I heard yelling. Two women. Celestia and Red.

I had been moved. I was laying on the basement couch right now. I had a headache. Maybe I had fallen from the chair and hit my head.

I sat up on the couch. It didn't seem like there were any adverse side effects, but I erred on the side of caution. I slowly stood up and clenched my fist. I felt well enough, but I didn't know for sure.

Red said it was like a strong tea. I only took one drink.

I really thought that things had been going well with Red. Guess I was wrong.

I grabbed the jug of contaminated water and started to walk upstairs. Knowing me, I'd forget about it and take another drink.

The arguing died down as I walked upstairs. I think they could hear my footsteps. I grabbed the handle to the door. There was nothing but silence on the other side. I opened it and walked out.

Celestia stood above Red, who was sitting on the couch. There was a noticeable red mark around her left wrist. Both of them stared at me. Red seemed frightened of me. Her eyes were wide. She briefly glanced at the jug in my hands before looking back to me.

I figured that it was the same night. Both of them were breathing slowly. Celestia must've chased after Red after she left. I hope they didn't cause too much of a commotion. If the police were called, my story might be through, both inside and out.

Celestia didn't say a word. She had a strange look on her face. I didn't know what it meant. Maybe she was scared as well. She's never seen me angry. I don't usually get angry.

I stood across the coffee table from Red. She looked so scared. She was afraid of me.

I didn't understand. Why did she need to do this? Did she not like me? Whatever her reasoning, she had lost all favor she may have had with Celestia.

I didn't know what to say to her.

"D-don't hurt me!" she meekly let out.

I was a little surprised to hear that. Is that who she thought I was? I never came any closer to her, but I didn't move away.

"Phil, what should we do about this?" asked Celestia. She sounded a little scared as well. She's never encountered this part of me... Neither have I.

I didn't want to talk to Celestia right now. I didn't have any answers for her. Red isn't dangerous, not to us or anyone else.

Celestia asked me what we should do. Why? I know she has her own ideas. Why would she ask me? She rules an entire country, punishing criminals is in the job description. And yet... she asked me what we should do.

"Phil?" she asked again.

"I don't know." I said.

It was the truth. I didn't know how to react to this. I still didn't know what to say.

In my hands, I still held the water jug. It would probably have to go into the trash. I would have to buy another one. Maybe I had another in the cupboards. I was distracting myself.

In truth, I thought about lashing out at her. I had a reason to. I knew that very well. I think that she knew it, too. Red Shadow was still frightened of what I would do. Celestia knew as well. Maybe Celestia was scared that I would actually injure her. After all, Red was still her subject.

She can't defend herself, she's a woman, she's smaller than I am, and she was from Equestria. Four good reasons not to resort to violence. And if I did... I don't think Celestia would condone it, despite her dislike of Red.

None of this felt right to me. I wanted to go back to sleep and forget this ever happened. If I did that, I think Celestia would lose respect for me. I think if I actually punished her, I would lose respect for myself.

At the very least... I did not want to hurt her.

I looked back to Celestia. "What am I supposed to do?" I asked her, as if she knew.

"Normally, she would go to jail for something like this. This isn't a normal situation."

Red looked to Celestia, then to me.

I let out a long sigh and looked to Red. "I don't know what we should do with you."

"I-I'm sorry."

"I know... I know. I just... I do not know what to do. I'm not happy that you've put me into this position."

I wasn't angry at her. Not as angry as I should be, at least. I think I was just... disappointed. Like a parent would be disappointed at a child who misbehaved.

I looked to Celestia. She didn't say anything. Maybe she didn't know what to do either.

"This doesn't feel right. I'm not used to any of this... Red... Why? Just... why?"

She looked right at me. "I wanted to get away. I thought about it. I really did. I weighed my options and I was really considering staying... but... anything is better than prison, even this world. With you... unable to follow me..." She looked down. "I thought I could get away."

"So you came with us just to leave?"

"I didn't! It wasn't a decision I made lightly. It was a risk, I knew that from the start. It was a risk to come with you and it was a risk to... to leave."

