> Sweet as Honeydew
>  by Obsi
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1- Spike
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My eyes opened once again, and still there was only empty darkness in what I knew to be an incredibly vast, empty cavern. It wouldn’t let me sleep. How could I, when my experience had taught me well that being in such an exposed spot was just inviting the innumerable predators of the night to discover your position? Biting my lip, I tried to turn around, planting my face in the cushy surface underneath me, gasping as it dented under my body. Holding completely still, I silently prayed to Frinjìon that the entire mass wouldn’t just give way below me. Thankfully, it held, but it took my hammering heart a few more moments to calm down.

“I-I wish you would wake up soon.” I whispered, casting my glance at the mountainous shadow of Twilight’s ‘bed’, a construct built for seemingly no other purpose than to hold her body one of her enormous hoof-lengths away from the ground… for whatever reason. Seriously, what was the point of that? To subject yourself to the feeling of falling to your death in your sleep if this softness crumbled away beneath you?

Maybe it was some kind of training for the ponies to steel themselves against fear.

 I jumped off, spreading my wings to safely glide to the floor, feeling immense relief at the safety of firm ground. Then I gave the ‘pillow’ a glance, taking a shuddering breath as I observed it, then the markings on my coat. Maybe I wasn’t brave enough for the pony world yet…

The ‘bed’ loomed above my position like a collection of broken trees. Biting my lip, I stared up at the dark form of the pony, fidgeting in her sleep. I wanted to be up there with her, to feel her reassuring warm presence, but right now, she was as dangerous as anything else in this world!

Panic rose in the back of my head, but I vehemently shook my head, denying it control over my thoughts. I-I was a scout. If this world was new, then it fell to me to explore it's dangers. And since there was no way I could rest on these soft… things, I might as well start now.

As unnerving as this vast cavern was, it at least seemed to be empty apart from me and Twilight. I was atop some sort of angular wooden platform far above the ground, giving me a good, perched position to observe my surroundings from… not that it revealed much in the darkness, even less of it that I understood. There was a strange crevice in the wall, allowing starlight to shine into the cavern. Yet, floating inside that hole were strange markings, following a pattern of tilted, angular shapes. Rock formations that Twilight had called ‘crystals’ were gathered on the walls, in-between which stood boxes taller than she was. Somehow, she seemed to be able to store something inside of them, but where did she find such oddly-shaped hollow trees, and how in the gods names did she make them grow on rock?

Spirit powers, I thought to myself. Her might truly is incomprehensible to one like me…

Shaking my head, I jumped off my platform, gliding down toward the gigantic gate separating this cavern from the others. Framed by wood grown around more of these strange, floating squares, it seemed entirely unsuitable to keep anyone out. After all, a pony could just walk in-between the frame, and for me- well, there was a gap large enough that when I got on my stomach, I could just crawl under it.

For a moment, I thought I had entered the outside world, so vast was this space! Then I looked up, and realized my eyes still hit a ceiling. Swallowing dryly, I began to trot through this absolutely massive tunnel, and then there were more gates at the sides, which I now knew were each leading to another cavern… it wasn’t the first time the sheer dimensions in this world stole my breath, but realizing that my entire clan could live in here without one breezie meeting another for days? Taking a deep breath to calm my fluttering heart, I made sure to remember the way I’d taken. I did not want to get lost in this place!

Next, my exploration took me down a vast hillside, but none like I’d ever seen before. Instead of rolling down like an actual hill, this one went a bit straight, then went into a nasty t drop, before resuming straight again before leading to yet another drop. Again and again, dozens, if not hundreds of  times. It made me so glad I was born with wings, else I could have broken my neck in that climb.

Eventually in my exploration, which seemed to have only brought up questions and no answers, I suddenly heard a rustle. I gasped, then slapped a hoof over my mouth as I ran back to a scruffy, firm, fur-thing on the ground, trying to lift it up so I could hide below. But no way, I couldn't even make it budge! Meanwhile, I felt the ground tremor as something heavy came closer.

“Hello?” A deep, guttural voice asked, causing my heart to leap. My first instinct was to run, but something tickled the back of my mind, the sound of the creature was familiar- right, the only word Twilight had taught me about the ponish tongue so far, a greeting! This must mean the whatever that was… was friendly?

“G-gentle winds to you.” I responded, biting my lip as I reluctantly lit my feelers.

And the light grew over claws, belonging to purple-scaled limbs, reaching up to a mighty form, ending in a head adorned with green spikes and a maw filled with sharp teeth. My heart skipped a beat as I realized I had just revealed myself to a predator! Screaming, I turned to run, hearing the thing’s strange words behind me as I sought to hide in the fur-thing’s strands. They were like moss, but much more resistant, slowing me down!

Then, the monster roared, and it’s voice caught my like a shockwave, slicing through my ears like a bee’s stinger. I immediately collapsed, holding my ringing ears, tears of pain and despair spilling from my eyes. I never should have come here, It was too much, the monsters too powerful-

Then, from the corner of my eye, I witnessed a flash of light. Turning my head, I saw Twilight, her majestic, mighty figure completely overshadowing the monster! Then she… my expression turned from joy to confusion as she didn’t attack! Instead, her mouth moved like she was speaking to it, and then the purple thing pointed a claw right at my position.

Next, I felt the gentle glow of Twilight’s magic surrounding me, plucking me from the not-moss-ground, floating me closer to the predator! It cocked its head, as if it was considering how  tasty I’d be, before turning to Twilight, asking… something.

Then, she began to speak, and it took me a moment to realize that she was translating his words. “So, you are the breezie Twilight met?”

My throat too dry to speak, I merely nodded my head. Suddenly, the predators claw surged toward me and I let out a panicked cry- before it stopped just before me.

“I’m Spike.” Twilight translated again. “A pleasure to meet you.” After a moment of pause, she added more quietly: “take his claw and shake it a little.”

With my heart still thundering, I reached both of my hooves out, laying them around the tip of his claw, noting how much less sharp they were compared to how they appeared.

That was how I met Spike the dragon.
> Chapter 2- Applejack
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somewhat shaken, I was sat on a “table”, with a long, white blanket laid over my shoulders. Twilight had procured it out of a thin bag, where it had laid folded up along with several others like it. Though what she had them for eluded me, all of them together would never be enough to cover her body

Seeing something from the corner of my vision, my head snapped around, just as the purple claws of “Spike” placed a white, smooth looking thing on the table. Smoke was rising from it's top, but unlike the one from the fire, it was faint and white, instead of the blackish clouds I’d seen Twilight produce before. The dragon flashed a fang-filled smile at me, causing a shiver to go through my body. It wasn’t easy to smile back into the face of such a clear predator, even if Twilight had assured me he was a friend. And what she told me about his kind…

A race that could grow older than the oldest of trees? Exhale flames? Become bigger than even Twilight’s home, a thought that made my head spin! She’d insisted that she wasn’t a spirit, but if things like dragons exist in this realm, what could it be if not a realm of supreme beings?

The dragon spoke up, and a few moments later, Twilight took seat at the head of the table. “He asked if you wanted anything.” she whispered, before placing her hoof on her mouth for a mighty yawn.

“Want… something?” I cocked my head at the question.

“Food,” she explained with a smile. “We may have breakfast a bit earlier than we thought, but now that we’re all awake, there’s not much sense in wasting time, right?” At that moment, an aura of purple light enveloped the cylindrical shape on the table, lifting it toward her face- oh, it was some kind of fluid container. But what kind of fluid smoked?

“It’s called coffee.” Twilight snickered after having followed my gaze. “You can try some.” Turning her head, she gave the dragon some kind of order, and a short debate in their strange, guttural language followed.

As he came back, he placed a sort-of see-through vase in front of me, one much smaller than the one floating in Twilight’s magic. Standing up on my hindlegs, I was just able to reach over the rim with my chin. Both Equestrians shared a chuckle.

“Well, it's a good thing you can at least use a shot glass~” Twilight grinned, before pouring a deep, brown substance into the container..

I immediately wrinkled my nose at the strong scent. Revulsion rose up in my throat. The only brown fluid I’d ever seen only spelled sickness, and it certainly, certainly was not to be ingested! Looking up, Twilight’s expectant gaze nearly filled my entire view, while the dragon eyed me with something like… jealousy? And Twilight chuckled. Why? 

Taking a deep breath, I faced the brown liquid once again. If… if Twilight drank it, it couldn't be that bad, right? Carefully, I dipped a feeler into the coffee, then licked off the thick drop that stuck to it-

My muzzle involuntarily wrinkled at the bitter taste spreading in my mouth. And yet, there was a hint of something interesting there. Dipping my feelers in once more, I drank a little more. No, it was still disgusting! and yet, I wanted to drink more regardless? Was this some kind of magic water? I supposed another test was required…

-----------------------------------------------------------

Twilight tried to stifle her chuckle as she got to observe a breezie take tiny sips before making faces that spoke of utter disgust, just to repeat the process once more.

“Okay, he’s adorable, alright.” Spike snickered, carrying a jam-packed tablet in his claws. “Maybe he should cut back on the coffee though,” he added dryly as he placed it on the table.

“Don’t look at everypony else’s plate, Spike.” Twilight began to tease, before suddenly freezing. “Spike,” she hissed. “The honey!”

“Uh, okay.” he shrugged, picking the large glass out from the bunch.

“No, no, put it away!” Now Honeydew was giving her a confused glance over the rim of his shot glass.

“Why?” Spike raised his eyebrow.

“He can’t see the honey!” Twilight insisted, gasping as Honeydew turned around, trying to follow their conversation! Her horn lighting up, she cast her spell just as the breezie looked up to Spike, whose claw now reached only around empty air. Both breezie and dragon seemed fairly confused about the situation.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Twilight decided to drown the awkwardness in coffee. The sweltering heat was enough to drive tears into her eyes. “Why don’t we enjoy breakfast!” She said in one breath, gasping for cool air as she magically smeared toast for everyone.

Just then, the door suddenly flew open. “Oh!” the mare in the entrance exclaimed as Twilight, Spike and Honeydew whirled around to the newcomer. “Uh, howdy, Twilight, Ah didn’t expect ya’ll to be outta the feathers so early.”

Twilight’s strained grin quickly became genuine as she turned to the newcomer. “Applejack, good… niiight?” She asked,, glancing toward the darkness outside her kitchen windows.

“6 am.” Applejack helpfully noted. “Rare seein’ you outside the covers ‘fore 10.”

“I have a thorough morning routine!” she exclaimed indignantly. 

“Point taken, sleepyhead~” Applejack snickered.

“W-well I’m not such a sleepyhead anymore, now am I?”

“She’s right on that.” Spike pointed out.

“Ah have a hard time believin’ yer plannin’ ta get up ‘fore sunrise every day.” Applejack expression turned from a snicker to a worried glance. “Somethin’ keepin’ you up, Sugarcube?”

“You could say that.” Twilight answered, glancing back at the stunned Honeydew, who was still eyeing the earth pony with widened eyes, his body covered in crumbs from the toast corner he’d tried.

“Oh…” Applejack muttered, awkwardly scratching one front hoof with the other. “Hey, li’l guy.” Then she froze, turning to Twilight, her voice muffled. “Uh, that is a stallion breezie, right?”

Honeydew gave her a confused look. Twilight’s meanwhile was more of an icy stare. “Yes…”

“Oh, ahm sorry, Twilight, Ah didn’t wanna- Ah just kinda assumed ah imagined him, because-” Groaning, she smacked her forehead. “Ah should just jabberin’ now. But… are ya sure ‘bout this? Our world is a mite dangerous for him.”

“Honeydew is a smart and experienced scout, Applejack.” Twilight lectured, feeling her annoyance rising, despite, or probably even because of how many times she’d asked those questions herself. “If any breezie can live here, it’d be him.”

“Well, I suppose if ya believe in him…” Applejack muttered, clearly not entirely convinced.

“Was that all?” Twilight asked coldly. “Or did you just come here to criticize my love life?”

Taking a sudden step back, Applejack looked like Twilight had just snapped at her. “Oh, heavens, nono, that jus’ came up, ah came ta…” raising a hoof to her mouth, she let out an awkward cough. “Well, while you were away, Spike’s been lettin’ me store mah sales cart here. That way, ah didn’t have ta drag the cart all the way from the farm every day and I could always get coffee ‘fore I started. Ah’d give him free apples in return.”

“Interesting…” Twilight began, then suddenly felt a yawn overcome her. “Maybe I’ll meet you there later.” she muttered, rubbing her eyes. “I kinda wanted to show Honeydew all around Ponyville.”

“That…” Applejack frowned. “Why does that sound like there’s a ‘but’ comin’?”

“Because I’ve got a mountain of letters to answer, alongside other duties!” Twilight exclaimed. “My parents don’t even know I’m back yet! I’d be glad if I can take twenty minutes off today!” With a sigh, she settled back down on her seat, giving the non-plussed Honeydew a sad glance. “I wish I could give you an impression of the pony world today.” she explained in quiet breezish.

“Maybe ah could take him around?” Applejack offered. “Mah shedule’s gonna be free once the market ends and  ah’d much rather help out a friend o’ mine than laze around all day.”

