Chapters The twelve unicorns scurried around the room as they mixed different chemicals and cast assorted spells on vials and other lab items. Celestia watched them from a distance as they labored away. From her point of view, the clearest thing she could see was the swooshing beards that many of the unicorns had grown over the years.
She could only assume that it was because they all tried to model themselves after Starswirl the Bearded, the most powerful unicorn wizard to have ever walked on Equestrian soil. And, in all truth, she missed his presence. Even after hundreds of years since his absence, she still felt there was a connection between the two of them. Something that reminded her that he was once there, always by her side in her time of need.
Starswirl had always been there when Celestia was a little filly. Teaching her, guiding her, and all of the sorts. But he was old as well and his time was closing in on him. Every day he grew older, yet everyday, she visited him. Always talking about magic until the day her parents told her that she couldn’t see him again.
With slight hesitation, Bliss Endeavor trotted up to Celestia. “Princess, I regret to inform you that this spell may take some time.”
She shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts. “How long until you think it will be finished?” She asked.
“Uh…” The unicorn looked down at his hooves as he thought over the large amount of work the council would have to do. “With all the testing required, it could take roughly ten years. This kind of spell has never been attempted before, so we honestly have no idea. It may take less time, but it may also take more.”
Celestia nearly lost her breath. All she heard was ten years. “Ten years? Are you certain that it will take that long?”
“I’m afraid so. If we work too fast, mistakes may be made. The possible damage of the spell being produced incorrectly could be catastrophic. If anypony attempted to cast the spell before we can ensure its integrity, it could backfire on them.” Bliss rubbed his left fetlock with his hoof.
Celestia tried to maintain her composure, but failed. Her shoulders drooped and a small sliver of anger started to build up in her chest. She rubbed her temples in a desperate attempt to keep herself at ease.
“It’s fine.”
She regained some of her composure. A short moment passing before she decided to take a walk around the room to better control her emotions.
The sound of her hooves echoed through the room as the unicorns silently worked, this time, taking note of what they were all doing.
Finding herself curious, Celestia walked up to a mare who was well immersed into her assigned task.
Minutes passed before she noticed Celestia’s presence. Instead of the normal surprised notion that most ponies would give her upon her sudden arrival, the mare only asked her to put goggles on in order to protect her eyes.
Celestia looked down at the mare and smiled, “Of course.”
Already familiar with the layout of the room, she retrieved her own pair of protective eyewear from a white case in the back.
Satisfied that her princess was now protected, the mare went back to work. As Celestia watched she couldn't help but get the feeling that somehow, this mare reminded her of her own sister. She didn't know how, or why, but she did. Trying to ignore the feeling as best she could, Celestia still found herself unable to stop thinking about it.
Luna is a protective type of pony. She would never allowed anypony to hurt another, and would do as much as she could to prevent conflicts from happening. How Celestia had drawn the two together, she didn't know. Such a small similarity would generally pass right through her.
Celestia went back to wondering the lab. Coming to several to observe, she eventually became bored of watching the council members work and left them to their own devices.
The large double doors shrunk to a single set, then expanded into what seemed like a never ending hallway.
Looking to her left, Celestias eyes peered down a corridor that became darker and darker the further it went. Windows had never been placed down that way, giving it an ominous aura.
Celestia had never been down this hall. She hadn't been able to explore it due to her royal duties and business. But now, for the first time in countless years, she had been given the opportunity to explore the mysterious corridor to her hearts content.
With her council hard at work and nothing else to do, she took off down the darkened path.
As a little filly, she had heard many stories about what laid down these hallways. She had been told that there was a large prison system that held some of the most horrendous beings to ever threaten Equestria. Most of them immortal like herself, or at least with enough magical power to make themselves near immortal. Never had she believed those stories, but never did she have the time come down and find out for herself. Although, she likely wouldn't have given the fact that she had been scared to death at the idea of possibly running into a pony twice her size that had escaped from his cell.
Those fears no longer plagued her. Not only was she now one of the most magically gifted beings on Equestria, but she was easily double the size of most ponies. That in itself would give any other pony, or creature, enough sense to not mess with her.
oOo
Curiosity drove Celestia down the halls of the lower castle levels. Mold and moss had infected almost every corner, turning them into green bunches of stink and filth. The sound of water dripping onto the floor played a constant background track to beat of her hooves as she continued her trek.
Over the years, the constant percolation of water from the upper levels had flooded every crack and crevice, turning the path into something more recognizable as a cave, rather that part of the castle itself.
Occasionally, a mouse or rat would scurry away from her hooves as they clanked and splashed on the stone below her.
She chuckled to herself lightly before continuing on, completely unfazed by what she had seen thus far. The brief thought of somepony she knows that would have hated the very existence of this place crossed her mind.
No matter how dreary surroundings were, she kept walking, knowing that it may be years before time would be granted to her once more in this extent. Eventually, she hit a split. One path went straight on, while the other went off to her right.
The eerie sounds of the prisoners crying for help suddenly broke the relative silence. She looked off to the right, where the cries originated from. They should have known that no help would ever come their way. It was strange that they would even conceive the idea that somepony would just dawdle around and release them from their well deserved cages.
She took the path to her right, the wails and cries steadily increasing as they heard her approach.
The torches lighting her way flickered, casting her shadow far down the path and illuminating where the cells began. She felt a shiver run down her spine and was hit by the feeling of spiders crawling all over her body. The only thing keeping her walking forward was her pure curiosity of what would follow.
No less than a minute later, she had walked up to the first cell. Behind it laid a large, black furred creature that she recognized from many centuries ago. Even in its shrunken state, it looked ferocious enough to strike fear into the hearts of even the largest stallions.
Celestia's parents had used their magic to shrink it down so it would fit into the cage. How the magic spell never faded was beyond her knowledge. For all she knew, the spell could be permanent. And from the looks of it, it likely was. No spell that would stick for hundreds of years wasn't permanent. There was no possible way.
Suddenly, a loud bang emitted from further down the stone trail. With only a moment of hesitation, she speed off in the direction that the monstrous sound had come from. Looking both ways, Celestia searched for anything that could have produced the horrific sound of metal snapping.
The cell system seemed to go on forever, but none of the blocks she could see had taken damage. Finally, one cell caught her eye. It was made of a glowing, blue magic. A series of twelve beams formed into a square, each spiraled by a wisp of purple light. She knew this wasn't the one that the sound had originated from, but with its unique construction she couldn't help but take interest.
Looking inside revealed very little as only half a foot in the cell was visible. There was a sudden groan as whatever creature inside woke from its slumber. She could hear what sounded like hooves clicking on ground. Her heart started to beat harder in her chest as she backed away from the cage. Memories came swirling back to her like she was reading them from a book. Memories that she would have prefered to keep buried.
“Hello Celestia.”
Celestia gasped as her suspicions were confirmed. The stallion laughed a deep, dark, and evil laugh as he saw the expression that had so easily carved its way into her face.
“Starswirl."
Her mind blazed over what she could remember of the old stallion.
In his old age he had become more and more curious about the Arcane Arts. Eventually, he was driven so far into his obsession that he had destroyed entire towns across all of Equestria in his search to further his knowledge.
In the elder wizards own eyes, he had been doing the right thing. He had been taking means to advance the magical knowledge for all of pony kind. He was building a better tomorrow and in the name of progress, some casualties were to be expected.
Celestia, still being relatively young, had been forced to watch as her parents took to extreme means to capture him and stop the rampaging that had caused death to whomever he thought was holding information back. The struggle he had put up against two alicorns adults was, while admirable incredible, still horrifying for the young princess.
“Now I remember why you disappeared.”
Her anger nearly enveloped her. Her mind being completely fogged, she failed to notice the gaping hole in cell directly behind her.
Luna walked into Celestia’s room, carrying a tray with a tea pot and small porcelain cups in her magic.
“Sister” Luna was met with silence, “Perhaps we can talk?” She waited a moment longer before delving further into the room. “Sister?”
Again, there was nothing but the quiet echo of her voice.
Luna realized she was alone in her sisters room and started to lightly hum to herself. Being the explorative mare she is, she couldn’t help but explore her sister’s room while Celestia was out. After all, whenever she entered her sisters room it was either to wake her from her slumber, or report important matters to her.
First, she started by sitting on Celestia’s bed. It was soft and plush. The moment her rump put weight on the cloth, it felt like several forces had started pushing her down.
Oh my, my sister. You treat yourself well. She chuckled to herself.
She rolled around in the bed for several moments, enjoying the time she was left there. However, with time, all fun fades and one has to find a new source of entertainment. No exceptions for The Princess of the Night.
Luna hopped off of Celestia’s bed, and looked around for something new to do. She soon spotted Celestia’s personal closet. Hoping to find something of interest, she trotted over to the the sliding door. Her horn lit up and the door slid open with no resistance.
Luna nearly screeched at what she saw.
oOo
Starswirl started to laugh, keeping her attention off of what she desperately needed to notice. “My Celestia. You have become quite the klutz lately, haven't you?”
“What are you saying?” She asked, anger rung in her voice.
He laughed once more. “What am I saying...” His words formed anything but a question, “What I’m saying is that you're missing something that’s right under your muzzle.” He cast a hoof outside of the shadows.
Under his fur, she could see the wrinkles in his skin that had formed over hundreds of years. Even with his magic being restrained, he should have easily been able to keep himself young. “And I’ll be sure to tell you soon.” Again, he started laughing like a mad pony, “If you come back alive.”
Celestia looked confused. “What’s that supposed to-” She stopped as something wrapped around her torso, “Oh me”
oOo
Luna gasped as a large roll of wrapped plastic descended in her magic. It was coated in hundreds of tiny bubbles. She quickly unrolled the large plastic sheet and laid it on the ground. She took a moment to decide what to do with it.
The first thing that came into her mind was to pop all the bubbles between her hooves.
However, another idea crossed her mind before any actions were taken.
She took the sheet with her magic and brought it close to her face. She started by wrapping it around her neck before proceeding to cover her body in plastic wrapping.
Luna had covered her entire body in the bubbly plastic. Neck to flank and down her legs, there was no fur showing on her entire body other than her head. “ Aha!” She cried in joy. “ With this, I will become completely immune blunt objects!”
Suddenly, before she could praise herself further, she heard a loud boom from below and the castle seemed to shake under her hooves.
Which servant hath made a grave mistake this time!
oOo
Celestia found herself flying through the air. The wind rushed through her mane as she was slammed against the stone wall.
A large, grey creature came rushing at her. Saliva poured from it’s mouth, leaving wet patches of stone wherever it passed. Celestia moved out from the beasts path, barely missing it’s massive paw as it crashed into the wall.
It lifted it’s arm from where it had landed and slammed it down where Celestia was standing. She moved out of the way again, narrowly avoiding injury. She could hear Starswirl laughing in the background.
“Too bad you locked your only chance of a savior on the moon, Celestia!”
He moved into full view, exposing his entire body. But what caught her eye the most were his own eyes. They had turned into a blood red color.
“Now you’ll die here, under my hoof, with no hope of survival!” He clopped his hooves on the ground, and his laugh turning from evil to childish.
The beast threw another paw at Celestia. Only this time, she was distracted, leaving her open. The impact sent her flying through the air again.
Dust filled the air around her, leaving her confused and disabled. The blue glow of Starswirls cell being the only object she could see.
She pried herself from the hole she was pressed in and shook her head to regain her ability to think straight. As if on triggered by her regaining her ability to think, the dust settled, leaving her exposed and still unable to act properly.
Suddenly, a bright blue light filled the corner of her vision.
Before she could react, the source of the light directly hit her body. She fell to the ground as she was so nearly electrocuted by what had used to be Starswirls cage.
With her energy drained, she lay panting on the ground. She tried getting back on her hooves, only to find they were unresponsive. She could feel her magic try and heal her body, but was stopped every attempt left her in greater distress.
Starswirl moved towards her limp body, chuckling all the while, “ Look at you, Celestia. Ruler of an empire, strongest magical being to ever exist. Far greater than the ones that brought you into this world, and yet here you lay at my hooves. I could do whatever I wanted to you now. And do you know why?"
Celestia eyed the stallion from her lower position. She could see the good in his heart that had been covered by so many layers of hatred and disgust. She wanted to say something back, but was completely unable to speak.
" Because your weak!" Starswirld slammed his hoof down in front of her muzzle, causing her to flinch, which in turn caused more pain to course through her body.
He turned his eyes toward the stone beast, motioning it forward. It approached the two of them.
“And now with nopony to save your flank, there’s nothing to stop me from taking it all.”
The large beast was just at some hooves of distance away from the two of them. Starswirl lifted his horn in the air. The beast took it in his paw, crushing the device that had been used to keep him from using most of his magic. His body started to heal itself. What used to be wrinkled skin had flattened, making him look some decades younger. His grayed fur had started to turn dark blue and his eyes returned to their original purple color. In his current form, he could pass as any other young stallion.
“How about I tell you a little story before I kill you hmm?”
“Not too many years ago, your parents locked me in that cage. The thing is, they didn’t do it with a good reason.” He stomped his hoof on the ground, “ They said, and I quote ‘You have become to powerful be allowed to publicly expose yourself. And for this reason, you will be securely kept in a place where your powers will not go out of control and you can be brought back in the case that your power is needed.’ You see? Nonsense!” He stomped his hoof down, cracking the stone under his hoof.
He kicked Celestia in the side, taking his anger out on her. “They betrayed me, Celestia! And here you are, taking the punishment for their decision. And the punishment is death.” He lowered his horn to her neck, and lightly pushed it against her flesh. A single drop of blood fell from Celestia’s neck, “I honestly hope you’re not ready.”
Celestia closed her eyes and prepared for the worst, only to fell his horn pull away from her. She craned her neck to see what had happened.
“One more thing before I put you down,” He smiled from ear to ear and lifted his hoof above her head, “I’ve always wondered how much stress you could put on a princesses horn before it snaps.”
Her eyes clamped shut as he brought his hoof down on upon her horn, shattering it into hundreds of tiny pieces.
Celestia screamed as pain coursed through her body. Starswirl obviously enjoyed torturing the mare, “Oh? little shattered pieces. Even better.”
He observed his hoof to check for any damage to he may have caused himself, but found nothing. “You know, maybe it’ll be more entertaining to watch something else kill you. I’ve had my fun.”
He looked up at the beast, which had been patiently watching the entire time.
“Kill her.”
Celestia could almost see it smile as it approached her.
She was hit by a large drop of saliva that came from its mouth. It slowly raised it’s arm far above her body, preparing to bring it down onto her with full force.
Celestia shut her eyes, preparing for the worst.
The sound of the air splitting as the monstrosities wized through the air, but was soon replaced by a much different sound of magic.
Suddenly, she heard another thunderous clap of stone hitting stone and magic pulsing through the air. A loud wail came from the monster looming over her body. The beast fell apart into a pile of rubble as Luna shoot it with bolt after bolt of pure magical energy.
She flew past the rocks and to her sister, completely ignoring Starswirl’s presence, “Sister! Are you okay?” Luna poked at her sister's body for a moment before she responded.
Starswirl lost himself at the sight before him. Seeing the trouble he was in, he used what little energy he regained to teleport himself outside the castle walls.
“Get... Starswirl...” She rasped. Luna caught Celestias head she fell unconscious.
Luna looked for any traces of the stallion, but found nothing. He was gone already.
oOo
Celestia found herself once more following the young boy around in his daily life. First, she started with him at home, waiting to leave his room ‘till his father was gone. Then, rushing off to school just to be bullied around by his classmates.
Truly, she hated her inability to help him.
Once he had arrived he went straight to class, and sat himself in the back of the room. Soon enough, other students started to wonder in. Others sat themselves near the back with the same boy that Celestia watched over every night.
Another young male sat directly to his right. He had brown hair and blue eyes. His face was tense and he had the body build of human girl.
“Hey Jesse!” he teased, “ You get any new dolls lately? I bet they match your name.” The kid started to laugh wildly.
Jesse laid his head down on his desk as he tried his best to ignore the verbal assult that came from his classmate.
The day passed with nothing other than teasing and bullying. It was the same as any other day and Celestia hated it.
With the school day gone, Jesse started on his walk home.
She could feel herself waking up. The normally heavy coat of pressure lightened and her vision blurred.
I’ll see you again soon, Jesse.
oOo
Celestia’s eyes fluttered open. Above her, stood her younger sister, Luna.
She tried to lift her head off the pillow, but was pushed back down as a flash of pain passed her. Luna looked at her like she was stupid, but instead of insulting her, she offered only words filled with pain.
" Rest sweet sister of mine." Luna nuzzled her sisters cheek, offering a small amount of comfort to pained mare. " You need it more than ever now."
The early morning sun washed down brightly on Luna and Celestia as they sat at a large table, enjoying their meals. It’s heat keeping them warm. The heat that Luna had to bring from the other side of the planet on her own.
For her first time, Luna had discovered what it was like for her sister just years ago. Having to raise and lower both the sun and moon for a thousand years. It was miserable. But until Celestia’s horn grew back, this is how it would be.
For the next many years, she would have to take care of her sister, and do everything that Celestia used to do, such as raising the sun or sending messages to other kingdoms. It would be hard, but she knew she could do it.
“Luna?” Celestia said
“Yes, sister?” She responded. She was a bit irritated by all the favors Celestia had been asking her to do, but she did understand her lack of ability to do many of them herself.
“There was something I saw last night. During my dream.”
~~2 Years Later~~
Celestia walked down the streets of Ponyville, observing all the ponies that freely roamed the small town. Her gracious sun shown down on her back and the rest of the town, creating a gentle red glow. It was a beautiful day indeed and she did not plan to waste it on being the Princess.
