Of Love and Video Games

Chapters

Chapter 1: In One Screen and Out Another
Chapter 2: Alien Contact
Chapter 3: The Lake is Blue, but the Eyes are Green
Chapter 4: Zecora the Mystic
Chapter 5: Princesses and Gamers
Chapter 6: The Way to a Man's Heart is Through His Joystick
Chapter 7: Official Business
Chapter 8: Ponyville Faceoff
Chapter 9: Mi Amore Cadenza
Chapter 10: Press Start to Begin
Chapter 11: Schoolyard Romance
Chapter 12: A Nightmare, A Message, A Gift
Chapter 13: Us vs. Them
Chapter 14: Questions and Answers

Chapter 1: In One Screen and Out Another

Another day at work, another day that dragged on far too long. For what must have been the fifth time that week alone, I was putting in overtime. So yet again, I sat there, the only one in the office, tacking away on a keyboard as line after line of greentext code raced past me. You see, I was a video game programmer, one of those unappreciated nerds who didn't get any name recognition, didn't get any fame, and yet worked at least twice as hard, and at least three times as long, as anyone who did.

But finally, the time had come to call it a night. I just had to save my work and then I could return once more to my empty one-bedroom apartment. However, before I could do either of those things, I noticed something odd in the code, a symbol which I had never seen before and I had certainly not entered in. If I could describe it, it would be sort of like an upward-facing arrow, except with the head being hollow, and the shaft, while going all the way through the trianglular head, was very short otherwise.

"The hell kind of an error is that," I asked completely aloud.

In an effort to answer my question, I brought the cursor icon to behind the offending symbol and hit the 'Backspace' key. It was indeed erased, for a second anyway, before reappearing. I tried this basic editing strategy a second time, then a third with the same results. Deciding just to say "screw it" and look into it in the morning, I proceeded to write one final line of code.

[pro]SAVE[pro]

Then, as I had done countless times in the past, I hit the 'Enter' key and patiently waited for the computer to tell me its computations were complete. However, another unusual event occured instead. The screen flashed for a second in reverse coloring, that is to say it flashed back and forth between greentext-on-blackscreen and blacktext-on-greenscreen. Then it went green completely. At first, I thought that I had somehow lost all the data I had inputed over that day of work. That was, until the light emitting from the screen intensified significantly, causing me to squint in momentary blindness and tear off my glasses. In the next moment, while I couldn't seen anything, I heard a sucking sound like a vacuum cleaning running right next to my head, followed by a sensation like I was being pulled out of my chair toward the monitor.

"AAH!"

"OOF!"

I had somehow been launched into something very solid, and, judging from the reaction it made when I hit it, very alive. When I opened my eyes again, I was met with a faceful of white carpet. I slowly tried to rise back to my feet, with moderate success. My left arm couldn't hold up its half of a push-up, and my head was pounding viciously, which made sense, since I had hit the ground with that part of my body first.

"Mom! Mom!" the other living thing in the room started yelling. Putting my glasses back on and looking up, I saw a brunette boy, judging from his voice, I guessed he was a teenager. The weird thing about him was that he had a layer of dark brown fur over his entire body, or at least what of his body I could see around his jeans, white sneakers, and red-and-white striped t-shirt. He was rubbing his own head in pain. I also noticed that his ears seemed to be sitting on top of his head, though they were splayed back.

"Button? Button Mash, are you alright?" I could hear the feminine voice of who I assumed was this creature's mother coming up the stairs.

"No, mom. I-ouch that hurt." By this time I had given up on standing and settled for sitting on the floor, rubbing my head with my right hand since it turned out I couldn't raise my left arm.

The door to the room, which I hadn't noticed until now, opened and another creature stepped in.

"Button, what's-AH! Who are you!?" The female screamed in shock once she spotted me there. She too was a brunette, though of a lighter shade than her son, with her hair tied by a red band into a ponytail which laid over her right shoulder. Her fur was a beige color, and with her black flats, white capri pants, and baby blue t-shirt with just enough of a V-neck to show off a bit of cleavage, she just screamed 'soccer mom'. She also had something which I hadn't noticed on her son: a tail, the same color as her hair.

"I don't know," the kid, who's name seemed to be Button Mash, answered, standing and walking over to the doorway which caused me to notice his docked tail, "he just came into the room through my TV in the middle of my game." He pointed toward his electronic set-up: a medium-size TV, sitting on the floor, with various wires coming out which connected to an old-school video game controller, like something out of the Atari era, a square with a joystick and a couple of buttons.

"How-how is that even possible," the female asked again to no one in particular.

"I don't know either," I answered, not even questioning the fact that we all spoke the same language, "though I'm pretty sure I need to go to a hospital."

"Ah! You can talk!?"

"Yes, I can talk. And can I reiterate, hospital?"

"He seems in rough shape, mom," Button spoke up, still wincing in pain, "I think we should help him."

"I don't know sweetie," Button's mom said, "how would we even get him to the hospital without everypony noticing?"

"Everypony?" I said in a voice just above a whisper.

"It's not that far," Button argued, "and we can't just leave him there on the floor."

This point seemed to sway the mother, who sighed.

"Let me get my purse," she said, starting out the door, "Button, help him downstairs."

Button Mash nodded and came over to me, extending his hand.

"C'mon, mister," he said, absolutely beaming.

"Thanks, kid. And you can call me Jack."

After pulling me up off the floor, and finding my left arm still to be useless, Button and I quickly made our way downstairs. Button's mom was standing by the front door, waiting for us.

"Do you have a plan, Button," his mom asked.

"If we walk fast enough, anypony we pass will probably just mistake him for a white stallion."

"That's your whole plan," I asked, "just walk fast enough?"

"Unless you got a better plan."

I had to admit that I didn't, and so, without further argument, we set off. As we strolled toward the relatively tall hospital, we walked three abreast, Button on the outside, his mom, the shortest of us, in the middle, and I, the tallest, walking closest to the houses. Fortunately, we didn't spot anyone else on the way there.

The three of us walked in through the sliding double-door of the hospital, I now having switched to clutching my left shoulder. Button's mom took the lead, walking up to the reception desk first.

"Excuse me," she said, catching the attention of the pink-haired nurse, "we need to see a doctor."

"Oh, Nusery," the nurse responded, "what happened to Button?"

"Button's fine, but I think his friend has a separated shoulder."

"Please follow me." The nurse got up from her station and led us down a short hallway to an area which held an array of beds. Button Mash and I each sat down on one.

"How long will the doctor be," Button's mom asked.

"He shouldn't be long," she started to turn, but then stopped and looked at me, "what happened to your tail, sir?"

"Tail," I asked, "I don't have a tail."

"Yes, I'm asking what happened that you lost it."

"I've never had a tail."

"Oh," Button's mom gasped, "he must have hit his head harder than I thought."

"I'll have the doctor look into that as well." With that, the nurse again went off to wherever she needed to go.

"What was that all about," I asked, "I was telling the truth, I've never had a tail."

"That may be," Button's mom responded, "but I think for your sake it's better if we hold up this ruse for a bit longer."

I didn't quite understand her logic, but again I found myself without an argument to make. Fortunately, I didn't have to think about it long, because I soon saw a brown-furred, white-haired being in a long white coat come in our direction. I presumed he was the doctor given the stethoscope around his neck. However, there was something that made him different from the three people I had met so far in this world, a horn was sticking out from his forehead.

"Nursery," he addressed Button's mom, "Nurse Redheart said you brought in a pony with a separated shoulder."

"Yes, he's right here," she pointed toward me.

"Well sir, I'm Dr. Stethoscope," I secretly wished he was joking, "let me see that arm, if you don't mind." A light-blue aura soon enveloped my arm, and I noticed a similar aura coming from the doctor's horn. I had to grit my teeth to the pain I was experiencing as the bones in my shoulder jostled each other. "One...two..."

I started to panic. "No, wait!"

"Three."

*POP*

My eyes crossed in my skull as the doctor forced my shoulder back in its socket. I let out a grunt of pain at the same time. Immediately I clutched my shoulder, rending it from the blueish aura.

"Damn that hurt," I moaned, not caring who heard me curse.

"Now just don't do anything to strenuous with that arm, and it should be fine," the doctor said, "Now that that's taken care of, there's the matter of your tail."

"I already told your nurse that I don't have one."

"Well you certainly had one, correct? I've never heard of a pony being born without a tail."

"Do I look like a pony to you?" This was, admittedly, a stupid question. Obviously what he meant by the word 'pony' was not what I thought he meant. And if the creatures in this world referred to themselves as ponies it was even worse. I mean, except for the fur and the tail, there wasn't much that separated, say, Button Mash from myself. Still, my question left the good doctor flabbergasted.

"Can...can I get you to wait here?"

The doctor walked off at an accelerated pace, mumbling to himself as he went. I, meanwhile, shifted my gaze between the doctor, Button Mash, and his mother.

"What did I say?"

Chapter 2: Alien Contact

Button Mash, his mom, and I sat there in the hospital, waiting for the doctor to return from wherever he went. Since there was nothing else to do, I decided to get to know my company a little better.

"So," I said after a period of silence, "I don't believe we've been properly introduced. My name is Jack, Jack Christiansen."

"I'm Button Mash," he said in introduction.

"And my name is Nusery Rhyme," said his mother.

"Pleasure to meet you both," I smiled, "Look, I'm going to be straight with you both. I don't know where the hell I am or how I got here."

"Something tells me that's what the doctor went to find out," Button offered.

"There's someone in this town, or wherever I am, that would know that?"

"Well not necessarily," Nursery sighed, "but there is a princess in Ponyville, maybe she'll know something."

"Wait," I stopped her, "there's a princess in this town? Like true blue royalty?"

"Yeah," Button said excitedly, "Princess Twilight Sparkle, she came and greeted us when we moved here from Manehattan."

"Did somepony say my name?" an unfamiliar female voice asked from down the hall. The three of us looked in the direction of the voice and saw not one, but two, females coming our way.

"Princess Twilight!" Button called.

"Now, Button, how many times have I asked you not to call me 'princess'?" The one speaking had purple, almost lavander, fur with similar colored hair which had streaks of rose and dark blue. A horn similar to the one the doctor had stuck out from between her bangs. She wore a long-sleeve button-up white shirt and a long purple skirt.

"Sorry Twilight, I can't help it."

"This is the one I told you about, princess," it was the doctor again, "he's like no other pony I've ever seen."

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not a pony," I was becoming just a bit aggravated by this point.

"Well he's obviously not a pony," the princess said matter-of-factly, "just look at his features. He hasn't got any fur, he doesn't have a tail, and these things on the side of his head seem to be his ears. What do you think, Fluttershy?" She turned to her companion, a butter yellow-furred, pink-haired female in a spaghetti-strap pink top and a flower print skirt.

"Well, um, I-I would agree with you," the girl known as Fluttershy said in a tone of voice so quiet I could barely hear it.

"If anything," Princess Twilight continued, "he looks like a shaved minotaur."

"A shaved minotaur," I questioned, "The polite term is human."

"Hue...man," Twilight sounded out, "is there a scientific name for that?"

I pushed my glasses down past the bridge of my nose so I could look over the rims, "Homo sapien sapien."

"Fascinating," Twilight's horn lit up a color not unlike her coat and in a blink of light suddenly a sheet of paper and a quill appeared, "how do you spell that?"

"Look, your majesty, I don't know what you think of me, but I just want to go home."

"Well, where is your home? Are you perhaps from the Everfree Forest?"

"The Everfree Forest?" I was confused again, "No, I'm from a place called Earth, and a country called America. Do you want to see my ID?"

"ID?"

"Here," I reached into the back left pocket of my jeans and pulled out my wallet. I flipped it open to reveal my driver's license and showed it to my companions. Twilight stared at it intently.

"Cal-i-fornia," the princess sounded out again, "That's no place I've ever heard of. How did you get here?"

"I don't know, exactly. I was at my computer, and all of a sudden I was sucked through the monitor and spit out of Button's television."

"Is this true, Button?"

"Well I don't know what a computer is," he answered, "but he definately shot through the TV in my room."

"Hmmm, well it's going to take me awhile to figure out how to get you back home. In the meantime, I would suggest you heal your injuries and don't wander too far. We'll be in touch." Twilight and Fluttershy turned to walk away, and when they did, I noticed something odd.

"Hold on," I called, "what are those on your back."

"Oh, you mean our wings?"

At this point, I probably got a really stupid look on my face. "Wings? You both have wings? First some of you have horns, now some of you have wings, and some of you have both, and some of you have neither? I think I'm going to get a headache."

"This world is a lot different from yours. Just take it easy. You've obviously had a long day already, I wouldn't worry about certain things right now. Take care." And with that, the two of them continued on their way.

"Jack," Dr. Stethescope said, "you're more than free to go if you see fit."

"Thanks doc," I said, still befuddled by the conversation I had just partaken in, "I think I'll go now."

Now it was my turn to make tracks for the door. At the moment, I didn't even care if Button and Nursery were following me, I guess I just wanted to have some space. As I went, I passed Nurse Redheart, and I must have had the thousand-yard stare going, because she tried, and failed, to get my attention.

Once I was outside, I just took in what was around me. I looked at the blue sky, with all the white puffy clouds. I noticed the green grass, and took in the smell which told me that it had recently been cut. I took a few steps down the path, toward nowhere in particular, just to go somewhere. However, I didn't get very far before someone else got in the way of my retrospection.

"HIIIIIII!"

I turned toward the direction of the voice, but by the time I did, I was knocked flat on my back, hitting my head on the ground.

"Twice in one day," I groaned as I cradled my head in my hands, completely oblivious to the being stradling my chest.

"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie," the female on my chest starting talking a mile-a-minute, "You're new in town, you know how I know? Because I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville, but I've never seen you before. What even are you? You're not a pony, are you? You certainly don't look like anypony I've ever met."

"Whomever you are," I continued groaning from my downed position, "please get off me."

"Oh my gosh," she began apologizing, "I'm so sorry, I didn't hurt you, did I? I'm so sorry if I did. Please don't be mad at me. Please-o, please-o, please." It should be noted that all this time she was apologizing, she still hadn't gotten off me.

"Please, just get off my chest. I'm having trouble breathing."

"Oh, sorry," she apologized again, this time actually getting up.

"I just got out of the hospital," I moaned, still not able to get myself up, "and now I may have to go back."

"Jack!" It was Button Mash, "Are you OK?"

"I don't think I am."

"Oh, hi Button," the new female piped up in a completely cheery voice as if I wasn't lying on the ground in pain, "you know this new pony?"

"Yeah, Pinkie," he answered, "his name is Jack, and he isn't a pony."

"Then what is he."

"I'm a human," I growled from the ground, "now will someone please help me up."

Button came around in front of me, and, like he had done earlier, pulled me to my feet. Once I was up, I was able to finally get a good look at my attacker. She was absolutely pink, and I mean all of her, from her hair, her fur, her tail, everything. The only thing that wasn't pink was her outfit, a yellow top with ruffled shoulders and a blue skirt. Although I was a little upset, looking at her bubbly, cheery smile made it kind of hard to stay mad.

"What's a human," she asked, "I've never heard of that before. Does Twilight know about you?"

"Yes, I've already met her. And it's kind of hard to explain what a human is, to tell the truth. Look, it's been a long day Miss Pie, I think I need to lie down."

"Silly filly," she laughed, "nobody calls me Miss Pie, everypony calls me Pinkie."

"Look...Pinkie," I raised my glasses to my forehead and rubbed my eyes.

"Awww," Pinkie said in a sad tone that seemed unnatural, "are you mad at me?"

"No, Pinkie, I'm not mad at you. I think I'm just tired."

"Yay!" Pinkie instantly wrapped her arms around me in a hug, "I've got another new friend. And you can't be my friend without a welcoming party."

"Oh no Pinkie, I can't, I'm not in the mood."

"Nonsense, silly filly," she grabbed my wrist and started pulling me, skipping down the street, "at least come with me for a cupcake."

"Button, help me," I called back.

"Sorry, Jack, gotta help my mom with some things. We'll catch up with you later."

And so I had no choice but to allow Pinkie to pull me down the street, much to the amusement of the people, or I suppose ponies, that we passed. Eventually, we made our way to a two-story building which looked kind of like a giant cupcake.

"Here it is, Jack," Pinkie told me, finally stopping, "Sugarcube Corner, the bestest bakery ever!"

Pinkie then proceeded to finish pulling me inside. As soon as I crossed the threshold into the confectionary, the strong aroma of all kinds of fresh baked goods filled my nostrils. It was absolutely heavenly. Around the bakery sat various tables with many ponies eating, drinking, and talking. Behind the counter stood a rather heavy-set female with blue fur and pink hair which resembled the frosting on a cupcake in its own right.

"Hey Mrs. Cake," Pinkie called to her, "look who I found."

"Pinkie Pie," she chastised, "just where in Equestria did you run off to."

"My Pinkie Sense told me there was somepony new in town, and I had to go and find them. And, lo and behold, here he is."

"Hi," I waved meekly.

"Hello there, dearie," Mrs. Cake warmly welcomed, "don't mind Pinkie too much, she does this to everypony."

"I'll try to keep that in mind."

"Now," Pinkie said as she literally jumped over the counter in a surprising show of athleticism for a female of her size. No offense meant, but she wasn't exactly as slim as either Twilight or Fluttershy, "I need to get something special for the new stallion in town." Pinkie ducked into what seemed to be the kitchen of the bakery, leaving me alone with Mrs. Cake.

"Excuse me, dearie," she said to me, "I know Pinkie called you a stallion, but you don't look like any pony to me."

"That's because I'm not. I'm what's called a human. Trust me, it's complicated."

"Don't worry, dear, wouldn't be the first time some weird creature came to Ponyville."

"Did you say human!?"

I turned my head to the right and was met face-to-face with a green-furred muzzle. Since it surprised me, I took a step back.

"Uh, yes, yes I did."

"Oh my Celestia! You're finally here! Bonny, come see!"

I scratched the back of my head in confusion which gave me a second to look over this new pony. She was mint green with green-and-white hair and tail and a horn coming from her head. She was wearing a green t-shirt with a picture of a golden lyre on it, white athletic shorts and flip-flops. Soon, a second female, who had a cream coat and curly pink-and-blue hair, came over.

"What is it now, Lyra," the second female asked the first.

"This is the human," she answered, "the one I've been telling you about."

"Lyra, you've been having that dream since before I've known you."

"I'm being serious, Bonny."

"Um," I stuttered, not sure if it would be wise to get between them, "did you say you had dreams about me?"

"Oh yeah," 'Lyra' turned her attention back to me, "I've been telling everypony that humans existed since I was a little filly, but nopony ever believed me. But here you are, in the flesh! What's your name?"

"Uh, you can call me Jack."

"Hey Jack, I'm Lyra Heartstrings, and this," she said, throwing an arm around the other one, "is my marefriend, Bon Bon."

"Don't mind her," Bon Bon said, swinging Lyra's arm from off her shoulder.

"No, no," I snickered, "I want to hear about these dreams."

"Well they're nothing special," Lyra continued, "but you look just like you did in my dreams, and that's good enough for me."

"OK," I laughed, "I'll take your word for it."

"Hey, Jack," Pinkie Pie, who I hadn't even noticed was back at the counter, said, "here's your official 'Welcome to Ponyville' cupcake."

On the counter in front of me sat a white frosting/chocolate cake cupcake. It looked so perfectly crafted and frosted that it was almost a shame to eat it. That being said, I wasn't not going to eat it, and so I very carefully peeled off some of the pink wrapper and took as big of a bite as I dared. There's no way to describe how delicious this cupcake was. Suffice is to say that I had never tasted a better chocolate and vanilla morsel.

"My word, Pinkie," I said as soon as I had swallowed the bite, "this is amazing."

Straight away, I went to work devouring the rest of my treat, much to Pinkie's delight. She just stood there, the same ear-to-ear smile on her face, as I finished the cupcake and licked the extra frosting from the edges of my lips.

"Hey," Pinkie cried, "I've got a great idea. Jack, my friends are hanging out by the lake tomorrow afternoon, you should come."

"Oh, I don't know Pinkie. I'm kind of worried about trying to find a way back home."

"But if anypony is going to be able to help you, it'll be my friends."

I slowly took my glasses off my face and rubbed my eyes vigourously.

"OK Pinkie, but I really need to get some sleep. See, it was nighttime in my world when I left, and now I've been through a full day here, I'm bone tired."

"Ooh, ooh, ooh," Lyra piped up from behind me, "you should come stay with us."

"Lyra, really," Bon Bon exclaimed, "you can't just invite some strange creature into our home."

"Awww, please Bonny," Lyra turned around to face her marefriend.

"No, no," I said, "Bon Bon's right. Thanks for the offer, Lyra, but I can't possibly accept."

"Well where are you going to go?" Lyra said, whirling back to face me once again.

"Don't know yet. I'll figure something out. See ya tomorrow, Pinkie."

I started to walk past the couple when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. When I turned to look, I was surprised to see that it was Bon Bon.

"I know I'm going to regret this," she said with a sigh, "but my conscience won't allow some alien thing to just sleep wherever. You can take the fold-out couch."

"Yay, Bonny!" Lyra cried, throwing her arms around Bon Bon's neck.

Soon, it was Lyra's turn to pull me down the street. And, like before, everybody we passed gave an intrigued glance to the only almost-hairless ape in town. Unlike Pinkie, however, Lyra was doing her best to talk my ear off with question after question. Fortunately, I didn't have to answer any of them, as every question Lyra asked would earn her a stern reprimand from Bon Bon.

Before long the two had led me to their home, which didn't really stick out from any of the other two-story, thatched-roof homes of the little town. Once inside, Bon Bon flipped on the light switch, Lyra seemingly content in the dark if it meant not having to let go of my arm.

"Like I said," trying to look as worn out as possible, "I'm really tired, so just point me towards the couch and I'll crash."

"Oh, it's right over there," Lyra's horn started glowing a golden color, which affected the couch, magically pulling it open to reveal that it did indeed fold out, "You sure you'll be alright? I wouldn't want to be uncomfortable."

"Trust me Lyra, as soon as my head hits that matress, I'll be out like a light."

"OK," Bon Bon said, beginning to pull Lyra by the elbow, "our bedroom is upstairs. If you need anything, just knock."

"Will do," I replied, somewhat relieved that the mint unicorn had been pryed off my arm, "goodnight you two, and thanks again."

"Don't mention it," Bon Bon was now literally pushing Lyra up the stairs, "sleep well."

"Awww, Bonny, but I wanted to talk to the human some more," I could hear Lyra protest the entire way.

Chapter 3: The Lake is Blue, but the Eyes are Green

As I slowly fluttered my eyes open the next morning, I had a vague sense that I was not alone. I couldn't quite place it, but I could've sworn I heard breathing that was not my own, and right in front of my face to boot. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the light, I could see the umistakeable green muzzle and golden eyes of my biggest admirer.

"Morning Jack!," Lyra beamed.

"Ahh!," I almost jumped out of my skin. Nobody deserves to get woken up like that. "Lyra! What are you doing!?"

"Observing you, of course." She said this so nonchalantly I was almost certain I hadn't heard her right.

"Observing me...as in, watching me sleep."

"Yeah. I want to learn as much about you as I possibly can, and that means keeping my eyes on you as much as possible."

"Lyra!" This time it was Bon Bon, coming down the stairs, "what in the name of Celestia's Sun are you doing!?"

"Exactly what I was trying to ask," I quickly said, not really thinking about the turn of phrase she had used.

"Uh...I was just...uh...," Lyra sputtered and stuttered, not able to talk and look Bon Bon in the eyes at the same time.

