adhdluke - Ah, I see the force is strong with you ;)

RattPitt - Oh don't worry, the actiony stuff is yet to come, and you might be surprised at how dark things will get... I'm glad you enjoy the romance though :D

centaurus2 - Yeah, I noticed the lack of adult intervention myself... So, I had Blake handle instead ;)

HYBRID BATTLESHIP INFINITY210 - I'm glad you liked it :D I thought it was time for a few chapters of light-hearted fun after all the seriousness :| (That's my serious face)

decoderanime - Well here you are good sir!

xel101 - Lol I will admit Pinkie's moments are always fun to write. That said, I only have one more addition planned, but you'll hafta wait and see ;)

antifact050 - Oh don't worry, We're just getting started!

HeadBangingBrony - You'll just hafta wait and see who joins the herd next/last :P And don't worry, since everyone seemed to love that scene with Luna so much, I'll be writing plenty more (Though spaced out so people don't get burned out and it doesn't lose its meaning)

Kyguy - I figured you did, just wanted to confirm. I sent you a PM, send me a reply so I know you're still interested and I'll send you my email.

noah2x4 - And deflowerer of princesses ;)

killer43penguin - Yeah... I felt like they got away with that for too long. Though will Blake's actions have consequences?

DragonLovingBrony - I admit, Derpy is my favorite background character, and Scoots is one of my favorite ponies period, so I'm glad to hear that I'm doing their characters justice :D

A/N - Howdy everypony! Christmas is right around the corner, and I hope you've all been good fillies and colts! If you were, Santa might just have something special in his bag for all of you ;). In personal news, I went and saw Interstellar recently, and there aren't proper words for how highly I recommend this movie! I won't spoil anything though, I'll just let you go see it for yourselves ;) Well, that's all for this week, I'll see you all here next week; same pony time, same pony channel! As always, don't forget to follow/favorite, review, and most importantly; enjoy!

After we had finished eating, Luna bid us farewell and returned to the palace in Canterlot to get some sleep before raising the moon later tonight. Applejack and Rarity left as well, citing that they had a lot of work to do. Fluttershy left to tend to her animal friends while Pinkie took off to plan a party for a birthday she had heard about while we were eating. That left Scootaloo and me, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Derpy. "Well guys, it's been fun, but I gotta DASH!" Rainbow Dash kept to her namesake, taking off at breakneck speed and leaving behind her trademark rainbow trail.

"I should get going too; Spike might start getting jealous again if I spend all my time away from him." The three of us waved Twilight off as she trotted off in the direction of the library.

I grinned at the filly and mare beside me. "Well, I guess that just leaves us three stalwart adventurers." Scootaloo giggled. "So, shall we be off to make some yummy treats?"

Scootaloo ran ahead enthusiastically. "Yeah, let's go! I wanna try some muffin pops!"

I shook my head with a chuckle as she continued on ahead of us."Heh heh. She sure is full of spice, isn't she?"

Derpy smiled. "Yeah… she reminds me a lot of Dinky. Ooh! I bet she'll want to try some muffin pops too." She paused and looked at a passing cloud. "She already really likes you, you know that? Since our parents are never around, I'm more like her mom than her sister, and I think she wants a dad in her life too, like Scootaloo does. Please don't break her heart…" She looked back to me with pleading eyes.

I wiped away the tear that had formed under one of her eyes. "Hey now, I'm dating her awesome big sister, so what's there to worry about?"

That adorable wall-eyed smile of hers came back, albeit with a few unshed tears. "I… I love you Blake."

That sent my heart aflutter. "I love you too Derpina Hooves." She gasped as I leaned down and kissed her.

"Eww!" We looked over to see Scootaloo sticking her hoof in her mouth, making gagging noises.

We both looked at each other before bursting out laughing. "Well, that's kids for ya."

Derpy stopped laughing and looked around. "But… there aren't any goats here."

I groaned and facepalmed. "It's a human slang term for child."

"Ooh… That makes a lot more sense."

"Come on you two, I'm getting hungry!" Scootaloo was impatiently tapping a hoof on the road ahead of us.

"You just ate! We literally just left the café." Seriously, how can this kid be hungry again?

"I know, but all that talk about yummy treats made me hungry again, now let's go!" Derpy and I laughed again as we followed the spunky filly to Derpy's house.

