A sensation of falling. A dream she's had before. It usually meant that she felt overwhelmed, but this time...

She awoke to a sudden landing, giving off a groan of pain. Falling out of bed was not one of her favorite ways to wake up.

She cracked her eyes open, expecting the darkness of her room. Instead, an unexpected bright light from above caused her to look back to the ground, blinking away the stinging sensation. Discord had turned on her light again as she slept. She groaned again, annoyed.

The ground was a lot harder than her floor usually was. She opened her eyes again and looked down. She came to a startling realization. This was not her room. The ground was hard, like stone, but unlike any she had seen before. A black surface with thick yellow lines covering it.

Something was wrong. Her body felt strange. She couldn't move her tail. Her horn and wings were completely missing. Upon looking down, she noticed that where her hooves once were, hands took their place.

"What is this?" she whispered to herself in shock.

She sat up as best she could, but something was terribly wrong. She looked to her hooves... hands once more. She lifted them from the ground, and after bending her fingers a few times, she briefly examined the rest of her body. This was the body of a human, exactly as her former student had described.

In place of her usual attire, she had been given a full set of clothing, though she had no idea where it could have come from.

"Where... Where am I? Is this... the human world? Am I... a human? That..."

She looked on in utter shock. Just moments ago, she had laid down for her night's rest, and now she was here, wherever 'here' was. She knew in an instant, this was no dream.

"What... What happened?" she asked nobody in particular.

She moved herself onto her hands and knees for a small while before looking back to her feet. Her student had told her how humans were supposed to walk. Instead of four limbs, humans walked only on their two feet. Bracing herself against the metal pole behind her, she stood herself up. She held onto the pole, unable to keep her balance on these new limbs.

She looked around. Her surroundings were unlike any part of Equestria she had seen before.

"This doesn't feel right." she said to herself, "How did I get here? Did somepony transport me here? Luna, if this is your doing, it's not funny. Please bring me back home."

She waited a few moments for a response from her sister, but received nothing of the sort. It dawned on her that she might be alone here.

A worrying feeling settled itself in her gut. She wondered how she could get back, or, more importantly, if there was even a way back in the first place. She was lost in a strange land and didn't know how to get home.

The first thing she realized was that it was dark out. Late at night... or perhaps early in the morning. It was warm. Likely during the end of the summer, as it had been in Equestria. She took note that the metal pole behind her was a light post. She kept a grip on the pole as she looked around for something, anything that could help.

Her student had described many things about this world, but the reality was rather different from what she had pictured. She felt a curiosity towards it, but knew that there were more pressing matters to attend to.

As she looked around, she noticed a particular human nearby. He was staring right at her, eyes wide, mouth agape. The Princess blinked as she examined him. He just stood there in stunned silence. His expression made her think that he had seen how she had gotten here.

She looked at him closely. He seemed to be on the young side. His clothing seemed cheap, he looked tired, and he was holding a bag in one of his hands.

"H-Hello," she said with a cautious smile and a small wave of her new hand.

The man blinked. He quickly shook his head. He blinked again, then rubbed his eyes. After opening his eyes for the final time, he pointed to her and exclaimed, "What the fuck was that?!"

This bewildered man was me... and I just saw a goddamn pony drop through a portal.

She jumped, startled by my outburst. Trying to lean towards normality, I started to think that this was part of my imagination and that I had just shouted at a poor, innocent lady that... happened to look a lot like Princess Celestia.

Her mouth parted as if to say something, but she hesitated. Finally, she got out, "Wh-What... did it... look like... it was?" She sounded just as confused as I was.

"I..." I couldn't continue past this letter for a long while. "I don't know. You... You tell me."

"I... I don't know... either." she replied.

Screw it, I already look like an idiot, it won't hurt to make myself look even stupider. "You just... gaahh... outta... nowhere..."

"Out of... nowhere?"

"Y-Yeah, you kinda... just... uhh... You k... You kinda... just... dropped outta nowhere."

"Dropped? From... where?"

"Just... right..." I vaguely gestured towards where I saw her appear, still feeling a little stupid.

"Right here?" she asked, moving her hand to the same place.

I nodded quickly. "Yeah, you... fell... and... Are... Are you ok? Are you alright? Are you... hurt at all? You... looked like you were... having a little trouble, there."

"I... So, you... saw me fall?"

I gave her another quick nod.

"And it was... out of nowhere?"

"Yeah, yeah... pretty much."

"So you... saw me... enter this world?"

"Ahh..." Ok, things just got a bit weirder. "Ahh... Mmm... Ye... How do I answer that?"

"I..." She gave me a more pleading look. "I need help. Can you help me?"

"Uh... Maybe. What... do you need?"

"I don't know where I am right now."

"Oh, that's... not good." That didn't look like a healthy fall. She could've hit her head. "Alright, I might be able to help. I'm Phil, what's your name?"