Though granting her friend a slight smile, Twilight’s answer was a tired shake of her head. “Thank you, but that just won’t work. Right now, Honeydew only speaks breezish-” She came to a sudden halt as Applejack raised a hoof. For some reason, her friend looked neither disheartened nor annoyed. No, she was… chuckling?

“Narm tir zulap Nog.” Applejack said, her grin widening with every syllable she slowly pronounced as Twilight and Honeydew stared up at her in shock. “So do I.”

“W-wha- you-” Twilight stammered. Pieces of toast previously upheld by her magic impacted on the floor, not that she seemed to notice. “How?!” she exclaimed simultaneously with an equally stunned breezie.

“Took lessons from Fluttershy.”

“But when?!” Twilight nearly shouted at the snickering earth pony.

“Funny story, actually.” Applejack began as she pulled out a chair next to Twilight’s. “Few months ago, Rarity’s been lendin’ her sister some o’ her spy novels. Now, ah tried them, they ain’t anythin’ special, but she’s hooked on ‘em, and so’s Sweetie Belle apparently. So, you know how it goes with close friends, she convinced Applebloom an’ Scootaloo to give ‘em a shot, too. Next thing ah knew, they’re playin’ hide an’ seek all over the farm. While that’s normal, they also began to talk in their ‘secret language’. Turns out, they’ve had Fluttershy teach them breezish so they could say cusses ‘bout their classmates without gettin’ inta trouble. But there ain’t no foul-mouthin’ on mah farm! Imagine her look when ah told her that in her oh-so-secret language.”

“So you just… learned an entire language just to tell your sister to stop cussing?” Twilight asked, seemingly struggling to wrap her head around this.

“Of course.” Applejack chuckled. “What sister wouldn’t?”

“Wait a minute,” Spike interjected by raising a claw. “Why didn’t you just tell her to stop speaking breezish?”

“Ya kiddin’? Mah sister was teachin’ herself a new language without anypony forcin’ her, why would ah stop her?”

“Oh, I bet she wasn’t happy about that in retrospect.” Spike chuckled.

“Ya can bet yer scales she wasn’t! Her face was pure gold, ah tell ya!” Applejack bellowed, the room filling with laughter as Spike joined in.

“S-so, how good is your breezish?” Twilight asked loudly, trying to cut through the guffawing.

“Well, ah could hold a conversation with Fluttershy… an’ only occasionally ask fer a word.”

“Zurn ka furn.” Twilight said, her eyes narrowing. Applejack’s chuckling stopped in an instant.

“Lim nis va.” 

“Kulpta narruw.”

“Nir gur zulap karfa!” the earth pony rose up, glaring down at Twilight.

“Sang ber kir wurta.” Twilight said evenly, then reached out a hoof.

“Uhm…” Applejack seemed lost for a second. “F-fjirrs?” she muttered, before taking Twilight’s hoof and giving it a solid shake.

Meanwhile, Spike glanced from one pony to the other, then shot one toward Honeydew. “What just happened?”

“Narrfa.” the breezie shrugged.

With a loud groan, Spike slammed his forehead onto the table, causing Honeydew to let out a startled shout as the surface beneath his hooves trembled..

Unaware of the scene of exasperation and distress behind her back, Twilight broke out into a grin as a seemingly endless list of tasks materialized infront of her. “Yes, yes! If you can take Honeydew along for today, I can try and work off most of these tasks and start on his ponish classes by tomorrow! Thank you, Applejack!”

“W-well, it ain’t much, just doin’ mah friend a favour-” as she spoke, Applejack suddenly realised that Twilight wasn’t sitting beside her anymore. Instead, the alicorn was furiously scribbling on a note with letters so tiny that she had to squint her eyes to even tell them apart from a squiggly line.

“Now, watch out for danger, you can carry a breezie safely in your ear or mane. Don’t let him get close to honey and keep him away from any predatory animals, including Winona, make sure he doesnt get swarmed by curious ponies either, he’d be terrified. OH, and be back before 8 pm, and-”

Applejack’s ears slowly folded to the back of  her head as Twilight rambled on and the note further and further began to resemble a solid, black surface. This was not going to be a simple favour, after all.

------

Stepping out of the kitchen, Applejack took a long sip from a steaming mug of coffee before stretching out her limbs. “Well, nothin’ like a good warm drink to get yer gears turnin’ for the day. You gonna be okay up there, li’l guy?” 

Honeydew, perched upon the rim of her stetson, poked his head over the edge. “I-I’m fine. It’s better than holding on to Twilight’s horn.”

Hiding her chortle behind a hoof, Applejack navigated through the halls of the castle. “Is that how she usually carries you around?”

“That or in her ear. It’s too easy to get entangled in her mane.” he explained with an earnest nod

Biting on her hoof, Applejack found her sides ache from withheld giggles from the mental image, not helped by the way Honeydew’s feelers were bobbing below him as she walked. “Well, that’s gotta be practical, though ah still prefer mah hat. Don’ tell anypony, but mah ears are ticklish like a li’l foal’s belly.”

“Your secret is safe with me.” Honeydew said, his serious expression bringing out another snicker from his carrier.

In a spot below the large staircase, Applejack found her cart, loaded up with apples from the last day. She could hear a tiny gasp from above. “Uh, somethin’ wrong?”

“It’s so much!” Honeydew yelped. “Where did you find all this?!”

“Find?” she had to squint her eyes to give him a cross glance. “Ah grew ‘em all mahself!”

“P-ponies can grow apples? But… where do they come out of, you don’t even have branches! Unless your horn can-”

It took Applejack’s brain a few moments to catch up to his thought process. “O-of course they still grow from trees!!” she exclaimed, waving her hooves, almost causing him to fall off. “Sorry there.”

“But you said  that you grew them.”

“Not literally, ah own a farm!” as his expression remained confused, she took on a desperate look. “Y-ya know what that is, right?”

He slowly shook his head.

“Oh, boy…” Applejack muttered as she strapped herself to her cart.

---------------

“So ponies command the trees.” Honeydew whispered as they rolled out of the castle and onto the main road. The sun still hadn’t climbed fully over the horizon to wake the sleepy town.

“Not… exactly.” Applejack replied. “It’s more like choosin’ a good spot for ‘em and then makin’ ‘em grow there- Oh, mornin’ Colgate!”

“Applejack!” a blue unicorn exclaimed, excitedly waving a hoof. “Still haven’t sold all your apples? I swear you’re at the market every day.”

“No other way ta get rid o’ these.” Applejack chuckled. “What else would’cha have me do, eat an entire orchard all by mahself?”

“Celestia, no! All that fructose would make your teeth more brittle than Rarity’s dietary resolve.”

“Ha, never let ‘er hear that!”

“She’ll hear all of it during her next visit, let me tell you. But I didn’t want to keep you, I just wanted to check on Twilight. She is back now, right? I hope she’s not too busy for an old friend visiting.”

“Yep, back an’ tired like a bat at daytime. And ahm sure she’ll enjoy havin’ ya over.” tilting her head, Applejack regarded Colgate with a raised eyebrow. “But maybe ya should hold off a bit? She was about ta tug herself inta ‘work mode’, if ya catch mah drift.”

“Oh, oh yes, I know exactly what you mean.” Colgate snickered. “She’s always been like that, you know? Ever since magic-” but Applejack couldn't focus on her words as she suddenly grew aware of a weight tugging on the side of her hat, coupled with the faint noise of strained breathing.

“Oh, apples, Honeydew!” she gasped as she spotted him dangling from the rim of her stetson, desperately holding on with his front hooves, wings spread out in the hope of giving himself a lift. Ignoring Colgate’s bewildered look. She stiffly kept her head even as she held her hoof below his dangling legs. “Easy there, li’l fella.” she whispered in breezish.

As Honeydew let himself fall into her hoof, Colgate let out a sudden gasp, “Oh my gosh, what is that?” she asked loudly, seemingly not noticing Honeydew reflexively cover his ears, or the way he crept as far away from her as Applejack’s hoof allowed. 

“That’s a breezie-” the earth pony began, trying to back off a little for his sake, but Colgate already had her muzzle practically touching her hoof.

“It’s adorable!” she grinned. “Where’d you get it?”

“That’s a him, and yer terrifyin’ him!” Applejack snapped, causing the blue unicorn to recoil, a look of shock spreading on her face.

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed, glancing down at Honeydew, who was clearly fighting hard to regain control of his breath. “I didn’t mean to-”

“Sure ya didn’t.” Applejack said conciliatorily as she slowly raised Honeydew back to her hat, noticing how much tighter he now held on to the rim. “But think about it, yer like a fully grown dragon to the li’l guy.” Squinting upwards, she added in breezish: “Don’tcha worry ‘bout her, she’s a friend, jus’ a little exciteable about cute things.”

That brought a reaction out of the stunned breezie, who took a breath before wheezing: “I-I’m not cute!”

“Sure you aren’t.” Applejack snickered, before casting a look to Colgate, who was awkwardly chafing a hoof on the ground. “He’ll come around to ya. Say, if ya wanna stick around fer a bit longer, why dont’cha help us set up the apple cart? Ya know what they say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away~”

“Then, for the sake of my business, I should try to stop you from selling the damn things to my customers.” she jested. “But I think I can help you set up… hey, do you think you could ask him how breezies treat cavities?”

----

Conversing with the blue pony through Applejack was strange. Because I didn’t know why she was coming with us. Why she was even there in the first place. Or why, as I raised my head to meet the warm sunlight, I was actually starting to feel at ease. Even though she and Applejack were absurdly huge, enough to allow me to perform a dance on their muzzles with room to spare, one undeniable fact was causing my body to untense and my vigilance to falter.

They were nice. After the first time, Colgate hadn’t gotten that close again, instead opting to maintain a respectful (and less scary) distance, always looking at me when she was addressing a new question for Applejack to translate. And we were talking. I was talking, chatting even. With a pony I’d just met. Whose language I didn’t speak. And she had a horn like Twilight, too. It made me wonder why Applejack had decided to hide hers.

I was beginning to see a few more ponies, talking to one another, exchanging greetings, sometimes strolling through the grass… purely for enjoyment, it seemed. There was absolutely no urgency to their movements, even though the sun was already rising. Didn’t they know that daytime was not at their command, why weren’t they hurrying to gather food or make tools or… something? 

“How many trees do you command?”

“Huh? Yer still goin’ on about that, huh? Well, Sweet Apple Acres owns five-hundred an’ thirteen apple trees.”

“F-five-” My rump hit the ground (hat) as my mind reeled from trying to imagine that number of trees, all I could see before my inner eye was a forest. “How- how many apples is that?”

“More than ah can count, that’s fer sure. We sell most of ‘em by the barrel. They’re bein’ sold all across Equestria. Sweet Apple Acres, proud provider of the best apples ya’ll can get in this land!” She proudly put a hoof to her chest as she proclaimed her words,earning a snicker from Colgate, who had no idea what was going on.

Meanwhile, I was taking her words in. The word ‘sold’ was unfamiliar, but one would only give away food if something valuable was offered in return… and if you had more than you were going to eat. The numbers were making my head spin, but if I followed, then Applejack was taking apples… all the apples from more trees than I could count, allowing her to feed her tribe AND have enough left to trade them away… and by the look of these other ponies, none of them seemed to be involved in her tree-commanding powers. 

“But… if you’re making all the food for everyone, then what do they do?” I jutted out my hoof at all the loitering ponies around. Then I remembered that she probably couldn't see me, considering I was on top of her hat, which wasn’t see-through. “A-all the other ponies, I mean.”

“Oh, ahm not makin’ all the food, ah’m just growin’ the apples, as well as a li’l bit of this n’ that.
Then there’s also Carrot Top, she grows all the carrots we eat, ahm not the only one makin’ food!”

“But that’s still just two! What do all of them do?!” I frantically pointed at the surrounding ponies, just as we entered a large circle, where no building stood apart from one large, round structure right in the middle, kind of reminding me of a mushroom, but without a cap. And of course, there were ponies all around us, none of them in a hurry, with no worry in the world, loitering! “What is their purpose?!”

Applejack set out for an answer, but then she simply furrowed her brows, pulling her cart to a spot near the mushroom-like house. It took another minute, in which she unstrapped herself from the cart until she answered: 

“Yer gonna see, Honeydew. It ain’t somethin’ ah can just explain in a couple a minutes. From what Twilight told me, you breezies got ta survive from year ta year, with all o’ ya pitchin’ in to make ends meet? Well, it ain’t like that in Equestria, it only takes a few ponies to make food for us all so we’re free to do other things. Like… Colgate here, she’s a doctor. That’s like a healer, but she’s specialized in teeth.”

“Teeth?” I shot the blue unicorn a confused look. “Why teeth?”

“Well, fer one it’s cause we eat a lot more that damages our teeth than we used to, but… ah think the best way fer ya’ll breezies to think of it, is that we’ve got enough ponies who don’t gotta get food that we can have all kinds of healers who specialize in things. It’s better than tryin’ ta cram everythin’ about everythin’ in one poor ponies head.” she shook her head. “Ah think it’s best if ya don’t dwell too much on it now. Besides, we’re here. Better focus on sellin’ some apples first.”

“I-i-I suppose…” I muttered, having just been shaken about by the unwitting pony. With quivering hooves, I jumped off her hat which I no longer deemed a stable surface, and landed next to a basket full of apples. “W-wait, where is here?”

