Feelin' It
"Do you mind if I nap on your back?" Amy asked the guard after a few minutes of flight. All we could see at the time were trees, so I could understand why she wanted to sleep on the trip. The guard shrugged in response, and Amy adjusted herself so she could rest her head on the guard's neck.
By the time we approached the Everfree Forest's border, it was already getting dark and the moon was visible just behind the mountain where Canterlot was located. My guess was that it was around six in the evening. Looking down into the forest I saw some movement inside the trees below us, and sometimes I saw packs of glowing green orbs blinking at us. Shit, no wonder Daring wanted to leave the forest before night... I don't even want to know what those things are... I swallowed dryly before looking forward again and ignore the forest. Canterlot was clearly visible from the distance we were, and we began ascending towards the city embedded into the mountain cliff.
"Shouldn't we wake her up now?" Daring Do asked when we were a few minutes from reaching the castle.
"She sure would love the view..." I responded while looking over at Amy. I flew towards the female guard to try to wake Amy up. "Hey, Amy? We're almost there..." I said in a louder than usual volume to battle the wind's noise.
She moaned a bit before opening her eyes and looked at me. She then looked down and saw the altitude we were at and hesitantly got up to a sitting position on the guard's back. I raised a leg and pointed to the castle, in which she finally looked at, making her even more speechless than she already was.
We flew over the walls protecting the city and landed inside the castle grounds, just in front of the doors that led to the museum where me and Twilight first entered. Amy got off the guard's back and walked next to me and Daring. We entered the museum corridor, and as if pegasi weren't enough to make Amy shocked, the room consisted mostly of unicorns - not to mention, some of them had coats with colours you'd find in a crayon box.
"S-So many colours..." Amy stuttered, "and there are... u-unicorns!?"
"Yup..." I said quietly. "We need to go see the Princesses right now, so please keep calm and don't panic, alright?" She nodded nervously, her head was turning quickly from one pony to another, staring at them as she did. Likewise, the ponies that noticed Amy stared right back at her with pretty much the same reaction as hers. We rushed to the corridor and approached the door that led to the throne room.
One of the guards approached us as we entered the room and saw the two thrones empty. "Miss Daring.” He greeted her, “The Princesses are currently at the dining table. They said that you may join them at any time."
"Thank you." she nodded back at the guard, and turned to face me and Amy. "Well that gives us some time to let Amy recompose herself."
"S-sort of...", Amy asked nervously, still dazed from seeing crayon-coloured ponies.
"Well... just as a precaution," I spoke, " The princesses about as tall as you and are both unicorn and pegasus." Her eyes widened at the end of my sentence. "Just letting you know in advance in case you freak out or something..."
"O-okay..." she stuttered. We walked back to the museum and followed Daring to the dining room, where the Princesses and other unicorns were having their meals. Twilight was sitting next to Princess Celestia, and when she saw me without a scratch she beamed with happiness Very subtle, Twilight.... Her expression went from happiness to complete surprise in mere nano-seconds when she noticed Amy standing next to me and Daring Do. Celestia noticed her pupil's reaction and looked over to us, and had a similar reaction to Twilight's. Luna followed suit a few seconds later.
"Good god they're beautiful..." Amy muttered while staring at them, "their manes..."
"Let's get you settled and eat, first. Those berries weren't a proper meal." Daring Do interrupted. Gee, Daring, you sure know how to ruin a moment...
"R-Right!" Amy snapped out of her trance. We walked over to the princesses and picked the seats next to them. Twilight insisted I sat next to her (I wonder why...). Amy sat on the other seat next to me.
"So... this is a human..." Twilight pondered while looking over at Amy. "How did you find it?"
"She was frozen among others in the ruins Daring found, which turned out to be a cryogenics lab." I replied. "And her name is Amy Winter."
"Hello, Amy! I'm Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said to her. Amy waved at her nervously. The fact that she was surrounded by talking and winged/horned horses didn't quite sink into her yet. "Let's get you three something to eat."
"I could use something to eat right now." Amy replied; her nervousness was slowly starting to go away. She looked at the food served at the table in front of us and picked some food for her plate - Seeing her use her hands to eat made me slightly jealous, but I kept my cool and chose my own food as Twilight served it for me. (I'll pick levitation over hands any day of my life, to be honest)
"Let's discuss your findings once we're done eating," Celestia said to me and Daring Do, "for now let us have a peaceful meal." Everyone agreed to it and went to mind their own plates.
