After Twilight and I were finished talking, we went back upstairs. Sarah was curious about our conversation, but we didn't have any answers for her.

Working on the Christmas tree was a fun, relaxing break from our other work. Sarah and Twilight enjoyed it. Twilight enjoyed it a lot because she was learning about our customs. Sarah just *really* liked Christmas.

The second box of ornaments had no bulbs, but instead contained... well, everything else. From Charlie Brown Christmas or Disney themed ornaments to personal family ornaments. Some were old, some were new. Some were shiny, some were... blue? Some were glass, some were metal, some were plastic... I had a lot of ornaments...

The two of them made sure to handle them with care, which really made me happy to see, honestly.

Twilight, being from Yugopotamia, had no idea who any of the characters on the ornaments were. After Twilight asked my who Mickey Mouse was, Sarah just about snapped. To be fair, she had a right to be curious. Who in this modern world doesn't know Mickey Mouse? If there's no Mickey, this shit ain't Disney.

Twilight responded to Sarah's curiousness with, "Oh, you know me, I'm always reading my books. It was like that back home, as well. When I wasn't helping the P... Celestia, of course."

"But everyone knows who Mickey Mouse is!"

Twilight looked like she was formulating an excuse in that head of hers. I got her attention from behind Sarah and just shrugged.

Twilight emulated my shrug for Sarah, smiling awkwardly. Sarah let out a small groan, but didn't pursue the subject any further.

I've been doing well with these ladies, recently. I've convinced Sarah that the clearly magical floating air pump made sense, I explained away Chrysalis after Sarah blurted out her name... Oh... I'm only good at making excuses. I thought I was being impressive, here. Damn it.

This was super duper, though. I like having company for Christmas. Not exactly the company I wanted, but I wasn't complaining. Ok, I'm complaining a little.

We stopped decorating only when the box was empty. We even added some candy canes every so often. Also, we ate some. They still tasted good. Sarah cut her lip on one though. It happens to me sometimes, too. You may think that it takes a real retard to cut your lip on a candy cane... and you'd be right. Just thinking about it now makes me question my intelligence. Sarah has learned a valuable lesson about candy canes today.

When we were done with the tree, it was well past food time. I offered to make the ladies some mac'n'cheese. I would have made it anyways, I love mac. And cheese.

Boom, food. Easy. Eating. Humans do that. Boom, humanity achieved.

After the three of us had eaten our fill, I cleaned up the mess in the kitchen and headed back into the front room. I looked at the tree again.

"Hey Sarah, are you gonna want this light off?" I asked her, pointing at it.

"Hmm? Oh no, it's fine. I... can sleep with the light."

"Alrighty then." I shrugged. "Hey, you two wanna play a game?" I asked them.

"What kind of game?" asked Twilight.

"Game?" asked Sarah, interested.

I gestured to the TV.

"Oh! What games do you have?" asked Sarah.

Twilight walked towards it and examined it.

"You've mentioned this before. What does it do, exactly?" she asked.

"I'll show you."

"Do you not have video games where you're from?" asked Sarah.

"At this point, you shouldn't even be surprised, Sarah." I said to her.

"I..."

"Come on, let's play for a while." I said.

"What are we playing?" asked Sarah.

"Mmm... I got Mario Kart 8 and Smash Brothers 4." I said.

She gasped. "Oh, I haven't played Mario Kart in years!"

Guess I know what we're playing.

I started the game and laid out some controllers for us on the coffee table. Luckily, the number of participants hasn't increased, so I had enough controllers for everyone.

The three of us sat down on the couch and picked up our controllers. I was first player, as is tradition. Sarah sat next to me in the middle and took second. Twilight was on the other end of the couch with the third. Just like Celestia always did, Twilight emulated the way I held it. She would be a fast learner.

"So which Mario Kart game did you play last?" I asked Sarah as we started the game.

"When I was younger, I used to play the one on the Nintendo 64."

"Oh hey, same."

"That was back when... when I had friends to play it with."

"Yeah, it's way more fun with friends."

"I know, I know..." She let out a small chuckle. "That was... before we started moving."

"How many times did you move?" I asked her.

"The first time I moved was when I was ten. Then twelve. Then fifteen. Then sixteen. Twice when I was eighteen. Then when I was nineteen... And now this. I never had enough time to make long term friends."

"Holy damn, Sarah. And you kept up with your school work."

"Yep. Even graduated early."

"Wow... That's crazy impressive..."

"Thank you." she said, a genuine smile on her face.

"That sounds awful." said Twilight, "That couldn't have been easy on you."

"No... No, it wasn't." she replied, her enthusiasm diminished.

Aw man, poor Sarah. And I'm planning on leaving her as well. Sarah is a pure cinnamon bun that doesn't deserve all this suffering.

Celestia, by contrast, is a glazed doughnut...

"Don't worry, Sarah. You have some friends right next to you willing to play." said Twilight, brightening the mood.

She smiled again. "Thanks, Twilight."

"Come on, let's get your mind off this for a little while, ey?" I said to her, "Let's have some fun."

Her smile grew. "You're right. Let's play."

"You'll have to help me a bit." said Twilight, "I've never done this before."

"It's alright. I haven't done it in a long while, either." said Sarah.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that this game and Mario Kart 64 are very different." I said.

"Oh... Great..." she sarcastically let out.

