I was there, sitting on Celestia's bed. It smelled faintly of her where soft perfumes and soaps had failed to entirely remove the hint. Of course, there was also a Celestia on it at the time, so that might have been skewing the results.
"What did he say," she asked. "You must be honest."
That addendum brought me right out of my happy place. Of course I would be honest, but why would she say that? Unless... "Are you not affected?"
Celestia recoiled just faintly, barely a hint. "I must know, the truth of it. If... he would be... Please, tell me."
I could hear little traces of emotion in her words. She really wanted an answer, and I had little reason to withhold them in the end. I reached out and put a hoof on her chest, an act that was so much more innocent among ponies. "He helped me, even if he was the cause of the problem. I think he found peace, and was able to pass on. He told me that ... I told him that I kissed you."
Celestia went tense at that. "And his response?"
I smiled. It had no hope of matching True's expression of utter peace before he had faded away. "He looked so... content, fulfilled, and he faded away. I think... he was happy that he finally got you that kiss you had deserved long ago."
Despite her training, a trail of moisture dropped from one of her eyes. "True Shot..." Her horn glowed as she whisked the moisture away. She was recovering, quickly. "You are not him," she stated firmly.
"I'm not," I admitted. "I am me, and I hope that isn't a bad thing?" I perked an ear at her even as the other went off to the side. "He said it was my life to have. I haven't lied to you yet, and I don't plan to start." Despite that, I moved to step down from the bed. "I won't insist on being here."
Celestia's golden magic surrounded me and gently lifted me right back onto the bed. "Then what do you see?" She pointed at herself. "When you look at me, what do you see?"
The sudden turn of the conversation had completely ruined the arrow's effects. I wasn't feeling compelled to speak, but I still had little reason to try to deceive Celestia. I only had myself in the way, though that was plenty enough for many people. "I see a mother of an entire nation who isn't even divorced. She never had a husband, but not for coldness. You are a goddess to your little ponies, so where can romance come from?" I was rambling a little, I'll admit.
Celestia returned the chest tap. "Are you here out of sympathy then?"
I considered that and quickly decided I wasn't. "To be honest," She perked up. "You annoy me." She frowned. "You put me in tense situations and test me constantly. My every move is something to be weighted, considered, and judged upon. You are also a very kind ruler, caring of your people. You are also large and pretty." The second more confirmed by my new senses, but she did have human aspects that I could agree were finely shaped. She had lovely eyes, and her mane was enchanting. Her hips were inhuman, but large and broad, promising...
"And now you're leering," She pointed out, shaking me out of sizing her up physically. "For being born a mare, you are easily attracted to the form of another. Was that your leaning before you came here?"
Did Celestia just ask if I was gay? "That question has become amazingly more complicated since this began. I still prefer the company of those of the opposite sex of whatever I have. It's not that I never experimented, I'd be lying if I claimed that."
She leaned forward, the sweet scent of her breath washing over me. "So then you would not be offended then, should I request you express these feelings you have as a mare would another mare?"
What was she... oh... The briefest laugh escaped me.
She didn't find it funny. "I am not ready to enjoy the company of a stallion just yet."
I waved a hoof at her. "This is a sudden jump. We should get through the dating step before discussing how to use this bed." I tapped on the soft mattress. "But, just to set your mind at ease, it was my opinion as a human that it's better when the female leads the way in these things and that opinion has not changed."
Celestia rose from her seated position. "You are correct, of course. That was inappropriate of me to even ask."
I could see her closing up on herself, and moved to wedge a hoof in there, metaphorically. "So we're dating?"
She blinked at me. I had gotten that hoof in, and she was stuck, realizing that door hadn't shut as she had planned. "I... If you thought you were being examined before, once word gets out that we are courting, that attention will make all prior seem tame in comparison. You will be beset on all directions."
That much seemed very true, on the other hand, er, hoof... "I'm never going to be 'just another stallion'. You've already made sure of that. We've come this far, let's give it a try." I rose up to stand but didn't step off the bed. Instead I approached her as she watched me intently.
I leaned in for a kiss. Her lips were trembling, her body tense. She wasn't refusing though, most importantly. I felt the silken touch of her lips.