“The market.” Applejack gestured at a line of ponies standing behind wooden structures similar to her cart, though some did not have wheels, while others stood inside what looked like huts made of thin, colorful blankets. And more ponies walking from each of these places, many of them carrying bags or baskets filled with food, but also some objects for which I couldn't even guess their function.

Another large basket of apples suddenly dropped to my other side. The blue glimmer of Colgate faded just as I whirled around to see her speak with Applejack.

“Colgate’s sayin’ goodbye.” Applejack translated. “She’s got some work to do in her office in a bit.”

The unicorn certainly didn’t look happy about that fact, granting me a sad smile. Trying to cheer her up, I waved a hoof and stretched my lips out so it’d make for a brighter-looking smile. “Uh, thank you, Colgate. Maybe we’ll see each other again!”

The blue pony chuckled as she waved back, speaking to Applejack one more time before trotting away.

Grinning softly, Applejack turned back to me as her hooves adjusted a few minor things on her cart. “Well, seems like yer gonna see her again. She gave ya an appointment next week.”

“Appointment?” I formed my lips around the strange word, as if hoping that saying it out loud would cause it to make sense. “What does that mean?”

“Twilight can tell ya later.” Applejack shrugged, turning her eyes to something infront of her. “Fer now, ya might wanna scoot outta the way, Ah think we’re about ta get our first customer.”

-----

When I’d previously seen two dozen ponies on the market, I’d thought it was a lot. No trade between clans involved more than fifteen breezies on either side to deliver the goods agreed upon, and take whatever they received back home. But compared to what transpired now that the day had well and truly begun, I realized that those two dozen weren’t even a fraction. It was nothing compared to what came! The market was bustling with life to the point that it was easier to find a spot with ponies in it than one without. Foals ran around, chased by their older siblings, weaving through and bumping into other ponies, some of which were constantly running for the shortest line in sight, but were blocked by winged ponies swooping in from the sky and taking their spot, which would then cause a shouting match to erupt. 

The sheer volume of it all was deafening, the multitude of colors near painful to the eye, and through it all, Applejack was calmly speaking to one pony after another, piling mountains of apples in their baskets in exchange for a bunch of shiny round disks. I’d tried to ask her what they were, but my voice couldn't pierce the overwhelming ambience, and with how fast her hooves were moving, I didn’t feel safe getting closer to her. Thus, I tried to only focus on what she was doing. After watching several trades, I was beginning to figure out a few words of their language, based on how many apples Applejack would give them on their request.

Closing my eyes to help tune out the outside world, I quietly repeated the words I’d learned: “one, two, trio, AJ, five, worm, eight, nine, salad.”

Suddenly, the entire cart shook as one of the foals bumped into it. Letting out a shocked shout, I found myself on my side, hearing apples hit the ground all around me like a bombardment of pine cones in late summer. Twisting myself around, I only narrowly avoided one of the large, red fruits threatening to crush my head! Another, lighter impact followed as Applejack’s hooves came down to stabilize the cart. Yet this second bump gave further momentum to apples which had almost rested, and I saw one slowly reaching the counter’s edge.

I don’t know what drove me, maybe I was too much in a panic to remember how many of these fruits Applejack possessed, but when I saw this ball of sustenance enough for a family of breezies threaten to impact on the ground, my hooves sprang to action, carrying me over to the apple and sinking my teeth in it's stem, trying to pull it back onto the cart. It took one long, strained second of effort… until, with a sinking feeling, I felt the fruit slowly tip over, pulling me over the edge with it. But then, just as I was about to enter freefall, my chest hit the top of  the apple, which mysteriously had simply stopped it's descent… surrounded by a green aura.

Gasping for air, I clutched onto the apple like it was my only hold during a stiff breeze. It took a moment for my heart to calm down. Another for my ears to note the drop in the ambient volume. Furrowing my brows, I looked up. Up at over a dozen of giant, looming faces as every pony at Applejack’s cart stared down at me, atop a floating apple.

A green, horned pony opened her mouth, and my head ruptured.

------

“Oh my gosh, what is that?”

Lyra’s shout brought Applejack up from behind her cart, where she’d been trying to gather some of her fallenfruit. The unicorn had her forehooves on her counter, leaning so close that her chin was touching the wood.

“Is that a tiny pony?” Another pony appeared beside Lyra, gazing down at the fallen form of Honeydew.

“No, it’s a breezie!”

“She’s adorable!”

“N-now hold on, ya’ll really shouldn’t be gettin’ so close ta him!”

A dozen heads swung around to Applejack.

“Is that really a breezie?” Someone shouted.

“I heard Twilight brought back a breezie with her.”

“I heard that breezie is her coltfriend.”

“That’s just silly.”

“Applejack would know!” Lyra exclaimed, grinning widely. “Hey, Applejack, is this really Twilight’s stallionfriend?” A couple of ponies snickered.

“He’s, uh-” Applejack muttered, unsure of how, or even whether to tell the crowd.

“Can I touch him?” A voice came from the crowd, and a hoof jutted out toward the breeze on the counter.

“NOW HOLD ON!” Applejack’s hoof crashed on the unwitting pony’s, eliciting a pained cry as she pinned it to the counter. “BACK OFF, ALL O’ YA’LL, HE DON’T WANT NOPONY SHOVIN’ THEMSELVES IN HIS FACE, HE-” her voice suddenly broke as she observed his shivering form closer, his legs pulled in, hooves covering his ears, and in the comparable moment of silence, she could hear a soft, distinct whimper.

Feeling her blood run cold, Applejack felt her decision already made. With a swift kick that shook the cart, she caused all the gathered ponies to recoil. “Shop’s closed. Ya’ll can buy yer apples some other time.” she informed them, before scooping up Honeydew’s still shivering body in her hooves and bolting away. Her customers might have complained, but she didn’t hear it. All that was on her mind was to get Honeydew away from all this noise as soon as she could!

Only when the market was completely out of eye-sight (and earshot) did she slow down. “Hey, yer okay?” she whispered to her hoof in quiet breezish, afraid to hurt it's occupant by speaking too loudly.

He looked up, his expression a grimace of clenched teeth as he tried to fixate on her, yet the moment he let go of his head, he began to sway from side to side and let out a pained shout.

“Yer okay?!” Applejack exclaimed again, despite her own intentions climbing in volume. He wouldn’t be seriously hurt, right? What would she tell Twilight, what if he wouldn’t recover?!

“Ouch…” He muttered, wincing  as he continued to stroke his ears. “By the gods, everything is ringing…”

“But you can hear mah voice, right?” 

He blinked. “Y-yes… but I feel like I had a pinecone rammed through my ear!”

Throwing her head back, Applejack breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, good… you’ve had me worried there for a second. Look… ah’m sorry fer bringin’ ya to the market, ah should’a known it’d be a mighty tough order fer ya…”

“Yeah…” Honeydew muttered, staring down at his hooves. “I just… never thought there could be so many of you in one spot.”

Applejack couldn't help but give him a pitying glance. Yer gonna have a hard time bringin’ him ta Canterlot if that was so overwhelmin’ for him. she quietly thought. “Maybe it’s better if we stuck to the quieter places, maybe rustle us up some grub.”

“Grub?”

“Food. ah’ve only really had a belly wash as a drink so far, some real eatin’ would be nice just about now.” With that, she raised her hoof to her hat, allowing the breezie to climb onto the rim once more. Then she took off. She didn’t take the direct route to the cafè she knew she wanted to visit, instead she skirted toward the outskirts of town, hoping that the much more sparsely populated periphery would have a calming effect on her small passenger.

“Yer hearin’ gotten any better?” She occasionally asked.

“I-I think so.” was his response. “The ringing is getting weaker, but it’s still a headache.”

“We’ll getcha some medicine, ah promise.” In truth, she was just utterly relieved that the noise earlier somehow hadn’t completely blown out his eardrums. Taking a deep breath, she knew to take this as a lesson. She had to be more careful with him around.

In that moment, a sudden weight dropped onto her head, followed by something sharp scraping through her mane and a loud screeching shout. A heartbeat later, the confused mare stared at the claws of a buzzard, clutching her stetson.

He hoof flew to her head, as an outraged cry burst out of her. “HEY, GIT BACK HERE AND GIMME BACK MY- HONEYDEW!” Filled with horror, she chased after the bird, which swooped past Carousel Boutique, leading her back into the town. “SOMEPONY, STOP THAT BIRD!”

The buzzard defiantly passed above a row of houses, forcing Applejack to run around the obstacle, cursing her lack of wings. “GIT BACK HERE!” she roared again.

Suddenly, in a rainbow-colored streak, Rainbow Dash appeared in her view, her back facing the ground as her head rested against her hooves in mid-flight. 

“Hey AJ. Bird got in your feathers?” snickering at her joke, she lazily glanced at the animal in question. “do you want me to get it or should I just bring you a longer lasso?~”

“Rainbow Dash, it’s got Honeydew!”

“uh… who?”

“TWILIGHT’S COLTFRIEND, YA DIMWIT!”

That broke up the pegasus’s relaxed posture. With a look of shock, she spun around to see the buzzard attempt to escape between the low roofs of ponyville. “Oh, no you don’t!” Rainbow Dash took off, intercepting the bird’s path. The buzzard squawked, trying to change direction, but Rainbow was faster, forcing the buzzard into a downward spiral toward the market’s edge. Short of breath, Applejack reached the scene as the pegasus was trying to pull the stetson out of the bird’s beak, but it seemed determined not to let go, it's claws sunk deeply into the rim- and something that looked like the beam from a flashlight.

“Okay, ya darn bird.” Applejack’s voice trembled as she glared at the defiant feathy beast. “Yer gonna let go of my hat an’ mah friend nice an’ slow, or ah swear ah’ll grant all’a yer feathers ta Rarity to turn inta sum fancy dress-thingamajig!”

The bird cawed, pecking at Rainbow’s hoof, who let out a shout of pain.

“THAT’S IT!” Applejack roared. “AHM GONNA-”

“What’s going on?” A third voice joined in, lacking all of it’s normal gentleness. “Applejack, Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?”

“Fluttershy!” Applejack turned around, feeling relieved despite the enraged glare the pegasus was giving her. “Tell that darn bird ta let go of Honeydew!”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened, and she let out a sudden, sharp bird call. The buzzard beat its wings, letting out a defensive sounding caw, but Fluttershy repeated hers with more intensity, causing the bird to instantly open it's claws. With a gasp, Honeydew fell into Applejack’s stetson, around which all three ponies gathered.

Though he was breathing heavily, it didn’t seem like he was hurt by the buzzard’s claws at all, nor was there any outward injury. Still, Applejack reached a hoof out to him, gently tapping him. “Are you okay?!”

“I’m not dead…” was his whispered reply as he ran his hooves over his body with a look of disbelief. “I felt it’s claws digging in my stomach, it hurt like a long, pointy splinter!”

“Twilight must have cast some protective spells on you.” Fluttershy answered, her lips forming a thin line. “But that bird could have taken you much further away. If you’d been lost, we would have never found you again!”

Her scolding only seemed to worsen the breezie’s condition, as he held his head between his hooves, teetering on the spot.

“Ah’m sorry.” Applejack interjected, hoping to distract her friend’s iron glare from the shocked breezie. “It was mah fault, ah didn’t pay attention-”

Fluttershy’s head whipped around, regarding her with the same look. “No, Applejack, it wasn’t your fault. He simply shouldn’t be here. You’ve seen what can happen! there are hundreds, if not thousands of dangerous things that could happen to him, and Twilight cannot prepare for everything. It was a foolish decision of her to bring him along, he just shouldn’t be here.” she shook her head. “Maybe we can make Twilight see before something worse happens.”

“Weeell...” Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head. “I wasn’t gonna be as harsh, but he really doesn’t seem as awesome as Twilight described him. Maybe it would be better if he went back.”

Applejack stared after both of them as one trotted, the other flew away, a knot forming in her stomach. She glanced down at the shivering form of Honeydew, wanting to say something in his defense… and yet she came up blank. Eventually, she held out a hoof. “Come on,” she gently whispered. “Let’s get ya somewhere safer.” As long as it was further away from here…

----

Naturally, Sweet Apple Acres had been her first bet for a stable, safe place. Honeydew was still hidden under her hat, though he’d grown a bit more lively at the sound of crunching leaves below her hooves. Maybe the rural environment would help with his nerves, too.

“It’s safe ta have a peek, Honeydew.”

A few seconds passed, until Applejack remembered to lift her hat up a bit, letting him peek at her farm.

“Wow… it’s so big!”

“Heh… anything’s big for ya.”

“W-well, it’s bigger than the other huts.” he muttered defensively. “Do you live here alone? I-I don’t see any other ponies.”

“Jus’ me an’ mah family.”