I taught Twilight the basics and Sarah was able to brush up on her knowledge of the series as I spoke. As I started us a game, I saw the stars that Red worked so hard on. It reminded me of when my first party of ponies joined me on the couch. I took in a breath, pushing past the memories.

I started us in a 50cc game. Though the outcome was predetermined, Sarah fought hard against her fate.. I won, Sarah was in second, Twilight in third. As was tradition.

Sarah let out a laugh. She was enjoying this.

The three of us had fun in the front room until it was time for bed. We finished our races, then dispersed throughout the house to prepare.

That night, before falling asleep, I found myself thinking of Sarah again. I really didn't want to leave her alone when I went to Equestria. That would be so mean. I mean, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I wouldn't like it. It's not like I can do anything about it. I don't know, maybe I can. Celestia comes first. I know Celestia doesn't like the thought either.

I don't know what Sarah expects. If she wants a place to stay, she has it. If she wants a friend... I don't know if I can help her. If things go well for me, I'll be leaving soon. I won't be here for her anymore.

Who else would I be hurting by leaving? My friends and family... Mmm... They'd understand.

I sighed.

It'll all be worth it to be with my love.

December 15

Wake up. Breakfast. Video games. Work. Blah, blah, blah, get to the fun part.

Keeping with the Christmas spirit, after work I asked the ladies if they would like to bake Christmas cookies with me. Naturally, they agreed. Who *wouldn't* want to bake Christmas cookies? Any time of the year, really.

"Did you have any special recipes in mind?" Sarah asked me, "Because it looks like you do."

"I do!" I replied with a smile, "Though I don't actually have the ingredients. I'll have to go buy some."

Sarah was smiling. "Do you need any help? Maybe I... could come with..." She got a little nervous there.

"That's a great idea! Hey, how about you, Twilight? You wanna come with?"

She smiled at me in response. "Of course. I'll grab my notebook."

"I gotta... look at the book, actually." I said.

I opened a cupboard in the kitchen and took out a cookbook. Sarah watched as I opened it.

"There we go." I said, finding the page I needed.

"That is a *lot* of sour cream." said Sarah.

Sour cream cookies. Along with standard cookie ingredients, it also calls for two cups of sour cream. Crazy, I know.

"Yeah it is. But the thing is, these cookies are amazing, even with all that sour cream."

"What?" she asked in disbelief.

"See, you wouldn't think sour cream would go well with cookies, but it totally does." I said to her.

"No way!" she replied.

"Well, you're just gonna have to try it and find out." I said to her.

"Are you serious?"

"I *never* joke about cookies."

"I... Uh... A-Alright... Alright! Let's go get some... sour cream."

"You know, I actually hate sour cream, but I'll eat it in these cookies no problem."

"I... Yeah! Let's go!"

Looks like she was willing to try anything right now.

We met Twilight on the way out and went to the car. Twilight took the front seat and Sarah sat in the back.

Why was Sarah coming with? I don't mind, I'm just curious.

I took this opportunity to stock up at home. I asked Sarah if she needed any more tampons. Directly. She immediately became embarrassed and tiptoed around her reply. I knew I shouldn't find it funny, but I couldn't help it. I'm a jerk... I picked some up anyways, despite her lack of an answer. It was a little embarrassing for the whole party, actually. My fault.

So, sour cream. And frosting as well. And sprinkles. I paused for a short while upon reaching the frosting. Impure memories of Celestia briefly came back to me.

Oh man, where was Celestia? She should be here right now. She loves this kind of thing. And me. And also I love her, too. And I really, really missed her.

Cheer up, you still have Twilight and Sarah! I mean, you can't snuggle with either of them, but they're still hanging around and being friendly.

I wanted my Celestia back.

Righto... We headed back home shortly.

We assembled the ingredients on the counters and consulted the recipe book. Both Sarah and Twilight were with me, ready to cook. I started us out by preheating the oven.

It was a simple recipe. Butter, sugar, eggs, flour, and what have you... and two heaping cups of sour cream.

Sarah was still weirded out by the sour cream. Like, you'd think the cookies would turn out a disgusting blob of gruel, but it's actually amazing.

It was a simple recipe to follow, though it didn't stop at the mixing. The fun part was next.

"Alright girls, now we need to clear off the table." I told them.

The three of us looked to it. It was covered in the various dishes and ingredients that we had used while mixing the batter.

Sarah gasped. "Are we going to cut out the shapes?" she asked, excitement in her voice.

I smiled at her. "That's right."

She shook her hands near her chest and hopped in place. "Yay!"

She had an almost childlike reaction to the Christmas season. It was really cute.

Twilight and Sarah got to work on the table. Meanwhile, I ignored them and turned around to rummage through the cupboards for my cookie cutters.

"What shapes do you cut them into?" asked Twilight.

"Oh, all kinds." I said, "Here we are..." I picked out the plastic bin that held my collection and showed it to them. "Christmas trees, candy canes, wreaths, snowmen, gingerbread man, stars, stockings... Speaking of, we could've got you two some stockings while we were out."

"Phil please, that's not... necessary..." said Twilight, an awkward smile on her face.

"I... I think I'm going to agree with Twilight on that." said Sarah, "There's no reason for you to go overboard on this just for us. You've done a lot for us already. Well... for me, at least..."

I shrugged. "Fair enough." I smiled.

"You're planning on getting us gifts, aren't you?" asked Twilight.

I shrugged again. "Yeah, I was thinking about it." I replied, "And I know you're gonna tell me not to, but I probably will anyways."

