Backyard Anomaly

Chapters

Chapter 01 - The Backyard Anomaly
Chapter 02 - A Wobbly Start
Chapter 03 - Shit's On Fire, Yo
Chapter 04 - Dinner & Talking 1
Chapter 05 - Dinner & Talking 2
Chapter 06 - The Visitor
Chapter 07 - The Deal

Chapter 01 - The Backyard Anomaly

The Backyard Anomaly

Chapter 1 – Backyard Anomaly

Michael is standing in his living room, a migraine slowly creeping up towards his temples while wondering what the heck just happened today. It just unfolded a few hours after finishing his shift at the ACASC, a local branch facility of the ‘Anomaly Containment And Study Centre’. It's an organisation known worldwide and appreciated by the entire population of Earth since it deals with various dangerous anomalies and other mysterious events.

Michael wonders what he should do now. Reporting the anomaly to the higher-up researchers at the ACASC would be the wisest idea, right? Never ever had such an intriguing and unique anomaly been discovered and… it could certainly strengthen his position at work, maybe give him a hefty raise as well. Not that he needed more money, but still... cash is cash which could lead to more vacation days. Nonetheless the man sighs.

He rubs his temples and starts walking towards the kitchen area, grabbing a can of beer. He quickly closes the door with his hips and opens the can. Michael walks towards the living room and lets himself fall into his recliner, thinking what he should do now, occasionally taking a few sips.

It just happened after he came back from work. A usual day, quite uneventful actually. After some experimenting with the newest inanimate anomalies at the ACASC, he called it a day and went home late this summer evening. Grabbing his favourite meal from Burger-King® , he finally dashed back home. Already in the driveway, his observant eyes noticed something being off.

Next to the path which led to his average three-story house stood his favourite birch tree. Now, he was quite the hobby botanist and cared deeply for his trees and plants in his garden, so, seeing some blue and purple hair strands hanging from a lower branch triggered his inner self quite a bit.

“Kids and their hair colours these days…” He shook his head and sighed.

Not giving it further thought, he opened the door of his house with the key and steppedinside. Whistling a silly tune, he entered the living room, putting the bag onto the table. The living room was quite spacious with various big windows allowing visitors to gaze into the big luscious garden behind his house. Being a researcher at ACASC definitely had its perks.

He stared at his burger and his mouth started to water. Not even bothering to get a plate, he lifted the burger and brought it towards his mouth. He wanted to open his mouth to dig into this delicious treat, but he just managed to mush the burger against his face. His eyes noticed something standing in his garden. Some… thing was standing in his garden.

He put the burger back onto its wrapping and closed his eyes, firmly rubbing them. It did not help though. He still saw this small white horse in his garden. It had a colourful mane and tail.

“What in the bloody hell?”

He gawked at the thing, wondering what kind of crazy prank must be pulled on him. The horse had proper wings and a rather pointy horn which was almost as long as his forearm. On top of that, it had a multicoloured mane and tail consisting of blue, green and various shades of purple.

Now as a top researcher in the ACASC, Michael had seen and studied quite a lot of weird shit the last few years. May it be various objects and anomalies like glowing and growing slimes which devour researchers for a living, or vicious bats which influence your mind and turn people into mindless vampires, sucking blood from their prey to serve it to the bat overlord in the bat universe. Those were just two examples of the 'shit' that people like Michael had to deal with in the ACASC.

He just wanted to enjoy his damned meal and binge-watch this new anime show on Netflix this evening, not deal with more work! Maybe... Maybe he could just close both eyes for a while and the weird horse would vanish or at least gallop away into the next garden. Someone else could deal with it and bring it to the ACASC, not him! After all, he was a hard-working individual and deserves some proper rest, he thought.

But it was now that his left eye started to twitch. The weird unicorn-pegasus-horse-thing started to nibble on his cherished blueberry bushes! It devoured them like a hungry monster who swallows its prey ice-cold. He wanted those berries for his yearly homemade berry jam cooking spree. He always made jam with his parents back in the old days...

“Jesus fucking bloodyChrist!”

With an annoyed grunt, he stomped towards the exit which leads to his garden. He opened the door swiftly with the intent of scaring the weird horse-creature away.

Oii."Oiii!"

He yelled in great annoyance.

The horse quickly turned its head towards him and gasps in shock. Slowly walking backwards, it almost tripped over its own legs.

“Get the hell away from my blueberries, aight?!” He shouted.

He used his arms distinctively to shoo the horse away, hoping it would get scared and finally piss off.
Michael then tilts his head in confusion when he realized something.

Wait, did it just gasp? –

The horse took a few more steps backwards, looking at him with big eyes. He stared at it in awe. Just now he realized how different this horse looks to normal horses. For starters, its eyes were huge with a purple eye color. It matched the purple in its colourful mane. Furthermore, its head is way rounder and the muzzle shorter as well.

Staring into its big eyes, it did not look anything like a horse anymore. What struck him the most was its facial features and its expression. The horse had a look of pure fear on its weirdly feminine face. It… showed various emotions unlike the face of a normal horse would. The anomaly looked eerily human now.

Michael just blinked in confusion and found himself walking slowly towards the horse in curiosity.

“S-Stay back!” The horse shouted with a strong but feminine voice while walking back a bit more in fear. She lowered her head, the horn now aimed towards him.

Michael has seen a lof of weird shit during his last five years studying all the various anomalies on Earth. But right now, his brain feels like it got slapped, soaked in gasoline and finally put on fire as well.

“D-Did you just speak English?” He sputtered out in shock and excitement. It was now that he realized, that she was wearing a golden tiara and a huge golden necklace. Even on her hoofs, he could see some golden slippers. She looked straight out of a Disney movie.

The small horse kept walking back in terror and her rump finally connected with a big thuja hedge. Realizing there would be no way out, she shot out some laser ball towards Michael’s direction. It missed him by a meter though. He recoiled in shock and confusion.

“Oii, Bloody fucking...!”

With him being clearly distracted, the horse took her opportunity and spread her wings. Shaking off some debris and leaves from her big wings she started flapping them, producing quite a lot of wind.

Instinctively he grabbed for his stun device he sometimes had to use against other anomalies back at work. Aiming the high-tech device towards her, he squeezed the trigger. With a quick zap, the device made quick work of the white horse. She stopped the wing flapping and quickly fell unconscious towards the lush grass.

Michael’s head was pounding hard right now. Did he just capture a motherfucking English-talking alien horse with wings and a horn? Did this horse just talk and shoot lasers towards him? Now his brain was really on fire.

He quickly looked past his house, peeking towards his neighbours and the nearby road. No one had seen or heard anything. So far so good...

(present)

Still sitting in his recliner, Michael stares at his can of beer which rests in his palms.

He wonders what he should do with this weird but fascinating alien horse, which he locked up in his guest room.

The most sensible thing would be to let the ACASC handle this situation. Even his contract mentions that every anomaly had to be reported to the ACASC immediately. He knows that every anomaly must be studied and experiments need to be conducted. It’s for the better of mankind as he has been told and as he has told many others.

However, he just can’t get the picture of this eerily human-looking creature out of his mind. It...She looked so scared. Not like when an animal is scared and cornered. It was different. She was clearly a sentient species. A sentient horse species.

He chuckles to himself, "huh... I guess no Netflix for me today... heh."

Taking another sip of his beer, he wonders when she is going to wake up. Now, he assumed that the horse would be female. The looks of the horse and its voice clearly indicated it, but he was no horse lover so what did he know…

Standing up and putting his cup into the dishwasher, he starts opening the fridge.

“Hmmm.. Berries… Some Fruit. Maybe a bit of salad?”

He takes a few things out and closes the fridge again. After filling up a big bowl with water, he makes his way up the stairs towards the guest room on the second floor. Slowly putting the key into the keyhole, he turns it over and carefully opens the door.

Peeking carefully into the room, he could see her still laying on the carpet floor. Her chest rising slowly up and down with her dirty wings firmly tucked against her side. Now that he had time to look at her properly, he noticed how bruised and dirty she looked like. Her fur is smudged with dirt and grass. A few feathers are misaligned. Her tail and mane also don’t look too fresh, so it was no surprise that the room now had a distinct wet horse smell to it.

Slowly stepping into the room with the food and water in his arms, he notices her groggily waking up. He curses himself for the bad timing, wondering whether he should just quickly drop off the food and head back out to lock the door again. She did fire some laser at him for crying out loud! He quickly checks if the stun gun on his belt is still there. Luckily it is.

Noises start coming from the room now. Gasping for air, the horse opens her big eyes and looks to the left and right, clearly frightened by the new environment. She crawls back into a corner, looking at him carefully while glancing towards the open door and back at Michael.

“D-Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.” He tries to use the softest and safest sounding voice he can produce, almost whispering. Slowly squatting down, he makes himself smaller to appear less threatening to her.

“I bet you' re hungry…”

He gently puts the plate with some apples, grapes and berries in the middle of the room with the bowl of water next to it. Gently walking backwards, he gives the horse some space and a friendly smile, trying to calm the poor thing down. Giving food must be a universal peace sign, he thinks.

She keeps looking at the open door for a while and then back towards the food and water. After resisting the food for a while, a low rumble from her direction indicated that she was indeed hungry.

The small horse slowly and weakly crawls forward, eyeing the human at the other side of the room carefully. She then glances back towards the plate on the floor. The fresh fruit look delicious to her, and the water is crystal clear. It was clear that her mouth was watering just from looking at the food and water.

Quickly she pulls the bowl of water towards her and grabs it with her forelegs while sitting on the carpet. She quickly starts drinking from it, gulping the big amount of water down quite quickly. Then she hastily grabs some of the fruit and swallows them quickly.

“T-Thank you...” She says weakly while warily but tiredly looking towards the human's eyes. She then slowly proceeds to eat from the plate. At first slow, then she greedily buries her face in the platter, trying to sate her hunger as quickly as possible.