From her position, she could see Twilight’s castle. A shiver ran down her back as she remembered the days that Equestria was at the constant threat from Tirek. Horrible days for a fair minded, but she had seen much worse. However, even now, it still brought her fear to know that such terrible creatures used to roam through Equus. Even more so to know that populations of creatures with the same magical abilities had formed towns in far away lands.
The only comfort in this, was the knowledge that not all of them were bad, as proven by Tirek’s brother. And any living creature has it’s own weaknesses. Only in that day, she realized how weak ponies could be to the rest of the world.
Celestia nodded her way out of her daydream. She had come here for one reason alone, and it wasn’t to spend time thinking about the threats to her nation. She had come here for Twilight and the elements.
As she walked around the nearest corner, Sugarcube corner came into view. The bright pink blob known as Pinkie Pie had just left the shop to make her way to Twilight’s castle. Nearly instantly, Pinkie noticed the Princess.
“OH! OH! PRINCESS!” She called, nearly breaking her ear drums, “ARE YOU GOING TO TWILIGHT’S CASTLE TOO!?”
Celestia sighed. Of all the ponies in the world, she would be forced to walk to her destination with Pinkie.
“Of course,” She said, her voice gentle and caring, “I suppose you would like to be my partner in this trip to her castle?”
Pinkie nearly screeched, “Of course silly! Who wouldn’t want to walk with the Princess anywhere?” In an instant, Pinkie was at the Princess side.
The entire walk, Celestia walked along while Pinkie spoke of many random things that were completely irrelevant to the current situation. Never once did Pinkie even try to get a response from Celestia.
Finally, they had arrived at the castle. Relief flooded over Celestia while Pinkie didn’t seem so happy about their conversation being cut short. Celestia looked over at the short pink blob.
“I suppose this is where our paths get separated. Important matters await us on the inside.” She smiled down at Pinkie, who returned with a smile of her own.
“It’s ok! We can talk after the meeting!” Pinkie replied enthusiastically.
Ignoring her, Celestia opened the double doors to the inside of Twilight’s castle. She walked in and cool air blasted over her body.
A large, open room filled her vision. Twilight had decided to transform the bottom floor of the castle into a library, with a spiral staircase that leaded up into the bedrooms and conference rooms.
Pinkie bounced up the stairs, vanishing within moments. Celestia explored the bottom floor for a short period of time. She walked a large circle around the room. Every wall had it’s own, full bookshelf.
Fiction books were on the right, non-fiction on the left. Each shelf was sorted by author, type of book and number of pages. Celestia picked a book from the fiction side called ‘Ologies: The study of common and rare creatures and their origins’ by Lyle Handsint. It was in the side of the documents, next to a book called ‘FoE: RadioPlay’ and “The Vinyl Scratch Tapes’. She flipped the cover open to find the table of contents.
She took a moment to look through the list. None of the creature seemed to ring any bells for her. Her eyes went to the section labeled ‘H’, in hopes to find what she was looking for. To soon did the sound of hooves coming down the steps come.
“Princess?” She recognized the voice as Twilight’s, “Are you down here?”
“I’m here,” Celestia nodded.
“We’re ready whenever you are,” Twilight said.
Celestia nodded again and started walking towards the stairs. Twilight got up the stairs again, Celestia on her tail. The two followed the staircase until they reached a single door at the top.
Twilight opened the door and the two of them walked in.
They were meet with the immediate stares of the other five elements. They soon smiled at the two and went back to chatting among each other. Twilight took her seat and beat her hoof on the ground to get the attention of the other girls.
“Your attention, please,” She started, “Today, Princess Celestia has called for a meeting, I believe she will now explain what is the reason.”
“Of course,” Celestia smirked as she explained, “The reason this meeting has been settled is to discuss an urgent matter that is beyond my knowledge,” She waited a moment to catch her breath, “Several years ago, I started to have these dreams. They were of this creature that even I knew nothing of. Something that, to the extent of my knowledge, does not exist on our planet,”
Celestia stopped and looked around the room, looking at each of the other ponies to make sure they were listening closely.
“Uh...” Rainbow Dash said, “What about Luna? What does she think of it?”
Celestia looked in Rainbow Dash’s direction, “She knows nothing about my dreams. Only that they are present and she can’t view them.”
They all stared blankly at Celestia, clearly not understanding her reasoning.
“Why not?” Twilight asked, curiosity clearly showing on her face.
“I believe it is in her best interest to not know. She would most definitely not agree with my plans,” Celestia looked down at her hooves.
“And what exactly are these plans?” Twilight asked.
Celestia looked back up at Twilight, hoping to gain her approval, “I want to bring this creature to Equestria.”
The six elements looked back and forth between each other, not sure on how to respond. Moments passed in silence and Celestia became worried that they wouldn’t agree with her decisions.
Suddenly, Celestia felt something soft land on her nose. She removed it from her snout and levitated it in-front of her face. It was pointed at the end, but heart shaped at the bottom. It had a simple coloration of just brown and white and was much longer than any Pegasi wing feather.
She knew exactly what this feather was from. It was a feather known all around the world for it’s constant build, soft, fluffy nature, and overall, aggressive build for flying at high speeds and altitudes.
Celestia looked over at Twilight. “ Are there currently any griffons living in Ponyville that you know of?”
oOo
A lone gryphon walked up the pathway of the royal palace. Around him, several columns seemed to lead into the sky, only to be stopped by the marble ceiling. Beside them rested pedestals with gold vases on the tops. It was beautiful place indeed. And only his king could build such a magnificent place.
Soon, the gryphon came to a massive set of double doors. Something every castle, palace, or any other major place of royalty seemed to have. The doors were constructed of wood, but lined with silver and gold. They had been decorated with many paintings that would put the any normal viewer in a state of awe.
He pushed the doors inward, revealing the king sitting on his throne, drinking wine. Several other gryphons of the royal family surrounded him. The king looked up from his glass as he heard the doors open.
“So,” He said blandly, “ Anything intresting?” He asked.
The gryphon that had just entered the room stopped in front of the king, waiting a moment to calm himself.
“The pony is right, Celestia plans to bring a foreign creature to her nation. From my own guess, she plans to-”
“Enough,” The king held out a claw to the gryphon in front of him. “ I didn’t asked for thoughts,” He looked over to his left and motioned something to whomever was waiting there. Another gryphon from out of view walked in with a pony. The pony was a dark blue color. His mane seemed to sparkle in the sunlight.
“Release him, he is telling the truth.”
Then fill me with my sins
Celestia and Twilight walked out of the meeting room and down to the bottom floor. The other five elements of Harmony had gone a while ago, leaving Twilight and Celestia alone to talk. Rainbow Dash was the first to leave, saying that she had business to attend, followed by Rarity and Applejack, having work the needed to finish. Last, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy had to tend to her pets, Pinkie because... she was getting bored.
Twilight and Celestia stayed on the small castle. For a long time, they had chatted, talking until Luna’s moon once again took the skies. Several hours passed before passed before the two ran out of subjects to talk about.
They both pondered upon something else to talk about, but nothing came to either mind. The room was silent as Twilight and Celestia stood completely on silence. Having nothing, Twilight got to her hooves.
“Princess, with all due respect, it’s getting a bit late,” Twilight smiled at her, hoping Celestia would understand what she was hinting at.
“ Of course” She said, almost as if she had read Twilight’s mind, “However, it’s a tad bit dark to travel, even for me,” Celestia moved to the closest window to look unto the night sky.
“Would you mind if I spent the night here?” she asked.
Twilight was dumbfounded. Her jaw dropped as she fully realized what Celestia had asked her. She was silent as Celestia stared at her.
“Well?” She asked.
“Of Course, Princess,” Twilight blushed in embarrassment, “ It would be an honor to have you as my guest,” Twilight giggled, not knowing what else to say.
“Thank you,” Celestia replied and gave Twilight a warm smile.
“Uh, let me show you my room.”
“Why your room?” Celestia asked.
Twilight looked shocked at the question, at the same time, her blush incremented on proportion,
“Hehe, it wouldn’t be right to put you in the guest room. My bed is much more comfortable. I think that it would much better suite you.”
“Oh Twilight, there is no need for such acts of kindness.”
“Princess! I insist!”
“Please,” Celestia responded, “I will be perfectly fine in the guest room.”
Twilight sighed in defeat. Not wanted to get into an argument with the Princess, she decided to let Celestia make her own decision. After all, it was the PRINCESS she was talking to and the last thing that anypony would ever want to do is anger her, even if it was over something so simple as a bed.
Twilight started to walk off in the direction of the staircase, looking back as she reached the foot, “This way.”
Celestia stood up to follow Twilight. Once caught up, Twilight stopped her, “Princess?”
“Yes?” She asked.
“I-I don’t mean to question you in any way, but what do you know about this… this thing that you want to bring here?”
Twilight felt her heart became heavy with fear. While she knew that Celestia wasn’t one to get angry at any general question, this did go as far as questioning her own decisions.
Celestia looked down at Twilight. Being right behind Twilight, she cast a shadow over her, making her look intimidating, even if her words brought only warm hearts.
“Come. We can discuss this in the guest room.”
oOo
Celestia lay on the bed with Twilight at it’s hooves. Celestia’s gleaming white coat stood out in the dark purple room. Being of Twilight’s own design, she decided to choose a dark and firm color for the room ( which just so happened to be the natural color), while keeping it from being intimidating by adding in various furniture pieces to give it a more welcoming feel.
Light from the moon poured in from the window, mixing with the burning candles, sending shadows in every direction. The candles let off the sweet aroma of fresh strawberries on a warm summer day. The flame danced in place as a small gust of air came from below the doors, scattering the still shadows of the two ponies.
Twilight shivered as a chill caused by the gust, Celestia, however, was not phased as she rested above the chill night air. Nevertheless, the two continued with their conversation.
“I ask again Princess, what do we know about this thing?” Twilight asked.
Celestia looked off into nothing for a short second. “There are many things I do and do not fully understand at this point,” Celestia paused for a moment to think, “They're called humans.”
“Humans, humans,” She rolled the word around in her mouth, “And you say that this race doesn’t exist on our planet, correct?”
“Correct.”
Suddenly, there was small blast of white light as Twilight teleported a book down from her library into the room. Celestia instantly recognized the book as the same one that she had been looking at just before Twilight interrupted her short reading session.
“I’ve never really paid much attention to this book, and it doesn’t say anything about humans, but there are some things in it that I think could be helpful.”
Celestia waited. A moment passed before anything was said.
“So Celestia, you never told me all you know about these humans,” Twilight stated, her concentration more on the book than in their conversation. She momentarily looked up at Celestia before returning her eyes to the book, “What are they like?”
Celestia took a moment to think about the various things she could tell Twilight. Most of what she knew was just general knowledge that wouldn’t spark much interest in anypony, but there were a few things that she could think of to sway Twilight’s opinion onto her side. Even if nothing was told about what humans were like, it would certainly interest Twilight, “Their entire society seems to be based around scientific discoveries.”
Twilight jerked her head up the instant Celestia finished her sentence, “What!?”
Celestia gave herself an imaginary pat on the back, “Yes. I have watch their world for years now, and they speak of things such as portable electricity and instant communications with other humans around their world like it is common knowledge!”
Twilight started thinking, while Celestia continued informing her of what little information came to her head, her face lit up like a light bulb. However, it didn’t last to long before a frown formed to her face, “Princess, I would love to study this humans world, but think of the possible effects it would have on them.”
“I don’t understand,” Celestia said.
“They live in a world made out of technology. Bringing one of them here would not only force them to change where they live, but it would also force it to adapt to a completely new lifestyle.”
It was true. Humans lived in a world made around technology and most of them weren't prepared in any way for a life that consisted of no advanced technologies at all. Jesse, however, was raised in a home in which he didn’t often get the pleasures of having their normal devices. “ Take my word for it, Twilight, he will not be a lack of devices.
“Oh... Ok...” Twilight said, not sure what Celestia meant.
Celestia felt relieved as Twilight hadn’t asked her why they were prepared for such an event. “ So you said you’re watching one specifically right? And that it’s a guy? ”
“ This is correct.”
Again, Twilight nodded her head as a response, “Tell me about him.”
Celestia thought over the various experiences Jesse had gone through in the past many years.
“His name is Jesse. I believe he’s ten years old now. Kind hearted, lies every now and then, but he’s still a good kid,” Celestia took a moment to think of anything else she could tell Twilight, “It’s hard for me to explain what he’s like, but I’m sure you would like him.”
Twilight simply nodded her head and went back to looking through the book, “AHA!” She yelled. “ I found something that might help us.”
Twilight levitated the book over to Celestia. She took it in her own magical grasp and stared at the page that Twilight had brought it to. The top of the pages was labeled, ‘Lions Tigers and more! Kings of the Animal kingdom.’
She looked over the page, only then noticing how worn the book was. She looked over the page, unsuccessfully looking for what Twilight had seen.
“ Second to last paragraph.” Twilight said, like she knew Celestia wouldn’t be able to find what she did.
Celestia turned her eyes to the final paragraph of the page and started reading.
‘ Lions , tigers, and many of the other natural preda--- have freely roamed their habitats, hunting --wn animals that ----times were larger than themselves. --nce, why we call them Kings. With no form of defen--, any animal can fall prey the the d--dly eyes of the pre---ory animals. Even we hum--- aren’t able to single handedly take one down without mod--- uses of ----arms and other modern wea----”
Celestia reread the paragraph a few times before finding what Twilight was looking at. It was just part of a word but she could see why Twilight would find interest in it.
Hum.
“ Where did you get this book?” Celestia asked.
Twilight shrugged her shoulders. “ It just appeared one day. I figured somepony dropped it off and left it here. Whoever it was never came back so I put it in a shelf where it fit.”
Celestia nodded her head. “ Can I borrow this book?”
“ Of course!” Twilight gave Celestia a wide smile that stretched from ear to ear.
“ If you would excuse me, I have some reading that I would like to do.”
Twilight nodded at her and left the room, leaving Celestia to herself.
Celestia observed a single strand of lonely grass among a large hill. It was strong and healthy, while everything in a large radius was covered in nothing but sand. It amazed her at how a single thing could live such a health life while everything around it turned to ash and dust.
After finishing her observation, she got back to all fours and continued her short journey. Already, sweat rolled down her back and neck as the heat of the day pierced her fur and skin. Her breath was hard on her throat, constantly keeping her from making the progress she wanted. Her hooves nearly never landed where she wanted them to, causing her to constantly trip over herself.
By what seemed to be luck alone, she finally reached the top of the small hill. Far ahead of her, she could see massive metal structures that looked like they touched the sky. The suns rays reflected off their shiny surfaces, yet it was clear that whatever had built them was long gone as made obvious by the lifeless streets.
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind came in from behind, blowing her mane off of her shoulders and in front of her face. She could feel every brittle piece of sand hit her legs and fly off. It stung ever so lightly, but it was far from her limits.
Just a second later, the gust of wind caught up to the ground below her, sending sand and ash alike into the roads of the dead city below, making it seem all the much more eerie. But for some reason, she felt the need to continue on. Like something was pushing her forward.
She moved downward and onward toward the city, every movement causing her to come closer to what could easily have been one of the most horrifying things she’s ever seen in her life. Not by looks, but instead what she wondered could reside inside.
Eventually, after several long minutes, she reached the outskirts of the city. Trying to ignore her fears, she closed her eyes and rushed in. The sound of her hooves clopping against the solid sidewalk gave her the courage to open them
With nothing happening, she let out a breath that she had been holding. The strang fear that had been residing in her chest quickly turned to courage as nothing jumped from the shadows.
As she made her way through the lifeless streets, she noticed that the structures that surrounded her had started to look less and less deserted, and more lively than before, eventually getting to the point where they looked like they were still being maintained regularly.
Celestia looked around in every corner, looking for signs of life. “ This certainly is-” she started, before getting cut off by a massive bang that filled the air for what felt would be miles.
Then she heard what sounded like a bell off in the distance, followed by silence.
Celestia faltered. With no room to turn back, she waited for something else to happen. But a minute later, her patience was answered as bipedal beings, the same as Jesse, started pouring in from every direction. Some coming from the alleyways and a single person even materialized directly in front of her.
She looked on with awe as more and more people filled the streets, creating a mass larger than she had ever seen even from the bustling city of Canterlot. She was then hit by the realization that while she could see her own physical manifestation, not a single person that passed her had even glanced her way.
She looked down at her own hooves, not sure what to do while in this world. And so, she allowed her curiosity to drive her forward.
Trotting slowly through though the roads, she came to a large fenced in building. It was a single story complex that she felt like she felt she vaguely remembered.
How do I know this place , she thought to herself, knowing that somewhere in her mind, she did in fact know this location. Now only if I- Her thoughts were once again cut short as the sounds of screaming and yelling came from the building, joined by waves of children rushing past her.
Suddenly, she felt herself recognizing her surroundings. The building she was looking at was the very school that Jesse went to, and if she could tell anything from what was happening around her, the school day was just ending.
Immediately, she took the the sky, going to the one spot she knew she would find Jesse. As always, he was walking along the western side of the school, coming to a stop across from another street that led to his house.
He crossed the road, making his way to his house, completely unaware of the presence watching him.
oOo
Celestia flew down beside Jesse as he approached his home, her hooves making no sound as she landed in the grass. She continued to follow him as he treaded along the short walkway that lead to the front door.
Once inside, Jesse walked directly to his room, ignoring anything and everything that would have otherwise caught his attention.
Upon entering his room, he laid down on his bed. To Celestias surprise, the light of the day past, and the gentle caress of the moons own light took its place.
She sat herself next to his bed to wait for something to happen. As if on cue, the door opened, revealing his father. He wore an enraged face about his head with eyes that looked like they could cut through solid sheets of steel if he focused hard enough.
Jesse quickly flipped on his side, away from Celestia and to his dad. Even without being able to see Jessie’s face, she knew that he was scared. She could almost feel his fear radiating off of him.
