August 25

Celestia slept in the next morning. I was nearly out the door before she came out. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were still half-closed.

She greeted me with a yawn, covering her mouth with a hand. "Going to work?" she tiredly asked.

"Yeah, soon."

"I remember... lying in the grass. Did I fall asleep in the park?"

"Yep."

"Oh... I'm sorry. How did I get home, then? Did you... carry me?"

"I tried to wake you, first."

She let out a small, cute chuckle. "That's embarrassing... Well, thank you. You... said that you work at a restaurant, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Fast food."

"What kind of food do you sell?"

"Ahh... Stuff like burgers and fries and... soda and pie."

"Burgers and fries? We have those in Equestria."

"Our burgers are made from meat."

"Oh... Interesting..."

"Interesting?"

"Meat... I keep thinking that humans and ponies aren't so different, yet our diets are opposite from one another. We ponies are vegetarian, while you humans are omnivorous."

"We may look different, but deep down, we're a lot alike."

She nodded, still smiling. "All this talk of restaurants has made me curious... What's your favorite food?"

"Uh... Peanut butter."

"Peanut butter?"

I nodded. "Yeah. That, or steak."

"Steak?"

"It's a finely prepared, semi-expensive piece of meat."

"Hmm..."

"What's your favorite food?"

"Oh, I couldn't say... Probably some kind of chocolate. You can't go wrong with chocolate. How... How long is it... until you leave?"

"Not too long. Few minutes. Why, what's up?"

"Could I come with?"

"Oh! T-To my work? I... I guess." That was a bit of a surprise.

Her face brightened. "Oh, how exciting!"

"It won't be as exciting as you think, Celestia. I'll... be working. I can't talk to you all day."

"But, it's a restaurant. I could simply sit at a table and wait."

"Uh... Yeah... Yeah, you... could... Why?"

"I'm just curious, is all. You didn't show me where you worked."

"Well, alright. But if you get bored, that's on you. You can bring the laptop, if you want."

"Thank you, Phil."

"I didn't do anything. You gotta get ready."

"Right! I'll get dressed."

She disappeared into the bedroom and returned with a new pair of socks on. I waited for her on the couch as she ate. She soon approached me. The look on her face was a soft one.

"Phil, about last night... I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."

"I'm always uncomfortable around you." Another unintentional joke.

"Really?"

I didn't mean what I said. "Ah... It's hard to explain. You make me nervous. You're... a Princess. When I'm around you, I can't help but feel that you're... looking down on me."

"It isn't like that, Phil."

"I know. I can't help it. And with you being from another world, I wanna make extra sure that you're safe, you know?"

"And I appreciate that. But in this world, I am no different than you. You don't treat me like a Princess."

"I'm sorry."

"No, that's a good thing!" she said, her tone becoming excited, "You treat me like a normal woman. Like a friend. And I can respond to you in kind. Not as a Princess, but as a fellow human."

"Human, huh?"

She smiled. "Maybe this short time I've spent here has taught me a thing or two about being a human."

"Maybe it has."

She chuckled. "I think that if we don't leave soon, I'll say something even more foolish."

"You got something to eat?"

"Uh..." She didn't answer. Her face started getting red.

"I'll get you some food."

"No, no! I can do it! I can do it."

She quickly turned away and disappeared into the kitchen again. While she was gone, I put the laptop and its charger into a bag. She returned with a plastic bag in her hand, smiling.

Celestia was acting strange. She was a little flustered, a little happy... All in all... it just seemed like she was acting... playful.

"Shall we?" I asked.

"I'm ready."

I led Celestia outside. She followed me all the way to my workplace. Thankfully, it was just a few blocks away. Well within walking distance.

"So Phil, I have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"Does it bother you at all that I'm not human? You do remember that I'm a pony, correct?"

"Course I remember. That doesn't change anything."

"Oh..."

"What?"

"Nothing. Is that it?" She looked upwards to the golden arches that signified obesity.

"Yep, that's it."

As we got near, she slowed to a stop. I stopped and looked to her.

"Something wrong?"

"It's... the smell..." Her face scrunched up. She pinched her nose shut. "It's terrible. How can you stand this all day?" She sounded funny with her nose closed.

"It's not that bad."

"It's disgusting! What is this?"