Author's Note

My first attempt at a second story. Tell me what you think! :)

(Might contain a few typos, pls be gentle) Somewhat edited on the 7th January 2022

Cheers
Marmo

Chapter 02 - A Wobbly Start

Author's Note

I'm blown away by the response of you all!
So many comments and likes, and we've been featured as well :)

Here's Chapter 2. Took me a while, but I think now it's somewhat acceptable.

Also thanks to @LordBucket for their constructive criticism.

Chapter 02 - A Wobbly Start

The Backyard Anomaly

Chapter 2 – A Wobbly Start

Michael is sitting on the guest bed, carefully watching the white horse in the room finishing the various fruit on the plate. He studies her appearance, being intrigued by her as his inner scientist clearly wants to know more and even more. However, if he wanted to start some common ground relationship with this creature, he needed to make her more comfortable. She is still clearly confused, scared and hurt. It’s just now that he noticed some wound around her left front fetlock. The blood is mostly dried up but also bleeding a bit as well.

“You’re hurt. I have some bandages.”

The horse just huffs and shifts her foreleg away so he can’t see the wound anymore.

“I’m fine…I heal quickly.”

An awkward silence falls over the two. Michael looks to the side uncomfortably.

…

"So…" He pauses for a while “...You are a talking horse with wings and a horn?”

She just flares her nostrils after hearing this.

“I am a Pony. And you happen to be a talking monkey?”

“I am a human…. And ouch that hurt.”

The white pony just huffs and looks away. “Well, you started it.”

-Well, she is right.-

“That’s fair…”

Michael’s eyes shift towards the creature’s butt. There on her white fur, he could see a big tattoo of the sun covering her entire upper hindleg. It looks like fine art. Whoever dyed the fur like this had a talent. His every grew bigger. It seems as if the fur itself-

“Are you finished ogling all over my flank?!” She spits at him in annoyance.

Michael, quite taken back by her harsh voice looks back into her eyes. She is anything but comfortable right now.

“S-Sorry I just never have seen a fascinating anomaly like you.”

The white horse snorts and shakes her head in disbelief as he calls her that.

-Great start so far Michael. Get out of your scientist role!-

“An anomaly huh? Have you ever considered that your prisoner has a name?” She spat.

Standing up from the bed he looks at her for a while. She just looks up into his small, green eyes, just realizing how big her captor really is. Noticing his mistake, Michael then sits on the floor opposite of her cross-legged. He emits a soft sigh, clearly being a bit tired after this long day of his.

“Of course. I’m sorry.” He clears his throat and extends his arm towards her carefully.

“My name is Michael, what is yours?”

She eyes his hand for a while, studying his claw-like appendage. Not seeing any dangerous claws, she extends her uninjured foreleg and puts her hoof into his hand. She shivers in mild discomfort as he gently wraps his fingers around her hoof, shaking it carefully.

“I’m Pr-… My name is Celestia.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Celestia.”

Silence falls onto the two. First, they look at each other for a while and then both look away, not wanting to make the other uncomfortable. After a while, Celestia shifts her body a bit to the left and right, trying to catch her captor’s attention. Michael is quicker though.

“Are you a Queen?” He gestures towards her golden tiara with a huge gemstone in it.

Celestia tenses up a bit but then quickly replies. “It’s a fashion accessory, and quite dear to me.”

“Damn. You must be quite rich huh? Looks good though…” he shifts his legs awkwardly. “The tiara and stuff.”

“Why, thank you.” He gets the first smile in response.

…

Another few empty seconds pass and Celestia awkwardly clears her throat.

“Mister Michael… Could you kindly release me? I need to get back to my home immediately.”

“Oh, I could. But trust me, you don’t want to run around in the streets all alone. The local government and other facilities which are specialized in capturing anomalies like you would surely catch you in no time.”

Celestia tilts her head in confusion, narrowing her eyes at the human.

“Are you saying that there are organisations in this area that capture ponies like me?”

“Well yes, they are called ACASC for short. They capture and study anomalies. I work for them actually.”

Celestia just snorts, shaking her head. “Well, that explains a lot, mister Michael. But I am no anomaly. I am a pony.”

Michael slaps his own face after realizing his mistake.

“N-No! It’s not what you think! The anomalies usually don’t talk and are not… well…” He gestures towards the talking pony with a tiara in front of him. “…Well, sentient. But I’m pretty sure they won’t treat you too well. Sometimes even I feel sorry for a few of our anomalies."

“So, you were concerned for my wellbeing and therefore used your magic device to make me fall unconscious so you could lock me up in one of your rooms?” She asks in a challenging tone.

Michael points his two index fingers together, smiling sheepishly.

“T-That’s pretty much what I did yea. To keep you from being snatched up by them! Plus, I gave you food and water! Plus-Plus its technology and not ‘magic’”.

Celestia just looks at him, clearly not having it.

He sighs. “Now that you say it, it does sound kinda bad. But you wanted to run away!”

Celestia wanted to say something to challenge him but decided to change her mind

“Well, I appreciate your honesty. But I am perfectly capable of caring for my own well-being. And as I said, I need to go home. To Equestria. And I am not an ‘anomaly’. So I’d like to talk to your governing bodies since I’m a skilled politician. I’m sure they can help me out.”

Michael is just sitting with a deadpan expression on his face. He imagines a pretty pony with wings and horns in congress, discussing politics with other winged unicorns and humans.

A distant cricket could be heard chirping.

“Uhh. Wait-what? You wanna go to where?”

Michael scratches his head in confusion.

“To Equestria. You surely must have heard of it!” She sounds a tad bit annoyed again now.

Michael shakes his head. “Uhh, nope. Not really…”

Celestia quickly stands up, her head held high as she looks down towards Michael with a somewhat condescending look.

“Please tell me where I am…”

Michael stands up as well now, reaching up to about a head taller than her. Just the tip of her horn reaches up to his forehead.

“Well. You are at my house. In Newport. Which is in the country of Wales. And I'm pretty sure this 'Equestria' does not exist.”

“Newport? Wales?” She slowly opens her eyes in confusion and tenses up a bit. “Do you happen to have a map of this country?”

Michael gestures towards the wall behind Celestia where an entire world map was conveniently taped against the tapestry.

“Well, how about you turn around and see for yourself.”

She slowly turns her head, still vary of her captor. However, as she sees the map taped against the wall, she quickly turns her body around and walks towards the map. Michael slowly follows her, leaving a foot of air between him and her as she looks at the map.

“This is the map of the entire Earth. And you are riiiight here with me.“ He points to the left side of Wales, but Celestia is already all over the place scanning the entire map for anything familiar.

Her eyes grow bigger and bigger and soon he could notice her breathing heavily as she goes from continent to continent, not finding anything she knows. Soon she realizes that this really is an entirely different planet. A planet she has never even heard about.

“N-No this—This cannot be! H-How could Twilight… How?”

Michael looks at her with a sorry look as she starts to hyperventilate, slowly sitting back on the bed as she tries to catch her breath while looking at the door which was still open.

"T-This can't be!"

She quickly bolts out of the room and uses her magic to slam the door shut.

“H-Hey! What the? Fucking wait!”

She doesn’t listen. Looking to the left and right she notices the stairs to the ground floor. Not bothering to take them she jumps down the entire stairs just before Michael opens the door to chase after her.

Celestia lands in the living room with a powerful thud, a few glasses and bottles tipping over from the force.

“Don’t go outside!”

Celestia scans the living room for a potential exit and just sees the big windows towards the luscious garden in his backyard.

“D-Don’t you DAREE!”

With a powerful wing flap, she propels herself forward through the glass, sending shards everywhere. She quickly shakes the glass debris of her coat and mane like a dog while Michael shrieks like a girl after seeing the expensive windows destroyed and his living room looking like a bomb went off.

He just sees her bolting off towards the front side of his house. Using the quicker way, Michael opens his front door and sees Celestia dashing over the street while flapping her wings.

“Oh no…” He whispers, already seeing the future playing out.

Now it was a late evening and not many people nor cars are usually outside at this time. However, it is still the suburbs of Newport… A loud honking car tried to come to a screeching halt. But it was too late. The car drives straight into Celestia, flinging her a few meters across the street. She tries to get up but soon falls unconscious to the hard concrete ground.

Michael stands in front of his house in shock. He goes through his black and curly hair with all his fingers while thinking about what he should do. Immediately he sprints towards the car. An elderly woman is in the car. Her glasses are shattered and lay on the dashboard. She is frantically searching for them while breathing heavily, clearly being in shock. Otherwise, she seems to be okay.

-Bad for her, but this could come in handy-

Sprinting towards Celestia, he lets out a sigh of relief. She is breathing and from her appearance seems to be mostly uninjured. Her tiara is laying on the road a few meters away from her, looking all scratched up and dirty. He quickly picks it up.

“Y-You crazy fucking horse you!” He shouts-whispers and looks to the left and right. So far no one else is seeing any of this shit.

Celestia just groans, trying to reply but no words would exit her mouth.

He quickly picks the mare up with all his strength and carries her around the house into the garden, laying her onto the soft grass. He just stares at her for a second and curses the situation.

“Just stay here, please…”

She groans a bit more, rubbing her sore head with her uninjured hoof.

Michael then bolts back to the demolished car. The front bumper is beyond repair and even the hood, front window and headlights are a goner. It looks bad, and he hopes that Celestia is not too badly hurt.

“Mam’ ae’ you alright? Do you need an ambulance?”

The police soon showed up. However, In the end, everything seemed to turn out okay. The car got totalled, but the old woman seemed to be okay-ish. Though she really insists to the officers that a winged unicorn appeared out of nowhere on the street. The officers just nod and shake their heads, clearly thinking that this old woman has some screws loose in her head.

One officer turns towards Michael though. “Have you seen anything like what she’s describing?”

He chuckles and gives off a fake laugh. “A winged unicorn? I’m pretty sure this was just some deer or something completely normal.” He is sweating a bit and tries his best to not glance towards his house.

“I see. Yea it’s quite uncommon, but some deer still manage to get into the cities.” Answers the other policeman.

