A/N - Howdy everypony! Only have one bit of news today: one of my hidden achievements is getting close to being unlocked, so I'm going to set up a poll on my page asking if you'd rather have a double-update of this story or a one-shot as a reward. I'm thinkin' I'll leave the poll open until I post chapter 10 on the 22nd. Remember to read, review, and enjoy!

The waning of night into predawn found me sitting on the balcony of my new home, legs through the rungs of the railing with my arms folded on top of it and my head resting on them, looking at the sky. I had been like that for some time, just staring at the stars and moon, finding some comfort in the stillness and quiet beauty of the night.

I was suddenly met with an unbidden urge to sing, and upon relenting to that urge, I found myself singing a song that seemed to be coming solely from within me. I had never heard a song like this before, and the lyrics and melody fit my mood perfectly, as if they were being woven from my tattered emotions.

Sometime after I began, I heard the door to the library open and shut quietly, followed by the deep breathing of someone trying to fight back tears. Not long after, I heard Twilight's voice join my own, singing about better days and the magic of friendship overcoming all suffering. My sorrowful lament quickly became a somewhat more hopeful duet, though I could tell that Twilight could feel at least some of my pain through the song; and I in turn, could feel her reassurances.

When the song finally ended, as unbidden as it had began, I felt hope stirring in my heart, and it made me feel a lot better. Twilight walked over and sat next to me, looking at the ground below for a long moment before turning to me with tear-filled eyes. "Oh Blake… what have we done?"

I reached over and wrapped my arm around her, pulling her into a half-hug, using my other hand to wipe away the tears she had shed for me. "You didn't do anything Twilight, nor did the princesses. They offered me a second chance at life, and I accepted the offer. I don't think they would have made the offer if they thought this might happen, at least not without telling me about it. They told me they planned to bring other humans here as well if I could get along here well enough, so I don't think they had any idea that this would happen; I don't blame them, or anyone else, it was a product of chance, nothing more." That wasn't a lie, though my heart sorely wanted something to blame.

Twilight looked over to me with a mixture of curiosity and concern. "What do you mean they 'gave you a second chance at life'?" She sounded like she might be afraid of the answer, and I didn't blame her.

I took a deep breath to give myself a moment to think as well as to steady myself. "I'm not sure there's a nice way to say this Twilight, but before I came here, I… died… No, that isn't quite right, I didn't just die, I was… murdered… by another human…" Her face lit up with shock when she heard that. "The princesses came to me between that life and the afterlife and offered me a chance to come here, to live again and make new friends and have experiences I never could have had on Earth. It took some convincing, but I finally decided to agree and come here."

She looked back to the ground below. "But, why… why would a human do that to another?! It doesn't make any sense!" She sighed heavily when she finished.

"I don't know Twilight; I don't know what drives some to kill others. I do know what he was after though. He wanted money, though that shouldn't be something worth killing over."

She looked back to me again. "Couldn't you have defended yourself?"

I sighed and shook my head. "I wasn't the only one there. My wife was with me." She gasped and fresh tears welled in her eyes. "I could have probably defended myself better, but that would have risked her getting killed instead, and I couldn't let that happen, so I did what I could to make sure it didn't."

"I don't understand, what could he have done to hurt your wife if you had tried to stop him?" Her voice was sounding distressed at this point.

"Our technology is very different from what I've seen here so far. We have weapons that I doubt you'd believe. The weapon he had is called a gun; it's a device, handheld in this case, that uses small, controlled explosions to launch small chunks of copper-coated lead called bullets at high speeds. These weapons can easily kill at fifty meters or higher. He had one of these weapons, and so did I; the problem was, if I had tried to defend myself with my weapon, he would have been able to react and kill me before I could get it ready to use. So instead, I rushed him, pulling the gun away from pointing at my wife, causing it to point at me. It went off and hit me, but I managed to knock him out before my body gave out from the damage. I died with my wife cradling me on the ground, begging me not to die…" Twilight was openly crying by the time I finished.

I leaned over and fully embraced her, allowing her to cry into my shoulder, taking deep breaths to restrain my own tears. The sun slowly began to peek over the horizon as we sat there in relative silence. I couldn't tell how long we had sat there before Twilight managed to steady herself and pull away. "You've been through so much…" She gently placed a hoof on my cheek; it was surprisingly soft, almost like a human hand. "Yet you've been so kind… You didn't deserve any of what's happened to you."

