Guest - In the words of Shenron; Your wish has been granted

link1able - Thank you, as always, I'm glad you're enjoying it. Hmm... I'm not sure why you wouldn't be receiving email alerts for new chapters. I always update every Tuesday early in the morning, so if you check back then, there will be an update.

wut - Oh don't worry, she'll show up again, and all will be explained.

KillerWoW - Thank you for the kind words, I was honestly a little worried about how chapter nineteen would be received.

frytrix - Well stay tuned, because there's plenty of story left, plus a sequel!

HYBRID BATTLESHIP INFINITY210 - Glad you liked the double-update

GhostChris - Here you are, another chapter ripe for the reading.

A/N - Hi there everypony! Not much to say this week other than; suck it Indiana DMV! Don't for get to follow/favorite, review, and most importantly, enjoy! Remember, your reviews help me make this story even better!

I was silent for several moments, just staring at the still-steaming food set in front of me. "Blake? Are you alright?" Celestia eventually asked.

I snapped from my thoughts at the mention of my name. "Huh? Oh. Honestly, I'm not sure; for some reason, that just really unnerved me."

She nodded her understanding. "I am not surprised; he is a scourge to all that is good and just in this world. That is a part of why our parents, Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos, decided to hide his existence from future generations, with only the royal family knowing of him. Now, enough of that; tell me, How goes your magic training with my student?" It was obvious she was trying to get my mind off the subject.

"Well, I haven't learned how to control it yet, but I've figured out how to tap into my magic, though we've only had one lesson so far."

Celestia's eyes widened. "I see. That's quite an impressive feat to accomplish on your first attempt; there are many unicorns who do not discover how to do that for weeks or even months after their schooling has begun."

"Well, I did have some help, my grandpa taught me how to meditate a long time ago, and I just used the same technique to find my magic."

We talked for some time after that, taking our time in enjoying both our food and each other's company. Eventually though, it had to end. "Well, I've enjoyed our time together, and as much as I hate to see it end, I must return to Canterlot, I'm still a princess after all." She said with a sigh.

"It's alright, I have things to do myself; besides, I'll be visiting Canterlot from time to time, so we'll see one another again."

The solar diarch smiled that genuine smile one last time and bid me farewell before spreading her wings and taking flight to where I assumed her transportation was waiting.

Once she was gone, I waited around for the bill to arrive. It wasn't long before the waiter returned to our table. "Is there something else I can get for you sir?"

"No thanks, I'm just waiting for the bill."

He gave me a quizzical look for a moment. "I see. You don't need to worry about that, we would never charge the princess and her guest for a visit."

I grimaced slightly, uncomfortable with that idea. I reached into my shirt, which Rarity hadn't taken, and pulled out one of the smaller coin bags. "At least let me give you a tip, I'd feel bad if you didn't get something for your service."

The waiter nodded his thanks and took the small bag, which was one of my five bit stashes. "Thank you, you're too kind sir. Have a pleasant afternoon." He said before trotting off to attend his other customers.

I left the café and headed for the library, deciding to wait for Twilight. As the library came into sight, I saw that the mare in question had just arrived at its front door, Spike riding on her back. "Heya Twilight!" I called out in greeting.

She seemed to hear me and turned her head in my direction, smiling when she saw me. "Hi Blake! Just the stallion I wanted to see!"

She waited for me to reach her before opening the door and we entered the library together. "I got you something Blake, only I had to order it and it wasn't ready until today."

"Was that what you were doing the day we discovered I had magic?"

Twilight nodded. "Mmmhmm, after what we all saw, I wanted to get you a little something. I guess you could call it a welcoming gift of sorts."

As she levitated the small box Spike had been carrying over to me, I couldn't help but smile at the warm fuzzies that were growing at the gesture. "You didn't have to do that for me Twi, you and our friends have already done so much…"

"I know, but I wanted to, you've done a lot for all of us too."

I took the box from her magical grasp and untied the red bowtie that was holding it shut. Once I opened the lid of the box, my eyes shot open. Inside was a golden pocket watch, polished to a mirror shine and adorned with several gems. Each gem was cut to resemble the cutie marks of all of my friends, and each was a different type of gem that matched their coat color: around the outside edge of the front were an aquamarine in the shape of a lightning bolt for Rainbow Dash, an opal in the shape of a diamond for Rarity, a balloon-shaped pink sapphire for Pinkie Pie, An apple-shaped orange topaz for Applejack, a pale yellow stone I couldn't identify in the shape of a butterfly for Fluttershy, even a circular smoky quartz for Derpy, a lyre-shaped emerald for Lyra, and a moonstone carved into a musical note for Vinyl. All these surrounded a six-pointed star carved from an amethyst for Twilight set in the center of the watch's door.

