HYBRID BATTLESHIP INFINITY210 - Thanks for another awesome review! I got a good chuckle out of this one, though I don't think I've ever been called a little monkey before. As always, I'm glad you enjoyed it, and you can expect more CMC related antics in the future!

link1able - I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying things so far. I found the clip you were referencing, but I think I'll need to watch the entire movie when I get time to, as it seems there's some context that I'm missing.

KillerWow - Thanks!

Guest - Here you are my good sir!

Guest - Actually, I've been considering that since I wrote chapter two, but I could never decide if I wanted to or not; not because I don't like Derpy, I actually think she's awesome, but I don't want the herd getting too big. Think I should Poll it and see?

Fallenwolfe - I'm glad that you enjoy the story enough to make that your only criticism, but at the same time I feel bad that there was a misspelled word to begin with :(. Do you happen to remember what and where the word is?

A/N - Hiya everypony, another week, another update! So, I finally got my tablet over the weekend! Guess what that means... that's right, all my patient and super-awesome readers will finally be getting that double-update I promised so long ago! I'll likely be posting it with next weeks update, so keep an eye out for it. In more personal news, I'd just like to say that I hate the DMV... I've been trying since 2011 to get my motorcycle endorsement put back on my license (something I already had when I moved to this state), but they keep finding loophole after loophole to keep it from happening. But enough ranting, on with the story! As always, don't forget to follow/favorite, review, and most of all: enjoy!

After Twilight recovered from the shock of Luna's revelation, we headed back to the library to drop off Twilight's groceries and start my first magic lesson. As we walked, Twilight and Luna began talking. "So Luna, how can you just be okay with this? I mean, Blake's a great stallion, but sharing him with another mare? Can a princess even do that?"

Luna giggled into her hoof. "Dear Twilight, I may court whomever I wish, as for being in a herd, it was a far more common practice before my banishment than it is now. And you are correct, Blake is a wonderful stallion; when he found out about… the darker side of my past, he not only accepted it, but saw past it and saw me as a mare and a friend instead of a monster, or even a princess." Luna replied happily with a skip in her step.

Twilight smiled brightly. "Well I'm glad you found somepony Luna, after everything you've been through, you deserve some happiness."

I considered butting in with the clichéd 'I'm right here ya know', but decided against ruining the moment. I had decided to remain quiet and let the two obvious friends catch up until Twilight addressed me. "So Blake, what do you think about being with two mares?"

I broke from my thoughts to answer the lavender mare. "Honestly, I'm just trying to take it in stride; I mean, we have something similar on Earth called polygamy, but in most places it's pretty taboo. I'm still getting used to all the differences between my world and here, but all-in-all, I think I'm taking it fairly well."

Suddenly a rainbow blur swooped in from above. "Hey guys, What's up?" The newly-arrived Rainbow Dash asked.

"Oh, hello Rainbow Dash, we were just headed home so I could start teaching Blake how to control his magic." Twilight answered cheerfully.

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof dismissively. "Booorrring! I'm gonna go try out some new moves, I'll catch you eggheads later!" She exclaimed as she blasted off back into the sky.

Twilight simply rolled her eyes and we continued on our way. Once we arrived back at the library, we opened the door to see Spike running around with a feather duster wearing a black and white frilly apron, dusting off everything. I cocked an eyebrow at the sight. "Uhh, Spike… you ok there little buddy?"

Spike stopped mid-step as he heard me call his name. He looked over to us and dashed across the room to meet us. "Hi Princess Luna! Hi Blake and Twilight! I was just sprucing the place up a bit while Twilight was getting groceries. So what brings you here Princess?" Spike rambled, either ignoring or not hearing my question.

"I am here to spend time with my favorite stallion of course, and to observe his first magic lesson!" Luna exclaimed in an almost singsong voice.

Spike's eyes widened in awe. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot that Blake had magic! So what's it like?" Spike started hopping up and down in excitement.

I chuckled at his antics. "Well Spike, besides accidentally using it to keep myself from getting blasted to smithereens, I haven't used any yet. I honestly don't know how yet." He visibly deflated at that. I patted the spines on his head. "Don't worry little buddy, if we're lucky, you'll get to see some today." He gave me a small smile and trotted off back to his work.