"I don't have anything to give you." said Sarah.

"Me either." said Twilight.

"Christmas is about giving, not receiving." I said, "It's about the spirit of things. Besides, I'm still having fun, and I bet you two are, too."

Sarah gave me a pleasant smile. She let out a small giggle. "I like spending the holidays at your house. It's much more fun than at home."

I smile back at her. "Let's get to work on these. Sarah, could you spread out some flour on the table for us?"

"I'll get right on it!" she replied.

"Twilight, could you grab the rolling pin? It's in that drawer, there." I said, pointing.

"Of course."

I retrieved the cookie sheet and made sure it was ready before we got started.

The cutting was the best part of cookie making. Aside from decorating, I guess. And eating, though that's not a part of making them. Rather, it's un-making them.

Before we started, I made sure my hands were clean.

I brought the bowl of cookie dough to the table and sat down. The two of them joined me.

"Sorry, I don't have any aprons." I said to them, "You'll have to deal with flour on your clothes for a little while."

"That's alright." said Twilight, "As long as *you* don't have a problem with it."

"Wha'?" I asked.

"*You* wash my clothes for me." she replied.

"Y-Yeah..." said Sarah, a nervousness in her voice, "A-Actually... I don't... know if I... actually want you washing... m-my... my clothes for me."

I shrugged. "Ok. You'll probably have to do yours in separate loads, then."

"Alright... Sp-Speaking of... I think I'll take a sh-shower when we're d-done with this."

"M-kay." I shrugged.

I reached into the bowl and picked out some dough. They did the same. We shared the roller to flatten it into the flour. I already had some on my pants. Neither of them were faring any better.

Where the fuck is my Celestia? She should be here with me making cookies, not these two. We'd probably start with throwing flour and dough at each other and end up in bed. I missed her.

Ah, but Sarah and Twilight are still great company. Maybe if I tried acting less like if they were Celestia, and more like they were just friends...

I wore a simple smile on my face as we worked. It was the same story as before. Sarah was loving all this Christmas stuff and Twilight just came along for the ride.

Twilight was an interesting case. She enjoyed this just like Sarah and I, and yet, she seemed almost rushed. I noticed this about her when we were working on the tree. Then again, it could just be her OCD kicking in. She works very quickly, whether by choice or by habit.

I ate some of the dough left over from my pattern of shapes. Sarah did the same, clearly not knowing if she were allowed to beforehand.

"Ah! Don't eat the dough!" Twilight suddenly let out.

Sarah let out a surprised yelp, then started to cough. I think she's choking on the dough... Ok, she stopped.

I glanced at Twilight, curious.

"W-Why not?" asked Sarah, worried.

"If you eat the dough, there won't be enough for the cookies the recipe said it would make!" Twilight let out, her tone just as worried as it was before

Sarah glared at her. "I choked on cookie dough because there wouldn't be enough cookies?" she asked, obvious irritation in her voice.

"And it's... not... healthy! It's not healthy! Eating raw eggs can make you sick." Twilight said to us.

"Oh, we'll survive." I said to her, "Try not to scare poor Sarah over here. I don't wanna have to tell her family that she choked to death on cookie dough."

"OhI'm sorry, Sarah."

"It's alright, Twilight." she replied.

We set our creations on the sheet I had prepared and put them into the oven. We had enough dough for two batches, it seemed. Well, if we stopped eating it, that is. We quickly got to work on the next batch.

There was a knock at the front door. I looked to the kitchen entrance and stood up, clapping my hands together to get rid of the flour on them.

"Coming!" I called out.

I opened the front door with no hesitation. It was probably a friend or something. Or not, whatever. However, I was rather surprised to find out that it was... Drum roll... Sarah's mom! Wait, Sarah's mom?

I smiled at her and said, "Oh! I didn't expect to see you here, Mrs. Lockhart."

"Yes, yes... Is my daughter here?"

I blinked. Er... "Yes, she is."

"May I come in?"

I blinked again. I didn't know if I wanted her in, yet. "One sec." I said. I turned to the kitchen and announced, "Hey Sarah, your mom's here."

"My mom?" She looked through the kitchen door. "Oh, mom!"

I stepped aside, allowing her inside. The two women walked towards each other. I closed the door, then walked next to Sarah.

"What's on your hands?" asked Olivia, noticing the white powder that Sarah was trying very hard not to touch to anything.

"Oh, this is flour." she replied, "We were making Christmas cookies."

"Cookies? Sounds fun."

"It is. I'd hug you, but..." She moved her hands a bit, drawing attention to them.

Olivia chuckled.

I saw Twilight looking out at us from the kitchen doorway.

"Wh-What are you doing here?" asked Sarah.

"Well, I'm here to make sure you're safe, of course. Your father kicked you out without telling me."

Sarah's mood darkened. "Of course he didn't tell you. He doesn't care."

"Sarah, he *does* care. You mean the world to him, he just doesn't know how to show it."

"Why are you here?" Sarah asked again, an angrier tone in her voice.

Olivia looked down. She sighed, then looked back to her daughter. "I couldn't convince your father to let you come back. You're an adult now, sweetie, there was nothing I could do."

"I wouldn't come back anyways." she coldly replied.

"I know that he hasn't made the best decisions recently, but he really does love you."

Sarah wasn't convinced.

Olivia sighed again. "I thought you'd be like this..." She nodded. "I'm here because I wanted to know how you were doing."