"Give the poor stallion some peace," the cream mare continued, "For Luna's sake, its a wonder I put up with you sometimes."

If I didn't know any better, I was causing strain in the their relationship, which was the last thing I wanted to do.

"I think I'm going to take a walk," I quickly said, trying to diffuse the situation, "see you two later."

"Wait...what," Lyra's stuttering continued as I made my way past her and toward the door, "What about breakfast?"

This stopped me in my tracks. The unicorn had a point. I was quite hungry, and I had a nagging feeling that the plastic in my wallet wasn't going to be accepted currency in this world.

"Well," I said, turning back to face the two mares, "you got me on that one. I'd love some breakfast."

"I'll go get something started," Bon Bon said, "Behave yourself, Lyra."

The mint unicorn gave her lover a look.

As the Earth pony mare went into the kitchen to get started on the meal, I returned to my seat on my couch-bed, leaving me once again seated beside Lyra.

"One question," I muttered before turning to look at her.

"Huh?"

"I'll make you a deal, you get to ask me one question about me or humans in general a day as long as I'm sleeping here. I have to repay your hospitality somehow. So, go ahead, ask me one question."

Lyra's lip began to tremble a bit, slowly cracking into a smile as her brain finally processed what I had said. Her smile continued to grow to an almost frightening size, and I began to regret giving her this power.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh," she uttered at little above a whisper, I suppose to keep Bon Bon from hearing her, "what am I going to ask?"

"Be careful," I warned, "if I answer that, you lose your question for the day."

Lyra's ears and face dropped at the seriousness of my tone. She then put her hand over her mouth in mute contemplation.

"OK," she finally spoke after a length of silence, "I'll ask a basic question to start off. You said I can ask anything about you, so how did you come here?"

"A good question. To be completely honest, I'm not sure. I was just sitting on my computer, finishing my work for the day, when I got unexplicably sucked into the monitor. Then, in less than a second, I got spit out of Button Mash's TV."

"Wow," Lyra breathed, "that's some trippy magic. So is there any way for you to get back?"

I smirked. "One question a day, Lyra, one question a day."

"Oh come on," the unicorn raised her voice, "that's along the same line of questioning."

"Still a different question," my smirk now reached douchebag proportions, "Start thinking about your one for tomorrow. I think I smell waffles."

"Come and get it," Bon Bon called from the kitchen, right on time. I gave Lyra another little look before rising from my seat and heading in the direction of food.

The breakfast of waffles and toast the Bon Bon whipped up was pefect, just what I needed to start my first full day in this weird world.

Soon after breakfast was done, my two hosts had to go to work, it seems that Bon Bon is a candy-maker and owns a sweet shop, while Lyra helps out and is the guinea pig. As I didn't feel like staying in their house by myself, I decided to go somewhere. At first, I thought of accompanying the two to their place of work, but I was figured the less I see of Lyra, the better. So I decided to go back to the scene of my appearance.

"Oh, hello Jack," Nursery Rhyme greeted at the door. Fortunately, Ponyville, as the town is called, is small enough to where I could remember how to get back.

"Hello, Ms. Rhyme. Say, is Button--"

"Hey, Jack," Button Mash appeared behind his mother, "how'd things go yesterday."

"Well, after you left me stranded and at the mercy of Pinkie, she took me to Sugarcube Corner, gave me a cupcake, and I ran into Lyra and Bon Bon."

Button snickered, "Uh-oh, Lyra got her hands on you didn't she?"

"Yes, she did," I deadpanned, "but at least I got a place to sleep out of it. Shouldn't you be in school or something?"

"Shoot, you're right," Button squeezed past his mom, "I wouldn't be late for the first day. See you later, Jack."

"Bye," I said weekly as the colt was already long gone down the road.

"I hope he remembered his lunch box," Nursery mused before turning her attention back to me.

"Is it really the first day of school," I asked, trying to get a grasp of the time of year.

"Yeah, Button's first day of school in Ponyville. I hope his classmates treat him nice.

We stood in awkward silence for a spell before Nursery spoke again.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I have to get ready for work myself. See you later, Jack."

"No problem, goodbye," I turned around and went on my way, hearing the door close behind me.

There was still a few hours before I was supposed to meet Pinkie's friends at the lake, and I wasn't sure what to do with myself. Soon, I found a park bench and sat down, contemplating this very question.

I only had a few options. I could go back to Sugarcube Corner, but that would only take so much of my time. On the other hand, I could try to track down where that princess lived. If anybody here was going to help me figure out this mess, it was going to be her. As it turned out, I got my question answered for me.

"I see they let you out of the hospital," looking, I found the voice to be that of the town princess.

"Yes, yes they did."

"Good," she said, sitting next to me on the bench, "so I assume that your injuries are healed?"

"I think so," I replied, working my formerly-injured shoulder.

"Tell me, have you met any interesting ponies since you've been here?"

"Well, the moment I left the hospital, I got sort of assaulted by somebody named Pinkie Pie."

"Oh, don't worry about Pinkie, she does that to everypony. You should have seen how she reacted when she met me."

"If you say so. And then after that I met Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon, I assume you know them."

"Everypony knows everypony in Ponyville," she explained, "Wait a minute, you said Lyra, didn't you? Oh boy, I'm sure that was fun."

"If you call being interrogated until your interrogator's lover tells them to, and I quote, 'shut the buck up', fun, then yeah, it was fun."

"Don't worry about Lyra. Once she gets past the novelty of you, I'm sure she'll settle down."

"Hmph," I snorted, "the more you tell me not to worry, the more worried I become. So tell me, since you know my story, how do I get back to where I belong?"

"Well, I'm not sure yet," she admitted, "I did send a letter to Princess Celestia about you and your situation, so she may come up with something. But she hasn't replied yet."

"Wait, I heard Bon Bon mention a Celestia, something about her son, who is this Celestia?"

"Oh, she's one of the co-rulers of Equestria, along with her sister, Princess Luna. She also is, or was, my personal teacher."

"Doesn't that make her a queen?"

"It's a complicated history."

"I'm sure it is. Well, your highness, I'm supposed to be meeting some of Pinkie's friends by the lake this afternoon, and I still have to figure out what I'm going to do for lunch."

"There's no need to call me 'your highness', you can just call me Twilight. And since I am one of Pinkie's friends that you'll be meeting, how about I treat you to lunch. I take it that you don't have any Bits on you."

"What are Bits, and no I don't have any."

"You'll see, come on."

So Twilight and I walked back through town for awhile. We passed numerous ponies along the way, some of whom stopped to gawk at me, but most just went about their business. I guess what Mrs. Cake said about strange creatures was the truth.

Eventually, we got to a building which didn't look that much different than all the others in town, except for the numerous tables and chairs sitting outside.

"This is Cafe du Mane," Twilight explained, pointing to the sign above the door that read as such.

We walked inside and were immediately spotted by a white unicorn stallion in a waiter's uniform.

"Ah, good day, Princess Twilight," he said with a short bow, "table for two then?"

"Yes, please."

"Right this way."

The waiter led us to a small table by the wall and handed us a pair of menus. After taking orders for two glasses of water, he went on his way.

As I surveyed the menu, something came to my attention that I hadn't had the chance to think about before, as this was my first time eating in a Ponyville resturant.

"Twilight, question."

"Yes," she said, not looking up from the menu.

"Are all of you... ponies... vegetarians?"

"Sure, why do you--," a switch seemed to go off in her head when she stopped the sentence short, her eyes got quite a big bigger and she looked at me with something of a confused and worried expression, before continuing in a hushed tone, "You're not a... carnivore... are you?"

"No, no, not at all," I replied, alleviating her worries, "humans eat a wide variety of foods. Technically, we're omnivores."

"Oh, I understand. You'll have to explain that to Fluttershy. She noticed that your front teeth are kind of sharp."

"But our back teeth are flat," I said, unconsciously running my tongue along my top row of teeth.

"Are you ready to order," the waiter suddenly appeared back at our table.

"Oh, uh, sure," Twilight stuttered, giving the menu one last glance, "I'll have the Celestial Salad."

"Very good, and for you, sir?"

"I'll take a veggie burger with a side of hay fries."

"Got it, your food will be out presently."

Once the waiter was gone, Twilight gave me an inquisitive look.

"I'm surprised you jumped straight to the hay fries."

"Well," I explained, "I wasn't sure about them at first, but once I read that they weren't actually made of hay, I figured why not?"

The waiter wasn't lying about the speed of service. Before I knew it, I was halfway through a very good veggie burger.

"Take a breath, Jack," Twilight joked, "nopony's going to take it from you."

"Hey," I responded after a big gulp, "a big appetite is a sign of good health."

"True, but you could at least try to eat like a gentlecolt and not a timberwolf."

"What's a timberwolf," I asked, ignoring Twilight's suggestion by throwing down five hay fries at once.

"You don't want to know."

*--*--*--*--*

After finishing our lunch, Twilight and I made our way to the lake, which was quite a ways outside of town. When we turned the last bend, we saw that a red-and-white checkerboard blanket was set out. Sitting on it was two ponies, Fluttershy, who I remembered from the hospital, and another mare with white fur and a bright purple mane. I could see Pinkie Pie and a Rainbow-maned pegasus in the water, while another pony seemed content to sit up against a near-by tree, a cowboy hat covering their face.

"Twilight, Jack, you're here!" Pinkie called, swimming to shore.

"You didn't think we weren't going to make it, did you?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, it's not that, darling," said the mare with the purple mane, who I noticed was a unicorn, "it's just that Pinkie wouldn't let us partake in any of her snacks until everypony was here."

"Especially not until we introduce everypony to Jack," Pinkie said, throwing a wet arm around my shoulders, "Let's see, well you already know Twilight, Fluttershy, and I..."

"My name is Rarity, darling," the purple-maned unicorn said, "a pleasure to meet you...whatever you are."

"They call us humans," I explained.

"He's from another dimension," Twilight said.

"And before you ask," I cut her off, "no I don't know how exactly I got here."

"Yeah," the rainbow mare said, literally flying out of the water and landing quite close to me, "not the first time we've heard that one. Oh, and I'm Rainbow Dash."

She stuck out a closed fist in my direction, which I gladly bumped.

"Ah reckon that only leaves me then," the pony in the cowboy hat drawled as she stood up and tipped her hat back so that she could actually see me, "Name's Applejack. Put it there, pardner."

I shook the mare's hand, which I soon learned was a mistake, as she had strongest hands I had ever encountered, regardless of gender. When she finally let go, it took a minute for the blood to return to my fingers.

With everypony introduced, Pinkie produced a picnic basket filled with various goodies. She, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity grabbed a snack, while Rainbow returned to the lake, and Applejack returned to her resting.

I decided to grab something for myself, but as I was walking over, my entire field of vision flashed green. Thinking that it was merely the sunlight reflecting off the water, I took my glasses off and rubbed my eyes vigorously.

"What's the matter, darling," Rarity asked, concerned.

"Oh, it's nothing," I replied, "I think I just got something in my eyes.

"Well in that case," Rainbow's voice was suddenly right behind me, "I think I know a way to fix that.

She proceeded to wrap both her arms around the barrel of my chest.

"Time for a little swim."

"Oh, no, no, wait," I pleaded, but my cries fell on deaf ears.

Rainbow effortlessly lifted me off the ground, causing me to drop my glasses. I then realized that she wasn't simply throwing me into the lake, she was actually flying with me in tow. I was a bit scared at this point, but I was trying to roll with it.

The aptly-named pegasus flew slow and close to the ground at first, but in no time, she had picked up speed, and we had picked up altitude. Eventually, we were probably about 20 feet or so above the lake, and I was getting a little worried.

"Be careful, Rainbow!" I yelled.

"Don't worry, dude, I do this all the time!"

She then pulled a new move, flying a little ways away from the lake, which scared me even more, as at least the water would be a softer landing than the ground. Then, with a sudden turn, we headed back toward the lake, slowly descending, as if the lake was a landing strip.

Who knows what Rainbow had in mind, but something got in the way.

My field of vision flashed green again, but I knew this time it couldn't be any reflection. On top of that, this time it literally hurt, like my eyeballs were on fire. I reflexively covered my eyes with my left arm. This sudden change in my posture seemed to throw Rainbow off just a tad, as she wobbled just a degree or two. But that was more than enough, as the wobble caused my right arm to flail and I felt my elbow connect with something soft and furry. The second after that happened, Rainbow let go of me, causing me to plummet toward the water like a payload dropped off by a bombadier.

I hit the water with a violent splash, and, to add injury to injury, I didn't hit the water straight like a diver, but on my side, directly on my previously-injured shoulder.

Once I regained my bearings and my equilibrium, I remembered another little something that caused me to panic: I couldn't swim. While I may have been living in California, I'm a midwestern kid. The largest body of water I had seen in person before I went to college was a river. I rose to the surface and began flailing again, this time just to keep my head above the water. The lake wasn't that deep, but it was still deeper than I was tall. I saw Pinkie jump up and start as if she was going to swim to me, but before that could happen, I noticed Twilight's horn glow an off-purple color. Soon, I was surrounded by a kind of aura or field of the same color, and I was gently lifted out of the water and brought back to dry land.

As soon as Twilight let me go, I collapsed onto the ground, a coughing, gasping, mess. I rolled over to my back and tried to relax as one of them handed me my glasses. I hadn't had them on for three seconds before I saw a pair of blue hands grab me by my soaking t-shirt and pull me to my feet, bringing me face-to-face with a very pissed off-looking Rainbow.

"Why'd you hit me, you idiot," Rainbow began shaking me bodily. Either all of these ponies were really strong, or it just wasn't my day.

"He didn't mean to, Dashie," Pinkie came to our side.

"Well I certainly didn't elbow myself in the head," Rainbow barked, not paying Pinkie any mind.

"Accident...," I gasped, my wind not yet having fully come back to me, "eyes...hurt..."

"Don't give me that crap! You coulda gotten both of us hurt. You're lucky you landed in the lake!" She then unexpectedly picked me up fully off my feet and dropped me hard onto my back, knocking the wind out of me again.

"Rainbow Dash," now it was Applejack's turn to yell, "knock it off!"

The cowgirl came right up and shoved Rainbow away from standing right over me.

"What the buck, AJ!"

"It was an accident and y'all know it. Let's just be glad nopony got hurt too bad and let it go."

"Well, if he hadn't panicked..."

"You shouldn't have flown him into the air like that."

"Well...I...he..." Rainbow didn't seem to have an answer. She gave up, crossing her arms over her chest with a huff.

"Jack," Twilight said, concerned, "what did you say about your eyes?"

"My eyes were on fire," I gasped, still trying to recover, "Green light."

"That can't be normal," the princess muttered, "maybe it has something to do with the dimensional jump."

"Plain Equuish, darling," Rarity said.

"When Jack jumped between his world and ours, his body may have been harmed in some way. I can't be sure, I'll need a second opinion."

"But who would know anything about this," Rarity pondered aloud, "besides Celestia, maybe."

"Well, before we involve the princess in this, I think we need to check a source closer to home, or more specifically, closer to the Everfree."

"Yay!" Pinkie exclaimed, "we're going to Zecora's!"

Chapter 4: Zecora the Mystic

"'Everfree Forest,'" I read the sign at the edge of the dark woods, "'Turn around if you know what's good for you.' Well, that settles it for me, goodbye."

I began to turn and walk away, before being stopped. Upon turning around, I noticed Twilight's magical aura secured tightly around my belt buckle.

"Don't worry," she reassured, "we've been in there plenty of times. We know the fastest way to Zecora's. It's perfectly safe."

"That sign suggests otherwise," I explained, trying to pull myself out of her grip, to no avail.

"Now don't be such a scaredy-pony," Applejack said as she appeared behind me and started pushing me into the forest.

I had even less luck resisting Applejack's physical strength. Twilight led the way, using her horn as a kind of lantern, followed by Rainbow, Fluttershy, me, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie. Even though it was the middle of the day, the dense foliage of the forest made it seem like night. To my great relief, we seemed to be following a well-traveled path.

Eventually, we reached a bit of a clearing in the middle of which was a tree whose trunk had obviously been hollowed out. The light emanating from the open windows seemed to suggest a friendly presence, though the carved wooden masks hanging beside the door said something different.

"Zecora," Twilight called after knocking, "it's Twilight. We have a situation."

"Come in, come in," a heavily-accented voice said from inside, "you know what awaits you within."

The seven of us entered the makeshift house, and I was stunned to say the least. Everywhere there were bottles full of various liquids, wooden charms, and wooden masks. From the ceiling hung various kinds of plants. And in the middle was a giant black cauldron, like from a bad Disney movie.

Then there was the occupant of the hut. They was much different than the ponies I had already met, mostly due to their white-and-black-striped fur and similarly-colored mane, which was styled in a pretty high mohawk. To be honest, if their leather clothing didn't leave so little to the imagination, I wouldn't have been sure if they were a man or a woman.

"Zecora," Twilight began, pointing to me, "this is Jack. He is a human from another dimension. He's been experiencing some strange symptoms and I'm afriad the dimensional jump may have harmed him."

"Princess you brought him to the right place," Zecora answered, "have him sit there so I can look at his face.

I sat down in the only chair in the hut.

"Tell me true," Zecora continued, directing her question at me, "what ailments have been plaguing you?"

"Well," I said, removing my glasses, "I've been having these strange flashes of green light before my eyes. And not only that, but they hurt, like someone rubbed cayenne pepper in my eyes."

"Hmmm, that's not natural, that's a fact. Just stay calm while I examine you, Jack."

I tried to relax as much as was possible while Zecora looked over various parts of me. She obviously didn't have any modern medical equipment or anything, but Twilight and the others obviously trusted her with this matter, or they wouldn't have brought me here.

Unfortunately, as she was staring deep into my iris' for the third time, it happened again. My vision flashed green, for just a second, but the intense pain was there all the same. I threw my head back, grinding the heel of my hands into my eyes.

"Jack," Pinkie cried out, "you OK?"

"The pain is quite strong," Zecora mused. I regained my vision in time to see her hold a wooden cup out to me, "Drink this, it will go away before long."

I wasn't sure about it, but again, I had no reason not to trust her, so I tossed back the blue liquid in one gulp. It was very sweet and tasted faintly of blueberries. In not five seconds, all the pain was gone, as if it hadn't been there at all.

"Thank you, Zecora," I said, blinking a few times.

Zecora smiled before grabbing a long, wooden, stick, "I am going to need some saliva. So open your mouth and say 'ahh'."

I did as I was told. Zecora stuck the stick in my mouth and rolled it around, basically doing a cheek swab. When she was finished, she walked over to the cauldron and dropped the stick in, along with some other liquids.

"Well, Zecora," Twilight inquired as Zecora continued to stand over the pot and stare.

Suddenly, Zecora's entire demeanor shifted. Gone was the inquisitive, patient, look, replaced instead by one of equal parts fear and anger.

Before I knew what was going on, she had closed the distance between herself and I in two steps, proceeding to give me a swift kick in the jaw which made me fly out of the chair and crash into a near-by table. I heard a collective gasp come from the other six mares in the room as I laid in a crumpled heap, now down one tooth and bleeding profusely from the mouth.

"Zecora," Applejack yelled, "what in tarnation did you do that for?"

"What you have brought here, that thing," she explained, seething, "should not be here, for it is a changeling."

"How do you know that," Pinkie questioned as she kneeled next to me.

"His body is filled with changeling DNA. Such as what my cauldron say. The light of green that brings him pain, is simply his body trying to change back again."

As I listened to this, I lost more and more blood, and with it, I began to lose consciousness. Pinkie would tap my shoulder ever few seconds in an attempt to keep me awake.

"What's a changeling," I whispered so softly that I barely heard it myself.

"What, Jack?" Pinkie replied, knowing I had tried to say something.

"What," I repeated, trying to talk louder, "is a changeling?"

"Don't worry, Jack, you'll be OK."

"What's a changeling?" I repeated the phrase over and over until I finally slipped away.

*-*-*-*-*

For the second time in two days, I was in the hospital. Twilight and the others had apparently convinced Zecora not to kill me and had gotten me back to Ponyville before I bled out. Some strong healing magic later, and I was alive, if not completely well.

Now that I was awake, Twilight had taken the opportunity to answer my original question. Apparently, changelings were these weird bug/pony things that feed on love and have the ability to change their physical form, hence their name. She even told me how their queen, Chrysalis, had tried to overtake her brother's wedding to begin a changeling invasion. These mares had seem some stuff, that's for sure.

Twilight also explained that they had proved, without a doubt, that I wasn't a changeling. Apparently, changelings have a magical aura about them, just like unicorns, even if they are in a non-unicorn form. Since I have no such aura, I couldn't possibly be a changeling.

That still left the question of what was wrong with my eyes. Twilight admitted that neither she, nor Zecora when she calmed down, had any explanation, but that word had been sent to Celestia, and hopefully she could be of help.

By this point, most of the other mares had gone off somewhere. Rarity promised to fashion me some new clothes. Applejack had to get back to her farm. Pinkie Pie had work to do herself. Rainbow Dash had decided to go home, but not until after making sure I was going to live. That just left Twilight and Fluttershy, which I found ironic.

Then, another pony appeared in the doorway to my room. It was Zecora. She had a bag slung over her shoulder and a concerned look on her face.

"Good to see you are awake," she said almost nervously, "We would hate to see you the worse from my mistake."

I'll admit that the muscles in my shoulders involuntarily tensed, but I did my best to crack a weak smile. I reasoned that the fact that she was here meant something.

"Did you bring it, Zecora," Twilight asked.

"The medicine was finished as soon as I was able. It is difficult to work with ingrediants so unstable."

"Un...stable?" I mumbled, still finding it hard to speak properly.

"Zecora found an old medicinal remedy," Twilight explained, "it is to suppress magic when it is found in non-magical beings such as yourself."

"I thought...you said...there was no magic in me."

"Well, according to Zecora, when you have a green-out, your eyes actually glow as well. In my experience, such phenomenon can only occur with magic."

Zecora put a small brown sack on the table next to the bed, "Take it in the morning, one pill a day. With this medicine, your symptoms will go away."

"What...about...my tooth," I stammered, running my tongue over the space where my lower left bicupsid should have been.

"An easy feat to fix your tooth," Zecora said, pulling out canteen of sorts and handing it to me, "Drink this, and be healed, truth."

I figured the first thing she gave me to drink had done its job, so I quickly downed this potion, which tasted like one of those terrible organic smoothies. After a few seconds, I felt a sharp pain in my lower jaw, which quickly went away. Placing my tongue to the spot again, I found that my tooth had returned.

"What...the hell...kind of pony...are you?"

"We are but ponies of white and black," she said with a chuckle, "To be technical, I am a zebra, human Jack."

Chapter 5: Princesses and Gamers

Two days later, the six mares and I were on a train. The train was going to Canterlot, the capital city, where I would be meeting Princess Celestia and her sister, the other co-ruler, Princess Luna. Suffice is to say, as a midwestern nerd, I was freaking out.

"Forgive me for not being used to this," I said about halfway through the trip, "but I am nervous as hell."

"Don't worry, Jack," Pinkie said, craning her neck between Twilight and I from the seat behind, "there's nothing to be nervous about. The princesses are going to love meeting you."

"That's fine," I said, "but still, this is the equivalent of meeting the Queen of England. What am I supposed to say, what am I supposed to do?"

"Calm down, Jack," Twilight reassuringly put a hand on my shoulder, "The princesses don't expect you to be anything but yourself. Just act natural."

I knew they were right, why wouldn't they be right, but the effect it had on my disposition was minimal. But, in the end, there was nothing I could do about it but wait until the rubber met the road, and I met the royals.