"Probably some kind of cooking grease." She didn't move from where she stood. "You want me to walk you back home?"

"No, no... I'm already here, aren't I?"

"I guess."

"I'll join you in a while. I need to get used to this smell, first."

I shrugged. "Suit yourself."

It took a little while, but she eventually mustered up the strength to walk in. She still had a look of discomfort on her face. She got the laptop out of the bag and opened it.

Some of the people on my shift noticed her as they came in. One of them asked me how long she's been here.

"Hey Phil, that woman over there has the same kind of laptop as you." said one of my coworkers, Timmy. He was one of my personal friends, so we spoke often on the clock.

"Huh, I think it might even be the same model." I responded, smirking.

"Yeah, I think it is. What's with that look?"

"What look? I don't have a look."

"What, is that your laptop?"

"Could be."

"Yes or no, you ass."

"Yes it is."

"Well, what's she doing with it?"

"Oh, you know."

"No, I... don't... What? Who is she?"

"She's that nicaraguan kid I keep in my basement."

"Are you dating a cosplayer or something, what's going on?"

"Date? Girls are icky. They have cooties."

"You're pissing me off, Phil!"

I chuckled. "She's just a friend."

"Yeah, a friend that's at your work and has your laptop."

"You're a friend that's at my work and you sometimes use my laptop."

"Phil, oh my god!"

"What?"

"I'm gonna fucking end you, I swear to god."

"Trying to kill your boss can get you written up, you know."

"There's not gonna be a try, it's gonna happen, buddy."

"Killing your boss might get you fired."

"Oh, but it'll be so worth it..."

"You know, I'm allowed to have friends outside of you freaks."

"Bullshit, you don't have any friends."

"Fuck, you're right... She's just visiting for a while. She's staying at my place while she's in town."

"Christ dude, you better get a lottery card with this luck you have."

"Yeah, come over after work and I'll introduce you proper."

"What? She's already right there." He pointed to her.

"Well, go talk to her."

He gave her another look. "I... I don't even think I fucking can, dude. How do you even approach someone like that?"

"I usually just make incoherent noises and hope they think I'm funny." I sighed. "High school was a rough time for me."

"Are you serious?"

I ignored him.

Celestia wasn't paying attention to much of anything at the moment. As if on cue though, she looked up and met my eyes. As soon as she saw me, the corners of her mouth perked up. She smiled briefly, then returned her view to the computer. Cute...

It was a while before anything interesting happened. I sat with Celestia for lunch, which was nice. She asked about the restaurant and I answered as best I could.

My phone rang while I was working. We weren't supposed to have phones while we were on duty, but I just didn't care. I pulled it from my pocket to see who it was. My neighbor. Weird. He doesn't usually call me.

I accepted the call as I stepped into the break room. "Phil here, what's up?"

"Uh... Phil? A detective just asked me if you knew anything about a 'Celestia' person."

"Wh... What in the god damn?"

"Yeah, a car parked in front of your house and a few guys got out. One of them came over and said that he was a detective." He didn't sound very worried. It must've gone well for him.

"Whaaat... Well, what did you say?"

"Well, I told him about your new girlfriend, but I didn't know anything else."

"And what did he say?"

"He just thanked me for my time and left."

"Huh... So... did... anything else happen?

"Yeah, the two other guys started poking around your house. One of them opened up your door while the detective was talking to me and they both went in."

Isn't that illegal? He needs a warrant for that. I haven't done anything bad, yet. "This is... fuckin' weird."

"Yeah, you're telling me."

"I... Uh... Go... Go over there and talk to them. Tell them I'll be there in like ten minutes."

"Sure?"

I wasn't sure at all. "Yeah, sure. Go on."

"If you say so."

"Ten minutes."

"Yep, bye."

I hung up. My head lowered onto my phone in my hand and took in a slow breath. "Gotta be fucking... kidding me..." I groaned to myself.

From a co-worker, I heard a curious, "What's up?"

I sighed. "You're in charge, Tim. If he asks, tell the boss-man that I had some important stuff to deal with."

"What? You're leaving?"

"Yeah."

"Something wrong?"

"I gotta go find that out."

"Oh, well... ok."

I told Celestia that I was going home for a short while.