“Aight, thanks for the help. I have something on the stove. If you need anything just ring the door.”

The policemen wish him a good evening while the elderly woman brabbles something about him apparently clearly having seen the winged unicorn.

Michael just tries his best to ignore her while walking towards his home. While opening the door, he glances towards the street and sees one of the policemen eyeing him.

Closing the door, he leans against it with his back and slowly lets himself sink towards the floor.

-This was too fucking close.-

Had he not removed the golden tiara from the street, things could have ended badly for him, since everyone knows that hiding anomalies is forbidden and a crime. Especially for an ACASC scientist.

He groans while rubbing his temples. Michael then looks towards his devastated living room and windows with Celestia still laying in the garden. He could see her slowly and drowsily waking up. Not bothering anymore Michael just keeps sitting against his front door while Celestia gets on all fours. He feels like an empty shell of a man right now.

-I-I just wanted some chill evening!-

Celestia rubs her head with a hoof and then looks to the right and left her fight or flight mode kicking in once again. Quickly noticing the mess and destruction she caused, she turns towards the house and looks with remorse towards the wrecked living room with Michael sitting behind the mess. He is clearly in distress and even seems to be angry as he gets up on his feet walking towards her. His plastic slippers allow him to walk over the glass shards. They crumble and shatter under his weight.

She should be running and flying but something tells her to stay here and endure an incoming verbal assault. Running would make no sense since she has no idea where to go. This she knows now after being able to think clearly again. This weird but seemingly friendly human seems to be her only option right now.

She stands still as he advances towards her, a mixture of emotions visible on his face. But mainly rage. Not hatred but he was clearly PISSED OFF. He wants to yell at her, but he realizes that the police on the other side of his house could still hear him yelling. Instead, he just opens his mouth and tries to shout-whisper something to her to bring across how fucked up he thinks this is.

At first, he just manages to wheeze out a few incomprehensible words while gesturing towards his wrecked living room. He also gestures to her, clearly not happy with her actions.

“Wha—What--- Wh- Wha- Why? … B-Bloody fuckin’… horse!”

Celestia cringes at his silent outburst and choice of words. She tries to cut him off with an apology.

“I-I-I’m sorry, Mister Michael. I-I just panicked and…”

“You fucking destroyed my living room.” He is finally shout-whispering now. “Y-You just decided to run off and get hit by a freaking car!”

Celestia rubs her forelegs together. Clearly, it’s not one of her greatest moments. “Uhm, what exactly is a car?”

Michael looks at her with a deadpan expression, not even blinking for a long time.

“Fuck this…”

He turns around and walks through the broken pile of glass right into his living room. Grabbing his now cold Burger, he lets himself fall into his recliner. He closes his eyes for a second and bites into the burger, munching away in peace. Maybe if he kept eating with his eyes closed, she would vanish. He swallows and opens his eyes, but she is still standing in the garden, looking at him with mild compassion.

“Look, if you really want to, then go. Just go away. Maybe the ACASC will treat you well when they capture you. They might also just dissect you. What do I know, I just happen to be a scientist there, so.

Celestia carefully walks into the living room, clearly a bit ashamed of her impenetrable actions. She notices her dirty tiara on the living room table and quickly levitates it onto her head. Then she turns around towards the broken windows and starts channeling some magic into her horn. After a few seconds, all glass shards in the entire room begin to shake and move.

Michael just gawks in amazement and even light fear while Celestia starts repairing the windows with her magic. Slowly but steadily the individual glass shards are put together like a perfect puzzle. The cracks seem to vanish and soon the entire windows are in perfect and pristine condition again. They even look like they have been wiped clean recently.

Celestia turns around and gives the human who is still sitting in his recliner a soft smile. His mouth is hanging open.

“Sorry for bolting off like that and damaging your fine residence. I- I had a bit of a panic attack.”

Michael just blinks a few times, still in disbelief.

“How about we start over again? I am Princess Celestia, and I seem to be lost.” She pauses a bit.

“What is your name?”

He looks at her with wide eyes as this winged pony gives him a soft smile. Dirt and several bruises as well as the bump on her head still clearly visible. But she radiated with strength, power and friendliness. He swallows the last bits of his burger and slowly replies to the magical pony princess standing in his living room.

“M-Michael. Michael Keller.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mister Keller.” She gently grabs his hand and shakes it with a smile on her face. He looks back into her big eyes, nodding.

“Likewise, P-Princess.”

-They are soooo gonna dissect her-

Chapter 03 - Shit's On Fire, Yo

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 04 - Dinner & Talking 1

The Backyard Anomaly

Chapter 4 – Dinner & Talking 1

“Hey Michael, have you heard about the reports and calls we got about that new anomaly?” Says Kyle with excitement. He is Michaels college who works on the same projects with him. Both are wearing a haz-mat suit while working on some probes of a mutated creature. Right in front them were two long tentacles. They apparently belong to a huge octopus’ creature which is able to secrete acids which can even dissolve the strongest steel.

Michael uses his scalpel and cuts into the flesh. Some green substance sizzles out of the tentacle and as he retracts his blade, it’s already gone, the green acid clearly still a hazard. He sighs and grabs a laser scalpel and continues working with that device.

“Huh? A new anomaly?” Michael is more focused on his work than with his colleague. He carefully cuts out a cross section of the tentacle arm with precision.

“Well haven’t you seen the pictures? It’s some sort of weird horse with wings and a horn. Isn’t that crazy?”

Michael jerks and the laser beam of his device connects swiftly with his haz mat suit, burning a hole into the finger portion and burning his skin below.

“Aww fuck!”

The electronics in his suit immediately start beeping as pressure is lost. Calmly, he reaches for a duct tape dispenser below the desk and repairs the leak in his suit as if it wasn’t a big deal. The haz-mat suits were usually a bit overkill, so there was no need for panic. But it’s a safety procedure, which the higher-ups installed after a few… incidents.

“Michael, you alright?” Retorts Kyle with a chuckle as he turns towards Michael. “You seem to be a bit distracted today, mate.”

“Yea, I’m fine. So did they catch this horse-anomaly?” Michael soon feels his suit heating up more than usually, tiny pearls of sweat starting to form on his forehead.

“Not yet, but reports from various people indicate that this creature seems to have psychokinetic capabilities, like levitating objects and other crazy things! Vogel already thinks about using its power for various inventions (Vogel is the boss of their local ACASC branch where Michael happens to work. (Yes, he’s German))

Michael looks town towards his probe in front of his workdesk, not moving much.

“Whatever this creature is, studying it and understanding how it works and what its made of could be the discovery of the decade! I’m so excited.”

“Yea you are right. That really is quite something huh?”

Kyle nods and then looks at the clock on the wall of the lab.

“You wanna grab a pint later? The local pub has a football night.”

“Oh, I’d love to. But I have some relatives over, and they need my help with… something.” Michael is glad that he still is in his suit since he is a bad liar, and he knows it. The suit practically hides his facial features and even some aspects of his unsure voice.

“Ahhh sucks, mate!” Kyle walks into the airlock. “Well see you on Monday, maybe by then our searchers have already found this new anomaly.

“Yea, I bet!” he gives off a fake laugh and picks the tray with his probe up, putting it into a freezer.

“Have a great weekend, mate.”

“You too, Kyle.”

Michael waits until his colleague exits the airlock fully, he then mutters silently under his breath.

“Bloody fuck…”

He turns around and gives the security camera mounted on the ceiling a glimpse. Then Michael also walks towards the airlock. He pushes a button, and he immediately gets sanitized with UV light and some substance being sprayed all over him.

While driving home from work, he is in deep thought. Was it really a good idea to keep Celestia in his home? He could get in real trouble. Then he thinks about Vogel and his desire for knowledge. Every last bit had to be squeezed out. May it be for profits or for the simple fact that he gains political powers with the inventions his researchers come up with. Usually, they are beneficial for the world, but he knows that the higher-up’s in the ACASC have quite their methods to get what they want.

Michael gasps in shock and steers back into his lane as he almost crashed into an oncoming car from the other lane. He was in such deep thought that he almost made an accident. A lethal one. A shiver runs down his spine and he grips the steering wheel firmly, carefully paying attention to the road now.

Soon his car rolls into the driveway of his posh home. Letting out a sigh, he exits the car and walks towards his front door.

-The house seems to be still intact.-

“So far so good…” He mutters under his breath.

Putting the key into the lock, he slowly opens his door and steps carefully inside. With paranoia, he looks over his shoulder to check if anyone is there while closing the door firmly. He then locks it with his head turned over his shoulder, looking for the alien horse.

“Celestia?” He calls into the seemingly empty house. It is now that he realizes that there is something off. Not off in a bad way. Not at all. His entire living room seems to sparkle with cleanliness. He carefully walks over the shiny-clean linoleum towards his favorite recliner.

“Woha… What happened here?” He mutters in disbelief, a smile on his lips as he notices his kitchen in its former glory.
The mess from this morning seems to be fully gone. The stove and every last bit of charcoal and fire extinguisher powder seem to have vanished. The surfaces are shiny and a smell of lemon could be noticed as he walks towards the kitchen area.

“Hello, Michael. I’m here.” Celestia answers towards him, her voice coming from the room upstairs which they were in yesterday.

“Have you had a good day?”

Michael blinks a few times, wondering why this alien horse is so comfortable with him… So casual.

“Uhm, yes. It was alright.”

Soon he hears the clip-clop noises and Celestia trots down the stairs carefully. It was now that he saw her in proper condition. Her coat is snow-white and pristine. Her mane and tail seem to wave gently as if a wind would blow through them and he could already smell his own shampoo in the air. Apparently, she took another shower after the mess in the morning.

She looks like an entirely different creature right now. She gives Michael a smile, clearly proud and happy that the state of his house is to his liking.

“What happened here? Did you…?”

Celestia gives him a nod and a soft smile.

“How?! The kitchen looked like a bomb went off!” He exclaims in disbelief.