I shook my head. "None of this feels right to me." I said, "I don't know how to react to this. I'm not used to this sort of thing. I... I just don't know."

Celestia had stayed quiet. It was strange. She was examining how I handled this situation.

I sighed. I remembered the jug in my hands. "Stay here."

I turned around and walked into the kitchen, then uncapped the lid of the jug and dumped the rest of the water into the sink. I set it onto the counter. Footsteps. Celestia, no doubt.

"Are you alright?" she asked me.

"I don't know. I don't feel alright. None of this feels right at all. What would you do, Celestia?"

"Lock her in the basement to prevent her from escaping again."

"She'll never do this again." My voice was dark. I didn't like how it felt to talk right now.

"How can you be sure?"

"I don't need a reason. I trust her, that's all there is to it."

"Do you really?"

I thought about it for a long time, staring at her as I did. "I do."

"You've trusted her before. Look how it turned out."

"I was talking with her before she left. She seemed almost happy. She's just scared, Celestia."

"She poisoned you!" she harshly stated, "Don't you even care?"

"I care. I care that she did it, I care that she ran off... Getting angry about it isn't going to solve anything. Even if I got angry, yelled at her, locked her up... It wouldn't accomplish anything. She isn't from my world, she's from yours. It's not my place to punish anybody from your world."

"I..." She shook her head. "I don't understand your reasoning, but if you're choosing to forgive her, I'll respect your wishes."

Celestia didn't trust her. There was no way she did, and no reason she should, not after what Red did. That was fine. I don't blame her. Red doesn't deserve Celestia's trust. She had never earned it in the first place.

I wasn't going to threaten her to stay here, because I didn't need to. She would do anything I asked of her right now. All I wanted was for her to go downstairs and go to bed.

She stared right at me as I walked back into the front room. She hadn't moved at all. Her body was frozen.

"Go downstairs. I'll deal with this in the morning." I said, pointing to the door to the basement.

She silently nodded, then stood up and quickly moved downstairs, keeping her distance from me. Nothing would get her back up here. I closed the door behind her. It doesn't matter if it's locked. It locks from the inside anyways.

I sat on the couch where she was sitting before.

Celestia looked at me, seemingly thinking about whether or not to join me. She decided to sit next to me.

"I feel..." I paused. "Empty."

"Empty? What do you mean?"

"I just... I don't feel anything.

"Are you... alright?"

"Celestia... You know me. You know me enough to know that I don't get angry a lot. Well... I never get angry. I'm not an angry person. Sure, I mean, I'll swear at video games if I'm losing a lot, but I'm never actually angry. And... this incident with Red... I'm not... angry. I'm just... empty..."

"Phil?"

"I feel a little anger, I guess. I'm certainly not happy that she did this. It's not something I deal with on a regular basis, Celestia. I know that she didn't want to hurt me. She even told me that she tested it on herself before. I can't bring myself to really be angry at someone who had no intention of hurting me."

I am a little mad, but I really didn't know what to do with it. I just can't send her to a corner or spank her or something. Things were easier as a kid. If you did a bad thing, the punishment was pretty clear. I wouldn't even know where to begin with Red. This is something the police should handle. Unfortunately, her situation makes this complicated. I can't just let Celestia pick on her, either. I doubt she would.

She sighed. "I have mixed feelings about it, as well. I don't want to hurt one of my subjects, but doing this to someone I love... Doing this to you... I don't want to sit on the side and do nothing."

"I know, Celestia. I'm sorry."

"It's alright."

"Maybe... Maybe not. You argued with her a lot, but I feel like I was able to connect with her a bit. How about you, Celestia? How are you doing? I know I'm putting you through a lot right now. More than you deserve. I'm making a lot of dumb decisions."

"No, no, no... Don't say that. You have just as much of a right to make your decisions as I do. I don't want to change how you think for me. I don't want you to think of me as better than you." She knew exactly what I was talking about.