Twilight trotted to the center of the room and levitated her saddlebags into a corner and sat down, with Luna taking a seat on one of the small couches in the room. "Alright Blake, we'll begin with the basics. First off, magic is about more than belief or will, you can't do something just by believing you can or willing it to happen. Magic is based on discipline and focus, you need to draw on your own internal supply of magic and manipulate it to do what you want, but you need to know how to manipulate it, as well as direct it and maintain it." She began in a very scholarly tone. "But before you can do any of that, you need to learn how to draw on that supply, which is the first lesson."

I stole a glance at Luna as Twilight was speaking, having closed her eyes momentarily during her speech. Luna seemed to be looking at the floor between us, occasionally glancing over at me with a small smile, seeming to enjoy simply being around me. I turned my attention back to Twilight as she continued speaking, unaware of my little distraction. "The easiest way to discover this is through meditation; though there are other methods, meditation is by far the most common." I smiled inwardly; my grandpa had taught me a few meditation techniques before we began lessons on swordsmanship.

"Now, what I want you to do is close your eyes and relax." I did as she instructed, sitting on the floor and crossing my legs, touching my index fingers to the thumbs of the same hand with the other fingers extended and resting them on my knees in a basic meditation posture. "Ok, good, now picture a stream, flowing from the center of your torso and running to all parts of your body and back again." I did as she asked, this again being fairly basic in terms of meditation techniques. I quickly conjured up the image and almost immediately felt an odd tugging sensation that I had never felt before during this exercise.

I cocked my head slightly. "I feel something… I've never felt anything like it before when I've meditated."

I heard a loud, rhythmic clopping of hooves that I guessed was Twilight hopping up and down. "That's Great Blake! Most unicorns don't get it their first try… though it sounds like you've done this before."

I opened my eyes and nodded. "I have, my grandpa taught me how to meditate when I was younger. It was mostly for relaxation and focus though." I told her as I maintained concentration on the new sensation.

"She nodded sagely. "I see, well that certainly makes things easier. Now, the next lesson is to learn how to manipulate your magic, which is usually the hardest step."

Twilight tried for over an hour to help me discover how to manipulate my magic, but it proved out of my grasp at the moment. Luna had sat on her perch on the couch during the entire process, watching silently as I failed time and again to figure out how to manifest my magic, which was the first step towards manipulating it to allow me to cast spells. "Alright, I think that's enough for today, we don't want to rush things along. Besides, you've already mastered tapping into your magic, which is more than most unicorns can say for their first lesson." Twilight said enthusiastically.

Luna finally got up from her perch on the couch and cantered over to me. "I agree, you have done very well today Blake. I believe you shall excel at magic in no time at all." She said with a smile.

Sensing some uneasiness from her, like she wasn't sure whether she should do something or not, I decided to do it for her. I quickly leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, causing her to blush and smile. "Thank you Luna, that means a lot to me. You too Twilight, I really appreciate you taking the time to teach me how to do this." Twilight closed her eyes and smiled warmly.

I noticed Luna's smile turn sad. "As much as I would like to spend more time with the two of you, I am afraid I must return to Canterlot, my royal duties shall begin within the hour. And Blake, please send any and all commissions that you need for your challenge to the palace and I will see to it personally that they are taken care of." Twilight and I took turns hugging the Mare of the Night and wishing her farewell before she took her leave, looking back to me several times as she walked slowly through the library's door.

It was then that a thought struck me. "Oh, that's right, the commission they sent to Rarity is ready, I almost forgot about that!"

Twilight giggled into her hoof. "Rarity was wondering if you were ever going to pick those up. Come on, we can go get them right now." Twilight said as she beckoned me to follow her.

The short trip to Rarity's boutique was made with idle small talk, mostly Twilight telling me about an interesting book she had overlooked until today; it apparently had to do with the life of some ancient unicorn called Starswirl the Bearded and his assistant, a mare named Clover the Clever.