"I'm... I'm doing fine, mom. Phil is taking care of me." Sarah looked to me. She smiled. "He's letting me stay as long as I need until I can find a place on my own."

Olivia looked to me as well. "Thank you so much for taking care of my daughter. You have no idea how much it means to me that my Sarah has found someone like you."

I smiled at her. "Happy to help."

"I never expected to see her with a man like you." She looked down my body and back up. I felt both flattered and uncomfortable at the same time.

I just smiled the same smile as before.

She looked back to Sarah. "Oh, but the thought of you living alone with him..." She sighed. "I know you're an adult and you can make your own decisions, but these things still scare me. I'm still your mother. I know I can't stop you, so I can only hope that you're doing it safely."

I held back a laugh. Sarah seemed oblivious.

"What do you mean?" asked Sarah.

"Well, condoms of course."

"M-Mom! O-Oh my god..."

"I just wanted to make sure!" she replied, "You're too young to be having children." She looked to me. "Both of you are."

"Mom, you're embarrassing m-me!"

"You don't have to worry about that, Olivia. Sarah and I won't be having any kids anytime soon." I said to her.

"That's good." She turned back to Sarah. "You need to wait until you're at least 29 before you start having kids. I don't want to even *hear* the word 'grandmother' before I'm 50."

"Wh... Y-You can't tell me when I can or can't have kids!" Sarah retorted at her.

Olivia let out a laugh. "I'm only joking, Sarah. I'm only joking. I know how you young people are... I was young once, too. I know how it is. I know how hard it is to resist the temptation."

"Mom, can we *please* stop t-talking about this?" Sarah asked her, irritation in her voice.

"Fine, fine. I trust you, honey. Phil should make a fine father of my grandchildren."

"Mom!" she yelled at her.

Olivia laughed again.

"Sorry to burst your bubble there Olivia, but Sarah and I aren't together anymore." I said to her.

Olivia gasped. "What?! Why not?"

I looked to Sarah. "We never... really were to begin with. For a little while, we had a... thing, but it just... it didn't work out."

She let out an irritated sigh. "It's my husband's fault, isn't it..."

"No, no, it's not... Well, not entirely..."

"I knew it. I can't believe this. He chases away every man that Sarah gets close to."

"He wha-?" asked Sarah.

"Oh, nothing. He's never actually chased them away, but once they found out that *he* was your father..." She sighed. "And here, I thought that you'd finally found a nice man. Why did you break up? If you don't mind my asking..."

Improvise! "We... uh... I... I guess I just... didn't... feel that way about her. We never... It just wasn't..." I glanced at Sarah. She had a somewhat surprised look on her face.

"Oh, that's too bad... Did you find someone else? Is it that purple haired woman in the kitchen?"

"You mean me?" asked Twilight, poking her head through the doorway.

"Of course she means you, Twilight." I replied. I turned back to Olivia. "No, that's just a friend. I... I don't... I don't think I'd like to discuss this with you anymore. I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I don't want to reopen old wounds."

Why is my best skill making excuses? I'm not even that good at it.

Olivia looked to my tree. "Are you... staying here for Christmas, Sarah?"

Sarah glanced at me, then back at her mom. "I am."

Olivia gave her a sad look. "It'll be your first Christmas without your family."

"I'm sorry, mom. I just... I can't stay with... him... He kicked me out and I'm not coming back."

Olivia nodded. "I understand, Sarah. I'm not going to beg you to come back. I'm just worried about you. Going off on your own like this..." She glanced at me. "I don't know what to say..." She sounded upset.

"Mom..."

"Are you really living here? It's such a small house for two people. Where do you sleep?"

"I... It doesn't matter where I sleep!" Sarah let out, surprisingly defensive.

Olivia sighed. "No, I suppose it doesn't... As long as you have a place to stay... I can't believe this... Come with me to the car, I've brought some of your things."

"Uh... Ok... I'll be right there, I need to wash my hands."

"Phil, can you help us?" asked Olivia.

"Yeah, sure."

She smiled at me, then turned and walked back out the door. I followed her out.

"Phil, I wanted to thank you again for this." she said to me.

"Uh, yeah... No problem."

"Did you really break up, or did you lie to me?" she asked.

"We're not together anymore." I said.

"Oh, what a shame... You're a nice man."

"Thanks."

She opened the front driver side door of her car and looked in. "I have something for you. For your troubles."

I like things.

She reached in and grabbed something from inside the center console. Nice butt... She came back out and held out a white envelope. "Here."

I looked at it, then took it from her.

"Sarah's rent for the next few months." she said to me.

I looked to the envelope again. It *did* feel pretty heavy.

"I hope you're not expecting me to decline your offer." I said, pocketing the envelope, "I have no problem with accepting charity."

"It's not charity. I'm paying for my daughter's rent. I know she can't afford rent in this town."

The front door opened behind me. We both looked to Sarah. She slowed to a stop.

"Phil." said Olivia, tapping my shoulder.

I looked back. She held out a black bag, clearly a laptop bag. I took it from her and turned to Sarah. "I'll set this on the couch."

"Thank you." she replied.

Sarah walked through the door as I was walking out, pulling a suitcase behind her.

After I got back to Olivia, I said, "You know, I wasn't planning on charging her rent."

"I thought you said you had no problem with charity." she replied.

"I don't. You're not getting it back."

She just gave me a small smile.