Derpy trotted up to the door and opened it for us. She motioned us inside with a smile, but I was tackled by a purple blur before I could take a step inside. "Blake, you're back!" I hugged Dinky as I toppled to the ground from the force of her tackle. "Are you here to play some games with me and Derpy?"

I chuckled. "We'll see about that. For right now, we're gonna try to save some muffins that got squished earlier. Scootaloo's here too, so you can play with her too."

Dinky gasped. "Hiya Scootaloo! I had a lot of fun the other day! Come on, I came up with some new things we can try to get our cutie marks!" She grabbed Scootaloo's hoof and took off with my daughter in tow, off to do who-knows-what to get their cutie marks.

"Hee Hee. I wish I still had that kind of energy." My klutzy marefriend had a smile on her face as she watched the two fillies run off. "I'm glad to see Dinky making friends…"

I looked over curiously. "Why wouldn't she have any friends? She's a great ki… err, filly."

Derpy sighed and looked over at me with sadness in her crossed eyes. "It's because of me. The other foals make fun of her because of me, and none of them want to be friends with a filly who has a fr-"

I clapped a hand over her mouth, silencing her. "Don't you dare say that about yourself Derpina Hooves. You are a wonderful mare, and don't you dare let anypony tell you differently." I released her muzzle and she sniffled a bit. "I love you Derpy, and I don't ever want to hear you putting yourself down like that."

Derpy looked away. "Wh-what do you love about me?" She practically whispered.

I gently turned her head so she was looking me in the eyes. "Where do I start? You have a beautiful, heart-warming smile, your bubbly personality could cheer up even Cranky Doodle, that laugh of yours could brighten any room, and you have a positively huge heart… the list goes on and on." She brightened up as I talked. "Not to mention your sexy flank can bake the meanest batch of muffins I've ever tasted." I gave her a winning smile and a wink as I finished.

"Y-you think I'm… sexy?"

I kissed her. "Of course I do, why wouldn't I? Just because you're a little clumsy doesn't mean you're not attractive."

"B-but, what about these?" She asked, pointing to her crossed eyes.

I kissed her again, more passionately. "They make you more attractive in my book." She cocked her head in confusion. "They're unique. What other pony in Ponyville… or all of Equestria for that matter, has eyes like yours? They set you apart from others and give you even more life to that amazing personality of yours."

"W-wow…" She was silent for a long moment.

I was about to say something else, afraid I might have said something wrong, when Derpy suddenly leaped forward, tackling me to the ground and planting her lips against mine in a fiercely passionate kiss. I slid my hand up the back of her neck and through her unkempt yet silky mane, bringing it to rest behind her head, keeping her there as I began returning her passions.

I felt her tongue brushing across my lips in jerky, inexperienced strokes that were still full of passion and desire. I opened my mouth a fraction, letting just the tip of her muffin-flavored tongue enter my mouth, teasing it with my own as hers sought entrance.

I felt her chest rising and falling more and more rapidly as her passion increased, my own doing the same. A part of me couldn't believe the bubbly mare had all this pent up inside, but I dismissed that, wanting nothing more than to revel in the moment.

I pulled back when I felt a hoof tracing my sensitive groin. Derpy gasped with a disappointed look on her face. "D-don't you think that's a little fast?"

She looked downtrodden. "But… I thought you loved me…"

I reached up and planted a tender kiss on her lips. "I do love you; that's exactly why I'm saying this. I don't want to rush you or make you feel pressured into doing something you aren't ready for. Besides, most couples who rush into things like that don't usually last, and I want us to last."

Her small smile turned crooked and tears welled in her eyes. Without saying another word, she leaned in and hugged me. We stayed like that for quite some time, silent tears dampening my shoulder as I let my beautiful, klutzy marefriend cry and hug me; her feelings flowed into me and I could tell she was happier than she had been in a long, long time.

"Thank you…" I pulled back and looked into her eyes quizzically. "Nopony has ever made me feel like you do… I-I'm so glad you appeared in that field…"

"So am I Derpy... so am I." I whispered in her ear as I pulled her back into the hug. "Despite everything that's happened, that was the best thing that's ever happened to me, and you're no small part of that." I felt her squeeze a little tighter.