The train soon pulled into the Canterlot station. With Twilight leading the way, the seven of us walked to the castle. I was a little confused as to why the princesses didn't send someone or something to pick us up, but upon asking, I was told that Twilight hated to put the royal guards through more work than was necessary. And here I thought that was their job.

When we reached the castle proper, the guards actually did start doing their job, happily grabbing the luggage the girls had brought. Fortunate for me, for I had been carrying most of Rarity's. Guess I kind of threw what the doctor said about my shoulder out the window.

Now that that was taken care of, we traveled through the castle until we reached a relatively small room which was mostly empty, save for the large, round table in the middle. The only occupant of the room was a white mare who was sitting at the position where she could see anyone who entered the room. As we entered, she rose and walked over.

In a word, I was awestruck. The mare was easily seven feet tall, her height accentuated by her horseshoes, which were slightly platformed. Her tri-colored mane and tail billowed in an imaginary breeze. Her entire figure cast off a sort of glow, which I knew wasn't from some kind of special make-up.

For a time, I was so stunned by Princess Celestia's appearance that my muscles forgot how to work. It took me a minute to remember that I should of bowed already, and I quickly went to rectify the faux pas. However, as I began to dip my head and body, both were stopped by a golden aura which I recognized as magic. The aura lifted me back upright, where I could see that it was Celestia who was casting the spell.

"Save the formalities," the princess spoke in a calm, but motherly, tone of voice, "Sit, you are just in time for tea and cake."

We moved to the table, where there was indeed tea and cake set out. Celestia insisted that I sit at her left hand, with Twilight on her immediate right. I also noticed that while the seven of us had a nice slice of cake on our plates, Celestia had a whole single-layer cake in front of her.

"Tell me, Mr. Christiansen," Celestia began again, turning toward me, "what do you think of Equestria so far?"

"Well," I began, "though I've suffered a separated shoulder, being dropped in the lake when I can't swim, dropped on my back, knocking my head on the ground too many times, and having a tooth kicked out of my jaw, I would say that it is a lovely place."

"Yes, we have heard about your various misadventures so far. And I hope that they don't continue ad infintum."

"Me either. I hope that you have some way of sending me home. Not that I haven't enjoyed being here, for the most part, but I don't belong here."

"Understood. But I do hope in the time between, you enjoy your stay in Equestria."

We all began partaking in the tea and cake, the others all making various small-talk with the princess. I noticed that Celestia was steadily devouring the entire dessert on her plate, in a manner which suggested she did this all the time.

*--*--*--*--*

After the snack, Celestia returned to court and most of the girls went to their rooms until dinner. Twilight took me to see the various stained glass mirrors which decorated a hallway of the castle. They each depicted a scene from history, many of which concerned the six mares from Ponyville. In this way, Twilight taught me about the duties of the princesses, how Celestia and Luna were responsible for raising the Sun and the Moon, respectively, in addition to other historical facts.

For dinner, we all dressed up a bit. Rarity had made me a suit for the occasion, a simple black and white with a blue-gray tie. All of the girls cleaned up quite nicely, even Rainbow, who I could tell was a little out of her comfort zone in a dress.

At the dinner table, we were seated much like we had been at tea. Celestia at the head, I on her immediate left, follwed by Rarity and Applejack, while Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow sat on the right. For a time, the seat at the other end of the table remained empty, but that didn't last long.

Soon, the doors opened once again, and I saw another alicorn enter the room. This one had dark blue, almost black, fur, with a midnight blue mane and tail, both of which were flecked with bright points which acted like stars in the night sky. Princess Luna had made her appearance.

"Evening, Tia," she greeted. I could tell she was even less formal than Celestia, "Evening, girls.

As she walked to her place on the far end of the table, she scanned the room, freezing in place when she spotted me.

"And who, pray tell, is our guest?"

I went to answer, but Celestia cut me off, "This is Mr. Jack Christiansen. His species is called humans. He was ripped out of his own dimension, his own world, and thrust into ours."

"A pleasure to meet you, Jack Christiansen."

"The-the pleasure is all mine, your highness," I said with a nod of my head. Luna smiled slightly before finishing her trip to her seat.

Throughout dinner, I mostly remained silent. I didn't need to talk, what with Pinkie filling Luna in on all of the various woes that had come upon me since my arrival. Luna listened to all of this in silence, though not without various facial reactions. Twilight also indicated to Celestia that since I had started taking the medicine Zecora had given me, I hadn't had another "green-out", which seemed to please the princess of the Sun.

Once dinner and dessert were finished, it was high time to call it a night. We all retired to our chambers, except for Luna, of course, to have a good night's sleep.

*--*--*--*--*

It had been two hours, and I hadn't fallen asleep.

There was no reason for it, I just couldn't sleep. I was in the most comfortable bed I had ever laid in, it wasn't too hot or too cold, it was perfect, and yet I couldn't sleep.

Deciding to do something about it, I got out of bed, threw on some loose clothes, and headed for the door. On the other side, I noticed a guard who was wearing black armor, instead of the usual gold. I didn't think of why until he turned to look at me.

"Is there something wrong, sir," I noticed when he opened his mouth that he had a pair of fangs.

"No, nothing wrong," I said, trying not to be frightened by the vampire, or whatever they called them in this world, "Just can't sleep. Maybe if I take a walk, it'll help."

"Would you like me to accompany you, sir?"

"No, no, stay at your post. If I get lost, I'll just ask someone else to escort me back."

"Very good, sir."

I walked away from my room and began wandering the halls. I noticed the rooms where the others were sleeping, even hearing Rainbow's tell-tale snoring.

Eventually, I made it to a room with two guards. And, unlike the others, there seemed to be a commotion inside. It was muffled by the heavy door, but I was pretty sure I heard the word "motherbucker". Confused, I approached the door, the guards quick to cross their spears to block me.

"Who goes there," one of them asked, "what business do you have in Princess Luna's chambers?"

"This is Princess Luna's room," I asked, honestly not knowing, "I'm sorry, I've been unable to sleep and was just wandering about. This is the first place where anybody seems awake."

"Well I suggest you leave," the other one said, "Come, I will escort you back to your chambers."

We were about to leave, until the door opened, revealing the princess. She was not wearing any of her regalia from before, instead now opting for an over-sized black t-shirt that read "Best Princess" and sweatpants. A wireless headset hung around her neck.

"What is going on out here," she asked.

"This pony was wandering the halls, still awake at this hour," the first one explained, "we simply offered to show him back to his chambers."

"Are thou truly still awake? Are thou not sleepwalking?"

"Can't sleep," I said, "no idea why."

"Hmmm. Come, we wish to speak with thou. Guards, back to your posts."

The two guards returned to their places beside the door. Luna motioned for me to enter, and I did so, shutting the door behind me.

Princess Luna's room was, interesting, to say the least. Sure, there was the large canopy bed which I kind of expected, but there were many things I did not expect. Like the pile of dolls and plushies which took up a sizeable corner of the room. Or the minifridge next to the bed. Or, most interesting of all, the 98", I guesstimated, flat-screen TV hanging from the wall. Gazing over to it, I saw that it displayed a title screen of a video game, one called "The Trotting Dead".

"You...you play video games," I asked, both bemused and befuddled.

"Indeed. Why, do you not enjoy the electronic arts?"

"Enjoy them," I started chuckling, "oh, you don't know the half of it. In my world, I create video games, I am one of the people that makes them."

Luna's eyes got even more over-sized than usual at this.

"You...you make video games," it was now her turn to stutter.

"Yes. In fact, it was while programming a game that I was transported into your world."

"Well," Luna said, taking a seat in a beanbag chair on the floor, "wouldst thou like to play with us? We haven't had a gaming partner in quite some time."

There was no gamer worth his salt who would pass up this opportunity.

"Of course, princess," I said, taking a seat on another beanbag, "but be warned, I play to win."

"I would hope for nothing less," she said, lighting up her horn and bringing over two skinny, silver, cans, "Red Minotaur?"

"Don't mind if I do," I said, grabbing the energy drink offered and popping the top, "don't mind if I do."

*--*--*--*--*

The several hours that passed felt like nothing. Not only was I hopped up on energy drinks, but playing various games helped the time go by quickly. I soon found that Luna's gaming skills far exceeded my own, helped by the fact that she could hold the controller in her magic and push any button or make any movement the moment she thought of it, rather than the minor delay that it took a mere mortal like myself to make the same move.

Still, the time spent was enjoyable. Luna even used the little bit of down time to grill me on human gaming. I assured her that it was much like how it was in Equestria: console wars, repetative sequels, quick time event button mash fests, the works. I even told her about the hot new IP I had been working on, what was supposed to be the next big Christmas release. I said that I hoped I got back home in time to enjoy the fruits of my labors.

Eventually, it was time for Luna to lower the Moon, in order to allow Celestia to raise the Sun. That task over with, the two of us made our way back to the dining hall for breakfast. For this, Luna opted to change back into more princess-appropriate clothing, she was even able to magic me into some slightly better clothing.

When we reached our destination, I noticed that Celestia and the others were already there. However, there was some differences. For one, my place at Celestia's left was not empty. Instead, it was occupied by a white unicorn stallion. His eyes were shut and his nose was pointed so high I feared for his ability to breathe. Also, for reasons that I didn't know at the time, but which I learned later, Rarity and Applejack had switched places with Pinkie and Rainbow, away from this new pony. This left the only seat remaining at Luna's immediate right.

I didn't think anything of it and made my way to the empty seat. And I wouldn't have thought anything of the stallion if he hadn't opened his mouth.

"Auntie," he barked, "what is that thing, and why is it in my presence?"

I stopped dead in my tracks and looked at this pony curiously.

"Calm yourself, Blueblood," Celestia said, cool as ever, "he is my guest, and you will treat him as such."

With Celestia on my side, I made my over to introduce myself to the stallion properly.

"My name is Jack Christiansen," I said, extending a hand, "good to meet you."

"Prince Blueblood does not shake hands," he smacked my hand away with one of his, "you will show me the proper respect."

At this, five of the six rose out of their chairs, Fluttershy opting to attempt to make herself as small as possible.

"Now listen here, pardner," Applejack drawled, "you mess with Jack, you mess with us."

"Well put, darling," Rarity concurred.

"Easy girls," I said, motioning with my hands, "if the prince doesn't want to shake, then we won't shake."

"Don't worry, Jack," Rainbow said, coming over and throwing an arm around my shoulder, "you could take old Blueballs here in a fight, anyway."

"What did you call me," Blueblood growled.

"C'mon Rainbow," I said, removing the pegasus' arm, "I'm a gamer, not a fighter."

"Gamer," Celestia questioned, first looking to me, then to Luna, "Well that explains why you two showed up together."

"Couldn't sleep," I explained, "I happened upon Luna's room and we ended up playing video games together."

"As long as it was that and not something else."

"Tia!" Luna blushed slightly.

"Who cares what this peasant was doing with Luna," Blueblood snapped, drawing the attention back to himself, "he still hasn't shown me the proper respect."

"Oh shut up, Blueballs," I said, catching onto Rainbow's nickname for him.

"How dare you," his horn began to glow with a bluish color, which soon enveloped me. The prince was straining, obviously trying to do something to me, but nothing was happening. With a quick throw of my hand, the aura vanished. Blueblood stood in stunned silence.

"That's interesting," I quipped, "wonder why the magic didn't work?"

"Zecora's medicine," Twilight said as if she knew all along this would happen, "it must make you immune to magic."

"But Celestia used magic on me just fine yesterday."

"Hmmm, Rarity, try to pick Jack up."

"OK, darling," Rarity's horn glowed a blue shade of its own, which soon surrounded me. The unicorn turned her head this way and that, but like before, nothing happened, and I was able to dissipate the aura with a wave of my arm.

"I guess one has to have very strong magic," Twilight theorized, "so Celestia, and probably Luna, could use magic on you, but nopony else."

"Cool, I'm magic-proof," I chuckled, which was soon brought to a halt by a dark blue aura surrounding me and moving me bodily into the chair which I originally had gone to sit in, next to Luna, whose horn was glowing.

"Thou can figure this out later," the Moon princess said, "for now, breakfast."

I couldn't argue with that, and we all started eating, with the exception of Blueblood, who had stormed out of the room in protest.

With the royal pain in the tail gone, we all enjoyed a pleasant breakfast together, until Luna decided it was time for her to get some shut eye. But before she did, she lifted me up in her magic again and glided me into an unexpected hug.

"Thank you, human Jack," she said as I was afraid that she was going to crack my ribs, "It has been a long time since we have been able to share a good night of gaming with another individual in the same place. I look forward to more times in the future."

"No problem, Luna," I said, gasping for air, "but I won't be able to if you suffocate me."

Luna quickly let me go at this statement, my hacking and gasping getting more than a laugh out of Rainbow.

"Don't worry, Luna," Celestia reassured, "this isn't the last time Jack will be here, trust me."

Chapter 6: The Way to a Man's Heart is Through His Joystick

It had been about a week since I had unceremoniously landed in Equestria, and I was back at the scene of my entrance. Since it was a weekend, Button had come and found me and invited me to play some video games.

Like Luna before him, he was astonished that I not only played games, but helped create them. He was also impressed by my skills, which were about equal with his. I had found that though Button was more into old-school gaming, thus the Atari-like set-up I had seen when I first arrived, he wasn't above playing the current generation.

"So, how do you like Ponyville," I asked while we took a break.

"Oh, it's OK. Most of the ponies here are really nice, much better than in Manehattan."

"What about school?"

"Who are you, my mother?"

"Just asking as a friend. I know how it feels to be the new kid in school."

"It's good, for the most part. I mean, there are a few pains in the rear."

"Aren't there always," I knowingly asked.

"Yeah, but I won't let 'em get me down."

"Any nice fillies," I asked with a smirk.

"Wh-What do you mean by that?"

"Oh come on, Button, you're a young colt in a new town, there has to be some filly in your class that has your eye. C'mon, out with it."

"Why do you care?"

"Because I'm your friend, aren't I? Besides, I owe you for pretty much giving you a concussion upon my entrance. Whomever it is, I'm gonna help you with her, or him, I don't discriminate."

"Sweet...," Button mumbled.

"Don't be like that, Button."

"Sweetie Belle, OK, her name is Sweetie Belle."

"That name sounds familiar, but I can't place my finger on why."

"She's Rarity's sister."

"Oh, right. White unicorn, with a curly mane."

"That's right."

"Well, if you're going to capture the fair maiden's heart," I figured using video game terminology would work best, "you're going to need to know her. What do you know about her?"

"Her sister, Rarity, was the Element of Generosity. And she is one-third of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo."

"Cutie Mark Crusaders?"

"Yeah, it's their own club where they do all sorts of strange things to earn their cutie marks. At least, that's how Snips explained it to me."

"Hmmm, interesting," I said, rubbing my chin, "I think I have an idea. But I'll need to visit Rarity to make it work."

"Why?"

"If I've learned anything about Rarity, it's if you let her go on about your clothing for long enough, she'll start spilling secrets. And if I throw in the added pretext of getting some relationship advice, she'll tell me everything I, meaning we, want to know."

"So you're willing to risk Rarity using you as a pony, I mean human, pincushion for me?"

"Yes. It's called taking one for the team."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Walk around town. See if you can Sweetie Belle or her two friends. One thing I know for certain, if you want to date a girl, you have to be on good terms with her friends."

Our plan set in motion, I made my way to Carousel Boutique, Rarity's home and place of business. Of course, I had been there before for Rarity to measure me and to pick up clothing that she had made, nothing special. I just hoped that she wasn't too busy. As I stepped through the doorway, a tiny bell rang from above my head.

"Welcome to Carousel Boutique," I heard Rarity call out, her voice getting closer by the word, "Where every ensemble is chic, unique, and magnifique. Oh, hello Jack, and to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Afternoon, Rarity," I greeted in return, "I hope I haven't caught you at a bad time."

"You certainly haven't. In fact, it's been pretty quiet, even with Sweetie here."

"I heard that," a new voice said from what appeared to be the kitchen.

"You haven't met Sweetie, have you," Rarity asked.

"Can't say that I have," I replied.

She led me to the kitchen. There I saw an almost miniature version of Rarity, well except that her mane was two colors and was more tightly curled. Her eyes were glued to a rectangular device that I recognized from when Button Mash gave me a grand tour of his room.

"Sweetie, your manners, say hello to our guest."

"Hello," she looked up for a split second before returning her attention to the screen.

"Sweetie Belle!"

"Don't worry, Rarity," I eased, "I program video games, remember. I know the feeling well of being in the middle of a level and not being able to save."

A smile crossed Sweetie Belle's face, "Ha! Finally got past the boss," a few button clicks later, and she put the device down. I could now read the name JoyBoy flashed on the screen.

"Tough boss," I asked, interested in what she was playing.

"The penultimate boss," she said, then turned to her sister, "Penultimate, is that the right word?"

"If you mean something that is second-to-last, then yes, penultimate."

Sweetie smiled in accomplishment, perhaps more at her vocabulary then at beating whichever boss this was.

"Well, Sweetie Belle," I said, reaching out a hand, "my name is Jack Christiansen, pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," she beamed, shaking my hand.

"Jack," Rarity piped up, "was there some reason you came over here?"

"What? A guy can't just stop by his friend's place of business?"

"Oh, of course, darling, I was just curious."

"As a matter of fact, there is something that I need to talk to you about."

"We can talk in my creation room," the older unicorn said with a flip of her mane.

Rarity led me upstairs and into a room. It was quite a sight, with various fabrics strewn all over the place, and multiple mannequins holding multiple unfinished outfits.

"Now," Rarity continued, "what did you need to talk to me about?"

"Well," I began, making sure that the door was closed, "I need advice."

"What kind of advice? You sure this isn't something Twilight can help you with?"

"Something tells me that you are the local expert on matters of the heart."

Rarity's eyes got big, "Matters of the heart? As in, something pertaining to romance?"

"Exactly."

"Well I'm flattered that you came to me. I'll do the best I can. So, who's the lucky mare?"

"Oh, it's not for me."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I am trying to help a friend. They don't know a lot about this kind of stuff, and I offered to give my assistance. However, I'm no expert, that's where you come in. I really need a mare's perspective."

"I believe I understand," she nodded, taking a seat in a chair and motioning for me to take a seat, which I promptly did, "So, what do you need to know first?"

"Well, and this is all hypothetical mind you, if a stallion was trying to gain your attention, what would be the best way for him to do so?"

"I would say that he would have to really know me. If we began talking and it showed that he hadn't done his due diligence, it would not reflect well on him."

"Due diligence?"

"Knowing certain things about me. Like, if he didn't know that I was a designer, or didn't know that I was an Element of Harmony, I would know that he doesn't really care about the mare inside, he only cares about how she looks outside. I made that mistake once, and I will not make it again, nor will I allow somepony else to."

"Understandable. How long do you think two people, ponies, have to know each other before they can be sure that a relationship is even possible? I'm not exactly someone who believes in love at first sight."

"That is a bit of a foalish notion, best left to foals. They can get away with it, because they don't always think things through. But adults, well, we should know the difference. But sometimes, no matter how much one knows that it doesn't make any sense, as they say, the heart wants what it wants."

"Indeed, for better or for worse. One last question, what if it doesn't work out? How does one best recover from the sting of rejection?"

"Different ponies handle it different ways. Some can shrug it off and go on with their lives. Some get cast into a sour pallor for weeks. It all depends on the individual, and how strong that individual's feelings were. In a perfect world, nopony would get hurt from relationships, or potential relationships, gone south. But, alas, we do not live in a perfect world."

"I came to the right pony," I smiled.

"Pleasure to be of service. Now, I must ask you a question."

"Shoot."

"Are you sure you aren't talking about yourself?"

"Rarity..."

"I mean it, Jack. It isn't healthy to keep feelings contained for too long. If you are developing feelings for somepony, whomever that may be, you can tell me. And if you are, I suggest making your feelings known as soon as possible, lest you have regrets."

"Trust me, Rarity, we aren't talking about me. Like I said, I'm asking for a friend in need."

"Well OK then. Just know that I am here if you need me to listen. Or if you need me to fashion you another suit, whichever."

This elicited a laugh from me, "I know Rarity, I know."

We exited the creation room, and I left the boutique, but not without saying goodbye to Sweetie, who was nose-deep in her JoyBoy again, I imagine taking on the final boss.

I realized once I was outside that it was getting late. Button would be off from school again tomorrow, so I could find him then. For the time being, I decided to head back to my temporary living space for dinner.

When I made it to Lyra and Bon Bon's place, something struck me as odd. Lyra was there, sitting on the couch, but their was neither hide nor hair of Bon Bon.

"Where's Bon Bon," I asked the green unicorn.

"Oh she's finishing some stuff at work. She sent me home ahead to start dinner."

"And I assume that you have done so."

"Yes," she said with a sigh, "Geez, you sound like Bonny sometimes."

I shrugged, "Just checking."

I took a seat on the couch next to Lyra. For awhile we just sat in silence, until she turned to face me.

"Hey Jack, I know this might violate the rules, but have I asked you a question today?"

"Other than that one, no."

"Oh, good."

"Have you got one for me? You haven't missed a day yet."

"Oh, yeah. Umm, what do you think of mares?"

"Excuse me," I asked, shocked at this odd question.

"What do you think about mares? I mean, do you find us funny-looking, are you attracted to us, what?"

This just wasn't my day, was it?

"Where did this come from?"

"Just popped in my head."

"OK, I'm going to give you a mulligan, ask me a different question."

"What's wrong with the one I asked?"

"I don't want to answer it."

"Oh come on, Jack, you're not going to hurt my feelings or anything. I am actually curious."

"Fine. To be honest, you all are not much different than human women. Sure, you look different, what with the fur and the tails, but other than that, you're just the females of a different species. I wouldn't say I'm attracted to any mares, but you are certainly not repulsive or anything."

"There, was that so hard?"

"A little. It's been a long day."

"Tell me about it," Bon Bon said from the doorway.

"Hey Bon Bon," I greeted with a little wave.

"Oh, look who it is," the candy maker said sarcastically, "and here I almost forgot that there was a human sleeping on our couch."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I think this is the first time you've ever been here for dinner."

"Hey, I'm a busy guy. It's not easy being the only human in Equestria."

Chapter 7: Official Business

Once again, I found myself at Canterlot Castle. Celestia had sent a letter to Twilight requesting my presence on this particular day. She also requested that the others not accompany me, which seemed odd, but nobody was going to question it. Plus, the letter came with one first class ticket, so there was that. So now I was back at the palace, dressed up to the nines, Rarity having made me another suit, this one black with a bright blue shirt and white tie. The guard who met me at the train station led me to the throne room, where Celestia was sitting there, doing what I supposed she always did, signing some sort of official-looking documents.

"Ah good," she said upon spotting me, "you've arrived, and right on time as well."

"Well I would hate to keep you waiting, your majesty," I said, still treating her like the royalty she was, though without the bowing.

"Come," she walked past me and toward the door, "we have much to discuss."

I followed the princess out of the castle and into the royal gardens. After going a ways further, she sat down on a bench, motioning for me to join her, which I did, of course.

"So," I began once we were comfortable, "why am I here?"

"There are two bits of news I have to share with you. One is positive and one is negative. I will get the bad news out of the way first. Twilight and I have been collaborating to figure out a way to send you back home, and though we will not rule out the possibility of one day doing so, we have yet to come up with anything."

I sighed deeply, closing my eyes and hanging my head slightly, "That shouldn't surprise me as much as it does."

"I understand. We all understand that you are in a difficult situation, though you have seem to have made the best of it so far. But fear not, we will continue to search for answers."