"Celestia, you are better than me. And I'm not just saying that 'cause you're my girlfriend. You really are better than me, you know?

"Just... Just don't think of yourself as meaningless. You mean a lot. You mean a lot to me... Are you sure we should just leave her down there like that?" She changed the direction of the conversation at a good time. It was getting depressing. She was right, though.

"She knows what's going to happen if she leaves again."

"What's that?"

"If she leaves... I'll come after her myself."

I don't know if that was meant to be threatening. It felt like it was.

"Yourself? You won't... hurt her, will you?"

"I won't have to. You look tired."

Celestia leaned back against the couch. "I had to use magic to stop her. I pulled her back here myself. It certainly took its toll on me. Using magic outside of my pony body is exhausting. I'm impressed Red Shadow managed to hide herself for so long."

"You should rest."

"What about you? What are you going to do? Are you going to go to bed, as well? Forget what I said earlier, you can sleep in the room with me, tonight."

"I don't know. I think I'll sleep in the front room tonight."

"Not with me?"

"Not tonight."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

She squeezed my hand, then leaned against me.

I smiled at her. "You smell like alcohol."

She smiled back. "Well, I did drink four cans."

"I suppose."

She sighed. There was a pause. "I want you to promise me something, alright? It's about Red Shadow."

"Alright..."

"She might not have made the best decisions, but I want you to promise me that you won't hurt her, alright?"

"Alright, I promise. Don't worry, I wasn't planning on it."

She gave me a small smile.

After a while, she reached down to the side of the couch and picked up the blanket that had been left there. She covered our laps with it.

I just smiled at her. "You clever little sneak." I said to her.

"I didn't want you to go to bed alone."

I gave her a small kiss. She smiled warmly. The two of us laid to our sides. I was behind her with my back facing the couch. Her back was against my chest. One of my arms was underneath her, the other was draped over the top of her.

She managed to cheer me up. Sleeping next to her like this made me feel so much happier than the thought of sleeping alone.

I didn't think Red would try to leave again after what happened. Running from Princess Celestia would never go well. I'm glad Celestia's not angry at me anymore, but maybe I would prefer it. After all, this is just more and more she would worry about.

I silently stared at the basement door. No sound came from it at all. The only sound I could hear was Celestia's gentle breathing.

I was still wearing my work uniform. I didn't change out of it after I left. I need to stop leaving early, my work is gonna start to pile up on me.

I closed my eyes, still staring at the door as I did. She had her chance. If she ran again, there would be consequences.

With Celestia in my arms like this, it was difficult for me to think about anything else. Her hair still smelled like strawberries for reasons I didn't know.

What should I do about Red?

My alarm woke me up today. Seems like forever since that's happened. Celestia grumbled as I reached for my phone on the table in front of us. I don't know if she woke up. It didn't seem like it.

I lifted my arm started poking her shoulder. Eventually, she stirred awake.

She sleepily looked back at me. A small smile replaced her tired look. She rubbed her eyes with one of her hands, then yawned.

She looked back at me once more, then giggled.

"Come on, I can barely feel my arm." I jokingly said to her.

"You're so warm..." she said, snuggling up against me.

I gently wrapped my arms around her.

"Are you hungry?" I asked her. Food was the only way to get her off me so I could take my arm back.

She smiled widely. "You know me so well."

She waited a small while before slowly sitting up. I sat up as well. I clenched the hand of the arm she laid on. It did feel a little tingly.

Sleeping on the couch... I had an unpleasant crick in my neck. I stretched out, then gave my head a twist in both directions then rolled it back to crack it. I felt a little better, but not much.

Celestia watched me as I stood up, a gentle smile on her face.

I yawned. "Cereal?" I asked her.

"That sounds perfect."

I smiled back at her before walking into the kitchen. I got to work making the two of us breakfast.

All I had right now was Frosted Flakes. Celestia loved Frosted Flakes. They're really sweet, just like her.

I poured milk into the bowls and brought them both out to the front room. I set them on the coffee table, then went back into the kitchen and returned with the box of cereal for seconds.