When we finally broke the hug again, Derpy had a bright smile on her face. "Come on, let's go make some muffin pops!" She had a spring in her step as she trotted into the kitchen of her modestly decorated house. "I think I have everything we need; let's see… cream cheese, sugar… hmm, better use the brown sugar…" She continued trotting around the kitchen looking for ingredients as I began salvaging the muffins from her saddlebag.

After almost two hours of experimentation, using tiny batches to preserve what little there was, we finally came up with something that worked. "These are great! I can't wait to see what Dinky and Scootaloo think!"

Scootaloo's voice rang out from the doorway to the kitchen. "See what we think about what? Ooh! Are the muffin pops done?" Dinky had a broad grin on her face while Scootaloo trotted into the room.

I handed her a pop and she examined it for a moment before taking a tentative bite out of the newly invented pastry. "MMMM… This is really good! How did you guys make 'em?"

I shrugged. "We had to try a bunch of things; the recipe for cake pops didn't quite work right with the muffins, but it looks like we got it right in the end… according to you at least."

Scoots giggled. "Yeah you did! Come on Dinky, you gotta try one of these!"

Dinky bounced over excitedly and grabbed one of the pops, taking a small test nibble out of it moments before devouring the thing in one big bite, pulling out a clean stick and reaching for another. "Whoa kiddo, if you're that hungry, I'll make you some dinner."

I felt a hoof on my shoulder. "Blake, you don't have to do that, you're my guest; if anything, I should cook."

Dinky gasped. "Are you kidding?! The last time you cooked, you started a fire!"

Derpy gave me a nervous grin before turning back to her sister. "It was only a little fire, and we put it out, didn't we?"

"After you made it worse by trying to smother it with a ratty dishtowel!" The two butted heads, growling at one another.

"Ok ok, break it up." I gently pried them apart. "I think the point is that it was an accident, one that fortunately got fixed before anything bad happened. Now, since I'm a guest, I'll defer to your judgment Derpy; I have no problem fixing something to eat for Dinky, but if you don't want me to, then I won't."

Derpy sighed. "I don't mind… but, would you mind… teaching me how to cook?"

I kissed her on the forehead. "Sure thing, c'mon, let's get to it."

I managed to teach Derpy how to make homemade Mac and Cheese, with enough for Dinky plus leftovers for the four of us in the morning. Derpy seemed especially proud of the fact that she managed to do it without setting even one fire, though there was a close call when she turned the oven on.

We all sat in the living room, Derpy and I on the larger sofa, while Dinky and Scootaloo shared the big, comfy chair. Dinky was happily munching away on her Mac and Cheese, a dish she'd apparently never had before, while the rest of us were chatting idly. "So Blake, how was your stay in Canterlot?" Derpy was leaning comfortably against me.

"It was ok, I've never been big on all that hoity toity nonsense, but I did enjoy the time I spent with the princesses. The food was pretty good too, but I prefer the café here in Ponyville any day."

"Hmm… that's good…" Derpy seemed pretty content resting there. "What did you do up there?"

"Well, we mostly played the board games you all were so kind to bring me. I kept your ursa-teddy on my nightstand every night, she kept me company when everypony had to leave for the day."

I felt her snuggle in closer to me. "I'm glad…" She almost sounded like she was falling asleep against me.

Scootaloo looked like she was bored to tears and Dinky was just about to finish her Mac and Cheese. I snapped my fingers as an idea struck me. "Hey, I know, why don't we all play a game together?"

The others looked at me curiously. "What could we play though?" Scoots asked as she hopped down from the chair.

"Ooh! We have plenty of board games we could play." Dinky hopped down as well, carrying her bowl into the kitchen to be washed.

Derpy sat up next to me. "Hey, yeah! We have plenty in the attic!" She took off into another room.

I got up to follow her, thinking I could help bring in some of the games. There was a sudden, loud *CRASH* from the hallway. "Oops, my bad!" I turned the corner of the hallway and had to keep myself from bursting out laughing.

Derpy had somehow gotten herself completely tangled in the pull-down staircase to the attic, and was struggling to free herself from it, only managing to tangle herself further. I chuckled as I walked over and started trying to untangle her. "Alright, let's get you… out of… here…"

She tried her best to look up at me from her odd, inverted position. "What is it?"