For some reason, the mention of the word ‘family’ seemed to relax the breezie. “S-so ponies do live with their families? I thought you’d rather be alone, since Twilight doesn’t seem to have hers…”

“Ah guess some don’t.” Applejack said as she looked for the key in the haystack beside the door. “Ah don’ got mah whole family here either, it’d be darn cramped if they were.” biting down on the key, it got a bit harder to speak as she inserted it into the door. “Is juss me ‘n mah sivlins an Granny Smiff.”  With a quick turn of her head, the door finally sprang open, and she was able to throw the key back into the hay. “But right now, none of ‘em are here. Big Mac’s out givin’ Winona a walk, Granny’s gettin’ her hearing aid checked and Appbleboom is at school. At least,” she added with a frown as she let herself fall in a seat. “Ah hope she’s there.”

Seemingly feeling a lot safer after having checked every direction for possible danger, Honeydew jumped from her head, gliding down toward a bowl of fruit and candy on the table. “School?” he asked, tilting his head, causing his feelers to lazily swing from side to side. “I don’t know that word.”

“It’s where we send our foals, so someone can teach ‘em all the things they gotta know for their later lives.”

“Oh…” his feelers suddenly drooped, while his voice sounded more subdued.. “S-so it’s like when the children go to meet the frindri?”

“Not sure what that is, but yer probably right.”

The next words from the breezie were so quiet that Applejack had to focus all her attention on him to make them out: “is there a lot one has to know?”

Oh. Warning bells rang in Applejack’s head as she suddenly realized where she’d allowed the conversation to drift to. “N-now, Honeydew, ah’m sure yer gonna manage-”

“Are you?!” his head snapped up, for the first time looking right into her eyes. “Because look at me, I know nothing about your world, I-I was just caught by a creature I’ve never seen before, and what if you hadn’t noticed?” his feelers had begun to glow with a bright, red-tinted light, eventually forcing Applejack to look away, while the breezie agitatedly paced around the table. “By Heistin’s fishy breath, you only need to speak too loudly and I get hurt, what does that say about my chances to even survive in your world?”

“N-now, Honeydew-” Applejack tried to interject, but her words fell on deaf ears.

“And you, you just- you have things that are normal for you that I could have never dreamt off! Not just your strength, but how many there are of you, how you can do anything you want- how easy things are for you! We had to struggle to just survive, and you-” All of a sudden, his wordflow stopped. His pacing had brought him to the edge of the table, to a bowl full of various fruit and candy, which the apple family used to spice up their meals every now and then. But Honeydew did not care about the variety. Instead, his widened eyes were staring straight at a bulbous bottle, filled to the brim with a sweet smelling, amber-colored substance.

Don’t let him get close to honey. The warning echoed in Applejack’s ears as it dawned on her that it wasn’t just a sweet tooth Twilight had been worried about. Honeydew’s jaw had dropped as his gaze slowly travelled up the wide bottle, large enough for a small group of breezies to have a bath inside. His eye had begun to twitch, and Applejack felt a sudden urge to pull the bottle away, despite it already being far too late.

“Are… you… KIDDING ME?!” the flabbergasted breezie whirled around, his voice spiking. “That’s honey, right? Is it?”

“Y-yeah, it is, but-”

“How did you get this much?” he asked, his lips trembling. “How? We don’t even- by the caves of Fjermengard, even if all the clans I know, or even with all the clans I’ve only ever heard of, if they all put their honey together they- they still wouldn’t even get close! How did you get all this?”

“Ah helped out with Carrot Top’s bee keepin’...”

There was a short silence as her words seemed to make their way into Honeydew’s ear, before being slowly processed in his mind. “Bee keeping?” he whispered, his expression blank. “Bee keeping. Sure. SURE, OF COURSE YOU WOULD!”

“Honeydew-” Applejack tried to interject, but she fell on deaf ears.

“Control the trees, have a thousand apples from them, that’s just normal for you, it’s not enough that you’re giants, no, you get to have magic too and fight spirits! Oh, and why don’t you JUST GET ALL THE HONEY YOU COULD POSSIBLY EVER WANT, IS THERE ANYTHING YOU PONIES DON’T JUST GET? Is that even everything? What else do you have? Control over the weather? Can you move around the sun if you want? Make monsters perform tricks for you? D-do you even know how hard it is?” 

With that, he fell back on his haunches, a shiver going through his body. “We always had to worry if we were gonna have enough food for the next winter. Some of us only get to taste honey once in all their life, and you just- you have everything! What does any of it matter compared to this?” He threw his hoof against the bottle, shortly before another shiver took hold of him. With a start, Applejack realised that he was actually sobbing. “Nothing I know matters here. What would you need a scout for if you know your world better than I do and you have more food than you can eat? And even if I learned, what can I do that could possibly help you ponies?! I-I can’t even help you at the market or be near a group of you. I… I should just go back.” drawing a shaky breath, he got up on his legs and wiped the tears from his face, yet they were quickly replaced. “Just go back to a place where what I do matters!”

“N-now hold on!” Placing a hoof in his way, Applejack forced the breezie to turn his glistening eyes to her once more. “I-it may be true that we ponies got some things ya’ll breezies don’t, but that don’t mean what ya’ll do got no meaning. From what Twilight told us, yer clan’s like a big family, stickin’ through hardship together, with all yer grit an’ determination. An’ yer bestin’ the odds time an’ time again, if that ain’t somethin’ ta be proud of, then ah don’t know what is.”

“And yet, we needed Twilight’s help to defeat the spirit!” Honeydew said, defiantly staring up at the earth pony. “We couldn't do it ourselves.”

“Sometimes ya can’t. Sometimes ya need help.” closing her eyes, Applejack took a deep breath. “A couple years back, ah used ta think ah had ta do it all on mah own. Didn’t wanna accept any help, no matter how tough things got. Ah worked hard, day an’ night, tryin’ ta harvest all the apples from all our trees by mah lonesome. But if it’s too much, it just is. An’ so, ah let mah friends help. And lemme tell ya, ah hid it pretty well, but when Twilight began helpin’, ah was furious.”

“W-what?” Honeydew blinked in shock. “Why?”

“Because she made all mah hard work look like a joke with that magic of hers. Just picked a dozen trees clean in the time ah’d get done with one.”

“But… don’t you have magic too?”

She raised a large eyebrow. “Uhm… do ya see a horn on mah head, li’l one?” 

“I- I thought you were hiding it under your hat.” he muttered sheepishly.

“Heh… if only that was true.” Applejack chuckled weakly. “Truth is, only the unicorns get magic, an’ the pegasi get ta fly… while some of us don’t get either. An’ for a while, it drove me up the walls, like nothin’ ah did mattered. But that ain’t true. If ya work hard, and if that hard work let's ya succeed, it don’t matter if somepony else can do it better or faster than you, cause you still did it. It just ain’t fair ta yerself to compare yourself to a pony, just like it wouldn’t be fair for me to compare myself to a powerful unicorn. If ya worked hard, you can be proud of it, that’s the lesson ah learned. Besides, yer makin’ Twilight happy in a way nopony managed to before. And ah know she’d be heartbroken if you just up an’ left.”

“I-” Honeydew simply blinked at her, stunned by her words. “I do?”

“From what ah’ve seen, certainly. You seem like a nice li’l guy, if a bit nervous. Might be a point in yer favour, she’s probably nervous too, considerin’ she’s as new to bein’ in a relationship as you are. An’ of course, yer bogglin’ my mind with how gosh darn adorable you are.”

“I-I am not!”

“You are, and there’s nothin’ you can say that can change mah mind.” Applejack chuckled, gently poking Honeydew’s side with the edge of her hoof. Then she let out a sigh.  “I suppose ah kinda need ta go back to the market, catch up on some sales… ahm gonna drop ya off at Twilight’s first though, wouldn’t wanna drag ya back in there with me again.”

“Yeah, that does sound better than going back to that place.” Honeydew meekly nodded, before suddenly rearing up, grasping for the earth pony’s hoof. “A-Applejack?”

“Uh… yes?” she muttered, a bit taken aback.

“Thank you. Really.” pulling back, he gave a strange glance, like that of an embarassed filly. “Would you, uhm… like to meet again?”

Her hoof rose, gently stroking over his head. “Ah’d love ta get a second chance at showin’ ya around.” she purred. “Anythin’ for a friend.”
> Chapter 3- Family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Today afternoon.” Twilight muttered, glancing at a letter she was levitating a hoof’s reach away. With strained breath, she set the letter down on a nearby desk. “Couldn't you have been a little more specific?!” Uttering a mild curse, she focused back on her current task. The library was ablaze with activity as dozens upon dozens of books floated about, being polished by a multitude of rags before arranging themselves in their proper places. In the midst of all this, Twilight paced around the room, her brows furrowed as she muttered an exhaustive list of tasks to herself.

The doorbell rang. With a start, Twilight’s head shot up, cringing as a myriad of dropped objects thumped against the ground. “Coming!” she shouted, a pitch sneaking into her voice as she summoned her magic to materialize in front of her gate.

“Hi, Twilight.” Spike waved a claw, so used to unannounced teleportation to treat it as a normal occurrence. The breezie gasping for breath in his other hand hadn’t had the same lifetime experience.

“Hi Spike. Sorry for startling you, Honeydew.” Twilight chuckled, visibly relaxing as she helped the breezie glide toward the nearest table. 

“I-it’s fine…” he muttered in breezish, then scrunched up his face, speaking his next words in hesitant, heavily accented ponish. “All unicorn ponies do this, corr- corr-” closing his eyes, he muttered a few breezish words before shaking his head. “They all do?”

“Well spoken,” Twilight commended. “But most of us don’t spend the time or effort to learn teleportation, it’s a pretty hard spell.” she watched him rub his head, assuring herself that he was trying his best to follow her sentence before translating it for him. He’d made good progress in the last three weeks, but she couldn't ask for miracles. “So, how was your appointment with Colgate?”

“Weird.” Honeydew concluded, wearing an odd look. “Is sitting in a room with boringed ponies a part of ‘appointments’?”

“It’s ‘bored’, honey, and it usually is. It’s hard to tell after all how long you are going to need for each of your patients. Were the ponies at least nice to you?”

He nervously licked over his teeth as he considered his answer. “I think so. A-at first they all stared at me, which was scary, and I didn’t know what they were saiding. But after a while it was fine, I think they were just bori- bo- bored.” his cheeks flushed at the sound of Twilight’s giggle. “And after that, Colgate took me in her room and it was really weird again. She did this,” he raised a hoof, rubbing it over his bared teeth. “With a stick. Saided it was good for my tooths, but it kinda hurt.”

“That just means you needed it. Dental care is an important part of living in Equestria, even Spike eventually accepted that. Didn’t you?” she called out over her shoulder, wearing a grin.

“Yeah, yeah.” Spike rolled his eyes as he heaved a stack of outdated newspapers to the paper bin.

“Well, uh, it’s important.” Twilight affirmed once more, gnawing on her lip as Spike’s effort reminded her of her own list of pending tasks. “Anything else that happened?” 

“Meeting Colgate was nice. I did not understand everything, however she gave me this,” beaming, he held up a toothbrush tiny enough to fit inside even his saddlebags, though it still looked comically oversized in his hooves. “And then she let me lick a giant candy-ball on a stick!”

“That sounds nice, honey.” Twilight snickered, yet her eyes were glued on the nearest clock. 13:48.

“Is everything okay?” Honeydew asked, finally lowering his hoof away from rubbing his teeth. “You look sad.”

“Sad?” she blinked at that unexpected conclusion. “No, no, not sad, I’m just tense. You know my parents are coming today, right?”

He nodded.

“Well…” releasing her underlip from her teeth’s grip, she let out a sigh. “This is the first time I had a coltfriend and I don’t know how they’ll react… I just want everything to go well.”

“Uhm…” the breezies muttered, then shook his head, gesturing for her to come closer. Once her hoof was in range, he got up to his hindlegs, using both his forehooved to gently pat her. Twilight couldn't help but smile, though she barely felt it, the meaning of the gesture was clear. “I-I’m sure it will be fine. It’s just your parents. You’ve battled badder things before.”

“Ha!” the laugh burst out of her, followed by amused giggles. “I assume the alicorn who has fought spirits can handle her own parents.” she took a long breath. “I’m just overreacting again, aren’t I?”

The breezie was about to nod, when the doorbell rang once more. In an instant, Twilight’s serene expression cracked, replaced by a nervous grin as her magic reached out for the door. It swung open as soon as she’d turned the handle, letting in an icy gust of wind, accompanied by scattered snowflakes- and a pink alicorn, muffled in thick winter gear.

“Cadence!” Twilight gasped in astonishment. Cadence quickly closed the door behind her, so that only a brief gap remained.

“Hello, Twilight. Sorry for the unexpected visit. I hope we aren’t intruding-”

“Oh, no, no, of course not, I just wasn’t expecting you is all.” Twilight hastily interrupted her. “I was actually just expecting mom and dad, but if you and Shining are coming today, it could be a full family visit!” giddily bouncing on her hooves, she intoned: “Sunshine, sunshine-”

But Cadence just shook her head, her underlip tucked between her teeth. “Not now. Listen, Shining is-”

At that moment, the door loudly swung open again, followed by the sound of metal hitting stone.

“-here apparently.” Cadence sighed as Shining Armor marched into the room, fully adorned by meticulously polished armor, apart from his plumed helmet, which he held clutched against his chest. His lips were spread in a welcoming smile, yet it didn’t change the stern look in his eyes.

“Hello, Twily.” 

“Shining!” Twilight replied, briefly glancing to Cadence. “What brings you two here all of a sudden?”