Twilight was in the middle of enthusiastically telling me about how Clover and Starswirl first met when we walked up to the front door of the boutique. I couldn't help but be thankful for the reprieve, not because I didn't want to listen to what she had to say, but because she was explaining things about not only the time period, but both Starswirl and Clover like I already knew most of what she was talking about. "And as Starswirl was… Oh, we're here."

I opened the door and motioned for Twilight to enter. As I opened the door, the bell above it jingled, alerting whoever was in the shop that someone had come in. "Cooommiing!" We heard the high-class accented voice of the fashionista call out in a melodious tone from another room.

We only had to wait a moment before the brilliant white and indigo mare trotted in from her inspiration room to greet us. "Ah. Why hello Darlings! I was afraid you'd forgotten about the fabulous ensembles I've crafted for you! If you'll just follow me, you can feast your eyes upon your new wardrobe!" She announced with more enthusiasm than I thought was necessary, though I couldn't fault her for being proud of her work.

Rarity led us into another room across from her inspiration room. Upon entering, I could only guess that it was a storage room for completed commissions. It contained several of those ponnequins I had seen in other parts of the boutique, all dressed in varying garments which all seemed to be completed. There were also various boxes, all with labels, strewn about seemingly random parts of the room.

"Alright Darling, cover your eyes and prepare to be amazed!" I did as she oh so enthusiastically beckoned, and covered my eyes with a hand, feeling rather silly as I did so. "No peeking now!" she once again exclaimed.

As I listened to the various sounds of Rarity bringing out my wardrobe, most of it seeming to be on something wheeled, I kept track of how long I was waiting. Finally, after nearly three minutes, Rarity exclaimed, "Alright Blake, you can look now!"

I once again complied with Rarity's overly-enthusiastic wishes and uncovered my eyes. When I saw what was in front of me, my jaw nearly hit the floor. There were more clothes than I'd ever owned in my life hanging on numerous racks, and lying neatly folded on several rolling tables. There were even boxes labeled 'socks' and 'undergarments', Rarity likely not wanting to leave those particular parts of my new wardrobe out on display. It seemed that Rarity had even gone to the trouble of not only color-coordinating the clothes to match the seasons they were meant for, but also making me jackets, coats, gloves hats and even scarves for the colder months. "Well Darling, what do you think?" Rarity finally asked me.

I was silent for a moment. "I-I don't know what to say, this is… amazing…" I finally managed to sputter, still taken aback by the amount of care and thought that the fashionista must have put into this.

Her smile grew until it practically glowed. "Marvelous! I'm so thrilled you like it! I will admit though, I did go somewhat… beyond, shall we say, the commission the princesses requested. I feel that after all you've done for Ponyville in the short time you've been with us, it's the least I can do. Besides, I quite enjoyed the challenge of crafting clothing for someone who's not a pony. Anyway, shall we transport this to the library?"

I looked around for a moment. "How?" I asked simply. "I mean, there's so much! It'll take us the rest of the day to get all this back to the library."

Rarity giggled. "Oh Darling, you forget, Twilight and I are unicorns, we can either levitate it or teleport it straight to the library form here. Though the latter option not only takes considerable magic, but has admittedly never been my strong suit, it is by far the faster option."

It didn't take me long to make a choice. "I say we carry it over, that way it'll be easier in the long run, plus I can help."

Twilight nodded, speaking up for the first time since we entered the boutique. "I think that's fair, besides, it'll give us more time to spend together. You and I haven't seen much of each other this past week, and it'll give you and Blake more time to get to know each other."

Twilight's reasoning was sound, and with no reason to object, we began the task of gathering up the clothes and transporting them to the library. Along the way, Twilight, Rarity and I discussed various topics, with Rarity being particularly interested in human fashion.

As we were making our last trip, I noticed that Twilight and Rarity had grown quiet and seemed to be staring at me. "What, do I have something on my face?" I asked.

Twilight just shook her head while Rarity suppressed a giggle before replying, "No dear, but you do seem to have gained some… interesting headwear."

Before I could question what she meant, my vision was filled with two orbs of bright blue framed by bright pink. I yelped in surprise and nearly stumbled backwards. "Hiya Blake! Whatcha doin?" The crazy party mare exclaimed as she hopped from her apparent perch on my head without ever breaking eye contact.