I tugged a few more places on her body. "How the heck did you manage to tie yourself in a knot?!"

She blinked several times and tried to look herself over. "I'm uh… really flexible?"

After about five minutes, I managed to free her from the Staircase 'O Doom. I set her back on her hooves and she trotted up the stairs like nothing had happened. Man, she's too good at that…

She made her way back down the stairs a few minutes later, a tower of game boxes teetering on her head. "Here Derpy, let me take those."

"Nah, I got it, I'll just-" *CRASH*

Her hooves somehow slipped out from under her, sending her, and subsequently the board games, crashing down on top of me. We popped our heads out of the pile of somehow still closed boxes. Derpy looked around for a moment. "I just don't know what went wrong…"

"Yeah, it's a mystery…" I drummed my fingers on one of the game boxes while another teetered on my head. "Come on; let's get all this into the living room so we can pick what to play."

My wall-eyed marefriend grinned and helped me pick up the various boxes scattered on the floor. We walked into the living room to see that Dinky and Scootaloo were playing a game of tag, running around the room and laughing as they traded tags back and forth. Dinky, who was currently not-it, froze in place the instant she saw us. Scootaloo however, didn't notice this in time. "Tag, you're- Oof!" After colliding with the other filly's rump, Scootaloo sat up and rubbed her head. "Hey, what gives? I thought we were… Oh hey, they're back."

The fillies trotted up to us. "Hmm… Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, Scrabble, Sorry, Monopoly: Royal Sisters Edition…" Scootaloo tossed each game into a separate pile as she read them off. "What should we play?"

"Ooh! How about this one?" Dinky held up a familiar deck of brightly colored cards.

Derpy looked at it. "I don't remember buying that one…"

Dinky grinned. "That's cause I bought it! I used some of the bits mom and dad gave us for Christmas to buy it."

"But, I thought you used that on school stuff."

Dinky's grin widened. "I did, but I had some leftover, so I bought this too!"

Her sister grimaced. "Well… OK, if you say so. So whaddya think, should we play some... 'Uno'?"

I shrugged. "I'm game, how about you Scoots?"

"I um… I've never played…"

I knelt down and patted her back reassuringly. "That's ok, we can play teams, and I can teach you how. It's actually pretty simple once you learn the rules."

She brightened up. "OK, let's do it then!" I had a feeling she was mostly agreeing because she would be on my team.

It only took about fifteen minutes to teach Scootaloo how to play, and after the practice match to get everyone else reacquainted with the game was over, we started playing for real.

We started off at best three out of five, and stayed even the entire time, playing all the way into the fifth round. In the end though, Derpy and Dinky managed to squeak out a win, coming up with an Uno a single turn before we could do the same.

"That was awesome! Can we play again tomorrow?" Dinky was running around rather enthusiastically as we shooed the fillies off to bed.

"We'll see Dinky, for now though, it's time for all good fillies and colts to go to sleep. Don't forget you have school in the morning." This was met with a pair of disappointed 'Aww!'s.

We tucked the two fillies into Dinky's surprisingly large bed and wished them goodnight. I gently shut the door behind me as I left, with Derpy in front of me. The cross-eyed mare turned around with a smile. "I'm glad you decided to stay tonight."

I returned her smile and offered a peck on the lips. "So am I, I had a lot of fun with you girls tonight."

Her smile widened to a grin. "I'm glad…"

We headed to her room and made ourselves comfortable on the bed. She leaned over my chest and blew out the lamp on the table before snuggling up to me. "This always feels nice…" She cooed dreamily.

I wrapped an arm around her, pulling her further into me. "It sure does. When I get my house all set up, I think I'm going to buy an even bigger bed so we all have room to fit more comfortably; last time it was a little cramped."

Derpy giggled, her feathery hair tickling my bare chest. "I dunno… I kinda liked it."

That made me chuckle. "That's because you drew the short straw and got to sleep on top of me."

She giggled again. "Hey, I didn't hear you complaining." She reached up and kissed me. "What can I say? You're really comfy."

I sighed and snuggled into the covers. Derpy snuggled in as well and I felt her start to relax as we both fell asleep.


I woke up early the next morning as I usually did. Finding a piece of paper and wrote a quick note for Derpy, letting her know that I was heading to Sweet Apple Acres to help Applejack with the orchard, but that I would be back to take the fillies to school.