I took in another suitcase and Sarah walked in with one more before we were done. The living room was officially full.

Sarah and I walked back out to Olivia.

"Thank you for your help, Phil." Olivia said to me.

I nodded. "No problem."

She smiled at her daughter. The two of them came together for a pleasant hug. "I'll miss you while you're here, Sarah."

Sarah sighed. "I'll miss you, too."

They held each other for a while before letting go.

Olivia turned to me again. "Sarah has my phone number incase you need it."

I nodded. "Alright."

She changed focus between the two of us. "I want you both to be safe, alright? Um... Not that... I mean... Just..." She looked to me. "Be nice to my daughter."

I smiled. "Course."

"You might not be together anymore, but don't think I don't know what happens with you young people. Make sure to..."

"Mom!"

Olivia stopped. She chuckled at us. "Alright. I'll be heading home now. Be... sure to call if you... need anything."

"We will, mom."

"I love you, Sarah." she said.

"I love you too, mom."

Olivia seemed saddened as she got into her car and left. We stood outside as she drove away.

I looked to Sarah. She wasn't smiling.

"You alright?" I asked her.

"Mmm..." She paused. "Let's go back inside." she finally replied.

I shrugged. "Alright."

The two of us headed back in. Twilight was waiting for us in the living room, a somewhat concerned look on her face. She gave us a friendly smile as we walked in.

"How did it go?" asked Twilight.

"Eh... Well?" said Sarah, seemingly irritated that she had asked, "She's my mom, it's not..." She stopped, then blinked. "I'm sorry."

"Come on, you'll feel better after you get some cookies." I said to her.

She smiled at me. "Yeah."

"They'll be done in a few minutes." I said, "We can cut out the rest of them while we wait."

We went back to work on the cookies. Sarah cheered right up.

I made sure I had a place to set them before taking the cookies out of the oven. They turned out very well, a delicious golden brown. I set the tray onto the stove top and moved the cookies onto a cooling rack.

Sarah stood next to me and bent down to smell the cookies. She let out a satisfied sigh. "Ahh, they smell so good..."

"They taste even better." I said.

"Do they, really? I wasn't sure about this sour cream before, but now, I think it was a really great idea."

"Well, you'll find out soon."

I put the second batch into the oven.

"So Sarah..." I started.

"Yes?"

"What comes after baking?"

"Decorating?" she asked with a smile.

"You got it!"

Her smile widened. "I've been waiting for this part."

"Let's get the table cleared off, then we can get these things ready to eat."

The three of us shared the task of cleaning the extra flour from the table.

We gave the cookies a few short minutes to cool before we got to work. I burned myself on one by picking it up too early and Twilight reprimand me for doing so. I deserved it.

I retrieved the frosting and sprinkles for us to use and some butter knives to spread the frosting. I got us some paper plates to catch any mess.

I grabbed one of the knives and scooped out a heaping pile of frosting, then immediately slapped it onto my cookie. Frosting hung over the edges and stuck to the plate underneath.

Twilight looked at my cookie. "That's a... lot of frosting." she said.

By comparison, her cookie looked as if someone sane had been decorating it. The very idea.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose it's a bit much." I said. I squished around the frosting a little more, not helping my case.

"If you're going to use that much frosting, then you wouldn't even need the cookie in the first place. Shouldn't they all have... the same amount?"

"What, is his cookie making you uncomfortable or something?" asked Sarah.

Twilight paused.

"What? Seriously?"

She let out a nervous chuckle. "It's... a waste of frosting."

I grabbed the red sprinkles and shook some from the container onto it. Most of it spilled onto the plate. It clearly ruffled Twilight's feathers.

My cookie was ugly, but there was a lot of sugar packed into it, kinda like me...

"Well, how's my cookie, Twilight?" Sarah jokingly asked her.

Twilight looked to it. "It's a lot better than his."

Sarah laughed. Twilight chuckled.

I sighed. "You're just bullying my poor cookie." I picked it up and held it up for her to see. "Look how sad he is."

"It's definitely sad." said Sarah.

"Sarah! I'd expect this kind of abuse from Red, but..."

The tower of frosting on my cookie started to sag.

"Uh, Phil?" said Twilight.

"Yeah?" I asked, turning myself and my cookie towards her.

With a loud slap as it hit the plate, the frosting fell from the cookie in my hand due to its own weight. The red sugary sprinkles scattered across the table.

Sarah snickered, then started to laugh. Twilight joined her. I smiled at my own misfortune. Just according to keikaku. *Translator's note: Keikaku means plan.*

I started laughing along with them. The three of us were laughing at such a silly mistake. This was fun...

I dipped my cookie into the pile of frosting and took a bite. "Yep, just as good as I remembered." I said with a smile.

Sarah brought her cookie up to her face and took a bite from it. She immediately smiled. "This is delicious! I didn't expect it to be this good!"

Twilight nodded. "It turned out well."

I tried to make Twilight happy by using less frosting on the rest of the cookies, but I still used a lot. I'm 25 years old, I should be able to use as much frosting as I please...

Before long, the second batch of cookies were ready to go. I retrieved it from the oven, turning it off in the process.

This was it. This was it for today. Cookies. This was awesome.

"So, we're not saving these for Christmas?" asked Sarah.

"Nah. They're better warm, anyways." I said.

"They probably wouldn't last that long, anyways." she said.

"You'd be surprised."

"They'll last for ten days? Won't they go stale?"