I depressed the release for the door, to look inside to find that the watch was already wound and ticking away. My heart began to burst as I looked at the inside of the door however; on the inside was a small picture of all of those same friends waving cheerily at the camera with big smiles on all of their faces. Vinyl had even taken her glasses off to show off her eyes.

I closed the door and ran my hands delicately over the gems adorning it. "Is something the matter Blake? Do you not like it?" Twilight eventually asked, worriedly.

I gave her a crooked smile as I struggled to contain my emotions. "No one's ever given me a gift with this much thought put into it…" I remarked quietly.

A moment later I felt myself wrapped in a tight hug as Twilight reared up onto her hind legs to match my height. "I would take away all the suffering you've been through in a heartbeat if I could Blake; I'm so sorry for everything that's happened to you, but I'm glad you're here with us now. I promise you we'll all do everything we can to make sure it never happens again." She whispered into my ear.

I couldn't find any words for the kindness Twilight was showing me right now; all I could do was hold her tight and try to restrain the tears that began falling onto the soft coat of her shoulder. We eventually broke the embrace once I'd calmed down somewhat. "Thank you Twilight, for everything. You girls have done more for me than you can know." I sighed and gently set her at arm's length, not looking at her. "When I married my wife, I kept telling myself it was because I loved her, but I think in reality it was more because I was afraid she would leave me alone again if I didn't."

The purple mare looked at me quizzically. "What about your grandparents, didn't you have them?"

I closed my eyes. "I did, for awhile… but my grandpa passed away from an illness when I was twenty three, and my grandma… she passed a month later from cardiac arrest in her sleep." Twilight's eyes began to shimmer with tears. "I got worried one morning when she didn't come down for breakfast, so I went to go check on her. When I went to wake her, I… she was cold and stiff…" Twilight jumped up and hugged me tightly again.

I returned her embrace, grateful for her understanding. "I half expected it though," I continued in a whisper. "After grandpa died, she just wasn't the same, and her health started declining rapidly."

"I still don't understand… how can you be such a wonderful stallion when so much suffering has been forced on you?"

"Because I don't let the pain and the bad rule me, I focus on my happy memories and try not to dwell on the unhappy ones. Now come on, let's do something fun together to get our minds off this depressing nonsense."

She nodded and wiped a few stray tears away with a sniffle. "Ok. How about we continue your magic lessons?"

I nodded. "Sounds good to me."

We practiced for over an hour with roughly the same success as last time; I could access my magic easily enough, but getting it to do what I wanted was another story. In the meantime, Spike had been doing various chores around the library, from cleaning shelves to putting away loose books. Around the time we finished, the smells and sounds of a meal being cooked began wafting from the kitchen to the main room where we were.

Spike was done shortly after we finished our lesson, and we all sat down to a nice dinner of steamed mixed veggies and salad. After dinner, Spike and I did the dishes, and we all headed upstairs to turn in for the night. Twilight decided to stay up for awhile to read, and I wasn't particularly tired either, so I took out a pencil and a large piece of parchment and began drawing up plans for a home, both to keep what little skill I had in architecture sharp and to pass the time as I let my creative side out. Twilight eventually came into the room and snuggled up against me before quickly falling asleep, with me following shortly after.

The rest of the week went fairly smoothly as I fell into a routine; I would get up, perform my morning ritual, go to work with Applejack, then spend time with the various friends I had made around Ponyville, including those rambunctious little fillies the that made up three quarters of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, before heading back to the library for magic lessons with Twilight. The mulberry unicorn and I had even taken to having tea together, with the Chai tea I had shown her quickly becoming her favorite.

I even took Applejack on a date one night; we didn't do anything extravagant, a simple picnic out in a small clearing in the orchard, followed by watching the sunset and then the stars as we both lay on our backs, cuddled together. I visited Luna in Canterlot as well, the two of us taking a tour of the city and sharing a meal at another of Luna's favorite restaurants. At night I would do some more work on the house plans I had begun drawing up before bed, and Twilight would join me in my room and snuggle next to me every night when she was ready to sleep. All in all, life had become peaceful, despite a rough beginning; and to me, it was a paradise.

Three days after I placed my orders to Hammer Hoof and the John Wayne sounding stallion, they both delivered said orders to the library's doorstep. Hammer Hoof arrived with her order first, sixteen rods of a specific type of steel, each two hundred and seventy five centimeters long and twenty five millimeters thick. I thanked her for her quick work and she bid her farewell to return to her shop.

The masonry stallion came shortly after, delivering several bags of the concrete mix I had asked him for. He dropped off the bags and was on his way with only a nod of acknowledgement. The next day, I borrowed one of Applejack's carts after our work was done to haul the materials over to the construction site, where I began assembling the wall, which would require a few days to cure properly. The foreman was willing to let me use whatever tools and equipment I needed so long as I didn't get in his workers' ways.

