Stepping In (Reloaded)

Chapter 2

Ace hadn't talked to anypony in 3 days now. He sat against the wall on one of his mattress's. Singing softly to himself he thought of Celestia, and Luna. Luna he didn't even have a guess at what she thought. But Celestia. She hated him. At least it felt that way. Humans must have done something bad here. Maybe it would be better if he didn't know. It couldn't have been worse than what they had done to themselves he thought.

"Prisoner Ace. Get ready for visitation. You may not leave your cell. The visitor will enter in two minutes." A voice from seemingly nowhere said. Ace stood up and changed quickly. He hadn't changed clothes since he got there and probably stunk. Thinking quickly he wiped himself down with a little hand sanitizer and dried himself a clean pair of underwear.

There was a knock at the door and he couldn't help but laugh. "Come in." He said while sitting down on his bed.

Celestia walked in with a slightly confused look. "Something humorous human?" She asked with a bit of an edge to her voice. "Yeah you knocked and waited for a response before entering a jailed man's cell, like could stop you from coming in with just a word." Ace had stopped laughing but still wore a playful smirk.

Celestia didn't find it funny. "Just because you're jailed doesn't mean you don't deserve respect." Celestia said.

Ace frowned. "If you respected me at all I wouldn't be in a jail cell for 3 days, without meals, without shower time, and the only water to drink from the toilet." Ace retorted.

Celestia looked shocked then angry. "No food or drink? That will be changed soon. As for shower time, suck it up until the end of he week. You are a prisoner for a reason may I remind you. Your kind has done almost irreversible damage to our society and I do not wish for it to happen again. If you so much as start a book club I will know about it. You will write me every single day with updates about what you've been up to. You'll have your Equestrian ID before you leave the prison. You will not be staying here. I simply don't have enough time to deal with you right now. You will be sent to pony-"

"Alright princess hold up. I plan on talking too, first of all I'm genuinely surprised that your guard has gone behind your back to do this to me, first because I thought you hated me and second of all I did not commit the crimes my kind did. I am innocent of all their crimes and if you're going to attach their mistakes to me then I should just go live somewhere else. Third of all I will agree to send you updates but I need to know where I am going and why?" Ace said sternly without breaking the Princess' stare. The last person to interrupt her was her father.

"You've got guts human." Celestia said. "I also have a name and I'm sure you know it."Ace replied. Celestia rolled her eyes and smiled. Then she caught herself and frowned immediately. "Ace you cannot treat me like that in front of other ponies." Celestia said in a serious tone. "I don't see any other ponies here." He smirked and she laughed.

What was going on with Celestia? she wracked her brain for a few seconds trying to find out exactly why she let him treat her like that. Then she realized that he treated her like a regular pony, not a princess. She hadn't felt like this since the last human she made friends with. Her mood shifted instantly.

"Enough games Ace be serious for a second, you will be going to Ponyville for 4 months for introduction into Equestrian society and to live among my pupil and her friends. You will learn the lessons of friendship and report to me what you learned. I expect just as much from you as I do from twilight." Celestia said her mood shifting back to neutral as she finished.

~~~~

Ace learned several things about Celestia in his second encounter with her. First she was definitely not as up tight as he thought. She seemed to enjoy being treated like an equal rather than a diarch and she has a past with humans that just have scared her more than he realized at first. She was also wise enough to gauge his personality as soon as he spoke. Which means she was older than she looked. It would be rude to ask a princess her age but he would ask the next time they met.

He was lonely again, maybe another visitor would stop by before long.

~~~~

Twilight sparkle heard that the human and Celestia apparently hit it off in his cell. This made her mad, and what made her even more nervous is that she had to become the teacher instead of staying the pupil. Teaching not only the basics of education but also the magic of friendship. She brushed her hair faster and frowned into the mirror.

