Celestia drops in

A couple more days went past with myself and Celestia just spending time around each other. She was slowly getting better each day: Her leg had healed and the wing could now been extended. She couldn’t yet move it enough to fly, but it was coming along nicely. Seeing her with her wings fully extended was an impressive sight, and I'm glad we never fought as she was very impossing. Her horn was still damaged thought and none her magic had not returned.

We sat around the breakfast table eating Scrambled Eggs, and I had some bacon on the side - I had managed to persuade the Princess to try eggs scrambled and she enjoyed them so much she said it was going to be declared the national dish on her return. I thought this seemed a little extreme, but then when you have eaten the same foods for thousands of years, any new combination was something to be celebrated. It was just a shame they didn't have potatoes back in Equestria as bringing chips to the population would have probably been good enough for her to be considered a god...if she wasn't already thought as such.

We chatted a little and then suddenly a pain flashed across her face. She sat there grimacing like she had a really bad migraine. “You okay” I rushed over and put my arm round her, hugging her close. I hadn’t done this before, but from the pain on her face I felt she need the physical closeness.

“Yes…I’ll be fine” she yelped back. I stood there hugging her for a while until the pain started to fade. “It’s just …my horn…I think it’s starting to heal but it hurts as it mends. I sat with her for a while, until it was clear that she was back to normal and I left to go and look after my animals.

*****

After cleaning out the pigs and chickens in the barn, I went over to the stables.

“Hello Pickle, Nightlight and Butterfly” I welcomed my horses as I came over, greated by three nosy heads sticking out of their stables. I moved the horses to the spare stables I had prepared with new straw, and started cleaning out the dirty stables, humming away to myself.

“Anything I can do to help” I heard a soft voice behind me.

I turned and in shock saw a Celestia standing behind me. Well, most of her. She no longer had her horn or her wings, her mane had gone and her tail looked much like a normal horses.

“Celestia…how did you end up here? What’s happened to your wings…and horn?”

“My horn has started to heal - I can do basic magic again!" she exclaimed excitedly "One of the most basic spells Alicorns have the ability to hide our features to blend in with other ponies. Normally I can also make myself smaller, like my subjects, but no need for that here.”

I smiled at her “Well, glad to see you up and about. You don't need to help out, but feel free to have a wander round. But if you see any other humans, quickly run back and hide in a stable. From a distance you’ll look like a normal horse, but not up close. Your far too slender to pass as one of our ponies.”

“Understood” the Alicorn nodded, and went over to look at the other horses. The three heads were stuck out of their stables, and they seemed to be fascinated by the creature in front of them. Once I had finished I came over to her “I’m going to take one out for a ride, want to come along?”

“Oh, that was be delightful” she cooed “No offence Tony, but it’ll be nice to get out and stretch my legs for a while”

“Okay, but stick close to me. If we see anyone, stick right by my side and people will think I’m leading you”

I grabbed Pickles saddle and bridle, and tacked the mare up. Celestia watched with fascination as the horse allowed me to tack her up, looking forwards to the ride.

As I finished up, Celestia started talking again “Funny really… we still have saddle in Equestria, to help carry young ponies or in one pony's case a baby dragon around. But bridles…they hark back to a much darker time”

“Sorry if it’s upsetting to you, but they don’t really hurt.”

A mounted Pickle and started walking out of the courtyard

“No, not really upsetting, just strange. Before my time, ponies were not always the leading creatures of our land. Other creatures used to use ponies for work and transport, much like you do now. Some of them still try, like Diamond Dogs, and they mistreat any ponies as well. But I can tell you care for your animals, so I guess it’s not so bad”

Having warmed up Pickle, we broke into faster gaits, cantering and galloping around the edge of my estate. Her body was fully healed so Celestia could keep up and it was great to see her enjoying herself. She had hidden her mane, but her longer than average tail was flicking around and flowing freely. I wondered how great it would be to see her long hair flowing as well.

After about an hours hacking, we returned to the farm and I let all three horses out into the fields. Celestia and I returned to the house and whilst she had gotten a little dusty, she used her magic to clean herself before entering. I was so glad not to have to wash her down again.

