JUN 28 Sunday.

I sigh and move back to the same place I was sitting before a crazy bird body checked me. I lay down and get comfortable again while Entropy decides to sit on my head, with Philomena staying on my back, "Well I'm glad you two are happy with yourselves." I turn to Celestia as she softly chuckles again.

I give her yet another deadpan look, "And I'm glad you've gotten a good laugh out of this."

She stops and smiles at me. "Well thank you, your sacrifice is appreciated." She jokes, It's good to hear her joke so much when we talk. "But moving on, more questions?" I almost nod but don't because of Entropy, she sees my predicament and just keeps her smile.

I think about it for a few moments. "What would you personally consider a short span of time? Months? Years?"

She looks thoughtful for a moment while I refill my teacup and eat a biscuit, these are good. "Well, that's not really a simple answer to that. Sometimes I can keep going through the motions of my day-to-day duties again and again, and then suddenly it's two months later. And other times it feels like the day slowly crawls along as I go through the same thing I've seen so many times. So yes and no." I make a mental note of that as she continues. "I am rather curious why such a question came to mind?"

I think of a good analogy and then answer her. "Well, we were talking about immortality. And from what I've seen a short amount of time seems to change depending on how old you are, at least to some extent. For me, a year feels like a decent amount of time when many things happen. But an old pony that's lived for decades might consider a year to not be that long." She seems to understand where I'm going with my explanation.

"And you wondered if a pony that's lived for centuries would experience that to a greater degree." She guesses.

I'm about to nod again but once again remember Entropy is still on my head, so I pick her up and place her on my back next to Philomena. Then I nod, "Yes something along those lines."

She's silent for a moment before speaking. "You know I didn't notice too much before now, maybe because we talked about yourself, but you seem to think a lot about how different beings might see the world around them."

I let that roll around in my mind, and I'm a little confused by what she means. She sees my confusion and elaborates, "Let me ask you this as an example. If you could be any other species besides a pony, what would it be? And why?"

I think over her words before answering. "A dragon. They don't age, can eat gems if they can't find meat or plants, are very tough, can fly, and they have their fire for attack and defense. And there are probably more reasons that I don't know about."

She smiles and nods. "All decent reasons, with the information you have to work with. Now what would be some downsides to being a dragon?"

I'm not sure where she's going but answer anyway. "I'm not sure if a dragon can use magic, but even if they can it would probably be harder to use than as a pony. From what little I know they aren't the most social race and that would make cooperation and finding help with injuries or trade harder."

"Their size is useful, but when they get truly large it might be hard to find enough food or shelter. Their size would also make it hard to create personal items or useful tools that they wouldn't outgrow or break. And it would also probably be harder to get along with other races to an extent."

"And I could probably think of a few other smaller things, but that's most of the big ones that come to mind immediately." By the end, Celestia looks a little proud of my explanation, and I'm not sure why.

"And do you think most would think the same about dragons if I asked them that question?" She asks while keeping that same look.

I nod. "We may not know much about dragons, and any pony you asked would have to read up on dragons some, but all of the things I mentioned seem pretty common sense to me. And it would only take some time to think it all through."

She shakes her head a little, "As much as I wish all my ponies did that, they simply don't. From my personal experience a majority of ponies only think about things from their perspective or a pony-centric perspective. What you are doing is in a way the opposite, you put yourself in another's position and try to imagine what life is like for them."

I decide to interrupt, to voice my disagreement. "I understand that many could have some difficulty doing it, but I feel like most ponies could do it with a little effort and time." As we talk I'm starting to see her point a little.

She shows a smile filled with a little pride directed at me. "It's not that they can't, they simply won't. I can not list the number of ponies I've met who fail to grasp what you've just told me, so many simply see the world how they see it and never really think about how others may see it. Many just don't take the time and effort to understand others like that."

I understand what she's explaining, but I'd thought it would be less of an issue in this world. For humans, we oftentimes struggled to see how the world looks and feels from a different human’s perspective than our own, sure we can do it but it takes time and effort on our part.

I just thought ponies would be more willing to put in that time and effort considering they interact with completely different species on a reasonably often basis.

And the more I think about it the more I realize ponies struggle just as much as humans did in this aspect, maybe even more considering how isolated they can be as a species, I'm reminded of Ponyville and a certain Zebra. I slowly nod to Celestia, who's let me think through her words in silence, "I see what you mean, although it still seems odd that they don't think about others like that."