"Eh, not really. As long as they're stored properly. But they'll still be good."

"Wow... I wish I had these when I was a kid." she said.

"They were very good." said Twilight, "Thank you, Phil."

"Yeah thanks, Phil." said Sarah.

I smiled. "Of course."

This was a good idea. I liked this idea.

Thus ends today's cookie escapades. Tune in next week for another exciting episode of: Nerds Making Cookies! The movie. The book. The video game adaption.

After we had cleaned our mess, we settled in for the night. With nothing else interesting going on, we played some more Mario Kart as we ate our cookies.

When I got to my room, I finally opened the envelope that Olivia gave me. I reached in, taking out a sizable stack of bills. I counted it out, my eyes widening as I did. I was holding two thousand dollars in cash. This would cover her for a solid year minimum. Had I been charging her in the first place, of course. Should I just... give this to Sarah? I don't have a problem with charity, but this seems... wrong... Mmm... It's Sarah's 'rent'. She's staying here, this covers it...

I glanced to the wooden box on my dresser where I had stored Chrysalis's gold coin. I have been making bank recently... I needed a better place for that. Looks like tomorrow was bank day.

December 19

Sarah seemed pretty happy living with me. It was probably because it was nearing Christmas. Christmas makes everyone happy. She and I eventually did trade rooms. She needed the space and privacy. She rarely closed the door, though. I suppose it wasn't too necessary.

Despite their protests, I took to shopping online to get Twilight and Sarah gifts for Christmas. I didn't want to get them anything crazy, but we were friends. Friends I liked more than my other friends, I can tell you that. Those guys are nerds.

The purchases Celestia and I had made a while ago stared me in the face as I logged onto Amazon. It was mainly lube... Mainly... Stop looking at me like that.

I can delete things from my Amazon history, right? There it is... Boop-boop... gone...

For Twilight, books. That was easy... What would Sarah want, though? Hmm... What would Sarah want... I have no idea. A while ago, Sarah told me that she loved chocolate, Reese's Cups in particular. It probably wouldn't be special as books, but then again, I'm letting her live here.

What kinds of books would Twilight want? Harry Potter? No, she's read that already. Lord of the Rings, perhaps... Those are good. I just wanted to see the look on Twilight's face.

Just a few days before Christmas, though... Shipping might be an issue.

Aside from that, I've just been helping Twilight with her books. It's been pretty difficult. Twilight and I were nearing the end of the them. She seemed a little stressed, actually. Her hair was messy. I think she may have been losing sleep over this. Not terribly healthy, but who am I to judge?

December 22

This book shit was getting old. I'm sorry, but it was. I can't read this disabled child's writing. It looks like he was having a fucking stroke while he was...

"Phil..." Twilight started as we worked.

"What's up?" I looked to her.

"I... I think I found something..." she let out quietly.

"What?"

"I think I found something, Phil!" she repeated. I saw her eyes frantically scurrying over her page. She quickly copied it down so we could read it.

"Finally! Good work, Twilight!" I happily replied, "What does it say? What is it? What does it do?"

"This... This spell..." She seemed almost stunned.

"Twilight?"

"This..." She cleared her throat. "It seems..." She was reading it over again. "Hmm... How should I put this... Well, it's clearly an unfinished spell. Clear to me, that is, you wouldn't... It isn't written as a completed spell, and as it is now, casting it won't do anything. But judging from the pages leading up to it, it's a spell meant to travel through time."

"Time? That's... pretty incredible. But it's not..."

"I know, I know. He was researching time travel spells, but he was going at it wrong. You may find this hard to believe, but I've used time travel magic myself." She said this with the proudest voice possible. "This spell could never allow a pony travel through time as it is. Not unless an incredible amount of power was used. That's because this spell uses a different method to travel through time."

Fucking what? "Go on."

"It seems like he was trying to go back in time by entering another world to do so."

"Fucking what?" Go on. I quickly covered my mouth in shock. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud."

"I know it's hard to understand, but try to bear with me. Imagine another world much like our own. At first glance, everything seems identical, but after a closer look, you notice subtle differences. For instance, my hair may be blue, or your eyes could be brown. Or perhaps the differences wouldn't be large enough to notice."

"So a parallel world? I get that."

"Yes, that's right. So you're with me so far. What Star Song was trying to do was to was to go to the past in another world instead of his own."

"How is that... easier? Wh-Why the... Why would he do that?"

"It seems that he wanted to avoid paradoxes that would come from altering his timeline."

"Uhh... Go on. I heard 'other world' so, I take it..."

"That's right! It seems he was successful in accessing another world."

"Oh, wow... That's... Holy crap. Good find, Twilight!" The excitement has worn off a bit with her explaining, but I'll gladly give her this one.

"And I think that if I were to combine this spell with the spell that the Princess used to come here, then I should be able to use it to get to Equestria!"

I gave her a wide smile. "Now that's what I like to hear! Man, I'm so glad Celestia sent you here. You're the only one who's smart enough to figure this kinda thing out."

She looked away, smiling a sheepish smile. "Well the... Princess could've..." she quietly let out.

"Ah, maybe. But the Princess believed that you could do it. And it looks to me like you can."

She let out a little nervous chuckle. "Thank you, Phil. But we're not done yet. I still have to test the spell and I have no idea if it will even work, but..."

I nodded, still smiling. "It's still progress. Ready to give it a test?"

"I don't know. Can you give me Ancient Magicks?"

