Chapter 3: Meeting the Elements - Part 1

It's been about thirty minutes since me and Celestia arrived at the train station. Despite my offer to pay for the tickets, Celestia took the wheel and paid for our tickets on her own. For one of the most wealthy mares in Equestria, it shouldn't be an issue paying for train tickets. Even though she is loaded, I feel bad for not being able to pay. It's not a matter of masculine pride, it's just what I'm used to; being a gentlemen and what not.

Then again the gender roles for this world are kinda reversed compared to Earth.

Digression aside, Celestia had purchased high class tickets; we were seated in a private car near the front of the train. Celestia had taken a seat across from me, staring out the window blankly while I doodled absentmindedly on a sheet of paper.

"It's a lovely day, isn't it?" I heard Celestia speak, so I shifted my attention to her.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, it is. I thought the report said it was gonna be raining..." I responded, glancing out the window as well.

"I guess even the weather reporters have their slip-ups" Celestia replied, a warm smile on her face once she and I locked eyes.

"R-Right" I simply gave a nod before quickly shifting my eyes back to drawing.

I couldn't put my finger on it... Whenever I made long enough eye contact with Celestia I would feel warm and bubbly inside. Her gaze always made blood rush to my face and I don't know why. Was she using some kind of magic to seduce me? No, that can't be true- she's better than that; besides, a beautiful mare like her doesn't even need magic to seduce others.

Also I have reason to suspect that Celestia changed the weather plans, it's just a hunch.

Either way it's not important, what's important to me is trying to figure out this strange feeling I get when Celestia gives me that kind of look. It could just be a simple look of platonic affection, just an innocent gesture of kindness, I'unno... I need to learn how to read people's eyes a bit more fluently.

"Is something wrong?" Celestia asked, having suddenly appeared by my side of the booth we were seated at.

I nearly jumped through the roof, startled by her sudden appearance. I glanced over at her with a light blush before purging a sheepish smile onto my lips, scratching my chin.

"No, nothing's wrong- just thinking is all" I replied, playing the best poker-face I could manage.

"Are you sure? Your face is a little red" she spoke with concern, before gently placing her hand on my forehead.

I've seen this over-used situation play out in so many damn anime romantic comedies it's not even funny.

"I-I'm sure!" I squawked, pulling my head back, smiling awkwardly as I broke a sweat.

"But your forehead does seem rather warm" Celestia countered, raising a brow.

"I'm a big husky guy, men like me are always warm- it's rather uncomfortable at times" I explained, bantering mindlessly to distract myself from the small gap between me and Celestia- a nine foot tall drop-dead sexy alicorn goddess... Who's also a princess.

As me and Celestia continued to banter on back and forth, we both seem to grow lost in time. With what seemed like minutes, we arrived at the train station in Ponyville- where I was first discovered by that Fluttershy mare, whom I'm told is also a friend of her Highness Twilight Sparkle.

I had only spend a few days, maybe a week, in this town before moving to Canterlot. The only reason I moved to Canterlot in the first place was because of the invitation I got to attend the academy with tremendous financial aid. To be honest, I am very suspicious of how I got hooked up so well. I mean, I had the shittiest of luck back on Earth. But here, here is where my luck turned around? It's all confusing, as if somebody planned this all out according to a script.

Anyways, our dry banter continued back and forth for quite a while, at least until we approached the front steps of a large... Tree house? Tree library to be specific. Now, it isn't really what you would think; instead of a small little structure being built on top of the tree, it seems that somebody... Er... Somepony, carved out a tree and built a library/home with it. I never really stayed to long to see where Twilight lived, I only remained with Fluttershy since I was a bit edgy with confronting more than one anthropomorphic equine being.

I wasn't in the best state of mind when I first got here.

Celestia smiled over at me before approaching the front steps, knocking on the door of the large library. There was a bit of commotion inside, a few things knocking over, and a loud yelp followed by a crash. Once the commotion had finally settled, the door swung open and revealed a slightly disheveled Twilight Sparkle, who gave a sheepish smile to greet us both.

"Greetings Twilight, did we catch you at a bad time?" Celestia spoke first, a warm motherly smile perched on her lips.

"N-No! Not at all! I was just reorganizing a few things is all!" Twilight responded, dusting herself off, using her magic to straighten herself up rather quickly before she stepped aside, gesturing for me and Celestia to enter.

"P-Please, come in!" Twilight smiled.

Celestia and I gave a nod and we both entered, me following her in. As I entered, Twilight gave me an odd stare, almost as if she were sizing me up, like I was some sort of competition. I gave her a confused stare in return, conveying my obvious discomfort from her intense stare. She seemed to catch my drift, but only returned my gesture with a small smirk.