"Pinkie!?" I nearly shouted. "How the heck did you get up there without me noticing?!" It alarmed me that she was resting on my head for who knows how long without me ever noticing.

She put a big grin on her face. "Oh, it was easy peasie! But I never give away my tricks… at least not since I accidentally broke Twilight explaining it."

The fact that one of her "tricks" was too much for even Twilight concerned me. Before I could respond, the mentioned mare spoke up from my left. "Ugh, don't remind me Pinkie, I get a headache just thinking about it."

I decided to drop the issue for the sake of all our sanities and instead asked, "So Pinkie, what brings you to grace us with your presence?"

The pink mare giggled. "Silly, I didn't bring any presents!" She exclaimed, obviously missing my meaning entirely. "I just wanted to stop by and say 'hi'! I haven't seen you since that thing you did with Applejack and I saw you moving a bunch of clothes around with Rarity and Twilight and I thought to myself 'Pinkie, you should go over and say 'hi' to Blake!' so I did, so here I am! So hi Blake!" Pinkie somehow managed that entire monologue in a single breath.

I blinked several times as my mind deciphered what it had just heard. "Uhh… hi Pinkie." I said after a moment of awkward silence in which the pink party pony never broke her wide smile.

"Well, that's all I wanted! I'll see ya later Blake!" She said gleefully before bouncing off and around a corner, out of sight.

I looked to first Rarity, then to Twilight. "Well, that was… odd." I said.

Twilight giggled and rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, that's just Pinkie being Pinkie, you get used to it." She said reassuringly. Somehow though, I didn't feel all that reassured.

The rest of the trip went uneventfully, and after we moved the last of my new clothes upstairs and onto my makeshift bed to be put away later, we bid farewell to Rarity as she left to return to her shop. Once we were alone again, Twilight turned to me. "So Blake, what exactly does this 'challenge' of yours entail?"

I shrugged. "Just what I told you before, the foreman and I are each going to build a wall, three meters square by thirty centimeters thick, and the one that's harder to knock down is the winner."

She nodded. "I see. Aren't you worried though? I mean, he's got an entire experienced crew working for him, while you've got… well, you."

I chuckled. "If I can't beat him after what I saw today, I'll eat my shoes. Trust me Twi, I could build a wall that's stronger than the one he was knocking down in my sleep."

She sighed. "If you say so, I just hope you're not getting in over your head. So, what would you like for dinner?"

I stroked my chin in thought for a few moments. "I have an idea, just let me make sure we have everything I need."

Twilight cocked her head in curiosity. "Oh, what do you plan to make?"

I hummed to myself as I walked around the kitchen, checking the various food storage areas for the necessary ingredients. After a fruitless search, I walked back into the main room. "Well, that didn't go as expected. Oh well, guess I'll just have to make a quick run into town before the food stalls close."

The purple unicorn grunted in frustration. "What are you going to make?!" She asked, nearly pouting.

I winked at her. "It's a surprise, don't worry, you'll love it." I said as I strolled out the door.

A short, and fortunately well timed, trip to the market later, and I had returned with all the necessary ingredients for my surprise dish in tow, as well as a few extras for another surprise for my friend the following day. "Ok Twi, I'm home, and I'll get dinner started right now!" I called into the library when I didn't see said mare as I entered.

I didn't get a reply, so I decided to go ahead and start, thinking Twilight to be in the washroom or something similar. It only took around an hour to make the entire dinner for myself, Twilight, and Spike, with enough made for leftovers. I hadn't caught a glimpse of Twilight the entire time I had been cooking, so after I set everything out, I went looking for the mulberry mare.

I tried her room first, then the washroom, neither with any results. I then decided to check the balcony, in case she might be out watching the setting sun. As soon as I opened the door to my room, I spotted her, on my bed. She was laying down, facing away from me; and from the slow and steady rise and fall of her chest, it seemed she was either asleep, or close to it. I was torn between waking her for dinner and letting her rest, however, my curiosity as to why she was laying on my bed quickly won out. I crept over to my occupied bed as quietly as I could, not wanting to startle my resting friend.

