A few hours had passed since Twilight read out the letter from this so called "Celestia". It'd be a lie to say that Sam was looking forward to meeting her, but what choice did he have? Since he took his suit off, he'd put it back on. Better to be safe than sorry.
After what seemed like days of waiting, a chariot pulled up outside, followed by a few knocks on the door. Twilight went to open said door and saw 2 royal guards standing there with spears by their sides.
"Miss Sparkle. We have come to collect the..." The guard stopped in mid sentence as he looked at Sam inside Twilight's house. "creature." Twilight just smiled.
"Ah, of course. Sam, would you come over here please?" Sam listened and stood up straight. He noticed the guards were shocked, probably because he was quite tall compared to them. He walked over next to Twilight and scanned the guards, making them weary.
"Hm. What are you supposed to be? Soldiers or something?" The guard on the left grunted and sent a glare Sam's way.
"No creature. We are the princesses royal guards and you will speak to us with respect." The next thing the guard knew, Sam was laughing and walking past them towards the chariot.
"Whatever you say man. Just take me to see this "Celestia" will you so I can get this over with." Twilight had to restrain the guard from trying to attack Sam as he was losing patience at a rapid rate.
"HOW DARE YOU! YOU WILL REFER TO HER AS THE PRINCESS!" He still laughed as he got into the chariot.
"Oh will I now? I doubt it. Anyway, hurry up. I want to get back by today." Twilight could see the guard was going to protest, but she told him to just ignore Sam. The guard obliged and went over to the chariot and got in, alongside the other guard. And in couple of seconds, they were up in the air flying towards Canterlot.
During the journey, all that Sam had done was stare at the scenery, have a cigarette, and make sure his weapon was still functioning. But after about half an hour, they finally arrived at their destination. After he got out of the chariot, he was guided by the guard to the castle where Princess Celestia was. While he was walking, he didn't say anything, nor did the guards. The only actual sounds what came out of his mouth were snorts and laughs, which were directed at the old Victorian buildings they had. After a while, they finally reached the castle. It was blocked off by a huge gate, which 2 guards were standing next to. They eyed Sam up at first but then opened the gate.
"Ah, you must be the creature that the princess wanted to see. Come this way."
Sam was never one for taking orders, but as he thought before, he didn't really have any other options. So he followed the guards through the castle and eventually came towards a rather large wooden door. He guessed this was the throne room or something seen as it was a "royal" castle. One of the guards, a unicorn to be precise, went to open the gate with his magic.
"Alright. Through here is the throne room."
Sam smirked. "I knew it." The guard continued on from his sentence.
"The princess is waiting for you in there. Good luck."
All the guard got for a reply was a nod as Sam walked through and as the doors closed behind him, he saw the biggest pony he'd seen yet. It was almost the same height as him, albeit about 1inch bigger. It had a white coat, a horn and a pair of wings. It also had a crown on it's head. He slowly made his way towards her and eventually, she noticed him and warm, gentle smile made its way onto her face.
"Ah, you must be the creature Twilight told me about. Please, make yourself at home." As she said this, a chair levitated over to Sam and fell just beneath him, making it so he could sit down almost instantly. He did so and put one leg over the other, got a cigarette out, put it in his mouth, lit it and blew smoke in Celestia's direction. This didn't phase her however.
"What is that in your mouth if I may ask?"
He looked up at her and chuckled.
"It's called a cigarette. It relieves stress but it's also bad for your health. A lot of my species are addicted to them, as are I. They really help to keep the stress down when you're getting shot at from all directions.
Celestia still had a confused look on her face from his description of the strange object that he now flicked onto the floor and stood on. It miffed her a bit that he just threw it on her castle floor, but she decided not to say anything about it. After all, she didn't want to start an argument so early in the meeting.
"Oh my, where are my manners. My name is Princess Celestia. I raise the sun at dawn and..." Sam cut her off with a wave of his hand.
"You're the ruler of Equestria. Your "faithful student" told me."
She looked at him and chuckled, which surprised him. He thought she'd be a stern ruler who would bitch at him for treating her like a normal person rather than royalty. It turns out, she was completely the opposite.
"So Twilight told you that hmm? She's a nice pony. But she's such an egghead sometimes.." Another giggle. He was starting to like this Celestia, seen as she actually had a sense of humor.