"I was brought into your world somehow," I regained my composure and looked Celestia in the eyes, "There must be some way to send me back."

"Correct. At least, that is what we believe. Like I said, we will not rest until all possible avenues are exhausted. But, until then, there is the piece of good news."

"I had almost forgotten."

Celestia smiled, "You are going to be offered a position, an official position, one that will come with a royal stipend if you accept."

"A position? Like, in court?"

"Not exactly. Jack Christiansen, I would like to appoint you the Official Human Ambassador to Equestria."

"Ambassador? Me?"

"Well, it is not like there are many options. You are the only one of your kind in Equestria, after all."

"OK, but why?"

"I feel that it is important, as a fellow sentient species, to be informed of the various goings-on between pony and non-pony citizens. Plus, I believe you could use some cash flow."

I smiled, "You're right about that. What would this position entail?"

"Nothing much, really. There is a monthly meeting between the various ambassadors and myself. And, unless there is some kind of crisis, that is pretty much it. Oh, and of course, you are the official voice of the human species in Equestria, which is simple as you are the only one."

"So you asked me all the way up here for that?"

"Do you not accept?"

"Yes I accept, but you could have just put this in your letter."

"True. But I thought you would like to meet a fellow ambassador, one who also happens to be coming into town today."

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to meet a peer."

"That's the spirit. Come, he should be arriving soon."

Celestia and I got up from the bench and headed back into the castle. When we reached the courtyard, I noticed a creature who stood out from the ponies around them.

They were easily 6-6, with the blue-furred upper body of a very muscular human, but the legs and hooves of a goat or cow. They also sported a pair of long, white, horns on either side of his head, like a Texas Longhorn.

"Ah, Stone Chin," Celestia greeted to this creature, "glad you have arrived safely."

The creature turned around, confirming what I had suspected, an honest-to-goodness minotaur.

"Greetings, Princess Celestia," he said with a slight nod of his head.

"Mr. Jack Christiansen," she said, motioning first to me, then to the Minotaur, "meet Stone Chin, Minotaur Ambassador. Stone Chin, Jack Christiansen, newly-appointed Human Ambassador."

"Human Ambassador," the half-man, half-bull snorted, "I've never heard of that species before."

"That's because I'm the only one. It's a long story."

"Isn't it always?"

The doors on the other side of the courtyard opened, revealing Princess Luna, decked out in her full regalia.

"Ah, splendid, everypony is here."

Luna glided in my direction. When she reached me, she was quick to throw her arms around me in a hug, one I had little choice but to reciprocate.

"Good to see you too, Luna," I said, patting her back, being mindful of her wings.

Luna broke the hug and walked over to have a word with Celestia. When I shifted my gaze and turned around, I almost walked straight into Stone Chin.

"Pardon me," I apologized, looking up into the eyes of the large creature, "Didn't think there was anyone behind me."

He moved his right arm in such a way I thought he was going to rest it gently on my shoulder. But instead, he brought it down swiftly, clasping the nerve and muscle between my neck and shoulder. I was still looking into his eyes and saw a familiar green flash.

The hold probably only lasted five seconds, but it was longest five seconds of my life. It felt like something was being pulled from my body, but refused to leave. By the time I felt all this, Stone was enveloped in a golden aura which I recognized as Celestia's magic, picked up bodily, and thrown up against the nearest wall. He was quickly surrounded by four guards as I went down to a knee.

"Jack," Luna swiftly came to my side, "art thou alright?"

"Yeah," I grimaced, rubbing the muscle which had been latched onto, "I'll be fine."

Suddenly, a third set of doors, the ones that led to the road leading away from the castle, burst open. On the other side stood another minotaur, in fact, he looked exactly like Stone Chin. He was gasping for breath, his torso littered with various cuts and bruises, some of which were bleeding.

"Help," he muttered, dropping to his knees, "Imposter."

"Get the doctor," Celestia ordered, which a guard swiftly moved to carry out. All eyes shifted between the two minotaurs. Eventually, Celestia made her way to where the first one was still sitting against the wall, "Show yourself, coward," she barked.

A flash of green light illuminated the room. When it dimmed, a minotaur was no longer against the wall. Instead sat a black, shirtless, creature with a long, thin, curved horn. What made him unusual, to me anyway, was that his arms, hands, legs, and feet, or what I could see around the green cargo pants he wore, were riddled with holes, as if his limbs were made of Swiss Cheese. In addition to this, he, I assumed it was a he from the anatomy, seemed very scrawny, like an emaciated human. He wore an expression of absolute smug disgust, as if he didn't care that he was caught red-handed.

"To the dungeon with it," Celestia ordered, "until I decide what to do with it."

The four guards quickly bound up the new creature's wrists and ankles, opting to carry him away like slain deer.

"What was that thing," I asked nobody in particular.

"That," Luna answered, "was a changeling."

*--*--*--*--*

Celestia, Luna, and I gathered in the castle infirmary. The real Stone Chin laid on a bed, most of his cut having been bandaged up, and with an IV drip of pain medication flowing into his veins.

"What happened," Celestia asked, dead serious.

I wasn't even sure if Stone could communicate in his condition, but I wasn't about to cross Celestia.

"I was on the road from the city to the castle," Stone explained, his speech very slow, "I was jumped. At first, I held them off, but eventually, they got the better of me."

"Them," Celestia almost-whispered, her eyes growing in size, "as in, more than one?"

"You think one starving changeling could beat me? Ha. No, it was three of them, at least, maybe four. They all looked alike, so I couldn't be sure."

"Multiple changelings in Canterlot," Celestia's voice began to get shaky, "I must inform Twilight, her friends, and the other nations. Jack, you're going to be in Canterlot for more than a day. This is what I meant by crisis."

None of us said anything as Celestia quickly walked away. After being assured that Stone would make a full recovery, Luna and I departed as well.

As we walked to nowhere in particular, I must have had the thousand-yard-stare going again, because Luna noticed.

"Jack," the princess of the moon began, "thou seem troubled."

"I saw it."

"Saw what?"

"When the changeling grabbed my shoulder, his eyes flashed green."

"A natural phenomenon among changelings."

"My eyes used to do the same thing, before Zecora's medicine. My vision would flash green and it would hurt something fierce."

"Just because they seem similar does not mean they are related."

"Zecora swabbed my DNA, she said that according to her methods, I was a changeling. She wanted to kill me. Something is not right here."

"It is an odd confluence of coincidences."

"Coincidence my ass. And another thing, why would he risk it? Why would he attack me, in full view of you, Celestia, and the guards? He was going to be caught."

"Well, like Stone Chin said, it is starving."

"Starving? Like he was going to eat me?"

"Not eat you. The changelings don't feed on meat or vegetables like us, they feed on love."

"Love? So the feeling I felt, like something was being pulled out of me. He was trying to drain me of my love?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

"It didn't work. I'm immune to magic. Well, unless it's you or Celestia. He tried and failed."

"We are more curious as to the love in question."

"Meaning?"

"Changelings are attracted to love like moths to a flame. That's basically what they are, moths. It sensed a great source of food, love, coming from you, and, in it's starving state, decided to feed, even if it meant getting caught. So We are simply wondering what would cause you to have such a large quantity of love, large enough to set off a changeling's baser instincts."

"I'm more interested in what Celestia plans to do with him. I assume he can communicate."

"Unfortunately, no. A changeling cannot speak in its natural form. Only when it takes on the form of a creature that can vocalize can it produce understandable speech."

"Well, Celestia's going to get answers out of him one way or another."

*--*--*--*--*

It was going to take a few days to get everyone together in Canterlot. In the meantime, Celestia had a prisoner to interrogate. Or at least I thought that was what the gameplan was. Imagine my surprise the day after the changeling's capture when she told me that I would be the one doing the interrogating.

"Wouldn't it be safer if you do it," I asked, stunned, "You are the princess, after all."

"Yes, but you are something that even I am not. You are immune to magic. You will be able to get past any little tricks that it might play. And don't worry, I will be watching the whole thing."

"What do you expect me to say?"

"Just get answers. Why it's here, who sent it, how many there are, stuff like that. How you do it is unimportant to me."

"You realize that the only experience I have with this stuff is watching cop shows on TV, right?"

"We know. It should be entertaining."

I followed the princess of the Sun into the dungeon. We stopped in an area where I noticed two doors right next to each other. Entering the first door, we came to an observation room, exactly as it would appear on TV. A two-way mirror was placed on one wall, showing the other room, where the changeling sat, manacled to both the chair and the table.

"Go on," Celestia motioned, "myself and the guards will be ready to intervene if need be."

"OK," I sighed, "wish me luck."

I exited the room again. A guard unlocked the other door and I swiftly stepped through, only to hear it lock behind me. The changeling didn't react to my entrance at first, content to continue to stare a hole through the mirror. It wasn't until I sat down in the chair opposite and came into his direct line of sight that he seemed to even notice me.

"Change," I commanded in as an authoritative tone as I could muster.

The changeling tilted his head, as if he didn't know what I meant.

"You know damn well what I mean," I barked, "I know you can't talk in your current form. So change into something that can."

He smirked. A flash of green light illuminated the entire room for a second. When it subsided, I saw, sitting across from me, an exact copy of, well, me. It was a little unnerving to see myself shackled like a prisoner in an interrogation room.

"Better," he said in my exact voice.

"Impressive," I complimented, "Now we can begin."

"You're not going to get anything out of me," he hissed, "I'd rather die for the hive than give you ponies anything."

"That's your choice. But if you did that, you wouldn't hear my offer."

"What could you possibly offer me?"

"I'm willing to make you an offer you can't refuse."

"I'm listening."

"On the other side of that glass is Princess Celestia herself. If she sees that you cooperate, perhaps she won't blast you into her Sun."

"Like I said, I am willing to die for the hive."

"What a pity."

"What?"

"You changelings," I said, slightly bowing my head and adjusting my glasses for emphasis, "you're an interesting species. Able to change form into whatever you want. That could be used in a lot of interesting ways, and yet you choose to use it to wreak havoc. I'll admit, I am curious about your species. And I can tell that you are curious about the creature that sits across from you."

"What makes you think that?"

"I am full of mystery. You know ponies, minotaurs, zebras, griffons, but I am something you had never seen before yesterday. And, on top of that, your little love-draining trick didn't work on me. That has you curious."

"How did you do it?"

"How did I do what?"

"How did you fight off my magic?"

"I'll be glad to tell you. But first, you must answer a question for me."

"I'm not that curious. I am not a traitor."

"Who would know," at this point I decided to pull out a little trick, "Right now, your buddies, the ones who were with you, are being interrogated in the exact same manner you are."

"That's a lie. They wouldn't be caught."

"You were, weren't you?

The changeling growled at me and leveled his eyes.

"You were caught because you're greedy. And I don't blame you. Look at you. I've seen you in your true form. You might die of starvation before Celestia has a chance to execute you. Tell me this, how many of your brothers and sisters in the hive have died in that fashion?"

His eyes closed, his muscled flexed, and his breathing became heavy.

"Many," he finally answered.

"I thought so. I don't want that to continue. I can't stand the extinction of a species, even if one of them attacked me. Now tell me, who controls the hive?"

"My mother."

"Your mother?"

"The queen of the hive."

"Whose name is?"

"Celestia knows her, ask her."

"I'm not asking Celestia, I'm asking you."

He sighed again, "Her name is Queen Chrysalis."

"And she gave you orders to come to Canterlot?"

"Yes."

"What was your mission?"

"My question first."

"Hmm?"

"Answer my question first. Why did my magic not work?"

I smiled, "Simple. I'm immune to magic."

He looked at me with fear in his eyes, "Are all humans like that?"

"Yes," I lied, "You all should consider yourselves lucky that I am the only one of my kind around. Now, the answer you owe me."

He shut his eyes again, "We were to intercept the minotaur, impersonate him, and spy on the meeting between him and Celestia."

"And what were you hoping to learn?"

"Anything we could. Any information is useful at this point."

"Does Chrysalis plan on attacking Equestria?

The changeling was silent.

"Answer me, dammit," I slammed my fist on the table.

"Chrysalis plans on feeding her children. And if that means attacking Equestria, then so be it."

"And you feed on love."

"Correct. These ponies, they all have love to spare for one another, there is enough to keep the hive fed for millennia."

We were both silent for a minute as I formulated my next set of questions. Then I remembered what I had almost forgotten.

"Why attack me?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did you risk attacking me. You must have known you were going to be caught."

"You saw me. No one in the hive has eaten in weeks. It was too much of a temptation."

"Is there that much love in me?"

He smiled, "You're beginning to be affected by the ponies. Their love and harmony are rubbing off on you. After you hugged Princess Luna, the love emanated off of both of you like pheremones. I figured you'd be an easier target."

"Fair enough. I think we're done here."

I got out of the chair and started to head for the door, which I could hear unlocking.

"Wait," the changeling called, causing me to stop and turn back around, "I wish to see my brothers."

"Oh," I said nonchalantly, "that was a lie. We haven't caught them. Yet."

The changelings eyes glowed green, reverting him back to his true form. The horn on his head began to glow. Deciding to put an end to this, I took the two steps necessary to close the distance and grasped the horn in my hand, which short-circuted his magic. The threat gone, I pulled his horn, and consequently the rest of his head, back and looked down into his eyes.

"Now listen up," I growled, "I bear you no ill will. I do not want to see the eradication of your species. But hear this, if you or anyone else tries to hurt me or my friends, I will not be afraid to use lethal force against you."

I released the changeling's horn and stormed out of the room. Upon entering the observation room, I found Celestia absolutely beaming.

"Good work, Jack," she said, "Maybe, if we can't get you home, you might consider working for the Canterlot Police."

*--*--*--*--*

Two days later, everyone had gathered for the summit meeting to discuss the changeling topic. Various creatures from all over Equestria were in attendance. In addition to the three princesses, the other Elements, and myself, there was Stone Chin of the minotaurs, a griffon named Juilius, a zebra named Zanzar, and an Arabian pony named Selik.

For the first part, Celestia took control, explaining everything that was already known about the changelings, their home, their feeding habits, and their magic. Thus, I got my crash course in changeling.

Next, Twilight briefly recounted the story of the pony's previous encounter with Queen Chrysalis, when she impersonated another princess, named Cadance, leading up to her wedding to Twilight's brother, Shining Armor. Twilight also mentioned that said couple would be on stand-by in their kingdom, the Crystal Empire, just in case.

After these speeches, the floor was left open to discussion, which quickly devolved into quarreling amongst the various non-Equestrians, as the war hawkishness of Julius and Stone Chin verbally spared with the peace-preferring Zanzar and Selik. For a while, I was worried I would have to be the swing vote.

"Enough of this petty bickering," Celestia said as calmly as possible. To her credit, everybody stopped talking to listen to her, "We know that the changelings are beatable, the Elements proved that the last time. However, I believe you all have overlooked a new weapon in our arsenal."

"And what would that be," Julius chirped.

"The human, Jack."

Everybody in the room turned their attention to me. I pointed to myself in disbelief.

"Of course," Twilight piped up, "Jack is the perfect counter to the changelings."

"And why is that," Selik questioned.

"Because of a medicine that he has been taking compliments of my zebra friend Zecora. Here, show them, Jack."

She stood up from her chair and motioned for me to do the same.

"Must I give a demonstration," I sighed defeatedly.

"It'll prove the point," Twilight rightly pointed out.

Not wishing to argue any further, I got up from my chair and stepped away from the table. None of the eyes in the room left me. Twilight, who was already a good distance away given our respective positions at the table, started lighting up her horn. After a few moments, she unleashed a blast of lavendar magic in my direction. Quickly, I crossed my arms in an X shape in front of my face, which easily blocked the blast. Twilight refocused her magic, this time creating an aura around both my arms. For a moment, I was stuck, but then I emphatically separated my arms, throwing them out and away from my body which broke the magical grip.

Twilight smiled at the apparent success of the demonstration. So did most of the other occupants of the table. However, there was one who didn't seem impressed.

"OK, so he can block magic," Julius scoffed, "But can he block this?"

The griffon lept out of his seat and flew toward me. Adjusting in mid air, he landed both of his clawed feet in my chest, which knocked me clear across the room and into a wall, which I promptly slid down in pain.

Upon seeing this, Rainbow jumped out of her own chair and pounced on the griffon ambassador, quickly taking him to the ground. Fortunately, Pinkie stopped her before she could do actual damage to the fellow flyer.

"Julius," Celestia snapped, "that was well out of line."

"Just proving a point of my own," the griffon replied, still down.

By this point, Applejack and two guards had helped me to my feet. I was winded, but otherwise not that worse for wear.

"The bird of prey is right," I said between labored breaths, "Like I've said before, I'm not a fighter. I may be immune to magic, but if Chrysalis is as dangerous as Twilight described, I would be no match at all. Good day."

I walked out of the room and down a hallway aimlessly. Eventually, I reached a balconey, one that faced due west, toward the setting Sun. I leaned against the railing, thinking about what all had transpired over the past few days. Sure, I had interrogated a changeling rather successfully, and it was proven that I could counter their magic with ease, but what had I accomplished? Not much. There were still a few changelings out there, possibly hiding in Canterlot somewhere, ready to strike. I didn't exactly feel like a failure, but I didn't feel like I had achieved anything, either.

For a time, I was alone on the balconey, not even a guard in sight. Then, I heard the very quiet footstep of someone who was trying not to disturb me. Figuring it was one of the Elements, I turned around to greet them, only to be met with the blue eyes of Princess Luna.

"We are glad we found thou," she said in that particularly classical way she talked, "We have been searching all over."

"By 'we', do you mean all of them, or just you?"

"To be honest," she gazed down for a split-second before finding her focus again, "We, meaning, I, went in search of you first, but I do believe my sister sent the Elements as well."

"You don't need to worry about me, Luna," I said, turning back to face the railing, "I'm fine."

"Thou does not seem fine," Luna replied, joining me.

"It's been a long week."

"Yes, We have heard. If you want our opinion, you have taken all of this rather well."

"Don't have much of a choice in the matter."

"Don't take the griffon's words too much to heart. A blow like that would have toppled anypony."

"I know, but he still has a point. I am not a fighter. Heck, I'm not even good at fighting games," this elicited a chuckle out of Luna, "Seriously, every time we play Street Fighter, you kick my ass."

"You know what We think? We think that everypony is good at something, everypony has a role to play. One simply has to find their role and perform it to the best of their abilities."

"If that's the case, then what's my role?"

"We are not sure. But We know that it is not to be a brutish soldier like Julius. You can only be Jack. You can only be you, nopony else. Play to your strengths and minimize your weaknesses."

I sighed again and looked at the Sun as it gradually slipped below the horizon.

"I want to go home, Luna."

"We know, Jack. We know."

Chapter 8: Ponyville Faceoff

When the other Ponyville mares returned to their home, I went with them. The whole ordeal in Canterlot had worn me out, and I just wanted to rest.

With that in mind, a few days after my return, I accompanied Bon Bon to her place of business, a candy shop. It served a two-fold purpose, first, so that I could relax while also not being stuck at home, and two, I made a pretty good door greeter, chatting with the various ponies that came in.

However, in the early afternoon, Bon Bon and I heard a commotion coming in the direction of the town market. It could have been anything, really. As it was, we soon found the answer when Flitter and Cloudchaser suddenly burst in the door. The twin pegasi were out of breath and seemed very scared.

"What's going on out there," Bon Bon asked the two.

"Lyra...," Flitter panted, "she's...gone...loco."

"What do you mean by that," I asked.

"She was beating ponies up in the middle of the market," Cloudchaser answered, "But that wasn't the weirdest part, she kept yelling, asking where the human was. It didn't make any sense."

I looked out the front window of the shop for a moment.

"Bon Bon," I ordered, "take the twins with you to your house. Lyra is probably there and injured. I'll take care of the imposter."

"Imposter," Bon Bon shrieked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," I answered simply, running out of the shop and toward the market."

I made a mad dash, searching for the fake Lyra. Many ponies were running in the opposite direction. Eventually, I reached my target, who was currently going toe-to-toe with Applejack.

"Hey changeling," I yelled, "your human's here!"

The fake Lyra's horn began glowing, firing a close-range shot at AJ, who was blasted through her Apple cart. The imposter then turned its horn on me, firing another shot. I simply held up a hand to block the attack.

"What the--," it said in Lyra's voice. It fired another volley. This time, I sidestepped, catching the blast like a baseball, and, cradling it in my hand, throwing the blast back at it underhanded. However, it was able to evade my counter.

"I'm immune to magic," I explained, "You better have something better."

Taking my suggestion, the changeling started charging me. As it ran, its head was slightly dipped, aiming the horn as a weapon. I quickly sidestepped, using my hand to push its head away. I may not have any formal training, but I knew how to keep the sharp pointy thing away from me.

Giving up on the horn, my foe began attacking hand-to-hand throwing various punches, all of which I either blocked or dodged. Something told me its weak, starving, state was helping me. After a couple of flurries, it backed off a step.

"Not bad," it said, "You're a much better fighter than the unicorn I copied."

I was right that Lyra had been attacked, and that made me angry. Throwing all pretext of skill or style away, I lunged at my foe, tackling it to the ground. After a brief struggle for dominance, I gained the upper hand, straddling its stomach and raining down punches.

At first, it was able to block the full power of my blows, but then I thought of something. I reached up, grabbed its horn, and pulled it toward me like a lever. This caused it to bring its hands up and away from its face, which finally allowed me to get in a solid punch. Its head whip-lashed, bouncing off the ground. I grabbed its horn again, but this time, I saw its wrists get covered in a purple aura. The aura pulled its arms off and away from its face, leaving it completely exposed. I turned my head to see Twilight, horn aglow, along with AJ and Rainbow.

"Don't hurt me," the changeling beneath me pleaded, "I'm defenseless."

"You attacked a defenseless mare. I'll do whatever the hell I please.

With that, I delivered another solid strike, once again allowing its head to bounce on the ground before grabbing its horn again.

"Now listen, if you don't tell me what I want to know, I'm going to sic two ponies on you that actually know how to fight," I looked back again to see AJ cracking her knuckles and Rainbow spread her wings, "So why are you after me?"

"Just as Stone Chin was our target in Canterlot, you are my target here."

"So you were there in Canterlot?"

"Yes, me and two others."

"Well you should know that your brother who impersonated Stone Chin was captured and executed. And I did the executing."

"Don't kill me," the changeling quivered, "I can give you information."

"You're going to give me information one way or another. Now tell me what Chrysalis' plan is!"

"Chrysalis doesn't plan on attacking Princess Celestia, or anypony for that matter."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You, human, are the target. You have been the whole time."

"So Chrysalis wants to kill me?"

"No. The queen wants to capture you and use you to feed her children."

"Why me?"

"I cannot say for certain. All I know is that the queen said that you, in the right circumstances, could produce more food for us than the whole city of Canterlot put together."

"That's impossible. As I've observed, these ponies are full to bursting with love for one another. Humans are mostly evil, diabolical, insane, uncontrollable, monsters."

"Like I said, I do not know for sure."

I paused for a second before remembering something important, "You said there were three of you. Where is the third?"

"On his way home, to update Chrysalis with our progress."

I rose off of the changeling, who immediately reverted back to its true form. Deciding not to take any chances with this one, I brought my shoe down on its horn, cleaning breaking it in half. The changeling let out a cry of pain, and then began breathing very quickly, as if it had been shot.

"Girls," I said calmly, turning to Twilight, AJ, and Rainbow, "do with it whatever you want."

I began walking off before Twilight called to me, "Jack, where are you going?"

"To see Lyra."