I managed to make it all the way to the bed and kneel down beside it without disturbing her and gently lay a hand on her shoulder, gently rocking her while whispering her name. "Hmm?" she half-hummed half-groaned groggily at my ministrations.

I leaned down further to whisper into her ear. "Wakey-wakey, its time for dinner sleepy-head." I whispered, my breath causing her ear to flick.

"Oh, hi Blake, I must've dozed off there." She remarked, still groggy.

I chuckled lightly. "I can see that. Any particular reason why you decided to nap on my bed though?" I asked with no hint of negativity.

Twilight slowly rose from her spot on my mattress and yawned deeply. "Sorry, I just got lonely, Spike's been out doing who-knows-what all day since I gave him the day off after your magic lesson, and I guess I'm just not used to nopony being in the library." She then sniffed the air. "Mmmm, Blake, what is that? It smells delicious." She said with a small smile.

I returned her smile. "Well, come on downstairs and find out."

Her smile widened and she hopped off the mattress and followed me down the stairs and into the main room, where I had set our dinner, just waiting to be eaten. Her eyes widened as she saw the spread. "Blake, what is all this?" She asked in wonder.

I suppressed a laugh as I walked over to the table. "It's dinner silly! We have broccoli and cauliflower casserole, Caesar salad, mashed potatoes, and fresh-baked sweet rolls." I told her as I gestured to each item in turn. Twilight just stood, slack-jawed for a moment. "Uhh, need a napkin there Twi?"

This caused her to snap out of her trance and shake her head vigorously. "No… no, I'm fine, I just haven't seen a meal this… diverse before, usually, it's just one thing."

"Well, this is how humans eat, we like variety in our meals." I explained. "Usually we'd have something… less vegetarian on the menu, but I figured I'd leave that out."

Twilight smiled as she sat down. "Well thank you for that, and for this wonderful meal!" she exclaimed happily.

As we were about to begin eating, the door to the library burst open and Spike came trotting through. "Twilight, you'll never guess what happened! I met this new colt… named… what smells so good?!" The baby dragon asked, cutting himself off mid-sentence.

Twilight giggled. "Its dinner, Blake was kind enough to cook for us today! Now, what were you going to say?"

Spike shook his head like Twilight had moments before. "Oh yeah! I met this colt today, his name's Button Mash, and he has all kinds of games that you can only get in bigger cities like Manehatten! He invited me over to his house and I got to play with him all day!" Spike exclaimed as he climbed up onto a chair to join us. "Wow Blake, this looks amazing!"

And with that, dinner commenced in earnest. By the time we were all done eating, there wasn't enough left for leftovers like I had thought there would be. After we finished, Spike, Twilight and I all headed into the kitchen to clean the dinner mess. As we started, Twilight turned her head towards me. "Blake, you cooked a wonderful meal tonight, I think Spike and I can handle the dishes."

I shrugged. "Well, alright, you're the boss." I said jokingly as I left the kitchen and headed up the stairs to my room. Once there I pulled out the sword maintenance kit that Midnight Flash had given me and went over the instructions she had enclosed. The kit itself was of traditional European style and fairly simple to use. I spent a fair deal of time maintaining my blade, skipping over the sharpening step as it was still razor-sharp.

Once the blade was properly oiled and otherwise maintained, I put it back in its scabbard and simply looked at it. I was contemplating whether or not I should name it, as it felt familiar to me, like I had had it all my life. I was interrupted from my thoughts by a quiet knock on the door.

The door opened a moment later and a certain purple unicorn popped her head around it. "Hi Blake. I was wondering… would it be alright if I slept in here with you again? I know it's a bother, but it felt nice the last time we did it."

I set my sword to the side and patted the bed next to me. "It's not a bother Twi, I enjoyed sleeping next to you too. You don't have to ask me, you can just come on in and hop in bed anytime you want, just knock to make sure I'm decent first though."

Twilight smiled brightly as she trotted over to the bed and made herself comfortable as I followed suit. After saying our goodnights to each other, we were both soon fast asleep.