I blinked my eyes open to see Starlight standing over me as a pony, looking down at me. The profanities that coursed through my mind were many and thick. "Starlight... give me a reason that I shouldn't be angry with you."
"She's awake," called out Starlight before looking at me. "It's time to wake up. Don't be angry at me, I'm just the messenger." She hopped down from the bed easily. "You were mumbling more than usual. Was there something going on in Equestria? Is everything alright?"
I felt my cheeks warm as I became quietly glad that I didn't outright speak what I said in Equestria. "I just had to talk to Celestia."
Starlight blinked at me. "Did she come to Ponyville?" I shook my head as I got to prepping for the day. "You went to Canterlot?! When? Our lessons are not complete!" She sounded quite upset about it, following after me as I got ready for the day.
"I didn't ask to go," I assured her. "I woke up in the middle of court, and the day only got more interesting from there."
Kevin emerged from the bathroom. "All yours." He hiked his thumb behind him as he went and I hurried off to take my turn. There would be no communal bathing experiences that day.
Soon we were piling into the moving van, Starlight back in her human form, and off we went, heading for California.
"So, Celestia huh?" Starlight was looking aside at me. "What'd she need?"
That got Kevin's attention, but he didn't say anything, so there I was, with both of them waiting for my reply.
"There was this big talk about undocumented foreigners."
Kevin burst into laughter. "You're joking, right?"
Starlight was less amused, and more confused. "I didn't know that was a problem."
"It was, and the ponies were in quite the tizzy about it." I gave a little shrug. "In the end I suggested they just welcome the new folk with a big smile and then document them properly, so everyone's kept track of, without any of the hostility."
Kevin gave a soft 'huh', "Well, that doesn't sound too bad. So, what, Equestria doesn't have a job market to protect?"
Starlight only looked more confused. "Job market?"
That was not my favorite topic, but it kept attention squarely away from the time I spent with Celestia alone, so I happily moved along with it. "A job market. Alright, let's say you're Pinkie Pie for a moment." Starlight laughed at that. "Just pretend. You know how to bake, you want to go bake for somepony, and you don't have the Cakes there yet, so you start looking for a job, right?"
"Right?" She clasped her hands. "There isn't a market you can go to 'buy' a job."
"It's a metaphor. The number of available baking jobs is the market. Now if some donkies come in from out of country and they're willing to bake for less bits, then maybe they get all the baking jobs, meaning there aren't any left for Pinkie. That would be a job market problem."
"That'd never happen," scoffed Starlight. "I get the idea, in theory, but you're forgetting how ponies work." She tapped the side of her head. "We are herd creatures. We like being around things that look like us. Same tribe best of all, but another pony is almost as good. If a baker wants to succeed, he'll pay the extra for Pinkie because she'll bring in more customers and more loyal customers, than a donkey ever could."
Kevin glanced aside. "I did not expect that, but that's awesome. From a marketing perspective, that would change things. I mean, it does kind of apply to people, but on other levels, not so much? People like seeing other people of the same basic ethnicity, but we don't have other sentient life to compare against, and sometimes people react well to fictional creatures."
Starlight blinked. "You have fictional characters baking cakes? I want to see that."
"No! No, in advertising."
"Oh!" Starlight smiled with understanding. "That's different. Drawings are not the same as real ponies. Hmm, bet there's a spell to do it though... Imagine that, a cartoon greeting people who come into your store..."
I rolled my eyes at that. "Possibly amusing the first few times, but it'd be just a gimmick in the end, especially if others caught on and played copycat."
Starlight's attention slid to the front. "We're ascending. Are these the mountains you mentioned? They're very nice, as mountains go."
As if on cue, the haze of Twilight's presence appeared. "Linda?"
"Right here." I waved from the passenger seat. "What's up, Twilight?"
"Oh, good. Celestia said you vanished at the worst time and we were worried something might have happened."
Yay... "I'm fine," I assured. "We're getting close to my new house."
"That's fantastic news," came Twilight's eager voice. "I'm ready on this side when you're all settled in. I trust Starlight's being good?"
Starlight squinted at being spoken about. "I can hear you, you know."
"She's been an angel," I promised.
Twilight surprised me by not being surprised. "That's great to hear. Have a safe trip, and I'll talk to you when you're either on this side or in your new home."