*--*--*--*--*

Bon Bon, Flitter, and Cloudchaser had found Lyra and taken her to Ponyville Hospital. When I got there, Nurse Redheart immediately took me to where they were. Lyra was in a bed, surrounded by the other mares. Her wounds were mostly superficial, only requiring some bandages and a dose of painkillers, but she was also there for precautionary reasons. Bon Bon quickly gave me a hug.

"What happened," she asked in fear.

"A changeling attacked Lyra," I answered calmly, "copied her, raised trouble in town, and I put it down, simple as that."

"You killed it," Flitter gasped.

"No, but I did break its horn in half. And I left it in the hands of AJ and Rainbow. Celestia knows, after those two are done with it, it may wish for death."

"Are you OK," Cloudchaser asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm more worried about Lyra," I turned my attention to the minty green unicorn in the bed, "How are you doing, Lyra?"

"I'll be fine," she replied, reaching her arms up. Knowing what she wanted, I stepped over to the side of the bed and leaned down, giving my friend a hug.

"Doctor said they want to keep her overnight," Bon Bon explained, "Everything will be fine in the morning."

We all stayed awhile longer. Eventually, Flitter and Cloudchaser left, as it was getting late. Bon Bon opted to stay in the hospital with Lyra, which left me to go home to an empty house.

The light of the full moon guided me back. This day had gone from normal to anything but, and I just wanted to rest.

Imagine my surprise then, when I opened the door to find Princess Luna sitting on the fold-out bed.

"Pr-Princess Luna," I stammered, "What are you doing here?"

"Twilight Sparkle sent a letter to our sister about today's events, and when We heard about it, We decided to come and congratulate you personally."

"You didn't have to travel all this way," I said as I made my way to the kitchen, "Something to drink?"

"Well We wanted to. Twilight said that thou put on quite a display of fighting ability. And something to drink would be nice."

I chuckled, "Like I said, I'm not a fighter. I just know that I don't want to get hit."

"Defense is the best offense. Or is that the other way around?"

This made me outright laugh, "Either way, it worked. Another changeling captured, and more of the plot is unfolding."

"Oh? How so?"

"According to the changeling, I am Queen Chrysalis' target," I explained, bringing over two tall glasses of water, "She wants to capture me and use me as a food source, or something like that."

"Odd," Luna mused, magically bringing her glass up for a sip.

"That's what I said," I took a sip of my own, "Any one pony has to be a better food source than me, right?"

"Perhaps not. Perhaps Chrysalis knows something about you that even you don't know."

"Yeah, cause that makes sense," I sighed, sitting down beside Luna, "Actually, none of this makes sense."

"We have always found that, in due time, everything is explained."

"Unless it's the plotline of a bad FPS, am I right?"

Luna laughed at my joke, but then suddenly stopped, "Jack, We just had a thought. About this whole changeling business, there is one pony who could prove most useful. Princess Cadance."

"Oh yeah, Twilight told me about her. Princess of Love, married to Shining Armor, rules the Crystal Empire. You think she would know something about this plot?"

"Well, she does have experience with the changelings, and matters of love are her specialty. It could be worth a shot."

"Isn't the Crystal Empire a little out of my way?"

"It wouldn't have to be a long visit. And on your way back, you could stop in Canterlot."

"What for?"

"To see us, of course. You promised to show us how to reach the secret level in Biotrot 2."

I smiled, "That I did."

"It's settled then. Just have Twilight alert Princess Cadance to your arrival."

Luna got up and took a few steps away from the bed.

"Wait, you're leaving?"

"Unfortunately, We must," Luna answered, turning back around, "We still have to be on guard for nightmares."

"I understand," I nodded, "Until next time, Luna."

"Until next time," she said, which was followed by a hug. However, as we were breaking the hug, she stopped and gave me a very light kiss on the cheek.

Luna smiled at me. I could feel my whole face going red. Throwing me a wink, Luna teleported away.

I flopped back down onto the bed, still not exactly sure what had happened. I reached up to touch the spot Luna had kissed. It felt cool like the crisp night air, which was in contrast to the heat of the rest of my face. Breathing a long sigh, I fell onto my back, smiling like a fool, and threw my arms up into the sky in silent celebration.

Chapter 9: Mi Amore Cadenza

It was as if the world was conspiring against me. Canterlot had been a pain in my ass, and I couldn't even be in Ponyville without some kind of incident. Now I was on my way to the far north of Equestria, to the Crystal Empire, where I could only assume that something or other would happen.

But I was not traveling alone. Twilight had initially wanted to come with me, the empire is run by her brother and sister-in-law after all. But unfortunately, she had to stay in Ponyville so she sent Rarity instead. The fashionista had practically hugged Twilight to death when she learned that the alicorn wanted her to accompany me. Why the companionship was necessary was a whole other thing. Sure I was the centerpiece of a potential changeling plot, but I thought I had proven that I could take care of myself.

But that's all beside the point.

When we got to the Crystal Empire's main city, I soon found why Rarity had been so giddy. The entire place seemed to be made of the titular material. Even the ponies looked built out of it, with their coats, manes, and tails having this glossy, opaque sheen to them.

Like in Canterlot, the guard had decided not to come and meet the Human Ambassador to Equestria and a former Element of Harmony at the train station, forcing us to travel to the over-sized Crystal Palace on foot. Of course, I did the gentlemanly thing and carried the vast majority of Rarity's luggage. Sure we had to stop every 50 feet so that I could catch my breath and re-grip the handles, but we made it eventually.

And, also just like in Canterlot, the minute we stepped on the palace grounds, I was relieved of my burden. It was at this point that I remembered that Shining Armor was the former Captain of the Royal Guard. I would have to have a chat with him about these oversights.

Instead of being led to a throne room, as I assumed we would be, we were met almost at the door by our hosts. I recognized them from Twilight's descriptions. Princess Cadance's fur was a nice pink color, a softer shade than Pinkie, with a curled mane. Shining Armor was a white unicorn with a blue mane. Both stood taller than me, Cadance standing even taller, though, as with Rarity, it may have been because of her shoes. I couldn't tell due to the length of her dress.

"Hello Rarity," Cadance greeting, giving the unicorn a hug before looking at me, "And you must be Jack."

"Jack Christiansen, at your service, your highness," I said with a slight bow of my head.

"A pleasure. My name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but you can just call me Cadance. And this is my husband, Shining Armor."

Shining and I shook hands, "I assume that Twilight told you in her letter why I'm here."

"She did," Cadance replied with a smile and nod.

I hitched my thumb at Rarity, "Though I'm not sure why she's here."

"I have a perfectly good reason," my companion protested.

"To be fair," Shining interjected, "you should be with my sister or one of her friends at all times, for your protection."

"Protection nothing," now it was my turn to protest, "Have you not heard how I took down a changeling?"

"Twilight didn't give details in her letter," Candance answered, "But we would be more than happy to hear about it over dinner."

Cadance and Shining turned around and started through the palace, walking arm-in-arm. Figuring "why not", I offered Rarity my own arm, which she gladly accepted.

The dining hall in this palace was not as impressive as the one in Canterlot, though the ever-present crystal architecture did lend a certain beauty to the entire place. We were situated across from each other at the table, the hosts on one side, the guests on the other.

Over dinner, I updated Cadance and Shining on the changeling situation, from the interrogation in Canterlot to the fight in Ponyville. It must be said that while Cadance and Rarity seemed quite enthralled by my description of the fight, Shining couldn't help himself but to point out flaws in my fighting style. I brushed these off. He was a professional soldier, after all, and either way, the job had gotten done. However, when I told them about breaking the changeling's horn, the royals gasped.

"Did you really break its horn," Cadance asked in shock.

"Yes I did," I repeated, "stomped on it and broke it clean in half."

"Even I would say that that might have been too far," Shining commented, "Do you know how excruciatingly painful that must have been?"

"Do tell."

"A horn is like another limb for a unicorn," Shining explained, "Breaking one off would be the equivalent to having an arm amputated while completely awake."

I shrugged, "It deserved it. It hurt my friend and tried to hurt me. Shining I'm sure you wanted to do the same thing to Chrysalis after your wedding."

Shining sighed, "OK, you have a point there, I'll give you that. But it was already captured, you just dished out unnecessary punishment."

"Did you forget what it told me? Chrysalis has a plan to capture me and use me to feed her hive. Do you think she'll be gentle with me? I think not!"

"If she wants your love she will," Shining replied.

"I still don't understand it," I said with a shake of my head, "What makes Chrysalis think I have such a reservoir of love? What makes her think I can keep her children fed? What makes her think I would cooperate?"

Shining turned to look at Cadance, who nodded. Her horn began glowing a blue color, and an aura began wrapping itself around my chest. It was a warm, pleasant sensation which caused me to take a deep breath into my lungs. After a few moments, the aura subsided, leaving Cadance with a very confused look on her face.

"That's strange," she said, "I can't feel any love inside you at all."

"Are you sure it worked," I asked, "I am immune to most magic."

"Yes, I am sure. Your heart doesn't seem to hold any love, or any other emotion for that matter."

"My heart? Cadance, you do know that the heart isn't really where emotions are held, right? That was an old, unscientific, theory."

"Human emotions are not held in the heart?"

"No," I said with a shake of my head, "Are you telling me that in ponies it is?"

"Precisely," she quickly answered, "A pony's heart holds all of their emotions, joy, sorrow, love, and all the others. Where do human emotions lie?"

"Up here," I pointed to my skull, "inside our brains."

Cadance lit up her horn again, creating an aura around my head. I closed my eyes as I felt the warmth ooze into my skull. When the aura broke, Cadance let out a sharp gasp, causing her to hold a hand to her chest in recovery.

"Are you alright, sweetie," Shining asked, obviously concerned.

"I'm more than alright," Cadance beamed, "I have never felt so much raw loving energy come from one being. It's incredible."

"Really," I asked, stunned by this information.

"Yes. I want to test something. Shining," she whispered something in her husband's ear. He quickly got up and left the room.

"Where is he off to," I asked, turning my head back to Cadance.

"Oh, I just want to try something later. But for now, there is something else that I felt. Jack, I can tell that you are in love with somepony. Please tell me who it is."

Rarity immediately lit up, "Ha! I was right! You came to me that day looking for advice."

"Like I said, that wasn't for me. Do you want to know who it was for?"

"Yes, very much," Rarity was now leaning into my personal space.

"It was for Button Mash," I confessed, leaning away from the grinning unicorn, "He has a crush on Sweetie Belle."

"Ah," Cadance said with a sigh, "young love."

"Oh," Rarity trailed off, returning to her regular sitting position, "I had a hunch about that. Well when we get back to Ponyville, you can tell him to go for it. Sweetie has a crush on him, too."

"Will do," I smirked, "thanks for the info."

"Anytime, darling," she smiled and waved a hand, "Now, back to your crush."

I chuckled nervously, "Oh come on, you ladies don't want to talk about my nonexistent love life."

The two mares glanced at each other, then back to me before saying, at the same time, "Yes we do."

"Oh, come on..."

"Is it Lyra or Bon Bon," Rarity asked, "They have been very nice to you."

"No," I replied, "it's not Lyra or Bon Bon. I know better than to step on another pony's relationship."

Cadance gasped, "Or, it could be Twilight, or any one of the girls. Even you, Rarity."

"Even me," Rarity said, leaning back toward me, her eyes half-lidded.

"Sorry to burst your bubble," I gently pushed the unicorn away, "but you're wrong again."

"Cadance," it was Shining, speaking from the doorway, "everything is ready."

"Saved by Shining Armor," I exclaimed, hopping up from my seat, "Wait...what's ready?"

*--*--*--*--*

"The Crystal Heart," Cadance announced.

We were now outside the palace. The night air was cool, but not cold. The heart-shaped, crystal carving hovered in between two spires in a very special courtyard of sorts.

"Remind me what this does," I asked, having completely forgotten.

"It is a beacon of love and harmony," Cadance explained, "You see, the crystal ponies are very special. When they are happy and loved, it comes out as a physical manifestation. They become even glossier than usual, and that feeling goes straight to the Crystal Heart. But a very special event can occur during a particularly joyous occasion, such as when the empire won the duty to host the Equestrian Games. Everypony was so happy that the Heart burst forth with magic. It's a sight to behold, isn't it, Rarity?"

"It is only the most beautiful, wonderful, feeling ever," Rarity cooed, her gaze going distant in remembrance.

"Well, I believe Jack can cause the Heart to burst on his own."

"Really," Rarity and I said together, I in confusion, she in excitement.

"Yes. The love he possesses is so strong that he could cause it to light. All he would have to do is think of the pony he loves and touch the Heart."

"OK," I said, "It would be interesting to see what this thing can do."

Even though it was evening, many ponies had gathered around, probably due to the fact that the royals where there, not to mention this new creature, meaning me.

Resigned to the experiment, I stepped toward the Crystal Heart. I could hear a few of the ponies gasp, obviously worried about what I was doing. I stood close for a few moments, just studying it. I could feel its magical energy, which calmed me and made me feel immensely better. Better about everything that had happened, better about everything that I had done, and, most importantly, better about what I was about to do. I turned my eyes skyward to the crescent moon for a moment, taking in a deep breath as I gazed upon its beauty and thought of the beauty of a certain alicorn. Then, releasing the breath, I said her name.

"Princess Luna."

I reached the last inch or so to make contact with the Heart. In an instant, it began to glow with a brilliant blue light. I could feel the love within me flowing out into the Heart, similar to when the changeling tried to drain the love out of me. Then the Heart suddenly gave out two forms of light, one in a beam directly upward, and the other in a circular wave which expanded outward.

When the light subsided, I turned around to see that all the ponies had changed. The crystal ponies, their clothes included, took on a brilliant shine, almost as bright as the smiles across all their faces. As for the non-crystal ponies, they and their clothes crystallized as well, and Cadance's and Rarity's manes changed styles. Looking down at myself, I saw that my body hadn't crystallized, but my suit, which had been black, was now a brilliant blue like the Heart.

"That," Cadance said, walking up to me, "is the kind of power Chrysalis wishes to possess. That amount of love could keep her hive fed for years."

"There must be another answer to this," I sighed, gazing around at all the happy crystal ponies, "Chrysalis is going to come for me herself, eventually. Cadance, I'm torn."

"What is there to be torn about?"

I sighed again, "The changelings are dying. The hive hasn't fed in weeks, months. If Chrysalis doesn't succeed in her plan, the hive will be wiped out by starvation. I understand that you must harbor ill-will against them, and I don't blame you. But I don't. Not even after all the grief they've caused me. I don't want the entire species wiped out, but I don't want to be captured for them to feed off. I wish I could find some middle ground."

"It is noble of you to want to prevent the extinction of a species. But you must understand, there is no middle ground. It is either them or you, and we are going to do everything in our power to protect you. Besides," Cadance threw me a wink, "we can't have you getting captured by changelings when you have a princess to court, now can we?"

I chuckled nervously again, and was about to open my mouth to say something, but Rarity cut me off.

"That's right," she gasped, "it had almost slipped my mind. We have just got to help you with Luna."

"You know," Cadance offered, "I have magic that can cause two ponies to fall in love."

"No," I objected, "I see that as a major violation of personal space. Besides, I don't need it, I already know she likes me."

Both mares stared at me, but Rarity regained her composure first, "How do you know that, Jack?"

"Well," I tittered my head, a blush coming to my cheeks, "the last time we saw each other, she...um...well...kissed me."

"She kissed you," Rarity exclaimed, grabbing me by the shoulders, "Wait, was this in a dream, or real life?"

"Real life, Rarity," I said, removing her hands, "It was the night right after the fight. She visited me, unannounced, at Bon Bon's home. We talked, and she gave me a kiss on the cheek when she left, that's it."

"This. Is. Marvelous," Rarity beamed, squealing like a schoolgirl, "Oh, wait until I tell the girls, they will certainly help. When are you going to Canterlot next?"

"Must you tell them?"

"Yes. Friends help friends with their love lives."

"OK," I conceded, "Just make sure Twilight doesn't blab to Celestia. The last thing I need is her finding out the human is in love with her sister. Or vice versa, for that matter."

"Don't worry, darling, everything will be fine. Now, when are you going to be in Canterlot next?"

"Don't you remember, Rarity? We're going to Canterlot after we're done here. I promised Luna I would visit, so I am."

Rarity gasped, "Simply marvelous. And I'm going to be there to bear witness! Oh, I wonder if Luna would agree to me making her a new dress for your first date?"

"Slow down, Rarity," I scolded, "You're going a little too fast. And if Luna and I ever have a date, it will probably be us, in her room, unlocking all the achievements in Grand Theft Auto Five."

Rarity ignored me and proceeded to wander a bit, mumbling to herself about something I couldn't hear. I took the opportunity to approach Shining.

"OK," I said, "now that that is taken care of. I would like to ask you a favor, Shining."

"Name it," he replied.

"Tomorrow, I would like to spar with some of your guards. You think you can set that up?"

"You want to fight my guards?"

"Just for practice. Something tells me I'll need it."

*--*--*--*--*

"Fire at will," Shining Armor ordered.

It was the next day, and I was standing on the palace archery range. A few unicorns, creating a firing line, began blasting magic at me. The shots came at various heights and angles, but all coming for me. Most of them I blocked, and the ones I didn't block, I evaded.

"Come on, Shining," I shouted, "I don't think I need a lot of practice against something that can't hurt me."

"Suit yourself," Shining shrugged, turning to a pegasus beside him, "Corporal Light Feather, go."

The pegasus flew toward me, aiming his head directly for my sternum. Waiting as long as I could, I dropped down on my stomach perpendicular to his flight path, allowing him to fly right over me.

Light Feather was quick to change his course, turning back around to face me. This time, he nimbly used both his hooves and wings, hopping side to side as he made his way toward me. I held my ground and followed him with my eyes. When he was within striking range, he sprung foward. I took a half-step to my right, dodging the lunge, but that wasn't all. In that split-second, I brought my left hand above his head and my right under his wing. With a flick of my wrists, I flipped him forward, causing him to do a series of flying flips right into the line of unicorns, who caught him. I turned back to face Shining, quite pleased with myself.

"Oh Jack," I heard Rarity call, "behind you, darling."

I spun around, expecting to see the unicorn standing there, but she wasn't.

"Up here, Jack," Cadance shouted.

Looking up, I saw something I didn't expect. Cadance was flying, carrying Rarity underneath her. They both were wearing outfits that seemed more fitting on a tennis court than a battlefield, and I didn't even know if these ponies played tennis. I also noticed that Rarity's hair was styled in a way I had never seen it before, simply pulled back in a ponytail, reminiscent of Applejack. This was not stylish Rarity, this was action Rarity.

However, I didn't have long to think about this, as Cadance wound her head up and blasted magic from her horn. This shot was much bigger and came at me much faster than the earlier ones, forcing me to cross my arms in front of my face to block.

While I was distracted doing this, Rarity fell from Cadance's grasp. Upon landing on the ground, she did a little front tumble, and came up swinging for me. Again, I had no formal training, so the best I could hope to do was avoid her various punches. After a short time of this, I blocked her backhand with the back of my forearm, allowing me a moment to ask a question.

"Since when do you know how to fight?"

She smirked as we continued. I could tell that she had some actual skill, and that she wasn't putting everything into it in an attempt not to hurt me. Then, she caught a backhand of mine in her hand, allowing another brief pause.

"Black belt in karate, darling," she answered.

The sparring continued, Rarity now throwing in various kicks into her arsenal. All I could do with this was block, usually with both of my arms. And it hurt like hell. These ponies were strong, much stronger than me, and it especially showed in their legs. Each time I blocked, it felt like being hit by a baseball bat. However, I finally saw an opening and was able to grab one of her legs underneath my arm, pinning it. Seeing an opportunity, I slipped my leg behind her other one, completing a simple trip takedown. Now, of course, I didn't mean to hurt Rarity anymore than she meant to hurt me, so I naturally offered her my hand to help her up.

"Where did you learn martial arts," I asked as I extended a hand.

That was my mistake, as I soon felt Rarity's tail, curled as usual, wrapping itself around my right leg.

"My mother always said a mare needed to learn how to protect herself," Rarity answered, pulling her legs into her body and performing a perfect kip up. This caused her tail to pull my leg, tripping me up in the process.

The roles now reversed, Rarity stood over me with a smirk on her face. When she reached down to help me up, I decided to turn the tables again. I lifted my legs up to her shoulders and pushed off, propelling my feet over my head. Standing on my hands for a second, I was able to flip all the way over to once again gain a vertical base. We smiled at each other before Rarity came at me again.

This time, I was determined to either take Rarity down again or get physically hurt doing it. Then I remembered something that had slipped my mind to this point: Rarity is a unicorn. Deftly, I made as many movements and counters as possible to keep her hands, and her focus, off of her magical appendage. Finally, I was able to counter a double punch to my chest, throwing her arms out to her sides and grabbed her horn with a reverse twist of my right hand. We both froze for a second before I made my move, crossing my left leg over and essentially performing a judo hip toss, which landed Rarity flat on her back.

I didn't want to gloat or celebrate, I just wanted to catch my breath. I stood there, taking as deep of breaths as I could manage. Looking over, Shining had a pretty solid grin on his face. That expression changed in an instant however, and I ducked just in time to feel a stiff breeze rush over my head.

Quickly spinning around, I saw Cadance standing there, wings fully spread. She was in a fighting stance, her wings giving a little flap every now and then.

"Oh come on," I sighed in protest.

"Sorry, Jack," Cadance apologized, "but Chrysalis has both a horn and wings, all the changelings do. You need to learn how to fight somepony that can utilize both."

"OK," I said, shaking out my hands, "let's go."

Cadance started with a pretty standard volley of magic attacks. Deciding to conserve as much energy as possible, I parried them all. With her last blast, I repeated what I had done in Ponyville, cradling the shot and sending it back underhand, stepping into the throw like a true softball pitcher. However, instead of simply dodging, Cadance took to the sky.

I expected her to fly down for a pass, but she didn't. Instead, she hovered near me, but above me, raining down various kicks which I had no choice but to simply block. This was taking a toll more than anything. Even a dainty princess' hooves felt like stiff maple wood against my sore forearms.

Tiring, I rolled underneath her, out of her aerial range. As I came up on the other side, Cadance landed and moved toward me, beginning a series of hand-to-hand moves, much like I had done with Rarity. However, unlike before, I didn't have the energy to counter-attack, focusing solely on not letting her get in a solid hit.

After awhile of this, Cadance took a hop-step backward. She followed this up with a wing-assisted backflip. As her head came out from underneath her, she unleashed another blast of magic. I raised my hand to block, but the blast hit the ground instead, kicking up dust. My view of Cadance obscured, the next thing I saw was a pink hoof come through the veil and strike me clean in the chest. The force was so much that I flew backward, bounced off the ground, and ended up rolling for a few feet. When I came to a stop, I was completely spent. I panted heavily as I stared up into the sky, unable to move from my downed position.

Cadance, Rarity, and Shining soon came over. By this point, I had taken my glasses off and laid them on my chest, so I could only distinguish the ponies by voices and colors.

"I'm sorry, Jack," Cadance apologized, "That last one may have been a bit rough."

"It's OK, Cadance," I waved my hand, still slightly dazed, "Doesn't hurt worse than the time Zecora tried to kick my head off."

"Get this man some water," Shining ordered, looking off somewhere.

"Come on," Rarity said, offering a hand, "Let's go inside where it's cooler and you can rest."

I wasn't going to say no to this idea. After Rarity and Cadance helped me up and back inside the castle, I got taken to my room to rest.

"You know," Cadance observed once I was sitting on my bed, "for somepony who claims to not know how to fight, you sure put up a good fight."