I smiled and placed a hand on her hoof, squeezing it gently. "Thank you Twilight; it's kind of you to say that…" I looked over to the rising sun. "I think that's enough of that kind of talk for one day though. Since we're obviously both up for the day, why don't we get ready for it? I don't know about you, but I like to start my day with a nice, hot shower." I had a somewhat chipper note to my voice, feeling better about what had happened after being able to talk openly about it.

Twilight sniffled and nodded. "You're right, we have a lot to do today to get you settled in, and you'll need somepony to show you around so you know where everything is. Fortunately, Ponyville is fairly small, so it's easy to memorize where things are; and the library is towards the center of town, so it's easy to get most anyplace from here. We'll also need to stop by town hall to get you registered as a resident, so you can get an address and mail can be delivered to you, among other benefits. Now, I'll go wake Spike up so he can get started on breakfast for us."

I just shrugged and got up to follow her. She looked back at me. "By the way, the water here is heated by magic, so don't worry about using it all up." She turned and started back into the main room before I had a chance to answer. I decided that while she was rousing Spike that I would go ahead and take my shower. I made a mental note to ask Twilight how much of what they had was magic and how much was technology driven.

Twilight's selection of hygiene products was more limited and practical than Fluttershy's had been, though there was a jumbo tub of bubble bath solution tucked away in a corner outside the tub. After a long, hot and very relaxing shower, I stepped out of the shower and opened the linen closet… to find that there were no towels… Probably should've looked beforehand.

I opened the door to the main bedroom just a crack and called to Twilight to see if I could get her or Spike to bring me one. A moment later though, I was startled when there was a bright purple flash and a small pressure wave right outside the door. I stumbled back a step and tripped over the lip of the bathtub, sending me tumbling backwards into the shower, taking the curtain with me.

I heard the door quickly open. "Oh my gosh, Blake, are you ok?" Twilight asked somewhat frantically.

I groaned and tried to get up, grateful that the shower curtain was covering up my naughty bits. "Yeah, I'm ok. I was just going to ask for a towel, there aren't any in the linen closet."

I managed to get up out of the shower with the curtain still wrapped around my midsection. Fortunately it somehow hadn't taken the rod with it when I pulled it down.

Twilight looked at me quizzically. "Why are you covering yourself up like that?"

I groaned internally, not wanting to explain it again. "It's a human thing; we have taboos about others seeing certain areas of our bodies, which is part of why we wear clothes, since we don't have any natural means of covering those areas."

Twilight looked me over for a moment, seeming to contemplate that. She turned around hastily, calling for Spike to bring me up a towel. I thought I saw a blush forming as she turned away from me to head back downstairs. Spike came clambering up the stairs less than a minute later carrying a large towel over his head with both hands.

I had moved back to the small bathmat so I wasn't dripping water everywhere, but I had left the door open for the dual purpose of letting the steam out and signaling Spike that was where he should bring the towel. "Sorry about that, I forgot to put them away after I washed them yesterday." The little purple dragon said as he trotted in with the towel for me. He handed me the towel and quickly excused himself, shutting the door behind me to give me some privacy while I dried myself off. I waited until I couldn't hear his footsteps anymore before I dropped the curtain covering me.

After I was all toweled off and dressed, I made my way downstairs to meet up with Twilight and Spike for breakfast. As soon as I hit the bottom of the small staircase, my nose was hit with a certain familiar aroma… "Is that… ham? I thought you guys were herbivores."

Twilight's face screwed up in confusion from her spot at what I assumed was a dinner table. "Well, I don't know what ham is, but Spike's making eggs and fried daisies for breakfast."

I just shrugged and took a spot at the table across from her. The table was just the right height so that fully sitting would make me too low, while sitting in a chair would make me too high. I found a happy medium by sitting on my knees, however. A moment later, Spike came out carrying three plates with sunny side up eggs, buttered toast and piled high with what I could only guess were the fried daisies. They looked strange, but the smell was good enough to make my mouth water. I had thought that I would never get to taste meat again, but it appeared that ponies had equivalents that I could enjoy.

Twilight took the plates from the little dragon and set one down in front of each of us. "Blake, do humans have any pre-meal customs that they observe?"

I nodded. "Some of us will precede the meal with a prayer to whatever deity they might believe in; but I don't hold any such beliefs, so there aren't any that I personally observe, other than to wait until everyone is seated and ready to eat, though that's just good manners as far as I'm concerned."

"Oh, alright then. Well, dig in everypony."