She keeps a small smile. "Many do, but sadly they are in the minority. Most live their lives and don't worry about much else, they never really question what life is like for other ponies, let alone other species. But at least there are ponies like you, ponies who try to understand." She gives me that same slightly proud look again.

"Well, I'll take that as a compliment." I move on and try to think of what to ask next. "What's something you enjoy talking about but don't get to as much as you'd like?" I'm curious if she likes something but can't talk about it with most of the ponies she interacts with normally.

She seems to think about it for a few moments before answering. "Philosophy, I enjoy thinking and questioning things about the world around me and how they work."

I'm pleasantly surprised at her answer, then again I'd be more surprised if she didn't think about the world at her age. And it seems we share an interest in this topic. "Philosophy is something I also enjoy, but also don't get to talk about much." I lapse into silence for a moment and come up with a decent question. "Do you believe destiny exists?"

She smiles seeing that I'm trying to engage with her interest, and stays silent for a moment before answering me. "Yes I believe destiny exists, but I also believe it can be changed. And that it's not as rigid as many would presume." She then asks the question back to me. "What about you? Do you believe destiny exists?"

I think about her question a little before answering. "Yes I do, but I don't see it as a singular thing." She raises a brow and stays silent, so I elaborate. "I think everypony has their own unique destiny, and that it changes with our actions, if you make a different decision at any moment your destiny will change to reflect that."

"And that every destiny interacts with all the others, one action leads to another and it spirals endlessly. I see it as an endless sea of destinies, constantly changing and interacting with each other, shifting with the tides, never staying the same for more than a moment. But that's just how I see it."

I don't lie to her about how I see destiny. I know it can be changed because I've done just that, but I also personally believe in choosing your own destiny. This is just my best attempt to visualize these two ideas together in an explainable way.

As I explained my thoughts Celestia goes from interested to thoughtful. "That's certainly an interesting way to see destiny." We both go quiet. Then Entropy decides she needs attention and moves in between my forelegs, I just start scratching her as Celestia speaks. "Where do you think life came from?"

I can see her wanting to continue but deciding to not engage with this question. "Ahh, the oldest question there is. I have no idea, I honestly wouldn't even know where to begin." I lie through my teeth.

My last world never found out where life came from, but we narrowed it down to a few good theories. And some of those theories could even be correct. So I think it's best I don't bring those ideas up right now, especially when I can't just say I read it somewhere. If I did, she might go looking for my sources and she won't find them, and that's just a slippery slope that could lead to many questions I won't or can't answer.

She nods. "Yes many are the same, I myself am just as clueless in answering it. And I've heard a few interesting theories over the years, but nopony could ever prove any of them to me." Yet another moment of silence falls over us, and Celestia takes a moment to look at the clock on the wall.

"Seems we have gone past our meeting time." I glance over and see it's eight at night, we've been talking for a while now. "And I think this is a decent place to leave it, anything else before we finish?"

I can't think of anything that couldn't wait until our next meeting so I shake my head. "No, thanks again for inviting me. And for showing me your home." It was nice to simply talk with her, no guards, no palace, just a quiet space, and some interesting topics.

"And thank you for indulging in one of my interests. Have a good night Shade, also feel free to just have Entropy take you home, I rather you not have to walk home in the dark." She gave me a happy smile while cleaning up the tea set we were using.

I nod, but then an idea strikes me. "And the same to you. Would you mind if we set up somewhere I can just have Entropy bring me here? Although that might be somewhat of a security risk so maybe a place nearby the palace would work better." I offer.

She nods and keeps her smile. "I doubt Entropy would bring anypony but you here. The room she brings mail to should work just fine, I'll have a guard be at the door when we have a meeting scheduled to guide you. I wish you a pleasant rest." She answers while taking Philomena off of my back, Philomena for her part looks annoyed at being moved while she's resting.

"Agreed, and I wish you the same Celestia," I say while stretching out my sore legs and turning to Entropy, who's standing on my back. "Take us home girl." A moment later I see nothing and reappear in my apartment.

Well, today has certainly been interesting, but I'm hungry and tired. I feed both me and Entropy some dinner and head to bed.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}

I originally didn't plan on making this a continuation of the last chapter. But some microscopic bastard decided to get me sick. And then I wrote this slightly dehydrated with a slight fever, why? Fuck if I know.

The result is interesting and I think I got weirdly philosophical half way through. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the mad ramblings.

Ps, I'm taking tomorrow off.