"I am Pr... My name is Celestia."

"Celestia?" I looked to her long hair. Many different colors coming together in a beautiful pattern that reached down to her hips. The colors were perfectly separated from each other. It covered one of her eyes. She... Ok yeah, she looked like Celestia. That does not help me understand this situation. "You..."

"What's wrong?" she asked me.

"Uh... You... Princess Celestia?"

"Th-That's right! So you've heard of me?

"I know... about Princess Celestia." I replied. I was starting to think that the hallucination that I just had... was not a hallucination. At the same time, I felt...

"So you have heard of me! Oh, this is such a relief. But, how could a human know who I am? Are you one of the humans that Twilight met while she was here? She didn't mention you. That... look on your face... I'm... am I wrong?"

What in the god damn...

"I'm sorry, I must seem foolish for assuming. How do you know about me?" she asked again.

Honestly, I felt sick. My stomach was knotting up. "You... ahh..."

She gave me a curious look. "So... back to before... You said that I... fell from nowhere?"

"Ahh... Yeah..."

Her gaze turned sympathetic. "I'm sorry, this must be confusing for you. I was... transported here, somehow. I don't know how it happened. Last I remember, I had lain down for my night's rest, and... I woke up here... wherever here is."

I was absolutely stunned right now. I was having trouble even formulating proper thoughts. I was stuck in the same position. If she was trying to help me make sense of this situation, she was failing.

"I... I need help getting home."

"H... H.... Home?" I stuttered out.

She nodded. "That's right. Home. To Equestria."

"Equestria?" I asked, shocked. What was happening right now?

"Yes, Equestria."

"So you... You're... Princess Celestia?"

She gave me another nod. "That's right. Do you... not believe me?"

"Well... P-Prove it." I said to her. Ha! There's no way she could prove something like this.

"What?" She looked uneasy. "But it's true! You saw me come here. I... I can't prove it. B-but... You have to believe me!"

I blinked. Wow, now I just feel mean. "I... I don't know what I saw."

"Please... I just... need to get back. The doorway may be lost soon and I don't know where it could be. I... I need help."

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

She stepped towards me before letting out a yelp as she fell to her knees. She looked up at me. The pain from the fall covered her face. She groaned to herself, then stood back up, legs wobbling. "What... am I to do, then?"

She started to fall again. This time, I caught her before she landed on the ground. Her heavy body came as a surprise to me.

She stood back up on her feet, holding onto my shoulder. "Thank you. I'm... sorry." she said to me.

As she stood against me, I could finally see exactly what she looked like. I was stunned. I've never seen anyone like her. I've never seen anyone so... beautiful.

Her face was... gorgeous. She had a sexy, curvy body and she was very tall. I made a guess at about six feet even, more or less. I wasn't good at estimations, but I could see over her head, and I was 6'4". Everything about her radiated perfection and beauty. From her body, to her hair, to her eyes.

Even in the dark, I could see the power inside her deep magenta eyes. Whether she was crazy or not, this feeling was real. And... the look she was giving me... it was making me believe her. She was confident underneath her confused exterior.

I could see a sun-shaped tattoo on each of her shoulders, underneath her sleeves. Her cutie mark...

"What is it? Stop giving me those strange looks!"

I immediately looked away. I was having trouble coming up with a response.

She pulled away from me, falling back against the lightpost behind her.

"I'm... sorry..." she said to me, "I'm just... worried. I'm scared that I might be stuck here, in this world. When my student came here, she described a far different environment. You seem to know... at least... about me, so... can you help me?"

Can I help her? I've been replaying her fall over and over again in my head. She just... popped in out of the aether. And what's worse, I caught a glimpse of where she came from. A circular window... A window into another world. And if she really is who she says she is... There's not a damn thing I can do to help her. The thing is... I couldn't stop myself from believing her.

I finally mustered up the courage to say, "I... I think I can try."

She gave me a warm smile. It was a kind, genuine smile that seemed to wash all of my worries away.

"Thank you."

Her smile... Pretty didn't do it justice.

Did I really believe her? I know what I saw, but... there's just no goddamn way. That is not... feasible. In any way. There has to be an explanation for this. Should I really trust her? Should I just take her to the police?

"So who... are you?" she asked me.

"I'm Phil. Just... Phil. I... I'm... boring." I chuckled. "I work for a living. And you? You say you're Princess Celestia, but..."

"You don't believe me?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore, man." I unintentionally let a joke slip out in this serious situation.

She smiled. "Come on, don't be like that."

"Look, I wanna help you, but... how? If you're... really..." I shook my head. "I don't think anybody here can help you."

"I don't belong here. I just need to go home. To do that, I need to find this world's crystal mirror. That will let me return."

"This world's crystal mirror?"

She nodded. "That's right."