Breakfast was uneventful; the conversation mostly consisting of me answering Twilight's various questions regarding the different religions that humans had. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the daisies tasted as good as they smelled. When breakfast was over, I helped Spike carry the dishes into the kitchen and wash them. There was a knock at the door just as Spike and I had finished the last of the dishes.

I walked out into the main room to see Twilight open the door with her magic. On the other side was a white, blue-eyed Pegasus wearing golden armor with a Roman galea-style helmet with a two-tone blue brush. At the center of the breastplate was a blue, five-pointed star. He was also wearing shoes very reminiscent of Celestia's. "Good morning Miss Sparkle. We have a delivery from the princesses directed towards a 'Blake Marshall'. Is he available to receive the delivery?"

Twilight nodded to the armored pony. "Sure, I'll… Oh, he's actually right here. There's a royal guard with a delivery for you Blake."

I walked over to the door. "Thanks Twilight, I got it from here." Twilight smiled and walked off. "Hi, I'm Blake. The princesses told me to expect you today, though honestly, I didn't expect you quite this early."

The guard raised an eyebrow. "Is this a bad time sir?"

"Not at all, I just didn't expect all this to be put together and delivered so quickly."

The guard blinked. "Understandable sir; the princesses ordered this to be rushed to you as soon as was possible. Would you like me to carry it inside for you?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I can get it. Though I'm not sure what all they sent me." All I know about is a gift of bits."

The guard nodded. "That is correct. The princesses have also included this." He reached into the breastplate of his armor and pulled out an envelope. "I'm not privy to what's inside, but my instructions were clear to deliver these to nopony but you."

"Alright, let's get this package inside; I'm sure you have more important things to do than chat with me all day. Besides, I gotta figure out a safe place for this."

With a nod, the guard led me out to a chariot being drawn by presumably himself and the other Pegasus that was still harnessed to it. In the passenger compartment was a fairly large sack, presumably holding the bits the princesses told me about. I hefted the sack, guessing it to only weigh around fifteen kilos, and thanked the guard before bringing it inside.

Twilight seemed to be absorbed in a book when I returned inside, so I decided not to bother her. Instead taking the sack upstairs and looking for a suitable place to store it. There was a decently sized chest in one corner of the room that I decided would do nicely for the time being. The chest looked like it had a loop to place a padlock, and I decided to get one if I could find one in town today.

I decided it would be a good idea to keep a few bits on me for when we went into town. Not knowing how much a bit was worth, I decided to keep fifty on me, stashed in various pockets. After the bits were secure, I decided it was time to open the letter. Inside was a folded piece of parchment. I unfolded it to reveal what looked like a silvery scrap of paper with a picture of a train and writing detailing what it was. It was readily apparent that this was a permanent train ticket. It went on to detail that this ticket would offer me passage to any station that Equestrian trains ran to. Once that was done, I moved on to the piece of parchment, which turned out to be a note.

"Friend Blake, I wished to express again my regrets for what has befallen you. I know this will in no way make up for your hardships, but I have decided to include this train ticket as a personal gift to you, in the hopes that you might use it to visit me in Canterlot when you wish. I am… still learning the nuances of friendship, but I thought we might converse over tea; I would love to learn more of your world and experiences, and have much I wish to share with you as well. My waking hours are usually during the night, though I have notified my guards to awaken me should you come to call while I am resting. I look forward to our next meeting and I wish you well in your new endeavors.

P.S. As a further gift, my sister and I have sent a commission to Miss Rarity of Ponyville to craft you an entire wardrobe for both warm and cold weather; as we are well aware of your needs for such garments and we wish to ensure that you are not forced to wear the same outfit every day.

–Luna

Luna's writing style was very elegant and was entirely done using very intricate calligraphy. This letter must have taken her quite some time to write. I made it a point in the near future to visit her and her sister in Canterlot, wherever that was. For the moment though, I decided it would be best to go into town and start on the many tasks for the day.

I folded the letter up and placed it on the small dresser I was provided with before heading downstairs to see if Twilight was ready to head out. I found Twilight still absorbed in a book, though she seemed significantly farther ahead in it that I would have thought possible in such a short timeframe. "Hey Twilight." She looked up when I addressed her. "Is there a specific time you wanted to take me around town today? I know there's a lot to do."

She smiled at me. "We can leave now if you'd like, I'm just rereading an old history book to see if there's anything I've forgotten since I read it two weeks ago." With that she hopped down from the chair she had been sitting on and I followed her out of the library.