"Yeah, heh. Anyway, my name's Sam. Nice to meet you Celestia. Do you want me to call you Princess Celestia or just Celestia?"
"Just call me Celestia. No need for formalities. I get enough of that all the time. And it is very nice to meet you to." Celestia sighed and levitated a cup of coffee towards Sam. "Coffee Sam?"
He waved his hand around. "Na, I'm fine thank you. Don't really like coffee. I have to admit, I know this is a bit fast to be saying this, but you're actually not too bad looking for a...pony."
Celestia blushed and put a hoof to her face. "Oh. Why thank you. No ponies complemented my looks in over 300 years."
Sam chuckled and put his leg on the floor. "It's nothing. Just stating a fact. Back on my world, ponies are animals, don't speak and aren't anywhere NEAR as intelligent as you ponies are. And you look a LOT different."
"Your world sounds very interesting. Do you remember what it is called?"
"Yeah, Earth."
Celestia walked over to Sam put a hoof on his armor, examining it. He looked at her with a confused look on his face.
"Your skin is most...strange." Sam started laughing which made Celestia jump back a little bit.
"This isn't my skin. This is my battle suit. It's called the ARS suit and I designed it myself. It's designed to make me a lot stronger then any of my species and lets me do things other humans can't."
"Humans?"
"My species."
"Ah, of course. Well, it certainly is most fascinating. And you said you designed this yourself?" Sam nodded.
"That's very impressive. You must be an intelligent creature to design such a thing."
Sam chuckled at her compliment. "Thank you. You don't look too dumb yourself."
Celestia didn't know whether that was a compliment or a joke, but either way, it made her giggle a bit.
"Right. Lets get down to business. So, do you have any idea how you ended up here?" Sam scratched his head and thought for a minute before he started to speak.
"Ermm, not really. All I remember is getting blown up and then waking up in a forest."
"Blown up? How? And you mean the Everfree forest?"
He shrugged. " It's a long story. And I guess that's what it's called."
Celestia sighed and looked at him with a sorry looking expression. "Well, I'm sorry Sam, but it appears that I might not even be able to send you back to your universe. I know it's way too soon to say that, but considering I don't even know if your world is in a different universe, I don't have any idea of how to send you back. But I promise you that I will look for a way, if there is one, to send you back. Is that alright with you?"
Sam was pissed that he probably wouldn't be able to get back home anytime soon, if ever at this rate. But, he decided not to get angry at her. I mean, she was actually being really nice to him and she seemed quiet genuinely friendly and funny, so he saw no reason to snap at her.
"Urgh. Well, thanks for offering to try Celestia. It's funny, I'd usually be shouting at you considering you said you probably wouldn't be able to get back to my world, but to be honest, I feel no need to. You're actually one of the best inhabitants of this planet I've seen so far." This resulted in another blush from the princess.
"Thank you once again for the compliment. My my, you are a charmer." Celestia sent a wink his way. Sam had no idea if that was seductive or just plain creepy, but he was too deep in thought to care right now. She noticed this and was suddenly concerned for him.
"Sam, are you alright? You look like you're thinking about something?"
Sam snapped out of his thought induced trance and looked back at Celestia, who now had a concerned expression. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. Say, I know this is kinda wrong to ask, but do you have anywhere I could possibly take a rest? I'm a bit tired from today's events and it's getting pretty late now."
Celestia nodded with that same warm smile she had when she greeted him earlier. "Of course. There is a spare guest room you can use. And don't worry, I will inform Twilight that you will be staying here for the night. You can stay here at the castle for as long as you wish."
Sam looked shocked at the sheer amount of kindness she was showing him. "Wow. Thanks Celest....your highness. No one's ever been this nice to me before,"
Celestia smiled when she heard him call her princess, although there was no need for it. "As I said earlier, you can just call me Celestia. Anyway, I will show you to your room. Follow me Sam."
Sam obliged and followed her. Eventually, they came to a big bedroom and he guessed this was the guest room she was talking about. All that was there was a bed and some drawers. Not much, but it'd do for now.
"Here is the guest room. Feel free to use the restroom if need be. It is down the hallway on the left. Have a good rest Sam. I will see you in morning." Sam waved to her as she closed the door behind her.
"Night Celestia." He removed his suit and climbed into bed. He immediately loved it like a son.
"This is so comfy..."
And in a few seconds, he drifted off to sleep.