"What? You're at work, you can't just leave. What's wrong?"

"There's someone asking about you at my house."

"About me?" She gasped in realization. "They could be from Equestria!"

"Uh..." Why didn't I think of that? "Yeah, you could be right."

She quickly closed the laptop and placed it in its bag. "We need to go now, before they leave!"

"They aren't going anywhere, don't worry."

Celestia rushed out the door, still zipping up the bag. She moved at a brisk pace, excited that someone else knew about her here. I followed close behind and made sure she took the correct route back. Plus, the view was nice from back here...

"That must be them!" she excitedly let out, making her way to the men standing in my yard.

There were three of them. One had blonde hair, another blue, and the third, the most normal looking of the three, had brown. The third was the detective, no doubt. Then the other two were...

"Shining Armor! Soulfire Dawn!"

To their surprise, Celestia wrapped her arms around the two of them. The look of shock on their faces soon disappeared as Celestia pulled away to get a look at them.

"Oh, it's good to see you." she said to them.

"Are you alright, Princess?" asked Shining.

"Are you hurt?" asked Soulfire.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Please."

"What is this bag you're wearing, Princess?"

"Who is this following you?" asked the blonde one.

The group focused their gaze on me.

The detective stepped forward. "You must be Phil."

"Yeah, that's right."

"My name is Detective Norman Jayden." He pulled out his badge to show me.

I briefly looked to it before returning my gaze to him. My stomach immediately knotted up. I haven't done anything, I had no reason to be nervous. Just standing in front of someone like him made my heart race.

He turned to her. "And you are Celestia, I presume?"

"That's right. What's all this about? Shining, Soulfire, why are you with him?"

"He helped us find you, Princess."

"He led us here."

"That's right." he said, "These two were pegged as suspicious characters and brought in for questioning. They told us that they were looking for you, so we helped them out. Soon enough, one of our officers spotted you. That led us here."

"You couldn't have called, first?" I asked.

"I decided that it would be better to see you in person." he replied, "Now, I have some questions for the four of you, if you don't mind." He pulled out a pen and notepad.

I pointed at him. "You went in my house."

He stopped. "I did."

"Without a warrant."

"It was our fault." said Shining Armor, "We walked in while he was speaking to your neighbor."

"I had no choice but to follow them inside." said Norman, "I told them not to leave the car."

"We're sorry, sir."

I was getting a headache. This was a lot to take in.

"Look, buddy..." I started.

They all looked at me. To my surprise, their attention made me feel anxious.

"I want to thank you for reuniting my friends. It means a lot to them and it means a lot to me. Celestia and I spent the past few days looking for them. Truthfully, we were about to come to you guys for help."

"I'm glad that I could be of service. Now, I have a few..."

I put up my hand, stopping him. "I'm going to overlook you going into my house. But in exchange, I don't want to hear any of your questions. I have enough to deal with already. So, I'm sorry."

He hesitated for a short while. "Hmm..." He nodded. "Alright. Then, I suppose with that, I'll take my leave." He turned to the guards. "You two have made this a rather odd week for me, but I am glad that I could be of some help."

"Thank you, Detective." said Shining.

"You were a big help."

He gave our little group one last look before turning and walking away. He looked at us one more time before shrugging and getting into his car.

"Do you think we'll see him again?" asked Celestia.

"Hopefully not."

"Yes, perhaps it is for the best. So..." She paused to get out attention. "How did you two find me?"

"Discord found you and told us where you were." said Shining Armor.

"It couldn't have been easy to put trust in him." she said, "I'm glad that you did."

"Thank you, Princess. After he found you, he suggested a number of us come to this world to rescue you. We settled on two."

"How strange of him to be worried about me..." She put on a thinking face, raising a hand to her chin. "Did he transport you to this world?"

"He did, Princess."

"Hmm..."

"Whatcha thinkin'?" I asked.

"If Discord could transport them, he could very well have done the same to me."

"Think he did?"

"It... is something he would do. But why would he?"

"He's very unpredictable." Shining said to me, "Questioning his motives will get us nowhere."

"He's right." said Celestia, "I wouldn't put it past him, but he may be innocent in this case."

"Princess."

She turned to him. "Yes, Soulfire?"

"Who is this man?" he asked. His voice was serious, as if he saw me as a problem.