“Well, we hear you have a coltfriend now.” his armored hooves clanged on the ground as he stepped closer. “Specifically, I heard it. From my own guard. They can be quite talkative, but that made me wonder… how come I never knew about that?” with an eyebrow raised, he stopped just a hoof’s length away. “Is my own little sister best friend forever keeping secrets from me?”

“Of course not, I’m so sorry, Shiny, I just thought the time wasn’t right yet. We’ve only been together for a month…”

“A whole month? Well, how long did you want to keep it a secret, I had to hear it from my own subordinates!”

“When it becomes appropriate, you know…” suddenly, her tone of shock dropped altogether as her hoof poked against his chestplate. “a day before our wedding, maybe?”

“T-that-” he stammered, taking a step back as he shot a help-seeking glance to Cadence. “That was- okay, you got me. But it was a case of national security-”

“Which lasted for two weeks.” she replied dryly. “And how long have you been dating my babysitter before that?”

“Two years…”

Her hoof gave him a gentle shove, grinning all the while. “Exactly. You should count yourself lucky.” chuckling to herself, she poked his chestpiece once more. “Any particular reason you’re showing up all geared up like this? I wouldn’t advise you try and arrest my coltfriend, Shiny.”

“Wow, wow, I’m not planning to arrest anypony today,” he grinned, raising his hooves defensively. “Just wanted to be certain that he knows to treat you right, sis.”

“I’m sure he knows that, hun.” Cadence chuckled. “So, where is he, anyway? We met your parents at the train station, so we know you were going to introduce him.”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, he’s right here. But you said you met mom and dad? Do you know why they’re not here yet?”

“Oh, you know how they are. Your father insists on being there at the exact promised time and allows Velvet to distract herself with whatever catches her fancy. Last I saw them they were at the kiosk, trying to decide on a postcard.” Cadence rolled her eyes, the two mares sharing a laugh.

“Uhm, sis?” Shining interjected, a hint of annoyance in his voice. “He’s not here.”

“He’s on the table, Shiny.”

“There’s nopony at the table!”

“On the table.” grinning at his confused expression, Twilight brought him closer to it, winking at its occupant. “Literally.”

“But that doesn’t make any- sense…” Shining’s voice trailed off as he noticed the waving breezie on the table. 

“Shining Armor, Cadence, meet Honeydew.” Twilight proclaimed with a broad grin. “Honeydew, the white one is my brother, Shining Armor, and the pink one is his wife, Cadence.”

Honeydew sat upright, craning his neck to meet their eyes. 

“Oh, gosh, he’s precious!” Cadence giggled, pushing past her husband and bending her legs before the table to meet him on equal height. “Hello, Honeydew, I’m Cadence.”

“Uhm, m-may gentle winds guide you.” he greeted, slowly backing away.

“Oh, sorry, did I scare you?” Cadence was about to pull back when she felt Twilight’s hoof at her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, he’s just more comfortable when he can see your entire face at once.”

“Of course.” Cadence muttered, taking a step back. “Is this better?”

As Honeydew nodded, eliciting a smile from the alicorn, Shining Armor stepped beside Twilight, his eyes fixated on the breezie with a confused expression. “Your… secret coltfriend is a breezie?”

“Yes.” Twilight met his expression with a gleeful grin. “Isn’t he just adorable?”

“Are you pulling my leg right now? Is this a joke?”

“It most certainly is not!” Cadence’ head shot up, startling Honeydew as she turned to her husband. “That’s Honeydew, the breezie scout who saved Twilight’s life and took care of her when she got stuck in their world!”

“He’s still a breezie, smaller than your- wait, you know about him?” his jaw dropped in disbelief. “She told you?” whirling around to Twilight, his voice breached a higher volume as he asked: “you told her, but not me?”

“Sorry, hon.” Cadence rolled her eyes, trying to contain her smile. “She asked me not to tell you.”

“G-gentle winds.” Honeydew meekly muttered to the angered stallion in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood. In response, he got a raised eyebrow.

“Uh… Twilight, why is he talking about the weather?”

“It’s his way of greeting.” Twilight explained. “He just wished you safe travels.”

“A simple ‘hi’ would’ve been good enough.”

“I… I find it charming.” Twilight’s cheeks flushed, eliciting a cheeky laugh from Cadence. “Oh, shush, you pink goose!”

“You’re both precious~” Cadence giggled, deftly dodging the pillows Twilight had magically tossed at her.

“Well, anyway…” Shining muttered, before turning his attention to the breezie below him. “See this?” he asked, poking his hoof at his chestplate. “I’m the captain of the crystal guard, as well as Twilight’s big brother, who I want to be happy. So, don’t think your size exempts you if I find out you ever mistreaaah- AH!” his hoof shot up, beating the air above his head, but the glow of purple magic firmly enveloping his ear was nothing he could slap away. The glow jerked backwards, forcing him to turn around lest he’d risk having his ear torn off, and face the glowering eyes of Twilight Sparkle.

“Let me make one thing clear,” she said darkly. “I know you think you’re just doing the big brother routine, but don’t you dare try to scare my coltfriend, or your little sister best friend forever will become your little sister worst bossfight forever, is that clear?”

“C-crystal!” Shining yelped, his teeth gritted as he tried and failed to dispel the telekinetic hold on his ear.

“Good.” Twilight glared, releasing her hold as she turned to Cadence. “Would you mind going to the library with Honeydew? I should get started on the tea, mom and dad could show up at any moment.”

“Of course, Twilight.” Cadence said as she laid a hoof around Shining, who was still massaging his ear.

“I-I know the place.” Honeydew jumped off from the table, lighting up his feeler as he flew toward the stairs. “Follow me.”

“It’s my sister’s castle, we know the way.” Shining griped, yet they still followed behind the breezie.

------

“You couldn't have told me about this?” Shining Armor whispered, hoping he was quiet enough that the breezie’s tiny ears couldn't pick it up.

“Twilight made me promise!”

“And? Do you think it’s funny, keeping me in the dark about my own sister dating somepony?”

“To be fair, we kinda deserve it after our wedding.”

“You still didn’t have to play along.” he huffed, glancing at Honeydew’s back, who was guiding them, nerve-grindingly slowly, through the corridor. “Couldn't you have told me on the train that she brought a breezie back with her?”

“Does it matter that he’s a breezie?” Cadence raised an eyebrow.

“It just opens up a lot of questions, honey, you can’t deny that!”

“I suppose I can’t,” Cadence agreed. “And I have to admit, it was a bit of a surprise for me too, but now that I had some time to think about it? I think it’s cute.” Catching up to Honeydew, she held out a hoof below him. “I could hold you,” she offered her smile to the startled looking breezie. “We’d be quicker and you could still show us the way.”

“We know the way.” Shining grumbled as Honeydew landed in Cadence’s hoof. “It’s the next door to the left.”

“Oh, just let him have this.” Cadence rolled her eyes, carrying Honeydew the eight steps to the door in question, which opened from the effect of her magic. Just like one could expect from Twilight, the library was vast, divided by shelves stacked so high that ladders (or wings) were needed to reach the upper aisles. Still, there was a distinct sense of homeliness from the numerous carpets covering the cold, crystal floor, as well as a number of comfy looking sofas and armchairs close to a broad chimney. And of course, there were open and closed books lying on each and every one of them, as if Twilight had read a single section just to drop them once she’d found out what she wanted.

“That makes me wonder,” she spoke down to Honeydew. “How do you normally get through doors if nopony is there to open them for you?”

His face scrunching up, Honeydew’s lips moved, trying to find the right word before his whole lit up. “Hole. Key-hole!”

“I guess I should’ve figured.” she chuckled, levitating an open book aside from a couch so that she and Shining could take their place on it. Geography for foals, Cadence couldn't help but note. With a plethora of pictures, the exact type of book Twilight would normally skip in favor of thick tomes with letters so small it made Cadence believe that she needed glasses. But there was no time to ponder on that as she let Honeydew skip out of her hoof and on a nearby table. “Have you ever been in a place like this before?”

The breezie vehemently shook his head. “Have nothing as it. Castle is bigger-er than anything home. But, all pony places bigger than home.” he looked from one to the other, seemingly pondering whether to ask his next question. “Twilight said you are also princess. Do you live here, too?”

“Oh, dear, no.” Cadence laughed. “We have our own castle, far to the north. It’s even bigger than this one.”

“That can’t be right.”

“Oh?” placing her front hooves on the armchair of the sofa, she leaned over to Honeydew’s table while leaving her lower body in her husband’s lap. “I’m afraid it is, but why do you think it can’t?”

“I-I sat on the, uh- toppest point of the castle. And then on Twilight’s head. She showed me Equestria, and I didn’t see anything else as big! A-aside of Canterlot, but she said you don’t live there.”

“Is he serious?” Shining began, but Cadence broke out in melodious laughter.

“Oh, I’m afraid Equestria is much bigger than what you can see from one point, even if it’s a high one. Has Twilight ever shown you a map?”

He tilted his head in response. “What’s a map?”

“Seriously?” Shining picked up a nearby book, flipping it open to a map of the Equestrian continent. “This,” he said, showing it to the breezie. “Has she ever shown you this?”

But instead of answering, Honeydew took one look at the book, then stumbled back, covering his eyes with his hooves. “No, put it away, before it bewitches us!”

The couple shared a look of disbelief. “Dear, it’s just a book,” Cadence started, gently reaching over to his table. “It’s not magic. Why would you think it can bewitch us?”

“W-whenever Twilight opens one, she starts staring into it for hours,” he claimed, casting a suspicious glance at the book. “And when I try to talk to her, she can barely respond. There’s some dark spirit toying with her mind, and she doesn’t even realize it!”

“It’s just a book!” Shining Armor groaned. “How have you lived with my sister for almost a month without knowing what books are?! What world do you live in?”

“Shiny, calm down.” Cadence tapped his shoulder, which brought him to slump back into the sofa. “But I do have to wonder, what did you do in your world?”

“I am a Scout.” Honeydew proclaimed. “I search forest for clan, so we know where things grow, where the spiders make webs and how paths change…” while tapping his chin, he produced a little ‘humm’-noise. “Forest changes every year. Sometimes bushes grow, sometimes not. Storms kill trees, blocking ways. If I was home, I would go out first after winter and see if our paths are still good.”

“That sounds fascinating.” Cadence smiled. “Never thought Twilight would crush on an outdoor-person.”

“Yes, it makes me wonder what you have in common.” Shining muttered. As he spoke, there was the noise of new voices in the hallways. “Well, it seems Mom and Dad are here.” Shining said as he shifted out of his seat.

“Where are you going?”

“Just want to give them a heads up, honey.” he explained as he opened the door.

“Shining!” A voice exclaimed, and a moment later, the stallion stumbled back into the room, patting the back of his mother, who has enveloped him in a hearty embrace. “I didn’t know Twilight invited you, too. It’s so great to see you, you don’t write nearly enough letters from the Crystal Empire.”

“He does send them weekly,  hun.” Night Light said as his wife separated herself from her son.

“And no, Twilight didn’t invite me.” Shining huffed. “Besides, there’s something you should know about her coltfriend-”

“He’s here, isn’t he?” Velvet’s eyes swept across the room, centering for a moment on Cadence, who was giving her a polite smile. “Twilight said he was going to be here with you- Oh, gosh!” she burst out, rushing toward the table and it’s small inhabitant.

Cringing at the scream, Shining followed behind her. “Yeah, that’s what I wanted to warn you about, he’s-”

“You must be Honeydew!” Velvet’s grin widened with excitement as she held her hoof out toward him. “Hello, I’m Velvet, and this is my husband Night Light, it’s so great to finally meet you after all we’ve heard of you.”

Shining drew his head back with an unamused huff. “Did Twilight really tell everypony but me?”

“She probably thought of it as a harmless counter-prank.” Cadence soothingly explained.

“Where is she, anyway?!”

“She is just making some tea,” Night Light said. “She’ll be here in precisely two minutes, barring any accidents.” With that, he stepped beside his wife, who had gotten Honeydew to hesitantly shake her massive hoof. “Hello. I’m sure my wife has already introduced me, but I’m Night Light.

Possibly glad to get a break from the overly excitable mare, Honeydew seemed to respond well to Night Light, starting to chat with him in his clumsy ponish when Twilight came in, balancing a plate with steaming cups on her back. “oh , you’ve already met each other.” she grinned, floating cups over to the table and placing a tiny shot glass infront of Honeydew.

“And he’s just as cute as you wrote.” Velvet snickered.

“Uhm, y-yes…” Twilight stammered, rubbing her cheek with a wing as if that could wipe off her blush. “Well, now that we’re all together, unexpectedly,” she added with an apologetic smile to Shining and Cadence. “We could turn this family visit into a family day. I’ve got rooms if you want to stay overnight, sleepover games, dinner, and- what is it?”

Everypony blinked as Twilight stopped in her rambling for seemingly no reason. Until they noticed the slight glow from Honeydew’s feelers which had gotten her attention. Leaning her head down to him, they exchanged quick breezish in lowered voices. Finally, Twilight looked up once more, meeting the awkward glances from her family with a sheepish smile. “Uhm, sorry, I almost forgot that Honey and me were going to hold a little celebration today.”