She gives him a happy smirk. “Well, I used some of my magic. Like yesterday with the… window incident.” She is now smiling sheepishly at him.

Michael is still quite blown away. Never ever has his house been this clean. Even the windows are crystal clear like the freshest spring water.

“Well, it looks amazing. Thank you, Celestia… really.”

“It’s the least I could have done after… the little incident this morning.”

“Oh wait! I have something for you.”

Michael takes off his backpack from work and opens it, searching for something inside.

“I feel like we had a rough start. And I kind of felt bad after screaming at you like that earlier today.”

Celestia eyes him in curiosity as he pulls out a cardboard box from his backpack. She takes a sniff and her eyes open wide, already getting excited.

“It’s just a few slices of cake from the nearby bakery at my workplace. I didn’t know what you like so I just got chocolate, raspberry and a tiny apple pie.”

He looks back into her eyes with a neutral but friendly expression.

“I thought maybe we could eat some dinner and have this as a dessert. And maybe get to know each other a bit better since we kinda live in the same house for the next few days or weeks or how long it takes for your magic to heal up. Uhm, you do eat cake, or do you not have them back in your world?”

Celestia nods eagerly, a smile on her face while she licks her lips. “That sounds wonderful. I am quite curious to know more about you humans and this world. And yes, we do have various cakes and pastries back home. I myself happen to have a bit of a sweet tooth.”

Michael grins as he imagines the pony princess demolishing a cake.

“Wonderful how about we start cooking? I bet you are hungry.”

“I indeed am.”

Michael leads Celestia into the now pristine and perfectly clean kitchen. Taking out some ingredients from his fridge he places them onto the counter. Celestia curiously looks at them and hen gazes back towards Michael.

“Well, first question. What do ponies usually eat?”

“Pretty much any vegetables, fruit and corn or weeds.”

“What about humans?” she questions back.

“Actually, the same. But with meat and without the weeds.”

Celestia nods understandingly. She figured so, since noticing his canines pointing out a bit while talking. “Ah, I see.”

Michael then grabs a bag of spaghetti from a cupboard.

“This is Pasta. It’s basically flour with eggs and some other things. We could make a tomato sauce with vegetables. How does that sound to you?”

Yes of course it is. Spaghetti is actually my favorite dish! Sometimes when I want to treat myself I go to a wonderful ponetalian restaurant with my sister. Their pasta dishes are splendid!”

“So, your world has pasta too? And what about the vegetables here? You have them too?” he asks in disbelief, somehow not buying it.

“Yes, we do! Our worlds seem to be quite similar. Isn’t this remarkable?”

“Indeed. It’s remarkable.”

Michael grins excitedly, taking out a knife and looking at Celestia.

“Can you work with a knife?”

Celestia doesn’t know whether she should be insulted or not. She gently grabs the knife with her magic and snorts.

“I am a grown alicorn, Michael. I think I am certainly old enough to wield a kitchen knife.”

Michael cringes at this. “S-Sorry.”

“Well, how old are you if I may know?” Michael quickly adds while throwing a piece of carrot into his mouth, checking its taste.

Celestia is already cutting some vegetables as well, skillfully wielding the kitchen knife in her golden magic. Michael stops cutting and looks at the floating knife, listening to the gentle wind chime noises coming from her horn right next to his ear.

Celestia huffs as if she would not know her own age. “Hmmm. Let me see…”

She cuts a few more vegetables while thinking and then answers him. “ I am a bit over two thousand years old. 2064 years to be exact. What about you, Michael?”

Celestia quickly turns her head towards him as he emits some gurgling noises.
Michael is choking on a piece of carrot now. Coughing it up and swallowing it quickly, he looks with a ‘you be shitting me’ expression towards the pony next to him.

“I’m 29! Are you bloody serious?”

“Celestia sighs. We alicorns live with a curse. While the other pony races live up to about a century, we live several millennia.”

He just stares at her with his eyes open wide.

“T-that’s nuts! You…” Michael is trying to compare her looks with one of a woman’s. Now it is not easy but looking over her spotless and symmetrical face and healthy fur and eyes, he would guess she is not beyond thirty or forty. She looked fresh and healthy. He also just noticed that she also smells good, unlike yesterday. “You don’t really look old at all!”

Celestia giggles sheepishly and continues cutting. “Why thank you, Michael. As far as I can tell you don’t look a day over 25.”

Michael is now blushing a little.

-Did this pony princess compliment my looks?

“T-Thanks, heh.”

-Wait. Did I just compliment this centuries-old but cute pony on her looks?-

He mentally slaps himself a few times, getting back to cutting the remaining vegetables. He quickly fills a pot of water, adds some salt, and sets the stove to high. After putting the tomato sauce and vegetables into a different pot, he turns towards Celestia.

“You want to go to the couch and wait there?”

Celestia nods and the two make their way towards the living room. Michael sits on the couch and Celestia does as well, tuckering her both forelegs between her hindlegs. She looks like a dog like this. A big white furry dog with wings a horn and fluffy cat ears. Michael can’t help but emit a soft chuckle.

“So, you mentioned that you have a sister?”

She nods with a smile.

“Indeed, she is a bit younger than me and quite the rebel.” She looks away, a hint of sadness on her muzzle. “We… We had our difficulties recently, but she is quite dear to me and… I already miss her a bit it seems. I hope she is doing well without mel.” She looks towards the sky through the windows. It’s dusk and a few stars could be seen glimmering in the evening sky. She then looks back to the human, hiding a yawn behind one of her hoofs.

“What about you? Do you have any siblings?”

He shakes his head slowly, his facial expressions stoic. “I… I had a little brother. But they… he…” He finds himself unable to speak as he has a quick flashback.

“I see” Answers Celestia with her soft voice. “My consoles, my dear human.”

“It.. It’s okay.” Answers Michael thoughtfully but still clearly mentally affected by it.

He looks towards the garden and waits for Celestia to ask him something, but she remains silent. Only a few noises coming from the kitchen could be heard. Not trying to let it get awkward, he grabs the remote control of his TV and points it towards the huge 70’ inch flatscreen next to the big windows. With a click the entire black surface springs to life, displaying some sort of nature Documentary.

“What in the maker's name!” gasps Celestia in shock, almost falling from the couch. She gazes with surprise and curiosity towards the sudden moving picture in Michaels living room. “H-How did you do that?”

Quickly standing up from the couch she takes a few careful steps towards the TV. She looks back towards Michael and then once again towards the big TV.

“Is this some sort of complex spell?”

Michael laughs and looks at the pony with her facial features all bewildered.

“It’s just a TV, Princess. I started it up with my remote control.”

Celestia walks a bit closer towards the TV screen and then gazes at the crystal-clear moving pictures of Western Sahara. The surround sound system is gently mimicking the noises of a desert. Occasionally the narrator brabbles something about the local ecosystem. She now slowly closes her muzzle which has been hanging open.

“Fascinating.” She whispers carefully, one of her forelegs slowly and carefully touching the flatscreen a smile forming on her muzzle.

“You claim to have no magic, but yet, you possess a moving theatre right inside your own living room? I see you have not been entirely truthful with me, Michael.”

She elicits a burst of snorty laughter from him.

“It’s just technology! No magic.” He chuckles with a grin on his face.

“Look there’s nothing to it. Just press this button and you can switch to the next station.”

He walks towards Celestia and shows her the remote control and the right button.

The pony carefully uses her hoof to press down the button while Michael is still holding the remote control. The TV immediately changes to the next station. Celestia's eyes jerk a little but then she looks with a beaming grin towards the TV.

“T-This is incredible. I truly cannot feel any magic coming from this device, yet it functions so impressively! My dear Twilight would be so thrilled to meet you, Michael.

“Oh, is this Twilight a friend of yours?”

She nods and follows him back towards the couch, sitting down. “Yes, she is a dear friend of mine and my former student.”

“Oh, so besides being a princess, you are also a teacher? Quite impressive.”

“Why, thank you, Michael.” She gives him a happy smile, tucking in her forelegs between her hindlegs once again.

“So, what kind of technology do you guys have back in ponyland?”

Celestia snorts while flaring her nostrils a bit.

“My home is called Equestria. And I would say the telegraph and our newest high-velocity steam engines make me and my sister quite proud.”

Michael smiles at the princess like an adult who smiles at a cute little girl who is proud of her shitty drawing.

“T-That’s really cute- uhm I mean nice! That’s… impressive.”

Celestia looks at him with a stinky eye, her head tilted quite a bit.

"You are lucky that you are talking to me, Mister Keller. My sister would surely lash out at you right now. It took us a long time to figure out the needed technologies for these inventions.”

“Yea you are right. That was uncalled for, sorry…” Michael awkwardly rubs his neck and looks away, a bit ashamed of himself.

She huffs a bit annoyedly and turns herself a bit away from him. Then she looks with a pensive look towards the TV which is still running. If he takes this invention for granted, she wonders what else these humans have come up with.

“Well, what is the pinnacle of human technology then? It certainly seems like you are much further ahead than we are when it comes to technology.”

Michael gives her a smile and excitement is visible in his eyes. He wonders what he should tell her first, but then he hears a beeping noise coming from his stove.

“Well, it looks like dinner is ready.”

“Let’s eat and then we can talk more about technology.”

“Agreed!” She smiles. Standing up, her belly growls rather strongly. Celestia blushes a bit and just trots towards the kitchen while Michael looks after her with a grin on his face.

-This ancient pony princess surely is quite something.-

Author's Note

4 chapters within a week? I'm getting efficient.

Tell me how you like it in case you haven't already :)

Also, tell me which technologies Michael could show our beloved princess.

Chapter 05 - Dinner & Talking 2

The Backyard Anomaly

Chapter 5 – Dinner & Talking 2

Michael listens to the windchime noises as Celestia levitates the fork up in the air to eat some spaghetti. He clearly enjoys the relaxing noise as it somehow reminds him of his childhood. His mother always used to have these windchimes in her garden. He is getting distracted.