"Calm down, Soulfire. This is the man that I have been staying with in this world. His name is Phil."

"Nice to meet ya." I said to the two of them.

"Thank you for taking care of our Princess." said Shining Armor, "You've done us a great service."

Soulfire was less receptive. He glared at me. "You took care of the Princess?"

"Yeah, I... I did, yeah." I felt strange. Meeting that detective stressed me out. My heart was still racing. "Let's head inside. Not like you haven't already seen it."

"Right... We're sorry about entering without permission. We were worried about our Pr..."

"Yeah, yeah..." I started towards the door, my mood still soured.

Our little group went inside. Celestia sat on the couch while her guards stood. I stood near the opposite wall from them.

Celestia, her guards, and me. Sounds like something I would write...

"So, how did you get here? What did Discord do?"

"We don't know. All we know is that it involved the crystal mirror in some way. He told us that he cast a spell on it before we went through."

Celestia put on a thinking face again. "Perhaps I did come here through the mirror... Hmm... If that is the case though, what was the plan regarding our return?"

Return? Right, right, Celestia has to go back home... I kinda wish she would stay, it's been nice having company. It would be a load off my mind if she were to leave though...

"If we could find you in time, he would open the portal and bring us back." answered Shining. He frowned. "It seems we've failed, though. We took too long to find you."

She was still smiling that same smile she always does. "You haven't failed." she reassured him, "You found me, didn't you? That's more than I had hoped for. I was convinced that I would be trapped here for a long time. I had nearly settled in to this new life of mine." She chuckled. "You have no idea how much your arrival has helped me."

"Thank you, Princess."

Celestia took in a breath and put on a serious face. "Even so, I'm getting ahead of myself. The three of us will have to stay in this world until the path home reopens."

"In thirty moons." said Soulfire.

She nodded. "That's right."

The... three of... Oh no...

"Have you been faring well here, Princess?" asked Soulfire, "You've been here a while, is everything well?"

"Yes, yes, of course. Phil has taken very good care of me, as I've said. It is a tad less luxurious than I'm used to, but if it means that I can have a place to stay, I can accept it."

He nodded. His gaze shifted to me. I don't think I'd be reaching far if I said he didn't like me. "And what about us?" he asked, "How would we be taken care of?"

I was a little taken aback by his tone. How would he be taken care of? He'd be right out the door with that kind of attitude. I raised my finger to him and said, "Hey, I don't owe you anything. You, or your Princess."

"What'd you say?" He stepped towards me.

"That's enough, Soulfire." commanded Celestia. Her stern voice surprised me. I haven't heard this side of her.

Her words had an immediate effect. Soulfire stopped dead in his tracks. Her eyes were fixed on him. It looked like he had trouble meeting them.

"We are not owed his kindness." She glanced to me, then back to him. "Staying here is a privilege, even for me."

"Yes, Princess."

Celestia turned to me again. "They... They do need a place to stay." she said. She gave me a sympathetic look. She knew that this was troublesome for me.

I really didn't like this. Two more people staying in this tiny house... It was barely big enough for two. "Where did you two stay before this?" I asked.

"Nowhere." said Shining, "There wasn't anywhere for us to go."

"We can't repay you for this." said Soulfire, "That's what you want, isn't it? We don't have anything here."

"It isn't about being repaid. It's more complicated than that." How am I gonna boink Celestia if her guards are here?

I couldn't tell them no. I couldn't turn down someone like this. I wasn't that kind of person. I didn't have it in me to turn them away. If the situation were different, if I didn't know them, it would've been fine to say no. They might even have expected it. But these guys weren't even from this world. They needed someone. I would love their company, I really would. It's just...

Why am I even thinking about this? It isn't a choice, I have no choice. There's nothing I can do.

Looks like I have two new roommates. It's not all bad, I guess. Saying yes would probably score me some points with Celestia.

"There's already three of ya, is anyone else gonna show up?" I sarcastically let out.

"It's unlikely. After the Princess disappeared, the crystal mirror was put on a strict watch." said Shining.

"Good to hear." I replied having not expected an answer.

I still felt uneasy about all this...

Much of the rest of the day was spent debating about where we would all sleep and passing complaints from the guards about the house itself. There were way too many people in my house. It was crowded. With just one bedroom, there wasn't even enough rooms for everyone.