I grabbed an apple from the counter and munched it down on my way to the orchard before starting my morning jog there. It took longer than usual since Derpy's house was farther from the orchard than the library. The trip took about fifteen minutes at my leisurely jogging pace. The crisp morning air was a pleasant reminder that fall was fast approaching and something that Twilight had called Summer Wrap-up would be starting soon, followed later in the fall by The Running of the Leaves, an event where ponies would run through the woods and knock the leaves off the trees.

I crested the small hill along the path and Sweet Apple Acres came into view. I stopped and blinked several times; the construction crew had finished the new barn already, save for a paintjob. I could make out Applejack and Big Mac carrying the contents of the old barn, which had been kept safe from the elements by a large tarp, back into the new structure.

I walked the rest of the way to the barn, marveling at the craftsmanship of the new barn. Wow, all this in only a day… No wonder they finished my house so quickly.

"Howdy Blake! Fancy seein' you here. Ah figured you'd still be bunked up with Derpy." Applejack waved as she exited the barn.

"Well I was, but I promised I'd help out on the farm as often as I could. Besides, I figured I could take AB and the other fillies to school today."

"Well that'd sure be a big help, takin' them ta school takes a lotta time we could be spendin' workin' in tha fields." She tipped her hat back to keep it from falling into her face.

"Howdy Blake! Are y'all gonna take us ta school today?" I looked over to see Applebloom running over to us from the house.

I scooped the giggling filly up and hugged her as she got to me. "Sure am 'Bloom. But we've got some work to do first. Come on, let's start taking this stuff into the barn."

I set Applebloom down and we set to work carrying the tools and equipment back into the barn. 'Applebloom stuck to carrying the smaller, less dangerous things while the rest of us carried everything else. I used my magic to carry some of it to help save time and keep anypony from accidentally hurting themselves trying to carry the heavy equipment.

We finished carrying everything into the barn fairly quickly between the four of us, and headed out into the orchard. Applejack and Big Mac took to the East orchard, while Applebloom and I took the South, that way I could take her to school and Applejack and her brother could keep working without losing their partner. Applebloom and I worked surprisingly well together; while I bucked the good apples off the trees into one set of buckets, she would grab the bad ones and toss them into a separate set. We managed to get a fair bit done by the time it was time to head out and collect the other fillies.

We walked down the road, little Applebloom perched on my shoulders as we went, enjoying the view and the breeze ruffling her fiery red mane. We stopped by Carousel Boutique first to pick up Sweetie Belle.

She wasn't quite ready to leave yet, so we decided to wait since we had some extra time to kill. We sat down on one of the couches and chatted with Rarity over tea while we waited. "I'm glad to see you back on your hoov- err, feet Darling. I was so glad to hear that you were finally coming back to Ponyville, where you belong. We all missed you while you were away, albeit some moreso than others. I will admit that with everything that's happened, I was worried that you might not want to come back here."

I set my teacup down after taking a sip. "Why wouldn't I want to come back?"

She took a deep breath. "Well... I thought that you might believe that all these happenings were some sort of curse on our little town and might want to stay away from it. I know it's a silly thing to think, but I kept thinking it regardless."

"Ok Blake, I'm ready!" Sweetie Belle shouted from the top of the stairs.

I looked up them to see that she was trotting down the stairs, looking as she usually did. Does it really take that long just to do her mane?

She joined us and after we said a quick goodbye to rarity, we were off. We went to Derpy's house to pick up Scootaloo and Dinky, as they were the only two left and closest to the schoolhouse. The door opened just as I went to knock on it. "Oh, hiya Blake! I was afraid you'd be late, so I was gonna take the girls myself."

I wrapped her in a hug. "That's ok Derpy. Hey, why don't we all go together?"

She grinned brightly. "That's a great idea!"

We set off towards the schoolhouse, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo on my shoulders, and Dinky and Applebloom on Derpy's back. We made good time to the schoolhouse, seeing other mothers and fathers dropping their foals off for the day.

I set the girls down and Dinky and 'Bloom hopped off of Derpy. After a quick round of goodbyes, the girls high-tailed it into the school.

"That's him officers! That's the stallion who attacked my daughter!"