Within the second, his dad grabbed Jesse by the scruff of his neck and lifted him into the air. Instinctively, Jesse tried to pry his hands away, only to have failed from the very beginning. He screamed and kicked, but to no avail, he remained in his fathers hands.
Seemingly getting angrier every second, he slammed Jesse into the wall hard enough to make Celestia wince. Tears rolled down the poor boys cheeks. “ THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” Jesse’s father screamed into his ear.
Wanting nothing more, he slapped his son across the face and threw him down onto the bed.
Everything happened too fast for Celestia, which of whom was unsure of what to do while Jesse laid in a lump on his bed,crying.
Jesse’s dad left the room and stormed down the hellway, the sound of his feet against the floor rung in her ears. She closed her eyes, hoping to find some answer as to what she could do. Instead, she was met only by the whimpering that came from the crying boy.
Minutes passed and his crying faded to sniffles, and then to silence. He turned himself over to where he was facing Celestia and looked her in the eye. “ You know,” He sniffled. His voice gurgled with the build up in his throat. “ I thought you’d never come back.”
oOo
The burning raze still flamed over his face, causing tears to keep forming in the corner of his eyes. Only now, with a few minutes passing from the time his father had slapped him, was he able to hold back the tears the longed to flow past his cheeks.
It felt like hours had passed in a matter of minutes as his thoughts overwhelmed him. He never knew why his father hated him, nor did he ever understand what the man wanted from him. All he knew was that he had done something. Something grievous. Something he could never take back.
He released a sigh as he decided that it wasn’t worth taking the time to think about. At least, not while he had company. Wasting no more time, he turned to face Celestia.
He had known about her presence since the moment that her hooves touched a single blade of grass on the lawn. She never tried to be quiet, instead, she moved as if nobody could see her. Like she didn’t even exist but to him alone.
Not that he cared if somebody had seen her. It had been years since she had last visited him. And when she did, she told him that she would get him out of ‘here’.
When the first year passed, and she hadn’t even returned like she had promised him, he started to think of her as something more like his father than a loving being that could never tell a lie. It came o the point where he thought Celesta was just a part of his imagination that cried to be released from the deathly claw of his father's grasp.
With the one previous time that she had visited, when he was just six years old, he decided that it would be a safe assumption that he could put his trust into her. Celestia sounded like she sincerely meant what she said in taking him to someplace better. Never at that time had he even thought to himself that he was crazy for believing the words of some alien being.
He only wished to be removed from his position.
Now with his eyes planted firmly to hers, half his mind burned a hole in his head, telling him that what he was looking at was nothing more than fake. The other telling him that the pony princess was real and that she had returned to whisk him away to some magical land where he would be free of the tyranny called dad.
With Jesse staring back at her, she tensed. Their eyes locked together. Jesse wanted to feel mad with Celestia for leaving him behind. Instead, he felt relief in that she had, in fact came back.
Celestia on the other hand (Hoof?) felt remorse. Not for something she had done, but instead for what she couldn’t do. Ever since her dreams started, she wanted nothing more than to save him from the hardships of life, only to be forced into years of waiting for the correct spell to be created. Now, she had just watched his father beat him and didn’t even attempt to help.
With the moment passing, and the silence stretching into awkwardness, Jesse broke the silence that had formed between the two of them. “ You know,” He started in a hushed voice. His emotions started to flood into him. No matter how much he despised her for lying to him those four years ago, she still had a motherly nature to her that he long to have in his life once again. “ I thought i’d never see you again.”
Celestia sat there, dumbfounded. She took a staggered breath as her excitement caught up with her. Now, not only was she able to watch Jesse, but possibly talk to him as well. Suddenly, she was hit by a realization that she had failed to notice just a moment ago.
Jesse had said again like he had seen her before. Instead of questioning him, fearing that she would do something regrettable, she decided that she would instead go along with what he said.
“Now what would cause you to imagine anything of that sort?” She asked.
“ It’s been four years since you last came. And you said you’d get me out of here. And that you would take me somewhere better!” Again, tears started pouring out of his eyes.
Celestia closed the gap between the two of them. She brought her hoof to his chin, raising so to look at him directly. “ And here I am. But sadly, I cannot bring you along with me yet young one. The spell is yet to perfected.”
Jesse wrapped an arm around Celestia and pushed himself into her coat. “ Please!” He begged. “ I don’t want to stay here!” Again, he had turned to begging her.
In response, she slowly ran her hoof down his cheek. “ One day, I will bring you to someplace better. Someplace where you can feel free.”
Celestia could feel the strings of reality pulling at her. The time that she was given was nearly gone, and once again, she would leave the boy alone and scared for his life. Even if she had no recollection of the last time they had spoken, she still felt pained for leaving him, to him, once again.
Jesse could feel her presence leaving as well. “ Please!” He cried. “ Don’t leave me here!” He grabbed at the fur on her chest, only for his hands to go through it like it wasn’t there.
“ I must go now, “ Celestia stated. “ Be patient. I will come back.”
“ NO! Please, no!” He screamed. Tears flowed freely once more as she disappeared from in front of him. “ I don’t want to be alone.”
oOo
Celestia stood directly across from Bliss Endeavor, the unicorn stallion that had played such a large role in the creation of the spell she had put them to work researching just a few years back.
A single bead of sweat ran down the old stallions brow, his gut telling him that everything happening wasn’t right, and that something was going to go wrong. He quivered at the thought that the princess could possibly cause many ponies their lives if she were to make a single mistake.
Celestia, however, feared nothing of the sort. She was confident in her abilities as a princess, and as the most magically talented entity to ever exist. She understood her powers to the fullest extent, and believed that she could cast the spell with precision. Even if it wasn’t yet finished.
Celestia took a single demanding step forward and the stallion took one back. He, horrified, she, engrossed in the campaign of retrieving what was so far finished of the spell.
“ I am your princess. You will do as I command you.” Her voice dripped with venom.
The stallion shrunk back with fear, knowing that giving Celestia the spell was likely going to lead to nowhere pleasant. “ P-p-p-p-princess, “ He stammered , “ I beg that you please don’t do this!” He curled up against the desk closest to him by instinct.
Celestia only responded by holding out a hoof. “ Now.” She managed to hold her tongue from lashing out at Bliss.
Bliss Endeavor sighed in defeat. Several cabinets opened from the back of the room. Out came what looked like several hundred scrolls. Celestia took every one of them into her own magical grasp. “ I’m pleased to see that we came to an agreement.” She stated as she walked off, scrolls in tow, allowing Bliss to release a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
The stallion returned to an upright position and looked back to where his colleagues had been watching from. All faces were flushed. Never before had any of them seen Celestia remotely angry, making this their first encounter with an angered princess.
Even while knowing that she couldn’t use magic due to her lack of a horn, Celestia could still be terrifying if she wanted to be.
All of Bliss’s colleagues stared at him, either feeling sorry that he had to be the one stand up to Celestia, or feeling lucky that they weren’t the ones in his place.
With his gut feeling back in place, he asked, “ Any of you guys know what she was so worked up about?”
Two months ago
Twilight waited readily by the door to the library. It was late in the day and the time to close the doors to the library would soon come. Just another minute and she would turn the sign and call it a day.
Her excitement started to burn insider her, for today was monday. The day of the week that she had assigned herself to write a letter to Celestia about what had came from the past week. Oh how Mondays were a great time for the magenta mare!
Patiently, she counted down as the seconds pass. Her hoof hovered over the handle to the door, ready to turn the lock the moment the time came.
After all, second to trying to be as organized as ponily possible, she tried to be punctual as such as well.
Just a few more seconds , she thought to herself. Her back left hoof stomped on the ground for every second
Three, stomp.
Two, stomp.
One. Her hoof hit the ground for the final time as the door shut itself onto someponies hoof. She heard the groan of what sounded like an elder stallion outside the door. She threw the door open, nearly tearing the door from its brotherly hinges.
Just out side the wooden doorway, was an elder unicorn stallion. His coat had grayed and his beard could almost touch the ground. On his back, instead of the new, dual saddle bags, he carried a much older model that had a single bag the rested on the back of the pony.
“I’m so so so so sorry!” She blurted out. The stallion recoiled to her apologies, but said nothing. In a desperate attempt to show her sorrow, Twilight said, “ Please, come in. I’ll make you some tea.”
In response, the old stallion let off a light hearted chuckle and entered the library. “ I’ll take you up on that tea. I fear, both of us will need it.” Again, the stallion lead off a low laugh.
Twilight looked at the old pony, slightly confused. “ I’m sorry?”
“ I come with a warning from the Council.”
From confusion, to worry, there was no time to see the expression change on Twilight’s face. Before she could react, the stallion started on again. “ But before I go into detail, could I take you up on your offer?” The stallion rasped to make his point.
“Of course.” Twilight rushed off to the kitchen to get the tea ready. As she left the room, the stallion sat himself in one of the many nearby chairs.
oOo
Present Day
Luna, freshly woken from the depths of her slumber, looked up at her sister with a face somewhere between anger and curiosity. For the first, was because Celestia had woken her in the middle of the day. A time when she was always sleeping due to her staying up through the night.
The later was because Celestia had woken her in the middle of the day. Something that had never happened but once before, over a thousand years ago for reasons that were obscure to her. If Celestia had to wake her up at this time of day, it was going to be important.
“ What do you want, sister?” Luna asked with a lack of empathy.
Her sister stared back at her, unwavering despite the glare Luna had been sending her way.
“ I need your help with a spell.”
Luna sighed. She should have figured it would have been something to do with magic. After all, Celestia still lacked the ability to cast most beginning level spells.
“ Can’t it wait?” Luna pleaded.
“ No!” Celestia felt like shouting at her sister for being so unmotivated.“ This must be done now!” She stomped her hoof on the tile flooring as to make a point.
Once more, Luna sighed in disdain. “ Fine. What is the spell that you wish me to cast?”
Celestia smiled in glee and turned to leave Luna’s chambers. “ Follow me.”
Luna rolled her eyes before leaving her room to follow Celestia.
oOo
Two months ago
Twilight returned to the elder stallion, hovering above her was a tray with two tea cups and a teakettle. She filled the cups for both of them, hovering one over to the stallion. He took it into his own magic grasp and took a sip from the small cup.
Twilight took a large gulp from her own and started the conversation. “ You said you came with a warning?”
The stallion chuckled at her urgency. “ So Celestia doesn’t lie. You truly are a pony that cuts straight to the point.” He took another sip from the tea. “ I like this tea. Perhaps you could tell me how you made it first?”
She shook her head. “ But the warning!” She whined.
The stallion sighed. “ I should have assumed you would want to knock out any small talk.” He looked down at his hooves. “ But I wont tell you just yet.”
Twilight steamed. “ What! Why not?
The stallion only smiled back at her. His beard bouncing as he did so. “ Because there is so much more that you need to know first.”
“Then start speaking” She growled
“ You know,” The stallion started, as if to agitate her further. “ I wouldn’t have thought of the princesses own protege to be so quick to anger.
Twilight pressed her hooves against her temple. “ Fine! Just fine!”
The stallion wore a smug look on his face. “ You are right to be eager Twilight. I was just looking to have a little bit of fun.” He stifled his laughter by holding a hoof up to his mouth. “ But let's progress. As I said, I have came with a warning.” He suddenly took a more serious pose. “ A warning about Celestia.”
oOo
Present day
Luna followed Celestia to her sister's own chambers. She instantly noticed a large pileup of scrolls that sat in the corner of Celestia's room. The pile easily stood as tall as herself, if not larger.
“ Are those your messages from your student?” Luna asked drowsily, catching her sister off guard.
Celestia followed Lunas eyes to the pile of scrolls that she was observing. “ Oh no. I keep those elsewhere. It would be impossible to fit that many scrolls in here WITH a shrinking spell.”
Luna nodded, not at all being surprised.
“In fact, those scrolls contain most of which you will need for the spell.”
Celestia could hear her sister gulp at the sheer amount of time and energy that it would take to cast such a large spell.
Luna turned back to her sister. “ And what kind of spell could require all… this?” She waved her hoof in the direction of the pile of scrolls.
Celestia sighed. She knew that one day, Luna would have to know about her plans. Only, she hadn’t expected to be put into a position where she would have to rely on her sister to cast a spell she knew Luna wouldn’t like for reasons personal to her.
Before she could think of a proper response, Luna had already started to look through scrolls. The sound of her hoof clasping over her mouth resonated through the room.
“ Celestia, no.” She muttered to herself quietly. Silence fell over the room as Luna continued to read further on. “ Why would you do this?”
“It’s for the boy.” Celestia started, but her sister didn’t let her continue.
“ A BOY!” She screamed. Luna seemed to crumble piece by piece. “ You plan to bring a kid here! Away from his family! Away from his life!”
Celestia sheepishly looked down at her hooves. Her normal regal form failing her. Her once confident pose wore off, revealing one far from what it normally was. “ Yes.”
“ And what would possibly make you think that this would be okay!”
Celestia stood still before her sister, trying to regain her posture. She thought ever all that had happened in his life to gain confidence in her decision.
Suddenly, Luna's face of pure anger changed to one of anger mixed with understanding. Her entire body shuddered at the realization and her eyes shrunk to the size of pinpricks.
“Your dreams.”
Celestia nodded. “ Yes, you would be correct.”
“ Show me them,” Luna moved closer to her sister, “ Or I won’t cast the spell.”
Celestia sighed once more. There was no point in arguing with her sister. She was a stubborn one and wouldn’t budge on a decision even if it would save her life. But that may just be because she’s immortal.
No longer wasting time, Celestia approached to her sister, and brought the tip of her much shorter horn to Luna's. Both limbs lit for a short moment before either party backed away from the other.
Luna looked to nearly be in tears until Celestia approached to her, laying a hoof on her withers.
“ Now that you have seen what I have seen, what do you have to say?” Celestia questioned.
Luna shoot her eyes in every direction but her sister's, wondering about what she should do. Finally, she regained her composure and approached a conclusion. “ I’ll help you, but only on a few conditions.”
Celestia shot Luna a questioning glare. “Then what is it that you require?”
“ First, and foremost, I don’t want any relations with this human. I don’t want to see him, nor hear of him. I don’t even want to know of his existence.
“ Second, I understand his life is hard, but children are impressionable. Like father, like son. If he is anything like his father is, all the blame will fall on you alone. I don’t want anything that comes of this mistake to affect me.
“ Lastly, I want you to keep a constant eye on him. You will take responsibility for anything and everything that he does. If he ever hurts a pony, you will have to be there to DEAL with him.”
Celestia flinched at the last condition, but agreed nonetheless.
With the conditions agreed upon, Luna went back to reading the scrolls, letting silence befall the two princesses.
After several long moments, Luna broke the silence that had formed between the two. “ There are a few problems with this spell.”
“ Such as?”
“ It’s obviously not complete.” Luna started. “ And whomever created it, I’m guessing Bliss because of the style, was sending him far from this hold.”
“ Then it's a good thing you caught his mistake.” Celestia sighed, relieved that nothing harmful had come up.
“ This was no mistake, sister. This was completely intentional. This is too obvious of an error for Bliss Endeavor to not see. He is skilled in his ways and would never overlook a sore such as this.”
Celestia shook her head, hurt by the idea that one of her own ponies would betray her. She found it hard to believe a pony she had looked after for most of his life would do something of this sort.
Luna took a sudden turn to questioning Celestia. “ How much longer was it going to take before this spell was complete?”
Celestia quivered, still overtaken by the wretched idea. “ Ten for the entire council. But they managed to get this far in just Two. Bliss informed me that it would be just another year till the spell's completion.”
Luna shuddered from head to tail. “ This spell was made for you to cast Celestia. Bliss could read your urgence like it was written on paper. He knew you wouldn’t look the spell over. But even then, Bliss is smart, but not smart enough to make so much progress alone or for this matter, with the entire council.
“ But you wouldn’t have thought about that. He knew you would cast the spell the moment your horn had grown back and you had the spell in your hooves.”
Celestia, having lost herself halfway through Lunas short speech, caught one large piece of what she had said. “ But if Bliss couldn’t do it, that leave only one more that could.” Her jaw dropped at the realization that behind this entire ordeal, somepony of great magical ability had been guiding Bliss.
Luna nodded to confirm her sister's suspicions. “ But there's one more thing.”
“ And what is that?” Celestia asked.
“ There is a third party involved. I know it. Starswirl is too smart to make such an obvious plan
I think somepony who doesn’t share Starswirl's distaste for us, but would act as so if forced under certain circumstances, is that third party.”
Celestia looked down at her hooves, not sure what to think or feel. Infact, she was confused. Blinded almost. “ I couldn’t think of anypony that would do this.” Celestia trailed off, having reached a moment of deep thought.
Luna came up to her sister and laid a hoof on her withers. “ Twilight. Its been two months since you have received a letter from Twilight. And she is the only reason we even noticed.”
A long, pregnant pause fell over the two princesses. Celestia desperately tried to understand the situation, but failed completely. There was just too much that she didn’t understand.
The silence stretched another minute before Luna broke the silence.
“When you see her again, thank her for what she has done. But for now, i’ll fix the spell and bring the human here tonight. You can expect him when you arise on the morrow.”
Not waiting for a response, Luna left Celestia to her own devices, bringing the scrolls along her side.
Celestia awoke to the suns auric rays burning at her eyelids. Its natural warmth brought a wide smile to her muzzle as nights foggy embrace slowly lifted from her head.
Not one to waste the day, she cracked her eyes open as she raised herself from her bed, and took a quick peek out of the nearest window. What she saw brought another wide smile to her face. The sun glistened off of several fresh layers of snow that now blanketed the ground.