I sat down next to her. She smiled at me, then reached for her spoon. We both silently began to eat our food. The clinking of our metal spoons against the glass bowls and our breathing were the only sounds we heard for a long time.

Celestia poured herself a second bowl of cereal, then a third. After that, I had to get more milk for her. When I came back with the milk, I saw her eating out of my bowl. She didn't have a care in the world right now.

This was peaceful... This was peaceful. I had a feeling that this peace wouldn't last much longer.

We needed to talk to Red again. Not right now, though. Right now, Celestia was happy.

Talking is taking over my life. This is the most interesting thing I have ever done. I think I'm starting to like all this drama. It's not a thought I particularly like, but it might be true.

We have time. In a bit.

Celestia probably wasn't even thinking of her right now. She had food to keep her occupied.

Red poisoned me, but... she didn't want to hurt me. I was too conflicted to make a decision. Before Celestia spoke with me, I felt empty about it. Now though, after spending time with Celestia, I feel I could forgive her.

I snapped myself back into focus, blinking a few times. Maybe I was just being paranoid. When Celestia was finished, I cleaned our bowls out and put them into the sink.

I went back and joined Celestia on the couch. She just smiled at me.

"You have about an hour before you need to go." she said to me, "What are we going to do until then?"

"I dunno. Cuddle?"

Her smile widened. She leaned against me. "Perfect."

I wrapped my arm around her. The issue with Red was still in my mind. I didn't know when or how to bring it up.

"You're thinking about her, aren't you..." said Celestia, almost sullenly.

"How'd you know?"

"I was thinking about her, as well. You're not going to punish her, are you?"

"No, I don't think I am. It's not like I can put her in the corner and give her a time out. She's a grown woman."

Celestia chuckled. "That would be a sight to behold. I can't offer you any advice for this. You'll have to make your own decision."

"Yeah..."

"Maybe you should speak with her now and get it over with."

"You think so?"

"It's not healthy to be kept waiting like this."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I turned to her and kissed her on her forehead before standing up. "Think she's awake?"

"I'd imagine so."

I took in a deep breath, then knocked on the basement door. "Red, I'm gonna come down." I called.

No response.

I opened the door and walked down. The light was on. I stopped on the bottom step.

"Red?"

She looked to me.

"You don't look too well." I stepped to the ground. "How much sleep did you get last night?"

"I don't know."

"Look, Red..." I had to say something meaningful or I'd never get anywhere. I didn't have much of a speech going down here. Guess I'll just wing it. "If you're worried that I'm going to do something to you, you can stop. I'm not planning to punish you for this."

"Really?" It didn't sound like she believed me.

"I'm sure you were listening to us while we spoke to each other up there."

"I heard some of it."

"So you know why I'm telling you this."

"What if I had lied?"

"Lied?"

"I told you that what I used to knock you out wasn't anything to worry about. What if I had lied? What if I used something that would hurt you? I could have. You don't know me. You don't know anything about me." She started to stand. "And I seriously hate how you're going on about how you don't want to 'punish' me. You're acting like you're better than me because you're ignoring what I did." She was getting close to me. Her face was covered in anger.

"Hey, I came down here to say that I forgive you. The least you could do is pretend that you care."

"So what? I don't want your forgiveness. What, I'm supposed to stay here and go to jail like the good little pony I am because I'm your 'friend'?"

"I'm not in control of that. You're the one that rolled the dice here." I said, getting irritated.

"So the bad guy goes to jail and everybody gets a happy ending?"

"Red, you're not a bad person, you know that. You made some dumb mistakes. And what you did to me was just another mistake. I don't know how this must feel for you, but you do not belong in this world. I would do and will do anything within my power to bring you back home."

"You don't even care about me. Why did we talk like that if you only cared about making me go back?"

"Why did we talk like that if you were going to knock me out and run off anyways?" I shot back at her.