I didn't feel like we accomplished much yet, but I was getting a little hungry. I broke off from them and went to the kitchen. Celestia followed me and they followed her.

I was in the mood for grilled cheese. Celestia had no idea what I was making, yet asked me for one as I started. I made the two of us five of them. Shining and Soulfire said that they didn't want any.

As I cooked the bread, I asked Celestia to start opening the cheese, which she seemed to enjoy doing. Each sandwich was given a copious amount of cheese. When the first was done, I set it onto a plate. Celestia took it, then almost immediately took a bite.

"Ith hot!" she exclaimed.

"Careful, it's hot." I said to her.

She cried out again, then put the sandwich back down on the plate, a trail of melted cheese connecting her hand to it. She brought it up to her face and scraped the cheese off with her teeth.

"That was hot." she said, "But really good. Shining, Soulfire, try one!"

"I think we've both had grilled cheese before, Princess." said Shining, a little embarrassed.

"What, not hungry? More for me, then." she said, shrugging it off.

She reached for the sandwich again.

"Celestia, don't burn yourself." I said, picking up the second sandwich with my spatula.

She already had the first sandwich in her hand again. I set the second onto the plate while she took another bite.

"Hot!" she cried out again.

I laughed at her. She smiled back at me.

"Oh, hold on a minute... I forgot Tomato soup." I said.

"Huh? Tomato soup? That sounds nice. Do you have any?" asked Celestia.

"Yeah, it's in the closet." I said, leaving the third sandwich to cook and turning to it.

"Ooh, let me!" Celestia excitedly let out, opening the closet before I got to it.

She was being... cute.

She got a can from the closet. "If you two aren't hungry, go sit down." she said to her guards, her voice playful.

They looked at each other, confused looks on their faces. The two of them left the room.

Celestia smiled at me again.

She retrieved the can opener. Celestia made tomato soup while I made grilled cheese. This was fun. Five grilled cheese sandwiches and a bowl of tomato soup.

Celestia ate as she made the soup, burning herself each time her impatience got the better of her. She didn't seem to mind in the slightest. Instead, it just seemed to make her laugh even more.

When I was done with my targeted five sandwiches, I moved them to the table. Even though I made five, two were already gone, with another partially eaten. Celestia sat down, picking up the bitten sandwich and eating it.

I got the two of us glasses of milk.

"Man, I might have to make more, at this rate." I said, taking my second sandwich so far.

"Maybe." she said, mouth full. She dipped her sandwich in the single bowl of soup. It didn't seem like she cared whether or not it was shared between us. "Shining and Soulfire should've had some. They'd love it."

I sighed. "Bet they eat a lot. First you, now them... That's four people living here. Four people living off of one income."

Celestia swallowed the food in her mouth. She stopped eating. "Your concerns are... important to us. More important than you think. No matter what though, you feel obliged to help us. I appreciate that so much... but it's making me feel guilty taking advantage of you like this."

"I don't know. I just wasn't prepared for this, I guess. I can handle a group like yours for a few weeks." I smiled at her. "I guess I just can't say no to a pretty face."

She smiled bashfully. "You'll make me blush if you say things like that."

We returned to our meal. Five sandwiches was definitely not enough. I made two more for Celestia before she was satisfied.

I cleaned up the mess we had made when we were finished eating. After I did that, I called into work to say that I wouldn't be there tomorrow. My boss said I was taking a surprising amount of time off. I didn't give him a meaningful reply.

Celestia washed her hands, then returned to the front room, taking her usual position behind my computer. The other two sat on either side of her. Soulfire briefly eyed me as I entered the room, but went back to admiring the piece of human technology his ruler was using.

I stood against the wall, taking in the sight in front of me. Three people that I didn't really know were now living in my house. If they were normal people, I wouldn't even have given them a passing thought. But they aren't normal. This isn't normal.

None of this is normal.

Author's Note

4/21/2022
I have moved chapters 5-27 to 4-25. This is just moving the chapters around and has no baring on the story

Old note for reference:
Removed 4/28/18
All meaningful content in this chapter have been placed into other surrounding chapters. If I were to delete this chapter, it could risk deleting comments associated with it.