*****

I had prepared our lunch and brought it into the living room, but it was clear something was wrong Celestia was stood in the middle of the room, anger spread across her face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked

“I thought I could trust you” she spat

“You can…what’s happened”

Celestia just pointed at the TV with a hoof, and my face had dropped a little. Celestia had found the news channels, and it was covering the current war. Some of the images were, as the news call it, disturbing in nature.

“I thought you were a civilised society” she growled “You led me to be that you were kind creatures, but you’re not. You unslave animals, eat them and kill them. Not only that, but do the same to each other!” Her wings flared in anger, and a soft glow started to form around her horn.

I wasn't sure how best to react, but I knew I shouldn’t have hidden it for so long. I sat down on the floor in front of her, making myself as small as possible. She kept an eye on me and I looked up deeply into her eyes.

“Well Tony, what do you say for yourself?” She stood, looking very regal and imposing. She seemed to naturally fall into this role, and that was my plan – let her feel as important as possible so she wouldn't feel personally threatened, and then I could convince her.

“Dear Princess Celestia, I know I should have been a bit more honest at our flaws. But I am not a warmonger, I have never killed anything for fun, revenge or for anything else but for food or if the creature was suffering.”

“But you are the same creatures as them, so you must be evil”

“Are you the same as any bad subjects in your kingdom?”

“No…no ponies are evil!” she shouted at me

“So…why do you have guards if there is no evil?”

She stopped speechless for a moment  “Actually, the guards don’t really protect me, but my citizens”

“Protect them from what if there is no evil?”

“Other creatures in my world are evil…The changelings for one”

“So, there’s never been a pony who has hurt other ponies”

“No! no…not really”

“Not really?” I saw an opening, and took it

“Well, there was one who threatened other ponies, but never killed any”

“Is that because the pony was stopped?”

“No…my sister would have realised her mistake after a while!”

“Your sister?”

Celestia explained Luna’s incident with her Nightmare Moon persona, how Celestia had stopped her before the crops failed, and her she has since been cured by her student and her friends.

“Well, I’m glad about that, but surely it shows that not all your ponies are the same. So why do you think us humans are?”

She looked at me “Nopony but my Sister or Twilight Sparkle ever argues back against me. It’s refreshing, especially as you also make good arguments. I have been a guest in your house, and I suppose you have not shown me a single aspect of your personality that’s aggressive or evil”

She knelt down infront of me, and bowed her head “Please forgive me for accusing you of such things”

I gently put my hands on her muzzle, and lifted her head back up “Oh Celestia, there’s no need to apologise. It must be hard to be in this strange land, I wonder if I could keep as calm as you if I landed in a strange world filled with flying and magical ponies, who control the weather and even the sun and moon."

"If only it would be possible, I would like to see how you, and my subjects, would react to a human in Equestria. Given how you would tower over most of them, they would likely be scared! But I don't think you would have to be hidden away like I have had to be here"

"Too true..."I mused "It would be lovely to let other people see and get to know you, I feel almost selfish keeping you to myself. But you have seen that not all humans are kind, and I would worry what some of them would do to you if they knew you were here"

"After seeing this news thing, I finally understand why. It seems like fate brought me into the safety of you, rather than a more dangerous area"

*****

I lay in bed that night, thinking. The rest of the day went off without further problems, and dealing with this issue had allowed us to be even closer. We both discussed our history of our worlds, both amazed by the various parts. Her worlds problems were resolved by magic, something called ‘The elements of Harmony’ and love, whilst ours were more solved by guns and bombs. But we both also had some core values that the majority cared about – families, friends and love. It's hard to remember that sometimes when there is such much evil in the world.

Just as I was finally dropping off, I heard talking downstairs. I decided to investigate, and slowly crept down to the living room where Celestia was spending the nights. She had decided that it was much more her to be inside, even in a small house, then a rustic barn. Although she had made me swear never to say that to somepony called ‘Applejack’ or any pony with Apple in their name. Celestia was curled up asleep, looking completely relaxed and at ease, and she looked so sweet and cute.