Blinking a few times, he looks towards the alien creature who is sharing dinner with him. Besides the hectic start, he must say that this winged pony is quite enjoyable to be around. Nevertheless, the ACASC is already searching for her and it’s only a matter of time before they find her.

“So, how long does it take for your magic to charge up enough so you can…”

She just smiles while looking at her floating fork, clearly too focused on the meal in front of her. Celestia then blinks a few times and finally looks towards Michael, a bit of tomato sauce on her chin while she slurps up spaghetti in an un-princess like manner. She blushes a little and quickly licks her chin clean.

“Not that I don’t enjoy your presence here. But I already have heard the higher-up’s talk about a winged unicorn horse at work, and they seem eager to catch the ‘anomaly’. They even asked me if I knew anything about ‘it’.

He sighs in worry and finally indulges in his meal as well.

“That’s not... good news.” She states while grabbing some more spaghetti with her fork. “My magic is getting better and better, but I will need all my strength If I want to access the aether bands. I could try some first attempts in a few days.

“Aether bands?” Is this some bloody voodoo shit?

Celestia rolls her eyes and flares her nostrils a bit before taking another bite and swallowing it. This human clearly is quite a good cook and host, she thinks. A weird, bold but interesting and friendly one, nonetheless.

“The Aether bands are the purest form of magic and are one of the deepest structures of matter and time, Joseph. They basically connect different worlds together. Do you humans not know this? We teach this in magic-kindergarten.” She looks at him with an unimpressed expression while he just gawks at her with wide-open eyes.

“Other worlds? B-band that connects? Magic Kindergarten?” He clearly needs a while to take this in.

Clearly, Celestia expected this knowledge since he had an entire moving theatre and orchestra in his living room. But she remembers that it had no magical properties at all so it’s understandable that humans have no understanding of the aether bands.

-Then the authorities probably also can’t help her, so better stick with Michael for now…-

“Whoa, this is a lot to take in…”

She gives him a grin. “Well, we have some time, right?”

He just nods, clearly still a bit overwhelmed by this information.

“I need a drink.”

Celestia just giggles, eating some more spaghetti while smiling after the bewildered human while he walks into the kitchen.

She hears him move stuff around in his fridge. He then speaks to her with his head still in the fridge.

“You want something too?”

She thinks for a moment, wondering if she should ask for anything specific. But she feels excited for some reason, a soft smile finding its way onto her lips.

“Do you happen to have some white wine?” She calls to him from the living room.

Michael doesn’t answer and simply walks back with a big bottle of wine and two glasses.

“I can’t believe I’m sharing some wine with a talking magical pony from a different universe.”

He shakes his head with a smile and opens the bottle, filling her and then himself a glass.

Celestia levitates the glass with her magic and retorts with a smirk on her muzzle. “And I can’t believe I’m sharing one with an intelligent, talking hairless monkey.”

With a snort, he lifts the glass towards her, and she lifts her glass with a hoof.

“Cheers, Celestia.”

“Cheers, Michael.”

They both take a sip and Celestia just looks at him for a while a melancholic expression on her muzzle. He puts the glass of wine away and looks towards her.

“Do I have something on my face?”

“N-No.” She ruffles her wings a bit and empties her plate with the last bite.

“It just has been a while since I had a meal like this.”

He gives her a questioning look, not really getting what she means.

“As a princess, ponies always put an act around you. Everypony tries to be on their best behaviour because they are scared of me. But this is not the case with you, dear human.”

“Scary? You?”

Michael snorts at that.

“You are an adorable multicoloured little pony! How could you be scary?” He sips some more wine with a smirk on his face, not noticing the rosy colour on the alicorns cheek.

“You know I could have thrown you into the dungeons for such belittling words, right?” She narrows her eyes a tad bit.

He looks a bit intimidated now, wondering if she is serious or not. “Well, now I see why they think you are scary.” He says with a chuckle.

“I’m kidding. I could do that, but… your cooking is simply too good.”

Michael just rolls his eyes. “And I could let the ACASC do gruesome experiments on you, but… I like your windchime noises too much.”

He grins at her while filling her and his glass of wine up again.

“Windchime noises?”

She gives him a confused look while taking another sip from the wine in her magical grasp, clearly enjoying its taste.

“Can’t you hear it?”

Celestia tilts her head but then opens her eyes in realization.

“Oh, you mean my magic?” She focuses her gaze on the glass in her magical grasp. It shines in the golden aura her horn produces.

“Yea! I like it! Sounds… relaxing.”

Celestia blinks a few times, her cheeks getting a bit red once again and she could feel her body heating up a bit. She can’t remember anypony giving her such a compliment. Of course, she has received countless compliments in her long life. May it be to brownnose the princess or simply try to gain political power within a party. Barely any were genuine but hearing such a… different but deeply personal compliment from this alien creature warms her cheeks quite a bit.

“Thank you, M-Michael.” She uses the glass of wine to hide her face a little, taking another sip.

“Then, I will make sure to play my windchimes if you ever happen to have troubles sleeping at night.”

Now it is his turn to blush. He chortles a laugh and shakes his head, a bit embarrassed. “

T-hanks. I’m looking forward to that, heh.”

For a while, both don’t say anything, but for them doesn’t feel like an awkward pause.

“So, Michael. Tell me more about this ACASC group you happen to work for.”

Michael shifts his body a bit uncomfortably at this question.

“Well, The ACASC are a network of laboratories and offices all over the entire earth. Basically, they capture anything dangerous or worth studying. May it be wicked and dangerous monsters or fascinating artefacts from ancient times. We have them secured deep down in an underground facility in hopes they will never see daylight again. Heck, they even have a military branch!”

“We saved many lives and made great advanced in various fields of science. But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. We also do many gruesome experiments with the anomalies. Most anomalies are just objects and most living anomalies are not sentient. However, there are a few who are… But the higher-ups insist also doing these ‘experiment’ with the few sentient anomalies we captured.”

Michael looks away from Celestia, clearly ashamed and troubled by his own occupation. Celestia can relate to him. As a princess, she had to do various things she is not proud of in order to protect her nation. She had to since she is the princess. But there is still something she is not understanding.

“So why do you even work for them if they are such a dangerous or even evil organization? You don’t seem like a bad po- er- human.”

Michael sighs, leaning a bit back in his chair, his hands now laying on the wooden table in front of him.

“Trust me, I’d quit… if I could…” he stares through the windows into his garden, the moonlight barely illuminating the various trees and hedges. “If I could, I would do it.” He pauses once again, sorrow now clearly visible in his eyes.

“Michael? Are you alright? Do… Do you want to talk about it?”

Michael looks into Celestia’s eyes for a while, his face suddenly expressionless and pale.

“Michael?” She asks with worry in her gentle voice.

“I- uhm“ Replies Michael weakly.

He wants to explain to her, but as he closes his eyes for a second, he winces in pain from a vivid flashback.

“M-Michael. P-Please!” He hears his little brother scream in pain and fear while being strapped to a chair. Michaels Boss, Vogel, stands next to him with a vicious grin on his shadowy face while a different figure in a haz-mat suit injects something into his little brothers’ veins.

Michael is breathing quite faster now, clearly in great distress while gripping the table firmly, a mixture of fear, regret and anger visible all over him.

Celestia folds her fuzzy ears towards her skull as she looks into Michaels clearly hurting eyes. She stands up and walks around the table towards him.

“Michael? Are you alright? Don’t worry they can’t hurt you.”

She gently touches his side with her left foreleg and uses one of her wings to brush over his back in a comforting way. He jerks a bit as he comes back to his senses. He takes a deeper breath and looks towards Celestia who is suddenly standing so close to him, looking with her big eyes into his. He quickly relaxes at her touch, blinking a few times as he looks at her caring face.

“N-No! Sorry! I-It’s just a little migraine. Nothing more, really.”

Celestia of course knows it’s a lie but doesn’t question him further.

“I see. You gave me quite the scare for a moment.”

She resorts to simply giving him a quick hug, as it is normal for ponies when they see someone in distress. He seems to be surprised but she feels him lean into the hug a bit, brushing his hands over her back just a tad bit. He would find it weird to get a hug from anyone that quickly, but right now he is happy to receive one. Plus her fur is super soft and warm.

“You should rest more, too much work can give you bad migraine. And as a hardworking princess, I know that from experience.”

She gives him a wink and elicits a chuckle from him. “Point taken. Well, time for dessert!”

Michael quickly gets up and grabs the boxes witch he bought from the bakery. Bringing them to the table, Celestia is already licking her lips in anticipation of the sugary treats.

It barely took Celestia a few dozen seconds to demolish the slices of cake. Michael only had one, but he did not mind. Seeing the cute alien pony in front of him demolish the sugary treats like a hungry monster was enough for him.

He grabs another fork of his own slice and then asks her another question.

“So, what do you do as a Princess back in… Equestria? I bet you must have a nice and prosperous life concerning that expensive regalia and tiara. Just that necklace of yours is probably worth more than my entire house.”

Celestia then looks down towards her necklace. She almost forgot that she is still wearing her golden adornments. Since she isn’t a princess here, she could remove it, and no one would care. Usually, she just feels freer and lighter without it as if the burden of ruling over her country vanishes.

She thinks about it for a moment and then removes her tiara and necklace with her hoofs and finally levitates them onto the couch in the living room.

“Is gold this sparse here? In Equestria it’s a rather common metal, the same goes for gemstones. Anyways, my life is not as prosperous as it may seem from the outside. I rarely have any free time and barely any days off.”

Celestia sighs, clearly not enjoying her princess life as Michael thought so.

“My tasks range from various paperwork to day-court and to raising and lowering the sun for my little ponies. So being here is quite a welcome change to me. Here I don’t even have to raise it, it-”

She wanted to tell him more about how she actually could consider this stay on this planet a vacation, but the human interrupts her with him spluttering some cake from his mouth all over the table.

“Waha Whaat?” He wipes some cake from his lips and chin while laughing intensely.

“Your pony-citizens actually believe YOU move the freaking sun?!” He opens his mouth again and starts wheezing, like a kettle while giving the table a firm smack.