The fuck is her problem?

Once both me and Tia were inside, I took a seat on the couch in the living room. I noticed that there was an odd tension between me and Twilight, most of the tension was coming from her, I was just sitting here wondering why the fuck she seemed so intense. I glanced over at Tia, who appeared to have a rather mirthful glimmer in her eyes, a smile touching her delicate lips. I blushed softly, and quickly turned my gaze to the floor.

"So then!" I began, clapping my hands together.

"Oh right, I should prepare us some tea!" Twilight quickly declared, standing up and jogging over to the kitchen, preparing a pot of tea while throwing together a few ingredients for snacking.

"Twilight used to be a student of mine, at least until she became a princess herself" Celestia explained, scooting a bit closer to me on the sofa as she gave a warm smile.

"Is that so?" I replied, tilting my head a bit. "What does it take to be a princess?" I asked, looking up at her.

"You must be well equipped in many ways, but the main factor that seems to be the most effective is influence. Twilight, me, and my sister Luna have lots of influence among our subjects. We've also acquired abundant experience and have studied rigorously in order to sustain or positions with politics and so on" Celestia explained. There was a whole lot more to the lecture, but my brain kinda wandered off as she spoke.

"Tea's ready!" I heard Twilight speak up after a few moments of zoning out to Celestia's complex explanation.

"Oh wonderful!" Celestia smiled as Twilight hovered over some tea and snacks over to us.

"Thank you, Your Highness" I spoke, bowing my head respectfully.

When I looked up I noticed a warm blush spreading across Twilight's muzzle. She just smiled a bit sheepishly and shook her head, chuckling softly to herself.

"You need not refer to me as such, Titus. You may call me Twilight, or Ms. Sparkle if you prefer" Twilight explained, causing me to nod a bit, scratching the back of my head.

"Alright-y then" I responded softly, as I lifted up my glass of tea and took a sip while occasionally nibbling on some of the snacks she prepared as well.

"So then Titus, how are you adjusting to Equestrian life?" Twilight asked as she took a sip of tea.

"It's going... Decent" I replied, pausing a bit, blushing at the memory of this morning's events.

"Any troubles at all you'd like to talk about?" Twilight asked.

"Not really, I'm not one to complain about much. This world is completely different, one of the biggest things I've noticed is that the gender role in this world is switched compared to that of Earth" I explained, causing Twilight to give me an intrigued stare.

"Oh? What do you mean by that?" Celestia asked, seeming to ask the question Twilight was preparing to ask.

"Well, for the longest time men were the dominant gender, in fact, there were very few female influences with politics or sports or anything like that for the longest time. Then, about sixty-five years ago women started fighting for their rights, and they achieved them. At least in American society, I think" I explained, scratching my chin.

"So, males from your world prevented females from achieving more?" Twilight asked, perking a brow.

"Yeah, guys can be pricks, but we've been whipped into shape quite a bit over the years" I replied, giving a small chuckle.

"Whipped into shape?" Twilight tilted her head confused.

"Long story" I responded, letting out a sigh as I leaned back into the sofa.

"So, what are humans like?" Celestia asked, seeming to grow curious towards the topic of discussion.

"We're... Complex creatures" I responded, Celestia and Twilight gave a nod, gesturing me to continue my explanation.

"I could go on for hours trying to explain it, but the best short explanation I can give is that humans are complex creatures. We often don't know what we want; some people want war, others want peace. Some people want to build the world up and help everybody, and others just want to watch the world burn. Sadly, most of the world is corrupted by bad people, and it seems like it'll go on forever. In my opinion, life as a human is kinda depressing" I explained, giving a sigh as I stared up at the ceiling.

"I... See" Twilight spoke, taking my explanation into deep thought.

"Doesn't sound any different from regular politics here, the nobles just do a good job at covering their asses" Celestia suddenly spoke, causing both me and Twilight to twirl our heads towards her, looking at her befuddled.

Celestia smirked softly, grinning at both me and Twilight's dumbfounded expressions. I expected Celestia to be a bit more... Well, princess-esque, but then again she is just a mare... A mare that has lived for over a thousand years, but a mare nonetheless.

"What?" Celestia asked, giving both me and Twilight an innocent look.

Just then, there came a knock at the door. All of our heads turned to look at the door. After a moment of silence, there came another knock, only this one seemed a bit more rapid than the other.

"I'll just go see who that is" Twilight spoke, standing up and walking over to the front door.

As soon as Twilight opened the door, there was a mass explosion of bright colors and confetti. I let out a yelp of surprise and shock, but soon my mouth and entire face was covered and muffled by a big, bubbly, perky, plump, and fleshy mass that pinned my head against the floor, knocking me off the couch, and knocking me out cold.