Once we were done with dinner Daring Do, Amy, Twilight, the princesses and I walked back to the throne room. The princesses sat on their thrones and the rest of us took a spot in front of them. We spent a few minutes explaining what Daring and I found and how we found Amy.
"I see..." Celestia spoke, "so why was Amy frozen among others, yet the only one alive?"
"That I can explain for myself," Amy said just before Daring was about to answer. Amy explained what had happened, inclusing her tumour and how she and I were already acquainted before everything that had happened so far.
"Wow, what a coincidence." Twilight said, "but what about your illness? Can't we do something about it?"
"I believe so." Celestia answered her pupil, and looked towards Amy, whose eyes started glowing when she heard the answer. "Remember that machine used to examine Johnny?"
"Yes." I answered.
"We could use that to find her tumour and I’m certain we can take care of it for good." Celestia smiled, Amy's eyes were at the brink watering and I saw a smile slipping out. "But as far as I am aware, it will take a few days for the doctors to analyze your anatomy, since you're not a familiar species to them." Amy's smile began to fade a bit, but I still saw some joy in it. Everyone else in the room had stood silent, and were listening to the princess attentively. "The cost for a procedure like yours is very expensive and dangerous. But the outcome has always been successful." she smiled.
"How much are we talking about for this procedure?" I asked the princess.
"It's no matter." Celestia answered me, and turned once more to Amy, still smiling. "I'll personally take care of the expenses for your treatment."
There was a huge silence in the room. It wasn't an awkward silence at all. All of us were standing there in awe. A few seconds passed, and I heard a sniff coming from Amy. We looked over to her and she was staring straight back at Celestia.
"...C-can I hug you?", she whimpered, stopping to wipe a tear with her robe. Celestia stared at her for a short moment and smiled once again, spreading one of her wings. Amy finally snapped and ran over to the princess and they hugged for quite a while, all the while I could hear Amy's muffled voice from pressing her face against Celestia's neck saying "thank you" countless times. Meanwhile Luna was smiling at the two, Twilight was a bit teary-eyed and Daring was smiling a bit herself. Amy finally broke free of the hug and stared at the princess for a few more seconds before walking back to her spot next to us.
"Now, it won't take too long for the scanning to be complete" Celestia said, "we can still do that tonight and let the doctors examine the test results. But I'd still recommend you stay here in the medical bay so the doctors can keep an eye on you. Will you be alright with that?" Amy nodded quietly.
"And what about a place for her to live?" I asked. "Twilight's guest room is already taken. I don't see anywhere else where she can stay near us."
"Oh don't mind that, Johnny." Twilight answered, "Pinkie Pie would love to have a roommate, and Applejack has a guest bedroom at her farm as well. We can sort this out when we get back to Ponyville."
"Pinkie Pie.... Applejack..." Amy wondered, "All these names... I'm going to have to get used to them." she giggled. Twilight raised a brow and turned back to me.
"What's wrong with our names?" she asked me, almost frowning.
"Nothing... It's just that us humans aren't used to those kind of names." I replied, "I was a bit like her when I first got here - she'll get used to it fast."
"As for you, Johnny," Luna spoke to me, "I've taken the time to prepare your identity, and dealt with Carbon Streak's posters. You shouldn't have any trouble with anypony else around Canterlot about them asking you about it."
"Well, that's a relief." I said, "So I'm all clear now?"
"You just have to head to the embassy to complete some minor details and you'll be done." She replied.
"One more night in Canterlot and we're back to Ponyville, then." Twilight said, "I hope Spike is okay with spending another night alone..."
"As far as I know he probably would've gone over to sleep at Rarity's if he didn't want to be alone" I chuckled. Twilight rolled her eyes and giggled a bit. "But what about Amy? We still need to figure out where she'll be staying with us."
"Since she'll be staying a few days in Canterlot, we'll have some time to decide where she'll be living" Twilight replied. "But for now, I think we've got it covered for now."
"Well, now that we've dealt with all this, I've got some paperwork to fill out about this trip", Daring Do spoke. "It was nice working with ya, Johnny", she smirked and extended a hoof. I approached her and extended mine and we did a "hoof" bump. She bowed to the princesses and walked out of the throne room.
“Now Amy...” Luna looked at Amy, “If you would follow me to the medical bay...” She walked with Amy out of the throne room.
“Okay. Just to be clear:” I began after the doors closed, “Amy will spend a few days here being treated, I have to head to the embassy before leaving Canterlot, and then we’ll sort out where Amy will be living in Ponyville. Did I miss anything?”