"Oh, no," I said, shaking my head, "You two were going easy on me. Either of you could kick my ass."

"Nonsense, Jack," Rarity said, pulling her mane out of its confinement, "You are getting better with each fight. Just keep practicing, and you will easily defeat Chrysalis."

"We'll see, Rarity," I sighed.

"Oh," the unicorn got a gleam in her eye, "I can't wait to tell Celestia about our sparring. I'm sure Luna will be very impressed."

"Not now, Rarity," I flopped back onto the bed, "not now."

The two mares laughed.

Chapter 10: Press Start to Begin

"Next stop, Canterlot!"

The conductor's call had the effect of waking me up. I was so tired from yesterday's sparring that I had actually slept all the way from the Crystal Empire.

"Are you awake, Jack," Rarity asked me from the seat across from me. We were riding first class and happened to be the only two passengers up there.

"I am now," I answered, blinking my eyes a few times to get used to the light.

"Are you feeling alright, darling? You were a zombie at dinner last night, then you got 10 hours of sleep, now you took a three hour nap."

"And if Luna asks me to stay up with her tonight, I'll do that too. Trust me, Rarity, I'll be fine."

The train slowed to a stop at the station platform. As soon as Rarity and I departed, I was pleased to find that Shining had kept his word. We had ended up having that discussion about the guards, and he promised me that he would inform Celestia before we got to Canterlot and would get some guards to meet us at the station.

The two Earth pony guards showed Rarity and me to a box carriage which had poles attached to either side for them to grip onto. I was impressed by the ease at which they carried it, even with all of Rarity's luggage piled on top.

By the time we reached the castle, it was the afternoon. The guards who met us at the main door informed us that Celestia was currently eating lunch and expecting us. Without further ado, Rarity and I made our way to the dining hall.

When we reached our destination, we observed two ponies eating: Celestia, of course, who smiled when she saw us, and Prince Blueblood, who wore a look of disgust. Usually, such a look would draw my ire, but I was too tired to care. So I simply took a seat to Celestia's right, Rarity taking the seat beside me.

"So," Celestia began, getting right to business, "how was the Crystal Empire?"

"It was nice," I replied, putting on a weak smile.

"Is something wrong," Celestia inquired, her smile disappearing.

"I'm just tired. That sparring yesterday took a toll."

"Sparring?"

"Yes, princess," Rarity answered, "Yesterday, Jack got in some fighting practice. Shining Armor set it up."

"And how did he fare," Celestia asked with a smirk.

"Very well, princess. He made a pegasus corporal look silly, then he held his own against Cadance and myself. An impressive showing, if you want my opinion."

"And I assume that you're still just as immune to magic?"

"Unless it comes from an alicorn, yes," I answered.

"Cadance was able to use magic against you?"

"Not during the fight. But she was able to do her emotion-sensing magic, or whatever it's called."

"I heard a rumor that the Crystal Heart was activated," Celestia mused, looking at me through the corner of her eye, "Is this true?"

"Yes, princess. I was able to set it off all on my own. We now know why Chrysalis is after me," I was sounding confident, but then a sigh escaped me, "Though I am still curious as to how she knew this about me, or humans in general."

"It has been over two years since she and her changelings appeared last," Celestia explained, "In that time I'm sure she has had a lot of time to think and plan."

Blueblood noisily swallowed whatever was in his mouth, "Auntie, forgive me, but why don't you just order a preemptive strike against the changelings? Wouldn't that take care of the whole thing?"

Celestia sunk herself into her chair, "While the thought has occurred to me to do exactly that, I must admit that it would be a difficult prospect at this juncture."

"And why is that?"

"Because," I spoke up, "we have no way of knowing where Chrysalis is. We can do nothing but wait for her to make her appearance. It sounds strange, but that's the only real course of action. Besides, her actions have done nothing against Celestia or even Equestria, her only target is me. Every move she has ordered thus far has either been to get her changelings close to me or to outright capture me. So, in short, there is nothing to do except wait for Chrysalis herself to come for me. Correct, your majesty?"

"Precisely," Celestia nodded.

"I'm going to take my leave, Auntie," Blueblood stated, rising from his chair. He took a step toward Celestia, leaned down, and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"See you at dinner, Blueblood," Celestia said in farewell.

Once the prince was out of the room, I had the urge to ask Celestia a more personal question.

"Princess," I asked, "is Blueblood really your nephew?"

"Adoptive nephew," Celestia answered, "just as Cadance is my adoptive niece."

"So he's not really a prince?"

"No, the title is merely an honorific. The only prince in Equestria is Shining Armor, and he is technically a prince regent."

"Prince by marriage," I mused.

"Indeed," Celestia smiled, "Now, Jack, there is a personal matter that I need to discuss with you. And since Rarity already knows what I'm talking about, she can stay."

This made me nervous, "OK, princess. What is it you want to talk about?"

"I'm going to cut right to the chase," Celestia said, leaning slightly closer to me, "Just to let you know, I know."

I shifted my eyes between Celestia and Rarity, "Know what, your majesty?"

"I am fully aware that you have romantic feelings for Luna."

My jaw about hit the table, followed by my head snapping around toward Rarity and giving her my best death stare.

"I told you to tell Twilight not to say anything," I exclaimed.

"Please, do not blame Rarity or Twilight," Celestia said in her calmest voice, "I already knew."

"How?"

"You may have sworn the others to secrecy, but you can't get to everypony. Contrary to popular belief, I do read the newspaper. And the one out of the Crystal Empire yesterday had a front page piece on the lighting of the Crystal Heart. I must say, it must have been a spectacular sight, I wish I had been there. Anyway, multiple ponies interviewed for the story said that you looked up at the crescent moon and said Luna's name before touching the Heart. I simply put two and two together."

"Oh boy," I slowly lowered my head until it came to rest on the table.

"Fret not, Jack," Celestia put her hand on my shoulder, "Truth be told, I am completely behind this turn of events."

I sat up so fast I cracked the back of the chair, "You are?"

"Yes. You see, ever since Luna has returned, she has been very lonesome. Even though Twilight helped her gain a sense of belonging with her first Nightmare Night, most of the time she prefers to spend her nights in her room, playing video games. If nothing else, in you she has gained a friend who understands her better than anypony, even better than myself at times. She needs that. In fact, I have half a mind to make up some excuse to keep you in the castle permanently, just so you can keep her company."

"Wow, that's something. So you're totally OK with me pursuing this?"

"Yes. I am also well aware that she has some sort of emotional attachment to you as well. The first time you were here, and you mentioned staying up with her gaming, and I made a off-hand comment, Luna was so embarrassed and flustered, and nopony gets like that unless there is something to get flustered about. So, as far as I am concerned, you two can take your relationship in whatever direction you see fit. Inside these walls, of course."

This last part made me cock my head, "Inside these walls? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, to be technical, Jack, you are the Human Ambassador to Equestria. Being in a public relationship with a princess would not make you or Luna look good politically. The changelings are a big enough problem, you don't want various nobles accusing you of making a political power play."

"You do realize I don't care about that, right? I don't want to be with Luna for power or a title or anything like that. You made me an ambassador, you can make me not one."

"That is true," Celestia nodded, "But I feel it is best if, for the time being, until the changeling situation is taken care of, you remain an official."

"That makes sense. At least that means I can get Rarity off my back about taking Luna out on a date," I turned to face Rarity, "Sorry for shouting at you earlier."

"It's quite alright, darling. I probably would have had a similar reaction in your situation. And this just means I have more time to plan out the perfect date."

I removed my glasses for a moment to rub the sweat from my brow before placing them back on my nose.

"Does Luna know about all this," I gazed at Celestia in my peripheral vision.

"No," Celestia shook her head once, "I figured it would be better if she heard it from you."

"Well," I said, tapping all of my fingertips together in front of my face, "this evening just got interesting."

*--*--*--*--*

Dinner couldn't come fast enough. Of course, it had nothing to do with me being hungry, which I was, and everything to do with seeing Luna. It had only been a few days since she surprised me, both by appearing unannounced and by giving me a kiss, but it felt like longer. I guess that's what happens when you love someone.

Dinner was usually served in the castle immediately after Luna raises the moon, as it acted as her first meal, just as breakfast was served right after Celestia raises the sun.

Celestia, Rarity, Blueblood, and I were already seated before Luna arrived. Apparently, the castle kept on hand various tables of various lengths to serve various numbers of guests. As it was just the five of us, they laid out a table with only six places. As such, Rarity sat on Celestia's right, and by sitting on Rarity's right, I was placed at Luna's left.

We didn't have to wait long for Luna to arrive. She came in in full royal regalia, from the crown down to the midnight blue heels. Her matching dress had a deep cut, and came only to her knees.

As dinner passed, we mainly held a repeat of the Crystal Empire conversation, though with the part about me saying Luna's name left out. Luna deserved to know about what happened, but that specific anecdote could wait until later.

When our meal was over, we all rose, of course. In doing this, I noticed something I hadn't paid attention to before. Luna, who was normally a solid 6'6" in high heels, was now standing about four inches shorter.

"Luna," I questioned, "did you shrink or am I getting taller?"

I mentally slapped myself for making a comment about her physique.

"Thou are not getting taller," Luna smiled, taking a step closer to me, "We can be whatever height We wish, and thought it would be easier like this."

"Easier?"

She put her arms around me in a hug, one I was more than happy to reciprocate. She was right, it was much easier to hold her when she was closer to my own height. Not that it mattered much. Luna could have been ten feet tall for all I cared. Though, as we were embracing, I could practically feel Celestia's and Rarity's eyes on me.

"I believe it is time for me to rest," Celestia announced not long after the end of the hug, "Goodnight Jack, Rarity. Goodnight, Blueblood. Goodnight, Luna."

We all said our goodnights in turn. Rarity and Blueblood quickly made their exits as well, Rarity happy to know that she was traveling in the opposite direction of the prince. This just left Luna and I in the dining hall.

"What are your plans for your evening," I asked.

"Well, thou didst promise to show us the secret level," Luna reminded, "But Tia mentioned something about you being tired, so if thou art tired, We suggest you sleep."

I shook my head, "Now that I've eaten, I'm not tired. Shall we go?"

"Give us half an hour," Luna smiled, "We have something We must do first."

"Of course. See you then."

Luna walked out of the room. I watched her the entire way. Once she was out of sight, I traveled to my own room. Since I had some time, I figured I would change out of the suit and into something more comfortable for gaming. Reaching my room, I tore through my suitcase, finding a plain white t-shirt and a pair of white athletic shorts with black trim. Of course, I changed my shoes and socks as well.

The correct amount of time killed, I began the trek to Luna's chambers. This alone took me 10 minutes, but it was worth the exercise. When I reached the double doors, I simply went up and knocked. Luna's night guard knew me by this point, and other than them and Celestia, I was the only one allowed to knock on the door.

"Enter," Luna's voice called from inside. I quickly opened the door and slipped inside.

As I turned around from shutting the door, I froze in my tracks. Luna was dressed a lot differently than I expected. Her regalia was gone, which was typical, but the rest of her attire was anything but. Usually, Luna was partial to loose-fitting tops and pants when gaming. She told me she was much more comfortable like that than in all the royal finery. However, at the present moment, loose was the exact last word I would use to describe what she was wearing.

She had on a nightie, colbalt blue to match the color in her mane. This outfit clung to every curve I could see. It perked up her bust even more than usual, and having her hands behind her on the bed, propping her up, made her chest stick out more. My eyes traveled down her front to her flat stomach and slim waist, which was perfectly outlined. Then, in a way that seemed to defy the tightness of the nightie, it curved over her slightly wider hips and stayed at that wider width until it stopped somewhere on her thigh. This last part I couldn't tell for sure, as her legs crossed, and a good thing too, since if they weren't I would bet that I would have been able to see all the way up.

I put my tongue in my cheek and softly bit down on it. It was all I could do to keep my mouth from hanging open. Luna must have enjoyed my reaction, as she smiled with half of her mouth and patted the spot on the bed on her right side. My legs didn't need a second invitation, as I quickly crossed the space between the door and the bed.

It has to be said that I wasn't expecting this at all. My plan had been to play some games, show her the level like I promised, maybe get in some innocent contact, and then eventually have a nice conversation about our feelings and all that.

Now Luna had put a wrench in my plans, as she was ahead of me by about ten steps, and I had to play catch-up.

"We are glad thou like our outfit," Luna said once I had sat down.

"Yeah," I swallowed, "I like it a lot."

I was doing everything in my power to keep my eyes on hers, as difficult as it was. She must have noticed my straining, as she reached out a hand and placed it under my chin and jaw.

"It is OK to stare, Jack," she said, "Thou already did that in the doorway, and We are 99 percent certain that that is what clothing like this was made for."

I couldn't tell whether she was trying to play the naive card, or honestly didn't know. The point was that this was a second invitation that I couldn't not take.

My head turned as my eyes began to feast on Luna's body from this angle. I tried not to stay too long on her breasts, as perfect as they are, because if I did, my head would never move. I was just fortunate that the nightie wasn't made of sheer fabric, or else I might have had a coronary. My eyes repeated their earlier movements, down her stomach, and to her legs, which she had recrossed, with her left now sitting on top, which naturally caused her body to twist closer to me.

Finally, I brought my eyes back to meet hers. We just sat there, staring at each other for awhile before I broke the comfortable silence.

"This is nice," I sighed, making a move by placing my free hand on her knee.

Luna smiled, "We heard you, dost thou know that?"

"When?"

"When thou lit the Crystal Heart."

I felt all the color drain out of my face.

"You mean," I began, my eyes shifting over all of her facial features, "you heard me?"

"Yes."

"And saw me?"

"Yes. We can see anything that our moon shines down upon. We saw you look up at our moon, and breathe our name. We also heard the entire conversation that took place afterwards."

The blood rushed back into my cheeks, setting of a heavy blush. And to think, this whole time I thought I was being secretive about it.

"Well then," I began massaging her knee, "you know how I feel. How do you feel?"

"Is it not apparent from my attire?"

I smiled, "It would still be nice to hear you say it."

"Likewise."

My smile grew, even letting forth a small chuckle before I composed myself, "I love you, Luna."

A wide smile crossed her muzzle, "We love thee as well, Jack."

"Wow," I breathed, "that sounds really nice the way you say it."

Her smile turned to a smirk, "Shut thine lips and kiss us already."

"Yes, your highness."

We leaned forward and pressed our lips against each other. Like before, I noticed that Luna's lips are very cool to the touch, creating a rather pleasant contrast.

It didn't take Luna long to press further, wrapping both of her arms around my neck. I reacted by wrapping the hand which had been on her knee onto the small of her back.

Eventually, we broke to come up for air. Luna looked at me with half-lidded eyes, licking her lips as we continued to hold each other.

"That was an excellent first kiss," she announced.

"Wait," I cocked my head, "do you mean first kiss of the relationship?"

"Nay, first kiss of our life."

My jaw about hit the mattress, "You've never been kissed before?"

"Not on the lips, nay."

"I almost don't believe that."

"Tis the truth," she stated, then her lips began to curl up into a very alluring smile, "And We want another."

I smiled again, "By all means."

This time Luna practically pounced on me, causing me to fall back onto the bed, her on top. Both her hands soon found a home on either side of my head, keeping me in place, so to speak. My hands, in contrast, couldn't decide where to go. At first, I wrapped both my arms around the small of her back, but I wanted more. So I brought my left hand up behind her head and allowed my right to move up her spine, eventually ending up massaging the muscles between her wings.

This time we held on for much longer before needing to breathe. When we released, Luna didn't rise up all the way, instead opting to nuzzle the side of my head, which I did my best to return in kind. Eventually, we were so deep in our nuzzling that my mouth came right up to her ear.

"What is thine wish, my princess," I whispered, jokingly mimicking Luna's speech pattern.

"We wish," Luna cooed as she tried to press her body further into me, "to watch bad movies and cuddle with our stallion."

I had to laugh a little. No one had called me 'stallion' since my second day in Equestria.

"Yes, princess."

Thus continued a very enjoyable evening. Luna pulled out a movie which had apparently been first made about 30 years ago. How she found out about it, and how she got it on DVD, I decided not to ask. We got comfortable in her bed, using a few pillows for support against the headboard. The pillows ended up all being for me, as Luna rested her head on my chest, a chest that was completely bare, per Luna's request.

As for the movie, it was one of those 'so bad it's good' movies, almost like a parody of itself. Now, I couldn't tell you what the story was, as every five minutes Luna would request closer cuddling or a kiss or two. At one point, she began nuzzling herself into my neck. How she missed me with her horn I don't know. But once she got there, there was nothing I could do but tilt my head back, close my eyes, and let out a happy sigh.

The first two hours of our evening past, Luna finally brought up the topic I had been waiting for.

"So, Jack," she began, "what are we going to tell Tia?"

I didn't answer right away, as I was preoccupied. At this point, Luna was reclining on top of me, facing up. By bowing my head, I was able to get a face-full of her mane, which was quite solid despite the physics-defying way in which it moved. More importantly, it smelled like the air right before a storm, which was pleasant.

"Celestia," I mused, bringing my head up straight, "Oh, she already knows."

"She does," Luna craned her neck in such a way to keep her horn away from my face, "How? Did you tell her?"

"Didn't have to," I replied, slightly tightening my two-arm embrace around Luna's waist, "She figured it out on her own. And, for the record, neither of us thought you knew."

Luna giggled, "Well We know We surprised thou with that information. What did Tia say about it?"

"She is all in favor," I replied, again bowing my head, this time to give Luna a peck on the forehead, "But we have to keep it private, at least for the time being."

"Why?"

"Some kind of political nonsense," I replied, rolling my eyes and shaking my head, "You're a princess, and I'm an ambassador. Apparently such a relationship is political suicide."

"We would have figured such things would have been a thing of the past."

"Apparently not," I sighed, but then perked up with a smile, "But it's OK. Inside the castle, all is fair. It just can't get to the public, or the nobles, I suppose. And it's not forever. Once this changeling situation is taken care of, then everybody can know."

Luna tittered again, "Everypony, dear."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I rolled my eyes again, this time in sarcasm, "I was including griffons, minotaurs, zebras, and batponies in that as well."

*--*--*--*--*

The rest of the evening passed just as enjoyably. We watched another one of Luna's 'bad' movies, and we also got some gaming in. I showed Luna the level that I had alluded to, and let me tell you, playing a video game while your magical alicorn girlfriend gives you a shoulder massage is one of the most relaxing things ever.

After Luna lowered the Moon to allow Celestia to raise the Sun, we got ready for breakfast. Luna magicked herself into something a little less revealing than that nightie. She offered to dress me slightly better as well, but I assured her that it wasn't necessary.

We strolled together down to the dining hall. When we both stopped in front of the main double doors, Luna seemed strangely nervous.

"So," she began, licking her lips, "how do we do this?"

"Like this," I answered, pulling both doors open simultaneously.

Only Celestia was currently seated at the table. I figured that Rarity was still making herself presentable, and Blueblood may have just chosen to sleep in. With the only pony present fully aware of the situation, I grabbed Luna by the hand and walked her to her usual seat. I saw a few of the staff give inquisitive looks, but I also knew that they abide by a strict 'what happens in the castle, stays in the castle' policy.

As if on cue, Rarity walked in the same doors she had exited through the evening prior. When she spotted Luna and I hand-in-hand the look on her face was priceless. It was as if her outer lady and her inner schoolgirl were fighting one another, one trying to maintain composure, the other wanting to let out a delighted squeal and give us both a hug.

I just realized what's going to happen to me when I next see Pinkie. Celestia save my ribcage.

With a deep breath and an adjustment of her blouse, lady Rarity won out. She calmly made her way to the chair next to Celestia as Luna and I sat as well.

Breakfast passed harmlessly enough, with nary a mention of what Luna and I did, or might have done, the night previous.

Once Celestia finished, she had to leave to hold court, as she always did. As soon as she was gone, Rarity lost all pretense of keeping it together.

"OK," the unicorn stated, effortlessly hopping from her chair to the one closer to Luna, "I can't take it anymore. I want to know everything."

Luna and I glanced at each other, "There really isn't much to tell," I admitted.

"Quite," Luna agreed, "we simply watched silly movies and played video games. Not much different than our usual time together."

"And," Rarity continued, rolling her hand in an implied motion.

"And...what, Rarity," I asked.

"And...I want to hear about the other parts," she explained, "You know, the professions of love, the romantic stuff, all of that. You two didn't walk in here hand-in-hand for no reason."

"Well," Luna tilted her head a bit, "the look on Jack's face when he found out We knew all along was very cute."

"Not as cute," I countered, indulging the unicorn, "as how you say 'I love you.'"

Luna and I looked at each other for a moment. I couldn't help the smile that came to my face.

"Oh my stars," Rarity exclaimed, getting up from her chair, "You two are absolutely adorable."

Having said her piece, the unicorn exited the room, muttering to herself the entire way out.

Luna and I sat in silence for a minute, neither of us knowing what to say next.

"That mare needs a stallion," Luna stated bluntly.

I let out a single snort-laugh, "You've got that right."

Luna giggled at her own remark, which made me chuckle in turn.

"So," Luna sighed, coming down from the laughter, "I believe it is time for both of us to get some rest."

"Couldn't agree more. Staying up that many hours isn't healthy for me. And neither is downing three cans of Red Minotaur."

"Jack," Luna turned fully to me, hitting me with those half-lidded eyes again, "wouldst thou consider resting with us?"

"I...I wouldn't want to disturb your sleep," I stuttered.

"Trust us," Luna smirked, "That would be the last thing thou would do."

Deciding to accept the offer, I rose from my chair and offered Luna my hand again, which she gladly accepted. We simply retraced our steps back to Luna's room. After she entered, I went to close the doors behind us. As I did so, I noticed one of the golden-armored guards, usually completely stoic, throw me a wink and a sly grin. I smiled in return and shook my head before closing the room off for the day.

Chapter 11: Schoolyard Romance

After two of the best days, or, I suppose I should say, nights, of my life, Rarity and I returned to Ponyville. Needless to say, Luna was very upset to see me go again, though of course I was quick to assure her that it wouldn't be for long.

As soon as I hit the train platform in Ponyville, I was hit with something else. What I assumed would happen happened, and Pinkie proceeded to almost crush me.

"Oh my gosh, Jack," the pink pony began speaking in her energetic style, "I'm so happy for you and Luna! You have to tell us absolutely everything!"

"Easy, Pinkie," I said, prying the mare off of me, "Rarity can do that for me. I, on the other hand, need to take a nap. I was up all night, after all."

"Up all night doing what," asked Rainbow, who was reclining on a nearby cloud.

"Not what you think, Dash," I shouted, cupping my hand by my mouth so that I was sure the pegasus heard me.

"Oh come on, dude," the pegasus insisted, "you don't have to keep secrets from us."

Ignoring the pegasus, I grabbed my suitcase and made my way to Bon Bon's candy shop. When I got there, the little bell that seemed to be a staple of Ponyville businesses rang as I stepped inside.

"Hey Jack," greeted Lyra, who was standing behind the counter, "D'you just get back?"

"Yep," I replied, patting my suitcase, "I came over here to grab a house key, I need to take a nap."

"No problem, let me grab mine and tell Bonny."

Lyra slipped into the back room. As I waited, I heard the bell chime behind me. Turning my head to see who it was, I spotted a purple mare with a two-tone mane.

"Oh, hello, Cheerilee," I greeted. We had only spoken to each other on two occasions, but we weren't strangers.

"Hello, Jack," she replied, then eyed my suitcase, "Taking a trip?"

"Just got back from one, actually. A few days in the Crystal Empire, followed by a few days in Canterlot."