Sighing and putting the brush away she stood and left her room.

~~~~

Fluttershy was waiting patiently in Celestia's waiting room. She gently fluttered her legs and wings as she was clearly nervous. But she needed to see the man. He would never be the pony she loved and she knew that. But somewhere deep inside of her soul. She couldn't give up, they won't be the same but if he is close enough, even if he wouldn't have her, she could at least know him again. the little part of her heart that never let go of Ace was beginning to grow and hopefully with care from the new man she could grow to love again.

~~~~

Luna was sitting in the throne room looking clearly bored as she listened to the ponies drone on and keep asking about the human. These ponies would never give up always asking if the man would be released soon. Or if Celestia learned anything scandalous about the human. The answers remained the same, as they didn't want the public to know he was going to ponyville.

Luna often pondered about the wonders of his world, of the inventions and crazy things they might have made. She could not wait to talk to the human, she would get her chance and she would learn many things, she knew already that she was on the verge of something amazing.

~~~~

Shining armor never really used his free time for anything but he couldn't get the humans song out of his head. He had spent his free time hoofing his way through the parts of the song on his mothers old piano and sang quietly to himself, but somepony was listening.

"Shining, you've been at the piano all night are you coming to bed?" He heard a voice ask gently. He felt a familiar hoof on his shoulder, it was Cadence.

"Hey honey, sorry I've been up so late, I'll be in bed soon. I really just want to play lately, I hadn't played since I joined the guard all those years ago. I had forgotten how much I loved playing." He said while he kept playing. He decided he would stay up for a while longer to figure out the rest of that song. He couldn't stop humming the melody to himself.

"It's alright dear, I know how you feel, I haven't written anything in a long time and I might just pick the quill and ink bank up." She said while kissing his cheek. "I'll see you in bed later I'll probably try and write again." She said while walking back towards their room.

~~~~

Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were on their way to Ace's cell as they spoke to each other. "So Twilight, what do you think this human is like? Will he be handsome? Or maybe he will be dark and brooding, or maybe he will b-" "I don't know Rarity, I haven't met him but I do know his kind is dangerous. He hasn't harmed anypony yet but just know that we don't know much about him and we can't let our guard down. Humans are very unpredictable." She replied before Rarity had a chance to finish her questions.

"I think that he will be amazing and cool! And he will like parties and cake and pudding and chocolate and milkshakesandpeanutbrittleandallsortsofsweetsandwe'llbebestfriendsforever!" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly as they heard her echo in the deepest part of the dungeon.

"D-do humans have any... M-m-ma-magic powers?" Fluttershy stuttered out while her walking slim frame shook slightly. "Nope, according to human biology, which was in a book I found deep in the library last night, humans don't have any innate magical properties. And also humans are pretty ugly. I mean their eyes are way too small and close together. Their noses are really weird too, they can't smell as good as us." Twilight said while pulling away from her book.

~~~~

*knock knock*

Ace heard the door knock again. Hopefully it was a meal and some water. "Come in" he said again with a smile on his face. These ponies were like Canadians.

He saw four ponies enter, two with horns, one with wings, and the last had neither. He wondered if that has anything to do with class or status. Cause Celestia and Luna had both.

"Ah you must be Twilight Sparkle and friends. I was expecting you but not this soon, I would have tried to clean up this dungeon the best I could." He said bowing slightly, "My name is Ace Craftson."

The white pony with a horn immediately walked forward and looked him over. Seemingly taking in all his features. "My name is Rarity, I'm a master fashionista, and I might be able to help you not look so... Well like that. Also it's very nice to meet you Mr. Craftson, it's an honor to meet a human." She said while returning the bow after circling him a few times.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, and I'm the one who will be teaching you our culture, history, and lessons on friendship." The purple pony with a horn said. She seemed somewhat nervous and definitely unhappy. But that was neither here nor there, how happy could an academic be taking on someone from... Well from another planet. It's weird to think of himself as an alien but he soon got over it.

"And my name is Pinkie! I'll be your best friend from now on!" She said while stuffing a cupcake in his mouth. It was unbelievably sweet, almost too sweet but oh so good after nothing to eat for days. "Oh my god thank you... You don't know how long I've been hungry for, like 4 or 5 days. It's hard to tell."

They all looked shocked and then outraged. "We'll fix that, my brother is the captain of the Royal Guard. I'll make sure to give him an ear full." Twilight said with her teeth grit. "Anyway I hope we could become friends when you eventually move in. I have an extra room but it might be a bit... Small, for you." Twilight said while bowing again. "We just came by for introductions. It won't be long until you're released."

"I... I'm... fluttershy." The semi cowering yellow Pegasus said. She was frightened but also a little excited to see him. He wondered why briefly but soon wrote it off. "Hello fluttershy. It's nice to meet you." He bowed slightly and she returned the
gesture.

"Tell me miss sparkle. Is it normal to keep visitors in solitary confinement while waiting for a chance to gain immigration status?" The tall man said to the smaller ponies.

"It's really only for diplomatic reasons. We don't want to look weak on foreign policies." Rarity added taking in a deep breath to spout some bullshit that princess celestial probably fed them. He could read the amount of power she really held above these ponies."The griffons are ferocious warriors and if they hear we just let a stranger from another dimension just walk in and start living here, they'll try and push the boarders to invaid us again."

Raising an eyebrow slightly and nodding in 'understanding' ace sighs and speaks. "It's ok I will survive here... hopefully." The ponies give him a slightly sorrowful look as they leave the room one by one. Before fluttershy leaves being the last one out
she looks back before closing the door and gives him a look that he couldn't quite read. Hesitance? Disgust? Fear? It was something he could put his thumb on.