Fillies and colts skipped and jumped on what used to be grass laden trails and stone walkways, all wearing wide smiles as they played as if they haven’t a care in the world.
Parents watched from inside the warmth of their homes, where brilliant hues of oranges and reds bounced off their coats from the fires they had lit inside.
Overhead, several pegasi arched through the sky, controlling the clouds that so graciously gave the ponies down under a new season to enjoy.
The sounds of the ponies buzzing through the day -A rather loud day as it seemed- soon gave way to one of hooves clopping against her rooms granite floor. Celetia craned her neck to see who had disturbed her.
In front of her, she found a tall, dark blue mare that she was proud to call her sister. On her muzzle, she wore a more atoned smile. “Sister.” She stated as she nodded to Celestia, “A guest has just arrived that I believe you have been expecting for some time now.”
Celestia began to remove herself from her bed, but was stopped by Luna. “He is asleep as of this moment. Though, when he comes to, I believe he has a... rather surprising gift for you.”
Luna made her way off, but turned back to her sister once more. “I have called in one of your finest guards to watch over his room while he slumbers. You will find him in the Griffon guest room.”
With this, Luna made her way off to have dreams of her own, but not before her sister gave a farewell and goodnight to the Lunar Princess.
Wasting no more time, Celestia sprung herself from her bed and attempted to power up her horn. A sharp jolt of pain hit her as the magical energy rebounded from the tip of the growing appendage and back into her head.
“Right. Walking it is.”
oOo
The stallion standing guard at the door snapped to attention as Celestia approached. Like all of the unicorn guard, he was dressed in standard gold lined armor. His helmet, however, was different from the rest.
Instead of the normal grey and white brush that most wore, his was replaced by his own tannish mane. Similarly, his coat was also his own, making it obvious to any onlooker that he hadn’t activated the enchanted gem on the outside of his breast plate to disguise himself.
Taking note of who appeared, he faced Celestia with a bow and light smile. “Good morning, your highness.”
“Good morning, Captain Row. Sorry to bring you in on your day off, but this matter is too large to risk the task to that of a lower ranking guard.” She walked past him towards the door, nudging it open with her magic. While she still may not be able to perform more complex spells as teleportation yet, enough of her power had returned to perform a variety of simpler ones.
“It’s no problem, but I had to bring my daughter with me.” He lifted his leg, showing Celestia his filly. She was fast asleep under Rows underbelly.
Celestia took a closer look at the young filly. There was little to no resemblance between the two. It would be nearly impossible to tell who the filly belonged to if they were to get separated. Her train of thought was cut off as the stallion continued talking. “Her mom wasn’t home and I didn’t have the time to get a babysitter, so she’s stuck with me for today.”
Row gave Celestia another smile. She only nodded in return before returning to the original topic at hand. “Then perhaps you should wake her. This being the day you were supposed to have off, I believe it is fair that you get to see what is so important.”
oOo
Jesse eyes opened slowly as he took in the world around him. What he felt could easily be describe as one of, is not the, best moments of his life. The bed he found himself on was soft and comforting. The temperature was perfectly in tune with his body. Not overly warm or cold, just… perfect.
A sweet aroma of caramel hit his nose as he shifted in the bed, stretching his tired muscles, letting out a groan as he did so. He could hear the loud clinking of metal off in the background. Something akin to the sound of a cafeteria staff hard at work.
“That, was the best night of sleep I’ve had in a long long time.” He said to himself, unaware of the three ponies that had made their way into the room.
The sound of two large gasps filled his ears, followed shortly by what sounded like a middle aged man that was ready to scream for his life. “IT CAN TALK!”
Jesse body lurched at the sudden outburst. Within the short amount of time he took to turn himself towards whomever was behind him, he was able to see a much larger form smack the smaller one in the back of it’s head.
He would have laughed save that their sudden presence hadn’t frightened him. And that there seemed to be two talking ponies in the room.
His jaw dropped as his brain tried to cope with the reality of what he was seeing. Here, in front of him, were two ponies. He noted that the more feminine one was easily twice the size of the rather masculine one that talked as if it was an everyday thing.
Not waiting for Jesse to take action, the two ponies launched themselves into an argument.
“That it is a he. And he is a living, breathing, sapient being, just like any other pony or zebra, and you will treat him as such!” The larger, feminine pony yelled.
What Jesse assumed to be the male retorted, “Well how was I supposed to know that!? You could have warned me!” He hissed, “ Its not everyday you meet a new species!”
Their voices faded from Jesses head as he started to compile all the information that it was being force fed to him through the straw of reality. In this moment, said straw was wearing incredibly thin.
What felt like hours passed before he finally came back to listening to the ponies yell at each other.
“I promised you that I would promote you to captain, and I did! I expect better behavior from what I think to be the best of the royal guard!”
Promised. Somehow, that word rung in his head, stuck there like a fly to a gluestick. He was all too familiar with that word as it was a word that he felt had betrayed him when he was younger.
That very word which he latched to as a safeguard from the harsh places he so hated from his childhood. In that home, he was made a promise to by a piece of his imagination. And life so had it that the imagination tore him to his roots.
But put together with that voice. With that voice, he recognized that very promise. That word and that voice all in one package brought back those sour memories and turned them into anything but.
Completely unable to hold himself back, he launched himself from where he was sitting.
Within the second he had wrapped his arms around the larger pony’s neck, bringing her to the ground. Tears poured from his eyes as all his childhood memories flooded back into him, bringing back every sour moment and the very few sweet ones.
Celestia struggled at first, but soon gave into his hearty advances. With his head buried in her neck, the man cried like an infant, letting all of the pain of his youth flow from his eyes down the back of his savior. “Celestia.” He whimpered into her mane, completely oblivious or uncaring for the stallion that had been watching. “It’s been ten years.”
oOo
Jesse, Celestia, and the filly made their way through one of the castles many halls. As Celestia gave them the grand tour of the palace, she revealed to him that most of the staff had gathered into small crews, working in a few of the many areas around the castle to make preparations for the evening. The royal guard were scattered amongst the city streets, keeping an eye out for trouble.
Row, the stallion that had been with them, had gone off to do business elsewhere. With his permission, his filly, Sunny Strings, had decided to stay with Celestia and Jesse to see what would happen of the two. It was a rare occasion for the filly to spend time with the princess and it was only made better by the fact she was with a creature that had never been seen before by pony eyes.
Except by Celestia and her father of course.
As they walked along, Sunny smaller frame caused her to fall behind, making Celestia and Jesse stop and wait. As soon as she caught up, she was panting like she had just ran a few laps around the castle.
Not wanting to have to stop every five minutes, Jesse reached down and picked the filly up, placing her behind his neck where she wouldn’t have to worry about falling behind or losing herself within the castle walls.
At first, the filly was surprised, but that short moment soon turned to something more like pure, untamed excitement. “So cool!” The filly squeaked as she observed her surroundings. “Everything seems so different up here!”
Jesse shifted his neck to make himself more comfortable as he caught up to Celestia.
The filly looked down at the princess. “I’m higher up than Princess Celestia!” She squeaked again.
Turning to them, Celestia looked up to where the filly was perched. She nearly stood head to head with Jesse, but with Sunny Strings on his shoulders, Sunny was quite a bit taller.
The filly wore a smile on her muzzle as she enjoyed the ride.
She leaned herself over the top of Jesses head and looked him in the eye. “Hey Mister? How tall are you?” She asked.
He looked off to his side, seeming to be thinking about her question.
“I’m not exactly sure.” He answered, “It’s been awhile since I measured myself, but last time I did, I stood a few inches over six feet.”
The fillies eyes widened and a look a pure amazement over came her. “Cool! How’d you get so tall!?”
“Well, thats an easy one. I ate my greens as a kid.”
“Don’t we all?” She asked, with a roll of her eyes.
Thats right. Ponies don’t eat meat.
Not sure what to say, he looked at Celestia. She was already watching at the two, curiosity written clearly across her muzzle.
“Uh…” He pretended to clear his throat while staring down at Celestia.
Celestia took the hint and cut in before the the filly asked any more questions. “We shouldn’t bother Jesse with too many questions. It’s been a long day for him.”
Celestias horn let off a faint yellow aura and the weight on his back lifted as Celestia removed the filly with her magic. After placing the Sunny on the ground, she looked back at Jesse and motioned to the door off to her left.
“This is where you will be staying. My chambers are just a few doors down if you need me.”
Jesse nodded to her and entered the room. As he stepped through the door, the fancy galore that littered the room hit his eyes with the force of a hungry bear.
Anything and everything that could be laced in gold, was. The bed, the couch, the lamps, and everything.
He looked to the door as the final mumblings of the Princess and the filly echoed through the hall before fading off into the distance, leaving Jesse to nothing but his mind and the room.
oOo
Starswirl once again sat himself in front of the Griffon King. Only this time, the king was bathed in sunlight pouring in from a large window at the top of the palace, illuminating every feature to Starswirl as he rested on his throne.
Wings, larger than any set he’d seen before, jutted from the griffons back on either side, large spikes running along the middle. He stood taller than any other, with a impressive tail that slinked across the floor, swiveling around till it wrapped around one of the young kings legs.
Naturally, the wings stood out to him. Griffon males didn’t have wings but, lo and behold, here stood the king sporting the features of both a female and a male put into one, mixed in with a larger frame resulting in a creature of pure intimidation.
The king lay sprawled across the rests of his throne, looking bored with the pony before him. Another griffon walked up to the king with a platter in it’s claw. On said platter was a large slab of uncooked meat. What animal it came from was beyond him.
The king took the slab from the platter, eating half of it in a single bite. A small dribble of blood ran down his beak, which he washed away with a swift flick of his tail.
He held the other half before himself. “So tell me pony. What are your motives for this course of action?” He stuffed the other half of the slab of meat into his mouth and looked toward Starswirl.
He shook his head, recovering from the gaze that he was just in. Watching something eat meat in front of him was… unnatural and felt somewhat wrong. His focus returned along with his anger. “Her family imprisoned me, only because I sought to extend the knowledge of magic beyond what we thought possible! Because of them, I have been locked away from the world where I could have done some real good In return, they gave me nothing but a thousand years as a punishment for my desires to help all of ponykind!”
The king swallowed what was left in his beak. “Sounds kinda cliche, but it makes sense. If I wanted nothing more than to help, yet was imprisoned, I too would want my revenge. But it wasn’t Celestia who did it to you."
“If I was taught correctly, it was her parents who imprisoned you on the count that you had destroyed entire cities and stole the lives of several hundred, if not thousands, of innocents. Don’t you think that alone is a good enough reason for your imprisonment?”
Starswirl picked up a look of pure anger. “I have committed no such crimes! Those were lies placed on me to make me look dasterious!”
The griffon flicked a claw at the pony, deciding for himself which was true. It was obviously a lie, but he as well wanted the princesses gone. “So be it. I have ambitions of my own and also want the sisters out of my way. For that, I’ll help you, but you must follow my plans.”
Starswirl bowed to the the griffon. “If that is how it must be, then I will gladly accept. But only on the count of a few, small things.”
The griffon gave a hearty chuckle to the pony. His beak somehow turned into a scowl as he thought it over.
“Then speak pony. What is it that you ask?”
oOo
Celestia walked back and forth outside Jesses current living quarters, unsure of if she should just head to bed or talk to the human once more before finishing her work for the day. She was certain he had questions, but wasn’t so sure he was ready for the answers to any of them. She did want to head to bed, but didn’t want to leave the human in a state of total curiosity in the fear that he would wander off to find the answers himself, inevitably finding himself in trouble..
Her legs started to burn as she kept her pacing, drawing her attention back to the idea of going to bed for the sake of getting some rest.
In the past several hours, she had made preparations for the Grand Galloping Gala. With all that had been happening recently she somehow managed to forget about it. Luckily, Luna had reminded her before night had come, leaving her enough time to get her work done and make a visit to Ponyville before the Gala started.
With her time in the small town, she had made a visit to Twilight’s Crystal Palace, only to find that the newfound alicorn, nor any of her friends were there, but had instead already left for Canterlot the day before.
Nothing to do in Ponyville, she returned back to the castle to finish her daily labor and prepare herself for the Gala. In that time, the sun had started to lower itself in the sky, slowly making its way toward a distant horizon.
Not wanting to stall any longer, Celestia opened the door to Jesse’s room.
“Jesse?”
Not seeing him in the main living area,she walked to the other end of the room and looked down a short hallway. The short, dark, hallway.
Of the few rooms in the suite, most the doors were open, and only the furthest back room was lit. Cautiously, she walked down the hallway, looking back and forth between the darkened rooms. “Jesse?” The sudden feeling of butterflies blistered in her stomach as the air stayed silent.
Finally making it to the back of the hall, she started to push the lit rooms door open, the door creaking as she did. Her heart started to beat harder in her chest and she winced slightly as she looked inside the room.
Her eyes immediately fell upon the bed. On the bed was a light red cloth, with a darker, heavier looking blue one under it. Feeling a sudden bit of curiosity, she approached the bed and poked at the two new articles of what she recognized as the same clothing Jesse had been wearing just earlier that day.
Suddenly, she heard a small clicking sound behind her. Something like that of a doorknob turning as someone opened it. Craning her neck, she found Jesse standing across the hall from her as he left the bathroom.
He stopped in place once he saw the pony princess in the bedroom before him. Instinctively, he dived back into the bathroom and peered at Celestia from behind the door. “What are you doing?” he asked, voice cracking as he did so.
She looked from him and back to the Jesses clothes in front of her before letting out a long “Ohhhh...” She faked, as she looked away from him, for the sake of his own customs. “I’m sorry Jesse. I didn’t realize...”
“Yea, thats nice and all, now can you leave for a second?” He sounded agitated with Celestia. And in her own mind, she thought that if she were in the same situation, she would have likely felt the same way.
Being a race that kept themselves covered, it was obvious, in her own mind, that humans didn’t often remove their single layer of protection without good reasons.
Celestia obediently retreated to the living room of the suite and waited patiently for the human to come out.
Not but a few minutes passed before Jesse joined Celestia in the main room.
The hair on his head glistened slightly in the room as what little water left in his hair reflected whatever light hit it.
“Hello Celestia.” He started. Not sure where else to go, he stayed quiet and waited for her to give her own greetings.
She nodded and said, “Good evening Jesse.”
Jesse seemed to drift off for a moment, not sure as of what he should say before coming back to the freshly started conversation. “So... what's happening down there,” he said as he looked at the floor below him, “Kinda noisy.”
She followed his stair, knowing that it went straight to the marble floor. “Every year, on the first weekend of the first month, we host a party here in the castle called the Grand Galloping Gala. Today just happens to be that weekend.”
Jesse nodded his head. “So theres lots of ponies down there I take it.”
“Of course.”
“And do any of them know I’m here?” He asked.
Celestias face scrunched. Nopony down below knew of Jesse’s existence other than Luna and a few guards. But she knew that he was talking about others that he himself hadn’t seen before. “No.”
Jessie’s mouth turned to a small frown at that and he started to nod. “Okay.” He said as he turned to a more questioning look. “So how long will I have to stay up here? Cause it’s kinda boring not having anyone to talk to.”
Celestia smiled at him, happy to hear the question. “It’s good that you are looking for others to chat with. I’ve already made plans for you to meet a few ponies tonight. I thought it would be good for you.”
Jesse rubbed his hands together, his impatience already building up. “Great. So when do I get to meet them?”
As if on cue, the sound of knocking came over the room. Both Celestia and Jesse looked at the door, both wearing smiles on their faces. Jesses being the greater of the two.
“Aunty Tia. Are you in there?” Whomever was on the outside shifted around, obviously in a place of discomfort. “May I come in? These guards won’t stop pestering me.”
Celestia dropped her smile, rethinking over some of her recent decisions due to the snootiness in the ponies voice. “Oh I do hope this is the griffon guest room.” The pony outside said.
Perhaps Blueblood wasn’t a good idea for a first introduction.
oOo
Jesse slouched back on the couch, his weariness showing on his face. For the past several minutes, had had been rubbing at his temples, trying to void himself of the horrid memories he had just made.
With a sigh, he looked over to Celestia. “I think i’m done talking to ponies. The university didn’t even have people that snooty and most of them were filthy rich.”
The two sat in silence for a moment before another knocking rung through the air. Jesse’s head turned towards the door, waiting to see who would enter next. Surprisingly, no one, or pony for this matter, entered. Instead, they insisted on asking questions… with a french accent. “Celestia, it’s Fleur. You sent for me?”
Celestia looked at the downtrodden man called Jesse. He was shaking his head, telling her that he didn’t want to see anypony else.
“Don’t worry” She said, “Fleur is one of the sweetest ponies I’ve ever meet. I’m sure you’ll like her.”
Celestia moved to the door, opening it to revealing a whitish-pink pony on the other side. “Please, come-” She hesitated as another pony came into view behind Fleur. This one, had a brown coat, with a much darker brown mane. “I see you brought a guest.”
Fleur sheepishly looked back at her companion. “Yes, I’m very sorry about that, but your guard was in quite a hurry to get me here. I was spending some time with my friend, Octavia, and I insisted that she come along. I do hope you don’t mind.”
Celestia shook her head lightly. “Of-course not. The more the merrier.” Celestia moved to the side to let the two mares in as Jesse called to them from behind.
“I no longer believe that claim, Celestia. One Blueblood was hard enough as it was. I think two is beyond me for now… or ever.”
The two mares looked at Celestia, slightly confused.
“I don’t recognize that voice” Fleur piped up, “Is there more to your family that I’ve yet to meet?”
Celestia shook her head. “Not of my family. But this is some-” She paused, thinking over a word to use for the situation, “-body I think you will take pleasure in meeting.”
Fleurs brows raised and a look of amusement crossed her. “Oh. Not a pony then. Be it a griffon, or zebra, I will take your word for it.” She started to approach the couch Jesse was planted on, Octavia following close behind.