I retrieved the book from the table and handed it to her. She opened it to the bookmarked page and started reading.

I can't believe that we've made progress... This is awesome.

She looked back to her notes, then to Star Song's book. Then back to her notes. She picked up her pencil and began writing again. She was writing pretty fast, actually. I couldn't follow it.

She stopped writing for a short while. "Alright... I think I'm ready."

Twilight stood up. I stood up as well, stepping away just in case.

She held the book in one arm, and held her other arm forward. "If I follow the incantation in Ancient Magicks and combine it with the spell in the book..." I'm pretty sure she's saying it so I can understand what she's trying to do. I appreciate it.

Her hand started to glow. She began reciting the incantation from the book. I knew it all too well... the spell that took Celestia from me... But now it's the spell that will bring us together again.

In front of her, I saw the same white circle as before. It started small before growing larger. As Twilight poured more energy into her spell, the aura surrounding her hand grew and began to give off magical sparks.

Twilight let out a grunt of exertion. Her eyes began to glow. As she used more power, the world she was from began to form in the window. I was in awe... A window into another world.. It was just as incredible as before.

Color slowly filled in the white circle until finally...

"AHHHH!"

Twilight let out a yelp in surprise and jumped back, landing on the couch.

A rather girlish scream from a rather manly being... I smirked at who I saw on the other side of the circle.

"Twilight, you should know better that to peek in when someone is bathing." he scolded.

"D-Discord!" Twilight loudly let out, angry at the one on the other side. She let out a breath, laying her head back on the couch. She was tired.

Discord raised his arm and snapped his fingers. The bath disappeared in a flash of magic, leaving him wrapped up in a towel with another towel on his head.

"Honestly Twilight, I'm flattered, but it simply wouldn't work between you and I." He reached one of his hands to the portal, but his hand stopped and smudged against the window. He poked at it again, but it didn't go through. "My, my, that certainly is a powerful spell you've casted, there. One to move from one world to the other, I see. If you would only have asked me, I could've taught you how in a jiffy."

"We did... ask you." Twilight let out, irritated. She was panting as she laid against the couch.

"You did? I'm sure I would've remembered that..." he replied, "Oh, wait a moment..."

He brought his hands together and spread them apart. A scroll opened in his hands, appearing from nowhere.

"Hmm, let's see... Ah, here it is!"

I noticed that his towel was gone. I didn't notice when it happened...

He turned the scroll around and showed us the contents. On the scroll, it showed, in full quality, with sound, a movie of Celestia directly asking Discord if he knew how, which he replied that he didn't.

"See?" said Twilight.

"Oh yes, now I remember! But if I had done that, you and Phil would never have met. Do you really think that I would prevent a friendship so beautiful?" He placed a hand on his chest and leaned back, a glowing halo appearing over his head.

"Yes." replied Twilight.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." He looked to me. "And you must be Phil! This is the first time we have met. Let me introduce myself. I am Discord, the Spirit of Chaos. I must say, your ponypedia article did not do you justice." He held out an arm. A laptop appeared on it, the aforementioned article on the screen. I saw that there was a drawing of me on it, though the nose was notably incorrect, a la Tangled. "I'd shake your hand, but it would seem that I can't enter your world at the moment."

I smiled at him. "Nice to meet you." I said.

"Well, don't keep us waiting." he said, "Try it."

I blinked, then stepped towards the portal. I raised a hand to it, but just as if I were pressing my hand against a glass window pane, my hand didn't go through.

I shrugged. "I guess I expected that. There any particular reason Twilight opened the portal to you?"

"Well, other than Twilight wanting to watch me bathe, I haven't the slightest clue." he said to me.

I looked to Twilight, who was still resting on the couch. She wasn't entirely happy that we were talking to Discord right now.

"Right..." I replied.

"It must be your fault." he said to me, "Twilight was never this daring before she met you."

"I didn't want to... see you bathe..." Twilight asserted.

"Is that so? Then why would you open the portal to me?"

Twilight leaned forward. She took in a deep breath. "I didn't!"

"Where's Celestia?" I asked him.

"Oh, probably in her castle." he replied, "She's far too busy to speak with us right now, though. She must be very important if you're going through all this trouble for her."

"Well y-yeah, no shit."

He took in an exaggerated gasp. "Phil! Language!"

"That was a stupid question."

"Fair enough. Well, allow me to provide a proper response to your answer. Phil and Celestia sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!" he cheerfully let out, "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage!" He started laughing. "Though in your case, I may have gotten the order wrong." Another laugh.

I sighed.

"What, didn't like my song?" he asked.

I continued to frown.

He shrugged. "Well anyhoo, this portal won't help anyone if you can't go through." he said, "Go ahead and try it, Twilight. I won't bite, I promise."

Twilight glared at him, but, probably against her better judgement, got up from the couch she and approached the portal. Discord stepped back, bowing as he gave her room to enter.

Twilight moved her gaze from Discord to the portal itself. She briefly examined it before lifting an arm. She touched it with her hand, letting it move through. She pulled her hand back, then examined it. She wiggled her fingers.

"Oh come on, we don't have all day. We're nearing the end of the chapter and Phil's getting tired of dragging this out."

Twilight looked to me, confused. I shrugged.

"Alright." said Twilight, "Here I go."

She stepped forward, walking through the portal.

On the other side, her pony body emerged. She dropped to the ground on her old hooves.