"I..." She paused for a short while. The ferocity slowly started to drain from her face. "I don't..." Her voice was starting to shake. She looked right at me. Her eyes were starting to water. "I... I don't want to go to jail..." she said quietly. She sniffed. "I don't want t-to go t-to jaa-aiil!" she repeated, wailing.

She took a step towards me, crying. Her body collapsed against mine. She cried against my shoulder.

"Geez, Red..." I let out. I gently wrapped my arms around her. It certainly wasn't enough to hold her in place, just enough to let her know that I was there.

"I was... I was having fun being a thief... I'm too young to go to jail. I'm sorry, Phil... I didn't mean for this to happen to you. You're really nice and..." She sniffed. "And you went through the trouble of forgiving me and all I did was get angry. I don't deserve your friendship."

Looks like it's time to take a page from the book of Pinkie Pie. This seems to work a lot in the show. Let's see if it'll work here, too. "Oh come on, that's not true. Everyone deserves a friend. You just made a mistake, is all." For this, I spoke in a cheerful tone.

She sniffed again. "You don't really think that."

"If I'm willing to be your friend after all this, then it's up to you to be willing to be my friend, too."

She chuckled. Her arms lifted around my back. "You mean it?"

"Of course I mean it. You know Red, you might be here for a while. I bet if you tried enough, you could make friends with Celestia as well."

"I doubt it. She really doesn't like me."

"Phil, what is going on down here?" I heard my girlfriend's unmistakable voice from behind me. She seemed distinctly... unhappy.

Red let out a shocked squeak and pushed away from me. "Nothing, Y-Your Highness!" she said. She wiped a hand against her eyes.

I turned to Celestia. Her arms were crossed over her chest. She was glaring right at me.

"Looks like you two have finally made up." she said to us.

"Y-yeah." said Red.

She was glaring at us. At me. I couldn't meet her eyes. Her gaze felt like Luna's had.

"That's good."

She continued to stare before turning around and walking right back up the stairs.

"Uh... Sorry." Red whispered to me.

I sighed. "Great."

Celestia was angry at me. Not something I was happy to say. She had lots of reasons to be angry right now, and unfortunately, my poor decision making was the cause of all of them. I didn't know if she was even really angry or not. She just felt different. Different enough to scare me.

Red stayed downstairs for this. She understood that this was none of her business, as much as she wanted it to be.

I walked upstairs and closed the door behind. Celestia was in the kitchen standing at the counter. She was just staring down at it. I walked into the room with her.

"Um... Celestia?"

She looked to me, then back to the counter. "Are you going to apologize?"

"I..."

"Don't."

"Wh... What?"

"At times, I don't understand what you're doing. Other times, I know everything I need. I don't have any right to be angry at you for this."

"You have every right, Celestia."

"No, I don't. She's your friend. Friends help each other any way they can. I have no right to be angry... But I am." She finally turned to me. Her face affirmed her words. She was angry at me. Angrier than I've ever seen her, myself.

I gave her a small nod and looked down.

Her voice rose as she spoke. "I've never gotten angry at you before, Phil. How did you expect me to react to this? Why does everything we've worked for these past few months feel so irrelevant?"

"It's not irrelevant."

"Since the moment I re-entered your life, you've done nothing but talk about other women."

I didn't know what she wanted. She was angry at me and I don't think it was for the reason she was letting on, although I'm sure it played a factor.

"I'm... I'm not apologizing for trying to help my friends when they're in need." I said to her. I tried to stand my ground against her. It was a losing battle.

"What about your other friends? You keep talking about helping your friends and yet you only seem interested in Sarah and Red."

"My other friends are smart enough not to do stupid things. If they need help, they tell me. They have their own lives."

"Why not ask them for help? You could send someone else on your playdate with Sarah."

"If this was something I felt I could pawn off to one of my friends, I would. She asked me, not one of them. Look, enough about her, alright? I don't know how much more clearer I could make this... You are the only woman for me, Celestia. The only woman. When you came back here from Equestria, I decided that. When I saw your beautiful face again, I knew what I wanted. I don't care where you are or how far away you are. All I care about is you."