Being familiar with the various pieces of equipment, which were all but identical to the equivalents on Earth, I quickly assembled the wall's mold and began mixing the concrete. Twilight stopped by, having seen me whilst out and about, and used her magic to help me lift the rebar rods, which I had woven together, into place. After that, I used a concrete chute to pour the readied mixture into the mold and over the rebar. Once that was done, Twilight and I left to allow the concrete to cure, and the week resumed its quiet pace.

Finally, the day of truth arrived, and Twilight and I left the library relatively early in the morning to head to the construction site. Twilight had wanted to come so she could see first hoof what human engineering was capable of. By the time we arrived, the construction crew was already underway assembling the braces for both walls. We walked up to the foreman, who was supervising the construction. "Ready to get your flank whupped?" He asked in a jeering tone.

I smirked. "Oh, I highly doubt I'll be the one getting whupped, so you'd better be ready to eat those words, 'cause I'll be serving them up with a heaping serving of 'I told you so' and a generous side of humility."

"Ooh, burn!" We suddenly heard from above us.

The three of us looked up to see a certain rainbow Pegasus hovering just overhead. "So, when's the show gonna start? I can't wait to see this hot-head get a mud-hole stomped in him!"

"Oh, don't worry, my crew will put this plot-hole in his place soon enough! Nopony insults the Ponyville construction crew and gets away with it!"

"I believe the competition shall decide who trounces whom" A voice that could only belong to Luna said from behind us.

We all turned to see her dismounting her chariot, the two Night Guard Pegasi that had drawn it were staring straight ahead like statues. "Speaking of the competition, how long until we may begin?"

The foreman looked over at his crew. "I'd say within the hour, it looks like my colts are almost done putting the supports together, then they'll just hafta set up the walls themselves and we'll be all set."

"Hey! Why didn't you say that when I asked?"

The foreman looked at Rainbow Dash flatly. "Because you aren't a princess." He said snidely.

Rainbow Dash growled at the foreman, but didn't comment further.

I looked around out of instinct to notice a crowd beginning to form around the competition area. It seemed most of Ponyville had either heard of the event, or had noticed something going on as things were set up. The hour passed with little conversation, save Rainbow's near-constant complaints of being bored. Eventually, I recommended she go for a flight until the competition was ready to begin. She agreed and zoomed off into the sky to do who-knows-what until it was time to begin.

Once the braces were set up, I walked over and helped the crew crack the molds on both walls, with Twilight verifying verifying which wall was mine based on the residue of her magic on the rebar embedded in the concrete. She and Luna then used their magic to levitate each wall to a different set of braces.

Once they were set up properly, a wrecking ball steamed over and positioned itself to swing at the construction crew's wall section. "Apologies, but I believe I must interject." Luna said as the operator began to swing the ball back to strike the wall section.

The foreman made a slashing motion at the operator, signaling him to wait. "Is something the matter princess?"

Luna shook her head. "Not per se, I would simply like to propose that I be the one to manipulate your… wrecking ball, is it?"

"Yes, that's the right term. Though, if you don't mind me asking Princess Luna, why do you want to operate our equipment?"

"I do not. I would not know where to begin with that machine's operation, I shall raise and release the ball with my magic."

The foreman scratched around the band at the back of his hardhat. "Beg pardon for my reiteration Princess, but why?"

"For one simple reason foreman, so that each strike is made with equal force. If the ball were to be swung as it is, it possesses the possibility of not hitting its target with the same force each time, making this competition unfair for both sides."

He scratched his head for a moment. "That makes sense actually. Alright, how do you propose to do this?"

Luna smirked. "Simple, I shall raise the ball to a predetermined height, and continue to do so until each wall is deemed demolished. This way the walls will be struck with the same amount of force each time, and the competition shall be fair."

I shrugged. "Sounds like a good idea to me, it'll allow for more controlled conditions. I think a forty-five degree angle should work just fine myself."

The foreman nodded his agreement and trotted over to the cabin of the idling machine and appeared to relay the instructions to the operator. Once the foreman was clear of the machine, it repositioned itself so that the ball was just barely touching the crew's wall section, right smack in the center. It was at this point that Rainbow Dash swooped down and rejoined us.

Both Luna's horn and the ball were coated in her cerulean magical aura as the ball began its ascent towards the agreed upon angle. Once it reached its apex, the blue aura surrounding the heavy metal sphere dropped and it accelerated towards the wall before colliding with it with a resounding *Thoom*. The wall seemed to hold momentarily as Luna caught the ball in her magic to keep it from striking the wall again.

A few seconds passed with no results. As we were about to set up for a second attempt, the wall began to crumble and suddenly collapsed in on itself. "See that kid? I'd like to see your wall do better!" the foreman jeered in a rather overconfident tone.