"Hey Twilight, before we leave, how many bits do you think I'll need to get everything? I don't really know exchange rates for Equestrian currency."

She looked up at me. "Well, depending on how expensive you want to go, I would say probably no more than ten or fifteen bits. Colgate offers free exams and sample toothbrushes and toothpaste to first-time clients."

"Alright; well, we might as well head there first and get that out of the way. Besides, I'm sure my breath is pretty ripe right about now, and the sooner I get this done, the sooner I can fix that."

She nodded with a giggle. "Alright, we can do that. Though I can't say how long it'll take. Colgate is usually pretty quick, and as early as it is I doubt she'll have many appointments right now."

We continued to make small talk on the way to the dentist's office. After only a few minutes of walking, we came across an unassuming one story building. The only thing identifying it as a dentist's office was the giant tooth mounted on top of the building. I stepped ahead and opened the door for Twilight, entering closely behind her.

The lobby was sparsely decorated, and sitting at the front desk was a blue unicorn with a mane and tail that was half white and half dark blue. Her eyes were also a deep blue. "Good morning and welcome to Ponyville Dentistry!" She had a huge, toothy grin on her face. "I'm Colgate and I'll be your dentist today! Or any other day for that matter…" Why do I get the feeling I should be worried? "You're a new face! Come on back to the exam room and we'll get started!"

I shrugged nervously and followed her back, Twilight stayed behind in the lobby. I glanced around, finding this place to be the definition of a stereotypical dentist's office. It only took a few seconds to reach the exam room, so there wasn't really time to think about it much. I noticed a small problem as we entered the room, however; the exam chair was built for a pony, and wouldn't accommodate something as big as me.

Colgate seemed to notice this as well, as she eyed the chair, then turned back and looked me up and down, seeming to appraise my size. "Well this won't do, this chair's too small! That's ok though, the room across the hall is built for Minotaurs; we can just hop on over there and get started!" Her enthusiasm should have been comforting, but instead I had the urge to write out a will.

She led the way to the room across the hall, which was significantly bigger than the one we had just left. I actually didn't need to duck to fit through the door, every other door I had encountered so far had the top of its frame set just above eye level; the perfect height to smack my forehead into and give myself a killer headache. The chair itself was fairly large, though not so large that I couldn't fit into it properly. Colgate turned back to me. "Have a seat please mister…"

"Blake, Blake Marshall." I replied.

"Ok Mister Blake!" Thank God she didn't do it… I took a seat on the large chair and she leaned it back. "Ok, now open wide!"

Almost an hour later I walked out of Colgate's office with a new set of dental hygiene supplies and breath that was mintier than I thought was possible. Twilight looked up from the magazine she had been reading. "Well, how'd it go?" She asked as we left the Colgate's office.

I shrugged. "About as well as I expected, though that smile of hers is creepy. So, where to next?"

"Well, we could head to town hall, or we could go to the store and pick up whatever you think you need."

"Town hall first, that way I don't have to carry a bunch of stuff around."

And so it went, my new address at the Golden Oaks Library was set up, I was registered as an official citizen of Ponyville, and I got a map of town, so I wouldn't get lost easily if I went out on my own.

Getting my toiletries was equally uneventful, aside from the sales clerk commenting on how masculine the soap I picked out smelled compared to what stallions usually bought. After we left the store, we headed back to the library to drop everything off. "Hey Twilight, if you don't mind, I think I'm gonna walk around town a bit, get a feel for it. I'm sure you have other things to take care of, so I figure that will kill two birds with one stone."

She gasped. "That's terrible; why would anypony want to kill poor, defenseless little birds?!" It sounded half alarmed, half accusatory.

I held my hands up in a calming gesture. "I don't, it's just a saying. I admit it's kind of violent, but all it means is that we would accomplish two tasks either at the same time or with the same activity."

"Oh, I see. Well, it makes sense in context, but I don't really like it; I don't think anypony else will either; ponies are peaceful by nature and violence doesn't usually sit well with us."

I lowered my hands. "Sorry Twilight, I'll try to be more careful about that, it's gonna take some getting used to though."

She nodded "It's ok Blake, if you want, I can teach you proper syntax. But for now, go explore; it'll be good to get to know your way around town."

With that, I bid Twilight a good day and she headed back into the library. I turned and headed towards where the map said Sweet Apple Acres was located.

I could talk to Applejack more and find out where the Cutie Mark Crusader's clubhouse was at the same time.