"If I'm the only one for you, then explain to me why you spent your time with Sarah when you first met her."

"We spent a month together and half of it was just getting to know each other. We were only together for two weeks, Celestia. And for those two weeks, we really loved each other. When you left, I was heartbroken, but I was started to get past it. I was starting to get over the depression that I went through. I really thought you were gone. I gave up on you. And I've never been happier to be wrong, Celestia. So yeah, you can be mad at me all you want for that. That's one thing I did wrong. I still believe in everything else I did. It doesn't even sound like you care about Red at this point."

"I don't." she said coldly, "I understand that this is a difficult time for her. She needed a friend. But... seeing you with your arms around her like that... It was..." She clenched her fists. Her hands shook. "It was not what I wanted to see."

I understood how she felt about that. "Well, yeah... I'm sorry about that."

She sighed. "I don't mind that it happened, I want you to know that. I know what it meant and why you did it... I suppose... I'm just... jealous." She smirked at me, crossing her arms. She seemed to have calm down. "I'm surprised. I don't get jealous often. I don't often have a reason to be jealous in my life. Now I do... And I'm jealous. I've heard a little jealously was good for a relationship. Sure doesn't feel like it."

"It's normal to be a little jealous." I said.

"I suppose. I'm jealous, I really am."

"Celestia..."

"I'm jealous of these women you're seeing. I know you're not doing anything with them, but I don't like it. Especially Sarah."

"Sarah? I kinda thought you'd be more concerned about Red 'cause she's stuck here anyways."

"I still haven't met her. You work with her. You'll be seeing her every time you leave whether I like it or not."

"I can't do anything about that." I let out.

"I know it's not your fault, but it still bothers me."

"I can't invite her over with Red hanging around. That'll have to wait until she goes back."

Celestia nodded. "I know you don't mean to make me feel this way. I'm sorry I got angry at you."

"Celestia..."

"Every time we argue... Every time... You take the high road, you keep your composure, you never get angry, no matter what I say. I feel like I'm lowering myself for nothing. At the end of it all, you tell me that you love me and everything goes back to normal. That's not how arguments are supposed to work."

"I'm scared of getting angry in front of you, Celestia. I don't like getting angry. You know how I feel about it."

"I've never even... seen you mad. I thought you'd be mad at Red Shadow, but you weren't. The most you did was scold her. If it were me... well, you know what I would do."

"I'm sure the only reason I forgave her was because she was from Equestria, like you. I'd trust anyone from Equestria, good or bad."

She chuckled. "That's stupid."

"I know, but it's a good kind of stupid."

"A good kind of stupid?"

"It's my kind of stupid."

She sighed. "I hate arguing with you. It makes me feel even lower for having tried in the first place. I'm not used to having such a complacent boyfriend."

"Well, would you prefer we argued all the time?"

"I don't know what I'd prefer." She shook her head. "I can't stay mad at you."

I just smiled lightly. She seemed to be a little more satisfied with herself, but also a little disappointed. It wasn't the best outcome, but at least she was a little less mad.

I think we were done. At least for the time being. I'm sure I'll do something to bother her again and I'm sure I'll find some way to calm her down again. I didn't want to argue.

"I think the worst part about making you angry at me is that I can't do anything to make it up to you." I said to her.

"I suppose you really can't, can you..."

"Especially now since she's here."

She nodded.

I sighed. "We should go on a vacation."

"I'm already on a vacation."

"Huh... Maybe we actually should go on vacation."

"What do you mean?"

"We could stay a few nights at a hotel or something." I said.

I had certainly gotten her attention with that. If she was still a pony, I'm sure her ears would've perked up.

I continued. "They got this nice vacation spot up north a bit. My family used to take some time off there every year for like a week. I'm sure it's not as nice as your castle, but it's my favorite place to visit on vacation. The whole town is a basically a vacation spot, there's tons of stuff to do, even if it's cold. There's even an indoor water park."

"Indoor water park? There certainly aren't many of those in Equestria."