~~~~

There was a knock at the door and Ace had woken up. It was some of the only sleep he had gotten since he had arrived in Equestria. As the guard opened the door he had a spear already pointed to his face. "human, you will follow us to the court room, Princess Celestia has requested your presence." Ace nodded and slowly made his way to the door. As the door to his room opened all the way he had heard some chords from a mandolin fade in.

After walking down the hall a bit a bass and drums kicked in and he notice they were walking along to the beat. Ace's voice came in quietly and rose in volume until they reached the stairs. Looking beside him he notice all the cells in the dungeon were empty. When the bridge(Cause I've been housing all this doubt) came up he turned and looked at his jail cell. Getting jabbed in the back he turned back around and started back towards the stairs.

Climbing the stairs the chorus came in and a single guard came in as back up vocals.

~~~~

Luna had also been approaching the throne room when she heard and felt the song music over coming her. Halfway through her verse(and this life sentence that I'm serving.) she stopped and looked out the window watching the sun rise over the horizon. The view from the castle during the suns ascent brought beautiful oranges and light blues across the living painting that was the window. During the bridge(cause I've been housing all this doubt) she turns her head and looks up at her own tower. where she had lived the past two years since her return from the moon.

When the chorus kicks in she turns from the window and continues trotting toward the throne room. Every so often passing by some guest rooms a maid cleaning in one would act as back up vocals for just a few words.

~~~~

The halls open up for ace as he reaches the top of the stairs just as a second bridge comes in. After the bridge ends another stallion joins the guards one that he recognizes as Shining Armor. He takes over the second voicing during the repeat of the softer chorus. Before the last chorus the doors to the throne room open up and both shining armor approach the throne. As he see's Luna and Celestia sitting at the throne instead of Shining singing back up vocals on the last chorus Luna's surprisingly elegant voice brings a beautiful contrast to Ace's Baritone.

Reaching the throne and kneeling , A soft piano plays as Ace kneels.

"I fought you for so long I shoulda let you in." Ace sings.

Surprisingly the next line doesn't come from Luna or Shining Armor but from Celestia.

"Oh how we regret those things we do." She replies.

"And all I was trying to do was save my own skin." Ace sings finally looking up into Celestia's eyes.

"Oooh." She gently replies just as Airily.

"But so were you." Ace sings smiles slightly.

"So were you." Celestia sings right back. As the piano hits a final soft chord, Ace lets his gaze fall back to the floor.