"Well... this might put a damper on your mood, but... There... There is no crystal mirror here."

"What?"

"In this world. It doesn't exist here."

"How do you know?"

"The crystal mirror doesn't connect to this world."

"What do you... mean? This is the human world, isn't it? How much exactly do you know about Equestria?"

"I know... more than you would think."

"How... much more?"

"I know about Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I know about Twilight Sparkle and her friends in Ponyville. I know..." I briefly recounted a few of the major events in Equestria up to the first movie.

Now it was her turn to be shocked. She stared at me, wide eyed. "What? How? How is this possible?!"

"It's... a little complicated, but... Us humans have devices similar to your mirror that can... look into your world. And we can... just... watch it. Like a movie."

She looked at me as if I was the crazy one. Well, I kinda was, but that's a different story.

"So, that... that mirror that you were talking about... It wasn't just an assumption, it doesn't lead here."

"You can't know if that's true."

"Maybe. Is that how you got here?"

"I don't know. I don't see any other way I could have."

"I saw... something when you first dropped... into this world. It feels weird just saying that. I couldn't make anything out beyond, but you fell through a circle. An oval, maybe. So, it could be your mirror."

She nodded.

"I don't... Look, what I meant was that the world that Twilight Sparkle visited and this world are not one in the same."

"What do you mean?"

"That world is much different from what we have here. Equestria itself is in some sort of different reality, with its own human world. Hell, there may be an Equestrian counterpart to this world, as well."

She shook her head. "I don't believe you."

I shrugged. "Yeah that's fair. I don't even really believe it myself, anymore. Alright. What are you gonna do now that you're here?"

"What am I... going to do? I don't know. I've been on my own before, but never like this. What would you have me do?"

"Me? I... I dunno. I've never had to deal with this either."

"Well... Can you give me an option?"

"An option? Geez... You're really putting me on the spot here. Are you sure you want my opinion?"

"Anything can help."

"Well... I can't just leave you out here on your own like this. You'd probably get into trouble. So... I guess... You could... come stay with me. For... a little while. It's a... This might sound like a bit much, but... Well, you asked me, so..."

"Stay with you?"

"I don't wanna let you just wander around alone out here. If you wanna... do something else, I'll make sure you're able to find your way."

She looked to the store. It said right on the front that it was a 24 hour store, so she could go inside for temporary shelter, but she knew that it wasn't a solution.

"Look, it was the first thing that came to mind, alright?" I said, defending myself.

"I understand. It's... We've just met. I barely know you."

"Yeah, I get it. It ain't hurting my feelings none. Look, I'm tired. I don't really want to be out here right now."

"Trying to pressure me won't convince me any faster."

I sighed. "You know that I don't have to help you, right?"

"Ah! No! Don't say that! I'm sorry." She sighed. "You don't... seem bad, at least."

I just wanted to go home... "That's a start."

"Why were you out at this hour?"

"Just shopping. My buddy told me that there was this sale on this set of headphones, and I've been wanting to try them out for a while, so I stopped in."

"At this hour?"

I shrugged. "Ended tonight. He told me too late, I freaking missed it."

She nodded, but it seemed like she expected me to say something else. "Tell me... what else you know about Equestria. What do you know about... me? How am I portrayed in your... movies?"

"I... It's been a while since I've seen it, so I might be a bit off on this, but..." I took in a breath. "You maintain a healthy and benevolent rule over your kingdom alongside your sister, Luna. You're always kind to all of the ponies that you meet, though you're not afraid to poke fun at them as well. You do what has to be done for the good of your kingdom, even through great sacrifice. You're powerful, you're wise, you're kind-hearted and slow to anger. You're..." I looked to her. "You're majestic. You're commanding, even in the most trying of situations. Your voice always carries weight. You're... You're a Princess... and you're so much more..."

She chuckled again. "You're making me blush... It's nice to hear such things from a complete stranger." She looked to the store again, then back to me. After a long period of silence, she finally said, "Very well. I accept your offer."

"You... Really? Well, that... Alright... Wow, I didn't expect... Alright, then."

She nodded. "It's already quite late and I've been woken from my night's rest. I would like a place to sleep soundly tonight and would prefer being near someone who, at the very least, knew who I was."

I gave her a small smile. "Makes sense." I gestured to my nearby car. "C'mon, I'll take you."

She stared at it, hesitant. "Is it... safe?"

"Course it is. How do ya think I got here?"

"I suppose... Alright. Um... I'm sorry to ask this, but... can you help me to it? I haven't yet figured out how to walk on two legs."

"Yeah, no problem."

I approached her and had her hold onto my shoulder as I walked her to the passenger side of the car. It seemed like her knees still stung from the fall.

I opened the door for her. She hesitated once more.

"Are you having second thoughts?"

"No, I..."