Jesse popped his head over the back of the couch, wearing a wide smile. “Griffons? You never said anything about griffons.”
The two mares stood in place, jaws falling to the ground. Celestia maintained her regal composure, even though she desperately wanted to laugh. Fleur turned her head back to Celestia, mouthing What is that?
Jesse caught the obvious question, and left his place on the couch to approach the two. Octavia kept an eye on him, poking at Fleurs side as he approached.
Fleur snapped her head at her friend. “What!” She hissed, before noticing how close Jesse had come. “Oh.”
Jesse held a hand out to Fleur for a proper greeting. “Hello, My names Jesse.”
Fleur gawked at him momentarily before putting her hoof in his hand. He gave a little shake before removing himself.
“Uh…” She lifted her hoof to her face as if she expected something to grow out of it before returning it to the floor. “My name is Fleur De Lis.” She blushed in embarrassment. “I’m sorry if that was any bit rude. I’ve never seen anything of your sort. It was… quite a surprise.”
He gave the mare a weak smile. “I don’t mind. As long as you’re not like Blueblood, I don’t think anything much will bother me now.”
A moment passed in silence as the four stayed quiet.
Jesse himself was thinking deeply to himself about the pink mare in front of him. She knew english yet spoke with a french accent. He dwelled on the thought before getting an idea. “By any chance, do you know any other languages?”
Fleur laid her hoof across her chest. “Actually, yes. Prench.”
Jesse chuckled to himself. “Pony French.” He rested his head in his hands as he laughed the name out.
Fleur looked slightly offended, but also seemed a little curious about his statement. She laid a hoof on her own chest. “Are you familiar with the language?”
“No. Not really. I had to take a few foreign language classes in high school and I choose french, but I never took anything away from it.”
Fleur nodded in response as connection to Prench and French clicked in her mind. “Perhaps I could teach you one day?” She asked, “Since you seem familiar with the language, it should not be difficult at all for you to learn.”
“Sure” He responded, without trying to sound serious in the least, “sounds like… fun.”
The mare ecstatically skipped in place, overwhelmed by the idea of teaching somebody a new language. Without letting her friend calm herself, the mare that was standing beside Fleur threw her two cents into the conversation.
“And what of music?” She asked, “Do you take any interests into the performing arts?”
Jesse looked down at Octavia somewhat more interested in what she was offering over what Fleur was. “I tried band but it didn’t really rub me the right way. The trumpets sat behind me so I went a lot of the time without being able to really hear much of anything.”
“Then perhaps a more orchestral approach would suit your fancy.” She proposed.
Jesse chewed on that piece for a moment. “That actually sounds like something I’d like.” He stuck his hand over his chin, bringing it down in a v- shape. “Better than learning a new language.”
Fleur huffed at him, causing Octavia to let out a small giggle. “How about tomorrow then. With the princesses permission of course.” She turned to where Celestia had been standing just moments ago, but was meet with nothing more than a whiff of her presence.
She looked off around her before asking the question that everybody was now thinking.
“Where did the princess go?”
Luna observed her sisters somber posture from afar. Her shoulders slouched and she didn’t hold her normal regal form. Her head sunk low and her coat didn’t hold it’s usual gleem. Something was tearing her up from the inside out and it was showing prominently.
She closed the distance between the two with a short, hastened flight. “What is of the matter, sister?”
Celestia returned Lunas stare. In the corner of her eyes, Luna could see tears forming, begging to be released. “I believe I have made a great mistake having you bring Jesse here.”
Recoiling from her sisters words, Luna couldn’t help but think back to the previous night where her sister had been nearly begging her to cast the spell. Now, with Celestia saying it was a mistake, she couldn’t help but let her blood boil. “Did I not do as you asked of me!” Luna demanded. “I fulfilled your request, what more do you want?”
Celestia shrunk back from her sisters sharp voice. “It isn’t that. It’s that Jesse is here now and we have no way to send him back.”
“Why would he want to return?” Luna asked, still irritated by her sisters previous statements.
“Nothing but his father's wrath awaits him there.”
Unable to look at her sister any longer, she turned away. “That was ten years ago in his world. I think in the time that I wasn’t watching over him, something happened in his life that would tie him to his world.”
“Oh? And what would that be?”
Celestia placed her hoof over her mouth, not wanting to say what she believed. “How he treated that filly… the look in his eyes and… ” She hesitated, not wanting to continue.
“He didn’t act cruelly against her did he?” Luna pressed, trying to pry the information from her sister.
Celestia shook her head. “No. In fact, quite the opposite. I… I think Jesse is a father.”
oOo
Jesse waved the two mares off as they left his room. For the past several hours, the three of them had been talking about anything ranging from language arts and actually interesting types of artistic pieces like music.
Of course, he threw in a little about what he knew from his own world, informing the two mares of what kinds of music he was interested in, and what languages he was fluent in. Which, in this case, was just english. Not paying attention in highschool, he didn’t take anything away from his french class. Not that he had a problem with that.
Eventually, they had left those topics and went onto more general discussions about what it was like living in eachothers worlds. For the pony world, it was fairly basic, including basic needs but not much more. For Jesse, he couldn’t hold back telling them about what humans had done. Such as roads that lit up due to modern technology - The best description he could give was something called ‘Tron’ but neither mares understood-, solar powered just about everything, and other things that he thought the ponies would be able to understand.
Neither of the two could stop asking questions in the end. They always had to ask how they did it, and how long it took. Mostly questions that he couldn’t answer due to his lack of knowledge in the field.
Eventually, Octavia was forced to leave, having to attend to her part in the festivities taking place down below. Of course, Fleur had to leave as well, wanting to be there for her friend while she played.
Inevitably, that led him to this moment of time, waving the two off while the guard impatiently glared at him.
“Sir” the guard said. “I must ask you to return to your room.”
Jesse looked down at the guard, jaw dropping at the sight. She was an average sized pony, only she had a strange look to her. Her wings, instead of being feathered, were much more akin to that of leather. Her fur was slightly shorter than that of an average pony and her eyes, instead of being wide and circular, came to slits instead, while also being an uncanny reddish- orange color. Over all, something that would come out of a two year olds nightmare.
Unable to contain his desire to question the pony he was staring at, he crouched down to her level, looking her in the eye as his look of astonishment changed into goofy smile. “What are you?”
The pony looked somewhat startled by his question, but didn’t hesitate to answer. “I am a bat pony.” Her voice blossomed with pride, the guard resting her hoof over her chest, “Royal Guard under Lunas hoof alone. I, as a bat pony- HEY!” She cried as Jesse stuck his hands under her forelegs, lifting her from the ground.
“PUT ME DOWN!” She yelled, struggling in his grip. “I AM A BAT PONY! BE TERRIFIED!”
Ignoring her, Jesse brought the mare up to his face. “You are the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen.” The bat pony gave him a questioning look as she stopped struggling.
“I… I am?” She asked, the faint hint of a blush covering her cheeks. “Do you-”
“You’re terrifyingly adorable!”
The guard puffed out her chest at his insertion. “I AM NOT!”
He placed the guard back on the tile floor, letting her recover for her embarrassment. She just puffed her chest out as far as could, trying to repair her broken pride. Jesse chuckled to himself before returning to his room, satisfied with the event that had just transpired.
The guard pony placed herself back in her position. “Adorable my flanks.”
oOo
Celestia trotted through the halls of the castle, heading to the nursery to pick up Sunny Strings. There were a few… tests she wanted to run and Sunny would be a massive help in seeing if the truth.
If she was right about her assumptions, then there would most definitely be problems that would need to be addressed with utmost haste. Hopefully, she would be able to find a resolution quickly enough that Jesse wouldn’t hate her…
She hoped she was wrong. For the sake of her friendship with Jesse she hoped she was wrong.
If she was, she could continue on believing she had done the right thing bringing him here and continue living on, her conscious free of guilt. Nothing would change, other than a human under her wing that is. But if that wasn’t the case, she couldn’t imagine how terrible she would feel.
The sound of a few ponies greeting her snapped her from that train of thought.
“Welcome, Princess!”
One of the two had a light orange mane and a tannish coat. The other had a pink mane and blue coat. Both had cutie marks resembling their passion for caring for the young.
She nodded to them, “I have come to retrieve Sunny Strings.”
“Of course.” The tan one said as she went to fetch the filly, coming back moments later, the filly in tow.
Sunny wore a wide smile like always. Such a happy filly …
“The Princess!” The filly came up to her, hugging one of her forelegs. Celestia ran her other through the fillies mane before bending down to look at the filly eye to eye.
“I’m going to go talk with Jesse again.” She told her. “Do you want to come with me? I’m sure he would love to have you around.”
Sunny looked like she was going to explode in excitement.
“YES!” She screamed, voice cracking.
“Then lets go.”
Celestia led them through the corridors of the castle, Sunny bouncing around her hooves along the way. Such as energetic filly too …
Finally making it to the room, she took note of the guard. She was a bat pony in their standard armor, only difference is that this one looked rather displeased with her current situation.
The filly ran up to the guard. “What’s wrong?” She asked.
The guard looked down at the filly and crossed her forelegs. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Why not?” The filly pleaded, giving the guard wide eyes of pure adorableness.
The guard was about the respond when she snapped to attention as Celestia walked up to the two. She saluted, only for Celestia to wave it off.
“At ease. I too am curious as to why you’re in despair.“The bat pony blushed for a moment, not wanted to reveal the secret. She rolled her eyes in her head, looking anywhere but to Celestia.
It wasn’t long, however, till the guard broke. “He called me terrifyingly adorable,” She huffed, “… He should have left of the adorable part off.” The guard pouted to herself, Celestia stifling a small giggle.
With the face the bat pony was wearing, she could see where Jesse came from. “I’ll have a word with him if it makes you feel any better.”
The guard bowed. “Thank you, Princess.”
Celestia nodded and walked inside, Sunny close behind. Jesse popped his head over the couch to see who had entered. His face lit up as he saw who it was.
Sunny rushed up to him, bringing a smile to Jesse’s face. “Hey Sunny, I didn’t think you would stop by.” She looked up at him with a smile plastered over her muzzle. “And Celestia… you disappeared earlier.” He gave her a questioning look. “What's with that?”
“I had to converse with my sister. I hope that didn’t cause too much of a problem.”
Jesse waved his hand at her. “Nah. I don’t think any of us noticed till Octavia brought it up.”
Celestia looked slightly disappointed. “Oh… Ok.”
“Ya,” Jesse started, “we talked for at least-” He mumbled off to look down at his leg. Apparently, in the time he had been talking with Celestia, Sunny Strings had made her way to join him on the couch and was now poking at the small white device on his lap.
“What’s this?” She asked.
Taking it in his hands, he poked at it for a few seconds before handing it to the filly. “This, is a phone. It lets me talk to other people when they're far away.”
“So it’s magic?” She asked with wide eyes… Adorable.
“In a sense.” He held the phone in front of the fillies face. Celestia had now come to look at what he was showing Sunny. “But I’m sure this thing can do a little bit more… Or maybe less.”
He taped the middle of the phone twice, making it light up once more. “I can watch movies on it, listen to music… play games if I want.” Jesse went back to tapping the screen, eventually bringing up a picture with a small circle with a triangle in the middle.
Sunny gasped as the screen came to life when he taped on the triangle. Sounds came from the phone along with what looked like a movie. “It has color! Celestia! It has color! And it looks so good!”
Celestia nodded and smiled at the filly, then looked at Jesse.
She grieved this moment.
“Jesse, May I ask you a few questions?”
“Of course.” He responded, placing his arms on the backrest of the couch.
Celestia cleared her throat, motioning toward the filly, telling him that she wanted to ask without Sunny around. He didn’t take the hint. “ ...Yes, anyways,”
She could feel the pressure rising in her chest. Honestly, she didn’t want to ask the question, but it was necessary. “Do you plan on having children of your own someday?”
Jesse looked down at the filly, who was now paying full attention to their conversation. He scratched her behind the ear, getting her to shut her eyes as she enjoyed the sensation. “One day, I do. But thats a long ways away. I have to graduate and get a good job first.”
Celestia was relieved to hear that he wasn’t a father as of yet, but still bit her lip. While she had only asked one question, he answered to two. “So I take it you want to go back?” She asked, fear in her heart.
“Well, ya.” He said happily.
Celestia hated how joyous he seemed with his situation because in just moments, she would have to be the one to kill that mood. She looked down at the floor, not wanting to disappoint him.
Jesse reached his hand up and put it on her head. “Don’t be like that, Celestia. You can just zap me back here anytime you want so long as I’m not busy.”
Celestia shook her head and stared at the ground with a look of despair. “Getting you here is not the problem, Jesse.” She had to force herself to continue on. “I… I...When I brought you here, I wasn’t planning on sending you back.” She paused, waiting for Jesse to catch up with her.
“There is no way to send you home.”
The Canterlot ballroom was filled with lights, decorations, and everything that any uptight pony could possibly dream of. What looked like hundreds of ponies, mostly unicorns, were scattered through the grounds, dancing, drinking, and chatting alike.
Most held their heads high, turning away from any pony that would try to talk with them, while a very small amount of others would talk with any other pony that would cross their way, while Celestia and Jesse, who stood on a balcony high above the floor, kept silence between them.
Jesse had been mostly keeping to himself the past while, finding it hard to accept that he would never be able to see his home world again. While he wasn’t ignoring Celestias whenever she tried to talk to him, he wasn’t answering most of her questions or responding to her. Instead, he would look at her, shake his head or nod and go back to thinking about whatever was going through his mind.
“ Would you please share with me what is going through your head. It’s killing me to not know.” Celestia begged, hoping to get a word from him.
He sighed, breaking from his mind's grasp with slow progress coming to terms with his new reality. “ I’d think you’d be able to read my mind.”
Celestia tilted her head, giving him a disappointed look. “ I would never do that to anypony.”
Jesse shook his head lightly, thinking over any response he could. “ It’s a swirl of emotions. I’m not sure if I should be mad or disappointed or even happy.” He let of a small chuckle. “ I bet this is what it feels like to be a women.”
Celestia frowned, somewhat offended by what he said, but decided it was best to not wonder about it. “ Perhaps we should leave this topic.” She suggested, bumping into Jesse’s side with her shoulder.
He looked down at Celestia, for the first time that night, actually seeming interested in what she was saying. “ Like?”
Celestia stared down at her hooves, taking a moment to decide what she wanted to ask him about. “ What happened with Octavia and Fleur. I mean after I left?”
Jesse tilted his head up, looking at the ceiling as he tried to recall all of the events of that night. “ Octavia is coming back tomorrow. She wanted to give me Cello lessons.”
Celestia gave him a puzzled look. “ I thought you weren’t planning on staying here.”
Several strange looks crossed his face before he responded. “ I wasn’t thinking. It didn’t really appear to me till you brought it up.”
They both stared off at the crowd, neither wanting to say anything after his answer. Celestia noticed a single pony down at the bottom, sending her a confused frown. “ Look at him,” Celestia stated, looking directly at the pony that had been staring at her. Jesse followed her gaze, looking for whomever she was staring at until he noticed a single pony jerk his head to turn around. “ He probably thinks i’m crazy, sitting up here and talking to you.”
“ And why is that?” He asked.
“ They can’t see you.” That caused him to stare down at his hands, not sure how they couldn’t see him. Celestia had no horn, causing him to think back to the mind reading portion of their conversation, which meant she was incapable of using magic. At least, thats what he figured.
Celestia noticed what he was doing, and quickly explained that she had had one of her guards cast an invisibility spell on him.
Not a moment later, a dark blue alicorn walked in on the two. Jesse figured it was Celestias sister considering he had never seen another alicorn before. “ Good evening sister. I take it you are having a fine evening.”
“ As best as one can get when they are surrounded by nobles.” She chuckled in response. “ And how are you sister?”
Luna frowned, seeming to be worried by something. “ Something is happening to the souls of my stars.” She started. Jesse took a step back from the edge of the balcony to get a better view of Luna. “ I can no longer feel their emotions. Something, or somepony, is doing something to them. They are crying out to me, but i’m not sure if they are cries of agony of blithe.”
“ Souls?” Jesse asked, causing Luna to jump back. Her horn lit up, before she sighed in relief.
“ It is just the human.” She said, placing a hoof over her chest as her breathing slowed. Once her heart had caught up to her mind, she said, “ Celestia, I would like to have a word with you, if you wouldn’t mind. “
Celestia nodded, “ Of course.” Luna took Celestia to the edge of the balcony, whispering to her all the while. Every now and then, one or the other would turn to look at Jesse, but mostly kept the conversation between the two of them.
Near the end of their conversation, Luna turned completely towards him. Her horn lit it a bright aura, causing him to take refuge behind his arms. When he was finally able to see again, Luna was gone.
“ What was that about?” He asked as Celestia approached him.
She slowly shook her head. “ There is no time to explain. I must be going now so you need to head back to the room.” Then, Celestia disappeared in a blue flash of her own.
He stood motionless for a second, trying to process what had happened, yet nothing came to mind. It seemed like they were talking about him, but he didn’t have a clue as to what about. Deciding it was best to not worry about it, he headed towards the edge of the balcony, taking one last look at the crowd before turning around.
It was at that moment that he heard a scream from below. “MONSTER! IT’S ATTACKING THE PRINCESS!”
Almost instantly, several guards wearing golden armor pounced on the poor human. Hooves went around his arms and legs as they lifted him off from the podium and into the air. He struggled in their hooves till he realized he was several feet above ground, slowly lowering him to the ground.
Frow where he was at, he could see staring at him, eyeing him with caution or disgust. Mostly the later since nearly all the ponies here were nobles. Several of them were starting to close the distance, slowly approaching to get a better view of what had supposedly been attacking the princess.
