according to Equestrian law?" the doctor said, after flipping back to one of his earlier notes, as if he'd needed the reminder to be sure. It wasn't that forgettable. "By a 'Princess Cadance'. Using Twilight Sparkle's internet connection to officiate remotely."
"That's correct, but we're not in Equestria, and the United States doesn't recognize our marriage, or even our right to marry, for more reasons than one. I'm sure the matter of human/pony marriages being legalized is only a matter of time," Robert said with a dismissive wave, "but I still need to be recognized as legally competent to act as an adult in that sort of thing. I could try to push for it, but I kind of expect I'd be old enough by the time the matter is resolved that it won't matter anymore, and unlike the more general issue, that case wouldn't affect anyone else."
"Sure, sure. But we aren't really here to talk politics, are we?" the doctor asked. "How do you feel about all that waiting. And how do you think she feels?"
"I think... I doubt we'll make it through puberty celibate, honestly. But right now? I'm happy to keep things a bit simpler. We have so much to learn, to prepare ourselves for adulthood in this world. If we were going to live in Equestria, it'd be a different matter. I'd just be hitting the gym all day, or more likely a dojo, and getting my body back into fighting form, while she practiced to join a weather team. We'd just be worried about getting our bodies back to what our minds are ready for. But living here on Earth? It's completely different, and we both have a lot to learn to do it right," Robert said. "Though... honestly, I'm actually thinking of trying to put all that combat experience to some kind of use. Maybe I'll become a bounty hunter? Have you seen that one on TV? I feel like I could do that."
The doctor scribbled some more notes. "You haven't mentioned how Thunder Peal feels about it," he noted.
"No... I haven't," Robert said with a frown.
There were rose petals in his room. Robert could smell them even before he opened the door, so he hesitated, hand opened around the handle but not quite touching it yet.
Robert kept his window unlatched and the screen removed, so Thunder Peal could push the glass up and come inside anytime she pleased. She normally lived on a small cloud house she had managed to cobble together the floated up over the foster house. It kept getting hit by other clouds being blown into it, which promptly stuck to it and started acting more like Equestrian clouds, content to wait around for somepony to manage them. So she'd been forming a cloud fence in the sky to keep them away, but that just accumulated more stuck clouds along it. But now the gentle sounds of the wind made it clear that the window was open on the other side of Robert's closed door.
Robert steeled himself, emotionally. She was trying to seduce him, he was sure, but he still didn't feel ready. He was just a little boy! How was she even interested yet?! Intellectually, though, he knew such underage sex was possible, that it was a thing that happened, and with their history, if it could happen they could certainly figure out how.
With his heart hardened like he was about to fight a dragon, again, he gripped the knob and turned it, looking in on the scene laid out for him. Quickly he stepped inside, trampling a few of the scattered rose petals, before closing the door behind him. On his bed, Thunder Peal lay before him, naked. The nudity wasn't that odd, coming from an Equestrian pony, and ultimately just meant her saddlebags were dropped off at home. But the way she was laying, on her side facing toward him, with her upper hind leg extended past her lower, and her tail pulled into the way just so. It was meant to hide her marehood just enough to draw attention to it. It was a seductive pose, one they both knew quite well from experience with one another.
"Hey there, big boy,~" Thunder Peal began.
"Thunder, we talked about this already," Robert countered as he slipped into bed in front of her, leaving his backpack in his wake. "We talked about how mmmf!"
When she broke her sudden kiss, she placed a hoof on his mouth. "Shhh, no more talking. Let's just enjoy each other, as husband and wife should.~" Despite the aggressiveness, she didn't follow up with other body movements.
Robert was off guard a moment from the kiss, but... something felt... he blinked a few times and then thought things through before inquiring. "Do you remember that letter I gave you?"
"Remember? Of course! How could I forget?" Thunder Peal said. "It was the most romantic love-letter anypony has ever written me," she guessed confidently.
Robert sighed and sat up, scooting away a bit. "You might as well drop the disguise. I actually don't know what was written in that letter myself, but I seriously doubt the real Thunder Peal wrote a romantic love-letter to herself."