"It'll be great, I'm sure you'll love it. Hey, you've never been swimming as a human, have you?"

She shook her head. "I like the sound of it, though."

"Hmm... If you're gonna be in the water, you'll need a swimsuit. And I doubt we'll even be let in with something we just pick up at Wal-Mart. They don't have any in your size. You already ripped two of your bras."

"Hey, that wasn't my fault. You were too rough on them."

"It was a group effort, then."

"How can you blame me for that?"

"They're your boobs."

"Well, we knew that they were too small before we left."

"Yeah, I know. I bet you're like a... 34G or something."

"What?"

"Big and squishy."

She giggled. "Sounds about right."

"Although... now that I think about it... The water park might be a bit of a no-go."

"Hmm? Why's that?"

"Your body is too curvy to be out in public wearing a bikini."

"What's a... bikini?"

"Oh. Well, a bikini is a two-piece swimming suit. It's like your underwear, you know, your bras and panties, but it's made for swimming."

"And people wear those in public?"

"If they're swimming." I said, "I mean, there's other kinds, as well. Like a one-piece or something. It's just that a lot of them can accentuate your cleavage."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Well, in public it is."

"I can't help it if I've been endowed by these... things." She placed a hand on one of her breasts, then removed it.

"Celestia..."

"You said people do it all the time."

"I don't want other guys to look at you like that."

She let out a very long, "Ooohhh?"

"What?"

"I knew I wasn't the only one who was jealous! I was really worried for a bit, there." She laughed.

"Ok then..."

"You told me you were, but I didn't take it seriously. I thought it was just something you were saying to make me happy at the time. You really do want me all to yourself. That's why you didn't want to tell your friends, isn't it?"

"Well... yeah, for the most part." It was mostly right. That, and I didn't really want to go through the effort again.

She smiled, looking pleased with herself. "So a bikini is like underwear, right? Does that mean I don't wear my regular underwear with it?"

"No, just the swimwear. I think. As far as I know, that's how it goes."

"A bikini is actually starting to sound... risqué. Are you sure women just wear underwear when they swim?"

"I've been swimming enough times to know that. And there are more than just bikinis."

"More? Where's the fun in that?" she joked, "Still, it seems strange. I guess I never wore anything anyways when I swam in Equestria."

"It probably doesn't matter anyways. Anything you wear is too revealing for you."

"My clothes right now aren't revealing."

"Yeah, they are. And you're wearing my shirt, of course it's gonna be revealing."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Never had this problem in Equestria..." she grumbled to herself.

"You never had boobs in Equestria."

She grumbled again.

"You want me to buy you a bikini, now?" I asked, guessing at the source of her frustration.

She nodded.

"Alright. We can go swimsuit shopping after Red leaves."

She gave me a particularly cute smile, as if she were proud of herself for getting more clothes from me. I'm starting to think that Celestia is a woman.

"But we're going to a specialty store this time. I'm not gonna buy you any more bras from Wal-Mart. You'll probably have to get measured, too.

"Measured? You can do that?"

"Yeah."

She looked down at her chest. "How can you measure these things?"

"Measuring tape."

"Oh."

"You sound disappointed."

"I thought there was... I don't know... some sort of specialty tool for it."

I shrugged. "Not as far as I know."

She smiled. "Alright then."

Just before I left for work, I turned back to Celestia. "I know you don't really like her, but be nice to Red for me." I said, "And if she gives you trouble, tell me."

"Alright. I love you."

I smiled, then wrapped my arms around her to kiss her. After I pulled away, I said, "I love you, too."

She was blushing as she pulled away, strangely enough. Maybe she wasn't all that used to me saying that yet, or maybe she didn't expect it at the time. I don't know. She's cute when she blushes. She's cute when she doesn't. She's just cute.

I had to leave for the day, just like every day. I didn't know exactly how that could be remedied. For at least eight hours a day, I had no way to be with her. It was completely normal, but it felt like it was a personal thing. Being in love is weird.