"It's normal to be cautious, you know." I paused. "I'd imagine, at least. Like I said, I haven't..."

She chuckled. "Right."

She grabbed onto the car and sat down in the seat. I closed the door after her. She watched me closely as I rounded the front of the car to get into the driver's side.

After I sat in my seat and buckled myself in, I told her to do the same. She pulled the seatbelt over herself, copying what I did to latch it. Wearing seatbelts, much like democracy, is non-negotiable.

I smiled to myself. I think I made a new friend. That, or I was crazy. I'd prefer the first one.

She stared at the dashboard as it lit up, amazed by the perceived complexity of it. She had absolutely no idea what was happening, and for some reason, she seemed to enjoy it.

As I started driving, she sunk back into her seat, holding it tightly.

"Don't worry, I've been doing this for a while."

She let out a quiet noise to signify that she understood, but still looked frightened. "There's certainly a difference between being in control and having someone take you somewhere." she said.

I left the parking lot. There were very few cars compared to the ones parked in the area, but there were so many other lights and buildings. She seemed a little overwhelmed. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I used to always think that I was superb at determining one's character, but ever since the incident at the royal wedding, I found myself doubting my own abilities. If I were to have second thoughts, you'd let me out, right?"

"Course I would. Who do you take me for?"

"Thank you, Phil. For putting my mind at ease."

"Uh... Sure."

She chuckled nervously. "I probably should've asked that before getting in."

Walmart was a few miles from my home. I gave Celestia specific directions as I drove, which she listened to carefully. She took in the sights of the town, no doubt trying to memorize the layout in case she needed to return on her own. Midway through the trip, we crossed one of the bridges over the river that ran through town, splitting it into east and west sides. My house was on the west.

As we pulled down my street, Celestia noticed the darkness of the area. There were no streetlights here. The only thing that illuminated the area were my headlights and the uncommon house light.

I pulled into my driveway, then gestured to my house and said, "That's it. It's gonna get dark when I turn my car off. Just so you know."

She nodded at me. I turned the car off. As I said, dark. There wasn't much of a moon above us to brighten the area. She did as I did, unbuckling and opening the door. She stood up, bracing herself against the car as she did. Her legs wobbled a little, but she managed to stay up.

I walked over to her, offering to help. She accepted the offer and grabbed my shoulder again. I walked her to my door and opened it so we could go in. I immediately flicked on the light. She gave the room a quick examination.

"Here, go ahead and sleep here for tonight." I said to her, leading her to the couch next to the door. She took a look at it, then hesitantly sat down. Aside from a small coffee stain on the bottom of one of the cushions, it was a clean couch. At least, as clean as it should be for being four years old.

She watched me intently, on edge. It looked like she was ready to run at the first sign of danger. That's fair.

"You know, I'm hoping you're actually real." I said to her, "Cause if you're not, then I probably need to talk to a shrink."

"Well, in that case, you have nothing to worry about."

"That's the spirit. You know... You being... Celestia and all... That would mean that you really are trapped here."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said earlier, the crystal mirror you were talking about is a magical item from your world. There is no Canterlot High or anything like that in this world. The statue that Twilight came through doesn't exist. Unless someone like your sister can find you, I don't think there's any way for you to get home."

"How can you be sure about this?"

I didn't want to say that it was because she was fake and that this was all a figment of my imagination caused by finally going insane. Something like that would ruin the mood. "I..." I sighed. "I dunno. I guess I can't really prove it. And with you just... being here, I'm not entirely certain of anything right now. I just wish there was more I could do for you. I know my house isn't much, but it's about the only thing I think I can offer you."

She gave me a smile and a slow nod. "It's just fine, Phil. Really. I'm grateful for your help. But..." She frowned. "The way that you keep trying to convince me that... there's no way for me to get home... Is it... true? You're not... lying... are you?"

I solemnly shook my head. "No, I'm not."

She let out a short sigh. "Perhaps you're right. I don't... sense anything magical about this world. I don't even sense my own magic. All this happening at once... It's not..." She looked down.

Seeing her like this made my heart feel heavy. I took a step towards her. Then another. She stared at me as I moved. I lowered myself down to her level. She gave me a curious look.

I gave her a hug. She gasped in response. Her arms slowly raised and her hands lightly touched my back. She was hesitant, but didn’t seem displeased about this.

I pulled away. "Sorry. You just really seemed like you needed that. I'm gonna... I'm gonna go to bed, alright? So... Goodnight, Princess."

"Good... Goodnight. And... thank you."

I nodded, then went to my room. After a brief call to my boss's answering machine to say I wasn't showing up tomorrow, I went to sleep.

Author's Note

Yes, I know that there is a change of perspective. This was intentional. I like that part.

~~I have changed chapters 1-4 on 8/17/17.~~

Chapters 1-4 have been changed again. 4/28/18.