The pony in the bed sat up, matching his pose despite the unponilikeness of it. "Dang, you caught me that easily? It wasn't the letter though, that was just the confirmation... what gave me away?" Even as she spoke, a wave of green flames washed over her body, though they gave off no heat. When they had cleared, a chitin covered humanoid was revealed, a young girl sitting next to him. She had holes in her extremities, like any changeling, but also had a small crown-shaped growth jutting from her head, behind her jagged horn.
Robert couldn't completely hide his surprise, but after a bit of thought he changed the subject. "Frank's daughter?" he guessed.
The changeling nodded in confirmation, before introducing herself. "Princess Zelda. Mother thought it'd be fitting, as she says you used to dress like Link when you were tromping through Equestria."
"Your mother is terrible at naming things. And you're like... you couldn't be more than a month or two old, even counting from conception. How the hell are you talking, let alone trying to seduce boys like two hundred times your age?!" Robert demanded to know.
"Well, I happen to like my name. There's nothing wrong with Zelda as a name, and my mother is a queen, after all. Anyways, she used some of her magic on me and some of my siblings to age us quickly, so we can start on our jobs right away," Zelda countered. "It'll hurt our lifespan in the long run, but starving in childhood isn't any healthier."
"Oh, and what's your job? To harvest my love for your queen? You've kind of failed at that..." Robert said.
"Oh, no. It's the classic job of Princesses here on Earth." She turned her head to the side with a disturbing grin. "To be wed off to help forge alliances.~ And to bear lots of healthy children for their husbands."
"Alliances? I'm just some random kid, and besides I'm already married. And I'm certainly not leaving Thunder Peal for a cheap imitation," Robert objected.
"Don't underestimate your place in things to come. You're the only human who speaks fluent Equestrian. Don't you think you're pretty much destined to be a diplomat? Even with just the internet connecting us, Earth's first alien contact is always going to be a big deal. And as for the marriage..." Zelda grinned deeper. "In Equestrian law, marriages can add additional mares, at the first mare's invitation. Granted, I need the stallion's approval, so you could say no. If you really want to turn me out into the cold, and rob me of the one purpose I was born for, and leave me to slowly starve to death for the sole crime of wanting to love and be loved by you... But that'd all be on you, and your conscience. Thunder Peal already agreed."
"Jeez," Robert said with a sigh. "Laying it on a bit thick, aren't you? You're just as conniving as your mother," he complained. "Get out of here... if Thunder is really okay with you, you can sleep with her. I'll... I'll think about it. Changelings... "
The scurrying of doctor's feet brought Scott to jolt suddenly to consciousness, looking around suddenly. It took a moment to realize the doctors weren't rushing over to him, or his pony friend. That was a relief. But someone was strolling toward him, and somepony as well, clopping lightly on the tiles.
"Oh, hey Daniel!" Scott greeting, enthusiastically, despite his tiredness. "What brings you and your unicorn friend here? Oh! Do you have some kind of healing magic? That'd be great about now.
"Hmm? no, but i know where to find those who do," Istaran said, as he set his hand lightly on Flam's chest. It didn't take much contact to drop off a few fractal spiders, letting the nanomachines worm their way into the comatose unicorn. They didn't even have to enter his body properly, simply replicating within his fur. The pattern made for a decent antennae function, to transmit their message when they reached their destination. "And I know how you can send him there."
"You do?! That'd be great, man. He doesn't deserve to be like this, man. And his brother... I guess it's to late for him, but still," Scott muttered sadly.
"Here," Istaran said, as he reached out with a hand, placing it on Scott's forehead. "He just needs your friendship right now. Then he'll be able to go back home, and serve his purpose. And even his dead brother will serve a vital purpose, by staying here."
"What are you...?" Scott started to question, before his emotions started to be flooded. Every memory he had of the Flim Flam brothers was being dragged into his consciousness, and recolored with a new layer of nostalgia. Suddenly the idea of Flam leaving him, whether by death or by returning home, felt so oppressive to Scot. "Flam... I... Don't leave... stay with me, buddy. We'll get through all this, together. Just don't... I can't bear to see you leave."
He felt numb inside as he witnessed just that, the unicorn vanishing from before his very eyes, leaving a bank of alarming machines behind, their sensors failing to detect their patient anymore. But he was too numb to really notice all the noise. Nor the absence of the pony and human who had visited. Nor the questioning medical personnel. Nor, at first, the police who had finally made it to the scene.