“Bloody Jeeeesus! That’s golden!” he chuckles and wheezes a few more times. Finally, he takes a few deeper breaths and a swig from the wine glass, still shaking his head in disbelief and amusement.

“Oh, Celestia that was a good one, you almost got me!”

He places the glass back onto the table after wiping the cake from the surface and then looks back towards her. She is clearly not amused. She is actually growling a bit. He wonders since when ponies can growl.

Flaring her nostrils and holding her head high, she huffs and narrows her eyes bit at him. For thousand years she has endured the burden of bringing the day to her ponies and here this ape creature insults her in such a way? She doesn’t even know what to say anymore.

“W-Wait you’re actually serious?”

She keeps glaring daggers towards him.

“You do know that the planets rotate around the sun, right?”

Celestia immediately shakes her head in protest.

“I-Impossible! Every filly knows that the sun orbits other planets and I just move the sun in the same way how my ancestors and precursors did. It’s a burden which I would gladly shove onto somepony else!”

Michael just stares at her in disbelief for a while. Clearly, she must be bullshitting him, right?

-R-Right?-

“Okay, okay, let's say you do move the sun. Which is actually impossible but let’s say you hypothetically do. How big is your planet? And how far away and big is your sun?

Celestia sighs and shakes her head. “Our planets diameter is 3575 kilometres. The sun, my sun, is about 200 kilometres away and a good 30 kilometres in diameter.”

“What? That’s crazy tiny! How is such a sun even possible?!” He almost shouts in disbelief.

“And who raises the sun here?”

“F-Freaking no one does! It moves on its own just like everything in the universe!”

Celestia blinks at him in disbelief, wondering how this could be possible. She obviously knows of the existence of other worlds and universes, but the workings of this universe seem rather ridiculous. Having a sun that raises and lowers itself seems like a pipe dream to her.

“I don’t know if I can believe you, Michael.” She says in protest.

Nevertheless, she clearly is intrigued and wants to know more.

“What about your sun then? I assume it’s bigger?”

Y-Yes!” Stutters Michael still in disbelief. He tries to come up with some words which could describe how big the sun actually is, but he then has a different idea.

“Wait here. I have something that can show you how big it is.”

Michael quickly gets up and comes back with a tablet device. Celestia’s curiosity instantly spikes up as the human taps a few times on the thin device. Suddenly various icons and pictures appear on the display. She studies his claw-like appendages moving swiftly and with great dexterity over the glass surface of the device.

Celestia grins in excitement. “It’s just like your moving magicless theatre!”

Michael simply nods while quickly opening up YouTube and searching for a video that compares the size difference between all objects in the known universe, including Earth and its star the sun.

Star Size Comparison 2 - YouTube

The video starts playing with a gentle tune accompanying it. Earth’s natural satellite could be seen with a description of its size. Celestia quickly realizes that this planet’s moon is almost as big as her entire home planet.

Her eyes seem to be glued to the screen as she sucks the information from the video in like a sponge. Inching closer and closer to the piece of to her, alien technology. The video progresses further and quickly shows the difference between the planets Mars and Jupiter.

Celestia gasps from its immense size.

“Is this information true?”

She glances towards Michael, and he simply nods. Looking back towards the video she finally sees the Earth’s sun. To her it's massive and even her entire home planet would be merely a tiny speck compared to it. But what baffles her even more are the various other suns which seem to exist in this universe. She feels her wings tensing up as she shudders, the video still continuing showing bigger and bigger objects.

More stars could be seen, each one star topping the size of the previous one by several magnitudes. Celestia grips her glass of wine with a hoof tightly, almost clinging onto it. Her so usually happy soft smile on her muzzle fades as she stares and stares, clearly trying to take in this new information.

She, Princess Celestia, the bringer of the sun and all light, suddenly feels so tiny and unremarkable. She has lived for over two thousand years but right now everything she knows is nothing but insignificant compared to this huge universe here.

Michael just looks at her, not saying anything for the moment. As the video fades out, Celestia just stares at the now black screen of the device, the gentle chirping of the crickets could be heard while she gulps. She seems to be in thought and conflict for a while but then looks with her big eyes towards Michael.

He gives her a melancholic smile. “I had the same expression on my face when I first watched this video.”

She then stares at her empty glass of wine, not blinking for quite a long time.

“Do you want some more wine?.”

She merely nods and finally blinks again.

“Yes please.”

Author's Note

I wonder how alcohol much (hic) alicorns can drink.

Chapter 06 - The Visitor

The Backyard Anomaly

Chapter 06 – The Visitor

The days came and went and soon Michael and Celestia developed some sort of routine. Celestia just would stay in his house while Michael worked at the ACASC. Each evening they would cook dinner together and Celestia asks him about his day.

Michael would ask Celestia various things about her and her world, each time getting baffled.

Celestia would ask Michael about the Earth and its technology, each time being intrigued, surprised and impressed.

They have been living together for almost over a week now and both got to know each other quite a bit as they talked for hours every evening. Once, Celestia and Michael both drifted into a slumber on the couch after they watched a movie. In the morning they realized they had just cuddled in their sleep together. No biggie, right?

Michael however feared this would make things very awkward, but Celestia just brushed it off as if nothing had happened. She did have an occasional blush while talking about it, but she quickly explained to him that sharing a bed with a friend is common in Equestria and pretty much every pony does it.

He still felt a bit weird about sharing a bed or couch with a magical pony, but it did feel good and if it's normal to her then…. Who would judge, right? It’s not like anyone would find out so...

One night he heard a scream from her room, and he rushed to her room to find her panting in distress while looking with sadness towards him. She had had a bad dream. Something about her sister being banished to somewhere far away by her. Apparently, a long story which she would tell him another day.

That night, she asked him with pleading eyes if he could stay until she fell asleep again. Michael then wondered how he would freak out or even lose his mind if he was trapped on a different planet with no other human around. So, he just nodded with a compassionate smile on his lips. Needless to say, the two grew to like each other quite a bit during the last few days.

The princess is glad that Michael took her on this faithful day when she hungrily nibbled on his blueberry bushes. After just a week he turned out to be a wonderful friend. Of course, they had a rough start but that was quickly forgotten. He is a friend with whom she could share anything and get an honest and genuine reaction back. He would not simply agree with her but actually discuss topics. He would laugh with her, argue with her and even scold her when it's appropriate. It was nothing extraordinary, just two so different beings enjoying their friendship. But Celestia enjoyed every second of it, knowing it would soon come to an end. Her magic is getting better and better. In two weeks, she would be ready. Plus. she is a bit concerned about how things are going in Equestria without her. Of course, her sister could raise the sun as well, but it is quite a taxing task.

Right now, Celestia is sitting on the couch with a rectangular device in her hoofs. Michael gave it to her this morning and explained to her how it works. She remembers him using these various gadgets with his fingers since they were made for humans. Celestia tried to do the same, but all those devices seem to reject her, simply refusing to function against her the touch of her hoofs.

Perplexed by this, Michael explained to her that her hoofs and fur are non-conductive and therefore cannot use these so-called ‘touch-screens’. She would need to use her nose or tongue, but luckily, he left some sort of pen for her. With this pen, she could access this ‘touch-screen’ technology.

Levitating the pen with her magic, she brings it towards the screen of the rectangular device. She remembers him calling it a ‘smart phone’. Celestia knew this device, like many other human inventions, is a marvellous piece of technology, so the smart part was clear. But she did not yet know what a ‘phone’ is.

Celestia just shrugs in wonder and then touches the screen with the pen. The device magically turns on, displaying various icons and a background picture of a wild forest. She studies the picture as it reminds her quite a lot of the Everfree forest.

She skims the various icons and immediately recognizes two. One is clearly resembling a camera and a different icon resembling a music note. Tapping the music icon, she sees a list of music titles to choose from. A grin forms on her muzzle, quickly tapping one of the songs with the pen. She reads the name of the music piece carefully.

“’Hooman music…’

“Hmm, that’s a weird title for a song. Nopony would ever call their own music piece ‘pony music’. Maybe it’s a hooman thing?”

She wonders for a second and then taps the pen against the screen.

human music - YouTube

Immediately the device in her hoofs starts vibrating gently as it emits a tune. She keeps listening to the song for a while, a bit underwhelmed by its repetitiveness and generally unremarkable melody.

“Maybe the next one is better.”

She slowly scrolls through the various songs and soon loses herself in the hundreds of titles. She listens to everything, from rock and metal to pop and rap to finally even classical music.

“I can’t believe these humans came up with all these different genres! I wonder If Michael is able to play an instrument…”

After almost half an hour, Celestia then goes back to that one song that somehow found its way into her head. And it's stuck there good.

She grins with excitement and bobs her head to the left and right while wondering how she could exit the music section. After a few taps here and there, she finds herself on the home screen again. She then taps the camera icon, the music of the song she chose still being emitted by this marvellous device. She hums along with the tune of the song with a happy smile on her face.

Her eyes open wide as she sees a perfect replica of Michael’s living room being displayed onto the device. She moves the smartphone around and smiles in excitement, tapping the red button a few times to snap a few pictures of Michaels home, including some paintings, plants and the luscious garden through the windows.

Curiously tapping some sort of icon consisting of two arrows, the screen stutters for a short second and soon she sees two curious magenta irises glaring at her. She gasps in shock, almost dropping the phone but quickly catching it again.

She already realized that apparently, this device has a camera on its front side as well. Celestia curses herself for her silly antics and thanks her sun that Michael did not see this. With a smile on her muzzle, she imagines how her human friend would tease her about it. Luckily for the alicorn, he is still at work.

Levitating the phone in front of her, she looks with awe at the device which displays her as a mirror would. She smiles into the device and then taps the screen with the pen, taking a selfie. She levitates the smartphone closer to her face to inspect the picture with awe.

The professional photographers in her castle surely would hate to see such a device. Taking pictures was a tedious task and the negative images had to be taken to professionals. This thing however would generate a perfect and crystal clear image within a fraction of a second.