“But we all just came here!” Shining protested. “You’re going to send your entire family away for some breezie celebration?”

“It’s Jörmgo, the day of the first snowfall, at least here in Equestria.” Twilight explained. “And on Jörmgo, breezies hold a ceremony once at noon and once at midnight. Honeydew was already very forthcoming to delay it in order to meet you today.”

“And he can’t just skip it?” Shining asked, crossing his hooves. “I remember that we once postponed Hearth’s Warming so you could finish your homework and not be on the naughty list.”

“It’s different.” Twilight muttered, her wings performing a nervous flap at her sides. “They believe that it is important to honor Myrmel, the spirit who raises the sun, as he takes a rest during winter-”

“There are no sun spirits!” Shining blurted out. “We know that Celestia raises the sun.”

“Shining!”

“Don’t tell me you actually believe that, we know for a fact that it’s not true.”

“That doesn’t mean you can deride his beliefs.”

“But they are objectively wrong!”

“Stop it, both of you.” Cadence interrupted as a light-blue aura encapsulated both of their mouths. “Twilight, maybe we could join you and Honeydew in your celebration.”

“Well…” Twilight muttered, glancing down to a confused looking Honeydew. “I suppose we could.”

“Fine, then please go ahead. Me and Shiny will come in a bit. After a word in private.” she added with a glare at her husband.

He swallowed, knowing even in his anger that he was in trouble.

----------

“You better hope he couldn't follow your outburst.” Cadence fumed, pacing around the now almost empty room. “What were you thinking, deriding his beliefs?!”

“We know there is no such thing as sun spirits.” Shining retorted, hooves crossed before his chest.

“Maybe in our world. Who knows what raises the sun where he comes from?”

“But this is not his world, this is Equestria, and here Celestia raises the sun, so why does he have to drag the whole family into his thing?!”

“We don’t have to defeat windigoes every year in order to celebrate Hearthswarming either. And that’s beside the point. Why is it a problem for us to attend his ceremony for a bit?”

“Maybe it’s because nopony in the family is religious?” Shining nickered. “I certainly know that Twilight isn’t, but now she suddenly believes in whatever tribal spirits-lore that breezie tells her?”

“Respecting his views isn’t the same as believing in them. And you know she loves to learn about new cultures.”

“Yes, but to suddenly date one out of the blue, and to tell everypony but me?” Shining burst out. “At least you are a pony, and somepony she knew!”

“I get that you’re angry she didn’t tell you, but that’s no reason to vent your frustration on him!”

“It’s not just that!” he snapped. “Have you seen him? He can’t read, Cadence. Heck, he doesn’t even know what reading is! Not to mention he knows nothing of Equestria!”

“So it’s because you think he’s not good enough for her?!”

“I think that Twilight can do better than some tiny, offworld savage!”

Cadence’s pacing abruptly stopped as silence swept into the room, only interrupted by Shining’s strained breaths. Her eyes narrowed to tiny slits, she caused him to wince under her piercing glare. “That went too far.” she stated with totality.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to put it like that!”

“No, you said exactly what you think.” she hissed. “But you know what I saw? I saw a sweet colt who was willing to postpone something obviously important to him for her sake and who is eager to learn about Equestria, even if it is hard for him to wrap his head around sometimes. He’s only been Equestria for three weeks and he can already hold a conversation! I saw a stallion who took Twilight into his struggling clan when she needed it.” Her hoof jutted out, pointing accusatorily at Shining. “And I saw that you missed all of that, because all you are willing to see are his worst qualities! Now you take a walk around the castle or do whatever you need to clear your head. You know where to find me once you’re thinking straight again.” With that, she left her stunned husband in the corner of the library, his hooves clutching against the sides of the sofa as if it was his cover from her assault.

“H-he’s still tiny!” he shouted after her, his voice weak and trembly. Clear your head. he snorted. His head was already clear, maybe Cadence should go and heed her own advice instead! He was not being fair to Honeydew? A little pixie who couldn't even read, who, from what Cadence had briefly told him had to be taught by Twilight how to light a fire? He was practically a cavepony! And so what if he took in Twilight when really needed it, that was just common decency! When… you weren’t a cavepony… because if you were that would be a massive commitment. “Holy Celestia, I AM giving him no credit!”

Maybe clearing his head wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

-------------

It was during his fifth round through the castle when the voices picked up. Curiously raising his head, Shining followed the muffled noise. His anger had mostly evaporated, yet his uncertainty regarding the breezie remained, and it was still hard to wrap his head around his sister being in a relationship with one. All he’d seen so far from him was that he got scared if you got too close. Not exactly the best premise for an intimate relationship.

As he got closer, the voices got more distinguished… they were singing! Though he couldn't make out the words, it was some strange tune that he was sure he’d never heard before. Staring at the door, he felt a sudden uncertainty in his stomach. Was he even welcome to join them? After all he’d said… it’d been completely out of line! His officer would have had him court martialed for it!

“Uh, hey, what are you doing outside?”

“Spike!” Shining whirled around to see the small dragon holding a glass of water and… a drum. Which was fairly large for his size too. “I didn’t know you played.”

“Oh, I didn’t.” the dragon answerd, quickly gulping down his water before creating a quick beat, wearing a small grin. “Honeydew taught me. He plays, like, everything.”

“He… does?”

“Well, anything you don’t need metal for. They didn’t have that apparently.”

“Oh…” Shining muttered. Then, as Spike was about to go past him, he suddenly stopped his path with a hoof. “Hey, Spike, you know this breezie now, right?”

“He’s been living with us for almost a month.” Spike said with a shrug.

“Good,” Shining sighed. “Spike, I need your opinion on him and Twilight. You’re the only one I can trust to be objective about it.”

The dragon tilted his head. “What about Cadence?”

“Nnnoot anymore.” Shining muttered cautiously.

“Well, to be honest, I found it really weird at first.” Spike said. “I mean, she carries him around in her ear, it doesn’t get much weirder, right? And it’s annoying to be so careful all the time, even though Twilight put those spells on him, cause even if it doesn’t hurt him if I stepped on him, it’d still… you know, hurt alot. Buuut, after a while? He’s very nice, and I think Twilight loves explaining things to him. He also knows a lot of stuff you would never think, and he made a great druid in our last game of Ogres & Oubliettes!”

“You… play with him?”

“Yeah! Maybe you should join, it’s a great way to get to know new ponies. And Discord can just snap bring you from the Crystal Empire and back! It’s about the only thing at which he’s reliable…”

“Sounds… interesting.” Shining muttered. “So, this ceremony,what is it?”

“I don’t really know. He explains it as it happens” Spike shrugged, then grinned as he lifted his drum. “But the next part is gonna be music. You should see it for yourself, Twilight’s playing the next one!” With that, he rushed into the room, leaving Shining with a stunned expression.

“Twilight… playing?” his curiosity piqued, he followed Spike into the room.

It was very dark, yet he instantly made out each occupant from the glow of their horns, emulating the light of Honeydew’s feelers. Bathed in soft light, he saw his parents gently sway from side to side, in tact with a strange melody emanating from…  Twilight… playing a pan flute? As far as he knew, she’d never even looked twice at an instrument! Yet here she was, wings fluttering as she carried the tune like an experienced musician!

He took his seat, barely noticing the look Cadence gave him as he stared in wonder at his sister, who seemed utterly lost in the music, in a way exactly like when she was reading a great book.

“Cleared your head?” Cadence whispered in his ear.

“Y-yes,” he swallowed. “I’m sorry-”

But before he could continue, he felt a hoof press onto his mouth, muffling the rest of the sentence.

“Later,” Cadence smiled as Spike appeared in Twilight’s circle of light. “Now, we’re playing.”

And then Twilight started a new tune, accompanied by Honeydew playing a tiny violin that looked like it was carved from bone. Still, the sound filled the room in a way that had to be magical, supporting the strange, foreign music. Moments after which Cadence, Velvet and Night Light took deep breaths and began to sing in breezish.

Sha ta co ti oh scum ne rivna
Sha ta co ti oh nugga tir na nog
Sha ta co ti oh scum ne rivna
Nug a tir na nog

The strange words filled the room, giving the music an otherworldly quality, while Shining could only stare. And eventually, join into the second chorus, allowing him, for a moment, to forget the massive apologies he still owed to the others.
> Chapter 4- Rarity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Coming~” Rarity sang, casting a glance at her mirror to make sure her mane sat just right. It was her first customer today after all, certainly the time one had to be most fashionable… especially if the customer in question happened to be a strong and sensitive stallion. Maybe she should put on some lipstick, just in case.

Once more her doorbell rang, prompting her to hurriedly shout “Just a moment!” and give herself one last look over before rushing (in a fashionable manner) down into the public section of Carousel Boutique. Briefly ascertaining that all the dresses were on display, fitting the newest trend and immaculately color-coded to make each one shine brilliantly, she deemed it ready for whoever was impatiently waiting outside to be bedazzled!

Which was nopony. Her doorstep was as barren as her shop had been two minutes ago. “Hello?” she called, just to make sure. But none of the few ponies she saw on the street paid her any attention aside from a few raised eyebrows. Closing the door, she let out a groan, which turned into a tired yawn. First she’d barely made it out of bed in time to take care of her own appearance, and now she was getting pranked first thing in the morning. What a great start to a day.

As the door feel in lock, the bell rang once again, and Rarity gave it a tired glare, a wish on her lips about how she needed a prank-proof method of announcing customers.

Then something dropped out of the bell, impacting on the ground with dull thud.

“Eeek!” Rarity shouted, jumping back from the insect that was curled up on the ground, but still moving. Swallowing, trying not to look directly at it, she reached out with her magic to a nearby broom, ready to sweep up the groaning insect-

Wait, insects don’t groan. Tentatively stepping closer, Rarity inspected what she’d believed to be a large beetle. 

“Oh my gosh, Honeydew!” with a gasp, she gently lifted the breezie onto a nearby stool, where he, to her immense relief, rolled around to grip his head. Thank Celestia, he doesn’t seem to be injured.  “Honeydew, can you hear me?”

“E-e-everything’s ringing…” he muttered, his head dangerously swaying as he attempted to sit up. “It didn’t sound that loud first time.”

“Y-yes, I suppose it’s much worse when you’re inside of the bell.” Rarity sighed in relief as it became apparent she’d neither killed nor deafened her friend’s true love. “I, uh- s-should I call Twilight for help?”

“No, no, it’s okay. Headache’s already passing.” he muttered, though he was looking a little green.

Luckily Twilight has carefully warded him, he would have surely lost his hearing otherwise.
Rarity mused as she levitated a thimble of water as well as a rag from her kitchen. Better to be prepared for all circumstances, especially if you were running a fabulous boutique. “Darling, if you feel like it, would you please tell me what you were doing inside of my doorbell?”

It took him a few moments to answer, during which he seemed to struggle with swallowing… something, before washing it down with a greedy gulp from the filled thimble. “I-I wanted to call you. You didn’t hear me when I shouted for you. So I thought I’d use the thing that got loud when Colgate let me in. but I wasn’t heavy enough to make it work with the rope.”

“At least that explains how the bell rang twice. But going inside of a bell really isn’t a good idea. You and Twilight need to find a better way for you to make your presence known.”

“S-she said she’s working on it.”

“Either way, you have gotten my attention now so…” grinning, she fluttered her eyebrows at the breezie before striking an elegant pose and playing out her prench accent. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, darling, how may I help you?”

“Well..” he began, awkwardly tapping his hooves. “Twilight said that she wanted to ‘go on a date’, and I agreed, but I wasn’t sure what that meant and I asked Colgate, but she said it doesn’t have anything to do with traveling and that you would know best. So, uhm… yeah.” he closed, rubbing the back of his head with a nervous grin.

There was a moment of silence, as Rarity’s horn sparked, flipping her store’s shield from ‘open’ to ‘closed’. This would require her full attention.

“If it is advice you seek, you certainly have come to the right place! I am an expert of romance, a connoisseur of passion, a-”

Honeydew blinked, tilting his antennae-laden head.

“-I can help you.”

“You can?” jumping up on his hooves, he rushed in to embrace the edge of her hoof. “Thank you!”

“It’s not such a big deal, darling, really, I’m glad I can help. So, a date.” as much as she wanted to appear professional, she couldn't contain a little squee of delight. “It is important that we find the exact right location for it-”

“But… Colgate said it wasn’t about travelling.”

“Aaand that I teach you the terminology.” Rarity closed with a sigh. “A date is simply something you do together with somepony you love, like watching a movie, taking a walk or going to a restaurant. Those are the classics.”

The breezie scratched his head. “Like that camping trip with Rainbow Dash?”

“Not… exactly. And please spare me the details, she’s been bugging me since you returned, asking me to make you a suit of armor out of those mosquitoes you killed. Can you even believe that? I am a seamstress, not a blacksmith! It’s like she thinks it’s the same thing!”

“So, uhm, a date is about doing something pointless with someone else?”

“Wha-” blinking, Rarity refocused on Honeydew. “No, it’s not pointless, it is romantic, something you both enjoy! Don’t breezies have some way of courting another?”

“Of course. We help each other with work.”

“And… then?”