I decided to hold my tongue and let my work speak for me as the operator set up to strike my wall section next. Once he had, Luna repeated her previous task of raising the ball to the proper height before letting it go. As it was being raised, I heard a strange chattering to my right, and looked over to see that it was Twilight, biting her hoof in a rather cartoonish fashion.

I looked back in time to see Luna release the ball and watch it descend rapidly towards my wall. It connected much like the previous time, with a loud *Thoom* and bounced off, Luna once again catching it before it struck a second time. We waited a full thirty seconds for something to happen. Once it was clear the wall wasn't going anywhere, Luna set up and dropped the ball again, with much the same results, save for several cracks forming in the concrete. The ball was raised and dropped four more times, but still the wall held; on the sixth attempt however, after the ball struck, there was a resounding *CRACK* as the support braces that were holding the wall up failed and collapsed, causing the wall to topple over, however it remained relatively intact, with only several large cracks and some of the rebar being exposed by the repeated abuse.

I looked over to the foreman to see his jaw hanging wide open. I calmly walked over and closed it for him. "So, whose flank was it that was getting whupped again?" I asked as he came back to his senses.

He shook his head for a moment. "Y-you cheated!" he accused. "You had to have! Nopony could have built a wall that strong. I bet it was that purple Whor-" that was all the farther he got before my fist connected squarely with his snout. I had been reading up on Equestrian terms and slang, but I didn't need that to know exactly what he was going to imply of Twilight.

"Sore loser!" Rainbow Dash shouted at the stallion who was now laying flat on his back, likely trying to figure out what had just happened.

"I agree. Though regardless of this stallion's attitude, I believe the clear winner is: Blake Marshall!" Luna exclaimed to the crowd as she held up my arm with her magic, all of whom burst out into a cacophony of cheers. "And as promised, he shall receive a commission to improve the standards of construction for all of Equestria!" she continued, eliciting even more cheers from the riled up crowd.

Once she released me and the crowd began to disperse, Twilight, Rainbow, Luna and I all walked over towards where my wall section lay. "That was amazin' Blake!" Applejack exclaimed as she trotted up to us. I greeted my favorite farm mare with a quick hug.

"So Blake, how did you make such a strong wall?" Dash asked as we approached the testing area.

"It was pretty easy actually, humans developed formulas that can detail how strong and against what kinds of force different mixtures of concrete are. That and I reinforced it with steel bars, which is pretty much standard for any construction project bigger than a small house."

"Lame! I was hoping for something cooler, like you used your magic to make an invisible shield around it or something." Dash said, clearly disappointed.

I shook my head. "Well, aside from that being blatantly cheating, I can barely scoot a bit across the table with my magic at this point."

"I forgot to ask how your lessons were progressing the last time we saw one another. I am glad to hear that you are at least making some progress." Luna chimed in.

"Well, he's progressing fairly well, all things considered." Twilight responded. "So Luna, what does this commission he won entail anyway?"

"It is exactly as I claimed; Blake shall stay in the palace at Canterlot for a time, and consult with the various advisors and chairsponies responsible for Equestrian construction standards." Twilight looked crestfallen at this news. "Fear not dear Twilight, we have estimated this shall take no longer than a week, and all of Blake's friends are more than welcome to visit him whenever they so wish. There shall also be a party in his honor after the commission is completed."

"Aww, c'mon Luna, you don't have to do all that for me." I said, somewhat embarrassed, but also flattered.

"True, but we wish to recognize you for all the good you've done for us in the short time you've been here. That and my sister would like to 'spread the word' so to speak that your kind has returned to our world, even if you are the only member of your species."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Your sister, huh? What do you think about it?"

Luna gave me a soft smile. "I believe that you should be left to your privacy, not to be hidden, but nor to be displayed either. I do however, feel that you are deserving of some form of public recognition for your actions since your arrival, especially if you can make significant improvements to the strength of our buildings."

I thought about this for a moment. "Well, I can see both points of view. I'm essentially a new discovery, and the public deserves to know about me; though I'll admit I'm a bit worried that not every place will be as… accommodating as Ponyville."

"I can understand your concern, though my sister and I shall strive to ensure that such a thing does not happen."

"Thanks Luna, I-" I was cut off by a loud growl from right next to me.

Twilight's face was bright pink. "Sorry, I guess all the suspense worked up an appetite." She explained rather sheepishly, causing Rainbow Dash to burst out laughing until she too emitted a loud growl of hunger.

"Heh heh… guess I'm hungry too." She said with a big, toothy grin.

"Well, how about we all get a bite to eat? There's this awesome little café a pretty little birdie told me about." I said with a wink at Twilight.

With that, the five of us set out for the cozy little café Celly and I had eaten at earlier in the week