"My aren't you a busy man."

"I like to stay busy."

"Oh, I'm glad I caught you," the schoolteacher said with a snap of her fingers, "I meant to ask you something. Would you be against coming to the school and speaking to my class?"

I cocked an eyebrow, "You want me to come to the school? Why?"

"Well I like exposing my students to as many interesting things as possible," she explained, "You are interesting, being the only one of your species in Equestria and all. I'm sure some of them have seen you around town and are very curious about you."

"Well," I began, taking a moment to clean my glasses on my shirt before returning them to their proper place, "I don't see why not."

"Excellent," Cheerilee beamed.

"But it can't be today," I was quick to mention, "My sleep cycle is a bit off at the moment. I need to go home and sleep."

"Not a problem. Today is the weekend anyway. How about tomorrow?"

"That would be fine," I said with a slight shoulder shrug, "What time should I be there?"

"I'll slot you into schedule right after lunch. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good."

"Hey Jack," Lyra called, having returned to the counter, "Sorry it took so long, I couldn't remember where I had put them. Oh, hi Cheerilee."

"Hello, Lyra," the schoolmare greeted.

"No problem, Lyra," I said, stepping up to the counter and grabbing the key, then I turned around and started to leave, "See you tomorrow, Cheerilee."

"Remember," she replied, "after lunch."

I chuckled a bit, "I'll remember."

Once I got back to Bon Bon and Lyra's place, I shuttered all the windows to make it as dark as possible and promptly went to sleep. Suffice is to say, I didn't leave the house the rest of the day. Boring, yes, necessary, you bet.

*--*--*--*--*

The next day, after lunch, I made my way to the schoolhouse just as Cheerilee requested. When I reached the one-room building, I noticed most of the students sitting outside enjoying their own lunch break. Determined to keep my presence a secret for the time being, I used various trees and bushes to hide my approach. Finally, I was able to slip into the classroom completely undetected.

"Jack," Cheerilee greeted from behind her desk, "what are you doing?"

"I figured you wanted to keep it a surprise, so I sneaked in."

Cheerilee chuckled, "You are an interesting creature, Jack. No offense."

"None taken," I replied, sitting on a corner of the teacher's desk and waiting for the fillies and colts to return.

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long, as there was only five minutes left in their lunchtime. As they began filing in again, they all took notice of the non-pony in the room. A few, such as Button and Sweetie, seemed happy to see me. Others, such as the little pink filly in a tiara, seemed to be puzzled as to my appearance.

"Class," Cheerilee announced once all her students had taken their seats, "I have brought in a very special speaker. Please welcome the only human in Equestria, and the official Human Ambassador to Canterlot, Mr. Jack Christiansen."

Many of the students applauded politely as Cheerilee cleared the floor for me. It was at this moment that I realized I had no idea what I wanted to say.

"Good afternoon. It is after noon, right," I joked, pretending to gaze skyward at the sun. A few of the students, notably the three fillies of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, laughed.

"Anyway, as your teacher said, my name is Jack Christiansen, and I am indeed the only human in Equestria. Now I know a few of you, and the ones I haven't I'm sure have seen me around from time to time."

"Tells us about that fight," a greenish unicorn colt with an orange mane shouted. This caused a bit of a stir from my audience.

"Now, now," I said, holding my hands up in front of me, "that was a very dangerous situation. I don't like hearing that any of you witnessed it."

"This is Ponyville," the filly in the tiara commented, "Strange things happen here all the time."

"Be that as it may," I continued, "I don't wish to be at the center of undue conflict. That fight wouldn't have occured if my friend hadn't been hurt."

"Is it true that you are immune to magic," Scootaloo asked.

"Yes it is," I replied, "However, it is not a natural thing. I take this special medicine that Zecora made me. You all know Zecora, right?"

This question was answered with nods and an assorted "Yeah."

"I was having side effects from the event that caused me to come into your world. The medicine cured that problem and had the unintended side effect of making me immune to magic. Not that I'm complaining, of course."

"What is your special talent," a silver filly with glasses asked, "Fighting?"

"No, no," I shook my head, "I'm not half the fighter some ponies like Rarity or Rainbow Dash are. No, if I have a special talent, I would have to say it's playing video games.

The filly in the tiara started laughing.

"What so funny?"

"Oh, it's just humorous that you entered the world through Button Mash's TV and you two share the same nerdy interests."

"What is your name?"

"Diamond Tiara."

"Well, Diamond Tiara," I made a step toward her desk, "There is nothing wrong with liking video games, or comic books, or anything like that. Different strokes for different folks, right Sweetie Belle?"

"Right," the unicorn squeaked.

I gazed out of the corner of my eye to see Button with a very confused look on his face.

"And do you all want to know who else has an affinity for video games?"

"Who, Jack," Button answered my question with a question.

"Princess Luna."

"Really," Sweetie Belle asked, puzzled.

"Yes," I replied, backing away from Diamond's desk, "The very alicorn who raises the Moon every night and the reason there are stars in the sky, spends almost every night sitting in her room, in front of her 98 inch TV, playing games."

"Sweet," the green unicorn breathed.

"That it is," I agreed, "Now, does any...pony have a question?"

A flood of hands shot up. This was going to be fun.

*--*--*--*--*

The rest of the school day was spent answering various questions. Really, it wasn't much different than what Lyra had asked me previously. Eventually, the school bell rang out, signaling the end of class. Cheerilee made sure all of her students thanked me for my time, and even Diamond Tiara and her friend, whose name I learned was Silver Spoon, seemed genuinely pleasant. As soon as I said goodbye to Cheerilee and stepped outside, I was met by Button.

"That was awesome," he said, throwing up a hand for a high-five which I was quick to meet.

"Not as awesome as the bit of news I have for you," I replied, trying to keep my smile at a reasonable size.

"I have news too. I have decided that today is the day I'm going to ask out Sweetie."

"Good for you, Button," I exclaimed, realizing that I might not have to say what Rarity told me after all.

"Yeah," he suddenly became a little more solemn, "But I have to get her away from Apple Bloom and Scootaloo first."

"Understandable," I replied, glancing over to where the three aforementioned ponies were standing, "Leave it to me."

I began to make my way over. Button watched me but didn't follow, which was good because I didn't necessarily want him to.

Scootaloo soon spotted me and ran over to meet me halfway, Bloom and Sweetie following behind.

"Jack," Scootaloo called, leaping to clear the last few feet between us, "you gotta teach me how to fight."

"Fight," I exclaimed, "Oh no, Scoots, no way."

"C'mon," she argued, "just a little?"

"Ask Rainbow about it," I countered, "She could kick my tail if she wanted to."

"'Ey Scootaloo," Apple Bloom interjected, "Why don'tcha come to the farm with me? Ah'm sure if ya ask AJ real nice-like, she might show ya a thing or two."

"Hey, yeah," Scootaloo's underdeveloped wings began buzzing in excitement, "Let's go!"

I noticed that Scootaloo began walking away from the schoolhouse.

"Hey, Scoots," I called, "where's your scooter?"

"Oh," she turned around and scratched the back of her neck, "the back wheel popped off. I have to get it fixed."

"C'mon Jack," Apple Bloom ordered, grabbing my arm and pulling, "come with us."

"What about Sweetie Belle," I turned around to see the unicorn with a confused look on her face.

"Oh, Rarity usually comes by and walks her home," Scootaloo replied. I legitimately didn't know if that was the truth or not.

I could only shrug my shoulders as I was pulled down the path by both Bloom and Scootaloo. However, once we were out of sight of the schoolhouse, they both stopped and let go.

"What's up," I asked, thoroughly confused.

"Phew," Bloom said wiping her brow, "thought we'd never get those two alone."

"What are you talking about?"

"Sweetie and Button. Sweetie won't shut up about 'im. She's even drawn cutesy pictures of the two of them."

Scootaloo shuddered at the mental image.

"Oh," I rolled my eyes and adjusted my glasses, "is that what this is about?"

"Yeah," Bloom replied, "We figure if'n we could just get Sweetie to talk to him without us bein' around, she would open up."

I began chuckling, my grin growing to Pinkie Pie proportions.

"I think she'll be pleasantly surprised," I said.

"What do you mean," Scootaloo questioned.

"I mean, Button has to just as bad for Sweetie. That's why I came over in the first place, to try to get you two away so that he could talk to her alone."

"So you're sayin' that we both 'ad the same idea," Bloom asked.

"Exactly," I replied, "Well done."

I stuck out a closed fist, which the other two quickly met in a triple fistbump.

"And this time," Bloom stated, "there were no silly love potions."

"Love potions?"

Bloom smiled big while Scootaloo face-palmed.

*--*--*--*--*

The rest of the day went by super quick. I actually did end up walking with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom back to Sweet Apple Acres. That turned out to be a mistake, as AJ and Mac were quick to put me to work, not physical labor, mind, but keeping an eye on the two fillies was more tiring in my opinion. Fortunately, the Apple family would never have a friend do something for them without offering something in return. In this case, it meant dinner.

After stuffing myself full to bursting with Granny Smith's cooking, I left the farm. However, I didn't head straight back to where Lyra and Bon Bon lived, choosing instead to meander for awhile. My plan was to swing the long way past Fluttershy's cottage before heading back into town.

Most of the path between the farm and the cottage is lined by a treeless meadow. On one side, you can see all the way to the edge of the Everfree Forest. On the other, you can see clear to Ponyville. It is probably the quietest, most pristine part of town.

But in all of this silence and serentity, I noticed something odd. The moon, which happened to be full, seemed very large, as if it was physically closer to the ground than normal. That in itself I could shrug off as an anomaly. Maybe it was common this time of year, what did I know. In retrospect though, I should have known better.

My first clue was that the Moon flashed with a blue glow for a second. I shed my glasses and rubbed the inside of my eyes, sure that I was just tired and that was playing with my vision. However, as soon as I put my glasses back on my nose, another blue light appeared, this one right in front of me.

The light soon subsided, revealing Princess Luna. She was outfitted in her crown and heeled shoes as usual. However, the rest of her was covered by a tight black outfit. I worked my eyes from the bottom up, noting first that the dress ended at mid-thigh, leaving those long pony legs completely exposed. As with a certain nightie I had seen her in before, the material of the dress clung to her hips and waist, outlining every curve the alicorn possessed. Her bust was fully covered, leaving me no cleavage to peer at, but it was clung to so tightly that it was almost like she was wearing nothing at all. The dress was attached by a single strap which looped around her neck, leaving her arms exposed and indicating to me that the dress was backless.

I was about to open my mouth to say something, but Luna didn't give me the chance. She lept to me, throwing her arms around my neck and her legs on either side of my hips. It happened so suddenly that I didn't catch her properly, resulting in me landing on my back in a bed of flowers. Luna didn't give me a second to catch my breath, planting her muzzle on my mouth in a deep kiss. I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it, but I had more pressing concerns, so with all my strength I detached her lips from mine and propped her up by her shoulders.

"Luna," I gasped, trying to catch my breath after this whole ordeal, "what are you doing? Somebody is going to see."

"Worry not," my princess girlfriend stated, "We have set up an invisibility spell."

"Over yourself?"

"Yeah, verily," she beamed, "It also affects whomever We want it to, meaning you, Jack."

"Well thanks for thinking of me," I replied sarcastically.

"But," Luna's look turned from proud to sultry in an instant, "it only remains in effect as long as you are touching me."

"Well played, Luna," I complimented, "Guess there's only one thing to do."

Quickly, I released my grip on her shoulders and moved my hands behind her, pulling her back down into my grasp. This set off another round of kissing. It wasn't long until I heard a whooshing sound nearby. Fearing there was somebody watching, I broke our liplock and searched around. Sensing my worry, Luna pushed herself all the way up until she was straddling my hips. It was then that I noticed that her wings were fully extended.

"Uh, Luna," I pondered, "what's with your wings?"

She looked at her feathery appendages slyly before returning her gaze to me.

"Tis nothing," she said, bringing herself back down and putting her mouth next to my ear, "Just something that happens when winged ponies get aroused."

I could feel my whole body heating up, "Aroused?"

"Indeed. But worry not, Jack, We do not expect thou to perform in these conditions. It would be unbecoming of me to force myself upon you. Besides, We always imagined our first time to be in a bed."

You know those anime characters that get a bloody nose at the sight of a beautiful woman? Yeah, I felt like one of those guys.

"So what do you want to do?"

"We missed thee so much," Luna purred, still nuzzling my head, "We want you to return to Canterlot, and never leave."

"All in good time, Luna," I nuzzled back, "I promise, once this situation is resolved, I will move into the castle permanently."

Luna brought her head up to look me in the eyes, "You promise?"

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," I replied, invoking the strongest oath I could think of.

"Thou knowest what happens if thou break a Pinkie Promise."

"Yes. A pink party pony and a certain Princess of the Moon will be very upset with me."

Luna leaned down to kiss me again, but broke it off a lot sooner than I expected, sitting all the way up and looking off into the middle distance.

"Somepony is having a nightmare," she announced, "We fear We must leave now, Jack."

"If you must," I mused, understanding that that was one of her royal duties.

"We will leave you for tonight," Luna declared, still straddling me, "We fear for our ability to fly if We continue to be in this state of arousal."

Why did that sound so much sexier in the Old English?

"Good evening," I smiled.

"Good evening," Luna replied, leaning down to give me another kiss. Then, with a flash of dark blue magic, she was gone.

I laid in the flowers awhile longer. To tell you the truth, I was too stiff to move.

Chapter 12: A Nightmare, A Message, A Gift

The meadow was just as sunny and bright as always, though not as fragrant. As I sat there, my arms propping me up, I gazed out over the familiar patch of flowers and grass. By my estimation, this was the exact same meadow that laid near Ponyville. In fact, this may be the exact same bed of flowers that Luna unceremoniously landed me in a week back.

It felt strange to dream. I hadn't had a single dream since I had arrived in Equestria. That in itself isn't that much of a problem, I was never much of a sleep-dreamer, a day-dreamer, sure, but not so much when I was asleep.

As benign as this dream is, I can't really complain. Just sitting in this field, looking around. As with most dreams, my senses weren't completely there. I could see, and I could feel the plants beneath me, but I couldn't smell the flowers, nor did I hear anything.

Just as my eyes wandered in the direction of the Everfree Forest, as geographically correct as the rest of this dreamscape, I spotted a lone being standing on the main path. Even with my glasses, they were standing a bit far away for me to tell what, or who, it was. However, this didn't worry me that much, at least it gave me something to pay attention to.

As it turned out, the being didn't stay in one place for long. It soon began marching down the path, away from the forest and toward me. However, it didn't come alone. Out of nowhere, two more beings, similar to the first, but shorter, appeared. Another few steps, and three more, carbon copies of the two, appeared behind. This continued on and on until the first one was close enough to me where I could tell a little bit of what it was.

I immediately recognized it as a changeling. The black body, the curved horn, the blue insectoid wings, and the holes in their limbs were a dead giveaway.

However, three things set this changeling apart from all the others. First, as I already mentioned, it was taller, a good head and shoulders above the normal changelings that followed it. Second, unlike the other changelings, this one actually had hair, teal in color, which flowed long down her back and around her shoulders. Second, while all the other changelings looked alike, regardless of their actual gender, this one was definitively female, with the bust, eyelashes, and long, fake-looking nails to prove it. She was swathed in a green flowing outfit, not unlike what I had seen Celestia wear on occasion, and her head was topped by a black four-pointed crown.

By this point, sensing a threat, I had gotten to my feet. The lead changeling just stood there, as if she didn't even see me.

"Queen Chrysalis, I presume," I called, which finally got her attention.

"So," she hissed, "you know who I am. Good for you."

"I know this is just a dream. I know you aren't the real Chrysalis. Now get out!"

Dream Chrysalis laughed, "Oh I beg to disagree. You certainly remember when you would have flashes of green light burst before your eyes?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"That was me. I'm in your head."

"Well that explains why the ponies thought I was a changeling," I replied, attempting to remain calm, "That doesn't explain why you're here now."

"Oh, that's simple," she said, taking a step toward me, "I am here to deliver a message."

"What kind of message?"

"We're coming, Jack. We're coming and there is nothing you, the princesses, or your friends can do. We will capture you, and we will feed."

"You seem awfully self-assured. Do you not know what I have done to those you have sent already?"

"Yes, we know. But those were one, this will be many. The entire force of the Changeling Army will be upon you."

"I'm not afraid of you, or your little bugs."

Chrysalis scowled at this description of her children, "You say you're not afraid. Well, my dear human, I believe I can make you afraid."

"Oh yeah, how do you plan on doing that?"

"Like this. Changelings," the entire army behind Chrysalis crouched down into a running stance, "Attack!"

The changelings rushed toward me. I widened my stance and waited.

The first one to reach me received my right elbow straight in its mouth. A second one swung and missed before earning a back elbow shot into its temple.

However, I quickly realized that I couldn't hold them off this way. I needed to create space. To do this, I took a running start at one and jumped, planting my hands on its shoulders and, using it like a pommel horse, vaulted myself up. I twisted around in mid-air, and landed with a good ten feet of space between me and the nearest attacker. Luckily for me, you can do things in a dream that you can't do in real life.

I could see when I landed that Chrysalis was absolutely livid. Her arms were angrily crossed over her chest, and her breathing was heavy, like she wanted to scream, but knew that it wouldn't do any good.

Unfortunately for me, there were just too many of them. I tried my best to just keep it one-on-one, but before long I was quickly surrounded, where everywhere I turned, there was another fist flying.

"Jack," I heard someone call. I recognized the voice instantly. Throwing a jump spin kick to give me some room, I called back.

"Luna! Luna where are you!"

"Up here, Jack!"

I glanced skyward to see that the blue sky of the original dream had been replaced. Now it looked like a black void. However, I could see Luna, laying on what seemed like the glass top to my dreamworld. Her wings were spread and she was pounding on the glass, as if she was trying to break in.

It was at this point that I remembered about Luna's duty to watch over the dreams of ponies and protect them from nightmares. It made sense that Luna was here, since I was certainly experiencing a nightmare. However, I couldn't figure out why she couldn't get in.

I didn't have long to mull this over, as I soon caught a stiff shot right to my jaw, then a second, then a third. Soon, I was on the ground, with about ten changelings standing immediately above me.

The last thing I saw was all of those changelings raise a hoof, preparing to stomp me out of existence. The last thing I heard was Luna yell something in her eardrum-shattering Canterlot voice, then, silence.

*--*--*--*--*

"Jack! Jack! Please wake up!"

My eyes shot open and I shot upright. I could feel my heart beating against my ribcage as my breathing went from fast and labored, to slow and steady. Once my vitals stabilized, it was just a question of who had woken me.

That questioned was answered when I felt a pair of arms, then a pair of wings envelope me. This was followed by whomever it was nuzzling their head into mine, where I felt the base of a horn.

Deciding to cut to the chase, I snaked my head underneath their's, lifting their face up. I followed up that move, but giving them a kiss.

"Thanks, Luna," I said before giving her a second smooch.

"Oh, Jack, I was scared," she went back to nuzzling me, this time into my chest.

"It's OK, Luna," I stroked her mane, which seemed to calm her, "It was just a nightmare, I'm fine."

"That's never happened before," she said, not removing her face from me, "Usually, when I see a pony having a nightmare, I use my magic to get into their subconscious, and I erase the evil picture. But this time, I couldn't do anything but watch while you got beat up."

The touches of moisture I could feel on my bare chest told me that Luna was tearing up. To soothe her, I wrapped my arms around her waist and lowered myself back down onto the bed, pulling her with me. Taking the hint, Luna adjusted her body so that when I returned to my back, she laid on top of me.

We laid there for a few seconds. Between Luna's gentle breathing as she calmed down, and my own tiredness from being woken up so suddenly, I thought I might have a chance to fall back asleep. However, that thought was fleeting.

"Jack, are you--"

Both Luna and I looked over to the staircase. There stood Lyra and Bon Bon, their faces outlined by the golden glow of Lyra's horn.

"I'm fine, Lyra," I answered, "I was just having a nightmare."

"Does that explain why Princess Luna is here," Bon Bon asked with a tone of slight intimidation at the thought of having the princess in her home.

"Yes," I responded, allowing Luna not to say anything, "Luna tried to break my nightmare in her normal way, but she couldn't, probably due to my immunity to magic. Anyway, since she couldn't do it that way, she came here to wake me up the old-fashioned way."

"Hey, Jack," Lyra said cautiously, "you think I can get my question for the day in?"

"Right now?"

"Yeah, it's important."

"OK. What is it?"

"Are you and Princess Luna dating?"

Luna actually looked up at this question, a slight tint of red on her muzzle. I craned my neck down and gave her a kiss at the base of her horn.

"Yes, Lyra," I finally answered, not taking my eyes off of my princess, "Luna and I are together. We have been for awhile now. But you guys gotta keep it to yourselves, alright? We can't have the entire population knowing yet."

"Does Princess Celestia know," Bon Bon asked.

"Verily," Luna answered before I could as she shifted herself slightly higher, "Our sister knows, as do a few others. Those who should know, do, and those who shouldn't, don't."

"Go back to sleep, you two," I said, glancing back at the two mares on the stairs, "Nothing to see here."

"Right," Bon Bon replied, "Come on, Lyra."

The two of them returned to their room, leaving me and Luna cuddling on my bed. It didn't take long for Luna to complete her journey up to my face to give me a few kisses of her own.

"We do not think We can go this long without seeing thou," Luna whispered into my ear as she nuzzled.

"Remember what I promised you. You won't have to for long. And since you're already here, would you like me to stay up with you awhile?"

"Oh, that would be wonderful," she cooed.

"Wait," I said, reaching for the little side table where I set my glasses, "I'm night blind, I can't see you properly without my glasses."

"We can do something about that," Luna said, bringing her face back in front of mine and smiling.

"About what?"

"We can fix your vision. We are sure it would come in handy when you have to fight next."

"Can you really fix my eyes?"

"Verily. Though," her smile dropped slightly, "We must warn you, it will probably hurt."

My eyes shifted side to side as I thought it over.

"OK," I said, "please."

Luna reached her hands behind her back and unlaced mine from her.

"Now, if it hurts, just squeeze our hands," she said calmly, like a nurse.

Yes, the thought of Luna as a nurse passed through my head for a second. But I was quickly brought back to the present by a thought.

"But what if I want to yell? I mean, I just send Lyra and Bon Bon back to bed."

"Oh, We have a solution for that. Are you ready?"

I took a deep breath and let it out, "Ready."

"Let us begin," she said, pressing her mouth to mine and lighting up her horn.

Immediately, I squeezed both of Luna's hands firmly. It felt as if my eyeballs were being sucked down into my sinuses. On top of that, no matter how much I wanted to close my eyes, the magic rendered me physically incapable of doing so.

Having no other choice, I stared at the ceiling, squeezed Luna's hands, and tried to focus on the kiss. To accomplish this, I pressed my tongue against Luna's lips, which she quickly opened. We had never French kissed before, and the subsequent battle for dominance as our tongues invaded each other's mouths did an excellent job of distracting me from the pain of having my eyeballs magically reshaped.

When the pain and magic ended, the kiss did not. I released Luna's hands, allowing me to place one of mine behind her head and another on her shapely backside. She reciprocated by snaking one hand under my pillow while the other ran up and down my side. On top of this, with no more magic to concentrate on, her wings sprang open with a satisfying sound, making her moan into the kiss more than she already was.

Unfortunately, all good things must eventually come to an end. When we broke off the kiss, we were both panting, refilling the oxygen in our spent lungs.