“Then we sleep with one another.” he explained, seemingly oblivious to Rarity’s gasp of surprise. “But we already do that, so that can’t be it.”

He is gossip-gold! Rarity snickered with a barely hidden grin. I’ll definitely have to question him later. “Well, I’m afraid we ponies tend to add a couple more steps. Dating for example is an activity that both of you will enjoy doing together. Like…”

“I think Spike suggested that we have a picnic in one of Twilight’s bucket bushes.”

“You mean a potted plant?” she raised an eyebrow. “But how would you both-”

“She was gonna shrink herself.”

“Ooohohoho, Darling, that is a great idea!” Inside of a potted bush, the surrounding leaves would throw beautiful shadows over the pair, creating the perfect romantic atmosphere, especially with the lights they could emit from their feelers. It was classy, romantic, yet also so unique! It was almost a shame that he was already with Twilight. If not, she might have tried her own charms on the little fairy.

Sometimes, friendship could be a burden. Still, that didn’t stop her imagination from thinking up a few dozen ways to perfect the scenery in her mind. “Well, you’ve got a location and an activity you’re already halfway set. But we’re not just looking for an opportunity to have fun, this will be your chance to impress, to utterly bedazzle her! And for this, you must look the part.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, looking over his forelimbs. “T-Twilight says she likes how I look. Don’t you?”

“Oh, don’t worry, darling, you’re still adorable, but a date isn’t the time to merely look ‘good’, it is when you have to look the best! Thankfully, I can also help with that.” With that, she swept her forehoof across the numerous displays of her latest fashion. “Carousel Boutique dresses. Any style, any color, any size you want! I am sure to have the perfect style for you.”

“I am not sure how a colorful blanket would help, Rarity.”

Her hoof dropped to the ground as her brain attempted to process the word he’d just used to- to describe her work! “Those aren’t blankets, Honeydew, they’re dresses. Clothing, you know?”

“And what are they for?”

“You- you wear them.”

“Like a blanket?”

“No… like clothing.”

Once again, Honeydew tilted his little head, causing his feelers to sway from side to side, like they’d been disturbed by a stiff breeze.

“It’s made to be worn, Honeydew, they’re not blankets!”

“But what do they do then?”

“They allow you to look your best!”

“But… I would still look the same, wouldn’t I? Just with a dress on me.”

“No- I mean yes-”

“Is it magic?”

“NO!” she shouted, pressing a hoof on her own face.

“Then how does it change my body?”

“It doesn’t!”

“Then what does it do?”

“It makes you look good!”

“But what for?”

“To impress Twilight with your appearance.”

“Wouldn’t she think that the dress is pretty instead of me being pretty?”

“That- that is not how it works-”

“Then how does it work? What is the dress for?”

“It- It- it keeps you warm.” Rarity closed, lowering her head in defeat. “Clothing keeps you warm.”

“Like a blanket?”

“Yes…” she sighed. “Like a blanket.”

“Then why didn’t you say so right away?” Honeydew asked, utterly unaware of the meltdown he was causing in the unicorn’s mind.

“Just… promise you’ll wear it once I made it for you, okay?” To anyone who knew her, the agony in her voice would have been painfully apparent.

Honeydew hugged her hoof, gleefully thanking her in breezish. With a tired smile, she gently patted his little head. Ultimately, it was a mission for love, and that was a call she could never refuse.





The next day, Rarity welcomed the breezie with open arms, after he’d gotten Rainbow Dash to open the door for him. Still a few minutes away from officially opening her boutique for the day, there simply was no other option than to interrogate him.

“So, how was your ‘little’ date?” she practically asked immediately upon seeing him.

“Good!” he grinned. “And Twilight loved it when I said the things you told me to say. She told me that ‘such a corny line can only come from Rarity, honey,’ and then she laughed.”

The white unicorn’s chuckle came to an abrupt halt. “Oh, did she?”

He nodded excitedly. “Mhm. I’m not sure what it meant, but the corn we ate was really tasty, so it must have been a great compliment.”

Aaand already her chuckle was back. “And what about the dress, darling, did it help?”

“It certainly kept us warm.”

“That’s not quite what I meant-”

“But it also smoked a lot when we burned it.” he muttered, wearing a thoughtful look as her rubbed his chin.

Rarity’s eyebrow twitched.
> Chapter 5- Pinkie Pie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Steeling himself, Honeydew rose up from the door handle he’d been sitting on in order to rap his hoof against the door itself. “Twilight? Are you still in there? Do you need much longer?”

“Just a few more minutes, honey~” Twilight replied in a sing-song voice, causing Honeydew to glance to the clock. Though the idea of tracking the time by means other than sunlight still seemed outlandish to him, he’d practised reading these devices, and this one said that there wasn’t much time left! 

“What are you doing in there? The pink one wanted us to be there soon.”

“A moment, Honeydew, I’m almost ready.” she chuckled. “In fact, you might want to get off the door handle, I’m just about done.”

As she came out, he could instantly tell that something was different about her. The way she held herself as she ran a hoof through a mane that seemed to sparkle, the look of her vibrant, purple eyes seeming more prominent than ever, framed by perfectly curved eyelashes- had they always been this long? And there was some kind of subtle coloring around them, further serving to pull one’s gaze into her purple irises. Pleased to see that her coltfriend had clearly noticed, Twilight smiled. Her lips had been coated with the same glossy purple as her eyelids. “How do I look?”

“Y-you painted yourself…” he muttered, turning his wings so that he could view her from another angle. “D-did the pink pony say something about that? Is it part of the ceremony?!” swallowing, he glanced at the markings on his own coat. They were already starting to fade. Panic rose in his throat as he turned toward the clock. What to do, what would be less of an insult to the pink pony, to arrive late, or to not follow proper tradition?!

“Calm down, honey,” Twilight calmly said, reaching out a hoof for him to land on. He noted that it also felt smoother than usual, freed of all the usual particles of dust and dirt that normally found their way into them. “You didn’t do anything wrong, I just wanted to look a little better. So, what do you think?”

“You look great, of course. You always do.” there was not a shred of doubt or insincerity in his voice as he looked up at her, his feelers twitching curiously as he leaned from side to side. “I just sometimes wish I could see all of you at once more often.”

“Oh, Honeydew.” she chuckled, before leaning in, carefully pursing her lips as she met his, a maneuver they were both quite familiar with. Twilight grinned as she looked down at the breezie, whose head was practically coated in vibrant purple now. “As much as I love seeing you like this, I think we should clean that up before we meet with the others, shouldn’t we?”

His eyes closed, Honeydew stuck out his tongue, spitting out the fragments of color that had gotten into his mouth.

-----

“Twilight!” the shout echoed from the rooftops as the alicorn came into view, carrying Honeydew on her back. Perched upon the cupcake-like roof of Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie called out to them, eagerly waving a pair of colorful flags tied to each of her hooves.

“Good afternoon, Pinkie.” Twilight called down, chuckling at her friend’s antics. 

“Hi Twi, hi Honeydew.” Pinkie waved once more, not paying an ounce of attention to the flag that got detached from her hoof and tumbled down the roof. “Come on in, the others are already waiting for our surprise!”

“A surprise?” Honeydew asked as the pink pony climbed through a window with surprising nimbleness.

“For you too.” Twilight chuckled as she landed on the balcony and took the door.

Pinkie’s bedroom, round as the cupcake it outwardly appeared to be and spacious enough to hold an entire crowd, was much cleaner than Honeydew had expected. Sure, there were a couple of balloons and streamers, objects he knew from the photos Twilight had shown him when he asked about pony parties, but this room had more in common with one in the castle than those chaotic images. There wasn’t even any food. But the rumble from the door was enough to push that thought out of his head as Applejack entered the room, followed by Rainbow Dash, Rarity and… yellow-pink. Suddenly, the room didn’t seem quite as big anymore. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to stay out in the open. He already knew them! Well, most of them… Swallowing past the lump in his throat, he waved a hoof. “H-hello.”

“Howdy there, ya two.” Applejack grinned, exchanging a hug with Twilight. “Almost thought ya wouldn’t come.”

“Yeah, what took you so long.” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

“It is called being fashionably late, dear.” Rarity explained in a tone one would normally reserve for foals, before winking at Twilight. “And I see you’ve used the time well, you look gorgeous, darling!”

Trying to hide her blush, Twilight pretended to examine her wings.

“Sooo, what’s this party gonna be like?” Rainbow Dash wondered, swooping through the room with a critical eye. “I’m not seeing anything party-ish here.”

 “An’ what’s up with all these toys?” Applejack wondered, poking a plastic slide that could’ve only been used by a doll. “Pinkie, have ya finally snapped?”

“Nope!” to her credit, the pink pony didn’t seem fazed by the comment at all, instead grinning like a maniac as she jumped over her own bed. “The party is right here, you just gotta find it!”

“Uh… are ya sure that whatcha said made any sense? Cause ah’m don’t think ya can’t play hide ’n seek with a party.”

“Of course I’m sure, silly.” Pinkie giggled. “The party is riiiight here!” With that, she placed a horseshoe carton on her bed. One it's sides spelled in bright, skewed letters: ‘Secret Party’. “This is the great surprise-y part!”

“I don’t think we can fit in there, Pinkie…” Rainbow said, scratching her head.

“He can.” Pinkie said, placing a surprised Honeydew inside the carton.

“But we can’t!” the pegasus groaned.

“Maybe we caaan.” Pinkie said, turning around with an expectant look. “Twiiiilight?”

The alicorn snickered as her horn glowed, the magenta aura appearing around Pinkie Pie, then the rest of them. “I think there might be a way.”

Honeydew watched in wonder as the ponies he’d gotten to know as both people and living mountains seemingly fell toward the ground, their tree-trunk-like hooves losing contact with the ground as they were seemingly pulled inside of their bodies like the head of a tortoise. Though confused for a moment, it only took them a moment to spread their insectile wings and safely glide down to the ground. Pinkie Pie actually let out a cheery “Wheeee!” as she landed in the middle of the toy-slide. “So worth borrowing this from the twins!”

“Surprise~” Twilight fluttered her eyebrows as she closed his open jaw with her hoof.

“I-” Honeydew stammered, looking from one breezified pony to the other. Unable to speak, he simply threw his hooves around her, both of them laughing as she stumbled backwards.

“Heck, it’s nice meetin’ ya from eye ta eye.” Applejack grinned, knocking her hoof on his shoulder.

“I love your feelers.” Pinkie giggled.

“You look rad!” Rainbow said.

“And muscular~” Rarity purred. “I can see why Twilight picked you.”

“Hey, hooves off, he’s mine” Twilight chuckled.

“Oh, and I’m happy for you, darling.” she pursed her lips. “Even if it makes me a little jealous.”

“Stay jealous.” Twilight said with finality, grabbing Honeydew’s hoof. “Mine.”

“If you say so, darling.” Rarity rolled her eyes, joining Applejack in drinking some punch.

It was a strange experience for Honeydew to watch it, to interact and joke with these ponies like it was entirely normal! But then, it had been getting normal already, hadn’t it? Between meeting up with Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity, he’d almost felt comfortable around them anyway. In a way, it was sad how much of a relief this felt like. Would the size difference always be a hindrance, always hold some feeling of dread as he spoke with them? Even Twilight could still unnerve him at times, especially when she came into view without his knowing that she was there at all.

But… now wasn’t really the time to worry, right? Despite knowing little about these occasions, watching the other chat and laugh certainly suggested that this wasn’t some careful ceremony where one had to worry about taking the proper steps. It seemed to just be… having fun together. Biting his lip, he watched Twilight and Rainbow Dash speak, their voices raised. His curiosity peaking, he approached the pair, who were now each placing a hoof on the table, gripping the other’s.

“Props for even trying, egghead, but you’re going down.” Rainbow grinned.

“Don’t be so certain, Dash, I’ve gotten plenty of workout in the breezie world.” Twilight replied, adopting a gaze of pure concentration. “On three?”

“Sure, but you don’t stand a chance.” she chuckled lightly. “I bet I’ll beat you in less than three seconds~”

“We’ll see.” Twilight’s face could have been carved from stone for how intense she looked. “1…”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, relaxing her shoulders.

“2!” In an instant, Twilight threw all her might against Rainbow, whose eyes widened as she tried to catch herself, her hoof hovering mere inches from the table. Straining, she fought back against Twilight, but despite her efforts, the back of her hoof hit the table just a moment later.

“Y-you cheated! You said on three!” Rainbow exclaimed as Twilight stuck out her tongue. “I demand a rematch!”

“Nope.” Twilight smirked. “I won fair and square.”

“Oh, no you didn’t!” Rainbow shouted as she chased a laughing Twilight, demanding a ‘best of three’.

“Rainbow Dash, she can never let things go.” Applejack smirked, glancing over to Honeydew. “Can ya believe that she challenged me for constant rematches over an entire week, just ‘cause I kept beating her?”

“Then you’re stronger than her?”

“Definitely. Even if she don’t wanna admit it. Why? Ya wanna give it a go?” grinning, she placed her glass on the table.

“M-maybe later.” he muttered, watching as Rainbow caught up to Twilight, tickling her into submission. “A-actually, rather not.”

“Fair ‘nough.” Applejack shrugged.