Celestia grins and levitates the phone away from her, posing for the camera in various angles while the speaker of the smartphone still emits the song she likes so much.

Michael exits his car with a smile on his face. He can’t want to spend his weekend with this silly horse. While walking towards his front door with a happy gait he wonders what shenanigans the alien princess would be doing this time.

Maybe she’s arguing with his home assistant again? He grins when he remembers Celestia trying to explain to the device that magic is indeed real and not ‘something out of a children’s book’.

Maybe she is overloading the popcorn machine with her magic once again? The entire house was full of popcorn, and she loved it, diving in the massive amounts of popcorn like a child. He soon joined her and they even had a little popcorn ‘ball’ fight. In the end, both tried to ‘drown’ the other in the popcorn masses. Michael shudders while remembering how Celestia had to help him with her magic to get a few pieces of popcorn out of his windpipe. He also had to help her remove loads of it from her mane and tail. Even after two showers, she had a faint smell of popcorn accompanying her.

“God, I’m gonna miss that bloody sun-horse when she’s gone.”

He shakes his head with a smile while opening the door of his home. It still smells of popcorn. He once again looks over his shoulder to scan the streets for anyone looking, and then closes the door.

“Celestia? I’m home. Are you ready for another movie and game’s night?”

So far, no reply from her.

“Celestiaaaaa” He calls out to her.

...

"Princess?" He asks a bit unsure.

Michael looks to the left and right, not spotting her, but soon he notices some sound coming from upstairs. He could hear some sort of muffled singing. Was she playing some music with his stereo?

“-ay my life was filled with rain~”

Michael listens attentively to the happy voice singing a song while carefully walking upstairs towards the second floor. Soon the music gets clearer and clearer, but he quickly realizes that it’s coming from the bathroom.

“Sunny, you smiled at me and really eased the pain…”

He soon realizes that it’s not some music blaring from a speaker, but someone is actually singing. It’s Celestia’s voice. She is in his shower. Celestia is singing her lungs out in his showers as if she was attending a karaoke event.

He hears her turning off the shower and the sound of her hoofs against the bathroom surface could be heard as she exits the shower. All the while she was humming a tune which he clearly remembered since he is an oldies fan. Apparently, the sun-princess stumbled over this song from Boney M which he had in his playlist. He hears her levitate something with her magic, and soon the sound of his hairdryer could be heard.

“The dark days are gone, and the bright days are here~”

Michael snickers with a shit-eating grin on his face. He stands in the hallway right before the bathroom door and just leans against the wall while listening to her singing. He must admit her voice sounded amazing and quite soothing.

“My Sunny one shines so sincere…”

He hears her use some of her magic, presumably to collect a few towels and whatnot. Then the doorknob is being turned and her singing is now crisp and clear with no door in the way. Celestia is standing there with her eyes closed, a relaxed smile on her muzzle. Her fur is damp and wet with a few towels laying loosely around her back and neck. She has a towel wrapped around her mane while looking up in the air to sing out the finale.

“Sunny one so true, I love youuu~.”

She has her muzzle raised into the air while happily singing out the song, getting the lyrics perfectly. Then she sighs happily and lets out a breath of air, planning to move into her room but then she sees something standing in the hallway just a few feet in front of her.

“AAhhhheeeeeiippppp!”

She shrieks in terror, a towel falling down from her as she extends her wings in panic. Her terror-driven shriek turns into one of embarrassment as she realizes the figure standing fright in front of her was actually Michael, her human friend and caretaker.

He is looking at her with a shit-eating grin on his face, his smartphone pointed towards her. Clearly, he had to record this little moment for his own enjoyment. Celestia thinks about how much bits the Canterlot Daily press would pay him for this little clip. Millions...

“I ahh uhh… Hi there, Michael!”

She exclaims in shock, trying to compose her. She quickly folds her wings back towards her sides and picks up the towel with a hoof, flinging it over her back again. While trying to hide her flushed face with her damp mane.

“H-How long have you been standing there? I thought you would be at work!”

I got home early. And don’t worry, I’ve been here for just a few minutes. “He gives her a smile, clearly enjoying the look of the flustered Princess standing in front of him.

“Common, get yourself dry, Sunny. We have a movie and two pizza's waiting for us.”

Celestia just stands there, blinking in surprise and mild embarrassment as Michael hops down the stairs with a happy gait.

“I-Err Yes. I’ll be ready soon.” Stutters out Celestia.

Michael stumbles into the living room where Celestia is already sitting on the couch, looking with an excited expression towards the big TV. Her eyes are glued to the screen and her muzzle hangs open as she realizes something.

“T-These ‘Autobots’ can talk? You told me that humans were the only sentient species!”

Michael finishes waddling towards the couch with various snacks and drinks in his arms. He sets down a bowl of chips, popcorn and sweets onto the table and fills her a glass of sparkly water. It’s quite a lot but this magical princess proved to be quite a hefty eater.

“They aren’t real. It’s computer-generated stuff. Think of it as an action comic, but it’s a movie and everything looks kinda real.”

Celestia gives him a quick glance and then her eyes are glued back at the screen, already levitating several popped kernels, and floating them conveniently into her mouth.

“Fascinating…”

Maybe she could stay here a little longer, Michael seems like a wonderful host and friend so far. She gives the human a swift glance, looking into the corner of his right eye for a moment.

“Thank you for…. Everything, Michael. You really are a welcoming and generous p- human.”

He takes a seat next to Celestia and leans back with a happy sigh, throwing his feet onto the recliner sitting in front of the couch. His slippers fall down towards the floor.

“You’re welcome, Princess. I actually enjoy you crashing on me… Makes it feel kind of livelier in this big house if I’m honest.”

He looks swiftly over his shoulder towards her, and they meet their gazes for a swift second. She then quickly looks back towards the TV.

-Was the princess still blushing over the little karaoke incident? Silly cute horse…-

The two remain silent and enjoy the movie. Celestia is once again glued to the TV screen, inching closer and closer to it with her long swan-like neck. She stares at the scenes in awe. Sometimes she cringes a bit as the violence gets more and more intense. They watched a few movies, but so far this ‘Transformers’ movie was the most violent. Interesting, awe-striking but violent nonetheless.

A few humans in a desert are attacked by a weird scorpion-like robot and clearly getting their asses kicked. The humans keep firing their weapons towards this metallic but scorpion-like creature. But so far nothing could stop its rampage. Celestia gasps at its sheer size, destructive power, and relentless nature.

“T-This looks so real! Are you sure this never happened?”

Michael is crunching on some chips and washes them down with a big gulp of water.

“Y-Yea. Basically, all those weird alien robot machines are not real. All humans are actors, and no one got hurt don’t worry. But these weapons we use...” He is referring to the various machine guns and rocket launchers the humans use in the movie, “They are real.”

In the next scene, two A-10 Warthog Aircraft could be seen approaching the battlefield, getting ready to take down the dangerous scorpion-like robot with their weapons.

“Oh, like this one. I actually saw one of those at an air show a few years ago,” Exclaims Michael with a grin.

Celestia just gawks in awe as the two flying machines soar over the battlefield, unleashing their weapons down towards the rampaging scorpion. First, their gatling-gun-like main weapons fire towards the battlefield. They screech like a dozen hydras as bullets send sand and smaller rocks several meters into the air.

Then the pilots could be seen pressing a button. Several hellfire missiles soar towards the stumbling beast. The area around the decepticon erupts into explosions and flames as the weapons impact the creature. Celestia gasps in shock and awe.

“By the maker! You say humans actually possess these flying war-machines?!”

Michael nods nonchalantly, stuffing a few pieces of popcorn into his mouth.

“Yea. Pretty cool, right? What about in your home? Do you ponies also have a military air force in Equestria?

Celestia thinks about the newly constructed battleships they had in the Canterlot hangars. These Airships had several cannons and are the finest and deadliest war machines Equs has seen. But compared to these…. things… They were merely crude toys.

“Y-Yes we do.” She tried her best to not be amazed or scared of these human weapons. But it clearly affected her. As the Princess of Equestria she has to be strong and under no circumstances should her kingdom be belittled, even if their military weaponry is nowhere near as strong as these human weapons.

“We do have dozens of battleships with incredibly powerful weapons as well!”

Michael just grins at that. “That’s pretty cool!”

Celestia is in a trance like state as the jets in the movie fly away at an immense speed. Her eyes grow wide as she imagines the Canterlot Castle being attacked by these flying things while her own ponies and even guards flee in terror.

She turns her head quickly and gives Michael a wary look. He is just looking at the TV with a faint smile on his lips while brushing his feet, which rest on the recliner, against each other. Nothing about him seems threatening or dangerous. Shaking her head, she then forgets about her worries, looking at her human companion with a soft smile.

Here she was, having a movie night with her alien friend. Clearly, there was no need to be scared. During the last few days, he showed more than once that he is quite the gentle-stallion -err man. A quite bold, intriguing but weird one, but a friend, nonetheless. A very good one. And Celestia was sure that for him she could be considered weird as well.

Her train of thought is cut off as a rather loud bell sound is heard in all of Michael’s house. She soon realizes that this must be the doorbell. Looking towards him, she wonders why he is not answering the door.

‘R-Right. She should not be seen, she almost forgot.’

“It’s probably just some vendor trying to sell me shit.”

He waves a hand dismissively towards the front door and keeps looking at the TV. Celestia then waits for a while and leans back once again. She is just about levitating a few candies into the air when the doorbell starts ringing again. This time longer and three times. Whoever was outside clearly wanted to be answered.

Michael sighs in annoyance and gets up.

“I’ll just take a look through the peephole.”

Celestia gives him a nod, her ears standing up attentively as Michael walks towards the door. She turns down the volume of the movie and blinks a few times as Michael bends down lightly to look through the peephole.

Immediately she could notice something being off from his posture. His muscles on his arms tense up firmly and she could see his legs shaking slightly. Slowly Michael turns around towards Celestia, a look of horror on his face. His eyes are open wide in shock and worry.