One the the guards, who he assumed to be their leader, stepped forward, lips curled back as he let off a deep growl.
Of all times for Celestia to leave...
oOo
Starswirl trotted beside the king, struggling to keep up due to his shorter legs and the king standing at least twice his own size. Next to Celestia, he might be the same size if not a little taller. Not only that, but he was much more muscular. Through his feathers, his muscles almost looked like they were ready to pop from out of his skin.
While griffons may not have any magical advantage over ponies, they were much stronger. Being natural hunters, they worked themselves since they were chicks barely out of their eggs. Ponies, however, were much different.
When a foal is born, they are cared for and raised, while griffon chicks are often abandoned if the parent doesn’t find them pleasing enough. Due to this, griffons also had a large environmental advantage over ponies as well.
This is why Starswirl chose to go the griffons for help over any other race.
“ You said that Celestia has no way of reversing the spell. I will take your word for this. The human will be the foundation of a conflict between us.”
Starswirl looked up at the griffon, giving him a questioning look that asked the King what he was thinking.
“ We will put Equestria in a place of turmoil. Convince the ponies that the human will only bring harm to their society. Turn Celestias own ponies against her, and we both know what Celestia will do from their.”
“ And if she doesn’t?” Starswirl asked.
The griffon waved a claw at the pony, causing him to back away so he wouldn’t get his face mauled by the kings claws. “ Leave that to me. It is unlikely, but still possible none-the-less, so I have a plan.”
Starswirl flinched as the King twisted around, opening a door behind him. He motioned with his claw to the inside of the room, seeing a large table piled high with an assortment of foods. “ Now. Why don’t we eat. “
oOo
Jesse found himself in a strange and foreign room, the fog of sleep slowly lifted from him, only to find guards clad in golden armor surrounding him. All of them held spears pointed to the ceiling. His wrists were tied to the back of a chair, and his legs bound by thick rope. The room as all dark but a small light held over his head. In the small area that he could see, there was a table in front of him, but the rest of the room was bare of any furnishings.
The loud clanking of armor echoed from outside, along with several voices from ponies he guessed to be guards talking to scared or even curious nobles. A small outburst from the nobles shouting over the guards erupted, but was quickly put down.
The guard in front of Jesse’s ear flicked and moved around like a radar scanning for any new sounds. Jesse recognized him as the pony he thought to be the leader. Cautiously, he approached the human, lips curled back in a snarl. “ SPEAK!” He screamed, sending spittle in every direction.
Jesse furrowed his brow as he tried to pull his head back to avoid getting spit on. Luckily, most of it had gone around him, but some had made way to his shirt, and a little on the side of his nose.
The chair rocked slightly as his weight shifted, causing the guards to lower their spears his chest and neck. Jesse held his silence, hoping he could convince the guard that he couldn’t talk.
This caused the guard to look even more pissed off and approached Jesse, grabbing the collar of his shirt in his hoof… somehow. “ WE KNOW YOU INTELLIGENT! SO SPEAK!”
“ Fine. I can talk,” he said. Half the guards jump back like they didn’t believe the could say anything. “ If you know I can talk, why are you holding me down?”
The guard pointed a hoof in his face like he was trying to make a point. “ BECAUSE YOU! Are a danger to the princesses!” The guard poked his forehead, leaving a small mark where his hoof digged into the skin.
“ If you know I can talk, that means you talked to Celestia. Didn’t she say anything about me not trying to hurt anyone?” Jesse responded, shaking his head lightly.
The guard went to respond, but was cut off as the door swung open. Behind said door were two other guards. Both were unicorns. He recognized the first as Row, the unicorn that he had been with for a short while just earlier in the day, the other he was unsure of.
The one he didn’t recognize had his helmet held to his side using his magic, exposing his dark blue mane with lighter hued streaks. His coat was almost as white as Celestias own. Over his body, he wore purple and gold armor with a star painted on the crest that rested over his chest. To top it all of, ever his armor, he a war a saddle, barely visible but still there that seemed to keep everything together.
The pony in front of Jesse snapped to attention, and held his hoof to his head as the two walked by.
“ At ease.” The new pony said. He walked up to Jesse and held a hoof out at him. “ Captain Armor. You?” Finding that the ropes trying his to the back of the chair had been undone, he slowly extended a hand to the pony guard. After a few tense second, Jesse took Armors hoof and his hand and slowly shook it before pulling away.
“ Jesse.”
Armor shook his head, looking between Row and Jesse. “ Come with me.” Captain armor turned and walked out of the room, Jesse and Row close behind. As they walked through the hallways, Armor kept looking back at Jesse to make sure he was still following.
Once they were a good distance away from the other guards, he stopped and turned to face the two. “ Jesse, as i’m aware, you have already been acquainted with Captain Strong Row.”
Jesse stared down at Row, an uneasy look on his face. “ I guess. We didn’t really talk much. He kinda freaked out then ran off.”
Armor glared at Row. “ You ran off?”
“ I had important stuff to do.” He defended.
“ Anyways, “ Armor said, “ I believe proper introductions are in order. I am Shining Armor, Captain of the royal guard in the Crystal Empire and husband to Princess Cadence. You already know Strong Row. He took my place as Captain for Canterlot after I left. Strong Row should have stayed with you and Celestia to ensure her protection, but decided his personal work was more important.”
Rows ears folded back as Shining Armor talked down to him, causing Jesse to laugh as he saw Row whimper.
“ I haven't heard of Cadence yet. I know Celestia, Luna, and a few other ponies now, but i’ve never heard a word about any Cadence.” Jesse said.
“ I’m sure you’ll learn all about her soon enough,” Shining Armor said with a chuckle, “ But for now, we best get going. Otherwise my sister might find us and… well, we don’t want that.”
Jesse gave Shining armor an uneasy look. “ And why is that?”
Shining smiled at the human. “ For your own sanity, hope you never find out.”
oOo
“ So it plays movies with color and sound?”
“ Yep.”
“ And you can take it anywhere?”
“ Pretty much.”
“ … Thats awesome.” The bat pony smiled wide as she sat back in the couch. For the last several hours, she and Jesse had been watching movies on his phone. At first, she was a little reluctant to accept his invitation, but didn’t regret it when she did.
After he had returned from his little escapade with Celestia, Jesse had soon became bored and started watching movies on his phone. Curious as to what the noise was, she entered to check up on to make sure everything was alright, just as she was instructed to do.
When she had peered over the couch to see the source of the noise, she had found him splayed across the piece of furniture, face lit up by the screen of the object in his hand. It hadn’t taken him long to notice her as the movie had just started, so he invited her to stay and watch. She was reluctant at first, but decided that it wouldn’t hurt anypony.
Just minutes into the first movie, he had told her to wait till the end before asking questions. Instead, that one movie soon became multiple and a few hours grew into several. She had been so engrossed into the films, she had almost forgotten to question the device and how everything seemed to be such a high quality.
But now, sun shining through the curtains, he had stopped their little movie spree and decided that it was best if he got a little shut eye before the day really began. Feeling her eyes become heavy, she agreed and had almost left the room but remembered her strange curiosity for the object in his hands.
“ Heh. Yea it is. This model just came out last year. The battery on it will last a month without charging. And the best part is that its solar charged! Just leave it out in the sun for a few hours and its ready for whole nother month of anything you can think of.” He sighed, and took in a large breath through his nose, a large smile coming across his face as he recalled a few memories. It was soon replaced by a frown. “ 2024 was a great year. Yet I can’t help but feel nostalgic about it. Like something big happened but I can’t remember yet I just to reach out and want to do it all over again.”
She noticed his frown. “ You know what will take that sad look right off your face? Another movie.”
He looked down at the screen, reading the time. It was currently six in the morning. “ Eh. Sleep is for the weak. Why not.”
“ Awesome.” She said, jumping over the back of the couch and back by Jesses side. Already, he was scrolling through the various movies on his list. All the ones that they had been watching before came in a room, but now that he was looking for a good one, she saw the vast amount of title he owned. “ Jeez. How many movies can you fit on that thing.”
“ Well. It has a terabyte of space on it sooo a lot.” She looked up at him, questioning what he had said.
“ I have no idea what terabyte or a hard drive is.”
“ Think of those wheels they have for your movies. Now imagine about a hundred of them.” He let that sink in, letting a wide smirk come to his face. “ Of course, I don’t have that many since I got other things on here.”
“ Wow. “ She responded. “ I can’t even imagine what Twilight would do if she got her hooves on that thing.”
He laughed for a second before returning her stare. “ Probably nothing. You ponies have no idea how to use this thing. Besides, I would never allow her to touch this thing. From what i’ve heard about her, she would probably break it.”
She bit on her lip, appearing to be deep in thought. “ Yea. She probably would. So what movie are we watching next?”
Jesse scrolled through the list of movies, trying to decide what he wanted to watch. “ I’m not sure. Nothing is popping out to me.” He continued to scroll through the list as she watched.
“ How about that one?” She asked, pointing to a movie called ‘The Box‘
Jesse’s eyes lit up in recognition. “ Despite the terrible name, that movie gave me nightmares for weeks.” He said, a hint of fear in his voice.”
A wide smile spread across the bat ponies muzzle. “ So it’s a scary movie, huh? Lets watch it!”
“ No.” He replied, firmness in his voice.
She looked up at him with her best puppy dog eyes, pleading to watch the movie. “ Please!”
He couldn’t help but stare into her eyes. They seemed to be looking right into his very soul. The purplish hue holding his gaze till his eyes started to water from being held open to long. He tried to close his eyes, but found himself unable to do so. Instead, he continued to look into her own, trying to find his way out, but was met with nothing. “ Fine.”
“ YAY!” She squealed, wrapping her forearms around his torso. She dug her head into his side as Jesse started the movie, holding the phone down in front of the two so the could both comfortable watch.
He started to shift around, seeming to try and move away from her. “ Aww, are you scared?” She teased.
“ No. But you’re still hugging me and it’s starting to get weird.” He responded, tugging on the collar of his shirt.
She looked at her forehooves, but found nothing. Instead, they were wrapped still wrapped around his body as he had said. She pulled back, releasing him from her grip, causing him to sigh in relief, a small blush covering her cheeks. “ Sorry.” She said, trying to hide her face behind her mane.
“ No problem. Lets just forget about it and watch the movie.”
“ Hehe. Yea.”
Jesse started the movie. It started by the fields rolling by, a female voice narrating from the background. ‘ My name is Caroline Jamesfield. My life started like any other, me living with my parents back on our farm...’
He paused the movie at that point, causing the bat pony to look at him with confusion. “ Why’d you stop the movie?”
Jesse chuckled, pulling at the collar of his shirt again. “ Because I just realized we had spent the last several hours here watching movies and I still don’t know your name.”
Her brow furrowed, as she stared back at him. “ Seriously? You haven't even asked me for my name yet?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “ Sorry. I forgot. You know, movies and all.”
She stared at him, not sure how she should feel. Finally, she passed it off as a mistake and told him her name. “ My name is Halflight.”
Jesse stared at her for a second before shaking his head. “ Ok then, Halflight. Lets watch this movie.” He pushed the play button, letting the movie continue. ‘ in Wisconsin. They let me stay on the terms that I helped them with the farm. Of course I accepted, but things started to get weird…”
The movie continued march forward. Jesse tried to keep himself awake as long as he could, but the temptation to sleep poked at the side of his mind. The bags under his eyes felt heavy, and his brain told him that he desperately needed sleep. Around half way through the movie, sleep finally overcame him, overpowering his desire to make it through the movie.
Jesse eyes slowly started to lift from their short rest. The sunlight had finally become too much for him to handle, causing him to arise from his slumber. A strange and heavy presence made itself known on his side, but he ignored it as his head fell of his hand. He could also feel a strange glass like object in his other hand.
Suddenly, there came a loud tisking noise from in front of him. He slowly opened his eyes to find Celestia looking down at him, a disappointed look in her eyes. His brow furrowed in confusion, as he started at the pony Princess. “ Cel- Celestia?”
“ I am disappointed with you Jesse.” Her voice, instead of its normal motherly tone took on that of a person with power and responsibility. For the first time, it actually felt like Celestia was talking to him as a Princess instead any other person you could find on the street.
“ What?” He asked. “ Why?”
She motioned with her eyes down to his side. Sometime after he had fallen asleep last night, Moon Light followed after and fell asleep leaning against him. But the thing that really caught his eye was the glass in his hand. In said hand, he was holding a wine glass, still partially full from what he could only guess to be a misadventure of the previous night.
He looked around him for any more signs of beverages he didn’t remember, finding a half full bottle of red wine on his side of the couch. “ I… Uh… We didn’t.” he mumbled, barely able to get the words to come out of his mouth.
Celestias lips moved up in a small smile, only for that emotion to disappear immediately. She lifted her muzzle in the air, and sniffed around for a second. “The smell in here certainly tells a different story.”
Halflight started to shift around at his side, digging into Jesse’s side. “ I… We never did anything!” he said, spitting out words faster than he could think. “ I’m not into ponies like that!”
“ Then tell me, what did you do last night with Luna's guard?” She gave him a hard stare as she waited for a response.
“ We… Uh. We watched movies. Thats it.” Jesse started to shake in his seat, finding it difficult to keep calm in the face of a pissed looking Celestia.
Her brow raised and she said, “ I do believe it is hard to remember what happens when you are intoxicated. Maybe you did more than you remember.”
Jesse looked down at Halflight then back at Celestia. He repeated the process a few times before finally resting his head in his hands. “ I can’t believe I would ever do something like that.”
Celestia brought her hoof under his chin, raised it with a small amount of force. A small smile came to her lips as Jesse stared at her. He heard snorting from behind him, soon followed by someone else laughing. The laugh was clearly feminine, but he didn’t recognize it from anywhere.
Jesse leaned over the back of the couch, finding a Rainbow Maned Pegasus mare rolling around in laughter. He heard Celestia stifle a laugh behind him and turned to look at her.
Several moments passed before Jesses eyes went wide. “ Wait a minute!” He exclaimed. “ I can’t believe you! Celestia!” She bursted out laughing, unable to hold it in any longer.
At that point, Halflight woke up from the noise, trying to cover her ears. She struggled to open her eyes as she shifted her head to look between the three. “ Whats so funny?” She asked, struggling to talk properly. “ Did I miss something?”
Celestia and the Rainbow maned mare went quiet as they stared at Jesse, waiting for him to respond. Following their gazes, Halflight looked up at Jesse with tired, yet questioning eyes. “ Celestia and this pony over here,” He gestured to the Rainbow maned pegasus, “ pulled a prank on me.”
Half laughed to herself for a second, before returning her gaze to Jesse. “ And what did they do?” She asked.
Jesse looked away, trying to shy from the subject. “ I’d rather not talk about it.”
She noticed a hint of redness coming to his cheeks, serving to make her even more curious. “ Oh c'mon,” she said, poking at his side, “ It can’t be that bad.”
His head sunk into his hands as he groaned to himself. “ I’m not talking about it.”
Moon turned her head to face the rainbow maned pegasus. “ What happened?” She asked, now fully alert. In response, the mare pointed at the glass that was still resting in Jesse’s hand.
“ The bottle says it all.” She responded.
Half looked at the bottle for several seconds before connecting the dots. As soon as she did, a wide blush came to own cheeks as she tried to hide her face with her mane. “ Thats not even right.” She mumbled.
This caused Celestia to quietly giggle to herself once more, before taking on a more serious look. “ However, since you are now awake and I have the spare time, Jesse, Shining Armor requested that you meet him in the armory around noon. And I believe it would be fair to introduce you to this mare that gave me the idea of pulling our little prank this morning.”
The Rainbow colored mare came around the couch and hovered in front of Jesse, holding out a hoof to him. “ Hi! I’m Rainbow Dash!”
Jesse took her hoof in his hand and shook it lightly before releasing. She leaned in close to his ear and whispered something about giving out full titles later, before pulling away.
“ Uh… Ok,” He said, unsure how else he could have responded. “ So why does Shining Armor want me to meet him in the armory?”
“ I’m not sure, “ Celestia replied, “ He was rushed and his explanation was a bit vague, but i’m sure he has a good reasons. Anyhow, that is all I have come for. Me and Rainbow Dash will be on our way.” She waved a hoof at him before going to leave the room.
She stopped in the doorway, turning back to Jesse and his batpony companion. “ And Halflight, try to get some sleep. You’ll spend the night with Jesse again.”
Half pumped her hoof in the air as Celestia closed the door.
“ What was that about?” Jesse asked, confused about her joyfulness of work.
“ I’ve never had so much fun being a guard. This beats everything else by far… Even with the little prank they pulled on us.”
oOo
Another hour passed before it was finally noon. Jesse wished he had asked Celestia about how to get to the armory, but unfortunately forgot. That left him alone in his room with only his phone for entertainment, as Halflight had decided to go home herself soon after Celestia and Rainbow Dash had left.
Walking over to the couch from his room, he followed the walls of the short hall until he entered the living area of the small suite. Once inside, he made his way to the couch, positioning himself so he would fall directly onto the soft cushions.
He let his legs collapse under him, yelping as he passed the point where the coach should have been. Arms swayed in the air as his butt hit solid flooring. Not expecting the lack of furniture, he fell back and hit a row of spears, causing them to collapse on top of him.
Seconds later, he heard a familiar laughing echo through the room. “ What?” He asked himself, taking in his surroundings. “ Shining Armor?” He called out.
“ I’m here, Jesse.” Jesse felt the spears lift off of him, removed my Shinings magic. Something he still couldn't fully come to cope with yet.
“ What happened?” Jesse asked. He looked around the room, finding several rows of spears and swords surrounding him.
“ Celestia teleported you to the armory.” Shining replied, still laughing from watching Jesse fall.
Jesse groaned in response, trying to take in what had just transpired. He took several moments before coming back to. “ So why did you need me?”