And then I opened my eyes. Instead of my normal vision under these circumstances, where all I would be able to see without corrective lenses would be the vague form of the blue-furred princess, I now saw Luna, who was straddling my hips, in perfect clarity, every one of her features perfectly visible, even in this minimal light. Luna must have seen the look on my face.

"Can you see us clearly?"

"Yes. Yes Luna, I can see you perfectly."

"Excellent," she beamed.

"But," I smirked, sitting up slightly in order to pull her back down, "I think I see you even better when you're close."

"Thou art a flirt."

"I try."

Chapter 13: Us vs. Them

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

I had figured to get such a response, but what I didn't expect was that Cadence was capable of using the infamous Canterlot Voice.

"If you would just hear me out--"

"No, Jack," the Princess of Love snapped, still standing after her initial outburst, "Whatever kind of plan you hatched, I don't want to hear it."

The other members of the council looked on with relative degrees of anxiety. But of all the ponies and various other ambassadors present, only Luna didn't look as if I had achieved spontaneous combustion. And even she might have only been smiling out of pity for me.

"Cadence," Celestia finally spoke, as calm and collected as ever, "I believe we owe it to Jack to hear what he has in mind. He did call this meeting, after all."

Cadence sighed before finally returning to her seat beside Shining Armor, "OK. But don't expect me to do a one-eighty on this matter."

"Thank you, princess," I stated before rising out of my chair and moving to a spot where everyone could see me.

"I am fully aware that what I just said may sound ridiculous," I began.

"More like suicidal," Julius the griffin chirped, "You want to negotiate with them? You're out of your skull."

"Well then, I apologize for not wanting to condemn an entire species to death."

"Hey, it's either you or them, human."

See," I countered immediately, gesticulating with my hands, "that's the problem. This isn't about us against them or even me against them. This is about finding a path through which all species, changelings included, can live in harmony. Isn't that the entire point of this council?"

Some members of my audience, notably Twilight, nodded in agreement. Celestia merely smiled.

"But what makes you think they want harmony," Stone Chin the minotaur asked, "They haven't been big on it so far."

"You make a fair point," I admitted, "But I think I have learned a lot about changelings in the relatively short time I've known about them. They will do absolutely anything if it means being fed. And I intend to feed them. But not in the way Chrysalis wants me to.

I paused to gauge my audience again. Many of them were leaned forward in their chairs, anxious to find out just how I planned to do that.

"It is my opinion," I continued, "that Chrysalis will negotiate for the sake of her children. That she will take the middle ground if the other two options are death."

"But what if she doesn't?"

All eyes turned to Luna. She sat at her end of the table, cold-blooded seriousness etched upon every feature. If others could hear the worry in her voice, they didn't show it. I could, however.

My train of thought came to a screeching halt. I had kept this plan of mine secret from everyone until now, even Luna. Mostly I did it to keep her from worrying over me, particularly after my nightmare. But now that I heard it, as subtle as it was, I thought about what failure would mean. Obviously being captured and held hostage by love-hungry changelings would have been bad enough. But what would have weighed on my mind more than that would be how Luna would fare. Not for a second did I consider a scenario in which Celestia, Luna, and the others would not try to rescue me, but I had not considered the possible lengths Luna may go to in order to do such a thing. That one little sentence, that one question brought up a line of thinking which I suppose I had been avoiding.

That all being said, an answer was soon on my tongue. I smiled, much to the confusion of my fellows.

"That's why I want all of you to back me up."

"Uh...come again," Twilight asked.

"Look, I have a feeling that Chrysalis is going to tell me exactly when, and exactly where, she's going to come for me. And I expect her to bring her army. I think I can convince her to meet me face-to-face. But I don't dare go it alone. I want all of you behind me, as insurance.

All eyes were shifting. Some to see what their fellows reactions were, some just out of worry.

"Put it to a vote," I said, looking directly at Celestia, "If you all don't want me to take the risk, then I will accept that. Just remember that it is my health and well-being on the line, and I think I should be the one to face it."

"Then a vote it shall be," Celestia agreed, "When I call your name, please answer 'yea' or 'nay' as to whether or not we should go with Jack's plan. As for myself, I vote yea. Princess Twilight?"

Twilight first looked at her mentor, then to me, before gaining a determined look on her face, "Yea."

"Applejack?"

The farmer shook her head and put down her hat, "Nay."

"Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow put on a confident smirk, "Yea."

"Pinkie Pie?"

The pink party pony licked her lips and looked as if she wanted to say a lot of things, but answered simply, "Nay."

"Rarity?"

The fashionable unicorn tossed her mane and looked at me with a smile, "Yea."

"Fluttershy?"

It did not take the pegasus two seconds to answer, "Nay."

"Zanzar?"

The zebra ambassador looked straight ahead into the middle distance as if contemplating the universe, "Yea."

"Selik?"

The ambassador from Saddle Arabia turned his head toward Celestia and nodded, "Yea."

"Julius?"

The griffin looked at me with a smirk, "Nay."

"Stone Chin?"

The representative of the minotaurs nodded, "Yea."

"Princess Cadance?"

The alicorn of love simply stated her obvious answer, "Nay."

"Prince Shining Armor?"

Her husband answered in a likewise manner, "Nay."

"Princess Luna?"

Every head turned toward the lunar princess. By my calculations, the vote was 7-6 in my favor. A vote against my plan would hang the vote. She, however, had her eyes firmly on me to where I could almost see the gears turning in her mind. She was not rushing her answer by any means, whether it was to back me or to search for a new solution. The weight of her gaze fell upon me, and I felt myself attempt to gulp down my anxiety.

Finally, she spoke, and while her countenance had never changed to one of outright determination, or conviction, or even confidence, she answered in the affirmative, "Yea."

"Then it is settled," Celestia spoke, "Jack, you are free to go ahead with your plan, and we all as upholders of our nations, and harmony between them, will back you."

At hearing that, I let out a large, heavy, sigh. Straightening up again, I said one final thing, "Thank you."

*-*-*-*-*

"Thank you, again," I said, looking up to the mare who's lap my head was in.

"Thou does not need to thank us," Luna replied, running her fingers through my hair, "We were always going to support thee."

"Then why did you make it so suspenseful?"

"We wanted to see the look upon thy face as the seconds ticked by," the princess said with a smile and a giggle.

I couldn't help but chuckle, "I'm going to get you back for that."

"Looking forward to it, love," she said before planting a kiss on my forehead, "But know this, if We sense that you are in any danger, We will not hesitate to defend thee."

"Wouldn't dream of it, dear," I replied with a wink.

"Speaking of which, We think it is time for thee to sleep."

"You don't want me awake?"

"It has been a long day," Luna said as she forced me to sit up before standing up herself, "But fear not, We will not be far."

"Meaning," I asked, swinging my feet over so that I could sit properly.

"Thou will be sleeping in our bed tonight," she cooed, coming over and raising my chin to look in her eyes, "That way, We can keep an eye on thee."

"Will you be sleeping with me," I asked hopefully.

"Nay," now it was her turn to smirk, "We shall stay awake, in the event that we need to wake thee."

"That was one time, Luna," I remarked, rising to my feet and immediately bringing my favorite princess into a hug, "You don't need to stand vigil over my dreams."

"Recall that watching over dreams is a part of our duties," Luna responded, more serious than I expected, "That being said," her tone softened and she placed her head on my shoulder, "Until we know why We can not infiltrate thy nightmares, We wish to be near while thee rest."

Upon hearing that, I smiled and brought my head around to look into Luna's eyes, "I understand, Luna. Thanks for being there," I leaned forward to give Luna a kiss, "I love you."

"We love thee," my lover replied before reciprocating with another kiss, "Always and forever."

After a little more mutual affection, I relented and prepared myself for slumber. Two minutes and one alicorn sleep spell later, and I was out like a light.

*-*-*-*-*

A tree provided shade for me as I sat against its trunk. In my line of sight, not one hundred yards away, I could see a road which I recognized as the one which ran between Ponyville to Canterlot. The road was to my right, to the left was a field, a sort of gap between separate groupings of trees.

"About time you arrived," a hallow, echoed voice said. Turning my head to find the source of the voice, I noticed some teal and black in my peripheral vision. Turning more, I saw Chrysalis just sitting there on the opposite side of the tree.

"What, no drones," I asked, turning my head back around to face the way I started.

"This is not the place for violence," she responded with no noticeable venom, "Whatever I can or cannot do in this realm means little in the grand scheme of things."

"I would agree."

"Besides, the last thing I need is to have your marefriend princess come in. And, contrary to what I just say, she can indeed do things in this realm that can change things."

"In other words, she could kill you in my dreams."

"In so few words."

"So then, what are you doing here?"

"I have come to give you one more message."

"And that is," I asked, intrigued by this information.

"It is time that we met in person. I have gathered all the information I can."

"Gather information? What does that mean?"

"You will learn. When I'm good and ready to tell you. In the meantime, know this: my children and I will be right here in this field tomorrow, high noon. If you want to know everything you want to know, you will show up."

"Fine. Just know that I'm not coming alone."

"Good," Chyrsalis replied. I heard rustling behind me, so I turned around to see that she was getting up and walking away, "I wouldn't expect anything less."

Chapter 14: Questions and Answers

When I awoke the next morning, after Chrysalis had once again entered my dreamspace, I was surprised to find Luna holding me from behind, making me the little spoon. Not being sure if she was awake or asleep, I simply squeezed one of her hands with both of mine to get her attention.

"Good morrow, love," the alicorn immediately responded, "How was thy slumber?"

"Quite pleasant, thank you," I answered as Luna took advantage of her now free hands to get a tighter grip around my chest and snuggle closer, "Though Chrysalis showed up."

Immediately, I was turned over onto my back, while Luna, with wide eyes, hovered over me as if I was injured.

"Didst thou have a nightmare," she said, her voice dripping with worry and fear, "We did not sense any nightmares in the dreamscape," Luna's voice began to speed up and gain in pitch as anxiety joined its emotional brethren, "She did not hurt thee, did she? Oh, We will naught be able to forgive ourself."

"It's fine, Luna," I attempted to calm her by stroking a hand over her mane, "I'm fine. The meeting was completely peaceful."

"If thou sayest so," she replied, laying her head down on my chest as I continued to pet her, "But We feel that a degree of worry is warranted until this situation passes."

"I know. But, on the bright side, that was the last night you will have to worry."

"Oh," my lover looked up into my eyes, "How can thou be so certain?"

"Because Chrysalis told me where she wants to meet," I smiled, "And if you would be so kind as to get off me, I'll tell everybody about it at breakfast."

"Thy only needs to ask nicely," my princess smirked.

"Can we please go to breakfast?"

"Verily," she beamed.

*-*-*-*-*

"And that's about it."

My audience sat in silence as I explained my meeting with Chrysalis word-for-word. Their faces told me that not much had changed from yesterday when it came to my plan.

"So you're telling us to follow advice that came to you in a dream," Julius chirped as he rested his foreclaws behind his head.

"What can it hurt? If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. If I'm right, then this all gets taken care of in a few hours."

"What can be hurt is us if it's a trap," Cadence quickly answered, "I don't know why you think this is going to be so easy."

"If We may," Luna spoke, fixing her eyes first on her niece, then on me, "It would not be wise, in our opinion, to throw something away on the grounds that it occurred in a dream. Dreams often serve as a window into one's inner self, whether it pertains to wishes, desires, goals, or fears. This is not the first time that Chrysalis has made herself known in Jack's dreams. And, as the witness to such an event, We will be the first to say that that was not a mere fantasy or construct of imagination. It, meaning she, was very much real. If it is one thing that We have learned crossing the plane of reality into the dream world, it is that all dreams, and particularly nightmares, have something to tell us. In this case, Chrysalis is using the conduit of a dream to do what she could not do safely otherwise. On top of that, may We remind each and every one of you that this very council agreed only yesterday to support Jack in his endeavors with the changelings. If this meeting brings this chain of events to a conclusion, then We will not hesitate to accompany Jack, even if none of thee are with us."

Once again, the breakfast table fell into silence. A cursory look around told a different story upon each face; the prideful look Celestia gave to her sister, the unmitigated fear in the eyes of Fluttershy, the closed eyes and thoughtful look of Zanzar, and the seriousness of Julius.

We lingered in the silence for matter of minutes, but it may have gone on for hours if Celestia hadn't cleared her throat.

"It seems," she stated in her most confident voice, "that we all know what needs to be done. Meet by the main gates at eleven o'clock."

*-*-*-*-*

At the appropriate time, the 15 members of the council met in front of the castle's main entrance. In addition, Celestia had recruited six royal guards, two of each type of pony, to accompany us. At first, I was not keen on taking anyone who wasn't necessary. However, the Royal Sisters were adamant in the decision, and I was not in much of a spot to argue with them.

The place where I believed Chrysalis wanted me to meet her was about a half-hour away. Celestia had initially wanted to take a convoy of carriages, but this time I was able to convince her otherwise. With all the logistics taken care of, our party of 21 headed down the road that also happened to lead to Ponyville. We walked three abreast along the path as such: three guards; the Royal Sisters and myself; Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, Twilight; Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack; Rainbow, Pinkie, Julius; Stone Chin, Zanzar, Selik; three guards. We passed multiple chariots and carriages on our trip, and all of them paused at least momentarily to observe us. They would sit there in equal parts confusion and interest until one of the guards waved them on their way.

At last, we reached our destination. It looked precisely as it did in my dream, a field bordered by forested areas. The field itself was nothing special, though it was completely made of tall grasses which easily reached my knees. I could even make out the exact tree that I had been leaning against. While seemingly everyone else was scanning the horizon for any signs of changelings or Chrysalis, I saw Celestia gaze amusingly at her Sun.

"Fifteen minutes to noon," she announced, "Let us hope that Chrysalis is punctual."

"Guess we'll find out," I mused, stepping away from the main group and into the open field. At first, a pegasus guard followed me, but he stopped when I raised a hand, "No," I stated simply, "I'll go meet her on my own."

I watched as the guard hesitated before flying back to the others. They now stood in a loose row along the edge of the road, though Rainbow, Julius, and the two pegasus guards hovered above the rest. Giving them all a smile, I turned back to my original path. It wasn't until I was a good hundred yards from the group that I heard another sound.

"It is good of you to come," a hollow voice echoed.

"Well, it took some convincing," I called back, "but I'm here."

"Yes," the voice replied, the 's' being held out some, like a snake, "We will come out now."

The grass about another fifty yards in front of me began rustling heavily. Before my eyes, dozens of bodies began rising out of the field. The black bodies with distinct holes in their appendages were spread out over the width of the field, and, by my estimation, reached thirty yards deep.

However, I soon turned my attention to one in particular. Instantly, I recognized Chryslis. It was not that hard, since she stood as tall as Celestia, standing a full head and shoulders above her children. She moved toward me, coming to a halt when she was within arms reach.

"Hello, Chrysalis," I greeted pleasantly.

"Hello, Mr. Christiansen," Chrysalis responded in kind.

"I must say, you look much more impressive in person."

"Thank you," she smirked, "I try."

"Let's get down to why we're here," I offered, "What do you want?"

"If you've been paying attention," she leaned over slightly to get closer to me, "then you know what I want."

A smile crossed my face, "Indeed I do. In fact, I'm willing to give you precisely that."

Chrysalis suddenly looked perplexed. She had not been expecting that to be my answer, "Really," she continued with the slightest of hesitation, "And I'm sure you have figured out what that pertains."

"You and your children feed on love," I explained, "And, for some reason, I either have a lot of it, or it is very strong."

"Both," Chrysalis concurred with a subtle lick of her lips.

"Uh, uh, uh," I chuckled, waving my finger in the hungry changeling queen's face, "Not so fast. There is much to discuss."

"Like what?"

"Like how you know so much about humans and how you brought me into this world."

Chrysalis smirked, "Does the word 'magic' mean anything to you?"

"It's gotta be more than that, right?"

"Of course, I was just hoping to get past the subject."

"Well it didn't work," I deadpanned, crossing my arms in wait.

"Fine," Chrysalis sighed, "if you must know, then I will tell you. You see, after my first attempt at taking over Equestria failed, my children and I were banished to the badlands, far away from pony civilization. We barely survived, holding on through a mix of infiltration, in other words, disguising my children and sending them to other places to harvest love, and through sheer luck, such as being able to absorb a lot of energy whenever the Crystal Heart was lit. Thank you for doing it, by the way."

"That even reached you?"

"Oh yes," Chrysalis sighed dreamily, "Out of nowhere, a rush of loving energy hit my hive. I could tell that it was the Crystal Heart, but it took a few more days to find out that it was you who had made it light. That only made me want you more."

"You still haven't answered my questions."

"Well, being banished gave me a lot of time to think and plan. After the Crystal Empire returned, I started experimenting with dark magic, desperate to find a solution to the growing hunger problem. As it was, I stumbled upon a way to see into other dimensions. This is how I found out about humans. To be quite frank, at first I was appalled by your entire species. Though you seemed capable of creating things that my mind could not even comprehend, you seemed more interested in destroying one another."

"Guilty as charged, I suppose."

"However, I noticed something else. No matter how many terrible things happened, I could always find humans that were happy. I could always find humans who smiled in the face of danger. I could always find humans who loved. That was the key. I theorized that if humans could still find room to love even when their world was falling apart, imagine how much love they could produce if they were happy all the time. And so I made it my mission to find a way to get a human into Equestria."

"So you used this dark magic to open a portal?"

"Yes, a very small one. However, I am admittedly a novice on the matter. I could not make a very large one, nor did I have much control over where the portals lined up."

"So it could have been anyone?"

Chrysalis nodded, "Indeed. I did not target you specifically. I couldn't target anyone specifically. You don't know how many times I thanked myself for not accidentally bringing in a misanthrope. That being said, since I didn't have a way of knowing exactly who was coming in, I needed a way of keeping tabs on them. Remember when your eyes would glow green?

Of course I did. How could I forget the weird sensation of having green vision, on top of the pain that always accompanied it?

"That was me. I implanted a tiny bit of changeling magic in you. It connected you to me in a way. I do the same thing with my children, so that I can see what they are seeing, if I so choose. When your eyes would glow, it was just me checking in."

"You make it sound so innocent," I scoffed.

"However, your body is not built to contain magic," Chrysalis lamented, "So whenever I would do it, your body would become racked with pain. I saw it as a necessary side effect. I did not expect you to find a way to counter it. Once you started taking those magic-suppression pills, I lost that connection. So I had to turn to other means."

"Sending your children after me?"

"It sounds terrible the way you say it."

"I think I'm within my rights," I snapped, "Your children attacked an ambassador, stole his identity, did the same thing to a mare in Ponyville, and outright tried to injure me."

"I'm not denying any of that," Chrysalis countered, "But I also know that you captured and interrogated the first, and maimed the second."

"Self-defense," I growled, "and I would do it again. Fortunately, I won't have to as long as you play along."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning that you and children will get fed and stay alive if you play nice."

"I will not be beholden to a bunch of ponies and an ape from another dimension."

"That's not what I'm suggesting," I calmly replied, "In fact, if you'll just listen, by the end of this conversation you could be on equal footing with Princess Cadance and Princess Twilight and your children will be free to live as citizens of Equestria."

The eyes of the changeling queen widened, "What's the catch?"

"The catch? The catch is that you might have to say and do some things that you would otherwise not. But, in the end, your children will be free and happy. Wouldn't that make you happy?"

Chrysalis began to turn things over in her mind. She looked back to her children, as well as to me and my entourage.

"How do you know this will work," she finally asked, "I'm sure many of those standing behind you won't like it one bit."

"You're not wrong," I admitted, "Most didn't even want me to come here today. It's not going to be easy. But do you want to know somepony who does back me? Princess Celestia. The same pony you once suspended from the ceiling in a cocoon. She is willing to forgive you, as is Princess Luna and Princess Twilight. Princess Cadance will probably hate you for the rest of your lives, but everyone has at least one person who can't stand them, don't they?"

Chrysalis chuckled, "And who, may I ask, is yours?"

"Well, until a minute ago, I would have said you. But, to be honest," I cupped my hands and leaned up to a whispering distance, "you see that griffin behind me? Yeah, not my biggest fan."

Chrysalis chuckled again and looked back at her children again, "This will not be easy."

"No, it won't," I concurred, "But be honest with yourself and with me. Those are all the children you have left, aren't they?"

Chrysalis turned back to me and nodded sadly, "Yes. And I was prepared to lose all of them."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore today."

The changeling queen again looked back before replying with a sigh, "I am taking a very large risk in trusting you."

I rose my right hand by my head, "I, Jack Christiansen, swear on pain of probable death, that the changeling species will continue and be kept safe as long as members of said species treat others as they should be treated as fellow citizens. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Behind me, I heard a loud gasp.

"What did all that mean," Chrysalis asked, perplexed.

"Trust me, what I just did sounded very silly, but is actually quite serious."

"What is the first thing I have to do?"

"Keep your children where they are, follow me, and shake Celestia's hand. No bowing, no kneeling, you don't even have to like it. But if we're going to make this work, you have to cross the bridge first."

Chrysalis paused, once again shifting her gaze between me and my fellows. She then turned to her children and made a sweeping gesture with her hand.

"Shall we," Chrysalis asked once she faced me. I nodded.

The two of us walked side-by-side, covering the distance back to the road and the multiple ponies and others standing there. Though some looked on-edge, I was focused on Celestia and Luna, who were both smiling.

"Celestia," I announced when I and my companion reached the solar diarch, "Chrysalis. Chrysalis, Celestia."

The two very powerful beings stared at each other for a minute. A minute which felt like an hour. Finally, Chrysalis extended her hand to Celestia, who took no time in shaking it. I let out a sigh as the tension disappeared.

"Well," Chrysalis turned to me and asked once the handshake was over, "what comes next?"

"Whatever it is," I replied, "I think it can be done at the castle."

"Agreed," Celestia responded as she turned to start her way back home.

"Oh, one more thing," I strode up to Celestia, "Now that this is beginning to be resolved, I'm going to take this opportunity to do what I said I was going to do. Princess Celestia, I hereby resign as the official Human Ambassador to Equestria."

I turned to go back to the main group, but was stopped by a hand on my shoulder.

"Your resignation has been received," Celestia replied, "and it has been declined."

"What," I asked, turning back to the princess.

"In my opinion, it would be terrible to lose your insight on the council, particularly since we still have much to hammer out with the changelings. That being said, I do recall why you want to resign, and, seeing as nothing you could do now could make you look worse in the eyes of the nobles, I think you should just go for it."

Her piece being said, she continued on. I stood there in confusion before Luna came up to me.

"Thou did an excellent job," Luna praised while hugging me, "Be careful, our sister may want to make a career diplomat out of thee."

"I don't think I would mind that too much," I replied, looking at the mare in front of me. A sly smirk crossed my face as I leaned in to whisper, "Particularly if I might technically be a prince some day."

Pulling back, Luna had a brilliant look of shock on her face. At that precise moment, I decided to heed Celestia's advice and 'just go for it'. I grabbed Luna by the sides of her head and brought her in for a kiss, our first one in the presence of anyone else. When I released, Luna gave me a very pleasant smile. The lovely scene was broken somewhat by the 'awws' of the mares in the audience, as well as a few gasps.

"Bucking Tartarus," I heard Chrysalis exclaim, "That's a little too much to take in at one time."

Luna and I chuckled at the notion before I found myself staring into a pair of half-lidded eyes.

"Shall we go then, dear," Luna asked as she hooked her arm on mine, "We still need to get some rest before our night comes."

"Thou art quite correct," I answered in form, "We need to get thee to bed post-haste."

And so Luna and I turned in the direction of Canterlot and moved forward toward whatever next laid in our path.