Celestia immediately stands up and wants to walk towards the shivering form of Michael, but he makes her stop, his arms overlapped in a cross. He then heavily gestures towards upstairs. Celestia just nods at him and swiftly but silently bolts upstairs into her room while looking over her shoulder towards him in worry.

“Ding doong”

“Ding dooooooong”

Michael takes a deep breath and closes his eyes for a second, trying to calm down before opening the door. After two more seconds, he breathes out and opens the door.

“Yea?”

An in dark colours clothed figure is standing on his porch. It’s a man in his late sixties, a few scars visible on his grim face. He is wearing black shoes, dark trousers, and a blue-black vest with the ACASC logo on the chest area. On his bald head, he is wearing a black hat which is embroidered with the ACASC logo.

Michael stares with a lifeless expression into the eyes of his Boss.

Vogel gives him a smile and then raises his left arm a bit. He is carrying a rather hefty leathery briefcase.

“Hallo Michael! How are you doing ziss vonderful friday evening? May I come inside?"

Author's Note

Arc 1 is finished.

Onto Arc 2.

The movie scene is inspired by this: (7) Transformers Desert Battle Scene (Dolby Atmos) - YouTube

Chapter 07 - The Deal

The Backyard Anomaly

Chapter 07 – The Deal

Vogel sniffs the air as he walks into Michael’s house, eyeing his living room with the various snacks laying around carefully.

“It smells like I walked into a cinema, wunderbar!” The elderly man laughs and then turns towards his employee, giving him a happy smile.

“Ahh, zis reminds me of mein youth.”

Vogel walks towards the couch where Celestia just was sitting a moment ago, looking at all the snacks. He then takes a seat and grabs a few popped kernels, munching them happily after throwing a few into his mouth. His eyes notice two pizza boxes with some slices still inside. One pizza had a few mushrooms on it, the other various vegetables.

“What do you want, Vogel? It’s my weekend…”

Vogel slowly turns his body towards Michael and eyes him with suspicion, his wrinkly eyes blinking slowly a few times.

“I am sorry for disturbing your movie night, Michael but I have received a call from ze local police department concerning a car accident in front of your home.”

Vogel pops a few more kernels into his mouth and quickly swallows the crunchy treat while leaning back and crossing his legs, revealing his perfectly clean and almost shiny leather boots. He is making himself comfortable.

Michael is still standing beside the couch, not looking at his boss, merely staring at Celestia’s pizza laying in front of Vogel.

“Reports say that a winged white horse with colourful mane and tail appeared on ze street, colliding with my stepsister’s car. However, my stepsister was uninjured beyond a few scuffs and bruises. Quite lucky for her age I must say.

Vogel points to Celestia’s pizza in front of him. “May, I?”

Michael nods, not looking into his eyes.

Vogel smiles happily and carefully removes one of his black gloves, taking a slice with his naked hand and fingers.

“I find it intriguing how zis accident happened right in front of your house, Michael. Our searchers simply can’t find ze anomaly and usually they find everything within a few hours. Do you not find that intriguing?

Sweat was forming on Michaels body, his temperature rising to a very uncomfortable level. “I- I yea I heard the accident with my own ears and then went outside to check on her. I even called the police.”

Vogel just seems to be focusing on the slice of pizza, eating it slowly and not really listening to Michael. After Michael finished talking, he just gives him a quick look and then slowly finished his slice. He takes a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes his lips and fingers clean, quickly covering his hand with his black glove again.

“Michael…” Vogel pauses for a while after saying his name.

“…You know it is against ze law to hide anomalies, right?

Michael slowly nods, his eyes staring into the distance.

”Yes.” He retorts softly.

Vogel gives his employee a smile, uncrossing his legs and clapping his hands together.

“Zhis pizza tasted simply wonderful. But I always thought you preferred pizza with ham. Ah indeed, pizza prosciutto, your favourite right?”

He looks up to Michael who is still staring at the various snacks in front of Vogel, not daring to sit down, not daring to do anything. A few moments pass and Vogel simply observes Michael’s facial features while he stands there, petrified. A few crickets are chirping outside, and Vogel folds his hands together, forming a triangle with his fingers.

“You are hiding it in one of your rooms, are you not?”

A few more moments pass, only for Joseph to stare through the crystal-clear windows into his garden. The moon is already climbing into the sky and the last sun rays could be seen, soon it would get dark.

“Y-Yes.” Michael stutters, sighing in defeat.

Upstairs, Celestia’s eyes open wide, and her pupils shrink as she hears this from inside Michael’s bedroom. With her ears close to the door and with a simple spell, she could hear their conversation clearly. She looks to the windows and considers fleeing, but then she hears Michael’s muffled voice once again.

“Please… Don’t hurt her. She is sentient. A Princess from a different Dimension who needs to get home!”

“Hurt her?” Vogel smacks his knee and starts laughing. “Wunderbar, Michael! You sometimes are quite ze jokester.” His laughter sometimes sounds like a gentle wheeze due to his age.

Vogel chuckles a few more times and then looks with a serious expression towards his employee. “Michael, unlike what many people and even some of our employees think, our organisation is not evil. I know we had out differences in zhe past, but we are over that aren’t we, Michael?”

Michaels's eyes grow a bit more lifeless, but he nods, nonetheless.

We are not trying to hurt sentient anomalies. Not at all. We are here to study, learn and if possible, even strengthen zhe diplomatic relationships with interplanetary or interdimensional species. And if zhis anomaly, she, is a Princess, zhis would simply make matters even better for both of us.”

Michael is now slowly taking a seat next to his boss, thinking about what he just heard, but not replying yet.

“I am a bit disappointed in you for not informing me, Michael.” Vogel sighs and leans back on the couch.

“However, zhis is ze first time you are interacting with a sentient anomaly, so I understand your thinking. This does not occur often, and it is just logical that you would want to protect a sentient creature. But I assure you, your fears are unfounded. Our main goal in zhis case would be to study and learn. No gruesome experimenting. No inhumane techniques. Merely talking.”

Vogel sighs and takes a single popcorn piece and pops it into his mouth.

“We could even assist ‘her’ in finding her own dimension and planet, Michael. Wouldn’t you want that?”

Michaels eyes open wide, his eyes now looking straight towards Vogel.” W-What? How? That’s not-“

Vogel raises his hand to silence him.

“Do you not remember your clearance level, Michael?” Vogel clears his throat rather loudly and shifts a bit on the couch.

“Michael Keller, ACASC Branch CF-17, Security Clearance Level 4. Advanced Researcher in Molecular biological anomalous threats. Working for us since January 1st 2006.”

Michael just blinks at him in confusion.

“Some aspects of our work are simply classified and reserved for level 5 clearance, zhe highest security clearance. Which you now are since I am telling you all this.” Vogel gives Michael a smirk.

Michael gasps and goes through his curly hair with his fingers. “Wha… Level 5 clearance?! M-Me?” Michael exhales a breath he held for a while and then slumps back into the couch, his mind racing. Never ever had he imagined climbing that ladder. Level 5 clearance was reserved for the best of the best and those who worked for the ACASC their entire life with a perfect track record.

“Indeed, Michael. We need skilled researchers like you in ze highest clearances. Together we will achieve great things. And, “Vogel gestures towards upstairs.” With her, we can learn more in a few short days than we have during ze last decade.”

Satisfied with himself, Vogel smiles softly towards Michael and unfolds folds his other leg over the other.

Michael just sits there, looking stunned as he stares at his boss with wide eyes.

“Ahh, I almost forgot. Zhe new suitcase of yours!”

Vogel unfolds his legs, grabs the metallic suitcase and puts it next to Michael onto the sofa. Michael admires it with wide eyes, a soft gasp exiting his mouth as a smile forms on his lips.

“Go ahead, Michael. It is all yours.” Vogel beams proudly as he sees Michael gently brushing his hands over the fine suitcase.

He opens it with two distinct clicks and folds the suitcase open. His hands tremble as he sees the contents. Inside were three items. First, a ‘Level 5 Security Researcher Access Card’ with his name and photo and fingerprints and personal DNA transcripts on it. It is attached to a lanyard and various holograms and emblems are embedded in the brand new plastic security card.

The next item is a black stun gun similar to his. But it was not merely a stun gun. Everyone in the ACASC knows that these stun guns had different power levels Only the lethal ones were reserved for Level 5 personnel.

The third item is a slick and beautifully crafted smartphone. An in-house brand by the ACASC with its own operating system, security features and different perks. One could for example call the various ‘Level 5 Services’ within the ACASC. If you need a private jet from point A to B, you would get one. If you need special equipment for research, you would get it. If you wanted access to the most interesting and dangerous anomalies in the Level 5 security areas, you would get said access.

Michael’s heart is pumping rapidly now. He looks back up to his boss with excited facial features, only to see his boss holding his hand towards him.

“Do we have a deal, Michael?”

Michael blinks a few times, trying to hide his excitement a bit. He slowly closes the suitcase and clears his throat. Turning his head towards the stairs which lead to upstairs, he ponders for a second. He feared for the worst but maybe this could really turn out good for him and Celestia in the end.

“Can you promise me that no one will hurt her?”

Vogel merely chuckles and wipes his eyes dry with his other hand, giving Michael a nod and a soft smile. “Of course, Michael. I promise.”

“Okay… I am sorry, for not informing you, Vogel. I-I didn’t know that-“

Vogel silences him once again and holds his hand closer towards Michael, insisting on the handshake, clearly growing a bit impatient. Michael noticed this and quickly but gladly accepts, firmly shaking the hand of his boss with a relieved smile.

“You did not have zhe necessary information due to your lacking security clearance. No need to be sorry.”

Author's Note

I know it's a bit short. But I wanted to put it out here since it has been a while.

My masters thesis and various tests have been written, so I have more time for this fic now :)

I'm still not sure where it will go, and I'm sure there are various plotholes that I will have to fix in the future. Just point them out If you notice any. Also leave a comment <3