“ I thought you would be great practice for fighting Minitours or Centours in the case we ever have to fight them in the future.” He replied.
Jesse thought over that for a second, biting his lip as he did so. “ My fighting experience is limited to larping. And that doesn’t really count for much.”
“ Anything is better than nothing,” Shining stated, lifting a sword in his magic, “ Now take this.” He shoved the sword in Jesse’s hands and forced him to his feet with his magic. A door off to the right opened, revealing what looked like hundreds of guards in golden armor sparing with one another in a large, open garden.
Large stone gates surrounded the area, keeping away any onlookers while a few guards patrolled the top. Noticing where Jesse was looking, Shining Armor said, “ The area is restricted for pegasi. No one will fly over head so it’ll be ok for you to be out there. And their is a dome over the top to keep the cold out.”
Jesse continued to stare, staying just a step from the outside world. Shining pushed him outside with his magic before calling for the attention of all the guards. Instantly dropping what they were doing, they stood at attention, looking in Shining Armors direction. “ Today,” He started, “ we are starting some new exercises.” Again, he pushed Jesse forward. “ This is him. Have fun.”
Jesse gulped as a pegasus guard swooped down in front of him. “ Sir.” He said, calling to Shining Armor. “ We are to spar with him, is that correct?”
Shining nodded his head and the pegasus pulled Jesse off to one of the arenas set in the garden.
“ Do you know how to fight?” He asked.
“ Uh… I used to larp.” Jesse said in response.
“ Good enough.” The guard replied. Jesse wasn’t even sure if the guard knew what Larp was, but he didn’t seem to care.
The guard rushed him almost instantly, catching Jesse off guard and hitting his shoulder with the blade of the sword. Expecting a wound, Jesse flinched back, but was surprised to see that there was nothing but a new bruise on his shoulder.
Seeing his confusion, the guard said, “ The blades are enchanted to not do any damage.”
“Oh,” Jesse responded, still off about getting his with a sword, “ Thats cool.”
The guard pulled away, heading for the other side of the arena. “ Round two.” He said, as he rushed at Jesse again. This time, he was more prepared, and backed away from the blade. It had nearly connected with his jaw, but he moved just in time.
The guard put lifted his sword in the air, positioning himself to hit Jesse in the head. Again, he dodged with just enough time, and took a swing at the guard. He rolled out of the swing, easily dodging the sword with ease.
Jesse changed to a defensive position, holding his sword around his chest. When the guard came to swing again, he raised the blade to dodge, creating a loud clinking sound as metal hit metal.
With the guard trying to regain his sense from the ringing in his mouth, Jesse pushed the sword against the guards underbelly, taking the win.
By now, several other pairs of guards had come to watch the battle between the two. Many of them were cheering. Who for, he could not tell over the commission.
“ I was taking it easy on you.” The guard said, freshly recovered from his dizziness. “ But not anymore.”
Jesse laughed at the guard. “ Thats what they all say.”
oOo
Jesse laid spewed across the couch in his room, watching Celestia set the sun from the window. Over most of his body, he wore several fresh bandages, gained from his time in the arena. His left eye was swollen shut, and his lips puffed out as they oozed a clear liquid.
“ Wow.” Halflight said. She had joined Jesse just minutes ago, but had kept her silence for till now. “ What happened to you?”
Jesse rolled his eyes, keeping his head pointed towards the window so she couldn’t see. He shivered as he thought back to what had happened just earlier in the day. “ I’m not a fighter.”
The laughed at that, holding a hoof over her chest. “ What’d you do? Insult one of the guards?”
“ No,” He responded, “ Shining thought it would be a good idea if he had me help train the guards in fighting things like Centaurs or Minitours.” He sighed at the last part, thinking about how he managed to get himself into that mess. “ I managed to beat one of the guards… once. He was serious when he said he was taking it easy on me.”
That coaxed another laugh from the bat pony guard. “ I bet. Those day guards may not look the part, but they can surely kick some flanks in when they have to.”
Jesse sighed again, this time more pitifully. “ I take it you’re here because you want something right?”
Half raised one foreleg to another, scratching at it with her hoof. “ Uh, yea… Can we watch a few movies?”
“ Have at it,” Jesse said, “ My phone is on the dresser in the room. Just don’t watch anything that has a large R on it.”
Halflight squealed before running off to his room. The sound of his phone rang in his ears, followed by a Half starting to grunt in anticipation. “ It won't work!” She yelled, returning to the living area with the device in her wing. “ It won't work.” She repeated.
Jesse chuckled to himself. “ Hooves. There should be a stylist in the side, but your hooves won’t work with the screen. Look for a small circle on the side and push on it.”
Halflight sat down, taking the phone in her hooves and holding it in front of her face. When she found what he was talking about, she used the tip of her wing to press down on the phone, causing a thin stick pop up from the side.
While Moon started with the stylus, Jesse turned his head over to face the back of the couch so he could think to himself.
Something about this room makes me feel so sad. It’s like I can’t remember something important… Eh. I’ll remember it later.
One week later
Jesse arose to the sun in his eyes, a thick layer of sleep still blanketed him from last night’s slumber. He yawned loudly, warning the guard outside the door of his arrival to the land of the living.
Whatever time he had gone to sleep last night, it was too late. This made clear by his muscles tensing as he tried to lift himself from the couch. The couch. He found it strange that he had yet to sleep on the bed yet. But, with Halflight keeping him up into the night, he was normally too tired to move even an inch, let alone far enough to get to a bed.
The last weeks worths of nights all stacked up on each other, he found it surprising that he could move at all. He thought to himself the idea of just letting Half go at it with his phone, but the possibility of her breaking it was too high, considering that it was his only source of entertainment in a world centuries behind his own. Only once had he allowed her to use his device without supervisions and the results were… not what he had expected. Or wanted. Put simply, she found things she shouldn’t have.
Fortunately for him, she caught her before she had seen too much, preventing one awkward conversation, only to start another, as along with his rush to steal the phone away from her, she had become confused as to what he was trying to be so private about.
After all, being out naked wasn’t looked down upon in a pony society. Basically, he had to explain to her that there were things that she should never see, and what she was looking at was among those things.
However, even with the one awkward situation, Jesse had the privilege of treating the bat pony guard to some of the best nights she’s ever had while on duty. And for her sake, he almost wanted to take that privilege away from himself in the case that he finds Halflight becoming a critic of how awful movies of her own era looked and how cheesy they were.
Deciding it was best to stop wandering upon the more pointless things in life, he moved on to messing around with this morning’s guard.
Leaving the sofa with a series of crackles and pops emitting from his back and other various areas, he moved to the door to the outside world. He cracked the door open ever so silently hoping to not notify the guard of his presence.
Instead of his plans to surprise the guard, he found himself surprised. There was no guard outside the door. Strange. I could have sworn I heard a pony out here. He fully opened the door, still expecting to find the guard on the other side. Instead, he found a pony Princess. Celestia to be exact.
“ Hello Celestia, “ he said as casually as he could, despite his plans for this morning’s guard. He looked anywhere but towards Celestia, evening whistling to make himself seem innocent to his attempted actions as he tried to think of something else to say. “ I see you’re just standing out here… would you like to come in?”
He motioned towards the inside of the room, watching Celestia closely as she retained her regal and emotionless form. It seemed like forever before Celestia said anything, but when she did, she sounded incredibly hurt. “ I would. Thank you.”
She entered the room, not sending a single look at Jesse till she reached the couch. When she did, she slouched on its backrest, looking nothing like a Princess and more like any normal pony. Or at least, what he assumed a normal pony would look like.
While Halflight was a good base for what a relaxed pony would look like, she was never fully enticed in whatever she was doing. She would always occasionally take a look at him, like she was waiting for him to do something wrong. It almost seemed like she was on her guard at all times, despite being able to watch movies for hours on end.
“ Is there something wrong, Celestia?”
“ Yes, there is.” She stated, dryly. “ But those are not your concerns.” That last part made Jesse all the more curious as to what Celestia was hiding, but decided to not ask about it. After all, back on earth, when you try to get into a woman's personal business, one of two things will happen. Either they will spill their guts, or they will spill yours. And personally, he didn’t want to take that risk on an alicorn that could likely disintegrate his body on accident if she wasn’t watching herself… Superman fanfics all over again… “ Instead, I have come to inform you that your stay here, in Canterlot Castle, has come to a close.
That was far from what he was expecting. In fact, those were words he didn’t want to hear now that he thought about it. He was enjoying his time here, even if he was stuck in the same room most of the day. However, here, he had a mix of ponies that he enjoyed talking to. Row for example. He was one of the few guys he had even meet so far! In fact, he was the only guy that he could talk to now that Shining Armor had gone home and Blueblood was a complete douchebag.
But this… Removing him from where he was was the same as stripping him of the only ponies he had met so far. The lack of friends added to a still new world and new race was more than he thought himself able to handle.
Celestia spoke again, cutting Jesse from his train of thought. “ You will be leaving for Ponyville in just a few hours by train. Princess Twilight Sparkle will meet you there.” With that, Celestia left the room, leaving the door swinging behind her.
Twilight Sparkle? I feel like I’ve heard that name before… Maybe Shining Armor said something about her?
oOo
The series of events it took to meet this Twilight pony were... more than uneventful. Actually, it was probably the most exciting thing that’s happened so far in his entire time in Equestria. The guard had to personally escort him through Canterlot, making sure that not a single pony had seen him or even caught a whiff of his scent.
Why this was so, he didn’t know. Most of the nobles had already seen him so he doubted that there would be panic if anypony saw him. Or perhaps Celestia had scene to it that none of the nobles told anypony about him? Whatever reason, he wasn’t sure, but that didn’t matter.
The only thing he cared to do at that time was to stay hidden inside a few walls of ponies.
After they had finally arrived at the train station, the next problem was fitting so many guards onto a single cart. Simply enough, in the end, some of the guards had to stay in Canterlot.
Lastly, was getting to this Twilight’s place. Surprisingly enough, despite what he had been told, she wasn’t waiting for him there. That was when the fun had started. For some reason, the guards had decided that it was the best to do what they had done in Canterlot again, surrounding him in a wall of Pony. Sadly though, with the amount that had been left behind in Canterlot, there weren’t quite enough guards to do the job.
So maybe a few ponies get a glimpse of him. Just small portions but still enough to catch their curiosity. By the time they had finally reached Twilights castle, they had a whole crowd following in tow. That wasn’t even the interesting part. That didn’t start until they were INSIDE.
That interesting part was the sight they were treated to when they were finally face to face. Or maybe something like face to pile of ponies stacked on top of an Alicorn as she desperately struggled to get free….
He could already tell this was going to be an interesting stay…
Seeing Jesse in person, however, seemed to be all she needed to overpower the pile up of four ponies holding her down. As they lost their grip on her, she streaked from under them and directly at Jesse, holding him in her hooves with all the might she could.
Of course, coming from an Alicorn, there was more strength in her than anything her size had the right to have.
So many dreams, I cannot count
She watched as his world was being torn apart. Shadows spewed across the room as a young boy watched his parents fight between each other. She didn’t want to watch what was happening, but as she often found, there was no way to look away from the scene before her. Her eyes were glued to the image of the boy, crying in his room, while his parents were arguing about something that likely didn't even matter.
Night after night she was forced into the same situation. Sometimes it wasn’t so bad. Every now and then, she would be lucky enough to observe his days in school. But even then, the other kids would bully him. But that's how his life was. It had always been like this since the day he was born. The very same day she started having dreams about him.
With all her power, she was still unable to help the poor soul. No matter how much she struggled, no matter how much she tried and the effort she put into it, she was never able to help. It made her feel weak. A feeling that had torn her apart since the first time it struck her. Now she had to face it, every single night until the boy's death. Only one thing would ever be able to help it. And she knew what it was…
oOo
Celestia's eyes slid open. Her room was dark at the moment of her awakening. Something most ponies didn’t experience on a daily basis. While most ponies would wake to the sun beating down on them through their curtains, she always awoke to the darkness of the night.
The beating of her heart pounded against her chest, but slowed as she realized that it was just another dream... just another dream. She sat up in her bed to catch her breath. Her eyes scoured the room, yet they still left her unable to see anything in the penumbra.
Hundreds upon hundreds of nights now. Will I ever get a rest from this torment?
She slowly slithered out of her bed, too tired to light the room with her magic. She felt her way around till finally bumping into the dresser that rested across from her bed. Opening up some of the drawers, she removed multiple pieces of her gold regalia from their respective positions. For a short moment, the thought of stepping down from her position and leaving Equestria under Luna’s control passed her.
No. I am the princess of Equestria! It is my job and destiny to watch over my subjects in the day! I cannot simply quit due to a few bad nights rest!
Celestia slipped on all the small gold pieces and sighed as she walked onto the balcony of her room.
From where she was standing, she could see her sister watching over all of Equestria. Once again, Luna had waited patiently for another whole night. And again, she waited at the highest point of the castle, watching over the citizens as they slept . Luna's face told Celestia that her job didn't please her, but no matter how the lunar princess felt, that is what she was bound to do by the fate given to her at birth. Maybe one day, Luna would find something greater to have hope in. But for now, there was nothing but the dreaded life that bounded her to her position.
Celestia looked up into the dark blue sky. Her sister's work was written all over it, as it had been for the past many years. Her dazzling constellations were great works of art for all ponies to see… Now only if they ever saw them. Sometimes, Celestia hated herself for being the one to take away the night to replace it with a brighter, yet less creative day.
And even in a land made of magical ponies, nature dictated that every night must end for a new day to begin.
She spread her wings and flew up to where Luna was perched. Hearing Celestia coming, she crooked her head to the side to watch the destroyer of her works come to her side. Celestia noticed her sisters staring, but ignored it in hopes that Luna wouldn't start questioning her.
“It’s getting worse, sister. I can see it in your eyes.” Luna observed, "What is it that could be so horrid that you can't tell it to your sister?"
“It is not your problem Luna." Celestia answered, in a hushed tone, "Just leave it be.”
“But it is my problem. Your dreams are hurting you, yet you won’t allow me to view them. I am the princess of the night, the viewer of dreams, but before everything, I am your sister. I insist, what IS the problem?”
“I’ve already said it once." Celestia replied, "It’s nothing you should be worried about. Just let it be. In time, it'll end.” It was the truth. The terrible, cruel truth. One day her dreams would end. Even if it took a hundred years, they would end in the death of a boy who was tormented by his father since birth.
Luna wanted to say something about her sisters decisions, but decided it was best to not anger her.
“Fine. If that is how you want it, that is how it will be. But remember that I offered my help.” Luna said. She flared her wings, preparing to leave her sisters presence. "I will have breakfast ready for us. Perhaps we can discuss this then." She sounded more like she was giving a demand than asking Celestia to comply.
Luna flew to the main hall, leaving Celestia on the high perch. Down to the ground below, only the stones of the castle ground laid in wait for the day to start.
Oh sister of mine, if only you could understand.
Celestia sighed again as her horn lit up, creating a bright beacon of light in the darkness of the night.
The sun slowly started to rise over the horizon, the moon setting at the same pace. Her horn lit once more as she cast another spell to keep the sun on a steady pace through the day.
Once finished, she took a few moments to watch as the ponies came out of their home and experienced the new day. While she never told anyone, she envied their ability to so easily wake from their rest and smile once more. "I suppose it is time to join my sister."
oOo
Celestia landed in the kitchen, where Luna was waiting for her. Meals for the both of them had been prepared and served. They sat in silence as they ate, the tension becoming thick enough to cut.
It wasn’t long before Luna broke the silence that had befallen the two.
“Sister, it is for the best that you allow me to view your dreams. You must think of your subjects here. If you continue on with this, you will soon be unable to complete your tasks.”
Celestia sighed as she processed what her sister said. It was true. Luna always had a strong grasp on subjects of these sorts. Luna could actually help her in this case. However, Celestia didn’t keep secrets without reason. This knowledge could only hurt her sister and that served reason enough to keep Luna out her dreams by means of magic.
“I wish I could tell you, sweet sister of mine, but this is not something you need to know nor should you know about.”
Luna’s face scrunched.
“But…”
She couldn’t think of anything to say that may change her sisters mind.
“But nothing Luna. It is nothing of your business.”
Luna looked off to her side, a sad expression littered her face. She got to her hooves and walked off, Celestia's eyes followed her the whole way.
Celestia sighed once more.
I know what's need to be done.
oOo
Hours later, Celestia found herself wandering the halls of her castle. Every few moments passing another door. She wasn't looking for some fancy one with gold adorning the doors or handle, like most in the castle. Instead, she stopped in front of a large yet plain cherry wood one.
She took a deep breath, and…
Behind the wooden door, a grand hall awaited Celestia. Statues could be found in every corner, depicting stages of various events in Equestrian history. She continued on, stopping only when another more ornate door blocked her path.
She stared at the the blockade for a moment, questioning whether or not her actions were appropriate. Her heart beat in her chest, double the normal speed. If what she wanted was possible, she would be the creator of magic that could change life for ponies forever. If not, she would be forced through a lifetimes worth of heartbreak.
This is for the best, and for his profit as well. I hereby make a promise to you, boy. I will bring you home.
Celestia opened the large double door with her magic, not hesitating a moment to walk inside. Twelve sets of eyes were cast upon her, but only looked back at only one. The one with a long white beard and coat that had grayed with the passing seasons. One of the most magically talented unicorns in recent history.
“Princess, what a pleasant surprise!" Said the stallion. She recognized the stallion as Bliss Endeavor. A very fitting name for a somepony who had always worked his best to get whatever he wanted. He truly was a stallion who worked for what he got. "I take it that you have need for something?”
She nodded to him.
“Yes, I do indeed need your help. In fact, I need the help of everypony here.”