There was a crash from the side and she dropped out of view with a yelp. I heard a loud splash and water rose into view.

Discord was laughing at Twilight's misfortune, holding his stomach as he floated in the air.

I sighed again. Ok, it's a little funny...

Discord got closer to the portal and reached to it again. He physically moved it down, as if adjusting a mirror. I could see Twilight's unamused face as she floated in a mucky pond. Trees surrounded the area. A forest, probably.

"I said I wouldn't bite, but I didn't promise that they wouldn't." he said to Twilight, pointing at a bubbly area forming on the surface of the water. He started laughing again.

"Discord!" Twilight angrily screamed at him.

He stopped his laugh, wiping away a tear from his eye and flicking it away. "Oh, fine." he said, still enjoying this.

He cast a spell, making Twilight disappear in a flash. She was on dry land once again, soaking wet, but still.

"Here, let me take care of that." he said to her.

Another flash of magic conjured up a very large hair dryer, many times the size of Twilight's body. She grumbled to herself before it turned on. Within seconds, she was completely dry. After he turned it off, Twilight's mane and tail retained its windblown shape.

I held in a snicker.

"See, good as new." said Discord.

Twilight shook her head to fix her mane. "Discord, where am I?" she asked him, still irritated.

"Why, the Everfree Forest, of course!" he replied.

"Why did the spell take me here?"

"How should I know? You're the one who cast it."

She let out a sigh. "Well, at least I know that it works."

"Good job, Twilight." I said to her.

"I'm impressed, as well. You distorted reality so much, you made the impossible possible."

"It wasn't easy, but at least we can travel when we need to." she said.

"That's not what I meant. Phil knows what I meant."

"What did he mean?" Twilight asked me.

"I... don't know if I know..."

Discord chuckled. "I take it you're going to leave poor little me here all alone again?" he said to her.

"Yes, I am." she replied.

He shrugged. "Alright. I'll be sure to let Princess Celestia know that you've made progress here, Twilight."

"Thank you, Discord. That's... really nice of you."

"What's with that look?" He turned to me. "It's like she doesn't trust me to keep my word."

"Oh no, how terrible." I stoically replied.

He just smirked at me.

Twilight walked back towards the portal she entered through. "It's a shame that Spike couldn't come with. I could write a letter to the Princess so she'd know."

"Don't worry about that, Twilight." said Discord, "I'll let her know."

"I hope Spike's doing ok without me."

"Would you like me to check on him for you?" asked Discord.

"I don't know if... that's a good idea." she replied.

"Whaaaat? Why not? Spike and I are such good pals, Twilight. I'll make sure he's doing well."

"Um... Well... alright... Thank you, Discord." Twilight turned to me. "I don't directly have a way to let the Princess know what we did. We'll have to rely on Discord to let her know."

I nodded. "Alright. Unless she's already listening in on us."

Twilight nodded. "Yes, but Discord said that she was busy at the moment."

I shrugged.

She looked to the portal, then walked through it the same way she had left. I gave her my hand to steady her arrival.

"You kids have fun!" Discord said to us, "And be careful with all that hand holding! It's not healthy for you!"

Twilight closed the portal behind her without another word.

"That went well." she said to me.

"It went better than well! Now that you've figured out how to do that, Celestia can visit me whenever she wants!" I happily let out.

"That's right." said Twilight, "But we're not finished yet. We still need to find a way to get you into Equestria."

I gave her an excited nod. "Looking forward to it."

"Though... not tonight... I'm... too tired to keep going..."

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead and rest." I said, my smile still on my face, "We can keep going tomorrow."

She nodded, then fell back down onto the couch.

"I'll get the light." I said to her.

"Thank you." she replied.

I turned off the light for her before heading back upstairs. I closed the basement door, then silently celebrated to myself... in plain view of Sarah.

"What happened down there?" she asked me, "I heard you talking to someone."

None of your damn beeswax, Sarah. I'm sick of coming up with excuses. "We got a Skype call." I said, "He was a friend of Twilight's as well, so I put it on speaker."

"You seemed to be celebrating a lot down there. Did anything important happen?"

"We finally found what we needed from those books. Hopefully, with just a little more studying, we should be done with them soon."

"Oh. Well, good job. Hey Phil... I'll, um.. I'll be gone for a while tomorrow afternoon. I won't be back until late."

"Oh, alright. Where you going? Just to the store? Ah, it's none of my business. Wait, how are you... Are you gonna walk?"

"No, I'll be taking the bus." she replied.w

"Oh. Well, you can use my car, if you want." I said to her.

"What? Oh, no, no... Th-That's not necessary..."

I shrugged. "It's not a big deal. I wouldn't even notice if you scuffed it up, it's so old and worn out."

"No, that's not..." She looked down. "I... I can't drive stick..."

"Oh... That would be a problem. Still, you shouldn't be walking to a bus in this weather."

"I... I could ask my mom to pick me up, if that'll make you happy." she said.

I nodded. "That sounds better."

"I suppose it's not too bad an idea. She can help me while I'm out, as well."

"There you go. I'm... I'm gonna head outside for a moment, I gotta make a call."

"Alright. Be careful, it's icy out there."

I nodded, then vacated the building.

I made a show of lifting my phone to my ear before saying, "Celestia? You there?"

I got no answer. I said it again, but had no luck. Guess she really was busy. I'll speak to her later.

Or Discord is just messing with me and he's the one tying her up. Would he do such a thing? Yes, yes he would...