“Nope. I believe that is all”, Twilight said. “I think I’ll talk with Cadance a bit before going to bed.” She approached Celestia and said their goodbyes. “See you soon, Johnny.” she smiled and walked out of the throne room.
“I’m thinking I’ll go finish my identity issue now.” I said to the remaining princess, “so where do I go to reach the embassy?”
“One of the guards can show you the way.” Celestia said, looking at one of the guards stationed next to the thrones. He nodded back and walked towards me. I bowed to the princess and followed the guard out of the throne room. A few minutes walking around the castle and we reached a medium-sized room with similar decor as the hospital area, there was a counter with a single light blue unicorn arranging some cabinets.
He turned around when he heard us walk in and turned to face us. “Oh, hello there!”. He said smiling. He had a silver mane and matching gray eyes, as well. “I’m guessing you might be the one called Johnny the Princess of the Night mentioned when she passed here earlier.” He walked to one of the cabinets, bringing back a few papers with him. He placed the papers on the counter, holding a quill.
“As far as I’m aware, you’re just like Carbon Streak on the physical side, am I right?” he asked me. I nodded back politely to him.
“Very well, I’ll just copy over Carbon Streak’s information... except the name, of course.” He said while reading over Carbon’s file. “Now... for the name...” he looked up to me. “What is your full name?”
“Jonathan Crown”. I replied. I was half expecting him to find my name odd. My guessing was deemed correct when he raised a brow at me but shrugged.
“Rather uncommon name...” he commented, “seeing as you’re not from here I should’ve expected it.” he chuckled. “And your occupation?”
“Right now I’m working at Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville, but my main job would have to be musician.”
“I see.” he nodded, “So musician, then...” He quickly wrote it down on my file and looked up again. “Your age?”
“Uhhhh... Can’t you just compare it to Carbon’s profile?”
“Yep.” he smiled, “just keeping ya on your toes”, he copied Carbon’s age to my file. And then it hit me, I still don’t know my age!
“Question...” I spoke up. The unicorn looked up to me. “What is Carbon’s age anyway?”
“You’re a fine young-looking twenty-year old stallion, Mr Crown!” he smiled back. 4 years younger!? Oh man Amy is gonna turn into jelly when she hears this! “And that is all for now. We just need to take a picture for your profile.” he continued. “Is your hair naturally green and black like that?”
“It was dyed green, actually.” I replied.
“Very well, you don’t need a new picture taken then.” he nodded. He stamped my file on the bottom. “The last step is for you to sign here and we’re done.” He levitated a quill to me and I grabbed it with my mouth. Great... First time writing with my mouth and it has to be an official signature...I slowly and carefully wrote my name down on the line and gave back the quill to the unicorn.
“And this covers it all! you’re now officially an Equestrian citizen! Welcome to Equestria, Mr. Crown!” he said to me after I handed back is quill. “Take care of yourself, now!” He waved at me as I walked out with the guard. I smiled and waved back.
“Can you take me to the guest room, please?” I said to the guard escorting me, he nodded and motioned me to follow him.
When we got up to the guest room door, the guard nodded and walked back down to his duties. I opened the door and saw Twilight talking to the same alicorn I saw earlier in the morning before leaving with Daring to the Everfree forest - they were sitting at the edge of the bed. She saw me enter and smiled, Twilight looked behind her and waved at me.
“Hi, Johnny! This is Princess Cadance.” Twilight said, “She’s my sister-in-law!” Cadance had a mix of gold, pink and purple mane and had slightly pale purple eyes.
“Having some girl talk, I guess?” I asked.
“And some catching up.” Twilight beamed.
“Well, I’ll leave you two to yourselves now.” Cadance said while getting up, “Good night, Twilight. It was great seeing you again.” She passed by me at the door and winked at me. Whoa... what? If she was Twilight’s sister-in-law, then that meant she was married to her brother, which meant he probably told her about Twilight liking me, or she was told by Twilight herself just now. I shrugged off the strange feeling and proceeded to walk inside.
“So, I’m an Equestrian Citizen now.” I spoke up, Twilight had walked into the bathroom and was brushing her teeth. Heck, did these ponies really take all of humanity’s ideas and technology!?.
“Hmm!” she said with a mouthful of foam in her mouth, then spat it out on the sink, “Congratulations!”
“And just one thing...” I said quietly.
“Yeah?”
“Could you hurry up a bit? I just realized I haven’t been to a bathroom in over three days...”