The Princess was talking in her sleep, in some language I couldn't quite understand, but rather than random sounds it seemed to be a proper conversation she was having. I was surprised she wasn't dreaming in the same language as she spoke, but then it was surprising she spoke the same language in the first place. I stood there for a while watching her, and whatever she was dreaming seemed to make her happy as she was contently sighing and a smile spread across her face. After a while I left her alone, almost feeling like I was intruding into a private moment, and went upstairs and tried to go back to sleep.

*****

First thing in the morning, I woke up and went downstairs, where Celestia was still laid out asleep on the floor, so I gently coughed to try to wake her up. She yawned as she woke and stretched herself out.

“Good morning Celestia, interesting dreams?”

“Good morning Tony. Yes, how did you know?”

“You were talking some language in your sleep, I don't know what.”

“Ahhh, that must have been ancient Equestrian. Its not been spoken for thousands of years, and only the immortals can now remember it. Works out quite well for secretly being able to talk to my sister or niece behind everypony else's back, although I think her husband is trying to learn what we say about him! Not that we talk too much about him of course."

I laugh, seeing how easily Celestia gets distracted talking about her niece and her husband, wondering how long she had been waiting for her niece's marriage.

"But yes. It was great news" she perked up "Now my magic had returned Luna was able to contact me in my dreams?”

“Wow, entering eachs others dreams? You ponies can do that?”

“Only my sister, Princess of the Night can enter other ponies dreams, it's a spell I've never been able to learn. She was relieved to finally find me as she had been worried as she had not been able to contact me for so long. Everypony back home had feared for the worse, but today the news will spread that I am fine!”

“So, what did happen? You never said how you ended up here?”

“Well, there was a great enemy attacking my kingdom, a whole swarm of demented dragons. Myself, my sister, my niece, Discord and the elements of harmony were all defending the kingdom, and we were battling the evil leader who had corrupted the others with his dark magic. Just as we were defeating him, he turned his final bit of magic just on me as a desperate act of vengence. No doubt he was trying to either kill me, corrupt me or something, but somehow he ended up sending me here"

I sat there completely speechless as Celestia told the story

"The good news was that he was defeated, no other ponies were hurt and the kingdom is safe” She started to cry, and I went over and put my hand on her neck, gently stroking her. Suddenly she used her wing to pull me into a deep hug, which took me by surprise. She felt so warm and soft, yet her wing was so powerful she probably could crush me.

“Oh Tony, I’m so glad my sister and my kingdom is safe! I’ve been so worried!”

“I didn’t know, you hadn’t let on at all!”

“Well, I had faith in my sister and student to cope. So to start with I was more concerned with my own situation. But it’s so nice to know it’s all safe”

“And presumably this is another sign that your magic is returning, so you might be able to return soon?”

She released me from the hug, and turned her head to look at me “Not for a while yet, but it does mean I now have worked out a way of tracking my way back to where I belong”

"So thats all good news" I nodded to her

"Yes, and even more important than that my crown and shoes are safe as well" she deadpanned, before bursting out in laughter.

*****

I made breakfast and sat it down as usual. However, as soon as went to reach for the food, Celestia laughed “No need to feed me today” she explained, and my forks started to glow yellow. It then levitated up and she started feeding herself by magic.I just sat there staring at her, causing her to giggle and then started trying to feed me as "obviously today I was unable to feed myself." We laughed, and I went and got myself a second fork.

After breakfast, Celestia joined me outside again, and today she started using her magic to help move the stuff around. I didn’t really need the help, but I think she was glad to have some of her other abilities back. She helped move around the supplies of hay and straw, and I also let her collect all the eggs from the hens. She levitated the chickens up, and they seemed to be completely relaxed at this, such must be the relaxing side effects of a magic levitation.

The rest of the day went pretty much as usual, except Celestia could now help me out around the house. We also had great fun starting to play some board games and the like, as Celestia could now more the pieces around herself. I had fashioned a simple crown out of some fabric, which Celestia put on with pride and then fashioned one for me. Yeah it was a little childish for a fully grown adult and a royal alicorn, but little things like that help make the days a bit different. She seemed to be even happier as usual, which I put down to being in touch with her sister again and getting the use of her magic.

And I think the fact she beat me in more than half the games helped!