“All of us?” he asked.
“Yes. I have a special task for all of you. And everypony here will have to devote themselves to it's completion.”
They looked between each other, slowly nodding to signify that they will do as she asks. Not that they wouldn't have, but it wasn't common for all twelve of the ponies in the Council of Arcane Arts to take on a single task at once. Whenever they did, it was certainly a massive undertaking that would require all of them putting in a great amount of time to complete.
“Of course, Princess." Bliss Endeavor bowed. "What is it that you ask of us?”
View Online
Start of an- Oh wait, thats not an original name at all.
Two weeks. Thats how long i’ve been stuck in ponyland. Forced into a strange world and told that there was no way to reverse the spell that brought me here, I was put into a position unlike anything I would have ever thought I would have experienced. In the first of those two weeks, I stayed in a castle in a place called Canterlot.
While I was there, Celestia introduced me to a few ponies, one of which being a complete dick. The others were nice enough. After that, Celestia took me to the Gala that just so happened to be going on at the time. Of course, nobody was supposed to see me. I scared Luna and she removed her invisibility spell that she had placed on me. She forgot to put it back on and once they left and the guards decided I was a threat. That lead to me being arrested, then soon released, where a pony named Shining Armor who thought that I would make a good punching bag for his guards decided to pick me up.
After that, I was shipped of to Ponyville as Celestia assumably could no longer guarantee my security. And no, I didn’t actually hurt anyone. Infact, i’m ashamed to say that I got my ass handed to me by a pony.
In the week i’ve been in Ponyville, surprisingly little has happened. It was mostly me just laying around, doing nothing. The only event of interest was when Celestia stopped by to apologize for kicking me out of Canterlot. She left shortly after, leaving me to the grips of boredom once more.
So now, i’m here. Cooking pancakes for Twilight and Spike because I have nothing better to do with my life. Also, I felt it was right to finally repay Twilight for her hospitality. Cooking was always something I felt at home doing. In a sense, it was a way to deal with the hardships in life, something to take my mind away from what's happening around me. Perhaps thats why I didn’t notice Spike standing next to me.
“Whatchya cookin” He asked, staring straight at me. I jumped, startled by the sudden interruption. After calming down, I answered him by handed him a plate with a stack of pancakes on it as a response. He took it in his little claws, licking his maw as he shifted his gaze to greedily watch the plate come closer to his mouth. “ Oh! Pancakes!”
It took him seconds to gobble down the entire stack and hand the plate back to me. “ More please!” I took the plate, shaking my head, but put more pancakes on it despite knowing Twilight wouldn’t be happy with my fattening up her best assistant.
“ This can’t be healthy for you.” I said, handing him the plate with more fluffy goodness on it.
“ I don’t think a few pancakes will hurt me,” He responded, lifting the plate to his mouth and swallowing the stack whole. I originally assumed only he could do that due to him being reptilian, as many reptiles back home could do it. Pinkie proved that assumption wrong… He mmmd and set the plate down again. “ You should be a cook Jesse. You’re really good!”
“ Anyone can make Pancakes, Spike.” I replied. “ Besides, most of what I know, a pony wouldn’t eat.”
“ Why not?” He asked, sounding genuinely curious.
“ You ever eat meat?” I asked. He recoiled, looking disgusted.
“ Twilight says dragons don’t eat meat and that its bad for us.”
That, caught me by surprise. Spike had sharp teeth, and I doubt those are good for eating gems. “Predator to predator Spike, sharp teeth are for meat.”
He puffed his little chest out, trying to look intimidating. “ Twilight wouldn’t lie to me!”
I chuckled at that while I tried to formulate a response, but nothing came up. I hadn’t known Twilight long enough to know her well and I wouldn’t want to make her mad at me. Luckily, as this world seems to run on cartoon logic, Twilight came down the stairs at that very moment, saving me from giving Spike my opinion on what Twilights been telling him.
“ I smell pancakes!” She said in a sing song voice, “ and I sure hope spike didn’t eat them all.”
She hit the bottom of the stairs and made her way to the kitchen where me and Spike were talking. “ You didn’t eat them all did you?”
“ No!” He hastily responded, turning to me, “ Right Jesse? Theres still more.”
“ Not anymore there aren’t. I’m going to have to make more,” I replied, turning back to the stove to continue cooking.
A few moments passed without a sound as Twilight glared daggers at Spike. “ How much longer till more are done?” She asked.
“ Now” I responded, putting four of the cakes from the pan onto a plate and handing it to her. She gave me her thanks and went to sit at the table.
It was at that moment I heard the door open and silently click shut. I looked over to Twilight who seemed to have also heard it. She had gotten up from her chair, entering the front room to confront whomever had entered. Just a moment later, I saw a flash and was looking at the blank walls of my room. I just sighed, letting myself fall onto the bed.
Several minutes later, I appeared back in the main room of the library. Whoever had came in was gone, but Twilight was watching the door, assumably checking to see if anypony else was coming. “ It’s clear for now,” She said, turning to face me, “ but be careful.I don’t want to get in trouble.”
I don’t know how word of me hasn’t spread already. Celestia may have told the nobles not to tell anyone since so many of them saw me dragged to the ground and cuffed, but I doubt the possibility that every one of them kept their mouths shut. Made me want to run to the door and throw it open just to spite, but that very well may be hazardous to my existence.
She started again, seeming to read my thoughts, “ Celestia will be coming to Ponyville to meet with the mayor today. Maybe I can convince her to allow you reveal yourself sooner.”
“ I would like that,” I mumbled.
“ Good. While i’m gone, you’re going to have to watch Spike. Have fun!” With that, she threw the door open and trotted away, locking it as she left. Why didn’t she do that earlier?
I turned and walked back into the kitchen where Spike still was. As soon as I entered, he reminded me of the question he had recently asked, but I was never able to give an answer to. “ What are you going to do now that you're stuck in Equestria?” He must have remembered when he suggested I became a cook.
The question stung at my heart, but I pushed the feeling away. There isn’t a reason to dwell on what can’t be fixed, after all. “ I don’t know.” I answered back, sitting down in a chair and resting my head in my arms. “ What is there that I even can do?” He shrugged his shoulders, just as unsure as I was.
“ What do you like doing?”
I looked over at him, saying, “ Are you going to give me a lecture about doing something with my life?”
“ Uh…No. But i’m sure Twilight would if you asked her!” I groaned at that. In the week i’ve been here, Twilight has given me more lectures than my college professors. Combined.
Suddenly, a knocking came from the door. Spike got up to answer it, but I stopped him by placing my hand on his shoulder. “ Ignore it.”
He sat down and the knocking soon stopped to be replaced by the sound of the door opening. I looked at Spike, confused. “ It’s one of Twilights friends. She told them where a key would be if she was ever out.”
“ Oh. Lets got greet them then.” I stood, walking to the living room with Spike on my heels. It was Rarity and a filly I didn’t recognize, though, she did resemble Rarity in appeance. “ Didn’t know you had a daughter.” I said, looking at the filly beside her.
Rarity looked up to me, somewhat confused. “ Daughter?” She asked, as though she had never heard the word.
Right, horse terms. “ Uh… Foal, I think.” I looked down at Spike. “ Thats what parents call their kids right?”
He nodded and Rarity took a step forward, looking somewhat offended. “ I, am not a goat,” she said matter of factly. “ And she is not my foal. She is my little sister.” Rarity gently pushed her sister forward.
“ Hi! I’m SweetieBelle!” She looked slightly nervous, probably never having seen anything of my size. Seeing her stand next to Rarity, I could see that she was just over half her size. Her cutie mark was what looked like a pink treble clef with a heart at the end of its tail.
Rarity stepped forward, pushing her sister back with a back of her foreleg. “ Twilight thought it would do good to introduce you to a few foals to see how they reacted. Speaking of whom, where is Twilight.” She looked around the room to emphasize her point.
“ Apparently Celestia came to town. She went to see if Celestia would allow me a big appearance.”
“ I never heard anything about Celestia coming here.”
“ Do you have a cutie mark!” Silence reigned for a few seconds after Sweetie asked her question.
“ Humans don’t get cutie marks.” I replied. She looked disappointed at that and kicked at the ground. Just a second after word, her head popped back up and she spouted out another question.
“ How do you know what your super special talent is then?”
I had to think on that for a second. “ For us, its just finding something you would like to do for the rest of your life and sticking to it. Although, not everyone gets to do what they want and its not quite that simple.”
She gasped, along with Rarity and Spike. “ Everypony doesn’t get to do what they want! How can that be!”
I shrugged my shoulders. “ Everybody wants the jobs that pay the most. To get those jobs, we have to go through several extra years of school and most people can’t afford it.”
Rarity seemed to be shrinking in her hooves. “ You have to pay for school!” It was at this time I realized pony’s were very dramatic. Or is that just Rarity? Or are all ponies dramatic and Rarity is just the greater of two actors?
“ Not the first thirteen years, but after that, yes,” I said with a wave of my hand, “ But enough of that. Lets move onto greener fields.” Rarity corrected herself, standing to her full heights. By full heights, I mean she barely came to my waist.
“ Alright,” Rarity stated, pulling at a collar she didn’t have. Wierd seeing a pony do that... “I’m sure Sweetie Belle here is very interested in what kinds of music you have where you come from. I myself i’m curious as to the fashion of your world.I would have asked earlier, but Twilight insisted I should wait till you had more time to adjust to your life here.”
“ Right,” I muttered wistfully, rubbing at the back of my neck. “ I can’t even name all the different kinds of music. As for fashion,” I pointed to my plain red shirt that I had been wearing for the past week. And yes, I did wash it. “ This is as fashionable as i’ll go.”
She mumbled something that sounded like, “ I can work with that,” but i’m not going to say I was completely solid on mumbles alone. “ If you would be so kind, can I take your measurements. You’ve been wearing that same… thing for the past week now.”
Knowing Rarity what little I did, I couldn’t help but ask a certain question that popped up as soon as she mentioned clothing. “ Was the entire purpose of you coming here to ask me about clothing in my world?”
For a moment, she looked insulted, but that look quickly faltered. “ No.” It was an obvious lie, but I decided not to antagonize her about it. I’ve seen magic in work, and that wasn’t something I want used against me. Especially if Rarity was anywhere near as talented as Twilight. “ If you don’t mind,” She said, looking at me like she was waiting.
I lifted my arms and she brought out a measuring tape out of her saddlebags which I had been ignorant to till that moment. She used her magic to lift my arms and position my legs for her ease and went to work. Apparently Sweetie Belle thought that was as good as any time to start asking more questions. “ Were you still in school before you came to Equestria?”
I rubbed my eyes, much to Rarities disliking. “ I was in my first year of College.”
“ What did you want to be when you grew up?” That question alone was enough to dig a small hole in my heart, knowing it was something I would never be able to do here. Rarity seemed to pick up on my short pause and shoed her little sister away.
“ Please excuse her,” She said, “ Shes young and doesn’t know any better.”
“ No damage done.”
She gave me a ‘ I know your lying’ face and said, “ Theres no need to keep such false truths to yourself. If anypony knowns how important ones destiny is, its going to be a pony.” With that, she wrapped her forehooves around my waist in a hug. “ If you ever want to talk about it with anypony, just come to me.” She released me and walked out the door, taking Sweetie Belle with her.
Before I could even take a seat, Twilight walked in, looking rather emotionless. “ Hey Twilight, “ I said. She looked up at me and down to Spike.
“ Please leave.” She said, her voice lacking just as much emotion as she looked. Spike did as she said, leaving the room to me and Twilight alone. Once he was gone she started to approach me and asked the question, “ What do you think of me?”
It caught me off guard, but the question was simple enough to answer. It took me a moment to answer, but when I did, I said,“ You’re nice. A bit anti-social and you’re clingy. Whenever Celestia is around, shes all you seem to be able to talk or think about. Thats about all i’ve got.”
She nodded her head and lifted her body to hug me. “ Thanks. I just… I, pet me.”
I jerked back, not thinking she would ask such a thing. Twilight is normally so… secluded and to herself that such a thing wouldn’t seem like her at all. But, nonetheless, I lifted my hand and started to stroke her mane.
I found her surprisingly soft and enjoyable to pet and it seemed like she was enjoying it as well. Eventually, she pulled away. “ Thanks.” She said. Then, she pulled a small necklace out of… somewhere. I don’t even know. The object had what looked like a pony’s head, somewhat like Celestia with a horn and wings sprouting from where the neck of the head met the triangular base. In the middle was a small red gem of sorts. “ I got this for you. I thought you might like it if I got you something.”
I took the necklace in my hands, allowing the chain to fall through my fingers. “ Uh… Thanks, Twilight.” I couldn’t help but let a small smile come to my face. “ Most guys don’t wear necklaces where I come from, but-”
“If you don’t like it, I can take it back!” This wasn’t anything like Twilight.
“ No. It’s fine. Nobody knows what humans wear and this’ll at least get Rarity off my back about being so ‘Style deaf’.”
“ Oh good!” She said, sounding relieved and rubbing her back around my leg as she twisted around it. “ I was starting to think you didn’t like it. Anyways, I got to get back to my errands. I picked that up for you and came straight back. Ta-ta! Oh! And don’t tell anypony about it. Also, meet me at the edge of the Everfree tonight.” With that, she ran right back out the door. That… definitely didn’t seem like Twilight.
I just shrugged my shoulders and went about my day. In all reality, I didn’t know Twilight that well. We spend only a small amount of time together as she was always out doing one thing or another. Most of what I knew was from listening to Spike, and surprisingly enough, that wasn’t much to go off of. While we were together, she would always ask questions about my world. Maybe she got me this to try and get me to open up?
Spike choose that moment to walk back in. “ What was that about?” He asked, sniffing the air.
I almost told him what had happened, but remembered Twilight had told me to keep quiet.“ Nothing important.” I replied, “ Twilight just had to drop something off.”
He rubbed his nose. “ Oh. Ok. Uh… do you smell that.” I couldn’t smell anything out of the ordinary.
“ Nope. What's it smell like?” I asked.
He sniffed at the air once again, approaching me slowly. “ Smells like a cat.” Welp. That was anticlimactic, but then again, what would I have been expecting. He hummed to himself for a second. “ If you see a cat, tell Twilight. Those things a pure evil.” Heh. He too left the room, rubbing at his nose.
For some reason, I imagined a pony using giant eye drops.
A few hours later, I was visited by a very shy, and if I will, adorable pony named Fluttershy. Twilight had yet to return, so I was left to greet her at the door once Spike had cleared me for entrance.
“Fluttershy,” I said, nodding to her as she entered my vision.
She nodded in response. “ I was wondering how you were doing,” She asked tagging a ,” If you don’t mind me asking,” at the end.
I simply shook and said, “ The best way I can say it is, slightly depressed.” This pony has come by every day to ask that same question… normally I would tell her I was fine, but I didn’t feel like lying to her today. I sat down on the couch, inviting her over with a pat on the cushion next to me. Knowing the question that was soon to come, I said, “ Changing everything you’ve ever known is… difficult. I would have completely broken down the second I stepped foot in Equestria if Celestia hadn’t visited me when I was younger.”
“ Oh you poor thing!” she cried as she wrapped her hooves around my stomach in a strangely tight hug. I let it go for a second before pushing her away when it became uncomfortable. “ Do you want to talk about it?”
“I’m good.” She awkwardly rubbed her hooves together. It was plain the neither of us knew where to take the conversation. Because of that, I immediately said, “ Celestia decided I can tell everyone about me being here,” to keep it from becoming even more awkward.
“ Oh thats good! When are you going to?” I shrugged my shoulders.
“ Can you keep a secret?” I asked. She thought about it for a second before nodding her head. “ Twilight asked me to meet her at the edge of the everfree tonight. I’m guessing that has something to do with it.” Twilight didn’t actually ask me to keep that part secret, but better safe to make sure she doesn’t say anything.
“ Then we should get going. It’s dark already.” I hadn’t realized how late it was, but a glance at the window proved her correct. I could barely see outside from where I was. “ She probably wants to meet you at my cottage since its right at the edge.” If this wasn’t ponyland, I would have found that suspicious, but this was Fluttershy, the living embodiment of innocence.
She took my hand in her hooves, tugging lightly towards the door. It was dark out and every pony was presumably already back home. I would have guessed Fluttershy to be one of those ponies. Maybe she stopped by the library on her way home?
We made it in good time, nobody being out in the roads as it was late and all. It took us much longer to find Twilight. Fluttershy was at my legs the entire time, pushing against them whenever a twig snapped or something made some random sound in the distance. Turns out, when Twilight had said ‘edge of the Everfree’ she meant right on the path to go in.
Fluttershy kept on sniffing the air as if something was off while we approached. Once we were close and Twilight noticed us, Fluttershy looked up to me and said, “ I smell a cat”.
I thought back to when Spike has said the same thing. Twilight had just left the room as he walked in, but he didn’t smell anything when she first walked in. Now Fluttershy could smell one as well and looked like she would jump at the slightest hint of danger. Something became very clear to me at that moment, and it was if Ponies can talk and defy everything i’ve ever known about them, theres nothing here to say that cats can’t be the same way. And if Spike said that cats are evil, they might just be evil.
“ Maybe we should go back,” I said, slightly afraid and disturbed of what a evil, magic powered cat might be like.
She shook her head, quivering in fear. “ Its to late,” She said, “ She’s already seen us.” Fluttershy pointed towards the shape that looked like Twilight.
I looked over to that cat. She indeed was coming our way. I wanted to turn back, but something forced me to stay in place. I too started to shake.
That cat started to run towards us, losing its disguise. Her hooves quickly became paws with extended claws. New, sharp teeth replaced replaced her flat ones. Her coat started to change all at the same, going from its light purple to a sickly, near black color.
The next thing I knew was darkness alone.