Rainbow Dash eventually ‘coerced’ Twilight into a series of rematches. Though, to her dismay, although she won all of them, she never seemed able to fulfill her bet of a three-second victory. Unable to continue a conversation with Applejack, Honeydew watched from a distance as the ponies erupted in laughter over a joke he wouldn’t have understood.

“Darling, your face looks like a downpour waiting to happen.” Rarity’s voice whispered in his ear, causing his head to snap around- he hadn’t even noticed that she hadn’t been a part of the group. With a spark of her horn, she moved over a couple of pillows before letting herself fall into one.

“I-is that a pony saying?” Honeydew muttered, taking a seat on the pillow next to her.

“It means that you look sad.” she placed her cup on the ground, focusing fully on the breezie. “The others seem to be enjoying themselves, why not join them?”

“W-well, why don’t you?” he stammered, glancing to the crowd, which was cheering as they put a blindfold on a shivering yellow-pink.

Rarity briskly waved a hoof. “Oh, nono, darling, these kinds of party games aren’t really my forte, though I do enjoy watching the others have their fun, childish as it may be.” leaning closer, she narrowed her eyes at him. “But I have a feeling that it’s not the same for you. Would you like to join them, Honeydew?”

“Uhm… maybe?” he said, shimmying to a more comfortable distance to the observant unicorn. “But I don’t know the game…”

“I’m sure Twilight wouldn’t mind teaching you, she doesn’t ever seem to tire of it.” having elegantly brushed off his objection, she took a sip from her cup. “So, what is keeping you?”

“Well…” Biting his lip, he watched as yellow-pink stumbled from side to side, as if she’d drank an entire fermented berry. “It’s a pony game.”

“Oh, dear.” Rarity sighed. “You know, Twilight came up with this whole thing to make it easier for you to talk to us.”

“She did?”

“Of course, can you think of a better reason for why she and Pinkie would set this up? But that is not enough, is it? Is it because we are still enormous in your head?”

He shook his head. “It’s not the size. Not just. It’s not even just because you are ponies, I can speak with… one of you, at a time. But just as much as you can make me feel tiny or weak, it also makes me feel silly. When I was with Rainbow Dash on that camping trip, he thought I could find the way back, but even your forests weren’t like mine. It’s like I know nothing about your world.”

“But afterwards, Rainbow spoke very highly of your.” Rarity interjected.

“Y-yes, because during the night, I had to fight off over a dozen of those bloodsucking insects. He said it was ‘chilly’.”

“Cool,” Rarity translated with a smirk.

“But then he pointed out that he could have just placed his pot over me and I would have been fine. I never even considered that, even though it was right there!”

“I-I’m sorry, Honeydew,” Rarity interrupted with a chuckle. “But I noticed you keep referring to Dash as ‘he’ or ‘him’. You… are aware that she’s female, right?”

“She… is?” his expression turned into one of sheer, nonplussed surprise. “Really?”

“Really, dear.” Rarity said, trying her hardest to suppress a decidedly unladylike laugh.

“But the voice-” With a long groan, Honeydew smacked a pillow into his own face. “You ponies are so hard to tell apart!”

“This goes right into my rumor-mill.” she chuckled. But her expression fell as she watched Honeydew, his face still pressed into his pillow.

“Sometimes I wish I was still with my clan,” he whispered, his voice nearly unnoticeable through the cushion’s muffling effect. “Where every breezie is like me.”

“Oh, dear!” Rarity gasped, as the realization dawned on her. “You’re homesick!”

“I’m not sick-”

“It means you miss your home, darling.” she gently patted his shoulder. “What is it you miss? Just the place? Or something else you left behind?”

“My- my duties.” he muttered. “I miss being able to go into the wild by myself. To find familiar things in the forest and then watch as they do something new. I- I miss returning to the clan and telling them of a great find. I wish I could see Kalypso again and feel the hope she gives everyone around her, even if she struggles to feel the same. And I feel bad, that…” he took a long breath, closing his eyes. “That I left my sisters behind.”

There was a moment of silence before Rarity spoke up. “You never told me about your family.”

“Yes… only Twilight and Applejack know, but I have four sisters. Hippe, Skylla, Charybdis and Harpie.”

“I suspect there’s more to it?” she asked.

He gave her a quick nod. “You have to know that we task the oldest sibling to watch over the younger ones once they’re old enough. Our parents moved to our mother’s clan when Hippe turned ten. Since then, she’s been watching out for us.”

“At ten?”

“Twilight thought the same when I explained it to her.” Honeydew groaned. 

“But just ten years…”

“It’s old enough to watch for the younger children.” he claimed, crossing his hooves as his eyes darkened. “But Hippe didn’t. As soon as she was allowed to leave for a scouting mission, she never came back. A year later, we find out she found herself a stallion in some other clan, and she left us behind to live with him.” Leaning back, he took a long breath. “So, it fell to me to watch out for my younger sisters. But… I suppose I wasn’t much better than her. I was going to be a scout, and so I was constantly out in the wild, sometimes for weeks. Leaving Skylla as the next in line. She’s never forgiven me for that.” shrugging, he stared at the ground. “I was angry at Hippe for so long, but look at me now. I’ve left them behind, just like she did.”

“How- how old are they know?” Rarity asked. “You didn’t leave them as ten-year olds, right?”

“No, no, Skylla is seventeen, Charybdis thirteen and Harpie eight. But it doesn’t matter. I still left them!”

“Yes, you did.” Rarity said. “You know, I’ve had an ugly fight with my sister Sweetie Belle, to the point where she didn’t want to be my sister at all. I- I know it hurts. But I think the best you can do is apologize to her, and then… ask if she still wants you in her life. And if she doesn’t, well… at least you’re no longer trying to repair a bridge that will only break apart again.”
She reached her hoof over his shoulder, waiting as he simply sat there, somberly mulling over her words.

“Twilight has been trying to find some way to let us safely visit Kalypso. I-I could probably try to speak with her, but letting it all depend on her decision…” a shiver went through his body. “That’s terrifying.”

“I think it’s the right choice. And do keep in mind, even if she refuses, it doesn’t have to mean forever. She might change her mind afterwards.”

“She might not. But…” finally, he looked up, meeting her eyes with a sad smile. “Thank you for your advice. I never knew how much I needed to talk to another big brother.”

“Oh, pish-posh, dear, I’m glad to help.” Rarity smiled, then suddenly leaned forward to kiss his cheek, giggling as he jerked back. “Don’t you worry about Twilight, darling, kisses on the cheek don’t count~”

“I- uh-” stammering once more, he slowly lowered his hoof from his cheek. “S-still, thank you, Rarity.”

“T’was nothing, darling.” she winked. “Now go back to her, will you, I can’t hog you to myself all throughout the party.”

After sharing a short laugh, she waved him goodbye as he went to mingle with the others. Yet, as she went to refill her cup of punch, there was something nagging in the back of her mind. Some affront in the previous conversation that was crying for outrage. Eventually though, she shrugged it off. It couldn't have been too significant.

---

Uncertain what to say, Honeydew approached the group of Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Applejack, who were sitting and chatting in their small circle. “Uh, hi.” he awkwardly forced out, interrupting something the pink pony was saying.

“Honeydew!” Twilight whirled around, a grin spreading across her face as she met his eyes. “Where have you been all this time?”

“Just talking. With Rarity.” he managed a shaky smile as he watched the other two breezified ponies. “What are you doing?”

“It’s called ‘Truth or Dare’, honey.” Twilight explained. “You can play with us right now.”

“O-okay.” he muttered, taking a seat between Twilight and Applejack. “How does it work?”

“It’s simple!” Pinkie said, her grin as large as the bottle in her hoof. “We spin this, and the pony- err, breezie it points to has to choose Truth or Dare. Then you either do what the pony who spun the bottle tells you to do or you have to answer a question. But beware,” she added with a serious frown. “You must only speak the truth.”

“S-so I can’t lie?” he muttered, awestruck.

“Nope, not even the ittiest bitties lie.” Pinkie grinned. “Now, I think it was my turn!” And with that, she set the bottle on the ground and gave it a shove, sending it spinning. And spinning… and spinning…

“Twilight?” Honeydew asked as the bottle just wouldn’t come to a halt. “I wanted to ask you about when we could visit home…”

“What? You want to leave already?!” Pinkie gasped, her face as pale as the moon’s surface.

“Ah think he meant his world, Pinkie.” Applejack whispered. Meanwhile, Twilight seemed to ponder the question.

“I can’t say for sure yet.” she finally answered. “I’ve been running a couple tests lately, and I’ve been able to speak with Kalypso through the opening, but sometimes it still behaves erratically. It could take anywhere between one or three months until it opens again.”

“Oh, then forget I asked…” he muttered, but before he could lower his head in defeat, Twilight’s hoof reached out for his chin.

“However,” she stated clearly, as she met his gaze with a smile. “Kalypso has been able to open the portal once before. And I see no reason why she wouldn’t be able to do it again, especially if there is something you feel you need to do back home.”

“I- thank you!” Honeydew burst out, throwing his hooves around Twilight. With a laugh, she returned the embrace, resting her head on his shoulder.

“...Ah dun fink they’re watffin’, Pinkie.” Applejack muttered, fighting an uphill battle for her own tongue to reach over the half-way mark toward her nose.

“But- we were playing!” Pinkie moaned, wildly gesticulating to her friend’s struggle with her dare.

“S-sorry.” Honeydew giggled, separating himself from Twilight, apart from one hoof, which he kept draped over her back. “T-that means it’s Applejack’s turn to spin, right?”

“Darn right, it is~” the orange mare grinned as she shook the bottle. This time, it didn’t spin for nearly as long as it did for Pinkie Pie, soon coming to a screeching halt… pointing right at Honeydew.

“Now you gotta pick between Truth or Dare.” Twilight whispered in his ear as she noticed his helpless look.

“Uhm… Dare!”

“Bad choice.” Applejack smirked, before brushing over her chin. “Hmmm, what do ah make ya do…” Suddenly, a devilish grin emerged on her face as she walked over to the table. “Ah dare ya ta beat Rainbow Dash in hoofwrestlin’!”

“Oooh, she wouldn’t like that.” Pinkie snickered.

“R-right now?” Honeydew asked, looking around for the prismatic pegasus. To absolutely no-ones surprise, she was floating in the air far above them, holding what looked like an entire miniature barrel of cider.

“Nah, later’s fine. Let ‘er fill herself up summore. Ain’t no harm in makin’ it easier for yerself~”

“Okay, you’re on.” Honeydew grinned before reaching for the bottle. “Uhm, truth means you cannot lie, right?”

“That’s the rule.” Pinkie nodded.

“A-alright.” he took a deep breath, casting a quick glance at Twilight before sending the bottle into a spin, hoping as it came to rest at him… Twilight… Pinkie… Applejack… him… Twilight, inching toward Pinkie, then finally coming to a seemingly abrupt halt, exactly in the middle between the pink and purple ponies. But who is it, Honeydew thought, glancing from one to the other.

“I think it’s you, Twilight.” Rarity casually threw in, causing all their eyes to focus on her.

With a casual shrug, she met Honeydew’s nervous look. “Truth?”

“A-alright...” Honeydew swallowed, the sudden dryness in his throat threatening to cut off his voice. “D-do you want to marry me?”

“I-I-” Caught completely off-guard, Twilight stammered, her hoof slowly wandering to her mouth in shock.

“Ooooh, my gosh, he asked!” Pinkie gasped, her breathing intensifying.

“It’s a little early to speak of marriage, Honeydew.” Twilight eventually said. “Ponies usually spend at least a couple years together before they make that decision… but YES!” wiping the tears from her eyes, she beamed with intense happiness. “I would love to marry you.”

--------

It was getting dark outside when the first guests began to excuse themselves. Tired, they staggered, rather than walked out of the room, having been transformed back by Twilight’s magic. The alicorn herself seemed remarkably exhausted as well, having added the exertion of casting a dozen spells to her daily activities. 

“Oops, you look really tired, Twi.” Pinkie giggled when she let out a mighty yawn. “Wanna make it a sleepover?”

“That’d be nice, Pinkie.” Twilight muttered, barely able to keep her eyes open. “But I need to get some shut-eye now.”

“That’s okay, Pinkie knows when to emphasize the ‘sleep’ in sleepover.” Pinkie replied. “I’m just gonna bring up the couch and then you can get your princess slumber.”

“Well, I suppose I will be going as well, then.” Rarity said, shaking her head. “Two hours short of a proper beauty sleep, I am really letting myself go.” However, as she reached the door, she felt something tapping against her hoof. “Yes?” she asked, smiling down at the once-more tiny breezie.

“Thank you.”

“Oh, I already told you it was nothing-”

“For the bottle.” he elaborated. “I saw the glimmer of your magic.”

“Well…” With a grin, she lowered her voice so only he could hear her. “Let’s say I gave you an opportunity. And you did more with it than I could have imagined. Now, I think you should join your marefriend in bed. You’ll want all the strength you can get before you two discuss the wedding~”

And with that, she left the room, leaving Honeydew and Twilight (who had already begun to snore) alone. He awkwardly waved his hoof, despite knowing she wouldn’t see it. I really am between worlds now, he quietly thought to himself. Even if Twilight would live with me and my clan, I’d miss him. The pony friend who has my back.